Yale Law School Event on the Green Scare
Jan 25th, 2007 by Will Potter
I’ll be speaking at Yale Law School as part of the 13th Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference, Feb. 23-25, 2007. I’ll be on a panel with Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. Here’s a description:
In 2006, the government convicted animal rights activists known as the SHAC 7 on “animal enterprise terrorism” charges and indicted 11 other ecological activists for alleged acts of property damage involving no harm to life. Labeling the defendants “ecoterrorists,” the government has sought terrorism enhancements and destructive device charges that carry with them a mandatory minimum of 30 years and the possibility of life. This exercise of what the National Lawyers Guild calls “selective prosecution” has been termed the Green Scare.
Led by an attorney for several defendants and a journalist who has covered the cases in depth, this panel will discuss the “green scare,” 9/11’s fallout for activists, the government’s use of potentially unconstitutional techniques such as wiretapping to monitor activist groups, and the emergence of a new category of “domestic terrorists” that a recent ACLU suit claims now includes Greenpeace, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the ACLU itself. The panelists also will describe how lawyers, communities, and individuals can respond to these federal policies. For an example of a prisoner support site, see http://supportdaniel.org.
I’m excited about the event, but also about the entire conference. If you can at all make the trip, I think the conference will be well worth it. Here’s a description of the conference itself:
We have an exciting lineup of panels this year, on topics ranging from school integration to labor trafficking to anarchist lawyering. Conference attendees will also hear from Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & AIDS project; Stephen Bright, President, Senior Counsel, and Former Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights and Visiting Lecturer in Law, Yale Law School; Judge Thelton Henderson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; and filmmaker Abby Ginzburg. This year’s conference will also focus on providing more space for meaningful conversation and sharing of ideas between student participants, so that we use this opportunity not only to learn, but to create a jumping-off point for own advocacy initiatives.
good article:
AETA and the New Green Scare
Are You the Terrorist Next Door?
By CHARLOTTE LAWS
I was an ordinary American until November 27, 2006 when I became a terrorist or more accurately what I call a “stand-by terrorist.” Perhaps I cannot truly own this newfound nickname until the government decides to prosecute me for word crimes, if that day ever arrives. Until then, I just think of myself as being on stand-by, just as are most–if not all–Americans, whether they realize it or not.
You may wonder how words can amount to a terrorist act in the land of the free and home of the outspoken. It is not widely known, but Congress recently passed legislation called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), which can be used to prosecute civil disobedience and speech as “domestic terrorism” when an animal-related business loses profits and property. The Act also protects corporations that pollute and destroy the environment.
You may ask, what does this have to do with me because I’m no nature fan or animal lover? Well, it could eventually have very much to do with you because the AETA”a natural child of the Patriot Act”is likely to be the first of many assaults on the social justice movement in favor of corporations and other moneyed interests. If you think you may want to use your free speech someday to criticize something, anything, then you had better be very concerned.
You should also be concerned about whether law enforcement protects you from the Bin Ladens of the world or fritters away your hard-earned tax dollars investigating pacifists. The American Civil Liberties Union says the FBI uses “counterterrorism resources to monitor and infiltrate (nonviolent) domestic political organizations that criticize business interests and government policies.” An FBI special agent recently told me that planting undercover agents at legal, peaceful events”with hopes that they will somehow learn about illegal activities–is a favored tactic of the bureau.
What are the parameters of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and who could be tangled in its web, slapped with prison time and branded a terrorist? Could Oprah Winfrey–the beloved and successful talk show host”and her former vegetarian guest, Howard Lyman, be prosecuted as terrorists if they were to repeat anti-beef comments made to Winfrey’s 15 million viewers in 1996?
continues>>
http://www.counterpunch.org/laws01262007.html