 Hello and welcome to Around the World in 8 Minutes, a show by People's Dispatch. In this show, we bring you struggles by people's movements across the world, which are battling capitalist and imperialist oppression and striving to create a better planet. Social movements in Honduras are mounting the assassination of Milhen Idan Sotoavila, a 29-year-old member of the Tolupan indigenous community and of the broad movement for dignity and justice. According to MADJ, Milhen had been reported as disappeared four days before his body was found buried at the work site of the logging company he was fighting against on September 28. Milhen and other members of the Tolupan tribe of the San Francisco Locomapa in the Euro Department of Honduras have been actively engaged in a campaign of resistance against the pillaging of pinewood and forest management plants in their territory since 2009. In February 2018, the community began a peaceful camp called the dignified camp for the defense of the forest and the Tolupan territory against the logging of the forest by the company Inmarre, owned by businessman Wilder Dominguez. The community maintains that companies like Inmarre have been enabled by the state of Honduras illegally and illegitimately. The company never did carry out the required consultation process with residents before beginning work on the project. In response, the community's camp blocked the trucks of the company that seek to pillage more than 16,000 cubic meters of wood without its permission. Throughout the nearly 10 years of resistance, the Tolupan tribe of San Francisco Locomapa, which has been accompanied by MADJ, has faced harsh repression and violence. On August 25, 2013, Tolupan community members Armando Funes Medina, Ricardo Soto and Maria Matute were assassinated while they were carrying out a peaceful land occupation. On April 5, 2015, Tolupan community members Luis Marcia was assassinated. He and his family had left the territory for six months due to constant threats to their physical safety and had just returned three months ago. On July 18, 2015, Tolupan leader Eresia Vieda Ponce was assassinated. Since the dignified camp began, the threats, persecution and violence have only gotten worse. The participants have been threatened by the police and employees of the company with arrest and incarceration. On February 25, 2019, Jose Salomon Matute and his son Juan Samuel Matute, members of the Tolupan community and of MADJ were killed. Jose Salomon was a central leader in the defense of the community's autonomy and territory and had faced many threats. Milhen, who was murdered last week, was related to the Matute's and had been fighting for justice and an end to impunity for those responsible for killing his family members. He was also protecting Ramon Matute, a relative of Jose Salomon and Juan Samuel, who had received death threats. Milhen also assumed a leadership role in the camp in recent months and had been part of the political education and consciousness-raising process. The Honduras justice system's response has been to criminalize the defenders of the forest. Nine members of the Tolupan community in Europe were accused by the prosecutor's office in June 2019 of blocking the development of a plan of forest management. Honduras was deemed by global witness as one of the most unsafe countries for environmental defenders in 2017 and continues to be so today. We go to Palestine next. Palestinian human rights and social organizations are mobilizing to demand that Israel end its torture of Palestinian detainees and prisoners. They are also seeking the immediate release of Samir Arbat. They have specifically called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to take urgent measures to protect the life of detainee Samir, who is currently hospitalized and in a critical condition. Samir was abducted by Israeli special forces on September 25th in front of his workplace in Ramallah. During the arrest, he was brutally beaten by Israeli occupation forces with guns. He was taken to the Al-Masqobia interrogation center in Jerusalem and was issued an order which banned him from meeting his lawyer. Human rights organizations report that he was tortured extensively at the interrogation center by Israeli intelligence officers of the agency Shinmet. The day after his arrest, Samir was bought to court without his lawyer and during the proceedings, he reported suffering from severe pain, constant vomiting and inability to consume food. The 44-year-old father of three was moved to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem on Friday, September 27th. But neither his lawyer nor his family were notified until the next day. Adamir, the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, which is providing his legal counsel, reported that he received a call on Saturday night from an interrogator at the Al-Masqobia center who said that Samir was being transferred to the hospital and that his health condition was critical. The same night, on September 28th, Shinmet released a statement to the press admitting that they used extreme and exceptional techniques in the interrogation of Samir. These techniques are classified by many human rights organizations' torture. His lawyer was only allowed to see him on Sunday, September 29th at 1.30 am and he reported that Samir was unconscious, had several broken ribs and marks of injuries were all over his body and that he suffered a severe kidney failure. On October 1st, protesters gathered outside the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem to demand that Samir be released immediately. The protest was repressed by Israeli police and two were detained. In the West Bank, a mobilization was held in front of the Red Cross headquarters to demand that the organization visit Arbet and take immediate measures to ensure his safety. The brazen repression of Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces has been on the rise in the past couple of months. Palestinian human rights organizations reported that in August 2019, at least 470 Palestinians were detained and that in September, over 500 were detained by Israeli forces. Finally, we go to the Philippines. A two-day countrywide strike was held on September 30th and October 1st by a coalition of public transport workers in the country. The strike was in response to the government's push for the modernization of public utility vehicles. The workers are angry at having to bear the bulk of the cost of this modernization. They have said that hundreds of thousands will lose their jobs if this drive is implemented. The workers are organized under the banner of Alliance Against P.U.V. Transport workers are agitated with the government for its decision to face out public utility vehicles that have been in use for 15 years or more in order to replace them with modern environment-friendly units by July 2020. The move is supposedly intended to bring down pollution levels and vehicular traffic in major cities in the country. The final deadline for this project is July 1st. So far, only a small fraction of the public utility vehicles of P.U.V.s have been replaced. The total budget allocated for this program is 2.2 billion pesos, which is around 42 million US dollars. On the other hand, modernization costs would be anywhere between 1 to 1.6 million pesos per vehicle. However, the government is ready to subsidize only 80,000 pesos through the provision of a partial credit system. Most of the sanctioned budget will be utilized for this loan-based scheme. What this means is that with no other subsidy plan or funds available, the drivers will have to shoulder nearly the entire cost of vehicle's replacement. The government has also refused to accept the significantly cheaper alternatives being suggested, like the replacement of parts such as polluting engines. The move has particularly affected owners of the Philippines ubiquitous jeepneys, a mix between a minivan and a minibus that is used as a shared taxi. More than 180,000 privately owned jeepneys are expected to be replaced. The other section which will be where the brunt of this decision is van owners who run large capacity taxis. Close to 80,000 such vehicles are to be replaced. Apart from the individual licensees, franchise holders will also be hit. As they must own a minimum of 20 jeepneys to run a franchise, the added costs of replacement for such operators will be over 30 million pesos, that is around $570,000. Unions have claimed that close to 350,000 vehicles are said to be taken off the roads and in the long run, more than 600,000 small-time PUB drivers will be out of work, with close to 300,000 small operators livelihoods being wiped out. Meanwhile, the government has refused to talk to the protesting drivers and instead is cancelling the licenses of those who have participated in the protests. Earlier this month, at least 20 jeepney drivers had their licenses cancelled for participating in a strike held in February 2017. Trade unions have rejected the claim that the move will lead to reduction in the perennial traffic congestion in big cities. They say that the jeepneys and utility vehicles take up less than 2% of the road traffic. It is widely believed that a phasing out of public transport will affect the common people the most as they depend on the services of jeepneys and other small operators. That is all for this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes. 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