Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Yehuda]

The Supreme Court freed Lula but it could also affect thousands of black people: the racist impacts of imprisonment after the first appeal's unconstitutionality

By Marcos Rezende and Luis Paulo Bastos
November 8, 2019

Brazil has the third largest prison population in the world after the United States and China. The punitive perspective of Brazil's juridical-political system results in approximately 812,564 prisoners in the country, according to the National Bank of Arrest Warrants, a database created by the National Justice Council.

In a country that has its structures rooted in the concentration of privileges in a white patriarchy, the historical vulnerability of the black population makes the juridical-political system — forged upon the foundations of structural racism — support the mass encarceration of black people policy. The Supreme Court's latest decision — although not backed by legal grounds that promote racial equality and the black population's presumption of innocence — presents an important milestone for ensuring the black and brown population's right to freedom.

On November 7, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled three Declaratory Constitutional Actions (ADCs): 43, 44 and 54, which analyzed the constitutionality of the rule included in Article 283 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The rule states that “no one shall be arrested except in the act of committing a criminal offense or by a written order from the competent judicial authority as a result of a final judgement or, in the course of an investigation, because of temporary or preventive detention”.

The procedural rule is the defendants' presumption of innocence so that, except for the cases of temporary or preventive detention, they can only be arrested after res judicata (exhaustion of appeal possibilities) of the respective proceedings. It is important to note that for some time, the Supreme Court recognized the constitutionality of recognized the constitutionality of imprisonment after the first appeal, even with the constitutional provision that “no one shall be found guilty until the final judgment” (Art. 5, LVII).

Now, after the ruling of ADCs 43, 44 e 54, the Court reviewed the position and, with the score of 6 to 5, declared the constitutionality of the rule contained in Art. 283 of the Criminal Procedure Code, so that the serving of the sentence should begin only after all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted. The new understanding points to a probable growth in the requests for release, as it supports the grounds of the unconstitutionality of imprisonment resulting from the enforcement of judgments prior to their res judicata.

Considering that 61,7% of Brazilian prisoners are self-declared black or brown (according to 2018 from the National Prison Information Survey) it is believed that release requests could benefit the majority black prison population. However, accessing the bodies of the Justice System, which include the Public Defender's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office, is not so easy for the black population, especially when deprived of their freedom. It should be pointed out that there is an insufficient number of Public Defenders to meet the needs of Brazil's prison population, largely assisted by the Public Defender's Office's professionals.

It should also be noted that the contact of prisoners with the Public Prosecutor's Office occurs only at the time of hearings and under the condition of accuser, which often implies jeopardy in the enforcement of laws and legality of prisons, also the competence of the ministerial body. With this, we want to warn that it is time to recognize victory in one of the battles of those who dedicate their lives to defending the constitution, especially with regard to fundamental rights and guarantees.

But one cannot overlook that, in a racist society, the punitive nature of the Brazilian system weighs unequally on black people, who are the main victims of fundamental rights violations, especially when practiced by the Brazilian State.

It is urgent to improve the Justice System! Training judges and justices from a perspective other than that of racist legality is a minimum condition for black people to enjoy their freedom which has been restrained from the days of legalized slavery to the present times of an unfinished abolition. Deconstructing the State's punitive view of the black population, a product of the master/slave dichotomy, depends on decolonizing the thoughts that rule the dominant forces in Brazil and occupy the spaces of power and prestige, whether family members of the oligarchy or their nominees to enjoy “meritocratic privileges”.

What is at stake here is the political imprisonment of black people by the State, throwing them into the ditch of vulnerabilities caused by race and class inequalities to criminalize the response of the oppressed on behalf of maintaining the oppressor's privileges.

The Supreme Court freed Lula but it could also affect thousands of black people: the racist impacts of imprisonment after the first appeal's unconstitutionality

 

[Yehuda]

Bolivia's Boiling With Color Revolution Unrest

31 OCTOBER 2019

The narrow re-election of long-serving Bolivian President Evo Morales earlier this month during the first round of voting has been exploited by his internal and external foes alike as the trigger event for inciting preplanned Color Revolution unrest in this lithium-rich landlocked socialist state.

Bolivia's boiling with Color Revolution unrest after the narrow re-election of long-serving President Evo Morales during the first round of voting earlier this month. The socialist leader is the only survivor of the "Pink Tide" that swept most of South America in the first decade of the 21st century but has since forcibly receded following the US' covert continental-wide regime change operation colloquially referred to as "Operation Condor 2.0". Morales' landlocked country is geostrategically located in the South American heartland and is rich in the lithium that's recently become an essential component in many modern-day gadgets that form the basis of contemporary society, hence why it's been targeted for destabilization.

Color Revolutions and the Hybrid Wars that they oftentimes lead to are commonly driven by the external exploitation of preexisting identity differences in diverse states, with Bolivia being no exception. The country is still mostly inhabited by its indigenous people, though severe socio-economic disparities exist within this demographic and between it and the non-indigenous minority, a state of affairs that was institutionalized for decades until Morales' rise to power rectified this historic wrong and sought to promote equality among the population. The non-indigenous people are predictably much better off than the indigenous ones, and it's they who historically formed the core of the anti-Morales opposition.

It should also be said that they mostly reside in the eastern lowlands rich in gas while the indigenous population lives mostly in the highlands where lithium is mined, and the former have been vehemently against Morales' wealth redistribution policies that they feel are unfairly depriving them of the revenue that they believe that they deserve from their natural resource sales. Their activism even briefly took the form of the "Media Luna" (half moon) quasi-separatist movement that might even be revived in the present day if the destabilization intensifies. Having said that, there are also some indigenous people who have turned against Morales for their own reasons, whether out of "leadership fatigue" or the Amazon rainforest fires.

Returning to the present moment, this state of affairs made it relatively easy for external forces to encourage unrest after the latest election, especially since Morales' campaign for a fourth term was previously denied after he narrowly lost a referendum on this issue a few years ago but was then eventually overturned by the courts that allowed him to run again. This backdrop seeded doubts about his legitimacy, which were watered by the brief pause in reporting the recent election results that ultimately found that he won 10% more votes than his closest opponent by a razor-thin margin and thus avoided a second round that could have seen the anti-Morales forces pool their efforts into collectively defeating him as was most probably planned in advance.

It's for this reason why the US and its regional vassals are doing everything that they can to discredit his latest re-election since they bet on the vote going to a second round where they believed that they had the best chance of "democratically" unseating him. The ethno-political and domestic regional context within the country makes it ripe for Color Revolution unrest, which serves the strategic goal of either overthrowing Morales or compelling him into cooperating with the US to the point of becoming yet another of its proxies in order to relieve the Hybrid War pressure that's being increasingly put to bear on his country. The greatest obstacle to this plan, however, is that Morales has many passionate supporters who would fight for his presidency.

He's done more than any leader in his country's history to right the historical wrongs of ethno-regional inequality and finally bring dignity to Bolivia's majority-indigenous population through his effective implementation of socialist policies, so millions of previously destitute people feel like they literally have everything to lose if he's illegally deposed and the progress that he made over the past decade and a half is rolled back to the old days of neo-colonialism. Bolivia could therefore very well be on the path to civil war in the worst-case scenario, especially since opposition leader Carlos Mesa already declared that he won't recognize the outcome of the OAS' audit of the recent election, which strongly suggests that powerful forces are pushing him to provoke a Color Revolution that could rival the ongoing destabilization in Venezuela and ultimately dwarf the humanitarian crisis that it created by virtue of the landlocked country's greater vulnerability to logistical disruptions.

Bolivia's Boiling With Color Revolution Unrest

The separatists from Santa Cruz trying to get him out of here

 

[Yehuda]

Afro-Argentines celebrate their day after being "erased from official history"

Afro-Argentine people celebrate the inclusion of afro-descendancy self-recognition in the questionnaires of the next 2020 National Census, and today they celebrate their day with multiple activities after having been "erased from the official history" of the country, as they say.

November 8 2019 14:28

The Day of Afro-Argentines and African culture is celebrated in honor of Afro-descendant María Remedios del Valle, who after fighting in the Army of the North was appointed captain by military leader Manuel Belgrano. Thanks to her courage and dedication she received the nickname "Mother of the Homeland" (Madre de la Patria).

Del Valle actively participated in the Argentine War of Independence and died on November 8, 1847; she was not buried in the pantheon of heroes and the whereabouts of her remains are unknown.

On April 24, 2013, Law 26,852 was enacted, instituting this day and incorporating it into the school calendar. But, in reality, it is a historical recognition of the Afro-descendant community in Argentina.

One of the most emblematic cases of the problems they face occurred on August 22, 2002, when María Magdalena "Pocha" Lamadrid, then responsible for the Africa Vive organization, was held for six hours at the Ezeiza International Airport while traveling to Panama.

Pocha was born in Argentina just like her family, descendants of enslaved people brought during the colonial days.

"They kept me when I went through Customs because they said my passport was false. I had gone get it that same morning at the police station, but the officer on duty and the Airport Police were saying it was impossible for me to be black and Argentine", Pocha said to Télam.

Throughout the year of 1997 she dedicated herself to bringing together the several associations of Afro-descendants in order to carry out a survey and today she says she is "very excited for the 2020 National Census to be done to know how many of us are here".

Frederico Pita, political scientist and representative of the African Diaspora in Argentina (Diáspora Africana en Argentina, DIAFAR) organization, explained that "this celebration is a conquest of the black social movement, which has been gaining strength at different levels of education, militancy and media. We are breaking away with the myth that Argentina, constitutively, is mostly white".

"A census will be held next year where people will be asked if they recognize themselves as an Afro-descendant; that will give us a basis to propose public policies where a great deal remains to be done", he said.

Francilene Martins, coordinator of Black November, told Télam they are "working for human rights, against gender violence, xenophobia and structural and institutional racism in Argentina".

"The indigenous people live with the descendants of slaves brought from Africa and immigrant groups. That's why it is necessary for the State to recognize itself as plurinational as a political response to the formation of our society", she said.

The presence of enslaved Africans in Argentine territory dates back to the end of the 16th century, when they were brought by "the imperialists and colonialists of that time to the different ports of our continent", said Fabiana Altamiranda of the Sawabona Collective.

She said that "María Remedios was a poor black woman who fought and helped the fallen on the battlefields. She was also injured several times, whipped in public, became a prisoner of war and was almost executed".

Our contributions to the construction of the Argentine nation state and our culture "have historically been made invisible by the story promoted by the ruling classes and the academic elites", she said.

"The law that recognizes our day is part of a process of reparations and historical recognition of Afro-Argentines, making visible our historical, economic, cultural and social legacy that — without a doubt — is part of our national identity", said Altamiranda.

Afro-Argentines celebrate their day after being "erased from official history"

 

[Yehuda]

Afro-Argentines are part of history

Afro-Argentine roots are part of our past and our present.

That is why the main objective of November 8 is to recognize the Afro-descendant component in the national culture through strategies to promote the participation of Afro-descendants and Africans in all aspects of sociocultural life.

Carlos Lamadrid, secretary of the Misibamba Association of Afro-Argentines — an entity that brings together Afro-Argentines of the colonial branch — considers it very important to celebrate this day “because it is important to recognize within Argentine history a special day dedicated to those who were brought as slaves and yet identified with this country and fought for its independence”.

The fourth edition of Black November began on November 1 to debate the invisibility of the Afro-Argentine community.

The cycle falls within the national day of Afro-Argentines, which is celebrated every November in honor of María Remedios del Valle.

The artistic and academic congress has the participation of Afro-descendant movements, representatives of temples, artists, popular educators and reaserchers from all disciplines.

The opening will be in charge of scholars Francilene Martins, Víctor Giusto, Chino Sanjurjo and Babalorixá Pedro Mallorca. In addition, the books IMBA: Voces del Tiempo, by writer Lilia Ferrer Morillo will be presented by professor Henry Boisrolin of the National University of Córdoba. This book reveals, in a Bantu and poetic vein, the hate crimes based on skin color that have ocurred in the last decade of the 21st century in Venezuela.

In addition, the book Imaginarios y Representaciones Estéticas de Género en las Artes, coordinated by Mercedes Castros and Fernando Huerta from the National Autonomous University of Mexico will be presented by anthropologist Eugenia Morey. But there will also be reflecting on the iconographic innovations, languages and critical artistic discourses of the same artists around those aesthetic imaginaries.

Tributes to national and international Afro-descendant activists will also take place. African dances, performance, film and literature presentations will be held, the movement of the Afro-descendant artists and intellectuals is geared towards dissemination and recognition of Afro-descendant culture.

All of this will take place at the National University of the Arts in Buenos Aires.

Afro-descendant semblance of yesterday and today

The date honors María Remedios del Valle, who died on November 8, 1847, after having fought in the Army of the North and appointed captain by general Manuel Belgrano.

“Mother of the Homeland” — due to her courage and absolute dedication — was the nickname given to María Remedios del Valle, an Afro-descendant woman born in Buenos Aires between 1766 and 1767 who actively participated in the Argentine War of Independence.

She was part of the “Ayohuma Daughters”, a group of women who accompained the army and collaborated in various tasks; among them was María Remedios del Valle, the only woman whom general Manuel Belgrano allowed to remain on the battlefront.

In addition to the Battle of Ayohuma, she participated in the Battle of Vilcapugio and the Battle of Tucumán, as well as the Jujuy Exodus. She lost her husband and two children in combat and in the several battles she received countless wounds on her body. In 1813 she was taken as a prisoner by the Spaniards, who whipped her for several days for having helped patriotic officers flee from the prison camp.

Lamadrid, a seventh-generation Afro-Argentine, defines her as “a heroine who proved her worth as a fighter, a defender of this country's freedom and a great companion who was very close to the rest of the soldiers”.

November 8 promotes inclusion and respect, and challenges society through cultural actions that transmit Afro-Argentine historical roots. Carlos Lamadrid states that not only have Afro-Argentine soldiers contributed, but also Afro-Argentine writers, musicians, poets, journalists and painters.

And he adds that “this day is a contribution to everything that has happened to us in Argentine history: our elders have been brought as work tools without the recognition of their culture, their lineage and their religion.

We have suffered discrimination, xenophobia and racism since before Argentina became Argentina.

Therefore, we have a historical debt, we demand that the pages written by those Argentines descendants of slaves, those Africans who came to this country and became part of Argentine history and the freedom we all enjoy be included in the school curriculum”.

Tango and its influence

In the last two decades the silenced history of Afro-Argentines of the colonial branch (Argentine descendants of people who were enslaved in this territory) began to emerge, raising awareness of an undeniable presence which is part of our roots as a nation.

So much so, that even tango — one of the symbols of Argentine identity — has blackness in its DNA. This is the black history of tango.

Although stereotypes associate tango with the image of Carlos Gardel, immigrant tenement houses, the incorporation of the bandoneon and a dominant history centered on whites, the word tango has been linked to African musical and dance practices since the 18th century.

The oldest written document from Buenos Aires in which the word “tango” appears dates, coincidentally, from November 11 1802 and is the purchase and sale agreement of a “house of blacks” in the La Concepción neighborhood (today known as Constitución).

Afro-descendant women in Argentina

“Black women have increasingly raised their voices. There is an interest that other people do not speak for us. There has always been a problematic situation for women and black people in general, which is being crossed by invisibility and the silencing of our history. Today there is a demand for us to tell our story, to talk about our experience with our own voices, it seems to me that this has been one of the achievements for which we must continue fighting”. Lisset González Batista.

“Afro-descendant women are meeting in Buenos Aires. We are trying to recover our roots and our history. We meet and these meetings heal us when we can talk about our problems with our partners, exchange and think affirmative action policies together, think together how to improve our working and educational conditions. This group is growing everyday and we are a reference point for other Afro-descendant women, a meeting point and a resistance point in the city of Buenos Aires”. Denise Brazão.

“We are making visible what the State has not wanted. We are organized, prepared and trained to perform in each sphere of society. We are resignifying our ancestors and bringing to light their names, their life and work. The fact the question about Afro-descendancy was included in the 2010 National Census was very important to know how the black community in this country is living today. Although we know that we — the descendants of enslaved people, the sons and daughters of immigrants and the voluntary migration flows — are here, we need concrete numbers”. Lisa Montaño Ortíz.

“My move to Argentina has a lot to do with recognizing myself and working on my African roots in a country where these roots are made invisible. The Argentine aesthetic has much of the white and European look. My art tries to reclaim African culture from our perspective, Afro-descendant women making art about ourselves and occupying spaces with this art”. Colleen Fitzgerald.

“The fundamental thing is to insist on educating people, because I feel that there is much ignorance, disinterest and many wrong preconceptions in the collective imaginary and unconscious.

It seems to me that Afro-descendant women know very little, that there is a lot of preconceptions, stereotypes and false beliefs that are very difficult to remove from a society like Argentina's, where the premise is that there are no black people here, which is a total lie.

Because if there was the enslavement of Africans, of course there are descendants of Africans. Afro-Argentines are here, walking through the streets and although this might weigh heavily on some people, Argentina is also African”.

Afro-Argentines are part of history

 

[Yehuda]

 

[Yehuda]

The Cuban Atlantic

10.04.2019
BY Boima Tucker

How socialist Cuba's foreign policy of solidarity with Africans, midwifed a new genre of music on the island.

Bakosó dancing. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

British sociologist Paul Gilroy suggested the history of culture in the Atlantic world is characterized by constant exchange. One of the most traceable elements of that exchange, is the musical connections between communities of African descent on either side of the ocean. These musical practices operate as sites of resistance, cultural retention, and social cohesion that allow us to understand some of the ways we all are formed by trans-continental processes.

During the dawn of recorded music in the early part of the 20th century, Cuba—one of many New World sites of African and indigenous resistance to European colonization and enslavement—would become a hotbed for musical export in the emerging industrialized system of music distribution. Folk musical traditions from across the island would come together in Havana’s studios, and then get dispersed around the entire Atlantic world. In the early part of the 20th Century, Cuban musical styles like son, mambo and guaguanco followed migrants and sailors out across the Atlantic, hitting radio waves in the ports of landing, and spreading throughout the interior of the countries they landed in.

With its strong traces of West and Central African rhythms, this music would find legions of devoted followers on the African continent. Local artists would try their hand at recreating the sound, and start to mix elements of their own local traditions creating what we now know as Congolese rumba, soukous, mbalax, semba, kizomba, and highlife, etc. These styles, amongst many others on the continent, would go on to form the backbone of national identity in the post-independence period, their propagation supported with enthusiasm by the leaders of the new nations. They are also the ancestors of many popular music sounds on the continent today.

Kiki on Conga. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

While Cuba had technically been independent for at least a half century before sub-Saharan African nations, one could argue that Cubans found their true independence in conjunction with their peers on the continent. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 shook off the final shackles of American empire and posed a challenge to the hemispheric dominance of US imperial capitalism. In the Cold War propaganda machine, Cuba would go on to become the western hemisphere antithesis to everything its larger and more powerful neighbor to the north stood for.

After the Revolution, Cuban cultural production would become cut off from capitalist networks of trade, though the nation would retain some influence in the Caribbean and South America (despite US attempts to prevent it). In Africa, countries like Angola would strengthen their ties with Cuba during the Cold War, but the outsize cultural influence that Cuba held in the Atlantic world, pre-revolution, would leave a void that would quickly be filled by Jamaica, Brazil, and the Cuban and Puerto Rican diasporas in the US. Cuba itself would turn more inward, its cultural production burdened by the heavy weight of nostalgia and nation building—European, indigenous, and African roots fighting it out in a perennial dance on top of the ruins of the Spanish empire.

Youth of Chicharrones. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

The beauty in black Atlantic cultural formation is in the continual exchange of information that persists between peoples of African descent across language, national borders, and even time. This “counter-culture” of western modernity utilizes and navigates systems that were designed to exploit and repress the communities from which it came. So naturally, on the back of western capitalism, African popular music influenced by Cuba would repeat the process initiated in the early 20th Century, finding receptive audiences back on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean. In places like Santo Domingo, Port au Prince, Cartagena and Baranquilla, the process of acculturation and hybridization would repeat, and Africa would have its turn to make its mark on the popular musics of the Caribbean in the latter part of the century.

It would take until more recently, in the wake of political and cultural revolutions driven by youth on the African continent, and a global revolution in communication technology for similar processes to happen in Cuba. And that’s where Puerto Rican brothers Eli and Khalil Jacobs-Fantauzzi’s latest documentary Bakosó: Afrobeats in Cuba picks up.

The opening scene in the film shows Havana-based DJ Jigüe tuning into a radio interview with an artist named Ozkaro to hear that “something” is happening 700 km away in his home province of Santiago. A new musical genre, bakosó, was developing, and local artists such as Ozkaro were blending Afro-Cuban folk and popular music with contemporary continental genres like afrobeats, afrohouse, and kuduro. There are huge parties with hundreds, maybe thousands of fans in a public square, new dance styles and crews, and the city’s existing set of rappers and reggaetoneros are enthusiastically taking to the genre.

DJ Jigüe. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

Jigüe decides that he needs to go back home after being disconnected and see what is going on in Santiago. This personal journey home, to a place of roots, serves as a metaphor in the film itself, for bakosó’s origin story, and for Cuban’s engagement with African culture in general. This, along with other devices employed by the directors, such as the folkloric dance performance that bookends the film, create a form-defying, yet accessible introduction to Cuba’s cultural landscape.

Once in Santiago, we travel with Jigüe to meet Ozkaro in his home studio where they discuss the difficulties in being an artist in Santiago: the lack of technology with which to produce and the challenge of being distant (or rather disconnected) from Havana where the largest media houses are. The absence of such hurdles is taken for granted in the global North. In the production of the current mainstream global pop sound, access to state of the art technology is a necessary prerequisite. Even with these limitations, Cubans have no problem accessing sounds from Africa. That’s because contemporary African genres arrived in Cuba from a surprising source: medical students from Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, and across the continent.

DJ Jigüe and Ozkaro. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

Some bakosó producers offer explanations as to why they think the African students’ music has been taken up with enthusiasm by the public in Santiago. Reasons dance around the idea of African retentions, sometimes slipping into essentialist tropes common across Latin America like, “Santiageras have a certain sexuality.” But, it’s Ozkaro who provides one of the most profound insights when he explains the importance of the clave rhythm to the Cuban public. His insight is interesting because it is an electronically programmed clave that has become the most pronounced element across many African popular music genres, and was one of the main rhythms that African audiences had originally connected with when Cuban music reached their shores.

The film moves on from there to explore more of the African retentions embedded in Santiagero culture, and explains the conditions that birthed a strong African consciousness in this part of the island. In a scene where the group Conexión Africa is recording a song called “Africa” with an Angolan football club’s banner on the wall of the booth, one can tangibly feel such African consciousness manifesting.

Bakosó party. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

While this celebration of Africa in Cuba is inspirational, the film is a bit overburdened by the weight given to the personal allegory of a return to African roots (and subsequent journey out to share them with the world). Beyond just a connection to roots, it must be understood that the birth of this new musical genre was assisted by Cuba’s state foreign policy of building global South solidarity, and aiding the African liberation movements. The film lightly touches on this. For example, Jigüe mentions the history of Cuban military support for Angola, and how this action is thought upon fondly by many of the Angolan students who arrive to Cuba. The film, however, would have benefited from more of this political context to balance out Jigüe’s romanticism.

One section, if expanded on, would have gone a long way to rectify this issue, and that was the story of how a nationwide Africa Day celebration came to be in Cuba. Nayda Gordon, the founder of a youth African dance troupe, Sangre Nueva, explains how years ago African students would only practice their cultures with each other in parties and celebrations behind the closed doors of the medical schools. The cultures of these students piqued her interest, so she reached out to a medical student named Demba and together they organized to form the troupe. A former African medical student, Dr. Ibrahim Keita, mentions Demba and a committee that was formed ten years ago with the aim of integrating African students more with the local community. Keita alludes to the fact that this committee helped bring about the Africa Day festivities and claims, “if Kuduro is being accepted by Cuban youth today, it’s because that was our intention.”

Santiago, Cuba. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

Gordon’s personal motivation to connect with strangers is fascinating. It would be interesting to contextualize her initiative in relation to Cuban social norms and find out why it was important for her to connect Cuban youth with African culture. Also, the modes available for building programs of integration through grassroots solidarity in Cuba are unfamiliar to me, and in the film this section passes very quickly. It left me wondering: What was the committee? Who all was involved? And, how did they managed to gain state support? An international audience especially would have benefited from further exploration of these questions.

Jigüe mentions over and over that this or that could happen “only in Santiago.” This perhaps works best in a local context amidst a continued struggle with racial inequality on the island, but not so much outside of Cuba. Because, rather than exceptional, the formation of a genre like bakosó, and the conditions that allowed it, is a process that I have personally seen repeated over and over across the Atlantic world (admittedly thanks to a little passport privilege and a fast internet connection). Kuduro, afrobeats, and afrohouse themselves are a result of such processes, and this is not the first time director Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi has been there for such moments. He previously documented the growth of hip hop in Cuba with his film Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano and the rise of hiplife in Ghana in Homegrown: Hiplife in Ghana.

Dancer from Sangre Nueva. Image credit Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

What is exceptional about Santiago that makes it stand out amongst its hemispheric neighbors are the social conditions that allowed this exchange to happen. In contrast to North America—where corporate streaming platforms and an “Africans! They’re just like us” narrative are propelling Afropop into the mainstream—in Cuba a state policy of global South solidarity, has merged with an African consciousness embedded amongst the people. This political formation is what opened pathways for integration between Cubans and their African immigrant neighbors. Paradoxically, at a time when much of us are hyper-connected, in the face of digital disconnection, Cubans were able to connect with Africa via Africans themselves. So, bakosó remains as a unique cultural space in a world where cultural difference seems to be melting away—it is wonderful, simply, because it is still a story of a specific place, and a sound for a specific people, at a specific moment in time.

Still, what may be most exciting for audiences in regards to both the film and the music itself is that they allow us to romanticize the potentials and possibilities they symbolize. Bakosó, as a gift to Cuba from the African nations that were touched by Cuba’s influence, being sent back to the island that helped define what it means to be African in the modern world. With beautiful cinematography, and an innovative take on the documentary genre, the Jacobs-Fantauzzi brothers have done a great job in documenting this exchange on another leg of its journey.

The Cuban Atlantic

 

[Yehuda]

International Congress of Afro-descendant Peoples begins in Venezuela

November 11 2019 7:00

“We must leave this congress with a united platform, beyond our regions and continents, because here we have 47 countries and once everyone has arrived there will be 53 countries present and international delegates we will talk to on this forum”, said Minister of Education and Social Development, Aristóbulo Istúriz, after opening the International Congress of Afro-descendant Peoples in Caracas.

“What happens to an Afro-descendant happens to everyone”, he said to national and international guests, and urged debating to develop an action agenda.

Before the spokesmen and representatives of the world that will be in Venezuela until November 12, Istúriz revealed that the date to inaugurate the congress was chosen conscientiously. He confirmed that on November 10, the day of the murder of Afro-Venezuelan Guillermo Rivas is celebrated in Venezuela. He was a village leader who managed to establish the greatest resistance space for slaves for three years, in the so-called Cumbe de la Libertad, in the state of Miranda.

“Welcome to this Venezuelan people who are resisting the most genocidal empire in the world“, he said, in a direct reference to the United States government.

He warned that Venezuela is the main target of the gringo empire in its attempt to appropriate natural and energy resources. If they let Venezuelan and Bolivarian socialism in practice develop without problems or obstacles, the success of their humanitarian projection would expose the capitalist failure of the United States and its power does not want people to enjoy the social advantages it guarantees, he said.

“Imperialism is attacking us and must find us prepared to face any situation of aggression and action contrary to the Bolivarian Revolution“, he stated.

He took stock of the social achievements that Venezuela has achieved in less than 20 years: fulfilling the goals of the UN millennium well in advance, the defeat of illiteracy, the reduction of malnutrition, which has been of such impact that FAO baptized its Zero Hunger program with the name of Chávez.

“That is why they killed Chavez, believing that killing Chavez killed the Bolivarian Revolution. That is why they set out not to recognize President Nicolás Maduro“, stated Istúriz.

“We must make them recognize — with the strength of the people — that Maduro is the legitimate president of the Bolivarian Republic“, he said.

Istúriz considered that, given the evidence up to this date, the oligarchy and the empire have tried to lead a people to material and spiritual collapse, but this people has resisted bravely. “In addition, president Maduro has designed policies for the protection of the Venezuelan people in an assertive way”, he added.

“We reaffirm our commitment to help Nicolás Maduro to face imperialism, the IMF and to build an alternative model to capitalism“, he said, in face of the theft of international assets, the blockade of food and medicines, millions of losses in money and human damages.

He commented that these imperial destabilizing attempts have been made against other governments in the region, such as parliamentary coups in Paraguay, Honduras and Brazil, but electoral victories in Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Nicaragua and Bolivia have inflamed the US genocidal regime.

“And what is currently happening in Bolivia will only be ‘for now'”, he said regarding the coup d'état carried out against Evo Morales.

The International Congress of Afro-descendant Peoples was installed with the intonation of the Afro-descendant anthem performed by Grupo Elegguá in the facilities of the Hotel Alba Caracas.

International Congress of Afro-descendant Peoples begins in Venezuela

 

[Yehuda]

Bolivia’s lithium and the urgency of a coup

Indian historian Vijay Prashad writes about what could be behind the overthrowing of Bolivian president Evo Morales

Vijay Prashad
Leia em português | Leer en español | Brasil de Fato | November 12, 2019 6:49 PM

People demonstrate in support of Evo Morales, holding a banner that reads 'It's not a resignation, It's a coup', in Mexico City on Nov. 11 / Claudio Cruz/AFP

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales was overthrown in a military coup on November 10. He is now in Mexico. Before he left office, Morales had been involved in a long project to bring economic and social democracy to his long-exploited country. It is important to recall that Bolivia has suffered a series of coups, often conducted by the military and the oligarchy on behalf of trans-national mining companies. Initially, these were tin firms, but tin is no longer the main target in Bolivia. The main target is its massive deposits of lithium, crucial for the electric car.

Over the past thirteen years, Morales has tried to build a different relationship between his country and its resources. He has not wanted the resources to benefit the transnational mining firms, but to benefit his own population. Part of that promise was met as Bolivia’s poverty rate has declined, and as Bolivia’s population was able to improve its social indicators. Nationalization of resources combined with the use of its income to fund social development has played a role. The attitude of the Morales government towards the trans-national firms produced a harsh response from them, many of them taking Bolivia to court.

Over the course of the past few years Bolivia has struggled to raise investment to develop the lithium reserves in a way that brings the wealth back into the country for its people. Morales’ vice president Álvaro García Linera had said that lithium would be the "fuel that feeds the world." Bolivia was unable to make deals with Western trans-national firms; it decided to partner with Chinese firms. This made the Morales government vulnerable. It had walked into the new Cold War between the West and China. The coup against Morales cannot be understood without a glance at this clash.

Clash with the Trans-National Firms

When Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism took power in 2006, the government immediately sought to undo decades of theft by trans-national mining firms. Morales’ government seized several of the mining operations of the most powerful firms, such as Glencore, Jindal Steel, Anglo-Argentinian Pan American Energy, and South American Silver (now TriMetals Mining). It sent a message that business as usual was not going to continue.

Nonetheless, these large firms continued their operations – based on older contracts – in some areas of the country. For example, the Canadian transnational firm South American Silver had created a company in 2003 – before Morales came to power – to mine the Malku Khota for silver and indium (a rare earth metal used in flat screen televisions). South American Silver then began to extend its reach into its concessions. The land which it claimed was inhabited by indigenous Bolivians, who argued that the company was destroying its sacred spaces as well as promoting an atmosphere of violence.

On 1 August 2012, the Morales government – by Supreme Decree no. 1308 – annulled the contract with South American Silver (TriMetals Mining), which then sought international arbitration and compensation. Canada’s government of Justin Trudeau – as part of a broader push on behalf of Canadian mining companies in South America – put an immense amount of pressure on Bolivia. In August 2019, TriMetals struck a deal with the Bolivian government for $25.8 million, about a tenth of what it had earlier demanded as compensation.

Jindal Steel, an Indian transnational corporation, had an old contract to mine iron ore from Bolivia’s El Mutun, a contract that was put on hold by the Morales government in 2007. In June 2012, Jindal Steel terminated the contract, sought international arbitration, and compensation for its investment. In 2014, it won $22.5 million from Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. For another case, Jindal Steel demanded $100 million in compensation.

The Morales government seized three facilities from the Swiss-based trans-national mining firm Glencore; these included a tin and zinc mine as well as two smelters. The mine’s expropriation took place after Glencore’s subsidiary clashed violently with miners.

Most aggressively, Pan American sued the Bolivian government for $1.5 billion for the expropriation of its stake in Petrolera Chaco by the state energy company. Bolivia settled for $357 million in 2014.

The scale of these payouts is enormous. It was estimated in 2014 that the public and private payments made for nationalization of these key sectors amounted to at least $1.9 billion (Bolivia’s GDP was at that time $28 billion).

In 2014, even the Financial Times agreed that Morales’ strategy was not entirely inappropriate. "Proof of the success of Morales’ economic model is that since coming to power he has tripled the size of the economy while ramping up record foreign reserves."

Lithium

Bolivia’s key reserves are in lithium, which is essential for the electric car. Bolivia claims to have 70% of the world’s lithium reserves, mostly in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. The complexity of the mining and processing has meant that Bolivia has not been able to develop the lithium industry on its own. It requires capital and it requires expertise.

The salt flat is at 3,600 meters above sea level, and it receives high rainfall. This makes it difficult to use sun-based evaporation. Such simpler solutions are available to Chile’s Atacama Desert and in Argentina’s Hombre Muerto. More technical solutions are needed for Bolivia, which means that more investment is needed.

The nationalization policy of the Morales government and the geographical complexity of Salar de Uyuni chased away several transnational mining firms. Eramet (France), FMC (United States) and Posco (South Korea) could not make deals with Bolivia, so they now operate in Argentina.

Morales made it clear that any development of the lithium had to be done with Bolivia’s Comibol – its national mining company – and Yacimentos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) – its national lithium company – as equal partners.

Last year, Germany’s ACI Systems agreed to a deal with Bolivia. After protests from residents in the Salar de Uyuni region, Morales cancelled that deal on November 4, 2019.

Chinese firms – such as TBEA Group and China Machinery Engineering – made a deal with YLB. It was being said that China’s Tianqui Lithium Group, which operates in Argentina, was going to make a deal with YLB. Both Chinese investment and the Bolivian lithium company were experimenting with new ways to both mine the lithium and to share the profits of the lithium. The idea that there might be a new social compact for the lithium was unacceptable to the main trans-national mining companies.

Tesla and Pure Energy Minerals (Canada) both showed great interest in having a direct stake in Bolivian lithium. But they could not make a deal that would take into consideration the parameters set by the Morales government. Morales himself was a direct impediment to the take-over of the lithium fields by the non-Chinese trans-national firms. He had to go.

After the coup, Tesla’s stock rose astronomically.

Edition: Aline Scátola

Bolivia’s lithium and the urgency of a coup

 

[Yehuda]

The Geostrategic Consequences Of The Hybrid War On Bolivia

14 NOVEMBER 2019

The successful regime change operation that was just carried out in Bolivia throughout the course of the country's ongoing US-backed Hybrid War could have some game-changing geostrategic consequences if the coup "authorities" renege on the previous agreements that President Morales signed with Russia and China, especially in the lithium industry, as well as if they enable their new American patron to use their centrally positioned state in the continental heartland as a platform for spreading its divide-and-rule influence all throughout the rest of South America.

A Divide-And-Rule Domino Effect?

"The Hybrid War On Bolivia Succeeded In Carrying Out Regime Change" against democratically re-elected and legitimate President Morales, and the geostrategic consequences of this military coup could potentially be far-reaching. It first of all represents the belated success of the "Guaido Model" whereby a previously little-known politician (in the Bolivian context, Second Vice Speaker of the Senate Jeanine Añez) declares themselves "president" before, during, or after a Color Revolution and is installed in power with the help of military forces that betrayed the constitution, which didn't work in Venezuela because of that country's strong civic-military union but was pulled off in Bolivia precisely because the latter lacked the aforesaid, according to Venezuelan-Canadian freelance writer and activist Nino Pagliccia. Regional states much weaker than Venezuela could therefore fall victim to this regime change scenario, meaning that any potential gains that genuine grassroots forces might make in the ongoing so-called "South American Spring" could turn out to be temporary and possibly reversed so long as US spy agencies retain control of the military-intelligence faction of their "deep states".

Hybrid War In The South American Heartland

The author earlier identified Bolivia as the most strategically positioned state in South America in his June 2017 analysis about the continent's geopolitics, pointing out how the Andean nation is integral for any regional integration initiatives to succeed. This holds true not only for institutions such as Mercosur, but also for connectivity projects such as the Chinese-backed "Trans-Oceanic Railroad" (TORR) that's planned to cut through the country in linking the Brazilian Atlantic coast with the Peruvian Pacific one. The US, especially under the Trump Administration, is adamantly opposed to all of the New Silk Roads being built under the umbrella of China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), so it can't be discounted that the pro-American coup "authorities" might renege on their previous agreements with the People's Republic in this respect and possibly even go as far as "recognizing" Taiwan instead. That dramatic diplomatic pivot could be encouraged by the US in order to capsize China's $2.3 billion lithium deal that was clinched with Bolivia earlier this year, as well as to undermine their space and security cooperation since Beijing couldn't continue these strategic projects in that scenario.

The Lithium Link

Russia also stands to lose some of its influence in the event that the coup-imposed "authorities" renege on their previous cooperation agreements with it too. The Eurasian Great Power has strategic interests in Bolivia's lithium resources just like China does, which the author analyzed in his piece for Global Research over the summer about how "Russia's Bolivia Gambit Is A Bold Economic Move". The developing Russian-Chinese condominium over Bolivia's lithium resources could have seen both multipolar leaders collectively asserting their technological independence in the forthcoming era of electric vehicles and thus preventing the West from becoming the dominant force in this industry. Lithium, it should be pointed out, is a required component of the batteries that store the electric power in those vehicles, and it's actually much more important than cobalt (some of which is extracted by 35,000 Congolese child slaves) since the latter is being progressively phased out and replaced by other minerals that are more ethical, less costly, and more reliable from a supply chain standpoint. As it so happens, Bolivia has one of the world's largest lithium reserves, thus making it disproportionately strategic.

Hindsight Is 20/20

The author drew attention to this back in August 2016 in one of his Context Countdown analyses for Sputnik that was transcribed and republished by Global Research under the title "Lithium, A Strategic Resource: Here's Why The US Wants To Break Bolivia To Bits With Hybrid War", which presciently predicted some of the domestic fault lines that would later be exploited by the US during the latest Hybrid War in pursuit of obtaining control over this strategic resource. That piece came several months after the author first identified Bolivia as a likely victim of the US' global Hybrid War campaign in a March 2016 forecast for Oriental Review about "Predicting The Next Hybrid Wars", which was the third chapter in his "Law Of Hybrid Warfare" e-book series covering both the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. In hindsight, it therefore wasn't surprising whatsoever that the US would target Bolivia for regime change since it always wanted to dominate the global lithium industry and create a geostrategic wedge for perpetuating its historic divide-and-rule policy in South America, both of which are in the process of being accomplished after the recent military coup.

Russia & China's Diplomatic Dilemma

As such, it remains to be seen whether the Russian and Chinese governments will recognize the de-facto results of this regime change operation despite its outcome being totally illegal by both domestic and international standards. On the one hand, they might believe that recognizing the coup-imposed "authorities" could prevent them from reneging on the aforementioned strategic agreements that these two Great Powers reached with Bolivia, while on the other, doing so might weaken their case for taking these same "authorities" to international court in the event that they do indeed renege on those deals. Russia and China are therefore in a very tricky position because the new "authorities" might use those agreements as blackmail for receiving those two's recognition (as well as threatening to "recognize" Taiwan unless China bestows them recognition in the near future first), which would greatly "legitimize" the US' Hybrid War on Bolivia as well as any forthcoming ones in the region and elsewhere that it successfully wages. From the Russian and Chinese positions, however, there's no guarantee that those "authorities" will keep their word and won't ditch the deals right afterwards.

From Great Powers To Passive Observers

Objectively speaking, the US has much more influence over the current Bolivian "authorities" than either Russia or China do, so it would ultimately come down to whether Washington has the "goodwill" to "allow" La Paz to respect those agreements or not, which is extremely unlikely. Neither of those two Great Powers could realistically reverse their prospective recognition of the coup "authorities" if the latter pull out of the agreements because it would then reveal their intentions in recognizing them in the first place to have been entirely self-serving and therefore harm their soft power standing across the world. Considering this, the optimal approach that they might choose to apply could be to maintain pragmatic working contacts with the new "authorities" but withhold recognition until the outcome of UN-recognized free and fair elections. The "politically inconvenient" fact is that neither Russia nor China have the capability to influence the course of events in Bolivia in one way or the other even if they had the political will to do so, so they're essentially powerless to intervene and are thus nothing more than passive observers, albeit ones who stand to lose a whole lot if everything continues to go awry.

The Geostrategic Consequences Of The Hybrid War On Bolivia

 

[Yehuda]

Peoples’ BRICS Seminar seeks unity of the people amid global crisis

Representatives from trade unions, political parties, social movements, and universities of the BRICS countries gathered in Brasilia for the Peoples’ BRICS Summit

November 12, 2019 by Peoples Dispatch

Peoples' BRICS seminar is taking place in Brasilia ahead of the official summit. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee / New Frame

The Peoples’ BRICS Seminar began on Monday November 11 in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. It is being attended by over 150 representatives of people’s movements, political parties, trade unions, academics and journalists from Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa. The seminar is occurring ahead of the official leaders’ summit that will begin in the city on November 13.

The driving focus of the Peoples’ BRICS Seminar is the unity and integration of the people not only of the BRICS countries but of all countries in the global south that face threats to their sovereignty and autonomy by the imperialist countries, right-wing governments and neoliberal policies.

Throughout the first day of discussions, panelists and participants denounced the civic-military coup d’état carried out against Evo Morales as a desperate attempt of the racist, conservative right-wing to stop the process of change in Bolivia and the region.

Imperialism

In the first panel titled “Imperialism, International Geopolitics, Role of BRICS and the People”, panelists addressed the distinct challenges that imperialism poses to these countries, in addition to the efforts of integration between them. The panelists from Brazil and India highlighted that the right-wing governments and right-wing movements in their countries have contributed not only to the exacerbation of misery and crisis for the working class and marginalized, but have caused a realignment of national interests in line with imperialism.

Paulo Nogueira Batista Junior, former vice president of the BRICS Development Bank, spoke in the first panel and criticized Brazil’s weak presence in BRICS, “While Brazil used to be a driving force of the BRICS, it became a relatively passive participant, with few initiatives and few ideas,” Batista Junior said. “This is actually happening with this current government, which is excessively, sometimes embarrassingly aligned with the United States, and that damages Brazil’s credibility.”

Monica Bruckmann of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a specialist on China, highlighted the positive role China has played amid in the current geopolitical scenario of reconsolidation of right-wing forces. She explained how China’s economic growth and power has served as a counterweight to US global dominance and has opened up alternatives for the emerging economies of the global south.

Monica Bruckmann of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a specialist on China spoke in a panel on the first day of Peoples’ BRICS seminar. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee / New Frame

Indian journalist Prasanth Radhakrishnan of Peoples Dispatch highlighted how the current capitalist crisis is highlighting the moral bankruptcy of imperialist nations: “Imperialism has been showing more and more that it is unable to present a project of control. More and more, imperialism shows that it believes it is ok to destroy a country and that is all it is capable of,” Radhakrishnan said, mentioning recent cases such as Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Trade union leader Mbuso Ngubane of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa added that the BRICS mechanism while important, maintains the logic of “capitalist accumulation” and in the current struggle against imperialism “we must take to the streets in every corner of this world. Unity between the working and peasant class is the only force capable of stopping the current, rapid march that can destroy us all.”

Mbuso Ngubane of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa.

Russian journalist Konstantin Syomin reflected on the social component of the current global moment and identified the apathy and the “depoliticization of the masses,” as factors leading to social unrest. Though, he noted, this apathy will not last forever. He pointed out: “The contradictions are evolving fast within and between societies. What we are witnessing now is not a series of isolated cataclysms, but a profound crisis in the global capitalist system as a whole. ‘The world has changed, there is no proletariat anymore.’ How many times have we heard this? The world may seem different now, but the foundations of capitalism remain intact,” he said.

Capitalism in crisis

The afternoon session “Economic, Social and Environmental Crisis and Development Alternatives from the People” brought the crisis of neoliberal capitalism to the forefront. Brazilian economist from the University of Campinas Marcio Pochmann emphasized that the environmental impact of the current economic model and the culture of consumption of the elite classes is extremely grave and requires immediate attention.

Pochmann explained that “The productive, organizational process of work that we have seen in the last 200 years has been extremely compromising for the environment, as such that the continuity of this process is impossible. There is no way to sustain the pattern of consumption that the wealthy currently have

Indian economist Biswajit Dhar, of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, discussed the growth of inequality and poverty globally in the last several decades and the role of ‘development’ projects. He added that while wages have reduced, profit margins have increased.

Economist Biswajit Dhar, of the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee / New Frame

With regards to economic challenges today, Dhar discussed the advancement of anti-labor legislation under the right-wing government and its impact on the working class. “India is changing its labor legislation to make it easier to fire workers. What is becoming very clear in India is that, because that wage share is dropping, the demand drops too, and many sectors are showing downward trends for this reason,” Dhar said.

Within the context of the crisis in the capitalist countries, Isabela Noguiera of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro offered a perspective on the Chinese economic model which she described as “what was called state capitalism in the 1950s and 1960s,” with “lower inequality levels than the United States, as several measurements show.”

Nogueira said this is the case because China, for example, has mechanisms to control the financialization of its economy, which gives the country a relative autonomy.

Tomorrow the Peoples’ Summit will continue and participants will discuss political crisis and people’s struggles as well as the challenges of internationalism, solidarity and the integration of the peoples of the world. At midday, seminar participants will mobilize outside the Bolivian embassy in Brasilia in solidarity with the Bolivian people and to reject the coup.

Peoples’ BRICS Seminar seeks unity of the people amid global crisis

 

[Yehuda]

Peoples’ BRICS Summit closing statement: “We demand changes so we can have a future”

Two-day event was held in Brasília before the BRICS Summit where heads of governments will meet

Brasília, November 12, 2019 7:07 PM

Approximately 120 people took part in the two-day summit in Brasília, the capital of Brazil / Ihsaan Haffejee/New Frame

The closing statement of the Peoples’ BRICS Summit was released on Tuesday evening in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. The document is the result of two days of discussions between researchers and members of the 60 people’s organizations from nine countries.

“We gathered in Brazil in this moment in which the structural crisis of capitalism – a crisis which produces decisive contradictions with regards to the environment, politics, economics and society – has deepened,” the statement reads. “The current historical moment highlights the importance of the struggle and of the international unity of our peoples as a mean of bringing about structural changes in society. We add our voices to the call to all progressive forces to build an International Week of Anti-Imperialist Struggle that will take place from May 25 to 31, 2020.”

The participants of the summit denounce the decision of the Brazilian government to vote against the end of the embargo against Cuba, the coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia, the persecution against Venezuela and against the former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the increasing environmental destruction, and the attacks against workers’ rights.

The idea is to bring the demands to the heads of government who will take part in the BRICS Summit, which will start on Wednesday, also in Brasília.

Read the full statement:

CLOSING STATEMENT

WE DEMAND CHANGES SO WE CAN HAVE A FUTURE!

On November 11 and 12, 2019, we – militants of 60 popular organizations, unions and political parties of 9 countries – gathered at the International Seminar of the Peoples´ BRICS to discuss the current context of international politics and the peoples´ challenges when confronted with imperialist actions. This meeting took place on the days prior to the 11th Summit of the Presidents of the BRICS, to be held on November 13 and 14, 2019.

We gathered in Brazil in this moment in which the structural crisis of capitalism – a crisis which produces decisive contradictions with regards to the environment, politics, economics and society – has deepened. With this deepening of the structural crisis, we have also seen the accompanying international deepening of the class struggle. This structural crisis of capitalism produces Financial capital which then imposes a new phase of neoliberalism on the world. In this new phase of Neoliberalism, the appropriation of the state, of funds and of public services adds itself to the privatizations of common goods such as water, land, biodiversity and air.

It is in this moment that imperialism acts in a more decisive manner. The current geopolitical dynamics manifests in the dispute for territories in several parts of the world, but with special emphasis in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

This new phase uses manipulation of false fundamentalist and conservative values through the control of sophisticated channels of conventional and digital media, in a set of tactics known as “Hybrid Wars”. These wars are used to overthrow democratically elected governments, to exploit natural resources, to attack workers rights and to undermine the sovereignty of nations.

Furthermore, the current advancement of technology follows the logic of the internal competition among transnational companies for the accumulation of wealth leading to a profound change in domestic productive structures as well as the international division of labor. The working class is excluded from this process, delaying the full development of its people.

As such, we denounce:

1. The coup d’état in Bolivia, that was orchestrated by the United States with the support of the governments of Brazil and Macri´s Argentina.

2. The decision of the Brazilian government to vote against the end of the embargo against Cuba, breaking with a historical tradition at the UN Assembly and aligning itself with the United States and Israel as the only countries among the 190 present to vote in this direction.

3. The imperialist attacks against Venezuela, and the destabilization of various democracies in Latin America.

4. We vehemently reject the increasing environmental destruction and the attacks on workers´ rights.

5. The increased investments in the military industrial complex subordinated to the U.S. imperialism, expressed in the redeployment of the 4th Fleet and the more than 300 military bases across the world which negatively affects the sovereignty of the countries.

6. The political persecution of president Lula, celebrating his release after 580 days of unjust incarceration, we commit ourselves to fight for the annulment of all legal process that seek to criminalize him.



We demand:

• The right to sovereignty and self-determination, peace and new relations between human beings and nature;

• The integration of our people based in the international solidarity;

• The deepening of democracy in our countries and the defense of projects which are based on the needs of the working class.



The current historical moment highlights the importance of the struggle and of the international unity of our peoples as a mean of bringing about structural changes in society.

We add our voices to the call to all progressive forces to build an International Week of Anti-Imperialist Struggle that will take place from May 25 to 31, 2020.

Brasília, November 12, 2019



INTERNATIONALIZE THE STRUGGLE, INTERNATIONALIZE HOPE!

International Peoples´ Assembly

ALBA Movement – Brazil Chapter

Tricontinental Institute for Social Research

Brazil Popular Front

Fearless People Front



Edition: Daniel Giovanaz

Peoples’ BRICS Summit closing statement: “We demand changes so we can have a future”

 

[Yehuda]

S'bu Zikode: Abahlali, addressig the People's Brics meeting, on challenges of Internationalism Solidarity and Integration of Peoples, Brasilia (12/11/19)

15TH NOVEMBER 2019

Thank you Programme Director. May I take this opportunity to thank the International Secretariat for creating this space for us. I see this space as an instrument full of possibilities and hope for a better world, a world that we want and for which we are all prepared to fight. May I also thank all comrades from Pan Africa Today who have always counted us, the uncounted, in this difficult journey for a world we want, a world in which we all live like human beings.

In recent years we have had a close and important relationship with the MST, the movement of the landless here in Brazil, and many of our comrades have travelled to Brazil to spend time with the MST, and to participate in the MST political school. Our struggles to put the social value of land before its commercial value have much in common. We deeply appreciate the solidarity from the MST and our movement shares in your joy at the release of Lula.

The shack dwellers of South Africa have been subject to the brutal forces of capitalism and political gangsterism that have taken over our public institutions and cities. The result has been impoverishment, rule by violence, exclusion from the cities and a system that murders those who stand up for their human dignity, and for justice. Those of us who are still here have been lucky to survive this system.

When our struggle began fifteen years ago those who are paid to claim to represent us in the ruling party and in NGOs (‘civil society’) treated our movement as some kind of criminal conspiracy. As a democratic formation we learnt how difficult and painful it is to be struggling on your own. We faced and survived severe repression on our own. In the blood and fire of this repression we took a deliberate decision to work with labour movements and other progressive and democratic formations in South Africa, and everywhere in the world where we can build solidarity. We have had to identify potential comrades, and possibilities for solidarity, nationally, regionally and internationally.

We understand the danger of being a referee and a player in the struggle like we are facing. We understand the danger of wanting to be the only voice in the struggle of the working class. We also understand the danger of wanting to be the only hero in the time where internationalism is necessary. But capitalism is a global force. Imperialism is a global force. There can be no advancement for the impoverished majority of the world if our struggle is not also global. We seek to build solidarity in humility, a living solidarity in which an injury to one is an injury to all.

We know how it feels to be living under the shadow of death, not knowing if one will still be alive when the sun sets each evening and shines each morning. But we also know that while living under these pressures we need to keep the wider world in mind, and to continue to link our struggles and share ideas.

It took us a very long time to understand the politic of frustration and marginalisation from the general public and sometimes from families. We built our movement on a politic of listening and this politic can also help us to build international solidarity.

Our movement and our different struggles were built with conscious and deliberate action. We did not just grow out of nowhere. Building strong movements sometimes require us to engage in an out of order politic. It requires us to be humane and gentle. It requires us to begin to practise to live the kind of world we want. It requires us to swallow our pride so that our future generations can live better. At the same time it requires us to stand very firm against evil forces that are determined to keep us in the shadow of poverty. It is for this reason that we cannot be soft when the system is not soft on us. We have been able to build our communities and movements across our own nations. Now is the time to build global solidarity across cities, provinces, regions and states. There is no better time than this. The world is witnessing brutal forms of exploitation accompanied by violent dispossession both in rural and urban areas.

The indigenous people, the impoverished and the working class suffer the most. There is no doubt that our diverse struggles are all facing common global forces and interests that often gain from the impoverishment and dispossession of others. Just as the economic monster is globalising, we must unite and build a global resistance. Lula must know that he will always have a home in our land occupations, whether they are in São Paulo or Durban. Bolsonaro must know that he will face resistance in the streets from Brasília to Pretoria.

In order to build unity and international solidarity we will have to be very honest about ourselves with a clear examination of both our strength and our weaknesses. We must organise with great humility to be taken seriously and be listened to. The deep value of ubuntu must be used to destroy the commodification of social services and land. Our praxis must reflect the values of ubuntu which points directly to the society we want. We must be able to master and speak the language of the indigenous people and the people we serve. International solidarity can be successful when it is backed by the real struggles of the people on the ground. A people to people solidarity can be genuine and can break the walls of distance and languages.

For example, a few years ago Abahlali used to have days of solidarity with comrades from Haiti through video and deep discussion on their struggles and challenges. By the time we were done we all felt to have been to Haiti and felt deeply connected to their struggle. We have done similar solidarity work with our comrades from the DRC through our alliance work with the Congolese Solidarity Campaign. We have also built solidarity with comrades in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Turkey, and, of course, Brazil. Our experience shows that it very possible for all of us to connect one way or the other with our diverse struggles against capitalism.

Internationalism is likely to succeed when we can practically connect our struggles nationally, regional and internationally. We must share programmes of action in our respective regions and nations. We must develop systemic solidarity mechanism with a special focus on people to people solidarity. We must question the morality of profit amid deepening inequalities and poverty. We must insists on our rights and freedom and not development goals that favour market driven agendas. We must demand substantive equality. Land, wealth and power must be shared. We need to build a living communism rooted in the lives and struggles of the oppressed.

When it comes to building international solidarity the use of language that is far removed from the people on the ground is a serious cause for concern. We need to build a common language of struggle that can connect a land occupation in São Paulo to a land occupation in Durban, and a road blockade in South Africa to a road blockade in Haiti. In the past another serious problem was that all the opportunities for building international solidarity were captured and monopolised by NGOs. Popular movements were excluded. Now, as life becomes harder and oppression becomes more and more brutal, it is vital that we build and sustain direct forms of solidarity between popular struggles and movements.

Sbu Zikiode:Abahlali, addressig the People's Brics meeting, on challenges of Internationalism Solidarity and Integration of Peoples, Brasilia (12/11/19)

 

[Yehuda]

Former deputy took issue with Gloria Rodríguez, who mentioned the Afro-descendants on the Broad Front

Edgardo Ortuño told Montevideo Portal that Rodríguez made three errors when she said "the Broad Front does not have one black man in the legislative or in the executive".

October 31, 2019 | 15:32

Edgardo Ortuño. Foto: Presidencia

"For them (the Broad Front), black people are incapable of doing anything and there is the proof, they do not have one black man in the legislative or in the executive", said Gloria Rodríguez, the elected senator of the National Party, in an interview with Montevideo Portal.

When asked about Edgardo Ortuño, the former Broad Front deputy (2005–2010) and Vice Minister and Minister of Industry, Rodríguez replied: "And where is he? At one point he was necessary for the Front's growth. 'Look at how inclusive we are'".

Montevideo Portal consulted Ortuño, who had replied on Twitter to Rodríguez's statements.

"In the Parliament representing the Broad Front there are Felipe Carballo and Claudia de los Santos as well as Susana Andrade and there were others after a long history of absence. We opened the doors for Afro-descendants to be present in relevant political positions, including in the Executive Power", he said.

"But most importantly: we opened the doors for public policies of racial equity and the fight against racism in education, employment and culture, never before applied in the history of traditional governments", he added.

"When I was elected to Parliament I said it does not matter if I am the first but the important thing is to not be the last and I stand by it, so I congratulate you being elected into the Senate" and, finally, he added: "Until the election on November 24, let's carry out the debate with class, without distorting the reality with lies".

When asked by Montevideo Portal, Ortuño said Rodríguez made three mistakes when referring to the Broad Front.

"First an information error, a misrepresentation or, to be frank, a lie. As far as the presence of black people or Afro-descendants, not only was I the first but we continued to exist, to the point that today there is Felipe Carballo, as well as Claudia de los Santos and Susana Andrade", he said.

"In the Executive Power there was never a black person until the Broad Front arrived, and that black person was me, therefore it is not an achievement of the National Party", he continued in his statement.

"The second element, which is the most important, is the carrying out of public policies for the development of the Afro-Uruguayan population, so as to open and equalize the opportunities for all members of the black community this was carried out by the Broad Front", he explained.

"Third, it is a mistake to politicize from a point of view of a minor electoral campaign — with misrepresentations and with wrong readings — the work that has really been for the country's black population", he added.

Finally, Ortuño also referred to "another lie" that Rodriguez told in the interview.

"One day they declared me persona non grata", said Rodríguez. "Who and why?", asked journalist César Bianchi, who conducted the interview. "The Afro-Uruguayan House chaired by Edgardo Ortuño, and because I disagreed with the Afro Salud polyclinic".

In this regard, Ortuño replied: "She was never discriminated against by me, nor was she ever declared persona non grata by the House of Afro-Uruguayan Culture".

Montevideo Portal

Former deputy took issue with Gloria Rodríguez, who mentioned the Afro-descendants on the Broad Front

 

[Yehuda]

Advance of the black population in higher education is the result of the black movement's struggle, say educators

Text: Juca Guimarães and Nataly Simões | Edition: Pedro Borges | November 14 2019

Photo: Matheus Alves

IBGE data reveal that, for the first time, black people are the majority in public universities; inequality persists in primary education and labor market indicators

It took 131 years for black people — descendants of people who were enslaved in Brazil until 1888 — to represent for the first time more than half, 50,3%, of students enrolled in public higher education. This is what the survey "Social Inequalities by Color or Race in Brazil", released this Wednesday (13), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, reveals.

Among black students aged 18 to 24, the percentage of those attending public or private higher education increased from 50,5% in 2016 to 55,6% in 2018. Despite the advance, black people are still more than 10 percentage points below whites in the same age group. Among white students aged 18 to 24, 78,8% attend universities.

According to Letícia Gabriela da Cruz Silva, maintainer and volunteer of Educafro, an institution that promotes the inclusion of the black and poor population in universities, the advancement of black people in higher education is the result of public policies achieved through the struggle of the black movement.

“The rise of young black people in higher education is the result of much fighing by black social movements. Cram schools, the tax exemption in the entrance exams and the Enem (National High School Exam) and the racial quotas were fundamental to reach the expressive numbers of the research. The data also show that public policies make all the difference in people's lives”, she says.

Other educational indicators

In relation to the population that had completed higher education in 2018, whites totaled 36,1% and blacks 18,3%. The entrance rate in the final year of high school is 53,2% among whites and 35,4% among blacks. Among the 18–24 age group who finished high school and were not studying because they needed to work or look for a job, 61,8% were black.

Still in the range of 18 to 24 years, the number of black people with than 11 years of schooling and not attending school decreased from 30,8% in 2016 to 28,8% in 2018. The indicator for the white population is 17,4%.

For José Henrique, teacher and coordinator of Uneafro's nucleus on the 9 de Julho Occupation, the implementation of policies that improve the entrance rate of black people in basic education is urgent.

“While the improvement in black representation is an important milestone in the struggle of the black movement, the number of high school graduates is a bottleneck that requires attention. We still see state and federal governments unconcerned with improving high school. It is necessary to democratize the school and improve the working conditions of teachers”, he evaluates.

The illiteracy rate for Brazilians over 15 also decreased. Among blacks, the drop went from 9,8% in 2016 to 9,1% in 2018. The rate for whites is 3,9%.

In attendance at day care or school, black children up to five years old went from 49,1% to 53%, while 55,8% of white children have access to this educational stage. In the first years of elementary school, for children from six to ten years old, IBGE considers that there is no significant difference, with 96,5% of white and 95,8% of black children accessing the school environment.

Job market and income

The new IBGE suvey points out that racial inequality in the job market persists. In 2018, the black population represented 54,9% of the workforce in the country (57,7 million people) and white people represented 43,9% (46,1 million). Black people accounted for 64,2% of the unemployed and 66,1% of the underutilized.

In the informal job market, with no formal contract and benefits, last year black people totaled 47,3% and whites 34,6%. Black people had lower incomes than whites in both formal and informal occupations.

The average income of white workers was R$ 2.796, 73,9% higher than that of black workers, who were paid R$ 1.608. Per work hours, regardless of education level, in 2018 whites were paid more than blacks. While white income reached R$ 17 per hour, black income reached R$ 10,1. When comparing workers with higher education, whites earned 45% more per hour.

“Improving black youth's access to higher education is a significant advance, but it should be accompanied by a good egalitarian perspective to represent economic and social improvement. Although the black population is achieving the same qualification as the white one, the salaries are not the same”, concludes José Henrique.

Advance of the black population in higher education is the result of the black movement's struggle, say educators

 

[loyola llothta]