CounterCurrents: Demonetisation: People are dying, Dirty Fossil Fuel ‘Business-As-Usual’ Tactics Spew Out Of The International Maritime Organization At COP22, Trump: America’s Pilot-In-Chief In The Post-Ecological Age

Dear Friend,

The demonetisation drive in India is literally killing people. According to Huffington post 25 people have died. This doesn't count the 7 State Bank of India officials and driver killed in an accident in Kanpur and also two people from Kerala. There may be many more unreported deaths. Why these deaths? What crimes did they do to deserve these untimely death? They are just ordinary people trying to withdraw their own hard earn money from the banks. I'm speechless, dejected and terribly anxious. I fear what more to follow? Where will all this end?

In our video series "Demonetisation: India Speaks" a food teller tells how despite working each day from morning till the night, she has been unable to make 50 rupees a day (less than a dollar)!

It's all happening at a time when we all should be fighting collectively against climate change on a war footing. Stefan Rahmstorf , one of the top climate scientists of the world, writes  global temperature goes from heat record to heat record, yet the sun is at its dimmest for half a century. It's a period of solar minimum, still we continue to hit record year on year temperature. 

And it's affecting our ecosystems very badly. According to a studey published in the journal 'Science' 2 percent of “core ecological processes” on land and sea have been affected by climate change in a way that had not been expected “for decades.” Remember, it's just for 1°C temperature rise!

It's at this critical juncture that a climate change denialist like Donald Trump takes charge as the "Pilot-In-Chief In The Post-Ecological Age".  Kurt Cobb writes "my metaphor assumes that every American believes he or she is on the same plane." No, everyone on this planet is on that plane! Will he  crash the airliner of state (including climate and environmental policies) into a mountain or the ground?

At this juncture of momentous failure,    David Bollier's word's of wisdon assumes great significance. He writes "I think we stand on the threshold of a much larger discussion about new socio-economic frameworks for meeting needs and new political systems for governing ourselves.    I see great promise in commons providing new modes of democratic governance and self-organization – at scales allowing for genuine participation, authority and responsibility. "


Also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Demonetisation And The Loss Of Faith In Rupee
by Mirza Yawar Baig 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/demonetisation-and-the-loss-of-faith-in-rupee/

Whatever the effects of demonetization may prove to be on black money, what is clear is that faith in paper currency has taken a very big hit. I am not sure if this loss of faith can ever be restored. The thought that is uppermost in the minds of people is that if the government can do this once, it can do it again. And if one government can do it, then so can another government. Try to think of what conclusion the average man and woman standing in long queues to exchange old notes for new; who may even lose a part of his savings in this process, will come to.




Demonetisation: India Speaks -Part II

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/demonetisation-india-speaks-part-ii/

A fruit seller accounts the result of demonetization on her, who is one among the 93% of the unorganized sector of the Indian working class. She tells how despite working each day from morning till the night, she has been unable to make 50 rupees a day



Record Heat Despite A Cold Sun
by Stefan Rahmstorf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/record-heat-despite-a-cold-sun/

Global temperature goes from heat record to heat record, yet the sun is at its dimmest for half a century.





Climate Change Has Already Altered Nearly Every Ecosystem on Earth
by Nadia Prupis

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/climate-change-has-already-altered-nearly-every-ecosystem-on-earth/

Climate change is already affecting life on Earth, despite a global temperature increase of just 1°C, according to a new study published in the journal Science on Friday. The researchers say 82 percent of “core ecological processes” on land and sea have been affected by climate change in a way that had not been expected “for decades.”





Dirty Fossil Fuel ‘Business-As-Usual’ Tactics Spew Out Of The International Maritime Organization At COP22
by Charlene Caprio 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/dirty-fossil-fuel-business-as-usual-tactics-spew-out-of-the-international-maritime-organization-at-cop22/

Since the UN climate meeting in 1997 in Kyoto, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) eagerly took on the responsibility to reduce shipping’s GHG emissions. The Paris Agreement further kept the IMO in control of maritime GHG emissions, rather than incorporating them into state obligations. Now, we see a continual let down by the IMO going into the UNFCCC COP22 discussions in Marrakech, Morocco.





Trump: America’s Pilot-In-Chief In The Post-Ecological Age
by Kurt Cobb 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/trump-americas-pilot-in-chief-in-the-post-ecological-age/

Many Americans are frightened by the idea of Donald Trump as the country’s new pilot-in-chief, fearing he’ll crash the airliner of state (including climate and environmental policies) into a mountain or the ground. But my metaphor assumes that every American believes he or she is on the same plane. And, that understanding is what seems to have clouded the minds of so many when thinking about the U.S. presidential campaign this year. For those living in America’s small towns and rural areas and for those in the downwardly mobile working class, their plane has already crashed!






A Moment That Illuminates Our Structural Challenges
by David Bollier 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/a-moment-that-illuminates-our-structural-challenges/

I think we stand on the threshold of a much larger discussion about new socio-economic frameworks for meeting needs and new political systems for governing ourselves.    I see great promise in commons providing new modes of democratic governance and self-organization – at scales allowing for genuine participation, authority and responsibility.  Orchestrating a state/commons rapprochement may be the hard part, at least initially, but this is a fruitful line of innovation, especially at the city level.






Fantasies Of Impeachment And Protest: Continued Misreadings Of Donald Trump
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/fantasies-of-impeachment-and-protest-continued-misreadings-of-donald-trump/

Trump has provided a vigorous, aggressive shake to the establishment.  The tremors are still being felt in the frail body politic.  For those who opposed, and ignored Trumpism altogether, forms of denial have taken even deeper root.  They have little interest in bringing the Trump voters into the fold, let alone idly waiting for a transition period to unfold.  Their tactic has now become one of uncivil disobedience ahead of the inauguration, effectively a challenge about the very idea of legitimacy in the United States.






Patriots/Seahawks Field Size Flag Smaller Than Mile Long Green Flag Of Million Libyans For Gaddafi 
by Jay Janson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/15/patriotsseahawks-field-size-flag-smaller-than-mile-long-green-flag-of-million-libyans-for-gaddafi/

The explosive difference between a flag honoring in a pre-game show of proud and comfortable patriotism with young Americans smartly saluting, and the flag in a flash back to 2011 and a small African nation’s brave and desperate show of patriotism in the face of its destruction was described at the Nuremberg Trials. Seek truth!