Portside

1. The Hunger Striker vs. The Dictator
2. Climate Activism and COP27
3. Learning From Lula’s Win
4. Palestine Focus
5. China and Western Leftists
6. Canada: CUPE Victory!
7. Myanmar Women Warriors
8. Protest Music is Global
9. The War and the Left
10. Free Book: The Crisis and Future of Democracy

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The Hunger Striker vs. The Dictator

Naomi Klein and Mohammed Rafi Arefin / The Intercept (New York)

The most prominent figure at the COP27 summit is not even there: Alaa Abd El Fattah, Egypt’s highest-profile political prisoner, whose first name became synonymous with the 2011 pro-democracy revolution in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that ended the three-decade rule of Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak.

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Climate Activism and COP27

• Video: The Protests   Rob LeMare / The Independent (London)
   
• Climate Activists Are Back. But Where’s The Movement?   Sam Knights / Novara Media (London)
   
• International Voices   / Farmers Review Africa (Johannesburg)
   
• 20 Activists and Groups to Watch   Tess Lowery / Global Citizen (Melbourne)
   
• Green Colonialism   Hamza Hamouchene / Middle East Eye (London)

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Learning From Lula’s Win

Alex Fleck / Progressive International

Lula and his coalition beat Bolsonaro and his shenanigans by assembling a broad front, keeping true to its immensely popular working-class politics and campaigning whilst allowing input from the centre-right. The Brazilian left joined forces knowing full well that there is no guarantee that it will win every issue in the future coalition government. 

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Palestine Focus

• Solidarity and Resilience   Benay Blend / Palestine Chronicle (Mountlake Terrace WA)
   
• Time to Talk About the Class Struggle   Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo / CounterPunch (Petrolia CA)
   
• Palestine’s New Resistance   Hani Al-Masri / Middle East Eye

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China and Western Leftists

Lijia Zhang / Chartist (London)

The UK Labour Party should try to understand China and its history better, including the ‘century of humiliation under foreign powers’. Don’t place the party on a self-appointed high moral ground, accusing China of this and that, as the Americans have been doing and demonstrating that they have not come to terms with China’s rise. And finally, do not provoke China unnecessarily.

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CUPE Victory!

• David Beats Goliath   Jenny Carson and Myer Siemiatycki / rabble.ca (Toronto)
   
• Long-Term Impact   Shawn Jeffords / CBC News (Toronto)

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Myanmar Women Warriors for Democracy

Yuzana / The Irawaddy (Rangoon)

Resistance forces commonly known as People’s Defence Forces (PDF) have been formed around the country. Women are part of the PDFs. Moreover, female-only units are being formed in some regions to fight against the military dictatorship. Myaung Women Warriors is one of those units, having been formed in October last year.

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Protest Music is Global

• Do You Hear the People Sing?   Vijayta Mahendru / Frontline (Mumbai)
   
• Roots of South African Struggle Songs   Sisanda Nkoala / Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

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The War and the Left

• Putin-Czarism   Anthony Barnett / openDemocracy (London)
   
• Ukraine: The Left Volunteer Movement   Vladyslav Starodubtsev / Commons (Kyiv)
   
• Can the Italian Left Question Itself?   Francesco Brusa / Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (Paris)

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Free Book: The Crisis and Future of Democracy

Ada-Charlotte Regelmann, ed. / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Brussels)

This volume takes stock of some of the key problems permeating representative democracy in Europe (and beyond) and to discuss proposals for bottom-up restructuring of politics and society with a view to a radical democratisation process, and explores approaches to transforming the conditions of representation and participation at all levels of politics.