Peoples Dispatch

🇵🇸Indian historian and activist Vijay Prashad spoke at a rally in New Zealand about the role of Western powers in Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people and the people in the region. Israel is shooting the weapons, but the US, Germany, New Zealand, and other Western powers are providing the weapons, bombs, and ammunition to exterminate the fierce Palestinian people.

Abu Taha was the first Jordanian journalist to be sentenced to prison based on the new, widely condemned Cybercrime Law.

Abu Taha was arrested reportedly in response to an article and an investigative report she wrote which were published on Lebanese news site Annasher at the end of April.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/30/hiba-abu-taha-the-imprisoned-journalist-who-dared-to-expose-jordans-complicity-with-israel/

🇻🇪🇧🇷 Why did Lula block Venezuela from BRICS?

Journalist and founder of Opera Mundi Breno Altman joined us on #DisputarElAlba this week to speak about the BRICS summit in Kazan, the opportunities and limitations of the multilateral grouping, and what impact it has on Latin America.

☀️#DisputarElALBA is a program brought to you by @deraiz, @barricadatv and Peoples Dispatch every Monday at 19h Mexico and 22h Argentina. Tune in! ⏰ 🌎 7:00 pm, Mexico; 08:00 pm Bogotá; 09:00 pm, New York; 10:00 p.m. Buenos Aires.
🔴 Watch on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/efa2tAvG-Ik?si=-gYA4CO5yIGb7wVv

As of October 28, the longest-held political prisoner in the United States, Leonard Peltier, has been hospitalized. Peltier, who recently turned 80 behind bars, has dealt with various health concerns due to his long confinement, which include diabetes, high blood pressure, and surviving COVID-19.

Peltier’s supporters are calling for him to receive an emergency medical transfer out of prison to a medical facility.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/30/longest-held-us-political-prisoner-leonard-peltier-is-hospitalized/

Trump’s promise to conduct mass deportations of 15 to 20 million people is a major threat. This plan could lead to widespread family separations that could have ripple effects through the entire Latino community in the US, potentially impacting one in three Latinos in the country. Trump’s campaign has defied expectations in his borderline fascistic rhetoric this election cycle, hurling debunked allegations that Haitian migrants are eating other peoples’ pets in Ohio and that Venezuelan migrants are terrorizing tenants in Colorado.

But would a Harris administration look significantly different than a second Trump administration? Both Biden and Harris have come under fire by the left for perpetuating not only Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, but many of his same policies.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/30/on-immigration-harris-and-trump-have-more-similarities-than-one-mi

🇨🇺The world stands with Cuba and against the US blockade!

Once again, an overwhelming majority has voted in the United Nations General Assembly against the US blockade on Cuba. 187 countries voted to end the blockade. The US and its ally Israel voted against and Moldova abstained from voting.

The world, as it has done since 1992, once again sends a clear message to the US to end it's imperialist practices against Cuba and against other Global South countries.

At least 109 Palestinians, including children, were killed and dozens of others wounded after Israeli warplanes targeted a residential building sheltering displaced families in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/30/100000-palestinians-trapped-in-northern-gaza-amid-ongoing-israeli-massacres-and-siege/

Leaders from Latin American have raised their voices to condemn the assassination attempt against former Bolivian President and social leader Evo Morales.

On October 27, Morales was targeted in an assassination attempt while driving between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. The car was hit with over a dozen bullets.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/30/latin-american-leaders-condemn-assassination-attempt-against-former-bolivian-president-evo-morales/

The US blockade on Cuba has been widely condemned by the majority of the world, yet in recent years, instead of lifting it, successive US administrations have made it worse.

On October 29, the United Nations General Assembly began a series of debates to discuss the resolution on the long-standing economic blockade applied by the United States against the island of Cuba.

On more than 30 occasions, the United Nations Assembly has discussed the blockade against Cuba, which costs the island 5 billion dollars annually, according to some estimates. Every year the resolution is proposed and the whole world, through the vote of the absolute majority of the member countries of the United Nations General Assembly, has condemned the imperialist attitude of the United States towards Cuba.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/29/the-world-prepares-to-vote-against-the-us-blockade-on-cuba/

Just one month after several of its top leaders were assassinated by Israel, the Lebanese resistance group has demonstrated its resilience and bounced back from the significant setbacks.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/29/hezbollah-elects-sheikh-naim-qassem-as-new-secretary-general/

The people vs. fascism

Trade unions, progressive organizations, and left political parties took to the streets of London to reject hatred, fascism, islamophobia and anti-semitism and to oppose the march called for by far right groups and the infamous fascist leader Tommy Robinson.

Participants told us that only working class unity and power can defeat fascism.

🎥 Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCs8fO6sYDQ

For over two decades, US-led sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in retaliation to its land reforms have tolled the toiling farmers and workers of the southern African country.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has condemned the US-imposed unilateral sanctions on Zimbabwe as “illegal” and a violation of the “basic human rights of ordinary Zimbabweans”. It has also once again called for their “immediate and unconditional removal.”

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/29/sadc-reiterates-call-for-unconditional-lifting-of-illegal-us-sanctions-on-zimbabwe/

With just one week until the people of the US head to the polls to decide their next president, the economy and inflation continues to be the top issue for voters by far as working people continue to suffer under financial strain.

Do any of the establishment candidates offer real solutions to the economic devastation experienced by people in the US?

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/28/working-people-place-cost-of-living-as-top-concern-in-us-elections/

The people of Uruguay will head to a second round of elections on November 24 to choose who will be their next president.

The run-off election will be between the candidate of Uruguay’s Broad Front, history professor Yamandú Orsi, and veterinarian Álvaro Delgado, candidate of the right-wing National Party and political “heir” of current President Lacalle Pou.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/28/uruguays-broad-front-obtains-significant-electoral-victory-in-first-round-of-presidential-race/

#PeoplesHistory | Today, we remember Camilo Cienfuegos, a Cuban revolutionary leader.

He was a fundamental pillar of the Cuban Revolution, also known as the “Vanguard Lord” and “Hero of Yaguajay” for his outstanding courage and his leadership and fighting skills.

Camilo was on the Granma expedition from Mexico to Cuba, which marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. During their time fighting in the Sierra Maestra, Camilo earned Fidel’s trust. After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1st 1959, Camilo was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Rebel Army. 10 months after the triumph of the revolution, Cienfuegos was killed in a plane crash at age 27.

After his tragic passing, Fidel said, “men like Camilo Cienfuegos emerge from the people and live for the people. Our only compensation for the loss of a close associate is to know that the people of Cuba produce men like him. Camilo lives and lives in the people."

The people of Ecuador are now facing 14-hour daily power cuts. The Secretary of Environment and Energy, Inés Manzano that instead of decreasing the length of the ongoing eight-hour cuts, they would be increased by six hours.

Left and progressive figures have vehemently condemned the government’s lack of answers and lack of solutions in the face of the massive electricity crisis.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/28/ecuador-in-the-dark-daniel-noboa-increases-power-cuts-to-14-hours-a-day/

“Today showed a massive display of unity against far-right racist thugs,” said Sabby Dhalu from Stand Up to Racism. “We will continue to mobilize until we drive the fascists off our streets.”

Tens of thousands joined an anti-fascist, anti-racist march organized by Stand Up to Racism and trade unions in London responding to a rise in far-right mobilizations across Britain. This surge, led by figures like Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson), was accompanied by a wave of racist violence in recent months.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/28/thousands-of-workers-challenge-far-right-in-london-march/

A year after the beginning of the genocide against Gaza, Peter Mertens takes stock, reflecting on Hayat, born amidst the bombs, watermelons, Israel’s status as an international pariah, language, student occupations, and labor union actions.
📲 Read the full article on our website.https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/27/the-year-of-the-watermelon/

In the early hours of Friday, October 25, an Israeli warplane targeted a guesthouse allocated for media crews in Lebanon’s southern town of Hasabaya, while journalists were still asleep.

Three journalists were killed in the deadly aerial attack, who were identified as Wissam Qassem, who worked for Al-Manar news network as a cameraman, Ghassan Najjar, a camera operator of Al Mayadeen Media Network and his co-worker, broadcast engineer Mohamed Reda.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/27/three-lebanese-journalists-killed-in-israeli-airstrike/

It has been one month since Israel announced the expansion of its aggression on Lebanon as part of what it called “Operation Arrows of the North”.

The operation’s stated goals according to Israel, are to destroy the capabilities of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, to secure Israel’s northern border, and to ensure a safe return of Israeli settlers to the north.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/26/one-month-into-the-expansion-of-israels-war-on-lebanon/

Suffering a loss of real incomes over the last five years, members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) picketed the corporate office of South Africa’s largest defense industry, demanding wage hike and reinstatement of benefits.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/25/workers-picket-the-office-of-south-africas-largest-defense-industry/

The world’s richest man has successfully adopted media, political, and economic strategies that allow him to be an influential figure inside and outside the United States.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/25/how-billionaire-elon-musk-is-trying-to-buy-political-influence-across-the-americas/

On October 20, 2024, Kenya marked the 61 commemoration of Mashujaa Day, also known as Heroes Day, which was established to honor the heroes of the nation’s struggle for independence and those who continue to contribute to post-independence development.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/24/kenyan-activists-honor-protesters-killed-by-police-on-mashujaa-day/

The UK Labour government is considering increasing the role of private healthcare providers, weakening NHS capacities.

The Labour Party is considering a major expansion of the private sector’s involvement in the National Health Service (NHS) as it attempts to reduce waiting lists in the United Kingdom. Recently, the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) wrote to Keir Starmer’s government, stating that private providers are ready to spend £1 billion to accommodate more NHS patients—if the government guarantees them long-term work.

While the offer has been welcomed by officials from the Department of Health, health activists have raised alarms over the plan. The We Own It campaign warned that a resurgence of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) policy, as essentially proposed by the private sector, would lead to higher debt, staffing shortages, and diminished NHS training capacities.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/24/labour-considers-expanding-private-sector-role-in-nhs-undermining-the-already-fragile-public-health-system/

The people of one of the world’s wealthiest countries in terms of natural resources have been condemned to violence and poverty by US-backed foreign interventions to secure mineral wealth for corporations.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/23/congo-week-draws-attention-to-the-congolese-struggle-in-the-face-of-conflict/

As the Cuban people continue to struggle under sweeping blackouts and a hurricane that has resulted in six deaths, the US continues its stranglehold on the socialist state in the form of drastic sanctions.
US-based organizations, which include the New York City-based People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Hatuey Project, have launched a donation campaign to get urgently needed humanitarian supplies, including food and generators, onto the island.
These organizers also recently published an open letter in the New York Times, urging US President Biden to reverse devastating Trump-era sanctions on Cuba, including by removing Cuba off of the US’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list.
Manolo De Los Santos, Executive Director of the People’s Forum, spoke to Peoples Dispatch regarding the cruel blockade and the responsibilities the people of the US have towards their neighbors.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/23/as-cubans-face-blackouts-us-based-activists-organize-material-solidarity/

🇻🇪 Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at BRICS Summit in Russia.

"Where is the International Court of Justice? Or was it only created to persecute the countries of the Global South?"

In his speech at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, President Maduro condemned the inaction of international institutions in holding imperialist nations accountable for their crimes. He joined dozens of other world leaders in calling for urgent reforms of the United Nations in order to face the threat of the rise of fascism and to build a better world.

Activists call for an end to the criminalization of migrant women!

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Derwentside Detention Center for women in Northeast Britain to protest against the government's xenophobic and hostile policies against migrants and asylum seekers and to declare "Refugees are welcome here!"

The Shehbaz Sharif government has proposed a comprehensive constitutional amendment which, if passed, will give the government greater control over the judiciary and country’s election commission.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/21/crackdown-on-protests-over-controversial-constitutional-amendments-in-pakistan/

Thousands of people took to the streets of Naples on October 19, demonstrating against the G7 military agenda and Italy’s proposed reforms that would limit the freedom to dissent.

Protesters, representing a host of organizations including student associations, trade unions, and community centers, rallied against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government’s policies, demanding a shift in priorities toward social needs instead of military spending.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/21/naples-protests-g7-lords-of-war/

Cuban journalist Laura Prada writes from Havana about the national blackout in Cuba, product of the blockade imposed on the island by the United States.

📲 Read her full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/21/cuba-in-the-dark-but-not-defeated/

Israeli forces shelled all three major hospitals in northern Gaza—Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, and the Indonesian Hospital—on the night of October 18-19. The attacks followed a two-week siege imposed on the region by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/19/northern-gaza-hospitals-suffer-a-night-of-israeli-attacks/

🇨🇺The US blockade of Cuba has plunged the country into darkness.

As of Friday, October 18, Cuba has been suffering an unprecedented national blackout. The cause of this is the lack of fuel and maintenance to keep the electrical grid operating properly. Cuba has been severely restricted from purchasing fuel and crucial supplies because of the tight US blockade on the country. Cuban officials have repeatedly called for Washington to lift some of these suffocating sanctions (and the blockade as a whole) and allow the country to purchase lifesaving supplies, yet once again their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Read the account of this blackout from journalist Luis de Jesús, direct from Havana.

📸 Luis de Jesús.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines in Cuba announced on Friday, October 18, that the National Electrical Energy System had faced a total blackout after the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant suffered an unexpected outage.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded to the news saying, “From the country’s leadership, we are dedicating absolute priority to the attention and solution of this highly sensitive energy contingency for the nation. There will be no rest until it is restored.”

The nation-wide blackout that Cuba experienced is evidence of the serious impacts that the blockade has on the entire population, and prompted many solidarity organizations to renew their calls for Biden to lift the deadly blockade.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/18/cuba-faces-nation-wide-blackout-activists-renew-calls-for-an-end-to-the-blockade/

While Ecuadorians endure daily power outages of more than 10 hours, the government proposes the installation of foreign military bases.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/18/blackouts-and-foreign-military-bases-the-neoliberal-proposals-of-ecuadors-noboa/

People in the US are set to head to the ballot box on November 5 to decide their next president.

Peoples Dispatch spoke to socialist candidate Claudia De la Cruz, running with vice presidential candidate Karina Garcia on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in an exclusive interview on her perspective on immigration, hurricane relief, US aid to Israel, and other key issues in these upcoming elections.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/18/amid-war-and-natural-disasters-capitalism-is-the-crisis-says-socialist-candidate-for-president/

Journalist with the Electronic Intifada Asa Winstanley is one of the latest targets of British authorities cracking down on activists and journalists opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Winstanley was told he was being investigated for “encouragement of terrorism,” a charge human rights associations have previously criticized for being too vague and opening the door to the suppression of free speech. The police informed Winstanley that the raid was triggered by material he shared on social media.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/18/pro-palestine-journalist-asa-winstanleys-home-raided-by-british-counterterror-police/

The armed forces of the United States, the Philippines, and several of their allies started a massive military exercise in the Philippines on Tuesday, October 15, amidst growing concerns of rising external intervention and possibility of conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the last couple of years the US has on several occasions used the phrase of “free and open Indo-Pacific” to justify its moves against China in the region.
📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/17/us-begins-another-military-exercise-with-the-philippines-and-other-asian-allies-near-taiwan-strait/

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak) issued a joint statement on Thursday, October 17, announcing the assassination of the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement Hamas, Yahya Sinwar.

The statement clarified that investigations were still underway to verify whether the body, which the IOF found in Gaza after engaging in armed clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip the day earlier, was of Sinwar.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/17/israel-says-hamas-leader-yahya-sinwar-was-killed-in-combat-in-rafah/

Israeli warplanes carpet-bombed Nabatieh city in southern Lebanon, targeting several buildings and sites, on Wednesday, October 16.

Nabatieh Municipality building was among the targets, resulting in the killing of the city’s mayor and five other key officials, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. A medical facility near the municipality building was also targeted by an Israeli airstrike, killing at least two doctors.

📲 Read the full article on our website.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/17/israel-carpet-bombs-nabatieh-targeting-medical-and-municipal-facilities/