Animal Rights to get Hot in 2007
Alas: This UPI analysis has it right, I think. Animal liberationists are likely to target biotechnology and research firms to force an end to the use of animals in research. That this would be disastrous to human health and welfare matters not a whit to these zealots.
Supposedly, the expected increase in "underground" activity will be a reaction to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act's passage into law, which supposedly stifles free speech. It explicitly does not do this, of course, as I have demonstrated here at Secondhand Smoke.
And here's a disturbing quote from always fanatical Jerry Valsak that shows the way the current is flowing: "There`s [sic] a lot of people willing to die for the cause."
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 2:45 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
As someone who has participated in protests, I know firsthand how police treat protesters who are peaceful. Police will sometimes do everything they can to intimidate and threaten protesters. I attended a law-abiding protest and a police officer intimidated us and threatened to arrest all of us in the very small group. We were not in the way of traffic, nor destroying property, nor intimidating anyone with violence, but on public easement.
You can legally do a "spontaneous" protest without a permit if it does not exceed six people. A friend was doing one such "spontaneous" protest. Someone he knew was walking by, recognized him and shook his hand. The police who were vulturing over the tiny protest immediately charged them for exceeding the limits of a permitless protest.
Again, at another protest a protester was attacked by a non-protester. The protester was charged with assault.
When a law like AETA threatens a year in imprisonment for offenses that cause no bodily harm, nor even threatens bodily harm, nor property damage, nor disruption of business affairs, nor even loss of profit, but solely based on the fact of one's freedom of speech for the cause of animal rights, you can bet on hard money that it is an attack on the freedom of assembly and speech.
Especially since AETA also punishes such a person at a protest against the animal enterprise industry even heavier for the fact that they were protesting at the time.
Have you read AETA closely?
When an activist feels like he or she possibly risks fines and jail for either something gone awry or drummed up police charges, you shouldn't be surprised that more of them will turn to illegal and, ironically, costlier actions for the state and industries.
AETA is a disgrace. The Founding Fathers declared that all men are created equal under the law. No group should be singled out heavier under the law for their beliefs alone. And AETA does just that.
No AETA does not do that. The behavior it applies to are not boycots or peaceful protest. It is criminal intimidation, terrorism, and lawlessness. Are you aware of the tactics of tertiary targeting? If not, read up on it. If so, protest the thugs who threatend to kill people, video tape familes, vandalize property, steal identities, and etc. They are the ones casting a pall over your movement. And hearken to Gary Francione who advocates leadership by example via a vegan lifestyle that foreswears all sucy tactics.
Was at a protest once. Not protesting or objecting (because I had no interest in the issue on either side, go figure), but I got to see first hand how the "peaceful" protest went.
Police came up to push the crowd back onto public property and off the private property that they were crowding. A girl about my age, wearing steel-toed boots and holding a sign, was approached calmly by an officer, told to step back, and promptly nailed him between the legs with said steel-toed boot. She then proceeded to beat him to a pulp with her protest sign.
A fellow officer broke a few of her teeth trying to get her off of the poor guy on the ground. The officer ended up going to the hospital, as did the girl.
Later on the protesters were screaming about how they had been having a "peaceful" protest and the evil police were abusing them. Apparently they missed the part where the girl attacked the officer first...
It's very hard to have a true "peaceful" protest. People's tempers flair if they're really into whatever it is they're arguing about, and they do stupid things.
I'm not saying it can't be done - I've been part of peaceful protests before - but it's hard unless everyone keeps cool.
The problem is you're talking about radicals who think it's better to kill people than to kill animals. I know falconers who rehabilitate injured birds who have received death threats because they "teach" the falcons to kill living animals. You can't really do PC if you're going to show a bird how to kill smaller things so it can live on its own, but some people don't seem to get that.
Before you spout off about "peaceful protest," Citizen P., I suggest you make damn sure you know what you're talking about. It's easy to scream, "I was part of a peaceful protest," and ignore the fact that someone on your side threw the first rock.
One last thing - both sides can be pretty heated up. I don't deny that police can be too rough at times, too, and I'm not accusing you of lying. But don't go defending people who "protest" against animal experimentation until you're sure they're really following the rules. A jury wouldn't put PETA members in prison unless they really did fire-bomb something.
Protest laws vary by state, and the AETA still allows for peaceful and lawful protest [and boycott.]
But....
"It's very hard to have a true "peaceful" protest?" Give me a break.
This spoken by someone who has attended 'some' and is recalling 'one' that s/he clearly states s/he had no part in. [And I'm relatively certain there was a bit of embellishing going on in that tale. Stable people don't kick a police officer when asked to move back a few feet.]
I have been to SEVERAL peaceful protests. [notice the lack of quotation marks.] And by several, I don't mean 4. I mean more like 204, ALL of which remained [without much work] peaceful.
There was ONE time that a cop got mighty and mouthy with us for little reason, but we're smart enough to speak with the authorities rather than get emotional and argue with them.
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