Over 180 million workers began a two-day general strike across India yesterday in protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big business assault on the working class. Tens of thousands of workers defied threats of sacking and pay cut by state governments to join the national walkout.Read More »
COMMUNIST Party of India (Marxist) leaders from West Bengal, Sujan Chakraborty and Anadi Sahoo were detained by police during India’s largest-ever national strike today.
They were arrested in Kolkata as an estimated 200 million took part in the first day of two days of action across India involving at least 10 trade unions.Read More »
FRENCH authorities have announced measures to clamp down on the growing “gilets jaunes” anti-government protests after eight weeks of unrest across the country.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who compared the protesters to “football hooligans,” said new legislation would ban so-called troublemakers from demonstrations and ban the wearing of masks.Read More »
On Wednesday, the New York Times published a lengthy front-page article alleging that Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was rife with sexism and discrimination against female campaign staffers. The article, headlined “For Bernie Sanders, Claims of Sexism in 2016 Campaign Hang Over 2020 Bid,” has all the earmarks of a politically motivated fabrication.
It is an amalgam of vague and unsubstantiated accusations, none of them alleging sexual assault or any other form of criminal behavior. For the most part, the actions described are at worst boorish. The accused who are named all deny the charges, making it impossible for the reader to determine the truth of the allegations.Read More »
Every year, Cuban youth and outstanding figures reenact the journey across the island of the Caravan of Liberty, led by Fidel from January 2 to 8 of 1959, culminating in a gala event at the former Columbia Military Base, now the Ciudad Escolar Libertad educational complex.
The caravan members participate in official events in each province along the route traveled by the triumphant Rebel Army, visit historical sites, combatants and relatives of the Revolution’s martyrs, among other activities.Read More »
President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was one of the first to send a message of congratulations to Cubans. Photo: Nicolás Maduro official Twitter account
THIS January 1, the President of the Councils of State and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, congratulated the Cuban people and government on the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, tweeting: “Sunrise in #Cuba on the #60thAnniversary of the Revolution. Yes to the celebrations, to joy, to the tireless defense of all that the people of Cuba and their revolutionary government have built and established together. Happy New Year. #SomosCuba #SomosContinuidad.”
OVER Thirty thousand farmers and agricultural workers at the call of AIKS and AIAWU from six North Bengal districts flooded the streets of Siliguri in North Bengal , to protest against the anti farmer policies of the Modi-led Union government and the West Bengal state government on December 27. All Siliguri bound trains virtually turned into ‘Kishan Express’ on that day and a day before. Many of them had come from far flung mountainous belt or distant rural areas in the Bengal bordering Assam and Bangladesh.
Residents of Siliguri extended their solidarity to marchers by supplying ‘roti’ and vegetables. Volunteers collected food from houses and finally more than one lakh packets were served.Read More »
A student once asked the American anthropologist, Margaret Mead, what she considered to be the first evidence of civilisation. Mead answered that for her the first sign of civilisation is a healed femur (thigh bone). The healing of the thigh bone, which can take months when immobilised, means that someone must have hunted, provided shelter and gathered food for that person before the bone healed. All in all, according to her, the evidence of compassion was the first sign of civilisation.
Journal of People 