[Reader-list] Criminalizing environmental activism ?

[Avishek Ganguly]

>  Environmentalists = Terrorists
>   The New Math
>
>Karen Charman is an investigative journalist specializing in agriculture, health and the environment.
>
> Have you ever signed a petition in support of an environmental or 
> animal-rights issue? Do you belong to the Sierra Club, the 
Natural Resources Defense Council, or Greenpeace? Have you publicly 
protested some environmental or animal rights outrage? If legislation 
crafted and promoted by the ultra-conservative American Legislative 
Exchange Council (ALEC) becomes law, these fundamental rights of American 
> citizenship could become illegal.
>
> Exploiting the current political climate against terrorism, ALEC 
has teamed up with the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, a pro-hunting 
group, to create a model "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act." The 
legislation is part of an intense backlash against increasingly effective and 
> vocal citizen campaigns aimed at halting -- and holding 
corporations accountable for -- environmental, animal-rights and public health 
> abuses.
> Forging this kind of marriage to produce anti-progressive 
legislation is old hat to ALEC, now in its thirtieth year of policy bending. 
With an annual budget of nearly $6 million, ALEC's funders read like a 
> Who's Who of the right, and include organizations like the 
National Rifle Association, Family Research Council and Heritage 
Foundation. It counts conservative activists and politicians such as Jesse 
Helms, Jack Kemp and Henry Hyde among its alumni. Enron, Phillip Morris 
(now Altria) and several oil companies rank among ALEC's corporate 
> sponsors. And to bring the loop full-circle, ALEC boasts 2,400 
state lawmakers representing all 50 states among its current members.
>
> In light of this, it's hardly shocking that ALEC is no friend to 
green groups. According to a 2002 report by Defenders of Wildlife and 
the Natural Resources Defense Council, corporations and trade 
associations "funnel cash through ALEC to curry favor with state lawmakers 
through junkets and other largesse in the hopes of enacting special 
interest legislation -- all the while keeping safely outside the public 
eye."
>
> The strategy obviously works. ALEC spokesperson David Wargin 
estimates that out of about 1,000 ALEC model bills introduced in the last 
> legislative session, 200 were enacted.
>
> The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act may be next. Intended for 
> states, it criminalizes virtually all forms of environmental or 
> animal-rights advocacy. Versions of the proposed law were 
introduced in Texas in February and in New York in March. New York Assembly 
> member Richard Smith (D-Blasdell), who introduced that state's 
bill, says four or five other states have also expressed interest.
>
> The Texas bill defines an "animal rights or terrorist 
organization" as "two or more persons organized for the purpose of supporting any 
> politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or deter any 
> person from participating in an activity involving animals or... 
> natural resources." The bill adds that "'Political motivation' 
means an intent to influence a government entity or the public to take 
a specific political action." Language in the New York bill is 
similarly broad.
>
> Michael Ratner, a human rights lawyer and vice-president of the 
Center for Constitutional Rights, has never seen such draconian 
legislation in the United States.
>
> "This is unique. Even under the definition of domestic terrorism 
in the Patriot Act, you have to at least do something that arguably 
> threatens people's lives," he says. "The definitional sections of 
this legislation are so broad that they sweep within them basically 
every environmental and animal-rights organization in the country."
>
> Sandy Liddy Bourne, director of the ALEC task force that came up 
with the model bill, insists the legislation is narrowly targeted at 
> environmental and animal-rights extremists who blow up buildings 
or destroy research facilities.
"We're certainly not attempting to interfere with anybody's civil 
> rights to protest or express their opinion on environmental or 
> animal-rights issues," she says. However, "there are legitimate 
> business operations across our country that are being targeted by 
> environmental extremists, and it's time to bring this kind of 
activity to a halt."
>
> Ratner points out that there are laws against trespassing, 
vandalism, destruction of property, disorderly conduct and disturbing the 
peace. The only reason for this legislation, he says, is to eliminate 
all forms of dissent, including the time-honored democratic 
traditions of nonviolent, peaceful protest and civil disobedience.
>
> Civil rights advocates who thought the Patriot Act was bad should 
turn their attention to this legislation. Because if ALEC is 
successful, millions of people might just lose the only tool they have left: 
the right to loud and public dissent.


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