Love Lost in India: Modi and Hindi Nationalism

“We Thought You Were Muslim”: Police in India Apologize for Beating Hindu lawyer

by Alan MacLeod  - MintPress News

May 22nd, 2020

A group of Hindu policemen in central India beat a diabetic man seeking treatment at a hospital after they mistook him for a Muslim man because of his beard.

In the late afternoon of March 23, 32-year-old lawyer Deepak Bundele was on his way to a hospital in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. A diabetic, he was there to pick up lifesaving medicine. Before he could make it inside, he was accosted by local police. 

Meta Attacks on 'Planet of the Humans' Epitomize Film's Critique

Planet of the Humans Backlash

by Yves Engler - Wrong Kind of Green 

Journal of People, Peasants and Workers

May 11, 2020

The backlash may be more revealing than the film itself, but both inform us where we are at in the fight against climate change and ecological collapse. The environmental establishment’s frenzied attacks against Planet of the Humans says a lot about its commitment to big money and technological solutions.

Planet of the Humans

A number of prominent individuals tried to ban the film by Jeff Gibbs and Michael Moore. Others berated the filmmakers for being white, male and overweight. Many thought leaders have declared they won’t watch it.

In It with Both Feet: Bellicosity Bites Australian Trade Figures

THE AUSTRALIAN CHEWING-GUM IS NOW ON THE RUSSIAN SHOE – AUSTRALIAN MINISTER ASKS LAVROV TO SAVE EXPORTS FROM CHINESE SANCTIONS; LAVROV ASKS FOR AUSTRALIAN SUPPORT TO STOP FAKE MH17 EVIDENCE IN DUTCH SHOW TRIAL

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

May 20, 2020

One day after Australia was defeated at the World Health Assembly in a joint effort with the Trump Administration to attack China, and after Beijing retaliated, calling the Australian Government a US puppet, a joke, and chewing-gum on China’s shoe, Australia has telephoned Moscow for help. In a call initiated by Foreign Minister Marise Payne (lead image, left), Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked to boost Russian imports from Australia and send more Russian tourists to the country.

Lavrov replied that Australia should stop fabricating evidence of Russian involvement in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, and withdraw from the Dutch show trial which is scheduled to resume hearings in Amsterdam next month.

Canadian War Business Report: "Business Good!"

War, famine, and pandemic in Yemen but business as usual for Canadian arms exports

by Peggy Mason - Ceasefire.ca

 
15 May 2020

Civil Society Organizations Decry Global Affairs Canada Justifications for Resumption of Arms Exports to Saudi Arabia

Photo: Ceasefire.ca (created image of Cdn/ICC flags being crushed)

Today, in an Open Letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a coalition of Canadian civil society organizations expressed deep concern regarding the analysis contained in the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) document Final Report: Review of export permits to Saudi Arabia. The government document was published in April following the announcement that the moratorium on approving new permits for military exports to Saudi Arabia would be lifted.

Covid's Cover Role in Devastating Indigenous Communities Worldwide

“COVID-19 is devastating indigenous communities worldwide, and it’s not only about health” – UN expert warns

by OHCHR

May 18, 2020

The new UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, José Francisco Cali Tzay, today expressed serious concerns over the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on indigenous peoples beyond the health threat.

“I am receiving more reports every day from all corners of the globe about how indigenous communities are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it deeply worries me to see it is not always about health issues.”

The Ten-Step Gallows: Fast-Track to Totalitarianism

10 Steps to Turn a Pandemic into the Brave New Normal

by Catte Black - OffGuardian

May 20, 2020

Now, dear reader, I know you’re not a member of an institutionally sociopathic elite caste, trying to extend your power back to the good old days of supreme monarchs ordained by God himself. But imagine you were.

Imagine you were one of the richest people to ever exist, and your vast network of wealth and influence was based on some imaginary money and the widely cultivated belief that “there is no alternative”.

Back to Abnormalacies: Covid Echoes of "Novichok" and the Skripals' Poisonings

“NOW THAT LIFE IS GETTING BACK TO NORMAL” – BACK TO THE NOVICHOK POISONERS; THE WUHAN AND WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION POISONERS TOO

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

May 17, 2020

All the well-known plague novels make the same mistake. So unexpected, inexplicable, incurable, and comprehensively lethal was the plague for those telling its story, their conclusion has been that there can be no getting back to normal.

Not so in Russia. “Over the past week”, President Vladimir Putin declared last Thursday, “we have dedicated our efforts primarily to countering the coronavirus epidemic and preparing urgent measures to support the people and the economy… now that life is getting back to normal, it is essential that we deliver in a proactive and effective manner on the strategic objectives and large-scale projects with a long planning horizon and generate momentum.”

No Mow May: Doing Nothing for the Bees and Other Pollinators

‘No Mow May’ Campaign Asks Us To Leave The Lawn Alone To Help Save Bees

by Sara Burrows - Return to Now

via Popular Resistance

May 18, 2020
 

Not mowing in May results in more flowers and nectar all summer long for struggling pollinators. Wildlife organization urges us to leave lawnmowers locked up until June.

photo: Wildflower lawn Sussex

April showers bring May flowers, and if you like food, you should leave those flowers alone.

Guaido Denials Ringing Hollow

Venezuela: Guaido’s Leadership in Question Following Failed Coup Attempt

by VenezuelAnalysis

 

May 17, 2020

A letter from Silvercorp’s lawyers demanding payment has cast doubt on Guaido’s denials of involvement in a recent paramilitary operation.

Opposition leaders have reportedly lobbied Washington to change its Venezuela policy and replace Juan Guaido as head of the anti-government bloc.

Covid Revealing a Profound Sickness at the Core of Western Society

An Illusion Of Protection: The Pandemic, The ‘Criminal’ Government And Public Distrust of The Media

by Media Lens

May 18, 2020

Any notion that the UK government actually considers that its primary responsibility is to protect the health and security of the country’s population ought to have been demolished in 2020. The appalling death toll that continues to mount during the coronavirus pandemic is largely rooted, not merely in government ‘incompetence’, but in criminal dereliction of its core duties in a supposedly democratic society.

The UK has the highest death toll in Europe, and the second highest in the world (the US has the highest). On May 12, the death toll from official UK figures exceeded 40,000 for the first time, including almost 10,000 care home residents. A study by academics at the London School of Economics estimates that the actual death toll in care homes is, in fact, double the official figure: more than 22,000.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ingmar Lee, Davide Mastracci, Janine Bandcroft May 21, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

May 21, 2020

Welcome to Gorilla Radio's continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via Skype from our home-based ... studios on this date, April 21st, 2020.

Despite floor to ceiling, seven days-a-week coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, little has been said about how those living in the more remote reaches of this country, Canada are coping.

Here in advertised, Super Natural British Columbia, thousands live far from hospitals and other amenities taken, until recently at least, as granted.

How is the extended shutdown of the economy effecting those communities, and what challenges and benefits do rural, and super-rural life present and afford in these weird times?

Ingmar Lee is a long-time BC-based environment defender, who describes himself as a "rotten, belligerent, iconoclastic, ungrateful, unrepentant, and unpleasant treehugger."

Listen. Hear.

Besides these qualities, Lee has spent a life-time investigating truth, questioning accepted wisdom, and making enemies of greedhead political fraudsters, money-grubbing business leaders, spinmeisters and the journalistic hacks at the CBC, CTV, and in the yellow press, who describe his years of dedication and accomplishments as "environmental zealotry", "eco-terrorism", and the deeds of "a raving nutcase."

Ingmar has appeared many, many times on Gorilla Radio over the past nineteen years, covering the issues those same critics chose to sacrifice on the alter of careerism.


Ingmar Lee in the first half.

And; never able to take responsibility for its ineptitude, (or criminality) America is busy today, months into the Covid-19 outbreak, poking an accusatory finger directly in the chest of China. That its blame campaign is transparently false, and the lethal combination of systemic corruption and colossal malfeasance that lay behind the growing death toll in the United States is patently obvious to almost everyone, seems not to matter to either presidential candidates, or to a media content to amplify their bilious indignation; it's an election year, afterall.

Davide Mastracci is managing editor at Passage, the Canadian online publication providing "thoughtful political, economic, and cultural ideas from a left-wing perspective." Mastracci's has previously worked at HuffPost Canada and Vice News, and has been published throughout Canada and overseas too. His recent article, 'Don’t Blame China For Your Government’s COVID-19 Failures' appears at ReadPassage.com.

Davide Mastracci and a new take on an old peril in the second half.

And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Ingmar Lee and life on the edges of a crashing society.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Resisting Canada's Security Council Ambitions

Canada does not deserve a seat on the UN Security Council

by ForeignPolicy.ca

May 19, 2020

Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage. Rather, Canada ranks among the twelve largest arms exporters and its weapons have fueled conflicts across the globe, including the devastating war in Yemen.

In a disappointing move, Canada refused to join 122 countries represented at the 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination. Ottawa has also been an aggressive proponent of the nuclear-armed NATO alliance, and currently leads coalition missions in Latvia and Iraq. 

Covid Brings Out Spain's New Old Normal: A "Minimized" Online Presence, Censorship, Paid Informants, and Far-Right Reactivism

COVID-19: Podemos, social-democrats prepare to send Spanish police against workers’ protests

by Alejandro López  - WSWS

18 May 2020

The misnamed “progressive” Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government is preparing for mass repression as it takes Spain out of lock-down, imposing the unpopular back-to-work policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez - Document warns of a 

“high probability” of growing social unrest in coming months...

This was revealed in a confidential 22-page document, “Delta Papa Order 21/20: Civil Guard Action in the Framework of the Transition Plan towards a New Normality,” signed by Lieutenant General Fernando Santafé and leaked to El Periódico last Tuesday. Santafé is the Chief of Operations Command of the Civil Guard, Spain’s paramilitary police.

Fourth Failure Leaves Guaidó's Rep in the Guano

Botched Infiltration of Venezuela Leaves Guaidó Tainted Beyond Repair

by Leonardo Flores - Common Dreams

via Venezuelanalysis

May 17, 2020

Analyst Leonardo Flores takes a look at the different pieces in the opposition's most recent coup attempt.

People of Chuao, who helped detain one of the armed groups, were 

awarded a symbolic replica of Bolivar's sword. (Vice Presidencia)

The latest chapter in the ongoing effort to overthrow the Venezuelan government reads like a bad spy thriller: a group of mercenaries piloted speedboats from Colombia to Venezuela; half of them were killed or captured by Venezuelan security forces immediately upon landing, while the other half – apparently delayed by mechanical issues with their boat – surrendered to local police and militia the next day.