October 2014 - Page 3 of 5

The Neo-Scramble for Africa

SALIM MUWAKKIL October 22, 2014 SALIM MUWAKKIL

Our first black president’s approach to Africa doesn’t feel like a first.

In the new race for Africa, the United States staked its position in early August, when President Obama convened four dozen African heads of state for the first-ever U.S.-African Leaders Summit. The three-day gathering was the most direct expression of the United States’ growing concern with China’s deepening influence on the continent.

According to the Brookings Institution, China overtook the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and has been widening the margin ever since. China’s not acting out of altruism, of course. It has developed an insatiable appetite for Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources. read more

Venezuela at the UN, Washington At Bay

Greg Grandin October 22, 2014 Greg Grandin

Source: The Nation

Last week, 181 member states of the United Nations voted yea in Venezuela’s favor, allowing Caracas to take one of the two non-permanent seats on the Security Council reserved for Latin America.

Tongues clucked and fingers wagged. In the run-up to the vote, editorial boards, columnists and members of congress urged Washington to whip together the sixty-five nations needed to block Venezuela’s two-year term. But in the end, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, could only secure only eleven opposing votes. Venezuela was Latin America’s unanimous choice to replace outgoing Argentina, joining Chile, which has one more year left. Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, tweeted his concern: “Shameful that Latin America 1) proposes abusive #Venezuela for UN Security Council, and 2) no one else, so no choice.” read more

Photo Essay: Thousands March in El Alto, Bolivia Demanding Justice for 2003 Gas War Massacre

Benjamin Dangl October 20, 2014 Benjamin Dangl

Thousands of people marched in El Alto, Bolivia on Friday, October 17th to demand justice for the 2003 massacre of over 60 people during the country's Gas War under the Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada administration.

Beyond Evo Morales’ Electoral Victory: A View from La Paz, Bolivia

Benjamin Dangl October 17, 2014 Benjamin Dangl

The sun shone brightly in La Paz, Bolivia on election day this past Sunday. The cars and buses that usually fill the winding streets were prohibited for the day in order to prevent people from voting more than once in different locations.

On World Day of Food Sovereignty: Struggling for Land in Brazil

Beverly Bell October 15, 2014 Beverly Bell

October 16 is World Food Day. To ensure that there is food for the world, and that it is not controlled by corporations, small farmers and allies across the globe have also named October 16 the Day of Action for Food Sovereignty and against Transnational Organizations.

Nothing about Us without Us: The Token Palestinian and Authentic Narrative

Ramzy Baroud October 15, 2014 Ramzy Baroud

I recall, with particular awkwardness, my first talk at a socialist student gathering at the University of Washington in Seattle nearly two decades ago. When I tried to offer an authentic view of the situation in Palestine from the viewpoint of a refugee, my hosts were hardly impressed.