Bulletins and News Discussion from August 7th to August 13th, 2023 - White Blows From A Black Hand
Image is of the American military during their occupation of Haiti at the beginning of the 20th century, taken from this NYT article from 2022: Invade Haiti, Wall Street Urged. The U.S. Obliged.
In the aftermath of the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and his replacement by Western comprador Ariel Henry, the situation in Haiti is the most dire it has been in decades - by some metrics, even worse than the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake (CW: rape, violence including against children). Millions do not have enough food. Outbreaks of disease are rampant. The government - such that it still exists, which is becoming increasingly debatable - has only a minority control over the capital city, with some estimates putting the influence of armed groups at 80%.
America's search for somebody, anybody, to intervene in Haiti has ended, with Kenya answering the call. President Ruto has announced that he will send 1000 police officers to Haiti. Kenya's Foreign Minister has tried to sell this intervention as pan-Africanism. Other Caribbean states, like the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, have offered to send police officers too.
I can't really say it any better than the Black Alliance for Peace's own statement:
Kenya has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to “restore order” in the Caribbean republic. Yet, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face. By agreeing to send troops into Haiti, the Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neocolonial interests of the United States, the Core Group, and the United Nations.
There is an urgent need for clarity on the issue of occupation in Haiti. As described in a recent statement on Haiti and Colonialism, Haiti is under ongoing occupation. No call for foreign intervention into Haiti from the administration of appointed Prime Minister Ariel Henry can be considered legitimate, because the Henry administration itself is illegitimate. BAP has repeatedly pointed out that Haiti’s crisis is a crisis of imperialism. Haiti’s current unpopular and unelected government is propped up only by Haiti’s de facto imperial rulers: the unseemly confederacy of the Core Group countries and organizations, as well as BINUH (the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti), and a loose alliance of foreign corporations and local elites.
Henry and the UN have made a mockery of sovereignty by mouthing the slogan “Haitian solutions to Haitian problems,” yet finding the only solution in violence through foreign military intervention. After repeated failed attempts to organize an occupying force to protect their interests and impose their will on the Haitian people (including appeals to the multinational organization, the Caribbean Community [CARICOM] for troops), they have now found a willing accomplice in Kenya, an east African country with its own set of internal problems.
Indeed, what’s in it for Kenya? An opportunity to both train and enhance the salaries of local police forces and garner a patina of prestige, or at least bootlicking approval, from the West. And for Haiti? White blows from a Black hand and a further erosion of their sovereignty.
And, by the way, here's the Black Alliance for Peace's statement calling for no intervention by ECOWAS in Niger, calling the organization a Western comprador organization similar to CARICOM's role in Haiti.
Welcome to our friends throughout the Lemmyverse!
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
#ALERT We denounce before the Venezuelan people, the Communist and Workers’ Parties, and the genuinely anti-imperialist forces of the world, that the government of Nicolás Maduro has consummated the assault against the Communist Party of Venezuela through an arbitrary judicial sentence that endorses the imposition of a leadership composed of mercenaries at the service of the high government officials of the PSUV.
This Friday #11August, the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice incurred in an inexcusable error of law by admitting and deciding in favour of a writ of amparo that was promoted out of time by a group of citizens who do not belong to our ranks and therefore do not have any legal qualification to act on behalf of our organization, in violation of the Organic Law of Constitutional Rights and Guarantees.
This procedural fraud, which violates the political rights of the PCV and the Venezuelan working people, not only creates a serious precedent in the political and legal history of the country, but also exposes the authoritarian, anti-democratic and reactionary character of the PSUV-Government, which mistakenly believes that it will subdue the Venezuelan communists with this maneuver.
The National Leadership of the PCV is meeting at this moment, evaluating the legal and political, national and international, actions that it will promote in defense of our right to exist as a Communist Party and to continue fighting for the regrouping of the political, social, workers, peasants and popular forces to conquer a revolutionary solution to the Venezuelan capitalist crisis.
The social democratic government of President Nicolas Maduro, has proceeded to an unacceptable and shameful coup against the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), imposing through a judicial sentence a puppet "leadership" composed of mercenaries. This activity comes as a result of an escalating attack orchestrated by the Venezuelan state against the communists and the country's working class movement.
Nothing new. The PCV accuses Chavez/Maduro/PSUV of not being communist (they are not, their party manifesto supports private property). Chavez/Maduro/PSUV attack the PCV. Then the US and right-wing VZ attempt a coup and they agree to unite against the right-wing threat.
This shit has been going on since Chavez was elected. If I remember correctly, during the general strike against Chavez after the 2002 coup, the PCV, with the support of the government, took over the oil refineries for about 4 months, so during that time the refineries were owned by the workers. But after the VZ bourgeois gave up on the strike, Chavez reverted ownership back to the same people who tried to coup him.
The PCV was one of the earliest and staunchest ally of Chavez. Things soured under Maduro when the PCV along several parties to the left of the PSUV made the ARP (a left alliance of revolutionary parties), which prompted faced repeated legal attacks by the Venezuelan state. Several parties in the ARP (like the Tupamaros/MRT) faced similar attacks by the PSUV but it never dared go after the PCV. Now that the situation is a bit eased on the domestic front, the right wing being largely defeated, and now that some sanctions are being lifted, and as the PSUV is making reforms that revert the Bolivarian revolutionary advances, it feels threatened on its left and is now trying to coopt/take over / illegalize the PCV.
It's far more serious than previous disagreements IMO, the fact that the PCV is being called trot (lol) or right wing plants by key PSUV members is telling, its gotten real ugly this time.
Yeah, as a long time Venezuela watcher, I in general, agree with this take, the PSUV has been really doing an internal neoliberalism due to the embargo, in part to get the embargo lifted, and in part because they simply don't want to or don't think they have to support the social programs in order to get elected since they are effectively the only game in town since the Guiado attempt. The social program rollbacks have been massively unpopular, but there is really no outlet for it outside of the PCV, but honestly, trying to drive it underground is a huge waste of resources and probably a miscalculation on their part. We'll see what happens and if they can figure out a way to square it with Cuba, but alienating your only real ally (no matter how weak) in the region is a really bad move.