Harassment: http://tap.epn.org/westernstates/hndbook.html
peace through reason (prop1@prop1.org)
Sun, 12 Jul 1998 17:29:47 -0400
FWD: COUNTERING THE THREAT,
A Handbook for Environmental Activists
A joint project of the Western States Center=20
and the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious
Harassment.
http://tap.epn.org/westernstates/hndbook.html
This handbook is intended to provide basic information for
environmental activists to counter the threats and intimidation
that they often face. Activists are encouraged to contact the
resource references for further assistance as needed.
Additional copies of this handbook are available from the
Western States Center or the Northwest Coalition.
The Western States Center is a non-partisan research and
educational institute based in Portland, Oregon, that monitors
key issues and trends in eight Western states: Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The Center has studied the anti-environmental lobby as a
social and political force since 1992.
The Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment is a
coalition of organizations formed in 1987 to address the
issues of bigotry and extremism in Colorado, Idaho, Montana,
Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.
INTIMIDATION: A SERIOUS PROBLEM
Intimidation of activists is an ongoing problem. Attacks on
environmental advocates have come in many forms ranging
from violent assaults and arson to threats, telephone
harassment, and name-calling. Whatever form it takes,
harassment is intended to make you hesitate before taking a
public stand, compromise your principles, or quit your
activism altogether.
This booklet presents positive ways to deal with and
overcome harassment, including what to do when you are a
target of harassment, how to increase your personal and
organizational safety, legal recourse available, who is doing the
harassing, and how to build an effective community response
to harassment. The Western States Center, in coordination
with religious, civil rights, and environmental organizations,
has established a program to counteract harassment. The
telephone number to report an incident and request additional
information is 503-228-8859.
Harassment may feel very personal, but it is really a political
act committed by your opponents in order to silence and
intimidate community activists like yourself and your allies.
You should not feel guilty or ashamed if you are harassed;
instead, talk about it with your friends and colleagues and seek
their support. When a community hides in the face of
harassment, it gives in to political bullies and leaves its
members unprotected. While we might wish harassment
would simply go away, the best way to stop it is to organize
against it.
HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION
What are harassment and intimidation?
The following are real examples of harassment and
intimidation:
A man who was critical of clear-cut logging in his town
received a death threat on the phone the day his letter to
the editor was published.=20
A woman was threatened by a man with a hangman=92s
noose after she testified at a public meeting on local
environmental laws.=20
A Native American activist reported a series of obscene
phone calls and hang-up calls after he was quoted in the
paper on the environment.=20
A woman had pictures of her home with her address and
phone number listed on them posted around town,
encouraging people who opposed her stance on
environmental issues to =93visit=94 her and her family.=20
An environmentalist had the brakes on her car
=93sabotaged.=94 No one was hurt, although the brakes went
out while her daughter was driving on the freeway.=20
Women and men have been threatened with job loss or
refused jobs because of their advocacy of clean air and
water in their communities.
What to do when you are the target of harassment:
Harassment is often an act of desperation and may
indicate that you are being effective. There are many
positive ways to respond to this kind of intimidation.=20
Take steps to protect yourself and family. Report
incidents to the police or county sheriff, and find out
your case number for future reference.=20
Document harassment through video or audio
recordings, photographs, or a written account.
Establishing a =93paper trail=94 will be helpful with law
enforcement or the press.=20
Talk about the incident within your organization and seek
its support; it is an organization=92s responsibility to take
care of its members.=20
Contact other organizations who are allies in your
community to develop a constructive public response
such as a signature ad in the local paper, a public rally,
or a meeting with law enforcement and elected officials.=20
Contact the Western States Center at 503-228-8859 and
report the incident.=20
Urge local elected officials, clergy, and law enforcement
to publicly condemn all forms of political intimidation
and harassment.
Ways to protect yourself:
If threatened in a public place, collect names, phone
numbers, or license plate numbers of witnesses the
police can contact for testimony.=20
If you receive a threatening call on your answering
machine, immediately remove the tape and save it. Put a
notepad by the telephone and keep a log of harassing or
threatening calls. Many locations now have caller ID
services available. Contact the telephone company
regarding features such as *69 (last-call return) or *57
(call trace).=20
If you receive a threatening letter, handle it as little as
possible. Put the envelope and each page of the letter in
separate see-through plastic bags. Make copies of the
letter and ask the police to check the original for
fingerprints. If the letter was delivered by U.S. Mail, you
may also want to report the incident to your Postmaster.=20
Don=92t waste your time worrying about phone taps, or
imagining that strange clicks or hums or other noises
indicate a tap. Many taps are virtually impossible to
detect.=20
Don=92t include your address in your telephone directory
listing. Consider getting an unlisted personal number.
Ways to protect your organization:
Don=92t throw internal memos, membership lists, or
sensitive information about your organization=92s finances
into the trash. Shred or burn confidential information.
Get locking filing cabinets for your office.=20
If someone that you do not know calls asking for a lot of
information about your work or organization, take their
name and number and ask to call them back. Check the
phone book to see if the number is legitimate. Do the
same if an unknown person calls claiming to be a
reporter.=20
Check with knowledgeable people in your area about
alarm systems, outdoor lighting, surveillance cameras,
locks on doors and windows, and other security
measures to protect against break-in.=20
Lock computers to desks and store back-up computer
files in a safe place out of the office such as a safety
deposit box, or with another member of your
organization. Make sure computers have anti-virus
software.=20
Collect reliable information about the extremist groups
that are operating in your area. Be prepared, not
paranoid.
(Information on personal and organizational security provided
in part by Sheila O=92Donnell, Ace Investigations, P.O. Box
1633, Pacifica, CA 94044.)
LEGAL RECOURSE
Sometimes harassment is a crime. When a crime has been
committed, law enforcement is required to step in and
investigate the incident. When the perpetrator is caught, it will
expose the motive for the harassment, and send a message to
others that harassment will not be tolerated.
Examples of criminal acts committed against activists:
A woman who was repeatedly threatened over the
telephone recorded the calls, had the perpetrator
charged, and successfully prosecuted for a misdemeanor
crime of telephone harassment.=20
Two men were charged with assault because they
attacked an activist at home after his organization had
protested logging operations near their town.=20
A man was charged and prosecuted for trespassing
when he damaged buildings and property on private land
where an environmental conference was convened.
Investigate the laws in your state regarding telephone
harassment, criminal trespassing, assault, criminal mischief,
battery, and menacing. The law library located at the county
court house is open to the public and a clerk may be able to
help you to understand the definitions of legal terms and
criminal acts.
Know your rights!
If you have been harassed, contact city police or the county
sheriff and explain the situation. The county or city attorney
will be able to explain if the act is criminal. Knowledge of
applicable laws in your state may help persuade law
enforcement to pursue your case. In cases where you believe
local law enforcement is not taking a prosecutable case
seriously, contact state police, the State Attorney General, or
your local representatives. Remember, an organized response
is more powerful than acting alone! Work with your allies to
urge law enforcement to investigate.
Where can you find a lawyer?
Some lawyers will take your case on a contingency basis if
you decide to sue a suspected harasser in civil court. Contact
the Bar Association or the National Lawyers Guild office in
your state and explain your case to them. They may be able to
refer you to a lawyer.
WHO IS DOING THE HARASSING?
Some harassment comes from individuals affiliated with
extremist organizations. The following are cases of
harassment committed by members of militias and =93wise use=94
organizations:
A man collecting signatures for a ballot initiative was
threatened with =93tar and feathers=94 by the local militia
leader.=20
An armed militia member marched back and forth in
front of an environmental activist=92s home.=20
Christian Patriots left anti-Semitic and threatening
messages on an environmentalist=92s answering machine.=20
Extreme =93property rights=94 proponents warned an
environmentalist that if he came to a public meeting
again, he should =93wear a bullet-proof vest.=94=20
A leading member of a =93wise use=94 organization was
convicted of telephone harassment for threatening a
woman and her family.
Many right-wing extremists believe the U.S. Government and
the United Nations are part of a global conspiracy to destroy
American democracy. They believe that environmentalists are
partners in this conspiracy and therefore target them for
harassment. Militias and Christian Patriots have been able to
stir up additional anger against environmentalists by blaming
them for job loss in rural communities.
Christian Patriots are extremists often associated with white
supremacists who want to form a white, Christian nation
based on selective and erroneous interpretations of the Bible
and the U.S. Constitution. Militias are the paramilitary arm of
the Christian Patriot movement. =93Wise Use=94 is a network of
anti-environmental and =93property rights=94 groups with ties to
extremists, and strong backing from resource and
development industries (such as mining, timber, and real
estate).
BUILDING SUPPORT AND COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
Harassment succeeds when it goes unchecked and those
targeted decide to stop their work. Here are steps you can
take to build a strong community response and protect
community members:
Get the facts about incidents of harassment in your area.
Discuss the harassment openly within your organization,
and seriously address people=92s fears and concerns.=20
Respect the wishes of those who have been harassed,
and work with them to develop responses.=20
Create a strategy for working with the media. Submit
opinion pieces and letters to the editor denouncing
harassment as an attempt to silence people and damage
our democratic process. Consider running a signature ad
in your local paper where all the signatories publicly
support democracy. If the paper is not covering
incidents of harassment, identify a sympathetic reporter
and pitch your story to her or him. You might also want
to set up a meeting with your local editorial board.=20
Meet with law enforcement. If a crime has been
committed, make sure they are investigating and ask
them to increase patrols around homes of people
targeted or threatened.=20
Your organization can take the moral high ground and
appeal to the community=92s sense of fairness and the
freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Organize a
public rally with diverse participation that supports free
speech and public safety. Gather representatives from
clergy, civic organizations such as the League of Woman
Voters, the business community, political parties, labor
unions, health professionals, and others to publicly
denounce the harassment. Call upon all groups and
individuals to uphold civility and the principles of
democracy. Some of these groups may not necessarily
support your views on the environment. They just need
to support the idea that your organization has the right to
speak out without being threatened, attacked, or
otherwise harassed.=20
In sensitive cases where a target of harassment does not
want publicity due to fear of reprisal, groups can still
work quietly with law enforcement and local officials to
make sure the case is thoroughly investigated and, if
warranted, prosecuted.=20
Support the democratic process; we all have the right to
free speech and assembly.
When you organize in the community you may also make new
contacts who will become long-term allies. For example, an
environmental group that worked on cleaning up local rivers
called for community support because it was being harassed.
At the rallies to denounce harassment, members of the
environmental group met leaders of a farm workers
organization that was working to diminish the use of
pesticides on local farms. After they worked together to stop
harassment, these two groups found they had a common
interest in promoting alternatives to pesticides for the benefit
of the workers and the environment.
Build bridges to other organizations before a crisis
develops. Too often people do not see how environmental
issues affect them. Think of ways to frame your issues as
community concerns. Craft a simple message that will have
broad appeal. If you are working on cleaning up rivers, show
how this will provide benefits to recreationists as well as
families who drink the water in the cities and suburbs. A
successful campaign could ally you with anglers, hikers,
parents, health care professionals, and businesses that value
clean water.
Do not let your organization become isolated from the rest of
the community. A diverse network of allies can provide
crucial support if harassment becomes a problem. Opponents
of environmentalism will attempt to isolate you by organizing
resource workers, businesses, hunters, anglers, off-road
recreationists, churches, and politicians. It is important to seek
out opportunities to work with various groups in your
community and engage them in ways that build community
support for your work.
RESOURCES
For more information on community organizing:
Northwest Coalition Against Malicious
Harassment, PO Box 21428, Seattle, WA 98111-3428
206-233-9136 http://www.nwb.net/nwc=20
Western Organization of Resource Councils, 2401
Montana Ave., Billings, MT 59101 406-252-9672
http://www.worc.org=20
Western States Center, PO Box 40305, Portland, OR
97240 503-228-8866 http://epn.org/westernstates
For more information on organized bigotry and
extremists:
Northwest Coalition Against Malicious
Harassment, PO Box 21428, Seattle, WA 98111-3428
206-233-9136 http://www.nwb.net/nwc=20
Coalition for Human Dignity, PO Box 21266, Seattle,
WA 98111 206-233-9775=20
Montana Human Rights Network, PO Box 1222,
Helena, MT 59624 406-442-5506=20
Western States Center, PO Box 40305, Portland, OR
97240 503-228-8866 http://epn.org/westernstates
For more information on computer safety:
OneNorthwest, 1601 Second Ave., Suite 605, Seattle,
WA 98101 206-448-1008=20
Computer viruses:
http://www.onenw.org/html/virus.shtml
Online security covering email, email lists, Web sites and
passwords:
http://www.onenw.org/html/security final.shtml
This page came from Western States Center/Northwest Coalition Against Mal=
icious Harassment: http://tap.epn.org/westernstates/hndbook.html
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