Will Potter's Blog, page 15

How to Fight the FBI over FOIA Documents

The open government website MuckRock has a wonderful interview with “FOIA superhero” Ryan Shapiro.

I recently wrote about Shapiro for Mother Jones, and discussed how his technique is so effective at unburying sensitive documents, the feds are asking the courts to stop him.

His interview with MuckRock goes into more detail about his groundbreaking work. Here’s an excerpt:

MuckRock: What has to take place for meaningful policy level changes to FOIA laws? Will we ever see that day?

Ryan Shapiro: The first thing that needs to happen is for more people to use FOIA and become invested in it. It’s for this reason (and many others) that MuckRock is such an invaluable resource and addition to the open government landscape. We also need more historians and journalists in particular to regularly utilize FOIA and promote the fruits of FOIA work.

I’ve already mentioned Will Potter’s great work above, and I encourage everyone to check out his news site Green Is The New Red and his award-winning book of the same name. I’m also very fortunate to collaborate with the intrepid journalist and fellow FOIA-prosthelytizer, Jason Leopold, but he’s a rarity.

Democracy cannot meaningfully exist without an informed citizenry, and such a citizenry is impossible without broad public access to information about the operations of government. The Bush administration initiated a disastrous welter of anti-transparency initiatives, yet the Obama administration has been, if anything, even worse. Despite entering office promising unprecedented openness, the Obama administration has provided just the opposite, including bringing more Espionage Act prosecutions of leakers than all previous administrations combined. It’s not surprising those in power wish to keep their actions secret. What’s surprising is how readily we tolerate it.

The Freedom of Information Act is one of the most underappreciated elements of the entire American experiment. As broken as FOIA is, the notion that the records of government are the property of the people, and all we need to do to get them is to ask, is radically democratic. FOIA must not only be defended against the FBI and others who view transparency as a threat, but strengthened, and dramatically expanded. The viability of our democracy depends upon it.

Read the full interview at MuckRock.com.

Female Protester Charged with Sexual Assault After Kissing Riot Cop

A young woman who kissed a riot cop’s helmet during a protest in Italy has been charged with sexual assault.

Nina De Chiffre is a 20-year-old student who was protesting a planned railway expansion in Northern Italy.

At the demonstration, she kissed the police officer’s helmet. The police union filed a complaint, and she has been charged with “sexual violence” and causing “offence to a public official.”

Protesters have a long history of such “crimes” in response to militarized police, of course. In addition to kisses, they’ve sometimes given flowers.

Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s Resolutions Are Perfect

Seventy years ago, Woody Guthrie made this list of resolutions for the new year.

My favorite: “33. Wake Up And Fight”

What’s yours?

Environmentalists Charged with “Terrorism Hoax” for Too Much Glitter on Their Banner

My new article for VICE:

Two environmentalists in Oklahoma may be the first protesters prosecuted for a “terrorism hoax” after they unfurled a banner covered in glitter.

Last Friday in Oklahoma City, Stefan Warner and Moriah Stephenson walked through the front door of Devon Tower, the headquarters of Devon Energy. The energy giant has plans to increase fracking, and its CEO is on the board of TransCanada, the corporation behind the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The activists walked to the second floor balcony of the atrium, and dropped a red Hunger Games-inspired banner. It said “The odds are never in our favor,” and featured a mockingjay carrying a monkeywrench.

As the banner unrolled, some glitter fell to the ground. The whole thing was pretty boring, as far as protests like this go, Warner says. Security guards asked them to leave, and they did; Warner had no desire to get arrested, plus Stephenson had to finish her grad-school homework.

“I could have swept it up in two minutes if they gave me a broom,” Warner says. As they were leaving, he apologized to the cleaning lady. She smiled at him and said it’s ok.

Police arrested two other protesters with Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance who had locked themselves in the building’s doorway. But what to do with the glitter-fabulous Warner and Stephenson?

More cop cars kept arriving, and they knew something was up. They were detained because the cops said they needed to investigate the substance. “And I’m like, ‘What do you mean? The glitter?” Warner says. “You think glitter is a hazardous substance? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

When they got to jail, they found out they were being charged with a “terrorism hoax,” a state felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Their attorney, Doug Parr, has been involved in dozens of protest cases like this one in Oklahoma and Texas. In other arrests, protesters have faced trumped-up charges, but this is a radical escalation.

“I’ve been practicing law since the 1970s. Quite frankly, I’ve been expecting this,” Parr says. “Based upon the historical work I’ve been involved in, I know that when popular movements that confront the power structure start gaining traction, the government ups the tactics they employ in order to disrupt and take down those movements.”

TransCanada has been putting pressure on law enforcement to do exactly that. In documents obtained by Bold Nebraska, the company was shown briefing police and the FBI on how to prosecute anti-pipeline protesters as terrorists.

In Ohio, the Athens County Emergency Management Agency recently held a training drill that involved a fake anti-fracking group. The scenario was meant to prepare emergency first responders for a terrorist attack. Focusing the training on non-violent environmentalists caused such an uproar that the county had to issue a public apology.

Accusing non-violent protesters of “terrorism” in Oklahoma City may have a similar effect. The word has a visceral sting in this town, the site of the most destructive terrorist attack in U.S. history prior to 9/11. The bombing killed 168 people and injured more than 600.

Using that same language to describe environmentalists with a sparkly banner is only going to backfire, Warner says. It’s too soon to tell if these charges are going to stick. But either way, he says, “I don’t think the police realize they might be making us a lot of allies.”

Spain’s Largest Newspaper Features Full Page on Will Potter’s Reporting

I was recently in Spain for the release of Los Verdes Somos Los Nuevos Rojos, the Spanish version of Green Is the New Red. The media coverage and general public response was incredible. And last week, El Pais — the highest-circulation newspaper in Spain — featured a wonderful article on the corporate backlash against political activists.

The headline is “Hay leyes que pretenden asustar a los ciudadanos” — These are laws meant to scare citizens.

You can read the full article at El Pais!

How Nelson Mandela Went From “Terrorist” to Nobel Peace Prize Winner

As thousands of people attend Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, and politicians line up to praise him, it’s easy to forget how recently this international hero was viewed as a terrorist and enemy of the state.

In Green Is the New Red, I discuss the change. Here’s an excerpt:

Nelson Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1944 to campaign against the South African government’s apartheid policies. As the government’s response grew increasingly violent, and after Mandela stood trial for treason and was acquitted, he argued in 1961 that the African National Congress should set up a military wing. He formed Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation, and went abroad to study guerrilla warfare and military tactics. In the 1970s and ’80s, the country’s ruling white minority labeled the African National Congress a terrorist organization, and so did the United States. Mandela was later elected president of South Africa. In 1993, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama today called him “the last great liberator of the 20th century,” but the United States was one of the most vocal proponents of labeling Mandela a terrorist and placing him on international watch lists.

Many political leaders have now changed their stance. But not all. Dick Cheney is quite blunt in his defense of calling Mandela a terrorist:

Cheney’s staunch resistance to the Anti-Apartheid Act arose as an issue during his future campaigns on the presidential ticket, but the Wyoming Republican has never said he regretted voting the way he did. In fact, in 2000, he maintained that he’d made the right decision.

“The ANC was then viewed as a terrorist organization,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I don’t have any problems at all with the vote I cast 20 years ago.”

Cheney went on to call Mandela a “great man” who had “mellowed” in the decade after his release from prison.

The drastic change in how Mandela is revered today, and how he will be praised posthumously, is a striking example of the fluid nature of the rhetoric of “terrorism.” It’s a term that can easily be modified for the enemy of the hour, and then changed again if those enemies are victorious in their struggles.

The most difficult part of writing the book was dissecting the many definitions of terrorism. But if there is one shared element among all of them, it is this: The term is solely a political one, designed to demonize based on the whims of those in power.

What’s the difference between a “terrorist” and a “freedom fighter”?

Sometimes the answer to that question is quite stark: The “terrorist” lost.

If you haven’t read Mandela’s autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom, it’s excellent.

Georgetown University: “From Activist to Terrorist” with Jake Conroy and Will Potter

I’ll be speaking at Georgetown University on Thursday, December 5th with Jake Conroy. The event is “From Activist to Terrorist.” Here’s more:

The FBI labels animal rights and environmental activists the “number one domestic terrorism threat,” and new laws turn activism into “terrorism” if it hurts corporate profits. Unlike anti-abortion extremists and hate groups, though, these protesters have never harmed a human being.

How did this happen? Why are undercover investigators and those who use non-violent civil disobedience being treated so disproportionately? And what are the real life consequences for the activists who are investigated, and even sent to prison, as domestic terrorists?

Will Potter, an award-winning journalist who, after being told by the FBI he was on a domestic terrorist list, went on to investigate and expose these efforts in his book, Green Is the New Red. He will discuss how corporations manufactured the idea of “eco-terrorism,” and why all social justice activists are at risk. His reporting and commentary have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, and the Vermont Law Review, and he has testified before Congress. Green Is The New Red was awarded a Kirkus Star for “remarkable merit” and named one of the best books of 2011. He blogs at http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/.

Jake Conroy is a long-time animal rights activist who was sentenced to 4 years in prison for his involvement in one of the most successful animal rights campaigns in history — Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. He will discuss being the target of a multi-agency terrorism investigation, learning he was on a high-profile prisoners list, and navigating living a life branded as a terrorist in post-9/11 society.

Presentation-Lecture at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice on the top floor of New North (New North 408) at Georgetown University @ 6:00 PM

Thanks to co-sponsors: Lannan Center Readings, Georgetown University, the Justice and Peace Studies Department, and Lecture Fund for helping us make this happen!

Here’s the Facebook event page.

Do you want to bring Jake Conroy and I to your school? Here’s more information. Get in touch!

BREAKING: Undercover Investigator Charged With Animal Cruelty for Videotaping Farm Abuse

An undercover investigator for the animal protection nonprofit Compassion Over Killing is being charged with animal cruelty for filming animal abuse of newborn calves in Colorado.

Taylor Radig worked at Quanah Cattle Co. in Kersey, Colorado, and covertly filmed calves, some so young they still had umbilical cords attached, being kicked, thrown, and slammed onto trucks. Video footage was released by the group on November 13th, and on November 15th criminal charges were filed against three men shown abusing the animals.

At the time, Sherriff John Cooke said ”We still have work to do. We want to make sure we have identified all the suspects and all the parties to determine if we need to make other arrests.”

Today the Sherriff’s department announced additional charges were filed against the young woman who filmed the abuse and turned over the footage to the police. 

In a press release, the police admit as much: “The video footage was eventually provided to law enforcement by representatives of Compassion Over Killing approximately 2 months after Radig’s employment ended with Quanah Cattle Company… Radig’s failure to report the alleged abuse of the animals in a timely manner adheres to the definition of acting with negligence and substantiates the charge Animal Cruelty.” Radig is also accused of participating in the abuse.

Compassion Over Killing said in a statement that the prosecution is retaliatory: “The charge against our investigator is unsupported by the law and it reeks of political motivation fueled by an agribusiness industry that is once again lashing out in desperation to stop undercover investigators from exposing the truth.”

The prosecution of a whistleblower who exposed animal cruelty in this way is unprecedented.

However, the agriculture industry has been campaigning heavily for “ag-gag” laws that would make it illegal to photograph or videotape animal abuse on factory farms. In Utah, the first ag-gag prosecution was against a woman who filmed a slaughterhouse from the public street.

The latest versions of these bills require investigators to turn over video footage to law enforcement immediately, and some of them would prohibit investigators from speaking with the press.

These so-called “mandatory reporting” requirements — which are strikingly similar to what is at issue in this case — are intended to stop national animal welfare groups from documenting patterns of abuse. Such legislation was introduced in New Hampshire, Nebraska, Wyoming, Tennessee, California, and North Carolina this year — and failed in every state.

Colorado is not an “ag-gag” state, but this is clearly part of that trend, and could indicate ag-gag legislation about to be introduced in Colorado.

Prosecuting animal welfare advocates for exposing animal cruelty is clearly an attempt by Big Ag to send a chilling message to anyone who not only records abuse, but comes forward and turns over that footage to the police.

I’m a TED Fellow for 2014. Woo Hoo!

I’ve devoured TED talks for years, both because I find them individually fascinating and because, as a speaker, I’m constantly trying to improve my communication and refine my own style. What’s remarkable to me about TED is that experts present their work in brilliantly non-expert ways (and by that I mean “ways that everyone else outside their field can understand”). It’s exactly what I aspire to do with my journalism. So I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been accepted as a TED Fellow for 2014.

That means I’ll get to meet with an inspiring list of artists, journalists, scientists, and thinkers from around the world, and also the opportunity to share my own work. I can’t wait.

(In the meantime, here’s one of my favorite TED talks.)

 

New Merch!

Got some new merch in the mail and this is how it arrived. I’m amazed I didn’t come home to a SWAT Team. Ridiculous.

Inside is a new batch of “domestic terrorist” aprons. Folks keep requesting these, so I did another print run in time for the holidays. They’re $15. I just had to migrate to a new server because of increased traffic (good!) which means more expenses (bad!) so your purchase or donation is really appreciated. Thanks everyone!

You can buy them at the store or buy clicking below.