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Eco-Terrorism Bill in Pennsylvania State House
The State Senate recently passed the eco-terrorism (harassment) bill. It will now be taken up by the State House. For those who value liberty and justice in Pennsylvania, this is not good news.
Contact your State Representative and let him/her know that
you are opposed to the legislation. Get friends, neighbors, and other
folks to let their House member know of their opposition to the bill.
An easy way to contact House members is through the website of Citizens
for Pennsylvania's Future at http://www.pennfuture.org.
Call,
email, and fax your state representative in both his or her Harrisburg
office and district office and ask them to vote against the eco-harassment
bill. Explain
that: The
Sierra Club does not engage in or support acts of violence or destruction
of property. We decry these actions whether they are done in the name
of the environment or any other cause. There are already laws on the
books against violence and property destruction. But we do recognize
that peaceful protest has a long history in the United States and
is protected as freedom of speech.
Sen. Scarnati said recently, "It is clearly time that preservationists reflect on the devastation they may cause a person or business with their dangerous protests. This is a win for the industries. It puts us in the offensive and sets the agenda."
It is ironic that Sen. Scarnati feels that peaceful protests or demonstrations are "dangerous" while letting corporations set the agenda for our state is not. The Senator's extremism underscores his allegiance to corporations rather than the citizens of the Commonwealth.
Governor Jim Hodges of South Carolina has vowed to prevent the shipment of plutonium into South Carolina from Colorado. He even said he would lie down on the road himself to prevent the shipment. Under Sen. Scarnatišs bill, Governor Hodges would be an "eco-terrorist" and held fiscally responsible for threatening the poor nuclear power industry. Which is more dangerous a shipment of plutonium or a man lying down in the middle of the road to prevent its delivery?
The point is, in America we should not be willing to compromise the right to express our viewpoints. The freedom to voice opposition to policies in our country, whether it be concerning the environment, civil rights, or the war on terror, is what defines our system of governance.
Another result of this bill, unintended or not, could be the ability of industries to call anything terrorism or harassment. Legally protected boycotts or strikes that address an industry's unjust treatment of workers could be construed to meet Sen. Scarnati's low threshold for democratic principles.
Sen. Scarnati should be reminded that it was our nation's founders' intention for citizens to set the agenda, not politicians and the corporations that finance their campaigns. Prior to a Supreme Court decision in 1886 that defined corporations as "persons", corporations could have their charter revoked by "We the People". Again, under Sen. Scarnati's bill, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison could be defined as terrorists.
Denying or placing impediments to citizens that engage in acts of civil disobedience to convey their message to the public is wholly un-American and an assault on the preservation of our democracy.
Should civil rights or Vietnam activists from the sixties be called terrorists for any loss of business that might have occurred as a result of those protests? Of course not! If one thinks they should be, then we might still be fighting that war and drinking from separate water fountains. Unfortunately, it appears that our State Senate might not have a problem with that.
Click here to read article in Bradford
Era newspaper
Click here to read the full text of the bill.
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