protest

Minnesota Uprising Alert: Request for Support

On this, the 50th anniversary of the Attica Prison protests/uprising for human rights, we highlight that the April 23, 2021, Mellon Sawyer UC-Davis “Abolitionism and Communism” panel included urgent requests from community activists in the chat requesting support and donations to legal defense/commissaries for protesters arrested in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s execution by police. Although former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted, government, DAs, police continue highly punitive and draconian repression against protesters across the country. Please read and respond to requests from targeted activists.

Kupukupu Fern_Mauna Kea_July 22 2019-min

When a State of Emergency is Declared, We Should All be Alarmed

Without a single cloud floating in the Mauna Kea sky, kia‘i (protectors) assembled on the morning of July 17, 2019 at Mauna Kea Access Road to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The resolve to protect Mauna Kea from TMT was as clear as the skies above–no telescope was necessary to see this. In response, the State of Hawaii deployed police, equipped with riot batons, tear gas, guns and a Long Range Acoustic Device, to open the access road for construction crews to ascend to TMT’s build site at the northern plateau. It was the largest police operation in Hawai‘i in recent memory with officers from multiple jurisdictions across the islands. This execution of force coincided with Hawaiʻi Governor David Ige’s Proclamation to declare a State of Emergency and, in doing so, declare those safeguarding the Mauna as a threat to the state. But kia‘i were prepared, stood their ground and continued to defend this sacred mountain.