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civil society
Silencing Nonprofit Speech Would Be Another Giveaway to Corporate Power
For-profit industries have enjoyed continuous and ever-growing impunity to advocate for whatever they want, no matter how destructive.
Dec 19, 2024
This fall, shortly after the election, the U.S. House passed a dangerous piece of legislation that many are calling the “nonprofit killer” bill.
The bill has an incongruous title: the “Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.”
Among other things, it would give the Treasury Department the authority to unilaterally accuse nonprofit organizations of supporting “terrorism”—and revoke their nonprofit status. Critics like the ACLU say it’s a blank check for presidents to shut down organizations that criticize them.
Today, not only do corporations have greater means to speak more freely than the rest of us do, they are increasingly grabbing political power to cement their stranglehold.
When the bill was introduced in the spring, it was largely viewed as an effort to silence pro-Palestinian activism. At the time, dozens of House Democrats supported it alongside most Republicans. But after Donald Trump’s White House win, amid fears that the incoming president would use it as a tool to bludgeon his perceived enemies, it passed with significantly less Democratic support.
But really, it should never have been introduced or passed to begin with, no matter the political winds. The bill is considered unlikely to pass the Senate this year, but could be reintroduced next year and signed by President Trump.
This would have a dangerous chilling effect on speech.
Consider the Florida woman Briana Boston, who recently said “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” during a phone call with a health insurance representative after her coverage was denied. It was a reference to what the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson wrote on bullet casings in a now-infamous targeted assassination.
Boston has no history of violence, nor does she own firearms. But she wasn’t only arrested—she was charged with threatening to commit an act of terrorism.
What she was really guilty of was expressing vitriol against corporate CEOs for an inhumane business model. It’s not hard to imagine such a scenario applied to nonprofits in the coming years either.
Nonprofits are effectively the voice of civil society in the United States. And even without HR 9495, they already have severe limits on their speech. In order to keep their nonprofit status, groups have to follow strict guidelines published by the Internal Revenue Service when speaking about elections.
As a journalist who works in the nonprofit world, I’ve seen the resulting self-censorship first hand. Many journalists and nonprofit leaders feared compromising their institutions if they warned about Donald Trump’s fascism, or even criticized Joe Biden over Gaza, ahead of the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, for-profit industries have enjoyed continuous and ever-growing impunity to advocate for whatever they want, no matter how destructive.
For example, the health insurance and fossil fuel industries play with people’s lives by denying coverage and spewing carbon, respectively, but have been given the right to spend enormous amounts of their ill-gotten gains in campaign contributions, putting an outsize thumb on the democratic scale.
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, they have greater means to make anonymous donations to Political Action Committees to lobby government and help elect politicians.
The Supreme Court has long considered corporations to be, in a legal sense, people. In contrast to such abstract entities, we humans can be jailed, silenced, or even killed by corporate-controlled systems—and the nonprofits representing our interests can be officially sanctioned for “political speech.”
Today, not only do corporations have greater means to speak more freely than the rest of us do, they are increasingly grabbing political power to cement their stranglehold.
Trump’s incoming cabinet will likely be filled with billionaires. And his proposed Treasury Secretary pick—who would ostensibly oversee the department making determinations under HR 9495—is a longtime hedge fund investment manager named Scott Bessent. Trump has also openly promised to bend regulations for billionaire investors.
Seen within this context, HR 9495 is not only a danger to civil society’s right to speech—it is a serious escalation in favor of corporations.
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Are You For or Against Self-Government? Full Stop.
Do you favor taking money out of politics or not? Because if you don’t favor taking money out of politics, then you are an outlaw in a self-governing society.
Oct 28, 2024
There are the laws on the books and the laws that ought to be on the books. There are the laws of nature and the laws that are an abomination of nature. And there are the egalitarian laws of self-governance and the authoritarian laws of the oligarchy.
In most presidential elections for the last forty years, there has really only been one issue that should have been the focus of every voter: Do you favor taking money out of politics or not?
All other issues, such as health care, immigration, criminal justice reform, literally saving the planet, are truly secondary because we can’t address any of them while our system of self-governance is paralyzed by legalized oligarchic bribery.
There has only been one issue for forty years, and until we learn to focus on it, we are wasting the precious time we have left to prevent the Earth’s ecosystem from becoming incredibly hostile to civilization as we currently know it.
So, this has been the question: Do you favor taking money out of politics or not? Because if you don’t favor taking money out of politics, then you are an outlaw in a self-governing society. If you don’t favor taking money out of politics, you favor authoritarian oligarchy that says, “we the few can lord it over the rest,” and that justifies its oppression of others with deceitful justification ideologies claiming moral supremacy based on lies to which the commitment can become so strong it drives the liar into psychological self-delusion. And this delusion does not excuse the people who believe their own lies from the crimes they advance based on those lies. As a mass-psychosis, these delusions are driving civilization off a cliff in an absolutely criminal manner. We do the MAGA-mad among us a favor by holding them accountable for their madness before the election so that they don’t rue it after when the consequences may be unbearable.
Don’t let anyone frame the issue in any other way. Use your words to hold people accountable to declare themselves for or against self-government. Any other discussion is a distraction and irrelevant.
So, here’s some accountability: Bat-sh*t crazy or not, if you, like Justice Kennedy, argue that “independent expenditures, including those by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” then you support an agenda that is criminal in the eyes of the laws of self-governance. But in this election, the sickness of authoritarian oligarchy has spread its delusion so extensively throughout society, that the question is no longer even as far removed to the very immediate issue of taking money out of politics. This election season, the question is absolutely direct: Are you for or against self-government? This is the only issue that matters. This time, we have a candidate we know incited insurrection.
This election, that means the accountability we do our people a favor in insisting upon is this: Supreme Court Justice or not, looney-toon self-deluded Billionaire narcissist or not, proud-to-be-a-MAGA-manipulated-lie-swallower or not, if you believe there is justification for Donald Trump’s instigation of the January 6, 2021 insurrection and so cast your vote for him in the presidential election, then you are an abettor of a sacrilege against egalitarian human nature, and you are breaking the code of your own honor, giving your self-governance away like a beast-of-burden kneeling to his yoke in the field.
It does not matter if the corrupt Supreme Court excuses him with phony arguments, insurrectionist Donald Trump is a criminal. He has been accorded every procedural opportunity. The investigations have been multiple, the evidence is overwhelming, and the record of Donald Trump’s lies is also irrefutable. Everyone knows the Republican nominee for the presidency presumed the authority to try to establish himself as President against the people’s exercise of self-government on January 6, 2021. There is no going back from that assault on our democratic process. Donald Trump is an outlaw. People who would vote him back into power are abetting a crime, obstructing justice, and defying the natural order of civil society.
Journalists, in particular—but all of us who favor and believe in self-government as the law of the land, the law of nature, and the law of a moral society—cannot commit the mistake of arguing the merits of every issue out there. As bystanders or participants in the public debate, there is one and only one issue: Do you favor self-government or not?
We see billionaire Elon Musk spreading misinformation to advance Donald Trump’s campaign, we see him giving people million dollar checks at campaign events, and somehow, the press wants to know why Elon Musk says Trump will be better for our nation. That’s not the question. The question is: Mr. Musk, do you favor self-governance or not? Because if you favor self-governance, we will not allow you to deny that Donald Trump is a criminal who broke the law of self-government. You either denounce Trump and demand his prosecution or we take your conduct as an admission that you are a criminal abettor of a known insurrectionist. There is no other option now that you’ve jumped up and down on his stage.
We see billionaire Jeff Bezos afraid that publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris in his newspaper, The Washington Post, might cost him devastating damage if Donald Trump returned to power, and the press wants to talk about the corruption of the press, but that’s not the issue. The issue is this, Mr. Bezos: Do you favor the self-government that allowed you to become so successful or not? Because if you favor self-governance, we will not allow you to deny that Donald Trump is a criminal who irrevocably broke the law of self-government on January 6, 2021, and we will force you to either denounce him in your newspaper as a criminal or we take your silence as an admission that you too are a criminal abettor of a known insurrectionist. You wanted to be a newspaper publisher. Now, you are learning that a publisher has to publish. So publish: Is your allegiance to that law of self-government or are you are a criminal oligarch abetting a fascist lunatic? Staying silent is the wrong answer.
And it is not just billionaires we must hold accountable to the law of self-government. It’s every person who appears on a political news show to discuss the issues. There is only one issue. “Are you for self-government or against it?”
It’s all of your friends: “Are you for self-government or are you against it?”
It’s the family member at your dinner table. “Are you for self-government or against it?”
There is no disputing Donald Trump is an insurrectionist. The 2020 election was not stolen. There is no evidence it was. There never has been any such evidence. Donald Trump knew there was no evidence from the start. He rehearsed his lies even before the election day, anticipating he would lose. He is rehearsing them again now, with the same strategy deliberately in mind. Countless court cases and an extensive congressional investigation make clear: Joe Biden won the election and Donald Trump is an insurrectionist. There is no evidence anywhere that allows for any other conclusion.
And even if there was evidence supporting Trump’s lies, under the law of self-government, he still has to follow the law; he doesn't get to violently take over the Capitol. In the 2000 election, Al Gore conceded the election when the corrupt Supreme Court illegitimately threw it to George W. Bush. Gore recognized, win or lose, he did not have the authority to incite insurrection. Self-government required the people to take action through their peaceful political process. The 2000 election result was an abomination before the law of self-government, but that was the Supreme Court majority’s dishonor and abomination. Al Gore was a law-abiding candidate. He left self-government intact to the people, honorably, dutifully.
The 2020 election result, by contrast, actually abided by the law of self-government. Trump lost and Joe Biden won and became President. But whether Trump won or lost is not the issue today; the issue today is that Trump’s actions in fomenting the January 6, 2021 insurrection make him an enemy of self-government, an outlaw whom a self-governing people cannot allow to hold office.
In the remaining days of this election, we, the law-abiding people who are for self-government, need to be absolutely disciplined, civil, polite, but disciplined, firm, and unsparing in our analysis, keeping the conversation always focused on this one question: Are you in favor of self-government or not?
And if someone at your dinner table tries to assert that Trump had the right to incite violent insurrection or that the rioters were not engaged in violent insurrection or that Trump will be better for America, then, if you want your self-government to survive, you need to insist they answer you when you ask: “Are you for self-government or against it? Have you really thought about what it means to lose self-government? It’s not the same as losing an election; it is losing the vote entirely forever.”
And then you need to tell them:
“There has been ample investigation. The facts are clear. Trump’s lies are clear. Your denial of the facts and commitment to Donald Trump’s lies are not an excuse for you continuing to abet a crime against self-government by voting for an insurrectionist whose criminal actions are widely in evidence. If you stole a car to drive to our house for dinner, I would not simply pass you the potatoes. I tell you now, your vote for Donald Trump is a crime that changes my relationship to you the same way it would if you deliberately sought to hurt my neighbor. You need to respect the law of self-government. Nothing is more basic than that. Wake up.”
Don’t let anyone frame the issue in any other way. Use your words to hold people accountable to declare themselves for or against self-government. Any other discussion is a distraction and irrelevant. Help people understand the choice they are making. They will thank you for it, when they come to their senses.
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Stand Up for Human Rights in Azerbaijan, at COP29 and Beyond
The rare international spotlight on Azerbaijan as it prepares to host COP29 represents a critical opportunity to mark strong concern about its crackdown on independent civil society.
Sep 13, 2024
The following is a statement released by a group of international organizations representing human rights and climate interests on September 11, 2024.
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, movements, groups, and individuals, highlight the urgent need to address serious human rights concerns in Azerbaijan in the lead-up to its hosting this year’s United Nations Climate Conference, or COP29, to be held in Baku from November 11 to 22, 2024.
Azerbaijan’s government has a longstanding and well-documented pattern of repressing independent civil society and silencing critical voices. Hosting an international gathering such as COP29 in this context raises grave concerns about the ability of civil society, including environmental activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, to participate freely and safely before, during, and after the conference.
Robust and rights-respecting climate action requires the full and meaningful participation of civil society in climate negotiations, including the key outcome documents of COP29.
The rare international spotlight on Azerbaijan as it prepares to host COP29 represents a critical opportunity to mark strong concern about its crackdown on independent civil society and press for an end to abuses.
Azerbaijani human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people are behind bars in the country on politically motivated charges. A new wave of detentions is currently under way, with dozens of activists and media figures arrested on baseless, serious criminal charges.
Among those targeted is Gubad Ibadoghlu, a well-known academic and anti-corruption expert who has specialized in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry. Dr. Ibadoghlu was violently arrested on July 23, 2023, and the authorities pressed bogus charges against him involving counterfeit money and distributing extremist religious materials. During his nine-month detention, his chronic health conditions deteriorated sharply as a result of the authorities’ refusal to provide him with adequate medical treatment. Dr. Ibadoghlu is currently under house arrest. If convicted, he could face up to 17 years in prison.
Another emblematic case is that of Anar Mammadli, a prominent human rights defender and a founding member of the recently formed Climate of Justice Initiative, a civil society undertaking that seeks to use COP29 to promote civic space and climate justice in Azerbaijan. Mammadli was arrested on April 29, 2024, amid Azerbaijan’s escalating crackdown on independent voices, and charged with spurious currency smuggling.
At least 18 journalists and other individuals affiliated with Abzas Media, Toplum TV, and Kanal 13, the last remaining independent outlets in Azerbaijan, are either behind bars or otherwise implicated in baseless criminal prosecutions. Just on August 21, authorities arrested Bahruz Samadov, a PhD candidate at Charles University in Prague and a regular contributor to numerous international and regional publications and media, while he was visiting Baku to spend time with his grandmother. Samadov is in pre-trial detention facing treason charges, widely believed to be related to his outspoken peace activism. On July 22, the authorities arrested another researcher, Igbal Abilov, also on spurious treason charges. He, too, remains in pretrial custody.
In his opening address to the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2024, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk highlighted Azerbaijan for specific concern, “urg[ing] the authorities in Azerbaijan to review, in line with international human rights law, all cases of journalists, activists, and other individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” and to immediately release them.
The government of Azerbaijan has to date refused to heed this and numerous, similar calls by its international partners.
Robust and rights-respecting climate action requires the full and meaningful participation of civil society in climate negotiations, including the key outcome documents of COP29. The dire human rights situation in Azerbaijan makes it incumbent on the U.N. Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat and member states to take concrete steps to ensure safe space for diverse civil society participation at COP29. They should ensure that the government of Azerbaijan does not inhibit individuals and groups critical of the government from participating in the conference and that the host government respects the rights of all participants to speak freely and to peacefully assemble inside and outside the conference venue.
This year’s climate conference is the third in a row to take place in an authoritarian country—following Egypt and United Arab Emirates as hosts of, respectively, COP27 and COP28. As highlighted by the U.N. and other independent experts, respect for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and allowing critical voices and the free flow of information, are integral to effectively and meaningfully tackling the climate crisis, and should be a core requirement for hosting events such as COP.
The UNFCCC should set human rights criteria for future COP hosts, including an obligation to realize the rights to freedom of speech and assembly that are preconditions to ensure an ambitious COP outcome. In addition, for this and future climate COPs, the UNFCCC should make host country agreements—which set out arrangements between COP summit organizers and host country authorities—public and accessible in a timely manner, and ensure that they comply with international human rights law.
The UNFCCC and member states should also ensure that interests of the fossil fuel industry do not undermine the credibility and outcome of climate negotiation at COP29 and future COPs.
We urge UNFCCC and member states to press the Azerbaijani government to respect its human rights obligations, including by immediately and unconditionally releasing arbitrarily detained activists and human rights defenders. They should also call on Azerbaijani authorities to implement concrete, measurable, structural reforms, such as amending its laws regulating nongovernmental organizations and media, to ensure that positive changes endure beyond COP29, and put into place mechanisms for follow-up monitoring, to verify that progress is upheld and to enable effective and timely intervention in the event of any backsliding, especially in any cases of retaliation or backlash traceable to engagement in or around the climate talks.
We urge the government of Azerbaijan to uphold its commitments as a member of numerous multilateral organizations and initiatives that have human rights elements, and its obligations as a party to key international human rights treaties, by taking the following steps:
- Immediately and unconditionally release all human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society activists wrongfully held on politically motivated grounds, and drop the bogus charges against them;
- Cease the use of criminal prosecution as a tool to suppress government critics and members of civil society; and
- Lift undue restrictions on civil society by amending laws related to registration and funding of nongovernmental groups and media, bringing them into compliance with international standards and recommendations issued by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.
UNFCCC member states and Secretariat, and other key international actors and organizations, such as the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the World Bank Group, as well as companies with business interests in Azerbaijan, should all stand in firm solidarity with Azerbaijan’s independent civil society.
Many civic actors, at great personal risk, continue to fight for human rights and climate justice in the country and the region. Azerbaijan’s international partners should put their weight behind the calls for specific steps made here, hold Azerbaijan accountable, and help ensure that the government takes them as a matter of urgent priority.
If you or your organization are interested in joining the statement, please complete this form.
Organizations:
Anar Mammadli Campaign to end repression in Azerbaijan
CEE Bankwatch Network
Center for American Progress
Climate Rights International
Committee to Protect Journalists
Crude Accountability
Endangered Scholars Worldwide
European Exchange European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Freedom Now
Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights House Foundation
Human Rights Watch
International Partnership for Human Rights
Natural Resource Governance Institute
New University in Exile Consortium
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Open Contracting Partnership
PEN America
PEN International
People in Need
Publish What You Pay
ReCommon
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Individuals:
Corinna Gilfillan
Simon Taylor, Co-Founder & Director, Hawkmoth
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