#silencingdissent — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #silencingdissent, aggregated by home.social.
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She protested #ICERaids. Then agents showed up at her door
by Meg Anderson, August 3, 2026
"Early one morning this June, #TreasureThoreson was drinking coffee on her couch in #Minneapolis when she heard a knock at the front door.
" 'I go and I see a woman standing there in office clothes, but with a Homeland Security vest over the top. And I see six more agents standing in my front yard,' Thoreson told NPR. "She said, 'We have a warrant for your arrest, for conspiracy.' "
"Thoreson, a special education teacher, was still in her pajamas. The agent let her change clothes and hug her partner goodbye before taking her into custody.
"The government charged Thoreson and 14 others with engaging in a conspiracy to impede federal agents — a conspiracy it says culminated in the use of blockades outside the Whipple Federal Building, which served as ICE's headquarters during the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota this past winter.
"The government cited meetings and conversations on the encrypted messaging app #Signal as evidence. At the advice of her lawyer, Thoreson declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment.
An increasing trend
"The charges against Thoreson are part of an escalating trend. NPR reviewed court records from the last five years to examine how the federal government is wielding one specific charge: conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, which can carry a sentence of up to six years in federal prison.
"The statute, which dates back to the Civil War, has historically been used infrequently. But since President #Trump took office last year, the Justice Department has charged more than three dozen people in at least 10 cases. All of them involve people protesting federal immigration enforcement.
The government has also indicted nearly 50 people on #conspiracy charges in #Michigan, #Texas and #Minnesota using different legal statutes."
Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/03/nx-s1-5886263/ice-dhs-immigration-enforcement-conspiracy-arrests#USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent #ICESucks #DefundICE #TrumpSucks #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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#Activist charged with felony after giving border agent #DuressCode that wiped his phone
The government says destroying his own data during an airport interrogation was illegal.
Ryan Whitwam – Jul 27, 2026
"In early 2025, Atlanta resident #SamuelTunick was on his way home following a trip abroad. After landing in the US, customs agents demanded access to his Pixel phone, which was running an alternative version of Android called #GrapheneOS. Rather than hand over his data, Tunick used a clever feature of the software to delete everything. Now, he’s facing federal charges.
"The first hearing in this case happened last week, according to The Guardian, during which government attorneys and agents claimed that Tunick was subjected to a standard secondary interrogation at an international airport. During that encounter, agents were 'looking for anything that’s prohibited.' However, Tunick’s legal team alleges he was targeted for his #activism.
"Tunick was involved with a group called #DefendTheAtlanta Forest, which opposed the construction of an enormous law enforcement training facility in the area often known as #CopCity. What Tunick didn’t know, according to his lawyers, was that he’d been placed on a watch list for his actions and that Customs and Border Protection had discussed over email plans to detain him upon his arrival back in the US for 'suspected terrorism activities.'
"During the interrogation, #CBP agents told Tunick they wanted to search his phone for evidence of child sexual abuse, and if he didn’t unlock the device, it would be confiscated. The government has long asserted broad authority to examine and seize electronic devices at the border for virtually any reason. Tunick claims he was never read his rights and requested legal counsel several times, but the requests were denied."
#Fascism #DefundCBP #DefundICE #HomelandInsecurity #USPol #SilencingDissent #StopCopCity #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #DefendTheForest
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#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 -
#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, 2025"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."
Read more:
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/rule-of-law-2025-protests/45384#Sweden #Belgium #Netherlands #Estonia #ExtinctionRebellion #EnvironmentalDefenders #CriminalizingProtest #EnvironmentalActivists #FreePalestine #GazaGenocide #HumanRights #RightToProtest #ACAB #Europe #WorldPol #EuroPol
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#NorthDakota - 'Mask bill' passes Senate
By Dave Thompson
Published April 10, 2025"The state Senate has passed a measure that would prohibit someone from wearing a mask or hood with an intent to hide their identity.
The bill – HB 1226 – applies when people commit crimes or gather in public places during a protest."
Source:
https://news.prairiepublic.org/local-news/2025-04-10/mask-bill-passes-senateFrom #USProtestLawTracker:
North Dakota
HB 1226: New criminal penalties for masked protestersCreates a serious new crime that can cover peaceful protesters who choose to wear a mask. The law makes it a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and $3,000, to wear a mask “with the intent to conceal the identity” of the wearer while “congregating in a public place with other individuals wearing a mask, hood, or other device that covers, hides, or conceals any portion of the individual’s face.” The bill exempts public gatherings to celebrate “Halloween, a masquerade, or other similar celebration,” but does not include exemptions for masks worn during protests, or worn for health, religious, or other reasons. As written, the law can cover a protester wearing a mask to avoid retaliation for their political speech, if there are other individuals in the crowd also wearing a mask—for instance, a medical mask to avoid spreading or contracting a contagious disease.
(See full text of bill here)Status: enacted
Introduced 13 Jan 2025; Approved by House 10 February 2025; Approved by Senate 9 April 2025; Signed by Governor Armstrong 23 April 2025
Issue(s): Face Covering
https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/
#AntiProtestLaws #USPol #AntiMaskLaws #ProtestLaws #Project2025 #Authoritarianism #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest
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Will #DomesticTerrorism charges be brought against these #AntiICE #protestors?
#ICE enforcement action leads to #protest, violent clashes in #SouthBurlington, #Vermont
by Derek Brouwer, Liam Elder-Connors, Zoe McDonald, March 12, 2026
"A tense, day-long standoff outside a South Burlington, Vermont house ended Wednesday night with federal immigration agents removing three people inside and a series of violent clashes between police and hundreds of #activists who tried to impede the apprehension.
"It marked the first major confrontation between protesters and federal immigration authorities in Vermont. Federal law enforcement deployed #TearGas and #flashbangs on a normally busy street in the state’s second largest city to disperse the activists who had surrounded their vehicles. Roughly 60 local and state law enforcement officers were also on scene, though the departments sought to distance themselves from ICE’s conduct.
"The incident began when a man fled Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had been surveilling a Dorset Street residence where he was staying.
"According to an ICE affidavit, the subject of the warrant was Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, a Mexico native who was removed from the United States in 2022, and later illegally reentered the country. In January, Corona-Sanchez was arrested by Middlebury police and charged with drunk driving, the affidavit says.
"Following a multi-vehicle crash, Corona-Sanchez escaped to a house on Dorset Street, authorities said.
"A growing number of protesters and police assembled outside throughout the day as immigration authorities waited for a criminal warrant to enter and arrest him.
"A neighbor, Richard Landsman, said an Ecuadoran family with two children had lived in the house for roughly a year. At one point in the afternoon, people helped a child leave the house; they were driven away.
"When the warrant came through after roughly nine hours, federal agents approached the front door with #TacticalGear and weapons drawn. They were supported by #VermontStatePolice troopers.
"Police wrenched away protesters blocking the front entrance and ICE agents broke down the door. Federal agents removed three people from inside, forcing them into an unmarked car. They attempted to drive off, but protesters linked arms and blocked the street. Confrontations ensued, and the agents eventually managed to drive off by running over a median and exiting via a driveway."
#ResistICE #SilencingDissent #AntiTerrorismLaws #CriminalizingProtest #Resistance #USPol #VTPol #ACAB
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#PamBondi Admits #DOJ Has a Secret #DomesticTerrorist List
After the DOJ dodged questions for months, Bondi acknowledged in a House Judiciary Committee hearing that she had a list of targets under NPSM-7.
Nick Turse
February 12 2026Excerpt: "A November FBI internal report obtained by The Guardian revealed that there were multiple active FBI investigations related to NSPM-7 in 27 locations. The Intercept revealed on Thursday that the FBI appears to be investigating #ExtinctionRebellionNYC, a climate activism group, in an inquiry that could potentially be related to NSPM-7."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/pam-bondi-domestic-terror-list-nspm-7/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/OArt2#USPol #NPSM7 #SilencingDissent #Resistance #CriminalizingDissent #Authoritarianism #Fascism #EnvironmentalGroups #ProPalestineGroups #Antifa #ExtinctionRebellion #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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Britain's High Court says government acted illegally in outlawing #protest group #PalestineAction
By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) — "Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the government’s decision to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending another hearing while the government prepares an appeal.
"Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said 'the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities' did not meet the 'level, scale and persistence' that would justify proscription.
"The judges said they were 'satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.'
"The government banned Palestine Action after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in June to protest British military support for Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in #Gaza, which killed tens of thousands of #Palestinians.
"The government declared the pro-Palestinian direct-action group a terrorist organization alongside the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas, making membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,700 people have been arrested at protests for holding signs saying 'I support Palestine Action.' Almost 700 have been charged under the Terrorism Act, although no one has yet been convicted.' "
https://apnews.com/article/britain-palestine-action-high-court-2fbb7f5e2e090881193b9328323d2ec4
#LockUpWarCriminals NOT #Activists!
#UKPol #WorldPol #TerrorismAct #IsraeliWarCrimes #FreeGaza #BibiIsAWarCriminal #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws -
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...
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🚨 We all knew this would be coming... Don't like polluters? TOUGH SHIT! You're under arrest!!!
#FBI #Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a #ClimateActivist — Then Showed Up at His Door
The visit suggests a possible FBI probe into #ExtinctionRebellionNYC as the Trump administration increases surveillance of #activist groups.
Jacqueline Sweet, February 12 2026
Excerpt: "Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, at least one of whom works on counterterrorism, went to the home of a former member of a #ClimateActivism group for questioning last week, potentially signaling a new escalation in the Trump administration’s promise to criminalize #nonprofits and #ActivistGroups as #DomesticTerrorists.
"Two FBI agents, one from New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, told a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC they wanted to ask him about the group at his home upstate on Friday, an attorney for the group told The Intercept. The visit followed a prior attempt to reach him at his old address.
"The FBI’s apparent probe of Extinction Rebellion NYC comes as the Justice Department ramps up its surveillance of activists protesting immigration enforcement and the Trump administration creates secret lists of domestic enemies under Trump’s National Security Presidential #Memorandum7, or #NSPM7." 'I believe this to be a significant escalation of the criminal legal system against #XR and find it very troubling,' said Ron Kuby, the Extinction Rebellion attorney. 'This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway and is often followed by other visits and other actions.'
"The former Extinction Rebellion member, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said that the visit came after a phone call in January from a special agent that he assumed was a scam.
" 'I was skeptical the phone call was really from the FBI, but after I declined to speak with the agent, she said that she was standing outside my door,' he said. She was actually at the activist’s former address, which he said made him additionally dubious. But last week, when the agents showed up at his current address, he said he saw the agent’s business card through his door."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4Nq3X#USPol #ExtinctionRebellion #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #EPAFail #Polluters #Corporatocracy #CorporateColonialism #Oligarchy #EnvironmentalActivists #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ResistFascism #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #BigBrother #NineteenEightyFour #SilencingDissent #SilencingFreeSpeech #CorporationsAreTheRealTerrorists
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Senator, who has repeatedly warned about secret US #GovernmentSurveillance, sounds new alarm over ‘#CIA activities’
by Zack Whittaker, February 6, 2026
Excerpt: "In 2011, #RonWyden said that the U.S. government was relying on a secret interpretation of the #PatriotAct, which he said — without disclosing the nature of his concerns — created a 'gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says.'
"Two years later, then-#NSA contractor #EdwardSnowden revealed that the National Security Agency was relying on its secret interpretation of the Patriot Act to force U.S. phone companies, including Verizon, to turn over the call records of hundreds of millions of Americans on an ongoing basis.
"Since then, Wyden has sounded the alarm on how the U.S. government collects the contents of people’s communications; revealed that the Justice Department barred Apple and Google from disclosing that federal authorities had been secretly demanding the contents of their customers’ push notifications; and said that an unclassified report that #CISA has refused to release contains 'shocking details' about national security threats facing U.S. phone companies.
"As noted by Techdirt’s Mike Masnick, we may not know yet why Wyden sounded the siren about the CIA’s activities, but every time Wyden has warned, he has also been vindicated."
#USPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #Spying #USCitizens #WarrantlessSurveillance
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🚨 The #GhostFlights: #Deportation Flights #Disappearing Thousands Arrested by #ICE
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Feb. 6, 2026
"We've been tracking the Ghost Flights, disappearing migrants, moms, asylum seekers, and others arrested in Minneapolis, who are quickly grabbed and taken away at a private terminal at Minneapolis international airport.
"The charter airlines are making it harder to track them, but here's what we found: #GlobalX, #Eastern and #Omni based in #TulsaOK, have operated most of these, with Sun Country also operating some of the flights.
"These secretive flights take those arrested to deportation hubs in isolated areas, where they are sent to prison, deported to other countries, or constantly shifted on flights. These secretive hubs are in #DadeCollier in the Florida Everglades; Alexandria in central Louisiana; and Harlingen on the Texas border.
"Those arrested are boarded shackled in chains from their wrists to their feet, and often denied water and food, and abused. While these secretive flights disappear people, their families desperately search for them.
"The flights out of #MesaAZ in the #Phoenix area are deporting hundreds on each flight to #Venezuela. A recent flight out of Mesa deported those arrested to #Russia and #Iran. The past flights show the men were immediately given #Draft notices for military service when they arrived in Russia. Protesters and political #AsylumSeekers face worse.
"As for the chartered airlines, the main contract is held by #CSI in #AlbuquerqueNM, who contracts out the other airlines.
"Yesterday, a Ghost Flight landed in #Guantanamo and then #Haiti. These are #moms, #workers, asylum seekers, #LegalResidents, and most are whisked away and denied due process. More than 2,000 have been deported from #Minneapolis.
"Other major hubs for deportation flights are #ElPaso, #Miami, #SanAntonio, and #TacomaWA. The deportation flights are arriving in every region of the world, the Americas, Asia, and Africa." 😱
Read more (includes flight maps):
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-ghost-flights-deportation-flights.html#ReaderSupportedNews #DefundICE #StopTheDeportations #DefundDHS #BorderPatrol #MurderPatrol #ICESucks #KristiNoemSucks #USPol #SilencingDissent #Disappeared #Orwellian
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#USMilitary Helping #Trump to Build Massive Network of ‘#ConcentrationCamps,’ #Navy Contract Reveals
The #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity is using a repurposed $55 billion Navy contract to convert #warehouses into makeshift #jails and plan sprawling #TentCities in remote areas.
Stephen Prager, Feb 02, 2026
Excerpt: "According to a source familiar with the project, 'the goal is for the facilities to house as many as 10,000 people each, and are expected to be built in #Louisiana, #Georgia, #Pennsylvania, #Indiana, #Utah, and #Kansas.'
"Now Manríquez reports that the project has just gotten much bigger after a Navy grant was repurposed weeks ago. It was authorized through the Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC), a flexible purchasing system that the government uses to quickly move military equipment to dangerous and remote parts of the world.
"The contract states that the money is being repurposed for '#TITUS,' an abbreviation for 'Territorial Integrity of the United States.' While it’s not unusual for Navy contracts to be used for expenditures aimed at protecting the nation, Manríquez warned that such a staggering movement of funds for domestic detention points to something ominous. "
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/military-contract-concentration-camps#USPol #DetentionCenters #PrivatePrisons #Authoritarianism #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent #SilencingDissent #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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The #ICE killing takes #America a step closer to #GeorgeOrwell’s nightmare
The Trump administration’s reaction to the fatal shooting of #ReneeGood is another dark chapter in its rewriting of history – and has disturbing echoes of the dystopian 1984, writes Sean O’Grady
Thursday 08 January 2026
Excerpt: "' #Orwellian' is a word that gets chucked around far too much, but there is surely something quite sinister in the official responses to the shooting of a civilian, Renee Good, in Minneapolis by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
"Obviously, there’s always some room for argument about what happened and why in such circumstances, but not about the more obvious facts, backed up by videos and eyewitness accounts.
"The ultimate boss of ICE, the homeland security secretary, #KristiNoem, declared that Good was involved in an act of '#DomesticTerrorism', as if she were an Isis operative – and with zero evidence to back up that extreme claim, and little sign that she was deliberately using her vehicle as a weapon. "
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/hpDlH#USPol #DoublePlusUngood #NineteenEightyFour #Orwellian #ICEOut #ThoughtPolice #Authoritarianism #MuderPatrol #EnemiesOfTheState #Resistance #ResistICE #SilencingDissent #Newspeak
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Ring cameras are about to get increasingly chummy with law enforcement
Amazon’s Ring partners with company whose tech has reportedly been used by ICE.
Scharon Harding – Oct 17, 2025
"Law enforcement agencies will soon have easier access to footage captured by Amazon’s Ring smart cameras. In a partnership announced this week, Amazon will allow approximately 5,000 local law enforcement agencies to request access to Ring camera footage via surveillance platforms from Flock Safety. Ring’s cooperation with law enforcement and the reported use of Flock technologies by federal agencies, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has resurfaced privacy concerns that have followed the devices for years.
"According to Flock’s announcement, its Ring partnership allows local law enforcement members to use Flock software 'to send a direct post in the Ring Neighbors app with details about the investigation and request voluntary assistance.' Requests must include 'specific location and timeframe of the incident, a unique investigation code, and details about what is being investigated,' and users can look at the requests anonymously, Flock said.
" 'Any footage a Ring customer chooses to submit will be securely packaged by Flock and shared directly with the requesting local public safety agency through the FlockOS or Flock Nova platform,' the announcement reads.
"Flock said its local law enforcement users will gain access to Ring Community Requests in 'the coming months.' "
#BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatching #USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully #SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism -
#Chicago judge questions Trump official over #ICE agents' use of force
By Diana Novak Jones and Joseph Ax
Mon, October 20, 2025Excerpt: "A federal judge in Chicago on Monday grilled U.S. immigration officials about federal agents' use of tear gas and other forceful tactics against protesters as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown in the city.
"U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has repeatedly expressed concern that federal agents were violating her October 9 order requiring them to wear visible #identification and limiting their use of anti-riot weapons such as #PepperBalls and #TearGas. On Friday, Ellis ordered federal officers who have body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.
"At Monday's hearing, Ellis also said she would allow the plaintiffs in the case - protesters, journalists and clergy members who sued the Trump administration alleging they were deliberately brutalized during peaceful demonstrations - to question several officials under oath, including Gregory Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol official.
"In granting the plaintiffs' request, Ellis made it clear the litigation is limited to the tactics used by field agents, not the president's stated rationale.
" 'I don't think that it matters what the administration's objectives are or what goals they have or what ideology is pushing this enforcement action,' she said. 'This lawsuit...is all about how our ICE officials and #CBP officials are enforcing the laws.'
"Clashes between protesters and federal agents, particularly #BorderPatrol agents and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, have increased since Trump launched the crackdown in early September.
"Trump also ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, part of the Republican president's extraordinary campaign to send military personnel to Democratic-run cities purportedly to fight crime. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deployment, but the Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the troops to proceed.
"Separately, a federal appeals court on Monday cleared the way for hundreds of Guard soldiers to deploy to Portland, Oregon, despite the objections of the Democratic mayor and governor there."
Read more:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/chicago-judge-questions-trump-official-211559155.html#USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully
#SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism #ICE #MurderPatrol -
#ICE boosts weapons spending 700%
A Popular Information investigation reveals tens of millions in new ICE spending on #guns, #ChemicalWeapons, and explosives.
Judd Legum
Oct 20, 2025Excerpt: "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sharply increased its spending on weapons in 2025, according to an analysis of federal government contracting data by Popular Information. Records from the Federal Procurement Data System reveal that ICE has increased spending on 'small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing' by 700% compared to 2024 levels.
"New spending in the small arms category from January 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, through October 18, totaled $71,515,762. Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and 'guided missile warheads and explosive components.'
"On September 29, 2025, ICE made a $9,098,590 purchase from #GeisseleAutomatics, which sells #SemiAutomatic and #AutomaticRifles. The total spending by ICE in the small arms category between January 20 and October 18, 2024, was $9,715,843."
https://popular.info/p/ice-boosts-weapons-spending-700
#USPol #ACAB #TrumpIsABully
#SecretPolice #ICESucks #Disappeared
#Orwellian #ThoughtPolice #ICEOfficers #BigGuns #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #authoritarianism -
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:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/10/navajo-reporter-marley-shebala.html#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 -
New #Trump Order Among ‘Scariest Things I’ve Seen in US Politics,’ #CivilRights Attorney Says
The new order, he says, would essentially allow “random #fascist #vigilantes” to “sign up to be a #Brownshirt” for Trump’s militarized occupation forces.
Stephen Prager
Aug 26, 2025"An executive order signed Monday by US President Donald Trump may permit 'random #FascistVigilantes' to help him #crackdown on protests across the country, according to one prominent civil rights lawyer.
"The new order, which comes amid wider concern about Trump’s #militarized takeover of #WashingtonDC, directs Secretary of Defense #PeteHegseth to ensure that each state’s #NationalGuard is equipped to 'assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety.' "
Read more / listen:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-vigilante-portalArchived version:
https://archive.ph/H30Nm#USPol #Fascism #TrumpIsAFascist #Authoritarianism #BellRiots #Brownshirts #CorporateColonialism #Corporatocracy #CapitolGuards #HungerGames #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#VictoriaAustralia’s draconian new #AntiProtest laws will have a chilling effect on #FreeSpeech — and won’t keep anyone safe
Far-reaching anti-protest measures and giving police more repressive powers only serve to increase the risk of escalating violence.
by Sarah Schwartz, Jul 9, 2025
"In response to the weekend’s attack on the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced she will forge ahead with new anti-protest measures and more #police powers.
"In doing so, she is following what has become the new normal for state governments across the country: using acts of racism and violence as a pretext to #ClampDown on unrelated democratic rights.
"Taking to the streets in peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to come together and express our political views when our representatives aren’t listening to us. But this right is not without limits. Every person has a right to worship in safety. The attack on East Melbourne Synagogue was not a protest; it was an act of antisemitism. The suspect has been apprehended and charged with a multitude of criminal offences.
"Two other incidents over the weekend, the targeting of a business with ties to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a US-backed #Israeli organisation linked to the massacres of unarmed #Palestinians seeking aid — and a weapons company with links to the Israeli military, are also being referred to as justifying new laws. It is important not to conflate these actions against Israel with an attack against a Jewish place of worship. International human rights law, as well as our current laws, already place limits on protests that involve intimidation and violence.
"So what is actually being proposed in response? The Allan government is suggesting the creation of a new criminal offence for wearing a #FaceCovering at peaceful protests, banning 'dangerous attachment devices' (e.g. a #chain, a #BikeLock) — which have long been used in non-violent civil disobedience — and #criminalising peaceful protests around places of religious worship.
"The ban on face coverings would be a first in #Australia. It would mirror measures used in #authoritarian states that force people to submit themselves to various forms of #StateSurveillance.
"#VictoriaPolice has been using facial recognition software for years without any regulatory or legislative framework to prevent breaches of privacy. This technology, combined with a ban on face coverings at protests, would essentially amount to an obligation on behalf of individuals to submit to surveillance by the state, corporations and other groups that surveil protesters.
"Unless you’re a #MiningCompany spending hundreds of millions buying politicians’ favour or can wine and dine decision-makers, peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to hold governments and corporations to account. Protests for the eight-hour workday, #WomensRights, #FirstNationsRights and the #AntiWar movement have led to significant improvements in all of our lives.
Know something?"Many people attending protests wear face coverings to protect their privacy and anonymity. For temporary migrants, the consequences of identification can include visa cancellation and detention. #FarRight groups, abusers of gender-based violence and other political groups have all been documented as engaging in doxing, surveillance and retaliatory violence against people identified at peaceful protests.
"Even with exemptions, a ban would mean that people who wear facemasks for reasons of health, disability status, or religious or cultural reasons would be at risk of police targeting and made to justify their use of a face mask.
"Adding new repressive police powers against peaceful protesters only serves to increase the risk of escalating violence at already heightened public demonstrations. People will not stop taking to the streets on issues they care about, even if the state tries to stifle their voices. Donald #Trump’s deployment of the #NationalGuard in response to protests in LA shows us how deploying more state force at protests increases rather than decreases the risk of violence.
"A ban on protests outside or within a certain proximity to places of worship would mean police could arrest those engaging in peaceful protests for a genuine, non-discriminatory purpose — for example, protests by survivors of #ClergySexualAbuse or by congregants against the political activities of their own religious institutions.
"It would also have the unintended consequence of rendering large areas of the state no-go zones for peaceful protest, due to the high number of places of worship. Similar laws in #NSW are already being challenged for their #unconstitutionality.
"Taken together, this suite of laws, which would provide police with extraordinary powers against people peacefully raising their voices against #injustice, would have a chilling effect, deterring #MarginalisedGroups from attending protests and exercising their rights to freedom of expression, which the Victorian government has sought to protect.
"Ultimately, banning face coverings at peaceful protests and banning protests outside places of worship would not have done anything to prevent what occurred over the weekend. Premier Allan knows this. Yet she is stuck in the same reactive law-and-order merry-go-round that saw NSW Premier Chris Minns enact fear-based, repressive anti-protest measures in response to what we now know was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy.
"Encouraging people to express their political views peacefully is the antidote to non-peaceful forms of protest and is something that all governments should be encouraging and facilitating. At times like this, we should be able to trust our politicians not to fuel division and panic through misguided and knee-jerk responses, but to take measures to address the root causes of racism and hatred."
#AntiProtestLaws #ProtestLawsAustralia #ACAB #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism
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#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
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YIKES! Please read and share this!
via @UnicornRiot
"We’ve been forced to spend around $55,000 to date because of Energy Transfer’s legal campaign against our freedom of the press.
"We’ve only raised back $38,916 of this so far.
"Your donation helps us keep operating despite corporate attempts to silence us"
https://donorbox.org/unicorn-riot-nodapl-legal-defense
#EnergyTransfer #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #MutualAid #LegalDefenseFund #SilencingDissent #Resistance #CorporateColonialism #Oiligarchy #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism #EnergyTransfer #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRockSioux #IndigenousResistance #IndigenousAllies #DAPL #NorthDakota #StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #ErikPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #WaterProtectors #CorporateFascism #StandingRockReservation
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#Trump’s #BigBill Would Let Him Expand His #LosAngeles #ImmigrationCrackdown ‘Everywhere’
“If it works out well in L.A., expect it everywhere,” a Trump official says of the admin’s plans for #militarized #ICERaids around the country
By Andrew Perez, Asawin Suebsaeng
June 12, 2025"Donald Trump’s '#BigBeautifulBill' wouldn’t just force millions of #poor people off their #HealthInsurance and #FoodAssistance to help pay for more #TaxCuts for the rich.
"The Trump #TaxBill would steer tens of billions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for #detention capacity, employee bonuses, and to hire new agents. It would supercharge ICE’s ability to conduct raids, and allow the administration to expand the campaign of terror it’s waging on immigrants in Los Angeles to blue cities around the country.
"ICE’s aggressive worksite raids and courthouse arrests throughout the Los Angeles area have, of course, inspired a wave of protests — giving the president an excuse to send the U.S. military to a Democratic city, something he’s long fantasized about, while inspiring demonstrations across the country.
" 'This bill would give Donald Trump the ability to do what he’s doing [in California] on a scale we really haven’t seen before,' says #DavidBier, the director of immigration studies at the #CatoInstitute, a libertarian think tank. 'He will be able to replicate this militarized approach to Los Angeles across maybe dozens of American cities.'
"For Trump and key officials, including immigration-crackdown policy architect #StephenMiller, this is exactly the point, with Los Angeles currently being used as an autocratic staging area. They want to replicate this militarized, ramped-up blitz of ICE raids, backed by the U.S. armed forces, in several other Democratic strongholds — particularly if larger-scale protests spread to other cities.
"As Rolling Stone previously reported, the president and his senior officials have already mapped out near-term plans for how to further ratchet up the already tense blitz of ICE operations, especially in the coming days in Los Angeles, where the federal agents are now being protected by Trump’s literal troop deployment to the city, against the wishes of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"Sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone that senior Trump administration officials are closely monitoring the situation in L.A. as a test case for what they want to do soon in places such as #Chicago, #philadelphia #BostonMA, or the #WashingtonDC, area."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/SgWWL#BigUglyBill #USSenate #USPol #Authoritarianism #protestors #SilencingDissent #USPol #NoKings #Protest #Solidarity #Immigrants #MassDeportation #EndICE #StopICE #Project2025 #MAGA #ThisIsFascism
#USConstitution #DueProcess #FirstAid #JustFollowingOrders #NationalGuard #Resistance #FashPatel #TrumpIsANazi #StephenMillerIsANazi #ResistICE #FuckICE #KillThePoor #EatTheRich #NoTaxBreaksForTheRich -
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, 2025ATLANTA (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:
https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-rico-charges-61-atlanta-be5ef1ed1951a73870656f61fbbc567b#ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol #StopCopCity #WeelauneeForest #DefendTheForest #CopCity #SilencingDissent #CiminalizingDissent #MilitarizedPolice
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3 ways #Trump's #immigration #crackdown could hit #USCitizens
Brittany Gibson, Apr 23, 2025
"#Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.
"Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.
"They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to #dissenters.
"Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:
1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.
This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.
Some officials say U.S. citizens who #criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing #immigrants with "#KnowYourRights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.3. Questioning the authority of court orders.
The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return #AbregoGarcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a #USCitizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.
A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
"If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.
"If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"
The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.
Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.
"People are realizing that this is going to impact all communities," Talbot said, "and that if one citizen can be picked up, then any of us can be picked up and put into proceedings, or labeled a #terrorist, or removed to a foreign prison."
Original article:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-immigration-crackdown-us-citizensArchived version:
https://archive.ph/wUUdG#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #USPol #DontQuestionBigBrother #Fascism #Authoritarianism #MemoryHoled #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #WaterDefenders #LandDefenders #Resisters #HumanRightsDefenders #IhrePapiereBitte #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Nazis #SecretPolice
#Disappeared #USCitizens #ICEDetention
#IllegalDeportations #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Deportations #Disappeared #MemoryHoled #NineteenEightyFour #DoublePlusUngood -
It looks like #HandsOff was successful in that now the #TrumpRegime is going to try and silence the organizers!
Core Democratic groups are preparing to be targeted by the #Trump administration
By STEVE PEOPLES
Updated 12:14 PM EDT, April 15, 2025NEW YORK (AP) — "As President Donald Trump pushes the historical boundaries of executive power, some of the Democratic Party’s core political institutions are preparing for the possibility that the federal government may soon launch criminal investigations against them.
"The Democrats’ dominant national fundraising platform, #ActBlue, and the party’s largest #protest group, #Indivisible, are working with their attorneys for just such a scenario, according to officials within both organizations. Trump’s top political allies have suggested both groups should face prosecution.
"Other Democratic allies are planning for Trump-backed legal crackdowns as well. Wary of antagonizing the Republican president, most prefer to stay anonymous for now.
" 'Every one of our clients is concerned about being arbitrarily targeted by the Trump administration. We are going to great lengths to help clients prepare for or defend themselves,' said Ezra Reese, political law chair at Elias Law Group, which represents Democratic groups and candidates and is chaired by Marc Elias, the lawyer who has himself been a Trump target.
"An FBI spokesperson declined to comment when asked about potential investigations into ActBlue and Indivisible. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not downplay the threat of a potential criminal probe when asked specifically whether Trump wants the FBI, the Treasury Department or any other federal agency to investigate Democratic groups."
#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #USPol #CriminalizingDissent #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Clampdown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #TrafficInterference #Crackdown #SLAPPs #VagueLaws #ProtestOrganizers #ProtestSponsors #ProtestSupporters #FirstAmendment
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#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
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#Australia: Proposed #AntiProtest Laws: Reviewing #Victoria's New Legislation
by lawyer Galbally Parker | Jan 14, 2025
"The proposed anti- protest laws include:
- Banning the flags and symbols of listed terrorist organisations in public, to give Victoria Police more powers and fill in any gaps in Commonwealth anti-Terror legislation. Listed terrorist organisations include #Hamas, Hezbollah and several other groups, including white nationalist and racist violent extremist (NRVE) right-wing groups.
- Banning the use of #FaceMasks at protests, which are being used to conceal identities and shield agitators from crowd-control measures like #capsicum spray. A mask ban in public demonstrations will focus on prohibiting the wearing of face coverings at protests and providing police with the power to require their removal. Exemptions would apply for legitimate health, religious or cultural reasons.
- Banning the use of glue, rope, chains, locks and other dangerous attachment devices that protestors use to cause maximum disruption and endanger others
- Introducing prohibited zones for protest (i.e., where places of worship are situated)The proposed anti-protest laws, if legislated, will give police extensive enforcement powers."
Read more:
https://galballyparker.com.au/proposed-anti-protest-laws-a-review-of-victorias-new-legislation/#ACAB #RightToProtest #AntiMaskLaws #PepperSpray #SilencingDissent #AustraliaAntiProtestLaws
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#StandingRock Chair on #Greenpeace Verdict -- False, Self-serving Narrative in Insulting Lawsuit
"If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about #SiouxNation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble."
By Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire, via #CensoredNews, March 27, 2025
"As Chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, I take offense to the jury verdict in the #EnergyTransfer #SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace. We expect more from #NorthDakota judges and members of the jury from our neighboring communities.
"#EnergyTransfer’s claims in this case were ridiculous. They were wholly disrespectful of the #StandingRockSioux Tribe, our ancestors, and our youth, who started the movement in 2016 to protect our water from an oil spill from #DAPL. Neither Greenpeace nor anyone else paid or persuaded Standing Rock to oppose DAPL.
"Our young people and our elders urged us to protect our water and #UnciMakah (grandmother earth). That is what happened, and is happening still. Energy Transfer’s false and self-serving narrative that Greenpeace manipulated Standing Rock into protesting DAPL is patronizing and disrespectful to our people.
"We understand that many Morton County residents support the #OilIndustry, even out-of-state #pipeline companies such as Energy Transfer. But we are your neighbors, and you should not be fooled that easily. Energy Transfer does not know us. They don’t know who we are – an Indigenous Nation that has survived every attack because our ancestors are with us.
"Greenpeace did not manipulate Standing Rock, but #EnergyTransfer has manipulated #MortonCounty. DAPL crosses our Treaty and aboriginal land for hundreds of miles.
"Our ancestors occupied this land for thousands of years before #NorthDakota came into existence. The land between the Heart and Missouri River are our #unceded Treaty lands under the 1868 and 1851 Fort Laramie Treaties. Our aboriginally-occupied territories extend east to the James River and beyond. That is a historical truth. If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about Sioux Nation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble."The construction of Fort Rice on our northern boundary in 1864 was a violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties. This required our Tribe to be vigilant. No one should be surprised that warrior society burials are found in this area, near the pipeline route.
"And do not insult our cultural experts, who have wisdom over matters most residents of Morton County or bureaucrats at the State Historical Society know absolutely nothing about. Energy Transfer and its lawyers should be ashamed of themselves. Everyday North Dakotans on the jury should know better.
"When it comes to the excessive police and private security response to the generally peaceful protests at #CannonBall, believe your eyes. The scenes of guard dogs menacing Tribal members are reminiscent of the violence of #WhiteSupremacists in the #DeepSouth during the 1950’s and 60’s, but it was in North Dakota, in this day and age. It was on the news and on the internet.
"Many of the protesters were Native American veterans of the United States armed forces. Energy Transfer used attack dogs against peaceful protesters and war heroes. But the jury sided with the out-of-state, unlicensed security with the attack dogs, instead of North Dakota veterans who supported Standing Rock.
"A Texas oil company has come to North Dakota, and its lawyers and propaganda machine are weaving stories about how the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and our supporters have lied, and how the poor pipeline company, a trillion dollars richer than in 2016 when this all started, should receive extra millions from non-profit organizations. It’s a funny thing about liars – they always accuse everyone else of lying. The Greenpeace trial was marked by secrecy.
"The court is not making the transcript public. The documents obtained by Greenpeace about Energy Transfer’s terrible safety record are protected by a secrecy order and are not available to the public. The judge exhibited so much bias in favor of Energy Transfer that a team of international human rights lawyers felt compelled to monitor the trial. One prominent monitor stated 'In my six decades of legal practice, I have never witnessed a trial as unfair as the one against Greenpeace that just ended in the courts of North Dakota.'
"Standing Rock has tried to work for greater transparency on DAPL. It is our experience with the Army Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer that all documents relating to DAPL pipeline safety are heavily redacted, and kept secret. What are they hiding? Who is looking out for the communities that may be affected by an oil spill? And why didn’t the North Dakota court allow Greenpeace to address these questions at the trial?
"DAPL is a dangerous pipeline. It crosses our unceded Treaty and aboriginal land. Energy Transfer destroyed Tribal burials as identified by our cultural experts, and committed violence against our people. That is the history that North Dakota and Morton County must reckon with. After the Greenpeace verdict, that day seems farther off than ever."Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/standing-rock-chair-on-greenpeace.html
#StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #SLAPPs #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #EricPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #CorporateColonialism #WaterProtectors #StevenDonziger #EnvironmentalRacism #ReaderSupportedNews #CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #StandingRockReservation -
Somerville, MA.: Thousands call for the release of Rumeysa Ozturk. The Tufts grad student was abducted by ICE agents after publishing an article that was critical of Israel and supportive of BDS.
#Israel #Disappear #USA #ICE #ForeignAgenda #DueProcess #Kidnapping #Racism #WarCrimes #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #BDSt
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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."
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/jury-finds-greenpeace-at-fault-awards.html
#StandWithStandingRock #GreenpeaceUSA #SLAPPs #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #NorthDakota #StandingRockSiouxTribe #StandingRockReservation #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #UnicornRiot #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince -
So, I called the death of #AysenurEygi to be an assassination by the #IDF. Given what's going on with #MahmoudKhalil, I stand by that statement.
#IsraeliWarCrimes #IDFTerrorism #USPol #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #StandWithStandingRock #StandWithPalestine #Protestors #HumanRightsViolations -
#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:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/10/standing-rock-medics-shot-by-police-and.html
#ReaderSupportedNews #ACAB #StandWithStandingRock #GreenpeaceUSA #SLAPPs #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #NorthDakota #StandingRockSiouxTribe #StandingRockReservation #BigOil #CorporateColonialism -
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:
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/03/03/witness-most-tribal-nations-at-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-didnt-know-who-greenpeace-was/
#StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince -
#WinonaLaDuke: #DAPLPipeline Lawsuit Against #Greenpeace Aims to Silence #Indigenous #Protests, Too
#DemocracyNow, March 04, 2025"As the oil company Energy Transfer sues Greenpeace over the 2016 #StandingRock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we speak with #IndigenousActivist Winona LaDuke, who took part in that historic uprising. LaDuke is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of #Anishinaabe who lives and works on the White Earth Nation Reservation and was among the thousands of people who joined the protests in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect water and Indigenous lands in North Dakota. She highlights the close links between North Dakota’s government and Energy Transfer and says that while the lawsuit targets Greenpeace, Indigenous water and land defenders are also on trial. 'North Dakota has really been trying to squash any kind of #resistance,' says LaDuke. 'If they can try to shut down Greenpeace, they’re going to shut down everybody.'"
Watch / listen / read transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/4/winona_laduke
#ViewerSupportedNews #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince -
#Greenpeace on Trial: $300M Lawsuit over #StandingRock #Protests Could Shutter Group & Chill #FreeSpeech
#DemocracyNow, March 04, 2025"A closely watched civil trial that began in #NorthDakota last week could bankrupt Greenpeace and chill #EnvironmentalActivism as the climate crisis continues to deepen. The multimillion-dollar lawsuit by #EnergyTransfer, the oil corporation behind the #DakotaAccessPipeline, claims Greenpeace organized the mass protests and encampment at Standing Rock between 2016 and 2017 aimed at stopping construction of the project.
"Although the uprising at Standing Rock was led by #Indigenous #WaterDefenders, Energy Transfer is instead going after Greenpeace for $300 million in damages — an amount that could effectively shutter the group’s U.S. operations. 'This case is not just an obvious and blatant erasure of #IndigenousLeadership, of #IndigenousResistance,' says Deepa Padmanabha, a senior legal adviser for #GreenpeaceUSA. 'It is an attack on the broader movement and all of our First Amendment rights to free speech and #PeacefulProtest.'"
Watch / listen / read transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/4/greenpeace
#ViewerSupportedNews #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince -
#StandingRock Chair: #EnergyTransfer's Lawsuit Against #Greenpeace: 'Frivolous,'
Seeks to Silence #Tribe and #Allies"The #DakotaAccessPipeline, referred to in our prophecy as the #BlackSnake, has come to harm our land, our water and our people." -- Standing Rock Chairwoman #JanetAlkire
By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, March 4, 2025
STANDING ROCK NATION, #NorthDakota -- "In the case now before the district court in North Dakota, Energy Transfer versus Greenpeace, Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire blasted Energy
Transfer with the facts and made it clear that the #StandingRockNation led the resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline."Chairwoman Alkire said Dakota Access Pipeline destroyed #BurialGrounds, brought in #SecurityForces and #LawEnforcement that brutalized peaceful #protesters, and has already had a spill at Standing Rock -- while the pipeline is concealing its devastating safety records.
"'From the beginning, Energy Transfer has engaged in a security battle, secrecy battle and #propaganda battle against our Tribe,' Alkire said.
"'It promotes lies and propaganda to discredit our Tribe and our good faith concerns with DAPL’s impacts on our Reservation environment, and the global climate. Part of the attack on our Tribe is to attack our allies.'
"'Today, Energy Transfer is taking Greenpeace to court, frivolously alleging defamation and seeking money damages, designed to shut down all voice supporting Standing Rock.'"
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/standing-rock-chair-energy-transfers.html
#ReaderSupportedNews #StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince -
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 -
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 -
#DemocracyNow: Will #Biden Pardon #StevenDonziger, Who Faced Retaliation for Suing #Chevron over #OilSpill in Amazon?
January 08, 2025
"Massachusetts Congressmember Jim McGovern calls on President Biden to pardon environmental activist Steven Donziger, who has been targeted for years by oil and gas giant Chevron. Donziger sued Chevron on behalf of farmers and Indigenous peoples who suffered the adverse health effects of oil drilling in the #EcuadorianAmazon. 'I visited Ecuador. I saw what Chevron did. It is disgusting' and 'grotesque,' says McGovern. 'Donziger stood up for these people who had no voice.' In return, Chevron has spent millions prosecuting him instead of holding itself to account, he adds, while a pardon from the president would show that the system can still 'stand up to #CorporateGreed and excesses.'"
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/8/steven_donziger_jim_mcgovern
#ViewerSupportedNews #ClimateJustice #EnvironmentalActivists #SilencingDissent #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #CorporateGreen #CorporateColonialism #Ecuador #AmazonRainforest #FreeStevenDonziger -
#InContempt #47: #Trump Administration Gears Up to Attack #AntiWar Movement
December 1, 2024
"Judging from what has been pushed thus far, there are several legal measures most likely to be used once Trump returns to Washington. One would be deporting foreign college students in the U.S. on a visa after they’re found to have openly advocated for #Hamas or another U.S.-designated terror group, or after they participated in an unauthorized campus protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed.
Another measure would be to pursue federal prosecutions of #demonstrators who block synagogue entrances or disrupt Jewish speakers at events. A third approach is to charge #protest leaders and nonprofits that aid in fundraising for protest groups with failing to register with the U.S. Justice Department as an 'agent of a foreign principal.' And a fourth avenue is to open investigations into protest leaders who are in direct contact with U.S.-designated terror groups while advocating on their behalf.
"…#AmericaFirstLegal has in the past year filed four lawsuits that provide a glimpse into how the Trump administration could differ from its predecessor. America First Legal alleges in the suits that the State Department, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education have protected pro-Hamas extremists.
"In court papers and in letters to several federal oversight officials, America First Legal has also said it believes the Justice Department should have forced several leaders of pro-Palestinian groups to report themselves under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as #FARA, which requires individuals acting as 'an agent of a foreign principal' to register themselves."
Read more:
https://itsgoingdown.org/in-contempt-47/
#SilencingDissent #Authoritarianism #USPol #FreePalestine #HR9495 #Project2025 #ProjectEsther #ItsGoingDown -
#InContempt #47: #Trump Administration Gears Up to Attack #AntiWar Movement
December 1, 2024, #ItsGoingDown
"In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always are updates, fundraisers, and birthdays. There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
"On the Future of this Column
"The US/online #anarchist media space is going through a process of change at the moment, and this column is not immune from that. So far, this column has been primarily a one-person effort, but collective projects are always more stable than individual ones, and the more people that get involved, the more chance the project will have of surviving if the main contributor gets hit by a bus, feels like a break or catches a charge.
"If you’re involved in any kind of anti-repression or prisoner support work and there’s any aspect of it that you think people should hear about, please send reports and descriptions into this column. If you don’t have a project that you want to publicize yourself, but you have time and energy to help collect news about other people’s, that’s very welcome too.
"Call for New Year’s Eve Noise Demonstrations
"It’s that time of the year! The #NewYorkAnarchistBlackCross (ABC) has put out a call:
"This is a call for a raucous night of strong solidarity with those imprisoned by the state on one of the noisiest nights of the year. On #NewYearsEve gather your crew, collective, community, organization, or just yourself and come together to raise a racket and remind those on the inside that they are not alone.
"Internationally, noise demonstrations outside of prisons are a way to remember those who are held captive by the state and a way to show solidarity with imprisoned comrades and loved ones. We come together to break the loneliness and isolation.
"Wherever you are, meet on New Year’s Eve at the prisons, jails, and detention centers, be loud in solidarity with those imprisoned and to push forward the idea of a world free from domination.
"Read the full call here! If you’re in Brooklyn, NY on NYE, check out the call here.
"Political Prisoner News"The support crew for long-term indigenous political prisoner Xinachtli has put out a new statement and call for donations which you can read here.
"Long-term Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier has been released from hospital back into prison, but still needs ongoing medical care, and so there’s an ongoing call for people to pressure politicians and prison staff to provide Leonard with the medical care that he needs. Amnesty International also is pressuring the outgoing Biden administration to grant Peltier a pardon.
"The Rattling the Cages series of talks continues, with the most recent talks including 'Until All Are Free' with Eric King, Jason Hammond and Jeremy Hammond."
Read more (includes story links):
https://itsgoingdown.org/in-contempt-47/#USPol #ReaderSupportedNews #IGD #IGDNews #FreeLeonardPeltier #AnarchistNews #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #SilencingDissent
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#ArmedDrones and Ethical Policing: Risk, Perception, and the Tele-Present Officer
Christian Enemark, June, 2021
"On 29 May 2020 a #PredatorClassDrone diverted south from its routine patrol of the US–Canadian border and then circled in the sky above the city of Minneapolis for around three hours. Public protests were under way there following the killing of George Floyd by local police officer Derek Chauvin four days previously. The remotely controlled aircraft, operated by US Customs and Border Protection (#CBP), carried no weapons, but it had a mounted camera for transmitting video footage of events on the ground. It was reportedly deployed to Minneapolis to 'aid in situational awareness' at the request of 'federal law enforcement partners.'
"Later, however, thirty-five members of Congress criticized this use of a military-grade drone to surveil protesters inside the United States, arguing that such surveillance could be unduly intimidating and could have an unwelcome 'chilling effect' on participation in public life.
"The deployment for a law enforcement purpose of such a large drone (capable of bearing heavy payloads and flying at high altitudes for long periods) was nevertheless exceptional. Usually, in the United States and elsewhere, a 'police drone' means a small, short-range, multirotor aircraft of the kind produced by civilian manufacturers and widely available commercially. But the use of these drones has generated concerns about the intrusiveness of police surveillance and its impact on individual privacy and freedoms, too. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, police agencies in several countries used drones equipped with cameras (and sometimes loudspeakers) to monitor and enforce public compliance with social distancing rules. Sometimes, this prompted accusations that aerial surveillance in locked-down societies was breaching people's privacy rights and exacerbating a 'police state' atmosphere. The intrusiveness and privacy implications of (unarmed) drone use is an important and well-canvassed ethical issue on its own. It arises in the context of numerous other technological developments with policing applications including, for example, closed-circuit television, long-range audio sensors, and online financial transaction monitoring.
"In this article, however, the focus of attention is the potential use by police of small drones equipped with weapons as well as cameras, and the concern for human rights extends to the right to life which underpins ethical principles restraining police use of force. During the last two decades, armed drones have been extensively deployed over foreign territories, mainly by the US government. Drone strikes involving guided missiles have been carried out as part of armed conflicts in, for example, Afghanistan and Iraq. In this war paradigm, principles of military ethics (which underpin international humanitarian law) are applicable and these traditionally afford a broad moral permission for killing. By contrast, in non-war situations, where state violence is instead wielded within the peacetime paradigm of law enforcement, a more stringent morality based on human rights is applicable. According to several analyses of foreign drone use, the intentionally lethal use of armed drones 'outside armed conflict' is likely to offend those rights, because the conventional restrictions on using force for law enforcement purposes are difficult to satisfy.
"In a domestic context, too, a drone-based targeted killing carried out by a government would likely be an abuse of human rights in the form of an extrajudicial execution. However, even if the violent use of a drone to perform a punitive law enforcement function is impermissible for this reason, it remains to be considered whether an armed drone could properly be used as part of a state's protective (policing) effort to enforce the law. When former US president Barack Obama insisted that none of his successors should 'deploy armed drones over U.S. soil,' he was probably envisaging large (Predator-sized) drones launching Hellfire missiles with deliberately deadly effect. This differs, though, from a scenario in which a police officer's intention is not (or not solely) to kill and where they are using a drone armed, for example, with weapons not designed to be lethal. In such circumstances, it is worth asking: how (if at all) might the use of an armed drone satisfy the ethical principles that guide police use of force? And when (if ever) might it be morally permissible for police to use an armed drone against a criminal suspect or to protect public safety?
"This article explores such questions by first describing the utility of drone technology for police purposes and then outlining the ethical principles that traditionally guide and restrain police use of force. These principles inform the subsequent discussion of ethical challenges an officer is likely to face when remotely controlling an armed, camera-equipped drone. Drone use promises to reduce police exposure to danger, and this seems likely sometimes to yield the benefit of reduced risk of harm (caused by fearful officers) to criminal suspects and innocent bystanders. Weighing against this benefit, however, is the increased risk to the latter associated with any perception problems experienced by distanced police officers, as well as the risk that police remoteness might make public cooperation with policing efforts more difficult to achieve. At the time of writing, there have been no reports of armed drones being violently deployed by police anywhere in the world. Even so, as the next section shows, the requisite technology already exists, and some corporations, legislators, and non-government organizations have begun to anticipate the advent of police drone weaponization."
Read more:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8367046/#DefundCBP #PoliceDrones #DroneWeaponization #MilitaryState #ACAB #USPol #GlobalPol #Orwell #NineteenEightyFour #SilencingDissent #Autocracy #Fascism #BLM #GeorgeFloydProtests #surveillance #SurveillanceState #PoliceState #ArmedDrones #WeaponizedDrones
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#Cree Journalist #BrandiMorin -- In #Ecuador Reporting on Canada's #Mining Atrocities
By Brandi Morin, #CensoredNews, December 10, 2024
"I've just returned to Canada after two weeks reporting from Ecuador's sacred lands, where the ancient Andes rise like guardians, their mist-shrouded peaks holding centuries of Indigenous wisdom.
"Here, where emerald mountains cascade into valleys painted with every shade of green imaginable, I documented horrific atrocities committed by Canadian-owned mining companies, backed by both the Canadian and Ecuadorian states, against Indigenous Peoples.
Where emerald mountains cascade into the Amazon basin – a living tapestry where towering ceiba trees stretch their cathedral-like buttresses into rich earth, where iridescent morpho butterflies flash brilliant blue against a thousand shades of green."In this realm life pulses in every corner – from the haunting calls of wildlife echoing through dawn mist, to the brilliant flashes of macaws painting the sky, to the delicate orchids that bloom in the embrace of ancient trees.
"The parallels to Canada's treatment of our own people are stark – the same calculated playbook of manufactured/false consent, manipulation, and human rights violations. But here, in these mountains where condors still soar and in forests where the very breath of Earth rises from countless leaves, the violence escalates to near-execution levels."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/cree-journalist-brandi-morin-in-ecuador.html#ReaderSupportedNews #NoMiningWithoutConsent #WaterIsLife #SilencingDissent #TargetingActivists #Activists #WaterProtectors #EarthDefenders #Assassinations #AmazonBasin #Ecuador #CanadianMiningCompanies
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Why is violence against #EnvironmentalDefenders getting worse? Five things to know
Maxwell Radwin
11 Sep 2024"In January 2023, two men mysteriously disappear after speaking out against pollution from a controversial iron ore mine in Michoacán, Mexico.
"The following March, climate change protesters in Austria and Germany are beaten and pepper sprayed, and some have their homes raided by law enforcement.
"In September, a pair of youth environmental advocates are abducted by armed men and interrogated for days about their work fighting construction of a new airport in the Philippines.
"All across the world, environmental defenders continue to experience censorship, threats, physical attacks, kidnappings, disappearances and even death because of their work fighting climate change, deforestation, pollution and other environmental issues.
"Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, more than 1,500 environmental defenders have been killed for their work, according to Global Witness, a human rights and environmental NGO. The figures for 2023 look like more of the same. At least 196 people were killed last year defending the environment, up from 177 in 2022. And those figures are considered a low-end estimate."
#EnvironmentalActivists #WaterDefenders #EnvironmentalJustice #GlobalWitness #Mongabay #ReaderSupportedNews
#IACHR #ExtractiveIndustries
#Mining #Logging #LandDefenders #WaterIsLife #HumanRights
#Capitalism #Greed #Corruption
#CorporateColonialism #LatinAmerica #Phillipines #India #Indonesia #Honduras #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo #PublicOrderAct #SilencingDissent #HR9495 #CriminalizingDissent -
"#UniversalSuicide": An imprisoned #ClimateActivist on why the fight for the planet still matters
#JustStopOil cofounder Roger Hallam spoke with Salon about overcoming climate despair and taking action
By Matthew Rozsa
Staff Writer
October 24, 2024"Many people don’t need something as dramatic as #HurricaneMilton to tell them our climate is spiraling out of control. It’s evident everywhere, from the U.K. recently reporting its second worst #harvest on record to #Antarctica turning green to the U.S. spending $150 billion a year on climate change-related #ExtremeWeather events.
"But this isn’t some mysterious crisis. We know #FossilFuel companies are responsible for the emissions heating the globe. But instead of fixing it, these corporations have lied to the public, bribed politicians and sowed distrust in science. Meanwhile, governments are giving more money than ever to fossil fuel companies via subsidies, with a record $7 trillion cashed out to #BigOil in 2022.
"Some climate activist groups would like to bring your attention to this issue. But they are often arrested and get the book thrown at them when they demonstrate. Climate activist Roger Hallam knows this all too well, as he serves a five-year prison sentence for #BlockingTraffic — and, as he explained to Salon, his plight is a warning to Americans who vote for politicians that deny climate science.
"Hallam, who described himself as a #PoliticalPrisoner, was incarcerated for his role in leading and participating in an anti-climate change demonstration in November 2022. For four days, Hallam and more than three dozen other activists climbed a gantry and thereby blocked traffic in London’s critically important #M25 motorway."
#ExxonKnew #BigOilAndGas #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #BigOilAndGas #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #EarthDefenders
#Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #HumanRights #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis -
Youth Arrested Demanding #VPDebate Question on #ClimateEmergency
The #SunriseMovement wants CBS moderator Norah O'Donnell to ask Republican JD Vance "if his prayers outweigh the millions he takes from Big Oil to deny the climate crisis."
Jessica Corbett
Oct 01, 2024"Just hours away from the U.S. vice presidential debate on Tuesday, six members of the youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested for blocking the street outside #CBSNews headquarters in New York City to demand moderator Norah O'Donnell ask both candidates what they would do to take on the #FossilFuel-driven #ClimateEmergency.
'The sit-in and blockade came as the death toll from #HurricaneHelene, which left a path of destruction across several southeastern states, hit at least 137. Sunrise has responded to the Category 4 storm with renewed calls to hold #FossilFuel giants accountable.
"'In #NorthCarolina, I have watched buildings in my hometown be submerged in water, have seen entire towns washed away, trees and power lines covering the streets, people asking for help finding their loved ones, and friends reaching out for aid after losing their homes and livelihoods," #TaliaWilson of #Asheville said in a Sunrise statement. "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/jd-vance-climate
#ClimateCrisis #BigOilAndGas #SilencingDissent #BigOilAndGas #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #HumanRights #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis -
And how much economic damage is from climate change and pollution from #FossilFuels? #BigOil is the real criminal here!
#ClimateProtesters are taking action against Big Oil. UK courts are handing them prison terms akin to rapists and thieves
By Kara Fox, CNN
September 14, 2024London CNN — "As #RightWing rioters attacked communities with #racist violence across parts of the UK last month, 22-year-old #ClimateActivist #CressieGethin sat in a prison cell.
"Her crime? Organizing a disruptive protest against new government-granted licenses to drill for oil — a planet-heating #FossilFuel — in the #NorthSea.
"In late July, a London court found #Gethin and four other members of the #JustStopOil activist group guilty of 'conspiring intentionally to cause a #PublicNuisance,' after recruiting protesters to climb structures along the M25 — a major ring road around London — bringing traffic to a standstill in parts over four days in November 2022.
"Prosecutors alleged that the protests, organized over a #ZoomCall, disrupted more than 700,000 drivers, caused economic damage of over £760,000 ($980,000) and racked up £1 million ($1.3m) in policing costs.
"Now Gethin and three others — Louise Lancaster, #DanielShaw and #LuciaWhittakerDeAbreu, who planned the disruption on the call — are serving four-year jail terms, while Just Stop Oil co-founder #RogerHallam was given five years. All are appealing.
"The sentences are believed to be the longest in the UK’s history for #nonviolent protest and were delivered under two new controversial laws that supercharged #policing powers to crack down on disruptive protests, even when they are peaceful.
"They place the act of planning a 'public nuisance' event, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, on a similar footing as #ViolentCrimes like robbery, for which punishments range from community service to 12 years’ jail, or rape, which is four to 19 years.
"The judge — who in court referred to the activists as '#extremists' — justified the long jail terms because all five activists had previously been convicted of one or more offenses in relation to direct action protest. Each were on bail for another set of proceedings when the Zoom call took place. He also noted people missed important doctor’s visits and funerals because of the protest.
"But activists like Gethin say their demonstrations are proportionate to the problem at hand — a rapidly warming world that threatens to transform life as we know it, through deadly #ExtremeWeather events and by pushing #ecosystems to their brinks. They are now battling the bolstered powers of the #police and courts to get their point across.
“'A very harsh sentence like this doesn’t make sense morally or legally — but it does make sense politically,' Gethin told CNN in a handwritten letter from HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison just south of London’s Heathrow Airport.
"The laws have drawn criticism from the UN’s special rapporteur on #EnvironmentalDefenders, #MichaelForst, who said not only do they criminalize peaceful protest, but they are being enforced in 'punitive and repressive' ways."
Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/14/climate/uk-climate-protests-policing-laws-prison-intl/index.html#BigOilAndGas #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#HumanRights #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe -
Thousands Sign Support for #Greenpeace and #RedWarriorSociety in #Pipeline #SLAPP
By Greenpeace International, #CensoredNews, Sept. 13, 2024
"We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, formally express our solidarity with Greenpeace against #EnergyTransfer’s meritless $300 million lawsuit.
" #PeacefulProtest and #FreeSpeech are fundamental human rights that underpin social progress. The Energy Transfer $300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace is an abuse of the legal system and a blatant attempt to silence legitimate work to protect people and our planet.
"This lawsuit makes allegations that affect people far beyond Greenpeace. It attempts to rewrite the history of the #Indigenous-led opposition movement at #StandingRock – by absurdly alleging that Greenpeace orchestrated the entire resistance.
"It seeks to hold the Greenpeace organizations in the US and Greenpeace International accountable for actions taken by unaffiliated and unknown individuals. This could have a chilling effect on anyone engaged in peaceful protest and assembly. It also attempts to sue over justified and protected speech, claiming it is '#defamation.' This is #corporate overreach that is part of a disturbing trend of attacks on advocacy and speech around the world.
"We will not allow lawsuits like this one to stop us from advocating for a just, green and peaceful future. On the contrary, we will ensure they have the opposite effect, increasing the support for organizations like Greenpeace and strengthening the broader movement for justice.
"This legal attack on Greenpeace is an attack on us all. We will not stand idly by. We will not be bullied. We will not be divided and we will not be silenced.
"This letter has been signed by more than 290 organisations, tens of thousands of individuals, and a growing list of public figures."
Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/thousands-sign-support-for-greenpeace.htmlRead the names of support organizations:
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/69660/open-letter-to-energy-transfer/#StandWithStandingRock #BigOilAndGas #ClimateCrisis #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#HumanRights #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #DakotaAccessPipeline -
“On Thin Ice”: Western Nations Crack Down on #ClimateActivists with Arrests & Jail Terms
Story by #DemocracyNow
September 12, 2024"As the #ClimateCrisis continues to accelerate, #wealthy governments in the West are clamping down on #ClimateProtest. According to a new report from #ClimateRightsInternational, #demonstrators around the world are being arrested, charged, prosecuted and silenced, simply for using their rights to free expression. One of those prosecuted is activist #JoannaSmith, who last year applied washable school finger paint on the exterior glass case enclosing Edgar Degas’s renowned wax sculpture, Little Dancer, at the National Gallery of Art to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. She was charged and later sentenced to two months in federal prison for her #CivilDisobedience. We speak to Smith just a week after her release, and to #LindaLakhdir, the legal director of Climate Rights International. 'Countries who have held themselves up as beacons of rule of law are essentially repressing peaceful protest,' says Lakhdir. Smith says the nonviolent action she took was intended to highlight the disparity between a sculpture of a child protected from the elements with a strong plexiglass case and the billions of children around the world left unsafe and vulnerable by #ClimateChange's effects. 'The crisis is here now, it’s unfolding in front of us, and our governments are failing us,' she explains.
Read more:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/12/climate_rights_international#WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#ClimateActivists
#HumanRights #Corporatocracy
#Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#ClimateNecessityDefense