This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Janine Jackson interviewed ExxonKnews‘ Emily Sanders about criminalizing pipeline protests for the August 16, 2024, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
FAIR.org (11/22/16)
Janine Jackson: We have not forgotten the years of protest by the people of Standing Rock in resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. The cause could not have been more fundamental. The news and images were dramatic, and the support was global and cross-community.
Fossil fuel makers, who would like to keep making money from the destruction of the planet’s capacity for life, along with their ally enablers in law and law enforcement, want nothing like that to ever happen again, and certainly not for you to see it and take inspiration.
Pursuant to that are new efforts reported by our guest.
Emily Sanders is senior reporter for ExxonKnews, a project of the Center for Climate Integrity. This story was co-published with the Lever. She joins us now by phone from Queens. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Emily Sanders.
Emily Sanders: Hi. Thanks so much for having me again.
JJ We’re talking, to start, about congressional actions. What is the context behind this new rulemaking authorization process that you’re writing about, and how did laws around pipeline protest get into this conversation?
HuffPost (8/26/21)
ES: Congress is currently working to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, which would set the agency’s funding and mandates for safety rulemaking on pipelines over the next few years. And that’s at the same time as the agency sets out to make new rules for carbon dioxide pipelines.
And both these processes are especially crucial right now, as the oil and gas industry plans to build out tens of thousands of additional miles of pipeline for carbon capture projects. And CO2 is an asphyxiant. It can travel long distances, it can shut down vehicles, and sicken, suffocate or even kill people and wildlife.
So these pipelines can be incredibly dangerous if and when they leak, as was the case in Satartia, Mississippi, in 2020, when a Denbury pipeline, now owned by ExxonMobil, ruptured and stalled emergency vehicles, sent nearly 50 people to the hospital with reportedly zombie-like symptoms.
So, after that, and now in the wake of yet another leak in Sulphur, Louisiana, earlier this year, advocates and community members have really been pushing the agency to take a hard look at these pipelines, and provide more transparent information to communities and first responders, who are often just underfunded, or volunteer fire departments tasked with dealing with these leaks at the last minute. And they’re asking the agency to implement real rules and oversight for the companies that, in these cases of leaks, were not appropriately monitoring their sites.
So back in April, I reported on how the oil industry was lobbying to limit the scope of those rules, and dictate its own safety standards, so that it can build out CO2 pipeline infrastructure as quickly as possible, since it stands to benefit from huge tax incentives for CCS passed under the Biden administration.
Emily Sanders: “This rulemaking process is supposed to be about protecting community members and making sure pipelines are safe, not about preventing protests.”
And what I found, as I dug further into those lobbying records, is that oil companies and their trade groups are now trying to pressure lawmakers to use this PHMSA reauthorization process to push through measures that could further criminalize pipeline protests at the federal level.
The federal penalty for damaging or destroying pipelines is already a felony charge of up to 20 years in prison. But in hearing testimony that I found, and policy briefs posted online, oil industry trade group executives were basically pushing lawmakers to expand the definition of so-called “attacks” on pipelines that can be punished under felony charges to include vague language like “disruptions of service” or “attacks on construction sites.”
And that could implicate a much broader set of activities that are used to protest fossil fuel infrastructure. So something like “disruption of service,” or interfering at a construction site, that could implicate anything from planting corn in the path of a pipeline construction, to a march, or a sit-in at a site. And it’s really hard to say what that actually means, which is why it’s so concerning.
And we’re now already seeing this language show up in committee bills. So the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s draft reauthorization bill, which was one of two committee bills being negotiated before the legislation goes to the Senate, would add impairing the operation of pipelines, damaging or destroying such a facility under construction, and even attempting or conspiring to do so as felony activities punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
So this is something industry lobby groups have tried before, back in 2019, to use this reauthorization process towards this purpose. They say it’s about preventing damage or destruction of pipelines that could create a harmful situation for communities on the ground. But, again, that’s already a felony under federal law. This rulemaking process is supposed to be about protecting community members and making sure pipelines are safe, not about preventing protests.
JJ: Well, you’ve hit all the points, but let me just draw some out, because the perversity here—it’s not irony—this is coming at the center of legislative work about rules for industry due to devastating harms, like breaches in a carbon dioxide pipeline, things that have actively harmed the community.
So in the process of legislating rules around that, fossil fuel makers have said, “Oh, well, while we’re talking about safety of pipelines, let’s also wiggle in this idea that protesters might be endangering pipelines.”
And then here’s where it gets to peak irony, the idea that protesters might cause harm to human beings by protesting pipelines, when the context is we’re talking about the harm that these pipelines themselves have caused. I mean, it’s kind of off the chart.
ES: Exactly. And this is as these same companies are continuing to invest in more and more fossil fuel infrastructure, while every scientific body is telling us that we have to do the opposite to avoid cataclysmic climate impacts. So they’re really using this growing pushback against their own operations to take this opportunity to silence that opposition.
JJ: And then, of course, the vagueness of the language, which you point to in the piece, that is part of it, that you’re not supposed to quite understand, well, what counts as “protest,” what counts as “impairing the operation” of the pipeline. It’s very much suppressive of free speech and action.
Extra! (4/13)
ES: Exactly. There’s precedent for this, as you alluded to in your opening; this is part of a larger push to pass laws criminalizing protest of fossil fuel infrastructure since the protest against Keystone XL and Dakota Access, which brought together enormous coalitions of people that cross cultural and political boundaries to oppose those pipelines.
And much of the legislation we’ve seen since then, which has been lobbied for by companies like Exxon and Marathon, Koch and Enbridge—much of that legislation was primarily based on a model bill crafted by the oil- and gas-funded American Legislative and Exchange Council, or ALEC, which made it a felony to trespass on the industry’s so-called critical infrastructure.
And those critical infrastructure bills use a lot of the same, very vague types of language to describe trespass, which can make it incredibly dangerous, not just for protesters, many of whom are Indigenous people and farmers and other landowners just trying to protect their land and water rights, but also journalists and the press, who go to report on these protests on the ground. And, again, it’s just especially concerning when the cost to the planet and people’s safety are so high.
JJ: I just want to ask, finally, it’s kind of open-ended, but I mean, it’s just not plausible to think that people are going to stop resisting or stop protesting or stop speaking out against the harms climate disruption is inflicting, that are evident much more every single day. And I just wonder—obviously, these fossil fuel companies are hoping that news media will use their age-old frames about criminality and law-breaking to push people back into the idea of, “Oh, it’s OK to want what you want”—like, not to see the capacity for human life on the planet destroyed—”it’s OK for you to want that, but just do it through proper channels. Don’t do it by protesting, because now that’s illegal in a new way.” And I just wonder, media have to do something different, big media have to do something different to actually rise to this occasion.
ExxonKnews (6/17/24)
ES: I think it’s all about talking to the actual people on the ground who are doing the protesting. Like you said, it’s so easy to paint people as criminals, when the definition of a criminal is defined or written by the same industry trying to protect the product that those people are protesting. So I think it’s just so important to get their perspective, find out why they’re there. A lot of the time these are regular people, not just activists who are there because of the climate, but also just people who are there trying to protect their water, protect their land and their homes and livelihoods, or journalists who are trying to report on what’s going on. And I just think getting their voice heard from a source is the most important thing.
JJ: We’ve been speaking with Emily Sanders, senior reporter for ExxonKnews. You can find the piece, “Big Oil Wants to Increase Federal Criminal Penalties for Pipeline Protests,” online at ExxonKnews.org, as well as LeverNews.com. Thank you so much, Emily Sanders, for joining us this week on CounterSpin.
ES: Thanks again for having me.
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Several social media users have shared the ‘news’ that a girl named Ankita Bauri, a student of Burdwan University in West Bengal, was raped and murdered while she was on her way back home from a protest on the intervening night of August 14 and 15 against the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.
X user (@ridhima_z) made the same claim in a tweet on August 16 and also wrote that the face of the victim was smashed with a stone to make her unrecognizable. (Archive)
Another user, Ayan (@syedayan24), highlighted how unfortunate it was that the alleged victim, Ankita Bauri, had to lose her life while returning home after demanding justice for the brutal rape and murder in Kolkata. (Archive)
Several other users on X also shared the viral claim.
Click to view slideshow.The claim was also viral on Facebook.
Click to view slideshow.Fact Check
We ran a relevant keyword search and found an article in The Statesman which reported the murder of a 25-year-old tribal woman named Priyanka Hansda, a postgraduate student of Philosophy in Burdwan University, in the Nandur village in Burdwan. The report states that she was found with her throat slit in a farmland, around 50 metres away from her house, on the intervening night of August 14 and 15.
The article also states that it was initially suspected that the woman had been raped and murdered, when the news broke out initially on the morning of Independence Day. The Statesman report, however, quotes the SP of East Burdwan, Amandeep Singh, as clarifying that no evidence of sexual assault was found in the autopsy.
We found another report by The Telegraph, which states that “East Burdwan police held a news conference on Friday to clarify that the 22-year-old tribal woman, whose body was found on Thursday with her throat slit, had not been raped.”
However, we were unable to find any reports on a student named Ankita Bauri being raped and murdered.
Besides, the official X handle of Purba Bardhaman (East Burdwan) Police responded to the viral claim, calling it a ‘rumour.’ They clarified that no such incident of a girl named Ankita Bauri being raped and murdered had happened in Burdwan, and warned social media users against spreading rumours.
Some people are spreading rumours that a girl named Ankita Bauri has been raped and murdered on 14th August when she was returning home after taking part in a march connected with RG Kar incident.
…(1/2)— Purba Bardhaman Police (@BurdwanPolice) August 17, 2024
We also found a post on the East Burdwan District Police’s official Facebook profile, which sheds light on the rumours surrounding the alleged rape and murder of Ankita Bauri. The post, which is in the Bengali, says, “Some people are spreading rumours that a girl named Ankita Bauri has been raped and murdered on 14th August when she was returning home after taking part in a march connected with RG Kar incident. The fact is that no such incident of rape and murder of girl named Ankita Bauri has happened in Burdwan. Strong action is being taken against people for spreading such rumours. Purba Burdwan police is committed to the safety and security of women.”
কিছু অসাধু ব্যক্তি সামাজিক মাধ্যমে গুজব ছড়াচ্ছে যে অঙ্কিতা বাউরি নামে একটি মেয়ে 14ই আগস্ট যখন আরজি কর ঘটনার সাথে…
Posted by Purba Bardhaman District Police on Friday 16 August 2024
To sum up, the viral social media claim alleging that Ankita Bauri, a student returning from a site of protest on the night of August 15, was brutally raped and murdered, is fabricated. The body of a tribal girl named Priyanka Hansda was found in a farmland in Nandur, Burdwan, on the morning of August 15. Police confirmed she had not been raped. However, no incident involving a victim named Ankita Bauri has come to the fore, cops have confirmed.
Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.
The post The ‘news’ of Ankita Bauri raped & murdered in Bengal while returning from August 15 protest is fabricated appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Prantik Ali.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Bangladesh student Omar Faruq believes the future of his country is bright. But all he can see is darkness, after police trying to crush a student-led revolution blinded him with rubber pellets.
More than 450 people were killed – many by police fire – in the weeks of protests leading up to the ousting of ex-premier of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on 5 August ending her 15-year autocratic rule.
But dozens of protesters were also robbed of their vision – some in one eye, others entirely – by the plastic or rubber grapeshot pellets police fired from shotguns.
Bangladeshi security forces are accused of having resorted to excessive force to quell the protests.
In Bangladesh, the aftermath of the protests is ongoing
“I was bombarded with pellets all over… my nose, eyes, everywhere – from close range” said 20-year-old Faruq.
He had hitchhiked 200km from the northern city of Bogura to attend the protests in the capital Dhaka.
Now he is getting treatment at the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH), the country’s biggest specialised eye centre. Its records show nearly 600 people have lost at least some vision from shotgun pellets fired during the weeks of civil unrest against Hasina. Among those, 20 have been blinded completely.
Hundreds of others with pellet injuries in their eyes are undergoing treatment in smaller hospitals across Dhaka, according to local media reports.
“We were doing up to 10 surgeries at a time” said Mohammad Abdul Qadir, NIOH’s acting director. “We have never seen such a situation before”.
Rights groups discourage the use of pellets for crowd control against unarmed protestors, calling the cluster clouds of shots indiscriminate. US-based Physicians for Human Rights has called their use “inherently inaccurate”, and potentially “lethal to humans at close range”.
Human rights violations?
The United Nations last week said there were “strong indications” Bangladeshi security forces used “unnecessary and disproportionate force”, with a team expected to visit Dhaka to investigate. Those in the NIOH hospital, where ward after ward is filled with protesters with impaired vision, say they are witnesses to the violence.
Mohammad Abdul Alim, 34, lay writhing in pain in his bed at the hospital, several pellets still lodged in his body. His left eye was swollen and bloodshot:
Sometimes I wish I could just cut off the left side of my face. I can’t even properly see how much rice there is on my plate when I eat.
An X-ray image of Alim’s skull bore testimony to his agony – dozens of pellets lodged all over.
Alim said the police gave him and his fellow protesters 20 seconds to disperse before raining them with pellets. He said scores of people “immediately collapsed” after the shots.
Alim said he hoped the new authorities – an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus – would “take care” of his treatment.
A sacrifice for Bangladesh
Yunus’s government said it was setting up a foundation to “take care of the wounded and the families of the dead and wounded” who took part in the protests:
We can never forget the contributions of the students and people who sacrificed their lives and who were grievously wounded while participating in the protests against the dictatorship.
He vowed his government would do “whatever is needed to take good care of the wounded and families of the deceased” as soon as it could.
But, for now, the injured have only their families to fall back on.
In another ward at NIOH, Nazrul Islam stroked the hair of his younger brother Rahmatullah Sardar Shabbir, trying to comfort him. Doctors had managed to extricate two of the three pellets that pierced the 26-year-old’s left eye on 4 August – but failed to restore his vision.
“I cannot see anything with my left eye” said Shabbir, a law student.
But Shabbir – and almost everyone else at NIOH who have lost their vision to pellets fired at them while participating in the protests – said they had no regrets.
“It is a sacrifice for my country” he said, a Bangladeshi flag unfurled above his bed. “We have created a new Bangladesh”.
Featured image and additional reporting via Agence France-Presse/Luis Tato
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Yesterday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), delegates chose violence when peaceful protesters held up a sign which read ‘stop arming Israel‘:
Nonviolent protest met with violence at the DNC.
A man hitting a woman in a hijab and he wasn’t thrown out. https://t.co/qYvWbQl7eT— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) August 20, 2024
DNC: silencing minority voices
In the video, a man hits a woman wearing a hijab over the head with a stick. Meanwhile, conference officials instructed delegates in front of the banner to stand up, in an attempt to cover it. Another delegate than attempts to pull the banner down several times, eventually succeeding.
The video provided on the Drop Site News website also makes it clear that the delegates were aware of the person filming and were doing everything in their power to prevent them from doing so.
What happened to the right to peaceful protest? This seems to be a coordinated attempt to silence minority voices by both event officials and delegates:
Audience members at the DNC in Chicago unfurl banner that says “Stop arming Israel.”
After audience sees the banner, they begin chanting “We love Joe.”
Man tries to rip banner away.
Stadium lights over this spot then dimmed and banner was ripped away. pic.twitter.com/3RfK1aUSV4
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) August 20, 2024
Several minutes later you hear Biden banging on about honesty and dignity. Alright Genocidal Joe, calm down:
The party that insists the other guy will be worse. While enthusiastically cheering genocidaires https://t.co/uz6I1CyOYH
— Sunny Singh (@ProfSunnySingh) August 20, 2024
Meanwhile, event officials allowed the man who we saw hitting a woman over the head with a stick to remain in the arena:
He should have been thrown out. No excuse for that kinda behavior. DNC and whatever state party he was repping should address it. We can endure a lil nonviolent (and non-disruptive!) protest. https://t.co/suVSTlWxdG
— Katy Tur’nt (@lindabighand) August 20, 2024
Hopefully the people who hit them will be charged and tried for assault.
As Dems always proudly say, political violence is never acceptable, right?
…right?
— pudding representative
(@ramthebladeship) August 20, 2024Lauren Steiner, an activist fighting to protect people and the planet from the greed of billionaires and corporations tweeted:Here’s the sign we made. We penetrated their tightly controlled, hermetically sealed Hollywood coronation show, despite them delisting and intimidating ceasefire delegates. pic.twitter.com/ly7wTuuoD6
— The Robust Opposition – FREE PALESTINE (@Lauren_Steiner) August 20, 2024
Freedom of press
It was also noted that the guy blocking press access in filming the protest was Marcus Dixon, former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.
Interestingly, he is currently the founder/managing director of Elevation Strategy Group. The company describes itself as experts in “event management & experience curation” – lofty words for organising events like the DNC.
We can only presume he didn’t want the press to see what was going on at the event he helped curate?
That’s Marcus Dixon. He was the former political director for SEIU Florida and then became the executive director for the Florida Dems until he was fired by @NikkiFried. Here is blocking press access. #CEASEFIRENOW pic.twitter.com/P8SUScAH0K
— Carolina – Progress and Justice 4ALL – #1u (@1md_c) August 20, 2024
People on X were quick to point out that peaceful protesters were in fact not doing any harm:
No need to touch them. They’re quiet and peacefully protesting. All good. This is a democracy. https://t.co/MeGtIOjcdl
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) August 20, 2024
this is heartbreaking…that elected leaders of the @DNC can’t acknowledge that they are contributing to the deaths of Palestinians and kia’i for peace have to point out the obvious, is just horrendous
https://t.co/BbpcazrZfl— Ilima De Costa
(@kbaygirl) August 20, 2024People have held up signs and banners at previous DNC conventions without too much trouble. What could possibly be the difference this time?I don’t recall DNC conventions banning signs or banners held up by delegates. This was in 2016: https://t.co/n9yUduJtu1 pic.twitter.com/AW1OJ8m1zf
— Paul Surovell (@paulsurovell) August 20, 2024
The Democrats could secure this election by simply condemning Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. As the Canary reported last week, a recent poll showed that Harris could earn more votes by supporting an arms embargo on Israel, than on opposing it:
The Democratic Party risks losing an election that they could win because they won’t stop funding genocide. https://t.co/TwSA9iTrwA
— Josh Dubnau
(@joshdubnau) August 20, 2024If this is how DNC delegates treat peaceful Palestine protesters before even getting elected, its a sure sign of the genocide apologism and violence which is to come.
Feature image via Ryan Grim – Drop Site News/X
By HG
This post was originally published on Canary.
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On Tuesday 20 August at Glasgow Sheriff Court, five young people from Palestine Action Scotland were jailed.
Israel, the climate crisis, and the UK’s political prisoners
It was after they occupied Thales’s weapons factory in Govan, Glasgow, on 1 June 2022. The five occupied the roof of the arms maker and dropped banners to disrupt production. Two of them also damaged weaponry inside the building. In total, they cost Thales’ over £1m in losses.
Three who were convicted of ‘Breach of the peace’ were given 12 month custodial sentences. Whereas two of the five who were convicted of ‘breach of the peace’ and ‘malicious mischief’ were given 14 months and 16 months custodial sentences. They will be expected to serve half of their sentences in prison.
The Judge stated the aim of the harsh sentences was to deter further activism against weapons companies in Scotland.
There has now been more than 40 political prisoners jailed in Britain since July for taking action to stop crimes against humanity.
16 of these are linked to the group Palestine Action, which takes direct action to stop Britain facilitating violations of international humanitarian law by Israel against the civilian population of Gaza.
26 are linked to Just Stop Oil, which takes direct action in support of science-based demands to prevent catastrophic and irreversible harm to humanity and life on earth.
Enabling Israel’s genocide
Thales is one of the world’s largest arms companies – producing armoured vehicles, missile systems and military UAVs (drones). Thales works in partnership with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, to produce military drones in their joint owned factory in Leicester called UAV Tactical Systems. They both work on the ‘Watchkeeper’ drone project which was modelled on Elbit’s Hermes 450 and “battle-tested” on the Palestinian people.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said:
Imprisoning activists for taking action against Scotland’s arms trade with Israel only serves to protect companies enabling genocide. Such sentences will urge more people to acknowledge Scottish complicity with the ongoing Gaza genocide and motivate them to take action against it. It is those who arm the massacres of the Palestinian people who are guilty, not those who take action to stop them.
On Friday, the senior British diplomat, Mark Smith, resigned from the FCDO over arms sales to Israel:
It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service, however, I can no longer carry out my duties in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in war crimes.
Defend Palestine Action
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:
It was just over 10 years ago in September 2013, that Russia jailed 30 Greenpeace activists for a daring direct action against the Prirazlomnaya oil drilling platform. The action was widely perceived as symptomatic of Russia’s descent into authoritarianism under Putin. After concerted diplomatic pressure, the 30 were released in December 2013 after 3 months imprisonment.
But now Britain has decided to follow in Putin’s footsteps by filling its own broken prison system with political prisoners – people of conscience who have taken direct action to stop crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, last year it was revealed by the Guardian that the Israeli government had sought a political intervention in criminal trials concerning Palestine Action:
Israeli embassy officials in London attempted to get the attorney general’s office to intervene in UK court cases relating to the prosecution of protesters, documents seen by the Guardian suggest.
Featured image via Palestine Action/Guy Smallman
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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ExxonKnews (6/17/24)
This week on CounterSpin: Climate disruption is outpacing many scientists’ understanding of it, and it’s undeniably driving many harms we are facing: extreme heat, extreme cold, devastating hurricanes and tornadoes. News media are giving up pretending that these extreme weather events are just weird, and not provably driven by the continued use of fossil fuels. But fossil fuel companies are among the most powerful players in terms of telling lawmakers how to make the laws they want to see, public interest be damned. So the crickets you’re hearing about efforts to eviscerate the right to protest the impacts of climate disruption? That’s all intentional. We’ll hear about what you are very definitely not supposed to hear from reporter Emily Sanders from ExxonKnews.
Inside Climate News (7/8/24)
Also and related: Not everyone is lying down and accepting that, OK, we’re going to die from a climate crisis that is avoidable, but since companies don’t want to talk about it, let’s not. A county in Oregon is saying, deaths from high heat are in fact directly connected to conscious corporate decision-making, and we’ll address it that way. We’ll hear about that potentially emblematic story from Victoria St. Martin, longtime journalist and journalism educator, now reporting on health and environmental justice at Inside Climate News.
Employing the law to silence dissent on life or death concerns, or using the law to engage those concerns head on—that’s this week on CounterSpin!
This post was originally published on CounterSpin.
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The following article is a comment piece from Oil Kills
In the last three weeks, over 500 ordinary people from 14 countries across Europe, North America and Africa have been engaged in a campaign of civil resistance at international airports. People from 22 different civil resistance groups have united under the Oil Kills banner in support of one demand – a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Oil Kills: taking a pause
Flights, passengers and journeys have been severely disrupted as action takers glued themselves to tarmac, stood up in airplanes, glued and locked on at departure gates and held placards in airport terminals. There have been 144 arrests at 31 different international airports, with 14 people still held in prison on remand in the UK.
Today Oil Kills is announcing a pause in our international collaborative actions to allow time for politicians to consider our demands. But this is not the end, the fight will go on. We remain in civil resistance against our murderous governments and the criminal elites who are threatening the survival of humanity.
The facts are clear, we are flying towards the obliteration of everything we know and love. Continuing to extract and burn oil, gas and coal is an act of war against humanity. It will kill hundreds of millions of people, adding to the already mounting global death toll from climate breakdown. It will push our climate, oceans and the living world beyond the point of no return, triggering runaway global heating and setting in motion an unstoppable process of global societal collapse.
To know these facts and yet to have no plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal is reckless and immoral. Our politicians are complicit in the greatest crime in human history. Whether those in charge realise that they are engaging in genocide, is not the question. For this is how it will be seen by the next generation and all future generations.
So for now we are taking a pause, but governments must take heed: you cannot arrest your way out of this, just as you cannot imprison a flood or serve injunctions on a wildfire.
You cannot arrest your way out of the climate crisis
If you continue to ignore the looming reality, if you fail to protect the public from what is coming, then ordinary people will continue to take matters into their own hands to do what you have failed to do. We will act to protect humanity by stopping the machine that is causing us harm – the global fossil economy.
To the public we say it is time to face reality: no one is coming to save us. There is no free pass, no shelter from the coming storm. Our best chance of survival is to resist. To join the growing numbers of ordinary, everyday people, from across the globe who are refusing to stand by while hundreds of millions of innocent people are murdered.
The climate crisis will not end until every single country has phased out fossil fuels, but those who bear the greatest responsibility and have the greatest capacity must do the most. As citizens of wealthy countries based in the global north, we continue to demand that our governments stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 and that they support and finance other countries to make a fast, fair and just transition.
In this time of crisis, we expect our governments to work collaboratively, as we have done, and negotiate a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end the war on humanity before we lose everything.
Featured image via Oil Kills
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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The state is further punishing Palestine Action activists for standing up to Elbit Systems’ complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action: the state abusing the law
Three more Palestine Action activists are charged with aggravated burglary and criminal damage allegedly in connection to an action against Elbit Systems UK on Tuesday 6 August. The action caused over £1million in damage to the heavily guarded Filton-based research hub of Israel’s biggest weapons producer, which was opened in the summer of 2023.
In total, 10 activists have been charged in connection to the Filton action — all of whom were first detained without charge for nearly a week and interrogated constantly under the powers granted by the Terrorism Act.
First, cops held seven Palestine Action activists under the Terrorism Act, giving the police powers to detain them without charge for up to 14 days. Whilst they were detained, counter-terrorism police interrogated the activists numerous times.
A week after the first arrests, charges were brought against seven of the now-dubbed ‘Filton10’ – none of which were offences under the Terrorism Act. Despite this, the state continued to abuse counter-terror powers to detain and interrogate further activists, whilst also dedicating nationwide resources to protect Israel’s biggest weapons firm.
As the Evening Standard reported, one of the seven – Hannah Davidson – has been charged despite not physically being at the action. This has echoes of the ‘Whole Truth Five’ – the Just Stop Oil activists who have been sent to prison for years, for planning action on the M25.
Now, three more people have been charged.
Charged for trying to stop a genocide
Elbit Systems frequently uses Gaza as a laboratory to develop new weaponry. At Elbit Systems Second Quarter 2024 Results, CEO Bezhalel Machlis said “The portfolio was improved drastically and this war has been an accelerator for many developments. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is using these technologies now and in the future, we will bring them to the rest of the market as well”.
Since 7 October, the Israeli military has killed and injured over 140,000 Palestinians. Despite International Court of Justice rulings on the plausibility of a genocide being committed in Gaza, Elbit Systems have been allowed to maintain operations in Britain.
Palestine Action says:
Under Section 1 of the Genocide Convention, all parties have a responsibility to prevent genocide and punish those responsible for its commission. Rather than abide by their legal and moral duties, the British state has deployed extensive resources towards protecting a company perpetrating genocide.
Palestine Action refuse to be intimidated into allowing a genocide to happen. We never backdown to a crackdown.
Featured image via Palestine Action/the Canary
By Steve Topple
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Four German airports were disrupted on Thursday 15 August after eight people entered the airfields and glued themselves to taxiways as part of Oil Kills – an international uprising to end oil, gas, and coal by 2030. The uprising is calling for governments to commit to signing a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
Oil Kills action in Germany
Starting shortly before 5:00am CEST, eight supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) entered airfields at Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart and glued themselves to the tarmac:
Flights were suspended at each airport, in some cases for up to two hours, as police removed and arrested the action takers. Flights had resumed at all airports by 7:50 CEST.
The actions started shortly before 5.00 CEST at Berlin BER, and around 30 to 50 minutes later protests also took place at the three airports in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden- Württemberg. In each case, two people in orange high-visibility vests peacefully expressed their opposition by displaying banners with the words “Oil kills” and “Sign the treaty”. They did not enter the runways.
We have to take effective measures
A spokesperson for Oil Kills said:
Ordinary people are once again taking matters into their own hands today to do what our criminal governments have failed to do. We are putting our bodies on the tarmac and refusing to allow the global fossil economy to continue without end, taking us ever closer to climate catastrophe. The link between oil, gas and coal, and human lives is now crystal clear: Oil Kills. We refuse to die for fossil fuels and we refuse to stand by while hundreds of millions of innocent people are murdered. We are in resistance against our murderous governments and the criminal elites who are threatening the survival of humanity.
We demand that our governments stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 and that they support and finance other countries to make a fast, fair and just transition. They must sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end the war on humanity before we lose everything.
Medical student Regina Stephan taking action in Berlin said:
Oil kills: The extraction of oil, gas and coal must stop urgently because it is destroying our livelihoods. And what is happening instead? Just yesterday, the state of Lower Saxony gave the green light for new gas drilling off Borkum. That can’t be true! As long as our decision-makers work hand in hand with the fossil fuel companies and put profit before human life, I’m standing here – on the tarmac – and I can’t help it.
I am aware that political decision-makers and people who are profiting from the ever-increasing number of flights would like us to leave. But the only way to achieve this is to take effective measures against the destruction that is being driven forward here. Because the climate catastrophe is so much more frightening than any threat of punishment: it is destroying my future, the future of us all! Our existence is at stake.
The last generation?
Letzte Generation supporters have been among the most active supporters of the Oil Kills campaign over the past three weeks.
In addition to blocking flights from the main passenger airports in Germany during this time further actions included: two people sat on the wings of private jets at Sylt Airport, while 15-20 sprayed paint in a terminal at Dortmund (10 August), 11 people held a solidarity protest in front of the Bundeskanzleramt in Berlin (11 August) and yesterday five people climbed onto the roof of Karlsruhe Baden-Baden Airport to display banners until they were removed by police.
Police have been conducting raids on those who took part in the highly disruptive actions at Frankfurt Airport. House searches were performed at eight apartments in six cities across Germany on 8 August.
The protests are part of the global Oil Kills campaign in which over 500 ordinary people from 14 countries across Europe, North America, and Africa have been engaged in a campaign of civil resistance at international airports. People from 22 different civil resistance groups have come together in support of one demand – a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Flights, passengers and journeys have been severely disrupted as action takers glued themselves to tarmac, stood up in airplanes, glued and locked on at departure gates, and held placards in airport terminals. There have been 144 arrests at 31 different international airports, with six people now in custody in Germany and 14 people still held in prison on remand in the UK.
It’s clear: oil kills
Oil Kills said:
Governments and fossil fuel producers are waging war on humanity. Even so-called climate leaders have continued to approve new coal, oil and gas projects pushing the world closer to global catastrophe and condemning hundreds of millions to death.
We need an emergency international response to save lives.
As long as political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action to protect our communities from the worst effects of climate breakdown, we will remain in resistance. Our work remains essential, morally right and ever more urgent. The link between oil, gas and coal, and human lives is now crystal clear: Oil Kills.
Featured image and additional images via Oil Kills
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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For the first time since March last year, Trudi Warner, a 69-year-old retired social worker, can go to sleep without the threat of imprisonment hanging over her.
Trudi Warner: it’s all over
On Thursday 15 August the new Solicitor General, Sarah Sackman MP, has informed the Court of Appeal that she will not be pursuing the case against Ms Warner for contempt of court, punishable with two years imprisonment, after she held a sign outside Inner London Crown Court in March of last year:
JURORS YOU HAVE AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO ACQUIT A DEFENDANT ACCORDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE.
The decision marks the end of the road not only for the prosecution of Trudi Warner but also for ongoing investigations against others for holding similar signs.
In April of this year, the High Court dismissed the case against Warner, describing the prosecution as ‘fanciful’. Despite this, and the public outcry over the case, the previous Solicitor General, Robert Courts MP, expended substantial public funds on launching a legal appeal against the decision.
But now, the office of the new Solicitor General informed the Court of Appeal of the decision to drop the appeal:
I write to inform that the Appellant has further considered this case and decided not to pursue the appeal against the Respondent (Trudi Warner). Accordingly, we respectfully request to withdraw the Appellant’s application for permission to appeal.
Decision a signal of change of approach to peaceful protest?
Under the previous government, there was a growing sense that fundamental political freedoms were under threat, as arms and oils industry lobbyists sponsored an escalating crackdown on democratic opposition.
From the Washington Post to the Times of India international media sounded the alarm, referencing the case of Trudi Warner among others, with headlines such as “the right to protest is under threat in Britain, undermining a pillar of democracy”.
Since the change of government in July, the pattern of repression has continued. 26 members of Just Stop Oil have been imprisoned, some for four and five years. Members of Palestine Action have been treated as serious organised criminals and held incommunicado under the Terrorism Act. But the relevant decisions were made by judges and law enforcement authorities at an arm’s length from central government.
The decision to drop the case against Trudi Warner is the clearest signal yet that the new government plans to distance itself from its predecessor’s assault on democratic and political freedoms.
In July, home secretary Yvette Cooper decided to review her predecessor’s attempt to overturn another High Court ruling concerning the right to protest.
Dan Norris, the Labour MP and Mayor of the West of England, recently criticised the sentences for the Whole Truth Five as “far too severe”.
Trudi Warner: implications for legal action against Judge Hehir
On 2 July, despite the ruling of the High Court from April, Judge Hehir arrested 11 people for holding similar signs outside Southwark Crown Court and had them detained in court cells for the day. The Judge repeatedly stated that the High Court judgment was ‘subject to appeal’.
The withdrawal of the appeal increases Judge Hehir’s exposure to a legal action for false arrest and imprisonment.
More than 20 people remain subject to an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, commenced last September, for interfering with the course of justice (an offence punishable with life imprisonment). In light of this decision, any further investigation of the twenty is likely to be regarded as unlawful.
Trudi Warner said:
It’s wonderful that the right of juries to acquit according to their conscience is now unequivocally established as a legal principle in the UK. This will be more important than ever in our barely functioning democracy where people are unequal under the law.
My case, and the response of the people in Defend our Juries, has shown how effective collective action can be. This is a time for courage, which we must draw from one another. And we must hold together for the challenges ahead. We are many. They are few.
Come together in resistance
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:
There was a group of judges, led by Judge Silas Reid, who were determined to conceal from juries the vital democratic principle of jury equity, i.e. their right to acquit irrespective of the ruling of the judge. From their point of view, Trudi Warner’s sign was a serious threat.
But if Judge Reid’s insane decision to arrest Trudi Warner was an attempt to deter others from doing the same it has backfired spectacularly. Hundreds of people replicated her action outside every Crown Court across England and Wales.
The story is a reminder that the best remedy against state repression, sponsored by corporate interests in the arms and oil industry, is for people to exercise their democratic rights by coming together in resistance.
Following the silencing and jailing of increasing numbers of people for trying to stop crimes against humanity, our campaign will now extend to pursuing freedom for political prisoners.
Featured image via Defend Our Juries
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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In 2019, construction began on a natural gas pipeline that would cut through the unceded homelands of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in western Canada. Wet’suwet’en land and water protectors were forbidden from coming near the construction area operated by Coastal Gaslink, owned by TC Energy. However, the project was met almost immediately with resistance and gained international attention due to the tribe’s use of traditional law. Under Wet’suwet’en law, the pipeline trespassed on Wet’suwet’en land. With no treaty signed with Canada or Britain, Wet’suwet’en argue that their laws are still applicable — a political status recognized by the Canadian supreme court — and they have the right to evict Coastal Gaslink, and its pipeline, from its homelands.
In 2021, Chief Dsta’hyl, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief, and a group of land and water protectors commandeered a battery from a excavator owned by a Coastal Gaslink contractor, then a week later blocked two roadways used by construction crews. In the aftermath, he was arrested for breaking a court order, known as an injunction, that barred the group from disrupting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. In early July of 2024, he was sentenced to 60 days of house arrest.
Hereditary chiefs, like Dsta’hyl, are tasked with preserving their tribe’s culture, land, and people, and represent a different, older legal order than the band council system — elected officials of the tribe’s six bands recognized by the Canadian government. While Coastal Gaslink consulted and received approval from the Wet’suwet’en band councils, the company did not get permission from the hereditary chiefs.
Chief Dsta’hyl’s nonviolent approach to resisting the pipeline caught the attention of Amnesty International, who named him Canada’s first prisoner of conscience, a distinction given to people who are incarcerated for their politics, religion, or ethnicity, as well as other personal and protected statuses. Amnesty International said that there are potentially thousands of prisoners of conscience across the world, and called for Chief Dsta’hyl’s immediate release.
Grist spoke with Chief Dsta’hyl at his home in Wet’suwet’en territory about his resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and his recognition as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
My English name is Adam Ganon, but my respected chief name is Dsta’hyl, which in our language means, “in the wake of a whale.” I’ve been one of the hereditary chiefs in the Sun House for well over 40 years now. I was in my mid 20s when I got the name. I have a lot of responsibility to the Sun House and our clan. Once you start doing work for your nation, you keep doing it, right from the time you take the name till you translate out of this world.
Q. You were arrested three years ago outside of your camp on Wet’suwet’en territory. Can you tell me how that went and where it happened?
A. It was cold and wet when they arrested me. I was not near the camp we had. I was just going for a drive and I was just doing a reconnaissance drive to check out what the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were doing. Two Coastal GasLink trucks were following me, which I didn’t mind. But I guess they were on the same channel as the RCMP. So, once they knew that I was leaving the camp, they radioed ahead and when I got onto a bridge, the RCMP lights came on and they blocked me. That’s where they did the arrest.
Q. From what I understand, Coastal GasLink didn’t consult with the hereditary chiefs, they went to the band councils, which only have jurisdiction on reserve. But hereditary chiefs were found to have authority over traditional lands in 1997 by the Canadian supreme court. Can you tell me more about that?
A. In no way shape or form did Coastal GasLink ever communicate with their hereditary chiefs to get permission. What the provincial government did was encourage them to deal with the band councils and not to deal with the land owners, the actual hereditary chiefs, because band councils are just puppet governments for the federal government, and they only have jurisdiction on reserve and that’s only 2 square miles.
What we decided to do is move under Wet’suwet’en law, because the government wasn’t looking after us. The courts weren’t looking after us. Nobody was looking after our land. So, the hereditary chiefs decided that we were going to use our old trespass laws, that have been around for thousands of years, to basically deal with the trespassers on our territory.
Q. Can you explain what a hereditary chief is?
A. Hereditary chiefs come from different groups. In the Wet’suwet’en, we have 13 house groups. And in those 13 house groups, we have five clans. We have the Gilseyhu, which is the Big Frog clan. The Laksilyu is the Small Frog. Then we have the Gitdumden, which is the bear and wolf clan. Then we have the Tsayu, the Beaver clan, and the Laksamshu, which is the fireweed clan, which is us.
So, the hereditary chiefs, they get their name bestowed upon them. They go through the feasts there before they’re fully recognized by the rest of the hereditary chiefs.
When I got my name, one of the things I was groomed to know was the moment you accept that name you are no longer your own person. From that moment on you will only act in the best interest of your people. I have full responsibility, right to the day I die, to protect what we have.
One of the things that the matriarchs always said, back in the ’70s, I used to hear them say, “You know that you can sell your land and the money will be spent in a few years, and then you will have nothing?” So, what they said is, “We don’t sell our land because the land is just who we are.” If you don’t have your land, what are your children going to have, and what are their children going to have? It goes on generationally.
Q. The Canadian government recognizes the authority of the hereditary chiefs, so if they claim to recognize your authority, how can this pipeline have been built?
A. It’s a smoke screen. They’re trying to appease the nation and appease the other First Nations by making these claims. But the willingness to follow through is not entirely there. What they are doing is using it as a means to try and negotiate and chisel us out of more and more land. One of the the things that they are trying to do is deal only with the band councils for all the different land claims, which undermines all of the chiefs.
Q. I saw a video of you helping serve an eviction notice to the construction crew. I’d be scared. What were you feeling when you were doing that?
A. When you’re doing right, you’re not scared. When you’re doing something here that is real, there is no fear involved. Nothing brings fear to me, I’ve been like that my whole life. When I see injustice I have to work towards that, mitigating problems that we are facing. Come up with a solution. As a chief, our job is to mitigate all the situations, not to dwell on them and complain about them, but meet them head-on and meet them honestly.
Q. In 2020, a year after the pipeline’s construction, the Wet’suwet’en sued the Canadian government for its lack of movement on climate change. Can you talk about how climate change affects your work, and the land you’re on?
A. One of the things we are faced with is we have over 80 percent of our territories logged, which means it’s now just a moonscape. When spring comes, there’s no canopy to allow for the snow to melt slowly. We end up with drought because in the past, snow would be there for half the summer, so you wouldn’t get the really fast runoff that we have today.
My dad was in the logging industry his whole life and when I was young, one of the things that I observed is that they used fairly responsible forestry, because everything was selectively logged. And then all of a sudden in the late ’60s, the industry started pushing for clear-cut logging with these big multinational companies. They try to destroy what little we have.
It disrupts the wildlife, all of the larger mammals that we live on. All the moose, elk, and deer are being displaced. We’ve been displaced. Bears have been displaced. Everything has been displaced.
The province wanted to cull moose, and we already have a shortage of moose in our territories, and they just wanted to cull more to starve us out. It’s like the same thing with bison on the prairies, they killed all the buffalo to try and starve all the First Nations People out. Just dastardly tactics there to try and eliminate First Nations people.
Climate change is very serious here. Because you look at what oil and gas has done. They call it natural gas, too, and it’s pretty much all hydraulically fracked gas, which disrupts all of the water tables and aquifers. It destroys water.
Q. While being trained as a hereditary chief, did your dad talk about being a part of the logging industry, and how the industry was turning more extractive?
A. My dad never ever talked about anything like that. My mom was more concerned. She was the one that started to groom me as a hereditary chief at 13. She made me think about it and told me, “The moment you take that name, you will no longer be your own person. From this day on you are going to belong to your people, and you will act in the best interest for your people from that day onward.” It’s a big responsibility that was bestowed upon not just myself, but upon any chief.
Q. In your spirit, how are you feeling about this fight right now as you are under house arrest?
A. It’s bringing me strength to what I’m going through right now. It just makes me stronger. Wet’suwet’en laws have to be recognized across the country, and I’ll keep up the fight.
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Canada’s first ‘prisoner of conscience’ is an Indigenous land defender on Aug 16, 2024.
This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Taylar Dawn Stagner.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead
One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead
One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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As the Democrats headed toward their convention with momentum for the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ticket, newspapers have collectively found an August scandal. Major press outlets are amplifying Republican claims that Walz, as governor of Minnesota, let the Twin Cities burn during the 2020 George Floyd uprising. By spotlighting these charges, corporate media are assisting GOP attempts to portray themselves as the party of law and order against a tide of anarchic anti-police chaos.To recap, Walz, who had spent a quarter century in the National Guard, was governor of the state in the summer of 2020, when white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was caught on camera murdering George Floyd, a Black man, suffocating him to death. Protests in the city erupted and turned violent, and protests popped off around the country.
When the head of the Minnesota National Guard was told by Gov. Tim Walz that the entire force would be mobilized, Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen said his first reaction was, “Whoa, wait a second here, sir” (MPR, 7/10/24).
Walz, originally hesitant to call in military assistance to restore order, eventually called in the National Guard, which Minnesota Public Radio (7/10/24) praised for having “mobilized quickly” and “adjusted on [the] fly for Floyd unrest.” MPR added that it had been the state guard’s “largest deployment since World War II, and it occurred with remarkable speed.”
The “law and order” aspect of this election is muddy. Donald Trump, who makes “tough on crime” conservatism a part of persona in his attempt to return to the White House, is the only presidential candidate in history to be convicted of a felony. Meanwhile, Harris made her career in California as the San Francisco district attorney, and then the state’s attorney general. Despite Walz’s career in the National Guard, the Republicans are drumming up the 2020 George Floyd drama to try to win back the title of the party of order.
Too much of the corporate media are helping the Republicans make this flimsy case—and allowing the debate to revolve around the question of whether Walz was quick enough to use force against Black Lives Matter protests.
‘I fully agree with the way he handled it’
Four years ago, Trump praised Tim Walz’s response to the protests after George Floyd’s murder, calling the governor “an excellent guy” (CNN, 8/8/24).
For starters, then-President Trump had actually praised Walz’s handling of the crisis in 2020 (CNN, 8/8/24). “I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days,” Trump said of Walz in a conference call with governors:
Tim Walz. Again, I was very happy with the last couple of days. Tim, you called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins.
Surely this is relevant context for any story about the Trump campaign now attacking Walz’s response to the Floyd protests. (A transcript of the call has been available online at CNN.com since June 1, 2020.)
And it should be hard for journalists to recall the police response as being any kind of hands-off approach. At FAIR (9/3/21), I covered the case of Linda Tirado, an independent journalist who lost vision in one eye after being shot by a Minneapolis cop while covering the protests; she was one of dozens of journalists that summer who sustained eye injuries because of the overzealous police response.
Two years ago, AP (11/30/22) reported, Minneapolis “reached a $600,000 settlement with 12 protesters who were injured during demonstrations after the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd.” The ACLU, AP said,
alleged that police used tear gas as well as foam and rubber bullets to intimidate them and quash the demonstrations, and also that officers often fired without warning or giving orders to leave.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/4/24) noted:
At least a dozen Minneapolis police officers were sanctioned for misconduct related to the department’s riot response in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and subsequent crowd control efforts in 2020.
‘Draws fresh scrutiny’
But three major newspapers are repeating the partisan attacks on Walz’s response—that he was basically more or less acting in concert with the protesters and not interested in maintaining order.
The Washington Post (8/13/24) carried the headline “Walz’s Handling of George Floyd Protests Draws Fresh Scrutiny,” with the subhead, “Republicans say Tim Walz was slow to act as violence raged in Minneapolis. Activists say he showed restraint and compassion.” It summarized that former Trump “and his allies are seizing on criticism from other Democrats that Walz was too slow to act to portray him as weak,” making him out to be “another lenient liberal politician, in their telling, who gave a pass to protesters and allowed destruction in their cities.”
The Boston Globe (8/13/24) re-ran the Post piece.
The point of this New York Times article (8/14/24) is that after Walz was asked in a nighttime call to send in the National Guard, he slept on it and decided to do so in the morning.
A day later, a New York Times story (8/14/24) ran with the headline “Walz Faces New Scrutiny Over 2020 Riots: Was He Too Slow to Send Troops?” Its subhead: “Gov. Tim Walz’s response to the unrest has attracted new scrutiny, and diverging opinions, since he joined Kamala Harris’s ticket.”
The piece starts out summarizing the case that Walz was slow to respond. In the ninth paragraph, the Times offered a baby-splitting verdict on Walz’s response:
But a reconstruction of the days after Mr. Floyd’s murder reveals that Mr. Walz did not immediately anticipate how widespread and violent the riots would become and did not mobilize the Guard when first asked to do so. Interviews, documents and public statements also show that, as the violence increased, Mr. Walz moved to take command of the response, flooding Minneapolis with state personnel who helped restore order.
This wasn’t the first such story in the Times. Earlier in August, the New York Times (8/6/24) ran the headline “Walz Has Faced Criticism for His Response to George Floyd Protests,” with the subhead “Some believe that Gov. Tim Walz should have deployed the Minnesota National Guard sooner when riots broke out following the police murder of George Floyd.” The third paragraph said:
Looting, arson and violence followed, quickly overwhelming the local authorities, and some faulted Mr. Walz for not doing more and not moving faster to bring the situation under control with Minnesota National Guard troops and other state officials.
‘Make America burn again’
The real problem Heather Mac Donald (Wall Street Journal, 8/13/24) has with Walz is that he believes there’s such a thing as “systemic racism.”
On the same day the Post story ran, the Wall Street Journal (8/13/24) ran an op-ed by pro-police pundit Heather Mac Donald, who said it wasn’t just Walz’s allegedly slow response that was bad for Minnesota, but his entire worldview that sympathized with Black victims of police violence:
In 2022, Mr. Walz declared May 25 “George Floyd Remembrance Day” and has done so each year since. The 2022 and 2023 proclamations invoked “systemic racism” or its equivalent five times. They urged the public to “honor” Floyd “and every person whose life has been cut short due to systems of racism,” and to “deconstruct and undo generations of systemic racism.”
She continued, “Mr. Walz’s belief in ‘systemic racism’ dovetails with Kamala Harris’s worldview. Both portray the police as the major threat to Black Americans.”
Elsewhere in the Murdoch press, Fox News (8/14/24), citing a “former federal prosecutor in Minneapolis who prosecuted George Floyd rioters,” said “Walz’s record as governor on that issue, and several others, including fraud, makes him ‘unfit’ for a promotion to vice president of the United States.” The man quoted here is Joe Teirab, who also just won a GOP House of Representatives primary with Trump’s backing (WCCO, 8/14/24).
A CBS piece (8/13/24) straightforwardly related that “Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, claims Walz ‘actively encouraged’ rioters” in the lead of its story. Fox News (8/7/24), as a sort of GOP public relations arm, was more forceful when it ran the headline “Vance Praised for ‘Absolute FIRE’ Takedown of Harris/Walz ‘Tag Team’ Riot Enablers: ‘Make America Burn Again’” Fox‘s subhead:
“Tim Waltz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020. And then, the few who got caught, Kamala Harris helped them out of jail,” JD Vance said.
‘Record is mixed’
Criminologist David Squier Jones pointed out to MPR (8/13/24) that “Americans tend to have an inflated sense of crime occurring in their communities that don’t gel with crime statistics.”
Given that Trump himself had praised Walz’s leadership during the protests, and that the law enforcement response to the protests cannot be framed as too lax, one would think newspaper coverage would apply more skepticism to the Republican claims. Newspaper coverage of these Republican attacks has followed the “Republicans allege this, while Democrats deny it” model, simply rehashing partisan talking points without illuminating the issue.
David Squier Jones, a criminologist at the Center for Homicide Research, offered a much more measured version of the events of 2020 and their aftermath to MPR (8/13/24). While Walz sympathized with the anger toward the police murder of Floyd, he said, contrary to Vance, “I did not see anything, read anything, or hear anything that he encouraged active rioting.”
Jones also noted that Walz’s “record is mixed in terms of encouraging police reforms.” “He has also supported police in terms of increasing funding for police departments throughout the state,” he said. “He’s looking for better policing, not defunding policing, not removing policing, and he is certainly not anti-police.”
Such analysis doesn’t make for great attack-ad copy, but it will probably do more to help citizens cast an informed vote in November than parroting GOP press releases.
This post was originally published on FAIR.
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Palestine Action has been hitting the corporate media headlines in recent days. It’s over activists’ detention under terrorism laws, and subsequent charging. However, not only did said corporate media get some of the facts wrong – they also missed the fact that, much like Just Stop Oil’s ‘Whole Truth Five’, one of the activists has been charged even though they weren’t physically at the action.
Palestine Action: detained and charged
Seven Palestine Action activists were denied bail on Tuesday 13 August at Westminster Magistrates Court after being charged with offences such as aggravated burglary, criminal damage, and violent disorder.
The seven were charged after six were arrested for entering Elbit Systems UK’s research and development centre in Filton, Bristol on Tuesday 6 August. They allegedly caused over £1m in damage to the research hub owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons producer.
Video footage released by Palestine Action shows Israeli weapons, including quadcopter drones seen used during the Gaza genocide, being destroyed inside the Filton premises:
All of the seven were held under the Terrorism Act, giving the police powers to detain them without charge for up to 14 days. Whilst they were detained, counter-terrorism police interrogated the activists numerous times.
As the Canary previously reported, in recent days people have been protesting outside the police stations holding the activists.
In relation to the charges made, which was followed by a misinformation campaign in the media, Palestine Action says:
Despite arrests under the Terrorism Act, giving the police the ability to detain without charge for up to 14 days, none of the activists have been charged with terrorism offences. Although the deliberate smear campaign we are seeing in mainstream media would indicate otherwise. This not only vindicates the activists, but proves the state was abusing their powers by holding them under draconian laws which saw them interrogated day after day – all in a bid to protect Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer.
Incorrect reporting
Some mainstream media has indicated that the activists had been charged under terror laws.
Palestine Action says this is incorrect.
It claimed the CPS stated the court can determine whether the offences have a ‘terrorist connection’ under section 69 of the Sentencing Act 2000. This will only become relevant if the activists are convicted of the alleged offences, and does not constitute terrorism charges.
Palestine Action contends that:
this sentencing power was only mentioned as a means for the state to justify detaining activists without charge for seven days, and to prejudice the public by associating the action with terrorism.
As the Evening Standard reported, one of the seven – Hannah Davidson – has been charged despite not physically being at the action. This has echoes of the ‘Whole Truth Five’ – the Just Stop Oil activists who have been sent to prison for years, for planning action on the M25.
Featured image via Palestine Action
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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State servile cops and complicit courts have shielded climate-wrecker Drax from public scrutiny. So, between the 9 to 12 August, climate protesters mobilised. After a pre-emptive swathe of arrests, climate crisis protesters refused to stay silent over UK mega-polluter Drax’s climate-wrecking biomass plant.
Drax: the greenwashing giant
Bioenergy giant Drax operates the world’s largest wood pellet-burning biomass power station near Selby, Yorkshire. The UK’s single largest carbon dioxide emitter, in 2023, it belched out 11.5m tonnes of the greenhouse gas driving the climate crisis.
Drax sources from around the world, primarily the US, Canada, and the Baltic States. In many of these places, the company is responsible for razing high-risk forests, including old growth, ancient trees.
What’s more, the company has situated its wood pellet production sites predominantly in environmental justice communities. These include majority Black communities in places like Mississippi and Louisiana. There, Drax’s facilities emit large amounts of pollutants that cause respiratory and pulmonary health impacts.
The corporation has repeatedly made the bold claim that it produces renewable energy. Unsurprisingly, this does not wash. Because as it turns out, cutting down forests is not so sustainable. On top of this, burning wood pellets produces more carbon emissions than the dirtiest of fossil fuels: coal. Not so green then either.
However, because the UK government counts woody biomass ‘carbon neutral’ (it’s clearly not), it throws enormous renewable energy subsidies at Drax anyway. These amount to over £600m a year. Little wonder then that the company raked in over a billion in profits for 2023 alone.
Cops acting as Drax’s ‘private security firm’
It was in the context of all this that a group of climate protesters planned to take the major greenwashing corporation to task. Predictably however, the criminal justice instruments of the state closed ranks to shield Drax from peaceful, public scrutiny and protest.
First, the company sought an injunction against them ahead of their planned ‘climate camp’ at the site. On 25 July, the High Court granted this draconian injunction to Drax. It meant that protesters would be relegated to a small strip of land near the power station. Despite this, protest groups proceeded in preparations for their peaceful demonstration undeterred.
Then, on 8 August, North Yorkshire police, led by the Met, conducted a raid. They pre-emptively arrested 22 climate protesters purportedly for conspiracy to interfere with key national infrastructure. Of course, this was before the protesters had done anything. As the Canary’s HG reported:
A protester who has been helping to coordinate the camp told the Canary that North Yorkshire Police are essentially acting as Drax’s own private security firm. Repeatedly they said they are not opposed to peaceful protests. However, they have still taken away the kit the protesters were using to ensure the camp was both peaceful and safe. Essentially, they are being silenced for speaking out against greenwashing.
North Yorkshire Police’s response only made this complicity glaringly apparent. In a statement, its silver commander for the operation superintendent Ed Haywood-Noble said:
I would like to reassure the public that we are not complacent, a large police presence will remain in place in the area around Drax to ensure that disruption to our communities and operations at Drax Power station is kept to a minimum.
In short, cops are posting up outside a multibillion corporation’s power plant to shield it from peaceful climate protesters. Following the Thursday raid, the force also arrested three further protesters for similar so-called offences.
But the climate protesters would not be silenced.
Police ‘patronising codswallop’ over Drax protest
First, on Friday 9 August, activists from Reclaim the Power and Axe Drax carried out a defiant act of brandalism:
Drax will not silence us
Last night bus stops were redecorated by @axe_drax and Reclaim the Power activists calling out Drax’s
We will not let the damage and destruction Drax cause be greenwashed
pic.twitter.com/xuDkUg91Wl— Reclaim The Power (@reclaimthepower) August 10, 2024
Then, they took their message to Drax’s front door. Drax may have forced protesters into a back garden-sized strip of land, but on Sunday 11 August, it was Drax that activists backed into a corner.
Hundreds of people had planned to turn out to the site, but the police had confiscated vital infrastructure to host a safe and accessible protest of this scale. This included essential items like wheelchair accessible track, toilets, and fire safety equipment.
Despite this, a small group gathered outside Drax to show they would not bow to the company’s state-abetted repression of their right to peaceful protest.
Protesters formed a line outside Drax’s gates:
To a backdrop of gargantuan gas flue stacks spewing out pollution, they brandished placards and banners calling out the company:
Placards drew attention to not only the planetary costs of Drax’s pollution, but the health impacts, especially for sidelined communities:
Reclaim the Power, who were organising for the camp added:
The miniscule size of the spot designated for protest shows the ridiculousness of Drax and the police claiming to ‘support peaceful protest’. They knew hundreds of people wanted to come to a peaceful protest, so arresting nearly 30 people and taking kit needed to make the event safe and accessible is not exactly supportive is it?
Patronising Codswallop that our concerns are ‘misguided’ is going unchallenged because Drax are too afraid that if we actually get to let more people know what is happening they won’t be funded to continue burning millions of trees, belching out huge carbon emissions and poisoning small communities in the US.
A protester travelling from the Sheffield area said:
People need to know public money is funding enormous environmental damage and decimating the health of small communities living beside their poisonous pellet production plants. If they aren’t afraid of people speaking out, let us speak out.
Climate protesters ‘will not be silenced’
And if Drax thought that was the end of it, the climate criminal had another thing coming.
On Monday 12 August, Reclaim the Power staged a blockade of Drax’s public relations machine.
As the Canary has previously detailed, through this, the biomass giant greenwashes its image. For instance, on International Day of Forests 2024, Drax released its annual report and it was chock-full of greenwashing:
Euphemistically titled Committed to the world’s energy transition, the document boasts a series of the company’s supposed environmental credentials.
Throughout, Drax has greenwashed its UK power plant operations in sections on its purported climate and nature “positive” impacts.
In a nutshell, it routinely presents its gargantuan carbon emissions, the burning of vital trees, and poisoning of local communities as ‘green energy’.
So, Reclaim the Power activists flooded the inboxes and jammed the phone lines of the climate-complicit company. In just two hours, it filled Drax’s inbox with over seven thousand emails. They continued this mass disruption action of Drax’s core communications throughout the working day.
Reclaim the Power told the Canary:
This is not an action against the Drax workers, but instead a strategic blockade of the PR machine that paints the single biggest carbon emitter in the UK as green. Drax has been working around the clock to suppress the truth and repress protest. Drax and the Police may have prevented our peaceful camp from going ahead, but we will not be silenced. We know that we are going up against a massive PR campaign propped up by billions in public subsidies but we can still make our voices heard.
Featured image and additional images via Reclaim the Power
This post was originally published on Canary.
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This is the first in a series of three articles on Stand Up To Racism, left-wing protest movements, and accessibility for chronically ill and disabled people
On Saturday 10 August, thousands of people across the UK took to the streets. There were many different events – like the estimated 15,000 people who were present in Belfast to the estimated 5,000 who protested outside the UK Reform Party’s HQ and then marched through the streets of Westminster, to finally reclaim Trafalgar square. This gathering of solidarity against racism, Islamophobia, and hatred towards refugees was organised by Stand Up To Racism in response to the far-right race riots and spread of disinformation in the wake of the Southport murders.
Thanks to far-right, hate-spreading accounts on X like Tommy Robinson (not his real name btw), and the accumulation of false ideologies by both mainstream media and political careerists, thousands of far-right racist thugs took to the streets, rioting as well as attacking any Black and brown people that they could find.
After watching these riots unfolding on social media, the news, and in some cases in our local communities, many of us where not only horrified and disgusted with these actions, we also wanted to do something about it.
So, from the fantastic response like the ‘Nan against Nazis’ in Liverpool to the walls of protection around local mosques up and down the country, the left have been coming out – and coming out in numbers.
Standing up to racism
The Canary was on the ground at the events in Southampton:
We were also in Brixton:
And we were at the event outside of Reform UK’s HQ that then went through Westminster to Trafalgar Square in central London.
Wearing our Stand Up To Racism t-shirts me and Steve Topple travelled to the event in Brixton via Uber. The driver that took us asked us when we got into his car what we were standing up for, not seeing our t-shirts properly. We both responded, “racism”. The Uber driver then turned round, looked at us properly and said “thank you so much” – which was really sad to hear and quite disgusting that he felt he even had to say it.
During our 10-minute journey we discovered that this man was an African refugee who has been living and working in the UK for years along with his family and children who were born in the UK.
We were discussing the horrors of recent events and the disgusting treatment of refugees or any Black or brown person in this country. He then told us that his teenage daughter, born in the UK, is currently asking to move to Africa. He explained that his daughter is so concerned about what might happen, she would rather move to a foreign country than stay here.
This is what years of mainstream media narratives, political point scoring, and classism has caused – allowing racism, Islamophobia, and hatred towards Black and brown people to spread like Covid through an austerity-riddled population that is being divided and conquered by the real enemy; as someone said at Brixton, “the one’s that fly into the UK via jets, not the ones who come here via boats”.
Marching through South London
The event at Brixton started with speeches from members of Stand Up To Racism and from allies who discussed the issues that Black and brown people are facing both due to the recent riots and within growing movements and activism in general. Labour MP Bell Riberio-Addy spoke:
"These were not protests… These were far-right racists… Pogroms… Some might call it terrorism"
Labour MP @BellRibeiroAddy speaking at the @AntiRacismDay demo at #Brixton #StandUpToRacism pic.twitter.com/8Okv1ERyeQ
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) August 10, 2024
We heard a powerful and emotional speech from an artist called Phoenix who, although slightly nervous, discussed the issues that Black and brown activists have faced whilst fighting for their rights – including around the impact the Black Lives Matter protests had, how activists were treated at the time, and how they continue to be affected – including living with PTSD. All the speakers were Black or brown, except for one white local councillor.
After the speeches at Brixton the event took an interesting turn. In the spirit of DPAC, we began to march onto the road through Brixton. With police in tow, Stand Up To Racism and its supporters continued their march as a peaceful protest from Brixton to Victoria:
Apart from the police attempting to push a man and unsuccessfully getting no reaction from him, or their attempt to tell another man who was pushing his child in a pram that this was child neglect, the march to Victoria was noisy but uneventful:
On joining the other estimated 5,000 people at Farage HQ, the peaceful protest continued from Victoria, along past Westminster to finally finish in Trafalgar Square:
There’s a few ‘buts’ when we stand up to racism
Going to this march and showing solidarity along with the thousands of people who also did across the country, regardless of the fact that I’m a chronically ill and a disabled activist, was for me really important.
To see the faces of every person who came out, who were looking out of their windows, or who were supporting us as we walked through their communities was something I will never forget. And regardless of political views on the left, this is what we should all be about in my opinion. Inclusive movements that unite communities at a time when we need to show solidarity and fight for all of our human rights.
However, they also need to be accessible for all – for everyone that wants to support these movements or protests, like the thousands of disabled and chronically ill people in this country that don’t really ever get represented, have a voice, or are thought about when actions are being created. The left really does need to do better. After all, disability never discriminates.
What I have learned from this experience is there is little consideration, intentionally or not, for disabled and chronically ill activists at these types of events. I’m going to be looking at this more in a second article.
I have also, after being subjected to abuse on X for going, realised that there is a section of the left, (yes, not the right), that do not support Stand Up To Racism. So, I’m going to be looking at the history of the group and what people say the problems with it are, in a third article.
Despite people coming out to ‘stand up to racism’, it seems that along with the abuse and ableism in activism that exists we’re also going to need a “left-wing rule book” too, about what protests we can and can’t go to. That was news to me – and it might well be news to you, too.
Featured image and additional images via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Cops continue to hold six Palestine Action activists under counter-terrorism laws after they entered Elbit System’s Bristol factory – a company complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The group, other organisations, and its supporters have hit back – with protests happening outside two police stations. The Canary’s view? We’re witnessing the state setting a precedent against direct actionists.
Palestine Action: more action against Elbit
As the Canary previously reported, Palestine Action activists targeted Elbit’s Bristol site on Tuesday 6 August. They used a repurposed prison van to smash the gates at the site. When inside, they destroyed equipment and machinery that Israel would have used to kill Palestinian people with.
As of Monday 12 August, Israel had killed at least 39,897 people in Gaza, including over 15,000 children. The toll includes 107 deaths in the previous 48 hours. Israel has also wounded around 92,152 people since 7 October.
However, also on 12 August, cops had detained six Palestine Action activists for several days under counter-terrorism laws – completely disproportionate when contrasted with Israel’s war crimes and attempted genocide in Gaza.
‘We refuse to be intimidated’
Palestine Action said in a statement:
Actionists are being detained under the Terrorism Act, allowing the police to hold them for up to 7 days, with possible extension to 14 days, without charge. This comes after six were arrested on Tuesday 6th August for entering Elbit Systems’ Filton, Bristol site, to prevent its manufacture of weapons for genocide.
The Filton premises are the brand new £35m R&D hub of Israel’s biggest weapons firm. Its June 2023 opening was attended by the UK-Israeli Ambassador Hotevely, and Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis – who has frequently boasted of the company’s central role in Israel’s military, during the ongoing Gaza genocide.
Direct action against Elbit aims to disrupt this: targeting the source of colonial violence and genocide against the Palestinian people, undermining Elbit’s profiteering from Israel’s daily massacres.
As well as detaining them under unprecedented powers, police have launched a smear campaign against the detained actionists, alleging violence against police and security guards. The activists are unable to respond to these claims, and unable to describe for public record the force used against them by police and private security. Palestine Action contends that these statements are designed to prejudice opinion and legal proceedings against activists, and to lay the groundwork for the police’s unjust use of authoritarian powers.
Now, more than ever, Palestine Action and the #Filton6 need the support of the public, to push back against these authoritarian attempts to protect Israel’s weapons industry. Show the British state and Israeli arms companies that we refuse to be intimidated into allowing a genocide to happen.
Other organisations have hit back at the cops and the government for allowing their actions.
‘Release them immediately’
These courageous actionists were acting to prevent the further arming of a regime currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the world. Their actions were rooted in a commitment to save innocent lives by disrupting the supply chain of weapons used to perpetuate ongoing genocidal violence.
In a disturbing display of state repression, the actionists have been held since Tuesday 6 August, under the Terrorism Act 2000 on a seven-day warrant without charge. They are currently detained at Hammersmith and Newbury police stations. This abuse of counter-terrorism legislation is clearly designed to intimidate and silence those who dare to challenge the complicity of states and corporations in war crimes and human rights abuses. Direct action has proven so effective in challenging state-sanctioned atrocities that authorities are resorting to intimidation tactics and harsh legal measures to silence and undermine those who dare to take a stand.
CAGE International calls for the immediate release of these actionists.
The actions of these six individuals should be recognised for what they are: a principled and necessary intervention to halt the killing of innocent civilians.
Hammersmith comes out
Indeed – many people do recognised them as such. On Sunday 11 August people protested outside Hammersmith and Newbury police stations. Canary writer Samantha Asumadu was at Hammersmith. A significant number of people turned out:
Cops were protecting the police station:
Asumadu said:
“I could hear it before I saw it. Shouts, chants and noise. I hurriedly lit my cigarette and walked toward the music. I got out my mask too; something I haven’t warn since the year after lockdown ended.
“I doubt it would do any of the people there any good to hide our faces by now.
“We would have been mapped and tagged years ago if we’d attended a protest – certainly since 2019 when the Public Order Act started making its way through parliament. But probably even before then if we had attended any anti-war, pro-justice protest. And I have attended many since the million-strong one in 2006 at what turned out to be the start of the second invasion of Iraq.
“On the mic/blow horn as I twisted and turned into the crowd, sliding sideways in order to get a view, was someone I recognised but wasn’t sure who it was. She gave me a wry smile and carried on speaking through the blow horn. She had half cut dreads that she’d tied up on the top of her head. Kafiri slung round her neck, she urged us to join in with her chant “no justice”.
Righteous indignation
Asumadu continued:
“She soon introduced someone called MC Righteous. I’d heard his name plenty of times back in the early 2010s when people like Lowkey and Akala had made their names. MC Righteous had never hit the big time, but as far as I know he hasn’t also been boycotted or targeted by the state such as Lowkey has, or denounced by historians like Akala has. So maybe there’s something in being NOT too famous.
“He got the crowd hyped, even the older types hanging back a bit, and the small woman a in hijab who had brought her chair with her, determined to support the Filton 6 even from the back, even sitting down. “Bun the occupation”. Damn right.
“MC Righteous handed the mic to a woman who introduced herself as the mother of the youngest Palestine Actioner, at 20 years old, who had been unceremoniously locked up, supposedly on ‘terrorism’ charges. She said:
I have never heard of Elbit Systems before my daughter got involved and now I know so much more, I support her actions 100%. But she has an illness, they are not giving her proper medication.
“As she spoke I began to feel movement at the edges of the crowd of around 150 people.
The cops shut it down
Asumadu noted:
“When I had entered their space I had noticed the numerous police who stood across the road, down the road, and on the road. They hadn’t been too close, but now I felt them over. I happened to be filming when they made their move:
Police suddenly surrounded the people outside Hammersmith police station once mother of 20 year old Palestine Actioner began to speak. I happened to be filming and decided to get past potential kettle @Pal_action pic.twitter.com/3IBGLZ1ZTW
— Samantha Asumadu (@SamanthaAsumadu) August 11, 2024
“What looked like them trying to encircle us, I slipped through with a second to spare and brushed past a policeman which allowed me to make my escape.
“I crossed to the other side if the road, dodging traffic, and heading towards a sea of blue:
“I took the above video from across the road, listened for a bit, then decided to walk to a pub not far away in Kensington Olympia. I was disconcerted to see the number of police vans they’d brought and parked on the other side of the road:
“I took one last look back at the grandmothers, men, women, teenagers, students who had come out to make some noise for the Filton 6 and I felt blessed.
Standing strong against repression
As Asumadu summed up:
“I remembered two years ago the last time I went to A Palestine Action. I was the only journalist there. Whilst only this year I got round to writing about it I had forgotten the photos and video I had taken so did another thread on X:
'In July 2022 @Pal_Action activists again protested outside Elbit System’s UK headquarters in Holborn. Elbit Systems Ltd is an Israel-based international military technology company and defense contractor.' https://t.co/BtkOrJ8f4d pic.twitter.com/OSGa21zE8t
— Samantha Asumadu (@SamanthaAsumadu) August 11, 2024
“Because one thing I know is Palestine Action are not new to this, they’re true to this. Leaving the pub a couple of hours later having posting some of the photos on Instagram and X/Twitter I went back the way I had come.
“Expecting to hear them again before I saw them. They had gone. So had all the police vans, and the police. I traced back the exact steps I had taken earlier in reverse but this time I noticed what was to the left of me . Directly opposite the Hammersmith police station is Hammersmith library. Enlightenment, and knowledge standing strong across from repression and hopelessness”.
Palestine Action: don’t believe the cops
People also went to Newbury:
Supporters speaking out in support of the #Filton6 who remain detained without charge after dismantling an Israeli weapons producer pic.twitter.com/cE2fwvX11L
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) August 11, 2024
On 12 August, people also went back there:
Newbury police station 12 August
Protesters say release the #Filton6 it is @ElbitSystemsLtd who is breaking the law by arming a #Genocide in violation of the Genocide Convention not those who try to stop them. pic.twitter.com/hKvnCxeUQ6— East Berkshire PSC
(@sloughpsc) August 12, 2024Meanwhile, Netpol said:
Police appear to want to claim Palestine Action is some kind of ‘urban guerilla group’ because it engages in direct action against property. To make this stick, it now needs to portray it as ‘violent’. Anyone who knows the people involved in it recognises this as a fabrication.
It has been frustrating that some media coverage has failed to challenge claims about alleged injuries to officers during a recent protest. The police have a long track record of lying about protests – look back to the claims made about Kingsnorth in 2008
Everyone should exercise the greatest level of scepticism about any claims made by Avon and Somerset Police, who invented ‘broken bones’ during the Kill the Bill protests in 2021.
It is obvious what cops are doing.
The state is setting a precedent
For four years, authorities have been unable to stop Palestine Action with standard legislation. Now, under exceptionally dubious justification, they are using terrorism laws to try and convict them. Authorities are also sending out a message to other groups like Just Stop Oil that their direct action will not be tolerated, either. Moreover, the state is once again protecting corporate capital – in this case, Elbit, to which Palestine Action has caused serious disruption and damage.
However, cops holding Palestine Action activists under counter-terrorism laws also sends a clear signal to the public. In the same few days that far-right racist agitator Tommy Robinson was also detained under counter-terror laws, the state is saying that anyone who does not follow the Western liberal playbook will be face the consequences – regardless of whether they’re on the left or right.
The fact that many of the far-right ‘thugs’ during the recent race riots got more lenient sentences than the Just Stop Oil ‘Whole Truth Five’ speaks volumes about how the state views the far right compared to what it would label the ‘far left’. Regardless of that, though, and the response to the race riots by the criminal justice system should also ring alarms bells for the rest of us.
However, the biggest warning comes from cops treatment of Palestine Action. A precedent is being set – and it is not a good one.
Featured image and additional images and video via Samantha Asumadu
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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The trenchant critic of Putin was released this month, but says he saw captivity as an integral part of his campaign
For many people, if they had recently turned 70 and were faced with the prospect of a long stint in a Russian prison, their first instinct would be to dash to the airport and escape the country as quickly as possible. Oleg Orlov, one of Russia’s most experienced and respected human rights advocates, had that opportunity but never considered it an option.
Orlov, whose organisation, Memorial, won the Nobel peace prize in 2022, remained in the country after being accused of “discrediting the Russian army” for his commentary on the war in Ukraine. In February this year, he was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The day after cops pre-emptively nicked 22 peaceful protesters, a new report has revealed the staggering climate-wrecking impact of their target. In 2023, Drax biomass power station pumped out by far the most carbon dioxide pollution of any UK power plant, and then some.
Drax: planet and public enemy number one
Bioenergy giant Drax operates a gargantuan wood pellet-burning biomass station near Selby, Yorkshire. The corporation has repeatedly made the bold claim that its this produces renewable energy
However, the company could practically write the ‘Greenwashing for Dummies’ handbook. As the Canary’s HG reported on its renewables claims, Drax is puffing out a lot of hot air on this:
Both Drax and the government claim that the emissions ‘don’t count’ because the trees are grown in other countries, and because one day far in the future another tree will store that carbon. Obviously, that is absolutely insane.
Notably, there’s nothing remotely ‘renewable’ about its wood pellet-burning operation. Instead, repeated nonprofit investigations have shown the devastating environmental impacts of Drax’s core business activities.
Now, it’s once again evident it’s pouring out a lot worse as well. Specifically, 11.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 alone. This is according to a new analysis from climate think tank Ember published 9 August. It means Drax’s Selby power station put out the equivalent of nearly 3% of the UK’s territorial emissions.
In fact, this barely scratched the surface. Ember found that Drax’s biomass power station emitted four times MORE carbon dioxide than the UK’s remaining coal plant. Yes, coal plant – often considered the dirtiest fossil fuel – and Drax is producing masses more.
This is partly because, wood pellets actually pack more carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity.
If that wasn’t bad enough though, it also generated more carbon dioxide than the next four power stations combined. Moreover, Ember noted that:
Although it is the recipient of public funding earmarked for low-carbon projects, Drax remains the largest single source of CO2 in the country.
Footing the bill for a forest-destroyer
Despite this, the UK taxpayer is footing the bill for climate and forest-destroyer Drax:
“The government is considering [Drax’s] request for billpayers to foot the cost of supporting it beyond the subsidy scheme’s deadline in 2027 so it can keep burning wood for power until 2030”
It has claimed almost £7bn from energy bills since 2012https://t.co/AlHCX6Y6lf pic.twitter.com/COEjagZAoo
— Doug Parr (@doug_parr) August 9, 2024
In short, the UK government gifts Drax huge subsidies at the planet, and the public’s expense. And that’s not all. As the Canary has previously highlighted, the company wants to squeeze more from the public purse to ramp up its greenwashing gambit. In particular, the Tory government greenlighted its plans for carbon capture and storage technology at its Yorkshire facility. However, Ember also previously noted that for this:
it’s the public who will foot the bill for the corporation’s expensive climate vanity project. It identified that the project could add £1.7bn to UK energy bills each year. Of course, this comes at a time when UK energy bills are already astronomically high and unaffordable, with energy companies pushing millions into fuel poverty.
In addition, the new analysis underscored that:
Like the gas power plants which also make up a large proportion of the largest emitters, the UK large biomass power sector is highly dependent on imports. Drax power station consumed 5.8 million tonnes of wood biomass, none of which was sourced in the UK.
Extinction Rebellion UK pointed out the astounding absurdity of calling this renewable energy:
Q : Is chopping down trees in the US & Canada, chipping them into wood pellets, shipping them over the ocean, burning them to generate electricity in Yorkshire producing “renewable energy”?
A : No #Drax is UK’s biggest emitter of climate damaging CO2
https://t.co/Ira0NsDONX pic.twitter.com/nerbkqP9HG— Extinction Rebellion UK
(@XRebellionUK) August 9, 2024Climate protesters versus corporate criminal Drax
Also in the headlines this fine Friday 9 August:
‘Twenty-two people police want to find over disorder’
Funny that, were the cops too busy arresting 22 peaceful climate protesters who hadn’t even committed a crime, to find the perpetrators of racist riot violence? State priorities and all that.
But then, it’s a case of follow the money. And it has been flowing into the coffers of the Labour Party of course:
But the politicians have had great donations! pic.twitter.com/Y3hX45icJm
— Paul B |
Reform democratic system of UK (@Paul_Briley) August 9, 2024That is, while Drax was spewing out more carbon emissions than any other company in the UK, it was also ploughing thousands in donations to Labour and getting its lobbyists in the room where it happens with to-be government to boot.
As ever then, the corporate climate criminals get off scott-free. Meanwhile cops serving the interests of the establishment, punish people fighting for the future of the planet.
At the end of the day:
Drax received £22bn in subsidies. despite being UK’s largest carbon emitter.
Burns wood/trees to produce electricity. Four times emissions of coal plant.
We pay again at sky-high electricity prices.
Corporations always profit from capture of the state.https://t.co/22i4VgrrLs
— Prem Sikka (@premnsikka) August 9, 2024
It’s people and the planet who continue to lose out.
Feature image via Youtube – the Science Channel/the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Press freedom groups are raising alarm after New York police arrested and charged videographer Samuel Seligson for allegedly filming pro-Palestinian activists hurling red paint at the homes of top officials of the Brooklyn Museum, part of a campaign by activists demanding the institution divest from Israel. Seligson faces eight counts of criminal mischief with a hate crime enhancement, which is a felony. Police also raided his home twice. Seligson is a well-known local journalist whose work has appeared on major news outlets, and his attorney Leena Widdi says the charges are an attack on constitutionally protected press freedoms. “It is an extremely concerning assault on the First Amendment. The reason why the freedom of press is so strongly protected is because there’s some underlying belief that in order for the public to meaningfully participate in a democracy, they must be actually informed,” Widdi tells Democracy Now!
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Just Stop Oil is calling a pause on further actions while far-right race riots are continuing to affect many towns and cities around the country. In recent weeks, Just Stop Oil has been acting with groups internationally, to demand governments establish a Fossil Fuel Treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
However, by pausing its own actions it means it can mobilise with communities and other groups to present a united front against the far-right – exactly the approach that’s needed.
Just Stop Oil said…
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson issued the following statement:
“Like the entire country, our community has been deeply disturbed by the events of recent days. Disturbed, but not surprised. The civil unrest the country is experiencing is a taste of what science is telling us will happen, as climate chaos accelerates and makes the preservation of a stable society untenable.
“We recognise that the violence on our streets is endangering communities, particularly those of Muslims and people of colour. In accordance with our commitment to nonviolence, we will not stretch police resources, such that they are unable to protect communities most at risk. Therefore, we are pausing our nonviolent resistance until the immediate threats to safety have been dealt with appropriately.
“Our primary focus as a community is to resist fascism, and so supporters of Just Stop Oil will be joining peaceful counter-demonstrations and will be taking part in local clean-up operations in the days ahead”.
The climate crisis and far-right race riots are linked
They continued:
“We recognise that without the elimination of the underlying causes of this unrest, the violent disruption we are seeing on the streets is likely to continue. This is the inevitable consequence of a broken political system, economic austerity, and the withdrawal of the social safety net. Anger has been misdirected by agitators amongst the political class, the billionaire-owned press, and by other elites; who have been scapegoating the people who have done the least to create this situation. There are those in the ruling class who would sooner foment the rise of fascism in order to preserve their own wealth, than see a fairer society that works better for everyone.
“Delivering a Fossil Fuel Treaty that ends oil and gas by 2030 is an essential step for our Government to prevent massive disorder in the future. This will be needed all the more as the full ramifications of crop failure, food shortages and economic collapse become clearer. Thus we cannot afford to pause for more than is immediately necessary.
“Just Stop Oil supporters take no pleasure in causing disruption, far from it, we find it deeply uncomfortable. However, we have to face reality, if we want to protect our loved ones, the wider public and generations to come. Every one of us must take stock of what is most important, and reorient ourselves towards the preservation of life, through nonviolent resistance against the systems that are causing harm”.
Britain’s ‘desperate circumstances’ mean Just Stop Oil stop
The Just Stop Oil spokesperson concluded that:
“We would encourage those in Government, as well as those in the media, judiciary and the wider public to join us in considering how we address the challenges of our time, at this critical juncture in human history.
“We ask our international allies for their understanding of these desperate circumstances in Britain currently and our need to take a pause.”
“The Oil Kills international uprising will be continuing at airports around the world. 22 groups across 13 countries have taken action at 22 airports so far.
“26 people are currently in prison in the UK for demanding the government take necessary actions to protect our families and communities from the worst impacts of climate breakdown. A further two supporters of Palestine Action are also currently in prison for demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza”.
Featured image via Just Stop Oil
By The Canary
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It’s a good morning when you wake up to #FarRightFail trending high across the social media-sphere. Because, as it turned out, aside from a few flag-shagging far-right chumps, it was tumbleweed from the fascists. Instead, anti-fascists came together all over the country to stand outside the asylum support centres the race riot cranks purportedly planned to attack. When it came down to it, community solidarity won out above the hate.
Antifascists stand strong against the race riots
In Hackney, hundreds of people from the community gathered outside the Old Fire Station:
500 in Hackney, east London, now to repulse the far right and to stand with Muslims, refugees, migrants, all the oppressed and the working class. #StandUptoRacism @AntiRacismDay pic.twitter.com/8nqZmwrr53
— Socialist Worker (@socialistworker) August 7, 2024
Brentford antifascists protesters chanted together against bigotry in huge crowds:
‘There are many, many more of us than you’
@AntiRacismDay @hopenothate @SBSisters #Brentford #FarageRiots #LoveIsLouder pic.twitter.com/xrM0K3ZQQh— Deborah Finding (@deborahfinding) August 7, 2024
There were similar scenes across all the targeted sites around the country. Harrow’s antifascist turnout:
Huge turnout in Harrow to stop any possibility of the fascists passing or attacking Muslims, refugees or lawyers who represent them. Lots of Kuffiyehs and Palestine flags. Harrow is anti-fascist and it’s anti-Zionist.#StopTheFascists #NoToIslamophobia #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/S65j6oLSbO
— Shabbir Lakha (@ShabbirLakha) August 7, 2024
Sheffield:
Huge turnout in Harrow to stop any possibility of the fascists passing or attacking Muslims, refugees or lawyers who represent them. Lots of Kuffiyehs and Palestine flags. Harrow is anti-fascist and it’s anti-Zionist.#StopTheFascists #NoToIslamophobia #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/S65j6oLSbO
— Shabbir Lakha (@ShabbirLakha) August 7, 2024
Hastings:
Looking big in #Hastings – saying it loud and clear…
“Refugees are welcome here!”#StandUptoRacism pic.twitter.com/feVmR4HcCO
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) August 7, 2024
Southampton:
Hundreds standing against racism in counter-demo in Southampton. Tiny number of anti-immigration protestors
pic.twitter.com/PV9UcsZZwp— Ben Craig (@BenHCraig) August 7, 2024
Derby:
100 now in Derby.
No real sign of far right thugs.
Like Leicester, anti fascists have occupied where the extreme right said they’d be, by The Ram.
Great work at v short notice by @AntiRacismDay
This is what we must do in every area.@Searchlight_mag @LouiseRawAuthor pic.twitter.com/l3t6UyaAdC— UAF (@uaf) August 4, 2024
North Finchley:
100 now in Derby.
No real sign of far right thugs.
Like Leicester, anti fascists have occupied where the extreme right said they’d be, by The Ram.
Great work at v short notice by @AntiRacismDay
This is what we must do in every area.@Searchlight_mag @LouiseRawAuthor pic.twitter.com/l3t6UyaAdC— UAF (@uaf) August 4, 2024
Southend-on-Sea:
Anti fascist rally, Southend on Sea, England. pic.twitter.com/EwG1oRK7P9
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) August 7, 2024
Liverpool:
Well over a thousand antifascists on the streets of #Liverpool @LiverpoolSutr #StandUptoRacism pic.twitter.com/wKxTQSTFpu
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) August 7, 2024
Northampton:
Well over a thousand antifascists on the streets of #Liverpool @LiverpoolSutr #StandUptoRacism pic.twitter.com/wKxTQSTFpu
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) August 7, 2024
Cheadle:
Hundreds protest in Cheadle #StandUptoRacism @AntiRacismDay @uaf pic.twitter.com/rjXhx0155W
— Manchester Stand Up To Racism (@Manchester_SUTR) August 7, 2024
Aldershot:
#Aldershot antifascists assemble!@SLSUTR #StandUptoRacism pic.twitter.com/cNxpOVzEAk
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) August 7, 2024
In Walthamstow, thousands came out to stand up to fascist and racist violence:
A bird’s-eye view of the huge anti-racist mobilisation happening in Walthamstow right now.
Via Novara Media’s @CharlottEngland. pic.twitter.com/iVtB15aopx
— Novara Media (@novaramedia) August 7, 2024
Similarly, Brighton drew enormous crowds of antifascist demonstrators:
Sheer size of the Brighton crowd
Shout-out the very well-balanced person on a bus stop who took my phone pic.twitter.com/tL4Lbux8Og
— Steve Jackson (@SteveJack) August 7, 2024
There were hundreds more in Oxford:
NEW: Probably around 500 anti racism campaigners have gathered at Asylum Welcome in Oxford. pic.twitter.com/JuIaTj7V6w
— Chris McHugh (@ChrisMcHugh31) August 7, 2024
And Birmingham:
Roughly 200 anti-racism protestors peacefully demonstrating in Birmingham this evening pic.twitter.com/0A1IFnm2MN
— Tomos Morgan (@tomosmorgannews) August 7, 2024
Far-right flop
Largely, the far-right were nowhere to be seen. Spotted, two ‘patriots’ sporting a flag in Southampton:
A whole crowd vs 2 dickheads in a flag
Southampton you really are dear to my heart https://t.co/U5FMttLGsa— Molly McDade (@AuthorOfNebulae) August 7, 2024
Three more Farage and Robinson fanboys in Finchley finding out their white supremacist ideologues had hung them out to dry:
The three far right mugs who have turned up in Finchley arguing what to do next while 2000 antifascists are opposing them
#StandUptoRacism pic.twitter.com/GZ1p2KIai4— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) August 7, 2024
Fancy a game of where’s the right-wing wallies?
Update of the protests in Brighton this evening.
Five or six far right protesters surrounded by police (halfway up the photo on the RHS), surrounded by an entire street of anti-fascist protestors.
Oh, & there even was a band!
Times like this I’m very proud to live in Brighton. pic.twitter.com/WOCRvBW2oK
— abigaildombey.bsky.social (@AbigailDombey) August 7, 2024
Hint, peek behind a barricade of cops:
These four seem fairly crestfallen if you ask me. Requiring police protection must be very humiliating. #FarageRiots #StopTheThugs #Brighton pic.twitter.com/JrAAx66QOS
— Noel (@eng_cam_noel) August 7, 2024
While for the most part, the far-right showing was barely a handful of men with low melanin and likely even less brain cells between them, there was a small turnout in Aldershot:
Aldershot , England.
pic.twitter.com/nDDaTsqvJk— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) August 7, 2024
There, white men and white Karens – mostly youth – milled about. Spearheading it was current UKIP interim leader Nick Tenconi:
meanwhile in aldershot, ukip leader nick tenconi has groomed a small group of children into staging some kind of weird performative art?
can’t really tell what this is supposed to be, to be honest, rather embarrassing!pic.twitter.com/c3ZkiHv2Hr
— thelefttake (@thelefttake) August 7, 2024
As some people on X pointed out, he’s also the chief operations officer at right-wing think tank Turning Point UK:
This bloke turned up at a far-right rally in Aldershot today with about 6 teenagers and 3 adults.
He’s a former Tory Party member and parliamentary candidate and now the interim leader of UKIP and Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point UK.
Look him up, what a twat. pic.twitter.com/lR4iOi8a2W— The Rev. Anton Mittens
(@MittensOff) August 7, 2024However, their numbers paled in comparison to the thousands out standing up against their vile bigotry country-wide.
The fight isn’t over
Now, far-right goons across X are clamouring Wednesday’s planned race riots were ‘fake news’ all along. Because the mugs have never been duped and incited by fake news before. We’re old enough to remember the racist gammon hate brigade rampaging in Southport.
Many across Musk’s hell-site bandied about conspiracies like they were the lofty creeds of Elon’s long-lost deleted Tweets:
So far I’m seeing that the far right have faked the protests so they can strike another night. That Tommy has faked the protests to show far left protestors as the aggressors. And that Kier Starmer has faked the protests to make the far right look defeated. Have I got that right?
— Kris Wall (@KrisWall92) August 7, 2024
Of course, it was all false information from the left-wing plants in the media. This one yours lads?
Seems “the millions” didn’t get the memo#FarRightFail pic.twitter.com/ZWCYnZPAIn
— Nina Reizi (@ninarei) August 7, 2024
Notably, Fox wasn’t out with the ‘millions’ of frothing fascist gammons. Because, when the chickens look like they’re coming home to roost, it’s time to do a Yaxley-Lennon and split:
Laurence Fox fled to Ireland and his Tweets have taken a very different tone.
It seems like *almost Batman* is afraid of going to jail. pic.twitter.com/7HKDMS4Bp1
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) August 7, 2024
However, there is a broader, more important issue here. The far-right’s ‘planned’ attacks on asylum support centres were a red herring. Even so, perhaps the point was always in the threat itself. Because while the far-right didn’t carry out these pogroms, for the last week they have been attacking Black, brown, Muslim, and migrant communities. The threat might not have been real – this time – but the fear it generated for these communities, is.
What’s more, the impact was real:
This is Cowley Road, which should be the bustling heart of East Oxford. Instead, it’s extremely quiet with businesses either closed or closing early. This street is home to one of the largest concentrations of independent businesses in the UK. Horribly sad to see. pic.twitter.com/4P9dtxumjO
— Cllr Alex Powell (@APowellLaw) August 7, 2024
I have enforced on these streets many times. It is usually buzzing. The ethnic mix of Aldershot is very high – atypical for Hampshire. My abiding impression was always that those with ethnic heritage were super polite and respectful towards me. I am sad to see this boarding up
https://t.co/mn5xHGwC6s— Chris/shortforChristian
(@ChristianJW1968) August 7, 2024Some capitalist chain stores shutting up shop early is little issue. Independent businesses – especially multicultural working class-owned – being forced to close is. But that vital immigration services had to close their doors, is an appalling indictment of the far-right’s long shadow over the past week.
When Black and brown hospital staff have to watch their back, and GP surgeries close early for their safety, this racist shithole Island is not OK.
Last night showed that across the UK, anti-fascists filled with love and pride for their diverse communities are many, and the neo-Nazi racist scum are few. But so long as racist, Islamophobic domestic terrorists – because that’s what they are – feel emboldened to threaten and attack with impunity, the fight against the far-right is far from won:
It’s been a massive #FarRightFail. I hope it signals the end of wide-scale racist riots BUT it doesn’t mean the thugs are defeated. Some communities are more terrified than ever, yobs are more emboldened than ever, dis-influencers & Reform MPs have big platforms. So stay united!
— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) August 7, 2024
And without dismantling the white supremacist rot at the heart of the political and media establishment – the institutional racism – Black and brown Britons and asylum seekers won’t be safe – and that’s not OK.
Feature image via Youtube/Bloomberg/Novara/the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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The following article is a comment piece from the Peace and Justice Project
Racists are attacking people and communities up and down our country. People, places of worship, shops, community centres, homes and hotels have been targeted by far-right mobs in race riots. We must stand against this violence and for the kind of united society we want to live in.
There are reports that over 30 locations will be targeted tomorrow evening and groups including Stand up to Racism are organising counter-protests to protect cultural institutions and our diverse communities.
So, the list of proposed counter demonstrations is HERE. We encourage you to attend only if you feel it is safe to do so.
Instead of pandering to those who have helped foment the ugly racism behind these protests, we expect our government to call-out the bigotry and Islamophobia behind them and stand shoulder to shoulder with its victims.
We reject any narrative that seeks to blame asylum seekers and immigrant communities for the decades of austerity and the subsequent decline in stable and well paid jobs that has eroded the fabric of once secure communities.
Our movement must be united in calling out hate, discrimination, and Islamophobia and tell fascists they are not welcome in our communities.
Featured image via Stand Up to Racism
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Five Just Stop Oil supporters have been remanded to prison, after appearing at Manchester Magistrates Court on Tuesday 6 July. The five were arrested yesterday, in relation to ongoing nonviolent action being taken at airports around the world.
In recent weeks, Just Stop Oil has been acting with groups internationally, to demand governments establish a Fossil Fuels Treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Just Stop Oil: another five sent to prison
From around 2pm today, Noah Crane, Margaret Reid, Daniel Knorr, Ella Ward, and Indigo Rumbelow appeared before Judge Garland, at Manchester Magistrates Court. All are charged with ‘Conspiracy to Commit a Public Nuisance’, in relation to airport actions that have taken place in recent weeks. The five supporters have all been remanded until at least their next appearance on September 10th.
During the hearing, Ella Ward spoke to the judge and said “my life is at risk”, to which the judge responded “don’t make a scene, wait till I’ve finished”. Indigo Rumbelow was forcibly removed from the dock and dragged away, after demanding the court ‘prosecute the real criminals’.
Ella, Daniel, Indigo and Margaret were all arrested in the early hours of yesterday morning near Manchester Airport. Noah Crane was arrested later in the day from an address in Birmingham, after police seized a phone he allegedly purchased on the 3 August.
The number of people imprisoned in the UK for demanding action to address the climate crisis has now risen to 26.
‘We will not stand by and do nothing’
Speaking before her imprisonment Indigo Rumbelow said:
Just Stop Oil supporters have been taking part in an International Uprising for a Fossil Fuel Treaty, because we have an international crisis and we need an international solution. We’re in a dangerously hot world and our leaders are hell-bent on making it worse.
The climate crisis threatens everything we know and love, yet our so-called leaders are continuing to make the problem worse, the courts are protecting fossil fuel profits and imprisoning those who stand-up to make change, whilst the media is still grappling to tell the truth. Many of my friends have been sent to prison, but we will not be deterred. Nothing will stop us trying to protect our families and our communities from the danger imposed on all of us through continued oil, gas and coal burning.
Daniel Knorr said:
We were not born to stand-by and do nothing whilst hundreds of millions of lives are thrown into the furnace. To be human is to care. This is terrifying but we need to be brave. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is to drive forwards towards what’s right, despite your fear.
We stand to lose everything if our government continues to fuel the climate crisis. It would be completely self defeating to not be in resistance at this time in history. Our leaders must enact a Fossil Fuel Treaty to phase down oil and gas if we are to stand any hope.
‘I’m not scared of going to prison’
Noah Crane said:
When I think about the situation we’re in, I realise we are faced with a choice; we can either sit back and watch as governments allow the deaths of hundreds of millions of people to protect profit, or we can do everything in our power to prevent that. When I think about it that way, it’s really a no-brainer.
I’m not scared of going to prison. What I am scared of is what will happen if we don’t act on this crisis. The world is in a position where there is no threat they can make towards me, that outweighs the consequences of inaction.
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
In the wake of the four hottest days in recorded history during the past two weeks, governments are still failing to take action that is commensurate with the scale of the crisis humanity faces. Meanwhile, those demanding our leaders take necessary action, are being given increasingly draconian sentences by those in the judiciary who are complicit with the crimes against humanity, being perpetrated by governments and corporations. It’s time world leaders stood up to fossil capital and enact a fossil fuel treaty to Just Stop Oil by 2030.
Featured image via Just Stop Oil
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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During the early hours of the morning of Tuesday 6 August, six Palestine Action activists were arrested after they broke inside and damaged weaponry inside the highly secured Bristol manufacturing hub of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems.
Palestine Action repurpose a PRISON VAN against Israel
A larger group from Palestine Action used a prison van to smash through the outer perimeter and the roller shutters into the building:
A glimpse into how actionists used a repurposed prison van to break inside Elbit’s heavily guarded weapons facility
pic.twitter.com/JHxs9Wt9GM— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) August 6, 2024
Once six were inside, they began damaging the contents inside, including machinery and Israeli quadcopter drones:
Elbit: actively enabling genocide
Elbit’s Horizon facility at Belvedere Close in Filton is a key premises for the arms company, described as a research, development, and manufacturing hub for electronic warfare, land vehicle, simulation, and vision technologies. Freedom of Information disclosures show Filton’s ‘Elbit Systems UK’ has existent export licenses for the sale of weaponry to Israel.
The Filton site was opened in July of last year, with Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotevely in attendance to show off the Bristol produced-weapons technologies of the “Israeli defence company”. Also in attendance was Elbit’s CEO Bezalel Machlis, who recently boasted, too, of Elbit’s crucial role in supporting the ongoing genocide and of the graditude received by Elbit from the Israeli military for their services.
Products seen inside the factory are the same as those used in the Gaza genocide, including Elbit’s ‘Torch-X Command and Control’ systems, Thor quadcopter drones and its nv33 Night Vision technologies.
Elbit Systems, more broadly, supplies up to 85% of Israel’s military drones and land-based equipment, while its British exports to Israel mostly concern drone and aircraft components, military electronics, and target and acquisition systems.
The action is the latest instalment of Palestine Action’s campaign against Elbit Systems, which has seen the Filton site targeted for the first time. Their ‘UAV Engines’ site in Staffordshire has been disrupted for five consecutive days up to today, as activists mobilised with vehicular and ground lock-ons and community mass pickets.
Palestine Action: ordinary people must act
A Palestine Action spokesperson has stated:
Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems, uses Gaza as a laboratory to develop it’s weaponry. Activists directly intervened in this genocidal process by taking aim at Elbit’s research, development and manufacturing hub.
As a party to the Genocide Convention, Britain has a responsibility to prevent the occurrence of genocide. When our government fails to abide by their legal and moral obligations, it’s the responsibility of ordinary people to take direct action.
Featured image and video via Palestine Action
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
