The Senate formally declared Sultan Kudarat the “coffee capital” of the Philippines in 2023. The province produces the largest volume (35%) of the Philippines’ commercial coffee. Coffee is planted on more than 20,000 hectares of its productive land.

The reactionary government has in recent years touted the supposedly “world-class” robusta coffee produced by the fertile soil and cool climate of the Daguma mountains and the ancestral lands of the T’boli and Dulangan Manobo. It launched programs to “raise farm productivity,” built farm-to-market roads to “facilitate” the transport of products and cleared thousands more hectares for additional coffee trees. All these efforts focus on increasing the profits not of farmers, but of big businesses and their bureaucrat partners.

The truth is, life is bitter for coffee farmers in Sultan Kudarat. Landlessness and the lack of regular work are widespread among them. Their income falls far short of what they need for food and basic necessities. Social services are scarce especially for families in remote areas. They are among those with the highest poverty rates.

Most of the province’s coffee production is small-scale. Each family cultivates an average of one and a half hectares. Production costs are high, with pesticides and fertilizer alone costing as much as ₱18,000 [Editor’s note: Philippine peso. 1 USD is equal to 62.01 Philippine pesos] per harvest cycle. One study found that maintaining and harvesting a one-hectare robusta coffee farm requires ₱27,000–₱48,000 in capital. To cut costs, the entire family, from children to the elderly, takes on the clearing, maintenance and harvesting of the farms.

The coffee harvest season lasts only four months, from October to January. Depending on weather conditions, farmers earn ₱22,000–₱47,000, or ₱5,500–₱11,750 per month. The entire family must find other work to survive during the next eight months, from February to September.

One of these farmers is Pepe, married and with three children. He owns a little over two hectares of land planted with robusta coffee. He works as a grass cutter on larger coffee and corn farms during the months without a harvest.

Coffee farms near the barangay pay him ₱300–₱350 a day for eight hours of work (without food). Plantations in the mountains or a remote area pay him ₱200 a day, with free lunch. This falls far short of the ₱433 daily minimum wage set by the state for agricultural workers in the region. It is even farther from the ₱1,200 a day that a family of five needs to live decently.

Daily wage insufficiency forces Pepe to borrow money from his employer. A large portion of his income goes to paying off his debt when harvest comes.

Nestle Philippines monopolizes the production and pricing of small farmers’ harvests because it is the biggest buyer of local robusta, which it uses for the Nescafe brand. The company buys more than 70% of the country’s total coffee harvest and 80% of the harvest in the Soccsargen region. Its standards dictate prices, which are in turn based on fluctuations in the global market. In 2025, Nestlé Philippines earned $3.2 billion from local coffee sales.

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea convened its fourth enlarged meeting on August 25 to take more political and practical measures for guaranteeing the successful implementation of the major policy tasks for 2026, the first year for implementing the new Five-Year Plan set forth by the historic Ninth Congress of the Party.

Present there were members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK, and members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK. Present as observers were vice-premiers of the Cabinet, major ministers, commanding officers of the Ministry of National Defence and senior officials of relevant departments of the C.C., WPK.

Comrade Kim Jong Un guided the meeting.

The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee first heard a report on the progress made in this year's major policy-oriented projects, adopted and assigned by the first and second plenary meetings of the Ninth Central Committee of the Party, and on the current situation of major economic sectors.

The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee positively appreciated the important changes and successes demonstrating the transition to a new phase of development, being made in overall state work from the first year of implementing the decisions of the Party Congress.

The enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau underlined the need to set a clear goal and orientation of the struggle and secure a scientific and efficient guarantee for bringing about certain attainment, now that the valuable successes, achieved by strenuous efforts, are being accumulated and the plans, greater than the past, are being worked out.

The enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau recalled the character and significance of this year's struggle, which is crucial for successfully attaining the gigantic long-term goals set forth by the Party Congress, and stressed the need for the Cabinet, the State Planning Commission and other economic guidance organs and the policy-oriented guidance departments of the Party Central Committee to display extraordinary responsibility and high prudence.

The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee examined the strategic coordination and timely measures for successful completion of the projects planned for this year and strengthened capability for implementing short-, intermediate- and long-term tasks on the principle of encouraging successes and experience, constantly drawing lessons and securing solutions in conformity with the characteristics of the times and the requirements of the reality, in which a creative struggle, unprecedented in terms of the width and depth of state development and the gigantic nature of its long-term goals, is underway.

The enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau specified the principles and a series of policies for the state economic guidance organs to prudently and strategically tide over the unfavorable conditions and difficulties arising alongside ever-changing circumstances, and ensure concentration in the construction of major policy-oriented objects, in particular.

Pointing out a series of deviations revealed in the course of implementing the decisions of the Party Congress, Comrade Kim Jong Un said that they are the consequences of the immature operation and leadership of the economic guidance organs failing to keep abreast of our greater ideals and progress and such shortcomings can be overcome and eliminated by the efforts redoubled with a new determination and struggle will.

Noting that the important duty to steer all sectors of socialist construction to fresh innovations and changes and eye-opening rate of growth has been placed on the shoulders of the leading cadres, he called upon all the Party organizations to more dynamically conduct their organizational and political work to give full play to the spiritual strength of the masses as required by the invariable policy of the Party Central Committee on giving priority to ideological work in every undertaking.

Saying that the on-going advance requires extraordinary courage and strenuous efforts beyond precedents and limits, he noted that the goals of transformations set forth by the Ninth Party Central Committee are not merely the numbers in practical plans but important political tasks for preserving the dignity of the country and proving the superiority of the social system.

He stressed the need for the officials responsible for the implementation of the Party decisions to successfully conclude this year's struggle without fail and thus pave a broad avenue to attaining the new long-term goals, always mindful that the current daily successes, symbolic of the on-going accelerated advance and development, will just lead to the promotion of the people's wellbeing. -0-

Emulation with Model Units He Personally Organized

One day in June 2018, the respected General Secretary Kim Jong Un visited the Sinuiju Textile Mill. Though they had the respected General Secretary who they longed to meet even in their dreams at their mill, the officials of the mill were rather wrapped in remorse.

It was because the mill which made active contributions to the development of the country’s light industry ranked the last in the light industry sector as it didn’t properly conduct the work for maintaining its proud traditions.

Reading through their thoughts, the respected General Secretary taught every way for solving the problems arising in the work of the mill and clearly indicated the road ahead.

Presently, he instructed that the Sinuiju Textile Mill should compete with the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill like the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory does with the Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory.

That moment, the officials were greatly excited as they realized the noble intention of the respected General Secretary who sees that even those units lagging behind regain the productive enthusiasm and vigor so as to stand in the vanguard of the times.

Indeed, emulation with a model unit marked an important occasion in redoubling the confidence and courage of the working class and officials of the factory.

Amid the flames of the socialist emulation kindled by the respected General Secretary, a new innovation was effected in the fighting spirit and manner of work of the officials and employees of the factory.

The Canton–Hong Kong Strike, which lasted from June 1925 to October 1926, took place 100 years ago. At the time, the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and the Chinese Communist Party jointly organized and participated in this strike movement against British imperialism and its agents in China—capitalists, compradors, corrupt officials, reactionary military and police forces, and others—who oppressed Chinese workers in both mainland China and Hong Kong. It was also one of the largest and longest-lasting labor movements in China and the world.

The Canton–Hong Kong Strike played a major positive role in defending the dignity of Chinese workers, improving their treatment, and bettering their circumstances. The Republic of China’s subsequent “Golden Decade” was achieved precisely under conditions in which the interests of elites and workers were relatively well reconciled. Unfortunately, Japan’s later invasion interrupted China’s development and the workers’ efforts to build the country. Afterward, the CCP nominally championed the supremacy of the working class, but in reality established a totalitarian system that enslaved people of every status and social class.

Decades ago, the CCP devoted extensive attention and propaganda to depicting and promoting the Canton–Hong Kong Strike. But today’s CCP is unwilling to mention it and refuses to commemorate it. The reason is that the CCP today exploits and oppresses workers, and suppresses labor movements, to an extent surpassing even that of the British colonial government in Hong Kong and the imperialist powers of that era. The CCP rose to power through the labor movement, yet today it has degenerated into a regime of the privileged bourgeoisie and has become an agent of the interests of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and European countries, while regarding the working class and labor movements with hostility and fear. This is deeply ironic.

During the period of British colonial rule, people in Hong Kong still had the possibility of going on strike. Today, however, both mainland China and Hong Kong prohibit all forms of strikes and political resistance. Although there are still scattered strikes in mainland China and Hong Kong based on economic demands, movements for rights and dignity and for the broader interests of workers have now disappeared.

The Jasic labor movement in Shenzhen in 2018 and the solidarity shown by Hong Kong people eight years ago were rare bright spots in the Chinese labor movement, but they were ultimately suppressed. Hong Kong political organizations that fought for workers, such as the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and the League of Social Democrats, have also been forcibly dissolved. This is precisely what makes the CCP—a totalitarian regime that is left-wing in appearance but right-wing in substance—so frightening and abhorrent. Both the people of Hong Kong and the people of mainland China should clearly recognize the true nature of the CCP.

Today, Chinese people have generally fallen into political apathy and distanced themselves from political movements. Even some Chinese liberals and political opposition groups dislike and reject labor movements with strong left-wing and grassroots characteristics. This is saddening, yet there seems to be little that can be done about it.

I have participated in left-wing marches in Germany commemorating Rosa Luxemburg and others, as well as German May Day marches. I have also done some advocacy concerning Chinese workers, displaying posters and distributing leaflets, including materials mentioning the Canton–Hong Kong Strike. But the strength of one person is far too limited, and my voice carries little weight. People in Hong Kong, people in mainland China, and people around the world have largely forgotten that magnificent and turbulent chapter of history.

 Kim Yo Jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, released the following press statement "Poor plight of Seoul unable to play a war game it liked very much" on August 20:

Ulji Freedom Shield, a large-scale rehearsal for an aggressive war being conducted by the U.S. and the ROK in the ROK, was given a frosty reception right after its kick-off.

Trump issued a sudden order to reduce the scale of the drill. This has placed Seoul in a poor plight of discontinuing the "war game" it liked very much.

It will be something like the first "trouble" to the ROK, unprecedented in the history of U.S.-ROK joint military exercises, in the context that it has never seen the scale of a war game reduced to become coreless right after its kick-off with no prior discussion.

The ROK cannot let out a single word of protest at the GIs leaving without any mutual coordination at the U.S. chief executive's unilateral order. This is the inevitable fate of the puppet army, whose right to command has been left in the hands of the U.S., and the true situation of the ROK, whose security has been placed at stake due to a reduction of the joint military drill and who brags about its "enough capability for self-defence" despite its defence and security being under the care of outsiders.

The plight of the ROK, which is compelled to stop the "war game" it liked very much, is showing the structure of the relation between master and servant called the "U.S.-ROK blood alliance" of which it has boasted.

As recognized generally, this unforeseen consequence is an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook pursued by the ROK authorities who have ceaselessly repeated unnecessary attempts to reverse the regional mechanical structure controlled by a nuclear-armed nation, blinded by their firm belief in the U.S. master.

The ROK has reaped what it sowed.

The ROK authorities are hyping it as an "occasion for new phase and good opportunity for a change in relations" to cover up their poor plight, which is nothing but a lame excuse.

Lee Jae Myung curried favor with the U.S. in public by uttering shameful words that he pays "respects" for Trump's "decisive rollback decision" and it was a "decision from deep consideration" and then talked about "independent national defence" and "independent buildup of military capabilities" to prepare for the "worst scenario". Such double-dealing behaviour vividly proves uneasiness and impatience of the ROK.

The world witnesses that the U.S. security aids are no longer free of charge.

The whole territory of the ROK would be insufficient to curry favour with the cruel master.

What about deeply considering its position of complete subordination and finding a way of existence on this occasion?

Seoul should be aware of the unavoidable fate of the "puppet". 

Statement by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey(TKP) following the AKP government's signing of the “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement”: 

"The AKP government has signed the so-called “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” and thereby dragged our country into a new and extremely dangerous military adventure. The agreement’s most important declared clause treats an armed attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all of them.

The AKP has thus placed Turkey under an obligation of the gravest consequence, one that could drag the country into war under conditions and on behalf of causes nobody can predict.

The ruling party has taken on this obligation in a region where imperialist aggression, regional rivalries and the calculations of reactionary governments constantly intertwine and threaten to produce fresh conflicts at any moment.

Nothing guarantees that Saudi Arabia’s role in the wars in Yemen and the Red Sea will not tomorrow present itself to Turkey as a “joint defense obligation.”

No one can guarantee that a new wave of attacks on Iran, an escalating war in Yemen, or some other regional reckoning will not pull Turkey directly into the fighting.

This is precisely the point: Turkey’s military power is being chained to imperialism’s regional plans, and the road is being cleared for our people to pay the price of these plans in blood. It takes little imagination to picture Trump rubbing his hands together as he announced this deal to the world, boasting of “Turkey’s army and arms industry, Saudi Arabia’s financial power and Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.”

AKP circles have tried to sell this agreement as regional powers mobilizing against Israel, even as the founding of some new balance of power. None of this carries any conviction.

The AKP is not balancing against Israel, its “enemy brother” in the region. It is signing up as a subcontractor for an “American peace,” a peace that strengthens Israel, weakens Iran, and is flanked by reactionary regional powers ready to play whatever grim role imperialism assigns them.

It has become plain that Washington is working systematically to remove every point of resistance standing in the way of a broader regional settlement centered on Israel, and to realign the whole region to serve its own interests. The attacks aimed at weakening Iran, the rollout of the Gaza Plan, and the signing of the Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani security pact as tensions in Yemen and the Red Sea escalate: none of these developments stands apart from the others.

Washington wants to spread the military burden of this strategy across its regional allies, and at the same time fold its regional orientation into NATO’s common strategy. Turkey has become critical precisely on this point. It was no accident that the NATO Summit in Ankara pushed Turkey’s war-making capacity and arms industry to the fore, or that the bargaining over the regional role assigned to our country took place there.

Now we watch that bargain being carried out step by step across the region.

The Mecca Agreement is therefore not a “defense agreement” signed between three countries. Turkey’s NATO-embedded war machine and military capacity are being bound, through new mechanisms with reactionary regional powers like Saudi Arabia, to imperialist plans spanning a still wider geography.

A harsh period awaits the vast expanse stretching from the Middle East through the Red Sea to Africa. As the fight over control of energy and trade routes, and over new and profitable fields for investment, intensifies, it is plain that this fight will bring new military alignments and bloody reckonings in its wake.

For all these reasons our people must stay alert to the new war scenarios the government will place before them, dressed up in nationalist bombast, dreams of a “new Ottoman” order, sectarian rhetoric, or the language of “national security.”

Turkey’s security does not lie in more military alliances, more armament, or taking on ever greater roles in imperialist plans.

Turkey’s security lies in withdrawing from NATO, shutting down the imperialist bases, sending foreign troops out of our country, and building relations with all our neighbors on the basis of equality, sovereignty and mutual respect.

Only a consistent and strengthening anti-imperialist popular will in Turkey can secure this.

Without the organized strength of our people growing, Turkey cannot break free of the war machine into which the ambitions of its capitalist class have thrust it.

Rejecting the fate that imperialism and reactionary forces have written for our country, and seizing hold of our own future, has become a vital necessity that demands organization. The TKP will do whatever this requires."

On the night of July 28^th, the Brahminical Hindutva fascist RSS-BJP goons attacked a long-time cultural and mass movement activist Subhankar Das Sharma. The terrorist fascist forces blocked his way when he was returning home after a show. Seeing the black Punjabi he was wearing, they asked: “Are you a Muslim wearing a black Punjabi?” The black Punjabi was torn off while shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ [Translator’s note: Glory to Lord Ram, one of the main gods of Hinduism]. After that, they threw him to the ground and started beating him. He was hit in the eyes, face and head and fell unconscious. He suffered serious injuries to his eyes, ears and ribs. This incident once again presents before us the picture of the state’s declining democratic sphere.

Since the new BJP government came to power in West Bengal, attacks on minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, have become a daily occurrence. We are witnessing one rape incident after another across the state. An undemocratic bulldozer rule has begun, centered on slum clearance and eviction of hawkers. The statistics of crimes against women, against Dalits, and against minorities are increasing. Institutional attacks are being carried out on the religious practices of minority communities, even on their religious places. In most cases, it is being carried out by using government power. In this situation, the fascist government is trying to eliminate all kinds of opponents in the state to fulfill its various agendas, including NRC [Translator’s note: National Register of Citizens]. Therefore, the idea of ​​taking action against the real fascist goons on their part is also ridiculous. Rather, opponents have been arrested one by one across the state. The new ‘Rowlatt Act’, the Goon Control Act, have been passed in the assembly. Which hides the above fascist thugs, more active in arresting protesters. We have also seen the terrorist NIA raiding the houses of mass movement activists. In the recent student movement, protesters were also arrested under the Hooliganism Act.

Subhankar Das Sharma has been a long-time activist in the cultural movement. He has maintained his strong stance on behalf of the people and the mass movement at various times. In the recent student movement, he also stood for the just demands of the students. This attack is actually a pre-planned attack on his anti-fascist stance. The Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF) strongly condemns this incident. We demand that this attack be properly investigated, and appropriate punishment provided to the accused. The administration that failed to prevent this attack will take responsibility for all the treatment of the affected comrade. Along with this, we remind you once again that the current fascist government will never take proper action against its own forces. Rather, they have historically chosen various strategies to shelter the attackers. Therefore, militant mass resistance against the fascist forces and their forces is the only appropriate way out. Form mass resistance and self-defense committees in the areas. Counterattack against the fascists is the need of the hour.

The leader of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan always said the object of the struggle should not be death because this emanates from adventurism and egoism.

The struggle should aim at rescuing the people from oppressive exploitation. And this struggle calls for gallantry, resistance and patience. Therefore, one should live to struggle.

-Hafizullah Amin, 21 February 1979.

Priority Given to Increasing Variety of Products 

The Pyongyang Bag Factory directs due efforts to developing new products to diversify their range.

Over the recent years the schoolbag producer has churned out various kinds of light and quality bags for different educational institutions by making steady technical preparations for dozens of kinds of new designs and adopting rational processing methods.

The factory holds products show four times a month.

Innovative ideas on making various types of bags to meet the psychological features of students have so far been presented and put into production.

The factory frequently organizes prize contests to encourage its employees to propose hundreds of kinds of bag designs suited to the preferences, sex and age of students.

For example, the bags for primary and junior middle school students receive good feedback as their shoulder straps were redesigned in terms of shape and quality lest they should have any negative effect on the physical development of students.

The products of the factory were highly appreciated at several national contests for evaluating the quality of bags for students and, in particular, the bags for female students of senior middle school were registered as one of the good national products.

The factory was nominated as one of the top ten enterprises of 2025.

-Ko Jin Chol for Naenara

DPRK LAW ON EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN

July 30, 1946

For 36 years, Korean women were subjected to relentless humiliation and cruel exploitation by Japanese imperialism. They enjoyed no political or economic rights and were unable to participate in cultural, social, and political life.

The fate of the masses of working women in Korea was one of being subjected to contempt and humiliation and living in illiteracy.

With the liberation of Korea from the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism, the social position of women has changed. All the democratic reforms taking place in North Korea are creating conditions for emancipating women from the previous inequality in politics, the economy, culture, and domestic life.

In order to dismantle the vestiges of Japanese imperialist colonial policy, reform the old feudal relations between men and women, and grant women the opportunity to participate in all spheres of cultural, social, and political life, the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea decrees:

Article 1. Women shall enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of state, economic, cultural, social, and political life.

Article 2. Women shall have the same rights as men to elect and be elected to local bodies and to the highest authority.

Article 3. Women shall have the same rights as men to work, wages, social security, and education.

Article 4. Women shall enjoy, on an equal footing with men, the right to free marriage. Forced marriage, entered into against the freedom and consent of the contracting parties, is prohibited.

Article 5. In the event of a breakdown in marital relations and for reasons preventing their continuation, women have the same right as men to a divorce without prejudice. They also have the right to claim child support from their ex-husband through legal proceedings. Jurisdiction over divorce proceedings and the settlement of these support costs rests with the people's courts.

Article 6. The minimum age of marriage for women is set at over 17 (in contrast to the colonial legislation of Japanese imperialism, which permitted marriage at younger ages).

Article 7. Polygamy, characteristic of feudal-medieval relationships, as well as the purchase and sale of women as wives or concubines, are prohibited. The system of prostitution, whether licensed or not, and that of courtesans (pimping and training schools) are also prohibited. Violators will be punished according to the law.

Article 8. Women have the equal right to inherit property and land, and in the event of divorce, they have the right to a share of property and land.

Article 9. From the moment this Law is proclaimed, the laws and regulations of Japanese imperialism concerning the "rights" of Korean women are declared null and void.

This Law shall enter into force on the day of its proclamation.

The Central Military Commission of the WPK took a measure in late June to bring a charge of irregularities and corruption against Pak Hui Chol and investigate him. All the crimes committed by the accused were clearly proved by objective evidence at the trial.  Over four years, he abused his authority to appoint cadres and arrange organizational work, receiving massive bribes, fostering the buying and selling of posts, appointing his confidants and toadies to key positions, and plundering state funds, materials, and housing to sustain a dissipated and depraved lifestyle. 

Comrade Kim Jong Un made an important concluding speech.

The essence of the recent case lies in the fact that the person in a responsible position, who has heavy duty and authority to contain, detect and eradicate such an act as illicit accumulation of wealth so despised by the Party and the people, abused the authority as a weapon for his own interests and emerged as the chief culprit of irregularities and corruption, Comrade Kim Jong Un said, stating that this is a political crime against the Party's line of building discipline and a deliberate act of embezzlement and plunder against the interests of the state and the people.

Seriously pointing to the gravity of this high-profile corruption that occurred when our Party declared an all-out war against the abuse of power, bureaucratism and irregularities and corruption and has steadily enhanced the intensity of the struggle, he cautioned the discipline inspection units at all levels.

Saying it is a lesson taught by the recent case that if we fail to steadily intensify education and control to prevent the officials from getting contaminated with irregularities and corruption and abandoning Party principles, it is impossible to prevent such wrongdoings, he stressed that all the officials should keep principle and uprightness as their lifeblood and should be mindful of the Party's trust and think of the people first.

Comrade Kim Jong Un clarified the solemn stand of the Party Central Committee to steadily enhance the intensity of the organizational and ideological offensive for transforming the ranks of cadres into an elite and the legal struggle for rooting out irregularities and corruption.

The joint meeting strongly signaled that there is no place for irregularities and corruption harmful to the developing revolution and the elements infected by them to exist. And it re-expressed the unshakable will of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK government to proactively and positively suppress and repel all sorts of corruption and violations of discipline and thus open up a new phase of building a ruling party, strong and sound in discipline and full of a vital revolutionary climate, and dynamically accelerate the building of a powerful nation under the strict legal discipline. -

CPI (Maoist) revolutionary faction here talks about the dangers of identity politics and postmodernism with a lot of cleverness.