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Global Left Midweek - June 5, 2019

Algeria * Spain * Sudan * Brazil * Ireland * Oaxaca * Pakistan * Honduras * Belgium

Thousands protest in Rio de Janeiro against education cuts announced by Bolsonaro’s government, Photograph: Fabio Motta/EPA
  1. Algeria: Berbers Mobilize
  2. Spain: Podemos Meltdown
  3. Sudan: Reign of Terror
  4. Brazil: Student Upsurge
  5. Ireland: Sinn Féin Divisions
  6. Oaxaca, Mexico: Tribes Fight for Water Rights
  7. Pakistan: Army Crackdown on Pashtun Movement
  8. Honduras: Rebellion Against Government
  9. Belgium: Workers' Party Win

Algeria: Berbers Mobilize

Vermondo Brugnatelli / Il Manifesto Global (Rome)

The human rights activist Kameleddine Fekhar had been on a hunger strike since March 31. On May 28, he died in a hospital after his condition had deteriorated. The sorrow and indignation for his only-too-predictable death gave rise to remembrance and protest activities around the world.

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Spain: Podemos Meltdown

Dick Nichols / Green Left Weekly (Sydney)

Its European parliament vote, achieved separately by Podemos and the United Left in 2014, fell from 18% to 10% (11 seats to 6). In the state elections, where the United Left and Podemos ran separately in some regions, the radical left lost two-thirds of the 99 seats won in 2014, as its average vote fell from 13.7% to 6.7%. In Extremadura, it managed to hold four of the six seats won in 2015.

 

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Sudan: Reign of Terror

Pavan Kulkarni / Peoples Dispatch (New Delhi)

The Sudanese Professionals Association is deeming the events a “bloody massacre”, and has called for a “total civil disobedience”, and vowed “we will not retreat”.

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Brazil: Student Upsurge

Tom Phillips / The Guardian (London)

Hundreds of thousands of students, academics and teachers have taken to the streets of Brazil for their latest mass protest against far-right president Jair Bolsonaro’s assault on education.

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Ireland: Sinn Féin Divisions

Fiach Kelly / Irish Times (Dublin)

There are members who want to be more liberal on social issues and those who think Sinn Féin is preoccupied with same-sex marriage and abortion; those who think it should tack further to the left and those who think it should go towards the centre.

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Oaxaca, Mexico: Tribes Fight for Water Rights

Samantha Demby / NACLA Report (New York)

In southern Mexico, a multi-ethnic network of towns has halted the construction of a mega-dam. Now they are organizing to manage their own natural resources and revitalize their culture as native water protectors.

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Pakistan: Army Crackdown on Pashtun Movement 

Mohammad Taqi / The Wire (New Delhi)

The Pakistan army shot and killed at least 13 civilians and injured dozens more at a sit-in staged by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (Pashtun Defence Movement or PTM), in the tribal North Waziristan district of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

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Honduras: Rebellion Against Government

Zoe PC / NewsClick (New Delhi)

Thousands participated in the national strike against the privatisation of health and education. The mobilizations channeled the widespread anger against the government of Juan Orlando Hernández.

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Belgium: Workers' Party Win

Marc Botenga / Jacobin (New York)

Last week’s elections produced grim results for the Left across most of the continent. But in Belgium, the Workers’ Party made a historic breakthrough.