The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest
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0:01 - 0:03It was less than a year after September 11,
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0:03 - 0:05and I was at the Chicago Tribune
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0:05 - 0:07writing about shootings and murders,
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0:07 - 0:08and it was leaving me feeling
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0:08 - 0:10pretty dark and depressed.
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0:10 - 0:11I had done some activism in college,
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0:11 - 0:13so I decided to help a local group
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0:13 - 0:16hang door knockers against animal testing.
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0:16 - 0:17I thought it would be a safe way
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0:17 - 0:19to do something positive,
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0:19 - 0:22but of course I have the absolute worst luck ever,
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0:22 - 0:24and we were all arrested.
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0:24 - 0:26Police took this blurry photo of me
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0:26 - 0:30holding leaflets as evidence.
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0:30 - 0:31My charges were dismissed,
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0:31 - 0:33but a few weeks later,
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0:33 - 0:35two FBI agents knocked on my door,
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0:35 - 0:36and they told me that unless I helped them
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0:36 - 0:38by spying on protest groups,
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0:38 - 0:42they would put me on a domestic terrorist list.
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0:42 - 0:44I'd love to tell you that I didn't flinch,
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0:44 - 0:46but I was terrified,
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0:46 - 0:48and when my fear subsided,
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0:48 - 0:50I became obsessed with finding out
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0:50 - 0:51how this happened,
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0:51 - 0:53how animal rights and environmental activists
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0:53 - 0:56who have never injured anyone
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0:56 - 0:58could become the FBI's number one
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0:58 - 1:01domestic terrorism threat.
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1:01 - 1:03A few years later, I was invited to testify
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1:03 - 1:05before Congress about my reporting,
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1:05 - 1:07and I told lawmakers that, while everybody
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1:07 - 1:08is talking about going green,
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1:08 - 1:10some people are risking their lives
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1:10 - 1:13to defend forests and to stop oil pipelines.
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1:13 - 1:15They're physically putting their bodies on the line
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1:15 - 1:19between the whalers' harpoons and the whales.
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1:19 - 1:20These are everyday people,
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1:20 - 1:23like these protesters in Italy
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1:23 - 1:25who spontaneously climbed over
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1:25 - 1:27barbed wire fences to rescue beagles
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1:27 - 1:29from animal testing.
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1:29 - 1:32And these movements have been incredibly effective
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1:32 - 1:34and popular,
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1:34 - 1:38so in 1985, their opponents made up a new word,
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1:38 - 1:39eco-terrorist,
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1:39 - 1:41to shift how we view them.
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1:41 - 1:43They just made it up.
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1:43 - 1:46Now these companies have backed new laws
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1:46 - 1:48like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act,
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1:48 - 1:51which turns activism into terrorism
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1:51 - 1:53if it causes a loss of profits.
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1:53 - 1:56Now most people never even heard about this law,
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1:56 - 1:58including members of Congress.
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1:58 - 2:00Less than one percent were in the room
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2:00 - 2:03when it passed the House.
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2:03 - 2:06The rest were outside at a new memorial.
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2:06 - 2:07They were praising Dr. King
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2:07 - 2:11as his style of activism was branded as terrorism
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2:11 - 2:14if done in the name of animals or the environment.
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2:14 - 2:16Supporters say laws like this are needed
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2:16 - 2:18for the extremists:
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2:18 - 2:21the vandals, the arsonists, the radicals.
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2:21 - 2:23But right now, companies like TransCanada
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2:23 - 2:27are briefing police in presentations like this one
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2:27 - 2:29about how to prosecute nonviolent protesters
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2:29 - 2:32as terrorists.
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2:32 - 2:35The FBI's training documents on eco-terrorism
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2:35 - 2:37are not about violence,
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2:37 - 2:39they're about public relations.
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2:39 - 2:41Today, in multiple countries,
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2:41 - 2:43corporations are pushing new laws
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2:43 - 2:45that make it illegal to photograph
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2:45 - 2:48animal cruelty on their farms.
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2:48 - 2:50The latest was in Idaho just two weeks ago,
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2:50 - 2:52and today we released a lawsuit
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2:52 - 2:54challenging it as unconstitutional
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2:54 - 2:57as a threat to journalism.
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2:57 - 2:59The first of these ag-gag prosecutions,
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2:59 - 3:00as they're called,
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3:00 - 3:02was a young woman named Amy Meyer,
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3:02 - 3:04and Amy saw a sick cow being moved
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3:04 - 3:06by a bulldozer outside of a slaughterhouse
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3:06 - 3:09as she was on the public street.
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3:09 - 3:11And Amy did what any of us would:
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3:11 - 3:13She filmed it.
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3:13 - 3:16When I found out about her story, I wrote about it,
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3:16 - 3:18and within 24 hours, it created such an uproar
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3:18 - 3:22that the prosecutors just dropped all the charges.
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3:22 - 3:24But apparently, even exposing stuff like that
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3:24 - 3:26is a threat.
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3:26 - 3:27Through the Freedom of Information Act,
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3:27 - 3:29I learned that the counter-terrorism unit
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3:29 - 3:31has been monitoring my articles
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3:31 - 3:33and speeches like this one.
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3:33 - 3:36They even included this nice
little write-up of my book. -
3:36 - 3:39They described it as "compelling and well-written."
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3:39 - 3:44(Applause)
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3:44 - 3:47Blurb on the next book, right?
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3:47 - 3:50The point of all of this is to make us afraid,
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3:50 - 3:52but as a journalist, I have an unwavering faith
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3:52 - 3:54in the power of education.
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3:54 - 3:58Our best weapon is sunlight.
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3:58 - 4:00Dostoevsky wrote that the whole work of man
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4:00 - 4:03is to prove he's a man and not a piano key.
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4:03 - 4:04Over and over throughout history,
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4:04 - 4:06people in power have used fear
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4:06 - 4:10to silence the truth and to silence dissent.
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4:10 - 4:12It's time we strike a new note.
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4:12 - 4:14Thank you.
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4:14 - 4:16(Applause)
- Title:
- The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest
- Speaker:
- Will Potter
- Description:
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In 2002, investigative journalist and TED Fellow Will Potter decided to take a break from his regular beat, writing about shootings and murders for the Chicago Tribune. He went to help a local group campaigning against animal testing: "I thought it would be a safe way to do something positive," he says. Instead, he was arrested, and so began his ongoing journey into a world in which peaceful protest is branded as terrorism.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 04:33
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The shocking move to criminalize nonviolent protest |