Solidarity Radio

In this episode we discuss the recent elections in Colombia, where the leftist coalition called the Pacto Historico received over 40% of the vote, the most in the country’s history.

Colombia has historically been a bastion of ultra-conservatism and remains a staunch ally of the United States - Biden recently assigned Colombia as a Major non-NATO military ally. Colombia has been by far the most dangerous country for trade unionists and social leaders. So far this year there have been at least 80 social and community leaders killed in the last 6 months. The victory of the Pacto Historico in the first round is no small feat given the political context of the past few decades. Now, the Pacto Historico represented by former guerrilla Gustavo Petro and environmental activist Francia Marquez will face a far-right candidate, running as an independent named Rodolfo Henandez, who has risen in the past few months with a populist anti-corruption and Trump-like rhetoric that may prove to be a new face of the right in Colombia.

I'm joined by Jessica Garcia and Barbara Orozco Diaz to discuss the significance of the recent election results.

This episode, featuring two members of our Cuba team, was recorded on the ground in the wake of protests on July 11th and 12th across the island. There is a context- specifically of US interventionism- that the grassroots of the US, listeners, need to know about and denounce. The Blockade whose express intent is to cause hardship and incite violence- and whose impacts hit hardest along race, class, and gender- has been illegally imposed, with rejection from most of the world, for six decades. Then, the Trump administration tightened it, adding 243 more sanctions. These compounded the challenge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the sudden evaporation of tourism dollars in the Caribbean. The economic hardship has resulted in scarcity in all areas from food, transportation, electricity, and vital medicines. People spend hours in long lines and live with uncertainty and growing inequality despite expansive public programmes, paid time off for COVID, salary raises, and subsidised foods through the libreta neighbourhood system. Daily life has been very hard for most Cubans.The frustrastions boiled over into the largest demonstrations on the island in over 25 years.  The additional sanctions during the Trump Administration, included: a ban on remittances, major restrictions on where U.S citizens can stay and do business in Cuba, the annulation of flights to provinces other than Havana, bans on the purchase of cigars and rum by US citizens. These are attacks on Cuba’s economy, and are felt most by families, women, the poor, and the African diaspora.Not only are these sanctions immoral and illegal, they have also come during a period in which the Cuban public health system has saved lives by all accounts and measures. Cuban medical brigades have served in more than 40 countries and the not for profit vaccine development benefits other countries in the Global South. It is a time that the US should emulate this commitment to free, prevention-focused, and community-rooted public health systems- not blockade, sanction, and demonize in the media.Our Habana-based team takes us into the factors that led to these protests as well as the heavy hand that U.S interventionism and imperialism has played as well as the international media response. This episode serves as a testimon. Although the November 15th protests didn't materialise, links between some of the organizers and ultra right-wing factions in the US have been made, and the US continues to spend tens of millions on regime change programmes. It is an important time to call for the end of sanctions as a major step to address hardship and respect the Cuban people's sovereignty.Note: One of the speaker’s audio is a bit muffled at times but we still felt it was important for the audience to hear this on-the-ground report as a first hand source when those are few and far between.Note: During our podcast episode we stated that the revolution occurred in 1953- that was the attack on the Moncada, the revolution triumphed in 1959.

In this week’s episode we sat down with Paige Kumm. Paige is a queer black feminist activist and current senior organizer for membership development at Right to the City Alliance. We spoke about the ways in which global capitalism is shaping our cities? What are the intersection between Empire and the process of forced urbanization happening across the world? Why is there a need for greater internationalism to build grassroots power? What kind of role can popular education play in our movements? and how the Cuban revolution invites us to expand our imagination?

In this week's episode, Honduras Program Co-Director, Allison Lira, interviews members of the Solidarity Collective about what the Biden Administration might mean for countries like Colombia, Cuba and Honduras. We discuss the long history of intervention in Central America and the notorious "Plan Colombia" package that set the stage for further land concentration and forced displacement in Colombia. Cuba Co-Director, Justin Jimenez, talks about the realistic hopes for the coming years as Biden attempts to warm relations with the island.

In this episode of Solidarity Radio we are joined by Honduras Program Co-Director, Allison Lira, and researcher, author and activist, John Lindsay-Poland, to  explore the nature of U.S. arms sales in Latin America and how U.S. weapons manufacturers continue to profit by fueling the flames of instability and violence that are pushing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, leaving everything behind. 

Become a patron - www.patreon.com/solidaritycollective

To see more of John's work on Mexico check out www.stopusarmstomexico.org

Citations:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/08/trump-guns-honduras-central-america/

https://www.lawg.org/arming-the-conflict-el-salvadors-gun-market/

https://stopusarmstomexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fact-Sheet-Gun-Sales-to-Honduras.pdf

https://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-guns-20190430-story.html

https://inkstickmedia.com/us-gun-exports-have-spiked-during-the-pandemic/

In this episode of Solidarity Radio we explore the history of U.S. intervention in Colombia and the efforts by Afro-Descendant, Indigenous and Campesino communities to protect themselves from political violence. Our international team accompanied the Refuge for Life, Peace and Dignified housing in one of Bogota's largest slums, Ciudad Bolivar. The Refuge and it's Indigenous and Cimarrona guards, represent an alternative way to think about public safety and peoples' right to self-determination.