Special Double number – Mainstream, February 2022 / Om Thanvi: Photos of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's visit to India

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream Feb 19-26, 2022 Who are We A ‘Union of States’ or a ‘Nation’ | Karli Srinivasulu Remembering 2021 UP Panchayat Election Results | Bharat Dogra Silence Is No Solution To Evil | TJS George Lockdown As A Means of Controling Covid? | Kobad Ghandy Five State Assembly Elections of 2022: Scenario and Consequences | Prem… Read More Special Double number – Mainstream, February 2022 / Om Thanvi: Photos of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's visit to India

Dilip

Javed Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue

Secularists must support rights of Muslims in an increasingly Islamophobic world, but they should be wary of strengthening the Muslim right in the process. To make sense of the contradictory voices within the community of secular-minded Indians on the raging hijab controversy, we would do well to recall a decades-old remark, in another context, of… Read More Javed Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue

Dilip

George Monbiot: There’s no solidarity in ‘sovereign citizen’ protests — only incoherent rage

The “sovereign citizen” theory is a powerful current running through these movements. Its adherents insist that they stand above the law. Some of them refuse to buy vehicle licences, or pay taxes or fines. They believe they are exempt from public health measures, such as lockdowns and vaccine passes. In other words, they arrogate to themselves sovereign… Read More George Monbiot: There’s no solidarity in ‘sovereign citizen’ protests — only incoherent rage

Dilip

Rupert Murdoch waited years for a pliant government – now he’s got one. By Jane Martinson

We are living in the age of the nonagenarian: the Queen continues to gain popularity against her elected officials, and Rupert Murdoch has been given everything he’s ever asked for, just a few weeks from his 91st birthday. In between meetings in Saudi Arabia, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, announced the removal of legal restrictions designed to prevent the… Read More Rupert Murdoch waited years for a pliant government – now he’s got one. By Jane Martinson

Dilip

Péter Krekó: Learning to live with the madness

Decades of political campaigning against climate science and medicine have made public health a battleground of beliefs. Vaccine hesitancy, as seen in eastern Europe, based on distrust in authority, can’t be solved with rationality alone. So what might the antidote be?    Rejecting science is not so much a grass-roots movement, says Péter Krekó, in… Read More Péter Krekó: Learning to live with the madness

Dilip

Chris Hedges: America is a de-facto one-party state whose business is war

Wars can get started by Democrats, such as Harry S. Truman in Korea or John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam, and perpetuated by Republicans. Or they can get started by Republicans, such as George W. Bush, and perpetuated by Democrats such as Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Bill Clinton, without declaring war, imposed… Read More Chris Hedges: America is a de-facto one-party state whose business is war

Dilip

Myanmar military atrocities may amount to war crimes, says rights group

The Myanmar military kidnapped civilians and forced them to work as human shields, attacked homes, churches and carried out massacres, according to a report that warns recent atrocities in eastern Myanmar may amount to war crimes. The report, by the Myanmar-founded human rights group Fortify Rights, documents abuses by the country’s military in Karenni state, also known as… Read More Myanmar military atrocities may amount to war crimes, says rights group

Dilip

Mauritius formally challenges Britain’s ownership of Chagos Islands

Britain’s ownership of the Chagos archipelago has been formally challenged after the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raised his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos. In a ceremony on Monday at 10.30am local time, Mauritian officials sang their country’s national anthem and the red, blue, yellow and green standard was raised up… Read More Mauritius formally challenges Britain’s ownership of Chagos Islands

Dilip

Robert Reich – Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism

The United States presents itself as the beacon of democracy in contrast to the autocracies of China and Russia. Yet American democracy is in danger of succumbing to the same sort of oligarchic economics and racist nationalism that thrive in both these powers. After all, it wasn’t long ago that Donald Trump – who openly admired Xi… Read More Robert Reich – Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism

Dilip

Bharat Bhushan: Verbal abuse of political opponents part of a larger malaise

So long as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma kept a low profile, he was seen as an emerging leader from Assam. However, with political success he has turned into a profligate commentator and revealed himself as incapable of civilised political discourse. His comments on Rahul Gandhi’s parentage normally should not be worthy of public… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Verbal abuse of political opponents part of a larger malaise

Dilip