CC News Letter 12 Feb - We Will Miss You Asma Jahangir!



Dear Friend,


It has been said that in the nuclear age war is obsoleteii, but around the world tribalism and with it the drums of war are on the rise, including talk of “usable” nuclear weapons. The atmosphere is reminiscent of pre-WWII suppression of the press the judiciary and academia, extreme nationalism leads to persecution of minorities and ultimately genocide, with echoes of “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt“. A central warmongering role  must be “credited” to large parts of the private and the public media, on both sides, portraying “enemies” (we are “good” they are “bad”), including personal vilification of leaders.

When common people specially women, minorities, marginalized communities and working class in our sub-continent are being subjected to unparalleled violence inflicted by the state, religious bigots, feudal elites and crony capitalists one of the greatest fighters for the rights of the common people, Asma Jahangir, a dear friend is no more. Pakistan’s well-known human rights activist and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore on February 11 (2018). Asma died of cardiac arrest when she was only 66.

Also more stories from around the world. 

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In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
Countercurrents.org



Mounting Nuclear Portents While Rome Burns
by Andrew Glikson 


It has been said that in the nuclear age war is obsolete, but around the world tribalism and with it the drums of war are on the rise, including talk of “usable” nuclear weapons. The atmosphere is reminiscent of pre-WWII suppression of the press the judiciary and academia, extreme nationalism leads to persecution of minorities and ultimately genocide, with echoes of “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt“. A central warmongering role  must be “credited” to large parts of the private and the public media, on both sides, portraying “enemies” (we are “good” they are “bad”), including personal vilification of leaders.




We Will Miss You Asma Jahangir!
by Shamsul Islam 


When common people specially women, minorities, marginalized communities and working class in our sub-continent are being subjected to unparalleled violence inflicted by the state, religious bigots, feudal elites and crony capitalists one of the greatest fighters for the rights of the common people, Asma Jahangir, a dear friend is no more. Pakistan’s well-known human rights activist and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore on February 11 (2018). Asma died of cardiac arrest when she was only 66.




Asma Jahangir- An Exceptional Human Rights Activist Is No More
by Dr Vivek Kumar Srivastava 


She took the cause of human rights in 1980s.a time when these concepts and issues were considered as a western ideas but she succeeded in placing the human rights issue in the centre of the mainstream political discussions which helped to restrain the unrestricted powers of the political leaders by awakening the masses.




Implications of Downing the Israeli Fighter Plane
by Dr Elias Akleh 


Israeli officials hastened to justify the attack as a retaliation for an Iranian drone that allegedly had violated the Israeli air space. It is worth mentioning, here, that Israel seems to be inflected with a dangerous pathological phobic obsession called Iran; Iranian nuclear bomb, Iranian rockets, and finally Iranian drones. All these have proven to be Netanyahu’s false manifestations of his over-imaginative sick mind, who wants to convince the world that Iran, not Israel, poses threat to the region and to the world. The alleged Iranian threat never escapes all of Netanyahu’s speeches.




How Donald Trump Plans to Enlist Fossil Fuels in the Struggle for Global Dominance 
by Michael T Klare 


The new U.S. energy policy of the Trump era is, in some ways, the oldest energy policy on Earth. Every great power has sought to mobilize the energy resources at its command, whether those be slaves, wind-power, coal, or oil, to further its hegemonic ambitions. What makes the Trumpian variant — the unfettered exploitation of America’s fossil-fuel reserves — unique lies only in the moment it’s being applied and the likely devastation that will result, thanks not only to the 1950s-style polluting of America’s air, waters, and urban environment, but to the devastating hand it will lend to a globally warming world.




The Muslim World Towards Unthinkable Clash of Reason
by Dr Mahboob A Khawaja


Logic fails to combat the incensed Arab authoritarianism to reason against the Western-led wars of catastrophic ends. The whole of the Arab Middle East is under destruction by design and strategic plans chalked out ages ago. The 21st century Muslim world embodies ignorance, inept leadership and mismanagement of public governance leading to continuous despotism and degeneration where unthinkable future is a thinkable entity of the present. Nations and societies enriched with live conscience and thinking hubs enjoin consciousness to make navigational change when faced with problematic situations of political and strategic importance. Not so, most Muslim elite act like dummies as men of the king and “the king has no clothes.”




Rise of Right Wing Nationalism Before Refugee Crisis In Europe And Human Rights Obligations of European Union
by Punsara Amarasinghe  


The fate of  the European solidarity from moving to a jingoistic limbo or securing its position as a bastion for freedom and human rights would be decisively based on today’s action of European Union on seeking an alternative remedy to deal with the refugee crisis under more humanitarian terms.




An Exodus of Jews From Palestine Is Inevitable
by Rima Najjar 


Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has come a long way in advocating for Palestinian rights. They now fully embrace the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, seeing it as the most effective method to effect change. JVP is on Israel’s BDS Ban List and is described by another Jewish group in the US (the Anti-Defamation League — ADL) as “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States.”





Erasing Arab Identity: Iran Demolishes More Historical Sites In Ahwaz
by Rahim Hamid 


In January 2018, the Iranian regime ordered the demolition of another cherished artefact of Ahwazi heritage in the occupied Arab region of Ahwaz. Ahwazi activists reported that regime authorities ignored petitions submitted by local residents pleading with them not to destroy the 98-year-old cinema in Dar Khwain city to the west of the regional capital, with regime security forces, assisted by municipality officials, using bulldozers to raze the historic building.




Nothing’s Changed For Me
by Richard Oxman 


Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose.  Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose. ‘Cause — so help me God! — we will put an end to the Death Penalty in the U.S.A. Nothing’s changed for me.





Without Shakespeare In The Social Sphere….
by Valleria Ruselli 


According to Talk Talk Mobile (London), the percentage of Britons aged 18 to 25 who find it easier to express themselves in emoji than in words is 72.





If Teachers Taught The Truth….
by Annapurna Tosca Sriramarcel 


And that’s why art teachers generally look like a Francis Bacon self-portrait to me, disfigured by the mediocrity of middle class values, twisting their bodies, faces and souls… to keep our wars proliferating. Truth be told, no child would join our armed services and no parent would allow such a career path to be considered if teachers taught The Truth.




Getting Above Racial And Religious Profiling
by Sally Dugman 


I reject being a toady of a system that is trying to teach me that Muslims are bad. I feel sorry for the hypnotized masses that buy into that ugly view propagated by some in our government, their own alternative, non-Muslim religious groups and alternative means, such as media presentations.




Transformation of Caste/Religious Minorities into ‘Composite Majority’ to Counter Majoritarianism in India
by Dr. Y. Srinivasa Rao 


  Composite majority commands the sympathy of the internal and external civil society as they believe that it is the genuine civil society of India. It would be formidable force which can challenge the anti-national undemocratic forces and could guarantee peace and freedom in the country.




Separation Of Religion From State Still A Necessity
by Protik Bardhan 


Philosophically, humankind should be freed from the clutch of religion to augment the cause of universal brotherhood and solidarity, And Politically; we have to be able to separate religion from politics.




Importance of Community Radio
by Ashish Singh 


This is where the concept of community radio finds its roots: a participatory radio for the people, of the people and by the people. Today with nearly two hundred community radio stations across India, broadcasting in languages like Bundelkhandi, Garhwali, Awadhi and Santhali, we should be proud of the fact that broadcast radio today reaches a staggering 99% of the Indian population. Rural India relies on it overwhelmingly for information. It also remains the most inexpensive and portable medium 




Rally Against Tytler And Others Involved In 1984 Anti-Sikh Massacre Held In Canada


South Asian activists gathered at Holland Park in Surrey on Sunday evening to protest against Jagdish Tytler and other Congress leaders involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre.





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