Image is of Brazilian chuds storming the National Congress building in opposition to Lula winning the election, on January 8th, 2023, in their remarkably even shittier version of the January 6th events in America.
Bolsonaro, who is in the tragic category of pro-US South American leaders who are so awful and uncharismatic that even they can't get the US to help them overthrow a democratically elected left-ish government, has recently been facing that most elusive of things in this current world order: consequences for his actions. Bolsonaro and his friends have been under investigation by the police, and his passport has now been seized, meaning he is unable to leave the country. Alongside the man himself, the leader of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, has been caught up in searches and investigations. Brazilian Army Colonel Bernardo Correa Neto, a former aide to Bolsonaro, was very recently arrested upon his return to Brazil from the US, as well as another colonel.
From the Hexbear South American correspondent (a position I just made up), @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net:
Lol, they are really fucked. Iirc, this is a municipal election year in Brazil, Bolsonaro can't campaign publicly, he can't promote his candidates. The leader of his party is currently in prison. And even if he is released from prison, they are forbidden to communicate with each other. The high-ranking members of the Liberal Party are pretty much fucked because they can't communicate with each other and getting support from Bolsonaro could be very bad, as left-wing candidates will exploit the fact that Bolsonaro will probably be imprisoned for planning a coup.
The FBI seems to have concluded its investigation into Bolsonaro's money laundering scheme in the US and handed over its findings to the Brazilian Federal Police, I don't think Bolsonaro can even go to the US anymore, or any other country. And it could get even funnier, there is a very small chance of the Liberal Party being banned and all its seats in congress and the senate being transferred to other politicians, many of whom, even if they are conservative, will be much more favorable to Lula's social and economic reforms, as it has been proven that Bolsonaro used the party to finance the coup.
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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.
A spectre is haunting Switzerland
full article
A ghost is haunting the Alps – the specter of communism? The Swiss must have felt something like this in the past few weeks. In cities like Basel, Bern and Zurich, but also in smaller towns, posters repeatedly appeared asking whether one was a communist. If you answer this question in the affirmative, you should contact the group behind the campaign. Responsible for this is the Trotskyist organization “The Funke,” which is a section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) and claims to have members in more than 40 countries. The special thing about Switzerland is that the Funke is the largest association of Trotskyists and has a certain anchoring, especially in the university towns. But what kind of group is it exactly?The organization was founded in 2007 and, according to its own statements, sees itself as a “Marxist movement within the Jusos and the trade unions”. It pursues the strategy of entrism, that is, working (openly or secretly) in reformist parties and organizations. While she hardly works in the Social Democratic Party (SP), her focus is on the Young Socialists (Jusos), who act independently of the SP. In some cantons, including Thurgau, the Trotskyists also temporarily formed the presidium and board of the Jusos. This was not always well received within the Federal Executive Board of the Jusos, who saw it as “infiltration.” The aim of the Funk was always to recruit “cadres” for its organization in order to build a “revolutionary party”. This goal now appears to have been achieved. As the Trotskyists announced in a statement on January 29, they wanted to create an independent party: the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP).
They emphasize the end of the “relative stability of Swiss capitalism” and the failure of the “SP and the union leadership,” which could no longer offer any prospects for working people. They see the climate and women's strikes as essential to this development, which brought "the question of revolution to the table." Since the Gaza War began on October 7, 2023, Palestine solidarity has also played a role. The organization also plays a role that should not be underestimated. So it is no longer a question of if, but when the revolution will begin. But the Funke is not only against capitalism, but also against the “crimes of Stalinism” and against so-called identity politics. He describes these as “divisive poison” and is particularly against “quotas, safe spaces and gender language”. With this attitude he is also relatively isolated in the Trotskyist spectrum. It remains to be seen whether he can also overcome the demanded lifting of the "isolation" of the "thousands of atomized communists" who are supposedly just waiting for a "fighting organization."
The Funke sees the Bolsheviks, especially Lenin and Trotsky, as role models. Caspar Oertli, a leading member of the organization, emphasized to the bourgeois Neue Zürcher Zeitung on February 9th that they were taking the lead to form “communist cells.” Although the population of the Alpine republic is not yet ready for communism, the "potential" is very great: "We are not the ones who wait, but the ones who fight." The Funke currently has around 300 members, pending the official founding conference on May 10th to 12th there should be 500. Whether the RKP will lead the revolution is anyone's guess.
The revolutionary movement in Switzerland was always relatively weak. The ambitions are definitely huge, even if they are a little too convinced of themselves: "Only the IMT has the potential." All other revolutionary organizations would "sleepwalk and sink into pessimism." The class struggle will definitely break out in Switzerland too - will the RKP become part of it? Let's see.
I think highly unlikely anything comes off it, but hey at least the Swiss get a new newspaper.
Oof