Showing posts with label #demilitarizethepolice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #demilitarizethepolice. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Happy Birthday Vichy USA!

 


If everybody had a notion ’cross the USA

That everybody’s gone fascist—like Donnie Trump, oh yay!

 You’d see them wearing blond hairdos

Doing their sieg heils too

Everybody’s gone fascist! Vichy USA!

(Sung to the tune of Surfin' USA. The rest of the lyrics can be found at the Substack link below.)


by C. A. Matthews

The 1976 Bicentennial was really something. I remember fondly all the fabulous fireworks displays, huge parades, and special band concerts in the park. It was nice to think about how the United States had stayed together and made it a full two hundred years. As a child, I didn’t really understand what all had happened in those two centuries and how the US had played a major role in maintaining violence and oppression both at home and around the world, activities that would lead to the current fiasco Americans find themselves in fifty years later.

I would have never thought that the “land of the free” meant that we’d come to deny immigrants asylum based on their race, religion, or ethnicity. I probably would have laughed at the mere idea that well-to-do white South Africans would be considered deserving refugees, but that poor black Haitians who fled a disintegrating country (helped to fall apart by greedy Americans) would not.

I would have never thought that locking up thousands of non-violent immigrants was “freedom”, nor that sending young children out of the country without their parents was a compassionate thing to do. These weren’t the concepts of freedom and morality I was indoctrinated in at church and school.

Fifty years ago, I would have never thought that anti-fascist activists would be labeled “terrorists” and sentenced to harsh sentences by a federal judge for trying to point out the crimes of ICE. These are the sentences of the activists who protested at the ICE facility in Texas: Benjamin Song: 100 years, Marisela Rueda: 70 years, Cameron Arnold: 50 years, Savanna Batten: 50 years, Zachary Evetts: 50 years, Bradford Morris: 50 years, Elizabeth Soto: 50 years. What essentially are life sentences for daring to set off fireworks and wearing all black clothing to a protest, no less.

Meanwhile, the ICE agents who murdered Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Keith Porter have received a total of 0 years in prison. You read that right—the ICE agents responsible received sentences of zero years for their murders of Renee, Alex, and Keith. The similarities between ICE and the Nazi Gestapo are undeniable...

 

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Monday, May 6, 2024

All Cops Are [Expletive Deleted]



All Cops Are [Expletive Deleted]

by C.A. Matthews

I really hate slapping a label onto a particular group of people, but sometimes the label just fits.

After watching videos and reading stories about what the police of various cities/countries have been doing to university students and faculty members who are attempting to hold down peaceful anti-genocide encampments, I can’t come to any other conclusion. The cops are not our friends. The cops are not there to protect and serve the public. The cops are there for one reason and one reason only.

That reason is to protect and serve their non-empathetic, zionarcissistic, capitalistic masters who are afraid that We the People are getting close to taking them out and shutting down the war machine to make endless profits.

Their tactics give them away. Teresa Watanabe observes:

https://twitter.com/TeresaWatanabe/status/1785575610469007471

200+ pro-Israel counterprotestors are attacking the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment. They started beating on one student and stomped another under a plywood board per LA Times’ Safi Nazzal on the scene. Where is UCLA security?

Good question. Campus security and the city cops seem to be working side-by-side on allowing vigilantism to terrorize the students. The cops are definitely not on our side but, even worse, they’re actually aiding and abetting acts of violence against peaceful protesters.


From Natasha Lennard’s article I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/nyc-gaza-college-protests-police-outside-agitators/:

A lone Trash can lay on its side at the intersection of W. 139th St and Amsterdam Ave in Harlem, in front of the gates of the City College of New York.

At around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, this was the extent of damaged property that I witnessed outside the college campus. At the same time, New York Police Department officers in riot regalia had amassed in their hundreds, including members of the Strategic Response Group — a unit dedicated to public unrest and “counterterrorism.”

More police had stormed through the school’s neo-Gothic gates less than an hour before, at the behest of the college’s president, to arrest protesting students en masse.

Twenty blocks south, police had locked down and barricaded all streets in a two-block radius of Columbia University, brutally arresting students inside the inaccessible campus.

Between Columbia and City College, over 200 protesters — almost all students — were arrested before the night was out.

There are many more examples of “unhinged police” actions that have taken place on college campuses across the country. Why would peaceful protesters trying to do a good deed by bringing justice and awareness to the plight of the Palestinians invoke such violent responses? Why are cops allowing Zionist vigilantes to beat and injure students with their blessing? Who is calling the shots here?

I think you know who. (Watch a video with Bibi giving the orders.) Netanyahu ordered the cops to squash the American campus encampments, and his puppet Joe Biden went along with it willingly. Biden's campaign staff is trying to make him look like a “kinder, gentler genocide-enabler who is also tough on crime” in this an election year. It’s better to let Netanyahu take the heat and pretend it’s all his idea than let Geriatric Genocide Joe draw more attention to the fact that he hasn’t been calling any shots lately.

But it’s even worse than a demented commander-in-chief not leading compassionately when it comes to policing campus protests. Treasonous Americans are actually causing violence against our students with the blessing of the police and perhaps even a foreign government. I bet you know which foreign government that is, too.

From The Grayzone:

Rebecca Weiner is a Columbia U. professor who also serves as intelligence director of the NYPD. Mayor Eric Adams credits her with spying on anti-genocide student protesters and directing the militarized raid that dislodged them from campus. (...)

During a May 1 press conference, just hours after the New York Police Department arrested nearly 300 people on university grounds, Adams praised adjunct Columbia professor Rebecca Weiner, who moonlights as the head of the NYPD counter-terrorism bureau, for giving police the green light to clear out anti-genocide students by force. (...)

Weiner “develops policy and strategic priorities for the Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau and publicly represents the NYPD in matters involving counterterrorism and intelligence.”

The NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau currently maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where it coordinates with Israel’s security apparatus and maintains a department liaison. Weiner appears to serve as a bridge between the Bureau’s offices in Israel and New York.

The Zionist government of Israel obviously is in charge of American security—particularly when it comes to policing college campus protests. The New York Police Department even maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel—that’s not a neighborhood in Brooklyn, either. Strange how the NYPD bows so easily to the wishes of a foreign government without a care to the welfare of its own citizens. Then again, most large city police departments throughout the US have had their officers trained by programs either conducted or originated by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

Perhaps that explains how the cops in New York and Los Angeles had no problems with pro-Israel vigilantes beating up on peaceful college students. The Israelis aren’t known for objecting to the abuse and torture of others or for protecting free speech. They’re experts on the use of deadly violence against civilians as we’ve seen these past seven months in Gaza and the West Bank.

It’s probably part of the IDF’s training to teach American cops like Rebecca Weiner to see their fellow Americans (such as the college students) as lesser beings, such as animals, who are only fit for abuse and imprisonment. It’s how the Israelis see the Palestinians. Israeli government officials have said as much on camera more than once.

American cops trained to think of pro-Palestine protesters as less than human. What could go wrong?

Indie journalist Michael Tracey adds: 

Rebecca Weiner, head of the NYPD "counter-terrorism" bureau, identifies one of the threats that supposedly necessitated the Columbia raid: "Mainstreaming of rhetoric associated with Terrorism." No question this is recasting political speech as "Terrorism." She also blames TikTok. https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1785707101676773621

Rebecca Weiner, an adjunct professor that the students at Columbia would have trusted spied upon them, then turned over the information to the police units that violently stormed their symbolic occupation of Hamilton Hall, a building which was also taken by students in a 1968 protest against the Vietnam War. The students trusted Weiner, and she consequently betrayed them and had them beaten and arrested.

Judas Iscariot looks like your favorite great-aunt—you know the one, your auntie who makes your favorite chocolate chip cookies and knits you warm fuzzy sweaters for Christmas—compared to this Weiner woman. How can a traitor like Weiner live with herself knowing how much she has hurt these kids and their futures? And for what? To further the Zionist plans of Israel in the USA? Or is it the United States of Israel now?

Fortunately not all professors are as traitorous or vicious as undercover cop Rebecca Weiner. Annelise Orleck, Head of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth, was banned from campus for six months for trying to protect her protesting students from riot police. (Watch it here: https://twitter.com/Zephyr_8______/status/1786149558625382830 )

So, for every traitor like Weiner, there’s a hero like Orleck. Of course, Professor Orleck has been harshly punished for her compassion, but somehow I doubt she regrets her actions. The students at Dartmouth were lucky to have her on their side.

Is there anything the students of Columbia can do to fight the injustices that their pro-Israel university directors have inflicted upon them? Yes, there is.

From the Twitter/X thread that starts here:

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSJP/status/1786103595277992177

BREAKING: The Department of Education has announced that Columbia University is under federal investigation for anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment. Palestine Legal is representing four Palestinian students and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

“The law is clear— if universities do not cease their racist crackdowns against Palestinians and their supporters, they will risk losing federal funding” said senior Palestine Legal attorney Radhika Sainath

This comes less than 48 hours after Columbia President Shafik called in the NYPD, which violently arrested and brutalized dozens of student protesters, some with guns drawn, using sledgehammers, batons, and flash-bang explosives.

“Palestinian students at Columbia deserve justice and accountability, not only for Israel’s decades-long oppression and violence against our people, but for the racism and discrimination we’ve experienced here on Columbia’s campus,” said Mayam Alwan.

Palestinian students have dealt with immense repression and a hostile campus environment. A complainant received a conduct notice for stating her family was bombed in Gaza. Read the full complaint here: https://palestinelegal.org/news/2024/4/25/columbia-students-file-civil-rights-complaint-after-nypd-arrests-national-guard-threat

The owned-and-operated-by-Israel Columbia University and the racist, traitorous cops of the NYPD aren’t going to get away with their crimes if the justice system allows the students to sue. That’s a very big “if” considering how infiltrated the US apparently is by Zionists. Who really knows how many American judges are under Israel’s direct control?

A silent coup d’etat of the US by Israel has occurred, and it didn’t happen overnight. This shows you just how long the Israelis have been setting things up to guarantee America’s support before they started in on their genocide of the Palestinian people. This so-called Israel-Hamas War is premeditated mass murder. This is exquisitely planned ethnic cleansing. Nothing was left to chance. 

The Zionists knew then and know now what they're doing in Gaza is illegal under international law as well as being utterly heinous and immoral. They knew it would more than likely cause huge protests around the globe, but they still keep doing it. Bombs are raining down on Rafah and thousands of innocent Palestinians are running for their lives from this supposed "safe place" even as I type this sentence. Shutting down student encampments won't change anyone's mind who has already determined that this is a genocide.

Natasha Lennard sums it up well:

Israel’s decimation of Gaza has — at least for millions more people — given lie to the redemptive myths of the post-World War II political liberal order. Young people, even the children of the elite, even children of Zionists, are standing with Palestine. Their peaceful acts of protest count as disruptive because they count as un-American — which should be a badge of honor amid a US-backed genocide.” —I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years.This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged.

Are all cops in the US working for the Zionists’ agenda? Maybe not. There is at least one outlier.

Denver’s Police Chief Ron Thomas declined to clear the students’ pro-Palestine encampment at Auraria University because he felt to do so was a violation of their rights to peaceful protest. Chief Thomas’ refusal to arrest the students is impressive. He actually sees the protesters as human beings, not animals, and worthy of having the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment of Constitution to free speech. We can only hope his actions are copied by others.

But if we continue to see police violence against peaceful students and flat-out refusal to honor the pro-Palestine protesters’ rights of free speech on university campuses—or street corners—across the US, then the old saying will still apply. The label will stick. You know the one I'm alluding to:

ACAB

Seen on Twitter/X from Fadi Quran:

https://twitter.com/fadiquran/status/1787065255677378638

Every student protesting should know these three things: 1. You are a ray of hope for Gaza: Every person I’ve spoken to in and from Gaza has told me they were losing hope in international solidarity, until these protests started. They said the encampments are their main (for many the ONLY) source of hope now. 2. Your pressure is working: Despite what the US government is saying publicly, under the table these protests have forced them to urgently pursue a ceasefire, including significantly increasing pressure on the Israeli war cabinet. 3. Boards of Trustees across campuses are now divided, with some shifting towards divestment, and asking themselves the question of: Why risk everything to protect weapon companies and war criminals? Given this rising impact, different tools of deception and oppression are going to be used to shut down your momentum. Maintaining your eyes on the prize, your unity, coherence of messaging and the moral high ground are central. You are at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and dignity. Millions across the world have your back. Until Victory.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK, and Copenhagen University in Denmark have also set up Palestine solidarity encampments.
 

Related Articles and Interesting Links

Columbia crackdown led by university prof doubling as NYPD spook https://thegrayzone.com/2024/05/02/columbia-crackdown-university-nypd/

I’ve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged. https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/nyc-gaza-college-protests-police-outside-agitators/

Students in Cuba Stand with U.S. Student Encampments for Gaza https://youtu.be/hCn1jtHSj8E?si=wDX_KUWkhComRJNq 

Bipartisan Bill Would Create ‘Antisemitism Monitors’ at College Campuses
Pro-Palestine protests have been falsely labeled as 'antisemitic' even though many Jewish students are involved https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/29/bipartisan-bill-would-create-antisemitism-monitors-at-college-campuses/

Israel Orders Evacuation in Rafah, Hours After Raiding Al Jazeera Offices https://truthout.org/articles/israel-orders-evacuation-in-rafah-hours-after-raiding-al-jazeera-offices/

The Press Freedom Clock is TikToking https://www.projectcensored.org/press-freedom-clock-tiktoking/

Israeli Finance Minister Denounced for Calling for 'Total Annihilation' of Gaza https://www.commondreams.org/news/smotrich-gaza-annihilation

The 'Antisemitism' Moral Panic Has Officially Jumped The Shark https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-antisemitism-moral-panic-has

The Bizarre Gymnastics Of The Gaza Aid Pier https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-bizarre-gymnastics-of-the-gaza

Sermon for Gaza  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/sermon-for-gaza

Support Palestine. Boycott Israel https://boycott.thewitness.news/

Israel planning ring of checkpoints to prevent men from fleeing Rafah, source says  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-israel-planning-ring-checkpoints-prevent-men-fleeing-rafah

State Dept. Claims it Upholds Laws, but Won't Acknowledge Israel's Nukes, Flouting Law Requiring Funding Cutoff to Proliferators
https://husseini.substack.com/p/state-dept-claims-it-upholds-laws

How Israel Violates International Law in Gaza: Expert Report https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/01/how-israel-violates-international-law-in-gaza-expert-report/

"Vote Biden to save democracy" is not going according to plan, is it? https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/what-happened-to-vote-biden-to-save  (Good links to articles on the student protests and Zionist vigilantism.)

Pro-Palestine Protesters Occupy University Hall After Columbia Refuses to Divest https://truthout.org/articles/pro-palestine-protesters-occupy-university-hall-after-columbia-refuses-to-divest/

America is Rising for Gaza: What Should We Expect? https://www.mintpressnews.com/america-gaza-protests-what-should-we-expect/287313/ 

FIND THE PRICE OF YOUR CONGRESSIONAL MEMBER'S SOUL: Website Tracks AIPAC Campaign Cash Pay-Outs  https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-find-the-price-of-your-congressional

CNN Compares Campus Protesters To Nazis In Stunning Propaganda Segment https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/cnn-compares-campus-protesters-to

Remember, All This Fascism Would Feel Way More Fascismy Under Trump  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/remember-all-this-fascism-would-feel

Thank you for your support following the cancellation of my show on The Real News. https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/thank-you-for-your-support-following

Yemen Braces For Impending Massive US-Led Air and Ground Campaign https://www.mintpressnews.com/exclusive-yemen-braces-for-impending-massive-us-led-air-and-ground-campaign/287342/

Matthew Hoh & NC Green Party WIN in Court https://youtu.be/SB4IMfRw8Pc?si=xA_e8EvF8hKI94sg

The United States is the world’s terrorist. (An exhaustive list of all the military interventions the US has been involved in.)
https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/its-not-russia-its-not-china-the

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Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Targets On Our Backs



Targets On Our Backs

by C. A. Matthews 

 

Five cops brutally beat up and killed a young black man named Tyre Nichols in Memphis after a routine traffic stop. A large contingent of police shot and killed a climate activist, Manuel Teran, while he camped in the Weelaunee Forest (a.k.a. “Cop City”) in Atlanta. In Florida, officers handcuffed Jose Ortega Guiterrez, a homeless man not charged with any crime, then took him to an isolated location and beat him until he was unconscious. These recent incidents have made it readily apparent that ordinary Americans are walking around with targets on their backs.

“To protect and serve” is a slogan painted on many cities’ cop cars. But who are the police really “protecting” when they are, in fact, beating and shooting just as many people as the so-called criminals are doing? Who are these cops “serving” when they take an innocent life or destroy their victim's health by beating him into unconsciousness simply for being homeless? 

We’re on a record pace this year for mass shootings already. Did we really have to add to this shameful total, officers?

Don’t worry—there won’t be any cuts in funding or manpower at your local police department anytime soon. In fact, we might actually witness yet another round of increases in police budgets. Mayors and police chiefs will explain their reasoning for these increases in these words, more or less: “We just have to give our officers more weapons, more riot gear, more lethal fire power because… It’s dangerous out there.” 

It sure is. It’s dangerous to be a young black man driving a car. It's dangerous being a homeless person on the street. It’s dangerous to be a climate activist who is expressing his opinion that a forest shouldn’t be chopped down and destroyed for the sake of building a police training center to teach even more killers in uniform to kill even more of us for the sake of… protection and service? 

You would think after the horrible death toll of students and teachers in Ulvade, Texas, not that long ago that most Americans would have caught on to the truth of the matter. Many of us sat horrified as we observed the lack of concern the school police officer displayed while a shooter roamed the halls of the elementary school. We should have known better. That cowardly cop was acting completely in character. 

The police in the United States of America aren’t tasked with protecting you or your loved ones from harm. They’re tasked with protecting the property of the wealthy and powerful. They’re tasked to serve those with wealth and power. Working class kids in small town Texas aren’t all that wealthy or powerful now, are they?

That’s why the police in the US carry guns—and aren’t afraid to use them usually. Their rich masters expect them to keep poor folks away from their expensive material possessions and off their exclusive property. The upper classes expect the working classes to respect their authority and to defer to their taxpayer-provided bodyguards. 

In contrast, police officers in many countries don’t even carry firearms while performing everyday traffic control stops or safety patrols of neighborhoods. It's possible these cops view their citizens as actual human beings worthy of protection and service and not as targets. You never know. 

There's also one big difference that's never mentioned by mainstream media pundits when trying to explain away American police brutality. Police in other countries have never been tasked with returning runaway slaves to their masters, dead or alive, like the officers of the Slave Patrols once did. The US police system is based upon the Slave Patrols and slave catching. It's not based on protecting and serving the public as a whole. American policing is all about protecting and returning property (read: "slaves") to their owners. 

That bit of history might explain why ordinary Americans are often seen as bullseyes and not as human beings. The only human beings who count in the eyes of American law enforcers are those who can afford to keep slaves. Police forces who do a good job protecting the property of the wealthy are usually well-paid for their service, too. This payment goes beyond mere salaries and health benefits. It includes such things as "qualified immunity" or getting away with murder simply because a person is wearing a cop uniform with a shiny badge on his or her chest.

What’s the solution to this dilemma? If the solution to ordinary people shooting each other on a regular basis is to institute some kind of gun control, then the same solution could be applied to the trigger-happy, violent cops. Take away their guns. 

I'm serious. If British "Bobbies" can survive their shifts without a firearm at their side, then why can't American cops?

I mean, who needs an AR-15? Nobody—and I mean nobody. It’s a firearm for killing people as quickly and efficiently as possible. A deer hunter doesn’t need an AR-15. A police officer certainly doesn’t need one. And I’ll go out on a limb here and say even a soldier doesn’t need a weapon that is capable of mowing down hundreds of human beings in a matter of minutes. 

Nobody should have the right to kill or injure anybody with handguns, rifles, semi-automatics, automatics, knives, tasers, batons, or with their bare fists, knees, boots, or whatever object they may have on them at the time. Nobody. 

American taxpayers shouldn't be forced to furnish police forces with military-grade killing machines that could be used against them later. Our communities need more mental health care workers and social workers to go out on calls whenever a person is experiencing a crisis such as homelessness. We need peacemakers to deal with activists/protesters, not trained killers.

We must hire more people who can provide quality mental health care and defuse tense situations between ordinary people. No one has ever been killed by a person carrying a clipboard and speaking in a calm and reassuring manner to all parties. (At least, I hope not.)

Our tax dollars should be poured into fixing our neighborhoods, schools, hospitals and healthcare facilities (and not into the hands of private health insurance corporations who profit from our suffering). We need to spend more on housing those who are homeless and focus our energy into preventing others from becoming homeless because of the greed of landlords. 

We certainly don’t need to keep pouring our money and resources into endless wars to kill even more people overseas. Everybody on Earth deserves to live in peace and relative prosperity. We must learn to act like good neighbors, not bullies. 

We the People need to take the targets off our backs and place them where they belong—on the backs of the sociopathic billionaire capitalists. After all, they’re the ones causing all the trouble. We the People shouldn’t been seen as practice targets by their bodyguards in blue any longer. We must stand up to these injustices and speak out against all levels of government constantly raising police funding and adding lethal weapons to their arsenals. 

If we don't, the next victim of a police killing or beating may be one of your loved ones. Or it could be you. Why take that chance? #DefundThePolice #DemilitarizeThePolice #AbolishThePolice


More insight into the police murder of Tyre Nichols:

From The Class Issues in the Police Killing of Tyre Nichols https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/28/ucde-j28.htm

So far this year, at least 79 people have been killed, according to a tracker maintained by the Washington Post. At this pace, roughly three killings a day, 2023 will meet or top the 2022 toll of more than 1,100 people killed by police officers in the US. (…) 

Police violence, like every other social evil under capitalism, is fundamentally a class question. There are more white people killed by police in the US than blacks or Hispanics, although blacks and Hispanics are killed in numbers disproportionate to their percentage of the population. Racism plays a part, but a part secondary to social class. The police are recruited from more backward layers of the population, and police departments are known to be riddled with fascistic and white supremacist elements, including many veterans of US imperialist wars around the world.

What the overwhelming majority of victims of police violence and murder have in common is that they are part of the working class. Racism is itself an ideological and political weapon long employed by the capitalist class to divide the working class, in accordance with the strategy of “divide and rule.”

Racialist politics buttress this ruling class strategy. Memphis is a clear example. The second largest city in Tennessee has a population of 635,000, over 65 percent of which identifies as African-American. Roughly 56 percent of the police likewise identify as African-American, including female police chief Cerelyn Davis. Within four months of being sworn in as police chief on June 14, 2021, Davis created the Scorpion unit, which has become notorious for its brutal and repressive methods.

More insight into the police ambush of the Atlanta Forest Defenders:

From NLG Statement In Solidarity With Atlanta Forest Defenders https://popularresistance.org/nlg-statement-in-solidarity-with-atlanta-forest-defenders/

National Lawyer Guild National joins our Atlanta and University of Georgia Chapters and comrades in mourning the devastating loss of a beloved community member. Tortuguita was a kind, passionate, and caring activist, who coordinated mutual aid and served as a trained medic. The Atlanta Community Press Collective is compiling memories and accounts of their life, and we encourage everyone to honor and remember Tortuguita through the words of those who love them.

As radical movement legal activists, NLG recognizes that this horrific murder and the related arrests are part of a nationwide attack on protesters, land defenders, and marginalized folks, especially Black, Indigenous, and other activists of color. Labeling these demonstrators “domestic terrorists” is a harrowing repetition of No DAPL activist Jessica Reznicek’s terrorist enhancement last year, and both are clear indicators that the people in power view protesters and environmental activists as enemies of the state.

Related Articles:

Five Memphis Cops Arrested and Charged with the Murder of Tyre Nichols https://popularresistance.org/five-memphis-cops-arrested-and-charged-with-the-murder-of-tyre-nichols/ 

Memphis Police Shutter SCORPION Unit, Activists Say That’s Not Enough  https://truthout.org/articles/memphis-police-shutter-scorpion-unit-activists-say-thats-not-enough 
 
Movement to Stop Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Calls for Support After Police Kill Forest Defender https://scheerpost.com/2023/01/26/movement-to-stop-atlantas-cop-city-calls-for-support-after-police-kill-forest-defender/ 
 
NLG Statement In Solidarity With Atlanta Forest Defenders
 https://popularresistance.org/nlg-statement-in-solidarity-with-atlanta-forest-defenders/
 
The Class Issues in the Police Killing of Tyre Nichols https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/28/ucde-j28.htm

 
How White Supremacy Murdered Tyre Nichols (video)
https://youtu.be/0CKSh39tT-s  
 
Florida Officers Charged with Battery After Allegedly Beating Homeless Man https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/29/florida-officers-kidnap-assault-homeless-man
 
Hialeah Officer Accused of Kidnapping, Beating Homeless Man Denied Bond  https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/2-hialeah-police-officers-accused-of-kidnapping-and-beating-homeless-man/2959166/
  
With Whom are Many U.S. Police Departments Training? With a Chronic Human Rights Violator – Israel 
https://www.amnestyusa.org/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel

The Crackdown on Cop City Protesters Is So Brutal Because of the Movement’s Success https://theintercept.com/2023/01/27/cop-city-atlanta-forest/
 
Ulvade Police Didn't Move to Save Lives Because that's Not What Police Do  https://www.rsn.org/001/uvalde-police-didnt-move-to-save-lives-because-thats-not-what-police-do.html
 
All Guns Are B*stards https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2022/05/all-guns-are-bstards.html 

Seen on Twitter: