IT is a hundred and four years since when the International Women’s Day is being observed all over the world. The day, which used to be the day of working women, has now become International Women’s Day, focussing on the demands of women as a whole.
It is also to be noted that, as about other occasions nowadays, this day of struggle is being commercially exploited by vested interests. At the same time, this is also utilised to divert attention from the realities of class exploitation and oppression being perpetrated against women.
THE CPI(M) Maharashtra state secretariat and state committee met at Mahur in Nanded district in the Marathwada region from February 7-9, 2014 in the presence of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu. This was part of the 2012 decision to rotate some Party state committee meetings in different districts of the state.
THE toiling masses of Haryana and the country have to strengthen the red flag to strengthen their position in politics, and this is also important for raising our issues in parliament for which we have been fighting in the streets everyday. This was the idea conveyed by several speakers who addressed the Vikalpa (Alternative) Rally organised on February 23, in Hissar. Attended by thousands of Haryana people, the rally was organised by the Communist party of India (Marxist) and the Communist party of India jointly.
THE country is going to the polls again to elect the 16th Lok Sabha. This is the occasion for the people of India to decide the future direction of the Indian Republic.
THE viability of democracy requires a belief among people that they can make a difference to their lives by participating in the democratic process. This belief may be a false one; it may be a mere illusion. But unless this illusion exists, people become not just cynical about the democratic process but despondent about their capacity to make any difference to their lives through their own efforts. Such despondency then leads to their quest for a “saviour” or a “messiah” supposedly endowed with extraordinary powers who can come to their rescue.
DISPLAYING the invincible strength of the communist movement in Kerala, the 26 days long Kerala Raksha March, led by CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, culminated in a massive rally attended by tens of thousands of people in the historic city of Kozhikode, on the shore of Arabian Sea on February 26, 2014. The march, which raised the slogan “Secular India and Developed Kerala,” reached Kozhikode after meeting lakhs of people en route in almost all the assembly constituencies in the state.
ELEVEN non-Congress, non-BJP political parties resolved to work together to present an alternative before the people of the country for the coming Lok Sabha elections. They also issued a joint declaration that called for throwing out the Congress from power and defeating the BJP to prevent it from coming to power. Leaders of CPI(M), CPI, All India Forward Bloc, RSP, JD(U), Samajwadi Party, AIADMK, JD(S) and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha held a meeting on 25th February at Tripura Bhavan in New Delhi and released the joint declaration.
THE Joint Declaration issued by the secular non-Congress, non-BJP opposition parties in the light of the forthcoming 16th general elections made it unequivocally clear that they have come together responding to the overwhelming urge of our people who are desperately looking for relief from the growing economic burdens that are leading to a sharp decline in quality of life. Apart from the four Left parties, leaders of five other regional parties were present at the meeting.
THE Venezuela Solidarity Committee denounces the ongoing attempts to destabilise the Bolivarian government of Venezuela. Right-wing opposition groups, supported by the rich oligarchs are openly inciting violence against the democratically elected government. The hand of the US is clearly visible in these events, as evidence emerged that some of the diplomatic officials stationed in the US embassy were in regular contact with the perpetrators of the opposition sponsored violence.
THE Republic of Cuba’s government strongly condemns the ongoing attempts to carry out a coup d’état against the constitutional government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the violent incidents organised by fascist groups which have caused deaths, dozens of injuries, attacks on public institutions, the burning of vehicles and destruction – as denounced before the world by President Nicolás Maduro Moros.