Dear Friend,
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation. The court ruling will have major consequences for both past and future criminal and civil cases in the U.S.
Sharjeel Usmani, another Muslim student leader has been arrested
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About half of Oklahoma is Native American land, rules U.S. Supreme Court
by Countercurrents Collective
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that about half of the land in Oklahoma is within a Native American reservation. The court ruling will have major consequences for both past and future criminal and civil cases in the U.S.
The Hypocrisies of Recognition: The Supreme Court, Native Americans and the McGirt Case
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
The decision of McGirt masks the crude realities of institutional, colonial violence. It perpetuates an illusion, a discredited understanding between Native American nations and the US federal government. That was the lingering “promise”, as Gorsuch claims, “[o]n the far end of the Trail of Tears”, one that was never kept. Chief Justice Roberts was very much on to it. In letting the cat out of the bag on
Native American-Indian relations, he suggested that Congress had acted in a manner entirely inconsistent with preserving any semblance of Creek sovereignty. We are left with the Native American Indian in confused legal dress, trampled, abused, deceived by history but with only a symbolic heartbeat.
Sharjeel Usmani, another Muslim student leader, falls victim to Hindutva State
by Dr Abhay Kumar
It is widely perceived that the crackdown on Usmani and other Muslim youths is an attempt to nip in the bud the emerging leadership among the Muslim community. By repeated use of brute force the larger Hindutva design is to keep the largest minority of the country terrorized.
Fetishising ‘The Number’: How Not To Govern Pandemics, Climate and Biodiversity
by Mike Hulme
As the pandemic continues to dominate public politics around the world, a single number – the reproduction rate (R) – has become the focus of policy-making and public communication. Keeping R below 1.0 appears to be the primary objective of public health policy. In the case of climate change the number 2°C (or 1.5°C) operates in a similar way. And there is a recent proposal to create a single number by which to direct biodiversity policy – less than ‘20’ species extinctions per year. Governing complex phenomena through managing a single number is alluring. But as these three cases all show, it is misguided – and also dangerous.
As the pandemic continues to dominate public politics around the world, a single number – the reproduction rate (R) – has become the focus of policy-making and public communication. Keeping R below 1.0 appears to be the primary objective of public health policy. In the case of climate change the number 2°C (or 1.5°C) operates in a similar way. And there is a recent proposal to create a single number by which to direct biodiversity policy – less than ‘20’ species extinctions per year. Governing complex phenomena through managing a single number is alluring. But as these three cases all show, it is misguided – and also dangerous.
The Allure of ‘The Number’
Climate politics have long been dominated by numbers: per capita emissions rates, global warming potentials, atmospheric concentration of CO2, global temperature. Over the last decade, policy-making around climate change has increasingly been directed by the number ‘2’ – limiting global temperature rise to no more than 2°C above the nineteenth century baseline.
Two degrees – ‘The Number’ – has gained extraordinary power in the science, politics and public discourse of climate change. Diplomats negotiate and campaigners protest around The Number, which also fixes the size of the carbon budget and, by extrapolation, the target date for net-zero emissions. This obsessive focus on The Number risk the dangers of climatism.
The ‘success’ of The Number for governing climate change has recently prompted Mark Rounsevell and colleagues to propose a “single 2°C-like target” for governing biodiversity. In their case The Number is proposed to be 20 – the maximum average annual allowable rate of species extinction over the next century. According to a recent Nature editorial, the justification for their proposal is to “break nearly two decades of failure” in global biodiversity governance,
In the case of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, The Number is a reproduction rate (R) of 1.0. R is a measure of the spread of infection in a population, but is a number which can only ever be imprecisely estimated and whose calculation rests on many assumptions. As David Adam has recently argued, fascination with R has turned into “unhealthy political and media fixation”.
The defence of The Number for public policy-making – whether climate change, biodiversity loss or a pandemic – is that it offers a simple, clear focus for political rhetoric and public communication. Indeed, Rounsevell and colleagues are explicit about this. The Number, they say, must be “easy to measure and communicate” and is intended to “galvanize both political will and public support”. This is why we have seen Boris Johnson repeatedly scrutinising and communicating R to set and defend the UK’s pandemic policies.
Why Single Numbers Lead To Bad Policies
In his book Fetishism and the Imagination, literary scholar David Simpson explains that fetishism occurs when the mind “ceases to realise that it has itself created the outward images or things to which subsequently it posits itself as in some sort of subservient relation”. Put more simply, a fetish is any created object or activity to which one becomes excessively or irrationally devoted.
The Number easily becomes a fetish. 2°C is already a fetish, in that it exerts excessive power over our imagination of the climatic future and is allowed to direct our policy-making. R is in danger of becoming a fetish in that all policies have to be justified or attacked according to whether they decease or increase R below or above 1.0. And if 20 is adopted as The Number for biodiversity management, I suggest that it too would quickly become a fetish by directing the conservation policy gaze solely in this direction.
Or if not a fetish, then The Number becomes a monster. Thus David Adam quotes Mark Woolhouse, an infectious diseases expert at University of Edinburgh, “We’re concerned that we’ve created a monster. R does not tell us what we need to know to manage this [pandemic].”
The problem with governing by The Number, as explained by Jerry Muller in The Tyranny of Metrics, is that it encourages goal displacement. Goal displacement occurs when attention becomes focused on hitting The Number, instead of attending to a wider range of more important public policy goals that are either not measured or not valorised.
In the case of climate change, The Number leads to a narrowing of policy horizons – limiting global temperature becomes the sine qua non of climate policy – whilst also opening the door to the Promethean hubris of solar geoengineering. The Number obscures the real reasons why we are concerned about climate change in the first place, for example people either dying or left without livelihoods because of climatic hazards or the ecosystems being damaged. The Number becomes the end or is assumed to be the only means of achieving multiple ends.
With regards to biodiversity I believe similar dangers await if Rounsevell and colleagues’ proposal is adopted. There are many other desirable outcomes of conservation and land use policy that are entirely missed by The Number 20, for example maintaining ecosystem functionality and sharing the benefits of biodiversity equitably.
And we are seeing in real-time the distortions in public health policy caused by fetishising R. As Adam again observes, “Too much attention to [R] could obscure the importance of other measures, such as trends in numbers of new infections, deaths and hospital admissions, and cohort surveys to see how many people in a population currently have the disease, or have already had it.”
Drawing the sting of climate change will not be achieved by limiting global temperature to 2°C. Minimising the total social burden of a pandemic will not be achieved by suppressing R to below 1.0. Effective conservation management cannot be delivered by simply limiting the annualised extinction rate below 20.
Why Good Policies Need Multiple Numbers
So if fetishising The Number leads to bad policies what do good policies need? They need multiple goals that recognise the diversity of the social and environmental goods and values that are threatened by the three scourges of pandemics, climate change and biodiversity loss. A multiplicity of policy objectives are needed. And they should be crafted so that they are deliberately incommensurable. They must not be collapsible to The Number.
Other indicators for climate governance have been proposed other than 2°C, for example ocean heat content, rates of energy decarbonisation, atmospheric CO2 concentration, global sea-level rise. Even better for climate would be foregrounding the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, for the reasons explained here.
In the case of the pandemic, it is essential to recognise those aspects of disease transmission that are not captured by R. These include local and regional variations in transmissions, the absolute numbers of potential spreaders, the nature and location of superspreaders.
Public health policy needs to focus on other numbers that have significant bearing on the total health burden and that can counter the magnetic pull of The Number. These would include, for example, cancer treatment rates, referrals to mental health services, unemployment rates, child-days of education lost … all being indicators which are heading in the wrong direction even while the focus is on controlling R.
One shouldn’t govern a pandemic through the reproduction rate, just as one should not govern climate change through global temperature nor biodiversity and ecosystem services through extinction rates. 1.0, 2°C and 20 are alluring numbers for politicians because of their simplicity.
But they are dangerous because they reduce the complex world to a single number. They point only in one direction.
Far better is to assert multiple goals – reflected in multiple numbers – which cultivates governance for clumsy solutions. We inhabit a plural, diverse world where scientific knowledge is always incomplete and revisionable. It is reflexive governance that is needed, guided by multiple and adaptive goals, rather than precision governance directed by The Number.
The best way of avoiding the dominant power of a fetish is to not grant it power over one’s imagination in the first place. Rounsevell and colleagues’ quest to create The Number for biodiversity management should be abandoned before it begins.
Mike Hulme, University of Cambridge
It’s the economy, stupid! Or is it the stupid economy?
by Collective 20
We can simply let life return to ‘normal’, face the misery
and suffering of the anticipated economic depression, and allow the ruling elites and their political servants to define the economy. Or we can use this crisis to define a new economy that showcases alternatives and proves they’re not only possible but necessary. The choice can be ours. So, which will it be?
According to statistics from the World Health Organisation, the number of coronavirus cases being reported worldwide remains significant. For example, in the 24-hours between 9th and 10th July, over 200,000 new cases and 5,575 deaths were reported globally with the highest occurrences in the US, Brazil and India, followed closely by large swathes of Asia, the Middle East and South America. It does not feel as though we are clear of this pandemic. If anything, the virus is very much with us and we have no vaccine or any licenced drug for its treatment.
But whether these figures warrant more caution and extended lockdown conditions, pressure is being exerted to prevent that where possible. The message in most countries—those that imposed lockdowns at any rate— has morphed from one that warned us to stay at home and save lives into one that insists we are in ‘the new normal’ and we need to get back to work.
So while scientific advisers talk of lifting measures gradually to monitor the spread of the virus, of two metres being the safe distance to avoid contracting the virus, of the virus remaining deadly and infectious, restrictions are being lifted, and quickly too, not at all in the gradual, cautious way that was promised initially. The move out of lockdown is not so much phased as frenzied.
So what changed? How did we get from being locked in our homes to ‘the new normal’, and at such speed? Maybe the more pertinent question is why lockdown happened in the first place, allowing, as it did, the unprecedented slowing down of the capitalist machine. The most obvious answer is that the wildfire spread of coronavirus across the planet posed a danger to everybody, ruling elites included, and not just the great unwashed. But back to the original question of what changed? If the virus is still a risk, if it is still sans-vaccine, why are we being told we can emerge from our cocoons?
In part, the answer lies with our own desire to emerge. Humans are a social species and we do not only want, but need, interaction and social contact for our physical and mental wellbeing. “Hell is other people” but a life without other people, without love or being loved, is a greater hell. Indefinite lockdown is hardly ideal so the majority of us may want to hear it is ending, too soon or not.
However, the popular ambition to put the pandemic behind us does not explain why governments are intent on pushing ahead and easing lockdown measures. The fact is, the message has overtly shifted from being about public health to being about the economy, and protecting further damage to the economy is taking primacy over protecting human life. The factors driving decisions now are largely economic, in the modern definition of the economy as one centred on GDP and profits instead of one centred on the wellbeing of the population.
So, you get a situation where political leaders are trying to rationalise why social distancing is being reduced from the very safe two metres to the much less safe one metre; and why it is perfectly reasonable to reopen non-essential shops, bars and beauty salons, schools and crèches, but not to visit family and friends in their own homes. The logic is we can go shopping, eat out and in some cases go to work, but for our own good, movement between households must remain restricted. Household restrictions are explained in terms of ‘bubbles’. People in a single household are in a bubble; they can pick one other household bubble to merge with to become a larger bubble thus allowing the people from both bubbles to visit each other indoors. Confusing? Nonsense? Why not forget about bubbles altogether and arrange to meet whoever you want when you are out at the shops or getting your haircut?
On the upside, it is a source of amusement watching the semantic gymnastics of politicians as they tell us why these are sound decisions based on the medical evidence. Undoubtedly, as confined spaces, our houses are somewhat more prone to the spread of the virus. But are we really expected to believe that a bar or a shop full of strangers with a one metre distancing rule is any safer? The reality is, the visits we make to each other’s homes have no economic value so can remain restricted. On the other hand, opening up the retail and hospitality sectors and the means for parents to return to work have a lot of economic value. Of course, no politician can come clean about that so instead they are cartwheeling, forward rolling and hand-standing their way through press conferences.
Talking of the press and the mainstream media—those cheerleaders for the status quo who speak on our behalf and know better how we feel and think than we do ourselves—they have jumped ship when it comes to the lockdown or the threat of the virus. Their focus is all on the economy and their message is: the pandemic has destroyed state economies, national debts have reached eye-watering levels, we must crank up the economic machine and get it working again at any cost.
Not to be accused of spewing negativity, the media balances the economic misery with a little light fun, bringing us reports from the high streets: shops opening for business; hordes of happy punters desperate for some retail therapy; even happier shop assistants unable to contain their delight at being back at work—work that is probably a zero-hours’ contract on minimum wage with lousy conditions; or the hour-long queues at drive-throughs at McDonalds. The media tells us isn’t it wonderful to see some normality, we got through the lockdown and we were in it together but we are out the other end, and surely, obviously, without a doubt, this is what we want.
The behaviour of the media and the politicians is to be expected and is hardly a disappointment. What is disappointing though, and massively so, is that this global trauma has changed nothing and it is entirely assumed that in re-emerging, we are going to pick up where we left off in serving the needs of capitalism. In many ways, that is worse than the dodgy sprint out of lockdown. And although we might find that pockets of society will be forced back into lockdown to deal with spikes and further waves of the virus, the trend is to reboot the pre-COVID economy, with few, if any, countries considering alternatives to ‘normal’ or how we might do things differently.
But doing things differently is what is desperately needed. Life-before-COVID was hell for billions of us with gross income and wealth inequalities, especially in the global south; austerity, public sector cuts and the drive towards privatisation; low-paid, casualised employment for many and no employment at all for many more; homelessness and housing precarity; debt, poverty and food banks. And do not forget the climate emergency, the destruction of our natural habitats and pollution of our soil, water and air. That is the world we are being told we cannot wait to get back to.
The lockdown was tough but that is not the entire lockdown story
Granted, the lockdown was tough for most people, those having to self-isolate and miss out on support from family and friends, those who lost jobs or businesses, those with chronic health problems who could not get their normal care, those with no access to outdoor space. In those respects, the end of the lockdown is good news.
But that is not the entire lockdown story. It also gave us the tiniest glimpse of another life, another way of being.
A sense of community developed in the vast majority of places and people looked out for each other—the Walking Dead it was not. We discovered the real meaning of an essential worker. Not a corporate executive or a big league football player or a celebrity or a billionaire mogul. But the doctors and nurses and carers, the engineers operating vital infrastructure, the food growers and suppliers, the delivery and postal workers, the waste collectors; these and others who put themselves at risk during the crisis to protect their communities and provide critical services. Consider the pay for the majority of these folks and then ask yourself, what kind of wacky system rewards the most important work with the lowest pay and worst working conditions, while non-essential work reaps the highest financial rewards? Somehow it seems unfair that people do not get rewarded according to the contribution their work makes to society.
And in lockdown, we consumed less. Restrictions were put in place regarding how many of each item we could buy at one time and which items became available for sale. The idea in capitalism that if you have the money and you want it, you should go ahead and buy it; you’re worth it. Conspicuous consumption had no place during the pandemic. This is in no way to suggest that authoritarian measures of rationing should be introduced but certainly, it was an example of much more modest consumption practices and it did none of us any harm.
We travelled less too. With more people working from home and generally making fewer journeys, travel by private and public transport was vastly reduced. The daily commute disappeared for many of us—is there anybody alive who was sorry about that? Restrictions were placed on public transport and global airline flights pretty much halved. The reduced travel had some happy side effects. The government-subsidised fossil fuel industry saw global oil prices and consumption both plummet. Our skies were cleaner and clearer due to a reduction in carbon emissions—the reduction was not enough on its own to trigger any reversal in global warming but it demonstrated the usefulness of reducing carbon-fuelled travel.
These positives of lockdown are disappearing, unfortunately, as lockdown itself disappears. It is time to get back to reality, to fulfilling our purpose here on earth: serving capitalism. As responsible citizens, it is incumbent on us to spend and over-consume our way to economic recovery. We are leaving our homes, the roads are busy again, and the airlines are chomping at the bit for a return to pre-lockdown flights as countries begin to open their borders and resuscitate tourism.
However, this reactivation is not going to be enough for capitalism. We will be made to pay the price for slowing it down. The forecasts are unequivocal about what is coming down the pike: colossal job losses, savage public sector cuts, income tax increases for low and middle earners, wrapped up in the mother of all recessions.
But why does it have to be like this? Why should we accept the single option of capitalism and the punishment it is going to bring on us and the planet? Are we really supposed to believe that despite millennia of ingenuity and creativity, this is the best the human race can come up with?
Capitalism favours a minority that makes up about 1% of the global population, and it is in the short-term interests of these elites that life-after-COVID must go back to the status quo. They will do everything in their power—their very substantial power—to make sure that happens.
The question is, are we going to let them? What if we decided to resist and instead demand another way? We have the power of numbers on our side after all—maybe the only resource we have more of. We already know what the alternatives to the status quo are. We have them waiting and ready to go. We could achieve something extraordinary if we came together and united under this common cause.
For most of the time, we are divided, black versus white, man versus woman, young versus old, gay versus straight, immigrant versus non-immigrant, working class versus professional-managerial class. Of course, these divisions are understandable and the deadly oppression that lies at their core is real. It must be opposed and destroyed. But ultimately, our biggest enemy is not each other but the 1% that wants to keep us subservient and subjugated. And ultimately, our distinct struggles against oppression will never reach an end as long as that minority remains in control.
If there is anything that gives the ruling elites sleepless nights, it is their fear that the masses will unite in mutual support. What if we were to do that? Not abandon our individual struggles but remain distinct while showing solidarity for each other across struggles and collaborating where we see shared goals.
And if we did, how then would we avoid these disasters of colossal job losses, savage public sector cuts and income tax increases wrapped up in the mother of all recessions?
A global recession only needs to happen if we want to keep capitalism intact and ensure the 1% maintains ideological control and amasses huge profits at the expense of everybody else and the planet. We are being prepared to expect this recession just so they can recover anything they might have lost, just so they can make money out of disaster.
We have everything we need to create a different world
We could decide instead not to go back to capitalism. We could decide to reorganise the economy on the principles of prioritising the wellbeing of people and of the planet; of sharing resources so that everybody has enough; of conducting production and consumption based on sane and humane need.
Beyond the straightjacket of capitalism, we have everything we need to create a different world. The means and the resources, at a global level, are readily available to provide material needs such as food, shelter, healthcare and education for every single person on the planet and to do so in a way that is environmentally sustainable and recognises the true social cost of goods. People are hungry or homeless or go without adequate education and healthcare not because there is not enough but because the capitalist economy dictates that there be haves and have nots.
We have ample renewable energy sources to meet our global energy needs without destroying the planet. The move to renewable energy will require us to make use of a mix of sources combined with greater energy efficiency and modest, not excessive, energy consumption, but all of that is entirely achievable. Our deadly dependence on fossil fuels is not because there is no other choice but because under capitalism the fossil fuel industry has the economic and legislative power to ensure their interests come first.
The task of making the transition to a low-carbon society is enormous. It is going to require transformation from carbon-intensive industries to low-carbon counterparts. It is going to require the creation of millions of new jobs worldwide and instead of job shortages there will be an abundance of work. The new jobs will be purposeful and could be provided within the context of worker-owned co-ops that are not profit-driven and that base income on how long and hard people usefully work and on the extent of harsh conditions they must endure.
Alongside these new working environments, the not-for-profit approach would make space for other socially beneficial interventions to be introduced such as a reduced working week; increased time for volunteering, caring responsibilities, self-development and leisure and creative pursuits; affordable and secure tenure of housing with no threat of evictions; a Universal Basic Income for all with additional money for those who cannot work due to health and other reasons; and universal basic services such as healthcare and education. In capitalism, people are unemployed or working in precarious jobs with low pay and Dickensian conditions not because there is no work or the money is not there to give better pay or better conditions but because providing those things would divert money away from profits.
Any discussion of transitioning to a ‘green’ society invariably leads to talk of job losses as the ruling elites propagate threats about the catastrophe such transition will bring, the millions of men and women in the old industries who will be out of work. Politicians who dare to support the transition are vilified as supporting mass unemployment.
Of course, these are just straw man arguments used by the elites to protect themselves, not jobs. They do not care about jobs. If they did, they would not take production to other countries in pursuit of cheaper labour. The truth is, far from being out of work, the workers displaced from the old industries will be desperately needed in the new for their abilities and creativity, whether that means retraining or using their existing skills. Only, if we do it right, in the new industries they will be better off because they will be worker-owners availing of better working conditions, pay and universal services, and providing value to their communities and wider society.
We already have economic models that would allow us to do all of this and more. We could apply the steady-state model which would get us away from the neoliberal obsession with continuous growth and GDP as a measure of economic health. And there is participatory socialism which would allow us to produce and consume using the yardstick of living within our means, attaining equitable income for all, and giving workers truly democratic, self-managing workplaces.
But what about the monstrous deficits that countries have racked up over the pandemic months, countries that were drowning in debt long before coronavirus struck? Governments constantly tell their citizens that paying off the deficit must be the priority and that, evidently, the only way to do so is to reduce public spending by privatising and cutting public services and increasing income tax for ordinary workers. They repeat this message so often that they have us convinced there are no other options. Such thinking takes us back to the assumption that at all costs, we must maintain economic structures as they have been, when actually nothing could be further from the truth.
For instance, one well-kept secret is that government debt is not like household debt where we get into financial trouble if we spend more than we earn. A budget deficit in itself should not be a problem, neither should government spending. The same can be said for budgets at state and regional levels. If they wish, they can have extremely high deficits without causing any economic harm, and government spending is beneficial to society, especially in times of recession.
Another largely hidden measure that governments have at their disposal is Quantitative easing (QE). In very simple terms, QE is a policy whereby a central bank—or the Federal Reserve in the US—generates new money by buying financial assets from commercial banks and financial institutions, thus increasing the money supply which in turn is supposed to stimulate the economy.
QE has been widely used across the world since the 2008 financial crisis. In the US for example, QE programmes have amounted to around $3 trillion. In Britain they sit at £375 billion. Unfortunately, instead of that money being invested in the real economy at regional and state level to boost productive businesses and industries and create jobs, it found its way into financial markets, ironically giving money to the very mechanisms that caused the crash in the first place and probably setting the scene for another crash yet to come. The UK and the US launched further QE programmes during the coronavirus pandemic, £100 billion and $700 billion respectively. History is repeating itself as once more, QE money is going to all the wrong places and is being used to bailout the usual corporate suspects and big polluters such as airlines and oil and gas companies.
QE in itself is not a bad idea. It goes wrong because the additional money is not getting to the real economy. Proposals from many quarters are calling for QE for the People or a Green QE where the money would actually reach the economy that ordinary folks live in. The potential such an injection of money would have on regional and state economies is profound. Used in conjunction with public- or community-owned banks, low or no interest loans could be given to local businesses and co-operatives that provide essential goods and services, all in a way that protects the environment.
Taxation is another reasonable source of revenue for governments. But why, when a government is looking to raise more revenue, is it always the income taxes of low and middle earners or the sales and value-added taxes that have to increase? At the same time, governments give tax breaks and incentives to the wealthy and turn a blind eye to their tax avoidance and evasion activities—because, it is argued, they are the wealth generators and need complete freedom to do what they do best; and also because they buy and sell what they like, including politicians.
For once though, why not make the wealthy pay? The international Tax Justice Network estimates that around $21-32 trillion of financial assets are stashed away in tax havens around the globe. By clamping down on tax havens using mechanisms such as unitary taxation, governments across the world could recoup the $trillions owed to them and their citizens. Taxes could be increased too, though not for the low and middle earners this time, but for the corporations and the wealthy, to create a progressive taxation system. Of course, ending government subsidies to carbon-intensive industries such as fossil fuel, automobile and nuclear, would be imperative. Global spending on fossil fuel subsidies alone is in the region of $800bn annually. Not loose change by any means and it could be usefully diverted to more sustainable and environmentally-sound activities.
Framing budget deficits as the problem and diverting money away from ordinary people and public services as the solutions is a carefully crafted distraction. The real dangers for governments are inflation and deflation, and these can both be controlled in a number of ways: by keeping a check on the financial economy; by investing in the real and green economy; by ensuring a sustainable tax base; and ultimately by managing how much money goes into circulation.
Use this crisis to define a new economy
The thing is, as we move out of lockdown and into a post-COVID world, there will be a recovery. If we slip right back into capitalism, that recovery will mean the creation of money for investment in financial markets so that the wealthy can stay wealthy. The new QE programmes are proof that this is already happening. Simultaneously, the rest of us will be forced to endure more decades of austerity and recession, all the while being pushed towards the cliff edge of the climate crisis. We can decide to accept that or we can decide to turn all of it on its head by demanding that the created money is redirected into the alternatives for a greener, kinder world?
None of the progressive ideas presented above are far-fetched pie-in-the-sky. They are backed with robust evidence. More than can be counted are already in place, albeit on a small scale, and countless others have the support of tens of thousands of us through popular campaigns. Left activists are hard at work all over the world whether it be organising action on climate change or anti-neoliberal uprisings; promoting sustainable farming and food growing practices; defying racism, sexism and homophobia; protecting natural habitats and endangered species; supporting the homeless and constructing co-operative housing projects; establishing community-owned renewable energy projects, community-owned banks and worker-owned co-operatives; implementing experiments in participatory budgeting; or building networks of solidarity and collaboration.
The pandemic, for all its tragedy, has offered the Left a moment. What we decide to do now is all-important.
We can simply let life return to ‘normal’, face the misery and suffering of the anticipated economic depression, and allow the ruling elites and their political servants to define the economy.
Or we can use this crisis to define a new economy that showcases alternatives and proves they’re not only possible but necessary.
The choice can be ours. So, which will it be?
[Collective 20 is a group of writers located in different places throughout the globe. Some young, some older; some long-time organizers and writers, others just getting started, but all equally dedicated to offering analysis, vision, and strategy useful for winning a vastly better society than we currently endure. The members of Collective 20 hope their contributions concerning social, political, economic, and environmental issues will generate more useful content and better outreach through a collective publication effort as opposed to individuals doing so on their own. Collective 20’s cumulative work can be found at collective20.org, where you can learn more about the group, see an archive of its publications, and comment on its work.]
Caste Atrocities in Tamil Nadu in the wake of Covid-19 Pandemic
by I Aseervatham
https://countercurrents.org/2020/07/caste-atrocities-in-tamil-nadu-in-the-wake-of-covid-19-pandemic/
Here is a report compiled by I Aseervatham of People’s Watch, a Human Rights forum based at Madurai, on atrocities against Dalits in Tamil Nadu during COVID-19 pandemic. He has collated 45 cases until 27 May, 2020
Humanity, which aspires to move to the moon to expand its empire by virtue of its so-called scientific advancement is forced to learn an indelible lesson taught by the virus Covid-19.
The invisible tiny virus has completely overturned our perspectives of high and low; haves and have nots; rich and poor; black and white; male and female; educated and uneducated; owner and labour; urban and rural and so many such discriminations and differences. Indeed, this dreadful virus has no bar!
While the rest of the world has realised this, it is pathetic that caste discriminations in our society is still haunting and the Dalits and untouchables are subject to indiscriminate violence and inhuman atrocities are perpetrated against them day in and day out, despite the spread of the pandemic and the call for the so called social distancing.
The below is a report compiled by Mr.I Aseervatham of People’s Watch, a Human Rights forum based at Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The report was published in Keetru.com, a leading Tamil web portal in tamil on 5th June 2020. The report is rendered in English by Pon.chandran, PUCL, Coimbatore.
IncidenceNo.01:
On 25.03.2020, a sanitary woman worker, was engaged in scavenging near Chozhinganallur at Chennai was forced to work beyond the normal working hours by Caste Hindus. When she refused to oblige, she was abused by the Caste Hindus, referring to her caste origin and humiliated her in public. Police did not take cognisance of the offence, although the said incident was aired in various visual media channels.
Incidentce .02:
On the very same day (i.e., 25.03.2020) in a village named Suryathangal at Thiruvannamalai district ten houses which belonged to the Dalits were razed to the ground using JCB by the Caste Hindus in the village, without any provocation. The Caste Hindus also took away the two wheelers parked outside and bashed those who resisted. Caste Hindus also hurled abusing remarks against all those who resisted and humiliated all of them calling caste names.
A case has been registered at Keezh Vettavalam Police station.
Incidence .03:
On 26.03.2020 at Vizhupuram district at Thiruvennai Nellur as the Dalits in the village were engaged in fishing from a public tank they were forcibly driven away and were subjected to caste humiliation and abuse.
Incidence No.04:
On 28.03.2020 at Thiruchendur taluk of Thoothukudi district in an area named Thopputhurai a Dalit by name Rajadurai was murdered in a broad daylight by some unknown Caste Hindu hooligans.
Incidence No.05:
On 29.03.2020, Thiruvannamaly district, Aarani taluk, at Morappathaangal village a Dalit youth by name Sudhakar was brutally murdered by the Caste Hindus as Sudhakar was in love with Parimala, a non-Dalit.
When this came to the knowledge of Parimala’s father Moorthy, he and Jayakumar, his relative became furious and wanted to put an end to this love and conspired to kill Sudhakar. The two accused for the murder were arrested and remanded for judicial custody at Vellore central jail.
Incidence No.06:
On 30.03.2020 at Adhipakkam village of Ulundhurpettai taluk, Kallakurichi District, a Dalit youth Pandian was electrocuted to death by Venkatachalapathy, a Caste Hindu. Later on it was compromised in the village panchayat meeting and it was concluded that Pandian died when he went for a rabbit hunt and the body was cremated immediately.
IncidenceNo.07:
On 31.03.2020 at Thiruvannamaly District, within the jurisdiction of Chengam Police station, Gauthama Piriyan, a Dalit youth of Thakkavadi village was in conversation with a non-Dalit girl, a friend of his sister, in a Kuppanatham bus stand.
While both were in conversation, Eshwaran, a Caste Hindu police official who passed by, ( without his uniform) spotted Gauthama Piriyan, who was sporting with Ambedkar’s T-shirt was abused in public using caste names.
Further, Piriyan was beaten up and kicked black and blue by Eshwaran the Police in public.
Later, in response to the public outcry and protests by various social organisations, Eshwaran was placed under suspension after a case was filed against him under Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act.
IncidenceNo.08:
On 05.04.2020
Cuddalore District
Natarajan, the President of Korakkavadi Panchayat Union and his brother Sakthivel, indulged in spreading false messages in social media denigrating the Dalit community in the village.
In response to the complaint filed by Mr.Prakash against the two for perpetrating caste atrocities through social media, a case was registered against the two under Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act, 2015.
Incidence No.09:
On 06.04.2020
Pudukottai District
Veppanpatti village
Bharathiraja a Dalit youth was in love with Veeralakshmi a non-Dalit girl and got married eventually.
Infuriated parents of Veeralakshmi threatened Bharathiraja and Veeralakshmi that they would be killed.
A complaint has been lodged in the police station concerned in this regard.
Incidence No.10:
On 11.04.2020 at 11pm
Tiruppur District
Vellakovil municipality
Municipal Commissioner Sasikala trespassed into a Dalit colony at Soriyanginathupalayam and without any notice and bargedinto the kitchen and questioned whether they have cooked beef and abused them by pouring phenol into their cooking vessels.
No action has been taken against the municipal commissioner, invoking the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act.
Incidence No.11:
14.04.2020
Namakkal District
Pilippakuttai
Samathuvapuram housing colony
Anita, a Dalit D/O of Muthusamy went to collect portwater from a public tap.
Noticing this Sarasa, a Caste Hindu lady and her husband staying opposite to Anita yelled at her and abusedher calling caste names and thrashed her questioning her ‘audacity’ to collect the water from the commonpublic tap.
They aggrievedAnita lodged a complaint with Ayilpatti police station.
The police officials registered the complaint belatedly. None has been arrested so far.
Incidence No.12
14.04.2020
Tiruppur District
Tiruppur Corporation carried food packages for the conservancyworkers deliberately in the corporation garbage van.
No action has been taken against the corporation officials despite complaints against them for indulging in distribution of food packets, in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic to the conservancyworkers in the most unhygienic manner with obvious intention to distribute the polluted food and cause health hazards to theDalits.
Incidence No.13:
20.04.2020
Chengalpet District
Cheyyur taluk
Vadapattinam village
Manikandan, a Dalit youth, 20, went to fetch medicines to his sick mother.
When he was on his way to the medical shop, police personnel who was in duty to ensure the curfew, stopped Manikandan on the way and was beaten with PVC pipe assuming that he must be a Dalit. Hearing this a sub-inspector who was on duty joined the other cop and kicked Manikandan indiscriminately and Manikandan fell unconscious.
Later, Manikandan was carried in a Police van and was dumped on the roadside near Vadapattinam village.
When the villagers came to know of the incidencethey took Manikandan for treatment to Chengalpet Government Hospital.
Subsequently, Manikandan’s mother lodged a complaint with the District Superintendent of Police but of no avail.
Incidence No.14:
20.04.2020
Thiruvannamalai District
Keezhpachar dhanda village
Several Dalit families were violently attacked by Caste Hindu goons
Seven Dalits sustained grievous injuries in the above attack and were hospitalised and are undergoing treatment.
Twelve Caste Hindus have been remanded to judicial custody.
The Caste Hindus demanded that the Dalits should eschew their lands to the Caste Hindus and leave the village. The Dalits from the village agreed for this for fear of their lives and accepted to leave the village after the Corona Lockdown is lifted.
Incidence No.15
21.04.2020
Pudukottai District
Karambakudi village
Muruganandham, a Dalit youth was in love with Bhanu Priya of the otherCaste for the last four year and got married.
Hearing this, Bhanu Priya’s relatives ( the Caste Hindus) gathered 15 of them and gheraod Muruganandham and attacked him violently and kidnapped Bhanu Priya.
With the intervention of the police, Bhanu Priya was later freed from the kidnappers.
IncidenceNo.16:
22.04.2020
Dindigul District
Kottaipatti village, near Nilakottai
Tamilselvan, a Dalit youth returned to his village one year after entering into an inter caste marriage.
Having come to know of Tamilselvan’s return to the village the Caste Hindus gathered a mob and attacked violently the Dalit colony ransacking their housing and causing grievous injuries to the Dalits in the colony.
Incidence No.17:
22.04.2020
Salem District
Konagapadi Panchayat Union
The Panchayat Union Amsavalli is a Dalit. Therefore, Mohan a Caste Hindu did not allow her to discharge her duties and prevented her from attending the office. Further abused her calling caste names.
A complaint in this regard is been filed with Tharamangalam police station and the case has been registered.
Incidence 18:
23.04.2020
Virudhunagar District
kannisseri Municipality
R.C.Street Area
The Fake news that 28 Dalits who are residing in the area were affected by Covid19 had deliberately spread by the Municipal Chairperson Jayanthi ( a non-Dalit). Therefore, it was declared by the Municipality that the Dalits shall not draw water from the Public taps.
Despite lodging a complaint against Jayanthi for her discriminatory attitude towards the Dalits, no action has been taken against her so far.
Incidence 19:
On 23.04.2020
Virudhunagar District
Kallakurichi Taluk
ulundhoor Pettai Village.
Reporter Aadhi Suresh working for Velicham TV Channel was brutally attacked as ainst SC/videotaped the vandalisation of Caste Hindus desecration of the portrait of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
The Caste Hindus who vandalised the portrait of Ambedkar and for assaulting Suresh have been booked under Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act.
Incidence 20:
On 24.04.2020
Dindigul District
Village Ayyampatti, near Natham
Devaraj (20) and Hariharan (21), the Dalit youths from the above village went near Srirangampatti.
Rajeshwaran(20) and seven other Caste Hindus mobbed the two Dalit youths and abused them calling Caste names and humiliated them.
A case has been registered at Natham Police Station Against the three accused.
Incidence 21:
On 25.04.2020
Cuddalore District
Chidambaram Taluk
Vadavacheri Village
Natarajan (55, a Dalit from the above Village was brutally murdered and was found on the wayside of Khan Sahib Canal near Ammapettai.
Incidence 22:
27.04.2020
Tirunelveli District
Near Valliyoor,
Vepankad Village
Two Dalit youths from the above Village had come out for work.
Owing to certain prior enmity , Caste Hindus led by Subhash tied the Dalit youths to the road side Electric poles and abused them , physically and mentally.
A case has been registered against them at Koodamkulam Police Station.
Incidence 23:
28.04.2020
Dindigul District
Lingavaadi Village, near Natham.
Balakrishnan, a Dalit from above Village owns a small mango groove.
Subbaiah and fourother Caste Hindus trespassed into the mango groove and started looting the mangoes.
When Balakrishnan resisted their actions he was assaulted and abused.
Natham Police Station has registered a complaint against the accused and arrested them.
Incidence 26:
06.05.2020
District: Erode
Taluk: Andhiyoor
Neruchipatti Panchayat Union
Balan@ Balakrishnan, a Dalit Conservency worker died following chest pain.
The body of the Dalit worker was carried in a Garbage Lorry for burial.
Incidence 27:
Coimbatore District
Advocate Eswaran, a Dalit was staying at his residence near Bharatiyar University.
Manivannan, Inspector of Police, attached to Vadavalli Police Station came to Eswaran’s residence and shouted at him called him to come out of the house.
The moment Eswaran came out of the house Manivannan wielded his Lathi, without any provocation and started charging Eswaran, left and right.and broke Eswaran’s Left hand.
Incidence 28:
07.05.2020
Dust: Madurai
VikravandiTaluk
Aadhanur Area
The Tamil Nadu Government announced the opening of Government Liquor Shops, relaxing the Corona Lockdown.
Consuming liquor from the shop and inebriated condition a few Caste Hindu youth drove into the Dalit area in their two- wheelers threatening the local people. When they were advised to drive slowly as children were playing in the areaAngered by this intervention, the Caste Hindus attacked the Dalits violently causing grievous injuries for four and hurled abuses.
Incidence 29:
07.05.2020
District: Krishnagiri
Hosur Taluk
Village: Thyagaraja Rasanapalli
A Dalit girl Rajeshwari went to a nearby field around 7pm to answer the Nature’s call.
At that time Caste Hindu youths Madhu, Raja and Ramesh spotted Rajeshwariand harassed her sexually and all the three finally raped her together.
Incidence 30:
Dist: Pudukottai
Village: Kadambathur Viduthi
Three Dalit boys, including Manoharan were attacked by a mob of ten Caste Hindus led by Balraj.
A case has been registered at Karambakudi Police Station.
Incidence 31:
07.05.2020
Dist: Madurai
Village: Keelhaulers Marudharai
A group of eight Caste Hindusled by Nalla Maayanattacked Vinod Kumar and three other Dalits and hurled caste abuses against them.
A case has been registered at Usilampatti Nagar Police Station and five of the accused have been arrested.
Incidence 32:
08.05.2020
Dist: Thoothukudi
Village: Udayakulam
Palavesam, a Dalit had Rs.40,000 from Muthuraj, a Caste Hindu five years ago, pledging his house documents.
Thereafter,when Palavesam repaid the loan and asked for the House Documents back.
Infuriated by this Muthuraj murdered Palavesam andPalavesan’sson-in-law Thangaraj, who had gone to meet Muthurajalong with his father-in-law.
A case has been registered at the Police Station concerned.
Incidence :33
08.05.2020
District: Salem
A Dalit. Youth Vishnu Piriyan was at his residence at Omalur Pudhukadai Colony.
As Tamil Nadu Government opened the Liquor shops, relaxing the Corona Lock down, Caste Hindu who got drunk barged into the Dalit Colony with deadly weapons.
Vishnu Piriyan was killed in front of his residence, while several others suffered grievous injuries.
Omalur Police Station has registered referring to the brutal violence and the killing of Vishnu Piriyan.
Incidence 34:
08.05.2020
District: Cuddalore.
Village: Me Mathur.
Panchayat Chair person of N.Pudhur Panchayat Anna Durai led a mob of Caste Hindus and attacked ten Dalits, including a woman Indira and abused without any provocation.
A case has been registered at Vepery Police Station in this regard.
Incidence:36
09.05.2020
District: Vizhuppuram
Village: Thiruvennai Nallur.
A couple of Dalit youths were buying fruits from a fruit shop in the village.
At that time, a few Caste Hindu youths from ThottiKudisaientered into an argument with the Shop Owner and the Dalit Youths demanding that they should be attended by the Shop Owner, in priority.
Incidence: 37
09.05.2020
District: Vizhuppuramacross
Village : Melamangalam
A Coronapreventive fence was constructed by the Caste Hindusacross the Dalit Colony.
Thus the Dalits were prevented from going out of the colony to get their essentials from the market.
When the Dalits questioned this, they were attacked and abused by the Caste Hindus.
Incidence: 38
09.05.2020
District :Namakkal
Village : Vagarampatti
Sasikumar, a Dalit Law Studentwas on morning walk, when some Caste Hindus led by Gopinath camein two-wheelers, stopped Sasikumar andrediculed him. Following the verbal exchanges Sasikumar was brutally attacked.
Namakkal Nagar Police Station has registered a case in this regard.
Incidence :39
10.05.2020
District : Vizhuppuram
Taluk : Sangarapuram
Village : Kalipatti.
Kannan is the Panchayat Union Secretary of viduthalai Chiruthsigal Katchi(VCK), a Dalit Political Party.
When he was returning from his fields, he was attacked with deadly knife by a group of Caste Hindu thugs.
Incidence :40
12.05.2020
District : Coimbatore
Somanur KCR MILLS.
About 200 Tribal women from Odisha are working in the above Mills.
In spite of Corona pandemic restrictions the tribal women were forced work for extended hours without observing social/ physical distancing or wearing masksManagement
The Mill Management refused to send these Tribal women to their Home State, in spite of repeated requests by the workers and their
Trade Union (AITUC).
Although the union lodged a Complaint with the District Collector no action has been initiated against the Mill Management.
Incidence : 41
14.05.2020
District : Tirupur
Taluk : Avinashi.
pazhangarai Panchayat Union
devampalayam Area
Loganathan(25) is a Dalit. His goat inadvertently fields of Murthy, a Caste Hindu, while grazing.
When Loganathan went in search of his goat, Murthy’s son attacked and abused Loganathan and refused to hand over the goat.
Further, Loganathan was forced to apologise in the Village Council.
Loganathan lodged a complaint at Avinashi Police Station against the abuse atrocity committed against him.
As there was no action initiated, he appealed to the District Superintendent of Police and the case was registered with the intervention of the SP.
Incidence :42
19.05.2020
District : Karur
Area : Krishnapuram
When Dalit children were drawing water from the common Public tap, Velmurugan, a Caste Hindu and a leader of Mutharayar Sangam ( a dominant Caste forum) bashed the Dalit children and canned themchased them away.
When the Dalit elders questioned Velmurugan’s behaviour, the Dalits were hauled up and beaten by the Caste Hindus.
Furthe, the use of Public taps by the Dalits were prohibited by the dominant Castes.
Incidence :43
25.05.2020
District : Cuddalore
Manjakuppam
The Life size statue of Dr. B.R.Ambedcar, who is revered by the Dalits desecrated by the Caste Hindus.
Incidence :44
24.05.2020
District : Karur
Village : Poolampalayam
Eezhavas Kannimaar Temple Festival ( An upper caste Temple festival
In view of preventing crowding in the Temple festival, during Corona Lockdown, S.Kannan, a reporter from Velicham TV Complained to the District Superintendent of Police Mr. Pandiarajan.
As the State Minister Bhaskaran was scheduled to visit the Temple festival, which did not fructify, he got infuriated and he hired some goondas and ransacked the house of the Reporter Kannan and hurled casteist abuses against the Reporter an his family members.
Despite the complaint lodged no action has been initiated against the accused.
Incidence : 45
27.05.2020
District : Madurai
Taluk : Usilampatti
Village : Vadagampatti
Sivan Raja(35), a Dalit was talking over his Mobile phone, sitting near Vadagampatti Bus Stand.
While the Dalit youth was talking, Kuthupuli @ Vinod Kumar from the Caste Hindu Community and four others questioned the “audacity of Sivan Raja’ stylishly’ talking over phone in front of the Caste Hindus and stoned his head causing bleeding injuries.
From the above report it is evident that the Dalits were attacked, abused, humiliated, and sometimes killed everyday in Tamil Nadu, particularly during the Corona Lockdown.
It is an irony that this is happening in a land which saw a strong anti- caste movement for more than six decades! it only exposes how strongly the caste prejudices have been ingrained in us!
The Tremendous But ‘Secret’ Success Of Socialist Vietnam
by Andre Vltchek
Vietnam has become one of the most comfortable countries in Asia. A place where millions of Westerners
would love to live.
Corona, caste discrimination and the lives of Sanitation Workers
by Vidya Bhushan Rawat
https://countercurrents.org/2020/07/corona-caste-discrimination-and-the-lives-of-sanitation-workers/
Calamities are the occasion when nations and societies unlearn many things and build bridges in the greater interest of humanity. Corona crisis would have turned into a great opportunity for countries like India to overcome historical baggage of deep rooted prejudices and respect the dignity of the work and contribution of those who have made our homes, offices, cities and villages as clean and worth livable.
JCPOA: The Deal That Wasn’t
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
July 14th, 2020, marks the fifth anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Agreement, often referred to as the Iran Nuclear Deal (or simply the Deal) – the Deal that wasn’t. It was yet another attempt at regime
change.
The Dogs Of Empire!
by Philip A Farruggio
Don’t just blame the dogs of empire… blame those who enticed them to do those evil deeds also.
All Americans of any persuasion need to search the archives of both the Nazi Holocaust and the 1950- 1960s Civil Rights movement. One will see, quite vividly, the use of trained, tough and violent dogs on unarmed civilians. In Germany it was Jews and political rivals ( Communists and Social Democrats) that were set upon by men with sticks and whips leading those vicious dogs. In the south, circa the 50s and 60s, the same scenario held true. Well, under this current far right wing, Neo Fascist ( Neo Nazi?) administration, private companies have secured ‘ Blackwater type’ goons, replete with their weapons and trained dogs ( read Jeremy Scahill’s brilliant 2007 book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army). Case in point is what happened in September of 2016 in North Dakota at the Dakota Access Pipeline construction site. Indigenous tribal members, along with other peaceful protestors, concerned with the damage to their lands and clean water, raised hell in a protracted struggle to stop the pipeline. The hired thugs and their dogs, along with lots of pepper spray, attacked the unarmed, peaceful , but vehement group. All in a day’s work, yes?
My title seems to refer to dogs. In reality, who are the dogs in question? Man’s best friend was NOT born mean, rather had to be taught so. I guess you can say the same for the goons that are always available to do the bidding of the empire. Sometimes the goons are from the same race and class as those they attack. One can study India, before independence, to see how the low level indigenous police were used by the Brits to ‘ Keep the rabble in line’. The Brits were shrewder than we here in Amerika. Here it became, for God knows how long ( still?), whereupon whites did the policing everywhere, including in the minority sections of towns. If one looks at the footage of that North Dakota 2016 pipeline protest, you won’t see any non whites shooting the pepper spray as they sicced their dogs.
It seems our empire always has a full supply of ‘ Dogs’ to do their bidding. Sadly, if one could study the US grunts, our ‘Boots on the ground’ , from Iraq ( phony wars ) 1 and 2 and Afghanistan, one sees the race and class of the overwhelming majority of them. Dark and brown faces, mostly from low income areas of Amerika ( watch Michael Moore’s brilliant 2004 film Fahrenheit 911) joined up with their equally low income white counterparts, simply for the money and perks, for a chance to get out of the ghetto. They were not just super patriotic kids who wanted to kill the A-Rabs (there was a smaller percentage of those types, but not abundant in numbers). No, between our own home grown kids and the highly paid goons of empire from private security firms like Blackwater ( now called Xe Services ) , who by the way earn 10 to 20 times MORE than our people in uniform, the empire has plenty of Dogs of War at its disposal… and that word seems to fit.
In my recent interview with Dr. TP Wilkinson on his history of policing in Amerika, we learn that these original ‘ Dogs’ were called the Slave Patrols in the south. They were hired by the plantation owners to go and find runaway slaves and bring them back… for a bounty. After the Civil War local police in All parts of Amerika were used primarily to ‘ Keep watch ‘ on the factories and businesses of the super rich, to , well, ‘ Keep the rabble ( unions and striking workers ) in line’. This has continued throughout the decades, from the coal mining areas, the agricultural fields, factory assembly lines… anywhere that the super rich employ lower paid drones to punch out products for their enormous profits. It never changes. Why? Well, when you have a ‘ Bought and paid for ‘ Two Party/One Party con job, there is little or NO representation for working stiffs. Never was. One hopes that someday, as in the great John Sayles 1987 film classic Matawan, about the 1920 Mingo County, West Virginia coal miners’ strike, those who are supposed to ‘ Serve and Protect’ do so for working stiffs FIRST!
Don’t just blame the dogs of empire… blame those who enticed them to do those evil deeds also.
Philip A Farruggio is a contributing editor for The Greanville Post. He is also frequently posted on Global Research, Nation of Change, Countercurrents.org, and Off Guardian sites. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 400 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the ‘ It’s the Empire… Stupid ‘ radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net.
Trump, Tulsa, and the Rise of Military Dissent
by Danny Sjursen
Should the sudden wave of military and veteran dissent keep rising, it will invariably crash against the pageantry patriots of Chickenhawk America who attended that Tulsa rally and we’ll all face a new and critical theater in this nation’s culture wars. I don’t pretend to know whether such protests will last or military dissent will augur real change of any sort. What I do know is what my favorite rock star, Bruce Springsteen, used to repeat before live renditions of his song “Born to Run”: Remember, in the end nobody wins, unless everybody wins.
A Love Story in a Turbulent Time
by Zeenat Khan
July 10 marks the 5th anniversary of actor Omar Sharif's death.
Veterans Statement On India – China Stand-Off
Press Release
Veterans of the Indian armed forces write to Prime Minister of India on India-China stand off
Introducing The African Cheetah In India: A Risk Worth Taking?
by Ashna D
The revival of the cheetah population in India is a lifelong commitment. An ill-thought-out decision at this juncture could lead to a failed conservation experiment with catastrophic consequences for a presently threatened species. The success of this project depends on making a series of strategic, informed and well-researched choices that favour the long-term survival of the global cheetah population. This involves cooperating with
national and transnational stakeholders, bearing in mind the best possible outcome for the ecosystem.
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