- Partial Victory in Indonesia
- Sri Lanka: The Left is On the March
- Revival in Singapore
- Podcast: New Leader of Parti Sosialis Malaysia
- Beyond the Bangladesh Uprising
- Afghan Women Flood Social Media With Protest
- Iraqi Women Condemn Child Labor
- Nurses Striking Around Iran
- Pakistan Reports
- MN Roy and Post-Colonial Marxism
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Partial Victory in Indonesia
Rudi Hartono and Peter Boyle / Green Left (Sydney)
The protests were an accumulation of pent-up frustration. Unemployment is rising and job opportunities are shrinking. With few job opportunities and rampant nepotism in hiring, young Indonesians are particularly sensitive to issues of political dynasties. They are outraged by President Jokowi’s push to have his son run for Vice President by arbitrarily changing laws.
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Sri Lanka: The Left is On the March
Britta Petersen / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)
The sole candidate who is expected to challenge the existing regime is Anura Kumara Dissanayake (also known as AKD) from the socialist People’s Liberation Front (JVP). His victory would represent a decisive break with the established elites and the country’s political system which they control. In light of the widespread discontent amongst the population, conditions may be ripe for his victory.
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Revival in Singapore
Elijah Tay, Lynn, Nova Sobieralski, Jacob Andrewartha and Alex Salmon / Links (Sydney)
It is important to note that this new left did not just happen — it took a lot of work and organising to make sure it is not just a flash in the pan. People may have ideas, leanings and concerns, but these have to be organised and linked back to the issue of class. This takes conscious effort and grassroots work. That is the kind of activism we have been slowly putting in to rebuild the left in Singapore.
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Podcast: New Leader of Parti Sosialis Malaysia
Sivaranjani Manickam / Beyond the Ballot Box (Kuala Lumpur)
Sivaranjani Manickam has been elected the new secretary-general of Parti Sosialis Malaysia at its 26th national congress, which took place at the end of July. She’s been an activist for more than 20 years, been a member of PSM for almost as long and has also worked for UNHCR.
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Beyond the Bangladesh Uprising
Anu Muhammad and Manoranjan Pegu / Asian Labour Review (Hong Kong)
What has driven the protesters’ anger? How we may situate it against the country’s neoliberal authoritarian development that has led to sharpening inequality and undermined the life chances of millions of workers and students? Anger, passion and sadness, mixed with determination among the youth, have led to a kind of movement we haven’t seen in decades.
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Afghan Women Flood Social Media With Protest
Firstpost (Mumbai)
Several Afghan women have launched online protests by uploading videos of themselves singing in defiance of the Taliban’s latest laws. Women from both Afghanistan and abroad challenged these rules by singing about their struggle for freedom. The lyrics of most of these songs referenced the harsh realities faced by Afghan women since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
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Iraqi Women Condemn Child Labor
Alex MacDonald / Middle East Eye (London)
Women's rights campaigners took to the streets across Iraq on August 8, protesting changes to legislation that could enshrine sectarianism in family relationships and open the door to child marriage. The demonstrations were organised by Coalition 188, a group of NGOs, politicians and activists opposed to amending the Personal Status law, also known as Law No 188, first passed in 1959.
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Nurses Striking Around Iran
Center for Human Rights in Iran (New York)
Peaceful protests erupted following the death of Parvaneh Mandani, a 32-year-old nurse from Fars Province, on August 2. Believed to have died from overwork, Mandani’s death has become a rallying cry for nurses across the country. As of August 27, strikes and demonstrations have been reported in major cities.
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Pakistan Reports
• Haqooq-e-Khalq Party Tanya Singh and Ammar Ali Jan / Progressive International
• Baloch Yakjehti Committee Zofeen T Ebrahim / The Guardian (London)
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MN Roy and Post-Colonial Marxism
Kris Manjapra / Jacobin (Brooklyn)
M. N. Roy was a revolutionary activist across national borders, from his home country of India to Mexico and the USSR. Roy rejected Eurocentric versions of Marxism, and his ideas about the postcolonial state are strikingly relevant to Indian politics today. From his origins as a young insurgent in Calcutta in the 1910s, he became a high-level Comintern leader in 1920s Moscow.
