From Richmond to Ecuador, powerful corporations are polluting our communities and threatening our collective future with impunity. When people organize and fight back, they use their endless resources to attack communities with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to drain their resources and shut down their organizing efforts.

Amazon Watch has been at the forefront of resistance against one of the most infamous SLAPPs in history. Chevron – one of the most egregious polluters in the world – waged a RICO lawsuit in New York against communities affected by its oil pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

We continue to remain steadfast in our support of frontline communities and organizations targeted by SLAPPs.

You probably already know about the recent SLAPP brought by Energy Transfer against Greenpeace. But you may not know that there is another equally dangerous SLAPP, and it involves many of the same actors and also targets Dakota Access Pipeline protest organizers.

Fourteen states have chosen to weaponize the courts against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. This is a blatant attempt to silence Indigenous voices, shield corporate polluters, and suppress the truth. If these states can succeed in using the judicial system to silence those fighting for clean water and treaty rights, who will they come for next?