Mrinal K. Biswas Forebodings were there. People were wondering as to how much violence would be unleashed in panchayat elections this time in West Bengal. Feared perpetrators were the ruling Trinamul Congress led by the maverick Mamata Banerjee. As was expected, widespread violence marred the elections; nearly 30 people died, and there were hundreds of…

In the recently held Karnataka elections, Narendra Modi made several statements which were not true, and which were made to raise the emotive pitch against his opponents. In a blatant lie, at a rally in Bidar, he asked, “When Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt, Veer Savarkar, greats like them were jailed fighting for the country’s…

Stanley L. Cohen For days now, the Israeli rewrite has been well underway, working overtime, to convince the world that seven weeks of carnage in Palestine, more particularly Gaza, did not happen. Or, if it did, Israel’s response to the Great Return March was a measured, proportionate answer to the menace posed by some burning…

Nicolas Maduro Wins Venezuelan Presidential Elections In a big win for the global socialist movement, the heroic people of Venezuela overwhelmingly voted President Nicolas Maduro to power for a second term as Venezuela’s president in the presidential elections held on May 20, 2018, Sunday. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela announced the result on…

On May 22, 2018, the Tamil Nadu police opened fire in Thoothukudi on a protest march in which thousands of people were participating, demanding the closure of the Sterlite Copper Plant in their area. At least 13 people  have died in the firing, and hundreds injured. The police even gave hot pursuit and shot at…

In an amazing display of goodwill, bus drivers of Ryobi group in Okayama, Japan have staged a protest not by striking work but by continuing to drive without charging fares from passengers. The Ryobi group is facing tough competition from another group Megurin, which is offering reduced fares to passengers. The intended message is that…

Mrinal Kumsar Biswas   The icy hand of death has been laid on Sudhakar Prabhudesai. It was a cruel joke that he could not leave this world peacefully. I was told excruciating sufferings awaited him before he breathed his last. Sudhakar did not deserve that. I knew him for decades, he never caused pain to…