In defiance of the International Court of Justice, Israel continues to bomb Gaza. Like the United States, Israel refuses to abide by international law, exposing the hypocrisy of the ‘rules-based international order’.

On the evening of 14 May, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken climbed onstage at Barman Dictat in Kyiv, Ukraine, to pick up an electric guitar and join the Ukrainian punk band 19.99.

In early April 2024, the navies of four countries—Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States—held a maritime exercise in the South China Sea. Australia’s Warramunga, Japan’s Akebono, the Philippines’ Antonio Luna, and the United States’ Mobile worked together in these waters to strengthen their joint abilities and—as they said in a joint statement—to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight and respect for maritime rights under international law.”

France has long sought to undermine African sovereignty, from the national liberation struggles of the twentieth century to today. But Africa would not tolerate French dominion then, nor will it now. This newsletter seeks to better understand the wave of coups in the Sahel and the fervour for African sovereignty in the region.

From universities to grassroots movements worldwide, young people are fighting back against the complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestians, setting up encampments and facing repression with resilience. This resistance is rooted in a long tradition to impose clarity upon a world encrusted by compromise, from the movement against apartheid in South Africa to China’s May Fourth Movement.

African liberation struggles not only won independence in their own countries; they also defeated Estado Novo colonialism, which spurred the Carnation Revolution 50 years ago.

While people across the world have been taking bold action in support of Palestine, the global north ruling class has used all tools at its disposal to support Israel’s genocide and criminalize solidarity.

From Israel’s bombing of Iran’s embassy in Damascus to Ecuador’s raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito, leaders feel emboldened by the impunity granted by the Global North to disregard diplomatic norms and respect.

Amid the intensifying water crisis that plagues billions of people across the world, Israel is using water as a weapon in its war against Palestinians by denying access and destroying infrastructure.

Jared Kushner joins the chorus calling for Israel to expand its occupation to Gaza’s waterfront through forced displacement, but, if history is any judge, Palestinians will remain.

In the face of looming famine, Biden’s promise to build a ‘temporary pier’ to allow aid into Gaza is hollow, undermined by his country’s complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestine.

Amidst the genocide against Palestinians and the war in Congo, human beings cling to hope. Saleem, in Rafah, dreams beyond the present, of Red Books Day and a brighter future.

On 20 February, United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield had the terrible job of vetoing Algeria’s resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. Amar Bendjama, the Algerian Ambassador to the UN, said that the resolution he tabled had been shaped by conversations amongst the 15 members of the UN Security Council.

In December 2023, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a stunning report showing that, since 2018, literacy in reading and mathematics has declined amongst the world’s students.

On 26 January, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) announced the start of a massive military exercise called Steadfast Defender 2024 that will continue until the end of May.

On 2 February 2024, the people of Venezuela celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution.

On 26 January, the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that it is ‘plausible’ that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The new formation is led by Sahra Wagenknecht (born 1969), one of the most dynamic politicians of her generation in Germany and a former star in Die Linke, and Amira Mohamed Ali. It is called the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance for Reason and Justice (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, BSW) and it launched in early January 2024.

What does Lenin say to us in today’s post-Soviet world and what is his legacy, asks VIJAY PRASHAD. VLADIMIR ILYICH ULANOV

On 11 January, Adila Hassim, an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, stood before the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and said: ‘Genocides are never declared in advance. But this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts’.