Green Scare

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The term Green Scare, alluding to the Red Scare of the 1940s-50s, is an expression popularized by environmental activists to refer to legal action by the U.S. government against the radical environmentalist movement.

It is first known to have appeared in 2002 in the wake of the February 12 congressional hearings titled "The Threat of Eco-Terrorism" which discussed groups including the ELF and the ALF [1]. The Spring edition of a prisoner support zine or newsletter, Spirit of Freedom defined the term as "the tactics that the US government and all their tentacles (FBI, IRS, BATF, Joint Terrorism Task Forces, local police, the court system) are using to attack the ELF/ALF and specifically those who publicly support them." [2]

The term has been used by activists to describe an 2006 sweep of arrests, convictions and grand jury indictments of alleged Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front operatives on charges relating to acts of property damage, conspiracy, arson and use of destructive devices. [3] [4]

Contents


[edit] Operation Backfire

On December 7, 2005, seven people were arrested in various parts of the U.S. as part of the FBI's Operation Backfire. [5] At least six people were subpoenaed to testify before grand juries. [6] Three of the individuals subpoenaed ended up on a January 20, 2006, 65 count, 84 page long indictment. [7] The new indictment charged 11 people with conspiring to commit 18 acts of arson and vandalism over a 5 year period across multiple states. Some of the charges relate to a 1998 arson attack on the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado and the sabotage of a power line near Bend, Oregon, in 1999. The FBI considers these crimes to be acts of "domestic terrorism,"[8] and the ELF to be the nation's top domestic terror threat. [9]

The evidence provided for the indictments came from the testimony of five cooperating witnesses. [10] Three of the cooperating witnesses, Stanislas Meyerhoff [11], Kevin Tubbs [12], and Sarah Harvey, also known as Kendall Tankersly [13], were included in the indictment.

On February 23, 2006, two more individuals, Nathan Frazer Block, 24, and Joyanna Lynn Zacher, 28, were arrested in Olympia, Washington. [14]

On March 30, 2006, Briana Waters, a 30-year-old woman from California, was ordered to appear at a hearing at the U.S. District Court in Seattle after she was charged with two counts related to the May 2001 fire that destroyed the University of Washington Center for Horticulture building. She pleaded not guilty to all charges. The first count, arson, carries a mandatory minimum term of five years imprisonment; the second, using or carrying a destructive device during a crime of violence, carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years. Waters was ordered released on her personal recognizance on condition she surrender her passport. U.S. Magistrate-Judge Monica Benton, citing the "gravity of the case," also imposed electronic home monitoring on Waters when she returns to the Bay Area. In ordering the monitoring, Benton noted Waters is a mother "who cares for a small child" and a self-employed violin teacher. [15]

On April 6, 2006, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott and FBI Special Agent Drew Parenti announced four new indictments in connection with an Earth Liberation Front (ELF) October 15, 2001 arson at the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Facility near Susanville, California. Three of those indicted already face ELF related charges in Oregon, including Canadian Darren Thurston, 36, who is in custody. Josephine Sunshine Overaker, 31, Rebecca Rubin, 32, and Joseph Dibee, 38, are at large, as is the fourth suspect named for the first time in Thursday's indictment, Justin Solondz, 26. [16]

On October 5, 2006, the Seattle Times reported the plea agreement of Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar. [17] In return for recommended sentences of 3 to 7 years, both women pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of the remaining defendants in the May 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.

[edit] Chris McIntosh sentenced

On December 17, 2005 U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly sentenced Christopher McIntosh to 8 years in prison for setting fire to a Seattle McDonald's restaurant in January, 2003. [18]. McIntosh admitted guilt as part of a plea agreement, in which the prosecution said they would not ask that he spend more than ten years in prison. However, the judge was not bound to honor these requests [19].

Supporters criticized the sentence as excessive "for someone who caused $5,000 damage". Prosecutors argued it was important to "protect the public" from some one who expressed no remorse, saying McIntosh was "proud of his crime, and, given the chance, he would do the same thing again." [20]

[edit] Peter Young faces new charges

On December 23, 2005 Codington County, South Dakota's State Attorney Vince Foley announced that he was seeking to try Peter Daniel Young on state charges for releasing mink from fur farms in 1997. Young was recently released after serving a two year sentence in federal prison for those same crimes. [21]

[edit] The Auburn arrestees indicted

On January 13, 2006, Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner and Zachary Jenson were arrested in Auburn, California, charged with conspiring to damage telephone towers, the Nimbus Dam, and Forest Service facilities "by explosive or fire" [22]. Prosecutors allege the FBI recorded one of the suspects suggesting anti-personnel shrapnel be added to the planned bombs [23].

According to the FBI affidavit, evidence against the three came from a paid "confidential source (CS) who is deeply embedded within the subjects' cell. The CS has worked for the FBI since early 2004. S/he has agreed to testify in court." The document says that s/he has provided information in at least 12 anarchist cases since 2004. [24] According to reports by alternative media, the CS infiltrated a wide range of protests across the USA and even some in Europe.[25][26][27]

[edit] Rod Coronado arrested

Image:RodCoronado2.jpg
Rod Coronado

On February 22, 2006 Rod Coronado, a prominent Native American eco-anarchist, was arrested on a felony charge of demonstrating the use of a destructive device [28]. His indictment indirectly relates to an August 1, 2003 fire in San Diego that destroyed an apartment complex causing an estimated $50 million worth of damage. [29] Coronado, a self-described "unofficial ELF spokesman," [30] gave a talk on militant environmental activism in San Diego 15 hours later where he explained how to make incendiary devices. He denies any role in the incident, and investigators do not consider him a suspect in starting the fire. [31] If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. [32]

On March 3, 2006 Coronado was released on bail by Tucson Federal Magistrate Charles Pyle. He was required to report to the courtroom of Federal Judge Jeffrey Miller in San Diego on Monday, March 6, 2006. [33]

[edit] Matt Lamont arrested

On February 23, 2006 Californian anarchist and, according to sympathetic sources, "former political prisoner", Mathew Lamont was arrested on a parole violation.[citation needed]

[edit] SHAC7 convicted

On March 2, 2006 a New Jersey jury convicted six animal rights activists and the group they were associated with, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) with using their website to incite threats, harassment, vandalism and attacks against the company Huntingdon Life Sciences and their business partners [34]. Originally seven individuals were charged, hence SHAC 7, but the case against one of the defendants was dropped. Pamelyn Ferdin, the current president of SHAC, told the jury that "for the government to say you can't say this and you can't say that is going down a very scary path of going toward fascism." However, the US Attorney's Office described the convicts as "thugs who went far beyond protected speech and lawful protest to engage in and incite intimidation, harassment and violence.” [35] The judge sentenced the individuals to an aggregate of 24 years in prison, and ordered to pay a joint restitution of $1,000,001.00. SHAC USA was ordered to fully disclosure its finances and have its computers monitored. [36]

[edit] Response

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Operation Backfire indictments have elicited concern, from activists, that authorities have "cracked the super-secrecy of ALF and ELF" [37]. Alternative media organizations have condemned the arrests, some calling them a "witch hunt", "aimed at disrupting and discrediting political movements" [38]. Activists, maintaining the Red Scare allusion, claim the operations are "fishing expedition[s]" carried out "in the midst of 9/11 McCarthyism. [39] The FBI disputes these claims, Director Robert Mueller claiming the agency takes action "only when volatile talk crosses the line into violence and criminal activity" [40].

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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