Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Environmentalist Sentenced to 21 years as a "Terrorist"

Green Scare | 05.02.2009 21:38 | Ecology | Repression | Social Struggles | World

Environmentalist Sentenced to 21 Years as a “Terrorist”; Violent Racists Receive Half That
By Will Potter

Marie Mason - Sentenced to 21 Years
Marie Mason - Sentenced to 21 Years


I’ve written a lot of articles like this, when prison sentences are handed down to activists who have been labeled “terrorists” for property crimes, and instead of getting easier it just keeps getting harder. It’s getting harder to write about this rationally, calmly. These cases are getting worse, folks. The government is growing increasingly aggressive in its prosecutions, and increasingly transparent in its tactics.

Marie Mason, a longtime environmental activist [1] and mother of two, was sentenced this afternoon to 21 years in prison, [2] as a “terrorist,” for non-violent property crimes in the name of defending the environment. It’s a historic sentence, the longest yet for any of these Green Scare cases. [3]

In the lead up to her sentencing, the FBI took their “eco-terrorist” scare-mongering to a new level. Mason’s friends and family were prepared to attend the sentencing hearing and support her at such a terrible moment in her life. So what did the FBI do? Agents had the audacity to warn the press that “terrorists” might be attending Mason’s sentencing.[4] They said they “expect members of the eco-terrorist groups, the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front to gather and protest.” This, of course, is a bold-faced lie. Any FBI agents worth their salt knows that clandestine organizations like the ALF and ELF do not protest: they are illegal, underground groups. This was a calculated scare-mongering move meant to make normal, everyday people afraid of showing up to a public court proceeding, lest they be labeled as members of the “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

Let me reiterate this: The government made a concerted effort to demonize not just the defendant, but anyone who supports the defendant by attending a public court proceeding. Regardless of how you feel about Marie Mason, or the Green Scare more broadly, moves like this are antithetical to any semblance of a democracy. Intimidating citizens to keep them from attending a politicized court date is a defining characteristic of an out-and-out police state.

If that isn’t enough, let’s look at Mason’s sentence. Twenty-one years for arson that caused about $1 million in damage to genetic-engineering research at Michigan State University and didn’t harm anyone.

By comparison, on Monday the FBI put out a press release patting themselves on the back for the guilty pleas of four men who assaulted three African-Americans on the night of President Barack Obama’s election victory. [I've written previously about how the FBI is more concerned about environmental activists than presidential assassination attempts]. [5]

From the FBI’s news release: [6]

Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten Island, a predominantly African-American neighborhood, where they came upon an African-American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teenager with a metal pipe and Garaventa hit him with a collapsible police baton.

The expected sentences for racist, violent attacks meant to punish people for voting for a black man? Between 10 and 12 years. That’s about half of Marie Mason’s.

The government’s press release said that “this successful prosecution sends a clear message.”

What is the message that you think it sends?

Notes
[1]  http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/2009/02/03/marie-mason-refusal-to-snitch/
[2]  http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/39149257.html
[3]  http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/green-scare
[4]  http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=9793261&nav=menu25_2
[5]  http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/2008/11/25/fbi-puts-eco-terrorists-above-osama-and-assassination-attempts/
[6]  http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/nyfo020209.htm

Green Scare
- Homepage: http://www.greenisthenewred.com

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

dont do.....

05.02.2009 22:36

the crime unless you are prepared to do the time (oh yea an...check out what the time is).
Feel sad for her - hope she is strong is made strong and makes others strong - transform, transform...
stop your f**king protesting bullshit, your vandilizings and your winging- there is another way - seek it.

terry errorist


from an old friend (+ response to terry errorist)

06.02.2009 09:38

i know Marie personally and am really really shocked at her sentence. it's ridiculous and saddening and enraging all at the same time.

i don't necessarily support the actions that she was arrested and charged for (because they were probably counter-productive in the long run) but bear in mind, before judging her, that a) this was a long time ago and b) she does/did a lot of other really good work in local community groups and the IWW union before she was arrested. so please don't just assume that this is all she ever did, because she is so much more than a couple of arson attacks in the 1980s.

if you want to send her a letter, her current address is:

Marie Jeanette Mason
Clinton County Jail
1347 E Townsend Rd.
Saint Johns, MI 48879
USA

she really likes people to write to her, so please do.

but as the big man Joe Hill said before he went to the gallows:

"Don't mourn, organise".

lolwob


Red and Green are both Black

06.02.2009 12:04

"Around 11:30pm last night (2/7/08), local Cincinnati, Ohio, Earth First organizer Marie Mason was terrorized by local police after her 16-year-old daughter discovered a plainclothes pig fumbling underneath the backside of her car. He showed his badge and claimed to be searching for prowlers. A short time later the same plainclothes officer--accompanied by a uniformed officer--was found attempting to enter the front door of the home without knocking. When confronted they exited the house and claimed the reason why they were looking under the car is to see if her catalytic converter was stolen. They soon left.

With memories of Judi Bari still fresh Marie and a friend went out to check under the car and discovered a GPS unit connected to the car with magnets (the device clearly said GPS on its backside). They removed the unit and were able to inspect it for a couple moments before a large pickup truck came speeding over the curb into the front yard with 4-5 plainclothes police officers who jumped out with guns drawn. They ordered Marie, her 16 year old daughter, and a male friend to the ground and took the GPS unit back by force. They then played good cop, bad cop routine for 20-30 minutes, claiming they knew what Marie was up to and generally terrorizing/interrogating the three. At one point, one of the officers called Marie's daughter by name and made the comment: "Shouldn't you be at your dad's tonight?""


Whatever colour shirt she was wearing, whatever cause she was espousing, that isn't relevant compared to the state tactics. In prison Marie is a political prisoner worthy of support from any anarchist, red or green. We are all Black in the dark of night..

Terry Errorist should go hang. Do you feel sorry for her and wish her strength even as you applaud her imprisonment for damaging property? Seriously, someone should hang your head for shame.

ambigram
- Homepage: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080207224512963


errorist

07.02.2009 02:56

Apropos.

Oh fuck you, errorist.

"don't do the crime unless you're prepared to do the time" is a justification for acqueiscence to any totalitarian, draconian state policy. What this woman did would seem unwise to most people. But it was brave and she's been treated unjustly. If we can't even recognise that much we're truly fucked.

anon


Call for Justice

07.02.2009 11:13

errorist is right to say don't do it if you won't do the time. BUT do what? The message in that sentence is that GM cannot be stopped by what was done. It can only be stopped if those who usurp God are killed.

What is the sentence for murder over there? The God the Americans fear is obviously Satan. When they crowd into their Churches, They insult the true God of Creation, their whole way of life is a devotion to destroying Earth's ability to support God's Creation of Life. Their live the Satanic Lifestyle.

Anoner
mail e-mail: kburchell@hot,ail.co.uk


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech