For a long time now government and corporations and the politicians that represent them have been trying to fight back against animal rights and environmental activists and all social justice movements, particularly post September 11th. They really tried to use anti-terrorism rhetoric and court cases and this kind of, "eco-terrorist" and "domestic terrorist", all kinds of terrorist scare-mongering to really instill fear and to attack activists that way. So, we've seen an escalation of those tactics, especially in the last few years but it's been going on long before September 11th as well.
A lot of people are using this term "Green Scare" to define what's going on right now. And it's a term not meant to imply that what's going on is the same as what happened during the "Red Scare" of the 40's and 50's and also the 20's; it's not to imply that it is in any way worse or better, it is just to make a historical reference that most people get that what we did as a country, as a nation to people in that era of US history is inexcusable. I mean, it is a black mark on this history of this country and we should not be going that way again, but the tactics that we're seeing now, that the government are using; from the court cases and legislation, and the scare-mongering, and guilt by association -- they're all eerily parallel to all the same models that were put in place during the Red Scare.
The most significant impact of this terrorism rhetoric is not on people that are using illegal tactics because in many ways, these people already know that what they are doing is illegal; they're aren't any new crimes being created but what the government is doing, is creating new penalties for those crimes and enhancing them using these terrorist enhancements and slapping on a terrorist label to make their time in prison even worse than it would have been. To have punitive measures to instill fear in the general public. So none of this is meant to be a deterrent because what we have seen time and again, the FBI and the Department of Justice recognize, is when people are that passionate about an issue beyond themselves, this is not about greed, this is not a mafia crime, or a drug dealer; this is people passionate about the environment, and about protecting other life and when you have individuals like that going to great lengths, no prison sentence is going to deter that. What this is really meant to do, and the biggest impact of all this Green Scare, is to go after people using their First Amendment rights, to go after the broader movement, to go after people that are ideologically supportive of those who use illegal tactics. I mean it is meant to instill this fear; have this chilling effect on everyday people to make them think twice whether they want to be an outspoken, so-called radical, or so-called eco-terrorist supporter or radical environmentalist animal rights activist.
Well, I think one clear theme that we are seeing with all of this going on right now is that the people who are being targeted, it's not necessarily because their simply hurting corporate profits or that they are simply doing something that's illegal, I think there is really a deeper attack going on right now that's really a culture war and it's a war on values. It's a war on entire belief systems that I think the environmental and the animal rights movements in many ways cut to the heart of, more than some other social justice movements right now. They really get to core issues of what it means to be a human being; how are we interacting with the natural world, how are we interacting with each other and at the same time, bringing critiques of capitalism, and empire, and many other issues.
And, that's really at its heart what the MOVE organization was about as well. I think that's really why they were perceived by the government as such a threat, because they weren't single issue and they weren't necessarily about protesting or just about so-called lifestyle politics. They really did it all. I mean they were building ideological links between all of these issues and showing how their patterns of oppression and how things are connected. And they are building the links between your personal life and your political life. So, not only living the way that we want to see the world become, but also going out there and demanding that it become that way. So the combination of those 2 things are extremely dangerous to people in power and to prevalent world views that people don't want to change. I think those parallels are exactly the same in the animal rights and environmental movements.
Well, my experience reporting on these issues and seeing aspects of the radical environmental movement, and the mainstream environmental movement, and animal protection movement, is that it's heavily about community and creating and living your own life with people you share similar values with; not only personally, but also, stemming from that politically as well. A good example is in the Northwest with the Cascadia Forest Defenders, people are actually going out, putting their bodies on the line. In doing so, attempting to block logging operations or destruction of the natural world. They are not only living out their beliefs, but also attempting to stop something that is a physical injustice. But the only way that is possible, the only way those tactics can be carried out is if you have a strong community of people supporting you.
The same goes for illegal tactics that the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front and people have been arrested for. Those individuals have been arrested and they are facing prison sentences or they are in prison now but they also heavily depend on a community of people that are going to take care of their dogs and cats, that are going to water their plants and take care of their bills, and raise money, and line up attorneys. It's not possible without a strong community of people supporting them, and we have seen the negative consequences of not having that strong community of people supporting them. That people sometimes cave into that fear and you think it is all over, that your life is over and no one is going to remember you. Everyone's forgotten about you; that's what the FBI tells people. So unless you have a strong community, you're going to be susceptable to that.
The best way to combat that fear is to have a community of people that you can trust and you support and that you know if you're worried about something or if you're feeling really depressed when you're thinking about the state of US and global politics, you have people you can talk to, that you have people that can support you, that if you get arrested on a bogus charge at a protest or not at a protest, that you have people that are going to know that you're missing and know that you need legal support, and that they can raise benefits and flyers and all the things that need to be done to make sure that you're taken care of. So in that sense, I think that it's just so important to mix that personal with the political because they aren't seperable. I mean you really have to have both in order to be an effective social justice movement, and especially an effective social justice movement that's fighting back against the most powerful empire in the history of the world.
Unfortunately what we'll see in next few years is that none of these issues are going away. The Green Scare, which seems like a relatively isolated chunk of the broader political climate right now, it's just environmental and animal rights activists within that community, things are expanding and the crackdown is increasing. This new law, The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, has just been applied for the first time to two cases. Individuals who are accused of releasing minks from mink farms and individuals from California who are not accused of anything except for protesting, leafletting, and wearing bandanas at lawful protests. This is the extent to which the government is willing to go to criminalize dissent.
Now I would think it would be a mistake to think this is going to turn around with the Obama administration -- these arrests have happened under the Obama administration, and the Obama Justice Department. And it's also a mistake to think that if we just hunker down we can wait for it to pass over. That once they round up people that are actually accused of illegal actions, the crackdown is going to stop. And what we are seeing is that it is not stopping with people that have done illegal things. These industry groups have labeled the Humane Society as a terrorist organization. They've labeled mainstream organizations like the Sierra Club as eco-terrorists. They really have no limits to the extent that they are willing to go. And when you combine that with the broader political climate of domestic spying and warrantless wire taps, both of which the Obama administration has defended, extraordinary rendition, sending people abroad to be tortured, of the closure of Guantanamo, transfer of inmates to similar facilities to United States. The creation of -- and this is still not clear -- FEMA detention camps, it's certainly quite a bleak picture.
But at the same time, despite all this going on, I'm not a pessimist about any of this because what we've seen time again throughout history, throughout US history and world history, is that as these escalations increase, it's a reflection on movements gaining power and being more successful. None of this crackdown would be taking place unless animal rights and environmental activists, and broader social justice movements, were truly perceived as a threat. The resources would not be wasted on people that are truly seen as not being any threat to any world view or any people in power and I think people should take stock in that, and I think we should also take stock in the fact that we're on the right side of history. That people who have experienced this throughout US history and world history -- this government oppression, and grand juries, and lawsuits, and the prison time, and the arrests, and the legislation -- we now revere them in history books and then, in national holidays, and in monuments, as heros. And not to say that we should be that egotistical that we are so heroic, but also just to take it with a grain of salt, and remember that we may be on the brunt end of the attack right now, but thirty years from now, is that going to be the case?
