Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Two demonstrations in Tegucigalpa

Wladek Flakin | 14.10.2009 13:08 | Repression | Social Struggles | World

An eye-witness account of the strengths and weaknesses of the resistance movement in Honduras

It was the 107th day of resistance against the coup regime in Honduras: on Monday, the "Resistencia" organized a rally in the neighborhood of Kennedy in the capital Tegucigalpa. Because of the massive presence of police and soldiers, the roughly 400 demonstrators were forced to remain on the sidewalk. But they remained combative. They not only demanded the return of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya but also the convening of a constituent assembly to replace the constitution of 1982, which the coup-makers claim to base themselves on.

The state of emergency that began on September 28 isn't over yet yet, despite reports to the contrary: Even though the coup President Roberto Micheletti announced the annulment of the decree last week, that announcement has not been published in the government gazette and is therefore not in force - supposedly there are ongoing printing problems. The prohibition of assemblies contained in the decree was used by the police as a pretext to dissolve the rally in Kennedy at 12 o'clock.

Since the state of emergency began, the resistance has not been able to mobilize much more than its hard core of several hundred activists. In the population, of whom up to 75% continue to reject the dictatorship, there is a mixture of fear and fatigue. The leadership of the resistance calls for protests every day, but this rhythm is simply impossible for working people. Above all, it is clear that these daily, peaceful protests are aimed at building pressure for negotiations between the coup-makers and Zelaya - people who want to overthrow the coup regime, need very different other forms of resistance.

Against this backdrop, the resistance has moved into the neighborhoods. Also on Monday, there were demonstrations at 8 o'clock in the evening in the different neighborhoods. For example, in Villa Adela in the west of the capital, about 200 people gathered and shouted: "If there is no solution, then there will be a revolution!" The people, including many children and young people, made a lot of noise with trumpets, pots and plastic bottles. (At the same time, there were also demonstrations in different neighborhoods: for example in the neighborhood of Pedregal in the south, over 1,000 people demonstrated in the evening. But because of the ongoing censorship, it is very difficult to get an overview.)

"For a week we have had a demonstration like this every evening," said Berta Dimo, a nurse from the district. The police arrived with pickup trucks and motorcycles, but limited themselves to driving behind the demonstration. "Sometimes they shoot into the air, but they still haven't dared to attack our rallies," said Jorge Hernandez, a student. "But in other neighborhoods, they have fired into the crowd. It is impressive that the people here have no fear," he continued.

On Tuesday, another round in the "Guaymara dialogue" between the coup regime and the deposed President Zelaya began. Representatives of both sides asserted that 60 or 70% of points had already been clarified. But Juan Barahona, who is sitting in the negotiating team of Zelaya but sees himself as a representative of the "Resistencia", commented to the press: "We have not even talked about the main point, the reinstatement of the president. So this dialogue is still at zero."

Zelaya has set a deadline for October 15 (this Thursday) for an outcome of the dialogue. The coup-makers are only playing for time before their elections on November 29. It is not clear whether the two sides will decide to extend the dialogue or whether they will declare it to have failed, in which case the slogan of the demonstrators in Villa Adela could be translated into reality: if the coup-makers continue to reject any concession, tens of thousands of people could go back onto the streets, such as happened in July and September. Because even a bourgeois politician and son of the oligarchy like Zelaya, who fears nothing more than a mass movement, must sometimes call forth large movements of the oppressed to save his own skin.

The so-called "international community" - ie, the imperialist powers that have dominated Honduras for centuries - and Zelaya want a negotiated solution at any price. "Mel" is prepared to make pretty much any concession to the coup-makers as long as he can return to power. This leads to discontent among the activists of "Resistencia", which will "not for a minute renounce the demand for a Constituent Assembly" (according to their spokesman).

Unfortunately, the base activists have no structures with which they can articulate their demands. The leadership of the resistance front is in the hands of a clique of trade union bureaucrats who are are pretty close to Zelaya and share his strategy of "dialogue". In this situation, Zelaya has, from the Brazilian embassy, an uncontested leadership position: The protesters on the streets love him, even if he holds back their protests. In order for this situation to change, the resistance needs to organize itself via assemblies in the neighborhoods, workplaces, schools and universities to develop an alternative, democratic leadership and finally drive out the copyists with a general strike.


by Wladek Flakin, Tegucigalpa, 12 October 2009 - independent youth organization REVOLUTION - www.onesolutionrevolution.org

Photos from the morning (Kennedy):  http://www.flickr.com/photos/onesolutionrevolution/sets/72157622454717973/

Photos from the evening (Villa Adela):  http://www.flickr.com/photos/onesolutionrevolution/sets/72157622386226255/

Two short video clips from the evening:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p28VCOp1aYc
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzrJQazA5TI

Wladek Flakin
- e-mail: info@revolution.de.com
- Homepage: http://www.onesolutionrevolution.org

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech