CounterCurrents: The Peace Grandmother Of Copenhagen

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Binu Mathew
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www.countercurrents.org

The Peace Grandmother Of Copenhagen
by Binu Mathew 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/the-peace-grandmother-of-copenhagen/

Several springs, summers, autumns and winters have come and gone in these 5614 days.  This grandmother stood in the icy cold of many a winter Copenhagen winter. I leave this peace grandmother with the lines of Shelley on my mind,

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?




The Reality Show Comes To Congress: Trump’s Joint Address
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/the-reality-show-comes-to-congress-trumps-joint-address/

Let us tear through these Trumpland evocations, the business pitches of this show and publicity act that was the first address by the President to a joint sitting of the US Congress. There were the common themes; there were the contradictory messages; and there was plain, traditional nonsense.    In the undergrowth were olive branches being offered (“The time for trivial fights is behind us”), platitudes, and a few incontestable points.






Descendants Of Slaves, Forerunners Of Justice: American Muslims Must Stop Apologizing
by Dr Ramzy Baroud 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/descendants-of-slaves-forerunners-of-justice-american-muslims-must-stop-apologizing/

For this generation of American Muslims, this is their moment – to discover and fulfill their mission, to define and assert who they are as the descendants of slaves, immigrants and refugees – the three main building blocs of America.





Australia’s One Nation Train
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/australias-one-nation-train/

But the emergence in recent months of the Trump presidency has stirred a virus of sorts, moving through the political body at some speed.  Homes are becoming unaffordable.  Australia’s banks, a long protected profit-making racket, continue charging monstrous fees for using the money of citizens. (Their wealth is your benefit.)  Industries are closing or, in the weight loss metaphor, down-sizing.  Governments and the main opposition party are getting edgy. Much of this has been fanned by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, an entity conservatives were so keen on destroying during the 1990s they established a special fund to do so, run by the deposed former Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott.  He was to have the monopoly on reactionary politics.





The Scrimmage Between ‘Good Pride’ And ‘Bad Pride’
by Fazal M. Kamal 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/the-scrimmage-between-good-pride-and-bad-pride/

“The times they are a-changin’”—sang Nobel laureate Bob Dylan eons ago, and they sure are. Evidently these are demanding times, too, for sane and reasonable people in every single space on Earth. Consequently it’s appropriate to close with these, most essential, words now: “There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. ‘Good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad pride’ is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.”― John C. Maxwell, author. 






Guantánamo’s Last 100 Days : The Story That Never Was 
by Karen J Greenberg 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/guantanamos-last-100-days-the-story-that-never-was/

In the spring of 2016, I asked a student of mine to do me a favor and figure out which day would be the 100th before Barack Obama’s presidency ended. October 12th, he reported back, and then asked me the obvious question: Why in the world did I want to know? The answer was simple. Years before I had written a book about Guantánamo’s first 100 days and I was looking forward to writing an essay highlighting that detention camp’s last 100 days. I had been waiting for this moment almost eight years, since on the first day of his presidency Obama signed an executive order to close that already infamous offshore prison within a year.






India Needs A Law To Ensure ‘Right To Housing’ Says UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing 
by National Alliance of People’s Movements 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/india-needs-a-law-to-ensure-right-to-housing-says-un-special-rapporteur-on-adequate-housing/

The Report prepared by Special Rapporteur on adequate housing United Nations which is to be presented today in UN Human Rights Council, highlights the extreme scarcity in availability of proper housing to 58.6 million households. A deeper study of the report brings out that among this large community, schedule castes and schedule tribes, homeless people, Muslims and manual scavengers are the worst hit. Access to housing is abysmally below the national average for this segment.







Voicing Silence: A Report Of A Fake Encounter Of A Disabled Adivasi Youth
Fact-Finding Report 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/voicing-silence-a-report-of-a-fake-encounter-of-a-disabled-adivasi-youth/

Given the level of intimidation the police and its associated vigilante groups have brought to bear upon members of this fact finding team including lawyers, academics and journalists, we wonder how the residents of these villagers in Bastar can hope for anything better, let alone justice from the same police with respect to cases such as this encounter. We ask that the residents of this village especially the petitioners and translators who travelled to the High Court be given some form of protection from police and vigilante harassment and demand that adequate investigation is conducted by an independent body on the harassment of the advocates and the villagers who have assisted the petitioners, Pottam Kumma and Pottam Jamli, parents of Pottam Somaru, in filing a case in the Chhattisgarh High Court.






The Blind Race Towards Self-Destruction
by Nivedita Dwivedi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/the-blind-race-towards-self-destruction/

Today there is Gurmehar Kaur, tomorrow there will be someone else who will become an easy target for the entire nation to show their debating skills, the matchless arguments that they can garner. The media will have a field day and will use all tools at their disposal to finish at the top of the TRP race. In a course of a few days or months, things will fizzle out and one Gurmehar Kaur will be replaced by some other, for the entire cycle to be repeated again. In all this entertainment drama, there will be no thought spared for the individual for whom this entire experience will be a life-changing one, who, probably, will struggle to emerge from the impact of it, who, probably, will be a changed individual thenceforth. 






Communalising Population Growth: Understanding Demographic Data
by Ram Puniyani 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/communalising-population-growth-understanding-demographic-data/

The biases and misconceptions about conversions and population growth have been used by communal forces to divide the society. This became apparent once again when Minister of state of Home, Kiren Rijuju tweeted that that Hindu population is decreasing in the country as Hindus don’t convert and that minorities in India are flourishing unlike in the neighbouring countries.





‘Chalo Delhi’; The Fight Against The Attacks On Education, Democracy And Social Justice
by Yadul Krishna 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/chalo-delhi-the-fight-against-the-attacks-on-education-democracy-and-social-justice/

Thousands of students from different parts of the country will join the march on 3rd March from Mandi House to Parliament Street fighting against the attacks on education, democracy and social justice and to ensure a pro-student, pro-people new education policy. The time to reclaim our democratic spaces to discuss, debate and dissent has come. Let the voice of Independence, Democracy and Socialism be heard all over the country…





Kashmir Pandit Return “Resolution” !
by Mohammad Ashraf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/02/kashmir-pandit-return-resolution/

The J & K Assembly some time back passed a resolution for the return of migrant Pandits. Will mere passing of a resolution be enough to facilitate their return?