The future of progress is at stake in the Bolivian October elections

Evo Morales leads the polls but faces other challenges from the right-wing opposition and an increasingly hostile Trump administration, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

A buoyant economy and the recent launch of universal healthcare has helped Bolivian President Evo Morales to gain an 11 per cent advantage over his nearest rival, Carlos Mesa, for president in the elections on October 20, according to a new opinion poll published by pro-right-wing opposition outlet El Deber.
Read the full article

Boris Johnson’s illiteracy about climate change is a grave danger

The new Prime Minister’s track record as mayor of London is a clear warning about where his priorities lie

At a recent Prime Minister’s Questions, Jeremy Corbyn revealed new analysis by Labour that shows the government is set to woefully miss its climate targets by almost 50 years.

This means that, contrary to boasts from Theresa May and Boris Johnson that the Tories are committed to tackling the climate emergency, if progress continues at its current rate the government target of reaching “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050 will not be met until 2099.
Read the full article

Stand by Cuba as Trump cranks up the pressure

The Trump administration is now ramping up aggression against Cuba

YOU might not have read much about in the so-called “mainstream” media, but the increasingly hawkish Donald Trump administration has recently announced the most severe economic sanctions against Cuba since the illegal US blockade was first introduced in 1962.

As part of this, speaking in Miami in April on the 58th anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion (April 17 1961) where the Cuban people heroically resisted the island being invaded, National Security Adviser and warmongerer in chief John Bolton announced the end of virtually all non-family travel to Cuba and new limits on the amount of money Cuban Americans can send home to family.
Read the full article

We must stand with resistance to repression in Honduras

Ten years on from the right-wing coup against democracy in Honduras, we must again speak against how the US and UK are propping up the reactionary regime there, says Ken Livingstone.

It’s nearly ten years since a military coup in Honduras ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, flying him to exile in Costa Rica.

During his presidency, Zelaya had raised the minimum wage, begun negotiating with campesino movements to restore land rights and signed up to the Petrocaribe and Alba regional trade agreements, moving the poverty-stricken island away from its traditional position of US domination and towards co-operative relations with countries such as Bolivia and Venezuela.
Read the full article

Stand together against Trump – a man who hates our planet

We need maximum opposition to Trump’s state visit next week to build a movement to save the environment, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

With Donald Trump coming here on a state visit next week, it’s worth restating just what a threat to humanity he is.

In particular, it is important to raise how his stance on two issues — climate change and nuclear weapons — illustrates clearly how reactionary and dangerous his presidency is to us all.
Read the full article

The coup in Honduras – ten years on

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE recently marched through the streets of the capital of Honduras demanding the resignation of right wing President Juan Orlando Hernández and an investigation of him.

The protestors, from Movimiento Indignados (Indignant Movement), said in a statement, “We demand the immediate removal of Juan Orlando Hernández from the post he is currently usurping, as well as an urgent investigation of him and his family circle and political associates.”

The opposition says Hernández, a conservative backed by the United States, was illegitimately re-elected in a November 2017 vote marred by delays and alleged fraud.
Read the full article

Bolivia’s democracy is a thorn in the US’s side

US intervention against the left-wing government is intensifying ahead of presidential elections in October, says KEN LIVINGSTONE.

As Bolivia goes to the polls in October with left-wing President Evo Morales as the front-runner, there is growing concern that the Trump administration’s hostility towards Morales is significantly intensifying.

The US has made no secret of its deep antagonism to Morales, dating back to before his successful presidential election victory in 2005, when he won with an absolute majority — the first in Bolivia for 40 years.
Read the full article

No more Pinochets in Latin America

US military intervention in Venezuela is still very much on the cards following this week’s failed coup attempt, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

Tuesday this week saw a failed right-wing coup attempt in Venezuela, which was heavily backed by the Trump administration and its allies, including Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who tweeted 30 messages expressing his desire to see Venezuela’s elected president deposed.

International law seems to matter very little indeed to the US government as it yet again publicly expressed support for a coup attempt against the constitutional government of Venezuela.
Read the full article

David Attenborough is right warning our extinction is on the horizon

Our children’s generation is going to have to reduce their carbon emissions by 90 percent if we want to avoid being the first species in history to document its own extinction.

Last week, zoologist, environmentalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough went global across the media when speaking at the International Monetary Fund, warning that on present trends part of the world would soon become uninhabitable and mass migrations would transform the world.
Read the full article

People and planet need a socialist Labour government

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is part of the new, socialist, international movement against climate change, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

THE extreme contrast between the Tory and Labour responses to the inspiring recent school student strikes on the need to urgently tackle climate change was a stark example of how different the priorities of the two parties are.

The Tories have totally failed in this area, as the latest greenhouse gas emissions figures clearly show.
Read the full article