Cecile Pineda's blog : RAPE

Unlawful sexual activity which targets both men and women involving penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against a person's will.

I have always contended that rape is the overcoming of a weaker person by a stronger person or persons with intent to do psychic and bodily harm, but that it need not be sexual. That became apparent to me at the hands of adults in very early childhood. Rape attacks the bodily integrity of someone’s personhood by penetrating its physical boundaries. Even more damaging: it attacks the psychic integrity of one’s personhood. Rape’s classic definition is based on pre-historic concepts of patriarchy and hierarchy. Clearly, its definition has been written by men, not women. The psychic injury is every bit as damaging as the physical component.

When Walter Wallace’s family called for help for their mentally challenged son, instead of an ambulance arriving, Philadelphia police officers arrived. Said Wallace’s mother: “They stood there and laughed at us.”

That is a rape. It is a example of the strong lording it over the weak.

A recent police action against peaceful protesters was characterized by cops stripping a woman down to her underwear. We have witnessed police wantonly murdering time after time, can rape be far behind?

Gang rape of the American people

When McConnell, the Grifter-in-Chief’s sycophant, rammed through the nomination process of Amy Barrett and all Senate Republicans complied, that represented a gang rape of the American people. When Barrett was sworn in the same night, it raped every single American citizen who valued their First Amendment Right of free speech, who valued fairness, who imagined we still might live in a civilized system. It took away all we held dear, it smashed the last shreds of any quality of life that gave meaning to our days. It left us with a destroyed country, hamstrung for the many years Amy Barrett is expected to preside until death or retirement. In the balance are Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that lifted women’s place as mere vessels in a country that obsesses about the fetus, but demonstrates every intention of abandoning children and their needs. At risk are all our civil rights laws, and any pretense of correcting a deeply flawed and inconsistent voting system which fails utterly to represent all the American people fairly and equally; at risk are all the original safety net provisions that characterized the New Deal, including social security and the meagerest subsidies left for the arts, never ever an American priority.

What to do after a gang rape

For the past year, the people of Chile have been in the streets, protesting with their pots and pans, a practice referred to as a casserolaso, insisting on a new constitution, one no longer reflective of the Pinochet dictatorship that (with CIA help on 9/11/73) murdered the first Chilean socialist president, Salvador Allende, and tortured and tossed non compliant dissidents live from airplanes into Pacific waters.

After a year of vigorous protest, their Oct. 25 plebiscite where 7.5 million Chileans voted, yielded a 78% yes vote, and 79% voted that the new constitution must be drawn up by a body chosen by vote of the people, not the Chilean Congress.

Chilean trade unions played a decisive role in getting out the vote. Millions of workers waged a series of massive strikes across most sectors of the economy, waling off the job when student and women’s groups demands were discounted by the president.

But without Chilean willingness to protest for one year, to make it perfectly clear no one was going home until their demands were fully met, and without the courage of the younger generations who were the first to brave the streets, none of this would have happened.

In the US so far, dozens of unions resolved to consider a general strike should a defeated #45 balk at stepping down. The 100,000-member Rochester-Genesee Valley Labor Federation of N.Y. adopted a resolution to hold a general strike to ensure a peaceful transition of power. It will lobby the AFL-CIO 12.5 million workers to do the same. Seattle’s MLK Labor, representing 150 unions and 100,000 members resolved to take non-violent action including a general strike to protect the Constitution, and Massachusetts Western Mass Area Labor Federation voted on a similar resolution.

Evidently Chileans know how to recognize when a gang rape has occurred. And some Americans—mostly from the labor sector—are waking up.

Well?

SIGNAL Military and police: Refuse Illegal orders from #45 on election.

SHOW UP Nov. 4 at a de-escalation rally near you. Find an event near you at https://protecttheresults.com/.

READ the text of one such call:

Will your Police Department stand up for Democracy, Freedom, and Justice in the aftermath of the 2020 elections ?

Trump has declared war on the election process. Regardless of the outcomes, we can expect Trump to be vengeful and incendiary. Regardless of the outcomes, Trump’s WHITE extremist militias, his WHITE supremacist following, can be expected to foment discord and conflict. The law is on our side; let’s make sure our local law enforcement departments support our right to Democracy, Freedom, and Justice.

At the local level, Police Departments will be responsible for enforcing post-November 3rd Law & Order. Where will your Police Department stand? Let’s insist that our Police Departments stand with us by supporting:

• Our lawful right to vote (and have our votes counted)

• Our lawful right to peaceful protest

• Our lawful right to protection from lawless White Supremacist militias

Join us for a peaceful/non-violent vigil at the Oakland or San Francisco Police Departments on November 4, 2020 from NOON to 1PM. (Can’t join us in Oakland or San Francisco? Vigil at your local police department.)

Chile: Approval for a new constitution wins massive popular mandate.

US unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers prepare for general strike if #45 subverts election results.

Nigerian police killing sparks nationwide resistance movement.

Even Israel has protesters; thousands protest in Jerusalem against Israeli PM.

After 55 years of state repression, Indonesian workers and youth take to streets.

UK universities reject Israel lobby’s anti-Semitism definition.

Supreme Court will allow election officials to accept ballots after Election Day in two key battleground States, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Saying a new airport and flying are folly in the face of global warming, Penguin Climate Activists block Berlin airport opening.

As #45 insists ‘must have vote total’ on Nov. 3, nearly 400 ‘Protect the Results’ rallies planned to counter election night theft (see SHOW UP ACTION above.).

With Grifter-as-president this is what a rose looks like: Judge rules Justice Department can’t be #45’s personal lawyer in rape defamation suit.

Citing widespread election-related delays, federal judge invokes ‘extraordinary measures’ to ensure on-time delivery and counting of ballots.

Top federal election official corrects #45: ‘counting ballots—all of ‘em—is the appropriate, proper and legal way to determine who won.'

‘Reckless incompetence and intentional cruelty’: House issues scathing report on #45 migrant family separation policy.

Peace organizations win legal fees and release of 11 previously court-sealed US Navy records showing new explosive risk at Naval Base Kitsup-Bangor.

Open Technology Institute condemns ‘unhinged’ FCC, urges restoration of net neutrality.

‘Banking for the People’: AOC and Tlaib unveil bill to foster creation of public banks across US.

In bid to beat ‘public health and economic crises,’ Senate Dems urge utilities to suspend shutoffs during pandemic.

After years of advocacy and legal contention, environmental conservation groups announced that the government in cooperation with the oil-exploration industry will prohibit use of oceanic whale-killing sonic blasts this year.

‘He needed social supports, not bullets’: mass protests sweep through Philadelphia for second straight night over police killing of emotionally challenged Walter Wallace.

Judge approves extraditing Kyle Rittenhouse to Wisconsin to stand trial.

Minnesota democrats implore voters to ‘drop off your ballot’ in person after last-minute court ruling.

City of Oakland on orders from mayor and city manager elect not to hose down block-long Chose Democracy – Stop a Coup mural painted by a coalition of peace activists working together.