The French Presidential Poll in Perspective-II Prospects for the Left

THE thorough-going economic and political crisis in which France is now enmeshed (outlined in part one of this article) has speeded up and intensified processes of change within the French Left. Older organisations, including those which once exercised hegemony on the Left, have seen their influence and membership curtailed and their strategies displaced.

Venezuela under Siege and the Resistance

FOR the last six weeks, Venezuela is in the grip of violent protests organised by the opposition groups demanding the ouster of democratically elected president Nicholas Maduro. According to certain reports, 42 people have lost their lives in these protests. A substantial section of the mainstream media is blaming the Venezuelan government for the ongoing protests and violence. Many people around the world are genuinely worried after learning about the developments in Venezuela through the media.

WFTU Presidential Council Meeting in Havana

MAY Day in most of the capitalist countries is an occasion to remember the Chicago Hay Market martyrs and their struggle for eight hours work. It is a day to express solidarity with the workers all over the world who are still continuing their struggle on the same demand, over 130 years after the Hay Market episode.

TELANGANA: Police Lathicharge on ‘Occupy Dharna Chowk’

PROTESTING against the decision of the TRS government to shift the dharna chowk near Indira Park to the outskirts of Hyderabad, the Left parties, including the CPI(M), and several mass organisations conducted a massive ‘Occupy Dharna Chowk’ on May 15. The conspiracy of the ruling TRS to organise a counter-protest for shifting of the dharna chowk under the garb of local residents and walkers’ association, to portray it as a conflict between them and protestors against shifting of the dharna chowk, and the impropriety of giving permissions to different groups with mutually contradictory dema

Marxism Is the Pathfinder

A STRONG political alternative can only root out the capitalist system, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said at a seminar organised at the MB Vignana Kendram in Vijayawada on May 12 to mark the bicentennial birth anniversary of Karl Marx.On the occasion, a Telegu translation of Karl Marx’s magnum opus ‘Das Kapital’ (Capital) was released by Yechury and CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakara Reddy.Addressing the gathering, Yechury said the world capitalist system will never collapse on its own, it can only be defeated through incessant struggles waged by the working class.

First Anniversary of the LDF Government in Kerala: Kerala: Presenting the People’s Alternative

THE LDF government in Kerala came into office a year ago. It was a juncture when the deleterious effects of imperialist globalisation aggravated by the financial crisis of 2007-08 was being felt in the country and in Kerala.Kerala is also part of the structure, where the present central government is on an overdrive to implement neoliberal policies which fuels globalisation. The RSS which is the driving force behind the BJP led NDA government at the centre is relentless at its efforts to rewrite India as a homogenous entity.

The Madness of Trump: World on a Precipice

FOUR months after Donald Trump took over the presidency, America finds itself more deeply enmeshed in the conflicts that his predecessors in office had left unresolved. Trump on the campaign trail had railed against America's foreign military involvements and military alliances like NATO. He had promised that if elected, he would ensure that America will no longer play the role of a self appointed “global cop”. In his short inaugural speech, his main emphasis was putting “America first” and improving the nation's economy and crumbling infrastructure.

Drug Pricing: Prime Minister Misleading People

AFTER US President Donald Trump accused the drug companies with his “get away with murder” comment and thereafter meeting the top executives of US drug companies on January 31 on drug pricing, regulation and trade; and as the “Pharmaceutical companies are under fire around the world as a wave of new treatments for cancer and other serious conditions reach the market at ever rising prices,” the prime minister of India Narendra Modi discovered that it is not the drug companies and policy deficiency but the doctors who are the real culprits for high prices of medicines in India.So, the prime m

Belt and Road Initiative: Blinkered View of Government

INDIA has isolated itself by not participating in the Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing on May 14-15. To justify its non-participation, the Modi government has questioned the motives behind the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative taken by China which is linking countries and regions representing 60 per cent of the world’s population and 30 per cent of the global GDP. China launched this initiative in 2013 with the aim of reincarnating the old silk road in a contemporary form.

Thinking together

Q. High Court justice Karnan has been sentenced to six months in prison by the Supreme Court for contempt of court. Is this punishment justified? What is the stand of the CPI(M)?G Ramesh, Chennai Ans. Justice C S Karnan was a sitting judge of the Kolkata High Court. Earlier he had been serving as a judge in the Madras High Court since 2009. Throughout his career, Justice Karnan has behaved in an outrageous fashion violating all norms of higher judiciary.

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