 Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Yovit, give the people what they want. Brought to you from People's Dispatch that Zoe and Prashanta and Vijay from Globetrotter is the 160th episode of Give the People What They Want. That's not really the anniversary we're celebrating today. Today is the Lunar New Year and I just want to just tell you how exciting it is for me, personally, maybe for others, that we're entering the year of the dragon. One of my favorite films as a child was Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee, an apocle film. And so I want to just tell everybody who listens and watches, give the people what they want. Please do me a favor. The week ahead, watch the entire Bruce Lee playbook in honor of the year of the dragon. Those who celebrate the year of the dragon, salutes to you. Enjoy. Well, if you go to the Dawn website in Pakistan, they have the best graphic on the election. They have little Imran Khan running and Imran Khan seems to be in the lead. He is the most athletic person of the lot, a lot fitter than Nawaz Sharif coming in just behind him in that little graphic Prashant. Stunning news from Pakistan. Stunning election result. Not fully a result yet, but still what's coming in stunning. What's happening in Pakistan? A lot of twists and turns ahead. The results are out for only one 19 seats so far, another at least a hundred seats or more results are yet to come. But nonetheless, as you said, quite remarkable results. What we see is that the independence backed by Imran Khan's party, the Pakistan Therikin Saaf party are the single largest force right now. Now quite a few important things to remember. One, Imran Khan is in jail after multiple, you know, multiple massive sentences that he has been hit with, especially over the past week. We saw it almost three sentences taking place, including an absurd one on his marriage. And the fact that he's been disqualified from holding office, his Pakistan Therikin Saaf party was not allowed to use its symbol and therefore could not contest as a party. Which means that all of its candidates contested as independence. And also because it's not contesting as a party, it is barred from getting some of the additional representatives in terms of women's representation and minority representation that it should have got in addition to the number of seats that are contested. But, and of course this happening, this election taking place after a sustained crackdown on this party, the PTI over the past year, especially we saw, you know, many of its leaders, many of its members were being put in jail, many declaring that they were actually leaving politics because of the kind of persecution. All of this has as its roots, the decision by the Pakistani military establishment which is really for all these decades has been the key force behind the government to sort of, you know, eliminate in every way possible Imran Khan as a rival, as a threat to its own power. But despite all these attempts, despite the fact that not only jailed Imran Khan and attacked its party, despite the fact that the military brought together two traditional rivals, that's Nawaz Sharif and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and the Pakistan People's Party, these parties have been traditional rivals that the military brought together these two to form a government. Nawaz Sharif who was out of the country and corruption charges was brought in, rehabilitated, presented as the, you know, possible next Prime Minister. A lot of surveys seem to indicate that this was almost a done deal that Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister was going to come back because, you know, the dive was cast, the odds were so much against the PTI, so it seemed. But these results have definitely proved that, you know, the kind of, the establishment definitely overreached, I think, you know, there has been an outpouring of support for Imran Khan all through these months and this may be really manifested in the kind of results that are coming out. Imran Khan seen as a victim of the establishment, a victim of this, you know, this military rule which is the military which has either directly or indirectly been in control of the country for decades now and that's one thing, of course, the economic condition in the country also proving a huge factor, massive cost of living, inflation, unemployment, all these crises, the results of decade-long structural issues in how Pakistan's economy has been managed in how so many people have been impoverished and while Imran Khan during his rule didn't perhaps do much to sort of alleviate any of these issues, nonetheless he's increased, it seems like he has been seen or he was seen by a large segment of the population as the one person standing against this corrupt elite and this corrupt establishment and that probably explains the kind of results we're seeing now but like I said, there is a lot ahead, we really don't know, you know, how things are going to turn out at least half the results definitely yet to be announced there have been all kinds of allegations very difficult, still getting a sense of what's happening on the ground, one thing is that the results have been extremely delayed, we do know that they were originally supposed to be announced on Thursday night itself but it's Friday evening, local time in Pakistan and we still are nowhere close to it but nonetheless I think none of this changes the fact that this is quite a historic election really a blow to the military establishment I think even irrespective of who forms the government after this, I think that the military establishment is the deep state so to speak which has very close ties with the United States for instance, very important, remember that its legitimacy has been seriously shaken I think there is no denying that and some remarkable candidates winning for the PTI Imran Khan's party including for the first time a woman elected in Chitral a very historic victory of Suraya Bibi we will be following this of course coming back next week with more of an assessment well speaking of elections Zoe when Yair Bolsonaro the former president of Brazil lost the election to Lula in quite a very hard fought election campaign right after that he got on a plane and went off to Miami well it looks like he is now surrendered his passport won't be flying to Miami soon why did Mr. Bolsonaro surrender his passport to the authorities well yesterday was a day that perhaps many had been waiting for the federal police in Brazil essentially launched a massive operation to open formal investigations and even arrest warrants for many different people that were involved in what we have talked about on the show which was the January 8th attempted coup which took place just one week after Lula was sworn in as president of Brazil thousands of Bolsonaro supporters essentially flooded Brasilia invaded the palace of the three powers attempted to destroy these buildings the president's palace the legislature all in an attempt to call for military intervention to take out Lula to arrest some of the judges from the supreme court and to essentially call for military rule of the country this of course January 8th did not happen in a vacuum it did not just one day everyone wake up and decides to invade Lula in overturned power however it was really built up over months and over years and what this investigation says what the federal police have alleged in their investigation is that not only did Jair Bolsonaro know about this plan but actually he was essential in orchestrating it and he had a pretty detailed description of how it was going to be carried out we know that there were several different moments where they wanted to actually carry this forward there were attempts to do this before Lula was sworn in actually once Lula won the elections in the second round there were camps of Bolsonaro supporters outside all of major military barracks across the country there were road blockades but they didn't get enough momentum and enough support and really feel confident enough to do it until January 8th and so in this investigation for example the president of the liberal party which is the party that Jair Bolsonaro ran with he's being investigated the former minister of defense and who was the candidate of vice president with Jair Bolsonaro also many high ranking military officials are actually implicated in this and so I think for many it's another testament to the fact that when there is such a subversion of democracy that the Lula government is actually taking it very seriously they've clearly been working very very hard to actually get this list of people to carry out the investigation to recover this evidence and to really take a stand and say that against the far right and show that these kind of crimes will not be permissible and it's interesting because following January 8th we saw that hundreds of the participants the actual people who were on the ground running into the buildings destroying things were actually arrested and being processed some of them have different levels of charges and there was a sense that it was necessary to get behind or get after the people who were considered the architects of this coup attempt the financiers and the political architects who really gave the motivation saying that there was electoral fraud saying that the military needs to invade and that's essentially what they've done in this case and we always have the parallel of January 6th in the United States of course we're going to see Trump on trial today for this many many years later and really more in a political move than really about bringing forward justice but that's a whole other story it's another story but it's in a sense the same story because the question is elections, fraud impunity and so on we're going to come back to that in the second half of our show where we're going to deep dive into Senegal into Colombia and into Haiti all of them, all those three stories about exactly this Zoe elections impunity, postponements where is democracy we'll come back to that let's spend a few minutes on Gaza the reason I want to get to Gaza of course is that well we know the war against the Palestinians the bombardment continues it's not ended but there's been an interesting development in the discussion about what Israel has been doing in Gaza I think that bears some reflection recently in the New York Times of all places the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal wrote a very very good piece it's very interesting that this is published in the New York Times which also did a long story on what Balakrishnan Rajagopal wrote about Balakrishnan Rajagopal as the UN Special Rapporteur on right to adequate housing accused the Israeli government of what is now called domicile in other words, domicile the domicile, the place where you live side, the death of the death of where you live it's a very interesting article because Mr. Rajagopal goes over how domicile has become an instrument of war and in fact I don't think it's become an instrument of war it has been for a very long time an instrument of war we can think of the old medieval attacks on cities where the whole city would be razed when let's say the medieval forces came in and destroyed their opposition it's not a new thing but the technology has enabled the mass destruction of modern housing it's important for people to recognize before I get to the numbers that in most parts of the world a house is a home there's an emotional resonance to it but also a house is your equity it's in fact generational wealth you know it's the wealth of a people you talk about inheritances of middle class, low middle class working class people the inheritance they have is not a bank account with a lot of cash in it for God's sake there is no liquidity for more than half the world's population they don't have access to liquidity what they have is the place to live which is then inherited over time and the houses as an economic resource is very important and the figures that have been put out there by the United Nations in fact quite now reasonably accepted studies done using satellite imagery of the destruction in Gaza northern Gaza this is the area north of Canunis 82.9 let's just call it 83% of all buildings have been destroyed north of Canunis 83% of buildings have been destroyed now it's important to remember some of these buildings were destroyed not by aerial bombardment or by shelling but in fact by deliberate demolition Israeli forces going to these buildings putting explosives and bringing the buildings down there are many videos of this available made by Israeli soldiers and put online there's no contesting the fact that this is happening so north of Canunis about 83% of all buildings regardless of the status hospitals schools etc but also residential buildings wiped out in all of Gaza 60% of buildings have been destroyed now that's more than half the buildings in all of Gaza right now 70,000 homes have been destroyed there's no possibility of rebuilding them they've been wiped clean 300 in addition 300,000 homes in addition have been badly damaged to the point that they need to be brought down and rebuilt that's 370,000 homes destroyed in Gaza 650,000 people I think this number is in fact needs to be looked at it's a very low number 650,000 people rented houseless I don't think this is accurate 300,000 homes have been destroyed it's unlikely that there's only two people per home I think we're close to the 2 million mark here 2.3 million Gazans I think we're close to the 2 million mark here this is a very serious issue that has been put now on the table just yesterday Antonio Guterres of the UN held a press conference where he said quite directly he said half of Gaza's population is now crammed into Rafa they have nowhere to go and they have no hope this is actually something that the South Africans had put on the table in their case for genocide in Gaza the International Court of Justice came back and said there's plausible evidence one of the pieces of evidence there was domicile we're going to keep a look on that give the people what they want brought to you people's dispatch Zoe Prashant and Vijay from Globetrotter this is a year of elections around the world already in Bangladesh, already in Pakistan many more to come India, Russia, Venezuela all going to elections but it's interesting we're going to go to places where elections have been postponed Makisal of Senegal what are you up to Mr. Saal Prashant why have the elections in Senegal been postponed this is a year of elections outrageous what's going on well at least Makisal seems to indicate that he will hold the elections this year but maybe but maybe in December that's a big maybe though but it's I think a very significant development what's Makisal has done because it the elections were supposed to be held in February he announced the deferring of the elections even just a few hours before the official campaign was about to begin and I think very important to note that at the heart of this is the fact that Makisal has been an extremely unpopular president huge protests over the past few years for multiple aspects to these protests of the economic situation but also very important to note the sense of discontent people have had with Saal as an agent of French imperialism there's a very strong belief a very strong conviction among people not only in Senegal but across the region that Saal has been one of the key one of the main collaborators of the French and that has also spurred the protests against him and Saal has responded by taking every action possible against his opponents very notably last year Osman Sanko who was a very popular leader was imprisoned on quite strange charges which were later read down by the court he's still in jail he's been disqualified for contesting for the presidential election another key candidate was also disqualified from the election someone and another opposition figure as well all this led to the opposition in Senegal to actually question the kind of electoral procedure that was taking place in the run after the elections and they raised those issues which Saal very one could say it seized the opportunity and then turned it around and then postponed it a lot of opinion makers and a lot of experts saying that Saal's preferred candidate his prime minister was not in any way assured of winning the coming elections and that is why this measure was taken so that it could be delayed Saal will now apparently continue as president till December he said that he wants to launch a national reconciliation process dialogue etc but many analysts seeing this as very much just a move to sort of say continue his hold on power try to suppress more opponents and try to see if either his prime minister or some new candidate will be able to carry out how will he be able to carry out the kind of establishment that he has created Saal of course has been in power since for two terms he is not eligible to run for the third term even in the fact that he was not running for the third term was a delayed announcement it was after massive protests took place number of people were killed that he made this announcement so while he is not contesting hold on power still continues and I think most important sign of this is the fact that parliament are shortly after he made this announcement parliament passed a resolution to that effect but that resolution was passed after police actually invaded the parliament premises evicted those who were opposing this decision and therefore the final decision was passed with a lot of votes so a very direct police attack on democracy in Senegal and it really raises questions as to what Saal is going to do in the coming months considering that on this issue he has actually set the police inside parliament but of course the very strong resistance by the people we saw protests last year as well this year as well after these announcements were made they were protest the police again arresting a lot of people I think at least 150 people were arrested but tensions are very high in Senegal right now and I think there is a lot of questions on what Saal is going to do and I think if he gives the kind of indication that he is you know trying to delay elections as much as possible we are probably going to see once again mass protest despite however much force he might throw on the ground so very delicately poised right now in Senegal for that matter Maki Saal of course is going to be in power it seems he is declared he will leave in December but the question is that will the people wait that long will will he actually is there any substance reconciliation dialogue and if he gives more indications that he is trying to hold on to power will what will be the kind of protest and opposition I think those are the key questions before right now for us well you know Pakistan had an election waiting on the result Bolsonaro tried to seize power in Brazil Maki Saal has decided I don't want elections now maybe when the situation is more propitious and in Colombia Zoe there is an attempt to overthrow the government of Gustavo Petro democracy the year of democracy what's going on in Colombia what a historic election and now this and well actually technically in this situation they are calling for election but election of the Attorney General we have seen in many different countries in Latin America with these progressive governments when they they triumph and they are president in states that have been completely controlled by oligarchy for decades no so there's many vestiges remaining vestiges of that kind of oligarchy grip on state institutions on of course the structure of the state itself but many different leaders have actually come you know face to face with this issue of course the in Peru Pedro Casillo was investigated by the country's Attorney General in charge with really ludicrous charges of corruption having been in office for such a short amount of time and never having served as a public servant before in Guatemala Bernardo Arrevalo was almost not able to take office because his party himself was under investigation by the Attorney General and now Guzaba Petro's foreign minister and the teachers union were both under investigation by the Attorney General the teachers union was actually rated the foreign minister of Guzaba Petro in so many of Colombia's quite important actions to really rebuild regional integration to build relations with Venezuela after having the US and Duque having destroyed them and he was investigated by the Attorney General and Guzaba Petro said that this is an attempt to undermine my government and to overthrow the government the teachers union importantly was rated by the Attorney General under allegations that had illegally provided campaign financing to Guzaba Petro so of course this is completely about the Guzaba Petro government and not really about carrying out justice it's important to point out as well that the Attorney General prior to Guzaba Petro having won the elections was one of the most hated symbols of the state in Colombia because this was the institution that was investigating for example social leaders carrying out these campaigns of criminalization of those who participate in the social movements while at the same time not taking any efforts to investigate the disappeared, the crimes of the military the symbol of this great impunity that so many of Colombians actually suffer under during this conflict where the state has carried out so many injustices against the people and so right now that same Attorney General is actually leading the attack against Guzaba Petro and of course is being accompanied by mainstream media by all of these conservative talking heads who are occupying the main newspapers and main TV stations in the country who have been Guzaba Petro's rivals since the get-go Vicky Davila Semana Magazine all of these different instruments have just been attacking Guzaba Petro's government and his response to the raid on the teacher's union to the investigation of his foreign minister has been to say okay the term of this Attorney General who again has been a thorn in the side of his government but of course the movements of the people in Colombia his term ends on February 14 Guzaba Petro had presented a list of possible replacements for him back in August and he's alleging now that these replacements have not been considered and that they're trying to essentially swear in a new Attorney General and he's saying there should be elections there should be a more open and free process to actually decide who is going to occupy this role so it's become this point of tension and this point of conflict between the old established powers and of course the executive and so he has sounded the alarm that this is an attempt to destabilize his government there was a call by civil society yesterday to take the streets in defense of Guzaba Petro's government we've seen this before that instead of waiting to get to this very critical point Guzaba Petro has seen what's happened across the region has seen what's happened in history in Latin America and said what's important is that the people are on the streets defending the government and feel like it's their project so the government is not left alone and so it's interesting how he keeps calling on citizens to come to their consciousness and defend the government as it is a people's project so there was massive mobilizations yesterday in major cities in Colombia but of course this conflict is going to continue I think they did not vote in this proposed attorney general we're going to see what happens do they have this more open process how does this conflict continue but again Guzaba Petro what does democracy mean when all of the institutions are controlled by your former enemies well meanwhile in El Salvador Nayib Bukele won an election 98% of the vote a plebiscite in favor of smashing the gangs it seems smashing the gangs well let's take look quickly briefly in the situation in Haiti Haiti has actually not had elections twice one 2019 and then again in 2023 the very famous massacre that killed the former president Jovenel Moyes in July of 2021 a caretaker president comes in Ariel Henry Mr. Henry with no mandate there's no sitting senate there's no sitting government actually with a mandate in Haiti right now there's no decent inflation of food goods lots of people dissatisfied and a government really that has not been trying to move an agenda to bring back democracy what is Mr. Henry afraid of well he's afraid of the fact that coming out of the streets of Haiti are a very interesting mishmash of political forces including returning from Guy Philippe may not be well known to people outside Haiti he is extremely well known in Haiti Mr. Philippe walked around Haiti in 2016 before he was picked up by the United States in a Che Guevara t-shirt people said oh well maybe he's a person on the left in fact Mr. Guy Philippe was the one who orchestrated the coup in 2004 against Jean Bertrand Aristide a very mercurial complicated figure based on drugs charges the gangs with their grip on Haitian politics cannot be underestimated the people of Haiti seem to be struggling to find a path out of this particular log jam between a government which is not elected and various gang kind of formations that are very dangerous and themselves have various forms of popularity on the streets unlike Mr. Henry coming from in a way the elite but there is no real easy choice for Haiti it's in a tough situation the fear is that Mr. Bukele's massive victory in El Salvador is going to encourage other leaders across Latin America and in the Caribbean to use armed force against the gangs already the armed police in Haiti been killing people with the idea that this is going to allow the state to take back parts of the country which had been lost to them this is the Bukele strategy very dangerous strategy might be adopted by others we're going to come back and look at a lot of this stuff at your favorite show give the people what they want brought to you by People's Dispatch that Zoe and Prashant I'm Vijay from Globetrotter see you next week