[News] Operational Backfire: Criminalizing Dissent

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Original article is at: http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1825126.php


Operational Backfire: Criminalizing Dissent
MICHAEL DONNELLY (counter punch) Wednesday, May. 24, 2006 at 3:34 PM

Two and a half years ago, Attorney General John Ashcroft took time 
away from his busy schedule hanging drapes on statues to charge 
Greenpeace with a moldy 19th Century law against "sailor mongering." 
As Kurt Nimmo wrote at the time, "In 1890, an Oregon court described 
the purpose of the sailor-mongering law as preventing 'the evil' of 
'sailor-mongers [who] get on board vessels and by the help of 
intoxicants, and the use of other means, often savoring of violence, 
get the crews ashore and leave the vessel without help to manage or 
care for her.'

  John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace in the United 
States responded, "This prosecution is unprecedented in American 
history. Never before has our government criminally prosecuted an 
entire organization for the free speech activities of its supporters. 
If this prosecution succeeds, then peaceful protest -- an essential 
American tradition from the Boston Tea Party through the modern civil 
rights movement -- may become yet another casualty of Attorney 
General Ashcroft's attack on civil liberties."

An array of progressive groups came to Greenpeace's defense in this, 
the first nautical protest prosecution in the US since the Boston Tea 
Party. The NAACP, American Friends Service Committee, People For the 
American Way, the entire Big Green establishment and grassroots 
greens all condemned the ludicrous prosecution.

  In the end, Ashcroft was denied. After the government failed to 
prove its case, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan granted a 
Greenpeace motion to dismiss the charges in a Miami courtroom on May 19, 2004.

  First they came for the forest activists...

  Fast forward two years and the government's target becomes the 
grassroots. Under the code name Operation Backfire, the feds began 
the largest roundup of eco-activists in American history. On Dec. 7, 
2005, seven people were arrested and charged with participating in a 
wide array of property destruction actions the feds link to the Earth 
Liberation Front (ALF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ELF).

  The very same day, several more folks were subpoenaed to testify 
before a Grand Jury in Eugene, Oregon. A full-scale dragnet was 
launched against grassroots activists. On Jan. 20, 2006, Ashcroft's 
successor (literally and philosophically) Attorney General Alberto 
Gonzales announced a 65-count indictment against a fictional entity 
the government calls, 'The Family." Four more arrests brought the 
total to eleven, with conspiracy charges now added.

  Ironically, after serving ten years; also on the very same day, 
Michael Fortier, who was convicted for his part in the Oklahoma City 
bombing which killed 168 people, was released from jail. In contrast, 
the government is threatening the environmentalists who injured no 
one, with extraordinary sentences ranging from 30 years to life plus 
335 years.

  By March 15th, the feds issued a "superseding" indictment that 
replaced all existing indictments. The new conspiracy prosecution 
charged another two individuals; bringing the total to 13 indictees 
facing 65 counts of arson, destruction of property and conspiracy. 
March 30th brought two more arrests, rounding the total to 15. It's 
now up to 17.

  As I noted in an earlier article, the entire government case rests 
on one informant. No real evidence links anyone to the alleged crimes.

  In a separate case, on Feb 22nd, Pasqua Yaqui activist Rod Coronado 
was arrested for merely speaking about how to make an incendiary 
device during a talk he gave in San Diego on militant eco-activism. 
Coronado faces 25 years and/or a $250,000 fine!

  Guantanamo, Oregon

  On May 18th, nursing student and long time grassroots environmental 
activist Jeff Hogg answered his subpoena and appeared before a Grand 
Jury in Eugene, Oregon. Grand Juries usually are used to gather 
evidence BEFORE indictments are issued. Since the Indictments are 
already handed down and Hogg was already informed that he was not a 
target of the investigation, this appearance amounted to little more 
than a government fishing expedition/forced preview of just how Hogg 
would testify if called once theconspiracy trials begin in Eugene on 
October 31st.

  About 100 supporters gathered outside the Federal Courthouse in a 
show of steely resolve. Hogg refused to cooperate with the 
Inquisition, er, Grand Jury and was promptly found in Contempt. Hogg 
was hustled from the Grand Jury Star Chamber to the courthouse itself 
for his Contempt Hearing.

  Contempt hearings are supposed to be open to the public. But, in 
this case, a secret tribunal was held by pro-Big Timber Judge Michael 
Hogan as the government disingenuously hides the entire case behind 
the mantra of "terrorism." (Sound familiar?) Hogg's supporters, the 
media and attorneys were not allowed in to the contempt hearing.

  Hogg was granted Immunity. He still refused to play. The Grand Jury 
went home for the night and Hogg was locked up. In theory, he could 
be incarcerated until the Grand Jury's term runs out. Only problem 
there: because of "terrorism" concerns, the government will not tell 
anyone how long the Grand Jury has been impaneled, though it appears 
that Hogg will be a guest of the state (kidnapped in the eyes of his 
friends) until at least September 30, 2006. His very productive life 
is now on hold. Hogg is employed full time taking care of autistic 
adults. He is in nursing school. He has a long-term partner and many friends.

  One Man's Terrorist

  Of course, what we're talking about here is property destruction 
with arson being the preferred method. The US Sentencing Commission 
reports that in 2003 in 82 cases where arson was the primary offense, 
the median sentence was 60 months (5 years). The median Murder 
sentence in the US is 15 years; sex abuse 3.4 years; and assault 1.25.

  In these property destruction cases, the government has asked for a 
mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and some defendants are facing 
Life-plus 335 years for alleged property damage. Already, Eugene's 
"justice" system has seen Jeffrey Luers sentenced to a preposterous 
22 years, 8 months for torching three SUVs (which were later restored 
and sold.)

  Upon issuing the Indictments, Gonzales and FBI Director Robert 
Mueller both said that eco-sabotage is the government's top domestic 
terrorism priority. Gonzales told the press, "The indictment tells a 
story of four-and-a-half years of arson, vandalism, violence and 
destruction claimed to have been executed on behalf of the Animal 
Liberation Front or Earth Liberation Front, extremist movements known 
to support acts of domestic terrorism."

  Mueller added, "Terrorism is terrorism, no matter what the motive. 
The FBI is committed to protecting Americans from crime and 
terrorism, including acts of domestic terrorism in the name of animal 
rights or the environment."

  The FBI now ranks both ALF and ELF as the No. 1 domestic terrorism 
threat according to James Jarboe, FBI domestic terrorism section chief.

  "The FBI estimates that the ALF/ELF have committed more than 600 
criminal acts in the United States since 1996, resulting in damages 
in excess of $43 million," Jarboe told a February Congressional hearing.

  "The rationalization of ecoterrorists is no different from the al 
Qaeda terrorists," said House Resources Committee Chairman James V. 
Hansen (R-UT) at the same hearing.

  Another FBI counter-terrorism expert, John Lewis, claimed a total 
of 1,200 criminal acts between 1990 and 2004 in the US.

  Yet the State Department defines terrorism as "premeditated 
politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatants."

  Here at home, the feds in this case are using a broader definition 
that defines domestic terrorism as acts of violence that are designed 
to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population."

  Since the inception of the Domestic Terrorism Task Force ten years 
ago, the government by its own definition has firmly identified a 
total of 52 acts of domestic terrorism having occurred during that 
time on American soil--no telling what category they put Jarboe's or 
Lewis' much larger estimates . (Of course, the FBI conveniently does 
not consider attacks on abortion clinics and/or abortion providers as 
meeting their definition despite the six people killed in such 
attacks since 1993. Only the murderous attacks of "Christian" 
terrorist Eric Rudolph make the list.

  Do the math. More real violence occurs at US Post Offices every 
year than that. Though it's another War on Terrorism secret, it 
appears that the Task Force has consumed over a billion dollars of 
tax money to collate that list.

  And, of the 35 incidents on the list laid at the feet of various 
environmental and animal rights groups, not one death or one injury 
to anyone has occurred--nor have any occurred period even if one 
accepts the 600 or 1200 figure. In the FBI-charted incidents caused 
by white supremacists, six people have been killed and 135 injured since 1996.

  Add in the facts that the FBI has only informants, some paid over 
$75,000 per year according to court documents, and the agency has 
used warrantless spying on a wide array of dissenting groups--from 
Code Pink, Quaker meetings to Earth First!--and, FBI agent 
provocateurs are involved in every single Operation Backfire case; 
and we have a repeat of the COINTELPRO havoc the government wreaked 
on dissent in an earlier era. (Interesting to note: a Backfire is a 
fire started by fire fighters themselves.)

  And, make no mistake; Operation Backfire is a fully orchestrated 
assault on dissent. In 16 years the FBI has not found the bomber of 
forest activists Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney. The FBI has also 
produced nothing on the 2001 Anthrax letters which were sent to 
prominent Democrats and members of the media. Both cases can easily 
be defined as acts of violence that are designed to "intimidate or 
coerce a civilian population." Yet, where are the task forces 
defending peaceful activists, top Democrats and members of the media?

  What we have here is a concerted campaign to criminalize ALL 
environmental activism. How else can one explain Operation Backfire 
with its reliance on Grand Juries, secret witnesses, paid informants 
and brutal prison sentences? How else can one explain Rod Coronado's 
arrest for mere Free Speech?

  Big Green: MIA or Worse

  Back at the time of the most famous US property destruction - the 
Boston Tea Party--many of the radicals of the day condemned the 
saboteurs. Ben Franklin even offered to pay for the destroyed tea.

  Today, the silence coming out of Green Central on this assault on 
grassroots activism and dissent in general has been deafening. And, 
when they do speak, it's larded with self-serving inanities and guilt 
by association. Echoing Poor Richard, Dominick DellaSala, the grant 
farmer assigned to the World Wildlife Fund's Ashland, Oregon Biscuit 
Fire grant plantation, has dismissed the activists as "This is a 
fringe element--it always has been. Nobody is going to win the hearts 
and minds of people by doing criminal acts." (Not quite how history 
views the Tea Party.)

  At least DellaSala has pride in his misplaced convictions. Most 
other Big Greens are running from the question like Republicans 
fleeing Duke Cunningham and Jack Abramoff. The Sierra Club and the 
Wilderness Society each have long histories of condemning even 
non-violent Civil Disobedience in defense of Nature, so their lack of 
support for activists caught up in the Backfire dragnet is expected.

  But back Greenpeace - the recipient of so much support from the 
grassroots when it was under attack for non-violent dissent; 
Greenpeace's Passacantando has joined the chorus condemning and 
convicting (without trial) those under arrest. Yes, John, our 
government IS criminally prosecuting an entire movement for the free 
speech activities of its supporters. Where are the NAACP, American 
Friends Service Committee, People For the American Way and the entire 
Big Green establishment now?

  At the Eugene witch hunt, just the Civil Liberties Defense Center, 
the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center and the international 
group Forest Ethics stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hogg and his supporters.

  The NW Constitutional Rights Center's executive director Alejandro 
Queral put it all in perspective, reminding all that the government 
has a long history of intimidating activists and criminalizing 
dissent. He said, "Today, we are seeing a repeat of American history. 
Americans must remain vigilant."

  Part of that history is encouraging: in 1973, defendants who had 
destroyed draft records were acquitted in Camden, NJ; in 1974 Sam 
Lovejoy saw his charges of sabotage due to his toppling a 500 foot 
tower at an under-construction nuclear plant dismissed because the 
judge ruled the act one of protected civil disobedience; in 1985 
three defendants were acquitted on charges related to their sabotage 
of the Williams International plant in Michigan--the producers of the 
cruise missile engine.

  One would be hard pressed to find any movement for justice dating 
back to long before the Boston Tea Party that did not feel it 
necessary to violate existing law. While the efficacy of such acts 
can and should be debated (I for one think sabotage 
counterproductive, at minimum), there should be no debate whatsoever 
about the government's use of such odious tactics to suppress dissent.

  MICHAEL DONNELLY is a longtime forest activist and fierce defender 
of Free Speech and all Constitutional Rights. He can be reached at 
[pahtoo at aol.com] (URL: mailto:pahtoo at aol.com)

http://www.counterpunch.org/donnelly05242006.html

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