Catholic Nuns Get Hard Time
Three Dominican nuns, aged 55, 66, and 68, are currently serving
eight-year prison sentences for a nonviolent protest at a U.S.
military base. The three sisters entered a missile site and drew
crosses in their own blood on a silo in October 2002 to protest the
impending war in Iraq and protest U.S. nuclear weapons. The Bush
Justice Department charged the nuns with obstruction of national
defense and damaging U.S. property. In April 2003, they were
convicted of these felonies.
F.B.I. Investigates Anti-War Protestors
In November 2003, the F.B.I. began collecting extensive
information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar
demonstrators and directed local law enforcement officials to
report on protests to its counter-terrorism squads.
Retired Steelworker Arrested for Protesting Too Close to
President
The Secret Service has begun instituting "exclusion zones"
around President Bush during his public appearances. These
so-called "free speech zones" were designed to keep protestors away
from the President's motorcade. In Pittsburgh, 65 year-old
steelworker Bill Neel was arrested for protesting too close to the
President during his Labor Day visit in 2002. Another victim of the
"free speech zone" is Brett Bursey, who was arrested for holding a
"No Blood for Oil" sign during Bush's visit to Columbia, SC, amidst
pro-Bush signs. Bursey asked Secret Service officials if the
content of his sign was the reason for the request to move to a
"free speech zone," and a Secret Service official answered yes.
Bursey ended up being taken to court under an obscure law
prohibiting "entering a restricted area around the president of the
United States." Bursey faces six months in jail and a $5,000 fine,
and will appear in court November 2004.
Critics of the United States Placed under Surveillance
A May 2003 anti-terror advisory from the Department of Homeland
Security advised local law enforcement authorities to keep a tight
watch on those who "expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of
the U.S. government."
Greenpeace Protestors Face Unprecedented Felony Charges
Seventeen individuals were arrested after a peaceful protest
against the National Missile Defense System (NMDS) at Vandenberg
Air Force Base in central California. Greenpeace activists faced
felony charges for entering a missile test zone, seeking to delay a
test of the NMDS, a system which the activists believed would
escalate the race for weapons of mass destruction In January 2002,
to avoid the felony charges, the activists pled guilty to
conspiring to trespass on a military base.
A New Prosecution for Greenpeace's Work under Attack
Attorney General John Ashcroft's Department of Justice is
prosecuting Greenpeace in Miami for a nonviolent protest by several
of its supporters under an obscure federal statute that has
apparently not been used in more than one hundred years. The case
arose when two Greenpeace activists peacefully boarded a ship
smuggling illegal mahogany from Brazil's Amazon rainforest. The
criminal prosecution of an advocacy group for the free speech
activities of its supporters is unprecedented, and it threatens to
chill free speech for all Americans.
ExxonMobil Aims to Silence Greenpeace from Exposing Exxon's
Corruption
ExxonMobil is suing both the U.S.
and international Greenpeace entities for a peaceful protest that
occurred at Exxon's headquarters in Irving, Texas. The 36 activists
who were involved also face stiff criminal charges. The activists
were protesting ExxonMobil's unwillingness to take action to stop
global warming, one of the largest environmental problems in the
world.