CounterCurrents: Welcome To The 'Post Truth' World

Dear Friend,

The demonetisation is creating havoc in rural India. In Nashik district of Maharashtra farners are destroying standing tomato crops. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the new poster boy of Khadi. It has shocked and  angered Gandhians and secular minded people who actively fought in the freedom movement against the British. They view it as a right wing effort to re-write history and more importantly as an entrenchment of fascism by replacing the image of Gandhi with a demagogue who has the history of Gujarat riots of 2002 behind him and most recently the ill conceived demonetisation at the behest of global capitalist interests and his crony capitalists, costing the lives of over hundred ordinary Indian citizens.

Everybody who does not conform, consume and believe the mainstream media narrative has become a 'fake news' creator. Hey, all Social Media users too! The Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act (CDPA), passed last December 8th by Barack Obama is the mechanism to watch you all ! Whenever you post or read anything on FB remember, BIG BROTHER is watching. That my friend is the 'post truth' world!


And also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org





Obama Expands NSA Spying
by George Gallanis 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/obama-expands-nsa-spying/

With the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump only days away, the Obama administration announced on Thursday a vast expansion of the spying power of American intelligence agencies. Under the new rules, the National Security Agency (NSA) can now share raw bulk data consisting of private communications with 16 other intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.





Notebandi Takes The Sauce Out Of Nashik’s Tomatoes
Co-Written by Aniket Aga & Chitrangada Choudhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/notebandi-takes-the-sauce-out-of-nashiks-tomatoes/

Farmers in Maharashtra’s Nashik district – where one in every four tomatoes in India comes from – are destroying standing crops on a scale never seen before, following persistent rock-bottom prices since the November 8 demonetisation






Can Commons Thinking Drive A New Health System?
by Shareable 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/can-commons-thinking-drive-a-new-health-system/

To create new systems of collaboration, empowerment, self-organization, transparency and more, Jamie Harvie, Executive Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future and founder of the Commons Health Network, looks to the principles of the commons, where communities work together to “craft, monitor, enforce, and revise rules to limit their behavior and keep their resources available for the long term.” Harvie explains: “At their core is an acknowledgement of the importance of an approach that has a fair set of rules, a means to represent a voice, transparency, self-determination, localized boundaries or a sense of place, inclusivity and the right to health and well-being.”






Modi Replacing Gandhi As The Image Of Khadi Angers India

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/modi-replacing-gandhi-as-the-image-of-khadi-angers-india/

Modi replacing Gandhi and becoming a poster boy of Khadi has shocked and  angered Gandhians and secular minded people who actively fought in the freedom movement against the British. They view it as a right wing effort to re-write history and more importantly as an entrenchment of fascism by replacing the image of Gandhi with a demagogue who has the history of Gujarat riots of 2002 behind him and most recently the ill conceived demonetisation at the behest of global capitalist interests and his crony capitalists, costing the lives of over hundred ordinary Indian citizens.






From Official Policy To Mainstream Discourse: Propaganda In The Making
by Daniel Espinosa Winder 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/from-official-policy-to-mainstream-discourse-propaganda-in-the-making/

Everybody who does not conform, consume and believe the mainstream media narrative has become a 'fake news' creator. Hey, all Social Media users too! The Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act (CDPA), passed last December 8th by Barack Obama is the mechanism to watch you all ! Whenever you post or read anything on FB remember, BIG BROTHER is watching. That my friend is the 'post truth' world!






Bourgeois Democracy Faces Threat From Within: Perceive Davos-Elites  
by Farooque Chowdhury 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/bourgeois-democracy-faces-threat-from-within-perceive-davos-elites/

The elites are going to gather in Davos, a snow covered village in Switzerland, in their annual moot – the World Economic Forum (WEF); and their annual flagship report – The Global Risks Report 2017 (GSR) – prepared on the basis of perception of hundreds of leading figures related to world economy, presents their assessment of the prevailing world condition. The report is a reflection of the risks, threats, trends the elites perceive.







Trump Team Targets Iran
by Eric Zuesse 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/trump-team-targets-iran/

All four of the persons selected by U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump for the top U.S. national-security posts are committed to replacing the outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama’s #1 military target, Russia, by a different #1 military target, Iran. Iran has long been the #1 military target in the view of Michael Flynn, the chosen Trump National Security Advisor; and of James Mattis, the chosen Trump Secretary of Defense; and of Dan Coats, the chosen Trump Director of National Intelligence; and of Mike Pompeo, the chosen CIA Director.







Trump Means War
by Marc Norton 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/trump-means-war/

That is a lesson that I wish had been talked about at the United Against Trump event.  It is all well and good to gather together to renew our commitment to the fight for justice and equality in the face of the anti-worker, racist, sexist, war-mongering, wannabe fascist Trump regime.  But I fear that we are not getting ready for what is coming.






Between And Betwixt Freedom And Fear In Bangladesh
by Fazal M. Kamal 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/between-and-betwixt-freedom-and-fear-in-bangladesh/

One reality at present that cannot be emphasized enough is the fact relating to deaths happening every single day in unexplained circumstances and corpses being discovered all across the country, as if society has gone berserk, and this deadly fact doesn’t include what has come to be described as extrajudicial annihilation in so-called shootouts a la Wild Wild West, as it were. Or not, maybe. What, however, makes all of this more unpalatable is the inability of the law enforcement machinery to stanch the persistent slide in this murderous direction.






Kashmir: Valley Of Wildfires
by Mir Faizan Anwar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/kashmir-valley-of-wildfires/

Being a world-wide phenomenon, wildfire episodes are not uncommon in Kashmir. However in 2016, a surprsing pattern of forest fires was seen, spreading in nook and corner of the Valley. There is hardly any Forest Division where forest fires were not reported. Every other day, one would encounter headlines in local dailies about fires ragingly burning down  jungles. But one may ask, how did these fires erupt over these months in a regular fashion?






Protest Against Demonetisation In Mumbai And Nagpur

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/protest-against-demonetisation-in-mumbai-and-nagpur/

Communist Party of India (CPI) organized Hisab do ,Jawwab do dharana in front front of RBI offices at Mumbai and Nagpur. The entire country is in the grip of crisis caused by demonetization, dramatically announceed on 8th November, 2016. Farmers, student’s workers of Nagpur and Mumbai joined raising slogans against demonetization. It was a huge gathering of 1000 people in Mumbai and 3000 people in Nagpur.






Bahujan Revolutionary King Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj
by Tata Sivaih

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/bahujan-revolutionary-king-chhatrapati-shahu-maharaj/

Rajarshi Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj was a true visionary social reformer. His simple living, remarkable efforts for the welfare of backward classes and his genuine contributions to educational, social and even agricultural reforms like water harvesting will always guide us towards doing better things for our nation