"Sunday, November 6, saw the latest municipal elections in Nicaragua, with mayors and councilors elected for every city hall in the country, from the smallest to the largest (the capital, Managua). In the last general election, a year ago, 66% of voters took part. This time, not surprisingly, the percentage was smaller (57%), but still very respectable in international terms. Neighboring Costa Rica’s last local elections brought only a 25% turnout. Across the U.S., only 15 to 27% of eligible voters cast a ballot in their last local election. In the UK, turnout is usually about 30%, and only in Scotland have a few small districts seen turnout exceed 57%. ...
Of course, this is not how the election was seen by Daniel Ortega’s international opponents. Brian A. Nichols, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said in advance that 'Nicaraguans will once again be denied the right to freely & fairly choose their municipal leaders. As long as opposition leaders remain unjustly imprisoned or in exile, and their parties banned, there is no choice for the Nicaraguan people in yet another sham election.' Unsurprisingly, he ignored the crimes committed by so-called 'opposition leaders', for which they had been tried and convicted. None of those 'leaders' had ever run in local elections, nor were they members of registered political parties. ...
Once again, Nicaragua’s democratic achievement proves to be the 'threat of a good example' to Western countries where, in what are claimed to be superior democracies, a far smaller proportion of the electorate can be bothered to vote."
https://afgj.org/nicanotes-11-10-2022
-->There is no contrary opinion in the US media about Nicaragua. Does that ring any alarm bells? Not about Daniel Ortega, but about the uniformity of our news? Described more accurately, our news about Nicaragua is little more than Pentagon propaganda. And what about the overwhelming UN vote condemning the US embargo of Cuba? No coverage at all.
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Common Dreams:
"Ballot Initiatives Targeting Inequality Won Big on Election Day. Voters nationwide—in blue states and red alike—approved hiking taxes on the wealthy, raising wages, helping build union power for workers.
Americans are sick and tired of seeing CEO pay and billionaire wealth in the stratosphere while working families are struggling with soaring costs. This election day, voters in several states used direct democracy to do something about it. They voted to hike taxes on the wealthy, raise wages and build union power, help ordinary people afford basic necessities, and tackle the problem of big money in politics.
Massachusetts Hikes Taxes on the Rich. Sixth time’s a charm. Massachusetts fair tax advocates had tried and failed five times since 1962 to undo the regressive flat income tax rate embedded in their state constitution. This time they were victorious. By a 52-48 margin, voters approved an income surtax of 4 percent on annual individual income above $1 million, with revenue going mostly towards public education and transportation."
-->I don't see this story about ballot initiatives targeting inequality in our major media. Yet these initiatives will change people's lives, while reversing the massive division between the rich and poor in the US. Capitalist newspapers don't talk about taxing the rich.
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Mondoweiss:
"AIPAC spent over $4 million trying to stop Summer Lee, but she’s headed to congress. After failing to oust her in the primaries, AIPAC fell to Summer Lee in the PA-12 general election as well. 'They are losing a generational battle here,' says Justice Democrats' Waleed Shahid. ...
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent millions attempting to stop Lee from reaching the House. The group’s United Democracy Project (UDP) super PAC spent $2.7 million trying to defeat Lee during her primary by backing former GOP staffer Steve Irwin. Their efforts were nearly successful, as Lee ended up prevailing by less than a point.
UDP spent about $80,000 on mailers and nearly $1 million on ads attacking Lee during the general election, marking the first time the organization had directly spent on a general election race between a Democrat and a Republican. Ironically AIPAC’s primary ads attacked Lee for being a bad Democrat while they backed the Republican candidate during the general election."
-->A quick review of our mainstream media shows that this story gets left out of all publications except the most progressive. The story, however, is compelling; it is about a young Black women taking on the might of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and winning. Maybe it is just too damning, the Israel Lobby trying to defeat a progressive Black woman. It is too bad that our mainstream media can't be as brave as Summer Lee. Even Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, covered this story.
