Last Saturday, December first, my probation ended and I was returned to full-fledged citizenship. I was arrested in late August with some folks from Greenpeace for occupying a coal-burning, carbon dioxide-spewing power plant in Salem, Massachusetts. We were trying to make a point about global warming.
The local judge all but thanked us for protesting, then placed us on three months probation, in a peculiar Massachusetts legal limbo known as “continuance without finding.” I imagine it was devised as a means of carefully handling the indiscretions of that family from Hyannis Port.
December first was also the date by which a small group of Republican congressmen had demanded seven national environmental groups – Greenpeace among them – to declare whether or not they supported terrorism. It’s a modern twist on the old political question: When did you stop beating your wife?
The Republican group is led by Colorado’s Scott McInnis, whose subcommittee is investigating incidents of sabotage alleged to have been committed by misguided environmentalists in recent years, such as the destruction of genetically-engineered crops, the releasing of laboratory animals and the burning of some empty buildings at a ski resort. In an open letter, Mr. McInnis and his GOP colleagues compared environmental sabotage to the September 11th attacks and asked the leaders of the environmental groups to publicly denounce such actions.
Mr. McInnis’s letter is deplorable for several reasons. While property destruction in the name of the environment is misguided and wrong, it is in no way comparable to the wanton violence perpetrated at the Pentagon and World Trade Center, and to suggest that it is constitutes an insult to the memory of everyone who died in those tragedies and to the families that survive.
More important, the environmental groups to which the letter was addressed do not engage in environmental sabotage, much less terrorism. All the groups have long since proclaimed their aversion to property destruction, but that’s not what this is all about. This is a case of guilt-by-somewhat-far-fetched-association, in which a group of sleazy politicians seize on an atmosphere of public anxiety and attempt to use it to smear the reputations of organizations that engage in legitimate political activity.
Which brings me back to Salem, Massachusetts in late August, where a dozen Greenpeace activists climbed onto a 10-acre coal pile with banners and wooden crosses and a message about global warming. Officers from the Salem police department allowed the demonstration to continue for several minutes before hauling us away. They recognized what we were doing – exercising our First Amendment right to call attention to a serious political issue. The Greenpeace activists destroyed no property and acted in such a way as to ensure the safety of the protesters, the police and the power plant personnel during the demonstration.
The police officers, who may or may not agree with Greenpeace on the hazards of global warming, recognized a legitimate political activity when they saw one and respected it as such. If the Salem cop on the beat can recognize political speech, why can’t members of the U.S. Congress?
If Mr. McInnis and company are so keen to spend tax dollars in this time of national crisis, why don’t they investigate the groups which threaten Arab, Jewish or gay Americans? Investigate the groups that send anthrax to women’s health clinics; condemn the local officials in various towns and counties who have vowed to shoot representatives of the federal government on sight.
When did you stop beating your wife? When did you stop supporting terrorism? More to the point – when will Americans get a Congress we can be proud of?
Stop Beating Your Wife
Last Saturday, December first, my probation ended and I was returned to full-fledged citizenship. I was arrested in late August with some folks from Greenpeace for occupying a coal-burning, carbon dioxide-spewing power plant in Salem, Massachusetts. We were trying to make a point about global warming.
The local judge all but thanked us for protesting, then placed us on three months probation, in a peculiar Massachusetts legal limbo known as “continuance without finding.” I imagine it was devised as a means of carefully handling the indiscretions of that family from Hyannis Port.
December first was also the date by which a small group of Republican congressmen had demanded seven national environmental groups – Greenpeace among them – to declare whether or not they supported terrorism. It’s a modern twist on the old political question: When did you stop beating your wife?
The Republican group is led by Colorado’s Scott McInnis, whose subcommittee is investigating incidents of sabotage alleged to have been committed by misguided environmentalists in recent years, such as the destruction of genetically-engineered crops, the releasing of laboratory animals and the burning of some empty buildings at a ski resort. In an open letter, Mr. McInnis and his GOP colleagues compared environmental sabotage to the September 11th attacks and asked the leaders of the environmental groups to publicly denounce such actions.
Mr. McInnis’s letter is deplorable for several reasons. While property destruction in the name of the environment is misguided and wrong, it is in no way comparable to the wanton violence perpetrated at the Pentagon and World Trade Center, and to suggest that it is constitutes an insult to the memory of everyone who died in those tragedies and to the families that survive.
More important, the environmental groups to which the letter was addressed do not engage in environmental sabotage, much less terrorism. All the groups have long since proclaimed their aversion to property destruction, but that’s not what this is all about. This is a case of guilt-by-somewhat-far-fetched-association, in which a group of sleazy politicians seize on an atmosphere of public anxiety and attempt to use it to smear the reputations of organizations that engage in legitimate political activity.
Which brings me back to Salem, Massachusetts in late August, where a dozen Greenpeace activists climbed onto a 10-acre coal pile with banners and wooden crosses and a message about global warming. Officers from the Salem police department allowed the demonstration to continue for several minutes before hauling us away. They recognized what we were doing – exercising our First Amendment right to call attention to a serious political issue. The Greenpeace activists destroyed no property and acted in such a way as to ensure the safety of the protesters, the police and the power plant personnel during the demonstration.
The police officers, who may or may not agree with Greenpeace on the hazards of global warming, recognized a legitimate political activity when they saw one and respected it as such. If the Salem cop on the beat can recognize political speech, why can’t members of the U.S. Congress?
If Mr. McInnis and company are so keen to spend tax dollars in this time of national crisis, why don’t they investigate the groups which threaten Arab, Jewish or gay Americans? Investigate the groups that send anthrax to women’s health clinics; condemn the local officials in various towns and counties who have vowed to shoot representatives of the federal government on sight.
When did you stop beating your wife? When did you stop supporting terrorism? More to the point – when will Americans get a Congress we can be proud of?