IV591 - April 2024

In an interview with Jacobin, Leonidas Iza, president of Ecuador’s CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador - Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the country’s main indigenous movement, discusses the government’s repressive policy, militarization, and the expansion of drug trafficking while criticizing neoliberal policies and examining political debates within the indigenous movement and the left. The interview was conducted by Martín Mosquera and Iain Bruce.

“Two symbolic dates of struggle for the workers’ movement, 25 April, the anniversary of the defeat of fascism, and 1 May, are very close together. The perspective must be that of a new season of struggle, of a revival of the workers’ movement.”

“If I were to give some general advice, I would recommend paying less attention to which abstract position is correct, and focusing more on practical action to help us climb out of the hole we are in.”

Philippe Poutou, a former candidate in the French presidential elections and spokesperson for France’s Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA), will be in third place on the “Anticapitalistes” list put forward by Belgium’s “Gauche anticapitaliste” (Anti-Capitalist Left) organisation in the European parliamentary elections on 9 June 2024.

Franco-Lebanese researcher Gilbert Achcar, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, reviews the Israeli attack on April 1st against the consulate in Damascus and analyses the response of the Islamic Republic. He also examines the effects of this renewed tension on the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
[French original published by L’Humanité]
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What was Israel seeking by striking the Iranian consulate in Damascus?
The (…)

“The Republican politicians attack on women’s reproductive rights, driven by the party’s white Evangelical Christian base, has led to a strong political reaction by Democrats, independent voters, and even some Republicans. ”

“The European elections should be an opportunity to strengthen a radical left anchored in social, feminist, anti-racist and ecological struggles, in popular neighbourhoods, capable of stopping the rise of the far right.” For a number of political and intellectual figures, struggles must not only be a defensive reaction, but also build “a new political force, stronger and more popular than what organizations and struggles represent today.”

Switching from a presidential to a parliamentary system is Faure Gnassingbé’s latest brainwave to ensure that, like his father, he remains President for life.

“People in positions of power at German universities are in clear violation of widely held academic — and, frankly, constitutional — norms about political freedom and freedom of speech.”

“Ethnic and religious intolerance is a routine matter and cases are reported now and then.”