In recent months federal authorities have stepped up the level of repression directed against animal liberation and eco activists in the Bay Area. Near the beginning of April, I awoke at six in the morning to the sound of repeated doorbell rings. As one of my roommates peeked out of the curtains of our apartment, floodlights lit up the front of our building and loud voices shouted up at us from below, “FBI, open up!” Agents stormed through our home with their guns drawn and pointed at us. We were handcuffed and ordered into our living room. One of my roommates was arrested and forcibly removed from our home. We were told that she had been arrested on an outstanding warrant, issued for the unauthorized use of a bullhorn stemming from a demonstration she had taken part in, in November of 2004.
Across the Bay agents clad in ski masks and armed with assault weapons were simultaneously violating the home of one of our friends in Oakland. For eleven hours agents representing the FBI, ATF, Secret Service, Coast Guard, Joint Terrorism Task Force, US Marshals, and local police ransacked our homes seizing computers, journals, photo albums, books, music CDs and everything else they could get their hands on. While the two houses were being picked through, a third group of agents detained an individual at Market Street and VanNess. They attempted to lie, intimidate, and coerce her into supplying them with a DNA sample. Fortunately we were able to mobilize legal support quickly. One of our attorneys swiftly intervened and removed her from the situation.
This, unfortunately, was not the first time my life has been disrupted due to my political beliefs. In 2000, Anita Carswell and I were falsely arrested on felony vandalism charges for allegedly breaking windows at Neiman Marcus in downtown San Francisco, where we both regularly took part in anti-fur demonstrations. The police immediately issued a statement to the media assuring them that our convictions were imminent, as they had a credible witness and surveillance footage that proved our guilt. The footage turned out to be nothing more than a series of grainy still photographs of silhouettes. The “credible witness” was unable to identify us in a lineup, admitted to being under the influence of both heroin and alcohol on the night in question, had himself been convicted of felony vandalism for breaking windows, and was being put up in a fancy hotel and given spending money by the police department for participating in the case against us. After a week in jail, six months of supervised release, multiple court proceedings and a lie detector test, the charges against us were finally dropped. Unhappy with the outcome, the FBI promptly reopened the case and subpoenaed Anita to a grand jury. To this date, they have not returned our confiscated clothing or property. Anita resisted the grand jury completely by not even bothering to show up,
In the latest round of the FBI’s campaign of harassment and intimidation, myself and nine other individuals have now been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in San Francisco. Once used to protect citizens from unreasonable and malicious prosecution by the state, the grand jury system is now used to destroy social movements. Grand juries thrive on their ability to operate in complete secrecy. Witnesses who are forced to appear before the grand jury are stripped of their 5th amendment right to remain silent and are denied their right to be represented by an attorney within the grand jury room. Grand juries are used to divide, isolate, intimidate and collect information on social movements, as well as to imprison their activists. They have been used extensively to harass and target abolitionists, Puerto Rican independence activists, Black Panthers, as well as the environmental and animal liberation communities. Those refusing to cooperate face many months, and even years in prison.
At a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, John E. Lewis, Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI testified that, “Investigating and preventing animal rights extremism and eco-terrorism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic terrorism priorities.” Included in his description of animal rights extremism and eco-terrorism were such nefarious activities as office takeovers, which he lumped into the same category as bombings.
The escalation of repressive measures directed against all social change activists is apparent. The government’s definition of terrorism has come to include activities such as anti-war marches, peaceful demonstrations, writing articles, unlatching cages, taking over offices, and putting up websites. Not included in their definition are activities such as carpet-bombing civilian neighborhoods, denying children access to food and medicine, anally electrocuting fur-bearing animals, torturing prisoners, cutting down old growth forests, or shooting peaceful protestors with lethal rubber bullets.
As we speak, a young man named Peter Young sits in jail in Wisconsin awaiting trial. He has been charged with Animal Enterprise Terrorism for allegedly trespassing at fur farms, pulling down fences, opening cages, and allowing the animals contained within them to escape to freedom. For this “crime”, Peter is now facing a sentence of up to 82 years in prison. At his last hearing, Bob Anderson, an assistant US attorney, said Young committed “an act of terrorism” by trying to impose his will on others by using violence.
In New Jersey, six animal liberation activists are currently being tried on charges of Animal Enterprise Terrorism, interstate stalking, and conspiracy. In essence, they are accused of little more than operating a website opposed to the contract animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). If convicted, they each will face up to 24 years in prison.
It is no coincidence that the highly publicized senate hearings on eco-terrorism, these two trials, and the recent raids and subsequent grand jury subpoenas have occurred in such close proximity. These actions represent an attack by the federal government aimed at straining our resources, breaking our resolve, and imprisoning our activists. These actions are also indicative of a renewed wave of repression directed against all social change movements. Black liberation activists and white anti-imperialists from the movements of the 60’s and 70’s have also recently been the targets of house raids and grand jury subpoenas. These subpoenas are investigating actions against that police that took place over thirty years ago in the early 1970’s. The federal government has also escalated its campaign against Assasta Shakur. It is clear that the government means to stamp out resistance wherever it thrives.
As the government continuously redefines words such as violence and terrorism to include the opening of cages, the running of websites, and the fight against oppression, they further their ultimate goal of outlawing dissent altogether. It is imperative that we stand up to this type of thuggery and in support of those who find themselves the targets of government harassment.
I refuse to cooperate with this grand jury, or with any other despite what I may face. In the coming months many of us will need your support. Protests will be held outside of the San Francisco federal courthouse at each and every date that individuals are scheduled to appear. As we show our resistance inside the grand jury room, we ask that you join us and demonstrate your resistance and solidarity outside of the courthouse.
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