JANET Yellen, the US treasury secretary, has finally acknowledged what has been obvious to most people for quite some time, namely that the imposition of sanctions against countries that the US is hostile to, runs the risk of jeopardising the hegemony of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If the sanctions were imposed on just one or two countries, then matters would be different; but sanctions these days are used by the US to target dozens of countries, and, when this happens, those countries tend to get together to form alternative arrangements for bypassing such sanctions.

CPI (M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on April 21, 2023.THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an army vehicle moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector of Jammu & Kashmir, in which five jawans have lost their lives. There can be no compromise in our fight against terrorism of all hues. A thorough enquiry must be conducted to identify the circumstances which permitted such a heinous terrorist attack, in order to be better prepared in combating terrorism.

THE AKG Centre for Studies and Research organised a seminar on the Vaikom Satyagraha on April 24, 2023, in Thiruvananthapuram. This programme provided a platform for the political evaluation of one of the premier protest struggles in Kerala. The seminar was inaugurated by Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, and MV Govindan, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and state secretary, presided over the seminar. Kanam Rajendran, CPI state secretary, and Dr Sunil P Elayidam made keynote presentations. Dr KM Sheeba, KN Ganesh, and V Kartikeyan Nair also addressed the seminar.

TENSIONS simmering between Sudan’s army and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) boiled over into armed clashes on the morning of Saturday, April 15, following disagreements over the integration of the autonomous RSF into the army’s command chain.The issue of integration was a key aspect of a deal that Sudan’s ruling junta was to sign with right-wing civilian forces to share power with the latter. The Left in Sudan has been critical of the proposed deal, questioning the sincerity of the parties.

THE North East Delhi unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) organised a “Ghanti Bajao, Kejriwal Sarkar ko Jaago” programme on April 26 to draw attention to the deplorable condition of schools in North East Delhi and to urge the Kejriwal government to take action. Hundreds of students and their families participated in the programme, which involved ringing bells and distributing a demand letter to the education minister and the chief minister regarding the problems faced by the schools.