ZAPATISTA ARMY OF NATIONAL LIBERATION. MEXICO.
February 2019.
To: women who fight all over the world. From: Zapatista women.
Palestine on a Precipice
15 February 2019, byThe rise and expansion of right-wing populism and the dramatic unfolding of global politics in the Trump era have had significant and alarming implications for the Palestinian people, leadership, and question overall.
Breaking with bad politics
14 February 2019, byThe implosion of Podemos in the Community and the City of Madrid has been a surprise in terms of the time chosen, but for any minimally informed observer it was implicit in the situation. Currently the most naive or malicious opponents are pretending to be shocked by the shameful crisis of the Madrid left, but if we do a quick review of some political events of recent years, we will see that not everything that happened is an “aberration” or a “disgrace”, but the logical and inevitable consequence of a whole trajectory. Neither is it a psychodrama in which two friends are fighting, or just a bureaucratic dispute that is emaciated by power, though obviously it is also that. It is the end of a cycle for the transformational politics of this country.
The Jasic Struggle in China’s Political Context
13 February 2019, byThe Jasic case, in particular relationships that were forged between students and workers, reveals important developments in China’s politics. China’s 1989 democratic movement saw intellectuals and students excluding workers from the very beginning. After the failure of that democratic movement, intellectuals soon divided into liberals and the New Left, cleaved by the false dichotomy of “state versus market.” Intellectuals may have adopted New Left rhetoric about “fairness” but remained indifferent to workers’ situation. Students simply retreated to their study. It was not until the 2009 strikes by Guangzhou sanitation workers that workers began to receive some support from students, mostly as individuals. Small circles of leftist students had started debating and practicing ronggong, literally “mixing with workers,” that is, going to work in factories after graduation and trying to organize there. Key to this development has been the role of students who identify themselves as Maoists.
The Philippine Left in a Changing Land
12 February 2019, byOn October 21 nine members of the Philippine National Federation of Sugar Workers were shot dead while participating in a protest. The killers are assumed to be employed by local capitalists. Killings of union, peasant, and other activists have increased sharply under President Duterte. Dozens of activists have already been killed. Under Duterte’s authoritarian rule, the Philippine left is faced with new difficulties.
Venezuela Defines the Future of the Region
11 February 2019, byThe struggle for Venezuela will decide the destiny of Latin America, argues Claudio Katz. We must recognise global Right’s hypocrisy in its attempts to topple Maduro. But it doesn’t act alone: similar forces are alive inside a government that has failed to counteract economic collapse.
The Me Too Movement in the Middle East
10 February 2019The Me Too movement against sexual assault and rape has animated women throughout the world. In the Middle East too, despite the wars led by authoritarian states, various imperialist powers, and extremist religious fundamentalist forces, all of which promote patriarchy and misogyny, a Me Too movement is arising. How is this movement expressing itself in the Middle East? Below we will take up eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa:
Socialists and the fight for democracy in Venezuela
9 February 2019, by ,The U.S. and its allies are increasing the pressure against the Venezuelan government after National Assembly President Juan Guaidó declared himself to be president of the country against the elected President Nicolás Maduro last month. Gonzalo Gómez is a Venezuelan revolutionary, member of the socialist organization Marea Socialista and co-founder of the independent left-wing website aporrea.org. He was interviewed by Eva MarÃa, and the interview was translated by Alejandro Q.
The left case for open borders
8 February 2019, byThe Left Case against Open Borders” by Angela Nagle is an essay with a misleading title. The article doesn’t argue against “open borders”. Nagle argues against the cause of immigrant rights and for a more repressive immigration policy, while attacking the supposedly “upper middle class”, “identitarian” present day Left as neoliberals who facilitate the super exploitation of immigrant workers
The Protests against Russia’s Pension Reform and the Reasons for Their Defeat
7 February 2019, byNote from LeftEast editors: The main political event of 2018 on Russia’s domestic scene was probably the pension reform and the unsuccessful resistance against it. In this piece published in Russian in Sotsiologia vlasti 30(4)2018 co-translated for LeftEast by Kate Seidel, Ana Gurau, and Dasha Vodchic, Ilya Budraitskis takes this episode as a lens on the government modus operandi and on the logic driving the different segments of the opposition.