The Voracious Reader

FIDEL

Pedro de la Hoz

Granma | December 02, 2020

“We do not tell the people: believe. We say: read,” a statement not made casually, but rather a public expression of a very deep conviction, spoken by Fidel on April 9, 1961 during a television appearance that ended the sixth cycle of the People’s University, Education and Revolution.

The National Literacy Campaign was underway across the country. A few days later, the mercenary Bay of Pigs invasion, organized and financed by the United States took place and was defeated in less than 72 hours. The aggression did not interrupt the enormous pedagogical effort. With a vast audience listening, recorded was Fidel’s message that summarized in good measure the core of the cultural and educational policy of the new times: “The Revolution tells the people: learn to read and write, study, get information, meditate, observe, think. Why? Because this is the path of truth…” Comandante en Jefe said, at the time.

The Granma, Breaking through the Fog

CUBAN REVOLUTION

Mailenys Oliva Ferrales

Granma | December 02, 2020

Neither the bad weather, the rough seas, or the overloading of a yacht in no way suited to make the crossing from Mexico to Cuba, could daunt the 82 expeditionaries committed to being “free or martyrs,” as the Granma broke through the fog, in the words of poet Luis Rogelio Nogueras.

December 2, 1956, at a point on the southern coast of eastern Cuba known as Los Cayuelos, the men under Fidel’s leadership disembarked, intent upon honoring the blood spilled in the name of independence before them.

Why Venezuela’s National Assembly Elections Matter

DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA 

 Federico Fuentes

Venezuelanalysis | December 04, 2020

PSUV campaign closure in Caracas on Thursday. (AlcaldiaCCS)

Venezuelans are set to vote in elections like no other in the country’s recent history when they go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly (AN) on December 6.

Ever since Hugo Chavez’s victory in the 1998 presidential election, electoral contests in the South American country have been highly polarised between the pro-Chavez, pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution and the predominantly traditional right-wing and pro-imperialist parties.

Venezuela Set for Parliamentary Elections as Campaign Ends

DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA 

Manuela Solé

Venezuelanalysis | December 04, 2020

The pro-government alliance held a closing rally in Caracas. (PSUV)

Mérida, December 4, 2020 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan political parties wrapped up their electoral campaigns ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

After a month of limited campaigning in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, various closing events were held during the week, with the curtain officially falling for the campaign on Thursday.

Venezuela Loses 99 Percent of Its Income Due To US Sanctions

IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AGAINST VENEZUELA 

teleSUR | December 04, 2020

President Nicolas Maduro meets journalists, Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 3, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @PresidencialVE

Despite the damage caused by the U.S. blockade, the Bolivarian government keeps the social programs running.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro held a meeting with journalists on Thursday at the Miraflores Palace, where he denounced that the U.S. arbitrary sanctions have caused a loss of 99 percent in the country’s income.

He noted that despite losses in several economic sectors, investments in health, education, and housing have been maintained.

“I spoke to impoverished families in 1975 and little has changed since then”

POVERTY

John Pilger

A British family from the film Smashing Kids, 1975. Photograph: John Garrett

John Pilger interviewed Irene Brunsden in Hackney, east London about only being able to feed her two-year-old a plate of cornflakes in 1975. Now he sees nervous women queueing at foodbanks with their children as it’s revealed 600,000 more kids are in poverty now than in 2012.

*****

When I first reported on child poverty in Britain, I was struck by the faces of children I spoke to, especially the eyes. They were different: watchful, fearful.

In Hackney, in 1975, I filmed Irene Brunsden’s family. Irene told me she gave her two-year-old a plate of cornflakes. “She doesn’t tell me she’s hungry, she just moans. When she moans, I know something is wrong.”

The Farm Law Protests Could Whitewash the Blatant Inequality of Rural Punjab

FARMERS MARCH IN INDIA

Pukhraj Singh

The Wire | December 05, 2020

Farmers in a field of wheat crop in Punjab. Photo: REUTERS/Ajay Verma

The sight of a burly farmer bracing police water cannons on his chest during the ongoing protests against the farm law reinforces the archetype of Punjabi Übermensch.

He is the eternal baaghi or renegade ready to pit himself against injustice, invoking the remarkable guerrilla instincts instilled into him by centuries of martial folklore.

‘Must Protect Our Inheritance’: Why College Students Are Joining the Farmers’ Protest

FARMERS MARCH IN INDIA

Ismat Ara

The Wire | December 05, 2020

Harkirat Singh (extreme left) and Kiran Pal Singh (extreme right). Photo: Ismat Ara/The Wire

New Delhi: Hundreds of police personnel have surrounded the protest site at Tikri Border, one of the borders between Delhi and Haryana. After crossing several rounds of barricades, a man wearing a pagdi or turban was addressing a crowd from the stage that has been set-up at the farmers’ protest site.

The speaker’s closing remarks invite a huge round of applause from the audience consisting of farmers, young and old, male and female. He had said, “They are calling us Khalistani, terrorists. Let them. To them, we say, ‘Yes, we are terrorists. We are the same terrorists who grow food, because of whom you are able to eat’.”

‘You Can’t Forget Your Soil’: Why Punjabi Artists Are So Embedded in the Farmers’ Protest

FARMERS MARCH IN INDIA

Pawanjot Kaur

The Wire | December 04, 2020

Harbhajan Mann with protestors (left) and Kanwar Grewal and Harf Cheema at a protest site (right). Photos: @harbhajanmann/Twitter and Kanwar Grewal Official/Instagram.

Mohali: The nationwide farmers’ agitation, which started on November 26, is in its eighth day today. In Punjab, however, the movement has been going on for the past three months and gathered support from all sections of the society.

Since September, when the agitation first intensified within Punjab, Punjabi film actors, singers, NRI stars and comedians, among other cultural figures from the state, have been vocal in supporting the farmers’ struggle.

Amazon Allegedly Hired Investigators to Spy on Warehouse Strike, Spanish Union Reports

AMAZON IS WATCHING

Morning Star | December 05, 2020

ONLINE retail giant Amazon could face a legal battle with a Spanish workers’ union following a report that it hired private investigators to infiltrate and secretly observe a strike.

Spanish news site El Diario revealed this week that private detectives spied on a warehouse workers’ strike near Barcelona on Black Friday last year.