 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. It's March 18th. This is our 70th episode of Give the People What They Want. Coming to you live from People's Dispatch. That's Zoe and Prashant and Vijay from Globetrotter. Well, Russian forces outside Odessa, they are moving pretty slowly through the Ukrainian countryside. Shelling is picked up in parts of the region between Crimea and the Russian border. Also, there's been shelling in Liev near the Polish border. The war continues. It looks like the peace overtures that have happened around the border with Belarus in Turkey, as we said last week. Stalled Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi have spoken Zelensky. The president of Ukraine spoke to the US Congress, made a plea for weapons. Mr. Biden has asked the Chinese not to send weapons into Russia. It's a very complicated situation. So far, the way things stand, the war continues inside Ukraine. So far, the way things stand, there will be no no-fly zone. Even though Mr. Zelensky asked for it in the US Congress, there will be no no-fly zone because I think the US government recognizes that that is an extremely dangerous situation. It opens the door, as Mr. Biden said, to World War III. Mr. Biden called Mr. Putin a war criminal, walk that back. The United States discovering there are limits to its power here and Russia is therefore able to exercise some latitude. It looks like the economic impact of this sanctions has been quite fundamental. The ruble has basically collapsed. It looks like the Russians have tried to pay off their creditors. The due date was the last two days. This money has been put into some sort of escrow. The creditors said they haven't received the money. On the other hand, the Russian government said, look, we paid it, whether you receive it or not, that's not our problem. We've paid the money. Looks like a pretty difficult situation all told in this war. I'm not sure really how things are going to advance militarily. As I said, the Russian forces appeared to be moving on Odessa. An important city looks like heavy casualties in many other towns and cities. It's not really a precision war. Well, no war is a precision war. Other powers have tried to intervene in different ways. I reported the story, for instance, about the Central Asian countries trying to get involved. They're very keen on mediation, partly because they find themselves economically extremely in a vulnerable position. It's not just Central Asia. Prashant was on Breakthrough News recently talking about India's role here. India imports 85% of its oil. Perhaps only about 1% or 2% comes from Russia, but it's still considerable. It's still important. It's a question of pricing. There's an enormous problem of inflation already signaled in the United States. The various federal reserves have already signaled that inflation prices are up. Home prices, that is, borrowing rate for mortgages has gone up, which is an early signal that the US Federal Reserve is going to lift interest rate. This is going to, of course, create more inflation. This is a war that's going to have significant knock-on effects. It's not only a war that's going to be felt in Ukraine for a very long time in the neighborhood of Ukraine, but it's going to have immense economic impact on the world, on the world economy, not only vulnerable countries, but as I said, also in the United States and certainly in Europe. Because in Europe, again, inflation has reared its head. Food prices up, energy prices up, and so on. The United States is playing an interesting game. It's scolding the Indians for continuing to buy oil. On the other hand, of course, Europeans have continued to buy natural gas. In fact, as a strange outcome of this war, there's been a bonanza for Russian natural gas companies. They made a lot of money during this period. Well, a lot of this issue started in the Maidan in Kiev when Victoria Newland of the US State Department was there. Her phone logs revealed where she talked about how the United States wanted to change the government. Vicky Newland was recently spotted in Bogota, Colombia, where she made comments about the difficulty and danger of that election being stolen from the people. It's very scary when Victoria Newland makes a comment about elections, Zoe. What's the latest story from Colombia? Well, on Sunday, the legislative elections were held, as well as the primaries for the different electoral coalitions. Huge day for the left in Colombia. Significant gains were made by the historic pact led by Gustavo Petro, a left-wing leader in Colombia who emerged from the urban guerrilla movement M19. And after the demobilization of this group, he integrated into institutional politics. He served in the legislature. He later became mayor of Bogota and has since then been a senator. Very prominent figure in Colombian progressive politics and his party did quite well in these elections, winning a significant number of seats in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate, gaining much more than they had in the elections of 2018. Not enough to have a majority, given that the composition of the legislature is highly fractured. It's not a bipartisan system in terms of the parties, so there's many, many different center and right parties, and together they have a strong showing. That being said, they still were able to gain a significant portion of the seats and are second in vote share in the legislature. Quite crucial, definitely a reflection of the tides changing in Colombia. And then in addition to the legislative elections, there were these primaries wherein each coalition voted, put forth the candidates who are running for president within their coalition and that with these results, they would decide what the ticket would look like. And so for the historic pact, and these primaries are often seen as kind of a litmus test of what strength do these coalitions have, the number of people that will participate in these primaries also is an indication of people who are very committed to support these different coalitions. So the historic pact got over 6 million votes, people participating in these, in this primary. Gustavo Petro overwhelmingly with the largest share of votes, so he will be the presidential candidate for the historic pact, but not without mentioning that Francia Marquez, a Afro-Columbian leader directly from the social movements of Colombia, she has been engaged in very strong territorial resistance against mining companies in her region in Cauca, part of the black communities process, which is a very important social movement in Colombia, especially in the Southwest where there's high levels of violence, exploitation and a lot of discrimination faced by Afro-Columbian communities. She managed to get around 800,000 votes in this primary and her supporters, the social movements are pushing for her to be the vice presidential candidate. This has not yet been decided. However, since you mentioned Victoria Nuland, it's interesting to point out that she had meetings with many different candidates who are participating in these elections, notably she did not meet with Gustavo Petro. Very, very important to point out, given that he is the favorite and has consistently been polling, some projections could say that he might even win in the first round. Unclear, these things are going to shift a lot in the next coming months, the campaign is going to pick up and pace. This past week, there have been many allegations from Gustavo Petro himself and members of the Historic Pact that in these elections held on Sunday, despite the huge turnout for the Historic Pact and the considerable gains that they made, that actually there has been a coordinated campaign to suppress the votes of the Historic Pact and not have them counted. On voting day, for example, many people were, when they tried to go to vote, they were found out that they were not registered, even though they had already registered, but then following the day of elections, many different allegations were coming out that, for example, in voting tables where people had voted for the Historic Pact, there were no votes that were registered, that they were coming up as zero votes, and so the Historic Pact sent a team of lawyers to cities across Columbia to investigate the vote counting, and they actually found that many of these votes for the Historic Pact were not counted, and so they're doing a recounting process in many different regions. There's already over 200,000 votes that had not appeared before that are appearing now, so this is clearly a coordinated effort, unclear by who, but it definitely represents something that will come and perhaps the next elections may will be the presidential elections. People are definitely on high alert about electoral fraud. It's a very important thing we need to keep an eye on. We'll be, of course, covering this diligently. It is interesting what you point out about Newland not seeing petrol. That's a signal. The flare has gone up. The flare has gone up and been up since 2015. Prashant in Yemen, United Nations now talking again about calamity. I mean, I've read these UN reports over and over again, and they all basically look the same. Tell us what's going on in Yemen. Right, which are the latest news from Yemen, of course, is that there was a funding pledge conference that was held in Geneva by the United Nations, and the target of that conference was to raise $4.3 billion for humanitarian work in Yemen and by all standards, not really a big amount at all, especially considering, for instance, the concern that is being raised about human rights from various sections of the world, you would think that $4.3 billion is an amount that could be easily raised. But ultimately, what happened was that just $1.3 billion was finally what was raised, and this is an appalling shortfall, considering that if you talked about this before, that for instance, a world food program at the end of the year was actually forced to cut down on supplies for millions of people inside Yemen because they did not have the funds. And across the board, there is a massive shortage of funding for humanitarian assistance, and at this point of time to sort of see that the major powers of the world, the big countries which are really responsible in the first place for this conflict itself completely have failed to step up and bring together the sustainable solution itself is a very, very depressing fact. And the thing is that ultimately, I think every time we talk about Yemen, there is we sort of bring a host of numbers and every time we talk about these numbers, what we see is that there is a massive deterioration in terms of the situation that we're talking about. For instance, I think the latest numbers, for instance, say that 23.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance right now of the 31 or nearly 32 million population of Yemen. That's, you know, it's a massive, you know, almost the whole population and of this 12, 30, almost 30 million people in acute need of humanitarian aid as well. And that is itself a very appalling number. But if you look, for instance, of the food assistance numbers, we have the fact that right now 19 million people are in need of food assistance and there's an increase from the 17.4 million. That was the case until, that is the current case, for instance, in the 19 million is the projected need for the number of people who need food assistance. And of these 7.3 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. Now, of course, all this, you know, we talk about all these numbers, these, of course, basically a bit abstract, the fact is that fighting is happening on a day-to-day basis on the ground. People are struggling, people are starving. On the other hand, countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for instance, continuing to be, you know, the play, the spaces, you know, the most beloved destinations for various world leaders across, various world leaders who are just going and begging them to increase the oil supply. Because right now, after, you know, after escalating the situation with Russia to such an extent, the countries of the West are realizing that they don't have a definitive answer to that problem. So Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, also playing their politics. They want further action against the Houthis. They want the Houthis to be declared a terrorist organization. There's already an arms embargo which has been extended, but they want an official declaration of the Houthis as a terrorist organization. They want the Americans, especially Saudis, want the Americans to give them more flexibility and freedom. So right now this is a very difficult situation for Yemen because considering the way in which the geopolitical situation is moving, it is for all, you know, likely that these countries might get a bit more space to continue their attacks, continue their thousands of airstrikes, which have been one of the biggest causes of casualties in Yemen, which have been the biggest contributors to the worsening humanitarian situation as well. So a very depressing situation. They're not just because of these numbers and the idea of a humanitarian crisis, but the fact that this is actively a crisis which is getting worse because of how these countries are treated. It's a very important point you're making as Russian natural gas gets cut off to Europe. United States is pledging to bring in natural gas from United Arab Emirates from Qatar and so on. Of course, this is liquefied natural gas, but that's on the table. That means these countries will get a free pass. It's the International Division of Humanity. No question about it. You're listening to give the people what they want. We don't subscribe to that International Division of Humanity. We take everybody seriously. Whether you're a Ukrainian refugee or a Syrian refugee, we see you as a refugee, as a human being. We see the people in Brazil as human beings. They are being threatened with eviction. Large numbers of them, families, moved out of their homes. Somehow the evictions in Brazil not making international news. Zoe, what's happening in Brazil? Yesterday, people's movements across Brazil were mobilizing on the streets to demand the extension of an eviction moratorium that was put in place during the pandemic. We have seen this kind of protest happen in countries across the world throughout the pandemic. As a public health measure and as a response to millions losing their jobs, losing their income, losing their ability to support themselves and their families, many governments opted to impose an eviction moratorium. They don't have the capacity to deal with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets at this point. It seems like an easier way to deal with the impending economic crisis and collapse. Brazil was one of these. The eviction moratorium was a hard fought measure from social movements who saw that so many people's lives would be in danger. Children, families would be out on the streets if they hadn't put this eviction moratorium in place. It was a very arduous battle to gain this eviction moratorium and essentially it was extended until the end of March. That is why people are out on the streets again because this eviction moratorium is set to expire on March 31. What movements are saying is that the economic situation has not improved at all in that people are in no position to be dealing with months and months of back rent to be dealing with the prospect of having to pay this eviction moratorium and the reality is that tens of thousands of people would be at risk of eviction and not only in the cities but also in the countryside because this eviction moratorium is not only about people who pay rent to live in apartments but also for any sort of eviction order to be granted. For example, Brazil's landless rural workers movement which carries out evictions are not fulfilling its productive capacity that is in some way in violation of the Constitution's guarantee that there must be no slave labor, that there should be no environmental contamination and that the owners of these lands must of course pay taxes. These are the lands that the MST occupies and they demand that this land be turned over to the state and used for productive capacities where landless people can live and thrive and produce have also been protected by this eviction order. We've seen in many instances some of these companies landlords, private individuals who are the owners of these lands who have essentially allowed this land to be degraded be completely abandoned but of course when the landless rural workers movement occupy these lands it is somehow now an urgent priority to make sure that their private property is not being violated and so the MST has been protected by this authoritarian time and time again because it has been violating the law to be able to get these eviction orders and so with the expiration of this eviction order at the end of the month the MST estimates that over 30,000 peasant families could be at risk of eviction. This is a huge number and these are people who if evicted will be left with no resources they don't have where to live they'll be robbed of their means of production their means of subsistence because one of the first things that people do when they move on to these land occupations which then hopefully become camps that are part of the agrarian reform is plant food, organized society and so this eviction moratorium is vital and that's why tens of thousands of people were on the street yesterday to demand that this eviction moratorium be extended and that these families be protected from this. This is echoing protests that have happened across the United States, across many different countries that have seen the pandemic, seen that the vulnerability of people having to pay monthly rent with the threat of eviction always looming and saying that the state needs to protect these people, they have a right to living they have a right to dignified conditions and that's why this eviction moratorium that's why they're saying this eviction moratorium must be extended. That's the question of the international division of humanity which we've been looking at regarding the Yemen war also of course as you say here the evictions in Brazil moving on we're in a difficult economic situation you've seen the inflation levels rise nonetheless looks like the IMF missions that have been going to Islamabad that have been going to Colombo in other words to Pakistan Sri Lanka have been pretty strict in pushing austerity regime on these countries what's happening in South Asia with the IMF? Right, so right now we have more information of course from Islamabad where currently the review of the IMF say funding mechanism to Pakistan is on now it's a very important time both for Pakistan and Sri Lanka the Imran Khan government in Pakistan is facing a massive economic, is facing a political crisis by the way because there is a no confidence motion that has been tabled against it there is increasing speculation that the military which was the strongest support base for this government which is basically ensuring that this government would be in power is no longer happy with Imran Khan which could probably mean that this possibility that this government might fall if it falls what lies ahead of major question ahead major question because of the political chaos that might come in the country but equally importantly is the fact that there is a massive financial crisis and we're talking about the fact that the IMF of course has Pakistan signed a deal with the IMF in 2019 for a 6 billion dollar US 6 billion dollar scheme at some point the government withdrew because the conditions imposed by the IMF are too harsh but they were forced to go back to it because they really didn't have money and right now the IMF is very unhappy that this government even if it was a sake of a political ploy or to garner political support it decided to cut down the price of electricity and basically fuel supplies so that has really apparently annoyed the IMF which is basically refusing to sign off on the next installment of a 1 billion dollars that it had agreed to give to Pakistan because the fact that the fuel prices came down and because of the fact that there is a selective tax amnesty for sections of the industry now this is really kind of illustrative because ultimately at the end of the day like I said whatever you say about the government why whatever the reason for it to actually enact these policies the fact that it is this policy that really stirred so much anger is very illustrative and despite 2 years of the pandemic all of us said that you know across the world people said that this has to be a moment for international institutions to sort of change the way in which they work nothing seems to have changed and the IMF's policies have been very clear austerity austerity austerity reduce government spending give more flexibility to your central bank so that the government has less of a role in it all sorts of reforms which supposedly improve efficiency but are basically just to say that the government has to spend less even at a time of crisis a very similar situation in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka has been facing an economic crisis now for many many months food shortages fuel supply issues the government of course went with the very ill advised step last year on chemical fertilizers that impact is also being seen protests are breaking out in the country a massive round of protests took place a few days ago against the government and its handling of the economic crisis but even here the government's solution seems to be to try to approach the IMF and unfortunately even the opposition solutions doesn't seem to have too much of a solution so I think the problems of both these countries in some senses indicate that at you know in the global south there is still the there is both at the economic thought level and at the policy level there is a sense of being bound to the IMF and the international institutions as the only way to sort of go ahead there's a dire need for new kinds of thinking new kinds of policy prescriptions on how to try to stabilize the economy without having to depend so much on these international institutions you know are there other sources that can bring in money are there other groupings so very important questions I had for both of these countries especially Pakistan where things could completely go you know in a very different direction in the next few weeks it's super important story Prashant I hope we'll keep an eye on on it as the IMF continues to swoop down and put pressure on these countries at a time of high inflation all eyes of course on Ukraine but let's not forget what's been happening in Iraq and in the neighborhood including Iran and Syria of course the Vienna talks around the nuclear question with Iran have stalled they've stalled for good reason because the talks were being held by the B5 plus 1 and since there's now a conflict between Russia and the west it's unlikely to sit together able to discuss the Iranian question although the United States eager to have that conversation now because of the need to bring Iranian energy back online to reduce energy prices and so on on Sunday some Iranian missiles are probably fired by their proxies landed in the US compound in Irbil this is interesting and has really not been commented upon much Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Khadimi had said that he wants all US troops to withdraw from Iraq if need be they can go up to the Kurdish autonomous region the al-Assad base has to be vacated and so on this is part of the long withdrawal that started after the US pretty ill-advised assassinated General Soleimani in January 2020 that assassination essentially pushed the Iraqi government and now especially Prime Minister Khadimi to move American troops out of most of territorial Iraq and then here comes the attack in Irbil sources in Iraq say that the attack in Irbil is in retaliation for an Israeli strike on a Iranian compound outside Damascus Syria on the 7th of March interesting that that's not beginning to slow down that conflict between the Iranians the Israelis the United States and so on in West Asia it's got to be said that there's a lot of Israeli activity inside the Kurdish autonomous region sources were telling me earlier this week that this is something to really pay attention to largely because the Iranians have put on the table that they are worried about some sort of strike on Iran I think this is relatively impossible or impossible given that I don't think the United States government at this time is willing to accelerate more tension Iran given the real desperation to bring Iranian oil back on track after all that's why the United States went on a visit to Caracas to try to bring Venezuelan oil back so it's implausible that there'll be a direct attack on Iran but I have to say things have not cooled down in Syria Iraq and Iran I think it's an illusion for people to assume that everything is happening in the Ukrainian sector it's pretty much active as it had been before in Iran in Iraq in particular and to some extent in Syria in Syria as people may know the United States still has about 400 or 500 troops guarding the Deir ez-Zor oil fields I have to say again there's been fighting at the edges of those oil fields that means US troops are involved even there it's still an engaged battlefield it's not something that is where the temperature has been brought down returning to the question of Iran the Vienna talks as I said have been installed it's not likely that they'll restart again people in Iran seem to believe that if there was a mission to Caracas to talk to the Venezuelans it's not unlikely that they will themselves have a visit from the US either by the Swiss who basically carried the briefcase for the United States or that the US will have some kind of conversation with the Iranians in either Iraq or somewhere else that conversation they feel is on the table there is a sense that the conflict in Ukraine is going to help the Iranians perhaps bring sanctions down I'm not so sure about that I feel that that sort of chatter is wishful thinking there's been in fact a squeezing of the sanctions on Russia there's been a notification to the Chinese that if they try to break the sanctions they will face punishment in fact Anthony Blinken US Secretary of State said this just yesterday he said that if the Chinese assist the Russians they will get it in the neck so it's unlikely that there's an appetite in Washington DC to draw down sanctions in Iran perhaps not even in Venezuela despite the visit you've been listening to give the people what they want brought to you from people's dispatch that's Zoe and Prashanta and Vijay from Globetrotter next week there's a lot of news to cover I know that we're not always bringing you things wrapped in a bow but you don't want that from us you want reality you want ideology see you next week