The absolute farrago over 13 left-wing members walking out of yesterday's NEC meeting was to me at least a sign that the left-wing group at the top of the Labour Party is not making great decisions. While it did succeed in attracting attention, it also meant that the Young Labour representative was not present for an agenda item about safeguarding, while fellow NEC member Ann Black described their behaviour thus:

>When Margaret was nominated as chair, some members announced that they were leaving because of Keir Starmer’s factional approach.  Their tirades went way beyond anything I ever heard NEC members direct towards Jeremy Corbyn or any previous leader, though some said this had been a pattern of increasingly discourteous behaviour since April.

While the left NEC members should be free to hold and express any opinions they have in any way they see fit, I I think it's actually damaging to their standing with members and their influence within the party if they pull stunts like yesterday's.

What it brought home to me is that these people are obviously not getting good advice on how to handle problems from those with experience, and that there is a clear lack of leadership on the left at the moment. And in the Labour Party, the worst thing your faction can be is disorganised - the other faction will run rings around you.

Rather than crow about it, I'm going to try to offer some constructive advice. What I think the left needs to do is professionalise and form a proper caucus, along the lines of the Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, open to all left MPs, MSPs, MSs and NEC members.

For those unfamiliar, the Progressive Caucus brings together left-wing Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives. It's a professional and well-funded organisation, with both a permanent staff and an elected leadership. Its current co-chairs are Rep Pramila Jayapal (Washington) and Rep Mark Pocan (Wisconsin). It counts among its membership high-profile progressive congresspeople like Bernie Sanders (although he's an independent rather than a Dem), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as well as slightly lower-profile but arguably more left-wing representatives like Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowksy and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

Something along the same lines for the left in the UK appears to be very badly needed. It would serve several purposes for the

Bonjour à tous ;

Je pense que ce sujet à sa place ici, corrigez moi si je me trompe.

J'ai une question simple : quels sont mes droits relatifs à un congé paternité si je suis en alternance ? (contrat de professionalisation)

On me dit toujours que j'ai les même droit d'un salarié mais en réalité qu'en est-il ?

Devrais-je contacter les assistances sociales de mon entreprise et de mon école ?

J'ai peur de lever un conflit, on m'a déjà ouvertement dit "mais tu peux attendre la fin de tes études non ? etc..." ce que j'ai trouvé très déplacé.

Ces personnes ne sont pas soumises à un secret professionnel et j'ai peur que cela engendre des conflits.

This post is divided into 6 sections:

1. Introduction
2. Every Civilisation has a Cultural Base
3. What are the Ramayana and Mahabharata
4. Resources for Understanding the Mahabharata
5. Resources for Understanding the Ramayana
6. Conclusion

1. Introduction

I have previously written an essay titled “The Glue of Nusantara: Understanding the Javanese, Islam and the Minorities” in which I describe how Indonesia’s ethnic Javanese leaders have to carefully manage the interests of the various communities so that the country can function. To briefly summarise, the interests of the Islamists and the Pluralists (which includes the moderate Muslims and the ethno-religious minorities) must be harmonised and kept at balance, while the interests of Tanah Jawa are also worked on behind the scenes.

As you can imagine, maintaining the balance between these 3 communities is a complex and monumental task. To aid them, Javanese leaders often look to examples from the two Adikakawin (Great Epics: Ramayana and Mahabharata) in wayang for inspiration, which form an integral component of their culture and philosophy.

Generally, people are aware that Javanese culture affects many aspects of this country’s politics. The Economist noted it in their 2019 article “How the mores of Indonesia’s biggest ethnic group shape its politics”. Academic theses have been written which describe the influence of Javanese Philosophy on the Indonesian Military: (“Impact of Javanese culture on Indonesia's strategic outlook and on the Indonesian armed forces (TNI)” and “The Professionalisation of the Indonesian Military”. This is an interesting quote from the second thesis:

>The political wisdom contained in Javanese alphabet of Hanacaraka that tells a story about how to secure political power game was used by Soeharto to control the military. As summarised by Rinakit, [t]he moral of this story is that someone must create two balancing and powerful camps and plot to make them fight each other. The plotter will then emerge to pick up the spoils after they have destroyed each other’. By these means, the victor needs not to worry about a threat from below

Minister of Defense Joaquin Costa has today announced the remainder of the navy shall be undergoing it's professionalization programme that began over five years ago. This shall see the remainder of the navy servicemen undergoing new training programmes to their improve combat performance.

The programme shall also see the ships be updated onto increased maintenance and resupply schedules to ensure the quality of our naval ships shall not deteriorate.

Minister Joaquin Costa said that, "Increased instability in the world necessitates an strong incentive to prevent hostile action against the D.A.N.C.. The navy is vital to protecting our shores and projecting our influence. Thus the costs of such a navy shall pay dividends in the coming years but preventing the costs of conflict."

[Some ships placed into reserves and undergoing rebuild]

Do your worst!