Díaz-Canel: We have struggled for 150 years and we will continue to struggle, ever onward to victory

Speech delivered by Miguel M. Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, during the political-cultural commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of our independence struggle, in La Demajagua, Granma, October 10, 2018, Year 60 of the Revolution

Granma | October 12, 2018

Photo: Estudios Revolución

(Council of State transcript/GI translation)

Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee;

Compatriots:

We are once again in La Demajagua, the place where we say: We are Cuba – with an abundance of patriotic sentiments.

U.S: AFL-CIO support staffers walk informational picket line

by Mark Gruenberg and John Wojcik

People’s World | October 11, 2018

AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington D.C. | Matt Popovich/Wikipedia (CC)

WASHINGTON—Faced with a management decision to impose its “last, best and final offer” on them, AFL-CIO support staffers – janitors, cafeteria workers, accountants, secretaries among them – walked an informational picket line in front of federation headquarters during their lunch hour on Oct. 10.

Unionists, allies rally against Trump Postal Service privatization scheme

by Mark Gruenberg

People’s World | October 09, 2018

APWU

WASHINGTON—If GOP President Donald Trump and his Wall Street backers convince Congress to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, youthful postal clerk Arrion Brown of D.C., a Postal Workers activist, says he may get laid off and have to find another job to support his two young children.

UK: Strike action over pensions is a ‘last resort’ for NASUWT

by Marcus Barnett

Morning Star | October 13, 2018

GMB members working for teaching union NASUWT voted today to strike as a “last resort” to defend collective bargaining rights and their pension schemes.

The group of workers will be striking on October 17, November 5 and November 9 after 87.6 per cent of workers voted for strike action on an 80 per cent turnout.

50 Years Later

A Frontier editorial | Autumn Number 2018 | Vol. 51, No.14 – 17, Oct 7 – Nov 3, 2018

That Frontier has survived to celebrate 50 years of publication is a puzzle. But there are people who are not in favour observing anniversary ritual. They think rationalists should not indulge in such ritualistic exercise. Then there are people who would like to observe anniversary. They think it is an occasion to reflect on the past. As for Frontier the past is riddled with too many odds. The long journey has never been a smooth one. Over the years Frontier has demonstrated what press freedom means. Frontier is in crisis. But the print media in general is in crisis. The world is changing very fast. This is the age of robotics and artificial intelligence. Advanced communication technology has opened up new fields of capital accumulation in culture and the arts and in the privatisation of public services, including health and education, and in the commodification of human sociality by way of mobile devices and social networking. All these trends are in turn accompanied by the dramatic restructuring of work rearrangement, paving the way for emergence of new contradictions, affecting the print media.

Fifty Years of Frontier

by Santosh Rana

Frontier |Autumn Number 2018 | Vol. 51, No.14 – 17, Oct 7 – Nov 3, 2018

In 1967, in the fiftieth year of the Great October Revolution, the Spring Thunder over Naxalbari created a revolutionary upsurge among the workers, the peasants, the students, and youth and revolutionary intellectuals all over India. The peasants were in revolt against the exploitation and tyranny of the landlords, money-lenders and other exploiters. One could hear the resonance of Naxalbari in far-off Srikakulam, Mushahari, Lakhimpur-Kheri, Debra-Gopiballavpur, Birbhum and other places. The students, many of them with brilliant academic achievements, abandoned their career and went to the villages, forests and mines to integrate with peasants, adivasis and workers and build the revolutionary movement.

Cuban President visits New York to speak before the UNGA

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | October 11, 2018

Photo: Johnnie Stevens

Making his first visit to the United States as head of state, Republic of Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canal Bermudez addressed over 2,000 people at Riverside Church and delivered an impassioned speech before the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 26 September.

 

Defending the sovereignty of Cuba and other states throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Diaz-Canal emphasised that the nations within the region had a right to adopt the political and economic system of their choice.

Land is power in Swaziland

by Peter Kenworthy

Pambazuka News | September 26, 2018

A new Amnesty International report focuses on forced evictions of poor farmers in Swaziland carried out by local police. Land and forced evictions are central to Swaziland’s undemocratic system, says an activist who grew up in Swaziland’s rural areas.

“Land is life”, a new Amnesty International report on forced evictions in Swaziland called “They don’t see us as people” declares. This is to be taken very literally in the small absolute monarchy, as “the majority of the population rely on substance farming” to feed themselves.