CounterCurrents: May Day 2017: Trample All Forms Of Sectarianism

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www.countercurrents.org

May Day 2017: Trample All Forms Of Sectarianism

by Farooque Chowdhury 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/may-day-2017-trample-all-forms-of-sectarianism/

Today, that divisive tact is being steamed. So, the present situation requires the task of trampling all forms of sectarianism as it harms working people’s struggle. On this May Day, toilers have to intensify this task as unity of all the working people crossing all types of delimiting lines is in their interest, as unity of the working people takes away all steam from engine of reactionary, factious politics, and the politics will lose the biggest chunk of its present constituency. So, the toilers are to trumpet: Workers of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

The Forgotten Message Of Ambedkar To The Working Class

by Dr KS Sharma 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/the-forgotten-message-of-ambedkar-to-the-working-class/

The following are extracts from A paper presented by Dr KS Sharma at the XXXII Indian Social Science Congress held at New Delhi from 18′” December to 22nd December 2008. The Paper quotes Dr. B. R. Ambedkar extensively and seeks to bring out some views he had expressed at one stage in his political life

Kashmir: Remembering The Unsung Heroes

by Mohamad Ashraf Khwaja 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/kashmir-remembering-the-unsung-heroes/

29 April 1865 is marked as the bloodiest day in Kashmir history. On this day the Dogra army brutally massacred 28 Kashmiris at old city’s Zaldagar, when shawl weavers peacefully protested against the Dagh shawl department and the cruel taxation of the government.This protest was in the backdrop of their frustration, their extremely difficult working conditions, meagre wages, excessive taxation and other curbs. The procession was nothing but a demonstration of the fight against the exploitation, oppression and tyrannical measures of the Dogra autocracy.

North Korea’s Military Gambit

by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/north-koreas-military-gambit/

The theatre unfolding in various international forums regarding North Korea is garnering top prices for front seats.  The press corps await the next announcement by the Trump administration on what it will do to the regime in Pyongyang.  Prompt, merciless incineration?  Tactical strike applied with a surgeon’s precision?  All options, we are told with weekly and increasing urgency, are on the table.

Muslim Profiling At US Borders Escalates During President Trump’s First 100 Days

by Abdus Sattar Ghazali 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/muslim-profiling-at-us-borders-escalates-during-president-trumps-first-100-days/

President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office were a frightening experience for the seven-million strong Muslim American community. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest American Muslim civil advocacy group, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) profiling of Muslims accounted for 23 percent of cases in the first three months of 2017. This represents a 1,035 percent increase in CBP bias cases reported so far this year over the same period in 2016.

The U.S. Political Scene: Whiteness And The Legitimacy Crisis of Global Capitalism

by Jeb Sprague-Silgado 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/the-u-s-political-scene-whiteness-and-the-legitimacy-crisis-of-global-capitalism/

The U.S. political scene has been undergoing a facelift in an effort to restore the decreasing legitimacy of the transnationally-oriented capitalist class. This transformation has been characterized by a rightwing that has sought to portray itself as economically nationalistic in an attempt to expand support among the working class (primarily, among working class whites) whose economic stability has dwindled during the neoliberal era.

Conflict Resolution: White Feathers of Peace

by Sally Dugman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/conflict-resolution-white-feathers-of-peace/

Absolutely, I get deeply angry at the carnage that our species demonstrates towards others of our kind and other species, the ones that are a part of the natural world that we dismantle for economic growth. Yet sometimes anger is necessary as it pushes one to where he doesn’t want to tread and to be someone he’d like to avoid since pushing forward can sometimes be hard to face — indeed painful or perilous — when confronting difficulties

No Just War

by Sandi Dollinger 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/no-just-war/

Moral Injury and Nonviolent Resistance is not an easy train read. It is, however, a “Must Read” and very compelling.

The Necessary Ground of Being for Dyslexic Activism

by Richard Oxman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/the-necessary-ground-of-being-for-dyslexic-activism/

Accessible love must come before the cart carrying societal correctives can come down the road. And it’s no hyperbole to say that activism today is quite dyslexic on several scores.

Witness To The Revolution: Radicals, Resisters, Vets, Hippies, And The Year America Lost Its Mind And Found Its Soul

by Andy Piascik 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/witness-to-the-revolution-radicals-resisters-vets-hippies-and-the-year-american-lost-its-mind-and-found-its-soul/

Witness to the Revolution: Radicals, Resisters, Vets, Hippies, and the Year America Lost Its Mind and Found Its Soul by Clara Bingham is a valuable contribution to further understanding and popularizing the radical upsurge of the 1960s. 

Hybrid War: Reactive Mismeasures: The New Yorker and the “New” Cold War Propaganda (Part 4)

by Thomas Riggins 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/hybrid-war-reactive-mismeasures-the-new-yorker-and-the-new-cold-war-propaganda-part-4/

This is the fourth part (of 5 ) of a paragraph by paragraph commentary on a recent article posing as journalism in the March 6, 2017 issue of The New Yorker. I hope to demonstrate that this article is basically a totally mendacious concoction of cold war US propaganda constructed out of unsubstantiated opinions expressed by US government officials and various journalists and others who are hostile to the current Russian government.

Heat Wave Scalds Orange Farmers

by Moin Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/heat-wave-scalds-orange-farmers/

The government needs to put in place a comprehensive orange policy for reviving both orange orchards and the trade.

Reducing Spaces of Critical Voices And Clampdown on Human Rights Organisations

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/04/30/reducing-spaces-of-critical-voices-and-clampdown-on-human-rights-organisations/

We are giving below a letter issued by SICHREM recently to the Police Commissioner of Bangalore city, citing the harassment on the organisation. We at Countercurrents.org feel that this needs much wider discussion and stronger expressions of solidarity, so that human rights organisations and human rights defenders in India can express their freedom of expression without authoritarian controls, as being growingly exercised in India today.

CounterCurrents: Why Energy-Economy Models Produce Overly Optimistic Indications, Trump Trauma,

Dear Friend,

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

Trump Trauma

by Helena Norberg-Hodge 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/trump-trauma/

Localized economies boost employment not by increasing consumption, but by relying more on human labor and creativity and less on energy-intensive technological systems – thereby reducing resource use and pollution. By redistributing economic and political power from corporate monopolies to millions of small businesses, localization revitalizes the democratic process, re-rooting political power in community.

Why Energy-Economy Models Produce Overly Optimistic Indications

by Gail Tverberg 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/why-energy-economy-models-produce-overly-optimistic-indications/

Whether or not a new economic system can arise to take the place of our existing system remains to be seen. It certainly is a concern.

How the Conflict in Syria Benefits Washington’s Allies

by Nauman Sadiq 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/how-the-conflict-in-syria-benefits-washingtons-allies/

The United States Defense Intelligence Agency’s declassified report  of 2012 clearly spelled out the imminent rise of a Salafist principality in northeastern Syria in the event of an outbreak of a civil war in Syria. Under pressure from the Zionist lobby in Washington, however, the Obama Administration deliberately suppressed the report and also overlooked the view in general that a civil war in Syria will give birth to radical Islamic jihadists.

The Next Phase In The War On BDS: Why Israel Detained Omar Barghouti

by Dr Ramzy Baroud 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/the-next-phase-in-the-war-on-bds-why-israel-detained-omar-barghouti/

Smearing one individual, or a hundred, will not alter the upward movement of BDS. Israel will soon realize that its war on BDS, freedom of speech and expression is unwinnable. It is a futile attempt to muzzle a global community that now works in unison from Cape Town, South Africa to Uppsala, Sweden.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE: Plays Of The Jewish And Palestinian Diasporas

by Dr Vacy Vlazna 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/double-exposure-plays-of-the-jewish-and-palestinian-diasporas/

In Double Exposure, there are three plays by Palestinian  playwrights; Hannah Khalil, Ismail Khalidi, and Samah Sabawi, and three by Jewish playwrights; Arthur Milner,  Natasha Greenblatt, Steven Orlov and the final play Twenty One Positions: A Cartographic Dream of the Middle  East is a joint work of Abdelfattah AbuSrour, Lisa Schlesinger and Naomi Wallace.

The Smart Way Of Beating Poverty

by Moin Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/the-smart-way-of-beating-poverty/

I often wondered why was it that when there were so many social programmes for the poor that poverty was yet so endemic and stubborn. Despite such vast investments there were regions in which we could just nibble at the frozen layers of poverty. This is not to discount the enormous progress we have made in improving the social indicators, but it is when we benchmark our societies with those of other we realize that our achievement pales away.

“Namami Brahmaputra” And Its Symbols Of Hindutva 

by Deep Moni Gogoi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/namami-brahmaputra-and-its-symbols-of-hindutva/

In its short period of running the state government in Assam, a pattern seem to be emerging where there is a tendency to present the state as homogenized entity from the lens of Hindutva. The Namami Brahmaputra festival in its promotion fails to demonstrate the presence of multiplicity of cultures in the region and in light of other policies, it looks more like the state of Assam must be ready for more imposition of brahmanical Hinduism(Hindutva).

Kashmir- A Strangulated Identity

by Mohd Azhardin Ganayee 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/kashmir-a-strangulated-identity/

Since 1990 an estimated 70000 Kashmiri civilians have been killed. Hundreds of women have been raped. More than ten thousand people have disappeared in custody. Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits have had to leave their home, hearth and land. They have been forced to live in alien climatic, cultural, and linguistic environs. All this in the service of a conflict which is little of their making. If Indians want to avenge the partition of their country or the Pakistanis want to avenge the horrors of the partition, let them do that in the plains of Punjab or in the deserts of Rajasthan. Kashmir played no part in all that. Why should its people suffer?

Kashmir – China Relationship

by Mohammad Ashraf 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/kashmir-china-relationship/

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which includes Gilgit-Baltistan area of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir can revive historical connection of Kashmir with China

CNDP Condemns Indian Government’s Refusal To Join UN Negotiations To Ban Nuclear Weapons

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/cndp-condemns-indian-governments-refusal-to-join-un-negotiations-to-ban-nuclear-weapons/

For all its avowed commitment to the pursuit of universal global nuclear disarmament, it is shocking that the Indian government, to our utter dismay, has stayed away from these negotiations. So much for its avowed commitment to the pursuit of universal global nuclear disarmament, which is what this treaty is about.

UP Chief Minister Hailed As Anandmath Sanyasi: Anandmath Preached Cleansing Of Muslims And Hailed The British Rule

by Shamsul Islam 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/up-chief-minister-hailed-as-anandmath-sanyasi-anandmath-preached-cleansing-of-muslims-and-hailed-the-british-rule/

It is unfortunate that a novel which played prominent role in fracturing the united freedom struggle against the British rulers, is being resurrected. The UP victory of RSS/BJP (securing only 39.7% of the polled votes) is being celebrated as the victory of Santan Sena over Muslims in Anandmath. India seems to be standing at a cross-road; to continue on the path of a democratic-secular polity or embark on the path of Anandmathis the greatest challenge after Independence.It is hoped that an all-inclusive India will not let RSS/BJP succeed in its nefarious goal of letting ghosts of sanyasis of Anandmathto undo present India.

Rajya Sabha Must Protect The Spirit Of The Indian Constitution: Finance Bill Should Not Be Considered As ‘Money Bill’

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/30/rajya-sabha-must-protect-the-spirit-of-the-indian-constitution-finance-bill-should-not-be-considered-as-money-bill/

Eminent Jurist and Citizens – Mr. Fali Nariman, Girish Karnad, TM Krishna, Aruna Roy, Jayati Ghosh, Zoya Hasan, Medha Patkar, Bezwada Wilson, Nandita Das, Swami Agnivesh, Usha Ramanathan, Prabhat Patnaik and more than 200 other concerned citizens have expressed concern on the classification of the Finance Bill, 2017 as a ‘Money Bill’ which is illegitimate and should not be considered as ‘Money Bill’.

CounterCurrents: Life in India is cheap,DAMN CHEAP

Dear Friend,

The protest against the Trump administration's policy of rounding up of immigrants is growing in USA. The weekend protests drew large crowds especially in Raleigh, North Carolina.

U.S Navy Seal's killed 8 year old Nawar in Yemen. What prompted the soldier to point his weapon at Nawar and squeeze the trigger, fully aware that he was murdering in cold blood an innocent child? Was he following the Commander-in-Chief’s prescription for winning the so-called “war on terror? It's a chilling story. 

What would the dead say if they could speak from the grave? Over 100 people, mostly youngsters, were killed in Kashmir this summer. Basharat Shameem tells the story of Zubair Ahmad Khanday who was one of the first to be killed in the aftermath of the Burhan Wani killing.

I started a Facebook page some time back called "Life in India is cheap,DAMN CHEAP". It was started after seeing a death defying circus performance, also prompted by my experience of living in India for 46 years.https://www.facebook.com/groups/501753966699821/ The Zapatista Sub-Commandate Marcos, used to say life in Chiapas is a miracle. Death is a constant companion in Chiapas. So is the case in many of the villages in India. Yes, Life in India is cheap, DAMN CHEAP. In the latest of such stories come from Chingudipala Panchayat of Sukinda block in Jajpur district, Odisha where 19 children have died of malnutrition. 

Did you ever think that a small action from our part can save lives? Rachel Olivia O'Connor reminds of this fact. She writes " If we do manage to focus primarily on saving others’ lives, not catering on automatic to our own habits, the life we save may be our own."

Also many stories from around the world on a variety of topics. 


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





Thousands Demonstrate In Defense Of Immigrants As White House Vows More Deportations
by Tom Eley 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/thousands-demonstrate-in-defense-of-immigrants-as-white-house-vows-more-deportations/

Demonstrations in the US continued over the weekend against last week’s mass roundup of immigrants, the first “surge” in deportations since President Donald Trump signed a January 25 executive order dramatically expanding the purview of anti-immigrant police actions. An annual march for civil rights in Raleigh, North Carolina, held Saturday, drew a record crowd of over 20,000. The turnout was fueled by opposition to Trump’s brutal policies against both Hispanic and Muslim immigrants.






Death Of Nawar al-Awlaki
by George Capaccio

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/death-of-nawar-al-awlaki/

How did Nawar al-Awlaki,an 8-year-old child, die at the hands of a Navy Seal during last month’s night time raid in Yemen?  We know from credible reports that she was shot in the neck at close range and received no medical aid throughout the remaining two hours of her life. Some questions come to mind: Was the shooting intentional? Did the soldier deliberately and with “malice aforethought” point his weapon at Nawar and squeeze the trigger, fully aware that he was murdering in cold blood an innocent child? For that matter, might he have been influenced, if only subliminally, by our Commander-in-Chief’s prescription for winning the so-called “war on terror






Memoirs Of Dead: Martyrs Of 2016 Begin To Speak
by Basharat Shameem 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/memoirs-of-dead-martyrs-of-2016-begin-to-speak/

My name is Zubair Ahmad Khanday. I am now a resident of the immortal world. In the mortal world, my address happened to be Kulpora, Kulgam, in the now fermented South Kashmir. I was the first among many other Kashmiris to be killed in the immediate uprising that erupted in the aftermath of Burhan’s killing. 






Child Deaths In Nagada
Fact-Finding Report 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/child-deaths-in-nagada/

19 children have died in the Nagada village of Chingudipala Panchayat of Sukinda block in Jajpur district, Odisha






The Life You Save
by Rachel Olivia O'Connor

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/the-life-you-save/

If we do manage to focus primarily on saving others’ lives, not catering on automatic to our own habits, the life we save may be our own.






Something Is Happening
by William Hawes 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/something-is-happening/

Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is: Do you?  No one knows, really, as this something is still evolving.  As we look back to 2016, though, it is abundantly clear that history has awoken from its slumber. We’ve had a couple events in the West last year: Brexit and Trump






Is Rising Inequality A Failure Of U.S. Democracy?
by Dr Arshad M Khan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/is-rising-inequality-a-failure-of-u-s-democracy/

It is a conceit of democracy that opposing parties, after months of trying to convince the public the other would be a disaster for the country, should after the election cooperate for the good of the whole







Bungling In Yemen: Trump And The Cult Of The Action Hero
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/bungling-in-yemen-trump-and-the-cult-of-the-action-hero/

The seething bickering in Washington has been going on for over a week. Was the first authorised international raid by the Trump administration, supposedly made over dinner, a success?  There was little denying that the  bells and blood Yemen mission in Bayda province last month was spectacularly deadly, costing the life of a US serviceman, twenty five civilians including nine children and eight women – in addition to al-Qaeda operatives






The Dworkin-MacKinnon Anti-Pornography Civil Rights Ordinance
by Mickey Z 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/the-dworkin-mackinnon-anti-pornography-civil-rights-ordinance/

The Dworkin-MacKinnon Ordinance — originally written in 1983 by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon — was an amendment to a civil rights law. It stands as a mostly ignored template for creating law-based change within the system.






Softening-Up The UK Public For GM: Monsanto And Former UK Civil Servant Deal In PR, Not Science And Objective Debate
by Colin Todhunter 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/softening-up-the-uk-public-for-gm-monsanto-and-former-uk-civil-servant-deal-in-pr-not-science-and-objective-debate/

It is not surprising that Monsanto is preparing a fresh effort to try to soften up the UK public for GM food appearing on supermarket shelves and GM crops being planted in the nation’s fields. Former World Bank communications strategist and slick communicator Vance Crowe has been hired by Monsanto as its ‘Director of Millenial Engagement’ to convince younger people about the benefits of GM. And he is visiting the UK to give a series of talks.






Iranian Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman
by Tom Carter

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/iranian-filmmaker-asghar-farhadis-the-salesman/

The film is remarkable and rich, the kind of experience you turn over in your mind for days afterwards, discovering new facets that reflect new themes or ideas. Above all, the film affirms the essential humanity of every person—even and especially the “villain”—and exposes the emptiness and absurdity of revenge-taking.






A Wish For Peace
by Ravi Nitesh 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/a-wish-for-peace/

Despite being globally connected over internet, an experience of visiting the other side is still a dream for an ordinary Indian and Pakistani. Internet can obviously provide much knowledge and can help in strengthening bond through sharing talks and laughs, emotions but relaxing visa formalities, starting tourist visas may help people in smelling the soil, touching the shrines and temples and realizing a dream through their own eyes. It may not only help in bringing future revenues to governments, instead it would be a linkage of believing in each other and walking on the path of cordial relations together and forever.





“Ezra” – A Reincarnation Of ‘Dybbuk’ Movies From The West
by K M Seethi    

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/02/13/ezra-a-reincarnation-of-dybbuk-movies-from-the-west/

“Ezra” can also be seen as an addition to the typical judeophobiac tradition of ‘horror’ movies where the ‘Jewish evilness’ is dreadfully caricatured, by both Christian and Islamic traditions.  Dr. Mikel Koven has done many studies about it in the past showing the ethnocentrism of such movies. Let us be more careful in our understating that Jews are not the problem of this world and they are not here to end the world. The problem is more of our mode of understanding our problems. Hopefully, ‘Ezra’ will not emerge as a movie in judeophobiac tradition of ‘horror’ because Kerala has had an excellent, assorted tradition of coexistence of different religious communities, extended over a two millennia.