https://mailchi.mp/4f373a8b0b42/hindus-for-human-rights-celebration-of-hope-gala-10140756?e=92f3be0cc3

HfHR Caught in Crosshairs of Disinformation Campaign by the Indian Government
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/10/india-the-disinfo-lab-discredit-critics/
We are highlighting this critical Washington Post exposé that demands your attention. Uncovering a right-wing platform's systematic efforts to silence anti-Hindutva voices, this report provides an in-depth look at the challenges facing organizations like Hindus for Human Rights. This revealing piece not only sheds light on the systematic smear campaigns, intimidation tactics, and fruitless attempts to silence voices against Hindutva ideology, but also underscores the growing discomfort of the Hindu right towards advocates of peace and human rights.

Letter to the U.S. Senate on Transnational Repression
https://www.hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/yyhkx1xnid76cs6k0n25z6gnytdpyf

Secret Indian Memo Exposes a Covert Crackdown Against Sikhs in North America
https://theintercept.com/2023/12/10/india-sikhs-leaked-memo-us-canada/
In an alarming revelation, The Intercept's latest article (https://theintercept.com/2023/12/10/india-sikhs-leaked-memo-us-canada/) exposes a secret Indian government memo detailing a crackdown on Sikh diaspora organizations. This significant piece provides evidence that, if validated, proves that the Indian government targeted specific activists, including the Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar and could confirm the stunning announcement made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in late September.

Are India’s Elections Free and Fair?  https://thewire.in/politics/are-indias-elections-free-and-fair M.G. Devasahayam  11-12-23

aggressive mind management and media manipulation in Indian elections. This perception, however, is not solely attributed to Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) doubts but also underscores deeper issues within India’s flawed electoral system, particularly the First Past the Post (FPTP) system

After the election, the Association for Democratic Reforms and Common Cause moved the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of the low mandate, alleging that there had been serious discrepancies between the number of voters in different constituencies and the number of votes counted. These discrepancies, totalling 739,104 votes, were in 347 out of 542 constituencies and range from one vote to 101,323 votes, amounting to 10.49% of the total votes. The case has not even been listed so far, and there has been no response from the Election Commission (EC) on the allegation of fraud in India’s electoral system.

The main issues :

The EVM issue

Integrity and inclusiveness of the electoral rolls

Electronic voting [EVM/VVPATs] and its compliance with democracy principles

Criminalisation, money power, and electoral bonds

Scheduling and processes of elections and compliance of Model Code of Conduct

The role of media

EC’s autonomy and its functioning before, during, and after elections

How Serious is India's Personal Loan Explosion? | Thomas Franco Dec 8, 2023

Thomas Franco, former general secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), looks at the recent RBI circular asking banks to be cautious about personal loans. He also discusses other loans, and shares insights based on the loan break-up among industry, households and individuals.

Woman Jailed Over 'Maoist Links' Miscarries a Week After Court Dismisses Medical Bail Plea https://thewire.in/rights/anita-aazad-prabha-kushwaha-miscarriage-jail-medical-bail-maoist-link  The UP Anti-Terrorist Squad had on October 18 arrested Anita Aazad alias Prabha and her husband and fellow activist Brijesh Kushwaha, more than four years after the couple had been questioned for suspected Maoist links. While the police did not arrest the couple in 2019 for want of physical evidence, Kushwaha and Prabha were arrested in October on the basis of examination and data extraction of electronic devices seized from them four years ago.

Prabha alleged that the doctor treating her inside the prison did not show the required urgency to send her to the district hospital for treatment when she suffered abdomen pain. “It is entirely the doctor’s fault,” she said, adding that spotting (a term for vaginal bleeding) had started on Friday night but she was taken to the district hospital only on Saturday evening.

भारतीय इतिहास में मदरसों की अहमियत https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23MqQQ885Os 

NewsClickin  Dec 10, 2023 हाल ही में केंद्रीय मंत्री गिरिराज सिंह ने बिहार सरकार से 'गैर कानूनी' मदरसों को बंद करने की मांग की है। उत्तर प्रदेश में मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ की सरकार लगातार मदरसों की जांच कर रही है। क्या रहा है भारत में मदरसों का इतिहास और इसके बारे में जानना क्यों ज़रूरी है? इसी विषय पर 'इतिहास के पन्ने' में वरिष्ठ पत्रकार Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay बात कर रहे हैं स्वतंत्र पत्रकार एवं researcher Abhay Kumay से

(Refaat Alareer, Palestinian poet, one of the founders of the We Are Not Numbers project and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed yesterday (Dec 7)  in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and her four children.)


If I must die - Refaat Alareer
           
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story,
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye,
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze
- and bid no one farewell
not even to his own flesh
not even to himself –
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above,
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love.
If I must die,
let it bring hope,
let it be a tale.

(Refaat Alareer, one of the founders of the We Are Not Numbers project and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed Decenber 7 2023  in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and her four children.)

We no longer need the Cop circus – technology and markets are already solving the climate crisis https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/05/cop28-circus-technology-markets-solve-climate-crisis/ Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 5 December 2023

Lessons from the past: Interview with Com. Thangappan on struggle strategies, leadership and future of working class movement  https://www.cec-india.org/libpdf/1485753435Lessons%20from%20the%20past_%20Interview%20with%20Com.pdf
Posted on January 30, 2017 by Thozhilalar Koodam

Adapting New Strategies
Earlier workers were in joint families and they s upported each other, neighbours will help you out, unions might help out as well. Workers will go back to native place and live. That kind of thing is not there anymore.
For example the education cost of the children have gone up considerably, the monthly cost of the workers is high, even if for one month the workers don’t get salary, it is very difficult. They would have taken credit outside and that has to be paid up. So workers capacity for enduring long struggle is far too less.
The forms of struggle evolve from the conditions at the time and place and what the workers are able to come together in agreement. For example, Gherao movement that emerged in west Bengal in the 1960s, was not the brainchild of any one leader, but the outcome of situation at that time. Indefinite strikes and bandhs were very
popular and effective in the 70s but employers found a way to defeat these methods.

We should be innovative and find strategies that will force the employers to concede. If not, a union should have huge financial strength to carry on a long strike which is impossible. We should have such discussion. These debates are important to evolve our strategies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKn2SPGOUkc 

BJP Ki Jeet | हैट्रिक का मिथक और आंकड़ों का सच | Yogendra Yadav: Busting the Hat-trick Myth

by Yogendra Yadav

4/12/2023