Making Russia relevant again

~ Venki ~ Leave a comment

Vladimir Putin couldn’t have asked for better advertisement of his might than the one happening in the US now. For the first time since the beginning of the end of the USSR in the early 1980s, has Russia felt so much superior. So, what is this drama all about? Why are parties so eager to talk about Russia? Why make Russia so relevant again? What has driven this frenzy of fear mongering? I will break this down to the best of my understanding.

To understand this, we have to start with the collapse of the USSR. Michael Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin were all part of the communist party before the breakdown of the USSR. It is a very well known fact that Michael Gorbachev rushed into the process under the behest of the American government under both Ronald Reagan and George.H.W.Bush. It was a victory of years of American propaganda against communism. However, for people of Russia it was a partition poorly executed move. The NATO political engine run the US government was at the helm of affairs driving this collapse. This was the first major discontent for Russians after the fall of the communist regime.

It followed by the election of Boris Yeltsin, a very well known American puppet. Both the Republican Party under George Bush Sr. and the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton, were instrumental in getting Boris Yeltsin elected two times. Talking of collusion, that was a true act of collusion by the American Government. There are enough pieces of evidence in the public domain on this. This was the second major setback in the relationship between the two countries strictly caused by the actions of the US government.

Out of this chaos comes Vladimir Putin, the man who would have been a perfect accomplice for Joseph Stalin. He did what the US has been doing against Russia for decades. He started a propaganda machine against the influence of the US government in Russia. He started ruling by wielding his power and spreading fear. Considering how the economy of Russia has been dismantled and what the US has done to them and other countries across the globe, he didn’t have far to go. He has been waiting like a hawk for the opportunity to establish his might.

So, what is Donald Trump’s connection to Russia. Donald Trump has been a rich, spoilt man-child since very early days. Some of his interviews from 80s onwards are available in YouTube for people to view and judge. He has been meddling with the legal system for his personal gains all along. For all his talk of surrounding himself with not so smart people, he has always ensured he has the services of some astute business thinkers to guide his business. Trump success with this approach has been quite phenomenal. A similar act of his was to get money from Russia to invest in his properties globally and also reciprocating the same in Russia. It was a case of aiding money laundering. All of a sudden for people in Putin’s government, here is an opportunity to invest in places where they otherwise can’t. This has already been confirmed by the idiot sons of Trump from their interviews in 2007-2008. These are secret transactions that generally don’t get revealed. However, for Donald Trump and his sons, who take pride in doing shady activities which test legal and moral boundaries, this was an achievement worth the pride.

Moving on to the US elections of 2016, did Russia actually meddle with the election? The answer is possible but there is no evidence of their influence actually changing the result. Donald Trump’s willingness to not antagonise Russia was the only sane part of his otherwise despicable and insane campaign. There is definitely enough evidence to suggest Russsian government under Putin, wanted to get Trump elected but that doesn’t mean they hacked the voting machines and changed votes. The election of Trump was a result of factors I have already explained in another blog.

So, why is Trump worried? The US government has spends decades in spreading fear and hatred towards Russia. Even a neutral view is perceived unacceptable for most of the mainstream politicians. The ongoing investigation might reveal Donald Trump’s business ties with Russia and the favours they traded. This could turn out to be counter productive to Donald Trump’s political future. For Russia, having Trump at the helm means reduced sanctions, global acceptance, political favours and investments. Trump will do it to prevent Russia from revealing his business ties with them.

 Should rest of the world or even the US Citizens be worried? My thought on this is opposite to the mainstream media. I feel this could be the only positive aspect of Trump’s presidency. He will not go into a war against the will of Russians. He will stop NATO forces from threatening Russia. It will prevent another Cold War and a resultant arms race. This is better for the world and the US. For Russia however, it is a mixed bag. On the positive side, this will get investments into the country which has currently dried significantly. It will open up markets for their exports. The down side to this is Vladimir Putin is going to be more powerful than today. That might not the best situation for people fighting for liberation, true democracy,  freedom of speech and human rights in Russia.

What should the Democratic Party do? The US Democratic Party has been talking about Russia and collusion more like the Cold War  times. They haven’t done anything to help the people of the US. While their actions might help them with keeping Trump distracted and getting into his nerves, it won’t help them win elections. It is a strategy that can easily backfire. They need to show evidences to the people by enacting people friendly policies, holding Trump accountable and building grassroot progressive movements. Banking on Trump’s failure for their success is what Hilary did and it caused her downfall. They will repeat the same mistake at their own peril.

My tribute to Liu Xiaobo

~ Venki ~ 1 Comment

The great Liu Xiaobo is no more. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate who took on the mighty totalitarian political regime in China succumbed to medical complications at the age of 61. For people with a rebellious streak, Liu represented the fight for liberty, freedom and extreme courage. For me, he was the peaceful version of Che Guevera. I am using the verses of the famous tamil rebel poet Subramaniya Bharathi as a tribute for Liu.

“தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று – பல
சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி – மனம்
வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று – பிறர்
வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து – நரை
கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி – கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் – பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே – நான்
வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?
நின்னைச் சிலவரங்கள் கேட்பேன் – அவை
நேரே இன்றெனக்குத் தருவாய் – என்றன்
முன்னைத் தீயவினைப் பயன்கள் – இன்னும்
மூளா தழிந்திடுதல் வேண்டும் – இனி
என்னைப் புதியவுயி ராக்கி – எனக்
கேதுங் கவலையறச் செய்து – மதி
தன்னை மிகத்தெளிவு செய்து – என்றும்
சந்தோஷங் கொண்டிருக்கச் செய்வாய்.“

There are enough articles on the life of Liu, but I want to remember some of his quotes.

“Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.”

“My tendency to idealize Western civilization arises from my nationalistic desire to use the West in order to reform China. But this has led me to overlook the flaws of Western culture.”

“I hope that I will be the last victim in China’s long record of treating words as crimes.”

His inabsentia statement for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I look forward to (the day) when my country is a land with freedom of expression, where the speech of every citizen will be treated equally well; where different values, ideas, beliefs, and political views … can both compete with each other and peacefully coexist; where both majority and minority views will be equally guaranteed, and where the political views that differ from those currently in power, in particular, will be fully respected and protected; where all political views will spread out under the sun for people to choose from, where every citizen can state political views without fear, and where no one can under any circumstances suffer political persecution for voicing divergent political views. I hope that I will be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisitions and that from now on no one will be incriminated because of speech.”

Liu will definitely be remembered for his courage. He could have escaped to Australia after the Chinese Communist Party started cracking down the protesters at Tiananmen Square. Even as his friend drove him down the embassy, he decided to stay back and fight. History shows that great fighters don’t live long enough to see the fruits of their sacrifices. Their death galvanises people to continue the struggle and I really hope the same happens for people of China to unite and fight for liberty.

Marriage is not sacred II – The Indian Wedding

~ Venki ~ 1 Comment

As a child growing up in India, I loved attending wedding ceremonies of my family friends and relatives. It had everything that a child loved, new clothes, amazing food and a venue to play. As years passed by I started getting uncomfortable with the prospect of attending weddings. It required me to have uncomfortable conversations with people who didn’t respect my private space. Finally, as I understood what an Indian wedding involves, I believe it is a religious propaganda event with lots of financial ramifications.

India is a land of multiple religions and each religion has various sects. However, it doesn’t change the underlying culture of all these people. The deep-rooted cultural, racial, gender and class biases still remain. So what is applicable to one is truly applicable to the other. Further, secular weddings or court weddings as they are referred in India are genuinely rare. Here are the observations of the draconian impacts of these weddings.

Tradition

The traditions behind marriages are deeply disturbing. The tradition of weddings is equally callous. All of a sudden everyone around you starts to pick up a position in your life. The society feels the right to feel privileged. The traditions range from identifying dates which suit everyone, inviting hundreds of people in person, purchasing gifts for everyone, preparing for a 3-day event and above all dealing with sissy fits of people I generally refer to as “irrelevants” in the marital life. Then comes the traditions associated with religion, satisfying the priests who perform the wedding and invoking god in almost all aspects of it.

Social Pressure

There is a very high degree of social pressure in ensuring that your son gets married by the time he turns 28 or your daughter gets married by the time she turns 25. Sadly, the words used by even parents in this context is ‘saleable age’. It is very common to hear parents say, “everyone is asking me why I am not getting you married”, “you will not get options if you cross this age”,”no one will want you, you will be too old”. The social pressure turns parents into beings you truly despise.

The wedding is where the social pressure literally peaks. The event thrives on inducing jealousy, vitriol and fear. The common themes are

  1. I want to do all this for everyone to see  – Inducing jealousy in others
  2. I want to do this as someone else did it – I have been made to feel jealous
  3. I have to do this as people around me expect to do – I fear the result if I don’t meet everyone’s expectation
  4. I have to do this otherwise everyone will speak badly about the wedding – I have experienced or seen people experience this vitriol

So, invariably people who are conducting the wedding are forced to meet all these unrealistic social expectations.

It’s all about procreation

One cannot get through a wedding without people advising the bride and the groom about procreating. Most Hindu weddings are a segment where prayers are said for effective procreation. In crude terms, it is about praying to god to give you sexual powers. In Muslim and Christian weddings, the priest or imam gives advice on the sins of contraception. It never ends. In a year or two, if you don’t have a child, the entire society pitches in. They psychologically burn you down with feelings of remorse and regret. It starts off by making you feel inadequate and moves to shaming.  I always maintain god and society are two entities which always wants a share in your bedroom.

Here are the common points you will hear from the most disingenuine people around you.

  1. “Do you have any good news?” – like any news other than having a baby is not a good one.
  2. “You have to ensure your blood line continues” – they never say why.
  3. “Someone has to take care of you when you get old” – this is the most selfish and possibly immoral reason to have a child
  4. “Life is all about sacrifice” – This comes from people who would not have sacrificed a breath.
  5. “Did you check with a doctor?” – these are people you should think of never talking again.
  6. “I know a good astrologer” – these are people too dumb to give you advice.
  7. “I want you to have a child, it will complete you” – These are narcissists. Their happiness depends on your behaviour,  so they essentially want control over you.

Dowry

The dowry is the most despicable part of the Indian wedding.  Dowry refers to the transfer of wealth from on side to the other, predominantly from the bride’s side to the groom’s side. There are multiple theories on the origins of this ugly practice. The neo-spiritual leaders want to project like this is a malice developed by the Britishers to rule India.  While it is definitely true that Britishers exploited the inherent differences, it is a very inaccurate statement to make. I definitely want to write about the impact of the British colonial rule in India but attributing dowry to them is extremely evasive and unreal. The transfer of wealth and inheritance to the groom is a very ancient practice in Hindu culture going with references and justification in Manu Smriti – the code of Hindu ethics.

There are three types of this which are happening in the modern world.

  1. Groom’s family demanding dowry
  2. Bride’s family thrusting it
  3. Transfer of wealth happens with neither party thinking about it in great detail

The first and the most common one is where the groom’s side of the family lay out a set of demands. I have personally witnessed this cringe-worthy, outrageous and inhumane act. It always starts with the senior most member of the family and in most occasions a deeply religious crack head initiating these proceedings. Any humanist watching this will feel a deep sense of discomfort and anger. You can compare this situation to a hostile boardroom negotiation for a takeover, just that this involves trading humans. The worst part of all is when both sides end up thanking the initiator for mediating the proceedings.

The second one is increasingly becoming common among middle-class people in cities. The families have developed this need to showcase their love by forcefully handing over wealth. Since it is done under the name of love, it is a difficult point to refute. However, if one digs a level deep this point collapses like a house of cards. This is not done for love towards their daughters but love for themselves, the needs to be seen as loving parents. If you look at it, what is the love if giving something to your daughter which she doesn’t need or in most situations will never need.

The third one is a wealthy class behaviour but is increasingly being seen in upper middle-class families. They don’t even realise or question it. The bride’s family gives, both the bride and the groom don’t feel uncomfortable with it. It has become innate.

If we investigate the propagation of any social malice, we can see a pattern here. The three points give us the idea of how this evil has evolved to a state where it has become part of the system.  If polio doesn’t get eradicated and everyone is affected by it, no individual will ever know the concept of walking properly. That is the state to which dowry is going in India.

Religious laws

While most cultures in the world have made it a norm for the girl to lose her identity after marriage, the Indian culture takes it to a new level. The primitive minds of the scum who came up with the religious rules were very careful in embedding deeply disturbing concepts after giving girls a semblance of liberty.  Some of the horrific concepts you will hear quite commonly are below.

  • Kanya Dhan: This practice is not just immoral and disturbing but is to me the fabric which binds this entire society of credulity and servility. It means charitable donation of an unmarried (I think it can be substituted for virgin) daughter. It is an act of registering a transfer of deed.
  • Husband is equivalent to god: The phrase ‘pati parameshwar’ is very often heard not just in real life but also in movies. It is often given a good connotation signifying the importance of treating husband as god. While I do agree that both god and husband need not be treated with reverence, that is not the context where this phrase is used.  The girl is expected to submit to will of the husband. This comes up irrespective of the religious background. It requires the girl to surrender her critical faculties and get treated like a slave.
  • Pativrata: The girl is always respected being loyal to her husband and accepting him irrespective of his behavior. The concept of  chastity and loyalty is reserved only to the girl, while her husband is not measured on that. It is quite understandable considering a sizable majority of the country worships the mythological figures Rama and Sita. Rama even going by the books was a cruel and irresponsible husband, while Sita is a submissive, loyal wife. She doesn’t stand up for herself till the last line of the last book, post which the epic ends.

In summary, the well documented and rather celebrated Indian weddings are nothing more than shows for the rest of the society. This pompous exhibition much like what happens in Vatican, covers up the underlying filth, lies and deceits. As a person who has experienced it, I strongly feel it should be ripped off and replaced with simple acts which acknowledges mutual love and respect. As I went through his horror personally, that is what I kept telling myself. I am happily in a relationship with my wife but that happiness stems from our love for each other and the fact that we have overlooked the meaning of the event completely.

When my daughter helped me identify my bias

~ Venki ~ 1 Comment

Recently, I started telling stories of real-life achievers as bedtime stories to my daughter Riya. I felt really nice doing that. I despise the fairy tales and myths. So, by telling these stories,  I felt I am doing something right for my daughter. So far, I have told her stories of evolution by Darwin, Neil Amstrong on the moon, Sir. Edmond Hillary and Tensing Norgay climbing Mt. Everest etc. I felt happy as I am not biasing my young daughter’s mind with stupid stories. However, something interesting happened yesterday which changed my perception.

When I was putting Riya to sleep yesterday night, I told her the story of astronaut Sunita Williams. She was happy listening to the story and was keen on learning more. I accidentally realised this was the first story with a woman protagonist that I have told my daughter.  I told my wife about the same when Riya turned around and asked me, “Yes, you always tell me only stories of boys. Why don’t you tell me girl stories pa?”. It is quite possible that she too realised when I told my wife but it was interesting that she noted it. The incident made me realise my unconscious bias. The first 5 achievers I named were all male.

I wanted to write about this incident immediately. As a parent, it is extremely important for us to make a conscious attempt to provide a balanced perspective. Kids learn from what we say.  I wonder if Riya would have thought achievements of the highest order are restricted to men or her father only recognises achievements of men. Either of that is not what I had in mind or wanted to instil in her. It is time for me to change. I have started doing research of loads of women achievers across different fields. This was another realisation that I had thanks to my daughter.

The need to desecrate religious faith

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Yesterday, I saw my little daughter do some rituals and prayer. As it filled the hearts of others with joy, it made filled me with rage, anguish, disgust, fear and above all a sense of failure. The mere thought of my daughter having been indoctrinated at a young age into this callous cycle, was too much for me to accept without a fight.

What is wrong with a child praying? Why did that bother me, when I have seen plenty of others do crazier deeds?

As a child, I have been a victim of both organised faith and sexual abuse. I found the former more tormenting than the latter. It leaves lasting impacts and a scar to the next generation. I not only consider religious faith illogical but also immoral. To see my daughter absorb it was more than what I could take.

Indoctrinating a child at is very easy as compared to an adult. This is why most parents start making their children pray and do rituals even before the child realises the impact. It is a vicious move with a sole intention to corrupt a clear mind. The child cannot unlearn it unless it makes a conscious effort to do so. The society is filled with malice and pro-religious bias that it is extremely hard to do that. A child cannot muster a defence against the argument for religious faith. We cannot explain evolution or relativity to a 3-year-old. Religion has an easy solution there.

Indoctrinating a child with religious faith future proofs the stupid gene. By definition, it suppresses your critical faculties and makes you obey holy orders with no rationale. By pushing a child through that route, the malice lives for another generation. This is another generation of sectarian wars, fight aginst science, fundamentalism, extremism, deceit and corruption.

My fight against children being corrupted by religious faith is no different from wanting to side with the defenceless, the poor, the gullible against the evil forces of power. I don’t think I will be on the side of victory in this but I will fight till I die. This fight will be a healthy one, a fight of ideas nor ideologies, a fight for peace, a fight for unity, a fight for righteousness and a fight that doesn’t involve any arms but mere words.

Breaking down the present state of Pakistan’s Cricket Team

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I was 11 when Imran Khan lifted the Cricket World Cup in 1992. The sight of two of the greatest allrounders in the game competing in the finals was one to remember. It was followed by a decade of great admiration to the cricket played in the country. During those times, the biggest talking point was how the West Indies cricket has steadily fallen down. I feel the same about Cricket in Pakistan now. They will still win the odd game, trouble a few teams on their good days but structurally they are not the same.

Imran Khan is still considered to be a great leader in the sport. He was instrumental in identifying a crop of cricketers whom he coached to be greats in the sport. Apart from Mohammed Amir, there hasn’t been a cricketer since or there hasn’t been an Imran Khan since to identify the talent and nurture them. The approach used by Imran Khan has remained with Imran Khan. Since that time, it has taken two generations to the current crop of people. I consider it a failure on part of Imran to have not institutionalised this process.

Cricket is a sport but the future of the sport lies in the hands of its administrators. When Cricket in Pakistan was thriving and they were second only to an all-time great Australian team,  the administrators basked on the glory but failed miserably to create proper structures within the system which will take it few steps forward. They should have got the following signals from the team’s performance.

  1. There were quite a few glory hogs in the team. The individuals wanted to see how to make themselves great. They backed it with a lot good performances which meant these flaws were ignored.
  2. They failed to realise the transition going through in the game. Fielding and Fitness were beginning to gain more prominence than before. It was no more a question of having few good fielders but an entire team of great fielders.
  3. The selection policies continued to remain directionless. The frequent changing of captains didn’t allow anyone to settle down. The lack of focus on how to integrate a new person into the team led to a lot of insecurities.
  4. A major part of the board’s responsibility is to find ways to invest in the future of the Cricket in Pakistan. It never happened. The facilities were limited to few key centres and never spread beyond.

Another thing which happened with Pakistan was the massive influence of religion, which was started by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Pakistan cricket team always had faith but that didn’t drive cricket. Inzamam changed all that. There is a great article written by a Pakistani Journalist interviewing some officials in this regard. This was one of the reasons behind Yousuf Youhanna converting to Islam to become Mohammed Yusuf.

Lack of financial guidance to youngsters is another problem. A combination of poor selection policy and anxiety about their future has led many youngsters to make a lot of poor decisions. I can only imagine how Amir, Asif and Salman Bhatt could have contributed to the betterment of Pakistani cricket had they not been banned. Even the mature cricketers like Mohammed Yusuf at one point too the plunge with Indian Cricket League to safeguard their future.

All these points resulted in a team which lacked a fundamental understanding of the sport. The team can surprise us by winning odd matches but the underlying situation hasn’t changed.  However, I want the future generations to feel the excitement of Anwar’s flick, Inzamam’s pull, Yusuf’s cover drive, Shoaib’s pace, Waqar’s yorker or Akram’s swing. I would take one of them from Pakistan now. The sheer belligerence of the team is a big void in world cricket now.

The beautiful rocks in Putty beach

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A few weeks back I went to a place called Putty beach in Bouddi National Park with my family and very close friends. The beautifully coloured sandstone rocks fascinated me and I started doing some research on it. I had a whole bunch of questions.

What are these?
What is the origin?
When were they formed?
What gives it the colour?

These rocks are part of the Sydney Sandstone Basin, commonly referred to as the Hawkesbury Sandstone. Sydney sandstone was deposited in the Triassic Period in a fluvial delta. So, these rock formations date back to 200 – 250 million years, a time before our commonly known dinosaurs like T-Rex even existed. The mere thought of how the world would have been during that time is quite fascinating to think about. A water body which existed over 500 million years ago, created these rocks which subsequently went through so much transformation to result in what we saw there, a beautiful red-brown feast.

These rocks are forms of grains of sand which are quite amazing to look. The stone is porous and is supposed to act as a filter. It is made of very pure silica grains and a tiny amount of iron all held together by clay. The concentric bands of red and brown is a result of oxidation of the iron caused by rainfall. It cuts all the way through the rocks. So, it is not the colour of the deposit or the age which causes the bands, which was what I originally thought. I cannot fail to appreciate the impact of natural forces and time involved to create the beautiful sight.

The Sydney basin comprises of the igneous rocks from the Permian period(250 – 300 million years ago) and the different types of sedimentary rocks from the Triassic period (200 – 250 million years ago).

Here is an article which shares some context of what happened during the Triassic Period in general.

http://www.livescience.com/43295-triassic-period.html

In the course of understanding these, I found a lot of interesting literature available in public domain. I have given the links below for anyone interested.

http://www.blandfordia.org.au/wtdownloads/Topic%2010%20Geology%202011.pdf

Click to access G7_2.pdf

Click to access engineeringGeologyOfTheTriassicRocksOfTheSydneyArea.pdf

http://dbforms.ga.gov.au/pls/www/geodx.strat_units.sch_full?wher=stratno=8165
https://australianmuseum.net.au/the-sydney-basin

 

Don’t fight for Trump’s impeachment

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The investigation on Russia’s collusion with the US Election started out as an innocuous conspiracy theory and is now looming large over the White House, threatening to bring down yet another US president. Most sane people can’t understand what does this collusion conceal and exactly how it influenced the result of the election. It is also ironic when the US talks about other state actors influencing their elections when they have singularly meddled with many democratic processes in other countries. However, the purpose of my blog is not about the Russian investigation but the cry for impeachment which is going around the US Congress. I want progressives to realise that impeaching Trump at this stage could be counter productive.

Most of the base is still with Trump

Trump’s base is a set of disgruntled labourers, white nationalists, Republican loyalists and establishment sceptics. These people constituted over 40% of the population. They still believe Trump is better. They like Trump when he is on the offensive. They agree with Trump that the mainstream media is biased and untrustworthy. There is a percentage of this base which is not loyal to the Republican party.

If Democrats further their interest in impeaching Trump then this part of this voter base are going to go Republican. It will look like a very partisan approach deliberately intended to harm interests of Americans. Here is how you have to see it, every evil move of Trump is yet to see its full consequence. The American Health Act is as unAmerican as possible but the name says something else to people. Trump claims lesser costs and more jobs in all his moves even if there is no connection. It resonates with his support. Further, most of the voters don’t care about Trump or his Russian ties.

Further, most of the voters don’t care about Trump or his Russian ties. It doesn’t affect their way of life or their income. When Trump says it is made it and he does everything with America’s  best interest in mind, it is received better than what the media says.

Trump will cause more damage to Republican support

Leaving Trump alone and spreading a more progressive agenda will seriously dent Republican support. People will be able to see the truth behind the policies, they will continue to see an increase in income and wealth inequality. However, this has to be combined with a serious progressive movement, which looks after the welfare of the people.

You will get Pence

Vice President Mike Pence along with Senator Mitch McConnell are arguably the most down to earth and viciously corrupt people in the Government. The show a sense of satisfaction when millions die, they love their conservative values, they work for their donors and above all, they are profoundly corrupt. Here are some of the views held by Pence.

  1. Tight control to ensure poor, non-white don’t vote
  2. Remove abortion, women and LGBT rights
  3. Prevent scientific research which will enhance understanding of the universe or contradict the Bible.
  4. Deny climate change and give more power to fossil fuel industry
  5. Reduce taxes on the rich
  6. Remove minimum wage
  7. Deny equal rights to non-white races and non-Christians
  8. Prevent poor from getting educated

Corporate Democrats will come back

The corporate Democracts are just as dangerous as the Republicans. The centrists like Clintons, Obama are the main reason behind the current situation in the US. They have followed the neoliberal, pro-corporate, anti-labour policies which have resulted in a President like Trump. It is one step from a Donald Trump to a fascist dictator and the corporate democrats will pave way for that.

 

Marriage is not sacred

~ Venki ~ 1 Comment
The day our daughter Riya was born was singularly the most emotional day I have been through and I can take the liberty of saying the same for my wife. As this bundle of joy triggered feeling which I have never felt, it started a series of remarks which people felt obligated to tell me. During one of the family events in the next couple of days, my cousin remarked, “Hey, you have a daughter now. You need to start saving for her wedding.” I was completely put off by the comment. As much as this would sound innocuous for people who have accepted this social practice, to me it was horrible. I had to break this. I responded rather nonchalantly, “Why should I? I don’t know if she will marry. If she does will be let me know or invite me. Will she marry a boy or a girl? Will she have kids? Above all I don’t care because it is her life.” Thinking back, I could have answered it in far more acerbic fashion but the situation explains why this deep rooted social evil called wedding has become an issue. That said, it is not uncommon in India, my country of birth for the entire society to feel they have the right to get anyone married. It is definitely not considered intrusion if parents say “get married for me. I am getting old.”. 
Why is this the case? Why is marriage important? Why does it matter to parents and relatives?

History of the marriage

Marriage is one of the earliest known civil custom. It predates written history, so no one can truly understand the origin of this civil custom. However, based on the observations of fellow primates, we can definitely infer that evolution has created a need for a social mate in most of us. I always wonder how that search for intimacy and affection result in an institution called marriage. It doesn’t make sense. The answer is, it doesn’t. Here is the history of marriages and the reason the institution has to be dismantled.
Irrespective of the civilisation I read, I find some common themes on the concept of marriage. Marriage has always been executed as a trade and not as a civil partnership. Marriage is probably one of the very few social evils that outdate organised religion. For a change religion jumped on capitalising marriages only long after. Most cultures like ancient Greek considered marriage as a festival of sex. They performed ritual called Hieros gamos, which played out a sexual act through marriage between a God and a Goddess. So, here are the common themes which connect the ancient marriages.
Economics
The fundamental to marriage has always been economical. Ancient Hebrew tradition considered a wife as a property of very high value. Chanakya Neeti, written by an Indian Philosopher Chanakya who lived in 400 BC provides justification to sell one’s wife upon need. There are plenty of other examples where wealth gets transferred to either the bride’s family or the groom’s family to seal a relationship. The holy scriptures across religions always refer to the bride as someone who gets donated to the groom. It was always a transfer of deed. Just as a proof, in Hindu culture wedding is referred as “Kanya dhanam”, meaning donating a girl. Commoditisation of girls started very early in most cultures.
Blood line
From time immemorial, humans have been interested in finding the right partner to continue to blood line. There are enough evidence of ways used by societies to stick to a pattern like winner of a competition, within the same family etc. This also resulted in the a system where the mates are valued based on their blood line.
Home Labour
Another common expectation from marriage is the wife takes care of the household chores and bears children. Even ancient civilisations which claimed to have equal right for women like Egyptian, the responsibilities were limited to the doing household chores. Men always had the right to choose, and in most instances right to have many wives to take care of him. The converse is sort of unheard of in any culture.
Strategic relationships
Children were traded at a very tender age in order to maintain strategic relationships between families. Children cannot muster a defence against this hideous act committed by the well meaning parents. Over centuries this go indoctrinated and became a social norm. There are enough historical facts where royal weddings were arranges to maintain relationships between different kingdoms. Again it was a case of trading their children for social and material gains.
So, as we understand the marriage was never setup for the bridge or groom. It was for the family and the society. At this point, the stage was perfectly set for religion to take over. There were covenants around marriage now, which get controlled. They decided who can marry whom, when can people marry, what constitutes a marriage and above all why should people marry. When you mix selfish interests of people with organised faith, you create a catastrophe. That is what marriage is as an institution. Let’s look at the evils associated with marriages now.
  1. Still the women don’t get equal rights
  2. Gay people can’t marry in most countries
  3. In India alone one girl is burnt every 90 minutes for dowry
  4. It still continues to remain a massive financial burden on people
  5. It is a source of social policing and harassment

Why is marriage as an institution a legacy?

I consider marriage as an institution a complete legacy. It has not social or moral imperative. It could sound hypocritical from a man who is actually married. However as a person who is in this institution, I feel I am best placed to say it is irrelevant in my relationship. I am sure if I abuse the relationship my wife would not put up with it and the converse is true for me as well. Here are some common myths I want to break.
“It is Sacred” : There is sanctity in marriage. It is completely made up. It is a relationship between two people who like each other. There is no need of a name. If it doesn’t work, people move their respective ways.
“You need a support” : This is definitely not true. The very nature of this statement is intended to make one feel weak and incapable of helping oneself.
“You need a child” : Again procreation is not a requirement. There are enough ways to have a child and above all one need not have a child. It is not mandatory to have a child.
“Because everyone does so” : This is where it starts to go ridiculous. People have to think and not behave like sheep.
“Your faith demands it” : If someone falls for this explanation, I don’t think any amount of rationale will help. These people have already pledged their critical faculties to understand anything.
I definitely see some positive steps taken in this regard. Firstly, governments globally have started recognising relationships without matrimony. Secondly, children born out of wedlock have just as much right to be taken care as the ones born through wedlock.
In conclusion, marriage is part of a belief system which never had any utility in the welfare of a society. People do what they want irrespective of this institution. It only forced the victims to tolerate being abused by the system. I definitely believe in the principle of love, partnership, civil relationship between two consenting adults.

Future of France under Emmanuel Macron

~ Venki ~ 1 Comment

The world is celebrating the election of Centrist Elitist Banker Emmanuel Macron as the President of France. I already see the elites licking their lips and claiming a victory for centrist policies. Here is my breakdown of the election result.

Positives

Much like the US election, the choice was between the better of the two evil. Marine Le Pen much like her father is clearly a pro-fascist, racist and a very divisive person. Having her at the helm would have created a coalition of the despicables including Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte. That could have been a devastating news globally.

Concerns

By electing a pro-banker and a self-admitted centrist, two-thirds of France have rejected the concerns of the remaining one-third. One among three French actually thought it is acceptable to vote for a fascist. To be very precise, I am not calling the voters fascist. Just by voting for Le Pen, we can’t call all of them fascist or racist. There are deeply rooted economic and social concerns amongst these voters on their survival and future. These concerns have to be addressed if the next election has to be any better.

Challenges ahead

Emmanuel much like Barrack Obama is an outsider with non-radical views. For most of France, he was a safe bet. However, Obama’s tenure created a political environment which led to Donald Trump. On the contrary, Obama had a party and enough members representing his party in the American congress. Emmanuel doesn’t have that comfort. The opposition parties which supported him against Le Pen are going to stand up against him now. Here are the challenges he is bound to face.

i. EURO currency is not defensible

This is a separate book in its own right but Euro is not a defensible currency. Here are the key reasons.

1. ECB doesn’t act as a central bank in spite of Mario Draghi’s best efforts. Its fundamentals are deeply flawed.

2. The Euro contract is skewed a lot towards the German economic beliefs. That principle works only if you are a developmental state focused on exports.

3. Euro takes away the one big hold that states have over individuals, a currency printing press. This leaves states at the mercy of each other.

4. The Euro countries have different socio-political-economic backgrounds. It is not possible to merge with them through a common currency. It works for banks but not for people. It virtually makes Finance Ministers powerless.

ii. Wealth redistribution

The success of the French system lies in its Social Democracy. For the last 20+ years, France has followed the rest of the world with policies favouring the creation of wealth over equality and distribution. This has created a massive income and wealth inequality in France. The basic second grader problem with wealth inequality is the longer it stays, the wider the gaps gets and wider the gap gets the harder it is to bridge. France has led itself into this problem and unless Emmanuel gets them out of it, they are in for serious trouble.

ii. Investment is all is key for development

Economics is fundamental for people to understand social behaviours. When people do not have control over their lives and feel the situation is not improving, they will start to react in ways they normally don’t. The wages have become stagnant and French are running austere budgets for the last few years. This has resulted in a massive reduction of public spending / public debt as the bankers would like to refer. Public investment results in improved employability for the next generation, it reduces anxiety among citizens, it gives people security and hope for the next generation. By reducing this under the name of the deficit cuts, France as with much of the other European nations are fostering anxiety amongst people.

iv. Too big to fail banks

This might be a known story. The french banks have become too big to fail. The last known figures indicate that the sum of the private debt (classified as banking asset) by the top 5 French banks(BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, BPCE, Crédit Mutuel) is worth more than 110% of the French GDP and growing. If the banks collapse, they are going to bring French economy. Adding Euro into the mix, it gets trickier. France cannot devalue its currency. The French government cannot print currency to clean up its debt, a comfort available for most countries.

v. No field workers for the party

Emmanuel has just started the party as a movement. Now he has to create an entire organisation and fairly quickly. Even if he identifies like-minded people to run for the parliament, he still has to create a massive team of party worker to take his message through. Without a proper field strategy, his movement will lose its impact faster than he anticipates.

vi. Lack of Parliamentary support

For enacting any of his policies Emmanual needs the support of the parliament. It would be a surprise if he gets a majority in the parliament for any of his moves. The parties which supported him against Le Pen are now going to oppose him in all aspects. He is going to see the true face of political opposition, bickkering and back stabbing. Though he was the Minister of Economy for a couple of years, it is not the same as being the President without the full support of the parliament.It feels like the recipe for a stalemate.

In summary, I am cautiously pleased with the election of Emmanuel Macron. It definitely was the better choice. It also throws a huge challenge in front of the President and his soon to be elected parliament. There are some tough decision to be made and made very qucikly.