NYC Bar Association Event on Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
Apr 24th, 2007 by Will Potter
I’ll be speaking at the NYC Bar Association about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in a few weeks. Hope to see some of you New Yorkers there…
THE ANIMAL ENTERPRISE TERRORISM ACT:
Civil Rights As A Casualty In Anti-Terrorism RhetoricMay 22, 2007, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
New York City Bar Association
42 West 44th Street,New York,NY 10036
Meeting Hall, 2nd FloorA serious setback for civil rights: The newly enacted federal Animal Enterprise
Terrorism Act (AETA) risks targeting free speech advocates as terrorists — even in the
absence of any harm or damage,or for loss of corporate profits. AETA’s implications are
far-reaching. It may chill First Amendment rights of environmentalists and civil rights activists.
AETA would likely have accused Martin Luther King, Jr.and his followers of terrorism
due to any profit loss from the nationwide lunch counter sit-ins of the 1960s. AETA
introduces criminal penalties for otherwise petty crimes or misdemeanors under state
law that are far in excess of penalties for otherwise violent crimes under the 2005
federal Sentencing Guidelines.Speakers:
WILL POTTER
Award-winning Journalist; Creator of www.GreenIsTheNewRed.com blog focusing on the effects of the war on terrorism on civil libertiesPETER MULLER
Principal, League of Humane VotersMINNA ELIAS
New York Chief of Staff and Counsel to Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)H. LOUIS SIRKIN
Sirkin Pinales & Schwartz LLPANDREW F. ERBA
Williams Cuker BerezofskyROBERT A. OBLER
Criminal Trial AttorneyHEIDI BOGHOSIAN
Executive Director, National Lawyers GuildDAVID CASSUTO
Associate Professor of Law, Pace Law SchoolSponsored by:
Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals, Jane Hoffman, Chair; Committee on Civil Rights, Sidney S. Rosdeitcher, ChairMembers of the Association, their guests and all other interested persons are invited to attend. There is no fee for attending the program, however registration is recommended. You may register at http://www.nycbar.org/EventsCalendar/show_event.php?eventid=669.
Thank you SO much for addressing this issue. I can verify the fact that almost no one else is doing so because I search this topic daily, and this is the first thing to come up in weeks. Most of the other ones are from vegan or animal activist websites (or from grateful allies of the animal/environmental abuse industries).
Why don’t people get it?
I am not a lawyer, but I sent out an email when AETA passed commenting that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been arrested for injuring the business owners who were boycotted. There is no question that this is potentially the most sinister bit of legislation to come out of BushCo, and that’s saying a lot. Please spread the word! (Why does it go through my mind, “First they came for the animal activists, but I wasn’t an animal activist, so I remained silent….”
(For anyone’s information, here is the original:
“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist - so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat - so I did nothing. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew - so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left who could stand up for me.”
MARTIN NIEMOELLER, CHURCH DISSIDENT LEADER, arrested 1937, who spent seven years in concentration camps
“Why don’t people get it?” That is what I have been saying! Why don’t people get why the AETA is in place?
I speak as someone who has been the victim of animal rights terrorist, I have had death threats made to myself and my family. I have had my house vandalized. I had to get an unlisted phone number because of threatening calls in the night. I was told by police to vary my schedule so not to start a pattern, and what was my crime? I am a State Wildlife Biologist.
I don’t represent any corporations, I work for the environment and yes I support regulated hunting, fishing and trapping. Myself and my co-workers do more for the environment and the animals that live there in a month than all animal rights groups have ever done!
The AETA does not take away a person right to protest or freedom of speech. Here is what the AETA says on LAWFUL boycotts and freedom of speech.
“`(3) the term `economic damage’–
`(A) means the replacement costs of lost or damaged property or records, the costs of repeating an interrupted or invalidated experiment, the loss of profits, or increased costs, including losses and increased costs resulting from threats, acts or vandalism, property damage, trespass, harassment, or intimidation taken against a person or entity on account of that person’s or entity’s connection to, relationship with, or transactions with the animal enterprise; but
`(B) does not include any lawful economic disruption (including a lawful boycott) that results from lawful public, governmental, or business reaction to the disclosure of information about an animal enterprise;”
“`(e) Rules of Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed–
`(1) to prohibit any expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) protected from legal prohibition by the First Amendment to the Constitution;
`(2) to create new remedies for interference with activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution, regardless of the point of view expressed, or to limit any existing legal remedies for such interference; or
`(3) to provide exclusive criminal penalties or civil remedies with respect to the conduct prohibited by this action, or to preempt State or local laws that may provide such penalties or remedies.’.”
Martin Luther King was fighting for HUMAN rights and he did so in a peaceful manner, I have never read anywhere that he threatened a person’s child just because of the job the parent has.