31 December , 2015

Capitalism Is The Most Inefficient Wasteful System;
We Sacrifice Our Children For It
By Lionel Anet

Honest societies must be as simple as possible ensuring that nearly everyone can understand why we do what we do, and each one can feel involved in the functioning of their society. We have a wide range of ability, but the power individuals exert mustn’t be to dominate regardless if it’s by the sword, money, or intellect. That’s opposite to selection by competitiveness. Life, for humans, should be basically easy, simple, secure and cooperative, because we have the ability and now, a desperate need to do that just to survive. We got side tract by the few whose need was to enslave us, by the sword and now with money

Empire Exposed Once Again: The Syria Intervention Case
By Farooque Chowdhury

Intervention in Syria once again exposes the Empire. Not only its imperialist policy is exposed; its inner contradictions and limitations are also revealed. As an extra output, once again, the Empire’s trustworthiness is going to be questioned by its allies, and by the broader society. Exposure by Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has done the job

The Origin of Jihadism
By Eric Zuesse

The origin of jihadism is prohibited from being reported truthfully — this truth is prohibited by all of the Establishment ‘press,' including almost all ‘alternative news' sites — in the West, because it challenges all of the “sensitive” buttons (all of the bigotries, to put the matter in plain terms); and, though this fact (the Establishment's bigotries, and its hypocrisy to preserve and protect their bigotries even while condemning those of other people) will prevent almost all of the news-media that I send this to from publishing it, nothing prevents me from writing it; so, here it is (in whatever media are gutsy enough to publish this Western cultural and political samizdat)

2015: The Deadliest Year On Record For American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

The year 2015 was perhaps the deadliest year on record for the seven-million strong American Muslim community, with 63 recorded attacks on mosques till the first week of December. Tellingly, 17 of those attacks took place in November after the Paris terrorist attacks

An Open Letter To Young Muslims Everywhere:
The Seed Of Triumph In Every Adversity
By Ramzy Baroud

To surmount the hardships, you must first be decidedly clear on who you are; you must take pride in your values; in your identity; you must never cease to fight hate with love, to reach out, to educate, to belong. Because if you don’t, then racism wins, and you lose this unparalleled opportunity at individual and collective growth

Is Modi’s India Moving From Democracy To Dictatorship?
By Parul Verma

What needs to be questioned is power of the impunity. What is plaguing the nation is the power to abuse and the abuse of the power without the fear of its consequences( another symptomatic condition of a Dictatorship regime). The implementation of endorsing one privileged religion over another is an act of religious bigotry. If the condition is not intervened with just policies that operates with the zero-tolerance towards any civilian exgravating the communal riots, India shall foresee a tragic future

How Urban Traps Derail Rural Development
By Moin Qazi

It is tragic that rural development programmes are planned and executed in India by bureaucrats and officials based in faraway metro or urban centres. This is one reason why th development programmes and strategies for their implementation are out of sync with rural realities

Trends Of Indian Politics In 2015 Disppointment
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

The New Year is on the wait. In few moments it will become a part of our life and whole year we shall live with it. Past year had its gay and desponding moments and the year on wait will be shaped much by the foundations laid in the year passed by

30 December , 2015

Hindutva Forces Disrupt Christmas Celebrations In Kandhamal
By Ajaya Kumar Singh

When the whole world celebrated Christmas with peace and joy, the Adivasi/Dalit Christians of Kandhamal district of Odisha state, India had a night of fear and insecurity. In many parts of this hilly district, Hindutva fascist forces belonging to RSS/BJP supporters threatened Christians not to celebrate Christmas. They also blocked the road to their villages by felling trees and putting huge rocks on the road so that the police force could not reach the place where they were rampaging

The Church of Economism And Its Discontents
By Richard Norgaard

Two centuries of explosive economic growth have radically altered our material and ideological worlds. With human activity now the major driver of geological change, the industrial era has come to be called the Anthropocene. This inquiry instead adopts the term Econocene, underscoring its ideological foundation: economism. The concept of economism, the reduction of all social relations to market logic, often appears in critiques of political movements and neoliberal economics. Our concern here is with economism as a widely held system of faith

Free Basics: Corporate Freedom To Privatise India's Basic Economy
By Vandana Shiva

As the TRAI decides the fate of Free Basics, Mark Zuckerberg is in India with Rs 100 crore, in pocket change, for advertising. Facebook’s Free Basics is a repackaged internet.org, or in other words, a system where Facebook decides what parts of the internet are important to users. Visit http://www.savetheinternet.in to tell TRAI (again) that we need net neutrality

Beware Of Fluorosis! This Disease Is Spreading!
By Dr KS Sharma & Dr. M.Bapuji

As per an estimate made a few years ago, 230 districts in 20 states , and 6.6 crore (66 million) people were threatened with fluorosis in India. Presently, this number could have crossed 10 crores (100 million). Union Health Ministry had identified around 230 fluorosis- affected districts in India, out of which 24 districts are in Karnataka state. It is estimated that people in more than 6000 villages of Karnataka are drinking water contaminated with higher fluoride involving a population of around 60 lakhs who face the threat of fluorosis, unless countered effectively and in time. Though Nalgonda District was widely known to be affected, the fact is today in Anadhra Pradesh and Telegana, virtually no district is totally free from fluorosis

Empowering The Grassroots For A Brighter Rural India
By Moin Qazi

Empowerment means different things to different people. There is, of course, one tide that will lift all boats. That is the tide of economic growth. Poverty is the biggest hurdle to empowerment. It is poverty that denies access to education; fails to create adequate number of job opportunities; drives families to a demeaning life shorn of the barest dignity; forces a mother to give away her girl child in marriage. It is a matter of common knowledge that higher family income results in greater spending on education for the children; better food and clothing; search for better housing; more forceful assertion of rights and the willingness to seek legal remedies; and the capacity to influence, individually or collectively, decisions that affect large sections of the people

29 December , 2015

Review Of Global Trends In 2015 And Prospects For 2016
By Jon Kofas

Top events in 2015 that shaped the world and are very likely to continue doing so include the economic slowdown not just in China and India, but in most of the world outside the US. Globalization under the neoliberal model of development continued to devastate the middle class in 2015 as it has in the last three decades, especially in countries where monetarist austerity combined with neoliberal policies took effect. Combined with a fiscal structure that favors corporations and the wealthy, monetarism and neoliberal policies had the effect on a world scale of slowing consumption spending owing to downward pressure on wages, forcing some governments to increase capital spending, especially in the defense sector, to stimulate growth

What’s In Store For Our Freedoms In 2016? More Of Everything We Don’t Want
By John W. Whitehead

We in the emerging American police state find ourselves reliving the same set of circumstances over and over again: egregious surveillance, strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, government spying, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, etc. What remains to be seen is whether 2016 will bring more of the same or whether “we the people” will wake up from our somnambulant states. The following is just a sampling of what we can look forward to repeating if we don’t find some way to push back against the menace of an overreaching, aggressive, invasive, militarizedsurveillance state

30 December Day Of Lamentation Over State Crime And State Terrorism -
Nuclear Terrorism, Corporate Terrorism, Carbon Terrorism And Climate Terrorism
By Dr Gideon Polya

Humanitarian American scholar Professor William Cook has proposed 30 December as a Day of Lamentation to record the 21st century's ongoing evils of which the worst are existentially threatening nuclear weapons, poverty that kills 17 million people annually, and man-made climate change that threatens to kill all but 0.5 billion of Humanity. However 31 December is New Year's Eve on which we can resolve to help stop the evils of Apartheid, state crime, state terrorism, non-state terrorism, nuclear terrorism, corporate terrorism, carbon terrorism, and climate terrorism by Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against all disproportionately complicit politicians, corporations and countries

Geopolitics, Refugees And A Trade Agreement
By Chandra Muzaffar & Hassanal Noor Rashid

The protracted conflicts in Syria and many parts of West Asia have been a fertile ground for the rise of extreme militants professing their own barbaric distortion of the Islamic Faith. The involvement of two major powers in what can only be described as a cold war of attrition against these militants further highlights the complexity of the issue and the many secret hands that are exploiting the conflict in Syria in particular as a means to their own ends. Whichever side of the fence one may be aligned to, it cannot be denied that these issues are in many ways connected, and even crafted

Freedom Of Dissent Vis-à-Vis Contempt Of Court
By Biswapriya Kanungo & Trijeeb Nanda

The initiation of criminal contempt proceeding vide an order dated 23rd December 2015 by an Hon’ble single judge bench of Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, against Booker prize winning writer Arundhati Roy, has again evoked a debate on the laxmanrekha of both freedom of speech and expression and contempt power of the court in our democratic constitution

Is A Democracy A Real Democracy, If I Can’t Say That It Is Not A Real Democracy?
By Anirban, Asawthi, Balakrishnan, Deepti, Komal, Neyaz, Reyaz, Samar, Srilakshmi, Ufaque & Umar

The attack on Saibaba or Arundhati Roy is an attack on each and every democratic minded person in the country. We must resist in unison such attempts by the state to silence the voices of dissent. We must strike back at fascism and build a united resistance to safeguard our hard earned democratic rights

One Pound Capitalism, A Pinch Of Democracy Under A Cold Sky
By Priti Gulati Cox & Stan Cox

Demolition of people’s neighborhoods and workplaces by local governments in the name of modernization is a regular occurrence in cities across India, including New Delhi. Shakur Basti has seen more than its share of such assaults over the years, and this one would have received no more media attention than previous ones were it not for the death of a six-month-old baby. Her family says she was killed in the demolition, while the railway claims she was already dead when the bulldozers arrived. Either way, her loss was enough to draw the media spotlight to the plight of the thousands of residents stuck out in the December cold

Indian Farmers: A Bitter Harvest
By Moin Qazi

The agricultural sector is still India's largest employer: 58% of rural households depend on it for their livelihood. And yet, since the early 1990s, India has seen a spate of headlines highlighting farmers' suicides. According to government data, 14,000 farmers killed themselves in 2011--this was 47% higher than the national average of all deaths caused by suicides. In fact, since 1995 when the government began keeping records, nearly 300,000 farmers have taken their own lives until 2014

Committee For Protection Of Democratic Rights Formed In Tamil Nadu
Press Release

A group of intellectuals, activists, and trade unionists, including Dr. Nandi Joseph, Scientist Gopal, Prof. Karunanandan, Prof. Thirumavaalavan, Dr. Thangaraj, Dr. Lakshmanan, Adv. Shanmuganathan, Dr. Dhiman, Sugumaran , Adv. Gurunathan , Ms.Revathi and others, came together on December 21, to form the democratic rights organisation "Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights -- Tamil Nadu" (CPDR-TN), in the context of rising violations of democratic rights by the state machinery and an undeclared emergency-like situation prevailing in the country

28 December , 2015

Children In Conflict Zones: Let’s Feel Their Pain And Sufferings
By Kashoo Tawseef

In conflict places like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Jammu Kashmir children suffer day in and day out. They are subjected to torture and molestation. They suffer because parents of so many children remain in jails. Children suffer a psychological torture on account of death of their parents because of conflict. At times they have to migrate from their native places. They suffer from cultural shock in new atmosphere

Christ's Birthday In An America That Kills Jesus
Multiple Times In Multiple Countries Daily
By Jay Janson

Jesus warns harming God's children is equivalent to harming the Lord. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." This principle of a common humanity is basic to the Nuremberg Principles of Int’l Law, written to prosecute anyone, who would ever do what the Nazis did, which included bombing, invading and occupying innocent nations as Christian Americans have done since end of World War Two

Turkey’s Weasel Problem
By Linh Dinh

Say, is there a bigger weasel in world politics than Recep Tayyip Erdogan? With him, a yes may be a no, and a warm hug is a prelude to a backstab. On September 23rd, Erdogan went to Moscow for the opening of the grand Cathedral Mosque of Moscow, partly built with Turkish money, and while there, he called Putin “dear brother.” Shaking the Russian leader’s hand, Erdogan also grabbed the man’s elbow, such was his affection for Putin. (I’m reminded of how Berlusconi used to lean all over Bush.) On November 24th, however, Erdogan gave the order to shoot down that Russian plane. Two Russians died. At first cockily claiming credit for this near trigger to World War III, Erdogan is now blaming it on AbidinÜna, his Air Force chief. What a weasel. With such men, though, words mean nothing. They can be contradicted from one moment to the next

Culture, Education And Human Solidarity
By John Scales Avery

Cultural and educational activities have a small ecological footprint, and therefore are more sustainable than pollution-producing, fossil-fuel-using jobs in industry. Furthermore, since culture and knowledge are shared among all nations, work in culture and education leads societies naturally towards internationalism and peace

Working Towards A Social Justice Perspective
By Srikanth Chakraborty

The need of the time is for powerful affirmative action working towards social justice. Along with pro Dalit policies, there needs to be an anti-caste movement brewing in the minds of our countrymen. Students marching and crying out loud on the streets of India’s cities need to be made aware of India’s rural cesspools. If otherwise, they will continue to be influenced by political voices that demand reservations for other castes thus hampering every effort aimed at Dalit emancipation

Empowering Poor Women Through Collectives
By Moin Qazi

A silent revolution is taking place in remote crannies of the country . 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 (SHG). Through their association with these Groups rural women have been able to hobble entrenched patriarchal cultures and brought a new level of transparency in rural governance. They have also generated enormous social capital, which has enabled women to become active partners in the Panchayat Raj institutions. Most of the country’s women pradhans are drawn from them

Life And Death Of The Anti-Corruption Movement
By Aayush Anand

AAP was supposed to be the heir apparent of the anti-corruption movement and take its cause to realization through clean political practice. Most of the public credibility of its leaders have been earned by once being associated with the self sacrificing figure of Anna Hazare. The hope that drove people to streets to affirm their solidarity with the Anna movement is still there in their conscience when they persistently bring AAP to power. But now the cause of anti-corruption is buried deep and every measure is practised without any morale or ideological deliberation in order to keep the gavel. AAP transformed into the very monster it was fighting against while the anti-corruption movement died an inominate death

26 December , 2015

#SavetheInternet 2.0: What Facebook's Aggressive
Free Basics Campaign Means For Public Discourse
By Ajinkya Deshmukh

While the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has once again come out with a consultation paper, this time on the issue of differential pricing on zero-rating services, Facebook has launched an aggressive campaign to muster support for Free Basics, the old Internet.org wine in a new bottle. Using full page ads, hoardings across cities, multilingual SMS canvassing and its social network, Facebook has shown it can flex serious campaigning muscle to expand into what is its second largest market in the world after the USA

Russia Counts 12,000 Turkey-Bound Oil Trucks From Iraq And Syria
By Eric Zuesse

According to Russian Television on December 25th, Russian intelligence has counted “up to 12,000” tanker trucks filled with oil “on the Turkish-Iraqi border,” and “the final destination remains to be Turkey.” In addition, some of those trucks are still heading into Turkey from Syria, but their number is “decreased” because Russia's Syrian bombing campaign, which started on September 30th, has, ever since they began bombing the oil trucks on November 18th, destroyed “up to 2,000” of those trucks, that were in Syria heading into Turkey

The GMO Issue: False Claims, Pseudo Analysis And A Politically Motivated Agenda
By Colin Todhunter

The attacks by the pro-GM lobby are nonsensical because there is sufficient, credible evidence that questions the safety, efficacy and the science used to promote GM, as well as the politics and practices used to get GMOs on the commercial market

How India Failed At Paris Climate Conference
By ToxicsWatch Alliance

Initially, Article 4.4 of the Draft Agreement read: “Developed country Parties shall continue taking the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets. Developing country Parties should continue enhancing their mitigation efforts…” This formulation aptly captured the historic responsibilities of rich countries and differentiated responsibilities of poorer countries. But disregarding the voice of a Central American country like Nicaragua which is a member of Group of 77, succumbing to the USA’s demand shall was substituted with should. India’s decision to maintain a deafening silence when the voice of a fellow member from G77 was disregarded is contrary to its stature

Despite Promise To End Encephalitis And Other NTDs By 2030,
Why Is Action Missing?
By Dr GK Singh & Dr CM Singh

Indian government along with other governments of UN member countries had adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the 70th UN General Assembly in New York in September 2015. One of the SDG targets (3.3) promises that "By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases." Encephalitis, one of the NTDs, continues to severely impact under-15 year old people with very little well-coordinated response to contain, and eventually eliminate it. Why?

Robert Bly: Film Tribute To A Radical
By Shepherd Bliss

Poet Robert Bly, now 89 years old, is a radical, by which I mean he returns to the roots. Haydn Reiss has captured him in his new, moving film “Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy.”

Developing Partnerships With The Poor
By Moin Qazi

The perception that the poor do not have skills or would not be able to survive on their own is a myth. My experience with development finance has demonstrated that we have to encourage strategies that ensure wider participation of poor in schemes aimed at ameliorating their problems. It is the unleashing of such social energies and, not hackneyed government programmes and tiring lip service of politicians, which will make India’s development ambition a reality. All that the pro-villages rhetoric does is to pay lip service to the people who still live there without electricity and running water. All that you have to do is to provide them access to capital and opportunity and see them take off

25 December , 2015

Juvenile (In)Justice Bill Criminalises Children, Not Rape!
By Samar

The mob bayed for the blood of juvenile convict of 16 December 2012 Delhi gang rape case. With the passage of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015 in Rajya Sabha, it got the blood of India’s children on its hands. Yes, the JJ Bill has not much to do with rapes and murders. It in fact, allows trial of all juveniles accused of ‘heinous’ crimes as adults, in the adult justice institutions

“The Time Of The End Is The Time Of No Room”
By George Capaccio

Daffy Donald proposes to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., while journalist Glen Greenwald recently reported on the frightening upsurge in attacks on Muslims. As I write these words, I am listening to John Williams’ score for the movie “Schindler’s List.” The music never fails to move me deeply. Whatever historical flaws or misrepresentations the film might have, the undeniable suffering of the Jewish people, along with millions of political dissidents and other “undesirable” human beings—the Untermenschen in Nazi parlance—is an escapable part of our history. And now the fascists and neo-Nazis among us aim to reawaken the very same mentality that led to the unimaginable cruelty and barbarity of their predecessors during World War II

America’s Unending War On Terrorism Will Destroy Humanity And Planet Earth
By Mahboob A Khawaja

The informed and mature global community looks towards to those thinkers, educated and honest proactive leaders enriched with coherent unity of moral, spiritual, and intellectual visions and abilities to be instrumental to lead and to rescue the mankind from the planned enslavement and victimization of global warriors

The Day We Stood As Equals
By T. Venkat

This article is a product of personal reflection aided by anecdotal narratives from friends who encountered the ordeal of flooding in Chennai in the first week of December 2015

24 December , 2015

G. N. Saibaba's Bail Cancelled, Contempt Notice Slapped On Arundhati Roy
By Countercurrents.org

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court cancelled the bail of Delhi University professor G. N. Saibaba and asked him to surrender before the police by 25th December. The Wheelchair-bound Saibaba who is over 90% disabled will celebrate Christmas in jail. A single judge bench of Justice Arun Choudhari also charged Author Arundhati Roy for criminal contempt for writing about Saibaba's imprisonment and the court's denial of bail in her article “Professor P.O.W.” in Outlook magazine in May. Arundhati Roy has to reply to the notice by January 25, 2016

India Has Just Criminalized Children
By Samar

The mob just drew the second blood, riding on its ‘outrage’ over 16 December 2012 Delhi gang rape case, real or pretended. It was baying for the blood of a mere individual, the juvenile convict of that case which known to be come as “Nirabhaya case’ but got much more- blood of justice itself in getting the wrongly named Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015- the bill that allows trial of juveniles accused of ‘heinous’ crimes as adults, in the adult justice institutions

Book Review And Commentary:"The Past As Present" By Romila Thapar
By Anil Gokhale

The Book to be considered as milestone in Historical writings on Ancient India and its reverberations on the political narrative of Modern India. Importantly, it has become the central core of current political narrative in strange and peculiar Form. The Book is scholarly polemical for revivalists and at the same time conversationalist for keen readers of History. The Book covers and knits together nineteen Articles under four segments and written over a period of last twenty years – since 1989 and offers a proof of consistency in meticulous and innovative research. It addresses ‘the past’ as is interpreted in present to legitimize the political ends. Author finds it as high time to launch a well argued criticism of defenders of those treating the ‘past as the extension (backward) of the Present’ in short the regressive ‘political and hate filled’ methodology of protagonists of ‘Mytho- Historians’

Gallup: Ukrainians Loathe The Government That Obama Imposed
By Eric Zuesse

On December 23rd, Gallup headlines “Ukrainians Disillusioned With Leadership,” and reports that "nearly nine in 10 Ukrainians (88%) say corruption is widespread in their government, and about eight in 10 (81%) see the same widespread problem in their country's businesses.” 8% of Ukrainians now say they “have confidence … about the national government.” 17% approve of the job-performance of their President, Petro Poroshenko. While the pre-coup President, Viktor Yanukovych, was in office, 2010-2014, that figure had been averaging about 23%, and was never as low as Poroshenko's is now

US Made ‘Cold War’ Plans To Wipe Out Much of Planet’s Population
By Robert Barsocchini

Given the US’s long history of wiping out huge numbers of people in the service of physical and hegemonic expansion, it may be unsurprising that the nation planned ‘a wholesale slaughter of much of the planet’s population’ during the Cold War, as newly declassified documents reveal

The Futility Of Reformism In Spain And Greece
By Jon Kofas

The thesis of this brief article is that reformism does not work and only leads to even greater sociopolitical conformity. This is as much the case today in Greece that has tried it, as in Spain endeavoring to try it under its new progressive PODEMOS party, as it has been throughout history. One reason that EU and US investors are bullish on Spanish securities, despite a temporary setback the day after the elections is because they know that the anti-austerity PODEMOS party will conform exactly as SYRIZA in Greece and neoliberal policies will prevail no matter who is in government

Beware ‘Sunni-Stan’: Neocons Are Back And Their ‘Vision’ Is Darker Than Ever
By Ramzy Baroud

Whatever it is, the neo-conservatives should never be allowed access to the Middle East discourse, and their visions, those of doom and destruction, should remain confined to their ever mushrooming think tanks. True, it is the perpetual war and horrific rivalries in the Middle East that have finally empowered the neocons to stage a comeback; but considering the damage that these groups have already done, one is certain that no good can possibly come from Bolton and his clique

Shining Light Into Darkness
By Brita Rose

Islamophobia, minority discrimination and anti-Muslim hatred are not something new in the U.S., but they are a cancer to our culture -- an affront to the values of a pluralistic nation that stands--at least on paper--for justice, fairness and the common good of all. They are anathema to a nation built by immigrants and on the principle of offering refuge to the homeless, weary and oppressed, as we find inscribed inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty

Constitutionalism: Exception As Norm
By Trijeeb Nanda

The informal suspension of constitution by perpetual state of exception and extra-judicial execution, without any formal declaration, seems to have become the integral part of Constitutionalism. In which the constitution is being used as a political document to enforce the political will through judicial platform. Where the political will is to eliminate all those who don’t integrates into the system or to whom the system doesn’t integrate

Dredge The Jhelum, Please!
By M.Ashraf

More than 14 months have passed since the worst flood in the history of Kashmir virtually destroyed Srinagar. The sleepy Government needs to wake up to prevent the repetition of the tragedy

Implementation Of Community Forest Resource Rights Remains Tardy
By National Consultation on Community Forest Resource Rights and Governance

Even after eight years of implementation of the Act recognition of CFR rights remains slow and tardy, except in a few pockets in the country. This was because of extremely weak political and administrative will and support towards implementing the law. Four major underlying reasons were felt to be the cause of this weak Will to implement the law; Macro-economic policies in favour of industrial development; Strong push from the forest establishment to retain and reassert their control over the forests; Continuing faith in exclusionary conservation policies; and finally the state nodal agencies financially and human resource wise not strong enough to deal with the impacts of the above factors

Reviving The Cooperative Movement For A Better India
By Moin Qazi

Financial development through public participation enables individuals to make the most of their potential and represents a tool for expanding financial democracy. We have made historic strides toward the consolidation of political democracy, revolutionizing governance in India's rural hinterland but they have not been accompanied by the democratization of means and opportunities. Financial democracy is fundamental for achieving greater inclusiveness, improving social cohesion, and generating broad-based growth. It is therefore crucial for economic dynamism and political stability. It is crucial because the lack of financial democracy prevents people from gaining access to resources that would enable them to make the most of!

22 December , 2015

National Fishworkers’ Forum Pass Resolution Against Building New Ports
By Countercurrents.org

The National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) had its Annual General body meet on 19th and 20th of December at Youth Hostel, Vishakapattnam,(AP). The representatives from various member organizations of all the coastal states and Union Territories participated in the two days meet. The forum passed a resolution that said all commercial ports proposed be given up. This is very significant statement in the light of the growing protest against Vizhinjam Port,in Kerala state, India, coming from the affected fisher people

What If Jesus Had Been Born In 2015 In The American Police State?
By John W. Whitehead

What if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born 2,000 years later? How would Jesus’ life have been different had he be born and raised in the American police state? Consider the following if you will. Had Jesus been born in the year 2015…

The Making of Human-Animal Conflicts Through Conservation Projects in India
By Shymal Chakma & Suraj Gogoi

Conservation as a policy in India has a salient feature of making livelihoods and survival unsecure for the people who have been living in areas where such projects have been undertaken. Sadly, it is also a fact that no participation is sought in almost all cases of the local people in demarcating boundaries of reserves that have come into being. In the process it has left many hundreds of people homeless, foodless and landless. Compensation is a buzzword that only gets communicated in legal documents and written complaints mostly initiated by the sufferers and its life (compensation and rehabilitation) is rather short. The beauty of the park thrives on the sufferings of the displaced

Debate On Juvenile Law In Australia And India
By Pushkar Raj

Illogic of solving a social problem with legal tools: excuses for moving towards a coercive state

21 December , 2015

US, European Powers Prepare New Air And Ground Operations Against Libya
By Thomas Gaist

The US and NATO are preparing to carry out new military operations on Libyan territory, a Guardian report made clear on Sunday. The Western powers are pressuring the newly formed Libyan “unity government” coalition, assembled last week under the nominal leadership of the Maltese government, to approve strikes against ISIS targets in the country, according to the British newspaper

Flowers From Guantanamo
By Kathy Kelly

Here in Kabul, young friends with the Afghan Peace Volunteers look forward to learning more about “The Tea Project” in late December, when Aaron Hughes arrives, an artist, a U.S. military veteran, and a core member of Iraq Veterans Against War. He’ll carry with him 20 plaster replicas of a standard-issue, factory-made Styrofoam cup. They’re part of a set numbering 779 replica cups, each cup dedicated to prisoners detained in Guantanamo. In the entire collection, 220 of the cups bear names of Afghan citizens imprisoned in Guantanamo

Should Bangladesh Provide Mercenaries To The Saudi Coalition?
By Taj Hashmi

What the Saudi defence minister Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud declared last Tuesday (15th December) about the formation of a so-called coalition of 34 Muslim nations to fight the ISIS and Islamist terror was dramatic, ridiculous, and ominous. It signalled the beginning of a long-drawn war between super powers, and between Muslim nations on sectarian and other more important geopolitical issues

The Logic Of The Police State 
By Matthew Harwood

People Are Waking Up to the Darkness in American Policing, and the Police Don't Like It One Bit

Remembering Benedict Anderson
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan

The famous South Asia scholar and the author of Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983), one of the most influential historical, political-cum-philosophical texts of its time, Benedict Anderson passed away on December 13, 2015 in the city of Malang, Indonesia. He was seventy nine

20 December , 2015

UN Resolution Papers Over Deep Divisions On Syria
By Bill Van Auken

The United Nations Security Council Friday unanimously approved a draft resolution setting out a timetable for ending the nearly five-year civil war in Syria and negotiating a political solution to the crisis created by the Western-backed campaign for regime-change. It provides the bare bones of a process that is supposed to begin in early January with a simultaneous push for a ceasefire and the opening of talks between the government and opposition forces on the formation of a transitional government, which is supposed to be set up within six months. Then, 18 months after the start of the process, UN-supervised elections would take place

Venezuela: It’s Not The Concluding Chapter
By Farooque Chowdhury

It’s not the conclusion in Venezuela. The time to infer conclusively on Venezuela on the basis of developments there is yet to arrive. It’s only the beginning. One can make a minor change in Mao’s famous saying, and write: It’s only the beginning to have the answer to the question that whether wind from the South will dominate the Northern wind or the wind from the North will flow to the South. However, one trend is explicit: The world is changing, the days are changing. Today, masses of people in many countries can raise their courageous voice: This sky is ours, this land is ours, this light is ours, resources whatever are there, are ours, ours, and ours

Saudi Arabia, The Mainspring of Islamic Radicalism
By Nauman Sadiq

The real culprit behind the rise of Islamic extremism and jihadism in the Islamic world is Saudi Arabia. The “Aal-e-Saud” (the descendants of Saud) have no hereditary claim to “the Throne of Mecca” since they are not the descendants of the prophet, nor even from the tribe of Quresh. The phenomena of religious extremism and jihadism all over the Islamic world is directly linked to the Wahhabi-Salafi madrassahs which are generously funded by the Saudi and Gulf’s petro-dollars

'Won't Let Injustice Happen To You', Rajnath Singh Tells Christians:
Sorry Home Minister You'r Bluffing
By Shamsul Islam

The august guests present at the Christmas Dinner which included leading clergy, laity and politicians unfamiliar with the Hindutva game plan of cleansing India of minorities like Muslims and Christians did not question Honourable Home Minister. If they had known some basic facts about RSS, it would have been relevant to ask Rajnath Singh—"Whom to believe Sir, your pious words spoken here or your RSS and your guru? It is high time we realize that minorities are not dealing with a normal political trend but Hindutva politics which has eternal belief in Casteism, totalitarianism and racism. Like all such organizations in the past it thrives on double-speak. To overlook it will be at our own peril

The Northern Student Movement
By Andy Piascik

College students were an integral part of the popular upheaval of the 1960’s. Beginning with the lunch counter sit-ins one month into the decade and continuing on through 1969 and beyond, college students around the country rallied to the cause of justice and freedom. The two best known student organizations of that time were the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Students for Student a Democratic Society (SDS). Another important group, though less well known, was the Northern Student Movement (NSM) and it was founded in Connecticut on the campus of Yale University.

Nirbhayas Need Justice, Not Revenge or Catharsis
By Samar

Most of this outrage against him, just one of the convicted accused of committing a rape in a country that sees thousands of rapes being committed in India, comes not from any quest for justice. They are mostly rooted in the need for a closure, a forced closure, by turning the body and person of a criminal into the site of cathartic release of collective anger against rape crimes

18 December , 2015

GM Mustard: Contempt of Court Petition Filed Against
Members of Genetic Appraisal Committee
By Colin Todhunter

A petition has been filed by activist and campaigner Aruna Rodrigues against three persons of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). The GEAC is India's apex regulatory body. Rodrigues is seeking the initiation of contempt proceedings for wilfully and deliberately disobeying the explicit orders of the Supreme Court 8th May 2007, 15th February 2007, 8th April 2008 and 12th August 2008 and proceeding with numerous GMO field trials of GM mustard with the aim of commercially introducing to India for the first time herbicide tolerant (HT) food crops

Batting For GM In India: Smears, Misinformation And Depoliticising The Political
By Colin Todhunter

Sir Richard John Roberts is a biochemist and molecular biologist and currently works at New England Biolabs in the US. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK and has recently been in India promoting GM crops and food. While in Mysore, he delivered a talk on ‘A Crime Against Humanity’ organised by the University of Mysore. He said that when people were hungry, they needed food but rich European countries are opposing introduction of GM crops because they have sufficient food. Roberts went on to say that their propaganda against GM crops is affecting hungry people in the developing nations

Weapon Used In November 13 Paris Attacks Came From
CIA-Linked Arms Dealer
By Alex Lantier

Investigations of the November 13 attacks raise the question of whether elements in or around the state machine facilitated the commission of the terror attacks in Paris

Why The West Can Never Defeat or “Forgive” Russia
By Andre Vltchek

Historically and intuitively, Russia has fought for the survival of humanity. Of course, things are not always pronounced or defined in such terms. However, already on several occasions, this enormous country has stood up against the most mighty and evil forces that have threatened the very survival of our Planet. During the Second World War, the Soviet people, mainly Russians, sacrificed at least 25 million men, women and children, in the end defeating Nazism. No other country in modern history has undergone more

Thinking The Unthinkable: A Lamentation
For The State Of Israel - Well, Not Exactly
By Roger Tucker

The following essay was inspired by a recent article in the Jewish magazine ‘The Tablet’ entitled “Thinking the Unthinkable: A Lamentation for the State of Israel.” A good, well written example of what is fast becoming a genre bemoaning the rapidly disappearing notion held by liberal Zionist Jews that a Jewish State in Palestine could be 'both Jewish and Democratic.' Mr. Rosenbaum’s strained but passionate elegy to what was never more than a wish-fulfillment fantasy provides an opening for a more penetrating look at the prevailing debate between One State and Two States

A Pause For Thought: Politricks And Imperialistic Positioning
By ChandiVaarahi Cinnathurai

As Christmas celebration gets closer and closer, people in the West are often thinking silently and fearing the possibility of a terror attack somewhere. This fear some what disturbs the whole idea of Christ Jesus being the "Prince of Peace". The Holy Land: Palestine-Israel is plagued by holes on brick walls shattered by bullets. Shattering any chance for peaceful co-habitation of communities. Although, Christians around the world pray for the peace of Jerusalem, in accordance with the Jewish texts of the Book of Psalms. Lamentably, it is not the reality on the ground

Stopping War, Terrorism, Global Warming Is So Much Bullshit
By Jerome Irwin

Everyone in the world knows – from the richest man or woman down to the poorest – that the lip service currently being paid to try to: stop war; terrorism; global warming; end world hunger and poverty; resolve the refugee crisis; distribute the wealth between the developed and developing countries, or; equalize the disparity between the 1% Have’s & 99% Haven-Not’s; is so much unmitigated bullshit

Clash Of Imperialists : 21st Century Competition
And Confrontation By The Great Powers
By Jon Kofas

Led by the US and NATO, the clash of imperialist powers accounts for the absence of stability not just in the Middle East and Africa, but also the Ukraine and parts of Asia. Behind the rhetoric of democracy, national security, and anti-terrorism there are direct diplomatic and indirect diplomatic efforts through government-financed and pro-business NGO’s. There are overt and covert military operations carried out by the US, EU, China, Russia and their less powerful allies motivated by aggressive intentions for spheres of influence and markets. Behind the “war on terror” and regional conflicts around the world rests the reality of an era characterized by a power struggle for spheres of influence not much differently than in the Age of Imperialism

A Quiz To See If U.S. Schools Taught You State Propaganda
By David Swanson

U.S. schools provide a great deal of useful information, but also leave out a great deal. Please see whether you can answer the following questions before scrolling down and clicking a link at the bottom for the answers. How many can your kids answer? Can your kids' teachers answer them? Can your parents answer them? Can your uncle who tells you whom to vote for and what to think answer them?

Has Tumblr Mainstreamed Misogyny And Rape Culture?
By Mickey Z.

Think about it: A generation of tech-addicted males has opted to use a major chunk of their meager time on this planet to create and maintain web pages that will program the next generation of even more tech-addicted males to casually and reflexively view females as inherently inferior; to discredit and mock their feelings and opinions and needs; to overwrite their realities, gaslight them, abuse them, threaten them, stalk them, degrade them, exploit them, torture them… to hate them

Some Pertinent Questions On Vizhinjam Project..
By C.R Neelakandan

Intolerance Has Gone Up Due To Sectarianism
By Ram Puniyani

The major factor leading to present atmosphere lies in the qualitative transformation of ‘hate for others’. The stereotyping of minorities has assumed horrendous proportions. Intolerance has been there earlier also, now it is changing qualitatively for the worse. We need to combat the threat of sectarian nationalism looming large on our democratic society, the threat of sectarian propaganda and politics leading to stifling of democratic space. And these are not the ordinary times, the divisive process, intolerance have assumed menacing proportions and cannot be hidden by the illusory growth story!

Decriminalizing “Carnal Intercourse Against The Order Of Nature”
By Dr. P.S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

An open letter to the Indian Parliamentarians on the repeal of Section 377 Indian Penal Code

Politicians And A Heaven Called BCCI And State Bodies
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

A satire on the politics- cricket relationship

17 December , 2015

What Does Today’s “Rate Hike” Mean?
By Paul Craig Roberts

The banking system as a whole does not need to borrow as it is sitting on $2.42 trillion in excess reserves. The negative impact of the “rate hike” affects only smaller banks that are lending to businesses and consumers. If these banks find themselves fully loaned up and in need of overnight reserves to meet their reserve requirements, they will need to borrow from a bank with excess reserves. Thus, the rate hike has the effect of making smaller banks pay higher interest expense to the mega-banks favored by the Federal Reserve. A different way of putting it is that the “rate hike” favors banks sitting on excess reserves over banks who are lending to businesses and consumers in their community. In other words, the rate hike just facilitates more looting by the One Percent

Federal Reserve Begins “Dovish Tightening” With First Rate Hike In Nine Years
By Barry Grey

Last week, junk bond funds were hit with $3.5 billion of withdrawals, the most for 70 weeks. And the crisis is spreading beyond junk bonds. Prices of bonds issued by firms in the pharmaceuticals, media, telecommunications, semiconductor and retail industries have fallen in recent months. The Financial Times on Wednesday cited Bonnie Baha, head of global developed credit at DoubleLine Capital, as saying: “It brings back memories of 2008 all over again and that’s what has been fueling this. Defaults are ticking up. Energy is leading the way but it’s starting to spread to other sectors. It’s not just an energy or metals and mining issue.”

66 People Lost Eyesight After Being Operated In
Barwani District Hospital, Madhya Pradesh
By Representatives of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and Narmada Bachao Andolan

Independent Investigation Report of Gross Violations of Cataract Surgery Camp, jointly organized by Barwani District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh, India and Lions’ Club

The United States Drifts Towards Political Irresponsibility
By John Scales Avery

The recent Republican presidential debates were held in the gaudy and luxurious Venetian Casino in Los Vegas. In the two-hour hate-show the Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination competed with each other over who could be the most avid in advocating war and racism. To worried observers, the scene was disturbingly reminiscent of the slide into fascism seen in Germany and Italy in the 1930's

Christmas, The System And I
By Mohammed Mesbahi

You and I constitute the very system that we blame for the world’s problems, which is starkly illustrated at Christmas when we rob our fragile earth on the high streets in the name of Jesus. What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ this year than to unite under the banner of freedom and justice, and peacefully demonstrate for an end to hunger and poverty across the world, writes Mohammed Mesbahi

Of State, Politics And Happiness
By Ghulam Mohammad Khan

The possibility of happiness has not completely faded away. Happiness is still achievable; it is still very much realizable. Remenber! When all politicians of the world will speak and follow the truth they always know but hide, when power is used judiciously and flows properly through all social structures, when the blight of ego evaporates from the discourse of whole human thought, when knowledge is disimprisoned from illicit power equations, when ‘The Self’ and ‘The Other’ are converted into ‘Us’, and when histories are written impartially, happiness is absolutely realizable

Media Manipulation, Inc: The New World Disorder
And What They Won’t Tell Us About The Middle East
By William Hawes

After nearly five years of civil war in Syria, and over twelve years since the immoral and tragic coalition invasion of Iraq, US mainstream news coverage of events in Syria and Iraq continues to be abysmal

Kashmir, The “Bleeding” Heart of Asia!
By Mohammad Ashraf

Kashmir is truly the heart of Asia which has been “bleeding” for long. Unfortunately, the new process started in Turkey some years back completely ignores the historical fact!

16 December , 2015

Saudi Royal Family Announces Its New Global Sunni Military Empire
By Eric Zuesse

An official announcement from the world's leading, and most fundamentalistic, Sunni Islamic nation, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday December 15th, has introduced a Sunni-Islamic counterpart to NATO, and it includes one NATO member, Turkey, which is already at war against NATO's enemy Russia, and against Russia's ally the non-sectarian, secular Shiite, Bashar al-Assad, who runs Syria. The Sauds' “Joint Statement on Formation of Islamic Military Alliance” has been signed by 34 Sunni-led nations, with “more than ten other Islamic countries” that “have expressed their support for this … alliance and will take the necessary measures” to join, “including Indonesia” (the highest-population Islamic-majority nation). All of those “Islamic countries” are specifically Sunni-led, not Shiite-led

The Petro-Islamic Extremism Phenomena
By Nauman Sadiq

In its July 2013 report the European Parliament identified the Wahhabi-Salafi roots of global terrorism, but the report conveniently absolved the Western powers of their culpability and chose to overlook the West’s role in nurturing Islamic extremism and violent Jihadism all over the Islamic world, especially when it used the Jihadists as proxies during the Cold War against the erstwhile Soviet Union; and even today, during the Libyan Jihad against the Gaddafi regime in 2011 and the Syrian Jihad against the Alawi (Shi’a) Assad regime. It is an incontrovertible fact that the US-led Soviet-Afghan Jihad gave birth to the Islamic extremists like Al Qaeda and Taliban for the first time in history and then again the Libyan and Syrian Jihads 2011-onward spawned myriads of Islamic jihadist groups especially the Islamic State

Assange’s Battle; A Fight For Democracy
By Nozomi Hayase

As WikiLeaks continues to liberate concealed information, shedding light on abuse by governments and corporations, the founder Julian Assange remains trapped in London. December 7, 2015 marked the fifth year of his detainment without charge, first in prison and solitary confinement, then house arrest, and now for more than three years in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy

Why Won’t Israel Return The Body Of A 14-Year-Old Girl?
By Budour Youssef Hassan

Hadil Awwad was shot dead by Israeli forces on 23 November. She was executed after allegedly trying to stab an Israeli man with scissors on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem.Following Hadil’s slaying, her surviving brothers were summoned for interrogation by the Israeli army. Later the school bag that was on her back when she was killed was returned. While Hadil’s school bag was returned, her body is still being held by Israel

O Little Town Of Bethlehem
By Francis A. Boyle

Israel, Palestine and American Christian Hypocrites

Hungry Warrior: The Untold Story of Hana Shalabi
By Ramzy Baroud

Throughout her hunger strike, that of exactly 47 days, Hana Shalabi never slept consistently for a number of hours. In the first few days of her strike, she would doze off only to wake up with the sudden fear that someone was trying to hurt her. But after the first week of the hunger strike, having nothing but a few sips of water a day, her body simply ceased to function in any normal way. So, instead of sleeping, she would fall into a state of delirium, overtaken by frenzied hallucination where memories and persisting future fears coalesced into a sonata of night terror

Academic Free Speech Under Zionist Attack At Notre Dame Australia And LSE, UK
By Dr Gideon Polya

Dr Sandra Nasr, lecturer in Middle East politics at Notre Dame University, Western Australia, published an article on the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) website uncontroversially linking Old Testament Biblical imperatives of violent occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the first millennium BC to Zionist colonialism and gross human rights abuse in Palestine today. Dr Nasr was immediately attacked and falsely defamed by Zionists and the Fairfax-owned WA Today as “racist” and “anti-semitic” and the article was removed from the LSE website. To its shame, rather than defend Dr Nasr, Notre Dame said it “apologizes” for her article which it is now “addressing”

Donald Trump Could Be Elected President, But....
By John Chuckman

I think it entirely possible Donald Trump could be elected President. I am not in favor of it - but then neither am I in favor of any of the other candidates on offer - yet I do think his election is increasingly possible. America displays every four years - almost like a temporary clothesline erected on the front lawn of the White House loaded with soiled and tattered undergarments - the sheer poverty of its political system. Every four years, a gang of mediocrities and thugs spend vast amounts of money to say, from coast to coast, nothing worth hearing

The Great Martyr Bhagat Singh Is A Persona Non Grata For RSS Haryana Rulers
By Shamsul Islam

The BJP/RSS rulers are once again out to insult and denigrate the heritage of the great anti-colonial freedom struggle of the people of India. Haryana government led by a die hard RSS pracharak, ML Khattar has rescinded Haryana state assembly's earlier unanimous resolution to name Chandigarh airport after the name of great martyr, Bhagat Singh and instead decided to name it after Mangal Sein—one time RSS prachark of Haryana

Thumping Trump’s Trumpet: Alas For American Democracy
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

The balance sheet is that Trump is not the malady of the failed system, but a symptom. Today there is Trump, tomorrow there will be hundreds of Trumps who will start playing their trumpets if the hegemonic culture of US political imperialism continues. However, this may not be the last straw of the contention between plutocracy and corporatocracy

The Chennai Floods And India’s Strategic Underside
By Firdaus Ahmed

The floods in Chennai for a second time round bring home that our metropolises are quite incapable of withstanding disasters. If natural disasters continue to perplex the administration across the country, be it in Srinagar or Garhwal earlier, it can well be imagined what nuclear conflict aftermath would wreck. In Chennai, it took longer to react since the army was absent, with its Southern Command over at its winter manouvers, Exercise Drad Sankalp. Therefore, public interest is warranted and public interest a must, even in arcane issues of nuclear strategy

Bangladesh Liberation War Exposed A Neocolonial State’s Failure
By Farooque Chowdhury

With flawed political process, mismanagement of contradictions in body-society-polity, failures in political arrangement, incapability in handling of aspirations ingrained within the society, limitations in socio-political farsightedness of the dominating part of the society and failures in making compromises with emerging reality the dominating elites in pre-1971-Pakistan exposed its historical limits in its domain. It was a failure of the neocolonial state as well as of the imperialist power that stood by it as its guarantor and savior. The Bangladesh people’s War for Liberation in 1971 exposed the failure, a significant development in the people’s stride onward

Supreme Court’s ruling On Haryana Panchayati Raj Case:
A Case of “Contempt of People”
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

PUDR expresses deep concern over the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015. On Human Rights Day, 10th December 2015, the apex court upheld five disqualifications laid down in the Act to particularly exclude those who are without specified educational qualifications, without a functional toilet in their homes, in debt, had arrears of electricity bills and had criminal charges framed against them, from contesting the elections to the Panchyati Raj

The Jubilee Year Of Mercy: The Pope's Christmas Present To Humanity
By Dr. A. K. Merchant

The Declaration of a jubilee year of mercy by Pope Francis is a spiritual demonstration by the worldwide Catholic Church of moving with the times. The last Jubilee was called by St John Paul II to mark the millennium, and this Holy Year of Mercy started on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8th December 2015 and will end on the Feast of Christ the King on 20th November 2016

15 December , 2015

Renewable Energy After COP21: Nine Issues For Climate Leaders
To Think About On The Journey Home
By Richard Heinberg

COP21 in Paris is over. Now it’s back to the hard work of fighting for, and implementing, the energy transition. We all know that the transition away from fossil fuels is key to maintaining a livable planet. David Fridley (staff scientist of the energy analysis program at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and I have been working for the past few months to analyze and assess many of those proposals, and to dig deeper into energy transition issues—particularly how our use of energy will need to adapt in a ~100 percent renewable future. What follows is a short summary of what we’ve learned, along with some recommendations

Capitalism’s Cult Of Human Sacrifice
By Chris Hedges

Those who worship before the idols of profit will use every tool at their disposal, including violence, to crush us. This is a war waged between the forces of life and the forces of death. It is a war that requires us, in every way possible, to deny to these industries the profits used to justify gaiacide. It is a war we must not lose

Why Can't Capitalism Go Green?
By Pete Dickinson

the logic of imperialist capitalism is inescapable, particularly when addressing an issue like climate change, where the time for half-measures has long since passed. It will be impossible for a future left government to take the urgent action needed while remaining inside the framework of an antagonistic, predatory economic system. That is why the campaign against global warming and environmental degradation must go hand in hand with the struggle for socialism. Transforming the social and economic base of society is the only way forward, carried out on an international basis, since global warming is no respecter of national borders

Breaking Bread In Kabul
By Kathy Kelly

Here in Kabul, over breakfast with Afghan Peace Volunteers, (APVs), we easily recalled key elements of the conflict resolution and peer mediation “train the trainers” workshops that Ellis Brooks, with Voices for Creative Nonviolence-UK, had facilitated a week ago. Peer mediators make “promises” before beginning a session: We won’t tell you what to do, we won’t take sides, and we won’t talk about this session with anyone outside of our room. While pouring tea and breaking bread, we recalled the hand signals Ellis gave us to help remember each promise

Liberal Extremism Disguised As Defense Of Muslims
By Matt Peppe

Since San Bernardino, hate crimes against Muslims have been widely reported across the country. In one week alone, a hijab-wearing woman was shot at and several mosques firebombed. Additionally, there have been attacks against storeowners, community centers, and civic organizations. Muslims have been intimidated outside their places of worship by armed, right-wing vigilantes

The Secret Behind Donald Trump’s Popularity
By Mickey Z.

The Land of the Free™, you see, has a long history of embracing and supporting fascists. This tendency, ever evolving in sophistication, is mocked or ignored at our own peril

Donald Trump The Fascist?
By Fritz Tucker

Seemingly every statement regarding Donald Trump in recent weeks either explicitly or implicitly compares him to Hitler. It’s almost as though both social and mainstream media are trying to pay homage to Godwin’s Law, which humorously and tautologically states that any online discussion will eventually compare the subject to Nazi Germany. These comparisons highlight both the capacity and limitation of the American imagination. For these comparisons to have any meaning, however, historical facts must be addressed

U.S. May Be Salvaging Victory For Jihadists In Syria: How & Why
By Eric Zuesse

According to Britain's Telegraph, in a recent report, the U.S. Tow antitank missiles that U.S. President Barack Obama sent in October to the Islamic Sunni fighters in Syria to use against the forces of the non-sectarian Shiite ruler there, Bashar al-Assad, have been so effective against Russia's forces that Assad had invited in, that Russia — defending (upon Syria's legal request) President Assad's forces, and attacking the jihadists imported into Syria by the Saudis and the rest of the West — is now being forced to send into the battle Russia's costly T-90 tanks, which are less vulnerable to America's missiles

What If Any Was The Point Of Obama’s Message To Israel’s President?
By Alan Hart

As only readers of the Israeli newspaper Ha-aretz know, when Israel’s President Reuven Rivlen was received at the White House on 9 December, President Obama said the following to him: “With no peace process the U.S. is at a loss on how to defend Israel diplomatically.” The question those words provoked in my own mind was the following

Blood, Tears And Humiliation: Young Girls’ Monthly Trauma
By Akhileshwari Ramagoud

Why make her ‘polluted’ and impure and despicable? Perhaps a deliberate twisting of a tradition to run down women and show her as inferior and weak by the patriarchal system?

We Failed Her Again!
By Shamim Zakaria

Perhaps for a stratum inside newsroom she is a mere rape victim who has recently been ushered with justice, however for many women of similar fate she is Suzette Jordan, a ray of hope. A women bearing nerves of steel who dared to smash all adversity

Ten Years Of The Forest Rights Act: Say No To Change
In Progressive And Pro-People Laws
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

Over 500 people associated with different social movements, democratic struggles and Trade Unions from different states of the country gathered at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi today, on the historic day of enactment of Schedule Tribe and other Forest Dwellers, Recognition of Forest Rights Act in 2006. We collectively pledge to continue our struggle against the NDA government’s proposed illegal move to dilute the Forest Rights Act bypassing the Parliament of India

National Herald Case: Is There An Oblique Political Objective By The BJP?
By George Abraham

India is once again in the throes of another political storm of great magnitude that threatens not only to setback the current legislative agenda of the Parliament’s winter session but may also permanently fracture the trust needed for future consensus among political parties to conduct the nation’s business. The National Herald case has all the familiar hallmarks of a political mud fight rather than the true ingredients needed to prove any alleged impropriety and/or violation of laws

Sri Lanka: Jumping On The Bandwagon Does Not Mean Justice
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

The Sri Lankan Minister for Justice and Buddhist Affairs has cried foul yet again. In an hour-long talk show he has tried his very best to present himself as a saint. While narrating his chilling involvement in politics, he has offered millions to the failed revolutionary Marxist party and later licked the feet of the plutocrats. His present day politics contain little but “attractive” slogans

14 December , 2015

Paris Climate Agreement Betrays Humanity Which Must Apply BDS
Against Climate Criminal People, Corporations & Countries
By Dr Gideon Polya

The weak, non-binding and dishonest Paris Climate Agreement will have delighted climate criminal and war criminal nations like Saudi Arabia, the US and US lackey Australia, but has betrayed our children, grandchildren, future generations, the Developing World, Humanity and the Biosphere – the target of 1.5 to 2 degrees C is both unavoidable and catastrophic and key matters are non-binding. The Paris betrayal demands a peaceful, world-wide Climate Revolution involving Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against all people, politicians, parties, companies, corporations and countries disproportionately involved in climate criminal and terracidal greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution

We Need System Change!
By John Scales Avery

WE NEED SYSTEM CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE! Civil society, excluded from the COP21 conference by the French government, carried banners with this slogan on the streets of Paris. They did so in defiance of tear-gas-using black-clad police. System change has been the motto for climate marches throughout the world. Our entire system is leading us towards disaster, and this includes both economic and governmental establishments. To save human civilization, the biosphere and the future, the people of the world must take matters into their own hands and change the system

The Violent Crimes And Shady Dealings Of Hillary Clinton
By Robert Barsocchini

While “respected conservative political commentator Norman Ornstein” writes in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences journal that the Republican Party is a “radical insurgency – ideologically extreme, scornful of facts and compromise”, historian Roger Morris, PhD, in his best-selling examination of the Clintons and their sleazy and criminal deeds along their rise to power, finds that the Democratic Party, although in his opinion the “lesser of evils”, is “equally bereft, corrupt, and unable or unwilling to face itself.”

Syrian Civil War And The Making Of Islamic State
By Nauman Sadiq

The corporate media’s spin-doctors conveniently forget, however, that the rise of Islamic State and myriads of other Sunni jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq has as much to do with the unilateral invasion of Iraq back in 2003 under the previous Bush Administration as it has to do with the present policy of Obama Administration in Syria of funding, arming, training and internationally legitimizing the Sunni militants against the Syrian regime since 2011-onward in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa region, in fact, the proximate cause behind the rise of Islamic State, al Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham and numerous other Sunni jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq has been Obama Administration’s policy of intervention through proxies in Syria

India: Citizen Lives Matter – Before, During, And After Shakur Basti Demolitions
By The Asian Human Rights Commission

A quiet burial in rubble of their community would have been the fate of approximately 1,000 families of Shakur Basti in Delhi, but for the tragic death of a six-month child. The child allegedly died during the early morning demolitions of 500 “shanties” by the Indian Railways. Had it not been for the tragic death of the child, the demolitions would have been routine. Worse, had it not been for the political dynamics of the City, with political groups at odds with each other governing the Railways and the City, even this infant death would have failed to get the incident the attention it deserved

Who Compliments Whom? The Fall Out Of Vizhinjam Port
By Anitha.S

Land worth 600 crore will be transferred To Adani. Two ancient hills of Southern Western Ghats will be quarried and dumped in sea. Road widening alone will axe 10,000 trees. The first phase of cutting has started and more than 200 trees lie on the ground. The project will directly impact the lives and livelihood of 50,000 villagers in 32 coastal villages. The famed Cape Comarine Wadge Bank will be destroyed Nascent but diverse coral outcrops will go extinct

Desperate Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Visiting India
By Anuj Wankhede

India should not fall into this trap and sign any nuclear deals with Japan as these deals have a very long time frame and will give Japanese government leverage to push India into making more infrastructure and defense purchases from Japan

Let Them Eat Pollution!
By Kashif Mansoor

What amounts to injustice, in addition to severe destitution and misery the poor unskilled people get entangled into as a consequence of rapid industrialization drive by the bourgeoisie class, is the stark reality that these people are deliberately made bereft of access to clean air and water-the natural resources free gifts of nature are increasingly becoming privately owned commodities. The economically disadvantaged and politically disorganized poor have also not enough resources at their disposal either in terms of the understanding of court proceedings if at all they move for legal assistance to file the cases of forced usurpation of their land against such “baboos” or amount of money required to fight such cases

In Universities, Money Talks
By Richard Hil

It’s not only universities that have succumbed to neoliberal mantras. Schools and colleges too are characterised by a focus on business acumen, often at the expense of students’ quality of education. This was recently brought home by Sarah Haynes, the school captain of one of Brisbane’s most prestigious private schools, Ravenswood School for Girls. Bravely, Haynes offered the following observation about her school to an assembled audience of pupils, parents and teachers: “I don’t know how to run a school but it seems to me that today’s schools are being run more and more like businesses where everything becomes financially motivated, where more value is placed on those who provide good publicity or financial benefits.” She could well have been talking about universities

Understanding Use Of Satire And Returning In Contemporary Politics In India
By Suraj Gogoi & Tony Kurian

The article focuses on the sudden burst in use of satire after Modi led BJP government came to power in India and the recent event of 'returning' to protest the various issues of intolerance, freedom of speech and so on to express protest by various individuals and groups. In doing so the article seeks to understand the current political milieu of India through satire and returning, and the response to it

Vietnamese In Germany
By Linh Dinh

In 1914, there were 2,416,290 Germans in the Russian Empire. Now, there are only a million in Russia and all of the republics of the former Soviet Union. In 1939, there were 786,000 Germans in Romania. By 2011, there were only 36,884. Though assimilating, establishing deep roots and contributing much to one’s host society, one can be chased out in a bloody flash. One can also be bombed from one’s ancestral homeland. Count yourself lucky if you’re not among them

11 December , 2015

Beef Ban Hysteria Claims Fifth Life In Karnal, Haryana
By Countercurrents.org

The Hindtuva fundamentalist led beef ban hysteria in India has consumed fifth life in three months. According to Hindustan Times an unidentified ‘cow protection vigilante’ team shot dead a migrant worker near Bhanukheri village in Karnal, Haryana in the wee hours of Wednesday. The deceased, 25-year-old Khush Noor, is a native of Ballamajra village in Saharanpur. The brutal murder happened when 40 migrant workers were heading from Nawanshahr in Punjab to their native place in Uttar Pradesh to cast vote in panchayat polls

The World Is Broken And The Hypocrisy Of
COP 21 Isn’t Going To Put It Back Together
By John Foran

We are gambling with the future so that profits can continue to be made in a system incapable of meeting its minimum responsibilities to humans and to nature. This is the big lie which voids the legitimacy of the treaty from the start. The time to stop this climate game is now, the place is here, in Paris. With the clock ticking down, and pressure growing to make bad decisions among poor options, the right thing to do is to declare timeout for a visionary change in the process. The chances for this outcome – the great No that says yes to life – are dwindling, passing through our hands like sand in a glass, but they remain alive at the edge of the table and in the halls, or perhaps off the site, out of sight, waiting for their moment

What Worries The World's Most Famous Climate Scientist?
By Andrew Nikiforuk

James Hansen is fretting about the Paris climate talks, and for good reason. You might recall that Hansen was the NASA scientist that boldly warned the United States Congress about the perils of rising global temperatures as early as 1988. And you might remember that officials with the U.S. administration of George W. Bush instructed the world's most famous climate change scientist not to talk about how fossil fuel burning could have a dangerous effect on climate in 2004. But Hansen kept on talking about melting ice, rising seas, flooded coastal cities and super storms. And now he's worried that Paris will be another bureaucratic gabfest that avoids the true remedy: rapid fossil fuel emissions reductions driven by a carbon levy

Forcing Government Action On Climate Change: Two Noteworthy Legal Initiatives
By David Bollier

While much of the momentum to fight climate change is focused on political channels, there are parallel efforts using law to force government to take specific, enforceable actions to reduce carbon emissions. It’s a difficult battle, but in recent weeks two notable initiatives have gained further momentum – a court ruling relying on the public trust doctrine and a new human rights declaration that has broad international support

Paris And The Long-Term Future
By John Scales Avery

We give our children loving care, but it makes no sense do so and at the same time to neglect to do all that is within our power to ensure that they and their descendants will inherit an earth in which they can survive. We also have a responsibility to all the other living organisms with which we share the gift of life

Healing Humanity's Grief In The Face Of Climate Change
By David Suzuki

The suffering we’re witnessing because of loss of land, culture, ways of life, and identity may portend what is to come for all of us. Now is the time to come together and decide how we will respond. Let’s make sure it’s the best humanity has to offer

Israeli Forces Killing “In Cold Blood,” Palestinian Families Say
By Maureen Clare Murphy

The effect of Israel’s apparent shoot-to-kill policy is that children as young as 13 are being shot dead at close range in the streets even when they pose no immediate threat

A Nuremberg Trial For US Funding Slaughter Of Syrians,
Destruction Of Libya, Iraq & Afghanistan
By Jay Janson

"Assad killed his own people peacefully protesting!" Sound familiar? Substitute 'Gaddafi' for 'Assad,' and one is on one's way to bring to mind so many other similarities made to be forgotten in TV, radio and printed news and entertainment in Western media, media owned by corporations profitably investing in the illegal and unconstitutional use of US Armed Forces and CIA. CIA creation and use of 'Islamic' terror is reviewed

Washington To Whomever: Please Fight The Islamic State For Us 
By Peter Van Buren 

Why the Gulf States, the Kurds, the Turks, the Sunnis, and the Shia Won't Fight America's War 

Pentagon Announces Worldwide Expansion Of US Military Bases
By Thomas Gaist

The US Defense Department (DOD) is preparing to expand its global network of military bases by establishing a new “string” of bases in countries stretching from Africa to East Asia, unnamed Pentagon officials told the New York Times Wednesday. The enlarged US basing arrangements will include at least four new large-scale bases or “hubs,” including new facilities in East Africa and West Africa and Afghanistan, along with a greater number of smaller camps or “spokes,” sources told the Times

“Truth”
A Poem By Gary Steven Corseri

He had a little truth;
He held it with his might.
A little, shining thing
To get him through the night.

Savitribai Phule: The Mother Of Modern Education
By Rahul Chimurkar

World humanity is going to celebrate 184thBirth Anniversary Celebrations of Savitribai Phule-The liberator of women, Pioneer of Human Rights and the Greatest Humanitarian Revolutionary of the world. She was the first female teacher of the first women’s school in India

New Education Policy: Death Knell For India’s Education Sector?
By Sourina Bej

The Occupy UGC protest henceforth was no longer about the UGC move but against the NEP that might sell off our education sector to the foreign corporate giants; where education will become a tradable service, and firms (not students or teachers) will determine the price of this commodity. The obvious outcome will be that only money will speak for quality education while the rest would have to avail the low cheap online courses which the ‘Digital India’ initiative will readily make it accessible

World Wide Protest Against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement
Press Release

We want better relationship between India and Japan, but both the countries should take lessons from Fukushima and Hiroshima and expand pro-people relationship rather than furthering the narrow interests of corporations

10 December , 2015

Our Very Own Epoch, Welcome To The Anthropocene
By Pratap Antony

We must stand up for our planet. We must make our voices heard in whatever forum we can. Everything is connected. Everything is interdependent. Our once beautiful planet, Earth, has become a victim of ourselves. Welcome to the Anthropocene! Our very own Epoch

Can We Have Our Climate And Eat It, Too?
By Richard Heinberg

Climate change may divide us. But if we are to avert the worst of it, we must unite behind strategies that will actually work in the real world to preserve the planet’s life support systems as well as the best of what we enjoy as modern humans. But that’s going to entail some material sacrifice for just about everyone—especially those who currently consume the most. Here’s the thing: the sooner we accept reality, the smaller the sacrifice and the greater the benefit

[In Pictures]: 10 Reasons Why India-Japan Nuclear Agreement Must Be Opposed
Posters by Kokila Bhattacharya of The Remember Bhopal Museum

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be visiting India from December 11 to 13, 2015. One of the key items on the agenda would be the consummation of the long-pending India-Japan nuclear agreement. This deal is being opposed strongly by citizen groups in both India and Japan. Activists have also announced solidarity protests in New York, London, NSW in Australia, Taipei and other cities internationally. Here are the key arguments that the protesters are raising against this agreement:

Nuclear Danger: Trillions For Mass Murder
Raghav Kaushik Interviews Dave Hall

Dave Hall, a veteran on the campaign for nuclear weapons abolition, has recently authored a book titled “Nuclear Danger - Trillions for mass murder” available on iTunes. The fact is that in 2015, the investment in nuclear weapons is increasing, bringing the famous doomsday clock maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to 3 minutes to midnight (midnight is the end of civilization.) The book draws urgent attention to an issue we ignore at our own peril. In this interview, Dave answers questions not only about the book, but also about the anti-nuclear movement and his personal motivation to keep going for more than 3 decades

Open Rafah Now: Siege On Gaza Is A Cruel And Political Failure
By Ramzy Baroud

When Egypt decided to open the Rafah border crossing which separates it from Gaza for two days, December 3 and 4, a sense of guarded relief was felt in the impoverished Strip. True, 48 hours were hardly enough for the tens of thousands of patients, students and other travelers to leave or return to Gaza, but the idea that a respite was on its way helped to break, albeit slightly, the sense of collective captivity felt by entrapped Palestinians

Racism And Xenophobia In The American Mainstream
By Jon Kofas

Is the US an OPEN SOCIETY? Political Opportunism and the Culture of Racism and Xenophobia in the 21st Century

Child of War
By Maryam Sakeenah

You'd speak of
The desperate, endless waiting
For a healing hand-
Perhaps mummy's finger to cling on to,
A warm breath to reassure
"It'll be all right"-
But the breath was cold,
The hand lifeless and brittle.

The Rise Of The American-Muslim Totalitarian State
By Garikai Chengu

Muslim-Americans are living in a totalitarian police state with worsening harassment, profiling, and surveillance. The United States’ government may claim liberty and justice for all; however, in practice, towards Muslims, it exhibits all four major characteristics of a totalitarian state: a war on terror that targets Muslims abroad, a totalitarian police state at home, public executions by drones and gulags outside the rule of law, and a strong reliance on propaganda and political demagoguery. The hallmark of fascism was state oppression of certain targeted non-privileged groups. Today, Muslims are bearing the brunt of America's totalitarian police state

The Liberal Democrat Presidential Candidate Quiz: #FeelTheBern Edition
By Mickey Z.

Without using a search engine, can any of you dedicated lefty types identify the candidates or even tell these speeches apart? Could one of these snippets actually be the words of your latest savior, Bernie Sanders?

Saudi Arabia Leads The Jihadist Nations; U.S. Assists Them
By Eric Zuesse

So, this is how it came to be that the U.S. is allied with the Sauds and their fundamentalist Sunnis, and that Russia is allied with Iran and all Shiites — both fundamentalists and not. The U.S. is now a handmaiden to international jihadists. But all the lies are to the contrary, and it's the lies that are stenographically reported and broadcast in the West as ‘the news

Thasleem's Arrest A Ploy To Drag On Bangalore
Blast Case Indefinitely: Jagadish Chandra
Press Release

Prominent human right activist Jagadish Chandra said that the government is trying to defer the Bangalore bomb blast case indefinitely. He was inaugurating the protest rally organized by Solidarity Youth Movement against the arrest of Thasleem by Kerala police from Kannur alleging connection with Bangalore bomb blast. The illegal arrest and charging of UAPA against Thasleem is part of conspiracy to defer the trial of 50 accused persons including Abdul Naser Maudany. He also urged to extend the struggles against draconian laws to nation level

Key To Eradicate Hunger Is Making Public Institutions Work
By Asian Human Rights Commission

Who can enjoy any of the basic human rights guaranteed to them by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 through the United Nations General Assembly resolution 217, if they face chronic hunger, or even worse, starvation? The answer to the question is simple. The rights guaranteed by the UDHR to peoples of all nations would be nothing more than a cruel joke on them

Human Rights Day And Need Of Police Reform In India
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava

On the eve of human rights day several rhetoric will be made by the people at the helm of affairs but these are empty talks as long as poor people or women or any common person feel a fear for police or any human right is violated by the police; and India cannot call itself a real progressive nation state. Hence political leadership on this day must take a firm oath to implement the SC directives on the police reform. Then only this day will have any relevance for the country

Religion ‘To Come’
By Jeet Bhattacharya

We are the conscious lot, and unconscious are they, the so-called fanatics fighting the debauchery of reason. Can’t there be a reconciliation between these two factions at war with the other? The ‘Us’ and ‘Them’? Perhaps when we find a common point to believe in and fight for. When the guiding principle will not be ‘God’ or anthropogical ‘Man’, or technological ‘communication’ of post-industrial world, but a shout from the morgue of humanity…

09 December , 2015

Terra Viva, Earth Democracy: One Planet, One Humanity
A People’s Pact to Protect the Planet and Each Other

This pact was first initiated on 9 November 2015 at the launch of a Citizens’ Garden in the Jardin Marcotte in Paris, together with Navdanya, Solidarité, AMAP Ile de France Network, the Cultures en Herbes, and the Mayor of Paris 11. We invite you to become part of the ‘change we want to see’ a change that allows us to reclaim our future as one humanity, one Earth community, through Earth Democracy

The Insanity Of The COP: We Must Adopt A Different Vision
By John Foran

The overall verdict of the International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth is that the Paris agreement will lock in the worst abuses of capitalism and guarantee climate catastrophe. The current logic of the COP, which isn’t sustainable, just, or innocent of multiple crimes comes with the clear intention of committing many more. We need another logic and set of principles to guide us. And we need a path to get there… The Tribunal represents a possible alternative logic for a global agreement, one based on a very different conception of rights – of Nature, of human communities, and of future generations who must find a balanced way to live on Earth, if they, and she, are to thrive. And though we surely don’t the upper hand inside COP 21, it is entirely possible that that is not where the real battle for the planet will be fought. There is a different way. All we have to do is enlarge the many paths to it that already exist, and create many more new ones

COP21, Bill Gates, And Climate Catastrophe
By Robert M. Christie

Gates has pulled together billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), George Soros (consummate currency trader), Jack Ma (Alibaba), and Saudi Prince Alaweed bin Talal, in a massive effort at venture philanthropy. With their government allies, these guys are taking the powers that be directly down the wrong road. Their goal is to invest in Research and Development (R&D) of new low or no-carbon energy production technologies over the next five years. Their billions of private and public dollars could be much better spent on direct climate mitigation efforts urgently needed now

Police Brutality Against ‪#‎OccupyUGC‬ Student Activists In New Delhi
By Countercurrents.org

‪#‎OccupyUGC‬ student activists brutally beaten up in New Delhi. Hundreds of students are injured. Many are severely injured, especially head injuries. Hundreds arrested. Women students molested by Delhi police. Many students arrested and lodged in police station

San Bernadino Atrocity Elicits Islamophobic Republican Hysteria
And Egregious Falsehood In Warmonger Obama's Speech
Bt Dr Gideon Polya

The San Bernadino atrocity (14 killed) has elicited anti-Arab anti-Semitic, Islamophobic hysteria from the Republican crazies and an ostensibly more measured response from Obama in his White House address which was nevertheless a litany of falsehood that ignored the 32 million Muslims killed by violence or imposed deprivation in the post-9-11, $7 trillion US War on Terror and the 23 million Americans who have died preventably since the US Government's 9-11 false flag atrocity due to the immense fiscal and moral perversion of killing millions of Muslims abroad rather than keeping millions of Americans alive at home

The Toxic Agriculture Of Monsanto And Big Agribusiness
vs Agroecology Rooted In Communities And Locally Owned
By Colin Todhunter

Agroecology is essentially a system that prioritises local communities, smallholder farmers, local economies and markets. It is a system that the Rockefeller-backed green revolution has been dismantling across the globe for the last 60 years or so. The green revolution is in crisis and is causing massive damage to the environment and to farmers' livelihoods to the point where ecocide and genocide is occurring and the cynical destruction of agrarian economies has taken place. The solution ultimately lies in challenging the corporate takeover of agriculture, the system of 'capitalism' that makes such plunder possible and embracing and investing in sustainable agriculture that is locally owned and rooted in the needs of communities

Declaration In Defence Of Peoples' Rights At 10th
WTO Ministerial Conference In Nairobi
By Peoples' Organisations

Twenty years on, we demand that the Government of India thoroughly reorient its stand in international trade and investment negotiations and align it truly with the pro-people agenda of self-reliant and sustainable development. We also call upon the Government of India to work towards such a progressive and alternate agenda in solidarity and cooperation with likeminded countries of the South. With this end in view, the signatories to this declaration commit to taking this message across the country through campaigns, rallies and conventions. We call upon mass organisations from across the country to join this process of defending democracy, reclaiming self-reliance and sovereignty

Being Less or More Human
A Poem By Braj Ranjan Mani

Hope arises when a child—a soul—is born anywhere:
And the mother kisses and caresses the crying child!

08 December , 2015

Five Years Since The Arrest Of Julian Assange
By Robert Stevens

On December 7, 2010 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was detained in London under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Sweden. His arrest on bogus allegations of sexual assault was the culmination of a concerted witch-hunt involving the UK, Swedish and United States governments. For the last five years, his prosecutors in Sweden have refused to interview Assange in London over the allegations. Yet a Freedom of Information request revealed that, as of this year, Sweden has granted 44 requests to interview witnesses or people suspected of crimes in the UK since 2010

Apocalyptic Capitalism
By Chris Hedges

We have to let go of our relentless positivism, our absurd mania for hope, and face the bleakness of reality before us. To resist means to acknowledge that we are living in a world already heavily damaged by global warming. It means refusing to participate in the destruction of the planet. It means noncooperation with authority. It means defying in every way possible consumer capitalism, militarism and imperialism. It means adjusting our lifestyle, including what we eat, to thwart the forces bent upon our annihilation

Extinction Is Forever
By Robert J. Burrowes

Recent estimates indicate that 200 species of life (plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles) are driven to extinction each day. Every day. This rate exceeds that during the last mass extinction event, when the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago. In short, planet Earth is now experiencing its sixth mass extinction event and we are the cause. How so?

Kunduz MSF Hospital U.S. Bombing Survivor, “I Want My Story To Be Heard”
By Dr Hakim

“I feel very angry, but I don’t want anything from the U.S. military,” said Khalid Ahmad, a 20 year old pharmacist who survived the U.S. bombing of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz on the 3rd of October, “God will hold them accountable.” The actions of the U.S. military elicit the same contempt from Khalid and many ordinary Afghans as the actions of the Taliban or the ISIS

War Is On The Horizon: Is It Too Late To Stop It?
By Paul Craig Roberts

We are left with the paradox that Russia’s determination to avoid war is leading directly to war. Whether or not the Russian media, Russian people, and the entirety of the Russian government understand this, it must be obvious to the Russian military. All that Russian military leaders need to do is to look at the composition of the forces sent by NATO to “combat ISIS.” As George Abert notes, the American, French, and British aircraft that have been deployed are jet fighters whose purpose is air-to-air combat, not ground attack. The jet fighters are not deployed to attack ISIS on the ground, but to threaten the Russian fighter-bombers that are attacking ISIS ground targets

America's Reckless War Against Evil: Why It's Self-Defeating And Has No End 
By Ira Chernus

Oh, no! Not another American war against evil! This time, it's the Islamic State (IS). After the attacks in Paris, Barack Obama, spokesman-in-chief for the United States of America, called that crew “the face of evil.” Shades of George W. Bush. The “evildoers” are back. And from every mountaintop, it seems, America now rings with calls to ramp up its war machine

Pearl Harbor Day and the Fantasy of US Victimhood
By David Swanson

David Swanson unmasks the propaganda logic behind Amazon.com's "Man in the High Castle" and U.S. celebrations of failure

Why We Should NOT Root For Our Own Rulers...
And Why It’s Better If They LOSE Their Wars
By Larry Everest

After the horrific November 13 terrorist attack in Paris by ISIS, the rulers in the U.S., France, and other imperialist powers are again trying to line people up behind their war moves—including people who’ve opposed previous wars like the ones in Vietnam and Iraq. “We’re not perfect,” they say, “but at least we aren’t religious lunatics like ISIS, and right now we have to defeat ISIS. There won’t be any peace, and people will continue to suffer unless we defeat ISIS.”

The TPPA: The Political Undercurrents
By The JUST Executive Committee

The agreement does not include China. The exclusion of the region’s largest economy and world’s second-largest (and by some measures largest) economy is no accident. It is a central aspect of the TPPA’s strategic policy function: harnessing the power of the developing nations throughout ASEAN as an economic counterweight to Beijing for the benefit of the United States

The Intolerance And Crafty Hypocrisy
By Kshirod Bihari Bharat Nag

Some started returning awards , as if previous regimes ( including Atal Bihari Bajpayee tenure) were so much tolerant. These stalwarts were happy in accepting national awards during those times, as if there was no sign of intolerance. As if, there was no atrocitiy on women, dalits, tribals or not a single case of witch hunting on minorities. How these person find differences between Modi and his predecessors. It was UPA-II at the centre, during which Kandhmal riot occurred and hundreds were victimized by the Hindu fundamentalists. During this regime only, Bhotmange family in khairlanji was massacred. It was Congress and its allies at the centre, when Laxmipur Bathe massacre occurred in Bihar and all the culprits were aquitted later on. The infamous 1984 anti-Shikh riot was manufactured during a regime which was not ofcourse Modi’s regime

A Tribute To Dr. B.D. Sharma
By Campaign for Survival and Dignity

Dr. Sharma's life represented the fundamental truth of what our rulers never seem to realise: people do not accept injustice lying down; they do not go quietly into the night; they rage against the dying, and the killing, of the light. Till the end that is what he did, and the legacy he has left will live on as an inspiration for countless others

India-Japan Nuclear Deal: World Wide Protest Planned
Press Release

During the Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe’s visit to India, protests have been organised against the proposed India-Japan Nuclear Agreement between 11th to 13th December. Protests have been announced all over India during Shinzo Abe’s visit this week. Farmers and fisherfolk whom this deal directly and immediately affects would be protesting in Jaitapur, Mithi Virdi, Kovvada and Koodankulam. Solidarity groups have also called for protests in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad and other cities. Protests by civil society groups are also being organised in New York, London, Tokyo and other international cities, as this nuclear agreement has serious international implications

Juvenile Justice (Care And Protection) Bill Up For Discussion In Rajya Sabha
By Noor Ameena

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Bill, which seeks to decrease the age of criminal responsibility of children from 18 to 16 years, is up for discussion in Rajya Sabha this week. This Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the last session of the Parliament despite staunch opposition from various sections within and outside the Parliament. It is really unfortunate that out of all the vices that has transpired in Indian soil, we today find our children as our greatest enemies. If some of our children have drifted into the world of darkness, it was because the world around him did not show him enough light to move on. Let us light a lamp, and bring them back, instead of pushing them in perpetual gloom

Will 2030 Global Goals Help Accelerate Progress Towards Ending TB?
By Shobha Shukla

This article is based upon an exclusive interview with Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO's Global TB Programme. Dr Raviglione spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town, South Africa. As we know, the Global Goals for Sustainable Development 2030 adopted by the governments at the 70th United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, present an integrated development agenda.The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3 specifically refers to ending AIDS, TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2030

07 December , 2015

Paris Climate Negotiations Won’t Stop The Planet Burning
By Nafeez Ahmed

The much-vaunted COP21 negotiations in Paris are, despite the claims of world leaders, dead on arrival. Emissions reductions targets are not up for discussion. Those pledges are already on the table, having been put forward voluntarily by each country. Government negotiators in Paris are instead looking at banal details of how and when countries should commit to improving their voluntary pledges, and ensuring "transparency" and "accountability"

Questions To Ask President Obama The Next Time (also the last time)
You’re Invited To One of His Press Conferences
By William Blum

Which is most important to you – destroying ISIS, overthrowing Syrian president Assad, or scoring points against Russia?

Uri Avnery: A Fantasy Friend Of Palestine
By Vacy Vlazna

Uri Avnery is widely regarded as an Israeli peacemaker with a balanced view of what he calls the ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict’. But under the surface of dissent (often well-founded criticism of Israel), Avnery is a hard core zionist: a fantasy friend of Palestine

Youtube Becomes Israel’s New Battleground Against Palestinians
By Jonathan Cook

Once it fell to politicians and diplomats to solve international conflicts. Now, according to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responsibility lies with social media. Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, headed off to Silicon Valley to meet senior executives at Google and its subsidiary YouTube late last month. Her task was to persuade them that, for the sake of peace, they must censor the growing number of Palestinian videos posted on YouTube

Putative US-Israeli Rift Has Not Dampened Partnership
In Oppression Of Palestinians
By Matt Peppe

Any doubts that the personality conflicts had actually imperiled the hand-in-glove military cooperation between the two countries, as mainstream pundits so forcefully proclaimed, was put to rest. The Obama administration approved an arms sale for $1.9 billion to Israel - in violation of domestic and international law, and against the explicit demands of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International

The Destabilized Middle East
By Ron Forthofer

The November 13th Paris attacks have generated widespread outrage, but where is the outrage by the 'civilized' nations about Western war crimes? Is blowback to Western violence really a surprise? Can't we finally learn that violence only begets more violence and incredible suffering? It's way past time to try diplomacy

Dr B D Sharma Passes Away: A Life Lived In Struggle For The Rights Of Marginals
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

Dr Brahma Dutt Sharma (known to many of us as Dr Sahab), passed away on December 6th in Gwalior. He led many battles in his life and worked tirelessly to achieve the constitutional rights of the adivasis, dalits, workers and farmers, over five decades of his working life beginning with the troublesome days in Bastar (1968) and being the last Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (1986-1991). He also served as the Vice Chancellor of NEHU, Central University and in numerous committess of Planning Commission and National Advisory Council

Conflicts Between Business Interests And Human Rights
In the State of Odisha, India
By Prasant Paikray

Presentation at UN Business & Human Rights Forum in Geneva, on 18th November,2015-Treaty Session-Challenges & opportunities of a treaty to address corporate abuse of Human Rights By Prasant Paikray

Fact-Finding Report Regarding Recent Arrests In The Bangalore Blasts Case
By People’s Human Rights Forum

Fact-Finding Report under the auspices of People’s Human Rights Forum regarding the Recent Arrest of K K Thasleem ( 34 years, Son of Abdul-Rahman, Azad Road, Kannur City ) – Brother of 27th Accused “Sharafudheen”

06 December , 2015

Halfway Through Paris... And A Very Long Way From World-Saving Deal
By Jon Queally

The COP21 climate talks in Paris reached their halfway point on Saturday, but a deal that experts and global justice campaigners would consider acceptable remains a long way off as the fossil fuel industry and wealthy nations maintain their powerful grip on the direction of the international summit. Given the troubled history of the UN-sponsored talks, most members of civil society headed to Paris acknowledging the two-week gathering was unlikely to yield the kind of agreement that either the science of global warming, or the movement for climate justice, would find acceptable

Paris, Peace, And Humanity On The Precipice
By Vandana Shiva

"For me, COP21 is a pilgrimage of peace — to remember all the innocent victims of the wars against the land and people; to develop the capacity to reimagine that we are one and refuse to be divided by race and religion; to see the connections between ecological destruction, growing violence and wars that are engulfing our societies."

The Roots Of The Current Situation In Venezuela
By Gregory Wilpert

The current economic, political, and social situation in Venezuela is very complicated, which makes it somewhat difficult for outsiders to make sense of. On the one hand there are many people who defend the Bolivarian revolution, pointing to the successes it has had in reducing poverty and inequality and in increasing citizen participation and self-governance. On the other hand, there is a chorus of critics, not just from the usual suspects on the political right, but often from the left, who criticize the Maduro government's economic management of the country, corruption, the high inflation rate and shortages, and the trial of a high profile opposition politician, who the government accuses of fomenting violence. How did Venezuela get here? What happened since Hugo Chavez's death? Did the project derail, get stuck, hit a speed bump, or crash altogether?

Inequality In America, The Fish That Rots From The Head
By Eric Zuesse

Inequality of wealth is inequality of power. A study just released finds that "America's 20 wealthiest people — a group that could fit comfortably in one single Gulfstream G650 luxury jet — now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 152 million people in 57 million households.” How much political power do the people who would be inside that jet — and their friends — actually have?

ISIS In Lebanon: An Interview With Andre Vltchek
By Soud Sharabani

Lebanon’s stability is hanging on by a thread. There is war raging on its border; Syria, the economy has all but collapsed, the central government is extremely weak, and there are over 2 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees. So when ISIS attacked the Bourj al-Barajneh district in southern Beirut recently, it is just one more problem that the Lebanese have to deal with. Andre Vltchek is a writer and a journalist who has written extensively about the Middle East, and who was actually present in Lebanon during the recent ISIS attack

Punish Perpetrators Of Babari Masjid Demolition
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Babari Masjid’s demolition was an affront to the constitution of India. It was clever attempt to polarise India between the two communities and hand them over the priestly classes to lead, which were under the threat from the Mandalisation of society. Even in Islam the pasmanda muslims are now seeking their dues. Fight for rights and social awakening must continue and we should put pressure on the political class to have strength to speak truth and demand justice for the people. Will those who demolish Babari Masjid and killed thousands of people in the aftermath of the engineered ‘communal’ disturbances be punished?

Ambedkar For Our Times!
By Subhash Gatade

Till 1992, 6th December was remembered as ‘Parinirvan Divas’ of Dr Ambedkar, legendary son of the oppressed who had clearly recognised the true meaning of Hindutva and warned his followers about the dangers of Hindu Rashtra ; post 1992, 6th December has an added meaning and it relates to the demolition of Babri Mosque undertaken by these very forces. Apart from the fact that this event led to the biggest communal conflagaration at the national level post-independence, whose repercussions are still being felt and whose perpetrators are still roaming free, we should not forget that it was the first biggest attack on the principles of secularism and democracy, which has been a core value of the Constitution drafted under the Chairmanship of Dr Ambedkar. Here is an edited version of the presentation made at Dept of Social Work, Delhi University, during their programme centred around 1 st Ambedkar Memorial Lecture

Why I Will Celebrate The Beef Festival
By Dr Akhileshwari Ramagoud

I will participate in the Beef Festival being organised by students on the Osmania University campus on December 10. Or wherever they choose to hold the festival since the OU authorities have refused to give permission. Or whenever it is held. I will participate because being a free citizen of this free country, I have every right to do so. That is guaranteed to me by the Constitution as citizen of this country. I might hurt some sentiments of some people but the Constitution has put no qualifying clauses to my freedom in this democracy especially where a totally private issue like food is concerned

Coimbatore To Manesar: Release The Political Prisoners Of Class Struggle !
By Kranikari Naujawan Sabha

One of the starkest instances of injustice in the country was delivered on 3rd December when 8 workers of Pricol Pvt Ltd, an auto company in Coimbatore Tamil Nadu were given 'double life-term sentences' by a Trial Court in Coimbatore. Not a single 'national' newspaper has covered this atrocity

05 December , 2015

Paris Climate Talks Accomplish Nothing To Curb Global Warming
By Daniel de Vries

The United Nations climate change summit commenced this past Monday with 150 heads of state and tens of thousands of representatives from national governments, businesses and the NGO industry converging on Paris. Despite its supposedly historic significance, the 21st Conference of Parties, or COP 21, promises little more than the previous 20 failed annual conferences

Is There A Future For Our Species
By Gunther Ostermann

Only with honesty, truth and justice can there be a future for our species, and I don’t see any of it, anywhere

Rolling Back The Destructive Influence of The Global Agribusiness Cartel
By Colin Todhunter

And now for the good news. As the rest of the world eats denutrified, poisoned 'food' and capitulates to the criminal cartel of US agribusiness, as India destroys its soils with petrochemical-monocrop agriculture and looks to GMOs, as corrupt governments and regulatory bodies do the bidding of Monsanto, Russia is committed to not selling out the health of millions, the fertility of the land or the food security of the nation to a handful of criminals in the West who have destroyed indigenous agriculture across the planet. Russia could become the world's largest supplier of ecologically clean and high-quality organic food

Remembering Ezra Schwartz: A Hasbara Story
By Ira Glunts

The learning and sharing to which the Secretary refers was the fact that Ezra Schwartz was bringing food to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers at the time of his death. This is the army which brutally enforces the Israeli occupation and defends the settlers as they continue to steal Palestinian land, curtail their human rights and deny them the independent state to which they are entitled. To the Palestinians, Schwartz was aiding and abetting the enemy. This is the truth that the Jewish lobby and people such as Robert Kraft do not want Americans to learn

Zionism And The Birth Of Israel
By William James Martin

What the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is all about then is the destruction of the Palestinian people and their evacuation and the complete takeover of Palestine at least to the Jordan River by the Jewish state. And what hangs in the balance is whether or not the Palestinians will be destroyed and eliminated as a people with a distinct culture and history and with an attachment to the land of their birth and their parent’s and ancestor’s births

WTO @ Nairobi: Portents Of An Apocalypse
By Anand Teltumbde

In the forthcoming 10th ministerial meeting of WTO at Nairobi, Kenya from 15-18 December the public discourse on higher education about its being public/merit/private good and the covert/overt preparation of the government over the last two decades to withdraw from higher education will finally come to an end

Celebrate The Food Diversity
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Food culture need to be celebrated. I wish to see people coming together eating everything. I dont say you should not challenge the brahmanical hegemony but hegemony inside us also. If we feel that all the Dalit Bahujans eat beef and all non Dalit Bahujans are vegetarian then we are caught in the brahmanical lies

Half The Battle Won: Need To Accelerate Roll-Out of Child-Friendly Anti-TB Drugs
By Shobha Shukla

More than 1 million children get sick with TB every year and 400 children succumb to it every day. Also a whopping 67% of those who suffer from it are not diagnosed or treated. With the advent of new palatable fixed dose combinations (FDCs) to treat paediatric TB, treatment adherence, and hence cure rate, is bound to increase. But this is just half the battle won. While Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Global TB Programme at WHO has promised to hasten the process of pre-qualification of the FDCs and its inclusion in the essential medicines list, countries will have to have the political will and investment to roll out the new medication

04 December , 2015

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: 31 Years Of Injustice
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

Over 60 people gathered in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi today to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. After 31 years of the largest industrial disaster in the world. The victims and survivors of Bhopal remain without justice. Generations have felt the impacts of the gas, as its impacts are being passed down genetically. The compensation provided has been paltry and rehabilitation minimal. The result of studies on health impacts remain secret, health treatment has been denied and even cleaning up of the toxic waste at the plant has not taken place. On the other hand, Union Carbide and now Dow Chemicals, continue to enjoy impunity and continue their operations

UK Stages Bombing Raid On Syria Hours After Parliamentary Vote
By Robert Stevens

Conservative Defence Secretary Michael Fallon authorised the first air strikes by RAF squadrons immediately following the vote by the British parliament in favour of bombing Syria. MPs voted for air strikes at 10.30 pm Wednesday. By 11.30 pm two Tornado bombers took off from the RAF’s base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, each loaded with three Paveway missiles, worth more than £100,000 each. An hour later, two more Tornados took off, also armed with Paveways

Do Mass Killings Bother You?
By David Swanson

What if you learned that this young man's name was Brandon Bryant, and that he killed as a drone pilot for the U.S. Air Force, and that he was presented with a certificate for his 1,626 kills and congratulated on a job well done by the United States of America? What if you learned that his religious leader was a Christian chaplain? Do such things still bother you? What if you learned that most of the people killed by U.S. drones are civilians?

Exporting Inequality: American Wealth Concentration
By Jon Kofas

According to the latest statistics, including the CIA, the US suffers the worst level of inequality of any advanced nation and ranks among some of the most unequal societies on the planet, while its politicians, business leaders, media and pundits proudly promote it as “democratic” rather than a plutocratic which in reality reflects reality. If the CIA publicly states in its reports that the US is more unequal than Nicaragua and Venezuela, both countries that the US has covertly tried to undermine in the past because they were “less democratic”, what does this say about the US and its ‘democracy’?

Intolerance, The Motif Of Our times, And Role Of Media
By Dr Akhileshwari Ramagoud

We don’t need another brand of intolerance and bullying on our TV screens, night after night, to further dilute and emasculate reason in the people

Jamia’s Invitation To Modi: Beyond An Apology
By Syed Kashif

Inviting Mr. Narendra Modi, who disgraced Jamia Millia Islamia and its students, to its convocation or in any other programme is disgusting. It is well known that Mr. Modi defamed Jamia and caused a great damage to it, including its students, while leveling the accusation that the university was protecting terrorists and that it was a breeding ground for terrorism

03 December , 2015

IEA's "Cookbook" For Paris : A "Last Chance"
That Only Continues Forty Years of Failure
By Nicholas C. Arguimbau

Some time in the last couple of years while we weren’t paying attention, the powers that be changed the goal from a 66% chance of staying under 2 degrees to a 50% chance. They don’t talk about it very much but that’s the equivalent of raising the target atmospheric emissions goal from 450 ppm to 500 ppm, IPCC "Climate Change 3014 Synthesis Report" Table SPM 1, which is the equivalent of raising the "emissions budget," (the CO2 emissions we can allow ourselves before we have to stop) by 390.5 gigatonnes of CO2 or 106.5 gt of carbon. "Comparing CO2 emissions to CO2 levels". So without being aware of it we just let IEA (International Energy Agency) reduce the probability that our grandchildren will live on a habitable planet from 2/3 to 1/2 so as simultaneously to give the fossil fuel industry something like $30 trillion

UK Parliament Sanctions Syria Bombing As Labour Right Blocks With Government
By Julie Hyland

The UK parliament voted in favour of bombing Syria late Wednesday night. The support provided by 66 Labour MPs, the Democratic Unionists and the Liberal Democrats meant that the government motion was carried by 397 to 223, a majority of 174

Turkey Tries To Lure NATO Into War Against Russia
By Eric Zuesse

When Turkey shot down a Russian bomber in Syria on November 24th, Turkish officials did so with the confidence that America's anti-Russian military alliance, NATO, would protect Turkey against any possible military retaliation by Russia. And, so, Russia restricted its retaliation to merely economic measures. Sunni Turkey is the increasingly fundamentalist and anti-Shiite NATO member-nation; and, as such, it's doing what it can to draw the rest of America's anti-Russian alliance, NATO, into a war by all of them to defeat Russia

Soft Loans To Sugar Barons, 'Eligible' Suicide To Farmers
By Samar

1300 farmers killed themselves in Maharashtra by 30 June, as per state government’s own admission, with half of the year to go. The government also concedes that many of these are in fact ‘eligible’ farm suicides. The government is not always that slow in dealing with distress, not when it affects the sugar mill owners at least. The incumbent union government had given interest free loans of Rs. 4,400 crore to sugar industry for paying cane arrears in June 2014 as well. It had also approved interest free loan of Rs. 6,600 crore for the mills and that too exclusively for clearing sugarcane arrears. It is just that not much of the interest free loans seem to have reached the farmers if one goes by the data provided by the government itself

Book Review: “Age Of Fools” By William Cook – Stop Neocon & Zionist
Palestinian Genocide, War On Muslims & War On Humanity
By Dr Gideon Polya

“Age of Fools” by William A. Cook should be read by everyone as a brilliant and passionate condemnation of the continuing US atrocities in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the US War on Muslims, and of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide byApartheid Israel. “Age of Fools” employs poetry, prose and European literary traditions to excoriate the horrendous Bush America and Israeli crimes of the first decade of the 21st century, atrocities that are continuing today

How Western Media Increases Terrorism Through Language
By Robert Barsocchini

To eliminate the self-aggrandizing and terror-producing bias pervasive in Western media, Western media outlets must, when applicable, classify Western governments and their relevant acts as 'terroristic' or 'imperio-terroristic', and objectively place retaliatory terror against the West in the context of aggressive imperio-terror committed by the West, when applicable

Land And People : 1894 to 2015 - From Colonial Rulers
To Corporate Masters: 121 Years Of Resistance
By S.G.Vombatkere

Bhumi Adhikar Andolan is observing December 15, 2015, as Chetavni Divas (Day of Challenge and Warning to neo-liberal forces) to not only realize full forest rights as envisaged by FRA but to take the movement beyond, to achieve people's sovereign rights over land, water and natural resources, and to oppose forced land acquisition. This approach will also address the decades-long, on-going agrarian crisis. People's movements are set to take a more proactive role in coming days. This will surely attract the use of force (police and perhaps even military) by the corporate-led State against protestors, demonstrators and dissidents. One-hundred-twenty-one years after LAA-1894, the stage is set for another Independence movement in India

Let’s Clear Confusions About The Term “Non-NET”
By Muhammad Naved Ashrafi

It is clear that only qualifying JRF examination can assist your research liabilities. Even qualifying NET does not guarantee “seamless” Financial Assistance for your research!! UGC now wants to scrap assistance of Rs. 8,000/- generally given to Non-JRF Researchers (including both NET and NON-NET). What is being popularized as Non-Net fellowship is actually Non-JRF fellowship. Let your confusions be cleared. If such an attempt of UGC gets legal nod, this will surely be detrimental to higher studies, research and development in India

Good Governance: The Amazing Emptiness Of Magic Words
By Pratap Antony

‘Good governance’ is a current favourite magic spell in India, and it is a good magic mantra because we, without understanding the meaning of it expect ‘good governance’ to happen with its utterance, just as an illusionist or a stage magician or a sleight-of-hand performer makes objects appear out of seemingly nowhere by saying abracadabra or choo mantar

Condemn Army Terrorism In Garo Hills, Two Civilians Killed
By Coordination Of Democratic Rights Orgnizations

CDRO strongly condemns the continuing army terrorism in the name of combing operations in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills. While Meghalaya is not notified as a ‘disturbed area’ and the writ of the army does not run large, the AFSPA allows army personnel located in neighbouring states to conduct operations within 20 kilometres of the state border. On November 25th 2015, the Gurkha regiment stationed in Assam’s Rangjuli town shot dead two unarmed civilians, a few kilometres from Kharkutta Bazaar in the Garo Hills area, in Meghalaya

December Memories And The Recent Chapters Of Dalits And Muslims
By B.Prabakaran

Despite the fact that Dalits and Muslims have never been opponents at any point of the time in our history, they indeed have not raised their voice for themselves as effusively as they should, when they are slaughtered and humiliated. Very few voices from them against these atrocities are being heard here and there. Most of the time, they have understood each other as aliens as taught by ‘others’. For a Dalit an Islamite is a member of other religion and for an Islamite a Dalit is both an ‘Untouchable’ and a member from different religion. Dalits must raise their voice against religious fanaticism as well as Muslims must stand firmly against caste atrocities. This is urgent and crucial in present unfolding context

Kalhana’s Kashmir!
By Mohammad Ashraf

What would Kashmir be like if Kalhana’s“Country of Spiritual Merit” had continued its march unmolested by foreign oppressors?

02 December , 2015

Our Fight For Survival
By Andreas Malm

Paris would have been the coming-of-age COP for a movement ready to make those demands. Now we have the state of emergency. Hollande and his peers crave silent streets. COP21 is their chance to bury the revolutionary implications of climate change, and untold numbers of people with them. Ban or no ban, militant resistance in the streets has never been more imperative. They should not get away with this

What Can Pearl Harbor Teach Us About 9/11 And Other 'Surprises?'
By Mickey Z.

One more parallel to ponder: Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. Admiral William Halsey vowed that by the end of the war, “Japanese would be spoken only in hell.” His favorite slogan “Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs”. Change the word “Japanese” to “Muslim” and well, you know the rest… When attempting to discern the truth about the events surrounding 9/11, in this history-challenged society, it never hurts to examine what’s come before

The Resistible Rise Of Global Fascism: Part 1 – What Is Fascism?
By Kieran Kelly

What is Fascism? Recently Chris Hedges wrote of an imperialist US that is infected by “the virus of fascism, wrapped in the American flag, held aloft by the Christian cross and buttressed by white supremacy.” Hedges was not using the term fascism as it would be used by a political theorist or historian. It is common to use “fascism” to indicate a more general and imprecise fascistic tendency. Yet there comes a point when so many fascistic traits are in evidence that you know you must be dealing with a type of Fascism

Reclaiming Palestine: How Israeli Media Misread The Intifada
By Ramzy Baroud

Israeli commentators, Yaron Friedman, of “Ynet News” and Haviv Rettig Gur, of the “Times of Israel” are clueless about the driving force behind the Palestinian mobilization and collective struggle. In two recent articles, and with unmistakable conceit, they attempted to highlight what they perceive as the failure of the current Palestinian uprising, or ‘Intifada’

Intolerance And Tolerance In Patriarchy
By Vasudha Rao

It is time, women become intolerant to all & any forms of abuse.#HappyToBleed is the response to the Sabarimala dictat. On 25th of November, 2015, India Gate was lit up in Orange colour to celebrate the International Day of Elimination of Violence against women.We as women, need to get increasingly intolerant of patriarchal attitudes of men & society in general.And simultaneously men, will have to get increasingly tolerant .Only then , will our India become an equitable world

Droughts Don’t Wait For ‘Official Declaration’
By Asian Human Rights Commission

More than 100 farmers have reportedly committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most impoverished states in India, because of a hailstorm that destroyed their crops. The situation will only worsen with 50 of 75 districts being hit by a severe drought. Despite having evidence of the drought, the provincial government took two and a half months to declare it. They announced it step by step, a few districts at a time, with the final declaration coming as late as 19 November, 2015-the Rabi season having already set in!

School Education In Delhi And The AAP Government
By Sunand

How can we define AAP’s education model? It is a model that offers unrestricted profiteering for the private school managements, increases differentiation and inequalities by reserving quality education for the select few, while majority of the children from poor families are dumped in government schools. Education featured prominently election manifesto of the AAP government. At a time when the moves by government are clearly going to go against the stated intentions and promises, it becomes important that democratic sections chip, identify the voids on the ground, link it to the policy direction and mobilize students, parents, teachers & public at large

A School With A Difference!
By Shobha Shukla

Located on the grounds of the King George Hospital Complex (now known as the King Dinuzulu Hospital Complex- KDHC) in Durban, ‘King George V Primary School’ is indeed a school with a difference, catering to the special educational and social needs of a unique class of children. All children with MDR-TB admitted in the hospital attend this school. This helps not only in providing them a continuum of education, while they are on treatment, but also makes the children feel loved and wanted

Nameless Heroes: The Untold Tale of Everyday Sufferers
By Qazi Shibli

Shobu is a name to hundreds of such nameless heroes who suffer day in and day out, who are alien to empathy and sympathy from the ones whom they allege to be resisting for, who claim to be their representatives

01 December , 2015

COP21 Ecological Summit Opens Amid War Tensions, With Paris In Lockdown
By Stéphane Hugues

The COP21 Summit opened yesterday in Paris in a siege atmosphere due to the state of emergency decreed by the French government after the November 13 terror attacks in Paris. Thousands of army troops, police and paramilitary riot police roamed the streets, with many major roads closed off and control points set up in many places

‘Alternative Nobel’ Laureates Call For Climate Leadership
And Putting An End To War And Discrimination
By Right Livelihood Award Foundation

The 2015 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, call for renewed global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, secure the rights of indigenous and LGBTI communities, and put an end to war. The four Laureates receive their awards at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm today

COP21 Fossil Fuel Addiction: A Guide For Intervention
From The Climate Justice Movement
By Brad Hornick

Author's note: this article is meant to be both deadly serious and parody. It attempts humour and commits unforgiveable psychological reductionism of political issues. It is hoped the reader will discern the message behind the form of delivery

Heaven or Hell On Earth: A Human or Planetary-Made Crisis?
By Jerome Irwin

Some new all-encompassing word must be found for the human tongue that can succinctly communicate for the marginalized, mutant masses the real dimensions of this violent human-climatic crisis that, once uttered, as if by magic, will everywhere cause the penny to finally drop and bring about a much-needed 180 degree sea change turn in the affairs of the human species and its tiny planetary home hurtling together through endless unchartered space. Yet, one way or the other, with or without we humans as fellow travelers, our Planet Earth will continue, undeterred, on her cosmic journey towards whatever unknown destination

We Must Stop The Madness Of Nuclear Brinkmanship
By John Scales Avery

We have been very lucky and, until now, we have escaped the catastrophic nuclear destruction of our beautiful world. But we cannot expect our good luck to continue forever. We must stop the arrogance, hubris and madness of our leaders. We must stop the madness of nuclear brinksmanship

Big Oil, TTIP And The Scramble For Europe
By Colin Todhunter

By using TTIP, it is now clear the US is attempting to drive its fossil fuel energy into Europe. At the same time, Washington is attempting to force Russia out from the European energy market. Russia has already had to abandon its South Stream pipeline project to Europe. Furthermore, by pushing for a pipeline to supply dollar-denominated energy from Qatar through Syria and on into Europe, the US can strengthen the dollar while further driving Russia from Europe. In the meantime, to remove Assad who is regarded as a barrier to this project, US-backed war and destabilisation has resulted in 250,000 Syrians being killed

Britain's David Cameron Wants To Use Bombs To Prospect For Gold In Syria
By John Chuckman

Cameron’s every word on Syria is inappropriate. A British Prime Minister has no business pronouncing on the legitimacy of this or that government, especially one supported by the majority of the country's people, clans, and armed forces. Cameron himself, posing as some cheap knock-off defender of democracy, positively Churchillian in his own eyes, enjoys the support of about 35% of British voters

Life In The Electronic Concentration Camp:
The Surveillance State Is Alive And Well
By John W. Whitehead

The USA Freedom Act, which claimed to put an end to the National Security Agency’s controversial collection of metadata from Americans’ phone calls, was a sham, a sleight-of-hand political gag pulled on a gullible public desperate to believe that we still live in a constitutional republic rather than a down-and-out, out-of-control, corporate-controlled, economically impoverished, corrupt, warring, militarized banana republic. You cannot restrain the NSA. The beast has outgrown its chains

Why Are Muslims So Angry?
By Alan MacLeod

Why are Muslims so Angry? The Real explanation for the rise of Radical Islam has more to do with history and politics as it does with religion

Portugal: Right Wing Government Brought Down
By Goncalo Romeiro

After the rejection of the programme and government of PàF (the right-wing coalition) in the new Parliament, elected more than a month ago, all eyes are placed on Cavaco Silva, the ultra-conservative President of the Republic

The Smoke From The Brick Kilns In The HKH Region Are A Problem
By Marianne de Nazareth

Tall and stately the brick kilns that dot the face of Kathmandu hide a deadly secret which has steadily, been a part, of the reason for the ABC (Asian Brown Cloud) which is causing a thick and unsightly fog over Kathmandu valley. The cloud is not just a health hazard but it affects the livelihood of hundreds of Nepali tourist operators, who express distress that the magnificent Himalayas, which the tourists come to see, are shrouded in this thick fog

‘Tolerating’ Aberrations
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand Parliaments have apologised for what they have done to indigenous people. It was a great gesture. Our Parliament is discussing so many things during the 125 years of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, the father of our modern republic yet none in the Parliament ever spoke of the historic injustice done towards the Dalits, Aadivasis and the shudras in 2000 years of history of brahmanical brutalities and cruelties. It is time Parliament show some intolerance towards this tolerance of barbaric culture to our own people by our own forefathers. Are we ready to apologise for what the Manusmriti and its masters did to India's Bahujan masses and that would be the real tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar if we accept the fact that we were brutal, barbaric and maltreated our own people and now time has come to undo those historical wrongs

PUCL Condemns Crackdown On FTII Students In IFFI, Goa
By PUCL

PUCL strongly condemns the Government of Goa and the organisers of the 46th IFFI (International Film Festival of India), 2015 for the harsh security crackdown on students of the FTII who had gone to Goa to participate and interact with reputed film makers and other professionals participating in the film festival. What is shocking is that the Government of Goa imposed Section 144 for the whole of Panjim, with the specious argument that they feared that protests by the FTII students around IFFI would “tarnish the image of country”. The Chief Minister is on record saying that there is no “right to protest”