USA/AETA: Eat your steak and stop asking questions!

Whistleblowers - an endangered species?

7 March 2011

After undercover footage about the horrific treatment of animals made a dent in meat consumption, efforts are now underway to protect the image of the meat industry from further damage by ... legally muzzling whistleblowers.

So activists wanting to expose the dark secrets of farms and abattoirs will have to take greater risks in future, especially in Iowa, where farm interests are enjoying very high priority. Just recently a bill* seeking to create criminal and civil penalties for activists has been approved by legislative panels in the House and Senate.

Remarkably for some politicians in THE nation of freedom of speech such legal restrictions to information don't even go far enough because they also want to restrain reports about county fairs and rodeos.

"Buy and shut up" - will such a strategy really work? Or will it bring the final push for many to join the fast growing march of veggies?

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* Note: The legislative process in the US is complicated but typically it goes something like this:

1) A bill is introduced into both chambers of the legislature.

2) In each chamber, the bill is referred to a committee for consideration.

3)The committee can do one of three things:
a) refer the bill to the full chamber (a process known as "sending the bill to the floor,") with a recommendation that the full chamber either pass it or defeat it;
b) vote not to send the bill to the floor at all; or
c) simply sit on it and do nothing.
In the latter two cases, the bill is usually dead. It would take an absolute revolt by a majority of the chamber to bring it to the floor. This does happen, but it's rare.

4) The full chamber debates the bill, considers amendments (the bill can also be amended in committee), and either passes or defeats it.

5) If the two chambers pass two different versions of the bill (no matter how slight the differences), a joint Senate-House committee has to come up with a single version, which must then be approved by both chambers. (This process is known as "reconciliation.")

6) If the bill passes, it goes to the governor for signature. If the governor signs it, it becomes law in that state. If the governor vetoes
it, the veto can be overridden by a 2/3 vote of both chambers.

7) If the bill does not pass, or a veto is not overridden, the bill is dead until the next year, when it can be re-introduced if anyone wants to try again.

Source: Bill targets efforts to disparage agriculture’s image (Iowa)*
Author: EVANA

Link: Analysis of Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (Federal)
Link: Dara Lovitz: Muzzling a Movement: The Effects of Anti-Terrorism Law, Money, and Politics on Animal Activism
Link: HSUS - Oppose the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA)
Link: Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Congress' Lone Voice against the AETA
Link: The Equal Justice Alliance is a coalition ... to defend freedom of speech and assembly by defeating AETA


Other EVANA-articles about this topic:
USA: Bill attempts to censor animal cruelty (en)

USA: Activists Challenge Animal Rights Terrorism Law as a Violation of Free Speech (en)

USA: Florida law would make it a felony to photograph factory farms and puppy mills, (en)

USA: Eggs-tremely Disgusting: Inspectors Uncover Factory Farm Filth in Iowa (en)

USA: The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (en)