Global Left Midweek - February 3, 2021

New year, new realities in Russia, China, Cuba and Vietnam

Portside
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Thabisle Khlatshwayo gives a blood sample before receiving her second shot at a vaccine trial facility set at Soweto's Chris Sani Baragwanath Hospital outside Johannesburg. Credit,AP Photo/Jerome Delay
  1. Russia
  2. China
  3. Cuba
  4. Vietnam
  5. Mexico
  6. Greece
  7. South Africa
  8. Philippines
  9. Poland
  10. Life and Work of Maxime Rodinson

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Russia

Navalny and Left Strategy  Ilya Budraitskis, Ilya Matveev and Kirill Medvedev / LeftEast (Bucharest)

How Moscow Protested  Dmitry Sidorov / Open Democracy (London)

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China

Prospects for Improved Relations  Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng / Project Syndicate (Prague)

An Activist’s Ordeal  Li Qiaochu / Made in China (Canberra)

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Cuba

Changes Ahead  Luis De Jesus / Peoples Dispatch (New Delhi)

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View from the Left Outside the Party  Comunistas / Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (Paris)

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Vietnam: 13th Party Congress

Chris Humphrey and Bac Pham / South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

Nguyen Phu Trong’s reappointment means his reign as general secretary is now the longest since Le Duan took control following the death of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in 1969, making him arguably one of Vietnam’s most powerful politicians in decades.

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Mexico: AMLO and Austerity

Tony Wood / New Left Review (London)

Long decried by the Western establishment press as a dangerous ‘populist’, the Mexican president has now earned the rare distinction of being taken to task in the same circles for not spending enough money.

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Greece

Leftward Shift?   Sarantis Michalopoulos / EURACTIV (Brussels)

Protest Ban  The National Herald (Long Island City, Queens)

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South Africa: Vaccine Apartheid or Equality?

Rehad Desai / Socialist Project (Toronto)

We cannot leave this fight for access and genuine participation in the vaccine rollout to the health NGOs, social justice organisations and the likes of Oxfam or MSF alone. All our trade unions, democratically run civic organisations, churches and political parties have a huge responsibility.

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Philippines: A Year of Activism

Kiko Mendoza / Rappler (Pasig City)

No lockdown could stem the wave of activism in 2020, as students and young Filipinos acted on their rage – whether to expose sexual harassment in schools, call out red-tagging government officials, or unmask the flaws of distance learning.

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Poland: Abortion Rights Becomes a Mass Demand

Agnieszka Mrozik / Transform! Europe (Vienna)

Ewa Dąbrowska-Szulc, President of Pro Femina Association, speaks on current and past protests against abortion laws, feminist organisation and on the history of women’s right to self-determination in Poland.

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The Life and Work of Maxime Rodinson

Jean Batou / Jacobin (New York)

The French historian’s chosen subjects ranged from seventh-century Arabia all the way to the states and movements of the modern Middle East. Rodinson sought to explain the key political and social developments in Arab societies with the help of Marxist concepts.