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15 July, 2003

A Global Left Turn?
By Andreas Hernandez

As the imperialist forces were waging a war to colonize Iraq a silent revolution was occuring on the other side. Signs of a new global order have begun to unfold. This tremendous organizing on a global scale, directly challenges a uni-polar world

Thirst Below Sea Level
By M Suchitra

Despite being enriched by two monsoons and four rivers, Kerala's Kuttanad region has become `a desert of backwaters' after many developmental trials

Quetta And Surplus Jihadis
By Dr Farrukh Saleem

Ronald Reagan had taught Pakistani generals the fine art of jihad. The Afghan war over, the jihadi surplus was released away from Pakistan in the direction of Kashmir. Other destinations included Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, the Philippines and parts of the Middle East

Ayodhya: A Future Bound By The Past
By Sumanta Banerjee

Fearful of an adverse judicial verdict, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others of their ilk are now keen on an out-of-court settlement of the Ayodhya dispute which will put an end to the court cases against them

13 July, 2003

Pipe Dreams Of Iraqi Oil
By Faisal Islam and Oliver Morgan

The oil has started to flow at last from Iraq. Millions of barrels must flow soon to pay for reconstruction contracts

'Disappearances' In Kashmir
By A G Noorani

The disappearance of large numbers of persons in Kashmir, what the UN Declaration on the subject terms as 'enforced disappearance', is a matter of national shame

12 July, 2003

Anatomy Of A Quack-Mire
By Jim Lobe

The 'Q' word--for quagmire--not to mention the 'V' word, for Vietnam--is back in mainstream discourse as each day appears to bring the killing of at least one more U.S. or British soldier

The Holy War Israel Wants
By Jonathan Cook

The inhabitants of Nazareth, Israel's only Arab city, often talk of the "invisible occupation": although they rarely see police -- let alone soldiers -- on their streets, they are held in a vise-like grip of Israeli control just as much as their ethnic kin in neighbouring Palestinian cities like Jenin and Nablus are

Hating Romila Thapar
By Subhash Gatade

Why the Hindutva brigade has set its sights on India’s most distinguished historian

Best Bakery Was 37th Riot Acquittal
By Leena Misra

There have already been 36 riot cases where trials have been conducted and the accused were acquitted since the witnesses either did not turn up or they turned hostile, and the Best Bakery case was the 37 th

11 July, 2003

Bush in Africa
By Mark Weisbrot

President Bush's five-day, five-country tour of Africa has had political observers wondering: is this just another photo-op

Harry Potter And The Childish Adult
By A.S. Byatt

Booker Prize winning novelist A.S.Byatt dismisses the latest instalment of the Harry Potter adventures as below par "ersatz magic" which lacked the skill of the great children's writers and catered for readers with stunted imaginations

A Story From The Heart Of Israel's Secret Prison
By Mohammad Daraghmeh

A Palestine business man who was incarcerated in a secret Israel prison speaks about the 38 days of his continuous torture

Crisis Of Archaeology
By Irfan Habib

If the unprecedented court order to excavate the Babri Masjid site for historical evidence whether there existed a temple previously, did not do worse at Ayodhya, part of the credit goes to the numerous archaeologists, who maintained a constant vigil at the excavations.

10 July, 2003

Bush's War Against Evil
By James Carroll

President George Bush is out to ''rid the world of evil.''After trying out his programme , first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, has the United States, become an instrument of evil?

Global Poverty and Progressive Politics
by Thabo Mbeki

If Progressive Politics is to Have Any Meaning, it Must Start From the Reality That You Can't Overcome Global Poverty Through Reliance on the Market

A Wall In Their Heart
By Meron Rappaport

A report on the Apartheid wall

09 July, 2003

Media: The Lying Machine
By Satya Sagar

We have to tame the lying machine to win back our sense of reality

Our water, Their Profits
By Jonathan Leavitt

Twenty years from now, there will be a war somewhere in this world, but that war will not be an "oil war" but a "water war"

Muslim Women On The Move
By Asghar Ali Engineer

Muslim women are on the move. They are questioning the traditional interpretations of the Qur’an in respect of women’s rights and demand equal rights for men and women

The Rat In The Grain- The Looting Of Iraqi Agriculture
By Jeffrey St. Clair

The situation in the fields of Iraq continues to rapidly deteriorate. The banks, which provide credit and cash, have been looted, irrigation systems destroyed, road travel restricted, markets closed, warehouses and grain silos pillaged

08 July, 2003

The Phoney War
By Andrew Grice and Ben Russell

Tony Blair finds himself in a tough spot after an inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee concluded that "the jury is still out" on the accuracy of the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons, issued last September

Murdered At The Museum
By Libby Brooks

Richard Wild was shot dead outside Baghdad museum on saturdya morning. He is the 17th journalist to be killed in Iraq since the conflict began, and the first to die since US forces entered the capital in April

Fear, Pain, and Shame in Aceh
By Lesley McCulloch

In the police stations of Aceh, in Indonesia's far northwest corner, fear is the daily diet of the detainees. Not fear of the outcome of a due legal process, but fear of torture by Indonesian police to force a false confession

Democracy In Jordan?
By Toujan Faisal and Ian Urbina

For the first time since 1997, Jordanians went to the polls last month to vote for parliament, and by most accounts the elections went smoothly. But Jordan is still a long way off from embracing true democratic reform

The Return To Muthanga -An Affidavit
By C.K Janu and M. Geethanandan

An affidavit released by the tribal leaders on the violent incidents at Muthanga in February in which a tribal and a police man lost lives, and which was followed by violent reprisal of the tribal community by the government of Kerala

07 July, 2003

Will the Hudna last?
By Uri Avnery

After "Intifada" (shaking off) and "Shahid" (martyr), another Arabic term has entered the world's vocabulary: "Hudna" (truce)

Treat Them As Human Beings
By Gideon Levy

As long as mothers are giving birth and infants cannot get to hospital on time and return home in a humane way, as long as a groom cannot get to his wedding - there will be no quiet in Isreal and Palestine

Segregation Wall Completely Isolates
Palestinian Villages

The residents of Nazlat Abu Nar, Nazlat Isa, and Baqa al-Sharqiya in the northern West Bank, say they have become completely cut off and isolated from the rest of the West Bank because of the segregation wall

What Will They Do To Kashmir Now?
By K Balagopal

India and Pakistan think that the dispute is between them and ignore the people of Kashmir. And now they have the assistance of the world's primary rogue state

06 July, 2003

Iraq Human Toll - The Untold Story
By Ed Vulliamy

As news reporters tracked troops on the road to Baghdad, much of the suffering and loss of ordinary Iraqi civilians was left untold. Until now. In one of the finest articles to have come out of occupied Iraq , The Observer foreign correspondent Ed Vulliamy goes in search of their stories

Iranian Student Movement:What's in the Cards?
By Mozghan Bahar

In Iran, the national day of protest in solidarity with students struggle for democracy is approaching fast (July 9, 2004). What is in the cards?

What's Happening In America?
By Eliot Weinberger

America doesn't feel like America any more. The climate of militarism and fear, similar to that of any totalitarian state, permeates everything

‘Trembling With Fear, We Lied In Court’
By Abhishek Kapoor & Ayesha Khan

Barely one week after the court set free all 21 accused in the Best Bakery massacre in the Gujarat riots, Sehrunissa Sheikh, one of the main witnesses and wife of the bakery owner, has come out and told The Sunday Express that she lied in court ‘‘trembling with fear’’ for her life

The Social Engineering Of Gujarat
By Hemant Babu

The ongoing violence and its broadening social and geographical base in Gujarat is a consequence of the political recasting of social identities

05 July, 2003

Affidavits From Eyewitnesses To Rachel Corrie Killing

Affidavits given by Nicholas James Porter Durie ,Joseph Carr,
William George Hewitt,Gregory S. Schnabel,Thomas Edward Dale,Richard, J.A. Purssell on the gruesome murder of the pece activist Rachel Corrie in Palestine

Israel Defies Peace Plan with Land Grab On West Bank
By Chris McGreal

In flagrant breach of commitments under the US-led road map to peace, the Israeli government has confiscated hundreds of acres of Palestinian land on the West Bank this week

Iraqis Wait For US Troops To Leave
By Jonathan Steele

"I'm an Arab and I will not accept disrespect. Tell them please. The American people must know that Iraqis no longer trust America"

Broken Men, The Pre-Untouchables
By B.R. Ambedkar

Excerps from f B.R. Ambedkar’s 1948 work "The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? "

Untouchability, The Dead Cow And The Brahmin
By B.R. Ambedkar

Excerps from f B.R. Ambedkar’s 1948 work "The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? "

Contempt For Budhists As The Root Of Untouchability
By B.R. Ambedkar

Excerps from f B.R. Ambedkar’s 1948 work "The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? "

04 July, 2003

Imperial History Repeats Itself
By Randeep Ramesh

Once again, Indians are being asked to fight Iraqis for empire's sake

Don't Send Indian Troops To Iraq

Any decision to agree to the American request to send Indian soldiers to serve on the so-called stabilisation force in occupied Iraq will be illegal and unacceptable

Blah, blah, blood
By Rajmohan Gandhi

VHP plan to use the Shivaji-Afzal Khan picture as a weapon; an inspiring example of what Hindus should be doing, and also to provoke Muslim violence which would serve as a pretext for a pogrom of the post-Godhra kind

The Song Of The Sufi
By Sagarika Ghose

Track II diplomacy is far too mushy: Let’s get real

Indira's Ire
By Indira Jaisingh And Malini Ghose

Indira Jaising about the shortcomings of the Domestic Violence Bill

03 July, 2003

Reaping The Whirlwind

In an astonishing announcement on global warming and extreme weather, the World Meteorological Organisation signalled that the world's weather is going haywire.

'Maintaining Imperial Order'
By Anna Pha

The prophets of the new American empire have become so arrogant that they do not hide their objectives and the ways by which they intend to enforce their domination. This article, the first of three, brings you what their spokespersons have said

We Still Need Feminism
By Natasha Walter

Feminism is pronounced dead every few years, even though its basic goals have never been achieved. Despite the strong awareness of discrimination,people tend to see their experience of inequality as a private rather than collective experience, one that requires private rather than collective solutions

11 Million Forgotten Children
By Peggy Peck

While the world's daily news headlines track the troubles in the Middle East and the latest emerging diseases -- SARS, monkey pox and West Nile virus -- nearly 11 million children are dying quietly, victims of the ancient villains: diarrhea, malaria and measles.

The Constitution And Reservation
By P. B. Sawant

The Supreme Court of India in all its decisions on reservation has interpreted the expression `backward classes' in Article 16 (4) to mean the "socially and educationally" backward. It also emphatically rejected "economic backwardness" as the only or the primary criterion for reservation under article 16 (4) and observed that economic backwardness has to be on account of social and educational backwardness.

How 'liberation' has brought anarchy to Kabul,
and now history is repeated in Baghdad

By Robert Fisk

For Fallujah, read Kandahar. For Baghdad, read Kabul

Circle Of Mistrust
By Kuldip Nayar

The core issue is not Kashmir, it is mutual suspicion

The India-Pakistan Odyssey
By Imtiaz Ahmad

Peace is not a one-way street. It has to be achieved through joint efforts

A Devious Ayodhya Solution Will Fail
By Praful Bidwai

There must be no humiliating, dishonourable, unjust compromise, which erases the crime committed against Indian secularism in December 1992

Clandestine Survey Of Christians And
Muslims In Kerala

The Home department of the central government is conducting a clandestine survey of Christians and Muslims to collect information on their churches,mosques and the related institutions like schools or orphanages.

02 July, 2003

The Dismantling Game
By Jonathan Cook

What is going on in the West Bank is only a game. Settlers quietly re-establish the outposts after Israeli army dismantles them

Picking Up The Pieces In Gaza
By Peter Hansen

The loss of palestinina homes to the maws of Israeli military bulldozers or powerful explosive charges is now so commonplace that it fails to make the grade as news

Uribe's Onslaught
By Justin Podur

Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe Velez, Unleashed a country-wide assault on all fronts in June on its citizens

Blacks, Science And National Pride
By Kancha Ilaiah

Positive capitalist ethics evolves in a civil societal environment where the basic consciousness of spiritual democracy expands. Indian capitalism functions in an environment of spiritual fascism

Muslims Recant, and Hindus Are Acquitted in Riot Trial
By David Rhode

The faith of India's 140 million Muslims in the country's commitment to equal justice is again being tested in Gujarat

01 July, 2003

The Internet Under Surveilance
By Vinton G. Cerf

Publication of second annual report on cyberspace : "The Internet under Surveillance - Obstacles to the free flow of information online" This report is about attitudes to the Internet by the powerful in 60 countries, between spring 2001 and spring 2003. The preface is by Vinton G. Cerf, who is often called the "father" of the Internet.

The Homecoming
By Sa'id Ghazali in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip

The Israeli military have begun a limited pull out from Gaza strip. But the damage from seven military incursions in 33 months had left a wide swath on each side of the highway which Israel said was done to remove cover for militants firing rockets

The Doctrine Of Humanitarian War
By Karel Glastra van Loon and Jan Marijnissen

"The American war logic that lies at the foundations of earlier interventions leads unavoidably to new wars."

The Aryan Connection
By Satya Sagar

The ‘Aryan’ Connection is only myth. But it is horrific to think about the misery that this myth has unleashed on the world

Women's Liberty Under Attack In Northwest Pakistan
By Juliette Terzieff

A religious alliance in Pakistan's Northwest provinces is ushering in strict new laws that threaten the rights of women and remind many of the Taliban

India: Gujarat Massacre Cases Sabotaged
Human Rights Watch

The new report published by Human Rights Watch " Compounding Injustice: The Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat", examines the record of state authorities in holding perpetrators accountable and providing humanitarian relief to victims of state-supported massacres of Muslims in February and March 2002