The 7th Annual Anarchist Cafe!

The 7th Annual
*****A N A R C H I S T C A F E*****

Vegan dinner!! Performers!! DJs!! and more!!

Friday * March 12, 2004 * 6pm ‘til late
225 Portrero Ave., at 16th Street
San Francisco

A benefit for The Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair
and political prisoner Sherman Austin

$5 - $15 donation requested
No one turned away for lack of funds

INDOOR PERFORMANCE AREA including
music, guest speakers, spoken word, and poetry

"BOOTY, BREAKS AND BALACLAVAS"
OUTDOOR DJ AREA by Subversive Soundz

VIDEO by Video Activist Network

dinner 6:30
performers indoors 7-10
video 8-9
dancing 9 ‘til midnight

all ages! kid friendly!

drug and alcohol free space.
wheelchair accessible.


Who is Sherman Austin?

Sherman Austin, a 20 year-old, black, Southern California anarchist, was the webmaster of the site http://www.raisethefist.com. He is the first person to be charged under 18 U.S.C. 842(p), a 1997 "anti-terrorism" law authored by California Senator Dianne Feinstein. What was Austin’s crime? He had had offered free hosting and a link on his website to a site called The Reclaim Guide, offering general security culture information along with a small portion dealing with explosives, authored by a suburban white youth from a wealthy, conservative family.

On August 4, Sherman Austin was sentened to one year in federal prison and three years probation. His probation includes the following terms: Austin cannot possess or access a computer of any kind without prior approval of his probation officer; if he gets that approval, the equipment is subject to monitoring and to search and seizure at any time, without notice; he must surrender his phone, DSL, electric, and satellite bills to his probation officer; and he cannot associate with any person or group--environmental, social justice, political, or economic--that seeks to change the government in any way.

Although Austin initially planned to fight the charge and go to trial, he accepted a plea bargain after being threatened with serving up to 20 years in jail. Despite both the FBI and the Justice Department agreeing on a sentence of four months in jail and four months in community confinement, the judge increased the sentence to set an example for future "revolutionaries."


For more information about Sherman Austin, please see:

http://www.freesherman.org
http://www.counterpunch.org/merlin08162003.html
http://rwor.org/a/1217/austin.htm
http://www.infoshop.org/shermanaustin.html