The Following is the statement issued by Cuban President Raul Castro on December 17, 2014
FELLOW countrymen,
Since my election as president of the state council and council of ministers, I have reiterated on many occasions our willingness to hold a respectful dialogue with the United States on the basis of sovereign equality, in order to deal reciprocally with a wide variety of topics without detriment to the national independence and self-determination of our people.
THE current impasse in the parliament, with the Rajya Sabha not functioning for the third consecutive day, as we go to the press, is, once again, primarily due to the obduracy of this Modi government in not giving the House even a modicum of assurance on contentious issues.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 17.
THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its shock and horror at the massacre of 132 school children in Peshawar. Another 120 have been seriously injured. The Party denounces this unspeakable atrocity committed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban which shows their inhuman and depraved state of mind.
THE Human Resources Development ministry has taken yet another offensive and unjustifiable decision to ask CBSE and other government-run schools to observe “good governance day” on Christmas day, December 25. Already the Navodaya schools’ management have decided that the schools will remain open on December 24 and 25.
This is a crude interference in the schedule of schools which go on Christmas vacation from December 24 and is an assault on the religious right of the Christian community.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 16, 2014.
THE Polit Bureau demands accountability of the HRD minister Smriti Irani and strongly condemns the Modi government’s untruthful statements regarding the circular issued by her ministry on December 9 addressed not only to the Navodaya schools but also the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools.
CPI(M) RAJASTHAN STATE CONFERENCE Intensify Struggles against Neo-Liberal Policies & CommunalismRajendra Saiwal THE 21st state conference of Rajasthan was held in Raisingh Nagar, a tehsil near Sri Ganganagar, from December 11-13, 2014. It was the first state conference held in India, before the 21st Congress of the CPI(M) to be held in April 2015 at Visakhapatnam.The conference began with an impressive public meeting at the Ramlila Ground of Raisingh Nagar.
I HATE lizards. Not because they look ugly. But because of the miseries they had caused. Before you think that I am some sort of a superstitious person, let me elaborate. Lizards from a village in Haryana have led to social boycott of dalits and that is the reason why I hate them. Surprised? In India, anything can happen. Hear this from a participant in the recently organised convention of the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch.
IN the recently concluded elections to various States in Latin America – Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and El Salvador – the parties that were credited to have ushered in a 'pink tide', retained office. These victories are indeed significant, because many ruling parties (both Social Democrat and Conservative) across the world are losing elections in these times of global economic crises.
Below are the excerpts of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture delivered by Sitaram Yechury on November 22, 2014. The memorial lecture was organised by the Jana Natya Manch.
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This hegemony of the `ideas' of ruling classes, as Gramsci explains, is not enforced merely by the State.The State is only the "outer ditch" behind which stands a powerful system of "fortresses and earth works", a network of cultural institutions and values which buttress the rule and domination of the ruling classes.
