2024, a year of war & struggle

A woman holds a sign against the genocide in Gaza during a demonstration held by the Palestinian community in Santiago de Chile on October 5, 2024. Photo © Sofía Yanjarí.

Opinion • Kevin H. Martínez • December 19, 2024 • Leer en castellano

There’s no doubt 2024 was a difficult year, marked by a disastrous intensification of war and the advance of the fascist right globally. It was our first full year at Ojalá, and it was a one of growth, learning, and struggle—as well as moments of defeat—in Abya Yala.

October marked one year of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as war continues to spread throughout the region.

Students set up camps at universities across the U.S. to demand an end to cooperation with Israel, including at Columbia University, as reported by Mariana Navarrete. Those actions were echoed at the UNAM in Mexico City.  A counterprotest emerged at the 46th LGBT march in Mexico City, as demonstrators marched under the slogan “No pride in genocide,” as reported by Lizbeth Hernandez. 

In an interview with Pablo Pérez, linguist Silvana Rabinovich described the discursive mechanisms through which Israel has sought to build legitimacy for a genocidal state.

And as Claudia López Pardo recounted in a recent story, acts of solidarity—including a feminist action against the bombing of Rafah in Cochabamba, Bolivia—have been criminalized by the authorities. 

Protesters at the “No pride in Genocide” demonstration in Mexico City in June of 2024. Photo © Lizbeth Hernández.

Feminist uprisings

Once again, feminists flooded the streets of Latin America this year. 

Our coverage of International Women’s Day on March 8th included reports from demonstrations in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. The protest in Colombia was marked by police repression, as reported by reported by Daniela Díaz. There was also repression in Mexico, where the government of the state of Nuevo León appears to have adopted a policy of criminalizing feminist protest.

“In Mexico and Palestine, women want to be free and alive.” March 8, 2024 in Mexico City. Photo © Dawn Marie Paley.

We also took a peek behind the scenes, where a less visible process is underway: debates in feminist assembly spaces. Andrea Sato and Raquel Gutiérrez reflected on a question that has recurrently come up in feminist assemblies: how to maintain and strengthen the feminist power that’s been deployed during the most recent cycle of mobilization? 

The discussion has long since moved beyond gender equality. Our collaborators explored the role of women in struggles against precariousness, on the relevance of centering labor, and how women are making their way into Chilean trade unions.

Militarization and neoliberalism

This year began with a spectacular display of violence in Ecuador, which served as a pretext for the imposition of a state of emergency by decree, introducing policies similar those of Colombia and Mexico. In the name of combating drug trafficking, the Ecuadorian government has increased militarization and securitization in what is in fact a war on the people. 

Lisbeth Moya Gonzalez reported on how the emergency decree gave state forces carte blanche to violate human rights and had been used against protesters, and Kimberley Brown shared how feminist self-defense is gaining importance in this complex context. 

In Mexico, we made sure Claudia Sheinbaum's victory could be understood beyond empty celebrations of breaking the glass ceiling. Dawn Marie Paley and Gutiérrez criticized the militarism of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), which Sheinbaum took on without qualms.

A woman holds a banner with the portrait of former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the word “JOKER” during the tenth anniversary march commemorating the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa in Mexico City, September 26, 2024. © Pablo Perez.

We also covered the disappointment of relatives of disappeared persons with AMLO's term in office. Bent on winning political struggles and securing his party's control over politics including by reforming the judiciary, AMLO turned his back on the movements that brought him to power. This sentiment was patent in protests on the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students days before Sheinbaum's inauguration.

Milei's first year in office in Argentina saw the implementation of a renewed neoliberal and right-wing offensive. Despite praise for improved macroeconomic indicators, resistance to Milei’s measures in the streets has been constant, and stemming from traditional unions and civil society.  They struck on January 24, an act that was followed by feminist demonstrations and further protest by sexual and gender dissidents, all of which was reported by Valen Iricibar in Buenos Aires. The hate disseminated by the government went beyond discourse and having very real effects, such as the attack against four lesbian women that killed three and seriously injured one.

Demonstrators leave flowers at an altar set up by the LGBTQIA+ community and neighbors on the porch of the boarding house where the massacre against two lesbian couples took place in Barracas, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires. There are four candles, one for each of the victims: Pamela, Roxana, Andrea and Sofia. Three were killed and the fourth remains in hospital. May 13, 2024. Photo: Valen Iricibar.

The constituent impasse and neoliberal continuity of the government of Gabriel Boric in Chile continue to face all kinds of mobilizing. Andrea Salazar Navia and Claudia Hernandez Aliaga wrote of how the state responded to the lack of housing with evictions in the middle of winter. The creation of irregular settlements also puts inhabitants at risk from fires, as reported by Yasna Mussa earlier this year.

Columnist Huáscar Salazar Lohman explored the political decomposition stemming from the struggle for control of Bolivia’s ruling party. There was a brief attempted coup d'état by the army, which turned out to be one more chapter in the fight between Evo Morales and Luis Arce. Later, Morales, using his enormous influence, organized a series of blockades that paralyzed central Bolivia in mid-October. The sexual abuses he has perpetrated for years were revealed, and the limits of what was previously considered acceptable began to shift.

In defense of land and water

Both the scarcity and abundance of water linked to the climate crisis have become central a problem for communities throughout the region. In August, William Costa wrote about how mutual aid and community organizing are the main forms of protection from recurrent flooding episodes in Asunción, Paraguay.

In Sonora, Mexico, water is being hoarded for agribusiness, according to researcher Ramón I. Centeno. This takes place under the umbrella of a privatizing water law which, as Sergio Alejandro Pérez Muñoz reminds us, was adopted as part of neoliberal policy changes over thirty years ago. 

In some places, water defenders are paying a high cost for their actions. In Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, water defenders have repeatedly been beaten and detained for their actions. Nadia Bernal reported on the criminalization of the struggle of Otomi women against theft of water in Santiago Mexquititlán, Querétaro.

In addition to the criminalization of Indigenous and rural struggle in Mexico, this year also saw the approval of regressive legal initiatives such as the constitutional amendment known as the “Indigenous reform.” The reform blocks recognition of the autonomy of Indigenous peoples over their political life, land and water, as Yuteita Hoyos Ramos explained.

In Honduras, Jared Olson reported on bloody repression against peasants in the Aguan Valley. Despite promises by leftist President Xiomara Castro to end mining, Juan López, one of the most visible faces of the struggle for the Guapinol River was assassinated in September. 

The Kai Kai Vilú serpent is the protector of water within the Mapuche cosmovision, original art © PazConNadie.

This year, together with Traficantes de Sueños and Bajo Tierra Ediciones, Ojalá published two booklets in Spanish, one on March 8th and the other on the communal uprising in Guatemala.

As we end a difficult year and head into an even more complicated 2025, we wish to send our deepest respect to all of our comrades in resistance and struggle. In particular we want to thank our collaborators, and everyone who’s supported Ojalá over the past year and a half.

We’ll be back in January with more feminist and community voices, history, and art. We’ll also announce the grantees who will participate in our Ojalá + Resilience Fund program. Also next year we will be launching our first revenue campaign, and asking our dear readers to consider supporting our work.

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Happy holidays, and here’s to a combative 2025.