AOC and Democratic Colleagues Learn Lessons From Latin-America’s Resurgent Left ( www.thenation.com )

The message was clear: From the dusty streets of a Brazilian favela, to FaceTiming with presidents and other top dignitaries, the group was there to listen, and chart a new course for relations between the United States and Latin America. They met with labor organizers, a new generation of Indigenous and Black women leaders, environmental activists, human rights defenders, community care workers, and a long list of government officials.

“We are here because fascist movements are global, and as a result progressive movements also have to be global if we are going to rise to the challenges of these times,” Ocasio-Cortez, speaking in Spanish, told members of the Commission of the Amazon and the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples on the group’s first day in Brasilia. She drew links between attacks on the environment, women, workers, and democracy with growing inequality around the world.

“The only way we are going to be able to dismantle our systems of injustice and inequality domestically is by joining together locally and transnationally,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Your example is an example for us.”