Jeff's Work

Writings by Jeffrey 'Free' Luers

1,461

Powers changed hands but powers not changed
when the corrupt still rule and injustice remains
one thousand four hundred and sixty one days
is not a democracy when things stay the same
Another one thousand four hundred and sixty one days
‘til your next opportunity to vote freedom away

Yea, the people have spoken, yet haven’t said much
Disgusted with red voters re-elect blue
In a two party system you’ve the freedom to choose
Between asshole number one or asshole number two
And free dumb is right when you give yours away
Buy stock in apathy it’s the American way
Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska is melting
In Baghdad, Iraq innocent people are dying
in half of the world children are starving
while here in America obesity is killing

But thinner is better if you watch the TV
body images marketed to kids and preteens
and thousands of young girls succumb to the fantasy
There is something horribly, horribly wrong with a society
that encourages eating disorders and plastic surgery
while children kill children in rampant school shootings
and corporations get tax breaks for polluting the land
so much that babies are born already poisoned
by more than four-hundred chemicals and industrial solvents
Progress? Convenience? Or just ignorance killing us

Powers changed hands but powers not changed
when the corrupt still rule and injustice remains
one thousand four hundred and sixty one days
is not a democracy when things stay the same
Another one thousand four hundred and sixty one days
‘til your next opportunity to vote freedom away

-Jeffrey “Free” Luers, December 2006

Jeff “Free” Luers Statement for the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (December 2006)

Around the world millions of people are suffering from the abuses of power that have become all too common in our human societies. In dozens of
countries, generations of people have chosen to fight injustice rather than submit to it.

We honor those people today. We raise our voices and our fists to salute those who have fought to free their homelands, who have struggled for
self-determination; those who have demanded human rights; those who have raided laboratories and liberated animals; and those who have fought to
defend our earth.

Today we shout our praises and offer our respect to those captured in the line of duty, serving their cause. We thank them for refusing to submit even
behind bars.

On this day we bow our heads in reverence to those people who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for freedom. We remember the price
they paid and the loss that their family and friends still feel.

We offer more than our gratitude. We offer our solidarity. We make a promise to remember and honor those who have come before. We make a vow that the
struggle will continue until all are free.

Too many people have had to fight for the freedom they should have been guaranteed at birth; too many have suffered the cruelty of capitalist
exploitation.

The most important thing we can do today is to make a solemn oath: that ours is the last generation that will have to struggle; that we will apply
pressure from all angles until these systems of oppression crack; that we will settle for nothing less than victory.

With the memory of those who have come before us; in solidarity with those still standing behind bars; while honoring those who gave their lives: We
march forward to bring a new day with our heads high and our fists raised.

And I say to you that if we stand united with one voice and we act on our desire for liberation we will carry the day! We will win!

- Jeffrey “Free” Luers

State Repression

By now everyone knows about the arrests and indictments handed down to 11 people charged with ELF actions. The SHAC 7 have been convicted on all counts
for maintaining a website. Rod Coronado has been arrested for explaining how he committed his arsons. Activists have been arrested in Sacramento charged
with thought crime. Not to mention the various Grand Jury investigations around the country.

Like it or not, the radical movement has found itself in the middle of a war. The ELF, ALF, anarchists and other radicals have been declared the number one
threat to the state. The FBI devotes more time and energy to activists than it does Al-Qaeda.

For every article I write, I wonder if this will be the one that lands me back in the hole. The FBI, in connection with the Oregon Department of
Corrections, reviews all my outgoing mail. Some of my mail has been censored and not allowed to go out at all. I am banned from meeting with the media.
None of those who were arrested are allowed to contact me, or allowed to be contacted by me.

I’m beginning to feel a lot more like a P.O.W. than a political prisoner.

This crack down on radical activists, though it comes not unexpectedly, has begun to take its toll on me. Some of the charges stem from a solidarity
action for Craig "Critter" Marshall and me. I also know people involved with these cases.

Daniel McGowan is one of my closest and dearest friends. I owe so much of the support I’ve received over the years to him. At his bail hearing they used
his support and friendship for me against him. The prosecution used letters and pictures of us as if it were evidence of a crime.

I used to play in a band with Jacob Ferguson, a now known informant. I used to watch his kid. Alleged cooperating witness Sarah Harvey and I lived
together for a time. She helped build the first treesit at Fall Creek.

Convicted activist Josh Harper and I go back many years. I still have the article "In honor of Jeff Luers" he wrote after my conviction. He and I have
stood the line together many a time, and I do not know a more courageous and dedicated man.

It breaks my heart to see my friends falling subject to the state. I applaud Daniel, Josh and the others who have stood their ground with heads high. I am
sick and disgusted with Jake. I hope that anyone cooperating with the state will again find their courage and honor, and refuse to testify.

In these harsh times the role of prisoner support takes on a whole new meaning. And it’s not enough just to support those who have been arrested and
convicted. The struggle must go on the offensive. The movement can no longer sit back and let the actions of accused stand for the hearts of the many.

These arrests are not intended to target individuals anymore than my sentence was meant to punish just me. The state has declared war on dissent. Our
ideals, our dreams, our very existence as a movement has been targeted for eradication.

Detective Chuck Tilby, of the Eugene Police Department, created a report on anarchists for their journals. The content was focused on "Conflict and
Terrorism in 2005". The article detailed ways for law enforcement to create protest zones so far away from an event that it would be impractical or seem
unattractive to protesters who wanted their message heard. The article suggests that police use infiltration, grand juries and informants against
"above ground" activists in attempts to extinguish "under ground" activities.

Incidentally, Chuck is one of the detectives who had Critter and I under surveillance the night of our arrest. During my trial neither he nor any
other officer could recall the order being put under investigation, but it did not come from within the EPD.

This is not the first time the state has used tactics like these. Counter insurgency tactics were employed against the American Indian Movement (AIM),
and Black Panthers. Very few struggles have succeeded against the United States.

However, two very powerful movements come to mind: the Civil Rights movement and the struggle for the eight-hour workday. There was success because
whatever the state threw at them they refused to back down. They continued their struggles with their commitment and determination.

True movements support their prisoners by replacing them on the front lines. Real struggles challenge repression with resistance.

This is a state of emergency. Not only our success, but also our existence depends on your actions. The police state is here. Everything we’ve long
feared is coming to pass. This isn’t someone else’s fight anymore, it’s yours. What are you going to do about it?

-Jeffrey Free Luers

Climate Change: A People’s Choice

This January, members of the Asia Pacific Partnership (AP6) on Clean Development and Climate met in Sydney, Australia. The purpose of the
inaugural meeting was to discuss solutions to climate change in what organizers are calling a “compliment” to the Kyoto protocol.

The AP6 is made up of government and business representatives from China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Together, these
six countries account for nearly half of the world’s pollution and energy consumption.(1) The US alone contributes one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.(2, 3) Interestingly, neither Australia nor the US have ratified the Kyoto protocol and refuse to participate.

The AP6 concluded their meeting with promises of voluntary participation in programs designed to reduce global emissions. No penalties were established
for those who failed to reduce green house emissions.

*

Recent studies have concluded that human induced climate change is indeed a very real and visible threat.

Global climate change is reaching a tipping point in which the melting of arctic ice and permafrost becomes a self-sustaining cycle. As permafrost
melts it releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere accelerating climate change resulting in more arctic melt.

This theory, long predicted, is now happening. Sergei Kirpotin at Tomsk State University and Judith Marquand at Oxford University warned in August 2005
that large expanses of Western Siberia have begun an unprecedented thaw. The area spans close to 400,000 square miles and is melting for the first time
since it formed 11,000 years ago. The thaw is releasing vast amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide.(4)

Last summer (2005) the arctic ice cap shrank to its smallest size in a century. Business interests have been quick to point out that this trend could create summertime shipping shortcuts between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

However, the melting ice cap is in part responsible for an accelerated rise in the world’s sea level, threatening costal areas. The melting ice is also harming polar bears and other arctic species, destroying one of the earth’s last wild habitats.(5)

Scientists said the melting appears to be becoming self-sustaining as open water absorbs solar heat that would otherwise be reflected back into space by
white ice.(5)

*

The melting of icecaps and permafrost is cause for alarm. The trend is not limited to Polar Regions and is found in all glacial and snow packed regions on earth.

Most of North America and Asia, as well as parts of South America, are dependent on winter snow packs for water. In a warmer world, less precipitation falls as snow and melt occurs earlier in spring. However, even with no change in precipitation intensity, the shift in peak river runoff to winter and spring away from summer and fall, when personal and agriculture demand is highest, can lead to drought. Where storage capacity is not sufficient much of the water supply will be lost to the oceans.(6)

In 2000, the Accelerated Climate Prediction Initiative was launched to investigate the impacts of global warming on water supplies in the western US. Warming was found to significantly reduce snow pack and lead to substantial shift in seasonal stream flow. By 2050, spring stream flow maximums will come one month earlier. There is not enough storage capacity across most of the western US to handle the shift. For example, in the Columbia River system, by 2050 or earlier, a choice between summer and fall hydro power or spring and summer releases for salmon will have to be made.(6)

The study’s results suggest an even worse problem in regions that rely on glacial melt water. Unlike snow pack, once the glaciers have melted they will not be replenished by winter storms. There will be no water supply to replace melted glaciers.

If current levels of climate change persist, these changes will lead to a severe reduction in dry season water availability in many regions on earth within the next few decades.(6, 7) Severe drought not only would impact human health but could lead to a social upheaval.

In 2003, a report compiled for the pentagon, “Imagining the Unthinkable” described how reduced global water supply caused by global warming could become a national security issue. The report went so far as to suggest that wars could be fought over the resource we now take for granted.

*

In the fall of 2005, the National Center for Atmospheric Research created a computer simulation of the earth’s climate 251 million years ago. The study
demonstrated how levels of CO2 interfered with oxygen circulation in the oceans and raised temperatures on land. The subsequent climate change would
lead to the greatest mass extinction in history.(8)

The first comprehensive assessment of the effects of modern climate change was published in January, 2004. The report concluded that by 2050 more than
one million species would be driven to extinction, an “extinction rate unheard of in modern times.”(10) New evidence has been found that validates and confirms these findings.

A recent study published in Nature has proven a link between global warming and a mass extinction of frogs in South America. As the earth warms, many
species are likely to go extinct because of changing disease dynamics. Many diseases are expected to spread or become more lethal.(12)

The frogs died when they became host to a parasitic fungus. The fungus, normally benign, became a lethal pathogen as temperatures changed. The
changing weather patterns and change in climate created an environment ripe for the pathogen to spread and grow.

The study concluded that “global climate change is already causing the extinction of species…climate driven epidemics are an immediate threat to biodiversity.”(12)

This finding is already being reproduced in other parts of the world. Climate change in arctic and sub-artic regions has altered the life cycle of parasitic worms of musk oxen. The worms can now complete their life cycle in one, instead of two years. The worms are now having a significant impact on the survival of musk oxen.(13)

In the mountain regions of the western US warmer climate conditions are also allowing the Mountain Pine Beetle to complete its life cycle in one, instead of two years. The beetles spread pine blister rust, as they become more abundant so too does the fungus, causing a serious impact on the health and number of pine trees.(13)

*

On April 28, 2005 the American Lung Association released its 2005 report on air quality in the US. The report documents how particle pollution (the same air pollution causes reduced snow fall and increased cloud cover causing warmer nights) poses a serious health risk to 152 million US citizens.

The report states that particle pollution takes months to years off a person’s life, and can kill people with severe respiratory problems. Most at risk are children, seniors, diabetics and those with asthma and lung or heart diseases. (14)

President and CEO of the ALA, John Kirkwood has this to say, “Some of the largest producers of dirty air are big energy companies, who have worked with
their friends in congress on legislation to change rules so they don’t have to clean up their pollution.”(14)

*

A few months later in July, 2005, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a study of newborn baby blood samples. The samples came from 10
babies born in US hospitals between August and September, 2004.

The samples were tested for 413 industrial and chemical product chemicals. The babies averaged 200 contaminants in their blood including mercury, fire
retardants, pesticides, and PFOA a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon. In all, 287 chemicals were found in the babies’ blood, 209 of which
have never before been detected in newborns.(15)

*

Study after study confirms the same result: Pollution is having a disastrous impact on the health of the planet and its inhabitants; whether it is melting
ice caps, extinct frogs, or a baby contaminated by toxins before her first breath.

Solutions exist but they are not being implemented or enforced, despite public desire for action. Nor will they be as long as corporations have more
rights and influence than the people.

The Independent (UK) recently reported that the Bush Administration attempted to gag James Hansen of NASA’s leading climate experts. According to Hansen,
the Administration is trying to censor him on his call for immediate cuts in green house gas emissions.

Hansen said, “Communicating with the public is essential because public concern is probably the only thing capable of overcoming the special
interests that have obfuscated the topic.”(16)

It is interesting to note that this story was not widely reported in US mainstream media.

The President of the United States refuses to even acknowledge the existence of global warming. Major industry and energy companies along with their
government conspirators continue to use slight of hand techniques, like the AP6. The use of greenwash is an increasing trend in a world of consumers
concerned with the environment. But behind the green façade governments continue to give corporations the green light to pollute.

These are not the people we can look to for change. We cannot put our future in their hands. This leaves us in a difficult position. If we cannot look to
those who should have our best interests in mind, where can we turn?

The ability to alter the course of climate change lies in the hands of regular people. It is not an easy task by any means. Nevertheless, it is a
task that humanity must begin to take; with or without our leaders.

The events in this essay and many others are happening now. They will impact the life of every human being on the planet from health problems to property
loss to regional and even national economic collapse.

If things are to change every individual has to play a part. There are enough things people can do there is no excuse not to be involved.

It can be as simple as consistently writing letters and making phone calls to your representative, or changing your lifestyle to using more mass transit
and buying local products. You can commit to riding a bike one day a week instead of using a vehicle. You can invest in alternative energies. Every
little bit helps. Everyone has to start somewhere.

The more active can start their own garden or plant trees in their neighborhoods. You can hold a community meeting on local solutions to
problems faced by climate change. You might even go so far as to organize a boycott of the biggest local polluter.

The adventurous can become radical and proactive in their approach; from the use of creative and media friendly acts of civil disobedience to other
extralegal activities.

Throughout history their have been leaders who threatened the wellbeing of their people and the peace of the planet. Hitler’s rise to power is an
obvious example. One I choose for this reason: if the governments of France and England had challenged Hitler’s early acts of aggression, the war may
have been much shorter and millions of holocaust victims might still be alive.

It is part of the human experience to sometimes have to challenge our leaders for the good of all people. This is one of those times. The US government has
seen fit to put profits and power before its people and the world. Every other industrialized nation (with the exception of Australia) and many
developing nations have signed the Kyoto protocol. Many are actively pursuing emissions reduction. Though many are proceeding far too slow, they have shown
an effort. The rest of the world has taken notice of the dangers posed by climate change. The US refuses to.

A free society is obligated to correct the wrongs of its government. If it cannot, then it is not free.

If a people refuse to right the wrongs of their government, their endorsements make them equally culpable, and ultimately, they too will carry the burden of responsibility.

By Jeff “Free” Luers

Footnotes:

1. Dennis, C., Promises to clean up industry fail to convince. Nature 439, 253 (2006)
2. Fisher, B., Costanza, R., Regional commitment to reducing emissions. Nature 438, 301-302 (2005)
3. Leahy, S., Climate talks survive US hassles. Asheville Global Report 361 (2005)
4. Earth Environment Service, Earth Week: Climate “tipping point”. The Oregonian (August 24, 2005)
5. Revkin, A., Artic ice vanishing at quicker pace, report says. The Oregonian (September 29, 2005)
6. Barnett, T., Adam, J., Lettenmaier, D. Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions. Nature 438, 303-309 (2005)
7. Leahy, S., World stands at a Crossroads. Asheville Global Report 346 (2005)
8. Environmental News Service, Warming led to pre-historic extinction. Asheville Global Report 346 (2005)
9. Roach, J., By 2050 warming to doom million species, study says. National Geographic News (January 7, 2004)
10. Environmental News Service, Species disappearing 100 times faster than ever before. Asheville Global Report 315 (2005)
11. Parmesan, C., Galbraith, H., Observed Impacts of global climate change in the US (November 2004)
12. Pounds, J. et al. Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming. Nature 439, 161-167 (2006)
13. Blaustein, A., Dobson, A., Extinctions: A message from the frogs. Nature 439, 143-144 (2006)
14. Environmental News Service, Dirty air poses health risks for 152 million US citizens. Asheville Global Report 329 (2005)
15. Environmental News Service, Hundreds of toxins found in newborns. Asheville Global Report 340 (2005)
16. Buncombe, A., Bush tried to gag environmental expert. Independent UK reprint in Asheville Global Report 368 (2006)

Free responds to letter in Eugene Weekly [July 2005]

After reading Lance Jacobs' letter to the editor (6/16), I feel compelled to respond. Mr. Jacobs contends that I am a violent individual who attempted to burn an entire lot of SUVs.

I have stated many times that the nature of the fire was largely symbolic, and that every precaution was taken to minimalize the risk to life that a fire can represent. As for the accusation that a much greater fire was intended, I can only say no intelligent person would believe they could burn an entire lot of vehicles with less than two gallons of gas.

Jacobs is correct that the action did not stop the use of SUVs. I was never under the impression that it would. The goal of the arson was to draw public attention to climate change and foster debate on the issue. Here we are, five years later and I would say the action was proven successful.

Finally, Jacobs is correct. Property destruction is a form of violence. It involves the smashing, burning or destroying of valued property. If that is violence, then we certainly must open the definition to include corporate destruction of forests, oceans, rivers and other ecosystems, for those certainly are not acts of love.

I continue to stand by my actions without apology. You may judge me or my actions. But, what makes an individual act of sabotage more serious than crimes committed by governments and transnational corporations? Why is the destruction of an SUV more noteworthy than climate change and the accelerated rate of extinction worldwide?

Let's put moral outrage in its proper perspective.

Jeffrey "Free" Luers
State Prison, Salem

Solidarity for Rob Los Ricos and Brian McCarvill [April 2005]

Rob and Brian are two of my very good friends. Rob was the first person to reach out to me when I arrived at OSP. I had just received a 22 year sentence. I'd only been in prison for a little more than a month and I'd already lost my visits for alleged ELF activity and had the shit kicked out of me.

When I got to OSP I was fresh out of the hole. My canteen had been destroyed and I couldn't go to store for 2 weeks. Rob gave me canteen. He helped get me out of the cell I was assigned to with a sexual predator. Rob showed me more than solidarity he showed me friendship.

During my time down Brian has been an invaluable friend and ally. He has helped me on legal issues. He has also helped me to grow by challenging me to improve myself. He has helped me hone my arguments and improve my solutions.

I've watched these two men continue to contribute to a movement and struggle that has largely abandon them. Because of my lengthy sentence I have been a high profile case. People call me a martyr or a hero. A title I do not claim, yet as the months pass I watch my support grow and for this I am eternally grateful. However, other prisoners are not so fortunate. As the months pass they may be forgotten. This is especially hard for people who have dedicated their life to this struggle.

Rob has given his life to this struggle for 33 years. Even after 5 years of prison enduring racial discrimination and harassment by the cops he has continued to agitate for a better world.

Brian is a man of honor. He is not selfish. His actions are not inherently politically motivated. He believes in freedom and when he sees something wrong he does his best to fix it. He lives by a code many of us profess to fight for and from prison he has struggled along side anarchists and suffered because of it.

These men deserve your support. Write them, work with them, honor their sacrifices as you have honored mine.

Jeffrey Free Luers


A Brief Description of Radical Environmentalism [April 2005]

There is a common misconception that radical environmental struggle is a relatively new form of protest. However, the history of eco-defense is nearly as old as the human race itself. Many indigenous cultures around the world held the Earth and their surroundings as sacred. Social rules prescribed how the land and water that gave life to the people were to be treated and honored.

It is only in the last several hundred years that human societies have moved away from these beliefs. The modern world has increasingly lost touch with its wild roots. This lack of understanding and respect for the Earth has allowed the wanton destruction of our planet. This tragedy no longer affects the wild but humans as well.

There is no human in the world that can pass a blood toxin test for dioxin-a carcinogenic or teratogenic by-products of most industry. There is no ocean fish uncontaminated by mercury or PCBs. There is no escape from global warming. That is the reality of the 21st century.

Over the years, the radical environmental movement has evolved not only in the escalation of tactics, but in political theory as well. Many radical environmentalists recognize the connections between capitalism, oppression and the destruction of the planet. Indeed, the connections are obvious to any student of globalization.

Wealthy nations use imperialist policies to gain access to developing poorer nations, stealing their resources and implementing sub-par industrial methods-which pollute and toxify far beyond the standards of rich countries. Back at home, the same practices are used. Dangerous factories, toxic waste dumps and incinerators are built in communities predominantly of people of color or low income. These communities often get little say in environmental impact reports or the decision making process. In fact, state and industry response to resistance of such noxious facilities is the age old excuse of providing jobs to those in need.

While I can not speak on behalf of the movement, it is my perception that it is motivated (in part) by a sense of deep ecology. The belief that all life is interconnected from plant to animal to forest to ocean to the world at large. It is this connection and interdependence that creates the Earth as we know it and allows life to flourish. When one habitat or species is affected by pollution or global warming, it creates a chain reaction that affects the entire network of life.

It is because of this belief that the majority of political and radical environmentalists work to bring communities together. Not only to challenge state and corporate practices but to learn to create alternatives to them. It is only by developing alternatives to capitalism and harmful industry that we can create a world not motivated by profit-rather, one based on sustainability and the amount of good we can bring all people, not just a handful of rich elite.

In the last decade, new international and clandestine organizations have stepped forward to challenge the might of industrialized nations. Groups like the Earth Liberation Front [ELF], Justice Department and Revolutionary Cells have taken the fight to the state and corporations directly, including the targeting of executive officers [of corporations] and their residences.

While the ELF maintains a code of non violence toward human and non-human life, the Revolutionary Cells and Justice Department support the use of political violence and have engaged in bombings and direct assaults.

There is an increasing tendency of these groups and like minded individuals to target class status symbols-the oil industry, banks and governmental agencies-as the destruction of the environment and the oppression of people are often tied together.

In February 2002, the Congressional Committee on Resources held a hearing on "Eco-Terrorism." Numerous politicians, corporate representatives and the Domestic Terrorist Section Chief of the FBI testified. The FBI defined the ELF as the most dangerous and prolific terrorist group in the United States. Despite the fact that in 13 years of activity, the ELF has never harmed a soul. However, they have caused close to $100 million in damages to property.

Congress has designated the above groups, specifically the ELF, as terrorist organizations using the same language to define the ELF as they have used to define al-Queada and enemy combatants. There are currently several bills before state and the federal government attempting to increase the punishment for acts of 'eco-terrorism', including the use of the death penalty. Several of these bills have passed into law.

However, even without these laws, excessive sentences are being handed down to those labeled as 'eco-terrorists'. [ed-Jeff himself has a 22 year, 8 month sentence for burning 3 SUVs]. In some ways, the labeling of underground radicals as terrorists has split the environmental movement. Some above ground activists, particularly groups like the Sierra Club have denounced direct action and condemned those involved.

However, there are many above ground supporters of direct action. More and more, there is a strong sense of solidarity between the above and underground networks. It would seem that legal and reform activists are recognizing the need for direct action. Perhaps, more surprisingly, the underground resistance is understanding the need for public outreach and education which can only be done by above ground activists.

There is also an increasing trend of social justice activists and environmental struggles coming together forming support support networks. People from all movements and struggles are beginning to see the connection between fighting for liberation, equality and the Earth.

While politics and ideal remain as diverse as life on the planet, most agree that freedom, as well as clean air, water and land and all the joys and wonders of the Earth are our birth-right. It is for this, we fight.

For more information about political prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers, see www.freejeffluers.org There will be a June 10-12th 'Weekend of Resistance' for Jeff.

This article was published in 4 struggle, issue #4

About the release of my co-defendant, Craig 'Critter' Marshall [January 2005]

Ed note: Jeff's co-defendant, Craig 'Critter' Marshall, was released from prison after serving 4.5 of a 5.5 year sentence. For some reason, Jeff's sentence of over 22 years is still viewed as valid by the Oregon courts.

Yesterday, on January 6th, 2005, Craig "Critter" Marshall, my co-defendant walked out of prison after serving 4 and 1/2 years. I can only imagine what that felt like. Back in the day Critter was one of my closest friends, and while many are aware that he and I have had a falling out, I am truly glad his time is done and he has gone home. (My old friend if you are reading this, I wish you all the best.)

Now that Critter is out I can't help but wonder why I am still here. We were arrested at the same time, charged with the same offenses. Up until the very end he & I refused to cooperate with the state. Yet, the state in Critter's case decided that the exact same fire was only "conspiracy to commit arson" and "possession of destructive devices".

I've half a dozen theories as to why things played out the way they did. The one fact I know is not once did the state offer to treat my case as Critter's. I'm doing 17 years more for the same actions and same evidence. 22 years for actions that hurt no one and caused less than $50k in damages.

Critter is home now where he belongs.

I'm counting on this movement. I'm counting on you to bring me home. I can't win this fight alone. I need your support. I need your agitation. Make the impossible reality. Rise up and free all political prisoners and prisoners of war.

We are in prison because we believe in dreams. We are in prison because we believe in freedom. We are in prison because we believe these things are worth fighting for. Dare to believe. Dare to resist.

Jeffrey "Free" Luers

Lessons from the snitching of Billy Cottrell

Ed: For background on who Billy Cottrell is, see the Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network statement.

November 17, 2004 will be remembered as another sad day for the Earth Liberation front and the radical activist community. On trial for the ELF action of torching SUVs in Southern California, William 'Billy' Cottrell took the witness stand in his defense.

Accused of more than $2.3 million dollars of property damage, I can imagine the fear Billy felt facing decades in prison. Many activists, past and present, remember that feeling all too well. For some it was our finest moment, if also most painful, as we stood before the state proud and unwavering.

Perhaps, the truest test of our warrior spirit can be found in the courtroom. Undoubtedly, our movement's defining moment will be how steadfast we stand when facing the full repression of the state.

After Billy's arrest, we wrote me. His naivetŽ at the situation he was in shocked me. We discussed what he was facing and I warned him to avoid doing media before trial. Billy shared his fears and heartache with me as well as his gratitude for all the support he was receiving from people. In his last letter, Billy told me how much of an inspiration other warriors and I had been to him.

As Billy took the stand that day, I can't help but wonder if the sick feeling in his stomach was fear of imprisonment or if it was nausea at his betrayal. Billy testified that his friend lit the fire against his wishes. He stated that he was coerced into going along with them because he owed one person $200.

Despite all of his bravado to his supporters, the media and me, Billy tucked his tail and pissed down his leg. Sadly, this is not the first instance of betrayal. To date, the majority of ELF and ELF-style actions to go before the courts have had a defendant turn traitor. This fact devastates my heart, as it should every activist and revolutionary.

Illegal direct action is a dangerous path. The action itself is only a small part of the equation. Physical resistance once embarked upon is not a path easily abandoned. If it is a path you choose, you should be expecting to serve prison time or worse. If you cannot face the possibility of prison or you know you cannot accept the consequences with integrity and honor, do not pick up the matchbook.

The blame, however, does not solely lie with the weakness of individuals under pressure. The problem is one of our creating. This movement glorifies and romanticizes hardcore action. Crying out for salvation from would be heroes; writing stories and singing songs of faceless individuals who sab the dozers, raid the labs and who burned down Vail.

Honoring our warriors is good. But, the illusion fades when you are sitting in a jail cell. The once seemingly powerful movement bolstered by its own self-praise no longer appears so strong. The romanticized ideal of action and change remains. Yet, no revolutionary energy is directed at freeing our comrades.

That is our failure as a movement. If we expect our warriors to stand strong in front of the judge and jury with heads high and eyes burning with defiance, we must become realistic about what it means to be a revolutionary movement. We have to support those who have sacrificed their freedom with radical actions equal or mightier than their own.

For our movement to become more than a counter-culture, we have to stop mystifying direct action. We have to recognize direct action for what it is-a necessity. The support of the movement to its captured warriors must go beyond admiration and respect. It must extend into action and agitation for their release. We must never abandon our own. By any means necessary, we must see them free. Otherwise, we can expect more people to bow before the power of the state.

How do we go from romanticizing action to taking it? How do we go from accepting loss to preventing it? These are the obstacles in our path. If we cannot overcome them, then we are not trying hard enough.

There are always going to be Billy Cottrells. There just doesn't have to be more of them then there are true warriors. There is a hero in all of us-one just waiting to be given a voice. Find the courage to follow your heart and the pride to hold your head high and stand your ground. Because with that, this movement will go from a facade to a force.

Beyond Dissent

The United States has a long history of protest and dissent. Indeed, it could be argued that had the American Revolution not been co-opted by the rich and powerful this country might have been great.

However, even the failure of the revolution to accomplish real and true change was not enough to stop the tide of dissent and rebellion. In fact, there are notable rebellions as early as 1780 in which unpaid soldiers of the revolutionary war, poor farmers and laborers took up arms against the government.

Of course, little of this is mentioned in scholastic textbooks. Nor do the textbooks mention that in response to these uprisings by the poor and underprivileged, the new elite wrote and passed laws such as the Riot Act which suspended Habeas Corpus to keep the new insurgents in jail without trial. Also, the Sedition Act, passed under John Adams, in which it was a crime punishable by prison to speak or write against the government.

The true beginnings of this nation start with power and wealth. The rich were able to become the new ruling class having displaced the king and his royalty. The new elite then passed laws which would support their rise to power and establish their role as leaders.

It worked. Little has changed in this class society since its founding. Those in the upper class still maintain a stranglehold on power. Each successive new ruler has had enormous wealth. The Senate itself is a veritable who's who of millionaires and strangely enough, those who make the laws usually started in big business and usually go back there when their terms are up. So much for the separation of powers.

Oh, did I mention that the founding fathers were some of the wealthiest men in America when they took power? They also wrote property requirements into law for those running for office. They also required property or the monetary equivalent of such for voters. In essence, the United States has always been a county run by the rich for the rich. A plutocracy, not a democracy. The scheme goes much deeper though. From the very beginning, the United States was one of the richest nations in the world. This fact has given rise to a new kind of rule-bribery- buy the allegiance of the citizenry.

The enormous wealth in this country has created the richest ruling class in history with enough left over to pass out to the middle class, ensuring they act as a buffer between the have and the have nots. Is it any wonder that the presidential 'elections' revolve around middle class issues? All two of the recognized candidates are constantly seeking support from middle class America promising this or that in return. Meanwhile, the money to support campaigns comes in from corporate donations, ensuring that government policy is well paid for. Why is it no candidate ever reached out to the 50 million people struggling to get by? The middle class lends legitimacy to a well thought out fa�ade. But when all is said and done, a rich ruler is a rich ruler is a rich ruler.

Sadly, most Americas don't really care. Their allegiance has been bought. Never mind the suffering of their less fortunate fellow citizens. As long as the standard of living remains high, who cares how we got it, right? I used to believe that one could differentiate between those in power and those under control or brainwashed by that power. Now, more and more, I believe most Americans are a contributing part of the problem and not victims of it. Far too many have bought into the lies on absolute faith in their corporate run government. Unbelievably, the elite have become comfortably brazen in their tyranny having received such wide support.

The insidious nature of American culture is contributing greatly to the colonization of poorer countries and destruction of the natural world. It cannot be said that US based transnational corporations or the US government bear sole responsibility for these transgressions for they enjoy the support of many American people.

This is no longer recognizable as cause and symptom or even cause and effect. The whole dynamic has changed. The capitalist system (government and corporations) receives support either direct or indirect, for atrocities committed in the name of profits most of which goes unnoticed, but it matters not when the system goes unquestioned. The support comes even from the lowest in the pecking order as long as they benefit in some way or don't lose anything. This support, in return, feeds the system and encourages more of the same.

The old adage ' treat others how you wish to be treated' is replaced by a new golden rule, 'that which you can take and hold by force, deception or manipulation shall be rightfully yours.' An entire nation has been bought into compliance with blood money. The enemy of the world is a way of life that is being exported to every country foolish enough to take it.

No, Mr. Bush, I don't hate America's "freedom". I hate you. I hate America's oppression justified by your jingoism. I hate that 1% of America's population owns 40% of America's wealth. I hate that the majority of those left go along with that. I hate that greedy CEOs rip off working class people and get away with it, that corrupt officials let factories slide on pollution regulations. But, most of all, I hate that, because of my disdain for America and my resistance to its greed, that I am labeled a terrorist.

It seems that the word 'terrorist' has replaced the catch all phrase of McCarthy's "communist" and is quickly replacing the contemptuous "anarchist' of the 90s. However much the labels of the past, the word 'terrorist' serves a multifaceted use.

Hitler used to word 'Jew' to instill fear into the hearts of loyal patriotic Germans.. Hitler used this fear to rally people to his cause by giving them a common enemy to face. If any of his own people turned against him, they were easily labeled "Jews', not only to discredit them but to justify imprisoning or killing them.

Incidentally, Germany had it pretty good under Hitler, too. The economy improved, as did the standard of living. In fact, many Germans defended Hitler. Most did not question his decisions and under his rule, most Germans were proud to be German.

Do I really need to draw the comparisons? Black's Law Dictionary defines the right of revolution as:

The inherent right of a people to cast out their rulers, change their polity or effect radical reforms in their system of government or institutions, by force or general uprising, when the legal and constitutional methods of making such changes have proved inadequate or are so obstructed as to be unavailable.

I do not submit to the rule of the plutocracy. I do not recognize the authority of a state that holds corporations have the right as people under the constitution. If this is America, then I am unabashedly and unapologetically anti-American.

I love this land. I love my fellow citizens who do not submit to tyranny and oppose oppression. I am a patriot of the free states of America whether they be found in Cascadia or Maine and I support my allies in Chiapas, Brazil and Argentina. I believe in true freedom, not the freedom to participate in a consumer culture run by a rich elite. I believe treason to the United States is allegiance to humanity. That doesn't make me a terrorist. It makes me sane in a nation of fools ruled by one eyed kings.

Insurrection

The lines have been drawn, the way is clear.
To arms is the call, the enemy is here
Within this empire war is waged
Everyday means revolt for slaves
To the streets weapons in hand
all colors, all creeds united we stand.
One moment, one cause to free all the land.
An end to police who protect corporations
with fire and cheer we burn institutions.
From the buildings Molotov's fly
Damn the police we'll have no more lies
Fox News says "Chaos in the USA"
It's the IMC who will broadcast at the end of the day
"Popular uprising in all 50 States,
formerly known as the US of A."

Free's statement to the June 12, 2004 Eugene Solidarity Event

Note: This statement was supposed to be read by Free over the phone and recorded to be played at the event. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties we were unable to record him reading the statement so a supporter read the statement at the event.

My name is Jeffrey Luers. Most of you know me as Free. I'd like to thank you for coming out tonight. Those of you just starting to explore new possibilities or just now becoming active, I hope tonight is the beginning of your involvement. For those of you already active and aware of the injustices being perpetrated I pray that you will step up your struggles and push your boundaries for the sake of us all.

Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed I want to lose hope, I see so much wrong and too little response to it. Right now the US is using war, murder and torture to force it's will upon the world. The US flexes its military and economic muscle to control poorer nations and intimidate US allies into complience. Meanwhile on the streets of America children are starving, an out of control police force continues to beat and kill civilians and over 2 million people are locked in jail.

Hidden deep in newspapers, behind the pentagon and white house press releases, small articles detail the melting of Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, the Arctic and just about everywhere else with ice. A British paper recently published findings that strongly point to evidence the earth is entering its sixth mass extinction as animals, plants and insects are rapidly going extinct.

The last decade has seen the warmest temperatures the earth has know since records were kept. According to the World Watch Institute and the United Nations severe weather, a result of climate change, caused more than $608 billlion in damage in the 1990's. Thats more than the previous 4 decades combined.

As I speak the pentagon is preparing a defense plan to deal with a global environmental crisis. Already our world is so toxic that almost every ocean fish has traces of mercury and PCB's. Every Mother's breast milk contains traces of dioxin. Even in the face of all this injustice people still sit back watching and waiting for change. The so-called activist community rests complacent satisfied that holding signs and protesting the next big meeting of world leaders is enough. Enough perhaps to relieve the burden of guilt. But not enough to bring change. The majority of the world's population recognizes the danger of global warming and environmental degradation. I'm sure many of you are included in this number. Yet factored still pump out toxins. Industry still rules our lives. Humans are funny, in that they can recognize danger, know enough to fear it and yet still chose to ignore it.

How many of you are afraid of the cops? Frightened by their unchecked power, immunity to their own laws, or just the fact that they can do what ever they want to you and get away with it. Cops rape women in Eugene and they kill Blacks in Portland. And those are just two examples. Authority is a strange thing. It tends to do what ever it wants until someone stops it. The dangers are real, the urgency exists. The longer people wait to act the more damage that is done and the more we lose. Change doesn't happen by itself, it doesn't happen because people wish for it. Change happens when people care enough to put in the hard work, when they are dedicated and determined enough to see it through.

Look around you. The people you see are your hope. They are your community, they are your allies and they are your source of strength. One person in this room has the power to make a difference. Imagine the difference you can make by working together. You want to be free from the control of multinational corporations that only care about profit?You want to be free from a police force that protects the corrupt? Do you want an alternative to a society and civilization that is destroying its own world? Then take the initiative and create it, build it, and fight for it. Lead by example. If you want change then take it street by street, community by community until power has been reclaimed.

People rise up!

Some words on prisoner support (May 2004)

Prisoner support can be a very challenging issue. Any movement is only as strong as it's support for its fallen comrades. Any movement that fails to aid and support its political prisoners or prisoners of war will ultimately fail. Each prisoner's needs will vary depending on their case, length of sentence and where they are imprisoned. All prisoners, however, need emotional and monetary support.

Monetary support is an easy one. If you can afford to send a few bucks, it is always appreciated. Many prisoners have to pay for their own hygiene products, as well as food to supplement the prisoner's diet. These items are often 200%-300% more expensive than on the streets. So, every little bit helps.

Fundraisers (bake sales, shows, etc.) are an excellent way to raise money and spread information about prisoners and their cases. They are also a great forum for building support.Perhaps the hardest part of prisoner support is emotional support. It is never easy to write a prisoner for the first time. People are unsure of what to write and how their words will affect the prisoner.

As prisoners we experience the outside world through letters. There is nothing I love more than to get a letter describing a beautiful sunset or amazing wilderness someone saw. It is always great, whether you are a prisoner or not, to make a new friend. Getting to know someone through letters can be really fun. Sharing news from the outside, political ideas/views, personal experiencesÉreally just about anything is good. Just getting mail raises the morale of prisoners.

Remember not to over commit yourself though. It is easy to want to write a lot of prisoners. But it is better to pick one or two that you can write to regularly (every 1-4 months) than to not be able to keep up with your letters.

When it comes to supporting individual prisoners (e.g. long term prisoners fighting for their freedom or life), the support needs to be tailored to fit with their campaign goals. It is important to know things they support being done on their behalf. Communicating with them, or in some cases, their designated support people, and starting a support group in your area is a good way to start.

Obviously, needs will vary from prisoner to prisoner. Some will be raising legal funds as a priority, others may simply be asking people to write letters of support to governors or prison officials. Still others may be asking for solidarity actions and/or demos.

Strong support networks and visible discontent with a prisoner's sentence and/or conditions will be the number one factor in obtaining justice. It is only through the word and dedication of people on the outside that all political prisoners and POW's will gain their release.

Having said this, I do not know of any prisonerÑthough I can only speak for myselfÑthat would rather have energy directed toward us than to the causes for which we fought. The absolute most valuable support that any one person can do is to continue the struggle for which we came to prison. Never give up; never stop fighting until all are free: Earth, animal and human. Onward to a world without prisoners.

This article ran in No Compromise- a quarterly militant, direct action publication of grassroots animal liberationists and their supporters. Subscribe to No Compromise or become a local distributor! 740A 14th St. #125, San Francisco, CA 94114. nc-info@nocompromise.org

Message of solidarity to the the Solidarity Conference for Political Prisoners in the Basque Country (May 2004)

In the spirit of solidarity and unity I want to extend my hand in friendship to the freedom-fighters and people of the Basque country. I send also my revolutionary greetings to all the organizers and participants of the International Solidarity Conference. May your conference strengthen all of our struggles and unite us in a global movement for the freedom and self-determination of all people.

Real Struggle Means Refusal (March 2004)

On Saturday 3/13, Tre Arrow was arrested in Victoria, BC. At the press conference, the FBI along with the Department of Homeland Security, the modern day Gestapo, declared that a dangerous terrorist had been captured. They went on to state that Tre's arrest is proof that the system works and that the USA will not tolerate terrorism.

A few months back, the Department of Homeland Security gave 8 million dollars to Miami, Florida to defend against the terrorist threat posed by demonstrations protesting the FTAA meeting being held there. Riot police armed with numerous weapons including shotguns that shot pellets wrapped in cloth, fired indiscriminately into the crowds. I have seen abundant video clearly showing officers firing at people's heads, an incredibly dangerous violation of established 'protocol'.

At least one reporter had to have emergency surgery to remove a 'non-lethal' projectiles from his skull. Hundred of people were injured, some needing emergency medical attention. There were also several reports of sexual assault at the hands of police scum.

A recent military think tank report An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and its implication for United States National Security outlines the need for a detailed military plan to protect the rich from the poor in the event of global environmental crisis caused by global warming. It goes on to present the case of the stockpiling of food and resources as the world will be reduced to famine and lack of potable water.

If anyone still doubts that the lines have been drawn, you better get an eyewash because we are locking down the barrel of a loaded gun. The full might of the government has been hard at work from propaganda wars against dissidents to state sanctioned violence against protestors to secret planning to protect the elite from a crisis the Bush Administration denies exists.

What does it take to piss you off? When is enough enough? Is it when you get called a 'terrorist? Maybe when you get shot in the head or perhaps when you get raped by a pig? Maybe you'll wait until you have to kill for water?

Half my family lives in Germany. Even though I was born and raised in Amerikkka, I understand the dangers of failing to act. My relatives did nothing when Hitler took power, they obeyed and more than 12 million people were murdered. I love my family, but I know they failed to act because there are no stories of resistance passed down. Instead, as a kid when my relatives came to visit I was told not to talk about that because it was a 'bad time'.

I don't want to see history repeat itself. If we have learned nothing else from our past, we have learned that tyrant is best challenged early. Today, the threat is different than it was 60 years ago, nonetheless it is a dangerous threat. Still not enough people seem convinced; so they turn a blind eye-otherwise the streets would be filled day and night with people decrying injustice.

Human beings have been around for about 100,000 years. We have gone from a species that lives in nature to one that considers itself separate from nature. In the last 150 years alone we have 'advanced' so far we have created technology that chokes our air, pollutes our water and poisons our soil. We have created weapons of such destruction that combined they can annihilate and extinguish all life on this planet 12 times over. Already, our world is so polluted that it doesn't matter what continent you sample from, every mother's milk contains traces of dioxin,. Each day that passes, our problems get worse.

Why does this continue to happen? The answer is simple: we let it, everyday we do nothing we allow it to happen.

So, what if the G8 has to meet protected by 1,000s of cops. Bottomline: they are still meeting. They are still in control because we continue to define how we resist them based on the choices they give us. The global resistance fits neatly into their pocket. As long as we stay within the limits of the box they've given us, we are simply a control valve. A harbor for the disenfranchised, disillusioned and the dissidents-a stress relief figured into the equation. Our counter-culture exists as another means to keep the system functioning.

Nothing can change until we completely withdraw our consent . Only our absolute refusal will effectively challenge the state, We must build our communities, develop networks and mutual aid and we must be prepared to defend our communities. Then we shut it down. No more going to work, no more paying taxes, no more acknowledging the government's authority. Instead we become the alternatives to this society.

Our bodies are the cogs that make the machine work. Our obedience fuels the machines. Our inability to move beyond mere protests is the guarantee that the machine will work, Your absolute refusal is your monkeywrench. The Longshoremen have shut down international trade with their refusal to unload ships. That is the power of unified refusal. Imagine that refusal on a global scale. We have yet to show our true strength. We have given power a small taste if what we are capable of. We have ourselves tasted a piece of victory but a taste is not enough. It cannot satisfy our hunger.

We the people run the factories, not our bosses. We control the ports, not corporations. We teach the children, not established curriculum. Our labor keeps things functioning. Without us, the cities stop. Without our obedience, they have no rule. We are the masters of our own fate. Yet, we will not control our destiny until we fully grasp our lives in our own hands. Only when we no longer participate in the spectacle that has been created to keep us in line, when we cease to tolerate violence directed at us and when we decide that freedom does not mean the freedom to choose from their choices will we have stepped out of the cage that traps is. We will finally move forward. We will finally be creating the world we envision and not just challenging the one that exists.

The Problem with Anarchist Ego (March 2004)

It seems that more and more anarchist publications are becoming breeding grounds for self-promoting pompous drivel. Perpetuating a cycle of discord not only among fellow anarchists, but others who could be our allies if only our heads weren't stuck so far up our arses.

The problem is not so much a lack of ideas as it is a superiority complex. It is so easy to turn on those we disagree with because their view of a utopian society isn't like ours whereas it is much harder to actually challenge the state.

Anarchists, leftists and activists of various sorts all seem to have one thing in common these days: the ability to direct their energy at one another rather than focus their collective energy on the source of all our misery.

How easily do we forget? This is exactly what the state wants us to do-fight amongst ourselves. All the bickering has made us a stagnant and ineffective farce. We are so busy criticizing each other that we fail to challenge the state or even attempt to create an alternative, relegating ourselves to obscure political theory and unintelligible banter. Perhaps, most shameful of all: we fail to criticize ourselves.

I was very disappointed to read an article recently printed in Green Anarchy, called The left-handed path of repression". It was a case in point of how easy it is to completely dismiss others, and fail to even address an important issue-likely, because (gasp!) they were critical of anarchists, perhaps even the author of said article.

I happened to live in Eugene at the time the author refers to as when the "leftist emotional plague swept through the Eugene anarchist milieu... "I had a unique privilege to be accepted by all the different factions and circles of the Eugene activist scene. Thus, being able to drink beer and have discussions with the group of women and men that challenged the rhetoric and sexism inherent in the Eugene anarchist scene at the time and then going off to party with the ?hardcore' anarchist element-which I'm sure still includes some members of the GA collective. The ability to not be labeled by either side as "the enemy" gave me a unique perspective on the situation and also forced me into the mediator role on occasion.

There are 3 sides to every story-A, B and the truth.

Without getting into names or details, I was very involved with various elements of resistance in Eugene. Most organizing was done by a handful of white men with some rare exception. These men were outspoken and had a very dominant presence-which I don't necessarily believe is a bad trait.

On the other side, there was a group of women and men who were tired of the one-way slant of these men. They sought to focus attentions on issues of sexism, racism and other community issues. Let's be realistic-in a predominately white college town with a large activist community centered in the heart of the poor district and largely organized by a small handful of white men, the conditions are ripe for sexism, racism and elitism.

The issues these women and men raised were legitimate issues, echoed by me on more than one occasion. But, of course, there was bullshit coming from both sides, which created a dramatic season of Eugene 90210. But, progress was made, a couple of worthless pricks were run out of town, people grew and suddenly a community was trying to evolve. Women were empowered, men were frightened and nothing would ever be the same.

The allegations flew with cries of sexism from one side and allegations of infiltrator and provocateur from the other. Then, BAM, heads collided and we were left with an ineffective bunch of disorganized, disunified factions, Once again, the state is left standing.

I'm still in contact with both sides of this feud. Not a lot has changed over the years. It is disheartening and sad for such an advanced and amazing group of people to be disabled by in fighting. Sometimes, I think I'd rather live in prison than go back to Eugene.

Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to this one instance. It continues to play itself out in all of our politics. Green vs. Red. Anarchism vs. Leftism. So, I'm going to point out what I thought was obvious: It's a big world. So big, that not one of our political leanings has the solution for everyone, everywhere. At some point, if we actually succeed in our goal of smashing the state, each of us are going to have to decide how we want to recreate our communities. I'm sure that with a world as diverse as ours, each of our communities will be different.

However, there is something standing in the way of all this, and it isn't some red commie, lefty liberal or green caveman. It is a big, well armed, well organized, powerful and deadly state. I hope that faced with this reality, we will find better uses of our time. We are going to have to learn to agree to disagree because it is going to take all our collective efforts to stop this machine and bring down the beast.

We have a long way to go with so much at stake. If our publications actually focused on tactics, alternatives, what works, what doesn't... If we worked on building bridges instead of burning them... ?

I suppose this articles, like so many dreams will simply become another "what if... ". That's too bad because I'd really like to see us accomplish change and not just dream, about it.

I'm not sure what the future hold. I don't even know when I'm getting gout of prison. My sentence, much like our collective future, depends on what you do. It gets said over and over again, but we seem to all have thick heads. Only you can change tings. Every single one of us has the power and ability to bring change but too often, we don't recognize our own power or we allow it to be misdirected.

We have to start in our own communities and build from there. It isn't going to work from the top down. We have to learn to work together as a diverse community and build from the bottom up. How can we hope to smash the World Bank and bring the G8 to their knees if we can't get along long enough to do it?

If we are not willing to fight together, if we are not willing to fight for each other because she's not an anarchist or because his god is different or simply because we disagree about something, then we don't have anything worth fighting for. Our revolution can't be about politics anymore. It has to be about life. It has to be about living to the fullest, sharing joy, about building and bring together sustainable communities founded on equality, freedom and respect. If that talks doesn't start with you, who's it going to start with?

Letter to The Sun magazine. December 2003

When i was ninteen, I thought I could save the planet. Raised on anarchist punk rock, I set out to fight injustice and make the world a better place.

In a national forest near Eugene, Oregon, I climbed to a plywood tree stand two hundred feet up an ancient Douglas fir. (Julia Butterfly Hill had already been sitting in a redwood for more than four months.) For forty-five days I called the tree stand home. When I came down, another took my place.

The forest action grew, and I took many more turns up in the trees. I did my fair share of blocking bulldozers, and even had the opportunity to meet with some congresspeople.

After two years of struggle, though, I was fed up and frustrated with the system. I'd witnessed countless cases of police brutality, lying officials, and broken hearts as more and more forests were destroyed. I decided it was time for underground action.

A friend and I planned to set fire to three SUVs in a protest designed to raise awareness about global warming. We succeeded in our mission, and no one was hurt. That was three years ago. I've been in prison ever since. I'm doing twenty-two years for my idealism.

I've had a lot of time to think about the choices I made, and I'm proud of them. Maybe I didn't change the world, but from the letters I get, I know I helped open some people's eyes. We managed to save that old-growth forest, too.

Jeffrey Luers
Salem, Oregon

How I Became an Eco-Warrior (Fall 2003)

It is late February in Oregon. Several of us make our way down a logging road so old and overgrown that it looks like a small trail, with young trees standing nearly twice as tall as me in its middle. This area was logged once in the early 1900's when they came only for the giant Red Cedars. Then in the 1960's they came back for the rest, leaving only pockets of untouched old growth. Relatively untouched, that is; there are only two giant Red Cedars where we are going.

We bushwack through unit 36 of the Clark timber sale. "Clark" is a low elevation old growth forest, some of the last stands of old growth that checker the Willamette National Forest. There are 10 units in "Clark", the old growth is so patch worked that these 10 units are spread out over a four square mile area, for a grand total of 96 acres of old growth. The ferns grow higher than my waist, vine maple reaches for the sunlight, and there is a plethora of huckleberry. The 400-600 year old Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and 2 Red Cedar tower over head. Standing before them is a humbling experience, like standing before a God or Goddess, it is breath taking. Hundreds and hundreds of years this forest has stood silent witness to the passing of time.

These trees were here before Christopher "Genocide" Columbus landed thousands of miles away. They stood as whites encroached further west. The protested "non-violently" in shocked silence as their fellow forest dwellers and protectors, the indigenous nations were massacred. They stood proud in defiance as their peers feel to the axe.

Now it is 1998, I look upon the markings that slate the boundary lines of the clear cuts to come and I shake my head. New lines must be drawn. There is a tranquil beauty here. My decision was made before I even stepped foot in this forest. Now, as I stand here in the presence of something far greater than myself, I realize there can be only one outcome. By any means necessary, I will save this forest.

I've never really been camping before, not real camping. I have the skills, don't ask me how because I grew up in the suburbs of L.A. But I do know how to build a fire and a shelter. I know how to surviveÉ.that's what I thought anyway. There were three of us who had committed ourselves to staying out there. Two other street kids and me. One was from N.Y., the other, like me was from L.A. (How we all found ourselves here is a different story all together.) The three of us are your run of the mill crusty squatter punks, of which I probably have the least experience and at 19 also happen to be the oldest.

The weather was hot and beautiful, blue sky and sunshine. The first morning I woke up early and grabbed my climbing gear. We were trying to be stealth so we had camped in a small clearing in a plantation forest about a quarter of a mile away. I hike in through the woods to Unit 36. I wanted to practice my climbing. I'd been taught the basics and knew how to be safe. There was already a line in a Doug Fir, set at about 120 feet up give or take. My job was to get that line set near the top of the tree where we would put the tree sit. ( If you are wondering, the tree turned out to be around 220 feet tall.)

By the second day I had climbed to about 200 feet. I make it sound easy, but the truth is that I was scared to death. There are a few different methods for climbing BIG trees, and by BIG I mean trees that at 200 feet still take 2 people to wrap arms around. I will only describe the one I was using. This method is called free climbing and when done with safeties it goes like this: You use two safety lines called leads. When you are climbing branches you anchor one lead to the branch you are on. The second lead is then anchored to a branch above you, undo the other one, climb and start over. This process is incredibly easy when there are enough branches to climb like a ladder.

However an old growth Douglas Fir does not have any branches for the first 60-80 feet. After that the branches don't get close enough to climb like a ladder until around 190 feet. And these branches can be as thick as my body. They contain soil and moos up to 6 inches deep and are an ecosystem all alone.

So, in this case what you do is anchor your lead to the branch you are on, then you balance yourself sitting or standing knowing if you fall you are safetied in, but that gives little comfort. From your balanced position you throw your second lead to the next branch. After several attempts you get it over the next branch that is 15 feet over your head. You secure your lead and climb. Then you do it again. (Note- this is by no means a detailed instruction. Get proper instruction before any kind of climbing.) Life was good the third day. The sun was hot, no clouds and I was on top of the world or 200 feet closer to it. Now we could get into other trees easy, even if our methods were still primitive. From this height in the tree I could throw a stick with heavy fishing line tied to it over a branch of a nearby tree. Then I would lover the stick to the ground, where my friends would tie the climbing line to the fishing line. I would pull up the climbing line and anchor it in my tree. Again I make this sound easy. Of course once you are already up, this is the easiest method to get into a new tree.

A new line set, I would now wait for the pros to come up from town. Because the way this works is the line is anchored in my tree, draped over a branch in the other tree and goes down to the ground where someone climbs up. (Believe it or not this is actually a standard set up.) Now, when I say pros, I mean exactly that. At some pint you get so good at climbing that you know all the tricks, you can literally swing from tree to tree. And because of it you become one of the people called to set-up tree sits. I wasn't there yet, and I was going to wait for backup before going any further. I was counting on the support of people who had done this before to both teach me and help me.

That night the three of us punks squatted under the beautiful starry sky. There is almost nothing better than the company of good friends, a warm campfire and the light of a billion stars. We shared tales of adventure, hopping trains, shop lifting and running from the cops or in some cases fighting them. We fell asleep in the fading light of a dying fire. We awoke to a rain storm in the middle of the night. ( Yeah go figure rain in Oregon in February.) Us three city boys were a little shocked by this. Hell in L.A. it was already spring if not summer. We grabbed everything and ran out of the small field into the forest. We hurriedly scrambled with the only tarp we had and made a dry, though cramped place to sleep.

The rain had not stopped my morning and showed no signs of letting up anytime soon. The pros came out though. A lot of them! They brought supplies and another tarp. First they set up the other tarp at the edge of the clearing so we could have a place for a fire. while some did this others stashed supplies and gear in buckets. The task may have been small, but their efficiency and coordination was amazing. These people had worked together and done this before. In ten minutes, the tarp was up, food and gear stashed, and a fire going!

After that I showed them the trail I had made, complete with landmarks. I was proud of myself, and they were too. Today we were going to get in that second tree. I climbed up my tree- the one I'd been climbing the last three days. At the top I shouted down to the others. there of them piled their weight on the line going into the other tree, while I observed how much the branch bent as the line was about four of five feet out from the tree. Satisfied that everything was secured and safe one of them started to climb. I can't describe the moment with the justice it deserves. The rain is coming down and I'm soaked to the bone. I'm huddled on a branch so high up there is no protection from the wind or rain and a sticks throw away from my friends grinning face staring back at me from the first tree I ever set a line in. It is one of those beautiful moments in life that you remember with absolute clarity. At that moment I had no doubt that we would save this forest.

We hiked back down to what was now called base camp. I dried off around the fire. I only had two sets of clothes, and no rain gear. I lived out of my back pack. I traveled light and fast. I was from the streets and not the woods. I was sorely unprepared for winter outdoors in Oregon and blissfully unaware.

Everyone went back to town that day, except for me. the other two kids who had been with me couldn't take the rain and it would be months before I would see my two friends again. I stayed to protect what I now considered my forest, and my home. I checked the lines everyday. I hiked around, learned the deer trails and made them my own. I got to know the area like the back of m hand. At the end of each day I would go back and build a fire, change into my one set of dry clothes and dry the others.

A week had gone by, no one had come back out. I was alone and comfortable with it. I'd made friends with the forest, the trees and the creatures. Now, when I hiked around the forest birds didn't treat me like an intruder. I didn't know it that day, but I was about to experience something amazing...

A freak storm blew in that evening. It had been raining harder than usual and I headed back to camp early. the temperature was steadily dropping and the wind whipped as it began to hail. I huddled around the fire drying my wet clothes when a sudden gust tore the grommets out of the tarp where it was tied. The tarp flew like a flag tied at only one corner. there was so much rain mixed with the hail that as I struggled with the tarp my fire was extinguished.

I was able to rescue the tarp. With a little effort I rekindled my fire, again I set about drying my clothes, now both sets. The hail became a heavy sleet, the wind picked up. This time it blew down instead of up. Under the weight of the wind and sleet my tarp collapsed on top of me, again putting out my fire. I managed to get the tarp up again. I struggled over my dead fire for the second time. All the wood was wet and it was difficult to get burning. I was able to get a small fire going, but it was a fraction of the fire I first had. I shivered as I tried to warm myself by its small flames.

As I shivered around my pathetic fire the temperature dropped even further. the sleet had turned to full on snow. It was really coming down. Every few minutes I had to knock it of the tarp. But the storm was determined to have my fire. the wind had come in so hard and fast that it split the tarp right down the middle. For the third time my fire went out. My hands and feet were numb, my clothes wet, and my body shivering uncontrollably. I knew It would be impossible to hike out and get to a warm, dry place at this time of night. I was simply to far away from the nearest town. the first time in my life I wondered if maybe I wouldn't make it though the night.

I crawled under my other tarp in the woods. the wind would have a harder time getting this one, though it still rattled it at times. slowly I set up the propane camping stove that was almost out of fuel. I fumbled with a lighter for about five minutes. When your hands are too numb to make a fist, flicking a bic is a hell of a challenge.

It worked, oh yeah I made it work. I warmed my hands over the low blue flame. when I could feel all ten fingers again I took off my boots and warmed all ten toes. I was still shivering but I could feel my hands and feet again.

I wasn't about to try and build a fire again. the tarp I was under was to low to the ground and would melt with a fire. And I was not at all confident that I could keep a fire lit without a shelter above it. Resigned, I decided my best bet was to get out of my wet clothes and get into my somewhat wet sleeping bag. I broke out my emergency space blanket and covered my sleeping bag with it. I was still cold inside my sleeping bag but I felt confident that if my tarp held I would be fine. And that I could hike out in the morning. The wind still rattled the tarp, but I was more worried about the weight of the snow. which I was regularly shaking off the tarp.

My body never got warm, but I did not stop shivering after a while. I decided to pack my pipe with some kindness left by a visitor the week before. I was celebrating life, mine and that of the 39 year old trees around me.

I knew that I needed to stay awake, not so much because I was worried about my body temperature, but I was worried about the storm and my tarp. To pass the time I talked with my favorite tree, the one that my tarp was tied to. I spoke out loud to hear my voice, but I was speaking with my heart. Now,, for some people this may sound crazy, to me I've spoken with trees and animals all my life. Intrinsic knowledge that all life has the ability to communicate with each other. I'd never gotten an answer until that night. I've had many since then.

On this night I distinctly heard, or rather felt the tree ask why I was scared. It was like this sensational feeling like instinct. You just feel it and if you ignore it , it goes away. If you pay attention a whole new world opens up.

Surprised, yet calm. I explained my situation. we actually talked like this for a while. It may have been my imagination but in my mind the young tree sounded like a child. It was astonishing. It came to light that the forest understood why I was there. that I was there to protect it. I understood that within this forest I would be safe. I felt this calm and peace wash over me, like a kind of magik. The snow still fell and the wind still blew. I knew I would be fine though. I sang a few songs and chanted until I fell asleep. When I awoke in the morning the snow was still falling. there was about three inches on the ground. However, there was no snow on my tarp. In fact there was a perfect circle of forest floor completely bare of snow around my tarp. I was amazed and humbled. I thanked the trees and forest for it's protection. I promised I would return soon. Of course the forest already knew.

I packed my gear and stashed what I would leave behind. I threw on my pack and started the 10 mile hike back to an asphalt road. About half way down the snow turned back to rain with a slight rise in temperature. when I got to HWY 18- the road that runs through the Willamette. I started the 20 odd mile hike to the nearest town. fortunately, I got a ride after about a mile. Unfortunately, it was in the back of a pick up in the pouring rain. When I got into Eugene I went to the only place I knew. a local coffee shop that is friendly to forest defenders. I sat in the corner drinking my free cup of coffee and shivering again. I was found there by a womyn (who is now one of my coolest friends_ she didn't know me, but she was friends with the pros, and she knew who I was. I wasn't really able to talk well, or explain everything right then. She knew right away that I had hypothermia. she took me to her home and took care of me.

Her home became a sort of in town base camp. The next month would find me going back and forth between town and the woods while I and friend climbed, measured and planned. Others built the treesit in town. I continued to talk to that young tree regularly. I also started talking to the trees I climbed and the one I would live in. I soon started calling this tree "Happy". It just fit.

I began to be able to feel the energy of the forest around me. My senses felt enhanced. I could smell rain half a day away. I could tell when I wasn't alone and others were somewhere in the forest. I learned how to use this energy, how to communicate with the forest better. I learned to use the magik of the forest to not be seen by freddies (forest cops) even when I was standing 3 feet in front of them. (That too is a different story) This forest was my home. I was prepared to die for it. I was more than prepared to fight for it.

On April 19th, 1998, I ascended into "Happy", the first treesit at what would come to be known as Red Cloud Thunder and the Fall Creek Treesit. I was joined by a veteran sitter, who was going to hang out for a few days to make sure I "knew the ropes" (quite literally, actually). On April 20th, we were discovered by the Freddies. They had caught our supply line on the ground and a tug of war ensued. Ultimately, we were forced to cut the line. It had begun.

The next day, we watched as giant trees were felled to build the road that would be used to haul them out. When a tree that big falls, it shrieks all the way down. It lands with a thud that rattles the earth up to a mile away. I wanted to rappel and stop them, but my friend wouldn't let me. He said in an unusually comforting way that this was part of it. Some trees will fall, others will stand. His kind demeanor could not stop my tears from falling.

He stayed with me almost a week. During that time we sat through miserable cold and wet rain, wind so strong that the center of gravity in the sit would change as the tree swayed, even two lightning storms. A lot of people will glorify tree-sitting as this warm and fuzzy experience. I did it for two years (on and off). I would sit for months at a time. I sat through frozen lines covered in icicles, snow, sleet, breaking limbs and lines, hovering helicopters, and just about anything else you can think of. It is a beautiful and horrible experience, any person who does it for any length of time does so out of necessity.

Still, after my friend left and I was the only one in the forest, all alone up in Happy, I was loving life sitting under a warm spring sun and blue sky. I felt this sense of belonging I'd never felt. I could feel the magik of the forest and of Mother Earth in my blood. I finally truly understood what it was to be a human being and be alive.

I climbed up to my perch, the branch above the sit. I sat cross-legged, my back against Happy, and I began to meditate. I went into a trance. I forgot that there was a plywood platform below me. I forgot that I was a single entity. I felt the roots of Happy like they were my own. I breathed the air like it was a part of me. I felt connected to everything around me. I reached out to Momma Earth and I felt her take my hand. I could feel the flow of life around me. I felt so in tune with the ebb and flow of the natural cycles. I asked Her what it felt like to have humanity forget so much, and attack her every day like a cancer. I told her I needed to know, I needed to feel it.

She granted my request. My body began to pour sweat. I felt the most severe pain all over, spasms wracked my body. Tears ran down my face. I could feel every factory dumping toxins into the air, water, and land. I could feel every strip-mine, every clearcut, every toxic dump and nuclear waste site. I felt my body being suffocated by concrete. I could feel every awful thing our "civilized" way of life inflicts on the natural world. The feeling only lasted a second, but it will stay with me for the rest of my life.

My life changed that day. I made a vow to give my life to the struggle for freedom and liberation, for all life, human, animal, and earth. We are all interconnected, we are all made of the same living matter, and we all call this planet home. I vowed to defend my home, I vowed to stand in defense of Mother Earth.

The Fall Creek campaign grew. I came down and others went up. I would still spend many months in the trees. At that point, though, I felt I was needed on the ground. We had a huge influx of anarchist street kids up for a punk gathering in the woods.

I helped organize road blockades, cat and mouse with the bulldozers, and security patrols. More importantly, I and some others helped keep the spectrum of tactics open. We would not allow the sometimes dogmatic adherence to "non-violence" rule the campaign. I'm not against non-violence, and we used it with great effectiveness at Fall Creek. But no matter what, we were not going to let this forest fall. The lines had been drawn. When the road workers buried a kid, who stood his ground, in dirt with a bulldozer and the Freddies stood by laughing, saying "We didn't see anything", we had had enough. The next day, armed with clubs and roadblocks, we stood our ground. When a kid was attacked with a machete, we fought back. When they sent in climbers to remove sitters, we chased them out. If a Freddy was in the woods we surrounded him and made him leave. If a Freddy was spying on camp and would not announce his presence in the woods, we threw rocks and made him show himself. When the Freddies pulled their pepper spray, we pulled ours.

Over the camp flew a banner: "If trees fall, blood spills." We were denounced in some circles of activists and applauded in others. The Freddies quickly realized we would not be bullied. If they pushed us, we pushed back. A strange level of respect was given to us by the authorities. I think they realized that with us their power meant nothing and that made them treat us as equals. (I also think they were afraid to piss us off.)

There are a thousand stories about Fall Creek and Red Cloud Thunder, and about all the people who lived there or passed through over the years. There were beautiful moments, like when the security guard hired to protect the big machines helped carry supplies to the camp, or when the loggers joined us for a beer to bitch about their boss and company practices. There was conflict, tragedy, and love. There was some violence and more than one brawl with the Freddies. There was also a family of devoted friends who together saved a forest that to us is sacred.

Today Fall Creek still stands. It was ultimately saved by some wonderful people who worked through the system. They found several red tree voles and nests, which the Forest Service conveniently hadn't looked for. They thus saved the forest with the Forest Service's own rules. However, if it was not for the hundreds of brave women and men who stood their ground, held the blockades, sat in the trees, brought out supplies, and fought off Freddies, climbers, and attacking road workers or loggers, Fall Creek would never have stood long enough for it to be saved by the law.

Our Mother Earth is a living being, the giver of life and our home. The places we defend are ecosystems that support all kinds of life, including ours. The struggle for the Earth, for animals and humyns, is not one of separate issues. It is not just one of the oppressed against the oppressors. It is a struggle for us to remember a different way of life, one forgotten by our society. Our very lifestyles have to change. We must learn to walk in harmony and balance with the world around us. We must teach these ways to our children so that they can build on them and teach them to their children.

We have also inherited the task of ensuring that there will be wild places and animals left for our children. That the world they grow up in is not one of pollution. We must fight to ensure that their world is free from oppression in all its forms. It is not our children's battle and we cannot leave it to them to fight.

That means we will have to use many tactics. We will have to use property destruction and sabotage. In some cases, like Fall Creek, people will be forced to defend themselves or others. We must support those people who make this stand, because they are fighting for so much, and they are risking their lives and freedom to do it.

There comes a point where if you are paying attention, you become aware of all the wrongs and injustices around you. You have to decide what is important to you - clean water, freedom? You have to decide if you are willing to be a part of something larger than yourself. And you have to decide if you are willing to fight for it. We have already lost too much, we can not lose any more.

If your answer is "yes", then it is time for you to pick up your spear, draw a line in the ground, and say: "You have come this far and you shall come no further. I have a voice and I will use it. I will speak for the voiceless, and if you will not hear my words then you will feel my actions. I will not let you rape, murder, and oppress any longer. I am a warrior and I will fight you." To all the brave womyn and men out there fighting with the ELF and ALF, fighting for humyn freedom, fighting for a better world with equality and justice, my heart and gratitude is with you. May you always live free. May you strike like lightning and disappear with the wind. May all our dreams come true.

Statement to Break the Chains Conference (Summer 2003)

I've been asked to write something for this conference Ð and I find myself not knowing what to say. There are over two million prisoners in the USA, and that number grows daily. Presently, hundreds and maybe thousands of Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent are illegally imprisoned, denied basic human rights and civil rights in the name of freedom. It is startlingly reminiscent of the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II.

The war against terrorism will be much the same as the war on drugs. Thousands of people will be placed in prison - only under new rules you don't have to be charged with a crime to be held indefinitely.

The USA is flexing its muscles, daring anyone to challenge its power. From without it threatens with overwhelming military power. From within it threatens with fascist laws designed as much to intimidate as punish. The Ògreat land of freedomÓ has gone from a genocidal nation to a fascist superpower. This lesson was already learned once in history. If the German citizens who opposed Hitler would have challenged him early on, the Holocaust may have been avoided.

In this dangerous age of nuclear threat, if we do not challenge this fascist system the world could face disaster. Change must come from within, and by any means necessary.

I urge everyone in attendance to go back to their homes and start building community. Develop programs to feed children and educate them. Create independent news to educate adults. Reclaim space to grow food and build/create housing. It is only by building a broad movement supported by the people that change can occur.

This broad base can then support our militants that take the fight to the front lines. They must have your support. There must be funds for attorneys ready to go before they are needed. People who risk their lives and freedom to challenge oppression in its many forms must know that they have support. We must never leave anyone to face prison time alone.

We must build a strong prison support network that can challenge the system on every level. Much of this can be learned from countries such as Ireland, Spain and England. When injustice is done there must be no silence. The system must be hounded every day and every night until all political prisoners, and all prisoners of war are free.

In the spirit of total resistance Ð
Jeffrey Luers



Let Us Organize to be Free (Summer 2003)

I am issuing this call to action in the hopes that there are enough dedicated people out there, willing to organize an effective radical grassroots campaign to Òfire a shot heard round the world.Ó Let us show the world and the United States Government what we truly think about democracy in the USA.

Many people may at first scoff at this idea. Please hear me out before passing judgement.

Every one of us knows that our country and its policies, foreign and domestic, are dominated by the rich and their business interests. A strong case can easily be built to present these facts, and most non-radicals would agree.

Every four years, we get to choose a new CEO, er, ÒpresidentÓ, of the USA. Of course, the new ruler without fail comes from the same aristocracy and class that has ruled this country since its founding. During the campaign for the presidency many of the candidates will exploit the desires of the middle and lower classes by promising to address issues pertinent to us. However, time and again the reforms are purely cosmetic, designed to appease the concerned public while keeping business as usual.

This popularity contest among rich politicians must end. We have been tricked into believing that we have a democracy, tricked into believing we have open elections where anyone can run. Yet, the Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader, was not recognized by the political system. He was not invited to the debates. The truth is, only a certain archetype can win. White, rich, business-minded, male Republicans or Democrats. In the case of Bush, Jr, you do not even have to be elected.

I'm a firm believer that nothing will change in this country without direct action. I also know that it will take far more that that if we are going to accomplish real change. We are going to need mass organization and a lot of public support.

All too often, any progress we would make is stifled by differing beliefs and tactics. For once, let us set our politics aside and come together for one campaign that can help us all. The US Government is corrupt to the core and is a threat to free people everywhere. Before any real change can occur, be it reformist or radical, one thing has to happen. We must successfully establish our opposition to this rigged political system run by and for the benefit of the ruling elite.

What I propose is that we start a nationwide campaign to express our dissatisfaction with (and expose the truth behind) presidential elections. Let us organize to vote ÒNo one for president in 2004Ó. We could coordinate a write-in campaign for ÒNo oneÓ

Only half of the adult population elegible to vote is registered. Of that, only à to 2/3 actually do vote. Which means that the majority of the population does not vote. Some do not vote because they are too apathetic to care. Others, including many activists, do not vote because they believe the vote changes nothing.

Next year will be different. Next year our vote will carry a message to the world. Imagine the international reaction if just 1% f the vote in this country was for Òno oneÓ. And we could easily get that if every anarchist voted. Now imagine if we could organize our campaign so well that many others joined our vote. Because we had registration booths set up to register people for the ÒNo One PartyÓ (or some other name). And at these booths we had information explaining the history of the vote in this country, how it started with only those who owned property being allowed to vote, and how it has continued that way today with the location of the polls, or lack thereof, in poor neighborhoods. We could show the history of presidents, the corporations they work(ed) for, their finances.

Imagine what would happen if we were so successful that Òno OneÓ got the majority of the votes.

Now, many readers may be thinking that this is a ridiculous idea. However, it serves many valid purposes. First, a campaign of this size would require a national grassroots organization, for a long period of time. This would build a foundation and infrastructure that could be used for other campaigns. We could build a massive network of individuals and groups, that structured correctly would allow for autonomy and cooperation.

Second, with this campaign we could achieve a level of outreach never before accomplished. By getting out on the streets, engaging in dialogue, and encouraging people to vote for Òno oneÓ, by sharing the truth of our political system, we could stop Òpreaching to the choirÓ and bring the truth to the people. Which would, hopefully, get more people to at least pay attention, if not get involved.

Third, with enough hard work and fundraising, we could buy ads in newspapers, perhaps even on the radio and TV. Getting enough media attention to discuss our position on the air would then make this perhaps the most public political dissent ever. Because it could go beyond massive protest in the streets to civil unrest in the polls.

Finally, it is a starting point. It is so small, it is huge. The message is the clearest and loudest we can speak. We are Telling the world that in 2004 we are voting for no one because we have no faith in a political system that is ruled by the aristocracy.

The idea is still crude in its form. But I will work with any and all individuals or groups who are interested. Together we can make this campaign happen. Please reprint and distribute. Talk about it with your friends and political groups. Lets start sharing ideas.

Bound and Gagged (Summer 2003)

[Disclaimer: This article is by no means intended to create, promote, recruit or participate in any security threat group, environmental, social or political movement and is purely for the purposes of conveying my situation here at Oregon State Penitentiary to the general public as is permissible under Oregon and US law.]

On June 13, 2003 my cell was rushed by four guards. I was immediately placed in handcuffs and taken to the hole. My offense: I had written a letter to the Earth First! Journal. This Ôoffense' had been under investigation for 3 weeks as part of a greater confidential investigation of me, I am unsure if this is a ODOC [ed-Oregon Department of Corrections] investigation or a criminal investigation. However, based on the following, I believe it is an investigation into my Ôalleged' role in the Earth Liberation Front.

I have been classified by the ODOC as a known anarchist and member of the ELF. The Security Threat Group (STG) staff has gone on record stating that ÔLuersÉis an influential member of the radical ecology/animal/environmental movement. Luers was convicted for his radical anarchist activities and his conviction was condemned worldwide.Ó

The letter I wrote to the Earth First! Journal (of which I am unsure whether it was received) was in response to two articles in the Beltane (May) issue. In my letter, I spoke about direct action, prison and Ôratting' [Ed-snitching]. The misconduct report reads: "In his letter, I/M Luers exposes his belief system in writingÉ(blah, blah).This type of activity is a direct threat to the safety of the public and causes serious concern for the security, safety and orderly appearance of all ODOC facilities and employees".

At my hearing on this matter , I argued that my letter was in no way STG related, that I did not mention any group nor did I encourage illegal activity. I was told that the environmental movement is a STG and that by writing my views or by being involved in environmental political, I was actively promoting and recruiting for the ELF. As a Ôknown STG member' anything I write about the environmental, social or political movements can and will be considered STG involvement. No distinction will be made between my past experience, views, beliefs or opinions.

I have been sanctioned to 120 days in the hole, 21 days loss of privilege upon being released from the hole and they took 100 days of good time (I can only get 15 months) pushing back the end of my first 44 month sentence from this month to October.

The prison and the state are attempting to gag me in the hopes that I will no longer speak the truth. Political dissatisfaction is steadily rising in this country as years of apathy give way to conscience and perhaps after recent events in the Bush administration, the state fears it may be losing its hold on the people.

Numerous laws have been passed in the last few years greatly reducing people's rights. Again, Congress is considering making flag burning a crime and laws against protest are being encouraged. They have started in the prisons. First they will take away my voice. Next, they may take yours.

I am in need of First Amendment attorneys who can help me challenge this sanction and the others that are sure to occur. ("I will not go silently into the night"). One that can work for minimal fees or preferably, pro-bono.

I am also asking for letters as the hole is a lonely place. Due to my limited writing supplies, I can not write everyone back. I will be doing a regular update and responding to all letters to the best of my ability on my website www.freejeffluers.org

Midnight Rant (Summer 2003)

I wonder sometimes as I sit in my cage. How did all this happen? How did things get to be like this? How did we forget?

How did we forget where we came from, what gives us life? We bury it in concrete and asphalt. We dam it and tame it. We do everything in our power to domesticate it. But still it is there wild and free.

It flows in our blood. All life is interconnected. We knew this once. Once upon a time our languages were based on this knowledge. Our cultures and lifestyles honored the life around us. Because we knew that it fed us and nourished our bodies as well as our spirit.

Life is sacred. Living is sacred. We must remember this. Life is about living to enjoy the experiences of life. It's about giving back what we take in order to continue the cycle.

This civilization is not life. It is not life affirming. Are you happy? Honestly? The structure of society today does not even provide for basic human needs. How many are homeless, hungry and in need of warm clothes? Before civilization this never would have happened. These needs would have been met by the community and by the abundance of life around it.

Now, I know we've far too many human beings and far too little space to ever go back to that. We have evolved, we have expanded and developed in ways never thought of 1,000 years ago. But we've lost sight of what we are. We are loving, compassionate human beings. That is what we need to remember. That is what we need as the moral base of our culture Ð NOT consumerism, expansionism or capitalism.

The world is far too small for us to not think like a global community. Yes, separated by thoughts, beliefs and languages. But does that make us different?

We need to build community. We need to provide for the needs of that community. And then once that is done we need to reach out to other communities.

You say impossible, in today's world it would never happen. And I say what if cruise missiles delivered food instead of warheads? We have the technology, why don't we use it for good things?

Change starts with you. It starts with your attitude. It starts with accepting that change is possible Ð that there are different ways other than this. That is the first step.

The second step is talking about it. Cultivating ideas. Building the foundations to build upon. Stepping outside the lines to embrace people who aren't like you.

The third step is starting. It's building affordable (ideally free) housing. It's feeding hungry children. Reclaiming that vacant lot to grow food. Developing a community watch and patrol so the need to rely on police decreases.

When we come together, when we change our way of doing things and embrace the people we once were, when we learn to provide for ourselves and our community without exploiting others, we will get as close to peace as we ever will. When people do not go without what they need, when civilization nourishes and cherishes life, when we can say we are living simply to live and fulfill our lives with joy. Then we will know what it means to be human beings living on Mother Earth.

My Truth (Summer 2003)

*the majority of this was written when I was 16. However, I have now added and changed a few things.

Rage is what I feel
Forced upon me by a society
I call hell.
Whose schools force feed
patriotism and allegiance.
teach never question,
never rise,
never challenge the system.

They crammed these beliefs
down my throat
From the day I was born
until the day
I choked.

Well, I've had enough
of the fucking whores
I won't listen to their lies
anymore.
I'm tired of all their
jingoistic moves
where ruler are loved
when they should be loathed.
Where money is power
and the rich run it all.

I've had enough
of these well placed lies.
I'll speak my truth
Until I die.

There are pawns
in this game
And their master who
runs it all.
But
They don't own me
because I'm a free soul.

You must open your eyes
to see past their cunning
They've been exploiting
the people from
The beginning.

They call me a terrorist
But there's no blood on my hands
They only point at me
to give you an enemy
to focus your attention
Away from reality:

That is they who hide
Behind their happy face masks,
(with their army of thugs)
who smell like death.

My Goddess (Summer 2003)

I close my eyes,
I feel her presence,
an intoxicating rush.
My blood runs hot,
her power coursing through my veins.

She heals my wounds,
makes me whole
under her touch my spirit soars.
She breathes life.
Freely, I give mine.

Before her I stand naked
and humble.
Entranced by her beauty and grace.
She knows my heart,
my thoughts,
my secrets.

She is my home,
Where my soul finds peace.
With her
I'm never alone.

She is truth
She is power
She is magik
She is real
She is the Earth

She is my Goddess.


Army of One (Summer 2003)

I bow before no master
I salute no superior
To myself and those I love
I owe my alliegance

Under no flag
Will my body lie
The cause for which I fight
Is my own

With each breath I draw
I struggle for freedom
I am an army of one
And I stand with millions

Justice (Summer 2003) (inspired by TchKung! and Margaret Walker)

Let a new world be born free from oppression
No longer ruled by man under the "auspices" of his power.

Let a new age be born like the phoenix rising from the ashes.
No longer dominated by a deadly techo-illogical disorder

Let us storm the castles, parliaments, and whitehouses of the rulers
No longer shall injustice be served with their tainted tongues.

Let them be put on trial for their crimes against humanity.
No longer able to hide behind immunity

Let the innocent go free and the guilty be hanged.
No longer shall we hide behind pacifism.

Let us rise up and claim what is rightfully ours.
Justice for the people and justice for the earth.

Technology Can't Save You (Spring 2003)

Look at me, look in my eyes-to you I will not lie
I'm dying inside, and around me, the world dies
Cooking on the burning only I can smell
It's like looking on the world with hourglass eyes
I see the passing of time the hands spin around a clock
I hear the cry of the wounded wild
and the screams of a tortured child

The innocence of youth dies in the teacher's smile
Brainwashed children recite multiplication tables
And repeat history as told by those
Who do not want us to remember
School like factories churn out workers
Who will slave away their lives
Working for someone else
From nine to five, age eighteen to sixty five
Trading half their lives for a piece of paper
So they can buy goods from the people they work for
Consumed by consumerism, most people miss life completely

Outside the air turns stale, rivers a flowing sludge
Deserts have become toxic waste lands
Pollution comes back to haunt us
And no seems to notice
No one misses the buzz of the bees or
The fluttering of butterfly wings
Few miss the giant trees or
The exotic animals that once breathed

So many signs no one knows how to read
Out of tune, out of step, out of place we fall
The world we leave behind
Deceived by our own lives
Passed down for generations
Disguised as truth
"Technology will save us all"
it only costs our souls
bow down before the devil
you have created.

The sands of time blow through crumbling ruins
Of megatropolis the monilith of the ages
Now nothing more than dust
Long ago the human race composted into oil
The black ooze it once so coveted
A planet reborn from atomic ashes
Feeds new mutated life
Where now is your god who killed you?
Technology rots away

I wake up shuddering, bathed in sweat
The sheets constrict my breath
I pray it was only a nightmare
But, I fear no one hears my prayers
So many signs, no one knows how to read
Out of tune, out of step, out of time we fall


Enough is Enough (Spring 2003)

In 1998, a report released by the Environmental Policy Institute concluded that only the rapid and total phase out of all ozone destroying chemicals could begin to stabilize ozone levels in the next few decades. That same year the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In 1990, in the first of four reports, the IPCC found that the doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) by the middle of the century will increase global temperatures by as much as 4.5 degrees Celsius. Ironically, they later revised that limit to 3.5 degrees because of estimated increases in low level air pollutants. That in the short term will mark the warming (as in the case of South Asia Òthe dense cloud of pollution ... cuts the amount of sunlight reaching the ground and ocean by ten percent to fifteen percent, cooling the land and water while heating the atmosphere [The Oregonian).

According to the World Watch Institute emissions of CO2 have risen 300% since 1950. Making C02 at its highest levels in the atmosphere in 420,000 years!

In 1995, a section of ice roughly the size of Rhode Island broke off all of the Larson ice shelf in Antarctica. (A section of ice nearly equal in size broke off earlier this year.) Just a few months later the UN would announce, the balance of evidence supports that there is discernible human influence on global climate change.

Now here we are more than a decade after the global warming crisis was discovered and still nothing has changed.

At the very moment 17% of all bird and mammal species are threatened with extinction. Spring, on average, a week earlier in the Northern Hemisphere. ÒAn estimated 24 cubic miles of ice is disappearing annually from Alaskan Glaciers.Ó (2) [The Oregonian]. That is about six feet of melting per glacier. TheThe glaciers are melting twice as fast as they were only 40 years ago. In the Arctic Ocean we have seen an average use of 10 Fahrenheit higher than the global average making the Arctic the fastest heating region on Earth. This has caused Arctic ice to recede by 10 percent. It is estimated that by 2015 the Arctic may be full of Ice during summer months.

While this may not seem like cause for concern consider this: The global sea level has risen 7.8 inches during the last 100 years. There has been enough ice melt to raise all the world's oceans more than half a foot. This will increase coastal flooding on every continent, resulting in property damage and loss of life. Already Ireland is suffering. ÒAt least 750 acres of Ireland's emerald coastal lands are being lost to the effects of global warming... further warming could subject Ireland's shores... to frequent and powerful storm.Ó

(3) [The Oregonian] What was once considered only a nightmare of bad science fiction has become reality.

The leading causes of this crisis are not hard to find. The politics of industrialized nations have placed short term economic gains ahead of global and social health. These political arenas are dominated by corporate interests.

Rich corporations and powerful military governments, like the US, are dominating and controlling the world's affairs. Through the use of organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organizations. These entities then hold the economic and military power to coerce or extort nations to do there bidding. While the few at the top of this arrangement profit the majority of the world's people suffer. It may be cliche, but it is true the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.

Recent scandals in the corporate domain are clear examples of this (Enron, Martha Stewart, and many more). In fact, even the current regime in the US has had its fair share of shady dealings. The illegitimate President George Bush was investigated for his role in the Harken Energy accounting scandal. And Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton at the time ÒHalliburton subsidiary, Brown & Root, the old Texas construction firm that does much business with the US military, was fined $3.8 million for re-exporting goods to Libya in violation of US sanctions.Ó (4) [The Oregonian]. Dick left Halliburton with a $34 million severance package.

The abuse of corporate power is nothing new. It has been happening in this country since corporations were given the same rights as individuals. The landmark Supreme Court case Santa Clara County V. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. 118 US 394 (1886) ruled that corporations enjoyed the same rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as did natural persons.

Even more worrisome than this corporate dominance is the apathy of the citizens of this nation. For the first time in the history of the United States the president was appointed by an act of the Supreme Court and not by an election. The president was appointed by the Judicial Branch of the government. The leader of the government was in essence appointed by the government and not by the people. Even the illusion of democracy has been eroded.

We use to at least choose who from the aristocracy would lead us. No longer, now we are told. And no one blinks an eye.There was no resistance, no declaration of illegitimacy, there was no refusal to obey. What little public outcry there was quickly died away.

Power has not been stolen from us we have willingly handed it over. We as a populous have bowed at the feet of our masters. The mega-corporations and their puppet politicians. We have given the reins of power to those who exploit us for their benefit. Those who steal from us. Those who own the world's resources and dole it out as they see fit. Those who plunder the planet for its riches leaving death and decay on every continent and in every ocean. They tell us what to think, how to feel and we obey. We have bought into their consumer culture with noto nly our money, but with our lives.

Their actions are killing us. Our lack of action is allowing them.

This is the most heartfelt and honest plea I have ever made of another human being. All life on this earth is being forever altered and destroyed by a greedy industrialized capitalist ideology that the world has been force-fed by those in power. The crisis affects all life from plants and animal to humans and even the earth itself. Those responsible for this madness have names and faces. They own and contract factories, corporations and governments. They control trade and make decisions that affect us all. If we don't stop them, who will?

Whether you are an activist or a worker, whatever your political leanings it doesn't matter. The future is bleak if we do not change our way of life immediately. We have to shut it down. Shut down the factories. Shut down the parts. Shut down trade. Reclaim the streets, the cities and our nations. We cannot continue to let things go on in the direction they are if we have any hope for the future.

I don't pretend to have all the answers. I do know, though, that we can do better than this. I know that one group of people should not dominate the world. I know that corporations should not and do not have the same rights as natural persons. And I know that we cannot exploit the earth forever without consequences.

This is the most important fight of your life and our children's lives. We are working in a time frame. Unless we act now it is not a matter of if our lives will be affected by climate change and the fascism behind it. It is a matter of how soon.

Maybe it won't affect you. Maybe you don't even care. But I want to leave a different legacy for our children. Future generations do not have the ability to vote. They have no political or financial power. Future generations have no way of challenging the decisions made today. They only have what we give them.

Our children deserve a healthy planet. Our children deserve a life of freedom and justice not dominated by corporate, military or government interests. Only we can give that to them. The only way we are going to do that is to act. We have to act now! Enough is enough. Shut it down!

Divided & Conquered? (Summer 2002)

For decades, people in this country have struggled and fought against imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism and countless other forms of oppression. Each one of these struggles has failed. Why? Because all of these struggles have allowed themselves to be divided, not only division amongst their ranks, but separated by their causes.

The truth is that all of our struggles are interconnected. On a deeper level all of us know this. Often we talk of community, mutual aid and solidarity. Yet where have these ideas manifested themselves? I am not talking about the mass protests or direct action camps. I am talking about our everyday lives. We have to live the revolution.

All to often we allow ourselves to be divided into cliques. We can get so caught up in our own ideals that we may become unwilling to work with others who do not share the same ideological purity. At that point it becomes impossible to express ideas out of your own circle, and even harder to work with others for a greater good. It would seem that we have dedicated more time to rhetoric and debating ideology; more time is spent arguing: reds against greens, anarchists against socialists, pacifists against militants.

Struggles are condemned as single issues, others are deemed as more important. And the “all important” struggle of smashing the state, because of course, once we do that everything else will just naturally follow. Every time I read one of our publications, whatever struggle it deals with, I find a common theme; people slugging off others who could be allies. While we are so occupied arguing amongst ourselves about whose idea of the perfect world is better, the real world, the one we all live in is going to shit. We think we have all the answers, if only people would do it our way, or my way, or your way. We are so caught up in attitudes of superiority that we fail to realize we are losing.

People we know and love are going hungry. People we care about are committing suicide and overdosing. People we know are being raped, beaten and abused. It is all around us, in every city, every town, every community. And we go right on writing our articles, putting out our zines, slugging people off and talking about the revolution. What are we fighting for? Is there a goal? Because apparently we are not fighting for each other, for our community – because it does not exist. Maybe we are fighting to protect the earth, but that must not be it either because we all still use electricity from dams, drive cars, and dumpster or buy food. We know there are alternatives, we talk about them all the time. Yet we never work together to create them. The ideal world does not exist. Not everyone is going to be an anarchist. Not everyone is going to be a vegan. And it is going to take a long long time to phase out mass production, pollution and become completely sustainable. That is just reality.

We can’t create the perfect world, but there is no reason why we can’t work together to make the one we live in better. We have to use every tool in the toolbox. If that means we gotta work with the unions to accomplish something we do it. If we have to work with the church to feed hungry children we do it. If we have to vote to change something we do it. If we have to take direct action to stop something we do it. Because if we don’t do it no one else will and 15 years from now you can read in green anarchy, The Earth First! Journal, Clamour Magazine (or whatever the fuck you read) how activists are fighting for the last acre of old growth, how the indigenous nations of the world have lost all their land, how 1 in 4 are in prison or under supervision. You will be able to read how we lost every single battle because we were to stubborn, too egotistical or too ideologically pure to work together. We have a choice, we can shoot for the stars and accept nothing less or we can aim for the stars and take every step that gets us closer. I would compromise almost anything if it meant we could actually change the world and not just talk about it.


Free Responds to Congressman McInnis's comments
made to the Congressional Hearing on Eco-Terror (Spring 2002)

Dear Mr Scott McInnis,

I am writing in response to your recent statements and questions about me.

I do not appreciate your deliberate and malicious misrepresentations of my words to further your political goals. Not only have you taken my words and formed new sentences with them attributing them to me, you have quoted me as saying things that I have never said.

As an elected Representative of the people, I believe it is your legal and moral duty to be truthful when carrying out the political and legal activities of your office. However I do appreciate your concern about me " [wasting] away in prison for the next two plus decades." You will be pleased to know that is not the case. I have stayed quite active in my college studies working towards my BA. Also, I have had a unique opportunity to discuss my situation with media from around the globe who have shown a surprising interest in my sentence. You must realize Scott, that two years ago I was just a young man frustrated by the increasingly severe destruction of the environment. I burned some tires on some trucks as a result of that frustration. Perhaps my actions were misguided. Perhaps they can be rationalized as the lesser of two evils. It is all perspective.

Had I been given a reasonable sentence I would have been forgotten by the public. I would have been one news story.I would have served my sentence and finished my BA. I would have been released, reunited with my family and enjoyed the rest of my life. Yes, I would have continued to be active in efforts to protect the environment, but I would have avoided activities that would lead me back to prison.

By giving me a sentence of 22 years, viewed by a majority of people as overly harsh and extreme, the system has put me in the spot light, giving me international attention. I have been made to be an example. However, that has only served to make me a political prisoner and for some perhaps even a martyr.

This is not a role I chose to fill. It was forced upon me.

It is oppression that creates revolutionaries Scott, and it is injustice that ignites revolutions.
In defense of Mother Earth
Sincerely,
Jeff Luers


Extreme Actions (3/27/02)
Op-Ed in the Oregonian

The history of the United States is based on acts of civil disobedience and sabotage. Our government was founded on the acts of a few brave men and women who were willing to risk their freedom. Samuel Adams and the other disguised men who participated in the Boston Tea Party would no doubt be labeled terrorists in today's political climate.

An In My Opinion ("Oregon's home-grown terrorists incite hate, violence," March 5) would like us to believe that there is no difference between property destruction and the murder of thousands of people. Author David C. Austin draws the comparison between the two when he states that Osama bin Laden and the Earth Liberation Front share "the same goals . . the destruction of our society."

In nearly a decade of its existence, ELF has never once caused an injury to life. Nor has ELF ever targeted individuals.

Violence against a person is the exertion of force resulting in injury. When a person is attacked, the person has been assaulted. When property is damaged, the property has been vandalized. There is a distinct difference between the two, and they are not comparable.

The truth is that ELF uses a campaign of property destruction to cause economic damage to institutions responsible for practices harmful to the environment, and to destroy equipment being used in those activities.
ELF has never claimed that "cutting a forest is morally akin to killing your child," as Austin claims. ELF followers are not the fanatics Austin makes them out to be. Rather, they are concerned individuals who have taken extreme actions to defend the wild.

ELF's goal is to stop practices that are incredibly harmful to the environment and to help create environmental sustainability.

Common sense tells us that a replanted forest is not the same as an ancient growth forest. A majority of Americans would like an end to old-growth logging. Yet, powerful logging interests have kept old-growth forests open to logging. And with only 5 percent of our old-growth forests left standing, is it any wonder that people would go to extremes to protect the last stands?

ELF is not attempting to destroy the free-market or bring about the downfall of society.

ELF has engaged in a strategic and apparently effective campaign to ensure protection for wild places. Colorado Rep. Scott McInnis said, "ELF's attacks have had an appreciable impact on the management of the national forests." Several forests are, in fact, still standing only because of ELF's efforts to protect them.

I'm not justifying the actions of ELF. I do not agree with all of their adherents' actions.

However, there is a reason that ELF and similar groups have come into existence. They have received the support of many mainstream people because of the effectiveness of their tactics.
More important, ELF has received so much support because in a world prone to violence, the ELF has stuck by its code: Never place life in danger of harm.

Rob and Free at OSP (Summer 2002)

"Just because we are prisoners does not mean that we have lost our reasoning, analytical powers. We still have world views based on long years of experience. Too many, even in our own political movements, would prefer to relegate us to museum pieces, objects of campaigns perhaps, but notpolitical subjects and comrades in an ongoing political struggle against imperialism, oppression, and exploitation. The state tries to isolate, true; that makes it all the more important not to let it succeed in its proposition. We fight for political identity and association from here; it is important that political forces on the outside not lose sight of why the state wants to isolate and destroy us, and therefore fight to include is in political...struggle... In many struggles, many militants have been exiled yet they have still been considered part of their struggles, not merely objects. We, we here, could be considered internally exiled. Don't lock us into roles as objects or symbols..."
 -- Marilyn Buck, from Enemies Of The State.

Rob Los Ricos (RLR): Hey, Free! Welcome to Oregon State Prison - Prison Paradise!

Free: I always wondered what paradise looked like. I'm glad to have finally found it. It is good to know that these guards with guns and 25- foot, concrete walls are here to keep paradise safe.

RLR: Man, there is so much I want to discuss with you - one political prisoner to another. I almost don't know where to start. That's why I put that Marilyn Buck quote up front, to perhaps get the ball rolling. My immediate reaction to meeting you would be envy, due to the amount of attention you're getting. But - dude - I do not envy your sentence at all. So, first of all, how are you holding up? Does all the publicity - for the most part sympathetic outrage - over your outrageous sentence help?

Free: All things considered, I'm holding up alright. I don't think that I could ever put into words what it feels like to lose everything that I love. The people that I love. And that is basically what has happened.It is good to know that a lot of people are seeing what I'm going through and saying "Wow - that's justwrong." If those people actually get involved in an effort to free me (us) that would help a lot more. For the most part, though, I think a lot of people are just saying "That's fucked up" and not doing anything about it.How about you? I know from being on the outs when you fell, there were a lot of people talking about you. Everywhere I went, you saw flyers saying "Free Rob Thaxton!" Has that helped your situation, or made it more bearable?

RLR: Yea, "Free Rob Thaxton - with your subscription to Green Anarchy." No, wait - "Come to tonight's punk show and you may win a free Rob Thaxton!"I'm sort of underwhelmed with the support I've gotten so far. I'm not gonna knock anyone, though our movement - such as it is - doesn't have a lot of experience with real oppression, so most of our lip service supporters are at a loss as to what to do, other than send reading material and money. And I sincerely appreciate having that sort of support. Still, I would like to be more involved with what's happening out there beyond those big, gray walls.As far as being the subject of graffiti, hey - what red-blooded, rock-slinging, cop-assaulting, rioting anarchist wouldn't be honored by that?

It's totally understandable that folks out there don't know how to help out, considering all the petty rules prisoncrats arbitrarily throw up to discourage and limit access between us and the outside world. It takes a lot of time and effort to be involved with prisoners as allies and comrades. Being friends - pen pals, even - is much easier and the people who've been writing for a while have made a lot of difference to my time in here. I can't imagine how I'd have managed so far without them. Other than contacts and friends I had from my previous existence, all these folks got my contact information from zines or prisoner listings on the internet.

So, I enjoy the attention, but I'd like to feel like I'm still part of the struggle, instead of a fallen martyr. What are some of the ways you think people could help us out more? All the ideas I have would take a lot of resources and effort, more effort than one or two people could be expected to do. How about you?

Free: Well, some of the obvious things that come to mind are writing the governor. It might not seem like much, but there is always the possibility it can help us legally. If nothing else, it shows we have support and that makes it less likely we'll get fucked with.Second, stop treating us like a cause. We're human beings and not abstract enemies. A lot of people have gone on, without my consent, to speak on my behalf, to claim to represent me. That really disturbs me - that is the exact process/system/attitude I struggle against. If you really want to get involved, contact me. Talk to me about what I want, what you can do to help. If you don't want to get involved, but want to show a level of support - write letters. It may be hard to believe, but very few people actually continue a correspondence. I'd really like to form new friendships.

We are in here as an example, our sentences are meant to be a deterrent to dissent. Actions of solidarity show them that the voice of revolution will not be silenced because a few of us have fallen.We must continue to increase the pressure on all fronts. The continuation of the struggle is the greatest form of support, because it gives us hope that one day there will no longer be a corrupt, oppressive power to keep us behind these walls. While there are so many ways to support us, and I can't possibly write or even think of them all, a combination of all the above would be so awesome. Rob, you and I are both writers. It isn't always easy to get our writings out there, where lots of peoplecan read them. What would you think of setting up some kind of network that could pass our prison writings along?

RLR: Hmmm...seems like that is happening already. We have - along with our friends and comrades - APLAN and Break The Chains. We both have friends in Earth First! And the folks in Eugene who stepped up to be our www helpers. That's a great start, heh? You know - being 41 years old, Tejano and a parent, I have a lot of interests that aren't usually addressed in the punk rock or student circles. It's been difficult for me to convince folks in the great beyond that there are groups and publications I'd really be interested in contacting. Too many of my contacts out there aren't interested in those groups, people and publications, so they downplay,question or blow off my requests. Some times I feel like the sibling no one likes to talk about. Luckily,I'm a resourceful person and I have patience and lots of friends, so I know I can eventually get aroundto doing the things I want to do. It would be nice to have a support group, though - there are lots of things I'm not able to do from here that outside folks could do. I really worry about being forgotten in here. For instance, no anarchist zinehas published anything I've written in over a year. There have been a few exceptions, but those haveall been letters and rants I wrote a year - or two - ago.

Again, things are happening now that are really encouraging, so by the time this goes out, I'll have a few loose ends tied up that will help start to prepare me for life after prison.

How about you? What are you going to do with your time?

Free: I think I'm going to dedicate most of my time to personal growth. I've spent the last several years dedicating my life to activism, revolution - the cause. And I will continue to do so. I want to inspire people to educate themselves and to take action. I also want to continue to educate myself, I'm going to study sociology and environmental science. I'm going to find the ways I can continue to be effective from here. And prepare for what will be a very different life than what I'm used to, 20 years from now.

On Sabotage (Winter 2001)

Greetings All,
I'd like to respond to Critter's-my co-defendant-critiques of my statement at sentencing. He's right. I was attempting to get across to the court and all those listening that sabotage, my action in particular, are the actions of desperation, actions taken because all else has failed. For me these actions are the lesser of two evils. I wish that they weren't necessary. But they are. We have no choice but to fight. Literally, fight, in the physical sense of the word. There is to much at stake for us to be tame in our struggles.

For years, decades, we have pleaded and petitioned those in power, those responsible for injustice, genocide and ecocide. This pleading has gone unanswered. It is time to use actions that can not be ignored. In defense of life, these actions are justified. "Strike a match, light a fuse. We only have the Earth to lose."

Don't get caught,
Free


Thank you letter (Winter 2001)

To my supporters: I guess first off I want to say thank you to all those people who have written me, supported me, or donated time or money to my defense. You have made this situation bearable. I cannot thank youenough. My heart especially goes out to those who have continued to fight, and have risked their own freedom, struggling against this destructive and oppressive system.

I have been able to adjust to prison life. I can tell you that it is a whole new experience. That puts it politely.

I do not know how long I will remain here, as of now I have 21 more years to go. It is my plan/goal to remain as active in the struggle for all life and against all forms of oppression as I can. By necessity I must use new tactics that can be employed from here.

I hope to complete a degree in sociology while I'm here. And to write and inspire with words. Already I have received many requests for interviews. I can only do the best I can to try to awaken people, raise awareness, and lend strength to those still on the front lines.

To all of you who try to bring change, in whatever form or tactic you use... whether you fight for the planet or against sexism, whether you are trying to raise minimum wage and create better work conditions or helping to create alternatives to traditional work: Our struggle comes in many forms. We fight different battles, in different fields. We use different tactics and different skills. We share different beliefs and different ideologies. Yet, we have one thing in common: we need each other, we need to stand side by side, to work and fight together. Only together can we create a world that we can all live in happily, healthfully, safely, and sustainably.

My goal in life is to help create that world. While I plan on continuing that goal, right now I need to focus on getting out of prison. My appeal will be underway shortly. I expect it will be a lengthy process. I'm asking for your continued support through these rough times ahead. Those of you that can donate money to my defense, thank you, it is very much needed and appreciated.

I would also like to ask that everyone write to the governor of Oregon in regards to the length of my sentence and the lack of evidence in the Tyree case.

Thank you, Jeff "Free" Luers

Birthday in Jail (Fall 2001)

Celebrating my birthday in jail.
I'll have been here six months next week.
I'm looking at 30 years give or take,
or maybe more, or 3 or 10.
How many birthdays is that?

I haven't celebrated my birthday in four years.
But I remember last year.
Celebrating my first legal drink with a friend.
It wasn't much,
but it is what I wanted.
It wasn't this.

I close my eyes.
I see my friends smiling faces,
I hear their laughter.
This is how I see my friends now.
I know when I open my eyes they'll be gone.
I had a dream last night.
We were in a tree-house.
The sun was warm, the sky was blue.
All around the birds were singing.
You said happy birthday and smiled.
When I woke I was crying.

I don't remember being sad.
I don't remember being anything.
Just lying here in my cell.
Celebrating my birthday.



Statement to the Court Upon Sentencing (Summer 2001)

"I want to make clear why I set a fire at Romania Chevrolet. I'm not going to offer excuses. I want this opportunity to explain my actions so that they are not misunderstood or misinterpreted. I didn't to this for anarchy or because I'm anti-government. And I didn't do this because I enjoy property destruction. I don't. I did this because I'm frustrated that we are doing irreversible damage to our planet, our home. It is not an exaggeration to say that right now we are experiencing a period of extinction equal to that of the dinosaurs.Forty thousand species are going extinct each year. Yet we continue to pollute and exploit the natural world. I'm not going to justify my actions. I can't do that anymore than one can justify the destruction of the environment for profit. They are both wrong. I take responsibility for what I've done. You can judge my actions, but you can't judge my heart. It can not be said that I am unfeeling and uncaring. My heart is filled with love and compassion.

I fight to protect life, all life, not to take it. I took every precaution to insure that no one would be injured by this fire. If I thought for any reason that anyone- be it Mr.Kelly or any responding firefighter or police officers- would be injured, I never would have set this fire. It was not my intention to hurt anyone or place anyone at risk.
I'm not going to ask the court to grant me leniency. All that I ask is that you believe the sincerity of my words. that you believe that my actions, whether or not you consider them to be misguided, stem from the love I have in my heart."

Free's response to the Second Romania fire (Summer 2001)

On March 31st, 2001, as I sit in jail awaiting trial, persons unknown torched 36 SUV's, causing an estimated $1 million in damages, at Romania Chevrolet Trucks. The same location I stood accused of torching. I have never been able to comment on the action. I would now like to do so.

On April 3rd, three days after the fire, I was re-indicted on 13 new charges. The majority were the same. Among the newest charges were Conspiracy to Commit Arson 1 w/Persons Unnamed. I do not believe that it was coincidence that I was given new charges immediately following the second fire. However, it should be noted that the District Attorney was growing increasingly frustrated with my failure to take a plea.

The second fire required me to change my defense strategy. Not by much, but significantly.

During the course of the trial the second fire was used by my attorney comparing it to my act. Put simply, I was accused of a horrendous life threatening fire. Yet, a fire literally 10-times more intense didn't even cause the damage of which I'm accused.

I cannot deny the joy in my heart when I read the newspapers in the days following the fire. But it was a mixed joy. I will always support acts of revolution, and I do support this act. However, I have seen the negative consequences of this action first-hand.
Not only did I come under investigation for ties to this fire - law enforcement believes I am a regional ELF leader. My friends and witnesses also came under investigation.

I also believe the fire contributed to the length of my sentence in two ways: A) It furthered the belief in the eyes of the law that they had caught a leader. B) The judge wanted to send a message to those responsible for that action, and similar ones.

My critique is this: this act would have been just as significant and more beneficial to me if my name was not mentioned in the communique. And while I understand that timing often depends on the target, I believe that if it was possible the action should have taken place earlier by some months or after my sentencing.

That said I would like to extend my revolutionary thanks to those persons unknown. Since I've fallen, several acts have been committed in solidarity with me. To those responsible for these actions, please know my gratitude. Know that each day I ask the spirits to watch over you, to keep you safe and invisible. May you continue to strike like lightening and disappear with the wind.

Earth First! Journal Interview (Summer 2001)

EF!J: How did you initially get involved in environmental activism?

Free: Originally, I was radicalized by anti-authoritarian, anarchist beliefs, as well as animal rights. I got involved in environmentalism first in 1997, I was working for CalPIRG and canvassing for the Sierra Club. I was exposed to a lot of information I hadn't known before. It was then I started to prioritize the environmental cause.

EF!J: What motivated you to participate in direct action and eventually adopt arson as a tactic?

Free: Actually, I've been involved in direct action since I was 15. That was when I broke my first cop car window with a slingshot. I think I've always known that power cedes nothing without demand. That the only way to bring change is to fight for it. As for using fire: It was appropriate for the situation and for the goal we wanted to achieve.

EF!J: To the critics and nay-sayers, those who think arson causes more harm than good, what would you say regarding the use of arson as an effective means of sabotage?

Free: I don't think anything I can say will change minds. I think many critics see using fire as morally wrong. But what I take into consideration on the issue is whether there are other alternatives? Are they effective? When the answer is no, then you have to up the ante. The use of fire does two things. 1. It destroys the target-which not only stops whatever destructive practice it was engaged in, it also causes severe economic damage to those responsible. 2. It receives the most media attention. And regardless of how you look at that, the one thing you have to acknowledge is nothing has shown to be more effective and drawing attention to an issue.

EF!J: Why was Romania Chevrolet the target on June 16, 2000?

Free: Romania was an easy target to strike. It also had the type of vehicles we were looking for-large trucks. And it conveniently happened to be a large dealership with several different locations.

EF!J: How did you get caught?

Free: We were tailed by three different unmarked vehicles. We made several turns and drove all around the city trying to pick out a tail. The cops kept switching off, so one car was never behind us long. I must say tho, we both had this weird feeling so my advice is always trust your instincts. Cuz, as I have learned, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean their not behind you.

EF!J: What can activists learn from the Romania Chevrolet and Tyree Oil actions?

Free: No comment.

EF!J: Is there anything you would have done differently?

Free: I've thought a lot about this. I'm sure that I could change some things and not have gotten caught. But really I think getting caught and getting 22 plus years has done a lot of good. I know that sounds ironic, but the mainstream media has been all over it and surprisingly sympathetic. I've been given a forum to help radicalize people, to bring the dire situation our planet and we are in to the attention of those who would normally ignore it. I wouldn't have this opportunity had things worked out differently.

EF!J: Days before your trial was to begin, a second arson took place at Romania Chevrolet destroying more than 30 SUVs. Some have criticized the strategic timing of the action and the impact it could have had on your sentencing. What are your thoughts?

Free: Actually, I just wrote my critique on that action. I think that without a doubt it added to my sentence. And I think that some things could have been done different. At the same time, I was able to use it in my defense seeing as how it was 10 times more extreme. All in all, I have my issues with the action, but I am overall supportive. So if you're out there reading this, thank you!

EF!J: Aware of the corruption within the prison system and the possible sentence you could receive, why didn't you take the original plea agreement offered?

Free: Contrary to popular belief I never got a real deal. From the get go, I was suspected/accused of being the leader of the Earth Liberation Front in the northwest. The first deal for seven-and-a-half years was that I tell on everyone and my co-defendant Critter. Fuck that. After that all my deals offered were 10 years and up. Besides they wanted me to plead guilty to acts I didn't do. They wanted me to say I committed a person-to-person crime with intent to hurt someone. That simply isn't true.

EF!J: The government has set out to make an example of you with its heavy-handed sentence, and it appears to hope that by locking you up that resistance will fade. As the risks and potential consequences increase, what can we do to encourage and/or support direct action and sabotage in defense of the Earth?

Free: The first thing we can do is to stop denouncing it. Stop apologizing for it. We need to give overwhelming support to those willing to make the sacrifices necessary to participate in direct action and sabotage. We need to set up a prisoner support network, develop a legal fund that is ready to go before its needed. There are so many things we can do. Imagine hundreds of people stepping forward and claiming credit for something when someone gets busted.

EF!J: Can you explain your experience with the courts and prison system?

Free: You don't have the space to print my experience with the system. Just picture a situation where you know you are absolutely powerless, and you know you are going to get screwed over. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. EF!J: What effects has prison had on you already?

Free: I've closed down. I'm less willing to feel emotion. I have a hard time sharing my feelings with my loved ones. I don't get to walk away from here for another 21 years. I can't see the stars or the moon. I can't wake up next to a lover. It affects you in ways you can't ever begin to imagine. You become numb.

EF!J: What gives you the spirit to fight on in the face of increasing violence against the planet?

Free: Knowing that I don't have a choice. I've watched the changes in my lifetime. I've seen things get worse. I know that we can only count on ourselves to change things. It is important for me to be able to say that I gave everything I had. The responsibility lies with us to stop the destructive practices our lifestyle has caused.

EF!J: Do you have any regrets? Free: Of course. You can't get the sentence I got and not have regrets. But they are not the kind you think. I have regrets about things I didn't get to do. I don't regret lighting that fire. I don't regret the choices that I made.

EF!J: Is there an appeal of your case in the works?

Free: Yes. I'm using a public defender-who actually refers to me as a political prisoner. And several attorneys have volunteered their help, including the regional vice president of the National Lawyers Guild. So, basically I have an awesome legal team. I just hope that they can accomplish something.

EF!J: How can activists best support you?

Free: OK, I have a list. Personally, you can help me by swamping the Governor of Oregon with letters about my sentence and case. You can support other political prisoners, volunteer with a prisoner support project. Perhaps my greatest request: Fight back. Make revolution an everyday part of your life. Start creating the sustainable communities we talk about. Nothing changes unless we make it.

EF!J: Do you have any other thoughts or words of wisdom about the future?

Free: We are at a critical point in herstory right now. Not only ecologically, but in our human interactions as well. The future is going to be what we make it. We are either going to end up living in a world void of any wild places or natural diversity, an oppressive police state monoculture. Or we are going to finally realize that we need to put our differences aside. Come together, learn from each other and create the world we want to live in. The greatest challenge we face is that it is much easier to accept things as they are and to give up hope than it is to try and make a difference. We have the power, we only need to realize it.

Don't Just Stand There (Summer 2001)

I watch in horror as my friend bleeds. Bloody on his hands, bloody on his knees. Being beat down, pulled by the hair, kicked in the ribs. The police don't care. I've looked in their eyes. And I know what I've seen. It's a hatred so intense, it really scares me. There is nothing I can do. Because the law's against me. So, I stand by helpless while my friend screams "Help...what did I do? Stop...no...ahhh! My eyes! Please...you're hurting me." I listen in anguish to the pleas, there's nothing I can do, the law's against me. I scream in rage as the clubs swing But there's nothing I can do, the law's against me. I feel disgust when I see the pigs smiling. And there's nothing I can do, cuz the law's against me. Fuck it! I ain't gonna let the law stop me.I'll organize you just wait and see. I'll watch your system fall, I'll live to see us free. Your soul is so corrupt, your heart is truly black. I never used to hate, till you put a gun to my back. You fueled this rage inside me, made who I am. Your oppression made us hate. You made us warriors....Now tonight we strike.

Tear gas fumes fill the air. Fires rage and sirens blare. Men and wimmin dressed in black run through the streets. We're fighting back. Riot cops are forming lines, suddenly Molotov's come from the sides. Scared and outnumbered, their guns go off...it's too late for them. They could have joined us. Angry and armed we smash thru their lines. We're fighting for our freedom. We're fighting for our lives.

Some may think this message seems harsh. But, what'll you do when YOU ain't got no freedom left? Sometimes non-violence is compliance. Sometimes you have to fight back if you ever want things to change. Don't just stand there. FIGHT BACK NOW!!

Silence (Winter 2000): A Poem by Free

Trapped in walls
Imprisoned by lies
living in a world that’s blind
to suffering
to suffering
See no evil
Hear no evil
SPEAK NO EVIL
Be blind
Be deaf
Be silent
BE SILENT!
IF you don’t have something nice to say
Don’t say anything at all.
We don’t talk about things that are unpleasant
Rape,
we don’t talk about that
Starving children!
Shhh!
Genocide, mass murder, nuclear war,
SHUT UP!
Global warming, poisoned water, poisoned air,
ENOUGH! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE!
Toxic soil, dying species, extinction
I don’t believe you. . .I can’t believe you. . .
I don’t want to believe you.
It changes everything.
You just need the right anti-depressants.
I’m comfortable.
I’m safe.
EVERYTHING’S JUST FINE.
JUST FINE. . .Trapped in walls
Imprisoned by lies
Happy in a world that’s blind
to suffering
to suffering.


Words from Free

I believe it is time for a serious re-evaluation of human priorities. As a species of such advanced intelligence and technology, we have the tendency to think of nothing but human advancement. We view the human race as being separate and above the life cycles of nature. This ideology of superiority over all things living and of the very land itself is leading to a large rupture in the natural order. One need not look far to see the ill effects of the "beneficial" technology.

Just count the number of super-fund sites or toxic/nuclear waste dumps. The hole in the ozone layer, that grows larger year by year with the ever rising climate temperature. The loss of wild areas, in search of more, always more, resources. These are just a few of the examples of destruction (there are many more) that the mindset of "human first" is causing. The very fact that we know the use of petrol chemicals releases toxins and pollutants into the ground water and the atmosphere attests to our continued willingness to ignore our impact upon our environment.
The reason for this willingness is, of course, that we have not yet significantly suffered the results of our actions. Although cancer is on the rise, the rate of extinction is increasing and natural disasters that have never occurred in certain regions of the world are becoming common,(i.e. tornadoes in Southern California), as a general rule we wish not to think of these things. No longer can we separate ourselves from wild nature, pretending that technology will keep us safe and intact. We must accept and embrace the fact that we, too, are a part of the natural life cycle, not above it, not on top of it. We must scrutinize the effect that we are having.

It is time for us to once again learn to live in harmony with the Earth and the other inhabitants of it. I am not suggesting that we go back to a completely primitive lifestyle, for we have forgotten far too many survival instincts for that. But we must have a reprieve of advanced, oppressive, life controlling technology. We must learn to live sustainably or become completely artificial. We have the means to change, the question is, do we have the desire?



Education (Summer 2000)

I am a living creature, I do not need you to tell me that. I was born free, to live how I choose, until I die. I do not need you to grant me that. I know my instincts and I understand my nature. They did not teach me that.

You've taught me that I had $2.81, that a candy bar costs .50 cents. How many candy bars can I buy? You taught me that I lived in the best nation in the world, because I was free to buy that many candy bars. You taught me to pledge allegiance and never question. You taught me what my place in the world was to be. And you taught me how to follow orders, and what happens when you don't.

You did not teach me well because I did not learn these things.

I always wondered about you ever since then. I always wondered why the business men (always men) from the bank or the malls got such an assembly when they donated money to the school. And why then we always got their little corporate care packages or a trip to their business.

I wanted to know why we didn't learn to grow our own food or make our own clothes? Why we didn't learn to build a shelter or a fire? Then I figured it out. It all comes back to that $2.81. Only you left a small part of the equation out. How many minutes do you have to work for someone else to get that $2.81, so you can afford to buy those 5 candy bars? And that's where the order you taught comes in, doesn't it?

Now come. I want to show you what I've learned. I've learned I don't need you and I want you to know why. I've learned that a community of people can take care of each other and the land they share. That we can grow our own food, and not be hungry. That by working together we can build our own houses and not use your industrial tools or products. I've learned that we can police ourselves quite well. I've learned that we don't need or want your business men, we don't need or want your order. And for damn sure we don't need or want your $2.81.

I've learned to be free. I've learned to love. I've learned to be happy. I've learned that you can't teach those things because you don't know how. But I will teach you, if you too want to learn.

War (Summer 2000)

She looks out the window, and watches the rain fall from the sky.
Tears stream down her face, she wonders "Oh God, why, why?"
Her lover now lays dead, in a trench across the world.
Victim in a pointless war, a war he never understood.
Shots ring out on the battle field, blood pours from open wounds.
More young men fall to the ground, there eyes in black expression.
Their deaths could not have been avoided, but we never seem to learn.
How many more must die, before we change our ways?
We send soldiers abroad to kill or die in foreign lands.
In the name of U.S. interests, death and money walk hand in hand.

Resistance (Written prior to imprisonment)

Resistance Existence together we can make the difference
Once the people are united
They cannot and will not be defeated
Through the dissent of the working class
we shall all be free at last
The system's oppression keeps down the masses
Its their law and their order that makes us the victims
The rich and the privileged profit from our pain
Its our blood and our sweat
and its them who reap the gains
They'll live the good life, while we struggle to get by
If this is your idea of freedom, you can fucking keep it
Cuz I don't want your fucked up freedom
I don't want your bullshit lies
I don't respect your authority
Cuz it's all a fucking ploy!
To keep us in the shit
in the bottom of their pit
Where they've got the police
to keep us in line
Don't want us to stand up for our basic human rights
So they'll feed us lies saying "if we work hard we'll get ahead"
They'll teach us to aspire to be-just-like-them
They'll weed out the trouble makers
or those to smart for THEIR own good
They lock us in to jails, prisons, and institutions
Don't rock the boat is what they'll say
Well fuck rocking the boat
I want to sink the entire ship!
I've had it up to here with their oppressive shit
So stand up with me my brothers and sisters
And take to the front lines
It is time for revolution It is time for a general strike
It is time to raise up off our knees
and it is time to stand and FIGHT!


So Much War (Written prior to imprisonment)

So Much war, so much hate
so much destruction by the human race
Is that all we know, how to hate?
Have we forgotten what it's like to be humane?
Misery and pain is all I see
We're killing ourselves can't you see?
Nuclear bombs lead to nuclear war
annihilation by creation
We've advanced so far
we forgot how to love
compassion for life, it's all gone
You think we're superior
I think you're insane
I'll be dammed if I'll play your game.
I've seen enough blood spilled 1000 times
How many more have to die?
Fighting for peace? or oil, god and country?
Fighting for governments
when they're the enemy.
I'll take no part in this genocide
In their conquest for power we all die
These people are insane and they've lost their minds. . .

In their quest for power innocent lives are squandered
and under their rule we are all victim
They rape our earth like they rape our lives
and they try to make us blind by drugging us with lies
I don't know Ôbout you but I see all to clear
While everyone sits back an pretends the problem's not there
Well the problem's there and it ain't going away
so you better stand up now before it's too late
Or this will be our fate. . .

When the missiles flew over we screamed in horror
and with the flashes of light life was all over
For some it was an instant for other prolonged
but in the end death claimed us all
We finally learned albeit too late
but at least maybe now
the earth will finally know peace.