Cuba stands firm before the masters of war

Granma reproduces excerpts from a 2001 speech by Eduardo Galeano, emphasizing the dignity of a peaceful people who have mourned the loss of 3,478 of their sons and daughters, whose lives were cut short by terrorism

by Eduardo Galeano

Granma | October 05, 2018

The explosions of the ship La Coubre (pictured) and Cubana Airlines Flight 455 over Barbados are two of the most tragic events suffered by our people, repeatedly victimized by terrorism. Photo: José Agraz

* Excerpts from a speech by Eduardo Galeano, delivered in December of 2001, upon receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Havana:
“Thirty years ago, thinking about the attitude of the United States government, I asked myself what prohibits its citizens from traveling freely to Cuba: If this island is what they say, hell, why doesn’t the United States organize excursions here so that their citizens can see it themselves and wise up?

Under Kavanaugh cover, Republicans pass $3 billion tax cuts for wealthy

by Frank Clemente

People’s World | October 05, 2018

While Americans were transfixed by Senate hearings over Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults, House Republicans quietly passed another enormous tax handout for the wealthiest Americans.

Round one of this giveaway cost $2 trillion. Round two is even bigger—it would explode the deficit by more than $3 trillion. And once again, it’s largely a giveaway to the wealthiest Americans—and could mean devastating service cuts for ordinary people.

How India Walked a Tightrope to Ink the S-400 Missiles Deal With Russia

by Pravin Sawhney

The Wire | October 05, 2018

Russian S-400 air defence mobile missile launching systems drive during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Red Square in central Moscow, May 7, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Grigory Dukor

The signing of the S-400 Air Defence Missile System (ADMS) deal is good news for India and its military. However, the uncertainty that dogged the inking of the contract till the last moment – it was not clear until this morning if this would happen – was suggestive of the looming shadow of the United States on India’s foreign policy. This cannot be good for the future of India’s bilateral engagements with other countries, especially Russia.

Friends & Foes: Rohingya Run and Imperialism

by Farooque Chowdhury

Frontier | Vol. 51, No.13, Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2018

The long Rohingya run is passing more than a year in its current phase—a huge number of the Rohingyaas in Bangladesh. Amidst diplomatic dialogues, and imperialist intrigues the Rohingyaas staying in Bangladesh are passing difficult days.

The Rohingyaas’ days are harsh and hard, very difficult to bear. Their days are uncertain and undignified also. Living on doles is not a dignified life. Moreover, dignity dries down when imperialism appears friend. Imperialism’s “friendly” posture creates a lot of critical questions. Nowhere and never imperialism was friend of any people struggling for survival and justice, for democratic rights, for dignity as the two interests—people’s and imperialism’s—are diametrically opposite, contradictory. 

During West Bengal’s Naxalbari Movement, Women Were Not Merely in the Background

by Mallarika Sinha Roy

The Wire | October 04, 2018

Conceptualising women’s experiences of violence is at the same time difficult and necessary. Credit: Youtube

Let me begin with the ‘parable of elephant hunt’, popular among Naxalites of the 1960s. The parable was lucidly elaborated as the revolutionary strategy in Utpal Dutt’s play on Naxalbari, Teer (Arrow) (1967). Dutt points out through this parable the distinction between the bookish knowledge of metropolitan Naxalites about guerrilla warfare and the interpretation of Maoist guerrilla tactics in everyday language by the tribal guerrillas. In one scene, Devidas, the urban Naxalite leader, tries to explain the strategy of ‘people’s war’ by reading from party booklets, but his peasant comrades fail to comprehend such grandiloquent language. Finally, Gangee Orain stands up and starts speaking. Let me quote an excerpt from this scene:

Under `House Arrest’ in Indian democracy

by Sumanta Banerjee

Countercurrents.org | October 05, 2018

The  term   `house  arrest’  does  not  find  any  mention  in  the CrPC (Criminal  Procedure  Code)   or  the IPC  (Indian  Penal  Code).  But  certain   judges  have  invented  this  term  to  justify  their  decree,  presumably   by  falling  back  upon   an  Article  in  our  Constitution.   Article  142  empowers  the  Supreme  Court  to  “pass   such  decree  or  make  such  order  as  is  necessary  for  doing  complete  justice  in  any  cause  or  matter  pending  before  it,  and  any  decree  so  passed  or  order so  made  shall  be  enforceable  throughout  the  territory  of  India…until  provision  in  that  behalf  is  so made  ….in  such  manner  as  the  President  may  by  order  prescribe.”

The New York Times as Judge and Jury

by Joe Lauria

Consortium News | September 21, 2018

We’ve seen it before: a newspaper and individual reporters get a story horribly wrong but instead of correcting it they double down to protect their reputations and credibility—which is all journalists have to go on—and the public suffers.

Sometimes this maneuver can contribute to a massive loss of life. The most egregious example was the reporting in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Like nearly all Establishment media, The New York Times got the story of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction—the major casus belli for the invasion—dead wrong. But the Times, like the others, continued publishing stories without challenging their sources in authority, mostly unnamed, who were pushing for war.

Frontier 50: Reflections on Frontier

by Nirmal Brammachari

Frontier | Vol. 51, No.13, Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2018

The weekly Frontier has completed its fiftieth year in April, this year. I do not know of any Bengali or English periodical published from Kolkata to have played a progressive role on Indian and international affairs for such a long time. It is particularly remarkable that its publication was started by the illustrious poet, Samar Sen. Frontier was not published as the organ of any political party or group, and it continues to retain its independence till date. Samar Sen wielded his strong pen in the then existing political situation. His razor-sharp language, criticims and comments on important events were already well-known. In editing Frontier, he transformed with elegance this work into regular and professional journalism. At that time, the Bengali Deshabrati and other political journals were being published regularly. But Samar Sen filled a need, that of spreading radical thought among readers beyond Bengal’s border. In other states of India, many English dailies and weeklies were published; but most of them were organs of political institutions or servants of exploiting and ruling classes. As against them, this English weekly, published from Kolkata and embodying an original approach, undoubtedly evoked a good deal of response. By focusing on the popular struggles, whether of the peasantry or of workers or of students and youths, then going on in different states including West Bengal, Samar Sen set a bright example of honest journalism through Frontier.