DoomsdaysCW<p>“On Thin Ice”: Western Nations Crack Down on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateActivists</span></a> with Arrests &amp; Jail Terms</p><p>Story by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DemocracyNow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DemocracyNow</span></a><br>September 12, 2024</p><p>"As the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> continues to accelerate, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wealthy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>wealthy</span></a> governments in the West are clamping down on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateProtest</span></a>. According to a new report from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateRightsInternational" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateRightsInternational</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/demonstrators" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>demonstrators</span></a> around the world are being arrested, charged, prosecuted and silenced, simply for using their rights to free expression. One of those prosecuted is activist <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/JoannaSmith" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JoannaSmith</span></a>, 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 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CivilDisobedience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilDisobedience</span></a>. We speak to Smith just a week after her release, and to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LindaLakhdir" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LindaLakhdir</span></a>, 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 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a>'s effects. 'The crisis is here now, it’s unfolding in front of us, and our governments are failing us,' she explains.</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/12/climate_rights_international" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">democracynow.org/2024/9/12/cli</span><span class="invisible">mate_rights_international</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WaterDefenders</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateDefenders</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalActivists</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SilencingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SilencingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EarthDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EarthDefenders</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CriminalizingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CriminalizingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FreeSpeech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FreeSpeech</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RightToProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RightToProtest</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BiodiversityNecessityDefense" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BiodiversityNecessityDefense</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EarthDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EarthDefenders</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CivilDisobedience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilDisobedience</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Activism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Activism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateStrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateStrike</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateActivists</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HumanRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HumanRights</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Corporatocracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Corporatocracy</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Article20" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Article20</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/2023PublicOrderAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>2023PublicOrderAct</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateNecessityDefense" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateNecessityDefense</span></a></p>