Solidarity is the Political Version of Love

Binu Mathew Countercurrents

The moral of the story, don’t hold on to something as silly as copyright. We are here to change society. Disseminate your articles/videos/photos or whatever content you produce, through as many platforms as possible. I am very disappointed with the so called ‘Indian alternative media’. They hold on to their content like a monkey holding on to a banana. A few even keep their content behind pay walls. This is not the way to change society

 Binu Mathew, Editor, countercurrents.org, in conversation with Amit Sengupta

When did countercurrents.org start, what was the vision behind the origin?

Starting an independent alternative publication was my dream. Some of my college mates and I had some discussions about starting an alternative weekly or monthly in Malayalam language. But the financial cost was huge and it was beyond our capacity. 

I was working as a sub-editor in a Malayalam newspaper. That gave me some financial security. However, my intellectual curiosity and my desire to do something positive for society, kept nagging me. The job itself was a monotonous one, doing local beats, and making local pages.

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By the year 2000, the internet was arriving in our homes. There I chanced upon Znet, Electronic Intifada and many such fascinating websites. It was a revelation to me. 

Znet was a great source of Left intellectual literature. Noam Chomsky, the rock star of intellectuals, was free to read at the click of a mouse. In those days it was very expensive to buy books by Chomsky. On other websites, I found people telling their stories on their own without the mediation of journalists — from Palestine and other conflict zones. That fascinated me. Mind you, social media had not yet arrived, not even blogs!

In around the same time, I read the book, When Corporations Rule The World’by David Korten. It was an eye-opener. I thought I had to do something more than doing the local beats/pages for my paper. Internet gave me the opportunity to do this. I decided to start a website like Znet.

I had zero knowledge of computing language. So I joined a basic html course. I and some of our friends had a brainstorming session and decided on the name — ‘Countercurrents’.

Interestingly, the domain countercurrents.org was registered on September 11, 2001. While the second tower of the World Trade Centre was collapsing, I was registering the domain from my office computer.

I took a loan from the bank and bought a computer. It was a 20 GB hard disc, 256 MB RAM computer. It cost me Rs 40,000 at 18 per cent interest. I paid it back in monthly instalments with my salary.

It was also the time a pogrom in Gujarat against Muslims was going on — 2002. We decided to launch the site as soon as possible. Artist Razi designed the site, Ajith Kumar B converted it into html. I translated an article from Malayalam by the well-known writer, Sarah Joseph, titled, ‘The Womb and the Sword’, on the attack on pregnant Muslim women in Gujarat, in some cases where the pregnant women’s belly was cut open and the foetuses were thrown into the fire. 

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That’s how I became the editor of countercurrents.org (CC). It was on March 27, 2002, when the first article was published. Since then, almost one lakh articles have been published. Thousands of well-known and young people have written for CC. Some of them went on to become big journalists or activists.

As a leading alternative/mainstream media, you, as editor, did not follow the dominant narrative or mainstream media trends. What motivated you? Was it difficult in the beginning, or, later? What are the lessons for other independent journalists?

From the beginning, I decided that I would follow a real, alternative path. As all media and its content are determined by the logic of ‘capital’, I decided I would not take a paisa from the corporate houses. I have not published a single advertisement on the site. Nor did CC ever accept NGO grants.

As independent media, with no corporate or political links, how do you manage financially?

Countercurrents is a fully crowd-funded website. From 2002 to 2015, I ran the website along with my regular job. It gave me some financial stability. I didn’t have to depend on the readers for funding. 

In 2015, the newspaper I was working on, asked me to quit my job. Then onwards, I implemented a subscription programme to crowd-fund money to sustain CC. It is not mandatory for everyone to pay to read CC. Rs 1,000 is the subscription amount. Those who can manage to pay can pay, and others can read it free. 

I hate paywalls which keep readers away from content. Those who can spare more money subsidise others who can’t pay. That model really works for CC.

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Tell us about the finest articles/writers whom you carried in your fabulous portal, which is simple, but still draws thousands of readers from across India and the world.

Initially it was a struggle to get content. I translated articles from Malayalam, wrote some myself, encouraged friends to write. Still, it was a struggle. There are websites like Znet, Electronic Intifada and many others who encourage cross-posting with credit. What clicked for CC was I made sure that the site was updated daily with high quality content from around the world. 

The USP of CC is its eclectic content. There is something for everyone, that is, from a progressive point of view. It attracted some loyal readers. I think it is the first really alternative news website from India. Other websites were an extension of the legacy media.

As about your question of the finest writers and finest articles, I think all articles in CC are must-reads. I don’t publish an article that doesn’t give an insight to me. All CC writers are great writers. 

To be frank, editing it was an educative experience for me. I garnered a wealth of knowledge by reading the articles published in CC. I would like to make special mention of two great persons who were part of CC. One is KP Sasi, who was a great friend and also a great writer, film-maker, cartoonist and many more things. He passed away in 2022.  And the other is John Scales Avery, who was a great guide and mentor for me personally, and a great writer and intellectual. He passed away last year. I really miss these two persons. Every day!

As an editor who did comprehensive coverage on the Genocide in Gaza, and who actively campaigned also in social media, what were the thoughts crossing you in the last 15 months during the relentless bombings and the infinite suffering of the brave people of Palestine?

It was a difficult job. Going through the news, images, videos of the genocide in Gaza was a traumatic experience for me. I shared on CC and through social media only presentable photos and videos where Gazans showed resilience and hope. The pictures and videos I went through on a daily basis of death, carnage, dead bodies torn apart, and painful final farewells of loved ones were indescribable. 

When the ceasefire was announced, I was as relieved as the Gazans. When someone like me sitting comfortably in the safety of my home, thousands of kilometres away from Gaza, felt traumatic about the carnage in Gaza, you can imagine what was the condition of the people living in Gaza, especially children. A study conducted by the Community Training Centre for Crisis Management (CTCCM), with support from the War Child Alliance and the Dutch Relief Alliance, found that 96 per cent of children feel their death is imminent, and nearly half have expressed a desire to die.

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Do you think this ceasefire will hold on?

It is difficult to say, we will have to wait and watch. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that if the conditions of the ceasefire agreement were not met, he will go back to bombing Gaza. However, from what we can see in the last 15 months of fighting, Gaza proved to be Israel’s Vietnam, especially Netanyahu’s Vietnam. 

They were bogged down in Gaza. They could not achieve any of the objectives they wanted to achieve in Gaza. 

While many in the Israeli army refused to fight, this includes many desertions, it is believed that Hamas managed to increase their fighting force by threefold. Even when ammunition was running out for Hamas, their spirit was up. They resorted to suicide bombings and knife attacks on Israeli soldiers. 

We must also remember that at least half-a-million Israelis left the country after the war started and the economy has collapsed. It is not easy for Netanyahu to send his troops back to Gaza.

You live in Kerala, distant from the rest of India, especially the political terrain in the Hindi heartland. Or, the Northeast. How do you connect as a news person?

I feel very comfortable living in Kerala and running countercurrents from here. In the age of instant connectivity, your geographical location is not important. You can reach anyone, anywhere in the world, in microseconds.

What is the social and political situation in Kerala? You have earlier pointed out that the CPM government and party are now playing the card of Islamophobia. Is it true? Please explain.

Yes, CPM is resorting to Islamophobia as a political line. It started after their humiliating defeat in the last parliamentary elections. BJP also won a Parliament seat and came first in 15 assembly seats. It got CPM worried and they think that the traditional and loyal Ezhava voters are deserting CPM. They think that by vilifying Muslims as a community they will manage to get those votes back. 

I think it is a knee-jerk reaction and not based on sound logic. They also forget that in ‘Islamophobia politics’ they will be playing only second fiddle to BJP. I believe if CPM continues to follow this political line, it will lose relevance in Kerala politics and give way to the emergence of the BJP as a major force in the state.

Is it a democratic government in Kerala — despite breaking the record of winning for the second time in the history of the state? What is the future of the CPM in the state? Have they learned any lessons from Bengal and Tripura?

Yes, there is still a democratic space in Kerala. As about the future of CPM, I think I’ve answered it in the previous question.


What would be your message to independent journalists, especially the young?

Do whatever you do from the perspective of justice. Stand up for justice — no matter what.

I told you that  CC was modelled on Znet. Michael Albert, the then editor of Znet, now sends his articles to be published in Countercurrents. Life has come full circle

The moral of the story, don’t hold on to something as silly as copyright. We are here to change society. Disseminate your articles/videos/photos or whatever content you produce, through as many platforms as possible. 

It is something I am very disappointed with the so called ‘Indian alternative media’. They hold on to their content like a monkey holding on to a banana. A few even keep their content behind pay walls. This is not the way to change society. 

What CC is working for is not changing this government or that government, but change the whole system. For system -change, we need solidarity. Like Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz famously said” “Solidarity is the political version of love.”

Amit Sengupta is a senior journalist

Originally published in Times Headline

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