There’s a classic one-panel
cartoon that sums up the case against environmental attorney Steven
Donziger, who represents about 30,000 people in the Ecuadorean
rainforest that was poisoned by Texaco/Chevron in their exploration
and extraction of oil from the fragile land and was found in contempt
of court this week in New York.
The
cartoon is a simple line drawing of a small fish, who says to
himself, “There is no justice.” Just behind him is a
larger fish, about to eat the smaller fish, who says to himself,
“There is some justice.” And, just behind the second
fish, mouth wide open, about to eat both smaller fish and probably
anything else that presents itself, is a big fish, who says to
himself, “The world is just.”
The
small fish is Donziger and the people of the Amazon forest, some
30,000 of them, and the biggest fish represents Chevron, the U.S.
court system, and all of the money that can be brought to bear on
anyone who dares to challenge them in their quest for profit, while
leaving sickness and death in their wake, as they did in their
portion of Ecuador. It is probably the best (and worst) example of a
SLAPP suit as can be found in the American legal lexicon. A SLAPP
suit is Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation and is usually
used by a rich and powerful entity (like Chevron) against a single
individual or group of individuals with little power and no money
(like the Ecuadoreans in this case).
In
Donziger’s case, it’s a SLAPP suit on steroids. It’s
as if the entire fossil fuel industry used a giant magnifying glass
to burn a single ant, Donziger, to cinders. So far, it has worked
according to plan and the U.S. judicial system, this time in the form
of the courts of New York State, has shown that it really is not wise
to try to upset that system by injecting a modicum of justice into
it. And that seems to be the intent of the whole legal Rube Goldberg
operation that this case has turned out to be.
Judge
Loretta Preska, in a 245-page decision, found Donziger guilty of six
counts of criminal contempt by not giving up to the court and, by
process, to Chevron, his phone, computer, and other electronic
devices. Chevron, apparently believing that a quicker route to
silencing Donziger and any other environmentalists who might be
inclined to sue for damages caused by the company’s operations,
sued the lawyer under the RICO statutes. That’s right, the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Chevron sued
Donziger and the people of the Amazon for racketeering. In the
lengthy paper, Preska admitted that the decision had nothing to do
with the environmental destruction caused by the company in Ecuador,
but was only addressed to Donziger’s conduct and his long court
struggle against a giant corporation.
This
case has gone through many manifestations, starting with a lawsuit in
Ecuador nearly two decades ago. The highest court there ruled that
Chevron must pay $9.5 billion to the people whose home forests,
livelihoods, and lives were damaged or destroyed by the oil company’s
operations. Rather than pay up, Chevron filed suit against Donziger
in New York, including a civil suit under the RICO Act, and the case
rolled on. Initially, the New York case was presided over by U.S.
District Judge Lewis Kaplan who, in 2014, found in favor of Chevron
in a nearly 500-page ruling against Donziger that eventually led to
his disbarment. It kind of minimizes Preska’s little 245-page
ruling.
Although
it may have little to do with the latest ruling, Preska is a member
of the conservative Federalist Society, which is partially funded by
Chevron. Also, as Donziger noted, her interest in the case, also held
without a jury like the first one, was illustrated by her reading a
newspaper during the trial.
In
both cases, Donziger requested a trial by jury and in both cases,
that request was denied. That has resulted in a lawyer with no
criminal record having been held under house arrest for 650 days on a
misdemeanor charge.
Legal experts have noted that the condition of his house arrest is
unprecedented, and his disbarment resulting from the case is no small
matter of routine. He has been singled out for punishment even before
sentencing and now, he faces a sentence of up to six months in prison
in the matter.
On
Twitter on Monday, Donziger wrote, “No matter what they say, my
‘conviction’ today has everything to do with @Chevron’s
destruction of the Amazon. They want to label me ‘criminal’
so people forget the real criminals who poisoned the forest and drove
5 Indigenous nations toward extinction.”
Donziger
was part of a team that took up the case of the people of Ecuador’s
Lago Agrio region, who were attempting to hold Chevron liable for
water and soil contamination in the jungle between 1964 and 1992.
Chevron became involved because in 2000 it bought Texaco, which did
the original damage. Never, however, think that Chevron would
hesitate to do the same thing to the land, water, and the people if
they had been there first. It’s in the DNA of transnational
corporations.
At
a time when life on Earth is threatened by disruptions of natural
systems without end, like the destruction of the local environment
for 30,000 Ecuadoreans, the U.S. judicial system plays games with
those involved in trying to mitigate the damage by using the letter
of the law and the obfuscation of legal language without end to
ignore the crimes of the powerful. There is little doubt among the
supporters of Steven Donziger that the aim of the entire sham of
legal proceedings against him has been to ignore the crimes committed
on a massive scale by the likes of Texaco and Chevron against fragile
human societies and local ecosystems.
The
Donziger case is a warning for any environmentalist or would-be
environmentalist that if it’s going to be a contest between
Corporate America, its politicians, and its judicial system and you,
you had better be prepared to be treated like Donziger. There are few
places in the nation, or the world for that matter, that will provide
safe haven for those who challenge their power, which is almost
without end. The only thing that will ever successfully challenge
that immense power is the unity of the people, acting together. It’s
difficult to imagine that and even more difficult to achieve, but
that’s what is needed. The power of the Chevrons of the world
will continue as in this case, until the people join together...and
act.
About
four hundred years ago, someone noted the vagaries of the justice
system and observed, it was I believe in the dialogue of a play, “The
law is an ass” (George Chapman, Revenge
for Honour, 1654).
Donkeys do not deserve the slander that this phrase issues, but,
according to a modern analysis, “It is the stupidly rigid
application of the law that this phrase calls into question.”
Because
the Chevron fiasco does not for a second consider the crimes
committed in Ecuador and instead brutalized the messenger, the law in
the federal court in New York is, indeed, an ass.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John
Funiciello, is a former newspaper reporter and labor organizer, who
lives in the Mohawk Valley of New York State. In addition to labor
work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the
land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land
developers. Contact
Mr. Funiciello and BC.
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