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Pacifica KPFK Motion To Protest Arrest Of Journalists Covering Dakota Access Pipe Line

by repost
KPFK has called on Pacifica to build support of arrested journalists including Amy Goodman, Deia Schlosberg, and Shailene Woodley who have been arrested for covering the Dakota Access Pipeline
north_dakota_dogs.jpg
Pacifica KPFK Motion To Protest The Arrest Of Journalists Covering The Dakota Access Pipeline
COVERING THE PROTESTS TO THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE
Amy Goodman, Deia Schlosberg, and Shailene Woodley are among the journalists who have been arrested while covering demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The Arrest of Journalists and Filmmakers Covering the Dakota Pipeline Is a violation of the First Amendment, the Constitution, is a threat to the media, Democracy—and the Planet.
Therefore the KPFK LSB goes on record opposing such arrests and in support of journalists who have been arrested in Dakota and North Dakota, and call on the prosecutors of said cases to immediately drop said charges. Furthermore we call upon the arresting authorities to cease the harrassment and and seizure of materials and film of journalists covering the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
+++++++
The KPFK Board Secretary is requested to forward this motion to the above arresting and prosecuting agencies.
The KPFK LSB requests the Program Director and General Manager cover these issues on the air on an ongoing basis.

Filmmaker Faces 45 Years in Prison for Reporting on Dakota Access Protests
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/10/15/filmmaker-faces-45-years-prison-reporting-dakota-access-protests
October 15, 2016
byCommon Dreams
Filmmaker Faces 45 Years in Prison for Reporting on Dakota Access Protests
"They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist."
by
Nika Knight, staff writer


Deia Schlosberg accepting an Emmy for the 2010 documentary series Gasland, which exposed the devastating impacts of the fracking industry on communities in the U.S. (Photo: Danny Moloshok/AP)

In an ominous sign for press freedom, documentary filmmaker and journalist Deia Schlosberg was arrested and charged with felonies carrying a whopping maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison—simply for reporting on the ongoing Indigenous protests against fossil fuel infrastructure.

Schlosberg was arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota on Tuesday for filming activists shutting down a tar sands pipeline, part of a nationwide solidarity action organized on behalf of those battling the Dakota Access Pipeline.

"The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution."
—Josh Fox, Gasland filmmaker
The filmmaker was held without access to a lawyer for 48 hours, her colleague Josh Fox wrote in the Nation, and her footage was confiscated by the police.

Schlosberg was then charged Friday with three felonies, the Huffington Post reported: "conspiracy to theft of property, conspiracy to theft of services and conspiracy to tampering with or damaging a public service. Together, the charges carry 45 years in maximum prison sentences."

"They have in my view violated the First Amendment," Fox told the Huffington Post, referring to the state's Pembina County Sheriff's Department. “It’s fucking scary, it knocks the wind of your sails, it throws you for a loop. They threw the book at Deia for being a journalist."

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden observed that Schlosberg faces more years in prison than he does for leaking secret documents about the NSA's mass surveillance program in 2013:


"Deia isn't alone," observed Fox in an op-ed in the Nation. "The arrest of journalists, filmmakers, and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil-fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome and growing pattern."

Indeed, the news of Schlosberg's arrest followed Democracy Now's Amy Goodman announcement earlier this week that she will return to North Dakota to combat charges she faces as a result of reporting on the Dakota Access Pipeline protest last month.

"Goodman, whose camera crew filmed a private security team attacking peaceful Native American protesters with dogs and pepper spray, faces charges of criminal trespassing—which many have said amounts to an assault on press freedom," as Common Dreams reported.

It also emerged late Saturday that a North Dakota state prosecutor has dropped the trespassing charge and is seeking instead to charge Goodman with participating in a "riot," Democracy Now reported.

"I came back to North Dakota to fight a trespass charge. They saw that they could never make that charge stick, so now they want to charge me with rioting," said Goodman. "I wasn't trespassing, I wasn't engaging in a riot, I was doing my job as a journalist by covering a violent attack on Native American protesters."

A warrant for Goodman's arrest was issued September 8.

Meanwhile, actor Shailene Woodley was arrested Monday while live-streaming a prayer action at a Dakota Access construction site. "She was singled out, the police told her, because she was well-known and had 40,000 people watching live on her Facebook page," Fox wrote. "Other filmmakers shooting protest actions along the pipeline have also been arrested."

"Journalism is not a crime; it is a responsibility," Fox said in a press statement about this pattern of arrests. "The actions of the North Dakota Police force are not just a violation of the climate, but a violation of the constitution."

Supporters have created a petition calling on the authorities in North Dakota to drop charges against Schlosberg, Goodman, and other journalists arrested for doing their work and reporting on the protests against Dakota Access.

Neil Young, Mark Ruffalo, Daryl Hannah, and other celebrities have also signed an open letter to President Barack Obama and North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, calling on the leaders to intervene and for Schlosberg's charges to be dropped. The charges were "unfair, unjust, and illegal," the letter said, according to Reuters.

"This is not only about reporting on the climate-change movement," Fox argued in the Nation. "Journalists have also been arrested reporting on Black Lives Matter, the movement for Native rights, and many other important movements the corporate media fails to cover. The First Amendment and the Constitution are at stake in this case. If we lose it, we lose America too."

Passed unanimously by the KPFK LSB on 10/16/16



The Arrest of Journalists and Filmmakers Covering the Dakota Pipeline Is a Threat to Democracy—and the Planet
Deia Schlosberg, Amy Goodman, and Shailene Woodley are among those who have been arrested while covering demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
https://www.thenation.com/…/the-arrest-of-journalists-and-…/
By Josh FoxTwitterYESTERDAY 4:06 PM
Shailene Woodley was arrested while broadcasting a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline on October 11, 2016. (Morton County Sheriff's Department)
On October 11, Deia Schlosberg, the producer of my new film, How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change, was arrested in Walhalla, North Dakota, while reporting on a climate-change protest. She was held for 48 hours before being allowed to speak to a lawyer. The authorities confiscated her footage. She is now charged with three counts of felony conspiracy and faces a possible sentence of up to 45 years.
For being a journalist.
The First Amendment and the Constitution are at stake in this case. If we lose it, we lose America too.
Deia isn’t alone. The arrest of journalists, filmmakers, and others witnessing and reporting on citizen protests against fossil-fuel infrastructure amid climate change is part of a worrisome and growing pattern. Last month in North Dakota, a warrant was issued to arrest Amy Goodman, award-winning host of Democracy Now!, after she covered Native American–led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Her footage of security guards attacking peaceful protesters with bloody-snouted dogs was viewed over 14 million times. She elected to go back to North Dakota this week to face the charges. Actor Shailene Woodley was arrested and jailed this week while leaving a protest at a construction site for the Dakota Access Pipeline. She was singled out, the police told her, because she was well-known and had 40,000 people watching live on her Facebook page. Other filmmakers shooting protest actions along the pipeline have also been arrested.
All this should send chills down the spine of every documentary filmmaker and journalist.
Although the national media paid little attention to the climate-change protest that Deia and others attempted to report on, it was remarkable. A small group of activists in four states shut down all the pipelines carrying tar-sands oil from Alberta, Canada, into the United States. The protest responded to a call from the Standing Rock Sioux for international prayer and action on the growing climate emergency. Activists shut off emergency valves along the pipeline, their message being, “We are in a climate emergency now.”
If it were up to the mainstream media we wouldn’t know about this. I know, because I broke the story of fracking. It had been a crisis for years, but the media were ignoring it, which is why I decided to make my film Gasland.
As a relative newcomer to documentary filmmaking I am in awe of the bravery of documentarians. Doc filmmakers often break important stories and risk their lives and safety doing it. Laura Poitras’s reporting on Edward Snowden in Citizen Four, ‎Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s Restrepo, Alexandria Bombach’s Frame by Frame are just a few examples.
Deia Schlosberg at the 35th College Television Awards (Danny Moloshok / Invision)
Deia’s brave reporting on oil contamination in the Amazon and on fracking and tar sands falls in that category. But how she and others reporting on these issues have been treated by the media and law enforcement shows that the oil-and-gas industry is contaminating them, too. Our government has also been fracked, and is serving fossil-fuel interests. Asked about the pipeline protests this week, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest sounded an ominous warning: “I can tell you that both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation are investigating these reports and trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened and what potential steps could be taken to ensure the safety and security of our energy infrastructure.”
I’ve got some news for Barack Obama and his administration. It’s our current energy infrastructure and the fossil-fuel interests that profit from it that are threatening the safety and security of our country. They are the ones continuing to develop new sources of tar sands oil, one the most greenhouse gas–intensive fossil fuels, in the middle of a climate crisis. The implications are dizzying. If we continue to allow the fossil-fuel industry to ship millions of gallon of tar sands oil across our border, we will rocket past any safe level of global warming. We will plunge our major cities underwater. The American Petroleum Institute is calling activists trying to prevent this “extremists.” But the extremists, as Bill McKibben likes to say, work at the oil companies.
Documentary journalism can show the activists ‎as what they really are: sympathetic human beings who are doing something necessary and vital, real people who are sacrificing real freedom to stop the oil-industry extremists before it is too late. In fact, doc filmmaking may be the only thing that can do that. That is why I’ve written a letter calling on members of the media, Governor of North Dakota Jack Dalrymple, United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota Chris Myers, and President Obama to stand up for press freedom and independent journalism on climate change, and call for all charges to be dropped against Deia. This is not only about reporting on the climate-change movement. Journalists have also been arrested reporting on Black Lives Matter, the movement for Native rights, and many other important movements the corporate media fails to cover. The First Amendment and the Constitution are at stake in this case. If we lose it, we lose America too.
You can sign on to our letter of support for Deia at our Web site: http://www.howtoletgomovie.com


Labor Mobilization In Support Of Standing Rock, First Nations, In Opposition To The Dakota Access Pipeline

"We at Oceti Sakowin Camp welcome any and all support from our Union brothers and sisters. This camp stands to protect our sacred water and support a new energy paradigm, jobs and work in green energy fields. We welcome your support in any ways you feel appropriate, join us in paving a new road to a sustainable future for many future generations." --Message from Standing Rock Council to Labor for Standing Rock, 10/13/26.

In response to calls from Standing Rock, please join a coordinated labor mobilization on the weekend of October 29-30!

Further information is below.

======

The First Nation’s courageous fight taking place against the Dakota Access Pipeline has ignited a world’s attention. This struggle has become most focused at the water protector’s camp located within the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. It contrasts an inherently dangerous project of the fossil fuel industry with the protection of the local and global environment, Native American sovereignty, and the necessity of a sustainable world.

For our sisters and brothers within the unions and the entire working class, the conflict becomes one of dangerous, fleeting employment that will inevitably destroy our planet, and the possibility of full employment to build safe energy and prosperity for all.

With this is mind we recognize that the recent resolution of the AFL-CIO leadership in support of the Dakota Access pipeline is inherently misguided, and in conflict with First Nations, our common environment, and the interests of people worldwide. In addition, the use of force against the people at Standing Rock mirrors the very attacks we have endured through our own history of building our unions.

At the same time, solidarity with Standing Rock has been voiced by growing number of labor bodies, including:

•Amalgamated Transit Union

•American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 -- City College of San Francisco Faculty Union

•Border Agricultural Workers

•California Faculty Association

•Communications Workers of America

•Industrial Workers of the World

•IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus

•Labor Coalition for Community Action (A. Phillip Randolph Institute, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and Pride at Work)

•Labor for Palestine

•National Nurses United

•New York State Nurses Association

•National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981

•Service Employees International Union

•United Electrical Workers

•SEIU 503 OPEU

To escalate this growing solidarity, we call on workers everywhere join us for actions on the weekend of October 29-30, 2016, including the following activities:

At Standing Rock:

• Assemble at Standing Rock camp for a labor procession and entrance Saturday, October 22, 10am

• Mid-day lunch gathering to share information on the status and location of pipeline work

• Afternoon actions (picket lines, flyering of pipeline workers etc.)

• Rally back to Standing Rock camp Saturday night for music, discussion, and cultural exchange

• Sunday, October 23 – Possible morning actions, people depart during the day to make it home for Monday work

Elsewhere:

• Post individual or group solidarity selfies of picket signs with labor affiliation, location, and common tagline: #LaborForStandingRock

• Hold local labor solidarity events

With the future of the environment, the rights of First Nations, and the health of the working class at stake, these subsequent actions will help regenerate a labor movement based on the vision of a just, sustainable, and prosperous world for all.

Please join us.

#LaborForStandingRock
#StandWithStandingRock
#No DAPL
#MniWiconi
#SolidarityForever
#greenuninonism

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