Video of activist Jessica Plichta’s arrest at a pro-Venezuela protest in Michigan went viral, fuelling criticism over free speech rights

Outrage flooded social media after a video showed an activist being arrested mid-interview at a pro-Venezuela protest, fuelling questions about the state of free speech in the United States.

In the now-viral clip taken from Grand Rapids, Michigan, 22-year-old teacher and activist Jessica Plichta can be heard criticising US foreign policy towards Venezuela, arguing that American involvement abroad is inseparable from domestic accountability.

“This isn’t just a foreign issue,” she said moments before her arrest. “It’s our tax dollars being used to commit war crimes, and it’s the responsibility of the people to resist a Trump administration committing crimes both at home and against people in Venezuela.”

Seconds later, local police move in. As she is escorted to a patrol vehicle, Plichta repeatedly states, “I am not resisting arrest.”

Local outlet WZZM, the city’s ABC affiliate, later reported that police said Plichta was arrested for obstructing a roadway and failing to obey a lawful command. In footage from the scene, an officer tells a bystander that demonstrators had been instructed to relocate their protest to the sidewalk, and alleged that the group instead blocked intersections until the march concluded.

  • kibiz0r@midwest.socialEnglish
    75·
    3 days ago

    The cruel irony of our situation is that we have:

    • An anti-democracy faction, that claims to believe that majority rule and bureaucracy are ineffective, and need to be replaced by a powerful dictator… but has only been able to gain as much ground as it has, because of a multi-decade effort to persuade regular people, build consensus and coalitions, and dive deep into procedure and obscure case law in order to move their agenda forward, one sub-sub-sub-clause at a time
    • A pro-democracy faction, that seems to believe that it’s impossible (or immoral) to try to change people’s minds, and that if an action won’t result in radical, comprehensive, overnight revolution all at once then it’s basically not worth doing
    • DeepSpace9mm@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 day ago

      Majority rule? What the hell is that? In the us? WHAT?! Most people are working class, so majority rule would be socialism by definition. Your comment is a very strange false dilemma. Reform or revolution is an interesting question, but you’ve basically dismissed it outright in your second bullet point by misrepresenting revolutionary theory.