Issue No 116 | 19 October 2001 | |
NewsGreen Activist Restrictions Lifted
Australian unionists and green activist Nic Clyde has been allowed to leave the United States and return to Australian before his November trial. A US judge ruled this week that Clyde and eight other Greenpeace protestors and one freelance journalist, facing felony charges stemming from a peaceful protest against a missile defense test in California on July 14, 2001 can travel home before returning to Los Angeles for trial currently set for November 20, 2001. Since July 14 the nine defendants have been restricted to the Central District of California. "It has been too long and I am looking forward to seeing my friends, family and the people who have supported me," Clyde says . "However, I am also looking towards my return here and having my day in court when my integrity will become public record." Today's hearing was the latest legal battle for 15 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists who were arrested by the F.B.I. near Vandenberg Air Force Base in California following a peaceful protest against the controversial missile defense program. All 17 including the journalists were charged with conspiring to violate a safety zone--a class D felony with a maximum six-year prison term and $250,000 fine. They were also charged with entering military property without permission -- a misdemeanor with a 6-month maximum sentence and $5,000 fine. While the six defendants from the United States were given immediate bail, the international defendants had their passports seized and all but one had their travel restricted to the central district of California. The international defendants are from Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Sweden and the United Kingdom. "Hopefully the public will get to know these defendants as we know them, individuals who have behaved with honor and courage," said John Passacantando, Greenpeace Executive Director in the United States. "Voicing dissent and engaging in peaceful, non-violent protest are the duties of responsible, engaged citizens in democracy." The Australian Services Union is organising a function to raise funds for Clyde's legal defence at the Norfolk Hotel, 6.00pm on Tuesday October 30.
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Interview: The Green Machine Nick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest Day Australia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: Fightback Labor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die? Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American Terror Incredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term Looms The global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: Flashbacks Cultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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