NB: It is a repulsive, but expected response to any controversy involving the Sangh Parivar and its army of trolls that the first thing they like to do is to cite the religion of a critic. In this case, they have begun circulating a rumour that the activist Disha Ravi is a Christian. It is… Read More “Pack of lies”: Disha Ravi family lawyers dismiss social media claims about activist’s religion
The coronavirus recession is over, if you ask the billionaires of the world. According to a report released Monday by Oxfam, the top 1,000 billionaires collectively lost about 30% of their wealth when COVID-19 restrictions stalled global economies in March. By the end of November, they’d made it all back. For the world’s richest, it… Read More Oxfam report: 10 Billionaires Made Enough Money During The Pandemic To Vaccinate The Entire World
NB: This is some information – kindly sent to me by a friend – on the implications for Indian agriculture and Indian livelihoods, of the governments’ plans. It provides clues as to why critics and opponents are being defamed, intimidated and arrested. This is the altar of ‘muscular’ nationalism and pseudo-patriotism at which our democratic… Read More COLIN TODHUNTER: Farmers’ Protest in India: Price of Failure Will Be immense // Global Corporations' plans for India's agriculture
Slapps – or strategic lawsuits against public participation – are a type of legal action undertaken not to be won but to intimidate defendants into silence or inaction. A report by Index on Censorship calls for measures, including an anti-Slapp directive, to be put in place to protect journalists from vexatious legal threats and actions.… Read More Jessica Ní Mhainín: Fighting the laws that are silencing journalists
Two days before his retirement from the Supreme Court, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra sentenced Prashant Bhushan for “destablising the very foundation” of the judiciary by posting two tweets. In one of them, Prashant Bhushan said: “When historians in future look back at the last 6 years to see how democracy has been… Read More Justice Arun Mishra & The Supreme Court’s Rule Of Whim. By Anup Surendranath, Aparna Chandra & Suchindran Baskar Narayan
Radical Islamism benefits from the silence of moderate Muslims who see no reason why their faith implies a responsibility to condemn its violence. But Islamism also stands to gain from the blurring of boundaries between genuine Islamophobia and criticism of Islam where it departs from democratic norms. After last year’s Islamist terror acts in France and… Read More Cinzia Sciuto: Break the silence!
The Myanmar coup is a sad and onerous turn of events for a country with a long and unhappy experience of military rule. It is important to note that this is not an institutional crisis. What we are witnessing is a squabble among court factions for the throne. In such power struggles, the wellbeing of… Read More Aung San Suu Kyi overlooked Myanmar’s deepest problems. By Khin Zaw Win
Ecuadorians voted for their next president on Sunday 7 February, but it wasn’t the only significant decision on ballots. Cuenca, the third largest city in the South American country, voted to ban mining projects within the nearby drainage basins of five rivers. There are over 4,000 large and small bodies of water in the sensitive… Read More Indigenous, green movement resists Ecuador’s pro-mining politics
When the Justice and Development party (AKP) came to power in Turkey in 2002, one of the first things its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, did was surround himself with well-educated bureaucrats. This practice was key to the AKP’s success in subsequent elections, as many citizens of Turkey trusted Erdoğan’s ability to recruit promising names to… Read More Oguz Alyanak & Umit Kurt – The sultan and his sycophants: Erdoğan is leading Turkey towards a bleak future
Police in Belarus carried out 22 raids on the homes and offices of journalists, human rights activists and trade union members on Tuesday. The raids were part of an investigation into mass anti-government protests, officials said. The former Soviet nation has been gripped by weekend protests ever since strongman President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in… Read More Belarus: Police raid homes of journalists, activists // ‘Nowadays I often cry’ An interview with Victor Martinovich
After the truth-shower 