Around the world, climate and other environmental protestors are being harassed, attacked, and arrested at an increasing rate. Laws are being passed that levy life-altering prison sentences and fines on protestors arrested near anything deemed “critical infrastructure,” which is defined so broadly it’s hard to find a public space that wouldn’t be near it anymore. Corporations are suing protestors and NGOs, comparing protest to organized crime. Governments are growing increasingly comfortable branding environmental protestors as “domestic terrorists” or instruments of “foreign influence,” and going after the nonprofit status of environmental nonprofits. And so far the media is largely participating in the rhetorical “othering” of protestors, opting in most cases to focus on the disruption that protest causes rather than the change it seeks, and to marginalize activists. In this print and audio series we’ll take an in-depth look at how climate protest has evolved in recent years, where this backlash is coming from, how it’s grown so quickly, and what it feels like to be someone who’s concerned enough about the future of humanity to join a protest, only to find themselves facing police violence and several years in jail.
We’ve worked with reporters on almost every continent to cover this trend from as many angles as possible and trace how particular tactics and ideas have spread across borders. The result is more than two dozen print and audio stories that we’ll be releasing over the next several months.
Podcast season
DOCUMENTS FROM THIS INVESTIGATION
S10 Real Free Speech Threat Documents
Documents related to Drilled’s 2023-2024 investigation into the global crackdown on climate protest.
Articles
An Indigenous Activist was Accused of Trying to Run Over a Cop. Body Cam Footage Shows What Really Happened
Nick Tilsen, founder of NDN Collective, spent nearly four years fighting felony charges that he says were politically motivated.
A Love Letter to Human Rights Defenders
As she wraps up her six-year stint as UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor gives us an exit interview.
Enbridge paid police to protect one pipeline. Now it wants to do it again in Wisconsin.
The Bad River Band is fighting to stop Line 5 and protect its watershed. Meanwhile, local sheriffs are already tallying the cost of riot gear.
Climate Cases
In the U.S., the response to climate litigation is often “who cares when this Supreme Court is ultimately going to knock it back anyway?” And the answer is simple: discovery. Discovery is a term that describes the fact-finding phase of civil litigation. During the discovery phase, lawyers can access primary documents, depose current and former…
EU vs. US Courts Face Off on Free Speech
A landmark anti-SLAPP case underway in the EU could result in a European court verdict declaring Energy Transfer’s suit against Greenpeace legal harassment even as the company seeks to collect a $666 settlement from the environmental nonprofit in the U.S.
Records Show U.S. Steel Giant Nucor Retained Ties to a Honduran Mine as Assassinations of Opponents Mounted
Advocates call for stronger due diligence from corporations, with a sixth opponent of the Inversiones Los Pinares mine killed.
In Canada, Another Call for Criminalizing Climate Protest
In a new report, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy calls on Canada to follow in the U.K.’s footsteps, falsely connecting climate protest to traffic-related deaths.
In Backlash to Campus Pro-Palestine Protests, Echoes of Standing Rock and the Global Crackdown on Climate Protest
The use of militarized police and “antiterrorism” laws against activists is not new in the U.S.
Ugandan Government Targets Youth, Students in Crackdown on EACOP Protests
Police violence and increased prison sentences are becoming more common as the Ugandan government attempts to suppress opposition to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
How the Backlash to Climate Protest Laid the Groundwork for What We’re Seeing in U.S. Cities Today
It’s easy to feel like climate “doesn’t matter” as the U.S. descends into fascism. It matters more than ever.
How the U.S. Got the World to View Environmentalists as “Terrorists”
The finale of our Real Free Speech Threat season.
Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured “EcoTerrorist” Panic, and Cop City
The U.S. government’s ever-expanding definition of what constitutes an “ecoterrorist” continues to drive repression of protest
How Think Tanks Laid the Groundwork to Criminalize Protest
It’s no coincidence that the backlash against climate protest looks the same from country to country. Not only is industry sharing tactics across borders, but also a global network of more than 500 think tanks have been swapping strategies and rhetoric for decades.
Australia’s State-by-State Approach to Criminalizing Climate Protest
How a push to protect coal led to a nationwide crackdown on climate protest.
How Canada Uses ‘Redwashing’ To Crack Down On Indigenous Pipeline Protesters
In an attempt to neutralize pipeline protests from First Nations groups, Canadian industry organizations and think tanks have devised a strategy to court First Nations pipeline allies, a tactic known as “redwashing.”
Judge Grants Restraining Order Against Minnesota County Sheriff in Line 3 Fight
The judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office from blocking vehicular access to Namewag Camp, an Indigenous woman and two-spirit-led camp opposing Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline.
Indigenous Water Protectors, Allies Protesting Line 3 First Ever To Be Cited under Obscure County Ordinance in Minnesota
Opponents to Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline expansion project in Minnesota have filed a lawsuit against Hubbard County for blockading access to an Indigenous-led camp and convergence space.
