Rosemary Penwarden, [a 64 year old] climate activist in New Zealand, faces more than 10 years in jall for a fake letter canceling an oil conference.
Three years later, after a trial in the Dunedin District Court, Penwarden was found guilty on Wednesday of two charges of creating and using a forged document.
“It was a surprise,” she said. “I’m reminded of the topsy-turvy world we’re in. It should not be the grandmothers on trial, it should be the oil industry, it should be those people who are making massive profits off the destruction of all of our futures.”
I love me some good satire. Good for her.
Better for her if what her lawyers are seeking comes to pass.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 8, according to Dunedin District Court. While the maximum jail sentence is 10 years, Penwarden said her lawyers are asking for “discharge without conviction.”
I’m so frustrated by the powers who put persons like her in prison while genuine and true corruption is permitted to continue unabated.
I hope she doesn’t actually get anything close to ten years. That’s something you’d expect from a corrupt third world dictatorship, not New Zealand.
Seriously. Why the fuck is it even a possibility for ten years of prison over something like this? It’s crazy to me that a nonviolent crime could be punished so severely. I mean, why do we have prison? Is it to remove dangerous people from society? That’s certainly how I think it should be, but those sorts of punishments really show that it’s all about sating the bloodlust of victims.
When will we put the oil industry executives in prison for genocide? (The genocide of the human race.)
First of all, ✊
But I think the extermination of humanity would be specioside. Genocide is the extermination of a race and maybe a sub-species if being applied to non-humans.
If she actually gets convicted of that, it might be another one of these events that seems insignificant on it‘s own, but could have repercussions in hindsight.
Similar to those two self-immolations in the US due to climate change, the loss of these people stuck with me and we‘re not even in the same continent. I can‘t imagine how the relatives and friends feel.
There is a lot of climate anxiety and fear around, and these sorts of repressive actions, or even the inactions following desperate moves, serve to strengthen these feelings.
Wish the best for this woman, some people say or think things like “old people (boomers) don’t care” etc. and I admit I did too, but she proved it wrong, the climate concerns everyone.
