Sunday: Yo Soy 132 Marches In Mexico

This from NarcoNews:

On Sunday, June 10, the Mexican movement known as “YoSoy132” will participate together with the convening organization “Enrique Peña NO” in the “Second March of Anti Peña Nieto Information.” The first occurred when tens of thousands marched through the streets on May 19. ...

The national march on Sunday will converge from two routes [in Mexico DF]. ...:

• At noon from the Zocalo in Mexico City the “Second March of Anti Peña Nieto Information” will head toward the Angel of Independence.

• At 10:30 a.m. a contingent of the YoSoy132 movement’s Arts Commission will head out from the Casco de Santo Tomás, near Metro Station Normal, toward the Zocalo, in memory of the June 10, 1971 massacre in which government and paramilitary squads massacred 120 students who had marched peacefully against the PRI government. That massacre is today known as “El Halconazo.”

Both marches will converge at the Zocalo and then march to the Angel of Independence, where demonstrators will watch, together, the broadcast of the second presidential debate (which, thanks to the pressure of the student movement will be aired by the Televisa and TV Azteca duopoly) at 6 p.m....

[S]imultaneous protests have been organized in at least 52 cities and towns throughout the Mexican Republic.

We will march with placards, megaphones, banners, etcetera, making evident to all of society all the errors, goof-ups, evil governance, repression, corruption and other messes by Peña Nieto. We will tell the truth since the traditional media of television and newspapers refuse to broadcast it… Together we will demonstrate our rejection of the most repressive and corrupt party in the country and it’s candidate, a plastic puppet!

All who attend the march pledge to:

• Attend on Sunday, June 10, 2012 in the Zocalo without any partisan political displays. The recommendation is to dress in black.

• Not engage in any prosletism in favor of any candidate or party. This means not wearing the colors associated with political parties, images that allude to the candidates, cheers for any of their names, etcetera.

• March PEACEFULLY and on the indicated route.

• Remain in only one lane of traffic so as to not impede the travel of vehicles.

• Respect all who attend the march, pedestrians and vehicles along its path, regardless of their political inclinations. There will be some guides during the march solely to indicate what that means, but we trust in your civility and if we act according to these guidelines everything should happen exactly as it is planned.

• Do not respond to any provocations by infiltrating groups nor occur in acts of vandalism or violence, such as taking down, damaging or destroying campaign signs. We must not damage any public services.

• Do not bring your voter ID of the Federal Elections Institute nor expensive objects of value that could be robbed or a target of provocations.

• Expose vandals and people who participate in acts of violence. If this occurs we suggest stopping the march and sitting down with arms crossed around the violent person, filming and taking photographs. This is how we will expose the aggressor.

• Deliver any person who conducts acts of vandalism or violence to the authorities.

• Inform the people of the truth about candidate Enrique Peña Nieto: his errors, goof-ups, evil governing, inexperience, ignorance, et cetera.

• Inform about the dishonest news by media companies bought by the PRI party (like Televisa) that have edited or ommitted relevant information that would expose the true face of Peña Nieto.

• In the event that any of these cited agreements are violated, retreat from the march.

I am in solidarity with Yo Soy 132 and this march. Join me in this. Wear black if you are marching. If you are in Mexico, join a march near you. If you are in the US, and there is a march near you (So Cal, you hear me?) join it.

More info here at FB.

In Solidarity With Occupy Wall Street!

Occupy Everything from socially_awkwrd on Vimeo.

This is part of an organic process. There are no leaders. There is no Astroturf. There are no spokesmodels. There is no agenda. There are no printed signs. There are no ssponsors. There is no umbrella organization. There is no elite directing events. All of this is process. This is what organic, intrinsic democracy looks like.

The arguments against this are entirely arguments against the process. Signs of impatience. Allegations that there should be a hierarchy. Suggestions that those who are attempting to confront enormous disparities, inequalities, injustices should somehow be able instantly to boil it all down into a 140 character phrase. Sniping by the Traditional Media. Judgments that those who have assembled are inarticulate, stupid, wasteful, misdirected, ignorant. I reject all of that. Let the process continue. Let everyone be heard about everything.

If this were happening in, say, Chiapas or El Salvador or Nicaragus or Buenos Aires, the people who have always been screwed would rise up instantly against the latest outrage, and those who watch would know what the latest outrage was. The price of tortillas. Water rights. Kidnappings. Brutality. Unemployment. No, I'm not going to enumerate the long list bad things that happened and virtually nobody, that's right virtually nobody reacted directly or immediately. You would know the problem is because those who have been perpetually screwed would react. Swiftly. The reaction would be close in time to an event, so you could connect the two if you wanted to. The grievance would be manifest. But in the US it's different. The people haven't reacted for more than a decade to wars they didn't want, economic policies that screwed them, unemployment, financial manipulation. The token reactions for the last decade have been just that, token, ephemeral, easily dismissed. The people have been somnolent.
As a result of that trance, that numbness, that ennui, that unresponsiveness, the torpor, when the reaction to all of this finally erupts, when it finally at long last boils over, it takes a long time to categorize and organize all of the events and all of the reasons for towering, explosive discontent. Be patient. Be patient with the process. Let the process work. And let the tactics and arguments evolve from a democratic, free exchange of proposals.

It's nice that organized labor is expressing support. It's nice that the Traditional Media have broken their embargo and now tell some of the story, albeit twisting it, bending it, judging it, criticizing it. That's to be expected. They are stooges. But allegedly organized labor and the media are only a reaction to the intrinsic, organic process that is unfolding. And they aren't that important to it. No. What's important is the process, being faithful to it, honoring it, participating in it, supporting it. No, there's no 140 character phrase to summarize the movement. That may not be forthcoming. What is important, and deserve support today is the process.

In the meanwhile, Twitter and FB and the Blogs serve as the media. And the process continues. I support it, and I stand in solidarity with it.

Estamos Hasta La Madre!

Sunday's Demonstration In Mexico City


It’s really inspiring. And, I suspect, that if you’re a reader of only the front pages of the US Trad Media, you might not know anything about Javier Sicilia and the huge March on Mexico City against drug violence this past weekend. News from Mexico doesn’t often penetrate the border with the US, unless it’s about the extreme violence of the drug cartels. But this story is different. And it’s important. And empowering. We all need to know about it.

The New York Times reported that tens of thousands of people marched in Mexico City yesterday:

Javier Sicilia, the poet who has become an unlikely hero in a movement calling for an end to Mexico’s drug war, asked for five minutes of silence at the end of a Sunday rally in this city’s giant central plaza.

The silence was to honor the dead — more than 35,000 since President Felipe Calderón sent the military to fight drug cartels four and a half years ago. …

… Mr. Sicilia’s grief and fury have resonated with many Mexicans who believe they have become the ignored victims in a battle between organized crime on one side and soldiers and the police on the other.

At the rally Sunday, Mr. Sicilia called on the government to change its strategy in the war, calling first for the resignation of Genaro García Luna, the director of public security and an architect of Mr. Calderón’s battle against the drug gangs. “We want to hear a message from the president of the republic that with this resignation, yes, he has heard us,” Mr. Sicilia said.

The city police estimated that as many as 150,000 people took part in the march, although the number of people who finally gathered in the plaza late Sunday afternoon to hear Mr. Sicilia and other grieving families speak, seemed considerably smaller.

Al Giordano was on the ground in Mexico City with the march. He was inspired:

Javier Sicilia and his merry band (they kind of do conjure up images of Robin Hood and company) walking into the big city from Morelos may very well stop the drug war. They are harnessing a public opinion that has existed for a long time but no one had given voice or form to it. I’m a believer. We’ve been documenting and reporting everything they’ve done and will keep on doing so and see it all the way through. But I observe they are doing something else, maybe something even bigger than that once-thought impossible policy change, as well. They are teaching us how to walk again: Another way to fight. Not with polarization and sloganeering, but with creativity and fun, with a warm heart and a cool head. Heaven knows that if anyone has a right to rant and rail and shout and pound his fist into the air, it is he who lost his son so cruelly so few weeks ago. But here he is, today, in the nation’s capital, handing out sandwiches to reporters and to cops, giving them, too, a shot at redemption, to learn to walk again.

There is, of course, the important, sad story about how a poet became such an important activist. CNN:

Javier Sicilia says he wrote his last poem after his son's brutal slaying. But words are still pouring out of the well-known Mexican poet's mouth.

This time, he says, they have a different purpose: mobilizing Mexicans to speak out and demand action from the country's government.

Since the March killing of his son, Sicilia has become one of the most outspoken voices against Mexico's surge of drug-related violence. His latest effort -- a three-day "silent march" from the city of Cuernavaca to the nation's capital – beg[an last] Thursday morning.

"We are going there to look for a peaceful Mexico with justice," Sicilia said in an online video post promoting the march.

The details of Sicilia’s evolution are remarkable.

[Before his son’s death] Sicilia was known for the poems and literary essays he wrote for Mexican publications. He was an intellectual figure, not an activist.

Less than a week later, Mexican media reported that Sicilia had written his last poem. He read it beside a memorial for his son in Cuernavaca's central square.

"The world is no longer dignified enough for words," he said, according to the state-run Notimex news agency. "This is my last poem, I cannot write more poetry," he concluded. "Poetry no longer exists inside me."

In an open letter "to politicians and criminals" published in the April 3 edition of the magazine Proceso, Sicilia quoted French existentialist Albert Camus and German writer Bertolt Brecht, as he urged Mexicans to take to the streets.

"We do not want one more man, one of our sons, killed," he wrote, calling for "a national movement that we must keep alive to destroy the fear and isolation put in our minds and souls by your incompetence, politicians and your cruelty, criminals."

Javier Sicilia in Cuernavaca in April

And so an important movement has arisen. Will the Mexican Government hear its citizens' voices and respond? Will the demonstrations increase and continue? Will the violence continue unabated? What exactly does it take for citizens to change government policies that are complete failures? What can be done to save lives?

This is the beginning of Mexico's Arab Spring. It's happening right under our noses. But alas. Our often intentional ignorance of Mexico's news deprives us of this inspiration. For shame.

Wisconsin: It Is Not Over Until It's Over

And it won't be over then, either.

Today's demonstration via MSNBC:

Thousands of pro-labor protesters are circling the Capitol in Wisconsin with dozens more inside.

While Gov. Scott Walker has already signed a contentious collective bargaining bill into law, demonstrators insist the fight is not over.

For some, the focus has shifted from trying to stop passage of the bill to generating momentum for recall efforts against Republicans. Others are simply venting their frustration over the law taking away most of public workers' collective bargaining rights.

Well, not quite. How about this, if I can edit this last paragraph so it reflects events, rather than MSNBC's "analysis." Yes, the recall is important. Yes, some are frustrated. But, and this is the big but, this is the start of a movement. It's the start of a movement to resuscitate labor unions, to build a strong alliance among middle class citizens, and to oppose the concentration of political and economic power sought by the Oligarchy and their Teapublican supporters.

So of course, the demonstrations aren't over. They're not going to be over at any time soon. This is the beginning and not the end of a movement.

Obama: Get Out Your Comfortable Shoes

h/t to Sam Pratt:



I invited you to please go to Wisconsin. You apparently declined. Or didn't get the invitation. Ok. I guess you forgot about this.

Thank You For Supporting Wisconsin Public Workers

Thank you for attending the demonstration near you yesterday on Solidarity Saturday. It's important to turn up in physical as opposed to digital form, to link arms, to carry signs, to speak out, to be counted on this important issue.

I've been on fire about Scott Walker's plan to abrogate public workers' collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, and the copy cat legislation introduced in other states in which the Teapublicans and as important, the Koch brothers have control. I've written about it here and elsewhere on the Port Writers' Alliance blogs. I've bought pizza for the demonstrators. I've talked to colleagues and friends about it. So pulling on the heavy boots getting out the lined boots and the thermal underwear and hitting the pavement in Albany, New York with others was a natural, positive next step to express my view that the termination of collective bargaining for public or private workers, in Wisconsin or elsewhere, is an unwarranted regression to Teapublican Nirvana, the Nineteenth Century. That and every other atavism that increases oppression and exploitation, however disguised, has to be fought.

My hotos of Albany's demonstration are here. A festive, large warm crowd in a park with snowy trees.

What is next? Will Wisconsin's unionized police follow the orders to remove demonstrators from the state capital at 5 pm ET today, or will they ask demonstrators please to go and do nothing more? If the demonstrators are evicted will they link arms and circle the Capitol? And for us who are not in Madison, what's next for us? We probably have to dream that up, beginning right now.

Solidarity Saturday. Be There.

h/t to ek hornbeck

Moveon.org alerts us:

In Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services.

On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, we are organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.

We are all Wisconsin.
We are all Americans.

This Saturday, we will stand together to Save the American Dream. Be sure to wear Wisconsin Badger colors—red and white—to show your solidarity. Sign up today to join in!

Want to find a rally near you? Click on the search button in the middle of this page.

In Albany, NY, we find this:

New Yorkers Stand with Wisconsin Workers

NY State Capitol, Washington Ave & Swan St
193 registered participant(s) (1000 maximum)
Washington Ave & Swan St
Albany, NY 12207

Hosted by Joe Seeman
Description New Yorkers Stand with Wisconsin Workers!
In Wisconsin and around our country, the fundamental right to collectively bargain is under fierce attack. The Governor of Wisconsin has used the excuse of a budget crisis to eliminate workers rights to negotiate. The people of Wisconsin are fighting back by the tens of thousands. Wisconsinites are serving as an inspiration for the rest of the country facing Republicans more concerned with giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich and cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services than creating jobs.
Join us in front of the New York State Capitol. We demand an end to the attacks on workers collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and the rest of the country. We will not stand by as peoples rights are stripped away.

We are all Wisconsin.
We are all Americans.
This Saturday, we will stand together in Albany as New Yorkers in Solidarity with the Wisconsin workers and send a message...

You know what to do. See you there.

Obama: Please Go To Wisconsin

Well, here I go again, oversimplifying, being idealistic, possibly ranting. To all of these I plead guilty. In advance.

President Obama's made a few statements about the demonstrations in Wisconsin. The most widely disseminated one is this one, reported in TPM:

Well I'd say that I haven't followed exactly what's happening with the Wisconsin budget. I've got some budget problems here in Washington that I've had to focus on. I would say, as a general proposition, that everybody's gotta make some adjustments to new fiscal realities. And I think if we want to avoid layoffs -- which I want to avoid, I don't want to see layoffs of hard-working federal workers.

We had to impose, for example, a freeze on pay increases for federal workers for the next two years, as part of my overall budget freeze. You know, I think those kinds of adjustments are the right thing to do.

On the other other hand, some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin -- where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain, generally -- seems like more of an assault on unions.

And I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they're our neighbors, they're our friends. These are folks who are teachers, and they're firefighters, and they're social workers, and they're police officers. You know, they make a lot of sacrifices, and make a big contribution, and I think it's important not to vilify them, or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees.

So, I think everybody's gotta make some adjustments, but I think it's also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to the well being of our states and our cities.

Sounds, feels, smells and looks like a politician. It's balanced. It's cautious. It looks over his shoulder to wonder which side might ultimately win the Battle of Madison. It sounds like he'd like to be on the winning side for 2012. What it doesn't sound like by any means is leadership.

Leadership would be going to Madison and linking arms and standing in solidarity with the demonstrators and union members against the reactionaries and would-be union busters. It would be standing up to the Koch funded "movement." It would be explaining clearly to all who would listen that these unions are important to sustained high pay in Wisconsin and the nation, and that the antedeluvian effort to kill these unions must be defeated. The Wisconsin football stadium might be a good place to hold the rally.

The President, however, hasn't shown any signs that he's ready to lead a fight for labor, his largest supporter. It looks like he might still want to invoke politesse and refer to these union busters as "the right to work" advocates with whom he has a small disagreement.

These people don't deserve that kind of deference. They have ginned up a plan to destroy public unions and are inflexible about it. They will not modify it or back off from it. They plan to destroy public unions. Period. They have begun by trying drive a wedge between public workers' unions. The teachers and highway workers and bureaucrats are ok to beat up on and they won't be able to bargain, but those the cops and firefighters, which are more traditionally Republican, will.

Today's mock phone call with "David Koch" proved beyond all cavil that Scott Walker is the lead dog running a national union busting movement. He doesn't care at all about the state's budget. This is another item entirely. This for Walker is only about destroying public unions. Yes, it's happening through the state legislatures, but this is a manifestation of an organized, well funded, nationwide movement to emasculate public workers' unions.

That's why the unions can't afford to lose this battle. And it's why President Obama needs to organize an appearance in Wisconsin. The unions have already conceded on the economic issues in this confrontation by agreeing to pay more for their health insurance and to contribute more to their pensions. Those issues are not what's keeping 14 Wisconsin legislators under cover in Illinois (or elsewhere). No. They are outside the state solely to protect collective bargaining. It bears repeating. What makes the confrontation persist is only one thing: the governor's adamant refusal to drop his plan for withdrawal of collective bargaining rights for certain Wiaconsin public workers. Plain and simple: the Governor insists on destroying these unions.

That's why the national democratic leadership in Washington needs to go to Wisconsin. And they need to go now. This is a confrontation that can and should be won. Obama and the national leadership have to stop playing Bert Lahr. They have to show up in numbers, and they have to roar.

Feed The Wisconsin Demonstrators Pizza!!

I just ordered 2 pizzas to be delivered to demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin. Rachel Maddow has the story:

You're probably already familiar with ordering take-out food online. Some restaurants let you do it directly and others use a middle man service, but the idea is that you log on, place your order, plug in your credit card info and tell it where to deliver the food. But there's nothing that says you have to have the food delivered to yourself. In fact, there's nothing that says you have to even be in the same country as the food you've just ordered.

And so we arrive at Ian's Pizza by the Slice where donations literally from around the world are coming into their State Street store in the form of online pizza orders to feed Wisconsin protesters. As Politico reports, "On Saturday alone, Ian’s gave away 1,057 free slices in their store and delivered more than 300 pizzas to the Capitol itself."

You get it. I got it. I sent 2 20" 3 topping pizzas to the assembled democracy demonstrators. Join me. It's easy. You go to badgerbites.com and order a pie for the demonstrators. You know how to order for yourself. It's just as easy to order for others. Go for it. It will make you smile.

And by the way. This does not mean that my allegiance to Pizza Bob's in Ann Arbor has been violated in any regard. The way I see it, when in Madison, you do like the Badgers.

And Now Algeria?

Buoyed by the success of the Egyptian Democracy Protests, democracy supporters have taken to the street in Algeria. And there they face armed security forces that do not appear to be ready to back off and which clearly outnumber the initial wave of demonstrators. Whether the protests will continue, and more important whether they will lead to widespread violence is too soon to predict.

The New York Times reports:

Demonstrators, inspired by popular protests in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, protested here in Algeria’s capital on Saturday before security forces moved in to break up the demonstration.

Gathering in the central May 1 Square, demonstrators chanted “Bouteflika out!” in reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has ruled Algeria since 1999. Organizers said thousands had taken part, but news agencies gave vastly differing figures, from a few dozen to thousands.

The protesters were hemmed in by thousands of riot police officers and blocked from embarking on a planned march through the capital. Many were arrested, although there were also conflicting numbers for those detained.

A witness said the police had far outnumbered the protesters.

“There was a march of police, not demonstrators,” said a man standing near the square in the afternoon, and who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The marchers had asked to conduct a peaceful march and it was refused. This is how power here acts.”

The initial confrontations have led to widespread arrests:

The Interior Ministry posted a statement on its Web site saying that 250 people had taken part in the protests and that 14 people had been detained and later released, according to Reuters.

Human rights groups, however, said the number of arrests had been far higher.

A spokesman for the coordinating committee seeking democratic change in Algeria said that 70 people had been arrested and that about 30 remained in detention. Those detained included the group’s main organizers, as well as human rights activists, union organizers, members of women’s associations and groups formed to track the missing and killed during the civil war in the 1990s.

Is this the beginning of an Algerian democarcy?

The Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in power since 1999, having been elected three times, the third after amending the Constitution to permit more than two terms. Each of the elections has been protested or boycotted by opposition parties. And a "state of emergency" has been in effect for 19 years.

More alarming, as recently as last month, there have been numerous self-immolations in Algeria to protest Bouteflika's retaining power. These were inspired by sel-immolations in Tunisia:

As the widely reported protests sparked off by Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in Tunisia began to have a clear impact on the Tunisian government, a wave of self-immolations swept Algeria. These individual acts of protest mostly took place in front of a government building following an unsuccessful approach to the authorities. Three self-immolators have died of their burns so far.

It began on 12 January, when 26 year-old Mohamed Aouichia set himself on fire in Bordj Menaiel in the compound of the daira building. He had been sharing a room of 30 square metres with seven other people, including his sister, since 2003; he had repeatedly approached local authorities to get on the social housing list and been rebuffed. He has so far survived.

On 13 January, Mohsen Bouterfif, a 37-year-old father of two, set himself on fire. He had gone with about twenty other youths to protest in front of the town hall of Boukhadra in Tebessa demanding jobs and houses, after the mayor refused to receive them. According to one testimony, the mayor shouted to them: "If you have courage, do like Bouazizi did, set yourself on fire! His death was reported on 16 January, and about 100 youths protested his death causing the provincial governor to sack the mayor. However, hospital staff the following day claimed he was still alive, though in critical condition. Al Jazeera described the suicide as "echoing the self-immolation that triggered the protests that toppled the leader of neighbouring Tunisia." He finally died on 24 January at a hospital in Annaba.

These suicides were followed by dozens more attempted or successful self-immolations across the country, so far without triggering nation-wide demonstrations, most of them after the Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled his country on 14 January

Is this the start of a continuing, popular struggle to being democracy to Algeria? Will the Alergerian government restrain itself, or will it resort to violence to quell the protests?

Iran Protests Continue

.

The movement for democracy in Iran persists. The New York Times reports that demonstrations have again erupted in the streets of Tehran, and that to no one's surprise, the Government has repressed them: Iranian security forces fired repeated rounds of tear gas, and militiamen wielding batons moved in quickly to try to disperse thousands of protesters who massed in the streets of central Tehran on Thursday evening, witnesses said, defying government warnings and resuming a strategy of direct confrontation with the police nearly a month after Iran’s disputed presidential election. The protesters set trash alight and threw stones. Motorists honked horns in solidarity, as shopkeepers closed for business but opened their doors to offer refuge to demonstrators fleeing from the militia forces, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on arrests or injuries. Throwing aside admonishments of a “crushing response” by the state security forces, the demonstrators gathered on the 10th anniversary of violent confrontations at Tehran University, both to mark that event and to commemorate the demonstrators who were killed in the turmoil after the June 12 election, which the protesters say was corrupt and invalid. The Times says that the protest was initially "festive," even though police in riot gear had shut down the streets. But then, as was threatened by the regime: ...the effort to halt the protest quickly turned violent, people at the scene said. A middle-aged woman ran through the crowd, her coat covered with blood stains. Trash fires burned, cloaking the streets in black smoke, as protesters lobbed rocks at security forces. Two men held a huge floral arrangement of yellow and purple flowers on green leaves in commemoration of those killed last month and in 1999, a witness said. “Tell the world what is happening here,” one 26-year old engineering student demonstrator said. “This is our revolution. We will not give up.” Asked what he wanted, he said, “We want democracy.” And so, phoenix like, the demonstrations for democracy in Iran continue. The press embargo continues (the Times article was datelined from Cairo). The Government was not reported to fire bullets at demonstrators. However, reports of detention of large numbers of demonstrators and also their lawyers continue, as do reports of torture and disappearance. It was not reported what opposition leaders say about the current demonstrations, but their web sites continue to contest the election. And it appears that there may be a split in the clerical backbone of the Government. The Twitter feed for #iranelection is still active, though the volume seems lower than last week. It continues to report the democracy movement. I am delighted by the news. I was afraid that the democracy movement had been snuffed out. That it was over. But I see now that was not the case. The movement hasn't given up, and it is still asking us to stand in solidarity with it. .

Honduras: Fuera golpistas!

An estimated 20,000 protest the coup

Well, well, well. The 3-day waiting period is over. And guess what? Nothing's changed, not really. The coup remains defiantly in power, the coup is withdrawing from OAS, Manual Zelaya is still in Costa Rica, his ministers are still in hiding in Honduras, the press is still embargoed. And demonstrations by both sides continue. For now, it's apparently a standoff. Diplomacy seems not to have made a change; next is economic sanctions.

The demonstrations in support of democracy have grown. El Tiempo reports:

El verdadero pueblo está en las calles apoyando al presidente en el exilio, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, aseguraron ayer más de 20.000 manifestantes que protestaron por la restitución del mandatario.

La marcha, una de las más numerosas que los simpatizantes de Zelaya Rosales han efectuado desde el domingo pasado, día en que se perpetró el golpe de Estado en su contra, paralizó en un principio el Bulevar Juan Pablo II desde horas de la mañana....

Seguidores de Zelaya Rosales aseguraron que ellos son la voz del pueblo.
a multitudinaria manifestación en apoyo a Manuel Zelaya compitió paralelamente con la concentración de quienes están del lado del actual gobierno, sin embargo, ambas estuvieron muy parejas en cuanto a la cantidad de participantes.

There were, of course, large pro-golpista demonstrations as well.

The New York Times is glum:

Honduras' refusal to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya despite an appeal by the top envoy for the Americas has put the impoverished nation on a collision course with the world community that could lead to its isolation.

Honduras said it would no longer recognize the Organization of American States charter, claiming the diplomatic body attempted to impose ''unilateral and indignant resolutions'' on the new government, which took power a week ago in a military-backed coup and forced Zelaya into exile.

OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza had demanded Zelaya be restored to office, and on Saturday the organization was to discuss suspending the Central American nation's membership. But Honduras' interim president, Roberto Micheletti, said ''the OAS is a political organization, not a court, and it can't judge us,'' according to a note to Insulza read on Honduras' television Friday night.

The move means Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, will leave the OAS and will not face sanctions by the organization, though it would not prevent other groups and countries from suspending aid and loans.

Nations around the world have promised to shun Micheletti. Neighboring countries have imposed trade blockades, the United States has halted joint military operations and European Union ambassadors have abandoned the Honduran capital. The World Bank already has suspended $200 million in financing, and the Inter-American Development Bank has put $450 million on hold.

Unfortunately, it's unclear whether the golpistas care about any of this. It depends on whom the burden from the loss will fall. If the burden falls primarily and disproportionately on Honduras's poor and not on the oligarchy, the sanctions will matter little to the coup. Only if the sanctions seriously impact the oligarchy, will they be an impetus to the restoration of democracy. It's unclear to me which of these is the case.

And the US? Will it withdraw its ambassador? Will it permanently cut off all non-humanitarian aid? Apparently this is in the works.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday expressing ''deep concern over restrictions imposed on certain fundamental rights'' by Micheletti's government, including a curfew and ''reports of intimidation and censorship against certain individuals and media outlets.''

Military cooperation has already been suspended. And so was US Aid last week. Here's the official description:

The State Department said Thursday it has put much of the U.S. aid program to Honduras on hold pending a legal determination as to whether the overthrow of elected President Manuel Zelaya last Sunday requires an aid cut-off. The United States meanwhile is cautioning Mr. Zelaya against an early attempt to return home.

The State Department's legal team will probably determine that the overthrow of President Zelaya does fit the definition of a military coup, thus mandating a U.S. aid cut-off.

In the meantime, State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday the Obama administration has effectively frozen those parts of the U.S. aid program - mainly military and non-humanitarian assistance - that would be covered by an aid cut-off.

Put simply, the money is on hold until a determination is made.

And in the meanwhile, it's not at all clear what can be done to hasten the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

For my part, I support the restoration of democracy in Honduras, and I oppose the golpe de estado. I oppose the arguments made by coup apologists and from the oligarchy diaspora.

I say as loudly as I can, "Fuera golpistas!"

Honduras: : Diplomacy And A Harsh Curfew

With the 3-day period imposed by OAS for the restoration of democracy and the Presidency of Manual Zelaya in Honduras slowly ticking down, diplomacy is proceeding between OAS and Roberto Micheletti's government. The military coup has imposed a harsh curfew, a feature of which is the withdrawal of various civil rights. Neither side has so far blinked. No progress in resolving the coup has been reported.

According to the New York Times OAS diplomacy to end the military coup in Honduras is proceeding. The United States role in this apparently is to give a cold shoulder to the coup, to cut off joint military operations, and to threaten a cessation of all aid if Zelaya is not restored to the presidency.

As the public standoff between Honduras and the rest of the world hardened, quiet negotiations got under way on Wednesday to lay the groundwork for a possible return of the nation’s ousted president, Manuel Zelaya.

After a marathon session that stretched close to dawn, the Organization of American States “vehemently” condemned the removal of Mr. Zelaya over the weekend and issued an ultimatum to Honduras’s new government: Unless Mr. Zelaya is returned to power within 72 hours, the nation will be suspended from the group.

Diplomats said they had rarely seen the hemisphere’s leaders unite so solidly behind a common cause.

The new Honduran government was equally resolute, warning that there was no chance Mr. Zelaya would be restored to office and that the nation would defend itself by force.

Both sides have stated their positions. Both appear inflexible. Has there been any movement? No. The OAS secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, went to Tegucigalpa today for further talks. Proposals being discussed involve an amnesty for the golpistas, Manual Zelaya saying he won't seek an additional term, and restoration of Zelaya as President. Also, members of the Congress in Honduras are reportedly looking for a compromise. Details of those proposals aren't available.

Meanwhile, according to the Times, the conflict in Honduras continues to be highly polarized:

Demonstrations for and against the new government continued in Tegucigalpa and other cities across the country [on Wednesday]. Then, in a move to crack down on the opposition, the nation’s Congress approved a decree on Wednesday that applies during the overnight curfew and allows security forces to arrest people at home and hold them for more than 24 hours.

“It’s for the tranquillity of the country,” said the new president, Roberto Micheletti.

The government has accused pro-Zelaya demonstrators of vandalism and violence, noting that a grenade, which did not explode, was hurled at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Those who oppose the government, meanwhile, accuse the security forces of stifling dissent through brutality.

The withdrawal of civil rights is serious. It includes curtailing the right to assemble and to seek redress from the Government as well as the right not to be held without charge for more than 24 hours. These measures apparently permit the Government to detain the opposition if the arrests are made during the curfew:

According to Honduras' El Tiempo, the following constitutional guarantees have been suspended:

* Article 69, which guarantees the personal freedom.
* Article 71, which states that no one can be detained or held incommunicado for more than 24 hours without an arrest warrant.
* Article 78, which guarantees freedom of association and freedom of assembly.
* Article 81, which states, "Everyone has the right to free movement, to leave, enter and remain in national territory."

El Tiempo reports that with the aforementioned guarantees suspended, "no one can hold meetings, neither public nor private, be it in the streets, in churches, in their own homes, or in union or guild halls."

source.

Meanwhile, Kristin Bricker reports:

he anti-coup movement's momentum appears to be building across Honduras, with protests reported across the country. Meanwhile, international pressure builds against the coup government.

Over the past two days, anti-coup protests were reported in Tocoa, Colon; San Pedro Sula; La Ceiba; El Progreso, Yoro; Tegucigapla; Intibuca; El Paraiso; Olancho; Santa Barbara; and all over President Zelaya's native department of Olancho. Moreover, the BBC reports that citizens have blocked major highways in Copan and Tocoa. The BBC's sources on the ground in Honduras say anti-coup protests have occurred in the majority of Honduras' departments.

And so, we sit and wait. I hope there will be a diplomatic resolution of the problem and a restoration of democracy in Honduras. In the meanwhile, there is very little any of us can do except to watch and to spread the news.

Honduras: Three Days To Glare At The Opposition

A Woman Injured Monday In An Anti-Coup Demonstration

The Thursday confrontation between deposed Honduran president Manual Zelaya and the Roberto Micheletti and his Honduran military coup has been delayed until Saturday.

CNN reports:

Ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya said Wednesday he will not return to his home country until at least Saturday, after a three-day international deadline to reinstate him.

Zelaya had said earlier he would return to Honduras on Thursday. Provisional Honduran President Roberto Micheletti said Tuesday that Zelaya would be arrested on multiple charges if he returns.

The Organization of American States passed a resolution early Wednesday saying that Zelaya should be returned to power within 72 hours. The United Nations unanimously passed a similar resolution Tuesday afternoon.

The refusal to reinstate Zelaya, according to the OAS, will cause it to suspend Honduras's OAS membership. Many OAS members have already withdrawn their ambassadors and cut off relations with the Micheletti coup government. The US has had nice words to support democracy, but has taken little if any action to restore Zelaya.

Unfortunately, and despite virtually universal condemnation, Micheletti continues to talk tough. In an interview with AP he continued his bravado and his defiance:

A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya....snip

[The OAS's three day] period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home on Thursday until the weekend.

Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have signed on to accompany him along with the heads of the Organization of American States and the U.N. General Assembly.

Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law," said Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup. "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns."

Micheletti, according to AP,

said he would not resign no matter how intense the international pressure becomes. He insisted Honduras would be ready to defend itself against any invasion.

...snip "No one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country," Micheletti said. "If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government."

Put another way, the confrontation is delayed. It is not diffused.

And the US government? What about its role in restoring democracy to Honduras? According to the New York Times,

[T]here were calls by Venezuela and Nicaragua for the United States to impose tough economic sanctions.

The United States, which provides millions of dollars in aid to Honduras and maintains a military base there, is the only country in the region that has not withdrawn its ambassador from Honduras. France and Spain have also recalled their ambassadors.

“There is a lot of concern about hurting the people of Honduras any more than they have already been hurt,” said a senior administration official, referring to American reluctance impose sanctions. “There’s enough trouble and poverty in Honduras already.”

Does this mean that despite President Obama's words on Monday that, "We stand on the side of democracy, sovereignty and self-determination," the US will not take decisive action to restore democracy in Honduras? That it will stand by, that it will permit the coup to prevail?

This would be a good time to communicate with the White House to urge that it join the other nations in this hemisphere and back up its nice words with actions designed to restore democracy in Honduras. Any other course buttresses the coup and undermines US claims that it supports democracy throughout the hemisphere.

Honduras: A Face Off On Thursday

Honduran police clash with pro-democracy demonstrators.

The military coup that deposed Honduran President Manual Zelaya has been denounced by almost everyone except the Honduran military. President Obama said, "We stand on the side of democracy, sovereignty and self-determination." The OAS has condemned the coup. ALBA has condemned the coup. The UN General Assembly has condemned the coup. Central American nations have sealed their borders with Honduras. Most (except El Salvador) have also withdrawn their ambassadors. Roads are blocked in the country.

Police and soldiers clashed with pro-Zelaya protesters in the capital on Monday, and about 5,000 anti-Zelaya demonstrators gathered at a main plaza in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday to celebrate his ouster.

What is to happen next appears to be a confrontation, a face-off between the deposed President and the military coup that arrested and deported him.

Earlier today it was reported that President Zelaya will return to Honduras on Thursday:

Ousted Honduran President Manual Zelaya has announced that he will return to Honduras on Thursday. "I'm going to finish my four-year term, whether or not you coup leaders are in agreement," he stated.

Zelaya will return to Honduras accompanied by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and a commission of Latin American presidents. The Argentine government has announced that its President Cristina Fernandez will accompany Zelaya to Honduras as part of the presidential commission. In a press conference following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelaya stated that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa will also accompany him.

Colinas, Santa Barbara, Mayor Amable de Jesus Hernandez told TeleSUR that citizen caravans were being organized to travel from his region to the capital of Tegucigalpa on Thursday to receive President Zelaya.

At first, the return of the deposed president and other officials wasn't supposed to be a direct confrontation with the military forces that arrested and forcibly deported him to Costa Rica:

Reports in Honduran and international press that interim President Roberto Micheletti says that "if Zelaya sets foot on Honduran soil he will be arrested" are overblown, thanks in large part to a provocative headline in that regard published by Colombia's Radio Caracol. Yes, Micheletti has stated that Honduran courts have issued arrest warrants against Zelaya, but thus far he has not definitively stated that his forces will attempt to arrest Zelaya...

The [Radio Caracol] interviewer asked Micheletti how he planned to respond in the event that Zelaya ... returned on Thursday. Micheletti responded: "My country's courts have arrest warrants against him for breaking the law." He then went on to explain his case for why Zelaya had broken the law when he attempted to carry out a public opinion poll on forming a new constitutional convention to draft a new constitution. Micheletti never told Radio Caracol that his government planned to act on the aforementioned arrest warrants.

However, by later in the day, Micheletti wasn't so circumspect. In an interview with The Washington Post, Micheletti made an overt, explicit threat to arrest Zelaya:

"If he comes back to our country, he would have to face our tribunals and our trials and our laws," Micheletti said in an interview with The Washington Post late Monday night at his residence in the hills overlooking the capital. "He would be sent to jail. For sure, he would go to prison." ...snip

The new Honduran president said he did not see any way to negotiate with the Obama administration and international diplomats seeking a return of Zelaya to power because Micheletti insisted that Zelaya was guilty of crimes against the country.

"No, no compromise, because if he tries to come back or anyone tries to bring him back, he will be arrested," Micheletti said.

That's clear enough. Micheletti has unequivocally stating that Zelaya will be arrested. And so on Thursday, when Zelaya and his supporters return to Honduras, there will be a confrontation, a face off in Tegucigalpa. On one side, the coup's president, Roberto Micheletti, the parts of the Honduran military that support him, his citizen supporters from the upper classes; on the other, Manual Zelaya, the international leaders who support his claim for the restoration of democracy in Honduras, the masses of people in the Hemisphere's second poorest country.

I know which side I'm on. I know what side I hope you're on.

I want to be in solidarity with the restoration of democracy and the overturning of this military coup.

It's not clear what we can do to help restore Democracy in Honduras. Again, as individuals it's only the small things we can do. We can watch the news from Honduras, we can spread this story, we can ask our Traditional Media^TM to report it (it's not on the front page of the New York Times or CNN or MSNBC as I write this), and we can discuss among ourselves how we can eventually be of actual help to our brothers and sisters and their struggle in Honduras.

I know this isn't much. But it's only right that we support this struggle for democracy and oppose the military coup. We supported democracy in Iran, halfway around the world. We should be supporting democracy at least as strongly in our own backyard.

Honduras: Support The Pro-Democracy Resistance

Protesters on Monday faced off against the soldiers of an illegitimate Government to demand the restoration of their stolen democracy. It's not Iran. It's Honduras. And because it's Honduras, which is in this very hemisphere, squashing a democratically elected government like a Palmetto Bug seems in the Trad Media^TM to be less of an outrage. After all, Honduras doesn't have oil. It doesn't have nukes. It's not part of the dreaded axis of evil. It never held US citizens hostage. Sure, the US has destablized it in the past century, exploited its natural resources, turned it into a Banana Republic. But so what, the US did that to virtually every country in this hemisphere. Even now the Honduran military has strong ties to the US. So it's different from Iran, right? Real different. Or is it?

The New York Times reports:

One day after the country’s president, Manuel Zelaya, was abruptly awakened, ousted and deported by the army here, hundreds of protesters massed at the presidential offices in an increasingly tense face-off with hundreds of camouflage-clad soldiers carrying riot shields and automatic weapons.

The protesters, many wearing masks and carrying wooden or metal sticks, yelled taunts at the soldiers across the fences ringing the compound and braced for the army to try to dispel them. “We’re defending our president,” said one protester, Umberto Guebara, who appeared to be in his 30s. “I’m not afraid. I’d give my life for my country.”

Leaders across the hemisphere joined in condemning the coup. Mr. Zelaya, who touched down Sunday in Costa Rica, still in his pajamas, insisted, “I am the president of Honduras.”

President Zelaya said:

“They are creating a monster they will not be able to contain,” he told a local television station in San José. “A usurper government that emerges by force cannot be accepted, will not be accepted, by any country.”

He's right about that. The US, Venezuela, the OAS have all denounced the coup. Zelaya is scheduled to speak at the UN on Tuesday. But, of course, removing the democratically elected president couldn't be the end of the story in Honduras. No. That would be too simple. Instead, the military coup now has to secure itself, has to assert itself, has to eliminate the opposition:

The military also appeared to be moving against Mr. Zelaya’s allies. Local news outlets reported Sunday that Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas and the mayor of San Pedro Sula, the country’s second-largest city, had been detained at military bases.

The government television station and another station that supports the president were taken off the air. Television and radio stations broadcast no news. Electricity was cut off for much of the day in Tegucigalpa on Sunday, in what local reports suggested was on military orders. Only wealthy Hondurans with access to the Internet and cable television were able to follow the day’s events.

The Congress met in an emergency session on Sunday afternoon and voted to accept what was said to be a letter of resignation from the president. Mr. Zelaya later assured reporters that he had written no such letter.

Apparently, CNN en Espanol and Telesur and the Zelaya stations have all been cut off. The stations on the air are playing music, telenovelas, and cooking shows. There is no news.
Detaining supporters at military bases. Taking TV and radio stations off the air. Turning off electricity. Denying access to the Internet and to cable TV. This is really familiar. Didn't we just deal with these kinds of things in Iran? Yeah, but that was different, right?

Where is the Sea of Green in Honduras? Is there internal resistance to this coup? And if there is, where is it?

Community Radio “Es Lo de Menos” was the first to report that the Fourth Infantry Battalion has rebelled from the military coup regime in Honduras. The radio station adds that “it seems” (“al parecer,” in the original Spanish) that the Tenth Infantry Battalion has also broken from the coup.

Rafael Alegria, leader of Via Campesina, the country’s largest social organization, one that has successfully blockaded the nation’s highways before to force government concessions, tells Alba TV:

“The popular resistance is rising up throughout the country. All the highways in the country are blockaded…. The Fourth Infantry Battallion… is no longer following the orders of Roberto Micheletti.”

Angel Alvarado of Honduras’ Popular Union Bloc tells Radio Mundial:

"Two infantry battalions of the Honduran Army have risen up against the illegitimate government of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras. They are the Fourth Infantry Battalion in the city of Tela and the Tenth Infantry Battalion in La Ceiba (the second largest city in Honduras), both located in the state of Atlántida."

NarcoNews

Put another way, there is popular resistance to the coup, from citizens, and even from the army. Again, Twitter has the internal stories.

Again, I want the democratic resistance to win back their democracy. I want to be in solidarity with the pro-democracy struggle.

This might take more than turning my icon green. This might take a lot more than that.

Let's consider what we can do to support the restoration of democracy in Honduras. Let's see how we can move in solidarity with the restoration of democracy in this country.

Iran: Fire BeneathThe Ashes

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It's all but over. To virtually no one's surprise, the Iran Government's pervasive brutality has effectively silenced the demonstrations and the opposition against Iran's stolen election. Iran has begun to move off the front pages. And it appears that the government's violence has forced the democracy movement off the streets and into a pained and fearful silence. The media reports are a cause not for surprise but for sadness. The New York Times sifts the ashes of the Iranian resistance: The direct confrontation over Iran’s presidential election was effectively silenced Friday when the main opposition leader said he would seek permits for any future protests, an influential cleric suggested that leaders of the demonstrations could be executed, and the council responsible for validating the election repeated its declaration that there were no major irregularities. Rather than address the underlying issues that led to the most sustained, unexpected challenge to the leadership since the 1979 revolution, the government pressed its effort to recast the entire conflict not as an internal dispute that brought millions of Iranians into the streets, but as one between Iran and outside agents from Europe, the United States and even Saudi Arabia. It was a narrative that spoke both to the leadership’s belief that it had beaten back the popular outburst, and to the fragility of the calm. “There has been too much violence to forget about it,” said an expatriate Iranian analyst who is not being identified because he has relatives in Iran and is afraid of reprisals against them. According to CNN, the the Iranian Government's violence and threats of execution have stifled the demonstrations. And the Government persists in its groundless claims that outsiders caused the demonstrations, and that demonstrators were responsible for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan: Two weeks into turmoil, Iran's leaders turned up the heat Friday as a high-ranking cleric warned protesters that they would be punished "firmly" and shown no mercy. Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami says rioters in Iran will be "firmly" dealt with if they continue to protest. "Rioters and those who mastermind the unrest must know the Iranian nation will not give in to pressure and accept the nullification of the election results," said Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami during Friday prayers in Tehran, according to Iran's state-run Press TV. "I ask the Judiciary to firmly deal with these people and set an example for everyone," Khatami said. Khatami also blamed demonstrators for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition after her death a week ago was captured on a cell phone video. Khatami said the foreign media had used Neda for propaganda purposes. Khatami's assertions will go unchallenged for now. Meanwhile, dozens of journalists who were trying to report the story and between 20 and 25 employees of a Mousavi organized newspaper remain in detention. Amnesty International noted that these were "at risk of torture in detention." Put simply, the democracy movement will now recede. The demonstrations will cease. Is there still fire beneath these ashes? The BBC reported on Friday: In the centre of Tehran there are many fewer security forces on the streets. A stadium where Basij militia - an arm of the Revolutionary Guard - were based is now being used for sport again. But the power of the regime is not far from the surface. On the main avenues black cars with the words special police painted on them move steadily through the traffic, each one containing four or five men in camouflage uniforms. It has been much quieter these last few days. One elderly witness said she felt it was the calm of the grave. ... When you ask Iranians about the way this might go, a phrase keeps cropping up. They say it might seem quiet to an outsider, but there is fire below the ashes. .

Iran: Fill The Sky With Green Balloons!

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The protest for Friday, as reported by The New York Times: 7:52 p.m. Now that it is early Friday morning in Iran, an Iranian blogger writes on Twitter of a new way of registering protest opposition supporters say they plan for this afternoon: at one PM people all over Iran will be airing green balloons and make the sky GREEN! Let's not waste energy on trying to launch balloons simultaneously with those in Iran (Iran is 3.5 hours ahead of GMT, 8.5 hours ahead of ET). Let's just blow up those balloons in solidarity. Let's see some green balloons on your car, at your home, at your work, on the street. It's easy. It's solidarity. This "defiance" is particularly appropriate today. Reuters is reporting that Ahmad Khatami has called for the execution of "rioters": A hardline Iranian cleric on Friday called for the execution of "rioters" in the latest sign of the authorities' determination to stamp out opposition to the June 12 presidential election. ...snip "I want the judiciary to ... punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson," Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University....snip Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, said the judiciary should charge the leading "rioters" as being "mohareb" or one who wages war against God. "They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely," he said. Under Iran's Islamic law, punishment for people convicted as mohareb is execution. Last time I checked flying a green balloon was not being a "leading rioter." But definitions in Iran are extremely flexible. .

Iran: This Is What Lack Of Accountability Looks And Feels Like

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Today is Torture Accountability Day. Events in Iran yesterday show exactly what lack of accountability looks and feels like. It's not a pretty picture. And it hurts. CNN provides this small vignette: On Wednesday afternoon, security forces used overwhelming force to crack down on protesters who had flocked to Baharestan Square near the parliament building in Tehran, according to more than a half-dozen witnesses. Police charged at the gathering -- clubbing demonstrators with batons, beating women and old men, and firing weapons into the air to disperse them, witnesses said. "They were waiting for us," one witness said. "They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap." ... "They emptied buses that were taking people there and let the private cars go on ... and then, all of a sudden, some 500 people with clubs of wood, they came out of the Hedayat Mosque, and they poured into the streets and they started beating everyone," she said. Government-run Press TV gave a starkly different account, saying about 200 protesters had gathered in front of the parliament and 50 others in a nearby square. All were dispersed by a heavy police presence, it said. This is what happens when there is no accountability. The Government gives a "starkly different account." Deadly force dictates the events. Demonstrators are clubbed. Women and old men are beaten. Government approved goons launch surprise attacks. Government approved media say nothing happened. Repeat as necessary. There is no official reckoning of events, there is no real investigation, there is no trial, there is nothing but official minimization and silence. Crickets. Silence until the next demonstration appears, then they do it again. Intense and brutal violence, followed by official silence. Repeat as necessary. My heart goes out to the demonstrators in Iran. Because their Government shuns accountability, they are, each of them, in mortal danger. Their Government believes that it is appropriate to use deadly force to shore up a stolen election. It believes that violence will end civil unrest. And if the present level of violence proves to be insufficient to bring compliance, even greater violence is threatened. No other course is contemplated. Of course, lack of accountability is nourished by lack of reporting, by officially imposed silence. It's important to the Iranian government to make sure that the whole world isn't watching (except on Twitter). It's important to Governments that are not accountable to thwart all inquiries about their activities, to impose secrecy, to resist disclosure, to disrupt investigations, to shield past misdeeds, to hide the truth. The New York Times reports the difficulties in knowing what is happening in Iran and a different version of the same Wednesday afternoon brutality: The government also stepped up its efforts to block independent news coverage of events all across the country. The government has banned foreign news media members from leaving their offices, suspended all press credentials for foreign correspondents, arrested a freelance writer for The Washington Times, continued to hold a reporter for Newsweek and forced other foreign journalists to leave the country. That made it difficult to ascertain exactly what happened when several hundred protesters tried to gather outside the Parliament building Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses said they were met by a huge force of riot police officers and Basij vigilantes, some on motorcycles and some in pickup trucks, armed with sticks and chains. Witnesses said people were trapped and beaten as they tried to flee down side streets. “It was not possible to wait and see what happened,” said one witness who asked for anonymity out of fear of arrest. “At one point we saw several riot police in black clothes walk towards a group of people who looked like passers-by. Suddenly they pulled out their batons and began hitting them without warning.” The authorities said they were moving to impose order and secure the rule of law. “I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on national television. “That means we will not go one step beyond the law. Neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure at any price.” That is what lack of accountability looks like. This is what it feels like. First it's the crime, the brutality, the torture, the violence. Then it's the lie, "We will not go one step beyond the law." That echoes previous official posturing in Washington, "The United States does not torture." That's what lack of accountability looks like. The Government can and does say anything it wants to about its activities. It lies when it wants to. And nobody dares to lift the curtain to see whether it's true. That's what lack of accountability is. .

Iran: This Is What Violent Repression Looks Like

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Iran's Government has decreed that the demonstrations must end. And if the Government kills many of its citizens, and assaults and imprisons and threatens numerous others, that's apparently just fine with the Government. The New York Times story is chilling in its understatement and lack of descriptions: Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud. It was impossible to confirm first-hand the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, outside the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition. Defying government warnings, the witnesses said that hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas, and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck. Truncheons, tear gas, and bullets. Riot police and paramilitary militia. And, of course, suppression of the press. Not only will the Iranian government not yield, it's evident that it intends to end all demonstrations with deadly force, which it naively hopes will not be widely reported. And, of course, it plan on massive incarceration: A New York-based human rights group, International Campaign for Human Rights, listed the names Wednesday of 240 of the 645 people the Iranian state media has reported detained in the crackdown. The total number of detained, the organization said, citing human rights activists in Iran, may be as high as 2,000. Among them are people arrested in a Monday night raid of a campaign office for Mr. Moussavi in Tehran, Press TV, state television’s English-language satellite broadcaster, reported Wednesday... snip The detained, most of whom are being held incommunicado, also include students picked up at their dormitories, dozens of street demonstrators, and “targeted, politically motivated arrests of intellectuals, civil society leaders, political campaigners, journalists, and human rights campaigners,” said Aaron Rhodes, a consultant with the organization in Vienna. I am having trouble watching these events unfold. I am very afraid for the people of Iran. I am afraid that what will now happen will be far worse than Tiananmen. I am having trouble reading the 140 character posts at #iranelection on Twitter. I am having trouble reading even the traditional media, like CNN, which doesn't withhold descriptions of the violence: Security forces wielding clubs and firing weapons beat back demonstrators who flocked to a Tehran square Wednesday to continue protests, with one witness saying security forces beat people like "animals." At least two sources described wild and violent conditions at a part of Tehran where protesters had planned to demonstrate. "They were waiting for us," the source said. "They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap." "I see many people with broken arms, legs, heads -- blood everywhere -- pepper gas like war," the source said. About "500 thugs" with clubs came out of a mosque and attacked people in the square, another source said. The security forces were "beating women madly" and "killing people like hell," the source said. "They beat up a woman so bad, she was all bloody," the source said in a description that underscores the growing and central role of women in the uprising. And, of course, I cannot stand to watch the videos. Or look at the photographs. Who can? The Iranian Government's actions are brutal and inhumane. And as individuals and as foreigners and even as a foreign government, we are entirely powerless to protect the demonstrators. This is a frustrating and unhappy position for us to be in. The whole world is watching. And, I'm afraid, it's about to see a bloodbath photographed on cell phone cameras. .