Archive for category: Politics

Paraguay’s Political Future

Paraguay's Political Future
Recently, thousands of Paraguay’s working class, or Campesinos, marched on Asuncion in protest of President Horacio Cartes. Many in Paraguay believe his presidential policy has become too similar to the dictatorships of the past. Campesinos cite an inability to provide debt relief to the small farmers of Paraguay as a fundamental cause of the protest.

Extreme inequality in land ownership has long been a central issue for Campesinos with only two percent of the population owning 80 percent of the land. This almost-monopoly over land has created a powerful and influential agricultural group.

The Campesinos demand a more liberal approach to the issue and elected former President Fernando Lugo for just that reason. Following Lugo’s election, a now notorious massacre occurred, when 60 Campesinos occupying land in Curuguaty encountered a violent struggle with the local police. This incident resulted in the deaths of 11 Campesinos as well as six police officers.

Shortly after, in June 2012, the course of Paraguay’s political future was changed when Congress suddenly impeached former President Fernando Lugo during what many believe was a planned coup d’état. The other members of both Mercosur and UNASUR skeptically considered suspending Paraguay’s membership as a result.

Lugo was replaced by his vice president, Federico Franco, who almost immediately began dialing back many of Lugo’s efforts at aiding the Campesinos in favor of big agriculture. Many believe the massacre at Curuguaty gave parliament the opportunity to scapegoat Lugo as the cause of the conflict. Shortly after Lugo’s impeachment, new President Franco closed all investigation of the massacre at Curuguaty, raising the suspicion of many across Paraguay.

Now Cartes will be expected to answer the plight of the Campesinos in light of several land evictions to occur merely weeks before the march on Asuncion. Despite many bold promises including job creation, new roads and mass transits, the former businessman has not been able to deliver politically. Many countries around the world took note of the transparency laws Cartes introduced, up until they revealed extreme corruption on public payrolls that incited more protests.

While some, like the Campesinos, question Cartes for his policy and odd behavior, it is worth noting that he was able to push through two key changes upon entering the office. The first was a law focused on fiscal responsibility that limited the national debt to 1.5 percent GDP, while the second effort focused on improving Paraguay’s failing infrastructure through a public-private partnership program.

Paraguay’s political future is undergoing rapid and expansive change with each passing year and 2016 is looking to keep things moving forward. Currently, the World Bank predicts the Paraguayan economy to grow three percent this year, making it the second fastest growing nation in South America.

Even with such unrest, Paraguay’s political future is on a path towards entering the rightful hands of the people. Now, maybe more than ever, groups in Paraguay like the Campesinos are making their voices heard loud and clear.

– Aaron Walsh

Photo: Flickr

The Kurdish Democracy Model

The Kurdish Democracy Model
In Northern Syria, the Kurdish communities have established three administrative and autonomous regions. These regions are called cantons and each enjoys their own legislative, administrative and legal bodies. Although these cantons are part of the Syrian territory, the Kurdish communities enjoyed autonomy in the wake of the Syrian crisis and oppression from the Islamic State fighters. These three cantons are named Afrin, Jezira and Kobani.

The Kurdish democracy model is an outcome of the Rojava movement, which seeks autonomy for Kurdish communities in Syria. The model is manifested in the Rojava constitution, which is also known as the social contract. It was approved on Jan. 6, 2016.

The preamble of the constitution reads as: “We the peoples of the democratic autonomous regions…by our free will have announced this contract to establish justice, freedom and democracy … without discrimination on the basis of religion, language, faith sect or gender.”

This Kurdish democracy model does not accept any imposed ideas of nation-state, centralized, military or religious state. It solemnly believes in human rights, democracy, free will and strives to protect those goals no matter what the cost is.

In every canton, there is a Legislative Assembly, an Executive Assembly, a High Election Commission, a Constitutional Assembly and Regional Assemblies. The Rojava Movement resembles historic acts of resistance such as the Algerian war against France and the Warsaw battle against invading Germany.

The Rojava cantons are remarkable examples of beacons of hope emerging from the Syrian civil war. Rojava maintained its independence and created its own democracy. In the Kurdish democracy model, the top three officials have to be from Arab, Kurdish and an Assyrian/Armenian Christian. One of these has to be women. In this phase of the Kurdish struggle, the Kurdish democracy model could start a global movement towards a better implementation of democracy and a cooperative socioeconomic model.

Financial Times describes the Kurdish democratic model as a power to people model. It is a radical experiment in narrow stretches of Northern Syria. In Rojava, which is hard to access due to Turkish blockade, the authority rests in the communal level (the village). In the villages, every social group has a say in decision making. The communities enjoy self-governing measures.

Furthermore, all minorities are included and everyone gets a chance to speak and participate in governing matters. This might seem radical to even the old-established democracies. But for the Kurds, after decades of oppression, this is one thing to look forward upon with eyes full of hope.

– Noman Ahmed

Photo: Flickr

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Jill Stein Equates NAFTA to Global Poverty

Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Equates NAFTA to Global Poverty
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has not shied away from criticizing U.S. foreign policies, which directly spawn global poverty and migration. In her presidential platform, Stein underscores the dangers of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“People ask me ‘what are you going to do about immigration?’ I say we’re going to stop causing it…through wars and NAFTA, the war on drugs, coups and military interventions…We need to connect the dots,” on U.S. policy, free trade, global poverty, and migration, “People are not stupid. They can and will get it when you make the connections,” voiced Stein.

According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, NAFTA led to a loss of jobs in Mexico, particularly in their agricultural sector, consequently increasing the rate of poverty and illegal immigration to the U.S.

The governments of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. negotiated NAFTA in 1994. Arranged by President George H.W. Bush and implemented under Bill Clinton, the deal created a trilateral trade bloc in North America — barriers to trade investment were gradually eliminated, and as a result, tariffs became inapplicable.

Governments sought to integrate and liberalize trade between the North American countries. U.S. officials promised a growing trade surplus with Mexico, creating hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Yet, more than 20 years later, NAFTA has proved to have the opposite effect; studies show it led to a growing trade deficit owing to the growth of U.S. exports which vastly surpassed imports to Mexico.

Since barriers to trade investment were eliminated, U.S. investments in Mexico escalated; corporate executives could easily cut their expenses by moving their factories to Mexico and paying Mexican workers at a much lower wage, fueling a flood of outsourcing.

As a result, the U.S. experienced a heavy loss in jobs. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that, as of 2010, displaced production could have supported 682,900 U.S. jobs, 60.8 percent of those jobs being in manufacturing industries. This also takes into account the additional jobs created by exports to Mexico.

NAFTA also promised Mexico a growing middle class, yet as a struggling third world country, it experienced a harder economic downfall, particularly in its agriculture sector.

Research backs Jill Stein’s claims that, prior to NAFTA being implemented, tariffs were still very high, helping to protect domestic businesses. For Mexico, corn was a crucial commodity that was protected by tariffs.

NAFTA gradually lifted the tariffs in a 14-year transition to an open market. By 2008, the last tariffs on corn were lifted, thus the U.S. was able to flood Mexico with cheap subsidized corn. As a result, 1.3 million jobs in Mexico’s agricultural sector were lost.

The U.S. has sold tons of cheap corn to Mexico for over a decade now, yet corn originated in Mexico and it’s also the predominant food source that most people depend on, especially for making tortillas. Small farmers made a living from the production of corn, a crucial component of the Mexican economy. Now, many feel helpless without a source of income and the rates of extreme rural poverty in Mexico have therefore increased.

The World Bank, in a 2005 study, found that extreme rural poverty rate was around 37 percent in 1992-4, prior to NAFTA, which jumped to about 52%in 1996-8 after NAFTA took effect.

This could be explained partly due to the 1995 peso crisis, which was set off by the Mexican Government’s sudden devaluation of the peso against the U.S. dollar. Even so, one expert has argued the crises was caused in part because of NAFTA from the wave of speculative foreign investment in Mexico following the agreement.

By 2010, 53 million Mexicans were living in poverty according to the Monterrey Institute of Technology — half the country’s population. This growth of rural poverty from NAFTA, in turn, led to an increase of migration to the U.S. Indigenous people made up 7 percent of Mexican migrants in 1991-3; in 2006-8, they made up 29 percent.

As president, Jill Stein plans to repeal NAFTA and replace it with trade laws that could better benefit local workers and communities. She is calling for an emergency transition of the economy to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. In doing so, she expects to create 20 million good-wage jobs, that are locally controlled and community oriented, giving Americans greater control of their own economic affairs.

“We are creating a community process, so it’s not just a cookie-cutter from Washington D.C., but rather it’s national support for local control, over creating the jobs, the small businesses, workers cooperatives, that are needed in order to make this clean energy green economy transition,” said Stein.

– Marcelo Guadiana

Photo: Flickr

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How Many Senators Are There?

How Many Senators Are There
How many senators are there? The United States Senate is comprised of 100 Senators, two from each state.

While it may sound simple, developing this representative structure caused a lot of debate at the Constitutional Convention where the U.S. Constitution was drafted. Though only thirteen states existed at this point in 1787, the delegates from these thirteen would form the federal government whose authority would eventually span across fifty states.

These statesmen concluded that a body of elected representatives would be the best way to form laws for a country that was broken up into smaller entities. Delegates from larger states created dissension by arguing for representation based on population. The delegates from smaller states felt cheated and refused to agree to this proposed structure, known as the Virginia Plan.

A delegate from New Jersey, a small state, responded by introducing a plan that proposed equal representation for each state. This suggestion was called the New Jersey Plan and mirrored the structure outlined in the Articles of Confederation, the document acting as a sort of temporary constitution at that time. Both sides of the debate threatened to leave the convention if their plan wasn’t used, and the situation looked grim.

It was Roger Sherman, a delegate from Connecticut, who offered the Great Compromise as a solution. His bicameral (two-bodied) system would satisfy both large and small states: he proposed a House of Representatives that would represent states proportionally by population and a Senate that would represent all states equally. Thus began the representative system seen in the U.S. today.

As each new state was added to the union over time, two more senators were added to the Senate. In 1959, the present body of 100 senators was complete, with two senators representing each of the 50 states.

Each senator serves a six-year term with the chance of reelection at the end of this period. In order to be elected as a senator, an individual must be at least 30 years old and have been a U.S. citizen for nine years. Leading this body is the Vice President, who is elected alongside the President every four years.

Senators also belong to smaller bodies within the Senate called “committees” that handle specific tasks. These committees are usually composed of 7 to 15 members, each of whom has extensive power.

– Jacob Hess

Sources: FAIR.org, Senate.gov
Photo: Flickr

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Where Donald Trump Stands on Global Poverty

Donald Trump PovertyDonald Trump surprised America when he announced his candidacy in June 2015. Trump has been garnering public attention despite not having any “elective, appointive, or military public experience,” according to the Atlantic. The publication also states that every prior president has had experience in one or more of these areas.

In this presidential race, Trump has been focused on illegal immigration in the U.S., particularly Mexican and Muslim immigration. He continuously affirms his belief that illegal immigrants are a national security concern. He also continues to voice his disapproval of immigrants from Syria migrating to the U.S.

Other hallmarks of his candidacy have been his unapologetic rhetoric. Trump’s controversial appeals have become his greatest asset in acquiring votes. In addition to immigration, he has been particularly vocal about the Islamic State group and the threat he believes the terrorist organization poses.

In contrast to fellow presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ humble beginnings and opposition to wealth inequality, Forbes identified Trump as one of the richest American billionaires. So given his wealth and his stance on immigration, where does Donald Trump stand when it comes to foreign aid?

“It is necessary that we invest in our infrastructure, stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us and use that money to rebuild our tunnels, roads, bridges and schools—and nobody can do that better than me.”

– Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement 2016

“Pakistan’s a real problem because they have nuclear weapons… I would say we don’t give them any money unless they get rid of their nuclear weapons.”

– Donald Trump speaking on Fox News, May 9, 2011

“Money should be spent in our country. We should rebuild our country and also by the way reduce our $16 trillion in debt.”

– Donald Trump speaking about Afghanistan, March 13, 2012

In addition to his opinions on foreign aid, Trump’s discourse on decreasing the poverty rate in the U.S., which currently stands at approximately 14 percent of the population, consists of diminishing public assistance and handing responsibility for the poor over to volunteer organizations.

The results of this presidential election will reveal whether Americans prefer a leader with proven experience or charismatic promises. Foreign aid plays an essential role in the lives of millions around the globe. The continued provision of this foreign aid from the U.S. depends on which leader Americans choose to elect.

– Mayra Vega

Sources: India Times, Talk Poverty, NPR, The Atlantic
Photo: NY Daily News

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Bernie Sanders Praises Pope Francis on Poverty Reduction

poverty_reductionSanders praised the pope’s remarks on ending poverty and economic inequality long before the pope arrived in the U.S. this September. Prior to the pope’s congressional address, Sanders celebrated the possibility of the pope addressing Congress.

In February this year, Sanders addressed the Senate, stating that the pope “shows great courage in bringing up issues that we rarely hear discussed here in the Congress.”

In the address, Sanders praises Pope Francis on his leadership. On multiple occasions, he read quotes from the pope to the Senate, publicly acknowledging his admiration for the religious leader.

“Pope Francis is clearly one of the important religious and moral leaders not only in the world today but in modern history,” he said. “He forces us to address some of the major issues facing humanity: war, income and wealth inequality, poverty, unemployment, greed, the death penalty and other issues that too many prefer to ignore.”

Sanders read a quote from the pope: “‘Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.'”

Sanders continued by commenting on the quote: “My interpretation of what he is saying is that money cannot be an end in itself. The function of an economic system is not just to let the marketplace reign, and end up in a situation where a small number of people have incredible wealth, while so many people have virtually nothing.”

Sanders especially notes the pope’s comments about exclusion and marginalization when it comes to government austerity. He strongly disagrees with right-wing Republicans on the federal budget committee about their continuous cuts on public benefits like Medicare and Social Security.

He says that right-wing Republican austerity measures are “the Robin Hood principle in reverse. This is taking from the poor and working people, and giving it to the millionaires and billionaires.” Sanders instead argues for tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans.

Sanders welcomed the pope when he arrived, calling him “a brilliant man.” He voiced optimism at the thought of members of Congress taking to heart the pope’s remarks about inequality and poverty reduction.

Sanders has noted that income inequality has reached a point where the wealthiest in America are becoming richer while the impoverished are becoming poorer. He insists that “the pope is right in saying all of us must address the grotesque income and wealth inequality we are seeing throughout the world.”

Sanders urged lawmakers to think about the pope’s speech when discussing balancing the 2016 federal budget. “Give us a budget which works for the most vulnerable people in this country, which works for tens of millions of working families, and does not simply work for large campaign donors.”

Senator Sanders is currently in the running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

“I know that people think that Bernie Sanders is a radical… read what the pope is writing about because he is not only talking about poverty,” Sanders said, “he is getting to the heart of hyper capitalism, and he is saying, ‘Why as a society are we worshiping money?'”

– Michael Hopek

Sources: Senate, C-SPAN, MSNBC
Photo: Flickr

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Giant Leap Towards An African Democratic Transition

African democratic transition
In 1991, political scientist Samuel Huntington hypothesized three historical waves of democratization across Europe and the Americas. Now, it is the African continent’s turn to create a fourth wave of democratic elections.

It started on Dec. 17, 2010, when Mohammed Bouazizi, a Tunisian produce seller, set himself on fire in front of a municipal building.

Bouazizi’s act ignited protests against the oppressive authoritarian regime all over Tunisia. In 2011, the dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, stepped down from power and fled the country.

In the following three years, Tunisia held its first democratic elections, rewrote its Constitution and saw peaceful transitions of power.

In 2011, similar transitions occurred in the North African countries of Egypt, Libya and Morocco. Along with uprisings in the Middle East, this movement is collectively called the Arab Spring.

The changes in government in these countries have yet to resemble the democracies in North America and Western Europe. But while transitioning from long-standing authoritarian rule to full-fledged democracy does not happen overnight, the Arab Spring undoubtedly sent a message rippling all over the African continent.

The message? The voices of the impoverished and oppressed can be heard.

Last May, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Nigeria and witnessed an incredible hand-off of power after President Goodluck Jonathan lost the general election.

Surprising critics who believed that Jonathan would not resign, Jonathan willfully stepped down and even congratulated his successor. This marked the first peaceful transition of power in Nigeria’s history.

This year, Kerry traveled back to Nigeria to emphasize Nigeria’s increasingly important position to help with security and development in Africa. He also reminded the new government of the precedent and example they set, as this year is becoming a crucial year for democracy in Africa.

Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, Libya, Mauritius, Niger, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia are all set to have elections this year.

These elections could turn out to be a critical turning point for countries like Chad, where the same leader has been in power for 24 years.

Some staples of democratic transition include a move to transparent elections, term limits, freedom to publicly support any candidate and voter enfranchisement.

Transparency and term limits are important in the election process because, without both, an authoritarian regime can stay in power for decades. Fraudulent elections are often the main reason why people refrain from voting in the first place.

When authoritarian regimes remain in power for decades, repeated policy mistakes stifle the economic development and empowerment of a country. Change can only come when those in power are committed to the needs of their constituencies.

Freedom to publicly support any candidate and voter enfranchisement are also very important steps for an African democratic transition.

When media is censored or run by the government, speaking out against the incumbent is often illegal and can even lead to dangerous consequences.
This is also a problem because, in many African countries, less than half of eligible voters are registered to vote, and many minority groups do not have the right to vote at all.

When it comes to poverty, these four aspects of democracy are key. When marginalized groups take part in policy-shaping, a country can grow together and mitigate inequality. Furthermore, when every voice is involved in decision making there is less chance for discontentment and violent revolt.

As Kerry points out, “A free, fair and peaceful presidential election does not guarantee a successful democracy, but it is one of the most important measuring sticks for progress in any developing nation.” The coming months’ elections will be a giant leap toward democracy and development in Africa.

– Celestina Radogno

Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, The Brookings Institute, The Guardian, U.S. Department of State
Photo: Wikimedia