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#protestors

2 posts2 participants0 posts today

Like I said before, #Trump will use ANY excuse to withhold funding. And he has NOT restored #ColumbiaUniversity's funding yet, despite their caving to the #BullyInChief's demands! Today, it's #TransgenderAthletes and #FreePalestine #Protestors. Tomorrow it will be...? The capitulation has to stop NOW!

#Academia Confronts a Watershed Moment at Columbia, and the Right Revels

Threatened with losing $400 million in federal funding, the university agreed to overhaul its protest policies and security practices.

"The end is not clear. Columbia’s moves on Friday — revealed in a letter to the campus from the interim president, Dr. Katrina A. Armstrong — were essentially an opening bid in negotiations with the federal government to let the $400 million flow again. But the Trump administration has not publicly said what other concessions it might seek from Columbia or the dozens of other universities, from Hawaii to Harvard, that it has started to scrutinize since taking power on Jan. 20."

by Troy Closson, Alan Blinder and Katherine Rosman, March 22, 2025

"Many professors saw it as surrender, a reward to the Trump administration’s heavy hand. Conservative critics of academia celebrated it as an overdue, righteous reset by an Ivy League university.

"Columbia University’s concession on Friday to a roster of government demands as it sought to restore about $400 million in federal funding is being widely viewed as a watershed in Washington’s relationships with the nation’s colleges.

"By design, the consequences will be felt immediately on Columbia’s campus, where, for example, some security personnel will soon have arrest powers and an academic department that had drawn conservative scrutiny is expected to face stringent oversight. But they also stand to shape colleges far from Manhattan.

"'Columbia is folding and the other universities will follow suit,' Christopher Rufo, an activist and senior fellow at the #ManhattanInstitute, a conservative think tank, wrote on social media after the university’s announcement on Friday."

[...]

"Many worry that the administration’s pursuit of Columbia was a test drive — a way to gauge public reaction, assess the prospects of legal pushback and develop a precedent. On Wednesday, the administration seemed to bring another test case, saying it would withhold about $175 million from Penn because the university had allowed an openly transgender woman on its women’s swim team in 2022."

Read more:
nytimes.com/2025/03/22/nyregio

Archived version:
archive.ph/xQeLn
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown

The government’s actions targeted Columbia, but the implications are likely to be felt far beyond its Manhattan campus.
The New York Times · Columbia University’s Concessions to Trump Seen as a WatershedBy Troy Closson

Useful resource for anyone protesting anything.

CLDC: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE
STOPPED BY THE POLICE:

There are 3 distinct categories of police interference with a person's liberties: Conversation, Detention and Arrest. It is important to identify your situation so you know your rights, and remember, anything you say can and will be used against you! Stay calm and in control of your words and actions at all times.
(more...)

cldc.org/wp-content/uploads/20

#MountainValleyPipeline #LandDefenders Appear in Court: Images by Dr. Michelle Cook, #Dine'

via #CensoredNews

GILES COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - "Around twelve people charged in connection to protests of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline appeared in court Tuesday.

"Dozens of people from Monroe County, #WestVirginia to Roanoke County packed a Giles County district courtroom in support of their friends and neighbors facing charges related to the $8 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline.

"The charges range from misdemeanors to non-violent felonies, all related to #protestors' efforts to halt #pipeline construction or prevent #drilling."

Read more:
bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02
#ReaderSupportedNews #LandDefenders #WaterProtectors #MountainProtectors #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent #JeffersonNationalForest #AppalachianTrail #AppalachiansAgainstPipelines #SLAPPs #WaterIsLife #NoPipelines #MountainValleyPipelineLLC #Virginia #WestVirginia #NorthCarolina #CorporateGreed #ComplicitGovernment

bsnorrell.blogspot.comMountain Valley Pipeline Land Defenders Appear in Court: Images by Dr. Michelle Cook, Dine'Censored News is a service to grassroots Indigenous Peoples engaged in resistance and upholding human rights.
Continued thread

‘Elon is not my president’: Cleveland protestors rally against DOGE, Musks’ unelected authority
cleveland.com/news/2025/02/elo

"On a frigid #PresidentsDay, nearly 100 protestors gathered outside Cleveland’s City Hall to protest Elon Musk’s unelected authority & demand change from their elected officials.

#Protestors said they were rallying to uphold the #Constitution, limit executive overreach by elected officials, & to shut down... #DOGE"

#Crimethinc: A #Demonstrator’s Guide to Understanding #RiotMunitions

And How to Defend against Them
2021-01-04

"#ImpactMunitions

Police fire a wide range of blunt force projectiles from a variety of weapons. Manufacturers and police departments sometimes call these 'Blunt Impact Projectiles' (#BIPs) or 'Kinetic Impact Projectiles' (#KIPs). #RubberBullets are only one of many variants. They vary in size, force, composition, delivery methods, and lethality.

"The sales pitches that manufacturers make to law enforcement agencies emphasize the ability to obtain compliance from subjects via projected force with minimal risk of injury or death. All of the academic studies—not to mention our lived experience—show that neither of these claims is correct: impact munitions regularly #maim and kill #protestors and they rarely succeed at breaking up demonstrations. They’re even less effective at stopping social movements. Often, when one of us loses an eye or suffers a fractured skull, more people come out to the streets.

"Some of the more common impact munitions include baton rounds, large plastic, foam, gel, or even wooden #projectiles that are fired from a multi-launcher or occasionally a shotgun; rubber bullets, #MetalProjectiles coated in rubber or PVC; #BeanBagRounds, woven bags filled with either silica or lead, usually fired from shotguns; #Pepperballs, which are essentially paintballs filled with pepper spray; #FN303 rounds, a combination of pepper-balls and regular impact munitions; rubber balls, which are rubber or plastic or foam pellets packed into grenades to explode like shrapnel or shotgun shot; and, of course, the venerable #GasCanister (bearing chemical agents or smoke), which is not designed to be fired directly at protestors—but regularly is.

"Contrary to popular supposition, most modern impact munitions are designed for 'direct fire' rather than 'skip fire.' Direct fire munitions are for shooting directly at individuals, while skip fire projectiles are designed to be skipped off the ground into the crowd. Tear gas canisters are generally intended for skip firing at close range or firing at a 25-30 degree arc into the air for maximum range; they are not rated for direct fire. Some styles of baton rounds that split into multiple projectiles are designed for skip fire to distribute the projectiles more widely, while others are designed to be fired over the heads of protesters in order to rain chemicals down. Full-size wooden baton rounds and some rubber bullets seem to be designed for skip fire as well, but in general, skip fire is less accurate and less common.

"Baton rounds, stinger grenades, and beanbags hurt. They injure people. Occasionally, they maim or—even more rarely—kill people. Yet of all the tools used by the police, they are some of the least effective at stopping demonstrations. Unlike a cop within mêlée range, a baton round cannot arrest you. Unlike a cloud of gas, it can’t force you to disperse. Ranged impact weapons rely primarily on pain compliance. While this may work on individuals, pain alone usually cannot force a resolute crowd to comply. Standing around getting shot at isn’t always the right move. But the effects of impact munitions can be mitigated by protective equipment including shields, armor, helmets, goggles, barricades, and even umbrellas. Impact weapons rely on fear above all—and through mental preparation and mutual support, we can defend ourselves from fear. We can choose not to comply with fear."

Learn more:
crimethinc.com/2021/01/04/a-de
#Resistance #Protests #Demonstrations #ProtestSafely #BePrepared

CrimethInc.A Demonstrator’s Guide to Understanding Riot MunitionsAn extensive guide to less-lethal police weaponry—including chemical weapons and impact munitions—and how to defend against and treat their effects.

It's interesting to me the scant #media attention this is getting (at least in the #USA)

Huge #protests in #Belgrade #Serbia

Reason: a train station collapse in November, 15 dead: #NoviSad, shoddy construction

The country is seething with disgust at long standing #corruption

#PrimeMinister #Vucecic just resigned

But the #protestors are aiming for #President #Vucic

Now #farmers are joining #students in their 24 hour #traffic #blockade

Keep your eyes on Serbia

apnews.com/article/serbia-prot