- 22 minutes ago
* Nearly 5,000 arrested in France amid cost-of-living protests
* US launches attacks on Iran’s Qeshm island in Strait of Hormuz
* US launches attacks on Iran’s Qeshm island in Strait of Hormuz
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:10Let's begin with this submission of From the South with Alberto Matos from
00:14Adelosu Studios in Caracas, Venezuela. Millions of US citizens are already
00:19heading to the polls this Tuesday to decide who will control Congress and the
00:24balance of power for the last two years of Donald Trump's term. Throughout the
00:28day Democrats are seeking to regain control of both chambers of Congress
00:31while the Republican Party is heading into the elections with the goal of
00:34preserving its political position during the second half of Trump's
00:38presidential term. The first polling centers began opening at 5 and 6 a.m.
00:42local time in the eastern coast while meanwhile the Supreme Court rejected a
00:47motion filed by the Trump administration to force the state of California to
00:50avoid thousands of ballots after claiming they were sent to non-US citizens.
01:00In this context nearly 58 million US citizens cast early ballots ahead of the
01:04midterm election setting historic turnout records across the United States. The
01:08surge is driven by heightened mobilization among working-class voters and Latino
01:13communities who report casting ballots to come by grocery inflation and economic
01:17pressures. As voters prepare to decide all 435 seats in the House of
01:23Representatives, 35 Senate seats and 36 Governorships. Market prediction models
01:28give Democrats a 95 percent chance of securing a House majority signaling
01:32potential legislative blockades for the remainder of the President Donald Trump's
01:36second term.
01:44UN citizens in Virginia offer comments on the importance of the election day after casting their
01:48ballot.
01:51We're seeing a lot of what's the right word for it just too much change but not for the
01:58better. It's turning into a dictatorship out here and it's not it's not good it's not what
02:02this country is meant for. Clearly people weren't doing what they should have been
02:06doing before maybe not studying maybe not paying attention to history and so
02:10right now we need to try to correct what we can and fix the country and
02:15hopefully fix the way that we're behaving around the world as well so very
02:19important.
02:22To understand in a deeper level what are these midterm elections that are currently underway
02:26in the U.S. and what's at stake for the country's political future let's watch the
02:30following material.
02:32Held halfway through a President's four-year term, the midterm elections do not determine
02:37who occupies the White House. Instead, about 210 million registered voters will decide who
02:43controls Congress.
02:45the legislative branch responsible for passing federal laws, approving government spending
02:49and overseeing the executive.
02:53All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election, along with 35 Senate seats.
02:59Of those Senate races, 33 are part of the regular election cycle, while two special elections
03:05will fill the remaining terms of seats vacated by previous authorities.
03:08Before the general election, political parties elected candidates through state primaries.
03:13These take place at different times and voting rules vary.
03:17On election day, U.S. citizens vote for congressional candidates in their states and districts.
03:21Depending on local rules, they can also vote early or by mail.
03:25Representatives serve two-year terms, while senators serve six-year terms with elections staggered
03:30across three cycles.
03:31The newly elected members will take office on January 3, 2027, when the 120th Congress convenes.
03:39The outcome will help define the balance of power in Washington and the political landscape leading
03:43into the 2028 presidential election.
03:51In other topics, the United States is preparing to mediate a new round of working-level negotiations
03:56between Russia and Ukraine, scheduled for November 10 and the 11 in Abu Dhabi.
04:00According to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Wyckoff's office, the discussions will focus on post-war
04:06security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian assistance, and possible steps toward a peace
04:11agreement.
04:12On the Russian side, Kremlin aid jury Ushakov described the upcoming negotiations as decisive,
04:17despite diplomatic efforts fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces continue, with
04:22previous negotiations in Geneva ending without a major breakthrough.
04:35Kremlin spokesman, Demetri Peskov, confirmed that U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks will
04:39take place in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11.
04:41Peskov added that presidential aide and former cultural minister, Vladimir Meninsky, will
04:46approve three percent Moscow at the meeting.
04:53Yes, I can confirm this date.
04:56The Russian delegation will indeed arrive on November 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi to take part
05:02in trilateral talks regarding the main negotiator on the Russian side.
05:08Let me remind you the statement of President Putin.
05:11It is still my colleague, Russian presidential aide Medinsky.
05:22We have a first break.
05:23Remember, you can join us on TikTok at Alistair English.
05:25We will find news in different formats, news updates, and more.
05:28We're going to be right back.
05:29Stay with us.
05:49Welcome back.
05:50We go back to the topic of the U.S. midterm elections, and to continue analyzing the political
05:55and socializing surrounding these midterm elections, let's welcome once more from Washington, D.C.
05:59live our colleague Jorge Gestoso.
06:01Welcome Jorge once more to From the South.
06:06Thank you very much, Luis Alberto.
06:07We are here to help us to put in perspective what is politics and what's turning around this midterm election.
06:17We are counting with the presence of Jacqueline Lugman.
06:21She is the organizer of Black Alliance of Peace.
06:26Black Alliance of Peace.
06:28Jacqueline, welcome and thanks very much for joining us.
06:32Thank you so much for having me.
06:33Jacqueline, do you believe that the Democratic Party represents the interest of the working class?
06:42Well, the Democratic Party has not represented the interest of the working class since the Democratic Leadership Conference,
06:51what 30, 40 years ago, led by Al Fromm, changed the Democratic Party platform from one that did support working
07:01class struggles and marginalized people's struggles,
07:04particularly the labor section and Black people and other marginalized people.
07:10But third way politics was entered into the platform of the Democratic Party.
07:17And they made a conscious decision to turn to corporatism and to appeal to moderate Republicans with a tough on
07:25crime message and abandon the working class policies that they were known for.
07:31So the Democratic Party has only moved farther and farther to the right in the United States.
07:39They could we could argue they were a center party some time ago.
07:45They were nominally left or progressive before the third way policies entered their platform.
07:53But now the Democratic Party is a center right party in this country.
07:58And they don't represent the interests of the working class.
08:02They represent the interests of the same class of people that the Republicans represent.
08:07And that's the capitalists.
08:08And what the President Trump call it's the what is it like the the left or the threatening left or
08:19something like that.
08:20That was that type of rhetoric.
08:23Yes.
08:24And the rhetoric is all it is because every Republican knows that Democrats are just as committed to capitalism as
08:32they are.
08:33They are just as committed to imperialism and imperialist war as they are.
08:38The rhetoric serves to keep the Democratic Party as a boogeyman in the same way the Democrats use the same
08:46rhetoric against Republicans.
08:48But they always work together in a bipartisan fashion to pass legislation that continues to deprive the working class, poor,
08:57racialized, marginalized people in this country of rights, dignity, a decent standard of living and, you know, just basic decent
09:07human rights.
09:08So you've got a far right party in the Republicans.
09:12You've got a center right party in the Democrats.
09:15And then you have an actual left that is outside of both of them.
09:20And this even includes the so-called progressives in the Democratic Party.
09:26They do not qualify as left either because they are also committed to capitalism.
09:32Yes.
09:32And you better know than anyone else what at least has been reported that happened in the elections that ended
09:42up with Hillary Clinton as a candidate of the Democratic Party.
09:46Bernie Sanders was also running as a candidate.
09:50Yes.
09:51He's an independent and he was getting much, much more support than Hillary Clinton.
09:58Yes.
09:59As a magic part, they put him aside because it was too far left for the interests of the Democratic
10:08Party and was wiped out.
10:12Mm-hmm.
10:12So that happened with Hillary Clinton.
10:14And then it repeated with Joe Biden.
10:18Yes.
10:19So even if there are some people ready to move the needle to the left, the whatever, the status quo
10:29is, let's don't make waves.
10:31Yes.
10:31That is absolutely true.
10:33Even the progressives and the Democratic Socialists that Trump and even Democrats, because James Carville, a key Democratic strategist, has
10:43come out and said he would rather have another Trump administration.
10:47He would rather lose to Trump than to have the Democratic Party, quote unquote, taken over by the crazy Democratic
10:55Socialists and the Muslims.
10:56But these people are not actual socialists.
10:59They do not want to destroy capitalism.
11:01They do not want a different economic system.
11:05They want more humane capitalism.
11:09But that humanity or that more humane capitalism never extends to ending war.
11:17It never extends to ending imperialism.
11:20This is what I think will happen with this election.
11:24I think that the Democrats will win some seats from Republicans.
11:28I think that will happen.
11:29But as far as foreign policy is concerned, nothing is going to change.
11:34The Democrats are not going to do anything to release President Maduro and first combatant Celia Flores.
11:40The Democrats will do nothing to end the genocide and the oppression in Congo.
11:47They will do nothing to end what is going on in Sudan.
11:51They will do nothing to end the attacks on the AES.
11:54They will do nothing to stop Israel from colonizing Lebanon.
11:59They will do nothing to stop Israel from continuing the genocide in Palestine.
12:04They will not stop bombing Iran.
12:07There are people that are very, very tough in terms of denouncing what they see in the foreign policy of
12:16the U.S.
12:17They say, regardless what political party is at the helm, Democrats or Republicans, there is always the same horse running
12:31by a different rider.
12:33But the horse is just the same.
12:34Absolutely.
12:35You agree?
12:35That is absolutely true.
12:37And unfortunately for us in the United States, we disconnect ourselves from foreign policy because we don't know it.
12:44We're not taught it.
12:46We do not.
12:46We don't learn the history of our own country in our public schools.
12:51So we do not know.
12:53We don't understand imperialism and colonization and settler colonialism.
12:57We don't understand that these things are not just historically the foundation of this country, but also is at the
13:04root of every evil that is going on in the world right now.
13:08The same principles behind Zionism are settler colonialism.
13:12That is imperialism.
13:14And I have a final question for you, Jacqueline.
13:16We have seen a strong advance of the far right in Latin America.
13:21Yes.
13:21And again, the toughest critics on the new policy of the Monroe Doctrine 2.0, they said clearly Latin America
13:34is reliving a new chapter of colonialism or neo-colonialism.
13:40Yes.
13:40Your thoughts?
13:41Yes.
13:41That's absolutely true.
13:43And Trump and Rubio and others in the administration, and even those outside of the administration, Eric Prince, the owner
13:50of, what is it, Black Water?
13:53Yes.
13:54Yes.
13:54He flat out said Africa needs to be recolonized because they cannot govern themselves.
14:01And many in the United States agree with these things because they don't understand what colonization and imperialism and settler
14:08colonialism are.
14:09And as long as they are comfortable here, you know, as long as their physical, material comforts are stable, many
14:19people in this country really do not care what this government does to other people around the world.
14:24Yes.
14:25So, the final, final thought.
14:27Yes.
14:28What is the bottom line of this election?
14:30The bottom line of this election is the true nature of both parties is being exposed quite clearly. We always
14:39understood what the Republicans are. Now people should be able to see very clearly what the Democratic Party really is,
14:46especially now since one of them has endorsed a Trump Republican.
14:51Yes.
14:52Yes.
14:52So, people should be able to see that the Democratic Party is not a lesser evil. It's just an evil
14:59with a different color. And what we have to do, those of us who are truly anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist,
15:07actual socialists, what we have to do is step our organizing up so we can reach more of those people.
15:15Because voting is fine. I don't want to condemn people or encourage people not to vote, especially for local and
15:22municipal elections. But there has to be organizing movement and plans and more after election. Fine, everybody votes today. What
15:35is everybody going to do tomorrow? That's my job.
15:39Jacqueline, thanks very much for joining us.
15:41Thank you so much for having me.
15:42We were talking with Jacqueline Lukman, precisely to help us to put in perspective what is the nitty-gritty of
15:51the American politics. And now we get back to you in studio.
15:56Thank you, Jorge. Thank you to your guests as well. Let's continue on topic and let's go now to Miami,
16:02Florida with our colleague Carlos Montero is also there to read a report on how the midterm relations are taking
16:08place in that area. Welcome, Carlos, once more to From the South.
16:13Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. We are here in the poll station. This one is in Biscayne.
16:19It's a very nice museum and it's in the midtown of Miami. And you can see over there is the
16:27poll where people go there to vote. The media surprised me because I cover many, many times elections. And we've
16:33been so far to three or four different poll stations. And they are very strict. They don't let you get
16:39close.
16:39Where people are. You have to be 75 feet away. And that's where we are right now. And you see
16:47there is a lot of political. You cannot do that 75 feet closer. You see it's not only what's going
16:55on here. The Senate and the House of Representatives and Governor. There are a lot of local stations and local
17:03positions and also something different. Referendum.
17:06And one of the referendum. And one of the referendum I'm going to show you. And that's nice, the democracy.
17:10We are going to talk. Protect Virginia Key. Vote no. And here the competition came against you. Vote C. Vote
17:20yes.
17:21Why do you have to vote no for this referendum number three?
17:25It's very simple. Referendum three is based on a deal that was quoted with 2017 pricing, which is bad for
17:34the city of Miami taxpayer. So it's not a question of whether this should move forward or not. It's fine
17:41for it to move forward. But we need to reevaluate it at 2026 pricing. Everybody can imagine what's happened since
17:472017 here in Miami.
17:48For people in Latin America to know, we are talking about building a marina in this beautiful place, Virginia Key.
17:54People who say yes, like that lady over there, that's going to bring money to that place.
18:00It's going to clean, take care of the animals and the flora, the fauna. What do you think about that?
18:09Well, it's simply not true. But again, that's a secondary issue. Why would you agree to a deal that was
18:16priced in 2017?
18:17They're going to be paying less rent than the current rent lease leasers pay. So it's just a very, it's
18:27just, it's just very simple. It's very basic. This is on pricing.
18:29I understand. Thank you very much. Vote now. We have her friend. Vote now. So what I mean, you can
18:36see what's going on. Let me tell you something that surprised me.
18:39We've been, like I said before, to four polling stations, places where people can vote. And not many people. I
18:46was listening from different other parts of the country that there were lines, people trying to vote in this case.
18:52We didn't see that many. For the Republican, it's so important that people go out and vote because so far,
19:01the 55 million people who vote in advance, the majority vote for Democrats.
19:06So they are talking about a blue wave. What Donald Trump said this morning is really something interesting and you
19:13have to understand what Trump wants to say.
19:15He said, okay, if we lose, I can go to Israel. In Israel, I'm very popular. 99% of the
19:23people I approve, so that I can go there. I mean, I guess he was kidding, but it's tough to
19:27understand Donald Trump.
19:30But we are going to keep following. Seven o'clock. We have a few more hours to go. They are
19:34going to close all the centers where you can vote.
19:37And then it's going to be time to start to analyze the result and to see all the projections that
19:43we are going to have a blue wave, blue for the Democrats is going to be right.
19:48Donald Trump is going to lose the House of Representatives and the Senate. That's going to make very difficult for
19:55him to take all his ideas, his project in the two years that he has left of the government.
20:02But we are going to be very careful and we are going to inform you if there is any news
20:08or anything happened here in South Florida.
20:11I'm going back to you, to the studio.
20:13Thank you, Carlos, for the information coming from Miami, Florida.
20:16Of course, we will stay in trust, as you were saying, as the relations continues to unfold throughout this day
20:21until 7 p.m. local time.
20:23Let's now continue with other topics.
20:25The authorities, Emmanuel Macron's government arrested nearly 5,000 people during the nationwide social protests against the high cost of
20:31living and budget cuts.
20:33According to reports from the Ministry of the Interior, there were 1,914 arrests and 329 imprisonments due to the
20:40protests that broke out as a result of clashes between the national police and demonstrators.
20:45The authorities opted for a hardline legal approach to respond to the social protests by arresting dozens of protesters, more
20:51than 80% of whom are minors.
20:54Despite attempts to curb the protests, unions and student groups continue to stand firm with intermittent blockades at universities and
21:02colleges in major French cities.
21:10And the Brazilian government has authorized the deployment of the National Public Security Force to protect isolated indigenous territories in
21:17the northern state of Pará from illegal invasions.
21:19The Ministry of Justice published the executive decree ordering military security personnel to support the National People's Foundation across 142
21:28,000 hectares of protected land within the Ituna Itatá Reserve.
21:32The federal intervention follows a court order issued after illegal incursions by hundreds of land grabbers and miners who clear
21:40unauthorized roads and establish camps using heavy machinery.
21:43Brazilian authorities emphasize that the immediate eviction operations are critical under the Amazon Security and Sovereignty plan to prevent violent
21:51land conflicts and safeguard uncontacted indigenous communities from life-threatening external diseases and habitat destruction.
22:04Well, with this information, we have come to the end of this news break.
22:07Remember, you can find more on our website at terrestrialenglish.net.
22:10So join us on social media via on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram, and TikTok.
22:14For Terrestrial English, I'm Mr. Roberto Matos.
22:16Thanks for watching.