Grassroots Planning

Proutistic economic planning is based on the ideal of the welfare of all. This guiding ideal will illuminate the path of socio-economic liberation for human beings. Capitalist planning is not based on collective welfare but on individual or group interests. A principal characteristic of capitalist exploitation is that capitalists gain control over the raw materials in a region in the pursuit of profit. This should not be allowed to continue. Rather, available resources must be utilized for the socio-economic development of local people.In Proutistic economic planning, every section of society will come within the scope of planning. Not only will it be possible to fulfil the economic hopes and aspirations of the local people, but individual, group or party interests will get no scope to control the economy. Through this approach, it is possible to effect the all-round growth of individuals and the collectivity. The formation of such a socio-economic environment will not only fulfil the material needs of human beings, but will also provide a firm foundation for their psychic and spiritual elevation. Those powers which directly relate to economic decentralization should be in the hands of the states or the concerned lower level bodies. If this is not done, it will not be possible for them to materialize the economic programmes that are vested in them by decentralization. So the first step in decentralized planning is to make an economic plan according to the needs of the lowest level. Economic plans and programmes should never be imposed from the top. On the contrary, there must be adequate scope for them to emerge from the grass roots. Each and every economic plan should be prepared in the concerned local area.

Shrii Prabhat R Sarkar

Retail invasion

Big Business is taking control of the supply chain in India, and there is growing unease among people who depend on retailing for livelihoods. There are about 15 million retail outlets in India. Of this, only 2 per cent are in the organised sector. In fact, 95 per cent of the outlets occupy less that 500 square feet of space. According to a recent report, prepared by McKinsey&Company;, India has the highest density of retail outlets in the world. There are about 15 outlets per 1,000 inhabitants in India, compared with four or five per 1,000 inhabitants in developed countries. Two aspects of the Indian retail scene stand out. The first is its duality - a large number of small retailers on the one hand and a small number of large outlets on the other. About 40 million people make a living from activities that come under retailing. The overwhelming portion of retail trade — 98 per cent — is through the unorganised sector, a euphemism for sales done through tiny family-owned shops, roadside eateries, kiosks at street corners, and hawkers and street vendors plying their wares on pushcarts (there are nearly half a million street vendors in urban India alone). In the language of the marketing gurus, these outlets cater to the needs of low-value, high-frequency customers. --V Sridhar

Global Warming: A Sudden Change of State

Rather than taking thousands of years to melt, as the IPCC predicts, Hansen and his team find it “implausible” that the expected warming before 2100 “would permit a West Antarctic ice sheet of present size to survive even for a century.” As well as drowning most of the world’s centers of population, a sudden disintegration could lead to much higher rises in global temperature, because less ice means less heat reflected back into space. The new paper suggests that the temperature could therefore be twice as sensitive to rising greenhouse gases than the IPCC assumes. “Civilization developed,” Hansen writes, “during a period of unusual climate stability, the Holocene, now almost 12,000 years in duration. That period is about to end.”--George Monbiot

Military `invasion'

Ayesha Siddiqa's new work on Pakistan's armed forces treads ground few have dared traverse. Pakistan's government pulled copies off bookshelves, attempted to prevent a formal launch and is reported to be considering prosecuting the author. A startling exposé of the enormous wealth that the armed forces' control of the country has brought its personnel, the book lays out in stark detail just how much profit power has brought Pakistan's uniformed rulers. --Praveen Swami

Military `invasion'

Ayesha Siddiqa's new work on Pakistan's armed forces treads ground few have dared traverse. Pakistan's government pulled copies off bookshelves, attempted to prevent a formal launch and is reported to be considering prosecuting the author. A startling exposé of the enormous wealth that the armed forces' control of the country has brought its personnel, the book lays out in stark detail just how much profit power has brought Pakistan's uniformed rulers. --Praveen Swami

Assimilation is a Double-Edged Sword for Immigrants

In an interesting study of black West Indian immigrants, Mary Waters found that "immigrants and their children do better economically by maintaining a strong ethnic identity and culture and by resisting American cultural and identity influences . . . those who resist becoming American do well and those who lose their immigrant ethnic distinctiveness become downwardly mobile . . . When West Indians lose their distinctiveness as immigrants or ethnics they become not just Americans, but black Americans."

Forever Foreigners: The American Dream Shattered

I remember like it was yesterday. Every time I would act out one of my mischievous schemes, my mother and father would quickly remind me of their sacrifice. "We came here with two suitcases -- that's it, two suitcases -- and built everything from there," were words I heard throughout childhood. But it wasn't until my teen years that I began to comprehend the scope of this incessant reminder; and more importantly, the magnitude of the selfless way in which my parents left the humble but middle-class ease of their native land so that they might raise a family in a country where their children would have the opportunity to pursue the ideals that we celebrate this week. But what these immigrants from Pakistan didn't know then was that even decades later, the land of the free and home of the brave would slam the welcome door dead in their face.--Nida Khan

White-collar Asia feels outsourcing pinch

More recently, foreign electronics- and semiconductor-producing companies have moved to lower-cost locations such as China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, forcing Singapore Inc to move up into more services and government policymakers to rethink the national economic strategy. Now the global outsourcing trend is putting pressure on white-collar jobs, including in the crucial finance and engineering industries. While the Singaporean economy is still growing outwardly at a healthy rate, the official employment figures mask a mounting loss of white-collar jobs. That includes scores of highly trained engineers, many of whom now drive taxicabs to make ends meet while they look for new employment. --David L Llorito

Supermarket Swindle: Grocery Workers' Labor Fight Is the Subject of New Documentary

Southern California grocery workers are poised for another round in their long and bitter battle with the three megachains -- Kroger, SuperValu and Safeway -- that dominate the market. Four years ago, ownership locked them out during a nasty contract dispute that dragged on for almost five months.

Climate change and class conflict

Capitalism has now reached out to envelop the whole world and it damages not only localities but the global environment on which it depends. The factory fumes causing bronchitis in working class tenements have now become greenhouses gases threatening to devastate the whole of humanity. It is precisely because this is a global problem, that those who support the system find it difficult to deal with. The drastic measures needed to reduce emissions will present opportunities for other firms and states to intrude on markets. Capitalism is in the situation of destroying the very ground on which it stands. Our futures - or at least our children's or grandchildren's futures - are also at stake.--Chris Harman

Indian Protests, Hypocrisy at US Nuclear Carrier’s Port Call

The port call of a United States nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to Chennai in southern India has provoked strong protests from a spectrum of political parties, trade unions, peace groups and environmentalists.--Praful Bidwai

Baghdad suburb residents flee after US raids

Some residents of the mainly Shia Baghdad suburb of Sadr City are fleeing their homes - apparently scared of reprisals by US troops searching the area for militants. The US raids, which started on 30 June, led to the deaths of 26 people and dozens were injured, according to government officials.

On July 4, Put Away the Flags

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed. Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?--Howard Zinn

Nigerian rebels call off truce, seek talks

A Nigerian militant group responsible for most of the attacks that have crippled the country's oil industry has called off a one-month truce, the group's spokesperson said on Wednesday. Gunmen attacked an oil rig and kidnapped five expatriates overnight, police said.

Prague: thousands protest against cuts in social programs

On Saturday, June 23, one of the largest demonstrations since the collapse of the former Stalinist regime in 1989 took place in the Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic. Approximately 35,000 people protested against the reform plans of the country’s conservative-Green Party coalition.--Markus Salzmann

Injustice in Jena as Nooses Hang From the "White Tree"

All white jury sitting before white judge agrees with white prosecutor and all white witnesses and convicts black youth in racially charged high school criminal case.--Civil rights is heading where civil liberties are heading-- into the Pentagon paper shredder. Racists will be give free rein to terrorize whom they please so as to prevent people from uniting against the Pentagon Patriot Acts. We have seen the Pentagon fueling ethnic and religious clashes all over the world. Now we will see racial clashes condoned and also instigated by the powers that be in this country. The Iraqi chickens are coming home to roost.--WPA

The “Canadian Ministers” of Hamid Karzai’s Afghan government

A reading of the “Afghanistan Compact” makes it clear that the Central Asian country is to remain a NATO protectorate for years if not decades to come, and to be dependent for its security and the financing of its government on the imperialist powers. The measures stipulated by the “Afghanistan Compact” are aimed at to creating a social, political and economic environment favourable to foreign investment and to the geo-strategic goals of the countries occupying it today.--Guy Charron

China Pressured World Bank to Cut Deadly Pollution Figures: Report

Research showing that 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year from pollution was cut from a World Bank report following pressure from Beijing, the Financial Times said Tuesday.

Iraq Comes Home: Soldiers Share the Devastating Tales of War

It gets to the point where they numb you. They numb you to death. They numb you to anything. You come back, and it starts coming back to you slowly. Now you gotta figure out a way to deal with it. In Iraq you had a way to deal with it, because they kept pushing you back out there. Keep pushing you back out into the streets. Go, go, go. Hey, I just shot four people today. Yeah, and in about four hours you're going to go back out, and you'll probably shoot six more. So let's go. Just deal with it. We'll fix it when we get back. That's basically what they're telling you. We'll fix it all when we get back. We'll get your head right and everything when we get back to the States. I'm sorry, it's not like that. It's not supposed to be like that. All the soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder, and they're like, "Hey, you're good. You went to counseling four times, you can go back to Iraq. It's OK." No. It doesn't work that way.

DePaul and the Vatican's Long Leash: Norman Finkelstein and the Catholic Church

Thus we have several interests converging in the demise of Dr. Finkelstein: the loss of autonomy of Catholic universities, the anti-liberationist position of the Church and its lining up with Western capitalist global interests and an anti-Islamic stance which harks back to a xenophobia one would have wished had disappeared from the world. Is it any wonder, then, that Dr. Finkelstein was booted from De Paul Catholic University? --Linda Brayer

Philippines election result indicates deep hostility to Arroyo government

More than seven weeks after the May 14 national elections in the Philippines, results are still to be finalised amid accusations of corruption and legal challenges. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was not facing election, but the results to date have revealed, albeit in a distorted form, continuing widespread popular opposition to her administration and its policies.--John Roberts

Keep the Uranium in the Ground

A friend had a dream while visiting Australia. She was in front of a playground; suddenly an anthill sprung up and became huge. Hordes of green ants came poring out and she became nauseated. She recounted this to her companion, an Aboriginal elder, who told her that the ants were warning her about Uranium; that it must stay underground or it would kill all the people.--Morton Skorodin

History Lesson: Imperialism and Freedom

There is a new public awareness yet a large number of unwilling people in this vast country are being driven to war to further the interests of the imperialists. There is a new consciousness in the public mind, popular unrest has gathered momentum, an explosion is inevitable. Even if the Allies win this war they can no longer deny India [Iraq] her freedom. If they try to keep her subjugated they will only be throwing out the baby with the bath water. To govern the country by driving a steamroller over the bodies of discontented people needs such an investment in manpower and wealth that the remedy will be worse than the disease. The price will not be worth it. So whether the Allies win or lose the war, imperialism has to quit India [Iraq]. Rather it would be fruitful for them if India [Iraq] were granted her freedom and some secret understanding reached with a few top leaders. In that case India [Iraq] would be reduced to a satellite of the affluent countries. It would supply the raw materials and then buy the finished goods from the factories of those countries. So, willingly or unwillingly, the imperialists have to leave India [Iraq], and they will try for a peaceful transfer of power.

Shrii Prabhat R Sarkar

A Renaissance of the Commons: How the New Sciences and Internet Are Framing A New Global Identity and Order

Yet even as FreeMarket orthodoxy dictates the scope of permissible discussion in American life, a powerful new tide is rushing in to batter the citadel. Dissenting critiques are emanating from a variety of improbable sources -- the hard sciences, behavioral economics and complexity theory, robust new types of Internet-based communities, and startling new trans-national social movements. These eclectic and evolving insurgencies do not constitute a coherent response to FMD -- yet. But look more closely, and with an open mind, and begin to connect the dots. A remarkable array of scientific discoveries, academic conceptualizations and social practices are converging around some common principles. One can discern, in fact, some deep and disruptive challenges to conventional notions of property rights, free markets, organizational hierarchy, national sovereignty and human nature.-- John Clippinger and David Bollier

BANGLADESH: Man allegedly tortured by military; police refuse to take up the case

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged torture of a man in Dhaka. He was arrested by army personnel and taken to an army camp where he was allegedly tortured and forced to sign some documents, the contents of which were not explained to him on 11 June 2007. This happened after the victim had a personal dispute with the mother of an army officer. The victim's family tried to file a complaint with the police, but the police rejected them saying they did not have jurisdiction as the army was involved.

Conference of the Slums

Poor people are not a threat to social order The real threat comes from attempts to expel them from the city. The mass arrests of the street traders and the Slums Bill are both clear indications that the city and the province are planning to deal with the poor by expelling them from the cities.

Schools grapple with how to integrate

After the Supreme Court's ruling against race-based policy Thursday, support grows for integrating schools on the basis of factors such as income level.

Nigerian delta volatile as rebel truce expires

Tentative moves by Nigeria's new government to subdue attacks on the oil industry have drawn mixed reactions from rebel factions in the Niger Delta and sporadic violence is hampering the fledgling peace process.--Estelle Shirbon

Illegal to work, but not to pay taxes

Immigration - Foreigners contribute billions to a U.S. tax system that seems all but indifferent to their legal status. Illegal immigrants pump as much as $7 billion in taxes into the Social Security trust fund each year, money that helps pay retirement and disability benefits of U.S. workers. The chances are slim that those undocumented workers will ever see a penny in retirement or other benefits. --James Mayer

The Consequences of Service, the Rewards of Greed

Why is it that those who want nothing but the betterment of our people and country are killed and forcibly disappeared while those who seek to destroy it by their greed live on in comfort and wealth? --Benjie Oliveros

Iraq: European think-tank documents occupation failure in Basra

The most significant aspect of the ICG’s prediction for Iraq—a future of warlords, militias and civil war—is that it cannot advise a course of action that would produce a different outcome. Apart from lecturing the US and British governments on the need for the various Iraqi factions to adopt “genuine political compromises and a more inclusive system”, the think-tank has nothing to say. The truth is that the longer the US occupation continues the more Iraqi people are being inflicted with ever-greater forms of barbarism.--James Cogan

China, Russia shaking economic status quo

One proposal advanced last month by the Experts' Forum of the SCO that met in Almaty, Kazakhstan, was for an Asian energy grouping - combining such producers as Russia and Kazakhstan with consumers such as China and SCO observers such as India and Pakistan. One benefit would be that under such a system hydrocarbons would not have to be exported through non-SCO countries, in essence creating a closed and secure system. Unmentioned in that conclusion was the realization that a Eurasian land network would reduce China's vulnerability to disruption of its energy supplies - which the US currently transports by sea - in the event of any clash. --Nikolas K Gvosdev