Thread by @ProgIntl

YEAR IN REVIEW: In May 2020, the Progressive International was born.

In the seven months since, our coalition has grown to include unions, parties, and movements representing millions of people around the world.

Here is a 🧵 of our first year in review:

2/ The Progressive International launched with a mission to unite, organize, and mobilize progressive forces.

As Council member Noam Chomsky set out, the stakes of this mission are existential.

How can we make solidarity more than a slogan?

3/ We answered this question across three main pillars of work.

The first is the Movement, where we connect, support, and mobilize activists around the world.

What were some of the Movement highlights in 2020?

4/ We mobilized members to protect democratic institutions in Ecuador, achieving a major victory in reversing the decision to suspend the party of Council member @ecuarauz in the 2021 presidential elections.
progressive.international/movement/artic…

5/ We dispatched a delegation of parliamentarians from around the world to observe Bolivia’s first election since the coup of November 2019, overseeing a peaceful and historic restoration of democracy in the hands of the Movement Toward Socialism. progressive.international/wire/2020-10-2…

6/ And we campaigned with Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and representatives around the world for total debt forgiveness and an emergency injection of finances to the Global South. progressive.international/movement/campa…

7/ Next is our Blueprint pillar, where we convene scholars and practitioners to design a policy blueprint to transform the institutions that impact our lives, our communities, and the planet.

What were some of the Blueprint highlights in 2020?

8/ We commissioned an inaugural collection on the International Green New Deal, including essays from Mike Davis, @graceblakeley, Lula da Silva, @BJMbraun, @AnnPettifor and many others.

Find the full collection on "Reclaiming the World After Covid-19": progressive.international/blueprint/coll…

9/ We organized a collective on Debt Justice — including scholars like @Jayati1609, @KatharinaPistor, and @MattHGoldmann — mobilizing to challenge the IMF’s
austerity agenda in countries like Argentina and Ecuador.
progressive.international/blueprint/c8b8…

10/ And we convened a Covid-19 Response working group of physicians, scholars, and public health advocates to develop a new vision of a just pharmaceutical system and a People’s Vaccine to respond to the global pandemic. progressive.international/blueprint/7c32…

11/ Our third pillar is the Wire: a wire service to the world's progressive forces.

Every day, the Wire translates stories, essays, and statements from Progressive International members and partner publications.

What are some 2020 highlights?

12/ Moving analysis of the global politics of the pandemic — translated into nine languages — from writers like Arundhati Roy, who called on us to "disable the engine" of the super-surveillance state.

progressive.international/wire/2020-05-0…

13/ A powerful statement on the planetary movement for Black Lives from Council members like @nickwestes, @MashiRafael, and @CaroRackete, calling to dismantle the system "brick by brick, dollar by dollar, police department by police department."
progressive.international/wire/2020-06-0…

14/ And an original photo essay on the historic farmers' strike against Modi in India, offering a tour through blockades and highway travels through Punjab, by PI member Rohit Lohia progressive.international/wire/2020-11-2…

15/ On 18 September 2020, the PI held its inaugural summit, bringing together Council members, trade unions, social movements, and political parties across continents toward "a shared vision of democracy, solidarity and sustainability".

thewire.in/rights/progres…

16/ The Summit kicked off with a speech by Noam Chomsky.

"We are meeting at a remarkable moment," he said, "a moment that is, in fact, unique in human history. The @ProgIntl has a crucial role to play in determining which course history will follow." progressive.international/wire/2020-09-1…

17/ All the recordings from the Summit — including keynotes by @yanisvaroufakis and @NaomiAKlein, as well as interventions by @vijayprashad, @CornelWest, @Nanjala1, @ETemelkuran and many others — can be found on Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCksuN…

18/ Two months later — on Black Friday — the PI kicked off its most ambitious project to date, teaming up with trade unions, social movements, and citizens around the world to #MakeAmazonPay.

19/ Black Friday saw strikes and solidarity actions in 14 countries across Amazon’s supply chain, from call center workers in the Philippines to garment workers in Bangladesh, from hawkers in India to warehouse workers in Poland.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

20/ One week later, the PI announced the formation of a new legislative alliance: over 400 MPs from 34 countries across six continents uniting to #MakeAmazonPay.

Legislative action has now been taken in Scotland, Poland, Greece, Brazil, and Australia.

21/ Rounding off the year, the @ProgIntl launched "The Internationalist," a new weekly show connecting struggles across the planet.

22/ By the end of 2020, The Internationalist had featured voices from India’s farmer strike, trade unions fighting Amazon, and dissidents reflecting on a decade of uprising after the Arab Spring.

23/ None of this would have been possible without you.

The PI is funded exclusively by small-dollar donations, which go directly toward the activities highlighted on this thread.

If you have just $5 to spare, please consider a monthly donation today.

progressive.international/support/

END/ The crises of 2020 — of climate, capital, and viral pandemic — have made one thing clear: Internationalism is not a luxury. It is a strategy for survival.

The @ProgIntl looks forward to fighting in the new year.

And we invite you to join us.