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Seattlest Pix 09Nov25
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What defines a terrorist or terrorism? You know, besides standing between a Republican and the camera he wants to install in your panty drawer? Is it your actions? Is it your nationality? Is it your race? Is it your intent? We better figure it out because there are suddenly a whole lot of laws on the books all over the place that say criminals get this sentence and terrorists get this other one. Down in Eugene right now the (and this next word is important) eco-saboteurs who perpetrated a string of arsons across the Pacific Northwest are about to be sentenced.
From the Oregonian:
The six male and four female defendants have already admitted guilt to arson and conspiracy charges in a multi-state arson campaign, primarily on behalf of two underground groups: Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. A designation as a terrorist could land the defendants longer terms in a more restrictive prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Peifer likened the gang to the night riders of the Ku Klux Klan, who burned African American churches during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Peifer declared that the defendants, some of them seated in the nearby jury box, did not just target Oregon's government buildings, timber offices and a parking lot choked with SUVs any more than the Klan just targeted the empty churches of Mississippi.
The ELF, ok, idiots. But just like the KKK? SUVs, just like black churches? Seattlest can totally see that. Because just like blacks in the South during the heyday of the Klan, SUV drivers are a persecuted minority who suffer daily from violence and intimidation, who endure a hostile and murderous social climate and who are subjected to the very real threat of lynching. Completely the same. Let's lock these terrorists the fuck up.
Image from Portland.Indymedia.org.
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Actually, in Seattle this is just about true.... ;)
(Disclaimer: This is meant to be Tongue-in-Check - in no way am I trying to make light of lynching or the black experience in the US. Rather, I'm making light of SUV's. And their owners. And Seattle.)
Are there actually Republicans out there who want to install cameras in your panty drawer, Dan?
they don't sound like idiots to me.
they sound like caring young people
try supportdaniel dot org for more info on one of the defendants who is a valued activist.
Shall we talk about breast cancer, or ANY kind of cancer for that matter which has grown and grown due to a polluted, industrialized way of living? Cancer kills people, it kills a whole lot of people. But you can raise your social status by driving an SUV or a Hummer. Not that by taking away those 'excessive' vehicles will solve the problem either. Those "eco-sabotuers" are getting in the way of some very wealthy peoples profits and that makes them a threat to capitalism and capitalists, and thus have been regarded as terrorists. (And don't worry about cancer, it has only become a fact of life now right?)
I wouldn't mistake a lawyer's attempt to influence a jury with any coherent government stance on terrorism. As we all know, under the current FBI regime, domestic crime is all but ignored as they chase down every person that ever typed "Allah" in their IM.
The sentencing of these activists is solely one very visible result of the general clampdown on dissent that's been going on in the US for the past few years. People thought the Patriot Act was a bad idea(at least after their representatives signed it into law), but didn't really organize it against it. Because of that, we're all experiencing the after effects, which in this case means charging people using property destruction as terrorists.
For the record, property destruction has a long history in social movements in the United States as a tactic, dating back to the boston tea party. The more these tactics are criminalized, the fewer channels will exist to express dissent. Since it's clear asking for legislation that protects the earth is completely ineffective, shouldn't we be looking to other routes to protect what little bit of the environment hasn't been destroyed? At what point will people decide that while while we may be making ironic jokes about folks who try to protect the earth, corporations and the government are playing for keeps when it comes to making a profit off of ecological devastation? When are we going to step up?
The comparison is completely offensive and ahistorical. The KKK used arson and murder to disenfranchise, intimidate, and paralyze African-Americans. People who have acted in the name of the ELF on the other hand have used tactics such as arson to draw attention to the misconduct of corporations and the devastation of the natural environment. Unlike the KKK, they have not caused people any harm whatsoever. There is no reason that a terrorist enhancement should apply to their case.