By Global News Service

Credit Line: from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

Headlines

• ‘79 Days Too Late’: Outrage Across India as Video of Sexual Assault Exposes Violence in Manipur
• People’s Summit in Brussels Calls for Respect of Democracy and Self-Determination
• Peruvian Police Repress Protesters Demanding Boluarte’s Resignation
• Perpetrator Sentenced for Slaying of Ayanda Ngila, Socialist Militant Leader

‘79 Days Too Late’: Outrage Across India as Video of Sexual Assault Exposes Violence in Manipur

As a shocking video of two women being paraded naked and brutalized in the state of Manipur went viral in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed reporters for less than a minute on Thursday, July 20, in condemning the incident.

Modi said he was “full of pain and anger” and promised that the law will act with its “full might and firmness.” Yet this condemnation was criticized by many as being too little too late. Political parties and civil society members pointed out that his comments came 79 days after the incident took place.

Prime Minister Modi had been conspicuously silent on the violence in Manipur until the video emerged and little had also been heard from his senior ministers. Just hours before Modi’s comments, the Supreme Court harshly criticized the state and the central governments for such prolonged inaction.

The video showed two women being paraded naked down the street by a mob, and according to reports at least one of them was brutally gang raped. The incident occurred on May 4, at the very outset of ethnic and religious clashes in the northeastern State of Manipur.

The women were from the Kuki community, an ethnically tribal group from southern Manipur, and the mob consisted of Meiteis, an ethnolinguistic group of people mainly residing in the Imphal Valley. The ongoing violence which broke out in early May between the Meiteis and the Kukis has so far claimed over 150 lives and displaced tens of thousands across the state.

The state government, led by N. Biren Singh of Modi’s own right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, is alleged to have acted in favor of Meitei rioters and lynch mobs, making few arrests of perpetrators of violence from the community.

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People’s Summit in Brussels Calls for Respect of Democracy and Self-Determination

Throughout the days of debate and work at the People’s Summit held parallel to the third CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States)-EU Summit, trade union activists, community leaders, left political leaders, artists, and students from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe ratified the importance of spaces for democratic and plural debate among equal partners. The summits occurred simultaneously in the Belgian capital of Brussels from July 17-18 after an eight-year pause.

The People’s Summit, held at the Free University of Brussels, was organized by a broad coalition of over 100 organizations, collectives, unions, political parties, and movements. The organizers included: ALBA Movimientos; Intal Globalize Solidarity; CELAC Social; the International Peoples Assembly; Jornada Continental for Democracy Against Neoliberalism; the Network of Intellectuals, Artists, and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity; and the Party of the European Left.

Panel discussions were held during the two days of the summit on topics like Latin America as a zone of peace, strengthening the movement in solidarity with Cuba and against the blockade, ecological transition, decolonization and de-patriarchalization, migration and exile, and new forms of dirty war.

On the evening of July 17, over 1,000 people gathered in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium in the Festival of Cultural Solidarity between Latin American, Caribbean, and European Peoples to celebrate Latin American music and dance and hear from special invitees Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Bolivian President Luis Arce, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez, leader of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon, President of the Workers’ Party of Belgium Raoul Hedebouw, and others.

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Peruvian Police Repress Protesters Demanding Boluarte’s Resignation

On July 22, thousands of Peruvians hit the streets of the capital Lima to demand the resignation of de-facto president Dina Boluarte, the closure of the right-wing dominated Congress, new general elections, a constituent assembly to write a new constitution, and justice for victims of repression during protests between December 2022 and February 2023.

Saturday’s protest is part of renewed national efforts to intensify the struggle against the Boluarte government which began on July 19 with the “third takeover of Lima” mobilization. Dozens of delegations of Indigenous peoples, peasant communities, social organizations, and trade unions have traveled to Lima to participate in the protests which will continue across the country until July 28, Peruvian Independence Day.

On Saturday, protesters marched peacefully from Dos de Mayo Square to San Martín Square. When the demonstrators reached San Martín Square, the agents of the Peruvian National Police began to repress them violently. The police used an indiscriminate amount of tear gas to disperse the crowd. The officers forcibly removed people from the plaza, aggressively pushing men and women of all ages. They even attempted to pull offyoung protesters’ gas masks and safety glasses and to prevent the press from recording what was happening.

“The police have attacked us…But they won’t stop us. Only the people can put an end to this dictatorship,” said a woman from the Aymara Indigenous community, who was pushed by police officers at San Martín square.

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Perpetrator Sentenced for Slaying of Ayanda Ngila, Socialist Militant Leader

Over a year after the assassination of 29-year-old Ayanda Ngila, the socialist militant shack dwellers’ movement in South Africa Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) has finally had a breakthrough in their struggle for justice for its slain leader.

Ngila was shot by four gunmen at AbM’s eKhenana Commune in Cato Manor, Durban, on March 8, 2022. On Monday, July 24, the Durban Magistrate’s Court sentenced Khaya Ngubane, who had led the attack, to 15 years in prison for the murder of Ngila. The ruling came a week after Ngubane was convicted.

“None of these judgments will return Ayanda Ngila to us, but we are happy that justice has been served at least in this case… We are grateful for the courage that [is]… within our organization, and there is also the solidarity from our allies, who have given us strength. We have not given up,” AbM’s president, S’bu Zikode, had told Peoples Dispatch ahead of Monday’s sentencing.

A member of the youth league of the African National Congress in Cato Crest, Ngubane is the son of Samson Ngubane, whom AbM has describedas an “ANC-aligned, Zionist Christian [c]hurch pastor.” On the day of the murder, Khaya Ngubane and the other gunmen had also attempted to assassinate Lindokuhle Mnguni, the chairperson of the eKhenana Commune.

While Mnguni was able to escape, Ngila, who was the Commune’s deputy chairperson, was shot multiple times. In August of that year, Mnguni too fell victim to assassins’ bullets. Eyewitnesses said his assassins were part of the hit squad that had killed Ngila.

AbM has faced horrific violence for struggling for “Land, Housing, Dignity” for the poor and working class. To date, 24 activists have been killed. There have been convictions in only three cases.

“Ayanda was a dedicated leader who played a key role in building the eKhenana Commune… He was deeply committed to building democratic organization and power among the oppressed, to the equality of women and men[,] and the struggle for socialism,” AbM said in a statement on July 18.