Could There Be A Rosa Parks After 9/11?

Last month, in a packed Miami courtroom, a federal judge threw out criminal charges against Greenpeace in mid-trial. It was a dramatic ending to a legal battle that began in April 2002, when two Greenpeace activists tried to hang a banner on a commercial ship off the Florida coast. Whether the case ends up a curious footnote or a turning point depends on what happens next. After 9/11, is peaceful protest, or civil disobedience, a luxury America can no longer afford? Or is it, instead, an essential component of our political life that we must defend? The Miami case was widely noted for several reasons, but none of them led to the judge's dismissal. First, the Justice Department had charged Greenpeace under an obscure "sailormongering" law whose last known use was in the 19th Century. The law was aimed at deterring unscrupulous boardinghouse touts who jumped aboard arriving ships to ply gullible sailors with cheap liquor and comely prostitutes. But the bizarre "Pirates of the Caribbean" background of the law was not the reason for acquittal. Nor was the judge's dismissal related to the fact that Greenpeace was protesting against immoral and illegal activity. The ship, the APL Jade, was carrying 70 tons of mahogany wood illegally cut from Brazil's Amazon rainforest. Mahogany logging has been the key to the rapid destruction of the Amazon by ruthless criminal enterprises. This destruction threatens thousands of plant and animal species, the 20 million people who inhabit the Amazon, and the global environment.

Greenpeace had used multiple means to halt Amazon destruction - research, media work, political pressure. Brazil's environmental agency responded with a total moratorium on mahogany exports. But illegal shipments continued to arrive in the United States - a criminal violation of our Endangered Species Act. Greenpeace devised its protest to shine a spotlight on this continuing criminal activity and to press governments to provide stronger protection for mahogany. The two Greenpeace activists, after climbing up the ship's ladder, tried to hang a banner reading, "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging."

Judge Jordan's decision to acquit Greenpeace was not even related to the most significant aspect of the case: This was the first time in U.S. history that the Government prosecuted an entire organization for the free speech-related activities of its supporters. This unprecedented legal assault -- on a group that has been a persistent critic of the Bush Administration -- drew criticism from national civil rights and environmental groups and many others. Former Vice President Al Gore called the prosecution "highly disturbing."

Judge Jordan's decision rested instead on the most mundane of factors: The vaguely-worded old law prohibited boarding a ship "about to arrive at her place of destination"; the Greenpeace boarding occurred some six miles and about an hour's travel time from the Jade's assigned berth at the Port of Miami. If not for this circumstance, which the judge called "fortuitous" for Greenpeace, there would have been no acquittal by the judge, and the twelve-member jury might have rendered a guilty verdict. Greenpeace might not be so lucky the next time. Sometimes its protests involve clear violations of the law - such as trespassing - with no wiggle room. So the real question is whether the Government will again prosecute Greenpeace or another organization that sponsors a peaceful, but illegal, protest.

If our historical traditions and values are to be respected, there should be no more prosecutions like the one in Miami. A galvanizing event in the birth of our country was, in fact, an unauthorized ship boarding in protest against objectionable cargo -- the Boston Tea Party. Ever since, peaceful demonstrations in violation of the law have helped transform debate and bring meaningful change: from the right of women to vote to the right of workers to organize, from civil rights for African Americans to equal rights for gays and lesbians. And throughout this history, individuals have been willing to accept responsibility and punishment for protests against immoral laws and policies. The two Greenpeace protestors on the Jade were no exception. They and four colleagues pled guilty to the ship-boarding charges soon after the 2002 incident, and it appeared the matter was closed. The Government's subsequent, unprecedented indictment of Greenpeace itself - fifteen months after the boarding of the Jade - was the legal equivalent of a sucker punch.