Part 1 of 2. Preventive inoculations. TLC Editor's Note: The barefoot doctor program emerged in response to a severe shortage of doctors in rural China, where most physicians were concentrated in urban areas. Before 1949 and the triumph of the Revolution, there were only about 40,000 doctors for a population of roughly 540 million, leaving rural communities vulnerable to diseases such as schistosomiasis. The program was formalized after Mao Zedong’s 1965 directive, which emph

A man walks amidst the rubble in the wake of an Israeli airstrike on the Beirut neighbourhood of Bachoura on 18 March 2026 -- Megaphone, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad As the United States farcically walks away from the negotiations with Iran in Pakistan, it was always a matter of concern whether Israel would abide by any such agreement. This was particularly the case with Lebanon and with the Palestinian territories, where Israel seemed absolutely hell ben

A Tibetan Barefoot Doctor at work in the field, Woodcut, Li Huan-ming, People's Republic of China 1974 -- Daily LIFT #1935 The barefoot doctor program emerged in response to a severe shortage of doctors in rural China, where most physicians were concentrated in urban areas. Before 1949 and the triumph of the Revolution, there were only about 40,000 doctors for a population of roughly 540 million, leaving rural communities vulnerable to diseases such as schistosomiasis. The pr

Image via PCC A CALL TO MAY 1st, 2026 Dear Cuban workers, In the face of growing threats from the U.S. government, heightened by the January 29 executive order adding an energy blockade to the long-standing economic, commercial, and financial restrictions that have been in place for over 65 years simply for our desire to build a dignified, sovereign, and independent nation, nothing is more crucial now than uniting and moving forward together as a country. Amidst this situatio

From Arthurian epics to submerged cities, Lyonesse shows how folklore and history intertwine to shape a region’s cultural identity. Tristan and Isolde, miniature of the XV century, cropped -- public domain image By Samantha Sudol For centuries, the waters off Cornwall’s Atlantic coast have kept a secret: the legendary drowned land of Lyonesse. Stories of a prosperous kingdom swallowed overnight by the sea have persisted in Arthurian tales, medieval manuscripts, and Cornish fo

Image via the PCC By Katherin Hormigó Rubio, translated from the Spanish In the early hours of April 11, 1895, beneath a relentless downpour, a small boat reached the rocky shore of Playita de Cajobabo, in what is now the municipality of Imías, Guantánamo. In it came José Martí and Máximo Gómez, accompanied by Francisco Borrero, Ángel Guerra, César Salas and Marcos del Rosario. Martí, the Apostle, noted it in his Campaign Diary with three words that still echo today like a tr

Çatalhöyük, 7400 BC, Konya, Turkey - UNESCO World Heritage Site. A very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, 7400 BC (photo 2019) -- Murat Özsoy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Erdem Denk Standing in the dust of Çatalhöyük —a 9,000-year-old Neolithic site known to archaeology since the 1960s, yet virtually non-existent in discussions about political science and law—a question haunted me: “How come no one told us about it?” My tr

Image via the PCC By Katherin Hormigó Rubio, translated from the Spanish During the Ten Years' War (1868-1878), as the fire of independence swept through Cuba’s fields, a small group of patriots came together in a humble liberated town to give the Mambi movement something even more powerful than weapons: a Republic in Arms with its own laws. The Constitution of Guáimaro, Cuba’s first constitution, was a brief yet revolutionary document that not only structured the insurgent g

“Expect to see more of this as people struggle to survive under our decaying capitalist system,” warned one observer. Images of the fire via news video screenshot By Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams The 29-year-old employee accused of burning down a paper products warehouse in southern California was allegedly furious over pay and working conditions at the facility and compared himself Luigi Mangione , the anti-capitalist folk hero to many Americans who allegedly assassinated a h

Che in Havana, January 3, 1959 at the dawn of the Revolution -- Daily LIFT #1934

From the Soviet Press in the 1960s, a look at the Soviet Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. An internationalist project with deep connections to the USSR's anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist worldview it was a beacon of comradeship between the Soviet Union and the peoples of the Global South. Text: In response to requests from progressive public leaders and government circles, as well as from private citizens in many Asian, African and Latin American countr

Image via the PCC By Katherin Hormigó Rubio, translated from the Spanish On April 10, 1961, merely a week prior to the mercenary invasion at Playa Girón (the Bay of Pigs), three educational institutions began operating in modest neighborhoods of Havana: Camilo Cienfuegos, Ciro Frías, and Fulgencio Oroz. These were more than just basic nurseries. They were Cuba’s first Children’s Circles, a hallmark of the Revolution that aimed to both free women from domestic confinement and

Noboa on March 7 -- Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Pilar Troya Fernández After losing the 16 November 2025 referendum—when the Ecuadorian people rejected the government’s four questions, including the one that opened the door to foreign military bases—Daniel Noboa’s regime accelerated its assault on democracy. In the weeks that followed, it launched a multi-pronged operation that, taken together, constitutes a semi-dictatorshi

Ho Chi Minh visits with young children -- Daily LIFT #1933

Image via the Album Páginas de Gloria By Jorge Enrique Jerez Belisario, translated from the Spanish Imagine the April dust rising in that town in Camagüey. The news from the front was not encouraging: it had been only six months since we had lit the fuse in La Demajagua, and Bayamo had already fallen back into Spanish hands. The military initiative had slowed down. And most critically, there wasn't a single government that represented the emerging Republic. There were three.

A scene in Tehran, March 4, 2026 -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Ali Abutalebi On April 7, the Prime Minister of Pakistan posted on X a call for an ‘extension of the deadline,’ following Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s ‘civilization.’ Shortly afterward, diplomatic sources announced that U.S. and Iranian authorities had agreed to a ‘ceasefire’ and to resume talks in Islamabad. These developments came after 40 days of unprovoked aggression aga

Russian President Vladimir Putin honouring the victims of the Siege of Leningrad, including his brother, in January 2020 -- image via the President of Russia website, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Junge Welt, Online Extra: April 9, 2026. Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen. Russia officially considers Nazi crimes against the Soviet population during World War II to be genocide and has defined denial of this genocide a criminal offence. According to the Kremlin,

Recent comments by Ibrahim Traoré on democracy have spread widely in Western media following an interview, but interpretations that he rejects democracy appear to misrepresent his position. Image of Ibrahim Traoré via X By Nicholas Mwangi, People's Dispatch The recent interview by Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso, has caused widespread debate after going viral across global media platforms. Headlines, particularly from mainstream outlets, quickly framed his remarks

Images via Estudios Revolución By Alina Perera Robbio, translated from the Spanish On Thursday afternoon, His Excellency Mr. Sergei Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation told the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, that he was "highly honored to be received by you." The President replied highlighting the longstanding mutual solidarity between the two countries: "You are a great friend of Cuba." At the Palace of the Re

USSR postage stamp, 1965, "Marxism-Leninism - an eternally living revolutionary doctrine." -- Daily LIFT #1932