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Chip Gibbons
February 15, 2023
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, international financial summits, like the IMF and the World Bank, attracted masses of protesters. In many cases, protesters engaged in civil disobedience. They were also met with brutal repression by police that included
November 28, 2022
Reprinted with permission from Chip Gibbons’ Substack Newsletter. Chip Gibbons retains all copyright. It was twelve years ago today that five international newspapers—The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País—began working with WikiLeaks to publish the first stories based
July 13, 2022
Last night, the House Rules Committee blocked an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Action that would have amended the draconian Espionage Act to prevent its continued abuse against journalists, their sources, and whistleblowers. Had the Rules Committee approved the
June 29, 2022
On June 15, 1917, Congress passed the egregiously misnamed Espionage Act. Although it sounds like a bill targeting spies and saboteurs, its initial targets were those Americans who dared to oppose US participation in the First World War. Decades later,
June 17, 2022
On June 17, 2022, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange be extradited to the US. Assange is wanted by the US government for charges that include 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for publishing
April 8, 2022
By now, you’ve probably at least been within the periphery of the latest faux-outrage on the right regarding something called “critical race theory,” or CRT for short. You’ve probably been assaulted by hair-on-fire headlines or cable news chyrons like: Clearly,
March 24, 2022
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the surveillance tactics used to find an alleged bank robber were unconstitutional. Specifically, Judge M. Hannah Lauck of the Eastern District of Virginia pointed to the use of a “geo-fence
March 18, 2022
It’s Sunshine Week, which highlights the importance of government transparency. While there are a lot of important steps our government could take to be more transparent (and an urgent need for Congress to take the matter seriously), we at Defending
March 2, 2022
On February 21, a little-known Louisiana state legislator introduced a bill that would add at least two new legal justifications for murder. The first, if someone – anyone, presumably – suspects a protester might be damaging property (or “imminently” about
February 7, 2022
Weapons of mass destruction. Bombing a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant. The Gulf of Tonkin incident. There’s plenty of good reasons for journalists to question US military claims. Most importantly, because that’s their job. In the span of a few hours one day
December 8, 2021
Last week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) offered an amendment to the Protecting Our Democracy Act containing vital protections for national security whistleblowers. If passed Rep. Tlaib’s amendment would have made crucial reforms to the Espionage Act including Forcing prosecutors to
December 2, 2021
Fifty-two years ago today, the Chicago Police murdered Illinois Black Panther Chair Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. In a raid orchestrated by the FBI, Chicago Police stormed the Black Panther officer at 4:00 AM. Not only did they fire first,
September 13, 2021
John Kiriakou is the only person imprisoned in connection with the CIA torture program. John didn’t participate in the program, he blew the whistle on it. His crime was that he was the first person to publicly confirm that the
May 1, 2021
May 1, 2021 By Chip Gibbons Today is May Day, commemorated throughout the world as International Workers’ Day. Although May Day is celebrated by the vast majority of countries, it is not an official holiday in the United States. Yet,
April 26, 2021
April 26, 2021 The Metropolitan Police Department has settled two separate civil suits stemming from their arrest of Trump Inauguration (“J20”) protesters. The police have agreed to pay out $1.6 million to the plaintiffs, not challenge their requests to expunge