Image is of a large protest in the Ivory Coast, sourced from this article in People’s Dispatch.

This week’s megathread is based largely on a detailed article from People’s Dispatch, featuring statements and analysis from Achy Ekessi, the General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Ivory Coast (PCRCI), brought to my attention by @jack@hexbear.net’s comment in the last megathread.

The president of Ivory Coast, the 83 year old Alassane Ouattara, is aiming for a fourth term in power while barring out much of the opposition. I can’t really do the all the history of how the situation wound up this way justice in a preamble as it’s fairly complicated (read the article if you are interested), but to summarize, Ouattara is currently the only coherent candidate for the French to support. Back in 2011, the French helped Ouattara overthrow the previous (pan-Africanist) president, Laurent Gbagbo, and then arrested him and sent him to the ICC, and he was then acquitted and released in 2021.

Gbagbo is now running against Ouattara, but his base, the working class, has large swathes that are not present on the voting rolls and so it would be unlikely for him to win. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Tidjane Thiam, a former CEO of the Swiss Bank Credit Suisse, whose base is in the richer strata of the Ivory Coast, which overlaps with Ouattara’s base. He would be more likely to win, but would certainly maintain many Western imperialist relationships. Ouattara, however, has simplified the electoral situation by simply barring both of them from running in the election at all.

Ouattara has, on paper, delivered some amount of economic development to the Ivory Coast. But as expected, most of it is funnelled to the bourgeois, as well as to foreign corporations and governments, while the working class are swallowed by the cost of living crisis. There has been significant infrastructure projects, but these have not only generated massive debt, they also have only really addressed the damage caused by the 2011 civil war and intervention by the French.

The rest of Western Africa has either entirely exited the orbit of France (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso), are wavering/unstable (Senegal, Benin, Guinea), are beginning to show doubts (Nigeria, Ghana), or are economically weak enough to not be a major blow for the French to lose (Togo, Guinea-Bissau). The loss of the Ivory Coast would be a major setback for French neocolonialism, and be a potent example to nearby countries.

Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

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The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
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Israel's Genocide of Palestine

If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.

  • AlHouthi4President@lemmy.mlEnglish
    93·
    10 days ago

    Very good video from Jon Elmer at Electronic Intifada going over resistance ops.

    Four important points.

    1. The resistance has developed a new IED specifically designed to be thrown into the top of enemy armored vehicles. The reason why the child-killing army sits with the vehicles hatch open is because the vehicle air conditioning units fail and the inside can heat up to 60C. It gets a lot hotter inside 🔻 once the mujahideen show up 😎

    2. The resistance is still well supplied. The resistance has acces to an enormous amount of unexploded enemy ordinance which explains why they continue to have weapons and explosives despite the total siege. They wont run out of weapons anytime soon. “Return to Sender operations” the resistance calls them. They are also using captured tactical vests, automatic weapons, and other equipment from the child-killing occupation soldiers. Some of their recent operations included drone footage from the resistance which means they have their own operational drones.

    3. The resistance carried out an enormous operation earlier this week where 20 resistance fighters emerged from a tunnel and denazified an iof forwarding operating base. "The occupation forces, according to their own army radio, didnt even realize what was happening until the resistance was already inside the base. We await video footage. This is only one of over a dozen operations this week. The resistance also carried out multiple video recorded operations in Khan Yunis which reveals that the iof absolutely does not have control of this region despite their claims. The resistance continues to punish the zionists. Multiple videos of resistance sniping zionist officers and sending them to hell.

    4. My interpretation: the reason the occupation is having these recruitment crises is because they are getting smoked on the battlefield. Despite their maximalist rhetoric, its very clear that the zionists are nowhere close to winning in Gaza.

  • Lovely_sombrero [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    89·
    11 days ago

    It looks like China banned some Nvidia hardware like the H20. Facebook is halting its AI investments and hiring. Research found that 95% of projects where companies tried to integrate AI into their businesses are a complete failure.

    First cracks starting to show in the “AI” stupidity, or as we used to call it before the rebrand - machine learning.

  • FortifiedAttack [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    85·
    14 days ago

    Am I wrong in thinking that the recent pushes by the UK and the EU to censor the internet and compromise encryption is entirely because of the Ukraine war and Israel?

    I think Europe realized that, in order to arm up and make their population willing to sacrifice themselves for the state (and for Israel), they need to establish absolute control over what people are discussing online. Essentially establishing the “totalitarian” system they keep projecting onto their geopolitical enemies.

    • hello_hello [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      71·
      14 days ago

      I also agree with this but want to add that this has been the direction and the Internet has been heading towards ever since engagement ads were a thing.

      There are structural flaws to the Internet that some have tried to solve with grifts (crypto and web3) or with smarts (Tor, p2p ipfs) but the main one is that there is little to no actual moderation. This worked to gain users in the short term but once advertisers rolled in, the taboo internet had to be crushed and commodified (not eliminated, but packaged in a way that invites that benefits capital). Of course, fuck anyone in the crossfire as capitalists can hire labor aristocrats and proles to do this social networking for them or be so impervious to public opinion anyway (musk route)

      Things like gamergate (I’m sorry) were also milestones as the Internet became a favorite spot of reactionaries to actually organize and launch attacks. Donald Trump got his momentum from this and every subsequent candidate is trying to conquer the Internet.

      In this new Cold War against China and Russia, we will see every country adopt some level of Internet control that China has (the difference will be in implementation and resisting western color revolutions), they’ll have to in order to survive as LLMs are able to used in cyber warfare. I would recommend that AES and the wider Global South seek to outlaw euro american social media as soon as possible, leaving it to only trusted people within the government and instead adopt government controlled networking sites (the libre software movement has been tirelessly experimenting with this often in liberal contexts though in the west).

      The “chud to leftist” internet pipeline is going to be a dream of the past in only a few years. “Breadtube” (public category for nominally leftist internet personalities) has already been running defense for the Zionist occupation.

    • Staines [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      28·
      13 days ago

      It’s inevitable that most regions/countries will wall themselves off in the end. It’s the only way to stop colour revolutions and information warfare. The tools get better every day. Israel has gone from having whole battalions of manpower sitting in offices shitposting to using LLM’s and getting companies to automatically flag and prune anything they don’t want anyone seeing.

      Eventually total information control will be possible for even the smallest powers.

  • xiaohongshu [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    76·
    13 days ago

    China’s youth unemployment hits 11-month high as army of graduates joins job hunt SCMP

    China’s youth unemployment hit 17.8 per cent in July, the figure’s highest level since August 2024, as millions of degree holders seek work

    China’s youth unemployment rate rose to its highest level in 11 months in July, as a record number of graduates enter an already shaky labour market.

    The urban jobless rate for the 16-24 age group, excluding students, rose to 17.8 per cent last month from 14.5 per cent in June, putting an end to four straight months of decline and marking the metric’s highest level since last August, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

    The figures come as a record 12.2 million university students graduate this summer, with a majority of them joining a sizeable applicant pool that has had trouble finding open positions that meet their education and skill levels. In recent months, Beijing has launched a string of initiatives to aid graduates and other young people as they seek employment.

    For instance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is running a campaign from July to December to support jobless youth and college graduates with services such as career guidance sessions, referrals and training opportunities.

    But unemployment among this age cohort remains high, fuelled by a mismatch between jobs and expectations in a challenging economic environment where domestic demand has yet to make up for shortfalls in traditional growth sectors like real estate.

    “The market is quite rough,” said He Yue, a computer science graduate currently based in Beijing. After receiving her diploma from a university in Chongqing, she has spent over two months looking for a suitable job.

    After sending in dozens of applications for media operations roles in the national capital – a field where she has prior experience – He has only received one offer, which failed to meet her salary expectations of 6,000 yuan (US$835) a month.

    “The offer was only for a base pay of 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. After deducting living expenses such as rent, transport and meals, I’ll be left with around 1,500 yuan or less,” she said.

    The role also required frequent overtime, which she said she was reluctant to take on at that wage level.

    Unlike many of her friends who are planning to apply for postgraduate programmes, He said she would continue her job search, possibly shifting focus to positions in Hangzhou, China’s rising tech hub on the east coast.

    Nearly 3.9 million people signed up for the postgraduate entrance exam this year, as many young Chinese are pursuing master’s degrees to gain a competitive edge amid cutthroat competition for entry-level positions. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for those aged 25 to 29, also excluding students, stood at 6.9 per cent in July, up from 6.7 per cent in June.

    China’s overall urban jobless rate edged up to 5.2 per cent in July, after holding at 5 per cent for the two months prior.

    Good article on the current job market for young people. It ain’t pretty.

    As I have said before, 12 million new graduates joining the work force this summer adds even more pressure to the already intense competitive environment, and the irony being that this is probably the generation that received the best quality education of all time, only to graduate and couldn’t find work.

    The deflationary spiral continues. We’ll see how long before the leadership figures out that they need to change course and abandon neoliberalism altogether (not very likely if we’re being honest).

  • HarryLime [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    76·
    9 days ago

    I thought this twitter thread was interesting:

    Why Washington wants Maduro out:

    The U.S. campaign to break Venezuela isn’t about “restoring democracy.” It’s about shutting down a sovereign state that can disrupt oil flows, bypass the dollar, and host adversaries three hours from Miami.

    Gulf Coast refineries are tuned to heavy sour crude, Venezuela’s specialty. After Trump revoked Chevron’s waiver in February 2025, Treasury granted a restricted license on July 30, following a July 24 Reuters report that authorizations were imminent.

    The license bars proceeds from reaching the Maduro government. U.S. imports resumed on August 21 under those constraints. A sovereign Caracas that can meter Orinoco flows still wields a price lever, sanctions mute it, but don’t erase it.

    Caracas has already tested non-dollar lifelines, oil-for-fuel swaps, yuan- and euro-denominated settlement, and off-ramps through third countries. In 2025, Venezuela has kept lobbying for BRICS+ association after Brazil’s 2024 veto.

    If a sanctioned mid-tier petrostate can keep selling without the dollar, the sanctions machine loses aura. Breaking Maduro is message traffic to the rest of OPEC+ and BRICS-adjacent capitals: settle outside our rails and we will bankrupt your state or replace your cabinet.

    The court-supervised auction of PDV Holding, CITGO’s parent, is deep into 2025 bidding and recommendations to satisfy $19B in creditor claims. Regime change would guarantee corporate custody of Orinoco Belt reserves and downstream infrastructure without legal friction. “Anti-corruption” becomes the solvent for ownership transfer.

    Washington cannot tolerate an allied logistics node for adversaries a three-hour flight from Miami. Caracas has run refinery rehab, fuel swaps, and technical assistance with sanctioned states; it hosts political and commercial channels that punch through U.S. veto power.

    The 2025 SOUTHCOM posture statement focuses on countering “malign influence” and notes the Guyana–Venezuela flashpoint. Overthrow Maduro, and you sever those corridors, re-impose inspection rights on ports and airfields, and re-install U.S. ISR reach across the Caribbean.

    In February 2025, the U.S. designated Tren de Aragua a Foreign Terrorist Organization. In March, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove suspected members without standard due process.

    Roughly 250 Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador’s CECOT supermax under the program before courts curtailed it; reporting indicates El Salvador received around $20,000 per detainee per year.

    In May, a declassified National Intelligence Council memo assessed the Maduro regime “probably does not” direct TdA’s operations in the U.S., a sharp split between intelligence and policy.

    In May 2025, the International Court of Justice ordered Venezuela to refrain from holding elections in the disputed Essequibo region. ExxonMobil’s Stabroek expansion and U.S.–Guyana defense cooperation continue in parallel, insulating Guyana’s ramp from Venezuelan contestation.

    The Arco Minero, gold, coltan, rare metals, gives Caracas hard-currency elasticity under sanctions. U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan gold date back to 2018–2019, and the UAE remains a major laundering hub per 2025 reporting. A friendly government would “formalize” the belt, which is code for foreign custody of extraction and export.

    Venezuela still runs Telesur and state-backed media partnerships across Latin America. Overthrow resets the signal environment: licenses revoked, stations defunded, embassies realigned, and every future crisis reframed through Washington’s lens, no more competing broadcast from Caracas into the region.

    If Venezuela can outlast 26 years of sanctions, sabotage, coup attempts, and still retain its oil lever, others learn the blueprint. If it falls, the lesson is simpler: nationalize at scale, and your cabinet gets replaced.

    That is the real objective, code a rule into the system: sovereignty that interferes with U.S. energy, currency, or logistics lanes is a temporary condition.

    That’s the stack. Energy discipline, dollar hegemony, asset capture, hemispheric denial, domestic optics, Esequibo insulation, mineral custody, narrative blackout, and exemplary punishment. Everything else is cover noise.

  • Kaputnik [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    69·
    14 days ago

    The Canadian regime continues to violate human rights in the country. The Liberal junta which has held onto power for a supermajority of the country’s existence has been denounced by international observers as constituting a one party state.

    The unelected “Labour Control Board” has declared the striking of Flight Attendants illegal and seeks to force them back into unpaid indentured servitude. The union representing flight attendants has announced they will defy this order. It remains to be seen if the Canadian Secret Police will respond with the same violence seen in previous protests against illegal oil pipelines.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/air-canada-strike-illegal-1.7611447

    • Yllych [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      24·
      14 days ago

      What is interesting to me here is that, through the government bypassing the normal collective bargaining procedures and right to strike in Canada, they undermined the usually ossified and conservative union leadership who I’m sure would have been happy to get some scraps for their members and hopefully keep their positions.

      Now they’re left in a position where they can either go along with Carney’s orders and be made totally irrelevant to the union membership, or be forced to take a more radical approach but risk personal jail time/fines.

      I’m surprised they took the more leftward tack, but we’ll see how they hold when push comes to shove.

      Also the irony in this quote from the bosses association is too good:

      The employers’ association Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications (FETCO) criticized CUPE’s actions and accused it of “normalizing the idea that if you don’t like a decision, you can simply ignore it.”

      So after all those times where workers went on strike, then were told by the bourgeois “that’s actually illegal and we’re gonna ignore you or arrest you”, or were just straight up shot in this country, suddenly now it’s not ok for our side to use that logic. Hmm ok sure, go ahead and hold on to that when you present your case before the People’s Trials.