13 June 2018 is the 109th Birth Anniversary of Comrade EMS Namboodiripad, former General Secretary, CPI(M), first Chief Minister of Kerala and one of the most respected ideologue of the Communists. His political life extending about eight decades were closely interlinked with the growth and progress of Kerala. A voracious reader, comrade EMS also wrote many books, articles, reviews, pamphlets etc. which have now been compiled and published in 100 volumes. It is a valued treasure.

He was closely connected with the P&T Trade union movement and attended many conferences of the union, including the All India Conference of the AITEE Union Class III held at Thiruvananthapuram in 1994, where I was elected as the General Secretary of the union.

His strictness for time and timely completion of any work is well known. This I have seen myself. Once I have the opportunity to travel with him from Calicut to Mangalore, where he was to address a meeting of NFPTE. He was continuously writing and by the  time we reached Mangalore, he put the same in a cover, wrote the address and told me to post it immediately so that it will reach Chintha next day itself.

An interesting incident also happened. While addressing the meeting  at Mangalore Head Post Office on  the day, he saw the photo of Babu Tarapada Mukherjee, pioneer of the P and T TU movement,  fixed on the wall and asked whose photo it is. When I mentioned that it was the photo of Babu Tarapada, Union leader, he smiled and commented: ‘ so, you have your union leaders’ photo in the Post Office also.’ I mentioned to him also that since there are no place in many Post Offices for holding meetings, we usually hold the same in the office,after office hours.

In his nearly seven decades of public life and revolutionary activities, E.M.S. Namboodiripad left an indelible imprint on the progressive and working class movement of the country. As a young man, he became active in the social reform movement against caste. He left college in 1931 to join the freedom struggle and was jailed in the satyagraha movement. From then on wards, he played an important role in the Congress movement and was one of the founders of the Congress Socialist Party in Kerala. In 1934 he became the all India joint secretary of the Congress Socialist Party. It is in this period that E.M.S. while leading the Congress Party as General Secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Party became acquainted with Marxism. He was one of the five members who formed the founding group of the Communist Party in Kerala in 1936. E.M.S. Namboodiripad represented the coming together of the two streams, the anti-imperialist and the anti-feudal struggles, which laid the foundations for the development of a powerful communist movement in Kerala. He was one of the key proponents of Aikya Kerala which led to the formation of Kerala as a unified linguistic state.

We cherish his memory and our close association with him.Red Salute to Comrade EMS!

Com. G.L.Dhar, Secretary AITUC passed away yesterday. He was one of the senior leaders of the Confederation of Central Government employees and led many a struggle of the Central Secretariat workers in Delhi.  He was personally known to me for a long period. A few months back I have met him in the AITUC office and he helped me in getting a copy of the “Five Glorious Days” written by Com. S.A.Dange on the 1960 CGE strike. His death is a great loss to the TU movement.

My Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family, friends and comrades!

22 March 2018 is the 41st death anniversary of Comrade A.K.Gopalan,”The Commander of the Poor” , freedom fighter and  top leader of CPI(M), whose entire life was a saga of valiant struggle for the cause of the toiling masses. He left us on 22nd March 1977, after one day of the withdrawal of the draconian ‘Emergency’ (1975-77) against which he fought with all his might, but could not know the victory, since he was in coma. Yes, Comrade, your struggle has not been in vain.

Wherever there was pain, wherever there was sorrow, wherever the people were exploited, Comrade, you reached there and fought for them. You did not inquire about their politics, caste or creed, but fought against injustice wherever you saw it.

I was fortunate to  watch many of these struggles and sacrifices. I was also fortunate to get your guidance, advice and affection on many occasions.

Com. AKG, even when you were seriously ill, you could not take rest, but jumped in to struggle for the workers. I still remember many instances including the 1974 Railway Strike. Your speeches and fight in the Parliament and outside for the cause of the workers will ever be remembered. You will always be remembered for your struggles and sacrifices. Years have not diminished these memories. In 2001, we formed BSNL Employees Union on your death anniversary.

Red Salute to Com. AKG!

London, Mar 14 : Stephen Hawking, the legendary British theoretical physicist who explored the mysteries of the universe from his wheelchair and went on to become an inspiring figure globally, died today at his home in Cambridge.
His family said that Hawking, 76, died peacefully in his home near Cambridge University, where he did much of his ground-breaking work on black holes and relativity.
Hawking’s children, Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today.
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world,” the statement said.
“He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him for ever,” it said.
Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on January 8 — the 300th anniversary of the death of astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei.
Hawking suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neurodegenerative disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which is usually fatal within a few years. He was diagnosed in 1963, when he was 21, and doctors initially only gave him a few years to live.
But he went on to study at Cambridge and became one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein.
The disease left Hawking wheelchair-bound and paralysed. He was able to move only a few fingers on one hand and was completely dependent on others or on technology for virtually everything — bathing, dressing, eating, even speech.
Known for his unique way of speaking while living his life in a wheelchair, Hawking became an emblem of human determination and curiosity.
Hawking’s first major breakthrough came in 1970, when he and Roger Penrose applied the mathematics of black holes to the entire universe and showed that a singularity, a region of infinite curvature in space-time, lay in our distant past: the point from which came the big bang.
Hawking’s seminal contributions continued through the 1980s. The theory of cosmic inflation holds that the fledgling universe went through a period of terrific expansion. In 1982, Hawking was among the first to show how quantum fluctuations – tiny variations in the distribution of matter – might give rise through inflation to the spread of galaxies in the universe.
But it was ‘A Brief History of Time’ that rocketed Hawking to stardom. Published for the first time in 1988, the title made the Guinness Book of Records after it stayed on the Sunday Times bestsellers list for an unprecedented 237 weeks. It sold 10 million copies and was translated into 40 different languages.
Hawking won the Albert Einstein Award, the Wolf Prize, the Copley Medal, and the Fundamental Physics Prize. The Nobel prize, however, eluded him.
Despite being a British citizen he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest civilian honor, in 2009 by President Barack Obama.
He was the subject of the 2014 film ‘The Theory Of Everything’, which starred Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.
Hawking once said, “I want to show that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit.”
Hawking leaves behind three children and three grandchildren, according to his website.
Hawking warned Artificial Intelligence could end human race
Eminent astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who died today, had warned that the efforts to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and create thinking machines could spell the end of the human race.
Hawking, known for his work on black holes and relativity, was regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein.
He was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease since he was 20.
Despite being told that he had just two more years to live in 1963, Hawking continued to make path breaking contributions to science till the age of 76.
In the last few years, Hawking repeatedly warned about the threat of climate change, artificial intelligence, population burden and hostile aliens.
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” the cosmologist told BBC News in 2014.
In an interview last year with the WIRED magazine, Hawking said AI will eventually reach a level where it will essentially be a “new form of life that will outperform humans”.
“I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that outperforms humans,” he told the magazine.
The renowned physicist maintained that while the primitive forms of AI had proven very useful, he feared the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.
“It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate,” he had said.
Hawking also warned that due to climate change, Earth will become a sizzling fireball by 2600 and humanity will become extinct.
He declared that humans must “boldly go where no one has gone before” if we fancy continuing our species for another million years.
The astrophysicist believed that humans will need to colonise another planet within the next 100 years to survive climate change, asteroid strikes, and overpopulation.
He had also warned that the aggressive instincts of humans, coupled with the fast pace of growth in technology may destroy us all by nuclear or biological war, adding that only a ‘world government’ may prevent this impending doom.
Hawking believed that humans may lack the skills as a species to stay alive amidst the challenges of climate change, population burden and misuse of technology.
“Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded,” he said.
The scientist believed a new space programme should be worked on urgently by the science community “with a view to eventually colonising suitable planets for human habitation.”
“I believe we have reached the point of no return. Our earth is becoming too small for us, global population is increasing at an alarming rate and we are in danger of self-destructing,” the cosmologist said.
Hawking also warned against announcing our presence to any alien civilisations, especially to those more technologically advanced than humans.
“Our first contact from an advanced civilisation could be equivalent to when Native Americans first encountered Christopher Columbus and things ‘didn’t turn out so well’,” Hawking said in a film.
Also performing a hypothetical flyby of Gliese 832c, a potentially habitable exoplanet located 16 light years away, Hawking noted, “One day we might receive a signal from a planet like Gliese 832c, but we should be wary of answering back.”
Despite his misgivings, Hawking invested in the Breakthrough Initiative’s project focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the Universe.(London Report)

Safdar Hashmi – Martyr for freedom of speech and expression

Safdar Hashmi was murdered on 2nd January 1989 while performing a street drama in Sahibabad, Delhi. We pay our homage to the martyr and give below a short write up on him by Sahmat, the institution formed in his memory.

Sahmat Hashmi  (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989)

Born on April 12, 1954 in Delhi, Safdar did an M.A. in English Literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, in 1975. During his years at University he became a member of the Students Federation of India and then joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association. He was one of the founder members of the Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) in 1973. In 1976 he became a member of the CPI(M).

After brief stints of teaching at Zakir Husain College, Delhi, and the Universities at Srinagar, Garhwal and Srinagar Kashmir, he worked for a period as Press Information Officer at the West Bengal Information Centre at New Delhi.
In December 1983 he became a full-time theatre activist and party worker.

JANAM had by this time acquired national prominence in the cultural sphere with plays such as Machine, Aurat, Gaon Se Shahar Tak, Raja Ka Baja and Hatyare.
Safdar wrote the songs for these plays and contributed greatly to the scripts which dealt with issues concerning the exploited sections of society. Largely due to Safdar’s efforts, JANAM has played a major role in the creation of an all-India street theatre movement.

Safdar’s creativity was not confined to JANAM. He has written poems and plays and done sketches and masks for children, designed hundreds of posters, written scripts and directed short films for television, and written on culture and theatre for national newspapers and the SFI journal Student Struggle. He was one of the main organisers of the Committee for Communal Harmony and its activities to counter the rise of communal, fundamentalist and divisive forces.

He organised a number of seminars and workshops on theatre and culture. Safdar was developing the idea of nation-wide democratic cultural movement and envisaged the organisation of a ‘Janotsav’ to generate forms appropriate to the experiences and struggles of the Indian people.

In recognition of his contribution to the street theatre movement and to the growth of a democratic culture, the Calcutta University conferred on Safdar Hashmi the degree of D.Litt. posthumously.

Twenty four years ago, on 1 January 1989, Safdar Hashmi was fatally attacked in broad daylight while performing a street play in Sahibabad, a working class area just outside Delhi. Political activist, actor, playwright and poet, Safdar had been deeply committed, like so many young men and women of his generation, to the anti-imperialist, secular and egalitarian values that were woven into the rich fabric of the nation’s liberation struggle. Disturbed by the betrayal of its goals by the post- independence ruling elite, Safdar too had moved closer to the Left, eventually joining the CPI(M), yo pursue his goal of being part of a social order worthy of a free people.

Safdar’s political commitment and artistic creativity, coupled with a keen sense of fun and irrepressible friendliness and warmth, made him extremely popular not only among those he had worked with but even those who had met him only briefly. With his death the CPI(M), the Jana Natya Manch, the cultural movement and the democratic and secular forces of the country have lost a beloved friend, a talented artist and a committed political activist.