- Gaza Must Decide Its Fate
- United Left Parties Elect President in Ireland
- South and Central Americans Defy Threats to Venezuela
- Madagascar Youth Force President to Flee
- Mega Strike in New Zealand
- Bangladeshi Women on the Battle Front
- More Party Stirrings in UK
- Tunisia’s Mighty Union
- Indonesian Left: The Heat is On
- State of Play in Peru
__________Gaza Must Decide Its Own Fate
Mahmoud Mushtaha / +972 (Tel Aviv)
We cannot repeat the slow death of Oslo nor replace Hamas with another detached faction, but instead rethink the foundations of our political culture.
__________United Left Parties Elect President in Ireland
Mícheál Mac Donncha / An Phoblacht (Dublin)
In the end she won by a landslide. It is a victory for progressive politics as Catherine Connolly stood clearly for fair distribution of wealth, housing as a right, Irish neutrality, solidarity with Palestine, the Irish language and of course Irish Unity. She was backed by Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, People Before Profit, the Green Party and progressive independents.
__________South and Central Americans Defy Threats to Venezuela
Isabela Dias / Mother Jones (San Francisco)
The Trump administration escalated its military presence in the Caribbean and South America by announcing the deployment of an aircraft carrier group to the region. The expanding campaign, which legal experts have warned violates international law and amounts to extrajudicial killings, has raised alarm in Latin America, worsening tensions between the Trump administration and leaders in the region.
__________Madagascar Youth Force President to Flee
Govina Damy / Al Jazeera (Doha)
Since September 25, hundreds of protesters led by the “Gen Z Madagascar” youth movement have been taking to the streets of Antananarivo. By October 13, it was confirmed: President Rajoelina had resigned. The military had taken over. Some called it liberation. Others, a dangerous replay of history.
__________Mega Strike in New Zealand
Eva Corlett / The Guardian (London)
An estimated 100,000 nurses, teachers and public sector staff walked off the job in New Zealand to call on the government to better fund and resource public services, in one of the country’s largest ever strikes. The “mega strike” brought together workers from multiple sectors, including more than 60,000 school teachers, 40,000 nurses and salaried medical specialists and 15,000 public service staff.
__________Bangladeshi Women on the Battle Front
Abhimanyu Bandyopadhyay / Global Voices (The Hague)
Admirers across the country hailed Farzana Sithi as the “Tigress” and “Iron Lady” of Bangladesh’s women’s resistance movement. Sithi became a household name during the July to August 2024 protests that reshaped the nation’s political landscape and forced top government officials to step down.
__________More Party Stirrings in UK
• Greens and Your Party Jostle Megan Kenyon / The New Statesman (London)
• Getting It Together Adem Ay / Waging Nonviolence (Brooklyn)
• Factions in Your Party / Prometheus (London)
__________Tunisia’s Mighty Union
• General Strike / The Arab Weekly (London)
• The Challenge of UGTT Mahdi Jlassi / Nawaat (Tunis)
__________Indonesian Left: The Heat is On
Mark Johnson and Wendy Lim / Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (Paris)
The August 2025 uprising—when tens of thousands mobilised against parliamentary corruption and state violence, only to face brutal repression that killed at least eleven people—has fundamentally shaped Indonesian left media’s output over September and October. This review examines how these publications documented the consolidation of authoritarian power whilst theorising resistance.
__________State of Play in Peru
Dan Collyns / The Guardian
A youth group in Peru calling itself the Generation Z Collective says it will continue to march in defiance of a state of emergency declared by the government in the capital, Lima, and neighbouring port of Callao. Group leaders said they would be honouring Eduardo Ruiz, a rapper known as Truko, who was shot dead by a plainclothed police officer last week during a huge anti-government march in Lima.
