Midwest People's History

The Midwest People's History Project is an ongoing chronicle of moments when ordinary people got organized and made history.

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Spidey parade when

[Suzie rizzio @Suzierizzo1]

Minneapolis Spiderman pleaded not guilty to fifth degree misdemeanor assault for punching Jake Lang. His lawyer claimed self defense & the defense of others because the people of Minnesota have a right to defend themselves from dangerous people like Jake Lang & his sidekicks.

[Vitalist International @VitalistInt]

High school walk out in Denver where a student correctly told locals news “We are living on stolen land and borders are imaginary lines, and to see such horrible people do such horrible things is just so sickening.”

When a pro-ICE reactionary confronted them, the kids beat ass.

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Let them fight

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Ope

[Big Nasty ☭ @keepaustinnasty]

They’re stealing from you, G.I.
They don’t care about you, G.I.
Frag your commanding officer, G.I.

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Nobody is coming to save us, so let’s help each other.

https://t.co/Y9Ga6U7FXv

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

NIPSCO and the state of Indiana have abandoned the people of Gary

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

"HSI looks for a conspiracy and when it doesn’t find it, it redoubles its efforts on the assumption that the conspiracy is so deep, the operation security so strong, that it can’t be found. It is a bureaucratic gift that keeps on giving."

https://t.co/ImTb5RKFfx

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Let them fight

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Ope

[Peter Harrell @petereharrell]

US sanctions this morning against an Italian IT developer that provides communications apps and internet hosting services to far-left, violent activists appears designed to be a perfect text case for the "personal communications" exception to IEEPA, the U.S. sanctions law.

1. According to the designation materials, the group, "Autistici/Inventati," "builds and operates the digital infrastructure for violent Antifa cells and other far-left militants," including secure email services, web-hosting, and video-conferencing services. The US gov't alleges that violent groups in both Europe and the US have used its services.

2. IEEPA, the underlying statutory basis for the sanctions, includes the "Berman Amendments," which were designed to protect the free flow of information and ideas. Among other provisions, these amendments stipulate that the President may not use IEEPA to "regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly...any postal, telegraphic, telephonic, or other personal communication, which does not involve a transfer of anything of value...." or the "importation from any country, or the exportation to any country, whether commercial or otherwise, regardless of format or medium of transmission, of any information or informational materials...."

3. Autistici/Inventati's website states that it relies solely on donations for financial support, e.g., does not charge its customers. If that is true, it would appear that U.S. activists using Autistici/Inventati services would be using its services to without "a transfer of anything of value."

4. Back in 2020, when Trump invoked IEEPA to ban the distribution of TikTok, several courts enjoined the ban based on the Berman Amendments as well as the First Amendment.

5. There is a fascinating potential lawsuit out there about whether IEEPA sanctions can, in fact, bar the U.S. distribution or use of Autistici/Inventati services. My instinct is, based on the TikTok (and also WeChat) precedents from 2020, courts would probably enjoin a purported ban, though none of the 2020 litigation ever made it above a District Court level, so we don't really know how appeals courts will interpret this issue.

6. An expansive judicial interpretation of the Berman amendments could have broader implications on, e.g., the extent to which IEEPA could be used to regulate AI models, etc.

7. Even if a court ruled that Americans can still use Autistici/Inventati's products, it might uphold the designation of the Autistici/Inventati itself (e.g., the asset freeze), just that while the U.S. can freeze Autistici/Inventati's assets, it can't prevent Americans from using the services.

8. Of course, if the courts rule that the Berman Amendments are narrow and that this action can prohibit U.S. use of Autistici/Inventati services, then the government could start prosecuting U.S. members of far-left activist groups that use its services for violating the sanctions.

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

"HSI looks for a conspiracy and when it doesn’t find it, it redoubles its efforts on the assumption that the conspiracy is so deep, the operation security so strong, that it can’t be found. It is a bureaucratic gift that keeps on giving."

https://t.co/ImTb5RKFfx

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Also this one, also vetted

https://t.co/Fr0tVpP7ot

[Charles H. Kerr (locked out) @kerrbooks]

Grateful that @MutualAidRelief is organizing to support autonomous relief efforts in Gary.

[Stardust and root @rootchanj]

Gary,IN mutual aid

[Ill Will @illwilleditions]

Gilles Deleuze's overlooked writings on Palestine offer a general paradigm for political individuation. However, as Pasquale Liguori argues, recovering them demands that we break the peace of the guilty, which “modulates genocide and calls it law.”
https://t.co/Iin1uWqdsu

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Also this one, also vetted

https://t.co/Fr0tVpP7ot

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

NIPSCO and the state of Indiana have abandoned the people of Gary

[Midwest People's History @MPHProject]

Nobody is coming to save us, so let’s help each other.

https://t.co/Y9Ga6U7FXv