Paez, Venezuela – Groups of mainly women stand with pride in front of Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School and Community Center. The new center and school provide classes on music, culture, politics, feminism, sports, etc. Children and adults from all over the neighborhood attend to open their minds and improve their education.
Acarigua, Portuguesa state, Venezuela – Long lines, including a lot of red-clad United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) supporters of the Chavez/Maduro party, wrapped around the block until 1 a.m. on August 9, waiting to vote for the tens of thousands of new candidates running in the primary regional elections. Polls were to close at 6 p.m. August 8, but Venezuelans felt energized to participate in the democracy and vote to continue the revolutionary policies of PSUV.
Caracas, Venezuela – Images of men sitting in prison, looking down at their shoes, awaiting court for violating and committing acts of violence against women appear on the TV screen. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen are the words, “The most people in prison in Venezuela are men who have committed gender violence.”
Caracas, Venezuela – Geovanni Peña, the director of the National Institute of Prevention, Health and Worker Safety, states, “Capitalism is the biggest reason for COVID deaths. Here, the Venezuelan government protects the working class and the people feel a collective social responsibility to protect each other. This is why we only have six Delta variant cases, while Delta increases exponentially throughout the USA and other countries.”
Minneapolis, MN – On August 5, 60 people gathered alongside Washington Avenue near Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Minneapolis office to demand an end of U.S. aid to apartheid Israel. The protesters stretched down the block with signs and Palestinian flags, greeting the rush hour drivers, who were overwhelmingly supportive and honking wildly.
Maracay City, Venezuela – In the worker-controlled Venezuelan Kellogg factory, you see the workers working diligently to make corn flake and sugary cereals in a new package displaying the Venezuelan flag and the words “Together for Venezuela.” They are wearing black caps with red letters that say, “Kellogg made in socialism.”
Caracas, Venezuela -The bustling streets of Caracas are full of masked people, during “open week.” You hear Latin music flowing from the stores, children playing soccer and laughing, merchants selling empanadas. 95% of the people you see are wearing masks outside, since it’s the government mandate.
Biden has been portraying the drawdown of U.S. troops as a sign of victory in Afghanistan, but the truth is that resistance forces are winning. In describing the motivations behind the drawdown, Biden stated, “We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead, and al-Qaeda is degraded in Iraq – and in Afghanistan.” However, the story on the ground is different. The puppet government set up by the United States has very little popular support and the U.S.-backed military forces have no will to fight.
Caracas, Venezuela – Groups of women, wearing blue hardhats, stand proudly in front of a five-floor building, surrounded by lush mountains. The community members are building 93 apartments for families in the area. 80% of the workers are women.
Minneapolis, MN – Around 30 people took to May Day Plaza, July 29, to hold signs and banners in a show of solidarity with the people of Cuba and Haiti after a new wave of U.S. intervention attempts. This event came after the Biden administration’s July 22 issuance of new sanctions on Cuba, as well as the July 7 assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse.
Dallas, TX – On July 25, about 30 people gathered at Belo Garden Park in downtown Dallas to protest killings of activists and indigenous people in the Philippines by Rodrigo Duterte's far-right government. The protest was called by Malaya Movement Texas, and the Dallas Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.
Dallas, TX – On July 25, about 30 people gathered at Belo Garden Park in downtown Dallas to protest killings of activists and indigenous people in the Philippines by Rodrigo Duterte's far-right government. The protest was called by Malaya Movement Texas, and the Dallas Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.
Chicago, IL – About 100 people rallied in front of the Philippines Consulate to say, “Enough is enough!” to demand an end to the war against the Filipino people by the government of the Philippines. President Duterte has especially targeted the indigenous Lumad people of the island of Mindanao. In a recent atrocity, the Armed Forces of the Philippines tortured and killed three Lumad youth, including a 12-year-old.
Chicago, IL – Noam Chomsky, Gilbert Achcar, Paul Le Blanc, Suzi Weissman, Tithi Bhattacharya, Charlie Post, Robert Brenner, Gayatri Spivak, Alex Callinicos, Ashley Smith, Eric Toussaint, Marc Cooper, Etienne Balibar. These are a handful of the over 500 signatories on an open letter directed to the blockaded Cuban government on July 12 demanding “respect for the democratic rights of all Cuban people” and the release of “dissident Marxist” Frank García Hernández and his comrades from jail after the protests of July 11.
Mick Kelly is a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and is responsible for the organization’s international relations. The following essay appeared in the book, A Century of the Communist Party of China, Statements from 100 Foreign Communists, published by the Contemporary China Publishing House.
Tucson, AZ – After a record six weeks of ballot counting and false claims of fraud by right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, Pedro Castillo was officially announced the newest president of Peru, on the evening of July 19. Castillo, from a poor peasant background and the candidate of the Peru Libre party, found support in the masses of poor and working Peruvians fed up with the lack of response to COVID-19 and the high rates of unemployment. Equally important is the defeat of “Fujimorismo” the far-right ideology of neoliberalism and chauvinism of former President Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s criminal father.