CounterCurrents: Obstacle To Peace: The US Role In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Humans Are Poisoning The Ocean—And It’s Poisoning Us Back

Dear Friend,

Our Commons series has three articles today. Silvia Federici discusses "Feminism And The Politics Of The Commons".  Chris Sunderland one of the founding directors of the Bristol Pound speaks about ‘Rooted’ People. Victor Galaz, Aart de Zeeuw, Debbie Tripley, Hideaki Shiroyama write that the planetary boundaries set by the ecological crises give us an opportunity to revamp our rotten system and a lot of other stories from around the world.

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org



Feminism And The Politics Of The Commons
by Silvia Federici 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/feminism-and-the-politics-of-the-commons/

Arguing that women should take the lead in the collectivization of reproductive work and housing is not to naturalize housework as a female vocation. It is refusing to obliterate the collective experiences, the knowledge and the struggles that women have accumulated concerning reproductive work, whose history has been an essential part of our resistance to capitalism. Reconnecting with this history is a crucial step for women and men today both to undo the gendered architecture of our lives and to reconstruct our homes and lives as commons.




The ‘Rooted’ People
by Chris Sunderland 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/the-rooted-people/

We need to search for a deeper sense of human community and mutual responsibility for the natural world even within the diverse and creative dynamics of city life. In my home city of Bristol we have a burgeoning underclass of people who are self-consciously looking for a new way of life, who prize ‘community’ in a broad and inclusive sense and actively seek harmony with the natural world. These are the ‘rooted’ people. Their spirituality is shaped by their search for a different way of life.




Planetary Boundaries—Governing Emerging Risks And Opportunities
by Victor Galaz 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/planetary-boundaries-governing-emerging-risks-and-opportunities/

Discussions about possible governance reforms based on the notion of planetary boundaries are quickly gaining ground, and inducing much needed debates about the future of global environmental governance. We have touched on ideas around deep reform of global institutions, the potential to tap into law and legal principles, the importance of economics informed by biosphere realities, the importance of integrating knowledge across scales, and the need for a narrative that mobilizes people toward larger transitions. These are important starting points for more discussion and debate, not the final word. In fact, quick-fix solutions for governance and institutional problems this big and this important are impossible. Exploring these issues, and connecting risk with opportunities is a challenging task. It is essential, however, if the concept of planetary boundaries is to fulfill its potential as a guide for human action in the Anthropocene.





Refugee Trauma On Nauru: The Leaked Incident Reports
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/refugee-trauma-on-nauru-the-leaked-incident-reports/

Human sensibility has been given another sound beating with the leak of 2,116 incident reports from Australia’s remorseless detention camp on Nauru.    The reports total some 8,000 pages covering the period of May 2013 to October 2015 and were published by the Guardian on Wednesday. 





Humans Are Poisoning The Ocean—And It’s Poisoning Us Back
by Nika Knight 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/humans-are-poisoning-the-ocean-and-its-poisoning-us-back/

It’s no secret that we have trashed, poisoned, and warmed oceans at an unprecedented rate via human-caused climate change and pollution. It seems that oceans may be paying us back in kind, according to a new study that found levels of bacteria responsible for life-threatening illnesses spiking in the North Atlantic region.




Erdogan Resets Relations With Russia
by Abdus Sattar Ghazali 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/erdogan-resets-relations-with-russia/

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in St. Petersburg to hold talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was Erdogan’s first foreign visit since the July 15 abortive coup against his elected government. St. Petersburg is Putin’s hometown.




Obstacle To Peace: The US Role In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
by Jim Miles

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/obstacle-to-peace-the-us-role-in-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

Obstacle to Peace is a lengthy and involved read, yet readily accessible. It can and should serve as a reference work, a compendium of information on the Israel-Palestine conflict. As for the initial structural reference, the chapters are clearly delineated and set out with clear subheadings. The bibliography/reference section is extensive. It also struck me that the words narrative, double standards, manufactured consent, manage perceptions are not listed in the very useful index – these contextual methodologies are so widespread throughout the book the marker would simply be passim




Mordechai Vanunu: Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower And Hostage 
  by Eileen Fleming 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/mordechai-vanunu-israels-nuclear-whistle-blower-and-hostage/

Mordechai Vanunu Israel’s Nuclear Whistleblower claimed the title  “The Last Hostage” at his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Channels with this iconic response to Israel’s July 4 indictment against him




Existential Threats And Our Belief Systems
by David Anderson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/existential-threats-and-our-belief-systems/

This new Homo sapiens contradictory planetary reality leaves not just the western world, but the whole world in search for answers. We need to find the reason we are heading so rapidly toward dangerous shoals. How could we, the most clever and brilliant primate ever, be bringing on our own demise? Where did we all go so wrong? Could it be the pattern of our thought process, laboriously pieced together over the centuries beginning with the bronze/iron/agricultural age ten thousand years ago, that is now working against our continuation? Could it be there are self-destructive elements in that thought process so dangerous as to bring on our end? And if so, what are those elements?




A Nonviolent Strategy To End War
by Robert J Burrowes 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/a-nonviolent-strategy-to-end-war/

There is a long history of anti-war and peace activism. Much of this activism has focused on ending a particular war. Some of this activism has been directed at ending a particular aspect of war, such as the use of a type of weapon. Some of it has aimed to prevent a type of war, such as ‘aggressive war’ or nuclear war. For those activists who regard war as the scourge of human existence, however, ‘the holy grail’ has always been much deeper: to end war.




Ban Implementation of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill 2016 in its Present Form
by Dr Sricharan Behera 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/ban-implementation-of-compensatory-afforestation-fund-bill-2016-in-its-present-form/

The recently passed CAF Bill 2016 does not have any provision to ensure consent of the Gram Sabha and forest rights holders, a statutory requirement under FRA 2006 and PESA 1996. Community Forest Resources (CFR) now constitute a new forest category to be governed and managed by Gram Sabhas and forest rights holders. The bill in the present form is in direct confrontation with the historic FRA 2006 and will have disastrous impact on the rights and livelihoods of tribals and forest dwellers




Zionist-Subverted Oberlin College Trashes Academic Free Speech And Suspends Professor Joy Karega
by Dr Gideon Polya 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/10/zionist-subverted-oberlin-college-trashes-academic-free-speech-and-suspends-professor-joy-karega/

Oberlin College, one of the first US colleges to have admitted Blacks, Women, Jews and Catholics, has given in to pressure from the genocidally racist    Zionist Lobby and suspended female African-American academic Dr Joy Karega, assistant professor of Rhetoric and Composition, who has been falsely defamed as an  anti-Semite and vilified for opposing corporate control of government, Israeli Gaza massacres and war, for expressing support for Palestinian human rights, and for scepticism over official US claims about  9-11 and terrorism.