[Ppnews] Support Dakota Organizer Scott DeMuth against AETA!

[Political Prisoner News]

UPDATE  AND  FUND  DRIVE  TO  SUPPORT  SCOTT  DEMUTH!
LETS KEEP HIM OUT!
SUPPORT DAKOTA LIBERATION!
FIGHT THE GREEN SCARE & RESIST THE REPRESSION OF ALL SOCIAL MOVEMENTS!

<http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/>http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/

     Hello Friends from far and wide!

      I am writing to give you all an update on the legal case of 
Scott DeMuth, a friend of mine who is a Dakota organizer, currently 
facing bogus conspiracy charges under the AETA, Animal Enterprise 
Terrorism Act. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) is a 2006 
piece of legislation that makes interference with and protest of 
animal enterprises, including First Amendment-protected activities, 
terrorism. I also want to ask you ask you to assist in raising the 
$10,000 we need to have by WEDNESDAY, January 13th, for the retainer 
fee for Scott's legal defense. If you are receiving this later than 
this date, please know we are in an ongoing fund drive for legal 
costs! Please read below to learn more about how Scott's case fits 
into a long history of indigenous resistance to genocide and 
colonization, the green scare, and state repression of movements for 
liberation. We are raising funds for Scott to be represented by 
Micheal Deutsch of the People's Law Office in Chicago, a collective 
of radical political lawyers founded forty years ago to investigate 
the murder of Fred Hampton. Deutsch has a long history of supporting 
revolutionary organizers, and we believe he will be the best person 
to represent Scott!

     So, here's the story :

     Scott DeMuth and Carrie Feldman are two Minneapolis activists 
who were subpeonaed to a federal grand jury in Davenport, Iowa, in 
November. Both refused to testify in the grand jury, which was opened 
to investigate a high-profile Animal Liberation Front action that 
occured at the University of Iowa in 2004. Both were given immunity, 
and thus, jailed for their principled refusal to testify. Two days 
after being jailed in contempt of court, Scott received charges of 
conspiracy. It is very clear that the government has very little 
evidence with which to prosecute Scott, manipulating the contents of 
items seized from his home during a house raid prior to RNC in 2008. 
The prosecution has changed their tune a few times, first arguing 
that he was involved in the incident, then implying that they believe 
he has knowledge of those involved. Scott, a graduate sociology 
student at the University of Minnesota, had all his research into 
animal rights movements seized during the 2008 house raid, and has 
stated that as sociologist, his credibility hinges on his commitment 
to protect the privacy of his subjects. The 5 year statute of 
limitations on investigating this action was to end the day after he 
was charged-- which would have meant the incident could no longer be 
investigated. It appears that the government has charged Scott in 
order to keep the case open so they can continue look for people to 
charge. Carrie remains jailed to this day.

     Over the last ten years, the government has led a campaign to 
smash radical environmental and animal liberation movements. This 
campaign is referred to as the "Green Scare" by activists and 
organizers involved in these movements. Some believe that these 
movements have been targeted because they are "bastard movements," 
often unsupported and unpopular within the broader left, and thus a 
place that the government can set precedent and normalize their 
tactics of repression, with passive consent from society and the 
larger left. These same tactics have been used to divide and repress 
social movements against oppression since the chicken & the egg, and 
this will continue as long as our movements remain divided.

     A bit about Scott...

     To give you a sense of Scott as a person and organizer: Scott is 
a Dakota descendant who has committed his life to the Dakota 
Liberation and decolonization struggle. One hundred and fifty years 
ago, Mnisota Makoce, the center of Dakota & Oceti Sakowin homelands, 
was colonized by the settler colonial United States. The Dakota 
Uprising of 1862 led to the exile of all Dakota people from the 
newfound state of Minnesota. After the uprising, women and children 
were force marched to a concentration camp established at the sacred 
Bdote, the site of the Dakota genesis story. Men were force marched 
to Davenport, Iowa, the same place Scott's trial will occur, and to 
Mankato, Minnesota, were the largest mass execution in US history was 
held, of 38 Dakota Warriors, ordered by Abraham Lincoln. Dakota 
people became illegal in Minnesota and governor Ramsey ordered the 
bountied extermination of any Dakota people found within the state. 
Dakota people became scattered, as they have remained since-- spread 
out on reservations and communities in South Dakota, Nebraska, 
Canada, and other surrounding areas.

     Scott is part of many grassroots community projects in 
Minnesota. He is a part of the Anpao Duta (Red Dawn) Collective, a 
Dakota community journal used to build power and awareness in Dakota 
communities of the growing decolonization struggles underway. He is a 
Dakota language student at the University of Minnesota, and part of 
Oyate Nipi Kte (The People Shall Live), a collective working to 
acquire land in order to establish liberated space for traditional 
Dakota language, cultural, spiritual, and community immersion. Scott 
worked to facilitate the creation of Unsettling Minnesota, a settler 
anti-colonial collective working to support Dakota decolonization 
projects. He also participates in EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!), a 
collective committed to supporting political prisoners, particularly 
those targeted by the green scare. Many green scare targets have been 
people doing green scare political prisoner support work like that of 
EWOK!. Scott is recognized and respected within his various 
communities for his commitment to Dakota Liberation & to building 
communities of resistance and solidarity. He is a powerful and 
inspiring person to me, and to many many people in his communities.

     Here in Minneapolis our community is strapped financially, as 
Scott and Carrie are now two more in addition to the eight members of 
the RNC 8 -- a total of ten people in our small community who are 
facing felony, "terrorism" related charges. Please support the 
struggle against state repression, against the AETA and the Green 
Scare, and for Dakota Liberation by donating funds so Scott can get 
the best legal representation available, with Micheal Deutcsh.


DONATE FUNDS ONLINE WITH PAYPAL AT:
<http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/>http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com/

If you don't want to use Paypal, you can make checks out to Coldsnap 
Legal Collective with EWOK! in the memo line, and send them to EWOK! 
c/o Coldsnap, PO Box 50514, Minneapolis, MN 55405.



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