Latest news with #Stalinist
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Labour's four ‘rebels' aren't persistent – they are principled
As a former Labour MP who treated the whips with the contempt they deserved in October 2001 (the chief whip told me that war is not a matter of conscience), I feel qualified to judge Keir Starmer's clumsy submission for the Stalinist of the Year award (Keir Starmer removed Labour whip from four 'persistent rebel' MPs, 16 July). Starmer fails to topple the megalomaniac Donald Trump for the honour, since the prime minister considers an MP's three votes against the government over 12 months, out of 271 divisions, as being 'persistent'. The rebels aren't persistent – they are principled. Paul WB Marsden Oakenholt, Flintshire I am saddened by the decision to remove the whip from Rachael Maskell. Before the 2019 election, I phoned many potential Labour voters in her constituency of York Central. While I was surprised at the level of distrust voiced about the party, I was impressed by the number of those who spontaneously referred to Rachael, praising her as a committed and caring MP. Labour can ill afford to lose such an outstanding representative. Sheila Cross Newby Wiske, North Yorkshire This weak, self-serving prime minister has disenfranchised me. I voted Labour and Chris Hinchliff is a good constituency MP who certainly represented my views on universal credit and personal independence payments and on Gaza. If he stands in 2029, and I am still alive, I will vote for him again – if the current cabinet has been replaced with visionaries or if he stands as an independent. Margaret Waddingham Ware, Hertfordshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
V S Achuthanandan, the lone flame of integrity that refused to be extinguished
He was no grand ideologue like EMS Namboodiripad nor the beloved mass leader that A K Gopalan was. He couldn't set crowds alight with homespun humour like E K Nayanar. Yet, one could well argue whether even these iconic communist leaders commanded the universal love and reverence that V S Achuthanandan eventually did, not just within his party, but far beyond its ideological fold. The most poetic twist in his story is perhaps this: The cult-hero status he attained came not in the fervent prime of his life, but in its twilight. Critics once dismissed him as a sectarian Stalinist, gauche and rigid. But history had other plans. VS was unique in another, profoundly symbolic way. For a movement that long championed the cause of the oppressed, it took over half a century after Independence to produce a chief minister who was a true working-class hero from an oppressed caste. That it was Achuthanandan who broke this 'glass ceiling' made his ascent more remarkable in a movement, once derisively referred to as led by 'Brahminical communists'. His political baptism was in the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising — still etched in the communist imagination as a moment of revolutionary martyrdom. A legislator from the early 1960s, CPM's state secretary through the turbulent 1980s, politburo member from 1985 and opposition leader twice — his career was long, but not luminous for most of that time. The turning point came in his 70s — an age by which most political careers dim, even in India's gerontocratic corridors of power. What made him a people's hero wasn't charisma or oratory skills, but his moral clarity and unyielding integrity. At a time when values like accountability and probity seemed to be vanishing from public life, VS stood out as a lone warrior. He fought relentlessly — often against his own party — for justice, be it in matters of corruption, environmental degradation, atrocities against women or global trade injustices. He was among the first in Indian politics to seamlessly blend the global and the local, the macro and the micro. People watched in wonder as the ageing comrade climbed hills, walked in rain, and stood firm in protest, while others in power lounged in comfort. When his party faltered, he carried forward struggles into the courts and onto the streets, often forcing action against the mighty. Not just his comrades but even outsiders rose in protest when his party leadership tried to humiliate him. He was not untouched by power struggles, nor were his motives always altruistic. But few could dispute the moral force he embodied. Even when outmaneuvered by his rivals, he remained, in the eyes of many, the conscience of Kerala's Left — a lone flame that refused to be extinguished. For many, his lingering final years in a coma became a haunting reflection of the values he had so steadfastly defended — now abandoned, forgotten and left to fade in a world that had moved on.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
V.S. Achuthanandan combined class politics with mass politics
V.S Achuthanandan was at the same time a 'rebel' from within and a leader who took his fight forward without breaching the boundaries of discipline set by the the Communist Party of India (Marxist). It was a rare distinction that many other stalwarts, including M.V. Raghavan, and K.R. Gouri Amma, who were expelled from the party following internal rift, could not achieve. He developed this effective mix through his political shrewdness. He prompted a course correction in the party leadership by bringing people's issues to the public sphere. Two defeats had initiated a deconstruction process in his political career, from a leader who had strongly pursued the Stalinist principles and methods in the initial phase to a people's leader later. At the 1991 State conference in Kozhikode, he was defeated by E.K. Nayanar in the election for the party's State secretary by a margin of two votes. The electoral defeat in the Mararikulam Assembly constituency in 1996 was another shocking setback. From then onwards, he combined class politics with mass politics. At a time when the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) was seen aligning with globalisation and market forces under the guise of development, his voice stood apart. He undertook the cause of the landless, Adivasis, Dalits, and those displaced for development projects. He opposed groundwater exploitation by Coca-Cola company in Plachimada, Palakkad, and fought against encroachment on Mathikettan Shola and Munnar. He had this uncanny ability to think differently as seen in his campaign for open-source software and praise for Richard Stallman, the archangel of the global free software movement. He had the patience to listen to such alternative possibilities. He had used the lessons garnered from such interactions as tools against his fight for justice. (as told to G. Krishnakumar)
The Star
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Angola ready to boost tourism; welcomes international travellers
When Feliesiano Muteca started surfing a decade ago, he had the waves at Cabo Ledo on Angola's long Atlantic coastline pretty much to himself. Now, the unspoilt and sandy beach about 125km south of the capital Luanda has become a prized destination for international surfers, with a reputation as a hidden gem. The Portuguese-speaking southern African nation is still scarred by a long post-independence civil war that stalled its development, although parts of Luanda flash with oil money. Wary of its dependence on oil and already burned by the market's volatility, Angola is embarking on a drive to lure back foreign tourists by easing access for travellers and boosting its attractions. These include Cabo Ledo, where Muteca is a qualified surfing instructor with the sport's accredited body. 'There are two of us, and we give surf lessons,' said Muteca, who started out when he was about 10 years old by borrowing boards from other surfers. 'Otherwise, we're there to help out on the beach,' he said, pointing to thatched cabanas being assembled on the sand. Further along, a small lodge has set up a beachside bar and cafe, with cabins on the hillside overlooking the Atlantic. It is filled with a group of Germans enjoying the shade between waves. The same company, Carpe Diem, has a larger resort just up the coast. Nearby tourist sites like the dramatic seaside Miradouro da Lua cliffs once had little more than a dusty road to a lookout point. Now there's a smoothie hut and a cocktail bar, with a branded wooden frame showing the best angles for photos and selfies. After five decades of war that ended in 2002, the vast country had a Stalinist government suspicious of the outside world. Oil fuelled a post-war boom but an oil crash sent the kwanza currency tumbling. In 2014, it traded at around 100 kwanza to the US dollar. It is now trading around 900 kwanza to one dollar. The oil boom days sent tourism to a high of nearly US$1.6bil (RM6.75bil) in 2014, with the yacht crowd filling Luanda Bay and splashing huge sums on lavish beach parties. That plunged to just US$14.8mil (RM62.5mil) last year, according to the National Bank. It led the government to adopt a new tourism strategy. Since last year, dozens of countries have visa-free entry. An airport where soldiers once patrolled with AK-47s is now staffed with smiling young travel ambassadors wearing denim overalls with bibs that read: 'Can I help you?'. The yacht club remains busy but Luanda has also become a stop for cruise liners. Local tour companies are opening to guide visitors through the less developed interior. And high-end international companies are adding Angola to their itineraries. Luanda-born writer Claudio Silva in June co-hosted a week-long journey for foodies, travelling with a top Angolan chef to visit new wineries and explore pre-colonial cuisine and heritage farming. 'Deep-dive gastronomic tours like the one we're doing with Roads & Kingdoms are an opportunity for us to tell our own stories, through food and culture, in urban and rural settings, where our journey is guided by the experiences of the people who live here,' he said. The city of Luanda is now a top stop for many international cruiseliners. South African luxury train operator Rovos Rail has also added the Angolan port city of Lobito to its routes, creating overland treks that can run across the continent from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Those journeys pass through inland areas largely unseen by outsiders for decades. That means accommodation can be basic or require camping. The once-rich wildlife population was decimated by the years of war but government-sponsored repopulation efforts are under way, said Pedro Monterroso of African Parks, a non-profit conservation group. Local rangers and communities are also being trained to become involved in the safari sector, said Monterroso, whose organisation has been hired by Angola to run Iona National Park along the Namibian border in the ancient Namib desert. 'The vision is they want to be Namibia or Botswana in 10 or 15 years,' Monterroso said, referring to Angola's neighbours that draw tens of thousands of foreign tourists every year to their unspoiled natural riches. – AFP
AU Financial Review
16-07-2025
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
Chalmers' reform summit will be 3 days of nothingness
Summits have gone downhill since the Tehran Summit of 1943 committed the Allies to two military fronts in the Second World War, paving the way for eventual victory over Nazi Germany. Its successor, the Yalta Conference of 1945, kicked off the Cold War and the takeover of half of Europe by the totalitarian Stalinist regime of the Soviet Union. Grown men put away their philosophical differences and Joseph Stalin walked away with, well, everything. Winston Churchill, the great warrior of democracy, together with Franklin Roosevelt, traded off peace for communism and what would be decades of misery for half of Europe.
