A lot has been written on the global food system—its industrialisation, ecological consequences and the erosion of cultural, economic and food sovereignty. Despite this onslaught, however, traditional rhythms and communal resilience persist in the countryside, especially in countries like India. Cultural practices continue to foster a sense of rootedness. What’s more, this is also reflected in the back lanes of towns and cities.

Life in the Lanes Documenting Chennai is an open-access e-book that uses visual-based storytelling via low-res street photography. It conveys a narrative about the endurance of communal life and sacred practice amid the everyday pressures…...

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https://off-guardian.org/2025/08/19/the-sacred-and-the-sick-the-rhythm-of-the-lanes-and-the-repercussions-of-progress/

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
H.L. Mencken

Let’s not mince words: every American should be alarmed by President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tactics, theatrics and threats.

What is unfolding in the nation’s capital irgconnection.org/quotable-quotes-from-the-sage-of-baltimore/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">s a hostile takeover of our constitutional republic.

This is no longer about partisan politics, wag-the-dog distractions from the Epstein debacle, or even genuine national security concerns.

This is martial law disguised as law-and-order—the oldest trick in…...

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https://off-guardian.org/2025/08/18/the-police-state-has-a-new-playbook-martial-law-one-city-at-a-time/

Due to the capitalistically orchestrated scourge of illiteratization and the machinations of the mass media, only a small percentage of Americans understand Washington’s penchant for launching illegal wars of aggression, and with the exception of the Gaza genocide and the Vietnam War the overwhelming majority of the population seldom has any understanding of what their army and intelligence services do abroad.

Even less understood – and this is a global phenomenon – is that while Washington delights in stoking sectarianism in Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Syria and Iraq they are equally fond of stoking ethno-sectarian hatreds at home. This is because…...

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https://off-guardian.org/2025/08/17/race-segregation-and-sectarianism-in-american-cinema/

My personal experiences seem to lag a bit behind the general population. I have not, until recently, noticed too many people succumbing to strange cancers. Now, quite a few have come up in my personal life, as well as in my professional life (experiences of my psychotherapy patients).

We have, of course, heard for years that one of the fallouts from the irresponsible release of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was the possibility of increased cases of all sorts of cancers. Reports from doctors to support this reality have increased over the years, and of course, our personal experiences with…...

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https://off-guardian.org/2025/08/16/the-forbidden-question/

As India celebrates its 78th Independence Day on 15 August, the tricolour will flutter proudly across the nation. Speeches will echo the triumphs of freedom, resilience and progress. But beneath the patriotic fervour will lie an uncomfortable truth: independence means little if the nation’s food, land and farmers are being surrendered.

Food, Dependency and Dispossession: Resisting the New World Order (2022) presents India as a frontline in the global struggle for food sovereignty. That book reveals how multinational corporations, backed by neoliberal policy frameworks and international financial institutions, are reshaping India’s agricultural landscape—threatening farmer livelihoods and the very…...

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https://off-guardian.org/2025/08/13/celebrating-independence-comforting-myth-in-a-dispossessed-reality/