 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup with People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top shows from across the globe. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Turkey's Chief Prosecutor files lawsuit to disband pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party. Student workers mobilized for fair working conditions in the universities across the US. Ecuador's presidential candidates launched campaigns ahead of run-off elections. Moroccan farmers protested against evictions from border farmland by Algerian government. Student protests against financial exclusion and police violence intensify in South Africa. Turkey's Chief Prosecutor has filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court seeking to disband the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party or HDP. The prosecutor has accused the party of having ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK. The indictment was issued on March 17. The same day the parliamentary membership of an HDP deputy was revoked, Omar Farooq was dismissed. For supposedly carrying out a terrorist propaganda, he had put up a post on Twitter in support of peace talks between the government and the PKK in 2016. The post carried a link to a PKK peace proposal. He is also a prominent human rights lawyer. A lower court had sentenced him to two years and six months in prison. This verdict was also upheld by a Turkish appeals court or court of Cassation. However, he could not be jailed until his parliamentary membership had been revoked. This dismissal and the indictment against the HDP have drawn widespread criticism. The right wing government of President Erdogan has been accused of attempting to shut down the opposition. The HDP is a left-wing party which has a base among the Kurdish minorities. It has 55 seats in the 600 seat parliament and it's the third largest party in Turkey. Its members have been persecuted previously as well. The parliament memberships of two HDP MPs, Leila Govind and Musa Farisakulari were also revoked in June last year. They were convicted by a Turkish court over their alleged membership of the PKK. For our next journey, we go to the US where student workers across various universities are mobilizing for fair working conditions. Student workers at the Illinois State University are set to vote on a strike action after failed negotiations with the administration. Students of research students will vote on April 2nd to authorize the strike. They are being organized by the Graduate Workers Union which was officially recognized in 2019. This is the student workers branch of the Service Employees International Union. The union has been negotiating with the administration for a living wage and other benefits. Student workers are usually researchers of post-doctoral students who work as teaching and research assistants. However, they are paid only $9,441 in a nine-month academic year. This amount is only slightly higher than the minimum wage in the state of Illinois and is much lower as compared to other universities. Students are also demanding healthcare coverage and eliminating administrative fees, reductions from their stipends. There are also demanding protections for international students who are often overcharged and have little benefits. The decision to hold a strike court was announced a day after 3,000 graduate students at Columbia University went on an indefinite strike on March 15th. Students across other universities including the University of Maryland and the University of Chicago are also mobilizing. The demands include an increase in salaries, safe working conditions in accordance with labour regulations and code guidelines, among other issues. Next we go to Morocco where farmers held a protest on Thursday against the Algerian government's order to evict them from a disputed area on the border. Farmers were told to leave the area by March 18 following which the border was closed. The disputed farmland is known as Arjal in Morocco and the La Roda Oasis in Algeria. Moroccan farmers work in the farm groves and are involved in the cultivation of dates in the area. Hundreds of farmers led a demonstration in the town of Figuig on the Moroccan side on Thursday. Several shops were also closed as people marched in the streets. Many raised slogans saying that the land was Moroccan and not Algerian. While the border between Morocco and Algeria has been closed since 1994, the Algerian government has allowed around 30 Moroccan farming families to cultivate small parts of the land. The government has cited security reasons, including drug trafficking for closing the border. However, the decision has been considered by many as a sign of the worsening relations between the two countries. Both countries have been involved in the dispute over the Western Sahara region. Despite agreeing to a borderline as part of a 1972 UN agreement, Morocco has made several attempts to annex the region. Tensions also increased after the US announced that it would recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara. This decision goes against international consensus as a majority of countries recognise the Sahara-Arab Democratic Republic as the legitimate authority in the region. Campaigns for Ecuador's presidential run of elections for launch this week, Progressive Frontrunner Andres Arauz will be contesting against right-wing candidate Willer Molazo in the elections on April 11th, Arauz from the Union for Hope Alliance had won the first round of elections with 32.72% of the vote. Willer Molazo was declared the second run of candidate, securing 19.7% of the vote in the February 7th elections. He belongs to the Creating Opportunities and Social Christian Party Alliance. Both candidates will participate in an official debate organised by the Council on March 21st. The democratic electoral process in Ecuador has witnessed numerous disruptions over the past few months. This included an agreement between US-backed second-place contender, Jaco Pérez, the Electoral Council and the Organization of American States. The agreement, which was later rejected, had called for a partial recount of votes. Pérez later also called for the intervention of the armed forces and the replacement of all members of the Electoral Council. He has continued to make allegations of fraud in the elections. Political experts have stated that Arauz is in a favourable position to win the election he is running. On a progressive platform of social protection which seeks to undo the neoliberal and austerity policies put in place by President Lenin Moreno. He also has the support of the Corrismo Mass Movement which represents the ideas of former Progressive President Rafael Correa. To a final story, we go to South Africa where protests have intensified following police violence against university students. Students at the University of Bitwaterstrand or Bits University had started protesting against financial exclusion on March 4th as the protests continued the South African police services were deployed to repress the crowds. During this violence, a civilian who was not part of the protests was shot and killed. Mata Kozizi's tomb had been in the area to visit his doctor when he was shot following his death. Students have intensified the demands for a clearance of students' historical debt and an end to police brutality against protesting students. Here is the video feature on the ongoing protests. This series of protests kicked off on the 4th of March 2021 when the Harvard Student Representative Council took to the Flower Hall building to hold all registration procedures for first year students and returning students alike. Initially, student leaders wanted to hold registration procedures, thousands and thousands of students who became excluded as a result of their historical debt to the institution. However, as it stands on the 8th day of the demonstration, the institution still hasn't addressed the students and really tried to meet their demands. Hence why they have taken back to the streets for yet another week to ensure that more students are allowed back into the system. Student representative councils from universities across the country have today joined in the fight against financial exclusion to shut down all university programs. The event of that fateful win-stay started on the intersection in the one-front tank between Jerusalem Street and Young Smudts Avenue where ties were being broken. Police officers were deployed to disperse the crowd of students when stunned grenades were thrown at the students. Yet again on the 8th day of the demonstration against financial exclusion, the protest is back on that very same intersection where it all started. The protest is now moving from the street where a non-vigil was out for the late interview. And as I stand behind me is the clinic where we came out to have a doctor's appointment with this doctor. This, as I'm standing right now, is the spot where the protest breaks. In his media briefing, the institution's Vice Chancellor Zeblon Villagasi has clearly stated that they are not in any financial position to continue funding or rather helping students that are in need of the financial assistance because then it would mean that they will not continue sustainably financially. How do you feel about this? So, I'm actually of the view that they are not for us, they are clearly not for us. For them to say that they are not, they are clearly not for us. Number one, there is a surplus that has remained, that remained. That could have seized all these 6,000 students. They gave themselves bonuses of about 20 million and it doesn't make sense for them to give themselves bonuses rather than students who haven't registered. So, for them to say that they don't have money is a problem on its own. But also fear that they must come to the table with us and say, okay, because we don't have money as they claim, they must say, okay, we're willing to take you students and comrades to the table with national government along with other universities to start a conversation of policy change to see how we can restructure the policy to accommodate each and every individual who qualifies to be at the university. I mean, it has already been a week over a week now of protests and it doesn't look like anything is materializing on the side of your demand. What's the way forward from today onwards and rather this week? So, things have actually materialized. If you look at UCT, they responded according to the events that happened here in Brown-Fan Jane. They haven't materialized on our side, as you say, as Vets, but I would like to believe that we are also assisting other universities by having this demonstration. But we want them to take the conversation further and say that, okay, because you comrades have this problem, let's come to the table and then renegotiate everything from the beginning because at this point, students who are holding the ground will continue to hold the ground even if it takes us a month. We'll continue closing down businesses to ensure that the economy also has the shape because the economy is the spine of the country. If the economy doesn't move, the country also doesn't move. So, we'll continue closing the economy and ensuring that our demands are met accordingly. As you've heard, the Vets SRC is not backing down. The students here in Brown-Fan Jane are also not backing down as more colleges have joined in on the protest. More protests will follow and we'll continue for the duration of this week. That's all the time we have for this episode of The International Lady Roundup for more such stories and videos. Visit our website peoplesespa.org, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching.