 Hello and welcome to Around the World in 8 Minutes with People's Dispatch, where we bring you news from people's struggles and movements across the world. For our first story, we go to Kurdistan, where Kurdish political prisoner Zulkov Gezin, who was incarcerated in the Tekirdak prison in Turkey, took his life on Sunday, March 17th. Gezin had been participating in a hunger strike along with thousands of Kurdish political prisoners, demanding an end to the isolation of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Okalan. Even in his death, the repression and control exerted by the Turkish state was present. The body of Zulkov Gezin was transferred from the Ataturk airport in Istanbul to Ahmed without notifying his family. Only after his transfer, his family members were informed that he would be buried that same night. The deputies of the People's Democratic Party, which is a left-pro Kurdish party, were denied access to the Ahmed airport and that the area was surrounded by hundreds of police officers and armored vehicles. The police informed several party deputies that they would not be allowed to participate in the funeral and violently barred them from entering the cemetery on Sunday night. On Monday, March 18th, when party MPs and supporters attempted to visit Gezin's grave, they were attacked by the police. Gezin's action is part of a larger struggle being led across Kurdish territories to demand the end to the isolation imposed on Okalan, who has been imprisoned on Imrali Island since 1999. Kurdish organizations have condemned the fact that Okalan has not been allowed to meet his lawyer since July 27th, 2011, and the last time he met with a family member was on September 12th, 2016. Since then, there has been no news regarding the condition or health of the leader. Some of the other activists who have also embarked on hunger strikes as part of the struggle are Leila Gouven, a member of parliament from the People's Democratic Party, and Nazir Yages. Leila Gouven was arrested on January 22nd last year for criticizing the Turkish army's invasion of Afrin in northern Syria, as well as for other comments regarding Kurdistan. She now faces 31 years and six months of imprisonment and began an indefinite hunger strike on November 7th last year. Now Gouven's health is at risk and the Turkish government has yet to respond. Nazir Yages' health has also gravely deteriorated, with him suffering intense headaches as well as loss of hearing and sight. On February 26th, he was hospitalized but refused treatment and continued with his protest action. Yages affirmed his commitment to the struggle, saying whatever the costs, victory will come. For a second story, we go to Pakistan, where various people's movements and organizations have expressed their strong support to the organizers of Aurat Azadi march, that is the women's freedom march, which was held on March 8th. The organizers of this march are facing relentless strolling from right-wing conservative groups on social media with death and rape threats. As part of the International Women's Day, thousands of Pakistani women from different walks of life participated in the Aurat Azadi march, calling for an end to patriarchy and violence against women. The march also called upon the women to fight for environmental and economic justice, as well as reproductive rights. The march was described as a revolutionary feat in Pakistan, which has been witnessing a rise in right-wing fundamentalism. A diverse section of women, including domestic workers, peasants, residents from informal settlements, women affected by evictions, and transgender women, participated in the women's liberation march. Demanding an end to the objectification of women, one of the posters appeared during the march read, May lollipop nahi aurat hum, which means I am a woman, not a lollipop. Another poster read, We are the women your local preacher warned you about, which calls out the right-wing conservative narrative. Claiming that many messages on the placards held during the march were obscene, religious conservatives filed cases against the organizers of the event. In response to the wishes campaign launched against the organizers, Awami workers' party of Pakistan extended its solidarity to the people associated with the march. The party said in its statement that instead of targeting peaceful organizers, strict action should be taken against those who have illegally threatened and harassed the women organizers. Taimoor Rahman of the Mazdoor Kisan party pointed out in a video posted on Facebook that the march showed the women's movement was strong and vibrant in Pakistan. Responding to certain sections which had organized a men's march, Rahman said the need of the hour was instead to focus on women's issues to ensure dignity and rights for women, especially working-class women. A number of other working-class movements have also called upon the people of Pakistan to stand with Aurat March and resist the attempts to push women back from spaces that have been gained through decades of struggle. For our last story, we go to the United States, where members of the Venezuelan opposition who support self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido occupied three of Venezuela's diplomatic properties. This includes one consular building in New York City and two buildings belonging to the Venezuelan Defense Ministry in Washington. Reacting to these developments, members from various social organizations and movements in New York City immediately organized a picket in front of the consular building. These are movements and organizations which of course oppose the years' attempts of intervention in Venezuela and support democratically elected president Nicolas Maduro. They blocked the building's entrance to prevent more opposition supporters from entering. Manolo de los Santos from popular education project and People's Forum, two of the organizations participating in the picket, said that as soon as they found out that the Venezuelan opposition had occupied the consulate, they decided to do a picket out front. They found out that opposition members had already taken down the poster of Chavez and moved the figure of Bolivar. The opposition members were also organizing some type of celebration inside of the consulate. It was at this point that the protesters intervened and blocked the entrance to the consulate. Manolo said that many upper class Venezuelans who are part of the opposition began to arrive to celebrate that the opposition had occupied the consulate. But because the protesters were around for around three hours blocking the entrance, opposition members were unable to enter and had to either move or cancel the party that they had organized. Carlos Vecchio, who is Guaido's ambassador to the US, said that the opposition forces are hopeful about gaining control of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington in the next few days. These actions by the opposition are happening with support of the US government. Robert Paldino, a US department spokesperson, said that the US was pleased to support these requests. However, these occupation actions of the Venezuelan diplomatic properties are illegal under international law and the guidelines established by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Venezuelan foreign minister George Ariesa issued a statement denouncing the opposition's actions and warning the US of legal reciprocal consequences. Citing the convention, his statement said that Venezuela's diplomatic assets in the US can only be used by the official personnel that represents the democratic and constitutional government of President Nicolas Maduro. Chanting hands of Venezuela and Chavez lives. The struggle continues. The protesters in New York City will continue to be vigilant and keep checking on the developments in the coming days. That's all for this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes. For more such stories and videos, follow our website peoplesdispatch.org and visit us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.