DoomsdaysCW<p>From 2021... This started before <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a>, but things are way worse now!</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AntiProtestLaws" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AntiProtestLaws</span></a> Threaten <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Indigenous</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Climate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Climate</span></a> Movements</p><p>“<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CriticalInfrastructure" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CriticalInfrastructure</span></a>” laws in over a dozen states wrongly invoke national security to justify targeting <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PipelineProtesters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PipelineProtesters</span></a>.</p><p>Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, March 17, 2021</p><p>"In 2016 as a member of Congress, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DebHaaland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DebHaaland</span></a> stood for four days in solidarity with protesters at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandingRockSioux" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandingRockSioux</span></a> Reservation against construction of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DakotaAccessPipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DakotaAccessPipeline</span></a>. Today, as the first <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmerican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmerican</span></a> to be the secretary of the interior — the first to lead any cabinet department — she has the opportunity to support the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FirstAmendment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FirstAmendment</span></a> rights of the protesters she joined in the past.</p><p>"With her authority over energy development on federal lands, Haaland can be a voice for Indigenous and climate movements facing an urgent threat: the rapid spread of laws to protect 'critical infrastructure' that single out activists.</p><p>"Since 2016, 13 states have quietly enacted laws that increase criminal penalties for trespassing, damage, and interference with infrastructure sites such as oil refineries and pipelines. At least five more states have already introduced similar legislation this year. These laws draw from national security legislation enacted after 9/11 to protect physical infrastructure considered so 'vital' that the 'incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety.'</p><p>"Many industry sectors are designated critical infrastructure, including food and agriculture, energy, water and wastewater, and communications, but most state critical infrastructure laws focus more narrowly on oil and gas <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pipelines" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pipelines</span></a>. While protecting critical infrastructure is a legitimate government function, these laws clearly target environmental and Indigenous activists by significantly raising the penalties for participating in or even tangentially supporting pipeline trespassing and property damage, crimes that are already illegal. Many laws are modelled on draft legislation prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ALEC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ALEC</span></a>, a powerful lobbying group funded by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FossilFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FossilFuel</span></a> companies like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ExxonMobil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ExxonMobil</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Shell" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Shell</span></a>.</p><p>"Central to the new critical infrastructure laws are increased criminal penalties and vague, broad definitions that could discourage protest and particularly, nonviolent civil disobedience. Many laws make any 'damage' to or 'interference' with a facility deemed critical infrastructure a felony. Under <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Ohio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ohio</span></a>’s law, trespass with the purpose of 'tampering' with a facility is a third degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. In Indiana, a felony conviction is applied for any facility trespass, a crime that is typically a misdemeanor or fine.</p><p>"Vague language like 'damage,' 'tamper,' and 'impede' in critical infrastructure laws makes it unclear if, for example, knocking down <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SafetyCones" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SafetyCones</span></a> and starting a fire next to a natural gas facility are the same under the law. Many critical infrastructure laws do not clarify if they apply only to land a company fully owns or also to pipeline easements, which run through both public and private lands. At least some laws apply to both. Only a week after Louisiana’s critical infrastructure law was enacted, opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline were charged with trespassing for boating on public waters on the border of a pipeline easement.</p><p>"The combination of overly broad language and steep penalties in critical infrastructure laws make it likely that future activists and supporting organizations will be discouraged from exercising their First Amendment-protected protest rights. A lawsuit brought in response to the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BayouBridge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BayouBridge</span></a> charges will test the laws for the first time on First Amendment grounds.</p><p>"Many of these laws even extend beyond the protesters. In a proposed law in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Minnesota" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Minnesota</span></a>, anyone who 'recruits, trains, aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires' someone to trespass without a 'reasonable effort' to prevent the trespassing is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. In <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Oklahoma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Oklahoma</span></a> organizations that conspire with perpetrators are liable to be fined up to $1 million. These laws may infringe on the freedom of association protected under the First Amendment. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled that the illegal actions of a few individuals do not implicate an entire group.</p><p>"The criminalization of environmental protest is fueled by federal security agencies and oil and gas companies, who are often major political donors. For years, the Department of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HomelandSecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>HomelandSecurity</span></a> and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have labelled activists at infrastructure sites as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DomesticTerrorists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DomesticTerrorists</span></a> and violent extremists in order to justify further <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/surveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>surveillance</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/policing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>policing</span></a>. Government documents have been released that detail the FBI’s focus on '<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AnimalRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AnimalRights</span></a> / <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalExtremism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalExtremism</span></a>,' describing even <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NonviolentProtesters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NonviolentProtesters</span></a> as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/extremists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>extremists</span></a>.</p><p>"At Standing Rock, a private security firm [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Blackwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Blackwater</span></a>] hired by the pipeline companies consistently referred to protesters as 'terrorists' while working with law enforcement. Ahead of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KeystoneXLPipeline" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KeystoneXLPipeline</span></a> protests in 2018, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DHS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DHS</span></a> agents held an '<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AntiTerrorism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AntiTerrorism</span></a> training' for state and local authorities. In contrast, members of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FarRight" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FarRight</span></a> militant group the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ThreePercenters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ThreePercenters</span></a> have established a significant presence at oil and gas plants with little law enforcement reaction.</p><p>"To be sure, as the recent power outages in Texas showed so vividly, the United States needs reliable energy. But it’s questionable whether pipeline construction sites that could feasibly be moved or replaced with renewable energy sources should legitimately be considered 'vital' to the energy grid. Furthermore, a singular focus on this aspect of security comes at the cost of others. Whose essential resources do pipeline projects protect and whose do they threaten? Black Americans are disproportionately likely to live near natural <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GasPipelines" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GasPipelines</span></a> and experience higher <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CancerRisk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CancerRisk</span></a> due to unclean air. An oil spill from the Dakota Access Pipeline could devastate the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SiouxTribe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SiouxTribe</span></a>’s water source. Meanwhile, on some reservations, 10 percent of households lack electricity and as many as 40 percent of households must haul water and use outhouses. The well-being of these communities must count too.</p><p>"The rise in critical infrastructure laws may foreshadow more anti-protest legislation to come. A similar wave of anti-protest laws has already begun in response to the 2020 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackLivesMatter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BlackLivesMatter</span></a> protests. State legislators contemplating critical infrastructure laws should bear in mind that laws that criminalize trespassing and protect the safety of construction workers and law enforcement already exist. Critical infrastructure laws don’t fill an unmet need — they only raise the penalties for specific groups of people. Courts adjudicating <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FirstAmendment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FirstAmendment</span></a> challenges in the coming years should recognize that these laws are overbroad and impose disproportionately severe penalties that chill freedom of assembly and association.</p><p>"As secretary of the interior, Haaland promises to uplift the voices of Indigenous and climate protesters in the Biden administration. State legislators, law enforcement, and the fossil fuel industry should follow suit and listen to these activists rather than suppressing constitutionally protected activity under the guise of national security."</p><p>Source:<br><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/anti-protest-laws-threaten-indigenous-and-climate-movements" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">brennancenter.org/our-work/ana</span><span class="invisible">lysis-opinion/anti-protest-laws-threaten-indigenous-and-climate-movements</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BrennanCenter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BrennanCenter</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Authoritarianism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Authoritarianism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoDAPL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoDAPL</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoKXL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoKXL</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PipelineProtests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PipelineProtests</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ACAB" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ACAB</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ErikPrince" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ErikPrince</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Oiligarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Oiligarchy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalRacism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalRacism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AirIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AirIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ExxonLied" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ExxonLied</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Blackwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Blackwater</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandWithStandingRock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandWithStandingRock</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/StandingRockSioux" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StandingRockSioux</span></a></p>