HINDU AMERICANS
A news report from Washington says: "Close on the heels of the spectacular BJP win in the general election, Hindu-American activists in the United States have for the first time, under the banner of a political action committee, publicly endorsed a slate of congressional candidates in the 2014 US primaries."
Eternal Injustice in India/Bangladesh
Without being blatantly communal or casting aspersion on religious sensitivities of any religion, I thought the following piece of text reflects the true condition not only of India but also of Bangladesh. So please read it and reflect on it.
NAME GAME IN SAUDI ARABIA
The love birds across the world, in past half a millennium, have been vouching with "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;". But the name did matter then as it does now also.
HEIGHT OF MADNESS
Reports from India say that Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary cricketer who very recently retired from the game at the age of 40 years, has been awarded "Bharat Ratna" the highest civilian award in India. Sachin has been an idol in India and cricketing world. His performance in the game of cricket was un-parallel. In his 24 years career as India's cricketer, Sachin has achieved many peaks. He has been non-controversial to the point of being silent in his classical politically correct posture. Such posture reflected escapism at times. From cricket he has earned a lot and shall do so through endorsements and cricket commentary also even after retirement. I am not aware of the conditionalities about "Bharat Ratna". But:
Flagrant Violation of Human Rights
Human rights issues may be the despised terms to some prejudiced sections of the society or even to some despicable sovereign States of the world, but human rights epitomises what is good in human conscience, what constitutes inalienable rights of human beings and above all it highlights the sheer value of humanity. Without human rights, human beings would be no better than two-legged human animals, particularly in the modern society where money speaks louder than anything else and might is proclaimed to be the absolute right!
Viral Topics - Why They Define Our Generation
The opening scene of the movie Contagion begins with an amiable Gwyneth Paltrow drinking a cocktail while on a business trip in Tokyo. She coughs ever so slightly before leaning in to laugh good-naturedly at a friend's passing remarks. To the casual observer, her cough would be a miniscule detail of the evening. Smiling freely, chatting happily, Paltrow shows no indication of the virus that has taken root inside of her. Ten minutes later (audience-time), the implications of the unnoticed cough become clear as Paltrow suffers a life-ending seizure in her family's kitchen; a day later, her young son suffers the same attack while the baby sitter puts him to bed. As the number of afflicted people increases with each passing minute of the movie, it soon becomes clear that Paltrow was the catalysis for the viral plague that will sweeps the characters' world. Whether they are dead from direct contact, are traumatized from losing the ones they loved, or are simply trying to avoid the disease from the safety of their sterilized houses, each character is affected by the virus in some way.
Resistance to Imperialism in Bangladesh and Haiti
Following is a conversation between Anu Muhammad (an organizer with the National Committee in Bangladesh, which works against resource extraction and imperialism), two members of One Struggle (Daniel and Stephanie McMillan), plus Irtishad Ahmad and Swapan Majhi. It took place in Miami, on October 18, 2012.
Anu Muhammad: Tell me about your organization.
Stephanie McMillan: One Struggle actually started 20 years ago against the US occupation of Haiti and the forced return of the people who were leaving the Cedras regime. It first started out only focused on Haiti, and then it became a more internationally focused anti-imperialist group. And it disbanded after a while. But we recently, two years ago, decided to restart it because there was a need— and it seemed like there was a basis— to organize an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist group.
And then the Occupy movement started a year later. We didn't want to get sucked into that so much that we lost our identity and our autonomy. So we worked within it, but we didn't want to become the Occupy movement. We went there and formed an anti-capitalist caucus within Occupy in South Florida. And we also have a New York chapter starting, and people in different places who are interested.
Four of us just traveled to Haiti and met with workers organizations who are mostly garment workers, but also some agricultural workers fighting against the multinational corporations and factories and imperialist domination overall. I know you're (Anu) focused on the extraction of natural resources, like coal and natural gas, and they have a similar problem where entities like the Clinton & Bush Foundation are buying up a lot of land on the coast of Haiti to build hotels and...
AM: And it's related to President Clinton?
Daniel: Oh yeah. He's in Haiti all the time. It's an outgrowth of the Clinton Global Initiative.
AM: So they are very interested in tourism?
D: Oh yeah. Very interested in tourism and the sweatshops. AM: Because that "helps people"… (laughter)
D: I usually say after a hundred years of help, if we are in this situation, we don't need that help. (laughter)
D: We're still in the same, or worse situation than we were about 100 years ago, based on the occupation, so there is no reason we need that help. And also they just gave a contract to the Prince Charles Foundation to basically rebuild Port-au-Prince, which is the capital of Haiti. And again the Clinton Foundation is involved. So, what they are trying to do is to move all the popular masses outside the capital. So they have the center city Port-au-Prince to for businesses, tourism, and so on. They are trying to displace the masses and put them in the countryside.
AM: This must be being publicized as a huge development effort for the people of Haiti.