[Community]
Toledo Residents Want Personhood Status for Lake Erie
by Daniel McGraw
Posted March 22, 2019

They did it, the citizens of Toledo, on the western basin of Lake Erie, will now be voting on a controversial legal bill on 26 February. What they will be deciding is whether Lake Erie has the same legal rights as a corporation or person.

There have been cities and townships in the United States that have passed ordinances making some types of polluting illegal, but no American city or state has changed the legality of nature in a way that is this big and this extensive – effectively giving personhood to a gigantic lake.

Called the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, it would grant personhood status to the lake, with the citizens being the guardians of the body of water. If passed, citizens could sue a polluter on behalf of the lake, and if the court finds the polluter guilty, the judge could impose penalties in the form of designated cleanups and/or prevention programs.

“What has happened in Toledo is that we have lost our faith in the current mechanisms of power, and decided to take things into our own hands,” said Bryan Twitchell, a Toledo school teacher. More…

The Facts:
Corporations have rights inside our current political system, now people are fighting back and demanding the same rights as corporations

Reflect On: Imagine the changes that will take place if nature enjoyed the same rights as profit making corporations.

[Justice]
North Dakota Seeks to Restrict Access to Public Records After Standing Rock Reporting Exposed Law Enforcement Abuses
by Will Parrish
Posted March 14, 2019

North Dakota lawmakers are considering a bill to restrict the release of records related to security operations involving “critical infrastructure” — a category that includes fossil fuel pipelines. The bill comes after The Intercept and other media outlets published stories documenting law enforcement surveillance and coordination with private security during the Dakota Access pipeline protests, many of which were based on records released under the North Dakota Open Records Act.

The struggle against the Dakota Access pipeline galvanized a global movement, but it also led to intensive police monitoring, violent suppression of protests, and the prolonged prosecution of hundreds of activists. The overwhelming majority of charges brought against pipeline opponents were eventually dismissed due to lack of evidence. In numerous cases, lawyers and activists drew on documents that media outlets obtained via open records requests to defend those under prosecution. More…

The Facts:
Many politicians routinely protect their big corporate donors and their hired enforcers rather than representing the voters who elected them.

Reflect On:
What will be the consequences of even less transparency as the government uses its monopoly on legal violence violence to suppress legitimate dissent? If peaceful dissent is suppressed, will it make violent dissent more likely?

[Justice]
Jackboots In The Morning: No One Is Spared From This American Nightmare
by John Whitehead
Posted February 23, 2019

For too long now, the American people have allowed their personal prejudices and politics to cloud their judgment and render them incapable of seeing that the treatment being doled out by the government’s lethal enforcers has remained consistent, no matter the threat.

All of the excessive, abusive tactics employed by the government today—warrantless surveillance, stop and frisk searches, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, asset forfeiture schemes, private prisons, indefinite detention, militarized police, etc.—will eventually be meted out on the general populace.

At that point, when you find yourself in the government’s crosshairs, it will not matter whether your skin is black or yellow or brown or white; it will not matter whether you’re an immigrant or a citizen; it will not matter whether you’re rich or poor; it will not matter whether you’re Republican or Democrat; and it certainly won’t matter who you voted for in the last presidential election. More…

The Facts:
The use of swat raids has expanded from a few raids a year to the point that our government now generates 80,000 swat team raids every year. Many of these raids attack the wrong house, and often involve shooting of family pets and terrorizing of small children.

Reflect On:
What will be the consequences if we collectively do not stop this expansion of violent behaviour of “our” government? Should the concept of protecting police misbehaviour through limited immunity be reexamined?