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Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, on his mission to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Ecuador, pursuant to Council resolution 36/4.
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Why don’t the media fact-check “amnesty” claims?
The practice of citing conservative agitators is often characterized as “bothsidesism,” but here the news outlets only presented one side—the one on the far right—without even a hint that the claims might not have a factual basis.
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Venezuela cuts relations with United States over coup support
Maduro cut relations with the U.S. and said that envoys of the countries who have stopped recognizing him as elected president have 72 hours to leave the country.
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Open thread: U.S. backs anti-Maduro coup in Venezuela
Lacking, for now, the support of Venezuela’s own military the only way the coup can succeed is with military help from a foreign power, the obvious candidates being the U.S., NATO and Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro——a cross between Pinochet and a used car salesman.
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Inequality and the ecological transition
Last month Branko Milanovic published a blog post about the Yellow Vest movement against the fuel tax in France. He was worried–like many analysts–that the uprising proves it will be virtually impossible to roll out the policies necessary to reduce carbon emissions. He’s convinced that people simply won’t accept it.
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Karl and Rosa: 100th anniversary
The masses of red flowers for Karl Liebknecht and, even more for Rosa Luxemburg, was higher than I have ever seen them. Both were murdered one hundred years ago. Why do those two names mean so much to so many people?
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Dossier 12: India’s Communists and the elections of 2019
Ahead of the 2019 elections in India—the largest exercise of electoral democracy in the world–Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) discusses the current political context in the country and the left-led resistance to the deepening assault on basic human rights led by India’s right-wing.
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3135. Opportunities and challenges posed by the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests and the Sunrise movement
In this essay, I will argue that the leadership of the climate justice movement and the movement for radical social change, which in my opinion is essential for tackling the eco-social world crisis, have fallen short to meet the opportunities and challenges that the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests in France (Greeman, December 3, 2018; December 28, 2018) and the Sunrise Movement in the United States have presented.
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Is Russia imperialist?
Is Russia Imperialist is a look at capitalist Russia today and its place in the world economic system. In this article we look at the degree capitalist Russia today shares in the features outlined by Lenin in his book Imperialism. We consider the role Russian capitalist monopolies play in the world imperialist system, the nature of Russia’s export trade, the export of Russian capital, the world role played by Russian finance capital, and finally Russian military power.
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The conscious filmgoers guide to the best films of 2018
Here are 2018’s top ten conscious films that made it through these barriers, plus twenty more released this year that you may want to check out.
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The butcher washes his hands before weighing the meat
It has been almost a year since we got off the ground. Our offices across the world humming with activity. You have received forty-four newsletters from us, eleven dossiers and one notebook and one working document. More is on the way as we enter our second calendar year.
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Adam Smith and the Yellow Vest Movement
It is sad to see how completely misrepresented Adam Smith (1723-1790) is when pundits call upon him to vindicate neoliberalism and the status quo. It seems many have not really bothered to read his works.
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The fragility of the Colombian peace accords and the reincorporation of ex-insurgents of the FARC-EP
In this article we discuss the (non-) implementation of the Colombian peace accords, based on a conference given by Victoria Sandino, a leading FARC figure. We also examine an initiative, Ecomun, to build peace through the construction of alternative economies in the Colombian countryside.
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Sighs of relief
Germany’s feverish political scene cooled off just a little. Two big sighs of relief permitted some people, at least temporarily, to stop chewing their fingernails.
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Climate’s last stand: why Extinction Rebellion protesters are breaking the law (commentary)
Even if we cut emissions by 3.5 percent a year after 2020, we’ll hit 4 degrees Celsius warming by the end of this century. Just let that sink in for a minute. When babies born now are in their 80s, there could be no human civilization left to speak of.
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Biplav’s Communist Party of Nepal on the move
A five-year-old revolutionary movement in Nepal brings together program and commitment in a way that powerfully prefigures communist society.
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Zionism: cycles of trauma and aggression in the service of settler colonialism
The origins of Zionism are profoundly misunderstood by many. This is not coincidental and can be seen largely as the result of propaganda, which opportunistically and erroneously asserts that Zionism is the natural expression of Judaism.
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What white supremacists know
The violent theft of land and capital is at the core of the U.S. experiment: the U.S. military got its start in the wars against Native Americans.
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Facing the left-wing challenge in the European Union
One of the central and most concrete themes that the break should cover concerns the way public indebtedness is used to justify austerity policies.
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Dossier 10: Argentina goes back to the IMF
For six months, Argentina has been confronted with a new economic and social crisis on a massive scale. In the context the devaluation of local currency, rising inflation, and a deep recession, Mauricio Macri’s administration struck an agreement with the IMF, marking a major shift in the country’s future. The agreements slash public spending and prioritize the repayment of debt, among other measures. This dossier examines the different dimensions of the crisis, the open disputes, and the possibilities for the immediate future.