#silencingdissent — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #silencingdissent, aggregated by home.social.
-
#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
-
#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
-
#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
-
#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
-
#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
-
Trump Goes After Anonymous Email Provider in Italy. The Real Target Is Free Speech in the U.S.
Trump designated an Italian web-hosting provider as a foreign “terror” group. It could take #antifascist sites in the U.S. offline.
Matt Sledge
August 28 2026"In the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s war on the left, the U.S. government’s designation of a popular antifascist webhosting provider as a terror group could shutter a swath of radical websites in the U.S.
"Secretary of State #MarcoRubio and Treasury Secretary #ScottBessent announced Wednesday that they were targeting the Italy-based A/I Collective with terror sanctions. Federal law gives the Treasury Department broad discretion to apply the terror label to foreign groups.
"A wide array of #anarchist, antifascist, and #FarLeft groups in the U.S. and abroad use the privacy-minded collective’s offerings, including an anonymous email service and its popular noblogs.org blogging platform.
"The practice of designating an internet platform and service provider as a terror group — rather than those pursuing violence themselves — has 'huge' implications for the future free speech on the internet, warned Jillian York, the director of international freedom of expression at the #ElectronicFrontierFoundation.
" 'They are going after the messenger,' York said. 'I don’t think that the members of the group would necessarily condone the actions of the people that they hosted. What they do condone is the freedom to host, the ability to be anonymous, the ability to be private.'
"The A/I Collective told The Intercept that it is exploring its legal options to fight the sanctions, which block U.S. citizens and companies from providing the group with financial support.
"In an unsigned statement, the group said that it denies the U.S. government’s allegations.
" '#Antifascism and #anticapitalism are not #terrorism ,' the group said. '#Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for #humanity.' " [And #MotherEarth ! ]
Source:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/28/trump-antifa-terrorist-websites-free-speech/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4ETk2#FreeSpeech #AutisticiInventati #Solidarity #USPol #WorldPol #SolidarityWithAutisticiInventati #FreedomOfExpression #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
-
#US Manufactured Crimes and Spied on Peaceful #Protesters During #Minneapolis Metro Surge, New Court Filing Reveals
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 14, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS -- "While #Dakotas were praying at a #SacredSpring for those held in federal detention at the #WhippleBuilding in Minneapolis -- the U.S. government was spying on, and stalking, the #WhippleWatchers, a new court document reveals.
"The government is refusing to release all of its documents on its surveillance of those watching the Whipple building. The Whipple building is on the site of a former concentration camp, where Dakota and Ho Chunk were imprisoned, suffered and died.
" 'The government admits withholding at least five #ProjectWhippleShield #ROIs (Reports of Investigation) from the initial disclosures,' the court filing states.
"In the current case, the court document for discovery filed yesterday describes how the U.S. government spied on and tracked peaceful protesters during the #resistance to #OperationMetroSurge.
"Not only were peaceful protesters spied on, #stalked and #doxxed, but the #surveillance was carried out to #ManufactureCrimes when none existed, states the court document filed by a defense attorney for one of the government's targets."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/us-manufactured-crimes-and-spied-on.html#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent
#CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity -
Oh look. Our #BigTechOverlords don't want us to diss their #AISucks technology!
US law enforcement warns of “#AntiTech extremism” as #AIHatred grows
The feds are raising the alarm about a new category of threat.
Daniel Boguslaw, WIRED.com – May 27, 2026
Excerpt: "In the wake of attacks on CEOs, a nationwide protest movement targeting data centers, and increasing concerns about AI job replacement, federal intelligence agencies and domestic law enforcement are circulating reports with a new domestic target in mind: #AntiTechnologyExtremists.
"More than 1,000 pages of unpublished reports from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and fusion centers obtained by WIRED show a national shift taking place to surveil this new and worryingly broad category of people and activities deemed an emerging threat.
"This new effort follows President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo 7, which instructs the Department of Justice to target anyone holding '#AntiAmerican,' '#AntiChristian,' and '#AntiCapitalism' beliefs. Earlier this month, #Trump’s counterterrorism czar, #SebastianGorka, released a public counterterrorism strategy claiming that left-wing extremists are one of the three top counterterrorism priorities facing the United States.
"Taken together, these Trump administration directives have commandeered the domestic surveillance apparatus to surveil and criminalize speech and assembly that challenges the ideology of the White House. A new focus on anti-technology extremism adds an unreported category to already public designations under a presidency that has heavily invested political and material capital in #AI and #datacenter proliferation.
"Among the documents in the tranche obtained by WIRED is a New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report that warns of widespread upheaval in response to AI adoption. Of particular note is a novel term for what the bureau purports to be an emerging extremism threat."
#ResistAI #DatacenterMortoriums #SurveillanceState #BigTechBrother #TechnoFascism #PoliceState #USPol #LowTech #NoTech #TrebuchetTime #TechOverlords #AIResistance #ExhumingMcCarthy #SilencingDissent
-
#RightToProtest is under attack in #England and #Wales, reports warn
#HumanRightsWatch and Justice say recent legislative changes have had a chilling effect and should be repealedby Haroon Siddique
Thu 8 Jan 2026"The right to protest is under attack in England and Wales with laws trampling over human rights protections and more oppressive restrictions in the pipeline, two major reports have warned.
"Both Human Rights Watch and the cross-party law reform organisation Justice say recent legislative changes have created a chilling effect on lawful protest and should be repealed. Their reports, simultaneously published on Thursday, also say that proposals for more curbs should be halted.
"They highlight the arrest of Republic #AntiMonarchy protesters during King Charles’s coronation, charges and arrests of #ProPalestinian demonstrators and long sentences for #ClimateProtesters as examples of the crackdown on the right to peaceful dissent.
"Fiona Rutherford, chief executive of Justice, said: 'Year by year, we see police powers grow, as our fundamental right to protest is treated more like a privilege. The law in this area has become dangerously unbalanced, empowering the state to silence voices it should be safeguarding. Reversing this trend is essential to restoring trust, protecting rights and preserving a healthy democracy.'
"Lydia Gall, a senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: 'The UK is now adopting protest-control tactics imposed in countries where democratic safeguards are collapsing. The UK should oppose such measures, not replicate and endorse them.'
"Both reports say that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the #PublicOrderAct 2023 were watershed moments, criminalising large amounts of previously lawful protest activity and placing a greater emphasis on preemptive containment of protest through criminal law.
The 2022 law granted police authority to impose conditions on public assemblies on grounds such as causing 'serious unease' or being 'too noisy', described by Human Rights Watch as 'vague and subjective'.
"Members of the public can be arrested for carrying items – described as innocuous by Justice – including cable ties, bike locks or glue, on suspicion that they may be used for 'locking‑on'."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/KORuE#CriminalizingProtest #SilencingDissent #EnvironmentalActivists #GazaGenocide #HumanRights #AntiProtestLaws
#RightToProtest #ACAB #UKPol #JustStopOil #PalestineAction -
From 2022: #NSW Police Use #AntProtest Laws to Monitor Tour Groups
by Paul Gregoire & Ugur Nedim,13 Oct 2022
Excerpt: "#SilencingDissent
"Back in 2014, then NSW premier Mike Baird told a NSW mining industry dinner that his government was going to 'crackdown' on those who choose to break the law when they protest. And he singled out '#protesters who unlawfully enter #mining sites.'
"A little over a year later, the Coalition government followed through with the premier’s promise when it passed a series of harsh #AntiProtestLaws, under the Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016.
"The legislation created the new offence of aggravated unlawful entry on inclosed lands. Section 4B of the #InclosedLand Protection Act 1901 provides that interfering, or attempts to interfere, with the conduct of a business on enclosed land can land a #protester with a fine of up to $5,500.
"Under the provisions of the bill, police were provided with additional powers to stop, search, detain, and seize the property of protesters, as well as being given the power to shutdown a peaceful protest if it is #ObstructingTraffic.
"And the bill also inserted a definition of #mine into section 201 of the #CrimesAct 1900, so that the offence of interfering with a mine includes #coal seam #gas exploration and extraction sites. This offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.
"The #WilpinjongThree
"Bev Smiles, Bruce Hughes and Stephanie Luce are the first people to be up on protesting charges since the laws were changed. In April last year, the three were arrested for protesting outside the #Wilpinjong #CoalMine in #Wollar.
"The three are up on charges of rendering a road belonging to a mine useless and hindering the working equipment belonging to a mine. These are both offences that carry the penalty of seven years imprisonment.
"When the trio appeared at Mudgee Local Court on February 9, the presiding magistrate rejected police claims that the Wollar-Ulan Road, where the defendants were arrested, actually belonged to the mining company.
" 'They have pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting a judgment on the case,' Mr Phillips explained. 'The outcome of that case will be important.” If the three have 'the book thrown at them' then it’s likely to discourage the protesting of coal mines in NSW."
#AustraliaPol #AusPol #CriminalizingProtest #NoMining #CoalMines #UraniumMines #Australia #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #LandBack
-
So, all those individual state #AntiProtestLaws are looking like the national standard now. #EnvironmentalActivists are the next target of the #TrumpRegime, which you knew was coming. And it isn't just in the #US... Similar laws are being pushed or have been passed in the #UK, #Australia, etc. The #CIA authored #JapanSecrecyAct was just the beginning...
-
#PrivatePrison Companies Set to Make Billions Reopening #Jails for #ICE
“There’s a private interest behind the #detention and the incarceration of our community,” said an #activist #protesting the facilities.
by Sophie Hurwitz, March 6, 2025
Excerpt: "Late Wednesday afternoon, private prison company CoreCivic announced it would be reopening a notorious family detention center in South Texas, under an amended contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The facility, first built in 2014, will house up to 2,400 people, including children. It had been shut down last year to save costs, after years of reports suggesting poor treatment, including a report of one toddler who died due to a lack of medical care.
"The reopening is part of a trend. CoreCivic isn’t the only company bringing back facilities. We are at the beginning of what looks like a private prison boom, as the groups profit off President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation. They are set to make billions. As the Washington Post reported, the GEO Group and CoreCivic stand to benefit in particular from #Trump’s immigration plans—the companies hold at least 16 vacant facilities that can be reopened within months for mass detention and deportation.
"The GEO Group announced in late February that it would be reopening #DelaneyHall in #NewarkNJ, as a “massive” immigration detention center with 1,000 beds. In California, ICE is considering repurposing and reopening the women’s prison #FCIDublin, closed last year due to mass #SexualAbuse, for #ImmigrantDetention. In Baldwin, Michigan, ICE and the GEO Group have expressed interest in reopening #NorthLake Correctional Facility, a former private prison shuttered in 2022. (A Biden administration order directed the Department of Justice to allow contracts with private prison groups to expire.) In #LeavenworthKS, CoreCivic looks likely to partner with ICE to reopen yet another shuttered private prison, documents obtained by the #ACLU revealed.
"As of February 27, ICE held 43,759 detainees, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan data-gathering organization. Trump is putting pressure on ICE to increase the number of arrests per day. His administration has already fired one ICE director, ostensibly for not deporting enough people.
"In the communities surrounding these new jails for migrants, activists and politicians are fighting back. In Newark, where the GEO Group stands to make $1.2 billion by reopening Delaney Hall, the immigrant rights organization Make the Road is planning a rally against the jail March 11."
#USPol #TrumpSucks #BigUglyBill #BigBeautifulBill #PrisonState #SilencingDissent #IndefiniteDetention #ICE #protesters #CoreCivic #GEOGroup #ResistICE #Resistance
-
The #PrivatePrison Industry Looks Forward to Soaring Profits Thanks to #Trump’s Budget
The $45 billion for immigration #detention in the "Big, Beautiful Bill" represented a long-sought win for #PrivatePrisons.
by Matt Sledge, July 10 2025
"The private prison industry saw its influence wane under Joe Biden, but it remains dominant in the business of immigration detention. So when President Donald Trump signed the so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' on July 4, dedicating $45 billion to immigration detention with a goal to double or triple the population behind bars, it was a huge payoff.
"The victory was in the works for years. A private prison company handed consulting and lobbying gigs to Trump’s allies, its political action committee was the first to max out its donation to Trump, and industry executives had already made plans to reopen shuttered prisons — laying the groundwork for what they promised investors would be an incarceration bonanza.
"In the 2024 election cycle, employees and PACs affiliated with the publicly traded industry behemoths #GEOGroup and CoreCivic contributed overwhelmingly to #Republicans and Trump.
"Republicans received 92 percent of $3.7 million in contributions affiliated with GEO Group and 96 percent of the $785,000 in contributions affiliated with #CoreCivic, according to #OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group that tracks official disclosures. When Trump won, the two companies gave $500,000 each to his #inaugural committee."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/corecivic-trump-big-beautiful-bill/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/t6cYB#USPol #TrumpSucks #BigUglyBill #BigBeautifulBill #PrisonState #SilencingDissent #IndefiniteDetention #ICE #protesters
-
Supporters rally for #ProPalestinian #protesters arrested in #PortlandME
Aysia Reed,WGME
Thu, July 10th 2025PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) -- "The #MaineCoalitionForPalestine held a rally on Thursday outside of the Cumberland County Courthouse ahead of the criminal court arraignment of pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested in Portland in May.
"Twenty protesters, ages 22 through 87, were arrested in May for blocking Commercial Street.
"Ten of those protesters were arraigned on Thursday morning while the remaining 10 will be arraigned later this month.
"The Maine Coalition for Palestine says they were bringing attention to the #genocide in #Gaza.
"The protesters were charged with class E misdemeanors for obstructing a public way.
"One of the people taken away in handcuffs was #BobSchaible, who's in his 80s [87 to be exact].
"He says this was his first time being arrested and said he would do it all over again to inspire action to get humanitarian aid to Gaza.
" 'Congress has to take a stand. We want the Portland people, more of them, to know what is happening,' Schaible said.
"Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights Chair Abby Fuller helped organize the protest in May.
" 'We have written our congressional representatives, we've called them, we've held rallies in the streets, we've done all kinds of things -- everything we can think of. And our government has not changed its policy of support for Israel,' Fuller said.
"Fuller was also arrested and charged with obstructing a public way."
#MaineResists #FreePalestine
#BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliWarCrimes
#GazaGenocide #SilencingDissent #TrafficInterference #CriminalizingProtest #MainePol #Maine #HumanRightsViolations #HumanRights
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong -
#ProPalestinian activists rally outside #PortlandME courthouse to support fellow #protesters
Morgan Womack, Portland Press Herald, Maine
Thu, July 10, 2025Jul. 10—"A group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the #CumberlandCountyCourthouse on Thursday morning ahead of a court hearing for their peers who were arrested at a protest in May.
"More than a dozen people rallied with signs and a #PalestinianFlag as 10 people — half of the group that was previously arrested — awaited their arraignments. During their hearings, they each pleaded not guilty to one count of #obstructing a public way. The rest of the group will appear in court at a later date, the protesters said.
"Jamila Levasseur, 70, of #WaldoME, was one of the 20 people arrested in Portland on May 21 after police accused them of blocking the intersection of Commercial and Pearl streets near the U.S. Custom House. She said at the time that she'd be arrested as many times as necessary to bring attention to the widespread #starvation and ongoing #Israeli airstrikes in #Gaza.
"When appearing at the stand, Levasseur told District Court Judge Jed French that she was 'protesting against #genocide in #Gaza' before entering her not-guilty plea. She referenced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu's recent talks with President Donald #Trump, recognizing their joint strikes on #Iran and discussing plans for a 60-day #ceasefire that would halt Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
" 'Those are the #WarCriminals,' Levasseur said. 'We're not criminals.'
"Levasseur said she couldn't have anticipated that the war would still be going on 21 months after it began. She said she's thankful that a group of attorneys stepped forward to represent the protesters for free, and that the May demonstration in the Old Port attracted a new, larger crowd of supporters.
" 'More and more people are waking up, learning what's going on, horrified, and want to do something,' Levasseur said. 'The people we were arrested with, I didn't even know them all when we were arrested. ... It's not the usual suspects. It's just more ordinary people.'
"Levasseur and #AbigailFuller, 65, of Portland, were also arrested at a February 2024 protest on Franklin Street for obstructing a public way. Their charges in those cases have since been dropped.
"Fuller, who is also a lecturer at the University of Southern Maine, said she felt supported by the group of people outside the courthouse while walking into her arraignment. She pleaded not guilty and also told the judge she was protesting genocide when she was arrested.
" 'It feels good to be starting the process,' Fuller said. 'The Maine courts system takes a really long time, often, to get through, but this is the first step.'
"Fuller said she appreciates seeing new faces at protests, especially as airstrikes and shootings in the #GazaStrip continue, killing people attempting to receive #HumanitarianAid.
" 'Unfortunately, Palestinian deaths are not on the front pages of the newspaper anymore,' Fuller said. 'So, we're trying to keep that in the public eye.' "
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pro-palestinian-activists-rally-outside-224800107.html
#MaineResists #FreePalestine #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliWarCrimes #GazaGenocide #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #MainePol #Maine #HumanRightsViolations #HumanRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
-
'If I wasn't here, people could die': Trump public media cuts could hit rural America
Thomas Copeland, BBC World Service
July 15, 2025"A gale-force storm hit north-eastern #Alaska last winter. Residents of #Kotzebue, a town of about 3,000, are used to polar conditions, so Desiree Hagan still had to get to work.
" 'The snow was so intense you could not see in front of you,' Ms Hagan remembers. 'I was walking backwards to work.'
"Ms Hagan is a reporter at a public radio station, #KOTZ, which airs across Kotzebue and its 12 surrounding villages.
She also happens to be the only US journalist stationed inside the Arctic Circle, so as the storm intensified, she had to get on the air." 'It's go time, I have to report on this,' recalls Ms Hagan. 'We have to make sure we know where people can go. Oh, the electric is out. Okay, now the airport is flooded.'
" 'Winter is not a joke here, it is life and death,' she tells the BBC. 'As a reporter I try not to make emotional statements like, if I wasn't here, people could die, but that is a reality.'
"On the other side of the country in #WashingtonDC, however, a historic vote could bring federal support for KOTZ to an end.
"The Senate must decide by the end of the week whether to claw back $1.1bn (£800m) from the #CorporationForPublicBroadcasting, the body that distributes federal funding to public radio and television stations.
"While the #PublicMedia cuts are part of a broad spending package, which includes requests to rescind $8.3bn from the United States Agency for International Development and other foreign aid programmes, they are especially dear to President Donald Trump, who frequently accuses media of bias."The president has now threatened to pull his support from any Republican senator who does not support the cuts.
" 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday night.
"Executives at National Public Radio (#NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (#PBS) reject accusations of bias and say they abide by all journalistic standards.
"Republican voters, however, are about three times less likely than Democrats to consume or trust news coverage from either outlet, according to the Pew Research Center.
"While the cuts will affect national broadcasters like NPR and PBS, more than 70% of federal funding goes to local media stations and about 45% of the stations that received funding in 2023 are in rural areas.
"For half of those rural stations, federal grants made up a quarter or more of their revenue. At KOTZ in Kotzebue, public funding constitutes 41% of its income.
" 'By no means is it assured of being passed in the Senate, where many of the Republican senators represent rural states that really do benefit from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,' Democratic congressman Dan Goldman, co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, told the BBC World Service's Weekend programme.
"Republican Senator #LisaMurkowski of Alaska has said she opposes the cuts to public media stations, warning that "what may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska".
'Almost to a number, they're saying that they will go under if public broadcasting funds are no longer available to them,' Murkowski told a Senate hearing last month. "Read more:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20w51rkw4no?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-usArchived version:
https://archive.ph/ltoA4#USSenate #BudgetCuts #CPB #CPBFunding #PublicRadio #PublicTelevision #CollegeRadio #CommunityRadio #TrumpSucks #TrumpHatesThePoor #USPol #Censorship #Fascism #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #TrumpIsABigUglyDespot
-
Police arrest 83-year-old at silent protest against Palestine Action ban
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyGOmqk_XsQ
“we are losing our civil liberties”
Police in London have arrested an 83-year-old woman for holding a sign expressing support for Palestine Action, the activist group was recently proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.
#London #Protest #CivilLiberties #AbuseOfPower #Terrorism #WarCrimes #AntiGenocide #SilencingDissent #PalestineSolidarity #StandUpFightBack #CriminalGovernment #UK
-
Congressional Analysis: #GOP Tax Gifts to #Rich Would Explode Deficit They Always Complain About
"This bill gives enormous additional tax cuts to wealthy people and corporations, spikes the deficit, and strips healthcare from millions of Americans," said one critic.
Jessica Corbett
May 13, 2025Excerpt: " 'Reckless tax cuts for the top and new corporate loopholes appear to be the big features of this bill, and they're paid for by cutting our healthcare and making American communities more vulnerable to floods, fires, and storms,' she stressed. 'The revenue raisers—which don't stop this from being extremely expensive—seem to be about picking winners and losers, rather than passing rational, consistent policies.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-reconciliation-package
#BigUglyBill #Environment #Ethics #TaxBreaksForTheRich #CorporatePolluters #AirIsLife
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife
#TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor #Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent #USPol #HR9495 #StopHR9495 #TaxPackage #Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule
#FightForTheFuture -
What’s in Trump’s big bill? Trillions in tax cuts, changes to Medicaid and more
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
Updated 8:21 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "#Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald Trump’s big bill of #TaxBreaks, #SpendingCuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises.
"House committees have been laboring for months to draft the legislation, which Republicans have labeled 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,' a nod to Trump himself. Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to approve the package and send it to the Senate by Memorial Day.
"Democrats say they will fight what House party leader #HakeemJeffries calls 'this extreme and toxic bill.' "
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-cuts-bill-medicaid-work-requirements-17cbde167f3b434e925a199c3253b8e1#BigUglyBill #Environment #Ethics #StudentLoans #Medicaid #TaxBreaksForTheRich
#CorporatePolluters #AirIsLife
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife
#MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor
#AntiLife #Greenpeace
#Indivisible #FreePalestine
#CREW #PeaceAndJustice
#Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #HR9495 #StopHR9495
#TaxPackage #Authoritarianism
#AuthoritarianRule
#FightForTheFuture
#Section112209 -
This is what I sent to Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King...
Dear Senator Collins / King, I beg you to vote "no" on Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." The passing of this will hurt many Mainers, and could impact Maine non-profits (Section 112209). Many Mainers are already struggling to pay their bills, and putting more of a burden on them, while giving tax breaks to the rich is unfair to working and disabled Mainers. Thank you.
#HR9495 #BigBeautifulBill #BigUglyTaxBill #ToxicBill #Environment #Ethics #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor #CorporatePolluters #Corporatocracy
#CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent #USPol
#HR9495 #TaxPackage
#Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #StopHR9495 #FightForTheFuture
#Section112209 -
House Republicans look to help Trump strip tax-exempt status of nonprofits he says support terrorism
By ALEXA ST. JOHN and MATTHEW DALY
Updated 1:37 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "A proposal by Republicans in Congress would allow President Donald Trump’s administration to remove the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that it says support #terrorism, creating what some #nonprofits say is an arbitrary standard to financially punish #charities that advocate for issues that don’t align with his agenda.
"Unusual language added Monday to a reconciliation bill from the House Ways and Means Committee — the tax-writing committee — would allow for terminating the tax-exempt status of groups the administration deems 'terrorist supporting organizations.' The language mirrors a bill from the last Congress that passed in the House but did not pass the Senate.
"The definition and criteria for determining whether or how an organization supports terrorism are unclear. The bill also targets nonprofits in other ways, echoing complaints by Trump, who has called the tax-exempt status a 'privilege' that has been 'abused.' Trump has threatened to revoke tax-exempt status for groups that don’t abide by his directives or agree with his views."
[...]
"Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, which represents hundreds of former scientists and regulators, said last month 'we all pay the price' when charitable organizations are silenced based on politics.
"For example, the move to revoke #TaxExempt status could choke off funding for groups that urge greater action to promote clean air, water and land, work to help communities most affected by industrial pollution and advocate for projects and policies to combat #ClimateChange — among other issues.
" 'It threatens the rights, health, and future of every community,' Roos said in a statement.
Last month, Trump said he could target environmental groups and the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."
#Environment #Ethics #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment #TrumpHatesThePoor #AntiLife #Greenpeace #Indivisible #FreePalestine #CREW #PeaceAndJustice #CorporatePolluters #Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SilencingDissent #USPol #HR9495 #TaxPackage #Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #StopHR9495 #FightForTheFuture #Section112209
-
#UCLA #Gaza #Protesters Sue #Cops for Shooting Them in the Head With #RubberBullets
Protesters were being attacked by a #ProIsrael mob when cops showed up and fired at them with rubber bullets — whose use is restricted by law.
Akela Lacy
May 5 2025Police conspired to violently attacks anti-genocide protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles last year, according to a suit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
At the height of the school’s encampment against Israel’s war on Gaza last spring, one of hundreds across the country, a mob of pro-Israel protesters attacked pro-Palestine protesters for more than four hours. On the night of April 30, 2024, police stood by and watched as counter-protesters aimed and shot fireworks, sprayed chemical agents, harassed, and sexually assaulted pro-Palestine protesters, students and faculty alleged last month in a separate, ongoing lawsuit.
Related
NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests or Be Barred from Sitting Final Exams
The day after the melee, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, UCLA administrators, and seven different law enforcement agencies laid plans to dismantle the school’s encampment for good.
UCLA invited multiple outside police forces to campus to clear the encampments on May 1. More than 700 police officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol, the University of California Police Department, and private security were on campus the night of the raid.Protesters are now suing the state of California, which oversees California Highway Patrol, and the city of Los Angeles, which oversees the LAPD, for violence against the demonstrations. The police fired more than 50 rounds of rubber bullets at protesters, striking several people in the head; some of the injuries sent demonstrators to the hospital.
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/05/ucla-gaza-protesters-sue-cops-rubber-bullets/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/j4Duj -
#SilencingDissent: The #Crackdown on #PeacefulProtest in #Europe
In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries.
by Flore du Teilleul
April 10, 2025Excerpt:
"The right to peaceful protest is essential to our democracies, allowing people to come together with a unified voice to support or oppose key issues. It serves as a powerful mechanism for individuals to hold their governments to account and is often the last resort when prior messages go unheard. However, politicians often perceive this right as a threat, especially when force of numbers demonstrates support for an issue."In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries - from bans on individual protests to the disproportionate use of force by the police and legislative changes. A widespread trend emerged of restricted #ProPalestine protests and #EnvironmentalDefenders receiving particularly harsh penalties.
Bans on Protests
"Restrictions on various protest movements justified on public safety grounds were documented in many member states. In #Germany, the Berlin Assembly Authorities implemented a temporary blanket ban targeting pro-Palestine demonstrations. Initially, the ban targeted celebrations of the mass murder and pro-Hamas demonstrations but later extended to all pro-Palestinian protests. Similarly, in #Latvia, an unregistered #FreePalestine movement protest was banned after an assessment by the state security service that the event would, among other risks, harm the country’s international interests.
"The Estonian police banned a protest in support of #Palestinians, which was later declared unlawful by the administrative court. In #Hungary, Prime Minister #ViktorOrbán publicly prejudiced support for Palestinians by linking it with terrorism, equating solidarity with civilians victims to threats to the public order. As the fifteen attempts to organise protests were successively banned, the government and the Prime Minister re-asserted their power by deciding what can be demonstrated for, namely, topics in line with their political interests. Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian government has repeatedly declared and extended the state of danger, allowing for the adoption of emergency decrees restricting, among other rights, the freedom to assemble. Both the Hungarian Supreme Court and Constitutional Court upheld the protest bans on the basis of public safety and security, legalising the practice of police-authorised restrictions in times of conflict.
"Further restrictions, including bans on #slogans and #signs during #demonstrations, sought to criminalise protesters. Several individuals were arrested or fined for displaying signs or slogans related to Palestine. In #Belgium, activists faced administrative sanctions for carrying a #PalestinianFlag or the #keffiyeh. Similarly, in the #Netherlands, attendees of an #ExtinctionRebellion demonstration were prohibited from mentioning the conflict in the Middle East. The enforcement of restrictions went as far as arrests, as Croatian activists were charged with misdemeanor after projecting a message in support of Palestine on a building across from the Israeli Embassy in Zagreb.
"In Hungary, a demonstrator faced criminal charges after wearing a gas mask and removing it after being asked by the police. In a worrying trend of criminalising protest activities, several activists were arrested and charged with sedition before an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in the Netherlands.
Disproportionate use of force by the police
"The criminalisation of environmental and pro-Palestine protesters was worsened by the violent repression of the police through excessive use of force. This was particularly notable in Sweden, where student encampments in support of Palestinians were forcibly displaced and participants were charged with criminal offenses. #PainGrips, water guns and #WaterCannons were used against environmental activists, pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration demonstrators in Germany, the #Netherlands and #Ireland.
"Environmental activists faced similar fates, The NGO ‘#FranceNatureEnvironnement’ reported concerns to the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders following the violent repression of protesters during a demonstration against the A69 highway. In #Sweden, a woman was dismissed from her job at the Swedish Energy Agency for participating in an environmental demonstration and a growing number of #EcoActivists were fined for participating in peaceful protests."
Read more:
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/rule-of-law-2025-protests/45384#RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #EuropeanLaws #Croatia #ACAB #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #EnvironmentalProtests #EnvironmentalActivists
-
Private groups work to identify and report #StudentProtesters for possible #deportation
“Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people,” said a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests and spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing her visa. “We suddenly feel like we’re being forced to think about our survival.”
By ADAM GELLER, March 29, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — "When a protester was caught on video in January at a New York rally against Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask and headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along with her name and employer, were circulated online.
"'Months of them hiding their faces went down the drain!' a fledgling technology company boasted in a social media post, claiming its #FacialRecognition tool had identified the woman despite the coverings.
"She was anything but a lone target. The same software was also used to review images taken during months of #ProPalestinian marches at U.S. colleges. A #RightWingJewish group said some people identified with the tool were on a list of names it submitted to President Donald #Trump’s administration, urging that they be deported in accordance with his call for the expulsion of foreign students who participated in 'pro-jihadist' protests.
"Other #ProIsrael groups have enlisted help from supporters on campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in #Gaza to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency."
Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-students-campus-gaza-protests-deportation-9e2d4abc1c158454da1f68c01062c9ef
#ICERaids #ICEDetentions #ICEArrests #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #MahmoudKhalil #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung #BadarKhunSuri #MomodouTaal #ResistICE #Fascism #Project2025 #ProjectEsther #Authoritarianism #TurdReich -
Dammit! I hate to say, "I told you so," but I TOLD YOU SO!
#Trump allies circulate mass deportation plan calling for ‘processing camps’ and a private citizen ‘army’
The group, led by #Blackwater veteran #ErikPrince, has close Trump ties.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/documents-military-contractors-mass-deportations-022648
#ErikPrinceColonialism #SilencingDissent #PrivateArmy #Russia #Spetsnaz #NightWolves #authoritarianism #NoDAPL #PutinsArmy #Fascism #Academi #TripleCanopy #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #CorporateColonialism #CorporateInterests #WaterIsLife #WaterDefenders #StandWithStandingRock #LandDefenders #BigOilAndGas -
Some headlines from the #ChronicleOfHigherEducation [unfortunately, the articles are behind a paywall]
‘It’s Creating Chaos’: College Presidents Weigh Responses to Trump’s Upheavals
By David Jesse
"The opening weeks of President Trump’s new administration has leaders asking how to weather the consequences of early executive orders — and how to plan for future actions."
An Order to Deport Protesters Leaves International Students Shaken
By Karin Fischer
"Here’s what students have to say about the White House’s plan for revoking visas."
'FACULTY ARE SCARED'
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Sparks Panic, Protests, and ICE Impersonators
By Alissa Gary and Maya Stahl
"Most institutions already have protocols in place to respond to law enforcement. For some faculty and students, campus guidelines aren’t going far enough."
How Florida Scrubbed ‘Identity Politics’ From Universities’ General-Education Curricula
By Emma Pettit and Megan Zahneis
"A sweeping new law required vast curricular change, leading to a confusing implementation that has professors contemplating the limits of their autonomy."
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown #Fascism #SilencingDissent #SignsOfFascism #ResistFascism #USPol #Colleges #Universities
-
The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning
This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.
By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'
"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'
"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.
"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.
"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.
"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.
"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.
"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.
"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.
"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)
"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.
"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work."Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"
Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent -
#NuclearColonialism v. #RedPower
"The world has no shortage of #PoliticalPrisoners – or of environmental martyrs and heroes– but 80-year-old #LeonardPeltier, a #Lakota and #Anishinaabe AIM member, is arguably the most famous, the legal lynching he underwent so outrageous, and his incarceration in a 'maximum security' prison so protracted. Even former FBI agents have themselves essentially contended that Pelter was scapegoated by the FBI for the lethal shooting of two agents–Jack Coler and Ronald Williams– on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Michael Apted’s 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, narrated by Robert Redford, is a good place to start if you’re new to this history. But if you’re looking for insights into the role that #UraniumMining played in the conflict, you’d be better off checking out #PeterMatthiessen’s book #InTheSpiritOfCrazyHorse: Leonard Peltier and the #FBI’s War on The #AmericanIndian ovement. To hear a first-hand account, check out Peltier’s memoir #PrisonWritings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.
"Despite well-documented prosecutorial misconduct powerfully depicted in Apted’s documentary, Peltier’s conviction has yet to be overturned. And in the face of decades of global, high-profile pleas for clemency for Peltier, including by James Reynolds, a “senior US attorney who was involved in [his] prosecution,” no president up until now has been willing to free Peltier. Given that he’s in increasingly poor health, time is running out, and the same president who just pardoned his own son may be Peltier’s last shot at clemency. If you haven’t yet done so, check out the Amnesty International petition– and Amy Goodman’s and Denis Moynihan’s recent column–making the case for his release. The Red Nation media collective also has an extensive playlist of podcasts focused on Peltier’s case and the long struggle to free him.
"Peltier, arguably the world’s most visible casualty of nuclear colonialism, was only three years into his sentence when Santee Dakota organizer John Trudell, his contemporary in AIM, delivered a searing 1980 speech at the Black Hills International Survival Gathering. As Zoltan Grossman has documented, 'Multinational mining companies, such as #UnionCarbide and #Exxon, proposed the development of the #BlackHills for energy resources, including #coal mines, #uranium mines, and coal slurry #pipelines.' The Black Hills gathering brought together a global convergence of more than 10,000 Indigenous activists and non-Native allies to hold the line against a repeat of the 1950s, which, per Grossman, had 'result[ed] in the extensive irradiation of the southern Black Hills community of #Edgemont.'"
Read more:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/11/tis-the-season-to-talk-climate-collapse-nuclear-colonialism-and-freeing-leonard-peltier/
#FreeLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #ACAB #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #SilencingDissent #NoUraniumMining -
It's not over yet... A pox on #Harris for not speaking out against #IsraeliWarCrimes and alienating #ArabAmericans!
House #GOP Moves to Ram Through Bill That Gives #Trump Unilateral Power to Kill #Nonprofits
Dozens of #Democrats still support the bill — giving the Republican-controlled House plenty of breathing room to pass it next week.
Noah Hurowitz
November 15 2024"A controversial '#nonprofit killer' bill is back on track after it was blocked earlier this week.
"A majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives rejected the bill on Tuesday out of fear that it could grant President-Elect Donald Trump legal tools with which to target his ideological foes, but Republicans are swiftly pressing ahead.
"The #StopTerrorFinancing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would empower the secretary of the Treasury to designate any #nonprofit as a '#terrorist supporting organization' and revoke its tax-exempt status, is set to go before the Committee on Rules on Monday for a hearing that could tee up the bill for a new floor vote.
"The hearing was announced Thursday evening, just two days after 144 Democrats and one Republican voted against the bill as part of a fast-track parliamentary procedure that required a two-thirds majority.
"The bill, also known as #HR9495, has come under withering criticism from a broad coalition of organizations that say its sponsors are pushing it as a means of cracking down on free speech — particularly speech in support of #Palestine. In a joint statement earlier this week, a coalition of #ArabAmerican and #MuslimOrganizations pledged to continue to fight the bill.
"'This bill was designed to #criminalize organizations and #activists who oppose the U.S.’s unconditional support of #Israel’s #genocide of Palestinians and the slaughter of #Lebanese civilians,' read the statement, which was signed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslims for Palestine, and others. 'We will continue to stand firm in protecting all organizations’ freedom to speak and operate without fear of political retribution.'
"Offices for the chair and ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, through which the bill must pass, did not respond to requests for comment.
"With #ProIsrael groups lobbying for the bill, it gained popularity among House Democrats, in part due to a provision providing tax relief to Americans held hostage abroad.
"The reelection of Trump, however, galvanized opponents, including Rep. #LloydDoggett, D-Texas, who led the charge to reject the bill on Tuesday. Doggett doubled down on Thursday after learning of the newly scheduled Rules Committee hearing.
"'In this mislabeled bill, House Republicans are hiding behind hostages,' Doggett said in a statement to The Intercept. 'Their rush to reconsider this bill is solely to offer Trump more and more power, while Trump’s nominees for key #NationalSecurity posts this week indicate how he will be using it.'"
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2024/11/15/nonprofits-trump-bill-gop-republicans/#StopHR9495 #CriminalizingDissent #KristiNoem #Blackwater #ErikPrince #Fascism #Autocracy #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #AntiWarActivists #FirstAmendment #WaterProtectors #PeaceActivists #ClimateJustice #ClimateActivists #Protests #StandWithStandingRock #GazaGenocide #LebanonGenocide
-
So, this article outlines what the nominee for director of #HomelandSecurity has planned for #SilencingDissent in the US...
From 2019: South Dakota Governor #KristiNoem Caves on Attempted Efforts to Silence #PipelineProtesters
ACLU, October 24, 2019
"South Dakota’s governor and attorney general today backed down from their unconstitutional attempts to silence pipeline protestors. In response to a lawsuit we filed alongside the ACLU of South Dakota and the Robins Kaplan law firm, the state has agreed to never enforce the unconstitutional provisions of several state laws that threatened activists who encourage or organize protests, particularly protests of the #KeystoneXL [#KXL] pipeline, with fines and criminal penalties of up to 25 years in prison.
"The settlement agreement reached today and now headed to the court for approval is an important victory for the right to protest. It comes soon after a federal court temporarily blocked enforcement of the pieces of the laws that infringed on First Amendment protected speech, and makes the court’s temporary block a permanent one.
"The laws include the #RiotBoostingAct, which gave the state the authority to sue individuals and #organizations for 'riot boosting,' a novel and confusing term. The court warned against the laws’ broad reach, noting that the laws could have prohibited:
- Sending a supporting email or a letter to the editor in support of a protest
- Giving a cup of coffee or thumbs up or $10 to protesters
- Holding up a sign in protest on a street corner
- Asking someone to protest"Under the First Amendment, that is impermissible.
"The court rightly recognized the stakes of this case. And it put these #AntiProtest efforts in perspective, asking 'if these riot boosting statutes were applied to the protests that took place in Birmingham, Alabama, what might be the result?' The answer: 'Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference could have been liable under an identical riot boosting law[.]'
"Indeed, South Dakota’s unconstitutional anti-protest efforts echoed the suppression of past social movements. From the start, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem called on 'shut[ting] down' 'out-of-state people' who come into South Dakota to 'slow and stop construction' of the pipeline. Her harmful calls were reminiscent of government attempts throughout our history to delegitimize and minimize significant #SocialMovements as the work of 'outside agitators,' including Reverend #MartinLutherKingJr.
"South Dakota’s quick and costly retreat (they’ll have to compensate plaintiffs for attorney’s fees under the settlement agreement) should serve as a lesson for other legislatures considering similar efforts to silence dissent.
"In the last few years, we have witnessed a legislative trend of states seeking to criminalize protest, deter political participation, and curtail freedom of association. These bills appear to be a direct reaction from politicians and corporations to some of the most effective tactics of those speaking out today, including water protectors challenging pipeline construction, Black Lives Matter, and those calling for boycotts of Israel. These legislative moves are aimed at suppressing dissent and undercutting marginalized and over-policed groups voicing concerns that disrupt current power dynamics.
"But the First Amendment guarantees people the right to voice their opposition. This includes our clients — four organizations (the #SierraClub, #NDNCollective, #DakotaRuralAction, and the #IndigenousEnvironmentalNetwork - #IEN) and two individuals (#NickTilsen with NDN Collective and #DallasGoldtooth with Indigenous Environmental Network) — all of whom are protesting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and encouraging others to do the same.
"Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline may be imminent. Pre-construction activities resumed this month, and a hearing on the new Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline, which will serve as the basis for approval of any future permits, is coming up next Monday.
"With the laws we challenged proclaimed unenforceable, protesters and protectors no longer have to worry about incarceration or fines as they protest against the construction. That is, at a minimum, how democracy should work."
#WaterProtectors #CriminalizingDissent #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #Fascism #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivists #StandWithStandingRock #FirstAmendment
-
#UNH drops charges against 7 out of 12 people arrested during #ProPalestine #protests
By Jeremy Margolis, Concord Monitor
Published August 1, 2024"A University of New Hampshire prosecutor this week dropped criminal charges against seven of the people arrested during a May 1 pro-#Palestine protest after they reportedly accepted plea agreements.
"The seven cases were dismissed nearly three months after UNH police charged 12 people with disorderly conduct and trespassing, nine of whom were set to be arraigned in Dover District Court on Wednesday.
"The agreements involved 30 hours of community service and a period under which the arrestees must remain in 'good public standing', according to Adeena Ahsan, a UNH graduate student who was not arrested but had been in communication with those offered plea deals.
"UNH prosecutor #FrankWeeks [who is also a police captain] declined to comment on the nature of the plea deals.
"Of the other five people arrested, charges had already been dropped against a 'counter-protester' after a friend of his emailed then-President of UNH James Dean that he had been 'mistaken for a protester,' according to a report from the Boston Globe.
"Cases remain pending against the other four, including against two students who are also facing assault charges. One of them, 21-year-old rising UNH senior #AidanTurner, has said he was mistakenly identified and then violently #arrested by Weeks, the UNH prosecutor who is also a police captain. His case is currently set to go to trial on Sept. 10.
"The other, 29-year-old graduate student #SebastianRowan, has been charged with two counts each of assault on a police officer and #ResistingArrest. His case is currently before a grand jury with an indictment decision expected by Aug. 21, according to court records.
"The other two people – 21-year-old #JasonPerra and 19-year-old #LoganONeill – have trials scheduled for October 2 and 9, respectively. Both have been charged with criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear whether they had been offered a plea deal or not."
#ACAB #NewHampshire #FreePalestine #PoliceBrutality #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CivilDisobedience #StudentsForPalestine
-
Japan asks Denmark to extradite anti-whaling activist #PaulWatson
Denmark announced Thursday that it has received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant. Watson, the 73-year-old founder of #SeaShepherd, is facing charges related to a 2010 confrontation with Japanese #whaling ships, raising concerns over his potential extradition and the motivations behind Japan's request.
Issued on: 01/08/2024
"#Denmark's justice ministry said Thursday that it had received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was detained in #Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant.
"Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd activist group, was arrested on July 21 in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, over a 2010 altercation with Japanese whaling ships.
"Watson, who featured in the reality TV series '#WhaleWars', founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (#CPWF), and is known for #DirectAction tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
"'The Ministry of Justice received a formal extradition request regarding Paul Watson from the Japanese authorities yesterday,' the ministry told AFP in an email."
[...]
"'#Japan has a personal vendetta against #PaulWatson, and this so-called offence is the pretext for revenge against a man who defied and therefore humiliated them,' [Francois Zimeray] told AFP.
"He said an extradition to Japan would be a violation of the European Convention on #HumanRights, since 'the country does not respect international standards on fair trials and prisons.'"
#Greenpeace #Ecocide #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest
#CriminalizingDissent
#BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders #Fascism
#CivilDisobedience #Activism #ClimateActivists #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #Corporatocracy #Article20 #HumanRightsViolations #DefendNature #Japon #SaveOurSeas #FreePaulWatson -
More than 300 #HumanRights activists were killed in 2019, report reveals
#Colombia was the bloodiest nation with 103 murders and the #Philippines was second, followed by #Brazil, #Honduras and #Mexico
by Nina Lakhani, 14 Jan, 2020
"More than 300 human rights defenders working to protect the #environment, #FreeSpeech, #LGBTQ+ rights and #IndigenousLand in 31 countries were killed in 2019, a new report reveals.
"Two-thirds of the total killings took place in #LatinAmerica where impunity from prosecution is the norm.
"Colombia, where targeted violence against community leaders opposing environmentally destructive #megaprojects has spiraled since the 2016 peace accords, was the bloodiest nation with 106 murders in 2019. The Philippines was the second deadliest country with 43 killings, followed by Honduras, Brazil and Mexico.
"2019 was characterized by waves of social uprisings demanding political and economic changes across the globe from Iraq and Lebanon in the Middle East to Hong Kong and India in Asia and Chile in the Americas.
"The report by #FrontLineDefenders (#FLD) details the physical assaults, defamation campaigns, digital security threats, judicial harassment, and gender-based attacks faced by human rights defenders across the world, who were on the frontline of protests against deep seated #inequalities, #corruption and #authoritarianism.
"In the cases for which the data is available, the report found:
• 85% of those killed last year had previously been threatened either individually or as part of the community or group in which they worked.
• 13% of those reported killed were women.
• 40% of those killed worked on land, #IndigenousPeoples and environmental issues."In nearly all countries that experienced mass protests last year, human rights defenders – who mobilized #marches, documented police and military abuses, and helped citizens who were injured or arrested – were specifically targeted.
"For instance, in #Chile, in the biggest anti-government protests since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, at least 23 people were killed and 2,300 injured, with scores blinded by non-lethal projectiles.
"In #Iraq, where #Anticorruption protests during October and November left more than 300 people dead, Saba Al Mahdawi was abducted and held for nearly two weeks by unidentified militants. She was most likely targeted as a result of her work providing food, water and medical aid to injured protesters.
"#Honduras, a key geopolitical US ally, has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman, lawyer, journalist and land or environmental defender since the 2009 military-backed coup unleashed a wave of unchecked violence. Last year, targeted killings in the Central American country increased fourfold compared to 2018, as tens of thousands of people fled a toxic mix of violence, poverty and corruption, and journeyed overland through Mexico to the US southern border in search of security.
Yet despite difficult and frightening circumstances, human rights activists have continued to spearhead positive social changes."For instance, #Mexican #reproductiverights defenders celebrated the legalisation of abortion in the state of Oaxaca – following in the footsteps of Mexico City 12 years earlier. While in Jordan, lawmakers withdrew the cybercrime bill, which proposed restrictions to the freedom of speech and the right to privacy, after a high-profile campaign by civil society groups.
"Andrew Anderson, executive director of FLD, said: 'In 2019, we saw human rights defenders on the frontlines defending and advancing rights in Hong Kong, Chile, Iraq, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Spain and many other cities and towns around the world. And despite repression, they continue to advance visions of their societies and the world that put to shame not only their own governments and leaders, but also the international community.'"
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/jan/14/300-human-rights-activists-killed-2019-report
#DigitalFreeSpeech #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #WaterProtectors #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest