[Sorting through BRICS, Guatemala joins the Pink Tide,
Islamophobia divides the French left, and more ]
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GLOBAL LEFT MIDWEEK – SEPTEMBER 6, 2023  
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September 6, 2023
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_ Sorting through BRICS, Guatemala joins the Pink Tide, Islamophobia
divides the French left, and more _

Multi-sectoral groups picket in front of the Embassy of Japan and the
Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City, Philippines to denounce
the Japanese government's plan to release treated water from the
crippled Fukushima plant into the ocean. Credit, Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN
News

 

* The Arab Spring is Not Dead
* BRICS Debate
* Guatemala Turns the Tide
* New Party Taking On ANC From the Left?
* Sweeping Opposition to Fukushima Wastewater Release
* French Left and State Islamophobia
* Translating _Set Fear on Fire_
* Thai Politics: Progressive Hope Undone
* Santiago de Chile and Tiblisi: International Meetings
* Special to xxxxxx: Guillermo Teiller (1943-2023)

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The Arab Spring is Not Dead
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_Haythem Guesmi_ / Al Jazeera (Doha)

Working classes, who spearheaded the early Arab Spring uprisings, did
not get involved in the post-revolution experimentations with
democracy in many countries. Lacking sufficient political education,
and excluded from decision-making processes, they have been
disillusioned by the empty discourse of NGO activism, and increasingly
accepting of authoritarianism promises of order and prosperity.

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BRICS DEBATE

* IT’
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THE ALTERNATIVE TO IMPERIALISM
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 _Vijay Prashad_ / Sri Lanka Guardian
 
* IT’
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A SUMMIT OF SUB-IMPERIALISTS
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Bond_ / Z (Boston)
 
* CLASSES AND STATES
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 _Michael Pröbsting and Federico Fuentes_ / Links (Sydney)

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GUATEMALA TURNS THE TIDE
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_Dánae Vílchez_ / openDemocracy (London)

What set President-elect Bernardo Arévalo apart was his refusal to
endorse the ‘Life and Family’ declaration, a campaign spearheaded
by the ultra-conservative and influential group Family Matters (AFI)
which advocates supposedly traditional family values, stringent
opposition to abortion rights and equal marriage, and the appointment
of like-minded individuals to executive positions.

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NEW PARTY TAKING ON ANC FROM THE LEFT?
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_Victoria O’Regan_ / Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

Three months after he was expelled from the ANC, the party’s former
secretary general Ace Magashule announced the formation of his new
political organisation, the African Congress for
Transformation. Magashule said the party wants to act against crime,
unemployment, poverty, retrenchments, privatisation, hunger, famine,
femicide, abuse against women, and discrimination.

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SWEEPING OPPOSITION TO FUKUSHIMA WASTEWATER RELEASE
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_Tessa Wong_ / BBC News (London)

Japan’s controversial plan to release treated waste water from the
Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean has sparked anxiety and
anger at home and abroad. Fishing industry groups in Japan and the
wider region are worried about their livelihoods. China has accused
Japan of treating the ocean as its "private sewer". Many South Koreans
have mobilized against the plan.

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FRENCH LEFT AND STATE ISLAMOPHOBIA
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_John Mullen_ / Green Left (Sydney)

The French government has banned pupils from wearing the ‘abaya’
or ‘kami’ in school on the spurious grounds that is a form of
religious expression. The question of Islamophobia can deeply divide
the Left, which had been recently united to defend pensions. Last week
leaders of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, and the CGT union
confederation all agreed with the government’s decision.

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TRANSLATING _SET FEAR ON FIRE_
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_Camila Valle_ / NACLA Report (New York)

Chilean feminist collective LASTESIS, creators of the viral
interactive performance “A Rapist in Your Path,” presented the
English translation of their book in New York. Translator Camila Valle
reflects on the feminist and political implications of South-North
translation.

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THAI POLITICS: PROGRESSIVE HOPE UNDONE
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_Kriangsak Teerakowitkajorn_ / Jacobin (New York)

May’s election in Thailand was a crushing defeat for its
conservative bloc and a triumph for the progressive Move Forward
Party. But the conservatives have used an undemocratic political
framework to exclude the party and maintain their grip on power.

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SANTIAGO DE CHILE AND TIBLISI: INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

* REGIONAL DILEMMAS OF HUMANITY CONFERENCE
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  _Zoe Alexander_ / Peoples Dispatch (New Delhi)
 
* MOVEMENTS OF LABOR CONVERGENCE
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GUILLERMO TEILLER (1943-2023)

_Susan Borenstein_ / Special to xxxxxx

Guillermo Teiller del Valle, 79, President of the Communist Party of
Chile, died on August 29, 2023, at the Clinical Hospital of the
University of Chile. He is survived by his partner, Margarita, a
daughter Lorena, his two sons Fernando and Pablo, and two
grandchildren. Teiller had been in fragile health for some months,
suffering from issues associated with COVID, which he contracted in
September 2022. His body lay in state in the Hall of Honor at the
Chilean Congress in Santiago, where on August 31, diplomats,
legislators, comrades and friends, including President Gabriel Boric
and former President Michelle Bachelet, stood in an honor guard in a
solemn act to bid farewell. Boric declared two days of national
mourning “as a tribute to [Teiller’s] dedication to Chile
throughout his life and his tireless efforts to build a more just
society.”

A procession with the Communist Party flag draping the casket
proceeded to the Santiago General Cemetery, accompanied by thousands
of Communist Party and Communist Youth militants, holding their
respective flags fluttering in the wind. At noon, a public act at the
Plaza de la Paz began. Speakers included Lautaro Carmona, General
Secretary of the Communist Party; Daniela Serrano, President of the
Communist Youth; Camilo Hernández, Member of the Central Committee,
Communist Party of Cuba; and Pablo Teiller on behalf of the family.
There followed a cultural presentation which included the musical
groups Huambaly, Illapu and Inti-illimani.

In an emotional tribute to his father, Pablo Teiller recalled the
difficult years living without his father during the dictatorship. He
said, “If you ask us if we are proud of the decisions our
father made? Yes, we are proud of his decisions. … And we want to
tell you that we do not regret them, we will not lower our heads
because of my father’s decisions, no matter how much there
are political sectors that want to muddy the waters of the path that
our party took. It fills us with pride to know that a man, our
father, said, if we are going to die, we are going to die fighting.”

Teiller’s son went on to thank the doctors, nurses and staff of the
Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile who cared for his father
during his last days. He thanked the President, Gabriel Boric, for
visiting his father in the hospital, and he thanked his father’s
closest comrades. He noted with pride that his father sought to
promote and mentor the new generation of Communist leaders like
Irací Hassler, Mayor of Santiago; Karol Cariola, Deputy Member of
Congress; Javiera Reyes, Mayor of Lo Espejo, and Camila Vallejo,
government spokesperson and Minister.  

Guillermo Teiller was born in 1943 in the town of Santa Bάrbara in
the south of Chile. He joined the Communist Youth (JJCC) in 1958 and
rose quickly into regional leadership positions in the Communist
Party in Valdivia, including becoming Regional Political Secretary. He
enrolled in the University of Chile, Temuco, in 1959, and later
transferred to the University of Austral, Valdiva, where he studied
literature and Spanish. He taught Spanish for four years and worked
for six months in the Finance Committee of the Communist Party. He
was a fierce defender of the Popular Unity government of Salvador
Allende and in 1973 Teiller ran for a seat in Congress, but he lost
to Carlos Lorca, a Socialist Party leader who was later arrested and
disappeared after the military coup.

At the time of the military coup on September 11, 1973, Teiller was
the Communist Party’s Regional Secretary in Valdivia. Because he
was a well-known political leader, for his own safety and that of his
family and comrades, he was forced to go underground. He left Valdivia
and moved to the city of Concepcíón, where he continued political
activity clandestinely. He had many disguises and pseudonyms while
working clandestinely. He was given the nickname “The Prince” by
the secret police. In July 1974, at a regional meeting of the CP in
Concepcíón, the Chilean secret police, DINA, located the
clandestine meeting and arrested everyone in attendance. They were
all, including Teiller, taken to the Air Force War Academy where
they were brutally tortured for six months. Teiller was one of the
few who survived and later transferred to three different
concentration camps. He was released from prison in 1976, and rather
than go into exile, chose to stay in Chile to rebuild the leadership
of the Communist Party.

In 1978, with the clandestine return of Gladys Marin and others to
Chile, Teiller joined the Internal Management Team of the Party. With
tens of thousands arrested and imprisoned, hundreds disappeared, many
thousands killed, and the leadership of the left political
parties decimated, the CP reevaluated its tactics in fighting the
dictatorship. In 1980, the CP called for all forms of struggle against
the dictatorship, including armed struggle. Sebastían Larrain,
Teiller’s final _nom de guerre_, was credited as the architect of
the politics of Rebellion. Teiller became the head of the Military
Commission of the Party and in 1983, and the Manuel Rodríguez
Patriotic Front (FPMR) appeared, the armed group associated with the
Communist Party.

Teiller was the Communist Party’s liaison to the FPMR and was tasked
with funneling aid from Cuba to the group. In 1986, the FPMR
attempted to assassinate Augusto Pinochet in his motorcade, but the
attack failed. Pinochet survived, and five of his guards were killed.
Later, in 1990, the FPMR pulled off a spectacular prison break at the
General Prison in Santiago, where 49 members of the FPMR escaped
through a tunnel they had built.

In 2005 with the death of then CP General Secretary Gladys Marín,
Teiller became head of the Party, a position he held for 18 years. In
2010, Teiller was again a candidate for Congress, this time winning
and serving three terms in Congress from 2018 to 2022.

On September 3, the Communist Party’s newspaper _El Siglo_ (_The
Century_) published Teiller’s last article, entitled “Fifty Years
After the Coup, We Must Defend Democracy.” It was written shortly
before his death. He concluded his article:

“Historical memory allows us to project a better future. Collective
learning should lead us to strongly reaffirm the defense of democracy
and its continual perfection. That is why we must defend and fight
to achieve the social, political and economic transformations that
have driven President Boric’s government and to which he has
committed. We must defend the government’s proposed redistributive
policies contained in the new fiscal pact, whereby the richest pay
the taxes that correspond to their wealth. Pension reform is a
priority task because the elderly cannot continue to wait and live on
poverty pensions; and we must fight for health reform so that
everyone has access to quality care; and all those measures that
benefit those who need it most. This must be our outlook. 

“Building a fairer society is the best tribute we can pay to those
who gave their lives to make this possible. For Chile, for the
defense of our democracy, for truth, for justice and guarantees
that this will not happen again, 50 years after the coup, we will win
a thousand times over.”

* Arab Spring
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* BRICS
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* Guatemala
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* Bernardo Arévalo
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* South Africa
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* African National Congress
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* Ace Magashule
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* African Congress for Transformation
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* Fukushima
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* France
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* Islamophobia
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* the Left
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* Chile
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* LASTESIS
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* Set Fear on Fire
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* Camila Valle
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* Thailand
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* Move Forward Party
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* Regional Dilemmas of Humanity Conference
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* Movements of Labor Conference
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* Communist Party of Chile
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* Guillermo Teiller
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