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State Repression

Anti-Protest Laws Are Not About Safety, But About Silencing Dissent

April 10, 2023 Ashley K. Shelton, Truthout. , , ,
At least 42 people who have protested the building of an 85-acre, $90 million police training facility in Atlanta, Georgia, have been charged with domestic terrorism. While demonstrators always fear being criminalized for exercising their constitutional right to stage protests, being charged with domestic terrorism has a particularly chilling effect. The move to charge protesters with domestic terrorism comes months after one protester, Manuel Paez Terán (who went by the name Tortuguita), was killed by police. Across the United States, we are seeing a rise in laws that seek to squelch and criminalize protests.

Peru: Rosalino Flores’s Death And Comuneros Win Land Struggle

March 30, 2023 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
Perú continues to face crises upon crises over 100 days since the coup regime ousted democratically elected President Pedro Castillo. The masses have remained mobilized in the streets and delegations from various regions throughout the country continue coming to the capital city to overturn this dictatorship, as well as to reinforce their local struggles and blockades. Despite a long battle in the hospital, a young person lost his life at the  hands of this regime. This past Friday also marked the victory of an indigenous campesino community in Cusco from being evicted from their ancestral lands.

Despite Government Attacks: Workers, Students In France Stay Strong

March 29, 2023 G. Dunkel, Workers World. , , ,
Since President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Élizabeth Borne rammed through the “reform” of France’s pension system March 16 — an attack which will require workers to work longer to obtain a full pension — the class struggle has grown more intense.  Millions of workers struck on March 23 to protest this new law, which extends their retirement age to 64 from 62. The law must still be reviewed by the Constitutional Council, which can reject or modify it. The new pension law provides fewer protections for workers who have arduous jobs and/or dangerous working conditions.

Fresh Clashes Rock France As Protests Shift To Water Dispute

March 29, 2023 Agence France Press, South China Morning Post. , , ,
French police again clashed with protesters on Saturday as campaigners in the southwest sought to stop the construction of giant water storage facilities, the latest flashpoint as social tensions erupt nationwide. The violent scenes at Sainte-Soline came after days of unrest over President Emmanuel Macron’s pensions reform, which forced the cancellation of a visit by Britain’s King Charles. The protest movement against the pension reform has turned into the biggest domestic crisis of Macron’s second mandate, with police and protesters clashing daily in Paris and other cities over the past week.

Police Use ‘Less Lethal’ Weapons To Crush Social Movements Worldwide

March 26, 2023 Mike Ludwig, Truthout. , , ,
This week, the City of Philadelphia agreed to a $9.25 million settlement with protesters who were brutalized with tear gas and pepper spray during demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd in late May 2020. Such accountability for police who crush protests with crowd-control weapons is rare both in the United States and across the world. The settlement comes as researchers report that police in dozens of countries have routinely injured and even killed demonstrators with crowd-control weapons since 2015 as governments cracked down on protests. Injuries from crowd-control weapons are increasing and widespread.

US Imposes Economic Sanctions On Black Community Projects

March 22, 2023 The Burning Spear, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
In March 2023, Regions Bank notified the black nonprofit African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF) that the bank was “exiting” their 20-year relationship, closing accounts, withdrawing lines of credit and canceling mortgage loans. This assault on the ability of African people to build economic self-reliance was the latest in a series of actions revealing government and corporate cooperation targeting the black community programs of the Uhuru (Freedom) Movement including its popular Women’s Health Center, Black Power Vanguard Basketball Court, “One Africa! One Nation!” Marketplaces, Gary Brooks Community Garden, Uhuru Jiko Commercial Kitchens and Bakery Cafe, Akwaaba Hall events venues, Black Power 96 radio station, Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles stores, Uhuru Foods & Pies and Uhuru House black community centers.

Travels Through El Perú Profundo

March 10, 2023 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
I embark at 5pm from the center of Lima headed to Juliaca, Puno. The lady working at the bus depot assures me it will only be 21 hours, but the bloqueos (roadblocks) in Puno have made it nearly impossible to travel through the southernmost region. At the end of the day, I can only admire the resistance of Puno that saw its bloodiest day on January 9th, with 18 murdered in the city of Juliaca. Puno also has what is slated to be one of the largest lithium reserves in the world, in the town of Macusani. Puneños will be the first to tell you that’s exactly why the Peruvian coup regime has been so violent in that province - “they want our lithium.”

SOS – Alliance For Global Justice Has Been Attacked!

February 18, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
Alliance for Global Justice and our fiscally-sponsored projects are under attack by right-wing media. They’re doing their best to intimidate and silence us in order to neutralize our effectiveness in growing and supporting movements for liberation and justice worldwide. They have convinced the company that handles our credit card donations to block AfGJ and our projects from use of this critical fundraising tool. This isn’t the first time they’ve come at us. In the 1980s, the Young Republicans claimed that the Nicaragua Network, our founding organization, was taking college students to Nicaragua to train in guerilla warfare techniques.

Peruvian Organizations Take Legal Action Against Dina Boluarte

February 17, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , ,
A group of Peruvian human rights organizations and independent lawyers, on Wednesday, February 15, filed a legal complaint against Dina Boluarte, her ministers, and police chiefs over the deaths of six people killed during protests in the Apurímac region in December 2022. The complaint states that during the first five days of demonstrations against Boluarte’s assumption of power, which began on December 7, 2022, six people were killed, 83 were injured, and dozens were arrested and tortured at the hands of police officers. According to a statement by the Legal Defense Institute—one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit—five of the deceased lost their lives due to firearm projectile impacts, two were adolescents, and the eldest victim was only 19 years old.

A Conversation With Human Rights Activists In Peru

February 16, 2023 Teri Mattson, WTF is Going On In Latin America and the Caribbean. , , ,
On December 7, 2022 a right-wing coup removed Perú’s President Pedro Castillo Terrones from power. The predominantly poor indigenous rural and Amazonian communities resoundingly and overwhelmingly voted for Castillo, rejecting outright the neoliberal regime installed by the previous governments. Violence not seen since the Alberto Fujimori dictatorship (1990-2000), has been led by the Peruvian Armed Forces, under orders of coup-leader Dina Boluarte, the Fujimorista Fuerza Popular Party, and other political factions.  It’s been over 67 days since the parliamentary coup led by the right-wing forces of Fuerza Popular with their puppet Dina Boluarte, now commonly referred to as “usurper assassin,” at the helm. 

Report From Lima, Perú

February 15, 2023 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
On December 7, 2022 a right-wing coup removed Perú’s President Pedro Castillo Terrones from power. The predominantly poor indigenous rural and Amazonian communities resoundingly and overwhelmingly voted for Castillo, rejecting outright the neoliberal regime installed by the previous governments. Violence not seen since the Alberto Fujimori dictatorship (1990-2000), has been led by the Peruvian Armed Forces, under orders of coup-leader Dina Boluarte, the Fujimorista Fuerza Popular Party, and other political factions. It’s been over 67 days since the parliamentary coup led by the right-wing forces of Fuerza Popular with their puppet Dina Boluarte, now commonly referred to as “usurper assassin,” at the helm.

‘So They Can See Us’: Peru’s National Protest Advances To Lima

February 2, 2023 Teri Mattson, WTF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. , , ,
Deadly protests have gripped Peru since Congress expelled the country's first working-class president, Pedro Castillo. Timeline of events since December 7, 2022: Dec 7, 2022: The surprise winner of the July 2021 presidential election, Castillo comes under immediate attack from the right.  On December 7 he attempts to dissolve Congress before it can debate a third impeachment motion against him and says he will form an emergency government and rule by decree. Dec 7: Lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to remove him from office for "moral incapacity" to exercise power. He is arrested for "rebellion". Vice President Dina Boluarte becomes Peru's first woman president. She says she intends to serve out the rest of Castillo's term, until July 2026. The United States pledges to work with Boluarte.

Protests And Repression In Peru’s Capital Intensify

January 31, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , ,
55-year-old Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca was declared dead on Saturday, January 28, after he was shot in the head with a pellet gun by the National Police of Peru. Yacsavilca is the first protester to die in Peru’s capital Lima since the protests against the coup began in December. Videos of him being shot show him standing with a group of journalists, medical brigade members, and other protesters, and falling to the ground immediately when police begin shooting at the group. Subsequent videos show a large pool of blood on the ground where Yacsavilca fell. His death occurred on one of the bloodiest nights to date in Peru’s capital. January 28 began with a mass march in the center of the city with traditional dances, songs, and chants, but after a couple hours the events turned ugly. Once night fell, police ramped up their repression of the protests by shooting tear gas and pellet guns at protesters, press, human rights defenders, and medical brigades.

Five Suggestions For When State Repression Comes To Town

January 28, 2023 Lauren Regan, It's Going Down. , ,
CLDC has been providing movement aligned legal support to the campaigns and activists in the so called U.S. for over 20 years now.  In that time period, I have personally witnessed numerous waves of state repression targeting the campaigns that were moving the needle on the moral compass—anti-racism, environmental and animal defense, water and food safety, Indigenous sovereignty, LGBTQIA+, and others.  The state, whether government actors or big corporate profiteers, have a limited playbook that they tend to repeat over and over. This is why knowing your movement history is core to building resilience. History has demonstrated that when state repression comes to town it is often because your campaign is winning or demonstrating strength and the state elects to spend vast resources on derailing your momentum. 

Peruvian Police Intervene At San Marcos University In Lima

January 22, 2023 Telesur English. , ,
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) entered this Saturday the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, where Peruvians from different regions who came to Lima to demonstrate against the regime of Dina Boluarte are staying. Elements of the police violently entered and subdued student and social leaders who had organized for the university campus to host the caravans of indigenous communities that arrived in the capital for the massive protests against the Peruvian government. They have also arrested several people, have thrown them to the ground and are stealing donations and their belongings, according to complaints posted on social networks. A person staying at the student residence of the San Marcos University says that there is no prosecutor during the violent operation of eviction of protesters on campus, where they were staying with permission of the university authorities.
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