Image is from this Black Agenda Report article by the Communist Party of Kenya.
In June, large anti-government protests shook Kenya. President Ruto and his parliament were attempting to pass the new Finance Bill 2024, which, among other things, would have hiked taxes on the population, with a 16% sales tax on bread and a 25% duty on cooking oil, as well as new taxes on financial transanctions and vehicle ownership. There would also have been levies on women’s sanitary products and digital goods such as phones, among other measures affecting hospitals.
Hundreds of protestors stormed the parliament building and began to tear the place apart. Shortly afterwards, on June 26th, Ruto announced that he was withdrawing the bill, calling the tens of deaths and hundreds of injuries “unfortunate”. A couple weeks later, Ruto then fired his entire cabinet (aside from his foreign minister) and communicated his wish to the nation to form a “broad-based government”. Funnily enough, in July, it was announced that the majority of positions were to be filled by members of the old cabinet, while other positions were taken by members of the opposition. This has prompted scepticism among the population, including calls to resign, but there haven’t (yet) been any major anti-government events to pressure this outcome. The Communist Party of Kenya has been working to get some of their comrades back after they were abducted by the police during the protest period, and have otherwise supported the protests against Ruto.
The measures in the bill were strongly encouraged by the IMF. Kenya’s debt is currently around $80 billion, of which about 10% is owed to China for infrastructure projects (such as a railway linking the capital, Nairobi, to the port city of Mombasa, as well as 11,000 kilometers of road throughout the country). The rest is owed to a combination of the US, IMF, World Bank, and Saudi Arabia. More than half of government revenue is going towards repaying the debt - but despite these massive payments, it has only grown. The most recent round of IMF plundering (and the impetus for current events) began in 2021, when they offered a 38-month programme to “help” Kenya, which would involve the usual warfare on the poor and the dismemberment of any useful societal institutions.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you’ve wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don’t worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Kenya! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
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The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Brahzil
Apparently the entity struck Lebanon again. They really think escalation is the way forward, like that won’t result in more settlers fucking off.
Edit:
Someone with that tech magic please remove the tracking link, idk how to do it.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-latest-26-august-2024-9b67ccdeefdc81ea149fc3f9b56ba552
US Navy sacks commanding officer of its destroyer, Yemen keeps winning.
China accepts U.N. recommendations to improve environmental conflicts in Latin America Hexbear Post
- China was up for a Universal Periodic Review with the U.N. Human Rights Council, in which other member countries analyzed its actions abroad and provided recommendations to improve.
- Some of the most popular concerns were connected to the environmental and social conflicts affecting Latin America, including violence against activists, rushed impact studies and weak oversight of projects ranging from dams and highways to mines and bridges.
- China accepted a record ten out of 11 recommendations, giving hope to some that the country will change how it handles future projects in the region. But some critics are concerned that the country won’t keep its word.
i think its good China said its willing to help more in latin america in areas like enviroment and social conflicts, their big push for solar energy shows they care about green policy
In case anyone still clapping for Mehdi Hassan here he’s mourning an iof captive who died
RIP to all the brazillians leaving twitter, here’s the anthem of the communist party of brazil
Are there any Morocco Understanders out there who can tell me what this means https://www.dw.com/en/morocco-years-long-strategy-to-claim-the-western-sahara-increasingly-pays-off/a-70021096
spoiler
Morocco’s strategy on the Western Sahara has paid off Jennifer Holleis 08/23/2024August 23, 2024
With France, another key country supports Morocco’s claim on the disputed region. What are the consequences for the local Sahrawi people, neighboring Algeria and the volatile region as a whole? https://p.dw.com/p/4jngW Copy link United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) personnel disembark from a helicopter Morocco is increasingly successful in claiming the phosphate-rich Western Sahara region with its access to the Atlantic Ocean. Image: Fadel Senna/AFP
For Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, this summer could go down in history. For five decades, the Western Sahara, a territory to the south of the country, has been at the center of a conflict which might now end.
The phosphate-rich region with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean is home to the around 160,000 local Sahrawi people who have been seeking autonomy ever since Spain withdrew from the area in 1975.
The Sahrawis are represented by the Polisario Front, which is backed by neighboring Algeria. But Rabat claims the territory belongs to Morocco.
As a consequence of this on-going dispute, Morocco and Algeria have clashed repeatedly, and have cut ties in 2020, even though Algeria does not seek control of the Western Sahara itself.
Over the past years, Morocco has gained more and more support for its claim on the region and this summer, France changed its diplomatic stance, too.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the coronation of King Mohammed VI, the 61-year-old monarch received a congratulatory letter
by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that from now on, France will be supporting Morocco’s plan for the Western Sahara.
This plan, which was initially proposed by Rabat in 2007, includes creating autonomous political institutions in the region as well as pushing economic development including a port at the Atlantic Ocean. However, Morocco will be holding control over foreign affairs, defence and currency.
“France’s recognition is an extremely symbolic move that might seal the fate of the Western Sahara conflict,” Sarah Zaaimi, a researcher and the deputy director for communications at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, told DW.
Thomas M. Hill, director of North Africa Programs at the Washington-based think tank United States Institute of Peace concluded
in an op-ed this month that the Western Sahara conflict “is over” and that the indigenous Sahrawi independence movement is left with no choice but to eventually settle for some form of autonomy within Morocco. Prime Minister of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch next to French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte MacronPrime Minister of Morocco Aziz Akhannouch next to French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron After the letter to King Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron met the Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in Paris. Image: Antonin Burat/Le Pictorium/MAXPPP/picture alliance France acts with an eye on migration
France is only the latest state to recognize the Western Sahara region as Moroccan territory. Spain did so in 2022, as did the United States as part of a “quid pro quo” for Rabat’s normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.
The Gulf countries and various African and Latin American countries regard the Western Sahara as Moroccan, too.
About the same number of countries support the Polisario Front and the quest for independence by the Sahrawis. However, support for this side has been stalling.
The UN neither recognizes the sovereignty claims of Morocco nor those of the Polisario Front. The international body endorses a UN-led referendum for the local Sahrawis instead.
This is also the position of the European Union, despite first Spain’s and now France’s changed stances.
Alice Gower, director of geopolitics and security at the London-based consulting firm Azure Strategy, highlights that France’s diplomatic turnaround after years of keeping neutral on the topic is less driven by the desire to end the actual dispute over the Western Sahara.
“France’s recognition has little practical effect on the ground,” she told DW.
“Macron’s move has undoubtedly been in part motivated by transactional politics as migration is a fiercely contested issue in France,” she said. The Western Sahara has become one of the most frequented departure points for aspiring migrants and France hopes that Mohammed VI will help curb migration to Europe.
In addition, France also has a high level of interest in avoiding a power vacuum in the increasingly volatile region that includes unstable and warring countries like Libya and Sudan.
“Macron desires to prop up the Moroccan monarchy, which has been suffering a crisis of legitimacy in recent years amid rising Russian and Iranian influence in neighboring Algeria and broader security concerns across the Sahel,” Gower said. Polisario Front soldiers celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front Polisario Front soldiers celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front Morocco has been pushing for control over the Western Sahara region, with growing support from France, Spain and the US. Image: Guidoum Fateh/AP/picture alliance Algeria’s political pressure
However, France’s decision also has the potential to “throw Algeria more in the arms of the Russian Iranian axis, and push Algeria into a counter move, particularly in light of its upcoming presidential elections in early September,” Atlantic Council’s Zaaimi told DW.
Zine Labidine Ghebouli, a political analyst on Algeria and postgraduate scholar at the University of Glasgow, is therefore worried that “the region may be heading towards the moment when the Polisario Front decides that it is more appropriate and more useful to intensify its military campaign rather than waiting for a diplomatic solution that may not come.”
So far, however, the Sahrawi news agency only reported that the “Polisario Front has asserted that resolving the situation in occupied Western Sahara necessitates the ‘strict and firm implementation’ of international legitimacy resolutions affirming the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.”
An autonomous region is also envisioned by the around 173,600 Sahrawi refugees
who have been living in Algerian refugee camps for the past 50 years. According to recent numbers by the UN, they have been bearing the world’s second longest-standing refugee situation. Graffiti of a Saharawi Refugee CampGraffiti of a Saharawi Refugee Camp The Sahrawi population in Algeria has been bearing the world’s second longest refugee situation, according to the UN. Image: Noe Falk Nielsen/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Meanwhile, Algeria has stepped up its diplomatic pressure. Algier recalled its ambassador to Paris and started to refuse Algerian nationals deported from France.
For Ghebuli, there is no doubt that this is in reaction to France’s Morocco support.
“The Western Sahara has become an extension of Algeria’s national security domain,” he told DW.
All US Military Bases Are Your Enemy
part of the success of US hegemony in the world is what could be described as a policy of “obfuscation” or creating a “mirage” in how it spreads its military bases around the world. Despite the bases being openly announced, which are presented in the context of “joint defense” agreements with countries and regimes (most of which possess no sovereignty except a flag and an anthem,) the United States deliberately obscures, through its media and political influence, the role of these bases and the strength of their impact on regional policies and conflicts among neighboring countries.
For example, there is a plethora of news and analysis about Japanese-Chinese disputes, but rarely any mention of the presence of 85 US military bases and more than 52,000 US soldiers in Japan with advanced weapons and intelligence technologies directed against China. The same policy is followed in our countries. Screens are flooded with talk about the “Iranian threat” and “Arab states’ concerns.” But the fact that most US military bases in the region were established before the Islamic Revolution in Iran is never mentioned, meaning that the role of these bases in besieging Iran is hidden.
The discussion has shifted away from the reality and role of these foreign bases on Arab land and instead considers them a given in the Arab political reality. This is the essence of the intellectual normalization of the direct US occupation of our countries. Even the word “occupation” is absent from any discussion surrounding these bases. This deliberate “obfuscation” aims to force us to submit to Washington’s supposed divinity. As if the superpower capable of dictating our reality, security, and policies as it pleases, and securing its “interests” (what are the interests of the colonizer?) is simply our inevitable fate. Through this policy, Washington succeeds in extending its hand of killing and extermination to serve its colonial agenda while avoiding backlash against its occupations and brutality.
However, the role of US military bases goes beyond the military, security, and intelligence dimensions, although this role is the pillar of US hegemony. All forms of cultural, economic, and political hegemony are merely symptoms of military and security hegemony. A closer examination of Washington’s military bases in Arab countries reveals an additional role for these bases, which is the media role.
Today, the most widespread and influential Arab media institutions in traditional and digital media operate under the protection of US military bases. This presence is not a coincidence, but a clear, well-defined role that entails a lot of role distribution while maintaining the main goal, which is to obscure the enemy. For example, since the start of the Zionist extermination war on the Gaza Strip, there are daily shipments of weapons from Washington’s Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar to the occupation entity’s bases in occupied Palestine. Shipments carrying tools of extermination are accompanied by pressure and threats against anyone working to stop the extermination.
But the Arab viewer will not see even one news item (even in passing) about the role of the Al-Udeid base in the extermination of the Palestinian people (and before them the Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni, Afghan, and Libyan peoples.) Why? Because the media empire dominating minds and screens operates under the protection of this base and will not deviate—even by mistake—from the path of media propaganda for which it was established under the shadows of this US base. From here, we can understand the ease of the “hostility” that Al Jazeera shows towards Israel, in exchange for completely and deliberately obfuscating the role of US military bases in the war of extermination against the Palestinians (whom Al Jazeera claims to support.)
This contradiction between focusing on “Israel” while obscuring the role of other US military bases in the region grows starker as the battle lines become clearer, especially after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Today, as we approach a full year of ongoing massacre and persistent resistance despite starvation and siege, and while US and Western armies gather in our seas and on our land from all directions, it has become necessary to fully understand our enemy to make it truly meaningful. Hostility towards “Israel” alone was never sufficient to begin with. Today, limiting our focus to “Israel” alone amounts to participating in the crime of distorting awareness and enabling the continuation of extermination.
The magnitude of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and the agony of the bloodshed in Gaza demands a correction of both our understanding and our political compass.
Know your enemy: all US military bases are your enemy.
Zelensky sacked the commander of his Spare Force. Guess that confirms they shot down their own fascist. 
Words cannot describe how much I now loathe the spineless POS, Bernie Sanders. Which is astounding considering how I basically worshiped him back in 2015/2016.
All this fucker had to do was announce his presidency after Biden’s corpse announced it was not running and he would hold the entire Democratic party by the balls. Seriously, what would the Democrats do? Rig the primaries again? Then threaten to run as an independent and kick them a kick in the balls permanently.
It boggles my mind how the entire “Left” in the Democratic party have been caving nonstop for several years now while the party dived to the right and fully endorses genocide and Trump’s border wall. Bernie and the rest of the Squad weaklings couldn’t even have the basic decency to call out the most televised genocide in Human history. I wonder what libs in 2015/2016 would think if you told them that in just a few short years the Democratic party would be entirely behind Trump’s border wall.
I’m now 100% convinced that
AOC and the others would be demanding the left to vote for Hindenburg instead of the Communists if they were around in 1930s Germany.Vladimir Putin confirmed Trotsky’s strongest soldier
Nestor Makhno estate-museum in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia region, was destroyed by Russian shelling, according to the National Police of Ukraine.
To clarify, the red building is not Makhno’s house. It is the Museum of Local Lore. Russia destroyed the Museum of Local Lore and Makhno’s house both.
Article its from ukr pravda, i dont know how factual it may be
Due to his actions we at the hexbear mod vanguard have decided to banned Putin for sectarianism
By looking at this poll i can instantly imagine something about reform voters:
I had asked this question in askchapo a while ago but a recent comment here from @[email protected] reminded me to ask again: Has there at any point in history been a positive turn in a public figure? The closest I can find is Emperor Puyi who was forced to rehabilitate. Has anyone suddenly gained a conscience and stopped doing evil stuff? You know, like a based version of St. Paul?
