#civil rights protest

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

You know what makes me sad?

It makes me sad, and not a little bit mad, that there are disabled people -- even those who are Disability Advocates -- who hate Disability Pride Month because they're convinced it was invented by normate people to make themselves feel better. I suspect that's because it follows directly after June's Queer Pride Month, and, if you are young enough to not remember the history for yourself ('cause we all know it's not being taught n schools), it can feel like a leftover crumb. But it is so, so, not.

If I were Queen of Calendars, I might move Disability Pride Month to April, to commemorate the 504 Sit-in of 1977, especially the occupation of the regional offices of Health, Education, and Welfare in San Fransisco, by over 500 people, mostly disabled (with their personal care assistants). The Occupation lasted 28 Days -- the longest protest occupation of a federal building in U.S. History. Since Queer Pride Month commemorates a protest, maybe Disability Pride Month should, too. The biggest knock against April is the weather is still iffy in much of the country for pride parades and outdoor gatherings.

(Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the legal predecessor of the ADA. And no, that's not a typo. Most of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed in 1973, but the one section that outlined rights for the disabled was put to the side, and ignored for four whole years, because it was deemed to be too expensive and confusing to extend civil rights to disabled people. It was the Sit-In in 1977 that finally pushed President Carter to sign it, and make it law).

Here's a retrospective report on the Sit-In from CBS news, that aired in the '80s (Auto-generated captions):

(the video is 6 minute, 12 seconds. But the news report ends at 5 minutes 42 seconds)

#disability pride month #disability history #U.S. History #civil rights protest #CBS evening news (vintage) #Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 #504 sit-in #youtube (auto generated captions) #Youtube

[alwaysbewoke]

#mlk #assassination #civil rights #social justice #historical event #racial equality #legacy #racism #martin luther king jr #civil rights movement #social unrest #protests #riots #james baldwin #grief #racial injustice #historical reflection

[luminalunii97]

saying F U to the regime again and again: a quick update on women vs IR regime

Famous Iranian actresses have been appearing in public without a mandatory hijab. This has been happening since the beginning of the protests. Last month, Kiumars Pourahmad, a well known Iranian screenwriter and director, committed suicide. He had a history of criticizing the regime's political decisions. At his funeral, some of the famous actresses attended without mandatory hijab.

You can see Fateme Motamedarya, Katayoun Riyahi, and Golab Adineh in these pictures from the funeral. Ms. Riyahi was one of the first celebrities who took her hijab off at the start of the Jina (Mahsa) Amini protest and for that she's been the target of IRGC harassment and has been to court.

Last week, in the ceremony of screening of the final episode of Lion's Skin (a persian crime show), actress Pantea Bahram participated without hijab. The manager of Tehran’s Lotus Cinema, where the ceremony was held, was fired for letting her attend without hijab.

Other than prosecution, the regime has blocked these celebrities' bank accounts. Basij and IRGC members have also attacked and harassed these women online and in real life.

Students on university campuses take off their hijabs. There's an installed version of morality police in universities that monitor students' styles. Female students must wear "appropriate" hijab and male students must wear "manly" clothes (one of my guy friends once was asked to go back home and change his shoes because they were red casual loafers. Apparently that's gay!). When you enroll in Iranian universities, the first thing you do is to go to the security office and sign an agreement that says you promise to follow the Islamic dress code. There are posters all over the campus that says things like "hijab is security" "respect the islamic hijab" and "not wearing appropriate hijab (tight short clothes, too much hair, makeup, etc) would result in legal action". So not wearing hijab on campus, where a lot of security cameras are installed and it's easy to identify you, is a big deal.

The regime's response to students taking off their hijabs is sending threatening messages to students' phones and increasing the security people. At the entrance of Universities, these security forces check people's clothes and if it's not proper they won't let you in. Some of the students wear the hijab at the entrance and take it off after they're in. They have warned our professors to not let non hijabi students sit in classes too.

One of my favorite trends in Iran now is when guys wear our hijab. These pictures are from universities. Guys wearing hijab make the security mad. This is a great act of solidarity with women against the obligatory hijab.

Some men have been doing either this or wearing shorts in public. The former is to ridicule the obligatory dress code and the latter is because wearing shorts in public is forbidden for guys too.

And women not wearing hijab in general. Though hijab is not our only issue, we want a whole new political system, one that is not theocratic or terroristic, hijab is something the regime won't back down from because it's one of their strongest oppressing tools. If they let us win the fight against obligatory hijab, I quote from a regime head, "people keep demanding more changes"!

So to put people against people to enforce the hijab law again, the regime has closed down many businesses (hotels, cafes, malls, bookstores, etc) for welcoming non hijabi female costumers. They have also warned taxi and bus drivers to not let non hijabi women in their vehicles.

Although not everyone is disobeying the hijab law (some believe in hijab, some don't want to pay the price), the number of women who take the risk and don't wear hijab in Tehran and many other cities is high enough that you feel encouraged to keep doing it.

#iran #iran protests #iran revolution #mahsa amini #jina amini #jin jiyan azadi #women life freedom #politics #human rights #feminism #middle east #women revolution #obligatory hijab #university student #civil disobedience

[bfpnola]

from @/pslnational

#mlk jr #mlk #mlk day #revolution #quotes #socialism #anti capitalism #instagram #black lives matter #civil rights #protest #vietnam #economics #washington dc #united states #black liberation

[animentality]

Reminder

#twitter #lgbt #pride #queer history #civil rights #us politics #civil protest #uncivil protest

[macleod]

I've seen a number of people on here proclaim that you should not, under no circumstances, take photos at a protest, but: Sharing photos of protests is a great way to amplify the impact of collective action, raise awareness on important issues, and encourage more people to participate.

But: We also have to keep in mind that surveillance is on the rise, including the use of facial recognition tech, which can put people at risk.

So here is a quick basic guide, courtesy of DigitalRightsWatchAU, to protecting people's biometric data when posting protest photos:

Conceal or obscure people’s faces in photos 

Before you upload photos from protests to social media, remove biometric data by concealing or obscuring people’s faces and using proper communication channels.

Use Signal. 

Signal is a great encrypted messaging app that protects your communications. It also has an in-built feature to blur out people’s faces.

We strongly recommend using Signal to communicate with people white protesting (and anytime, really!), and this added feature makes it easy to protect the identities of people in your photos. 

Be selective – choose photos that don’t show people’s faces. 

With some careful photography and curation, you can upload photos that capture the scale and energy of a protest without revealing sensitive information — no need to edit them! 

Here are some ideas:

take photos at a distance, capturing the crowd rather than individual details of faces,

position yourself behind the march, showing only the backs of heads, 

focus on signs, flags and other details to emphasise the protest vibe without showing people’s faces. 

Remember it’s good practice to ask people before taking their photo whenever you can. You can also explain to them that you just want to get their sign or outfit but not their face – let them know you want to protect their privacy! 

Extra tips:

Doing this does not remove the metadata from your image. Image metadata is generated automatically and usually includes details including the time, date, and GPS location, and information about the type of phone used – this can be used to pinpoint where you were and when. To easily remove metadata, take a screenshot on your device and delete the original. 

For extra protection, delete the original photos that show people’s faces from your phone after you have made a version that obscures the faces. Even if you don’t intend to upload them online, if your device is compromised or unlocked and you have the originals sitting there, you’ve done all that work for nothing!    

What about videos? Videos are trickier to edit to hide people’s faces and may require additional time, effort and software – this isn’t always possible while you’re on the go! We suggest focusing on minimising capturing faces in the first place when recording video footage. 

Focus on harm minimisation rather than perfection. Taking protest photos without revealing people’s faces can be hard – there are a lot of people moving around which makes it difficult. The goal is to minimise sharing others’ biometric information as much as possible. Just try your best!   

When you want to capture details: recording incidents 

Recording incidents such as use of violence by law enforcement can be a powerful tool of accountability. It pays to be prepared. 

Here are some tips from Melbourne Activist Legal Support on observing police at protests:

Record in landscape mode. It captures more of the scene. 

Hold your device steady and move it slowly. Smooth, clear footage makes better evidence. 

If taking your phone to an action, make sure you don’t take sensitive data with you. 

Context is important. Recording moments before an arrest can be as important as the arrest itself. 

Try to take clear steady images that capture the police officer’s badge name or ID number. 

Don’t hinder an arrest when observing or you may end up arrested too.   

Try not to narrate. Your recording may not capture key information if you’re speaking over it. 

Police do not have the right to hinder you recording public interactions. 

You can also check out the resources from Witness for in-depth guides to recording incidents to protect and uphold human rights. You can also get advice and tools from the National Justice Project’s CopWatch.

#protests #collective action #mine #links #protest #civil rights

[agelessphotography]

Martin Luther King Jr. leading a procession of people to demonstrate against police treatment of voter rights demonstrators, Montgomery, Alabama, Declan Haun, March 17, 1965

#photography #vintage photography #vintage #declan haun #martin luther king jr #mlk jr #protest #civil rights movement #police brutality #montgomery #alabama #1960s #1965 #civil rights #100 notes

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Concept: A comedy play set in the late Roman republic with the audience playing the role of the Roman people. The characters prompt the audience to 'vote' in elections (shouting "yay" or "boo"), to harass other characters making speeches, to join Caesar or Pompey as their "legionaries" in the civil war, and to revolt while the armies are fighting overseas.

Then Caesar comes back from the war, victorious. And he doesn't prompt the audience anymore, he tells them what is going to happen next. Including having the set redesigned, changing the genre of the story, and critiquing the theater the play is happening in. When theater managers (planted actors) step in and remind him he can't do that, Caesar has them dragged out of the building. The voice of the people has been silenced, and the rule of law is suspended, just like it was in real life.

The audience is never again prompted for input. Both the conspirators who kill Caesar and the mob that runs them out of Rome are entirely actors, acting on their own initiative. We hop briefly over the war of Mutina, then to the formation of the second triumvirate, and the final scene of the play is Antony, Octavian and Lepidus having audience members killed (more planted actors). Even the curtain call is framed as if the audience is reduced to giving a rubber-stamp approval to a three-headed dictatorship.

Sweet dreams, everyone!

#(and be very suspicious of anybody trying to restrict people's right to vote or protest in real life...) #theater #writing ideas #jlrrt speaks #caesar's civil war #i love thinking of the end of the republic as a tragedy. in like a literary way. it's awful and ugly and i want to dissect it like a frog #jlrrt essays

[useless-catalanfacts]

2nd February 2024. Photos from Vilaweb.

Demonstration in front of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (the highest court of the Spanish judiciary system in Catalonia) in Barcelona in support of Dani Gallardo, a young Spanish anarchist who is sentenced to prison because the took part in a peaceful demonstration held in Madrid (Spain's capital city) in favour of Catalan people's right to self-determination and against the Spanish police's violence against Catalan people.

We have explained Dani's case before, you can read it in this post:

Dani has been sentenced guilty to send a message. Until his case, more than 4,200 Catalan people had been sentenced guilty for their involvement in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum or the protests that followed it. The Spanish judiciary system has proven that they won't stop at punishing Catalan people, they also sent the police to beat up the protestors who demonstrated for Catalonia in Madrid (Spain) and they're also jailing a Spanish man for his solidarity.

Dani was sentenced guilty of public disorder and attempt against authority with made-up claims that had been fabricated hours before he even got arrested. The Spanish police already planned to arrest people and blame them for this even before the event happened. Dani spent 13 months in pre-trial jail, then he was released for some time, and now has received the order to go to prison for 2 years and 11 months more.

Cases like this is why there is a demand for an amnesty. After the last elections to the Spanish government, the PSOE party needed the support of other parties to get enough votes to form government. One of the must-have demands of the Catalan political parties was an amnesty law (amnesty laws are not uncommon in Spain) that would cancel the punishments of people who have been found guilty of political crimes related to the independence movement since 2017, because none of these thousands of people committed real harmful crimes. This law is currently being negotiated, but the Spanish parties are trying to write it in a way that will leave as many people out of the amnesty as possible. At the same time, the Spanish judiciary system continues accusing new people of terrorism for attending peaceful political demonstrations.

For example, two democratically-elected pro-independence politicians (Puigdemont and Wagensberg) are being accused of terrorism for supposedly calling for people to protest in the Barcelona airport, a protest that was completely peaceful and which was called by a civil society organization and not by these politicians. But they're influential, so Spain looks for any way to punish them. How are the Spanish judiciaries claiming that Puigdemont and Wagensberg should be sentenced guilty of terrorism for an action where there was no terrorism? The Spanish judges' imagination has no limits when it comes to sentencing Catalans and Basques. They are saying that it's terrorism because some of the protestors had weapons. What weapons? Fire extinguishers, bottles, and the metal carts that people use to carry their luggage:

Because there were fire extinguishers and luggage carts in the airport and people brought their own water, a completely peaceful protest that happened there is terrorism. The worst part is that it doesn't outrage or surprise us anymore, because we're so used to this nonsense.

#actualitat #dani gallardo #catalunya #catalonia #spain #current events #right to protest #españa #european union #anarchist #political prisoners #political prisoner #madrid #barcelona #coses de la terra #catalan #independence #minority rights #social justice #civil rights

[seraphimfall]

to anyone protesting in memphis and other US cities: good luck and stay safe!

below are some sources i’ve decided to put together that you may find helpful. feel free to read through them and reblog this for others!

• list of your rights as a protestor

• list of things you’ll want to bring

• the basics of direct action

• guide to protecting your identity during and after

• legal support resources for protestors

• how to address tear gas exposure

• tips for organizing a demonstration

• tyre nichols memorial gofundme page

stay safe, and stay strong! ✧

#|| personal || #leftism #progressive politics #blm #black lives matter #police brutality #defund the police #social justice #social issues #antiracist #memphis protests #tyre nichols #leftist #human rights #atheist #memphis police #civil demonstration #protest #protesting #anarchism #peaceful protest #stronger together

[buildabettermeme]

Why is no one talking about the riots and protests over the murder of 17-year-old Nahel by police in France?

This boy was only 17 years old, shot in the chest in the driver's seat by cops. People seem to think there isn't racism in France but there is. We all need to be talking about this. Nahel should not be forgotten.

The French government is attacking their own citizens with 40,000 police officers (yes, 40k cops) to quell the unrest. 5,000 cops are being sent to Paris alone.

The French government needs to realize that there wouldn't be riots if you didn't allow cops to and protect cops who kill unarmed, non-threatening, peaceful civilians, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN. French citizens won't let their government get away with this. Neither should the rest of the world.

If we all join forces to condemn this horrible tragedy, all across the world, maybe less young POC people will be murdered in cold blood by police officers. Maybe the French government WON'T sanction murder of their citizens for exercising the basic human right of free speech and protest. Maybe, one day, cops will have stricter standards and punishments. Maybe, in the future, there won't be cops at all, and no one would die by their hand. But we HAVE to work together to ever see that happen.

Blow it up. Blaze it if you want to. Find every post about this murder that you can and FORCE the media to notice.

Nahel's mother is organizing the protesting and has been photographed speaking and acting out for her son. We should also support her, because not enough parents would do this for their murdered child/ren. I know mine wouldn't. But she is, and she deserves to be recognized and supported.

Don't let children be murdered in vain, without notice, without awareness, without action. If we will not avenge our next generation, they won't be here to avenge anyone else. Don't let them die, especially not like this.

I don't know how to start a GoFundMe but if anyone did and wanted to, this would be a great place and cause for funds to go to.

Make the French government quake in their boots. Make them terrified of their own people. Make the government pale at the reality that is facing them; they will lose everything, all of their power, all of their money, if they do not get their shit together and protect their goddamn people.

This CNN article is horrifically boot-licking, however it is the most comprehensive reporting I have found in English, and my French is unfortunately nonexistent.

Don't buy into the copaganda. These fuckers are murderers, plain, cold, and simple.

Fuck the French police.

Fuck ALL police.

(Disclaimer: I am horrible at tags, I'm learning I swear)

#nahel #police brutality #police murder #child murder #french police #france #riots #gun violence #protesting #human rights #civil rights #fuck the french police #justice for nahel #justice for cop brutality #justice #poc #people of color #racism

[womantoday]

An unidentified woman claws at a Milwaukee, Wisc. police captain’s face as he tries to place her under arrest during a Negro rally. Some 200 people were arrested following several nights of racial disorders in the mid-western city which had been regarded as one of the most racially progressive in the country. {July 31, 1967} x

#herstory #Black history #civil rights #1960s #fight #black & white #protest

[alwaysbewoke]

56 Years Ago TODAY, MLK was ASSASSINATED. He didn't just die, he was KILLED. MURDERED.

The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, plunged the nation into a vortex of grief, rage, and reflection. Cities across the United States erupted in flames, as the pent-up frustrations of generations burst forth in of protests and riots. The fabric of American society seemed to unravel, thread by thread, as the Black community, and much of America, grappled with the magnitude of their loss and the injustices that remained. In this turmoil, James Baldwin captured the essence of the nation's psyche: “The atmosphere was black, with a tension indescribable—as though something, perhaps the heavens, perhaps the earth, might crack.” (x)

#mlk #assassination #civil rights #social justice #historical event #racial equality #legacy #racism #martin luther king jr #civil rights movement #social unrest #protests #riots #james baldwin #grief #racial injustice #historical reflection

[luminalunii97]

Civil disobedience, act 4: art and symbols

Demonstration art could be one of the most powerful ways to convey your message. Iranians have been making art all over the cities these days.

Painting the city with blood: Putting red color in water bodies around the city. throwing red color at street signs specially those that reads Velayat (supreme leading system), hijab, and Kurdistan. putting red blood on pictures of Khamenei, Ghasem Soleimani, and police or judiciary signs. Coloring the university classes and corridors with red. One art classroom door in Alzahra university read "this classroom is covered in blood". These red colors represent the blood the regime has shed.

Pictures on the walls: Faces of our fallen martyrs. Anti regime pictures. They read: "you kill our love, you are our ISIS" "women life freedom" "women of Iran and Afghanistan against the violence of Talib and mullah" "fuck compulsory hijab" "from 2017 to 2022 this regime would fall like dominos" "ambu-lice (ambulances are being used to move policemen)". A religious figure hide behind religion playing his anti riot forces. On an alley named Azadi (freedom) someone has written "there was so much bravery hidden in this land".

(It's important to know that in Iran, mullahs don't represent religion as much as they represent the regime. For 40 years the turbans have been the heads of political powers. Most of those mullah pictures are directly targeting Khamenei the supreme leader)

Slogans on paper money: these ones say "women life freedom" "queer life freedom" "Baloch life freedom".

Khodanoor Lejei, symbol of the islamic republic cruelty: The bloody Friday in Zahedan was one of the darkest spots in Islamic republic brutal history. Opening fire on a crowd of praying Muslims before they even start protesting. Killing about 100 people of Baloch. But one picture stood out and stood as the face of inhumanity of the regime. Khodanoor Lejei was one of the victims of bloody Friday in Zahedan. An old picture of him went viral after his death. He was arrested a couple of months prior to Mahsa Amini murder and was treated with no dignity. Bound to a pole. water in front of his thirsty body but out of his reach. So in universities, sport games, streets and alleys people have been posing Khodanoor in bound to protest the cruelty. In the last two pictures, the signs read "political" (سیاسی) and "justice" (عدالت)!

Students sing revolution anthems. Artists make digital arts. Musicians make revolution songs. People dance and the security forces attack and arrest them.

There have been balloons flying over the cities with banners containing slogans on them. There have been banners on footbridges situated so that drivers would see them. People also have been writing slogans on billboards especially those that promote regime propaganda.

Azad university art students gathered in their campus, painted their palms red and raised their hands to the sky.

Meanwhile the regime forces broke into dormitories and stole students.

Some universities including mine design their campus trees and buildings with names of the murdered protesters or captured students and other revolution symbols (red tulip represents martyrs in Persian literature). The uni authorities take them down but the art students do it again.

After Kian Pirfalak, all over the country you could find paper boats and rainbows. Kian was a 10 year old boy who was murdered by the regime. There's a video of him starting with "in the name of the god of the rainbow" and continuing to explain his crafted boat. He wanted to become an engineer. Now paper boats are banned in universities.

One of the murdered protesters, Hamidreza Rouhi, loved riding motorcycles. He had a video online of him on a motorbike lip syncing to a song and pointing to the camera. A group of motorbike riders in Tehran, 7 day after his murder, gathered in front of his house, their motorbikes lined nearby, with pictures of him on each bike.

And in a recent symbolic act, a woman walked around Tehran streets as The Handmaid's Tale cosplayer. Very on point.

Don't think for a second that these civil ways of protesting are safe or easy. People have been arrested or shot in the head doing these.

People are capable of beauties but the regime can only make ugliness. That's the summary of this revolution.

#iran #mahsa amini #iran protests #iran revolution #politics #human rights #lgbtq+ #feminism #intersectional feminism #art #revolution art #demonstration art #middle east #tw death #streetart #the handmaid's tale #civil disobedience

[a-typical]

I was the only Negro passenger on the plane, and I followed everybody else going into the Dobbs House to get lunch. When I got there one of the waiters ushered me back and I thought they were giving me a very nice comfortable seat with everybody else and I discovered they were leading me to a compartment in the back. And this compartment was around you, you were completely closed in, cut off from everybody else, so I immediately said that I couldn’t afford to eat there. I went on back and took a seat out in the main dining room with everybody else and I waited there, and nobody served me. I waited a long time, everybody else was being served. So finally I asked for the manager and he came out and started talking, and I told him the situation and he talked in very sympathetic terms. And I never will forget what he said to me.

He said, “Now Reverend, this is the law; this is the state law and the city ordinance and we have to do it. We can’t serve you out here but now everything is the same. Everything is equal back there; you will get the same food; you will be served out of the same dishes and everything else; you will get the same service as everybody out here.”

And I looked at him and started wondering if he really believed that. And I started talking with him. I said, “I don’t see how I can get the same service. Number one, I confront aesthetic inequality. I can’t see all these beautiful pictures that you have around the walls here. We don’t have them back there. But not only that, I just don’t like sitting back there and it does something to me. It makes me almost angry. I know that I shouldn’t get angry. I know that I shouldn’t become bitter, but when you put me back there something happens to my soul, so that I confront inequality in the sense that I have a greater potential for the accumulation of bitterness because you put me back there. And then not only that, I met a young man from Mobile who was my seat mate, a white fellow from Mobile, Alabama, and we were discussing some very interesting things. And when we got in the dining room, if we followed what you’re saying, we would have to be separated. And this means that I can’t communicate with this young man. I am completely cut off from communication. So I confront inequality on three levels: I confront aesthetic inequality; I confront inequality in the sense of a greater potential for the accumulation of bitterness; and I confront inequality in the sense that I can’t communicate with the person who was my seat mate.”

And I came to see what the Supreme Court meant when they came out saying that separate facilities are inherently unequal. There is no such thing as separate but equal.

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

#MLK #Martin Luther King Jr #Clayborne Carson #The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr #1960s #civil rights #civil rights movement #black history #black history month #black lives matter #black history matters #black authors #history #blm #black voices #bipoc #african american #peaceful protests #nonviolent resistance #atypicalreads #noncooperation #passive resistance

[18thcenturythirsttrap]

Ministers are considering expanding the definition of extremism and banning MPs from engaging with protest groups as part of a crackdown on people 'undermining' Britain’s institutions values.

According to reports, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has asked Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove to update the Government’s definition of extremism - set more than a decade ago - which currently defines it as 'vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values'.

That definition is vague enough - because what the hell are 'fundamental British values'? Essentially, whatever the Government of the day decides they are / are not. Clearly, though, Sunak wants even wider scope for his Government to define what is 'British' according to their own priorities. For example, I wouldn't mind betting that, while it's clear anti-genocide groups will be labelled un-British, anti-trans campaign groups will somehow pass under the radar.

Combined with Sunak's threat in front of Downing Street on Friday that non-British nationals who take part in protests could be deported, this signals a worrying new advance in the assault on civil rights and civil liberties, promoted by the Conservatives and unopposed by Labour.

#civil rights #civil liberties #right to protest #defend dissent #palestine #uk politics #Instagram