FW: [NFPA] Law Would Target Environmentalists as "Terrrorists"

 
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Ben Prater
Sent: March 12, 2004 12:43 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [NFPA] Law Would Target Environmentalists as "Terrrorists"



In a message dated 3/1/2004 3:02:43 PM Pacific Standard Time::

For Immediate Release: March 1, 2004

Contact: Erin O'Neill at 202.467.2379

 

Big-Brother Bill from ALEC Targets Environmentalists as Terrorists.

Right-Wing/Corporate Legislation Would Track Citizen Activists

In a move worthy of Orwell's Big Brother, the Washington state
legislature is being asked to fund a law enforcement database of
"eco-terrorists" that would in fact track citizens engaged in lawful
environmental advocacy -including signing a petition to save old-growth
forests, attending a rally for clean air, or simply joining a group like
the Sierra Club or Defenders of Wildlife.  

Public trust, a coalition of public interest organizations, said today
that State Senator Val Stevens of Olympia (R-39) has introduced
legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council  (ALEC)
to stiffen penalties for crimes related to eco-terrorism and create the
database.  While the bill itself has not passed, the Associated Press
reported that Senate Republicans earmarked $50,000 for the database in a
budget bill passed last Wednesday.  the House leadership has not
included this divisive proposal in its own budget bill. 

The so-called "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" is among the
cookie-cutter bills promoted by ALEC, an organization funded primarily
by corporate soft money and the Right-Wing to push a pro-corporate,
far-right agenda in state legislatures across the country. The bill
invokes the language of terrorism to restrict long-standing political
rights to nonviolent protest. It defines animal rights or terrorist
organizations as "two or more persons organized for the purpose of
supporting any  politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or
deter any persons from participating in an activity involving animals or
...natural resources."

"This dangerously broad definition of 'terrorist' would catch anybody
who's ever sent in $10 to save the pandas. It's a thinly disguised
effort to quash environmental activism and intimidate citizens who want
to speak out. And it's a chilling example of how the Right Wing is using
the threat of terrorism to violate privacy and snoop on law-abiding
Americans," said  Ralph G. Neas, President of the People For the
American Way, a co-chair organization of Public Trust.

"Virtually identical 'eco-terrorism' bills written by ALEC have been
introduced in New York, Arizona, Texas, Hawaii and South Carolina, and
Congresswoman Darlene Hooley of Oregon has introduced a federal version
in the U.S. House," said Robert Dewey, Vice President for Government
Relations for Defenders of Wildlife, also a co-chair organization of
Public Trust.

"These bills would limit the first amendment rights of conservation
organizations and activists, but would do nothing to prevent real
terrorism." Senator Stevens is Washington State chair for ALEC, which is
financed by right-wing foundations and more than 300 corporations and
trade associations. Based in Washington, DC, ALEC pays for state
legislators to travel to its two meetings each year, and has a roster of
hundreds of bills intended to promote right-wing and corporate special
interests. This summer, ALEC will hold its annual meeting in Seattle.

Public Trust, a collaborative effort among state and national public
interest groups, is dedicated to shining the public spotlight on the
corrosive, secretive influence of ALEC's corporate-funded efforts in
state legislatures. Founding groups represent more than 18 million
Americans.  Among the participating organizations are People For the
American Way, Defenders of Wildlife, Western States Center, Common
Cause, Public Citizen, Economic Analysis Research Network, League of
Conservation Voters, NAACP, Midwest States Center, AFL-CIO, National
Education Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, American
Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, U.S. Public Interest
Research Group, Center for Policy Alternatives, and the Service
Employees International Union.

Primary sources for Journalists:

http://www.publictrustaction.org

http://www.pfaw.org

http://www.defenders.org

"Environmentalist = Terrorists: The New Math," by Karen Charman,

http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7748

"Ghostwriting the Law by Karen Olsson, Sept/Oct 2002,

http://www.motherjones.com

http://www.alec.org

 




 

Ben Prater

Master of Environmental. Management Candidate

Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

Duke University 

[email protected]

The battle we have fought, and are still fighting, for the forests is a
part of the eternal conflict between right and wrong...So we must count
on watching and striving for these trees, and should always be glad to
find anything so surely good and noble to strive for.
- John Muir

"May the forest be with you..."




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