Month: March 2004

Ann Arbor Anti-War Protests

I spent Saturday photographing and videotaping an anti-war protest in downtown Ann Arbor this weekend that marked the first anniversary of the U.S. invasion last year. I’ve got hundreds of pictures and quite a bit of video to go through, so I’ll be posting images and video from the protest all week (including the closest thing to a music video this site is ever going to host).

There were somewhere between 1,000-3,000 people who showed up. The protest was sponsored by Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace, U-M Anti-War Action, and Veterans for Peace. Police had to shut down quite a bit of downtown Ann Arbor for about an hour until the protest wound its way to the campus of the University of Michigan. But pretty much the defining image of the protest occurred at the very beginning which I captured on video on my digital camera.

A gentleman with one of the three groups sponsoring the protest got hold of a bullhorn and gave a mini-speech about the horrors inflicted on the world by the United States. Specifically, he said that people in the crowd neeeded to work to stop the United States from continuing to oppressively threaten countries such as North Korea and Syria.

1.5 megabyte AVI can be seen here or 600K MP3 can be heard here.

How Many Deaths In Iraq?

The local anti-war group, Kalamazoo Non-Violent Opponents to War, held a protest on Saturday, March 13 to call attention to the number of people killed in the year since the U.S. invasion of Iraq began. They created life-size silhouettes to represent the dead,

In the middle of the parade of silhouettes was a banner asking this question,

Being the helpful sort, let me see if I can take a stab at answering that question.

As Deroy Murdock noted in National Review, there is some disagreement over just how many people Saddam Hussein’s regime murdered in order to maintain his dictatorial rule,

Assessments of the devastation vary. Last May, Human Rights Watch concluded that “as many as 290,000 Iraqis have been ‘disappeared’ by the Iraqi government over the past two decades.” Last November 20, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “We’ve already discovered just so far the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves.” This scale of destruction rivals 1994’s Rwandan genocide.

In the year since the United States invaded and removed Saddam Hussein, those on the Left claim that anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 civilians have been killed as a result (those figures, by the way, apparently include the civilian victims of terrorism in post-occupation Iraq).

So how many deaths in Iraq? Well, from March 2003-2004 about half as many were apparently killed in the effort to rid the world of Saddam Hussein as Hussein himself murdered every year, on average, for 20 years using the Human Rights Watch estimate.

Europe Has Head Up Its Ass

I had to laugh out loud today when reading that EU ministers had condemned Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin as “unacceptable.” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said,

[Israel has a right to defend itself] But it is not entitled going for this kind of unlawful killing and we therefore condemn it. It is unacceptable. It is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its objective. A measurable restraint is required and I don’t believe Israel will benefit from the fact that this morning an elderly man in a wheelchair has been the target of assassination.

“Leaders” throughout Germany echoed that sentiment, with some of them apparently afraid that Israel’s killing of a Hamas terrorist might lead to Madrid-style terrorist attacks in Europe.

Yassin, of course, is believed by Israel to have personally approved a number of the worst terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas, including the attack on a discotechque in 2001 that killed 21 people. Despite his being confined to a wheelchair, Yassin has never failed to extol the virtues of Hamas terrorism.

Apparently the European view is that Jews in Israel should follow the same old script — sit around waiting to be murdered by terrorists and other extremists.

Source:

Europe condemns Israeli killing of Hamas leader. Middle East Online, March 22, 2004.

How Stupid Does Kim McCoy Think People Are?

Kim McCoy, one of the animal rights activists who is part of Paul Watson’s plan to seize control of the Sierra Club board of directors, has posted the following statement about her candidacy on her web site (emphasis added),

Animal Rights and Human Population

An additional misconception that I would like to clear up is that there is no alliance between animal rights people and “anti-immigration” people. Honestly, the two movements could not be more separate, and these allegations are nothing more than an attempt to distract from the real issues and power struggles at hand in this election.

In recent weeks, I have heard animal rights activists being falsely labeled as “anti-human.” This is simply not true. The animal rights movement is a movement of compassion for all species. Certainly this would include humans as well as non-humans, and for this reason, I (and many animal rights activists) fully support and champion the promotion of human rights. However, the fact remains that human population is the single largest threat to life on earth, and if nothing is done to slow or reverse the growth of human population, it is inevitable that all species will suffer, including both humans and non-human species. A wise friend recently said to me, “One of the most wonderful things about promoting vegetarianism is that we can claim with all honesty that what is best for us is also best for the animals and the environment.” I could not agree with this statement more, and I will add that, from my perspective (looking at the big picture), this is fundamentally true of the human population issue as well.

There is a lot at stake here, and our planet and its inhabitants need forward-thinking advocates who will speak on their behalf, even in the face of controversy and unpleasant accusations. My hope is that the goodhearted, gentle souls who fight against injustices in this broken world will turn inwards and really think about this issue; think about the repercussions of failing to address human population growth; think about the kind of planet they would like to see for their children and grandchildren, and for the offspring of countless other species of plants and animals. Addressing human population growth from a purely ecological perspective is entirely consistent with the protection of human and non-human rights and does not damage either movement, but failing to do so will.

Watson’s alliance with immigration foes has caused some consternation and criticism among liberal-leaning activists, so McCoy’s effort to say that there simply is no such alliance is understandable. But she might have clued in Paul Watson, since the Sea Shepherd site endorsed all three of the leading anti-immigration candidates for the Sierra Club board in a February press release,

The Sea Shepherd Endorsement for Sierra Club Directors

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is endorsing the following distinguished candidates for the 2004 election to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club.

We urge our supporters who are members of the Sierra Club to look for your ballots in March 2004 and to consider voting for the candidates listed below.

. . .

Governor Richard Lamm

Why: Because as a three time elected Democratic Governor of Colorado with an excellent environmental record, Dick Lamm will be a strong and distinguished voice on the Board. Governor Lamm has been a long time supporter of the Sierra Club.

Frank L. Morris

Why: Because as a retired State Department foreign service officer and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation he brings both a knowledge of international affairs and minority concerns to the Sierra Club Board. His ballot statement talks about helping the Club with one of its longstanding internal challenges, diversifying its membership base. “I seek a leadership position in our Club because I deeply share our core values of protecting the planet,” he wrote. “I will effectively represent us in settings not always open to our message-in minority and disadvantaged communities, in Congress, and in leading the defeat of President Bush.”

Dr. David Pimentel

Why: Because Cornell University entomologist Prof. David Pimental is a respected ecologist and expert on the impact of human population growth on eco-systems. The Sierra Club needs the expertise of Dr. Pimentel.

Lamm, by the way, shares some of the animal rights animosity toward medical technology and research. As he put it in an infamous 1984 speech, “We’ve got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society — our kids — build a reasonable life.”

Sources:

Personal statement from Kim McCoy. Kim McCoy, Undated.

The Sea Shepherd Endorsement for Sierra Club Directors. Press Release, Sea Shepherd, February 12, 2004.

Animal Rights Militia Threatens "Violent Retribution" Against HLS Employees, Customers

In late December 2003 the Animal Rights Militia claimed that it had sent threatening letters to Huntingdon Life Sciences employees as well as employees of a number of companies that are customers of HLS or have some other sort of economic relationship with the firm.

Here is the Animal Rights Militia’s claim in its entirety,

The Animal Rights Militia in the UK has mailed out to 200 HLS workers, HLS supplier company directors, staff of HLS japanese customer Yamanouchi and every Daiichi worker in the UK threatening violent retribution if they do not sever their links with HLS by the end of the year 2003.

In addition we have written to all the directors of the letting agents for Daiichi’s UK sales office, Nelson-Bakewell and the landlords Royal London Asset Management, and also to Yamanouchi’s landlords Emerson and the letting agents Orbit in the UK giving them until the end of the year 2003 to evict Daiichi from their UK sales office and Yamanouchi from their new European headquarters in Surrey or face the consequences of harboring the animal killers.

For the animals dying in their cages killed by the monsters we will use all means at our disposal to finish off HLS. We mean business, we are deadly serious, we are fighting for victory and fighting for the innocent and nothing will stop us. We urge activists worldwide to go to war on HLS and finish them off for good.

For the animals always, onwards to victory, ARM

I think they forgot to threaten the brother of the janitor who works across the street from someone who dated an HLS employee 10 years ago.

Source:

Animal Rights Militia Communication. DirectAction.Info, December 23, 2003.

British Activists Receive Jail Time for Harassing Phone Calls

In February, British animal rights activists Paul Holiday and Paul Leboutillier were sentenced to jail for making thousands of harassing phone calls to a variety of companies and individuals, including to the homes and workplace of Covance and Huntingdon Life Sciences employees.

Holiday was sentenced to 18 months and Leboutillier to 5 years.

Source:

2 activists sent to prison. Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network, February 26, 2004.