 Ready? Yes we are. It's January 15th. You're back with us and give the people what they want, the best weekly global news program on the internet with Prashant and Zoe from People's Dispatch and me Vijay from Globetrotter. 15th of January, an important day. Today is the day, the assassination day of Karl Liebnik and Rosa Luxemburg. We remember them fondly. We remember them in anger as well. They were killed at the end of the German Revolution. Rosa Luxemburg fought for 30 years to try and ensure a revolutionary understanding in the social democratic movement. Karl Liebnik, her comrade, both of them incidentally born in 1871, her comrade Karl Liebnik was the only member of the German parliament not to vote for World War I. These were very important people and we remember them with great fondness. On Sunday, January the 17th will be the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, a great patriot of the Congo, a great patriot of Africa, working people around the world. Belgian colonialism, the CIA of the United States couldn't tolerate this large part of the world, the Congo, rich part of the world. They couldn't tolerate it being independent and just at the moment of independence in 1961 he was picked up. He was assassinated 60 years ago on Sunday. We remember Patrice Lumumba, Karl Liebnik, Rosa Luxemburg with great fondness. Not so fond, Prashant, this week of a Supreme Court order that came out in India, not so fond of it. The Supreme Court decided to weigh in on the most significant global protest happening on the planet right now, the protest of Indian farmers. Supreme Court decided to weigh in. This protest has been going since at least the 26th of November. What did the Supreme Court say, Prashant? Right, which is, so this was a very unusual intervention because the aggrieved party, in this case the farmers were unhappy with the farm laws passed by the government. They've been protesting for over 50 days in the bitter cold, amid the rain on the outskirts of Delhi. The farmers didn't want the Supreme Court to intervene. It was just some fringe groups, a couple of public interest petitions and the Supreme Court approached the whole issue with a very paternalistic point of view. So they didn't give a wrap on the knuckles of the government to say that you did not really do your job well, but at the end of the day, their solution to the problem, the farmers have been asking for the repeal of three farm laws. Their solution to the problem was to set up a committee. Now, the ironic thing about the committee was that the four members who were nominated to be part of the committee. All of these members are those who have taken support and distance with the government favoring these laws. So just to remind our viewers, the farmers have been opposed to these laws because the fact that one, they really fear this will drive down the prices that they're going to get for the produce. And in point number two, they fear that there's going to be greater corporate intervention in agriculture. So the big corporates are going to basically take over the whole agriculture sector. They're going to throw huge amounts of money. And at the end of the day, farmers will be left with no bargaining power at all. So farmers across the country protesting very strongly on this. And when this went to the Supreme Court, the farmers have made the stand very clear that we want the repeal of the laws. And they're like, you want the government to talk to us and address this issue. Whereas the Supreme Court kind of waited in, you know, gave some moralistic messages in a very disturbing message. The Chief Justice observed that, you know, they may conclude that women and older persons need not be there in the protest, which is quite alarming because as Peace Einath, we'll come to him later, but Peace Einath said in an interview that women form a huge number of the farmers of India. And when you say women should not be there in the protest, I would say that all people who for decades have been doing agriculture. Why should they not be there in the protest? So the Supreme Court actually approaching this whole process in a very, in a very problematic way. They just wanted the protest to continue. They were looking at it from the perspective of, you know, law and order and not really in terms of the issues which the farmers were facing. So at the end of the day, what happens is that we have this committee, at least one member of the committee is recused himself. Their farmers are very unhappy. They said they're very clear that they're going to continue these protests. And their main protest plan is that on the 26th of January, that's India's Republic on the 26th of January, which marks the day when India's constitution was officially adopted. So on the 26th of January, they are going to enter into Delhi on their tractors to make their point because they are very clear that they cannot be, you know, sort of shooed away with promises of bureaucratic procedures and committees. And the demand, it's one very interesting thing about this protest that the demands from day one have been very, very clear. So they're not, you know, there's been an amazing amount of unity, for instance. Hundreds of farmers organizations across the country coming together on this platform, the government has tried to divide them, defame them. And yet they're united. They are determined that they are going to continue all these protests and we'll see what happens in the coming weeks. 26 January, a very important date for this reason. So that's where we are at right now. No, it's the 26th of January is a landmark day. Of course, it's the day when the Indian constitution, you know, comes into effect in 1950s of such an important day. The farmers are picking up on that. People should go to newsclickclick.in. That's newsclick.in. They are one of our partner organizations. Of course, you can continue to look at the coverage at people's dispatch as well. The constitution, I mean, that's what they're going to pick up on. They say, let's march into Delhi on the day of the constitution because we have rights during this pandemic. So many countries have basically stripped people who are trying to fight for the good side of history of their rights. So we've seen this in Belgium, police violence. We've seen this in Denver, Colorado. Zoe, what's happening in these two cases broadly in the attack on people's rights? Yeah, I'd first like to start by talking about the case of the comrades from Denver. So if anyone was tuning in last night to the breakthrough news live stream last night, they would have caught a peak of a segment of an interview with the comrades from three members of the party for socialism and liberation. They were, I mean, I'm just going to start and kind of move backwards in the case on September 17th, three members of the party were arrested and slapped with insane charges, kidnapping. You know, a couple of felonies, couple of misdemeanors, all adding up to around 60 years in prison. And so, okay, what are these party members doing? What are these, you know, leftist activists doing? They've been organizing on the front lines of protests in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, demanding justice for Elijah McClain, who was assassinated by the police in August of 2019. And I think, you know, speaking about kind of this crackdown and people who are fighting for justice on the people who are demanding the most basic rights and human conditions of dignity, you know, amid the pandemic, but you know, beyond that because they have racist police, racist policing, police brutality, and these organizers are, you know, facing 60 years in prison. They're continuing to fight this case and I think this, the kind of contrast between the treatment that these organizers are getting who will, you know, have organized peaceful demonstrations, sit-ins, mobilizations. I think a lot of people around the uprising in the United States probably saw images of this massive protests with violins because Elijah McClain, who was killed in August, was a violin player. And these organizers in Denver facing 60 years, whereas we see, of course, people who stormed the Capitol, who sat in Nancy Pelosi's chair facing, you know, a couple years. And I wanted to draw some attention to this case because, you know, as they're continuing to fight these charges, as they're continuing to kind of insist in their innocence, while also demanding justice for Elijah McClain. Of course, the cops are still free. They have not been pressed with any charges. These organizers, the only people who have actually seen legal repercussion in the case of Elijah McClain, tomorrow wanted to tip people off to a really important documentary release that's happening, January 16, 2pm Eastern Time Breakthrough News is launching their documentary about the case. And I think it's, you know, really important case to keep in mind and to highlight because as people across the world are resisting repression, are resisting, you know, attempts by states to crack down, we need to be highlighting these cases and we need to be, you know, cognizant that in our struggles for justice, there are repercussions, but we have to fight back against them, and that the intended effects of these arrests, which is to demobilize the movements, demobilize people, intimidate them, threaten them, must not be had and that we must continue to rise up. I mean in Belgium, what people are mobilizing against this week is that a 23 year old man was killed in police custody. This is on January 9. And this has caused an outlaw across Belgium, people have been on the streets demanding an end to racist policing. And I think we see a continuation of the protests that happened this summer because as we know the death of, or the murder of George Floyd in May. Of course released, kind of unleashed a global rebellion. And so we're seeing protests this summer in the US and France in Australia. Against racist policing and people are continuing to mobilize against us so we're seeing the protests in Belgium we're seeing protests in Ireland as well against the brutal killing of a mentally ill man in outside of Dublin. And of course, organizers are seeing backlash from this so definitely keep following these stories, follow the case of these Denver activists who are continuing to fight for justice for Elijah McClain and for their own innocence. And we must continue to resist racist policing and demand that people who are committing these crimes, you know be brought to justice. I suppose that's important but if we now leave the confines of Denver, Colorado, and go to Washington DC, where as you mentioned on January 6, there was a sort of explosion of an American B movie into the halls of the capital it looked like a fantasy science fiction thriller come to life being real time didn't look real to most people not to me certainly never seen anything quite like this you know people dressed in furs and so on gallivanting through the capital it didn't look like a revolution it truly looked like a Monty Python film. That being said, Mike Pompeo has not, you know, has not allowed himself to be constrained by the fact that by the time we come back to you with give the people what they want next week by the time we come back to you. Mr Biden will be the President of the United States, not Mr Trump any longer. Nonetheless, Mr Pompeo, the Secretary of State for Trump has gone after the adversaries of the United States and I want to be quite advised in the use of this term. Not the adversaries of the Trump administration because there is some unanimity in US foreign policy, gone after Iran, gone after China and gone after Cuba and Venezuela, because these are related. I just want to quickly explain what Pompeo has done because I don't think this is being adequately covered. They quickly designated Ansar Allah which is a group that, you know, part of the fight against Saudi Arabia is led by Ansar Allah group, largely but not entirely of the Houthi people of Yemen designated Ansar Allah terrorist organization. Now, there's no appeal for this, you know, and it means a lot of things. One of them is it basically legitimizes the UAE United Arab Emirates and Saudi war in Yemen. Legitimizes it makes it part of the war on terror. Secondly, for the first time in decades, United States has said that US diplomats can engage with Taiwanese diplomats without any restrictions. This is a direct challenge to China. This has happened again in the last few days. And then finally, United States has started the process to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Now, Obama removed Cuba from that list. That's important to bear in mind. By the way, Cuba is not designated already. You know, there's a process. They've started the process. It's actually not entirely clear that the United States is going to be able to complete the process in the last few days before Biden comes in. But the reason Pompeo gave for putting Cuba back on the list is very important because you see there's no evidence that Cuba is involved in anything terroristic. In fact, what is Cuba involved in? It's involved in sending the Henry Brigade of medical doctors to help people fight the COVID epidemic. And of course, for which they should, I hope, win the Nobel Peace Prize in the coming year. You know, and it's not a question of I've said this before. It's not a question of the Nobel Peace Prize being given to the Cuban doctors. It's the question of the Cuban doctors honoring that prize, which has seen its legitimacy decline. But what Pompeo said is that Cuba should return to this list because Cuba supports the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. I mean, they linked it directly. These are last days, the burning down of the house of the United States government. You know, you've had these clowns running through the Capitol and what do they do in their last days? In the last days, they ramp up pressure against Iran, China, Venezuela, destabilizing the world. Very dangerous people, I must say. And it's hard to report this without feeling a sense of the danger. You know, I read carefully the Associate Press report and I feel sometimes bad for the reporters at the AP, you know, because they have to write these things in a balanced way. And even the Associated Press reporter was not able to hold back. And I just want to give you what the what the sub editor offered as the headline, you know, the sub editor headline for the AP. The headline was Yemen, China, Cuba, top Pompeo to do list as time runs down. I thought that's that is a good headline Yemen, China, Cuba, top Pompeo to do list as time runs down because time is running. Because time is running down, not just for Trump, but for I think US authority. We got a taste of that Prashant, a little taste of that on the African continent. This week, there was an election in Uganda, you covered that, you know, closely. I say we got a taste of it because things are happening in Uganda that I think people should reflect on tell us a little bit about the election in Uganda. Absolutely, which is actually one of the most significant in the continent, because on the one hand you have your very most of any who has been in power for since 1986. And he's, you know, he's, he's a dictator, he's rigged multiple elections, there is ample proof of that. He controls all the levels of power. We were talking to Milton Alimadi, the founder and publisher of Black Star News, give a very powerful comprehensive picture. One of the things he pointed out was how over the decades, Mussolini was able to do all this precisely because of the support of the United States in the UK. And most recently being the fact that the Ugandan armies deployed in Somalia, and that is a key aspect in the financial aid that it receives every almost $1 billion. And this has helped Mussolini stay in power. He is, he's a dictator of strange characteristics. Alimadi was pointing out how he even intervenes in disputes between motorcycle driver unions or, you know, the most basic appointments and stuff like that. So this is a ruler who is basically completely taken over all the levels of power all institutions in the country, even maybe broken the back of the trade unions as well. And then on the other hand, out of almost out of nowhere but in fact it's a process of over three years. There's a youth resurgence that takes place. And the face of this youth movement is Bobby Weiner Singer, who starts out as a member of parliament reeling against some of these abuses. Again, very young, just 38 years old, and what he called very powerfully representing and Uganda as a country with a huge percentage of youth population. So basically what this means is there's a large amount of unemployment over there, and the youth are really not willing to take it anymore. The elections took place yesterday, as was expected initial results show Mussolini leading by a considerable margin, which nobody's surprised by. The day before the election the internet was shut down across the country again, and in the weeks before that they were consistent tax on Bobby wine in fact even you and authorities raised concerns about it is campaign staff were arrested is rallies were attacked, he himself was arrested, and it's nonetheless managed to fight back against this. So, what's happening right now is that basically the results are still coming in be expecting the final results tomorrow. And nonetheless, the key issue is that I think what Alimari pointed out was the simple question was this will Mussolini be willing to unleash that amount of violence to stay in power, because until now, he would never face the possibility of this to challenge this massive number of young people coming on to the streets and it's a real possibility. So if they take to the streets, will he unleash all that violence, will it cause bloodshed will it cause, you know, unfortunately maybe even deaths, or will he understand that the voice of the people are right now that this is a sentiment of the people that he should leave, and there's been no peaceful transfer of power. That's a big, big question right now, thoughts with the people of Uganda who have been fighting, who have been struggling right now and next couple of days are going to be very, very crucial. Very interesting. I mean, you know, that when the result comes in, of course, I mean I anticipate that we're going to look toward a result that looked familiar to us. And I think the very fact that there's a serious move by the government, I mean by the people to push against this regime I think is very significant and let's see how this turns out. And because it may end up being in some ways a dress rehearsal for Zambia. It may be a dress rehearsal for the other elections that come, you know, if people's confidence rises that they don't have to follow the movements that are sanctified by the United States. Let's see how it goes. I mean, early I said that Cuba has, you know, essentially been put back on the state sponsor on terrorism list. One of the reasons given is Venezuela. Of course Venezuela turned around on the other side and decided to assist the people of Brazil. It hasn't turned around and said what's going on with the United States, whatever, because you know there's a difference between a country that wants to smother countries in a country that wants to help other countries. Zoe, I saw that the foreign minister of Venezuela, Jorge Ariadza had sent a tweet out and I was quite interested in that. Tell us a little bit about, you know, what the Venezuelan government is doing regarding Brazil which has taken a hostile position against the Venezuelan government. Yeah, I think. So last night, Jorge Ariadza tweeted that at the request of Nicholas Maluro. The Venezuelan government would be sending oxygen tanks to the Brazilian state of Amazonas, the capital of which is Manaus, and they're currently having a massive public health crisis in the state. There's, you know, a collapse of the public health system. They are running out of oxygen ICU beds, the like. There's a massive surge in cases double the numbers that they saw last week. And so, essentially the response of Venezuela which is the neighboring country I mean the neighbors Amazonas was to say, that in American solidarity is more important. And that's exactly what Jorge Ariadza said in his tweet. Despite, you know, the constant aggression from the federal government of Brazil and their giant Bolsonaro, the Venezuelan government decided to put solidarity and the cooperation between the people. And because of that, they were able to create an agreement with the state government, and they're sending oxygen tanks to support them to get through this humanitarian crisis to get through this very crucial moment. Of course, we know that Brazil has been the highest numbers in the region, just only behind the United States actually in the world and India in terms of cases but only behind United States in terms of deaths. Horrible numbers. Horrible numbers. The government has not done anything, anything to control this. You know, started to say that the vaccine you know is it, you know, speaking against the vaccine has taken all possible measures to undermine efforts to keep people in confinement to take any sort of measures to support the public health system. And so this is the result, the result is that there's been, you know, the first wave never ended, but the second peak is definitely beginning. And so in Manaus, you know, it's records numbers of deaths and confirmed cases, you know, there were some really striking images from Manaus in April, aerial images of the mass graves that were being dug to accommodate the number of people who had died because of COVID is truly a travesty, a humanitarian travesty. And Venezuela in the face of all this, Venezuela of course, just to remind people has had much less numbers of cases, just over 100,000 confirmed cases just over 1000 deaths. Unimaginable I mean here in the United States we have 4000 deaths a day from COVID. So just to put that in perspective. And so, you know, Venezuela has taken this humanitarian approach as it always does and put the lives of the people in front in over profit and even over diplomatic, you know, hostile diplomatic relations from Brazil. I mean, talk about putting people before profit, you know, there's been so little attention paid to the question of the Palestinians, you know, people under occupation what is COVID like for them. You know, Israeli government who controls so many aspects of Palestinian life because of the occupation have been, I think, really at a level of we're open to great criticism for the management of COVID-19 in the occupied Palestinian territories and then of course on top of that, the Trump administration again in the waning days decided to basically say, well, you can build settlements. We are not going to criticize you. We don't see it as illegal as if the US government, you know, is the is the arbiter of international law is the sovereign. You know, that's the attitude of the government. In fact, settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal, according to UN resolutions, number of them. Situation is so bad that Beth Salem, you know, the human rights group designated Israel as an apartheid state, you know, this was a term used by the United Nations, Economic and Social Commission of West Asia in 2014 in a landmark report which was widely criticized. Israeli government approached the UN to remove the director Rima Khalaf, who was the director of Esquire at the time. Now Beth Salem has used this term and says that this is the only way to designate Israel. 800 homes to be built, homes for Israelis to be built on Palestinian land. That's what Netanyahu promises a lame duck prime minister. He's facing another election on the 23rd of March, most likely 23rd of March. I mean, this is just lawlessness, you know, whether it's the attitude towards China or Iran, Yemen, Cuba, Venezuela, Palestinians, there is utter lawlessness on display. And sometimes, you know, one asks wonders as a journalist, you know, where, what is the basis on which one writes a story, you know, I would write a story on on Israel, based on the standard set by the UN Charter and the UN resolutions and so on, or on the on the the the sentiments of the Palestinian Palestinian people and you know, that's the basis on which one writes a story. The lawlessness of these powerful governments is something to behold and, and I mean it it really it beggars belief guys how poorly, or in fact, not I was going to say poorly it's reported. It's not reported very much at all and again, it's a good thing people's dispatch has been covering this has done stories on all these things that I just talked about very much hope that you go to the website bookmark the page. Before we leave you today, it's important to invite you on Monday, the 18th of January at 630pm Indian standard time at 10am Brazil time and then you have to use your mathematical skills to figure out what time it is in your time zone. 630pm India time 10am Brazil time, peace I not the very great Indian journalist will be giving us a presentation this is for people's dispatch and globetrotter, essentially forgive the people what they want. He will be talking about journalism as the act of reporting on the great processes of our time very hope very much hope that you'll join us because he's not only a dear friend but he's in many ways our teacher and leader in terms of how to struggle to be better journalists you know journalism isn't just something you you get a ticket on you spend your life trying to be a better reporter. We hope you get a sense of our struggle to be better reporters during our show give the people what they want come to every Friday. At 11am Eastern Standard Time and at whatever other time zone you're watching or listening we're also of course a podcast, all the platforms very much hope that you'd listen to us and also now available on YouTube. Prashant Zoe from People's Dispatch I'm Vijay from Globetrotter we'll see you next week. Thanks a lot.