Southern Cone
Brazil: homeless win some in the World Cup
Brazilian authorities managed to neutralize some—but only some—of the protesters seeking to disrupt the opening of the multi-billion dollar World Cup championship.
Tag: crisis of capitalism
Southern Cone
Argentina: ‘villa’ residents fast for city services
Buenos Aires residents go on fighting the "tale of two cities" policies of Mayor Macri, while in Santiago del Estero an editor is charged with "terrorism."
Southern Cone
Argentina: general strike targets Fernández policies
A general strike reveals fractures in the labor movement and in the center-left alliance that has dominated Argentina's government for the last decade.
Southern Cone
Paraguay: first general strike in 20 years
Paraguayans used their first general strike in two decades to protest everything from low wages to the lack of an agrarian reform policy.
Europe
Ukraine, austerity and gas
The IMF imposes austerity on Ukraine as Russia jacks up gas prices. Meanwhile, the global industry exploits the crisis to fast-track exports of fracked gas as a "lever against Russia."
Southern Cone
Argentina: piqueteros press wage, service demands
Unemployed and contingent worker groups are again blocking roads, just as they did in the run-up to Argentina's 2001 economic collapse.
Southern Cone
Brazil: 230 arrested in World Cup protest
Brazilian police are continuing with mass arrests against youthful protesters, while lawmakers are planning to fight protests with an "anti-terrorism" law.
Europe
‘Fascism’ and the Ukraine protests
The Ukrainian protesters are demonized as “fascists,” exploiting far-right elements in their ranks—but there is a far greater case that the Yanukovich regime is truly “fascist.”
Mexico
Mexico: US planned bailout before NAFTA vote
US officials and media insisted that Mexico's economy was sound as they pushed NAFTA in 1993; meanwhile, they were getting ready to bail out the peso.
Southern Cone
Brazil: fare protesters open turnstiles in Rio
Police and protesters battled in Rio de Janeiro's central train station, and commuters got a brief experience of a no-fare transit system—but with tear gas.
The Caribbean
Puerto Rico: bonds are junked despite ‘reforms’
Puerto Rican officials followed Wall Street's instructions for austerity, and Wall Street rewarded them by reducing the island's bonds to junk status.
Greater Middle East
Turkey: street clashes over cyber freedom
Riot police in Istanbul used water cannons against demonstrators in the latest protest against a bill that would increase government control over the Internet.