Warning: The Earth may be burning but do not try to take the matches away from the arsonist. If you do, the U.S. government will label you a terrorist. That’s the message to climate activist Jessica Reznicek — and all who dare challenge the status quo. Reznicek damaged sections of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 during the Sioux defense of their water source at Standing Rock. Her sentence was doubled when prosecutors slapped her with a domestic terrorism “enhancement.” She is appealing.
The U.S. is supersizing punishment for dissent in order to scare off protesters. The corporate elite, whom the politicians and the law represent, feel threatened. The structure they rely on for profits is based on abuse of the planet and its people. And both are fed up.
Escalating explosions of anger frighten the ruling class: Black Lives Matter marches; student walkouts for trans rights; strikes and workplace unionizing; and the outpouring of fury over the likely loss of abortion rights. Its response: repression.
Our response: militant action. We need to be bolder than ever with mass resistance to a doomed system that would take us all down. We must continue to fight the government’s clamp-down in the courts and in the streets.
Defend political prisoners like Reznicek. Protect free speech and the right to rebel. Defy unjust laws.
