AUSTIN: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Police, City, and County Over Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases
By Sandra Harris
On February 10, federal judge Lee Yeakel dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of eight women claiming the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, the Austin Police Department (APD), and City of Austin officials mishandled their sexual assault cases.
The class action civil rights lawsuit was filed in June 2018 against the City of Austin, Travis County, current Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore, former Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, current Austin Police Chief Brian Manley, and former Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo.
A City of Austin report has found that the city had the highest number of rapes reported in large Texas cities in 2017. The now-dismissed lawsuit, which had the backing of local reformists and advocacy groups, claimed the defendants committed federal and state violations by refusing to implement or ignore proper training and supervision of government employees handling sexual assault cases, knowingly allocating resources to other violent crimes other than sexual assaults against female victims, and knowingly failing to submit or test sexual assault kits.
Plaintiffs asserted that they did not feel prioritized and that they were discriminated against based on gender when their cases were handled. They cited that only 1,000 women report sexual assault incidents to Austin police each year, with less than 10 cases making it to trial.
Ironically, Judge Yeakel declined to take up the lawsuit by pointing out the small reforms and policy changes achieved by advocacy groups in other venues. In his dismissal, he stated, “Intrusion by the court at this juncture would have an impermissibly disruptive effect on the recently enacted Texas laws related to sexual assaults, which the court finds to be a matter of substantial public concern.” Read the full story @ incendiarynews.com
#atx #da #apd #metoo #police #women
LEBANON: Protests Rage On as Economic Collapse Looms
By Miriam Cordova
On February 11, over 400 protesters were injured in a riot outside the parliament building in Beirut as the Lebanese parliament held a vote of confidence on the newly appointed cabinet. The vote was held as Lebanon faces a deepening financial crisis that threatens to collapse the country’s economy.
Leading up to the vote, protesters attacked the car of one member of parliament and sent another to the hospital. The protesters held barricades blocking the roads surrounding the parliament building and threw molotov cocktails and other projectiles at the police as they responded with tear gas and water cannons.
While the cabinet was ultimately approved, less than half of parliament actually voted in favor of the new government, with over 40 legislators failing to attend the session at all. The new cabinet is comprised of technocratic ‘specialists’ and has been described by new Prime Minister Hassan Diab as an “economic rescue team.” Diab has also sought assistance from the imperialist International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a desperate bid to stabilize the economy and avoid bankruptcy as a $1.2 billion Eurobonds debt is set to mature in March.
The anti-government protests have persisted for months, and although the new government was formed as a concession to the ‘leaderless’ protest movement, protests have only intensified. The movement began as a largely non-violent movement, but has become more combative over time, engaging in open clashes with security forces in the streets.
Earlier on January 27, dozens of protesters threw stones at police to prevent government officials from attending the 2020 budget meeting in Beirut. This meeting saw attendance from only 70 of the 128 members of parliament due to mass protests as well as boycotts from some political parties. “We want to bring down the entire parliament, it does not represent us,” said Abdelrahman Mohammed, one protester outside the parliament session.
Read the full story @ incendiarynews.com
#lebanon
AUSTIN: Charges Dropped Against 2019 International Working Women’s Day Marchers
By David Martinez
Nearly one year after the arrests, charges have been dropped against two marchers who participated in the Popular Women’s Movement’s combative 2019 International Working Women’s Day march in East Austin, in another failure of the bourgeois state to pursue arbitrary charges to target the revolutionary movement.
One marcher had a charge dropped for “unlawful carrying of a weapon,” with police claiming flags carried by some marchers qualified as ‘clubs.’ They continued to press this charge even when the state itself legalized the carrying of clubs in law only a few months after the arrest and despite the flags not meeting the legal definition of a club. During his arrest last year, police also tried to charge the marcher with ‘inciting a riot’ which even the local magistrate found absurd and dropped immediately. “The way the police jumped from charge to charge, showed that the law isn’t made for us,” the comrade told Incendiary. Emphasizing it was his revolutionary beliefs and solidarity from the larger revolutionary movement that kept him strong, he said, “We have to count on the support of the people and not narrow legalism.” The other dropped charge was for “obstructing a roadway,” against a supportive photographer who was walking alongside the march to document it. Witnesses attest the photographer was walking calmly when a police officer approached from behind and detained him without warning.
Read the full story @ incendiarynews.com
#iwwd #women #police #staterepression #revolution #revolutionary
EUGENE: Activists Crash Dinner Rush at Anti-Homeless Brewery
By Andrew Meins
On Saturday, February 6, at around 6:00pm, a group of activists with Stop Death on the Streets, Eugene (SDSE) invaded the dinner rush at Elkhorn Brewery, a restaurant located in the West University neighborhood, to call attention to the anti-homeless platform and law and order agenda of Elkhorn Brewery owner, Stephen Sheehan, and his group, Eugene Wake Up.
Activists occupied two levels of the restaurant, handing out flyers, unfurling a banner that read “Housekeys not Handcuffs” and delivered speeches while standing on dinner tables. The group found little sympathy among the staff and patrons, but their direct tactics shook Sheehan, who posted a video on Eugene Wake Up’s facebook page, commenting, “We just had 18 protesters shut down our business at Elk Horn saying we are criminalizing homelessness! […] What do we do Eugene???? This is out of hand!!!” Despite Sheehan’s hysteria, the restaurant continued operations once the activists left, but the action put Eugene Wake Up on notice and local bourgeois media filled its role to run stories painting business-owner Sheehan as a victim.
The action by SDSE came after several forced evictions of homeless encampments in downtown Eugene and in the surrounding areas in the weeks prior. “We are sick of politely waiting in line at City Council only to be ignored,” Alex Goldman, a spokesperson for SDSE told Incendiary, “This is why we decided to stir shit up in the conversation, targeting the loudest voice and founder of Eugene Wake Up, Stephen Sheehan.” Since last week’s action, Sheehan has announced he will be stepping back as the public face of Eugene Wake Up, telling a local news outlet that the protest, “broke me.” He says he will continue to support the group’s efforts “behind the scenes.” Read the full story @ incendiarynews.com
#eugene #oregon #homelessness
The Past, Present, and Future of the US-Iran Conflict
By Mike Talavera, with contributions from Kate LaBelle
Last week, the US Senate passed an Iran War Powers resolution, a symbolic slap on the wrist for US President Donald Trump after his ordering of the January 2 US airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to smooth over this assassination of one of Iran’s top military leaders, this resolution, which is intended to curb escalation with Iran and follows a similar one passed last month in the House, shows the lingering fears of further military conflict with Iran. In neighboring Iraq where the airstrike took place, protests have rocked the country in the six weeks since Soleimani’s death, with calls for US forces to leave.
As the drums of war rattle, US media pundits and bourgeois politicians have mindlessly followed Trump’s labeling of Soleimani as a ‘terrorist,’ but Soleimani, who led Iran’s Quds Force, did not earn the designation of ‘terrorist’ because of his character or the nature of his methods; he earned it because of his role in undermining US operations in the Middle East, in particular his support of the Syrian government during the proxy war in that country between US and Russian imperialisms.
Many in the US recognize that Iran is not primarily to blame for the looming prospect of war, and thousands have felt the urgency to take to the streets to protest what some see as the prelude to another imperialist war. This movement is weak compared to the mobilizations against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, but even with greater numbers, the anti-war movement at that time failed to halt the US’s march towards war.
Some of the 2003 movement’s main organizational leadership, in particular the ANSWER Coalition which is a front group for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, have latched onto this current national upswing against US aggression towards Iran. Bolstered by the World Workers Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, PSL has seized the moment to advertise themselves as the ‘anti-imperialist’ response to the warmongering Trump administration.
Read full story @ incendiarynews.com
Indiana Dispatch: Mayor Pete and Elections, No! Revolution, Yes!
By the Michiana Incendiary Support Committee
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to share a statement written by a brand new Incendiary Support Committee based out of a region of Northern Indiana, known to locals as Michiana, making a clear call to uphold the 2020 Election Boycott.
With the Democratic primaries coming up, and a general election not long after that, it is important we address the nature of the elections and plainly state our position. The entire strategy of the Democratic Party has been to manipulate the very real anxieties and struggles of working class people in order to advance their own imperialist agenda. For Hoosiers, this has resulted in further impoverishment at the hands of Democrats, such as former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who have cooperated with Republicans to sell reforms all while flexing their status as the sole so-called “opposition” to the Republican domination of our state.
Buttigieg was first elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 on an unremarkable platform based around infrastructure concerns and “economic stimulation” of the city. What was notable at first glance were the margins by which Buttigieg was elected. He received 74% of total votes in 2011 and 80% in 2015, overwhelming his opponents. But Buttigieg attempts to conceal how spectacularly these elections demonstrate the passive electoral boycott among the people of South Bend. The overall eligible voter turnout, in a city of more than 100,000 people, was only 20% in 2011 and 14% in 2015.
Nevertheless, with the active support of such a narrow sliver of the city’s population, Buttigieg kicked off his profoundly unpopular mayorship with the introduction of the “1000 houses in 1000 days” initiative, which was intended to spur development in the city and attract investment. The initiative, with its gimmicky name, was merely a deception. It was not intended to build, but rather destroy homes.
Read the full story @ incendiarynews.com
#Indiana #SouthBend #petebuttigieg #ElectionBoycott
