“Eco-terrorism”

Amy Meyer was the first person to be prosecuted under an “ag-gag” law. She was arrested for filming a sick cow being pushed by a bulldozer outside of a slaughterhouse; she was filming on public property. Just 24 hours after Will Potter broke story, and it was picked up by dozens of media outlets, prosecutors agreed to drop all charges.

When examined side-by-side with FBI reports on domestic terrorism, the data from a new West Point study shows that the FBI has been either grossly miscalculating, or intentionally downplaying, murders and violent attacks by right-wing extremists while exaggerating the threat posed by animal rights activists and environmentalists, who have only destroyed property.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has kept files on activists who expose animal welfare abuses on factory farms and recommended prosecuting them as terrorists, according to a new document uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act.

There has been no official word from the Bureau of Prisons about his re-incarceration, and attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights are working on this now. But the drastic move comes just days after McGowan wrote about his experiences in a secretive prison unit for domestic terrorists called a Communications Management Unit, and it fits an on-going pattern of behavior by the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons attempting to keep this prisons out of the public spotlight.

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act was created by industry groups representing animal agriculture, working with other corporations and bipartisan members of Congress. The law broadly targets the “loss of profits” of animal enterprises, which is written so broadly as to include non-violent civil disobedience. Will Potter created a step-by-step, conversational discussion of the bill that was an indispensable resource for activists, journalists, and NGOs. He was invited to address the U.S. Congress as the only witness opposing this dangerous legislation targeting activists and whistleblowers.