At 3:30 on Saturday, March 13th I’ll be speaking about anarchism and fiction at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair in San Francisco. I hope that folks can make it out! I’ll be doing a slightly different talk than I did on my tour, too, for folks who’ve already seen me talk about the subject.

thanks, Riot Joke!

In what is essentially a textbook case of scapegoating, Fish & Wildlife have begun this years round of sea lion killing. For background about the whole thing, there’s an ORC article from two years ago that sums up the problem (the short version is: there’s a dam in the river that kills salmon, and the fish pool up at the base of it, so sea lions hang out at the base to hunt, but people get upset because they want to raise fishing quotas and can’t because the sea lions are eating some tiny percentage of the fish). Anyhow, In Defense of Animals set up a protest the day after the first killing of the season. We drove up to Bonneville Dam and had ourselves a little media spectacle of a protest. What matters, though, is a continued presence, to let people know that yes, folks are watching this despicable act.

I also got to see a fish ladder in person, and see some awesomely pretty fish. More pictures after the break.

above: the sea lion traps

]]> http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/2010/03/protesting-sea-lion-slaughter-at-bonneville-dam/feed/ http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/2010/03/political-prisoners-with-march-birthdays/ http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/2010/03/political-prisoners-with-march-birthdays/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:16:49 +0000 Magpie http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/?p=965

(click on image for poster-size pdf).

I got an email from the Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective with this poster, that goes over a few political prisoners with birthdays in march. The text on the poster is as follows:

Send a birthday card to these political prisoners. It’s an easy way to help remind these freedom fighters they aren’t forgotten. If you make one, remember–don’t use anything like white-out, stickers, tape or glitter. We also recommend that you put your name and address and their name and prisoner number on the card, lest the authorities “lose” the envelope and forget where it is going. If you would like to add a birthday, email us at ppbirthday@riseup.net. Brought to you with love by the Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective.

RICHARD MAFUNDI LAKE
#079972
Donaldson CF
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023-7299
March 1, 1940
Richard Mafundi Lake was a long-time organizer against racist police brutality in Alabama. To stop his organizing work, he was sentenced in 1983 under Alabama’s Habitual Offender Act to life in prison.

HUGO L.A. PINELL
#A88401
SHH D3-221
PO Box 7500
Crescent City, California
95531-7500
March 10, 1945
Hugo Yogi Pinell has spent the last *42* years in prison — 34 of them in solitary! He hasn’t had a write-up in 24 years. Why so long? Why so many years? The answer, not surprisingly, is politics. Hugo was a student and comrade of the legendary Black Panther Field Marshall, the late George Jackson, with whom he worked to organize other Black prisoners against the racist violence and prison conditions of the ’60s and ’70s. www.hugopinell.org

CAROLYN FELDMAN
770 Iowa St.
Dubuque, IA 52001
March 30th
Carrie is accused of nothing more than refusing to give testimony to a grand jury seeking to indict members of the Animal Liberation Front. Right now she is in 23 hour a day lockdown and refused visits from anyone but her immediate family. She is a dedicated activist, and has worked with a variety of projects in the Twin Cities, including Coldsnap Legal Collective, EWOK!, and the Jack Pine Community Center.

JAAN K. LAAMAN
10372-016/ Box 24550
Tucson, AZ 85734
USP Tucson
March 21, 1948
Jaan Karl Laaman is an anti-imperialist political prisoner, imprisoned for actions carried out by United Freedom Front (UFF), a left-wing guerrilla group active in the US in the early ’80s. He is currently serving a 98 years sentence for charges ranging from Seditious Conspiracy, firefights with government forces and weapon possession.
On January 16, 1972, a group calling itself the People’s Liberation Army in New Hampshire planted four bombs in various locations in Manchester, New Hampshire. Three of the bombs exploded shattering the windows of police and fire headquarters. The fourth device was found unexploded in the police chief’s office.
Jaan Laaman and another person, Anne Holt, were arrested and charged with the attacks. The Justice Department stated they found a letter on one of the arrested claiming responsibility for the action. Jaan was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison. After winning an appeal and getting some of his sentence reduced, he was released in 1978. Jaan quickly stepped back into the political life and in 1979 he and his comrade Kazi Toure helped to organize the Amandla Festival of Unity. This Concert helped to fight racism in Boston, where it was held, and raised money to send to freedom fighters in South Africa. This activity along with the anti-racist and community security work he was doing led to increased police and Klan harassment, so Jaan, once again, went underground and joined
the armed clandestine movement.
Jaan joined up with a group known as the United Freedom Front, which consisted of former members of the Sam Melville-Jonathan Jackson goup and other revolutionaries. The group targeted government institutions and major corporations that had ties to the South African Apartheid system or right-wing paramilitaries in Central America. This included taking actions directly against the South African and United States governments, attacking various government buildings.
The UFF continued their activities for several years, funding their actions through bank expropriations. Then on February 7, 1982, Jaan Laaman and another UFF member, Kazi Toure, were involved in a shoot out with police. While Jaan managed to escape, Kazi was arrested. Despite the arrest, the group continued their operations. On November 4, 1984, five members of the group, including Jaan Laaman, were arrested. Nearly six months later, the last two remaining members were arrested.

The looters are after food, first and foremost. The army and the police should be helping the looters recover and distribute food. This is capitalism and government at their absolute and simplest worst. They did it in New Orleans as well. Honestly: how can anyone think that government is a good idea? Here’s the time that the idea of centralized governance seems best, helping respond to a crisis, yet instead of helping, they are protecting their hegemony and, well, killing people who are trying to survive.

I’ve been continuing to document the Palomar Pipeline and its course through the public lands of Oregon. This time, I went out to the Solo Timber Sale (timber sales have funny names like “Straw Devil”, “Biscuit”, and, in this case, “Solo”). It was a controversial timber sale that’s been fought for by environmentalists and won. Tree sits were erected, rare lichens were found, and the courts and the public reached the conclusion that it ought not be logged. But, of course, pipelines are immune to all those pesky environmental restrictions, so they’re planning on punching right through this isolated, beautiful bit of old growth forest. A friend and I went up to explore, and I took my sturdy minivan on sketchy icy roads that of course I probably ought not have.

(click on pictures for slightly larger versions).

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