ThePortlandAlliance.org/popularresistancearchive

THE TROIKA OF TYRANNY: THE IMPERIALIST PROJECT IN LATIN AMERICA & ITS EPIGONES

By Roger Harris, Popular Resistance

November 5, 2018

Above: A man sits in front of a mural in Caracas, Venezuela | Photo: Reuters

Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are today threatened by US imperialism. The first salvo of the modern Age of Imperialism started back in 1898 when the US seized Cuba along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War.

The Age of Imperialism, as Lenin observed, is characterized by the competition of the various imperial powers for dominance. That inter-imperialist rivalry led to World War I. Lenin called those putative socialists who supported their own national imperialist projects “social imperialists.” Social imperialism is a tendency that is socialist in name and imperialist in deed. Imperialism and its social imperialist minions are still with us today.

US Emerges as the World’s Hegemon

The United States emerged after World War II as the leading imperialist power. With the implosion of the Socialist Bloc around 1991, US hegemony became even more consolidated. Today the US is the undisputed world’s hegemon.

Hegemony means to rule but even more so to dominate. As the world’s hegemon, the US will not tolerate neutral parties, let alone hostile ones. As articulated in the Bush Doctrine, the US will try to asphyxiate any nascent counter-hegemonic project, no matter how insignificant.

In the Caribbean, for instance, the US snuffed out the leftist government of Grenada in 1983 in what was code named Operation Urgent Fury. Grenada has a population smaller than Vacaville, California.

The only powers that the world’s hegemon will tolerate are junior partners such as Colombia in Latin America. The junior partner must accept a neoliberal economic regime designed to serve the interests of capital. Structural adjustment of the economy is demanded such that the neoliberal “reforms” become irreversible; so that you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Colombia recently joined NATO, putting that junior partner’s military under direct interaction with the Pentagon bypassing its civilian government. The US has seven military bases in Colombia in order to project – in the words of the US government – “full spectrum” military dominance in the Latin American theatre.

Needless-to-say, no Colombian military bases are in the US. Nor does any other country have military bases on US soil. The world’s hegemon has some 1000 foreign military bases. Even the most sycophantic of the US’s junior partners, Great Britain, is militarily occupied by 10,000 US troops.

The US is clear on its enemies list. On November 1, US National Security Advisor John Bolton, speaking in Miami, labelled Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba the “troika of tyranny.” He described a “triangle of terror stretching from Havana to Caracas to Managua.”

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are targeted by US imperialism because they pose what might be called the “threat of a good example;” that is, an alternative to the neoliberal world order. These countries are suffering attacks from the imperialists because of the things they have done right, not for their flaws. They are attempting to make a more inclusive society for women people of color, and the poor; to have a state that, instead of serving the rich and powerful, has a special option for working people, because these are the people most in need of social assistance.

Sanctions: The Economic War against Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba

The US imperialist rhetoric is backed with action. In 2015, US President Obama declared Venezuela an “extraordinary threat to US security” and imposed sanctions. These sanctions have been extended and deepened by the Trump administration. The US has likewise subjected Cuba to sanctions in a seamless bipartisan policy of both Republicans and Democrats for over half a century. Now the US is the process of imposing sanctions on Nicaragua.

Unilateral sanctions, such as those imposed by the US, are illegal under the charters of both the UN and the Organization of American States, because they are a form of collective punishment targeting the people.

The US sanctions are designed to make life so miserable for the masses of people that they will reject their democratically elected government. Yet in Venezuela, those most adversely affected by the sanctions are the most militantly in support of their President Nicolás Maduro. Consequently, the Trump administration is also floating the option of military intervention against Venezuela. The recently elected rightwing leaders Bolsonaro in Brazil and Duque in Colombia, representing the two powerful states on the western and southern borders of Venezuela, are colluding with the hegemon of the north.

The inside-the-beltway human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, fail to condemn these illegal and immoral sanctions. They lament the human suffering caused by the sanctions, all the while supporting the imposition of the sanctions. Nor do they raise their voices against military intervention, perhaps the gravest of all crimes against humanity.

Liberal establishments such as the advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) try to distinguish themselves from hard-line imperialists by opposing a military invasion in Venezuela while calling for yet more effective and punishing sanctions. In effect, they play the role of the good cop, providing a liberal cover for interference in the internal affairs of Latin American nations.

These billionaire-funded NGOs have a revolving-door staffing arrangement with the US government. So it is not surprising that they will reflect Washington’s foreign policies initiatives. But why do some organizations claiming to be leftist so unerringly echo the imperialists, taking such umbrage over Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua while ignoring far greater problems in, say, Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras, which are US client states?

Most Progressive Country in Central America Targeted

Let’s take Nicaragua. A year ago, the polling organization Latinobarómetro, found the approval rating of Nicaraguans for their democracy to be the highest in Central America and second highest in Latin America.

Daniel Ortega had won the Nicaraguan presidency in 2006 with a 38% plurality, in 2011 with 63%, and 72.5% in 2016. The Organization of American States officially observed and certified the vote. Polls indicated Ortega was perhaps the most popular head of state in the entire western hemisphere. As longtime Nicaraguan solidarity activist Chuck Kaufman noted, “Dictators don’t win fair elections by growing margins.”

Nicaragua is a member of the anti-imperialist Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America with Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and some Caribbean states. Speaking at the UN, the Nicaraguan foreign minister had the temerity to catalogue the many transgressions of what Martin Luther King called “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” and express Nicaragua’s opposition.

These are reasons enough for a progressive alternative such as Nicaragua to curry the enmity of the US. The enigma is why those claiming to be leftists would target a country that had:

– Second highest economic growth rates and the most stable economy in Central America.
– Only country in the region producing 90% of the food it consumes.
– Poverty and extreme poverty halved; country with the greatest reduction of extreme poverty.
– Reached the UN Millennium Development Goal of cutting malnutrition by half.
– Nicaraguans enjoyed free basic healthcare and education.
– Illiteracy had been virtually eliminated, down from 36% in 2006 when Ortega took office.
– Average economic growth of 5.2% for the past 5 years (IMF and the World Bank).
– Safest country in Central America (UN Development Program) with one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America.
– Highest level of gender equality in the Americas (World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2017).
– Did not contribute to the migrant exodus to the US, unlike neighboring Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
– Unlike its neighbors, kept out the drug cartels and pioneered community policing.

In April of this year, all of this was threatened. The US had poured millions of dollars into “democracy promotion” programs, a euphemism for regime change operations. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a cabal of the reactionary Catholic Church hierarchy, conservative business associations, remnants of the US-sponsored Contras, and students from private universities attempted a coup.

Former members of Ortega’s Sandinista Party, who had long ago splintered off into political oblivion and drifted to the right, became effective propagandists for the opposition. Through inciting violence and the skillful use of disinformation in a concerted social media barrage, they attempted to achieve by extra-legal means what they could not achieve democratically. Imperialism with a Happy Face.

We who live in the “belly of the beast” are constantly bombarded by the corporate media, framing the issues (e.g., “humanitarian bombing). Some leftish groups and individuals pick up these signals, amplify, and rebroadcast them. While they may genuinely believe what they are promulgating, there are also rewards such as funding, media coverage, hobnobbing with prominent US politicians, and winning awards for abhorring the excesses of imperialism while accepting its premises.

Today’s organizations that are socialist in name and imperialist in deed echo the imperial demand that the state leaders of the progressive movements in Latin America “must go” and legitimize the rationale that such leaders must be “dictators.”

They try to differentiate their position from the imperialists by proffering a mythic movement, which will create a triumphant socialist alternative that fits their particular sect’s line: Chavismo without Maduro in Venezuela, Sandinismo without Ortega in Nicaragua, and the Cuban Revolution without the Cuban Communist Party in Cuba.

The political reality in Latin America is that a right-wing offensive is attacking standing left- leaning governments. President George W. Bush was right: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” There is no Utopian third way. Each of us has to determine who are the real terrorists, as the juggernaut of US imperialism rolls out a neoliberal world order.

Chaos: The New Imperialist Game Plan

For now, the coup in Nicaragua has been averted. Had it succeeded, chaos would have reigned. As even the most ardent apologists for the opposition admit, the only organized force in the opposition was the US-sponsored rightwing which would have instigated a reign of terror against the Sandinista base.

The US would prefer to install stable rightwing client states or even military dictatorships. But if neither can be achieved, chaos is the preferred alternative. Libya, where rival warlords contest for power and slaves are openly bartered on the street, is the model coming to Latin America.

Chaos is the new imperialist game plan, especially for Bolton’s so-called troika of tyranny. The imperialists understand that the progressive social movements in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are too popular and entrenched to be eradicated by a mere change of personnel in the presidential palace. Much more drastic means are envisioned; means that would make the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Pinochet coup in 1973 in Chile pale by comparison.

In Venezuela, for example, the opposition might well have won the May 2018 presidential election given the dire economic situation caused in large part by the US sanctions. The opposition split between a moderate wing that was willing to engage in electoral struggle and a hard-right wing that advocated a violent takeover and jailing the Chavistas.

When Venezuelan President Maduro rejected the US demand to call off the elections and resign, he was labelled a dictator by Washington. And when moderate Henri Falcon ran in the Venezuelan presidential race on a platform of a complete neoliberal transition, Washington, instead of rejoicing, threatened sanctions against him for running. The US belligerently floated a military option for Venezuela, stiffened the suffocating sanctions, and tipped the balance within the Venezuelan opposition to the radical right.

The US is not about to allow Venezuela a soft landing. Their intent is to exterminate the contagion of progressive social programs and international policy that has been the legacy of nearly two decades Chavismo. Likewise, for Cuba and Nicaragua. We should also add Bolivia in the crosshairs of the empire.

We’ve seen what Pax Americana has meant for the Middle East. The same imperial playbook is being implemented in Latin America. Solidarity with the progressive social movements and their governments in Latin America is needed, especially when their defeat would mean chaos.

Roger Harris is on the board of the Task Force on the Americas, a 33-year-old anti-imperialist human rights organization, and is active with the Campaign to End US-Canadian Sanctions Against Venezuela.

Last weekend, we participated in the Women’s March on the Pentagon, a successful action designed to build on the women-led movement against militarism and imperialism. Cindy Sheehan, who called for the march, stated explicitly that this was not a get out the vote event, as the last Women’s March was, and condemned both major parties for their support of war and militarism. She explained that war is a women’s issue because of the rape, violence, displacement and murder of women in countries that are occupied by military forces.

We have been referring to this fall as the Antiwar Autumn as there have been and will be many activities opposing war. This is a critical time to rebuild the peace movement because US foreign policy is headed in a dangerous direction by antagonizing the great powers, Russia and China, as well as continuing military and economic war in the Middle East and Latin America and increased military presence in Africa and Asia. At some point the US and its allies may cross the line and incite a nuclear or world war. We must work to prevent that and guide the US toward a foreign policy grounded in respect for international law and the self-determination of peoples and nations.

Largest NATO Military Exercise Since End of Cold War Begins

As relations between the United States and Russia further deteriorate, the US and allies from 28 other countries begin a month-long military exercise near the Russian border, “Trident Juncture.” Billed as a test of NATO countries’ ability to respond rapidly, this exercise includes troops from Finland and Sweden, which are not NATO members. It is the largest mobilization of NATO troops since the end of the Cold War.

The location of the exercise is designed to send a message to both Russia and China. NATO Naval ships will enter the Baltic Sea, where Russian military planes fly, and be placed off the coast of Norway where they could cut off the transportation of goods between Russia and China and the European Union though the Arctic, called the Northern Passage.

Further antagonism of Russia exists in the push to expand NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia, which are both on the Russian border. The US is already conducting joint military exercises with the Ukrainian military and has stated support for adding Ukraine and Georgia to NATO despite concerns raised by NATO members France and Germany that this would be too provocative and might trigger a response from Russia. The US expanded NATO to Colombia, which borders Venezuela.

The new book, “The Russians are Coming Again,” chronicles the long history of US antagonism toward Russia. In his review of the book, Ron Ridenour points out that Russia has more to fear from the US than the US does from Russia and that historical amnesia results in successful demonization of Russia in the media. The authors write:

“Russia helps to reaffirm US national identity and visions of exceptionalism and righteousness at a time of escalating domestic crises, and helps rationalize the expansion of NATO and maintenance of huge military budgets. The result is that we are again threatened with the outbreak of a Third World War, with the United States again bearing considerable responsibility.”

Sarah Lazare points out the dangerous “Russiagate” rhetoric of the Democrats that is being used to justify their support for massive increases in military spending. Funds are included in the new budget to bolster militarization in countries along the Russian border and for more nuclear weapons. Trump’s support for withdrawal from the intermediate-range nuclear treaty with Russia could spark a new nuclear arms race.

Anniversary of AFRICOM and the Murder of Gaddafi

October marks the tenth anniversary of AFRICOM (the US Africa Command) and the seventh anniversary of the murder of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. These are both manifestations of US imperialism. African countries are rich in resources that the United States seeks to control and to prevent China from having access to them.

Netfa Freeman, of Black Alliance for Peace, calls AFRICOM the modern colonization of Africa. Countries that sign military agreements with the US give up sovereignty over their land where the bases are located. Freeman also explains that AFRICOM exists to prevent the existence of “any independent African influence or force,” which is why Gaddafi was killed and why the US supported coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.

Black Alliance for Peace has a petition calling on the Congressional Black Caucus to investigate AFRICOM and for the closure of US bases in Africa. CLICK HERE TO SIGN IT.

We interviewed Ajamu Baraka, the national organizer for Black Alliance for Peace, about AFRICOM and why it is critical to understand and oppose US imperialism if we are to achieve peace on the Clearing the FOG podcast this week.

Protest the War Machine

There were multiple protests against militarism this week. In addition to the Women’s March on the Pentagon, seven people were arrested protesting the drone program at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The Stop Banking the Bomb campaign had actions outside PNC banks in three cities to call attention to the hundreds of millions of dollars they provide in loans for corporations that make weapons. And, hundreds of students protested Henry Kissinger’s speaking event at New York University.

There are upcoming opportunities to protest and to build the anti-war, anti-imperialist movement.

November 3 – Black is Back is holding a march to the White House to protest wars in Africa.

November 9 – 11 – Full weekend of events in Washington, DC and Philadelphia. The coalition that opposed the military parade is organizing a full weekend of events including veterans occupying the VA, concerts in McPherson Square, a Peace Congress to End US Wars at Home and Abroad, a veteran and military family-led march to reclaim Armistice Day and a vigil in Philadelphia where Joe Biden will give former president Bush an award.

November 16 to 18 – SOA Watch Border Encuentro in Nogales, Arizona/Sonora.

November 16 to 18 – No US NATO Bases conference in Dublin, Ireland.

November 17 – “Two Minutes to Midnight” – Conference to prevent nuclear war in Maryland.

We will participate in the No US NATO Bases conference in Ireland. Popular Resistance is a member of the No US Foreign Military Bases coalition. After that, we will head to the Netherlands to deliver a letter to the International Criminal Court calling for a full investigation of Israeli war crimes. Please sign the letter as an individual or organization. CLICK HERE TO SIGN.

On April 4, 2019, NATO will hold its 70th anniversary meeting in Washington, DC. Organizations are starting now to call for and plan actions. Here are calls to protest NATO by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and World Beyond War, which Popular Resistance has endorsed. We will keep you updated as plans unfold.

The anti-war movement is growing at a critical time. We can reverse this path towards war and build a peace economy and a peace culture. To do that, we must recognize the many connections between militarization at home and abroad and myriad aspects of our lives from oppression of Indigenous Peoples to police violence to militarization of children to climate change and ecological destruction to capitalism, colonization and austerity. We are committed to building a movement of movements to create transformative change.

The end of the year is turning out to be among the busiest times since the early
days of the Occupy encampments.

Many Popular Resistance campaigns are coming to fruition and key conflicts around the country and world are at critical moments.

After mid-December and through mid-January there should be an opportunity to reflect and plan for 2015, but for now, we are running at full speed on issues that impact all of us. If you can get involved – we need you – if you can’t get involved but can help to fund this work, a donation now would come at a key time.

Ferguson: The Moment For The Movement Has Arrived

Reports are that the grand jury has reached a decision but that prosecutor Robert McCulloch will announce the grand jury decision this Sunday morning. Schools in Ferguson have announced they will be closed next week.

Police around the country have been preparing for protests reacting to the decision. In Ferguson they have mobilized1,000 police officers, activated the National Guard, added more weapons and have engaged with protesters’ demandsfor rules of engagement. Veterans have urged the National Guard to side with the people.

Protesters are also ready. The people of Ferguson are reaching out to all of us and issued a “Call To Action.” Organizers in Ferguson and around the country are prepared for asustained and strategic nonviolent resistance campaign seeking systemic changes. Long-time human and civil rights organizer Larry Hamm puts the Michael Brown killing in context of history and calls for us to fill the streets the day after the grand jury decision. (Hamm will be our guest for a full hour this Monday at 11 AM Eastern on Clearing The FOG Radio.) Hundreds of lawyers have come to Ferguson prepared not just to shield protesters but to use the sword of litigation if there is police abuse.

In Washington, DC, Chief Kathy Lanier has activated 17 riot squads for Sunday and Monday, which she euphemistically calls “civil disturbance platoons.” Escalation by police in Ferguson and DC as well as other cities threatens to create a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than restrained police activity which would reduce the risk of violence.

People can no longer tolerate the widespread police abuse in communities of color. Molly Crabapple illustrates the connections, demonstrating how the killing of Michael Brown was not a stand-alone incident but a pattern of police abuse in communities of color. As Michael Brown, Sr. said in a video released this week: “I do not want my son’s death to be in vain. I want it to lead to incredible change, positive change, change that makes the St. Louis region better for everyone.”

At Popular Resistance we believe this can end well. David Swanson reminds us of how history is replete with moments when militarized police have tried to suppress movements for justice and the people have won. In 1919, strikers in Massachusetts faced police with machine guns. AJ Muste told the strikers:

“…to permit ourselves to be provoked into violence would mean defeating ourselves; that our real power was in our solidarity and in our capacity to endure suffering rather than give up the fight for the right to organize. . . that cheerfulness was better for morale than bitterness and that therefore we would smile as we passed the machine guns and the police on the way from the hall to the picket lines . . . .”

Michael Brown’s murder, along with many others across the country, has awakened many to the injustice of current police practices and that we can make change in communities long mistreated by police and the unfair economy. Consciousness is not only being raised in black communities, but in white communities as well. Michael Brown, Sr. is right when he says: “ We’re stronger united. Continue to lift your voices with us and lets work together to heal and to create lasting change for all people regardless of race.”

People Call for Net Neutrality Without Delay

The events in Ferguson on the day of Michael Brown’s murder and since then have gained national recognition in large part because of the ability to share information quickly over the Internet. The Internet is an essential tool for democracy as well as for many aspects of our daily lives. That is why net neutrality is a fundamental issue for all of us.

Last week we had a party at the FCC to celebrate how far we have come. The people have sustained pressure on the FCC to reclassify the Internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act so that there can be full net neutrality. This pressure and our unwillingness to accept phony ‘hybrid’ approaches led the FCC to drop what the Chair Wheeler was recently proposing. This week the FCC announced that it will not vote on the ‘hybrid’ at the next meeting on December 11.

Many have criticized the FCC for not taking Title II up immediately since it and net neutrality laws have been around for a long time and were used for the Internet originally. Net neutrality is widely supported. Even Ted Cruz faced a strong backlash from his base for opposing it.

Net neutrality supporters are concerned that a delay will give the giant telecoms more time to push Congress to pressure the FCC and to mount campaigns to confuse the public. The telecoms have already been using front groups and buying off civil rights groups to oppose net neutrality. Wheeler comes out of the industry and recent emails obtained by VICE through a Freedom of Information request reveal close ties between the industry and the FCC.

That is why we are calling on you to come to DC for the FCC meeting on December 11. We must send a strong message that there must not be any more delay on reclassification. Take the pledge here to join us and to learn what you can do if you can’t make it to DC.

DC Negotiations on TPP An Opportunity To Finish Off Rigged, Corporate Trade

Another issue that connects us as a ‘movement of movements’ is rigged corporate trade. The US Trade Representative has given us a tremendous opportunity: Trade negotiators are coming to Washington, DC on December 7 to 12. We see this as a moment to finally defeat the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Perhaps USTR hopes that we will be unable to organize during the holiday season; we intend to show them we can.

Sign up here to join us to stop trade agreements that will impact our food, water, air and every aspect of our lives. We know these agreements undermine jobs and income, kill the economy for the working class and increase the wealth divide, add to the climate crisis with more fracking and extreme energy and undermine the environment with no environmental protections, undermine the Internet, and undermine human rights.

People power has been a critical ingredient to stop corporate trade agreements, including the TPP. A combination of spectacle protests that exposed the secret agreements, street actions that showed the breadth of opposition and online campaigns that have swamped Congress have stopped passage of “fast track” trade authority. Protests have resulted inmembers of Congress, progressives and conservatives working together to oppose fast track and the TPP. Even with the new Congress, we believe people power can continue to win.

It’s time for us to know what is in the TPP.Millions around the world have demanded transparency by calling for the text to be made public and we will join them. We intend to go to the negotiations with a letter, signed by thousands, demanding an end to secrecy around the rigged corporate trade deals currently being negotiated. Sign the letter here. Secret negotiations resulting in treaties passed without the people being told what is in them are anti-democratic. These lawsdestroy the sovereignty of nations, weakening the ability of governments to pass laws in the interests of the people and planet at national, state and local levels as well as in the courts.

We understand how serious the global corporatists are at seeking trillions in dollars at the expense of all of us — we do not underestimate them. We have been holding them at a standstill. The Washington, DC negotiations are an opportunity to finish these agreements off. As trade negotiations fail, momentum is on our side; as fast track fails, momentum is on our side; as people protest, momentum is on our side.

Join us; we believe we will win and stop the TPP and other trade agreements. But we need the ‘movement of movements’ to unite in solidarity against them.

Campaign To Stop Extreme Energy Extraction Escalates

The continued use of fossil fuels even though their extraction is poisoning communities and is worsening the climate crisis is nonsensical. There is consensus that we must rapidly transition to greater efficiency, redistribution of consumption and renewable sources, but the fossil fuel industry continues to rule.

In response, the people have risen and they are not backing down. This week there were escalations of actions to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline in British Columbia’s Burnaby Mountain and by the Dene people in Saskatchewan to stop oil exploration.

The Rosebud Sioux declared the House’s vote for the Keystone XL pipeline “an act of war,” and when it came to the Senate for a vote, protests at Sen. Landrieu’s house and in multiple senate offices stopped its passage. When the vote was announced, Greg Grey Cloud of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe sang a powerful song from the Senate gallery.

Local struggles are also escalating in the US. Students at Harvard are now suing the university for its failure to divest from fossil fuels. Utah tar sands resisters protested outside an investor’s meeting. They are also making plans to return to the extraction site in the Spring.

‘We are Seneca Lake’ held daily actions this week to stop construction of a methane gas storage facility in an unstable salt cavern. The total number of arrests is 73 and two people are serving time, including Dr. Sandra Steingraber who respects the law and wonders when Crestwood CEOs will do the same. Residents of Cove Point are ramping up their civil resistance to a methane gas export terminal that puts their homes in a blast zone and will drive more fracking of the Marcellus Shale. These two efforts are in critical phases. Sign up here to support them.

It is up to us to drive the change from fossil and nuclear fuels because the industries are doing all they can to prevent this. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service published an article that shows how Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’ is a tool for the nuclear industry to grow itself and prevent renewables.TransCanada’s playbook for dealing with environmentalists was revealed recently. And investigative journalists Steve Horn and Lee Fang just published an excellent report on the methane industry’s methods of influencing policy.

If the climate crisis is an issue that you care about, click here to join Popular Resistance’s climate justice group and we’ll keep you informed about what is going on and how to be involved.

Uprisings Around the World

First, a shift in President Obama’s enforcement of immigration laws came this week. After being the president who deported more people than any other, President Obama announced new policies that will protect 4.5 million immigrants. Unfortunately, 6.5 million immigrants remain at risk and will face stiffer enforcement. The executive order will also provide cheap labor to tech industries and continue to drive down wages. But, this is a significant, if partial, victory for the immigrant rights movement. Our hope is it builds their confidence and strength so they escalate their actions to achieve all of their demands.

Mexico is in revolt. The murder of 43 students has resulted inrevolt,strikesand uprisings throughout Mexico and solidarity actions around the world. Various government officials have already resigned, a mayor has been criminally accused and the national government is under threat with its political class and governing institutions discredited from this popular movement that seeks an end to a system of repression and inequality.

Students in the United Kingdom are protesting for free college tuition while US students are protesting tuition increases. In Greece, students protesting against the underfunding of schools were severely attacked by police.

Hong Kong: Protesters are being removed from occupying public streets. No doubt this is only the end of a phase for this democracy movement. In the UK, as in Hong Kong, there is a democracy movement growing in London, demanding a real democracy not an oligarchy.

These are all rapidly developing stories. More articles on each will be published tomorrow and in the coming days, so keep watching Popular Resistance regularly for updates, subscribe to our daily digest or twitter feed, @PopResistance. If you can send some financial support, now is a time when we need it.