Portside

1. Bottlenecks at COP29
2. PKK Attacks Turkish Arms Manufacturer
3. China Holds Myanmar Rebel Leader
4. Storming the New Zealand Parliament
5. More Victories in Sri Lanka Elections
6. Spontaneous Solidarity in Spain
7. Sustainable Development Locally
8. National Strike in Peru
9. Two Left Parties in Big Trouble
10. The Palestine Movement in UK

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Bottlenecks at COP29

Dorothy Guerrero / transform! Europe (Vienna)

We asked one of the best experts for global climate justice, Dorothy Guerreo, for an overview on COP29. What is this year’s COP about? What are the buzzwords we need to look out for? And last not least: what is the role of the left in Europe in all this?

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PKK Attacks Turkish Arms Manufacturer

Hollie Cole / BBC News (London)

The PKK said it had targeted Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) on Wednesday because the arms it produced had killed “thousands” of Kurds, including women and children. The group said the attack was “planned a long time ago” - apparently rebuffing claims that the attack was an attempt to frustrate rumoured reconciliation efforts between the PKK and Turkish government.

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China Holds Myanmar Rebel Leader

Sebastian Strangio / The Diplomat (Arlington VA)

Chinese authorities have reportedly detained the leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which has inflicted serious losses on Myanmar’s military junta. The MNDAA is a key member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance of resistance groups, which has captured a large amount of territory in Shan State, since the launch of its Operation 1027 offensive.

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Storming the New Zealand Parliament

Shilpy Bisht / News18 (New Delhi)

Something unprecedented happened in the New Zealand Parliament on Thursday. Lawmakers from the Māori indigenous community demonstrated their anger and fear over a bill that will redefine their rights. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, 22, asked how her party would vote on the bill, stood up, tore the copy of the bill and started performing the traditional Haka war dance in Parliament.

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More Victories in Sri Lanka Elections

Devaka Gunawardena / Daily FT (Colombo)

The National People’s Power (NPP) coalition had won a decisive mandate in the Parliamentary election. It was an earth-shaking rejection of the establishment across the island. The question remains whether the NPP will realise it must work with other groups, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary, on the national question and the economic crisis.

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Spontaneous Solidarity in Spain

Guido Viale / il manifesto Global (Rome)

Everyone now grasps the notion that the solidarity, relationships, spirit of initiative and autonomy that develop in a mobilization such as the one that started in Valencia, if they succeed in consolidating themselves, can be the embryo for an alternative – social and cultural first of all, political second – that would be able to reckon with the true scale of the environmental and climate crisis. 

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Sustainable Development Locally

 • Brazil    / The Pinnacle Gazette (Gainesville TX)

 • South Africa   Nonhle Mbuthuma and Cromwell Sonjica / Amandla! (Cape Town)

 • Mexico   Emilio Godoy / Inter Press Service (New York)

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National Strike in Peru

Ben Radford / Green Left (Sydney)

An estimated 1 million workers took strike action in Peru on November 13-15 to demand that the government act against rising violence and extortion at the hands of organised criminal groups. Workers from the transport, mining and construction sectors, indigenous groups, students, human rights organisations and small business owners joined marches across the country.

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Two Left Parties in Big Trouble

 • Bolivia’s MAS   Gabriel Rodríguez García / NACLA Report (New York)

 • Greece’s SYRIZA   Emilia Salvanou / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)

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The Palestine Movement in UK

John Rees / Middle East Eye (London)

This historic movement is facing two new challenges: one analytical, the other tactical. The analytical challenge arises from the transformed nature of the war in the Middle East, where the focus is shifting to Iran. While direct action and mass mobilisations have broken big, the movement now needs to defend the right to protest, and to root it more securely in trade union mobilisation.