A large part of social justice work consists of holding systems and structures accountable for their actions and role they play in oppressing marginalized groups. Often, people confuse social change as a process that only begins and ends with individuals. However, any substantive analysis of equity and change has to include individual, group level and structural change.
There is always a risk in speaking out against injustice and, in particular, there is a huge price to be paid when activists attempt to go up against systems. Those who do so take many risks—including slander, lawsuits, threats and worse. A recent case involving environmental activists and a Canadian company shows just how far some companies are willing to go prevent environmental justice.
A federal judge on Monday dismissed a Canadian logging company's lawsuit against Greenpeace and another activist group that accused them of running a criminal enterprise through their environmental campaigns.
The case is one of two brought by corporations against the environmental group and several of its peers that invoke federal racketeering law. Legal and environmental experts have described the legal tactic as a new and particularly dangerous example of corporations and wealthy individuals attempting to silence opponents.
The company that initiated the lawsuit, Resolute Forest Products, filed against both Greenpeace and Stand (another environmental advocacy group) claiming that “the groups were conspiring to defame the company, extort its customers and defraud the groups' donors.” A similar suit against Greenpeace was filed by Energy Transfer Partners, the very company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. A clear theme can be detected here: big companies that profit from plundering the environment and violating human rights are willing to pour money, time and resources to fight back and intimidate against being held accountable.
In Monday's ruling in California, [Judge Jon S. Tigar] granted motions from the defendants seeking to dismiss all the claims against them, writing that Resolute failed to meet numerous standards for the various claims. In asserting that Greenpeace was defaming the company by calling it a "forest destroyer," for example, he said Resolute took "an overly literal approach to obviously overemphatic speech." Tigar said Resolute failed to provide enough detail of the alleged fraud to sue the groups under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a federal conspiracy law was created to ensnare mobsters.
Greed and unfettered capitalism allow many companies to run unchecked—the result being that they can wreck havoc on the environment as they please and without consequence. While this most certainly hurts all of us, it also has a disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities and communities of color who are often living in areas most threatened by climate change, natural disasters and environmental injustice. We need to be vigilant about how this new legal tactic will play out. In the era of the Trump big business presidency, we cannot expect the government to protect individuals from harm or hold companies accountable for harming the environment. And we need to continue organizing and fighting for the environmental justice communities around the country, and world, so desperately need and deserve.