Global Left Midweek — September 23, 2026
- Europe Reports
- How the Left Lost in Kerala
- War, Oil and Worldwide Protests
- Post-Post-Apartheid
- Left Voices on Palestine
- The International Communist Women’s Movement, 1920-1936
- Rojava Reflections
- Lula at the UN
- Ferment in Togo
- Erasing the Images of Chavismo
Europe Reports
Independence Talk Challenges UK James Francis Whitehead / Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)
Berlin Elects Die Linke Silvana Solano / teleSUR (Caracas)
New Government in Sweden / Al Jazeera (Doha)
Protest in Croatia Arko Bandic / Associated Press (New York)
Student Movement in Serbian Election Marija Bulic / Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
Erdoğan Represses LGBTQ Activists / DW News (Berlin)
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Ajmal Abbas / India Today (Noida)
India’s Left parties have suffered a dramatic decline in political influence because they failed to adapt to changing ideas of democracy, development and the aspirations of a younger generation, says Keralam minister CP John, the general secretary of the Communist Party (Marxist), the only communist minister in India.
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War, Oil and Worldwide Protests
Lauren Kent and Hira Humayun / CNN (Atlanta)
Protesters are taking to the streets around the world to voice anger about skyrocketing fuel prices and rolling blackouts, as the now monthslong US war with Iran drives up the cost of energy globally. Governments are also scrambling to respond to the economic fallout.
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William Shoki / The Ideas Letter (New York)
The legacy of apartheid is no longer the prism through which South Africans interpret their present and organize their lives. Populist channeling, unity conferences, campaigns to re-educate the marchers—all treat as a problem of messaging or coalition-building what the whole period since the end of apartheid shows to be another problem entirely.
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Left Voices on Palestine
Francesca Albanese Elie Kossaifi / Al Majalla (London)
Gilbert Achcar Dina Ezzat / Ahram Online (Cairo)
BRICS Retreats Robert Inlakesh / Palestine Chronicle (Avezzano, Italy)
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The International Communist Women’s Movement, 1920-1936
Daria Dyakonova / Red Threads
Founded in 1920 as the women’s organization of the Communist International (Comintern), the Communist Women’s Movement (CWM) fought for complete gender equality and the full integration of women into economic, political, and social life. The movement viewed women’s emancipation as an integral element of socialist transformation.
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Rojava Reflections
The Fate of Kurdistan Rezgar Akrawi / Libcom.org
A Place in Syria? C.P. Ward / Drop Site News (Washington DC)
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Hafiz Rashid / The New Republic (Washington DC)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called out the failure of the United Nations to prevent war, mentioning Israel’s genocide in Gaza and repeatedly criticizing President Trump’s policies during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York Tuesday.
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Jean Sovon / Global Voices (The Hague)
In Togo, demonstrations and opportunities for civil disobedience are drying up as the government cracks down on civil society and tightens restrictions on freedom of expression amid an ongoing political crisis. However, this does not spell the end of protest, as citizens find other avenues to make their voices heard.
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Erasing the Images of Chavismo
Catherine Ellis / Al Jazeera
In recent months, Caracas has seen a transformation. Monumental images of Hugo Chavez and other figures linked to his political movement, chavismo, used to be common. The Palace of Justice’s portraits of Chavez and the 19th-century revolutionary Simon Bolivar have both been covered up. Now there are new blue banners, emblazoned with the slogan “Venezuela reborn”.