I had the pleasure of going with Eric and my dad earlier this year to hear Will Potter speak at the lovely Elliott Bay Bookstore on Capital Hill in Seattle. The event at Elliott Bay was intimate and Potter was intelligent, thought-provoking and politically on point. Potter is a journalist whose latest book, Green is the New Red, explores the way environmental activism (including animal rights activism) has been branded in federal legislation and in popular media discourse as ‘eco-terrorism’. Questioning this distinction and the broader implications of treating these forms of activism as terrorism, Potter is doing critical work to challenge what threatens to be the status quo if concerned citizens don’t stand against our right to peacefully oppose the injustices with which we (humans, animals and the environment) are confronted. These issues are timely, in particular, in light of the current Occupy Movement and the growing pressure for the voice of the people to be heard.
Will Potter will be speaking at Pacific University in Portland, OR in a couple of weeks. For those in or around the Portland area, I would highly recommend it. He is a great speaker who needs to be heard! He also has a website/blog with interesting info and updates, which I enjoy following. Details below are directly from Pacific University’s website:
Award-winning journalist and author Will Potter will deliver Pacific University’s sixth annual In Your Face Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Marsh Hall’s Taylor Auditorium on the Forest Grove campus.
Potter’s talk is titled Green is the New Red: How Corporations Turned Environmentalists into ‘Eco-Terrorists.’
Admission is free and a light reception will follow.
Potter’s latest book, Green is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege, looks at the use of anti-terrorism resources to target environmentalists and animal rights activists.
He examines how the word ‘eco-terrorist’ is used to push a political agenda, instill fear, intimidate and silence dissent, creating a “Green Scare” not unlike the “Red Scare” against Communists that preceded it.
Potter is an expert on the nexus between environmentalism and terrorism. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, and Vermont Law Review. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress about his environmental reporting.
The lecture is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences Student Senate (CASSS) and the Department of Politics and Government.
Previous “In Your Face” lecturers include Christian Parenti, Robin Hahnel, Dave Zirin, Judy Giles, and Heather Rogers.
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