Who Created These Shitholes?


Dear Friend,

US President's racist "Shithole" remark has received international condemnation. Should he just get away with a mild slap on the wrist? He should be prosecuted. 

Moreover, who created the "shithole" that Trump mentioned?

Christian Christensen a professor of Journalism at Stockholm University writes, "The creation of global “shitholes”— from Africa to Central and South America to portions of Asia—was achieved primarily via a combination of “crisis journalism” and non-coverage. For decades (and up to the present day), massive portions of Africa only received coverage if there was a war, famine, or natural catastrophe. In the absence of disasters, the coverage disappeared. Without mass death or armed conflict, Africa, and huge sections of the globe, largely cease to exist."

Sally Dugman writes, "Now why do lots of people in Haiti eat mud cookies? Why do they eat mud to get rid of hunger pangs? Why do many Haitian people, including little children, work and live in garbage dumps trying to find ways to recycle products that they sell found in dumps? Many, who live in the dumps, don’t even have homes, but just sleep out in the open. How come they don’t have money and jobs, such as from farming the land in Haiti? Here is part of the reason. The USA government loaned money to Haiti for social and economic development, but only under the condition that Haiti also accept surplus food products like rice from the USA, which effectively put farmers in Haiti out of business."

Net neutrality is officially dead in USA. But in India, the regulatory bodies and the corporate players are killing net neutrality unofficially writes Prof Ranjit Goswami.

Also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
Countercurrents.org



Trump’s Racist Comments Trigger International Condemnation
by James Cogan 


The already battered international standing of the US government has been dealt a further blow by the revelation that President Trump labeled some of the most oppressed and impoverished nations as “shithole countries.” Disgust and anger over the openly racist comments the US president made at a meeting with congressional leaders on Thursday have only been intensified by Trump’s belated and obviously dishonest attempts to deny that he said what has been reported by multiple sources, including some who were at the meeting.




Media, Racism, And Global “Shitholes”
by Christian Christensen 


The creation of global “shitholes”— from Africa to Central and South America to portions of Asia—was achieved primarily via a combination of “crisis journalism” and non-coverage. For decades (and up to the present day), massive portions of Africa only received coverage if there was a war, famine, or natural catastrophe. In the absence of disasters, the coverage disappeared. Without mass death or armed conflict, Africa, and huge sections of the globe, largely cease to exist.



Who Created These Shitholes?
by Sally Dugman 


Now why do lots of people in Haiti eat mud cookies? Why do they eat mud to get rid of hunger pangs? Why do many Haitian people, including little children, work and live in garbage dumps trying to find ways to recycle products that they sell found in dumps? Many, who live in the dumps, don’t even have homes, but just sleep out in the open. How come they don’t have money and jobs, such as from farming the land in Haiti? Here is part of the reason. The USA government loaned money to Haiti for social and economic development, but only under the condition that Haiti also accept surplus food products like rice from the USA, which effectively put farmers in Haiti out of business.




The Gringo Wall
by Gaither Stewart 


The mere idea of a 700-mile wall between the USA and its neighbor Mexico was mind-boggling. The image of a globalized world in which contradictorily walls are built and bridges crumble recalls the feudal system when the lords only left their walled castles escorted by armed guards. The drama of illegal immigration was predicted to become the major issue of the XXI century. Now it is here. And political leaders have decided to look to the distant past for solutions: the Israeli wall and now the Wall of the Gringos are what they come up with.




India And Net Neutrality: The Credibility Of The Regulator Matters More
by Prof Ranjit Goswami 


For India, an example of both can be, if an Airtel consumer finds it easy to access Airtel Money/AirtelPayment Bank but finds it difficult to use competing Vodafone’s m-Pesa; one may think of a possible cause may be net neutrality being violated; although root causes can be others too. Similarly, assuming Airtel has a tie-up with Netflix and allows consumers faster download from Netflix but slower downloads from a competing start-up platform having innovations but not financial muscle like Netflix, again net neutrality may be violated leading to anti-competitive and anti-innovative possibilities.




These Are The Palestinian Children Israel Killed In 2017
by Maureen Clare Murphy 


Fourteen Palestinian boys and girls under the age of 18 were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the year.




Collapsing Systems: What Empires And Avalanches Have In Common
by Jantje Hannover


The Italian chemistry professor Ugo Bardi has written a book about the Seneca effect. He refers to the abrupt collapse of systems: observed in avalanches and balloons, but also in financial market bubbles and powerful empires.




41 Hearts Beating in Guantanamo
by Kathy Kelly 


January 11, 2018 marked the 16th year that Guantanamo prison has exclusively imprisoned Muslim men, subjecting many of them to torture and arbitrary detention.




Spiritually Taking Care Of Our Common Home
by Richard Oxman 


Losing one’s religion has been fashionable in many quarters for some time. Maybe the time has come to fall on one’s knees, and open up to Eternity.




Aaron Swartz: A Man Who “Rocked The Boat”
by Alan Grayson 


We’re talking about somebody here who helped to create Reddit, an important world-wide service, at the age of nineteen. Honestly, somebody who probably could have spent the rest of his life in bed, ordering pizzas, and left it at that. And yet he didn’t. He continued to strive to do good — good as he saw it. And that’s a rare quality in people. Many of us, we just have to do our best to get through the day. That’s the way it is. Many of us struggle to do just that. Very few of us actually can think big thoughts, and make them happen. But Aaron was one of those rare people. And he was willing to take the heat for rocking the boat. Now, you know, sometimes when you rock the boat, the boat tries to rock you. That is exactly what he encountered, right up until the end.




Joint Citizens Protest Demands Scrapping of Biometric UID/Aadhaar Number Database Project


The planned Joint Citizens Protest against world biggest Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12 –digit biometric Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar numbers happened at the Parliament Street from 3 pm onwards on12th of January, 2018.  More such protests are planned across the districts and cities in the country. 




The Issues Raised By The Judges Must Be Taken Up By The Civil Society: PUCL
by People's Union For Civil Liberties 


The People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL) is seriously concerned over the implication of issues raised by the 4 senior most SC judges after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) going public about their disagreement with the CJI over functioning of the judicial institution both in its administrative as also judicial sphere of functioning.




Indian Association of People’s Lawyers Salute The Whistle Blower Judges


The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers applauds the courageous step taken by the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court in placing, before “we, the people” as the ultimate authority, the impasse that has been created by the refusal of the Chief Justice of India to respond to their legitimate and responsible concerns over his recent administrative actions. 





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