International Viewpoint

Señor Lenín Moreno,

We hereby manifest our concern and our rejection of the repression unleashed upon the people's mobilization in defense of their rights, in particular the collective rights of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, Afro-Ecuadorians and Montubios: women, men, children, youth and adults, who are being subjected to intense repression by the police and military forces under your command.

Josep Maria Antentas teaches sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Xavier Puig spoke with him following the publication of his latest book, “Spectros de Octubre” (Sylone).

The international crisis has meant the ruling classes have unloaded the costs of the neo-liberal economic measures onto the backs of workers throughout the world. In a region which is again living through turbulent times, as we see with the people's upsurge in Ecuador or the political crisis in Peru, the shift to the right in Latin America is real but also unstable. The axis of the authoritarian and ultra-liberal offensive internationally is the Trump administration but a key regional outpost of it can be seen in the semi-fascist Bolsonaro government. This is the context of the upcoming Argentinian elections.

With a stubborn position that borders on political suicide, the government of Lenin Moreno, during the seventh day of massive and combative Popular Unemployment, has preferred to repress thousands of indigenous, students, settlers and workers who have risen throughout the country, by employing savage police and military force against them. In fact, this decision was stringently placed ahead of the possibility of repealing the “economic package” imposed on October 1 through Decree No. 883.

The 6 October general election saw the left increase its parliamentary majority thanks to the increase in votes for the PS (Socialist Party). However the latter did not achieve its objective of a working parliamentary majority on its own. The Bloco de Esquerda (BE – Left Bloc) consolidated its position as the third national political force.

Donald Trump's treacherous sellout of the Syrian Kurds puts a new spin on the old saying that imperialism “has no permanent friends, only permanent interests.” It's true that the ultimate betrayal of the Kurds was almost inevitable — as has happened so many times before. But the particular way Trump's done it — right after a phone call with his Turkish autocrat buddy Erdogan, without consulting the Pentagon, State Department, “national security” staff, major allies or anyone else except his own great and unmatched wisdom — is truly spectacular. And of course it feeds into the U.S. domestic tangle in ways still to unfold.

In one more blatant display of his erratic character, political irresponsibility and human carelessness, US President Donald J. Trump abruptly announced on the night of Sunday 6 October, following a phone call with Turkish President Recep T. Erdogan, that he had ordered the withdrawal of US troops stationed in North-East Syria (numbering close to one thousand). These troops had been there to support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic coalition led by the Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (aka YPG), in their fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS).

On 4 October 2019, the regime announced that it has decided to invoke powers under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance and enacted the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation (“Anti-Mask Law”). The Regulation prohibits Hongkongers from covering their faces in unauthorised assemblies, illegal assemblies, or even authorised assemblies and marches.

“The former Indian minister and a member of the parliament, Shashi Tharoor demanded Britain to pay reparations to India and other former colonies for its decades of imperial rule. He made the case in a debate entitled ‘This house believes Britain owes reparations to her former colonies', organised by the famous debating society, the Oxford Union in 2015.

We, the women who resist - in the streets, in our territories, from our spaces and communities - we are the feminist sisters from Abya Yala, those who combat with our bodies, and sustain life; We sympathize with the criminalized, detained, repressed and persecuted in these days of protest against the neoliberal economic measures (paquetazo) of Lenin Moreno´s government. Since the announcement on Tuesday, of the structural adjustment measures in Ecuador, the different organizations and popular movements, indigenous and social, called for an indefinite strike against the economic violence exerted by the Government/ International Monetary Fund / Business Partnership, that fundamentally affects the popular sectors, the most impoverished and the middle classes.

The young Swedish woman Greta Thunberg has faced an exceptional outpouring of hatred that translates into the most vile macho attacks, the most sordid insinuations about her mental health, the lowest calumnies about her autonomy, and even barely veiled death threats.

The death of Robert Mugabe (1924-2019) is being celebrated by Zimbabweans around the world. The 2008 massacre at the Chiadzwa minefield deserves to stand as a testament to his rule, writes Leo Zeilig.

As Portugal heads to the polls this Sunday, the Socialist government boasts of its success in breaking the country out of austerity. Yet as the Left Bloc's Francisco Louçã tells Jacobin, the current low-investment growth model is unsustainable — and fundamental questions around debt restructuring and the Eurozone architecture remain to be answered.

The far-right ideology of Hindutva has gained frightening currency under Indian leader Narendra Modi. But in order to combat it, we first have to understand Vinayak Damodar Savarkar — the man who originated the violent ideology.

The GM workers out on strike have been hit with concessions for years. They need more than a decent contract — they need a transformational agreement that puts workers' rights before GM's profits.

Capitalist exploitation in Pakistan is assuming alarming proportions. Democratic spaces are shrinking. The state is increasingly becoming oppressive towards social movements and working class organisations.

“We're here, we're here, even if Macron doesn't want it, we're here, for the honour of the workers and for a better world.” One of the songs of the gilets jaunes.

British politics is in utter turmoil as a general election looms. We face either a Labour government, possibly as the biggest party with the support of other left parties, most notably the Scottish National Party, with a radical left agenda; or a reactionary Tory Government driven by racism, populism, and English nationalism, with a race to the bottom economy and a strategic relationship with Donald Trump's America First USA. This could determine the shape of British politics for a long time to come.

In a comment published in New York Magazine in 2018, Andrew Sullivan warns the LGBT movement against its leftist “excesses,” which run the risk of jeopardizing the achievements of the gay rights movement and of opening the doors to a reactionary right on the rise:

Whatever the outcome of the demonstrations we are witnessing, and whether or not you stand with them or against them, it is certain that the grip of terror on the hearts of people across Egypt is slackening and that the wall of fear built by the regime during the last six years is cracking and close to collapse. The departure of Sisi is no longer a distant dream, but nearer than ever before.