Maine

Charges Against Portland Black Lives Matter Protesters Dropped

July 28, 2017 Jake Bleiberg, www.bangordailynews.com Resist! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Civil Disobedience, Courts, Maine

By Jake Bleiberg for BDN - PORTLAND, Maine — A year after Portland police ended a Black Lives Matter demonstration with a mass arrest, the resulting legal drama has come to a close with the criminal charges against 17 protesters being dismissed. The charges were expected to be dropped since May, when a court hearing failed to repair a botched settlement agreement between the demonstrators and the Cumberland County District Attorney. The deal, which would have also seen the misdemeanor charges dropped, hinged on police and protesters talking through their differences in a so-called “restorative justice” session. It would have been the first time such a program was used in a civil disobedience case in Maine. But the deal went to pieces in the hall of a Portland church in February, when the protesters and an assistant district attorney couldn’t agree over logistics for the session. In May, a judge blocked the district attorney’s move to again prosecute the charges and ordered protesters and police to try again at the restorative justice session. After the ruling, District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said her office would not make another attempt at the session, thereby leaving the charges in an inactive court docket where they were finally dismissed Wednesday.

Maine’s Food Sovereignty Law Touted As Nationwide First

June 22, 2017 Julia Bayly, www.sunjournal.com Create! Food and Agriculture, Law, Maine, Sovereignty

By Julia Bayly for Bangor Daily News - With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Paul LePage last week enacted landmark legislation putting Maine in the forefront of the food sovereignty movement. LePage signed LD 725, An Act to Recognize Local Control Regarding Food Systems, Friday legitimizing the authority of towns and communities to enact ordinances regulating local food distribution free from state regulatory control. According to food sovereignty advocates, the law is the first of its kind in the country. “This is a great day for rural economic development and the environmental and social wealth of rural communities,” said Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop. “The Governor has signed into law a first-in-the-nation piece of landmark legislation [and] the state of Maine will [now] recognize, at last, the right of municipalities to regulate local food systems as they see fit.” Sponsored by Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, LD 725 does not include food grown or processed for wholesale or retail distribution outside of the community from which it comes. Supporters of food sovereignty want local food producers to be exempt from state licensing and inspections governing the selling of food as long as the transactions are between the producers and the customers for home consumption or when the food is sold and consumed at community events such as church suppers.

Police In Maine Treat Black And White Protesters Differently

April 10, 2017 Kyle Jaeger, www.attn.com Resist! Maine, Police, Protests, Racism

By Kyle Jaeger for ATTN - The jail came under fire in August after it released photos of two other black Muslim women without their hijabs. Department policy requires Muslims wearing head scarves to take two mugshots — one with the covering and one without — but it also stipulates that photos of Muslims without their head scarves will not be released. Activists called the decision to release the photos "a form of public shaming" and "a violation of their First Amendment religious rights." Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce apologized for releasing the photos in September 2016, The Portland Press Herald reported. Courthouse records show that the five black protestors received more charges than the dozen white protestors who were arrested.

Trial Of Shipyard Protesters Revives Vietnam-Era Conflicts

February 2, 2017 Beth Brogan, www.bangordailynews.com Resist! Maine, Protests

By Beth Brogan for BDN - BATH, Maine — Protesters arrested outside Bath Iron Works during the christening of a Zumwalt-class destroyer in June 2016 told a jury on Wednesday that while they did block the main street to the shipyard during the event, their actions were not unreasonable as required by the law they’re accused of violating. Ten of the 12 people charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a public way last year pleaded not guilty in connection with the protest outside the shipyard’s south gate, which police said blocked traffic on Washington Street for thousands attending the christening of the future USS Michael Monsoor.

Maine Students Sit-In Solidarity With DAPL & Protest Maine Pipeline

September 14, 2016 Staff, www.bit.ly/2cqMLVs Resist! #NoDAPL, Maine, Pipelines, Sit-In

By Staff of MSCJ - Maine Students for Climate Justice (MSCJ) -- along with a number of allies (including 350 Maine supporters) staged a sit-in at the Public Utilties Commission in Hallowell, Maine on Tuesday, 9/13/16. The action was intended as opposition to the PUC commissioners support of the development of un-natural gas infrastructure on the backs of ratepayers -- negation of their own staff recommendations. Further, the event was developed in solidarity with global actions in support of the Standing Rock Sioux and other Native Americans, in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

Nation’s Longest Bike Path Will Connect Maine To Florida

July 25, 2016 Katie Pohlman, www.ecowatch.com Create! Biking, Florida, Maine

By Katie Pohlman for Eco Watch - The East Coast Greenway will stretch from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida, a 2,900-mile distance. The project will provide non-motorized users a unique way to travel up and down the East Coast through 25 cities and 16 states. Walkers, cyclists, runners and other active-transportation users will be able to travel on a continuous, firm and paved greenway with a route specifically designed to give travelers a traffic-free experience, East Coast Greenway Alliance, the non-profit organization behind the project.

Right Wing Activist Pulls Gun On #BLM Protest

July 11, 2016 Arun Gupta, www.alternet.org Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Guns, Maine, Protests

By Arun Gupta for Raw Story - Shouts and yells erupted on the fringe of a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Portland. A local right-wing agitator, Michael Strickland, was backing down the street away from a few dozen people, including masked anarchists clad in black. Strickland is involved with a YouTube channel, Laughing at Liberals, which shows up at leftist protests to film people and put them online. Strickland held a tripod-mounted video camera in his left hand. His right hand grabbed near his waistband. Seconds later, facing the crowd, he pulled a Glock 27 from a holster on his right side.

Jerry Berrigan Memorial Drone Blockade

January 29, 2016 Bruce K. Gagnon, www.space4peace.blogspot.com Resist! Drones, Maine, Vigil

By Bruce K. Gagnon for Space for Peace. Syracuse, NY - Jerry Berrigan, who died on July 26, 2015 at the age of 95, was a husband, a father, a brother, a teacher and someone who – like his brothers Dan and Phil – dedicated his entire life to Jesus’ command to love one another. Jerry came to the base on a bi-weekly basis whenever he was able, in Jerry’s words, “to remind the base commander of our government’s pledge under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a treaty to safeguard non-combatant’s well-being in any warzone in which U.S. forces are engaged in combat.” And further, “to register horror and indignation at reports of bombing missions by drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan which resulted in the deaths of many innocent civilians; men, women and children.”

Protesters Plan To Enter Maine Shipyard During Christening

October 28, 2015 Beth Brogan, www.bangordailynews.com Resist! Maine, Military

By Beth Brogan for Bangor Daily News - BATH, Maine — With an estimated 3,000 people expected to gather at Bath Iron Works on Saturday to watch the christening of the 35th Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer built by the shipyard, peace protesters plan to use the event to condemn military spending and send a message to Maine’s political leaders. Members of Midcoast Peace Works, CodePink Maine and other organizations will hold a rally near the shipyard, then send a “peace delegation” to attempt to enter the yard and deliver a letter to Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Angus King, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Rep. Bruce Poliquin, who are expected to attend the ceremony, according to BIW spokesman Matt Wickenheiser.

Call For Portsmouth Naval Shipyard To Stop Building Weapons

October 26, 2015 Lisa Savage, www.went2thebridge.blogspot.com Resist! Demilitarization, Maine

By Lisa Savage for Went 2 The Bridge - I was delighted to have a day to join the Maine Peace Walk: Militarization of the Seas on Saturday October 24, 2015. A high energy opening circle kicked off the final day of the walk which began two weeks prior in Ellsworth, Maine. Jun-san's joyful dancing and her leadership along with other members of the Nipponzan order of Buddhists was much appreciated. And everyone enjoyed the tunes offered by the Leftist Marching Band. The band followed the walk all the way to the front gate of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine where we stood across the street during the shift change. Hundreds of workers saw our message.

Protests To Defend Penobscot Nation Of Ancestral Waterway Rights

September 30, 2015 Levi Rickert, www.nativenewsonline.net Resist! Maine, Native Peoples, Water

By Levi Rickert in Native News Online - Last night, Monday, September 28, a small group of Native people and a large group of allies came together to speak out against the perpetuation of oppressive and genocidal acts against Maine’s Native peoples. They showed up outside the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus. Specifically, the group came to challenge the State of Maine’s current attempts to strip the Penobscot Nation of their ancestral rights to their waterways. The group held an alternative awards ceremony outside the event and in the lobby, giving Mills a “Dishonorable History Taker Award” for her perpetuation of colonial practices and her many other disgraceful actions. Brochures were handed out at the door so that the attendees could be educated as to the realty of how the state is treating the Penobscot Nation.

Chevron Targeted In Solidarity With Unist’ot’en

August 20, 2015 Earth First!, www.earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Chevron, Maine, Oil Pipeline

By Earth First! - Chevron has attempted trespass on unceded Unist’ot’en land in so-called British Columbia to survey for its proposed Pacific Trails Pipeline, which would span 273 miles through largely unceded territory and transport one billion cubic feet of fracked gas per day—an unwanted and highly dangerous project. Members of the Unist’ot’en clan and their supporters have given Chevron a resounding NO, but Chevron, backed by the RCMP, is moving ahead with the project. Recently some folks in so-called Maine took action in solidarity with the Unist’ot’en. A banner was hung above a busy interstate that read “Support the Unist’ot’en. NO PIPELINES! Unistotencamp.com” with an image of the Chevron logo on fire.

Maine Leading The Way On Government Of, For & By The People

June 18, 2015 Benjamin T. Brickner, www.huffingtonpost.com Create! Campaign Finance, Maine

By Benjamin T. Brickner in Huffington Post - Americans are fed up with the increasing grip of big money on our politics. This month, a new poll found that 85 percent of Americans -- including more than 80 percent of both Republicans and Democrats -- believe our campaign finance system needs fundamental changes. Nearly as many are also disillusioned and deeply cynical about the possibility of a solution in the near future. Maine is doing its best to change that -- and in the process, providing a model for how states can push back against big money in elections without waiting for a divided and dysfunctional Congress to act. This year, Mainers will vote on a referendum to enhance its first-in-the-nation Clean Elections law, to confront the tsunami of big money triggered by U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United.

Native Tribes Declare Sovereignty From Maine

June 1, 2015 Alex Freeman, www.thefifthcolumnnews.com Resist! EPA, Indigenous People, Law, Maine, Sovereignty

By Alex Freeman in The Fifth Column News - The new Order maintains that native tribes in Maine retain their sovereignty, but holds that they now have a “relationship between equals with its own set of responsibilities,” yet declares that tribal lands, forms of tribal governance and natural resources controlled by the native tribes are subject to the laws and jurisdiction of the State of Maine. The takeover of lands was prompted by an EPA letter to the State, and claims that lack of Tribal participation in “the State’s interests” required the usurpation of Tribal sovereignty. The Letter, in fact, actually supports the Tribal position, as the Tribal standards of environmental protection are much stricter than those of the EPA or the State of Maine. Those close to the Penobscot Tribe tell The Fifth Column that LePage threatened to sue the EPA over the proposed new regulations, leading the Agency to back down.

Maine Told To Tighten Tribal Land Water Rules

March 21, 2015 Collin Woodard, www.pressherald.com Resist! Land Rights, Maine, Water

The federal government has ordered Maine to tighten its water quality standards for rivers and lakes on tribal lands to ensure fish taken there are safe to eat in large quantities. Tribal leaders hailed the move as a historic assertion of federal oversight of Maine’s relationship with federally recognized tribes here. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled Monday that clean water standards proposed by the state Department of Environmental Protection are inadequate to protect sustenance fishermen – those who fish as a primary means of feeding their families – on the reservations from certain toxins, because they eat much greater volumes of fish than the average Mainer.

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