 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Well, hello people. Welcome to Give the People What They Want. Great to be with you. It's today the 21st of January. You notice I keep checking my calendar because I'm not sure what day we are in, least of all, what year. I gather it's 2022. You're with Give the People What They Want brought to you from People's Dispatch. That's Zoe and Prashant, fabulous co-editors of a super, super site. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. Really happy to be with you again. As I said, I keep checking the date, particularly the year. I can't imagine how many Oxpam reports I've read. Over and over and over again, Oxpam says, look at the inequality. Look at the inequality. Prashant, how many Oxpam reports are we going to have to read before we are cremated? That's a very good question. I suspect it's going to be every year. Sometimes I wonder, as journalists, we start getting a bit numb to some of the numbers because every year it's just a blizzard. Speaking of blizzards, interestingly, the World Bank Chief has made a comment where he cast a critical eye on Microsoft acquiring gaming company Activision Blizzard for $90 billion. When a World Bank Chief says money should be not going into these kind of acquisitions, you kind of know that something is really wrong. But yeah, I think two aspects, of course. One, the numbers are staggering. The numbers I think talked about a lot still. Very important to talk about. Also, because I think the report does a good job of not only looking at the larger numbers, for instance, the fact that the world's 10 richest men have double their fortunes. That's been talked about. The $2,755 billionaires who exist in the world today their wealth, for instance, has grown more during the time of the pandemic than in the previous 14 years, which the report says was already anyway a boom time for billionaires. And then they also, I think, do a good job of, for instance, talking about the gender, how in terms of ethnicity, for instance, the fact that I think say about 3.4 million more black people would be alive today if they had the same expectancy as white people or the fact that the number of the proportion by which, say, Bangladesh, the origin people died in the UK due to the pandemic as opposed to white people. And inequality is this threat that basically connects so many of these issues. And I think that it's a, which is why it's something we keep going back to the show as well, which is why, for instance, we talk about, say, the tax havens where 32 trillion dollars is supposed to be stashed, where we talk about, for instance, arms spending $2 trillion in 2020 alone. So all these, I think, are recurring themes due to the fact that inequality, inequality, for instance, how it feeds into hunger or inequality, how it feeds into systemic racism, how it feeds into unemployment. And it's important, I think, also at this point to note some of the key points the report makes in terms of recommendations, for instance. One of the key aspects being that they talk about taxation. Taxation, in fact, there's this great number which says that if the pandemic wealth alone, there was a 99% windfall tax on that, not only would all the, there will be, there will be enough for all the vaccines in the world, gaps in climate measures, universal health, social protection, et cetera, in 80 countries. And then this is an important thing. And then yet these men would still be $8 billion better in terms of what they were before the pandemic. So staggering numbers, but I think as important is the question of what has to be done. And of course, the Oxfam talks about taxation, but I think we also need to see taxation into aspects. One, it also has a rhetorical purpose, but I think there's much more to it, because taxation, extracting that wealth from the billionaires is one part of it, but also how do you invest further is equally the real question. The report, for instance, says that, we need to bring it back into what is called the real economy. And for instance, if you look at, say, for instance, the plan to save the planet which tri-continental and other research institutes together have realized, there is a concrete set of proposals informed by people's movements across the world in terms of how you will need to invest in health, how you need to invest in education, how you need to invest, for instance, in basic infrastructure. We have the United States where your infrastructure bill was finally passed, but after so much, so much of spending being cut down. Across the West we see governments hesitating to impose taxes on corporates and rich people, of course, but also equally hesitating to spend on health even in the midst of a pandemic. And I think, again, from India, there's a great number which says, for instance, that even I think a one-person tax or something is good enough to massively contribute to the health budget, to the education budget, the kind of importance impact will make. So I think definitely a two-fold battle as far as popular movements are concerned, definitely a two-fold battle as far as journalists are concerned as well, to not only track these numbers in terms of inequality, which is an important thing, and which we do need to write about, but I think also to track how the government is spending itself. And you cannot disconnect the spending where the government works. It's refusal to spend across the world. The way political parties, for instance, are moving towards a right in terms of the economy, which has been a long trend. We cannot separate that from the question of inequality. So I think that's really the challenge. No, that's very true. Speaking of inequality, some of the most unequal places in the world are also places of great violence. I was interested, Colombia is going to have an election in March. Presidential election Ingrid Betancourt is put a hat in the ring. She, some people may remember, is a centre-right politician who had been held by the FARC, the Marxist rebels for some years. She has now come in. There are about 400 candidates who are going to run across the country. I was interested, Zoe, that just yesterday, the head of the UN verification mission of the Peace Accord says that much more needs to be done in Colombia to ensure the verification of the Peace Accords to ensure that peace is being advanced and yet the violence seems to continue. Take us to Colombia where it looks like we're not in 2022, but perhaps in the 1970s. That's exactly right. I mean, that's kind of what it feels like on Wednesday, very late at night, there was a car bombing of an office of a building that housed diverse social movements. It has the alternative media publication Trotando Sin Fronteras. It also houses a where they also print their newspapers every day. It has the Peasants Organization, Women's Movement, their Human Rights Foundation all in this building, the Ejorde Elieser Martinez building who actually was killed in the early 2000s by members, sorry, of the National Army of Colombia. And so there was a car bombing outside of this building causing serious, serious structural damage not only to that building, but also the transportation headquarters, the local educational institute, Sena. One person was killed, five are gravely injured. This is truly, as you said, a return to these dark days of Colombia where violence like this against the civilian population is commonplace. The movements in Arauca in the center east region of Colombia have been very quick to respond and condemn this violence. They have been alerting to the increased intensions in the region for several weeks now, for several months really, but in the last couple of weeks a group which calls itself a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia which demobilized in 2016 had been circulating audios on WhatsApp saying that they were going to target civilian establishments and specifically pointed out the buildings, the offices of this social movement in Arauca. They have been calling for measures which do not add to the militarization of this already very militarized territory. Yet the bombing occurred on Wednesday night. It's really tragic. This movement has contributed to really rebuilding the social fabric in a region where the government has altogether abandoned the people. They have organized all of the peasants in the region into different cooperatives, cooperatives to process plantains, cocoa, all sorts of different agricultural products. And so seeing this attack from very illegal bizarre forces that seem to have some connection to the national government according to the movements in the region is quite worrying. This is at the same time that the national government is implementing a plan called Future Zones with Arauca being the first laboratory of this plan. This is a plan from the Ministry of Defense from the national government to allegedly increase security, increase civilian security by militarization by adding more troops on the ground. And as the people of Arauca have said for decades really this is not the solution to the problems that they face. This is not the solution to the systemic poverty that they face, the state abandonment. What they need is more infrastructure and more infrastructure in the people. And so it's really unfortunate that this has come in in this way. There's been a lot of solidarity with the organizations of Saravana. This is a building. I myself have stayed in this building several times. All internationalists who come through Saravana stay in this place. It's a place that's home for many people. And so it's just really unfortunate that the foundation for the freedom of press has also condemned the attack. Several large human rights organizations and I think what's important now is what happens. What is going to be the response is the conflict going to continue to escalate. Are there going to be more civilian targets? The people of Arauca have demanded peace. They said this is the only way forward. We cannot regress back into this violent time and hopefully for the people of Colombia this will happen. Well at People's Dispatch you have a piece from Colombia Informa an interview with Sonia Lopez. I highly recommend people go and find it. It's called in Arauca we have suffered every form of war. Extremely sympathetic article. This sympathetic article comes around at the same time that the U.S. President Joe Biden from gaff to gaff Biden this time says that Latin America is not and please mark his words. He's trying to be very sincere. Latin America is not the backyard of the United States he says because apparently backyards it doesn't have a good feel to it. The front yard of the United States this was supposed to be the liberal way I suppose for conservatives Latin America is the backyard for liberals Latin America is the front yard it's the yard nonetheless it's the yard nonetheless Latin America is merely the dog that's allowed to run around the property of the United States that's the immediate image that I got in my head when I heard Biden speaking about this Biden speaking about this meanwhile his foreign minister Antony Blinken out there in Geneva talking to Sergey Lavrov about the tensions in Ukraine whose front yard or backyard is Ukraine that's a separate question not a question apparently that Lavrov raised with Blinken the talks are going nowhere we had already talked about the fact that the Russians have asked the United States in writing to answer questions about their own security concerns they want guarantees in writing from the United States that the advancement of NATO will not happen that their security will be part of the framework of conversation they asked for that in writing Blinken came to Geneva today with nothing in writing the United States has pushed a narrative saying the Russians want war Lavrov told the press just about an hour and a half ago that look this is ridiculous there is and he used the word hysteria being driven about this we don't want a war he said regarding the Russian government he said that yes there are troops there but Russia does not want a war in fact Russia has asked Romania to withdraw NATO forces from Romania Romania is refusing this is a very tense and serious issue here when Blinken left the meeting with Lavrov they all announced that the talks will continue next week we don't know how it's going to go Blinken did say that next week the United States is going to bring something in writing to the meeting now whether these will be let's say security guarantees that the Russians are seeking which could dial down the tension or it could be a pledge initially for Russia to withdraw troops it's not clear what is clear is that the eastern region in Ukraine including the Donbas part there is a lot of stress because the question is what's going to happen if NATO troops enter there what will be the relationship of the Donbas with Russia will the Russians force the question and will you see the succession of parts of eastern Ukraine into Russia that's a serious issue it's a plausible issue in fact if I was to look at the map of Ukraine with you absorbed into Russia the taking of sovereignty or the readjustment of sovereignty in eastern Ukraine would actually benefit the people of Crimea but all of these are open questions nobody has said or put on the table what the demands are what's very clear is the Russians have asked for a security guarantee the United States has said that NATO will play a role in insisting that Russia first say they are not going to fight a war each side my friends are trying to trap each other this is the nature of diplomacy there's a lot of brinkmanship involved here the Russians want the US to sign a piece of paper saying that we are not going to attack you and then they can say look you said you won't attack us and the United States wants Russian troops to leave which then reduces the pressure on Ukraine it's a kind of silly conflict and I want to actually say in a word about it it's a silly conflict because neither France nor Germany are actually going to allow Ukraine to join NATO this is a moot question NATO doesn't want Ukraine Ukraine wants to be part of NATO the United States is using the question of Ukraine and NATO in a sense to needle the Russians so it's a really bizarre conflict and so far we haven't had honest words spoken as I said jockeying for control jockeying for the narrative let's see where this goes today happens to be the death anniversary of Vladimir Lenin it's an important day we have seen the Russians particularly after all these years coming back to look favorably at their 70 year period in the USSR we'll come back to that story that's a story that keeps coming every once in a while we hear a poll coming from Russia and not just older people who have nostalgia look at the world now and look at what it could have been it's still on the table friends how will the Russians look to Lenin in another 100 years interesting thing to look at well the president of Tunisia is nothing like Lenin not at all lots of drama in Tunisia Zoe take us to Tunis well yesterday a protester actually died who was commemorating the 11 years since the revolution which took down the dictatorship a very important moment not only in Tunisia but in North Africa and I think I start with the death of this protester because I really think it signifies the direction that Tunisia is headed in in July Kais Said essentially stage what now many progressive forces within Tunisia recognized as a coup suspended parliament since then there has just been a gradual and systemic deterioration of the institutions within Tunisia the rule of law human rights violations and the Tunisian democracy is often held up as one of the kind of best cases of the Arab Spring process a lot of countries we only have to look to Egypt to know how south things went in some cases but Tunisia relatively stable was able to recover a lot of democratic rights that had been previously denied opposition parties that had been banned so I knew hope to be able to operate democratically have rights and since July there has just been constant attack on the opposition on different institutions you know not only progressive parties such as the workers party of Tunisia one of the largest Marxist parties in the country that has been quite successful in the past but also the movement which gains a lot of power in the last elections and so on January 14th the 11th anniversary of this historic revolution that really in its moment was able to put an end to you know decades of dictatorial rule this protest was met with you know mass repression a lot of violence against protesters you know as I mentioned at the beginning one of the people who was attacked and suffered grave injuries in this repression did succumb to his injuries there have been investigations opened up on opposition leaders one of our comrades Hama Hamami is one of these opposition leaders who is now you know likely facing a legal investigation by authorities in Tunisia so I think all signs are pointing to serious setbacks in democracy in the country that started with the coup and has just been intensifying in recent days it's really important to stand with the people of Tunisia because this democracy which is so young just 11 years old is just gravely under threat the parties are losing you know they're even their rights to be able to organize to be able to hold events you know of course covid restrictions are often used to justify this clampdown on their rights but I think we also have to see it for what it is they're going to be there's a lot of human rights organizations that have come out and been consistently you know condemning the actions from the government I think we're going to see more of this and we'll see how the opposition parties continue to fight back against this enclosure of their rights of as citizens of Tunisia it's not just in Tunisia that this is happening and of course Tunisia is a formal democracy but further to the west of Morocco the royal family the sclerotic kingdom of Morocco led by the marxan a name which means warehouse that's where the king used to pay the salaries of his retainers you know that's why the ruling elite is called the marxan deeply emboldened by the so called Abraham accords pushed by the trump administration in august 2020 illegal accords because the United States forced essentially or not forced you know dragged happily the royal families of the UAE and Morocco were dragged happily to normalize relations with Israel the price that the Palestinians paid for this was also paid by the people of western Sahara the sarawis suddenly found by George Bush's Dictat to Mohammed the king that oh the United States now accepts Morocco's annexation of western Sahara since 1975 an illegal annexation by the way underneath that and I've done a story for Globetrotter which appears on the people's dispatch website I did a story about this because underneath all this is phosphates the most important components of fertilizer and it turns out I didn't get into this too much but these are conflict phosphates because a large part of the Moroccan phosphate exports is from western Sahara is phosphates they are mining in this illegal territory and they send it to two countries essentially New Zealand and India in India the phosphates go to Orissa where they are then processed by our group you know this group is basically laundering conflict phosphates for the Moroccan annexation of western Sahara and this is all happening at the same time as the government in western Sahara in government in Morocco the monarchy is cracking down on descent you know throwing people in prison there's a story Zoe you have about the crackdown against democratic way the left party inside Morocco and so on so anybody inside Morocco criticizes the occupation of western Sahara is seen as you know what in India is called anti national but in this case basically is anti monarchy and with the kind of laze majesty laws you have it's a very serious issue you can go to jail for a long time but now the United States has validated the annexation of western Sahara this comes as a great a problem for the United Nations for the rule of law for the Europeans which is why Secretary General has sent a new personal envoy to Syria Stefan de Muzerata now Mr. de Muzerata Mistura sorry Stefan de Mistura Mr. de Mistura I feel sorry for him because he has been sent by the UN to solve the conflicts in Iraq to solve the conflict in Afghanistan please digest what I'm saying he has been sent as a personal envoy to solve the Afghan conflict the Iraq conflict the Syria conflict at the worst point of the attempt to overthrow the government in Syria now he has been sent to tackle the question of western Sahara doubt very much with that Mr. de Mistura will be able to accomplish anything he did go to Rabat did meet the foreign minister of the king he did go to meet Polisario the organization of the people of western Sahara in the camps in Syria and so on so he has gone and met everybody but I very much doubt that the meetings that had been held by his predecessor in Geneva again in Geneva the United States and the Russians meeting in Geneva now will we see the return of Polisario the Moroccans and others to Geneva to talks I doubt it because the Moroccans say look western Sahara is ours the world monopoly on phosphates is ours billions of dollars a year made in phosphates just to cycle back to your earlier story Prashant the king of Morocco is worth about 8 billion dollars that's a lot of money the people of Morocco meanwhile struggling to survive every day Morocco's biggest exports phosphates and marijuana exported to hashish really exported to Europe these are big big concessions and the king of Morocco's money on both of them that's the status of Morocco major ally of the United States Saudi Arabia and other so called democratic powers did I say democratic powers what else am I supposed to say the summit of democracies imagine the king of Morocco speaking there the king of Saudi Arabia speaking there Joe Biden speaking there talking about Latin America being his front yard summit of democracies wasn't on recently well I suppose meanwhile summit of democracies in Britain Boris Johnson said I didn't go to the party last week he talked about that remember I didn't go to any party it was a party well I didn't know it was a party we said last week you don't know what they think about what a party is Prashant United Kingdom I can't follow anything I sometimes look at BBC not sure if I'm watching a cartoon show or watching the news tell us what's up there right I mean it's obviously a mess at home and as if that's not enough in the long tradition of Britain foreign secretary list trust at the defense secretary in Australia where they have where list trust very proudly proclaimed that you know took a stand according to media reports against the dictatorships that is Russia and China and says the democracies of the world would work together against them now this is highly ironic considering the fact that it's with the UK seeing a series of bills that are being moved to parliament right now all of which are extremely dangerous in various ways and you know all of them again connected to COVID-19 again connected to the Western democracy itself for instance we have the police police encodes which is being considered one of the biggest attacks on protests so far and it is it is such an offensive bill that the House of Lords voted down certain sections of the bill which the government had proposed now you need to think about this at the House of Lords which is basically the epitome of it's a House of Lords but nonetheless they voted down certain provisions saying that these were too much of an offense on public liberty for instance the fact that the police had the power to impose noise restrictions on protests all the fact that and this whole law has been filled with a variety of provisions which are very controversial there was for instance a provision which made destroying a statue could be punishable by crime if protests could be termed especially annoying those who participated could be you know in danger if people locked themselves to certain public facilities those protesters could be punished so all out attempt by the conservative government to really outlaw protests and we need to also see that this is definitely targeted against radical protest action I mean they are fine with protest action which is you know symbolic but anytime protest action begins to get according to in their terms disruptive that for them is a problem and we only recently talked about for instance how a group like Palestine action was able to shut down Elbit because of protest actions which were not just about raising slogans they were also about actually taking direct action so that's of course one aspect that's one controversial legislation then there's a nationalities bill for instance which again is with widely criticized legal organizations have called it racist they called it a blow to human rights not only in the United Kingdom but for Europe as a whole because among other things it allows the home secretary to remove citizenship from a British citizen without notice without notification and that's a huge expansion of powers it also it also again you know it also causes grave problems for people who want to for instance take asylum the kind of restrictions that they're going to face and again many of these people forced to seek asylum because of the wars which the United Kingdom has prosecuted along with its allies in various parts of the world from Syria from Iraq for instance all these migrants all of these refugees going to face much much more tougher times trying to not only come to Britain and apply for citizenship but even live there and then there is a health and care bill we saw at the beginning of the month massive number of absentees in the national health service because the sheer amount of work and the illness that they had to endure during the third wave of the pandemic and now what the conservative government is proposing is what is basically involved in what is going to be a large scale privatization of the national health care service it's going to integrate far more private players into the process break it down into a number of circles which will have to collaborate closely with private players so whether it be you know the status of refugees and migrants whether it be policing and law and order whether it be the issue of health with the national health service what are the few legacies of an earlier time or in all these aspects we see a complete attack so democracy big question there for the United Kingdom big question left democracy in the United Kingdom also must say that a great friend of this show give the people what they want Ola Binney is going on trial in Ecuador where he has been harassed for the last several years friend of Julian Assange they call him well he's my friend too and I know he's a friend of many people I'm talking about Julian Assange that's not a crime not yet if you visit him in Belmarsh prison are they going to imprison you as well that's what they're doing to Ola Binney in Ecuador you've been listening to give the people what they want coming to you from people's dispatch where you find all these stories and more brought to you by your editors Prashant and Zoe I'm BJ from Globetrotter very happy to have you join us every Friday we come here on Friday because we're brought together by our producer Surangia it's really great to have a producer who keeps reminding us to do things such as record our audio so give some love to Surangia don't forget we like those selfies more selfies from you give the people what they want selfies that's what we want from you see you next week bye