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<dd></font>Operation Backfire Backfires on FBI<br>
<dd>by Jim Flynn<br>
<dd>from the Earth First! Journal, May-June 2006<br>
<dd><a href="http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.earthfirstjournal.org<br><br>
</a>
<dd>Like the cleansing waters of Hurricane Katrina, the FBI’s attack on
the environmental movement has done more for creating community and
organizing resistance to government oppression than we were seemingly
capable of doing ourselves. At first, everyone was hunkering down or
running for cover, moving on or going on hasty, long-term vacations. You
did not know who to talk to or who to trust. Except for the peaceniks,
the once-radical streets of Eugene were strangely quiet. The bars are
full though, and there is a lot of whispering and commiserating going
on.<br><br>
<dd>But out of the flooded backwaters of government repression a new
power has risen. People are coming out of the woodwork to step up and
help their friends in trouble—“retired” old-timers, family members and
relatives, old friends and undaunted youngsters, too. Black Panthers,
AIMsters, feminists, Vietnam-era activists and even those who lived
through the McCarthy era are providing wisdom and camaraderie when, at
one time, there was little connection. Some are organizing and taking off
work to do grand jury roadshows, high school buddies and families are
educating themselves and flying across the country to attend court
hearings, food donations and an outpouring of support are being offered
to affected families, proactive media collectives are forming, lawyers
are volunteering their time, and environmental groups are being recruited
for support. <br><br>
<dd>One thing the FBI will never have is the outpouring of volunteer
energy that comes with being part of a popular movement that is under
attack.<br>
<dd>As you all have probably heard, the FBI has come to town and made a
few arrests. If you live in Eugene like I do, you HAVE HEARD THAT [CUT:
know] the FBI [CUT: apparently] has been in town for many years now and
that NOW they are going to town in an unfettered fashion! And, boy howdy,
are they doing well for themselves! They’ve got a pyromaniac heroin
addict who thinks it’s cool to dress up in body wires and go reminisce
with (read: entrap) his old “friends,” many of whom didn’t even know who
HE [CUT: Jake] was. (JAKE FERGUSON IS HIS NAME, AND, DESPITE ADMITTING TO
PARTICIPATION IN MOST OF THE ARSONS, HE REMAINS FREE AND WITHOUT ANY
CHARGES AGAINST HIM.) They’ve got a dead defendant and 11 live ones (15
IF YOU COUNT THE ONES THEY DON’T HAVE), and the feds keep saying there
are more to come. They’ve got subpoenas served and grand juries convened
in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, and maybe Wyoming and Nevada
soon. And, much to their utter joy and ecstasy, they’ve got people
tripping over each other to sing. They’ve got this snitch in this jail
and that snitch in that jail, juggling to keep them apart and [CUT: the]
costs down. They’ve got site visits and fruitless digging (literally) for
evidence. I’ll bet this is the most fun the FBI has had in years. I’ll
bet they are yucking it up over there at the FBI water cooler. And they
are laughing at us, watching to see what happens next.<br><br>
<dd>The once-untouchable Earth Liberation Front (ELF) movement—so covert
in what it did (does) that the FBI had no leads on the most notorious
acts of politically motivated sabotage the country has seen since Sam
Lovejoy and the Plowshares—has, at least in the media, been reduced to he
said, she said. Now, after all the post-9/11 hearings, the FBI ain’t
looking so good, but let me tell you, once upon a time this outfit had
some respect in this country, some teeth and some muscle. So it is not
the FBI at their best that is claiming to have beaten the ELF, and it is
a shame to have them laughing at us instead of the other way
around.<br><br>
<dd>So what to do? Well, after doing everything we can to help our
INDICTED friends, we need to make sure this never happens again. I’m not
sure where we went wrong, but somewhere along the way someone forgot to
tell SOMEONES not to talk to the police. That message seems to have
gotten lost [CUT: here in Eugene], AND this is not good.<br><br>
<dd>How to fix it? Well, the answer is one word: Community. I know many
of you were hoping for me to say something rad like, “Snitches get
stitches!” Sounds cool, but it just ain’t practical. If we WAS in the
Irish Republican Army or the French Underground, we might be able to have
some solidarity against the coppers and violently enforce a “don’t talk”
rule. But, that ain’t us. Not only are we not that tight of a community,
having grown up in different places and being a bit on the diverse side,
but we also ain’t the violent types—despite what the feds are saying. We
aren’t the ones who beat people up; we get beat up. We don’t kill people;
we get killed. Never forget JUDI Bari, the car bombing and the millions
of dollars the FBI had to pay. Why hasn’t that violent crime by unknown
assailants ever been solved? Not politically convenient maybe?<br><br>
<dd>So, that brings us back to community. Community is how you stop
snitches. If someone knows they have a community to support them while
they are awaiting trial or serving their sentence[ADD COMMA] and that it
will be there for them when they get out, they are much less likely to
inform on others. If we turn our backs on them or vilify them, then what
motivation do they have to resist?<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>Many of the defendants are cooperating with the feds. Some talked
right away, others had to be coerced. They span the whole spectrum, from
Stan squealing like a pig and begging for mercy (read: admitting guilt
for himself and others) within hours of being taken into custody, to
those who just admitted their own roles right away, to those who held out
for months until more than half a dozen others squealed on them AND WERE
[CUT:, and they were literally] left with few options. I can understand
some of their decisions, but we will not know who said exactly what and
who gave up whom until the trial. I would suggest people not judge them
too harshly until we have all the facts.<br><br>
<dd>The old adage goes something like, “If you do the crime, be prepared
to do the time.” Well, if when you commit a crime, you’re thinking,
“Well, even if I get caught, what am I facing, five to eight?” And then
when you do get accused of the crime, you’re facing life plus 335 years!
Well… they CERTAINLY have changed the rules on us, and I don’t think any
of us on the outside can judge what is going on in those interrogation
rooms. BUT WE MUST LEARN TO NOT TALK TO THE COPS. REMEMBER THAT the feds
had NEXT TO NOTHING [CUT: little] until they knocked over the first
domino, then more began to fall. If Stan HAD kept HIS mouth shut, this
would all probably have ended with one pyromaniac heroin addict trying to
sell his story to the FBI for some more dope money and them telling him
to bugger off.<br><br>
<dd>Regardless of the guilt or innocence of those charged, there are some
important lessons that we can learn from everything. I know this is going
to sound really obvious in retrospect, but it must be said: Just cause
someone commits a felony with you, and, therefore, could be busted as
well, does not mean that they won’t talk about it to someone THEY ARE
SLEEPING WITH [CUT: in a bar some day] or go straight to the feds if they
get desperate. So choose your partners very wisely. Think long-term. How
well do you really know this person? Where do you think their head will
be at in 10 years? Does this person that you are considering committing a
felony with have obvious weaknesses like a drug addiction, a dim bulb, a
respectable job/career, a spouse or children? (No overt offense to the
breeders among us, but the feds exploit family ties[CUT COMMA]. SO it has
to be considered a “weakness” here in terms of something that can be used
as leverage against you.) Is this person a happy, productive, long-term
member of your community? Apart from your local community, is this person
a member of the Movement [CAPITALIZE M IN MOVEMENT]? Do they share our
biocentric philosophy or are they just interested in fucking shit up?
Choose your “friends” wisely.<br><br>
<dd>There is a lot of work to do, and we need to keep at it. Decry the
huge sentences our comrades are facing, but bring the issue back to the
state of the environment. Sooner or later the real ecoterrorists (the
Bushes, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the corporations who work for them) must be
brought to task for their crimes. It remains up to us, the radical
environmental movement, to speak out and take action to stop the madness.
With global climate change, rampant deforestation, massive species
extinctions and toxics all around us, we know it is not long before all
hell breaks loose and things get really messy.<br><br>
<dd>Jim Flynn was a member of the EF! Journal editorial collective last
century when all they had to worry about was being associated with the
Unabomber, death threats from loggers, and Roselle smoking pot in the
office. Ah, the good ol' days!<br><br>
<dd>SUBSCRIBE TO EARTH FIRST!,<br>
<dd>THE RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNAL<br><br>
<dd>Earth First! Journal, POB 3023, Tucson, AZ 85702, USA<br>
<dd>(520) 620-6900; tortuga@earthfirstjournal.org<br>
<dd><a href="http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.earthfirstjournal.org<br><br>
<br>
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