Millions of people participated in over 600 demonstrations around the world, spanning every continent, in the largest global protests since the run-up to the Iraq war.

More... (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/01/22/prot-j22.html)

A friendly reminder from our friends at Tele Sur:

Do Feminists Support Coups? Honduran Women on Hillary Clinton

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1456455431977/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/02/25/honduran_women_protest.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Police in Honduras repress women protesting violence against women. | Photo: EFE

Published 28 February 2016

teleSUR talked to feminists in Honduras, where the U.S. State Department backed a military coup in 2009, about Hillary Clinton’s so-called feminism.
U.S. Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has built her campaign around her self-proclaimed dedication to fighting for women’s rights, as well as her superior experience in the realm of foreign policy.

Many feminists have disputed that, and the women on the receiving end of her foreign policy, in particular Latin America, are even less likely to see the former Secretary of State as a champion of their rights.

For Honduran feminist artist Melissa Cardoza, Clinton’s policy in Central America has shown her true colors as an instrument of empire representing patriarchal, not feminist, ideology.

“As is well known, she supported the coup d’etat in my country, which has sunk a very worthy and bleeding land further into abject poverty, violence, and militarism,” Cardoza said of Clinton’s legacy in Honduras. “She is part of those who consider only some lives to be legitimate, obviously not rebel women and women of color that live here and who do not, at least not all, fit in with imperial interests.”

Cardoza added that so-called feminists calling on women to support Clinton should be warned against voting solely on the basis of identity politics, and made aware of the neoliberal lining of Clinton’s agenda.

“Sure, there is a very neoliberal feminism, although that formula seems unthinkable to me, but it’s those who think they can humanize the most violent way of life of heinous, criminal, ecocidal capitalism,” she said.

In Honduras, women suffer widespread gender violence amid a broader crisis of human rights, fueled by ever-increasing militarization and impunity since the U.S.-backed 2009 coup that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Under then-Secretary of State Clinton, the U.S. State Department aided the coup by blocking Zelaya from returning to power after he was ousted.

In her autobiography “Hard Choices,” Clinton admits that she used her power to bring pro-U.S. "stability" to Central America, even if it meant forgetting about democracy.

“We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot,” Clinton wrote. Those “free and fair” elections entailed a media blackout, targeted assassinations of anti-coup leaders, and a generalized and grave deterioration of human rights ahead of the polls. No international institutions monitored the elections.

Neesa Medina of the Honduran Women’s Rights Center told teleSUR that the coup has had a lasting impact on the human rights situation in the country, particularly with respect to women.


“The 2009 coup had repercussions for sexual and reproductive rights for Honduran women,” said Medina. She says she doesn't want to be partisan, in terms of U.S. electora politics, but she does wish to shed light on the impact U.S. politics has had on women living in Latin America.

“As a member of a feminist organization severely affected by the support of the U.S. for militaristic policies of recent governments, I must say that it is important that voters take the time to do a critical structural analysis of all of the information in the campaign proposals and previous actions of those running for president,” she said. “United States support for militarily invasive policies in other countries has a negative impact on the women in these countries."

Cardoza agreed that Honduran women have suffered gravely from U.S. policies, including those pursued by the State Department under Clnton's watch.

“The current dictatorship under Hernandez is part of her creation,” said Cardoza. “The misery doesn’t just affect women with more brutality, but also our bodies are exposed to the militarist ideology with which they uphold poverty and kill us; to the conservative fundamentalism with which they deny the exercise of our sexual autonomy; and to the possibility of being creative people and not just workers for their factories and way of life.”

Cardoza added that the actions of “Clinton and her white, rich, neoliberal and patriarchal friends” has created a situation in Honduras that has pushed movements to be more radical in their struggles to resist oppression.

In Honduras, the femicide rate increased by over 260 percent between 2005 and 2013. In 2014 alone, at least 513 women were murdered, and in 2015 one woman was killed every 16 hours. The country earned the moniker of “murder capital of the world" in the wake of the 2009 coup, with 15 assaults per month now perpetrated against journalists, human rights defenders, and the political opposition. Honduras is also now considered the most dangerous place in the world for defenders of the environment.

What’s more, the coup ushered in neoliberal policies of sweeping privatization, making Honduras “open for business” to U.S. and transnational companies, at the expense of workers and a self-sufficient economy.

In light an ongoing economic crisis and rampant, systemic violence, especially against women, thousands of Hondurans have fled north toward the U.S. border, only to be pushed back again, with Clinton's approval. It's for that reason — helping spur the violence and denying shelter to its victims — that Clinton’s brand of feminism fails to resonate with most Honduran women.

"Being a woman is not enough to emancipate yourself or others," as Cardoza put it. "Awareness and practices need to accompany the words.”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Do-Feminists-Support-Coups-Honduran-Women-on-Hillary-Clinton-20160225-0050.html

Videos & screenshots at link.

This post first appeared (http://www.alternet.org/trumps-america-felony-riot-charges-against-inauguration-protesters-signal-dangerous-wave-repression) at AlterNet.
More than 200 people who were mass-arrested at the Washington, D.C. protests against the inauguration of Donald Trump have been hit with felony riot charges that are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Those picked up in the sweep—including legal observers and journalists—had their phones, cameras and other personal belongings confiscated as evidence, a lawyer confirmed to AlterNet.
Demonstrators warn that the crackdown signals a new wave of repression against the protesters, whose mass mobilization was met with riot police violence, National Guard and Department of Homeland Security deployments, heavy surveillance and law enforcement snipers positioned on rooftops.
“These charges are absolutely horrifying. They are just trying to stop any resistance to the Trump administration,” Samantha Miller, an organizer with the Disrupt J20 Collective (http://www.disruptj20.org/), told AlterNet. “Many of these demonstrators were showing rage and fear of what’s coming. It’s going to take a lot more than asking nicely to create change and stop the threats from the Trump administration.”
The vast majority of the roughly 230 people who were kettled and mass-arrested at the anti-capitalist bloc during Friday’s protests have been charged under the felony riot act, said Mark Goldstone, a National Lawyers Guild-affiliated attorney who has defended protesters in Washington, D.C. for more than 30 years. Washington, D.C. authorities put (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/inauguration-day-protests-felony-rioting-charges-federal-prosecutors-say/) this number at 217. Goldstone confirmed to AlterNet that legal observers and journalists were among those detained in the sweep, explaining that, throughout his career in Washington, D.C., he has never seen mass charges of this kind.
Jeffrey Light, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who provided legal support to the Disrupt J20 Collective, agreed with this assessment. “I have been representing protesters for 13 years now, and I have never seen felony rioting charges in Washington, D.C. It is not one of the standard laws that they tend to use. This is unusual. It is rare to use that charge.”
“Across the board, all phones and cameras are being held as evidence, and they are also detaining gloves and cell phone chargers as evidence,” said Light. “They are giving people their wallets back generally, but that’s it. It is extremely troubling.”
According to a class-action lawsuit filed by Light on Friday, those picked up in the sweep and hit with felony riot charges already endured abuse at the hands of the police. “Our class action lawsuit charges that the police were rounding up everyone on the street without warning and putting them under arrest and using excessive force,” said Light. “There were a number of weapons we haven't seen Washington, D.C. police use in recent memory, flash bang grenades and tear gas. In addition to chemical irritants, they were assaulting people with batons. They were beating people.”
Those kettled by police were forced to wait for hours in the street and on school buses, many of them going untreated for injuries, say supporters. “They are trying to set a tone to chill further demos of this nature, and I don’t think it’s going to work,” Bob Hayes, a Washington, D.C. resident who is helping coordinate legal support, told AlterNet. “They are trying to put pressure on individuals to collaborate with the investigations.”
Light emphasized that, while the riot felony charges are new, the mass arrests are not. Acting D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham, who oversaw this weekend’s crackdown, was the assistant police chief who presided over another mass arrest more than a decade ago. In the fall of 2002, the Metropolitan police department mass arrested hundreds of people at a World Bank protest in Washington, D.C.’s Pershing Park and hogtied (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/13063138/defending-pershing-park-cost-d-c-millions) them for up to 24 hours while in detention, before dropping all charges. In a 2015 settlement, the city was forced (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/in-settlement-us-park-police-agree-to-change-arrest-policies-in-protests/2015/06/22/20b0080a-15f3-11e5-9ddc-e3353542100c_story.html?utm_term=.67843e788d42) to pay $2.2 million to nearly 400 protesters.
Newsham, who ordered (http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/11/pershing-park-lawyers-police-chief-ordered-mass-arrests.html) the mass arrests in 2002, oversaw (http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/) the police crackdown against inauguration protesters.
Friday’s crackdown came as mass protests erupted (http://www.alternet.org/rising-and-shutting-it-down-trump-inauguration-protests-images-and-quotes) across Washington, D.C. and the world, overshadowing the inauguration of Donald Trump, who rose to power on a tide of white nationalism and fascism. On Friday morning, social movements including the Movement for Black Lives and groups centering Muslim, Jewish and immigrant resistance, converged at 14 different "security" checkpoints, to shut down, slow and disrupt the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. “We stand in solidarity with everyone who challenges oppression in all of its forms, everywhere around the world, in favor of dignity, self-determination, and defending our collective well-being,” reads a statement from the anti-capitalist, anti-fascist bloc circulated ahead of Friday's protests.
Those arrested (http://www.alternet.org/rising-and-shutting-it-down-trump-inauguration-protests-images-and-quotes) in Washington, D.C. faced an outpouring (http://www.disruptj20.org/legal-fund/) of public support. Ryan Harvey, an activist and musician with Firebrand Records, told AlterNet that hundreds gathered outside [where protesters were held] Saturday to show their support for those being released. “Every time people came out, the crowd would cheer and chant,” with the term “anticapitalista” an oft-repeated refrain. “For many, it was like a surprise birthday party, and their faces lit up. Street medics were on-scene, and many supporters brought food, clothes, coffee, tea and water.”
Harvey emphasized that the support is important because it “defends the rights of these people to fight against fascism" and “combats the narrative that there is something more problematic about their protest than there is about the inauguration.”
Washington, D.C. residents say that the state violence on display this weekend extends far beyond the individuals hit with felony riot charges.
“A mother carrying her toddler was pepper sprayed in the face,” said Miller. “An elder from Standing Rock was sprayed in her face. A woman with crutches tried to intervene, and she was sprayed."
“We faced the Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, riot police, surveillance, snipers on rooftops, and Trump supporters,” Darakshan Raja, founder of the Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum (https://mawpf.org/) and co-director of the Washington Peace Center (http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.org/), told AlterNet. “Just to walk around and see that, have them watch you as a target.”
“For weeks, the ‘alt right’ has been attacking us,” Raja continued. “They have sent death threats to the protesters of J20, attacked our organizations, reported us for false things to the city government, harassed all our partners, including the spaces we are housed. Their violence against us can’t be lost in this moment.”


More... (http://inthesetimes.com/article/19843/felony-riot-charges-inauguration-protesters-trump/)

My guess is that most of the folks who voted for Trump will either be glad these protesters are being thrown in jail or are completely disinterested. The dissipation of the gladness and interest in these activities will come later...