Students from 1,600 Cities Protest Climate Change

ByJanata Backup

Students from 1,600 Cities Protest Climate Change Hundreds of thousands of students around the world walked out of their schools and colleges Friday in the latest in a series of strikes urging action to address the climate crisis. According to event organisers Fridays for Future, over 1664 cities across 125 countries registered strike actions, with…

How the BJP’s Political Narrative Filled the Holes in the NDA’s Actual Performance

ByJanata Backup

How the BJP’s Political Narrative Filled the Holes in the NDA’s Actual Performance The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—and more than that, Narendra Modi—has come back with a larger mandate than what it was given by India’s voters in 2014.   At one level, this is remarkable given the economic distress all around, which should have…

CO2 Levels Hit 415 PPM for First Time in 3 Million+ Years

ByJanata Backup

CO2 Levels Hit 415 PPM for First Time in 3 Million+ Years Atmospheric levels of carbon registered 415 parts per million over the weekend at one of the world’s key measuring stations, a concentration level researchers say has not existed in more than 3 million years—before the dawn of human history.   Taken at the…

Debate: Beware Glib Explanations for Modi’s Election Victory

ByJanata Backup

Debate: Beware Glib Explanations for Modi’s Election Victory Indian elections are preceded by predictions such as either X will win with a majority, or Y will win with a majority. If neither gets a majority they will team up with other parties. It is also possible that X or Y may get less votes than…

The Yellow Vests of France: Six Months of Struggle

ByJanata Backup

The Yellow Vests of France: Six Months of Struggle I am writing you from Montpellier, France, where I am a participant–observer in the Yellow Vest (Gilets jaunes) movement, which is still going strong after six months, despite a dearth of information in the international media.   But why should you take the time to learn…

Defiant Resistance: The Venezuelan Crises and the Possibility of Another World

ByJanata Backup

Defiant Resistance: The Venezuelan Crises and the Possibility of Another World Bob Dylan once said, “Let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.” February 23rd, 2019, was the day that Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed President of Venezuela, had “authorised” “humanitarian aid” to enter Venezuela, an attempt to force the Maduro government, and…

CO2 Levels Hit 415 PPM for First Time in 3 Million+ Years

ByJanata Backup

CO2 Levels Hit 415 PPM for First Time in 3 Million+ Years Atmospheric levels of carbon registered 415 parts per million over the weekend at one of the world’s key measuring stations, a concentration level researchers say has not existed in more than 3 million years—before the dawn of human history.   Taken at the…

Capitalism Has Failed—What Next?

ByJanata Backup

Capitalism Has Failed—What Next? Less than two decades into the twenty-first century, it is evident that capitalism has failed as a social system. The world is mired in economic stagnation, financialisation, and the most extreme inequality in human history, accompanied by mass unemployment and underemployment, precariousness, poverty, hunger, wasted output and lives, and what at…

Remembering Bertolt Brecht

ByJanata Backup

Remembering Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht the playwright appears to have overshadowed his other artistic identities nearly completely, though, in truth, Brecht wore more creative hats than most other artists of his time. He was a theatre-producer, essayist, critic, novelist, short-story writer, drama theorist and film-script writer. And, above all, he was a poet. Indeed, Brecht…