The National Weekend of Action Against the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) entails talks, workshops, film viewings, protests, etc. to educate the public about federal laws that specifically target animal advocates whose work attempts to stop a person or company from profiting from the use of nonhuman animals (which could include nearly all types of non-reformist activism, from protests to liberatory actions).
In effect, AETA labels activists as terrorists, a chilling reality that every activist of every cause should care about because this is a civil liberties and rights issue. AETA has been covered by almost every major paper in the US and is one of the most unconstitutional laws since COINTELPRO – a program established in the 1950s by the FBI that targeted the civil rights, anti-war, and Native American movements.
To understand more about the targeting of activists and the AETA, read Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? (2004), Igniting a Revolution (2006), Muzzling a Movement (2010),Green is the New Red (2011), and The Terrorization of Dissent (2014).
This event is in collaboration with the launch of “Terrorization of Dissent” (2014), which will develop into a campaign with regular national days of action.
For more information, including a list of events around the country and contact info for the organizers, see the Facebook event page.