“Your honour – he’s a professional protester!” the Assistant District Attorney called out in horror.
the Assistant District Attorney above was trying a case that Monsanto had brought and was pushing against two protesters in Iowa. The DA above had filled a motion That would have not allowed the defendants to
defend our actions by invoking the First Amendment, on the grounds that we have protested many times in our past and are therefore free speech abusers. Professional protester!
Norman Siegel, for many years the head of the New York American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told us that in his experience this motion is without precedent. Retire a portion of the Constitution for a trial? Retroactively suspend a defendant’s First Amendment rights? What other kind of defence strategy would a protester even consider?
Monsanto’s attacks on citizens that are critical of its popular herbicide, RoundUp, and its glyphosate toxin are similar to fundamentalist religions like Scientologists, Zionists, or the National Rifle Association.
This lawsuit was brought in Iowa.
Iowa is very much a Monsanto state: It absorbs more of the herbicide, RoundUp, than any other state in the union, and Iowa’s cancer rates are said to be high.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad endorsed Trump, and now will be the new ambassador to China. Monsanto will like that.
:-)