Alok Mukherjee, The Way I See It

Welcome to my blog – “ALOK MUKHERJEE – The Way I See It” – at alokmukherjee.com.

We are beset by many big issues at all levels, local, national and global. Those of us who live in more than one place, perhaps not literally but through family and friends in many parts of the world, feel the weight of those issues many times over.

And those of us who have a perspective that is different from the one(s) communicated by the dominant voices of our society – politicians, mainstream media, popular culture – because of differences of class, sex, sexual orientation, age, ability, race, ethnicity, religion, life experience, etc., because of having a different viewpoint or because of our origin, roots and education in a different part of the world than where we live now, often feel alienated, silenced, excluded and not heard.

I have experienced these reactions more and more in the last few years – especially, the COVID-19 pandemic years – when we have been locked down, mostly confined to our homes, cut off from family, friends and colleagues, and subjected to a daily barrage of negative and scary news. And these reactions have been caused not only by the news about the deadly swath of a virus. The global conflict has increased also, as the world has slipped from competition and rivalry among competing political systems into outright likelihood of mass destruction through military action. The nuclear clock is closer to midnight than it has been in a long time.

At home, the pandemic has exposed numerous inequities – of wealth; of access to services, housing and jobs; of prospects for the future, and so on. With little serious effort to deal with climate change and damage to the environment, the future of the planet is at an ever greater risk. The events and developments of these pandemic years have exposed more vividly than before how our governments, media and other institutions of power do not represent our interests. They do not particularly care for our interests nor do they speak for us.

I am not the only one who feels this way; there are many more who do. “The Way I See It” is a blog space I have decided to create in order to share with anyone who is interested, my perspective on issues that matter unmediated by someone else’s editorial control. I will also, from time to time, provide in this space interesting and thought-provoking perspectives by guests.

I hope the information, the views and the thoughts posted in this space will be of interest to you too, dear reader!