CounterCurrents: The Potato Park Of Peru, Grassroots Movements, Degrowth And ‘New Economies’

Dear Friend,

Technology is a double edged sword. Josh Tenenberg writes how technology can be designed and used to improve human condition. David Bollier, the iconic figure in The Commons movement writes about a unique potato farm maintained by Quechua communities in the high-altitude Sacred Valley of Peru, where an amazing  2,300 of the 4,000 known potato varieties found in the world are grown. 

Iris Kunze writes about a unique research project TRANSIT which highlights four prominent strands of new economy thinking in state-of-the-art discussions: degrowth, collaborative economy, solidarity economy, and social entrepreneurship.

Narmada Bachao Andolan which changed the environment movement in India forever is completing 31 years of struggle. Let's salute the courage and persistence of thousands of villagers in the Narmada Valley who are led by one of India's  bravest women, Medha Patkar.  

And many more stories from around the world. 

And of course the usual request note,

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Technology And The Commons
by Josh Tenenberg

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/technology-and-the-commons/

Technologies can both exacerbate commons dilemmas as well as contribute to their solutions. A keener awareness of the socio-political implications of technologies will increase the likelihood that people design and use technologies to improve the human condition




The Potato Park Of Peru
by David Bollier  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/the-potato-park-of-peru/

Drive an hour northeast from Cusco, Peru, and you will encounter some beautiful high mountain lakes, historic Inca ruins, and the richest diversity of potatoes on the planet. Approximately 2,300 of the 4,000 known potato varieties in the world are grown here, making it one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. The 7,000 Quechua people who live on this high-altitude Sacred Valley of the Incas have, with their ancestors, cultivated and improved Andean potatoes for seven millennia. That impressive record stems from a holistic way of life that blends deep spiritual traditions and cultural values with cultivation techniques, barter and exchange practices and ecological stewardship






Grassroots Movements, Degrowth And ‘New Economies’
by Iris Kunze 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/grassroots-movements-degrowth-and-new-economies/

The research project TRANSIT highlights four prominent strands of new economy thinking in state-of-the-art discussions: degrowth, collaborative economy, solidarity economy, and social entrepreneurship. Taking a perspective of transformative social innovation, the study draws on case studies of 12 social innovation initiatives to analyze how these relate to new economies and to transitions toward new economic arrangements. All the networks we studied – including those not focusing on finance or economics – emphasize the need for a new economy.






Fingers On The Button: “First Use” And US Nuclear Weapons
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/fingers-on-the-button-first-use-and-us-nuclear-weapons/

Do you wait till the prospect of obliteration is upon you?  Or initiate, blithely, a nuclear holocaust upon your enemy as a matter of what is termed “first use” by the nuclear weapon high priests?  Neither prospect is particularly attractive, for each assumes the unthinkable made possible, madness made real.







The Dalits Rally
by S G Vombatkere 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/the-dalits-rally/

There comes a time when one needs to speak; I speak of the Una Independence Day Rally of Dalits, at the end of a 10-day 400-km Dalit Asmita Yatra following a massive Dalit congregation at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on July 31.






Una March: Challenging The Caste Barriers
by T Navin 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/una-march-challenging-the-caste-barriers/

The Dalit march from Ahmedabad to Una has emerged as an important social revolt of the Dalits in Gujarat.This mass up-surgence is challenging the very base of the caste system. It is questioning the logic of division of work based on clean and unclean tasks among upper castes and Dalits respectively






CAMPA: The Return Of British Raj To Forest
by Gladson Dungdung 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/campa-the-return-of-british-raj-to-forest/

CAMPA is a great setback to the forest rights of the Adivasis and other forest dweller communities. There is huge fund Rs. 42,000 crore remained unspent under CAMPA fund and there would be availability of additional Rs. 600 crore every year under the CAMPA fund. Hence, the Indian Bureaucracy is overwhelmed to enforce the CAMPA, which will provide them a great opportunity for harvesting.






​Narmada Bachao Andolan Completes 31 Years Of Struggle

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/%E2%80%8Bnarmada-bachao-andolan-completes-31-years-of-struggle/

The Narmada Bachao Andolan movement which started 31 full years ago in India, led to a discourse and push for an alternate, least destructive development model which would bring prosperity to even the poorest Indian living in the remotest, least developed part of the country.





The Pelletised Face Of Kashmir
by PUDR 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/the-pelletised-face-of-kashmir/

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights is horrified that the Rajya Sabha which debated the situation in Jammu and Kashmir on August 10, could not muster resolve to call for an immediate halt to use of pellet guns, which is not used anywhere in either India or the world for policing





Amnesty International India Refutes Charges Of Sedition

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/amnesty-international-india-refutes-charges-of-sedition/

On 15 August, a First Information Report was reportedly registered against Amnesty International India with regard to an event held on 13 August, based on a complaint filed by an ABVP representative. The allegations mentioned in the complaint are without substance. They are preventing the families of victims of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir from having their stories heard. And preventing civil society organisations from enabling these families to exercise their constitutional right to justice.






Street Vendors In Bangalore Organise Protest March
by Deadend Left 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/08/17/street-vendors-in-bangalore-organise-protest-march/

Bruhat Bengaluru Beedhi Vyapari Sanghatanegala Okkuta, a federation of street vendor unions across Bangalore, organised a protest march in Bengaluru on August 3rd 2016. The call for the protest/bandh was to bring to light the series of evictions that have been happening in Bengaluru by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Resident Welfare Associations and the Police.