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Watch “Activist Solidarity Tactics”

In this webinar from April of 2021, hear from Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director and Senior Staff Attorney; LP, from Tucson Anti-Repression Crew, Former J20 Defendant; Garret, from Legal Rights Center, Former RNC 8 Defendant; and Sarah, Labor Organizer and Activist; organizer of World Trade Organization and RNC protest. Solidarity tactics keep individuals from being singled out, and can result in better jail and court outcomes while building movements’ power. Join us to learn from these experienced activists and best tactics they have taken away after years of activism.

Know Your Rights & Activist Resources

• KYR for Climate Activists, Part 1 (4/16/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn how your constitutional rights apply when interacting with law enforcement during protests, direct actions, and demonstrations.

• KYR for Climate Activists, Part 2 (4/23/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn more about legal issues and defenses relevant to climate activists.

• KYR for Climate Activists, Part 3 (4/30/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn more about State repression against climate activists.

• KYR for Youth Activists, Part 1 (5/7/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Know Your Rights on the Streets and in School.

• KYR for Youth Activists, Part 2 (5/14/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Why the 4th Amendment and the Right to Privacy Matters–Especially Online

• Climate Necessity Defense for Activists (5/21/20) with Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney, and climate law and policy expert Nick Caleb: Learn what you and your campaign should know about lining up your best chance of successfully using this defense in Court.

• So You Need a Lawyer? How Activists Can Work Better with Their Criminal Defense Lawyers (5/28/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn tips on finding and retaining lawyers; forming legal teams; attorney-client privilege; retaining the politics of your case; non-cooperation; involving lawyers in media and campaign work; making decisions in your case; and more.

• KYR for Immigrants and Allies (6/18/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn your constitutional rights and how to assert them when interacting with ICE and police in various situations and settings. Joined by Juan Escalante, immigration advocate and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, who will add additional information about the current state of the DACA program. By the end of the webinar you should be more prepared to empower your community.

• Tips & Traps: Activist Fundraising & Organizational Structures (June ‘20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney, and a panel of experienced lawyers and organizers.

• Empowering Activists: How to Prevent Burnout (7/9/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: A tactic of State repression, grand juries have been used throughout US history to attack those with unpopular political views. Join CLDC lawyers to learn more about how you can resist them.

• Resisting Grand Juries: What You Need to Know (7/16/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: A tactic of State repression, grand juries have been used throughout US history to attack those with unpopular political views. CLDC lawyers talk about how you can resist them.

• SLAPP Suits for Activists: What You Need to Know (7/30/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney/Protect the Protest Coalition: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suits attempt to chill dissent by targeting outspoken activists. Learn more about SLAPPs and how to fight back against them.

• Renters’ Rights: What You Need to Know (8/6/20) with Marianne Dugan, CLDC Senior Staff Attorney; Troy Pickard, Managing Attorney at Portland Defender; and Cici Powers, an organizer with LA Tenants Union and recent Portland transplant: Are you a tenant? Learn more about your rights and what the legal consequences may be to a rent strike.

• Activists and Tribal Sovereignty (8/20/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney, Stephanie Tidwell, CLDC Deputy Director, and with Chase Iron Eyes from the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Chase is the Legal Director of the Lakota People’s Law Project and a co-founder of the Indigenous news website “Last Real Indians.” Wondering how you can show practical solidarity with communities’ struggles to reclaim their land? Learn more about this important fight for self-determination.

• Know Your Rights for Street Protestors (9/3/20) with Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney, learn your constitutional rights as you organize for racial justice.

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for Activists (10/29/20) with Marianne Dugan, CLDC Senior Staff Attorney; and Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney. Learn how to use FOIA to better understand the inner workings of the U.S. government. CLDC staff will provide tips to help you navigate the FOIA process and increase your likelihood of getting the information you’re looking for.

• KYR for Unhoused People (11/14/20) with Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney for the Reclaim, Remain, Rebuild series put on by the Social Justice Action Center. We did a Know Your Rights training for the houseless community that covers diverse topics that specifically affect people living outside. Topics included sweeps, information about law enforcement and laws that affect camping, panhandling, vehicles, exclusion zones, & sidewalk use.

• Activist Solidarity Tactics (4/1/21) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; LP, from Tucson Anti-Repression Crew, Former J20 Defendant; Garret, from Legal Rights Center, Former RNC 8 Defendant; and Sarah, Labor Organizer & Activist; organizer of World Trade Organization and RNC protest. With Indigenous resistance to the Line 3 pipeline that threatens Anishnaabe land (known as Minnesota) heating up, and the movement for Black Lives likely to ramp back up in the wake of continued police brutality, organizers on the ground should be prepared for potential arrests. Solidarity tactics keep individuals from being singled out, & can result in better jail & court outcomes while building movements’ power. Join us to learn from these experienced activists and best tactics they have taken away after years of activism.

Digital Security & Security Culture

• Mutual Aid and Digital Security (4/9/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; Michele Gretes, CLDC Digital Security Specialist; Soraya Okuda, Education & Design Lead, Electronic Frontier Foundation; Organizers from Mutual Aid Disaster Relief.

• Replay: Digital Security for Activists, with live Q&A (9/24/20) with CLDC Digital Security advisors, Cora Borradaile and Michele Gretes. As the State ramps up efforts to criminalize dissent, join us to learn more about how you can keep yourself and your friends safe by using digital security best practices. We will have live Q&A after the replay of the webinar.

• Activism & Security Year-End Tune-Up (12/17/20) with Stephanie Tidwell, CLDC Deputy Director; Marianne Dugan, CLDC Senior Staff Attorney; and Cora Borradaile, CLDC Digital Security advisor. As the year draws to a close, join us to review digital and physical security culture best practices, including threat assessments (and why they are essential!) to help keep you and your network safer in 2021.

• Security Culture, Grand Jury Resistance, & Ensuring Activist Network Safety (3/18/21) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney. Join CLDC staff to learn more about how you can improve your digital & physical security practices to minimize the risk of corporate & government snooping, misinformation, & other interference. We’ll also discuss grand jury resistance — what that looks like & how activists can best support grand jury resistors & protect their community networks in the process.

• Resisting Online Censorship of Activists (co-hosted with Palestine Legal) (11/11/21) Activists often rely heavily on access to online spaces for organizing. Unfortunately, big tech companies have increasingly censored dissenting voices on social media and conferencing platforms. Join a panel co-hosted by CLDC and Palestine Legal to discuss this problem, as well as alternative technology options that could help ensure access to the digital commons.

• Digital Security & Reproductive Justice (05/17/22) With new threats to reproductive autonomy on the imminent horizon, CLDC Digital Security Advisor, Cora Borradaile, and CLDC Director, Lauren Regan, will share how you can keep yourself and your friends safe by using digital security best practices. This workshop will be tailored to the needs of those organizing around or trying to access reproductive healthcare, but is appropriate for all audiences.

Social Media, Government, and You: A Dangerous Mashup (11/09/22) Social media is used by the government to quash dissent and make infiltration of movements easier. Join Lauren Regan and Glendora Borradaile to learn how you can build up resilience to those tactics.

Law Enforcement

• Police Misconduct and Racial Profiling (6/11/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney: Learn how racist policing affects oppressed communities; the basics of a federal civil rights lawsuit; alternatives to litigation; and the systemic shortcomings of the legal system.

• Who’s Watching the Cops? (2/4/21) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; Tyler Crawford, Director of the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee; Hamid Khan, Organizer & Coordinator of the LA Stop Spying Coalition; & Sara, formerly of Portland-based Rose City Cop Watch. Community activists and movement lawyers alike have actively opposed police brutality. They organized “cop watch” and legal observer initiatives across the U.S. and have made a real difference to folks on the ground. Learn more about how these projects document and push back against law enforcement abuses.

Cases & Legal Topics

• US v. Steven Donziger (8/27/20) with human rights attorney Steven Donziger to learn how Chevron has criminalized him for winning a $9.5 billion judgement for Indigenous communities in the Amazon.

• Legal History: The Green Scare (10/15/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; and Daniel McGowan, a former (non-cooperating) client of the CLDC. We discussed the “Green Scare”—the largest federal prosecution of environmental and animal rights activists in U.S. history. Daniel was a non-cooperating defendant, represented by Lauren. They will discuss the historic importance of these cases to movements and current implications regarding State repression and frontline actions.

• Fending Off Corporate & State Attempts to Silence Dissent (11/12/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; and Graham Clumpner and Arthur Pye from Mosquito Fleet. CLDC and our colleagues from the Protect the Protest coalition will discuss how corporations and the State try to silence dissent through legal attacks on activists.

• Fighting for Justice in a Broken System – CLDC’s Legal Work Over the Years (12/10/20) with CLDC staff and past clients. Join CLDC for a lively discussion with some of our inspiring clients and team members as we discuss our most exciting cases, building the legal chops of radical movements, and where we go from here.

• SLAPPs, RICO, & More: How Corporations Use U.S. Courts to intimidate Opponents and Evade Justice (3/5/21) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; and Lady Nancy Zuluaga Jaramillo, Legal Researcher, Human Rights Defenders & Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation at Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. In collaboration with the University of Oregon’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, CLDC’s Lauren Regan and other environmental lawyers who have firsthand experience with the SLAPP threat — both in the U.S. and abroad — will discuss how extractive industries and their corporate lawyers are manipulating U.S. courts to target climate activists, immobilize public interest attorneys, and avoid accountability.

• COVID-19 Litigation (4/15/21) with Sarah Alvarez, CLDC Staff Attorney; Andrea Woods, Staff Attorney at ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project; Jacob Reisberg, Jail Conditions & Policy Advocate at ACLU SoCal; and Juan Chavez, Director of Oregon Justice Resource Center. The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the public health crisis of mass incarceration to an even higher level. During this webinar we will hear from attorneys who have filed lawsuits requiring cities and states to free prisoners from detention in order to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. We will talk about tactics that have been successful, ongoing legal battles, and obstacles they have encountered.

• Impact Litigation: What It Is and Why It Matters (5/20/21) with Sarah Alvarez, CLDC Staff Attorney; Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; Shane Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights; Neil Kagan, Environmental Advocate, and Former Attorney for Oregon Natural Resources Council and Professor at University of Michigan. Impact litigation is a critical tool in the movement’s toolkit. Join impact litigators involved in prisoner rights, state overreach, police misconduct, & wildlands defense from CLDC and across the country for a thoughtful discussion on impact litigation’s history & the successes it has brought.

• 2021 Wrap-Up: Conversations with CLDC Clients & Friends (12/9/21) As we wrap up another momentous year of movement-centered legal support, we invite you to join CLDC staff and clients to learn more about what we have accomplished together in 2021. During the webinar you will hear report-backs from Water Protectors and other climate defenders, anti-racist activists, and more! We will also share a sneak preview of some of our 2022 plans as we continue to encourage movement cross-pollination and push for law enforcement accountability.

• After the Uprising: When the Cameras Turn Away but the Struggle Continues (2/17/22) It has been nearly two years since the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent uprising that spread from Minneapolis across the globe. But, what happens when the cameras turn away and the spotlight fades? Join CLDC staff and special guests to hear what is happening in the courts to continue the struggles for racial justice, as well as what support needs exist for those who continue to face criminal charges or are serving prison sentences as a result of the uprisings.

Line 3 Press Conference (07/06/22) Case dismissed! Anishanaabe Water Protectors were found not guilty for holding ceremony at the Mississippi River during Line 3 pipeline construction, in exercise of their treaty-reserved rights to protect sacred waters and all life that flows from it. Join us at a press conference to discuss this major legal victory for Indigenous sovereignty and the right to protect sacred water and ancestral lands.

CLDC Supports Resistance! (8/18/22) With attack after attack on our rights, the environment, and more, CLDC is actively addressing these injustices by supporting movements and activists on the frontlines of liberation and climate defense. We remain dedicated to supporting resistance! Join our legal team for updates on the recent victories we have worked towards alongside political prisoners, Black Lives Matter activists, and Water Protectors.

Marius Mason Live Online Event (9/15/22) CLDC staff have a live online discussion with a member of the Support Marius Mason committee. Learn about his case and how you can support him. Marius is a trans man who was convicted of sabotage and arson as part of the struggle against environmental destruction and all forms of domination in 2009. He was sentenced to 22-years, the longest sentence of all those who faced targeted repression during the Green Scare.

Treaty People Gathering Line 3 Press Conference (11/22/22) TPG Line 3 cases dismissed! Join the Water Protector Legal Collective and CLDC in celebrating this major victory and hear from Line 3 activists who were criminalized for their resistance, maintained solidarity as they navigated the criminal legal system, and ultimately got their charges dismissed.

Policy

• New State Bills Threaten Our Right to Dissent (2/18/21) with Stephanie Tidwell, CLDC Deputy Director; Meera Shah, Senior Staff Attorney at Palestine Legal; and Chip Gibbons, Defending Rights & Dissent’s Policy Director. The failed coup of January 6 is being used to justify more than 60 anti-protest bills that are rapidly advancing through state legislatures. Learn more about these authoritarian efforts to chill dissent and what can be done to resist them.

• A Dissenter’s Take: The New Administration’s Appointees, Priorities, & Our Movements (1/21/21) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; Stephanie Tidwell, CLDC Deputy Director; Sue Udry, Defending Rights and Dissent Executive Director; and Nick Caleb, Breach Collective Climate Attorney. A discussion about what Biden’s top cabinet & staff picks could mean for the environment, human rights, & those who fight to protect them.

• Rights, Dissent, and the State: Preparing for a Turbulent Election (10/22/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; Becca Chapman, CLDC Legal Fellow and attorney; Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney; Scott Parkin, an experienced organizer currently with Rainforest Action Network and Rising Tide North America, and Jim Wheaton, Senior Counsel for the First Amendment Project. CLDC attorneys will lead a discussion on the upcoming U.S. election and what you can do to prepare for possible breakdowns in the democratic process. We will address actions that the State may take to restrict your freedoms and your rights and responsibilities in response.

Campaigns

• Standing Rock Update (5/6/21) with Marianne Dugan, CLDC Senior Staff Attorney; Natali Segovia of Water Protector Legal Collective; and Will Parrish and Alleen Brown of The Intercept. Water Protector resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) magnified the connection between Indigenous sovereignty and climate protection. Five years later, with oil flowing through this disastrous pipeline, activists are still fighting for justice. Join CLDC attorneys, legal partners, and activists for an update on civil litigation, the continuing push to shut down the pipeline, and revelations about police collusion with the fossil fuel industry.

• Landowner and Pipelines: An Update (11/19/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; pipeline resisters: Ellen and Elyse Gerhart; Stacey McLaughlin; Ka’ila Farrell-Smith; Bruce and Mary Beth Coffey; Roberta Motherway Bondurant; and Terry Frank. As fossil fuel profiteers continue to attempt to bulldoze communities, private property, many landowners refuse to take their bribes and are resisting pipeline construction on their property. Their experiences are lessons for us all.

• Biscuit Forest Defense: 20 Years Later (5/4/23) Join us for a reflective conversation with Biscuit forest defenders who worked to defend one of the most bio-diverse forests in the country. The George Bush Administration proposed the largest timber sale in modern history which resulted in a robust campaign and forest defense effort. Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director and Senior Staff Attorney and forest defenders share about their resistance, the lessons learned through their activism and legal fights, and how their participation in the campaign continues to impact them today.

Accessibility

• Disability, Ableism, and Activism (9/10/20) with Marianne Dugan, CLDC Senior Staff Attorney; Michael Richardson, from Northwest ADA Center; Sabine Rear, from Northwest ADA Center; and Sara, from Glitter Squad PDX to talk about how ableism can be a serious obstacle to inclusivity in social justice movements.

• State Repression, Trauma, and the Body (5/7/23) This webinar introduces the traumatic dynamics of state repression and the important role of solidarity and care in mitigating the violence of the state. We explore how trauma can affect the body, and common ways we express distress from nightmares to panic attacks. We look at what we can do to reduce the risks of PTSD and build collective strength when resisting repression.

Nicole also shares some amazing herbal allies for supporting our bodies through these experiences.

Nicole Rose (she/her) is an anarchist organizer and herbalist medic based in England who supports people experiencing state violence with herbalism. She served a 3.5 year prison sentence amidst a decade of repression and has supported loved ones in prison for nearly 20 years.

Other Topics & Panel Discussions

• Climate & Labor: What Unites us is Stronger than What Divides Us (6/25/20) with Lauren Regan, CLDC Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney; CLDC advisory board member and labor leader Richard Monje; and Margaret Butler, a longtime labor organizer and climate activist, discuss how we can build synergy between our movements for justice.

• The Radical Roots of Mutual Aid (7/23/20) with Malik Rahim, founder, co-founder, Common Ground Collective; Cindy Milstein, anarchist organizer, author, and educator; and Cat Terrill, organizer, Tacoma Food not Bombs. The term “mutual aid” has been popularized recently, but it is not a synonym for charity. This was an interactive conversation about what mutual aid looks like in practice.

• Rioting, Looting, and Anti-Capitalism (9/17/20) with Becca Chapman, CLDC Legal Fellow and attorney; and author of In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action, Vicky Osterweil. Join us to talk about how “rioting” and “looting” are defined in a time of increasing police brutality and corporate profiteering.

• Replay w/Live Q&A: What Does it Mean to be an Abolitionist in 2020? Presented by Critical Resistance (10/1/20) Q&A with Becca Chapman, CLDC Legal Fellow and Staff Attorney. Interested in hearing from Critical Resistance (CR) members across multiple cities talk about abolition? CLDC will host a replay of CR’s webinar and answer questions from her perspective as a lawyer.

• Capitalism and the Constitution (10/8/20) with Becca Chapman, CLDC Legal Fellow and attorney; Cooper Brinson, CLDC Staff Attorney; and Dr. Rob Hunter, member of the Legal Form editorial collective. We will cover some prevailing attitudes toward law in the U.S., dispel some myths about how law functions within capitalism, and offer some new frameworks to approach the law during this historical moment. We hope this conversation will create some space for activists and legal workers to re-orient or refine their approach to the law and, ultimately, an opportunity to integrate these critical approaches in practice.

• Support: Inside & Out (3/24/22) with Linda Evans, Ray Luc Levasseur, Daniel McGowan, Luke O’Donovan, Rattler (Michael Markus), Luke O’Donovan. Join CLDC to learn about supporting movement participants through incarceration, release, and transition back home from people who have lived it. Former political prisoners will share their experiences of support as well as how they continue to support people held behind the walls.

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