 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Give the people what they want. 27th of August, 2021. An important day in the annals of human civilization. Prashant, are you ready? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. I'm just going with one language. You can do the chorus. Happy birthday Zoe. It's great for you all to join us. It's Zoe's birthday, Zoe and Prashant are from People's Dispatch which is peoplesdispatch.org. Your best movement driven news portal. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter coming to you again. I'm not sure if this is the 42nd or 100th episode but I'm going to give the people what they want. It feels like the first one because we love doing this so very much and we're happy to be here with you every single Friday and I hope you're bringing your friends and telling your friends about this great show. We're going to start in Afghanistan. You, of course, have been following the cataclysm in that country. Two blasts of different kinds. One was a truck bomb, another a truck bomb killed 100 plus people around Kabul airport including 13 US soldiers, 100 odd people who are waiting to get evacuated from Kabul airport. It's not exactly clear who conducted it but all eyes are towards the Islamic State of Khorasan. The Islamic State of Khorasan's leader was executed by the Taliban a week ago. He had been held in a prison in Kabul and as soon as the Taliban came into Kabul they released many other people who had been detained but they executed the head of the Islamic State of Khorasan. The Islamic State of Khorasan had been attacking the Taliban, had been trying to outflank them on the level of violence. Situation in Afghanistan still dire. The question of what will be the government that comes into Afghanistan still unclear. This is important. Let me repeat that. Afghanistan does not have a government. This is important. The Taliban is in power but it's not the government. It has taken power with force in Kabul and controls large parts of Afghanistan but Afghanistan does not have a government. This is what has given many, many international agencies the excuse to cut off funds to the governing institutions in Afghanistan. For instance, a Taliban personnel went to the central bank of Afghanistan earlier this week and asked where's the money because we want to have access to the money. There's about nine and a half billion US dollars as the external reserves of Afghanistan. Let me just repeat that again so that you have this in hand. The United States government over the past 20 years spent $2.26 trillion on Afghanistan. Afghanistan's total external reserves are merely $9.5 billion. This is nothing for a country of 38 million people and the Taliban who asked the central bank employees who has the money tells you a little bit about the Taliban. They don't understand contemporary economics. That's just a fact. The Taliban was told, well, the money is actually not here. It's held in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City and the Taliban was horrified. Well, because the Afghanistan's external reserves are held in the United States, United States has cut off access to those reserves. The IMF, which very dramatically released $650 billion of special drawing rights, SDRs, which are the IMF's bridge currency. They informed the Afghan state institutions that Afghanistan would not access their special drawing rights. In other words, Afghanistan has no money right now. Put this into the context of the fact that fleeing President Ashraf Ghani filled his plane that eventually landed in the United Arab Emirates with dollars, with enormous amounts of money, cash money wrapped in saran wrap. Now, he had gone to the airport with four jeeps filled with money. They couldn't get all of it into the plane, which is why the Russian press attaché saw on the tarmac the jeep with the money sitting in it. Couldn't get it all onto the plane. The Taliban officials have been tweeting photographs of homes of former Ashraf Ghani officials with cash sitting there, cash money, again wrapped in saran wrap, probably offloaded from US aircraft. Something to bear in mind, the future of Afghanistan is not going to be through the suffocation of the people. 38 million people, they're not able to access cash, which means the state institutions cannot function. Many state employees are fleeing the country. Taliban is not going to be able to govern without the assistance of many of these state employees who are perhaps truly fleeing for their life. But despite the amnesty, people are not believing the Taliban as they perhaps should not because the Taliban has a record between 1996 and 2001. We're going to be paying attention very closely to developments in Afghanistan because things might go from bad to much worse, to infinitely worse. That's the story in Afghanistan. It's no better in Colombia, it seems to me, if you are serious about things, even though there's a democratically elected government, the government of Iván Duque, things are in a mess. Zoe, what's happening in Colombia? Well, we covered very extensively and continued to the National Strike protest that began on April 28th, originally against the tax reform that was proposed by the government. Which is a reform that we've seen introduced in many countries across the world that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, governments found that they lost a lot of money, they lost a lot of their budgets, and they turned to the people to kind of make up this deficit. Whereas we've seen in countries like Argentina that have been taxing wealthy, the large wealth to try to make up this deficit in Colombia, they turned to the people, they decided to put this tax on items of basic consumption and through arduous mobilization, the Senate was forced to table this bill. And in the last week, the Congress again presented a new tax reform bill and it was passed. And so yesterday, August 26th, people were out on the streets once again to reject this tax reform bill because once again, it prioritizes corporations, it disfavors the people. They pointed out from the National Strike Committee that it would freeze the salaries of all public sector employees. They also say that even though they've been mobilizing consistently since April against neoliberal policies that the government has also continued privatizing state companies, some of the most important holdings of the states such as the oil company Ecopetrol. And the most important thing I think we can point out to what they're rejecting is the continuation of systematic state violence. This is something that we've covered from day one and give the people what they want and also on people's dispatch. And in the last week, there was a really tragic assassination of a young person, Esteban Mosquera. He was 24 years old. And in 2018, Esteban Mosquera was part of the student strike a massive demonstration to demand access to education, access to higher free education for all. And in one of those protests, he was shot in the face by the riot police and he lost his eye and he really became a symbol of this state repression of the Colombian state that we've seen have an uptick during the government of Iván Duque. And last week, he was assassinated in the city of Popayán. The people are unidentified, but we can really see it as a continuation of the criminalization of resistance in Colombia, the impossibility of really being able to engage in any sort of opposition to the government. And of course, there are over 230 ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the violence continues. There's also been over 67 massacres just in this year. So we really need to continue looking at this story. It will be interesting to see what happens if the protests do continue to reject these neoliberal policies if it will spark once again another wave of protests or what will really continue in Colombia. I'm afraid to say, friends, that on give the people what they want this week every one of our stories is a difficult story. We talk about what we want to cover before the show. Generally, there's a story or two that are quite moving and meaningful. This is a tough week and we're going to go to Palestine because Prashant is going to tell us, Prashant, there have been a wave of arrests of people, decent people being arrested. What is the Israeli government doing? I mean, yes, Naftali Bennett comes to the United States to meet Joe Biden. They talk about a reset. This term reset is so overused. You're not sure what they are resetting. But meanwhile, back in occupied Palestine, things are ugly again. Absolutely, Vijay, because like you said, Bennett is in the United States, but what absolutely hasn't changed is, for instance, what is happening in Gaza and what we've seen in over the past week is two rounds of incidents where numerous Palestinians have been injured. We saw one round of protests on Saturday where they were marking the arson incident of 1969 at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and there were many, many were injured. We saw one of whom died later, a 32-year-old Hamas activist. We saw later on Wednesday another round of protests against the brutal blockade of Gaza and we don't have to go to, even talk among ourselves. The UN has called Gaza the world's largest open-air prison for reason because what has happened is Israel and Egypt. Egypt, which is often claimed to be in solidarity with Palestine, have basically blocked Gaza more or less or have the capacity to block Gaza more or less. And I believe today morning or yesterday, Egypt slightly opened one of its entry points. Israel also restricting movement on entry points. So you have people who have gone for treatment, who are stuck, people who want to go for treatment, people, students, all kinds of, you know, a cross-section of people in Gaza who are continuously at the mercy of Israel and Egypt and often some of these are punitive blockades because there are protests. So when you have Palestinians protesting, Egypt decides that it will close the borders or the border checkpoints or, you know, if there's a protest, Israel bombs Palestine, Gaza on Monday and Tuesday and claims that incident balloons were sent. So what we have is, of course, I think the blockade is one of those stories which needs to be continuously told because the impact it has on life in Gaza, there are a lot of numbers, of course, 50% of the population unemployed a huge number of people dependent on aid for survival and, you know, the infrastructure already in dire straits after the bombing in May, which saw the death of nearly 250 people. And of course, we know that before that there was a great march of return where, again, another 300 close to 300 people were killed by Israeli forces. So on the one hand, you have continuous resistance by the people of Gaza demanding some of their most basic rights that, you know, they be allowed the freedom of movement and economic lives, economic lives and economic possibilities not be crushed that they be allowed to even go and access treatment for diseases. And even these basic needs are denied on a day-to-day basis on the whims and fancies of Israel and its allies in Egypt. So overall definitely a very, very difficult situation but we do see that the protests are continuing, people continuing to come out onto the streets because they do know that they need to keep pointing out this crime, there's no other word for it, this crime to the world's population, to the world's people. And, you know, whatever discussions might happen between Biden and Bennett and many of these leaders, we do know that this is one of those, the blockade is one of those things that is not probably going to come up in the near future, definitely. So I think a huge challenge ahead for the people of Gaza and Palestine because this, like I said, it's day-to-day violation of rights, it's day-to-day brutal inhuman behavior by the Israelis and it continues unabated. And of course the question of human rights suspended because the Palestinians live in limbo, UN agencies frustrated, UN agencies having a hard time to get their work done, basic work to tend to Palestinian children and so on. They're just not able to operate effectively in Gaza. This is a major issue that we have a place in the world which exists outside the realm of human rights. You know, there's concern now about Afghanistan, none really about what Israel is doing in the Palestinian lands. As I said, this is give the people what they want from People's Dispatch and Globetrotter, two of your most important media sources. People's Dispatch of course at peoplesdispatch.org. All the stories we talk about, you can find things at peoplesdispatch and elsewhere and in a world of media houses, including of course Madar News if you read Arabic, which covers the Palestinian situation closely. If you read Arabic, it's a good source for you. If you read Spanish, you'd go and read Arg Medios based in Buenos Aires where they have been covering very seriously events in Bolivia and in Peru. Two countries with a left cleaning government, both struggling with different kinds of crises. Zoe, what are the parallel and yet different crises the government of Luis Arce in Bolivia and Pedro Castillo in Peru? Well, yeah, as we spoke last week, reporting on the kind of forced resignation of Héctor Behar, who was the foreign minister of the Peru Libre government, we spoke about these challenges that are presented to this left government that won a very, very challenging victory. After almost, I think it was nearly two months of legal challenges presented in the various courts in Peru. We've seen in Bolivia, Luis Arce David Choquehuanca won the elections easily in October. It was about 55% that they won the majority of votes back in October in the first round of the elections. But they've also been confronted with these right-wing factions that we also see in Peru that are very, very hesitant to give up their power and very, very bothered by the actions of these governments who threaten their wealth, their power, and their interests, both nationally and internationally. So in Peru, since we see the kind of resignation of Héctor Behar as part of a process, I think Alba movements, the platform social movements across Latin America, characterizes it as being part of a coup process underway. They're seeing this development with a lot of concern, a lot of serious worry for what could happen in Peru. We've seen constant pressure being applied in all parts, contesting the appointment of ministers, not allowing the government to actually function. And it's not even along political difference. It won't let them be approved and function as a government. And in Bolivia, of course, the government was inaugurated in November. It's been functioning since then. And we've actually seen tremendous strides, not only in terms of politically speaking, reopening ties with Venezuela and other really important developments, economically reactivating national industry. But last week we saw, as we mentioned on the show, the really important development of taking for the process of investigating the crimes that were committed during the coup regime's time in office. And now we're seeing a lot of ominous threats from right-wing sectors in Bolivia that have been brooding, that have been trying to figure out what they can do to respond to this government. They stole power in October 2019 thinking, okay, we got it. Then they were, of course, defeated by popular mobilization, by constant mobilization and organization of the people. Their prime leaders have actually faced processes of justice. Janine Añez is in prison. Arturo Murillo was arrested, finally, even though he escaped Bolivia. But this week, the Organization of Human Rights of Bolivia warned that there's attempted escape plot to break Janine Añez out of prison. And they're continuing to kind of put pressure. She apparently attempted to commit suicide directly following the release of this report that confirmed that she oversaw crimes against humanity and massive violations of human rights during the coup. And so they've alerted to this. I think it's very concerning. And it's really an example that, like, once these left governments are empowering countries that have such hardened and solidified and historically strong right-wing, it's not going to be they just arrive and it's an easy... I mean, of course, we've seen this in Venezuela, the right-wing continues to kind of use all means necessary to try to oust the government. But I think here we have to really remain watchful in album movements as calling the process in Peru an attempted coup. Yesterday, there was a Congress, a member of Congress that spoke in Kichwa, which is an indigenous language, and he was, you know, booed. He was, you know, yelled at by the other members of Congress saying, what are you saying? What are you speaking? Of course, this is an indigenous language speaking of their country, and they wouldn't allow him to speak that. So we're just seeing these expressions of the very, very extreme right that are very angry with what's been happening. It's really interesting that the deputy spoke in Kichwa and he was mocked in this way. It tells you a lot about the character of certain political projects, projects of the right in particular. I'm going to take us away from South America to the southern part of Africa. I've been covering this story for quite a long time now. This is the story, approximately in Cabo Delgado, the northern province of Mozambique, where earlier in 2017, various militant groups crossed the border from the north into Mozambique, came into the town of Palma, disrupted the activities of the French multinational corporation Total, which has an enormous project in northern Mozambique, highly neglected part of Mozambique, it should be said. This insurgency in the north has continued for four years, deepening, hardening in different places. Some towns have been held by the insurgents for a year. Now, this is interesting friends. This is an insurgency. The Mozambican government has been unable to unearth this insurgency from Cabo Delgado, a very poor area, no doubt about that. Mozambican government had not done favors to the people of Cabo Delgado. 2017 to 2014, a group of artisanal Ruby farmers just thrown off their lands for commercialization purposes. Somebody comes in, they basically built projects for big corporations. All this is happening in the north. People don't see any benefit. Insurgents, of course, take advantage of this situation. That's what's happening there. There should be a political solution. There needs to be some sort of military intervention because these group of insurgents are not interested in a conversation. Now, here comes the additional layer of complexity. They claim to be part of the Islamic State. Warning bells must go on around the continent of Africa because there has. I tend to have great suspicion when the US Pentagon talks about Islamic terrorists here, there and everywhere. For them, it's a bogeyman for intervention. On the other hand, there is a cause for alarm because we've seen, for instance, in Nigeria, in the Sahel region, we've seen that the growth of the Islamic State, quite dramatic growth. In fact, Boko Haram's leader was removed from office and much harder political forces have come in. This is all an opening created by the destruction of Boko Haram's basic ability to live their lives. Nonetheless, these groups are there now. They are entrenched, crossing the border from Rwanda. 1,000 troops intervene in Kabul, Delgado, northern Mozambique. They come in without a mandate from SADAC, the Southern African Development Community, without any SADAC mandate. They come without an African Union mandate. They are invited by the government of Mozambique. Of course, that's uncontested. But nonetheless, they cross the border. Then following these 1,000 troops, five countries send in force under the banner of SADAC. These include, just so I don't get to miss them, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Angola, and Tanzania sending troops into northern Mozambique. Now, it is being said, and I am being told by people from these countries, that the reason they wanted to intervene so quickly is they wanted to forestall, to prevent a French intervention, to prevent a US intervention. They wanted to have an African intervention. The problem is they come without an African Union mandate. This is relative lawlessness. SADAC's outgoing head has said, Stegomain attacks made a comment saying that, no, SADAC did inform the African Union, that the African Union's peace and security council has not discussed Mozambique yet. This is a real crisis for the continent. It needs to be far more discussion and so on. Meanwhile, and I'm not going to get into this at length, the French have been withdrawing from the Sahel region. They are pulling out. What will be the consequences of this as the United States pulls out of Afghanistan, France pulls out of the Sahel region? We are going to necessarily advantage groups like the Islamic State or other projects available. Certainly doesn't seem so because in Maputo, in the south of Mozambique in the capital, there's a court case underway, 19 men in the dock for a 2 billion US dollar secret loan taken from three different banks to three public enterprises, Proindicus, Mozambique asset management and MRTUM. This was to buy tuna fishing fleet. Involved in all this is the son of the former president of Mozambique. Involved in all this is the defense minister who is now the current president of Mozambique. Involved in all this is the former finance minister, Manuel Chang, who is now detained in South Africa. Involved in this is the security and intelligence chief, Giorgio Leo. I don't know what's happening, friends, in Mozambique, but it's certainly very complicated. I'm coming back to this story. We're going to follow it very closely. The reason I said I don't know what's happening is we don't know who's leaking information about these deals and so on. It's very unclear. There's a lot of dirty tricks at work in Mozambique. We'll come back to it. Now, we've got Mozambique. We've got the fact that people on the African continent are not being vaccinated fast enough. Prashant, what's happening on the story of vaccines? Right, Vijay. We come back to this. We seem to come back to this with alarming regularity every couple of weeks. And today is just a few hours over something very interesting happening on this count. The joint statement of multilateral leaders task force. It's a group of the leaders of the World Bank International Fund. They met with leaders of the Africa CDC, leaders of the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust, the GAVI project. And their conclusion today, it's so many months, nearly one and a half years after the pandemic really struck, is that less than 2% of adults are fully vaccinated in most low-income countries. Whereas when you look at the numbers in the developed countries, it's all more high-income countries, it's almost at 50%. And this, right now, I think at this point shows the sheer, the unbelievable gap that we've talked about again and again. And to the credit of the World Health Organization and UN leaders, for instance, all of them have referred to this again and again. But this situation has continued without any change. And this statement that came out today, it's on the World Health Organization website, came out just a few hours ago, points out to a very simple fact that while the rich countries have promised massive number of vaccine doses to, say for instance, the COVAX program, the actual number of delivery apparently has been about just 10% of the 900 million committed doses. So while we have these huge conferences where the leaders of the G7 have gathered and made these grand promises, the actual number of commitments has been very, very less. And there were, of course, plans laid out that at least 10% of the global population should be covered by September, nowhere close to that. The plan that say 40% of the population should be covered by the end of the year. Again, absolutely nowhere close to that. And we did a story, a couple of, we had a fortnight ago by Pawan Kulkarni where he actually examined the situation specifically in Africa. And at that time, that was on August 12th. Just 1.75% of the continent's population had been fully vaccinated. And that's an alarming and disturbing number. And while this is a number that we've been continuing to follow over the past few months and weeks and years, one of the interesting aspects of one of the, not even interesting, it's an alarming aspect is the fact that many countries which have actually chosen to spend a bit more on public health, on social expenditure have had their ratings downgraded by the agencies. You have your Moody's, you're standard and poor, you have Fitch. So there are examples for instance of Morocco, there's I believe Ethiopia as well, which have actually tried to sort of expand the social spending at this time. Or go for some kind of debt relief as per some of the provisions offered by the G7. And each time this has happened, either one or two or sometimes even three of the agencies have actually downgraded many of these countries. And over the past year we've seen many countries downgraded, but no surprises about the fact that only 4.6% of these downgrades have happened, have targeted the developed economies. So the rest has completely been targeting the low-income economies, the developing economies. And so this is the kind of trap that we have on the one hand, rich countries not fulfilling the promises they make. On the other hand, any attempt by the low-income or poorer countries to expand their expenditure to try to sort of build some kind of protection for their citizens automatically being targeted by ratings agencies. So we have the two, you know, the double blow, double punch of capitalism so to speak, hitting from both sides. And that's really where we are today with the vaccines. All ugly stories today from give the people what they want coming to you from People's Dispatch in Globetrotter. We're not happy about this. We'd like to bring you better stories. We also want you to let us know what you think about this show. Tell other people about this show because you are, in fact, an advertising agency. Every one of you that watches this show is a mouthpiece to bring others to it. Help us as we try to spread a different kind of approach to delivering you world news. It's Zoe's birthday today. Happy birthday, Zoe. We'll be back next Friday. We'll be back with give the people what they want, your favorite weekly news roundup. Thanks a lot.