Washington

Washington Supreme Court Declares State’s Death Penalty Unconstitutional

October 15, 2018 Staff, Deathpenaltyinfo.org Educate! Death Penalty, Supreme Court, Washington

Finding that the death penalty "is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner," a unanimous Washington Supreme Court has struck down the state's capital-punishment statute as violating Washington's state constitutional prohibition against "cruel punishment." The court's ruling, authored by Chief Justice Mary E. Fairhurst and issued on October 11, 2018, declared: "The death penalty, as administered in our state, fails to serve any legitimate penological goal; thus, it violates article I, section 14 of our state constitution." The decision also converted the sentences of all eight people on the state's death row (pictured) to life imprisonment without possibility of release.

Act Now To Protect Our Right To Protest

October 13, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance Newsletter DC, Donald Trump, First Amendment, Right to Protest, Washington

The radical attack on our constitutional right to protest in Washington, DC needs to be stopped. The National Park Service (NPS) has published proposed rules that would curtail First Amendment rights to assemble, petition the government and exercise free speech in the nation's capital. Efforts to curtail protest are a sign that the movement is having an impact. We are building our power and are getting more organized. We have the power to stop these unconstitutional restrictions on our right to protest. We urge you to join us in taking action today.

Washington Walkouts Win Teachers Big Raises

September 29, 2018 By Barbara Madeloni, Labornotes.org Resist! Class Struggle, Strikes, Teachers, Washington

Fifteen districts started the school year on strike in Washington state—the latest to ride the West Virginia wave. “For my whole life I thought this was just the way it was, that I would have to struggle to have a sustainable life,” said Anna Cockrum, a teacher in Evergreen, out on her first picket line. “I teach students to stand up for themselves, and it is so cool to be living that.” Evergreen teachers walked for almost two weeks before agreeing to raises averaging 11.5 percent, considerably more than the district’s initial 1.9 percent offer. Battle Ground and Tumwater were the last to settle, after more than two weeks out. Educators were demanding salary increases in line with the implementation of the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision.

Thousands Of Rank-And-File US Steel Workers Cast Unanimous Votes To Strike

September 10, 2018 Jessica Goldstein, Wsws.org Resist! Class Struggle, Strikes, Washington, Workers Rights and Jobs

In a display of the growing militancy of the working class in the United States, rank-and-file workers at US Steel plants across the country cast a series of unanimous strike votes this week. The powerful strike votes take place as other workers, including teachers in the state of Washington, engage in a series of walkouts. The United Steelworkers (USW) union conducted the strike authorization votes after announcing last Saturday that it would to extend current labor agreements beyond their expiration dates while continuing contract talks with US Steel and ArcelorMittal. The contracts, which were due to expire September 1, cover 15,000 US Steel workers and 16,000 ArcelorMittal workers at mills and other facilities in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Minnesota and other states.

Judge Dismisses Youth Climate Change Lawsuit In Washington State

August 17, 2018 Georgina Gustin, Insideclimatenews.org Resist! Climate Change, Lawsuit, Washington, Youth

A group of young climate advocates who sued the state of Washington to force it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions lost their case on Tuesday when a judge sided with the state and agreed to dismiss it. The judge urged them to pursue their cause through other channels. King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott wrote that the issues at the heart of the case are political and should be considered by the state's legislative and executive branches, not settled by its courts. The Washington lawsuit is one of nine state-level cases involving youth advocates supported by Our Children's Trust, the group leading a federal youth lawsuit that heads to trial in a U.S. District Court in Oregon this October. Like the federal suit, known as Juliana v. U.S., the state lawsuits accuse the government of failing to protect the children from the dangers of climate change and pushing policies that favor fossil fuel use.

Activists Calling For The Abolition Of ICE Blocking Seattle Streets Outside Of Homeland Security Building

June 6, 2018 NWDC Resistance, Thenorthstar.info Resist! Activism, Detention Centers, Homeland Security, ICE, Immigration, Seattle, Undocumented, Washington

Seattle, WA – Early yesterday morning, activists with Northwest Detention Center Resistance and Mijente locked down outside of 1000 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington, calling attention to the building’s role as Washington State’s deportation epicenter. The building, owned by billionaire developer Martin Selig, houses regional offices for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Chief Counsel, regional offices for Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Justice-controlled Seattle Immigration Court. The lockdown is part of the launch of the “Chinga La Migra” organizing tour to tell the story of what the deportation crisis under President Trump looks like in real time, and amplify the efforts and stories of resistance.

A Dive Into Washington’s Swamp

May 25, 2018 Moon of Alabama, Informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Middle East, Washington

The Saudi "anti-terrorism" effort was directed at its local rivals Qatar and Iran. Trump strongly supported the Saudi anti-Qatar campaign until the Pentagon finally told him that Qatar hosts the biggest U.S. air-base in the Middle East, which can not be moved at a moments notice.The princes, the president and the fortune seekers:Now an interesting AP story gives some backdrop to Trump's deference to Riyadh. It is the result of many bribes and lots of shady dealings. If or rather how Trump or his family profited from these is not yet known.After a year spent carefully cultivating two princes from the Arabian Peninsula, Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, thought he was finally close to nailing more than $1 billion in business.He had ingratiated himself with crown princes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who were seeking to alter U.S. foreign policy and punish Qatar, an archrival in the Gulf that he dubbed “the snake.”

WA Court Dismisses Seven-Year Lawsuit Over Boycott Of Israeli Goods

May 4, 2018 Staff, Ccrjustice.org Resist! boycott, Courts, Israel, Lawsuit, Washington

March 9, 2018, Olympia, WA – Today, a Washington State court ended a seven-year litigation battle against former volunteer board members of the Olympia Food Co-op over their decision to boycott Israeli goods. The lawsuit was first filed in 2011 by five co-op members seeking to block the co-op’s boycott and to collect monetary damages against the board members. Two of the five members pulled out of the case, and none of the defendants originally named in the case remains a board member of the co-op. The court granted the motion for summary judgment from the former board members, who were represented by Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel, finding the plaintiffs had no standing to bring a case because they failed to show the co-op was injured.

Indigenous Woman Occupying WA State Capitol Lawn Arrested

January 13, 2018 Puget Sound Anarchists, Earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Indigenous Women, Occupation, Washington

In the pre-dawn hours of the fourth day of an indigenous-led occupation of the State Capitol grounds in Olympia, WA, one Native American woman was taken out of a “tarpee” (a contemporary teepee) and arrested by state patrol troopers, while 3 other occupants were allowed to leave. Indigenous leaders erected four of the tarpees on the State Capitol lawn early on Monday morning in anticipation of the opening of the State Legislature that same day. Their intention was to occupy the grounds to demand that treaties signed between the US government and the local Coast Salish Tribes be respected, and that the health of the Salish Sea be restored and protected. They demanded that the State deny any remaining permits to the LNG facility being illegally built by Puget Sound Energy at the Port of Tacoma on Puyallup Treaty lands; that WA State ban Atlantic salmon net pens, which are endangering local salmon populations already at high risk; and that the State do all it can to oppose the expansion of the TransMountain pipeline across the US/Canadian border, which would profoundly endanger the Salish Sea as well as the health and subsistence of First Nations in the Salish Sea.

Indigenous Women Activists Occupy Washington State Capitol

January 11, 2018 Staff, Indigenousagain.com Resist! Indigenous Women, Occupation, Washington

Seven indigenous women and several earth defenders have occupied the Washington State Capitol to address climate change and native treaty rights as the state legislature opens for session. The native women, who come from several tribes, are seeking that Governor Jay Inslee honor the treaties and act wisely on climate change by blocking the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline as well as the LNG fracked gas facility affecting the Salish Sea and the Pullayup Tribe. (Indigenous resistance to the Kinder Morgan company extends and is mounting across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.)

Indigenous Women Occupy Washington State Capitol Lawn

January 10, 2018 Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, Aljazeera.com Resist! Indigenous Women, Occupation, Washington

Sitting in a tarpee erected outside the Capitol Building in the US state of Washington, seven Indigenous women and their supporters have vowed to stay put. They will stay until they are either arrested or politicians take action on climate change and native treaty rights. "We will be here as long as they let us be here," said Eva, a member of Santee Sioux Tribe. "Today, this is all we have left," she told Al Jazeera by phone. "We've been taken from and taken from." Eva, along with others from the indigenous community and their supporters, "occupied" the front lawn of the state capital in the city of Olympia on Monday, the first day of a new 60-day legislative session. "While they're inside doing their talks for the next 60 days, [we hope] they come to understand that the native nations people are watching them," Eva said.

Activists At Washington State Capitol Launch “Climate Countdown”

January 9, 2018 By Andrea Germanos, Commondreams.org Resist! Activists, Climate Change, Protests, Washington

Demanding "bold action" from lawmakers in Washington state on Monday, activists and indigenous leaders rang in the start of the 2018 legislative session Monday with the launch of an initiative to urgently tackle the climate crisis. "On the Peninsula, we're already seeing signs of a future we won't be able to live with—winter floods, summer droughts, wildfires, coastal devastation, acidifying seas, poisonous algal blooms," said Ed Chadd, a member of Olympic Climate Action. "If we don't act now, our orcas and salmon are goners...and then we will be. Climate change is not going to wait for us to get our act together." "We're showing up in Olympia today to demand that the legislature acknowledge not just the reality but the unthinkable urgency of climate change."

Water Protectors Block All Entrances LNG Facility In Tacoma

December 20, 2017 Staff, pugetsoundanarchists.org Resist! LNG, Protests, Washington, Water Protectors

The action comes four days after a Tacoma jury acquitted two women who locked down to construction equipment last May — the jury found them not guilty because they said they could not tell whether the action took place on Puyallup territory or City of Tacoma-owned land. The action also comes four days after activists used tripods to block all three gates to the site in the early morning and a week after two men kayaked across the Hylebos Waterway, scaled a fence and climbed a crane to halt construction of an 8-million-gallon gas storage tank.

“Block The Gates!” Lockdowns Continue Against LNG At Port

December 16, 2017 Staff, itsgoingdown.org Resist! Climate Change, LNG, Washington

As reported by The Stranger and Native Daily Network there was another lockdown at the LNG facility in Tacoma, situated on the ancestral lands of the Puyallup tribe. Native Daily Network posted multiple live-feeds of the lockdown, while The Stranger reported: “At around 6:30 this morning, three protesters locked themselves down to tripods blocking the gates of the site. Workers eventually found their way in to work, though, and when reached by phone, the protesters were in the process of taking the tripods down.” For some contextual recent history of resistance to this LNG storage facility, check out an interview with Climate First Responders that aired on The Final Straw. And make sure to check out the event page for the call to Block the Gates next Monday!

Tacoma Residents And Indigenous Communities Unite To Oppose LNG Plant

August 17, 2017 Brandon Jordan, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Indigenous Peoples, LNG, Protest Demonstrations, Washington

By Brandon Jordan for Waging Nonviolence - Around 250 people, mostly women, carried banners and sang with drummers while marching through the streets of Tacoma, Washington, on Tuesday. Led by Cheryl Angel, an indigenous activist present at Standing Rock last year, the demonstrators headed toward a city council meeting to protest a liquefied natural gas plant project. There was just one problem — officials had locked the doors to City Hall. Demonstrators weren’t discouraged, however, as they finished their march at a nearby plaza. “They call it protesting,” Angel said, while speaking in the plaza. “Why are they calling it protesting? Are we really protesting, or are we standing up for what’s right? Because this shouldn’t have to be a protest, it should be an acknowledgment [of our rights].” Washington’s oldest energy utility, Puget Sound Energy, or PSE, is behind the over $300 million facility, which is expected to be completed and operational in the port area of the Tacoma Tideflats by late 2019. The Tacoma LNG Facility, as it’s called, will be able to process and hold approximately eight million gallons of liquefied natural gas — obtained via hydraulic fracking from nearby Rocky Mountain states and parts of Canada — and is mainly intended for use by local residents, as well as ships passing by the Port of Tacoma.

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