 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Well, you're with Give the People What They Want, coming to you every week from People's Dispatch. That's peoplesdispatch.org, editors Prashant and Zoe. Nice to be back with you again. Also brought to you by Globetrotter. That's me, Vijay. We're so happy to be with you every Friday. Today is the 3rd of June. Yesterday, Thursday, 2nd of June. Well, I didn't want to be rude, but US President Joe Biden and NATO Chief Jens Stortenberg had a meeting. I didn't want to be rude because I saw the photo opportunity that they had together and it looked rather miserable to think that these two men have the fate of the world in their hands, but at any rate, that's what it looks like. The meeting was interesting, friends, because it's now pretty clear that the conflict in Ukraine has, in a sense, begun to clarify itself. It's clear, for instance, that despite what some media was saying about the Russian advance being stalled and so on, it seems pretty clear now that certain war aims have been met for the Russians. In other words, they've pretty much, except for a few skirmishes here and there, been able to advance the Russian frontier to include Donetsk and Lugansk, the Donbas region. That is pretty clear. Secondly, the fall of Mariupol has enabled the Russians to build a land bridge all the way to Crimea. Seems to me those are the two principal territorial objectives of this war. And as a consequence of this, the Russians have been able to remove a number of the right-wing paramilitary neo-Nazi type formations out of this part of Ukraine. Now, was there really going to be a Russian project of overthrowing the government of Mr. Zelensky and establishing a pro-Russian government? Exactly, actually, that that can ever be accomplished now, largely for perhaps three reasons. First, there's a lot of arms being delivered to the government in Kiev. So the Ukrainian military is now well armed to actually defend central and western Ukraine from a Russian advance. So that seems quite unlikely. These arms are going to include various kinds of medium almost most likely long-range missiles of one kind or the other. This raised controversy this week because Vladimir Putin of Russia threatened the United States not to deliver long-range missiles to the Ukrainians saying that if you deliver long-range missiles, they could be used to attack targets inside territorial Russia. Of course, that now means Donetsk and Lugansk because these have been essentially brought into the Russian territory. Will those territorial gains be allowed? Will they be pushed back against? It's not clear yet. We'll have to see. But the principal reason is, as I said, the three reasons. One is heavily arming of the Ukrainian military makes it relatively impossible that the Russian military coming down from Belarus is going to be able to make gains against Kiev, Kharkiv and so on. And that's not, I think, on the table anymore. Secondly, these long-range missiles is going to give the Ukrainian government a kind of deterrent against further escalation, territorial escalation by Russia. So I think there there's a stalemate, it looks like. And thirdly, Jens Stortenberg, head of NATO, speaking to Joe Biden, speaking with Joe Biden, told the media that the war is going to go on for a long time and that Western support for the Ukrainian government is guaranteed. That means that there will be a lot of diplomatic pressure against the ability of the Russians to come in and conduct any kind of regime change. The West has basically drawn a line under it and said we will not allow it. So that has to be kept in place. Now it's also interesting and we'll come back to this at the end of the show. Also interesting question of food price inflation has gone up. There is a narrative being driven by Biden Stortenberg repeated it, which is that one way to bring down the price of grain is for the war to end in Ukraine. That is true. Although again, the, you know, it takes a lot of people to tango to bring a war down from where it is now. And it's unlikely that this is a decision that Moscow can make alone. Let's see. We're all, in a sense, quite concerned about the fact that it is now being said that this conflict could go on for a very long time. I hope that's not the case speaking in my own capacity. Mr. Biden, of course, had been on a big tour of Asia. He'd already talked about that trying to strengthen the quad. Come back to that again in the end of the show. But now he's preparing Zoe for a big summit taking place in Los Angeles. The summit of the Americas with Joe Biden as the host. What's happening in Los Angeles where you are now? Well, Joe Biden is preparing for the summit. Although rumors have emerged. I don't know, you know, how true they are. They're rumors, whether he will even show up at all because the summit has been so controversial and such a seemingly political failure even before it's began. But that being said, the preparations are underway. There's a lot of banners going up this week across town in a white in a press conference this week with the press secretary. There was a question asked by a journalist. We're a week away from the summit of the Americas and the invitations haven't even gone out. Can you comment to this and the press secretary said for us a week is a lifetime. Interesting. Interesting. I guess a week is a lifetime for them. No need to send out invitations. We of course know that this is related to the very, very contentious debate over whether Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba will be invited to this summit. A week ago, the White House administrator already said definitively Venezuela and Nicaragua will not be invited, adding that they do not recognize Venezuela's government as a sovereign government of Nicolás Maduro. And on Cuba, they have not commented yet. They have not made this. They really haven't pronounced about this. And that's because a lot of the governments across the region are saying that they won't go to the summit if Cuba is not invited. We've talked about this on the show before, but it continues. It's interesting that we're only days away from the start of the summit and it still is on the table. They still have not been able to really resolve or take a position on the US on Cuba. We did see some moves towards warming relationships, of course, lifting some of the Trump-era sanctions on Cuba, engaging with Venezuela and buying their oil. But we see that the political stance on Venezuela has not changed. We haven't seen clarity on what Biden's stance is going to be on Cuba. All that being said, this summit is going to happen. It's seeming like it's not going to be anything really to write home about for all these heads of state. And you aren't even sending in the end. Not even because of the political boycott, but it's not a high-stakes place. They're sending foreign ministers. They're sending other members of their cabinet because really the space of regional integration, cooperation is not the summit of the Americas. The Summit of the Americas is a flashy show by Joe Biden to put US democracy on display. And in this city, that's quite a tall order, given the fact that it's one of the most unequal cities in the country. There's one of the highest, the biggest homeless populations in the entire country is in Los Angeles. So really it'll be interesting to see what kind of democracy and what kind of economic example they're trying to display. But on the other side of town, or maybe just a block down, as we've spoken about, the People's Summit for Democracy is going to be taking place. This summit, as we've spoken about, is going to be a place where all the voices of the Americas are going to be represented. And it seems that the US government and Joe Biden really don't want this summit to have its voice heard to really represent this diversity because they've been stalling on granting a permit for this summit to be able to march in the streets towards the Summit of the Americas. They filed a permit in February and it's been over 95 days and they still have not responded to this. So this is another example of the democracy that Joe Biden wants to promote. Organizers, community organizers, social movements can't even carry out a mobilization in a major city where there's a big meeting taking place. So this is an interesting case to follow. We'll be on the ground as People's Dispatch covering the People's Summit for Democracy. You can follow the People's Summit at People's Summit 22. You can follow People's Dispatch. We'll be giving you all the updates, speaking to some of the amazing organizers who are going to be in Los Angeles for this summit. And you can follow online on YouTube. So definitely check it out. We'll be there. We'll be giving you the most important updates. The most important updates. That's what you also come to give the people what they want to get. Well, Prashant, you know, Turkish president, president, yes, Turkish president, although sometimes called Sultan. Mr. Erdogan has decided that they don't like to be called Turkey anymore because, well, they don't want to be mistaken for that infernal bird of the Americas. So the country has officially changed its name. The United Nations has ratified to change. Turkey is the new way we're going to say the country's name, Turkey. You're taking us now to see new revelations about Turkey and Syria. I just wanted to tell people that in case they're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Turkey, Turkey, Turkey, get used to it, people. That's how you have to say the name. So Prashant, Turkey and Syria. Does leave a problem with adjectives. Do you say Turkey and president, Turkish president? Very difficult to be honest. But yes, the matter of concern is more than just a name because what we've seen in the past few weeks is Erdogan has sort of ramped up preparations to launch yet another incursion. Armed incursion in invasion of Syria into regions which are controlled by Kurdish forces and now this might be the fourth such operation since 2016. The last one in 2019, of course, I believe saw about 700 civilians killed, 300,000 people getting displaced. Very cynical attempt by Erdogan here to sort of be tried to deal with some of the internal issues he's facing right now by organizing, by conducting yet another invasion into these regions. There was a ceasefire in 2019 with Russia, certain ground rules were set. Everyone claiming, of course, that Turkish forces are being attacked in that region, which is controlled by the Kurdish forces, the YPG, if I'm not mistaken. And he said that that is the reason for this fresh incursion. He's given all the usual excuses that people give in such situations. But the fact remains that what is most likely the reason for this fresh attack is going to be twofold. One, it's yet another assault on the Kurdish armed sections. I mean, whatever you say about their politics, that's an entirely different story. But undoubtedly this will cause fresh casualties. But more importantly, it looks like a cynical land grab attempt to build maybe housing so that Turkey can send refugees back there. And this comes out of the fact that there is a very dangerous political environment right now that is in Turkey, in Turkey that is created on the issue of the refugees. The general right wing direction that politics has taken under someone like Erdogan has meant that there is a lot of xenophobia against refugees, a lot of discrimination and hatred. And Erdogan sort of wants to, seems to want to resolve this problem by say pushing the refugees back. And for that reason, he seems to prefer want to take over fresh land and then build housing and maybe set around the reports about 1 million or 3.5 million refugees who are currently in Turkey right now. And of course, then there's the even more cynical but common method, which is that there's an election coming next year and they are dealing with a massive economic crisis inflation. I believe it's 70% or something like that. And at this point of time, what works better than a war? So there's definitely that angle as well. The fact that Russia is right now already in a conflict, the United States does need Turkey's approval for Finland and Sweden to join NATO and Erdogan has been a stumbling block on that as well. So all using all this Erdogan seeing this as an opportunity to gain some narrow political gains and causing through causing such suffering. I think a larger point to remember here in this context is that it's important to remember the war in Syria, which people often nowadays not so much talked about. It's important to remember the very cynical role played by Turkey and the United States at that point of time, especially Turkey, which provided support to some of the most extremist elements, which continue to operate in parts of Syria to this day. And caused untold violence, destroyed a country that Syria is still not recovered at all from that war. We know the role of the United States, the role it played, it had it so it's still there to some extent, a very small contagion, but it's still there. This imperialist war, every couple of years is cynically used and escalated further by leaders like Erdogan again. And it's very dangerous. Shelling has already of course started. We don't know when an exact operation might take place, but the degree of impunity is clear from the fact that Erdogan has been talking about it for weeks now. And nobody is really in a position to do anything about it. He has openly said that we are going to go, we are going to take over this land and he seems to have a bit of a blank check here. This is really kind of indicative of the destruction in the region that these policies have caused. So it's fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks, especially for people in these regions of Syria. It's a very serious story because that particular region of Syria of Turkey has seen a lot of instability ever since. Now, what are we talking about? We're talking about a decade of that war plus decade plus of that war, terrible, terrible situation. Glad that you're following it. You're listening to give the people what they want brought to you every week from People's Dispatch. That's peoplesdispatch.org. Go there to read about the story from Turkey and Syria. Go there to read about the People's Summit. It will be your best reference on the People's Summit that you're going to get. And we're brought to you by Globetrotter coming to you now in 61 countries in over 260 periodicals. Well, what do I say Zoe below where you are, there will be an election on the 19th of June. In one of the most difficult countries for progressive forces to advance, that's Colombia. Give us the update now. Opinion polls I know are not looking good for the left, but what are you saying? Well, on Sunday, the first round of presidential elections were held in Colombia. And this was a very interesting and exciting day for the left. Petro and Francia Marquez, who were running on the historical packed ticket, won this first round of elections. They managed to get over 40%. The second runner up was a bit of a surprise for Hernández, who's a very strong anti-corruption businessman who has this kind of outsider, political outsider kind of platform, even though he's the mayor of Pucaramanga for the last period. However, it is not as easy as it looks, even though Petro and Francia Marquez got over 40% in this first round. Of course, this means they have to go to second round as you mentioned. And going into that second round is not so easy. It is going to be a very uphill battle for them to face off the right. The right in Colombia has this long history of uniting together to squash any sort of progressive expression. There were several center and right candidates in this first round. Federico Gutiérrez was the favorite of the far right of the Uribeistas. He was really carrying on this legacy of Iván Duque. He was expected to take the second spot. He did not. But him and other candidates in the coming days, it is likely that they will express their support behind Rolfo Hernández. We'll see a kind of coming together of these different candidates, of these different right candidates. And this is kind of the scene. Colombia once again will have this face-off in 2018. Petro had a similar challenge. He was facing off against Iván Duque in the second round. And he was unable to take these elections. But people have more hope this time around because there is way more momentum behind Petro's campaign. They were able to get 8 million votes in this first round. A very strong showing. It would indicate that their vote share in the second round could increase and they could become victorious. So people are watching warily. There is also a lot of incidents of voter suppression, fraud that was happening on election day. So it's definitely something to watch out for, to keep following Colombia. Know that the incidents of political violence also greatly increase around election time. There's already been a lot of different assassinations that have taken place. And so we must continue watching. A pretty tough situation in a country where there's been a history of murder, assassination of social movement, leaders and so on. Indeed, the story will be with us and we'll be closely watching till June 19th when the next round will be held. We're going to spend the rest of the show really on food price inflation Prashant, living standards going up. I know that in Britain, they are celebrating the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, it's also the platinum jubilee of the Marmar Rebellion in Kenya. No such celebration of that in the British Isles. Somebody told me the other day, well, British imperialism is over. And I said, you better check with the people in the northern counties of Ireland. Zoe has just done a very good interview for people's dispatch with a young politician from Sinn Fein. Doesn't seem to be the case that old British colonialism is finished. That dog has some more strength. Prashant, there is, on the other hand, a standard of living crisis in Britain. Tell us about that. So it's actually the United Kingdom is one example maybe of a crisis which is pervading throughout Europe, pervading throughout the world. Food prices, of course, being a key factor. Britain is an interesting example also because what we've seen is that a lot of the crisis people are facing is primarily the result of extremely flawed government policies over the decades. Now, the numbers are pretty damning, so to speak. If you look at inflation itself, it's around 9%, I think, which is the highest in about 35 to 40 years, which is quite a big thing. The government's target is 2%. So keeping that in mind, that's quite much. And one of some of the more recent announcements have to do with energy prices. The energy cap, which is the maximum energy providers can charge customers is expected to increase by around 800 pounds in October. But this follows another historic increase in April itself. And the estimates say that I think some close to 12 million households may be experiencing fuel poverty where they're struggling to meet basic energy needs of their households, which itself really shows how bad the sign is. There are record queues, I believe, at food banks. The estimates say that it's a 14% increase from previous year, rents are definitely increasing, food prices are increasing. And like you only pointed out, the governments in many parts, especially in Europe are very easily and happily blaming everything on the war in Ukraine sort of trying to paint Russia as a bogeyman saying they are responsible for all this. But the fact clearly remains that this is a result of decades of policy of welfare being cut off massive austerity at all levels. That has actually led to this kind of a cost of living crisis. I mean, we recently did a video, Roger Mackenzie journalist with Morningstar pointing out that the issue was not really the issue at the two main axes of the solution would be nationalizing the energy sector and to making pushing for a policy of increasing wages for the people, for working class people, which is really at the heart of a lot of these issues and which is the one step that governments are completely unwilling to take because all of their measures seem to be somehow to try to reduce the amount of money that can go into the hands of the working class. So really some kind of a perfect storm as far as the United Kingdom is concerned, as far as many other countries in Europe are concerned. And all of this stems from, like I said, decades of these austerity policies, kind of insensitivity we see. We talked about the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the fact that people are struggling without food, the fact that people cannot afford to heat their homes, the fact that so many basic essentials are right now so difficult to access. And then on the one hand you have the Diamond, the Platinum Jubilee of course. And secondly, you have say all the scandals about whether Boris Johnson was partying or not. And that seems to be the biggest issue right now, the government sort of trying to, it did announce a relief package. There was speculation that it was trying to blunt the impact of some of the more damaging revelations against the government. So you have a government which seems completely cut off from the needs of the people. In the coming months, you're probably going to see the situation worsen as winter approaches across Europe, especially they've in some senses shot themselves with their own foot with the kind of sanctions they imposed as well. So really governments having no answer to the demands of the people, unions, organizations protesting on the streets. But the agenda is very clear for them. The demand is for a total revamp in terms of how society is structured. Well, that's the story in the UK. The global numbers are pretty stunning. Global inflation first highest in decades, about 8%, 8.7% depends what you look at. At the same time GDP is collapsed. GDP last I looked, which is now seconds ago is sitting at around just about over 2% near 3%. Yawning gap between high inflation and low growth is what's called stagflation. Even the Financial Times has now said, we're in a situation of global stagflation. Well, this is creating enormous problems of hunger around the world. I recently read a very interesting paper with a very dull title produced by the World Bank, produced by the World Trade Organization, the OECD and the International Monetary Fund. These are the most important players, friends in the multilateral trade and development world. The paper was called Subsidy's Trade and International Cooperation. Now, I'm not expecting you to go run out and read it, but the evidence in it is interesting. What this paper suggested is that the subsidies regime that exists in the world favours developed countries, the richer countries. This is the IMF, the OECD, which is the block of the richer countries, the World Bank and the WTO, saying that the current subsidy regime favours not the poorer countries that could use a little bit of help, but it favours the richer countries. Now, the reason I'm saying this is because at the WTO, which is going to have a very important ministerial meeting this month, 60 countries, including India, which actually played quite a leading role in this, have proposed a new method to calculate subsidies. Now, last year, Piyush Goyal, who's the Indian representative at the WTO, made the point that the subsidy regime benefits the developed countries, which is exactly now what the evidence has suggested from these multilateral bodies. Well, India has been calling for a revision of the formula for a long time in the WTO. It's a member of the so-called G33, the African group, the Afro-Caribbean and Pacific group and so on. But the G33 is important. It includes major developing countries, China, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, South Africa and so on. They have now come, the 59 of them have joined India, essentially, to put on the table the revision of the subsidies regime and how inflation is calculated. You might be surprised to know that the reference price used by the WTO to calculate inflation is based on 1986-88 prices. They haven't updated the price reference sheet in a long time. So that's something that these governments are complaining about. But really the issue here is to give greater allowance for countries to utilize their food stocks and to build up public food stocks for what is known as food security. India is one of the world's largest providers of food delivery. It has to do a lot with the endemic poverty in the country. So the public distribution system, PDS, is one of the largest in the world. China has a comparable population, but it doesn't actually have such a vast PDS system. And the reason is that China has actually abolished poverty. So you don't need to be feeding people. If you abolished poverty, people have the means to buy food. India, they don't have the means. So PDS is a lifeline in India. Because of the formula at the WTO, you can face legal sanction for so-called hoarding your food grain in order to supply your own population. You can face legal sanction based on the WTO rules. Well, the G33 is approaching the ministerial meeting this month to ask for a revision of the formula essentially to make the claim, and I think this is important, that the subsidy regime essentially benefits the developed countries and not the developing countries. You see, there is what's known as a peace clause in the WTO charter, which allows and protects countries from legal dispute if the subsidies reach the minimal level. It's basically 10% of the total value of production of the product. Well, I mean, that peace clause is a little bit of a defense, but it's not enough. There's a lot of pressure on governments. As we saw in the Bali meeting in 2013, a lot of pressure on governments against so-called trade distortion means that if you come in there and you try to protect your food security and don't export your grain, you can be charged with distorting trade. This comes with a lot of sanctions and so on. So we've got to keep an eye on this because it's one thing to complain about the question of inflation and say price rise has gone up. Here are 60 countries coming to the WTO saying, we have a solution and the short-term solution to help us feed up populations. Let's see how the global North reacts to this. Summit for democracy? Not always democracy when it comes to people's ability to eat. You've been listening to give the people what they want. We know what they want is food. They want fuel prices to come down. Zoe and Prashant from People's Dispatch. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. See you next week.