21/07/2005 — The FBI has
been working hard lately, gathering files
on potential threats to the president under
the Bush administration's anti-terrorism laws.
But the files weren't all on Saddam and Osama.
It has recently come to light that Greenpeace,
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
and a range of domestic critics of George
Bush may be the new "axis of evil".
Who's the next 'terror' target? The Democratic
Party? The New York Times?
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in US federal court
charging that the FBI is wrongfully withholding
information about its investigations of peaceful
organizations. The FBI has thousands of pages
on Greenpeace, the ACLU, and other organisations
but to date less than 20 pages have been received
under Freedom of Information Act requests.
The lawsuit seeks to compel the Justice Department
to comply with requests that the ACLU filed
last year for records kept on a wide range
of organisations, including Greenpeace, the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, the
Muslim Public Affairs Council, the National
Lawyers Guild and the ACLU itself.
The controversial Joint Terrorism Task Forces
(JTTF) creates partnerships between the FBI
and local police, in which local officers
are "deputized" as federal agents.
This allows police to target peaceful political
and religious groups with no connection to
terrorism. It's pure coincidence, of course,
that targets for investigation tend to be
vocal opponents of George Bush's environmental
and social policies.
A classified FBI memorandum disclosed publicly
in November 2003 revealed that the FBI has
actually directed police to target and monitor
lawful political demonstrations under the
guise of fighting terrorism. Under policies
put in place by former Attorney General John
Ashcroft, the FBI - working with local police
through JTTFs - can now gather information
about people who express their disagreement
with U.S. government policies - for no better
reason than that they disagree.
Ivan Blokov, campaign director for Greenpeace
Russia, is familiar with the model. "This
looks exactly like the mandate that the KGB
had in Soviet times in my country."
John Passcantando, Executive Director of
Greenpeace USA, says "America will have
no credibility as an advocate of democracy
abroad if we can't conduct democracy at home.
A government that can't maintain a distinction
between terror and non-violent dissent is
not a healthy government."
Suppressing dissent
In July 2003 the Bush administration brought
an unprecedented legal case against Greenpeace
in attempt to shut us down. It was the first
time ever in the US that an organization was
criminally prosecuted for the free speech
activities of its supporters; in this case,
a non-violent direct action against a shipment
of mahogany which was itself illegal under
US law. Despite massive resources and truly
strained legal manoevering by the Justice
Department, which attempted to prosecute Greenpeace
under a century-old law barring prostitutes
from boarding ships in port, a federal judge
threw out the charges during trial in May
2004.
Having failed to shut us down via the courts,
it appears the Bush Administration has decided
that, given how hard it is to find terrorists
abroad, the investigative resources of the
fight against terror should go into spying
on Greenpeace. This is a bit like looking
for a coin across the street from where you
lost it because the light is better.
It's also an absurd and criminal waste of
time and money.
As Rainbow Warrior captain Pete Willcox said
recently, "We're pretty open about what
we're doing and don't have many secrets. Infiltrating
Greenpeace is like infiltrating the YMCA."
The FBI has better things to do than ensure
George Bush is insulated from criticism. A
government that wants to promote democracy
has to practice it.
Going, Going, Gone?Greenhouse Effect is Melting
Greenland21 July 2005Print Send Scientists
aboard Greenpeace ship make startling discovery:
Greenland's glaciers are melting faster than
anticipated.
Enlarge Image Greenland — In a stunning discovery
aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise,
scientists found new evidence that Greenland’s
glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate.
It's just more evidence that Global warming
is no longer on the horizon, it has arrived
at our doorstep, and if you live in a coastal
city, that's not just a figure of speech.
That’s because Greenland’s massive ice sheet
locks up more than six percent of the world’s
fresh water supply, and it is melting much
faster than expected. If Greenland were to
melt fully, it would cause sea levels around
the globe to rise by nearly 20 feet. Even
measurements of four to five feet of sea level
rise could mean that places like New York,
Amsterdam, Venice and Bangladesh will experience
flooding in low lying areas. More than 70
percent of the world's population lives on
flat coastal plains.
The Arctic Sunrise arrived in Greenland at
the end of June, with scientists from around
the world onboard. The ship and its crew have
been documenting and measuring the impacts
of global warming.
The alarming retreat of the Kangerdlugssuaq
Glacier suggests that the entire Greenland
ice sheet may be melting far more rapidly
than previously believed. All current scientific
forecasts for global warming had assumed slower
rates of melting. This new evidence suggests
that the threat of global warming is much
greater and more urgent than previously believed.
In addition to the increased speed of the
glacier, scientists from the University of
Maine found that the Kangerdlussuaq glacier
has receded more than three miles since 2001.
Measurements from glaciers across Greenland
are providing startling new evidence of thinning,
causing the glaciers to speed up and decrease
in overall mass, intensifying the flow of
ice into the ocean.
“The alarm is now deafening. We can’t stand
back and watch our future go under, literally,”
said Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace campaigner
onboard the Arctic Sunrise. “We must stop
generating global warming pollution."
