 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Hi, good day. You're with Give the People What They Want. This is the 119th show. Happy to be with you. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. We've got Zoe and Prashant from People's Dispatch coming to you every week on Friday, bringing you the news of the world. Interesting week this has been given the meeting in Moscow, the personal meeting between China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Now, two meetings were actually held. The first on Monday started around 4.30 in the afternoon in Moscow time and ended after 9 p.m. It was a very long meeting about four plus hours of conversation between Xi Jinping and Putin, a private meeting. Both of them left pretty happy, it seemed. The next day, there was a much longer meeting with all the other officials involved where they came up and reinforced their great statement that they had made earlier the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era. Very long name for the statement. They effectively called this the deepening of that. So that was the second day of the long meeting. It's important to sit back and take stock of what this means. Firstly, it's important that Xi Jinping went personally to meet with Vladimir Putin. They didn't do a Zoom meeting. They didn't send the foreign minister again, previously Wang Yi, who's the highest party member of foreign affairs, had gone to Moscow. This time Xi Jinping went personally. There was no other reason to have gone. There was no St. Petersburg forum to attend. There was no other grand event or declaration. He went to have a long meeting with Mr. Putin. Now, on the second day, there were a laundry list of items released, of course. In all these sorts of meetings, that's precisely what happens. There was a discussion about what is democracy. In that light, they discussed the Chinese concept of the Global Civilization Initiative, which the Chinese have put on the table, trying to understand the different parts of the planet, moving towards their own kinds of democratization. There is no, as they said, superior form of democracy. They talked about Taiwan. The idea of one China was very much on the table. They talked about color revolutions, about the East Turkestan Islamic movement that operates inside Western China. In fact, actually the leadership of that group is in Idlib, Syria. But the group had operations in Western China. They talked about cross-border protection. They talked about the Global Development Initiative. They talked about Nord Stream 2. They talked about AUKUS. They talked about everything. On the second day, it was, as I said, a laundry list. But it's pretty clear that on the previous day, that four and a half hour meeting between Xi Jinping and Putin, what was on the table, and let's be clear about that, was the war in Ukraine. That was what was the principal focus of discussion by all accounts that have come out from that meeting. Now, the Chinese, prior to this meeting and around the time of the Munich Security Initiative, the Chinese had publicly released what they called the 12 principles, towards a peace plan. Very interesting set of principles that give the people what they want to have talked about previously. These are principles that include safer ways to conduct the military operation. For instance, no fighting near nuclear power plants. But they also, of course, include platforms or procedures for a dialback of the violence and indeed of bringing peace to the region. It's an important set of 12 principles. Likely, Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping talked about what would be the possibilities of a peace agreement. That peace agreement placed on the table by the Chinese has been spoken favorably across much of the global south. No doubt that people have looked at this with relief that perhaps if the Chinese can broker some kind of peace agreement, then perhaps some of that cost of living pressure might abate. That's what's on people's mind. United States categorically rejected this agreement. Much of the media in the west has been saying things like, well, it's short on details. Of course, it's short on details. It's a platform or set of principles for the negotiation. It's not doing the negotiation for the Ukrainians and the Russians. That would be to impose a deal on them. It's in fact creating the table or setting the table. When Mr. Xi Jinping left Moscow, it was clear that he left with a big smile on his face. It's anticipated that if the fighting around Bakhmut finally comes to a complete end, if the Russians feel that there is a sufficient ground understanding from their perspective, maybe this will allow space for them to open up a new dialogue with the Ukrainians. Let's see what happens. Hard to tell up to now. It's interesting that at the meeting not much publicly was said about the climate and the environment. They did talk about the Japanese government and it's restarting Fukushima, Daichi, the nuclear power plant. Worry about polluting the waters around Japan. But Prashant, while they were talking in Moscow, it looks like the climate scientists had other fish to fry. The IPCC synthesis report is out and of course there have been a lot of reports in recent times, both by the IPCC by others, climate change far more on our radar these days. But this is an interesting report because it's probably the last of its kind till maybe the end of the decade. So I think the next major report we're going to see on these lines will be by 2030. It is likely that the world will be a very, very different place by then. So this report is kind of significant that way. It summarizes quite a few earlier reports, brings into stock detail some of the conclusions of the earlier report. The report of course is depressingly familiar in the sense that what it talks about the fact that as we have said time and again on the show climate change is already here. It's not some distant ghost or some distant aspect that's going to be around very much here. The impact is already being seen by tens of thousands of people across the world and temperatures have increased from by around 1.1 degrees from 2011 to 20 that is from the pre-18 in the pre-industrial level that is. But I think the key aspect to the report we need to focus on and is basically to look at how the inequality that has always been very central to the issue of climate change. And this report also kind of mentions that basically the fact that the bottom 50% of households contribute just 13 to 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, but as the top 10% contribute 34 to 45% and this kind of automatically shows at a global level the kind of inequality and who's really contributing to climate change. And of course the same thing happens with the global north and the global south as well. There's a legacy of contributing to climate change which countries of the global north have been part of and you know although these facts are very well known I think what each time a report like this comes out what also is apparent is the fact that there has been no real political will from the countries of the global north especially in addressing what these reports say time and again which is the fact that you know there has to be there has to be a moment of reckoning at some point of time. Where concrete steps are taken to sort of deal with the issue that is very much there. Whereas the solutions as this report chronicles seem to be largely you know there's a lot of rhetoric with little money that's put on the table that's one of the main questions that was there 100 billion a year was supposed to be provided by the rich countries it never came. Now there's talk of a loss and mitigation fund but the details are not there by the time the fund is operational again you're going to see more of these irreversible impacts sort of you know people actually facing this kind of impact. So all this together are quite a depressing report that way and I think the other key aspect is the fact that fossil fuel industries continue to benefit there's a lot of money still going into fossil fuel exploration with the Ukraine world many of the global north countries now going back into that mode. So there's a new cop coming this year maybe every year from now but I think again time and again we are going to end up in this situation where there is clearly no roadmap that is given and point is that the left has given you know across the world the left has given clear road maps we need to reduce inequality the global the rich across the globe especially the global north need to sort of start looking at their consumption patterns we need to look at the why billionaires exist to such an extent we need to address the issue of global debt without which any kind of mitigation activity or any kind of adaptation activity for climate change is not going to work sustainably the financing that is being provided for climate change should not be in the form of more loans we need to move out of that mentality as well it should not be in the form of insurance and stuff like that there has to be far quicker mechanisms all these I think the global left of course but even a number of countries who are being affected have raised its time and again but there is no there has been no global move towards it so I think this report yet another moment to sort of take stock of some of these issues. I mean if it took stock of these issues properly then the global media report them adequately seems that there is not enough serious focus on this Zoe you are in Argentina for instance let's talk about not enough serious focus. Argentina's inflation has gone up to 100% over the last couple of days they reported 100% inflation in Argentina the government is forcing public sector companies to sell dollar denominated bonds back into the private sector to guarantee you this is going to really send so called international capital markets to quote a former Argentinian finance minister Martin Guzman it's going to send them it's going to spook them let's see what happens you're in Argentina lots of anniversaries up what's going on with that attempted coup and the political chaos in the country. Well perhaps you'll be able to hear at some point the marching that's happening today is the anniversary of the coup d'etat against the democratically elected government in 1976 which essentially inaugurated the last civic and military dictatorship in Argentina it's one of the most well known dictatorships wherein over 30,000 people were detained and disappeared there was a brutal brutal persecution of the left during this during the six-year period that it was now has left really a mark on the continent the dictatorship in Argentina is something that people from across Latin America and even the world really remember as such a horrible, horrible stain on the history of democracy in the region and of course it happened at the same time as many other coups across the region and that being said this year is celebrating 40 years since the return and the establishment of democracy in the country and this of course means when the dictatorship ended and free and fair elections were held and people's democratic rights were restored so this year is a pretty monumentous anniversary as you said it's happening amid a very, very, very difficult time for Argentina frente de todos which is the progressive coalition won the elections in 2019 but they inherited a country that had been destroyed by neoliberalism a country that had a sorted history with the IMF and had decided to take out yet another loan under Mauricio Macri and left movements have harshly criticized the way in which this loan was handled have alleged that there was illegal dealings with this loan that a lot of the money was actually taken out of the country not even used to invest in social programs and in this context as you said there's 100% inflation there's been constant turnover within the government new finance ministers every other month it seemed and now of course one of the major political issues is also about the law fair campaign against Cristina Fernandez de Kitchener so while this celebration of 40 years of democracy is happening we're also seeing that in other ways institutions like the IMF like the judiciary like the private controlled corporate controlled media in the country are really eroding at this democracy because while people have the right to vote they don't have the right to say for example control inflation or say whether or not the country should be using its own resources to pay back what many alleges an illegal debt with the IMF don't have the right to say for example that the judiciary should not persecute Cristina Fernandez who's one of the most popular leaders in the country she's being investigated on a slew of different corruption related charges she herself and her team have revealed kind of the networks behind these charges the collusion between the judges and the prosecutors who have links to former president Macri these are charges that are based baseless and are of clear political motivation she's continued to condemn the case against her they've also tried to take her out of the running for the upcoming elections she said this week in a speech that she would attempt to be running she gave hints of this that she would try to defy this political ban so it's a really interesting moment we see the celebrating of the return of democracy but in very very very challenging circumstances it's going to be a tough go for Argentina largely because of the economic challenges that the country is going to face who knows what's going to happen when the next coupon is due at the international bond market particularly if they're going to be selling dollar denominated bonds let's see what's going to happen you're listening to give the people what they want coming to you from people's dispatch that's Zoe Prashant I'm Vijay from looking at all things around the world trying to sniff our way to the real stories here's another one World Water Day yes held annually true interesting speeches always something interesting from the government of Bolivia when it comes to the climate or the environment once again here interesting speech by President Arsé but Prashant what have you been following regarding World Water Day right for us the World Water Day courtesy an excellent article by Dr. Nafiz Faisi as well as some of our work really has been on the issue of cholera and it's something we've been tracking for a while and it's kind of shocking actually because the headline of that article is quite interesting because it talks about no cool helicopters to save those at risk for cholera and the reason for that headline is because of how the world addresses the question of cholera whenever there's a natural disaster of course there's a lot of immediate aid that comes in rescue helicopters for instance but the fact is that the number of people who are dying of cholera is so under the radar that there are no massive rescue attempts and it's appalling the fact that in the year 2023 we are actually in a situation where there's been a resurgence of cholera which is actually very easily preventable disease which all it requires is a proper sanitation system a good delivery of drinking water for instance but as in 2021 we saw that 23 countries had reported cholera outbreaks which is simply high compared to the 90s and in 2023 that number is at 29 so something as basic as cholera which we were dealing with 100 years ago 200 years ago we have the technology we have the resources to deal with it we are still struggling with it because the mortality rate is at 1.9% which is way about what is acceptable according to experts which is that even 1% is considered acceptable it's okay so to speak but even that's bad of course but 1.9% is where we are at and it's no surprise where these cholera outbreaks are taking place taking place in Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan parts of Pakistan Kenya, Haiti Malawi for instance the DRC all of these countries which are facing conflicts which have been targets of intervention by imperialist powers for instance each of these countries their health systems completely destroyed by conflict and health not just health but basic infrastructure completely destroyed by conflict very good example I think is recently Pakistan where there was a lot of talk during after the floods about international relief and stuff like that I think the numbers currently say that tens of thousands of children facing malnutrition 10 million people lacking access to safe drinking water at this point of time and I think this really sort of throws a very important question we also some months ago had a very excellent article about the cholera outbreak in Malawi which again not heard about too much but what that shows is really the fact that it's not just about controlling a disease it's not just about fighting the fact that in order to prevent diseases like cholera you need to build up a health system you need to recruit people you need to go back to the same policies of austerity which involve firing a large number of health workers and it is the destruction of health systems in country after country even not through conflict even in countries where there is no conflict just economic policies have destroyed health systems to the extent that cholera has now risen again so to speak the case in Malawi is especially interesting because it chronicles how over the decades in this African country there has been such a wrecking of the health system which has actually led to this disease coming up so I mean I think it's pretty these seem very basic and this is what we talk about climate change as well the steps to address these issues at some level at one level seem very basic they're very much there but the fact that millions are being spent we talk about Sipri reports all the time that billions are being spent on arms when the questions of hunger when the questions of portable water are not addressed really I think and it is essential that we talk more about these topics because often in the flow of news these are the things that actually get missed out the fact that we have a mortality rate of nearly 2% due to cholera globally across the world today you know this question of what is news is so important when the news broke that there was going to be a new memoir from Britney Spears publishing houses around the world found it difficult to access paper because a lot of the paper was bought up by the major publishers that anticipated large sales for that book now I have nothing wrong with there's nothing wrong with her story she has an important story to tell but it tells you how imbalanced everything is who's watching Peru right now who watched it during the coup zoe was there on the ground for people's dispatch covered that coup in fact perhaps led the news reporting on that coup but who's looking at the coup now who's looking at the situation now you better give us an update well it continues to be a very pressing story and that's why people's dispatch we haven't stopped reporting it and really I think today it's the people on the ground in Peru who continue to share what's happening who continue to we're on the streets participating in these protests they are the ones who are actually communicating these stories and it's so important that they continue to do so so the world actually knows what happens is happening there and we're coming up on the four month anniversary of this coup against Pedro Castillo and sadly the violence continues against protesters people have not given up I think that the government of Dina Bolvarte calculated that maybe if you continue to kill people if you continue to repress in such horrific ways firing lead pellets at people you know firing tear gas into people's homes maybe you'll dissuade people from going on to the streets but I think what Peru has showed us and what so many struggles across the world what happens in so many struggles is that actually people these leaders don't understand that people are motivated by so much more and it's such a deeper aspiration to really change the system and they're motivated by decades of exclusion of discrimination and that's exactly what's at play in Peru that's you know the glass has just tumbled over and so essentially this week there have been fresh protests because a protester who was hit with 36 lead pellets during a protest in January at close range by police passed away a 22 year old a young man from the city of Cusco in the south of Peru and once again it has really enraged the people to see that you know the list of people who have been killed by this regime is at least 67 who have been killed by police in military in the context of these protests they continue to be under attack and really the government has shown no signs of listening to the demands of the people and the demands have been extremely clear from day one that Pedro Castillo be released many are calling for his restitution as president Adina Valuarte resign that there be a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution in the country that the congress be closed this is a congress that has over 90% disapproval rating it's one of the lowest or the highest rates of not approving of a elected body and that many of the regional grievances the decades of exclusion of the communities in the south the communities outside of Lima be addressed and the government has essentially stood firm and it has well Dina Valuarte was from the party and you know was the vice president with Pedro Castillo she's done a complete shift a 180 one could say in her politics complete alignment with the ruling class in Peru the media apparatus which we spoke about a lot when I was on the ground there which is one of the probably one of the most intense sensationalist press that has no qualms about calling freely calling protest terrorists with no backing calling them criminals this press has completely fallen in line with Dina Valuarte the far right the center all lining up behind her and supporting the fact that she stay in power despite the massive massive protests that continue to be carried out across the country so it's unlikely that these protests are going to stop people continue to be enraged and now the demands for justice have only grown the fact that four months have passed that they are able to continue killing with impunity that the government continues to say that these protesters died because they were committing criminal acts this continues to be fuel for the fire and I don't think that the people are going to stop until there's a clear solution a political solution a clear political solution in Peru of course Zoe you know you are sitting in Argentina you just need to look north and you'll see the fires that are happening in France a country with a great political crisis ongoing people are on the streets just as they are in Argentina and other countries motivated to some extent by the cost of living crisis but not only they are motivated also by the lack of faith in their governments something interesting that happens in many of the Andean countries it looks like don't trust your vice president remember what happened to to Mr. Correa whose successor Lenin Moreno went far to the right and again now we see this repeated in Peru this is an Andean phenomena we need to come up with some kind of index to make sense of this well old Anthony Blinken fluent in French made his way to two African countries part of this US you know pressure campaign on Africa following Janet Yellen's previous move the US had sent ambassadors and others well Mr. Blinken had a curtailed trip he went to two countries he went last week to Ethiopia tough tough sell in Ethiopia given the fact that the United States had taken a strong position against the Ethiopian governments war in the north with the Tigrayan group there that was a tough meeting much more welcoming meeting in Nihame Niger where he spent some time I've just finished peace for Globetrotter which will be running and it's called the long arm of Washington extends into Africa Sahel it's a very long arm because it's a distance from Washington to the Sahel you know thousands of kilometers it's not a neighboring country but there it is the United States has this habit of extending its arm across the world well it might come to a surprise to some people and I've been reporting this for the last several years that the US is one of the world's largest drone bases in Agates Niger also the French have a very large encampment around the uranium city of our elite now it's interesting Niger has one of the largest yellow cake uranium reserves in the world and yet it stands at 189 out of 191 countries in the human development index you know it tells you a little bit about how the neocolonial structures continue to reproduce themselves well fortunately for the Nigerian government fortunately for them they currently are still a quote-unquote democratic government in other words the prime minister has come to power you know with sorry the president has come to power through corruption and Mahmood Bazum although he's facing a lot of criticism about corruption and so on can still claim that he came to power through the ballot box well this is what the United States tried to make a lot of saying that look across the border in Burkina Faso and in Mali the governments are military dictatorships happens to be the case that those military governments are extremely popular in their countries they of course inherit the kind of Thomas US tradition of militaries in those countries nonetheless United States tried to pledge money into Niger 150 million dollars of humanitarian aid which is half the amount UNICEF has asked for the Sahel region's children's defense you know in defense of children 450 million was the UNICEF request so the US you know give to Niger for humanitarian aid is heard of what the UNICEF is asking for it's extraordinary low amount meanwhile the US is pressured Niger into a Millennium Challenge Corporation grant including with neighboring Benin now interestingly this money has come into agriculture and the sources that I talked to for this story told me quite directly that the US government is using Millennium Challenge Corporation money which is the US government attempt to contest the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative this MCC money is being used to upgrade agriculture and privatize it and deliver the work of small farmers to US based multinational agro businesses very interesting development you'll find that in the story that I have from Globetrotter the long arm of Washington extends into Africa Sahel to give the people what they want this is our 119th episode don't forget those selfies we're still looking forward to seeing pictures of you watching our show you can listen to us as a podcast where Zoe and Prashant from People's Dispatch and Vijay from Globetrotter really happy to be with you see you next week