Animal Rights & Liberation

“Little Guantanamo” Exposing the CMU by Daniel McGowan, Spring 2009

On Wednesday, April 22, the Woodbury city council is expected to vote, and
pass, an ordinance banning residential picketing in the city of Woodbury.

This ordinance is being proposed in response to a half dozen pickets that
happened at the homes of 3M executives this past summer because of 3M's
connection to an animal testing company called Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The police themselves have stated that no laws were broken, the protesters
were peaceful, and the protesters even cooperated with the police when
asked to leave.

Messed up news as another political prisoner drifts through the modern American gulag archipelago. Hits BoingBoing @ least, & our friend Will Potter breaks out the case... This appears to be mainly about the government's interest in information warfare -- IE blacking out supporters' connection to the defendant. Judge & hierarchy unhappy McGowan has a website, oh noes! ...

Why is PETA suing animal rights organizations?

Predictably, the article below shows how little corporate media and police understand decentralization, and doesn't include a single quote from activists.

Woodbury may ban protests in residential areas after 3M execs' homes targeted by animal-rights group
Proposal follows group's picketing at 3M execs' houses
By Bob Shaw
bshaw@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 02/19/2009 11:43:29 PM CST

Animals have rights, but so do homeowners.

An aggressive protest tactic — picketing at people's homes — is getting a thumbs-down from Woodbury officials.

About 90 people came to Cowles Auditorium on the University of Minnesota's West Bank last Thursday to hear journalist and activist Will Potter speak about the "Green Scare" and the use of terrorism laws to silence political activists. Potter is an independent journalist who authors GreenIsTheNewRed.com and earlier in the day spoke at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

Potter was introduced by Dallas Rising of the Animal Rights Coalition, who told of how her organization was targeted in a terrorism investigation last year by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. The organization only found out about the investigation after being contacted by a Pioneer Press reporter, she said, and the "investigation" as she knew it mostly consisted of pages from the ARC website, including a nonviolence pledge and articles about animal abuse. The targeting of such groups shows that state and corporate interests "are trying to destroy the entire animal rights and environmental movement," not just underground groups, said Potter.

Related Video: Will Potter on the Green Scare and RNC 8

Did you know one of Huntingdon Life Sciences' largest investors is in your town?

www.peregrinecapital.com

The Ramsey County sheriff's office revealed Tuesday that it has "researched" 13 "terroristic organizations," including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Minneapolis-based Animal Rights Coalition.

ARC President Charlotte Cozzetto called the news, revealed in a budget report to county commissioners, "silly," since the two-decade-old nonprofit "condemns violence against animals, including humans."