[LGBTQ in Africa, Ecuador ablaze, and talk of stalemate in
Myanmar]
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GLOBAL LEFT MIDWEEK – THE WAR DEBATE  
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June 15, 2022
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_ LGBTQ in Africa, Ecuador ablaze, and talk of stalemate in Myanmar _


From left, the newly elected Saftu leaders are Luzipo Nontembeko,
Zwelinzima Vavi, Ruth Ntlokotse, Thabo Matsose, Mosima Maredi and
Lecogo Motshwari. Credit, Ihsaan Haffejee

 

* Serious Debate on the War
* Responding to Chomsky’s Critics
* LGBTQ in Africa
* Resistance and Repression in Ecuador
* Is the Military Losing in Myanmar?
* Parties in International Dialogue
* Aleida Guevara Speaks
* SAFTU Congress
* Fighting for Food Sovereignty in Palestine
* Political Education in the 21st Century

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SERIOUS DEBATE ON THE WAR

[_Moderator__’__s note_: Left politics and peace movement forces are
sharply divided over how to interpret and respond to Putin’s
blitzkrieg in Ukraine. As always happens in war, lines of demarcation
are carved deep, and reason often falls into disuse. These essays
offer different takes, some historical, some practical. We are not
calling for finding a middle ground. Our goal is to strengthen our
ability to think critically, and get to the real politics in a complex
and urgent historic crisis.]

* IF UKRAINE CAN’T WIN...    _Joan
Pedro-Carañana_ / excerpted from Rebelión (Madrid), translated by
xxxxxx [read the full original in Spanish HERE
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There is no doubt that serious debate is healthy and necessary, but,
often, it has not been so much fraternal debate as it has been about
lecturing the other side on what to do. What’s more, empathy, serene
dialogue and analysis of the facts have been replaced by aggressive
rhetoric against straw men, which have been used in the struggles to
achieve hegemony by one side on the left over the other. 

Santiago Alba Rico published (an article) entitled _UKRAINE AND THE
LEFT_
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(_xxxxxx note_: read the article in English HERE
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[...] I had the pleasure of INTERVIEWING
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Rico) extensively in 2018, (but) I believe that his analyses of
international conflicts are of limited value and even wrong. […] 

Alba Rico’s article proposes a lesson on what the left “should”
do or what we “must” support and condemn. Undoubtedly, we must
consider what to do, but there are already proposals from people
involved in one way or another in the conflicts - especially in
grassroots organizations - that remain invisible. It is elitist and it
may even be authoritarian to say what needs to be done when there are
those who have organized themselves and taken the time and effort to
think collectively about how to act. [...]

Alba Rico criticizes the left (tendency) he calls “Staliban” for
its support for, or whitewashing of, Putin. Again, it is true that
this left exists, but so much a minority that it is important to know
that elsewhere there are positions from the left that are of interest
and that differ from those of Alba Rico. For example (...) authors and
activists such as JOHAN GALTUNG
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FERNANDO MONTIEL
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FISAS
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made concrete and viable proposals before and during the war that are
barely discussed. Why not discuss them? It would allow us to make more
progress in the knowledge and construction of the long road to a just
and lasting peace. [...]

Peace can be built - always with immense difficulties - from the
realist recognition of the limitations to peace imposed by geopolitics
and, at the same time, from the values of peace itself, equality and
justice. From this position and following what was written by JOSÉ
LUIS VILLACAÑAS
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it can be concluded that Putin cannot be allowed to win this war,
although, at the same time, the Russian dictator will not allow
himself to lose it. There is no zero-sum option in which the winner
takes everything. Ukraine cannot win and, although Russia can
devastate Ukraine, it has to face the response of the US and Europe.
In the event of nuclear escalation, there is only the possibility of
mutual destruction. Therefore, the most reasonable option is for both
of them to gain and lose something for the benefit of all. [...]

* SOCIALIST INTERNATIONALISM AND THE UKRAINE WAR
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  _Rohini Hensman_ / Historical Materialism (London)
 
* THE DIALECTICS OF VICTORY AND DEFEAT
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  _Boris Kagarlisky_ / Russian Dissent 
 
* THE PEACE QUESTION AND IMPERIALISM
[[link removed]]   _Greg
Godels_ / Marxism-Leninism Today
 
* WHY UKRAINE MATTERS FOR THE LEFT
[[link removed]]  _Matthew
Duss_ / The New Republic (New York)
 
*
IS RUSSIA AN IMPERIALISM POWER?
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_Claudio Katz_ / Latin American Information Agency (Quito)

*
A JUST CEASEFIRE OR JUST A CEASEFIRE?
[[link removed]]   _John
Feffer_ / Foreign Policy in Focus (Washington DC)

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RESPONDING TO CHOMSKY’S CRITICS
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_Jeffrey Sommers_ / CounterPunch (Petrolia CA)

In May of this year, four economists from Ukraine working in the
United States took umbrage with Chomsky’s comments on the war, or at
least what they assumed were the ideas he expressed. They held some of
his statements to be either inaccurate, or irrelevant to the conflict
and/or giving succor to Russia’s war effort. Here are some
responses, including Chomsky’s.

__________
LGBTQ in Africa

* HOMOPHOBIA IS AFRICA’S MORAL BLIND SPOT
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  _Tafi Makha_ / Al Jazeera (Doha)
 
* THE STIGMA OF VIOLENCE AND CRIMINAL CHARGES
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  _Martina Schwikowski_ / Deutsche Welle (Berlin)
 
* BOTSWANA’S QUEER STRUGGLES
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  _Ngozi Chukura_ / African Arguments (London)
 
* LGBTQIA+ ACTIVISTS IN ZAMBIA
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  _Carl Collison_ / New Frame (Johannesburg)

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RESISTANCE AND REPRESSION IN ECUADOR
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Al Jazeera

Ecuadorian Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza has been released from
detention, less than a day after he was arrested on what the interior
ministry described as suspicion of “sabotage” amid nationwide
anti-government protests that have sprawled across the Latin
American country.

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IS THE MILITARY LOSING IN MYANMAR?
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_Anthony Davis_ / Asia Times (Hong Kong)

As unsealed rural roads turn to mud and low rain clouds constrain air
operations, the coming months will inevitably hamper army operations
while favoring guerrilla forces that a year ago were in their infancy
but today in many areas are relatively well established.

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PARTIES IN INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE

* US BELLIGERENCE IN ASIA-PACIFIC
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  _Joint Statement of the Southeast Asian Left_ / Think Left (Kuala
Lumpur)
 
* SURVEYING EUROPEAN LEFT PARTIES
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  _Cornelia Hildebrandt_ / transform! Europe (Vienna)
 
* STREAMING: ¡NO PASARÁN! 2022 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
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  / transform! Europe 

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ALEIDA GUEVARA SPEAKS
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_Aleida Guevara_ / Progressive International 

The daughter of Che Guevara: “Solidarity does more than make you
grow as a human being by feeling useful to another, it also allows you
to grow by learning ancestral wisdom. Learning about the need for
love, understanding and respect between human beings. If we don't have
that, we can't change this world, and we need to change this world. We
can't go on living like this.”

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2022 SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS CONGRESS

* HOPE
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  Stephen Faulkner_ / Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
 
* TURMOIL
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  _Magnificent Mndebele and Sazi Bongwe_ / New
Frame (Johannesburg)

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Fighting for Food Sovereignty in Palestine
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_April M. Short_ / Socialist Project (Toronto)

Community-led initiatives related to land and food justice in
Palestine today are aimed at reconnecting people with the land and
encouraging them to economically support locally grown food. These
efforts seek to support food sovereignty through community-led food
and agroecology projects in response to the degradation of land,
culture, and ways of life by Israel.

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POLITICAL EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
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_Laurence Cox_ / Waging Nonviolence (Brooklyn)

Right now, a pan-European alliance of activist training groups and
academics is working on a project to deepen strategic thinking and the
capacity for alliance-making between social movements across many
different countries.

 

 

* Ukraine/Russia war
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* Ukraine
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* Russia
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* Vladimir Putin
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* peace
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* Noam Chomsky
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* LGBTQ
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* Africa
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* Botswana
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* Zambia
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* Ecuador
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* Leonidas Iza
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* Myanmar
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* Southeast Asia
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* left parties
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* Party of the European Left
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* ¡No pasarán! 2022 International Conference
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* Aleida Guevara
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* Cuba
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* South African Federation of Trade Unions
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* SAFTU 2nd Congress 2022
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* SAFTU
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* Palestine
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* food sovereignty
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* political education
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