CounterCurrents: Demonetisation, The Plight of Rural India, Trump Allies With Israel’s Justice Minister Who Advocated Exterminating Palestinians, Warning Of Global Havoc As Possible Arctic ‘Tipping Points’ Pile Up, ‘The Coral Was Cooked’: 2016 Deadliest Year On Record For Great Barrier Reef

Dear Friend,

I've been to my village for the past two days. My widowed sister's family who sold 10 Kg of raw cocoa beans worth Rs 300 can not get the money in cash! The small time trader who bought the beans said he'll transfer the paltry sum to her bank account. They don't know when it will be transferred. Even if it's transferred they'll have to travel to a town and stand in queue for a day to withdraw the money. Another day's work lost in the farm! In fact, they urgently need the money for hospital expenses. I lend her some money for her urgent needs. This is the story of much of rural India. Business has come to a stand still. We don't know how deep it will sink. We don't know when it will pick up. Dark days ahead for India, especially its rural population, which is about 70 % of India. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told the nation that the reason for this drastic demonetisation  is to fight black money and terrorism. Two days ago in his address to the nation on Radio, he said that 'from less cash to cashless India'. So the cat is out of the bag! The motive is to make India a cashless economy! That too in a country where large section of the society is hardly literate or illiterate. Where only 2 % of population own 'plastic money' or smart phones! Note the irony, PM addresses a nation through Radio to reach those who can't afford to buy even a Televison, to go cashless! Irony dies a thousand deaths.

After the BJP regime took over whoever opposes the regimes policies are branded anti-nationals! C.R Sridhar writes that now with demonetisation those who possess cash too can be branded as anti-nationals or terrorist sympathisers. 

Water protectors at Standing Rock faces imminent threat of eviction. North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple late Monday issued an immediate order for the removal of thousands of water protectors camped at #OcetiSakowin. Time to Stand Up With Standing Rock!

The Arctic Resilience Report warns that Arctic is at a tipping point.  Jon Queally warns that "what is happening in the Arctic will not stay in the Arctic." The report says  “Temperatures nearly 20°C above the seasonal average are being registered over the Arctic Ocean”. 

A study published  by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, reports "The Great Barrier Reef suffered through the worst coral die-off in recorded history this year, scientists found, with unusually warm ocean water and record-setting bleaching events killing a stunning 90 percent of all coral in the worst-hit area."

Also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Demonetisation Shock Therapy: State Sponsored Financial Repression
by C R Sridhar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/demonetisation-shock-therapy-state-sponsored-financial-repression/

The demonetization of the currency has also a shock and awe element to it: the shock of losing real money and the awe of being herded in digital pen. Cash carries a bad odour. Are you using cash because you are engaged in drug trafficking or are you a terrorist wanting to buy arms and explosives? Should you be flagged for suspicious activities for questioning by the national security state?





Demonetisation – How To Fool A Nation And Get Away With It
by Nijam Gara 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/demonetisation-how-to-fool-a-nation-and-get-away-with-it/

This ‘shock and awe’ demonetization move has its fate sealed in history books (assuming India will unshackle itself from fascist regimes in future to be able to have a fair written history) as another Houdini act that has fooled the gullible by acting against the very interests of the people that it claims to benefit and catering to the very few that it claims to target





Demonetisation: India Speaks -Part VI – The Government Is Deaf!
Video by Aabha Joshi, Neethu Saji and Kritika

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/27/demonetisation-india-speaks-part-vi-the-government-is-deaf/

An RTO employee, who has been trying to withdraw money from KNS, an Urban Cooperative Bank (UCB) in Govandi,for the past three days, has been unsuccessful in exchanging the currencies. His wife is in the hospital and the chemist is not accepting the old currencies. While standing for hours outside the Bank, he is worried about his child, who is alone at home and demands to know, if this government is capable of thinking about people like him and his family.





Standing Rock Eviction Countdown: Will You Keep Fighting With Us?
by Kelly Hayes 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/standing-rock-eviction-countdown-will-you-keep-fighting-with-us/

North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple late Monday issued an immediate order for the removal of thousands of water protectors camped at #OcetiSakowin, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. This came less than a day after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it “has no plans for forcible removal.… Those who remain will be considered unauthorized and may be subject to citation under federal, state, or local laws.”





Warning Of Global Havoc As Possible Arctic ‘Tipping Points’ Pile Up
by Jon Queally 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/warning-of-global-havoc-as-possible-arctic-tipping-points-pile-up/

What is happening in the Arctic will not stay in the Arctic. In an ominous (though not hopeless) report published Friday, researchers warn that as many as 19 various ‘tipping points’ could be triggered by the increasingly warm temperatures in the world’s northern polar region.






‘The Coral Was Cooked’: 2016 Deadliest Year On Record For Great Barrier Reef
by Nika Knight 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/the-coral-was-cooked-2016-deadliest-year-on-record-for-great-barrier-reef/

The Great Barrier Reef suffered through the worst coral die-off in recorded history this year, scientists found, with unusually warm ocean water and record-setting bleaching eventskilling a stunning 90 percent of all coral in the worst-hit area. Those were the conclusions of a study published Monday by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.






Tiffany’s Fallacy: The Mineral Pie Is Shrinking, And Most Of What’s Left Is In The Sky
by Ugo Bardi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/tiffanys-fallacy-the-mineral-pie-is-shrinking-and-most-of-whats-left-is-in-the-sky/

In the case of minerals, extraction costs keep increasing because, of course, we extract the cheapest resources first. At some moment, we may find that we cannot afford anymore to pay for these costs. And when something costs more than what you can afford, you may as well say that you “ran out” of it, no matter what you read in terms of reserves that should exist somewhere underground.  The mineral pie is shrinking and most of what’s left is in the sky.






The Real Link Between Israel’s Forest Fires And Muezzin Bill
by Jonathan Cook

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/the-real-link-between-israels-forest-fires-and-muezzin-bill/

Today, for many Israeli Jews, only the muezzin threatens this contrived idyll. His intermittent call to prayer emanates from the dozens of Palestinian communities that survived 1948’s mass expulsions and were not replaced with pine trees. Like an unwelcome ghost, the sound now haunts neighbouring Jewish towns.






Trump Allies With Israel’s Justice Minister Who Advocated Exterminating Palestinians
by Eric Zuesse 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/trump-allies-with-israels-justice-minister-who-advocated-exterminating-palestinians/

Many news-reports indicate that President-Elect Donald Trump’s Israel policy is in accord with that of his Orthodox Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner, who allegedly allies himself with Israel’s Jewish Home Party, which favors Israel’s absorbing both the West Bank and the Gaza strip and imposing upon Palestinians the full rule by Israel’s government, regardless whether they accept it or not.






What Has Neoliberal Capitalism Ever Done For India?
by Colin Todhunter 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/what-has-neoliberal-capitalism-ever-done-for-india/

When India ushered in neoliberal economic reforms during the early 1990s, the promise was job creation, inclusive growth and prosperity for all. But, some 25 years later, what we have seen is almost 400,000 farmers committing suicide, one of the greatest levels of inequality out of all ‘emerging’ economies, a trend towards jobless ‘growth’, an accelerating and massive illegal outflow of wealth by the rich, and, as if that were not enough, now we have the sequestration of ordinary people’s money under the euphemism ‘demonetization’.






Dialoguing With Johan Galtung: On Peace And Ukraine; Trump, Puting, Gandhi, And….
by Gary Corseri 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/dialoguing-with-johan-galtung-on-peace-and-ukraine-trump-puting-gandhi-and/

An interview with Johan Galtung who has published more than 150 books and 1500 articles on peace and related issues; the founder of TRANSCEND: A Peace, Development and Environment Network; a man who has worked as a mediator with the U.N. and with various nations in conflict around the world, should need no little introduction… but I will recommend previewing the bio-data at Wikipedia and then beginning to sort through Johan Galtung’s omnibus of articles, plays, books. Briefly, extracted from Wikipedia, etc.: Born in Oslo, Norway in 1930, Galtung first served as a professor at the University of Oslo, and subsequently at various universities around the world. He is known for his contributions to sociology, political science, economics, history, anthropology and theology. “He has developed several influential theories, such as the distinction between positive and negative peace, structural violence, theories on conflict and conflict resolution, the concept of peace-buildin
g….”
Frequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize [which he should have received long ago!], he was awarded the international ‘Right Livelihood Award’ in 1987





The Rohingyas: Act Now To Stop The Genocide!
by Dr Chandra Muzaffar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/the-rohingyas-act-now-to-stop-the-genocide/

There is increasing recognition of the fact that ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingyas, — A GENOCIDE  — is taking place in Rakhine, Myanmar. A number of groups and individuals are coming to terms with this grim reality especially after the “evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya population has emerged” in October/November 2016. On the 25th of November 2016, the Malaysian government officially referred to the “alleged ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingyas.






Pakistan Appoints New Army Chief To Suit Trump’s Policies
by Dr Vivek Kumar Srivastava 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/pakistan-appoints-new-army-chief-to-suit-trumps-policies/

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has now cleared the name of Lt. General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the new chief of the army staff who is set to replace the Army chief Raheel Sharif whose three year term is to end on the 29th of this month. The appointment thus rests to all the speculations about the selection of new chief of the army in Pakistan where it was widely speculated that Raheel Sharif will get extension






No Pasaran, Commandante Fidel!
by Andre Vltchek 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/no-pasaran-commandante-fidel/

Fidel stood firmly at the forefront of the struggle, from the very outset to his last breath. As always, when the giants get reunited with mother Earth, the entire world shook and the ground trembled on all continents.





Fidel Castro: Initial Impressions
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/fidel-castro-initial-impressions/

The normalisation of Cuban-US relations will, in large part, spell an end to Castro’s Cuba, with the old hands passing into the books, along with utopia. But the historical record, in its complexity and sheer scale, stands in all disproportion to the man and his country.






Salute To A Great Freedom Fighter: The Indomitable Spirit Of Fidel Castro Will    Live Forever
by Gerald A Perreira 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/salute-to-a-great-freedom-fighter-the-indomitable-spirit-of-fidel-castro-will-live-forever/

Farewell Commandante – in truth, words are indeed inadequate to express our gratitude to you. Like all great revolutionaries, you had no rest in this life, instead you made the ultimate sacrifice, dedicating your life to benefit humanity. May you now rest in peace and power. We know that the best way to live up to your legacy is to renew our pledge,on this day,to continue the struggle for all that you stood for.






Virtues Of Being An Informed Ignorant! 
by Suraj Kumar Thube 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/virtues-of-being-an-informed-ignorant/

Unlike excellence where you feel that you are on course of achieving success, ignorance is more concerned with the process, the means towards and end. It is not a teleological goal wherein one knows that ‘success’ will be conquered once we reach the finishing line. Ignorance has no end. Ignorance acknowledges the fact that you cannot be a repertoire of all knowledge of the world. It opens up our horizons for knowing the unknown, feeling the tenderness of a new thought and thereby respecting a new world which excellence can never even think of.






Remembering V P Singh’s Fight Against Corruption
by Vidya Bhushan Rawat 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/remembering-v-p-singhs-fight-against-corruption/

V P Singh passed away on November 28th and our brahmanical seculars and anti-corruption crusaders will not have time to remember him and his selfless crusade but without understanding VP Singh and his politics who we miss today, we will never be able to take the corporate driven anti-corruption agenda being faithfully implemented by the regime today and its chums in the media.






Remembering The Legacy Of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule
by Tata Sivaih 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/29/remembering-the-legacy-of-mahatma-jyotirao-phule/

An activist, thinker, social reformer, writer, and theologian, he was one of the greatest people who shaped modern India. RamachandraGuha calls him the Agrarian Radical and places him as the third one in his list of the nineteen people who shaped modern India (The Makers of Modern India). Among Phule’s own works which illustrate his philosophy well are ShetkaryachaAsud (The Cultivator’s Whipcord) and Gulamgiri (Slavery).







67th Anniversary Of Democratic-Secular Indian Constitution: Hindutva Demolition Squad Waiting To Undo It
by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/26/67th-anniversary-of-democratic-secular-indian-constitution-hindutva-demolition-squad-waiting-to-undo-it/

If RSS is dead against the democratic-secular Constitution of India and all symbols related to it, then question arises that why RSS cadres PM Modi and many of his colleagues are celebrating the 67th anniversary of Indian Constitution. As masters of DOUBLE-SPEAK these rulers are buying time and waiting for an opportune moment to strike from within. In last two and half years they have been destroying democratic institutions of Indian polity one by one, just waiting to demolish democratic-secular Indian polity.