Portside

There are a range of developments happening simultaneously now that throw a disquieting light on any democratic and potentially broader emancipatory project in South Africa. These do not receive much attention in media coverage or political discourse

The U.S. media got the historic election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador all wrong. The winner by a landslide was Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a socialist reformer and unabashed champion of the working class. It’s a hugely significant turn of events.

The Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower ‘aligned’ Trump’s financial interests with those of crooks, according to Global Witness.

Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, removed an anti-Semitic meme from his Facebook page on Sunday after an outcry from Israeli politicians and Jewish community leaders in the United States. The image, posted by Yair Netanyahu on Friday, appeared to be a local take on a classic anti-Semitic cartoon suggesting that Jews control the United States. It has appeared widely on extreme alt-right websites.

An old business partner could come back to haunt Trump.

On the 25th anniversary of her first crime novel, the Commissario Brunetti author reveals how she is responding to dark times "I'm interested in why people do things. Crime in itself isn't interesting, it's just horrible. The convolutions of greed are more interesting intellectually than passion, because with passion the name is the answer. What happens once you open the door to temptation and to possibility, that's what fascinates me - how people worsen."

Romero Jucá, recently appointed planning minister, was recorded saying: `We have to stop this shit. We have to change the government to be able to stop this bleeding - the corruption investigation. The motives and nature of the plot to remove Rousseff are apparent in the transcript of the phone conversation between Jucá - a ally of new president Michel Temer - and Sérgio Machado, former senator who until recently was president of the state oil company, Transpetro.

History has shown that Guatemala’s elite will fight viciously to protect their wealth and privilege, regardless of the incalculable human costs of doing so. But its people have demonstrated remarkable resilience, courage and tenacity in their pursuit of justice and democracy. At this critical juncture, the U.S. should not send more money, nor should it insist on blind allegiance to elections that would stabilize the status quo when Guatemala needs profound change.