Daily Archives: January 9, 2021

Experts Assessing Cybersecurity Fallout After Raid on Capitol

The rioters that raided the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, breaking windows and doors, ransacking offices, and damaging statues, also stole electronics, including at least one laptop from Senator Jeff Merkleys (D-OR) office. They also stole a laptop from Representative Nancy Pelosis (D-CA) office and were able to view the email inbox of one of her staffers. Though none of the devices that the rioters are believed to have accessed contain classified material, other sensitive information from emails and unencrypted files could have been compromised. "This is probably going to take several days to flesh out exactly what happened, what was stolen, what wasn't," said acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin. It could have potential national security equities. If there was damage, we don't know the extent of that yet.

Trump Bans U.S. Transactions on Eight Additional Chinese Apps

On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order banning U.S. transactions on eight additional Chinese software applications, including the Alipay payment platform. A senior Trump administration official said in a briefing that the order was intended to prevent the personal data of Americans from falling into the hands of the Chinese government and fueling its mass tool for global oppression. Despite the forty-five-day timeline for the order taking effect, the U.S. Department of Commerce plans to identify specific prohibited transactions before President-Elect Bidens inauguration on January 20. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying responded to the ban by calling the U.S. government hypocritical and ridiculous, while U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross endorsed President Trumps commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Anne Neuberger Tapped for New NSC Cybersecurity Role

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On Wednesday, Politico reported the Anne Neuberger, director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, will be named deputy national security advisor for cybersecurity on President-Elect Bidens National Security Council (NSC). Neubergers hiring is another sign that the incoming Biden administration plans to elevate cybersecurity as a major national security priority after President Trump eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position on the NSC in 2018. Among her first responsibilities is likely to be coordinating the federal response to the SolarWinds hack, which is still under investigation. One congressional staffer remarked that Neubergers experience is needed now more than ever at the highest levels of government, especially in light of recent events and the shifting cyber threat landscape.

U.S. Extradition Attempt for Assange Fails

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CFR experts investigate the impact of information and communication technologies on security, privacy, and international affairs.2-4 times weekly.

On Monday, a British judgedenieda U.S. extradition request for WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, due to concerns over his mental health. Assange, who has been indicted on seventeen espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks' publication of secret military and diplomatic documents, has been held in a London prison since the Ecuadorean embassyrevokedhis political asylum in 2019. The U.S. Department of Justice plans to appeal the ruling. If extradited, Assange faces up to 175 years inprison.

After the ruling was released, the Mexican government announced that it was prepared toofferAssange political asylum. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Assange deserves a second chance,grantedhe does not interfere in the political issues of any country.

Digital and Cyberspace Update

Digital and Cyberspace Policy program updates on cybersecurity, digital trade, internet governance, and online privacy.Bimonthly.

Singapore Reverses Course on Contact Tracing Data

Singaporean officials revealed on Monday thatdatafrom Singapore's COVID-19 contact tracing program, TraceTogether, can be used to assist with criminal investigations, contradicting previous assurances that the data would only be used for contact tracing. The program uses Bluetooth signals from smartphones and wearable tokens to determine who individuals that have tested positive for COVID-19 have been in contact with.To encourage enrollment, the Singaporean government repeatedlystressedthat the data would "never be accessed unless the user tests positive" and would only be accessible to a small number of contact tracers.Nearly 80 percent of Singaporeanshave adopted the TraceTogether contact tracing app and wearable token to date. Digital Rights Watch expressed concern about the Singaporean governments decision, saying it was the worst case scenario that privacy advocates have warned about since the start of the pandemic and will erode public trust in future health responses and therefore impede their efficacy.

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Cyber Week in Review: January 8, 2021 - Council on Foreign Relations

Many in the rabid mob who stormed the US Capitol yesterday came armed with a portable and potent weapon: a flag. There were large election banners, battle colors from the American Civil War, neo-Nazi flare, Christian symbols, and a smattering of national and state flags. Seen as a whole, they serve as a twisted ideological quilt for those who believe that the US election was stolen from incumbent president Donald Trump.

Of the various flags paraded around the seat of the US legislative branch, the most incendiary was a battle pennant from the Confederate army. Widely appropriated by white supremacists as a hate symbol, the Southern Cross never has been paraded publicly inside the Capitol before, historians point out.Its an outright affront to the government in its entirety, says Antaeus Edelsohn, a University of Richmond law student and vexillology enthusiast.

The ensign featuring St. Andrews cross with 11 stars was designed to identify Confederate soldiers through the mist, fog, and gunpowder in the battlefields, Edelsohn says. Its purpose is specifically to stand out and say we are against the United States; we are against the union.

Laura Scofield, a graphic designer and member of the North American Vexillological Association, contends that flags are the most powerful artifact ever designed. Graphic marks, she explains, instantly gain emotional weight when emblazoned on a piece of cloth. Theyre powerful because theyre visible symbols of our identity, Scofield says. More than a cardboard sign, flags are dynamic. They communicate ideas quickly especially when hoisted to the heavens. This contributes to the effect of a bigger, more unified rally behind a cause.

Surveying the footage, artist-activist Mirko Ili recognized several neo-Nazi symbols in the crowd. As curator of the Tolerance Project and a scholar on white supremacist iconography, he says watching the mayhem at the Capitol felt a bit like dj vu. This is how things started in Yugoslavia, notes Ili, who was born in the former socialist republic. White supremacists cling to fascist iconography because Hitlers army demonstrated how potent flags can be when seen en masse, he explains.

In my opinion, branding was truly invented by Nazi Germany. It was total design, Ili says.We have to be vigilant about these symbols because theyre like tea leaves. You can see the future.

We took a closer look at the array of flags seen in this AFP photograph by Roberto Schmidt, which we obtained via Getty Images:

And thats just a small sampling of the flags on display. For more detail on what we spotted in coverage of the insurrection, read on.

Trumps succinctly articulated foreign policy stance, immortalized in his 2016 inauguration speech, has been adopted by a band of white nationalists and far-right activists spearheaded by 22-year old political commentator Nick Fuentes. They identify as Groypers or America First boys

An early version of the US flag, it has a circle of 13 stars in the corner, representing colonies that fought for independence during the American Revolution. Though not strictly a white supremacist symbol, it has been used by some extremist groups as an emblem of a more traditional (read: white and male-dominated) America.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

This flag was adapted from a decal featuring a bastardized version of the character Calvin, from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by Bill Watterson.

A symbol of defiance created by a band of Texans who resisted Mexican forces in 1835, the flag features a slogan that has been co-opted by gun rights activists, abortion rights advocates, marijuana enthusiasts, and even McDonalds. But the phrase was originally a battlecry for Texan independence.

This flag was used by militias around the town of Culpeper, Virginia, during the American revolution, when minutemen (troops ready for duty in a minutes warning) got their name. The groups rattlesnake flag bear the words Liberty or Death and Dont Tread on Me

The yellow flag, with a coiled rattlesnake and the words Dont Tread on Me, has origins before the American Revolution, but has recently been used by the tea party movement, militia groups, and even in sports branding. Now, the flag tends to symbolize opposition to restrictions and government oppression.

This symbol, used by ancient Christians, has been adopted by several conservative, religious groups supporting Trump. (Several protestors also held up a Trumpian pirate flag with the words Jesus is My Savior, Trump is My President.)

Flags bearing the capital letter Q signal believers of the discreditedfar-rightconspiracy theorythat a group of Satan worshipers are plotting to take down Donald Trump.

This flag first appeared in 4 Chan in 2017, as a symbol for the made-up sect who worship Kek, the ancient Egyptian deity of darkness.

Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Used by South Carolinian naval fleets during the American Revolution and the Civil War, it features a rattlesnake against a field of 13 stripes.

This flag features the battle cry for the right-wing conspiracy theory that falsely posits that there was widespread fraud during the 2020 US presidential election.

For some, the black and white US flag with a blue line through the center is a symbol of police solidarity. However, it has also been flown by white supremacists at gatherings like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

The Three Percenters are an American-Canadian faction described by the Anti-Defamation League as anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement. Their name is derived from the unproven claim that only 3% of Americans fought for independence during the American Revolution. Their flag is similar to the Betsy Ross flag, with III (the Roman numeral for three) in the middle of the circle of stars.

An enormous Trump campaign banner was the most visible flag draped in front of the US Capitol. Several protestors also held up Trump 2024 flags, alluding to Trumps suggestionthat he may run for office again.

No man, no woman, no commie can stump him. A cheesy incarnation of Trump as Vietnam vet John Rambo, from the movie franchise starring Sylvester Stallone, this flag was a common fixture at Trump rallies during the US presidential campaign.

This is a reference to a threat by Sidney Powell, a member of the Trump legal team contesting the results of the US election. She was citing a line from the movie Clash of the Titans, where Zeus orders a monstrous a giant squid to destroy the city of Argo.

The US Flag Code stipulates that this can only be used in cases of dire distress and extreme danger to life or property.

Several protestors hoisted the red pennant of the US Marine Corps. A majority of military veterans voted for Trump, but his popularity among younger, active-duty personnel dipped during the last election cycle, according to a recent poll.

This is the banner for an anti-immigration alt-right sitefounded by British-born columnist Peter Brimelow. Its lion motif is traced back to a quote from Benito Mussolini that Trump tweeted in 2016. It also has been used by the Lion Guard, a civilian group formed to protect Trump and his supporters.

This battle pennant first used by Confederate generalRobert E. Lees troops in northern Virginia is often mistaken as the official flag of the pro-slavery Confederacy (it wasnt). The Ku Klux Klan began using it as a symbol in the 1940s. The state of Mississippi removed it from its official state flag in 2020.

Gays for Trump showed up at the Capitol. Despite the presidents numerous attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, gay support for the Republican agenda doubled from 2016 to 2020.

The flags of Canada, Cuba, Georgia, India, Israel, South Korea, and South Vietnam were spotted in the mob. Its unclear why many of these flags appeared, though a number of the white supremacist and militia groups that were present have international chapters. For example, the presence of the Canadian flag could have been because the white nationalist group the Proud Boys was founded by a Canadian.

Georgia, Maryland, Texas: Several state flags were present. There was perhaps some confusion about the official state flag of Georgia, as the symbol of the Republic of Georgia. also was spotted on the scene.

Karen K. Ho contributed research to this story.

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Decoding the pro-Trump insurrectionist flags and banners - Quartz

Years ago, I covered a rally that turned into a riot.

It was in the mid-1990s. A motley collection of white supremacist groups from around the Midwest had decided to gather in Indianapolis.

After some legal wrangling, they secured a permit to meet on the west side of the Statehouse. They drew crowds not only of their own faithful, but also of counter protesters.

Tensions rose as one speaker after another trooped up and tried to make himself they were all angry white guys heard through a small, antiquated sound system. The two crowds taunted each other.

Then something snapped.

The gathered white supremacists moved like a snake. As a group, they attacked some photographers before turning to assault anyone who crossed their paths. They swung signs, bags, belts and fists in all directions.

The police restored order in a hurry, but not before many people were left battered and bruised.

And shaken.

Ground we thought was safe even sacrosanct had been turned into a battlefield.

A symbol of a free people determined to govern themselves had been soiled with blood and sorrow.

I thought of that long-ago day of riot and ruin when I watched the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a day, to echo FDR, that now will live in infamy. I watched a gang of my fellow citizens my fellow Americans lay waste to one of our temples of freedom.

I saw them try to deny the right of a free people to choose their own leaders.

Somehow, they thought they were patriots when they were desecrating an American shrine.

They thought they were the good guys.

They thought they were defending freedom.

They werent, of course, but its easy to understand how they came to be so mistaken.

The fuse that led to the Jan. 6 explosion has been a long one. It was lit more than two generations ago when ambitious politicians first discovered that the path to victory at the polls could be paved by inveighing against government.

Although Republicans were the most egregious offenders, politicians of both parties argued that government could not do anything right.

That government was evil.

That government was the enemy.

The problem with that argument is that in a self-governing society such as ours, government isnt something foreign or removed from us. Government is the expression of our will as a community, a state, a nation a people.

To echo Pogo, we have met the government and the government is us.

When we wage war on the government or on the outcome of elections, were fighting an opponent we cannot possibly beat. We are waging war with ourselves.

It is tempting to blame all of this on Donald Trump, but the reality is that he is the symptom, not the disease the worst manifestation so far of an ailment that has afflicted us for far too long. The disease is something we fostered and spread ourselves.

At that long-ago rally that became a riot, I was struck by how much the rhetoric of the speakers resembled that of mainstream political leaders. Their language was less polished and their manner more strident than a presidents or a governors or a senators, but their message was similar.

Their will, their needs, their grievances always should take priority and any law or government body that asked them to compromise or consider another point of view was an instrument of oppression.

We have met the enemy and the enemy is us.

This road took us to the horrors of Jan. 6. If we continue to follow it, it will lead to places that are even worse.

In the hours that followed the assault on the Capitol, I found myself thinking of the words of a great American, my late friend U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr.

Andy once told me it pained him to hear political candidates say they would fight for an issue, a concern or a constituency. He said he didnt like thinking of people who disagreed with him as adversaries or even enemies when they really were his neighbors and fellow citizens.

Why cant we just say, well work for you or, better yet, well work with you? Andy asked.

It was a good question then.

And even better, more important one these days.

John Krull is director of Franklin Colleges Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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John Krull: The long fuse to the attack on the Capitol - Terre Haute Tribune Star

The recently passed federal omnibus bill included $900 billion in COVID-19 aid, with loans for businesses and direct payments to Americans, $1.4 trillion to fund the government and on page 5,090 support for Tibetan independence.

The package, signed into law by President Donald Trump in late December, includes pro-Tibet legislation originally introduced by Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, who represents the 2nd Congressional District.

The legislation updates the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 and addresses the ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese government, a press release from McGoverns office reads.

Communist Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950, which it claimed as part of its territory, and the region has since been rife with accusations of human rights abuses. Spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled Tibet to northern India in fear for his life in 1959.

Its important that we stand up for human rights not just halfway down the block, but halfway around the globe, said McGovern, chair of the House Rules Committee and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

McGovern and Chris Smith, R-NJ, introduced the legislation and it passed in the House early last year, before being attached to the omnibus bill.

Under the legislation, China cannot create any new consulates in the U.S. until a U.S. consulate is created in Lhasa, Tibets capital.

That was welcome news to Thondup Tsering, a Belchertown resident who just finished his term as president of the Regional Tibetan Association of Massachusetts.

I think this is really critical for U.S. citizens planning to visit Tibet to have access to the consulate and the consulate is able to render timely, appropriate assistance and help to American citizens, Tsering said. Likewise, to journalists and diplomats visiting Tibet.

He added that it would serve as eyes and ears on the ground inside occupied Tibet. Right now, Tibet is closed to the outside world.

The legislation also creates U.S. policy on the succession of the Dalai Lama. Tibetan Buddhists believe that when a Dalai Lama dies, he is reincarnated as a child and is identified through a search traditionally spearheaded by the Panchen Lama, a spiritual authority whose reincarnation is in turn identified with help from the Dalai Lama. In 1995, the 14th Dalai Lama identified Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a 6-year-old boy, as the Panchen Lama. However, the Chinese government rejected the appointment and arrested the child and his family, who have not been seen since.

The Chinese government then named Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama, who critics fear will select a Dalai Lama loyal to the communist regime. The Dalai Lama has strongly criticized this move and said, as a result, he will either not reincarnate or will do so in a region not under Chinese control.

The legislation reads: It is the policy of the United States that decisions regarding the selection, education and veneration of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders are exclusively spiritual matters that should be made by the appropriate religious authorities within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and in the context of the will of practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism.

The legislation sends a clear message that Chinese officials who interfere in the succession or reincarnation process will be subject to targeted financial, economic and visa-related sanctions, the statement from McGoverns office reads.

McGovern said he has met with the Dalai Lama and been in touch with Tibetan people in his district.

Its a growing community, a very active community, but one that is very concerned about their heritage, about their language, about their religion, about their traditions, because the Chinese government is trying to erase their heritage, McGovern said.

He added: the Chinese government is insisting on appointing the next Dalai Lama. Well, that is not how religion works. A government does not tell you who your spiritual leader will be.

Tsering said the Tibetan community has been in contact with McGovern and was involved in the legislation.

This bill sends a very strong message to China that the U.S. Congress, the nation, the people, are on the side of human rights, religious freedom, on the side of the Tibetan people, Tsering said. I think this also sends a message to inside occupied Tibet it gives them hope and reasons to be optimistic even though things are difficult.

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McGovern-backed legislation supporting Tibetan independence included in federal budget - The Recorder

When the full story of the 6 January storming of the US Capitol building is told, historians will have to make sense of what might seem an odd footnote. The two most prominent rightwing militia groups that participated in the mob onslaught on Congress the Three Percenters, based in Idaho, and the Oath Keepers, based in Nevada cut their teeth in obscure corners of the American west, where for close to a decade they have threatened violence against federal employees and institutions that steward the nations public lands.

The mob violence that swarmed the halls of the Capitol building and other government offices flows from a series of smaller armed insurrections by domestic terrorists across the west, says Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a non-profit that advocates for environmental regulation of public lands.

Time after time in Idaho, Nevada and Utah, the Three Percenters and Oath Keepers, paramilitary organizations formed in the wake of Barack Obamas election in 2008, have come to the rescue of ranchers, miners and loggers who have violated federal environmental regulations on the public domain but who the militias said were innocent commoners oppressed by a vicious state apparatus.

Brandishing arms and threatening their use against federal officials, the militias have enjoyed spectacular successes with the Capitol only the latest example.

The Three Percenters and Oath Keepers came to public attention in 2014, when they encamped with the notorious anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy. The recalcitrant old cowboy refused to remove his trespassing cattle from public lands around his 160-acre spread in Bunkerville, Nevada.

Holed up in his ranch house, Bundy issued a statement decrying federal tyranny and vowed to do whatever it takes to protect his property, meaning the public land he was utilizing.

He put out a call for militia units. The Three Percenters and Oath Keepers, with other loosely affiliated citizens, arrived from across the nation with assault rifles and Gadsden flags the ones with the coiled snake that says Dont Tread on Me (and which were also seen on 6 January in the halls of Congress). In a sprawl of tents and guard posts ringing Bundys ranch, the militiamen established Liberty Camp. They spoke of Bundy as a modern-day hero of the west, a true-grit cowboy, defiant and free.

Soon a crowd of Bundyites numbering in the hundreds shut down a freeway in both directions, their rifles trained on federal officers gathered behind a line of SUVs. The standoff continued for two hours until the government backed down.

By the morning of 13 April, officials announced that due to threats to public safety it would immediately cease the removal of Bundys cattle herd.

Two years later, the Bundy clan, with Clivens son Ammon Bundy in the lead, memorably stormed and occupied the Malheur national wildlife refuge in Oregon, holding it at gunpoint for 40 days, again in protest of federal environmental regulations and the alleged oppression of local ranchers.

With Ammon were members of the Three Percenters and Oath Keepers, armed to the teeth. Federal law enforcement treated them with kid gloves, while Ammon promised a violent response if authorities attempted to remove his crew. The FBI stood back, afraid, and waited Ammon out. Federal authorities allowed the Bundyite militiamen to come and go from the refuge as they pleased, arguing as government officials would later explain that any confrontation would lead to bloodshed. The occupiers were even allowed to receive mail.

Meanwhile, federal employees who worked at Malheur and lived in the nearby town of Burns were being stalked. Having got hold of their street addresses, Ammons militiamen wandering in and out of the government facility they had occupied at gunpoint went door to door issuing threats to the employees, telling them not to return to the refuge. Burns became a terrorized town. At least one Malheur employee was targeted for kidnapping. The refuges 17 employees, traumatized, fled the area, living at government expense in hotels across the state for weeks, a relocation effort that cost taxpayers $2m.

The question lingered of how law enforcement might have acted at Malheur if it had been seized by Black Panthers. Or, more appropriately, by militiamen representing the native and historically oppressed Paiutes.

The siege ended in the death of one occupier, and the arrests of a dozen perpetrators, but in the end, not one member of the Bundy clan was successfully prosecuted, and only a few associates of the militia groups that backed them went to jail.

Today, on the public lands around Bunkerville, Cliven Bundys cows continue to roam freely, trampling the fragile desert landscape, and he has yet to pay the fines he owes. Cliven won with the help of the same militiamen who stormed the Capitol.

As Molvar of the Western Watersheds Project observed: The rarity of arrests and indictments, and the botched prosecutions, that followed in the wake of these acts of terrorism in the west sent a message that law enforcement will turn a blind eye to alt-right lawlessness by overwhelmingly white perpetrators.

In this analysis, years of selective law enforcement have privileged politically motivated crimes from the extreme right against government agencies, public lands and public property. And this has enabled and empowered militant rightwingers like the Bundys, the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers to act with impunity.

Cheerleading the attack on the Capitol from afar, Cliven Bundy had this to say: At Bundy Ranch, we had a job to do, go get it done, and We the People went forward and finished the job.

He added: Today President Trump had hundreds of thousands of people and he pointed the way pointed towards Congress and nodded his head go get the job done.

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Capitol attackers have long threatened violence in rural American west - The Guardian

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. As Congress prepared to affirm President-elect Joe Bidens victory, thousands of people gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo by John Minchillo)

After the attack on the U.S. Capitol Wednesday by right-wing Trump loyalists, something that kept coming into our minds at Berkeley News and that has been echoed by Americans across the nation is that if anyone other than a privileged, predominantly white group of people had stormed the Capitol, the response by law enforcement and other officials would have been much different likely much more violent and extreme.

In the past few years, we have seen overblown, brutal reactions by law enforcement to protesters fighting for their civil rights during the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, the Native American protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the protests by people with disabilities when the Trump administration was poised to eliminate Medicaid. And there are countless other examples from throughout history.

Berkeley News spoke with three scholars Nazune Menka, a tribal cultural resources policy fellow at Berkeley Law; Denise Herd, associate professor of behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health and associate director of Berkeleys Othering and Belonging Institute; and Katie Savin, a Ph.D. candidate in education in the School of Social Welfare about how the attack on the Capitol is a symptom of the larger problem of white supremacy and how we need to embrace our common humanity to move forward as a nation.

Nazune Menka is a tribal cultural resources policy fellow at Berkeley Law. (Photo courtesy of Nazune Menka)

Nazune Menka: Something I found myself saying in 2020 is, Im not shocked, but I am shook. As an Indigenous person, the lens that I view the world through is colored so drastically different from the white lens. For example, Im still trying to learn my Indigenous language that was stripped away from my ancestors through forced Western education, so trying to understand what it is that white supremacists are up in arms about its irreconcilable. Indigenous people are fighting for land back and the simple right to relearn our languages again after centuries of oppression. I cant understand their level of anger.

The United States was founded on racist ideologies and genocide.

Christianity was extremely racist, as was the Doctrine of Discovery, which was used as an excuse to legitimize the taking of Indigenous land. Colonial and imperialist countries convinced themselves it was their divine, God-given right to colonize and Christianize Indigenous peoples. These were the foundational tenets that allowed the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the taking of land.

In trying to understand why the siege on the Capitol occurred, I believe that the shift to more progressive policies, more diverse political representation in Congress, and the growing middle class of BIPOC individuals has some individuals afraid that their last little bit of white privilege is going to be stripped away. It felt like we were witnessing the last bastion of white supremacy rear its ugly head on Wednesday.

Denise Herd is an associate professor of behavioral sciences in the School of Public Health and associate director of Berkeleys Othering and Belonging Institute.(UC Berkeley School of Public Health photo)

Denise Herd: It was unnerving to see iconic representations of American democracy under siege, and people coming in attempting to harm members of Congress. That they were able to do it just wholesale was mind-boggling.

But theres a real white supremacy link here.

There have been a lot of law and order campaigns against Black and other people of color in this country, and also so many things done in the name of preventing terrorism. Campaigns that have painted Muslim Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans and other people of color as threats to our country.

Trump was building a wall to supposedly keep out criminals, but we have criminals right there in the Capitol doing things that are unimaginable in a sophisticated, modern Western nation. So, that, to me, is incredibly disturbing.

Katie Savin is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Social Welfare. (UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare photo by Alli Yates)

Katie Savin: It seemed like they were playing protest like they were going through the motions of what protesters do, yet it wasnt real. I tried to understand what I was watching through the lens of all of the times Ive found myself in front of a police line, marching, holding up signs or chanting. Where was the fear in the eyes of these people who nonchalantly stopped for selfies with police?

I realized that it was not like civil disobedience Id partaken in, because two essential pieces of civil disobedience were missing: There was no real strategy, and there was no sense that the people involved were making a (calculated) trade-off that they were trading their personal safety for a higher purpose. There seemed to be absolutely no risk to their safety whatsoever, which, in a twisted way, made this a very low-stakes event.

Menka: In my mind, its about property and power, and views of threat to property and power. Capitalism is about extracting natural resources for personal profit. Ive seen a shift in the past four years, but also decades the shift towards valuing money and profit and capitalism over humanity. Its a trend thats been occurring for centuries.

In 2016 and 2017, we saw what the police response was to the Dakota Access Pipeline and water protectors. The use of water cannons and rubber bullets on peaceful people at the Water Protector Camp was reminiscent of the police treatment of activists during the civil rights movement in the South.

Berkeley News is examining racial justice in America in a new series of stories.

This summer, we saw what the police response was to the Black Lives Matter movement. The protests that were happening were largely calm. They were respectful, peaceful protests. People came in from out of town to counterprotest, and thats where the clashing and violence came from. I dont think that any of the violence this summer was at the behest of the Black Lives Matter movement. I think quite the opposite these events were targeted to skew the optics in the media to basically demonize people of color even further. Thinking about this in contrast to the police response at the Capitol is heartbreaking to me.

Herd: There is a long history of anti-Black structural racism in American society. Law enforcement has been part of a system that has oppressed people of color and Black people: upholding the system of white supremacy.

Race riots historically have been about police brutality, and that history is filled with instances where Black people were lynched, run out of town and told they were going to be killed. Theres also been this racial terror from groups like the Ku Klux Klan that overlaps with policing forces.

We know that African Americans and other people of color are four or five times more likely to be arrested by the police, and theyre much more likely to be killed. So, we already have a structure in which theyre being targeted as individuals in the society with more police killings, more injuries, more arrests, much more mass incarceration: Thats the backdrop.

So, collectively, youve got the potential for police to act on Black groups of people or protesters in the same way that it happens individually for Black people and other people of color in their communities. That excessive force and police brutality is not seen as prevalent against white people.

Savin: While the militant mob was still taking selfies with Capitol Police inside of the building, I touched base with a disabled friend with whom I had participated in civil disobedience in 2017 when the Trump administration was poised to eliminate Medicaid. We reminisced about how our plans to stage a sit-in in a Reno courthouse, targeting a senator of Nevada, were temporarily thwarted when police came to stop us before wed even finished unloading our small crew of disabled people from the wheelchair-accessible van.

Apparently, they had found online chatter about the event, saw a wheelchair-accessible van full of people carrying posters and (rightly) assumed we were there to protest. We were easily and immediately othered and physically barred from entering the building. We had to advocate for our rights to enter a public building before we could even begin to protest.

How, we wondered together on Wednesday, was this much more visible and much more violent group carrying out this much more plainly and publicly planned event in an area with triple the security presence, not stopped as we had been? There was really only one reasonable answer: The security forces did not want to stop this group. They were not directed to do so. That was never their job.

Menka: We need a better education system. I think our education system has failed. Were not teaching the truth and history of this country. People are allowing themselves to think that white privilege doesnt exist that were over it, were past that. When you start looking at the policies and laws that the government has used to oppress the other, whoevers not in at the time, when we look at these systems, we should ask ourselves, How do we make one another human to one another? To do that, we need to face the truth and history of this country that we are on stolen land, and that slavery built this country, and that capitalism continues to extract and pollute Indigenous lands. When we dehumanize each other, it allows for any amount of hateful crimes to be committed with a blind eye turned.

There are ways forward, but that truth and that healing isnt going to come without some sort of reckoning. And I think were in the midst of that now.

Also, we cant allow for the criminalization of protesters. When states start passing laws that put property and infrastructure over people and the well-being of the local community, thats a problem. Thats something that policymakers need to take a hard look at. I think theres tons of model legislation the United Nations has really great human rights efforts underway. That leadership is what we need because, you know, the U.N. was created after World War II and the rise of Nazism. I mean, were still fighting that, in the sense that white supremacy and racism are still very prevalent.

Herd: I think its going to be important to try to get down to the human level and address some of the pain that people are in. And I think its been very difficult because of misinformation and the spread of lies: People are not well-informed.

I think the new administration is really going to be trying to bridge some of the divide and work on some of the real core problems that weve got in the country. I think one of the biggest core problems that we have right now is were in a pandemic, and building bridges around those kinds of things is going to be necessary.

With that kind of focus on taking care of people, and coming together in terms of all of us having some of the same basic rights, will be very helpful.

Menka: Clearly, there should have been more security. I mean, if the president of the United States is supporting these people, saying he loves them, why is he going to send in the National Guard? So, that was a failure at the highest level, as was the lack of leadership from federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security.

The response was slow, but when they did move them out, yes, that was the way to do it right to slowly walk forward to clear the area. It was a very metered response for people who were behaving like that I mean, literal terrorists. I couldnt believe it. They were armed, they had homemade bombs. You cannot have a conversation about Wednesday without talking about race.

Herd: I think its terrorism. They need to definitely be deterred and be treated according to what the law says. There are penalties for defacing public property, there are penalties for attacking other people and for threatening violence under those sorts of circumstances. But this was even worse because its a group of elected officials.

This wasnt a protest. It was a mob, and it was an attack. So, I think there are penalties that need to be explored, and people need to be arrested, and they need to be charged.

Savin: I dont think that fairness looks like everyone being treated with the violence and repressiveness that BLM protesters, disabled protesters and many groups of marginalized folks experience daily. I think that during this coup, we all were exposed to some of the vulnerability that marginalized groups and individuals experience on a regular basis a vulnerability born out of the realization that security systems are not designed for our safety, but to uphold the status quo of white supremacy and patriarchy and ableism, etc. The issue is that the police are not here to protect everyones safety, they never have been since their origins in the first slave patrols, and they never will in the current system.

Menka: I really want people to read more. I want people to be engaged. I want people to be civically engaged be on city council, to know whats happening on the community level. And I also want us to start caring a little bit more. I dont want us to only have church as our level of community or to only have a university as our level of community. We promote this individualistic idea of what being an American is like we build fences around our houses. Im done with the fences and walls. Those separations, they need to come down. There are ways forward, and one person can make a difference.

Herd: People are going to have to give up structural racism. It doesnt work. Its very, very oppressive to people of color, but it also dilutes people and hurts the body politic. Theres a lot of suffering, and I think the focus needs to be on eliminating that suffering and supporting people and to stop feeding the public lies.

Savin: For many people of color, LGBTQ+ and disabled people, this understanding of police representing selective safety comes from their experiences being targeted. The other side of this coin is what we saw on Wednesday: the safeguarding and shepherding of white people committing criminal acts of violence. I think this can bring us closer to a truth that has existed all along that none of us are safe in a white supremacist police state, that none of us are free until we are all free.

As Americans, let this be yet another reminder of whose lives are most at risk when we call the police, so we might continue to create and demand safer alternatives.

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Why were Trump loyalists allowed to storm the Capitol? - UC Berkeley

By now, the world has witnessed white rioters seize the Capitol building in Washington DC. After hearing Donald Trump encourage them to reject the presidential elections outcome, thousands reportedly pushed through cops to storm ongoing congressional debates and reign supreme over politicians who fearfully scurried out of the halls of power. Draped in American, Confederate, and Trump flags, the raiders invaded the House floor, occupied representative offices, and filled balconies and scaffolds that line the windows. Joe Biden took to a podium to respond, cautioning the country that our democracy is under unprecedented assault.

On television, I saw paramedics rush a stretcher in the pandemonium. The woman bearing a bloodied face laying on top startled me, the anchor, and the cameraman. Please God, dont let that woman be dead, I prayed, though her eyes lacked an animating essence. When I saw the video of the Proud Boys burn a Black Lives Matter banner a few weeks ago, I knew there would be more violent acts of desperation because they need a cause to feel empowered. Envying the resistance of the oppressed, Trump supporters want reasons to march and chant, so they create enemies and feign vulnerability as their cause grows lost. They sacrificed their lives to save white supremacy, even though it threatens them, too, materially and morally. And Black lives may never matter to people, like the woman, who will risk their own white lives during a pandemic to attack the nations capital to protect Donald Trump.

A senior Capitol police officer reportedly shot and killed her. But even the police shooting of the Trump supporter did not immediately catalyze significant law enforcement action to stop the conservative Caucasian invasion. Later, I watched a group of unmasked white men and women chase down a Black law enforcement agent who wielded only a stick in return. I was angry. Not because I felt bad for the cop, but because in that moment, I watched him realize that he was Black, outnumbered, and per the Dred Scott supreme court decision, had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.

Wednesday was a reminder of one difference between white rebellion to feigned oppression and Black resistance to actual oppression: where there is radical Black resistance, there is state repression. Where there is white rebellion for conservative causes, there is collusion with the state. Even when the white cops are outnumbered, like the McKinney, Texas, cops who assaulted Dajerria Becton in her swimsuit, they escalate; he just pulled the gun out on Black teens who came to her rescue. Police have stomped, beat, shot, teargassed, and arrested protesters who organize, march, pray and sing for our multi-racial liberation movements. Including me. Yet on Wednesday, activists and bystanders knew damn well that if the election refusers who raided the Capitol were Black, then the same politicians who kneeled for George Floyd and painted yellow Black lives matter letters onto the streets would have sent the full force of the law to stop it.

However, calling for the police to treat white election-outcome deniers like they treat Black people fighting for social justice misses the purpose and function of police, which is largely to manage inequality. No parity exists for these protesters. When the political activist Bree Newsome scaled a pole to pull down the Confederate flag following the Charleston Massacre in 2015, a diverse pair of cops promptly arrested her. On Wednesday, police stood by as the Capitol raiders scaled a window to replace the United States flag with Trumps. White rowdy groups like this do not threaten the fundamentally racist, militarist, and capitalist foundation of the country; they are molded by it. So local and federal government usually let them have their way, from raiding and occupying federal property in Oregon, to massive biker shootouts that killed nine people in Texas; from the Oathkeepers militia group patrol in Missouri, to the militia groups that police thanked in Wisconsin, right before Kyle Rittenhouse did when he killed two men.

Trumpism is the predominant paradigm that accounts for the current capitol siege. Trump is obviously to blame for the most recent events. But only partly. I even forget this sometimes. Last year, I shared a story about an anti-immigration rally that I counter-protested in college. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Kris Kobach were the headline speakers. White Republicans filled the packed Kansas auditorium, angry that they were losing their country to Mexicans that colonizers forced further south. Each speakers xenophobic and racist rhetoric was so violent and familiar that I finally said, It was like a Trump rally, seven years before he took office.

What racial justice activists make plain in the spectacle of Trumpism, law and order, and white nationalism is the violent failure of liberals and conservatives to foster any real democracy within these borders. Most of Americas violence is mundane and happens on the floors that were taken over by rioters. Just last week, Congress issued meager $600 pandemic relief checks to people facing widespread hunger, eviction, unemployment, disease and distress. There were no riots. Senate Republicans refused to raise the relief to $2,000 but rallied bipartisan support to override Trumps veto of a nearly $800bn military budget. Biden, the president-elect, has veto dreams of his own. If Congress passes universal healthcare during the deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden will kill the bill. Unless we organize, there will be little resistance.

Trump refuses the legitimate election results, which is staunchly anti-democratic. However, the legitimate election results are also anti-democratic. The financial and social costs to run for most offices run high, though less violent than stealing an election or staging a coup. Candidates spent $14bn alone on advertising for the 2020 election cycle, and at nearly $1bn, the most recent Georgia special and runoff senate elections were the most expensive of any state in history. Democrats presented two billionaires and five millionaires as presidential candidates last year. The race, gender and sexual orientation diversity of the field obscured the desperate need for wealth redistribution, campaign finance reform and publicly funded elections. But without resistance, many of us celebrate the few people who overcome the barriers, and carry the our ancestors fought and died for this right card in our pockets, all the way to our own graves.

And while witnesses are now championing for DC police to quiet and quell the white riots tonight, Muriel Bowser, the mayor, will have additional support to secure the tens of millions in police overtime pay that will be most practiced on the Black and brown residents in the city. Why would a Black mayor concede to defunding the police when she can be celebrated nationally for renaming a plaza Black lives matter?

Ousting Trump is a good start to changing the Oval Office. But changing the president only changes the spectacle; the mundane violence will remain. As much as we ought to condemn the nationalists outside the walls of Congress, we must continue to organize against the politicians inside who maintain the racist, capitalist, and militaristic agendas that wreak their destruction beneath the galleries away from the cameras, away from the scrutiny, and away from the rest of us who actually have good reason fill up the streets.

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Look at the Capitol Hill rioters. Now imagine if they had been black - The Guardian

by Steve SweeneyInternational editor

FOREIGN governments have been urged to delist the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as a terrorist organisation amid fears that the state plans to use new legislation to crush opposition groups.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) issued the appeal weeks after the CPP and its armed wing, the New PeoplesArmy (NPA), were outlawed under oppressive new anti-terror legislation introduced by the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

An NDFP statement said: We denounce this malicious misdesignation of the CPP and NPA.

The party and the NPA are revolutionary organisations waging a national liberation struggle. The Filipino peoples armed resistance has long been recognised by domestic and foreign entities as a legitimate struggle against foreign and local oppression.

Formed in 1973, the NDFP is a coalition of revolutionary organisations,including trade unions andindigenous rights groups,which unites those fighting for national freedom and for the democratic rights of the people, according to its founding statement.

It is seen as the political wing of the CPP and had been involved in peace talks with the Duterte government in a bid to bring about an end to the decades-long conflict which has seen more than 40,000 people killed.

The NDFP warned that the government is preparing a heightened suppression drive to crack down on and potentially ban mass organisations, humanrights groups, political parties and non-governmental organisations.

The Philippines government insisted that it was necessary to designate the CPP as a terrorist organisation due to its inclusion on the terror lists of the United States, the European Union andNew Zealand, as well as Australia and Britain.

But the NDFP claimed that this is erroneous as the latter two countries do not list the CPP as a terrorist organisation and the others have not requested that the Philippines government does so.

It said it would be just and wise for the few governments that define the CPP and NPA as terrorist organisations to delist them.

It insisted that the groupsadhere to international standards on human rights and the humanitarian conduct of war.

They are against terrorism and have never engaged in any act of terrorism which is directed against innocent civilians and the people. There is not a single act of terrorism abroad that can charged against the CPP and NPA, its statement said.

The NDFP called for international solidarity and urged people to raise their voices and amplify the Filipino peoples demand to end the reign of tyranny and state terrorism.

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Governments urged to remove Communist Party of Philippines from terror list ahead of feared crackdown - Morning Star Online

Re: " Keeping people safe is not religious persecution ," letter, Dec. 17) Dear editor, Bravo to Les Miller for starting a conversation about civil liberties and how that relates to a crisis like COVID-19.

Re: "Keeping people safe is not religious persecution," letter,Dec. 17)

Dear editor,

Bravo to Les Miller for starting a conversation about civil liberties and how that relates to a crisis like COVID-19.I had a couple of issues with what he wrote, however.

My first issue relates to his statement that "everyone is free to have their beliefs in their own hearts and their own homes."If everyone is free to keep their beliefs to themselves, then why write in to publicly share his beliefs? It's interesting that he thinks it is perhaps the "fringe" groups who should keep their thoughts to themselves.

Second, to the comment, "No government in any western democracy...has in the last nine months told any person from any faith group that they're no longer allowed to believe what they believe." I think the disagreements come from the fact that some governments (for example inBritish Columbia) have shut down places of worship altogether, while allowing similarly-populated indoor venues, like bars andrestaurants, to continue operating.Many faith groups assert that worship services are "essential." While their freedom of worship and assembly is codified in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the writer seems to think it a light matter for governmentsto infringe on this right. In reality, it is only one of the many fundamental rights that we all enjoy every day.

Whether our governments follow their mandate to respect our rights and freedoms is something we all need to monitor constantly and defend where necessary.So please, let's be careful of downplaying some people's concerns over freedoms just because they may not specifically be our own.Oppression of "fringe groups" may just be the very first symptom of a government becoming indifferent to the democratic principles this country was founded on.It is everyone's responsibility to ensure our hard-won freedoms are preserved, and that our great country remains glorious and free.

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Letter: Hard-won religious freedoms must be respected - Airdrie Today

SAN DIEGO Immigrant rights advocates moved for a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administrations latest attempt to circumvent an earlier court order prohibiting the government from applying an asylum ban to people who had to wait in Mexico because U.S. Customs and Border artificially limited the number of asylum seekers it would allow to enter the United States at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Asylum Ban rule being pushed through in the final days of the Trump administration can have life or death consequences for affected refugees. The thousands of individuals subject to the Asylum Ban face a much higher burden to gain protection in the United States, and in most cases remain permanently separated from family members still living in perilous circumstances in their home countries. We will continue to fight to ensure that refugees who have already suffered from being turned away from ports of entry are not also prejudiced by this illegal asylum ban, said Erika Pinheiro, litigation and policy director of Al Otro Lado.

While our nation is in chaos and thousands of Americans are dying every day, the Trump administration is desperately trying to override a court order to deny asylum seekers their legal rights, said Melissa Crow, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Centers (SPLC) Immigrant Justice Project. In its final days the administration published a final asylum ineligibility rule that is functionally identical to an interim rule that the court previously prohibited the government from applying to individuals subject to metering before it took effect. This outrageous conduct flouts basic principles of separation of powers.

On December 17 the government issued the final asylum ineligibility rule, which is set to go into effect on January 19.

In its dying days, the Trump administration has launched another attack on asylum seekers and the rule of law by issuing a new final asylum ban regulation that is substantively identical to a prior version of an interim asylum ban which the courts have found unlawful, said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. This emergency motion seeks to protect the integrity of a courts prior ruling and thousands of asylum seekers who might be vulnerable to this latest attack.

A federal court has ordered relief for individuals who were made to wait to seek asylum because of the administrations metering policy. The government may not withhold those protections simply because it does not agree with the ruling. The emergency motion seeks to protect these asylum seekers from this latest attempt to deny them access to the U.S. asylum process, said Karolina Walters, staff attorney at the American Immigration Council.

The case was originally brought by Al Otro Lado, a binational social justice legal services organization serving deportees, migrants, and refugees in Tijuana, Mexico, and a group of 13 asylum seekers who were turned away from ports of entry. They are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Immigration Council, and the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP.

The filing can be viewed here.

For more information, visit Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, and American Immigration Council.

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Al Otro Lado provides cross-border legal and humanitarian services to deportees, refugees, migrants in detention, and families separated by unjust immigration laws. Al Otro Lado also employs impact litigation and policy advocacy to promote systemic changes that protect immigrants rights. Learn more at alotrolado.org and follow us on social media for updates: Al Otro Lado on Facebook, and @alotrolado_org on Twitter and Instagram.The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org. Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on social media: Center for Constitutional Rights on Facebook, @theCCR on Twitter, and ccrjustice on Instagram.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Alabama with offices in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. For more information, see http://www.splcenter.org and follow us on social media: Southern Poverty Law Center on Facebook and @splcenter on Twitter.

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance changelitigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. Follow the latest Council news and information on ImmigrationImpact.com and Twitter @immcouncil.

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Immigrant Rights Advocates Ask Court to Block Trump Administration Attempt to Thwart Court Order - Southern Poverty Law Center