The Right To Protest

The Right To Protest #2

Good news. For those of you who read Mind Rape #1, you’ll recall an article called ‘The Right To Protest’. It was about a company called Daishowa who were sueing some activists for organizing a boycott against them.

You see, Daishowa was going to be cutting down trees on land which the Natives claim belongs to them. Daishowa was refusing to wait until the land dispute was settled before they began logging. So these activists organized a boycott of all Daishowa products (paper bags, paper, etc…) and convinced many major corporations (Pepsi, Body Shop…) to stop using Daishowa products. Daishowa felt they were being unfairly boycotted and so they launched a lawsuit against the activists. Karen Wristen from the Sierra Legal Defense Fund claims that this is an example of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). SLAPP is basically a technique for wealthy corporations to bankrupt activists through the courts and thereby deter any would-be-activists. This could lead to a very scary situation indeed where if you dare to protest you’d better make sure you have the cash to defend yourself in a court.

Thankfully though, SLAPP seems to have failed. In what could be a precedent setting case, Daishowa’s lawsuit was thrown out of court. The judge decided that people should have the right to protest, whether or not their claims are founded. This is great news for all activists, as they have secured their right to protest in this country. In the future should any corporations attempt to use SLAPP to stop boycotts, this case can be used in defence of the protestors.