Peaceful Protest on Trial

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.