Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was sworn in for a second term Saturday amid ongoing protests and cries of election fraud. For protesters, Hernández has kept a stranglehold on power through fraud and military might. As the crisis deepens, on January 18th Honduran lawmakers passed a new Budget Law to protect corrupt politicians from legal proceedings, essentially legalizing corruption in the country.
Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech pushed past the boundaries of what is acceptable in American politics, to where his anti-war and global solidarity values were unapologetically linked to the fight against racism and poverty at home. On that day, the American civil rights struggle courageously broke free from the confines of American exceptionalism, to join a worldwide movement of struggles against racism, colonialism and war.
Hondurans are demanding justice for the protesters and bystanders killed in the ongoing crackdown on opposition protests by the US-backed government of Honduras. Two months after general elections were marred by widespread reports of fraud, and one month after the US government stood by the contested results, repression and militarization continue unabated. Protests are ongoing against a government many Hondurans see as illegitimate and authoritarian.
A new report from Oxfam reveals how the global economy empowers the richest 1% while hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive. “The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system,” said Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of Oxfam. “The people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of cheap goods, and swell the profits of corporations and billionaire investors.”
The signs are ominous: the US withdrawal from UNESCO; the threats against member states voting for anti-Israeli resolutions; slashing funds to a 69-year-old UN agency for Palestinian refugees; withdrawal from the 2016 Paris climate change agreement; threats to “totally destroy” a UN member state, North Korea; a US-inspired $285 million reduction in the UN’s regular budget for 2018-2019, and the insidious attempts to wreck the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement.
U.S. Special Forces now blanket most of the world, yet terrorist groups continue to proliferate. Maybe militarism isn't the solution.
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