Educate ! Organize ! Agitate !

Countercurrents celebrates 8th anniversary of its inception today. Thank you all for the wonderful support you gave us all these years. When we look forward, we can see a long and arduous road ahead, a road strewn with crisis and peril where the kind of journalism practiced by CC and defined recently by Robert Jensen as "The Journalism of Collapse" is not only relevant but absolutely necessary for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth. You can lend us a helping hand today by telling 8 of your friends about CC. That would be the most wonderful birthday gift you can present to us today.

Fierce clashes killed two Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip late Friday afternoon. Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were also reported injured in the violence, which broke out east of Khan Younis

Here is news of the Third World War. The United States has invaded Africa. US troops have entered Somalia, extending their war front from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and now the Horn of Africa. In preparation for an attack on Iran, American missiles have been placed in four Persian Gulf states, and “bunker-buster” bombs are said to be arriving at the US base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean

For the past two hundred and sixteen years, the imperialist foreign policy of the United States of America since its foundation, has been predicated upon racism, aggression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, war crimes and outright genocide. At the dawn of the third millennium of humankind's parlous existence, nothing has changed about the operational dynamics of American imperial policy. And we see this today in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and what appears to be an illegal attack upon Iran

Democracy, after all, is a way to determine and then express the majoritarian will of a people, a way to deliver power to "the people" or, more important, for those people to take possession of it themselves. It's the sort of thing that, by its nature, is hard to import from great distances, especially when, in our case, the delivery system to be exported seems strikingly deficient. And keep in mind that the "people" exporting that system to Iraq were largely incapable of seeing Iraqis as actors in their own democratic drama

If you leave hunger to some who are in forefront of the debate, making hunger history is not going to be so easy. It is time you realised you too can make a difference. Come on, wake up

The U.S.-based multinational Union Carbide got away lightly after causing the world’s worst industrial tragedy at Bhopal, but that legacy has come to haunt U.S. corporations seeking to tap India’s newly opened market for nuclear power equipment

A video interview with Carolyn Baker, the author of "Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse"

If enacted, it will advance what this writer addressed in a December 2007 article titled, "Police State America - A Look Back and Ahead," covering numerous Bush administration laws, Executive Orders (EOs), National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives, edicts, and various illegal acts targeting designated domestic and foreign adversaries, dissent, civil liberties, human rights, and other democratic freedoms

An Arab-owned restaurant in the Israeli city of Haifa has been caught in a whirlwind of legal action and threats of violence after staff refused to serve a soldier in uniform, an incident that is rapidly tarnishing the city’s reputation as a model of good Jewish-Arabs relations

On March 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner. The stay will allow the Court more time to consider Skinner's civil rights claim that he is entitled to DNA testing which he believes will prove his innocence. The news came just one hour before Skinner was to be strapped to the gurney

Malnutrition comes in a delightful assortment of colorful flavors nowadays. But poverty and obesity are a correlation that Americans find hard to swallow

Maharashtra government’s dramatic announcement of replacing Raghuvanshi with Maria is an exercise in inanity, to say the least. It can hardly produce any change on the ground

A tiny island claimed for nearly 30 years by India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal has disappeared beneath the rising seas. What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming

If you are a parent and now out of denial about the climate change danger to your kids, what do you think about Globe 2010 and the continuing denial that keeps us from needed action, emergency action to end our addiction? What can we do about business's inability to escape carbon addict denial?

On Monday Peter Lipman and I represented Transition Network at an event which could potentially be the day people look back to as the day when UK government finally starting to ‘get’ peak oil. Fascinating and frustrating in equal measure, the event, “Policy Response to potential future oil supply constraints”, was billed as “a half-day workshop hosted by the Energy Institute in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change

It came as a surprise that last weekend Britain's Energy Minister summoned a meeting of business leaders to discuss the government's response to a decline in global oil production should it actually be imminent

There is considerable attention paid in the United States to the collapse of journalism. But there has been far less discussion of the need for a journalism of collapse -- the challenge to tell the story of a world facing multiple crises in the realms of social justice and sustainability. In this essay I want to review the failure of existing systems and suggest ideas for how to think about something radically different, through the lens of journalists’ work

The Israeli government has indicated that it will press ahead with a plan to enlarge the Jewish prayer plaza at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, despite warnings that the move risks triggering a third intifada

Anything less dumps millions of Americans in the trash heap of unaffordable care, poor care, or no care one serious health emergency away from bankruptcy, home loss, or life threatening catastrophe. That's the reality Obamacare delivered

hat day they had “saved” hundreds of starfish. And yet, thousands more were left behind. I had only managed to tear them away from their urgent task by promising to return with them the very next day, first thing in the morning, to save the rest. And we did. But I am yet to break the news to them that Ralph Nader is unlikely to run for another presidential election

Now that Heath Care legislation has passed, the obvious question for opponents is this: Now What? My answer is best summed up with just one word: Marijuana

Americans desperately need healthcare. The need is so desperate that many are buying into a “something is better than nothing” philosophy to support a healthcare bill that actively works against their own interests

If we accept for the moment the ideological premise that free markets and dramatically limited government are the ideal economic basis for freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, how do we then reconcile the very real human effects of those theories? This question is best exemplified by the current struggle in the US over healthcare

After 14 years at the helm of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious theological institute, Al-Azhar’s Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack as he was boarding a plane back to Egypt from Saudi Arabia on March 10.Nine days after Tantawi’s death and while recovering from gallbladder surgery in Germany, Mubarak issued a presidential decree appointing his successor

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sets the tone for Israeli policy-- one that is earning him few friends in the West. Three embarrassments broke for him on Tuesday. First, yet another housing expansion in East Jerusalem was announced while he was meeting President Obama. Then, the cover story of Israeli troops accused of firing live ammunition at Palestinian protesters began to unravel. Then British Foreign Minister David Miliband unceremoniously tossed the Mossad London station chief out of the country

Reporting on the death of children is never an easy task. It challenges your sense of professionalism and puts you face to face with the strongest of emotions; a mother's inconsolable grief at the loss of her child. On Sunday, I went through this unforgettable experience - four times

Here are the reasons that Netanyahu is profoundly wrong, and East Jerusalem does not belong to him

Until a few days ago, the U.S. government had no levers over the Israeli government. Cutting off aid isn’t even whispered in the halls of Congress. Raising the issue would further galvanize Israel’s allies, including AIPAC. The only lever left for the U.S. suddenly erupted into the public media a few days ago. General David Petraeus told the Senate that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has foreign policy and national security ramifications for the United States

Mr Netanyahu’s speech appeared consistent with the new approach agreed by both sides to end this particular debacle. According to the US media, a policy of “Don’t ask and don’t tell” has been adopted to avoid making East Jerusalem an insurmountable obstacle to negotiations

The US hopes that this pretended outrage will lend its role as "honest broker" enough credibility to keep the "peace process" moving, itself merely a PR facade that shields Israeli crimes from public scrutiny. If it does not, the US will undoubtedly pay little mind to the harsh words spoken this week and do as it has done before: blame the Palestinians for its failure and support Israeli repression

There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest. Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it

As a result of U.S. ongoing Occupation of Iraq, today Iraq is more illiterate than it was five or a twenty-five years ago, because the U.S. Administration and U.S. forces occupying Iraq began to root and destroy every aspect of Iraq's education

Could Aluminum, Barium and Other Substances from Stratospheric Aerosol Geo-Engineering Programs be Destroying Eco-Systems around the World? A Closer Look

The so called ‘Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009' will be in force w.e.f. 1st April 2010 . It is a sell out Act, with an intention of keeping 90% of the children away from getting education by privatising, profit making and fulfilling the requirements of neo-liberal agenda of the Developed world and the World Bank. All attempts are being made to keep India healthy, wealthy and wise only for 10% of the population

Narendra bhai Modi, as he is popularly called, has a task cut out. Either he faces the SIT to answer questions he has been evading since February 2002 or he continues to live in the shadow of ghosts

The feeling and expectations of the people of Malegaon regarding their grievance over the arrest of innocent people in Malegaon blasts of September 8, 2006 has been given short shrift on account of the shoddy investigation by the police, ATS and CBI

In this year 2010, which has been declared as Year of the Lung, it is indeed a much-awaited welcome news that International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) is to launch an International trial of 9-month MDR-TB treatment regimen

Britain says it has expelled an Israeli diplomat over the use of cloned UK passports by a hit-squad that killed a Hamas operative in the United Arab Emirates. David Miliband, UK's foreign secretary, told parliament on Tuesday that there were "compelling reasons" to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of British passports in the case. He said that Israel had put British nationals at risk and showed a "profound disregard" for the country's sovereignty

Establishing US military bases in Colombia is only one part of a much broader effort to restore Washington's capacity for military intervention. There has been a sharp increase in US military aid and training of Latin American officers, focusing on light infantry tactics to combat "radical populism" -- a concept that sends shivers up the spine in the Latin American context

During her March 1 - 5 Latin American tour, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gratuitously insulted Chavez. So did Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, in Senate testimony, accusing him of FARC-EP ties - suggesting much more to come to boost opposition candidates in September parliamentary elections

But blind though AIPAC is for that reason, it’s not completely out of touch with reality. It knows that the more Zionism’s on-going colonisation is exposed to the light, the more the world understands that Israel is the obstacle to peace. The world now includes some of the U.S.’s top military men who are going on the public record with their view that support for Israel right or wrong is not in the best interests of America. If you are a Zionist, the case for keeping the lights off is a very strong one

If no one else in the world will make any move to protect Al Aqsa, and put a halt to the inhumane aggression of Israeli occupation and expansion, the Palestinian people surely will not grasp at straws, but are bound to grab any stick they can find, and defend themselves against the demolition of their homes, the murder of their children, and the destruction of their holy sites and their national identity

Declaration of a new aimless intifada at this stage will be a most dangerous decision, taking into account internal disagreement and the lack of unity. We have to realize that each side will exert efforts to claim responsibility and take advantages of this intifada if it erupts. Despite all this heroic incitement through media outlets, none of the Palestinian leaders possess the potential to lead a popular uprising the same way the First Intifada was led. In order to prevent a siege on the West Bank similar to that imposed on the Gaza Strip, let us focus on taking our intifada to the UN where we struggle to declare statehood against occupation’s will

One man dead in Israel and the whole world knows. In Nablus two sixteen-year-old cousins were shot in the heart and the head for throwing stones. One is dead, the other critically injured. Similar incidents occur without any international outcries throughout the West Bank

The Venezuelan government has launched a number of initiatives in recent weeks aimed to tackle threats to the revolutionary process — including from elements within the pro-Chavez camp that seek to undermine plans to deepen the revolution

Barack Hossein Obama is the lightening that strikes at the behest of Israel while gathering dark clouds around him casting darkness over humanity, justice, and peace. These are none other than self-confessed Zionist, Joe Biden; the terminator, Hillary Clinton who undertook to annihilate 70 million Iranians for Israel, and pro-Israel Dennis Ross as the “senior Iran policy-maker.” This latter translates into a softer line on Israel and a tougher one on Iran

Provocations from Obama against China and Russia, are making the current climate look a lot like the recent past. One would have thought in a world where the United States only has the courage to attack much lesser third world ‘powers’, that Obama wouldn’t be ginning up a great deal of antagonism with much more evenly matched states; but that’s precisely what seems to be occurring under team Obama’s charge

We are at a precipice. This is the end of one era and the beginning of another. The “real” world that so many people believe in, here in America is not the world you see on your TV sets, that is the world that the government and the media want you to believe in. We are so accustomed to believing in our own American ideology that we can’t understand the ramifications of what we have done

We need independent media, meaning sources of news that are independent of either political party. We could easily find the money to create it right now if we chose to make that a priority. We will do so or we, and this republic, and the world as we know it will perish . . . in horrible pain, with a grin on our face

Instead of cheering or jeering the House passage of the Health – I mean, the lobbyist-corporate – Insurance Reform bill, let’s assess winners and losers

In Part I of this essay we looked at strategies in defense of public education that are referred to as “ultra-left,” meaning that they veer so far left that they sever ties with the working class and consequently lose all traction when it comes to influencing the movement. Here we will examine strategies that veer to the right, often ending up in the camp of opportunism

Why did the Academy Award for Best Picture go to a film about the Iraq war that has absolutely nothing to say, asks Iraq Veterans Against the War member Phil Aliff

Statement condemning the recent killings of senior CPI (Maoist) leaders Sakhamuri Appa Rao and S. Kondal Reddy in ‘encounters’ by the Andhra Pradesh police

India follows the US: Pushing farmers out of agriculture, and inviting industry to take over

In a major development, a High Power Committee established by the state government of Kerala in India has recommended today that Coca-Cola be held liable for Indian Rupees 216 crore (US$ 48 million) for damages caused as a result of the company’s bottling operations in Plachimada. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has remained shut down since March 2004 as a result of the community-led campaign in Plachimada challenging Coca-Cola’s abuse of water resources

Secularist challenger Iyad Allawi retained a slim lead in Iraq's tight election race after a preliminary count of 95 percent of votes released on Sunday. The lead from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary election has switched several times between Allawi's cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki mainly Shi'ite bloc, State of Law, signaling a close result whoever comes out top

What looks like a big victory for Obama and the Democrats may be their greatest undoing. It’s true that the passage of Obama’s health care bill represents a significant political victory for the Democrats. But sometimes a battle won could equal a lost war

Last month, quietly, unannounced, Arundhati Roy decided to visit the forbidding and forbidden precincts of Central India’s Dandakaranya Forests, home to a melange of tribespeople many of whom have taken up arms to protect their people against state-backed marauders and exploiters. She recorded in considerable detail the first face-to-face journalistic “encounter” with armed guerillas, their families and comrades, for which she combed the forests for weeks at personal risk

The Iraqi women deserve the best like all other decent women, because the Iraqi women have suffered the most and nothing will heal their wounds, the least you can do is embrace them, compensate them and make them feel appreciated. Have some sense of humanity... Compassion... Love... Passion... and appreciation...

It's been nearly eight weeks since the devastating earthquake in Haiti and familiar patterns of interference and neglect by the major powers that dominate the country are firmly entrenched. Notwithstanding heroic efforts of ordinary Haitian people, Haitian government officials and agencies, and many international organizations, a grave health risk hovers over the people residing in the earthquake zone or who have fled beyond it. Meanwhile, the direction of Haiti's reconstruction remains entirely undetermined

Most of the time, we actually think or behave as if we were not going to die, and that our civilization will endure. But in our sober moments, we know that all good things must come to an end . Nothing you ever accomplished will survive the passage of time. So why then are you happy? Because you are, at some level, delusional. You 'got religion.' You are a true believer. "Positive thinking", as it is called, may be the recipe for personal success, but applied collectively, it has transformed us into blind sleep-walkers racing to the precipice. Nature does not care about our morale, or whether we feel good about ourselves. It only cares if we can limit our numbers and our appetite within its ability to carry us. So far, we flunked the test. Big time. It is my contention that unless we can reform our brain structure, we will not survive for much longer. We are just too dumb to live

Since the beginning of Al-Aqsa intifada in 2000 and till 2006 at least 69 Palestinian women gave birth at Israeli checkpoints in front of Israeli soldiers. This led to 35 miscarriages and the death of five mothers

If the Arab peoples move as well, and if their spontaneous support is organized and mobilized to greater effect, then the U.S. presence in the region can also be weakened. And that is no small thing. Arab hearts still lie in Palestine. It can still move a whole nation like no other cause in the region. Though the present looks bleak, collective acts of resistance can still create vast possibilities

My apologies. Clearly I don’t yet grasp what anti-Semitism is. Thus I throw the challenge to you the reader: what is it? Together perhaps we can sort this out

If the general American public ever fully realizes how much death and suffering they have caused in Israel's name, to say nothing of their own cost in blood and treasure, and the role the organized Jewish community in America has played in that process, the odds are very high that there will be a convulsion, -- and this, too, is understood by AIPAC and its counterparts

A December 2009 Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network "Monitoring Report on Freedom of Association in the Euro-Mediterranean Region" assessed it in EU and Middle East countries, including Israel and Occupied Palestine, the topic of this article. Instead of improving in 2009, it deteriorated even though Israel's Supreme Court recognizes it as a fundamental human right

If settlers stay, then what we have is either one state with equal rights for both Jews and Palestinians, or one state with no rights for Palestinians - which is what we have right now as far as the millions of Palestinians in the West Bank are concerned

We are entering an era of increasing unrest as economic and environmental problems continue to mount. How this plays out depends to a large extent on how well the 60 million skeptics in America are mobilized. This is especially important because Fox News, the Tea Party and the radical right are mobilizing the 60 million sheep. And lies, if they are repeated enough, can sway the remaining 180 million, and that would be enough to silence the skeptics

The basic rule of a criminal investigation is that if there is a witness to a crime, in this case murder, he is the first person police should contact to identify the culprits. But during the investigations into the murder of Shahid Azmi, the human rights and criminal lawyer who was shot dead in his Mumbai office on February 11, police seem to have forgotten that most basic, mandatory practice. The key witness to Azmi’s murder — his peon Inder, who saw three assailants fire at the lawyer — was not even called for identification after police arrested the accused

Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians near Nablus in the northern West Bank on Sunday. The deaths bring to four the number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank over the last two days

As if destroying a country and its culture ain't bad enough, how about destroying its future, its children? I want to scream it from the rooftops! We are complicit in crimes of such enormity that I find it difficult to find the words to describe how I feel about this crime committed in my name! In the name of the 'civilized' world?

Inspite of an estimated thirty million people marching, world-wide against the invasion - five million more than Iraq's population at the time - the illegal carnage went ahead. But, as a correspondent wrote in response to my article cited at the top: "Those thirty million who marched for peace throughout the world need not feel it was worthless. Peace will come when all the world's people wake up and march for an end to conflict (and) unrestrained material aquisitiveness." On this grim, shameful, anniversary, all of the same mind should vow to double their efforts

Why alienate India so completely for the sake of a terrorist? Why allow more people to be killed -- in such attacks as the Poona bombing -- by refusing to let Indian investigators question David Headley? I believe that only one explanation fits these facts and that there is only one answer to these questions. David Headley was an American agent

After a long preparation, debate and politics, finally the Indian government launched the ‘Operation Green Hunt’ (OGH) in Jharkhand on March 10 with the objective of cleansing the Maoists from the state

Clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli security forces have grown more numerous in the last month and have spread to dozens of locations in the occupied territory. A peak was reached last week, when Israel "shut" the West Bank, arrested dozens over five days and banned most Palestinians from Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

The Doomsday Weapon
By Uri Avnery

What began as an insult to the Vice President of the United States is developing into something far bigger. The mouse has given birth to an elephant. Lately, the ultra-right government in Jerusalem has started to treat President Barack Obama with thinly veiled contempt

"We have 250 new amputees following the Israeli war to add to the 5,000 cases we had before the war," said Ash-Shawwa. "Some of the injured from the Gaza war are still having problems with their amputated limbs as they were not treated properly at the time due to the hectic situation; initial treatments focused on saving lives."

The Planning Commission is making available roughly Rs 1.50 lakh crores in the 10th and 11th Plan period for the food processing industry. It isn't therefore surprising when you hear radio advertisements telling you about the amount of subsidy available if you set up a food processing plant

Many a sex scandal related to Holy men have come to surface during last few weeks (March 2010). Its not that these are the first one’s to have been brought to social attention, such incidents have been coming to social notice time and over again. The present ones about Swami Nityanand and Ichhchadhari Baba (Bhimanand) have highlighted the same in a very intense fashion as these scandals are very blatant

Look at the startling figures reported by NDTV the other day: Punjab's rotting food mountain 2007-2010 -- 7.2 million metric tonne wheat grain stored, -- 6.5 million metric tonnes wheat grain lying in the open, -- Rs. 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) to Rs. 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) worth wheat grain rotting

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager in the northern West Bank on Saturday afternoon. Muhammad Qadus, 16, was struck in the heart by a bullet fired by Israeli forces in Iraq Burin, a village south of Nablus, amid violent clashes in the northern West Bank village

What should we do about Peak Oil? Start with what the U.K. Industry Task Force on Peak Oil (which included Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines) has done: Acknowledge the reality of supply limits. Then study the vulnerabilities of transport and food systems to high and volatile oil prices, and start making those systems more resilient and less oil-dependent. But do it fast. Adaptation will take decades, and we are starting very late

Idiots. Morons. Blockheads. Numbskulls. Nothing quite captures the mind-withering stupidity of what has just happened in Doha. Swayed by Japan and a number of other countries, some of them doubtless bought off in traditional fashion, the members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) have decided not to protect the Atlantic bluefin tuna

The DHRP files show that there are 1,700 missing from Baluchistan alone. At least 4,000 appear to be in the hands of the Pakistani interior ministry, while 2,000 have been handed over to what the DHRP describes as “foreign agencies”—usually, the Americans. Perhaps 750 of the missing Pakistanis are believed to have been taken by the Americans—illegally, of course—to Bagram, the Policharki prison outside Kabul, or to Herat in western Afghanistan

The American occupation violated children's rights on all levels, including health care, education, social security, family unity and non separation of children from their parents through detention, imprisonment and exile. For two decades, Iraqi children, along with all other elements of Iraqi society, have been subjected to grave violations of human rights

Israel's harassment of the Gazan fishermen is not just the usual intimidation, but a deliberate attempt destroy the Gazan fishing industry

Rights activists blame the economy, Hamas-Fatah tensions and the Israeli occupation for the rising number of cases of violence against women. Disinterest in domestic abuse by the judicial authorities and the apparent impunity of violators have made matters worse

As individuals without an organized Jewish state, what one sees is admirable achievements instead of aggressive abominations. Without a Jewish state, the dark side of Judaism has no way to express itself, so the admirable side of the Jewish cultural coin -- and there is a great deal to admire -- shines instead. Getting there without a catastrophe is our task in the years ahead

As the diplomatic row over Israel’s smack down of Vice President Joe Biden unfolds, governmental officials in both the United States and Israel continue to question the timing of Interior Minister’s Eli Yishai’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. The substantive matter—further expropriation of Palestinian land—is clearly of secondary importance

Obamacare will worsen the current system. It's about profits, not people, especially the nation's poor, most vulnerable, and disadvantaged on society's fringes, most hurt by all congressional measures, including one this vital. What the 1913 Federal Reserve Act did for bankers, Obamacare may do for the insurance and drug cartels

Mulayam Singh Yadav is talking of compromising by conceding twenty per cent seats for women in parliament and state assemblies. And government also may compromise to ensure smooth passage of Bill. This would certainly be at the cost of justice to women. The Bill could have been passed 14 years ago with these amendments. Why then Government waited for 14 long years if it had to accept such a compromise. I wish the government does not give in to such pressures. It will be gross injustice to cause of women

The Gompad case gets murkier. Gachanpalli is another village mentioned in the same case I have been writing about for some time now. I visited the village this week to find a similar pattern where villagers vanish without really telling anyone where they are going and suddenly show up in the Supreme Court in New Delhi

What is surprising is that Rs 2,400 crore has been allocated for the computerisation programme, which has to be deducted from the MNREGA administration expenditure. Rs 2,400-crore can provide two square meals a day for lakhs of poor landless workers. Come on, have a heart. You can't be that treacherous. The IT sector too has a corporate social responsibility. You don't have to literally move with a hammer in your hand

All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort

Following Friday prayers on Hebron's Tareq bin Ziad Street, clashes erupted between tens of worshipers and Israeli soldiers guarding the Ibrahimi Mosque. Fifteen were injured, Red Crescent medics confirmed, with eight treated for tear-gas inhalation in the field, and six hospitalized including one man who was struck with a rubber-coated bullet during the clash, officials at the Al-Muhtaseb Hospital in Hebron said

It is the 7th anniversary of the illegal and war criminal invasion of Iraq by US, UK and Australian forces on 20 March 2003. What has been the human cost? As of 20 March 2010 post-invasion violent deaths in Occupied Iraq total 1.4 million. Post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.8 million and post-invasion non-violent excess deaths total 1.1 million

Reflections on the targeted assassination of academics on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the war on Iraq

What reason is there to doubt our commander in chief 's assertion that there is need to maintain an (approximately 50,000 strong) US "strike force" in or near Iraq to guarantee US interests in the Middle East, to allow Washington to move quickly against jihadists in the region and to make clear to "our enemies" that the US will not be "driven from the region"?

Feroze Mithiborwala and Kishore Jagtap argues that there is a real possibility of a Israeli Mossad organized false flag attack on India during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season and that may play as a catalyst for World War III

Despite Netanyahu's denial that he knew in advance of the announcement, it is clear Israel was sending a message to the peace process chorus. First, that renewed talks would not mean any slow down in colonization schemes on occupied lands. Second, that Israeli-defined Jerusalem is outside the scope of any negotiations. Third, Netanyahu does not need the talks -- for him they are only a cover for colonization -- so he could afford the risk that the talks would be jeopardized knowing full well that the US reaction would be limited at worst to words of criticism

Israel is sentencing young Gazan children to a life of pain, suffering and ultimately, death

I have only begun to enumerate the stories of children recently taken from our midst. Though the people's patience has been great and their will to resist persists; yet anyone who witnesses these actions firsthand will call them insanity, dehumanization, oppression, collective profiling. From my point of view, this problem in Hebron and throughout the West Bank is a matter of conscience, an embarrassment to humanity, and a horrid usage of tax dollars. It is urgent that the international community pressure the state of Israel and each one's own government to put a stop to this madness

Monday 14 March 2010 at quarter past nine in the morning at the Zionist Qalandiya checkpoint towards entry into Jerusalem, the gate of Auschwitz 2. A female Israeli Nazi soldier orders an invalid Palestinian girl to take off her pants in front of the crowd of Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint, thousands of waiting men and women. The girl had a prosthetic leg which was fixed with metal screw

Since Israel’s attack over a year ago, Amal has been living with several pieces of shrapnel lodged in her head. She is suffering from frequent awful headaches and nosebleeds. This is in addition to the obvious psychological trauma that she has to live with. As a psychotherapist I have no idea how long it will take and if it will ever be possible for Amal to recover from the trauma she has been through, and what life will be like for her if the shrapnel can’t be taken out of her brain

I never met Sarah Meyer, who died on March 4th, aged seventy three, but like so many across the globe, struggling to make sense of and draw attention to the crimes of enormity, committed in the name of a tragi-farcical "war on terror", discovering her exhaustive, meticulous research, especially on Iraq and Afghanistan was finding Wordsworth's "light to guide; a rod .."

Barack Obama, Congress, and the courts are delivering the whole package, or, in other words, poverty for the many and unlimited wealth and privilege for the power elite. When will enough concerned people act in their own self interest to stop them?

The massive turnout across the state of California on March 4 in defense of public education provides indisputable evidence that this movement is just at the beginning stage. And much credit is due to the countless number of students, staff, and teachers who committed many, many hours of their time, tirelessly organizing for March 4; without this dedication, the event would have sputtered to a stop

Where are President Obama’s fetching slogans that grab media eyeballs? And, more importantly, where’s the winning Obama mission for his presidency and the country? The definition of a one-term president: no clear mission, no identifying slogans, and no collective enthusiasm to shake the status quo. Yes, we can -- do what? Emphasis on the "do."

A soft occupation is not a military occupation such as that of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an occupation achieved by covert means to achieve goals without launching a full scale military operation. Has it ever been conducted anywhere in the past? The answer to my knowledge is no. Yet for the first time the US has, in the case of Pakistan, launched such an expedition as it very well knows that it has no basis for a military operation. The soft occupation is being conducted in Pakistan’s case under the covert garbs of fighting terrorism

An often-overlooked fact is that, whenever a god man is arrested, instead of taking up the real issue, that is, deception and exploitation using false claims, police tends to close the case slapping one or two criminal cases on them. If the State wants to protect its subjects from these frauds, what prevents it from making stringent laws against these deceptive spiritual orders? Why don’t our honourable judges realize it is high time they questioned the rulers of their apparent indifference?

According to news reports, the U.S. military is shipping "bunker-buster" bombs to the U.S. Air Force base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The Herald Scotland reports that experts say the bombs are being assembled for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The newspaper quotes Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London: "They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran."

Last week, a report was put out by a Kuwaiti research institution forecasting global peak oil production by 2014. This follows a report last month by a broad-based British industry group that also predicted a global "oil crunch," or shortage of supply, by the same period

The following are the prepared remarks offered by US Rep. Kucinich today regarding his plans for the upcoming health care vote

Kucinich’s betrayal points to the burning need for political activity, both electoral and social movement based, independent of the Democrats and Republicans. The political system is already so saturated with corporate money that Democrats and Republicans are structurally incapable of acting in the interests of working people in America. Now is the time for a green and red rebellion at the ballot box and on the streets

Kucinich was to be blamed for denying people healthcare by opposing a bill that makes the healthcare system worse. Now he'll be credited with helping to provide people with healthcare, even though he's done the opposite. I think he gave in to the power of a false narrative, and that he ought to have said so

It seems that yesterday, March 16th, the third Intifada of the Israeli era was unofficially started. Those that took place before 1948 are seldom mentioned, as if resistance was a new occurrence. Palestinians will see more suffering the months ahead. Before the martyrs' blood is spilled again in al-Aqsa compound, as it happened back in September 28th of 2000, under Sharon's orders, it is time to celebrate this Palestinian uprising

Although Zionism typically represents itself as the solution to anti-Semitism, the truth is less flattering. In fact, hostility toward Jews is indispensable to the cause of Jewish nationalism. If anti-Semitism didn’t exist, Zionists would have to invent it. And in many cases that is precisely what they have done

The day our publications, newsletters, websites, conferences and rallies include all sorts of opposing views, without slander and intimidation, will be the day that we can be sure a cohesive community of activists is in the making, a community able to achieve good things. Without this, no campaign will be effective enough to make major policy shifts, in Washington or anywhere else

The United States will support Israel’s quest for peace until the last Palestinian. When the Israeli ‘word bomb’ morphs into the Israeli nuclear bomb, and the safety of the entire world is threatened, then the U.S. might recognize the self-destructive nature of its Middle East polices. Let’s hope it will not be too late

There is something that doesn’t love a wall, that finds its force unnatural since it cannot withstand the seasons’ change or the ravages of time. Walls are antithetical to human relationships and civilized progress; they hide that we are one whether we like it or not, that this world is smaller every day as more and more humans are born, proximity grows as well as suffering, and inevitably we choose slaughter or compromise, friendship, sharing and peace

Considering the numbers injured and rendered homeless from the initial event and the numerous aftershocks, Chileans will continue to need assistance for quite some time. On account, numerous countries and aid organizations have offered and are providing assorted kinds of ongoing relief

The realization that women have a right to their bodies and an equal share to living, which dawned in seventies and picked up momentum in eighties, petered out in the dawn of the new millennium

In spite of the cultural specificities of northern Kerala where these atrocities were perpetrated on Chitralekha, I think a general study of the impact of Srinaraynism on the whole of Kerala may be of some help to analyse the increasing backward caste arrogance on Dalits. This is particularly so as the discourse on the assumed efficacy of SriNarayana Guru’s metier is invoked constantly by the civil society of Kerala, eternalising his importance in all spheres. So I think, a glance at the impact of his life and efforts can shed light on the of the constitution/ construction of modern Ezhava identity and the problems associated with it

The current operation while stated to be against the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has a much larger unstated target. It threatens to trespass the safety and security of the indigenous and tribal people in the operation area, it seeks to trespass on the fundamental rights of the citizens of the country and finally, it seeks to redefine the structure of governance of the country

I have often been asked as to why only farmers in Vidharba region of Maharashtra are committing suicide. My reply has been that it is not so. Farmers all over the country are in crisis and many are committing suicide. It is only that the NGOs working on agricultural issues in that particular region have not been keeping a count of the spate of farm suicides. In the absence of any compilation of the data about suicides that is locally available, the national media does not get to focus on the farm tragedy

A march from Cherthala in Kerala to Imphal, capital of Manipur, will begin on April 16. It is being organized by social activists of Kerala in solidarity with Irom Sharmila, whose fast demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is in the tenth year

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police in two areas of occupied East Jerusalem after Palestinian groups called for a "day of rage" over the reopening of a synagogue in the Old City. At least 90 people were wounded in the clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with around 15 people seriously hurt by rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas inhalation and some beaten by Israeli police

With still less than 50 percent of the votes counted in the March 7 election in Iraq, initial reports indicate that none of the major political coalitions has won an outright majority in the parliament. Instead, the election has underscored the extent of the ethno-communal divisions that the US occupation has fomented and exploited to control the country

Besides Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq, UN Human Rights Council said the CIA runs scores of offshore secret prisons in over 66 countries worldwide for dissidents and alleged terrorists - in Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Thailand, Diego Garcia, and elsewhere

Since 1966 – and as a consequence of the introduction of the Green Revolution model of water-intensive, chemical farming – India has over-exploited her groundwater, creating a water famine

Recent articles in the mainstream media would have us believe that governments around the world somehow question the factuality of the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides committed by Turkey. These articles would also have us believe that the Turkish government’s latest temper tantrums over these genocides are justified. The issue has never been about whether the Turkish regime carried out genocide. Rather, it has always been about when Turkey would be punished and deliver reparations and restitution to the rightful, indigenous inhabitants

The Israeli government, its brutal war crimes in Gaza exposed in detail in the U.N. report by Justice Richard Goldstone, has implemented a series of draconian measures to silence and discredit dissidents, leading intellectuals and human rights organizations inside and outside Israel that are accused-often falsely-of assisting Goldstone's U.N. investigators

The Government of Israel has insulted the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, one of the greatest “friends” of Israel (meaning: somebody totally subservient to AIPAC) and spat in the face of President Barack Obama. So what? It’s all a matter of timing

There are two definitions of anti-Semitism in its Jewish context. One was born in real history and represents a truth. The other is part and parcel of Zionist mythology and was invented for the purpose of blackmailing non-Jewish Europeans and North Americans into refraining from criticising Israel or, to be more precise, staying silent when its leaders resort to state terrorism and demonstrate in many ways their absolute contempt for international law

Maidhc Ó Cathail presents a detailed 20 question quiz with answers at the end. This quiz clarifies many points about the Iraq War

1,000 days into the Israeli blockade and Palestinian youngsters are denied medical help, education and any hope of a decent future

For 1,000 days, one Palestinian has died every other day as result of having no access to need medical care - 500 in total since the beginning of the siege, according the Palestinian Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza

Could the cry of “Maoist terrorists” be the Congress led UPA governmet’s equivalent of the cry of “Islamic terrorists” during the BJP led NDA government? — asks PK Vijayan

Now we have the interesting case of the hungry pharmacist, Roland 'Buzz' Roy. He lived 67 years as a law abiding citizen but then on February 6, 2010 he walked across the border to the pizza shop. Yep, you guessed it. He was frisked, handcuffed, and fined. Early reports said that he was fined $5000. That amount has now been reduced to $500. That's a lot to pay for a pizza - even a pizza with 'the works', loaded with all of the good stuff

We’ve passed the point of no return, where we can hold on to the naive belief system that the U.S. still has the best system as compared to all the others that have been attempted!

The UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers

I am inclined to the view that after the mid-term elections of a second term, Obama could indeed be the president to do whatever is necessary to bring Zionism to heel in order to best protect America’s own real interests. But the prospects of him winning as second term don’t look very good at the moment

In 1983, there were 50 major corporations dominating the world’s media. By 2002, this had been reduced to nine. Rupert Murdoch says that eventually there will be three, including his own. If we accept this, media and information control will be the same, and we shall all be citizens of a murdochracy

Malalai Joya is an angry woman. She's angry about the war being carried out by the international coalition in her country, Afghanistan, angry about the UN bombs that are killing civilians in their villages, angry about calls for reconciliation with the Taliban and the war lords. "Stop the massacres in my country. Withdraw your foreign troops so we can stop Talibanization," is what the young Afghan deputy tells Western public opinion

The siege on Gaza is tightening as the Egyptian government continues construction of an underground steel wall at the Rafah border with Gaza to block the tunnel trade. The tunnels, which journalist Robert Fisk has described as "the lung through which Gaza breathes," are the only means in which most basic goods like food and medicine reach the besieged population in Gaza. Jody McIntyre spoke with Abu Hanin, a Palestinian laborer from Gaza who works in one of the tunnels at the border with Egypt

Zionism is a real witches' brew of xenophobia, racism, ultra-nationalism, and militarism that places it way outside of a "mere" nationalist context

What a shame that the one movie about the Iraq war that has a chance of being viewed by a large worldwide audience should be so disappointing. According to press reports, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally found a movie about the Iraq war they liked because it is “apolitical.” Actually, “The Hurt Locker” is just the opposite; it’s an endorsement of the politically chauvinistic view that the world is a stage upon which Americans get to deal with their demons no matter the consequence for others

Growing Israeli and settler control has set Jerusalem on the same path as the West Bank's most divided city

Experiencing the Lenten season in Palestine is unique. It carries with it incredible feelings of closeness and concreteness as one visits sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem—the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected. Yet, those feelings of closeness are easily swallowed up by a sense of separation and forsakenness as one considers the current situation

On 25 February, the European Court of Justice ruled that imports manufactured in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank shouldn't benefit from a trade agreement between Israel and the European Union. The ruling follows protests of Israel's export of products from the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to the EU and Switzerland labeled as "Made in Israel." Products labeled as such benefit from favorable import taxes under the EU-Israel Association Agreement of 2000

Children 12 - 15 have been targeted, arrested, detained, and savagely beaten following complaints by Jewish settlers who usually take the law into their own hands using weapons they're allowed to carry

It took no longer than the announcement that Libya would host this year’s Arab League summit in late March for controversy to ensue. One of the League’s 22 member states has already threatened to boycott and, some would say, with good cause. It is the one Arab country in which Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi has not dared set foot for the past 32 years

We not only occupied Iraq, but we have poisoned the soil and made the place uninhabitable because of our use of depleted uranium in our munitions. We can deny that depleted uranium is harmless, but the facts coming in about the deformed babies being born in Iraq says otherwise. We must all come to the conclusion that not only was the invasion of Iraq a crime against humanity, but turning Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia into a radioactive wasteland are even larger crimes against humanity

Will the modern day Neros now in Delhi fiddle away precious time as the country is inching towards disaster one after another? The same kind of handling of investigation by the local police and then the ATS and then the CBI that leads to prolonging the agony of the innocents rubbing their heels away in gruel pain and ad absurdum waiting in prisons across the country. The classic example of Samjhauta express blast 2007investigation has become a kind of archetype pattern

Presentation made by Dr Shabir Choudhry at a Seminar arranged by Interfaith International during 13th Session of the UN Humans Rights Council in Geneva

The tabling of the Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM), popularly called the Ranganath Mishra Commission report, in the Parliament recently has led to animated debates and mobilisations around the issue of reservations for the Muslim community

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