read it all Environmentalists = Terrorists

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: TruChaos () aol com
Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 12:25:36 -0400 (EDT)
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Environmentalists = Terrorists

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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