How We Found Out About COINTELPRO (2014)
https://monthlyreview.org/articles/how-we-found-out-about-cointelpro/
#HackerNews #COINTELPRO #Exposure #History #CivilLiberties #Activism #2014
Fox Trenton 🎱
and 2 others
boosted
*Cracks neck. "Yeah, I'll play."*
Greta Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act for displaying a sign that read: "I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS".
The police allege she was displaying support for a proscribed (banned) organization. However, a linguistic analysis reveals a critical distinction. The police are reading keywords; grammar dictates she was supporting people, not an organization.
Here is how Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)—a tool used to analyse how language functions in real contexts—deconstructs the sign to show why the arrest is linguistically flawed.
In English, when we group words together to name something (like "Red delicious apple" or "Palestine Action Prisoners"), there is always one word that anchors the meaning. We call this the Head or the Thing. Everything else is just decoration or categorization.
Let's look at Greta's object of support: "Palestine Action Prisoners"
The Head (The Thing): PRISONERS
This is the core reality of the sentence. The physical beings she is referencing are incarcerated people.
The Classifier: PALESTINE ACTION
In grammar, this functions as a Classifier. Its only job is to tell us which type of prisoners we are talking about. It restricts the category.
To prove this, we can swap the classifier for something else. This is called the commutation test.
If she wrote "I support [remand] prisoners," she is not saying she "supports remand" (keeping people in jail). She is supporting the people subject to that condition.
If a lawyer says "I defend [murder] suspects," they are not "defending murder." They are defending the suspects.
The police have conflated the Classifier (the label) with the Thing (the people). Linguistically, you cannot simply lift the modifier "Palestine Action" out of the phrase and claim it is the object of her support. It is glued to the word "Prisoners."
Linguists use a system called Transitivity to map "who does what to whom." It traces the energy of the verb.
The Actor (Doer): "I" (Greta)
The Process (Verb): "Support"
The Goal (Target): "Prisoners"
Imagine the sentence as an arrow. The arrow of "Support" is fired by Greta. It flies over the words "Palestine Action" and lands squarely on "Prisoners."
Grammatical Reading: Greta → Support → Prisoners (who happen to be associated with Palestine Action).
Police Reading: Greta → Support → Palestine Action (the organization).
By ignoring the word "Prisoners," the legal interpretation creates a new sentence that Greta did not write. She is validating the human rights of the individuals (the Goal), not the manifesto of the group (the Classifier).
Language doesn't happen in a vacuum. We must look at the second line of the sign to understand the first. This is called Appraisal Analysis—how we judge value and stance.
The sign reads:
"I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS"
"I OPPOSE GENOCIDE"
The second line acts as a "decoder key" for the first.
"Oppose Genocide" sets a moral framework. It is a statement about humanitarian law and saving lives.
Because the bottom line is about human rights (opposing death/genocide), the top line must be read in the same context.
She is not supporting "Palestine Action" because she loves their logo or their specific tactics; she is supporting the prisoners because she views them as victims of the same system she is critiquing in line two. The sign frames the prisoners as humanitarian subjects (people suffering), not political agents (people acting).
The Verdict
The arrest relies on "Keyword Searching"—seeing a banned word and acting on it. But grammar relies on structure.
Structurally: She supported Prisoners.
Semantically: She supported Human Rights.
By ignoring the grammar of the Noun Group, the authorities effectively erased the word "Prisoners" from her sign, changing her statement from a defence of human rights to an endorsement of a banned group. 1/2
#HumanRights
#FreeSpeech
#RightToProtest
#CivilLiberties
#UKLaw
#GretaThunberg
#PalestineAction
#Activism
#SocialJustice
#PoliticalPrisoners
*Cracks neck. "Yeah, I'll play."*
Greta Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act for displaying a sign that read: "I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS".
The police allege she was displaying support for a proscribed (banned) organization. However, a linguistic analysis reveals a critical distinction. The police are reading keywords; grammar dictates she was supporting people, not an organization.
Here is how Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)—a tool used to analyse how language functions in real contexts—deconstructs the sign to show why the arrest is linguistically flawed.
In English, when we group words together to name something (like "Red delicious apple" or "Palestine Action Prisoners"), there is always one word that anchors the meaning. We call this the Head or the Thing. Everything else is just decoration or categorization.
Let's look at Greta's object of support: "Palestine Action Prisoners"
The Head (The Thing): PRISONERS
This is the core reality of the sentence. The physical beings she is referencing are incarcerated people.
The Classifier: PALESTINE ACTION
In grammar, this functions as a Classifier. Its only job is to tell us which type of prisoners we are talking about. It restricts the category.
To prove this, we can swap the classifier for something else. This is called the commutation test.
If she wrote "I support [remand] prisoners," she is not saying she "supports remand" (keeping people in jail). She is supporting the people subject to that condition.
If a lawyer says "I defend [murder] suspects," they are not "defending murder." They are defending the suspects.
The police have conflated the Classifier (the label) with the Thing (the people). Linguistically, you cannot simply lift the modifier "Palestine Action" out of the phrase and claim it is the object of her support. It is glued to the word "Prisoners."
Linguists use a system called Transitivity to map "who does what to whom." It traces the energy of the verb.
The Actor (Doer): "I" (Greta)
The Process (Verb): "Support"
The Goal (Target): "Prisoners"
Imagine the sentence as an arrow. The arrow of "Support" is fired by Greta. It flies over the words "Palestine Action" and lands squarely on "Prisoners."
Grammatical Reading: Greta → Support → Prisoners (who happen to be associated with Palestine Action).
Police Reading: Greta → Support → Palestine Action (the organization).
By ignoring the word "Prisoners," the legal interpretation creates a new sentence that Greta did not write. She is validating the human rights of the individuals (the Goal), not the manifesto of the group (the Classifier).
Language doesn't happen in a vacuum. We must look at the second line of the sign to understand the first. This is called Appraisal Analysis—how we judge value and stance.
The sign reads:
"I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS"
"I OPPOSE GENOCIDE"
The second line acts as a "decoder key" for the first.
"Oppose Genocide" sets a moral framework. It is a statement about humanitarian law and saving lives.
Because the bottom line is about human rights (opposing death/genocide), the top line must be read in the same context.
She is not supporting "Palestine Action" because she loves their logo or their specific tactics; she is supporting the prisoners because she views them as victims of the same system she is critiquing in line two. The sign frames the prisoners as humanitarian subjects (people suffering), not political agents (people acting).
The Verdict
The arrest relies on "Keyword Searching"—seeing a banned word and acting on it. But grammar relies on structure.
Structurally: She supported Prisoners.
Semantically: She supported Human Rights.
By ignoring the grammar of the Noun Group, the authorities effectively erased the word "Prisoners" from her sign, changing her statement from a defence of human rights to an endorsement of a banned group. 1/2
#HumanRights
#FreeSpeech
#RightToProtest
#CivilLiberties
#UKLaw
#GretaThunberg
#PalestineAction
#Activism
#SocialJustice
#PoliticalPrisoners
In May Ilhan Omar introduced H.R. 3651: Protecting Our Protesters Act of 2025. It’s literally just adding one line to 18 U.S. Code § 242:
“Including the use of force during a response to a protest.”
In short, using excessive force against protesters becomes a federal crime. That’s it.
But it has a 1% chance of being enacted.
Bill:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr3651
Title 18:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242
#Protest #HumanRights #CivilRights #RightToAssemble #CivilLiberties #USPol #IlhanOmar #HR3651
Aral Balkan
and 1 other
boosted
Public servants are meant to be transparent. Private citizens are meant to be… private. Flip that, and you don’t have a democracy anymore — you have surveillance.
#Privacy #DigitalRights #AntiSurveillance #CivilLiberties #Accountability #Transparency #FediPrivacy
Public servants are meant to be transparent. Private citizens are meant to be… private. Flip that, and you don’t have a democracy anymore — you have surveillance.
#Privacy #DigitalRights #AntiSurveillance #CivilLiberties #Accountability #Transparency #FediPrivacy
Debby ⁂📎🐧:disability_flag:
boosted
😡 1984 is Here 😡
@taylorlorenz.bsky.social 's latest video reveals how the #government is using #CollegeFootball games as a testing ground for #MassSurveillance. From #FacialRecognition to #stingray devices, our every move is being monitored.
✊It's time to push back against the Panopticon!
#Surveillance #Privacy #GovernmentSpying #TaylorLorenz #BigBrother #Orwellian #CivilLiberties #DigitalRights #PrivacyMatters #BigTech #SurveillanceState #PrivacyConscious
😡 1984 is Here 😡
@taylorlorenz.bsky.social 's latest video reveals how the #government is using #CollegeFootball games as a testing ground for #MassSurveillance. From #FacialRecognition to #stingray devices, our every move is being monitored.
✊It's time to push back against the Panopticon!
#Surveillance #Privacy #GovernmentSpying #TaylorLorenz #BigBrother #Orwellian #CivilLiberties #DigitalRights #PrivacyMatters #BigTech #SurveillanceState #PrivacyConscious
“The Senators may not like being treated like the rest of America, but these phone-record subpoenas & non-disclosure orders are routine in grand jury investigations at the state & federal level. No one has an absolute right to be notified that their call records have been subpoenaed, much less the right to a million bucks if it happens. This provision would not give any Americans other than US Senators these rights,” #JamieRaskin said.
“If we believe that citizens should receive notice when the #government subpoenas their phone bill, great! Perhaps this revolutionary new policy—which #CivilLiberties groups would probably support—should be the law. But then the law should protect the civil liberties of all 320 million Americans, as the #EqualProtectionClause of the #Constitution demands, not just the 100 Americans in the #Senate,” #JamieRaskin added.
#law #Trump #Republicans #Jan6 #SeditiousConspiracy #shutdown
Alex Akselrod
boosted
⚠️ FBI agents visited anti-ICE protester Miles Serafini in Arizona, asking about his involvement and knowledge of protests, raising concerns over government surveillance and intimidation. Read more: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/video-fbi-agents-visit-anti-ice-protester #CivilLiberties #FBI #ProtestRights 🚓🗣️
#newz
⚠️ FBI agents visited anti-ICE protester Miles Serafini in Arizona, asking about his involvement and knowledge of protests, raising concerns over government surveillance and intimidation. Read more: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/video-fbi-agents-visit-anti-ice-protester #CivilLiberties #FBI #ProtestRights 🚓🗣️
#newz
Critics of the new plan say that confining people to a site on the city’s outskirts threatens #CivilLiberties & warn that the promised services may not materialize. The efforts coincide with deep cuts to #Medicaid, which could thwart the project’s financing.
“I’m super anxious about it,” said Jen Plumb, a physician & Democratic state senator who calls the promise of high-quality #medical care “pie in the sky.”
#Trump #law #unhoused #Utah #ConcentrationCamps #SocialCleansing #plutocracy #USpol
Cory Doctorow
and 1 other
boosted
The Open Rights Group is a UK non-profit campaigning for digital rights, privacy and civil liberties online. They've created a video account you can follow here:
➡️ @openrightsgroup@peertube.openrightsgroup.org
They've already uploaded 10 videos, if these haven't federated to your server yet you can browse them all at https://peertube.openrightsgroup.org/a/openrightsgroup/videos
You can also follow their non-video account at @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org
#FeaturedPeerTube #DigitalRights #CivilLiberties #HumanRights #Privacy #UK #UnitedKingdom #PeerTube #PeerTubers
The Open Rights Group is a UK non-profit campaigning for digital rights, privacy and civil liberties online. They've created a video account you can follow here:
➡️ @openrightsgroup@peertube.openrightsgroup.org
They've already uploaded 10 videos, if these haven't federated to your server yet you can browse them all at https://peertube.openrightsgroup.org/a/openrightsgroup/videos
You can also follow their non-video account at @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org
#FeaturedPeerTube #DigitalRights #CivilLiberties #HumanRights #Privacy #UK #UnitedKingdom #PeerTube #PeerTubers
Tim Chambers
boosted
#Banksy #streetart will be removed in #London - please share. #legal #law #courts #justice#democracy #protests #freespeech #civilliberties #protestors #art
#Banksy #streetart will be removed in #London - please share. #legal #law #courts #justice#democracy #protests #freespeech #civilliberties #protestors #art