Red Pepper News

In the eye of the storm

New publication: When the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) came to power, it seemed likely to act as a practical source of inspiration and learning for the construction of another world. But whilst the severe constraints of international finance and politics were always likely to weigh heavily upon Lula's government, its failure to extend the promise of participatory democracy and redistribution to a state level was far from predictable. In August 2005, Red Pepper editor Hilary Wainwright went to Brazil to find out 'what went wrong', and what positive lessons the Brazilian experience might hold for the future of the left. But on her arrival in Brazil, she found herself observing at first hand the unfolding of a political crisis, as revelations of systemic political corruption by elements of the PT leadership were uncovered. In the eye of the storm is, first and foremost, a collection of interviews with some key players in (and left- wing critics of) the PT, conducted as the crisis unfolded. Rather than expressing outrage at the moral lapses of their colleagues, the interviewees are concerned, above all, with how to protect the project of political transformation which, at its best moments, the PT had stood for. Essays by Sue Branford and Hilary Wainwright, and a preface by Geraldo Campos, set the interviews in the wider context of contemporary Brazilian politics. Download the pdf in English or Spanish

Free Trade Deadlock in Americas

The Summit of the Americas, which the US government would restart talks on the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), failed to reach agreement last weekend. Campaigners celebrated, massive protests 'greeted' Bush, and you can read more here:
People's Global Action on protests
Zmag article on Argentina vs Bush
Account of People's Summit vs FTAA

Video and TV jukebox

War on Want took Scottish Band Belle and Sebastian to Palastine to raise awareness about the Stop the Wall campaign. The video they made is now online and can be downloaded here.

Meanwhile, if you want to brush up on your Spanish, you could do far worse than watch Telesur, the new pan-South American TV station broadcasting from Venezuela. It is now being streamed on the internet here.

Haitians murdered in Dominican Republic

Scores of Haitians have been attacked and more than 13 are reported dead amidst a rise in xenophobic activity in the Dominican Republic, according to the Haiti Support Group.

The attacks follow a series of derogatory statements by Dominican politicians and the media, as well as a recent wave of mass deportations.

Background on Haiti:

Naomi Klein, 6/7 

Peter Hallward, Option Zero in Haiti