I’m no fan of Greenpeace. They self-perpetuate by appealing to unreasoning anger and ignorance much as the Religious Reich does. Their anti-nuclear disinformation has significantly undermined our response to the climate crisis. They do harm, even though I believe that most of their supporters “mean well,” for whatever that is worth.
However successfully suing them for supporting protests against continued investment in fossil fuel infrastructure is nonsense. Even if, hypocritically, their disinformation has been instrumental in our continuing fossil fuel dependence.
Greenpeace was a well-chosen target for such a SLAPP because the organization is frequently ridiculous. However it is foolish to pretend that this precedent will not be used against other environmental organizations regardless of their legitimacy.
I remember the first CPC government trying to strip charity status from environmental groups in Canada. Their reasoning? You are not permitted to advocate for evidence-based policy that is not “Conservative” policy. So where the government was implementing policies that were contrary to the science, and you had the gall to contradict that, *poof* there goes your charitable status.
The Poiliℕevre CPC destroyed Canada’s Fisheries and Oceans research libraries for the same reason.
I will not weep for Greenpeace itself. Fuck em. But these dipshits are going after environmentalism so the fossil fuel industry can wring just a bit more capital out of making the world uninhabitable before they succeed.
And that should concern you.
