THE Bolivarian revolutionary process, initiated by Hugo Chavez seventeen years ago, is under siege. The attack on the Left-oriented government headed by Nicolas Maduro is part of the rightwing offensive which is unfolding in Latin America. In the first half of 2016, there has been a reversal of the Left tide.
THE Trinamool Congress won a decisive victory in West Bengal getting 72 per cent of the seats in the assembly. But obviously, this is not enough for Mamata Banerjee. For her, the CPI(M) and the Left Front have to be not only electorally defeated, they have also to be eliminated as a political force. That is why, she is fulfilling the threat she made during the election campaign that she would retaliate inch by inch after the election.
DURING the election campaign, the chief minister had threatened to extract toll by ‘every inch’ after the polls. She also had publicly threatened the police officers who tried to implement the rule of law, adhering to the election commission’s directives. The effect is clearly visible after the elections in West Bengal.Vicious spate of attacks on opposition supporters and activists has engulfed the whole state. The attack started as soon as results were out.
IN the presence of thousands of LDF supporters and a galaxy of national leaders from various parties, the 19 member LDF government led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan has been sworn in at the public function held at Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on May 25. At 4 pm, Pinarayi Vijayan, who won from Dharmadom constituency in Kannur took oath as the chief minister. Home, vigilance and information portfolios will be looked after by the chief minister. Governor P Sathasivam administered the oath.
IWith a population of 200 million, Brazil is one of the largest economies in Latin America. Apart from its sheer economic weight, Brazil has also gained prominence because of the vibrant anti-neoliberal movements that have gathered pace in the country in the last two decades. These popular movements won their first major victory in 2002 when a militant Leftist organisation called the Worker’s Party (PT) under the leadership of a hugely popular trade union leader, Lula, won the presidential elections.
THE NDA government has decided in principle to be a full fledged military partner of the United States. After the visit of the US secretary of defense, Ashton Carter to Delhi in the second week of April, it was announced that India would be signing a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) under a slightly different name. The new agreement would in theory allow the US army to access Indian military bases. Carter and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, jointly announced the decision on signing the important military agreement at a press conference in New Delhi.
THE May Day celebrations in Havana, Cuba are important not only for the working class of Cuba, but for the entire world. Socialism in Cuba is a driving and inspiring force for the world’s working class. In the early days of the Revolution, the then US president John F Kennedy warned Cuba of dire consequences if they continued with their chosen socialist system and famously reminded them that Cuba was just 100 miles from the USA. Fidel Castro, the founder president of Socialist Cuba gave a befitting reply.
IN the light of severe drought conditions prevailing in Telangana and continued insensitivity and inaction of the TRS government to tackle the same, the CPI(M)’s reaction has been evident in a number of actions of conducting padayatras and surveys to study the conditions at field level, agitating before collectorates and mandal revenue offices in different districts and organising a number of centres for providing gruel, fodder and drinking water, and conducting round-table meetings, appealing for providing help to the drought-affected people, besides providing financial help, though on a
IN the concluding week, Lok Sabha discussed about the situation arising out of drought and drinking water crisis in many states and the need to consider inter-linking of rivers and water resource management for sustainable solution to mitigate the crisis. Speaking on this, Md. Salim said farmers are worst affected by drought. They are not able to repay their debts due to crop failure and are driven to commit suicide. Drinking water crisis has also arisen due to the drought like situation in the country. We have not been able to increase the irrigated area during the last 20-25 years.
A DELEGATION comprising of Sanjay Parate, Chhattisgarh state secretary of CPI(M), Vineet Tiwari from Joshi-Adhikari Institute, CPI member, New Delhi, Archana Prasad from Jawaharlal Nehru University and CEC member of AIDWA, and Nandini Sundar, Delhi University visited Bastar Division from May 12-16, 2016.