Thread by @ResistLine3

We stand with water protectors fighting the Line 3 pipeline, many of whom have been criminalized for their role in the movement. Today we're uplifting the words of Alisha from the so-called American Midwest, who's facing felony and misdemeanor charges.

This is her story. 🧵

"Cops in Minnesota tortured me while I was protesting Line 3. The torture method the officers used is called “pain compliance” and is nothing but brutalization at the hands of the state to try to stop protestors from continuing to exercise their rights."

"The state of MN charged me with felony theft, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The greed, corruption, and destruction present in the fossil fuel industry seems unfathomable on the daily but it is very much a reality, and one I will continue to fight."

"I joined the fight to stop line 3 after watching it fought online for over a year. I was heartbroken, but not surprised, by the lack of care for the people, the water, and the earth. The government was going against its own treaties and its own climate research for what?"

"All I saw was the further destruction and limiting of Indigenous lands and sovereignty, the further desecration of our earth for rich companies to become richer while keeping poor communities poor, and all while accelerating the climate crisis!"

" I had protested locally before and assisted at actions as a street medic, but last summer I decided I needed to do the right thing and get personally involved in trying to stop line 3."

"Fighting the state through direct action is very personal. If it weren't for history, it'd seem unbelievable that the state allowed cops to brutalize residents for oil. They knew what was happening and let cops injure Indigenous leaders and water protectors to guard oil money."

"State violence takes so many devastating forms in the so-called USA and they are all connected by the state’s settler colonial mindset and the state’s inability to care about people over profit."

"If you’re reading this you shouldn’t need any more evidence of why it is past time to fight for a world without pipelines and cops, a world where land is given back to Indigenous peoples, a world full of reciprocity with the earth and people. You are needed in this fight."

"Support Indigenous & Black water protectors whenever you are able. The fights for water & land rights are ever ongoing, educate yourself on the present fights and help as you are able, there are so many ways to be involved."

Defendants like Alisha are facing multiple felony charges for having the courage to stand up against extractive, colonial infrastructure.

We owe it to them to fight to get those charges dropped. #DropL3Charges

Sign the petition: bit.ly/Drop-The-Charg…