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From: "dnordin" <•••@••.•••>
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Fw: [NN] Legislation pending to criminalize
all American environmental activism
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 18:38:33 -0700
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From: OBF Research <•••@••.•••>
To: * * OBF Research (* * OBF Research) <•••@••.•••>
Subject: [NN] Legislation pending to criminalize all American
environmental activism
Date: Friday, May 09, 2003 1:53 PM
===== A message from the nanoosenet mailing list =====
-
From the It-Can't-Happen-Here--Or-Can-It? department:
A powerful conservative lobbying group/think tank
(American Legislative Exchange Council) is actively
promoting model state legislation that would
criminalize virtually all environmental activism.
There are currently bills pending in Texas,
Pennsylvania, Maine, and New York, and it may soon
appear in at least Mississippi, Wisconsin, and
Washington.
Here's what the State Environmental Resource Center had
to say about the Texas HB 433:
" This legislation makes protesting environmental
issues a criminal activity, and increases penalties for
animal rights or environmental organizations
participating in activities 'with an intent to
influence a governmental entity or the public to take a
specific political action.' "
" Another key concern includes the definition of
'animal rights or ecological 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 an activity involving
natural resources.' "
" Such vague language could encompass all environmental
advocacy activity from signing petitions and peaceful
protests and demonstrations to environmental
organizations working to protect natural resources and
environmental quality across the country. "
" Furthermore, this bill would also create specific
penalties for those who donate money to environmental
organizations involved with political and social
protests, demonstrations, and debates, as stated in the
bill language: 'A person commits an offense if the
person knowingly provides financial support, resources,
or other assistance to an animal rights or ecological
terrorism organization for the purpose of assisting the
organization.' "
For more information, see:
<http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7748>
<http://www.serconline.org/watchdog/watchdog2003/watchdog29.html>
This is an unprecedented direct assault on our rights
to free speech and free association, and it's received
virtually no coverage in the mainstream media (yet).
While it's hard to imagine a bill like this passing,
ALEC is a powerful, well-funded conservative think
thank with a long history of influencing state
legislative policy. We encourage everyone who cares
about political freedom to follow this issue more
closely, and to work with the media to shine the light
on this ugly trend.
--
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For the movement, the relevant question is not, "Can we
work through the political system?", but rather, "Is
the political system one of the things that needs to be
fundamentally transformed?"
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