The Six Million Dollar SLAPP
Listening to: The same...
Reposted from: http://artthreat.net/2008/05/six-million-dolla-slapp
The Six Million Dollar SLAPP by Tim McSorley (Updated May 5)
Looks like Barrick Gold is following up on a previous threat:
On April 30th, Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold announced it is making good on threat of legal action against a small, non-profit Quebec publishing house. The world's largest gold mining company - which took in $1.73 billion last year - is suing Les Éditions Écosociété and the authors of the book Noir Canada: pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique for an incredible six million dollars - 25 times the amount the publisher says it makes in a year. The company also wants all copies of the book pulled from shelves.
The books principal author, Alain Denault, and the publishing house immediately denounced the lawsuit as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) meant simply to silence the mining company's critics. Both the author and the publisher have pointed out that the book is thoroughly researched and relies heavily on research that is publicly available.
In the suit, Barrick claims it has been defamed by the contents of the book, and that the authors and publisher have undertaken a widespread smear campaign against the company. The book outlines alleged human rights abuses carried out by Barrick Gold in various African countries, including the deaths of more than 50 Tanzanians in 1996 and fueling the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A spokesperson for Écosociété has called on the Quebec government to act quickly to instate legislation that would outlaw SLAPP lawsuits. Deneault and Guy Cheyney, coordinator at Éditions Écosociété, will be holding a press conference Monday, presumably to discuss their next step.
UPDATE - MAY 5TH: At their press conference today, Cheyney and Denault made an appeal for financial support from the population and called on the Quebec government to pass legislation against SLAPPs. Full text of their press release and interview with Alain Deneault after the jump (in French).
Interview with Alain Deneault at today's press conference (vis Addax)
Reposted from: http://artthreat.net/2008/05/six-million-dolla-slapp
The Six Million Dollar SLAPP by Tim McSorley (Updated May 5)
Looks like Barrick Gold is following up on a previous threat:
On April 30th, Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold announced it is making good on threat of legal action against a small, non-profit Quebec publishing house. The world's largest gold mining company - which took in $1.73 billion last year - is suing Les Éditions Écosociété and the authors of the book Noir Canada: pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique for an incredible six million dollars - 25 times the amount the publisher says it makes in a year. The company also wants all copies of the book pulled from shelves.
The books principal author, Alain Denault, and the publishing house immediately denounced the lawsuit as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) meant simply to silence the mining company's critics. Both the author and the publisher have pointed out that the book is thoroughly researched and relies heavily on research that is publicly available.
In the suit, Barrick claims it has been defamed by the contents of the book, and that the authors and publisher have undertaken a widespread smear campaign against the company. The book outlines alleged human rights abuses carried out by Barrick Gold in various African countries, including the deaths of more than 50 Tanzanians in 1996 and fueling the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A spokesperson for Écosociété has called on the Quebec government to act quickly to instate legislation that would outlaw SLAPP lawsuits. Deneault and Guy Cheyney, coordinator at Éditions Écosociété, will be holding a press conference Monday, presumably to discuss their next step.
UPDATE - MAY 5TH: At their press conference today, Cheyney and Denault made an appeal for financial support from the population and called on the Quebec government to pass legislation against SLAPPs. Full text of their press release and interview with Alain Deneault after the jump (in French).
Interview with Alain Deneault at today's press conference (vis Addax)