31 January, 2014
Latin America And The Caribbean Declared As A Zone Of Peace
By Countercurrents.org
Latin American and Caribbean heads of state adopted a landmark agreement pledging to make the region a “zone of peace.” Leaders from the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) signed the Havana Declaration, promising not to intervene in other countries’ internal affairs and resolve disputes peacefully
Shell Ditches Its Arctic Drilling Plans
By Andrea Germanos
To the cheers of environmental groups, fossil fuel giant Shell announced Thursday that it is shelving its plans to drill in the Alaskan Arctic in 2014
Why The World Needs Transition
By Erik Curren
There are many approaches to the three main crises threatening civilization today, namely, climate change, peak oil and economic crisis. The problem is that most of them won’t work. Fortunately, there’s one movement that tries to address all three crises, while trying to make people happier and healthier as well — Transition
Pete Seeger Interview: How Can I Keep from Singing?
By Sarah van Gelder
If there’s a world here in a hundred years, it’s going to be saved by tens of millions of little things. The powers-that-be can break up any big thing they want. They can corrupt it or co-opt it from the inside, or they can attack it from the outside. But what are they going to do about 10 million little things? They break up two of them, and three more like them spring up!
Picking Cherries
By Guy McPherson
I’m routinely accused of cherry picking information about climate change. I plead guilty, with the following 1,000-word disclaimer
Is Syrian “Peace” Conference Laying The Foundation For War?
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The Geneva II conference which claims to be seeking to end the war in Syria seems designed to fail and instead to provide an excuse for military intervention by the United States and its allies. Human rights activist, Ajamu Baraka, describes the negotiations as an ‘Orwellian subterfuge' designed to provide justification for war and a lot of facts support his view
Land Conflict And Injustice: Development In ‘New India’
By Graham Peebles
There are many fires raging in India; the agrarian crisis is one of the most shocking and destructive and sits at the heart of a range of interconnected calamities
'Orthodox Of All Religions Unite': Who Is Celebrating The Judgment On Article 377 !
By Subhash Gatade
The recent judgment by the Supreme Court which has recriminalised homosexuality might have baffled a broad section of peace and justice loving people but it has definitely emboldened many a self proclaimed leaders of religion and purveyors of morality who today feel vindicated. For them it is a moment of celebration
Lenin's State And Revolution: Chapter One Part 2
By Thomas Riggins
Still basing himself on Engel's Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Lenin points out that the state is the first form of society exclusively to base itself on a given territory as opposed to tribal societies and bands which can move about and change locations while searching for food and shelter. This is the first innovation of the state
30 January, 2014
NSA Spied On Climate Talks
By Jon Queally
While climate activists from around the world gathered outside the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 called for "System Change, Not Climate Change' while demanding to be heard by world leaders, the U.S. delegation inside the talks was busy listening to something else: a steady stream of surveillance intelligence on other nations provided by the National Security Agency
Is Fracking About To Arrive On Your Doorstep?
By Ellen Cantarow
Fracking is on its way to my doorstep -- and yours. Who’s going to hold the line in your town?
Spine Language: The Activist Backbone
By Mickey Z.
No one knows how the realm of rebellion will play out in 2014 but without some committed and sustained backbone from a wide range of allies, it cannot grow, evolve, and realize its potential
Colonial Partners In Israel’s Crimes
By Vacy Vlazna
Is it just me, or do you also see a thread of colonial superiority and racism binding US, Australia, Canada to Israel? Think about it. All are ex-British colonies and like Israel, have a shameful history of genocide committed against their respective Indigenous Peoples and all continue to treat their First Peoples as third class citizens
Jewish National Fund’s War Crimes Mission
By Vacy Vlazna
At the black heart of Israel’s 65 year rape of Palestine, is the Jewish National Fund ( JNF) which once went by the more germane, Jewish COLONIAL Trust; an opportunistic real-estate jackal that has aggressively deposited its Zionist stink throughout the ancestral land of Palestine. From its inception in 1901, JNF’s mission of the theft of Palestinian land for the Jews-only Greater (Eretz) Israel is racist, colonial, criminal (colonial expansion is a warcrime under Article 8.2(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute) and bloody
Ten Principles To Guide The Young Activist
By Ramzy Baroud
They say people who live for a higher cause are happier than those who don’t. May you always find your happiness in alleviating the pain of others by standing up for what is right and honorable
Hate The Super Rich
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
There are times when hatred is a needed, logical and moral stance to take. Evil, injustice and corruption are fine examples of what to appropriately hate. For the overwhelming majority of people it is now rational to hate the super rich, notably the thousands of billionaires holding most of the world's wealth and wielding power over political and economic systems. They have been successfully raping the global economy and while doing that have kept increasing their wealth as well as economic inequality afflicting ordinary people. One dollar, one vote describes the new reality
Book Review: Understanding Shadows.The Corrupt Use of Intelligence
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
Although Michael Quilligan's book came out before Snowden revealed the criminal machinations of the NSA and its British servant, it gives the readers “a glimpse of hell” into the dirty work of intelligence agencies and their abuse of government secrecies
Less Evident Forms Of Violence : Muzzafarnagar Riots
By Sushmita Verma & Jenny Sulfath
The Muzzafarnagar riots of 7 th September, 2013 have been talked about and covered as communal riots , the most intrinsic and brutal one in recent past. However, the questions of women and children have been conveniently sidelined as in any other riots. Even the cases where attention was given were in the cases of brutal rapes, as very sadly such news seems to sensationalize and tantalise the otherwise sleeping consciousness of the Indian nation state Even though academicians and activists have constantly written about different forms of violence, the one most talked about is the violence which is physical in nature
RSS And Murder Of Mahatma Gandhi: What Do Contemporary Documents Tell?
By Shamsul Islam
After the murder of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948, the RSS was banned on February 4, 1948. It was banned for anti-national activities and the government communiqué banning the RSS was self-explanatory
Easy To Kill
By Mirza Yawar Baig
30th January, 1948 – Nathuram Godse fired a bullet which ended a life that impacted millions of others and continues to do so 66 years later. Gandhiji was perhaps the only Father of the Nation to be killed by his own people. We all share the shame. Easy to kill. Impossible to forget
Interfaith Dialogue In Islam
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
In the realm of religion, today, differences can be managed only through meaningful and positive ‘inter-faith dialogue’ between people of world religions, the aim of dialogue being to seek peaceful solutions to controversial matters in spite of differences. There may be differences in religion and culture, but absolutely no difference or discrimination should be made between people in terms of respect and honour
A Letter From Prashant Rahi From Jail And An Appeal For Campaign Against UAPA
By Prashant Rahi
My arrest and torture in custody, as also that of Hem Mishra, the J.N.U. student of Chinese, which so many of you have cared to express concern about, according to newspaper reports, could be just the tip of an ugly iceberg. Even so, you might need to be apprised of the facts of our cases, and those of my ongoing Uttarakhand post-torture trial, so as to direct the raging passions in more effective ways. It is with this view that I am putting across the following facts regarding what befell us
NAFTA And The Next Phase Of North American Integration
By Dana Gabriel
The TPP negotiations which are currently underway would expand the failed NAFTA model to even more countries. Furthermore, with the U.S., Canada and Mexico all a part of the massive trade talks, it also provides an opportunity to upgrade NAFTA without having to reopen it
29 January, 2014
Oil And Gas Consumption Falling In Italy
By Ugo Bardi
Sometimes, peak oil looks like an intellectual game that people keep playing by arguing whether it has arrived or not. But the point with oil is not how much of it is produced, somewhere, but how much you can afford to use. And, for Italy, the peak of consumption has already arrived. We are back to 1967 in terms of oil consumption
Climate Change: The Wrong Top Priority For Environmentalists And Conservation Professionals
By Brian Czech
Climate change is the wrong issue for environmentalists and conservation professionals to collectively prioritize above all others. While climate change is a legitimate threat, prioritizing climate change was driven largely by (relative) political convenience and the constant jockeying for agency funding, NGO membership dues, and foundation grants. Meanwhile the failure to prioritize economic growth, the mother of 21st century threats, is driven by shallow political thinking and the personal interests of “leaders” getting paid the big bucks at the heads of conservation agencies and environmental NGOs
Obama’s State Of The Union Address: An Empty And Reactionary Charade
By Joseph Kishore
US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday was, perhaps even more than his previous addresses, a cynical and reactionary charade. Empty rhetoric was combined with a complete disconnect from the reality confronting millions of people and an assertion of executive power
What Does Bill Gates Know About Poverty?
By Joanne Knight
The Gates Foundation 2014 Annual Letter confidently declared the end of poverty by 2035. With some personal wisdom thrown in, Mr. Gates proudly expounded on the achievements in poverty reduction around the world. Institutions like the UN Development Project and the World Bank have similar reports on poverty reduction: 650 million people lifted out of extreme poverty (living on $1.25 per day) in the last three decades. These organizations approach poverty reduction within a framework of increasing economic growth and trade liberalization. However, too many poverty reduction projects rely on the ‘generosity’ of the global elite, like the Gateses, scattering a few crumbs of their obscene wealth. It seems after three decades more should have been achieved
Which Creates A Higher Standard Of Living: Capitalism or Egalitarianism?
By John Spritzler
The evidence is that egalitarianism is far better than capitalism even if compared only on the basis of economic productivity and standard of living. Equally important, although not the focus of this article, is the fact that everybody is seriously harmed by inequality (no matter how big the "pie" is overall) and benefits from equality; on this basis the extreme inequality generated by capitalism, in China as well as the United States, only further weakens the case for capitalism when compared to egalitarianism
Economic Justice Is The Solution
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese
America's Biggest Crises Are Rooted in the Fact That the Economy Is Rigged for the Wealthiest. We owe it to MLK to carry his torch and create an economy for all
American Crisis
By Linh Dinh
In Paine's time, the enemy was a distant and easily identifiable king, but in ours, the enemy is within and mostly invisible. Our public officials are only the cabana boys and girls, or waiters, of this sick system, and they're certainly not serving us. In fact, we can't even press our noses against the glass to see who are dining within. Standing out back, we fight among ourselves for the discarded scraps and that, for now, is our only battle. We're sad
Obama Defends NSA Spying On Americans
By Jack A. Smith
Ever since whistle-blowing NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the elephantine extent of the Bush-Obama Surveillance State’s domestic and foreign spying last summer, White House and NSA officials have sought through obfuscation and fabrication to minimize the impact of these disclosures. Public opinion against surveillance measures, however, has been slowly gaining over the months
Don’t Kill The Chances Of Diplomacy With Iran
By Kourosh Ziabari
The hawkish, extremist figures in the U.S. political sphere, whether in the government, the Congress or the media, should carefully note that the door for diplomacy would not always remain open, and the chances for a categorical, definite resolution of the decade-long nuclear controversy are limited. They should pay attention to the fact that President Rouhani’s administration has embarked on a very sensitive endeavor for directly talking to the United States that many people inside Iran don’t think of positively. Any new sanctions against Iran under any baseless pretext would mean a violation of the Geneva agreement, the termination of its implementation and possibly an end to the long-sought talks
A Study About The Role Of Media In Punjab: A Nationalist Perspective Of Indian Mass Media
By Jaspal Singh Sidhu
Overwhelming impression gave by the media and which a majority of Indians carrying till today that the ‘Sikh separatism and militancy' was behind the entire bloodshed and the government, anyhow, succeeded in bringing peace to the troubled area and maintaining of the unity of the nation. The media unabashedly allowed itself to be used for building of a narrative for hegemony of Indian state and exonerating it of inhuman and foul politicking and blatant use of repressive measures
Partner, What Is Your Politics?
By Pramod Ranjan
Partner, Tumhari Politics Kya Hai? (Partner, what is your politics?) was the question the great Hindi poet Muktibodh used to ask his friends when he wanted to know their ideological leanings. That was in the 1960s. Today, we want to put the same question to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
‘Doing Nothing’ And Averting A Right Wing Take Over
By Joe M S
An opinion is being created that the best possible option to avoid a take over of the country by Narendra Modi is to blindly support Aam Admi party and that all those who champion the cause of African women meted out with racism are left wing utopians who prevent the chance of an easy walk over for Kejrival and therefore are anti- progressive forces. This view, smacks of a lack of historical understanding of the economic basis of development of fascism
Pathribal Fake Encounter And Army's Kangaroo Court
By Abdul Majid Zargar
The Indian Army fully backed & supported by the State has done what it knows best. It has closed the Patribal fake encounter case on the ground of non-availability of evidence, despite well established facts & plenty of unimpeachable evidence unearthed earlier by India’s own Investigative agency
Army In Kashmir
By Adfar Shah
Pathribal poses certain painful questions. Who killed innocent Sikhs? Who killed innocent civilians for Sikh killers later? Why have the actual killers of Sikhs not been arrested so far? Who to be held responsible for such a disappointing closure of case? Is AFSPA really army friendly or public friendly and should it continue amid so much of distrust in army’s justice system? Who are the real victims, slain Sikhs or five civilians killed later or the blamed army personnel? Are we back at the square one?
Stone Pelting And Kashmiri Youth: Some Truths, Some Blames
By Adfar Shah
Well, I am not at all in favour of stone pelting for I do not think any human face or head is worth a stone but, simultaneously I also believe that any human body is not worth a bullet simply for a cry or a slogan or a protest or an angry outburst or a procession. Also every Kashmiri is not a stone pelter (but fed up with the system actually) and stone pelting ( Kanneh Jung in local parlance) is not so peculiar to Kashmir alone
Indian Railways Privitization Plans Must Be Opposed
By Anuj Wankhede
With these latest moves, the government and the railways are simply trying to maximize profits at ANY cost and are almost beckoning the poorest of poor to remain in the era of horses and bullock carts while laying the red carpet for the elite and foreign investors who are salivating at the prospect of milking the billions of people daily for their own profits. These moves will backfire on the government which is abdicating its social role in all sectors one after another and is now eyeing its biggest possible cash cow – The Indian Railways
Alma Mater
By Anitha S
Should the 130 year old school campus gifted by a generous family for educational purposes alone be destroyed like this? Should 50 trees growing in this crowded part of the city, supplying oxygen and reducing heat be cut to make way for buses and shops? How will the last remaining children in the school find a peaceful atmosphere to learn and play? Are these also part of true development and progress?
28 January, 2014
New Report Reveals NSA, GCHQ Mapping
“Political Alignment” Of CellphoneUsers
By Eric London
New information made public by Edward Snowden reveals that the governments of the United States and United Kingdom are trawling data from cellphone “apps” to accumulate dossiers on the “political alignments” of millions of smartphone users worldwide
Edward Snowden Admits To Threats On His Life
By NDR
German television station NDR News on Sunday night aired an in-person interview with American whistleblower Edward Snowden in which he speaks both broadly and specifically about the NSA surveillance programs his actions have helped expose to the world
The Fragility Of Our Complex Civilization
By John Scales Avery
The great and complex edifice of human civilization is far too precious to be risked in a thermonuclear war. It has been built by all humans, working together. By working together, we must now ensure that it is handed on intact to our children and grandchildren
Is Netanyahu Certifiable?
By Alan Hart
The expanded and most explicit form of my headline question is this. Is Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of sound mind and knowingly talking propaganda nonsense about threats to Israel’s security in order to fool the world including most of its Jews, or, is he unbalanced, mentally disturbed, even clinically insane? I ask because his rubbishing in Davos of the most important speech any Iranian leader has made since the revolution which brought the mullahs to power 35 years ago sent me to bed recalling something my father said to me when I was a very young boy. “There are none so blind as those who don’t want to see.”
The Syrian Team In Geneva
By Franklin Lamb
As a new workweek begins here is Damascus many citizens across a fairly broad spectrum appear to be backing, and even exhibiting a kind of pride for their diplomatic team at the Geneva II conference. It might appear flippant for this observer to suggest that returning to Damascus after recent events in his neighborhood of Haret Hriek in Dahiyeh, South Beirut sort of feels like one has arrived in a peaceful holiday local rather stress free, but others have told me the same thing once they crossover from Lebanon. Damascus is currently the most quiet and ‘normal’ appearing that I have found this historic city for more than two years
The Two Faces Of Empire
By Greg Grandin
A captain ready to drive himself and all around him to ruin in the hunt for a white whale. It’s a well-known story, and over the years, mad Ahab in Herman Melville’s most famous novel, Moby-Dick, has been used as an exemplar of unhinged American power, most recently of George W. Bush’s disastrous invasion of Iraq
Asylum Seekers, Refugees And “The Loss Of Israel”
By Nicola Perugini & Neve Gordon
The state which denies the rights of people in search of both refuge (Africans) and return from refuge (Palestinians), is reproducing itself in the image of those nation-states which historically constituted themselves in a framework of ethnic pureness
From Egypt To Afghanistan : Free Woman, Free World
By Sherif Samir & Hakim
I'm looking up to Egyptian women, wanting them to revolt, to change their destiny and thereby help change the world
Environmental Recovery And Peace-Building In Iraq
By Marianne de Nazareth
In an effort to set in motion robust action to restore Iraq’s fast deteriorating environment, the Government of Iraq has signed a landmark agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that aims to speed up recovery and support peace-building
Child Centered Pedagogy: An Approach To Achieve Quality
By Swaleha Sindhi & Adfer Shah
The role of teacher in imparting quality education needs to be transformed through four strategies, namely, involve the teacher in decision making process in the school, place the teacher at the heart of the child centered pedagogical and curricular development, accord the teacher greater professionalism and involve him in active research. These strategies would empower both the teachers and students so that together they will come to understand the nature and possibilities of learning and teaching and strive to maximize their potential
Mujhhe Vote Do, India Ko Vote Do
(Vote For Me, Vote For India)
By Braj Ranjan Mani
Glancing through an in-your-face poll publicity (the sort of which will bombard us in coming days), I saw a familiar hideousness hidden between the benign lines, and hurriedly scribbled these lines (known but in danger once again of being forgotten) to remind my fellow Indians that our sleep of reason brings forth monsters
25 January, 2014
Message To World Elites:Don’t Bet On Coal And Oil Growth
By Kumi Naidoo
A mind-boggling sum of about US$ 800 for each person on the planet is invested into fossil fuel companies through the global capital markets alone. That’s roughly 10% of the total capital invested in listed companies. The amount of money invested into the 200 biggest fossil fuel companies through financial markets is estimated at US$ 5.5 trillion
Fight Disparity: Dream Of Davos Elites
By Farooque Chowdhury
Now the Davos elites have “raised” the issue of rich-poor divide. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has said that growing rich-poor income gap is the biggest risk the world is facing for the next decade. Pope Francis told Davos to fight inequality, hunger. But, Mr. Bill Gates finds hope in this world system
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly In Syria Talks
By Dr Ismail Salami
The only workable roadmap for Syria to exit crisis is to be engineered in evicting the al-Qaeda militants generously funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and in holding democratic national elections
Top Three Media Lies About The Syrian Peace Talks
By Shamus Cooke
The media spin machine is again kicking into high gear, perfectly timed to accompany the “Geneva II” Syria peace talks. The lies are necessary to give the Obama administration an upper hand in the peace negotiations, which are not being used to pursue peace, but instead, to accomplish the Obama administration's longstanding goal of Syrian regime change. Here are the top three Western media lies about the Syrian peace talks
The Illegal War On Libya
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
Review of the book edited by Cynthia McKinney "The Illegal War On Libya"
A Decade Of Vulture Conservation In India
By Marianne de Nazareth
After the success of its Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme in Haryana, West Bengal and Assam, BNHS-India (Bombay Natural History Society) is all set to set up a Vulture Safe Zone in Madhya Pradesh. In continuation of its decade-old vulture conservation programme, BNHS-India, in association with Rio Tinto and BirdLife International, is all set to establish a Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh
Anti African Racism In India: Some Ruminations
By Joe.M.S.
The racial signals emanating from such incidents should make one pause, and demands a dissection of the Indian psyche, which despite the stint with many progressive movements, entertain such racist views. Even the progressive circles are not absolute exception. A look at the matrimonial column itself in India will vouch for it’s racism, as the appetite for white skin is gargantuan
AFSPA, Army And My Republic : A Case Of Pathribal Encounter
By Ravi Nitesh
With all the sentiments of the republic, it is a contradiction to see that how after a long struggle of court case in the Pathribal Encounter Case, Supreme Court of India told the Indian Army on 1st May 2012 to give sanction for prosecution of officers or court martial them. Army announced on June 29, 2012 to court martial and now on Januray 24, 2014 , Army closed the court martial and said that no evidence found against accused officers
23 January, 2014
2014 Indian Elections And David Headley’s Last Laugh
By Satya Sagar
Who will win the next general election? Who will be the next prime minister? Which direction is the Indian economy headed? The talk show ‘experts' are deadly certain they know exactly how things are going to move for the rest of 2014. If modern history is any indicator, it will take just an abrupt and devastating economic crisis engineered by a cabal of large hedge fund managers or a strategic terrorist attack on Indian soil and suddenly take all bets will be off the table
Corporate Criminals, Billionaires Gather For World Economic Forum In Davos
By Andre Damon
The 44th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) began Wednesday, bringing over 2,000 corporate executives, major investors, government leaders, central bankers and celebrities to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos. The annual celebration of wealth and avarice follows a bumper year for the world’s super-rich. Stock prices and corporate profits surged to new record highs, swelling the bank accounts and portfolios of the financial elite, even as austerity measures, wage cutting and layoffs slashed living standards and threw tens of millions more people into poverty
Zapatista Movement: A Revolution That Won't Go Away
By Laura Gottesdiener
A Glimpse into the Zapatista Movement, Two Decades Later
Hefty Subsidies Prop Up Unsustainable Energy System
By Worldwatch Institute
Efforts by a variety of organizations to quantify global support for fossil fuels have generated estimates that range from $523 billion to over $1.9 trillion, depending on the calculation and what measures are included. What is clear is that the level of support has rebounded to 2008 levels following a dip in 2009-10 during the global financial crisis, writes Worldwatch Research Fellow Philipp Tagwerker in the Institute's latest Vital Signs Online trend
An invitation to All Palestinians and their supporters to unite under the banner of LIBERATION, affirming our Inalienable Rights and clarifying our aims and aspirations to ourselves and to the world For the sake of historical truth, and for defending, preserving and protecting the rights of future Palestinian children, we present this document
US-Israel Strange But ‘Stable’ Alliance: US Senate Await Israeli Instructions
By Ramzy Baroud
The rules by which US-Israeli relations are governed are perhaps the most bewildering of all foreign policies of any two countries
Harper Drips Platitudes, Hypocrisy, Double Standards And Lies In Knesset
By Jim Miles
Mr. Harper does not speak for the majority of Canadians. Unfortunately for the meantime, he holds power in Canada's parliament and tends to use it absolutely, turning Canada into a petro-state essentially under corporate rule (as with all our so-called “free trade” agreements). Canada suffers its own apartheid with its indigenous population and Harper's conservatives are doing their best to further disenfranchise them. These are the values that Canada shares with Israel: corporate control over the economy, and the extraction of resource wealth at the expense of the indigenous people. Harper does not speak for me
America’s Invisible And Costly Human Rights Crisis
By Ralph Nader
Many Americans do not contemplate—or are simply unaware of—blatant torture occurring in prisons every day right here in the United States. This form of physical and psychological violence is called many things: “isolation”, “administrative segregation”, “control units”, “secure housing” and by its most well-known designation, solitary confinement. This practice of imprisonment is widely used across our nation with disturbingly little oversight and restriction. The full extent of the use of solitary confinement is truly alarming—it is most certainly a human rights abuse and a blight on our national character
The Surveillance Mindset And The Aftermath
By Fazal M. Kamal
Through whatever prism you may perceive former NSA contactor Edward Snowden and former soldier Bradley Manning---with one on the run and the other in prison---and whichever position you may assume with regard to their actions, there’s no way of denying that they, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, have brought into the public domain major issues concerning information and intelligence gathering in the context of a citizen’s guaranteed privacy and protection rights
Stand In Support Of Women And Girls And Against Misogyny In All Its Forms
By Brian McAfee
My moms emotional turmoil and her abandonment by her family when she needed them most, and her eventual suicide is at least in part why I have always empathized and sympathized with women and girls. I could not save my mom but I do feel that all the women and girls of the world are part of my family too. I strongly encourage you all to reach out and help all our mothers, sisters and daughters to make sure they are all safe and free
Edge Dwelling: A Social Ecology For Our Time, Part 2: Wild Grapes
By Dianne Monroe
Second in a series about inhabiting and acting in the edge-places of our civilization as crucial for humanity’s passage through these challenging times – and inviting you to share your personal edge-dwelling experiences
Sharing: Direct Action For The New Economy
By Mira Luna
Sharing is also direct action: often, it involves no demands on a representative in power to do something on your behalf and hoping that someday it happens — you just do it. It is more complicated, though, if you’re trying to get your city or university to support something like a major bike-share program. Even then, it’s an easy sell: save money and other resources, protect the environment, and serve your constituents better. Who could argue?
USA vs. China In South Sudan
By Thomas C. Mountain
If one asks the question “who benefits from the South Sudanese civil war?” the answer is clear. The USA is presently the ONLY beneficiary of the ongoing horrors in South Sudan for this latest round of conflict has once again shut down the Chinese run oil fields in the country
Muzaffarnagar: A Blot On The Samajwadi Party And The Nation
By George Abraham
Why do these riots still happen in a democratic India where the Government is constitutionally bound to protect the lives and properties of every citizen? Muzaffarnagar proves that these communal riots seem to occur primarily due to lack of preventive mechanisms in place, and the failure to punish the guilty in a timely fashion as a future deterrent
Racism, Moral Policing And Authoritarianism- Not The Common Man’s Tools!
By People's Union For Democratic Rights
In the drama of the last four days, the culpability of the Delhi Government and its Law Minister regarding the incident on January 15th 2014, against four Nigerian and Ugandan women in particular stands exposed. Despite public outcry, issues relating to the heightened sense of insecurity amongst Africans in the capital and the removal of the Law Minister, remain largely unaddressed
22 January, 2014
Thai Government Imposes State Of Emergency
By Peter Symonds
Amid continuing anti-government protests, the Thai government has imposed a state of emergency on Bangkok and surrounding provinces in a bid to ensure national elections scheduled for February 2 proceed. The emergency, which begins today, lasts for 60 days and gives security officials sweeping powers to impose curfews, ban political gatherings of more than five people, censor the media and detain suspects without charge
The Sharing Economy: A Short Introduction To Its Political Evolution
By Adam Parsons
Already, questions are being raised as to what sharing resources means for the poorest people in the developing world, and how a revival of economic sharing in the richest countries can be spread globally as a solution to converging crises. It may not be long until the idea of economic sharing on a planetary scale - driven by an awareness of impending ecological catastrophe, life-threatening extremes of inequality, and escalating conflict over natural resources - is the subject of every dinner party and kitchen table conversation
How To Talk To A Climate Change Denier
By Ernest Partridge
Corporate propaganda is powerful, but it is not omnipotent. In all these cases, the weight of scientific evidence eventually prevailed. But this time, we can’t wait for “eventual” vindication. The findings of the IPCC and of those thousands of climate scientists portend unimaginable horrors., unless the global community of nations and their scientists act immediately and decisively. “Eventual” vindication of their warnings will be too late
Cracks In The Israel - US Alliance
By Jonathan Cook
Things have come to a strange state of affairs when Washington regards Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s far-right foreign minister, as the voice of moderation in the Israeli cabinet. While Lieberman has called the soon-to-be-unveiled US peace plan the best deal Israel is ever likely to get, and has repeatedly flattered its chief author, US secretary of state John Kerry, other ministers have preferred to pull off the diplomatic gloves
Beyond Reform: It's Time To Shut Down The World Bank
By Cyril Mychalejko
Recent conflicts surrounding World Bank-supported projects in Honduras demonstrate that the World Bank is beyond reform, and needs to be shut down
For Whom The Bell Tolls
By Kathy Kelly
On the same day the King Center announced its "Choose Nonviolence" campaign, the young members of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, in a home I was sharing with them in Kabul, were grieving the fresh news of seven Afghan children and their mother, killed in the night during a U.S. aerial attack - part of a battle in the Siahgird district of the Parwan province. The outrage, grief, loss and pain felt in Siahgird were echoed, horribly, in other parts of Afghanistan during a very violent week
The Real Martin Luther King Not The One The US Media Now Celebrate But Once Attacked
By A D Hemming
As the day is here which is now set aside to honor Martin Luther King Jr, let's look beyond the frozen US mainstream media frame of August 1963 with Dr King's "I have a dream" speech with no mention of his inveighing against militarism, imperialism, and how those tied in with racism and poverty et al. Everywhere let's honor him for all what he was, as he deserves it. Let's not freeze him in that August 1963 frame which has become so cliche now that it's pathetic yet predictable
Christie = Symptom. Two-party = Disease
By Mickey Z.
As I watch so many on the “Left” gleefully attacking (and fat shaming) New Jersey governor Chris Christie while ignoring/apologizing for/defending/voting for the corporate funded, ecocide promoting war criminal currently occupying the White House, I couldn’t help but -- yet again -- dig out some truth to be repeated
Why Is Iran Needed For Syria Peace Talks
By Ismail Salami
The key to foreign-fermented Syria crisis lies in the hands of Iran and the exclusion of the Islamic Republic from the Geneva peace talks is only to be seen as a bad omen and a sign that the West is no well-wisher for Syria and the region
Memoir On The Complexities Of Class In The USA
By William T. Hathaway
The American Dream is built on the American Nightmare
People Pressure Is Making Fast Tracking The TPP Politically Toxic
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
After four years of secret negotiations with more than 600 corporate advisers, the once seemingly invincible largest trade bill in history, covering 40% of the world's economy , looks very much like it can be defeated. Why is the TPP looking like it can be stopped? One reason is its secrecy
An Open Letter To Soldiers With 'Mental Health' Issues
By Robert J. Burrowes
Are you a soldier or veteran who is supposed to have a 'mental health' issue such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia or PTSD? If you are, then I have some suggestions for you to consider
A Crusader Of Rural Sanitation
By Sazzad Hussain
Silently, away from the public health department’s schemes and campaigns, Ramzan has been transforming many villages by installing his cheap toilet sets, creating an environment of clean and hygienic atmosphere in one of the most backward regions of the state
Skin Deep: Narrative Of Racism In Delhi University
By Aashima Saberwal, Bonojit Hussain and Devika Narayan
The entire gamut of racist discrimination faced by the black students of the Delhi university includes everything from actual violence to incessant racist remarks, staring and laughing. This is racism in its purest, crudest and most undisguised form
Spy Camera And The Dangerous 'Crusade Against Corruption'
By Ravi Nitesh
Delhi government is officially encouraging people to become a 'spy' and record audio/video if anyone asks them for bribe. Because of this, an increase in the sale of spy cameras along with variety (cameras in pen, key rings etc) as well as affordability has also been reported. But does the Government realise what it is actually doing? Has it assessed the repercussions? Do the citizens know what this can lead to?
AAP And The Politics Of Hypocrisy
By Basharat Ali
The AAP win in Delhi is understood to provide a new alternative away from BJP and Congress by some political analysts. However, a critical examination of AAP does not provide any immediate hope. The appropriation of AAP movement as initiation of political transformation in India is as misleading as the catchphrase ‘Arab Spring’
Gaw Kadal Massacre: Killing Even Injured, And They Call Themselves Brave
By Abdul Majid Zargar
The Killing of January 21st 1990 at Gaw Kadal bridge, in Srinagar Qualifies as the first major & worst slaughter of Kashmiri Muslims by trigger-happy Indian forces. In this incident the number of Killed varies from 52 to 100-Some by direct firing & others by drowning after they jumped into the river, a tributary of river Jehlum, out of fear. In that respect it bears resemblance to massacre at Jallianwallah Bagh where many protestors died by jumping into the nearby well
The Menace Of Contractual Jobs
By Sukant Khurana
I would urge AAP (and any other political groups interested in listening to people) to take up the issue of working on legislative changes to ensure that contractual jobs are offered in India, if and only if the strict criteria for it are met. I would also urge towards working on the actual distribution of signed pay, where contractual job criteria are met, with specific legislation to ensure strict punishment for violators
Modi’s Caste And Hindutva Political Strategies
By Ram Puniyani
As Narnedra Modi was close to being nominated the Prime Ministerial candidate, another Modi, Sushil Modi, flaunted Modi’s backward caste origins. Recently (Jan 2014) in a public rally in Delhi, Narerndra Modi himself brandished his caste while speaking at a public rally. At one level it is surprising that Modi is showcasing his caste, as the aim of RSS, whose trained swayamsevak (volunteer) he is, is to forge a monolithic Hindu identity, papering over the caste differences and underplaying its inherent hierarchy
Is Your Neighbor A Closet Egalitarian Revolutionary?
By John Spritzler
The reason there is so much hopelessness about the possibility of removing the rich from power today is not that most people don't want to do it; it is that most people don't KNOW that most people want to do it
A Critical (read 'Sympathetic) Appraisal Of The Tableeghi Jamat
By Maryam Sakeenah
Given the Tableeghi Jamat’s vision, direction, spiritual appeal, inclusiveness and wide outreach, it has tremendous potential and promise. It can and ought to lend itself to the project of chiselling faith-inspired minds in positions of leadership and decision making in the academia, public administration, economics, media and politics
19 January, 2014
Obama's Cosmetic Changes For NSA surveillance
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
President Obama's Friday speech on NSA surveillance was a calculated endeavor to calm a furor at home and abroad over the US dragnet surveillance. However, the proposed changes do not provide any fundamental changes in the intelligence gathering activities
Washington’s Terrorism Or Counterterrorism In Somalia
By Ismail Salami
Somalia has become a breeding ground for Washington’s black operations since 2001, with the African country suffering human losses due to US hegemonic policies
Honored Carlos Santana Herbie Hancock Martina Arroyo!
Honor King’s Condemnation of US Wars!
By Jay Janson
Black celebrities, have cooperated by their silence with America’s total blackout of King’s condemnation of US wars for predatory investments, while brothers kill innocent non-whites abroad. Needed: a great artist and composer like Herbie Hancock or Carlos Santana write a floor-under-your-feet-moving smash hit recording with lines from Martin Luther King Jr.‘ awesomely important sermon Beyond Vietnam - a Time to Break Silence
John Ball Was Right!
By John Spritzler
John Ball preached that: "things cannot go right in England...until goods are held in common and there are no more villeins and gentlefolk, but we are all one and the same." John Ball was indeed right
State And Revolution: Chapter One "Class Society And The State"
By Thomas Riggins
"The State-- A Product of the Irreconcilability of Class Antagonisms"
Good Governance In Bangladesh: A Quest For Democracy
By M Mukhlesur Rahman Chowdhury
The quest for democracy in Bangladesh is moving in circles. The country gained its independence through both the democratic process and through war. During the four decades of its existence as a nation-state it has endured spells of military and non-military rules. Of the latter all were not elected and the elected governments themselves seemed to betray a superficial and perfunctory commitment to the norms and practices of democracy
Confession Of The Indian Voter
By Braj Ranjan Mani
Punish them all, God!… And please enable me to distrust appearances so that I can separate right from wrong, and the rascal from the righteous.Let only those come to power who sincerely believe that ‘whoever degrades another degrades the country and humanity.' And send the rest—the corporate crooks and rascals in power, whether in India or elsewhere—to jail, hell, or whatever you call it
Knowledge And Power: A Discourse for Transformation Book Review
By Cynthia Stephen
"Reinventing Humanity: A Discourse for Justice and Transformation" in India By Braj Ranjan Mani
Open Letter To Arvind Kejriwal
By Concerned Citizens
Condemnation of Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti and his supporter's alleged racist slur and humiliation of African women in Delhi
Caste Rules, Whether You See It Or Not
By Devika Mittal
Caste is still a reality of the today, whether the urban, upper-caste people can 'see' it or not. The reason why the urban, upper-caste youth cannot see it is not because it does not exist, but because they are not affected by it. Ask a Dalit, what caste is. As about this constant debate of going 'beyond caste', as Social Scientist Surinder Jodka had rightly pointed out, the beyond framework seems to be a conspiracy of the upper-caste. We cannot go beyond the caste because caste still exists and determines the life of a large section of population"
18 January, 2014
America’s Secret War In 134 Countries
By Nick Turse
They operate in the green glow of night vision in Southwest Asia and stalk through the jungles of South America. They snatch men from their homes in the Maghreb and shoot it out with heavily armed militants in the Horn of Africa. They feel the salty spray while skimming over the tops of waves from the turquoise Caribbean to the deep blue Pacific. They conduct missions in the oppressive heat of Middle Eastern deserts and the deep freeze of Scandinavia. All over the planet, the Obama administration is waging a secret war whose full extent has never been fully revealed -- until now
The Siege Of Yarmouk
By Franklin Lamb
At the Palestine Embassy in Beirut recently, a young lady showed this observer a video of a gentleman in Yarmouk camp in Damascus. The video showed the man killing and eating a cat. Food ran out in Yarmouk weeks ago, and nearly 18,000 refugees are facing death from starvation and other conflict-related causes. This siege has been ongoing since July 2013, and it has become viciously lethal
Marvelous Victories: Enduring Lessons From Howard Zinn
By Mickey Z.
“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” - Howard Zinn
Deception And Double-Standards At Mandela Funeral
By Nizar Visram
What is hardly mentioned is that while Mandela and his comrades succeeded in toppling the political apartheid, they have hardly managed to dismantle the South African apartheid economy that has left millions of people in grinding poverty. Thus the most uncomplimentary part of Mandela’s legacy is the economic apartheid that still exists in South Africa today. As Prof Issa Shivji aptly put it, Mandela’s ‘long walk' walked into the neo-liberal tunnel, the light at the end of which we still have to see
Iran Is Not Yet Off The Hook
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal
Neoconservative extremists, Zionist lobbyists from the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and their willing executioners on Capitol Hill driven by the right-wing Israeli government are trying everything to sabotage the agreement between Iran and the five UN Security Council members plus their German annex. This unholy alliance tries to drag the Obama administration into another Middle Eastern war
The case Of Muhammad Haidar Zammar(PDF)
By Elias Davidsson
How German leaders conspired with the U.S. and Syria in covering-up a secret operation
Far From The Israeli Personal Insults To The US state Secretary Kerry!
By Dr Salim Nazzal
This week the relationship between the state of Israel has witnessed some strain, over what the US has described as the (offensive) and (inappropriate) words of the Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon, about the state of secretary John Kerry peace proposals. Yaalon was quoted to have described Kerry diplomatic efforts as being (misplaced obsession and Messianic fervor!)
Cultural Organizations or Trojan Horses?
By George Abraham
In ordinary times, a U.S. House resolution ( 417) that calls for ‘reaffirming the need to protect the rights and freedom of the religious minorities while praising India’s rich religious diversity and commitment to tolerance and equality’, may not have ruffled any feathers let alone garnered some media attention. However, in a surprising twist, emotions were flying high over the move by the US lawmakers with some of the national and local Indian organizations that are quite active on the Capitol Hill in lobbying for various causes back in India
World Class Facilities For The Rich, Death And Injury For The Poor
By Vidyadhar Date
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is known for speaking little. But he was gushing in his praise for the new terminal of the Mumbai international airport on January 10 and repeatedly used the word world class while inaugurating it. No problem. Let the rich have world class facilities. But then why is there such callous neglect of facilities for ordinary, working people ? On the very day the Prime Minister launched this fancy project, a journalist Ullas Abraham, formerly of Mid-Day, fell from an overcrowded suburban train in Kurla in this very city and was killed
Bangladesh Election Without Mandate
By NJ Thakuria
With a predictable election outcome Sheikh Hasina has taken the oath as the Bangladesh Prime Minister for the second consecutive time. But the polls which was boycotted by the major opposition allies and marred with violence killing over 200 people across the country could receive only lukewarm appreciations from the international community
The “Ershad Syndrome” And Problems Of Governance And Democracy In Bangladesh
By Taj Hashmi
As analysts and experts are unanimous in imputing the prevalent chaos, corruption and anarchic violence in Libya, Egypt and Iraq to their former (corrupt) dictators – Qaddafi, Mubarak and Saddam Hussein – one wonders as to why Ershad should remain unscathed and untouched for committing similar crime to Bangladesh. He not only retarded the growth of democracy and civil society in Bangladesh, but he also singlehandedly destroyed the social fabric, respect for law and order, and whatever was left of ethical values and piety among the average people in less than nine years of autocracy. We may call Ershad’s legacy of crime, corruption, hypocrisy and mendacity as the “Ershad Syndrome”
A Fight To Breathe Easy
By Anitha S
I know that the Gadgil Committee Report calls for a review of all development plans that will cause irreparable damage to the life- support system of Western Ghats. Because if this life line is destroyed all human activities connected to food production, healthy life and livelihood will disappear. These are things that we cannot buy with money – only pristine NATURE can provide all that. So ours is a struggle for life and all the priceless sustaining elements in nature
Religion, Peace And Violence
By Ram Puniyani
From Hinduism one can see Mahatma Gandhi on one side and Nathuram Godse on the other. In Islam one can see Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on one side and Osama bin Laden and the Muslim nationalists on the other. Same way one can see Pope Francis on one side and Anders Berling Brevik (Norwegian terrorist who killed 86 youth) on the other. It is the same religion in whose name such opposite stands are taken. We need to wake up to free ourselves from the ossified, intolerant views of religions and stand for humanistic teaching and tolerant traditions of religions
A Birthday Tree
By Anitha S
About a boy who plants trees on his birthday
Dent In Democracy
By Anand Prakash
Democracy can be seen as a system in which every individual has an equal say in the government of society , unfortunately it is hardly the case in tribal areas .Individuals surrender their rights to state because they believe that state will provide justice and protect their rights against the private interests and if state fails to do so ,than it will lead to a large scale social unrest . This is precisely what is happening in these tribal areas
“The Fifth Sun” A Novel By Gaither Stewart
By Countercurrents.org
Set in Italy and Mexico, The Fifth Sun, is a story of love and disenchantment, of belief and unbelief, adventure and romance. Above all, it is the story of the search of each of us for our real and better selves. The characters in The Fifth Sun are haunted by the Divine. All have a divine discontent which forces them to go beyond the role life seems to have assigned to them. And there is perhaps the key: the attempt to escape one's destiny and create a new one. Published by Punto Press in New York in December 2013, the print version is distributed by Ingrams and available on Amazon and major book sellers throughout the world
16 January, 2014
Obama’s NSA “Reform” Defends Illegal Spying
By Bill Van Auken
The Obama White House is preparing a National Security Agency “reform” package that is aimed at legitimizing and institutionalizing the NSA’s illegal domestic spying operations, while putting in place stringent security measures to prevent disclosures of its crimes such as those carried out by former contractor Edward Snowden
Why Is The West Spying On The Third World? Why Should Africa Be Wary?
By Tsungai Chipato
With Edward Snowden having shone a light on how “economic intelligence” is actively being gathered, many developing nations can at least find solace in finally understanding why it is always difficult for their diplomats to wrangle effective trade agreements with western powers
Chelsea Manning Awarded Sam Adams Integrity Prize For 2014
By Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence
The Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) have voted overwhelmingly to present the 2014 Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence to Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning
US Appeals Court Strikes Down “Net Neutrality” Rules
By Thomas Gaist
The Washington, DC Circuit federal Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2010 Open Internet (OI) regulations were based on a wrong legal argument and are void. The Open Internet regulations prohibited the selective blocking of slowing of legal Internet content by Internet providers
The Whitewashing of Ariel Sharon
By Ramzy Baroud
The death of former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon enlivened US media's interest in the legacy of a man considered by many a war criminal, and by some a hero. In fact, the supposed heroism of Sharon was at the heart of CNN coverage of his death on January 11
How Canada Politics May View Zimbabwe’s Indigenization Act
By Tsungai Chipato
With the Zimbabwean Government trying to implement its Zimbabwe Indigenization Act, understanding the tight balancing act that Zimbabwean diplomats will have to play on the international arena is very important in trying to bring foreign investment back to Zimbabwe. Although the United States passed the Zimbabwe Development and Recovery Act (ZDERA) and it continually hangs as an albatross on Zimbabwe’s recovery, what many people fail to realize is the huge role Canada plays behind the scenes when it comes to global agendas
In Bangladesh Now, Wrong Is Right
By Fazal M. Kamal
To use contemporary phraseology, wrong is the new right in Bangladesh. Everything that’s not right or truthful or genuine or whatever else, at this point in time, has to be considered acceptable, correct and factual
When Will There Be A Demand For Nuremberg Principles Trial Of Americans For Genocide!
By Jay Janson
January 12, 2014, news headline reads, "Iraq: "Devastating" Dossier Alleging British War Crimes Lodged with the International Criminal Court." Americans reading this might be compelled to wonder when a headline will read: 'Alleging US War Crimes.' An accompanying thought might be 'Damn! our crimes are so much much greater, perhaps followed the rejoinder, 'the total past crimes of the British Empire make ours look much less.'
War Mongering Over Kashmir Has Begun
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
The mood in New Delhi is clearly to keep the status quo ante. With the BJP parroting its pet theme, it appears, the war mongering over Kashmir has once again has started. The question remain will war resolve the Kashmir issue? If no then where do we go from here for seeking peace in Kashmir?
Women Safety Still A Mirage: No Let Up In Rape Cases
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
Given the yawning gap between what is being preached and practiced, the issue of the safety of women in India, sadly still has a long way to go. A year’s time is too little to see the changes taking place, but if we persistently try to eliminate such ills, there is hope for results in future. The chill wind has started blowing, if that’s the sign of winter, spring is not far away
15 January, 2014
Hundreds Drown Fleeing Continued Fighting In South Sudan
By Bill Van Auken
In what is likely the worst single mass fatality incident since the outbreak of fighting in South Sudan last month, as many as 300 people drowned when an overloaded ferry that they had boarded to flee renewed clashes sank Tuesday in the White Nile. Many of the victims were women and children
TPP: Poison For Local Community Resilience
By Richard Heinberg
Now comes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new trade deal negotiated in secret (only corporations get to contribute to, and look at, the draft language). The point of the Treaty: to double down on globalization at precisely the moment in time when the entire enterprise is beginning to fail as a result of stubbornly high oil prices, worsening climate change impacts (floods, droughts, wildfires), debt deflation, and middle-class fears of losing even more ground
The Grand Challenge Of The Energy Transition
By Ugo Bardi
If we can manage the energy transition by taking into account technological, economical, and systemic factors, then we’ll be able to eliminate fossil fuels even without magic bullets and arrive to a better, cleaner, and more equitable future
Catching The Second Wave: Fossil Fuel Divestment And Ethical Finance
By Alex Lenferna
For many climate activists 2013 will be remembered as the year that the intertwined carbon bubble and carbon budget concepts hit the mainstream
President Hollande And French Invasion Of Privacy
Versus French Invasion Of 80 Countries Since 800 AD
By Dr Gideon Polya
La belle France has invaded 80 countries since 800AD, testament to an entrenched culture of French hubris, French imperialism and French state terrorism. Many in France are currently angered over the “invasion of privacy” implicit in the titillating allegation of a love triangle involving the French President François Hollande but ignore or excuse the continuing, horrendous record of French invasions of other countries, French state terrorism and war crimes such as those for which Nazi German generals were hanged after 1945
America Betrayed Rev. Dr. King, Gagged His Condemning US Wars
For Predatory Investments
By Jay Janson
On TV, the week-end before the MKJjr’ birthday holiday, see all the celebrities, black, white, asian, latino. They will come to praise King and bury again King’s condemnation of US atrocity "wars meant to maintain unjust predatory investments on three continents." They will hail King to heaven, loudly, to drown out anyone whispering that King called their dirty government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”
Lenin's State And Revolution Today-- The Preface
By Thomas Riggins
It's been 97 years since Lenin first wrote what has since become a "classic" of Marxism:The State and Revolution: The Marxist Theory of the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution. I propose to discuss the significance of this work for today, the beginning of the 21st Century
Cancel Environmental Clearance For POSCO Project
By Delhi Solidarity Group
A protest was organised by 14 groups under the banner of Delhi Solidarity Group at Paryavaran Bhavan today to protest the Environmental Clearance given to POSCO project in Odisha in violation of the Honorable National Green Tribunal’s decision and the Meena Gupta Committee findings. The groups demanded cancellation of the clearance until recommendations of the NGT and Meena Gupta Committee are fulfilled as well as a complete halt on forceful land acquisition and destruction of forest and beetel vines. The action was organised in solidarity with POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) as part of observing January 15th as National Protest Day against POSCO
14 January, 2014
US Excludes Iran From Syria Conference
By Keith Jones
One day after the US gave its assent to a six-month interim nuclear deal with Iran, US Secretary of State John Kerry publicly clashed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Iran’s participation in the Geneva II conference on Syria
Sharon And A Nobel Prize For Nonsense
By Alan Hart
Until recently I thought Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had no rivals in the business of talking propaganda nonsense (Israel’s Jews in danger of annihilation etcetera, etcetera, etcetera). But if there was a Nobel Prize for talking nonsense it does now seem that there would be a number of contenders. At the top of my list of them would be British Prime Minister David Cameron. In paying tribute to Sharon he praised him for his “brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace.”
Closure Of Tunnels Suffocates Gaza
By Khaled Alashqar
The border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip used to buzz with activity until a few months back as traders brought in an array of Egyptian goods — from food supplies to raw material — through hundreds of tunnels. But these underground structures between Rafah in Gaza and Sinai in Egypt, have fallen silent. Things came to a grinding halt after the Egyptian army came to power in July last year. Calling them a security threat, it launched a systematic military campaign against the tunnels, destroying them, along with the houses under which they were built on its side of the border
The Negative Natural Interest Rate And Uneconomic Growth
By Herman Daly
The way out of this trap is to recognize that the growth era is over, and that instead of forcing growth into uneconomic territory we must seek to maintain a steady-state economy at something approximating the optimal scale. Since we have overshot the optimal scale of the macro-economy, this will require a period of retrenchment to a reduced level, accompanied by much more equal sharing, frugality, and efficiency
Global Terrorism and Saudi Arabia: Bandar’s Terror Network
By James Petras
Bandar bin Sultan is the protégé and successor of Bin Laden; he has deepened and systematized global terrorism. Bandar’s terror network has murdered far more innocent victims than Bin Laden. That, of course, is to be expected; after all he has billions of dollars from the Saudi treasury, training from the CIA and the handshake of Netanyahu!
Nuclear Collusion
By S.G.Vombatkere
India's Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh inaugurated a nuclear power plant (NPP) at Gorakhpur in Haryana on January 13, 2014. This NPP is an invitation to disaster since it relies on canal water for cooling, and canals can, and do, run dry. Besides, routine radioactive discharges into the cooling water will reach downstream canal users. Also, in the event of a serious nuclear accident, even full-flow water in the canal will be woefully insufficient to handle the crisis. At another level, it draws water which was meant for agriculture, thereby denying Haryana farmers their rightful due of water for 100,000 acres of extremely fertile four-crops-a-year land
The Party Left And Aap
By Satya Sagar
“Comrade! There is a man dying of thirst at the door. What is the Party line on giving water to thirsty people?”
Love Is Not A Crime: Protect The Rights Of Sexuality Minorities
By People’s Forum Against IPC 377
An appeal to preserve diversity, harmony and human rights, a civil society statement against Section 377
The Ideology Problem: Thomas Patterson's Failed Technocratic Dream For Journalism
By Robert Jensen
Thomas Patterson's new book on the current crises in journalism is organized around six specific problems, starting with “The Information Problem” and moving through Source, Knowledge, Education, Audience, and Democracy problems. All problems, indeed. But, unfortunately, there is no chapter on the most crippling affliction of mainstream journalism in the United States: “The Ideology Problem.” That missing chapter would help explain the routine failure of mainstream journalism at what should be its central task in a democratic society—to analyze and critique systems of power to help ordinary people take greater control over our lives. The fact that this subject is missing helps explain the limited value of Patterson's analysis
The Real MLK
By Mickey Z.
This year, as we mark the 85th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have two revolutionary suggestions: 1. Learn about the real MLK, not the whitewashed product. 2. Apply his vision in the name of our shared future
Promoting Inter-Communal Harmony
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
What the world needs today — perhaps more than anything else — is an acceptable formula for the attainment of religious harmony. This being currently one of the most important topics under discussion, I shall attempt to present here, in brief, the Islamic viewpoint
13 January, 2014
Iran And US Finalize Interim Nuclear Deal
By Keith Jones
Washington and Tehran announced yesterday that the interim nuclear agreement Iran reached with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany seven weeks ago will come into effect January 20
Nuclear Deal, Nuclear Imperialism or Nuclear Apartheid?
By Dr. M. Mohibul Haque
The much publicized nuclear deal between the isolated and under-pressure (domestic as well as international)Iran and the global nuclear hegemons once again establishes the fact that decisions in the international arena are taken on the governing principle of ‘might is right’
Paying Tribute To A Genocidaire
By Prof. Francis A. Boyle
The United Nations General Assembly condemned the 1982 Massacre at Sabra and Shatilla as “genocide.” So what the world is witnessing now are innumerable government leaders, politicians, pundits, professors, intellectuals, media figures and the State of Israel pay formal tribute to a genocidaire--one who has committed genocide. Obviously, in their opinion the slogan “Never again!” does not apply to protect the Palestinians
Ariel Sharon: Buddha Of Middle East or Butcher Of Beirut?
By Gul Jammas Hussain
Voltaire once said, "Men use thought only to justify their wrong-doings, and words only to conceal their thoughts." With former Israeli general and prime minister Ariel Sharon’s long-anticipated death, the Western media has gone to great lengths to paint him as the Buddha of the Middle East. The whole world knows that he achieved his nirvana in Beirut in September 1982 at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps when Lebanese mercenaries backed by Israeli forces slaughtered thousands of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese Muslims
The Bulldozer Of Israel: Ariel Sharon's Legacy
By Shakeel Anjum
The eulogization of Sharon as hero, warrior and peacemaker by the west speaks of hypocrisy, double standards and silence over the gruesome war crimes and injustice to the Palestinians
Life's Little Ironies
By Niranjan Ramakrishnan
This particular 'surge' in Al Qaeda's Iraqi fortunes has been facilitated by the turmoil in Syria, with which Iraq shares a long and largely uncontrolled border. NPR had a report yesterday on how Al Qaeda in Syria has proven to be too much even for the Syrian rebels, though neither would yield anything to the other in the matter of its ostensible enthusiasm for getting rid of the common enemy, the government of Bashar al Assad. According to National Public Radio, eastern Syria and western Iraq are now a kind of Al Qaeda administered territory
Syrian Christians: "If We Do Not Help These People Then Who Will?"
By Hussein Al-alak
More and more Syrian Christians are leaving the war torn country and seeking refuge in Europe
Embarking On The Journey Of Consciousness: Staying On The Train
By Carolyn Baker
Nearly every day I speak with people who are confused, bewildered, disoriented, or conversely, extraordinarily clear about what is happening to them. A few years, months, or weeks earlier, they began waking up to the predicament of earth and its plethora of species. I often ask them to tell me their story—not so much their personal story, but the story of their awakening to the collapse of industrial civilization or peak oil or catastrophic climate change. As they unpack their story, we often begin speaking of it as a journey—a journey of epiphany, of awakening, of coming to consciousness
Time For Black Pride
By Timothy Dwight Smith
Since arriving as slaves, blacks have endured the worst of what America has had to offer, some have risen from the ashes and achieved incredible contributions that have served to enhance society. If black people are to collectively transcend their present position, religious myths have to be disposed. It must be resolved that god does not need money. Black people do not need a savior, we need only ourselves, but we must shed the myths that have haunted us since the slave ship
A Moral Outrage: Albert Woodfox's 41 Years In Solitary Confinement,
Despite Three Overturned Convictions
By Angola 3 News
An Interview With Rev. Dr. Patricia Teel Bates
Sentencing Israel Of Genocide
By Dr. Elias Akleh
While the so-called international legal bodies such as ICC, UN and Security Council lack the guts to face up to the Zionist global terrorism, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (KLWCT) has demonstrated unequivocal courage for prosecuting the terrorist state of Israel and its military generals for their crimes. After listening to eyewitness testimonies and examining the voluminous documented evidence the Tribunal found the state of Israel guilty of genocide, and the Israeli retired army general Amos Yaron guilty of crimes against humanity and of genocide
You Can't Opt Out : 10 NSA Myths Debunked
By Peter Van Buren
What exactly are we protecting from what? If, instead of spending trillions of dollars on spying and domestic surveillance, we had spent that same money on repairing our infrastructure and improving our schools, wouldn't we now have a safer, stronger America? Remember that famously absurd Vietnam War quote from an American officer talking about brutal attack on Ben Tre, "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it"? How can anyone say we are protecting our liberty and freedom by taking it away?
MLK: Also A Victim Of NSA Surveillance
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Martin Luther King Jr. day is being celebrated on January 20th 2014 amid heated debate on massive dragnet surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA). Ironically, he was himself a victim of NSA surveillance as unveiled by the declassified documents in September last year. Dr. King's status as an NSA target has been known since the 1970s; nevertheless, this was probably the first time that the U.S. government had declassified it
Book Review: Why Israel? The Anatomy of Zionist Apartheid
By Jim Miles
Why Israel? is a large work of enormous value for the study of events within Israel and the Middle east. The title question is answered relatively easy, as it is one of the many counters that Israeli supporters use to try and divert attention away from their transgressions. Yes, there are many other states in the world where racism is evident, where oppression and some form of apartheid is applied
Truth Prevails, Even If The Whistleblower Is Silenced
By Kourosh Ziabari
Like the story of all those freedom fighters and conscientious people who struggle for realizing true democracy and freedom in the United States but are punished because they purportedly threaten the “national security,” the story of Jeremy Hammond is a painful and moving one
Small Business Persons And Egalitarianism
By John Spritzler
Small business persons have every reason in the world to desire an egalitarian revolution in the United States. Their lives in an egalitarian society would be improved in terms of both their material standard of living and their emotional well-being. Here's why
130 Million Americans
By John Spritzler
The problem (that we live in a dictatorship of the rich) can only be solved by lots and lots (130 or more million) people deciding to remove the rich from power (which they could certainly do, by the way, because they'd have support from members of the military forces.) But in order for this to happen, these 130 million people need to know that THEY ARE NOT ALONE, that there are 130 million of them (not a hopelessly small and powerless number) who want to remove the rich from power. To let these 130 million people learn that they are not alone is the purpose of the www.PDRBoston.org "Ring the Bells of Revolution" campaign. Maybe you'd like to help out?
Fat Man Talking – Governor Christie Sinks
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
After having many positive views of New Jersey Governor Christie mainly because he seemed like a better kind of politician, maybe being someone the public could actually trust, I now see him as just another untrustworthy, dishonest politician
Pakistan, A Victim Of Ideological Colonization
By Ismail Salami
What is happening in Pakistan is an ideological product of the House of Saud and their ignoramus adherents. Sadly, Pakistani politicians frequently turn a blind eye to the myriad crimes committed by the Takfiri groups whom they use as political leverage to achieve their own malicious goals such as winning the elections in the country. So, instead of curbing the cruel current of extremism, they sit back and watch silently. Aitizaz Hasan is the personification of innocence and the crystallization of a far-fetched hope on the dark horizons of the Pakistani community
Indo - Pak Dialogue: Reasons For Failure
By Abdul Majid Zargar
In the context of Indo-Pak dialogue, there are three parties to the dispute-India, Pakistan & People of Jammu and Kashmir and the international community represented by UN is the Umpire . The role of two countries, India & Pakistan is limited to talking & making atmosphere conducive to determining the wish of the people of J&K. Even If any of the two parties out of these three like India & Pakistan decide to put the dispute beneath the carpet or work out some other formula, it will not have any enduring effect over the main issue
Contemporary Political Ferment: Aam Aadmi Party
By Ram Puniyani
The spectacular performance of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi Assembly elections (November 2013) has changed the perceptions and anticipations about the forthcoming general elections to be held in 2014. It has also led to rethink about the equations of electoral politics in general. While BJP emerged as the single largest party and could have staked claim to form the Government, it refrained from that. AAP, after an initial hesitation, went in for opinion taking exercise, and decided to cross the obstacles of being a bit short of majority and formed the Government
Condemn The Arrest Of Yugal Kishore Sharan Shstri
By All India Secular Forum
The UP police arrested Yugal Kishore Sharan Shstri on 11th January. He had planned to organize a People’s Panchayat on the issue of attack on Shrine of Sheesh Paighambar, which was attacked on 20 December 13. In this attack a student Zeeshan was killed. The police arrest of Shastriji has been made on the ground that he is ‘threat to peace and order’ in the city
Welcome Back Ms Khobragade, Now I Can Read My Newspaper In Peace!
By Madhumita Dutta
So Ms Devyani Khobragade is back home. What a relief! India’s ‘pride’ has finally been restored. I swear I do feel relieved. Because now I will hopefully be spared of any further embarrassment of reading every morning the latest diplomatic shenanigans to protect a person who is accused of over-working and under-paying her domestic worker
11 January, 2014
Iraq: Four Armed Groups Fighting In Fallujah
By Mushreq Abbas
A little more than a week after the outbreak of violence in Anbar province, the picture of the forces fighting on the ground has become clearer. It does not, however, correspond to official Iraqi pronouncements that the conflict only involves two parties: al-Qaeda versus Iraqi security forces and their Sahwa tribal allies. At the same time, the picture also does not support declarations by Fallujah tribal leaders that the conflict is mainly one of the tribes versus government forces. Rather, Al-Monitor sources in Fallujah have confirmed the presence of at least four distinct fighting forces in and around that city
A Palestinian-Hezbollah War In Lebanon?
By Franklin Lamb
It’s not just the leadership of the Zionist regime still occupying Palestine, six decades after the 1948 Nakba, that appears to be salivating at the current stoking of current tensions between the Palestinian Resistance and in some respects, its historic off-spring Hezbollah. From Tel Aviv, to Amman, Riyadh, the Gulf Kingdoms to Washington DC and beyond, the forces allied against the Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah-Palestinian Resistance are working on yet another project to weaken and hopefully destroy all four
Israel-Palestine: Is Peace Possible On Obama’s Watch?
By Alan Hart
The answer to my headline question could be, not necessarily would be, “Yes” IF President Obama was prepared to put America’s own best interests first and use as necessary all the leverage he has to oblige Israel to accept that peace with the Palestinians requires a complete end to its occupation of the West Bank. With East Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state or, preferably, Jerusalem an undivided, open city and the capital of two states, Israel back to its 1967 pre-war frontiers subject only to minor and mutually agreed border modifications is an Israel the Palestinians could and would make peace with. But…
Planetary Consciousness And The Tears Of The World
By Gary Corseri
A Review of Carolyn Baker’s Collapsing Consciously
What’s At Stake In Privatizing Education
By Ann Robertson & Bill Leumer
With Obama’s Race to the Top even schools are forced to compete against one another. By tying federal funding to the acceptance of charter schools, Obama is establishing a framework where traditional public schools must compete with the newer charter schools for students, especially for the students who will raise their school’s test scores
Politricksters In New Jersey
By Rosemarie Jackowski
New Jersey has been known for its culture of mobsters, hooligans, and political dirty tricks for many decades. When I was a kid, anytime the topic of New Jersey was discussed, my Dad would smile and say - "Yep, that's where all the crooks are". He always had a twinkle in his eye when he said that. Naturally, it made me want to move to New Jersey as soon as I was old enough. New Jersey sounded really cool, like a land of fun and excitement...especially, while growing up in the coal mine region of Pennsylvania
AAP's Regionalism: 90% Quota For Delhi Students In DU
By Mission Bhartiyam
In a recent move, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has proposed to reserve seats for Delhi students in Delhi University. According to The Hindustan Times, AAP plans to reserve 90% seats in 12 colleges which are completely funded by the Delhi Government and 50% seats in some other colleges which receive 50% funding
10 January, 2014
Armed Clashes Erupt Around Besieged Iraqi City Of Fallujah
By Bill Van Auken
Fresh fighting was reported around the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah on Thursday, as the Obama administration moved to rush new military aid to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The armed clashes between Iraqi troops backed by tanks and what the security forces referred to as Al Qaeda militants took place in the Albubali area between Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province, and Fallujah, its second-largest city
Peak Oil Is Dead! Long Live Peak Oil!
By Michael T. Klare
Global peak oil remains in our future, even if not purely for the reasons given by Hubbert and his followers. With the gradual disappearance of “easy” oil, the major private firms are being forced to exploit increasingly tough, hard-to-reach reserves, thereby driving up the cost of production and potentially discouraging new investment at a time when climate change and environmental activism are on the rise
The Approaching End Of Climate Denial - Biz Guy AndThe Doc
By Bill Henderson
You stand to lose whatever money you have invested (directly or indirectly) in fossil fuels, and when the estimated $4 trillion carbon bubble pops it's going to make the sub-prime conflagration look like a minor paper recession, threatening your business, your other assets and even maybe you're ability to watch the Stuper Bowl on TV, etc.
Climate Change Requires Consciousness Change
By William T. Hathaway
To paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about climate change but no one does anything about it. No one, particularly those in power, wants to make the necessary sacrifices. The latest round of international negotiations served mainly to postpone decisions and action. The Japanese government announced that their CO2 emissions would be increasing rather than decreasing as promised. The US government still refuses to comply with international environmental agreements
The Horrors: What World Are We Living In?
By William Blum
The horrors reported each day from Syria and Iraq are enough to make one cry; in particular, the atrocities carried out by the al-Qaeda types: floggings; beheadings; playing soccer with the heads; cutting open dead bodies to remove organs just for mockery; suicide bombers, car bombs, the ground littered with human body parts; countless young children traumatized for life; the imposition of sharia law, including bans on music … What century are we living in? What millennium? What world?
Starving Refugees: How We Disowned Palestinians In Syria
By Ramzy Baroud
A worst case scenario is unfolding in Syria, and Palestinian refugees, particularly in the Yarmouk refugee camp, are paying a heavy price for Syria’s cruelest war. They are starving, although there can be no justification, nor logistical explanation for why they are dying from hunger
Israel Not Ready To Give Up ‘Villa In The Jungle’
By Jonathan Cook
US Secretary of State John Kerry spent last week testing the waters with Israelis and Palestinians over his so-called framework agreement – designed to close the gaps between the two sides. But the issues he is trying to resolve appear more intractable by the day
UN Makes 2014 International Year Of Solidarity With The Palestinian People –
Boycott Apartheid Israel
By Dr Gideon Polya
Last year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to proclaim “2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”. Decent people around the world must urge and apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) not just against nuclear terrorist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel but also against all those people, politicians, parties, companies, corporations and countries that support this grossly human rights-abusing, genocidally racist, serial war criminal Apartheid state
Seed Monopolies, GMOs And Farmers Suicides In India
By Dr Vandana Shiva
Response by Dr Vandana Shiva to an article published on 1st May 2013 in Nature by Natasha Gilbert titled “Case studies: A hard look at GM crops”
Who Appointed The U.S. To Be The World’s Policeman?
By Kourosh Ziabari
Who has appointed the United States to be the world’s policeman? Who has asked the United States to intervene in the other countries, either militarily or politically, kill innocent civilians in the name of expanding and promoting democracy and destabilize the political system of these countries? Who has given the United States the responsibility to remove from power the governments and leaders which are not seen as democratic and freedom-loving? And finally, who is in charge of holding the United States responsible for its innumerable war crimes and crimes against humanity?
Ecstasy And Surrealism In Bangladesh
By Fazal M. Kamal
The level of surrealism has been lifted to a wondrous degree. After having successfully isolated itself from the people as well as the international community (both of which were dealt with sheer disdain) the government of Bangladesh, led by the always-effervescent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is experiencing the joys of self-congratulations---in the midst of one of the worst crises in the country’s history
Why The Military Intervened In Bangladesh Politics?
By M Mukhlesur Rahman Chowdhury
Corruption is an issue which instigates army to take over power. However, these military motivations go against them when their people involve themselves into it. Sometimes, military thinks that it is ‘saving’ democracy by intervening into politics. Military coup of 1982 and 2007-08 military backed rule reinforced this concept
Imminent Forced Eviction By Kenya Threatens Indigenous Communities'
Human Rights And Ancestral Forests
By Forest Peoples Programme
The Kenyan government has sent police troops to Embobut forest area (in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Western Kenya) to forcefully evict thousands of the indigenous inhabitants of the Sengwer and Cherangany communities from their ancestral forestlands. Reports from community members in Embobut tell of a chaotic situation, as people are threatened and are fleeing their homes with their children and belongings in fear of their safety. 150 police and forest guards including also 30 General Service Unit riot police are massing to carry out the evictions from the three locations of Tangul, Kipsitono and Maron near the forest. More troops may join
Muzaffarnagar: The Continuing Violence Of A Communal-Fascist State!
By Democratic Students Union
A preliminary report on the solidarity visit to Muzaffarnagar ‘relief’ camps
Nannygate: Humiliation versus Exploitation
By Anand Teltumbde
Sangeeta Richard may well be a rogue but she will surely be in jail, her family devastated by this episode and nothing will happen to our dear Devyani! After all, she is not the class of ordinary mortals. Her humiliation therefore is more important than exploitation of millions of Soni Soris around
Koodankulam: An Unfettered Struggle
By Anitha S
Yes, our fight and struggle is unfettered. As days pass, our determination to continue voicing our demands are getting firmer and clearer. For we know that this is the fight for truth and justice, for life and health, for pure air, water and soil
Book Review: The Indian Ideology
By Abdul Majid Zargar
According to Anderson, Indian democracy is a farce which is severely compromised by its origins in an anti-colonial struggle led by the “monolithically Hindu” Congress party, which Anderson holds largely responsible for the bloodiness of the partition of the British-ruled subcontinent in 1947.The Book also criticizes India’s relations with neighboring Countries that many Indians would take not with a pinch but a large dollop of salt
Total Sanitation Campaign: Still Miles To Go in Assam
By Sazzad Hussain
As the world observed the inaugural World Toilet Day on 19th November, India missed the bus of nations enjoying the status of having sanitation facilities by most of its citizens. Even our neighbour Bangladesh has the envious record of having 93% of the population having access to toilets. But in India about 638 million people, or more than half of those residing in the second-most populous nation on Earth, defecate in the open
Defend Freedom Of Expression, Oppose Politics Of Hurt Sentiments
By New Socialist Initiative
New Socialist Initiative condemns the attack on the headquarters of AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) office at Kaushambi, Ghaziabad by vigilantes of the Hindutva Brigade and demands stern action against the culprits. Given the inordinate delay by the police in reaching the place and nabbing the hooligans in the case of an emergent political party and high-profile politicians, one can only imagine the safety and security of common citizen under such dispensation
08 January, 2014
Death Toll Rises From North American “Polar Vortex”
By Matthew MacEgan
The “polar vortex” which has assaulted North America over the past several days has left hundreds of thousands of people without major utilities, and reports of deaths are trickling in to news outlets across both the United States and Canada. The lack of adequate infrastructure that has exacerbated the weather’s impact has proved the most devastating for ever-growing homeless populations
Discovering A Legal Tool To Curb Climate Change
By Jeremy Brecher
On Mother’s Day, 2011 a legal campaign was launched in fifty states and in Federal court arguing that global warming violated the rights of the plaintiffs — young people and their posterity. The actions were based on an innovative application of an ancient legal principle known in the US as the “public trust doctrine.” They asserted that, under the public trust doctrine, governments serve as trustees of the atmosphere for the true beneficiaries, current and future generations, and that they are violating their most compelling duties by failing to protect it from devastating climate change. Successful or not, these cases may transform public discourse on the role of government in protecting the environment. The ideas underlying them, which go far beyond these climate cases per se, have now been laid out in a new book by Mary Christina Wood called Nature’s Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age
Edge-Dwelling: A Social Ecology For Our Time
By Dianne Monroe
First in a series about inhabiting and acting in the edge-places of our civilization as crucial for humanity’s passage through these challenging times – and inviting you to share your personal edge-dwelling experiences
In Memoriam As We Await Ariel Sharon's Decent Into Death
By William A. Cook
As this man confronts in his final days the ultimate dark night, it might be instructive to look at his life through fiction; his tale is after all beyond the pale of human behavior. Chris Cook, editor of the Pacific Free Press, penned this Introduction for the novella. It will serve to introduce the reader to the story that tells the tale of the Prime Minister of the State of Wickedness
UN Has Failed To Bring Israel To Justice For 65 Years: Prof. William Cook
Interview By Kourosh Ziabari
It is today a bit of a stretch to point to what should be done with the reality that the seizure of virtually all of the Palestinian land has made so impossible. But if the world communities forced the UN to act, then the starting point has to be what that body has determined and not changed
The Saudi Bull In Arab China Shop
By Nicola Nasser
Obsessed with the “Iran threat,” which leads to its warmongering in Syria, Saudi Arabia is acting like a bull in a china shop, wreaking regional havoc in an already Arab fragile political environment and creating what George Joffe’ of Cambridge University’s Centre of International Studies, on last December 30, called the “second Arab cold war,” the first being the Saudi-led cold war with the Pan-Arab Egypt of Gamal Abdul Nasser since the 1960s
Africa’s New Struggle Against Financial Imperialism
By Garikai Chengu
Financial imperialism is the system through which a dictatorship of Western capital exercises authoritarian control over African economies in order to perpetuate the exploitation of Africa, for the benefit of the West’s capitalist class
When Will They Ever Learn? The American People And Support For War
By Lawrence Wittner
The shifting force in U.S. public opinion is the large number of people who rally ‘round the flag at the beginning of a war and, then, gradually, become fed up with the conflict
The Ongoing Assault On Ordinary Working Class People In Britain
By Colin Todhunter
British Chancellor George Osborne this week announced massive cuts of £25 billion after 2015. This included further welfare cuts of £12bn. Osbourne said that 2014 would be a year of hard truths. He claimed that his economic policies were working, but admitted that the bad news is there's still a long way to go
Fundamentalism: A Psychological Problem
By Robert J. Burrowes
Fundamentalism is a widespread problem. It often manifests in a religious context - making it highly visible - but there are plenty of secular fundamentalists too. If we are to understand fundamentalism we should not view it as a religious problem: It is a psychological one
Dancing For Trees
By Anitha.S
The dancers Madhu and Sajeev came on stage holding a tree sapling. Madhu Uncle then announced that for all their programs and performances in 2014,wherever in the world it be, they plan to plant a tree. It could be in Kerala, other parts of India, Australia or the U.S.A,- they have decided to motivate the organizers to plant a tree either in the venue or in a place suitable for them. They would also want assurance that the tree would be taken care of. We all clapped when they said this
Stop Forced Eviction Of Riot Victims Of Muzaffarnagar
By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights
Following the unprecedented outbreak of riots in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Meerut and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh in the first week of September, tens of thousands of Muslim families have been living in relief camps for the last four months. However, over the past week, the Uttar Pradesh Government has been following a policy of forced closure and eviction of people from such camps. As a consequence, the situation created has resulted in increasing the vulnerabilities and insecurities of persons affected by the riots
India-UAE Investment Agreement: Why Such Desperate Haste?
By Kavaljit Singh
As per the official release, the text of the BIPA was finalized during October 30-31, 2013 at Abu Dhabi. After finalization, the agreement was signed by both countries in just a matter of six weeks. However, for some inexplicable reasons, the text of the signed agreement has not yet been made available at the official website of Ministry of Finance
07 January, 2014
US, Iran Say They Will Not Send Troops To Iraq
By Bill Van Auken
The US and Iran have declared their backing for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Monday, while both governments felt compelled to rule out sending troops to support regime forces in the escalating battle in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Fighting continued to rage in and around Ramadi, the provincial capital, and Fallujah, the scene of the bloody US military siege to crush resistance to American occupation in 2004
Is 'Polar Vortex' Attributable To Climate Change? Yes.
By Jon Queally
Weather isn't climate and the climate isn't weather, but if someone asks whether the 'polar vortex' now being experience by tens of millions of people across Noth America is driven by climate change, you don't have to wait for the next wave of scientific research to come out. The answer is 'Yes.'
Beyond The Farcical Elections: The Black Swans Of Bangladesh
By Taj Hashmi
The collective impact of these Black Swan Moments of our history is going to bring about the Black Swan Era of Bangladesh, which is likely to draw the country into a long-drawn civil war for decades, very similar to Iraq, Afghanistan and what Sri Lanka went through in the recent past for twenty-six years. Unless the Government annuls the results of the so-called elections; restores the provision of the Caretaker Government in the Constitution; releases all political detainees; stops judicial murder through compliant judiciary; and last but not least, disbands death squads by the RAB, police and party cadres to destroy political rivals and to smear their image, Bangladesh is not going to remain a functional democracy, even in the most limited sense of the expression
Sham Election Deepens Bangladesh Political Crisis
By K. Ratnayake
The Bangladesh election held on Sunday was a political farce marked by a very low voter turnout and unprecedented violence. At least 16 people died on Sunday alone due to police shootings and bloody clashes between the two main bourgeois parties, the ruling Awami League (AL) and the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) that boycotted the poll. The election has set the stage for a worsening political crisis
Why Do I Hate America?
By Mickey Z.
For starters, I hate America for the near-extermination and ongoing oppression of this continent’s indigenous population. I hate it for its role in the African slave trade and for targeting civilians with atomic bombs. I could go on for pages but I’ll sum up with this: I hate America for being a white supremacist capitalist patriarchal ableist sexist racist ageist homophobic transphobic classist speciesist hypocrisy
America’s Black-Ops Blackout: Unraveling The Secrets Of The Military’s Secret Military
By Nick Turse
Today, Special Operations Command finds itself at a crossroads. It is attempting to influence populations overseas, while at home trying to keep Americans in the dark about its activities; expanding its reach, impact, and influence, while working to remain deep in the shadows; conducting operations all over the globe, while professing only to be operating in “a number of locations”; claiming worldwide deployments have markedly dropped in the last year, when evidence suggests otherwise
Voluntary Simplicity And The Steady-State Economy
By Mark Burch
Voluntary simplicity is most basically characterized by the practices of mindfulness and material sufficiency. Through bringing mindfulness to our daily lives, we seek the maximum of well-being achievable through the minimum of material consumption. Well-being applies to all life forms on Earth, not just people
Why The U.S Seeks To Stay In Afghanistan
By Jack A. Smith
The U.S. is supposed to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this new year. But despite public opinion polls to the contrary, President Obama is seeking to leave several thousand Special Forces troops, military trainers, CIA personnel, “contractors” and surveillance listening posts for 10 more years in Afghanistan until the end of 2024
Postcard From The End Of America : Vineland
By Linh Dinh
On a drowsy, sputtering bus into Vineland , I glimpsed a 9/11 Memorial by the side of the road. Next to a flag pole, there was the Twin Towers at the height of a middling crotch. Fleetingly I thought of getting off at the next stop to scrutinize, but decided no, for it was clear I was only on the outskirts of town, and Vineland is vast, despite its modest population of only 60,000 souls
Laudable Efforts To Combat Illegal Ivory Trade By China
By Marianne de Nazareth
Six tonnes of confiscated ivory were destroyed at a landmark event by the authorities in China, in an effort to combat the illegal trade in elephant tusks. The seized ivory was fed into crushing machines in the southern city of Dongguan, in what was described as the first public destruction of ivory in China. Much of the illegally obtained ivory ends up in China, the world’s biggest market for the smuggled-in material. And although authorities here have stepped up anti-trafficking efforts in recent years, they have failed to turn the tide
Ethiopian Hand In South Sudan
By Thomas C. Mountain
Ethiopia has been active in destabilizing South Sudan and has been repeatedly caught providing arms to “rebels” in the Jonglei and Unity States in the north of the country during the past year. Some of these arms are reported to being used against UN peacekeepers on top of the general ethnic based slaughter that the rebels have been committing across South Sudan
Open Letter To Narendra Modi: Bring Expeditious Justice To 2002 Riot Victims
By R.B. Sreekumar
An appeal for initiation of concrete measures for expeditious justice delivery and genuine relief and rehabilitation of 2002 communal riot victims in Gujarat state
06 January, 2014
Egyptian Junta Launches Deadliest Crackdown In Months
By Johannes Stern
Approaching the third anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution on January 25 and a referendum on Egypt’s new constitution in for mid-January, Egypt’s military junta is intensifying its crackdown on all opposition to its rule. On Friday, security forces cracked down on demonstrations called by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-led Anti-Coup Alliance, killing at least 14 protesters and injuring 62
The Last Gasp Of American Democracy
By Chris Hedges
This is our last gasp as a democracy. The state’s wholesale intrusion into our lives and obliteration of privacy are now facts. And the challenge to us—one of the final ones, I suspect—is to rise up in outrage and halt this seizure of our rights to liberty and free expression. If we do not do so we will see ourselves become a nation of captives
American Jihad 2014: The New Fundamentalists
By Tom Engelhardt
In a 1950s civics textbook of mine, I can remember a Martian landing on Main Street, U.S.A., to be instructed in the glories of our political system. You know, our tripartite government, checks and balances, miraculous set of rights, and vibrant democracy. There was, Americans then thought, much to be proud of, and so for that generation of children, many Martians were instructed in the American way of life. These days, I suspect, not so many. Still, I wondered just what lessons might be offered to such a Martian crash-landing in Washington as 2014 begins
The Tasks Of The People-Powered Movement For 2014
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Build Broad National Consensus for Paradigm Shifting Change
Locked In Winter In Kabul
By Kathy Kelly
We are right to work and to hope, but faced with the spectacle of winter in Chaman e Babrak I can't help remembering Barbara Deming's lines: “Locked in winter, summer lies; gather your bones together. Rise!”
Are We Being Driven Like Cattle?
By John Scales Avery
Let us stop being driven like cattle by invented threats. Let us instead look at the very real dangers that threaten human civilization, and do our utmost to avoid them
Talkin' ‘bout A Global Revolution
By Adam Parsons
As the global financial crisis now enters its seventh year, it is time to start asking difficult questions about the right priorities for popular protest if we want to realise a truly united voice of the world's people. There can be no revolution in a truly moral or global sense until the critical needs of the extreme poor are prioritised and upheld, which will require mass mobilisations in the streets like we have never seen before
The Left After The Failure Of Obamacare
By Shamus Cooke
It’s satisfying to watch rats flee a sinking ship. This is because onlookers knew the ship was doomed long ago, and swimming rats signify that the drawn-out tragedy is nearing an end. A collective sense of relief is a natural response. The rats who propped up the broken boat of Obamacare are a collection of liberal and labor groups who frittered away their group’s resources—and integrity— to sell a crappy product to the American people
Sopore Masscre : And They Call Themselves Humans
By Abdul Majid Zargar
Jannuary 6th is one of the blackest day in the human rights history of the world. It was on this day in 1993 that Indian soldiers killed nearly fifty five people in Kashmir’s Apple town, Sopore in a manner which even today sends jitters up one’s spine & puts to shame the wildest beast in a jungle
The Gruesome Incident Of Cutting Off Of Right Hands Of
Two Bonded Labourers In Odisha
By Kiran Kamal Prasad
On 15 December 2013, right hands of two bonded labourers, Dialu Nial (30), an SC, and Nilambar Dhangda Majhi (28), an ST, were chopped off by a labour contractor and his accomplishes in Odisha. The two labourers who belong to Kalahandi district of Odisha, are now struggling for life at the Burla Medical College and Hospital at Sambalpur
Power Problem And Missing Records
By Abdul Majid Zargar
Power crisis continues to disrupt normal life in the Valley. The long & unscheduled power cuts have become a way of life. And the fresh snowfall has come as a double whammy for the people of Kashmir. Besides darkness they have been cut off from the rest of the world too, due to closure of roads
Kabir Kala Manch: Living To Tell The Tale
By Neerja Dasani
The art of irony is something that the members of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), who identify themselves not as a cultural troupe but as a political movement, are well-versed in. This could be because life for them has been a series of curious contradictions. Emerging from mohallas and bastis, their voices reverberated through the corridors of power, disturbing the slumber of those within. Finding democracy’s din too unsettling, its elected guardians branded KKM as anti-national. The resultant time spent either in jail or underground, strengthened their resolve instead of silencing them into submission
Youth Can Move The World, Won't They?
By Dr. A. K. Merchant
For, today’s youngsters can surely move civilization, as we know it, away from materialism, violence and domination to a higher level--non-materialistic, just, eco-friendly, and peaceful. Ceaseless endeavour, a powerful quality in the young, is required
Fabricated Case Planted Against Teesta Setalvad
By Citizens for Justice and Peace
In the latest round of vindictive actions against human rights defender Teesta Setalvad secretary of Citizen's for Justice and Peace the Gujarat police Crime Branch has registered a false FIR on malicious grounds of cheating etc. This time the vindictiveness of the Gujarat police has extended to also implicating two Survivors Salimbhai Sandhi who lost five family members including his son Mohammed and Firoz Gulzar Pathan who also lost five from his family in the vicious attack on Gulberg Society on 28.2.2002. Javed Anand also a human rights defender has also been roped in as a co-accused in this malicious and motivated case
05 January, 2014
Violence Overshadows Bangladesh National Poll
By Al Jazeera
Violence has marred controversial general elections in Bangladesh, leaving at least 19 people dead in clashes between opposition supporters and police. Thousands of protesters firebombed polling stations and stole ballot papers as deadly violence flared across the South Asian nation during Sunday's elections, which was boycotted by the BNP, the main opposition party, and its allies
'Polar Vortex' Threatens US With Bone Chilling Temps
By Andrea Germanos
Residents across a wide stretch of the U.S. are bracing for dangerously cold and potentially record-breaking temperatures as another wave of Arctic air brings frigid conditions and a 'polar vortex.' The National Weather Service warned on Saturday of possible near record lows, with the Northern Plains/Upper Midwest being threatened with wind chills as low as -60 Sunday night
Will There Be Another Deadly Assault On Fallujah?
By Kieran Kelly
By citing Al Qaeda and linking it to the brutal terrorist mass-murder campaign as well as alleged ambitions to create an entire state, the Iraqi government may be working towards justifying unleashing high levels of military violence on Fallujah, but who really is controlling Fallujah?
#Priorities2014
By Mickey Z.
As Gandhi sez: “Action expresses priorities.”
Lust For Material Acquisitions Not Just A Problem For The Subcontinent's Politicians
By Dr. Arshad M Khan
Instead of rampaging powers around the globe, the world needs communities of sharing, of preserving and protecting, not just the resources but us in a future climate-ravaged planet. It requires cooperation to limit emissions, and a radical shift in mind-set to curtail useless consumption
Andy Lopez Memorial Burned Down, Mothers In White To Demonstrate January 7
By Shepherd Bliss
In the dark, early hours of January 2, a fire destroyed the Andy Lopez Memorial. By that afternoon over two-dozen people were already rebuilding the Memorial, including neighbors and youth at the one-acre vacant lot where the 13-year-old Lopez was killed October 22 by sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus
Topi Pahno Na Pahno
(Wear the Cap or Not)
By Braj Ranjan Mani
Whether you wear the cap or not, keep the mind open.
High in the sky or low on the ground, keep the heart open.
If you’re good and truthful, why don’t you go all the way.
Against every wrong keep the revolution alive
Kashmir: Still A Nuclear Flash Point
By Ishaq Begh
Sufferings of innocent Kashmiris must be kept in view for a permanent and humanitarian resolution of Kashmir dispute, so that the whole population of sub continent may breathe easy and no threat to humanity may find a way to proceed. Its vulnerability and a threat for the whole humanity has been acknowledged by many leaders of the world, especially US President Bill Clinton, who named Kashmir as a nuclear flash point between two nuclear powers. India as well as Pakistan has to estimate the importance for a peaceful negotiation on Kashmir, then this battle field may act as a bridge of friendship between them
Open Letter To Markanday Katju, Chairperson, Press Council of India :
Non-Publication of A News-Item - Workers March To Parliament
By Some Members of Catalyst Study Circle
It is with dismay we, readers from Tamil Nadu of esteemed English Daily Newspapers (print version) like The Hindu, The Times of India, New Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle etc., from Tamil Nadu want to bring to your notice the lack of coverage of a news , which we have come to know through social networking sites, about 2 Lakh workers ‘March to Parliament' by 11 central trade unions on 12.12.13 that has not been given any coverage on 13.12.13 in Tamil Nadu at least in Chennai based print version Edition. This seems to be also true with all mainstream English TV media Channel
04 January, 2014
2013: Another Year Of Slaughter In Iraq Claims
The Lives Of At Least 21 Media Professionals
By Dirk Adriaensens
In Iraq , at least 404 media professionals have been killed since the US invasion in 2003, among them 374 Iraqis, according to The B Russell s Tribunal statistics. The impunity in Iraq is far worse than anywhere else in the world. None of the journalist murders recorded in Iraq in the past decade has been solved. Not a single case of journalists' killings has been investigated to identify and punish the killers
Will Lebanon Survive 2014? Should It?
By Franklin Lamb
Another week, another terrorist bombing. It’s beginning to look a lot like that here in Lebanon these days. Another apparent suicide bomber detonated a car rigged with explosives in the southern suburbs yesterday killing at least five people and injuring at least 77. The health ministry released a statement just a short while ago reporting that an additional 67 people were treated in hospitals for wounds and released, while 10 people remained hospitalized with more severe injuries
Top 10 Proofs People Can Be Completely Manipulated Without Hypnosis
By David Swanson
People have been dying since before recorded history, and yet only those who pretend to believe nobody dies can be considered serious, honest, upstanding folk. That there's another longer life helps us not worry so much about getting screwed during this one. Perhaps it also helps us in allowing our "representatives" to routinely end the lives of so many foreign, and thus ignorant, people
The Ambani Car And The Immunity For The Privileged
By Vidyadhar Date
The fact is that the rich and arrogant are playing havoc on our roads. But a concerted effort is made by the car lobby to blame pedestrians. A short film shown by a prominent TV channel during the current safety week showed a pedestrian coming under the wheels of a car allegedly because of his own fault
Child Abuse At The Vavuniya Children's Home And The Lack Of
Prudent And Independent Action By Governmental Institutions
By Women's Action Network
At a time when the Sri Lankan government claims to be on a path of peace and development post war and calls Sri Lanka the wonder of Asia in international forums, it is imperative that the violence that is taking place against women and children is stopped, especially violence against women and children from minority communities
Weeding A Field: The Importance Of Self-Examination
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
This weeding of a field is what every individual should do with regard to his own self. In the terminology of the Islamic law or shariah, this is called muhasabah. As in a field where crops grow along with weeds, whenever one obtains something good, along with it a ‘weed’ begins to grow, all on its own, from inside. It is important to be aware of the presence of this ‘weed’ and to remove it from inside oneself and throw it away. If you do not do this, you will face the same predicament as a field that is left without being weeded
03 January, 2014
Iraq Slides Toward Civil War
By Bill Van Auken
Heavy fighting erupted Thursday between Iraqi government troops and Sunni militants who seized large parts of Fallujah and Ramadi, two cities in Iraq’s western Anbar province that were at the center of the armed resistance to the US occupation a decade ago. The renewed fighting came as figures released by the United Nations and other agencies indicated that the 2013 death toll in Iraq has risen to its highest level since the US military “surge” of 2007-2008
'The Country You Destroyed': A Letter To George W. Bush
By Ralph Nader
Did you mean the “timeless principles” that drove you and Mr. Cheney to invade the country of Iraq which, contrary to your fabrications, deceptions and cover-ups, never threatened the United States? Nor could Iraq [under its dictator and his dilapidated military] threaten its far more powerful neighbors, even if the Iraqi regime wanted to do so
Civil Liberties Lawyer Lynne Stewart Wins “Compassionate Release” After Four Years In Prison
By Fred Mazelis
Lynne Stewart, the 74-year-old veteran civil liberties lawyer serving a ten-year term on trumped up charges of aiding terrorism, was granted “compassionate release” this week and returned to her home in New York City
Building Creative Commons: The Five Pillars Of Open Source Finance
By Brett Scott
This is an article about Open Source Finance. It’s an idea I first sketched out at a talk I gave at the Open Data Institute in London. By ‘Open Source Finance’, I don’t just mean open source software programmes. Rather, I’m referring to something much deeper and broader. It’s a way of framing an overall change we might want to see in the financial system. To illustrate this, I set up an analogy between computer systems and economic systems, and I then explore what financial ‘code’ might be. I then sketch out the five pillars that could underpin an open finance movement
Seedbombing: Applying The Principles Of Permaculture To Finance
By Brett Scott
We need to constantly create portfolios of alternatives and throw them into society, learning from what works and what doesn't. That's how great institutions like Ecology Building Society got started - a group of people with an idea went ahead and just did it. These solutions are often small, but that's the point. We don't want to replace one monoculture with another monoculture. The ideal is to create a rich, responsive jungle of creative and resilient services, rooted into the reality of their local context
A Legal Call To Arms To Remedy Environmental And Climate Ills
By Fen Montaigne
You cannot look a child in the eyes and ignore their climate future. And whatever you think may be the disagreement in science about the pace of change, the consequences, and so forth, the warnings are so grave that we have to acknowledge our children’s future is at stake
The Story Of Gaza
By David Swanson
Young authors of fiction from Gaza, some of whom say they are finding Palestine on the internet while unable to see it exist in reality, have just published a collection of stories, written in English, marking the five-year anniversary of the 23 days from December 27, 2008, until Obama's inauguration, during which Israel bombed the people of Gaza far more heavily than usual
Kashmir: Article 370 And Hermeneutic Violence
By Prof. Hameedah Nayeem
The last nail in the coffin of integrationists is not that it could be dissolved only by a constituent Assembly which does not exist any longer but that Article 1 of the Indian constitution which defines the territory of Indian Union, is subservient to Article 370 in case of Kashmir besides other articles like 253, read with 246etc which provide for Kashmir’s secession from Indian Union. Once Article 370 is taken away from the constitution, Article 1 will cease to be applicable to J&K state!
Need for Legislation Against Human Surveillance Growing
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
The order by the Union Cabinet to probe into the alleged snooping on a young woman by Gujarat Police in 2009 at the behest of former state home minister Amit Shah has triggered a debate over surveillance of individual and has also raised moral, ethical and legal questions surrounding it
The Ban On Alcohol Advertisements Is Futile As Long As This Hypocrisy Exists
By Sukant Khurana
In India there is a ban on alcohol advertisements in mass media. Whether there should be a ban on alcohol products or not, involves nuances missed by people on either side of the argument. Here, I am not arguing about the utility of the ban. I am urging an immediate removal of the hypocrisy surrounding the current incarnation of the ban. I am urging to make the ban effective, if the ban has to be kept in place
02 January, 2014
Over 10,000 Killed In Iraq In 2013
By Jason Ditz
2013 ended with well over 10,000 dead, and 1,180 killed in the month of December alone. The toll is the worst since 2007. If something isn’t done to calm the tensions, 2014 is going to be the same, only more so
2014: Failure Of Palestinian Authority, BDS Success To Continue
By Ramzy Baroud
2013 was a year in which the so-called peace process charade was allowed to continue, leading Palestinians on yet another futile journey of broken promises. Meanwhile, the Israeli colonial project in the West Bank and East Jerusalem carried on unabated. But it was not entirely a year of doom and gloom either, for the global boycott campaign (BDS) has taken off like never before, surpassing the capricious Palestinian leadership and its confined political platforms
Israel “Tried To Brainwash Us,”Says Druze Pioneer Who Refused Army Service
By Patrick O. Strickland
Several Palestinian citizens of Israel from the Druze religious community are in prison for refusing to serve in the Israeli military
Observations From Occupied Palestine: Gaza
By Eva Bartlett
The manufactured layers of crisis rendering life in Gaza utterly unbearable, and dangerous, have continued to escalate while at the same time, the media black-out on Gaza continues. From my experiences in the Strip, including meetings with the different water, sanitation, health and agriculture officials, I learned that the current 80% dependence on food aid could be reversed, unemployment rates lowered, and a decent quality of life possible if, and only if, the blockade is lifted, exports and freedom of movement allowed, and Israeli attacks on farmers and fishers halted
Capitalism In Crisis: Who Are The REAL "Takers"?
By Bernard Weiner
Capitalism is in crisis across the globe. When both the President of the United States and the Pope take out after its worst manifestations within days of each other, you know there's an internal time-bomb inside this dysfunctional economic system
US-Beholden Australian Government Banned & Australian Media Censored
US Whistleblower Philip Agee
By Dr Gideon Polya
The New Year release of formerly secret Australian Government documents sheds light on the US , Australia , UK and French persecution of American whistleblower Philip Agee whose book “Inside the Company. CIA Diary” exposed US CIA involvement in corruption, political subversion, torture and deadly terrorism in Latin America
Mothers In White In January 7 Direct Action
By Shepherd Bliss
Mothers in White plan to converge on the regular meeting of the governing Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for a peaceful, dignified action on January 7, Tuesday, at 1 p.m. They demand justice for 13-year-old Andy Lopez killed October 22 by sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus, who claims he thought the boy’s toy rifle was a real gun
2013: Another Hard Year For American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Like the previous years since 9/11/2001, life was not so pleasant for the American Muslim community which genuinely gains strength from the principles of freedom, liberty and equality on which this great nation was founded
AAP Has Come: aap ne bulaya kis liye
By Willy
Watch out 2014 national elections, the ground has been prepared by AAP. They are here to put a spanner in the bi-polar joke being played on the Indian citizens for long by the Congress and BJP. The communal-secular cards will blow off. Don't be surprised if AAP takes strong positions on other issues plaguing the nation like nuclear power, mining, land displacement and Armed forces special powers
01 January, 2014
Biggest Threat To World Peace: The United States
By Sarah Lazare
Over 12 years into the so-called "Global War on Terror," the United States appears to be striking terror into the hearts of the rest of the world. In their annual End of Year survey, Win/Gallup International found that the United States is considered the number one "greatest threat to peace in the world today" by people across the globe
'Worst' Of Climate Predictions AreThe Most Likely
By Jon Queally
Groundbreaking research on cloud behavior and global warming says 'catastrophic' increase of 4°C or more by 2100 should be expected
From Egypt To Afghanistan : Who Is My Enemy?
By Hakim & Sherif
Who is my enemy? Satan? Terrorists? ‘The other person' of ‘another' faith or ethnicity?
Why Activism Needs The Sacred
By Carolyn Baker
Cherishing the sacred in our activism and in our visions of revolutionized communities and cultures increases the likelihood that we will resist from our hearts and not simply from our heads. As a result, the new paradigms out of which our visions are realized will engender authentic transformations with more enduring resilience as opposed to reinventions of formerly oppressive systems
Every Person Has A Name
By Neve Gordon
In Israel illegal immigrants from Africa are not given even the basic human right of a name
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