Eighty years ago, on 22 February 1943, Professor Kurt Huber was murdered by the Nazis. His “crime” was that he wrote a leaflet calling for democracy. This is the story of the resistance fighter Kurt Huber, the Nazi-careerist and composer Carl Orff, and White Rose member Sophie Scholl. It is also a story about resistance to Nazi rule and the[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, known for his staunch support for Ukraine, recently revealed his greatest fear for this winter to a TV interviewer in his native Norway: that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a major war between NATO and Russia. “If things go wrong,” he[Read More…]
Jailed under-trial leader Altaf Ahmad Shah (66) is dead. His death does not come as a surprise. By the time Mr Shah was diagnosed with advanced renal cancer on 30th September at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLA) and shifted to AIIMS on 5th evening, it was already too late. The doctors at AIIMS could not begin treatment because Mr. Shah[Read More…]
Here is a sad news that Godard is no more.Veteran critic Vidyarthy Chatterjee wrote a letter to Godard after listening to an interview, where the master confessed that he doesn’t get any Indian films to watch.After Fifty years of pedestrian writing, Vidyarthy Chatterjee wrote his first book and he had sent it across by courier to Switzerland,only to hear back[Read More…]
Over the past three days, relentless Israeli airstrikes killed at least 45 Palestinians, including 16 children, and caused extensive devastation. At least 400 were wounded, many severely, and the handful of barely functioning hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed. Some 2.3 million Palestinians live in Gaza, confined by Israeli and Egyptian military cordons and fences. Hundreds of powerful bombs and missiles[Read More…]
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies Americans have been shocked by the death and destruction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, filling our screens with bombed buildings and dead bodies lying in the street. But the United States and its allies have waged war in country after country for decades, carving swathes of destruction through cities, towns and villages[Read More…]
Karnataka Government has passed the Anti-Conversion Bill in the Assembly despite stiff opposition from civil society and political parties. The Bill is expected to be tabled in the upper house to be made into a law. The Anti-Conversion Laws affect Christians, Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and Women. It restricts the rights of an Indian citizen to choose one’s religion. It violates[Read More…]
Rakesh Tikait visits Swami Sivananda Image courtesy: हिन्दुस्तान टीम, हरिद्वार In June 2011 Swami Nigamananda died fasting for more than a hundred days. Later, Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand (formerly known as professor G D Agarwal the pioneer Environmental Engineer at IIT Kanpur and one of the initiators of Pollution Control Boards of our country) died in October 2018 fasting 112[Read More…]
Two weeks before the last U.S. and NATO soldiers left Afghanistan on Aug, 30, 2021, President Biden imposed a freeze on Afghan central bank reserves held in U.S. and European banks. The freeze deprived Afghanistan of $9.5 billion of its own state money, broadening sanctions already levied against the Taliban. The World Bank suspended loans for a variety of development[Read More…]
The US became increasingly Zionist subverted after Apartheid Israel gained nuclear weapons by 1967. Support for Apartheid Israel (and hence of Apartheid) is now a pillar of US politics, with anti-racist critics of Israeli Apartheid ferociously attacked, side-lined, and falsely defamed as anti-Semitic. However Zionist control and hubris are now blatant: 32 percent or about one third of President Joe[Read More…]
By Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young It is no longer uncommon to hear people saying, I love my work. Is this just the latest stage of capitalism getting us to work harder so that someone else benefits? Historically, it all started when former peasants were – at times, with brutal force – converted into workers. It was the time when capitalism quite literally was Making[Read More…]
As indicated by the International Monetary fund, greenhouse gas emissions are funded world-wide by government subsidies totaling $5.9 trillion in 2020, about 6.8% global GDP, expected to rise to 7.4% of GDP in 2025, or $11million a minute. In the view of some scientists fuel subsidies are ‘adding fuel to the fire of the climate crisis’. Hollow words by dignitaries at COP-out-26 may have[Read More…]
Without radical action, there is no “reforming” ingrained issues of supremacy and racism in the US Image: Several hundred people march on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn on Friday to protest the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse by a Wisconsin jury. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News) Upon watching the news of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict on CNN with my family in Amman,[Read More…]
When I started reading Vanessa Nakate’s new book, A Bigger Picture (HarperCollins 2021), I didn’t immediately understand the connection between the title and the event that first introduced me to the Ugandan climate activist. It was January 2020 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She and four other youth activists were there to encourage attendees to take the climate crisis seriously.[Read More…]
The second day of appellate proceedings by the United States against Julian Assange saw the defence make their case against the overturning of District Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s January ruling. Any extradition to the US, she concluded, would be so oppressive to the publisher as to render it unjust under UK extradition law. Before the UK High Court, both Edward[Read More…]
Food Sovereignty is a philosophy of life. It offers a vision for our collective future, and defines the principles around which we organize our daily living and co-exist with Mother Earth. It is a celebration of life and all the diversity around us. It embraces every element of our cosmos; the sky above our heads, the land beneath our feet, the[Read More…]
by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young Only a few weeks ago, a Reichsbürger in Germany shot a police officer with a crossbow during a house’s search in a remote town called Linden, in the north of Hessen. The Reichsbürger is accused of attempted manslaughter and he was sent to prison until his court hearing. Violent attacks by the right-wing extremist Reichsbürger are nothing out of[Read More…]
The UK (in partnership with Italy) will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP26 in Glasgow on October 31- November 12, 2021. COP26 will be one of the most significant meetings in modern human history, comparable to the meeting of the Big Three at the Tehran Conference November 28, 1943 when the Normandy invasion was agreed,[Read More…]
Fatima Kakkar, MD, MPH (@DrFatimaKakkar) wrote: Proudly wearing in our traditional, colourful, vibrant Afghan clothes #DoNotTouchMyClothes #AfghanWoman #AfghanistanCulture #AfganistanWomen Afghan women are protesting Taliban imposed women dress code. At the same time, Taliban organized a head to toe veiled women gathering at the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul on September 11, 2021 attended by a few dozens of women[Read More…]
The great Afghan woman martyr, Meena (1956-1987) founded the REVOLUTIONARY ASSOCIATION OF THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN (RAWA) in 1977. She was assassinated by the hired goons of KHAD (Afghanistan branch of KGB) and their fundamentalist accomplices in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 4, 1987. RAWA resolutely fought for the rights of the Afghan women against the Islamists and the Russians occupation[Read More…]
A food production factory in Narayanganj, Bangladesh caught fire yesterday leaving at least 52 workers dead and many missing. While this news bulletin may read as another fire incident, this is in fact an act of murder. The murderers are the Maaliks, the moneyed capital owners, who were not only negligent of fire security measures to be installed in the[Read More…]
Read my letter to Sundar Pichai, go to Google Scholar, and raise your voice against Google’s unscrupulous and unscholarly ride on all of us for commerce and greed. Dear Sundar, I have been getting emails from Google reminding me “Time to update your articles”. Least said, such emails with no provision for replying are scandalous (scholarcitations-noreply@google.com), and against professional civility[Read More…]
After a decade of his untimely demise, Michael Jackson remains the legendary artist, the undisputed king of pop that the world remembers fondly. A tribute, following the World Music Day. ‘Dusk in your skin, Flesh, blood and poetry in your dance, Deep cry, frantic rhymes in your songs, A river born in the rhythm of your burning, melting, Writhing, dissolving.’[Read More…]
Jean Paul Sartre in the preface to, ‘The Wretched of the Earth: The European elite manufactured a native elite by picking up promising adolescents, branded them with western culture, stuffed them with high sounding phrases, brought them to the ‘mother country’ and sent them back’ white washed’, where they echoed European slogans.1 The third world is not a homogeneous place.[Read More…]
Sunderlal Bahuguna is no more. The veteran environmentalist and chipko movement leader passed away today ( May 21) around noon at a hospital in Rishikesh, where he had been admitted about 2 weeks ago following Covid-type symptoms. Born in a village along the bank of the Ganges river in Tehri Garhwal ( presently a district of Uttarakhand) , as a[Read More…]
But the US withdrawal is no longer conditions-based, which means the Taliban have achieved their number one objective without bending on any of the key issues such as their continuing links with the al-Qaeda or their agenda to reestablish the Islamic Emirate… Apparently, all that the US extracted out of the Taliban is a tacit understanding that the western troops[Read More…]
Despite various efforts to weaken democracy , the voters of W. Bengal have sent a very confidant and reassuring message that it is still possible in India for people to assert their power and defeat very powerful forces which not only have enormous, almost unlimited money power but are also willing and able to violate election norms and rules. The[Read More…]
The whole thrust of the RSS-BJP election campaign for 2021 state assembly elections in Bengal has been to save Bengal from the rule of Mamata Bannerjee who is not a ‘Hindu’. PM of India, Narendra Bhai Modi, a self-proclaimed Hindu nationalist, as usual set the polarizing agenda. While addressing the first election rally, he called upon the electorate to overthrow[Read More…]
It is outrageous from the beginning that she was arrested and prosecuted instead of investigating the physical assault against her… The sentence shows the status of the Egyptian judiciary today, which is largely in the service of the political interests of the government, rather than assisting in delivering justice.” — Amr Magdi, Egypt researcher at Human Rights Watch, Middle East Eye,[Read More…]
A media report from the U.S. said: The trial of journalist Andrea Sahouri began Monday with a police officer stating that he had no choice but to arrest her during last year’s racial justice protests in Des Moines, Iowa, because she did not leave the area after he deployed pepper spray. Sahouri, a Des Moines Register public safety reporter, is[Read More…]
In the Himalayan valley of Kashmir, the year 2021 was greeted by one of the heaviest snowfalls in the last 10 years in terms of snow depth accumulated during January 3 and 6. The highest accumulation of 4.49 ft was recorded at Qazigund, a highway town, 73 km south of the capital city of Srinagar, followed by 3.13 ft at[Read More…]
Written by Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd Even before President-Elect Joe Biden sets foot in the White House, the Senate Intelligence Committee may start hearings on his nomination of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence. Barack Obama’s top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 followed by CIA Deputy Director from 2013 to 2015, Haines is[Read More…]
Mansur Durrani’s Wife Gets One Month Jail! Forgiven!! We read the words “domestic violence” and our default understanding is a husband bashing up his wife. There is no denying that a vast majority of domestic violence cases put wives at the receiving end. More so in families where alcohol consumption is prevalent. But there is also an increasing trend of[Read More…]
The Agricultural Trade and Commerce Act, Farmers Price Assurance Act and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act were enacted by the Union Government in October 2020. These laws have triggered nationwide protests, which include huge participation of women farmers. They believe that these laws will make them vulnerable to exploitation by corporations, erode their bargaining power, and weaken government’s MSP system, putting[Read More…]
Our deeply troubled world today badly needs the essential message of peace, simplicity, equality and inter-faith harmony which Guru Nanak, the great spiritual leader and social reformer, spread with so much skill and even greater courage during the greater part of his eventful life. It may be unconventional to speak of human right activism in those times but giving specific[Read More…]
Children’s Day or Bal Diwas in India is celebrated every year on Nov. 14th, six days before the rest of the world, on the birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. This year marks Nehru’s 131st birth anniversary. Children’s day, originally, was celebrated on Nov. 20th as Universal Children’s Day by the United Nations. India also[Read More…]
Bihar State Assembly election results has taken not only the political analysts but also the people of Bihar into huge surprise. Above all it has further depressed the especially the returnee migrants and the youth of Bihar. Realising the hard fact that they cannot depend upon their government both -state and central- they left their families, their place and[Read More…]
A sense of redundancy might encourage calm. The job is done, however well or poorly. The legacy charted. But in the case of President Donald Trump, there is still much to be done. Leaving aside his priority of fortifying himself in the White House against any bailiff onslaught by president-elect Joe Biden, he is busy making decisions. One of them[Read More…]
I usually agree with most of what columnist Caitlin Johnstone offers. Yet, in her latest Op Ed she says that a vote for Biden was NOT against fascism, which will continue now that he is in office. Sorry Caitlin, I agree with Prof. Cornell West on this election. We both feel that this Proto Fascist/ Neo Nazi culture, emboldened by[Read More…]
Co-Written by Badre Alam Khan & Tarique Anwar It is a historic moment for all of us that Jamia Millia Islamia, a ‘Lusty Child’ of the Non-cooperation, and the Khilafat movement based on secular and composite culture, has completed 100 years of its academic journey on 29th October 2020. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, this year, the university has not organized several programmes[Read More…]
There is news that in UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled (17/10/2020) 50 Pence ‘Diversity coin’ to celebrate Britain’s diverse history and recognise the profound contribution minority communities have made to the shared history of the country. The coin carries the message “Diversity Built Britain”. This is in the backdrop of the campaign led by ‘We too built Britain’ group.[Read More…]
Cover page of a biography in Telugu on Raghupati Venkata Ratnam Naidu, by renowned historian Ramakrishna Vakulabharanam and Lalita. Ramakrishna led a team of scholars and published a monumental work on Andhra history in 8 volumes.This biography is a smaller work, not part of that. This is an article on Andhra’s Great Reformers and Writers, who were remembered recently[Read More…]
There can be no health without mental health, despite this clear evidence nowhere in the world does mental health enjoy parity with physical health in budgets, policies and practice. According to World Health Organisation, Mental Health Atlas, Globally it is estimated that less than 7 percent of health budgets is allocated to address mental health. Persons with mental illness constitute[Read More…]
Journalist Siddique Kappan who is working with the popular Malayalam website Azhimukham.com and three others who were arrested by the UP police on Monday in Mathura while on their way to Hathras have been booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and sedition. On Tuesday, they were remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by a local court[Read More…]
Leaders Hated and Feared Make False Claims of Global Peace, Security and Justice “Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Justice in the life of and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.” Plato WE, the People of Human Conscience and the UNO[Read More…]
Conjuring consent in a post-factual, post-truth scenario Freedom of the press is under siege: from without by the State and its thriving band of storm troopers and from within by the owners of private media who have cut loose from the rule of law and due process, rendering scores of journalists at the precipice of precarity. This seemingly relentless double[Read More…]
Court hearings in Britain over the US administration’s extradition case against Julian Assange begin in earnest next week. The decade-long saga that brought us to this point should appall anyone who cares about our increasingly fragile freedoms. A journalist and publisher has been deprived of his liberty for 10 years. According to UN experts, he has been arbitrarily detained and[Read More…]
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park. Temperatures in Death Valley in the U.S. skyrocketed to a blistering 130°F (54.4-degree Celsius) on Sunday. Possibly, it is the highest mercury reading on Earth since 1913. If the National Weather Service’s recording is correct, it would also be among the top-three highest temperatures to have ever been measured in Death[Read More…]
Some years ago, a local bakery chain in Kerala started making traditional snacks. The one that caught my attention was the Neyyappam, the ghee-fried cake that later made the news during the Android N naming campaign. My first response was that of joy- at being able to revive childhood memories that were getting lost due to busier lifestyles. But while[Read More…]
Life has meaning when there is happiness. Everything that happens brings something new. The more the mind is tuned to see and appreciate this truth, happiness lasts, whatever the situation may be. The one who is constantly happy is able to creatively use all the resources in the right way and also makes others happy. When we are able to[Read More…]
The media – particularly Hindi newspapers – has taken a blinkered view to the arrest of Delhi University Professor Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil by National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, July 28. The 54-year old English Professor is the 12th person to have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. The Elgar Parishad case is related to the Bhima Koregaon[Read More…]
The most stringent nationwide lockdown was imposed during the start of covid19 pandemic. This caused widespread retrenchment and job cuts throughout the country. The journalists of mass media have not also been spared from this. This has been an all India phenomenon. The corporatisation of mass media, like any other business, is always looking for its investment of capital and[Read More…]
Does anybody still remember the Dalits of Chakwara, a village around 50km from Jaipur in Rajasthan, who had launched a struggle to gain access to the pond in their village? It is more than 18 years since the Dalits, supported by human rights organisations, won that fight for water. Their undertaking had echoes with the historic struggle launched by Dr[Read More…]
The Supreme Court of the United States has barely had time to gather its collective breath this last few days. Among its decisions, including those dealing with President Donald Trump’s financial records, was that of McGirt v Oklahoma. The case furnishes a detailed discussion on the extent Native American self-governance survived the assaults of the US Congress and the creation[Read More…]
Nazareth: An Israeli diplomat filed a complaint last week with police after he was pulled to the ground in Jerusalem by four security guards, who knelt on his neck for five minutes as he cried out: “I can’t breathe.” There are obvious echoes of the treatment of George Floyd, an African-American killed by police in Minneapolis last month. His death[Read More…]
On the evening of 15th June news began coming in of a commanding officer and two Indian soldiers having died in some remote area of Ladakh, in what appeared the most barbaric way. But, there was more to come. By midnight the ferocious, cave age encounter with stones, batons filled with nails and rods began emerging and the news of[Read More…]
Globally, three million children a year die of hunger or malnourishment according to theworldcounts.com. The site also notes the number is dropping steadily. In a May 2019 editorial ,Voice of America reports, “Today, some 821 million people suffer chronically from hunger. And although this is significantly fewer people than the numbers we saw a decade ago, hunger still kills more people than AIDS,[Read More…]
How could the Great Patriotic War in which the Soviet people (including many members of my own family) lost at least 25 million lives, have anything in common with the latest outbreak of the novel coronavirus? You think this is an absolutely insane question? However, before you dismiss it, think twice. There are similarities how they are being portrayed. There[Read More…]
There are huge differences in Covid-19 deaths per million of population (Covid-19 deaths/ M) in the nations of the Anglosphere 5-Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, to whit 4/M (New Zealand), 4/M (Australia), 151/M (Canada), 272 (US) and 508 (UK). These huge differences in national Covid-19 deaths per million of population loosely correlate with political conservatism and neoliberal greed. Neoliberalism and deficient intra-national[Read More…]
‘Sorry, we have run out of all words today, National Shame”, said the front page headline of Mumbai Mirror, a sister publication of Times of India, on the horrific killings of 16 migrant workers who were walking back to their homes in Madhya Pradesh nearly 800 kilometers away. Most of the ‘walkers’ are doing that in the night as[Read More…]
A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the changes that we must make to create a better world after the pandemic has ended. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Rebuilding-After-Corona-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf A better world is possible! It is hard to predict how long the terrible[Read More…]
On 12 March, British PM Boris Johnson informed the public that families would continue to “lose loved ones before their time” as the coronavirus outbreak worsens. He added: “We’ve all got to be clear, this is the worst public health crisis for a generation.” In a report, the Imperial College had warned of modelling that suggested over 500,000 would die from the virus[Read More…]
Others are often means to making an income or vast wealth for oneself. With the way that the economy is set up, it is the norm. Here are a few examples. They should exemplify the condition. I injured my knees and other parts of my body when saving another person’s life. That action is a no-brainer for me. If I[Read More…]
Our addiction to fossil fuels can kill us The Industrial Revolution marked the start of a massive human use of fossil fuels. The stored energy from several hundred million years of plant growth began to be used at roughly a million times the rate at which it had been formed. The effect on human society was like that of a[Read More…]
Hundreds of protestors were detained across India on Thursday as authorities clamped down on protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, social activist Harsh Mander, scholar Yogendra Yadav, and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja were among those detained in Delhi, where 20 metro stations were closed through the day. Historian Ramachandra Guha and others detained[Read More…]
Students rose up across India against the unconstitutional Citizenship Amendment Act after their compatriots in Jamia Milia Islamia were violently beaten up in their campus yesterday. Police in both Delhi and Aligarh used excessive force against student protest. The crack down left a total of nearly 50 students injured and the 100 Jamia students – who had been detained after[Read More…]
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the centre is all set to introduce the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Parliament on December 9. The existing Citizenship Act was enacted in 1955 which along with articles 5 to 11 of the Constitution of India determines Indian citizenship. The original Citizenship Act of 1955 has been amended several[Read More…]
The Zionist Federation of Australia bestowed in November its 2019 Jerusalem Prize for “exceptional in strengthening Australia-Israel relations” or as Prof. Stuart Rees puts it, ‘for sucking up to Israelis,’ on an exemplary recipient, the prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. Former meritorious recipients from the zionist mishpocheh are John Howard, Bob Hawke, Julia Gillard, Alex Downer and serial war[Read More…]
Generally, international days are to celebrate or remember special events or achievements of humanity. These occasions can give understandings about the day and educate the international community on specific issues. It can also help to invite international attention and to mobilise political will to address global issues. By creating special observances, the United Nations Organisations (UNO) promotes general awareness and[Read More…]
According to reports from the Marshall Islands, plutonium is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a massive concrete bunker the United States built in the 1950s to dispose of nuclear waste. A potential disaster is looming. Situated mid-way between Hawaii and Australia, the Marshall Islands has a population of 53,000 people. The island chain was occupied by Allied forces in[Read More…]
Each expression of beauty is an act of love. Every manifestation of love is an act of beauty. To make a warrior’s choice in the clarity of human evolution is to invite the flowering of beauty. To make a warrior’s choice within the possibilities of wisdom is to work intimately in the garden of love. A person does not need[Read More…]
Terror grips the most militarized zone in the world after India’s Central Government terminated Jammu and Kashmir’s 70-year-old “special status” as the first step towards stripping the disputed region of statehood entirely. Internationally infamous as the world’s hottest potential nuclear flashpoint, J&K originally acceded to India in 1947 only on the condition that the newly-formed country be restricted from interfering[Read More…]
Farmers in India do a lot of talking about the weather—especially, it seems, when there is no weather in sight. when the land heats up like a furnace and most fields lie fallow, when wells have run dry and the sun taunts from its broiling perch in a cloudless sky, there is no topic more consuming—or less certain—than when and[Read More…]
NYT – 18 May 2019 To the Editor in CHIEF Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/world/americas/venezuela-economy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190518 Subtitle: Butchers have stopped selling meat cuts in favor of offal, fat shavings and cow hooves, the only animal protein many of their customers can afford. This introduction is accompanied by a picture of a man in[Read More…]
Some folks who were considered fairly intelligent, have fallen under the spell of a man. According to his fervent fans he is much more.He is a politician with a self-measuredfifty-six-inch chest. Though this man has not sullied his livelihood by doing anything else except politics all his life, his ardent supporters feel that he has a highly developed intellect. They[Read More…]
On Monday, 13 May 2019, the New York Times posted an article with the title “White House Reviews Military Plams Against Iran. in Echoes of Iraq War”. Besides the aircraft carrier and other naval forces already sent to the Persian Gulf, plans include sending as many as 120,000 US troops to the region. There is a great danger that an[Read More…]
Introduction The German-Jewish critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) is at the present commonly regarded as one of the most important witnesses to European modernity. Walter Benjamin was known as great thinker, critic, social commentator, and theorist has become even more apparent in the English speaking world. The period from the 1910s to the late 1930s witnessed historical and intellectual[Read More…]
It’s false because it is definitely untrue, and that’s not merely because America has a higher percentage of its residents in prison than does any other nation on this planet, but also because the only scientific studies that have been done of the matter show — they prove scientifically — that the U.S. is a dictatorship by its[Read More…]
Education has almost everything to do with changing, modifying, and improving the levels of people’s culture (although “improving the cultural level” is a loaded and controversial expression). To remain politically correct, we may assert that education helps us broaden our world view, liberate ourselves from age-old, prejudicial ideas and practices promoted and nurtured by pre-modern feudalism, colonialism, and stagnating postcolonial[Read More…]
The deadliest suicide attack at Pulwama has yet again exposed the perennial fault lines in South Asia with epicenter being Kashmir. It has disclosed many old scars which get buried under manufactured arrangements and forced calm. The first of its magnitude, the suicide attack has revealed the hidden truths and nature of the very relationship between a reluctant Kashmir and[Read More…]
The World Bank has added its voice to those warning of a worsening outlook for the global economy this year, amid signs that some major economies could experience a recession. In its Global Economic Prospects report issued last week, entitled “Darkening Skies,” it stated that “storm clouds are brewing for the global economy” and contrasted the situation with that of a year[Read More…]
What does President Trump’s recent nomination of retired Army General John Abizaid to become the next U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia signify? Next to nothing — and arguably quite a lot. Abizaid’s proposed appointment is both a non-event and an opportunity not to be wasted. It means next to nothing in this sense: while once upon a time, American diplomats abroad wielded[Read More…]
The US-led coalition against Islamic State has carried out more than 100 new air strikes targeting the militant group’s remaining strongholds in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, killing at least 80 civilians — including dozens of women and children — in recent weeks. US-led bombing resumed on October 24 following a particularly deadly period in which scores of Syrian men, women and children[Read More…]
The midterm elections are over, the result … a split-decision. The Democrats will control the House, raising the possibility of an impeachment attempt. The Senate remains under Republican control with their majority increased by one seat. The president reminded us at a post-election press conference that while he could not help in the all too numerous House elections, he did[Read More…]
“We are moving in the direction of a multipolar world,” UN Secretary-General. China is again the world’s greatest economic power as it was through most of human history. As USA loses its economic hegemony it will eventually lose the power to shut people up by threat of imposing crippling economic sanctions. A wave of voices across the world will[Read More…]
The debate of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assemblies’ elections is gaining momentum in India. After continuous pitch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ruling BJP, the Law Commission recently held consultations with national and regional parties to know their views on the idea of ‘One Nation One Election’. The main arguments behind having One Nation One Election system are[Read More…]
For weeks now, Palestinians everywhere have been galvanized by events taking place in the Gaza Strip, the site of weekly (since March 30) mass protests demanding the end of the siege and blockade of Gaza (in place now since 2007) and the right to return to the homes from which they or their elders had been kicked out. Dubbed the[Read More…]
Like Oedipus I was never able to escape my fate. In principle, if not in actuality, I was orphaned before I was born: a father dead from the war, a mother lost to desire and chance. My grandmother came to save me when I was less than two weeks old. The first thing she did the morning after she returned[Read More…]
Elections seldom act as a true mirror – a century ago we heard about soldiers ‘voting with their feet’ in favour of demobilisation and Bolsheviks getting only about a quarter of popular votes in the constituent assembly election weeks after the Bolshevik revolution. But election results can show some trends within the society and it will not be prudent to keep eyes[Read More…]
Another school shooting by a 17-year-old White student at Santa Fe yesterday (18th May 2018), and another round of “prayer” by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Republican Governor of Texas, and other important and not-so important Americans! They admired the courage of some students, teachers, policemen, and mourned the deaths of ten victims of the attack, which was 22nd of its[Read More…]
Being in Rome, Italy and thinking of Gina Haspel, the CIA nominee and admitted torturer who says her “moral conscience” has changed after the fact, seems most fitting. Wherever you go in central Rome, you can hear the screams and smell the blood of those tortured and killed by the Roman Empire and those who ably followed in their stead. [Read More…]
I would like to announce the publication of a new book entitled “The Information Explosion”. This book discusses the role of information in evolution, and especially in the evolution of human culture. Articles and book chapters that I have previously written on this subject are incorporated in the text in modified forms, but more than half of the material is[Read More…]
Visiting social justice activist from India Teesta Setalvad was honoured with a medal of courage by Radical Desi publications and Indians Abroad For Pluralist India, at an event organized in commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Friday, April 13. Held at the Surrey Central Library, the event was organized to launch the Punjabi edition of Foot Soldier of the[Read More…]
Alienation as Disembodiment: considerations on Edward Curtin’s Disembodied Americans and the Crucifixion of the World. I am not writing to criticize Curtin’s piece because to my mind there is nothing to criticize; it is a well written, interesting and insightful piece. I am only writing to address his primary question which, as I see it, is why are so many[Read More…]
The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union gave the American administration the opportunity to become the only political and military global power. The world, then, became unipolar. The American Military Industrial Complex, though, suffered greatly since the main American enemy; the Soviet Union, had been neutralized and there was no more need for arms race. The attacks on 911[Read More…]
Economic systems include elements of design. Economic systems are not the progeny of happenstance, nor are they beyond our powers, like the sun and moon and stars above. And based on how things have worked out, nor are they the fruit of unimpeachable wisdom. In any case, they are influential. If a successful human presence on earth – which includes[Read More…]
“The more people I meet, the happier I become.” -Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot In the interregnum, we find ourselves as citizens waiting…for something. We bide our time with pablums, social media, or sports, or even pseudo-political debates. Many have insulated themselves from real issues: economic, social, and ecological justice. Capitalism imposes a state of captivity, one where spontaneity[Read More…]
(The greatest achievement of the present central government has been demonizing of Kashmiris throughout India!) The incidents of beating Kashmiri students in different institutions in India have been spreading like an epidemic. Every second day or so one hears about the students being roughed up in one or the other institution, in buses, in trains and so on. In fact,[Read More…]
Trump Henchman coming
Trump College of Law
Over my dead body unopposed!
Andre Vltchek interviewed by Mostafa Afzalzadeh Q – M.A.: Why do you think the western countries are trying to use people against Iran and not use military force? What is the difference? A – A.V.: It is because Iran is ‘not alone’. If the West were to dare use military force against Iran, directly, there would be an immediate response[Read More…]
During his national security speech last Monday, December 18th Trump introduced his administration’s new “America First” national security strategy in a surprisingly unaccustomed calm and calculated mannerism that is uncharacteristic of him. Although it seemed that he was well coached, yet, he couldn’t escape his narcissistic tendency and kept denunciating previous administrations while praising his own. Trump accused the[Read More…]
The world we find ourselves in is complex and full of contradictions. It is easy to fall for rudimentary textbook propaganda based on simplistic dichotomies, such as ‘the good guys versus the bad guys’. If we are not aware of the complexities and nuances facing us, we can fall for this type of propaganda, whose sole aim is to keep[Read More…]
This was another case of the big and the powerful undercutting the tax systems of the world. But could anyone be genuinely surprised at the revelations to come out of the Paradise Papers on the workings of the tax haven industry? Of the 13.4 million files revealed by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and some 90[Read More…]
The vacuum populism creates for itself after digging the grave of liberalism reveals that it faces its own ‘crisis of replacement’. It is the same paradox which Gramsci had faced, confronting a time when “the old is dying and the new is powerless to be born”. “In this interregnum”, he wrote “a great variety of morbid symptoms arise.” Populism just might be the morbid symptom of our time, and it is fatal to mistake the symptom for a cure.
Among ongoing outrageous actions and in defiance of international law, Israel’s HabayitHayehudi party has just approved a plan for annexing the remaining occupied Palestinian territory “while either facilitating the exit of Palestinian residents or allowing them to remain but without voting rights.” This is by no means a surprising outcome, nor is it simply a reflection of so-called right-wing[Read More…]
It’s a pretty curious thing to see: marriage being defended at all. Like slavery, and not necessarily inconsistent with it, marriage is an institution. It embraces codes. It imparts obligations, duties, and rights. And it creeps up on you. In Australia, flawed campaigns are being waged in its name. This has been occasioned by an absence of parliamentary will. Abdicating[Read More…]
A Walk for Pluralist India against growing attacks on religious minorities under Modi government was held here on Sunday evening. Organized by the Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), the walk started from the Simon Fraser University Harbour Center and went up to the Komagata Maru Memorial. The participants stopped by at the Indian consulate for sloganeering and dropped some[Read More…]
The case related to annulment of interreligious marriage between a Muslim groom and Hindu turned Muslim bride by the Kerala High Court has caught the imagination of the entire nation. This national interest in this case is because it has reached the Supreme Court where some high profile lawyers of the country are arguing for and against, bringing out[Read More…]
There are two states that I think are best in my country, USA. That’s here in MA where I live and VT. My state is called the pinko (meaning communist) state by many people. I don’t think that the moniker fits, but who cares about the way that we are named? I have not met a single commie in my[Read More…]
In a massive show of strength hundreds of Indians living in United Kingdom gathered at Tavistock Square to express their disapproval of the politics of hatred and growing incidents of mob lynching against minorities, Dalits and other marginalised sections in India. They expressed their horror how the constitutional values of secularism, pluralism, democracy and dissent are under the assault by[Read More…]
When the people of the country hoist flag and celebrate ‘ independence ‘ they rarely think about the woman who was responsible in designing the flag. The hindutva forces rarely acknowledge the contribution of Mohd Iqbal whose famous lyric ‘ saarey Jahan sey achcha hindostan hamaara ‘ rings in the ears on every Independence and republic day. Allama Iqbal is[Read More…]
This year, the country celebrates the 75th Anniversary of one of the most glorious chapters of our Freedom Struggle, the Quit India Movement, that was launched on August 9, 1942. Our freedom struggle has been an epic example of unity in diversity. We have centuries old tradition of harmonious integration of various streams of human civilisation of the world comingling[Read More…]
This article is part of a series called “Heroes And Sheroes Of Plural India” under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign to celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. Today we celebrate Akshay Brahmachari who worked for communal harmony in Ayodhya. All are welcome to contribute an hour of your day, in celebrating these Heroes and[Read More…]
Courageous author and journalist Rana Ayyub – who exposed the involvement of the Indian officials in the systematic killings of Muslims will be honoured by Radical Desi in Surrey, Canada this Saturday. The writer of Gujarat Files – based on her undercover investigation of the administrative and police officers who were responsible for the murders of the members of the[Read More…]
This article is part of a series called “Heroes And Sheroes Of Plural India” under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign to celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. Today we celebrate Savitribai Phule “The First Lady of Indian Women’s Education”. All are welcome to contribute an hour of your day, in celebrating these Heroes and Sheroes[Read More…]
9th August 2017 will be the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement. To mark the occasion, the Socialist Party has decided to organize “Anti-Constitutional Elements Quit Power” rally in Delhi.
This article is part of a series called “Heroes And Sheroes Of Plural India” under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign to celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. Today we celebrate Nangeli, who challenged the caste system by refusing to pay the inhumane ‘breast tax’. All are welcome to contribute an hour of your[Read More…]
We, as Indian Christians, are concerned at the steady shift we see in our country from a pluralist, secular, democracy to a Hindu Rashtra. What used to be fringe, has now become mainstream. There is a systematic design to undermine the Constitution. Official machinery often seems working in tandem with the ‘vigilantes’. Street lynching, victims charged as accused, stage-managed trials;[Read More…]
I am dedicating this piece to all the common people who, in their small but significant ways have stood up for peace and communal harmony that unequivocally underlines the cultural heritage of this nation. I would first like to share a news report that I came across while reading a newspaper back in 2014. The link to the news report,[Read More…]
FREEDOM WEEK PROGRAMS: August 9 – 15 This year, the country celebrates the 75th Anniversary of one of the most glorious chapters of our Freedom Struggle, the Quit India Movement, that was launched on August 9, 1942. The irony is that the Hindu fundamentalist forces, who today are attempting to redefine nationalism and instill their false nationalism in us, had[Read More…]
He was the chief priest in the Ram janmabhoomi temple and he vehemently opposed the actions of hindutva forces responsible of demolition of Babri Masjid and the riots that followed it. Sitting in the heart of Ayodhya, he made sure that his views on communal harmony reach masses.
The first public rally by Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) in Surrey on Sunday evening received a welcoming response. Organized in solidarity with #NotInMyName campaign against ongoing violence against minorities in India by Hindutva extremists, the rally was attended by activists from diverse backgrounds. The event was held near the Surrey City Hall. The participants also raised slogans and[Read More…]
This article is part of a series called “Heroes And Sheroes Of Plural India” under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign to celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. Today we celebrate Fatima Sheikh who along with Savitribai Phule pioneered girl’s education in India. All are welcome to contribute an hour of your day, in[Read More…]
This article is part of a series called “Heroes And Sheroes Of Plural India” under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign to celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. Today we celebrate Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain a pioneering woman literary person who also pioneered girls education . All are welcome to contribute an hour of your day, in[Read More…]
This article is part of a series called #HeroesAndSheroesOfPluaralIndia under #AnHourForCommunalHramony campaign. This series will celebrate the Heroes and Sheroes who struggled to shape modern India in all its plurality. We kick off the series with the revolutionary Adivasi leader Komuram Bheem who raised the slogan ‘jal, jangal, jameen ‘ ( water, forest and land). All are welcome to contribute an hour of your day, in celebrating these Heroes and Sheroes of plural India
Sunday, July 30, 5.00 PM Surrey City Hall Plaza 13450 104 Avenue, Surrey, BC There has been a systematic attack on the rich pluralist society and culture of India since Narendra Modi came to power with a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) majority in 2014. A secular, democratic republic with guaranteed citizenship rights and constitutional protection of minorities is in the[Read More…]
You can smell it at a distance, in the burnt out, blackened frames of torched homes and vehicles from yet another communal pogrom. You can see it in the blood stained corner of a railway platform, still fresh from a recent lynching. And you can hear it in the guttural cries of the frenzied, saffron swathed mobs, pledging murder[Read More…]
Visit My Home, Be My Guest is a simple campaign directed to change the preconceived notions and opinions that we hold about people of other community, class, caste, religion, sexual orientation, language, region etc. It is easy to spread hatred in the absence of direct contact with each other. The objective is simple and direct, people must go to each[Read More…]
Experssing the horror of war Wilfred Owen and his mentor, Siegfried Sassoon were two poets who eloquently described the horrors of World War I. They met in a military hospital, after both had been wounded in the war. Owen had been writing poetry since the age of 11, but not about war. When he became friends with Sassoon during their[Read More…]
The American Revolution has characteristics that guide understanding of the Syrian insurrection. In both situations, ardent and semi-popular groups rebelled against injustices and hoped to create new regimes. In both situations, foreign powers, France and Spain in the American Revolution, and Russia, Iran, United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other nations in the Syrian revolution, stoked the violence,[Read More…]
Last spring Donald Trump was widely viewed as a petulant oddity in the primary race. Nonetheless, he won the electoral vote; and here we are – an unprepared commander-in-chief who recently discovered new tools of an intoxicating military. I cannot be alone in thinking that Mr. Trump is tragically off course. Mr. Trump inherited a nation that is perpetually at[Read More…]
Today, microfinance — an approach to financial inclusion based on providing small loans and other financial services to poor people, primarily women — is a global multi-billion dollar industry with operations on all continents .Microfinance had once generated considerable enthusiasm, not just in the development community but also at political levels. It was considered a marvelous innovation and was expected[Read More…]
US President Donald Trump fired the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, after she defied instructions to defend Trump’s executive order banning the entry of refugees and visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Yates precipitated the crisis by overruling a finding by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which approved[Read More…]
The diary of this particular US administration is bound to be heavy with incident. Executive orders are now coming out of the Trump administration at pace, and the question of whether they will compel obedience or not looms. In many parts of the US, the answers have already been determined in advance. As ever, it is the US legal system[Read More…]
Defeats are supposed to teach people how to do better; in theory. In practice, it often happens that defeats teach people how to become masters in blame-shifting. With some exceptions, this seems to have been the main result of the recent defeat of the Democrats in the 2016 presidential election, where we saw a truly spasmodic search for culprits: Putin,[Read More…]
“If you’re listening to this, then you will know that myself and all the women who sailed on the Women’s Boat to Gaza have been arrested and are in detention in Israel.” These pre-recorded words by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire open a 2-minutevideo, released October 5, after Maguire and 12 female companions aboard the small sailing vessel the Olivia-Zaytouna were detained by Israeli[Read More…]
A heroin epidemic is on fire all across America. Heroin deaths shot up from 1,779 in 2001 to 10,574 in 2014 as Afghan opium poppy fields metastasized from 7,600 hectares in 2001 (when the War in Afghanistan began) to 224,000 hectares currently. The Taliban outlawed opium in Afghanistan in 2000 and within a year it was all but gone, demonstrating[Read More…]
Every age needs its cult of demonology. It creates a social target of unified indignation and moral outrage. Finally, we can find a figure, prey upon it, and feel good that things are orderly in the world. In the savage wars of the Balkans during the 1990s, the identification of good sides over bad, of noble warriors over ignoble ones,[Read More…]
The Annual Executive Committee meeting of National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) was held on August 11th and 12th at the Govt. Guest House, Pondicherry. The following are the decisions made and resolutions taken in the meeting: It was decided to hold the annual general body meet of NFF for the year at Tuticorin on 9th and 10th of December2016 and observing[Read More…]
“But the state lieth in all languages of good and evil; and whatever it saith it lieth; and whatever it hath it hath stolen.”—Friedrich Nietzsche, The New Idol,Thus Spoke Zarathustra “Many people, it is true, never contemplate the possibility of total power; the very thought of it scares them.”—Simone Weil, On the Abolition of All Political Parties Not long[Read More…]
In July 2016 a substantially ignorant, greedy, racist, pro-Zionist, US lackey, extreme right-wing and neoliberal Murdochracy Australia re-elected (albeit by a wafer-thin margin) a mendacious, corrupt, anti-equity, anti-science, anti-environment, pro-war, war criminal, pro-coal, climate criminal, human rights-abusing, pro-Apartheid and child-abusing Coalition Government. Those supporting the Coalition are on a continuum from egregious ignorance and stupidity to homicidal greed. Responsibility[Read More…]
WHO recently announced new recommendations to speed up diagnosis and improve treatment outcomes for multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) through the use of a novel rapid diagnostic test called MTBDRsl, and a shorter, cheaper 9-12 month treatment regimen. The new treatment regimen can be completed in 9-12 months— less than half the time required by the current 24-month[Read More…]
This paper examines the historical events related to asylum for Muslim refugees in the formative years of Islam and its impact upon the development of the first Muslim community in Medina. This paper is also part of an ongoing historical study to identify socio-political and humanitarian responses to refugee populations in Muslim civilizations. The research aims to analyze the[Read More…]
The Bihar police have arrested Ruby Rai, a 17-year-old girl, under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, and 120(B) of the India Penal Code on 26 June 2016 and have duly sent her to jail, i.e. an adult jail. Her alleged crime is that of cheating to secure top rank in the state senior secondary school examination. Questioned by a[Read More…]
(CNS): India carries the highest global burden of TB – a curable disease that kills one Indian every 90 seconds. There are 2.2 million new cases of TB in the country every year, out of which an estimated 71,000 cases are of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). This curable disease kills 110,000 HIV-associated TB cases also emerging annually in India,[Read More…]
A billboard for Comcast pitches a lineup of “reality” shows, with this caption, “Recommended for you. Because real reality is boring.” In contemporary America, real reality is also less real than Big Brother’s cartoony version. While we’re driving, walking, at work, lying in bed or even in the bathroom, Big Brother dictates what we know. Big Brother’s hypnotic screens[Read More…]
Stories about shipwrecks on the regular trade routes round the world have always been exciting news. And most of us are only familiar with the Titanic and the treasures unearthed from the wreck. Recently an international research team has discovered spectacular artifacts during its ongoing excavation of the famous Antikythera Shipwreck (circa 65 B.C.) this month. The shipwreck is located[Read More…]
$50 per barrel oil is clearly less impossible to live with than $30 per barrel oil, because most businesses cannot make a profit with $30 per barrel oil. But is $50 per barrel oil helpful? I would argue that it really is not. When oil was over $100 per barrel, human beings in many countries were getting the benefit of[Read More…]
Nord Stream sabotage was to undercut Germany, says Seymour Hersh 
It Will Be Hard And Cost A Lot Of Blood For Ukraine To Kick Out Russians, Says Top U.S. General 
Saudi – Iran rapprochement: A chance for peace 
Day 30 of the NREGA Protest: Students and Activists Detained by the Delhi Police 
An Irrational Verdict? 
Trump Rot at the EPA 
AUKUS, the Australian Labor Party, and Growing Dissent 
Palestinians Don’t Exist? 
The Long Arm of Washington Extends Into Africa’s Sahel 
Radio Fatherland!! 
Bellies of the Rich Swell Further on the Back of Hunger 
The Big Picture And The Small – Part II 
2500 people urge Chief Minister of Karnataka to protect farmers, pastoralists and Dalits from Supreme injustice 
Our Global Water Crisis 
3.5 Million March Across France Opposing Macron’s Pension Reform 
Election Commission of India must question the presence political nominees on BEL’s and ECIL’s Boards 
Ihan Omar Introduces Legislation to Combat Islamophobia 
Narendra Modi’s Cricket Coup 
The Big Picture And The Small 
Prophesies, Then and Now – My Life at World’s End 
How the Cuban Government and Its People Collaborated on the Family Code 
Stop Criminalizing Journalism and Human Rights Activism: Release Irfan Mehraj and Parvez Khurram 
Politics of Bhagat Singh’s trial 
The Tragedy of Footpaths: Impressions of a Pedestrian in Bangalore 
Altruism exists in nature, Reciprocal altruism in humans U.S. Trying To Cover Up Its Role In Nord Stream Sabotage, Says Seymour Hersh 
Open Letter To Rahul Gandhi, Indian National Congress Party 
Future Scenarios in Ukraine West Sends Depleted Uranium Weapons to Ukraine: MEP to Warmongers – “You Make Me Sick!” 
Sri Lanka’s unconvincing response to Universal Periodic Review’s forthright findings 
Kisan Mahapanchayat stages massive rally in Delhi 
The betrayers of Julian Assange 
The Truth About Our Failure to Curb Carbon Emissions 
They’re liars, Mexico’s President on U.S. 
Grameena Pedala Sangham, Telangana State conference, is an important mile-stone 
Imperial Visits: US Emissaries in the Pacific Enough is enough. Restore parliament 
Disgrace at the New York Times 
‘Israel is (Not) Back to Africa’: How African Countries are Challenging Israeli Plot on the Continent 
A Highway to Peace or a Highway to Hell? The Vast Power of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
