RIP Kurt Walter Brux

"He loved sailing, bike riding, dancing, socializing, and engaging with people from all walks of life.” Activist with 350.org. @350 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/kurt-brux-obituary?id=57780627

#Salinas #OrcasIsland #EnvironmentalActivist #ClimateAction #USMC #veteran #VeteransTransitionCenter #SunStreetCenters #SoledadPrison #DUIcounselor #SubstanceAbuseCounselor #Agriculture

Denied Justice: Tibet's Activists Face Uphill Battle.

#Chinese authorities deny a retrial for Anya Sengdra, an #EnvironmentalActivist serving a seven-year prison sentence for disrupting social order. Sengdra, known for opposing corruption and illegal activities, has faced rejected appeals and alleged #HumanRights violations, spotlighting #China 's tight control over #Tibetan #activists.

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/3151915-denied-justice-tibets-activists-face-uphill-battle

#AsianMastodon #AsiaNews #Tibet

Honduras: Anti-mining activist Juan Lopez shot dead

#JuanLopez is the fourth member of an #environmental #activism group based in in #Tocoa to be killed since 2023.

President #XiomaraCastro condemned the murder and has ordered an investigation.

September 16, 2024

"An #AntiMining #EnvironmentalActivist in #Honduras who protested to preserve #TropicalForests and rivers was killed over the weekend, even after warnings to better ensure his safety.

"Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church Saturday in the northeastern town of Tocoa, police said on Sunday.

"Honduran President Xiomara Castro condmened the apparent murder of Lopez, a member of the Libre party she's allied to, in comments online.

"'We condemn the vile murder of our comrade and environmental leader Juan Lopez in Tocoa, Colon,' she said. 'I have ordered that all the capabilities of law enforcement be used to clarify this tragedy and identify those responsible.'

Multiple members of Lopez's enviromental organization killed

"Lopez belonged to the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, an environmental organization in Tocoa on the country's Atlantic coast.

"Three other members of the group were killed last year in what the organization saw as retaliation.

"The group had suffered threats and harassment for years amid efforts to preserve the #Guapinol and #SanPedro rivers, and the #CarlosEscaleras #Nature Reserve, as the presence of #mining and #hydroelectric companies increased.

"Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said the 'reprehensible' murder would not go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez's #activism.

"'His life was an example of struggle. He never gave up in his incessant battle, hand-in-hand with the people to preserve natural resources,' Zelaya said on X.

Lopez aware of risks of his activism

"An outspoken member of the ruling #LibreParty, Lopez had recently publicly called for the resignation of Libre officials caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.

"Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of president Castro, was caught up in that video. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took part in that meeting with drug gangsters.

"'If you leave home, you always have in mind that you do not know what might happen, if you are going to return,' Lopez had said in 2021 when speaking of his activism with AFP.

"Lopez had also raised the alarm himself earlier in the year, saying he had noticed two people on motorbikes observing him in locations around his home.

Activist deaths high in Latin America

"Global Witness, a British NGO, says Honduras is one of the world's most dangerous countries for environmental activists.

"#LatinAmerica accounted for 85% of all the world's environmentalists who were killed last year, with 18 deaths registered in Honduras, according to #GlobalWitness.

"The United Nations resident coordinator in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, said Lopez had been threatened for his activism and praised his determination to stand up to powerful interests.

"'We condemn the terrible murder of Juan Lopez, a human rights defender threatened for his work,' she said in a post."

km/msh (AFP, Reuters)

https://www.dw.com/en/honduras-anti-mining-activist-juan-lopez-shot-dead/a-70223466

#JusticeForJuan #GuapinolRiver #WaterDefender #SaveTheForests #DefendTheSacred
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #Greenwashing #WaterIsLife #SaveTheRivers #EMCO #InversionesLosPinares
#MunicipalCommitteeForTheDefenseOfCommonAndPublicGoods

Amnesty International: Five Ways Our #RightToProtest is Being Threatened Around the World

by James Duggan, October 5, 2022

"All around the world, right now, peaceful protestors are being imprisoned, threatened, and face physical violence from authorities. Even at home, in #Australia, our right to stand up and speak out against injustice is being taken away. Now more than ever, it’s essential we continue to fight for our #HumanRights.

"The right to protest is a fundamental human right. #Article20 of the #UniversalDeclarationOfHumanRights states that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The right to protest is a way for people to defend their human rights and the rights of others when they’re threatened by governments and authorities.

"Here are five places where the right to protest is currently at threat:

1. #Australia

"Right here in Australia, governments and authorities are adopting an increasingly punitive attitude towards protestors. In 2020, peaceful protestors at a #BlackLivesMatter rally in #Sydney were met with excessive and unnecessary force from #NewSouthWales Police. Police used pepper spray and chased student protestors on horseback at the University of New South Wales, and pushed them to the ground. Both protestors and bystanders were injured in the process.

"The following year, in November 2021, a #ClimateActivist was sentenced to 12 months in jail after he climbed atop a #coal train and stayed on it for five hours to protest Australia’s #climate policies. Twenty-eight other people belonging to the same activist group were also arrested in NSW that month.

"In 2022, the NSW Government announced that disrupting any bridge or tunnel in Greater Sydney as part of a protest would result in individual fines of $22,000. This is a ten-fold increase from the previous penalty of $2,200. The NSW Government also plans to introduce legislation which would mean this $22,000 fine would also apply to protestors disrupting roads and public transport facilities.

2. #HongKong

"In June 2020, a new law came into effect in Hong Kong, referred to as the #NationalSecurityLaw (#NSL). What “national security” refers to in this law isn’t well defined, and the NSL has been applied arbitrarily at the discretion of the government and authorities to suppress #dissent and political opposition.

"In September 2021, a human rights lawyer named #ChowHangTung was arrested under this law and charged with 'inciting subversion.' She faces up to ten years in prison for peacefully commemorating the 1989 #Tiananmen Square protest crackdown. During the 1989 crackdown, an undisclosed number of people, anywhere from hundreds to thousands, were killed by authorities for gathering to protest the government’s censorship laws. At least three other activists were arrested along with Chow Hang-tung in relation to the peaceful memorial of these victims.

3. #Cambodia

"In May 2021, three young activists belonging to a Cambodian environmental campaign group called #MotherNatureCambodia were convicted to between 18 and 20 months in prison. They were arrested after they announced a plan to undertake a two-person march to the #Cambodian prime minister’s house in order to express their concerns regarding plans to privatise and develop the largest remaining #lake in the country’s capital city. They were charged with 'incitement to commit a felony or disturb social order.'

"Mother Nature Cambodia have won several major #environmental victories in Cambodia. In 2016, their efforts to expose widespread environmental destruction and human rights abuses linked to the #mining and export of #sand from coastal areas of Cambodia resulted in a total export ban on #CoastalSand from the country. As a result, the group have been targeted with harassment and repression from the Cambodian government. Multiple other activists have been charged with 'incitement,' and the group has been accused of 'causing chaos in society' and labelled 'illegal' because they’re not registered under the country’s restrictive NGO Law.

4. #Russia

"The right to protest in Russia has been severely compromised since 2004, when the Federal Law on Assemblies, Rallies, Demonstrations, Marches and Pickets was passed. The Law on Assemblies restricts who’s allowed to organise a protest and where the protest is allowed to be held, and subjects planned protests to a strict authorisation process that often results in permission being denied.

"Since 2004, legislation has been tightened numerous times. Most recently, the Russian government introduced new, heavy penalties for anyone who protests Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine. Less than three weeks after the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, almost 15,000 peaceful protestors had been arrested. #RussianAuthorities have arrested bystanders of protests and even children. Police have used excessive force against peaceful protestors, including women, subjecting them to beatings and electrocution with stun guns.

5. #India

"In India, draconian laws such as 'the crime of sedition' have been repeatedly used against peaceful protestors, journalists and human rights defenders. The slow investigative processes and strict bail conditions under these laws mean that activists and others who speak out against injustice in their country may spend many years behind bars while their trial is ongoing.

"In 2021, a 22-year-old #EnvironmentalActivist named #DishaRavi was charged with '#sedition' for sharing an online Google document that was originally tweeted by #GretaThunberg. The document was a basic 'toolkit' for #farmers in India who were then in the midst of protests against the Indian government over newly introduced agricultural legislation. The 'toolkit' included information on the protests and how to support the movement, both in person and online. Disha is a leader of India’s #FridaysForFuture movement, an international student environmentalist movement instigated by Greta Thunberg.

Source:
https://www.amnesty.org.au/five-ways-our-right-to-protest-is-being-threatened-around-the-world/

#ForestDefenders #WaterProtectors #DirectAction #ACAB #CriminalizingDissent #EnvironmentalActivists
#ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism
#EcoActivists #Censorship
#HumanRightsViolations
#DefendTheDefenders #ActivismIsNotACrime #ClimateJusticeNow #ProtestIsNotACrime

Your local #Saanich #GardenAddict #weirdo #selfie 👩‍🌾🥰 I bought that #WideBrimmed #hat for $5 from Fields in Hope, BC during an #environmentalActivist support trip, last year.

#AsianMastodon #Teochew #Chinese #CallingInWeirdos

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francia_M%C3%A1rquez

#Racism #misogynoirism
#Colombia

This is the #VicePresidentOfColombia

#FranciaMárquez is a #LAWYER and #environmentalactivist who won awards for her work.

The next moron who starts her bio with the sentence '...she's a single mother' ; if they never mention that she is an award-winning LAWYER and environmental activist, I'm going to drama-slap 'em!!

When governments fail the planet, we have to make our voices heard: join artist Joanie Lemercier, Samaneh Moafi, artists Matthew Plummer-Fernández, Theresa Schubert and activist Kathia von Roth for a discussion on taking (drastic) action. ⏰ Oct 5 – 7pm CEST ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/y3agtbv4

#NODE20 #SecondNature #panel #hyperobjects #environmentalactivist #postcolonialsm #contemporarydance #geopolitics #Biopolitics #soundecology #coexistence #sustainability #activism

We already know @GretaThunberg as the coolest #environmentalactivist you need to know about. But have you met #GretaThunberg - @TIME magazine's #TimePersonOfTheYear ?

#TIMEPersonoftheYear2019 #ClimateEmergency #ClimateChange #ClimateAction

https://www.asiavillenews.com/article/teen-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-is-times-person-of-the-year-23797