Email Student Animal Liberation Coalition for more info

We just received word Carrie Feldman has been moved again, this time to Dubuque County Jail. She is being held on 23-hour lockdown. Carrie is now in “segregation”, doublespeak for solitary confinement. This is a tactic used by desperate prosecutors to coerce compliance in prisoners, in this case Carrie’s testimony regarding what prosecutors believe she may know about the 2004 liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa.

Carrie is accused of nothing more than refusing to give testimony to a grand jury seeking to indict members of the Animal Liberation Front. You can write her at:

Carolyn Feldman

770 Iowa St.

Dubuque, IA 52001

Mailing regulations for this jail: letters and cards are okay, “nothing inappropriate,” no glitter. Photos are okay, including Polaroids. You cannot send stamps or envelopes; she has to buy them with commissary money. Commissary money can be sent to the jail in the form of money orders; make sure to note that the money is for her.

Books can come from publishers or bookstores. Hardbacks are okay. Magazines can come from publishers. Copied zines are not allowed (we know).

Carrie is in segregation at this jail for an unknown amount of time, on 23-hour lockdown, and she is no longer allowed visits from anyone other than immediate family. It is going to be especially important for people to write her now, as this may be her only contact with the majority of the outside world for a long time. Please write to Carrie and encourage others to do the same!

And as always, you can send e-letters to davenportgrandjury@riseup.net; we’ll print them out and send them along.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Panel on Science and Ethics of Animal Research

Green Is The New Red.com

Fifty years ago this month, four black students sat at a Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter and refused to move. The following day 25 students did the same. A few days later, more than 300 showed up. The sit-ins quickly spread across the South and were a critical component of the civil rights movement. Decades later, the same conduct by animal rights and environmental activists are “terrorism” under a bill introduced  in Washington State.

Senator Val Stevens has sponsored SB 6566, “an act prohibiting terrorist acts against animal and natural resource facilities.” The so-called “eco-terrorism” bill, like many others, ostensibly targets underground groups like the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. However, the bill is so broad that it explicitly targets non-violent civil disobedience and outlaws speaking out in support of “eco-terrorists.”

Here is the text of the bill. Among its provisions:

• Its sweeping definition of “eco-terrorist organization” could wrap up countless above-ground activists. It defines “animal rights or ecological terrorist organization” to mean “two or more persons with the primary or incidental purpose of intimidating, coercing, causing fear with the intent to obstruct, or impeding any person from participating in an activity involving animals” or natural resources. That last clause is the kicker. The bill’s definition of a terrorist organization includes any activist group that impedes business operations.
• Civil disobedience is “terrorism.” The bill explicitly mentions “Entering or remaining on the premises of an animal or horticultural facility if the person or organization” has “received notice to depart but failed to do so.”
• Speaking out in support of “eco-terrorists” is terrorism. The bill targets those who: “Participate in or support animal or ecological terrorism, including raising, soliciting, collecting, or providing any person with material, financial support, or other resources such as lodging, training, safe houses, false documentation, or identification, communications, equipment, or transportation that will be used in whole or in part to encourage, plan, prepare, carry out, publicize, promote, or aid an act of animal or ecological terrorism, the concealment of, or an escape from an act of animal or ecological terrorism.”

That final bullet point is the most dangerous section of the entire bill. It outlaws Continue Reading »

The Salt Lake Tribue

The Utah Department of Transportation and Morgan County have agreed to pay an animal rights group almost $40,000, settling the lawsuits the group filed last year to hold a protest against fur farms.

According to the settlement filed in federal court, UDOT has agreed to pay $19,750 to the Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement (SLAAM) and Morgan County will pay $20,000. The settlement will cover the group’s attorney fees and court costs.

SLAAM filed a court order in October 2009 seeking permission to hold a demonstration without having to take out a $1 million insurance policy or arrange security for the event.

The suit claimed two UDOT employees violated SLAAM’s rights to free speech and to peacefully assemble because they refused to issue a permit for the protest. The employees told the group they wouldn’t issue the permit unless the group took out the expensive liability policy and assured them the Utah Highway Patrol would provide security.

The event, called Fur Free Saturday, was eventually held Nov. 28 on State Road 66 in Morgan after the county backed down and allowed the group to assemble without paying for security.

Morgan County had originally told SLAAM members the county would require them to pay $425 for extra policing and permit fees or they must take out the insurance policy.

Attorney Brian Barnard, who represented SLAAM, said Wednesday that Morgan County has since amended ordinances restricting residential picketing and allowing the sheriff’s office to force demonstrators to pay for their own police protection.

“SLAAM accomplished what they wanted and has forced these government entities to review and change their positions and to acknowledge the importance of the First Amendment, especially for small fledgling groups,” Barnard said.

Marin, Ca

Marin Vegetarian Education Group Hosts:

Vegan Pot Luck Dinner and Legal Defense Fund Raiser for the AETA 4

Saturday, February 20

6 PM – Vegan Potluck

7 PM – Presentation and Screening of Dealing Dogs (documentary about animals in laboratories)

Sunrise Center

645 Tamalpais Ave., Corte Madera

Cost: $3 – $5 sliding scale

All proceeds go go the AETA 4 Defense Fund.

On Saturday, February 20 at 6 PM there will be a vegan pot luck dinner followed by a talk about the legal struggles of four animal rights activists, known as the AETA 4 – who were arrested for their alleged protests against animal laboratories. Read more at any of these web sites about this case and how the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act criminalizes behavior protected by the constitution.

We also will be screening Dealing Dogs. This HBO film exposes the abuses of a notorious Class B dog dealer. Each year, 42,000 dogs are sold to veterinary schools and research labs by Class B dealers, who are required by federal law to buy the animals from pounds, shelters and small breeders and to treat them humanely. However, many Class B dealers violate the law. The U.C. animal research departments have used these abusive dealers to supply their own abusive research practices. There is some graphic content in the film about animals used in laboratories, so anyone who wishes to leave after dinner should feel free to do so.

Hope to see you there. And please invite anyone you know who cares deeply about dogs or justice.

If you can’t make it, considering making a donation via mail. Thank you!

The AETA Defense Fund

PO Box 99162

Emeryville, CA 94662

www.aeta4.org

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Portland, OR

6:00pm

Red and Black Cafe

400 SE 12th Ave.

“One struggle, one fight – it’s a concept that can elude many people. Please join this panel of speakers as they talk about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, the Green Scare, COINTELPRO, and how they relate to each other.

Speakers: Lauren Regan (Civil Liberties Defense Center), Nadia Winstead (grand jury resistor), Claude Marks (Freedom Archives, former political prisoner), Jeff Luers (former political prisoner, environmental activist).

Music: Mike XVX, Camping Party, the Dapper Cadavers, and more.

All money raised goes to the AETA4 Legal Defense Fund. In addition, this event will hopefully plant the seed of solidarity and cross-​pollination between movements.”

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Richmond, VA

Spaghetti for the AETA 4!!!

Eat Spaghetti and Offer Solidarity- Legal Support Fundraiser!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: The Wingnut

Come the The Wingnut on Saturday February 20th a 6pm to eat some awesome vegan spaghetti dinner and donate money to the legal defense fund for the AETA 4, who were arrested last year at this time. Please bring some money to donate to the AETA 4 legal defense fund, and then enjoy a delicious dinner with friends and new friends. Maybe musical entertainment too? (contact me musicians!)

http:​/​/​cldc.​org

http:​/​/​freedomarchives​.​org

http:​/​/​aeta4.​org

Piece on antibiotic’s used in animals on factory farms on CBS

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Teaser for upcoming veganTHIS shirt. Any guesses?