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31 January , 2016

Justice For Rohith Vemula Protesters Brutally Beaten Up By Police And Hindutva Goons Near RSS Office In New Delhi
By Countercurrents.org

Hundreds of Students who were protesting against the institutional murder of dalit sholar Rohith Vemula were brutally lathicharged by the police and hindutva goons near the RSS office in New Delhi yesterday. Students from several colleges and universtities in Delhi marched to the RSS office demanding justice for Rohith, on his 27th birth day. Students were stopped near the RSS office and police and hinudtva goons brutally assaulted them, injuring several students. Even the media persons covering the event were not spared. They too were attacked and cameras damaged

On Rohith’s Birthday, Taking Forward The Lessons From His Note,
And From His Life!

By Pranay Patil

From Eklavya to Rohith Vemula, thousands of students have been victims of subjugation by the virtue of their immediate identity. The stars in Rohith’s eyes might have been put to the rest, but his words will live on, and haunt us. The system might have silenced him, but it failed to imagine the power of science, the power of dreams to transcend boundaries. Hundreds and thousands of students across the country now own the cause that Rohith believed in. They share his dream, the same dream that Dr. Ambedkar, Periyar, Savitri Bai Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and other propagators of social justice lived for. They will carry the same stars that he had, march on towards the world he longed to see, and carry on the fight, until victory!

2016 Space Odyssey
By Cynthia Stephen

A poem on Rohith Vemula’s death

What Is Happening In Libya And Why Nobody Talks About It?
By Shubhda Chaudhary

The revolution has failed in Libya for sure, but what about the future, what about the solution? The western countries are hardly interested in a non ambiguous plan of action along with the UN. So, will be mutely be spectators as Libya’s case worsens and it implodes?

What 'Who Took Johnny' Can Teach Us About Filmmaking,
'Sex' Trafficking, And Missing Children

By Mickey Z.

There are currently almost 90,000 unsolved missing person cases in the department of justice database, and it's clear that even with all of the advancements in technology and public awareness, the problem of missing and exploited children has only gotten worse since Johnny disappeared over 30 years ago. Understandably with such an ugly issue, people would rather skip-over reading about these stories or change the channel of a news report, pretending the problem doesn't exist, rather than confront the brutality of the exploitation and trafficking of children in USA

Where Is The West's Compassion And Condemnation
Following Terror Attacks In Middle East?

By Eva Bartlett

The list of terror attacks in Syria, and neighbouring Lebanon and Iraq, is an endless and long list. Yet, while the vast majority of the victims are civilians, their deaths do not merit the same front-page coverage as similar acts do in the West; the terror attacks do not merit the same statements of condemnation and outpouring of sorrow issued by Western leaders when terrorism strikes elsewhere

The West Is Reduced To Looting Itself
By Paul Craig Roberts

With the entire Third World now exploited to the limits possible, the West has turned to looting its own. Ireland has been looted, and the looting of Greece and Portugal is so severe that it has forced large numbers of young women into prostitution. But this doesn’t bother the Western conscience. What has happened to Greece and Portugal is underway in Spain and Italy. The peoples are powerless because their governments do not represent them

Free University Education Via Accredited Remote Learning –
All Education Should Be Free For All

By Dr Gideon Polya

Education is a basic human right and all education should be free. Free university education has been adopted by about 20 variously rich or poor countries for all or a substantial proportion of their university students. However the Anglosphere countries (the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) ) are peculiar in imposing a huge and unjust education debt on university students as well as imposing a huge and inescapable Carbon Debt on young people through disproportionately huge greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution. However Accredited Remote Learning (ARL) via Free Universities (FUs) (e.g. an Australian Free University) can circumvent this pro-One Percenter, neoliberal perversion

The Times Endorses Hillary: Heinous Non-Surprise
By Steve Breyman

The latest example of disgusting normal is the New York Times’ endorsement of Hillary Clinton—it’s fourth across the years. The Times apparently believes Hillary is more electable than Bernie, despite polls showing that Sanders matches up as well against the Republican field as does Clinton. The timing of the endorsement is telling, coming right before the Iowa caucuses (just like it’s endorsement of Clinton in 2008). The editorial board must be nervous that someone besides their preferred candidate wins in Iowa, again

Murder In The Cathedral: A Study Of Power Relations
By Gaither Stewart

The worldwide influence of the Roman Catholic Church emanates from the Holy See,which is the Church’s central government headed by the Pope and physically located within the territory of the Vatican State inside the city of Rome with a population of 821. The Holy See has diplomatic relations with world nations which maintain two separate embassies in Rome: one to Italy and one to the Holy See. Now why the hell, one wonders, should Argentina or the USA, China or Gabon maintain diplomatic relations with a church? Likewise the Holy See has its embassies around the world, the nunciatures, while from day to day the Roman Church insists on meddling in Italy’s and world affairs. Today the Roman Catholic is effectively blocking new legislationon on same sex marriages and concommitant rights in Italy and other countries. One of the first demonstrative acts of each new pope is a triumphant cortege through the streets of “Italy”, just across the Tiber River from the Vatican

Hindutva Politics And Islamist Politics Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin - Part II
By Shamsul Islam

The Hindutva cronies like RSS and Hindu Mahasabha make a brazen claim that they that they were the only ones who opposed the divisive, communal and two-nation politics of the anti-national Muslim League led by MA Jinnah and played great role in the freedom struggle. There cannot be a worst lie than this and only Hindutva gang can fabricate such lies. The pre-Independence political happenings and documents from the archives of the Hindutva organizations tell us a shameful story of Hindutva organizations aligning with the Muslim League which stood for the Partition of our country

Shame! We Are Turning Our Rivers Into Sewers
By Marianne Furtado de Nazareth

Like anywhere in India, Madurai district is dotted with hundreds of small and large water tanks that are networked with its main river Vaigai and minor river Kruthumal with the help of many distributor channels. However the wisdom of the city forefathers, has been lost in the greed of a growing population and urbanization. Valuable water collection tank beds have been built upon and the river itself is used like a sewer and so, the city now struggles for a decent supply of fresh water

Monsanto’s Roundup Kills And Damages More Than Weeds
By Shepherd Bliss

Protests against Monsanto’s Roundup, with its poisonous, weed-killing glyphosate, have spread around the globe. An arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a probable cause of cancer in 2015. California’s Environmental Protection Agency (CA EPA) recently decided to label it as such. Environmental groups and activists in Northern California, a region known for its wines, advocate a moratorium on this herbicide as health concerns mount. Roundup is the world’s most widely used pesticide

Lala of Lahore And Lion of Punjab: Lala Lajpat Rai
By Ravi Nitesh

As, Lala Lajpat Rai is famous as "Lion of Punjab", I find that he has so strong connection with Lahore that we can call him as Lala of Lahore as well. Present India and Pakistan are actually the same piece of land for which Lala ji and others sacrificed their life. But, it is unfortunate that the two countries have developed many conflicts by the time. It must be remembered that those who fought against British rule were actually belonged to India and Pakistan both and they fought for all the people who were living in British India. Now, it is turn of present generation to move together, to make these sacrifices meaningful. Keeping it in mind will be important in terms of the motivation that it can provide, for working genuinely towards common betterment with the true sense and emotions of love

30 January , 2016

Death Of Rohith Vemula: Caused By Acts Of Omission And Commission Of
The Authorities, Finds Indian Peoples Tribunal

By Preliminary Fact Finding Report By Indian Peoples Tribunal

A team of Justice (Retd) Justice Suresh H, Sujata Surepalli Editor Desi Disa, US Rao- Chairman CBC Federation, Meena Menon – Writer-Researcher and Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh visited the University of Hyderabad on 25th and 26th of January 2015 and met with students, faculty, friends and family of Rohith Vemula and some of the administration authorities who were available. The observations of the Fact Finding Team are as here

Rohith Vemula And Steve Biko: Implications Of A Tragedy
By Pushkar Raj

Rohith Vemula’s ‘social murder’ early this month is in some ways similar to the political murder of Steve Biko by the South African regime, in the aftermath of Soweto student uprising, at the height of apartheid oppression in 1977. There, the collaborating institution was the apartheid police; here, close home, it is Hyderabad Central University

War Is Still Not The Answer: Antiwar Sentiment May Have Evaporated,
But War Is As Horrible As Ever

By Justin Podur

Here are some easy predictions: In the years ahead, we are promised austerity, poverty, violence, and ecological catastrophe. If societies want to deal with any of these problems, they will also have to deal with the problem of war, because through all this, we will also have war. As a result, people will need to develop antiwar movements. The arguments that those movements will rely on will be the same ones that are mocked today, the very same ones that used to be more widely accepted, but have somehow been forgotten

An American Big Lie About ‘Terrorism'
By Eric Zuesse

Micah Zenko is a blogger who posts on a main site of America's foreign-policy establishment, the Council on Foreign Relations, and he posted there on January 6th, “How Many Bombs Did the United States Drop in 2015?” He calculated: “Last year, the United States dropped an estimated total of 23,144 bombs in six countries. Of these, 22,110 were dropped in Iraq and Syria.”

What Does It Mean To Be A Farmer In Vidarbha?
By Shubhda Chaudhary

A comprehensive study of the National Crimes Record Bureau had revealed that one-and-a-half lakh farmer suicides took place in Vidarbha from 1997-2005. Few of the worst affected districts include Yavatmal and Amravati. This disconnect does not allow us to delve deeper, to ask questions as to why the ‘Cotton belt of the Deccan’ suffers. So, what does it mean to be a farmer in Vidarbha?

29 January , 2016

#JusticeForRohithVemula Turns Into A National Students Movement
By Countercurrents.org

The protest against the suicide of University of Hyderabad (HoU) scholar Rohith Vemula is turning into a national students movement. Students across the nation are joining the protesting students in HoU. The HoU students are on an indefinite hunger strike. Spontaneous protests are taking place across the nation. Hunger strikes are going on several campuses. In New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar along with others, started an indefinite hunger strike from within the Parliament Street police station Wednesday

The Brahmanical Anxiety To Explain A Dalit Death:
Manu Joseph’s Psychiatric Doctrine

By Mithilesh Kumar

It appears that Joseph is using ‘clinical depression’ as an analytical category and not as a clinical condition no matter how much he remonstrates. If clinical depression is the root cause of farmers’ suicide the state would do well to distribute lithium instead of stopping the debt cycle. In fact, all problems could be solved by proper medication. However, we can fault Joseph only so far and no more. It will be futile to expect people of that class to understand the politics of Vemula. The politics will be an enigma. In the absence of either a shared politics or a shared struggle there could only be an attempt at homogenization. This is the only way to make sense of Vemula’s act. It can be explained only through some sort of biologism sprinkled by pseudo-social science

The Palestinian Uprising Is About More Than Knives
By Budour Youssef Hassan

When the “intifada of the knives” set off in October last year, Western reporters flooded in to Jerusalem to cover the new “escalation,” interview people from “both sides of the conflict” and raise several variations of the old question: “Is this the beginning of a third intifada?” Inevitably, the journalists left once a massive crackdown significantly reduced the number of deadly attacks against Israelis in the city. It is an all too familiar pattern for Palestinians, who know by now that it’s only “escalation” when there are dead or wounded Israelis. Deaths, injuries, arrests and home demolitions inflicted on Palestinians by Israel are deemed business as usual, not worthy of further inquiry. International apathy about the situation in Palestine is another tragedy

Why Is The World Ignoring Palestine’s ‘Third Intifada’?
By Shubhda Chaudhary

Already ravaged by two political Intifadas in the past, Palestine is now undergoing a third ‘leaderless Intifada’ in West Bank and Gaza. In fact, there is disagreement over whether a leader is even needed. In a striking paradox, several names are being considered for the leadership that does not exist: Jerusalem Intifada, Mass Intifada, Revolutionary Wave and Third Intifada

In Palestine Even Going To School Is A Form Of Nonviolent Resistance
By Cassandra Dixon

The worst worries of a child’s school day should be homework. Maybe a lost book, or an argument with a friend. No child’s walk to school should routinely involve armed soldiers and fear of sometimes being chased and assaulted by angry adults. But for the Palestinian children who live with their families in the small rural villages that make up the South Hebron Hills, this is how the school day begins. Illegal settlements and outposts isolate and separate their villages and soldiers are a constant in their lives

The Dark Side Of Depending On Black Gold: Case Study, Qatar
By Michelle P.

The development of oil prices between 2014 and 2016 has seen a sharp decline from well over $100 in mid-2014 to under $30 in early 2016. While for most of us in the West, the impact of the dramatic dip in oil prices is limited to a pleasant reduction in the cost of filling up at the gas station, this article will examine the impact on countries whose entire economy depend on oil and gas as well as the consequences of this development for the citizens and residents of such countries

Dispossessed In The Name Of 'Security'
By Robert J. Burrowes

A new book, edited by Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes, both involved with The Transnational Institute, brings together a thoughtful collection of scholars, journalists and activists to explain the pre-eminence of the military and corporations in shaping the global response to the climate catastrophe as an 'opportunity'. Do you think that this catastrophe is an 'opportunity'?

A Long-War Strategy For The Left
By William T. Hathaway

When the police and military have to attack their own people, their loyalty begins to waver. They realize they too are oppressed workers, and they start disobeying their masters. The power structure grinds down, falters, and falls. At this point the revolution can succeed, hopefully with a minimum of violence. Then the people of that generation, with the knowledge and experience we have passed on to them, can build a new society

You’ll Never BELIEVE Who Chomsky Could 'Absolutely' Vote For!
(but her ex-president husband already knows)

By Mickey Z.

Another presidential election charade is upon us and I’m reminded of something the late Pakistani dissident, Eqbal Ahmad, once said about Noam Chomsky in the book, Confronting Empire (2000): “He (Chomsky) has never wavered. He has never fallen into the trap of saying, ‘Clinton will do better.’ Or ‘Nixon was bad but Carter at least had a human rights presidency.’ There is a consistency of substance, of posture, of outlook in his work.” (Sounds good in theory but it seems Ahmad wasn’t aware Noam had voted for Clinton in 1992.)

Arunachal Pradesh Under President Rule: Article 356,
Gubernatorial Office And Cooperative Federalism

By Tarannum Bano

The proclamation of emergency rule in Arunachal Pradesh under article 356, has brought back the issue of the misuse of constitutional provision and gubernatorial offices and aspect of Indian federalism.The President Pranab Mukherjee approved the recommendation of the Union Cabinet to suspend a duly elected government of the congress party headed by Nabam Tuki and impose President Rule in Arunachal Pradesh on 26th January when the country was celebrating 67th anniversary of the implementation of the Constitution and the democratic and republicannature of the country

"The Death of Merit" Screening At Calicut On 31st January

Pedestrian Pictures in association with MBL Media School will screen the path breaking documentary "The Death of Merit". The film is being screened in the wake of the tragic suicide of PhD Scholar Rohith Vemula in University of Hyderabad. The film produced by Insight Foundation takes an indepth look at the epidemic of suicide by Dalit students in India's premier educational institutions. The screening is scheduled at 31 January, Sunday 9 AM at Crown Theater, Calicut, Kerala.

28 January , 2016

The Reawakening Of Tribal Consciousness: The Spread Of Ecological Wisdom
And Confronting The Artifice Of Capitalism

By William Hawes

Tribal society can be insular when it comes to one issue, however: the idea of reproducing culture. Certain rituals and rites of passage remain a closely guarded secret for many tribes, because of their profound mystical and spiritual implications. Shamans and chieftains in indigenous society are trained their whole lives to guide and groom the next generation: there are risks involved when passing through stages of life, and traveling through spiritual realms. Similarly, the industrialized nations face similar risks today, which can only be solved by a tribe, a village, a community. We must invent ways where we can initiate youths and adolescents, mothers and fathers, so that they can develop harmoniously within the social fabric. We must confront the ennui and malaise that the consumer culture has spawned. And hopefully, then we can learn the holy, sacred secrets to reproducing and recreating ecosystems and cultures worth passing on to the next generation

Report Of The International Peace Delegation To Syria
Led By Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate

We call on the International community to protect the territorial integrity of Syria and to respect the fundamental rights of Syria as a Soveriegn State. We deplore any intent to breach the integrity of Syria’s frontiers or to damage the unity and rich diversity of the Syrian people

Rohith Vemula Is Not A Depression Story Mr. Manu Joseph!
By Shubhda Chaudhary

It's sheer shame that Manu Joseph could have been so insensitive when scholars like P. Sainath, Meena Kandaswamy, Subhash Gatade, Ravichandran Bathran are voicing their support, lamenting at the death of a bright student intellectual who loved ‘science and stars’, idolized Carl Sagan and thought minutely about his own existence. It reveals how deep-rooted casteism is indoctrinated within our mental faculties that even the idea of ‘the other’ can agonize it to the level that it can create its own fabricated ‘Dalit Story’

George Soros Finally Suspends His Lifelong War Against Russia
By Eric Zuesse

On January 21st, George Soros, who has throughout his life been passionately opposed not just to communism but also to Russia, finally stated in a Bloomberg News interview at the World Economic Forum, that the United States (and possibly the EU, but he says that the EU is in terrible economic shape itself) must now fund a new Marshall Plan for all of Europe, including, this time, even his bête noire: Russia.  However, is he ending, or merely suspending, his lifelong war against Russia?

The Seeds Of Spin: Decoding Pro-GMO Lies And Falsehoods
By Colin Todhunter

If you are in some way critical of genetically modified food and agriculture or have some concerns that remain unaddressed, here is a brief interpretive (satirical) guide for navigating the seedy world of pro-GMO spin

Animal Law Professor: Veganism Part Of The Commitment To Non-Violence
By Robert Barsocchini

Francione points out that a vegan diet is not only easy, but is a joy rather than a sacrifice. When eating a healthy vegan diet, one not only feels physically, but morally better

UP Police Is Sabotaging Justice To Shivam Victim Of Brahmanical Hatred
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The family of Eight Years old Dalit child Shivam whose left arm was crushed in sugarcane crusher by a local Brahmin family in Janupur in Uttar Pradesh is suffering in humiliation curtsey Jaunpur police which refused to file an FIR in the case when the incident happened on December 28th. The police officers scolded the mother of Shivam when she went along with two local activists Ms Shobhna Smriti and Ms Renu singh, both of whom were responsible for getting the FIR filed in the Maharajganj police station

Mangrove Cell’s Hasty Actions Risking Several Thousand
Slum Dwellers’ Housing Rights In Mumbai

By National Alliance of People’s Movements

Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan had submitted a report to the Collector, Mumbai Suburban District, who is the chairman of the District Coastal Zone Monitoring Committee, specifying several structures which have come up on the mangrove areas after the issuance of the Court’s order. On questioning the Cell on such a discrepancy and discrimination, as also enquiring about any action against elite structures over the past ten years, there is almost no response. No information is received about the action taken against non-slum structures as gross encroachments even after six months of submission of the report!

Kashmiris As “Hostages”!
By Mohammad Ashraf

M J Akbar, the well-known journalist turned politician has spoken the “Truth”, “Kashmiris have to be kept as hostages for the safety of Muslims in “Secular” India”!

Crimes Against Humanity In Kashmir: Silence At International Level
By Abdul Majid Zargar

More than two months have passed since three young men from Kupwara went missing .Lured by Army into employment through an intermediary, the trio left their homes 17th November only to remain untraced till date. The police, even after having arrested the Army man, who acted as an interceder between the concerned Army unit & the victims, remain clueless. The family of the victims allege that Police, under pressure from top, is not performing its lawful job

27 January , 2016

RIP Republic!
By Dr Akhileshwari Ramagoud

The fragrance of Rohith has been overcome by the stink of Brahminism. This stink pervades the entire country, all the institutions, and all the so-called four estates that comprise a democratic system: the Legislature, the Executive, the Judiciary, and the media. Every single ‘estate’ stinks of Brahminism and casteism which is why Rohith had to die. Which is why hundreds and thousands of Rohiths are destroyed before they can begin to bloom

Hindutva Fanatics Threaten Sandeep Pandey In IIT-BHU Campus
By Subhash Gatade

Close on the heels of the planned disruption of a speech by Siddharth Varadrajan, noted journalist and ex-editor of The Hindu on the Allahabad University campus by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has come the news that Sandeep Pandey, who has been working as a guest faculty in IIT-BHU for the last two and half years was recently threatened allgegedly by members of the same fraternity on the Banaras Hindu University campus itself

Gaza Speaks: This Is What The Decade-Long Siege Has Done to Us
By Ramzy Baroud

“My kids feel scared when the electricity goes off, which is most of the time,” says the 33-year-old mother from Nuseirat Refugee Camp, who has a degree in Communication and is currently pursuing her MA. “They are still living the trauma of the 2014 offensive. War is still haunting my family, and life has become so hard for us.” Indeed, after years of trying, Mariam is yet to find work. Unemployment in Gaza is the highest in the world, according to the World Bank

PA's Complicity With The Israeli Occupying Power
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

The Palestinian political class has come to terms with the Israeli occupation. The Oslo Accords turned the Palestinian Authority (PA) into a subcontractor of the occupier, and the top brass feels comfortable with this situation in Palestine

Circus Politics: Will Our Freedoms Survive Another Presidential Election?
By John W. Whitehead

Clearly, “we the people” have a decision to make. Do we simply participate in the collapse of the American republic as it degenerates toward a totalitarian regime, or do we take a stand at this moment in history and reject the pathetic excuse for government that is being fobbed off on us?

“Not By Bread Alone”: Concerning Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor
By Gaither Stewart

I would transpose the Grand Inquisitor’s society into our times in the guise of the immoral, big brother, capitalist, imperialist, Orwellian state which is leading inexorably to the death of the nation-state and democracy, the result of the aesthetic choice of earthly bread and non-freedom of the brainwashed herd, as opposed to Dostoevsky’s ethical choice of oneself and the freedom of the thinking, truly social man

Eliminate Tax Havens!
By Chandra Muzaffar

Through its clarion call to bring tax havens to an end, Oxfam has thrown a challenge to the entire human family. Persuade governments to eliminate an institution which is a bane upon equality and justice. If we don’t, our grandchildren will inherit a world where there is greater divisiveness and destruction than what we are now witnessing

Rebuilding And Expanding The North American Relationship
By Dana Gabriel

The TPP marks another step towards greater regional cooperation and integration. The U.S.-driven trade deal changes how member countries manage their economies and businesses. It sets the rules for a new global economic order, which would further erode national sovereignty. The TPP together with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are part of plans to merge North America with Asia and Europe

26 January , 2016

How Hindutva Gang Led By Savarkar Betrayed
Netaji's Movement And Sided With The British Rulers

By Shamsul Islam

Hindutva brigade continues to pretend to have great admiration for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who attempted to organise a military campaign to force the British out of India. But for unknown reasons the world remains oblivious of the terrible betrayal of his cause by Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Savarkar who also happened to be a mentor of the RSS. There is a mine of contemporary documents available to show that when Netaji during World War II was trying to secure foreign support for liberation of the country and trying to organise a military attack on the northeast of the country with the help of ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ (Indian National Army), it was Savarkar who offered full military co-operation to the British masters.

Global Slowdown To Deepen Attacks On Jobs
By Nick Beams

On Friday the credit rating agency Moody’s listed 175 energy and mining companies as being at risk of a credit downgrade, including major global firms Royal Dutch Shell, Total and the gas producer Chesapeake Energy. The notice was the largest single warning of a potential credit downgrade since the financial crisis. It said the slowdown in China was responsible for the gloomy outlook and warned that there was a “substantial risk” that oil prices would recover only slowly from their 12-year lows of less than $30 per barrel. And even with a “modest recovery” producing companies would experience much lower cash flows

U.S. And Allies Make Bin Laden Admirer A Negotiator In Syria Peace Talks
By Eric Zuesse

On January 25th, which was the date when peace talks on Syria were to start, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that the organization founded by Osama bin Laden admirer, Zahran Alloush, represent the anti-Assad forces in the upcoming Syrian peace talks, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov very reluctantly accepted

Putin Calls Out Obama On A Big Lie
By Eric Zuesse

“In 2009, US President Obama said that the missile defense only serves as protection from Iranian nuclear missiles. But now there is an international treaty with Iran that bans Tehran from developing a potential military nuclear project. The International Atomic Energy Agency is controlling this, the sanctions against Iran are lifted – but still the US are working on their missile defense system. Only recently a treaty with Spain was signed, a deployment in Romania is being prepared, the same will happen in Poland in 2018, and in Turkey, a radar unit is being installed.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in an interview with Germany's Das Bild, published on January 11th, but the press has ignored this very serious charge — an accusation of deception, bad faith, outright lying, on the part of the U.S. President

American Jews And Israel: A Divorce In The Making?
By Alan Hart

“American Jews, even mainstream ones indoctrinated to love Israel, are breaking more and more publicly with the Jewish state. The Netanyahu government is proving to be embarrassing to American Jews; they do not want to be associated with rightwing apartheid policies… The divorce that we have long predicted on this site is now on the horizon; and in years to come this separation will yield an even bigger reward: mainstream American Jews will declare themselves anti-Zionist.”

A Bad Month For US Presidential Hopeful Hillary Clinton
By Cynthia McKinney

Despite amassing a fortune in her campaign coffers, the Presidential aspirations of Hillary Clinton are beginning to rest on shaky ground. These are only tremors so far, but any one of them could completely remove the earth underneath her once-a-sure-thing campaign. Any out-of-control spiral could leave Hillary standing at the altar all alone

Selective Humanity Of Iranian Human Rights Organisations
By Rahim Hamid

In recent years, a number of Iranian human rights organisations have been established abroad. An important question is why the course of activities of these institutions is almost always directed on Tehran's residents and the central parts of Iran, ignoring the most marginalised parts of the country? There are many questions that need to be answered about the performance of Iranian human rights activists. To investigate the performance of the Iranian human rights organisations, I have reviewed and listed the experiences and interactions of ethnic groups, in particular, Ahwazi Arab rights campaigners who have so far had contact with the Iranian human rights organisations

How Much Public Service Is There In A Career In Indian Public Service?
By Moin Qazi

Does a career in the Indian bureaucracy mean a life of 'public service'? Certainly not. All it means is a lifetime of serving the most despicable lot of politicians ever to be found in the world. It means a career that will rub out your individuality, dull your intellect, and corrupt your morals. You will enter a fine young person; you will retire as someone you yourself will not be able to recognize, barring a few courageous exceptions

Modi Regime Forces President Mukherjee To Take Note Of Intolerance, Violence
By Samar

Mature republics must take note of problems plaguing them. Alas, they do not always do so. It is heartening to see, therefore, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, taking note of some of the biggest problems plaguing India at the moment- problems that can unravel despite gains the country has made in 69 years of its existence. He observed, profoundly, that the forces of violence, intolerance and unreason do not harm individuals, they rather hit the very core of nationhood

Women Decide To Worship In Shani Shingnapur Temple:
An Effort For Religious Equality

By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

Today on republic day, about 1500 women decided to worship in Shani Shingnapur Temple in Maharashtra where women are barred from worship. A bold step, a collaborated effort, an effort for justice and equality, the chosen day is day of equality, hence their efforts are genuine, arduous and symbol of strengthened civil society and women’s power

False Claims And Flawed Conclusions Being Used To Push GM Crops Into India
By Colin Todhunter

Writing in India’s Deccan Herald newspaper on 26 January 2016, Kalyan Ray places great store in a flawed year-old British Parliament document to promote a pro-GM agenda. According to Ray, the document ‘Advanced Genetic Techniquesfor Crop Improvement: Regulation, risks and precaution’ from the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee reflects several arguments in favour of GM crops that certain Indian scientists have been voicing for years

25 January , 2016

RSS Goons Attack Rohith Vemula Solidarity Rally In Mumbai
By Countercurrents.org

About 500 people who had gathered in Mumbai's Dharavi to protest against the institutional murder of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula of Hyderabad Central Univeristyi were attacked Sunday evening by RSS goons

Another Dalit Student Commits Suicide In Vijayawada
By Countercurrents.org

Close on the heels of the suicide of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central university another dalit student committed suicide in Vijayawada Saturday night. Puvala Prem Prasad, 22, studied at Nova Engineering College in the city. He did not leave any suicide note

Don’t Mourn. Here’s The Spring, Dance
By Sourav Banerjee

I went to Rohith’s grave after they destroyed his material existence in an anxious haste before he drags their system to his grave, and found he is not dead and will surely be saved. He is bleeding and has gone underground. Before departing, he asked me to spread this promise among friends and comrades in this spring…

Murder By "Suicide": Institutional Murder Of A Dalit Research Scholar
By Anand Kumar

Rohith’s last letter says it all. Even before he took that fatal decision to end his life, we find in his letters not complaints or any display of petty mindedness but a zest for life, wanting to be a science writer like Carl Sagan, echoing one his famous words ‘we are made of star dust ’. The letter stands as a brutal condemnation of the feudal and casteist society that is India, and all that false story build around growth, development etc

NLU, Bangalore Condemn The Shrinking Democratic Spaces
In Educational Institutions

By Cocerned Students, Researchers And Teaching Faculty

We, the concerned students, researchers and teaching faculty, of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore express deep condolences on the sad demise of Mr. Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar in Science, Technology and Society Studies Programme at the University of Hyderabad (UoH)

Hindutva Politics And Islamist Politics Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin - Part I
By Shamsul Islam

Here is an attempt to reproduce facts from the archives of the Hindutva camp which conclusively prove that the Hindutva Gang & the Islamist Gang have been together and presently too together in undoing a democratic-secular Indian polity. Far from being opposite they complement each other as we will see in the following

26 January: Australia Day, Invasion Day, Survival Day And British Invasion Day
By Dr Gideon Polya

On 26 January, Australia's national holiday, Australia Day, White Australia celebrates the arrival of the British First Fleet and first White settlement of Australia at present-day Sydney on 26 January 1788. However Indigenous Australians mark 26 January as Invasion Day or Survival Day, commemorating commencement of an Aboriginal Genocide and an Aboriginal Ethnocide that continues today, this qualitatively representing the worst genocide in human history

Anything But The Bitter Truth: The Structural Crisis Of Capitalism
By Jon Kofas

When the culture of the Western world, now a global culture that reaches from Mongolia to Mozambique, celebrates the millionaire and billionaire as society’s hero instead of villain who destroys society, while marginalizing those who work and create, why is anyone surprised that the sharp market decline of January 2016 amounting to more than $8 trillion in losses is but a small signal of a crash that is inevitable probably toward the end of the next decade or early 2030s

George Jonas Who Once Wrote Brilliantly About Zionist Madness Dies
By Ira Glunts

In the United States, Israel, and among Jews throughout the world, the name George Jonas is solely recognized as the writer of the 1984 book, Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team. That book became the basis for the television movie, Sword of Gideon (1986) and later and more famously, the source for the film Munich (2005), which was directed by Stephen Spielberg

Poland Looking West
By Linh Dinh

Though the narrative that Russia invaded Ukraine is absurd, most Poles buy into it, such is their hatred of their long time nemesis. At least ten thousand Poles have even joined militias to prepare for an invasion. Clinging to that dangerously flailing zombie that’s Uncle Sam, Poles might just see their worst fear realized

Media More Outraged By Possible Murder By Putin Than Definite Murder By Obama
By Matt Peppe

The U.S.'s most prominent media organizations should demonstrate the strongest skepticism towards the policies and actions of their own government. At the very least, they should hold their own country's leaders to the same standards as they do others. But time and again, the media choose to act as a mouthpiece to echo and amplify Washington's propaganda. They do the government's bidding, creating an enemy and rallying the public towards a confrontation they would otherwise have no interest in, while allowing the government to avoid accountability for its own misdeeds

Frontier Chronicled The Spirit Of The Spring Thunder Era:
Interview With Timir Basu, editor, Frontier

The online interview was done by Rabin Chakraborty from Kolkata and Farooque Chowdhury from Dhaka

The Malvinas: An Unresolved Dispute
By Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

The question of the Malvinas Islands (Falkland Islands) remains one of those unresolved disputes in international politics which seldom receives much attention from the world community. This is a pity since the United Nations has for the last 50 years called upon the two parties to the dispute --- Argentina and Britain --- to negotiate a peaceful solution through bilateral negotiations

Declassify To Demystify
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Our children need to know about the dangers of all those fascist powers who believed in racial superiority and killed people in the name of their identities but at the same point of time it must be made known to our people and history proves that Subhash’s idea of India was always inclusive, pro people and absolutely socialist which the Hindutva ideologues despise today

24 January , 2016

The Suicide Of A Hero
By M C Raj

In his suicide, Rohith has brought alive the dormant upsurge among the Adijans and their supporters that waited for such a ‘chance’ to come out. This is one of the greatest achievements of this hero that his death brought alive the latent strength of the student community. Their protests have made him become the son of Mother India in his death from being an ‘antinational’ when he was alive. If Adijan leadership goes into a snooze from here, as it usually does, it will not be able to sustain the tempo of being the sons of Mother India. It should continuously keep the rulers on their toe without waiting for the murder or suicide of another Rohith

Before I Speak Of The Stars…
By Ravi Sinha

Let me speak first of Rohith Chakravarthi Vemula. I never met him. I wish I had, although that would have made me hardly any worthier of speaking about him. Had I met him, I would have come to know that I shared with him a passion for science, nature and stars. I would like to think that he would have found in me, despite my being from another generation, a comrade-in-arms and a fellow campaigner for a better world. Perhaps I would have also recognized a few of the scars left over from a childhood spent in poverty. But, there, the similarities would have ended

FIR Registered By women Of Nendra village, Bijapur,
Against Security Forces For Gang Rape And Loot

By Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS)

After four trying days of chasing and pressuring authorities, the determination and resolve of the women of Bellam- Lendra (Nendra) village, Block Usur, Thana Basaguda, has finally paid off. An FIR has been registered against police and security forces by the Bijapur thana for sexual violence including gang rape, dacoity, and for plundering and looting the village. In the meanwhil, a mob threatens rape survivors tells them to return to village and not lodge an FIR against forces

Injustice To Keywan Karimi Should Be Revoked
By Concerned Film Makers

Two months ago Iranian Kurdish Colleague Keywan Karimi got sentenced with 6 years of prison and 223 lashes for ‘propagating against the Regime’ and ‘insulting religious sanctities’ because of his movie ‘Writing on the City’. Already in 2013 Karimi was imprisoned in solitary confinement for two weeks, then released under house arrest surveillance and bail, preventing him thus from leaving the country. 669 film makers from around the world appeal Mr. Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciary, to cancel this inhumane punishment

23 January , 2016

13-Year-Old Palestinian Girl Shot Dead In West Bank
By MA’AN NEWS AGENCY

A 13-year-old Palestinian was shot dead Saturday after reportedly attempting to stab an Israeli security guard outside of an illegal West Bank settlement northeast of Jerusalem, Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said that the girl approached a gate leading into the Anatot settlement, also known as Almon, and attempted to stab a security guard. The guard immediately fired gunshots at the 13-year-old, injuring her critically, al-Samri said. The child died on site shortly after

Dozens Of Refugees Drown Near Greek Island Of Farmakonisi
By Thomas Gaist

Some 45 refugees, including 17 children, drowned in boat sinkings in the Aegean Sea Friday, after capsizing near the Greek island of Farmakonisi, according to Greece’s coast guard

Pakistan Has Around 130 Nuclear Warheads Says US Congressional Report
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The Congressional report titled "Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons" was released on January 14. It is written by Nonproliferation experts, Paul K. Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin. The report said "Islamabad’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons, and adoption of a doctrine called “full spectrum deterrence” have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal."

Muslim World: The Leaders Who Could Not Lead
By Mahboob A Khawaja

The entire Muslim world is engaged in self-destructive conflicts. Unwarranted wars and sectarian bloodbaths are the order of the day, so unparallel in contemporary history. You wonder, what are they fighting for? Who are the real warriors fighting for human freedom and justice and who are the hired culprits to prolong proxy wars for other hegemonic powers? Both the US and Russia are competing for hegemonic strategic influence, increased sales of weaponry and to acquire direct control over the natural resources of Arab Middle East. West Europeans - the former lords of colonialism prefer their own strategic priorities wherever they could find a gap between the two competing superpowers. People are not the aim for mind control but victims of the interventionist policies and raging wars

Kettle Calling The Pot Black
By Jeff Berg

Martin Kettle reminds me of nothing so much as he reminds me of Uncle Tom. So happy to be in the 'massahs' house, so relatively warm and comfy and safe, that he genuinely believes that the social hierarchy as it stands is the natural order of things

Sri Lanka: Humpty Dumpty Wigneswaran !
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

With all due respect, it is time to have a look at the art of the politics which has erupted out the Wigneswaran dogma that foully cries for self-determination of the Tamil people in the Jaffna peninsula. The respected former Judge turned politician no more than three years ago is using a big stick on any issues to grab the attention of the public. He is now rapping the old song of the “self-determination” while proving the skill of the Trojan heroism

Petition Campaign: 8 Year Old Dalit Boy Thrown Into Sugarcane Crushing Machine
By Shivangi Joshi

Shivam is an 8 year old Dalit (untouchable) boy who lives in the Maharajganj block of district Jaunpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. On December 28th 2015, he was home alone with younger sister, while his parents were off to their daily wage jobs. Two men belonging to the upper-caste, Radhey Shyam Tiwari and Vijay Nath Tiwari, came by to force Shivam to work on their sugarcane crushing machine. Upon Shivam’s refusal to do so, the Tiwaris slapped him and forcibly took him away with them and threw him into the crushing machine where his arm got caught. By the sheer will to survive Shivam was able to run away from the scene and was later found unconscious on the road

22 January , 2016

Can A ‘Nationalist’ Reading Of ‘Facts’ Bring Justice To Rohit Vemula?
By Dillip Kumar Dash

Reductionism is reflected in the institutional reading of available facts. The very immediate evidence is the suicide note. Of course, it does not have direct mention of any names to be called as guilty. But, certainly, it does have a mention of the conditions that led to the mishap. The question is whether our institutional apparatus is equipped with appropriate tools to read them. How do we reason through the poignancy of the letter? How do we reflect on the poetics of his lines? Do we need more sensitive and empathetic tools that allows a more contextual analysis? Does history of the community he belonged to count? Does the history of the region, the campus and the very organization count? Do we have tools to judge emotions, read dreams or focus on the emptiness, he revealed?

Rohith Vemula Is Alive
By Adv.Rahul S Gade

The world's largest democratic nation has once again shown its despicable fangs of inhumanity. The story of Rohith is no different from those who committed suicides in past. Every year at least 4 Dalit students’ suicides are reported from premier educational institutes of IIT, MBBS, Engineering, etc due to caste discrimination from upper caste Hindus. The real culprits are not the right-wing government alone but the governments in past and those all who are against the principles of equality and liberty enshrined in our constitution, of which we all are equal heirs

Aligarh Muslim University Students Pay Respect To Rohit Vemula
By People for People (AMU)

The students of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh today organized a Candle March Protest on 21 January, from Maulana Azad Library to Baab-e-Syed in solidarity with the ongoing nationwide protests against the state motivated murder of a research scholar of Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Rohith Vemula

Long Live The Legacy Of Comrade Vemula Rohith Chakravarthy
By New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

Comrade Rohith, we pay our deepest respects to you. We share your concerns. With you and like you we think that Systemic revolutions and great social transformations should go hand in hand. Rohith we fully agree with you that unless the oppressed are armed with scientific knowledge and rationality, revolution and emancipation remain elusive

Horrendous Case Of Atrocity Inflicted On A Dalit Child In UP
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Upper caste men in Uttar Pradesh adbducted an eight year old dalit child Shivam from his home to work in their sugar cane farm and when he refused to work he was thrown into a sugarcane crushing machine and his hand got cut off

Turkish Invasion Threat Escalates Syrian Conflict
By Bill Van Auken

The Syrian government has formally appealed to the United Nations over incursions into its territory by Turkish troops. The protest at the UN came amid reports that Turkish soldiers have crossed the border and entered the Syrian town of Jarablus on the western bank of the Euphrates River

Second Most Biased Source Possible Alleges Putin Involved In Assassination
By Robert Barsocchini

An inquiry from the second most biased source possible, the UK, (which comes in second to the US), a country completely hostile towards Russia, has speculated that Putin was ‘probably’ involved in the assassination via poisoning of an ex-spy. There are several key points to bear in mind when considering such allegations

Australia's Day For Secrets, Flags And Cowards
By John Pilger

On Australia Day 2016 - Indigenous people prefer Invasion Day or Survival Day - there will be no acknowledgement that Australia's uniqueness is its first people, along with an ingrained colonial mentality that ought to be an abiding embarrassment in an independent nation. This mentality is expressed in a variety of ways, from unrelenting political grovelling at the knee of a rapacious United States to an almost casual contempt for Indigenous Australians, an echo of "kaffir" - abusing South Africans

How The West Creates Terrorism
By Andre Vltchek

King Leopold II and his cohorts managed to exterminate around 10 million people of Western and Central Africa, in what is now known as the Congo. He was hunting people down like animals, forcing them to work on his rubber plantations. If he thought that they were not filling up his coffers fast enough, he did not hesitate to chop off their hands, or burn entire village populations inside their huts, alive. 10 million victims vanished. 10 million! And it did not take place in some distant past, in the “dark ages”, but in the 20th century, under the rule of so-called constitutional monarchy, and self-proclaimed democracy. How does it compare with the terrorism that is ruling over the territories occupied by ISIS? Let’s compare numbers and brutality level!

21 January , 2016

When A Campus Mourns: Collective Loss And Leaving Inertia Behind
By Aparna Vincent & Sinjini Bhattacharya

Two research scholars of University of Hyderabad express the sadness and anger that prevail in the campus after the suicide of Rohith Vemula. They end this article with these lines, "What awaits the future of this campus, only time can tell. It has become obvious , to all of us who live in this space, that there is an urgent need to fight wherever and whenever justice is at stake."

Rohith Vemula Didn’t Commit Suicide, It’s A Systemic Murder
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

Time to rise above narrow political interests and fight for dignity and justice and ending caste discrimination - Urgent intervention sought from the judiciary, and Honourable President - Stop inducing the Casteist and Fascist agenda in educational institutes

Rising Ambedkarite Assertion Is The Biggest Challenge
To Brahmanical Hegemony In India

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The University Vice Chancellor need to own the responsibility apart from the Union HRD Minister and the other minister Bandaru Datratreya. As I said Dalit students face deep rooted prejudices in our campuses and isolation is not the issue. Will the government ask the universities to form special committees so when such cases come they are handed sensitively? Can we ask the government to make stricter law so that students do not face harassment because of their caste, identities and ideologies?

Rohith Vemula’s Suicide Shows The Need For A Politics Of Intersection
By Kishalaya Mukhopadhyay

Much of identity politics also uses the same approach as the dogmatic Marxist one – that of giving primacy to a particular identity as the “main” one . Instead of sweating over trying to find the “common minimum program” based on interests, it would be much easier to forge solidarity on the basis of mutual empathy

Educate, Agitate, Organise: The Dalit Student Won’t Be Silenced
By Cynthia Stephen

Not just the academy - the higher echelons of the bureaucracy, the professions, the media, the private sector - all these spaces are now changing, and likely to become - for better or for worse - much more diverse than in the past, and the ascendance of the ruling classes and castes is being breached slowly and steadily, increasing scope for friction in the near term. Hence, it is time for those who live in ivory towers and gated and walled palaces to understand that in the best and most just and democratic way possible, there is change afoot

First And Last Letter Of An Aborted Writer
By Daljit Ami

Rohith Vemula's letter should be read repeatedly because it is a last letter written by a contemporary to his anonymous contemporaries. This is not the final letter of our times. This is not the first letter of Rohith. He had written a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University on 18 December 2015. That letter also needs to be read; because the two letters share much in common which connect Rohith's death and life together in a string

A Posthumous Interview With Rohith Vemula
By C.P Surendran

"Why did you take this extreme measure? And you have used for your hanging the blue banner of the Ambedkar Students’ Association? Are you making a statement?"

Condemn Casteist Actions of Hyderabad University Authorities
By PUDR

PUDR strongly condemns the authorities of the Central University of Hyderabad for their caste based victimisation of Dalit students, which, on 17th January, 2016, resulted in Rohith Vemula , a Dalit Research Scholar in Science Technology and Society Studies in the University, committing suicide

The 21st Century: An Era Of Fraud
By Paul Craig Roberts

When America fails, so will Washington’s vassal states in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan. Unless Washington destroys the world in nuclear war, the world will be remade, and the corrupt and dissolute West will be an insignificant part of the new world

New Report On Gates Foundation’s “Corporate Merry-Go-Round”:
Spearheading The Neo-Liberal Plunder Of African Agriculture

By Colin Todhunter

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is dangerously and unaccountably distorting the direction of international development, according to a new report by the campaign group Global Justice Now. With assets of $43.5 billion, the BMGF is the largest charitable foundation in the world. It actually distributes more aid for global health than any government. As a result, it has a major influence on issues of global health and agriculture

Defined By Nakba And Exile: The Complex Reality Of ‘Home’ For Palestinians
By Ramzy Baroud

After examining profiles, reviewing hundreds of answered questionnaires and conducting thorough interviews with many refugees, it became clear to us that in the minds of all Palestinians, the Nakba is not a separate question to be discussed and resolved through political concessions or pressures. Nor was it a legal question either, one so convoluted that it needed to be assigned to the ‘final status negotiations’ between Israel and the PLO – negotiations which never happened anyway. Even Palestinians who seem unlikely to exercise their right of return consider their lives within the context of the Nakba and exile as an essential one

Kashmir: Flood Prevention Measures
By Mohammad Ashraf

The most important and the very first act of the “popular” government should have been to take action to prevent the future floods. Nothing tangible seems to have been done so far!

20 January , 2016

Cold Blooded Murders, Rape, Molestation And Looting
By Security Forces In Chhattisgarh

Press Release By CDRO & WSS

Reports from Nendra and Pedda Jojer in Bijapur, and Kunna in Sukma reveal a new and brutal wave of systematic violence being carried out by security forces in South Chhattisgarh. In what seems to be a part of the ethos of combing operations for Maoists, innocent Adivasis are once again brutally killed, women raped, molested and their properties looted. Lalu Sodhi, from the village Kormagondi was brutally beaten up by the forces on the 13th of January who succumbed to his injuries the next day. Several women were raped and molested. In an alleged encounter a 13 year old child was killed on January 15th along with three others

 

15,000 strong Hindu Swabhiman Sena Getting Readied In Western UP, Reports TOI
By Countercurrents.org

Fuelled by the ideology of a self-styled god man Swami Narsinghanand Saraswati a 15,000 strong Hindu Swabhiman Sena is getting readied in Western Uttar Pradesh (UP) to wage war against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), which it believes will occupy western UP by 2020 reports Times of India (TOI) in an exclusive investigative report. TOI reporters Sandeep Rai & Uday Singh Rana trecked through the region and report that about 50 training camps are giving training men and women, boys and girls. The report says "its leaders claim there are already 15,000 "soldiers" who are ready to die to safeguard their faith." The report also says "the outfit has even enlisted child soldiers, some of them as young as eight years old. All were being taught to use swords and firearms. Of the 50 known training camps, some are clandestine and others, like those at Bamheta and Rori, are openly teaching men and women, boys and girls, to be ready "for when the enemy strikes". There are three known training camps in Meerut city and five in Muzaffarnagar district alone. Kamlesh Tiwari, the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader whose controversial remarks triggered riots in West Bengal's Malda, is a follower of Saraswati

Alphabets Of Suicide Of Rohith Vemula
By P Victor Vijay Kumar

This article is endeavoured to be written in as simple language as possible just to let us know our Dalit brethern what kind of stupid “ Alphabets “ of a murder they are interrogating and appreciate to what level Brahminism can stoop to

Rohith Vemula: A Star Is Born
By Prof. Shah Alam Khan

People may perish and struggles may whither, stars persist. We are told some last a million years. Today, on my evening walk; I could identify a new star in the solitude of the vast blue sky. A star so bright, it made my heart fill with joy! A star so intense, that tonight its energy and zest would lighten up every other star in the sky! A star which taught me and you, that the emptiness of the cosmos is but filled by the valor of people like Rohith Vemula

UoH Administration, MHRD And BJP Complicit In The Death Of Rohith Vemula
By Academics for Democracy

We the members of academics for democracy are devastated by the passing away of Rohith Vemula whose decision to take his own life is a direct consequence of the despicable act of Hyderabad university to socially boycott 5 Dalit Research scholars by succumbing to the uncalled intervention of MHRD because of political pressure by BJP

Ten Reasons Why Oil Under $30 Per Barrel Is A Major Problem
By Gail Tverberg

A person often reads that low oil prices–for example, $30 per barrel oil prices–will stimulate the economy, and the economy will soon bounce back. What is wrong with this story? A lot of things

America's Arab Allies Debate Need For Genocide Against ‘Infidels'
By Eric Zuesse

Two key allies of the United States are the fundamentalist-Sunni governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia — two fundamentalist Sunni countries whose ruling families are (like the U.S. Government) hostile to countries that are ruled by Shiites, particularly Iran and Syria

The Oxfam Report Reveals The Venality Of The Global Oligarchy
By Robert Barsocchini

“Oxfam’s analysis of wealth trends between 2010 and 2015 finds the poor are getting much poorer. The wealth of the richest 62 people has risen by 44 percent in the five years since 2010—that’s an increase of more than half a trillion dollars ($542 billion), to $1.76 trillion” while “the wealth of the bottom half fell 41 percent or just over $1 trillion.”

The Right To Tell The Government To Go to Hell: Free Speech In An Age Of
Government Bullies, Corporate Censors And Compliant Citizens

By John W. Whitehead

Free speech is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who are easily offended, readily intimidated or who need everything wrapped in a neat and tidy bow. Free speech is often messy, foul-mouthed, obscene, intolerant, undignified, insensitive, cantankerous, bawdy and volatile. Unfortunately, our appreciation for a robust freedom of speech has worn thin over the years

The Obama Legacy
By Jon Kofas

The road to downward socioeconomic mobility and rising aspects of authoritarianism in America continued under Obama and this is his legacy as historians of the future will confirm. When the National Archives and the future Obama presidential library declassify documents and make them available to researchers in the middle of the this century, we will have a clearer picture of this administration. Of course, the performance of the presidents who follow Obama will have an impact on how his rankings will evolve, as I suspect that the US will be going through some very difficult times in this century because socioeconomic and political polarization combined with militarist adventures will continue to weaken America

Taharrush Is “Rape-Game”: From Cairo To Cologne, And Damascus To Dhaka
By Taj Hashmi

Thanks to the IT Revolution and the Globalization Process, we're familiar with hitherto unknown concepts and expressions; so many of them have already entered our vocabulary. Taharrush Jama'i is one of them. Of late, sections of the Western media and society have learnt what this Arabic expression is all about. It stands for “collective harassment” or “rape game” – aka taharrush el-jinsi or “sexual harassment” – of women by groups of men in public places. The recent incidents of mass molestation, groping and rape of Western women – purportedly by Syrian refugees – in Cologne (Germany) on the New Year's Eve have turned the expression viral

The Revenant: Historical Distortions And Sensationalism
Of The True Odyssey Of Hugh Glass

By Jerome Irwin

Every time another violent action Hollywood film comes along, such as The Revenant, and employs the disclaimer of being “loosely-based” on the truth, it’s a sure-fire red flag warning that Hollywood is about to again play fast and loose with the historical record, as written by its Director Alejandro Inarritu and Screen Writer Mark Smith who’ve employed their own brand of artistic license in The Revenant

Bridge of Spies: Will The Real James B. Donovan Please Stand Up?
By Marc Norton

Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg, appears to be headed into Oscar territory. Sometimes it pays to read the book on which an “inspired by true events” movie is based. If a discerning filmgoer were to read Strangers on a Bridge, Donovan’s account of the events portrayed in the movie, one would discover that Donovan was no mere insurance lawyer, but was involved in the spy business up to his ears long before Abel was arrested in 1957. Donovan was in fact the General Counsel of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. The OSS was set up during the war as the chief intelligence agency for the United States to coordinate espionage and counterespionage, including black propaganda and the proverbial special operations. That must have been some interesting lawyering

Women In Islam: Exploring New Paradigms
Book Review By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi

This collection of Muslim women’s stories also point out the paramount role of women in creating a better world for all beings. It beautifully illustrates how women, down the ages, put herculean efforts towards the enhancement of political and social rights, sustainable environments, protection of people from the travesties of war and promotion of religious diversity, pluralism and democracy

Syrian Crisis: Geopolitical Roots, Rise of ISIS & Ramifications
For West Asia, India And The World

By Feroze Mithiborwala

A talk by Feroze Mithiborwala, a Mumbai-based peace activist who has visited Syria thrice in the past three years

19 January , 2016

Rohith Vemula's Body Cremated Secretly
By Countercurrents.org

The body of Rohith Vemula, one of the five rusticated students of Hyderabad Central University who committed suicide was secretly cremated by the police. Police informed the student community that his body will be cremated at a certain crematorium, and then his body was taken secretly to another crematorium at Amberpet and burnt it. None of his friends were present

Trail Of Letters That Prove The Direct Involvement Of MHRD
Under Smriti Irani In The Suicide Of Rohith Vemula

By Countercurrents.org

A trail of letters traded between Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) under cabinet minister Smriti Irani and University of Hyderabad (UoH) proves that there was a larger conspiracy that led to the expulsion of five Dalit scholars, which finally led to the suicide of Rohith Vemula on Sunday. These letters show that Smriti Irani also was in the know of things happening in UoH. These letters show that MHRD was working as a tool of ABVP and BJP

Rohith Vemula: Indian Left And the Dalit Student Suicides
By Saswat Pattanayak

If the Indian Left needs a wake-up call, this is it. Yet another occasion to own upto the utter failure on its part to align with the working class interests of those who are most exploited in India. Luckily for them, despite pointing out the “upper-class hypocrisy” represented by the Indian Left, Rohith Vemula never quite gave up his hope in communism. With his astute and critical observations that shall comprise the legacy of Rohith Vemula, he refused to fall for political polarization and bourgeois opportunism. He called for the revolutionary unity of the working class instead, and for a much more efficient and radical Left that would spark revolutionary spirits

A Mere F.I.R Wont Bring Justice To Rohith Vemula Even In Death!
By Samar

The tragic death of a young Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the University of Hyderabad is not merely the death of an individual. The sordid saga behind what drove him to take this extreme step exposes all the pretensions of the republic and its institutions. It exposes how the regressive structure of caste mobilizes the entire system against the Dalits, the ex-untouchables, six decades after untouchability was abolished by the constitution

Rohith Dies And Multiple Issues Remain Unanswered And Unresolved
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

Suicide of Rohith is conclusive evidence that in the country monopolistic cultural and hegemonistic ideas are being imposed by some people. Influential ones may be involved in the case of Rohith as FIR has been lodged against Central minister and the Vice Chancellor; is it solution?

The Suppression And Silencing Of Rohith Vemula
By Braj Ranjan Mani

In his short life, Rohith Vemula had faced and suffered many cruel slings and arrows of life. Yet he had a wide range of social, cultural and intellectual engagements that tell us about his restless energy, incendiary intellect, and a passion for transformative politics. In his death, he has left behind a grieving mother, a devastated family and a larger family of millions of enraged and empathetic Dalit-Bahujan, Leftist, Feminist and other activists who should now come together to fight a decisive battle against the ruling dark forces of caste, brahmanism and Hindutva

Shame On India's Dark Racism
By Dr Vacy Vlazna

Open letter to High Commissioner of India in Australia on Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide

Valuing The Spirit Of Dissent In Academic Spaces
By Students, Faculty And staff At National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore

The suspension of five Dalit students and the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a 2nd year PhD student have once again shaken up our perspective on democratic dissent in educational spaces. The undersigned students, faculty and staff at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore strongly condemn the actions of the administration and authorities at University of Hyderabad that led to the unfortunate chain of events

The Richest 62 Persons Own Halft The Worlds Wealth
By Farooque Chowdhury

The richest 62 persons now control more than half of the world’s money, says An Economy for the 1%, an Oxfam report. Total wealth of these 62 individuals is the same collective wealth of the world’s poorest 3.6 billion people. The report also finds: The rich-poor gap is growing wider. The ultra-wealthy group of persons is getting wealthier

Night of the Living Dead, Climate Change-Style 
By Bill McKibben

How to Stop the Fossil Fuel Industry From Wrecking Our World 

The Day After
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Not the movie about a fictional war between NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact and a nuclear exchange between the United States and the former Soviet Union, but the Day After the Implementation Deal of the Iran Nuclear Deal. America was quick to acknowledge Iran’s commitment by imposing sanctions on it for its defense capabilities

The New York Times's Double Standard On Iran's Nuclear Program
By Matt Peppe

The New York Times's calls for the strict enforcement of the nuclear deal and application of new sanctions on the Iranian government are not grounded in any moral or legal principles. They are a reflection of the Times's acceptance of the U.S. government's patronizing doctrine that threats to peace only emanate from countries outside of American control, who must be dealt with using coercion and punishment that the U.S. itself is always exempt from

New Parliamentary Elections In Serbia For
The “Stable And Safe Road” To The Future

By Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović

Serbia’s PM AleksandarVučić informed the nation on December 17th, 2016 after the session of the General Board of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SPP) that Serbia will face in the spring 2016 all three-level elections at the same time: the extraordinary parliamentary, the local and Vojvodina’s provincial. The purpose of the extraordinary parliamentary elections, according to the PM, is to obtain a full mandate for his SPP until 2020 in order to finish all designed progressive reforms in the country which is on the “stable and safe road”. However, the fundamental question is: what is the stable and safe road of the present-day Serbia?

Parallel Standards Offer Way Out Of Violence
By Kristin Christman

One step to a change in Mideast relations is a change in the U.S. mindset

NOW After US Media Has Again Suckered The World About Rev. King!
Time To Lower The Boom

By Jay Janson

Okay, once again during Martin Luther King's 2016 birthday celebrations, genocide justifying US media has suckered the world by suppressing King's condemnation of "US atrocity wars and covert violence on three continents since 1945 meant to maintain unjust predatory investments." Once again, the last year of King's life during which he was vilified as a traitor for condemning the mass murder that was being perpetrated by his countrymen in Vietnam and Laos, has been tightly blacked out of all mention. Let's get Beyond Vietnam translated into all languages

18 January , 2016

The Sucicide Of Dalit Scholar Rohith Vemula: A Caste Instigated Political Murder
By Samar

Rohith Vemula’s suicide cannot be seen as an act of desperation. Neither was his struggle an individual one, for grades for instance, nor there was a reason for him to go desperate suddenly. His suicide note makes it clear too. His letter is not a suicide note in fact, it is an indictment of the republic that had been failing its vulnerable citizens for long and has started to shed even the pretence of justice of late. This is our turn to not let his sacrifice go in vain

One Of The Rusticated Dalit Students Of Hyderabad Central University
Commits Suicide

By Countercurrents.org

Rohit Vemula, one of the five rusticated students of Hyderabad Central University committed suicide. He was found dead hanging in his room this afternoon. Five students were rusticated from the university and forced to vacate their hostel rooms . They were sitting on dharna in the campus for the last 10 days

I Loved Science, Stars, Nature And People.......
Rohit Vemula's Final Letter

I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense

You Are Brave, Rohith
By Farooque Chowdhury

Rohith, your silent funeral will blossom with our pain, with our untold pain, with our tears. Pardon us friend, we can’t stop shedding tears. The system is responsible for your act of killing yourself. The system has instigated you, we know, dear friend. Rohith, our beloved brother, you will travel to the stars as you aspire. Our love will be travelling with you

Rohit Vemula’s Is A Day Light Murder By Casteist State
By P Victor Vijay Kumar

Rohit Vemula’s death is not a suicide. Rohith has not hanged himself. He was given death punishment by this State. Rather, this is a day light murder of a life….not just that …it is a murder of hope !

Need To Cleanse The Education From The Dronacharayas
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

An insensitive institution can not create sensitive students. We hope the government will wake up. The suicide of Rohit Vemula is a warning to India's brahmanical establishment to mend its ways. We hope the government in 125th year of Dr Ambedkar's birth centenary will act in good faith otherwise things might go out of control

The Continuing Threat Against Eritrea Under The Pretext Of Human Rights
By John Graversgaard

How come that Eritrea has been targeted as a big human rights issue? Demonizing Eritrea has become an obsession in the ruling circles of the west and especially among people that have never been to Eritrea. Human rights is precious, but is being misused as an ideological weapon to crush and isolate nations not subservient to the designs of Washington. The establishment of a Special Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea(COI) must be seen in this light

Shout King Held All Americans Responsible For Atrocity Wars
For Lucrative Predatory Investments

By Jay Janson

What the world and most every Americans under the age of fifty, do not know (for it having been criminally suppressed in all US media for nearly a half-century), is that exactly one year before being assassinated, Rev. King condemned the US war in Vietnam and all previous "atrocity wars and covert violence on three continents since 1945 meant to maintain unjust predatory investments" and held all Americans, including himself, responsible for these atrocity wars for "not being willing to give up the pleasures and privileges that come from the immense profits from those predatory investment the wars and violence had been protecting

What Do Almost All War Criminals And Dictators Have In Common?
By Mickey Z.

From Harry Truman and his terror bombing of Japan to Saddam Hussein’s mass murders in Halabja. From Suharto’s bloody rise to power in Indonesia to the Contras making Reagan proud in Central America. From Ariel Sharon in Sabra and Shatila to Henry Kissinger’s legacy amongst the Vietnamese, the Kurds, the Chileans, the East Timorese, the Bangladeshis, etc. etc. etc. From the earliest of recorded history right up to Barack Obama and his drones, his kill list, and his Nobel Peace Prize, ruthless rulers are ubiquitous and seemingly inevitable. But what do almost all of them have in common?

Women –The Key Motors In Rural Financial Democracy
By Moin Qazi

In remote crannies of developing countries, poor women are pooling their talents and resources to build a new synergy of collective empowerment to transform their lives. These small clusters or collectives of women are known as Self-Help Groups

Who Will Speak For The Human Rights Defenders?
By Pushkar Raj

The Bombay high court judgment cancelling Prof. Sai Baba’s bail and initiating contempt proceedings against the writer Arundhati Roy is a major blow to the human rights defenders in the country

Supreme Court’s Verdict On Archaga’s Case: A Trickery To Legitimize
Brahminical Hegemony And Untouchability

By APSC-IITM

The Supreme Court’s verdict on a case moved by the brahmin priests of Madurai meenakshi amman temple against 2006 Tamilnadu governments GO states that “Any person who is a Hindu and possessing the requisite qualification and training can be appointed as a archaka (priest) in Hindu temples” has been delivered with deceitful statements to shield brahminical tyranny and untouchability

"Red Maize": Fiction Rooted In Truth
Book Review By Haleem Qarrar

Red Maize is set in a nondescript village – Morha Madana whose geographical location is clear to the extent that it lies close to the Chenab river and the Doda town. It’s a gut wrenching tale about a widow who loses all three sons to the conflict. Set in the period of late 90s the plot beautifully portrays the Kashmir conflict spilling over into the adjoining regions and the human tragedy associated with it thereof

Revamping Srinagar Airport
By Mohammad Ashraf

Will Srinagar ever have a truly International Airport? Yes, only if NAMO takes the initiative in his typically unconventional style!

16 January , 2016

Aruna Roy's Yatra Attacked In Rajasthan
Press Release

The 100 day Accountability Yatra which began in Rajasthan on 1st December is being undertaken by over 100 civil society organizations (under the banner of SR Abhiyan) advocating for transparency and accountability in implementation of social sector entitlements for the poor, was attacked ruthlessly at Jhalawar, the constituency of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Led by the local BJP MLA of Alkera and his followers, a strong mob of 40 to 50 stormed into the meeting and attacked the people who were conducting the yatra peacefully. The BJP MLA began the assault by attacking Shankar Singh the well known activist of MKSS

Greenpeace International Announces New Co-Executive Directors
By Greenpeace International

Greenpeace International has today named not only its first female International Executive Director, but two. Jennifer Morgan and Bunny McDiarmid will take up the reins in an innovative co-leadership role on 4 April 2016

From Copenhagen To India, Restoring The Link Between Farmer And Consumer
And Challenging The Corporate Hijack Of Global Food And Agriculture

By Colin Todhunter

While governments, trade agreements and regulatory agencies remain tethered to the interests of the powerful corporations that have come to define global food and agriculture in their own profit-driven image, local communities are fighting back with grass-root initiatives and city authorities are at least placing pertinent issues on the agenda for action and debate

Iran Stands Top With Over 1084 Executions In 2015
By Rahim Hamid

Iran records the highest ratio of executions worldwide relative to population

Freedom For Ashraf Fayadh
By Dr. Ludwig Watzal

Beginning of 2016, the Saudi Arabian dictatorship went on a beheading spree. 47 people were decapitated, among them the Shiite cleric and civil rights activist Nimr al-Nimr. None of them had a fair trial. Now, it's Ashraf Fayadh's turn, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia

What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Ask Martin Luther King Jr.
By John W. Whitehead

Freedom, human dignity, brotherhood, spirituality, peace, justice, equality, putting an end to war and poverty: these are just a few of the big themes that shaped King’s life and his activism. As King recognized, there is much to be done if we are to make this world a better place, and we cannot afford to play politics when so much hangs in the balance. It’s time to wake up, America

Life Expectancy Statistics: Russia From Gloom To Boom,
The USA In A Gloomy Boom

By Otto Kolbl

How do the people feel about the future of their country? For recent years, various opinion polls on this topic are available, but they often get conflicting results. Statistics about life expectancy can tell us much more than opinion polls. When an optimistic mood prevails, life expectancy goes up; when the outlook is gloomy, life expectancy goes down. This might sound somewhat crude, but this article will show that for the countries in Eastern Europe, the evolution of life expectancy over the last six decades provides an extremely interesting insight. It might come only as a half surprise that in recent years, the most upbeat country is Russia, and the country with the most persistent collective depression is the USA

Massive Lying By Omission In Mendacious Obama's
Final State Of The Union Address

By Dr Gideon Polya

Analysis of President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address reveals massive lying by omission. Not mentioned by Obama are that so far during his presidency 12 million Americans have died preventably; 50,000 US veterans have suicided; Americans in poverty reached circa 15% of the population ; the US national debt reached nearly $19 trillion; the Carbon Debt of the US and the world reached $90 trillion and $360 trillion, respectively; the US finally used up its fair share of the world's Terminal Carbon Pollution Budget; the US violently invaded the territory of a record 7 countries; and 120 million people died avoidably world-wide from deprivation on Spaceship Earth with Obama in charge of the flight deck

Reading Lenin In Modern Rome
By Gaither Stewart

I wonder if in the last insomniac hours his tired mind strayed from revolution and political intrigues, from successes and failures, and he saw himself again in the warmth of the blue seas of southern Italy among Capri fishermen calling out to him “il signor Drin Drin” is back

Chennai Floods Impact Survey Reveals Extent of Damage
By Concerned Citizens

We are yet to have a precise tabulation and description of what has been lost, destroyed and damaged. A group of concerned citizens involved in relief work post-Chennai floods, 2015 undertook a sample survey of 610 households (including migrants) across the city to assess losses suffered/damages incurred to homes, goods, occupational tools and also to get an idea of loss of working days. The purpose of this survey was to identify the exact quantum of losses sustained by the population and to direct government to compensate the populace for damages/loss accruing on account of the floods

15 January , 2016

Climate Holism vs. Climate Reductionism
By Richard Heinberg

Ecology, holism, and systems thinking are powerful tools for understanding ourselves and our world. If we start actually using those tools in earnest to address climate change and other related ecological and social dilemmas, we could save ourselves, our descendants, and a host of other living beings a great deal of unnecessary suffering

Turn Off The Lights
By Suprabha Seshan

The night is a hindrance to this patriarchal enterprise called civilisation. The fact that we can wilfully turn the night off and on, at the flick of a switch, adds to our delusion of having conquered the universe. The longest night of extinction, an apt metaphor for the state of things today, includes within it the extinction of the night. There has never been so little night till now. The extinction of the night is a necessary objective of human supremacists. They hunt darkness out for they know that it’s actually life bearing. With the floodlights of civilisation depriving the earth of its sleep, insanity spreads far and wide. We need to bring back the night

Gaza’s Children Grow Up With Trauma
By Isra Saleh el-Namey

There are classic signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, though as health care professionals at the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) never tire of pointing out, in Gaza there is never any “post.” GCMHP, Gaza’s best known mental health care provider founded in 1990, has noted a sharp rise in the number of children and adults with PTSD since the 2014 attack

#OccupyBernieSanders
By Mickey Z.

Fast forward to 2015-6 and the timeworn liberal script has been dusted off. This time, an old white establishment dude claiming to seek revolution has occupiers ready to #MarchForBernie on Jan. 23, 2016

Bundelkhand Now On A Grass Diet
By Asian Human Rights Commission

People in Bundelkhand are being forced to eat grass for survival. This dire situation is being aired in reports after report of news channels. Grass and weeds are traditional diet in the area, counter officials of the Uttar Pradesh government. Neither is entirely wrong

Conventional Wisdom More Relevant Than Scholastic Theories
By Moin Qazi

My experience of working with poor women emphasizes the fact that work is their foremost priority. Most poor women in villages are intelligent, hard-working and have nerves of titanium. They know that if they do not work, their families do not eat. All manner of self- employment—sewing, delivering small items, making handicrafts—could be facilitated with a small amount of capital for a sewing machine, a bicycle, or tools. Availability of decent loans is far more important to them than shaving a few points off the interest rates of those loans

'Woody Roots': Where Art, Identity And Entrepreneurship Find Expression
By Keerthi Prakasam

At one glance, Soona Rachel and Neethu Saji are two accomplished, very attractive women. But there is much more to them than what meets the eye, that make them plain unique. Today, these women make a strong case to those youngsters fed up of their monotonous corporate life. Their quest to make a living on their own, exploiting their own skill set has now given birth to 'Woody Roots'- a bold venture by women into carpentry. Breaking conventional norms and traditional mindsets, they hope to bring about a change in perceptions of many among us

An Ideal Model Worth To Be Followed
By Dr. Fayaz Ahmad Bhat

Government Degree College, Banihal, is a live example and a model, not only to be followed but also to be studied on scientific lines so that other institutions can benefit from it. The college reveals how non material variables like leadership are crucial and important for imparting “quality” education and turning shortcomings into virtues. The college is the best example of optimum use of minimum resources, a model worth to be followed

14 January , 2016

From Starfish To Whales: Climate Change Driving Unprecedented Die-Offs
By Deirdre Fulton

From seabirds to whales to antelopes to starfish, animal die-offs across the globe are raising alarm about the deadly impact of climate change on the world's ecosystems and their vulnerable inhabitants. Dozens of whales have been stranded and died on the Indian coast this week. At least 45 pilot whales have died in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, after more than 80 were stranded on the shore at Tuticorin

A New Era Of Global Protest Begins
By Rajesh Makwana

In line with the steady rise in social unrest over the past decade, it’s likely that we will witness an unprecedented escalation in large-scale citizen protests across the globe in 2016 and beyond

West Papuans Testify
By Jason MacLeod

We have come to testify. There is much that we want the world to know. We want you to travel with us to the remote places of Papua—Wamena, Paniai, the Jayawijaya Highlands, the Star Mountains, Mindiptana, Timika, Arso, Mamberamo, Biak, Merauke, Asmat and many other places. We want you to hear stories of suffering from the mouths of ordinary people. Our memories are clear and sharp

Replace Our Sick Narcotics Policies
By Eric Zuesse

Existing narcotics policies lock-up addicts, punish them, instead of deal with the problem, which is the explosion of burglaries and robberies that are produced by addicts. Those thefts are resulting actually from the inflated, black-market, price that addicts must pay gangsters to feed their addiction

Danger of Hindu Nation And Communists
By Nagesh Chaudhari

Prakash Karat, ex-chief of Communist Party of India Marxist, in his article, Winning back the people’ (Indian Express, 7th Januaery, ‘16) has taken a different stand on BJP vis a vis RSS. He writes, “There is a common misconception that combating communalism means defeating the BJP in elections. The electoral struggle alone cannot weaken and isolate communal forces. The RSS and its various front organisations are working constantly among various sections of society. Electoral defeats do not necessarily weaken the influence of communal ideology. It is important to wage the battle of ideas to counter Hindutva forces and other band of communalism.” It is a changed and new attitude of Prakash Karat and if it becomes the stand of the party itself, it will be a new realization. But, this realization has come too late

How Do We Navigate The Minefield Of Slothful Administration?
By Moin Qazi

I wondered several times that when there were so many government programmes for the welfare of rural poor why poverty was so endemic. Either the nets were not cast wide or there were too many holes blown in them. But money, as a senior programme officer told me, is irrelevant. ‘What is the point of putting more water into the bucket if it is already leaking so badly? The problem is not lack of money. It is the accountability of those who spend it’. Even the government feels that 85 per cent of development spending does not reach the poor. It is either sponged by the ‘delivery mechanism’-the consultants, advisers, their equipment or studies-or pocketed

Kashmir, A Rudderless Ship!
By Mohammad Ashraf

Mufti Sahib’s passing away seems to have set the ship of Kashmir once again adrift on an uncharted sea!

13 January , 2016

Obama’s Final State Of The Union: Lies, Evasions And Threats
By Patrick Martin

The final State of the Union speech delivered Tuesday night by President Barack Obama was a demonstration of the incapacity of the American political system to deal honestly or seriously with a single social question. Obama evaded the real issues that affect tens of millions of working people in America every day of their lives. He painted a ludicrous picture of economic recovery and social progress that insulted the intelligence of his television audience—and went unchallenged by the millionaire politicians assembled in the chamber of the House of Representatives

The Compelling Memoirs of Ali Abumghasib
By Ramzy Baroud

Ali Abumghasib knows little about the current intrigues of the Fatah Movement, or, perhaps, he is just not interested. Although he has dedicated most of his life fighting within its ranks, he never saw his membership in Fatah as his defining identity. For him, it was, and will always remain, about Palestine and nothing else. Now living in an old, rusty and tiny caravan somewhere in Gaza, Ali has no money, no family, but also no regrets. We spoke at length about his life. He wanted to share his story, and I wanted to understand what went wrong in what was once Palestine’s leading movement

“Suffragette”—Unapologetically Feminist
By Linda G. Ford

It was so refreshing, and surprising, to see “Suffragette” and see a seriously feminist film. The film was firmly based in its historical context, but it also is clear that the oppressive conditions those feminists fought have not disappeared

Gun Nuts Ain’t Scientists
By Mateo Pimentel

Gun violence and mass shootings are virtually an everyday occurrence in this country. And after the news breaks that the latest atrocity has taken place, you’re likely to hear a mixed-bag of “gun nuts” popping off in public about it. Time after time, they lose their heads about some untested solution that they swear to all things holy to be the silver bullet. “Everyone needs a gun!” they cry

The Struggle For Merdeka In West Papua
By Robert J. Burrowes

In Jason MacLeod's new book, 'Merdeka and the Morning Star: civil resistance in West Papua', in the failure to develop a comprehensive strategy of any kind, violent or nonviolent, to liberate West Papua is overwhelmingly evident. And MacLeod does an excellent job of identifying why this has happened as he provides us with an overview of the history and geopolitical circumstances of the occupation of West Papua as well as a history of the resistance, both violent and nonviolent, to this occupation. He then identifies what still needs to happen if Papuans are to develop and then effectively implement a comprehensive nonviolent strategy to achieve the richly textured and multifaceted merdeka to which they aspire

Publication Of My Collected Essays
By John Scales Avery

During the years 2012-2015, I wrote a number of articles on the urgent problems which the world is facing today, and also discussed the solutions that are available to us. Three collections of these articles and essays will be published by Irene Publishing. Volume 3 is already available on Amazon, and the other volumes will be there within a month or so

Violence In Malda: What Muslims Should Not Do
By Parvin Sultana

As two wrongs does not make a right, Kamlesh Tiwari’s hatred of Muslims cannot be countered by hatred of Hindus. What is required is a respect for the law of the land and not giving centre-stage to the rabble rousers. Muslims should not indulge in such violence in the name of avenging the honour of the Prophet. All those who believe in the idea of a secular nation based on mutual respect should condemn both Kamlesh Tiwari’s comments and violent protests at one go

Towards An Alternative In Economics
By Kashif Mansoor

The mainstream economics has been far from capable to promote an unbiased and balanced economic prosperity in all pervasive sense and has cast apocalypse on human beings with inequalities and injustices by way of immoral and indecent rationalistic philosophies, this urgently necessitates a deliberate thinking first at the desired humanitarian goals to be realized by an economic system and then continued efforts to bring in place such economic system which can overcome all the erstwhile discrepancies and anomies and hence deliver an inclusive socio economic happiness to all with no one left bereft of equal access to resources to realize his/her well being and each one given a sufficient moral orientation within a reasonably powered government structure to act in the interests of social welfare maximization without curbing their individual freedom rather disciplining it

Free Our Land And Water: Farmers Prepare Funeral Pyres For Self-Immolation
By National Alliance Of People's Movements

A team comprising of Medha Patkar, Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhana Bhargava, Jasvinder Singh (CPI (M)), Kamla Yadav, Ramashray Yadav, Raghvendra Singh, Ravindra Singh, and others met villagers affected by forced land acquisition in Bujbuja, Khurd, Katni where land is being acquired by Welspun Company for thermal power plant. Two villagers have already committed suicide to oppose the land grab in their area and also warned the govt. that if their land and water are not returned, they will burn themselves for which they have already prepared the funeral pyre. Women of Bujbuja are fighting tirelessly against the land grab

Looking Beyond The Pathankot Attack
By S.G.Vombatkere

The Pathankot attack provides the Parliamentary opposition with a stick with which to beat the ruling BJP. But whether or not PM Modi and/or the BJP suffer politically because of the alleged security lapses, and whether or not the Opposition gains political ground, the on-going political tu-tu-mein-mein only serves to divert attention from the fact that India does not have a coherent, stated policy or doctrine on national security. Addressing this serious shortcoming calls for focussing attention beyond the most recent security crisis that the Pathankot attack represents

Withdraw The Contempt Notice To Arundhati Roy
Press Release By Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakha Sangathan

The Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakha Sangathan, Odisha (GASS) is deeply concerned with the issue of contempt notice to writer Arundhati Roy by the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on 23rd December, 2015 for her writings in Outlook magazine (May 18, 2015 issue) titled ‘Professor, P.O.W.

NGT Struck Down The 'Environment Clearance'
Adopted During 1998-2003 By MoEF&CC

Press Release

National Green Tribunal(NGT), Western Zone Bench, Pune struck down the ‘Environment Clearance’ procedure adopted during 1998-2003 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India for granting the “Ex-Post-Facto Environmental Clearances” to the 23+ defaulting industries of Gujarat and others across the country

12 January , 2016

2016: Oil Limits And The End Of Debt Supercycle
By Gail Tverberg

2016 looks likely to be a much worse year than 2008 from a financial perspective. The problems will look similar to those that might have happened in 2008, but didn’t thanks to government intervention. This time, governments appear to be mostly out of approaches to fix the problems

The Refugee Tragedy And The European Union:
The Balance Sheet For 2015

By Martin Kreickenbaum

The barbaric treatment meted out to refugees fleeing to Europe has revealed before the whole world the inhumane and barbaric nature of the European Union. The EU responded to the hundreds of thousands of desperate people trying to escape the war-ravaged regions of the Middle East and North Africa or the social misery of the Balkans by sealing off the EU's external borders, erecting barbed wire fences, locking up refugees in detention centres and carrying out mass deportations

How European Are European Values?
By Nagothu Naresh Kumar

In the European context, an appreciation of ‘European values’ as products of a remarkable dialectic of ideas and material exchanges rather than singular social achievements means puncturing any essentialist conceptions about regions and embracing a topography of shared histories and future that can go a long way in tempering attitudes towards refugees in contemporary Europe. An understanding that follows from such a viewpoint does not search for or brag about stable, well-polished identities or ideas but appreciates fuzziness and fluidity of identities, as well as the forgotten amalgam of boundary-defying encounters that led to the constitution of European values

Sorry, We Could Not Quite Find The Time For Sexual Revolution!
By Deniz Bozkurt

Neither Middle Easterners nor North Africans are essentially sexual oppressors, harassers or rapists. The dogmatic world view and the cruelty towards women are not the inevitable fate of these geographies. They are simply the results of a colonial history followed by the promotion of radical Islam against anything that goes against western interests. So is the “refugee crisis” we are facing now. Even though the attacks in Cologne and other cities are abysmal, they are the effect of a history which did not constitute a safe background and time for sexual revolution

Congress Of Vienna 2015 For Global Stability Fails To Address Key,
Existential Nuclear, Poverty And Climate Change Threats

By Dr Gideon Polya

200 years after the 1815 Congress of Vienna re-organized post-Napoleonic Europe, the Canadian Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership in collaboration with a number of leading policy organisations and universities hosted a lavish Congress of Vienna 2015 to explore policies for a stable world order that unfortunately was opened by mass murderer Henry Kissinger and generated a Draft Report that - as set out in my tough critique, reality check and Alternative Report - is soft, wishy-washy, myopic and predicated on the Big Power- and Big Money-dominated status quo that kills 17 million people annually through deprivation and threatens to wipe out most of Humanity and the Biosphere

The Palestinians MUST Put Their Political Act Together
If Their Cause Is To Be Kept Alive

By Alan Hart

For several years I have been wondering, sometimes on public platforms and in writing, if Palestine is a lost cause. I have now come to the conclusion that as things are it is and will remain so unless the Palestinians, the occupied and oppressed and the diaspora, put their political act together in order to give their cause new life with some real hope of justice eventually

Jimmy Carter's Blood-Soaked Legacy - Part II
By Matt Peppe

Five months ago, I wrote an article titled “Jimmy Carter’s Blood-Soaked Legacy” about how the former President’s record in office contradicted his professed concern for human rights. Despite campaigning on a promise to make respect for human rights a central tenet of the conduct of American foreign policy, Carter’s actions consistently prioritized economic and security interests over humanitarian concerns

Obama Offers Definition of ‘Anti-Americanism’
By Robert Barsocchini

Obama has for approximately seven years censored thousands of pictures documenting US torture of Iraqis committed during the illegal US invasion of their country. The censored photos are supposedly “worse” than those leaked from the US torture/snuff facility at Abu Ghraib. The stated reason for censoring the images is that they would “inflame anti-American opinion”. Thus, by the president’s definition, “pro-Americans” are people who support or are apathetic towards torture and, presumably, the many other forms of imperio-terrorism, including aggression, while “anti-Americans” are people opposed to torture and other forms of imperio-terrorism

How Corrupt The U.S. Is: An Extraordinary Example
By Eric Zuesse

Out of the world's 223 countries, the U.S. has the world's second-highest incarceration rate: 698 per 100,000, just behind #1 Seychelles, with 799 per 100,000. Seychelles doesn't even have as many as 100,000 people (but only 90,024 — as many people as are in the city of Temple, Texas). By contrast, the U.S. has 322,369,319; so, the U.S. is surely the global leader in imprisonment

The State Of The Nation: A Dictatorship Without Tears
By John W. Whitehead

It doesn’t matter that the government has shown itself to be corrupt, abusive, hostile to citizens who disagree, wasteful and unconcerned about the plight of the average American.For the moment, Americans are continuing to play by the government’s rules. Indeed, Americans may not approve the jobs being done by their elected leaders, and they may have little to no access to those same representatives, but they remain committed to the political process, so much so that they are working themselves into a frenzy over the upcoming presidential election, with contributions to the various candidates nearing $500 million

Sri Lanka: The Constitution Making And Brutal Police Murder At Embilipitiya
By Asian Human Rights Commission

The Government has announced another attempt at constitution making in Sri Lanka which, this time is to begin, with the hope to complete the process, by the end of this year. A resolution to this effect has already been introduced in the Parliament and a Drafting Committee has been named. A valid question that begets asking is; what, does a constitution making in Sri Lanka imply? Some reflections of the alleged brutal murder in Embilipitiya, may provide some answers to this very important question about the purpose and direction of constitution making in Sri Lanka

Mufti, The Schematic Collaborator
By Abdul Majid Zargar

If Mufti’s schematic political career started with bringing Congress to State it ended with facilitating entry of RSS to Kashmir. It remains to be seen whether his daughter & likely successor does anything to reverse the process to bring a qualitative change & restore the constitutional sanctity of the State. Incidentally she has given a poor initial signal by giving preference to mourning over the more sacred duty of holding a public office

How Relevant Are Madrasas (Islamic Schools) In The Modern Age?
By Moin Qazi

Let the students of these madrasas acquire a better perspective and a larger worldview and let their knowledge be tempered with liberal thought. We should build a culture which allows the two streams of learning to replenish each other in enabling Muslims to lead lives that are as true to their faith as they are attuned to modem need

11 January , 2016

Our Wishes For 2016
By Subhendu Das Gupta

A wish list for 2016, for a just world

The Goebbelsian Turn At University Of California, Irvine
By Romi Mahajan

The recent hubbub over the involvement of the Dharma Civilization Foundation (DCF) with education at University of California, Irvine is an example that once again reaffirms the position of the Left that the edifice of higher education is fully tied to the power of money and is willing to forego its mission in order to collect cash. At the heart of the matter is the fact that an organization like the DCF, with clear RSS and Hindutva roots, can, via the power of money, have a public institution like UCI accede to stipulations that clearly fly in the face of academic objectivity and freedom. Hindutva is globalized, rich, fascist and good at PR and thought-control. The DCF’s ability to manipulate UCI is a clear example of this. Scholarship is about scrutiny and great scholarship comes from independent thinkers. The DCF types don’t want this; for this reason alone institutions like UCI should reject their money outright

Obama Seeks Silicon Valley Aid To Spy On Social Media
By Thomas Gaist

White House officials met with Silicon Valley executives Friday to discuss the US government’s expanding efforts to monitor and intervene in online social media and other forms of internet communication. The meeting, held in San Jose, California, featured high-level figures from Silicon Valley, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, and a government delegation led by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA Director Michael Rogers and FBI Director James Comey

Before Civilisation We Were The Most Social Of Any Life
By Lionel Anet

The synthetic nature of civilisation particularly capitalism is due to its contradictions, being social and competitive; it’s an unstable state that’s always and must be controlled but can never be stable, let alone fair and honest. Due to that unstable state cause by its diverse and competing interest of the world’s powerful few, it leaves most small business and its workers venerable to the unknown outcome of the competing interest of the 1%. In the last forty odd years of neoliberalist capitalism growth compulsion has damaged the ability of the planet’s and its life to maintain its self especially with the expected 9 billion people by the middle of the century. This is well beyond government controlled by capitalism to save anyone from its demise

Welcome To Israel’s Version Of Apartheid
By Jonathan Cook

The truth is that most Israeli Jews have long supported two Israels: one for them and another for the Palestinian minority, with further, even more deprived ghettos for Palestinians under occupation. The inhabitants of one Israel remain hostile towards, and abusive of, those in the other, who refuse to accept Jewish privilege as the natural order – just like the mob that insisted that their fellow citizens had no right to share a plane

Cycling Smart In Copenhagen: 'Smart Cities' Call For Smart Solutions
By Colin Todhunter

India is not Denmark, of course. Denmark is a small country with a low population. But, as in Mexico City, with its huge population and urban problems, India could learn much from Denmark’s attitude towards the bicycle. After all, smart cities call for smart thinking

America's Subservience To The Saud Family
By Eric Zuesse

Here is a photo of the end of Obama's bow to the King of Saudi Arabia (the complete bow was telecast — at 5:33 in this video — by Rupert Murdoch's Republican ‘news' operation, against Obama as being a closeted ‘Muslim,' not against King Saud, for his executions, slavery, or anything else; American politics is practically owned, on both its sides, by the Saud family, and Murdoch stirs bigotry — and religion, and religion-based hatreds — as much as the Sauds do; he's even a business-partner with at least one of the royal Sauds, and this is what America's ‘democracy' has come to)

Village Diary Of A Heretic Banker
Book Review By Dr S N Rao

Village Diary of a Heretic Banker is an excellent piece of work about Banker’s view of Village and Rural Development. It is an eulogy of banker’s perspective of financial empowerment of rural women and poor for poverty reduction in rural India. The book is a product of ‘three’ decades of his career as a rural banker which describes the financial situation in the village

Challenges To PDP After Mufti Mohammad Syeed
By Masood Ali Mir

Now when the chief patron, the most experienced and the seasoned politician Mufti Mohammad Syeed has passed away, his death has created a huge vacuum in the main stream politics of Jammu and Kashmir in general and in the power corridor of PDP in particular which is impossible to fill. Although PDP is very clear and straight forward about Syeed's succession things will not be very easy and smooth for the successor

A Poor Village Women’s Saga Of Empowerment
By Moin Qazi

Blindside the narrow turn off the Nagpur–Chandrapur highway, about 100 km from Nagpur is Wanoja, with a population of little over 1,500, has propelled into the limelight by emerging top dog and won a prize in Warora taluka’s cleanliness competition under the State-wide Sant Gadgebaba Gram Swachchhata Abiyan. And since then, good news is no longer at a premium for the village. The moving force behind the turnaround of fortunes, chorus villagers and the administration, are women from the Self Help Groups (SHGs) who have pulled Wanoja out of the sludge of local politicking

09 January , 2016

8 Signs You Are Living Under A Fascist Regime
By Kieran Kelly

Fascism as an ideological phenomenon has taken over much of the world's power elite and is very compatible with the Fascism and Nazism of old. Not only that, but the suit-wearing, anodyne new Fascists are ideologically, politically and militarily aligned with overt neo-Fascist and Neo-Nazi groups and individuals

Killings Of Palestinians In West Bank Hit Ten Year High
By Ali Abunimah

By the end of the year, at least 136 Palestinians had been killed and nearly 14,000 injured in the West Bank, according to the UN monitoring group OCHA, the highest figures since 2005. Twenty-four Palestinians were killed in Gaza, the vast majority by Israeli forces firing at demonstrators across the boundary fence, and around 1,500 were injured. Israeli casualties from violence by Palestinians in 2015 were the highest recorded since 2008, with 24 deaths and 350 injuries, according to OCHA

Video Evidence Of Environmental Disaster Underway In Vizhinjam
By Joseph Vijayan

Here are two videos that show the enviromental destruction caused by dredging for the Vizhinjam Transit Harbour Project! One shot on January 2, 2016 after the dredging started and the other shot in February, 2015. These two contrasting videos show how a unique marine ecosystem is being destroyed in the name of development. First video shows an ecosystem in destruction. The second video shot before the dredging started shows a heavenly ecosystem underwater. It is a unique ecosystem rich with corals, sponges and other forms of marine life. Do not think that all our sea bottoms are like this. There are only very few such areas. The area is close to only Wedge Bank in India, and one of only 20 in the entire world. This is like our Silent Valley forest in the land. Unfortunately, it is being destroyed forever

What If Plants Have Feelings, Too?
By Mickey Z.

By using the same experimental framework normally applied to test learnt behavioral responses in animals, biologists from Australia and Italy have “successfully demonstrated that Mimosa pudica -- an exotic herb native to South America and Central America -- can learn and remember just as well as it would be expected of animals.”

None Of The Above
By Rosemarie Jackowski

The biggest problem in defeating the democrats and republicans is that they are organized. We are atomized. This is a serious problem. The psyche of democrat/republicans is different from Independents and third party members. Members of the D/R party are usually group-thinkers. Independents, Socialists, Greens, etc. tend to be free-thinkers. How can we convince each other to back only one candidate? That is the only way our voices will be heard

Brahmanical Arrogance
By Anand Teltumbde

It is not the matter of dealing with some abusive Balagangadhara, who can be easily dealt with by any ordinary Dalit. It is a matter of knowing what the entire hindutva camp really stands for. On the one hand it seeks to create a cult of Ambedkar by memorializing everything that he set his foot on but on the other it condemns him as intellectual nobody. It is this hindutva core Balagangadhara inadvertently exposed, which is of value to the people in general and Dalits in particular

What Rural India Taught Me
By Moin Qazi

That inability to put oneself in the shoes of the poor and to keep on living the same way thinking “thank god I don’t have to live THAT way” just doesn’t work. Berating or patronizing rural folks is both culturally and professionally the most undesirable extension of any rural development executive’s personal trait. Unfortunately most aid personnel have cultivated this mind-set and approach. Since they never had extended homestays in the villages they would always carry the stereotyped notion of the poor as helpless people who need to be handheld through every stage

08 January , 2016

A Historic Event Or A Fraud? Critical Thoughts On
The Paris Climate Accord

By Saral Sarkar

If humanity can no longer indulge in the growth compulsions inherent in capitalism with its principle of competition in a free market economy, shouldn't the state(s) step in and order a stop in further economic growth? Shouldn't the state(s) then tell the people that they have to accept a contracting economy and all the consequences thereof? Shouldn't the state(s), from then on, plan an orderly withdrawal from the present mad economic system?

Obama's Tears
By John Chuckman

Had I seen the image of Obama, weeping over American gun deaths, seven years ago, I know I would have been deeply moved. It would have reinforced my view of him then as an empathetic, bright, and progressive politician. But the image comes seven years later, following a period of Obama’s proving himself an utterly cold and dry-eyed killer. I don’t know whether the recent tears were artificially induced, as by an irritant placed on a fingertip to be touched to his face at the right moment of his performance, or squeezed out from heretofore unknown political acting talent. Perhaps they just reflect a kind of strangely compartmentalized brain

Jewish-Israeli Passengers Hijack Airline’s Integrity
By Vacy Vlazna

Two passengers, on Sunday 3rd January, who in good faith had paid their fares, had passed security checks, boarded the Aegean Airlines flight from Athens to Tel Aviv unexpectedly found themselves at the centre of a racist onslaught by belligerent Jewish-Israeli passengers accusing the two passengers of being ‘terrorists’ and demanding their removal from the plane. The victims were attacked for one reason only- they are Palestinian … even though one carried an Israeli passport and the other an Israeli residence permit. For almost 2 hours, the Palestinians made a stand on their rights to stay on the plane but as the harassment and humiliation intensified from the bullies who had increased from 5 to 70 in number, the Palestinians agreed to disembark

New Years Eve 2016
By William Blum

I stayed up about two hours past my usual bedtime to watch the New Years Eve celebration in Times Square. For one reason only. To see happy people. A year like 2015 can do that to you. The sight of many thousands of young people standing in the cold for hours, hugging and kissing, screaming and laughing, was very precious. Also a bit unnerving

Latin America Has To Fight And Win!
By Andre Vltchek

For now, Argentina is lost and Venezuela is deeply wounded, divided and frustrated. Virtually everywhere in socialist Latin America, well-orchestrated and angry protests are taking place, accusing our left-wing governments of mismanagement and corruption. What was gained during those years of hard work and sacrifices, is suddenly evaporating in front of our eyes. And there seems to be no way to stop the trend in the foreseeable future. Whatever magnificent work our governments have done have been smeared. Western propaganda and its local serfs belittle the achievements of our people. In several countries, revolutionary zeal has almost entirely vanished

Will Middle East Crisis Worsen In New Year?
By Jack A. Smith

"Worse" may be near, or far. The Wahhabi Saud clan has just accumulated substantially more power and authority in the region, and — despite occasional differences in tactics —is blessed by the higher and more powerful strategic authority at the headquarters of modern imperialism on the banks of the Potomac

TransCanada's $15B Lawsuit Against U.S. on Keystone XL Presents Strong Case
By Eric Zuesse

TransCanada, the Canadian company that had been planning to build and own its proposed Keystone XL Pipeline carrying Canada's tar-sands oil to Texas Gulf Coast refineries for export to Europe and elsewhere, released to the public, on Wednesday January 6th, two legal presentations against the United States, because U.S. President Barack Obama, through his Secretary of State John Kerry, on 6 November 2015, had said no to TransCanada's proposed oil pipeline

Islam: The War Within
By Sazzad Hussain

The Saudi-Iran spate reflects the century old sectarian rift within Islam which otherwise provide an egalitarian vision for mankind. It is the typical Middle-Eastern paradox to be sectarian which hardly to be found among Muslims elsewhere. But the important fact is that this divide in Islam has put the Sunnis in side with the western hegemonic designs as it has been for the last eight decades and Shiites with the global forces that oppose it—Russia and China

Social Boycott Of Dalit Scholars : Locating Caste In Modern Context
By Agnes Amala. T

This University of Hyderabad incident could be the perfect preface to the larger version of oppression and it places in comparison to the caste ridden Indian society which has unfortunately penetrated and shed its poision into the most highly esteemed institutions of this country. In Particular reference to exertion of political pressure by BJP, it is not unusual given the way both their muscle, money and political power is used to suppress the voice of Dalits and minorities

Disposable Humans
By Abdul Majid Zargar

Let me reproduce only two disclosures,from among many spine-chilling revelations, from Kishlay Bhattacharya’s recently released book -‘Blood on my hands-the confessions of a Staged encounter’. This book is about confession by an army officer which splits open the anatomy of staged encounters & extra-judicial killings .Its author is a senior journalist who has been associated with broadcast television for twenty years. He has won many awards to his credit, made several documentaries & is author of few books

How Can We Meaningfully Engage With The Rural Poor
By Moin Qazi

The poor are yet to find their voice, even as the media (for that matter, the entire establishment) have become the megaphone of the classes that are prospering. The preference for growth over social justice, indeed, the argument that economic growth is the road to social justice, is advocated over and above increased spending. But is it required for accelerated growth to translate into inclusive growth? The answer, I fervently believe, lies in inclusive governance

Good Governance In Sri Lankan Context: For You But Not Yours Yet
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Today we are commemorating the first anniversary of the downfall of Rajapaksa governance, an autocratic reign which last over a decade. Sadly, in all honesty, we cannot say that we are celebrating the succeeding government because, in fact, one after coming to power we see little in the way of improvement with regard to the many core issues. Many of the allegedly corrupt politicians of the previous regime have the safe haven within the government

07 January , 2016

Dozens Of Students Beaten Up And Arrested In FTII
By Countercurrents.org

Dozens of students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) were beaten up inside the campus, arrested and forcefully removed from the campus. The students were protesting against arrival of Gajendra Chauhan to take charge as the chairman of India's premier film institute. Two female students and 23 male students were arrested. Shini J.K, one of the female students arrested said the female students were attacked by male police, a gross violation of human rights

Humiliating Dr. Sandeep Pandey, A Shame On India!
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

IIT BHU, Take Back The Termination Of Gandhian Magsaysay Award Winner Socialist Sandeep Pandey, Stop Following The Dictates of RSS Ideologues, Re-instate Him With Honour Immediately

Reinstate Integrity Of University Of Hyderabad
By Reinstating Five Expelled Students

By Dr Vacy Vlazna

Turning out Dalit students from their accommodation on political /racist grounds is not a good look for a university bent on attracting international interest. I urge UoH to reinstate the shamefully expelled 5 Dalit students immediately and unconditionally and respect student dissent against injustice by maintaining integrity against the Hindutva pressures

The Sauds' Impunity
By Eric Zuesse

No matter how bad the fundamentalist Sunni-Islamic Saud royal family are, America's government still supports them and condemns the countries that the Sauds hate: those are the Shia-led nations of Iran and of Syria

A Message Of Hope For The New Year
By Jack Balkwill

The good news is we are growing, winning progress and getting stronger. If we continue our progress, 2016 will begin the era where the mass social movement cannot be ignored

The Disingenuous Apologies For Israel's Assault On Palestinian Education
By Matt Peppe

As the American Historical Association (AHA) prepares to vote this week on a symbolic resolution that affirms support for the right to education in the occupied Palestinian territories, apologists for the Israeli regime's policies against Palestinians are putting forward nonsensical rationalizations for their opposition to the measure. Writing in History News Network, University of Maryland History Professor Jeffrey Herf essentially argues that his profession has no practical value: "as historians we have neither the knowledge nor expertise to evaluate conflicting factual assertions about events in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza." If historians should not evaluate the veracity of factual assertions about an issue then what exactly is the use of historical studies? To merely compile and organize documents?

Ignorance Has Been The Fall Guy For Racist Attacks, Too Long
By Mallika Kaur

“Ignorance of each other is what has made unity impossible in the past... Once we have more knowledge (light) about each other…a United front will be brought about,” said Malcolm X. To be sure, we need to continue countering ignorance. But, let’s face it: ignorance is not making murderers, something else is. Say its name

Terror Hub or Empire Of Fear
By Mara Ahmed

Americans are 353 times more likely to die from a fall, while cleaning their gutters or putting up Christmas lights, than from a terror intrigue. But even those odds are not satisfactory. The policing of thought, preemptive arrests, the profiling of minorities, even the targeting of the mentally ill, are all permissible in the quest for perfect security. The rest of the world knows that such a quest is bound to fail and that fear is a miserable way to live. Let’s hope we catch on soon

Reading Phule - Now No More Silences!
By Subhash Gatade

Young Marx - who with his Communist Manifesto (1848) - became a voice of the exploited and the oppressed the world over- died in 1883 whereas Young Jyotiba - who started with the first public intervention by opening a school for Shudra-Atishudra girls way back in 1848 - died in 1890. Today, more than 125 years after their demise, when a real possibility exists for the coming together of both these streams, question arises whether they will be able to take benefit of it or not?

Being A Christian In Sri Lanka – Historical, Political, Social, And
Religious Considerations - By Leonard Pinto

Book Review By Basil Fernando

Being a Christian in Sri Lanka is a book with a striking cover, showing the view from theSigiriya Rock Fortress (built 477 - 495 AD, a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Leonard Pinto, an ecologist and an author of works on ethics and social justice, has taught and researched at universities and industry in Australia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. In this enjoyable book, he has put together a vast amount of information on historical, political, social and religious matters with lucid analysis and sober reflections

Rural India Needs Simple Solutions, Not Grandiose Plans
By Moin Qazi

Tackling poverty requires an approach that must start with the people themselves and encourages the initiative, creativity and drive from below. The strategy must be at the core of any transformatory exercise if the results are to be lasting and enduring. I had the privilege of watching the village women acquire a sense of dignity once they were given tools for self-sufficiency. And I learned, maybe most importantly, to listen with my heart and not just my head. Are poor clients last in the long list of our objectives?

Kashmir’s Many “Gabbar Singhs”!
By Mohammad Ashraf

There are many characters like the notorious Gabbar Singh of the famous Hindi movie Sholay in the government, administration as well as in various other political parties of different“streams”in Kashmir!

The Mufti Of Symbolism
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Mufti was a farsighted pragmatic politician who was ready to go any length if the case was for the benefit of kashmiris. At the end, Kashmiris are needed to solve their own issues as it cant be resolved through political jargons and rhetoric of others elsewhere

06 January , 2016

Dalit Students In Hyderabad Central University Forced
To Vacate Their Rooms

By P Victor Vijay Kumar

Dalits are asked to vacate their habitation and find a place away from main stream living in Hyderabad. Yes, it happened in Hyderabad in no other place than Hyderabad Central University. Five Dalit students were asked to vacate their rooms and, as they resisted, the rooms were locked by the hostel administration. The formal reason , to our appalling minds, among other things, is that they have opposed death sentence to Yakub Memon !

US-Armed Saudi Coalition Cancels Ceasefire,
Renews Military Onslaught In Yemen

By Thomas Gaist

Saudi Arabia officially canceled a weeks-old cease-fire in its war against Yemen Saturday, ending a formal period of truce between the regime and the Houthi insurgency that began on December 15. The regime has already launched a fresh wave of airstrikes since declaring the truce over. According to the UN Saudi jets have pounded areas throughout the country over the last three days in attacks that have already destroyed a handful of civilian targets

You Can’t Report Truthfully On Israel Without Facing Its Wrath
By Richard Falk

Makarim Wibisono has announced his resignation as UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, the position I held for six years until June 2014. The Indonesian diplomat says that he could not fulfill his mandate because Israel has adamantly refused to give him access to the Palestinian people living under its military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. What I discovered during my six years as special rapporteur is that you can make a difference, but only if you are willing to put up with the heat

Palestine After Abbas: The Future Of A People At Stake
By Ramzy Baroud

Although intended to inspire his Fatah Party followers, a televised speech by Mahmoud Abbas on the 51st Anniversary of the group's launch highlighted, instead, the unprecedented crisis that continues to wreak havoc on the Palestinian people. Not only did Abbas sound defensive and lacking in any serious or new initiatives, but his ultimate intention appeared as if it was about his political survival, and nothing else

Revised Annual Per Capita Greenhouse Gas Pollution For All Countries –
What Is Your Country Doing?

By Dr Gideon Polya

The Paris Climate Change Conference failed Humanity and has locked in a catastrophic temperature rise of about plus 2.7 degrees C. All ordinary folk can do is to boycott the worst polluters. World Bank analysts have revised annual greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutions upwards by 50% to 64 billion tonnes CO2-e by properly accounting for land use for animal husbandry and the same approach has been used here to properly re-calculate annual per capita GHG pollution for all countries and hence the best targets for global Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to save the planet

Muslim Women: Breaking The Glass Ceiling Of Patriarchy
By Moin Qazi

It is clear that Muslim women’s empowerment, like many things, cannot be imposed on a country or a culture from the outside. Men and women within these conservative communities must first find their own reasons and their own justifications to allow women a fuller role in society. Increasingly, they are finding those reasons within Islam. Like men, women deserve to be free. It is only a matter of time until the day comes when they [women] test their chains and break free. As Rumi says in the Mathnawi, “Woman is a ray of God. She is not just the earthly beloved; she is a creatior , not the created.”

The Crux Of The Matter
By Vani Xaxa

As long as the adivasis were being socially equipped and empowered the State had no problem. As far as they moved out, “migrated”, quietly and did not resist the circumstances that forced them to move out, the State was not threatened. As long as the people did not scare the factories or brick kilns or construction industries with demands of more wages or threatened to pull back, the development sector (includes all who seek to the idea of “development”) was not affected. The moment the adivasis talked about the political rights of indigenous institutions, their organisation, their functioning, assertion, “resistance”, being vocal about their woes, it became a problem

05 January , 2016

Middle East Tensions Escalate In Wake Of Saudi Mass Beheadings
By Bill Van Auken

Tensions within the war-ravaged Middle East have escalated sharply in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s January 2 mass executions of 47 prisoners, including a prominent Shia cleric who had criticized the ruling monarchy and its suppression of the country’s Shia minority population. Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday, using angry protests against the beheading of the Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, as the pretext. On Monday, the Saudi monarchy followed up its severing of diplomatic links with the announcement that it is also banning all flights to and from Iran and also cutting trade ties. The Saudi actions were followed Monday by Bahrain and Sudan severing diplomatic ties with Iran as well. Another Sunni gulf oil sheikdom, the United Arab Emirates, downgraded its diplomatic relations with Tehran, but stopped short of severing all ties with Iran

America's Now-Aggressive War Against Russia
By Eric Zuesse

America's aristocracy is determined to take over Russia. Ever since the end of the Soviet Union and of its communism, the Cold War has become replaced by an increasingly hot war in which the U.S. and its allies are expanding NATO right up to Russia's borders, and imposing against Russia what the U.S. refused to accept being imposed upon itself during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: nuclear checkmate! 

Kosovo: NATO’s Success Story?
By Dan Glazebrook

The ‘lesson’ of Kosovo, then, is not that “airpower works” or any other such nonsense. The real lesson is what it reveals about NATO’s formula for the destruction of independent regional powers - relying on a combination of aerial bombardment alongside the empowerment of local sectarian death squads, who come to dominate the political scene in the aftermath, obliterating the rule of law and guaranteeing a dysfunctional state incapable of providing either dignity or security to its citizens. This was the same formula that was used on Libya in 2011 and currently being attempted in Syria today

Playing The Government’s Game: When It Comes To Violence, We All Lose
By John W. Whitehead

This is exactly what those who drafted the U.S. Constitution feared: that laws and law enforcers would be used as tools by a despotic government to wage war against the citizenry. That is exactly what we are witnessing today: a war against the American citizenry. Is it any wonder then that Americans are starting to resist?

On Women, Coding And Capabilities
By Mateo Pimentel

In advanced industrial societies where coding reigns supreme, the social relations of science and technology have largely restructured the “historical positions” of women. Some have categorized such “women’s places” in advanced capitalist societies as the home, market, work place, state, school, hospital and church. One more task is thus to identify “women’s places” in coding and other software engineering spheres in order to reveal how power structures and social life are further plagued by a lack of equal worth

Dress Codes: Culture or Patriarchy?
By Nikita Azad

On January 1, 2016, many pilgrims had gone to various temples in Tamil Nadu to seek blessings from god for the next year, where women were turned back, and sent home for wearing western clothes, jeans, or shorts. It happened because in December the Madras High Court ordered temple authorities in Tamil Nadu state to refuse entry to anyone wearing jeans, bermuda shorts, skirts, short-sleeves or tight leggings to "enhance spiritual ambiance"

No Hope Of Justice For Indian Farmers
By Moin Qazi

India’s economy may be soaring, but agriculture remains its Achilles’ heel, the source of livelihood for hundreds of millions of people but a fraction of the nation’s total economy and a symbol of its abiding difficulties. In what some see as an ominous trend, food production, once India’s great pride, has failed to keep pace with the nation’s population growth in the last decade. The cries of Indian farmers can hardly be neglected by the leaders of a country where two-thirds of people still live in the countryside

Lodha Committee Report Cleans The Dirt Of Corruption In BCCI
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

Lodha committee report is not a report solely on the BCCI but it also indicates that all is not well in the Indian politics. The penetrating efforts of Indian politicians in the glamorous world of cricket represented by BCCI and state bodies are not good for any one. Politicians must learn this message from the report

04 January , 2016

Outrage Over Mass Execution In Saudi Arabia
By Bill Van Auken

Washington’s closest ally in the Arab world, the dictatorial monarchy of Saudi Arabia, ushered in the New Year with a torrent of blood, simultaneously executing 47 prisoners. This wave of state murders unfolded at 12 separate prisons across the kingdom. At eight of them, the condemned were beheaded, while at four others they were cut down by firing squads. The headless corpses were then crucified and left hanging in public as a hideous warning to any who would even contemplate opposing the absolute power of the ruling royal family

Saudi Executions: Some Possible Consequences
By Chandra Muzaffar

The execution of 47 people by the Saudi authorities on the 2nd of January 2016 reinforces my deeply held conviction that the death penalty should be abolished. No State should have the power to impose the death penalty on anyone. It is a right that can be abused and misused so easily. As of now, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. In Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, the number of people put to death by the State has seen a big increase, from 90 in 2014 to 157 in 2015. Another country in West Asia which had also executed a huge number of people in 2015 is the Islamic Republic of Iran: 694 between 1 January and 15 July

America's Vampire Aristocracy
By Eric Zuesse

On January 2nd, America's NBC News bannered “Arab Spring Cleric Nimr al-Nimr Among 47 Executed by Saudi Arabia,” and, one-third of the way into their report, showed this tweet:“Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr along w/ al Qaeda members is straight from Assad's playbook - lumping nonviolent activists with terrorists. Even when Sunni-Islamic extremists, the Sauds, perpetrate mass-murder, in Saudi Arabia and not only in Yemen and in Syria, the U.S. ‘news' media find some way to smear their audience's minds with the demon, “Bashar al-Assad,” as if Assad actually had anything to do with it

The Judiciary And The Human-Right Violations Of ‘Democratic’ States
By Sukumaran C. V.

How can expressing one’s opinion on the Court’s denial of bail to a person with 90 per cent disability be ‘interfering in the administration of justice’? Who is lowering down the image of the judiciary—the judges who deny bail to a completely disabled person even when India is party to international covenants on disability rights, and Indian law expressly forbids the incarceration of a person who is disabled as an undertrial for a prolonged period or writers like Arundhati Roy? And what is the selfish motive of Arundhati Roy?

Progress Can Kill: Survival Report Reveals World’s Highest Suicide Rate
By Survival International

A new report published by Survival International reveals that the appalling suicide rate among the indigenous Guarani Kaiowá people of southern Brazil is the highest in the world. The rate of self-inflicted deaths within the tribe is 34 times the Brazilian national average, and statistically the highest among any society anywhere on earth. The report, “Progress can Kill”, exposes the devastating consequences of loss of land and autonomy on tribal peoples. As well as the shockingly high suicide rates among tribes, it also reveals high rates of alcoholism, obesity, depression and other health problems

Visits And Conversations In A Kabul Winter
By Kathy Kelly

Aaron helps build a “flower house” to shelter new seeds. He forges links with people who might otherwise be forgotten, and urges us to sit down with each other and talk. These are small seeds, and we shelter and nurture them in our hope to find future generations ready to abandon the violence of economic and environmental exploitation, --young people convinced that war is futile, whose empathy for neighbors in need steadies and energizes them

Kissinger To Kurds: F*ck ‘em If They Can’t Take A Joke!
By Mickey Z.

When asked to explain America’s duplicity towards the Kurds, Kissinger delivered a one-liner that effectively sums up the perpetual purpose of phallocentric, necrophilic U.S. foreign policy: “Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.” Let’s keep this in mind as we peruse this year’s corporate media headlines and listen to the latest candidate-criminals pontificate about their “plans” for tackling the “crisis in the Middle East.”

Pharming
By John Scales Avery

A major global public health crisis may soon be produced by the wholesale use of antibiotics in the food of healthy farm animals. The resistance factors produced by shoveling antibiotics into animal food produces resistance factors (plasmids) which can easily be transferred to human pathogens. A related problem is the excessive use of pesticides and artificial fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers in agriculture. Pharming is not a joke. It is a serious threat

Black And Blonde
By Linh Dinh

All of the anti-cop graffiti I’ve seen in Germany are written in English, by the way. This is only appropriate since many of these radicals’ firmest and most up-to-date beliefs have also been imported from the USA. Even the slogans are often the same, i.e., “NO MAN IS ILLEGAL.” Believing themselves so progressive, they’re actually just puppets of the empire. No Arminiuses, they’re bit players in Rome’s master scheme. Media masturbated, they’re preparing their own kind for rape

Comrade, Why Can’t You Say We Had Ambedkar…?
By T Venkateshwarlu

In four day Communist Party of India (Marxist) plenum in Kolkata recognized ‘Social oppression’ is the key area to organize the people and identified two main problems of people that ‘Economic exploitation’ and ‘Social oppression’. It is a good change to recognize social oppression as a key problem of people but it stopped short of recognising its own failure in understanding India's caste phenomenon

The Faultlines In Our Battle Against Poverty
By Moin Qazi

Tackling poverty requires an approach that must start with the people themselves and encourage the initiative, creativity and drive from below. The strategy must be at the core of any transformatory exercise if the results are to be lasting and enduring. I had the privilege of watching the village women acquire a sense of dignity once they were given tools for self-sufficiency. And I learned, maybe most importantly, to listen with my heart and not just my head. Are poor clients last in the long list of our objectives?

Leave Kashmiris Alone!
By Mohammad Ashraf

Indo-Pak bonhomie is welcome but it would be successful only if both countries decide to leave Kashmiris alone by declaring Kashmir as neutral territory!

02 January , 2016

Mass Joint Funeral Held For 14 Palestinians In Hebron
By Ma’an News Agency

Thousands of mourners flooded the streets of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron to attend the joint funeral of 14 Palestinians whose bodies were returned by Israel the night before. The bodies were among 23 handed over by Israeli authorities on Friday night, in line with a decision made by Israeli officials to withhold the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out alleged attacks on Israelis

Syria Is The Middle Eastern Stalingrad
By Andre Vltchek

In Stalingrad, millions died so we could live. Nothing was left of the city, except some melted steel, scattered bricks and an ocean of corpses. Nazism was stopped. Western expansionism began its retreat, that time towards Berlin. Now Syria, quietly but stoically and heroically, stands against Western, Qatari, Saudi, Israeli and Turkish plans to finish the Middle East. And the Syrian people have won. For how long, I don’t know. But it has proven that an Arab country can still defeat the mightiest murderous hordes

God Is Not In His Heaven And All Is Wrong With The World
By Sukumaran C. V.

The world today direly needs love and tolerance and non-violence. To have such a world, the U.S. and the West should retrospect and shun their predatory economic policies that create terror and terrorists. And the true followers of Islam should try to free the religion from the grip of the fanatics and democratise it

Is Truth A Casualty In Media’s New Paradigm
By Moin Qazi

Journalism of courage is no longer hit-and-run guerrilla warfare. It’s a medium of empowerment by bringing to light information that either somebody in the establishment is trying to hide or something that others may not have had the integrity, intellect or courage to discover, print and then follow up until other institutions, from the media to the judiciary, join in and take the idea to its logical conclusion

Endless Racism In The Iranian Model Of The Nation-State
By Ali Badri

Five large ethnic groups live in Iran under the discriminatory policy and denial of all their basic rights of the Persian state, which uses occupation to suppress their rights and voices. Arab (Ahwaz territory), Kurds (Kurdistan territory), Baluch (Baluchistan territory), Turks (Azerbaijan territory), Turkmen (Turkmen Sahra territory) are living under the conditions mentioned above. This article could not cover f all the rights which are restricted or taken away from these peoples. From the right of choosing ethnic names for their children to the right of learning in the mother tongue, Iran did not only deprive these peoples of their rights but also has taken steps to make the populations Fars-centric

Travails Of Being A Muslim In India: Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan
And The Intolerance Debate

By Ram Puniyani

To say that Indian Muslims are better off than the Muslims in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia is degrading our own system which has emerged due to the freedom struggle, our system which is trying to keep Indian Constitution as the reference point. Needless to say we do need a course correction and those following the politics in the name of religion need to be countered to preserve our democratic-plural values

01 January , 2016

New Year Could Be Happy If…
By Satya Sagar

The turning of a page in the calendar and the arrival of yet another New Year makes no difference to the way the world works– spinning as it does in tandem with the wheels of power, commerce, race, gender and human hubris. And yet it is a naïve tradition I have been maintaining for some time now – on the 1st of January - I write up a list of wishes I desperately want to come true in the New Year

There Would Have Been "Something Wrong" If The US Had NOT Bugged Netanyahu!
By Alan Hart

When Republican Representative Devin Nunes informed the media that the House Intelligence Committee of which he is chairman will look into the Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. spied on (bugged) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during the discussions and negotiations for a nuclear agreement with Iran, he said, “We’re going to play this right down the middle and determine whether or not somebody did something wrong.” The case for the assertion proclaimed by my headline is as follows

Celebrating 22 Years Of Zapatismo
By Hilary Klein

The anniversary of the EZLN’s uprising is a chance to reflect on the Zapatista movement’s achievements and lessons that are still relevant today

Notes From Kabul
By Carolyn Coe

A few sketches of hope from war torn Kabul

Politics And Anti-politics—Thoughts About Most Beloved Greek Words
By Gaither Stewart

The synthesis of the two variants would require America’s cognizance of the reality that the consequence of its blind insistence on world domination will be universal conflagration and the probable extinction of the human species. America must join the rest of mankind. As a first step, America must show genuine atonement for the ills its hamartia—i.e. evil conviction of its exceptionalism—has wrought on mankind

Taliban Strikes Again And Again
By Mudassir Fatah

The abrupt resurgence of the Taliban is seen as an outcome of many factors, mention may be made of the major withdrawal of the NATO from Afghanistan, and the transformational character of ISIS with its capability to wreak havoc across the continents which is now a key concern of the world community. The focus of the world community shifted abruptly towards the ISIS which allowed the Taliban to gradually intensify its operations and attacks on the Afghan security forces and installations, with relatively greater impunity the attacks didn’t invite any harsh condemnation from the international community

Cry Me A River
By Suprabha Seshan

Author Suprabha Seshan writes: ‘The words, thoughts and images in this piece are traces left in my life by various river people, including activists and ecologists. The voice however, is singular: of a woman by the Kabini River in southern India, listening to the news and thinking of women along the Chalakudy River fighting the Athirapally dam.’

Rural Development Tourism –A New Indian Fad
By Moin Qazi

There is a new phenomena catching up with the corporate world .It is,rural development tourism—brief visits which may be part of a CSR initiative of corporate houses who plant saplings in a few villages and then spend a fortune to run massive banner lines tomtomming their commitment to Rural India

2015: India’s Degrading Journalist Murder Index
By Nava Thakuria

As the year passes off, India stands today at an awkward position losing as more as five journalists to assailants in 2015, which is higher than the tolls in previous year. While the robust media in the largest democracy of the globe had lost only two scribes (MVN Shankar from Andhra Pradesh and Tarun Kumar Acharya from Odisha) to goons in 2014, the statistics have gone up this time. In addition to the murders of five journalists, the year 2015 also reported several cases of assault and even suspected deaths of media persons across the country

 

 



 



 

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