CounterCurrents: Countercurrents.org Needs you NOW!

Dear Friend of Countercurrents.org,

It’s over a year since I wrote to you a note of this sort. So many things happened in this period, some good, some very bad. Global warming is alarmingly tottering on the very dangerous mark. The past year so record breaking monthly heat records, disastrous floods, droughts and storms. 400 ppm is the new normal now. The resource wars have broken the Middle East and the Maghreb region. Europe has become as one of my European friends put it “Fortress Europe”. Xenophobia is rising in Europe and we saw Brexit. How long will EU stay? Only time will tell. Oil prices hit record lows. If I dare to make a prediction, the world is on the brink of another economic crisis, worse than that of 2008. We saw the rise of Trump & Hillary in USA. US citizens are in the worst predicament of the country’s history, which Evil to choose? We saw rise of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the list goes on…. Communalist forces are on a rampage in India. Kashmir is going 
through one of the worst times in their modern history. 

We also saw some positive signals from around the world, especially from India. The Dalits of India have risen up. The student community is rising as one to resist communal forces. Sadly we didn’t see any positive signals on the climate front, the most urgent threat facing humanity. But people around the world are devising alternatives from grass root level to fight the impending calamity. It’s bottom up movement when the top down action totally failed us. Where do we go from here? We have to defeat the forces of death and nurture the movements of regeneration. That’s exactly what Countercurrents.org has been doing for the past one year. 

At a personal level it was also a disastrous year for me. I lost my day time job, because the powers that be did not want me to run Countercurrents. They wanted me to join the currents and flow with it. I refused and quit the job. With it went a steady income that sustained me and CC. Countercurrents doesn’t accept advertisements to make an income, you know, it is selling out journalism which the mainstream media do very well and we are facing the consequences. Neither do we get any government or NGO grants. CC’s only source of income is whatever little, you, our readers give. As you may know, we didn’t make our fund raising target last year. We made only a quarter of it. I was supplementing my small lump sum retirement money my employers gave me to run Countercurrents. It’s fast depleting. That’s worrisome. On top of that Countercurrents.org also went through a major re-design, which according to the feedbacks has gone down well with the readers. It also cost extra
  money. 

I’ve no choice other than to come to you, my readers to sustain Countercurrents.org. I know you’ve been loyal to me and CC for the last 14 years. I know you will step in this moment of crisis too for CC. 

When I sit in this lonely editor’s chair and hear the cries of desperation from the interiors of India, from Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Libya, South America and Africa and the drowning refugees in the Mediterranean sea, I feel like a man lost in the high seas desperately looking for the shores. The lesson I learnt in the past year is this we can achieve very little at an individual level but as a community we can reach the shores of a regenerative world where we will see “Equality, Liberty, Fraternity” prevail, where “Peace, Justice and Harmony” bloom! 

All I can offer you towards this journey is Countercurrents.org, this small boat I built over 14 years of sleepless nights, sacrificing my health and wealth. Now, that the boat  is caught in a storm, I need your help to steady it. I am sure together we can steady it and make it into a caravan of ships and embark on our journey of hope. 

Our target for this year is Rs 10 Lakh or ($15,000).

The subscription amount is Rs 1000 or $50. It would be welcome if you can contribute more. 

To make an online payment visit this link 

http://www.countercurrents.org/subscription/

Indian readers can use the PayUMoney button and international readers can use the paypal button.

If you want to contribute any amount in your own currency via PayPal you can send to binuaman@gmail.com

You can pay by net banking and by cheque. The details are given below

Net Banking

You can directly deposit the subscription amount in our bank account. Please put down purpose of payment as “Countercurrents Subscription”

Bank:State Bank Of India (SBI), Ernakulam South Branch

Account Holder: Countercurrents.org

Account Number: 30306538201

Account type: Current Account

IFSC Code: SBIN0008616

Swift Code – SBININBB399

Branch Code: 8616

More bank info can be found here

Pay By Cheque

You can draw the cheque in favour of “Countercurrents.org” and send in to the address.

Countercurrents.org
PB No. 5
Kumaranalloor PO
Kottayam
Kerala
India
Pin Code: 686 016


Looking forward to your wholehearted support.

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org