Local CP artist to exhibit alongside Cuban contemporary art

Beyond the Frame presents fresh and diverse work by 29 of Cuba's leading artists, never before seen in Britain, in support of the campaign for justice for the Miami Five.

From the political to the poetic, the visionary to the everyday, the show embraces the vitality of the island's contemporary art scene, together with original works by other internationally acclaimed artists plus artworks by two of the Miami Five.

It includes painting, drawing, mixed media, prints and photographic work, all available for sale. All proceeds will go the on UK campaigning for Freedom for the Five.

Up to 20 artists mainly based in the UK but also from Ireland and the US have also generously decided to exhibit alongside the Cuban artists with donated artwork of their own. The Chair of the Exeter and South Devon Branch will be among them.

For full details visit http://www.cubabeyondtheframe.com/Site/Home.html

20p for Peace & Socialism

We start the new year as we ended the last, with the Conservatives cheerfully leading a fresh assault on working-class people, whether it be those with a disability or children whose household claims benefits.

The onslaught on pensions, public and private, continues.

The massive handover of the state and its workforces from democratic control to the private sector goes on relentlessly.

Wage cuts, long-term unemployment, particularly among our youth, who should be looking forward to their life ahead with excited anticipation but instead face destitution and despair, are the defining features of our age.

And all the while we know that worse is yet to come.

We lived better under socialism

Over the seven decades of its existence, and despite having to spend so much time preparing, fighting, and recovering from wars, Soviet socialism managed to create one of the great achievements of human history: a mass industrial society that eliminated most of the inequalities of wealth, income, education and opportunity that plagued what preceded it, what came after it, and what competed with it; a society in which health care and education through university were free (and university students received living stipends); where rent, utilities and public transportation were subsidized, along with books, periodicals and cultural events; where inflation was eliminated, pensions were generous, and child care was subsidized.

Read the full article on 21stCenturymanifesto

The Countdown to Gulf War III

As tensions heighten in Persia, the threat of a Western attack upon Iran inches ever closer. Jane Green considers the background to the situation

Taken from the Morning Star

With 10 days of Iranian naval exercises having just been completed, including the testing of long-range ballistic missiles, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi - naval commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) - has announced further activities next month.

Fadavi has said that the drill in February will be "different compared to previous exercises held by the IRGC."

The exercises - coupled with the warning that Iran could close the strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point in the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes - has now encouraged the US and Israel to announce that they are to carry out extensive joint manoeuvres in the region.

The US and Britain have said they will act to keep the shipping lanes open.