Global Left Midweek – December 13, 2023

Focus on China and Germany

Portside
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European Trade Union Confederation members hold banners at a demonstration against government policies in Brussels on December 12, 2023. Credit, Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images
  1. Euro Labor Confronts EU on Austerity
  2. Peru Rages On
  3. Tesla Strike Gets Transnational Support
  4. Can Guatemalans Save Their Democratic Elections?
  5. Thinking About China
  6. Mandela’s Many Aspects
  7. Germany in Focus
  8. A Global Inspiration in Pakistan
  9. Māori Protesters: NZ Going Backwards
  10. Greta Thunberg: No Climate Justice Without Human Rights

 

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Euro Labor Confronts EU on Austerity

Julia Conley / Common Dreams (Portland ME)

Labor leaders in the European Union on Tuesday estimated that 15,000 people from across the bloc had traveled to central Brussels to march against austerity measures expected to go into effect after the New Year, with workers demanding fair wages and sufficient funding for public services.

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Peru Rages On

Susanna De Guio / openDemocracy (London)

One year after protests in Peru were violently suppressed in the wake of president Pedro Castillo’s dismissal from office, demonstrations are taking place again. The search for truth and justice is among the main demands for the protests in Lima and across the country. But demonstrators also want to see the resignation of Castillo’s replacement Dina Boluarte and a fresh election.

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Sweden: Tesla Strike Gets Transnational Support

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Can Guatemalans Save Their Democratic Elections?

Graciela Mochkofsky / The New Yorker

As autocrats are being voted into office across the region and the world, Guatemala, a country with a long history of dictatorships and corrupt governments, is fighting to insure a victory for democracy. In an unprecedented step, the protests are being led by Indigenous communities, who lost more than a hundred thousand people in a three-decade-long genocidal war, from 1960 to 1996.

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Thinking About China

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Mandela’s Many Aspects

Dale T. McKinley / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)

The contradictory nature of Mandela’s post-1994 political and ideological journey parallels the first few years of South Africa’s democratic transition. He played a central role in introducing and institutionally managing a trade-off: namely, the gaining of democratic legitimacy alongside political control of the state without a corresponding transformation of the socio-economic base.

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Germany in Focus

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A Global Inspiration in Pakistan

Freshta Jalalzai / The Diplomat (Washington)

Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, recognized for his iconic red hat and outspoken criticism of Pakistan’s powerful military for inciting violence and instilling fear in the Pashtun lands, went missing on December 4. Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement – a civil rights movement advocating for the rights of the Pashtun ethnic group – was arrested after addressing a rally in Balochistan. 

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Māori Protesters: NZ Going Backwards

George Heagney / Stuff (Wellington)

Māori and non Māori held protest events across the country on Tuesday morning, part of a National Māori Action Day, in response to policies from the new rightist-led Government. Demonstrators oppose removing co-governance, introducing a Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill and repealing the Smokefree 2025 law.

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Greta Thunberg: No Climate Justice Without Human Rights 

Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future Sweden / The Guardian (London)

Fridays for Future has not “been radicalised” or “become political”. We have always been political, because we have always been a movement for justice. Standing in solidarity with Palestinians and all affected civilians has never been in question for us.