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Global Sumud Flotilla Sails to Gaza Despite Israeli ThreatsThe GSF is the latest attempt by activists to deliver much needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip. The post Global Sumud Flotilla Sails to Gaza Despite Israeli Threats appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-19 18:59:36 UTC |
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Israel Bombs Residential Towers, Unleashes ‘Gates of Hell’ on Gaza City"Gaza is burning," says Israel's Defense Minister as Israel starts their ground invasion of Gaza City after bombing over 50 residential towers in the biggest city in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. The post Israel Bombs Residential Towers, Unleashes ‘Gates of Hell’ on Gaza City appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-16 23:59:53 UTC |
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Chuds on Parade 2: Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory CouncilWashington, DC – President Donald Trump has made his appointments to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), so Unicorn Riot started looking into their backgrounds. The list is a who’s who of troublesome and generally bigoted individuals, not unlike Trump’s cabinet. A failed political candidate who founded Bikers for Trump, a venture capitalist who promotes racist and fascist ideas, and a sheriff who denies systemic racism exists are just a few of those sitting on the newly minted council. Representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the cop brotherhood with a long history of racism, didn’t make the cut for Trump’s HSAC like they did under Biden. The council, which advises Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is already problematic: it meets periodically, makes recommendations, and provides advice to the Secretary of Homeland Security, but is made worse by the people who have been part of it. These appointed members of police unions with histories of promoting racist ideas, alongside corporate CEOs with similar views, provide likely biased suggestions at the cabinet level, and thus directly into the White House:
While some names put on Trump’s HSAC aren’t so out of the ordinary, such as South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) to serve as chair, and Florida State Senator Joseph Gruters (R-FL22) to serve as vice-chair, other names raise eyebrows. Let’s take a look!  Marc Andreessen, Venture CapitalistMarc Andreessen is the co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, an agency heavily invested in various tech companies and cryptocurrency exchanges, with about $42 billion in assets under management. Andreessen has backed various “freedom cities” or “startup cities” effectively controlled or owned and operated by private corporate entities, and is part of a coalition to bring similar undemocratic city-states to the states. One only has to look at Starbase, Elon Musk’s city in Texas, to see how Republican leaders are willing to allow the corporate takeover of municipal governments. With Trump talking about liberating “Democrat-run cities,” it behooves voters to pay attention to the largely overlooked statements Trump has made about these proposed cities. Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and others are clamoring to advance this agenda. The conservative Project 2025 plan angles to dismantle the administrative state and impose right-wing control on cities, while former Project 2025 head Paul Dans claims freedom cities are the “construction” that follows Trump’s program of “demolition.” Meanwhile, Andreessen has made comments suggesting that decolonizing India from British rule has been detrimental to the nation of nearly 1.5 billion people, saying, “Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?” Andreesen hosts group chats with tech executives and racist political influencers. The group chats included white supremacist Richard Hanania, right-wing commentator Chris Rufo, Tyler Winklevoss, Tucker Carlson, and many more. (Winklevoss’ cryptocurrency firm Gemini settled a lawsuit alleging it deceived derivatives regulators for $5 million in January.) Andreessen also called Curtis Yarvin a friend three weeks after Yarvin said, “Everything rots when it has no owner—human beings included.” Yarvin went by the moniker ‘Mencius Moldbug’ online and has often been described as a neoreactionary and techno-fascist. Other statements by Yarvin include “If you think ‘racial equality’ is a good idea, you are not paying attention to reality” and “It is very difficult to argue that [the Civil War] made anyone’s life more pleasant, including that of freed slaves.” Andreessen named Filippo Marinetti, a Mussolini-era Italian fascist, as an inspiration in his 2023 “Techno-Optimist Manifesto.” The Revolving Door Project warned of Andreessen’s attempts to popularize himself among liberals and Democrats, saying that the venture capitalist’s “longstanding commitment to extreme right-wing ideology makes it clear that any attempts to ingratiate himself with liberals are just a means of obtaining crypto-friendly legislation.” Andreessen and his firm are key funders for the pro-crypto Fairshake (PAC).
 Christopher “Chris” Cox, Bikers for Trump FounderChris Cox founded Bikers for Trump in 2016. A chainsaw artist from South Carolina with no law enforcement or policy experience, he failed in his attempted 2020 run for political office in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Bikers for Trump was allegedly created in response to 2016 protests against Trump’s first presidential campaign, leading to the cancellation of a rally in Chicago. The group gained considerable attention during the 2016 election, when Trump at one point suggested that they were among the “tough people” who would support him if Democrats went too far in their investigations of his alleged crimes. In 2019, Bikers for Trump transitioned from a grassroots movement to a political action committee, allowing it to engage directly in political activities and fundraising.
Cox also referred to COVID as the “plandemic,” citing a discredited yet popular conspiracy theory that argued the pandemic was planned and orchestrated by global elites for the typical “globalist” purposes, a term sometimes used as an antisemitic dogwhistle in hard-right discourse. Mark Dannels, Cochise County Sheriff, ArizonaCochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, who sat on Trump’s HSAC during his last term, was removed from the council after Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the existing membership of Trump’s HSAC in March 2021. Daniels is known for participating in an anti-immigrant border rally sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group that is part of the Tanton Network. UR: Eugenics, Border Wars & Population Control: The Tanton Network (2022)Dannels is no stranger to racially charged anti-immigrant rhetoric, calling immigrants a threat to public safety. He has inflated the number of migrants crossing the border to fuel panic, and called the U.S.-Mexico border the “largest crime scene in the country” during a House Judiciary hearing in 2023. At the height of attacks against the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021, while serving as leader of the Arizona Sheriffs Association, Dannels joined the fray to denounce the movement when he attacked the idea that bias in policing exists, saying that “isolated bad acts provide evidence of a systemic problem is maliciously unsupportable and patently false.”
Dannels is only interested in police reform involving people with law enforcement experience, suggesting he’s not interested in community involvement or community-centered policies, as stated in his 2021 open letter when he bemoaned “political leaders with no law enforcement experience” seeking to “direct law enforcement reform”: “The issue of law enforcement reform is now infected by politics. Political leaders with no law enforcement experience now seek to direct law enforcement reform. They do this with political agendas or to gain favor with some political constituencies.” Dannels is currently the chair of the National Sheriffs Association Border Security Committee. UR: National Sheriffs’ Association Secretly Waged “Information War” on #NoDAPL Movement (2017) – Arizona Agrees to Remove Shipping Containers from US-Mexico Border in Cochise County (2022) – Chuds on Parade: Meet Trump’s Cabinet (2025) Richard “Bo” Dietl, Founder, Beau Dietl & AssociatesA former cop and private investigator, some of Bo Dietl’s newsworthy work over the last decade has been geared towards protecting the far-right media sphere. Dietl was hired by Fox News to investigate and attempt to discredit women who accused former executives Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Dietl worked with Steve Bannon to investigate Bannon’s ex-wife and chatted on the radio with Don Imus to intimidate a colleague over a disagreement. Ford Motor Company accused Dietl’s private investigations firm, Beau Dietl & Associates, of barging into people’s homes while the co-founder of Arizona Iced Tea accused him of intimidation. Dietl has also made various racist comments. In 2017, he compared a Black female judge to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former wife, Chirlane McCray, who is Black. Dietl, a staunch Republican, was running for mayor at the time, and Judge Debra James barred him from also running in the Democratic primary. Dietl has also made comments suggesting racial profiling was necessary when people “act like a terrorist.” Dietl now advises Trump and Noem on Homeland Security policy.  Mark Levin, Broadcast News Analyst, The Mark Levin ShowProlific conservative commentator Mark Levin has been known to spread wild conspiracy theories on his Fox News TV show “Life, Liberty, & Levin” and on the radio via the Mark Levin Show. His talk radio show generally ranks in the national top 10. He took part in the “Deep State” conspiracy theories about former president Barack Obama wiretapping Donald Trump’s offices during the 2016 election, claiming that Obama loyalists were waging a “silent coup” against Trump. During the 2020 election, as media outlets were reporting that Joe Biden had won, Levin told his radio audience that Biden was “stealing the election,” and insisted to his followers on social media that “there’s lots of evidence of voter fraud and election screw-ups.” He posted that Republican state legislatures should assert “final say” over presidential electors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Levin asserted that the flu killed more people and downplayed the threat of the coronavirus. Levin also has strong ties to the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity network. Corey Lewandowski, Chief Advisor to the Secretary, Department of Homeland SecurityCorey Lewandowski is best known for his assault on a reporter at a Trump rally in 2016 while he was Trump’s campaign manager, but he has also faced allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. After taking a plea deal to avoid a misdemeanor battery charge from a woman who said he groped and harassed her in Las Vegas in 2022, he was promptly fired from running Trump’s Super PAC and from his consulting position for Noem and other Republican politicians. Lewandowski has also suggested that “you have to respect” white nationalists and was once accused of having an affair with Noem, then-Governor of South Dakota. He has also stepped in to defend Trump against accusations of racism on many occasions. Lewandowski is also known for mocking a young girl with Down Syndrome in 2018. He has refused to apologize for anything. Lewandowski is the “de facto chief of staff” under Noem at the Department of Homeland Security with “almost singular authority to fire people,” according to a source for CNN (archive). Georgette Mosbacher, Co-Chair, Three Seas Programming, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, Former Ambassador to PolandU.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2018 to 2021, Georgette Mosbacher once criticized a Polish law which banned blaming Poland for Nazi Germany’s actions during the Holocaust, saying it was responsible for a rise in antisemitism in Europe. She received backlash from the Polish government, which deemed her comments unacceptable. She was also critical of the European Union’s relationship with Poland. Omar Qudrat, CEO, Maden, Founder, Muslim Coalition for America, Major, U.S. Army ReserveOmar Qudrat is an attorney and former U.S. Department of Defense official. In his national security career, Omar spent 18 months in Afghanistan during the surge as the coalition’s Deputy Chief of Rule of Law and Political Advisor to the NATO Ambassador. A military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay for an unknown number of years, Qudrat has worked with pro-Israel groups through his Muslim Coalition for America. An op-ed justifying why he supports Trump, and comments suggesting the U.S. could “learn from countries like Israel” about building a border wall, likely explain his position in an advisory role for the Trump administration.
Qudrat started his career at the Carlyle Group Entrepreneurship Program, where he worked on the acquisition of technologies and identifying emerging markets. While the Carlyle Group itself does not have direct defense contracts, the companies it owns or controls have done billions of dollars’ worth of business with the Pentagon.  Rudy Giuliani, Former NYC Mayor and Disbarred ProsecutorRounding out the list of problematic people on a council that advises the White House on homeland security is former New York City Mayor and Trump acolyte Rudolph W. Giuliani, a major drop in status from his post-9/11 glory days, when the mass media christened him “America’s Mayor.” Before 9/11, Giuliani was infamous for defending NYPD police killings of unarmed Black people, pushing racist “broken windows” policing and causing long-term damage to NYC’s queer community by cracking down on LGBTQ nightclubs. A former federal prosecutor, Giuliani was disbarred in New York and the District of Columbia in 2024 for his actions as an attorney while trying to overturn the 2020 election.  Others on the HSACIn addition to Giuliani, the roster represents many corporate leaders and former Trump officials.
Cover image and other compositions by Dan Feidt. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” directed by Stanley Kubrick (Columbia Pictures, 1964). Mark Levin and Rudy Giuliani source photos by Gage Skidmore. Marc Andreessen source photo Kevin Maloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech. Bo Dietl, Chris Cox, Bob Smith and group photos via the Department of Homeland Security on Flickr. Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
The post Chuds on Parade 2: Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory Council appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-13 22:57:51 UTC |
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Workers at UMN Take Historic Stand in Teamsters StrikeMinneapolis, MN — The first strikes against the University of Minnesota system in over 20 years occurred at 10 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8, at the Crookston and Morris campuses. Six hours later, on Sept. 9, striking commenced on the Duluth, Grand Rapids, Waseca and… The post Workers at UMN Take Historic Stand in Teamsters Strike appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-12 17:58:26 UTC |
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Workers at UMN Take Historic Stand in Teamsters StrikeMinneapolis, MN — The first strikes against the University of Minnesota system in over 20 years occurred at 10 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8, at the Crookston and Morris campuses. Six hours later, on Sept. 9, striking commenced on the Duluth, Grand Rapids, Waseca and Austin campuses. The Teamsters began the Twin Cities portion of their strike at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9. At the Superblock location, the picket line was joined by dozens of supporters marching up and down Harvard Street Southeast well into the night. Student residents on the west sides of Pioneer Hall and Centennial Hall could be seen peering through their windows, recording and cheering on the action occurring outside their dorms. The initial picket on Sept. 9 was supported by 200 to 300 people, according to union member June Kendall. Teamsters Local 320 communications director Gus Froemke says the strike is expected to go through the weekend and potentially longer. “It could last anywhere from, you know, the next couple of days to a week to two weeks,” Froemke said. “People are very energized, they’re ready to go in for the long haul.” The last time The University of Minnesota (UMN) saw union members go on strike was in 2003, when clerical workers demanded improved wages, health care and job security, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Before that, the last strike occurred in 1944. “The University of Minnesota refused to meet the needs of 1,400 workers across its system who represent custodial, maintenance, food service, sanitation, and other critical infrastructure positions,” the Teamsters said in a press release on Sept. 8. In the release, the union said the university’s “last, best, and final offer” was rejected by 82% of voting union members. UMN’s “Last, Best and Final Offer” was made public in the early hours of Aug. 19 and set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 5. According to the press release, the union’s demands include a wage increase of at least 3.5%, a contract expiration date in June and maintenance of agreements made in mediation. The 3.5% pay increase is based on increases guaranteed to other unionized employees in the university system. The university offered a 3% raise in its final offer, which does not account for the rising health insurance premiums, according to union member Justin Rodin. “Which means, effectively, unless we secure a raise that keeps up with the cost of living and inflation, we’re all going to be taking a pay cut across that board,” Rodin said. “So, a 3.5% raise is one of our red lines.” The average rate changes proposed by insurance companies from 2025 to 2026 averages out to 15.2%, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Medica Insurance Company, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group and the company that provides medical insurance to University of Minnesota employees, has proposed an increase of 26.03%, the highest change listed by the MNDOC. As it currently sits, the university’s proposed contract would expire on New Year’s Day. Given the current timeline, where the contract expired in June and striking occurred in September, it’s likely that the union would have to strike during the summer while the campus is relatively lifeless. “We would have no leverage ever again,” Rodin said. “Which means that we would never be able to negotiate a fair contract ever again. It would be in the U’s favor indefinitely.”  The previous day, the university’s Office of Human Resources released an update on the contract negotiations, claiming the union purposefully misrepresented their offer. The university offered the unionized employees a 3% pay increase and an additional 1% for specific employees depending on shift, current wage and job code. Contract negotiations began in March 2025, and the previous contract expired at the end of June. “They kept offering us shit deal after shit deal,” Rodin said. “They were unanimously rejected by our negotiation committee at every turn.” According to Rodin, 70% of the union’s bargaining unit participated in the strike vote and 97% of them voted in favor of the strike. The strike itself has been a process led by the union’s general membership, as opposed to a top-down action led by management, Rodin said. Related: The 90th Anniversary of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike Honors Minneapolis’ Militant Labor History At around 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, officers from the UMN Police Department and Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies arrived on Fulton Street just outside of Pioneer Hall, where they arrested around a dozen people, five of which belonged to the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. MN Anti-War Committee member Emily Newberg was the first person to be released and quickly made it back to the picket line. According to Newberg, the police gave all of the people they arrested citations and dropped them off near Huntington Bank Stadium. “Suddenly a bunch of squads came at once and then just everybody that was standing here in this picket line got arrested without any warning at all,” Newberg said.  Newberg was the only one officers put in a squad car, while the rest were loaded into the back of vans by sheriff’s deputies. Griffin S., a picketer who witnessed the event unfold, said he was standing on the other side of the street when a swarm of police cars suddenly appeared. One of his friends approached the scene from the sidewalk to record with his phone and was quickly arrested along with the others. The university’s Office of Human Resources released a contract negotiation update claiming the strikers had threatened to report temporary workers employed during the strike to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Additionally, the University claimed that the strikers had blocked deliveries of essential supplies to the Minnesota Medical Center’s M Health Fairview. “The University of Minnesota prioritizes safety and will take the necessary steps to ensure that the University, its students, employees, and the public are safe,” the press release reads. “The was the biggest line of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life,” Froemke shouted into a megaphone at an audience of union members and supporters gathered on the steps of Coffman Memorial Union. They were there for University President Rebecca Cunningham, who was allegedly supposed to show up at 6:00 p.m. to make a statement. That never happened. The previous Teamsters contract was ratified in Nov. 2022 and set the minimum wage to $20 per hour, where it remains today. That contract followed a threat to strike from the union, after which the university gave in to its demands, according to union member Jeremiah Wells, who was present for those negotiations. “I don’t know what we did, it just went very quickly,” Wells said. “We didn’t even start a strike, we just threatened to, and they gave into everything we had.” In 2024, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development estimated that the yearly basic-needs cost of living for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area for the state’s average family size of three to require a minimum hourly wage of $24.53. Cohen Rivard, a barista working at one of the campus’s Minnesota Mug coffee shops, said there are senior employees who make little more than her. “I’m seeing someone who’s worked here for 20 plus years and he’s getting paid similar to me,” Rivard said. “That is insane.” Over the same period, administrative salaries have hardly slowed down. In 2022, the base salary for then-President Joan Gabel was $672,300. Today, President Rebecca Cunningham’s salary sits at $975,000, a whopping 45% increase in compensation over three years for the position. Additionally, the university’s fiscal year 2026 budget includes a 7.5% increase in tuition for non-resident undergraduates and a 4-6.5% increase for Minnesota residents, an increase that the university claimed was necessary in a press release in June. “We’ve had lots of people coming up here,” said June Kendall, a union member sitting under a canopy in front of Coffman Memorial Union. “Couldn’t be better, I would say. Students, faculty, non-related people, everyone’s been showing up. And the students are in the same boat, their tuition went up this year.” Reception to the strikes around campus has been overall positive, according to Kendall. Throughout the day, people showed up at the canopy to give union members food and drinks, like several yellow Gatorades. But it has’t all been positive. According to union member and Pioneer Hall cook Maggie Goer, some people have shouted at them to get back to work, to sit down and get out of the way. Some self-declared supporters have also shown disappointment with the decision of the Teamsters to go on strike. “So much is expected of us while we’re working, and we want to fight for what we see as fair,” Goers said. “And they treat us like we’re in front of them. Like we’re invisible or we’re kind of like scum.” Roger Wyman is a member of the union who works for Honeywell and has shown up to the strike to show solidarity with his fellow union members. Wyman arrived on the campus at 4:30 a.m. and worked the picket until 5 p.m. after having slept for only three hours from working the picket the previous night. Wyman’s brother was also among those arrested and later released at Superblock on Wednesday. “I’m tired, but I’m not beat down emotionally,” Wyman said. “I’m ready to keep going.” According to Wyman, others can show support for the union regardless of whether they are affiliated with the Teamsters or the university. Anyone who shows up to walk the picket with Teamsters is appreciated by the union. “Anyone who wants to support us, we love solidarity,” Wyman said. “We’re going to be happy for anyone who wants to show support.” A rally to “defend UMN Teamsters” is planned for Friday, Sept. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Northrop Plaza. Cover image of strikers at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 10, 2025 contributed by Henry Stafford. Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
The post Workers at UMN Take Historic Stand in Teamsters Strike appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-12 17:58:26 UTC |
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Greek Parliament Approves Harsh Migration Bill: Prison Sentences, Fines and Ankle-MonitorsAthens, Greece — Amidst strong reactions, Greece’s Parliament voted on Wednesday, September 3 in favor of a new migration bill, which introduces prison sentences of two to five years for those who remain in the country after their asylum applications have been rejected, among other provisions. The new law comes as part of a broader anti-immigrant policy recently adopted by the conservative New Democracy government. In July, increased refugee and migrant arrivals on the southern island of Crete prompted an emergency measure suspending asylum applications from people arriving to Crete from North Africa for three months. The measure remains in force. Greece recorded 6,724 arrivals of refugees and migrants in July 2025, 3,534 of which were on Crete, According to data from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. In August, UNHCR figures show that the total arrivals reached 3,555, bringing the total for 2025 to 29,425. Greek media reported that arrivals on Crete in August dropped to just 689. The Greek government says the aim of its policy is to deter and counter irregular migration. However, domestic and international organizations as well as opposition parties have criticized the new law on human rights and racial justice grounds.  ‘You are not welcome’Under the bill’s provisions, asylum seekers whose applications are rejected are given a 14-day deadline to leave the country voluntarily; otherwise, they face a prison sentence of two to five years. The law also allows for electronic monitoring with ankle bracelets, and imposes a fine of at least € 5,000 (about $5,800) for those entering the country irregularly, rising to at least €10,000 (around $11,700) for repeat offenses. Closing the parliamentary debate, Minister of Migration Thanos Plevris, referring to migrants who might defy the new law, declared: “The Greek State does not accept you, you are not tolerated. Once you have entered illegally, you have one choice: to go back. You are not welcome.” He nevertheless assured that those entitled to international protection will be granted asylum. “If your asylum claim is rejected, you have two options: either go to prison or return to your country of origin,” he added. The law also increases the maximum period of administrative detention from 18 to 24 months for those entering without valid documents, and abolishes the possibility of legalizing one’s status after seven years of residence in Greece. Meanwhile, the emergency suspension of asylum applications announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in July remains in force. According to the government, the measure aimed to send a “clear message” to smuggling networks that Greece’s borders are closed. The new law bears the imprint of Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, who describes himself as a “hardliner” and comes from the nationalist and far-right party LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally). His father, Konstantinos Plevris, was active in far-right circles for decades and acted as legal counsel for members of the Greek neo-Nazi criminal organization Golden Dawn.  Reactions to the ‘Trumpian turn’The bill did not pass without backlash. Opposition parties labeled it “racist” and “inhumane,” referring to a “Trumpian turn,” citing a recent Washington Post story highlighting Greece’s migration policy. International and domestic organizations also voiced strong criticism, arguing that the new law violates international conventions and introduces unworkable measures. The Union of Administrative Judges of Greece stressed that “the migration–refugee issue cannot be addressed through repression and the tightening of procedures for granting residence permits or asylum.” In a statement, UNHCR warned: “These measures risk penalizing persons in need of international protection or whose international protection needs have not yet been assessed.” The Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) also weighed in, stressing that several provisions of the new law contradict articles of the 1951 Geneva Convention and are inconsistent with EU legislation. In its statement, GCR described the law as an “extreme case of instrumentalization of criminal law.” Regarding the suspension of asylum applications still in place since July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued two interim measures. The first concerned eight Sudanese nationals and the second four Eritreans, instructing the Greek government not to proceed with deportations before their asylum requests are examined. Beyond institutional actors, civil society also showed its opposition. On the day of the vote, extra-parliamentary leftist parties, pro-refugee and migrant groups, and solidarity networks gathered outside Parliament and marched through central Athens. The new legislative framework is considered one of the harshest in the European Union. At the same time, other countries also appear to be moving in a similar direction, with anti-immigration sentiment on the rise across Europe — a trend that carries the risk of further empowering the far right. Cover image contributed by Romanos Lioutas. For more from Greece, see our Archives. Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
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Bryan Hooper Sr. Freed From Wrongful Conviction After ‘Sordid’ 27 Years in PrisonStillwater, MN — Bryan Hooper Sr. walked out of a Minnesota prison on Sept. 4 after 9,999 days of captivity for a murder he was wrongfully convicted of. Three weeks after the confession of the state’s key witness, Hooper appeared remotely in front of Judge Marta Chou with his legal team. Two days later, he was released from prison and hugging his children with his charges dismissed. On Monday, Hooper Sr. addressed the public during a press conference. He thanked all of the legal support he received and stated “I can’t begin to explain what it felt like to be sent to prison for a crime you didn’t commit. But I knew one thing, that I was never gonna stop fighting for my freedom. And I took that time that I was given and I taught myself a plethora of subjects. I used to tell my mom, ‘mom, I’m just away in college right now.’ I’m trying to be a wizard at everything. But, I’m just happy to be home.” After 27 Years in Prison, Prosecutors Call For Bryan Hooper’s Murder Conviction to be Vacated Hooper shared a heartfelt statement addressed to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty: “Mary, it is my sincere hopes that whoever succeeds you, have the will and the courage to see the truth when the truth is there and resolve these injustices. Thank you.” Moriarty had apologized to Hooper earlier in the press conference. When asked if Hooper was mad after losing 27 years of his life to a wrongful conviction, he said there was “a lot of anger” but that he used it “for something good, not something bad.” Hooper said he took out his anger on books. While in a Georgia state prison in late July this year, Chalaka Young confessed to the vicious 1998 Minneapolis murder of Ann Prazniak, 77. Young, then named Chalaka Lewis, was the state’s key trial witness in the conviction of Hooper, who had maintained his innocence the whole time. Hooper was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison despite no physical evidence tying him to the crime. His conviction was based solely on incentivized jailhouse informants — even Chalaka was given a plea deal for a lesser burglary charge for the deadly incident at Prazniak’s apartment, in exchange for lying to say Hooper was the killer. Despite many other witnesses recanting over the years, the courts denied every appeal that Hooper attempted — he previously filed five Post-Conviction Relief Petitions. Hooper was also denied parole earlier this year. In Minnesota, prisoners can be given supervised release after serving 30 years of a life sentence. After Young’s new confession, the Great North Innocence Project and Hooper’s legal team worked together to submit his sixth Post-Conviction Relief Petition. After filing, Moriarty waived the two-year statute of limitations, the Knaffla bar and the statutory bar under Minn. Stat. § 590.01, all of which have been previous barriers for recent petitions by Hooper and others. Judge Marta Chou was assigned the case after Hooper’s legal team removed Judge Paul Scoggins, and Chou held a hearing on Sept. 2. The next afternoon, Judge Chou issued a court order to release Hooper from prison and vacated his murder conviction — Hooper was released on Sept. 4 from MCF-Stillwater. In the ruling, Judge Chou listed the facts of the case, from the trial to the filed petitions to the confession and hearing. Read the order granting Hooper’s Petition for Post-Conviction Relief (pdf). Hooper’s case is not a one-off. He’s one of what could be hundreds, if not thousands, of wrongfully convicted innocent people locked away in Minnesota’s prison system. From the 1990s into the 2010s, Mike Freeman and Amy Klobuchar reigned over the county attorney position. Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality said during that time the county basically created a “street to prison pipeline like a conveyor belt of Black men just being sent to the prison system. And it was almost as if it didn’t matter whether you were innocent… it wouldn’t matter what kind of defense you tried to mount or anything. You weren’t going to be able to get yourself out of that because they were going to put somebody away for those different crimes because they needed to sort of calm down the white populace.” In 2021, the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU) started accepting applications to review wrongful convictions. They received over 1,150 applications with at least 203 cases with verifiable reasons to believe the applicants are innocent. The CRU has completed five investigations since its inception, according to the latest public data. Four years later, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty created the Hennepin County Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) to review wrongful convictions in Hennepin County — Minnesota’s most populated county with about 1.3 million people. The CIU has received 173 applications according to the latest numbers released by the county. The CIU has completed a review of 118 cases, closed 49, have 55 queued up for a full investigation and are currently investigating 13 others — Hooper’s was in full investigation mode. Hooper is the fifth person freed from a life sentence after being wrongfully convicted in the last five years in Minnesota: Myon Burrell (commutation); Thomas Rhodes (conviction vacated); Marvin Haynes (exonerated); and Edgar Barrientos-Quintana (exonerated). A fundraiser has been started to help Hooper get on his feet. Hooper’s daughter, Bri’ana, fought consistently to free her father. “My father has spent his life missing many milestones because Minneapolis Police Department deemed him as a threat, as a thug, as a gangster,” she said during a press conference last year. Hooper wrote a letter to Unicorn Riot last year requesting support exposing his “wrongful conviction.”  Read Hooper’s Petition for Post-Conviction Relief [Aug. 12, 2025]. Read the state’s answer to Hooper’s filed Post-Conviction Relief Petition [Aug. 12, 2025] in which Moriarty notes, “Mr. Hooper has been incarcerated for 9,976 days for a crime that the evidence shows he did not commit. The State of Minnesota has no interest in adding a single day to that sordid tally.” Cover image via Great North Innocence Project. Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon.  Recent Unicorn Riot Prison Coverage:Mail Censorship, Book Bans, and Misconduct – A Letter From Federal Prison [Aug. 2025] Anson Chi says he’s a political prisoner dealing with mail censorship, book bans, and misconduct by federal corrections officers. After 27 Years in Prison, Prosecutors Call For Bryan Hooper’s Murder Conviction to be Vacated [Aug. 2025] Bryan Hooper, another wrongfully convicted Black man in Minnesota, is hoping to be freed from his life sentence after the state’s key trial witness recently admitted to the murder Hooper was convicted for. New Conviction Integrity Unit Agrees to Review Mahdi Ali’s Case [June 2025] After fifteen and a half years in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, a fresh burst of hope has worked its way into the cell of Mahdi Ali. His legal team has filed an application with Hennepin County’s new Conviction Integrity Unit and recently received assurance from the unit’s director, Andrew Markquart, that the office would give Ali’s case its “full attention.” Coverage of Philip Vance’s ‘Wrongful Conviction’ [Numerous Article and Videos] Serving a life sentence for a deadly robbery in South St. Paul in 2002, Philip Vance has always insisted he is innocent. Officers from the corrupt and disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force were the investigators of Vance’s case and his 2004 conviction was prosecuted based on testimonies which have since been recanted. Unicorn Riot has published several reports and videos bringing further context to Vance’s case, including a slew of documents and an analysis. Living Life on His Own Terms: Reflections from Former Political Prisoner Eric King on His Release [Dec. 2024] Former political prisoner Eric King was released from prison on December 12, 2023, after spending nearly 10 years behind bars. Seven and a half of the ten were in solitary confinement, with five and a half being consecutive. As he walked off the Florence Federal Correctional Complex property toward a small crowd of friends and supporters, his wife and child ran up to him, embracing him tightly. King spoke with Unicorn Riot in December 2024, reflecting on his release day a year earlier and how life in the halfway house was. Recanted Jailhouse Testimonies Lead to Renewed Calls to Release Bobo and Ferguson [July 2024] Family members and advocates of two men serving life sentences in Minnesota — Deaunteze Bobo and Jermaine Ferguson — renewed their demands for their loved ones to be released from prison, saying they were wrongfully convicted. Target, ‘Junk Science’ and Unreliable Testimonies: The Contentious Conviction of 15-Year-Old Mahdi Ali [June 2024] Overlooked details have emerged casting serious doubt on Mahdi Hassan Ali’s conviction for a 2010 triple murder, as well as the integrity of the investigation by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. “I was the perfect scapegoat.” – Mahdi Hassan Ali Marvin Haynes Exonerated and Released From Prison After 19 Years [Jan. 2024] In a historic ruling, Hennepin County Judge William Koch vacated Marvin Haynes’ murder conviction, dismissed his charges with prejudice, and ordered his release from prison where he was sentenced to serve life. Haynes walked out of MCF-Stillwater as an exonerated man into the loving arms of his family and supporters on Dec. 11, 2023. The Case of Marvin Haynes – An Investigative Series & Film [2023] Despite no evidence tying Marvin Haynes to a 2004 murder and Marvin’s consistent claims of innocence, Haynes has remained in prison for nearly two decades based off of coerced testimony of jailed teenagers. We examine his case in our investigative series. ‘Let Me Pay My Taxes’ Says Incarcerated Industry Worker [Nov. 2023] From inside a Minnesota prison cell, an incarcerated worker in the state’s Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) is demanding the Department of Corrections (DOC) allow him to pay his taxes. Kashaun Pierce Sr. said for the last seven years he’s been trying to pay his taxes but the DOC has been listing him as an independent contractor. Family Seeks Answers Months After Cristian Rivera-Coba’s Death in Anoka County Jail [Sept. 2023] Cristian Rivera-Coba died in the Anoka County Jail in July. Months later, his family and advocates are still left seeking information about the circumstances surrounding his death and demanding an investigation into the jail where, only weeks before Cristian died, 24-year-old Miles Jackson was also found dead in a cell. Prisoners Face Retaliation for Protest at MCF-Stillwater [Sept. 2023] An email sent to the media on the morning of Sept. 12 from a person housed in B East details some of the retaliatory actions by corrections officers and the “aggravated” charges that those demanding humane treatment inside Stillwater now face for their actions. ‘I Can’t Take This Shit No More’: Alabama Prisoner Takes a Stand [Aug. 2023] Derrol Shaw’s attempted escape from Donaldson Correctional Facility in Alabama speaks to a wider human rights crisis in the state’s corrupt, neglectful and deadly prison system. Limited Funds Stunt Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit — Families Want Expediency [July 2023] Created to prevent, identify, and remedy wrongful convictions, Minnesota’s first-ever Conviction Review Unit had completed only one official investigation in nearly two years. Minnesota Inmate Calls on DOC to ‘Value Us as Human’ [June 2023] Unicorn Riot received a statement from Kashaun Damon Pierce Sr., a man housed at MCF-Faribault. Pierce provides a short glimpse into the state prison system and calls out what he calls the dehumanization of prisoners as a fundamental issue. The post Bryan Hooper Sr. Freed From Wrongful Conviction After ‘Sordid’ 27 Years in Prison appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-10 22:41:35 UTC |
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Judge Finds Attorney General Can’t Bring RICO Charges in Cop City CaseAtlanta, GA — A Fulton County judge found Tuesday that Georgia’s attorney general lacked authority to bring racketeering charges against protesters named in the sprawling Cop City RICO case, calling into question the foundation and future of the massive legal effort to criminalize a movement. While Judge Kevin Farmer has not yet issued an official ruling cementing his decision, his finding that the attorney general’s office doesn’t have the authority to bring Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization, or RICO, charges in this case effectively derails the prosecution’s strategy of connecting protesters to a conspiracy against Cop City and the state itself. Farmer indicated from the bench that he intends to dismiss conspiracy and related arson charges. If such a ruling comes down, the new vastly reduced case would only include five defendants accused of domestic terrorism, down from the 61 people currently named in the indictment. In 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr brought a far-reaching RICO indictment against dozens of opponents of Atlanta’s recently built Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as Cop City. For years, a diverse movement organized to stop the expansive police training facility from being built in a wooded area south of metro Atlanta. Using a blend of tactics ranging from petition drives to sabotage, the movement to “Stop Cop City” brought national attention to the issue of policing and power in Georgia and beyond. As protests and actions took place, the state and federal government began to charge movement participants criminally, including with domestic terrorism and racketeering. But on Tuesday, more than two years into the legal process surrounding the case, Judge Farmer found that the Attorney General lacked authority to charge the defendants under the state’s RICO statute. Related: Cop City Defendant has Domestic Terrorism Charge DroppedUnder Georgia’s RICO legislation, in order for the attorney general to bring a RICO indictment the person indicted must be “dealing with or for the state” when committing the alleged offense. Defense attorney Andrew Hall successfully argued that his client, and others named in the indictment, were not dealing with or for the state, thereby requiring special permission from the governor for the attorney general to bring RICO charges. “At this time, I do not find the attorney general had the authority to bring this RICO case,” Farmer said from the bench Tuesday morning. “The mechanisms were in place, and steps just weren’t followed,” Farmer said of Carr’s failure to get permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment against the movement to stop Cop City. All day Monday and into Tuesday morning, lawyers representing four of the 61 defendants in the conspiracy case brought against Cop City protesters argued a list of motions to dismiss various parts of the massive indictment that implicates their clients. One motion, brought by attorney Andrew Hall, argued the state erred when it indicted his client under the state’s RICO statute. Hall asserted that Thomas Jurgens, who was arrested at a music festival opposing Cop City on March 5, 2023 while acting as a legal observer for the National Lawyers’ Guild, was wrongfully implicated in the conspiracy as he was not “dealing with or for the state” as part of his alleged crime. Related: Cop City RICO Trials Begin in Atlanta, First Case Declared a MistrialOn that basis, Hall asked the court to dismiss the only count against his client in the indictment for lack of prosecutorial authority. Judge Farmer ultimately agreed with the argument, finding that the attorney general’s office should have sought permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment. Farmer, while deliberating from the bench, questioned whether he should dismiss the entire indictment on these grounds or just dismiss the RICO and subsequent arson charges. While the original indictment included numerous other counts of money laundering, those were each dropped last year, leaving only the RICO, domestic terrorism and arson counts at the time of Tuesday’s hearing. Farmer made clear that the attorney general’s office had the authority to pursue the domestic terrorism charges even if the other two counts are dismissed. While Farmer is likely to dismiss the first and third counts in the indictment, namely RICO and arson charges, the second count of domestic terrorism may stand. The state may appeal Farmer’s ruling, in which case the issue would return to court, but barring an appeal the RICO charges will not proceed. For Unicorn Riot's coverage on the movement to defend the Atlanta Forest click on the image below.  Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
The post Judge Finds Attorney General Can’t Bring RICO Charges in Cop City Case appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-09 23:23:40 UTC |
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RIP Mercury, Hello Retrograde! How Administrators Failed to Stop the Presses at The University of Texas-DallasIt would have been easy for the small team of student journalists at The University of Texas at Dallas to just crash. Administrators had been throwing obstacles in front of them since October 7. But the students forged a new path. A path riddled with craters, bumps, and sometimes stars. And as for administrators… “University administrators are not competent. They are career bureaucrats. … They’re not there because they are the best in their field. They’re there because they had good political maneuverings to get into their position. … They’re there because they make the school look good sometimes. So if there is pressure on you, it’s not because they know the law. It’s not because you did something wrong. …They will do their violations and they will move on. You’re just another student to them unless you stand up for yourself. And I think we really show that you can stand up for yourself and be successful.” That’s a quote from Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, editor-in-chief of The University of Texas at Dallas’s first guerilla newspaper, The Retrograde. Maria Shaikh is the editing manager. Shaikh is an undergraduate student at The University of Texas at Dallas, — which she and Gutierrez frequently abbreviate to UTD — in her final year studying biochemistry. She became interested in student journalism during her first semester, when the school newspaper was covering a series of bizarre tragedies surrounding students and alum. Noticing the expertise and care the paper put into discussing these crimes, Shaikh decided to apply — starting as a copy editor before moving up in the editorial team. Gutierrez joined the local paper for similar reasons. He’s currently in his third year, studying political science and philosophy as a pre-law student. The paper they had both joined was called the Mercury. The Mercury had been the official paper of The University of Texas at Dallas since 1980. When Gutierrez joined their staff, the Mercury had been delving into investigative journalism. “The first thing that they asked me to work on was reaching out to the people on the sex offenders registry on campus,” said Gutierrez, “… I learned a lot about that, just how that operates on campus. Then I covered a car crash where someone just drove their car right through an apartment building on campus. I got to walk onto the crime scene, allegedly snuck under police tape to go and get closer pictures.” By the middle of the fall semester, Gutierrez was part of the editorial team — and the Mercury faced its first hurdle. “We had some Spirit Rocks on the university that students would spray paint. They’d been doing it for decades. I think they put them there in the early 2000s. They’d been there for over 20 years for a variety of different causes,” said Gutierrez. The rocks had been a space for students to share their political opinions, however controversial. Students thought it would be no different when it came to Palestine/Israel. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing more than 1100 people and taking roughly 250 people hostage. Israel began an unwavering bombing of Gaza, killing journalists, aid workers, and an enormous amount of civilians — many of whom are children, and destroying the majority of Gaza’s infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. Two years later, the military offensive remains ongoing, and has been characterized by both Human Rights Watch and leading scholars as a genocide. In the early days of Israel’s attack, people across the country protested, many calling for an immediate ceasefire. For students at The University of Texas at Dallas, this manifested in painting messages on the Spirit Rocks. “It was all very peaceful. At one point, the university sent out an email commending everybody on how the political conversation on the rocks was going peacefully,” said Shaikh. “We had students expressing support for Zionism. We had students expressing support for Palestine’s liberation. And they were going back and forth,” said Gutierrez.
 Zionist students painted: “We Are Winning.” Over Thanksgiving Break, the administration had the rocks removed. They justified the removal in an email, claiming the rocks were being used for “extended political discourse.” The university had previously emphasized their openness to diversity of opinion, belief, and identity; and their respect for student journalism. But with the removal of the Spirit Rocks, things began to change. “It symbolizes UTD beginning its censorship regime on campus,” said Gutierrez. “Let’s just get rid of this long standing forum of free expression,” Gutierrez continued, “and then after that, what do we see? We see protests get cracked down. We see student expression limited. Students are now banned from using chalk on campus.” “A conditional ban,” Shaikh chimed in, as the ban is only enforced on students chalking in favor of Palestine. According to Shaikh and Gutierrez, far-right Christian groups have been chalking on campus since the ban, without any repercussions. “This is not in any of our policy either. This is a guideline that is not publicly available until you violate it. And that’s the kind of stance that UTD has really adopted…” Gutierrez continued. “They’re still doing their PR response to the people who reach out to them whenever this issue comes up again, saying, ‘we love student expression, we love student journalism.’ But their actions since the Spirit Rock removal have screamed the opposite.” News agencies outside of the school began to take notice. The Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression used the Mercury’s coverage of the Spirit Rocks’ removal to critique the university as a clear violation of the First Amendment. State-wide news agencies picked up the story too, including the Dallas Observer and the Texas Tribune, citing the Mercury in their stories. The school responded by telling administrators not to speak directly to the Mercury anymore, a ban that Shaikh and Gutierrez only found out about when they attempted to cover a routine piece on the school food pantry. “[W]e met a level of resistance that had hitherto been non-existent. It wasn’t just ‘Don’t talk to us, go to the office of communications.’ It was ‘You may not talk to us.’ ‘We will not do anything with you,’” said Gutierrez. Interviewing university staff became nearly impossible after that, with staff directing them to the Office of Communication for comment on any article. But things hit a thundering crash with the creation of the “Gaza Liberation Plaza” on May 1, 2024. Students gathered on Chess Plaza, dawned with food, signs, and makeshift walls, with over 100 students joining throughout the day. The encampment at The University of Texas at Dallas came as a wave of encampments swept the country. But no sooner was it built up, that it was violently taken down. 12 hours after the encampment began, the cops showed up. “May 1, there has never been anything like it. Over 60 police officers from over five different agencies, including the DPS of Texas coming in with full riot gear with snipers posted. That has never happened on campus before, and it hasn’t happened since,” Gutierrez said.  And the Mercury was there to cover everything, from the start of the encampment in the early morning, to its violent demolition by 4 p.m. “We now had to write another story,” Gutierrez confirmed, “because the police had violently raided the encampment and fully dispersed it with armored vehicles, tear gas launchers, riflemen, snipers on the roof, police helicopters flying around. It was very, uh I guess, reminiscent of Brown Shirts in Italy or the Nazi SS just walking in, rounding up peaceful people, violently removing them, putting them in armored vans. So it was an exciting first day for us as journalists.” Gutierrez called it their “first day” because May 1, 2024, was their debut in upper management. It was Shaikh’s first day as the managing editor of the Mercury, and Gutierrez’s first day as editor-in-chief — and it was during this major event, that they had to hold the reins of the student paper for the first time. The Mercury documented the encampment to its conclusion. Police violently destroyed the encampment, and arrested 21 people including students, professors, and community members, using force. The Mercury even waited outside the jailhouse, with some student reporters choosing to sleep outside the jail holding those arrested from the encampment. By May 20, 2024, the Mercury published the Protest Issue, an all-inclusive special edition. And the crackdowns kept coming — two days after they released the Protest Issue, Jonathan Stewart, the Mercury’s advisor, was demoted; ostensibly due to a lack of oversight during the May 20 Protest Issue. No procedure was cited for his demotion. And their new advisor, Jenny Huffenberger, accused Shaikh and Gutierrez of journalistic malpractice. “I am told…that my head is next on the chopping block” says Gutierrez, referring to a conversation between him and his demoted advisor. And it was. By the beginning of the next semester, Gutierrez was fired. The firing came after numerous attempts by Shaikh and Gutierrez to get the school on the record for their conduct during the month of May. The administration refused to comment. Frustrated, Shaikh and Gutierrez filed a public records request for documents relevant to the school’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests between April 29, 2024 and May 3, 2024. A decision the Mercury was advised against taking, as it might anger the administration. So in July 2024, they filed a public records request. In response, the school levied a $9,000 fee for obtaining the records; reduced to approximately $3,000 after negotiation. The students fundraised, and the records are now theirs. But the fight was only beginning. By the beginning of the next semester, things became worse. On Sept. 14, 2024, Gutierrez was fired. He filed an appeal with the Student Media Operating Board, citing numerous violations of the Student Media Bylaws. But despite his attempts, the Board refused to reinstate him. And the Mercury went on strike, refusing to publish non-strike related material until their demands were met. “Reinstate Gutierrez as editor-in-chief immediately, amend the student media bylaws so they cannot be egregiously used and twisted to penalize students with no real evidence or due process ever again, and democratize the way the editor-in-chief of the Mercury is chosen,” said Shaikh.. But instead of reinstating him, the administration had other plans. On Oct. 1, 2024, the Board fired everyone at the Mercury, leaving the newspaper without staff. This mass firing came in the wake of soaring readership. Readership of the printed issue is gauged by the rate at which readers pick up the newspaper at kiosks around campus. The pickup rate before Shaikh and Gutierrez took over was, on average, 60%, according to documentation they’d inherited. After taking the reins of the Mercury in May 2024, the paper’s popularity grew in double digits. “Our first issue, the May 20 issue, had a 99% pick-up rate. Our second issue, which was in the middle of the summer, notoriously low, had a 95% pick up rate. Our issue when we were back on campus, 98% pickup rate. And those were the three issues we had prior to the strike issue. The strike issue had a 100% pickup rate,” commented Shaikh. They did not want to see their work go to waste. “We’d agreed pretty much since the day we went on strike that if the [administration] does not meet our demands, we do not want to stop doing journalism,” recalled Shaikh. “We went ahead and we launched the Retrograde. We got the website built and we were posting by the thirty-first of September,” Shaikh continued, “ … So the September 16 issue was our Strike Issue and we didn’t miss a single cycle. We were right on top of it, publishing two weeks later, just as the Retrograde.” “After that, our student government passed a series of resolutions recognizing us as the official student newspaper on campus and that so long as strike demands were not met, they would not recognize a Mercury if it was reformed as a scab paper,” said Shaikh. The resolutions cemented the Retrograde the unofficial official newspaper of The University of Texas at Dallas. Since then, the Retrograde has continued to grow, publishing online bi-weekly. While they cannot afford to print every issue, they continue to sell advertisement space and print when it’s most effective. It hasn’t been easy. When they worked for the Mercury, student journalists received monthly stipends and payments per story. Today, the Retrograde relies on crowdsourcing and Patreon. “We’re doing what feels like objectively more work because now we have to worry about finances, filing as a 501c3 and all that other legal stuff, as well as like actually procuring advertisements … And while it’s a great challenge … I love having editorial control and you know, just being free from the whims of the administration. Even despite all the hard work it takes, it’s so, so worth it. I don’t regret it at all,” said Shaikh. Since then, the administration has tried repeatedly to impede the Retrograde — from demanding that Shaikh and Gutierrez return the Mercury’s old social media page to lambasting the paper during cross-department meetings. According a recording from the students provided to Unicorn Riot, Gene Fitch, the head of Student Affairs, opened the April 23, 2025 meeting of the Committee on Student Media by accusing the Retrograde of a “smear campaign” via a “barrage of articles and emails that have attempted to criticize and vilify those associated with student media.” While the Retrograde was not directly named in the quote, the allusion to the guerilla run paper was obvious to Shaikh and Gutierrez.
But the Retrograde consulted with lawyers and support groups at every turn. “As the Retrograde, we took the social media for ourselves,” Shaikh said, “after consulting with different lawyer people at the Student Press Law Center to just get an insight into how Texas property law works. Whoever created the social media is the original owner of it. That was made by a student. Whenever they transferred it to another student, that was the new owner. So because it was made by a student and passed by students, it was ours.” Today, the Retrograde’s social media has crossed 5,000 followers and exceeded a million views. And the Mercury? Since firing their entire staff in 2024, they have not published anything. While there are rumors that Student Media has hired new leadership for this fall, the future of the former school paper remains uncertain. For now, the Retrograde has become the newspaper of point for The University of Texas at Dallas. And perhaps that speaks to the power of students. “Administrators think that we are children in a very literal sense. They do not think that the average college student has the ability to stand up to them, to question what they’re saying … to talk to lawyers, to talk to the press, to talk to mentors outside of the university. And because of that, they have grossly underestimated us so far, and they continue to. They have made a lot of mistakes so far, and they continue to. Frankly that is the best tool at our disposal, being able to always have the upper hand by virtue of always being underestimated,” said Shaikh. Shaikh is in her final year at the university. In addition to her work as the editing manager at the Retrograde, she was recently elected president of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. As the new president, she plans to promote hard-hitting student journalism across the state. Why? She believes school newspapers play an irreplaceable role in local journalism, often publishing news at a professional level for towns and cities that otherwise would not have a paper. Gutierrez is in his third year at the university and will continue on as the Retrograde’s editor-in-chief. Cover image by Aeffia Feuerstein  Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon. The post RIP Mercury, Hello Retrograde! How Administrators Failed to Stop the Presses at The University of Texas-Dallas appeared first on UNICORN RIOT. 2025-09-06 12:32:40 UTC |
