Super Rubin Bust Eco-Activism Ruled a Felony

US - On July 22, in Washington state, a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge sentenced six rainforest activists to two years probation after a jury found them guilty of committing "felony anarchy and sabotage." This marks the first felony conviction for nonviolent, nondestructive protest in the history of the US environmental movement.

On October 29, 1996, seven Rainforest Action Network protesters - five men and two women - were arrested after boarding the Panamanian-registered Super Rubin and hanging a protest banner off the side of the huge vessel. The freighter was filled with nearly 5 million board feet of raw, unmilled logs cut from US forests and destined for overseas timber mills operated by the Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Corp.

The protesters were acquitted of the usual charges leveled against activists - criminal trespass. Instead, the "Super Rubin 7" were charged with violating an antiquated 1919 Sabotage and Anarchy statute designed to silence the Industrial Workers of the World (the "Wobblies"), a radical labor union. Six activists were convicted of the charge; the seventh will be tried later. (Another little-known charge, "vehicular prowling," was dropped in favor of criminal trespass.)

"I take full responsibility for my actions," declared 31-year-old Robert Lawrence, who spent more than 8 hours atop one of the Super Rubin's masts. "I am not afraid of jail or fines in defense of the environment, but I refuse to be silent in the face of this unjust law that is being used to chill public dissent and debate of forest issues in Washington state."

RAN has vowed to appeal the judge's ruling. Meanwhile, a RAN spokesperson observed, "the conviction is a sign of how civil liberties, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, have been dramatically diminished" in the era of the global marketplace. [RAN, 221 Pine St., No. 500, San Francisco, CA 94104, (415) 398-4404, fax: -2732, rainforest@ran.org, http://www.ran.org]