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Beyond an attack on those named in the RICO indictment, the state is also sending a message to anyone else who opposes Cop City: ☆You could be next☆ (defector.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The ridiculousness of these charges is evident from a cursory review of the indictment. In fact, the vast majority of acts alleged by the state—reimbursing protestors for food and supplies, signing one’s name on a form as “ACAB” ("all cops are bastards," a common chant at protests)—would not constitute crimes on their own. This is why the prosecutors are utilizing RICO: The state is attempting to criminalize constitutionally protected activities by putting them under the same umbrella as alleged criminal acts. And yet even the alleged criminal acts are unlikely to be proven in court, as every warrant to date has contained a stunning lack of any evidence against individuals charged.

The indictment itself is not a surprise. In fact, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund and other organizations had warned it was coming as early as February of this year. And in June 2023, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston made the high-profile decision to remove her office from the Cop City prosecutions, indicating her doubt in the evidence behind the charges. But the content of the indictment is nonetheless jarring in its clear purpose: to intimidate, silence, and disappear activists.

The indictment is first and foremost an attack on the 61 people currently charged. Prosecutors know that even if they cannot secure convictions, they can attempt to ruin people’s lives in the process. Charges do not have to stick in order for the state to inflict damage on someone’s life, whether through traumatic and potentially deadly time spent in pretrial detention, or the many collateral consequences of the prosecutions. Already, various #StopCopCity defendants have lost jobs, been banned from their campuses, had their bank accounts closed, faced discrimination at airports, and more. The mark of domestic terrorism is intended to hang over defendants’ heads for as long as possible.

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[-] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

According to the state, DTAF is an anarchist organization “grounded in an anti-authority mindset” that promotes ideas including “collectivism, mutualism/mutual aid, and social solidarity.” (These are, we’re meant to gather, bad ideas that should send people to prison)

Just in case anyone thinks that prosecuting Trump means that Georgia isn't still a kakistocracy 🤬

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Also I just love that they’re describing three of the better traditional American values as bad things

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I count 4 including anti-authoritarianism but otherwise agree 💯

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Ah i was combining mutualism/mutual aid mentally.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

'Stop helping other people! Mind your own damn business!'

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

So, they are so butt hurt that all the “protester” from 3 years ago are getting slapped with sedition, now everyone protesting is seditious?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Well, now marching on the capitol during a vote confirmation to change the outcome and standing where they don't like with a sign are the same.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

"Both sides do it. Both sides do it."

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

With this one simple trick, your state can fuck up their short-term economic outlook and their long-term policing at the same time!!!

this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023

103 points (96.4% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

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150 users here now

The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.

99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.

When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.

When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."

When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.

Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.

The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.

All this is a path to a police state.

In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.

Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.

That's the solution.

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Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.

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ALLIES

• [email protected]

• r/ACAB

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• Randy Balko

• The Civil Rights Lawyer

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INFO