Peoples Dispatch

South Africa’s progressive forces are converging.

The US imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Thursday, May 28, despite the ongoing peace talks in Qatar to end the war and hostilities which, if successful, will lead to the possible lifting of all previous sanctions.

Colombia is heading into a crucial presidential election. This Sunday, May 31, 41 million Colombians will go to the polls to elect the country’s next president, who will succeed center-left candidate Gustavo Petro. The incumbent president’s party, Pacto Histórico, will face the most rigorous scrutiny from the public. Colombia will decide whether its agenda, which combines economically progressive measures with legislation aligned with social democracy, will be ratified.

After several weeks of protests, Bolivia’s right-wing President Rodrigo Paz told the press that the serious social crisis the country has been facing for nearly a month “is reaching a breaking point.” “The country needs order, and this is reaching a breaking point … Time is running out. We call for dialogue,” said Paz, under mounting pressure from social movements that seem to be giving the government no respite.

On May 23 in Caracas, Venezuela, an evacuation drill was conducted at the US Embassy. The exercise involved two helicopters carrying US military personnel, as well as ambulances, firefighters, and other security teams. The aircraft were tasked with “transporting troops, equipment, and supplies from ships and land bases for combat assaults and support,” according to the US Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command. The exercise took on great significance for both countries.

Protests broke out across India on Wednesday, May 27, following reports of a raid at Pinarayi Vijayan’s home in Thiruvananthapuram in India’s southern state of Keralam carried out by a federal agency. Vijayan (81), a member of the polit bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and two-time chief minister of Keralam is currently the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

As healthcare infrastructure and health workers were actively targeted throughout the genocide in Palestine, a group of Gaza students participated in an international virtual cross-cultural exchange. What began as an academic space quickly became something else. Health conversations could not remain theoretical – they were shaped by lived realities where access to care, electricity, clean water, and safety were not abstract determinants, but daily uncertainties.

Speaking before the UN Security Council on Tuesday, May 26, Cuban Foreign MinisterBruno Rodríguez stated that Washington’s decisions, which amount to an “act of war,” could lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe” if they continue to be enforced, as they “kill and cause suffering” among Cubans. In light of this, he called on the international community to intervene and allow Cuba to exercise its right to exist.

Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi emphasized that, despite its recent failures, the UN remains the “most authoritative and legitimate body in the multilateral security system” and a cornerstone of the rule-based international order. He underlined the need for its revival and revitalization, with timely reforms to address problems the UN is facing and to make it relevant and effective.

The treatment of the flotilla activists by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was shocking only to those who continue to clothe colonial violence in the soft language of security. There is now a mountain of evidence before humanity: Gaza has become not merely a place under siege but a geography of calculated despair, where starvation and bombardment have been converted into instruments of political management.