2022

July 21, 2022
Ten years ago, an auspicious experiment started alongside one of the most atrocious bloodsheds of this century. In July 2012, as Assad’s troops faced an armed insurrection in southern and central Syria, a popular Kurdish-led uprising in northeast Syria quickly filled the power vacuum. By 2017, the Rojava revolution encompassed 5 million people—Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmen, Armenians, Yazidis, and others. Guided by one of the most democratic constitutions in the world, the (…)

(This article appeared in Spiked, 28 May 2002)
by Kenan Malik
‘I denounce European colonialism’, wrote CLR James. ‘But I respect the learning and profound discoveries of Western civilisation.’
James was one of the great radicals of the twentieth century, an anti-imperialist, a superb historian of black struggles, a Marxist who remained one even when it was no longer fashionable to be so. But today, James’ defence of ‘Western civilisation’ would probably be dismissed as Eurocentric, (…)

* jawans, Kisans, Karmiks, Come Together | SG Vombatkere
* Panic-stricken Tories look for a Saviour | LK Sharma
* July 2021 Protest Was No Cuban Spring | Jos Chathukulam
* Understanding Patriarchy | Bell Hooks

Letter to the readers, Mainstream, July 30, 2022
The 2022 Monsoon session of the Parliament has so far mostly been disrupted with some very tense standoffs. Some 27 opposition MPs have been suspended from Parliament for demanding a discussion on the hike in GST, inflation, fuel prices and the Gujarat hooch tragedy. The Government would like us to believe at the opposition is solely to blame for this. Distrust between the small opposition and a Government with a thumping majority is on open (…)

by P. S. Jayaramu
(20th July, 2022)
In April 2020, the Government of Karnataka appointed a Committee headed by Dr. Vasudev Atre, with a few high profile personalities like the Vice Chairman of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council Prof. Thimme Gowda, Prof. M K. Sridhar, Member, UGC, Dr. S. Sadagopan and a few others to prepare a draft Bill to replace the existing Karnataka State Universities Act. The Committee’s work gathered momentum as the Government of Karnataka took the (…)

Calling an all-Party meeting recently, MEA Minister S.Jaishankar rightly expressed official concern at the critical economic-financial situation of our southern neighbour Sri Lanka. It had caused large-scale protests. Jaishankar also allayed fears that a similar situation could arise in India. It is devoutly to be hoped that he is correct, in the interest of our People and our nation.
The vast majority of our 1.35-billion citizens across religious, regional and language divides, are in (…)

by Arun Srivastava
Traumatised at the betrayal by his secular and anti-BJP friends , Yashwant Sinha has decided not to re-join the Trinmool Congress and to bid a final goodbye to politics. Before running for the presidential office, Sinha was the national vice president of the TMC. More than his defeat, he is disillusioned with the nonconformist attitude of the leaders of the parties in opposition who vow to fight the rightist ideology and policies of the BJP.
Coming together of the (…)

When the Government of India embarked on a very significant exercise with far-reaching implications of codifying a complex of existing laws in four labor codes, this was sought to be presented as overdue labor ‘reform’ which will be beneficial for workers. However the government has not been able to convince most labor organizations particularly the central trade unions about the benefits of these significant changes for workers.
In fact even the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh which is generally (…)

Abstract
While the critics and foes of the Communist regime in Cuba hoped that the July 11, 2021 protests in the Caribbean island nation would turn out to be a ‘Cuban Spring’, the evidences show that Cuban government has managed to survive the protests despite ‘brewing discontent’ among Cubans. As July 11, 2022, marks the first year of the massive protest, one of the biggest in the last 27 years, it is also a time to review country’s exceptional resilience over the years in handling (…)

by Anandi Sharan
22 July 2022
10 years ago we published our view on how humanity could reverse anthropogenic climate change by halting all emissions and living a food forest life.
Now in 2022 I wonder whether I still think our scenario of hope is feasible. One fact about the last 10 years, which is the same as from the decade before and the one before that, is that the doomsday scenario humanity finds ourselves in is not scaring the capitalists. This inhumane attitude, going back (…)