[A week of mass upsurge and states in transition]
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GLOBAL LEFT MIDWEEK – JANUARY 18, 2023  
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January 18, 2023
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_ A week of mass upsurge and states in transition _

Lima, Peru, this week. Union banner: "Down with the murderous
Boluarte dictatorship! The spilled blood will never be forgotten!"
Credit, Deutsche Welle

 

* Ukraine Aid and Anti-Imperialism 
* Where Communist Parties Govern Today
* Video: Peru Revolt
* Tunisia Protests Mark Revolution Day
* Climate Justice in South Korea
* All Eyes on Brazil 
* Meet Sharon Graham
* South Africa Faces Nationwide Shutdown Over Energy Shortage
* Lessons From Rojava
* National Myths: Ukraine, Russia and the USSR

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UKRAINE AID AND ANTI-IMPERIALISM
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_John Carl Baker _/ September (Kyiv)

Ukraine aid, like the war itself, is a point of contention on the
international left. Supporters see aid as essential for Ukraine’s
defense against an imperialist invader. Skeptics regard it as a
giveaway to the war industry at best, a fig leaf for the US empire at
worst. The dilemma is that both sides have a point. 

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WHERE COMMUNIST PARTIES GOVERN TODAY

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VIETNAM’S ANTI-CORRUPTION FIGHT REACHES THE PRESIDENT
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  _Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen_ / Reuters (London)

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CUBA: LAWS IN TRANSITION
[[link removed]]   _Walter
Mondelo_ / OnCuba News (Miami)

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CHINA, STATE CAPITALISM AND THE GLOBAL SOUTH
[[link removed]]   _Hong
Zhang_ / Made in China (Canberra)

* CPI(M) IN KERALA, INDIA
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 / Hindustan Times (New Delhi)
 
* NEPAL UNDER PRACHANDA
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 _Amar BK and Rajendra Maharjan_ / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)
 
* GRAZ, AUSTRIA excerpted from _ELKE KAHR : « NOUS AVONS BESOIN
D’ÎLOTS DE RÉSISTANCE »
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_Dirk Tuypens_ / Solidaire (Brussels), translated by xxxxxx

The KPÖ, the Austrian Communist Party, has been strong in Graz
[Austria’s second-biggest city] for a long time, but on September
26, 2021, it became the largest party in the city with 28.9 percent of
the vote and Elke Kahr took the seat of mayor.

The housing crisis weighs heavily on Europe. For Mayor Kahr and the
KPÖ, this is an absolute priority. The far-right FPÖ party was
responsible for housing policy in Graz for five years. They decided
that social housing would be reserved for “real Austrians”.

Elke Kahr and her team immediately put an end to this situation. The
new mayor aspires to a truly social approach. Rather than social
housing, she talks about public housing. “Everyone, including those
who make a better living, can get housing from the city, wherever they
come from. Graz is currently the only city where municipal housing can
be obtained so easily. The Communist Party is an internationalist
party. We want a world without disparities. Whatever your origins,
your religion, your appearance, for us, what matters are people.”

The KPÖ has always opposed the sale and privatization of public
housing. A survey also shows that the inhabitants of Graz are in favor
of maintaining public housing.

“We currently have about 12,000 public housing units. In the second
half of 2022, we will build 500 new public housing units. High quality
housing. Because public housing must not only be affordable, it must
also be pleasant to live in. The rent must never exceed one third of
the tenants’ income. If the rent is higher, we pay the difference.
We have also set up two aid funds, one for raising energy prices and
the other for other expenses, such as tuition fees. Anyone can call on
it. You can get up to 1,500 euros in subsidies, sometimes more.”

To be able to conduct a social policy on housing, it is important to
have enough public space and that basic services remain public. “We
need space for housing, schools, daycares, rest homes.... Therefore,
the remaining free space must remain in public hands. The KPÖ is the
only party that has never stopped fighting against privatization for
decades. The energy supply must also remain public. Unfortunately, we
find that in Austria, as in many other countries, many services have
been privatized. And some make huge profits on this.”

Kahr has been mayor of Graz for a year now. “There is nothing more
pleasant than being there for people and trying to improve things with
them. I also learn a lot from people. They bring us the knowledge we
need. And what is very important to me: it must also be welcoming. You
have to touch people not only at the brain level but also at the heart
level.”

Becoming rich is by no means an objective for Kahr. She receives a
monthly salary of 8,050 euros. She keeps 2,000 euros and pays the rest
to the party. A choice that earned him an avalanche of criticism from
his political opponents, who judged him as populist and stupid. “But
2,000 euros is a lot of money,” Kahr objects. “A lot of people
work hard and don't earn more. I did not become active inthe KPÖ to
have more than the others. No, we must give this money to the party.
How could we do politics differently? We must make sure that we do not
disconnect from people.”

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VIDEO: PERU REVOLT
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Deutsche Welle (Berlin)

Thousands of people in Peru are traveling to the capital Lima to
protest against the country's new president, Dina Boluarte. She took
office in December after former leader Pedro Castillo was ousted,
following his attempt to dissolve Congress.

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TUNISIA PROTESTS MARK REVOLUTION DAY
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Middle East Eye (London)

Thousands of Tunisians joined a protest calling on President Kais
Saied to step down as they marked the 12th anniversary of the ousting
of former autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Protesters removed
barricades and marched towards the central Habib Bourguiba Avenue in
the capital Tunis, chanting “the people demand the fall of the
regime”.

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CLIMATE JUSTICE IN SOUTH KOREA
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_Alice S. Kim_ / Independent Media Institute (New York)

Overlapping and expanding networks in the climate justice coalition
attest to the burgeoning consciousness of the climate crisis for a
population whose Cold War-divided peninsula placed North Korea and
South Korea in the shadow of a nuclear winter long before the threat
of exterminism via global warming became an issue.

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ALL EYES ON BRAZIL 

* A FASCIST UPRISING
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  _Vladimir Safatle and Andrea Dip_ / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
(Berlin)
 
* VIDEO: PEOPLE RESPOND WITH DEMOCRATIC RAGE
[[link removed]]  / France 24 (Paris)
 
* WOMEN IN FRONT
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  _Federico Nastasi_ / il manifesto Global (Rome)
 
* LULA, AMLO AND LATIN SOLIDARITY
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  _Roberto Livi_ / il manifesto Global 
 
* NEXT: MASS ORGANIZING
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  _Sabrina Fernandes_ / NACLA Report

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MEET SHARON GRAHAM
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_Olly Haynes_ / Dissent (New York)

Sharon Graham, a lifelong organizer who led her first walkout as a
waitress at the age of seventeen, won the Unite general secretary
election. While the other candidates were fighting an air war on
social media and through the press, Graham was winning the ground war
by meeting with individual branches and rallying enough members to win
a plurality of votes. 

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SOUTH AFRICA FACES NATIONWIDE SHUTDOWN OVER ENERGY SHORTAGE
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_Michelle Banda_ / Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)

A nationwide shutdown has been endorsed by members of the public,
civil society organisations and political parties across various
social media platforms, with many planning to either march to the
Union Buildings or public electricity utility Eskom’s Megawatt Park
offices in Johannesburg.

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LESSONS FROM ROJAVA
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_Stoyo Tetevenski_ / LeftEast

A part of our work is spreading information, explaining the paradigm
of the Revolution, which includes social education, formation,
organizing academies, translations in different languages, holding
seminars, publishing books, publishing texts. And another part of the
work is to build connections, to build up exchanges with other
organizations all around the world.

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NATIONAL MYTHS: UKRAINE, RUSSIA AND THE USSR
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_Éric Aunoble_ / Le Monde diplomatique (Paris)

In 1917, demands for independence were rising, not only in Ukraine but
also in Finland, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Above all, there was
social protest from workers suffering in the economic crisis and from
conscripts who no longer wanted to die for Great Russia. Putin decided
to overlook certain aspects of history when he invaded Ukraine.

* Ukraine
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* anti-imperialism
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* Communists
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* Vietnam
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* Nguyen Xuan Phuc
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* Cuba
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* China
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* Global South
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* Communist Party of India (Marxist)
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* Kerala
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* India
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* Nepal
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* Prachanda
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* Austria
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* Graz
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* Elke Kahr
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* Peru
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* Tunisia
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* South Korea
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* climate justice
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* Brazil
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* Jair Bolsonaro
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* Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
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* Women
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* UK
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* Unite union
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* Sharon Graham
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* Rojava
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* Kurds
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* Russia
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* USSR
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