Global Left Midweek – January 17, 2024

After decades, a progressive president in Guatemala

Portside
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Millions throng the streets of Sana'a to protest US military strikes on Yemen. Credit, Daily Express/LOCAL MEDIA
  1. Guatemala: Arévalo is Inaugurated
  2. Pakistan: Baloch Women Raise Hell
  3. Green Left Groups Hook Up in Eastern Europe
  4. Reports from Israel’s War on Gaza
  5. Greece: SYRIZA Splits
  6. Sudan’s Army Attacks the Resistance
  7. China Now
  8. Russia’s Military Wives and Mothers Protest Against Putin
  9. Political Repression
  10. Analysis and Action

 

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Guatemala: Arévalo is Inaugurated

Jeff Abbott / Al Jazeera (Doha)

An atmosphere of joy and celebration on the streets of Guatemala City briefly gave way to anger. Earlier in the day, live music played across Guatemala City’s historic centre, as thousands of people travelled from across the country, with some sleeping in the plaza the night before, to witness the swearing-in. It was delayed for hours by conservatives in Congress.

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Pakistan: Baloch Women Raise Hell

Kiyya Baloch / The Diplomat (Arlington VA)

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In Balochistan, hundreds of women whose husbands, brothers, and sons have disappeared have taken to the streets, marching 1,600 kilometers from the southern Kech district near the Iranian border to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Their demands: an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, and accountability of those involved in extrajudicial killings of Baloch youth.

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Green Left Groups Hook Up in Eastern Europe

Sotsialnyi Rukh and CEEGLA / Links (Sydney)

Central Eastern European Green Left Alliance (CEEGLA) links political parties and civil society organisations that advocate for a just, left-wing and social Europe. The newly formed coalition includes: Alliance for the Future, Czech Republic; Democracy and Solidarity Party, Romania; KARTU, Lithuania; Left Together, Poland; Spark Movement, Hungary; and Sotsialnyi Rukh, Ukraine.

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Reports from Israel’s War on Gaza

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Greece: SYRIZA Splits

Dimitrios Gkinis / The Greek Reporter (Los Angeles)

After a series of internal conflicts in the Syriza progressive party, a new party has emerged in Greece. “Nea Aristera” (Νέα Αριστερά), meaning “New Left,” is led by Alexis Haritsis and ten other MPs. According to the members, the party was created with the aspirations of establishing a renewed, progressive, appealing left.

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Sudan’s Army Attacks the Resistance

Mat Nashed / Al Jazeera

Dozens of Sudanese activists who have been arrested and tortured in ghost houses by military intelligence in recent weeks, even as the Rapid Support Forces threatens to defeat the army and capture all of Sudan. Many of those being detained are members of the resistance committees, which played an instrumental role in organising mass protests against the former President in April 2019.

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China Now

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Russia’s Military Wives and Mothers Protest Against Putin

Pjotr Sauer / The Guardian (London)

Maria Andreeva is one of the unofficial leaders of a newly emerging grassroots movement that has been gaining momentum in Russia. They are the wives and mothers of some of the 300,000 Russian men who were conscripted in September 2022. More than a year later, many women are staging public protests and writing open letters taking issue with the official narrative of the war in Ukraine.

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Political Repression

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Analysis and Action

Stefan Christoff / rabble.ca (Toronto)

Today waves of progressive political analysis online are often shared without relational exchange to the local community work at the heart of politics. A disconnection between individual voices online and grassroots collective work on the ground leaves little space for accountability and dialogue between commentators and activist movements.