CounterCurrents: It Is Expensive To Be Poor, Our Renewable Future, Freedom From Fear, Economic Conflicts Threaten Global Trade War

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In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org

Mathura Violence: Jungle-Raj Raises Its Ugly Head Again In India 
By Samar

http://www.countercurrents.org/samar030616.htm

Mathura, a city in Uttar Pradesh, witnessed a sensational encounter between the police and a semi-religious cult that left at least 21 dead, 2 senior cops among them, yesterday. The police had reportedly gone there to evict members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi who have been illegally occupying Jawahar Bagh for years on Thursday on the directions of the Allahabad high court. Still fuzzy reports coming out in the media hint that the group was armed to teeth to resist the move and it attacked the police party. The encounter, expectedly, made the parties in opposition blame the incumbent government for a ‘total collapse of law and order’ in the state and the return of jungle-raj


It's Time To Ditch Industrial Agriculture 
By Andrea Germanos

http://www.countercurrents.org/germanos030616.htm

If you can count as successes increased greenhouse gases, ecosystem degradation, rises in hunger and obesity, and unbalanced power in food systems, then industrial agriculture has done one heck of a job. That's according to a panel of experts, whose new report, "From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems", calls for breaking the chains that lock monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots to the dominant farming systems in order to unleash truly sustainable approaches—ones that use holistic strategies, eschew chemical inputs, foster biodiversity, and ensure farmer livelihoods.


Our Renewable Future 
By Richard Heinberg & David Fridley

http://www.countercurrents.org/heinberg030616.htm

This is the introduction to Richard Heinberg's and David Fridley's new book, Our Renewable Future, now available from Island Press. The goal of this book is to help readers think more clearly and intelligently about our renewable future. An all-renewable world will present opportunities as well as challenges. And building that world will entail more than just the construction of enormous numbers of solar panels and wind turbines. Along the way, we will learn that how we use energy is as important as how we get it. Indeed, unless we adapt our energy usage patterns with the same vigor as is devoted to changing energy sources, the transition could result in a substantial reduction of economic functionality for society as a whole


Countering Pro-GMO Deceptions In The British Press 
By Colin Todhunter

http://www.countercurrents.org/todhunter030616.htm

In his recent piece for The Times newspaper in the UK, Viscount Matt Ridley argues that a new report from the American National Academies of Sciences (NAS) leaves no room for doubt that genetically engineered crops are as safe or safer, and are certainly better for the environment, than conventionally bred crops


Strikes In France Elicit Support From German Workers 
By Verena Nees

http://www.countercurrents.org/nees030616.htm

The strikes against the reactionary labour law of the Socialist Party government of President Hollande have triggered two very different reactions in Germany: on the one hand, support and sympathy among workers and youth; on the other, horror, anger, anti-communist attacks and anti-French tirades by the mainstream media. For weeks, the major media outlets, television and radio stations have tried to avoid covering the events in France or have dismissed them merely as a youth revolt and a few skirmishes by the CGT union with the police


Trump University And Selling Images 
By Dr. Binoy Kampmark

http://www.countercurrents.org/kampmark030616.htm

Trump University served one essential purpose: churning out genetic copies of its founder by selling false idols. It sold deceptions and productive lies. It was a perfect symptom of the ultimate financial disease, engendering misguided attitudes that came unstuck in the Great Financial Crisis. Rather than seeing it as an exceptional manifestation, one can only understand that failed tertiary enterprise as a broader academic and institutional one, typical of what modern university life has become


Economic Conflicts Threaten Global Trade War 
By Nick Beams

http://www.countercurrents.org/beams030616.htm

The ongoing stagnation in the global economy, marked by falling investment and the emergence of overproduction in key basic industries, is fuelling the rise of trade war protectionist measures by the major powers, above all the United States. Last week, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) launched an investigation into Chinese steel mills which have been accused by the United States Steel Corp of stealing secrets and conspiring to fix prices


It Is Expensive To Be Poor 
By Vidyadhar Date

http://www.countercurrents.org/date030616.htm

It is expensive to be poor as the famous American novelist James Baldwin and researcher Barbara Ehrenreich have pointed out. I know of a domestic help who pays Rs. 3000 per month for a shelter in a slum while an extremely rich man enjoying the protection of the old Rent Act may be living in a sprawling house in a posh area in Mumbai paying much less than that


Freedom From Fear 
By Sheikh Javaid Ayub

http://www.countercurrents.org/ayub030616.htm

Politics – both international and domestic is shaped by fear. The anarchical world order can create fear among the nation state so do the US hegemony. Fear of losing statehood put the nation states on the path of armamentation. From conventional arms to nuclear bombs, fear has largely been a motive in this mad race of arms. The idea of the military utility has been a key driver for the pursuit of nuclear weapons


Cooperative Federalism Losing Steam 
By Suraj Kumar Thube

http://www.countercurrents.org/thube030616.htm

The Nehruvian idea of being in a cooperative relationship even with states ruled by their own party seems to be a thing of the past. The centre today has maximum governance problems to deal with in states ruled by its own party, classic examples being Haryana and Gujarat which have witnessed massive breakdown of law and order by protests seeking reservations for certain communities. Also, the open confrontation with its principal ally in Maharashtra over an allegation of a new corruption scam and a tenuous coalition with the assertive Akalis are all cases which beg answers from a centre's new found admiration for 'cooperative federalism'