"Government has no other end, but the preservation of property." - John Locke ---- The
granting of corporations the status and protections usually reserved for individuals has
hammered home a simple message: property is more important than people. Nowhere has this
been more apparent than in the repression of the radical ecology movement known as the
"Green Scare"; in every prosecution for civil disobedience or sabotage, the "rights" of
private property have consistently been demonstrated as superior to those of individual
human protesters freedom to act on their beliefs. ---- The leveling of felony charges
against protestors during the Occupy movement and in previous summit protests has been out
of all proportion to the supposed crimes committed, making it clear that such egregious
prosecution can only be understood as an act of intimidation.
In the recent trial of three women for blockading the Endridge Pipeline in Michigan, the
judge, William Collette, announced in a pre-trial hearing:
""I am tired of people coming in here seeking publicity for themselves...I'm ready to try
these cases. ... I'm tired of it, and it's going to go to trial...I am unsympathetic to
people who try to use this courtroom as some place to make a statement about your problems."
He was tired of protestors and civil disobedience. With such a judge, the outcome of the
trial was a foregone conclusion.
"The trial of peaceful activists ended today with the jury finding Vicci Hamlin, Lisa
Leggio, and Barb Carter guilty of both charges brought against them: trespassing and
resisting and obstructing an officer. Supporters are deeply saddened that after
deliberation for over 10 hours the verdict returned was guilty of all counts. The jury was
split most of this time, returning to the courtroom several times for clarification.
Sentencing was scheduled for March 5th and the defendants' bail was revoked and they were
immediately taken into custody."
Along with ecological dissidents, animal rights activists have also been specifically
targeted for suppression: "Bills that criminalize whistleblowing on farms have passed in
over a dozen states so far. Often referred to as "Ag-Gag" bills, they prohibit taking
pictures or filming on a farm without permission to prevent whistleblowers from exposing
animal cruelty. Many of the bills are based on ALEC's model legislation, "The Animal and
Ecological Terrorism Act." The ALEC model bill not only bans taking pictures or video on
farms, but would also place violators on a "terrorist registry."
(http://frackthemedia.com/surveillance-political-dissent-part-ii-criminalizing-dissent/)
The price of peaceful protest has been increased exponentially, or rather, the price of
effectively expressing dissent has increased. Participation in ineffective expressions of
dissent is still okay, such as participating in elections. With the electoral system owned
completely by the capitalists, all electoral politics are ineffective politics.
Using the legal system as a stick to beat dissidents with isn't a new development of
course. You would need to go no further back than the trials of the protesters of the
Vietnam era to find people being prosecuted not for actual crimes, but for their
opposition to the status quo. The thing that's hard to digest is that twenty years ago the
majority of people would have readily agreed that such prosecutions are contrary to the
spirit of free speech within an open society. Now, if people actually do think this way
they seem content to be silent on the subject.
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» (en) US, WSA, Ideas & Action - Property Before People By Mike Kolhoff