Mr Hemant Gokhale, who retired as a judge of the Supreme court in 2014, is among the more unusual members of the Indian judiciary. He has been an activist since his days as a law student during the days of the influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan. In 1971 he, along with Hussein Dalwai and some of his[Read More…]
India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their codes of personal law. This has been seen as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding the right of citizens to practice their faith, as enshrined in the Constitution. The Constitution grants equal protection under the law to all citizens. That[Read More…]
NAPM calls for resistance against ‘Gujarat to Varanasi Model of Demolition’! 30th June, 2023: NAPM condemns the brazen and disgraceful attempts by the Bhartiya Janata Party Government to arbitrarily occupy and destroy two of the most reputed Gandhian institutions of the country, Gandhi Vidya Sansthan and Sarva Seva Sangh, situated in Varanasi, the constituency of none other, but the Prime[Read More…]
Kiev’s inability to penetrate Russian defensive lines should serve as a “wake-up call” in Washington, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh warned on Thursday. Citing battlefield statistics obtained from an unnamed source, Hersh claimed that Ukrainian forces have only managed to capture two square miles of Russian-held land over the last ten days of fighting. In the two weeks beforehand, he continued, the Ukrainian military took[Read More…]
The 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections was a mile-stone in the fight for saving Indian democracy from the Hindutva onslaught. Congress defeated RSS-BJP convincingly. Though it was a State election but the results had national ramifications. Karnataka had become the newest Hindutva laboratory; the RSS-BJP campaigners used every dirty trick in the Hindutva armoury of communal polarization to put a stamp[Read More…]
by Sandra Elizabeth Joseph, Apoorva Yarabahally, Sukanya Maity and Snigdha Jayakrishnan A response from few members of Aijaz Ahmad Memorial Study circle(AAMSC), in the light of suspension of four professors from the university for their alleged association (which we completely deny) with our study circle. It was not so long ago, in an interdisciplinary course called ‘Introduction to South Asia’[Read More…]
Sports stars are making a heated rush for it, cresting on the money wave, and finding sanctuary in Mammon’s big breasted glory. And that wave is coming, oddly enough, from a desert country, alien to such matters till recent decades, when oil came with blessings and political power. After colonising international golf with a throat crushing ruthlessness, the Kingdom of[Read More…]
The framework of our civilization is premised on the destruction of the planet. The struggle for environmental justice in Africa is complex and broad. It is the continuation of the fight for the liberation of the continent and for socio-ecological transformation. It is a fact that the environment is our life: The soil, rivers, and air are not inanimate or[Read More…]
Field Notes from the Frontlines of the Government’s War on the Left “There must be some kind of way out of here…” As night fell over the South River Forest, the music festival was in full swing. Young and old swayed to the sounds of Suede Cassidy. Families gathered around the grill. Little ones frolicked in an inflatable bouncy house[Read More…]
A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and India has been discussed for a long time—first from 2007 to 2013 and then, despite the many problems experienced then rendering the negotiations unsuccessful, these negotiations were revived two years ago and more formally these have continued for the last one year since June 2022. However it is clear already[Read More…]
Between the night of June 22nd and the morning of June 23rd inhabitants of the Três Pontes favela, in the western Rio de Janeiro, rose up in revolt after the killing of a worker during an operation by the Civil Police. The murdered Guilherme Morais (22) was in the process of delivering food when the operation began. The cops used[Read More…]
With the possible addition of 200 more autonomous vehicle (AVS) robotaxis in San Francisco, demonstrators opposed to their deployment vented their frustration this morning outside the offices of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) who will decide whether to move ahead with approving the proposal. The meeting scheduled for this morning at the last minute was moved back to the[Read More…]
On Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation for the second time with the intention to bring the curtain down on the coup attempt by Wagner “founder” Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 23-24. It was quintessentially a self-congratulatory speech — well-deserved, perhaps. The speech had four principal elements. First, Putin took note right at the outset the “restraint, cohesion and patriotism” that[Read More…]
![Smoke fills the sky reducing visibility Wednesday, June 28, 2023 in Detroit. [AP Photo/Paul Sancya]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/wildfire-1-200x150.webp "Over 120 million Americans under air quality alerts as wildfires continue to rage across Canada 28")
Over 120 million people, or more than a third of the US population, were under air quality alerts in over a dozen states spanning from the Midwest to the East Coast, as a result of an immense smoke plume from hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada. Canada is presently experiencing the most destructive wildfire season in the country’s history, a[Read More…]
“I don’t think rape is about sex. It is about violence and the need for power… “We talk of sexual violence. We don’t talk enough about patriarchy. We don’t talk enough about equality. We don’t talk about discrimination… “Quotidian violence to women is normalized, whereas rape is moralized… “Dalit village women have never been given space besides picking up cow[Read More…]
The Doctrine (1823) The doctrine was presented by the 5-th U.S. President James Monroe (1817−1825) in 1823 as an official warning to (West) European powers that any European policy of imperialistic expansionism on the ground of the Americas (North, Central, and South or Anglo-Francophone and Latin, i.e., Spanish & Portuguese) was going to be taken into account by Washington as[Read More…]
![The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 5: Sketch of a jab and resistance]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/socialism-200x150.jpg "The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 5: Sketch of a jab and resistance] 32")
The mainstream abstains from discussing two aspects of the partition, a dagger-act: the harm to people’s struggle for a democratic, dignified life free from injustice and exploitation, and resistance by and suffering of the Communist Party, the political party standing for the exploited, to the dagger-job. Years back, it was told in detail in Frontier, the famous independent socialist weekly[Read More…]
Riots sparked by the death of a teenager in a police shooting continued into the early hours on Thursday. More than 70 people have been detained in Paris suburbs. The riots spread to major French cities. Media reports said: Protests broke out in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday, but have since spread to other major cities, including Toulouse,[Read More…]
Our Prime Minister chose the right time – may be after consulting his astrologers – to visit the US. With around eight months left for the next parliamentary polls, and facing increasing anti-incumbency popular mood, he needed a diversionary path to neutralize that mood. Biden’s invitation offered him that opportunity. The basketful of gifts of defence equipment and promises of [Read More…]
Ukraine’s people desperately need a future based on welfare and peace, and this is what all of their sincere friends would desire, but in reality Ukraine is being driven towards the kind of huge indebtedness that leads to subservience and dominance by those countries (or institutions controlled by them) which own the loans, a condition that cannot bring peace and[Read More…]
by Gary M. Feinman and David M. Carballo Recent archaeology emerging from ancient Mesoamerica is flipping the script of public understanding about the people and institutions that inhabited this world: the evidence tells us that cooperative and pluralistic government was at least as common as and more resilient than despotic states. This more complex picture and the achievements of Mesoamerica’s[Read More…]
On 26 June, 2023, a four-member team led by Uttarakhand Mahila Manch from Dehradun visited Purola town in Uttarkashi district. The team consisted of Kamla Pant, Geeta Gairola, Ranjana Padhi and Chandrakala. The objective of the team’s visit was to understand the reasons that triggered communal tension a month earlier in Purola and to apprise the current situation. The preliminary[Read More…]
Hiramani Munda (Asha Di) has been convicted with life imprisonment in the ‘NIA and ATS Special Court, Lucknow’ on 9th June 2023 under different sections of UAPA and section 120B, 121, 121A of IPC. Asha Di has been fabricated with charges of sedition. Aged 53, she integrated with the democratic and left movement from her very youth. Asha Di has[Read More…]
The brazen murder of the President of Surrey-Delta Gurdwara on Sunday, June 18 has left many of us devastated. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a tireless community activist and a hardworking family man, who earned his livelihood as a plumber. He was shot to death by at least two unidentified assailants on Father’s Day, when he was heading home to spend[Read More…]
Two class forces were standing opposed to each other in the land: on the one hand, there was the force of the exploiting classes – the landed and capitalist classes, and at the head of them, the imperialist masters; and, in its opposition, was the force of exploited classes – the exploited peasantry and the industrial workers. In terms of[Read More…]
US neoconservatives like Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan and Tony Blinken are using Ukraine as the linchpin of their strategy to undermine and destabilise Russia. Since the start of the conflict in February 2022, billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware has been sent to Ukraine by the EU. By late February 2023, it had forwarded €3.6 billion worth of military assistance[Read More…]
by Aerica Rishiraj, Raktimava Bose, and Omar Raad Chowdhury Climate change is often discussed in terms of rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and threats to food security. But there is another devastating consequence of our warming planet that often goes overlooked: the impact on child marriages. Nowhere is this more evident than in Bangladesh, which is quite prone to[Read More…]
Last week, Goans woke up to their newspapers carrying rather uncanny news. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had summoned Goans to eradicate all signs and vestiges of Portuguese rule, and to ‘launch a fresh history’ for Goa. Commemorating 60 years of liberation from the Portuguese, Sawant recounted that Indians are also memorialising the 75th year of India’s Independence. He queried as[Read More…]
In recent years wildfires have spread uncontrollably over very vast areas in American and Australian continents, causing immense losses including loss of human and animal life and endangering environment in various ways. Their adverse impacts on pollution and health have travelled far and wide, creating health problems even in leading cities like New York. In this context one question that[Read More…]
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for a ceasefire in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev as soon as possible. He warned that otherwise Ukraine will “lose a huge amount of wealth and many lives, and unimaginable destruction will happen. That is why peace is the only solution at this moment.” However, he said fighting would not stop until Kiev’s[Read More…]
Several times in recent weeks I’ve heard people suggest that Mother Nature has been speaking to us through that smoke endlessly drifting south from the still-raging Canadian wildfires. She’s saying that she wants the coal, oil, and gas left in the ground, but I fear her message will have little more influence on climate policy than her previous ones did. After all,[Read More…]
On June 19, a large Israeli military force raided the northern Palestinian town and refugee camp of Jenin from multiple directions. Not only did the raid fail, it backfired, and it also created a precedent in Israel’s decades-long war on the ever-rebellious Palestinian region. Israel killed eight Palestinians and wounded 91 more, following hours of clashes involving Israeli soldiers, on[Read More…]
The last refugee, for now, has left the small, guano-producing state of Nauru. For a decade, the Pacific Island state served as one of Australia’s offshore prisons for refugees and asylum seekers, a cruel deterrent to those daring to exercise their right to seek asylum via the sea. Since July 2013, 3,127 people making the naval journey to Australia to[Read More…]
It’s now possible to grow leather without raising and killing animals. A warehouse filled with huge gleaming silver vats hums around the clock, as billions of yeast cells work to make a material we can wear, sit on and carry around. In an adjoining room, rows of benches hold molds of different shapes and sizes, where sheets of cellulose layer[Read More…]
Imagine that you are incarcerated for 20 years of which you had spent 1400 days in a solitary cell having no contacts with anyone except your prison guard. Imagine that while serving the time in a federal prison you were viciously attacked by fellow inmates in which major parts of your body got burned and yet no investigation was conducted[Read More…]
Sometimes you wake up from a dream to realize it is telling you to pay close attention to the depth of its message, especially when it is linked to what you have been thinking about for days. I have just come up from a dream in which I went down to the cellar of the house I grew up in[Read More…]
Democrats worldwide should in no uncertain terms defend the freedom of Brazilian peasant Luzivaldo de Souza Araújo, 42 years old, and his brother Robélio, 30 years old.They are languishing behind in prison unjustly since 2019, being framed of staging a conspiracy, where the big landlords are in complete control of the region. Peasant Luzivaldo de Souza Araújo and his brother[Read More…]
Last year, I had the opportunity to work with the youth from the indigenous/ tribal more aptly called the Adivasi communities in India in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve across the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India. In the months that followed, I was privileged to get a glimpse into their cultures, traditions and most importantly their sense[Read More…]
The past few months have been a topsy turvy ride for the Hindi cinema with several films falling like nine pins and at the same time few films taking everyone with surprise. But this article is not supposed to cater to analysis of the box office mechanism, but rather deal with the political climate that is defining and shaping the[Read More…]
![The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 3: No map?]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/partition-of-India-200x150.jpg "The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 3: No map?] 78")
How the colonial masters left this land? Two descriptions below tell their exit. Yasmin Khan writes in The Great Partition: The making of India and Pakistan: “[There were no] maps to help even the most well-informed English-speaking listener understand what was happening. It was left to the newspapers to publish their own creative interpretations of exactly where a new borderline,[Read More…]
Ubaydi, north-west Iraq. A boy clings to his father after his mother and the rest of the family fled. US marines took over the town the day before the photograph was taken as part of an offensive against insurgents in the region. Iraqis had to flee the town except for all men of military age who were detained. Photograph: Sean[Read More…]
Listening to Karan Thapar’s numerous interviews with Meitei and Kuki interlocutors on the Manipur situation,I carried away the impression that it is not possible to acquire a clear idea of the situation through the haze of pain,grief and anger of the victims,however affecting these are.At the opposite pole neither is it possible to grasp the truth behind the Prime Minister’s[Read More…]
There are outstanding autobiographies by dalit or Buddhist writers in Marathi. Sharad Baviskar’s acclaimed autobiography Bhoora is very different, it gives you so many insights into issues of language and the Indian educational system, he is trained in philosophy and French and English language. He is professor in the centre of French and Francophone Studies in JNU, Jawaharlal Nehru University.[Read More…]
To Shri A L Meena Union Coal Secretary Dear Shri Meena, I refer to the notification issued by your Ministry on June 14, 2023, proposing the auction of 98 coal blocks in different States, including Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana. I find that many of those coal blocks are located in tribal areas notified under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution,[Read More…]
On May 17 suddenly I got a video on my watsapp. When I opened it I saw the title “Kancha Ilaiah shepherd: Bharat Vikhander”. Two supposedly experts on my work, Sharada Narayanan and Shubhodeep Mukhopadhyay, wrote an essay on me and my work in a book that was said to have been edited by Rajiv Malhotra and Divya Reddy. Both the[Read More…]
by Dr Mohit Kumar Gupta & Ashish Kumar Singh Human Rights are the ‘legal soul’ of an individual. If perhaps they could be made ‘soul’ only. The violation of these rights in any of the ways, be it either their brazen negligence by the State machinery or any loophole in their enforcement through the court of law necessarily carries consequences[Read More…]
Perhaps our all new AI colleague deepai.org had eastern Germany’s well-known Bauhaus in mind when creating the above photo. To the unsuspecting observer, AI’s impression might even look a bit like an East German doppelganger of Bauhaus. With or without Bauhaus, the following shows “how Germany’s East ticks.” Only a few days ago, East-Germans elected a right-wing extremist AfD candidate[Read More…]
PM Modi said in a press conference that the religious minorities in India do not face any discrimination and that India’s democracy remains faultless during his infamous visit to the US. However, it is common knowledge that the scenario in India could not be more different. Despite being a secular state, India as a nation has not lived up to[Read More…]
Sunday evening. It was cold outside and my wife and I decided to light the fire and settle down to watch a movie. We searched, as you do, through the plethora of channels on offer nowadays, until we saw a movie called ‘The Promise’ on Prime. The very name evoked memories. Twelve years ago, in 2011, director Peter Kominsky made[Read More…]
A lot of nonsense is being spouted by a bevy of spontaneous “Russian experts” in light of the Prigozhin spray, a mutiny (no one quite knows what to call it), stillborn in the Russian Federation. It all fell to the theatrical sponsor, promoter and rabble rouser Yevgeny Prigozhin, a convict who rose through the ranks of the deceased Soviet state[Read More…]
While the many-sided destruction that has taken place and is taking place in the Ukraine conflict is a matter of deep concern, there are two related matters which should cause even higher worry and concern. Firstly, it is deeply worrying that despite 16 months of conflict having passed, there appear to be no signs today of any breakthrough for bringing[Read More…]
Reflections on Human Equality of Social Life The social welfare system includes applying the structures, ideologies, and approaches in the study of social welfare to real world challenges and issues. A country’s social welfare system is a critical component in determining the quality of life and well being of its citizens.1 In many ways, Canada’s social status in the world[Read More…]
“We are afraid to open our mouths. There is nothing we can do for ourselves. It is those outside the state who must speak up for us,” a Christian academician and scholar based in Churchandpur, Manipur, told this author under conditions of anonymity; that’s the level of fear among the Kuki-Zo in the state. ”It’s not just the Meitei extremist[Read More…]
An overview of Manipur’s three-way ethnic conflict between Meitei, Naga and Kuki groups, which started since the era of British rule and the Anglo-Kuki war of 1917-19 during World War I One regularly sees headlines describing the clashes in Manipur as ‘attacks on Christians’ because more than 100 churches and some temples have been attacked. That gives a communal colour[Read More…]
A Muslim man was beaten to death (lynched) for allegedly transporting beef in Nashik, Maharashtra another one seriously injured. The two victims identified as Afan Ansari aged 32 and Nasir Qureshi aged 24 were seriously injured in the attack. Afsan Ansari was pronounced dead. They were traveling in a car to Mumbai, when they were attacked by the cow vigilantes[Read More…]
Transgender rights are a heated topic across forums in the country and make for long panel discussions and boardroom conversations. Rules under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 seek to recognise the identity of transgenders and prohibit discrimination in the fields of education, employment, healthcare, holding or disposing of property, holding public or private office and access to[Read More…]
Industry figures and scientists claim pesticide use and GMOs are necessary in ‘modern agriculture’. But this is not the case: there is now sufficient evidence to suggest otherwise. It is simply not necessary to have our bodies contaminated with toxic agrochemicals, regardless of how much global agribusiness firms try to reassure us that they are present in ‘safe’ levels. There is also the[Read More…]
Manipur, with its capital at Imphal, is bordered by Nagaland, Assam, and Mizoram. To its east is part of India’s sensitive international border with Myanmar (formerly Burma), increasingly under covert Chinese influence. A turning point A part of the Second World War Burma Campaign, the gruelling and historic Battles of Imphal and Kohima were fought during March to July 1944,[Read More…]
![The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 2: Uncontrolled dominion]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bifurcation-of-Bengal-200x150.webp "The Partition of the Sub-continent and the Bifurcation of Bengal: The Part Told Least [Part 2: Uncontrolled dominion] 112")
V P Menon, as he told about himself in The Transfer of Power in India, “[i]n one capacity or other, from 1917 […] was continuously associated with the constitutional development in India. From 1942 till the transfer of power in August 1947 [he] was the Constitutional Adviser to the Governor-General.” V P Menon cites an article by W. E. Gladstone[Read More…]
With the equally rapid developments of both artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, perhaps one day, we might see a self-confident robot like the one seen in the 2004 Hollywood movie, iRobot. Such futuristic setups raise the question, will it ever be at all possible to equip machines with consciousness? The answer to this question has something to do with[Read More…]
Comparison of normalized storage (NS) variations of global pre- and post-1999 reservoirs: a Locations of the global reservoirs (with pre-1999 reservoirs in red and post-1999 reservoirs in cyan). b Comparison of the NS values of global pre- and post-1999 reservoirs (excluding regulated natural lakes), along with the accumulative storage capacity of the post-1999 reservoirs. Source: Study report. Over the past two decades, global reservoirs have[Read More…]
One day when I was about six, I was walking with my dad in New York City. We noticed that someone had stuck little folded squares of paper under the windshield wipers of the cars parked on the street beside us. My father picked one up and read it. I saw his face grow dark with anger. “What is it,[Read More…]
At what stage can a proxy war between two big powers become a direct war? This question has become very important in the context of the proxy war between the USA and Russia being fought through Ukraine, particularly as Russia and the USA are by far the two biggest nuclear weapon powers in the world, having about 90% of the[Read More…]
“Berlusconi is there because others have failed.” These words by Italian columnist Massimo Franco were made to the Washington Post in 2018, shortly before the Italian March elections. They sum up the story of Italy’s modern politics. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s adored but also loathed longest-serving prime minister died on June 12. His party, Forza Italia, is a partner in Italy’s[Read More…]
So, the world is not oblivious of the state of democracy in India. The issue is not the degree to which democracy is ingrained in India’s DNA but more pertinently the degree to which it is not allowed to be abused and is actually practiced. Irrespective of however “noble” democratic claims may be of respected politicians, office-holders in various capacities[Read More…]
WhatsApp, a convenient cross-platform to stay connected and build community, has unfortunately gained notoriety because of getting attached to the pejorative term “Whatsapp University” that refers to much spurious fake news, misinformation and fake narratives that is disseminated through forwards on this platform. The term, supposedly coined by the well-known Indian journalist Ravish Kumar, is generally used by political dissenters[Read More…]
Yevgeny Prigozhin may not have succeeded in realizing his ambitions, but his revolt had the unintended impact of focusing worldwide attention on the wider and serious problems involved in increasing dependence in many countries on mercenary fighting forces. Russia had used the soldiers of the Wagner PMC (private military company) in several military campaigns in recent times. While this may[Read More…]
![Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin [centre] poses with two Wagner Group fighters, Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 25, 2023](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Yevgeny-Prigozhin-200x150.webp "The rise and fall of a Russian oligarch 130")
The Kremlin leadership has acted decisively to meet the threat of an armed insurrection by the Russian oligarch and self-styled ‘founder’ of Wagner Group of military contractors, Yevgeny Prigozhin. In a series of videos released on Friday, Prigozhin alleged that the Russian government’s justifications for military intervention in Ukraine were based on lies. He accused the Russian Defence Ministry under minister[Read More…]
On the 48th anniversary of the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi [June 25, 1975-March 21, 1977] we are witnessing once again the farce of RSS claiming that it opposed it with full might. PM Modi described it as the “darkest period” in Indian history in his weekly radio talk, ‘Mann ki Baat’ on June 18, 2023. A senior RSS functionary[Read More…]
It got…somewhat less coverage than the imploded sub, but for me the titanic story of the last week was the truly remarkable trial held in Montana over the last ten days—one of the first times that the climate story has played out in an American courtroom. The plaintiffs were 16 Montana youth, who charged that by continuing to issue permits[Read More…]
War Investors known as Corporate Asset Investment Corporations and Private Military Companies Private Military Companies, Soldiers of Fortune, Multi-National Investment Corporations and the enterprise of Mercenarism go hand-in-hand back to the time of antiquity’ when armies were predominantly comprised of foreign soldiers of fortune, private investors, multi-national business corporations and mercenary groups and individuals who were either primarily or solely[Read More…]
On the heels of China’s weather/spy balloon downed by a US F-22 comes a report of the construction of a Chinese listening post in Cuba. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., supports the Biden administration’s claim that China is setting up a spy station in Cuba. Gaetz calls it a “stationary aircraft carrier right off the coast of Florida.” That is pretty[Read More…]
Manipur has been known for more than just the existence of numerous insurgent groups. It is known for the bravery of its people, especially women, against the injustices of the state. Who doesn’t remember the one of its kind protest, in 2004, in front of Assam Rifles headquarters when 2-3 dozen naked women protested with the banner ‘Indian Army Rape[Read More…]
The Idea of Mandal In August 1990, the National Front government led by VP Singh, made an announcement in parliament regarding the implementation of the Mandal Commission report. The report, commissioned during the Janata Party government’s tenure (1977-79), recommended a reservation of 27 percent in the government service and public undertaking jobs for candidates belonging to backward castes. The Mandal[Read More…]
After the state High Court verdict on Meitei’s being recognized as ST, claiming quota in jobs, education and Adivasi land, the state of Manipur has seen unprecedented violence in which over one hundred people have died and close to a lakh have been displaced. The accompaniments of such violence are too horrid to be recounted yet again; the plight of[Read More…]
A full page Ad in US media, covering Modi’s current visit to USA, urged India: “ free the press.” It features photos of some Indian journalists-writers harassed and imprisoned, and denied bail for years. Obviously not all agree with false claims of democracy. The ‘free press’ for India means relying on Anglo-Saxon media regarding China. That’s what the USA[Read More…]
June 25, 2023 is the 48th anniversary of Emergency Declaration that lasted for 21 months. Meanwhile, addressing the 102nd episode of the monthly radio show Mann Ki Baat on June 18, 2023, on the eve of his US visit, Modi said : “India is the mother of democracy. We consider our democratic ideals as paramount, we consider our Constitution as[Read More…]
According to a recent study as many as 183,000 poverty linked deaths took place in USA in 2019. As this study has only covered population higher than 15 years of age, the total number of deaths is likely to be around 200,000. The figure of 183,000 poverty related deaths was provided in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine (Journal[Read More…]
For all the well-documented sources of environmental pollution—think chemical manufacturers, energy plants, mining operations, and agricultural processes—there’s another major source of contamination that continues to get short shrift by those charged with protecting the nation’s waterways and the public’s health: Pharmaceuticals and personal care products. “Across the board, we don’t have our heads around this problem,” said Emma Rosi, senior[Read More…]
On May 28, 2023, the New Parliament House, nestled in the heart of the sprawling Central Vista Redevelopment Project in New Delhi was inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event conducted with fanfare, pomp and gaiety were conspicuous by opposition boycott en toto and the absence of Indian President and Vice-President, allegedly uninvited, in flagrant violation and[Read More…]
Narendra Modi’s United States visit has made big news. In his seventh trip to that country as the Prime Minister he has been able to get himself invited as a state guest for the first time, riding on the back of a proposal from an Indian private company Air India to buy 220 aircrafts from another U.S. private company Boeing.[Read More…]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denied that discrimination against Indian Muslims exists under his government. He was speaking during a press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on June 3, news agency Reuters reported. Asked at the press conference what steps he was willing to take to “improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in[Read More…]
Our Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States of America from June 21-24 is to be understood not only in the light of easing and strengthening relationship between the two countries, but also in the context of today’s geopolitics. We have to quickly scan atleast few points of today’s world order It is true that today’s world is functioning[Read More…]
Walking on the road between the Mahalaxmi race course and the railway station on the other side I suddenly noticed a nice change. The enclosures that blocked the view of the racecourse for so many years had been removed and it suddenly became so visible, it was so soothing to see the greenery, the big expanse. So, it costs very[Read More…]
It was April and we were all getting ready for parents-teacher meeting in my daughter’s school, when I noticed her inner wear were smeared with red stains. She would turn ten the next month, so she wasn’t ten yet and she had started menstruating already. Her paediatrician later told me that this is natural nowadays. I was so unprepared as[Read More…]
The area this article covers is this sub-continent’s partition and Bengal’s bifurcation. To be specific, it looks at a part of people’s journey forward in this land, which carries historic significance till today, although the area is hardly identified with its significance related to people’s journey toward liberation from bondages, and to social advancement. Struggle of the working people that[Read More…]
To Shri G C Murmu Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Dear Shri Murmu, I had earlier addressed you vide my letter dated 2-6-2023 questioning the prudence and propriety of the government giving subsidies to profit-earning private companies in the name of attracting investment for boosting production in certain specific manufacturing sectors. I pointed out in my letter that[Read More…]
The question of ever-increasing student debts has been increasingly discussed in many countries, perhaps the most in the USA. There is a wide diversity of literature available on various aspects of this issue, including impact on financial prospects of indebted persons, their health and family life, even on community life, on difference in impacts on various sections of students and[Read More…]
On Thursday, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for a transformation of the global financial system that goes beyond reforming international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A teleSUR report said: “Global problems like the climate crisis show us that we simply cannot address modern issues with institutions, which were created[Read More…]
The AUKUS agreement reached in September 2021 has left Australia more deeply entangled with US strategic priorities and war preparations than ever before. AUKUS reflects the prevalent view within the US security establishment that China’s rise poses a major threat to America’s regional and global dominance – a view, as it happens, strongly supported by Australia’s security elite. Australian governments,[Read More…]
![A handout image provided by Greece's coast guard on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, shows scores of people covering practically every free stretch of deck on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. [AP Photo/Hellenic Coast Guard via AP]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/refugee-boat-200x150.webp "Deaths at Sea: From the Titan to the Mediterranean 173")
Mortality at sea is becoming a theme of late. The nature of how that mortality has been represented, however, has varied. The death of a billionaire on a quest to see the sunken ruins of the Titanic is treated with saturating interest; the deaths of those making their way across the Mediterranean to seek sanctuary receives a relative footnote of[Read More…]
De-dollarization is apparently here, “like it or not,” as a May 2023 video by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a peace-oriented think tank based in Washington, D.C., states. Quincy is not alone in discussing de-dollarization: political economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson outlined its mechanics across four shows between February and April 2023 in their fortnightly YouTube program, “Geopolitical Economy[Read More…]
What we can learn from an ancient egalitarian civilization in the Indus Valley. Little more than a century ago, British and Indian archaeologists began excavating the remains of what they soon realized was a previously unknown civilization in the Indus Valley. Straddling parts of Pakistan and India and reaching into Afghanistan, the culture these explorers unearthed had existed at the[Read More…]
Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou recently declared a state of emergency in the capital, Montevideo, due to water shortages. (1) Among the measures announced to address the country’s longest recorded drought in 74 years[Read More…]
Introduction This article aims to present the main inner-political problems in multilingual and multicultural Belgium – a country in which the capital of the European Union (the EU) and NATO is located and a country as one of the original six establishers of the present-day EU and the European Single Market.[1] The question of the destiny of Belgian multicultural federalism[Read More…]
This book by John Scales Avery, a renowned intellectual and theoretical chemist at the University of Copenhagen, contains a collection of essays and articles discussing the severe problems and challenges which the world faces during the 21st century.
Washington, D.C. (June 22, 2023) – Hundreds of Indian Americans and their allies gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., to stage a demonstration against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assault on democratic values and ongoing human rights violations. The protest, attended by individuals from diverse religious backgrounds such as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and tribal communities,[Read More…]
The drama involving the submersible Titan, missing in the North Atlantic about 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland since Sunday, is being followed by millions worldwide. The vessel’s five passengers undertook the voyage to view the wreckage of the Titanic, the ocean liner that sank in April 1912 with some 1,500 victims, which lies 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) beneath the surface.[Read More…]
Gita Press, Gorakhpur has been awarded the 2022 Gandhi Peace Prize, the prestigious international award instituted by Government of India in 1995 while commemorating 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It was to be conferred on those individuals/organizations which contributed in carrying forward the ideals espoused by him. The jury which conferred it to Gita Press consisted of PM of[Read More…]
The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) in a joint statement today condemned the ongoing violence in Manipur including attacks on journalists covering the violence. We call for an immediate cessation of violence by armed groups belonging to all sides. We further demand that the authorities ensure the safety of journalists. We express shock[Read More…]
The New Education Policy, 2020 has unleashed an unprecedented attack on the education system of India. As the NEP2020 is getting implemented, we can find that Indian history is getting more and more saffronised. It is not just a matter of communalism but it is a broad matter of viewing history and science from the lens of the oppressor. The[Read More…]
![Survivors of a shipwreck sit inside a warehouse taking shelter at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens, on June 15, 2023. A fishing boat crammed with up to 750 migrants capsized and sank June 14 off the coast of Greece, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead. Hundreds more of those on board are likely dead. [AP Photo/Angelos Tzortzinis, Pool via AP]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Greece-Boat-tragedy-Survivors-Refugees-200x150.webp "The Irony of ‘World Refugee Day’: ‘Celebrating’, then Blaming the Victims 193")
Fadi, a Syrian teenager, with curly hair and an acne-covered face, has miraculously survived one of the greatest migrant boat disasters in the modern history of the Mediterranean. Only 104 people have been rescued from a boat that carried an estimated 750 refugees after it capsized on June 13 in the open sea near the coastal town of Pylos. Scores[Read More…]
Through a WhatsApp message from Portugal, my friend Eunice Neves asked to share a moment with me. She was with an Afghan couple, Frishta and Mohammad, and their baby son, Arsalan. The young family has resettled in Mértola, a small city in southern Portugal. They looked forward to celebrating World Refugee Day as part of a project which the Portuguese[Read More…]
On 3 April 2023, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh announced the United States expanding into four new military sites in the Philippines. “In addition to the five existing sites, these new locations will strengthen the interoperability of the United States and Philippine armed forces and allow us to respond more seamlessly together to address a range of shared challenges[Read More…]
As during the last 80 years or so the USA has been the most powerful and dominant country leading the world on a path which is exploitative towards most people and towards nature, it is only to be expected that most of those persons and groups who look for alternatives to this path are generally extremely critical of the policies[Read More…]
Akram Khan is an internationally renowned dancer who performed at the opening ceremony of London Olympics. Listening to him at G5 A theatre last evening one realised he is such a good thinker. This is probably because he has imbibed multiple traditions, influences, he is trained rigorously in Kathak and Bharata Natyam and is now mainly a modern dance performer,[Read More…]
The glaciers and snow of the over 3,000 named peaks in the Himalayas are an important water resource that climate change threatens to destroy. Photo: Koshy Koshy/Flickr Scientists have warned in a report that Himalayan glaciers could lose up to 75% of their ice by the turn of the century, which will affect about 2 billion people depending on the system.[Read More…]
Only two more migrants’ bodies from the fishing vessel that sank off Greece last week have been found, bringing the official death toll to 80. Reported to be men, they were recovered from the sea off the Peloponnese peninsula on Monday. The ship, packed with refugees and asylum seekers to the point where there was not a spare inch on[Read More…]
In 1972 Stanley K. Sheinbaum, chairman of the Pentagon Papers Fund, wrote with a hot pertinence that remains striking (at this time Julian Assange is facing grave prospects of being extradited to the United States) that both Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo had “struck a blow for us all when they gave the Pentagon Papers to the press and to[Read More…]
by William D. Hartung and Julia Gledhill On June 3rd, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that lifted the government’s debt ceiling and capped some categories of government spending. The big winner was — surprise, surprise! — the Pentagon. Congress spared military-related programs any cuts while freezing all other categories of discretionary spending at the fiscal year 2023 level (except support for veterans). Indeed,[Read More…]
Social movements have always been important for the progress of humanity, but in the 21st century there are two additional and very special reasons why the role of the social movements has become all the more crucial. Firstly, there is a survival crisis in the form of the basic life-nurturing conditions of the planet being threatened seriously. Secondly, the current[Read More…]
A lot of ordinary people in India – both women and men have a lot of respect for the communists and communist movement. It is based on their direct knowledge from interactions with the communists in trade union movements and other social and political movements. They are also impressed by the personal integrity of most of the communists. They are[Read More…]
The draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has once again been invoked, this time in Tadwai, Telangana against an astonishing number of 152 activists and intellectuals, which includes retired Prof. G. Haragopal, Prof. Gaddam Laxman and Prof. Padmaja Shaw. What is more ridiculous and serious at the same time is that Late Justice H. Suresh also finds mention in the accused[Read More…]
Prof. Imtiaz Amhad (1940-2023) who was formerly Prof. at JNU (Centre for Political Studies) is no longer with us. Prof. Ahmad was 83 years old when he died at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) on 19 June 2023. Prof, Ahmad was born on April 28, 1940 in the middle class family in eastern Uttar Pradesh. After completing[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies “Plans love silence. There’ll be no announcement of the start.” Photo credit: Ukraine Defense Ministry As Ukraine prepared to launch its much heralded but long delayed counteroffensive, the media published a photograph of a Ukrainian soldier with his finger on his lips, symbolizing the need for secrecy to retain some element of[Read More…]
New Delhi: 130+ organisations and civil society leaders expressed concerns at the lack of transparency and non-inclusive consultation processes adopted by the Union Government in the negotiations for entering into free trade, comprehensive economic partnership or investment related agreements. In an open letter to the Govt of India on Tuesday, they referred to the ongoing negotiations with several countries, including[Read More…]
Temperatures over Europe have warmed significantly over the 1991-2021 period, at an average rate of about +0.5 °C per decade, making it the fastest warming region of all the WMO Regions. This has been said by the State of the Climate in Europe, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Monday. The report said: Temperatures in Europe[Read More…]
Henri Barbusse was a French novelist of the 20th century. Barbusse was upheld as a model of the fight of intellectuals against war and fascism. This year on 17th May, we commemorated his 150th birth anniversary. Barbusse carved a permanent place amongst the most realistic or sensitive Marxist writers. Few better portrayed the gruesome cruelties or tragedy of war, in[Read More…]
To say that ‘Manipur is burning’ is not merely a gross understatement, but belies the terrible reality which has gripped the tiny State in North-East India since 3 May. For almost fifty days now, Manipur has been experiencing unprecedented violence and mayhem; more than one hundred people have been killed, thousands have been rendered homeless; there has been burning, arson[Read More…]
There are some events happening in India that need a stocktaking to assess the status of the governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose popularity remains undiminished in the country. These events that are being talked about in India are; the Manipur situation, Muslim persecution in Uttarakhand, sexual harassment of internationally awarded female wrestlers Co-Win data leak, the Adani scam,[Read More…]
Ahead of the Paris ‘Summit for a New Financing Pact’ on June 22-23, 2023, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron with India and Barbados as co-hosts, over 140 experts (including renowned academics such as Prof. Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece, and Prof. Jason Hickel, have written an open letter to the heads of various rich countries and international[Read More…]
The Australian Labor Government will punish display of the Nazi swastika with lengthy imprisonment and huge fines, attempting to obscure its appalling neo-Nazi-style conduct in 6 key areas notably (1) voting No for the UNGA Anti-Nazi Resolution, (2) fervently backing the anti-Semitic IHRA, (3) fervently supporting neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel and hence neo-Nazi Apartheid, (4) funding the ongoing Palestinian Genocide, (5)[Read More…]
Julian Assange’s legal options have nearly run out. He could be extradited to the U.S. this week. Should he be convicted in the U.S., any reporting on the inner workings of power will become a crime. High Court Judge Jonathan Swift — who previously worked for a variety of British government agencies as a barrister and said his favorite clients are “security and intelligence[Read More…]
In this book, Solomon asks why people identify more with the bombers rather than the bombed. Following a string of U.S. “forever wars,” a profusion of well-written, often riveting novels, memoirs, and analyses have been published. Talented authors have aimed to promote understanding about the human cost of war. In the same period, mainstream media sources have continually developed ways[Read More…]
Dear future students wishing to come to Australia and study: don’t. The gurgling, decaying system is, on a regular basis, being exposed for what it is. If it is not students being exploited, its academics being manipulated to the point of ruinous ill-health. True, not all universities are equally rotten in the constellation of corporate manipulation, but each one is[Read More…]
We are witnessing a historical push toward the dismantling of imperialism, the decentralization of power, and the welcoming of non-White, non-European values into conservation. Whenever you talk about race relations here in so-called ‘America,’ Indigenous communities [are] always the last ones on the rung,” says Wanbli Wiyan Ka’win (Eagle Feather Woman), also known as Joye Braun, a front-line community organizer[Read More…]
The evidence is starting to build that all bets are off on predictions that humanity has a decade, or more, of clear sailing before global warming turns vicious enough to run roughshod over climate change deniers and the mean-spirited anti-climate-change Republican Party. Voters better smarten up by 2024 or suffer the consequences. At least the Democrats enacted a partial baby-sized[Read More…]
Small tributaries carry water from the basin to a river just like the way minor linguistic varieties contribute to the major regional languages. In both the cases, the varieties and differences get intermingled with each other while paving their ways through a new trench. The terrarian elevation, slope, and settlements remain crucial in determining the rest of the course of[Read More…]
One of the most shocking aspects of the many glaring injustices of the world is that a few thousand persons earning hugely from the military industrial complex of the USA/NATO destroy the safety and happiness of millions of people every year in numerous ways. These thousands of persons include the main executives of the big arms companies, their lobbyists, officials[Read More…]
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting disruption of multiple global supply chains, policy think tanks have increasingly adopted the term polycrisis to signify humanity’s destabilized status quo. The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Risk Report uses the newish word 13 times in 90 pages. Scholars from a range of disciplines (including Columbia University historian Adam Tooze) have[Read More…]
The hundred and six pages Partygate inquiry report, conducted by the Privileges Committee of the British Parliament, not only highlights the evident character of Boris Johnson as a habitual liar but also exposes the deceptive political strategies employed by the Tories. The timing of the report’s release is part of a broader strategy by conservative spin doctors to construct a[Read More…]
Here, the researchers compare the observed polar motion (red arrow, “OBS”) to the modeling results without (dashed blue arrow) and with (solid blue arrow) groundwater mass redistribution. The model with groundwater mass redistribution is a much better match for the observed polar motion, telling the researchers the magnitude and direction of groundwater’s influence on the Earth’s spin. Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2023).[Read More…]
To, Shri K. Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister, Telangana Hyderabad. Sub: Seeking closure of FIR No. 152/2022 and upholding the rights of democratic activists and movements in Telangana. Sir, We the undersigned, representing various people’s organizations and state chapters associated with the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), an all-india forum of social movements, are writing to you in the light[Read More…]
During the economic crisis in 2008, the United States sought China’s aid. US treasury secretary Hank Paulson conferred with Chinese officials, and China agreed to increase the value of the RMB and to stop selling US T-bills which it had been doing at that time. Paulson said, “It is clear that China accepts its responsibility as a major world economy[Read More…]
Intensive hasbara aimed at obscuring Palestine’s history and stifling criticism of Israel also obscures Zionist fascism in Germany Caption| Image: Mohammed Alkhatib for InfoMigrants: “The situation of Palestinian refugees in Germany is complicated …” I am new at using Chatbot, the computer program that deploys artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand questions and simulate human conversation. When I queried[Read More…]
Laos is a country in Southeast Asia with a rich development potential based on vast water resources as well as minerals including gold. Its suitably located land trade routes had also contributed to the prosperity of the country in previous centuries. In more recent time its tourism potential has attracted much attention and the country even received the most favored[Read More…]
Notwithstanding the diplomatic importance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit (June 20-24) from the Indian perspective, one is compelled to deliberate on it from a few other angles. The importance being given to it in Indian circles is partly suggested by media at home according substantial attention to it from around a week before the visit has actually begun.[Read More…]
It was Vico who had introduced us to the now common notion that it is given to man alone to understand things made by man.To create a thing is to endow it with sense which is decoded by people.Giving names is one such form of creation.To remove such names is destruction of such creation. Positivist historians persuade themselves they can[Read More…]
Democratic forces should vehemently condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) over the brutal massacre of the Fausto family on June 14 in Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, and Negros Occidental Province. The massacre launched by armed troops under the 94th IB, represented war crimes of the most merciless degree. Soldiers of the 94th Infantry Battalion stormed into the hut[Read More…]
The House of Oranje-Nassau, the Royal House of the Netherlands, earned at least 545 million euros (about 3 million guilders – $600 million) in modern money from the Dutch colonies, where slavery was widespread. The figure has been adjusted for inflation, and covers the period from 1675 to 1770. It is one of the results of the investigation into the[Read More…]
by Darrel Jackson and Antoine Davis As Black men in prison, we live the tension between celebrating the abolition of slavery and struggling inside the system that replaced it. Juneteenth is a bittersweet day for us — and all Black people in prison holding onto the promise of freedom. Let’s start with history. The Emancipation Proclamation — issued by Abraham[Read More…]
by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan Juneteenth is the newest federal holiday, signed into law by President Biden in 2021. It commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day enslaved people in Texas first learned they were free, more than two and a half years after they were declared free by President Lincoln in his Emancipation Proclamation. For generations, formerly enslaved people[Read More…]
The agent of chaos is at it again. Boris Johnson, frontman of the Brexit disaster show, prime minister responsible for breaking regulations, rules and laws, and overall self-serving gross figure of indulgence, has decided to throw in the towel. He is leaving the House of Commons. The time had come for him to walk to the cricketing Pavilion, accepting the[Read More…]
USG falsely claims it defends the UN charter despite the War on Terror and the 2014 Ukraine coup In this series I’ve been identifying and refuting the claims made in the National Security Strategy 2022. I refer to the NSS as the Sullivan & Biden NSS, even though it’s not known whether or not Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan,[Read More…]
The late great spiritual teacher Louise Hay taught that resentment is terrible for one’s health. She said to ‘ Release’ from resentment as a daily exercise. This writer does agree with Ms. Hay that this existence is but a dream. We all have the power to create our dream, act in it, direct it as well. I don’t know about[Read More…]
Recent government policy has resorted to huge promotion of exotic palm oil trees to end edible oil shortage in the country. However this is associated with highly disruptive ecological costs, as has been seen from the experience of several countries. The kind of high rainfall conditions needed for its high yield are not readily available in India and this will[Read More…]
When judged from the perspective of world peace and safety (which surely is the best perspective), recent US foreign policy based on instigating an endless Russia-Ukraine proxy war and arranging massive supply of weapons and training for Ukraine appears to be entirely irrational. Several senior, highly respected diplomats and even security experts from within the USA have actually argued these[Read More…]
India’s Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran’s assertion last a few days back as reported by newspapers, that the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) was not necessary for India and ‘it may create ground for “perverse incentives” and dissuade people from seeking income-generating opportunities’ is wrong and far from reality in many ways. The platform from where this was[Read More…]
![Protesters hold a banner which reads in Greek with blue letters "Seas of Dead", during a demonstration in front of the parliament building, following a deadly migrant shipwreck off Greece, in Athens, on Thursday, June 15, 2023. [AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Greece-Boat-Tragedy-200x150.webp "Over 500 migrants drowned near Greece: Fortress Europe and the refugee crisis 280")
More than 500 migrants fleeing war, environmental disaster, poverty, and oppression are dead or missing after their ship sank south-west of Greece in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Among them are between 30-100 children. An estimated 750 people crammed into a fishing vessel at Tobruk in Libya on June 10, setting sail for days without adequate food or water,[Read More…]
Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst who revealed a years-long U.S. campaign to hide the true scale of U.S.’s the Vietnam War, has died Friday at this home in Kensington, California, U.S. He was 92. Ellsberg passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer, but continued his anti-war activism until his final days. Ellsberg never ran for office[Read More…]
B.R. Ambedkar realised that the labour class could not be meaningfully uplifted unless the oppressed classes were emancipated. B R Ambedkar was not only the most important Dalit icon and a hero for aspirational classes to adore and emulate in post-independence India but also contributed immensely to the labour movement in the country. After bagging his master’s and PhDs from Columbia[Read More…]
The rapid warming over the next couple of years is likely to be our last opportunity to really act coherently as a civilization to reduce the magnitude of this crisis, and so far we are blowing it We’ve reached the scariest moment yet in the climate saga: I noted in mid-April that there were all kinds of signs that a rapid increase in[Read More…]
They think we are mugs – and it’s insulting. It’s all fine for politicians to be swimming, swerving and tossing about in the goo of paranoia that is surveillance, chatting to the ghost called foreign interference; but to expect the rest of the citizenry to be morons is rather poor form. But the formula has always been such: We terrify[Read More…]
On July 11-12, 2023, the 31 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. To prepare for the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the agenda for the summit. They spoke about the importance of Western support for Ukraine “for the long haul” and Stoltenberg told Biden that[Read More…]
Former Twitter co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, claimed that India had threatened to shut down the micro-blogging site unless it complied with government orders. The ex-CEO revealed this on the US Based YouTube show Breaking Point. Dorsey’s revelations have set off debates on freedom of expression and journalistic freedom in India. Twitter has long been the ground for citizen journalism[Read More…]
Video of police lathi charging Bajrang Dal members in Indore Last month, attacking the Indian National Congress’s (INC) promise during Karnataka Assembly elections to ban Bajrang Dal, an incensed Prime Minister Modi invoked the ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ slogan in defence of an outfit that has visibly indulged in wide-spread murder and mayhem in the country for close to four decades.[Read More…]
New Delhi, Jun 16, 2023: National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) strongly condemns the way Delhi Police filed the application to cancel the POCSO case against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and the manner in whichthey carried out the inquiry for filing a chargesheet against him in the sexual harassment case by the other wrestlers. Two FIRs were filed[Read More…]
The sinking of a fishing vessel packed with refugees 50 miles south-west of the Greek town of Pylos is likely to be the worst loss of migrant lives in the country. In June 2016, at least 320 people were listed as dead or missing after a vessel sank near Greece’s largest island, Crete. Authorities have recovered 78 bodies from the latest tragedy[Read More…]
Large swaths of the North Atlantic are well above normal temperature (orange and red) for this time of year, a trend that could affect the forthcoming hurricane season. NOAA In the past few weeks, sea-surface temperatures in some parts of the North Atlantic Ocean have soared to record heights. The anomalous warming is occurring in a large swath stretching almost[Read More…]
Seven days into climate talks in the German city of Bonn, governments have not been able to agree on an agenda, sparking fears of two wasted weeks of talks while the climate crisis worsens. Talks on issues like reducing emissions and adapting to climate change have continued but the Pakistani co-chair of the talks Nabeel Munir warned that all their[Read More…]
Courtesy: Pravartak Isssue No. 1 (2.12 – 15.12.91) (This is Part II of the long essay titled “Reminiscing ABVA’s Struggle for Gay Rights in the Twentieth Century – A Brief History of That Time” I had penned in 2018 just before the Supreme Court judgement legalizing adult consensual homosexual acts in private. That essay is available here & here.) On[Read More…]
Over 550 civil society groups and concerned individuals from across the country come together to condemn the continuing violence in Manipur. Call for an immediate stop to divisive politics by the state and security forces. Urge all parties for an immediate cease fire. Issuing a statement expressing deep concern about the continuing ethnic violence in Manipur between the Meitei community[Read More…]
Gobindo, the fish-seller, sat smoking bidis, amidst piles of silvery, shining fishes of different kinds, every evening, just where the street began as an off-shoot from the Lake Town main road, near the Lake Town bus stop in Kolkata. Not only did he sell the best quality ones, he customarily handled old customers and new ones with equal familiarity and[Read More…]
On the first day of March 2022, visitors to the New York Times homepage saw a headline across the top of their screens in huge capital letters: ROCKET BARRAGE KILLS CIVILIANS It was the kind of breaking-news banner headline that could have referred to countless U.S. missile attacks and other military assaults during the previous two decades, telling of civilian[Read More…]
In a May 30 essay for the New York Times titled “The New Climate Law Is Working. Clean Energy Investments Are Soaring,” one of the architects of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Brian Deese, wrote, “Nine months since that law was passed in Congress, the private sector has mobilized well beyond our initial expectations to generate clean energy, build[Read More…]
As it turns out, it’s never too late. I mention that only because last week, at nearly 79, I managed to visit Mars for the first time. You know, the red planet, or rather — so it seemed to me — the orange planet. And take my word for it, it was eerie as hell. There was no sun, just a[Read More…]
Necrophilia is a Greek term and it is derived from the word ‘philios’, which means to make love or attraction towards the human corpse (dead body). It is a man’s sexual orientation towards the ‘unnatural’, a kind of pervasive sex in nature. This idea of ‘unnatural’ give vigour to immorality implied to such practices. It is one of the most[Read More…]
Imperialism has entered a new phase of its expansion to everyday lives of people and the planet. In this new phase of its growth, the grandiose of imperialism permeates everyday lives of individuals living in far off places, including their livelihoods, economic relations, cultural interactions, and social dynamics. The imperial war and conflict in Ukraine are a classic example of[Read More…]
The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river is a matter of deep concern as it exposes a large number of people to severe dangers, hardships and hurried evacuation to escape from drowning houses and settlements, apart from the longer-term harm to farming and other related livelihoods. A large number of people can be exposed for some[Read More…]
Hundreds are feared dead after the latest mass drowning of refugees off the coast of Greece. What was described as a vastly overcrowded 20-30 metre fishing vessel sank in the early hours of Wednesday. By early afternoon the death tally had already reached 79 in by far the worst mass fatality incident off Greece’s Mediterranean coast this year. According to[Read More…]
Carlos Garrido’s book The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism is undoubtedly an essential reading for any revolutionary American Marxist who is serious about building socialism. It is an open secret, and an embarrassment, among leftists in the west that they are politically impotent. Despite the fact that an increasing number of millennials and generation z’s in the United States[Read More…]
China has conquered and incorporated 2 countries in the last millennium whereas Australians as UK and thence US lackeys have invaded 85 countries in the last 2 centuries. Yet Mainstream Australia hysterically proclaims peaceful China (Australia’s biggest trading partner) as a serious military threat to sovereignty and security in the Indo-Pacific. However careful quantitative comparisons reveal the utter falsity of[Read More…]
With the year 2023 declared as the international year of millets, India has witnessed numerous State led initiatives to promote the production and consumption of the “forgotten grain”. While the initiative to promote millets in the country deserves praise for raising awareness about the nutritional value of forgotten grains like bajra, ragi, foxtail and a plethora of millets that are[Read More…]
The Israeli government is at it again, actively discussing the construction of thousands of illegal settlement units as part of a massive settlement expansion scheme known as E1. Though Israeli construction in the East Jerusalem area has supposedly been halted under international pressure, the Israeli government has found ways to keep the plan alive. It did so through constant expansion[Read More…]
There is increasing and overwhelming evidence of the many-sided serious adverse impacts and dangers of GM (genetically modified) crops. To give an example, a review by eminent Indian scientist Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava, who had earlier been appointed by the Supreme Court of India to advise on this issue, had revealed that almost all research papers on this subject that[Read More…]
China Central Television (CCTV) said: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced during their meeting in Beijing on Wednesday the establishment of a bilateral strategic partnership. “Today, we have jointly announced the establishment of a Chinese-Palestinian strategic partnership, which will become an important milestone in the history of bilateral relations,” CCTV quoted Xi as saying. The Chinese president[Read More…]
Recently a speech made by President John Kennedy 60 years back on June 10, 1963 at the American University, Washington has been widely cited in the context of the peace efforts particularly to improve US-Russia relations. At the same time, however, its wider significance should not be missed. This wider significance rests partly in the greatness that Kennedy had already[Read More…]
The prime minister wears no clothes, but all DC wants is fashion tips When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Washington, DC on 20 June 2023, what those officials in the US government who invited him may not have accounted for is that his visit grants his ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the benefit of propagandizing in[Read More…]
India under the stewardship of our Prime Minister is gaining accolades from global authorities of all hues – ranging from world leaders seeking commercial collaboration on the one hand, to international entertainment houses promoting Indian female dress fashions on the other. In fact, Narendra Modi has made himself into a brand – like a commodity that is given maximum exposure [Read More…]
President Ranil is expected to visit India from July 20 to 30 and a meeting with Prime Minister Modi is scheduled for on the 21st July 2023. So far neither the agenda nor the issues to be discussed between them has been made public. It is highly likely that focus will be mainly on financial assistance for the desperate Sri[Read More…]
Workers in many parts of the world face similar challenges and advances as in Kenya. The situation for trade unions in many countries are also similar. In Britain, there is an increasing militancy among workers in recent years, with 2.3 million strike days in 2022, the highest since the 1984-85 miners’ strikes. This reflects the resistance to increasing oppressive practices[Read More…]
Dear India, It was in 2016 that I had left you to pursue my higher studies in a faraway country in Europe. For a middle-class family this was a dream, and I was simply living it. You had made it happen. Your welfare schemes and subsidized public education made it possible. Sociology has taught me to understand the reasons behind[Read More…]
Days after welcoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken as part of efforts to reset relations with the U.S., Saudi Arabia turned its attention to boosting ties with one of Washington’s main competitors: China, says Bloomberg. A Bloomberg report — Saudi Arabia Looks to China for Business as US Influence Wanes — said on June 13, 2023: For the past two[Read More…]
Dear Bapu, Happy Father’s Day to you. Today, I miss you even more than the years when I first came to know about you, growing up as a kid in India. I don’t mind calling you Bapu, even though many of my friends might be outraged for ideological reasons. So be it. After all, I have been taught in school[Read More…]
To Shri Shaktikanta Das Governor RBI Dear Shri Das, I refer to RBI’s latest guidelines issued on 8-6-2023 (Notification No.RBI/2023-24/40 DOR.STR.REC.20/21.04.048/2023-24 8-6-2023) on Framework for Compromise Settlements and Technical Write-offs, modifying the earlier guidelines issued on 7-6-2019 (Notification RBI/2018-19/203 DBR.No.BP.BC.45/21.04.048/2018-19 7-6-2019). Para 34 of the 2019 notification stipulated, “Borrowers who have committed frauds/ malfeasance/ wilful default will remain ineligible for restructuring. However,[Read More…]
Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, thinks artificial intelligence (AI) will kill us all. He frequently poses the following question. Imagine that you are a member of an isolated hunter-gatherer tribe, and, one day, strange people show up with writing, guns, and money. Should you welcome them in? For Yudkowsky, AI is like a super-intelligent space alien; inevitably,[Read More…]
Henry A. Murray has much to answer for. Between 1959 and 1961, the Harvard psychology academic, as the leader of a team of equally unprincipled academics, was responsible for conducting an CIA-funded experiment most unethical on twenty-two undergraduates. The individuals in question were pseudonymised. One particularly youthful figure, named “Lawful”, was the mathematically gifted Theodore John Kaczynski. A central theme[Read More…]
In an 1875 letter to Wilhelm Bracke, Marx would say that “Every step of real movement is more important than a dozen programmes.” This is the living spirit of Marxist analysis – the emphasis is laid on real struggles, on the forms of social formation these struggles discover in their overturning, to a lesser or greater extent, of the current[Read More…]
by Dae-Han Song and Michael McGrath Seishi Hinada is a National Executive Committee member of ZENKO (National Assembly for Peace and Democracy). ZENKO emerged in 1970 out of the student movement in the 1960s. He joined ZENKO in 1981 as a university student activist in Hiroshima’s anti-nuclear peace movement. The International Strategy Center’s Dae-Han Song and Michael McGrath interviewed Seishi online.[Read More…]
Ron Prosor’s diatribes ought to be flagged by Twitter as incitement, misleading information and hate speech Caption: Samidoun Poster on a tree in Berlin’s Neukölln district showing a sketch of martyred prisoner Khader Adnan with the caption (in reference to his legendary hunger strikes while in Israeli prison): “Our pledge to you master of endurance.” In tweets vilifying the Palestinian[Read More…]
All wars do end, usually thanks to a negotiated peace agreement. Consider that a fundamental historical fact, even if it seems to have been forgotten in Brussels, Moscow, and above all, Washington, D.C. In recent months, among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s followers, there has been much talk of a “forever war” in Ukraine dragging on for years, if not decades.[Read More…]
Ukraine is a strategically located country which is also well-endowed with natural resources in the form of vast stretches of fertile farmland and deposits of natural gas and lithium. It is a country with immense prospects for economic development and sustainability in meeting needs of its people particularly if its potential as the breadbasket of Europe is used in sustainable[Read More…]
To Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, The Hon’ble Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India. We are writing this letter as People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) to bring to your attention the alarming rise of hate speech, vigilantism, and targeted communal violence against the minority Muslim community in Uttarakhand in the last few days. We are a civil liberties and human[Read More…]
After the discovery of a sea route around Africa’s southern coast (in 1488) and of America (in 1492) the youth of Europe began their adventures over the sea, went to new countries, and started new trade and commerce. Many of them settled in the new countries where they reached. Now it seems there is a reverse trend among youth in[Read More…]
Lawmakers in Brazil authorised a proposal that will unleash a mortal blow to Indigenous land rights and environmental protection. On the 30th of May the National Congress of Brazil passed a new law draft, officially titled PL 490 or PL 2903, or the Marco Temporal. It would strip indigenous people of their claims to rights of their ancestral lands if[Read More…]
Nuclear powers are actively modernizing and expanding their arsenals amid rising geopolitical tensions, said SIPRI Yearbook 2023, a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released on Monday. Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12 512 warheads in January 2023, about 9576 were in military stockpiles for potential use — 86 more than in January 2022 (see[Read More…]
NTR’s political career in the later part was marked by Lakshmi Parvati’s prominent role. Her introduction in 1991 as his biographer, secret wedding in 1992, public announcement in 1993 in a rally, were all quick developments. She was 30 years younger to him. Not a single member of his large family of 12 children and their spouses supported the marriage,[Read More…]
There has been a constant buildup of military forces by the governments of both India and China along their common frontiers. The Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh (called Zangman by the Chinese) with Itanagar as its capital is claimed by the Chinese. The frontier was drawn in 1914 and is called the McMahon Line. The frontier dispute led to the[Read More…]
During the weekend of June 10-11 in Vienna, Austria, over 300 people representing peace organizations from 32 countries came together for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine to demand an end to the fighting. In a formal conference declaration, participants declared, “We are a broad and politically diverse coalition that represents peace movements and civil society. We[Read More…]
by Kaitlin Blanchard and Eli Smith One hundred and fifty young people from the United States and Canada arrived in Cuba in late April 2023, just days before International Workers Day. As members of CODEPINK’s youth cohort, our goal was to understand the Cuban political system, the US blockade and its impacts on everyday life. We sat in a room[Read More…]
Did we protest when the exotic, narrow genetic-base varieties of various crops displaced thousands of indigenous varieties? Did we protest when many millet crops were being displaced? In both these cases the lack of any sustained opposition by a significant number of people (leaving aside the opposition of a small number of scientists and farmers) proved very costly. Much later,[Read More…]
Be it politics, medicine or any field except of course certain areas, over-confidence about success/victory can be “suicidal”- leading to failure/defeat. Even while driving- over-speeding in most cases leads to accidents, big shots in cricket instead of sixes/fours has at times led to catch-outs with a winning match slip to defeat. Over-confidence in politics, however, is often not simply due[Read More…]
June 7, 2023 violence at Kolhapur as per the claims of the perpetrators affiliated to the Hindutva gang was a reaction to ‘provocative’ social media posts which carried photographs of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb (1618-1707) and Tipu Sultan ruler of Mysore who was killed by the British army with the help of Nizam’s army on May 4, 1799. What was ‘provocative’[Read More…]
To Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw Railway Minister Dear Shri Vaishnaw, Please refer to my earlier letter dated 5-6-2023 addressed to you on the recent multiple train accident near Balasore in Odisha (https://countercurrents.org/2023/06/railway-accident-in-odisha-are-the-railways-ready-for-high-speed-trains-who-is-to-be-blamed/) in which, according to your own statements, there was a technical snag in the working of the signalling system at Bahanaga Bazar railway station. According to reports (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/balasore-accident-no-train-to-halt-at-bahanaga-bazar-as-cbi-seals-station-seizes-log-book/articleshow/100897578.cms), apparently, on[Read More…]
The victory of Novak Djokovic in the latest French Open had the usual mixed reception in Australia. While Australians pretend to like radicals, larrikins and the occasional deviant, the contrary is true. Tight buttoned, properly behaved and conformist to the point of invisibility, the boringly predictable are always preferred. You can rely on them. Even in Melbourne, a town where[Read More…]
El Niño has officially made its way back after its years-long hiatus. NOAA announced on Thursday that the climate pattern system is expected to strengthen over the next several months. Climate scientists say El Niño will probably push average global temperatures beyond a record set in 2016. That year, an intense El Niño triggered deadly heat and precipitation and was linked to rainforest[Read More…]
America’s War on Terror, launched in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has had a staggering impact on our world. The Costs of War Project at Brown University, which I helped found, paints as full a picture as possible of the toll of those “forever wars” both in human lives and in dollars. The[Read More…]
At the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue, the regional security forum, in Singapore, on 2 June 2023, PM Aukus (Albanese) presented his most cringeworthy undiplomatic address that publicly insulted a world superpower, which is also Australia’s largest trade partner – China, in a foot-in-mouth effort to make China be nice to USA. Yes, the same USA that for years has aggressively bashed[Read More…]
Recently some new threats have been emerging for small scale food processing units in India. To give a recent example, this year new directives have been issued for mandatory six-month lab tests for them which can raise their costs and reduce their viability to a significant extent. Food fortification requirements being pushed relentlessly by the authorities in recent times can[Read More…]
The world has been speculating about a significant advancement in an interim deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program.However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated on Sunday that if Iran were to pursue a nuclear arms program, the West would not be able to prevent it, calling any talk of Tehran seeking nuclear weapons a falsehood. Khamenei emphasized that Iran’s religious[Read More…]
Europe keeps reminding us that geopolitical interests trump ideology. European politics is the prime example of how states and political parties are willing to ditch their very ideological foundations to hold onto power, even if briefly. The unmistakable political shift of attitude in Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Fratelli d’Italia party is the latest evidence that European politicians[Read More…]
In recent years Indian cinema is being fed on the growing trend of anti-Muslim hate movies. The Bollywood film industry is churning out the distorted portrayal of Muslims in the last nine years or so and such plots have matured to their real structure after the BJP government has come to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi[Read More…]
New research shows we’ve long underestimated the environmental benefits from kelp forests. Now these important ecosystems are threatened. Floridians are bracing for an unwanted visitor this summer: sargassum. A 5,000-mile-long island of this rootless seaweed is floating around the Atlantic, and large swathes of it are expected to wash ashore in Florida and other states in the coming months. Smaller amounts have[Read More…]
One morning in May 1934, residents in the East woke up to find part of Kansas drifting over their cities. Until then “the black blizzards” of dust that had ravaged the Great Plains seemed like a far-off problem. But now as the gloom and haze darkened the skies over Washington and New York, the reality of the Dust Bowl was now clear[Read More…]
This is the complete text of the talk that was delivered under the auspices of the Vivekananda Chair, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, on 27th May, 2023. This talk is in three parts: Part I: Global Emergency and End of Modern Technology and Alternatives, Part II: Meaning and History of Transition and Part III: Transition in India. Part I[Read More…]
While several reputed scientists of great integrity have consistently spoken against GM (genetically modified) crops and a lot of evidence regarding their harmful impacts has accumulated, one argument that has been often used to still promote their spread is that after all GM crops have been spread the most widely in the USA, and so there must have been some[Read More…]
The Forbidden Truth of People and Cultures: Abrar Hasan (‘Wild Lens’ Youtube), Pakistani Motorcycle Tourist Revives the Interwoven Passions : Mamma Your “Bismillah” Lives with Me Legacy of British Colonialism and Loss of Strategic Direction While the politicians and extremists manufactured hatred and wickedness to further their own agendas for ages to keep the masses oppressed, common people on both[Read More…]
Today, in the mainstream narrative, there is much talk of a ‘food transition’. Big agribusiness and ‘philanthropic’ foundations position themselves as the saviours of humanity due to their much- promoted plans to ‘feed the world’ with ‘precision’ farming’, ‘data-driven’ agriculture and ‘sustainable’ production. These are the very institutions responsible for the social, ecological and environmental degradation associated with the current[Read More…]
On June 7, 1887 in the village of Kotelva (now Poltava region), Sidor Kovpak,a famous Soviet military commander, statesman and public figure of USSR was born. During the Great Patriotic War he played role of commander of the Putivl Guerrilla Squad (later – the Sumy Guerrilla Union, later – the 1st Ukrainian Guerrilla Division), He was Twice Hero of the[Read More…]
There is increasing protest in the U.S. against the craze for car parking. More space is being allotted for parking of cars than for houses because of wrong policies. The same is happening in Mumbai and other cities and this is going to create a big crisis in the coming days. A new book by David Grabar about the heavy[Read More…]
This is the complete text of the talk that was delivered under the auspices of the Vivekananda Chair, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, on 27th May, 2023. This talk is in three parts: Part I: Global Emergency and End of Modern Technology and Alternatives, Part II: Meaning and History of Transition and Part III: Transition in India. Part I[Read More…]
Dr. Strange Love Biden & Dr. Strange Love Blinken, if true to form, will continue to misread the ideological state of today’s America’s Neo-Con, Neo-Fascist war in Ukraine, in the same way as their predecessors in an earlier century similarly misread their own neo-fascist nazi conditions at the time that ultimately led to World War One, World War Two, the[Read More…]
Background The euphoria around many ‘frontier technologies’ such as Digitization, Internet of Things (IoT), Block-Chain, 5G, 3D Printing, Robotics, Gene Editing, Nanotechnology and the like that captured mainstream news headlines in the early decades of the 21st century has suddenly swept away by the recent rapid strides in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). The discourse on AI that has been there[Read More…]
by Manolo De Los Santos and Kate Gonzales Addressing allegations of “Chinese spy base” in Cuba. On June 8, the U.S. media added to its long storybook of tales to scare people away from normal relations with Cuba. The Wall Street Journal published an article on that day claiming that China has plans to set up a “spy base” in Cuba, to “eavesdrop”[Read More…]
Around the world, significant issues are negatively impacting water security. While the situation appears dire, cooperation initiatives show some signs of relief. In May 2023, the Arizona Department of Water Resources imposed restrictions on the construction of new housing in the Phoenix area, citing a lack of groundwater. The decision aims to slow population growth in one of the fastest-growing[Read More…]
Robert Kennedy Jr. is one of the most interesting candidates to have emerged in the USA presidential race in recent years. While some would identify him as the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy (both of whom were very important voices for peace and justice but were assassinated in highly suspicious[Read More…]
Ever notice how all those right wing groups of mothers are so concerned about keeping their little kids safe from seeing and hearing what they deem as perverse? As a baby boomer who has learned to be tolerant of differing lifestyles and personal tastes, I can ‘shake my head’ at what I call weird behavior. As one who supports the[Read More…]
Tribal communities feel that the BJP-led state government is participating in perilous communal politics by backing the Meiteis as ‘Hindus’ against the tribal people who are predominantly Christian. Manipur has erupted in violence. For over a month, the Meitei and Kuki people of the state have been wedged in a political conflict. Many have died, properties destroyed and hundreds injured.[Read More…]
To Most Rev. Andrews Thazhath, President; and to ALL Office-Bearers and ALL Members The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Your Lordships, Greetings to each one of you! This letter is being personally addressed to each one of you; my apologies for doing so through one common email! A little over three years ago,[Read More…]
Toxic smoke from raging fires in Canada continued to impact large swaths of eastern North America Thursday. Overnight and into the morning, air quality deteriorated to record-shattering levels. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the hourly Air Quality Index peaked at 491 Thursday, far surpassing the threshold of 300 considered “hazardous.” In Philadelphia, monitors topped out at 425 overnight, while in the Washington[Read More…]
(MY MOTHER’S STORY) By Rupesh Anand Patkar 2010, Publication No. 42, Kolhapur, Comrade Govind Pansare Amrit Mahotsav Samiti, Pp. 137, Rs 65/- From the early seventies, in the wake of revolutionary movements that started in the late 60s the consciousness about the evils of development began to grow. One of the earliest was the Silent Valley Movement in the Palakkad[Read More…]
Eurostat, the European statistics agency, said on Thursday: The Eurozone’s economy contracted in the first quarter of 2023. This marks the second consecutive quarter of contraction, thus meeting the technical definition of a recession. The Eurostat announcement came following a downward revision of growth in the 20 countries that use the euro as their currency for the last quarter of[Read More…]
Seven women wrestlers have filed First Information Report about sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a six times Member of Parliament and president of the Wrestling Federation of India. One of the survivors who is a minor, thereby invoking the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, has after prolonged protests and accused roaming around freely, mysteriously withdrawn[Read More…]
The most common model of NTR’s statue, found in thousands across Telugu states, a unique phenomenon there. He was founder-leader of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that was in power for long years, and now has almost 40 percent vote in today’s AP. His popularity as a film star-turned politician who became in 1983 the first non-Congress CM of Andhra, is[Read More…]
The United States has so far backed country-specific over global plastic-reduction targets, but relying on national targets alone undermines the sincerity and cohesiveness of a global effort to reduce plastics and their associated emissions. On this World Oceans Day, by far the largest threat to ocean health is plastic production and pollution. So policymakers and marine lovers alike should be paying[Read More…]
When one of the world’s most developed culturally elite countries, France, tosses in the towel on the IPCC 2°C barrier, it sends a loud and clear message that the global warming fight is losing the battle. Seriously, France expects 4°C. The country is bracing for 4°C according to Environment Minister Christophe Béchu: “We can’t escape the reality of global[Read More…]
Maybe it’s a quirk in my character that in times of calamity I always look for the silver lining. It doesn’t often appear, but in this darkest hour of despair, when nothing seemed possible and the collapse of hope was profound, I found it. The spark. I found it growing in the refugee camps of my home town of Jenin,[Read More…]
Recent preliminary findings of important research conducted by the Central University of Rajasthan has identified over 31 hills in the upper Aravalli range that have disappeared during just the last 20 years or so. This has been recorded in the context of Naraina, Kilwar, Kotputli, Jhalana and Sariska ( Rajasthan ), with heights of 200 to 600 meters above sea[Read More…]
On May 11th, I was with a group of people at the bottom of the Paso del Norte bridge in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Suddenly, I realized that I didn’t have the small change needed to cross the bridge and return to El Paso, Texas, where I was attending the 16th annual Border Security Expo. Worse yet, this was just three hours[Read More…]
Ajay Banga made history by becoming the first Indian American to hold the position of President of the World Bank. Banga took charge of the institution on May 3rd, succeeding David Malpass, who announced his departure in February. Malpass announced his resignation in early 2023, after massive public backlash on his press statements despite having only a year left in[Read More…]
Certain friends remind us it is the fifth anniversary of a dark moment in our recent history.About this time seven or eight years ago the govt agencies in charge of state security announced to a dazed country the incredible story of an horrendous plot to assassinate the Prime Minister linked to a tortuous plan to create absolute mayhem in the[Read More…]
Published as the front page story in ‘The Indian Express’ on May 23, 2023, Vinesh Phogat in her write up titled ‘Like many girls, I had to suffer silently all these years because of this man (Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh)’ has made a remarkable statement. She states, “Now there is no fear. The only fear we have is that we[Read More…]
There is talk again of the government coming out with its ‘Digital India Bill’ which is meant to replace the IT Act, 2000. The ‘Digital India Bill’ is an unofficial name for the legislation meant to uphold the rights and interests of the ‘Digital Nagriks’ of an imagined ‘Digital India’. The government is somewhat correct in its position that new[Read More…]
The mass scale ugly, blinding illumination of trees all over Mumbai is a terrible waste of energy when many parts of the state are suffering from load shedding. And the price is paid by villagers who lose their land and suffer pollution because of the insensitively built power stations as in Dahanu. One realised this at a largely attended meeting[Read More…]
On Monday, June 5, at the gate of the Nestle factory located in Samalkha, Haryana, union representatives from different Nestle plants and representatives of the Nestle Workers’ Unity of Nestle Samalkha assembled to stage a protest against the management refusing to grant permission to workers in forming a union. The management is placing every possible obstacle in the formation of[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, I refer to the hasty, sweeping Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) disinvestment policy announced by you in your Budget Speech in 2021 and further spelt out by the Department of Public Enterprises in their guidelines on 13-12-2021. As a sequel to it, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM),[Read More…]
Environmental groups are demanding that world leaders take urgent action as smoke from Canadian wildfires fueled by the climate crisis continued to smother eastern regions of the United States on Wednesday, pushing the Air Quality Index (AQI) in both nation’s capitals to “unhealthy,” with at least 16 states issuing air quality alerts affecting millions of people. New York City had the worst air quality of any[Read More…]
In Humanity’s present slow-motion suicide the World resolutely ignores the immense and ever-increasing Carbon Debt due to fossil fuel exploitation. In particular the inescapable Carbon Debt from gas exploitation alone is increasing annually by $3.0 trillion for the World and by $118 billion for climate criminal Australia, or by about 3.1% and 7.6%, respectively, of the GDP of $96.5 trillion[Read More…]
Remarks by China’s United Nations Ambassador, Geng Shuang, on the situation in Occupied Palestine on May 24 were impeccable, in terms of their consistency with international law. Compared to the United States’ position, which perceives the UN, and particularly the Security Council, as a battleground to defend Israeli interests, the Chinese political discourse reflects a legal stance based on a[Read More…]
On June 3, 2023, naval vessels from the United States and Canada conducted a joint military exercise in the South China Sea. A Chinese warship (LY 132) overtook the U.S. guided-missile destroyer (USS Chung-Hoon) and speeded across its path. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command released a statement saying that the Chinese ship “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner.” The spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign[Read More…]
Review of AB Abrams’ Atrocity Fabrication and Its Consequences: How Fake News Shapes World Order Another atrocity. Yesterday, the dam holding back the waters for the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station was destroyed releasing a massive flood surge, imperilling people and places below the dam on the Dnieper River. Both sides blamed each other. From the Russian standpoint, it makes no[Read More…]
The recent highly tragic train accident in Odisha has again highlighted the urgency for the Indian Railways to correct their priorities in order to achieve balanced progress on a safe path. The biggest priority must be safety. In recent times there have been funds shortages for RRSK, the most important safety fund, as seen from the fact that during the[Read More…]
Abstract Determining Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of Article 244 of the Constitution has been left largely to administrative and political interpretations. Mired in ambiguities, most often adverse, this resulted in the denial of what this constitutional provision potentially could offer the Scheduled Tribes. About sixty percent of the Scheduled Tribes are unjustly denied and kept out of the[Read More…]
India’s new Parliament House was launched with as much fanfare as there was controversy. For those now in their sixties and seventies who have had occasion to either travel or live in Delhi, the new Parliament building was neither necessary with the offensive waste of public funds. Nor does it have the architectural grace that the current building has. A[Read More…]
It is not easy to write about Ranajit Guha. His longevity has gifted him a vast range of experience in life. Before one reaches any conclusion about him, one must be aware that he is an overflowing stream of knowledge that has refashioned himself again and again. He has asked questions, found solutions and raised questions again. And all this[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, It is reported that Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) plans to conduct roadshows this month for disinvesting the government’s residual equity share of 29.54% in HZL. It is a matter of serious concern that DIPAM should display such undue haste to sell the government equity in HZL[Read More…]
“All grimly true, but they can be sure that they won’t be recorded for their crimes in history – because there won’t be any history” (Noam Chomsky) No words can express the betrayal of humanity and nature as represented by the ease in which originally progressive parties and ‘leaders’ can reverse their original environmental credentials by supporting coal and gas[Read More…]
Described as acrimonious, divisive and disruptive to golf, the LIV Golf Tournament, launched with the aid of former world number one Greg Norman and an enormous well of capital fronted by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will now unite with the enemy. The announcement that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would be merging would only have shocked the[Read More…]
The year 2020 marked parity between the total GDP of the G7 (the U.S. plus allies) and the total GDP of the BRICS group (China plus allies). Since then, the BRICS economies grew faster than the G7 economies. Now a third of total world output comes from the BRICS countries while the G7 accounts for below 30 percent. Beyond the[Read More…]
This year, on April 10th, we commemorated the 30th martyrdom anniversary of the assassination of Chris Hani. His life story and death was as intriguing as the greatest of revolutionaries, making a profound impact on South Africa’s political history. Without doubt one of the most dedicated impactful and creative political activists of South Africa, who shook apartheid. He was assassinated[Read More…]
Nearly 1000 people have been injured in the recent extremely tragic train accident in Odisha; various new reports have mentioned a figure ranging from 800 to 1100 injured persons. There have been assurances at the highest level that the government will make very good arrangements for their treatment. However it is important to remember that many injuries suffered in rail[Read More…]
The international wing of the fascist RSS dupes American elected officials The New Jersey city of Newark was caught in an embarrassing situation in March 2023. Just two months previously, the city signed a “sister cities” agreement with the United States of Kailasa, but when the truth finally emerged after the 12 January 2023 signing, the embarrassment was two-fold: not[Read More…]
June 6th became a day of one of the most audacious attack by the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state on the Democratic rights and political activists and began new era of rampant use of UAPA and conspiracy cases, which was, although known to the working class, the peasantry and the oppressed, have been largely unknown to the Urban democratic movement. June[Read More…]
In a move without precedent, Indian farmers have warned all Members of the Indian Parliament in a letter in both Hindi and English, to raise their voices in Parliament to express the demands of the farmers. The farmers, writing under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have accused the Union Government of not carrying out the promises made in[Read More…]
All around us things are falling apart. Collectively, Americans are experiencing national and imperial decline. Can America save itself? Is this country, as presently constituted, even worth saving? For me, that last question is radical indeed. From my early years, I believed deeply in the idea of America. I knew this country wasn’t perfect, of course, not even close. Long[Read More…]
Collective statement by women and human rights organisations condemning the state repression and police atrocities on the wrestlers in their struggle for justice against sexual harassment We the undersigned women and human rights organisations condemn the way the Delhi Police, Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP led Central Government at the highest level have managed to subvert the law,[Read More…]
In a blow to US hegemony, the revival of Unasur at a summit of 13 Latin American leaders demonstrates the region’s shift back to the left and the rehabilitation of Venezuela Brazil’s President Lula invited all 13 presidents from South America to a summit on May 30 aimed at developing a collective and “common vision and relaunching decisive actions for[Read More…]
By 2024, Sikkim is set to witness a significant enhancement in its connectivity as it prepares to introduce its first train service and join the national network. This landmark railway project will connect Sivok in West Bengal and Rangpo in Sikkim. Referred to as the Sivok-Rangpo rail project, this endeavour represents a monumental undertaking of great significance. Initially scheduled for[Read More…]
Without bail, without charges being framed, without justice! Release all 15-surviving accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. June 6, 2023 will mark five years that five activists are behind bars. They include Mahesh Raut, an anti-displacement campaigner, Rona Wilson, a political prisoners’ campaigner, Shoma Sen, a feminist activist and professor, Sudhir Dhawale, a Dalit rights activist and Surendra Gadling, a[Read More…]
6th June 2018. The nation’s conscience suffered yet another attack by the arrests of leading intellectuals and democratic rights activists by the Pune police in connection with the so-called Bhima-Koregaon (BK) case. These arrests snowballed into a series of arrests in subsequent months. Five years have passed, and barring a few activists out on bail, the arrested persons are still languishing in jail without a[Read More…]
Australian concepts of sovereignty have always been qualified. First came the British settlers and invaders in 1788. They are pregnant with the sovereignty of the British Crown, bringing convicts, the sadistic screws, and forced labour to a garrison of penal experiments and brutality. The native populations are treated as nothing more than spares, opportunistic chances, and fluff of the land,[Read More…]
For centuries, Russian authorities have modified their approach to managing the country’s large, diverse population, held together by an ethnic Russian core. The war in Ukraine has again altered the Kremlin’s strategy of managing its complex domestic demographics. Despite the absence of a clear definition of “ethnic group,” the term generally refers to people with a common history, culture, and[Read More…]
Several senior experts and officials have rightly emphasized that safety should get the topmost priority in railways management. In financial terms railway safety requirements were estimated in year 2015-16 at INR 1,54,000 crore ( one crore=10 million) by official experts and a decision was taken to meet the major share of INR 1,19,000 crore out of this from a special[Read More…]
The least the present government could have done,even if to save appearances,in response to the ghastly train accident at Balasore,was the Rly Minister’s resignation.For there can be no doubt whatsoever that the accident or disaster had been caused by gross human error and utter blatant negligence. This is no one off default but routine systemic malady.Last year’s CAG report had[Read More…]
A United Nations report has informed that India does not fare well even among countries that have been found to have a very negative position in terms of maternal and child mortality and subsequent maternal and child mortality. India has the highest female mortality rate during childbirth, and neonatal mortality. In the year 2020-2021, 23 lakh newborns died in different[Read More…]
To Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw Railway Minister Dear Shri Vaishnaw, The latest railway accident in Odisha, which has resulted in the death of more than 280 passengers and hundreds injured, is unfortunate. I feel somewhat surprised that the Railways should hastily announce a probe by the CBI (https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/railways-minister-announces-cbi-probe-into-odisha-train-accident-101685884237020.html), suggesting the possibility of sabotage, without the railway safety regulator having an opportunity[Read More…]
Currently as the rightwing wing ideology is gaining ground many a films have already come to promote divisiveness, to glorify the icons of communal nationalism or to demonize the particular communities. In recent times we have seen films on these lines, be it Padmavat, or one on Prithviraj Chauhan, ‘Gandhi Virudh Godse’, ‘Kashmir files’ and ‘Kerala story’. Many of these[Read More…]
India, a land steeped in history and natural wonders, holds a profound responsibility to protect and cherish its heritage for the coming generations. With breath-taking landscapes like the mighty Himalayas and architectural marvels such as the temples of Khajuraho, India’s heritage is a constant reminder of our glorious past. As we step into the future, let us embark on a[Read More…]
Greenville, CA — Pines and firs parched by a three-year drought had been burning for days on a ridge 1,000 feet above my remote mountain town. On August 4, 2021, the flames suddenly flared into a heat so intense it formed a molten cloud the color of bruised flesh. As that sinister cumulus rose above an oval-shaped reservoir, it collapsed,[Read More…]
At a time when the world needs peace more than ever before, it has been extremely distressing to see that some groups and opinion-makers in the west who were earlier known to stand for peace are now speaking increasingly in militarist tones. The change has been most evident in the context of the debate over the Ukraine policy of western[Read More…]
OK STOP MAKING STUFF UP !!! Take This Red Pill If You Dare Or Stay Controlled : Transgender people have existed since at least The Middle Ages in Europe according to early records of the printing press. Yes, even prior to Monty Python. Hermaphroditus was acknowledged as being male and female and beautiful in ancient Greek civilization thousands of years[Read More…]
On 10 Mar, 2023, when Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, took a lap around the Ahmedabad cricket stadium on a make-shift chariot with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the start of a test match between the two nations, it drew criticism. Inadvertently, the [Australian] PM involved himself in one of the many tactics typically employed by authoritarian regimes to[Read More…]
How seriously should steps being taken by certain Arab countries towards apparently strengthening their regional relations be taken? These include inclusion of Syria into Arab League after a gap around 12 years, improvement of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as nature of their ties with Russia and China. Each of these is suggestive of a major change[Read More…]
Sporting events often serve as catalysts for tourism, and sports activities and tourism have a symbiotic relationship. These events provide nations with an excellent opportunity to attract tourists. Sports events can help destinations stand out and draw visitors regardless of scale. Beyond ticket sales, these visitors contribute to the local economy by spending on various aspects such as lodging, meals, entertainment, and[Read More…]
Dr Bharat Patankar, social activist, was right yesterday when he said we need to dream again for a better world as in the days of the 1960s and 1970s when we had dreams and there were revolutionary struggles every where with such a slogan as Amar Naam Tomar Naam Vietnam Vietnam in solidarity against imperialism. He was speaking at the[Read More…]
In a statement signed by 1,000 leading figures, including Noam Chomsky and Diego Luna, the EZLN say that they are coming under attack from paramilitary groups, who act with the ‘passive and active complicity’ of the authorities On May 22, Jorge López Santíz was hit by a bullet. It was an attack that also hit the heart of Mexico’s Zapatista[Read More…]
The recent disastrous Odisha train accident has re-emphasized the need for ensuring better train safety. Taking an average figure for the last decade, nearly 24,000 deaths are caused by railway accidents in a year. This may be compared to less than 700 deaths in the entire European Union related to train accidents in 2021. In India the deaths caused by[Read More…]
There is widespread acknowledgement that the present-day structures of society are ill-prepared to address the needs of humanity in its current travails. Therefore, cooperation and reciprocity should be our highest priority. The stronger the ties of fellowship and solidarity, the greater will be the power of constructiveness and accomplishment in all the planes of human activity. In the economic sphere[Read More…]
Where is the Train Collision Avoidance System developed by Indian Railways in 2011-12? While all have to focus on rescue, relief, medical treatment of the injured and restoration operations following the deadliest train tragedy at Balasore, and even as deep condolences from world community on the tragic death of hundreds of people are pouring in, the Modi regime which is[Read More…]
The big challenge for environment movement today—grow, expand, broaden, link with justice and peace movements The biggest hope for resolving life-threatening environmental problems of our planet increasingly rests now not with the world-level political leadership, which has failed miserably in many critical contexts, but instead with those highly committed environmental activists who have many significant achievements to their credit despite[Read More…]
by Don Fitz and Stan Cox Like a third rate zombie movie on Netflix, delusions of nuclear fusion repeatedly rise from the dead. The cover story in the June 2023 issue of Scientific American by Philip Ball, “Star Power: Does Fusion Have a Future After All?” recycles the corporate line which was broadcast on December 13, 2022. The US Department of[Read More…]
Citizen activism to bring about changes in how brutal wars are conducted is extremely difficult, but not impossible. Citizens have successfully pushed through the United Nations General Assembly treaties to abolish nuclear weapons and to ban the use of landmines and cluster munitions. Of course, countries that want to continue to use these weapons will not follow the lead of[Read More…]
Protests erupted across Germany after the Dresden regional court in Germany sentenced the anti-fascist activist Lina E. and three others for several alleged militant actions against fascists and for forming a criminal organization. Lina E. was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. The other accused anti-fascists, Lennart A, Jannis R and Jonathan M, received sentences between 27[Read More…]
The protests by women wrestlers Vinesh Poghat, Sakshi Malik, Anshu Malik and also male wrestler Bajrang Punia while is aimed at demanding an action against Brijbhushan Singh Sharan who used his position to demand sexual favors goes beyond that. In general, it challenges the system where men may use their positions at workplaces to demand sexual favors and in this[Read More…]
This 28th May 2023 the new and more lavish building of Parliament was inaugurated by Prime Minster Modi. Most opposition parties boycotted this function as they argued that the inauguration should be done by President Draupadi Murmu. As per article 79, President of India, along with Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, constitutes the Parliament, thus President is part of the[Read More…]
On Thursday, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, prominent Australian publications, reported new information indicating that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is continuing a probe of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. The article reported that the previous week Andrew O’Hagan, a British journalist, had been contacted by the FBI, who asked to interview him about Assange. In 2011, O’Hagan had been[Read More…]
Don’t cry. Pity this nation which knows about your medals not your pains and wounds. They clip your wings and celebrate your blood spilled journey with sugar-coated smiles. Words are always the creations of power – We must remember that. Be enraged. Here, silence is celebrated and the voice is always despised. We are merely unlucky in our[Read More…]
The strike of the workers, which was staged outside the Belsonica Company in Manesar for the last one month, concluded with an agreement on June 1. On May 30, all the workers launched a strike, the workers who were in the company laid down their tools, while the suspended workers and union delegations staged a hunger strike outside. On the[Read More…]
After signing a military decree on May 18, allowing illegal Israeli Jewish settlers to reclaim the abandoned Homesh settlement located in the northern Occupied West Bank, the Israeli government has informed the US Biden Administration that it will not turn the area into a new settlement. The latter revelation was reported by Axios on May 23. This contradiction is hardly[Read More…]
We live in an era of mass migration. According to the United Nations’ World Migration Report 2022, there were 281 million international migrants in 2020, equaling 3.6 percent of the global population. That’s well over twice the number in 1990 and over three times the estimated number in 1970. In countries that receive them, migrants are often blamed, rightly or wrongly,[Read More…]
Imperialism has always been extremely harmful and dangerous, bringing immense distress, death and destruction. However there are at least seven reasons due to which the present phase of imperialism has become the most dangerous ever in human history. Firstly, the kind of highly destructive weapons available today have been unprecedented, and these are rapidly being made even more destructive, in[Read More…]
Most urban dwellers often yearn for a break from their busy lives and seek solace and rejuvenation in hill stations. However, many individuals, including my colleagues working in private firms, have expressed concerns about the expensive package tours offered in Indian hill stations. They believe travelling to Asian countries provides cheaper options with better package tour deals. This growing preference[Read More…]
A seemingly good decision to provide free insurance to commuters of two lines on the Mumbai Metro is also highly discriminatory and almost insulting to suburban train and bus commuters. Who needs insurance and accident compensation more ? Obviously, suburban rail commuters, nearly three thousand of them die each year due to overcrowding and others issues. Yet, each one of[Read More…]
To Shri G C Murmu Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Dear Shri Murmu, I had earlier written to you on the pros and cons of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) under which the Central Ministries extend subsidies to private companies to incentivise them to boost indigenous production of different items critically needed in the economy. My last[Read More…]
World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5th, and it serves as a global platform to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage positive action. In India, this day holds significant importance as the country grapples with a range of environmental challenges. It is a time to reflect on the state of the environment, acknowledge achievements, and collectively strive[Read More…]
It was an ugly case lasting five years with a host of ugly revelations. But what could be surprising about the murderous antics of a special arm of the military, in this case, the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, which was repeatedly deployed on missions in an open-ended war which eventually led to defeat and withdrawal? Ben Roberts-Smith was meant[Read More…]
Religion is considered one of the most significant notion that determines and many times dictates the life of the people in the society. Our society is so much obsessed with the idea of religion that it starts impacting us in ways it shouldn’t. Religious beliefs is no longer a dogmatic system or system of belief in a deity or religious[Read More…]
An important feature of the western political establishment has been that while all the time speaking about world peace it has been extremely destructive in terms of its violence towards the Global South in particular, and entire nations ( Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Vietnam, to mention only a few) were destroyed and democratically elected governments of many countries have been[Read More…]
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become the longest-serving leader in the history of the Turkish Republic. He has been a controversial yet dominant figure in Turkish politics since 2003 holding various positions including prime minister and president. In the runoff election held on May 15, neither Erdogan nor his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, was able to secure the necessary 50% of the[Read More…]
Allow me to come clean: I worry every time Max Boot vents enthusiastically about a prospective military action. Whenever that Washington Post columnist professes optimism about some upcoming bloodletting, misfortune tends to follow. And as it happens, he’s positively bullish about the prospect of Ukraine handing Russia a decisive defeat in its upcoming, widely anticipated, sure-to-happen-any-day-now spring counteroffensive. In a recent column reported from[Read More…]
One of the most disputed topics with regard to the concept of war is the idea of a Just War – a war held to be founded on the principles of justice in principle caused and conducted in the name of humanity like, for instance, self-defense or protection of minority groups, etc. That the was as a phenomenon is an[Read More…]
Reading a recent news suddenly my mind raced back across to a time when as an inquisitive child of twelve I used to read all available printed stuff in Assamese or Bengali.I recall a debate in Bengali magazine PROBASI between an irate eminent scientist Meghnad Saha and an elderly Hindu scholar who argued that ancient shastras had anticipated all the[Read More…]
Critics of a Japanese plan to release filtered radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the Pacific Ocean intensified their opposition to the proposal on Wednesday after the United Nations agency responsible for promoting nuclear energy said the company that operated the plant has adequately demonstrated its ability to measure the water’s radioactivity. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this[Read More…]
On 22 May 2023, a woman who married six months ago was burned alive in Sawai Madhopur Rajasthan for dowry. Her father stated that she was severely tortured for a motorcycle and Rs 50,000[2]. 22-year-old Lovepreet Kaur, a resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, got married to Gurinder Singh on 24 June 2022[3]. On 18 April 2023, within ten months of her[Read More…]
Nearly a quarter of a million people 55 or older are estimated by the government to have been homeless for at least part of 2019. According to the Washington Post, “People 55 and older represented 16.5 percent of America’s homeless population of 1.45 million in 2019, according to the most recent reliable data.” According to a 2022 University of Pennsylvania Study by[Read More…]
The protest by prominent Indian wrestlers against BJP MP Brij Bhushan for sexual harassment of female wrestlers including a minor is assuming new dimensions with police declaring that they will not be allowed to protest in Jantar Mantar following their manhandling and detention by police. While wrestlers are contemplating their next move and Sakshi Malik, Rio Olympic medallist categorically declaring[Read More…]
The natural surroundings of tourist destinations play a significant role in attracting visitors. However, the contamination of these environments by plastic garbage poses a threat to tourism. When tourist spots are littered with plastic waste, the likelihood of visitors choosing these destinations decreases, resulting in a significant decline in tourist numbers and subsequent economic losses. The tourism sector resumed operations[Read More…]
by Edward Liger Smith, Carlos L. Garrido, and Noah Khrachvik The First Amendment of the United States Constitution says that “Congress shall make no law… Abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Yet in 2023 the United States[Read More…]
The US government has repeatedly asserted that Russia, and Russia alone, is responsible for the Ukraine conflict in which several hundred thousand persons have been killed and seriously injured while millions have been displaced. However it should listen at least to the voices of its own security and foreign policy experts, former ambassadors and diplomats who have been saying clearly[Read More…]
Commemoration of Swaminathan Calls for a Revisit of Green Revolution 
Antarctica Hits Records as Global Heat Looms Large for 2024 
Book Review: Building A Just World Order 
Canada Needs Urgent Reforms to Bring Long-Delayed Justice to its Indigenous People 
Ukraine: Peace Comes through Mutual Respect 
Canada’s Proclivity To White Wash Its Nazi Citizenry & Nazi Affiliation Past 
Clamour for Teachers Grows in Jharkhand – Parents Write to CM 
Rifts in INDIA Alliance 
At the Brink? Contemplating the Unimaginable Costs of a Nuclear War 
Cruel Prerogatives: Braverman on Refugees at the AEI 
The Perilous Path From Western Domination to De-Dollarization 
From the Contemporary History of the Balkans: Greece and Slavo-Macedonians (1913-1993) 
The Ethnic Violence in Manipur, India, Explained 
New Report Exposes Grave Injustice to Villagers in the Name of Expanding Tourism and Parks in Tanzania 
Ending Opioid Addiction and Deaths through Creative Strategies 
Solitude: A Source of Empowerment 
Dr.K.S.Sharma Turns 90 
The Unholy Origins of Castes in India 
Union Health Ministry placing a cap on new medical colleges in States on the basis of the population criterion violates federalism 
Reflections on the Revolutionary Legacy of Makhan Singh in Kenya 
Armenian civilians flee Nagorno-Karabakh after new offensive by Azerbaijan 
Manipur: a statement of concern and suggestions for peaceful resolution 
Global Leaders Plead for Peace in Ukraine at UN 
Ghosts of the Past: For Israel, War on UNESCO is an Existential Battle 
Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet 
The United States in the World: Making Sense of the Past Forty Years (1981-2023) 
Canadian Youth At Risk and the Discrimination of Marginalized Demographics 
While Searching Worldwide for Terrorists, Uncle Sam Should Also Look in a Mirror 
American Abrams tanks roll into Ukraine 
An open letter to JNU VC – Your association with RSS defies humanism, anti-colonial struggle Indian democracy! 
From Education to Incarceration 
Tunakataa! Saying ‘No’ to Capitalism and Imperialism in Kenya 
Rising Islamophobia and Communal Discord: An Alarming Trend in BJP-Ruled States 
Speak Truth to Power and Pay the Price! 
USA’s Wars Took 12 Million Lives in The Last 25 Years US to send long-range ATACMS missile to Ukraine 
In Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan makes us an offer we can refuse 
Nijjar affair poses an existential dilemma 
On the Brink of Famine 
Appeal to withdraw the notification for the public hearing for the proposed Sijimali Bauxite Mining Project 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
