Free the Harrisburg Four! Cover Court Costs.

On June 13th, ten of us were arrested in the Pennsylvania Capitol. We were all charged with summary criminal trespass. The state claims that we knew we stayed in a place where we were not privileged to stay.

You can read a summary of what we are alleged to have done here: https://www.mohpa.org/our-blog/2022/6/15/ten-activists-with-pennsylvania-action-on-climate-pac-arrested-in-the-state-capitol-for-demanding-that-legislators-stop-taking-bribes-while-the-planet-dies

All of us dispute the charges, but for various reasons, including that “justice” is not cheap, only four of us decided to plead not guilty.

We went to the Capitol to speak to our legislators. It’s not like this is the first time for any of us. We are all seasoned campaigners for climate and against government corruption. We’ve lobbied, petitioned, rallied, marched, voted, and run for office. We’ve testified, submitted comments, written letters, and hosted educational conferences and trainings with experts for our elected officials. We have formed groups to educate the public, held press conferences, and town halls.

If we are going to pass a livable planet to future generations, we must act now. The science is on our side and public opinion is on our side, too; polling shows that a solid majority of Pennsylvanians think we need to act on climate.

What we don’t have on our side is enough money to buy politicians, nor do we think that is how our government is supposed to work. Therein, lies the problem. No matter that the science says we must do and the majority of Pennsylvanians say we should do, our politicians thumb their noses and follow the dictates of monied interests. Pennsylvania’s government is ruled by lobbyists and those rich enough to buy influence.

We, therefore, will argue that we had to do what we did because the harm of doing nothing is far worse than anything we did on June 13th.

We will argue that we are in a climate emergency, that our government is so corrupted by money that it cannot rise to the occasion and that we have exhausted all legal avenues.

We did what we had to do because we have learned through our history that nonviolent direct action is an impactful and storied tactic that has shaped American history.

Justice is not cheap. To fight this fight, we need to raise funds. I hope that you will donate. Every penny counts.