Lessons on Civil Disobedience from Modern Environmental Justice Movements

Event Description:

Join the National Lawyers Guild and Climate Defense Project for a discussion on the use of civil disobedience over the past decade of environmental activism. From pipeline protests to tree-sits to construction sites, activists have engaged in creative methods to disrupt projects causing environmental destruction. Learn from attorneys and organizers about the role of civil disobedience tactics in recent movement history, rights and risks associated with such actions, and the importance of solidarity!

Speakers:

• Kira Kelley
  • Bio:  Kira (they/she) is a part-time staff attorney at the Climate Defense Project and a part time unaffiliated organizer/trainer/lawyer. For the past dozen years or so, Kira has been learning from and working with people and movements across the country who fight coal plants, pipelines, mines, landlords, white supremacists, borders, police violence, and other forms of corporate/state repression.
• Claire Glenn
  • Bio: Claire Glenn is staff attorney at the Climate Defense Project, where she represents people criminalized for their advocacy and activism related to the climate, environmental justice, and Indigenous sovereignty.  Claire started her litigation career as a public defender in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and then in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and remains committed to providing a better defense than money can buy.  Before coming to CDP, she was the Attorney-Fellow for the Line 3 Defense Project of the Civil Liberties Defense Center and Water Protector Legal Collective, where she represented Water Protectors targeted by the State of Minnesota for resisting Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline.  
• Ayeola Omolara Kaplan
  • Bio: Ayeola Omolara Kaplan is a Black and queer Atlanta based pop-surrealist painter. Through depicting the intersections of identity, class, and spirituality, She hopes to contribute to the moving canon of revolutionary art. Ayeola believes that her art paired with meaningful direct actions can help shift the current paradigm into a revolutionary one.
• Moderator: Xavier T. de Janon (he/him)
  • Bio: Xavier is an attorney and organizer who believes in liberation in our lifetime. He has experience with mass defense efforts, particularly from the criminal defense side. Free Victor, drop the charges!