India: Despite All the Neglect, Land Reforms Remain Relevant and Important

by Bharat Dogra

Frontier | July 27, 2017

One of the least commented upon but nevertheless important aspects of economic policy and agricultural policy during the last two to three decades has been the extent to which the important issue of land reforms has been neglected and sidelined in India. Not that land reforms were particularly successful in India at any earlier stage. There may not have been any great achievements but nevertheless, keeping in view that India is a large country, even limited achievements translated in terms of several hundred thousand people getting some land.

In terms of future programs and initiatives, a hope remained alive for several years that as long as land reforms remained on the official agenda, if not today then tomorrow something important can be achieved. But what has happened during recent years is that land reforms in terms of significant redistribution of land among the rural poor have almost vanished from the radar of government policy makers.

Trump Hits Venezuela with New Sanctions as CIA Chief Plugs Intervention

by RACHAEL BOOTHROYD-ROJAS

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | July 27, 2017

(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Nueva Esparta, July 27, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The United States government has imposed new sanctions against thirteen high-level Venezuelan officials in the run-up to elections to select candidates for a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) on July 30.

The initiative to re-write the country’s constitution was announced by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on May 1 as a way to bring about dialogue in the politically charged country, where anti-government protests have led to more than 100 deaths since the beginning of April.

Q & A: The National Constituent Assembly in Venezuela

by THE VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN

The symbol of the National Constituent Assembly in the government’s media campaign. Text reads: “The constituent [assembly] is going ahead!”. (LaRadiodelSur)

Elections for a National Constituent Assembly are being held in Venezuela on July 30th. Here are some common questions – with the answers – that are being asked about the Assembly. (21/07/17)

What is a National Constituent Assembly (ANC), under Venezuelan law?

A National Constituent Assembly is essentially a constitutional convention, a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. Apart from the famous examples from the 18th century America and France, a range of other countries have employed this mechanism. In Venezuela, Article 347 of its constitution says:

Maduro Invites the Opposition to Talks Before Assembly Vote

teleSUR | July 27, 2017

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has been addressing crowds in Caracas as campaigning ends. | Photo: AVN

Candidates and government supporters are making the final preparations ahead of Sunday’s election.

 

\Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has proposed holding round table peace talks with the opposition before the National Constituent Assembly vote on July 30.

‘Lenin’s Imperialism in the 21st Century’: New Book Explores 1917 Classic 100 Years Later

by Elliott Gabriel

teleSUR | July 20, 2017

Photo Illustration of V.I. Lenin set against Reuters photos of New York City, and Mosul in ruins. | Photo: Elliott Gabriel / teleSUR

A new book released in the Philippines collects the work of eight authors who re-examine modern imperialism and monopoly capitalism a century after Lenin’s groundbreaking title was published.

One hundred years ago, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s seminal 128-page work, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, was published for the first time in pamphlet form. Written a year prior from his place of exile in neutral Switzerland and released in then-Russian capital Petrograd, the pamphlet took shape amid the world’s first truly global conflict – when cities were reduced to rubble, empires were toppled and millions of lives were claimed.

Drone warfare: The death of precision

by James Rogers

Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists | May 12, 2017

During the Obama presidency, precision was not just about hitting the right target, and it was more than mere accuracy. It was an ethos, one that enshrined the liberal-American desire to be just in times of war while still ensuring victory. Armed drones and the precision missiles they deployed were said to epitomize this desire. Drones were, the president stated, part of a “just war—a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defense.”

These claims were contentious. People such as Nobel laureate Desmond M. Tutu declared that these weapons undermined America’s “moral standards,” and non-governmental organizations such as Airwars—which monitors civilian casualties resulting from airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, and Libya—exposed the true cost of precision. For the Obama administration, though, drones continued to offer the alluring ability to kill at a distance while mitigating the cost to innocent life. Although mistakes were made, in an age when the United States led the world in the use of drones, these weapons appeared to offer a simple and unrivaled solution to the complexities of war.

“The history of peoples is not measured by the periods of futile subjugation, but by their moments of rebellion”

by Gladys Martínez Verdecia

Granma | July 26, 2017

Photo: Osmay Pérez

Speech by Gladys Martínez Verdecia, member of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and first secretary of the Party Provincial Committee in Pinar del Río, during the main act commemorating the 64th anniversary of the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrisons. Pinar del Río, July 26, 2017, Year 59 of the Revolution

(Council of State transcript / GI translation)

Compañero Army General, Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the Councils of State and Ministers;

Open letter to WHO on industrial animal farming

Pambazuka News | May 31, 2017

Globalforestcoalition.org

On 23 May 2017 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia was elected WHO Director-General. In a letter released a head of the election, over 200 scientists, policy experts and others concerned persons are urging the new Director-General to recognize and address factory farming as a growing public health challenge. Just as the WHO has bravely confronted companies that harm human health by peddling tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages, it must not waver in advocating for the regulation of industrial animal farming.

 

Unprecedented and rising levels of industrial animal farming are undermining the highest attainable standard of health that is WHO’s mandate. During the 2016 World Health Assembly, Director-General Margaret Chan highlightedclimate change, antibiotic resistance, and chronic diseases as “slow-motion disasters.” However, their fundamental link to industrial animal farming has continued to be disregarded.

Poets who dedicated verses to Che (+Photos)

by  Mireya Castañeda

Granma | July 25, 2017

Foto: Archive

Following the death of Ernesto Che Guevara, 50 years ago, distinguished Cuban, Latin American, and European poets dedicated tender and beautiful lines to him.

The list of outstanding voices of the Spanish language who wrote extraordinary poems to Che includes, among many Cubans: Nicolás Guillén (“Che Comandante”), Eliseo Diego (“Donde nunca jamás se lo imaginan”), Mirta Aguirre (“Canción antigua al Che Guevara”), José Lezama Lima (“Ernesto Guevara, comandante nuestro”), Miguel Barnet (“Che”), Fina García Marruz (“En la muerte de Ernesto Che Guevara”), Ángel Augier (“Che vivo”), Samuel Feijóo (“Che”), Félix Pita Rodríguez (“Cantata del guerrillero heroico”), and Cintio Vitier (“Ante el retrato de Guevara yacente”).

FMLN and Via Campesina Back Constituent Assembly in Venezuela

by LUCAS KOERNER

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | July 24, 2017

FMLN International Relations Secretary Nidia Diaz expresses her party’s solidarity with Venezuela. (Prensa Latina)

Caracas, July 24, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Two prominent grassroots organizations have voiced support for National Constituent Assembly (ANC) elections in Venezuela amid mounting international pressure for Caracas to withdraw the initiative.

During its national conference over the weekend, El Salvador’s governing left-wing party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), rejected external intervention aimed at derailing the Maduro government’s effort to overhaul the country’s constitution.