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From: Break Chains <breakthechains02@yahoo.com><br>
Subject: Rob los Ricos to Be Released From Prison June 29, 2006 <br><br>
<br>
Rob los Ricos to Be Released From Prison June 29, 2006 <br><br>
Anarchist activist plans summer/fall speaking tour. <br><br>
By: Marlena Gangi <br>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20060628055721.02a6dc10@freedomarchives.org.0" width=17 height=8 alt="[]">
<a href="mailto:en_lucha@riseup.net">en_lucha@riseup.net</a>
<br><br>
Rob Thaxton, AKA Rob los Ricos, will be released from the Oregon State
Correctional Facility on June 29 after having served seven years as a
convicted felon. <br><br>
Thaxton, a Chicano anarchist, was arrested for hitting an officer on his
shoulder with a rock during the June 18, 1999 Reclaim the Streets
demonstration (which came to be a police riot) in Eugene, Oregon. Of the
twenty-one people arrested in connection with the June 18 protest,
Thaxton received the stiffest charges: Assault II, Riot and Attempted
Assault I. An Attempted Murder charge was briefly brought forth and then
dropped. <br><br>
The June 18 protest was timed to coincide with the 25th G8 summit in
Kolm, Germany. Eugene was one of 140 cities that rose up against the
institutions of global capitalism that day. <br><br>
Thaxton explains, "The G8 Summit is where the representatives of the
eight wealthiest nations in the world come together to figure out what to
do with the rest of us." <br><br>
Raised in the Texas panhandle Thaxton, 46, began his activism at the age
of twelve. He came of age during the Civil Rights struggle and
institutionalized racism served as an early catalyst for his political
leanings. <br><br>
"I was called "nigger" a lot by redneck kids. I admired
Blacks for standing up for their rights. Muhammed Ali's refusal to enter
the army blew my mind. 'No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger,' Ali
explained." <br><br>
The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy
left an early mark. <br><br>
"The so-called 'race riots,' the anti-war protests, the whole
struggle for basic human rights that took place in this country that was
supposedly built on a foundation of democracy; I saw the hypocrisy and
refused to accept the myth of equality. I read the Communist Manifesto
and considered myself to be a revolutionary by the age of twelve. I
understood that the police and government were not my friends."
<br><br>
While in high school and as a college student, Thaxton went on to
organize with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador,
ACT UP and served as Program Director at KNON-FM "the people's radio
station" in Dallas. <br><br>
Organizing in Austin, Thaxton worked with the growing anarchist community
there as well as with the Palestine Solidarity committee, Earth First!
and the Black Banner brigade. He traveled to Portland to write for the
Anarchist Info Shop. In Columbia, Missouri, he helped publish Anarchy: A
Journal of Desire Armed. It was at this time that Thaxton's activity came
into the scrutiny of the FBI. He headed back to Dallas. <br><br>
The Reagan era left Thaxton with little hope for the future and even less
for the present. Activism was in lull; greed was good. <br><br>
"In between minimum wage jobs and periods of homelessness I felt
myself drawn to street life. I did hard drugs and hung out a lot with
hookers, hustlers and junkies doing the kinds of things people like us
did." <br><br>
Thaxton lived in Hawaii before returning to Portland where he became a
father. As his relationship with the mother of his daughter came to an
end, he found himself once again shooting up hard drugs and lost in the
life of the streets. <br><br>
"When faced with heart rendering decisions, I turned to drugs to
avoid the situation for awhile. It took the love of a remarkable woman
and the unconditional support of activist friends to overcome this way of
thinking." <br><br>
Set on turning his life around to create an existence independent of
dominant culture, Thaxton headed deep into the woods of southern Oregon
with like-minded activists. <br><br>
"To live outdoors, free of authority, growing our own food, drinking
water from springs, building our own housing: I finally came to accept
myself, my circumstances and decisions that defined my life as it existed
up to 1999." <br><br>
And then came the June 18 International Day of Solidarity in opposition
to the G8 Summit. <br><br>
"There was an anarchist gathering in Eugene on June 16. My friends
had enough sense to leave on the 18th, but not me." June 18 was to
be his last day of freedom. <br><br>
Finding himself immersed in the daylong Reclaim the Streets clash between
police and protesters, Thaxton was caught in a crowd cordoned off by
riot-geared police. <br><br>
"We were standing around, illegally blocking traffic. Out of sheer
boredom a Taco Bell was attacked. They gave an order to disperse but they
had us surrounded. Cops in protective gear shot mace and clubbed
us." <br><br>
Thaxton threw a rock in the direction of charging police in an effort to
put distance between them and him. The rock connected. Sgt. Larry
Blackwell, the cop who took the hit, raced toward Thaxton in a rage.
Unable to escape, Thaxton was thrown face first to the pavement and
repeatedly clubbed. His left shoulder was dislocated when pulled to his
feet. As blood dripped from his nose broken by the first impact, he was
told that he should have been shot. When transported to the Lane County
Jail, police threatened to "get him" in his cell. <br><br>
After a brief exam, he was given Vicodin and a sling for his arm. His
booking photo was digitally altered to delete gashes on the swollen and
purple left side of his face. <br><br>
"The nurse refused to examine my scalp because of the amount of
dried blood." <br><br>
Thaxton's bail was set at $240,00. In a trial fraught with bias as Judge
Mary Ann Bearden continually sided with the prosecutor, Bearden also
allowed jury members to be seated who stated that they could not be
impartial about anarchists given the news coverage of the events of June
18. <br><br>
In September of 1999, Thaxton was sentenced to 70 months for Assault II.
Bearden departed from Measure 11 sentencing guidelines to hand down18
months for Riot. The sentences ran consecutively rather that
concurrently. <br><br>
Throughout his incarceration, Thaxton has been singled out for harsh
treatment because of his ethnicity and unrepentant political stance. When
the Oregon Department of Corrections "documented" anarchists as
a Security Threat Group, they became designated gang members. Thaxton's
incoming mail including publications by or about anarchists was
intercepted. This included anything with the anarchist Circle A insignia.
<br><br>
Not one to retreat, Thaxton sent a call to supporters to mail in post
cards that displayed the Circle A with the caption "This is Not a
Gang Symbol." Some 500 cards rolled in and Thaxton was sent to
solitary for 4 months. Former anarchist political prisoner Brian
McCarville filed suit to change this mail rule and won. Anarchist
prisoners were once again allowed to receive anarchist material.
<br><br>
For one who has written countless articles during his imprisonment
ranging from commentary to political theory and book reviews, Thaxton is
uncharacteristically mum on the form that his activism will take once
released. Well published before his arrest, Thaxton has received
international attention throughout the years as anarcho list serves and
websites ring electric with what many perceive to be the sheer injustice
of his trial and sentence. <br><br>
"I've been down so long, I'm really not sure what it looks like on
the outside," he says. <br><br>
He expresses some concern about what supporters might expect him to do or
be once freedom is granted. <br><br>
"I'm no movement poster dude. I'm flawed and have relationships to
mend. I plan to keep writing, I'm working on scheduling a speaking tour
and am intent on pulling my articles into book form and have it published
sometime this fall. For now, I can't really say too much about what my
future might hold. I'm just looking forward to getting out." <br>
@@@@@@@@ <br><br>
Rob Thaxton is featured as a contributing author in the recently released
Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of Earth from AK Press. Thaxton
will give a reading presentation on Saturday, July 1 at Laughing Horse
Bookstore 12 NE 10th St. Portland Oregon. For more information call
503.493.2505. <br>
@@@@@@@@ <br><br>
Marlena Gangi is an activist, educator and photojournalist. She resides
in Portland.<br><br>
<br>
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