Posted in Legal on Mar 11th, 2008
I’ve received a ton of emails the last 24 hours about the arrest of a longtime environmental activist in Cincinnati. At this stage, as is usually the case right after arrests, it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on. I think it’s important to get this information out, but also caution against speculation.
That being said, [...]
Posted in Legal, Operation Backfire on Mar 6th, 2008
Briana Waters has been found guilty of two counts of arson for the 2001 arson at the University of Washington, claimed by the Earth Liberation Front.
The jury hasn’t been able to reach a verdict on the other three counts. Among those, the most important, using a destructive device during a crime of violence. That [...]
Posted in Legal, Media, Operation Backfire, Terrorism Rhetoric on Mar 5th, 2008
UPDATE: This blog post was also published by Counterpunch, on March 07, 2008.
Multi-million dollar mansions in a Seattle suburb–each about 4,200-4,750 square feet, going for about $2 million a pop, touted as “green”– were burned Monday. About $7 million in damage on the “Street of Dreams.” Nobody injured, [...]
Posted in Harassment, Legal on Feb 25th, 2008
From The Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Dozens of police cars surrounded a home on the 700 block of Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz on Sunday night as a crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the events unfold.
According to Frank Male, the owner of the house, three UC Santa Cruz seniors live at the residence. Male said [...]
Posted in Legal, Opposition on Feb 23rd, 2008
When’s the last time you heard anything about Osama bin Laden? Yeah, same here. Bin Laden, the face of international terrorism, hasn’t been in the news much lately, and I can’t remember the last time I heard anything about the U.S. government making any headway on his capture. Meanwhile, U.S. law enforcement agencies are going [...]
Posted in Federal, GNR Media/ Events, Legislation, Operation Backfire on Feb 10th, 2008
This interview is in the latest issue of The Abolitionist (Australia). I spoke with Claudette Vaughan, the chief editor, about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, the “Green Scare,” and the politics of fear. Here it is below, and also be sure to check out the other articles on their site.
Abolitionist: What did you say at [...]
Posted in GNR Media/ Events, Legal, Operation Backfire on Jan 24th, 2008
Considering that the “eco-terrorism” arrests dubbed “Operation Backfire” didn’t even make it into the local paper’s top 20 news stories of 2007, and the National Association of Manufacturers claims “boy, we sure didn’t hear about this” (which I find very, very hard to believe), I thought I’d highlight a good series of background articles on [...]
Posted in Operation Backfire, Terrorism Rhetoric on Jan 24th, 2008
The FBI says “The No. 1 domestic terrorism threat is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement.” And when the Feds rounded up environmental advocates as part of “Operation Backfire,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said, “In all, their trail of destruction across the Pacific Northwest and beyond resulted in millions of dollars of property damage. Today’s indictment is [...]
Posted in Harassment, Legal on Jan 16th, 2008
UC Santa Cruz has been cracking down on tree sitters and their supporters, who are trying to protect Redwoods from UC development plans. There have been arrests and police pepper-spraying students, but what caught my attention in this article is the wording that the university is using in court. From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:
The Regents [...]
Posted in Legal, Operation Backfire on Jan 14th, 2008
Two big court dates for so-called “eco-terrorism” cases are coming up in February, both on February 11th.
The trial of Briana Waters is set to begin in Washington state. Waters was arrested as part of the government’s “Operation Backfire” roundup of environmental activists. Others were already hit with “terrorism enhancement” penalties for property crimes, and [...]
The War on Terrorism has come home. Corporations and politicians are labeling activists "eco-terrorists" and national security threats. Think red-baiting, with a green twist. Here you'll find original reporting and analysis of the Green Scare, and history repeating itself.