Moving Testimony at Eco-terrorism Hearing in DC

By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Senate full Judiciary Committee held a hearing May 18 focusing on "Animal Rights: Activism vs. Criminality."(1)

As always, Senator Hatch (R-Utah) was tough on eco/animal rights-related crimes and terrorism, a true champion who really understands these issues. And the FBI noted that it was committed to battling this type of crime even though challenged by a lack of strong federal laws.

Stated FBI Deputy Assistant Director John Lewis, "[A]s a result of the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, the use of the Hobbs Act in prosecuting [criminal] was removed as an option. In the Scheidler decision, the Supreme Court held that, while activists may be found to illegally interfere with, disrupt or even deprive victims of the free exercise of their property rights or their right to conduct business, this activity does not constitute extortion as defined under the Hobbs Act unless the activists seek to obtain or convert the victims' property for their own use.(2)

So, under current federal law, eco-terrorists can burn property to the ground, even kill people, in all fifty states, and not be covered under the federal Hobbs Act. The FBI can investigate - and is doing so, with 190 cases in 34 states - but prosecution will have to be done piecemeal at the state level, a daunting task. In spite of this, the FBI reaffirmed its commitment to securing the safety of U.S. citizens against such criminals.

The testimony of a food company executive relating to a crime-filled intimidation campaign was sobering. He detailed one illegal action after another. Call it what you will, it's unacceptable.(3)

The Committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Leahy (D-VT), commented on the change of the hearing title, which had been originally called, "The Threat of Animal and Eco-Terrorism," referring to the FBI-defined category within "special interest domestic terrorism" from Clinton administration days. Predictably, in an election year, Senator Leahy commented that "This Administration aggressively stamps everything with a 'terrorism' label," and declared the obvious, that protestors are not terrorists.(4)

There was, of course, no focus on hindering lawful protest in the hearings, which instead focused on arson, bombs, death threats, murder and other frightening crimes, well removed from peaceful protest and free speech. Such intimidating and violent tactics, of course, have the opposite effect, in that they hinder free speech because they result in people being frightened into silence on many issues for fear they will be targeted.

Beyond the fact that some are uncomfortable using the "T" word, there are still those who do not see politically motivated, coordinated and dangerous attacks on U.S. citizens and their property (homes, offices, research facilities, farms, etc.) as "terrorism". Letters and phone calls to elected representatives from those victimized remain critical.

Unfortunately, the hearing room was virtually empty of committee members and even Leahy could not attend but he submitted comments explaining he had a conflicting obligation as "the Ranking Democrat on the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to work on critical HIV/AIDS funding at our hearing that is taking place this morning."

Did anyone else catch this irony? HIV/AIDS research is dependent on animals, primates in fact, and primate research facilities are regular targets of legal protest and illegal actions, some of which can easily b termed terrorism. In fact, the 2005 Primate Freedom Tour is being planned right now and if it follows the patterns of the previous "tours" in 1998/99, it will be a multi-state organized extravaganza of legal protests juxtaposed with crimes such as illegal actions during protests, arson, bombs, death threats, and attacks on people in their homes. And since the participants of the last few Primate Freedom Tours are opposed to any ownership of, or benefit from, animals, the ALF/ELF members among them branched out, while on the road, attacking with bombs and arsons, targeting circuses, chicken farms, livestock feed mills and more. Millions of dollars in damages were incurred and taxpayers paid the policing costs.(5)

With or without Congressional leadership, law enforcement in 2005 will be tasked with addressing this very predictable crime spree without the proper tools. Without strong laws on the books, primate research (AIDS/HIV research) in the U.S. will go the way of primate research in the UK - downhill.(6)

To add insult to injury, Leahy's Vermont is home to the Institute for Social Ecology, a hot bed of anarchists, and the same "school" where former ELF spokesman Craig Rosebraugh completed his "thesis" on the "need" for violence in politics. This thesis is now being sold as a book, "The Logic of Political Violence," and features the 9-11 bombings on the front cover while advocating the violent overthrow of the U.S. government inside.(7)

Notes:

(1) The hearing and all testimony, statements are at http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1196

(2) The FBI statement is at http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1196&wit_id=3460. For information on the legal issues, visit http://www.furcommission.com/resource/perspect999bk.htm

(3) The testimony regarding PeTA's attack campaign relating to KFC is at http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1196&wit_id=3463 and calls for revocation of PeTA's tax exempt charitable status. Oddly enough, PeTA claims it wants poultry farmers to utilize the same methods used by mink farmers to kill mink, even though veterinarians agree that the methods used to kill mink are appropriate for mink but not for poultry. Of course, this doesn't make any sense and PeTA doesn't support such methods when used by mink farmers so we must assume they won't support the poultry farmers no matter what method is used. PeTA's agenda is not to advance animal welfare but to harass poultry producers and cause them additional costs as they attempt to push everyone from using animal protein to only using plant protein, primarily soybeans.

(4) Senator Leahy's statement is at http://judiciary.senate.gov/member_statement.cfm?id=1196&wit_id=2629

(5) See press reports of damages and http://www.primatefreedom.org/tour1999.html for information on the 1998/1999 Primate Freedom Tours and http://www.primatefreedom.org/ for information on the 2005 Tour, which sees primates used in AIDS/HIV research as "prisoners".

(6) See similar battles, which incorporate illegal actions against supporters of research in the UK at http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040517/04 and http://www.vare.org.uk/launch_pr.html

(7) See Southern Poverty Law Center's book review at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=389

The Center for Consumer Freedom submitted a letter on this subject to the Committee and has written up a detailed "must read" commentary. Read about the hearing at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/headline_detail.cfm?HEADLINE_ID=2513 or the letter at http://www.consumerfreedom.com/downloads/senatorHatchLetter.pdf

Visit http://www.furcommission.com/resource/pressSF.htm for the FBI definition of eco-terrorism and see the chronology section to learn what qualifies as eco-terrorism.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit Fur Commission USA's Fur on Film at http://www.furcommission.com/video/index.htm

© 1998-2005 Fur Commission USA

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