2020

The eminent Marxist historian, E. P. Thompson, in the preface to his celebrated book, The Making of the English Working Class (1963), stated: “By class I understand an historical phenomenon unifying a number of disparate and seemingly unconnected events, both in the raw material of experience and in consciousness. I emphasize that it is an historical phenomenon”.
In the present historical moment, a process of unmaking of the Indian working class is taking place in different geographical (…)

by Murzban Jal
While the global epidemic followed by the lockdown seems strange at least to a major part of the human population, a close look at this reveals that it is the essence of modern industrial production. In the Manifesto Marx and Engels say that the bourgeoisie has like a magician "conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange", but is unable to "control the powers of the netherworld".
It is the Manifesto that depicts with alarming accuracy the mechanisms of (…)

The first major PSYOPS of the Modi government was demonetisation. The second is the COVID-19 lockdown.
Psychological operations (PSYOPS) are operations to influence the total persona of a target – emotions, motives, reasoning and behaviour. In this case it is the 1.3 billion people of India.
In India, for PSYOPS to succeed, they have to delve deep into the psyche of the Indian public with its inherent divisions and divides. The strategies of PSYOPS are devised after digging deep into (…)

Suddenly the agenda of India as well as other countries has changed and the biggest focus just now is to minimizing the damage from Covid-19. It is equally clear that for this we need a balanced strategy based mainly on social distancing, the three steps of ‘screening, testing, treatment’ and extensive efforts to increase the production and availability of essential equipment with special emphasis on ventilators and personal protective equipment ( not just for medical personnel but also for (…)

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
7 April 2020
Eight months and counting: the world’s longest communications shutdown in Kashmir must end
April 5 will be 245 days since 4G mobile internet was suspended in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, causing immense hardship and disruption of civilian life as well as violating the public’s right to access information.
This statement is published as part of IFJ-SAMSN’s campaign, Postcards from Kashmir. The outbreak of COVID-19 in (…)

Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore
NEW YORK, 7 April 2020 – “COVID-19 is generating an unprecedented global economic crisis. And as we witness in all such crises, this economic destruction is cruelly and unequally distributed.
“For the world’s poorest countries, the financial fallout caused by the pandemic, combined with debilitating debt-service obligations, are hampering their ability to prevent further transmission and protect citizens.
“And for the families (…)

South Centre, Geneva
Open letter from Carlos Correa, Executive Director of the South Centre, to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization
CC: António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General CC: Verónica Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Dear Colleagues,
The (…)

via: Z Net, April 7, 2020
Are you a migrant labourer,
Escaping death by lockdown?
Then trudge, O lifelong sansculottte,
But with no hope of a town
That may have food or water,
Medicine or a bed
To shore up your extraneous lives
From hunger or viral dread.
No train or plane may hurry you
To your expectant slum;
Trains and planes are meant for NRIs
Who from fancy countries come.
You are Hands not needed now
When no profits circulate;
And what efficient government ever gives (…)

by Colin Todhunter
On 12 March, British PM Boris Johnson informed the public that families would continue to “lose loved ones before their time” as the coronavirus outbreak worsens. He added: “We’ve all got to be clear, this is the worst public health crisis for a generation.” In a report, the Imperial College had warned of modelling that suggested over 500,000 would die from the virus in the UK. The lead author of the report, epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, has since revised the estimate (…)

.by Laurie Clarke The tracking of millions of citizens’ mobile phone data; widespread facial recognition; the threat of six-month prison sentences for breaking curfew. In normal times, such measures would be the hallmarks of a repressive authoritarian regime. But they are already being introduced in democracies to slow the spread of coronavirus.
BT Group, which owns of the UK’s biggest mobile operator, EE, is reportedly in talks with the government about using the location data of its (…)