 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news round up. I mean, I'll give you what you want. But my internet is extremely spotty today. So let's see where we go. It's March 11, 2022. Not even sure if you can hear me. We'll see. Negotiations have been going on in Italy in Sergey Lavrov and the Ukrainian foreign minister, Mr. Koleba. As we go on air with give the people what they want brought to you from, you know, the great people's dispatch with Zoe and Prashant. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. We go on the air. It looks like the unclear process or the Turkey was saying being had been Lavrov and Koleba have basically collapsed. Koleba, you know, came out of the room. He said that essentially, you know, Lavrov was putting forward the old narrative and so on. Classical diplomatic peak seems to be advancing there. Lavrov came out of the room in Antalya and said, look, everything is at the Belarus border. That's the primary process. This was secondary of principal leaders. There's also a talk now in both Moscow and in Kiev of speaking to Zelensky. Looks like the Russians are making advance particularly on that land bridge along the strip of land between Crimea and Russia. I suppose if they continue to make gains there, their own appetite for peace is lifted. I think, Lee, against UN law, both Ukraine and Russia have called mercenaries to enter the conflict. This is against UN convention that at least these countries have signed it. Pretty much a declaration of internet law to call for mercenaries. I think it's to me at least and we shall see how it proceeds. That if one side or the other makes gains in a conflict, the appetite for peace fire is limited. Kuleba put on the table of having a one-day ceasefire just 24 hours to open up humanitarian aid and so on. Looks like the Russians have basically disagreed on that. That's pretty stunning that they haven't even agreed on a 24-hour ceasefire. There's a lot of concern about what's happening. The European Union met in Versailles, all places. France essentially called for a meeting. So we're seeing diplomas happening in Turkey, in Belarus, or at least just across the border from Ukraine. We're seeing the possibility of a conversation between Mr. Putin, Mr. Zinski, the Prince in this conflict as well. We're seeing the Union much involved in trying to figure out what their combined position is. Things still remain pretty ugly in Ukraine. I mean, got a large number of refugees pouring out of the country. Still see students and others from Africa and Asia discriminated against at the border. All of that seems to continue. One of the things I've learned about war reporting is that there's a lot that become quite dull in the coverage. You end up covering small details like this town is now being over and that town is being fought over. In the larger scheme of things, territorial gains are important because they reflect on the attitude for peace negotiations. I think journalists are more important to focus on what conversations are politically than the battlefield issues. Of course, a report quite firmly about a crime that could be that have been committed in case reports come of hospitals being bombed. So, you know, we know that the issue keeps track of stuff like that and it's outrage whoever's hospital is bombed. I'd like to put it on record that even if a hospital is being run by the Nazis and bombed, that's a war crime and it's inexcusable. Nobody, no hospital should be bombed regardless of the quote-unquote politics of the hospital. So, there is now, you know, we didn't chatter about that. Of course, sanctions on Russian businesses and so on has actually had an impact on the ability for Russian oil to come to market. This is going to be an important subject of discussion. Well, if you've booked Russian energy on the market, where are you going to cover the energy from probably Iran? Talk about easing up on the Iran sanctions, seemingly out of nowhere, all more. Talk easy upon the hybrid prayer on the runway. Zoe, high-level US delegation was struck with this coincidence. Has it to do with the Russian intention into Ukraine? What did Nix Maduro do? With the Americans that show up in Caracas? Well, it was quite interesting news that came out on Saturday. A New York Times story came out that a high-level delegation, as you mentioned, from the United States traveled to Caracas and interestingly enough, the New York Times, which has often, you know, since 2019, calling Juan Guaido the interim president, actually called Nicolás Maduro the president of Venezuela. It was an interesting shift in narrative there as well. And they traveled to Venezuela on Saturday, held some meetings. Clearly, there were negotiations that went on. And I say clearly because immediately following this meeting, the president, Nicolás Maduro, made several announcements. One being that the dialogue process between the Venezuelan government and the far-right opposition will be restarted. This dialogue process was suspended in the fall of last year because of the extradition of Alex Sab, who is a diplomatic envoy of the Venezuelan government. He was extradited to the United States and swiftly after the Venezuelan government suspended these talks that had been going on with the opposition the following day to prisoners of American nationality or passports were released from in Venezuela. One was a CETCO executive. One was a Cuban-American that had been accused of operating a drone in a terrorist attack. So these two moves by the Venezuelan government clearly show that there has been some level of conversations and it is directly linked to the U.S. the U.S. complete ban on imports of Russian energy. You know, if you all of a sudden cut off your main energy supplier of gas, of oil, it's not that you don't have that same need. Where are you going to get it from? And so the U.S. is looking to their natural ally in oil production for many, many years, which is Venezuela, even after the Bolivarian Revolution and after U.S. oil companies had been, you know, appropriated by the Venezuelan state, there was still a lot of exchange between the two countries. CETCO is one of the largest subsidiaries of the Pedevesa oil company and is located in the United States. So it will be interesting. One key thing to point out on this topic of sanctions is that Venezuelan oil sector has suffered enormous losses because of these sanctions, because of, of course, the seizure of CETCO, but also because of the sanctions they were not able to import the necessary parts to repair their oil infrastructure. So production not only dropped because they weren't able to export in the same way they were before, but also because they didn't have the infrastructure to be able to process and produce this oil. So if this is true and if the United States is going to lift sanctions, if they're going to start trying to get oil from Venezuela, there is going to be a process of rehabilitating all of this infrastructure that Venezuela does have. There were advances made with Iran, Iran heroically during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic sent a team of engineers to help try to repair some of this, the refinery infrastructure when made really important gains. But again, this oil infrastructure is not at the level it needs to be to be able to produce the amount that United States would be wanting to be by at this moment. So I think this is a very interesting shift. Will the pressure be lessened on Venezuela? Some people are questioning whether the very strong links between Venezuela and Russia are going to be weakened. That doesn't seem to be the case. There was a high level meeting between Dacia Rodriguez and I think Lavrov in Turkey as well. So hopefully there will be lessening of sanctions because that has, as we know, led to not only the death of over 100,000 people in Venezuela but cause so many, so much destruction to the economy, to the social life, to the political life. It is a welcome change and hopefully it will, you know, better the conditions of the Venezuelan people. Well, generally that is a priority that the people's livelihood and conditions be improved. This week we lost an important voice, Dacia's Ahmet, you know, an important, most intellectual friend of people's dispatch, used to watch this show almost a week and put comments on it occasionally. Dacia, in the last period of his life, you know, the author of In Theory and Lineage of the Present and On was working on the growth of foreign forces not just in the heart of Europe and in North America, but in, you know, around the rest of the world. We had an election in South Korea, very chilling character, incoming President Yoon. I'm sure Prashant has got a lot to tell us about President Yoon but this is exactly the figure that Dacia Ahmet was looking at, somebody who, well Prashant, tell us about the South Korean election. Right, Vijay, also speaking of right-wing figures winning elections, we had elections in states in India yesterday, right-wing BJP winning some victories, pretty difficult times for democracy ahead in India as well. But again, South Korea, very fascinating context, a contest in many ways that just took place recently, that is on March 9th, 40 million people voted, very close contest, the actual result was decided by less than 1%. And we have the people, people's power parties, Yoon Sio-Kyol, who's become the next President and very curious character, like you said, because he's actually a bit of a political novice, you know, he was, I think he failed a couple of times to get into the bar, then became a lawyer, ended up as a prosecutor in the previous Moon Jae-in government. He's been taking a lot of positions which are your standard, you know, right-wing boilerplate positions at this point of time across the world, you know, calling for a very harsh stand on immigration. There's a lot of xenophobia on it. There's a lot of stigmatization of many people who are, you know, immigrant workers who are working on that, I think he's called them parasites on the national healthcare system if I'm not mistaken. Advocating, of course, a classic free-market approach in general, you know, he's trying to, he's proposed creating exceptions to the reduction working hours. One of his more controversial statements was calling for the abolition of a ministry of gender equality and family, and he's also made some very offensive comments about African people that his own party criticised. So that's your boiler in some senses. From a global perspective, I mean, there is a lot of domestic specificities as well, but in some cases, you know, from a global perspective, if you look at the patterns of processes, he in that ways, in some ways fits that mantle of a right-wing candidate when he's come to power. Unfortunately, I say unfortunately, not because of anything else, but the fact that right now the Koreas are a very key place in terms of international peace as well. And the prospect, you know, one good thing about the previous Moon Jae-in administration was that as President Moon Jae-in specifically tried to kick, not just kickstart, but actually take the peace process with North Korea forward. There was quite a bit of discussion that took place. It's quite fascinating that this happened during the time of Donald Trump, which you would not assume was likely to happen. But I think Moon Jae-in brought a lot to the table there as an interlocutor, you know, someone considering how in some senses South Korea has often been a subsidiary ally of the United States. The fact that he was able to, you know, use some of those relations and strike a balance between the imperialist ambitions of the United States as a massive basis there. And at the same time, the push for peace was very good. But what we see with this character is basically somebody who's been arguing for a very hard-line stance on this. He's called for further joint military exercises. He's called for deployment of anti-missile systems. I think I believe he's even advocated a preemptive strike. So we might be seeing a many steps backwards as far as the peace process is concerned. And we have, of course, the very hawkish Joe Biden administration in the United States, whom encircling China is such a major priority. So at this point of time, having, you know, it's a big question, what happens when a leader like this becomes the president of a country like South Korea, which has a key role to play in this entire region and this entire process. So we need to see what lies ahead. But tough times, I think, for those who are resisting the right. In other words, incoming president Yoon has also called a re-nuclearization of the... At least, can you imagine, given what's happening in Ukraine, where the issue is really also forward deployment of intermediate missiles, even consider a nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula seems extraordinarily terrifying, the prospect. I'm listening to give the people what one brought to you from people's dispatch. That's Huy and Prashant from Glutrona. Well, that's that, right? And here comes the shift of China. Re-nuclearization of the South Korea means China. Question of China. Argentina recently signed an agreement to become part of the Belt and Road Initiative of China, somewhere straddling between an IMF loan and the Belt and Road, new coming out of Argentina about one of the coalition partners in the government and its relationship with the IMF loan. So what is Patria Grande regarding the IMF loan in the government of Mr. Alberto Fernandez? Well, actually, this morning, at about four in the morning, Argentina, the IMF agreement that was proposed by the Alberto Fernandez government of Frente de Todos was actually defeated in the Congress. And this is quite significant because this is an agreement that had been kind of hanging over the government of Alberto Fernandez essentially since he took office as you mentioned Mauricio Macri took out a huge, very, very controversial loan with the IMF for the Argentinian people. The IMF has a very sordid history in the country, it has caused immense suffering, has been the sole contributor to the worst economic crises the government, the country has suffered through in the early 2000s, thousands of people without work, their currency devalued. This has happened again with the IMF agreement in 2017, 2018 that Macri took out. And ahead of this voting, the Frente Patria Grande, which is part of the ruling coalition of Frente de Todos, released a statement held a press conference and saying that their deputies would not support, they would not vote in favor of this agreement. And essentially, it's quite a long document and I think it's quite important to highlight some of the different aspects of it because it really speaks to, of course, why they're opposing it, but what does it mean for the people of the country to pay for a loan that not only was unpopular amongst the people, but also only benefited large capitalists in the country and in many cases, a lot of the money that came from the IMF loan actually was shown to have left the country. Argentina has a sort of a complicated situation in terms of the structure of their economy. They're huge soy producers. There's a tendency in their economy for a lot of the people to allow the currency to devaluate and then change it for dollars and make it more for their soy exportation. And this happened a lot. The Juan Garaboy actually brought a complaint to the Senate asking for the Senate to investigate how this sector was doing, it's called the fleeing of dollars from the economy. And so they highlighted this. They say the people will not pay for this debt. They highlight that there's 15,000 people who are poor, sorry, 15 million people who are poor, 5 million people who are in a state of homelessness or near homelessness, a really challenging situation for the Argentinian people. And in the middle of this, they are now going to have to pay for the debt that was created by Mauricio Macri and the economic elites in the country. And so they voted against this agreement and not only them, but many other sections of the Congress. The agreement was defeated and then once again, the question remains, how is this agreement to be dealt with? For Frente Patria Grande, they say this agreement should be paid for by those that benefited from it, that the people should not pay. This agreement is inhumane. It shouldn't go forward. It's a political deadlock because on one level, the government does have this sort of obligation to this what they call colonial structure of the IMF if they default on the loan, what is going to be the impact on Argentina's ability to engage in global financial markets? I think the question of sanctions, the question of the power international financial institutions is a really big question of our time. It's being faced by countries across the world. And so it is an existential question, but as you mentioned, Argentina is growing other economic relationships based on equality based on just exchange like the Belt and Road Initiative. And so I think we'll see what happens if there will have to be a new version of this agreement. Will they actually take this task forward of investigating those who left the country with the dollars, those who benefited from this loan and those who left the people to suffer? That remains to be seen. Those who left the people to suffer, that's actually a good way to segue into our next story from South Africa because, you know, South Africans, it's freedom from apartheid in 1994 then struggles with what could only be called economic apartheid. The shit dwellers move part of big struggle to bring on the tail the question of this economic apartheid. Prashant, it's not been easy for the shit dwellers, for anybody trying to push a central agenda. What's been happening in the epicenter of the current conflict? Right, Vijay, a very tragic incident took place this week. We are referring, of course, to the assassination of Ayaan Dangila, who is the deputy chairperson of the Akhanal occupation of Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo, a young 29-year-old man already been to jail twice for the cause of his movement. And the recent Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo statement, that's a shit dwellers movement, mentions that he, while he was assassinated, he was wearing a Steve Bico T-shirt, which said that it's better to die for an idea that is going to live than to live for an idea that is going to die. And he was one of the many people, many members of Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo who have fought the state and what the state has been since 1994. And I think there are multiple things we need to talk of by talking about this case. One was the fact that the assassin, or the person believed to be the lead gunman in his assassination is actually the son of a leading African National Congress functionary. The same person was involved in an attack on the Akhanal occupation on March 6th, that is Sunday, that is just two days before the assassination. A police case was filed against him, he was not arrested, and the day after he was reportedly involved in this assassination. So that itself I think is, a lot of people have wondered if the police had taken action against this person, the life of a young activist could have been saved. And this in some ways is very emblematic I think of how the South African state and the South African institutions have treated Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo, they are treated. There seems to be some kind of outrage that people who are marginalized refuse to be clients. There seems to be outrage that people who are marginalized refuse to say that, just give us something, we'll survive. Because the operational principle of Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo has been that, has been of self-reliance, has been of assertion, has been of people saying that we are not going to take what circumstances we have been given even if the state does not do its job, even if the government does not provide what it should provide us by right, we will take those rights. And that is the powerful symbolism of the land occupations of this movement. They have built houses out of scratch despite there being no kind of facilities provided to them. They have grown vegetables, they have grown poultry, they have a political education school. So Abhaal Ali Vasem Ajandolo is one of the most significant movements across the world actually because it brings a completely different perspective into the question of urban politics. It provides a completely revolutionary perspective on how to look at this. And it is for this reason that its members have been constantly targeted, they have been accused of standard accusations, public nuisance, they have been accused of murder, many of these cases have collapsed because the evidence has been absent or completely forged. And as a last resort in many cases these members have been assassinated. So very horrible tragedy and I think but nonetheless they have reiterated that their struggle will go on and I think across the world it is very important that people know the story of Ayyanth Angila and all of his comrades who are actually fighting this very powerful struggle. That story of urban South Africa I should say that the school that Abhaal Ali runs is the France Phenomeration School very well named school. Well it's a sunny day today in Santiago in Chile. Next year the Chilean people will commemorate one way or the other the 50th anniversary of the coup d'etat against Salvador IND. Next year it will be 50 years since that coup d'etat. Today the country the new president Gabriel Boric font aged 36 he wasn't born when that coup took place. Mr Boric the youngest president in Chile's history is a person of the center center left perhaps but more center than center left an important figure in the student movement of 2011 you know somebody who was part of the time frustration about the pressure brought to bear against students and others as a consequence of the Pinochet era you know neoliberalism policies he has promised to reverse these policies but I think the space for Nouveau for Mr Boric pretty limited he has turned essentially to the new constitution process which is writing a constitution for the first time since the Pinochet era constitution of 1980 it will be voted on next year that perhaps is going to one of the most important elections that this country of 7 million people has seen to actually vote in in constitution it's immediately going to face some important challenges for instance there is a struggle on going in the south of Chile from which Mr Boric has one of the most southern most provinces of Chile there is big struggle between the Mapuche people and the Chilean state there has been an urgency decree against the struggle in this this region not clear Mr Boric's government will withdraw that emergency decree looks like they might keep it in place that's one challenge the second challenge is a migration challenge in the north of the country where there is large deposits lithium these are migrants coming to Chile from very part of Latin America but including Venezuela you know because of the harsh sanctions regime in Venezuela large part of people left the country previous president Sebasti Pinera welcomed you know people from Venezuela into the country they came in and they've been very much mistreated inside Chile not clear what Mr Boric will do Mr Boric in terms of foreign policy or international relations has already set himself in a very interesting place attack the guns of Cuba Venezuela and Nicaragua in fact it's interesting today is his inauguration he's already been inaugurated in Valparaiso by the congress but for that for that inauguration Mr Boric did of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua this is interesting because even the right wing of Sebastian Pinera did invite them it's a very significant issue having not invited these governments not sure what his policy is going to be regarding the immigration and the crisis in north nonetheless a lot of symbolic gestures are already apparent it's the majority cabinet majority women cabinet in Chile I believe therefore in Latin America might even be the first majority cabinet in the world but I'm not sure about that certainly Mr Boric is one of the youngest heads of government in the world at age 36 turn 36 last month so extraordinarily a sigh in terms of social pressures and social movements social transformations this is not government it's going to look like government of the right or even of center it's going to be a very savvy government there are three members of the communist party in it and so but friends on economic policy on foreign policy I think they will drift more into the presentation put out by the United States it's got to be said that in Chile China trade is three times as large as Chilean trade it is in fact probably going to be the pressure that comes from the commercial side that might moderate Chile pro-us tilt which has been there since 1973 all things will continue to cover it's a beautiful again today people are breathing sigh relief that Sebastian has gone people breathe deeper sigh relief on 50th anniversary of the coup very symbolic year when a new constitution will be voted into place you've been listening to give the people what they want coming from people's dispatch and globetrotter come every Friday I hope you've had at least moderately good time with us all the stories haven't great we've lost a lot of people this week some young it's also the anniversary of when the pandemic was declared hope the all clear will be whistled soon from the headquarters of the health organization see you next week