The Brooklyn Rail has a profile up today of Daniel McGowan, a well-known activist in the NY area who is facing life in prison. McGowan and 14 others were arrested earlier this year as part “Operation Backfire,” a government roundup of activists in the name of fighting “eco-terrorism” and property crimes.
Many of those targeted are prominent environmental activists with histories of public, legal activism. Feds haven’t been able to catch many of the environmental activists committing property crimes, so they’re going after the next best thing: legal activists like McGowan and others that work on the same issues. It looks like the government is pretty desperate to show corporations it’s cracking down on “eco-terrorism.”