Winter 2011 Civil Liberties Newsletter
The Civil Liberties Defense Center has published its winter 2011 Newsletter! Inside are reports of the CLDC’s work with Occupy Eugene, interviews with new board members, a guide to filming police interactions and much more. Read the Winter 2011 Civil Liberties Newsletter. . . . .
The Other Side Of The Animal Research Debate
MYTH: “We must recognize that scientific research is not only a legitimate career, but also an invaluable facet of medical advancement, conducted by respectable professionals deserving our support. The deplorable actions of these eco–terrorists threaten to impede important medical progress in California and across the country.” — Senator Feinstein, Co–Sponsor of AETA . . . .
If you think that this law was passed by Congress and your elected representatives with sufficient knowledge, time, and debate, think again. This bill was introduced and pushed by big businesses for big businesses. AETA protects the interests of animal enterprises such as the National Pork Producers Association, Pfizer Drug Co. and other pharmaceutical corporations that engage in cruel and unnecessary animal testing, McDonald’s and other fast–food corporations that profit from the sale of factory–farmed animals for food, and Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and other cosmetic companies that repetitiously abuse animals to test and retest their latest line of beauty products. ( Read more about what goes on behind the walls of animal enterprises.) . . . .
An Attack On Your First Amendment Rights
Under AETA it is no longer just the radical underground activists that are targeted for harming the corporate agenda, but also the law–abiding, above–ground activists. AETA is so broad and vague that ordinary citizens may not know that they are acting outside the vast boundaries of this new law. Under AETA, it doesn’t take much to be labeled an “animal enterprise terrorist. ” Techniques that have been used for years in various social movements are now acts of terrorism if they cause profit loss, including increased security costs, to an animal exploitation business. Those who peacefully protest or engage in undercover investigations can be deemed a terrorist precisely because these actions are purposefully enacted to cause economic loss to a business so that it can no longer engage in the exploitation of animals. . . . .