posted May 12, 2004 10:59 PM            

But this collection is perhaps one of the most extraordinary. What they do in the coming weeks could have significant implications not only for the future of Greenpeace in the United States, but also for civil disobedience and the right to freedom of speech for all in America and even beyond.

Next week, on May 17th, Greenpeace USA will be under threat of being declared a criminal organisation at the behest of the US Attorney General, under an obscure law that has been invoked only twice in its 130 years on the statute books - the last time was more than 100 years ago.

Individual activists have been prosecuted in the past for carrying out action in support of Greenpeace campaigns worldwide - it is not unusual, and those individuals are prepared to take the consequences of their actions.

In April 2002, six Greenpeace activists did just that. After two of them boarded a commercial ship, the APL Jade, which was bringing illegal mahogany into the port of Miami, Florida, they pleaded guilty, were fined and sentenced to "time served" - the weekend they all spent in jail. The judicial process had run its course.

Or so we thought. 15 months later Greenpeace USA headquarters in Washington was served notice that the US Attorney General's office would be prosecuting the entire organisation for the action - the first time in history that the US Government has prosecuted an advocacy group for a free-speech related activity.

In a matter of a few weeks, United States law could be used in an unprecedented way to declare Greenpeace USA a criminal organisation, as a result of acting to protect Brazilian mahogany - a species now declared at risk according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It is worth noting here that at the time of the CITES declaration, many governments congratulated Greenpeace for the years of campaign work to protect the species. Now one government is prosecuting us for doing the same thing.

While Greenpeace sits in the dock in Miami, the loggers, shippers and traders of that illegal mahogany have cashed in and laughed at the law. Illegally logged wood is still going to the USA and other countries around the world, the criminal underworld is still operating in the heart of the Amazon, those trying to protect the world's greatest rainforest are still operating under threat of death and sometimes dying, and countries like the United States are still failing to live up to their promise under CITES to protect mahogany.

But this case is not just about Greenpeace and the Amazon. On trial is also the fundamental and cherished right to freedom of speech and civil disobedience. Many leaders and other advocacy groups in the US have recognised the great risk to civil liberties this prosecution presents and are supporting Greenpeace. They include former US Vice President Al Gore, the civil rights leader Julian Bond and the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra Club.

If you want to know more then check out http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/trial

posted May 13, 2004 11:21 AM            

juniperb

posted May 13, 2004 01:55 PM            

First of all, "Bush" isn't prosecuting anyone. Nor can I see any reference in the reports I've read, to him personally advising the Attorney General's office to prosecute. But any opportunity to lambaste the president personally, right?

With that having been said, I think that it's a travesty - and more in line with a Ashcroftian approach IMO. I don't think too much of Mr. Ashcroft, but compared to Janet Reno he's JFK...

Anywho, it is truly a travesty, and I would suggest that anyone who cares about the issue send letters to their Senators, Congressmen, and the AG's Office. The fact that the logging takes place is heartbreaking enough, but that they're using some obscure 19th century law to prosecute IMO is completely grasping at straws. I'd rather see them prosecute PETA, who is by far more militant than Greenpeace.

posted June 16, 2004 09:54 AM              

"where were you
when the great whales were crying for mercy
and the fish were disappearing
from our poisoned rivers and streams ?

did you write one letter ?
did you sing one song ?
or did you just sit there
telling yourself
that your letter would not be read
your song would not be heard ?

where were you
when the earth began to die ?" Linda.

'let those who have ears, hear
and let those who have eyes . . see
the others . . who do not heed
are not yet ready to learn
what they so desperately need . . to know'

Oh yes, the meek shall inherit the earth alright, or rather, what's left of it!

The Warriors of the Rainbow need our Love.
And all others need our love too, 'for they know not what they do.'

posted June 18, 2004 03:06 AM            

But then again, what if John Kerry has a hidden agenda to invade Canada using a private army of cyborgs constructed in a converted Heinz catsup factory, all of which was masterminded by Robert Mugabe and his secret army of American Zionist agressors? I mean heck, since it appears that people can come up with any old conspiracy theory that implies wrongdoing on the part of the US...

posted June 18, 2004 09:44 AM              

Cute Canadian scenario by the way.

posted June 18, 2004 12:37 PM            

Are you suggesting you are Cuban, or Spanish?

This is the historical record, including testimony of the ship's Captain and passengers on ships moored close by on the occasion of the sinking of the Battleship Maine in the Havana harbor in Cuba.

The sinking of the Maine

THE administration of the United States resolved to maintain friendly relations with Spain, despite what was going on in Cuba. As an earnest symbol of its good intentions, the battle-ship Maine (Captain Charles D. Sigsbee) was sent in January, 1898, to the harbor of Havana, on a friendly visit; and the Spanish cruiser Vizcaya was ordered to New York. Neither ship was received with enthusiasm, and the relations were formal and strained, On February 8 a sensation was created by the publication of a letter purporting to have been written by the Spanish Minister at Washington, Dupuy de Lome, to Senor Canalejas, a Spanish official at Havana. In this letter McKinley was called "a low politician," "weak and catering to the rabble," "who desires to leave a door open to me and to stand well with jingoes of his party." Canalejas was urged to agitate commercial relations even if "only for effect," and to send a man to Washington" to make a propaganda among the Senators." When de Lome saw the letter was published, he immediately cabled his resignation to Madrid, and, when questioned by the State Department, blandly acknowledged it and left the country. This caused a storm of excitement. Just how the Cuban Junta secured the letter is not known, but it proved a powerful weapon.

The excitement had not cooled down on the morning of February 16, 1898, when the country was driven wild with excitement on learning that, at 9:40 o'clock the evening previous, the battle-ship Maine had been blown up in Havana harbor, killing or mortally wounding two officers and 264 men. Captain Sigsbee, who was on board, was saved, and immediately wired the Secretary of the Navy, asking suspension of judgment pending an investigation. Despite his manly appeal for judicial patience the dominant impression was that treachery had been at work and there was no particular hesitancy in expressing that opinion................
http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians_Vol_IV/sinkingma_e.html

Question: What can you possibly hope to gain by posting revisionist history?

Do you have a similar revision on the bombing of the USS Cole, the bombing of the WTC in 1993, the bombing of 2 American embassies in Africa in the 90's? How about the attack on Pearl Harbor? The sinking of the Lusitania? The Titanic?

posted June 18, 2004 11:42 PM              

Now calm yourself down Jwhop. First off, this certainly isn't anything new. I don't claim to know that the US bombed the Maine. I am not so arrogant. I was not there, neither do I currently possess the ability to time travel back to the event and witness a play back. I can only suppose. But if I aquaint myself with the political scene of the day I will find that the US desperately wanted to get it's hands on Cuba. Desperately. And I will also learn that the Spanish were being frustratingly uncooperative in giving us a reason to take it by force. Etc., etc. I'm sure you know the story. In short, I can put two and two together and come up with an unbiased 4. A small part of the equation being this - given all the circumstances, if I were President I would have done it. You can't always let ethics get in the way of Power. In politics, sometimes the ends justify the means.