At a time when everyone is going green, most people are unaware that the FBI is using anti-terrorism resources to target environmentalists and animal rights activists. The courts are being used to push conventional boundaries of what constitutes "terrorism" and to hit nonviolent activists with disproportionate sentences. Some have faced terrorism charges for simply chalking slogans on the sidewalk. Like the Red Scare, this "Green Scare" is about fear and intimidation, using a word--"eco-terrorist"--to push a political agenda, instill fear and silence dissent. The animal rights and environmental movements directly threaten corporate profits every time activists encourage people to go vegan, to stop driving, to consume fewer resources and live simply. Their boycotts are damaging, and corporations and the politicians who represent them know it. In many ways, the Green Scare, like the Red Scare, can be seen as a culture war, a war of values. Will Potter outlines the political, legal, extra-legal, and public relations strategies that are being used to threaten even acts of nonviolent civil disobedience with the label of "terrorism." Here is a guided tour into the world of radical activism that introduces the real people behind the headlines and tells the story of how everyday people are being prevented from speaking up for what they believe in. "Will Potter unveils this complex movement with its virtues and its flaws, the courage of a few and the false bravado of others. I see this book as the definitive overview of the genesis of what is emerging as the most important social movement in human history -- the war to save ourselves from ourselves." --Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society "If we are to survive capitalism's death grip on our discourse and on our lives, it will be in great measure due to the work of people like Will Potter. His courage and integrity, which set him apart from most journalists, are evident throughout this important book, and throughout all of his other crucial work. Thank you, Will Potter." --Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame "Part history, part action thriller and courtroom drama, part memoir, Green is the New Red plunges us into the wild, unruly, and entirely inspirational world of extreme environmental activism. Will Potter, participant-observer and partisan-reporter, is the perfect guide, unpacking with wit and skill the most elusive concepts..." --Bill Ayers Potter (a contributor to The Next Eco-Warriors) warns that the U.S. government is using post-9/11 anti-terrorism resources to target environmentalists and animal right activists (in some cases for doing nothing but speaking up)...Potter warns of the crumbling of "the legal wall separating 'terrorist' from 'dissident' or 'undesirable,'" and concludes his account with a call to action and a decry of the injustice that results in the "terrorist" label being put on those who threaten American corporate interests. Alarming."--Publishers Weekly "In this hard-hitting debut, journalist Potter likens the Justice Department targeting of environmentalists today to McCarthyism in the 1950s...A shocking expose of judicial overreach." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred review) Will Potter is an award-winning reporter who has written for publications including the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News and Legal Affairs, and has testified before the U.S. Congress about his reporting. He is the creator of www[dot]GreenIsTheNewRed[dot]com, where he blogs about the Green Scare.

TV: CSPAN, CNN, Democracy Now, GRIT TV with Laura Flanders, MSNBC: Rachel Maddow, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Tavis Smiley, PBS NewsHour, Daily Show, Colbert Report. Radio: Democracy Now, Radio Nation with Laura Flanders, Fresh Air, NPR: All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Alternative Radio, Pacifica Network stations/shows, Community and NPR affiliate radio stations around the country, Free Speech Radio, New Dimensions, XM: Bob Edwards Show, Tavis Smiley, CBC shows, and more Print: NY Times, Washington Post, Washington City Paper, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Village Voice, Boston Phoenix, Boston Globe, SF Chronicle, SF Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, The Nation, The Progressive, Z Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, In These Times, Atlantic Monthly, Texas Observer, Dallas Morning News, Chronicle of Higher Ed, and legal publications such as Legal Affairs. Web: Author has VERY active site, www.greenisthenewred.com, which receives approximately 30,000 monthly page views. The "Green Is The New Red" MySpace page has more nearly 4,200 friends and more than 33,000 profile views, and the Facebook page has approximately 600 "fans." Daily posts on Facebook. Pursue reviews/interviews/essays on Powells.com, Counterpunch, Common Dreams, Z-net, Tom Dispatch, Huffington Post. Venues: Author works with a speaker's bureau, Evil Twin Booking, who have great ties to student groups at various universities around the country. Author regularly attends National Lawyers Guild annual meeting, National Animal Rights meeting, and participates in both the Alumni Reading Series and the National Security Reading Series at Johns Hopkins. Will pursue Cambridge Forum, World Affairs Councils. Academic: Postcard mailing to Environmental Studies departments, APSA, AHA, ALA.

About the Author
Will Potter is an award-winning independent journalist based in Washington, D.C., who focuses on "eco-terrorism," the environmental and animal rights movements, and civil liberties post-9/11. Potter has written for publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News and the Vermont Law Review, and has testified before the U.S. Congress about his reporting. Previously, he worked at the American Civil Liberties Union on policy issues including the Patriot Act.

Reviews
"If you've ever supported an animal welfare or environmental organization, you too may be a suspected terrorist: That's the chilling take-away from Green Is the New Red, a thoughtfully alarming examination of the U.S. government's post-9/11 domestic terror probes, which have inordinately targeted progressive-leaning activist groups. Author Will Potter, a journalist whose own low-level activism ran up against Homeland Security, delves deep into the social, political, legal--and, importantly, ethical--issues raised by this new war on 'ecoterrorism.'" --Utne Reader "While the link between separating recyclables and hijacking planes is far from obvious, the labeling of 'eco-terrorism' has been applied to many aspects of this social movement. Named the 'No. 1 domestic terrorism threat' by FBI deputy assistant director John Lewis six years ago, Potter argues that the fear tactics involved in applying such an evocative term to radical activism is an attempt to intimidate that mirrors the Red Scare of the mid-20th century (which was in fact the second wave of the government's anti-Communist focus)." --Austin Examiner



Book Information
ISBN 9780872865389
Author Will Potter
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint City Lights Books
Publisher City Lights Books
Weight(grams) 368g