5: In Photos: New Zealand Women the First in the World to March Against Trump
This is just the beginning, say organisers.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to launch the historic Women’s March protesting Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. Now organisers say it’s time to regroup and confront the country’s own legacy of gender violence and inequality.
Vice News
4: Trump withdraws US from Trans-Pacific Partnership deal
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order formally withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, following through on a promise from his presidential campaign.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time,” Trump said as he signed the executive order in an Oval Office ceremony on Monday, calling his move a “great thing for the American worker”.
In the same ceremony, Trump also signed an order imposing a federal hiring freeze, with the exception of the military, and a directive banning US non-governmental organisations receive federal funding from providing abortions abroad.
Aljazeera
3: ‘Your only right is to obey’: lawyer describes torture in China’s secret jails
On day one of his detention Xie Yang claims he was shackled to a metal chair and ordered to explain why he had joined an illegal anti-Communist party network.
On day two he was moved to a secret prison and informed: “Your only right is to obey.”
Finally, on day three, the violence began.“We’ll torture you to death just like an ant,” one inquisitor allegedly warned the Chinese human rights lawyer during a punishing marathon of interrogation sessions and beatings designed make him confess to crimes he denies.
“I’m going to torment you until you go insane,” another captor allegedly bragged. “Don’t even imagine that you’ll be able to walk out of here and continue being a lawyer. You’re going to be a cripple.”The Guardian
2: Women’s March on Washington: Historic Protest Three Times Larger Than Trump’s Inaugural Crowd
In one of the largest days of protest in U.S. history, millions took to the streets Saturday one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump. The largest protest was the Women’s March on Washington, where more than 500,000 packed the streets. According to crowd scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, the crowd was roughly three times the size of the audience at President Trump’s inauguration a day earlier. Women-led marches took place in over 600 locations spread across seven continents—including Antarctica. In addition to Washington, massive protests took place in Boston; Chicago; Denver; Los Angeles; Madison, Wisconsin; New York; Oakland; Portland, Oregon; St. Paul; San Francisco and Seattle. According to one count, as many as 4.6 million people took part in the global day of action.
Democracy Now!
1: LAWMAKERS IN EIGHT STATES HAVE PROPOSED LAWS CRIMINALIZING PEACEFUL PROTEST
OVER THE WEEKEND, millions of demonstrators took to streets across the country to mobilize against the new president and his agenda, assembling in a national turnout that organizers call the beginning of a reinvigorated protest movement. But in states home to dozens of Saturday’s demonstrations, Republican lawmakers are moving to criminalize and increase penalties on peaceful protesting.
Last week, I reported that such efforts were afoot in five states: In Minnesota, Washington state, Michigan, and Iowa, Republican lawmakers have proposed an array of anti-protesting laws that center on stiffening penalties for demonstrators who block traffic; in North Dakota, conservatives are even pushing a bill that would allow motorists to run over and kill protesters so long as the collision was accidental. Similarly, Republicans in Indiana last week prompted uproar over a proposed law that would instruct police to use “any means necessary” to clear protesters off of a roadway.
Over the weekend, readers alerted me to two additional anti-protesting bills, both introduced by Republicans, that are pending in Virginia and Colorado. This brings the number of states that have in recent weeks floated such proposals to at least eight.
The Intercept
