- Jeff,
-
- This is waaaay the hell out .......... Your govenment
is insane.
-
- ----- Forwarded Message -----
-
- Subject: Artists Subpeonaed In Patriot Act Case
- Date: Thursday 01 July 2004
- From: Jim Kirwan kirwanstudios@earthlink.net
- To: GRAHAM JUKES grahamjukes@blueyonder.co.uk
-
- "the arts" have come down to equipment used
in a lab experiment, and this is how the Feds spend our money, chasing
science professors who are claiming an exemption as "artists"?
There's prosecutorial "reaching" and then there's this case:
Not only is this inane, it's complete nonsense!
-
- k
-
- ----- Original Message -----
-
- From: Nina LJH
- Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004
- Subject: Artists Subpeonaed In Patriot Act Case
-
- Feds STILL unable to distinguish art from bioterrorism
-
- HELP URGENTLY NEEDED - SEE BELOW
-
- Three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before
a federal grand jury that will consider bioterrorism charges against a
university professor whose art involves the use of simple biology equipment.
-
- The subpoenas are the latest instalment in a bizarre
investigation in which members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force have mistaken
an art project for a biological weapons laboratory (see end for background).
While most observers have assumed that the Task Force would realise the
absurd error of its initial investigation of Steve urtz, the subpoenas
indicate that the feds have instead chosen to press their "case"
against the baffled professor.
-
- Two of the subpoenaed artists--Beatriz da Costa and Steve
Barnes--are, like Kurtz, members of the internationally-acclaimed Critical
Art Ensemble (CAE), an artists' collective that produces artwork to educate
the public about the politics of biotechnology. They were served the subpoenas
by federal agents who tailed them to an art show at the Massachusetts Museum
of Contemporary Art. The third artist, Paul Vanouse, is, like Kurtz, an
art professor at the University at Buffalo. He has worked with CAE in the
past.
-
- The artists involved are at a loss to explain the increasingly
bizarre case. "I have no idea why they're continuing (to investigate),"
said Beatriz da Costa, one of those subpoenaed. "It was shocking that
this investigation was ever launched. That it is continuing is positively
frightening, and shows how vulnerable the PATRIOT Act has made freedom
of speech in this country." Da Costa is an art professor at the University
of California at Irvine.
-
- According to the subpoenas, the FBI is seeking charges
under Section 175 of the US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989,
which has been expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act. As expanded, this law prohibits
the possession of "any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system"
without the justification of "prophylactic, protective, bona fide
research, or other peaceful purpose." (See http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/175.html
for the 1989 law and http://www.ehrs.upenn.edu/protocols/patriot/sec817.html
for its USA PATRIOT Act expansion.)
-
- Even under the expanded powers of the USA PATRIOT Act,
it is difficult to understand how anyone could view CAE's art as anything
other than a "peaceful purpose." The equipment seized by the
FBI consisted mainly of CAE's most recent project, a mobile DNA extraction
laboratory to test store-bought food for possible contamination by genetically
modified grains and organisms; such equipment can be found in any university's
basic biology lab and even in many high schools (see "Lab Tour"
at http://www.critical-art.net/biotech/free/ for more details).
-
- The grand jury in the case was scheduled to convene June
15 in Buffalo, New York. Here, the jury will decide whether or not to indict
Steve Kurtz on the charges brought by the FBI.
-
- HELP NEEDED
-
- Financial donations: The CAE Defense Fund has so far
received over 200 donations in amounts ranging from $5 to $400. This is
a wonderful outpouring of sympathy, but a drop in the bucket compared to
the potential costs of the case.
-
- To make a donation, please visit http://www.caedefensefund.org/
Letters of support: Letters and petitions of support from biologists, artists,
and others, especially those in positions of responsibility at prominent
institutions or companies, could be very useful. See http://www.caedefensefund.org/
for a sample letter of support.
-
- Legal offers and letters of support: If you are a lawyer,
offers of pro bono support or offers to write amicus briefs would be very
helpful.
-
- BACKGROUND
-
- Early morning of May 11, Steve Kurtz awoke to find his
wife, Hope, dead of a cardiac arrest. Kurtz called 911. The police arrived
and, after stumbling across test tubes and petri dishes Kurtz was using
in a current artwork, called in the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
-
- Soon agents from the Task Force and FBI detained Kurtz,
cordoned off the entire block around his house, and later impounded Kurtz's
computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even his wife's body for
further analysis. The Buffalo Health Department condemned the house as
a health risk.
-
- Only after the Commissioner of Public Health for New
York State had tested samples from the home and announced there was no
public safety threat was Kurtz able to return home and recover his wife's
body. Yet the FBI would not release the impounded materials, which included
artwork for an upcoming exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary
Art.
-
- While most observers assumed the Task Force would realise
that its initial investigation of Steve Kurtz was a terrible mistake, the
subpoenas indicate that the feds have instead chosen to press their "case"
against Kurtz and possibly others.
-
- To donate to the CAE Defence Fund, and for up-to-date
information on the
- case, please visit http://www.caedefensefund.org/
-
- Please direct questions or comments to Beatriz da Costa,
- media@caedefensefund.org
-
- For more information on the Critical Art Ensemble, please
visit
- http://www.critical-art.net/
-
- To join a list about the case, please visit
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAE_Defense
-
- Articles and television stories about the case:
- http://www.appliedautonomy.com/cae/
-
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8278-2004Jun1.html
-
- http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--materialsremoved
0601jun01,0,3539235.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
-
- http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040602/1048042.asp
|
