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#silencingdissent — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #silencingdissent, aggregated by home.social.

  1. #NorthMinneapolis Chases Out #ICE

    A Firsthand Account of the Response to Another ICE Shooting

    2026-01-15 via #CrimethInc

    Excerpt: "Some overzealous cameraman—I couldn’t tell if it was the same guy from before—muscled his way through the crowd to get a shot of the ICE vehicle receiving this treatment. 'No video!' someone roared at him. 'If you let him take pictures of this shit, somebody is going to jail!' A few people forcefully encouraged the cameraman to turn around and leave the area."

    Read more:
    crimethinc.com/2026/01/15/nort

    #SilencingDissent #Authoritarianism #USPol #ICEOut #Minneapolis #TearGas #FuckICE #ICEOutForGood #Fascism

  2. Resources for #OccupiedCities: including #KYR Materials

    Basic constitutional rights are under attack. We need to educate, agitate and organize quickly, deeply and strategically. This document is a shared resource for organizations and leaders who are stepping up to meet this moment.

    GoogleDoc:
    docs.google.com/document/d/17E

    #USPol #PosseComitatus #PosseComitatusAct #InsurrectionAct #KnowYourRights #OccupiedCities #SilencingDissent #NationalGuard #NationalGuardReactionForces #DHS #ICE

  3. What You Need to Know if President Trump Deploys National Guard Units to Your State.

    "Unresolved Issues Pertaining to State National Guard Units:

    A State Governor has not deployed that State’s National Guard to another State without the consent of the receiving Governor. It would violate state sovereignty and be subject to litigation.

    An unresolved question is whether the President can commandeer a State’s National Guard when a Governor has actively deployed that National Guard.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on whether the President can order one State’s National Guard units to deploy to another state and engage in civilian law enforcement pursuant to 32 U.S.C. § 502(f). This issue may be addressed by the Supreme Court in the appeal from Illinois.

    Read more:
    movementlawlab.org/nationalgua

    #USPol #KYR #NationalGuard #NationalGuardReactionForces #SilencingDissent #SNAPCuts #FoodRiots #PosseComitatus #PosseComitatusAct #KnowYourRights #NoKings

  4. WTF! #Navajo Reporter #MarleyShebala Violently Arrested by #NavajoPolice, After Filing Ethics Complaint on Navajo President #BuuNygren

    By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, October 16, 2025

    WINDOW ROCK, Navajo Nation -- "Navajo Police were sent today to evict Marley Shebala, Dine' Zuni Pueblo reporter, from her home. Marley, 73, screamed in pain as she was arrested by police. Marley had filed an ethics complaint against Navajo President Buu Nygren, and was reporting on the ongoing #corruption in the Navajo tribal government.

    " 'I am 73 years old, and they have me handcuffed in my home with my daughter, our Navajo police, to
    serve and protect' Marley says, as she continues to livestream. Navajo police used a locksmith to enter her home, before the violent arrest."

    Read more:
    bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/10

    #Diné #Dineh #ACAB #Journalists #ReaderSupportedNews #Journalism #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople #UraniumMining #NavajoNation #IndigenousNews #SilencingDissent #CoalMining #TrumpSucks #BeautifulCleanCoal #Cancer #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #EnergyFuels
    #Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
    #Havasupai #UraniumMines
    #EnvironmentalRacism #WhiteMesaMill #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #Ute #Paiute #Hopi #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #RememberKleeBenally #BigCoal #DishonoringTheMemoryOfKleeBenally
    #HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent

  5. #NationalGuard documents show public ‘fear’ and #troops’ ‘#shame’ over #WashingtonDC presence

    By Alex Horton, September 10, 2025

    "The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

    [...]

    "Friday’s assessment highlights 'Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and #demoralization - ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.'

    "The National Guard was ordered to this mission and does not have a responsibility to make it palatable to the public, said Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer who studies civil military affairs for the Center for a New American Security. But, he said, military leaders should think about how deployments with political undertones could have implications for recruiting and sustaining the force.

    "The themes raised in these assessments, Dempsey said, also should give pause to American citizens. National Guard troops are overseen by governors, who almost always provide their approval when those forces are mobilized for federal service overseas or within the United States. But the mission in Washington, and an earlier deployment to Los Angeles, both occurred against the consent of civil authorities in those jurisdictions.

    " 'When elected representatives say, ‘We do not want them,’ but the federal government sends them, and then you see these kinds of numbers,' he said, 'it does raise existential questions for the health of the National Guard, for how America views its National Guard, and how America uses the military writ large.'

    "Such concerns were also spelled out in a separate cache of internal documents that outlined another Trump administration initiative: the creation of a #QuickReactionForce of National Guard troops to respond to #CivilUnrest anywhere in the United States. In that case, first reported by the Post as Trump’s D.C. deployment got underway in mid-August, military officials voiced concern about 'potential political sensitivities' and 'legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.'

    "Trump has since signed an executive order directing the formation of the quick reaction force."

    Read more:
    bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/nat

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/UE4uh

    #SilencingDissent #Clampdown #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarian #authoritarianism #NationalGuard

  6. #NationalGuard documents show public ‘fear’ and #troops’ ‘#shame’ over #WashingtonDC presence

    By Alex Horton, September 10, 2025

    "The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

    [...]

    "Friday’s assessment highlights 'Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and #demoralization - ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.'

    "The National Guard was ordered to this mission and does not have a responsibility to make it palatable to the public, said Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer who studies civil military affairs for the Center for a New American Security. But, he said, military leaders should think about how deployments with political undertones could have implications for recruiting and sustaining the force.

    "The themes raised in these assessments, Dempsey said, also should give pause to American citizens. National Guard troops are overseen by governors, who almost always provide their approval when those forces are mobilized for federal service overseas or within the United States. But the mission in Washington, and an earlier deployment to Los Angeles, both occurred against the consent of civil authorities in those jurisdictions.

    " 'When elected representatives say, ‘We do not want them,’ but the federal government sends them, and then you see these kinds of numbers,' he said, 'it does raise existential questions for the health of the National Guard, for how America views its National Guard, and how America uses the military writ large.'

    "Such concerns were also spelled out in a separate cache of internal documents that outlined another Trump administration initiative: the creation of a #QuickReactionForce of National Guard troops to respond to #CivilUnrest anywhere in the United States. In that case, first reported by the Post as Trump’s D.C. deployment got underway in mid-August, military officials voiced concern about 'potential political sensitivities' and 'legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.'

    "Trump has since signed an executive order directing the formation of the quick reaction force."

    Read more:
    bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/nat

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/UE4uh

    #SilencingDissent #Clampdown #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarian #authoritarianism #NationalGuard

  7. #NationalGuard documents show public ‘fear’ and #troops’ ‘#shame’ over #WashingtonDC presence

    By Alex Horton, September 10, 2025

    "The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

    [...]

    "Friday’s assessment highlights 'Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and #demoralization - ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.'

    "The National Guard was ordered to this mission and does not have a responsibility to make it palatable to the public, said Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer who studies civil military affairs for the Center for a New American Security. But, he said, military leaders should think about how deployments with political undertones could have implications for recruiting and sustaining the force.

    "The themes raised in these assessments, Dempsey said, also should give pause to American citizens. National Guard troops are overseen by governors, who almost always provide their approval when those forces are mobilized for federal service overseas or within the United States. But the mission in Washington, and an earlier deployment to Los Angeles, both occurred against the consent of civil authorities in those jurisdictions.

    " 'When elected representatives say, ‘We do not want them,’ but the federal government sends them, and then you see these kinds of numbers,' he said, 'it does raise existential questions for the health of the National Guard, for how America views its National Guard, and how America uses the military writ large.'

    "Such concerns were also spelled out in a separate cache of internal documents that outlined another Trump administration initiative: the creation of a #QuickReactionForce of National Guard troops to respond to #CivilUnrest anywhere in the United States. In that case, first reported by the Post as Trump’s D.C. deployment got underway in mid-August, military officials voiced concern about 'potential political sensitivities' and 'legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.'

    "Trump has since signed an executive order directing the formation of the quick reaction force."

    Read more:
    bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/nat

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/UE4uh

    #SilencingDissent #Clampdown #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarian #authoritarianism #NationalGuard

  8. #NationalGuard documents show public ‘fear’ and #troops’ ‘#shame’ over #WashingtonDC presence

    By Alex Horton, September 10, 2025

    "The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

    [...]

    "Friday’s assessment highlights 'Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and #demoralization - ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.'

    "The National Guard was ordered to this mission and does not have a responsibility to make it palatable to the public, said Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer who studies civil military affairs for the Center for a New American Security. But, he said, military leaders should think about how deployments with political undertones could have implications for recruiting and sustaining the force.

    "The themes raised in these assessments, Dempsey said, also should give pause to American citizens. National Guard troops are overseen by governors, who almost always provide their approval when those forces are mobilized for federal service overseas or within the United States. But the mission in Washington, and an earlier deployment to Los Angeles, both occurred against the consent of civil authorities in those jurisdictions.

    " 'When elected representatives say, ‘We do not want them,’ but the federal government sends them, and then you see these kinds of numbers,' he said, 'it does raise existential questions for the health of the National Guard, for how America views its National Guard, and how America uses the military writ large.'

    "Such concerns were also spelled out in a separate cache of internal documents that outlined another Trump administration initiative: the creation of a #QuickReactionForce of National Guard troops to respond to #CivilUnrest anywhere in the United States. In that case, first reported by the Post as Trump’s D.C. deployment got underway in mid-August, military officials voiced concern about 'potential political sensitivities' and 'legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.'

    "Trump has since signed an executive order directing the formation of the quick reaction force."

    Read more:
    bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/nat

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/UE4uh

    #SilencingDissent #Clampdown #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarian #authoritarianism #NationalGuard

  9. #NationalGuard documents show public ‘fear’ and #troops’ ‘#shame’ over #WashingtonDC presence

    By Alex Horton, September 10, 2025

    "The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as 'leveraging fear,' driving a 'wedge between citizens and the military,' and promoting a sense of 'shame' among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

    [...]

    "Friday’s assessment highlights 'Mentions of Fatigue, confusion, and #demoralization - ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.'

    "The National Guard was ordered to this mission and does not have a responsibility to make it palatable to the public, said Jason Dempsey, a former Army officer who studies civil military affairs for the Center for a New American Security. But, he said, military leaders should think about how deployments with political undertones could have implications for recruiting and sustaining the force.

    "The themes raised in these assessments, Dempsey said, also should give pause to American citizens. National Guard troops are overseen by governors, who almost always provide their approval when those forces are mobilized for federal service overseas or within the United States. But the mission in Washington, and an earlier deployment to Los Angeles, both occurred against the consent of civil authorities in those jurisdictions.

    " 'When elected representatives say, ‘We do not want them,’ but the federal government sends them, and then you see these kinds of numbers,' he said, 'it does raise existential questions for the health of the National Guard, for how America views its National Guard, and how America uses the military writ large.'

    "Such concerns were also spelled out in a separate cache of internal documents that outlined another Trump administration initiative: the creation of a #QuickReactionForce of National Guard troops to respond to #CivilUnrest anywhere in the United States. In that case, first reported by the Post as Trump’s D.C. deployment got underway in mid-August, military officials voiced concern about 'potential political sensitivities' and 'legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.'

    "Trump has since signed an executive order directing the formation of the quick reaction force."

    Read more:
    bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/nat

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/UE4uh

    #SilencingDissent #Clampdown #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarian #authoritarianism #NationalGuard

  10. Defendants in Georgia ‘Cop City’ case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue

    By R.J. RICO
    Updated 12:26 AM EDT, May 12, 2025

    ATLANTA (AP) — "Single mother Priscilla Grim lost her job. Aspiring writer Julia Dupuis frequently stares at the bedroom ceiling, numb. Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program.

    "The three are among 61 defendants accused by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of participating in a yearslong racketeering conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility just outside Atlanta that critics pejoratively call 'Cop City.'

    "Their cases are at a standstill, 20 months after being indicted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, which is likely the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts say.

    "Trial for five of the defendants was supposed to start last year but got bogged down in procedural issues. The judge overseeing the case then moved to another court. A new judge has set a status hearing for Wednesday.

    "The delays have left people in limbo, facing charges carrying up to 20 years behind bars for what they maintain was #LegitimateProtest, not #DomesticTerrorism. The case also has suppressed a movement that brought together hundreds of #activists to protect a wooded patch of land that ultimately was razed for the recently completed $118 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) project.

    "Officials say the project is sorely needed to replace outdated facilities and boost officers’ morale. Opponents say it will be a training ground for a #MilitarizedPolice force and its construction has worsened #environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.

    "Protests escalated after the fatal 2023 shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as #Tortuguita, who was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed Tortuguita, 26, after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.

    "A family-commissioned autopsy concluded Tortuguita was killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers’ use of force was 'objectively reasonable.' "

    Read more:
    apnews.com/article/cop-city-ri

    #ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol #StopCopCity #WeelauneeForest #DefendTheForest #CopCity #SilencingDissent #CiminalizingDissent #MilitarizedPolice

  11. Boo hiss...! Jury Finds #Greenpeace at Fault, Awards #Pipeline Developer Hundreds of Millions

    By Mary Steurer, North Dakota Monitor, via #CensoredNews

    "Breaking news from the courtroom
    A Morton County jury on Wednesday ordered Greenpeace to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the developer of the #DakotaAccessPipeline, finding that the #environmental group incited illegal
    behavior by anti-pipeline #protesters and defamed the company in the late 2010s.

    "During closing arguments on Monday, the lead attorney representing #EnergyTransfer told jurors that Greenpeace’s actions caused between $265 million and $340 million in damages to the company. He asked the jury to award Energy Transfer that amount plus additional punitive damages.

    "The nine-person jury delivered a verdict in favor of Energy Transfer on most counts. The verdict brought to a close a more than three-week trial in Mandan.

    "The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon after hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, including current and former Greenpeace employees, #IndigenousActivists, Energy Transfer representatives and law enforcement.

    "This story will be updated.

    "Thank you to the non-profit media #NorthDakotaMonitor for sharing their coverage with other media."

    bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03
    #StandWithStandingRock #GreenpeaceUSA #SLAPPs #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #NorthDakota #StandingRockSiouxTribe #StandingRockReservation #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #UnicornRiot #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince

  12. #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, March 11, 2025:

    "While the bizarre court case continues in #MandanND, #EnergyTransfer v #Greenpeace, our most viewed articles include this one from the medics at #StandingRock, who were targeted and
    attacked as the medics were treating water protectors on Oct. 27, 2016 -- a tactic that was used in #Palestine when medics were targeted and assassinated during the past two years. At Standing Rock, law enforcement had silencers on their weapons. 'Why do they have silencers if they are here for peace,' a medic said, who was fired on by law enforcement using shotguns loaded with lead-filled bean bags. According to the #GenevaConvention, knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is
    a #warcrime."

    From 2016: #MortonCountySheriff and the Violent Gang of #Police Targeted and Arrested #Medics while they were Treating Patients

    Read more:
    bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/10
    #ReaderSupportedNews #ACAB #StandWithStandingRock #GreenpeaceUSA #SLAPPs #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #NorthDakota #StandingRockSiouxTribe #StandingRockReservation #BigOil #CorporateColonialism

  13. Witness: Most tribal nations at #DakotaAccessPipeline #protest ‘didn’t know who #Greenpeace was’

    By: Mary Steurer - March 3, 2025

    "A #Lakota organizer said in a video deposition played to jurors Monday that the #StandingRockSiouxTribe led the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, not Greenpeace.

    "#NickTilsen, an Oglala Sioux Tribe citizen and #activist, called the notion that Greenpeace orchestrated the protests 'paternalistic.'

    "'I think that people underestimate the complexity and the sophistication of tribal nations,' Tilsen said.

    "Tilsen’s deposition was the latest testimony heard by the nine-person jury in the marathon trial between pipeline developer Energy Transfer and Greenpeace.

    "#EnergyTransfer claims Greenpeace secretly aided and abetted destructive and violent behavior by protesters during the #demonstrations, which took place in south central #NorthDakota near the #StandingRockReservation in 2016 and 2017. It also claims that Greenpeace orchestrated a misinformation campaign to defame the company, leading a group of banks to back out of financing the project. Energy Transfer seeks roughly $300 million from the environmental organization.

    "Greenpeace denies Energy Transfer’s allegations. The group says it has never condoned violence, and only played a supporting role during the protests.

    "Tilsen said he got involved in the protests before Greenpeace. He was invited to join the cause by former Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault and his sister, Jodi Archambault, he said.

    "'They called me and said, ‘Hey, we need your help at Standing Rock,’ Tilsen said.

    "Standing Rock has long opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline, stating the project poses a pollution threat, infringes on tribal sovereignty and has disrupted sacred cultural sites.

    "It was Standing Rock leadership that laid the groundwork for the protests against the pipeline’s construction in 2016, Tilsen said.

    "He said organizers later invited Greenpeace to support the camps, including by providing supplies and nonviolent direct action training. Tilsen said he only felt comfortable reaching out to Greenpeace because a friend of his, Cy Wagoner, worked there.

    "He said since Wagoner is from the #NavajoNation, he trusted that Greenpeace would respect Standing Rock’s leadership of the camps.

    "Indigenous communities are often reluctant to invite outside nonprofits to help with Native rights issues, Tilsen added. He said they often don’t understand Native nations’ unique relationship with the U.S. government.

    "Greenpeace wasn’t a big part of the protests, Tilsen said.

    "'To be honest, most of the tribal nations didn’t know who Greenpeace was,' he said.

    "Countless other groups — including representatives from more than 300 Native nations — came to the protest camps in solidarity with Standing Rock, said Tilsen.

    "'Quite frankly, our list of allies was hundreds,' he said.

    "Tilsen said he was involved in several protest actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017, including those that involved marching on the pipeline easement, jumping in front of equipment and using lockboxes — also known as 'sleeping dragons' — to disable construction machinery.

    "None of the protest actions were coordinated by Greenpeace, he said.

    "Tilsen said he never saw or endorsed any destruction of property or acts of violence toward construction workers or law enforcement. He also pushed back on the assertion that any of the protest activities he participated in qualified as trespassing.

    "The pipeline passes through land recognized as belonging to the #SiouxNation under #treaties signed by the U.S. government in 1851 and 1868. The U.S. government later annexed that land in violation of those treaties.

    "Tilsen asked how Lakota citizens could be trespassing on land that was unlawfully taken from them.

    "'This is the conundrum we find ourselves in,' he said.

    "Employees of Greenpeace said during video depositions played last week that the environmental organization brought 20 to 30 lockboxes to the camps.

    "Tilsen said while he saw many lockboxes during protests, he wasn’t sure where any of them came from. He also said he never heard anyone from Greenpeace tell demonstrators to use the devices.

    "Tilsen said that David Khoury, an employee for Greenpeace, helped identify potential sites for protest actions. Tilsen added that while Wagoner — another Greenpeace employee — didn’t plan protest activities, he trained people on how to conduct them.

    "The trial, which is before Southwest Central Judicial District Judge James Gion, is expected to last roughly four more weeks."

    Source:
    northdakotamonitor.com/2025/03
    #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince

  14. 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:
    theintercept.com/2024/11/15/no

    #StopHR9495 #CriminalizingDissent #KristiNoem #Blackwater #ErikPrince #Fascism #Autocracy #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #AntiWarActivists #FirstAmendment #WaterProtectors #PeaceActivists #ClimateJustice #ClimateActivists #Protests #StandWithStandingRock #GazaGenocide #LebanonGenocide

  15. 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."

    aclu.org/news/free-speech/sout

    #WaterProtectors #CriminalizingDissent #BigOilAndGas #CorporateColonialism #Fascism #DefendTheSacred #IndigenousActivists #StandWithStandingRock #FirstAmendment

  16. #Lakota #MamaJulz Locked Down, Arrested, in Jail, Fighting Appalachian #Pipeline

    "Without water there in no life. Violence against #MotherEarth is violence against our sisters."

    By Brenda Norrell, #CensoredNews, Feb. 2, 2024

    "'Find your Warrior Spirit,' said Mama Julz, Lakota, who locked down, was arrested, and is now in jail, for fighting the pipeline in #Appalachia."

    Read more:
    bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/02

    #MountainValleyPipeline #MountainValleyPipelineLLC #NoPipelines #WaterIsLife #NativeAmericanActivist #SilencingDissent

  17. Amnesty International: Five Ways Our #RightToProtest is Being Threatened Around the World

    by James Duggan, October 5, 2022

    "All around the world, right now, peaceful protestors are being imprisoned, threatened, and face physical violence from authorities. Even at home, in #Australia, our right to stand up and speak out against injustice is being taken away. Now more than ever, it’s essential we continue to fight for our #HumanRights.

    "The right to protest is a fundamental human right. #Article20 of the #UniversalDeclarationOfHumanRights states that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The right to protest is a way for people to defend their human rights and the rights of others when they’re threatened by governments and authorities.

    "Here are five places where the right to protest is currently at threat:

    1. #Australia

    "Right here in Australia, governments and authorities are adopting an increasingly punitive attitude towards protestors. In 2020, peaceful protestors at a #BlackLivesMatter rally in #Sydney were met with excessive and unnecessary force from #NewSouthWales Police. Police used pepper spray and chased student protestors on horseback at the University of New South Wales, and pushed them to the ground. Both protestors and bystanders were injured in the process.

    "The following year, in November 2021, a #ClimateActivist was sentenced to 12 months in jail after he climbed atop a #coal train and stayed on it for five hours to protest Australia’s #climate policies. Twenty-eight other people belonging to the same activist group were also arrested in NSW that month.

    "In 2022, the NSW Government announced that disrupting any bridge or tunnel in Greater Sydney as part of a protest would result in individual fines of $22,000. This is a ten-fold increase from the previous penalty of $2,200. The NSW Government also plans to introduce legislation which would mean this $22,000 fine would also apply to protestors disrupting roads and public transport facilities.

    2. #HongKong

    "In June 2020, a new law came into effect in Hong Kong, referred to as the #NationalSecurityLaw (#NSL). What “national security” refers to in this law isn’t well defined, and the NSL has been applied arbitrarily at the discretion of the government and authorities to suppress #dissent and political opposition.

    "In September 2021, a human rights lawyer named #ChowHangTung was arrested under this law and charged with 'inciting subversion.' She faces up to ten years in prison for peacefully commemorating the 1989 #Tiananmen Square protest crackdown. During the 1989 crackdown, an undisclosed number of people, anywhere from hundreds to thousands, were killed by authorities for gathering to protest the government’s censorship laws. At least three other activists were arrested along with Chow Hang-tung in relation to the peaceful memorial of these victims.

    3. #Cambodia

    "In May 2021, three young activists belonging to a Cambodian environmental campaign group called #MotherNatureCambodia were convicted to between 18 and 20 months in prison. They were arrested after they announced a plan to undertake a two-person march to the #Cambodian prime minister’s house in order to express their concerns regarding plans to privatise and develop the largest remaining #lake in the country’s capital city. They were charged with 'incitement to commit a felony or disturb social order.'

    "Mother Nature Cambodia have won several major #environmental victories in Cambodia. In 2016, their efforts to expose widespread environmental destruction and human rights abuses linked to the #mining and export of #sand from coastal areas of Cambodia resulted in a total export ban on #CoastalSand from the country. As a result, the group have been targeted with harassment and repression from the Cambodian government. Multiple other activists have been charged with 'incitement,' and the group has been accused of 'causing chaos in society' and labelled 'illegal' because they’re not registered under the country’s restrictive NGO Law.

    4. #Russia

    "The right to protest in Russia has been severely compromised since 2004, when the Federal Law on Assemblies, Rallies, Demonstrations, Marches and Pickets was passed. The Law on Assemblies restricts who’s allowed to organise a protest and where the protest is allowed to be held, and subjects planned protests to a strict authorisation process that often results in permission being denied.

    "Since 2004, legislation has been tightened numerous times. Most recently, the Russian government introduced new, heavy penalties for anyone who protests Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine. Less than three weeks after the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, almost 15,000 peaceful protestors had been arrested. #RussianAuthorities have arrested bystanders of protests and even children. Police have used excessive force against peaceful protestors, including women, subjecting them to beatings and electrocution with stun guns.

    5. #India

    "In India, draconian laws such as 'the crime of sedition' have been repeatedly used against peaceful protestors, journalists and human rights defenders. The slow investigative processes and strict bail conditions under these laws mean that activists and others who speak out against injustice in their country may spend many years behind bars while their trial is ongoing.

    "In 2021, a 22-year-old #EnvironmentalActivist named #DishaRavi was charged with '#sedition' for sharing an online Google document that was originally tweeted by #GretaThunberg. The document was a basic 'toolkit' for #farmers in India who were then in the midst of protests against the Indian government over newly introduced agricultural legislation. The 'toolkit' included information on the protests and how to support the movement, both in person and online. Disha is a leader of India’s #FridaysForFuture movement, an international student environmentalist movement instigated by Greta Thunberg.

    Source:
    amnesty.org.au/five-ways-our-r

    #ForestDefenders #WaterProtectors #DirectAction #ACAB #CriminalizingDissent #EnvironmentalActivists
    #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism
    #EcoActivists #Censorship
    #HumanRightsViolations
    #DefendTheDefenders #ActivismIsNotACrime #ClimateJusticeNow #ProtestIsNotACrime

  18. Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight against #CopCity

    Six More Months in the Movement to Defend the Forest
    2023-12-12

    "Starting in April 2021, people in #AtlantaGeorgia set out to defend #WeelauneeForest, where politicians and profiteers are attempting to build a police training compound known as #CopCity. Over the past two and a half years, this movement has given rise to one of the fiercest struggles in North America. Opponents of Cop City have repeatedly destroyed equipment and forced contractors to withdraw from the construction project, while the authorities have killed one #ForestDefender and pressed outlandish #racketeering charges against 61 more, including the members of a legal support collective."

    Read more:
    crimethinc.com/2023/12/12/dont

    #CriminalizingDissent #StopCopCity #DefendTheForest #ACAB #DefendWeelauneeForest #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #Censorship #Fascism #ClimateJustice #DirectAction #JusticeForTort #JusticeForTortugita #SilencingDissent