Will Potter, award-winning author, TED Senior Fellow, and internationally-recognized civil liberties advocate speaks about his work challenging government repression, and the labeling of protest as "terrorism."
Event Overview
For decades, the agriculture industry has sought to label animal advocates as “terrorists.” Their lobbying efforts have resulted in federal laws like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and, in recent years, new state “ag-gag” laws the explicitly criminalize photography and video recordings of animal abuse. Now, despite constitutional challenges to these laws, corporations are expanding their efforts by broadening “ag-gag” proposals and also restricting access to public government records.
Will Potter is an award-winning author, TED Senior Fellow [https://www.ted.com/speakers/will_potter], and internationally-recognized civil liberties advocate. His work challenging government repression, and the labeling of protest as “terrorism,” has appeared in the world’s top media outlets, including the Washington Post, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald described him as “the most knowledgeable journalist in the country on these issues.” His reporting has overturned criminal prosecutions [http://www.greenisthenewred.com/…/first-ag-gag…/6948/], and his book, Green Is The New Red, was described in Counter-Terrorism Unit surveillance documents as “compelling and well-written.” Will has been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress about his reporting, as the only witness opposing the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act [http://www.greenisthenewred.com/…/congressional-testimony/], and he has spoken about his investigations of “ag-gag” laws before the Australian Parliament. After being awarded the prestigious Knight Wallace Fellowship, Will was appointed the Marsh Professor of Journalism at the University of Michigan, where he teaches courses on investigative journalism, social movements, and whistleblowing.