CC Newsletter 31 Dec - WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Dear Friend,

New Year has arrived in some part of the world. This is New Year's eve where I'm sitting. New Year celebrations are going on outside. We are just concluding a very difficult year. COVID took away a lot of our friends and family this year. The war in Afghanistan came to an end and bringing misery to most of Afghans. Wars are going on in other parts of the world. Farmers won a major victory in India after a year long struggle. As the year comes to an end Chile is witnessing a new dawn. I want to thank you all for the great support you extended to CC through the year. Let us go forward and commit to peace and justice. WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Since our annual fundraising appeal went out three weeks ago, we've raised about 70% of the funds needed to continue our operations for another year. However, we've a long way to go to meet our target. We need a lot more people to come forward to support our work. Kindly support CC. You can do so here

https://countercurrents.org/subscription/

If you think the contents of this news letter are 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

Countercurrents.org

Wishing You All a Very Nutritious New Year!

by Satya Sagar

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/wishing-you-all-a-very-nutritious-new-year/

Am I claiming that what my proposal is going to be more radical and impactful than what India’s greatest philosophers and social reformers – from the Buddha to Gandhi – had to recommend? Yes, of course.

45 Journalists Killed In 2021, Violence Against Journalists Remains Global Challenge: IPI Death Watch

by Anne ter Rele

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/45-journalists-killed-in-2021-violence-against-journalists-remains-global-challenge-ipi-death-watch/

In 2021, a total of 45 journalists were killed in connection with their work, IPI research revealed on December 29, 2021. The sombre tally reflects the continued risks of doing journalism and reaffirms journalist safety as a global challenge. International Press Institute (IPI) calls on authorities to end impunity for these crimes and to ensure the protection of journalists, who must be able to do their work freely and safely.

Speaking Out!

by Nilofar Suhrawardy

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/speaking-out/

So what if I am a Muslim, a woman, a brown hailing from a Third World country and professionally a journalist. Why should I fear any government, politician or just any group/leader and choose not to voice my stand on issues which concern me? And this includes key power-holders in major democracies as well as select groups patronizing

them and being supported by them. I retain my right as an individual and expect to be considered as one rather than be viewed through lenses tainted by any discriminatory bias!

Hindutva is closer to Thuggees than Hinduism

by Syed Ali Mujtaba

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/hindutva-is-closer-to-thuggees-than-hinduism/

The fresh debate on Thuggee has sprung up because of religiosity and murder, the twin features of the murderous cult were quite explicit at the ‘Dharam Sansad’ at Haridwar. The Hindu meeting gave a clear indication that the cult of Thuggee has resurrection in a new avatar in India.

How A Boy Called Christmas converted me to the politics of greed

by Jonathan Cook

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/how-a-boy-called-christmas-converted-me-to-the-politics-of-greed/

A Boy Called Christmas goes one step further than this. It also celebrates to a quite alarming degree – at least, if you are not too seduced by its humour and enchanting story line to

notice – the ideological corruption not only of Father Christmas’ world but of ours too. It glorifies the politics of deception, of class war, of a naked, brutal capitalism that has successfully subverted the struggle for justice and equality. And in achieving all this through the wonder of Christmas, it underscores how powerful this type of propaganda is, even for adults.

Conversation with Dr.Prem Singh on UP elections

by Rajesh Kumar

https://countercurrents.org/2021/12/conversation-with-dr-prem-singh-on-up-elections/

Dr. Prem Singh, a prolific and multidisciplinary writer and former President of the Socialist Party (India), was in Lucknow on personal work in the last week of November 2021. Rajesh Kumar called him up and asked him some questions about the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. The details of that long telephonic conversation with him are given below. (This is an English version of the original Hindi interview

CC News Letter 13 July - The Number of Hungry People Continued to Rise in 2020

 

Dear Friend,

The number of people in the world affected by hunger continued to increase in 2020 under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the annual UN report – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – published on Monday. According to the report, “Even in Northern America and Europe, where the lowest rates of food insecurity are found, the prevalence of food insecurity increased for the first time since the beginning of Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) data collection in 2014.”

Kindly support honest journalism to survive. https://countercurrents.org/subscription/

If you think the contents of this news letter are 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

Countercurrents.org

Under the Shadow of the Pandemic: The Number of Hungry People Continued to Rise in 2020

in World — by Countercurrents Collective

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/under-the-shadow-of-the-pandemic-the-number-of-hungry-people-continued-to-rise-in-2020/

The number of people in the world affected by hunger continued to increase in 2020 under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, says the annual UN report – The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – published on Monday. According to the report, “Even in Northern America and Europe, where the lowest rates of food insecurity are found, the prevalence of food insecurity increased for the first time since the beginning of Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) data collection in 2014.”

On the Brink in 2026: U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

by Michael T Klare

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/on-the-brink-in-2026-u-s-china-near-war-status-report/

Americans face an existential choice: Do we stand aside

and allow the “fast-growing consensus” Sanders speaks of to shape national policy, while abandoning any hope of genuine progress on climate change or those other perils? Alternately, do we begin trying to exert pressure on Washington to adopt a more balanced relationship with China, one that would place at least as much emphasis on cooperation as on confrontation. If we fail at this, be prepared in 2026 or soon thereafter for the imminent onset of a catastrophic (possibly even nuclear) U.S.-China war.

The Farm Sector On A Trencher

by T G Jacob

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/the-farm-sector-on-a-trencher/

A deep dive into India's farming crisis and the three controversial farm laws

Drinking Coffee in the Early Morning Rain and Thinking of Donald Rumsfeld

by Edward Curtin

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/drinking-coffee-in-the-early-morning-rain-and-thinking-of-donald-rumsfeld/

I can no longer hear the rain because my mind is filled with the loud thought of

what Rumsfeld thought as he lay dying.    Was he sorry?  Did he believe in God or was his god Mars, the Roman god of war?  Did he smile a bloody smile or say he was sorry and beg for forgiveness from all his innocent victims?  Did he see the faces of the children of Iraq that he slaughtered?  Or did he pull an Eichmann and say, “I will leap into my grave laughing”?

Hindutva and Culture

by Hiren Gohain

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/hindutva-and-culture/

The storms of social upheavals and cultural challenges provoked an urgent repressive response  legitimized by a label of higher culture That has been provided by ‘cultural nationalism’ which seeks to leap over and erase the memory of mutual tolerance, acceptance and exchange lasting centuries since medieval times. The somersault has been considerably eased by the vacuity that Late Capitalist consumerism has insinuated into modern urban life of the middle-class. Unless we recognize the real nature and function of this

‘culture’ clearly, we can hardly hope to confront and combat its mesmeric-looking power. The vision of national liberation that held out hopes of freedom and equality in unity without suppressing concrete diversity may end otherwise in a parching desert of forcible and devitalizing automatism enforced by institutionalized violence.

No room for Dissent

by Shantanu Dutta

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/no-room-for-dissent/

The many arrests under draconian laws of numerous non violent activists in the last two decades with unproven and sometimes court dismissed allegations of links to anarchist forces – terrorists , Maoists, underground  elements – the nomenclature may vary has been sounding a death kneel to non violent dissent. In that sense , not much has changed since independence.

Australia’s Hermit Nation Strategy Unravels

by Dr Binoy Kampmark

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/australias-hermit-nation-strategy-unravels/

The country stood as “a warning

to other nations, not least neighbouring New Zealand, that a fortress approach to the virus cannot succeed in the absence of an effective vaccine program.”  The hermit approach is not only looking foolish but dangerous.

Imperialist Aggressions Against The Cuban Revolution

by Yanis Iqbal

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/imperialist-aggressions-against-the-cuban-revolution/

Since June 11, 2021, protests have been taking place in Cuba. USA’s imperialist Mafiosos have laid their vulturine eyes on these events, sensationalizing the demonstrations as evidences of the Cuban people’s disillusionment with their revolutionary government.

Rise in Lightning Deaths Points to Need for Better Protection Efforts

by Bharat Dogra

https://countercurrents.org/2021/07/rise-in-lightening-deaths-points-to-need-for-better-protection-efforts/

More than 70 people died from lightning strikes on a single day July 12 2021 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This is

not an isolated case but reflects an overall rising trend in lightning incidents and mortality. On June 7 in West Bengal 27 lightning deaths were reported.