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First Environmental Activist Killed by Police in America
While twenty states have laws restricting rights to peaceful protest, the shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán is a chilling escalation
America has a long history of cracking down on dissent. The word ‘authoritarian’ gets tossed around a lot when discussing whatever geopolitical rival is being targeted for regime change that week, but I’m always surprised by how many well-educated people fall for the ‘authoritarian’ versus ‘full of freedom’ framing.
Yeah, America has freedom of speech-ish, and we can talk sh*t on the internet all we want. But really gain popularity with heterodox views on economics or foreign policy, try to start a grassroots movement for change, or become even a slight threat to the powerful in any way, and the record shows one will be targetted for destruction.
It happens time and time again and most often against the left wing of the political spectrum. While J. Edgar Hoover denied the existence of the mafia and the FBI allowed the KKK to flourish, they were infiltrating, surveilling, and monitoring student groups, civil rights leaders, feminist organizations, anti-war activists, and freaking Green Peace.
