It seems to be a case of little provision for so much supposed effect. The debates, the squabbles, the to-and-fro about supplying Ukraine with tanks from Western arsenals has served to confirm one thing: this is an ever-broadening war between the West against Russia with Ukraine an experimental proxy convinced it will win through. Efforts to limit the deepening conflict[Read More…]
U.S. & NATO Battle Tanks sent to Escalate War Against Russia in Ukraine This article was inspired by Michael Brenner, a wise man beyond his years, who is a Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; a Senior Fellow at the Center for Trans-Atlantic Relations, SAIS-John Hopkins (Washington D.C.) and; the author of numerous books and contributor[Read More…]
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in Japan as part of his East Asia tour, said “our security is closely interconnected” and called for stronger ties with Japan as Russia’s war on Ukraine raises global dangers and shows that democracies need stronger partnerships. Stoltenberg said his visit to Japan “is a way to further strengthen the partnership between NATO and our highly[Read More…]
Today, through the speech of the President in the parliament on the budget, the Modi government has declared its achievements, whose autopsy is necessary. A review of the enumerated achievements makes one thing clear that they are mostly immaterial and emotional and are expressions of future possibilities. There is not a single achievement which shows that there has been any[Read More…]
To Shri Govind Mohan Secretary Union Ministry of Culture Dear Shri Govind Mohan, I have come across a disturbing news report today (https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/rationalise-the-number-of-monuments-of-national-importance-says-economic-advisory-council-led-by-sanjeev-sanyal) that the PM’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) is considering a report titled “Monuments of National Importance — Urgent Need for rationalisation’ authored by Sanjeev Sanyal, pointing out that “the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)’s list of MNIs (Monuments[Read More…]
by Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo On January 19, during one of its raids in the Occupied West Bank, the Israeli military arrested a Palestinian journalist, Abdul Muhsen Shalaldeh, near the town of Al-Khalil (Hebron). This is just the latest of a staggering number of violations against Palestinian journalists, and against freedom of expression. A few days earlier, the head[Read More…]
The hell of human suffering, evil and oppression is paved with good intentions. The men who have most injured and oppressed humanity, who have most deeply sinned against it, were according to their standards and their conscience, good men; what was bad in them, who wrought moral evil and cruelty, treason to truth and progress, was not at all in[Read More…]
As India gets ready for the much debated annual budget of the union government (which will be presented on February 1), this may be a good time to consider some aspects of budget analysis. It is of course very clear that budget analysis can be a very useful exercise as the mass of statistics and information contained in the budget[Read More…]
The political campuses of India are in turmoil.Since the past week, we are witnessing all over India, a widespread political unrest in universities like JNU, Jamia, HCU, DU etc. where the students screened the BBC’s Documentary, India: The Modi Question. The most reactionary, neo-fascist modi government and RSS forces retaliated this move of students by using highly nefarious means, by[Read More…]
Radical Desi organized the free screening of a BBC film which has created a sensation in India on Sunday, January 29 in Surrey, BC. The two episodes of India: The Modi Question, remain out of bounds in the world’s so called largest democracy. Not only has the right wing Hindu nationalist BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi restricted its[Read More…]
The social movement, called POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (or ‘anti-POSCO people’s movement – PPSS) is based in Odisha, India. The PPSS came together in 2005 to resist the development of an integrated steel complex by the South Korean POSCO corporation. It is estimated that, if the project were to go forward, it would displace up to 20,000 people from their[Read More…]
Israeli military and intelligence units carried out multiple acts of aggression over the weekend against Iran and Iranian forces in Syria. The attacks were the first offensive military operations under the ultra-right government newly installed in Israel, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A drone attack, likely staged from within Iran by Israeli operatives, hit a weapons facility in the central[Read More…]
This holds true for millions who have fallen victim in their quest for their rights and for peace. And also for thousands targeted – killed and raped- during Gujarat-carnage in 2002. What else is suggested by “news” linked with what happened in Gujarat during 2002 hitting headlines once again? Notwithstanding the measures taken to prevent public screening of BBC documentary[Read More…]
Americans tuning into the television news on January 8th eyed a disturbingly recognizable scene. In an “eerily familiar” moment of “déjà vu,” just two years and two days after the January 6th Capitol insurrection in Washington, D.C., a mob of thousands stormed government buildings in the capital city of another country — Brazil. In Brasilia, what New York Times columnist Ross Douthat ominously[Read More…]
The single most issue of our deeply troubled world today is that it is already in the middle of a very serious survival crisis. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has been drawing attention repeatedly to this, and the most powerful symbol it has been using is that of The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic clock that shows how far humanity is[Read More…]
It may or may not be a coincidence,but it is surely striking that from two countries regarded as close allies of Prime Minister Modi two quite alarming missiles have exploded near him and his close friend corporate magnate Gautam Adani.The BBC documentary directly holds him responsible for letting the ghastly pogrom of 2002 happen in Gujarat during his watch as[Read More…]
To Smt Droupadi Murmu President of India Rashtrapati Bhawan Respected Rashtrapati Ji, Subject:- A mega Infrastructure project being undertaken by the government in Great Nicobar Island, without prior consultation with the NCST, would be violative of the Constitutional mandate and adversely impact the lives of the local tribals I wish to express my utmost concern at the manner in which the Union[Read More…]
Greta Thunberg made international headlines recently when she and other climate activists were briefly detained by police at a protest against the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. Thunberg was among the thousands of protesters who arrived to denounce the expansion of the huge Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine by German energy company RWE. The extraction of lignite (also known as[Read More…]
The ongoing struggle of the women of Iran for equality and gender justice is a very justified struggle which deserves full support as the right to dress in accordance with one’s wishes is a basic right of all women, both in itself and as a symbol of wider aspects of social rights and gender based equality. Authorities or morality police[Read More…]
A new, freely downloadable, book I would like to announce the publication of a new book, entitled “Lives in Acting”. The pdf file of the book may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link: https://eacpe.org/content/uploads/2023/01/Lives-in-Acting-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf It is part of my series of books on cultural history. Human history as cultural history We need to reform our[Read More…]
Indian actress and social media influencer Urfi Javed has said that she is facing difficulties in finding a home on rent in Mumbai for being “single,” “Muslim” and an “actress”. In her own words: “Muslim owners don’t want to rent me a house because of the way I dress, Hindu owners don’t want to rent me cause I’m Muslim. Some[Read More…]
Opening Pandora’s Box of CAA in northeast : Chakmas and Hajongs Protest in Jantar Mantar, Delhi, on January 8, 2023, against cancellation of Residential Proof Certificate (RPC) by the state government of Arunachal Pradesh. (Image Courtesy: Twitter) Home Minister Amit Shah recently claimed peace was restored, and insurgencies were resolved, in the Northeast by the Modi regime. He was[Read More…]
Six million European Jews and the seventy million other men, women and children didn’t die only because of Adolph Hitler, they perished because the wealthy in the US and Western Europe empowered Adolph Hitler to make war! There is simply no way an impoverished and utterly demilitarized Nazi Germany, with no air force, a tiny navy, no armored vehicles, no heavy[Read More…]
Recently the movie ‘Pathan’ was in the news primarily for two reasons. One was around being its supposed anti-Hindu content for usage of saffron colour in a song scene and two in the past Shahrukh Khan had made a statement about growing intolerance in the country referring to increasing incidents of lynchings. The fact that he belongs to a minority[Read More…]
Australia became a fervent ally of the US after the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942. Australia was thence involved in all post-1950 US Asian wars, atrocities associated with 40 million Asian deaths from violence and imposed deprivation. Now, as a US lackey Australia absurdly and dangerously beats the drums of war against a peaceful and non-expansionist China,[Read More…]
While these lines are being written, Adani group had already lost around more than $50 billion (more than Rs. 4 lakh crore), equaling almost 20 percent of its market value (‘aggregate market capitalization’) since January 24, following the release of the “credible and well-researched” report of Hindenburg Research alleging “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over course of decades”[Read More…]
After the raid in Jenin, there was a reaction from Gaza. Immediately, Israel sent in the airforce with its normal venom and brute force. More Palestinians were killed, more destruction of property, and more disruption of life. That was followed yesterday by an attack on a synagogue outside Jerusalem which resulted in eight Israelis killed. Netanyahu said that he will[Read More…]
Prior to the Memphis police release of the horrific video this evening showing the beating of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, activists took over and shut down a block along the busy K Street NW in downtown Washington. Nichols, who was stopped for a traffic violation by the special Scorpion unit, was brutally beaten by a gang of officers without any provocation[Read More…]
In January of every year for the past 75 years the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists publishes an updated setting of the Doomsday Clock. The clock is a metaphor for how close or far humanity is from the brink. Coincidentally, on the heels of the resetting of the world-famous clock this year, Julian Cribb, who is one of the world’s[Read More…]
The excitement about ChatGPT has provoked the usual slew of profound rhetorical questions in technocratic circles. “Can Education stay the same?” “Will X job or Y profession survive the tide?” “Will reading and writing become obsolete?” Right beneath the surface of such profundities is their favorite question of course- “How can I make money with ChatGPT?” The choir is the[Read More…]
The Green Revolution greatly increased the country’s food production; But due to this, the farmers started to turn more towards cash crops than conventional crops. For the last few years, the farmers have been greatly affected by the global climate change. In the name of ‘modern lifestyle’, the dietary habits of many people have changed. It is very important to[Read More…]
Condemn the Indian Government’s attempt to stop screening of the documentary movie by the BBC on the role of Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Riot of 2002. Condemn the JNU administration’s choking of democratic space inside the campus The recently broadcast, “India: The Modi Question” (first part) is a BBC-made documentary on Narendra Modi and the Gujarat genocide of 2002.[Read More…]
Mr R.C. Bhargava, the high profile chairman of Maruti Suzuki, and the likes of him owe an explanation to the public for the situation so visible in many places in the country. There is a blatant encroachment by the motor car showroom on the footpath as well as the prominent artery S.V. Road in Bandra in Mumbai. And a serious[Read More…]
The transformation of Ukraine into untarnished, saintly victim, symbol of democracy and civil society savaged by brutish Russia, has been nothing less than remarkable. The endemic corruption of a state captured by oligarchic tendencies and its own breed of kleptocrats has somehow gone by the wayside, only interrupted by the occasional symbolic purge by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Lo,[Read More…]
Contradictory statements on war with Russia are coming. U.S. and EU officials have previously gone out of their way to claim they were not a party to the conflict in Ukraine. Arguing in favor of sending tanks to Kiev, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said EU countries were fighting a war against Russia. “Arguing therefore I have said already in[Read More…]
The 26 January JTA Daily Briefing arrived in my mailbox with the subject: “Major Israeli Raid in Jenin Kills 9 Palestinians.” I was sadly dumbfounded by the imparted insensitivity and inhumanity. Would any humanity-loving organization blare such news about the killing of the Other? Supposedly, the Oslo accords were a movement toward peace, but Zionist Israel has continued to wreak[Read More…]
Two most prominently stated facts about climate change are—firstly, it is extremely important to check climate change and secondly, that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced very significantly at a very fast pace, as scientifically determined. Both of these statements are absolutely correct. However if we confine ourselves just to these statements, then by themselves these can only give us[Read More…]
I awoke on December 13th to news about what could be the most significant scientific breakthrough since the Food and Drug Administration authorized the first Covid vaccine for emergency use two years ago. This time, however, the achievement had nothing to do with that ongoing public health crisis. Instead, as the New York Times and CNN alerted me that morning, at stake[Read More…]
Friday, January 27th, marks 50 years since the signing of the Paris Peace Accords by representatives from the United States, North and South Vietnam effectively ending American participation in the Vietnamese civil conflict. What the Georgetown University international relations scholar Charles Kuphan calls an “isolationist impulse” made a “significant comeback in response to the Vietnam War, which severely strained the[Read More…]
The small Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has seemingly limited strategic significance. But coupled with its growing psychological value, Russia will continue attempting to take the city, despite high casualties, by whatever means necessary. Since the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive started gaining momentum in September 2022, the Russian army has largely been on the defensive. Russian drone and missile strikes continue to target Ukraine’s major[Read More…]
“For how long will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people of Israel?” These were the words, uttered in Hebrew, of a person believed to be Avera Mengistu, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin who was captured and held in Gaza in 2014. Footage of Mengistu, looking nervous but also somewhat defiant,[Read More…]
WASHINGTON (01-26) – A group of legislators in concert with a broad coalition of civil rights groups and immigrant justice organizations held a news conference at the U.S. Capitol House Triangle in recognition of the 6th anniversary of the Trump-era Muslim and African ban. The groups are calling for action by President Biden in living up to his promise of[Read More…]
On the 74th anniversary of its formation a specter haunts the Indian Republic – the specter of Monarchy. For those who want to see or hear or feel it, the message has been proclaimed loudly from every RSS shakha in the country for decades. The coronation is all but done and only formalities remain. To be completed, perhaps in a[Read More…]
I must confess that I am a great fan of the present BJP-RSS government, its intelligence and the manner it executes various projects for the so-called “national interest”. From demonetization to disarm the opposition political parties of cash, dramatic launching of GST at midnight of July 1, 2017, quashing of Art 370 and 37A, pushing various agendas of “Hindutva”, winning[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies The 2023 Doomsday Clock statement – Image credit: the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has just issued its 2023 Doomsday Clock statement, calling this “a time of unprecedented danger.” It has advanced the hands of the clock to 90 seconds to midnight, meaning that the world[Read More…]
The war in Ukraine will cost Germany, Europe’s largest economy, €175 billion ($190 billion) this year, which equates to €2,000 per inhabitant, German media outlet Deutsche Welle reported on Monday, citing a report by the Institute of German Economics (IW). Authors of the study compared the current situation to an imaginary scenario in which there was no military operation in[Read More…]
On January 18, 2023, the government of Burkina Faso made a decision to ask the French military forces to depart from the country within a month. This decision was made by the government of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who staged the second coup of 2022 in Burkina Faso in September to remove Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power in a coup d’état[Read More…]
Dr. Tim Lenton is one of my fav climate scientists. His work on the physics and maths of tipping points and the implications of tipping points within the earth systems science understanding of how our climate could change is both fascinating and cliff edge scary. Now a new report delivered at Davos by Dr. Lenton’s Exeter university team and the[Read More…]
The world’s most influential management consultancy firm – McKinsey – not only prides itself as a truly global company – even though it remains distinctively American – but it even has its very own Global McKinsey Institute. With that, the management consulting (bad people say: “insulting”) firm has accomplished a crypto-scholarly camouflage. While being out for profits as the sole[Read More…]
The history of massacres against Tamils had started long before the Tamil youth took to the weapons. All the successive regimes in Colombo were backing the genocidal massacres against Tamils. State sponsored pogroms against the Tamils in 1958, 1961. 1977, 1983 and the several frequent massacres since independence in 1948 forced the Tamil youths to take up arms as there[Read More…]
Ranajit Singh expired on 24-1-2023 at the age of 82 in Jaipur. His body is going to be handed over to SMS hospital in Jaipur.For 4 decades he selflessly served the Communist movement as a central Committee member of CPI (ML) Ranajit Singh gained his baptism in communist politics from student level in Rajasthan. In response to battles waged in[Read More…]
Thousands of people in Tughlaqabad, Delhi, will become homeless if the demolition notices served by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are carried out within the next few days. These are working class poor people who pooled their savings and incurred debts in order to be able to somehow arrange their present shelter here. The threatened demolition is likely to[Read More…]
Mr B.V. Doshi, renowned architect who passed away in Ahmedabad on January 24 at the age of 96, was a big institution builder but towards the end of his life he had come to realise that architects should think not only of rich clients but ordinary people. Many tend to look at Mahatma Gandhi as anti-modern, anti machinery. But he[Read More…]
This year, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward, largely (though not exclusively) because of the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine. The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. The war in Ukraine may enter a[Read More…]
China has rebuked the U.S. for its brinkmanship over the nation’s “catastrophic debt problem as Washington approaches a statutory debt ceiling this week that could see the country defaulting on its obligations. The criticism came from the Chinese embassy in Zambia’s capital Lusaka, following a reproach from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over alleged mishandling by Beijing of a debt problem[Read More…]
Dharavi is Asia’s biggest slum that became world famous through the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Located in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, it symbolises India’s stature as the ‘citadel of global poverty’ and home to world’s major chunk of poverty-stricken people with around 250 million “extreme” or “absolute” poor, 60 million of them being slum dwellers. As a[Read More…]
After the capture of Air India by Tata group, which was a government airline, now the difficulties of the employees have deteriorated further. Tata Group has started reducing the salary of Air India employees, which is an act of grave injustice. This deduction is being made in the form of extorting house rent from the salaries of the employees living[Read More…]
‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (New Morning will be born” is dream which anticipates Birth of New Future from the womb of the darkest Night which has overshadowed the Struggles of the Humanity led by Working Class. Sahir Ludhianvi, a Poet , Lyricist and Rebellious psychologist by Birth has set an illustration for innumerable Artists, Film makers, Poets and Revolutionaries. During 1944[Read More…]
Republic Day is the right time to re-confirm commitment to a path based on justice, equality, peace, harmony, genuine democracy and protection of environment, in keeping with the spirit of the constitution of India and the preceding freedom movement of India. In addition as at least the present phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra nears completion, with its emphasis on equality[Read More…]
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) would have been a centenarian this year had he not fell foul of an extreme-Right conspiracy at the age of 53. Murdered on the beaches of Ostia, near Rome, ostensibly for his homosexuality, Pasolini passed into a world where there is no death, only homages to creative subversion or heated controversies born more of social prejudice[Read More…]
Today, Afghan women live under the most misogynistic regime, where they are deprived of all their human and civil rights. For this reason, Afghan women activists formed their own protest movement after the Taliban rule in August 2021, which has been organizing women’s protests in the cities of Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamiyan with the slogans (bread, work, freedom).[Read More…]
Many readers of this piece will most likely take issue with me on my premise. We look at, or look back at instances of evil acts or evil beliefs, and cannot believe that the perpetrators were not aware of their evil. Evil is defined as ‘ Profound immorality and wickedness’. Let us look at one of the most evil eras[Read More…]
What makes a good society? Is it a guaranteed right to pursue happiness, as our Declaration of Independence proclaimed? Perhaps, as Gandhi said, it’s providing the poorest and most vulnerable among us with the means to control their own lives. But what happens when it’s the pursuit of happiness that makes someone most vulnerable? Let me introduce you to my child,[Read More…]
I remember when my small town lost its last family owned and run pharmacy — a beautiful, old, turn of the century store and a high quality company that the family had managed over four generations of pharmacists. In fact, the pharmacist-owners had loved their jobs and helped each other in work while simultaneously knowing most of their long-standing customers and[Read More…]
Linking the name of prime minister Narendra Modi with the god man Asaram Bapu who is now behind bars for raping a girl devotee of his, may offend the sentiments of Modi’s devotees. But facts are too stubborn to be stamped down under covers. Let us therefore go back to the past, reveal a few facts and examine the relationship [Read More…]
We have not cared to question the state-led fashioning of an intricate network of digital data we have been forced to supply.All services provided by the state directly or indirectly have required and extorted our Aadhar number.Besides the different identifying coded names or numbers for different services are being linked through our own submissions without our being aware of potential[Read More…]
Past the halfway mark in the BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, Episode 1, is a clip of the BBC reporter interviewing Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, soon after he had called for elections in a state still seething with the fresh wounds of post-Godhra communal riots in 2002. Every question she asks him, including about the violence[Read More…]
“Venezuela will once again be treated normally, as all countries want to be treated,” said Lula da Silva. A teleSUR report said: On Monday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva asked the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to help solve the problems of Venezuela and Cuba and treat these nations with “much affection.” These statements were made during[Read More…]
Armenia is more critical to Russia’s security than Ukraine is Armenia is Russia’s sole ally in the Caucasus, a region I’ve often termed Ground Zero for Cold War 2.0. Without its Armenian partner, Russia would lose the Caucasus (Georgia/Armenia/Azerbaijan) and Caspian Sea — and possibly Turkic Central Asia — to pan-Turkism and NATO. Pan-Turkic ideology parallels NATO’s own anti-Russian ideology[Read More…]
Diplomatic strides made by several Arab countries in recent years are too significant to be ignored. Of course, FIFA World Cup 2022 hosted by Qatar may be viewed as having played a crucial role in compelling greater part of rest of the world to reflect on their stereotyped vision of Qatar and other Arab countries. The reality is that these[Read More…]
The freedom movement of India was known for its many-sided efforts to create a better society out of the ruins of the massive destruction caused by colonial rule. Hence many constructive activities and social reforms were pursued side by side with the struggles against colonialism. This included continuing efforts for inter-faith harmony by some of the most inspiring leaders of[Read More…]
Karpoori Thakur, popularly known as Jananayak (people’s leader), devoted his entire life for the welfare of socially backward classes. He is considered to be one of the greatest and honest leaders that Bihar has ever produced. In the words of Paul Brass, Karpoori is one among the leaders whom he “loved and admired” because they see “politics as their vocation,[Read More…]
The workers of Zydus Company located in Sitarganj, Uttarakhand are persistently demanding action for the last 214 days.On January 18, under the banner of Zydus Wellness Employees Union affiliated to AICCTU, the labourers facing illegal detention organized a torch rally. The union alleges that even after the orders of the High Court Nainital and Sitarganj administration, Zydus Management refuses to[Read More…]
Citing officials, the Financial Times said on Sunday: Brazil and Argentina plan to create a common currency. According to the newspaper, this move could finally create the world’s second-largest currency bloc with roughly 5% of global GDP, if the initiative is successfully implemented across all of Latin America. The plan will be discussed and officially announced at a summit in Buenos Aires[Read More…]
Through the course of his political life, the current US president has often been injudicious. He has stumbled, bungled and miscalculated. His electoral victory was fortuitous, aided by a number of factors, not least the conduct of his opponent and the murderous gift of a global pandemic. Along with his fellow Democrats, he has made the issue of Donald Trump[Read More…]
When the Taliban regime in Afghanistan recently banned women from working in NGOs, several of them decided to stop working in this country, but later some of them reconsidered this decision and decided to continue working. This decision should be supported because while the ban on women working in NGOs was clearly and completely wrong, the fact that over two[Read More…]
I am seventy years old. I was born in Quilon, Kerala. I studied in a college in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district of Kerala. After my graduation, I worked in many cities: Madras, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi. Now I am in Delhi. I have an Aadhar card, a PAN card and a Passport too, though it has expired now.[Read More…]
At a Press Conference held in Delhi on 18 January, the Government spokesman said, “The Nation will celebrate its 74th Republic Day on January 26, 2023. The celebrations include the traditional march past at Kartavya Path comprising a grand parade by the contingents of the Armed Forces & Paramilitary Forces; tableaux display by the States and Central Ministries/Departments; cultural performances by[Read More…]
At a time when the political and judicial discourse on forcible conversions is moving with animated political fervor in various States around the country, Chhattisgarh is witnessing a somewhat perplexing political phenomenon. Nearly 18 villages in Chhattisgarh have faced attacks after fringe Right Wing forces attacked and drove them out of their homes, villages, and the fields they cultivate. The[Read More…]
In the wake of the Roe v Wade reversal, women across the nation today demonstrated on the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision by marching in support of reestablishing a Women’s Right for abortion. By organizing their voices and electing Women’s Rights candidates in the 2022 mid-term elections voters have sent a powerful message to anti-freedom politicians. Pledging[Read More…]
Given the secrecy typically accorded to the military and the inclination of government officials to skew data to satisfy the preferences of those in power, intelligence failures are anything but unusual in this country’s security affairs. In 2003, for instance, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq based on claims — later found to be baseless — that its leader, Saddam Hussein, was[Read More…]
The Global Firepower ranking was published on January 6. The annual report classifies the world’s strongest militaries based on over 60 factors, including size, spending and technological advancements. The report, which placed the United States military on top, followed by Russia, China, India and the UK, raised more questions than answers, with some accusing GFP, the organization that compiled the[Read More…]
Helenita Pardalis, was an ever popular figure of masses of Bicol and Eastern Visayas as Ka Ning, Ka Eliz, Ka Celine and Ka Elay. Ka Elay was mercilessly killed in an early morning aerial bombing raid conducted by the 8th Infantry Division in Barangay Imelda, Las Navas, Northern Samar, last November 23. She was 65 years old. Five other fighters[Read More…]
With two world summits on the global environment at the end of last year – COP27 and COP15 – there should have been the prospect of an immediate impact on the looming disaster of climate breakdown. In reality, results were limited at best. COP27 on climate change did agree to a ‘loss and damage’ fund that acknowledged the role of[Read More…]
When the first Russian forces began entering Ukrainian territory in February 2022, the instant reaction from Europe, the UK, Canada and Australia, was one of open commitment to Ukraine’s refugees. The relentless human trains heading westwards were initially embraced by Poles, whose history with Ukraine is, at best, tense and sketchy. Across Europe, walls came down in dispensation for this[Read More…]
The terrible reality of the widening gap between the rich and the poor has been presented by the famous organization ‘Oxfam’ in its report. However, now a situation like ‘Survival of the Richest’ has arisen in India. The rich are getting richer while poverty is increasing day by day. Only 21 billionaires in the country have more wealth than 70[Read More…]
On 8th January 2023, a week after Lula’s presidential inauguration, the world was shocked by a Trump-style mob attack on key state institutions in Brasilia, the country’s capital city. The world saw media images of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invading Planalto (presidential palace), and the premises of both the Supreme Court and Parliament, who, when inside proceeded to vandalise just about[Read More…]
Israel’s pogrom to obliterate the Palestinians from the land is ongoing with a vigor and revenge that is picking political momentum. Whether that will work in its intent is another question. Domination, suppression and control are the strategies that Israel is employing. In a new position paper, Adalah, an Israeli human rights organization, lays out how the guiding principles and[Read More…]
Recent news articles about a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research heralded the potential for “limitless” energy. Whenever I read that word limitless I wince, because I’ve learned to view it as a subtle instruction to readers to “please stop thinking now.” After decades of false promises to deliver limitless energy, we need to start thinking instead, and search for limits both obvious and hidden. Doing so[Read More…]
Why is much modern food of inferior quality? Why is health suffering and smallholder farmers who feed most of the world being forced out of agriculture? Mainly because of the mindset of the likes of Larry Fink of BlackRock – the world’s biggest asset management firm – and the economic system they profit from and promote. In 2011, Fink said agricultural and[Read More…]
With the goal of raising class consciousness and mobilizing the working population of Banaras, especially the weavers, a meeting was organized at the Swayamvar Vatika on behalf of the Fatima-Savitri Janasamiti. The weavers themselves openly discussed the issues related to their status and wages in the programme. Mohammad Ahmad Ansari, who toils with his family on power looms, said that[Read More…]
The US continues to wage war upon the nations of the world by resorting to imposing economic sanctions. These sanctions are a continuation of war by other means, and the world has been witness to the disastrous and genocidal consequences of these illegal sanctions on Syria. Whilst the US still considers itself to the ‘Caesar’ of the world, the global[Read More…]
“We must remind Japan that if the radioactive nuclear wastewater is safe, just dump it in Tokyo, test it in Paris and store it in Washington, but keep our Pacific nuclear-free.” (Vanuatu’s celebrated former ‘Turaga Chief’ Motarilavoa Hilda Lini) In the face of considerable worldwide criticism, TEPCO is moving ahead with its well-advertised plans to dump contaminated water from storage[Read More…]
The blockade of Cuba limits its ability to share its scientific and technological advances with the rest of the world. Scientists in Cuba believe that the breakthroughs they have made in the health care and technology sectors should be used to save and improve lives beyond the country’s borders. This is why the island nation has developed important scientific and[Read More…]
by Linda M. Nicholas and Gary M. Feinman New evidence and understandings about the structure of successful early societies across Asia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere are sweeping away the popular assumption that early societies tended toward autocracy and despotism. Archaeology has a more valuable story to tell: Collective action and localized economic production are a recipe for sustainability and broader well-being. The Mesoamerican city[Read More…]
There is much consternation about Israel’s move sharply rightward under Netanyahu’s new government, but it is really just a move to more overt fascism, by which is meant rule by force without any pretense of democracy or respect for human rights. The change is really minimal as Israel has created a society of inequality, racial and gender discrimination and has[Read More…]
The recent tragic development of many houses ( and other buildings) being devastated and many families having to leave their homes in Joshimath and to a lesser extent in some other parts of Uttarakhand has once again raised serious questions regarding the path of development being pursued in the Himalayan region. A crucial question relates to whether such concern will[Read More…]
80 years ago, Soviet troops battled to open up a narrow corridor to the besieged city of Leningrad. A railroad was constructed through it in literally two weeks and supplies started reaching a city that had been bled dry. The Red Army only had to traverse a distance of 15 km. Stillt this short distance was at the cost of[Read More…]
When civil society recently came together in Goa under the rallying space of the Centre for Responsible Tourism to explore how the Goan economy could advance tourism in Goa, several pertinent issues arose. The view that tourism is an exclusively economic movement was seen as flawed and faulty. Tourism is in its essence is a social contract between those who[Read More…]
A massive strike has hit France on Thursday. Workers and other earners joined hands in protesting pension reform. Trade union sources said the number of people joining more than 200 protest marches was 2 million. Police had to use tear gas to contain the protesters in Paris. Teachers, railway workers and public sector employees abandoned joined the protest marches to[Read More…]
The far-right mob that invaded the federal building, Congress, and the Supreme Court and vandalized government buildings at Three Powers Plaza in Brasília on January 8, demanded a “military intervention” in Brazil. They had set up camps that had assembled in front of army barracks throughout the country since November demanding the “military to overturn” the election of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da[Read More…]
With oceans, countries, populations, and governments inundated by a plague of plastic worldwide, it may be useful to focus on the single-use plastic bag choices made by two cities, in the same U.S. state, located at a distance of only 64 miles (104 km) from each other. Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque share many qualities and conditions, foremost among them a distinctive cultural mix[Read More…]
“The 1619 Project – A New Origins Story”. Hannah-Jones, Nikole et al, Ed. One World, (Random House), New York, 2021. The American narrative – and other stories Most of the world in which there is a decent educational system knows the foundational myths of the United States. Essentially a bunch of oppressed settlers could no longer tolerate the weight of[Read More…]
I like to sing and what I like best is to do so at the top of my lungs when I’m all alone. Last summer, taking a walk through the corn fields in New York’s Hudson River Valley with no one around but the barn swallows, I found myself belting out a medley of tunes about peace from my long-ago,[Read More…]
“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” Sun Tzu “But it turns out there isn’t really any military threat by the United states. Not only [has the U.S] and NATO run out of normal military arms, but America really can’t mount a land war anymore. There will never be another Vietnam.[Read More…]
by Yevgeny Ivanov & Ashish Singh After the World War II, the role of the dollar has grown significantly in global trade. Since then, the American currency has been used not only for transactions in foreign markets but also for transactions within countries. The collapse of the USSR has made the dollar an informal tender (vs legal tender) across[Read More…]
Reports and images of a large number of badly damaged and cracked up houses and other buildings in Joshimath town of Uttarakhand, located at a height of over 6000 feet, have shocked and distressed people even in distant parts of the country as they have a deep emotional and cultural attachment to the Himalayan region and its people. While the[Read More…]
All India Peoples Front (AIPF) has brought out a booklet titled “Uttar Pradesh at a Glance” presenting a voluminous documentary evidence with solid figures to explain the current situation in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The 20-page booklet released by SR Darapuri, the National President of the organization, has many parts, which is written by the founder member Akhilendra Pratap Singh. In[Read More…]
When we discuss the caste question in Kerala, people acclaim with a loud clarion, “This is Kerala, there is no place for caste here. Keralites don’t believe in caste”. Even if we say this with utmost good intentions, we can see that covertly and openly, the diabolic caste oppression is still going on in Kerala. There are a plethora of[Read More…]
80 years ago, on January 15, 1943, one of the most mortal blows occurred in the history of the Great Patriotic War. This event will carve a permanent place in history of brutality of oppressors unleashed on liberators. On this day in Krasnodon in the Luhansk region, Nazi forces flung bodies of members of the Young Guard youth anti-fascist organization[Read More…]
Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) was a prince of Mughal Empire who made significant contributions but was deprived of the opportunity of potentially making even greater contributions as he was executed at a young age of 44. Son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, he was the chosen heir to be the next successor to the great empire but was captured and[Read More…]
[I wrote this article at the time of the Balakot Crisis in February of 2019. It still carries relevance today within the context of Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif’s recent statement, (on Monday, the 16th of January, 2023);where he asks the President of the UAE; “to facilitate dialogue with India and vowed sincere talk with the arch rivals, if a channel[Read More…]
According to a Bloomberg report, Saudi Arabia is ready to discuss trading in currencies other than the US dollar, according to Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan. Al-Jadaan’s comments come a month after China’s President Xi Jinping said that Beijing is ready to make energy purchases in yuan instead of the US dollar in trade exchanges with members of the[Read More…]
“For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these—It might have been” –John Greenleaf Whittier Emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, had a dream about two of his grandchildren. Even though he had emerged as one of the most powerful emperors in the world, he had suffered more than his share of distress. He was[Read More…]
To Shri Debasish Panda Chairman Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDAI) Dear Shri Panda, I have come across a news report today (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/insure/health-insurance/latest-general-and-health-insurance-claim-settlement-ratio-of-insurance-companies-in-india/printarticle/97081682.cms) that refers to information released by IRDAI on claim settlement ratios for life and general insurance claims in the case of private and public sector insurerers. According to that information, the claim settlement ratios for general insurance[Read More…]
In a self-congratulatory article published in the Atlantic in 2017, Yossi Klein Halevi describes Israeli behavior at the just-conquered holy Muslim shrines in Occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 as “an astonishing moment of religious restraint”. “The Jewish people had just returned to its holiest site, from which it had been denied access for centuries, only to effectively yield sovereignty at[Read More…]
There is a consistent disaster of floods that keeps happening in South Africa and it is killing hundreds of people on every occasion. The national media does not publicise these disasters enough, largely because they are occurring in poorer areas where black people reside – and their consequences do not affect the country’s economy. This is usually how discourse is[Read More…]
One of the most significant commitments of last five decade of twentieth century has been to economic growth and trade expansion, and we have been spectacularly successful in accomplishing the both. Global economic output expanded from $3.8 trillion in 1950 to $18.9 trillion in 1992, nearly a fivefold increase. And to achieve that economic growth and trade[Read More…]
International relations remains the sum game of vast hypocrisies, a patchwork of compromises and the compromised. Every moral condemnation of a regime’s conduct is bound to be shown up as an exercise in double standards, often implicating the accusers. In the case of the military regime in Myanmar, double standards are not only modish but expected. A number of international[Read More…]
Ahmet Sores (Zeki Gürbüz), member of the Central Committee of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey/Kurdistan (MLKP) and Firat Newal (Özgür Namoglu), young commander of the armed revolutionary forces of Kurdistan, were both murdered by the fascist forces of the Turkish regime in an armed drone attack launched in the region Rojava on January 3. For a sustained period the[Read More…]
The whole length of the Himalayan border, not just Uttarakhand, now in news because of Joshimath disaster, faces the risk. “Multi-hazard risk is expected to increase in the Hindu Kush Himalaya( HKH),”, says a study of January 2022, by Jack Rusk et al. “Half the Himalayan population is at risk of multiple – more than one type of – natural[Read More…]
Late last month, President Biden signed a bill that clears the way for $858 billion in Pentagon spending and nuclear weapons work at the Department of Energy in 2023. That’s far more than Washington anted up for military purposes at the height of the Korean or Vietnam wars or even during the peak years of the Cold War. In fact, the $80 billion increase[Read More…]
In a recent 21 day march from Banswara to Jaipur, a distance of over 500 km., members of tribal communities of South Rajasthan and neighboring areas asserted the need for important policy changes keeping in view the harm being caused by over-centralizing tendencies which are imposing priorities and policies that are far from the priorities and real needs as understood[Read More…]
Nuclear strength and/or prowess commanded even by superpowers has its limitations, which has been displayed time and again. Havoc reportedly caused by floods in California may be viewed as just a minor example of this. When those who try and assert themselves as most powerful leaders – globally and regionally – appear to stumble in their own terrains, should they[Read More…]
In a series of lectures in Vigyan Bhavan in 2018 Mohan Bhagwat spoke in a language due to which many insiders and many commentators outside the Sangh felt that it is a major moment for RSS and it is changing drastically. The RSS supremo went to the extent of reciting the preamble of Indian Constitution and upheld secularism and socialism.[Read More…]
On 11th January 2023, a joint operation was launched by the CoBRA squad of the Central Reserve Police Force, the anti-Naxal squad of Greyhound and the District Reserve Guard comprising the SPOs of the notorious Salwa Judum. According to different news reports, widespread aerial bombings have been carried out on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. CDRO firmly believes that these aerial bombings,[Read More…]
Supreme Court of India has agreed to entertain a sensitive socio-religious issue related to sanctification of marriage of a minor girl on her attaining puberty by Muslim personal law. It has also annulled the Punjab and Haryana High Court that validated marriage of a 15-year old Muslim girl. The contradictory judgments of various courts on child marriage with regards to[Read More…]
Resist the Executive’s Attempt to Discredit & Undermine Independence of the Judiciary. As the Modi government reaches the final stretch of its second five-year term, one can see the beginnings of its new priorities. The drumbeats against the judiciary, the lone institution which is not totally within its control, have become louder. Right from the Law Minister to the Vice[Read More…]
The policymaking apparatus behind the AUKUS security pact was shoddy from the start. It has raised questions about the extent US power will subordinate Australia further in future conflicts; it has brought into question Australia’s own sovereignty; and it has also raised the spectre of regional nuclear proliferation via the use of otherwise closely guarded propulsion technology. The other feature[Read More…]
How the Super Rich Owns Twice of the Rest of the World Put Together The richest 1% of the world now owns nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together, finds Survival of the Richest, an Oxfam International (OI) study released on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), January 16, 2023, being[Read More…]
The performance of the country’s agriculture sector in the economy and the life of the common farmers are becoming difficult day by day. As much as the economy has changed in the last thirty years after the implementation of new economic policies, the agriculture sector does not seem to have had a positive impact. In that, there is a lot[Read More…]
In his absorbing profile of the writer Alex Haley (author of “Roots” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”) in the New York Times Book Review a year ago, Michael Patrick Hearn made a familiar mistake. He wrote: “Politically [Haley] he was a moderate, philosophically more Martin than Malcolm.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was no moderate. Today, he is viewed as something of an[Read More…]
On what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 94th birthday, several ceremonies to honor the fallen Civil Rights Era icon and his legacy were held at the King Memorial today. At the base of the massive and imposing white granite statue of Dr. King, attendees of the various programs reflected on his life and all that he achieved[Read More…]
What if someone of consequence and world attention, difficult for US monopolized and controlled media to ignore, reminded us that one year before receiving a bullet to his brain, King had made bold print headlines in newspapers worldwide reading, “KING CALLS US “GREATEST PURVEYOR OF VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD.1 Would it not weaken US deep state media credibility as it[Read More…]
This writer has loved professional football and baseball my whole life. Going with my father, little baseball glove in hand, to watch Dem Bums at Ebbets Field in the mid 1950s was such a joy. In those days the players were getting royally screwed by the owners, so much so that most of them needed off season employment to[Read More…]
People of Markhera village had been facing increasing difficulties due to water shortages. Water table was declining and water level in wells was going down too. Hand pumps were often reduced to just a trickle. As women here bear most water related responsibilities, their drudgery in fetching water from more distant places increased. Many of them had back ache from[Read More…]
Belsonica Mazdoor Union of Maruti’s component manufacturing company Belsonica Plant at IMT Manesar, Haryana undertook a boycott of lunch for 6 days. The management had suspended a permanent worker for 6 days, against which union members protested. Belsonica Management had suspended a labourer named Sudhir Tripathi for 6 days. The management had asked Sudhir to leave his place of[Read More…]
Oxfam India’s just released report ‘Survival of the Richest: The India Story’ has made a strong case for taxing the richest sections to find the resources for substantially stepping up funds for social sector, particularly health and education. Released close to the coming union budget, this report is expected to pitch the budget debate strongly in favor of reducing inequalities.[Read More…]
The rich are having good days as they always have. Even the pandemic could not brake their stockpiling of wealth. The super-rich outstrip their extraordinary grab of half of all new wealth in past decade. The richest 1% of the world bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years, finds[Read More…]
With due respect and honour, I am drawing the attention of yours and of your political party, through this letter, to the several basic issues related to the protection of humanity and the protection of life as well as livelihood of the future generations of our state Odisha. In the eyes of you and your party, I have a different[Read More…]
More than two millennia ago, in the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides recounted a disastrous conflict Athens waged against Sparta. A masterwork on strategy and war, the book is still taught at the U.S. Army War College and many other military institutions across the world. A passage from it describing an ultimatum Athens gave a weaker power has stayed with[Read More…]
On July 2, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood behind President Lyndon Baines Johnson as the Texan signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although not the first civil rights bill passed by Congress, it was the most comprehensive. King called the law’s passage “a great moment … something like the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.” Johnson[Read More…]
PORTENTS OF THINGS YET TO COME ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It’s now going to take literally every citizen of the world to assume more personal responsibility to end: the hellish war in Ukraine; stop the wholesale slaughter of humanity, and the ever more rapid extinction of the earth’s biodiversity. The world’s politicians, militarists and international corporate CEOs, especially those who support[Read More…]
Unthinkable as it may be, humanity, every last person, could someday be wiped from the face of the Earth…..A discussion about the future of humanity is about how the important fundamental features of the human condition may change or remain constant in the long run…. Extinction risks constitute an especially severe subset of what could go badly wrong for humanity…. The greatest[Read More…]
In terms of beauty, Bandra suburban railway station in the Victorian Gothic style , is next only to the world heritage site of Victoria Terminus now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The Bandra heritage station, built in the 19th century, is now restored after more than two years of work , looks impressive and is to be inaugurated by this month end.[Read More…]
Amongst the tallest leaders of the post-independence India, Sharad Yadav certainly deserves a place, not the least for his relentless pursuit of social justice for the backward classes. He was one of the strongest soldier during the turbulent times of Mandal Commission implementation battle back in the 90s. He started his political journey at a very early stage and was[Read More…]
Tip of the iceberg: Land subsidence in the Uttarakhand hills seems to be taking its heavy toll, not merely in Joshimath and Karanprayag, where many structures have developed cracks, but it is also likely to affect the other towns, including Gopeshwar in Chamoli district (where Joshimath is situated), Ghansali in Tehri district, Munsiari and Dharchula in Pithoragarh district, Bhatwari in[Read More…]
In 2022, Chinese researchers published three times as many papers on artificial intelligence as US researchers. By at least one measure, China now leads the world in producing high-quality science. My research shows that Chinese scholars now publish a larger fraction of the top 1% most cited scientific papers globally than scientists from any other country. I am a policy expert and analyst who studies[Read More…]
Dr. King’s birthday is coming up soon- five days away- and I’m already cringing. Martin Luther King Junior was a towering figure in world history. He was one of the great leaders of the Civil Rights movement in the United States and as he aged, became increasingly radicalized. He left behind some of the greatest artifacts in American history- including[Read More…]
One of the most important questions in the development debate is whether economic viability of small and marginal farmers can be strengthened in sustainable ways. This question is all the more important in a country like India where small scale farming is the most common source of livelihood. The objective of land reforms is to make available at least some[Read More…]
Villains often have the best tunes. In some cases, they also have the best evidence. The tendency in the latter is to suppress or distort that evidence if it is contrary to their interests. Exxon, now ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil and gas company, has revealed, much like tobacco companies of the past, that excellent research that might prove costly[Read More…]
The struggle of demanding the release of political prisoners framed under the yoke of laws like Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act i.e. UAPA is intensifying day by day. Positive that intellectuals are coming to the forefront to raise their bold voices when perils of neo-fascism are threatening the country at an unparalleled scale. Such initiatives are the last straw in saving[Read More…]
Approaching RSS Fascism BJP with 180 million-membership (as claimed by it in 2019) and wielding India’s state power today is the political tool of RSS, the longest-running and biggest fascist organization in the world. The RSS with Manusmriti as its ideological basis was founded in 1925 with Hedgewar as the first Sarsanghchalka almost at the same time when ‘classical’ fascism[Read More…]
“Amend the Special Marriages Act to allow for marriages between people of the same sex (or between people who may be inter-sexed, or have undergone sex-change surgery, and any others). All consequential legal benefits of marriage should extend to gay marriages as well, including the right to adopt children, to execute a partner’s will, to inherit, etc. Same-sex couples should[Read More…]
nothing is more important than the colour of a bikini nothing is more important than to be against ‘love jihad’ supposedly being represented on screen nothing is more important than if a scene in a movie was removed or not ban it burn it or kill them all let the small girlchild continue eating from the garbage can foraging in[Read More…]
NASA claims that 2022 was one of the hottest years ever recorded with record-breaking heat waves around the world, as major commercial waterways, like the Danube, Po, Rhine, Yangtze, and Mississippi rivers temporarily dried up leaving humongous river barges choking in mud. But that was merely global-warming-lite. The real global warming threat is invisible. It’s the oceans where 90%[Read More…]
Millions of Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The longer the war continues, the less likely they are to return, with dire consequences for Ukraine. Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has created the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. While millions of Ukrainian refugees have since returned home, almost 2.9 million moved to Russia, according[Read More…]
There was a new zeal and enthusiasm, and a strong sense of comradeship among the people of Markhera village as they assembled to plan the forests they were going to create near their temple. The temple site was chosen as the forest and the birds likely to find shelter in this were considered to be safer here. These villagers had[Read More…]
Brittany Alkonis, wife of imprisoned U.S. Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis who was convicted in Japan of negligent driving for his involvement in a traffic accident that took the lives of two people, demonstrated along with supporters today outside the White House seeking his release from a Japanese prison. Alkonis, who suffered a medical emergency and passed out while behind the[Read More…]
It is a well-known fact that most of the past agreements written and/or oral promises including undertakings of the past Sri Lankan governments are mostly complied with breaches, partial and / or complete non-compliances. Some of the notable instances are the Indo-Ceylon Agreement 1987, BC Pact 1958, and Reasonable Use of Tamil Language Act 1958. At the recent meeting with[Read More…]
Imagining Palestine – Cultures of Exile and National Identity. Tahrir Hamdi. I. B. Taurus, (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc), London, 2023. [1] In her recent work, “Imagining Palestine”, Tahrir Hamdi has made an intriguing, thought provoking, and challenging discussion on the idea and reality of Palestine. Imagining Palestine is the ongoing process of remembering and living the ongoing tragedies of the nakba[Read More…]
Narendra Modi was prime minister of India for five years from 2014-2019 in his first term and his second term began this May; so, readers may ask why this book? The devil is in the details. Debut writer K.S. Komireddi traces the rise of Modi who he argues has reduced Indian democracy to ‘Mann Ki Baats’, road and stage-shows, instead[Read More…]
Courtesy: timesofindia.com. “Historically, people in the north-east haven’t worshipped Ram as a deity…Hundreds of saffron activists quietly hit the streets to bring the people of the north-east on the Ram page, with the BJP’s battle-cry of ‘Jai Shri Ram…’ Almost 13,000 kayrakartas RSS and its sister outfits in the north-east tried to reach as many households as possible and[Read More…]
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said: Rising food, rents, and energy prices, and inadequate social protections threatened the rights of people on the lowest incomes, including to food and housing. The HRW has warned: The UK could become known as a “human rights abuser,” if it does not reverse a series of controversial laws. The NGO criticized Britain’s[Read More…]
From all the excited cries echoing from the red tide that took over Brasília during Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (known as Lula) inauguration as the Brazilian President on January 1, 2023, the most significant—and challenging, especially from the institutional stance of the new government—was the call for “no amnesty!” The crowds chanting those words were referring to the crimes perpetrated by the military[Read More…]
Supporters of Brazil’s right-wing leader, former President Jair Bolsonaro, could not digest the change of power in the country. As a result, just one week after veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as the forty-ninth president, violent protests erupted in the streets of the nation’s capital, Brasilia. Protesters barged into Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the[Read More…]
History ignored yields history repeated, and ignoring genocides and holocausts yields repetition of such atrocities. My book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability” (1998, 2008, and 2023 editions) exposes 2 centuries of British-made and British-ignored famines in India, and argues that ignoring such atrocities and the worsening[Read More…]
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was born in Nablus on January 8, 1948, and educated in Nablus. She joined George Habash’s Arab Nationalist Movement as a young woman in 1964, in pursuit of the liberation of Palestine and the Arab homeland. We commemorated her 75th birthday 5 days ago. The tenacity and death defying courage in the life of Shadia Abu Ghazaleh[Read More…]
While a lot of research has strengthened the case for spreading natural farming, a practical factor which has hindered its spread in India is that several farmers find it difficult to take up production of organic manures and pest-repellants for self-use, even though all the raw materials are available right within their home or close to them. In the most[Read More…]
The Supreme Court has stayed the Uttarakhand High Court order of 20 December 2022 on the immediate land eviction – or rather, land bulldozing in Banbhoolpura, Haldwani. For the people to be affected, this may be a relief – perhaps only a temporary relief, if you are cautious enough. The Supreme Court underlined the need to consider the humanitarian aspect[Read More…]
Can the Guwahati High Court’s Judgement on ‘Illegal Demolitions’ act as a break to the growing normalisation of ‘Bulldozer Justice’ ? There are interventions of courts which occasionally reverberate across the country. The recent judgement of the Guwahati High Court which had suo moto taken up a petition regarding ‘illegal demolitions’ of houses in Village Salonabari, Nagaon district in Assam[Read More…]
By any standard, the money the United States government pours into its military is simply overwhelming. Take the $858-billion defense spending authorization that President Biden signed into law last month. Not only did that bill pass in an otherwise riven Senate by a bipartisan majority of 83-11, but this year’s budget increase of 4.3% is the second highest in inflation-adjusted terms since World[Read More…]
Stop the Genocidal war with aerial bombing on Chhatisgarh-Telangana Border ! On Wednesday, 11th Jan 2023, a joint operation was launched by Central Reserve Police Force, Greyhound and CoBRA (Elite Anti Naxal Squad), District Reserve Guard (comprising of Infamous SPOs of Salwa Judum) in the wee hours. According to the varying news reports, the attempt is to target an[Read More…]
Here’s one possible trajectory for ambitious print journalists. After making your name with aggressive reporting at a smaller newspaper, move up the ladder until you are at a top paper with a prestige beat. Go on the television talk shows to pontificate. Maybe snag a regular column. Offer analyses that seem critical but make sure never to challenge the conventional[Read More…]
Towards the last phase of his life K.P.Sasi, the filmmaker, cartoonist and activist, obsessed about a one-point agenda he wanted all his friends, colleagues, contacts to work towards. To ‘Defeat the BJP in 2024’. A few months before he passed away Sasi sent a passionate note to his wide network of friends appealing for a joint effort to ensure the[Read More…]
Another needless, fatuous endeavour; another irresponsible drain on the public purse; another expression that the military-industrial complex Down Under is thriving in all its insidious stupidity. But Australia’s purchase of HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) batteries from the United States can be put down to loneliness – or the feeling of being left out. And history shows that loneliness[Read More…]
People are protesting Rightist government moves ousting President Pedro Castillo. Tweeting from jail on Tuesday, Castillo said history will remember Peruvians “murdered for defending the country from the coup dictatorship,” and that “terror is the last bullet of a regime cornered by the people.” At least 47 people have died in connection with the protests, according to official government figures published on Tuesday.[Read More…]
Once more, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will offer a legal opinion on the consequences of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine. A historic United Nations vote on December 31 called on the ICJ to look at the Israeli Occupation in terms of legal consequences, the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the responsibility of all UN Member[Read More…]
Israel’s worst ever possible choice of government has expectedly started on the wrong foot. The mandate was less extreme than the way things have things turned out to be. Racist genocide has become the political fashion for Netanyahu and his political cohorts. The New Year began with two murders and, if that is the tone they are setting, one can[Read More…]
Lost in the rush of political and climate-related news in the closing weeks of 2022 was the small but intriguing story of a December 3 armed attack on two power substations in Moore County, North Carolina. The installations were severely damaged by gunfire, leaving 45,000 residents to suffer through the winter cold without power, many of them for several days.[Read More…]
In what has unfortunately become an annual event, activists today from Witness Against Torture and the National Religious Campaign Witness Against Torture held a Close Guantánamo vigil outside the White House marking the 21st anniversary of the extrajudicial prison’s opening at the U.S. Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Since it was first opened by the Bush administration on January 11,[Read More…]
On January 18th, 1982 the working class movement commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Textile Workers Strike that lasted for 18 months, till July 1983. It was landmark event that played a major role in shaping the working class movement. With more than 2.5 lakh workers from 65 textile mills joining in this strike for almost two years, this strike[Read More…]
To Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Party MP Dear Rahul, Welcome to Punjab. It is good to see you leading Bharat Jodo Yatra during these difficult times. This initiative was much needed ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. It would have been better had all the non-BJP parties come together to start it. However, it goes to your[Read More…]
Phulabai is a dalit woman farmer who, together with her husband, Sarman Chadaar, grows guavas and pomegranates on tiny plots of land. On another smaller plot they grow a diversity of vegetable crops with a few papaya trees standing in the middle of these. When I recently visited their one acre farm in Digaura village of Tikamgarh district (Madhya Pradesh),[Read More…]
The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report: Global growth is projected to decelerate sharply this year, to its third weakest pace in nearly three decades, overshadowed only by the 2009 and 2020 global recessions. This reflects synchronous policy tightening aimed at containing very high inflation, worsening financial conditions, and continued disruptions from the war in Ukraine. The WB said: Investment growth[Read More…]
Commemorating the 13th martyrdom day of revolutionary working class leader Comrade Sunil Pal, a Central Convention was successfully organized jointly by IFTU (Sarwahara) and Proletarian People’s Front at Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi on December 29th in, from 10 am to 5 pm. The topic of this convention was “Challenges ahead in the path of the revolutionary workers’ and peasants’[Read More…]
My friend of sixty years,founder-member of Delhi Socialist Teachers Forum with Manoranjan Mohanty,brother of brave human rights crusader in Kashmir Balraj Puri, has died after a painful struggle with cancer.His friends remember him as a caring and humane person,totally unassuming and yet making a deep impression on his friends with the depth of his knowledge and firmness of his convictions.[Read More…]
A sad Christmas. I have been receiving innumerable phone calls and messages from friends, comrades, and academics, expressing disbelief over TG Jacob’s demise. I am equally shocked. His departure was like an unannounced walkout. Just the previous morning we had a long chat over phone on the political situation in Kerala and elsewhere, his ongoing writing on Kerala’s development[Read More…]
In Bundelkhand region of Central India water tanks have constituted a very important component of efforts of communities to meet the water needs of people over the centuries. In particular the period of Chandela and Bundela rulers from 9th to 18th century has been identified as a time when royal patronage was extended to communities for creation of several thousand[Read More…]
Climate Stalemate: Uncle-Twinkle Dialogue on Planetary Politics – Part 5 Uncle: So, Twinkle, I am not sure if we should worry more about the science part of the climate crisis or the politics part of it? Twinkle: Uncle, I feel like “It’s the politics, stupid!” The climate crisis is very much here. No amount of networking, speaking, writing, researching, and[Read More…]
The division of Left political positions and ideological formulations over Russian invasion of Ukraine are disturbing. It sends a wrong message to the working-class politics across the globe. It is imperative for the Left to reflect on how its political confusions provide ideological justifications for different forms of wars and conflicts. None of the bourgeoisie wars and conflicts serve working[Read More…]
Claiming the October 2022 National Election as ‘stolen’, thousands of street goons who are supporters of neofascist Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil, had on January 8 stormed the country’s Parliament, Presidential Palace and Supreme Court destroying artwork and attempting to set fire Parliament from inside, according to videos circulated by global media. Revealingly, and as alleged by President Lula da[Read More…]
For the United Arab Emirates, it’s business as usual as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s newly formed government wastes no time in implementing hardline policies aimed at forcing Palestinians to give up on the notion of an independent state and accept Israeli rule. The UAE made that clear as it welcomed an Israeli delegation to Abu Dhabi this week to discuss[Read More…]
On January 8, 2023, large crowds of people—dressed in colors of the Brazilian flag—descended on the country’s capital, Brasília. They invaded the federal building and Supreme Court and vandalized public property. This attack by the rioters had been widely expected since the invaders had been planning “weekend demonstrations” for days on social media. On January 1, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as[Read More…]
Our Culture of Human Development and its Perceptions Societal development is a complex and challenging phenomenon encompassing social, moral, intellectual, economic, legal, humanitarian, psychological and political factors to clarify its manifestations. All human societies go through the turbulent changes, socio-economic and political chaos to attain clarity of purpose for a better world. Societies are structured on the basis of needs[Read More…]
China will not let the Asia-Pacific region turn into a hotspot for geopolitical conflict, and will defend its own sovereignty and integrity, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson declared on Monday. Media reports said: Speaking at a press briefing, Wang Wenbin responded to the news of a 10-member German delegation arriving on the self-governing island of Taiwan. He stressed that “the[Read More…]
Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began over three months ago, is in the closing phase of its journey as it is now in Haryana and heading for its destination in Srinagar. I had been following this yatra from Kanyakumari, its paying homage to Swami Vivekananda rock memorial and then carrying on its route, which covers twelve states and two Union territories.[Read More…]
On September 24, 2022, more than 30,000 people occupied the main roads of downtown Seoul, South Korea, for the nation’s largest climate justice march. The sheer turnout of people from all walks of life and the participation by a wide range of advocacy groups were a testament to the impact of climate change on every aspect of life: human rights, women’s rights,[Read More…]
CODEPINK is appalled and outraged at the attempted coup in Brazil that took place on January 8 by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Emulating the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, fascist and extreme-right groups stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices to subvert the constitutional order and call for a military intervention. The damage is much greater than[Read More…]
I am raising a serious issue that touches upon a person’s legal right of exclusive possession of his/her personal creation – whether a scientific formula, or a literary piece, or even a political programme. This is known as copyright, or patent in relation with certain products. If anyone uses that material without the permission of its original author, or fails [Read More…]
On January 8th the 6th martyrdom anniversary of Late Mata Gurdev Kaur was observed by Zameen Prapt Sangarsh Commitee in village Jaloor in Sangrur. Faces of participants were written with relentless spirit to pursue the path of Gurdev Kaur,who was martyred confronting caste oppression. Even of only around 400 persons participated, the event was qualitatively a hit. Gurdev Kaur was[Read More…]
Mali Parbat, a hill rich with Bauxite, sacred to local tribes in Koraput District of Odisha, is facing threat of destruction as Mining Giant Hindalco (Aditya Birla Group) is seeking to mine 268.1 hectares of land. The people are opposing the proposed mining for almost 2 decades and therefore, facing brute militarisation, intimidation and arrests. The matter is also being[Read More…]
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared a state of emergency in the Federal District of Brasilia after thousands of supporters of his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, organized a riot and overran the Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential Planalto Palace. The leftist leader, inaugurated last week, gave the order on Sunday, has appointed justice minister Ricardo[Read More…]
Just over half of states in the U.S. are struggling with slowing economic activity, which could be a signal of a looming recession, according to new research from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. The December report pointed out that typically when 26 states demonstrate falling economic numbers, it offers “reasonable confidence” the nation as a whole will go into[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Election Commission of India (ECI) Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner ECI Shri Arun Goel Election Commissioner ECI Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar/ Pandey/ Goel, I have addressed you a letter on 7-1-2022 (https://countercurrents.org/2023/01/use-of-remote-evms-for-migrants-eci-should-set-its-house-in-order/), in connection with the proposed introduction of remote EVMs for enfranchising migrant voters and, in that connection, I[Read More…]
India’s Prime Minister Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Welcoming Dinner during G20 Leaders’ Summit, 15th November 2022, in Badung, Bali. (Photo | PTI) It was the first time that the two leaders publicly exchanged words since a military standoff in Galwan Valley in April 2020. “Their exchange may not indicate a return to normalcy between the two[Read More…]
Iranian Americans this weekend rallied at the Lincoln Memorial in support of the “revolution” taking place in Iran where demonstrations determined to overthrow the Islamic regime continue. Today also marked the third anniversary of the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 by Iran. The civilian flight which had taken off from Tehran on January 8, 2020, was on[Read More…]
There is no god but God: Islamic belief. There is no race but human: scientific fact. The first holds true for many if not all the 1.8 billion Muslims of the world as a foundational belief. The second is true for all Muslims, Jews, Christians, agnostics, atheists, and all the other many belief systems based on creativity, hopes, dreams and[Read More…]
One surmises that the volunteer military system devised after the Vietnam debacle erases what had transpired before. Perhaps we all need to revisit that terrible era, when phony US incursions overseas had such horrific repercussions… on foreign nations and on our young men. As a college student in the late 60s and early 70s I had the ‘ Get out[Read More…]
There is no propaganda better than that which achieves totality. When worldviews coalesce into one small box that is crushed and cemented into the ground. It is this tightly framed ground that allows an internally uncontested, destructive US foreign policy to play another major role in famine and, also, in a country’s destruction. Pro-Saudi and the pro-Israel propaganda has had[Read More…]
Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” (Unite India March) has certainly helped him gain more than expected attention at practically all levels, from media, political rivals as well as supporters, common people and also celebrities. He and his party have apparently not spared investment of efforts, energy, time, funds and so much more. While these have contributed to him capture headlines[Read More…]
‘Eggs in our plate, no more debate’, read the placard being held by a 5-year-old in front of Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo’s residence on Sunday morning. He, along with his mother and at least 150 other women and children were demanding the inclusion of eggs in the aanganwadi and school meals as part of the Anda Do Campaign.[Read More…]
“Union Environment Ministry’s response vindicates our evidence and pointers on serious regulatory compromises in India’s appraisal and approval of GM mustard”: Coalition “Govt. should respond to each point with evidence, if regulatory processes were indeed correct and robust – we challenge the Ministry to do so” New Delhi, January 8th 2023: In a brief reply put out today, the Coalition[Read More…]
On the 25th anniversary of the brutal killing of Nirmal Singh Gill by white supremacists, one of the fastest growing municipalities of Canada made a proclamation to recognize the incident. Gill, a caretaker at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, laid down his life in the line of duty on January 4, 1998 when a group of neo Nazis[Read More…]
While so many differences have emerged in the context of the recent response to COVID-19 in various countries, one point on which it should be possible to establish wider agreement is that this response would have been much better if a robust, strong, rooted among people, trust-creating, community-based, well-resourced health system was in place in all rural as well as[Read More…]
Workers of Bhagwati Products based in Sidkul Pant Nagar and Zydus Wellness located in Sitarganj, Uttarakhand launched a rally and demonstrated at the district collectorate under the leadership of Shramik United Morcha Udham Singh Nagar with regard to resumption of work and other problems. On the conclusion of the rally, the workers of both the companies submitted a 6-point collective[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Shri Arun Goel Election Commissioner Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar/ Pandey/ Goel, I refer to the Commission’s proposal to introduce Remote EVMs to enable migrant workers to cast their votes in their home constituencies. While the Commission’s effort to include migrant workers in the electoral[Read More…]
What to make of it? History is filled with the deeds of blood-thirsty princes bold in ambition and feeble of mind. Massacres make the man, though there is often little to merit the person behind it. The Duke of Sussex seemingly wishes to add his name to that list. In what can only be described as one of his “Nazi[Read More…]
On January 3, 2023, Shaun Tandon of Agence France-Presse asked U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price about Venezuela. In late December, the Venezuelan opposition after a fractious debate decided to dissolve the “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó. From 2019 onward, the U.S. government recognized Guaidó as the “interim president of Venezuela.” With the end of Guaidó’s administration, Tandon asked if “the United States still recognize[s] Juan Guaidó as legitimate[Read More…]
When the newsstand of Giuseppe Trani was swept away by massive flooding that devastated the southern Italian town of Casamicciola, near Naples, the 70-year-old man lost everything. Not for long, though, as the townsfolk, who were also affected by the flooding and landslides experienced throughout the whole region, raised the needed funds to help Trani rebuild his kiosk. It is[Read More…]
Like so many other days, January 6th has always been just another day of no particular note. But in 2021 that day was transformed into one of our country’s least proud moments as insurrectionists stormed the Capitol at Trump’s beckoning to overthrow the government because of his unwillingness to accept that he had lost the 2020 election. That day is[Read More…]
by A.K Shiburaj/Jyotibhai Desai Jyotibhai Desai is a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi whose life is lived true to the principles of the Gandhian philosophy. Jyotibai’s life-work has evolved in a place that has seen the worst instance of communal violence in contemporary India’s history. Yet he wields with conviction the philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence) in the midst of this violence.[Read More…]
For a prolonged period of 18-19 years Bhojan Mata workers of Uttarakhand have dedicatedly served the schools, and are now unceremoniously being rusticated. They have been subjected to severe turmoil in recent times, being denied adequate wages, and paid a meagre Rs 2000 Salary. The administration has displayed sheer apathy to their plight. Displaying relentless spirit women food works lodged[Read More…]
As the many-sided risks and harms of GM crops are so serious, obvious and well-established, it is only to be expected that any completely unbiased appraisal and regulatory system will not allow their approval and spread. Hence it is an important part of the big business agenda of dominating world food and farming via GM crops to weaken the appraisal[Read More…]
No end to the Ukraine War is in sight. Peace and solutions to the problems have been made conditional to too many big “ifs” and “when’s”. Wrong calculations from both sides have led to the present stalemate. And instead of looking for a reasonable and mutually acceptable way out, they are trying to achieve a unilateral victory that is not[Read More…]
The on-going imperialist war in Europe is exposing a few facts. These include a section of press – its condition. Estonia is now an example. Newspaper in Estonia The daily Eesti Paevaleht (Estonia Daily) informed on Tuesday: Estonia will have no newspapers published in its official language in print on Mondays starting from mid-January due to delivery price hikes. The[Read More…]
The dependency theory of development was first come up with a Latin American economist Raul Prebisch, and was centered around the development of third world or underdeveloped countries. It was proposed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when the underdeveloped state of the global south started being given attention to. This theory was set out to problematize the Modernization theory, which[Read More…]
The world economy will slide into a recession in 2023 as a number of economies will contract due to surging borrowing costs introduced to combat inflation, the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has predicted in its latest report. The world economy surpassed $100 trillion for the first time ever in 2022 but will stall in 2023 as[Read More…]
There were strong reasons why the issue of impending demolitions in Haldwani had so quickly led to national level sympathy and support for the threatened nearly 50,000 people, and there are equally strong reasons why the Supreme Court order of January 5 providing relief to them deserves widespread appreciation. It is obvious that the badly threatened, deeply worried people, faced[Read More…]
Planet Earth is in desperate need of an honest discussion about the elimination of nuclear weapons and, God help us, ultimately transcending war. What is democracy but platitudes and dog whistles? The national direction is quietly predetermined — it’s not up for debate. The president’s role is to sell it to the public; you might say he’s the public-relations director[Read More…]
Let me start 2023 with a glance back at a December news moment that caught my eye. To do so, however, I have to offer a bit of explanation. First, the obvious: I’m an old guy and, though I spend significant parts of any day scrolling through endless websites covering aspects of our ever-changing world, I have a subscription —[Read More…]
A Book Review of Lesley Hazleton’s The First Muslim My consideration of this article’s titular question was almost physically confrontational – so much so that I actually boycotted my smartphone for a week so that I could finish reading this book and organize my thoughts on it. To be clear, as a practicing Muslim living in the contemporary day, it[Read More…]
The problems of the employees of Delhi Transport Corporation are aggravating, day by day.DTC Employees Ekta Union’ wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Delhi informing him about the problems faced by the employees. The union says that the pensioners of Delhi Transport Corporation have been denied pension for the last 2 months. Apart from this, the union has[Read More…]
The loss is not that much: Only near to $2trillion; and the US billionaires’ loss was the biggest. A recent report by Forbes said: The billionaires of today’s world have had a tough 2022, as their total lost went near to $2 trillion combined. These benevolent gentlepersons, however, gathered trillions of dollars in their collective coffer during the previous two[Read More…]
In a fair world, Aruna Rodrigues would be heralded as an incredible individual for her ongoing struggle to protect the socio-economic and environmental integrity of India. So says respected environmentalist, author and campaigner Leo Saldanha. He adds: “Since 2005, she has tirelessly pursued a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India, in which she has made a case[Read More…]
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr and his wife Maria Louise at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 4, 2023. Photo: Xinhua In an important development in the south-east Asia region, China and the Philippines have agreed on issues vital for the region and in the[Read More…]
To Smt Droupadi Murmu President of India Rashtrapati Bhawan Subject:- Migrant Gutti Koyas (Murias) in Telangana facing a humanitarian crisis- Urgent need for recognition of their Constitutional rights in Telangana, AP, Odisha and Maharashtra Respected Rashtrapati Ji, A severe conflict situation in Chhattisgarh State since 2005-06 has forced more than 50,000 Muria adivasis, recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in their[Read More…]
‘The Journey of Farmers Rebellion’ is one of the most positive, productive or informative compilations or any reader wishing to gain an insight into the vagaries or intricacies of the farmers protest in Delhi. It portrays a diagnosis uncovering a wide spectrum of views. The book is a perfect manifestation of the relentless non –sectarian spirit of the movement. It[Read More…]
Even before the new Israeli government was officially sworn in on December 29, angry reactions began emerging, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s historic allies in the West. As early as November 2, top US officials conveyed to Axios that the Joe Biden Administration is “unlikely to engage with Jewish supremacist politician, Itamar[Read More…]
Survivors and family members of victims of the massacre in Ayacucho on December 15 denounce that the army treated protesters like war targets, reminiscent of violence faced during the internal armed conflict. On December 15, 2022, while helicopters flew overhead, members of Peru’s national army shot down civilians with live bullets in the outskirts of the city of Ayacucho. This action was[Read More…]
Law professor Mary Wood breaks down how people can protect their right to clean air, water, and land as well as fortify their climate change resiliency. With the reality of climate change becoming more apparent in the form of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, and floods, it is clear that the future of all life on the[Read More…]
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted last week to refer Israel to the International Court of Justice (World Court) for its on-going violation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza and for adopting measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the holy city[Read More…]
Millions of domestic workers in India, an overwhelming majority of them women, have suffered reduced real earnings and increased debts in recent times. In fact in some cases even actual earnings have declined, while after taking into account the impact of inflation, the decline of real wages can be seen in almost all cases. Aasmeen leaves her home in Shahbad[Read More…]
by A K Shiburaj/Helena Norberg-Hodge Helena Norberg Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures, an organization working to revitalize cultural and biological diversity and empower local communities and economies around the world. Helena’s book ‘Ancient Futures’, which explains the traditions of the people of Ladakh and the changes in their culture, has received international attention. Translated into Malayalam[Read More…]
Brazil’s newly elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has scrapped plans to sell off eight state-run corporate giants, including the oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, Brazilian news website G1 reported on Monday. Lula was sworn in as Brazil’s president on January 1. He was president also from 2003 through 2010. Imprisoned for false charge of graft in[Read More…]
In a country where most people face severe constraints in the struggle to meet their basic needs, the question of housing is the most challenging one for many of them, particularly in urban areas. Most of them have to use each and every paisa of their meager savings and incur loans in very difficult circumstances in order to be able[Read More…]
by Suryashekhar Biswas & Sachi Workers of the Indian Telecommunication Industries Ltd. (ITI) have been on a sit-in protest outside the factory premises in Dooravani Nagar, Bangalore, since 1 December 2021. They have been protesting against their arbitrary termination from work following the formation of a union and demanding their basic rights—such as equal treatment for workers from marginalised castes[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, known for his staunch support for Ukraine, recently revealed his greatest fear for this winter to a TV interviewer in his native Norway: that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a major war between NATO and Russia. “If things go wrong,” he[Read More…]
Three days into the New Year. Three murders in Palestine. Don’t let us allow these martyrs to become just the opening numbers in the Israeli score of dead Palestinians, 2023. Three young men, filled with hope and with anger had families, loved ones. They had dreams and ambitions, so let us name them, respect them and mourn their short lives.[Read More…]
How Great Britain fell for a confidence trick In the 1960s, when Great Britain twice sought entry into then the EEC/EC, the historian Sir Arthur Bryant issued an unheeded warning: “Once in the common market, we shall be a minority in an organization in which the decisions of the majority will have the power to bind the minority, not only[Read More…]
Living here in ‘ Death Valley’ AKA Florida one can see the results of having a governor like Captain Ron as I label him. One can go back to Weimar Germany circa 1930 when the Nazi Party gained popularity amongst many working stiffs. It seems that it is always anger and disillusionment that gets people off their duffs to follow[Read More…]
While readers need no introduction to Hermann Göring, head of the Nazi Luftwaffe and Hitler’s onetime designated successor, Göring’s explanation of how to convince the people of a nation to go to war may not be as familiar. During his trial for war crimes at Nuremburg in 1946 Göring said: “Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia,[Read More…]
An incident of a gruesome murder has come to the fore after the rape of a 7-year-old girl in Faridabad, Haryana. This case engulfs Ankhir village, where Ravinder alias Raja’s son Jai Prakash raped and murdered the daughter of a daily wage labourer family, Munni (name changed), living in a small rented room on December 27. Presently the police have[Read More…]
If workers struggle for a long time for protective legislation and also succeed in their aim, but the protective law is threatened by dilution and restrictive changes even before its benefits can reach most workers, then should they not re-assert to protect this law? This is a question which construction workers face today in the context of the threat of[Read More…]
While peace and environment protection have always been important, now these have acquired the greatest urgency in the form of survival issues as basic life nurturing conditions are threatened now as never before by the most dangerous weapons and wars on the one hand and a range of very serious environmental problems led by climate change on the other hand.[Read More…]
2023 is expected to be even “tougher” than 2022 as the U.S., EU and Chinese economies slow down, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ukraine conflict, soaring prices, hiked interest rates and unrelenting Covid in China will continue to exert an impact on the global economy, Kristalina Georgieva told CBS’ Face the Nation program on[Read More…]
Metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else. Aristotle, Poetics (1457b) It all seemed familiar. Anthropomorphised Mother Nature in vengeful mood; humans wondering if they might meet a frozen demise in trapped vehicles; the planners taking stock as to how best to cope with grim circumstances. The New York State governor Kathy Hochul was happy[Read More…]
Planet on the Boil: Twinkle-Uncle Dialogue on Climate Stalemate Uncle: Among all these A-B-C-D’s where exactly are we, Twinkle? Twinkle: Uncle, we do and must take an unambiguous and uncompromising position that the climate crisis is a real and direct threat to our common home, the Earth. There are huge fault lines in the debate as we have already discussed.[Read More…]
In Banbhalpur basti in Haldwani town of Uttarkhand, residents are waging a resolute battle to protect their bastis. A candle march was launched comprising local residents and activists of progressive organisations. Strong solidarity was offered by the Socialist groups to the working and toiling people. On 27th December a joint meeting was held by Socialist groups .Over a thousand people[Read More…]
Much heart-burning and grumbling seem to have followed the not unexpected SC verdict on Demonetisation.It was a little naive to expect the contrary.For had the SC verdict gone the other way,it would not have been a mere loss of face for the PM.It would have conceivably gone all the way to delegitimise the Modi government,and the consequences might have led[Read More…]
The incident referred to as Trincomalee massacre in 2006 happened when five minority Sri Lankan Tamil high school students playing by the beach were briefly detained and then shot dead by Special Task Force These five Tamil students were shot and killed at point blank range by the STF whilst they spent an afternoon on the beach in Trincomalee. The[Read More…]
Camp Lejeune, a military base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, was established in 1942 to train future Marines for World War II. While it is known as the home of “Expeditionary Forces in Readiness,” the facility also has a long history of contamination with toxic chemicals such as perchloroethylene, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, and benzene. In 1982, volatile organic compounds—gasses released by these solvents—were found at Camp[Read More…]
Another critical year for Palestine has folded. While 2022 has wrought much of the same in terms of Israeli military occupation and increasing violence, it also introduced new variables to the Palestinian struggle – nationally, regionally and internationally. Palestine, the War and the Arabs The Russia-Ukraine war starting in February pressured many political entities, including Palestinians, to take sides or,[Read More…]
A strategy for Palestinian supporters to gain control of the narrative and successfully counter charges of anti-Semitism will enable the moral and legal systems to bring the oppressors’ supporters to justice. In community devastation, destruction of the Palestinian people ranks with the most severe. A group of foreign people invaded a land, seized property and resources from native people, expelled[Read More…]
Map of western sector of LAC, with different claim lines. On July 1, 1954, Nehru wrote a directive ordering the withdrawal of “all our old maps dealing with the frontier – new maps should be printed showing our Northern and North-Eastern frontier…These new maps should also not state that there is any un-demarcated territory.” China built in Aksai chin a[Read More…]
A film on “GM Mustard: Facts and Lies” an interview with Devinder Sharma, Agriculture and Food Policy Expert.
Today, on 3rd January, 2023, the nation is celebrating 192nd birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, who was a great social reformer, educationist, author and poet. She was born on 3rd January, 1831 at Naigaon in Satara region of British India. As per the tradition of that time Savitrabai Phule was married to the Jyotiba Phule at the age of[Read More…]
In Haldwani, Uttarakhand, the struggle of the people of Banbhulpura against the bulldozer rule heroically simmers at full pitch. On the evening of Thursday, 29 December, a huge candle march was taken out in Banbhulpura area to protect settlements. The people of Banbhulpura flung on the streets to protest against the action of bulldozers demolishing thousands of houses built on[Read More…]
A Brief Report on the violence against the Church‐going Adivasi Community of Narayanpur and Kondagaon in Bastar, Chhattisgarh Summary A 6‐member team of CBA visited the church‐going community2 of Narayanpur and Kondagaon on 24.12.2022, who had been driven out of their traditional villages and had taken shelter in the Indoor Stadium at Narayanpur following large scale violence against the community[Read More…]
There was the punk scene, Malcolm McLaren, their racy clothes shop at 430 King’s Road that started out as Let it Rock, the creation of a look, and the gathering of the earth rumbling Sex Pistols. In fact, the late Dame Vivienne Westwood was already a proven stirrer, suggesting that she, not Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, a.k.a Johnny Rotten,[Read More…]
Peace activists take on the Pentagon and its corporate outposts. Days after a U.S. warplane bombed a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing forty-two people, twenty-four of them patients, the international president of MSF, Dr. Joanne Liu walked through the wreckage and prepared to deliver condolences to family members of those who had been killed. A brief[Read More…]
Can you imagine walking downtown in Seattle, Vancouver, New York, Toronto, or any other burg in Canada or the United States and not seeing any panhandlers? This homelessness, begging, and dumpster diving is not confined to major urban centers. Last week, I was in Yellowknife, the capital of Denedeh (Home of the People; colonially designated as Northwest Territories), home to[Read More…]
How Construction Workers Sink Deeper into Poverty and Debt Keshav and Somvati are residents of a hut in Shahbad dairy colony of Delhi. When lockdown was announced in 2020 they were in Gujarat to work in a construction project. The closure was so sudden and placed them in such a difficult position in a new area where they had hardly[Read More…]
As a child, I would watch with trepidation-tinged excitement and fascination the conversation between one of my uncles and the long-haired, sickle-sword wielding “velichappaad” (oracle through whom a revered deity, mostly the Goddess Bhagavati, would speak). This is how the conversation would play out. The long-haired velichappaad, ritualistically adorned and armed (anklets, waist-belt with bells and a sickle-sword), whole body[Read More…]
Charles Dickens, the celebrated 19th century novelist, earned good money through public reading of his works in England and the U.S.to wipe out his father’s and his own debt. His parents and younger brothers had been carted off to debtors’ jail. Only 12-year-old Charles stayed behind, working in a blacking factory to pay their bills. Those long miserable months,an obsever [Read More…]
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared his first in-office New Year message on Saturday, admitting that “it has been a very tough year for the UK” and that the country’s problems “would not go away” in 2023 either. The PM largely blamed Britain’s hardships on Russia and its conflict with Ukraine. “I am not going to pretend that all our[Read More…]
‘World Turned Upside Down’ by Amit Bhattacharya is a most lucid, comprehensive work,an integral part of a library of any Marxist or revolutionary democrat. It is dissected into 5 chapters comprising ‘Imperialist development, ‘People’s Resistance’,’ Repression’, ‘People’s Development and ‘Emergence of new human beings’. Most comprehensively Bhattacharya diagnoses the essence of the anti-people nature of the globalisation and liberalization policies[Read More…]
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (2020) | ISBN 978-93-90166-27-5 No matter how hard you try, you can never stop yourself from making the mistake of understanding the idea of money in a purely emotionless manner. And, that is why, for reasons well know, it is said that “Some people are so poor that all they have is money”![Read More…]
When two path-breaking laws were passed in India in 1996 for construction workers, there was great hope among tens of millions of these workers for a range of benefits and welfare measures promised by these laws. Despite a delayed and hesitant start, these hopes got a boost more recently when the Supreme Court gave strong directions for the better implementation[Read More…]
The World Economy Is Changing—the People Know, but Their Leaders Don’t 
Tribute to Chris Hani on 30th martyrdom Anniversary 
Proper Treatment of Rail Accident Victims Demands Long-term Commitment and Support 
What the Kailasa Con Job Reveals About the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh 
Release activists incarcerated in Bhima Koregaon Case 
The writing is on the wall: Farmers warn Parliamentarians 
The End Stage of American Empire 
End the culture of impunity and arrest accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh now 
Brasilia summit: Lula and Maduro reboot regional integration 
Steaming Ahead: Sikkim’s First Rail Project to Boost Connectivity by 2024 
Five years behind bars for five activists 
Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case 
Diluted Sovereignty: A Very Australian Example 
Conflict, Migration, and Demography in Russia and Its Border Regions 
Railway Safety Has Been Short of Funds, Needs Early Increase 
Notes on two recent sensations 
A shocking picture of health apathy….. 
Railway accident in Odisha- Are the Railways ready for high-speed trains? Who is to be blamed? 
Teaser of Film on Savarkar: Lies Galore 
Preserving India’s Heritage: The Power of International Collaboration for Natural and Cultural Conservation 
Looking for Home in an Overheating World – If Emissions Continue, Will We All Be Migrants Someday? 
From Ploughshares to Swords—Sudden Militarism of Those Who Once Stood for Peace 
Transreality 
Australia stands to benefit from India only if Indian democracy survives, not from rallies 
Whether Rhetoric or Serious, Arab Diplomacy Can’t Be Ignored! 
Unleashing the Power of Sports: How Sporting Events Drive Tourism Growth 
Black Panther and the need to dream for a better world 
Mexico’s Zapatistas Warn Chiapas Is on “the Verge of Civil War” 
Why distress from railway accidents may be much higher than is commonly believed 
Stop Plastic Pollution as We Commemorate 50th World Environment Day 2023 
Modi Regime should be Called to Account for the Deadliest Triple Train Collision at Balasore 
Thoughts on World Environment Day 
Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation 
Why There Should Be A Treaty Against the Use of Weaponized Drones 
Protests in Germany after Anti-fascists sent to five years in prison 
Women Wrestler’s Protests: Exposing Beti Bachao Slogan 
Inauguration of Parliament Building: Coronation Ceremony? 
FBI appears to be continuing investigation of Julian Assange 
And We Are Much More Than Our Uterus. (In Solidarity With the protesting wrestlers) 
Strike ends in Belsonika with reinstatement of 10 suspended workers 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
