ok all you green terrorists, please line up......sheeesh

[Guest guest]

Bill Berkowitz

 

WorkingForChange

 

08.27.02

 

'The Green al-Qaeda?'

 

Conservative campaign brands environmentalists, animal

rights & family farm activists 'terrorists'

 

Since September 11, anti-environmental groups have burned

green swastikas, roundly criticized the World Summit in

Johannesburg, and branded environmentalists the domestic

equivalent of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Right-wing

organizations have been lumping the violent actions of a few

together with the peaceful activities of most environmental

organizations; including them under the same " eco/economic

terrorist " umbrella. Some state legislators have carried

bills designed to prohibit activities that would interfere

with a company's business practices.

 

Anti-environmental groups have called on the FBI to

investigate environmental organizations that might be

engaged in what they term " eco-terrorism. " In mid-June

letter to the editor of the Times-Picayune, Dan S. Borné,

President of the Louisiana Chemical Association, questioned

whether Greenpeace was a " tool of state-sponsored

eco-terrorism " and called for an investigation into its

funding. Borné writes: " Greenpeace... owes its allegiance to

no nation. It has put its own agenda ahead of America's

well-being, answering only to its left-wing ideology and to

unnamed fellow travelers who pump millions into its coffers.

Federal investigators and enterprising journalists should

ask whether its funding is influenced by donors who do not

have America's security interests at heart. "

 

Ron Arnold, a longtime thorn in the side of environmental

groups, has launched a campaign to convince the FBI's

Domestic Terrorism Program to take a close look at the Green

Anarchy Tour 2002, currently making its way from Ashland,

Oregon to the nation's capital. Arnold, vice president of

the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, told the

Conservative News Service (CNS) that the tour " presents

probable cause for investigation. You do have people here

recommending violence, murder, property damage, everything

you can think of. "

 

Arnold, who is the author of several books on the

environmental movement including Ecoterror: The Violent

Agenda to Save Nature: The World of the Unabomber, once told

the New York Times: " We want to destroy environmentalists by

taking away their money and their members " (New York Times,

December 19, 1991).

 

According to CNS, Steven Berry, spokesman for the FBI's

Domestic Terrorism Program said that they " fully support the

rights of any and all groups no matter what their message or

their purpose to lawfully assemble, protest and march. "

 

However, Berry added that the FBI " is only concerned when

there is a violation of federal law, " pointing out that

eco-terrorism is " the number one investigative priority of

the domestic terrorism section. "

 

'Eco-terrorism' or environmental activism

 

According to CLEAR, an anti-environmental watchdog group:

" While most Americans think eco-terrorism consists of arson

and other widely condemned extremist activities, some

anti-environmentalists define 'eco-terror' [as including

such] civil disobedience as tree sitting, blocking roads,

targeting corporations with boycotts, and even advocating

that the U.S. ratify the Kyoto global warming treaty. "

 

In a late-January issue of CLEAR View, the organization laid

out four areas the revived right-wing attack on

environmentalists are focusing on: 1) An " effort to enact

vaguely defined federal 'eco-terror' legislation that could

limit rights to non-violent protests and would not deter

violent crime " ; 2) " A nasty public relations ploy attempting

to cast ALL environmentalism as 'eco-terrorism' to varying

degrees " ; 3) " Unfriendly demands that law-abiding

environmental groups provide a position on the criminal

activities of the Earth Liberation Front " ; and 4) " Ongoing

attacks on the tax-exempt status of a handful of leading

environmental organizations, such at the Rainforest Action

Network and the Ruckus Society, based on complaints that

direct action violates their IRS tax status. "

Here are a few recent manifestations of these themes:

 

--In a recent commentary, David Hawxhurst, Assistant

Managing Editor of OpinionEditorials.com (which is a project

of Frontiers of Freedom), called radical environmentalists

the " Green al-Qaeda. " Hawxhurst maintains that law

enforcement officials in the U.S. should prioritize " rooting

out the evil terrorist cells that inhabit our own country...

These domestic terrorists have been hiding behind 'Green'

camouflage relatively undisturbed and unnoticed. They use

the environment to disguise how sinister their attacks are,

and unfortunately succeed in doing so. "

 

--In a mid-July piece published by the Seattle Times, David

Martosko, director of research for the Center for Consumer

Freedom (CCF) wrote: " Today, sensible goals of animal

protection have been twisted into hideous extremism, or what

the FBI calls 'special-interest domestic terrorism.' " The

CCF was identified by the Times as " a public-interest

coalition of more than 30,000 restaurant and tavern

operators. "

 

--In late May, the Sierra Times, an anti-environmentalist

publication, reported that John Stokes, owner of the KGEZ

(z600 - The Edge) radio station, had organized the second

annual " Operation Restore Eagle " in Northwest Montana--an

action " dedicated to getting direct and immediate attention

to the ongoing battle against radical environmentalism. " The

highlight of the event which drew about 100 people was the

burning of a 12-foot Green Swatiska that was " built to

represent the Nazi-like behavior of many on the extreme

left. "

 

According to Sierra Times, Stokes plans to make the Green

Swastika burning an annual event. " Until then, " the Sierra

Times reported, Stokes " urged all land rights supporters to

pass out copies of Green Swastikas with red lines through

them to help carry the message of the stand against radical

environmentalism. 'It's easy, it's cheap, and it drives the

Green Nazis nuts', he said. 'Whatever the case, make sure

the Green Swastika is suitable for burning.' "

 

--In a letter published in the Winter 2002 issue of the NC

Pork Report, Jimmy Neuhoff, President of the North Carolina

Pork Council, complained that family farm activists were

unfairly targeting the pork industry. He wrote that in ways

" similar " to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 " the pork

industry is also under attack... While I am not suggesting

activists are terrorists, it is interesting to note the

parallels in their methods of operation. Both groups distort

the truth to further their agendas. Both groups have no

regard for the damage levied on innocent victims. "

 

Legislative gag rule

 

In Pennsylvania, reports the Bradford Era, the state Senate

passed an " eco-harassment " bill by a vote of 36-14.

Introduced by state Sen. Joe Scarnati (R-Brockway), the bill

was moved to the state House of Representatives. Scanati

told the Bradford Era that he carried the bill " in order to

provide restitution to individuals and businesses alike

effected by harmful, vicious and irresponsible environmental

protests that halt/hinder daily activities. "

 

The bill reads: " A person commits the offense of

environmental harassment if the person communicates to

another person a threat to commit, or cause to be committed,

a crime of violence dangerous to human life or destructive

to property or business practices, for the primary purpose

of expressing a perspective on an environmental or natural

resource issue. " The most ambiguous and dangerous aspect of

the bill is that it talks about activities that are harmful

to the " business practices " of a company, which could mean

just about anything that calls attention to a company's poor

environmental record.

 

In Illinois this past spring, family farm activists fought a

bill which passed in the Illinois House (H B 5793) by a 118

to 0 vote. The bill makes the photographing or videotaping

the conditions of animals at factory farms illegal.

 

Should the current spate of attacks on

environmentalists--attacks that in one form or another have

been going on for years--be taken more seriously post 9/11?

You bet! Given the administration's abysmal environmental

record, an Attorney General, bent on secrecy and taking

every opportunity to ratchet up domestic spying operations,

and an FBI hungry to regain a measure of prestige lost by a

series of pre-9/11 flubs, the trend of linking legitimate

environmental actions to " eco/economic terrorism " is a clear

danger and bears scrutiny.

 

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative

movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch

documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories

and defeats of the American Right.

[Guest guest]

OMG!

 

ok all you green terrorists, please line

up......sheeesh

 

 

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