Editorial, "MERRY CHRISTMAS OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS" in 31 December 2021 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD, Vol. 17, Part 2, No. 24 issue

 MERRY CHRISTMAS OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS

or "Winterval" all involve the celebrations for the most cherished Christian festival – Christmas – which Dr. Paul Craig Roberts describes as flowing “from the teaching that God so values the individual's soul that he sent his son to die so we might live,” and rued that in the present trend of modernization and supposed secularization it is becoming “more difficult to find a Christmas card that says "Merry Christmas" instead of "Seasons Greetings", though “Americans have a huge stake in Christianity.” But Stephen Lendman preferred to extend greetings for the "Happy Holiday season" though he also noted Christmas celebrations. Wikpedia informs us that the “…name "Winterval" was originally coined in 1986 in Cardiff, by Mike Johnson (Bayfolk) to describe the concept of a "Winter Festival" which filled that socially blank "Interval" following the Christmas and New Year Festivities and offered a platform to local artistes and performers, thus re-booting the spirits and kickstarting the new year,” that it was a "portmanteau of winter and festival", explained by Birmingham City Council's Head of Events (so celebrated only for two years or so), Mike Chubb – “…we needed a vehicle which could cover the marketing of a whole season of events... Diwali (the Festival of Lights), Christmas Lights switch-on, …… Chinese New Year, New Year's Eve, etc. Also, a season that included theatre shows … the Frankfurt Open-air Christmas Market and the Christmas seasonal retail offer. Christmas … and its celebration lay at the heart of Winterval. Political correctness was never the reasoning behind Winterval, but yes, it was intended to be inclusive – ... no bad thing to my mind – and a brand to which other initiatives could be developed as part of the Winterval offer…” However, conservatives everywhere decry this "secularization" and "non-saying of" "Merry Christmas" as a concerted effort of the "political correctness" protagonists and that gradual de-Christianization of the Western societies is central to their theme and activities. Trump made much [profit] of this hullabaloo, and reintroduced the "Merry Christmas" greetings from the White House – which the current incumbent, his Dem rival, Biden too seems to continue to an extent. "Happy Holidays" is another greeting for the season, generally used by the liberal left and democrats in the US, and is castigated as a "liberal aggression against traditional values" by the conservatives. Whatever be the melee in the West, we opine that the terms/greetings “Happy Holidays” or “Winterval” form a larger set with “Merry Christmas” as its major subset, and have no compunction in extending hearty “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Diwali”, “Id Mubarak” and “Happy New Year!” greetings to all people in this “Happy Holidays” season. §§§

Editorial, "JULIAN ASSANGE ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY," in 15 December 2021 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD, Vol. 17, Part 2, No. 23 issue

 JULIAN ASSANGE ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

was quite unlucky as the Appellate High Court in U.K. reversed the judgment of the District Judge Ms. Baraister who opined that Assange’s mental condition was such that it would be “oppressive to extradite him because of the harsh conditions in which he was likely to be detained” and discharged him on that lone ground; however, she rejected all the other grounds he raised that – “i) The US-UK Extradition Treaty forbids extradition for political offences with the consequence that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case; ii) The allegations …… did not meet the dual criminality test found in section 137 of the 2003 Act; iii) Extradition would be unjust or oppressive by reason of the passage of time pursuant to section 82 of the 2003 Act; iv) Extradition is barred by reason of extraneous considerations by virtue of section 81(a) and (b) of the 2003 Act; v) Extradition is barred by section 87 of the 2003 Act because it would breach the Convention by violating article 6 (denial of a fair trial), article 7 (expose Mr Assange to a novel and unforeseeable extension of US law) and article 10 (right to freedom of expression). The judge concluded that she did not need to decide an argument that extradition would expose him to treatment contrary to article 3 of the Convention given her conclusion on section 91; vi) The extradition request is an abuse of process because it proceeds on a misrepresentation of the facts and because the prosecution is being pursued for an ulterior political motive and is not brought in good faith.” The appellate Court opined that – “the DJ, having decided that the threshold for discharge under section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003 was met, ought to have notified the USA of her provisional view, to afford it the opportunity to offer assurances to the court; and b. the USA has now provided the United Kingdom with a package of assurances which respond to the DJ’s specific findings.” – the court rejected various criticisms of those assurances, and was satisfied that “the assurances [no vengeful treatment, fair trial, if convicted opportunity of transfer to Australian prisons, etc.] were sufficient to meet the concerns which led to the DJ’s decision. The court therefore allowed the appeal and ordered that the case must be remitted to Westminster Magistrates’ Court with a direction that a DJ send the case to the Secretary of State, who will decide whether Mr Assange should be extradited to the USA.” Well, in this case freedom of speech and expression is in grave danger as Assange is persecuted for mere publication of details of US-NATO war crimes [amounting to crimes against humanity]. Very sad that on this Human Rights Day (10-12-2021) the Court facilitated his extradition to the U.S. for facing charges which could keep him in jail for 175 years! Though a further appeal is open to him, ultimately it is popular pressure and agitation the world over that can avert this catastrophe. §§§

Editorial, "DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM IS THE ONLY WAY," in 30 November 2021 special issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD, Vol. 17, Part 2, No. 22 issue

 

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM IS THE ONLY WAY

The Corona Pandemic, and the consequent authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies manifesting in almost all countries of the world in the name of containing the same, once again bring forth the imperative need of systems and values of democratic socialism in the world not only to efficiently contain such pandemics but also defeat the nefarious schemes of world capitalists to gain undue advantage from this gory situation. It is to be noted that whereas the masses of people everywhere are suffering acutely due to the combined impact of the pandemic and related unemployment, business and industry losses and market crises, etc. the number of billionaires in the world has not only multiplied but their incomes and assets have grown enormously in this critical period. Some interesting studies by institutions like Charity Oxfam reveal that “Billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their wealth soar during the COVID-19 pandemic while the world’s poor face years of hardship, charity Oxfam said on Monday as it demanded steps to tackle inequality.” Reuters has caustically commented that “COVID-19 has unleashed an economic storm that hit the poor and vulnerable hardest, with women and marginalized workers facing the worst of job losses and the World Bank warning more than 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty.” And then there may be some truth in the alleged ‘conspiracy theories’ castigating the Corona Crisis itself as manmade – by the political and economic elite who have gained immense powers and profits abusing this calamity. Developed countries like the USA and of the European Union, etc. could devise some schemes to reach succor to the ordinary people too in this crisis, bowing down to pressures of public opinion, but the weal and woes of the poor and even middle classes of developing and poor countries like ours are unmitigated and people’s plights left to the mercies of their ‘Karma’ (fate) in general. When even the United States is contemplating imposition of some additional taxes on the super-rich to bail out the people from such crises, why not we also severely take to task the greedy super rich profiteers in our country too? On the contrary, we see even the age-old public sector industries and institutions are grossly neglected and sought to be handed over on a platter to Adanis and Ambanis in the name of liberalization, efficiency in management, etc. – this in effect further enriching the super-rich at the cost of deprivation – even to the extent of hunger and imminent starvation deaths – of the masses of the poor people and ruin of middle-income groups. In this background, we once again assert that our people should not succumb to the evil designs, election bribes and other temptations by the privileged classes and persons, but earnestly strive for the achievement of democratic socialism which is the only way to remedy the socio-economic ills afflicting our society. §§§

Editorial, "WHO KILLED VIVEKA?" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 November 2021, Vol. 17, Part 2, No. 21 issue

 

WHO KILLED VIVEKA?

This question has again shot up recently with CBI investigation into the case – directed by the AP High Court allowing the petitions of Viveka’s wife Sowbhagya and daughter Dr. Suneetha Reddy – speeding up with some significant breakthroughs; especially revelations in the confessional statement of Dastagiri, Viveka’s car driver, have rattled the people at large. As per the general guess, the murder was an insider job, planned and executed by close relatives and known persons. Viveka was in general an amiable and mild-mannered person but was given to furious outbursts and harsh deeds at times. In the 2011 by-election, while Viveka was still in the Congress as Sonia’s protégé, he not only contested for the Pulivendula Assembly seat against his sister-in-law Vijayamma, but even challenged her in an indecent manner – such things are not generally taken lightly, never forgotten or forgiven in relatives circles, especially in the factionist regions of Rayalaseema. Earlier once Jagan, his nephew, had demanded Viveka to resign his MP seat, and had physically assaulted him too. And then, the ugly [extra-legal] settlements deals Viveka and others were carrying out in Bangalore, etc. and the crores of rupees worth properties/ commissions disputes etc. in that regard with relatives and confidants – all these, exacerbated by the fiery duel he had with another nephew Avinash Reddy for the Kadapa Parliamentary seat and the rumors of his decision to join TDP and take revenge (as at that time Jagan was not in power and his party was not that confident of winning the elections even) in that way, had a sort of ‘multiplier effect’ on the relatives cherishing inimical feelings against him and resulted in this 3½ hours long agonizing fatal ordeal. Gangi Reddy, Krishna Reddy, Umashankar Reddy, Naveen Yadav and Dastagiri are named as the accused in the chargesheet filed by CBI; but, surely, Avinash Reddy (Kadapa M.P.), Dr. Abhishek Reddy and others, including the CI and Constable present, who deliberately caused much evidence to disappear by cleaning the blood spilt and erasing other clues, may also be joined/will have to be joined as co-accused soon – either by the CBI or by the trial Court; but the million dollar question is whether this will not spring up to reach the very top – Jagan the CM even. In our opinion, that depends ultimately on the Jagan-Shah equations; on Jagan’s concessions/surrender to the ruling BJP party, etc. May or may not be so – but all this mess, the ugly degeneration of ‘democratic’ politics, is quite revolting, unbearable and unpardonable at any cost. §§§