By Julie Sabatier

Forest ethics organizer Kim Marks kicked off a panel discussion on environmentalism, terrorism and the “green scare” by getting to the root of the issue. “Capitalism needs to control the people and they need to control the land,” she said.
Marks shared the spotlight with attorney Ben Rosenfeld, program director for Friends of Living Waters, Dan Serres, and Barbara Dudley, who has served as president for the National Lawyers Guild as well as Greenpeace and currently teaches at Portland State University. The gathering at the First Unitarian Church on April 5 was the second in a series of dialogues called “But, is this Really Terrorism?”

Organized and moderated by the National Lawyers Guild, the panel discussions were set up in response to the indictments in past months of 11 environmental activists on for vandalism and arson billed as “ecoterrorism.” (Dudley was quick to point out that the term does not have a legal meaning and that, so far, no one has been charged with “ecoterrorism.”)

Marks began with a large scope, discussing the negative impact of American corporations around the world. She moved on to talk about targeting people who threaten to infringe on corporate greed.

“That the Bush administration is labeling environmental organizations as terrorist and monitoring their communication is shameful,” she said, “It is a betrayal of the American people.”

Rosenfeld picked up where Marks left off. “It’s a time for solidarity,” he said, “to drag this cockroach of a process out into the light because it thrives on darkness and secrecy.” He emphasized the importance of education and understanding what motivates the government to come after environmentalists in the first place.

Serres took things in a bit of a different direction, focusing instead on the laxity of the U.S. government towards corporate crimes against the environment. “We have a different idea of who the criminals are,” he said. “I think it’s a crime that the Willamette [River] is such a mess.”

Dudley drew on her wealth of experience in the environmental movement, citing specific examples of civil disobedience and their consequences. “Terrorism has become the new unamericanism,” she said, “And I don’t think we are reacting as well as we could….We have to be open and we have to be public about what we are doing and why we are doing it.”

Dudley also stressed the importance of sticking together to support fellow activists, even when we may not agree with them on all points. The theme of solidarity carried over into the question and answer session, which followed the panel.

There were a lot of questions surrounding pending or current legislation designed to prosecute crimes with a political motivation. One of the more memorable questions was about whether or not the USA PATRIOT ACT has been made permanent. Dudley’s answer: “If there are no sunset clauses, it is permanent until it is rescinded.”

Though much of the information presented in the April 5 panel was unnerving and somewhat overwhelming, Dudley ended the night with some encouraging words. “The imperatives of true environmentalism are contrary to the imperatives of capitalism,” she said, “And Mother Earth bats last.”

A third panel discussion on April 19 focused on how the label “domestic terrorist” is used to limit free speech and stifle dissent. Ben Rosenfeld returned, joining other guests to share his experience defending Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Deryl Cherney in their lawsuit against the FBI. Moderator Brenna Bell of the National Lawyers Guild indicated that there may be more opportunities for dialogue on these topics in the future. For more Binformation, you can contact the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center at 503-295-6400 or by e-mail at info {at} nwcrc.org.

Julie Sabatier is a freelance writer and radio journalist with KBOO 90.7 FM