I should have posted something about this earlier, but today is the last day of the International Weekend of Resistance Against the Green Scare. And for those that aren’t quite in the mental space to go out and participate in some direct action or if you’d like to highlight your other action(s), i’m dedicating this week’s letter to solidarity with the weekend of resistance. But rather than write yet another letter to yet another corporate office, let’s show some love for those who are in prison.
The Weekend of Resistance started as the International Weekend of Resistance to Support Free Luers, a political prisoner at Oregon State Penitentiary. Here is a clip from Free’s support site:
In June 2001, 23 year-old forest defense activist Jeffrey “Free” Luers was sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for the burning of three Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV’s) in Eugene, Oregon. To make a statement about global warming, Jeff and his codefendent, Craig ‘Critter’ Marshall, set fire to 3 SUVs at a Eugene car dealership. Their stated purpose was to raise awareness about global warming and the role that SUVs play in that process. No one was hurt in this action nor was that the intent. An arson specialist at trial confirmed that the action did not pose any threat to people based on its size and distance from any fuel source. Despite the fact that this action hurt no one, caused only $40,000 in damages and the cars were later resold, Jeff was sent to prison for a sentence considerably longer than those convicted of murder, kidnapping and rape in Oregon state. Jeff is a political prisoner and continues to write and agitate for his release while imprisoned at Oregon State Penetentiary. His appeal was filed in January 2002 and oral arguments before the Oregon Court of Appeals were heard on November 30, 2005. The judge has not yet issued his opinion.
I do not persyanlly know Free. We’ve never met. But i’ve been familiar with his case from the beginning. His obscenely long sentencing sent shockwaves through the radical environmental movement, of which i am proudly a part. We had always known that we were targeted for political crimes. Many of us have spent time in jail or prison for our actions. But Free’s case marked a new era for the environmental and animal rights movement. An era plagued by the same fervor as the COINTELPRO witch hunts of the 60s and 70s and the Red Scare hunts of the 1950s. An era where even a website could land you in prison for a few years. An era that is now affectionately called the Green Scare.
In a failrly recent article written by Free, he talks about this upsurge in government repression and how the FBI has dedicated more time and energy towards targeting activists (the #1 domestic terrorist threat, according to the FBI) than it has to groups such as al-Qaeda. In the article, he also reminds us that we cannot believe that this is the first time that such represssion has happened and that we must learn lessons from similar targeting that occured against groups like the Amercan Indian Movement and the Black Panther Party. And in some ways, we have all learned a lot. In fact, the FBI has discovered that its Operation Backfire has, in fact, backfired. Not only has a once splintered environmental-animal lib movement found itself reuniting, but the surge of prisoner solidarity work has spawned many relationships that otherwise may never have formed. For example, a recent animal liberation conference in the northeast US dedicated more time to the issue of prisoner support work, like that of the Jericho Movement, than it did to campaigns about non-humyn animals; centralizing a new dialogue in the animal lib movement about racism and the prison-industrial complex. In an odd way, these attacks have been one of the best things to happen in recent hystory for White radicals in the US. But that is no reason for us to allow these people who have risked so much for a better world to be left alone to rot in prison.
Free doesn’t deny the allegations against him. He simply argues that his sentencing, over twice that of the average convicted rapist, outweighs the crime considering the fact that the only damage done was to three SUVs that were later resold. The average sentence for arson, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, is 5.5 years, one-quarter of Free’s sentence.
Free has continued his struggle in prison. He has never allowed the cold walls to silence him. He continues to publish his words in magazines and recently published a zine, Heartcheck, with fellow Oregon political prisoner Rob “los Ricos” Thaxton (who is completing his seven-year sentance this month!).
You don’t have to agree with Free or his chosen tactics. A friend and i were talking about the recent round-up of activists in Operation Backfire and the lack of attention it has received outside of the relatively small radical environmental, animal lib, and prison abolitionist movement(s). We agreed that even scarier than the round-up was the complacency surrounding it in the larger radical, progressive, and liberal movements. Its as though people believe that activists such as Free deserve their extraordinary sentences and that people like Daniel McGowan, who has maintained his plea of innocence, deserve to face life in prison because they associate with the likes of Free.
In addition to Operation Backfire, the SHAC 7 were recently convicted of terrorism for hosting a website (the site was forced to shut down, but others have popped up to take its place. CloseHLS is one such site.). They await their sentencing, which will be between two and twenty years each. My friend and i strongly believe that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have learned a lot from the very successful Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign. What they learned most is that you do not go after your target as a whole, you pick it off piece by piece. Those who believe that these arrests and repression will stop with groups like SHAC and Earth First! have not been paying attention to the news. More and more stories are coming out about the FBI infiltrating and spying on peace groups, Indymedia, SOA Watch, and other groups. What all of these groups have in common is a dedication to non-violence and social change that has proven to be successful (HLS is one the verge of its third bankruptcy, the SOA is on the verge of being closed down, Indymedia’s expansive network rivals CNN’s, and so forth). Once they have succeeded in isolating and shutting down groups like SHAC and Earth First!, they will come after others (SOA Watch, International Solidarity Movement, Indymedia, and others have already witnessed imprisonment, Grand Juries, and State repression). A current revision in the House and Senate to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2002, the Act underwhich the SHAC 7 were convicted, would make it so that so much as holding up a sign on a sidewalk could land you in prison for two years as a terrorist. Why has this received no attention outside of the animal lib movement? Do people honestly believe that this will stop with animal lib activists? According to this legislation, groups like PETA could be targeted as terrorist organizations akin to al-Qaeda or the World Church of the Creator. If PETA is a target, NOW and Feminist Majority are targets for their support of economic boycotts. United Students Against Sweatshops are a target. The American Friends Service Committee are a target. Anyone or any organization that threatens the unregulated profits of any corporation strong enough to endorse legislation, is a target.
It is for that reason that these arrests are not just relevent to the animal lib or radical environmental movement. They are relevent to all of us dedicated to positive social change. And if we cannot support those that are in prison now, then we will soon find ourselves isolated and picked off, one-by-one. Even if it is just two sentences to say hi, write a letter to Free to let him know that he is not alone. Because it is not unheard of that you too may find yourself in a Kafka-esque nightmare, hoping only for contact from a friend; contact from a slightly more sane world beyond the cold hard steel.
You can reach Free through the following address:
Jeffrey Luers
#13797671
Oregon State Penitentiary
2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310
If you are looking for more information about the support work that is being done for the Weekend of Resistance, the Houston Indymedia Radio Project and Anarchist Black Cross teamed up this weekend and put together a nice Green Scare Special Edition (listen below) full of interviews about Free Luers, Daniel McGowan, the Green Scare, the SHAC 7, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, Eric McDavid, Zachary Jenson and other such vital topics.
