 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Good to be with you. It's give the people what they want. Show number 131. It's June already. Almost at the middle of this year 2023. Great to be with you. Give the people what they want brought to you by People's Dispatch. That's Zoe and Prashant. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. Great to be with you as always. Well, the first half of our show, going to be about really top level people going around the world and meeting each other. The second half of our show, lots of protests to tell you about protests all over the world. You know that we're good at bringing you stories of protests. The protests are not the only kind of politics that take place in the world. Gotta also look at people meeting each other, moving and advancing agendas at a higher level. Lula of Brazil. Miguel Diaz Canal of Cuba. Pope Francis. All of them in Europe. And in the middle of them all, Emmanuel Macron of France. Zoe, we don't often start in Europe, but take it away. You're exactly right. We don't often start in Europe, but right now, global leaders are meeting. This is the second day of their meeting as part of the Summit for New Global Financing Pact. And so this summit is essentially an attempt to follow up on the agreements that were made in the G20 summit in COP26. An initiative by our, I was going to say friend, but by Emmanuel Macron. And the stated objective is to find ways and means to increase financial solidarity with the South. So it's fitting that one of the leaders of the global south, one of the largest economies in the global south, Lula da Silva, and of course Miguel Diaz Canal, who's president of the G77 plus China is participating, are participating in this event. And it's interesting because both of them made extremely, extremely sharp interventions in this summit that's with this stated objective of having more solidarity with the global south. We know that for example, in COP26, in COP27, major agreements were made by global north countries who are the largest contributors to pollution, to climate devastation, major agreements on climate financing. Climate financing to essentially lessen the blow of the fact that the global north has destroyed the environment and it's having of course most of its impact in the global south with floods, with rising sea levels, with extreme temperatures which are affecting the people of the global south. And a lot of this climate financing has not actually advanced. Countries like the United States, EU member states have essentially refused to move this forward. And so this summit is called in this kind of framework in this context and Lula gave an extraordinary intervention as he tends to do. And he pointed out the fact that in this entire summit, which is discussing north and south relations, not once was the word inequality used. And he gave a very, very pointed intervention saying that how are we going to discuss the primary challenges and crises facing humanity if we're not talking about inequality? How are we going to solve this issue with the fact that the global north is disproportionately affecting the lives of the people of the masses of humanity if we're not talking about inequality? And so he says that in order for any advance to be made in terms of saving the planet, in terms of saving humanity, this must be addressed. Miguel Diaz Canel serving as the representative for most of humanity in this event, G77 plus China, that is accounting for the majority of the world's population. And he says we can no longer continue with the current international financial institutions that exist. Institutions like the World Bank and the IMF are actually not doing a service to the global south. These are institutions that are not advocating, that are not creating financial solidarity, which is what Emmanuel Macron wanted to promote in this meeting. And that especially countries like Cuba, countries like Zimbabwe, Iran, who are suffering under the weight of global sanctions, how can you even talk about financial solidarity if you're not actually addressing those issues. So very, very important scene. As we know, they've had several other bilateral meetings surrounding their trip to participate in the summit. Miguel Diaz Canel also was in Rome, also met with the very important leadership in Italy. He was in Serbia. So interesting time. They're both back on the world stage saying that the global south will not be quiet. These countries that the US has tried to subdue, especially Cuba, will not be quiet. They will make their own relationships and they will build and create the strength of the south to challenge the global north power in these spaces. Amazing things happening. Miguel Diaz Canel of Cuba setting the agenda for the G77 Lula right there beside him. Not sure if their moves are going to bear fruit, but my goodness, we're seeing interesting things happen in the world. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, another set of world leaders meeting each other, Prashant Narendra Modi of India, whose foreign minister has been saying, no, thank you to the NATO template. Nonetheless, Mr. Modi in Washington, meeting with Joe Biden of the United States. What's happening over there? Yes, quite a curious and much anticipated meeting, in fact, because for almost a year and a half, many people have been debating this question here. We've been hearing arguments as, is India moving away from the US after years of being a close ally? India resisted a lot of US pressure on the question of Ukraine. So there's been a lot of speculation about this. And of course, India buying a lot of Russian oil as well. So there was a lot of anticipation for the summit and I think the US went really all out to sort of, let's maybe, let's politely put it to accommodate Modi in terms of, say, having the carpet out for him. It is a state visit, only the third state visit of Biden's term. There was a usual White House meeting, state dinners. And it is really a lot of rhetoric about shared familial ties and this dance of democracies as they say. But I think it's kind of unmistakable that the key point of this whole debate was really China. And I think especially for the US, there is a strong, in the US there is a strong belief that India is integral to its policy of encircling China. We know that just before this meeting, Biden had very inexplicably called Xi Jinping a dictator and said that he had no clue of the balloon incident, which is a huge farce anywhere from the US side. So the meeting with the Modi-Biden meeting took place when this had happened. So I think for the US it is an attempt to sort of reach out to India, try to sort of bring it further into its ambit. Of course, this joint statement between the countries had the mention of the old, good old rules-based international order, as they say. There was the defense deals were finalized, some agreements and technology as well. Although, as always in these cases, the hype is much more than what is really happening. Interestingly, Modi also taking a question or two questions from reporters, which is very unique, considering he's never done a press conference. And he was asked about democracy and he gave a standard answer saying democracy is so amazing in India. And I think we'll leave it to the viewers to sort of make their own assumptions. But I think the larger picture globally is really this question as to how this partnership, the partnership between India and the United States is going to, as into what level the plans of the United States are really going to work out. I don't think it's going to be that simple because while some US observers have said that this is equal threat for both countries, it doesn't really seem that easy for India to sort of just take such a position. So I suspect India is also playing on both sides a bit, looking at its own strategic calculus and seeing that to what extent it can go and assign agreements with the United States and all that. But the real question is how much will it be drawn into this encirclement big question? And I don't think this trip provided a concrete answer for that. There were references, of course, to the Quad, to the I2U2. Last month, Modi had been part of the G7 meeting. But a lot of this also serves the purposes of domestic politicking as well. These are all, some of these foreign visits are definitely ways to gain votes as well. And I think it is a very delicate global situation that has happened with the Ukraine war. The fact that groups such as the SCO and BRICS are also now in the limelight. I don't think India is 100% putting its weight behind the US strategy as of now. But I'm pretty sure that the US will continue to pitch this. I think John Bolton came on a TV channel and made it very explicitly clear as well that this was what the game plan was. So it's definitely a situation, very much a situation in flux. But until then, I think important to note that people also took the streets, which kind of gets lost in the midst of all this high people protesting against the attacks on democracy, the targeting of journalists and activists, student leaders for instance. Definitely need to remember that as well. Prashant took the name of John Bolton on give the people what they want. I have to do a puja or burn incense or something to exorcise him from my imagination. Well, let's keep going with these elders as it were because we had the Pope, we had Lula, we had Miguel Diaz-Canal, we had Narendra Modi, we had Joe Biden. Let's not say the other Jain name from the United States. Well, the elders, an organization created by Nelson Mandela of South Africa in 2007. Mandela said, look, there are lots of state leaders, important political figures who even after their time in office served their time as presidents of countries, prime ministers, heads of international organizations. There were a lot more to contribute. So he created a group called the Elders, which is now chaired by my dear colleague, Mary Robinson, used to be president of Ireland, was a high chief in the United Nations. Deputy chair is Ban Ki-moon. Some of you may remember the South Korean politician who was the head of the United Nations. Well, Ban Ki-moon and Mary Robinson, the two leaders of this group called the Elders, made a trip to Palestine. They spent three days in Palestine and they released a very, very strong report and I really want to spend time and acknowledge firstly the fact that neither of them previously, particularly Ban Ki-moon, when he was at the head of the United Nations, ever made a strong statement about Israeli policy against the Palestinians. This statement from Ban Ki-moon and Mary Robinson must be looked at in the context of the fact that these are both high officials in the world system. These are people who have had a very important role in international organizations and what they say in their text which they released is there is ever growing evidence that the situation in Israel and Palestine meets the legal definition of apartheid. Ban Ki-moon, when he left said in his personal statement, I leave Israel and Palestine with a heavy heart. I have seen and heard compelling evidence of a one state reality with systematic impunity for violators of international law and human rights. My friends, I have not heard this kind of language from such high officials. In their statement, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, Ban Ki-moon, former head of the United Nations, have said that during their three days in Palestine and in Israel, they heard, quote, no detailed rebuttal of the evidence of apartheid, and they said that the behavior of the Israeli government, particularly in the occupied West Bank, showed an intent to pursue permanent annexation rather than temporary occupation based on Jewish supremacy. This is their language. They used this phrase that the government of Israel has demonstrated and here again is their line, an intent to pursue permanent annexation rather than temporary occupation based on Jewish supremacy. If we take the statement made by the elders seriously, then indeed Israel is in serious violation of international human rights law, and indeed if we take that one sentence where the word used, the phrase used is Jewish supremacy, and permanent annexation, not temporary occupation, if we take those words seriously, it is a war crime. Israeli government has committed, says the former president of Ireland and a high official of the United Nations and the previous UN secretary general, the two of them have essentially said that Israel is committing a war crime. Now what's very interesting is that this is not of course the first time the word apartheid has been used. The word apartheid has been used by the Economic Commission of West Asia about a decade ago, and last year I just wanted to read to you the title of Amnesty International's report from last year. Amnesty International's report from last February, February 2022 says, Israel's apartheid against Palestinians. Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity. You see, you've been listening to give the people what they want. First half of our show, we already come to you with a lot of interesting material. You might have read in the press out there about the visit of Lula to the Pope and the meetings in Europe. You might even have read a lot about Modi and Mr. Biden in the United States, but I doubt very much. There's been much coverage of the story of the elders and their report about the war crime committed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people. We're halfway through our show, friends. We really hope that you enjoy it, that you listen online live or that you join us later and listen to the podcast. We rely on you to listen to us. We're going to move on now because in Ghana, a Ghana apartheid in Ghana, a place where Prashant has been on the ground reporting from several times, there is a cycle of protests. What is happening in Ghana, Prashant? Right. We have a very interesting protest that we've covered. We have a colleague therapy has written a story on it and we'll be having some great video footage from our friends from Pan-African television soon. This protest we just call a Don't Tax My Periods protest and it's interesting because a very significant issue in Ghana rarely reported outside. It comes at a time when actually activists and this movement, this protest was specifically led by the women's wing of the socialist movement of Ghana as well as very progressive organizations, all of whom coming to the streets to protest the fact that basically sanitary pads face quite an unbelievable tax actually in the country because it's the fact that they are classified as finished goods or in other words, basically luxury taxes. So apparently this necessity is classified as a finished good and therefore faces 15-20% import tax as well as another 12% of value added tax or bad. So in a country where which is already reeling from a financial crisis, we have a situation where according to some of the one of the activists from the socialist movement in Ghana who spoke at a panel discussion we have a situation where nearly 25% of some people's monthly income could go or just on buying sanitary pads because of these taxes and I think it sort of raises a larger question of menstrual hygiene as well about access which is often I think characterized as merely a women's issue or a private issue something to sort of be resolved somewhere secretly as opposed to a public health issue. And I think this is a focus of what the socialist movement of Ghana has been trying to sort of ensure through these discussions and this is you know, forget the stigma in the table, this is actually a public health issue and that was a key part of the protest and it was also a question of economy as well in the sense of women being so significant in what is being produced across the continent, across the world for that matter. But how their needs, how their essential products for them are taxed to such an extent and it's also significant because Ghana is going through, you know, this whole cycle of the international monetary fund, there have been all these discussions about that and once again, every time such discussions come up what gets affected first is public health resources for public health are what get cut the first hospitals education facilities, all of these get affected and I think the activists in this protest were trying to time and again raise this question that, you know, you cannot obscure issues like this and you know, just talk about macroeconomic issues and they were trying to link, I think, some of the most immediate needs of day-to-day life with some of these macroeconomic issues. So very significant protest in terms of an issue that is often really not talked about too much and for that matter not written about too much, we have heard far, far, far more about the four people who were in the submersible rather than you know, an issue of such significance what is really a big country, Ghana is one of the most significant countries in Africa, but the fact that, you know, the Ghanaian men and women were on the streets protesting for this is something that pretty much finds very little mention in the world media as well. So a very interesting protest and a very important and interesting protest and an important issue and I think we'll be trying to follow up the Ghanaian, the speaker of the parliament I think has been forced to issue a response, hopefully the government takes notice after measures like this, governments often get embarrassed sometimes into taking positions when the stark nature of inequality, when the stark nature of their policies is presented before them. So hopefully something happens. But very impressive protest by Ghanaian activists there. Well, protests in Ghana across the Atlantic protests in Argentina Zoe has written a terrific piece at the People's Dispatch website on the protests in the province of Huey. I don't want to belabor the point Zoe but since you wrote the piece and you know what's going on, why are cars burning in Huey? Well it's been a very interesting week in Argentina people of the province of Huey are on the streets that continue to be protesting, continue to be blocking highways, blocking streets, occupying plazas, directly rejecting the proposed and the past constitutional reforms by the governor, Gerardo Morales which yesterday it's rumored that he's going to be the vice presidential candidate for the elections later this year. That's an aside point and I'm sure we're going to get the Argentine elections in the coming shows. However, Gerardo Morales he is a figure in Argentine politics who has represented a very, very kind of hardline right wing position in many different moments and in Huey it's one of these provinces where you have many issues on the table. You have a large population of indigenous people. You have many, many key natural resources such as lithium which as we know is the most sought after natural resource today's globally. You have a lot of organizations a lot of people organized into trade unions and then you have this extremely regressive governor who has time and time again gone after social movements. We know the case of Milagrosala, she has been under the guise of his repression for the past several years she's been suffering under house arrest and consistently called out the leadership of Gerardo Morales and his role in her persecution and the people who had been on the streets because Gerardo Morales announced a week prior that he was considering implementing several constitutional reforms. I think there are about 60 modifications to different articles of the provincial constitution but two really stuck out for movements specifically indigenous movements and trade unions and social movements in the province and really nationally. These have to do with on one hand land and so this modification to the law of private property which essentially has given because the key point is that these constitutional reforms were passed this reform to private property law gives more power to property title holders and it says that essentially they have the power to evict those who don't have property titles and to in some way modify their private property holding in their ability to access it to enjoy it and to cultivate it. So this is seen by indigenous movements as a direct attack on their land rights as we know as what happened in much of the America's indigenous people were kicked off their land in many times given they did not have formal property titles and so many of these in many cases it's possible that a private landowner could actually have rights to property that's that's ancestrally part of this indigenous community where they have inhabited for decades for centuries and now with this reform these private landowners who just bought this property with no violating indigenous communities right to it will have the ability to kick them off. This has created a lot of anger from these communities that are in the midst of many different conflicts over resource extraction in the province and then the other major reform that's been met with a lot of rejection is the reform that essentially says that highway blockades and road blockades are prohibited and that whoever participates in one could face high legal consequences this of course in Argentina the country of road blockades the piqueteros I mean to ban this is essentially saying you can't protest this is saying you cannot go to the streets you cannot raise your demands you will face consequences and this again has been met by the human rights community in Argentina which is extremely active and engaged many many organizations have come out and said this is in violation of peoples constitutional rights this is in violation of the national constitution and so that's why we've seen I think there over 40 points of road blockades across the province largely organized by these indigenous rural and peasant communities in the cities there have been continuing strikes by trade unions by social movements in the capital Buenos Aires people have been protesting in solidarity but we've seen brutal repression a 17 year old lost his eye outside of the provincial legislator on Tuesday someone was hitting the head with a tear gas canister and is in critical condition in the hospital once again these patterns of repression are repeating we saw this in Peru we saw this in Colombia across the continent these right wing forces continue to respond to people's demands with violence and with repression Violence and repression yes indeed well but let's turn to the Sahel where you all know that I frequently report from there have traveled through there have an understanding of some of the countries and yet complicated mess of politics this week the government in Mali decided that it would hold a referendum now bear attention to the fact that there have been two coups in Mali one in 2021 in 2021 essentially to establish the sovereignty of the people of Mali against both the kind of intervention made by jihadi groups coming from Libya and from Algeria but also the Tuareg insurgency in the north as well as to establish sovereignty against the intervention of the French this is exactly what the government of Asimi Goyte did with the coup of 2021 now the government had promised that they would hold a referendum so that there could be a discussion how the elections would take place in March 2024 rebel groups in the north decided not only to boycott the group but to launch attacks against the AIGE or Mali's independent election management authority and the situation of this referendum has been really chaotic you know people are trying to use the fact that the government simply is unable to release results from this referendum as in a way to say that the government is just going to try to hold power undemocratically others are saying this is merely a sign of the continuing instability due to the violence in the north interestingly United Nations just released a report called firearms trafficking in the Sahel very very instructive my friends because when you read this report from the United Nations you learn how many people are making money selling arms small arms medium arms and heavy arms into the Sahel region you know wars don't take place simply because of animosity wars take place also because people are running guns into this region I have interviewed many many people who are arms dealers and it's very clear they will tell you that the biggest problem in parts of Africa are not animosities ancient animosities or recent animosities the biggest problem is the illegal arms trade this arms trade takes conflicts and makes them into wars where these conflicts might have a political solution the barrel of the gun becomes the first thing that one sees and indeed the insurgencies in the north intensified when there was a discussion about having an election in 2024 in March this is a serious issue for the people of Mali because I think there is in some regard an appetite for some kind of democratic government I say some kind because in fact whatever polls there are and it's very difficult to conduct polls in a country like Mali where almost half the country is held by various forms of insurgency but the half of the country where the government is sort of established its rule this government or Mr. Goethe is quite popular and so this government despite the fact that it came to power through the second coup a coup that followed a coup a coup that said that the previous government was not able to meet the demands of the people this government a coup government let's be quite clear let's not sugar coat it is nonetheless fairly popular people would like to see some sort of referendum some sort of election in fact it's likely that Mr. Goethe will run in some kind of election or his candidate will run meanwhile and not soon now on the 30th of June United States Security Council is going to meet to see whether they should extend the mandate for a UN security UN mission peacekeeping mission in Mali that mission was actually thrown out by Mali's foreign minister Abdulayad Diop who went to the Security Council and called for the termination of that mandate tough times in Mali but I must say it's not just about Mali it's about the Sahel where people are trying to establish the sovereignty and one part of that sovereignty is against the illegal arms trade which is not really discussed that much what a show you've been listening to give the people what they want brought to you by people's dispatch and globetrotter so happy to be with you we'll see you next week thanks a lot