Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Power of mass protests shock Indian regime
Struggle against brutal army oppression intensifies The people of Kashmir are under siege. The Indian occupation forces have imposed round- the- clock curfews and severe restrictions on civilians’ movement. As a result, they have no access to the basic necessities of life, including healthcare. They have been living in a perpetual state of uncertainty, insecurity…
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Police Batons in the service of the Corporates
Police disperse striking workers ; allow the company to declare an illegal lock-out It should come as no surprise that the police joined hands with a company management to put down the genuine protest by workers. The workers were merely demanding their basic rights of 8 hour work-day and an association that could represent them…
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Condition of Agarbatti Workers in Bangalore
The incense stick (or popularly known as Agarbatti in India) used in every devout Hindu households for religious purposes, is today a highly marketed commodity both in India & abroad. But not much thought seems to have gone into how these agarbattis are produced or manufactured. With limited infrastructure such as a wooden board, availability…
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Garment Industry :Special Exploitation Zone
The garment industry in Bangalore with about 1200 registered units employing over a half a million workforce and one of the biggest sources of exports in the country, but hardly is there any mention in the media on the living and working conditions of the workers who are the real makers of some of the …
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Anti-Biotic Superbug Scandal: People’s Misery is Capitalists Profit
The recent news (11th August,2010) on a study published by Lancet Infectious Diseases (“Emergence of a new antibiotic resistant mechanism in India, Pakistan and the UK: a molecular, biological and epidemiological study” by Karthikeyan K Krishnasamy et.al) on a drug resistant bacterial gene, the so called super bug, named New Delhi metallo – beta –…
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Cuba: Threat of capitalist restoration
New pro-capitalist measures introduced by Raul Castro In September 2010 the Cuban government announced a series of economic “modernisations”. Among the most significant of these was the proposal to slash 500,000 jobs in the state sector by March 2011 as a first step to reducing employment by 1 million. Licenses are to be issued by…
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Is Red Plenty possible?
The planned economy and the struggle for socialism Red Plenty, by Francis Spufford, mixes fact and fiction to describe post-second world war Russia. The author sets out to expose Stalinist mismanagement and authoritarian rule – and, by extension, any notion of socialist planning. Inadvertently, however, he also shows the great potential of socialism – if…
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Kashmir in flames again: Complete shutdown for more than a month
Kashmir is aflame again amid a renewed outpouring of popular, non-violent, revolt against India’s military occupation. Kashmiris are out in streets, bringing the Valley to a complete shutdown for more than a month. Despite a curfew and military crackdown, the current political revolt is rapidly developing into a mass movement, resurrecting the memories of Kashmir…
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Release the arrested trade union leaders
Stop terrorising the workers movement Azam Janjua, organiser TURCP Islamabad and vice president PWFP The four leaders of a cement factory in Lucky Marwat have been arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act on 19th September in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province. The police have registered a case against 21 union leaders and activists. The police are trying to…
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Kashmir: An eyewitness to oppression in the valley
“A PARADISE turned into hell”. That’s how the people who live there describe Indian occupied Kashmir. Monday 13 September saw 18 people, mainly young men, mown down by some of the 700,000 soldiers in the Indian army who occupy Kashmir. Further attacks mean that well over 100 people have been killed in just over 100 days…
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