2020

by Sankar Ray
Progressives the world over — democrats, libertarians and the Left — look eagerly forward to the inaugural Summit of the Progressive International (PI) in Reykjavik, Iceland, hosted by the Prime Minister of Iceland and the Left-Green Movement in the September this year. The process began in the ending months of 2018 at a meeting between the US Senator Bernie Sanders, representing the Sanders Institute and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis on behalf of the (…)

TASS, 19 May, 20
Earlier US ambassador in Warsaw Georgette Mosbacher said the US might redeploy its nuclear weapons from Germany to Poland
MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. US rhetoric over the redeployment of American nuclear weapons from Germany to Poland is a factor worsening relations between Russia and NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to a statement by US ambassador in Warsaw Georgette Mosbacher about the possibility of bringing NATO’s nuclear (…)

by Sadakat Kadri
11 May 2020
Before the lockdown began, I had been hoping to celebrate VE Day in Belarus this weekend. Within a year of winning power in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko organised a march in Minsk to commemorate victory in the Great Patriotic War, and it’s become a quinquennial tradition.
Events intervened. Curiosity ceased to be a reasonable excuse for leaving home in the UK, and Belarus requires foreign visitors to isolate themselves for 14 days. If that suggests the (…)

Now it is time for all those who yearn for a more equal and just social order to face facts.
By Former leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society
April 16, 2020
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country....
“...[L]ay your shoulders to the wheel; ... Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the (…)

Presently, the Indian defence paraphernalia is ranked as the fourth mightiest army in the world after USA, Russia and China with Japan at the fifth place. It has approximately 3,544,000 on roll, 1,444,000 being on active duty with 2,100,000 as reserve personnel. It is credited with innumerable military operations of glory like Bangladesh War 1971, Kargil War 1999, surgical strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir 2019 etc. Indian Army rendered direct help to the Sri Lankan State in suppressing (…)

What saddens me is that as teachers and educationists we have failed miserably at this crucial juncture when the coronavirus has shattered the ‘taken-for-granted’ world, and caused widespread psychic anxiety and existential uncertainty. Instead of rethinking the meaning and purpose of education at this puzzling moment, we seem to be concerned only with the technical question: how to use the appropriate apps for ‘online teaching’, and conquer the barriers of ‘social distancing’. It is like (…)

by Dr Garima Mani Tripathi
Have we ever bothered why many state actions are coloured with symbolic and superficial activities? Why politics of symbolism actually arouse sentiments without substantive actions? Perhaps no, since such superficial things often masquerade as ‘real’ and we identify with them without even probing the substance. In one such case, the armed forces recently organised a series of nationwide activities on May 3 to showcase their support for doctors, para medics and (…)

by Bhawesh Pant
Amidst the processes of Independence of India, there existed the Naga Movement for self-determination or Independence. The inception of this interaction from the Naga populace was initiated in June 1947 through an agreement between the Naga National Council (NNC) and Governor of Assam. The agreement was unable to stretch to the expected end, thereafter Naga National Council voiced for independence and made a claim for plebiscite in the region. This strong demand for (…)

[fond vert clair]MAINSTREAM, VOL LVIII NO 22, NEW DELHI, MAY 16, 2020 - TABLE OF CONTENTSfond vert clair] • Letter to Readers - May 16, 2020 – Lockdown Edition no8 by The Editor • Azim Premji: The interests of workers, businesses are deeply aligned, especially in these times of crisis • When People Know Govts Couldn’t Care Less ....... Who Can Stop People From Walking? by Aparna • US leverages Delhi-Kabul nexus. But what’s in it for India? by M K Bhadrakumar • Andrey Kortunov : About (…)

While the fourth tranche of economic relief package has been announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Capital today, a day after her announcement of the thirdd tranche focusing on agriculture and allied activities, the Supreme Court of India declined to entertain a PIL seeking directions that district magistrates (DMs) identify, shelter, feed the migrant workers and provide free transport to them, as well as for those on the move among them, asserting that it was for the (…)