August
2006
New
York Activist Faces Life in Prison
By Friends and Family of Daniel
McGowan
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Daniel McGowan.
Photo By Jenny Synan |
On December 7th, 2005, Daniel
McGowan, a highly respected and long-time environmental and social
justice activist from New York, was unjustly
arrested by federal marshals as part of a nationwide crackdown on activists.
He is being charged in federal court with multiple counts of arson,
property destruction and conspiracy, relating to two direct actions
that occurred in Oregon in 2001. Daniel maintains his innocence and
has pled not guilty to all charges. He is facing a minimum of life
in prison if convicted on all counts.
Daniel’s arrest is part of “Operation Backfire,” a well-coordinated,
multi-state sweep of environmental activists by the federal government. Many
of the charges, including Daniel’s, are for cases whose statute of limitations
were about to expire. Fifteen people have since been indicted by a grand jury
on 65 charges in connection with 17 direct actions that took place between 1996
and 2001 in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado and Wyoming. This FBI offensive
appears as just the beginning of a nationwide ‘green scare.’
The Green Scare
The term ‘green scare’ was first introduced in 2002 in the zine Spirit
of Freedom referring to tactics used by the U.S. government to attack environmental
and social justice activists. In the U.S. today, ‘terrorism’ has
replaced ‘communism’ as the catchphrase for all the evils in the
world. Where the red scare once saw leftwingers stigmatized as ‘communists,’ today
we have a green scare where environmentalists and animal rights activists are
being targeted as ‘eco-terrorists’ by the media, business interests
and politicians—including Attorneys General Gonzales and Ashcroft. Since
2001, there has been a rise in the number of environmentalists arrested and a
dramatic lengthening of the potential sentences they face. Activists who have
never physically harmed or injured anyone now risk being arrested and charged
with crimes carrying life sentences (or, in some cases, a charge sheet that could
result in a 300-plus year prison sentence).
Similar to the campaign of Senator Joe McCarthy and the House of Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC) of the 1950s, today, legislators, property rights
advocates and industry spokespeople are using threats and propaganda to crush
political resistance. History is repeating itself and one cannot help but wonder
which of our friends and family will be next.
Anti-Terror Legislation
In the current political climate, it is virtually impossible for the accused
to get a fair trial once the specter of ‘terrorism’ has been raised.
This climate of fear is reinforced by legislative changes that have considerably
broadened the definition of a ‘terrorist.’ Lobbying by the American
Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful right wing advocacy group funded by
over 300 corporations, is successfully pushing for legislation defining terrorism
as an act by ‘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 natural resources.’ It
includes such acts as property defacement—which is already illegal—within
the scope of terrorism, and holds the potential to include other forms of legal
protest within the same definition. So far ten states have already passed legislation
defining the destruction of property as terrorism. Additionally, fake grassroots
groups, or “astroturf” groups like the deceptively-named Stop Eco
Violence, the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Center for the Defense of Free
Enterprise, have organized letter writing campaigns to Northwest politicians
lobbying to push legislation that would increase penalties for environmentalist
direct action.
At a federal level, Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)
Act defines domestic terrorism as an act which intends to “intimidate or
coerce a civilian population,” “influence the policy of a government
by intimidation or coercion,” or “affect the conduct of a government
by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.” But, as the American
Civil Liberties Union has pointed out, the breadth of the first two definitions
means that “Greenpeace, Operation Rescue, Vieques Island and WTO protesters,
and the [Earth] Liberation Front have all recently engaged in activities that
could subject them to being investigated as engaging in domestic terrorism.” Although
none of the defendants in this case are technically charged with domestic terrorism,
the government has used the term extensively in the media to discredit the activists
involved.
The larger aim of such legislation is to spread fear and distrust in the activist
community with the hope that it will act as a deterrent and make it hard for
us to support our friends and family when they are targeted. It is essential
that we combat this misrepresentation of our movement and not allow people who
are arrested to fade away and be forgotten. These legal (and illegal) measures
look likely to make an already bad situation worse. There are now so many pending
cases against activists that it is impossible to mention them all here. We urgently
need to provide arrested activists with moral support so they know that people
are aware of their situation and feel less isolated, and we need to ensure that
fear does not spread as our movement continues to be targeted under this green
scare.
An Activist in Need
For years Daniel McGowan was behind the scenes keeping countless campaigns afloat.
He worked on old growth protection campaigns, fighting to keep trees over 2,000
years old from becoming toilet paper. He ran successful Burma divestment campaigns.
He did extensive education and press work about genetically modified organisms.
He provided active support for indigenous people, including the Dineh, the Ogoni
and the U’wa people, all the while supporting political prisoners all over
the world. During the 2004 Republican National Convention, Daniel decided to
publicly organize demonstrations, fundraisers and benefit shows as part of the
RNCnotwelcome.org protest mobilization.
Daniel is an expressive, caring, thoughtful and compassionate person and his
tireless dedication and support for political prisoners makes it all the more
moving that we are now being called upon to provide the same support for him.
To find out how you can help Daniel McGowan, visit www.supportdaniel.org and
email friendsofdanielmcg@yahoo.com to receive regular updates. To learn more
about the green scare see www.greenscare.org. If you would like to write to Daniel,
please send your letter of support to: Daniel McGowan, P.O. Box 106, New York,
NY 10156.
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