#criminalizingdissent — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #criminalizingdissent, aggregated by home.social.
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#HongKong 's #Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison
by Koh Ewe, September 11, 2026
"Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on #TiananmenSquare protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
"Two of the defendants - Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 - were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law.
"A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.
"For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland #China.
"These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear."Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.
"On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.
"According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had 'incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power', according to a summary on Friday.
"Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.
"Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was 'prepared to be arrested' and 'willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy'."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/16o4Z#WorldPol #NeverForgetTiananmen #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent
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#HongKong 's #Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison
by Koh Ewe, September 11, 2026
"Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on #TiananmenSquare protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
"Two of the defendants - Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 - were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law.
"A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.
"For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland #China.
"These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear."Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.
"On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.
"According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had 'incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power', according to a summary on Friday.
"Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.
"Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was 'prepared to be arrested' and 'willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy'."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/16o4Z#WorldPol #NeverForgetTiananmen #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent
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#HongKong 's #Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison
by Koh Ewe, September 11, 2026
"Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on #TiananmenSquare protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
"Two of the defendants - Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 - were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law.
"A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.
"For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland #China.
"These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear."Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.
"On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.
"According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had 'incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power', according to a summary on Friday.
"Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.
"Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was 'prepared to be arrested' and 'willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy'."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/16o4Z#WorldPol #NeverForgetTiananmen #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent
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#HongKong 's #Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison
by Koh Ewe, September 11, 2026
"Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on #TiananmenSquare protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
"Two of the defendants - Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 - were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law.
"A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.
"For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland #China.
"These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear."Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.
"On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.
"According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had 'incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power', according to a summary on Friday.
"Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.
"Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was 'prepared to be arrested' and 'willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy'."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/16o4Z#WorldPol #NeverForgetTiananmen #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent
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#HongKong 's #Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison
by Koh Ewe, September 11, 2026
"Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on #TiananmenSquare protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
"Two of the defendants - Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 - were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law.
"A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.
"For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown - a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland #China.
"These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear."Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.
"On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.
"According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had 'incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power', according to a summary on Friday.
"Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.
"Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was 'prepared to be arrested' and 'willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy'."
Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4oArchived version:
https://archive.ph/16o4Z#WorldPol #NeverForgetTiananmen #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent
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#Anthropic Building a #PreCrime System to Surveil #AntiAI #Dissenters, Investigation Shows | Common Dreams
One legal expert said that as AI companies “become more hated, there’s more pressure on them to over-disclose knowing that some of the people they identify for law enforcement shouldn’t be targeted.”
by Brad Reed, September 9, 2026
"The American Prospect on Wednesday published an investigation revealing that top artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is building a predictive surveillance system aimed at tracking activists who are opposed to advanced AI development.
"The Prospect found that Anthropic last month issued a job posting seeking an intelligence specialist to “identify, assess, track, and investigate global threats including geopolitical instability, terrorism, crime, activism, nation-state targeting of the AI sector.”
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anthropic-pre-crime-surveillance#PreCrime #ThoughtCrime #AIResistance #ResistanceIsFertile #AISucks #CriminalizingDissent #TheResistance #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #HumanIntelligence #TechFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#Anthropic Building a #PreCrime System to Surveil #AntiAI #Dissenters, Investigation Shows | Common Dreams
One legal expert said that as AI companies “become more hated, there’s more pressure on them to over-disclose knowing that some of the people they identify for law enforcement shouldn’t be targeted.”
by Brad Reed, September 9, 2026
"The American Prospect on Wednesday published an investigation revealing that top artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is building a predictive surveillance system aimed at tracking activists who are opposed to advanced AI development.
"The Prospect found that Anthropic last month issued a job posting seeking an intelligence specialist to “identify, assess, track, and investigate global threats including geopolitical instability, terrorism, crime, activism, nation-state targeting of the AI sector.”
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anthropic-pre-crime-surveillance#PreCrime #ThoughtCrime #AIResistance #ResistanceIsFertile #AISucks #CriminalizingDissent #TheResistance #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #HumanIntelligence #TechFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#Anthropic Building a #PreCrime System to Surveil #AntiAI #Dissenters, Investigation Shows | Common Dreams
One legal expert said that as AI companies “become more hated, there’s more pressure on them to over-disclose knowing that some of the people they identify for law enforcement shouldn’t be targeted.”
by Brad Reed, September 9, 2026
"The American Prospect on Wednesday published an investigation revealing that top artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is building a predictive surveillance system aimed at tracking activists who are opposed to advanced AI development.
"The Prospect found that Anthropic last month issued a job posting seeking an intelligence specialist to “identify, assess, track, and investigate global threats including geopolitical instability, terrorism, crime, activism, nation-state targeting of the AI sector.”
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anthropic-pre-crime-surveillance#PreCrime #ThoughtCrime #AIResistance #ResistanceIsFertile #AISucks #CriminalizingDissent #TheResistance #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #HumanIntelligence #TechFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#Anthropic Building a #PreCrime System to Surveil #AntiAI #Dissenters, Investigation Shows | Common Dreams
One legal expert said that as AI companies “become more hated, there’s more pressure on them to over-disclose knowing that some of the people they identify for law enforcement shouldn’t be targeted.”
by Brad Reed, September 9, 2026
"The American Prospect on Wednesday published an investigation revealing that top artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is building a predictive surveillance system aimed at tracking activists who are opposed to advanced AI development.
"The Prospect found that Anthropic last month issued a job posting seeking an intelligence specialist to “identify, assess, track, and investigate global threats including geopolitical instability, terrorism, crime, activism, nation-state targeting of the AI sector.”
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anthropic-pre-crime-surveillance#PreCrime #ThoughtCrime #AIResistance #ResistanceIsFertile #AISucks #CriminalizingDissent #TheResistance #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #HumanIntelligence #TechFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#Anthropic Building a #PreCrime System to Surveil #AntiAI #Dissenters, Investigation Shows | Common Dreams
One legal expert said that as AI companies “become more hated, there’s more pressure on them to over-disclose knowing that some of the people they identify for law enforcement shouldn’t be targeted.”
by Brad Reed, September 9, 2026
"The American Prospect on Wednesday published an investigation revealing that top artificial intelligence firm Anthropic is building a predictive surveillance system aimed at tracking activists who are opposed to advanced AI development.
"The Prospect found that Anthropic last month issued a job posting seeking an intelligence specialist to “identify, assess, track, and investigate global threats including geopolitical instability, terrorism, crime, activism, nation-state targeting of the AI sector.”
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anthropic-pre-crime-surveillance#PreCrime #ThoughtCrime #AIResistance #ResistanceIsFertile #AISucks #CriminalizingDissent #TheResistance #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #HumanIntelligence #TechFascism #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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‘Outrageous’: #Trump Officials Investigated #LeftWing Groups After #AlexPretti Killing in #Minneapolis
One #FirstAmendment advocacy group called the investigation a “disturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.”
Julia Conley
Aug 13, 2026"The Trump administration began the probe under the auspices of investigating whether the groups had provided 'help and money,' as the Times reported, to people who had participated in protests across the #MinneapolisSaintPaul area, where tens of thousands of residents rallied against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) and defended their neighbors from immigration raids last winter.
"Newly released government documents, which were uncovered after an attorney filed a motion with the federal District Court in Minnesota demanding information about the DHS investigation, show that the agency characterized the protesters who opposed ICE as 'violent opportunists and agitators.'
"The investigation included #DHS’ use of administrative subpoenas to obtain financial records from #SunriseMovement, Communications Workers of America [ #CWA ], and the #SEIU, scrutinizing what the agency called 'domestic terrorist financing.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-left-wing
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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YIKES! Please read and share this!
via @UnicornRiot
"We’ve been forced to spend around $55,000 to date because of Energy Transfer’s legal campaign against our freedom of the press.
"We’ve only raised back $38,916 of this so far.
"Your donation helps us keep operating despite corporate attempts to silence us"
https://donorbox.org/unicorn-riot-nodapl-legal-defense
#EnergyTransfer #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #MutualAid #LegalDefenseFund #SilencingDissent #Resistance #CorporateColonialism #Oiligarchy #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism #EnergyTransfer #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRockSioux #IndigenousResistance #IndigenousAllies #DAPL #NorthDakota #StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #ErikPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #WaterProtectors #CorporateFascism #StandingRockReservation
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WTF!!! #DHS Tells #Police That Common #Protest Activities Are ‘Violent Tactics’
DHS is urging law enforcement to treat even #skateboarding and #livestreaming as signs of violent intent during a protest, turning everyday behavior into a pretext for police action.By Dell Cameron, Jul 10, 202
"The #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity is urging local police to consider a wide range of protest activity as violent tactics, including mundane acts like riding a #bike or livestreaming a police encounter, WIRED has learned.
"WIRED has made this article free for all to read because it is primarily based on reporting from Freedom of Information Act requests [#FOIA]. Please consider subscribing to support our journalism.
"Threat bulletins issued during last month’s '#NoKings' #protests warn that the US government’s aggressive immigration raids are almost certain to accelerate domestic unrest, with DHS saying there’s a 'high likeliness' more Americans will soon turn against the agency, which could trigger #confrontations near federal sites.
"Blaming intense media coverage and backlash to the US military deployment in #LosAngeles, DHS expects the #demonstrations to 'continue and grow across the nation' as #protesters focused on other issues shift to #immigration, following a broad 'embracement of #AntiICE messaging.'
"The bulletins—first obtained by the national security nonprofit #PropertyOfThePeople through public records requests—warn that officers could face assaults with fireworks and improvised weapons: #paint-filled fire extinguishers, smoke grenades, and projectiles like #bottles and #rocks.
"At the same time, the guidance urges officers to consider a range of #nonviolent behavior and common #ProtestGear—like #masks, #flashlights, and #cameras—as potential precursors to violence, telling officers to prepare 'from the point of view of an adversary.'
"Protesters on #bicycles, #skateboards, or even 'on foot' are framed as potential 'scouts' conducting reconnaissance or searching for 'items to be used as weapons.' #Livestreaming is listed alongside '#doxxing' as a 'tactic' for 'threatening' police. Online posters are cast as ideological #recruiters—or as participants in 'surveillance sharing.'
"One list of 'violent tactics' shared by the Los Angeles–based Joint Regional Intelligence Center—part of a post-9/11 fusion network—includes both protesters’ attempts to avoid identification and efforts to identify police. The memo also alleges that face recognition, normally a tool of law enforcement, was used against officers.
"Vera Eidelman, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union [#ACLU], says the government has no business treating #constitutionally protected activities—like #observing or #documenting police—as threats.
"#DHS did not respond to a request for comment."
Read more:
https://www.wired.com/story/dhs-tells-police-that-common-protest-activities-are-violent-tactics/#ACAB #FusionCenters #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Resistance #Journalism #PoliceState #CriminalizingDissent #Protestors #Protest #USPol #CriminalizingProtest #Orwell #BigBrother #DoublePlusUngood #SurveillanceState #NaziPatrol #NineteenEightyFour
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3 ways #Trump's #immigration #crackdown could hit #USCitizens
Brittany Gibson, Apr 23, 2025
"#Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.
"Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.
"They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to #dissenters.
"Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:
1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.
This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.
Some officials say U.S. citizens who #criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing #immigrants with "#KnowYourRights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.3. Questioning the authority of court orders.
The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return #AbregoGarcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a #USCitizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.
A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
"If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.
"If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"
The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.
Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.
"People are realizing that this is going to impact all communities," Talbot said, "and that if one citizen can be picked up, then any of us can be picked up and put into proceedings, or labeled a #terrorist, or removed to a foreign prison."
Original article:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-immigration-crackdown-us-citizensArchived version:
https://archive.ph/wUUdG#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #USPol #DontQuestionBigBrother #Fascism #Authoritarianism #MemoryHoled #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #WaterDefenders #LandDefenders #Resisters #HumanRightsDefenders #IhrePapiereBitte #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Nazis #SecretPolice
#Disappeared #USCitizens #ICEDetention
#IllegalDeportations #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Deportations #Disappeared #MemoryHoled #NineteenEightyFour #DoublePlusUngood -
From 2019: Criminalization of #HumanRights Defenders of #IndigenousPeoples Resisting #ExtractiveIndustries in the United States
Report to the Inter-American
Commission on Human RightsPrepared by the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program on behalf of the Water Protector Legal Collective
6/24/2019
Introduction
1. Peaceful demonstrations are a catalyst for the advancement of human rights. Yet around the world governments are criminalizing dissent and suppressing public #protest, often as a means to protect #CorporateInterests. In this context, indigenous peoples increasingly find themselves as the subjects of arrests, criminal prosecution and police violence when defending the lands they rely upon for their existence and survival from #ResourceExtraction by industries who are operating without the free prior and informed consent of the affected communities.
2. This report is submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (#IACHR) in conjunction with a thematic hearing held during the 172nd period of sessions. At the hearing,
Commissioners heard directly from those involved in the indigenous-led resistance to the #DakotaAccessPipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock, North Dakota. This report addresses the criminalization and suppression of protest by indigenous human rights defenders and their allies by United States (U.S.) federal, state and local governments, working hand-in-hand with private security forces [#Blackwater], specifically in relation to the construction and operation of #DAPL by #EnergyTransfer
Partners and Dakota Access, LLC (Dakota Access) and the connected #BayouBridgePipeline (collectively the “#BakkenPipeline”).3. Standing Rock is an emblematic case of #IndigenousResistance to extractive industry that drew attention from around the world as water protectors met on the banks of the #MissouriRiver in peaceful assembly in what was the largest gathering of indigenous peoples in the U.S. in 100 years. Standing Rock is merely one example of how the U.S. government works with industry to approve energy projects carried out without the meaningful participation or consent of
indigenous nations. Indigenous peoples are left with no choice but to peacefully protest and then are criminalized for their efforts to defend their lands and resources.4. Since Standing Rock, there has been an alarming trend by the United States government and state legislatures to criminalize opposition to pipelines and other energy projects. These #AntiProtest and so-called “#CriticalInfrastructure laws” progress towards criminalizing dissent and implicitly condone the use of excessive force towards human rights defenders, often including indigenous peoples and their allies who are at the forefront of resistance to extractive industries. As the international community has acknowledged, these laws are incompatible with domestic and international law. The governments’ use of excessive force and mass arrests to threaten, intimidate, and silence “#WaterProtectors” seeking to defend their lands, resources, and #culture, and the collusion with private security forces, violate fundamental human rights to #FreeSpeech and Aassembly enshrined in international human rights law and the #USConstitution.
5. The information provided here builds on a 2016 request for Precautionary Measures filed by the #StandingRock, #CheyenneRiver and #YanktonSioux tribes, past Commission hearings on similar matters that remain unsettled, and reports on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Activities, and the Criminalization of #HumanRightsDefenders. In addition, the United Nations has reported on the situation at #StandingRock through the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of of indigenous peoples. Despite condemnation from these international bodies and mechanisms, water protectors continue to suffer impacts from the criminalization of their dissent, while the United States moves forward permitting new #pipeline projects on indigenous territories.
#HR9495 #StopHR9495 #CriminalizingDissent #Fascism #Authoritanism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CorporateFascism #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #ErikPrince #ErikPrinceColonialism #Blackwater #StandWithStandingRock #NoMiningWithoutConsent #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #StandingRockSioux #LandDefenders #WaterDefenders #WaterProtectors #DefendTheSacred