<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Frank Barat</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:russelltribunaluk@gmail.com">russelltribunaluk@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 6:23 PM<br>Subject: Criminalising Standing Rock<br>To: Frank Barat RToP <<a href="mailto:RussellTribunalUK@gmail.com">RussellTribunalUK@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br><div dir="ltr"><header id="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-header-story" class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-clearfix m_-4117125301529289748gmail-da-all m_-4117125301529289748gmail-da-pad m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ta-all m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ta-pad" style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:1em 15.4062px;border-top:0px;border-right:0px;border-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;float:none;width:691.562px;clear:both;box-sizing:content-box;zoom:1;border-bottom:none"><h1 class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-heading-story" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.1em;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;line-height:1.1"><font color="#000000" face="HelveticaNeueLTPro-Bd, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="2" style="font-weight:normal"><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/criminalising-standing-rock-environmental-activism-170619090436488.html" target="_blank">http://www.aljazeera.com/<wbr>indepth/opinion/2017/06/<wbr>criminalising-standing-rock-<wbr>environmental-activism-<wbr>170619090436488.html</a></font><br></h1><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><br></div><h1 class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-heading-story" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Bd,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:44px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.1em;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;line-height:1.1">Criminalising Standing Rock</h1><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><h2 class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-standfirst" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:32px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;font-family:Georgia;font-weight:400;line-height:1.3;color:rgb(136,136,136);font-style:italic">It is not the first time US government has used all means necessary to stifle activism and resistance.<a accesskey="L" rel="nofollow" href="http://app-eu.readspeaker.com/cgi-bin/rsent?customerid=5707&lang=en_us&readclass=article-body&url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/criminalising-standing-rock-environmental-activism-170619090436488.html" style="background:transparent;font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;color:rgb(37,117,188);text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.aljazeera.com/assets/images/listen.png" alt="Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker" title="Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;width:93px;height:36px;opacity:0.01"></a></h2></div></header><div id="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Article-Top-Toolbar" class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ArticleTopToolbar" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif"><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-wrapper-sticky" style="outline:0px;margin:auto;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:top;background:transparent;height:213px;width:93px;float:none"><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ArticleSocialMediaTopBar" style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:20px 0px 0px;border-width:4px 0px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:initial;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(231,85,0);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:initial;border-left-color:initial;vertical-align:top;background:rgb(246,246,246);width:93px;height:179px"><ul class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-SM_Icons" style="outline:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;list-style:none;float:left"><li class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Share_TW" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:url("http:///mritems/Assets/Images/NewArticle/NewSocialBar_Tweet.jpg") transparent;display:block;list-style:none;width:88px;height:40px"></li><l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 0.8em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;color:rgb(79,79,79);line-height:1.5;max-width:40em;height:20px;font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Roman,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"></p><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.8em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(79,79,79);max-width:40em;font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Roman,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Frank Barat is a human rights activist based in London, UK and is coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine.</p></section><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-article-body" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 2em;border:0px;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;float:none;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif"><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.8em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The recent revelations of the Intercept, exposing how the US government is treating environmental activism at <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/10/north-dakota-native-americans-protest-pipeline-161028150518748.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">Standing Rock</a> as an "insurgency", should not come as a surprise. The Intercept's investigation reveals that security firm TigerSwan has been working closely with at least five states to target the protesters of the Standing Rock camp as "jihadists", aiming to destroy and delegitimise the whole movement and those standing in solidarity with it.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">But this is not the first time that governments and corporations have used any means necessary to keep the status quo in place. And it won't be the last.</p><h2 class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:1em 0px 0.5em;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;font-size:24px;font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Bd,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><strong style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">A long history of criminalising activism</strong></h2><div style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><table class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-in-article-item m_-4117125301529289748gmail-video" border="0" style="outline:0px;margin:1em 1em 1em 2em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:0.8em;vertical-align:baseline;background:rgb(243,243,243);border-collapse:collapse;width:304px;clear:right;float:right;line-height:1.5em;color:rgb(136,136,136)"><tbody style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><tr style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><td style="outline:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-mceVideoBox" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;width:304px;height:auto;float:left"><div id="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-bcvid_5333616443001" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><div style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%"><div style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:171px 0px 0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><td style="outline:0px;padding:10px;border:0px;font-size:12.8px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-meta" style="outline:0px;margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;display:initial;font-size:14px;color:rgb(155,155,155);line-height:1;font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Roman,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;line-height:1">WATCH:</span> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGo0y4XeXCo" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">US police arrest Dakota pipeline protesters (1:40)</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><h2 class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:1em 0px 0.5em;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;font-size:24px;font-family:HelveticaNeueLTPro-Bd,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><strong style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"></strong></h2><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.8em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">On March 8, 1971, a group of activists known as the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, stole a huge stash of files and passed them on to the media. The most significant element in the stolen materials was a file mentioning the word "<a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">COINTELPRO</a>".</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">This break-in exposed one of the most secretive programmes put together by the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/topics/organisations/fbi.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">FBI</a> at that time.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Originally created in 1956 to "increase factionalism, cause disruptions and win defections" inside the Communist Party in the US, the COunterINTELligencePROgram slowly diverted most of its resources to target other groups and individuals that the FBI deemed subversive. These included the Black Panthers, the Civil Rights Movements, the feminist movement, the anti-war movement, the anti-colonialist movement, activists from the American Indian Movement and many others.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The programme used methods such as infiltration, psychological warfare, illegal force and harassment to destroy, often from the inside, any form of resistance to the status quo. The assassination of Fred Hampton, one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party, on December 4, 1969, was part of a COINTELPRO operation.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ReadMoreContentSeparator" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:13px 0px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(207,207,207);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(207,207,207);border-left-color:initial;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/dakota-pipeline-protest-harbinger-161120150300919.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">OPINION: North Dakota pipeline protest is a harbinger of many more</a></p><p style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">While the covert programme officially ended in April 1971, recent history has shown that the FBI and other government agencies have never stopped using the tactics that formed the core of the programme. In fact, quite the opposite has happened and the methods used by governments, institutions and corporations to "pacify" the masses have become more and more sophisticated with time.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">A couple of years ago, journalist Will Potter <a href="http://blog.ted.com/will-potter-on-of-treating-environmentalists-like-terrorists/" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">exposed</a> the fact that environmental and animal rights activists were now considered as the number-one domestic threat in the US and are often prosecuted as criminals. He highlighted that this had happened thanks to the concerted lobby efforts by corporations that have promoted the notion of "eco-terrorism".</p><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-QuoteContainer" style="outline:0px;margin:16px 0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><table class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Skyscrapper_Body m_-4117125301529289748gmail-in-article-item m_-4117125301529289748gmail-quote" border="0" style="outline:0px;margin:10px 10px 50px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 0px 3px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:initial;border-left-style:solid;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:initial;border-left-color:rgb(250,144,0);font-size:20px;vertical-align:baseline;background:rgb(242,242,242);border-collapse:collapse;width:674px;clear:right;float:right;line-height:1.5em"><tbody style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><tr style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><td style="outline:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.8em;padding:0px 26px 0px 10px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-weight:bold;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">History has proven that it takes time, a lot of patience and many sacrifices to achieve radical change, but that at the end of the day, the power is with the many, not with the few.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-quoted-author" style="outline:0px;margin:74px 0px 0.8em 10px;padding:0px 26px 0px 0px;border-top:1px solid rgb(171,171,171);font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-weight:bold;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0);float:right;width:672px;text-align:right;border-right:none;border-bottom:none;border-left:none"> </p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0px 0px 0.8em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">But the US government is by far not the sole perpetrator of such crimes. Many other countries, often including western "democracies", are treating concerned citizens in the same manner. A telling example is the way the UK government and police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/mar/26/mark-kennedy-undercover-cop-environmental-activist" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">infiltrated</a> the environmental movement to pre-empt environmental action and protests.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Governments have upped their repressive game criminalising whole movements, like the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/topics/topic/issue/bds-movement.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">BDS</a>) and solidarity with refugees' movements in <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/topics/regions/europe.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">Europe</a>. Security forces have increased the brutality with which they put down protests, as has happened in <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/topics/country/france.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">France</a>, where a police crackdown on peaceful demonstrations against labour law changes led to dozens of protesters being injured. And overall, there have been broad attempts to delegitimise any form of radical resistance to power across the world.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">These are all clear reminders to activists that challenging hegemony will come at a very high price.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">It is crucial to understand and treat these actions not as random acts but as part of a broader context of repression and pacification of civil society. There is a global pushback against activism or what some have called "<a href="https://www.tni.org/en/publication/on-shrinking-space" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">shrinking space</a>", and this process has taken different forms. The methods used can be pure repression (violence against <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/topics/categories/human_rights.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">human rights</a> defenders, attacks on freedom of assembly, movement, speech ...) or include more subtle approaches, such as philanthropic protectionism and exclusion of organisations and charities from the banking system.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><strong style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:1.5em;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">'We are not losing'</strong></p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">But everything is not as bleak as it sounds. The fact that governments have to resort to contractors and private companies to do their dirty and often illegal work needs to be understood for what it is.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">While they were able, even though secretly, to do this themselves a few decades ago, the actions of many, or sometimes of a few (whistleblowers, for example), have had an impact.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-ReadMoreContentSeparator" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:13px 0px;border-width:1px 0px;border-top-style:solid;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:rgb(207,207,207);border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(207,207,207);border-left-color:initial;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/12/media-report-standing-rock-161214101627199.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">OPINION: How media did and did not report on Standing Rock</a></p><p style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Over the past few decades, activists, protesters and whistleblowers challenged the hegemonic vision of the world imposed on us by governments, institutions and the corporate media by putting forward the narratives of the "powerless". They told a different story and made sure that the world listened to what they were saying. Movements such as <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/topics/topic/issue/occupy.html" style="outline:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:bottom;background:transparent;color:rgb(0,80,121)" target="_blank">Occupy</a>, the Indignados and Reclaim the Streets offered a taste of what is possible. And these very real and concrete actions made government programmes such as COINTELPRO nearly impossible.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Even though it might sometimes look like we are, as the human civilisation, going backwards, faced with more racism, bigotry, chauvinism and hatred every day; and even though it often feels like victories are insignificant when compared with defeats and that the balance of power is very much on the side of states and corporations, we are certainly not losing and the fact that we have to face more repressive measures every day means that our enemies are scared and take us very seriously.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)">History has proven that it takes time, a lot of patience and many sacrifices to achieve radical change, but that at the end of the day, the power is with the many, not with the few.</p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><strong style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><em style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">Frank Barat is coordinator of the War & Pacification programme at the Transnational Institute.</em></strong></p><p class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail-Standard" style="outline:0px;margin:0.8em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent;max-width:100%;font-family:Georgia;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><strong style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent"><em style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background:transparent">The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.</em></strong></p></div><div><div class="m_-4117125301529289748gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><i>"Freedom is a constant struggle"</i> </font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Out Now!</font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Order <a href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Freedom-Is-a-Constant-Struggle" target="_blank">here</a></font></div><div style="text-align:center">Follow on Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/angeladavisfreedom" target="_blank">here</a></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4JkoRnIyDFTaTRGQjVpU3NpSVE&revid=0B4JkoRnIyDFTdW42QmZFdDRnNWx4ZGdjVEQ5WEQxeG0yT0Y0PQ" width="127" height="200"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a>  </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>  - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div></div>
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