 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news round up. You're with Give the People What They Want. That's Zoe. That's Prashant. Coming to you every week from People's Dispatch and Globetrotter. Of course, terrible, terrible news almost every day from Palestine. Gaza in particular. But as we've said, not only Gaza. Some facts that I got which were disturbing to me. We know that the death toll has reached 18,000 people and that's appalling. And you know the problem with death tolls is as they rise, they feel more and more overwhelming. It's almost difficult to feel a connection to 18,000, 19,000, 20,000. But I got a number from the United Nations this week which startled me. It said that 1,550 families have lost multiple family members. That's disturbing. But here's the even more disturbing number. Before I tell you that number, it's worth saying that in previous Israeli sustained bombardments of Gaza, total death tolls were about 1,400, 1,500 and so on. Well, think about this. In this particular genocidal violence in Gaza, 320 families have lost more than 10 people per family. That means that in these 322 families alone, over 3,000 people died. That's twice the death toll in previous sustained bombardments by Israel on Gaza. In fact, now in the statistics, we're starting to see this abbreviation WCNSF. This is beginning to appear in the abbreviations Wounded Child No Surviving Families. This is the situation now in Gaza, 85% of the people displaced. The Israeli troops moving south on Saladin Road, gone through Khan Yunus, coming up to Rafa, clearing out people from one end to the other. I mean, this comes, friends, after the United States, of course vetoed a ceasefire resolution being the only one. Even the United Kingdom abstained from the Security Council. But then in the General Assembly, overwhelming majority of countries voted for a ceasefire. Interestingly, it was not so clear cut. Ukraine, when it came to the Cuba resolution, voted directly with the United States to maintain the embargo against Cuba with Israel at the time. In this resolution on a ceasefire, Ukraine actually abstained. That very interesting. A number of European countries voted for the ceasefire, because the United States leading a block of countries, including Micronesia, Nauru and so on, voted to continue the bombardment of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Horrendous, horrendous situation, no end in sight as such. Lots of talk about some sort of dial down of tension, including recently, even in Washington DC, the language suggests that the violence has been too much. Interesting Prashant and Zoe, I looked at a New York Times story that tried to justify the asymmetrical nature of the violence where the New York Times on the cover page had a story on proportionality of violence saying there's a difference between proportionality and asymmetry. Of course, there's asymmetric, you know, the maximum number Israel is claiming for dead has been 1200 and now Palestinians 18,000 and climbing, that's asymmetrical. But the New York Times arguing this is actually not necessarily disproportionate, because the Israelis are trying not to kill enough people, more people, they're trying to follow the rules of law. They're using as minimal, you know, so-called homeopathic violence against the Palestinian fortifications, and they cannot be blamed if this is a congested area and so on and so forth. So even at a time when the United States president has started to soften US support for Israel, however tepidly, however cynically, even he has said one or two things here and there. At that time, here comes the media saying, wait a minute, it's okay to have 18,000 dead. It's not, you know, a problem of the laws of war Prashant. I mean, it's a really bad situation in Gaza. What are you seeing from the context of Delhi? How does it look? How does it look what's happening in Israel? Right, interesting, of course, also sad to note that the rhetoric that the United States has taken in many of these fora, we had a story about the World Health Organization executive board discussing the situation in Gaza. The US representative there said that the ceasefire would not only be unrealistic, but actually dangerous. So, you know, this is the line that the United States and its allies are taking in key fora across the world. It's important to note, I think that many of these UN bodies, many of these global aid bodies as well have been very strongly calling for ceasefire. You talked about the extent of the humanitarian crisis, some of the numbers from the latest report of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, for instance, are equally shocking. For instance, there is a bed occupancy rate of 274 percent. And when it comes to ICU beds, it's around 227 percent. And more than half of Gaza's population, for instance, has been displaced. They're living in overcrowded shelters and it's a complete disaster when it comes to health. Similarly, if you look for instance at the fact that, you know, almost the entire population, like you said, has been displaced. We're looking at the possibility of epidemics. You know, we're also in addition to the direct death toll that this kind of bombing is causing in addition to the direct injuries. We're also looking at, you know, more crisis that may be slightly hidden underneath the surface. We're talking about malnutrition. We're talking about the possibility of other epidemics due to bad living conditions. And it is here that you have the U.S. representative coming and saying that a ceasefire is not only unrealistic, but also dangerous. And I think that really kind of sort of poses a very important that really poses a question as to what is happening over here. We know that, of course, Bernie Sanders is also finally called for a ceasefire. And there has been, you know, one or two people changing their minds, maybe, but the global, the broad global media's perspective, whether it be in India, whether it be in the United States, in many countries in the north has sort of unquestioningly, unquestioningly pushed forward this notion of two notions. One of it being a war as though this is a battle between, you know, battle between two professional armies or something of that sort, which is really, you know, two months down the line, how they continue to do that is really a question. And two, like you said, the question that the possibility that this is somehow explicable in some way or the other, or justifiable in some way or the other, which has been the US line throughout in all these global bodies, that there is justification of self-defense. And despite the fact that here we have 153 countries opposing that line, despite that fact, this continues to be the rhetoric that is being pushed through. So throughout, I mean, I think, especially in international bodies time, again, what is interesting was this time the UNGA resolution, and more countries supporting it, of course, on the other hand, I think the condemnation of the US and Israeli position and both the US veto and the Security Council and the vote in the General Assembly has been far more stronger. You've seen far more protests take place across the world against it. And you do get the sense that definitely the time, you know, in some ways, as far as global pressure is concerned from the streets, even from other governments, there is some kind of a limit to how long the US can keep this kind of rhetoric up. Like you said, Biden's speech is one example of that. But I think it's very important. I think there is definitely that that space is shrinking because nearly two and a half, two months in one week down the line, definitely no longer that space anymore. Yeah, I mean, it's unlikely if they're going to be able to maintain this, you know, Prashant, there's a mutiny around the world. And we shall see where this goes. I must say that violence of this kind has been sustained in many places in the world for years. I will remember in the 1980s, Zoe, across Central America, whether it was El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, the sustained violence that the United States and its allies used against the population of Guatemala, century of violence on that country, massacre upon massacre of largely indigenous people. Now, of course, a different situation in Guatemala. You've got a government. Do you have a government or was there a coup? It's a good question. But on January 14th, what we're most likely going to see is the swearing in of a new government under Bernardo Arrevalo. This is despite serious, serious attempts by the prosecutor's office in Guatemala to undermine his victory, to undermine the legal status of his party. And the latest move, which is seen and really characterized by Arrevalo as kind of a desperate last attempt to carry out this coup, which again has really been attempted to take place for the past several months, is that this prosecutor's office ruled that there were irregularities in the supreme electoral tribunal and therefore the results of the last election are completely null. It's almost laughable. It really is almost laughable if it weren't so serious, these accusations. As I said, Bernardo Arrevalo won the elections in the second round in August. He had scored in the top two in the first round of the elections. And even before these elections, as we've been reporting on people's dispatch, there were attempts by the prosecutor's office, by different judicial bodies in the country to disqualify Moimet do Semia, which is his party. Other parties actually did not. Many other parties were actually barred from participating with varying degrees of irregularities, but we're talking left parties, we're talking centrist parties. There was a serious sort of trying to keep people out of this democratic process, but they were unable to bar Moimet do Semia from participating. Bernardo Arrevalo again wins the first round and immediately there are measures taken to undermine his party to declare it illegal to say that the legal representative does not count, to say that this party cannot contest. Constantly just casting doubt on this process, casting doubt on him. This is, of course, been met with mass protest by the Guatemalan people. And this latest attempt, which is probably the most serious, which is just to say outright these elections don't count, they cannot be valid, has been met with serious, serious resistance, both by Arrevalo and his party. The indigenous movement, which has been on the streets consistently to demand the respective democracy, but also international politicians and figures and bodies have really been rejecting this. I mean, this isn't a case where you see, like in many other Latin American countries, which we've covered, that the OAS is saying, oh yeah, this was electoral fraud and the right-wing candidate should win. It's so clear that that's not the case, that even Luis Almagro, the OAS, Joseph Bordel from the European Union, even the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala has really called on this rogue prosecutor's office to say, all right, enough, you're really actually threatening the basis of democracies, democratic structures. That's where we draw the line, because it's just so blatant. You know, he won these elections fair and square, the Guatemalan people gave their vote, cast their vote, and have been consistently defending their vote. So it's Bernardo Arrevalo, you know, days since the prosecutor's office declared, said that they're going to declare these results. No, we've seen that he has been defiant in the face of this and said, we are going to be sworn in on January 14th. This is, you know, a desperate attempt. But we've seen, again, politicians from across the region as well, Gabriel Bordic, many others say that they support him, that they're rejecting this coup as well. So I think that it's really not going to go forward. But I think what you're saying about this legacy of undermining of democracy, of coups, of violence, the Guatemalan people are fighting very hard to recover this small semblance of democracy that they have from, of course, after decades of corrupt officials, officials who are handing over the mineral and natural resources over to multinational corporations. There have been many fierce battles between indigenous communities fighting for the protection of their land for access to basic rights and services. Interestingly enough, the former Guatemalan government, I think Jimmy Morales moved the Guatemalan embassy in Israel to Jerusalem right after the US did. So interesting connections there. And I think we're going to see in the next couple of weeks how this shakes out. But I think we're most likely going to see a progressive government sworn in in Guatemala. A progressive government sworn in in Guatemala. That's true. We'll see if indeed that is the case. This is also a situation where Gabriel Bordic doesn't always have the best judgment when it comes to the region. Here it seems to be is on the right side of history. We shall see your with give the people what they want coming to you from people's dispatch, indispensable source for your understanding of the world with Prashant and Zoe the co editors. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. You know, I've been doing a series for actually quite a number of years now about developments in the Sahel region visited a number of the different minds in the area. There was a new report out Prashant called blood gold rather malicious report that suggested the Wagner group of Russia was there, you know, laundering the gold smuggled out of the Sahel region. At the same time, the Burkin Abbey or Burkina Faso's government put in an interesting new law on mining around the same time as Burkina Faso and others have been trying to normalize relations in their region. What's been happening in this area West Africa, the Sahel, what are the high level discussions going on. You mentioned Burkina Faso it's President Ibrahim Traware has actually said that the alliance of Sahel states, which was initially conceived as a military alliance, but it also moved towards an economic alliance as well and that's actually a very interesting sign for what is to come in the coming days and weeks but we have a story on board on by colleague Tanupri on this on eco was talking to the jail. And it's a very interesting moment we know that the coup happened in July or in July towards the end of July and it's been many months of eco was basically various West African countries often led by Nigeria the key players trying to somehow make the coup go away so to speak, you know, whatever way possible they tried sanctions of course very brutal sanctions will come to that those haven't worked and now the body has decided to sort of very magnanimously initiate talks to ensure a transition is what which is what they call it this has happened in the past with Mali also for instance. So eco was now having a commission to initiate talks with the military with the rulers in with the rulers in the country and what this means basically is there is a de facto acceptance finally by eco was of what was popularly and popularly acclaimed and widely acclaimed in Niger when it took place that the fact that Mohammed Bazoom the ex president was extremely popular and the military rulers who took over and put forward an agenda, which included the French forces giving was actually a very popular decision as far as you know they were extremely popular so eco was forced to accept it at this point of time and it's also important to note that even as the Niger government is negotiating or discussing the possibility of a transition with eco was like I said this alliance of Sahil states. The alliance of Sahil states is actually strengthening its cooperation and which is why it brings our statement is important. All the leaders I think of these countries of these countries we have Mali we have work in a fast we have Niger all of them sort of recognizing that defensive alliances of course the first pillar or the first step as far as this alliance is concerned but over time it also has to become a commercial alliance it also has to have there has to be some concept of integration also that is part of it which is why there have been these discussions there have been discussions around the question of the CFA Frank as well a lot of controversy around that especially the role of France. So it will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks with this AES will they be in some senses be able to I wouldn't say replicate but will they something in a follow up panel path to what their predecessors in the 60s and 70s were able to do. Will they be able to chart a course where the aspirations of the people are to some extent met where they're able to resist imperialism in all its forms we know that the US still has soldiers in the US it's very important to know that but not only in terms of resisting of course the imperialism or resisting is US influence but also in some senses being able to tap into each other's strengths for the economically I think that really is the challenge. It's going to be a very persistent problem in the Sahel region a lot is a lot at stake Prashant mentioned earlier gold and so on really rich part of the world uranium gold other rare earth minerals very very rich area confounded for these new governments how to make a path forward you know how to deal with the problems of their people. Meanwhile another genius seems to have entered into high political life in Argentina inherited I must say it's not his fault inherited 142% inflation rate he didn't create that but he now is doing things. Zoe that suggests that he believes in the J curve you know for those who don't know Milton Friedman and by the way Millay named his dog after Milton Friedman Milton Friedman was a great advocate of the J curve. When you do strong austerity things get really bad, but then like in the J they eventually go up now interesting Zoe you know that the long arm of the J is longer than the short arm of the recovery. But I don't want to teach Millay how to write the letter J in English what's going on with this new genius president of Argentina. Well the day did come that Javier Millay was sworn in as president and he has acted quickly his economy minister Luis Caputo essentially announced about 10 measures on TV it's being nicknamed the chainsaw measures because Javier Millay famously you know appeared in his his campaign rallies with the chainsaw saying I'm going to attack the political cast I'm going to cut back all of that. And essentially, I mean I guess it depends how he defines political cast but in any way that I think he was previously defining it which is that you know these establishment politicians, the alleged kind of corrupt and many years in office politicians none of these measures in any way address any of those people none of the ruling class, none of established political power, economic power in the country. You know it's a series of economic measures which really hit the working class, we're talking about measures to that say you cannot renew labor contracts for state workers that are less than a year old so we're, you know if you're a new worker if you're a young worker just graduated from university got a job in a ministry and some sort of state public office, you're not going to get a contract, suspending all new public works. There will be no more public works projects so fixing bridges, you know, all sorts of vital infrastructure projects are suspended, and there will be no more licenses, reducing subsidies on energy and transportation, and Argentina is extremely cheap. This is maintained to be affordable and cheap actually throughout the economic crisis and it's one of, I mean it's really the backbone the public transportation system for example in Buenos Aires millions of people use it. You know it's famously there's this city of Sonoma, which is the central part of the city and then millions, over 10 million people live in the areas outside of Buenos Aires and the conurbano. You know they use public transportation every single day to get their jobs, they will no longer have the transportation subsidies, which means that they know, even when they're making miserable wages even when there's crazy transportation, currency devaluation, they will be able to take public transportation, not for long. And finally, I mean there's many other measures that were announced but I think one of the most severe ones and you're probably talking referring to this VJ is the currency devaluation to make the official exchange rate 800 pesos to $1. Again, the, for anyone who's been to Argentina in the last year you know that the it's extremely extremely dynamic every single day exchange rates different. You have what they call the blue market where there's one exchange rate the official exchange rates a different one. There are many other. You know, nuances and how money is exchanged and what the actual rates mean, but clearly the devout the right out of the bat devaluation to 800 pesos is going to severely impact the working class. This will benefit the, you know, export sectors that deal with transactions and dollars, but we're going to see I think this will be accompanied by inflation. You already said 120% inflation that he's inheriting this is not going to. I mean it might drive it's going to push people into poverty. Sure they won't be able to buy anything and they will be struggling to survive so yeah maybe perhaps inflation will maybe go down but we're also going to see way more people in poverty where 40% of the population is already living under the poverty line so it's, there's no attacking of the ruling class in these measures this is purely working hitting the working class where it hurts. And at his inauguration was the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who then flew to Washington DC, where he met with US President Joseph Biden members of the US government, asking for more military aid for Ukraine. Of course, didn't seem to get satisfaction so Mr Zelensky did what all intelligent people do is he just went and sat with the arms company executives and praised them and told them how they were great and and said to them, make sure to thank the workers for getting the arms to Ukraine Ukraine in a position where Mr Zelensky's government unable to actually win back territory taken by the Russians, the Donbas region, Mario Paul, and of course Crimea. I mean the Russians have got what they came to do which is hold these three areas. There's really no room for a ceasefire in Ukraine. But meanwhile, in Kingston, Jamaica, you know, there was an important discussion this week, where the president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, sat across the table from the president of Guyana Irfan Ali, and they pledged that the disagreement over this very interesting tract of land that lies in the border region between Venezuela and Guyana, SAKO region, they decided that, as Mr Maduro put it, that Latin America should remain a zone of peace. Now, this has been an issue of great concern across Latin America, great concern, because the concern came as a consequence of the fact that there was a feeling that after the December 3rd referendum in Venezuela that this may escalate towards some kind of armed conflict. In fact, the very day after the referendum, when I was sitting in Caracas, got news that a helicopter, Guyane's Defense Force helicopter had come down. And there was some fear that, you know, this might escalate very quickly. A lot of Latin American countries came together and they said, listen, please de-escalate. It was a very good thing that the presidents of Guyana and of Venezuela met, had this face-to-face discussion and then decided, let's dial back the tension. It's important for people to understand that in some senses, this is lesser conflict between Guyana and Venezuela and more an issue being pushed by ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil 2017, sorry, in 2008-9 was basically shown the door by the government of Venezuela because they had a new hydrocarbons bill that ExxonMobil was unwilling to come under. It was unwilling to follow the new law. So they were basically removed from Venezuela. They took Venezuela to court for hundreds of billions of dollars in compensation. The international arbitration gave them one-tenth of that. And very soon thereafter, ExxonMobil escalated a claim that it earlier made on the Esikimo region and said, okay, we've discovered oil here. We're going to develop it and it's part of Guyana. I mean, in many ways, this has been ExxonMobil's fight. The United States has taken advantage of it, created military exercises with the very small Guyanese defense force and so on. It's a good thing that they came to the table. And I hope that this piece, you know, project that has opened up is going to bear some fruit. It's a very opposite of what has happened in Ukraine where the peace agenda was set aside, very different from what is taking place in Gaza, where violence is leading the way. It's very unlikely that you'll see even Irfan Ali go to Washington to talk to arms dealers. Very unlikely, of course, that Mr. Maduro is going to take that road. Looks like they want to find a solution that will benefit both countries. You always give the people what they want brought to you from People's Dispatch. That's Zoe and Prashant. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. See you next week.