13 May 2003

'Protest' Planned Against Greenpeace's 'Eco-Manslaughter'

According to the article below, "An African American civil rights group is planning a Saturday protest against Greenpeace, alleging that the environmental group has committed "eco-manslaughter" through its support of international policies limiting development and the expansion of technology to the developing world's poor." Greenpeace's "opposition to genetically modified foods" is listed by the civil rights group as among the ways by which "these zealots" cause "misery and death".

"The carnage has got to end," according to the group's press release, "People should be ashamed to support these fanatics and the eco-manslaughter they are perpetrating on the world's most destitute people. Today's protest is just the first step in bringing justice to the Third World."  http://www.core-online.org/news/release_4.htm

The "African American civil rights group" referred to in the article is CORE - the Congress of Racial Equality. CORE played a leading role in the US civil rights movement from its foundation in 1942 when it started to challenge segregation. It was among the pioneers of the use of nonviolent direct action by the civil rights activists, including sit-ins, jail-ins, and freedom rides.

But don't let any of that fool you. CORE today travels on a very different trajectory and under a very different leadership from its proud past. The group's spokesperson in the article below and in the press release is Niger Innis. Here are some comments on CORE today under the leadership of Niger Innis and his father Roy:

"If we recollect the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the '60s front-line civil rights group, we think of the heroic James Farmer, its then head, and the other Freedom Riders who put their lives on the line as they battled to end segregation. But during the '70s, the organization all but collapsed and the remnant was seized by a black, Clarence Thomas-like* intellectual thug, Roy Innes. In a kind of right-wing political correctness, Innes--and now his son and CORE staffer, Niger--are allowed to advance their anti-black, right-wing agenda by playing off on the name of that once venerable civil rights organization with no one ever mentioning that what today calls itself "CORE" is 180 degrees removed from what CORE once was. The younger Innes is a regular MSNBC X-er/yuppiechat panelist. His old man turns up on various public affairs shows and in numerous newspaper stories presenting his reactionary "black perspectives." http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/19/25/news_and_views/media_musings. html

"...Niger Innis, rising son of gangster "civil rights" caricature Roy Innis, head of the family business criminally referred to as the Congress of Racial Equality. CORE is a tin cup outstretched to every Hard Right political campaign or cause that finds it convenient - or a sick joke - to hire Black cheerleaders for their cross burning events." http://www.blackcommentator.com/20_commentary_1.html

Republican consultant Niger Innis is certainly no stranger to "counter protest" with Hard Right groups. Here's the the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), who co-founded Prakash's AgBioWorld campaign, waxing lyrical about Innis's involvement in a counter protest in Dallas:

"ExxonMobil's shareholder meeting held on May 29 in Dallas, Texas, had a circus like quality, at least on the outside. Although much has been made about the efforts of leftwing activists to disrupt corporate annual meetings through protests and shareholder resolutions, a funny thing happened at the meeting. Supporters of ExxonMobil far outnumbered the protestors.

According to a series of news stories by Marc Morano on CNSNews.com, faced with the unexpected numbers of free market demonstrators the anti-corporate protestors finally left. "I think we rattled them. They're packing up their bags and they're leaving," said Niger Innis of the Congress on Racial Equality, one of the groups conducting a counter-demonstration. "Victory is sweet."

Many members of the Texas chapter of Citizens for a Sound Economy led by state director Peggy Venable, were also active in the counter demonstrations. The pro-Exxon demonstrators held signs that said, "Mother Nature Guilty of Climate Change," "Get Back in Your SUV & Drive Home," "Choose Capitalism Over Eco-Socialism," "Stop Global Whining," "Oil Employs, Anarchy Destroys," "No Poor Man Passes Out Jobs," "How Much Does Castro Pay You?" and "Greens are Red at Heart."" http://cei.org/gencon/014,03027.cfm

see also: ECO RADICALS SHAMED IN DALLAShttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692112/posts

*Clarence Thomas is a Bush Snr appointee to the US Supreme Court and a former corporate lawyer in the pesticide and agriculture division of the Monsanto Company. According to Thomas, he turned his back on the civil rights movement because it wasn't good for his career. http://ngin.tripod.com/040102b.htm

---
Protest Planned Against Greenpeace's 'Eco-Manslaughter'

http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200305/NAT20030509d.shtml

(CNSNews.com) - An African American civil rights group is planning a Saturday protest against Greenpeace, alleging that the environmental group has committed "eco-manslaughter" through its support of international policies limiting development and the expansion of technology to the developing world's poor.

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) will conduct a counter demonstration at Greenpeace USA's "Run for Your Life" 5K road race at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. The Greenpeace event itself will be a protest, meant to "raise awareness of the serious threats posed by chemical plants to New York and New Jersey residents and workers."

CORE is using the event as an opportunity to confront Greenpeace activists about their opposition to infrastructure development projects in the developing world, opposition to genetically modified foods and the group's opposition to the use of the chemical DDT to kill malaria-ridden mosquitoes, particularly in Africa.

"To serve its own ideological agenda, [Greenpeace] wants to keep the Third World permanently mired in Third World poverty, disease and death. So far, it has succeeded," said Niger Innis, national spokesperson for CORE

Innis believes that policies advocated by Greenpeace are keeping the developing world's poor from attaining running water, electricity and modern agricultural techniques that would allow more food to be grown on less land.  "It's time to hold these zealots accountable for the misery and death they cause," Innis stated.

According to CORE, 2 billion people worldwide have no electrical power or clean water and are forced to use manure for fuel. CORE alleges that groups like Greenpeace are partly responsible for this as a result of their opposition to infrastructure development projects in the poorest regions of the world.  "Green radicals oppose all these projects and tell these destitute people they should be happy with little solar panels on their huts, now and for generations to come," a CORE press release stated.  "People should be ashamed to support these fanatics and the eco-manslaughter they are perpetrating on the world's most destitute people. [Saturday's] protest is just the first step in bringing justice to the Third World," he added.

Several calls to Greenpeace USA were not returned by press time.

Go to a Print friendly Page

Email this Article to a Friend

Back to the Archive