Lmst

@DavidBruchmann And yes, I posted about the #BiodiversityNecessityDefense . We need way more of that!

#IndigenousWomen from #Brazil: Calls for Action to Protect #Biodiversity, #IndigenousRights and #Climate

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 24, 2024

'We are the Guardians of the Planet'

CALI, #Colombia -- "Indigenous women leaders from Brazil defending their rivers, forests and people, spoke with courage and the fire of their ancestors at the United Nations Biodiversity Convention.

"'We sing because when we sing together, we don't feel that we are alone,' said Deputy Célia Xakriabá, Federal Deputy in Brazilian Congress, and co-founder of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestrality.

"'All of our lands, all of our rivers are being murdered,' Xakriaba said during the press conference today of Women's Earth and Climate Action Network.

"Now in Brazil they are trying to make it legal to #mine our lands, and #deforest our lands, but it is not legal, she said. All of this is making Indigenous women sick, and we need to protect Indigenous women. Seventy percent of our women have given up having children. This is why women must be protected.

"Now, we are trying to protect all of nature, because nature has rights. 'When we kill our women, we are also killing the Earth.'"

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/live-now-brazils-indigenous-women-at.html

#COP16 #Brasil #ClimateChange #Indigenous #UNBiodiversity #DefendNature #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #MotherNature #DefendMotherEarth #NoMiningWithoutConsent #CorporateColonialism #ProtectTheForests #WomensEarthAndClimateActionNetwork

#Nevada #LithiumMine approved despite possible harm to #endangered #wildflower

Advocates vow to sue, saying plan, crucial to #Biden’s clean energy agenda, will drive #TiehmsBuckwheat to extinction

Thu 24 Oct 2024 16.36 EDT

"Environmentalists said Thursday that the mine’s final approval was a politically motivated violation of multiple US laws. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement: 'Litigation is now the only way [to] stop the Rhyolite Ridge Mine.'

[...]

"Opponents of the project say it’s the latest example of Biden’s administration running roughshod over US protections for native #wildlife, rare species and #SacredTribalLands in the name of slowing the #ClimateCrisis by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and bolstering national security by easing reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals.

"'We’ve been fighting to save Tiehm’s buckwheat for six years and we’re not giving up now,' Donnelly said.

"Nevada is home to the only existing lithium mine in the US. Another is currently under construction near the Oregon line 220 miles (354km) north of Reno. That #LithiumAmericas mine at #ThackerPass, which was approved in the final days of Donald #Trump’s administration, survived numerous legal challenges from #environmentalists and #NativeAmerican tribes who said it would destroy lands they considered sacred where their ancestors were massacred by US troops in 1865."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/24/nevada-lithium-mine-endangered-wildflower-tiehms-buckwheat

#SaveRhyoliteRidge
#SaveThackerPass #IoneerLtd #NoLithiumMining #RecycleLithium #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #CenterForBiologicalDiversity #ProtectTheSacred #TiehmsBuckwheat #EndangeredSpecies

Women Lead at United Nations #COP16 #Biodiversity Conference in Colombia

by #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, Oct. 22, 2024

"Osprey Orielle Lake, spoke on the revolutionary change needed, including the rights of nature law. She is asking the governments of the world to adopt a universal declaration on the rights of nature at the conference today. She said it is time to put #MotherEarth at the center of decisions, not financial institutions."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/10/live-from-united-nations-cop16.html

#WECAN #ProtectOurPlanet #GBF #KMGBF #BiodiversityProtection #ProtectMotherEarth #ProtectTheSacred #Degrowth #BigBanks #CorporateColonialism #Greenwashing #CarbonCredits #FossilFuelIndustries #BigOilAndGas #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ClimateNecessityDefense

And how much economic damage is from climate change and pollution from #FossilFuels? #BigOil is the real criminal here!

#ClimateProtesters are taking action against Big Oil. UK courts are handing them prison terms akin to rapists and thieves

By Kara Fox, CNN
September 14, 2024

London CNN — "As #RightWing rioters attacked communities with #racist violence across parts of the UK last month, 22-year-old #ClimateActivist #CressieGethin sat in a prison cell.

"Her crime? Organizing a disruptive protest against new government-granted licenses to drill for oil — a planet-heating #FossilFuel — in the #NorthSea.

"In late July, a London court found #Gethin and four other members of the #JustStopOil activist group guilty of 'conspiring intentionally to cause a #PublicNuisance,' after recruiting protesters to climb structures along the M25 — a major ring road around London — bringing traffic to a standstill in parts over four days in November 2022.

"Prosecutors alleged that the protests, organized over a #ZoomCall, disrupted more than 700,000 drivers, caused economic damage of over £760,000 ($980,000) and racked up £1 million ($1.3m) in policing costs.

"Now Gethin and three others — Louise Lancaster, #DanielShaw and #LuciaWhittakerDeAbreu, who planned the disruption on the call — are serving four-year jail terms, while Just Stop Oil co-founder #RogerHallam was given five years. All are appealing.

"The sentences are believed to be the longest in the UK’s history for #nonviolent protest and were delivered under two new controversial laws that supercharged #policing powers to crack down on disruptive protests, even when they are peaceful.

"They place the act of planning a 'public nuisance' event, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, on a similar footing as #ViolentCrimes like robbery, for which punishments range from community service to 12 years’ jail, or rape, which is four to 19 years.

"The judge — who in court referred to the activists as '#extremists' — justified the long jail terms because all five activists had previously been convicted of one or more offenses in relation to direct action protest. Each were on bail for another set of proceedings when the Zoom call took place. He also noted people missed important doctor’s visits and funerals because of the protest.

"But activists like Gethin say their demonstrations are proportionate to the problem at hand — a rapidly warming world that threatens to transform life as we know it, through deadly #ExtremeWeather events and by pushing #ecosystems to their brinks. They are now battling the bolstered powers of the #police and courts to get their point across.

“'A very harsh sentence like this doesn’t make sense morally or legally — but it does make sense politically,' Gethin told CNN in a handwritten letter from HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison just south of London’s Heathrow Airport.

"The laws have drawn criticism from the UN’s special rapporteur on #EnvironmentalDefenders, #MichaelForst, who said not only do they criminalize peaceful protest, but they are being enforced in 'punitive and repressive' ways."

#BigOilAndGas #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#HumanRights #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe

Thousands Sign Support for #Greenpeace and #RedWarriorSociety in #Pipeline #SLAPP

By Greenpeace International, #CensoredNews, Sept. 13, 2024

"We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, formally express our solidarity with Greenpeace against #EnergyTransfer’s meritless $300 million lawsuit.

" #PeacefulProtest and #FreeSpeech are fundamental human rights that underpin social progress. The Energy Transfer $300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace is an abuse of the legal system and a blatant attempt to silence legitimate work to protect people and our planet.

"This lawsuit makes allegations that affect people far beyond Greenpeace. It attempts to rewrite the history of the #Indigenous-led opposition movement at #StandingRock – by absurdly alleging that Greenpeace orchestrated the entire resistance.

"It seeks to hold the Greenpeace organizations in the US and Greenpeace International accountable for actions taken by unaffiliated and unknown individuals. This could have a chilling effect on anyone engaged in peaceful protest and assembly. It also attempts to sue over justified and protected speech, claiming it is '#defamation.' This is #corporate overreach that is part of a disturbing trend of attacks on advocacy and speech around the world.

"We will not allow lawsuits like this one to stop us from advocating for a just, green and peaceful future. On the contrary, we will ensure they have the opposite effect, increasing the support for organizations like Greenpeace and strengthening the broader movement for justice.

"This legal attack on Greenpeace is an attack on us all. We will not stand idly by. We will not be bullied. We will not be divided and we will not be silenced.

"This letter has been signed by more than 290 organisations, tens of thousands of individuals, and a growing list of public figures."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/thousands-sign-support-for-greenpeace.html

Read the names of support organizations:
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/69660/open-letter-to-energy-transfer/

#StandWithStandingRock #BigOilAndGas #ClimateCrisis #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#HumanRights #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #DakotaAccessPipeline

“On Thin Ice”: Western Nations Crack Down on #ClimateActivists with Arrests & Jail Terms

Story by #DemocracyNow
September 12, 2024

"As the #ClimateCrisis continues to accelerate, #wealthy governments in the West are clamping down on #ClimateProtest. According to a new report from #ClimateRightsInternational, #demonstrators around the world are being arrested, charged, prosecuted and silenced, simply for using their rights to free expression. One of those prosecuted is activist #JoannaSmith, who last year applied washable school finger paint on the exterior glass case enclosing Edgar Degas’s renowned wax sculpture, Little Dancer, at the National Gallery of Art to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. She was charged and later sentenced to two months in federal prison for her #CivilDisobedience. We speak to Smith just a week after her release, and to #LindaLakhdir, the legal director of Climate Rights International. 'Countries who have held themselves up as beacons of rule of law are essentially repressing peaceful protest,' says Lakhdir. Smith says the nonviolent action she took was intended to highlight the disparity between a sculpture of a child protected from the elements with a strong plexiglass case and the billions of children around the world left unsafe and vulnerable by #ClimateChange's effects. 'The crisis is here now, it’s unfolding in front of us, and our governments are failing us,' she explains.

#WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#ClimateActivists
#HumanRights #Corporatocracy
#Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#ClimateNecessityDefense

Japan asks Denmark to extradite anti-whaling activist #PaulWatson

Denmark announced Thursday that it has received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant. Watson, the 73-year-old founder of #SeaShepherd, is facing charges related to a 2010 confrontation with Japanese #whaling ships, raising concerns over his potential extradition and the motivations behind Japan's request.

Issued on: 01/08/2024

"#Denmark's justice ministry said Thursday that it had received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was detained in #Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant.

"Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd activist group, was arrested on July 21 in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, over a 2010 altercation with Japanese whaling ships.

"Watson, who featured in the reality TV series '#WhaleWars', founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (#CPWF), and is known for #DirectAction tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

"'The Ministry of Justice received a formal extradition request regarding Paul Watson from the Japanese authorities yesterday,' the ministry told AFP in an email."

[...]

"'#Japan has a personal vendetta against #PaulWatson, and this so-called offence is the pretext for revenge against a man who defied and therefore humiliated them,' [Francois Zimeray] told AFP.

"He said an extradition to Japan would be a violation of the European Convention on #HumanRights, since 'the country does not respect international standards on fair trials and prisons.'"

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240801-japan-asks-denmark-to-extradite-anti-whaling-activist-paul-watson

#Greenpeace #Ecocide #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest
#CriminalizingDissent
#BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders #Fascism
#CivilDisobedience #Activism #ClimateActivists #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #Corporatocracy #Article20 #HumanRightsViolations #DefendNature #Japon #SaveOurSeas #FreePaulWatson

Maybe I read #Orwell's 1984 too many times, but doesn't it seem like handing down harsh prison sentences to #JustStopOil activates for just THINKING about a possible #DirectAction constitute #ThoughtCrime?!!

#TruthTellers #PeopleOverProfits #ClimateEmergency #Ecocide #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest
#CriminalizingDissent
#BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders #Fascism
#CivilDisobedience #Activism #ClimateStrike #ClimateActivists #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #Corporatocracy
#2023PublicOrderAct #EnvironmentalProtest #CriminalizingDissent

TY to @RadicalAnthro for making me aware of this!

Five #JustStopOil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25

Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for #nonviolent #protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause #PublicNuisance

Damien Gayle
Thu 18 Jul 2024 12.47 EDT

"Gethin, who offered her own comments in mitigation, said: 'I want to remind the court once more that my reasons for taking action were not beliefs or opinions. Earth’s life-support systems are breaking down due to human activities, whether we believe it or not.

"'These are not beliefs or opinions and feeling strongly that this is wrong is greatly understandable, I would argue. I deeply regret that this action was necessary … I maintain that it was necessary and I stand by my actions as the most effective option available to me.'

"Supporters of the defendants expressed outrage at the sentences, which came after a two-week trial in which the judge denied them any of the defences in law for causing a public nuisance.

"Hehir ruled that the jury should not take into account evidence about #ClimateBreakdown, which the defendants wanted to point to as the key motivation behind their actions, and which they said provided them with a #ReasonableExcuse for them."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/18/five-just-stop-oil-supporters-jailed-over-protest-that-blocked-m25

#FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #CriminalizingDissent #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #EarthDefenders #SLAPPs #Fascism #SLAPPs #CivilDisobedience #Activism #ClimateStrike #ClimateActivists #HumanRights #SilencingDissent #Corporatocracy #EarthDefenders #Article20 #ExtremeProtestGroups #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense

Last #coalburning power plant in #NewEngland set to close in a win for #environmentalists

by Michael Casey, March 28, 2024

BOSTON (AP) — "The last coal-fired power plant in New England, which had been the focus of a lawsuit and #protests, is set to close in a victory for #environmentalists.

"#GraniteShorePower said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to close the Merrimack Station in #NewHampshire by June 2028. As part of the deal, the company said the site will be turned into the state’s first #RenewableEnergyPark that host #solar power and battery storage systems. The company also said it would shutter Schiller Station in Portsmouth in December 2025. That facility, which is permitted to use oil, coal and biomass, has not operated for several years.

[...]

"The environmental groups claimed the plant draws about 287 million gallons (1.1 billion liters) of water per day from the Merrimack River, heats that water as a result of its cooling process, and then discharges the water back into the river at temperatures that often exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

"#ClimateActivists also protested the plant and demanded its closure over concerns it is a major source of air pollution. In one incident, climate activists last year paddled canoes and kayaks down the Merrimack River to the plant site and were arrested after going onto the property."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/last-coal-burning-power-plant-in-new-england-set-to-close-in-a-win-for-environmentalists/ar-BB1kHzd8

#DirectAction #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ClimateNecessityDefense #Activists #MerrimackRiver #MerrimackStation #SchillerStation #PortsmouthNH

The #ClimateNecessityDefense : How activists are using #CivilDisobedience to fight #ClimateChange

by Delan Li
June 21, 2023

"As climate change threatens our planet, the climate necessity defense is gaining traction among #EnvironmentalActivists and attorneys practicing #ClimateJustice. This defense argues that acts of civil disobedience, such as blocking #pipelines or occupying coal #mines, are justified when done to prevent or mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change. The climate necessity defense asserts that in the face of an urgent and imminent threat to the #environment and human health, the defendants had no choice but to take #DirectAction."

#ThackerPass protesters claim “biodiversity necessity defense” in court case with #LithiumNevada Corporation

By Kevin Sheridan
Published: Mar. 26, 2024

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (KOLO) - "Six protesters being sued by the Lithium Nevada Corporation are using what they are calling a 'biodiversity necessity defense'.

"They say the defense is 'a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.'

"This week’s filing states that the 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of ecocide and irreversible climate change.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th mass extinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by biodiversity and ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"In a filing with the court, Lodge and other attorneys claimed the company had 'unclean hands', and that Lithium Nevada has 'engaged in serious misconduct including violating the Defendants’ human rights, Defendants’ civil rights, misleading the public about the impacts of lithium mining and how lithium mining contributes to climate change and biodiversity collapse, and conducting the inherently dangerous and ecologically destructive practice of surface mining at the Thacker Pass mine'.

"They further argue stopping the mine will prevent significant greenhouse gas emissions, and that their actions are justified because they are working to prevent #CimateChange."

https://www.kolotv.com/2024/03/26/thacker-pass-protesters-claim-biodiversity-necessity-defense-court-case-with-lithium-nevada-corporation/

#ClimateNecessityDefense #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ThackerPassProtectors #SLAPPs #SaveThackerPass
#PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #NoMining #LithiumMining #DirectAction #EarthDefenders #SacredSites #ProtectThackerPass

The #ClimateNecessityDefense : A Legal Tool for #ClimateActivists

2017

"As of the writing of this pamphlet, the climate necessity defense has succeeded only once, in the United Kingdom in 2008. Although it hasn’t yet worked in the United States, there’s good reason to think it will soon.

"As described earlier, an activist attempting a climate necessity defense will plead not guilty to her charges and will notify the judge that she wishes to present a necessity defense. The judge will decide as a matter of law whether to allow the activist to use the defense — that is, whether the criminal statute under which the activist has been charged allows the necessity defense at all, and whether a reasonable juror could possibly find the defense to be valid (step 3). Because judges enjoy a wide range of discretion at this stage in the criminal process, most attempts at the necessity defense have failed here, before the jury ever hears the activists’ arguments.

"So keep this in mind: the climate necessity defense is a novel legal tool that hasn’t yet succeeded in any court in the United States.

"But there’s cause for hope. In the past, activists have been found not guilty by reason of necessity for protesting issues like #NuclearWeapons, #CIA recruitment, and #apartheid. Once they were able to describe their civil disobedience to a jury, protesters were often able to prove that their minor crimes of trespassing or disorderly conduct were justified in light of the serious injustices that they were facing. But in each case, it took the courts several years to catch up to public opinion and to allow the activists to present their necessity arguments to a jury. Luckily, it looks like courts are finally starting to reach this point in cases involving protests against #ClimateChange..."

https://www.climatedisobedience.org/necessitydefense

#BiodiversityNecessityDefense #SaveThackerPass #Activists #EarthDefenders #WaterProtectors

#ThackerPass #Protectors File First-Ever '#BiodiversityNecessityDefense' in #Nevada Court

While pursuing a '#ClimateNecessityDefense,' and making allegations that #mining company has violated their rights, their attorney said, 'They’re not criminals; they’re heroes.'

Bhie-Cie Zahn-Nahtzu: “#LithiumNevada is a #greedy #corporation on the wrong side of history when it comes to #EnvironmentalRacism and desecration of #SacredSites. It’s ironic to me that I’m the trespasser because I want to see my ancestral land preserved.”

By #ProtectThackerPass, #CensoredNews, March 26, 2024

"In a first for the American legal system, the lawyers for six people sued by Lithium Nevada Corporation for protesting the Thacker Pass mine are arguing a ‘biodiversity necessity defense.’

"The necessity defense is a legal argument used to justify breaking the law when a greater harm is being prevented; for example, breaking a car window to save an infant locked inside on a stifling hot day, or breaking down a door to help someone screaming inside a locked home. In these cases, trespassing is justified to save a life.
.
"This week’s filing states: 'Defendants possessed an actual belief that their acts of protest were necessary to prevent the present, continuing harms and evils of #ecocide and irreversible #ClimateChange.'

"'We’re in the midst of the 6th #MassExtinction of life on Earth, and it’s being caused by human activities like mining,' said attorney Terry Lodge, who is representing the #protesters. 'Our lives are made possible by #biodiversity and #ecosystems. Protecting our children from pollution and biodiversity collapse isn’t criminal, it’s heroic.'

"Currently Earth is experiencing one of the most rapid and widespread extinction events in the planet’s 4-billion-year history.

"Biologists report that habitat destruction, like the bulldozing of nearly 6,000 acres of biodiverse #sagebrush steppe for the Thacker Pass mine, is the main cause of this '#6thMassExtinction.'"

#ThackerPassProtectors #SLAPPs #SaveThackerPass #PeeheeMuhuh #Pauite #Shoshone #NoMining #LithiumMining #EarthDefenders

#BiodiversityNecessityDefense

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