Resistance Against the Green Scare

RESISTING THE GREEN SCARE: A Bay Area Event in Solidarity with Political Prisoner Jeff "Free" Luers and Environmental/Animal Rights Activists Most Recently Targeted by State Repression. (see below for more background information) Saturday, June 10th Station 40 (3030 B 16th Street @ Mission, San Francisco) Doors at 1:30pm/Show at 2:00pm sharp $3-$8 sliding scale, all money to benefit political prisoners All ages welcome Featuring Bands, Speakers, and Free Vegan Food! Acts of Sedition Myth of Progress Entartete Kunst Chest Full of Arrows Speakers include: Richard Brown -Black Panther Grand Jury Resister, as well several individuals who will provide information & context on the current "Green Scare." Please join us! For questions contact: caps@riseup.net On June 10th, San Francisco will participate in the International Weekend of Resistance Against the Green Scare, along with over 20 other cities worldwide, in order to show solidarity and support for those facing charges and harassment in the recent wave of repression against Eco and Animal Rights activists. At this event, we also aim to contextualize the Green Scare amidst the historic and on-going government oppression and harassment faced by people of color here and abroad, particularly in their struggles for liberation. _______________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 2006 Resisting the “Green Scare” December 7, 2005, marked the beginning of the largest roundup of environmental and animal rights activists in U.S. history. There have now been nearly 20 arrests and many Grand Jury subpoenas. The nation-wide sweep of arrests, dubbed “Operation Backfire,” has been described by the FBI as a major hit to environmentalists and animal rights activists who engage in destruction of property as a means to defend wild lands and lives of animals. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stated in January that, “Investigating and preventing animal rights and environmental extremism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic priorities”. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) said. "The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people. The attacks of 9/11 killed 3,000. Since 1993, there have been at least five fatal attacks on doctors who performed legal abortions. Eric Rudolph recently pleaded guilty to placing a bomb in a public area during the Olympic Games in 1996, as well as bombing a Birmingham women's clinic and a gay nightclub. All of these cases involved the loss of human life. To date, not a single incident of so-called environmental terrorism has killed anyone." Despite the lack of human injury in any of these actions, the government is threatening extraordinary sentences, ranging from 30 years to life plus 335 years. Similar crimes committed without political motivation receive far shorter sentences and even different charges. For example, a string of nine recent church arsons are being described by the authorities as “youthful pranks”. Environmental activist Jeff “Free” Luers received a disproportionately long sentence (22.8 years) after confessing to attempting to burn three SUVs at a Romania dealership in Eugene, OR. At trial, Jeff clearly stated that his action was a desperate attempt to bring awareness to the destruction of the Earth by this unsustainable form of transportation and its external costs of global warming, pollution, and war for oil. Because of his stated political beliefs, “Free” received an extremely long prison sentence; he is charged with a Measure 11 crime despite the fact that this fire did not endanger any life; and he continues to suffer harassment by the Department of Corrections due to his designation as a member of a Security Threat Group’. June 2006 marks the sixth year that “Free” has been in prison as well as the 3rd year of International Days of Solidarity with him. The focus of international events this year will be on “Operation Backfire” and what many are calling a “Green Scare” campaign of government repression. For more information, http://www.freefreenow.org ********************************************************************** Free All Political Prisoners! Free Jeff 'Free' Luers! http://www.freefreenow.org Resist Grand Juries! http://www.fbiwitchhunt.org