Global Left Midweek – May 8, 2024

Militarism lays waste to the climate

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  1. Militarism Here and Now
  2. Lifers
  3. Socialism Criminalized in Russia
  4. Labor Holds the Line in Argentina
  5. Vietnam’s Bamboo Diplomacy
  6. Reports From Spain
  7. Youth and the Mexican Election
  8. Kwame Nkrumah Today
  9. UK Strike Wave
  10. Center-Left Electoral Front in Bengal

 

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Militarism Here and Now

Nick Gottlieb / Canadian Dimension (Winnipeg)

The climate movement has largely ignored a growing body of evidence showing that militarism is, as sociologist Prof Kenneth Gould describes, “the single most ecologically destructive human endeavour.” Now is the time for that to change.

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Lifers

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Socialism Criminalized in Russia

Ilya Budraitskis, Kirill Medvedev and Sasha Davydova / Posle

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On April 5, 2024, the Russian Socialist Movement was declared “foreign agent.” What has been its role in Russian left-wing politics? What is the reason behind its “foreign agent” status? Together with its members, Posle.media recalls the history of the movement in the past decade.

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Labor Holds the Line in Argentina

Liam Crisan / Inequality.org (Washington DC)

Argentina’s labor movement has quickly mobilized widespread and effective opposition to Milei’s policies. While strikes and protests continue, we can already begin to draw lessons on resisting the far-right’s rise worldwide.

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Vietnam’s Bamboo Diplomacy

Stefan Mentschel / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)

A resolution passed at the Thirteenth Party Congress of the Communist Party in early 2021 states that their aim is to “improve the quality and effectiveness of foreign affairs and international integration”. Aside from ensuring peace and stability, Vietnam’s top priority is to safeguard its independence and self-reliance and to protect its territorial integrity.

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Reports From Spain

  • Sumar   Eoghan Gilmartin / Jacobin (Brooklyn)
     
  • Mondragón   Oliver Balch / The Guardian (London)
     
  • Catalonia   Gerard Escaich Folch / Catalan News (Barcelona)

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Youth and the Mexican Election

Levi Vonk / Wilson Center (Washington DC)

This summer, Claudia Sheinbaum, AMLO’s named successor, is poised to become Mexico’s first female president. Sheinbaum, in actuality, is not significantly younger than AMLO. But in spirit she represents a new and fresh face for the party. Whereas AMLO’s vision for Mexico has always been firmly—one might even say petulantly—nationalistic, Sheinbaum’s outlook is more international. 

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Kwame Nkrumah Today

Yao Graham and Anakwa Dwamena / Africa is a Country (Brooklyn)

One of the key lessons from Ghana’s development experience under Nkrumah is linked directly to his commitment to a pan-African solution to the challenges of under-development. The post-Cold War global economic framework has made the regional and continental even more key in any serious African project of economic transformation. 

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UK Strike Wave

John Westmoreland / Counterfire (London)

The political nature of the strikes should have led to victory. The obvious path to victory was to join up the strikes in an all-out assault on neoliberalism and to launch a working-class counter offensive. The unity of politics and economics across the various sectors of the movement was pointing towards meaningful working-class struggle.

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Center-Left Electoral Front in Bengal

Joydeep Sarkar / The Wire (New Delhi)

The Left-Congress alliance here could be the start of a deeper coalition, locals feel. It is clear that this is not just a friendship between the Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the CPI(M)’s Mohammad Salim, but that workers too are keen to fight together and are often seen working in tandem.