Dear Friend,
On Tuesday Mar 24, prime minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day total lockdown across India to “break the chain” of the coronavirus spread. The lockdown kind of a feeling has been slowly sinking in for most Indians. Many people sensed the oncoming bad times and stocked up on all manner of goods they could lay their hands on, emptying grocery shelves from more than a week ago.
Countries have started hoarding food, threatening global trade. Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest shippers of wheat flour, banned exports of that product along with others including carrots, sugar and potatoes. Serbia has stopped the flow of its sunflower oil and other goods. Russia is leaving the door open to shipment bans and said it’s assessing the situation weekly. To be perfectly clear, there have been just a handful of moves and no sure signs that much more is on the horizon. Still, what has been happening has raised a question: Is this the start of a wave of food
nationalism that will further disrupt supply chains and trade flows?
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Binu Mathew
Editor
Countercurrents.org
Being Kashmir – From Janta Curfew to Total Lockdown
by Aviral Anand
On Tuesday Mar 24, prime minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day total lockdown across India to “break the chain” of the coronavirus spread. The lockdown kind of a feeling has been slowly sinking in for most Indians. Many people sensed the oncoming bad times and stocked up on all
manner of goods they could lay their hands on, emptying grocery shelves from more than a week ago.
In the wake of 21-days lockout, JJM demands immediate expansion of welfare, testing and health services in Jharkhand
Press Release
Jharkhand, like most of India, has woken up late to the COVID-19 pandemic and is yet to provide adequate social security to the people. Although no COVID-19 case has been officially reported in Jharkhand so far, this may be a myth since the state has only one testing centre where only a few dozen samples have been tested, according to local media reports. However, there have been at least three deaths in which the victims came back from Tamil Nadu and Goa recently, and reportedly had symptoms similar to COVID-19
Coronavirus Pandemic: Countries start hoarding food
by Countercurrents Collective
Countries have started hoarding food, threatening global trade. Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest shippers of wheat flour, banned exports of that product along with others including carrots, sugar and potatoes. Serbia has stopped the flow of its sunflower oil and other goods. Russia is leaving the door open to shipment bans and said it’s assessing the situation weekly. To be perfectly clear, there have been just a handful of moves and no sure signs that much more is on the horizon. Still, what has been happening has raised a question: Is this the start of a wave of food nationalism that will further disrupt supply chains and trade flows?
COVID-19: Misinformation, Education And The Need For Clarity
by Hassanal Noor Rashid
The recent explosion of COVID-19 cases in the South East Asian region
has contributed to the globally growing pandemic that has impacted our global social order and may have many dramatic unforeseen consequences to come. It has exposed the fragility of our dynamic inter-connected systems, the lack of adequate response from world leaders in an aggressively deteriorating situation, and perhaps worst of all, the apathy and ignorance of a significant segment of the global population to the severity of the pandemic.
The History of Bioweapons And Why Coronavirus Isn’t One
by Kabir Deb
Everyday more than a million microbes evolve into a new structure. Some we are immune to, others cause outbreak. More people died of diabetes and obesity in all these years than bioweapons. So, they’re investing their poison as food and drinks. They do not need any other weapon to do anything else. Superpowers can crush the economy of third world countries in minutes. So, it
would be a great mistake to think that the strain was used as a bioweapon. To be precise, it won’t be rational by any means.
Coronavirus and the Prison Industrial Complex
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
The legacy of the coronavirus pandemic, at least in so far as responses are concerned, is thickening by the day. Behavioural changes are being urged, language is rapidly evolving (spot the “covidiot” amongst you) and the policy of health surveillance is being pushed. Another field where the virus has triggered interest is the very idea of incarceration. Prison may be a school for crime, but it is also the concentrated incubator for disease and infection.
Corona and Blind Faith
by Dr Mike Ghouse
A strong unquestionable faith drives a small segment of people within every religious group. Facts don’t matter to them, and now, they are
challenging the ban on gatherings to minimize the spread of Corona.
COVID-19 Amid Misplaced Priorities
Co-Written by Mohd. Asif Shah & Ayaz Nabi Malik
We should allocate a strong portion in the annual budgets to enhance and strengthen the Health and Education sectors in terms of the infrastructure and human resource. We should provide adequate protective gears to the doctors and the paramedics who are literally fighting the Covid-19 on the ground zero.
A Planet of Missing Beauties – In Memoriam
by Tom Engelhardt
In truth, in this coronaviral moment of ours, our world is being transformed before our eyes into one of missing beauties. Given my teenage years, I want to leave my grandchildren the pleasure of entering Central Park in some distant May, long after I’m gone, and still seeing the brilliant colors of a scarlet
tanager. That’s my hope, despite everything.
Islamic Economy
by Gulam A Mitha
One thing most highly condemned in the Islamic economy is usury. It is the system condemned by prophet Mohammed who declared it as a war by God against the practice of usury and of usurers. It was also condemned both in the times of prophets Moses and Jesus.
House of Mirrors – Justin Trudeau’s Foreign Policy
by Jim Miles
This is Engler’s eleventh book exposing the down side of Canadian politics. It covers two main themes, the obvious first one is that of Canada’s involvement in the U.S. imperial-hegemonic demands around the world. The second, more domestic, is that the Liberal’s and Conservatives, Canada’s two main parties, are essentially the same thing when it comes to foreign policy.
Am I not good enough?
by Dr Ishani Chakrabartty
Our society never fails to amaze me with its hypocritical nature – but what pains me is that because of this society, I and many girls of my age are starting to question our own qualities/blessings/qualifications and have started introspecting with a simple question, “Am I not good enough??!!”
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