Support the J20 & G20 Defendants, Even the Innocent Ones

Today in the #J20 case, it was shown once again that the State can’t even obey it’s own rules, and more defendants were dismissed without charges. Some still face decades in prison, and it is important that we continue to support them.

Today, following the revelation that the prosecution had dishonestly concealed evidence in the trial of defendants arrested during protests against the inauguration of Donald Trump, the judge dismissed charges against seven defendants in the long-running J20 case and threw out the conspiracy charges against all the remaining defendants. But dozens still await trial for standing up to Trump on January 20. We have to keep the pressure on until all the charges are dropped—with the long-term goal of making it impossible for the US justice system to inflict harm on anyone ever again.

On January 20, 2017, during the inauguration of Donald Trump, the police closed off a city block in Washington, DC, arrested everyone on it, and charged them all with 8 felonies each. The goal was clearly to terrorize protesters off the streets. Since then, the prosecutors have been forced to drop one charge after another, but they’re still threatening dozens of defendants. The state will take every single freedom from us that we let them.

Those who took action on January 20 are heroes. We need to fight back by all means necessary.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, authorities have just carried out new raids and arrests in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Spain in ongoing retaliation for the citywide revolt that took place in Hamburg last July in response to the 2017 G20 summit. This comes on the heels of the revelation that the police dishonestly inserted masked agents provocateurs into the “Welcome to Hell” demonstration at the opening of the G20 in order to initiate hostilities on their terms.

We honor the courage of everyone who stood up to the police and the G20 in Hamburg. It’s right to resist. Humanity won’t be free until we build the capacity to defend ourselves against all police and heads of state. This is why the ungovernable actions of those who stood up to them in Hamburg are so inspiring. In the meantime, support the G20 defendants.

What kind of world do the G20 leaders want to create? They showed us a sneak preview at the G20 summit in Hamburg in July 2017: a billion-dollar security budget, over 31,000 fully militarized police, pre-dawn house raids across Europe, agents provocateurs, indiscriminate unprovoked attacks with batons, tear gas, concussion grenades, and water cannons.

If this is the future, who can blame people for resisting?

These posters are based on a poster design we made to support arrestees at the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto. The struggles that are unfolding today are just the latest chapter of a generations-old story. Today, as in 2010 and 1999, we choose to side with the rebels of all eras against the heartless brutality of authoritarian power.