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By Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Huge crowds filled Mexico City's main square on Sunday in support of the nation's electoral authority, accusing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of trying to weaken the body ahead of a presidential election in June.

The protests, one of several in recent years meant to "protect" the National Electoral Institute (INE), come after Lopez Obrador sent a sweeping package of constitutional reforms to Congress, which would include an overhaul of the INE.

Organizers said 700,000 people turned out, which could mark one of the largest protests against Lopez Obrador as his administration comes to a close.

The Mexico City government, which is controlled by Lopez Obrador's MORENA party, said just 90,000 people attended. The disparity in counting turnout has also occurred at previous pro-INE demonstrations.

Lopez Obrador has made it no secret the package is meant to influence debate before June 2 voting in which his political successor Claudia Sheinbaum is likely to win, though the president has said it is unlikely most reforms will pass.

One would turn the INE into the National Institute of Elections and Consultations, which would take over the country's local electoral bodies and shrink the number of counselors heading the group. It would also require electoral judges be elected by popular vote.

"Authorities are seeking to eliminate (autonomous institutions), to subordinate them or take them over," Lorenzo Cordova, the former head of the INE, said to the crowd. "We've seen a ferocious attack against these institutions."

The president has long shared his dislike of the INE, including accusing the electoral body of helping to engineer his defeats when he ran for the presidency in 2006 and 2012.

Protesters on Sunday accused Lopez Obrador of meddling in an attempt to concentrate power in the hands of his party's government, though Lopez Obrador has said he will respect the results of the election.

Demonstrators also used the protests to speak out against other hallmarks of Lopez Obrador's administration, including what they allege is a failure to curb widespread violence and social spending programs.

"The current government is leading us to catastrophe," said Maria de los Angeles Lopez. "To be afraid of going out on the streets, to be afraid our money will no longer be enough, that is why I came out to protest."

(Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico CityAdditional reporting by Alberto Fajardo and Gloria Lopez for Reuters TVEditing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

Read more:
Mexicans turn out in droves to 'protect democracy' ahead of elections - Yahoo News

President Jair Bolsonaro summoned his ministers and staff to a meeting at his official residence on July 5, 2022. They discussed at length ways to prevent a defeat in the upcoming October elections. Everyone in the room seemed to agree that democracy should not stand in their way.

When in office, the former president spoke several times against the integrity of the 2022 elections, ripping off Donald Trumps infamous #StopTheSteal campaign. To the Bolsonaro administration, elections had always been a nuisance, but no one knew how far they would go to remain in office.

Last week, footage of the meeting was disclosed as part of a court order issued by Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes. The Federal Police arrested three of Bolsonaros closest aides and carried out search warrants against former ministers and high-ranking military officers.

They are being investigated for allegedly hatching a military coup as a response to Lula da Silvas victory in the vote. Amid searches, the police found a draft decree through which Bolsonaro would institute a state of siege in the country, hand over power to the generals, and put Justice Moraes behind bars.

Bolsonarism hates Moraes even more so than it hates Lula. After all, several decisions made by Brazils maverick justice have been key to curbing extremism and preserving democracy.

The rise and fall of Bolsonaro has made it clear that the far right is as much about ideology as it is about authoritarianism. The former Brazilian president and his associates would not just go to great lengths to fight culture wars and discredit enemies; investigations have shown that they would do whatever it took to hold on to power.

Why, then, did Bolsonaro fail to overthrow democracy? Incompetence and self-deception have surely played a role, but there are more layers to Brazils democratic survival. One of them is that the Supreme Court seemed to be always one step ahead of Bolsonaro.

Since the presidents supporters began flooding the streets during the COVID-19 pandemic to demand a military intervention, the court ordered no less than eight probes against Bolsonaro and his allies both inside and outside the government. Judicial pressure has greatly increased the costs of spreading mass disinformation and openly attacking institutions.

Another reason was international mobilization in defense of Brazilian democracy. Bolsonaros desire to play by Donald Trumps radical playbook was a red flag to many foreign activists, journalists, and politicians. As it became clear that Bolsonarism was, in many ways, a tropical version of Trumpism, Brazil was turned into a global ideological battleground between progressives and reactionaries.

The far right, spearheaded by Steve Bannon, used Brazil as a laboratory of extremist ideas, especially while Trump was still president. Democratic advocates, in turn, closed ranks with their Brazilian counterparts to resist Bolsonaros assault on human rights, public health, and the environment. With Biden in the White House, the US also helped constrain the Bolsonaro administration through diplomatic channels.

Lulas electoral triumph in 2022 was largely seen as a victory for democrats. Yet, Brazils political institutions cannot be taken for granted. Perhaps the most alarming message of the latest Supreme Court probes is that military officials have been involved in undermining democracy every step of the way.

Rather than repudiating popular calls for a coup, the military has at times stimulated anti-democratic behavior to serve its own vanity and run counter to the law. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters had camped in front of the military headquarters, with the complicity of the armed forces, providing the perfect breeding ground for the January 8, 2023 coup attempt.

In fact, the Brazilian version of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots is a cautionary tale of how a coup attempt may take place even after the autocrat steps down. While Trump, who was still in office, stirred a mob to invade Congress and prevent the session that would certify the 2020 election results, chaos spread by pro-Bolsonaro hordes took place one week after Lula had been sworn in. Even under Lulas authority, the military did nothing to stop the destruction in Brasilia.

One year on, some members of the military still seem to be testing the limits of democracy. A few days ago, following the arrest of some active and retired officials in the federal police operation, former Bolsonaro vice-president and now Senator Hamilton Mouro went as far as to call on the military to stand up against the Supreme Courts arbitrary and persecutory ruling.

Mouro, a retired general turned politician, is not alone in his disgust at the rule of law. According to a national poll that ran the day after the February 8 probe, the country remains very much divided regarding Bolsonaro: 36.8% of respondents believe the former president did not attempt to stage a coup, 42.2% consider that he is being unfairly persecuted and 47.3% think Brazilians live under a judicial dictatorship.

This is all too symptomatic of a country that has yet to exorcise the demons of its dictatorial past and move beyond its deeply polarised present. Judges and politicians who are committed to democratic values must work together to fight and punish authoritarian populism in all its forms.

However, as long as Bolsonaro remains a central figure in Brazilian politics, this scenario is unlikely to change and it may even get worse if Trump is elected again in the US. Although Bolsonaro is currently ineligible to stand for office, a political comeback is not unimaginable should democratic institutions fail to do their job.

Link:
Why Bolsonaro failed to overthrow democracy and why a threat remains - The Conversation

Hey readers, this article originally went out as a new newsletter were calling Democracy, Empowered. It will include our election coverage, ways for you to get involved, important election information and dates. If you find the newsletter helpful, you can sign up for it online. Well be sending it out about once a week.

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Even if youre not registered to vote, you can do same-day registration during the early voting period. Learn how here. Also, if you decide to vote early, you can visit any precinct youd like to cast your vote. Find Guilford County polling locations here and Forsyth County locations here. If youre voting on Election Day (March 5), you have to go to your assigned precinct. Find where that is here. A reminder! All voters need ID to vote this year. Learn more about what counts as a valid ID here.

Want to make it easy on yourself before you go vote? Download or print out your sample ballot and then circle or write down which candidates you want to vote for. You can also find a physical copy of our issue out on the streets now and mark that up if youd like! Easy peasy, extra cheezy.

Do you know who youre going to vote for in the state attorney generals race? What about lieutenant governor? If youre confused (its ok, we are too) weve got our comprehensive 2024 Primary Election Guide out now that has every single candidate on the ballot in the Triad from president all the way down to school board. Can we get a hell yeah?

We know that judicial races often dont get a lot of news coverage. That makes the races hard to understand and difficult to figure out who to vote for. What do the superior and district courts even do? How long are judges elected for? Who is running?

Weve got all of those answers for the Guilford County judicial races in our latest election piece here. Weve also got info for the Forsyth County judicial races in our Primary Guide here. Read it, share it up and then make sure to vote in the primary on March 5! Early voting is already in session.

Weve also got pullout articles about attorney general, governor and the lieutenant governor races.

Its been about a week since early voting started on Feb. 15 and so far, it looks like theres been decent turnout! Heres the rundown courtesy of the John Locke Foundation:

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TCB presents Democracy, Empowered: Everything you need to know to vote this election season - Triad City Beat

American democracy is in dire peril. Enraged at the establishments cowardly response to external threats, a megalomaniac demagogue rides a wave of popular support, appearing before a series of fervently attended political rallies. He threatens to oust an old, sickly, unpopular president, and seize power. Once in control, he clearly means to rule as a strongman.

Sixty years have passed since movie audiences first got to see this scenario played out in the Hollywood thriller Seven Days in May, which starred Burt Lancaster as a mutinous general, and Kirk Douglas as the officer who thwarts his would-be coup. Today, as fears intensify about what Donald Trump plans to do if he recaptures the presidency, the anniversary is a reminder that the nightmare of American dictatorship did not begin with Trump, or the attack on the Capitol. The fear goes all the way back to the Declaration of Independence, which warned of the absolute Tyranny that George III was supposedly plotting to impose on the colonists. Such spectres have haunted America ever since.

Seven Days in May was based on a novel by two political journalists, written to dramatise the creeping fear of the early 1960s that elements in the military posed a serious threat to American democracy. President Eisenhower left office in 1961, warning of the unwarranted influence of the military-industrial complex: the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power could, he said, endanger our liberties. The generals bitterly resented the new President Kennedys assertion of control over spending, strategy and troop indoctrination.

Liberal public figures denounced senior officers scarily anti-democratic statements. One congressman cried: We want no military czars in this country. We want no men on horseback. President Kennedy himself took the threat seriously enough to encourage the director John Frankenheimer to turn Seven Days in May into a movie, to alert America to the threat.

Burt Lancasters General Scott was inspired partly by a former general, Edwin Walker, who Kennedy forced out of the army for trying to indoctrinate his troops with far-right propaganda. Walker denounced Kennedy as a communist and, for a time, seemed to be the man on horseback that right-wing extremists yearned for. But Scott was also based on the ferocious chief of the air force, General Curtis LeMay, who clashed with Kennedy over the botched covert invasion of Cuba in 1961, and his terrifyingly gung-ho approach to nuclear war.

So why didnt the movies nightmare scenario actually happen? One reason was that, as ever when fact inspires fiction, messy reality becomes overly neat and simple. There was a crucial difference between the two men the movie melded together. One was a general, the other a former general. Walker became a public demagogue, but was not powerful; LeMay was powerful, but did not turn demagogic while in uniform. Eventually, he did take part in a far-right push for power as the presidential running-mate of the segregationist George Wallace. But when they lost, he accepted the result.

So on one level, Seven Days in May was simply a centrist nightmare that did not come to fruition. Its lesson is that you cant watch over democracy by looking for vague spectres; you have to be specific about the nature of the threat. But with that in mind, eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty.

This vigilance has proven to be a price worth paying under a new Trumpian paradigm. Its little surprise that fears of military coups and civil wars have crept back into the cultural landscape: take A24s bluntly titled Civil War slated to release this year. Perhaps, the films trailer leads us to believe, a dystopian future of gun-toting secessionist militias is closer to becoming reality than wed like to think.

If he wins in November, Trump seems prepared to deploy soldiers against protestors. Today, the militarys willingness to disobey the president may yet become a hot political issue once again: this time, not to destroy democracy, but to save it.

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Prepare for the battle between the President and the US Army - Yahoo News

The time has come again for Ohio University to host its annual Baker Peace Conference, which brings speakers from all over the world to speak to students.

The focus of this year's conference is labeled Democracy in Decline? The Politics of Pluralism, Participation, and Populism with keynote speaker Leopoldo Lopez and panels of speakers from Europe, Africa and South America.

Lopez originates from Venezuela and was imprisoned for seven years for leading nonviolent street protests. He escaped the autocratic regime and began working in Spain as the co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, which advocates for human rights and democracy in autocracies.

The issue of democracy is something that we are getting a lot out in our media, Alec Holcombe, director of the Contemporary History Institute and chair of the Baker Peace Conference, said. I think it's useful to have that perspective. It's saying this issue of democracy and how it manifests in other countries as well. What are the challenges that other countries are facing?

Holcombe also mentioned how the issue of democracy is discussed a lot in the U.S., but a new perspective is important for understanding.

This year, the conference will feature high-profile panelists including Filipe Campante speaking about Brazil, Miles Taylor from Britain and Michael Walsh, who will be speaking about democracy in South Africa.

The second set of panelists will include German-Canadian journalist Aaron G. Burnett, Marie Jourdain, who currently works for the French Ministry of Defense, Krisztina Koenen a Hungarian journalist and Zofia Kostrzewa, who works in the Warsaw office at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The panels give students an opportunity to engage with experts from all around the world about democracy in their countries, the U.S. and the influence of international affairs on democracy. A key idea panelists will be speaking on is the health of democracy around the world and the perspectives of people from different countries and how they see democracy.

One of the things that makes me happiest about these talks is that they bring interesting people from around the world to a part of the country that maybe doesn't often get visitors from backgrounds like these people, he said. I love the opportunity that it poses. You get to interact with people from far away, but I suppose I'm also happy for the people from around the world to get a chance to see this part of the country.

Holcombe elaborated on his excitement for students to attend and learn something new.

I guess I have hoped that it would spark their curiosity about other places in the world and be interested in politics that are going on in other countries, Holcombe said.

The Baker Peace Conference has been around since 1988, in conjunction with the Contemporary History Institute, which hosts other events throughout the year including the Elizabeth Evans Baker speaker series.

The conference is also sponsored by the Baker Peace Studies Program, which provides educational opportunities to learn about peace and democracy around the world.

I thought it would be a really stimulating and fun experience, Holcombe said. It's an opportunity to get to know some interesting people from around the world, and also I enjoy the challenge of it.

Previous conference topics have included communism, the Vietnam War and its legacy, the shaping of the Middle East and the effect other historical events have had on various countries.

This years conference began Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with the keynote speaker at Galbreath Chapel and will continue with the two panels on Friday in Alden Library from 10 a.m. to noon and 3-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

mg977922@ohio.edu

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Baker Peace Conference to discuss 'Democracy in Decline?' - The Post