Jew World Order

Reuters / Danny Moloshok

The public deserves to know why the FBI singles out environmental or left-wing activists – some from decades ago – as top terrorist suspects on its most wanted lists, as opposed to violent right-wing fugitives, journalist Will Potter told RT.

Potter, an investigative journalist and author of “Green is
the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under
Siege,” recently wrote a post on his website that questions
the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s terrorism priorities,
especially in light of the agency’s well-known past abuses. He noted that all of those
on the agency’s Most Wanted Domestic Terrorism list are either
leftists who committed crimes at least 30 years ago, or
environmental/animal right’s activists accused of property
crimes, not physical violence.

“Over and over again, we’re seeing this overreaching of FBI
responsibilities, and going after protest groups and politicizing
their duties,” he told RT in an interview. “It’s time
for all of us to examine how those powers are being used, and I
think it’s time for a congressional inquiry as well.”

Potter pointed to recent
revelations exposing the FBI’s unlawful surveillance and
intelligence gathering aimed at “extremist”
environmental activists opposed to the Keystone XL oil pipeline,
which was called “vital to the security and economy of the
United States” in FBI documents.

READ
MORE: Docs show FBI wrongly spied on Keystone XL protesters

“I think the most important takeaway (of the FBI’s domestic
terror list) is not the individual crimes or what these people
are accused of, but the bigger priorities that the FBI is putting
forward,” he said.

“The purpose of this list is to put a giant spotlight on what
the FBI wants to focus its resources on. And when the FBI is
focusing resources on environmentalists, or people who are
accused of destroying property, or political activists from the
’70s, that means they’re not focusing resources on today’s
criminals and actual right-wing groups that have murdered people
and sent anthrax, (and) murdered abortion doctors. That should
really give everybody pause of how our taxpayer money is being
spent.”

The targeting of environmental activists is no accident, Potter
explained. It’s part of the FBI’s current mission and not an
aberration, especially in an era of federal legislation, such as
the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a sweeping
law that labels and punishes as “eco-terrorism” numerous
political activities or civil disobedience conducted in the name
of animal rights. The law covers action that “damages or
causes the loss of any real or personal property” or
“places a person in reasonable fear” of injury.

“It may seem like isolated incidents where you have these
environmentalists on a most-wanted list, or the FBI is talking
about animal-rights activists, but these are really systemic
problems.”

Potter said he wants to know how the infamous J. Edgar Hoover-era
FBI spying programs, which once targeted Black Panther members
and anti-war activists, have evolved to include today’s targets
despite public admonishments of invasive, repressive surveillance
operations.

“It’s important to remember that the FBI has a history of
abuses like this,” he said. “That’s why accountability
and oversight are so important. During the 1970s and ’80s, there
was surveillance and harassment, a program called COINTELPRO
spied upon and disrupted social movements. And after that, there
were congressional hearings. (Surveillance of activists) was
supposed to stop, it was all over with. That was the message we
were told. I think now we have to revisit that and find out
actually what’s the scope of what’s taking place today, whether
those tactics evolved into something new.”

Potter said the imbalance in the FBI’s most wanted list is
exemplified by left-wing environmental or animal-rights
activists, who have been included based on property crimes that
have not harmed a human being, while right-wing militia members
who have perpetrated violence on people are not on the list.

READ
MORE: ‘Ag gag’ law criminalizing documentation of farming abuses
passed in Wyoming

“The crimes that the people on this most wanted list are
accused of, some of them are serious property crimes,” he
said, “but it’s important to point out that in the history of
these groups, no one has ever been hurt, and that’s never been
their intention, whereas with right-wing groups in particular,
militias, sovereign citizens, anti-abortion groups, that’s been
the explicit purpose.

“You can’t ignore these things when you’re prioritizing
crime. And why is that? Someone at the FBI needs to explain their
justification for not including those groups while focusing so
much resources on environmentalists.”

Economic damage, not physical injury or loss of life, has guided
the FBI’s so-called “anti-terrorism” operations against
environmental activists, Potter said.

“What started as a corporate-driven agenda to label
protesters as eco-terrorists has become institutionalized,”
he told Vice last month. “This has really
become standard operating procedure, and I think that’s what’s
most disturbing about this.”

In January, a man sentenced to 19 years in
prison for conspiring to commit “environmental
terrorism” was granted early release after nine years of
incarceration once it came to light that prosecutors withheld
evidence from the defense. Eric McDavid’s defense had claimed FBI
entrapment in the case, saying an agency informant housed, fed,
and encouraged McDavid and co-defendants to plot illegal
activities, while using FBI surveillance equipment to relay their
interactions back to the authorities.