In the coming days, the Spanish Supreme Court will issue sentences against nine Catalan politicians involved in the referendum of 1 October 2017. Seven of them have been on remand for almost two years. This includes five ministers from the previous Catalan government, as well as two prominent civil society leaders. In addition, a number of prominent politicians and activists are in exile in Belgium, the UK, and Switzerland, which have refused to extradite them.

The movement in Ecuador against Lenín Moreno's IMF-inspired austerity package, which began on 2 October, has reached insurrectionary proportions. The state of emergency declared last Thursday and the use of the police and the army (leaving one dead, dozens injured, and resulting in hundreds of detainees) have not stopped the movement of the workers, youth and peasants.