MEDIA ADVISORY & Photo-Op: Tuesday, October 27, Noon ET, Washington, D.C.

CONTACT: David Borden, [email protected] | Eric Lachica, [email protected]

 

Putin, Duterte, and Kim Jong-un Among Authoritarian Leaders to Be Featured Holding Trump Puppets at Tuesday Rally

Photo-Op at Trump International Hotel, Tuesday, October 27, Noon ET

 

On Tuesday, October 27, advocates organized under the banner “Stand with Human Rights and Democracy” will gather (socially distanced) at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.  for an “Autocrat Fair,” warning of a rise in authoritarianism around the world.  Participants will be wearing masks representing eight foreign autocrats including: Putin (Russia), Erdogan (Turkey), Duterte (Philippines), Kim (North Korea), Orban (Hungary), bin Salman (Saudi Arabia), bin Zayed (UAE) and Bolsonaro (Brazil).  They will each be holding a Trump marionette (see photo mock-up below).  A ninth mask will represent Trump himself as the autocrat, manipulating the GOP.

WHAT: Autocrat Fair calling for heightened international action to defend human rights and democracy

WHEN: Noon Eastern Time, Tuesday October 27, 2020

WHERE: Outside Trump International Hotel, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC

WHO: Movement for a Free Philippines, StoptheDrugWar.org, Stand with Human Rights and Democracy/Global Campaign for the Philippines

Background

Stand with Human Rights and Democracy grows out of work the organizers have done to focus world attention on the human rights situation in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016, promising to kill hundreds of thousands of low-level drug law violators.  Human rights organizations estimate that at least 30,000 people have been killed in Duterte’s drug war.  President Trump praised Duterte’s drug war post-election in 2016 and again in April 2017.  The Autocrat Fair will link to Philippines issues through signs displaying Duterte quotes about killings; and with a tenth autocrat figure representing China’s Xi Jinping holding a Duterte marionette – a currently resonant image in Philippine politics.

The gathering will also call for an end to the Trump administration’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court.  The ICC is currently conducting preliminary examinations of human rights situations in nine countries, including the Philippines.  Duterte transmitted notice of the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC’s Rome Treaty in March 2018, following shortly after ICC Prosecutor Bensouda announced her office’s Philippines examination.  The withdrawal became effective a year later, but doesn’t limit the Court’s jurisdiction over crimes committed before that date.

Longtime Filipino American advocate Eric Lachica said, “The Philippines under Duterte has been the world’s premiere laboratory for authoritarian strongmen using demonization and social media manipulation to advance their goals.  Duterte is following in the footsteps of his idol, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and has also called for Trump’s reelection.”

Campaign founder David Borden added, “People need to come together across societies and political boundaries to address the challenges faced by global human rights and democracy, and support the institutions built to defend them.”

Partial mock-up of Tuesday’s Photo-Op including six of the foreign autocrats:

Click here for more photos of our protest art.