December 2006 Archives

PROUT advocates a new and unique approach to decentralization based on the formation of socio-economic units throughout the world. Socio-economic units should be formed on the basis of factors such as common economic problems; uniform economic potentialities; ethnic similarities; common geographical features; and people's sentimental legacy, which arises out of common socio-cultural ties like language and cultural expression. Each socio-economic unit will be completely free to chalk out its own economic plan and the methods of its implementation. Within each socio-economic unit there will also be decentralized planning, which is called "block-level planning" in PROUT. Block-level planning boards will be the lowest level planning bodies. One political unit such as a federal or unitary state may contain a number of socio-economic units. For example, the state of Bihar in India can be divided into five socio-economic units – Angadesh, Magadh, Mithila, Bhojpuri and Nagpuri. Based on the above factors the whole of India may be divided into forty-four socio-economic units. These units must be guaranteed full freedom to achieve economic self-sufficiency through the implementation of their own economic planning and policies. If the local people in these units organize large-scale programmes for their all-round socio-economic and cultural liberation, there will be a widespread socio-economic awakening in the whole of India. Regardless of whether they are rich or poor, old or young, educated or illiterate, if the local people are inspired by anti-exploitation and universal sentiments, they will be able to start powerful movements for socio-economic liberation. When people merge their individual socio-economic interests with the collective socio-economic interest, the outflow of economic wealth from a region will cease and exploitation will be completely rooted out. The right of full employment for all local people will be guaranteed, and the employment of local people will take precedence over non-local people.

by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

The varńáshrama social system [four-caste system] did not originate in India. This weed crept into India from the north-west and, sucking all the vital juice out of the verdurous expanse of people's minds, it threatened not only to destroy their minds, but to annihilate them totally. The effects linger on. We still feel the ill effects in our innermost being, in every vein and capillary. This varnáshrama system is an ineradicable black spot on us. Ráŕh, situated at the furthest end of northern India, was also touched by this all-obliterating wave. Just as in northern India, the social discipline in Ráŕh was about to be devastated by this caste system. [Throughout northern India,] all attempts to stop the onrush of the scourge of this wave, this wave of discrimination, superiority complex and inferiority complex, with weak embankments of sand, proved futile. No one could stop it, but in Ráŕh some efforts were made. There an attempt, at least, was made to give some support to society so as to save the social edifice from the jaws of disaster. It was Smárta⁽¹⁾ Raghunandan who made this attempt through his two-caste system. This system, like the four-caste system, was defective, but the defects were not as serious as in the four-caste system. And the main thing was that, defects or not, an experiment at least was certainly made. Bankimchandra and Haraprasad Shastri appeared at a time when the people of Ráŕh and Bengal had, in confusion, forgotten their real selves; when they failed to find a link in their lives between the past and the present; and when self-recrimination was the order of the day. They came with a lamp of enlightenment in that dark age. In their literary work they both sallied forth not only with strokes of the pen and marks of ink, but also in a vital literary achievement that resonated with the loud clang of swords. Bankim and Haraprasad were Ráŕhii by lineage.

The problem facing the Palestinian leadership, as they strive to bring the millions living in the occupied territories some small relief from their collective suffering, reduces to a matter of a few words. Like a naughty child who has only to say "sorry" to be released from his room, the Hamas government need only say "We recognize Israel" and supposedly aid and international goodwill will wash over the West Bank and Gaza.

The great muckraking journalist John Pilger has produced this horrifying and ominous video that exposes the wealthy capitalists of the world along with their crimes against humanity. He focuses on the beautiful land of Indonesia, whose capital Jakarta has rows of "economic processing zones" - what the rest of us call "sweatshops," where thousands of impoverished women are paid 4 cents to make a boxer short that will be sold in western countries for $8.00. GAP and Old Navy corporations have numerous sweatshops in Jakarta, where the women are crammed together like sardines in buildings in 40 degree centigrade heat, with air conditioners reserved only for the CEOs upstairs. The women churn out thousands of boxer shorts daily, working shifts from 7:30 am to 7:30 am the following morning, and often get then just a two-hour break and resume yet another 12 hour shift. How far have we advanced since the heroic struggles of the great American woman Mother Jones who fought tooth and nail against capitalist exploiters to get better wages, health care and pensions for the slave wage workers of her time? How far have we advanced? Or have we regressed in our treatment of human beings as being nothing more than wage slaves? And when the wage is just a 4 cents, do we call them wage slaves or simply slaves? President Sukarno from power. In the 1960s then President Sukarno had protected the people of his country, keeping out multinational corporations, keeping out the U.S. corporate agents referred to as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He worked his heart out to protect the economic well-being of his people. But then in that same decade the tragic and fatal disease called economic globalization struck Indonesia when army general Suharto, aided by the United States and Britain, used nefarious means to route Sukarno from power. When Suharto took over, he brought in the US corporations who proceeded to rape the land of its vast mineral wealth, and who continue to do so in the present - while the teeming masses live in slums with no clean drinking water and dengue fever rampant due to mosquito-infested open sewers. We, the people, need to understand the unbounded crimes of the capitalists, the corporations. We need to expose their crimes every second of the day, because once the people understand why they are working for slave wages, they will cease to tolerate their wretched conditions, and they will rise up and fight this brutal beast. And once the people understand, then we need to spread the word about cooperatives - the only alternative to companies and corporations - we need to explain that cooperatives are the way out of economic hell and the only path to economic peace and stability. This is our job today. Upton Sinclair was fighting capitalism in the early 1900s, along with Mother Jones. Today John Pilger is likewise fighting capitalism by exposing their crimes against the poorest of the poor in Indonesia and elsewhere. We all need to join this fight, this march to expose the exploiters of the people. Only when capitalists have been toppled and their corporations demolished do we have a chance to build a new economy on the ashes of their corpses.

"Opponents of the project say the Left Front is using repressive means to acquire land and has resorted to brutal police methods to prevent and punish popular protests. The Front's leaders accuse the protestors of being in hand-in-glove with business houses hostile to the Tatas."

"Argues Bhaduri: "The Left, especially the CPM, seems to be buying into the neo-liberal logic, which allows the market to be organised and its rules set not by socially accountable institutions like elected governments, but by corporations.""

NEW DELHI (IPS) - India's mainstream Left parties, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), are getting into an ugly confrontation with civil society groups and classes that are part of their own core constituency in the state of West Bengal, which they have ruled for three long decades.

Editor's note: Freedom of thought is under attack if not suppressed in several nations around the world, including in Western Europe, once a shelter for intellectual freedom but now abandoning that legacy, and in certain countries strongly influenced by religious dogmas. Below is a statement of academic rights that should be considered in order to protect students and intellectuals from persecution and restrictions on genuine intellectual liberty. Proutist Universal has no list of demands of its own at the current time in this regard but two of its departments, the Universal Proutist Intellectual Federation and Universal Proutist Student Federation, do in principle support academic freedom. This includes the right to debate facts surrounding the Holocaust as well as religious beliefs like the caste system or spiritual rights of women but also any historical, scientific, or other ideas or facts. Truth should prevail.

"The Tehran conference was touted by participants and organizers as an exercise in academic freedom and a chance to openly consider whether 6 million Jews really died in the Holocaust, away from Western taboos and the restrictions imposed on scholars in Europe, where some countries have made it a crime to deny the Nazi genocide during World War II."

"As suggested by a number of human rights scholars, the United Nations must initiate a project to rethink and reformulate the conception of human rights, taking into account the different philosophies that share this planet."

Fifty-eight years after the universal declaration of human rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the debate continues as to whether the document is truly universal.

Upon its adoption on Dec. 10, 1948, former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the commission on human rights, expressed her hope it would become "the Magna Carta of all mankind." Ironically, as was the fate with the "great charter" of 1215, the declaration has not fully lived up to its name.

The declaration was challenged from its very inception. The commission's first draft attracted 168 amendments from various countries. However, the final document was almost unchanged from the initial draft tabled by the commission. Forty-eight countries voted in favour, while eight countries -- Poland, Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, the Ukraine, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union -- abstained and expressed reservations.

The conflicting views on the declaration have become more pronounced recently as human rights take a more central role in international and domestic forums. The critics of the current international human rights standards range from cultural relativists and Islamists to proponents of Asian values. They contend the existing international human rights regime is deeply influenced by the western experience. The spotlight on the individual, the focus on rights divorced from duties, the emphasis on legalism to secure these rights and the greater priority given to civil and political rights are all hallmarks of the western bias. In contrast, the Asian (including Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Hindu, etc.) and Islamic conceptions would emphasize community, duties to one another and society and some even place greater emphasis on economic, social and cultural rights.

On the roots of "neoconservativism" and the ascendence to power in U.S. foreign policy of those with the psychology of primitive brutes and belief that force solves all problems

"In repudiating the "rational humanism" of the liberal internationalists she gave voice to what may be called the Hobbesian impulse in US foreign policy an insistence that brute power and not human reason establishes political legitimacy."

Jeane Kirkpatrick, Ronald Reagan's envoy to the UN, died [recently] at 80. She picked a graceful moment to exit, the day after the Iraqi Study Group announced its recommendations, signaling, we are told, the return of realist reason to the Republican Party. In the coming days, expect eulogies that will compare Kirkpatrick's diplomatic philosophy favorably to the neocon delusion that convinced Bush to believe he could lead a global crusade to "rid the world of evil." Kirkpatrick did after all lambaste Democrats in the early 1980s for believing the US could be "world's mid-wife" to democracy. "No idea," she complained, "holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the belief that it is possible to democratize governments, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances." But don't believe the hype, for the righteousness that underwrote Kirkpatrick-style realism easily bleeds into the kind of blinkered moralism that so excites the neocons.

In Santiago on September 11, 1973 I watched as Chilean air force jets flew overhead. Moments later I heard explosions and saw fireballs of smoke fill the sky as the presidential palace went up in flames. Salvador Allende, the elected Socialist president of Chile died in the palace.

"The economies of all of the countries are oriented towards exporting to the United States and Europe and towards competing with each other, which stands in the way of true integration," said Lander.

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (IPS) - The second summit of the South American Community of Nations is facing several major challenges: the integration of physical and energy infrastructure for the development of the region, overcoming the high levels of inequality and poverty, and recognising and encouraging the diverse cultural identities of the region's population.

CHERTHALA, Kerala, (IPS/IFEJ) - Lulled by social indices that compare with the developed world's and tourist brochures that gush over 'God's Own Country', the deaths of 125 people from an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya, has come as a reality check for people in this southern state.

Statesman News Service, KOLKATA/ KRISHNANAGAR, Dec. 9 - Miss Mamata Banerjee has appealed to the people of Bengal to join mass fasting tomorrow to commemorate seven days of fasting by members of Singur Krishi Jami Banchao Committee.

She said the mass fasting will begin tomorrow from 10 a.m. in the morning. "I'm appealing to the people to join us in mass fasting tomorrow and arrangement will be made near our stage so that people can sit for mass fasting. You may fast for four hours or six hours depending on your health. The fast will continue till 8 p.m.," she said.

Editor's note: Judging by its actions in the state of Oaxaca as well as its failure to ensure healthy standards of living for its citizens, the Mexican government has clearly not yet entered the ranks of civilization. In our opinion, the United Nations should censure it for its crack-down in Oaxaca and people around the world consider boycotting Mexican goods until freedom of speech and person are restored.

"The form in which the government is carrying out the operation to do away with the movement makes it apparent that it is not only an operation, but a spectacle of repression meant to cause psychological trauma and a widespread fear to prevent further uprising."

Amongst Flames of Resistance, Came Death, Torture and a Movement Forced into Hiding

Latin Americas' "dirty war" of the 70s and 80s has reemerged in its most blatant form in the case of Oaxaca, Mexico in the final days of November.

What sort of treatment have women received so far? It is very true that women have gradually lost their rights or freedom in certain cases due to lack of competence. There are those who think that, because of this, special abilities are the only criteria for having rights. Such people, however, actually want women to be wageless slaves under the strict supervision of men. But is it merely due to their lack of competence that women have lost their rights? Have not the overflowing sentiments of their hearts also been partly responsible? Have not women, swayed by their emotions, ignored their own petty interests and gradually given everything - even the high social status that fascinates them - to their husbands, sons and brothers? Is it not reasonable to expect human beings (certainly human beings are not animals) to pay proper respect to such humility and large-heartedness? If a guest arrives unexpectedly, who volunteers to forgo a meal to feed the guest? Who deprives herself first when a delicious dish is prepared? Who leaves home to keep house for others, giving up her paternal property rights (regardless of what the law says)? Are not these observations applicable throughout most of the world? I do not say that men are ordinary human beings and that women are angels; I have only focused on women as human beings and mentioned their special qualities. Does a husband, when his wife is ill, nurse her with as much care as she nurses him when he is ill?

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 3 - President Hugo Chávez was re-elected in a landslide on Sunday night, as voting tallies poured in from throughout the country. But representatives of the opposition candidate contended that the results were tainted by irregularities.

With 78 percent of the votes counted, Mr. Chávez was ahead with 61 percent, compared with 38 percent for Manuel Rosales, the governor of Zulia State, Venezuela's electoral council said late Sunday night as it declared Mr. Chávez the winner. Thousands of supporters filed into the streets around Miraflores, the president palace downtown, to hear Mr. Chávez deliver a victory speech in the rain.

"Long live the socialist revolution!" Mr. Chávez yelled to the crowd, pumping his fist in the air. His supporters, many of them dancing, reacted by chanting, "Ooh-ah, Chávez isn't leaving!"

Germany has paid enough for implementing the Holocaust, and Israel has been given enough special treatment by that country in reparation, say 25 German academics.

In a petition published Wednesday in the Frankfurter Rundschau, the academics - described as highly influential professors on the payroll of the German government - said it was time their country embraced the Palestinian Arabs as much as it has embraced the Jews.

The ramifications of the Holocaust had resulted in much suffering among the "Palestinians" and Germany was therefore also bound to stand with them and not just with Israel.

Failure to do so, the petitioners warned, could lead to unrest among the German people. (Source: http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1383)

Russia has protested about plans by Estonia to criminalise displays of Soviet symbols.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said it was "blasphemous" to equate the hammer and sickle with Nazi emblems.

The Estonian government has put a bill before parliament calling for fines or jail terms of up to three years for those who display such symbols.

"Globally, the race to the bottom is gathering momentum. U.S. corporations export jobs to Mexico to cash in on cheap labor. In no time at all, though, tens of thousands of Mexicans lose their jobs to Asians who will sweat for less."

So who is surprised construction workers are treated worse than dogs in the United Arab Emirates?

Who is surprised to find migrant workers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh building skyscrapers for just 10% of the average UAE wage of $2,106 per month?

Who is surprised to read a Human Rights Watch(HRW) report showing employers' illegally holding back wages for months, withholding passports as "security" so workers can't quit, and allowing recruiters charge shyster fees?

Who is surprised a 1980 UAE minimum wage law has never been enforced?

Who is surprised HRW found "there is no public record of a single case where it (the government) has penalized an employer with fines or imprisonment for failing to pay wages, or any other breaches of the labor law?"

Who is surprised the bodies of 880 construction workers from the Indian sub-continent nations cited above were shipped home in caskets in 2004 alone? (That's a death rate comparable to annual U.S. troop losses in Iraq.)

The British Parliament - the Upper House or the House of Lords and the Lower House or the House of Commons - has its seat in the capital of Great Britain, that is, in London. When English became the official language of Great Britain, the Welsh and Scottish languages lost their recognition. Nowadays, as a result of so many movements, the Welsh language is taught only at the primary stage, and the Scottish language has not as yet been recognized. That is, people in these countries have to read English, although English is not their natural tongue.

If Big Pharma [large medical drug production corporations - eds.] cared one iota about the unborn fetus, at a bare minimum, it would call off its hired-guns traveling around the country peddling SSRI [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - eds.] antidepressants to pregnant women by convincing doctors to prescribed the drugs and ignore the studies and FDA warnings that say SSRIs are associated with serious birth defects.

Less than a month ago, on October 16, 2006, the first lawsuit in the nation was filed against GlaxoSmithKline in which an infant charges that his life-threatening lung disorder was caused by exposure to the SSRI Paxil in the womb during his mother's pregnancy.

Eric Jackson was born in Denver, Colorado on October 28, 2004, with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a condition in which the infant's arteries to the lungs remain constricted after birth and limit the amount of blood flow to the lungs and oxygen in the bloodstream.

Immediately after birth Eric had to be placed on a ventilator and eventually had to be placed on an oscillating ventilator for a month.

In his 2 short years on earth, Eric has undergone two cardiac catherizations, and another procedure to combat gastral reflux caused from being on a ventilator for so long. Since birth, he has remained on oxygen and medications to help him breathe and he continues to suffer with eating and digestive problems.

Editor's note: Read more about the Soviet Communist Party's genocidal starvation campaign in the Ukraine at:

A row of emaciated Ukrainian children stare out of a photograph. Their gaunt faces are full of despair and their bodies are little more than skeletons.

It is one of many images being shown on Ukrainian television in the run-up to Memorial Day, which is being held this weekend to mark the Soviet-era famine.

It was one of the bleakest moments in Ukraine's history. The famine which happened between 1932 and 1933 killed up to 10 million people.

It is widely believed to have been caused by the actions of the communist regime. The harvest was confiscated and people starved to death.

TEHRAN, Nov 27 (IPS) - Iranian officials have scorned the labelling of this country by a journalists' rights watchdog as one of the world's 13 Internet 'black holes' and said they will continue to protect what they claim are the morals of society.

"Before voting earlier Sunday in the coastal city of Guayaquil, [billionaire] Noboa read a passage from the Bible in the midst of a mob of supporters pushing to touch him. He then fell to his knees, asking God for his support and saying all he wanted was "to serve, to serve, to serve" the poor."