DoomsdaysCW<p>Protecting <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Activists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Activists</span></a> from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AbusiveLitigation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>AbusiveLitigation</span></a><br /> <br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a> in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GlobalSouth" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>GlobalSouth</span></a> and How to Respond</p><p>PUBLISHED: JULY 2020</p><p>"In <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Thailand" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Thailand</span></a>, an agricultural company files more than a dozen suits against at least 20 <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/defendants" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>defendants</span></a>, targeting <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workers" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>workers</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/journalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>journalists</span></a>, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/activists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>activists</span></a> who had spoken out against alleged <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborAbuses" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>LaborAbuses</span></a> at the company’s chicken farm. In <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/India" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>India</span></a>, an association of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pesticide" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>pesticide</span></a> manufacturers brings a civil defamation suit against <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/journalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>journalists</span></a> that had reported on the harmful <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/health" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>health</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environmental" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>environmental</span></a> effects of pesticide use. In the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Philippines" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Philippines</span></a>, a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mining" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>mining</span></a> company files suit against 85 defendants who had conducted a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PeacefulProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PeacefulProtest</span></a> near the company’s mining site, after the company’s own security forces used <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lethal" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>lethal</span></a> violence against the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/protesters" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>protesters</span></a>. In <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SouthAfrica" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SouthAfrica</span></a>, an <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Australian" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Australian</span></a> mining company files suit against environmental activists who had criticized a company mine during a lecture at a local university.</p><p>What do these suits have in common? They are all “<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SLAPPs" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SLAPPs</span></a>,” or “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”: suits filed not to secure relief, but to use the risks and costs of litigation to defuse criticism and opposition and discourage the exercise of fundamental freedoms. SLAPPs have long been prevalent in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Globa" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Globa</span></a> North, but SLAPPs are also being used in the Global South to silence activism.</p><p>"In Protecting Activists from Abusive Litigation: SLAPPs in the Global South and How to Respond, ICNL presents the first cross-regional survey of SLAPPs in the Global South, along with the first rigorous comparative analysis of anti-SLAPP policy responses undertaken in the Global North and the Global South. Our survey shows that SLAPPs pose a serious threat to the exercise of fundamental freedoms in the Global South, particularly for activists, civil society organizations, journalists, and community members who dare to criticize powerful entities.</p><p>"Our survey, which is far from comprehensive, has identified 82 reported SLAPPs filed in Thailand, India, the Philippines, and South Africa – the most fertile fields for Southern SLAPPs – as well as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Indonesia" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Indonesia</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Malaysia" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Malaysia</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Armenia" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Armenia</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SierraLeone" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SierraLeone</span></a>, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Honduras" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Honduras</span></a>. Key features of SLAPPs in our sample include:</p><p>- Half of the cases in our sample (41 cases) involved criminal proceedings.<br />- The most frequent SLAPP targets in our sample were activists and civil society organizations (CSOs) (38 cases, or 46%); journalists and publishers (17 cases, or 21%); and leaders and members of local communities (15 cases, or 18%).<br />- Nearly all of the cases in our sample – 75 cases, or 91% – were brought by private companies or company officials, with 34 of these cases (41%) brought by mining companies and 28 cases (34%) brought by companies associated with agricultural operations.</p><p>"Where the cause of action or charge was reported, the suit was based at least in part on a defamation charge, either civil or criminal, in 66 of 75 cases (88%).</p><p>"Of the 33 suits in our sample brought as civil actions, claims in 17 cases (52%) exceeded 1 million USD, with the average claim exceeding 10 million USD."</p><p>Full article:</p><p><a href="https://www.icnl.org/post/report/slapps-in-the-global-south-report" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">icnl.org/post/report/slapps-in</span><span class="invisible">-the-global-south-report</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HumanRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HumanRights</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Whistleblowing" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Whistleblowing</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DigitalFreeSpeech" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DigitalFreeSpeech</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DirectAction" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DirectAction</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CriminalizingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CriminalizingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterProtectors" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WaterProtectors</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ForestDefenders" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ForestDefenders</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>EnvironmentalActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateJustice" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateJustice</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SilencingDissent" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SilencingDissent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EcoActivists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>EcoActivists</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Censorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Censorship</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HumanRightsViolations" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HumanRightsViolations</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Article20" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Article20</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RightToProtest" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RightToProtest</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SlowMarch" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>SlowMarch</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a></p>