Canceling Free Speech

 

Is this the end of protests?

If western governments need to keep ramping up censorship, propaganda and the persecution of journalists in order to defend western freedom and democracy, is it really freedom and democracy? And, is it worth defending? —Caitlin Johnstone

 

Canceling Free Speech

by C.A. Matthews

 

The best thing about being American, in my opinion, is The Bill of Rights. The best amendment in particular is the First Amendment and the part where it says that We the People have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But Americans can’t even depend on that bit anymore, and it sucks.

Thanks a lot, fascists!

If you don’t equate free speech with our right to assemble and protest, then perhaps this recent incident involving arresting the bail fundraisers for the Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) protesters  in Atlanta won’t upset you like it does me:

https://communitymovementbuilders.org/stop-cop-city/

Rights advocates warned Wednesday that the arrests of three board members of an Atlanta-based bail fund could mark the beginning of a new era in the United States’ treatment of peaceful protesters—one in which both demonstrators and those who support them are targeted by law enforcement.

...The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department carried out the arrests of Marlon Scott Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and Adele Maclean of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF).

The group offers financial support to people who have been arrested for protesting, including the dozens of people who have been detained for resisting the development of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known by critics as Cop City—a $90 million police training facility that would take up 85 acres of publicly-owned forest. From ‘Behavior of a Fascist Police State’: Legal Aid Organizers Arrested After Backing Cop City

Atlantans can’t exercise their right of free speech to protest the building of a “Murder Academy” on the one remaining piece of virgin forest in their region. They’ll risk arrest if they do, and then their compatriots will be arrested when they raise funds to bail the original protesters out of jail. Our government says murder by cops is okay, but the bailing out of peaceful protesters isn’t to be allowed and those who do bail them out risk being locked up as well.

So much for the First Amendment!

The fact of the matter is that free speech has been weaponized. (Read Weaponizing Free Speech for a sample or two of what I mean.) Anyone expressing an opinion that isn’t sanctioned by the status quo can expect to be censored, arrested, charged and/or thrown into jail without even the possibility of being bailed out.

To this black mark on the First Amendment and The Bill of Rights I say: God bless America! Let “freedom” ring! (Yeah, right. *cough, cough*)

We’re living in an era of “Cancel Culture.” Free speech isn’t seen so much as a right as a suggestion. If what you say doesn’t upset the powers-that-be and their sycophants and paid trolls, you’re okay, but don’t you dare express an opinion they don’t like. Oh no. They can't have critical thinkers who can read between the lines, can they?

This fascistic outlawing of protesters is not just happening in the US—it’s a worldwide phenomenon. A recent video from The Juice Media out of Australia demonstrates just how inventive a “Five-Eyes democracy” can be when it comes to squashing voices of dissent.

 

youtu.be/kecnSHmznic  

This short video says it well. You don’t like something your government is doing (or allowing a big corporation to do) and you and your friends get out in the streets to protest it—you’ll wind up in jail and totally bankrupt. “Cool and normal” as the Aussies say. That phrase translates to roughly, “Bend over and take it,” in American English. 

Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly have been effectively canceled. God bless… the fascists, or so it seems.

Persons of conscience are being forced into making one of two difficult choices: Go along with whatever those in charge of our “democracy” tell you is “correct thinking” nowadays and shut up, or if you can’t “love it” you're told to “leave it.”

But where can we go? More importantly, why should we be forced from our homes because fascists desire endless wars for oil and want us to cooperate with the immoral death machine, a.k.a. the Military-Industrial Complex? Don’t we lovers of peace and harmony deserve to live here as much as the warmongers? 

God bless... those who don't believe the lies.  

The West sure loves to brag about its love of “freedom and democracy” and its “free press,” but it sure doesn’t act like it gives a flying Flag Day about them. Without independent journalists and media outlets, we wouldn’t have known about the jailing of the Atlanta protesters and their bail bond funders. Without the indies' reportage, we wouldn’t know about the US national security apparatus funding and endorsing coups d’etat around the globe, would we?

Journalists of integrity are fast becoming a rare and endangered species. They find themselves harassed and threatened with prison. Journalist Matt Taibbi did after his Congressional committee testimony concerning the Twitter Files. (Read Digital McCarthyism about how Taibbi was called a “so-called journalist” by members of Congress.) Reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss in North Carolina were actually arrested and charged with trespassing while covering the eviction of homeless people in Asheville’s Aston Park. During their trial, Judge James Calvin Hill refused to acknowledge their press status or that this was a First Amendment case. He found the duo guilty. In his decision, Judge Hill stated, “They may be journalists, but there was no evidence provided to the court that they are journalists.”

American reporter Gonzalo Lira is now sitting in a Ukrainian jail because of his in-depth coverage of the war in Ukraine. When asked if the US government would help free Lira, a government spokesperson wouldn’t say if US officials would even consider asking their Ukrainian counterparts for his release. Our so-called “representatives” are okay with letting a journalist rot in jail. 

No precedence there, is there? 

Meanwhile in the UK, journalists can find themselves treated like terrorists, grilled for hours, and their computer devices taken. This is what happened to The Grayzone’s Kit Klarenburg.

As soon as journalist Kit Klarenberg landed in his home country of Britain on May 17, 2023, six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers detained him. They quickly escorted him to a back room, where they grilled him for over five hours about his reporting for this outlet. They also inquired about his personal opinion on everything from the current British political leadership to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone

Aw...the smell of “freedom and democracy” wafting in on the early summer’s air! It covers over the stench of those pesky truth-telling reporters like Kit, Gonzalo, Veronica, Matilda, and Matt. Kit might even find himself locked up at Belmarsh Prison with fellow truth-seeker Julian Assange if a judge decides he's “not a journalist.” I sincerely hope not.

God bless... independent voices who keep reporting what's really happening in the world in spite of threats from the fascist state.

This summer isn’t particularly a good time of the year for me. It’s not that I don’t enjoy sunshine and picnics, because I do. It’s just that I’m not that into American “patriotic holidays” like Memorial Day, Flag Day, or the Fourth of July. There’s not much to celebrate when your mind connects these holidays with endless wars for American hegemony, senseless killing for profits, and locking up persons who protest violence and report on war. Others simply associate these holidays with hot dog eating contests, fireworks, parades, and apple pie, but I just can't anymore. 

There’s little joy to be found in any patriotic holiday pretending to be supportive of our First Amendment rights like free speech and freedom of assembly while our so-called “elected representatives" are ripping those very rights out of the people's hands. The fascists in power have ruined things for me. I honestly can’t see myself wearing red, white, and blue and waving a little flag while watching an Independence Day parade ever again.  

I just can’t, knowing what I know. I can’t approve of the evil status quo hiding behind those once sacred symbols of the flag and The Bill of Rights. I’ll have to find myself another holiday to celebrate this time of year.

I know… Happy Bastille Day!

Related Articles and Other Insightful Links:

Honest Government Ad | Anti Protest Laws (SA) https://youtu.be/kecnSHmznic

The Crushing of Free Press Continues https://www.youtube.com/live/ggZHodvFu50

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker https://pressfreedomtracker.us/

If the Police Can Decide Who Qualifies as a Journalist, There Is No Free Press  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/02/if-the-police-can-decide-who-qualifies-as-a-journalist-there-is-no-free-press/

British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone https://thegrayzone.com/2023/05/30/journalist-kit-klarenberg-british-police-interrogated-grayzone/

State Department Won’t Say If It’s Working to Free US Citizen Detained in Ukraine  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/29/state-department-wont-say-if-its-working-to-free-us-citizen-detained-in-ukraine/

15 Reasons Why Mass Media Employees Act Like Propagandists https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/15-reasons-why-mass-media-employees

Authoritarianism Keeps Surging In Western "Free Democracies"
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/authoritarianism-keeps-surging-in/comments

‘Behavior of a Fascist Police State’: Legal Aid Organizers Arrested After Backing Cop City https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/behavior-of-a-fascist-police-state-legal-aid-organizers-arrested-after-backing-cop-city-protesters/

Arrest Of Bail Fund Organizers In Atlanta Sets A Dangerous Precedent https://popularresistance.org/arrest-of-bail-fund-organizers-in-atlanta-sets-a-dangerous-precedent/

The Empire! "We're Coming For All Of You!" https://indienewsnetwork.substack.com/p/the-empire-were-coming-for-all-of/comments

Supremes Declare War on Wetlands https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/supremes-declare-war-on-wetlands/

Lee Camp: The Threat Of Dangerous Ideas And Why We Need Them (podcast) https://popularresistance.org/lee-camp-on-the-threat-of-dangerous-ideas-and-why-we-need-them/

Dozens of GoFundMe Users Seek Funds to Flee States Passing Transphobic Laws  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/dozens-of-gofundme-users-seek-funds-to-flee-states-passing-transphobic-laws/

Nearly Half Of Earth’s Animal Species Are In Decline
https://popularresistance.org/study-nearly-half-of-earths-animal-species-are-in-decline/

Police Use Water Cannons, Mass Arrest At Extinction Rebellion Protest https://popularresistance.org/police-use-water-cannons-mass-arrest-at-extinction-rebellion-protest/

The War We’re Finally Allowed to See https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/patrick-lawrence-the-war-were-finally-allowed-to-see/

G7 Versus Diplomacy for Ukraine https://consortiumnews.com/2023/05/31/g7-versus-diplomacy-for-ukraine/

Drone attack on Moscow aims to escalate US-NATO war with Russia https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/05/31/furs-m31.html

China builds global alternative as US-led financial order decays
https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/china-alternative-us-led-financial-order

FBI Reopens Assange Investigation https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/report-fbi-reopens-assange-investigation/

The Slow Ethnic Cleansing of Ein Samiya’s Bedouin Community
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/the-slow-ethnic-cleansing-of-ein-samiyas-bedouin-community/ 

Weaponizing Free Speech https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/04/weaponizing-free-speech.html

Digital McCarthyism https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/03/digital-mccarthyism.html 

Breaking News: Dr. Cornel West Announces He is Running for President https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/dr-cornel-west-announces-he-is-running

 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

More details to come. Power to the people!

Protecting the Right To Protest

 

 

If you think billionaires and massive corporations aren't the problem, think again...

Protecting Our Right To Protest

by C. A. Matthews

Just when you think you can't fall down the rabbit hole into Alice's Wonderland any farther, your elected officials will come up with legislation to abridge your rights to protest and free speech.

I'm not kidding.

Who could joke about something so offensive and so entirely undemocratic? Who could come up with a law that would make even chalking a protest message on a sidewalk a felony? Who could come up with a way to make it legal for the cops to shoot unarmed protesters if they feel the least bit "threatened"?

Our elected officials can--and they have!

Ohio isn't the only state to introduce anti-protesting legislation, but it's the one I'm most familiar with. There are several bills currently in the Ohio legislature that focus on curtailing or restricting protesting and free speech. They are Senate Bills 33, 16 and 41 as well as House Bills 22 and 109. I recently encountered some protesters in Toledo who were speaking out (while we still can) about protecting our rights to protest. Here's my impression of where they were coming from and how it differs from my take.

Most of my fellow anti-protesting protesters (you go crazy just saying that!) weren't happy about their elected representatives supporting these measures, but they felt sure one thing could turn all of these bills around. And what one thing is that? Why, voting these naughty politicians out of office. 

The only reason these politcos created these anti-protesting bills in the first place, according to one of my fellow protesters, is because they belong to the Republican Party. It's that simple. To be a Republican is to be anti-free speech and against embarrassing protests, in his opinion. As soon as "good Democrats" can be put into office and take over these wayward politicians' seats, all threats to our rights to protest and free speech will simply evaporate like a light rain on a hot summer's day.

I wish I could be so optimistic.

Alas, I doubt that turning around the overwhelmingly Republican Ohio House and Senate will automatically kill these anti-protest bills. I wish it could be that simple. But it isn't.

Why isn't it? You only have to look at who or what is behind these pieces of legislation to see why they won't simply "go away" when all the bad, evil, wicked GOPers are voted out of office and replaced with the only other "recognized establishment party" (the Democrats) in the Buckeye State. (That's a whole other blog piece in the making. Ohio's current political establishment hates alternative parties so much that it makes it almost impossible for third parties to keep their "recognized" status from election to election.)

The real money and impetus behind Ohio's anti-protesting measures isn't because Republicans hate free speech. It's because the fossil fuel industry hates free speech and bad publicity more. Big Oil is terrified of protesters shouting, "People over pipelines!" over each and every mile of pipe they bury into our soil. The fracking industry doesn't care much for the bad press they get whenever one of their wells or collection ponds leak. Somehow, Ohioans are supposed to drink petroleum-laden well or river or lake water and like it and live happily ever after.

Uh-huh. Yeah, like who's really fallen down the rabbit hole here?

Big Agriculture plays a part in all this shutting down of free speech, too. But I suspect you already know something about that if you've followed this blog's coverage of the first Rights of Nature Law passed in the United States, The Lake Erie Bill of Rights.

Since both establishment parties--the Republicans and the Democrats--have been well-awarded by Big Oil, Big Ag,  and their lobbyist friends over the years, the chances that a flip in the Ohio House and Senate to a majority Democratic Party leadership would make any difference to how these new laws would be passed and enforced is slim to none.  Money talks--and politicians whose hungry campaign coffers love a big helping of Big Oil dollars aren't going to tell the fossil fuel industry to shut up and go away.

So we will have to do it.

Calling all activists! This spring and summer our voices must be heard and our signs and bodies must be seen before it is too late. And start raising your bail money now. Anti-protest laws mean more arrests. That's the purpose of them. But we have something Big Oil doesn't have--sheer numbers. They can't lock all of us away, all at the same time, can they?

Related Articles:

Ohio Passes Fossil Fuel-Backed Anti-Protest Legislation. https://drillednews.com/ohio-passes-fossil-fuel-backed-anti-protest-legislation/

Protecting the Right To Protest (video)  https://www.wtol.com/video/news/local/protecting-the-right-to-protest-toledo-church-holds-rally-against-proposed-anti-protest-legislation/512-266dcda9-5e4e-4fdd-81db-837610b8093e

Lawmakers, Activists Speak At Cleveland Protest Condemning Anti-Protest Bills in Ohio https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lawmakers-activists-speak-at-cleveland-protest-condemning-anti-protest-bills-in-ohio/ar-BB1fvDhu

Stop Ohio Anti-Protest Bills https://www.facebook.com/takeactionforoh

Ohio Hearing Proposed Anti-Protest Law Draws Loud Protest https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/30/ohio-hearing-proposed-anti-protest-law-draws-loud-protest 

House Bill Would Impose Harsh New Penalties on Protesters and Their Organizations https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/11/16/house-bill-would-impose-harsh-new-penalties-on-protesters-and-their-organizations/

Our elected representatives in Washington DC are also trying to abridge our right to free speech. Watch this interview with a person who was intimidated by the police for a response to a tweet he posted--not his actual tweet (which wasn't threatening) but another person's response to it that was. He was questioned and scared essentially because the tweet wasn't exactly flattering to a certain Congressmember's recent performance. If your elected officials can't be held accountable and take responsibility for their actions, then are you really living in a democracy?

https://youtu.be/TTBVwTXM2eA

***

From Friends of the Earth:

Plastic is accumulating on our beaches and in our oceans. There could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Take action now.

Corporations love plastic. Thanks to the fracking boom, it’s cheap for the fossil fuel industry to create. So oil and gas companies are pushing plastic consumption -- including the widespread use of one-use plastics -- to line their pockets.

But the plastic waste problem has become massive: in the United States 91% of plastic ends up being thrown away, never recycled. Some of it ultimately ends up in our oceans, where it harms or kills marine wildlife.

Call on Congress to protect our planet by supporting the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act. 

Demand Congress address the plastic crisis before it overruns our planet.

Sign Now

Plastic pollution kills over a million marine creatures annually, including turtles, dolphins, whales, and sea birds. And plastics don’t disappear. They just break down into smaller and smaller pieces until they become microplastics. 

But plastic also impacts humans. On average, people ingest the equivalent of a credit card each week. That’s right -- if you’re an average person, you are likely consuming an average of 5 grams of plastic per week. Microplastics can be found in everyday foods and drinks -- like beer, salt, shellfish and even drinking water!  

Tell Congress you do not want to be exposed to more plastic in your food and water. Stop plastic polluters.

Sign Now

Plastic production also worsens the climate crisis. More than 99% of plastic is created from fossil fuels. The emissions from creating plastic could soon reach the equivalent of 300 coal-fired power plants.

Finally, our country is one of the worst plastic offenders, which is why Congress needs to take action. The United States produces the most plastic waste per capita of any country -- then ships a large portion abroad to countries that are already struggling to maintain their own waste effectively.

Plastic is polluting our entire planet, from the beaches to the deepest depths of our oceans. Congress must address this crisis and stop Big Polluters from destroying our health, land, air, and sea.

Demand the United States break free from plastic and stop the pollution at its source!

Sign Now

Standing with you,

Michelle Chan,
VP of programs,
Friends of the Earth

***

We're rapidly approaching the May 1 deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, and President Biden still has not proposed a plan to fulfill his campaign promise.

War hawks in the foreign policy establishment are trying to dominate media coverage and claim nobody cares about ending the Forever War in an attempt to force President Biden to continue it.

But we have news for them — we care. There is an overwhelming consensus among veterans and civilian supporters that we must end the Forever War.

That's why Common Defense is calling on supporters across the country to write Letters to the Editor to hold President Biden accountable and show the media there is a grassroots movement calling for an end to the Forever War.

If you agree that we need to end the Forever War, will you write a Letter to the Editor using this tool that will send it directly to the newspapers closest to your home? It’ll just take 2 minutes. We’ve even included sample language you can use!

Write a Letter to the Editor »

SAMPLE LETTER: The war in Afghanistan has dragged on for nearly 20 years, and it is time to do the right thing and end what veterans call the "Forever War." An entire generation has never known a country at peace, and this conflict has cost a trillion dollars and countless lives. Pres. Biden has the chance to right this wrong. This conflict must end now, as he promised many times during his campaign. Our continued presence in Afghanistan is not making America safer. In fact, prolonging these conflicts is making us a target and putting our troops in harm's way unnecessarily. It's well past time, please, Mr. President, bring our troops home now. Military withdrawal from Afghanistan will give our diplomats a chance to do the hard work of building a peace agreement, rather than continuing with a failed military strategy that cannot accomplish anything further, and which the "Afghanistan Papers" published by the Washington Post reveal top generals themselves do not even believe in. America's veterans and military members deserve to have a government which advocates for them. We're counting on you to do the right thing. Write a Letter to the Editor »

Writing a Letter to the Editor can have a real impact, especially if you include any applicable information about your military service or name your Representatives in Congress. Believe me, elected officials read these!

If we can get dozens of veterans to sign on, we can take a crucial step to defending our democracy. But we need your help.

Write a Letter to the Editor today — it only takes a few minutes — and send a message that we need to end the Forever War.

In Solidarity,

Alex McCoy
U.S. Marine Corps
Team Common Defense

  ***

 From CPDA:

 This week, we learned what happens after a multi-billion dollar company like Amazon spends a year intimidating, punishing, and suppressing workers in Bessemer, Alabama who were working to form a union to push back on unfair working conditions.

 

While this was not the result that we were hoping for, we are proud of the bravery and tremendous success the workers had in standing up to one the biggest corporations in the world, telling their story on the global stage, and demanding that they be treated with dignity and respect. 

 

Congress needs to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to make sure worker voices cannot be silenced. Unions are one of best ways to ensure fair working conditions and equity. And we need to break up these corporations through stronger antitrust laws that give the tools that regulators need to ensure that no corporation can make billions of dollars by profiting from the suffering of workers and the destruction of small businesses. 

If people keep organizing and coming together like the people of Bessemer, we will break Amazon’s stranglehold on our democracy. Sign the petition now to break up Amazon and other Big Tech giants like Google and Facebook!

ADD YOUR NAME NOW

This is only the beginning. Workers and communities have been standing up to Amazon's greed and abuses for years and we will soon see a time where those efforts will result in the power that workers need to break up Amazon's grip on our economy.

 

We need to remember that what’s happening in Bessemer is a result of Amazon’s unchecked corporate power and what corporations have done for decades to diminish the power of labor law so that they can get the most profit out of us as possible. 

 

Workers cannot be the only ones that carry the burden of these abuses. Add your name to demand meaningful antitrust reform that will break up Amazon and rein in its power!

 

In solidarity,

Ana Maria Archila

Co-Executive Director, CPDA