Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
CERAS CONDEMNS THE FIRE BOMBING OF SAMJHOUTA EXPRESS
On February 18, 2007, 67 people were killed and 50 others were injured when bombs exploded in a train from Delhi to Lahore. We, in CERAS, strongly condemn this bloodshed and offer our sympathies to the family members of the victims.
COPING WITH GLOBALIZATION
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
In the December 2006 issue of INSAF Bulletin, it was argued that contrary to an earlier assertion by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maoists were not a major threat to India. The other two threats mentioned in that issue were globalization and Hindutva. Here we claim that contrary to the assertion of left parties and individuals, social activists and a great many NGOs, globalization does not pose a major threat to India either.
BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Opinion: Marcus Dam,
The Hindu February 27, 2007
These are challenging times for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal’s Chief Minister. In an interview in Kolkata, he speaks of the absence of an alternative to the industrialisation drive his government has undertaken, the opposition he faces from both within the ruling Left Front and outside, and the need to take the people into confidence. Excerpts:
WEST BENGAL ATTEMPTS TO INDUSTRIALIZE, 2007
Sudhir Joshi
In our contemporary world, capitalism has emerged as the only economic order left standing. It is sad but true that the attempts to create an alternate economic model, a socialist economic order, in early 20th century (Soviet Union) and in mid 20th century (China), has either failed or has been abandoned. The evolution of the “Socialist” economies of the Soviet Union, and China, were characterized by massive collectivization in its industrial and agricultural sectors, centralized planning, and a huge bureaucratic, repressive and stifling state apparatus, which exercised control over every aspect of life of its citizens.
WHY MUSHARRAF SUCCEEDS
S Akbar Zaidi
(Economic and Political Weekly, January 27, 2007)
Military rule in Pakistan has had long spells because the army has learnt how to be repressive and yet accommodative, target only the marginalised and minority groups, buy off support from political groups and, in Musharraf’s case, make use of the US fear of “Islamic” power. Why does military rule persist in Pakistan for as long as it does, at times up to a decade, often without much resistance? Why is military rule acceptable to a large number of people, perhaps even the majority at certain times, and even preferred to Pakistan’s own form of electoral politics or democracy?
INDIA, RUSSIA, CHINA AGREE COOPERATION HOLDS THE KEY
Based on a report by Amit Baruah
(the Hindu, February 16, 2007)
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, Li Zhaoxing and Sergei Lavrov (right) at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on February 14, 2007 and announced that cooperation, rather than confrontation, should govern the approaches to regional and global affairs.
HAILING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE!
Kaleem Kawaja
Sunday, February 25, 2007, marks the 150th anniversary of the date in 1857 on which the first war for India’s independence began. On that day the 19th native regiment of the Indian army rebelled against their British officers in Berhampur, Bengal. On that day the Indian soldiers of the regiment refused to use the cartridges for their guns that the Indian army gave them.
INDIA DENIES CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION
According to a press release (February 25, 2007) of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Government of India continues to refuse the existence of caste-based discrimination as defined in the International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
KABIR SADBHAVNA PEACE MARCH FROM AYODHYA TO MAGAHAR
In light of the worsening communal situation in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a communal harmony peace march is being planned from Ayodhya to Magahar. With the impending assembly elections in U.P., the communal forces are once again adopting their strategy to polarize the Hindu votes by such incidents.
UNITY BETWEEN NEPAL’S TWO MAJOR COMMUNIST PARTIES POSSIBLE
According to a report by Himal News Service, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) Chairman Prachanda said on February 26 that his party’s integrated policy-wise and program-wise union with CPN (UML or United Marxist-Leninist) is feasible. Prachanda said: “It cannot be disregarded that the ongoing debate between the two parties might end in a union.”
NOVEL WAYS TO BE ANTI-MUSLIM AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT
Daya Varma
Canada, like many other western countries, invents various tricks to be racist and anti-Muslim but shroud it in fancy secular excuses. A small town of 1,300 near Montreal with no Muslim or immigrant population recently passed a code that the city would not allow stoning of women, female circumcision, etc.
HONORING FAIZ AHMED FAIZ
I.K. Shukla The genius of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was honored with the launch of a special CD-ROM ‘Faiz- Aaj Kay Naam’ dedicated to the times, life and works of this literary giant of Pakistan (and also of India, ed.) Read more…
AMU – A FILM BY SHONALI BOSE IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE
Rahul Varma
Shonali Bose’s debut docudrama Amu isn’t merely a movie depicting massacre of over 5,000 Sikhs following the assassination of India’s Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, but more importantly a film that makes a case for an inquiry into state culpability in organized mass murders and denial of justice for the victims and survivors of 1984 communal carnage against Sikhs in the name of revenge.
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