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Bu$h vs. Greenpeace
Hello guys, I still don't have internet access at home, but I just feel that I need to get a new blog entry out there. So I decided to use my lunch break for some research and typing, well 3 lunch breaks to be exact.
Our dear Mr. Bush and his administration seem to be keen to make more enemies it seems, probably they are receiving too many love letters from around the world.
This time they want to take up environmentalists, the Greenpeace organization, to please a few greedy corporates.
Bush vs. Greenpeace Overview
For the first time ever, the US government has decided to prosecute an entire organisation for exercising its right to free speech through non-violent protest.
For years, Greenpeace have been working to halt environmental destruction and human rights abuses by criminal enterprises in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. In April 2002, miles off the coast of Florida, two Greenpeace activists boarded a ship that was carrying wood illegally exported from the Brazilian Amazon. Their goal was to hang a banner that said "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging." But instead of intercepting the contraband and prosecuting the smugglers, the federal government has charged Greenpeace with crimes for boarding the ship. This case poses a serious threat to citizens' right to free speechand to engage in peaceful dissent.
The trial begins on May 17th, and results from a protest against an illegal shipment of mahogany headed for the Port of Miami in Florida two years ago. Unable to find a suitable law against calling attention to environmental crimes, the Attorney General has charged Greenpeace under an obscure 19th-century law designed to
stop prostitutes from boarding sailing vessels. What a joke!
While Greenpeace is in the dock, those who logged, imported and sold the illegally imported mahogany continue to operate.
Another joke by the U$ admin, they sure have a strange sense of humour.
Not only is this a wholly unwarranted and politically motivated attack on an organisation that was attempting to prevent a crime, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for the future of free speech and the right to civil protest in the US. It could also be used as an example in other countries to curb non-violent direct action. The case has been attacked in articles and editorials in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and Miami Herald.
Senator Patrick Leahy of the US Judiciary Committee wrote to US Attorney General John Ashcroft saying his selective prosecution of Greenpeace could "have a chilling effect on free speech and activism of all kinds." Al Gore called the case "highly disturbing" in a speech to MoveOn members. Fellow environmental and civil rights groups have rallied to demand Ashcroft drop the case. But Ashcroft's not listening.
We shouldn't let this case go unchallenged, so let's show GREENPEACE some support.
Don't let Bush and Ashcroft silence you. Take action now:
~Click here to send Bu$h a love letter~
Find out more about the case here.
G r e e n ~ p e a c e ~