Speech at rally for Manipur in Congressman Ro Khanna’s district The ongoing violence in Manipur is the worst pogrom in the nine years of the Modi regime’s rule over India. It’s also the worst anti-Christian massacre to take place in the modern history of the Republic of India. Oh, and, it’s also the longest-lasting pogrom independent India has ever seen.[Read More…]
Joining the Black Prisoners Caucus helped me find direction and the opportunity to serve my community while serving a life-without-parole sentence. To survive in prison, inmates usually accept a “convict code” that demands toughness and makes us wary of others. To thrive in prison, I learned to embrace organizing for social change and discovered the rewards in thinking of others[Read More…]
Preface The text has aim to investigate the situation of female representation in politics in the industrialized contemporary Western democracies. Though women are more and more visible in politics, we can not yet say they have taken an equal position compared to men. Of course, they have had to take a long road and there is certainly a positive evolution,[Read More…]
Following abnormally high damage caused by floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, the role of foreign aid in recovery effort is being discussed, particularly aid likely to be received from the World Bank. A recent report by the Statesman News Service (The Statesman, July 29) has stated, “The World Bank has assured assistance to disaster affected Himachal Pradesh and providing[Read More…]
Tourism plays a vital role in fostering economic development and prosperity for destinations worldwide. However, it is essential to consider how tourist spending impacts local communities and whether it circulates within the goal, benefiting the locals. This note explores the significance of local spending in tourism and highlights practical ways to maximize local economic benefits. Maximizing local economic benefits in[Read More…]
Interview with antiwar writer John Walsh John V. Walsh (@JohnWal97469920) is an antiwar writer who is well versed on China. Recently, he wrote an article titled “Arming Taiwan is an Insane Provocation.” Insane, yes, but it is also a blazing sign of desperation. A plethora of American words and actions touching on mainland China reveal a jittery seat of empire[Read More…]
There is a new paper, Universal and Transferable Adversarial Attacks on Aligned Language Models, where the authors wrote, “In this paper, we propose a simple and effective attack method that causes aligned language models to generate objectionable behaviors. Specifically, our approach finds a suffix that, when attached to a wide range of queries for an LLM to produce objectionable content,[Read More…]
Following heavy rain in many parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in western Himalayan region in July 2023 there were reports of abnormally high incidence of landslides, floods and flash floods during this month. As there were simultaneous heavy rains in many plain areas below the hills, the local rainfall as well as the floodwater from the hills combined to[Read More…]
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you’re undoubtedly aware that award-winning director Christopher Nolan has released a new film about Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for leading the group of scientists who created that deadly weapon as part of America’s World War II-era Manhattan Project. The film has earned widespread attention,[Read More…]
In a recent speech, China’s highest-ranking diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke of a ‘united Asia’ and its need to develop a “strategic autonomy”. In principle, Wang was not wrong; after all, a stable and prosperous Asia would benefit the peoples of the region and would deny Western meddlers the chance to exploit historical fault lines and sow the seeds of political[Read More…]
Yellowed loves Come The punctured gutters of God Open The veins of silent gold In the lazy mouths of mocking youth Fountains overflowing with first sun A flock of oaths dreaming of a secret park Open, you sweet promise Death is the tunic of spring Death is in the heart Death burns our mouths With mordant bites of silver moths[Read More…]
Accountability 1. PUCL strongly condemns the use of sexual violence as an instrument of control, terror and/or ethnic cleansing and gives a call to all groups in the conflict that has engulfed Manipur to immediately stop attacks on women and children. 2. The PUCL demands that there must be an immediate stop to all forms of violence and gives a[Read More…]
Reflections on the occasion of World Friendship Day 2023 WE all yearn for true friendship and how many of us have friends whose association goes back to our school[Read More…]
The BJP has done a Humpty Dumpty on Manipur. The Prime Minister’s political acumen, Maan ki Baats, high-pitched oratory, and the massive Bhakt network around the country, nothing at all, will ever put Manipur together again. Not in the way, it was, in any case. The political ploy that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) imagined in Manipur did not pan[Read More…]
There is a recent paper in Nature, Antipsychotic drug efficacy correlates with the modulation of D1 rather than D2 receptor-expressing striatal projection neurons, where the a part of the abstract stated that “Elevated dopamine transmission in psychosis is assumed to unbalance striatal output through D1- and D2-receptor-expressing spiny-projection neurons (SPNs). Antipsychotic drugs are thought to re-balance this output by blocking[Read More…]
![A local resident reacts as the flames burn trees in Gennadi village, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. [AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/wild-fire-200x150.webp "The climate crisis reaches a tipping point 30")
A joint statement released Thursday by the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirms that the first three weeks of July have been the warmest three-week period ever recorded and predicts that the month will be the hottest ever experienced by human civilization. Carlo Buontempo, the director of C3S, noted as part of the[Read More…]
Imagine an already crumbling big building housing about two hundred families in a coastal area which has suddenly been exposed to even higher risks due to increased frequency and intensity of sea storms. Surely in such a situation protecting the safety of the building should become the topmost common priority of all the inhabitants of this building. But imagine a[Read More…]
The prevailing globalised agrifood model is built on unjust trade policies, the leveraging of sovereign debt, population displacement and land dispossession. It fuels commodity monocropping and food insecurity as well as soil and environmental degradation. It is responsible for increasing rates of illness, nutrient-deficient diets, a narrowing of the range of food crops, water shortages, chemical runoffs, increasing levels of[Read More…]
It was there for all to see. Embarrassing, cloying, and bound make you cough up the remnants of your summit lunch, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III stopped by one of the vassal states to make sure that the meal and military service was orderly, the troops well behaved, and the weapons working as[Read More…]
As I scrolled through my social media feed in the morning, a provocative statement by Sudha Murty, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation, caught my attention. She remarked that when travelling abroad, she carries her food and cooking items to avoid the possibility of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food being contaminated through mutual contact. This seemingly innocuous comment has now sparked heated debate,[Read More…]
A group of students from O.P. Jindal Global University Sonipat, distributed a magazine called “Nazariya”, an English language magazine focused on issues of working class, farmers, students, and intellectuals within their campus and have been suspended for the same. On 28th July 2023, the students were told to remove their stall by the university administration. We were told that this[Read More…]
With two nuclear superpowers involved in the war in Ukraine, coupled with the recent debut of the film “Oppenheimer,” the possibility of nuclear war has once again reared its ugly head. Given this, the suggestion that nuclear weapons might be a “blessing in disguise” will strike many readers as not only impossible but preposterous, for this suggestion is based on[Read More…]
To Shri Pinarayi Vijayan Chief Minister Kerala Respected Chief Minister, I understand that the Union Ministry of Power has undertaken a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) to provide grants to the States for installing smart meters to be installed at the consumers’ premises, as a part of the Ministry’s “reform” measures. The model touted by the Ministry is heavily tilted in favour of[Read More…]
How can we explain the explosive emergence of global awareness of the polycrisis over the past year, 2022-2023? Three years ago, almost no one had heard of the polycrisis. What happened? What Is the Polycrisis? First, let’s roughly define the polycrisis. Some claim it is nothing new. We believe the polycrisis is new. We believe a confluence of environmental, social,[Read More…]
Nuclear reactors are directly in the line of fire of global warming. In fact, nuclear reactors cannot survive global warming. But that’s only the start of serious issues with the world’s newly found love affair with nuclear energy. This article examines the likelihood of nuclear energy as a fixit for global warming, or is it a victim? The world is[Read More…]
As the ancient Greeks reminded us, bone cold definitions as starting points are essential in any discussion. One current discussion, insignificant to posterity but amusing for advertisers and the presently bored, is the ludicrous reactions to a plastic doll rendered into celluloid form. And as a doll, it can be no other. Mattel’s Barbie has become, courtesy of Greta Gerwig,[Read More…]
The greater part of Europe has for long enjoyed the status of very high levels of prosperity and even higher levels of prestige. It has been the desired land not only for those persons of the majority world who seek to improve their economic prospects but even for prominent members of their business and political elite who have been willing[Read More…]
Just viewed, for the first time, the 2012 ESPN documentary ‘Ghosts of Ole Miss’ written by Wright Thompson and directed by Fritz Mitchell. The film covered the 1962 segregationist riot at the University of Mississippi in opposition to the first Afro American student being enrolled there, James Meredith. Interspersed into it all was the undefeated Ole Miss football team and[Read More…]
On my 4th day of hunger-strike, here is my direct message to Ro Hi Congressman Ro Khanna. As you probably already know, today is the 4th day of my indefinite hunger-strike to demand that you use your powerful political platform in Congress to take the floor of the House of Representatives and speak out against the ongoing anti-Christian massacre in[Read More…]
The current events in the troubled state of Manipur remind me of a very powerful Manipuri play Draupadi I saw at Prithvi theatre in Mumbai more thana twenty years ago. A man sitting next to me was taking down notes. I thought he was a theatre critic but since I had not seen him as a critic earlier I asked[Read More…]
For two years, Usha Thopna’s day started at 5 am. After waking up, she would cook and clean for her new employers in Bangalore – Mr. and Mrs. Vatsa. Barely an adult herself, she had to look after their child too, and do various chores demanded of her at their whim. During her 18-hour long work day, she would additionally[Read More…]
The government has taken significant steps to support and protect the rights of persons with disabilities through the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPWD Act) 2016, implemented on 19 April 2017. This crucial Act includes provisions for various benefits, such as reservation for PWDs in government jobs, ensuring accessibility features, and promoting their participation in decision-making processes through Central[Read More…]
Let’s face it, every other parent has encountered the challenging dilemma of what to do when their young child or teen insists on having a smartphone. Whether it’s to connect with friends, text someone special, or collaborate on a school project, the allure of smartphones can be strong for young minds. Emily Cherkin, a prominent screen time expert based in[Read More…]
To Shri G C Murmu Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Dear Shri Murmu, Please refer to my letter dated 2-6-2023 addressed to you on the above subject (https://countercurrents.org/2023/06/pli-scheme-do-subsidies-to-profit-earning-private-manufacturers-yield-commensurate-societal-benefits/). In that letter, I pointed out that subsidising profit-earning private manufacturing companies, as envisaged in Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) and other PLI-like schemes, would not necessarily be the most prudent way[Read More…]
Usaa (Uppumavuluri Sambashiva rao, (1951 Feb 2019 -2020 July 25), well-known writer- activist was remembered by some of his admirers in a small meeting at Hyderabad to mark his death anniversary on July 25, 2023, a rainy day. A Usaa memorial Volume (cover page given above) in Telugu, Bahula Bahujana Jhanda-Agenda, Usaa, a key source material on him, was released[Read More…]
She doesn’t love you, she doesn’t care for you, and she doesn’t know you. But does her team pretend to, confecting an image of faux empathy and interest, sorting out the wheat from the chaff. The predatory, fan sucking phenomenon of the Taylor Swift marketing machine is something to behold. Leaving aside the sort of music that will eventually be[Read More…]
by Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox It’s been devastating, even if no one’s paying attention. Three months of fighting in Sudan between the army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Force (RSF) has left at least 3,000 people dead and wounded at least 6,000 more. Over two million people have been displaced within the country, while another 700,000 have fled to[Read More…]
Unimpeded Jewish settler violence has left the Palestinian people in desperation. “Between 2010 and 2019, nearly 3,000 Israeli settler attacks killed at least 22 Palestinians and injured 1,258 others across the occupied West Bank.” “Data collected by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reveals that there have been at least 570 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank[Read More…]
The Abraham Accords represents the latest in a series of significant peace initiatives aiming to resolve the long-standing Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Although the issue with Palestine was not directly addressed, these naturalization agreements with Israel were presented as a means to achieve peace in the entire region. This is not a precedent. All peace processes with Israel have been built on[Read More…]
In the severely hot and humid early evening here today in Washington, peace activists demonstrated and marched in a rally to end the war on the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War Armistice on July 27, 1953 that called for a formal end to hostilities on the peninsula. The war that has never officially been ended continues[Read More…]
There is a recent article on Big Think, What does schizophrenia feel like?, stating that, “What characterizes schizophrenia is experiencing hallucinations: perceptions that appear real but are created by the mind. A hallucination seems the same as all other, real, sensory experiences. The most common kind of hallucination is auditory: hearing voices. At its most advanced (and if left untreated),[Read More…]
It’s almost three months since Manipur, the Northeastern State of World’s largest democratic nation started burning due to unbearable ethnic clashes. The current and overall political condition of India is also not much better than this. And this is how Dr Lamtinthang Hoakip, responds to the ongoing tribal cleansing and brutalities associated with it. Dr Lamtinthang Hoakip is the former[Read More…]
Recent steps taken by the government of Rajasthan, one of the better governed states of India, can result in providing much needed relief to the weaker sections ( with rights based longer term commitments added) and hence deserve our high praise and appreciation. The Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Gehlot deserves appreciation for his commitment to giving high priority to pushing[Read More…]
There was no idea of gomata or gau mata in ancient India. Evidence of beef eating is found even in the oldest Indian religious text of supposedly divine origin, Rigveda. Professor D N Jha has given ample proof of the killing of cows in his famous book, The Myth of Holy Cow (2002). He cited several Western scholars and Indian[Read More…]
The fundamental aim of the text below is to deal with the concept and models of global security as one of the crucial topics of global politics studies. The question of Security Studies as an academic discipline within the scope of Global Politics has been the subject of much debate and one of the most prosperous ways to deal with[Read More…]
From being a school dropout in 8th standard due to molestation to working as a fellow for Udaan fellowship to spread awareness on molestation and sexual violence, here is the story of Swati Uike from Madhya Pradesh. Swati Uike belongs to Khatma Kheda village, about 45 km from Harda district in Madhya Pradesh. Khatma Kheda has a large population of[Read More…]
Convenor of Upakuliya Jami o Jangal Surakhya Samiti (Coastal Land and Forest Protection Committee) and leading activist of Sipasarubali Land Rights Movement, Comrade Batakrushna Swain, was released after two years from Puri Jail in Odisha on July 22, 2023. After being detained under 19 serious criminal charges and the National Security Act (NSA), Comrade Batakrushna Swain finally got bail in[Read More…]
Cooking oil plays a vital role in Indian cuisine, enhancing the flavour and texture of dishes. From palm to olive oil, a wide variety of edible oils are commonly used in Indian households. Survey Results on Cooking Oil Preferences: A survey conducted in April 2022 (Statista) revealed exciting insights into the cooking oil preferences of Indian households. Out of the various[Read More…]
The problem with the war in Ukraine is that it has been all smoke and mirrors. The Russian objectives of “demilitarisation” and “de-Nazification” of Ukraine wore a surreal look. The western narrative that the war is between Russia and Ukraine, where central issue is the Westphalian principle of national sovereignty, wore thin progressively leaving a void. There is a realisation[Read More…]
There is a new article in Nature, ChatGPT broke the Turing test — the race is on for new ways to assess AI, where the author wrote, “The most famous test of machine intelligence has long been the Turing test, proposed by the British mathematician and computing luminary Alan Turing in 1950, when computers were still in their infancy. Turing suggested[Read More…]
Israeli President Isaac Herzog added nothing of great value in his speech at the United States Congress on July 19. His was the typical language. He spoke of a ‘sacred bond’, touted the shared experience between both nations as “unique in scope and quality”, and celebrated the great, common “values that reach across generations”. But this theatrical language was meant[Read More…]
On 27 July the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice is being observed at a time of increasing tensions. As a recent note of ICAN (International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) updated till July 18 has stated, “Nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula have continued to build through 2023. Last month, North Korea tested its most advanced solid-fueled ICBM[Read More…]
Ro must realize that legends don’t walk middle grounds In 2019, US Congressman Ro Khanna reached out to me, and we have stayed in touch since. For over the past one year, I have directly and personally interacted with Ro Khanna. I first met Ro for lunch in his district in California in Summer 2022; most recently, I spent nearly[Read More…]
Assam has been in uproar over an haphazard process of dilimitation of constituencies and for a couple of weeks erupting into cries of frustration and rage over the way it has resulted in strange and absurd outcomes.Entire constituencies some going back more than seventy years have disappeared and many brand-new ones have been created.Entire communities have lost their address,odd fragments[Read More…]
From the Fukushima-Daiichi triple-reactor meltdown wreckage, Japan’s government and “Tepco,” the owner, are rushing plans to pump 1.37 million tons (about 3 billion pounds) of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific. Their record is poor. Their lies are documented. This is not safe, at all. To keep the three meltdowns’ wasted fuel from melting again, Tepco continuously pours cold water over[Read More…]
Global climate developments in the month of July, which have shattered heat records and brought devastating fires and flash floods, have made clear that capitalist-induced global warming, fueled by the unrestrained emission of carbon into the atmosphere in the pursuit of profit, has reached a tipping point, with the direct effects being felt in real time by much of the[Read More…]
by Bharat Dogra and Madhu Dogra Note—This is a slightly edited version of an extract from the recently published book Hindi Cinema and Society written by Bharat Dogra and Madhu Dogra (published by Saptarishi, pages 234, Paperback) Hindi cinema has an overwhelming presence in Indian society. Whether it is a young man humming a romantic song constantly, or a girl[Read More…]
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur known for his role in founding and leading companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, has once again made headlines with his bold decision to rebrand Twitter as “X.” The announcement, made during a live-streamed event, took the internet by storm, sparking intense speculation and debates about the reasons behind this dramatic change. In his characteristic[Read More…]
The United States Refuses to Play by the World’s Rules- Here Are Three Ways In 1963, the summer I turned 11, my mother had a gig evaluating Peace Corps programs in Egypt and Ethiopia. My younger brother and I spent most of that summer in France. We were first in Paris with my mother before she left for North Africa,[Read More…]
Seventy years have passed since Fidel Castro and a daring group of young Cubans launched an assault on the Moncada Barracks in eastern Cuba, aiming to topple the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. Despite the military failure of that attempt, it served as the catalyst for the revolution that has now held power in Cuba for more than 63 years. Today, a[Read More…]
The ground-breaking movie Oppenheimer, despite its unsympathetic protagonist, packs a powerful anti-nuclear punch that makes it hard, if not impossible, to sleep after watching the film. For this reason alone, the movie should be shown on the floor of Congress and in the White House as required viewing by all in DC bent on spending $1.7 trillion over the next[Read More…]
BJP has been in power for the last nine years. The opposition parties have gradually realized that it is not ruling on the lines of the Constitution and neither for inclusive India which should be based on Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Justice. BJP has also been using the agencies like ED, CBI as the major tool to weaken the opposition[Read More…]
Manipur issue has been in the national headlines for the last three months. Responding to the opposition and pressure that was building up, the prime minister made a statement on the May 4 incident that he was angry with what had happened in Manipur. The point however is not in displaying anger but the state acting in a way that[Read More…]
A disturbing incident was recently reported in Manipur, where two women from the Christian Kuki-zomi tribe were publicly stripped, paraded naked, and allegedly assaulted by a mob from the majority Meitei community. This incident was captured on video which went viral, sparking outrage. The incident occurred on May 4th in Kangpokpi district, according to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF),[Read More…]
The hollowness of the claims of ‘mother of democracy’ and ‘Vishwaguru’ are already known to India. To counter every criticism coming from abroad, you make loud noise about ‘democracy’ and ‘institutions’ in India but back home you dont have the basic decency to speak to people of a state which is burning. Manipur is burning for the last three months[Read More…]
A book announcement I would like to announce the publication of a new book, which may be downloaded and circulated free of charge from the following link: Here are some of the topics discussed in the book: Cultural evolution Most species of animals evolve slowly, adjusting to changes in their environ-ment through genetic changes. In humans, however, alllllthough slow genetic[Read More…]
![Demonstrators block the traffic on a highway crossing the city during a protest against Netanyahu's dictatorial measures aimed at the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, Monday, July 24, 2023. [AP Photo/ Oded Balilty]](https://cdn.countercurrents.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Israel-Protest-200x150.webp "Netanyahu’s coalition rams through judicial coup law in Israel 131")
On Monday, just before the Knesset’s summer recess, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, of his right-wing Likud Party, ultra-religious parties and fascist parties based on settlers on the West Bank, rammed through the first in a series of laws aimed at curtailing the powers of the Supreme Court. The bill passed 64-0 after the opposition boycotted the vote in protest[Read More…]
Ashok Rane, film critic and a jury member at several prominent international film festivals, was felicitated last evening by Prabhat Chitra Mandal, the film society now in its 54th year. That was on his winning the best film critic award in memory of Satyajit Ray instituted by the federation of film critics. It was most appropriate as Rane has been[Read More…]
If the video about atrocious and disgusting sexual assault of women in Manipur had not gone viral, the entire country and the rest of world would certainly not have reacted against this incident in a strongly aggressive manner as it is at present. Think again. Till the 30-second video did not go viral, though Manipur crisis was being given coverage[Read More…]
A statement issued by various women’s s organizations, students’ organizations, workers’ union, and other people’s organizations and democratic individuals of West Bengal Restore Peace in Manipur Immediately! Justice to Brutally Assaulted Manipuri Women! Sack Chief Minister N Biren Shah Singh! Sack Home Minister Amit Shah! We, like every woman of this country, are shocked that it took a horrendous video[Read More…]
Every film has a target audience. Even the films that are “for everyone” are produced with a primary audience in mind. It can be said that the primary target audience of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie are women, given the titular character’s influence and popularity amongst the female demographic. It is not strictly a children’s film, which was established early through the[Read More…]
Several persons whose commitment to peace and justice is well-established have argued that while the USA and its western allies were obviously wrong in taking several provocative actions against Russia, nevertheless Russia should have avoided the invasion of Ukraine. These analysts agree that western steps such as constantly pushing NATO eastwards in breach of previous promises, assisting the 2014 coup[Read More…]
Early in July 2023, Israel launched a massive military onslaught on the refugee camps in Jenin in the Occupied West Bank in Palestine. The attack was the biggest in 20 years, in which Israel used its military arsenal to the full against unarmed civilians. It left immense devastation of lives and infrastructure in its trails. Destruction on this scale[Read More…]
Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) on 27 June launched proceedings against the State of Canada immediately a day prior acceding to the compulsory jurisdiction clause of International Court of Justice (ICJ), at Hague. Under the compulsory Jurisdiction provision,[Read More…]
I believe our country must remain democratic and be governed by its current Constitution. I worry about the rising employment and costs of living. I feel concerned at the divisive machinations and hatred that are being sought to spread through whatsappery and other means. I wish the opposition to be visible out on the streets. And, yes, I am pro-Rahul[Read More…]
After the passage of the historic Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Law on 22nd July 2023, we write to you to share yet another significant development from the State. The Rajasthan Assembly has passed the Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare Act), 2023. In yet another series of firsts, this has become the first State in the country to[Read More…]
When ruling dispensations run out of viable ideas on political playoffs, they almost always resort to the politics of compulsion. By contrast, responsible governments which are committed to social progress use politics as an instrument to advance development, via progressive political agendas. They recognise that programs of public benefit veer towards enhancing social-economic-cultural-welfare value. Politics where schemes are ideologically self-centred[Read More…]
We have to keep in mind that a term and notion of security usually implies a kind of sense of protection and safety from different possible harms coming from „outside“. Therefore, it can be generally acceptable and understandable that the states want to protect their own territories by expanding great resources in making their territorial safe. Security topics are of[Read More…]
Saturday marked the 20th consecutive day of the hottest temperatures recorded in human history. Since July 3, the average global temperature (the temperature over Earth’s entire surface, averaged over 24 hours) has remained above the previous high of 16.92 degrees Celsius (62.46 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in August 2016, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[Read More…]
Thousands of people in different parts of the country held protests and marches in solidarity with the people of #Manipur. Manipur as seen by its people, here is our twelfth edition of newsletter. “I want to make a sincere appeal through #VoicesofManipur to all the youths of Manipur, we must join hands regardless of our differences to stop the ongoing[Read More…]
The national capital of India, New Delhi made news worldwide in December 2012 for the unprecedented brutality against a daughter of the country later named as “Nirbhaya” for the extraordinary courage shown by her when she said that she wanted to live when all the hopes were waning away and demanded that the culprits must be punished. The incidence was[Read More…]
As a frequent traveller in and around Chennai, I have experienced the ups and downs of utilizing bus services, ranging from paid buses to pink-coloured buses free of charge exclusively for women. Moreover, while using Chennai’s public transport, I recently discovered the Chalo app, a revolutionary addition to the transportation ecosystem, which has made my commute significantly more manageable and[Read More…]
[Along with other intellectuals, I was asked by a New Zealand solidarity group to share a few ideas on what meaningful solidarity with Palestine entails. This talk inspired the article below.] It is a new era in Palestine. This new era is taking shape before our very eyes, through the blood, tears and sacrifices of a brave generation that is[Read More…]
The government and people of Mexico have been involved in a struggle for several years to protect their staple food corn from serious health and environmental hazards linked strongly with imports of GM (genetically modified) corn and contamination of local corn with GM corn. However they and their protective efforts face the deep opposition of their neighbor and superpower the[Read More…]
23rd July, 2023: National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), along with over 3,200 + activists, academics, artists, retired bureaucrats and concerned citizens, many representing hundreds of movements and organizations from across the country issued a fervent and urgent Appeal to Madam Draupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India, seeking her immediate intervention, in the very grave circumstances of Manipur, requesting her[Read More…]
Decades are a short time in a nation’s journey. The sexual assault on three Kuki-Zo women and their being paraded naked by a frenzied mob in Manipur- with the police allegedly looking the other way – has rekindled what happened with one Bilkis Bano from Gujarat, more than two decades back, and her still unending fight for justice. One also[Read More…]
Pain contracts to a Nation when they stripshow somebody’s daughter, wife and mother walk them down the streets and go home to meet their women in their eyes and shut their doors to sleep for all is well. When you walk a woman bare you strip her of her soul she dies then you lead her body through the streets.[Read More…]
With the increasing number of cases and diverse legal arguments, litigation is becoming a powerful tool to hold governments, corporations, and financial institutions accountable. At the end of June, the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE) launched its annual report on climate litigation. This report offers a comprehensive synthesis of the latest research and developments in the[Read More…]
As the issues of food safety and health hazards are extremely important, many people are very keen to know the reality of GM (genetically modified) crops but they feel confused by the fact that while on the one hand many scientific papers warn about the very serious risks of these crops, other papers associate these crops with several virtues. Such[Read More…]
Any security arrangement with too many variables and multiple contingencies, risks stuttering and keeling over. Critical delays might be suffered, attributable to a number of factors beyond the parties concerned. Disputes and disagreements may surface. Such an arrangement is AUKUS, where the number of cooks risk spoiling any meal they promise to cook. The main dish here comprises the nuclear-powered[Read More…]
Within discipline to become: an eco-person within an eco-person soul within soul humility within humility courage within courage empathy within empathy fire within fire dignity within the prayer of dignity desire within desire voice within voice power within power perception within perception choice within choice place where Earth Warriors stand. Stand in the Grounding Dimension stand in the strength[Read More…]
On July 19, 2023 a heinous and unforgivable incident made it to the headlines. In connection to the ensuing ethnic clashes in Manipur, an incident of two Manipur tribal women being paraded naked by a mob in broad daylight came out in public only after two and a half months when a video footage of the same went viral. Though[Read More…]
The extraordinary silence of the Prime Minister on the horrifying situation in Manipur has been broken by an extraordinary statement on a viral video of rape of one woman and forced naked parade of three hapless Kuki women by a Meitei mob.Extraordinary?Yes.While the Prime Minister says his blood boils in agony and rage at this brazen cruelty he carefully refrains[Read More…]
This submission to the newly established Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) describes how the Zionist-subverted and US lackey Australian Labor Government (ALG) lies egregiously and corruptly to the People and Parliament against the interests of Australia and in the interests of (a) themselves and (b) Australia-violating Apartheid Israel and its fanatical lobbyists. Outstanding anti-racist Jewish American journalist I.F. Stone (author[Read More…]
To Smt. Droupadi Murmu The President of India Respected Rashtrapati Ji, I write this in continuation of my earlier letter dated 5-7-2023 addressed to your office (https://countercurrents.org/2023/07/take-the-ncst-into-confidence-prior-to-implementing-policies-and-projects-in-tribal-areas/) on the need for the executive to hold prior consultation with the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes (NCST) as required under Article 338A(9) of the Constitution before initiating any legislative action/ policy changes,[Read More…]
Proposals of the GASS before the 22nd Law Commission of India with regard to Implementation of Uniform Civil Code The role of the Law Commission of India is to consult as many people of the country as possible and make proposals to the government before making any law for the country. If the government wants, it will accept it and[Read More…]
In the dead of winter, the Antarctic Peninsula, an 800-mile extension of the Antarctic continent, temperatures hit 32°F. (Source: It’s Even Hot in Antarctica, Where it’s Winter, Vox, July 13, 2023) Global warming has been on a hot streak, accelerating its record-setting impact on the planet over the past couple of years. And even though it’s winter down below, Antarctica[Read More…]
In 2023, different climatic anomalies have been recorded that set new historical records in the tragic progression of climate change at the global level. Thus, in June, the surface temperature in the North Atlantic reached the maximum increase of 1.3 degrees Celsius with respect to preindustrial values. In a similar direction—although in lower values—the average temperature of the seas at[Read More…]
The recently held July 17, 2023, by-election at Dhaka-17 vacant seat that witnessed a vicious attack on an independent candidate, Mr. Hero Alom, revealed two contrasting trends – a missed opportunity for the government and that old habits die hard. Indeed, the by-election was an opportunity for the ruling Awami League, which has lately been subjected to harsh criticisms, both[Read More…]
`Let’s agree to disagree’ may sum up the gist of the word `dissent’ in simple terms. Dissent, generally, implies disagreement, criticism, questioning, or protest against the coercive decision or unjust laws and policies imposed by a person/s in authority. Explored in a constructive manner, peaceful and nonviolent dissent may lead to dialogue, open discussions, entrenchment of democratic ideas, undoing injustices,[Read More…]
Caste system is not federal. It is in a unitary because of its hierarchical nature. The castes are separate but not independent or equal. It is one caste centric and that caste is Brahman. It is above all the castes. Its position is superior to all the castes. It is not only on the top of the hierarchy of the[Read More…]
The recent debate on amendment of forest conservation law has seen the emergence of very relevant objections, and interests of environment protection as well as democracy demand that now the government should give adequate attention and importance to these objections. The advantages which a democracy provides in terms of the possibilities of corrective actions can be properly realized only if[Read More…]
Once in 2010, I visited Vivekananda International Foundation, the New Delhi-based think tank founded by Ajit Doval, the present National Security Advisor and one of the most powerful men in the country. As an anti-corruption activist interested in learning about the foundation’s anti-black money campaign, I had an appointment with Doval, who headed the think tank at the time. However,[Read More…]
“. . . we need to do everything we can to keep (global) warming as low as possible.” When it comes to climate change, one two-letter word has me totally perplexed: “we.” There’s an implication of global unity — a transcendent “we,” marching as to war (so to speak) — facing humanity’s greatest crisis, undoing the exploitative, Earth-destroying aspects of our social[Read More…]
In recent times, there have often been instances when mid-way in writing a post on social media, I “discard” it. There have been times when I wanted to understand an issue, without just tossing an opinion, without joining a for/against camp. This owes to the fact that for several issues, a mere attempt to hint at their complex and multi-layered[Read More…]
While the United States, along with its allies, left Afghanistan in August 2021 in spectacularly humiliating circumstances, the departure was never entirely complete, nor bound to be permanent. Since then, Washington has led the charge in handicapping those who, with a fraction of the resources, defeated a superpower and prevailed in two decades of conflict. In a fit of wounded[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 "How the Real Story of a Migrant Boat Disaster Escaped Our Attention 209")
Seeking news coverage about the Adriana, the boat crowded with some 700 people migrating to Europe to seek a better life that sank in mid-June off the coast of Greece, I googled “migrant ship” and got 483,000 search results in one second. Most of the people aboard the Adriana had drowned in the Mediterranean, among them about 100 children. I did a[Read More…]
I sit here in the silence of the awakening dawn’s stillness stunned by the realization that I exist. I wonder why. It is my birthday. The first rays of the rising sun bleed crimson over the eastern hills as I imagine my birth. The house and my family sleep. Someday I will die and I wonder why. This is the[Read More…]
At a press conference today on Capitol Hill, the new Freedom to Vote legislation act was introduced to reverse House Republican Conference sponsored H.R. 4563, the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act). The bill was introduced to counter the ACE Act that would create more restrictive barriers for voting affecting voters of color and the poor while allowing for[Read More…]
Respected Sir, We had sent two open letters to you which were published in Countercurrents.org on 11/06/2017 and 23/03/2023. In the first we had requested you to undertake a padyatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; in the second letter we had urged that a public declaration be made that you would not be a candidate for Prime Ministership in 2024 General[Read More…]
Three years after discontinuing the Doing Business report, the World Bank Group is introducing a new corporate flagship publication called the Business Ready (B-READY) report. This report aims to evaluate the business and investment climate in 180 countries with the intention of promoting economic reforms and facilitating private investment. However, concerns have been raised by labour and environmental groups about[Read More…]
India has a very rich tradition of opposing wrongly arrested persons, going back to the days of the freedom movement, when hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters including such legendary leaders as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Badshah Khan and Subhash Bose were arrested time and again by colonial rulers. Despite all the repression and cruelty of colonial rule,[Read More…]
As Pradhanmantri ji ‘expressed’ his ‘pain’ and ‘anguish’ on the horrific incident in Manipur suggesting all the state governments such as Rajasthan, Chhattishgarh, Bengal or Manipur, must do everything to protect ‘women’s right and honor’. Can you imagine the level of contempt for the common people’s issues. One speak after 78 days of the incident and that too for less[Read More…]
We, the undersigned women’s organisations and concerned individuals, are outraged at the brutality on the one hand and the impunity and brazenness of the perpetrators of the crime against women in Manipur. In a very disturbing manner, mobile recorded videos have surfaced on social media where a group of men have been seen parading two women naked on the streets.[Read More…]
Violence against women continues unabated during conflicts! Rape as a weapon of war was gruesomely demonstrated during World War II, when both Allied and Axis armies committed rape as a means of terrorizing enemy civilian populations and demoralizing enemy troops. Sexual enslavement of women in territories conquered by the Japanese army, and the mass rape committed against German women by[Read More…]
It sure is heartening news that the long-awaited opposition unity has at long last materialized in the Bengaluru meeting.Most political parties that matter and oppose the BJP have come together in an desperate attempt to confront the demon in a body.The country has come to the tipping point where we are just an inch or so from sliding downhill into[Read More…]
On June 14, a fishing vessel carrying hundreds of refugees, the Adriana, sank off the Greek port city of Pylos. Roughly 600 people, including children, drowned. An investigation by German regional broadcaster NDR, the Guardian, the research agency Forensis and the Greek organization Solomon has now come to the clear conclusion that the Adriana was towed by the Greek coast guard towards Italian waters[Read More…]
In the nine years that have passed since the BJP-led Modi government assumed office, there has been little or no opposition to the Hindutva fascist doctrine at work in India. This has allowed the government to implement most of its reactionary agendas and transformed India into a party state. The lack of political opposition has provided Hindutva with the opportunity[Read More…]
The fast rise in global warming manifested by current extreme weather events betray a dangerous underestimation of the Earth’s liveable climate, while governments ignore climate science, claim to set limits on domestic emissions but allow major export of fossil fuels and emissions worldwide on a scale threatening life on Earth. With current policies there appear to exist few limits on[Read More…]
On Monday, June 17, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, announced, “The Black Sea agreements are no longer in effect.” This was a blunt statement to suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative that emerged out of intense negotiations in the hours after Russian forces entered Ukraine in February 2022. The Initiative went into effect on July 22, 2022,[Read More…]
The dominant view regarding what is desirable for a country, now and in future, is normally that of the internationally recognized government of the country. The present government of Ukraine not only has widespread international recognition, its President Zelenskyy is also widely promoted as a brave war hero by many rich and powerful countries, helped by the fact that he[Read More…]
Early U.S. capitalism was centered in New England. After some time, the pursuit of profit led many capitalists to leave that area and move production to New York and the mid-Atlantic states. Much of New England was left with abandoned factory buildings and depressed towns evident to this day. Eventually employers moved again, abandoning New York and the mid-Atlantic for[Read More…]
In 2012, Nigeria was amidst a social and political crisis when Kola Masha, the Harvard educated managing partner of Babban Gona, the award-winning for-profit social enterprise, took a monumental decision to leave United States and return to his native village in Northern Nigeria. The nation had witnessed three insurgencies, The Boko Haram, Niger Delta Crisis, and the Fulani Herdsman attacks,[Read More…]
The military power of Israel has failed to curb Palestinian resistance. Palestinians are convinced that the might of Israel’s colonialist-apartheid structure will, one day, crumble, due to its lack of moral legitimacy. It is, perhaps, crucial to define two terminologies at the very outset that defines the ongoing struggle for justice in Palestine-Israel. ‘Sumud’ – which implies ‘steadfast perseverance’ –[Read More…]
The Bastille Day is celebrated as the national day of France on 14 July each year. It is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution. Originally built as a medieval fortress, the Bastille eventually became a state prison where political prisoners were often kept. Some prisoners were held on the direct order of the king, from which there was[Read More…]
The incident of rape and parading of two Kuki women in Manipur is outrageous and barbaric to say the least. We dont have the word to describe as what has happened to this beautiful state. For the last three months, the state is suffering from violence which has been deliberately encouraged by those in power. Why is Manipur burning and[Read More…]
This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not. Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on July 12 demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader. As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what[Read More…]
Hosting sporting events has always been a government’s formula to distract their seducible subjects. It’s the secular version of smells and bells, the warbling of the church choir turned into flesh and performance. If such occasions are of sufficient scale, they might even be political promotions, body beautiful types paraded and performing before clapping and glorifying spectators. Sponsors also have[Read More…]
If you didn’t know better, you’d think Lloyd Marbet was a dairy farmer or maybe a retired shop teacher. His beard is thick, soft, and gray, his hair pulled back in a small ponytail. In his mid-seventies, he still towers over nearly everyone. His handshake is firm, but there’s nothing menacing about him. He lumbers around like a wise, old[Read More…]
Approximately 6 billion people, constituting about 85% of the global population, associate themselves with a religious belief. Take a moment to ponder over the consequences if people start burning each other’s sacred texts or insulting religious symbols and figures in the name of freedom of expression. In such a scenario, can you envision a peaceful world? Following the burning of[Read More…]
A little known and underappreciated military historical event in San Francisco occurred sixty years ago today at high noon on Friday, July 19, 1963. A Navy A4A Skyhawk attack aircraft flying at 25,000 feet over San Francisco in restricted airspace piloted by Navy Reserve pilot Lt. Richard A. Kines accidentally dropped one of its six 25-pound non-explosive practice bombs that[Read More…]
Various development models which sought to reduce poverty and deprivation in the past tried to link the production/availability of various essential goods and services with the available financial and natural resources. However with the accentuation of the environmental crisis there are new challenges and pressing needs. It is well recognized by scientific opinion that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas[Read More…]
One year after India banned nineteen single-use plastic items for tackling plastic waste, the situation on the ground tells us a different story. Banned single-use plastic items are found to be available everywhere in most urban areas in India. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MOEF&CC), through a notification in 2021, prohibited the Manufacture, Import, Stocking, Distribution, Sale[Read More…]
The NATO Summit in Vilnius on June 11-12 turned out to be an anti-climax with the fractured relationship between the regime in Kiev and the Western powers surging. What is happening is more of an implosion than a Russian conspiracy. Certainly, the announcement by the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace that he will be leaving the cabinet and quitting politics is much[Read More…]
The dawning El Niño, which will produce worse chaos than we’ve seen so far, offers what I think may be our last viable political opening to make the large-scale global corrections in time to really limit the heating. This piece will be a touch more personal than most, because the past couple of weeks have felt personal. I wrote the[Read More…]
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, According to “Research and Development Statistics, 2019-20” published by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), India’s national investment in R&D is abysmally low, stagnating at around 0.6-0.7% of GDP. Compared to it, countries at the forefront of technology development such as the USA (2.8% of GDP), China (2.1%), Israel[Read More…]
The NATO summit at Vilnius, Lithuania ended without any tangible move for peacemaking. It was more a show of compelling solidarity to enlarge and sustain the conflicts between Russia, Ukraine and NATO professing to be peacemakers. Out of nowhere, the Wagner group offered some unexpected consolence to many Western protagonists of conflict but it dmeonstarted Russian leadership capacity to manage[Read More…]
{As a preface to this column, this writer has been an adherent of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. Thus, I believe wholeheartedly in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and that he was truly ‘ Anointed with the Christ spirit’.} One Sunday morning I decided to drive to the beach and take a walk along the shore. Using our very[Read More…]
Maharashtra’s politicians have betrayed the masses on a massive scale . But one good decisions taken by the government before the recent filthy politics is that it introduced 50 per cent concession in fares for women on State Transport buses. It needs to do more for promoting public transport. Making a documentary film would be one good measure, it has[Read More…]
Creation of news states in India from time to time has helped India in satisfying regional aspirations and improving governance in some of the larger states. Of course creation of a new state is not easy and involves a lot of careful work and consultation with people and various stakeholders. Whenever these consultation processes are properly followed, creation of new[Read More…]
I review and revise this article: a friend reminded me that a large number of great scientists were also believers! The sadness whenever I see the esteemed ISRO scientists prostrate before the God for their success, it hurts me. And the knowledge that a large number of great scientists are God believers upset me equally. I am reminded by[Read More…]
Atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) are increasing at record rates due to record fossil fuel extraction and burning, and record iron ore, steel. cement and animal production. Humanity will not act on climate change but it could at least act urgently now to emplace systems to save the circa 15 million people presently dying each year from carbon fuel burning pollutants,[Read More…]
Again, he was at it, that charming show on two legs, playful and coy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been burning the charismatic fuel of late, making the necessary emissions in visiting friendly countries. Each time, he seems to be getting away with more and more, currying (pun intended) favour with his hosts and landing the necessary deals. For[Read More…]
At the time of writing this piece, there were 17 black people confirmed dead at the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg near Johannesburg in South Africa – and many more are still recovering mostly from the Tambo Memorial public hospital. Preliminary investigations confirmed by the South African Police Service, the Premier of the Gauteng province, and the Mayor of the[Read More…]
In April, when Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman with a top-secret clearance, was arrested for posting a trove of classified documents about the Russia-Ukraine war online, the question most often asked was: How did such a young, inexperienced, low-level technician have access to such sensitive material? What I wanted to know was: How did he ever get[Read More…]
Recently there have been several efforts by traditional boatmen of Varanasi to mobilize protests against their livelihoods being threatened by the introduction of water taxis in the Ganga river. In fact there was even a strike by them on this issue when they did ply their boats for some time. Earlier there was a protest by them against the introduction[Read More…]
Paradoxically, recent past has been witness to strongly different images of India circulating at home and also in global media. Incidentally, lesser space has been taken by the positive side than has been by negative aspects and/or the grimmer reality. Of course, as is well known, the former has been marked by Indian Premier’s foreign trips followed by India’s moon[Read More…]
“I know two Manipurs: one before this violence and one after this”. #VoicesofManipur. Here is the 11th edition of #VoicesofManipur. Read here personal experiences of the humanitarian crisis in Manipur. Voices of Manipur is a collective of concerned citizens. They bring out the situation in Manipur through the newsletter published in social media. This is the 10th newsletter. They can[Read More…]
The country will remember for the next one hundred years the tragic train crash of June 02, this year at Bahanaga in Balasore district. Judging by the number of people killed in the accident, it is one of the biggest disasters of the Indian Railways. In fact, it is being investigated and debated whether it was a culpable homicide (unintentional[Read More…]
Several parts of India including the capital Delhi are in the middle of above normal floods. This has happened at a very early stage of the monsoon rains and there is need for a lot of caution at this stage itself as the capacity of land, natural water sources and dams to handle floods, which has been eroded badly over[Read More…]
Successful launch of Chandrayan 3, the latest mission of Indian Space Research Organization to moon is a remarkable scientific endeavour. It took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state on the afternoon of July 14th. With the successful launch, India is bidding to become the fourth country to execute a controlled landing on the[Read More…]
by Ariel Gold and Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler To honor those who have died and suffered from the fires Biden nominee Elliott Abrams lit and fanned abroad, we must stop his appointment. It was a bright sunny March morning in 1980. Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was saying mass at a church hospital in San Salvador when a bullet from a sniper rifle[Read More…]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is bound to be a major technological force that will reshape the 21st century. But its reverberating effects will not be confined to the technological; the evolution of AI will greatly influence other spheres, particularly in the military and international relations realms. Moreover, the increasing use of AI in the military sphere and the growing intelligence of[Read More…]
`A woman, spreading a sack before her like a fish stall/ Sells bodies of little children /Dead from gunshot wounds/ Sprinkling water and rubbing the corpses/ She says laughing carelessly: “Not anyone’s/ Not anyone’s children, mind you/ These children are my own.” ( Thangjam Ibopishak, Manipuri poet who composed this poem [Read More…]
by Ashish Kumar Singh & Kamruzzaman Introduction Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit (June 21-24) to the United States was expected to deepen and diversify ties between the two countries. According to Bangladeshi media, this visit was also significant for Bangladesh. The news of Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States was widely covered by the mainstream media. Recently,[Read More…]
by Ekitha Gangavath, Ayush Bajpai, Amit Singh and Sandeep Pandey Unfortunately, this theme gets people’s attention only when some students commit suicides. As public memory is short things relapse to normal soon. The academic atmosphere becomes more competitive and then we have more suicides a few years down the line. Actually, number of students’ suicides is pretty large but media[Read More…]
Cuba’s National Assembly said on Wednesday it “strongly condemns” a resolution by the European Parliament, which criticized the country’s human rights record and called for EU sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other top officials. “The European Parliament lacks the moral, political and legal authority to judge Cuba,” Cuba’s parliament said in a statement. “This could cast doubt on[Read More…]
Approximately 2.4 billion individuals, largely women and residents of rural areas, did not have consistent access to nutritious, safe, and sufficient food in 2022, said UN’s latest report. The U.N. delivered grim news on global food security Wednesday: As many as 783 million faced hunger, and 148 million children suffered from stunted growth. More than 3.1 billion people – 42%[Read More…]
Slain at the hands of strangers or gunned down by loved ones. Massacred in small towns, in big cities, inside their own homes or outside in broad daylight. This year’s unrelenting bloodshed across the U.S. has led to the grimmest of milestones: The deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006. An AP report said on 14 July 2023:[Read More…]
In recent years, almost half of US state legislatures have passed laws that directly undermine local communities’ efforts to curb climate change. More prominent in the headlines, though, have been bills targeting public education and violating a host of constitutional rights, many of them now signed into law. These “culture war” laws don’t directly address climate. But unless they are[Read More…]
Republican lawmakers in the US Congress are unabashedly pro-global warming: “Bring it on! We’ve got air conditioners in our cars, offices, and homes… no sweat!” Not one Republican in Congress voted for the nation’s most inclusive climate bill of all time, the Inflation Reduction Act. Meanwhile, here we go again, this coming fall, with Congress in another deadline to avoid[Read More…]
The situation in mid-July in India and more particularly in North India suggests need for extreme caution to avoid any further or rapid aggravation of the flood situation. At rather an early stage of the monsoon season, excessive floods have taken place in Delhi and neighboring parts as well as in the upper Himalayan catchment areas of Himachal Pradesh and[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd At his speech during the NATO Summit in Lithuania, President Biden called the U.S. and Europe “anchors for global security” when in reality there are no anchors during this increasingly dangerous and polarized time of never-ending war in Europe. Our NATO allies are not, as Biden would suggest, anchors in a turbulent sea of[Read More…]
There are several important perspectives for understanding history and learning from it for future. One of the more useful of these ways may be to seek an understanding in terms of four crucial relationships—relationships among human beings at several levels, relationship between human beings and nature, relationship between human beings and other forms of life, relationship among the present generation[Read More…]
The deadly Israeli invasion of Jenin on July 3 was not a surprise. Also, unsurprising is the fact that the killing of 12 Palestinians, wounding of 120 more and the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the Jenin Refugee Camp’s homes and infrastructure will not make an iota of a difference. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite his lofty[Read More…]
In case you hadn’t noticed — and how could you not? — there have been more than 500 (yes, 500-plus!) wildfires burning across the vast reaches of Canada, an unheard-of number, and more than half of them completely out of (human) control in a record-shattering fire season. That’s been true for seemingly endless weeks now with no end in sight. (And, by[Read More…]
It has always been a complaint that where the Muslim population is more, their population is shifted through the delimitation exercise to marginalize the Muslim community of its electoral strength. This exercise is done through a delimitation commission almost once in ten years to block Muslim representation in the Parliament and state legislators in India. Apart from the shift of[Read More…]
Release of Report on Public Hearing New Delhi, 13th July 2023: At the Press Conference organized by the Concerned Citizens of India at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, the release of the public hearing report shed light on the harrowing experiences of forced evictions across India in preparation for the G20 summit. The report was addressed by Senior Journalist Pamela Philipose, Human[Read More…]
The governments of the U.S. and UK are trusted by just about a third of their respective populations, placing them dead last among the G7 countries, according to a Gallup poll published on Monday. The U.S. performed worst among the G7, with just 31% of poll respondents saying they had confidence in their government in 2022. The UK fared slightly better,[Read More…]
Memorandum on Uniform Civil Code submitted to 22nd Law Commission by All India Secular Forum on July 13, 2023 Introduction The 21st Law Commission – after comprehensive consultation, research and analysis of the implications of UCC for the whole of India – recommended that “Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary nor desirable. . . . reason being that as India[Read More…]
Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) is shocked by the decision of a masjid committee in Kerala asking a Dalit Muslim to stay away from a general meeting on the ground that “traditionally your ancestors were prohibited from attending the general meeting” (https://sabrangindia.in/casteism-in-the-kerala-muslim-community-dpjc-strongly-objects/). There is no concept of caste in the religion of Islam but evidently caste and caste-based discrimination[Read More…]
Pictures of Keelavenmani massacre, on Christmas night, 1968, and its memorial. 42 agri labor, most of them dalits- women and children- were burnt to death in the hut they had a meeting, the previous night, on wage rates. It was pre-meditated murder, in the presence of and aided by police, by landlords. One significant thing is often forgotten or omitted:[Read More…]
Lullaby- A song by Akhu Chingangbam. Akhu Chingangbam is a famous musician from #Manipur. He has shared this song about the crisis in his state.
Nothing said from the nuclear industry can or should be taken for face value. Be it in terms of safety, or correcting defects or righting mistakes; be it in terms of construction integrity, there is something chilling about reassurances that have been shown, time and again, to be hollow. The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) disaster has forever[Read More…]
In the middle of an intensifying controversy over whether western countries should supply cluster bombs to Ukraine for use in the ongoing conflict, another issue that deserves serious attention is that if cluster bombs are to be used for ‘liberating’ its own territory by Ukraine, which is the stated aim for obtaining the supply of these deadly weapons by Ukraine[Read More…]
The only real difference between white extremists of today and their cousins 100 years ago is ‘ Who are we discriminating against?’ In 1920 Congressman Albert Johnson of Washington State introduced legislation to slash the numbers of immigrants allowed into our country. Infatuated with the new pseudoscience of Eugenics ( a way to perfect people through genetics and[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Government of India Dear Shri Gauba, I had earlier written to the Department of Atomic Energy on 13-9-2019 on my concerns, both technical and financial, about the proposal to set up a nuclear power plant of 9,000 MW consisting of six EPR reactors to be supplied by EDF of France. It is possible that[Read More…]
Moscow and Beijing should “lead the correct direction of global governance reform,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi underlined that the development of the bilateral ties between China and Russia has become “a strategic choice made by both countries based on their own national and people’s fundamental interests.” Xi added that the importance of developing ties within such multinational groups[Read More…]
Come, July 15th, we have a day called Social Media Giving Day. In today’s digital age, it’s so obvious to see social media becoming an integral part of our lives, connecting people across the globe. Beyond its role in facilitating communication and entertainment, social media has emerged as a powerful tool for social good. One of the classic examples is[Read More…]
by Prakruthi Jain, Ayush Bajpai and Sandeep Pandey “A just code should be the primary goal as just laws are more important than a mere one uniform law.”[1] Manipur is in turmoil since beginning of May. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not said a word about it. Despite being in the midst of continued violence, he did not cancel[Read More…]
by Mwesigye Robert, Esther Afolaranmi, and Carter Dillard Those who would have to pay the most are trying to hide what the climate crisis is costing the rest of us and ignoring the fact that social justice begins with a fair start in life. Climate change has already caused harm not only to mothers and children, but also to people[Read More…]
We know that plastic is choking the planet. But it could be killing us, too. In 2019, the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks published a statement that identified 14 emerging health and environmental issues. Right near the top of that list was plastic waste. The committee emphasized the “urgent” need “for a better assessment of hazard and[Read More…]
A conversation with Bárbara Navarrete, secretary-general of the Communist Youth of Chile. “We are a generation totally interested in taking power,” says Bárbara Navarrete, the new secretary-general of the Communist Youth of Chile. This generation came of age with examples such as Gabriel Boric, Chile’s president, who is only 37 years old, and Camila Vallejo, the president’s chief of staff, who is[Read More…]
The delusion of liberal democracy’s universal appeal has seen better days. The idea that undeniably desirable Western universal values would take root across the planet was a fool’s hope. Liberal democracy swaddled in the promise of instant gratification once had its appeal in some parts of the world. It is now either being more frequently outright rejected or incorporated, but[Read More…]
A world in which machines governed by artificial intelligence (AI) systematically replace human beings in most business, industrial, and professional functions is horrifying to imagine. After all, as prominent computer scientists have been warning us, AI-governed systems are prone to critical errors and inexplicable “hallucinations,” resulting in potentially catastrophic outcomes. But there’s an even more dangerous scenario imaginable from the proliferation of[Read More…]
What are the most important lessons of history regarding true progress which really brings welfare and happiness? What can we learn from this to resolve the most serious survival crisis faced today in terms of the basic life-nurturing conditions of our planet being threatened by man-made factors? These are big questions which may require big answers. However if the essence[Read More…]
by Sandeep Pandey and Vishwas Bhamburkar The preamble to the Constitution begins with “We, the People”. Thus, the idea that the citizens are the sovereigns, should have been the pervasive thought flowing from the Constitution as viewed by all the powers that be. Is the citizen the sovereign? If she is not, isn’t the whole constitution a farce? And[Read More…]
Earth’s ecosystems may be careering toward collapse much sooner than scientists thought, a new study of our planet’s warming climate has warned. According to the study (Simon Willcock, Gregory S. Cooper, John Addy & John A. Dearing, Earlier collapse of Anthropocene ecosystems driven by multiple faster and noisier drivers, Nature Sustainability, Published: 22 June 2023), more than a fifth of the world’s potentially catastrophic[Read More…]
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Monday that early data show the beginning of July saw the hottest week on record globally. “The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement after climate change and the early stages of the El Nino weather pattern drove the hottest June on record. Temperatures are breaking records[Read More…]
The observations of the Gujarat High Court judge who refused to stay the metropolitan magistrate’s sentence on Rahul Gandhi make strange reading.Reportedly the magistrate himself had reached the present tier in judicial hierarchy through somewhat shady paths.While upholding his verdict the honourable judge regretted the lack of ‘purity’ among present-day politicians. One hopes this had not been the type of[Read More…]
On this 6th July Pravesh Shula, a BJP worker, urinated on an Adivasi boy. Shukla is a close associate of Kedarnath Shukla, the MLA of the area. When Pravesh was peeing; his friend Deep Narayan Sahu was videotaping the whole incident. The person on whom Shukla; out of fear kept quiet, but as the video of the incident surfaced, MP[Read More…]
She sits by the river bearing the scars of a lifetime, Each scar reminding her of a struggle that she now embodies. She knew she has intuition and empathy that feeds into a collective intelligence pool to shift the world towards kindness and love. She learnt this wisdom from her ancestors, who visited her on some quiet and lonely moon[Read More…]
The failure of too many in the mainstream press is not only inexcusable, but ominous. The persecution of Julian Assange, along with the climate of fear, wholesale government surveillance and use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers, has emasculated investigative journalism. The press has not only failed to mount a sustained campaign to support Julian, whose extradition appears imminent, but[Read More…]
In March, the South Africa Communist Party (SACP) denounced what it described as the ‘imperialist bias’ of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The denunciation of the ICC as a “supranational institution at the service of imperialist states” came two days after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official for alleged war[Read More…]
Electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi and cell towers may pose a “credible risk” to birds, mammals, insects, and even plants There is growing evidence that our addiction to cell phones could be impacting brain functionality and be the cause of stress, anxiety, insomnia, and a lack of attention and focus. A 2017 report found that human beings are not the only living things[Read More…]
The New Gilded Age, wars along the Russian border, a global pandemic, battles for women’s rights, even the Titanic: history does rhyme with the present. Yet as former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert once observed: “If history tells us anything, it’s that we never learn from history.” That’s something we can realistically change. And if we do, we’ll have an[Read More…]
Kristin Christman, with dedication in video to Angel Christman In this series, I’ve been refuting the claims made in the National Security Strategy 2022 (NSS 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, took part in writing the document. In this essay,[Read More…]
Voices of Manipur is a collective of concerned citizens. They bring out the situation in Manipur through the newsletter published in social media. This is the 10th newsletter. They can be reached at voicesofmanipur@gmail.com
by Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd President Biden may have crossed a new red line for the Democratic Party when he announced he would send banned cluster munitions to shore up Ukraine’s slow counter-offensive against Russian troops. On Friday, 19 House Democrats, led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-7), signed a letter to Biden warning that his decision[Read More…]
PUCL Demands from the Manipur Government: Stop Criminalising Human Rights Work! Respect the fundamental rights of citizens to conduct Fact Finding Enquiries and publish their reports for public discussion. Immediately withdraw FIR against Annie Raja, Nisha Siddhu & Deeksha Dwivedi of NFIW for releasing Fact Finding report after Manipur visit. Drop all criminal charges against Prof. Kham Khan Suan Hausing[Read More…]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize various industries, and the media landscape is no exception. Recently, India witnessed a pathbreaking development as it introduced its first AI news anchor. This technological advancement raises intriguing questions and stirs debates about the future of journalism. Is this a significant milestone that will enhance news delivery and engage audiences, or does it pose[Read More…]
Last week, video emerged showing what was — at least, what one hopes was — the tail end of a wild night experienced by a seasoned political activist in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh. Who knows exactly what Pravesh Shukla spent his time doing earlier that day. Perhaps, as a party worker for the BJP, he’d been out in[Read More…]
Earth is experiencing unprecedented heat waves, with record-breaking temperatures being observed. The University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer reported that Earth broke the record for its hottest day in 120,000 years three times in the past week. These extreme temperatures are expected to continue as El Niño intensifies, adding more heat to the Earth’s system. The climate scientists are confident in these assertions[Read More…]
Since the end of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has distinctly strayed from its original purpose. It has become, almost shamelessly, the vessel and handmaiden of US power, while its burgeoning expansion eastwards has done wonders to upend the applecart of stability. From that upending, the alliance started bungling. It engaged, without the authorisation of the UN[Read More…]
Rohini Hattangady, Mukta Barve , the entire all woman cast of the acclaimed feminist Marathi play Char Choughi recently vociferously praised the municipal drama theatre in Vashi in Navi Mumbai for its good facilities. It is named after Vishnudas Bhave, the pioneer of Marathi theatre. This happened because though there is a thriving theatre movement in Maharashtra as nowhere else[Read More…]
It was one of the fabled rivers of history and the Marines needed to cross it. In early April 2003, as American forces sought to wrap up their conquest of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and take strongholds to its north, the Marine Corps formed “Task Force Tripoli.” It was commanded by General John F. Kelly (who would later serve as[Read More…]
BERLIN 8 July 2023 (IDN) — “Have you noticed,” said John, “how countries call theirs ‘sovereign nuclear deterrents,’ but call the other countries’ ones ‘weapons of mass destruction’?” I am reminded of this quote from David Mitchell’s ‘Ghostwritten’ while reading how President Biden has defended his decision to provide Ukraine with banned cluster munitions, bypassing the US law and violating[Read More…]
There is a clear urgency of action needed to check the decline in access of benefits of the most important national-level maternity benefit scheme. The government must take immediate steps for this, particularly in the context of states like Gujarat and W.Bengal where the sharp decline in 2021-22 has been particularly distressing. According to the latest available data, maternity benefits[Read More…]
United States’ “command” over boosting as well as punching egos at certain diplomatic levels cannot be ignored. Of late, this diplomatic strategy with “punches” directed at third parties appears to have surfaced quite prominently. It is possible, France has chosen to exercise the same strategy as United States in extending diplomatic warmth towards India. Soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra[Read More…]
T Vijayendra has just published a new book of short stories with a title, ‘Credible Fantasies’. The blurb reads: ‘The central idea of the fantasies presented here is to imagine a future for my young friends with ‘Green Jobs’, that is, jobs that help in restoring ecology and creating equity among humans. It is a very difficult proposition under[Read More…]
The playbook the pimps of war use to lure us into one military fiasco after another, including Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and now Ukraine, does not change: Freedom and democracy are threatened. Evil must be vanquished. Human rights must be protected. The fate of Europe and NATO, along with a “rules based international order” is at stake. Victory is[Read More…]
Ukraine is a country where millions of people are in deep distress. Several million people have been displaced or face serious disruption of life. Hence certainly the people of Ukraine need help. The desire of anyone to extend unselfish, unconditional help to them is a very noble desire. However all those persons in any part of the world who have[Read More…]
On Friday, the Biden administration said it would send cluster munitions—weapons that scatter unexploded bomblets across a wide area, killing and maiming civilians for decades—to Ukraine. Facing the failure of Kiev’s military offensive, the United States is desperately seeking to use the provision of ever more destructive and indiscriminate weapons to reverse its setbacks on the battlefield. Critically, the announcement[Read More…]
There is a certain desperation in the logic of those who argue that a depraved solution has merit because it’s only slightly less depraved than that of the opponent. Torture is bad but should still be used because your adversary feels free to resort to it. Only do so, however, via judicial warrant. Bombing hospitals is terrible, but when done,[Read More…]
Will the world’s major coastal cities, such as NYC, survive escalating global heat conditions in Greenland? And what if both Greenland and Antarctica follow the recent very disturbing pattern of the world’s oceans? For the first time that scientists can recall, sea surface temperatures that always recede from annual peaks are failing to do so, staying high. Climate change[Read More…]
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 22th 2023, in a voice note to his Telegram channel, declared, in a Reuters translation, ”We don’t want the country (Russia) to continue to live any longer in corruption, deceit and corruption.” Add to that the same wish of many others throughout the world who heard that Telegram, and especially, in America and[Read More…]
Social psychosis is widespread. In the words of the British psychiatrist, R. D. Laing, “The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one’s mind, is the condition of the normal man.” He was not referring to raving, drooling, hitting-your-head-against-the-wall lunacy but a taken-for-granted acceptance of a world long teetering on the edge of nuclear[Read More…]
There was much discussion of a mental health crisis possibly existing in some of the richest western countries even before the pandemic, particularly in the context of the younger part of the population. This certainly increased during the pandemic and has remained generally at higher than pre-pandemic levels since then. However there is considerable difference of opinion and much debate[Read More…]
Saving money has traditionally been seen as an expression of responsible conduct. Saving money was seen as being wise and mature. Budget diaries were an essential material in a household’s economic life. However, the perception of saving money has shifted in recent times. The practice of saving money is being replaced by a philosophical concept termed YOLO, an acronym for[Read More…]
In today’s era of advanced technology, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital innovations are transforming lives, it is disheartening to acknowledge that several remote villages in India still lag behind, lacking even the most basic digital literacy. Talking about remote hilly villages in Uttarakhand, the privilege of knowledge and access to digital literacy still remains elusive, especially for girls. One[Read More…]
Book reading culture has seen an abrupt and huge slump over the years. The question arises what actually has sounded a death knell to it? The obvious and factual answer is certainly the influx of digital games and alluring nature of social media apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, and Instagram inter alia. All these social media apps and sites due[Read More…]
Desecrating, then burning the Holy Quran in Sweden has, once again, raised a political storm of condemnation, but also of justification, if not outright approval. Such acts are protected by law, top Swedish and EU officials have declared. But why are the rights of those who oppose western agendas, colonialism, imperialism, Zionism and military interventions not equally protected by law?[Read More…]
The future of one hundred million LGBTQIA Indians is at stake. For the last seventy five years the Indian Parliament has evaded – nay stonewalled – debate on LGBTQIA marriage and the consequent benefits to same-sex couples it entails. True, the Supreme Court is to pronounce its judgement on the issue anytime soon but it can only give a declaration[Read More…]
New Delhi, July 7th 2023: In an important development, Justice Navin Chawla in the Delhi High Court dismissed the Appeal filed by PepsiCo India Holdings (PIH), against a revocation order on its Plant Varietal Protection (PVP) certificate in December 2021 on its IPR on a potato variety. The revocation order was earlier passed by the Protection of Plant Varieties &[Read More…]
As a scholar of Palestinian history, I see this recent episode as the latest chapter in a much longer history of Palestinian displacement and defiance of Israeli occupation. Israeli troops withdrew from Jenin on July 4, 2023 after two days of heavy aerial bombardment and ground invasion. According to reports, 12 Palestinians were killed and over 100 wounded in what the Israeli[Read More…]
Monday July 3 was the hottest day anyone had ever measured on planet Earth. True, our system for measuring the global average temperature—a network of weather stations, ocean buoys, and satellites—only dates back to 1979, but that means that at a bare minimum it was the hottest day a large majority of the Earth’s population had ever been alive to witness. And[Read More…]
Drinking water from nearly half of U.S. faucets likely contains “forever chemicals” that may cause cancer and other health problems, according to a government study released Wednesday. An AP report said: The synthetic compounds known collectively as PFAS are contaminating drinking water to varying extents in large cities and small towns — and in private wells and public systems, the[Read More…]
When the news of the passing of Shri L R Balley came to me from several friends in Birmingham, I was still not prepared to believe it. The reason was my own morality issue that the things should come from the family first and second in the age of social media many time, people too have a fetish for ‘break[Read More…]
Topped off by a curious ‘coup’ attempt in Russia, June was a fascinating month with new geopolitical economic developments, twists and turns on many fronts: As US President Biden wooed, wined and dined India’s Prime Minister Modi (who was once refused a visa to America), France’s Macron sought an invite from South African President Ramaphosa to the BRICS summit to[Read More…]
The contradictions of China-bashing in the United States begin with how often it is flat-out untrue. The Wall Street Journal reports that the “Chinese spy” balloon that President Joe Biden shot down with immense patriotic fanfare in February 2023 did not in fact transmit pictures or anything else to China. White House economists have been trying to excuse persistent U.S. inflation saying[Read More…]
[S]ettlers in thrall to colonial ideology saw every unfenced meadow as waste land free for the taking, especially the most fertile land supporting native self-sufficiency. — Tom Swanky, The Smallpox War against the Haida (p 67). July 1, was recently celebrated in “Canada” as Canada Day by “Canadians.” The Dominion of Canada was formed by the joining of three British[Read More…]
On Saturday, July 1, 2023, a large crowd gathered inside and around the Ibn Badis Mosque in Nanterre, France, where a seventeen-year-old boy, Nahel M, was mourned and then later buried. Nahel M, of Algerian and Tunisian heritage, was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop. It was clear that the police officer had not acted in self-defense but had shot[Read More…]
For all those out there like this writer who consider themselves to be socialists, we are like the Jack Nicholson character in Joseph Brooks’ 1997 film As Good As It Gets. Nicholson plays a writer, Melvin Udall, who is suffering from OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). As he exits from his psychiatrist’s session into the waiting room he addresses the[Read More…]
An aged Native-American chieftain was visiting New York City for the first time in 1906. He was curious about the city and the city was curious about him. A magazine reporter asked the chief what most surprised him in his travels around town. “Little children working,” the visitor replied. Child labor might have shocked that outsider, but it was all too commonplace then across urban,[Read More…]
In the middle of several increasing problems of food and farming sector, one reassuring aspect is that the various solutions do not conflict with each other and hence all the problems can be resolved simultaneously by adopting the right policies. This becomes clearer by looking at the most desirable priorities and accompanying policies for the food and farm sector. *production[Read More…]
Social reform movements for women’s rights have historically fought the uniformity of male privilege and each step forward has been in a specific socio-economic and political context. Admittedly in India, in the 75th year of our Independence, the legal framework for women’s rights, though certainly vastly improved, is still ridden with discriminations, biases and cultural prejudice. There is little doubt[Read More…]
The Civil Liberties Movement in India (CLMI), despite its crucial role and glorious tradition during our freedom struggle as well as in postcolonial India in making democratic principles and constitutional promises meaningful in the lives of the millions, did not receive its due attention in our mainstream media, academia and political discourses. It has hardly been considered a subject for[Read More…]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not just against the establishment of a Palestinian state, he wants to eliminate the very aspirations for such a state. This was the gist of Netanyahu’s remarks, made at a meeting of the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. They were reported in Israeli media on June 26. Some, including officials in the[Read More…]
The U.S. spy agency Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has boots on the ground in Ukraine and operates a clandestine supply network to help the government in Kiev to fight Russia, leading U.S. weekly Newsweek reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources within the US government. “The CIA was central to the war even before it started,” claimed the article, written by William[Read More…]
Climate change negotiations and debates are characterised by some curious features. For one, there are interminable stretches of discussion that never seem to feature the agents of cause. Chatter about horrendous fires, toxic smoke, and environmental degradation often skirts around the culprit of anthropogenic change, so ably aided by fossil fuels. With the fossil fuel industries of so many countries[Read More…]
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi spoke at the joint session of the US Congress on June 23. Modi became the second Indian Prime Minister after Manmohan Singh to be honored with a State Visit to the United States. This visit and speech came after seven years of his last visit in June of 2016 when he said, “Mr. Speaker, our[Read More…]
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Albert Einstein How to Mirror the on-going Injustice and Insanity against Besieged Mankind? Global institutions of peace, security and conflict resolution are managed by people who lack basic understanding of mankind, its role[Read More…]
After WWII, there was a growing number of significant non-state actors in international relations (IR) like the OUN or various specialist agencies connected to it. Nevertheless, two key developments stimulated the growth of such organizations after WWII: The realization that building cooperation and collective security was a much wider task than merely deterring aggressors in traditional attacks on fixed international[Read More…]
Tens of millions of people are engaged every day in helping others and contributing to family, community and society in various ways. They are the ones who keep alive the faith in human relationships, it is their work that lightens the world, provides not just relief but also cheerfulness and hope, despite many increasing problems. Despite the evident great value[Read More…]
The Law Commission’s notification and Mr. Modi’s strong advocacy for UCC has revived the debate around UCC yet again. As such Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been part of BJP’s elections Manifestoes all through. Its 1996 manifesto mentioned UCC under Nari Shakiti. Despite that it has never worked for the content of the draft. What will the laws of divorce,[Read More…]
That the relevance of a uniform civil code should turn out to be a hot topic for debate and political contestation is a paradox mirroring the confusion in present political discourses of India.Nobody in the Constituent Assembly probably thought it would take such a turn.It had been mooted as part of a modernizing project for transformation of a backward,tradition-bound society[Read More…]
What are the English other than their excruciatingly worn class, kitted out with a code of manners revocable at an instant? A streak of traditional Englishness, as A. A. Gill wrote, stresses bullying. It made them great in the hope of making others small. A towering creature like Charles James Fox may well have added his worth to the abolition[Read More…]
Social Media Day, celebrated annually on June 30th, However, it just went unrecognized even among the people who frequently use these platforms. Social media recognizes the power and influence of social media in connecting people and shaping the modern world. While these platforms have revolutionized communication and provided unprecedented opportunities for sharing information, they have also faced challenges, particularly the[Read More…]
Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should resist outside attempts to stage uprisings, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday in an address at the SCO’s virtual summit. “It is necessary to categorically oppose any attempts to interfere from the outside and inspire color revolution under any pretext,” Xi stressed. Media reports said: During his speech at the summit,[Read More…]
The world registered its hottest ever day on Monday as temperatures surged across the globe, according to data released by the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). Media reports said: The U.S. governmental body, which delivers national and global climate guidance and forecasts from its headquarters in Maryland, said on Tuesday that it recorded an average global temperature of[Read More…]
Despite years of protest and warnings from environmentalists, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog on Tuesday approved a plan by Japan to release tens of millions of gallons of water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. The massive storage of radioactive water has been ongoing since the 2011 tsunami disaster triggered a meltdown of the plant, but the International[Read More…]
Article 338A of the Constitution obligates the State to consult the NCST on matters that affect tribals’ interests- Failure to do so should be reported to the Parliament To Smt. Droupadi Murmu The President of India Respected Rashtrapati Ji, The National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is a Constitutional authority set up in pursuance of Article 338A. In all[Read More…]
New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi’s latest comedy ‘Next Goal Wins’ is the first film selected for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. For the first time, the organizers have announced the name of a film during the selection process for the festival, which will be held from September 7 to 17, 2023. The complete list of films will be released[Read More…]
There are four certainties about the issue of climate change which should not be disputed any more. Firstly, it is a very serious problem, a leading problem among those problems which threaten the life-nurturing conditions of our planet. Secondly, a big reduction of fossil fuels in the near future is a necessary condition for resolving this problem while at the[Read More…]
July 4th, we call “Independence Day.” Each day, in fact, is our dependence day. We need the other creatures of the Earth, beginning with the first day of our birth. If our own mother’s milk is not enough, we get from mother cows the same good stuff. We take the eggs of hens who would be mothers. We take the[Read More…]
Voices of Manipur is a collective of concerned citizens. They bring out the situation in Manipur through the newsletter published in social media. This is the 9th newsletter. They can be reached at voicesofmanipur@gmail.com
It is now close to two months since Manipur has been in an unrelenting state of violence. The hostilities have assumed cruel forms involving ferocious ethnic fires. Angry masses have seemingly lost their humanity and have indulged in killing sprees replete with reprisals. In one village alone, nine people were killed in gunfire. Other examples are equally gory or even[Read More…]
The horrific and terrible video of a man, who was later identified as Pravesh Shukla, member of BJP’s youth wing in Madhya Pradesh, urinating on the face of an innocent and helpless Adivasi boy is simply outrageous and an act of terror. I am not sure whether it will ever become the point of Prime Time Debate but this question[Read More…]
The Partition of India brought a new configuration of Muslim leadership in its spate. After Partition, Jamate Islami was reorganized and moved to Pakistan as Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan. The party’s remaining cadre in India formed the Jamaat-i-Islami Hind, a separate organization that shares JI’s ideological aspirations. The intellectual inspiration primarily came from Syed Abul Ala Maududi, an ideologue and a staunch proponent[Read More…]
Israel’s military launched an aerial and armoured vehicle attack on the northern West Bank city of Jenin and the city’s densely populated refugee camp in the early hours of Monday morning, killing at least 10 Palestinians, including three children, and wounding dozens more. With 10 of the wounded in serious condition, the death toll is expected to mount. Some 2,000[Read More…]
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, has warned that Moscow’s confrontation with the West will last decades and that its conflict with Ukraine could become permanent. A Reuters report said: Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, said in an article for the government’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, tensions between Russia and the West were “much worse” than during the 1962[Read More…]
In a document addressed to the international community, various humanist expressions denounced the repression unleashed by the government of Gerardo Morales in the Argentinean province of Jujuy against the non-violent protest of education workers, indigenous peoples, social and trade union organisations, peasants, and villagers. They also expressed their repudiation of the new attack on the health and life of [the[Read More…]
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel shows how little has changed since the deaths of two teenagers fleeing police in 2005 Since the video went viral of the brutal killing by a police officer of Nahel, a 17-year-old shot dead at point-blank range, the streets and housing estates of many poorer French neighbourhoods have been in a state of open revolt.[Read More…]
A sustainable relation to the earth is an absolute requirement without which there can be no human future. All of this necessitates going against the logic of capitalist accumulation in the present. Economic planning will need to be repurposed, not for economic growth or war on other countries, but in order to create a new set of social priorities aimed[Read More…]
The deal with Micron during PM Modi’s visit to the United States has made headlines as a major technological breakthrough and a new dawn for India’s electronics chip-making industry. Implicit in this hurrah for the Micron deal is that India has completely missed the bus on the key technologies involved in electronic chip making. And for those who know technology would realize[Read More…]
The task of helping all too numerous beggars to find a better future while also attending to the urgent welfare needs of those among them who face serious health or disability problems is a big but often neglected task in India. It is good to know therefore that the Department of Social Justice in the union government has a scheme[Read More…]
The sharp reaction to Wall Street Journal journalist Sabrina Siddiqui and the online harassment faced by her on asking a question of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent joint press conference with President Joe Biden in Washington D.C. on the discrimination against religious minorities and silencing of critics is just a taste of attack on press freedom in India.[Read More…]
Times are bad in India: Manipur has been burning for two months now. Millions of citizens all over are denied their fundamental rights. Corruption and crony capitalism are rampant. Opposition politicians can be bought up and blackmailed by the ruling regime. The mega-project profiteers and the mafia who plunder our precious natural resources destroy the lives and livelihood of the[Read More…]
Never in my life of 22 years I had heard of Sanjoy Ghose. In 2011, while pursuing master’s degree through distance learning, I actively searched for job opportunities in the development sector. A friend directed me to a website dedicated to advertising jobs in the NGO sector, where I stumbled upon a vacancy at Charkha Development Communication Network for the[Read More…]
Report by Libtech- To what extent GOI’s Centrally Sponsored Schemes (NREGA etc.) are effective at the ground level? To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Union Finance Minister Dear Smt Sitharaman, Over the last few years, there has been a proliferation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) taken up by different Central Ministries, resulting in an undue increase in the amounts directly deposited in[Read More…]
“Maharashtra: 19 cops injured in attack by labour union members at Palghar steel factory” was indeed a trivial incident to Indian media, and also to social-media, which together control minds (or brains) of a billion or so. So, this incident that occurred on May 6, Saturday, appeared in less than two dozen English news portals and a few Marathi ones on May[Read More…]
A three-member fact finding team comprising NFIW (National Federation of Indian Women) General Secretary Annie Raja, National Secretary, Nisha Siddhu, and Deeksha Dwivedi, independent Delhi based lawyer visited Manipur from 28th June to 1st July, 2023. The gross breakdown of constitutional bodies, apparent suspension of the right to life, and the absolute State apathy towards the crisis in Manipur prompted[Read More…]
Recent period witnessed two incidents of trolling. In the state of Telangana, Thulasi Chandu a Telugu journalist was trolled by Hindu right-wing trollers associated with saffron forces for her critic of saffron forces in her videos. Similarly, a wall street journalist Sabrina Siddiqui was trolled for her questioning of Modi on situation of minorities in India. Thulasi Chandu makes regular[Read More…]
The violence in Manipur starting May 3, 2023, in Churachandpur and still continuing, has complicated causes and sources, but one very clear effect – it is causing untold misery and suffering to the people of Manipur, and harm to the State of Manipur and the Union of India. The role played by the Government of Manipur (GoM) and the Government[Read More…]
Argentina made its latest payment on its $44 billion-loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) using its stock of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and Chinese yuan, according to the Economy Ministry. The SDRs are an asset within the IMF created to supplement countries’ official reserves. According to government spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti, the payment was made without tapping into the Central[Read More…]
Looking into the long reflecting pool of the past, I find myself wondering what it was that made me an activist against injustice. I was born in New York City’s poor, rundown, and at times dangerous South Bronx, where blacks, whites, and Latinos (as well as recent immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and Eastern Europe) lived side by side or, perhaps[Read More…]
Rational choices in any part of the world mean choices made by people and governments of the region for pursuing welfare and peace of the region within a framework of welfare and peace of the entire world. In other words, while it is understood that welfare, peace and safety of the people within the region would of course be of[Read More…]
On June 30, 2023, the US Supreme Court struck down affirmative action at colleges, except for military ones. Justice Sotomayor says it’s “arbitrary” that affirmative action can continue only at military academies; Justice Gorsuch chastised the continued tolerance for “preferences for the children of donors, alumni, and faculty….” But there is nothing new or shocking about this ruling. It is[Read More…]
Numbers can be dehumanizing. However, when placed in their proper context, they help to illuminate wider issues and answer urgent questions, such as why is Occupied Palestine at the threshold of a major revolt. And why Israel cannot crush Palestinian resistance no matter how hard, or violently, it tries. That’s when numbers become relevant. Since the start of this year,[Read More…]
Anyone visiting Paris from now until Nov. 19 should include the excellent exhibition “Ce Que La Palestine Apporte Au Monde” (What Palestine Brings the World) at the Instituit Du Monde Arabe. The exhibition, along with related Palestinian programs, afford a look at Palestine, its people, art, culture, concerts, films and presentations through the eyes of Palestinians and others whose events[Read More…]
How much importance should really be given to telephonic conversation held between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 30? Should it be viewed primarily in context of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Virtual Summit hosted by India (July 4), the present head of this regional organization? Certainly, the SCO was referred to in Putin-Modi talks,[Read More…]
There are two festivals in India when Muslim killings invariably take place each year under the current political dispensation. First is Ramnauvi, a Hindu religious festival and second is Idul Adha or Bakraid, the Muslim festival when domesticated animals are sacrificed as a part of religious rituals. While the story of the killing of the Muslims during Ramnauvi is a[Read More…]
The crisis in France is not known to those who understand that a falsehood is being played in the name of ‘liberalism’ and ‘secularism’. The ‘experts’ cleverly project this as an “Islamic’ invasion on ‘secular’ and ‘liberal’ France but it is a pity that we don’t understand how colonialism worked through destroying the culture and heritage of local communities everywhere.[Read More…]
Naël Merzouk (17) dropped out of school to earn a little and became a pizza delivery boy some months back. His mother is single, his father left her before Nahel saw this earth. On June 27 morning he was driving a hired car with two passengers when he was signalled to stop in a traffic crossing at Nanterre, the Parisian[Read More…]
Since 2022, Rwanda has been very much on the mind of British policy makers, a dark option of retreat from the irritating intrusions of international refugee law. The English Channel has become something of a polemical resource, with those seeking to cross it demonised as undermining Britannia’s sacred sovereignty. Giddy with the dusty advice of Australian advisors – the crude[Read More…]
It is in this way that the rebel…says yes and no simultaneously. Albert Camus, The Rebel No nukes and no thermobaric weapons no unregulated AI no child pornography no sex trafficking and no slavery no to tyranny rule of the gun and no to racist hate based ideology no to consumerism hoarding, polluting endemic desecration destroying the planet no[Read More…]
Review of the book ‘Mantras of Peace’ by Moin Qazi The world has seen the rise and fall of several civilizations. What was the root cause of their downfall? Denis Goulet, an American human development theorist, argues that most civilizations perished not on account of external threats but due to internal strife precipitated by the erosion of fundamental human values.[Read More…]
Following an assassination attempt last week, security concerns of Chandrashekhar Azad, a dalit leader of growing popularity, have increased further. On July 1 he stated that there could be a larger plot by powerful forces to kill him. He also demanded a judicial inquiry to probe the attempt on his life. (‘Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad demands judicial probe, alleges[Read More…]
Capitalism is producing climate catastrophe due to its insatiable appetite for the accumulation of an unprecedented level of profit at the cost of people and the planet. In search of profit, capitalism destroys the environment on a daily basis. The worldwide capitalist system creates, sustains, and expands the ecological imbalance by consistently exploiting nature and human beings. The pandemic[Read More…]
Twenty six passengers were charred to death beyond recognition when a private bus going from Nagpur to Pune crashed on the so called Samruddhi highway early hours this morning. This was a disaster waiting to happen and government agencies are being squarely blamed for poor planning and enforcement. It is a dream project costing a staggering Rs 60,000 crore opened[Read More…]
Even as the 2024 General Elections draw closer, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to roll out some new and untested tricks to retain power. And going by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at Bhopal on June 27, the party’s outreach to Pasmanda Muslims could well be one that the party seems set to deploy in all seriousness.[Read More…]
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. -Nelson Mandela An educated, secular and liberal Indian Muslim is today in a bind; he is confronted with the dilemma of finding the right balance between loyalty to his faith and adherence to the new tests of patriotism. The[Read More…]
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi is known for his supreme sacrifice at a young age of 41 years in trying to stop communal violence in Kanpur in 1931, two days after his colleague Bhagat Singh was hanged. He was part of the struggle for freedom both as part of the Congress led movement and with the revolutionary group led by Bhagat[Read More…]
Map Courtesy/ EU DisinfoLab. In 2019, the Lab uncovered a vast network of 265 coordinated fake local media outlets in 65 countries serving Indian interests, as well as multiple dubious think tanks and NGOs. It is a 15-year operation targeting the EU and UN to serve Indian (ruling class) interests, with the purpose of grossly misrepresenting China and Pakistan. The[Read More…]
Oceans of the world are in a dangerous red zone that exceeds safe limits for marine and terrestrial life because of excessive heat. Several statements by climate scientists show heightened concerns about how this plays out, as 2023 could be a major inflection point with global warming suddenly turning much worse. For example, the recent work of Annalisa Bracco, Ph.D.,[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 Bizarre Episode of Yevgeny Prigozhin 591")
More complete information is now available and reports of the event still do not “add up.” What we are told cannot be what exactly occurred. Coup is not thr correct word. More complete information is now available and reports of the bizarre episode of Yevgeny Prigozhin still do not “add up.” What we are told cannot be what exactly occurred.[Read More…]
UN oddly rejects Russia’s concerns and proposals regarding Ukrainian ultranationalist violence, bio-weapon labs, and Nord Stream explosions 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, took[Read More…]
No doubt millions of indebted students in the USA are deeply disappointed by the eagerly awaited Supreme Court verdict which has now blocked the relief on student debt earlier announced by the government. However as they recover from this rather shocking news, in due course students must reflect on this issue more deeply to realize the urgent need for much[Read More…]
It used to be, to this baby boomer, that July 4th was reserved for barbeques and fireworks. We were kids back in the 50s and early 60s, before Vietnam, and we had fun. Well, things changed quickly with the advent of America’s latest phony war by 1965. Bob Hope was pushed out of retirement to entertain , along with Playboy[Read More…]
In San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina, a turbulent revolt has arisen for weeks against the reform of the Provincial Constitution that will leave indigenous people landless to pave way for mega-projects for the extraction of lithium for foreign companies. In addition, the people are facing merciless repression by the provincial security forces. Numerous cases of human rights abuse by the[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…]
