THE brutal violence against the CPI(M) and the Left Front in West Bengal is continuing after the Lok Sabha elections. For about fifteen days after the polling ended on May 12, there have been widespread attacks targeting the CPI(M) workers and Left Front supporters in various districts. A report of such attacks is published in this issue of People’s Democracy.
ON May 12, Anayansi Rodríguez, Cuba’s permanent representative to UN offices in Geneva, emphasised that the Zunzuneo programme launched by the United States to incite subversion in Cuba, violates the agreements adopted at the Information Society World Summit.
THE Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) has regretted the Pakistan government’s refusal to renew the visas of two Indian journalists posted in Islamabad, and has demanded that the Pakistan authorities reconsider the decision to deny visas to Meena Menon, correspondent of The Hindu, and Snehesh Philip, correspondent of the PTI.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi on May 18, 2014, and subsequently issued the following statement.
THE Polit Bureau discussed the results of the Lok Sabha elections and the post-election situation. It conducted a preliminary review of the elections and the performance of the party. It examined the various factors which led to the poor results for the party and the Left.
The secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions issued the following statement on May 21, 2014, mourning the demise of Comrade R Umananth.
THE CITU deeply mourns the demise of Comrade R Umanath, a veteran freedom fighter, stalwart of the working class movement and of communist movement of the country who passed away on May 21, 2014 at around 7.15 a m at Tiruchirapally after prolonged illness at the age of 93.
PRAKASH KARAT DELIVERS SUNDARAYYA MEMORIAL LECTURE
WITH the ascent to power by RSS-backed Narendra Modi, the people of the country will be subjected to twin-pronged attack – intensified pursuit of neo-liberal reforms and heightened communalisation of society resulting in division of people. The task before the Left today is to rally the people against neo-liberal policies and prepare the people for struggles while safeguarding their unity.
* Left Front’s vote share increases to 64.77 percent.
* All opposition candidates lose deposits
* Decisive lead of more than
50 percent votes in 58 assembly seats.
THE happiest person after the 16th Lok Sabha election results in India would be Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister in Adolf Hitler’s cabinet. Decades after his death, Goebbels must now be turning in his grave and screaming “I was right”.
Goebbels was indeed right, it seems, as it was he who had theorised the concept “tell lies a hundred times and it would be believed as true”.
THE results of the local government elections held in Turkey on March 30 showed that the popular support for the ruling party and its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite all the scandals engulfing the government, has ebbed only marginally. In the hard fought elections, the ruling Justice and Welfare Party (AKP) won around 45 percent of the vote and retained the two major cities of Istanbul and Ankara. In Istanbul, the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), got 40 percent of the vote while the AKP got around 50 percent of the vote.
ALL the unions of workers and officers of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) have decided to launch a joint agitation to save the ICDS and the workers’ interests.