CounterCurrents: Show some empathy and bring back the 500 rupee notes, Historical Knowledge Creates Empathy And Ignorance Fuels Easy Hate- Let’s Discuss!

Dear Friend,

The great Indian 'Demonitisation drive' is driving India deeper and deeper into chaos, especially in rural India, where cash is the life line of the farmers. Without cash life has come to a standstill in  rural India. Many farmers are standing in unending queues at a time they should be at the farm planting the rabi crops. The government is unrelenting and pay no heed to the plight of the farmers. In this context Countercurrents.org has made a call to the government of India to show some empathy and  roll back the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 notes. Here is the statement,

"The currency shortage after demonetisation is so bad that there is real danger today of law and order breaking down very soon. As the Indian Supreme Court rightly warned,  there could be riots in the country. It will be an unmitigated disaster for the people of India  and there is real danger of collapse of institutions.
Before that happens the people of India should    come out and demand that the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 note be rolled back. "

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's friend Mukesh Ambani launched Jio Money, an e-payment gateway yesterday. The speech he gave at the launch gave away the connection between Mukesh Ambani, Jio Money and Demonetisation. Yours truly analysed a few important points of the speech. 

Hate has become so normal in our popular culture that people have no qualms in wearing the "Nazi symbology" and its offshoots on their sleeves. Are we losing our innate humanity asks Daag Ujjala. He writes, " Is it the blunting of human emotions inherent in consumer culture? Is it the erupting glorification of narrow ethno-nationalism in which empathy across cultures, races, and creeds no longer exists? Let’s openly discuss this on Countercurrents. Let’s involve ourselves in asking the right questions, finding some answers, and fighting for a better world."

Trumpism is a reality. Dr. Arshad M. Khan describes some of the growing hate crimes across America. Tom Price who is an opponent of Medicare and Medicaid, the government health insurance programs for the elderly, the handicapped and the poor that cover a combined total of 130 million people is going to be the    secretary of health!

What do we make of this? Daag Ujjala writes, "each of us has 3 obligations- personal, financial, and political."

Also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Drinking Away Demonetisation
by Rahul M 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/drinking-away-demonetisation/

Because the fertiliser shop in Tadimarri village of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh accepts old notes, even drought-hit groundnut farmers are queuing up to clear their credit – while jobless agricultural labourers are finding that the easiest way to change their few old notes is by buying alcohol at the local liquor stores




Mukesh Ambani, Jio Money And Demonetisation
by Binu Mathew 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/mukesh-ambani-jio-money-and-demonetisation/

Is there relation between Mukesh Ambani, Jio Money And Demonetisation ? The speech Ambani gave yesterday is a total give away






Restore The Old 500 Rupee Notes Now To Avoid Chaos
by Satya Sagar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/restore-the-old-500-rupee-notes-now-to-avoid-chaos/

The currency shortage after demonetisation is so bad that there is real danger today of law and order breaking down very soon. As the Indian Supreme Court rightly warned,  there could be riots in the country. It will be an unmitigated disaster for the people of India  and there is real danger of collapse of institutions.
Before that happens the people of India should    come out and demand that the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 note be rolled back. 





Moving Slowly And Deliberately At Standing Rock: A Report On Life In The Camp
by Nancy Romer 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/moving-slowly-and-deliberately-at-standing-rock-a-report-on-life-in-the-camp/

In this report, I will try to give you a sense of what being at Standing Rock is like.






Five Ways The Paris Agreement Can Address Oversupply Of Fossil Fuels
by Michael Lazarus 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/five-ways-the-paris-agreement-can-address-oversupply-of-fossil-fuels/

The World Energy Outlook 2016, released last week, is just one among an increasing line of studies showing how nations need to slow and, ultimately, phase out investment in new fossil fuel supply infrastructure – from oil fields and pipelines to coal mines – if they are serious about keeping warming to 2C or less. At the same time, Norway is making licenses available for offshore drilling in the Arctic. New pipelines from the Canadian oil sands would enable the export greater amounts of highly polluting oil. The Australian government has approved large new coal mines to supply the Asian market. These types of investments only make economic sense in a future with 4–5C of warming.






Historical Knowledge Creates Empathy And Ignorance Fuels Easy Hate- Let’s Discuss!
by Daag Ujjala 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/historical-knowledge-creates-empathy-and-ignorance-fuels-easy-hate-lets-discuss/

Of late, we see the crude recrudescence of Nazi symbology and have “normalized” favorable insinuations about Hitler and National Socialism as a whole- in Europe, North America, and even in Asia. Swastikas seem even to adorn cupcakes and ice-skaters find it okay to dress up as marked jews under the Nazis.What do we make of this? Is it simply lack of historical memory and context? Is it the blunting of human emotions inherent in consumer culture? Is it the erupting glorification of narrow ethno-nationalism in which empathy across cultures, races, and creeds no longer exists? Let’s openly discuss this on Countercurrents. Let’s involve ourselves in asking the right questions, finding some answers, and fighting for a better world.






Trumpism Is Here: Okay My Friends, Now What?
by Daag Ujjala 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/trumpism-is-here-okay-my-friends-now-what/

For many people- even for some of those who voted for him- the election victory of Donald Trump and the ensuing clustering of a motley crew of hawks, white supremacists, economic hitmen, and science-deniers came as a shocking knock on the reality door. The Presidential (system), stable since the country’s founding, was pushed over and a bombastic businessman with no public service record assumed the position of “boss.” Strange days indeed. Each of us has 3 obligations- personal, financial, and political.






Trump Names Medicare Opponent To Head Health Programs: Who Is Tom Price?
by Nick Barrickman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/trump-names-medicare-opponent-to-head-health-programs-who-is-tom-price/

President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Georgia Congressman Tom Price as his secretary of health and human services makes clear his intention to carry out a fundamental attack on Medicare and Medicaid, the government health insurance programs for the elderly, the handicapped and the poor that cover a combined total of 130 million people.






Donald Trump And The Spike In Hate Incidents In USA
by Dr Arshad M Khan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/donald-trump-and-the-spike-in-hate-incidents-in-usa/

While North America and most countries of the north exhibit a form of closet racism, Donald Trump’s contribution has been to let it come out.  Bad idea.  It is an ugly genie that needs to be put back in its bottle and quickly.






Fidel Castro: Lessons in Nationalism for India
by Jayashubha 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/02/fidel-castro-lessons-in-nationalism-for-india/

The demise of Fidel Castro reminds us of this spirit of Nationalism particularly in the present times. In the contemporary time which are dominated by discourse on nationalism by the likes of Narendra Modi, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, where ‘people’ are reduced to a cog in the machine called the ‘nation’ and are further sub-reduced into much smaller parts like nuts and bolts in the name of ‘religion’, ‘race’, ‘caste’, ‘ethnicity’, where dominance of one over the other is justifiable. In this dominant discourse the rule of the ‘few rich’ over the ‘larger poor’, ‘rich nations’ over the ‘poor nations’ is but natural. Fidel Castro only broke those rules to define nationalism.