 After weeks of violent protests, Kenya's government and opposition have agreed to hold negotiations. But will these discussions address the crisis faced by the people? Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted again. But will this affect his chances of running for president or even his popularity? And August 1st to August 7th is marked as World Press Feeding Week. Why is this important and what are the challenges in this sector? These are the stories we'll be looking at in this episode of Daily Tea Brief. But before that, if you haven't hit that subscribe button, please do. Violent protests rocked Kenya throughout July after people were furious over new taxes that hit their incomes. Now the most significant of these was the doubling of taxes on fuel. These measures were part of the Finance Act of President William Ruto and the protests were called for by opposition leader Rehla Odinga, although a wide section of society participated. Close to 30 people were killed during these protests. Now the government and opposition have reached an agreement to set up a committee to discuss various issues. But will this really address the concerns of the people? We have with us Brian Matenge of the Young Communist League of Kenya. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. So I think the news of the hour, so to speak, a couple of days ago, the government of William Ruto and opposition leader Rehla Odinga setting up a committee to discuss all kinds of outstanding issues. So from your perspective, do you think that this is really going to address the kind of massive protests that took place in Kenya? I don't think so because what happened, what transpired, I think is the ruling class, the current ruling class has formed, they have an alliance that they discuss from. So I think it's still a bourgeois alliance. It's a ruling class alliance that is there, that is meant to protect their interests more and more. And I think they took advantage of the fact that the Kenyan masses were struggling and they could identify that most of the people are addressing key issues of survival. Bread, the high cost of living and such. So they used it to propel their differences. But now we can see that they can differ in positions but they never compromise on their interests. And I think the move is purpose to keep protecting their interests. So I don't think it will garner any solutions to the struggles of the struggling workers of Kenya. Right, also I think earlier we had a couple of instances of Odinga calling for protests, then reaching an agreement, then again protests take place, etc. But in the midst of all this, what has really happened is that I think the living conditions, like you said, the people are deteriorating considerably, the reports are quite shocking. So maybe could you take us through what has been the impact of the so-called reforms of this finance act? How is it affecting people's lives? One I think the finance act is an exposition of the structural adjustment programs that have been imposed by the IMF and the World Bank. And we can see a lot of influence from the external forces, the imperialist countries, supporting and congratulating President Ruto for assenting the finance bill. But look at it from the onset, the people that are most affected are the working people, the working masses. And I think that was one of the objective factors that led the people to protest. In a sense, I think the people are rallied by their own conditions that are affecting them, their intermediate needs. But I think now, even from the conversations and from the terms of the discussions that are set to unite both forces of the mainstream political divide, there are no discussions about the cost of living, there are no discussions about how the Kenyans are going to access the basic conditions of living. So, I mean, there is an imperialist hand, there is an imperialist attempt to, they are very connected with the national struggle that is ongoing about the finance act. Right, and also maybe could you take us through what life is like every day right now in Kenya because of the kind of reforms that have been imposed in terms of the immediate needs you talked about. How is that kind of really on a day-to-day basis affecting the people? I think reforms are necessary, they should be there because we are still under capitalism. But still there are some reforms that are meant to keep the bourgeois operation afloat. Like for instance, we are talking about the finance act, which makes life unbearable for the people of Kenya. Because what it does is that if you look at it closely, it gets to tax the basic commodities, these things that a person must need to live and survive. So it's really harsh and I think the masses, the people and the common people, they get into the struggle with consciously or subconsciously because of an influence that comes from this systemic oppression. And one of them I think that is also hovering around the world and especially in the African continent is this one of the cost of living, which in the recent past we have witnessed riot, protests and insurrections from the various parts of the world. And what you can tell for sure is the people know this process, they know they want a life of dignity. And I think that this operation that is continually imposed on them is something that has led them to take up to the streets and demonstrate even if most of the insurrections and protests seem not coordinated. It's something that we can reinforce that we can recommend and talk about it. Brian, thank you so much for speaking to us and giving us an insight into what's happening in Kenya right now. We'll hopefully get back to you for future episodes and analysis as well. Thank you so much. Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted for the third time. Now it's for plotting to overturn his loss in the 2020 elections. The indictment is on four charges, including conspiring to defraud the US government and obstructing an official proceeding. Earlier, Trump had been indicted on charges of mishandling secret documents and falsifying business records. All this does not seem to have affected his popularity though. He continues to be a huge hit among Republican voters. To understand this, we go to Anish. Anish, yet another indictment, yet another segment on Daily Debrief. So, but before we go into some of the details, could you tell us a bit more about this specific indictment conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 elections? I suspect this was the one among the many charges which is probably the most serious. Yes. The charges, earlier charges actually included an allegations. I could not allegations per se but accusations included among other things as you pointed out. Also included the attempt to overthrow the US government or inciting a rebellion. Now, the thing is what is interesting about this case is that bad charge hasn't come into the play in the current indictment because something of that sort, if there is a proper conviction, especially if you're convicted of, that is the only thing, if you're convicted of overthrowing the US government or rebellion, you will be disqualified from running the president. That is the only thing that pretty much disqualifies any person of your citizenship to run for the presidency. Now, the thing is that the current indictment does not obviously include that. And so what you have right now is basically obstructing government procedures, obstructing the congresses working and stuff like that and even defrauding the US government. So these are serious charges, definitely it might even land him in jail if they can manage a conviction somehow, which is also quite a far reach at this point when we are looking at a Republican dominated house and a half and half divided senate. It is still a far off thing but still these are serious charges and even if he gets convicted, it still doesn't prevent him from running for presidency. So we are stuck in this situation where obviously he needs to be tried and brought to justice on the current charges, which were serious obviously, which tried to undermine a significant procedure of transfer of power. But at the same time, it is actually giving him significant level of leverage in among at least among his constituents in the United States. Right Anish, I guess your answer I think brings us to really the second question which is that recent polls showed that Trump is very much ahead when it comes to the Republican race at this point of time. So the question that I think we have always, many people across the world often wonder is that with the gravity of these charges, with the fact that his role in the January 6, 2021 incident was pretty obvious. Why is it that none of this has failed to really affect him in any way? Well, obviously, he's created, I mean, he's also a product of it, but he has definitely tabbed out a constituency for himself, which is quite a strong one, which has like millions of people at this point, which believes in the conspiracy theories that he peddled at the time of the, not only at the time of the election, but before the election, he actually gave himself a bailout in the sense that he claimed that there will be voter fraud in during through the postal ballots and also during the election process in especially in the Democratic States. And a lot of people believe that and that's the very sad reality that the US is currently facing that they're obviously that many of these people are disaffected by and they have started losing all sorts of trust in the US government considering successive governments having actually made people's lives worse. But at the same time, tapping into that and using it for a reactionary mode has actually benefited him and that is where the big problem comes in. You have to remember that even though he lost the previous general election, he actually increased his vote share significantly and also increased the number of votes he received by over a million. And so that creates a situation where we need to ask like obviously there is a significant constancy and even if tomorrow Trump doesn't win in the next general election, it is still going to be a battle ahead for anybody who tries to replace him because you have a divided political situation where obviously stuff like this while needs to be debated, it is going to take away attention from say daily bread and butter issues. At the same time, you're having a situation where these people are not going to go away very easily because they continue to believe several significant lengths of conspiracy. And we saw that even during the COVID pandemic and the kind of disaster that it created when it came to counter pandemic efforts. So all of these factors definitely come to play and this is going to become a bigger challenge and obviously a clear growing deficit of trust in the US system, not just the democratic system as we keep calling it, but the US system itself. I guess the question also is that as far as you know the democrats are concerned, they really don't have an answer to this as well because a lot of the cases also seem to be sort of like you said earlier the attempt, earlier it seemed like the attempt was to really trap him in these cases which would disqualify him for president but according to you the latest charges do not permit for that. So he still has a chance of running. Yeah, I mean as I said like even if he gets convicted before the elections will start he still can and he gets jailed for any of these charges he still can run for president. So that is how the system allows it, the constitution allows it and so in this current scenario the democrats have pretty much created a trap for themselves. They have given this person a political weapon where he can claim that he's being politically hounded even though the current set of all three indictments are based on serious evidence and serious issues that really need to be taken into consideration, especially for somebody who is set to regain a significant level of power in the US government. But at the same time a lot of people believe that this is not going to happen because they see and obviously he is spinning it in a manner where he pretends to be a martyr in many ways and that is working in his favor. We need to wait and see if there is some kind of counter from the democrats or if I mean at some level social movements have to come together and create a situation where such notions and such conspiracy theories and everything this environment can be undermined and in favor of considerations for say rising cost of living, raising minimum wages, stuff like that that actually affect millions and millions of average Americans and something like that which is not getting enough attention even to this day despite the level of labor movement that we see right now. So these are things that really need to be, we need to wait and see how things turn out but obviously at the current point things for him is quite favorable. Right, so much Anish for the analysis. I suspect we'll keep coming back to this issue like some of the other issues we come back again. Sometimes it's more of the same. Thank you so much for talking to us. This year's World Breastfeeding Week is taking place from August 1st to August 7th with a focus on workplace policies that promote and support breastfeeding. Now breastfeeding comes with multiple health benefits for both children and women yet for a number of reasons global rates are actually falling behind set targets. We go to Anna from the People's Health Movement for more. Anna, thank you so much for joining us a very important week but it's an interesting point I think to note that the rates are falling behind the targets and it seems in some senses maybe a bit counter intuitive. So could you tell us what are some of the factors including maybe an industry hand that is at play? Yes, so it's quite an important week that we mark every year and of course it's something that breastfeeding is something that we have been hearing about for a very long time about the benefits that brings. Now what you said you know that the levels, the global rates of exclusive breastfeeding are falling behind the 2030 targets is of course true. So we are now at around 47 or 48% compared to the 70% that we should achieve that the world should achieve by 2030. Here what needs to be said is that you know the situation has somewhat improved compared to previous decades, but we are still seeing that you know there are some problems that seem not to go away, although experts and public health policy makers continue to point them out. And one of them is of course you know the role of the commercial milk formula industry that continues to be very strong and continues to essentially lower away both women but also health workers from a focus on breastfeeding. And I think that you know in the People's Health Dispatch we have covered the recent analysis that has come out on commercial milk formula industry work and also marketing over a couple of issues. So you know for those who would like to learn a bit more about that I would probably point them out to the dispatch to read. But essentially what we are seeing in this regard is that the industry is still going very strong. It's not facing any kind of crisis, although we do know that parents on the other hand are facing very much of a crisis. If we look at the US we know that there has been a formula shortage, which has caused terrible impacts because the US has such low rates of breastfeeding. So it essentially meant that babies went hungry and families had to travel for miles and miles to find the formula brand that they can afford. On the other hand you know we are also seeing that the industry is now kind of moving away from this focus on high income countries because in high income countries we are also seeing that mothers and families are again turning to breastfeeding because of the health benefits that it brings. And instead they are focusing on middle income countries where the market is still open to their influences. So the industry is still there. It's still very impactful and very present at global levels and in shaping how breastfeeding policies are being developed. So it's definitely something that you know needs very much attention and very much focus on in as also World Breastfeeding Week continues. And also sort of expanding the discussion just to kind of also think through you know what about maternal health care especially the context of the workplace which seems to be the focus this year. So how does it sort of tie into the week? Yes. And again you know this week this year the focus is essentially on protection in the workplace. So on all that all those policies that governments should have in place so mothers once they go back to work or when they give birth. They have access to support and they can actually and practically initiate breastfeeding. And also the World Health Organization and UNICEF have come out with a statement outlining you know the main points that should be covered by these policies. And what they say of course is you know mandatory maternity leave at least 18 weeks and possibly six weeks sorry six months. So this is something that not all countries have. Some countries have it much shorter so up to 12 weeks for example. And it's important to you know to outline how these kind of policies impact the possibility of women actually breastfeeding their children. And what it usually turns out to be is that if you're forced to go back to the workplace too soon you're not able to continue breastfeeding even if you have started it. And this again brings you back to the formula and brings you back to the health risk that the consumption of formula can have in respect to breastfeeding. So this is one of the things that they have been advocating for. They have also been advocating for the WHO and UNICEF for workplaces which allow for breastfeeding and break breaks. So it's something to expand a bit on when the mothers return to the workplace that they actually do have the resources to continue the practice. Thank you so much Anna for I think that very important input something that in some senses is I think should be common sense but actually is not as simple as it seems. A lot of complications including the role of the industry. Thank you so much for explaining that to us. And that's all we have in today's episode we'll be back with more episodes in the coming days dealing with many such issues from across the world. But in the meantime do visit our website peoplesdispatch.org and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so that you can watch more episodes of Daily Daily. Thank you very much. Thank you.