BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's democracy activists, angered by Hong
Kong's police brutality, joined an international "Mulan" boycott which
expanded after Disney thanked China's security forces for help with
filming in a desert where one million Uighurs and other Muslims are
imprisoned or suffer other rights violations.

"It just keeps getting worse!" Hong Kong's leading activist Joshua Wong tweeted.

"Now when you watch #Mulan, not only are you turning a blind eye to
police brutality and racial injustice -- due to what the lead actors
stand for -- you're also potentially complicit in the mass
incarceration of Muslim ethnic Uighurs. #BoycottMulan," Mr. Wong said.

"We have still not forgotten that Mulan's leading actress supported
the police use of violence against Hong Kong protesters who fight for
freedom and democracy,” announced prominent Thai student activist
Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal.

"I would like to invite everybody to #BoycottMulan, #BanMulan, so that
Disney and the Chinese government realize that state violence against

On 16 August 1819, an estimated 60,000 pro-democracy and anti-poverty activists were peacefully protesting the utterly corrupt nature of the Parliament in Westminster and demanding the reform of parliamentary representation (which afforded less than 2% of people the right to vote). The gathering took place in St Peter’s Field, Manchester in England.

The protest was precipitated by the acute economic slump, including chronic unemployment and harvest failure, following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars as well as by enforcement of the Corn Laws which kept the price of bread high, by blocking (or imposing tariffs on) the import of cheap grains, at the expense of ordinary people.

After arresting some key figures on the speaker’s cart at the gathering, the cavalry was ordered to disperse the crowd. Charging with sabres drawn, approximately eighteen people were killed and nearly 700 seriously injured, with the event dubbed the ‘Peterloo massacre’ by radical media in a bitterly ironic reference to the bloody Battle of Waterloo some four years earlier. See ‘The Peterloo Memorial Campaign’.

Last night’s Columbus City Council 4-3 vote that indefinitely tabled an ordinance which would have put limits on the Columbus Division of Police use of chemical agents, helicopters, military-type rifles and “less-lethal” munitions – such as rubber and wooden bullets, which injured numerous peaceful protesters – was especially shocking due to the fact that three Black Democratic City Council members voted against it.

I believe the message these three Black City Council members sends is, they have joined the ranks of #BlueLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter while turning their backs on police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Black citizens of Columbus and others fighting for reform measures should be outraged over this vote.

The three Black Councilmembers who voted to indefinitely table the ordinance were Council President Shannon Hardin, Priscilla Tyson and Mitchell Brown. Emmanuel Remy, who is not African American, also voted to table. Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown, who wrote the legislation, and Councilmembers Rob Dorans and Shayla Favor (who is African American) voted for the ordinance.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Ballots are in the mail. Vote centers are opening. 

Wherever you can, cast your ballot NOW. 

Then become a poll worker and Election Protection volunteer.

Do NOT wait until November 3rd, or even late October. 

If your ballot arrives in the mail, check all the boxes on the envelope, see that your signature matches your best ID, that your name and address are perfect, and that required documents are copied and included. Call the election board and/or an Election Protection group to go over the details, and to find out if you can walk in your ballot.