nonviolent civil disobedience is now "terrorism" according to the AETA

Shane99X · Oct 10, 2006

One step at a time, one group at a time.
First they target the "extremists", then the rest of us.
Before long, critizing the government at all, outside of "approved" boundaries, is considered treason....

InformationLiberation | October 10 2006

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) is currently pending in Congress, and industry groups are doing their best to push it through quickly and with little public scrutiny, Patriot Act style, before Fall recess. Please act now to make sure that the War on Terrorism, and the tragedy of 9/11, isn't used to push a political agenda and silence dissent.

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act expands the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/aepa. Supporters say it is meant to stem illegal actions taken against controversial animal enterprises, or any company that does business with an animal enterprise. But the sweeping language in the bill goes much, much further:

AETA labels the tactics of Martin Luther King and Gandhi as "terrorism." It spells out penalties for "an offense involving exclusively a nonviolent physical obstruction of an animal enterprise or a business having a connection to, or relationship with, an animal enterprise, that may result in loss of profits but does not result in bodily injury..." In other words, a terrorism law includes nonviolent civil disobedience.

AETA risks the prosecution of undercover investigators, whistleblowers and other activists as "terrorists." It defines "economic damage" as including "the loss of profits." The extremely vague, overly broad language in the bill puts all activists at risk. Causing loss of profits isn't terrorism. It's effective activism. And even activists that aren't prosecuted under the law will feel the chilling effect of its "terrorist" rhetoric.

AETA isn't needed. Existing laws are already overly broad: the Animal Enterprise Protection Act was used to successfully convict the SHAC 7 this year on "terrorism" charges for running a website. And AETA's penalties for violence aren't needed, because the animal protection movement has never killed a human being. All Americans should be concerned, regardless of how they feel about animal issues. The word terrorism should not be batted around against the enemy of the hour, to push a partisan political agenda. Who will be next?

- Idausa.org
Click to expand...

stinkfoot · Oct 10, 2006

Why does the government insist on waging war against free speech and liberty? Oh wait- I know the answer; because they are unprofitable.

Time to wake middle Amerika from it's long snooze and clue them into the fact that their government no longer represents or cares for them.

Angel_Headed_Hipster · Oct 10, 2006

Shane...your not with the terrorists are you? Protestors are with the terrorists don't you know that? If you are protesting against a war on the terrorists your aiding them sir, in a post 9/11 world you can't have freedom of speech or else al-qaeda and ahmedenijad is going to come and gittt you, you better not have any freedom of speech boy!

Shane99X · Oct 10, 2006

You know this'll get passed, it'll fly right under the radar.

Then people who chain themselves to redwoods are "terrorists".
Then independant journalists (although that's already started).

protesters, 3 party activists, minority activists....

dominos.

SunLion · Oct 21, 2006

I'm not the first to say this, but...

...well at least they can't hate us for our freedoms now.

guy · Oct 21, 2006

perhaps next year will bring independance day?

stinkfoot · Oct 22, 2006

Our government is becoming the biggest terrorist. Perhaps they should lock themselves in Guantanamo.

shedtroll · Oct 24, 2006

By "nonviolent civil disobedience" they mean 'Peaceful Protests.'

Rebel_1 · Oct 24, 2006

shedtroll said:

By "nonviolent civil disobedience" they mean 'Peaceful Protests.'
Click to expand...

Yes indeed, lets just look at a few deffinitions of the word protest.

1. To Express Strong objection

2. To promise or afirm solemnly

3. An individual or collective gesture or display of Disaproval

A rather broad deffinition it has, weather it be a single person or group on here or on the out side, any type of objection period small or large.

Shane99X · Dec 1, 2006

Law passed:

USAgNet

Wisconsin State Journal

Shane99X · Dec 1, 2006

Endemic: The Move To Label All Civil Disobedience "Terrorism"
Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act makes peaceful protesters terrorists
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, December 1, 2006

An endemic crackdown on peaceful protest and dissent has continued with President Bush signing the 'Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,'. Under the guise of protecting researchers, scientists and their staff who conduct experiments and tests on animals, the latest terror bill seeks to class as "terrorists" those who seek to protest against such activities.

The bill expands criminal prohibitions against the use of force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises and increases penalties for violations of these prohibitions. The operative term being "threats", because what an activist may see as protesting may be construed under the law to be threatening.

The Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent in September, just prior to the Congressional recess. A similar bill, H.R. 4239, was approved by the House of Representatives this month.

"It's depressing to know that, just because of our beliefs involving animals, we are going to be branded terrorists if we protest," said Lori Nitzel, a Madison attorney and executive director of Alliance for Animals, a statewide group that pledges nonviolence.

Nitzel wonders if even the kind of leafleting the group did Friday near a Madison fur store could be construed as illegal. The bill can impose punishment if an animal enterprise suffers "economic damage."

"We are, in fact, hoping to cause economic damage to the store," Nitzel said.

One report states that backers of the bill say opponents are trying to alarm people with wacky what-ifs. Unfortunately with the government's track record, with any piece of legislation like this you have to ask "what if?".

Without getting into a debate about animal testing itself, the real issue of concern here is the term "terrorism". The push to merge crime and terrorism laws can be no clearer than in this case.

What happens if down the line terrorism legislation begins to be combined? Suddenly you end up with a number of animal rights "terrorists" who can be labeled as enemy combatants and detained without trial.

The more crimes that become "terrorism", the more people you can label as terrorists and treat in the same way. Every time a piece of legislation like this becomes law, the more the Bill of rights is eroded and free speech is restricted.

"The frightening thing for me is that it heavily criminalizes civil disobedience, and just for animal rights activists," Lori Nitzel says. Nitzel is right, however, there are plenty more moves afoot to criminalize other forms of civil disobedience.

We have previously documented cases where those who attend antiwar demonstrations or Quaker meetings have been monitored and placed on a Pentagon database as possible threats. Think about that for a minute, the military is monitoring peaceful US citizens who do not agree with illegal warfare and placing them on a list of possible enemies.

We have previously reported multiple times on how the intelligence and law enforcement agencies have "domestic-terrorism files" into which peaceful protesters have been placed. These are not isolated incidents.

The precedent is set, if you protest you go on the subversive list and you'll be first into the forced labor camps when a city or two gets nuked.

Of course, we have known for a long time that The renewed and extended Patriot Act will target protesters and allow secret services a wider latitude at public events. Penalties for such violations would increase from six months to a year in prison.

The Patriot Act as we have exhaustively documented is the key police state weapon the authorities have in their armory. The party line often heard from Neo-Cons in their attempts to defend the Patriot Act either circulate around the contention that the use of the Patriot Act has never been abused or that it isn't being used against American citizens. The Legislation's reach HAS gone beyond terrorism and it IS actively being used to target American citizens.

The most recent example of a U.S. citizen being targeted using terror legislation involved BBC investigative journalist Greg Palast, who was pursued by Homeland Security and charged with unauthorized filming of a “critical national security structure,” (an Exxon Oil refinery that was readily available to anyone with an Internet connection at Google Maps), under PATRIOT Act legislation. The charge was later dropped after an activist outcry.

Remember, section 802 is specifically aimed at US citizens and announces any crime as "domestic terrorism". Citizens can be held without a trial as "Enemy Combatants"

The Washington Post recently reported "The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say."

Also under the Patriot Act police are authorized to impose "Free Speech Zones".

Top legal experts and scholars are nearly unanimous that the Military Commissions Act, another piece of Constitution shredding terror legislation, also affects American citizens.

Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The compromise legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."

The endemic movement to kill off free speech has spread to Britain too. Free Speech Zones were also introduced in Britain last year, making it illegal to protest outside parliament. The new draconian laws forbid spontaneous free speech within a one-kilometre radius of the House of Commons.

Last year the Scotland Sunday Herald reported that the British Government was considering just banning protest altogether after a major terror attack and making it against the law to criticize the government in a State of emergency.

Both Britain and Australia also have domestic surveillance databases that gather the information of anyone who criticizes them or who they consider to be subversive

Everywhere we look the First Amendment is under attack. It seems that legislation is being passed daily, each bill tearing away at fundamental rights and condemning another form of protest as terrorism. It has got to the point for the government where what is being protested is less of an issue than the act of protest itself which they clearly see as the real threat
Click to expand...

DQ Veg · Dec 1, 2006

stinkfoot said:

Why does the government insist on waging war against free speech and liberty? Oh wait- I know the answer; because they are unprofitable.
Click to expand...

Exactly. That's the only thing that the government is concerned about: profits. All this pontificating about morals and 'protection' that the government does is intended to cover up that simple fact.

gardener · Dec 2, 2006

Another loss of civil liberties in the guise of providing security. The only protections now provided are for business's bottomlines.

Log in or Sign up

nonviolent civil disobedience is now "terrorism" according to the AETA

Shane99X Senior Member

stinkfoot truth

Angel_Headed_Hipster Senior Member

Shane99X Senior Member

SunLion Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

guy Senior Member

stinkfoot truth

shedtroll Peace, Love & Linux

Rebel_1 Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

Shane99X Senior Member

Shane99X Senior Member

DQ Veg JUSTYNA'S TIGER

gardener Realistic Humanist

Log in or Sign up

nonviolent civil disobedience is now "terrorism" according to the AETA

Shane99X Senior Member

stinkfoot truth

Angel_Headed_Hipster Senior Member

Shane99X Senior Member

SunLion Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

guy Senior Member

stinkfoot truth

shedtroll Peace, Love & Linux

Rebel_1 Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

Shane99X Senior Member

Shane99X Senior Member

DQ Veg JUSTYNA'S TIGER

gardener Realistic Humanist

Useful Searches