A letter from Jill
Help me fight Orwellian criminal charges for opposing genocide in Gaza
Dear Friend,
Thank you so much for all you do for peace, justice and the world we deserve!
The genocide in Palestine rages on at the center of the turbulent, historic moment we’re facing. In 2024, our presidential campaign elevated the demand to end the genocide and the US weapons enabling it, forcing the issue to the forefront of national presidential debate.
Our campaign used every opportunity to build the resistance to Israel’s genocide. The demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis in April, 2024, was perhaps the most intense case in point, where students asked us to stand with them as they put their future on the line.
The Wash U event was peaceful until the police charged the crowd, aiming for yours truly as one of the first points of attack, using a bicycle as a battering ram. After two and a half years, charges have been dropped against all 100 people arrested — except, that is, for me!
On September 14th, my prosecution in St. Louis Court formally began, where I’m absurdly accused of assaulting a police officer and trespassing. Widely circulated video, and the photo below, shows clearly who assaulted who!
We are of course fighting these preposterous charges, which threaten the right to free speech and protest for us all – and which smack of political prosecution. The charges also threaten our right to a foreign policy that serves we the people, not the war contractors, AI billionaires and the military industrial complex.
The moral imperatives of the encampments at Wash U and so many other campuses have only grown more urgent. As the genocide in Gaza expands to the West Bank and Lebanon, the conflict is exploding into the US-Israeli assault on Iran, generating regional chaos, global destabilization, and unprecedented nuclear risk. The financial costs are off the charts in weapons, energy and inflation. Meanwhile, public support is surging for the protesters’ demands writ large – to end Israel’s military assault on Gaza (and beyond) and the provision of US weapons enabling it. These positions are now supported by majorities in the US and global opinion surveys showing Israel as the most reviled nation in the world.
Two lawyers have been heroically fighting this battle for nearly two and a half years with minimal compensation. Criminal defense attorney Joe Welch has been leading the case from the start. He has a record of successfully defending the unjustly accused in the Mike Brown/Ferguson, Occupy, Peabody Coal, anti-genocide protests and more. Attorney Stephen Scapelliti, who advised our 2024 campaign and has supported progressive organizations and candidates for decades, is assisting.
It’s clear now this case that should have been laughed out of the courtroom is not going away. It is a threat to freedom of speech and the right to protest for all of us. It’s time to get ready for the battle.
If you are in a position to make a contribution, we are now urgently fundraising with an initial goal of $55,000 to compensate these dedicated attorneys for their longstanding and continuing service and to cover additional related costs (depositions, transcripts etc.).
To contribute, please make out a check to “Jill Stein for President 2024” and write “Legal Defense Fund” in the memo line. (Note, there is no contribution limit for legal defense fund donations, per FEC rules.)
Send it to:
Scott Marshall
Treasurer, Stein legal defense
22906 “F” 56th Ave W, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Together, we can beat back genocide and this assault on our most basic freedoms.
Jill
