Matanza silenciosa: Cómo las restricciones en la libertad de opinión y de expresión mantienen escondidos los abusos a animales y reprimen el activismo por el bienestar animal en Europa y Estados Unidos.

Autores/as

  • Mahalia Kahsay University of Michigan Law School

Resumen

Miles de millones de animales en todo el mundo se utilizan anualmente para el consumo humano. La industria agrícola goza de un alto nivel de protección estatal debido a su papel en el suministro de alimentos a la población y, a su vez, a la seguridad de la nación. En Europa y los Estados Unidos, los activistas hacen desafíos similares a las prácticas de la industria animal del status quo: usan cámaras de vídeo para exponer los abusos a los animales y compartir sus hallazgos con el público. Varios estados de EE.UU. con importantes industrias agrícolas y ganaderas han aprobado leyes "ag-gag" destinadas a prohibir muchas de estas actividades, incluida la filmación de instalaciones y la entrada a mataderos con falsos pretextos. Al encontrar que estas leyes restringen la libertad de expresión y obstaculizan los esfuerzos para reunir pruebas que permitan denunciar, los activistas han cuestionado estas leyes en los tribunales de los distritos federales de los Estados Unidos. Este documento examina tres de estas demandas, incluidas dos en las que los activistas ganaron bastante "fácilmente" bajo la favorable jurisprudencia de la libertad de expresión de los EE.UU. A continuación, comparo estos casos con tres casos de libertad de opinión y expresión presentados por animalistas en Europa. Utilizo esta comparación para argumentar que es improbable que incluso las leyes "ag-gag" bien redactadas y elaboradas estratégicamente resistan el escrutinio judicial en el futuro porque la jurisprudencia de la libertad de expresión de los EE.UU. existe como medida de protección contra cada uno de los propósitos de las leyes “ag-gag”: el silenciamiento del discurso dirigido por el gobierno a petición de un poderoso grupo industrial.

Palabras clave

Primera Enmienda, libertad de expresión, ag-gag

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Biografía del autor/a

Mahalia Kahsay, University of Michigan Law School

Law student

Publicado

11-01-2019

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