On The Left Side of Things

  Jeremy Corbyn was just suspended by the Labour Party over remarks that he made about a report concerning Labour Party antisemitism. Corbyn said that the report was exaggerated for political reasons, which it was, and the Labour Party opted to punish him with suspension. There has been antisemitism in the Labour Party, of course, and Corbyn has never denied its existence. He, however, has not been the perpetrator and claims made in the report are overblown.  Why has Corbyn been labelled an antisemite? All paths lead to one reason: he supports Palestine and Palestineans over the Israeli apartheid state. In the UK, like the USA, this is all that it takes to be labelled as antisemitic. Even Bernie Sanders, a man who openly takes pride in his Jewish heritage, has been called antisemitic because of his criticism of Israel and support of Palestine. This needs to be made abundantly clear: being against the state of Israel does not mean being against the Jewish people. Being against ...

A week ago the Bolivian MAS ( Movimiento al Socialismo   or Movement Towards Socialism ) party won the Bolivian presidential election by a majority, and Luis Arce, a cabinet member of former president Evo Morales, will be Bolivia's next president. If you've been keeping up with the news surrounding Bolivia, you know that in November 2019, Morales was ousted by a U.S. backed coup to protect lithium interests. Morales was the president of Bolivia from 2006 to the coup and increased GDP while decreasing poverty, enfranchising more indigenous peoples, and nurturing a Bolivian economy that has suffered under military dictatorships, colonial repression, and neoliberal capitalist economic policies for decades. All of this has been written about exhaustively, and the election of Arce shows the true popularity of Morales and MAS in Bolivia. Most importantly, it is a sign of hope for Latin America and those on the left in general. I think that there are lessons that we can learn from Bol...