Daily Archives: August 30, 2021

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File photo. fighting in Irans regime Parliament

In June, the Iranian regimes Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, pulled the notorious Ebrahim Raisi out of the ballot box. Selecting Raisi as the regimes new president was the last step by Khamenei to consolidate his regime.

During both sham presidential and parliamentary elections, Khamenei used his Guardian Council, an organization tasked with vetting candidates, to eliminate the candidates of the rival factions or those from his own faction who could pose the slightest challenge to his regime. The regimes parliament approved Raisis cabinet, which consisted of thieves and internationally wanted terrorists, in line with Khameneis policy of consolidating his regime.

While many may consider Khameneis actions are coming from the position of strength, state media and regime officials acknowledge that Khameneis contraction policy is doomed to fail.

The cabinet members were introduced to the parliament and received a vote of confidence from the parliament. What are the characteristics of this cabinet and what consequences will it have in society? wrote the state-run Aftab News, quoting Hamidreza Jalaiepour from the rival faction.

With the engineering of the [sham presidential] elections, people understood that the government was not pursuing a commitment to democracy and peoples dissatisfaction because of the crises of livelihood, health, the environment, and corruption. Rather, it seeks to consolidate the ruling system so that it can deal with and control the countrys crises with greater efficiency, Jalaiepour acknowledged.

Khamenei and his regime face a restive society. Due to the regimes 42 years of corruption, oppression, and now the Covid-19 outbreak that the mullahs refused to control, the public hatred is increasing. Two major Iran protests rattled the regimes foundations in 2018 and 2019, with people calling for regime change.

Efficiently dealing with this restive society means more oppression. Jalaiepour acknowledges that Raisis cabinet is not even consisted of the lower ranks of [Khameneis] faction. Instead of efficiency, this cabinet has two other features.

According to Jalaiepour, these ministers are not chosen due to their qualities and background, performance and ability. He acknowledges that they are chosen due to their loyalty to the regimes propaganda program.

The government is well aware of the potential for popular unrests in society. Therefore, a cabinet has been introduced that is capable of controlling and dealing with popular protests and when protests happen, there wouldnt be any voice of opposition in the government. In a nutshell, This cabinet is not efficient [to resolve crises], but it is handpicked, Jalaiepour adds.

While acknowledging peoples boycott of the regimes sham elections in 2020 and 2021, Jalaiepour that people expected the regime to offer a solution for the current crises in Iran.

According to Jalaiepour, Raisis government is not an efficient government to control the three crises of livelihood, health, and drought. It is mostly a cabinet that confirms the propaganda and ideology of the [regime]. Therefore, the question is, what are the consequences of this government for the demanding and dissatisfied Iranian society?

But it seems that after the 2020 elections, we are witnessing the formation of public frustration with resentment and subsequent events such as the downing of the [Ukrainian] passenger jet, lack of perspective in running the country and serious economic interaction with the world, the devastating effects of drought, and unsustainable development in different parts of the country. In addition, the engineering of the 2021 elections, the introduction of the government unrelated to the real crises of the country, and, most importantly, the delay of several months in the import of foreign Covid-19 vaccines and the death of tens of thousands of Iranians, strengthens the process of the public frustration with resentment in Iranian society, Jalaiepour warned regime officials.

Jalaiepour then warns that Raisis government should act immediately to control the public resentment as it is the most important factor to deal with.

In a nutshell, the regime is facing a restive society, and people want regime change. While the regime used the Covid-19 outbreak to quell this restive society and put protests on pause for almost a year, the recent protests in Khuzestan province and daily protests by people from all walks of life show the regime has failed in controlling the society. If the regime increases oppression, the public hatred toward the mullahs would increase. If it does not oppress people, protests rapidly spread across Iran. Thus, the regime is in a deadlock and has no way out.

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Iran: Former Official Confirms Khameneis Failure in Consolidating Power in the Regime - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

Reports have emerged that the Modi government is considering imposing a ban under the black law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, on the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat forum to stifle their voice for freedom. Hurriyat leaders in IIOJK have strongly reacted to this news by terming this as an attempt at defaming the APHC and silencing the movement for self-determination. This revelation is alarming to say the least because the allegations being levelled against the APHC are false and the groups struggle has always been peaceful and transparent.

Indias crimes against humanity, curbs on freedom of press, speech and assembly cannot be allowed to go unnoticed. The APHC is a recognised political and democratic forum that has been struggling for Kashmiri rights for many decades. The international community cannot allow a representative group of the Kashmiri people to be silenced in such a blatant fashion. As the situation in Afghanistan captures all the news headlines, the Modi governments atrocities against innocent civilians continue unabated.

On Saturday, Indian troops shot and killed three Kashmiri youth in Pulwama district, taking the number of slain youth in the territory to six in a period of three days. This spate of violence against innocent Kashmiris and the repression of APHC only further underscores Indias desperation when it comes to IIOJK. Its only aim at this point in time is to somehow eradicate all aspects of resistance.

However, such heavy-handedness is only going to make matters worse for New Delhi. PM Modi would be foolish to believe that such tactics would stop the Kashmiris from pursuing their struggle for right to self-determination. In fact, banning the APHC could potentially mobilise an even greater number of people against the ongoing occupation. Hurriyat leaders represent the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the only way to work out a solution to this long-standing dispute is political dialogue, not high handedness.

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Continued Oppression - The Nation

When Texas Democratic legislators fled the state to prevent Republicans from passing voter suppression laws, they made the most powerful case for voting rights merely with their presence the group was diverse and inclusive. Looking at the legislators' images and hearing their names when they met with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and hosted virtual events, it was hard not to wonder if the Black and Latino legislators present would have been there if the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had never passed.

Now, as Republicans fight to restrict voting access, we must ask ourselves two questions: What will state legislative chambers look like in 50 years if voter suppression laws succeed? What can Black and Latino communities, who stand to lose the most under these laws, do to fight for their right to vote?

While voter suppression has appeared in the Black and Latino communities differently, there's no question that it has impeded their political growth in similar ways.

Jim Crow laws in the South kept Black voters from exercising their right to vote through racist laws, intimidation and violence, and similar laws and practices in Texasand other Southwest states also kept Mexican-Americans from the ballot box. Both communities were kept from choosing their elected representatives, from having a say in the laws that were passed that impacted their lives and running for office was practically impossible. However, once the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its extension in 1975 passed, Black and Latino voters could create their unique path to grow their political power and uplift the voting bloc that had been silenced for too long.

In a devastating setback to progress, the path granted by the Voting Rights Act was hindered when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.The ruling propagated a frenzied uptick in states attacking our right to vote. Republican lawmakers chose to use the power granted to them by their elected position to dismantle the civil rights and social justice progress achieved over the past six decades. By attacking voting rights and access, Republicans have also chosen to hobble the political power so painstakingly won by communities of color. Suppose voter suppression laws continue spreading throughout states. In that case, Black and Latino communities' political power will suffer, and generations from now, we will have to contend with a government that lacks both meaningful representation and Black and Latino voices. This reality will be detrimental not only to Black and Latino communities but also to our democracy and our countrys progress. Restricting voting rights for one group hinders the voting rights of every single American. We cannot afford to let that happen.

Black and Latino communities are not without recourse or voice. They command a combined voting bloc of 62 million voters a growing presence in elected positions and a powerhouse grassroots movement. If ever there was a time to mark a moment as the tipping point to stop voter suppression laws and expand voting rights it is now.

While our histories may be different, Black and Latino communities find common ground on which we can tread in the path towards equality and justice. Both communities have suffered and continue to suffer systemic oppression that surfaces in violence, inequities in health care access, housing discrimination and economic distress. We can harness our shared experiences and unity to collaborate and mobilize our communities to vote for candidates who support voter and civil rights. Black and Latino voters overwhelmingly support Democrats, which reflects our shared priority issues and policies. We have the power to mobilize a formidable voting bloc to elect more Democrats who will fight for voting rights in the state legislatures but most importantly, in the U.S. House and the Senate, which are in play in the 2022 election.

While the onus appears to be on voters to protect their right to vote in the face of laws designed to keep them from the ballot box, organizing or even breaking quorum won't protect us from the threats posed by voter suppression laws. Our communities deserve the same protection afforded by the Voting Rights Act. We must mobilize to urge members of Congress to pass federal legislation to safeguard voting rights, such as the For the People Act. For this to happen, the Senate must eliminate the filibuster and prevent Republicans from continuing to block any bill that protects the right to vote. Anything less than an act of Congress will continue us ona dangerous path of disenfranchisement and exacerbate inequality and systemic oppression.

Fifty years from now, we want our future generations to look back in awe at the battles fought by the Texas delegation, by Stacey Abrams, Sen. Alex PadillaAlex PadillaVoting rights: Black and Latino allies More insidious power grab than one attempted Jan. 6? Lawsuit challenges California recall process ahead of September election MORE (D-Calif.), and many others, as a dynamic memory of the voter suppression threat that was thwarted once again by the will and power of the people.

Stefanie Brown James is a co-founder and senior advisor of The Collective PAC, which focuses on creating an equitable democracy where Black people are fully represented at the national, state and local levels of government.

Nathalie Rayes is the CEO and president of Latino Victory Fund, an organization that develops a pipeline of Latino leaders and shapes public discourse to reflect the growing influence of the Latino community.

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Voting rights: Black and Latino allies | TheHill - The Hill

In light of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, the U.S. has a humanitarian duty to stay in Afghanistan to protect its people and government. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/FLICKR/Sgt Rupert Frere RLC

The U.S. planned to pull its more than 14,000 troops out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31, but the mission was derailed due to the expected uprising of terrorist organization the Taliban, proving the U.S. shouldnt have begun its departure.

Troops shouldnt have started to leave Afghanistan to avoid a government takeover by the Taliban. Afghanistan has become dependent on the infiltration by the U.S. army since the troops first official arrival in 2001 after former President George W. Bush signed a resolution that allowed the U.S. army to use force against those responsible for 9/11.

Now, the U.S. and allies have begun to leave the country, allowing the Taliban to obtain control of capital city Kabul on Aug. 15. This could have been avoided if the troops stayed in the country until the Taliban had little to no chance of obtaining the city to protect the Afghan people and its capital.

The American government can help by protecting Kabul from the current occupants by keeping current troops in place and providing sanctuary for the citizens and refugees who could potentially be oppressed by the Taliban.

The United Nations reported in June the murders of women and children in Afghanistan are currently at a record high. By leaving the country, America is permitting the oppression of Afghan women.

Womens activist and Afghanistans first female ambassador to the U.S. Roya Rahmani told The Guardian on Aug. 22 progress is on the line for women in the country after President Joe Biden began pulling troops.

To the extent they have rights and liberties and the progress and achievements they have made is on the line, the women of Afghanistan are very nervous, very scared and very concerned, Rahmani said.

Bidens reasoning for the withdrawal of American troops derives from his concerns for the lives of the soldiers, not those who risk the erasure of their human rights.

Let me ask those who want us to stay: How many more, how many thousands more American daughters and sons are you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay? Biden asked during a July 8 White House press briefing.

American soldiers volunteered their lives to protect those who were in need of saving both in Afghanistan and at home. Afghan citizens never volunteered their lives to be upended by a 20-year conflict. The objective in Afghanistan has now changed. The U.S. must help bring stability back to these citizens lives.

Biden has pushed the idea that America invaded the Middle East to avoid future foreign terrorist attacks within America.

We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals: get those who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001, and make sure al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again, Biden said at the briefing.

But the U.S. has now infiltrated Afghanistan to a point where the army will never be able to leave without ensuring civilian safety from the Taliban.

There is still time, however, to maintain peace in the country and save civilians from a life of oppression and terror, since America has decided to deploy 6,000 troops into Afghanistan to relieve refugees. Many of those soldiers should be kept in the country to defend the Afghan capital and protect its citizens.

It is inhumane to invade a struggling country, create a system in which the safety of the civilians depends on foreign armed forces and then ultimately leave them to struggle and die. The U.S. shouldve stayed in Afghanistan until Kabul was completely safe from the Taliban for the sake of its people and the avoidance of a Taliban insurrection.

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OPINION: U.S. troops should have stayed in Afghanistan - The Oracle

STATES ARE FAILING IN AFRICA. The symptoms have been palpable for too long, and unmistakable manifestations are becoming apparent, but they have been ignored, explained away or sometimes deliberately encouraged by those with political influence or intellectuals. Over half a century after the exit of colonial rule in most of Africa, progress has remained slow, growth low and performances dismal in most countries. There are those who want to lull the continent into complacency by their profuse reference to how the colonialists underdeveloped Africa. The safe haven for many excuse givers has been that of blame game or buck passing when it comes to Africas underdevelopment. Europe or America takes the hit.

In many African countries, political leadership has been an instrument for oppression of the populace, acquisition of wealth and for planting of stooges that keep a tradition going. It has been less of such as builds institutions, develops talents, improves infrastructure or aims at gaining competitive edge globally. These easily explain why institutions left by colonialists crumble easily after their exit. Most recent example is South Africa. Less than 20 years of the exit of Apartheid regime, the country has been on a downward spiral politically and economically. The summary of it is that of leadership. Following the exit of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki and their transformative leadership, Jacob Zuma took over. This was another leader that took the country on a different trajectory. Divisiveness, corruption and violence became rampant in a country that was earlier thought to be a shining example for Africa in the immediate post-Apartheid years.

Many otherwise promising African countries had the misfortune of sit-tight and despotic leaders who became states on their own. Rather than building institutions that would outlast them and prepare their countries for the future, they refused to let go of the reins of leadership. Many died in office without any clear succession plans, plunging their countries into endless conflicts and chaos. Gnassingbe Eyadema turned the leadership of Togo into a dynasty by installing his son, Faure, as his successor. Faure is still there today. The same was the case with Omar Bongo of Gabon who replaced himself after 42 year in power with his son, the now wheelchair-bound Ali. Mobutu Sese Seko left the DR Congo in crisis after his death. The country is yet to recover after years of hostilities under Laurent Kabila. Siad Barre, who left a power vacuum, sowed the seed that germinated and led Somalia into what it is presently. Libya became a battlefield after the exit of Muammar Gaddafi. When he died, Houphet Boigny left Cote dIvoire in shambles, with a protracted war after his over four decades in office. Robert Gabriel Mugabe plunged Zimbabwe into economic woes, sectarian violence, poverty and environmental crisis within the period he held sway as the countrys president. The country is still living with the consequences today.

Paul Biya, although still in office, has failed to hold the francophone and Anglophone Cameroon together as the Anglophone West is now making a strong case for secession. Sudan, easily the largest African country by landmass except perhaps followed by DR Congo was plunged into avoidable social, political and economic crises as Omar al-Bashir turned the country upside down. Two years after his ouster, Sudan is still in turmoil. This is after the now-troubled South Sudan was excised from the old Sudan in the aftermath of painful killings and destructions done in Darfur region. Mozambique had its fair share of crisis after the painful exit of Samora Machel. It is still a weak country today. Much earlier, the murderous Idi Amin took Uganda by the jugular for the period he was at the helm of state affairs. The misfortune of the country continues with Yoweri Museveni, the current head of state that has been in office since 1986 and still fights off any contender for the exalted position. The genocide took Rwanda backwards by decades. Although Paul Kagame, the current head of government, makes a point about transforming the country, he has nonetheless made himself an overlord, with plans to remain in power till the next decade, after ruling the country for two decades. It will be surprising if he steps down in 2024 as rumours have been making rounds. Abdelaziz Bouteflika had to resign as the head of Algerian government in 2019 after a mass protest. Before then, a sickly Bouteflika was still holding on to power at the expense of Algeria.

The list of despotic and authoritarian leaders in Africa is long. The history of Africas social, economic and political crisis at present cannot be complete without digging deep into the antecedents. The present has been shaped by the past and the absence of readiness to break from the sad past. These may remain the defining factors for Africa for a long time in the future. Essentially, these are related to faulty, bastardised or non-existing state institutions that fail to serve the expected purposes, or are serving a particular set of people while leaving others out. Inclusive development has therefore been rather elusive in Africa as a result of poor leadership lacking in vision and right strategies for nation building. Various government institutions exist in names but perform below expectation in the discharge of their statutory duties. For instance, inadequate tracking of demographics provide a basis for poor budgetary planning, which does not reflect the realities among the populace. Human Development Index has been lowest in Africa, because the continent has a very high birth rate, high infant mortality rate, and a high death rate. This is because of underdeveloped medical facilities and a lack of family planning.

Institutions that are supposed to transcended individuals in office have largely been abused, relegated or destroyed by many African leaders and individual citizens have become irrelevant. Nuanced actions have taken over statutes in many cases, serving parochial and sectarian interests. Some serving political leaders have altered their countries constitutions to enable them remain in office beyond the constitutionally acceptable terms. Recent examples include Apha Conde and Alassane Ouattara of Guinea and Cote dIvoire respectively. Rule of law have been tampered with, public resources mismanaged, public funds channelled into private pockets, state apparatus used for persecuting perceived critics of government and political opposition while the press has been gagged in many instances.

Some have blamed their problems on the systems of government adopted over the years. While that may hold some validity, it may not altogether fully explain the causes of their problems. Nigeria tried parliamentary system of government, military rule and presidential system of democracy at various times. Nigeria was under military regime in 1979 when South Korea was still under a military regime. The Kwangju Uprising, which led to the end of the South Korean military government in 1980, was considered to have been a pivotal moment in the South Korean struggle for democracy. Between then and now, South Korea has achieved a stable democracy and moved up from the third world country to first while Nigeria still remains a third world country struggling with democratic rule. While many past political leaders have been jailed for various acts of misconducts, including corruption, past political leaders with the festoons of corruption hanging on their necks move around freely and still call the shots. Two past military heads of state snubbed the invitation from a truth and reconciliation panel headed by Justice Oputa sometimes ago in Nigeria. Recently, one of them was so confident to compare the level of corruption during his own regime with the corruption now a tacit admission that his government was corrupt.

Poor emphasis on infrastructural development in which available infrastructure serve the privileged few while excluding the majority is a major contributor to Africas backwardness. Opportunities from the aviation sector and rail transportation still remain restricted in Africa, with limited prospects of growth in the horizon. Education and educational services still remain inaccessible to many African children. The same goes with health services. Years of accumulated debt stock has put African economies in jeopardy as a result of prior mismanagement by past and present leaders. These will continue to retard the continents growth for a long time as much of the revenues emanating from many countries are used in debt servicing rather than investing on development and job-generating ventures. The main strong sentiments that have retarded Africa and are still being used by mediocre political leaders and academia are religious and ethnic or tribal. These have created effective walls that separate people and slow down individuals and collective development over the years.

Some argue that institutional dysfunction in African leadership is a carryover from Africas colonial past and essentially at odds with the mechanisms of modern democratic governance. Others have held tenaciously to the school of thought that a rising political alienation on the part of the African citizenry, inadequate state capacity to enforce rules, and limited economic opportunities, embolden individuals and groups to subvert state institutions for rent seeking and the illegal accumulation of wealth. The Journal of Modern African Studies attempted to make some suggestions on how Africa can change the focus and rebuild state apparatuses where predatory, neo-patrimonial governance has held sway. It is obvious that a hostile international environment, external shocks, or policy errors have impeded Africas economic recovery. A consensus is also emerging on the opinion that political-institutional reforms are a necessary condition for African development, which must place greater emphasis on legacy and institutions and make individual citizens subservient irrespective of their political and social status. Yet, according to the journal, recognising the need for such change is one thing; knowing how to bring it about is quite another. And this is the crux of Africas development dilemma.

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Saving Africa from imminent political and economic collapse - BusinessAMLive

The negotiations behind closed doors began on 13-16 August with the mediation of Norway and the support of Russia and the Netherlands.

LUCHAS wants to establish a position on this process to contribute to the necessary debate with all workers, peasants, community members, youth, womens movements and also with all those who claim to be on the left inside and outside our borders. We previously stated that our organization is in favour of negotiations or agreements, however, in this statement we set out on what bases and conditions:

First, it must be made clear that the Maduro government is not negotiating with organizations with minor political differences, but with declared and proven enemies of national sovereignty and of the interests of workers and the Venezuelan people.

These opposition sectors have been recurrent protagonists of conspiracies, violent actions, armed raids, assassination attempts and attacks, supporting political, diplomatic and economic aggression and even mercenary incursions directed against our nation from the imperialist powers, as well as being accomplices of the brutal blockade against the Venezuelan people and the theft of their resources abroad, and have permanently called for military intervention in the country. All this in order to crush the Bolivarian revolutionary process and finally destroy the conquests obtained by the Venezuelan people since Chvez came to power as president and to once more push back for decades the desires for social justice and national independence.

The desire of the right-wing opposition is the attempt to impose by force and coercion a parallel government presided over by them, like that which was self-proclaimed in a public square in 2018, with the intention of inflicting a historic defeat on the Bolivarians, even with the physical annihilation of Chavistas who dare to respond. This government would be a faithful instrument to transform Venezuela into a shameful Yankee colony. Their political objectives were not achieved but the economic damage to the Nation and to the pockets and tables of Venezuelan working families has been enormous; with the imperialist economic sanctions they promoted, with the delivery of state assets (Monomers, Citgo, Venezuelan gold from the Bank of England and so on) and seasoned with shameless corruption.

This process of dialogue takes place at a key moment, marked by the political defeat of the imperialist plan to crush the Bolivarian Revolution, embodied in the interventionist parallel government supposedly headed by Juan Guaid.

The defeat of this plan did not result from a single act. It is the result of a cascade of defeats that includes: the Battle of the Bridges on the Colombian-Venezuelan border in January 2019; the failed coup dtat of April 30 that same year which received a massive popular mobilization of response the next day; the defeat of the mercenary invasion by the organized communities and the Bolivarian militia of the Costas de Aragua; the electoral defeat suffered by the right in the last elections in the National Assembly; the defeat of the mercenary incursion in Apure in May-June 2021, and the defeat of the attempted violent paramilitary uprising that took place in the southwest of Caracas.

The basis of this defeat of the imperialist plan is the stubborn resistance of broad sectors of Venezuelan women, the determined commitment of the Communes and behind these popular sectors as a firm rear-guard, Venezuelan working people who reject and isolate every conspiracy carried out by this bourgeoisie, which has demonstrated for two decades its intention to submit to overexploitation, to oppression, racism, humiliation and the most savage repression every attempt at justice and liberation of the working and popular classes.

It is a triumph of resistance based on the experience of struggle, on independent popular organization. It is a triumph based on the relationship of forces between the classes: although worn out and exhausted, the working class persists and inflicts defeats on its historical and concrete enemy.

We do not fight this battle alone. This triumph over the imperialist plan had the unforeseen and coincident help of the tremendous popular rebellions that recently shook the US and Colombia; the headquarters and operations command of the counterrevolution against Venezuela. Also, with the support of the popular rebellions that occurred and continue to happen in Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia and other countries of the Continent. This has shattered the Lima Group, a kind of interventionist club of counterrevolutionary presidents at the service of Yankee imperialism against the peoples of America and has also undermined the OAS and Almagro himself.

We repeat, it has been a difficult and costly triumph because the enemy has devastated our economy from within, with speculation and hyperinflation, and from outside with economic blockade; also enhancing its consequences with growing state corruption and added to this in the last two years the terrible effects of the covid-19 pandemic. All these elements have been combined and produced paralysis of industrial production and in particular the oil industry, hunger, unemployment, crisis in health, education, public services, among others. In addition, millions of Venezuelans, mostly young people, have emigrated and fled the country in search of other horizons and opportunities, taking a whole wealth of knowledge and experience acquired in our country, and today they are scattered around the world, often suffering abuse, xenophobia, discrimination, mistreatment and even being victims of murders.

The fact that the local bourgeoisie and its organizations are politically defeated has forced it to recognize the government that the people elected, and the implicit acceptance shown so far by imperialism also ratifies this.

Faced with the current negotiations, the Chavista bases show a mixture of expectations and distrust. No one likes secrecy, especially given what is at stake and our own interests. Less pleasing is the discourse and actions that show intent to maintain impunity for bourgeois terrorists; as evidenced by the unconsented liberation of the renowned Freddy marihuanita Guevara, and the offer of political freedoms for all conspiratorial bourgeois organizations and characters. The government gives political oxygen to a bourgeoisie that now suffers from the symptoms of Covid 19.

So, we do share those apprehensions of the Chavista popular bases. In addition, it inflames us and for this reason we denounce the fact that the government, while making all kinds of previous concessions to the bourgeoisie and its older guarimberos, continues to unjustly and inhumanely keep workers leaders such as Eudis Girot, Sabariego (PDVSA) and others and others in prisons or jail houses, an example being two young PDVSA workers, Aryenis Torrealba and Alfredo Chirinos and ignore the requests for special care for some of these fellow prisoners in situations of illness, such as Rodney lvarez, a ferro-mining worker who has spent more than 10 years in prison.

That is why we warn: The negotiating table cannot agree in secret, what the workers, peasants, women, community members, youth, pensioners and retirees, have defended and conquered with order and popular organization in the midst of the hardships of this crisis.

Can there be negotiations? Yes, and there must be negotiations. Negotiating from our popular victory to move forward. The conspiratorial bourgeoisie must be led to an Agreement of Peace with Justice, which consolidates the defeat that we have dealt to the enemy through all these years. The negotiations must serve to consolidate peace, to dismantle speculation, to liquidate any internal support for the imperialist policy of sanctions so that they weaken and can fall.

Contrary to this, what we are observing for now, is the PSUV government using this triumph as a currency of exchange in its plans to establish an inclusive regime of capitalist exploitation (inclusive for the bureaucracy with the desire of a bourgeoisie) in exchange for impunity and freedom for all the openly counterrevolutionary actors of the bourgeoisie.

The surrender of Maduro and his loyalists lies not in the fact of negotiating, but in the elements of economic surrender, subordination to transnational and national capital, extreme labour flexibility and impunity for bourgeois terrorists and political persecution of workers who struggle, this is what is marking these negotiations.

Thus, the current negotiation not only wastes, but clearly threatens to betray that costly popular triumph.

LUCHAS calls on all workers; organizations, communes, organizations and intellectuals of the left, social movements of women and peasants to pronounce themselves in favour of a negotiation that is based on the defeat that we have inflicted on the fraudulent parallel government to advance in the resolution of the needs of the heroic working people in their resistance:

i) To allow a reconstruction of the national economy for the benefit of those of us who have fought and resisted and not in favour of bourgeois and bureaucratic waste in casinos and window displays;

(ii) To achieve a peace that decides on the indexation of wages, the stabilization of a national currency that is not subordinate to the dollar, the defence and expansion of the communal economy and the rescue of collective labour agreements;

ii) To strengthen democratic freedoms for workers, peasants, community members and social fighters, instead of them being tried and imprisoned.

We do not deny that, under the current conditions, the bourgeoisie should have room for certain economic activities, especially the small and medium-sized food producers in the countryside. But let this not be done with starvation wages, without labour rights and with loss of national sovereignty. On the contrary, the more space it is necessary to give the bourgeois economy, the more democratic control the communal workers and peoples organizations must exercise.

We have defeated a new onslaught of imperialism and the criminal right through worker, peasant, communal and popular resistance. From there we must begin to rebuild our economy. We will see if the government representatives take into account this balance sheet, considerations and proposals.

National Secretariat of LUCHAS.

Venezuela, 23 August 2021.

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Negotiations in Mexico between the Venezuelan government and the right-wing opposition - International Viewpoint

The Taliban has called upon Kabul residents to hand over government vehicles, arms, and ammunition if those assets have been left with them, according to the groups spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

All those living in Kabul are informed to return all government assets including vehicles, arms, and ammunition or any other things, the Xinhua news agency quoted Mujahid as saying in a Twitter post.

The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, Announcement of the security organs of the Islamic Emirate: In Kabul, all those who have the means, weapons, ammunition, and other government goods are informed to hand over the mentioned objects to the relevant organs of the Islamic Emirate within a week. So that there is no need for the offenders to be prosecuted or dealt with legally if they are discovered.

To back the Talibans call for returning the government assets, prayer leaders in their sermons have also urged people to hand over government assets if they have kept the assets with them.

Conveying the Taliban messages, the prayer leaders have also called on government employees to return to their offices and resume their work normally.

Meanwhile, as the security situation deteriorates in Afghanistan, a group of US lawmakers has urged President Joe Biden to ensure that the Taliban do not destabilize Pakistan and acquire nuclear weapons,

The lawmakers said that over the past weeks, the world watched with utter shock as the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the result of unforced errors made by withdrawing completely the small remaining footprint of our main military force from Afghanistan, and by unnecessarily delaying the evacuation of US personnel and its Afghan partners.

The lawmakers further pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan has rapidly metastasized into Taliban rule with reinstated oppression of women and girls, the repression of civil society, the displacement of countless Afghans from their homes, and a power vacuum that China seeks to fill by increasing its ties to Taliban.

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Taliban asks Kabul residents to hand over govt vehicles, weapons - The Statesman

Indigenous communities in Brazil organized the largest-ever native protests to block what they described as a declaration of extermination from lawmakers representing agribusiness, mining, and logging interests aligned with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

The umbrella group Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, or APIB, put together the protests as part of the weeklong Struggle for Life protest in the capital, Braslia, in anticipation of a decision from the Supreme Court that could invalidate Indigenous land claims.

Our struggle takes as its target all governments that are complicit in Bolsonaros campaign of genocide, all corporations that seek to profit from it, APIB said in a joint statement with Progressive International, a left-wing coalition that sent a delegation to survey the situation. The fight against Bolsonaro extends far beyond the borders of Brazil.

We are the ones suffering. The government doesnt suffer. So thats why were here to fight.

APIB expected the Supreme Court would strike down a challenge to Indigenous land claims duringits protest, but the court postponed the judgment to nextweek after one vote was cast in favor of Indigenous rights. One right-wing lawmaker, whose fortune comes from agriculture, said he and his colleagues lobbied the justices to further delay the ruling so that Congress has time to pass measures that would strip Indigenous land rights through legislation instead of thecourts.

Since 2019, Bolsonaro has used his executive authority to aggressively attackIndigenous rights, slash environmental protections, and cripple relevant law enforcement efforts moves that have drawn international condemnation. Closely aligned with the powerful agribusiness lobby, the government has also pushed forward a slew of consequential bills in Congress that, if passed, would be a death sentence for many of Brazils Indigenous communities and, critics warn, the entire Amazon rainforest.

We are the ones suffering. The government doesnt suffer, said Pasyma Panar, president of the Iaki Association in the Xingu region of the Amazon. So thats why were here to fight.

The delegation from Progressive International included a member of the Spanish parliament, Indigenous leaders, labor activists, and two U.S. congressional staffers who were participating in a personal capacity. The group traveled to Braslia and the Amazonian cities of Belm and Santarm for a week of meetings with Brazilian politicians and environmentalists and groups representing Indigenous communities, labor, and landless peasants.

This delegation aims to bring the eyes of the world to Brazil, David Adler, general coordinator of Progressive International, told The Intercept. We are here to develop a common strategy to confront the crises that are facing Brazil.

Indigenous Brazilians protest against President Jair Bolsonaro, holding a sign which reads, Bolsonaro, get out, at the Struggle For Life encampment in Braslia, Brazil, on Aug. 26, 2021. Protestors hold a banner that reads Our history doesnt begin in 1988, the year the Constitution was signed into law, we have resisted for more than 12,000 years.

Photo: Andrew Fishman

More than6,000 representatives of 176 Indigenousgroups pitched tents and lashed together bamboo shelters for seven days of protest and cultural exchange. The encampment sat on a dusty patch of land in the capital, less than a mile up the main promenade from Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace.

To participate, delegates from the most far-flung corners of Brazils massive expanses spent as many as three days on packed buses that navigated washed-out dirt roads, traveling under the threat of ambushes from paramilitary gangs.

Before rousing speeches by movement leaders and allies could begin on the main stage, groups of Xikrin, Munduruku, Xukuru, and others dressed in full ceremonial regalia and performed traditional dances and songs for the crowd. Tech-savvy Indigenous influencers and journalists livestreamed the proceedings on social media, engulfed in plumes of red dust.

We know what evil is. Evil is the agribusiness invading our territories.

We know what evil is, said one speaker to applause. Evil is the agribusiness invading our territories.

Brazils Indigenous people have no shortage of reasons to protest. Their ancestral lands are increasingly threatened by major agricultural infrastructure projects and violent land thieves aided by government agencies. Violent attacks are on the rise and environmental degradation is making traditional ways of life less tenable.

Meanwhile, Congress has been voting on one bill after another that would undo the hard-fought protections written into the 1988 constitution. Under Bolsonaro, everything has gone from bad to worse.

For weeks, organizers have been primarily focused on the Supreme Court decision that could substantially reduce constitutionally protected Indigenous territories. It is one of the most important judgments in history, said APIB leader Snia Guajajara, in a livestreamed event last Thursday. The struggle of Indigenous peoples is a struggle for the future of humanity.

The measure, known as the Milestone Thesis, or Marco Temporal in Portuguese, would invalidate the land claims of Indigenous groups that did not physically occupy the territory on the day the new constitution was signed in 1988, ignoring centuries of genocidal oppression that forced many tribes to flee their ancestral homes.

Indigenous land rights are enshrined in Brazils Constitution, but the government has moved at a snails pace over the last three decades to process claims. Meanwhile, Brazils agribusiness, mining, and lumber industries, with their international backers, have their eyes on many of the vast tracts of land, mostly located in the Amazon, that are claimed by natives. The business interests have been chipping away at the protections by any means necessary in the courts, in Congress, and on the ground.

Illegal invasions into Indigenous lands by violent, heavily armed groups have been on the rise in recent years. Criminal groups have been emboldened by Bolsonaro, who campaigned on the promise that, if elected president, there wont be a centimeter demarcated for Indigenous reserves and has made racist, genocidal comments about Indigenous peoples throughout his career.

The Marco Temporal represents for us, Indigenous peoples, a declaration of extermination, said Eloy Terena, a lawyer and Indigenous rights activist, during an event last Thursday. Terena pointed out that many of Brazils 114 uncontacted tribes, which rely on government protection, live in territories that could be threatened if the Marco Temporal legal thesis is upheld.

The only way to put the brakes on the tractors that are plowing through the Amazon, Rep. Jonia Wapichana told The Intercept, is a political renewal. Indigenous people and their allies must attain the majority within Congress, she said, something that has never happened. Maybe that way they might think twice before putting forward a proposal to reduce Indigenous rights.

Wapichana, 47, is Brazils first female Indigenous lawyer and member of Congress. She is currently the countrys sole Indigenous representative. At the Struggle for Life protest, she got the rockstar treatment: Wherever she went, adoring fans lined up to snag selfies.

In a meeting with a dozen leaders from some of Brazils hardest-hit Indigenous communities, a Progressive International delegate asked which politicians they considered solid allies. The group hesitated to respond, whispering among themselves until one of them spoke up: Rep. Jonia has fought alongside us a lot, one Indigenous leader said, going on to name a handful of nongovernmental organizations. None of them were from Wapichanas state of Roraima. Any other names? This time the answer was quick: No, not that I remember.

Agribusiness not only buys advertising, it also buys the editorial line and influences news coverage.

The Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, launched in 2019 by Wapichana, is comprised of 237 of Brazils 594 members of Congress. But during the first four days of the protest, only two federal elected representatives stepped foot on the protests main stage and only a handful visited the encampment. No major presidential hopefuls or prominent government officials attended.

In a change from recent Indigenous protests which ended in violent repression police kept their distance. Coverage from major national news outlets has also been hard to come by. On Wednesday, APIBs executive coordinator Dinamam Tux lamented to The Intercept that none of the three main newspapers in Brazil which rely on agribusiness advertising had yet run a cover story on the historic protest. Agribusiness not only buys advertising, he said, it also buys the editorial line and influences news coverage.

Indigenous Brazilians sing while protesting outside of the Supreme Court in Braslia, Brazil, on Aug. 26, 2021, as they await an important ruling from the court. They are among 6,000 people who came to the capital in opposition to measures that would dramatically roll back Indigenous territorial rights.

Photo: Andrew Fishman

Even if the Marco Temporal is defeated in the Supreme Court, dozens of other proposals and government actions threaten Indigenous lands and serve to push the Amazon rainforest closer to a deforestation tipping point. The result would be an irrevocable collapse of the ecosystem.

Leading scientists believe that the tipping point will come at 20 to 25 percent deforestation, causing the lush Amazon to dry up and turn into a savanna, provoking catastrophic carbon emissions and severe droughts throughout the continent. Eighteen percent of the Amazon has already been cut down and the rate of destruction has only increased under Bolsonaro.

Our lives are at risk and we are asking for help, Auriclia Arapium, a native leader from the Tapajs region, told the Progressive International delegation during a meeting at the encampment on Monday. We no longer have anyone to turn to in Brazil. Thats why we have approached international organizations, so that our rights, which are being threatened, are preserved.

In a press conference later that day, Progressive International announced that it plans to work with partners around the globe to launch a boycott of foreign companies responsible for the destruction of the Amazon and the trampling of Indigenous rights. The investment giant Blackstone and the private agricultural conglomerate Cargill are at the top of their list.

We need to look at the corporations that are fueling this and the U.S. and international foreign policy thats enabling these corporations, said Nick Estes, a professor at the University of New Mexico, a Progressive International delegate, and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

The practices of these corporations like Cargill are fundamentally racist, said Estes, who has contributed to The Intercept. If more people understood how much Indigenous blood, how much Black blood, how much blood from Brazilians living on the land is spilt just for them to have a cheeseburger, I think there would be much more outrage.

Read more:

Brazil: Indigenous Fight Against Destruction of the Amazon - The Intercept

LAHORE: A delegation led by Pervez Iqbal Losar, Chairman EU-Pakistan Friendship Federation, called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at CMs Office here on Saturday.

Matters of mutual interest and issues of expatriates came under discussion during the meeting. The meeting condemned atrocities and violations of human rights by the Indian Army in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The CM said, Overseas Pakistanis are our assets as they have always come forward to help the country in its difficult times. The services of expatriates in strengthening the economy cannot be overlooked. Overseas Pakistani Commission has been turned into a vibrant institute as solving the problems of overseas Pakistanis is our responsibility. The Punjab government is ensuring protection of the rights and property of Overseas Pakistanis. The incumbent government under the leadership of PM Imran Khan is making serious efforts for materialising the dream of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal for a developed and prosperous Pakistan.

He said India is violating all human rights in Occupied Kashmir and PM Imran Khan has vigorously presented the case of Held Kashmir at every forum. Kashmir is an incomplete agenda of Indo-Pak partition, he added.

Kashmir and Pakistan are conjoined twins and India cannot hold Jammu and Kashmir for a long time through oppression. Revoking the special status of Occupied Kashmir is a dictatorial step of India. The atrocities and savagism of Modi Sarkar are about to end, the CM said. Iqbal Losar said they had exposed India in Europe and will continue to do so. Punjab Investment Board CEO and other officers concerned were present on the occasion.

Read more:

Expats role in boosting economy cannot be ignored - The News International

After 20 years of conflict, the Taliban finally seized power in Afghanistan. Notorious for their suppression of womens rights, concerns regarding the safety of women in Talibans Afghanistan are being voiced globally. However, the outcry by feminists from all over the world is being overshadowed by one voice: that of the west, particularly America. A dangerous landslide to imperialist rhetoric seems inevitable as the deteriorating womens conditions are made to seem inseparable from, and by extension a consequence of, the US withdrawal from Kabul.

A CNN op-ed titled America has Abandoned the Women of Afghanistan reads but one thing is different now: Afghanistans women tasted freedom in the last 20 years, and took it upon themselves to rebuild their country. While the article does point out frequent US co-opting of a feminist agenda, it still firmly believes that American presence helped the condition of women in Afghanistan, reflecting the popularly held view of the West. It is thus quick to allocatethe role of a saviour to the American government and people. The American government is, thus, assigned the responsibility to liberate Afghanistans women and rescue them from the Taliban. This is a confusing yet dangerous argument.

A CNN op-ed titled America has Abandoned the Women of Afghanistan asserts that American presence helped the condition of women in Afghanistan, reflecting the popularly held view of the West. It is thus quick to allocatethe role of a saviour to the American government and people.

Amongst a multitude of other factors, this argument arises because feminism is generally considered a product of the Western legacy. In that narrative, third world feminisms then become a mere imitation of the West. And when these various types of feminisms try to diverge from western feminism, they struggle to find legitimacy. An unspoken rule is formed- it is not the East that decides the characteristics and norms of feminism, but the West. The western woman becomes the primary unit of analysis, whos experiences dictate the courses of feminism.

This is evident in how ideas conceived in the West are transported to the non-West without any alterations to suit the conditions of these new locations. Liberal feminism, inexorably married to consumerism and individualised ideas of empowerment, is a great exhibition of this export.

The division of the world into spatial dichotomies of the West and the East, of the Global North and the Global South, of the First World and the Third world are more than linguistic categorisations of convenience. They arise from a culture of knowledge production that understands the West as what its not- the East, the Other. The West is synonymous with human rights, democracy, freedom, feminism, and every quality a nation-state must aspire to be. The East, on the other hand, is underdeveloped, poverty stricken, authoritarian, and violent. It then becomes the mission of the West to transport its good western values onto the nations and states of the east. It must civilise the East, also known commonly as the white mans burden.

This has two direct consequences. Firstly, this civilising mission has been used to colonise territories in the Global South for centuries. In contemporary times, this manifests itself through a facade of human rights or democracy and often leads to neo-imperialism. Secondly, by associating values such as womens rights intrinsically to the West, we create for ourselves an inescapable cycle wherein to implement these values we must adhere to the western model of the world.

Also read: Building Transnational Solidarities: How Can Local Feminists Get Involved In Global Politics

There are two main schools of feminism that deal with this issue: Third World Feminism and Transnational Feminism.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty popularised third world feminism in her work Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. She employs a powerful critique of western feminism and white feminism and their mischaracterization of Third World womens oppression as just a worse version of their own oppression: By subscribing to the cultural imperialist conception of Third World cultures as hopelessly backward and patriarchal, white feminists view Third World womens oppression as simply worse than that of white women in the West.

It is true that gender as a category to understand oppression of women is imperative. But in a gendered bodys interaction with its social world, new systems of oppression are often realised. Yet when the complexities of a Third World womans oppression is viewed through the lens of a western womans experience, her oppression is measured solely in comparison to that of the western womans. The role of the nation as the location and historical context to understand and analyse a third world womans experience to arrive at new and fresh paradigms is thus an important part of third world feminism.

Third World feminism has been located in several revolutionary nationalist struggles against colonial or imperial powers. Anti-imperialism is one of the core features of Third World feminism. This has often led to the criticism that women are compelled to overlook their gender-based oppression to first confront oppression in other arenas. The employment of the term Third World has also amassed criticism. Mohanty herself recognises the dangers of institutionalising terms such as the West and the Third World.

Transnational feminism, on the contrary, gained popularity as a restriction to national territory, like Third World feminism promoted, prevented a comparative, relational feminist praxis that is transnational in its response to and engagement with global processes of colonization. In their introduction to Scattered Hegemonies, Grewal and Kaplan set the foundations of transnational feminism. But much like Third World feminism, this is also fueled by the belief that understanding oppression solely through gender unnecessarily homogenises the diverse experiences of women throughout the globe.

Yet transnational feminism does what Third World feminism falls short of; it connects the historicized particularities of women of the global south to international economic hegemonies. Transnational feminists attempt to understand the material conditions that sculpt womens lives globally, and consequently offer a critique of economic models of neoliberalism and cultural hegemonies. Transnational feminists are engaged in a comparative understanding of different kinds of patriarchies and assembling coalitions and transnational solidarities.

Transnational feminists identify neoliberal economic hegemony as a threat to the women of the third world. The deregulation of trade and finance, along with the setting up of institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the advancement of multinational corporations has a dangerous effect on women. Labour exploitation and poverty are direct consequences of a neoliberal world order.

Transnational feminists identify neoliberal economic hegemony as a threat to the women of the third world. The deregulation of trade and finance, along with the setting up of institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the advancement of multinational corporations has a dangerous effect on women. Labour exploitation and poverty are direct consequences of a neoliberal world order.

Also read: Can Local Feminist Agencies Hold International Financial Institutions Accountable?

Transnational feminism then seeks to form solidarity amongst women living under diverse patriarchies united under the global system of economic exploitation. It doesnt reject third world feminism but provides it with its next logical extension.

Moving away from the West as the location for feminist knowledge formation as well as activism is an essential part of decolonising feminism. When we stop informing our worldview in compliance with the Wests, we discover a worldview that suits our needs the best; that fights for our needs the best.

This is an indispensable part in the process of liberation of women of the East, the Global South and the Third World.

Featured image source: NBC News

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Afghan Women, The US Saviour Complex & The Need For Transnational Feminism - Feminism in India