Bolivia: General Strike Protests Crackdown on Native March

Repression of TIPNIS Marchers

Bolivia’s main trade union declared a 24-hour general strike Wednesday to protest Sunday’s police crackdown on indigenous demonstrators who were protesting the construction of a road through a pristine rainforest preserve.

Thousands of members of unions belonging to the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) held protest marches in Bolivia’s main cities Wednesday, and roadblocks have been set up in La Paz, where teachers, doctors and other unions have joined the strike.

Labour Minister Daniel Santalla said there was no reason for the protest measure, since President Evo Morales already announced on Monday that work on the road had been suspended until voters in the affected provinces decided the fate of the project. 

Book Review – Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s Conception of Health Care

By Ramona Wadi. Ramona Wadi is a freelance writer living in Malta. Visit her blog at http://walzerscent.blogspot.com.

“Often we need to change our concepts, not only the general concepts, the social or philosophical ones, but also sometimes our medical concepts.” - Ernesto Che Guevara.

Modelled on Che Guevara’s principles and keeping in line with the Cuban revolution, Steve Brouwer’s assessment of Cuba’s health care system in his book Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s Conception of Health Care (Monthly Review Press, July 2011) stands as a testimony to answer anyone claiming that socialism cannot function. Cuban doctors have regaled people in Latin America and around the world with medical opportunities which, in capitalist ideology and implementation, remain remote. While Cubans are provided free health care provided by medics who are dedicated to science and society, the United States has created a scheme based on profits, which marginalizes a major segment of the population who cannot afford costly treatment.

Why I Am An Atheist

Today is the birthday of the one of the most important martyrs in the Indian revolutionary struggle. Bhagat Singh, a young communist revolutionary and fighter for India’s national liberation, was executed by command of the British colonialists on March 23, 1931. Like Che Guevara, he has become a symbol of resistance for revolutionary youth throughout Asia and the world.

Singh was born into a Sikh family, but by the time of his death he become a staunch atheist. This pamphlet, which is one of his best known and considered an anti-colonial classic by many, was a result of some criticism by fellow revolutionaries on his failure to acknowledge religion and God while in a condemned cell, the accusation of vanity was also dealt with in this pamphlet. He supported his own beliefs and claimed that he used to be a firm believer in The Almighty, but could not bring himself to believe the myths and beliefs that others held close to their hearts. In this pamphlet, he acknowledged the fact that religion made death easier, but also said that unproved philosophy is a sign of human weakness.