From: Kalanu!
Hello friends;
Some of you might have heard me ranting on about the Green Scare, the FBI led witch hunt that has seen almost 20 non-violent environmental activists sentenced to hard time in prison as domestic terrorists.
I don't want to get into the whole background story on this. Needless to say, one of the most disturbing cases that we've been watching involves a 19 year old paid FBI agent provocateur named 'Anna', who strung along a young man and entrapped him into planning with her and two others the destruction of a dam in California.
The bombing never happened, and the planning of it would have never gotten as far as it did were it not for Anna, who went out of her way to keep the group together and on track.
An article about Anna's role in this case is in a mainstream fashion magazine this month.
From what I've read, it's a clear case of FBI entrapment, yet yesterday Eric McDavid, a gentle, peaceful individual was sentenced to 19 years and 7 months! for his role in this 'eco-terror' act that never even happened.
I'm blown away, as no doubt anyone else who has been following this case is. Regardless of whether you think Eric conspired with Anna to blow up a dam, should he have been given a sentence stronger than that which murderers and rapists would receive?
Maybe you don't think there is a war against nature and the defenders of nature. Maybe you have blind trust in the US justice system.
Please read up on this and the other cases (Briana Waters is facing 20 years in prison this month for her alleged role as a lookout in an arson at a university of Washington biotech lab. A guilty verdict in her case was reached after one of the people who actually took part in the arson testified against her in exchange for leniency. There was no other evidence against her.)
Previous to Eric's sentencing, the most shocking repression occurred when Jeff Luers, a well-known forest activist from Oregon, was sentenced to 22 years for burning three SUV's. After 7 years in prison, his sentence has now been reduced to 10 years, which is still a lot of time when you consider the case of the US Forest Service firefighter who was given 3 years for over 30 fires she started in order to get overtime work. But Jeff was considered an eco-terrorist because he prefers trees and clean air to SUVs.
Any of us who take a stand for the earth need to be worried. There are activists facing hard time in these cases not because they committed the crimes, but because the people who commit acts of property destruction in the name of the earth often do so without leaving a trail, or when caught are urged to name certain individuals in exchange for leniency.
As in the case of Tre Arrow, it's clear that those whose names and voices are recognized and respected in this movement are silenced with false charges. Often it's the above-ground activists that must pay when the police state cannot find the actual underground perpetrators.
Aboveground activists such as the SHAC 7, a group of 6 young people from New Jersey, received sentences of two to six years for running a website that encouraged non-violent action against companies that perform animal testing. They were never even accused of a crime, just running a website.
The same arson or sabotage that would get anyone else a mischief charge and a suspended sentence is considered domestic terrorism if committed by people who care about the environment. It's also important to realize that regardless of who committed these acts of so-called 'eco-terror' that no one has ever been harmed in the process.
It doesn't matter in Eric's case because the action never happened, and never would have. Eric has been sentenced to 19 years and seven months for an alleged thought crime.
Decide for yourself whether the young activists whose lives are being ruined deserve to be treated as terrorists. Act accordingly if you believe that a serious injustice has occurred.
For more info on this case and others in the Green Scare, visit these links
http://bullsheet.wordpress.com/category/green-scare/
http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Scare
-in solidarity with all life,
Kalanu
http://treesit.blogspot.com
http://bullsheet.wordpress.com
http://pedaltopetal.blogspot.com
"Our work will be unfinished until not one human being is hungry or battered, not one single person is forced to die in war, not one innocent languishes imprisoned and no one is persecuted for his or her beliefs." - Leonard Peltier
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