One Hundred Years of Indian Communism

COMMUNISM AND INDIA

Prabhat Patnaik

International Development Economics Associates | October 18, 2020

A theoretical analysis of the prevailing situation, from which the proletariat’s relationship with different segments of the bourgeoisie and the peasantry is derived, and with it the Communist Party’s tactics towards other political forces, is central to the Party’s praxis. A study of this praxis over the last one hundred years of the existence of communism in India, though highly instructive, is beyond my scope here. I shall be concerned only with some phases of this long history.

There is No Shortcut to an Ecosocialist Future

ECOSOCIALIST FUTURE

Voting for liberals won’t work. Nor will isolated actions by small groups. Building mass movements is hard work, but it is the only way to win

Fred Fuentes

Climate and Capitalism | October 21, 2020

Winning broad support for a radical challenge to the triple crisis requires patient work.

(Republished, with permission, from Australia’s ecosocialist newspaper, Green Left)

Faced with a global triple crisis — health, economic and climate — it is no wonder most people believe the world is heading in the wrong direction. But who people blame for this situation and their responses have varied.

Socialists believe the capitalist system is at the heart of these crises and that the solution lies in replacing it with a democratic socialist society.

Will the US be Allowed to Colonize Space?

U.S. IMPERIALISM IN SPACE

Newsclick | October 25, 2020

The USA has floated the Artemis Accords to explore the Moon for commercial purposes. The move is a break from the previous understanding between countries to treat space and celestial objects as a common heritage of all mankind. Moreover, newer weapons are being developed, giving nations the power to destroy enemy satellites with missiles. Newsclick’s Prabir Purkayastha sheds light on the USA’s weapons proliferation to control ground, sea, air and space.

Covid, Capitalism & Ecology: A conversation with Mike Davis and Rob Wallace

COVID-19 AND CAPITALISM 

Global Ecosocialist Network Channel | October 17, 2020

MIKE DAVIS  is the author of The Monster Enters: COVID-19, Avian Flu and the Plagues of Capitalism (OR Books, 2020). ROB WALLACE is the author of Dead Epidemiologists: On the Origins of COVID-19 (Monthly Review Press, 2020).

Their 90 minute online conversation will be hosted by Sabrina Fernandes (Brazil) and Ian Angus (Canada). Questions from online participants are encouraged.

Bolivia: Arce Repudiates Right-Wing Requests for a New Coup

PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE IN BOLIVIA

teleSUR | October 28, 2020

Elected President Luis Arce, La Paz, Bolivia, October 27, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @ConElMazoDando

A group of people headed to the Eighth Division of the Army and requested the Armed Forces to take command in Bolivia.

Bolivia’s President-elect Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales Tuesday repudiated minority groups which do not accept the result of the elections and demand the intervention of a Military Junta to rule the country.

Don’t Trust China’s COVID-19 Science? Try Surviving Without It

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Ian Goodrum

People’s World | October 26, 2020

A medical staff takes a swab from a child near a residential area in Qingdao in east China’s Shandong province on Oct. 13, 2020. After a small number of cases appeared in the city, authorities launched a mass testing campaign to screen every single resident within days. From the earliest days of the pandemic, Chinese mitigation and containment strategies have set the standard for the rest of the world. | Chinatopix via AP

For as long as I can remember, I have been engaged in a practice many would consider masochistic. Get those images out of your head, I don’t mean that. Or that. No, my self-defeating habit is all too mundane to the casual observer: I read China stories in the Western media.

It’s not as bad as it sounds. Over time, you build up a sort of immunity to the indignation that is the gut reaction to any of these pieces. Eventually, you can even stop rolling your eyes. Sadly, that doesn’t last. Every so often, you encounter a headline so ignorant and offensive it brings all that old fury back, roaring forth in a tsunami of rage and ruining years of therapy.

CARICOM Divided on Venezuela at OAS Assembly

LATIN AMERICA

Nation News | October 23, 2020

Washington – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries were divided on the issue of “free and fair” elections in Venezuela, with The Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica, and St Lucia all voting in favour of the resolution tabled at the 50th General assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) that ended here on Wednesday.

Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines voted against the resolution, while Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago abstained.

COVID-19 Trade Restrictions Devastating for Africa’s Urban Poor

COVID-19 AND AFRICA’S POOR

Astrid RN Haas and Victoria Delbridge

Down To Earth | October 23, 2020

Trade routes have been significantly disrupted this year in efforts to contain COVID-19. The effects of this are already showing: Global growth is set to contract by 4.9 per cent and growth in sub-Saharan Africa will contract by 3.2 per cent.

This will get worse if continued restrictions further impede trade. The World Trade Organisation has warned that at worst, global trade could collapse by a third this year, and at best, it will contract by 13 per cent, similar to the recorded drop after the 2009 financial crisis.

India Ranked 94 in Global Hunger Index 2020 Among 107 Countries

HUNGER IN INDIA

Dibyendu Chaudhuri and Parijat Ghosh

Down To Earth | October 23, 2020

“The target is to launch the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme within a year. Once the point-of-sale machines are made available at all the public distribution system (PDS) shops across the country, the scheme will be launched, which will help people, especially migrant workers, avail the benefits.”

These were the words by former Union food and public distribution minister, the late Ram Vilas Paswan, when the Global Hunger Index (GHI), 2019 report was released. India ranked 102 among 117 countries.

Delhi and the Winter Air: Hold Your Breath, It’s Still Unsafe

UNSAFE AIR IN DELHI

Sunita Narain

Down To Earth | October 27, 2020

Will we in Delhi breathe easy, or easier this winter? This is our top question, as winter approaches.

We know pollution sources do not change through the year; what changes in winter is the fact that cold air settles close to the ground, trapping toxins, and making us ill.

The onset of winter also comes when farmers burn stubble in their fields after the harvest of rice and before they can sow the next wheat crop. It’s a deadly game of wind, ventilation and moisture.