CounterCurrents: Demonetisation, Day 50: Modi's Day of Reckoning, As the Sun Sets On The Nuclear Wasteland

Dear Friend,

It is day 51 of India's 'demonetisation'. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked for 50 days of patience from Indian citizens. He had said that if demonetisation drive fails in these 50 days people can punish him. Now, the 50 days are over. Latest tax figures show that the economic activities shrank to alarming level. It is reflected in the sufferings of the people. More than a hundred people have died. (You'll never know the exact figures).  Farmers don't get good price for their produce. They can't plant. Many are going hungry. Many are not going to hospitals even when they are sick. People have to beg for money. Famine stares straight into the face of every Indian. It's time of reckoning for Modi. Will he accept that his reckless monetary misadventure failed, as he promised? Will he take punishment as he promised? What punishment? As an elected representative, his responsibility is to accept that he failed peoples hopes and wrecked havoc on ordinary people's lives and 
take the
only option before him. RESIGN. Will he do that? Will Indian people stand up and ask Modi to take the punishment?

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Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Demonetisation, Day 50
by Walt Gelles 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/demonetisation-day-50/


I feel like a criminal
trying to score some cash,
going from bank to bank,
whipped by Modi’s lash.

I can’t get access
to my own money.
Millions of people go hungry.
This isn’t funny




As the Sun Sets On The Nuclear Wasteland
by Vincent Di Stefano 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/as-the-sun-sets-on-the-nuclear-wasteland/

The ruinous consequences of seventy years of nuclearisation are now patently manifest. The Hanford facility in the U.S., Sellafield in the U.K. and the Mayak Industrial Complex in the former Soviet Union have all served as “sacrifice zones” where plutonium pits were manufactured for deployment in nuclear warheads during the Cold War era. They are now vast nuclear wastelands with unthinkable quantities of radioactive wastes stored in ageing containers and leaking landfill sites. Less visibly, countless abandoned uranium mines throughout the world continue to release radioactivity into the air, soil, local waterways and groundwater.





Open Letter To The Prime Minister Of New Zealand On UN Res. 2234’s Flaw: The Two-State Solution
by Dr Vacy Vlazna 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/open-letter-to-the-prime-minister-of-new-zealand-on-un-res-2234s-flaw-the-two-state-solution/

On 26 December, I, too hastily, sent a letter to the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia offering my gratitude to the New Zealand government for co-sponsoring UN Resolution 2234 demanding an end to Israel’s illegal settlement activity on Palestinian land i.e. land confiscated by brutal force. A Palestinian friend, Jafar Ramini, who is a refugee from Jenin and a highly respected writer, commentator and analyst on the Middle East wrote to me pointing out the prodigious flaw in Res. 2234 that I failed to mention





Phantom Democracy In The Age Of The Internet
by Nozomi Hayase 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/phantom-democracy-in-the-age-of-the-internet/

American democracy is hollowed out, veiled with a loud media echo chamber, bringing feigned solidity to its emptiness. Out of this vacuum emerges a madness for power. U.S. politics is a contest of those who are driven by insatiable hunger – the most callous, cunning and manipulative people in society.






Dial O For Obama
by Mustapha Marrouchi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/dial-o-for-obama/

How will Obama go down in the annals of history remains to be seen.  One thing is certain, he has broken down all the boundaries, racial in particular, that had barred so many like him before his election.  A black man will soon leave the White House.  How white is will be after his departure is a question in time answered.






The Dark Colors Of The Times
by Fazal M. Kamal 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/the-dark-colors-of-the-times/

Every generation feels that it’s living through the worst of times. As do the ones now that are occupying Earth for fleeting moments, as is the eternal law. In times like the present, obviously, there are more than only a couple reasons for conditions to look as dismal as they do. And those are mighty substantive reasons too. The ongoing deaths and destructions are way over the top to make reasonable people feel sick to the stomach, as the phrase states. And clearly the tragedy is colossal because the deaths and destructions continue unabated.






Bring Back Najeeb: 2.5 Months Of Criminal State Delay-Silence?
by National Alliance of People’s Movements 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/bring-back-najeeb-2-5-months-of-criminal-state-delay-silence/

Govt. of India accountable for Najeeb’s continued ‘disappearance’. NAPM condemns institutional impunity to right-wing hooligans in university-educational spaces and increasing repression of politically-articulate students from marginalized communities







Gated Communities, Cars And Black Money
by Vidyadhar Date 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/gated-communities-cars-and-black-money/

The Prime Minister is very upbeat about efficiency in bringing about a cashless society. Why does he not show any concern for efficiency in our transport system and on our roads ? An MLA and a builder of his party in fact wants to convert a lovely walking path , lined with trees,in Malabar Hill in Mumbai, into a motorable road. That is the commitment of the party to common people. Depriving them of even existing facilities and imposing more hardships on them by pampering the car lobby. Just to put the record straight the Congress has been equally guilty on this score.






CDRO Condemns The Arrest Of Fact Finding Team

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/cdro-condemns-the-arrest-of-fact-finding-team/

CDRO strongly condemns the arrest of a 7 member Fact Finding team by the Telangana police at Dummagudem village of Bhadrachalam district on 25th December, 2016 at 6 pm and in turn handing them over to the Sukma Police (Chhattisgarh State). We also strongly object to the way Sukma Police foisted false cases against the Fact Finding team members under Sections 8(1),(2) (3)and (5) of the Chhattisgarh State Public Security Act. All the members of the Fact Finding Team are activists of democratic mass organizations and they have been in public life for three decades in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.






Arrest Of The Entire Team Of Civil Rights Activists Deplorable
by Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/arrest-of-the-entire-team-of-civil-rights-activists-deplorable/

We are stunned by the temerity of the state to arrest well known civil rights activists while on the way to Bastar for fact finding into the recent encounter killings. While they were detained by Telangana Police they were handed over to Chhattisgarh to be charged under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). I






After The Storm, A Tornado?
by Mohammad Ashraf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/after-the-storm-a-tornado/

Normally, after the abating of the storm one would have expected the Central Government to extend fullest support to the State Government to ameliorate the storm damages by way of full assistance in day to day problems including the worst power scenario, dilapidated roads,and general economic losses and so on. They should have been in addition, trying their best to open an unconditional dialogue with all the sections of the society. However, on the contrary for their short term gains in the forthcoming elections, they are creating conditions for a real twister to hit the state soon which may suck everything in! SARFAESI and WPRs may be the trigger for that!





Carrie Fisher: Hollywood In-Breeding And The Velocity Of Being
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/29/carrie-fisher-hollywood-in-breeding-and-the-velocity-of-being/

An obituary on Hollywood star Carrie Fisher