Genetics – Page 14 – Earth First!

Activist Film Festival is seeking submissions

Undercurrents is calling for submissions of short videos and animations on the theme of the festival: social justice and environmental action.

Subject: Political Activist videos wanted
From: undercurrents

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF FILMS

FOR BEYONDTV FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 2007

What is BEYONDTV?
From November 28 to December 2, 2007, Radical media charity, Undercurrents will host the 8th annual BEYONDTV festival of political documentaries, animations and music videos from inspiring media directors.

Undercurrents is calling for submissions of short videos and animations on the theme of the festival: social justice and environmental action.

Important Note: We do not screen dramas using actors

BEYONDTV will be hosted at the Dylan Thomas Centre and Taliesin Cinema Swansea from November 28 – December 2, 2007

More details at http://www.beyondtvfestival.info
beyondtv@undercurrents.org

Undercurrents
Old Exchange
Pier st
Swansea
SA1 1RY
UK

Playing with Fire: The Story of Daniel McGowan, “eco-terrorism” and the Green Scare

Growing up in New York City, Daniel McGowan saw first-hand how pollution fogged the air and fouled the beaches in some of the city’s poorest communities, setting him on a lifelong path of environmental and social justice. But how he ended up drenched in gasoline and setting fire to Oregon’s Jefferson Poplar Farms in 2001 and was later targeted as a “domestic terrorist” is the story of someone who cared too much and didn’t know what else to do.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens’ Rockaway Beach, Daniel McGowan grew up sandwiched between asphalt and the sky, in a forest of buildings and buzzing streets. Until Dec. 7, 2005, the 33-year-old with a round face and a chipmunk smile was mostly known in local circles for his involvement in a variety of activist projects. Today, after a nearly two-year legal battle that saw him labeled an “eco-terrorist” by the U.S. government, McGowan is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota on 15 counts of arson, attempted arson and conspiracy to commit arson against two private companies in Oregon in 2001.

McGowan, whose arrest shocked his family and friends, and his case was lumped together with nine others as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Operation Backfire, which produced 65 indictments for actions at 17 targets, including private companies, universities and government facilities across five states from 1996-2001, in what the FBI called a “campaign of domestic terrorism.” The actions were all claimed by the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) or the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an underground, decentralized movement of radical environmentalists, which McGowan participated in between 1999 and 2001 while living in Eugene, Oregon.

“At a certain point, I got involved in the ELF,” McGowan told The Indypendent at his Brooklyn home in June, a few weeks before reporting to prison. “At the time it seemed like a natural progression, but it also coincided with my increasing grief and rage I was feeling about the environmental destruction I saw. I went to Oregon and I couldn’t believe how okay people were with what was going on. We’d drive to the edge of town and you saw the logging mills, or you went into the forest and stumbled upon a clear cut. It just blew me away. I had to find a way to channel that grief and rage.” The dilemma McGowan faced has troubled activists for generations. When you try every form of “acceptable” advocacy to make change with little success, what do you do?

“A Campaign of Domestic Terrorism” In the middle of the night on May 21, 2001, McGowan found himself in the vehicle shop of Jefferson Poplar Farms in of Clatskanie, a small town in northwest Oregon on the Columbia River. He had just finished laying out soaked gasoline sheets and towels connected to a homemade incendiary device, designed to set fire to a fleet of SUVs and the company office. The privately owned facility had been selected as an ELF target because McGowan and his accomplices believed it was involved in genetic research by growing a hybrid variety of poplar-cottonwood trees that would help timber companies replace the region’s old-growth forests with commercial tree farms.

“We torched Jefferson Poplar because hybrid poplars are an ecological nightmare threatening native biodiversity in the ecosystem,” the saboteurs wrote in a communique that was released after the action. “Our forests are being liquidated and replaced with mono-cultured tree farms so greedy, earth-raping corporations can make more money.”

“At some level, I thought it [ELF actions] was effective,” McGowan said. “If I would have written a statement that I think genetic-engineered trees are bad and oldgrowth logging is bad and sent it to every media outlet in the country, it wouldn’t have been paid attention to,” he explained. “There is something really strange about when you attach a statement to an arson it suddenly becomes newsworthy … it is like propaganda with teeth.”

For McGowan, the actions were part of his search for the right mix of tactics to make positive change.

“For me, the actions were not grotesque or not about destroying things. I had a hard time getting into the mind set to destroy other people’s stuff or even living [genetically modified] organisms,” he said. “I would get sick before actions, get nervous — it was really difficult. But I did it because I felt that the other things weren’t working, and that while there was a preponderance of other tactics being tried, these tactics weren’t being tried and I thought that maybe there is something we can do to help the issue.”

Between 1996 and 2001, an underground cell of activists based in Eugene, Oregon, called “the Family” in government documents, targeted federal and university research facilities, meat and lumber companies, a car dealership, wild horse corrals and other “earth rapers,” as described by communiques released at the time.

According to the FBI, the string of high profile actions that hit 17 targets in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1990s caused nearly $80 million in property damage. These actions are only a few of the more than 600 incidents claimed by the ELF and ALF nationwide since 1996. “I think that’s really what all these actions are about — is really getting public attention to some of these issues,” said Jim Flynn, a Eugene-based environmentalist in a July 2007 USA Today article. “If we were able to affect policy change through more legal means, then certainly that’s the way these people would go. Nobody enjoys being underground, and that lifestyle.”

TO CONTINUE READING ARTICLE, VISIT: http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/enemy-of-the-state/

SIDEBAR ARTICLES:

Why Green Makes the Right See Red
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/why-green-makes-the-right-see-red/

The Birth of a Buzzword: “Eco-terrorism”
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/the-birth-of-a-buzz-word-eco-terrorism/
NOTE: See Ron Arnold’s response)

The Net Widens: Free Speech on Trial
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/the-net-widens/

Underground Eco-defenders
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/09/15/underground-eco-defenders/

Please leave comments on the articles if you want!

THE INDYPENDENT is the newspaper of the NEW YORK INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER – www.indypendent.org

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For his address to write to, other eco-prisoners, tips for writing etc, go to http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

GM Actions in France (13/9/2007)

EXTRACT: many actions… were organised in France this Spring and Summer:

Field clearings, symbolic clearings that deposited GMO plants in front of police stations or Monsanto offices, pollination of GM fields with non-GM pollen, occupation of official plant protection offices, experiments showing the reality of contaminations …

EXTRACT: many actions… were organised in France this Spring and Summer:

—

Message from Guy Kastler, Reseau Semences Paysannes (Peasant Seeds Network)
11 September 2007
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

The official registry of the French Ministry for Agriculture only indicates the total surface of GMO cultivations in each region.

Greenpeace has shed light on the existence of a GMO parcel of land that the Ministry’s registry failed to publish. Thereby Greenpeace has demonstrated the government’s incapability in ensuring public information, surveillance on GMOs and coexistence.

This action made a lot of noise as Greenpeace has good communication services. But this is only one among the many actions that were organised in France this Spring and Summer:

We (REseau Semences Paysannes) are currently preparing the second stage (mid-October) of the moratorium – I (Guy) will keep you updated and soon send you infos about it.

Greenpeace discovers an illegal GM field, files a suit and calls for an immediate moratorium on open-field cultivation

Press release – source not indicated), September 5th, 2007

Bezeril (Gers), France

Starting this morning at 9h30, Greenpeace activists mark an illegal GM corn field with red food colorant: this field is not published on the public registry of the Agriculture Ministry, as current rules in force would require.

According to the official registry, the Samatan region is supposed to be totally GM free. Through this action, Greenpeace demonstrates that GM corn cultivations are uncontrollable – in terms of contamination, toxicity and legality. The Government must immediately impose a moratorium on open-field cultivations.

“We have come to denounce a crime and to file a suit with the State Attorney of Auch,” declares Magali Ringoot, Greenpeace GMO campaigner. “We are asking Government Authorities to ascertain the infraction, to open an inquiry and to proceed with an immediate preventive harvest.”

Since last March, GM cultivations – that is of MON810 maize, the only GM crop authorised in France – must compulsorily be declared at the Ministry of Agriculture in order for them to be inventoried by region on a public registry (accessible at: http://ogm.gouv.fr).

The deadline for declarations was May 15th, 2007.

“Regarding open-field GM cultivations, France is currently in a total legal vacuum: the decrees issued last March make no mention in terms of liability, information transparency or the obligation to inform one’s neighbours – not even on the distances to keep between GM and non-GM fields,” an indignant Arnaud Apoteker reports, Greenpeace GMO campaigner. “The Government is totally incapable of making sure the rules it has established are kept, that is the obligation to declare one’s GMO parcel of land.”

It was possible to detect this illegal field thanks to the marking work carried out on the terrain by Greenpeace’s “field detectives”. “By marking this illegal field with red colour, our goal is not to attack the field owner, but to put an end to this enormous hypocrisy that keeps repeating that GMO are controllable in open fields,” continues Magali Ringoot. “GMOs are not controllable: on the one hand, because GMOs contaminate the environment, and on the other, because one would need to place a police person in each field to know where GMOs are planted exactly.”

“This summer, under the pretext of not wanting to reconsider the decisions taken before the elections, the government allowed the cultivation of over 20’000 hectares of GM maize. Result: the ill-ease in the countryside grew and the climate of trust necessary to prepare the traditional government-CSOs meeting on environmental issues (Grenelle de l’environnement) was spoiled too,” notes Arnaud Apoteker. “Given the massive public opposition, new emerging scientific analyses showing toxicity risks and this latest evidence that GMOs are not controllable, it would be absurd if the Government did not immediately decree a moratorium on open-field cultivations, even before the traditional Grenelle meeting.”

Furthermore, at the European Union level, France is increasingly isolated. Italy, Greece, Poland, Austria and Hungary have already banned open-field GM cultivation on their territories. Apart from Spain, France is the only European country today with large scale GM cultivations. In Romania, Greenpeace activists are today blocking access to an illegal GM soy field. Romania banned open-field GM soy cultivation in February 2006, after granting authorisation for eight years.

GM quarantine in Romania

5 September 2007

How’s this for a creative and exciting example of direct action – it’s a blockade but with a difference.

5 September 2007

How’s this for a creative and exciting example of direct action – it’s a blockade but with a difference.

Earlier this morning in Romania, Greenpeace volunteers quarantined a whole island where GM soya crops are being grown, which is illegal under EU law. Vehicles leaving Braila island were hosed down by people wearing white biohazard suits to prevent genetic contamination spreading to the mainland. Even a donkey and cart were washed and made GM-free!

As well as soya, maize and sunflowers are also grown there and the harvest has just begun, so the campaigners in Romania wanted to stop any GM crops leaving the island and ending up in the food chain. Drivers were apparently warned that they couldn’t leave the island without passing through the ‘decontamination station’ so there have been no reports of any soya-laden trucks trying to leave.

GM crops have popped up in Romania before and since the country joined the EU earlier this year, they’re now illegal. There’s also a flourishing black market in GM seeds and the widespread presence of GM food in Romanian markets. But now these illegal crops have been exposed in such an eye-catching manner, environmental standards officers on the scene have told the media that they will take care of the situation.

GM-spotters have been at work in France, painting a field of GM maize bright red to mark its position. This crop – with the snazzy name MON810 – is also illegal as neither the farmer nor the French government have notified the relevant authorities that it has been planted.

And apart from both being GM and illegal, what links these two agricultural incidents? Why, it’s our old friend, Monsanto, developer of the varieties of soya and maize in question. Funny that.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/gm/gm-quarantine-in-romania-20070905

Movimento Verde Eufémia mows first GM Field in South Portugal

On the 17th of August the “Movimento Verde Eufémia” went into action of civil disobedience, targeting the first transgenic field in the Algarve GMO Free Zone in South Portugal. 65 mowers entered the field and were able to mow a hectare of GM corn in less than 20 minutes. The action received support from a parade of an extra 60 people.

POLITICAL BACKGROUND
This year the first GMO field ever has been planted in the Algarve Region in Portugal. Already years before the planting of his GM corn there has been strong opposition from civil society against the cultivation of GMOs in the Algarve. This includes social and environmental organisations, farmers and a public opinion who is in general against the cultivation and consumption of GM crops. Also from the political field opposition was made. As a result the Algarve was the first GMO free zone in Portugal declared by the Junta Metropolitana do Algarve already in 2004. On the level of the municipalities over time motions have been passed rejecting the cultivation of GM crops on their territory.

Despite the strong opposition within layers of civil society and from local authorities against GMOs the policies of the Portuguese Government and the European Commission constantly disrespect the moral and democratic right of those opposing actors to ban GMOs from their fields and their plates.

MOVIMENTO VERDE EUFEMIA
For reasons described in the previous paragraph, an informal group of peasants, ecologists and
concerned citizens have gathered to take direct action with the aim to re-establish the democratic, moral and ecological order. The movement that we are now starting will go under the name “Movimento Verde Eufémia”, in homage to the peasant struggle against the former portuguese fascist regime.

The struggle of Caterina Eufémia and the peasant movement of which she was part aimed at defending the rights and the well-being of peasant communities. Our movement will continue this struggle in the context of new appearing threats, namely the agro-biotechnology sector and their powerful lobby.

THE ACTION
The direct action involved 65 mowers, destroying 1 hectare of the 50 hectare GM corn field in less than 20 minutes around midday. The activists took the well considered risk to announce the action beforehand in the media. This was done for reasons of receiving the highest media coverage for the largest direct action since the post revolutionary period in Portugal. However, the activists were aware of risks of compromise that this decision would bring along.

After 10 minutes, the owner and his colleagues noticed the action. About 8 farmers attacked the group of mowers using physical violence. The mowers took a defensive stand by using their higher number but did not use violence in return. One farmer fired shots from an alarm pistol and the activists were threatened with poison sprayers. One police patrol arrived shortly after. All mowers aborted the action after 20 minutes and moved on the public road to mix up in the parade. The 10 police officers that were in the area could not do anything else but regulating the traffic for the parade then counting more than 120 people, moving towards the nearest village of Poço Barreto. 3 identifications were made by the police, this involved the police speakers and the media spokesperson. The whole group was picked up by busses and the action ended in all order.

Knowing that the activist were hitting the property of a farmer, even though it was a big one they announced that they would provide compensation for the damage inflicted. In the end the activists intended no harm towards the farmer himself who for one or another reason choose to cultivate GM crops. The activists proposed that they would provide the farmer with organic seeds for the surface (50 hectares) which is currently being planted with GM corn.

THE AFTERMATH
Now, five days after the action, the name Movimento Verde Eufemia is still frontpage news. All television stations and radio stations give continuous updates on the case. Major political party leaders are now involved in the debate. The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Internal Administration are main actors in the debate while the President has commented on the issue as well on television.

The discourse from the Minister of Agriculture is one that mainly evolves around statements confirming support towards the farmer in the legal prosecution of the activists and pointing out that the activists hit a ‘poor farmer’ and they should be punished for trespassing and destruction of private property. An estimation from the Ministry after the minister visited the field under huge media attention, he came to the conclusion that the damage counts up to around 4000 euros. However the Order of Lawyers issued a press release yesterday stating that that delivery of legal financial support to from the ministry would be an illegal act as it would mean governmental interference in a civil court case. As a reply to that the ministry back off stating that ‘obviously’ they meant to support the farmer win the paper work and in the development of his legal discourse in the court. Next to that, the minister of agriculture takes a completely outbalanced pro-GMO position, saying that: “There is no problem, this is scientifically proven”. This can be considered as a complete invalid statement since the scientific world is at least very divided on the matter of GMOs.

The discourse of the Ministry of Internal Adminstration, being the head of police, develops mainly around the goal to criminalize Movimento Verde Eufemia and its last action. On one of the main television stations in a news studio interview he labelled the action as ‘soft’ eco terrorism. The discourse of the minister receives additionally a lot of support from the President.

However it is not all bad news. Now that the media have almost exhausted all variations on head titles stretching over two pages, they also start to go more in debt, covering the different opinions and position on GMOs and explain for example the status of GMO Free Zones. Through their press releases, MVE has invited all associations in Portugal to use the media space created to voice their arguments against GMOs. In a reaction to that, some main actors in the GMO debate, who initially distanced themselves from the action, and still do, they have now taken up the opportunity to voice their concerns on GMOs. For that reason and other reactions that the action has provoked from the political field the MVE has expressed their content seeing that their action has resulted in an opening of the debate on GMOs

INVESTIGATION
Now, for the activists involved in the action it is clear that they should be very careful in their current steps. The minister of Internal Administration himself is, as announced in the media, involved in the coordination of the investigation carried out by the Information and Security Service (SIS) and the Police Justice Department (PJ). Their aim is to uncover the networks of activists that were involved in the action in order to run legal prosecution.

KNOW MORE
MVE has currently a blow where you can follow up on the development of the case. The link is http://eufemia.ecobytes.net/

ARGUMENTS AGAINST GMOs
The arguments against GMOs are situated on different levels. For the consumer, the few independent studies that were carried out, indicate that they can induce allergic reactions, cancer and other long term negative effects, which have not been studied profoundly yet. Introducing GM crops in agriculture produces effects that are irreversible. The modified genes quickly start appearing in other crops, on other field and in other species, a process which is impossible to prevent. Besides that the cultivation of transgenic may induce cumulative effects, ranging from the appearance of weed resistant to herbicides and insects resistant to insecticides until the death of organisms that do not form any danger to the agricultural crops. These effects go along with the appearance of multiple forms of ecological instabilities. The major study about the effects of transgenic in the environment was published by the British government in 2003. It came to the conclusion that cultivating GMOs is a lot worse to wild life than conventional agriculture. North-American farmers that chose to cultivate GMOs already understood the disadvantages: higher expenses on seeds, more consumption of pesticides, closing international (and even local) markets, products that are less profitable because they are GMOs. Because of genetic contamination, biological farmers are forced the emigrate or change profession. Insurance companies are not willing to secure transgenic cultures because of the high risks involved. Lloyds, one of the major insurance companies allocated GMOs in the same financial risk level as acts of terrorism. The use of GMOs implies that farmers are forbidden to use second generation seeds produced by their own crop. This is an assertion for the seed selling companies to continue their business the next year.
Already tens of farmers in the US and Canada have already been convicted in tribunal, having used second generation seeds without authorization.

Movimento Verde Eufemia
http://eufemia.ecobytes.net/

Spirit of Freedom (August 2007) – Produced by EARTH LIBERATION PRISONERS SUPPORT NETWORK

“The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier! (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)

Welcome to the August 2007 edition of Spirit of Freedom. Regular readers of Spirit of Freedom will notice that this issue of the newsletter is slightly different to previous issues. As long-term ELP supporters will be aware, back in 2000, after the arrests & remandings of a group of Irish anti-road protesters ELP launched its e-mail Urgent ELP! service. Over the years this service has proven very popular with most of our supporters now receiving their news via e-mail with very few people receiving the newsletter in its paper version. With that in mind, ELP has decided to end its paper version of its newsletter. And because most of the Court Reports & Legal Updates news contained in Spirit of Freedom has already been circulated via e-mail we are dropping this from our newsletter and from now on Spirit of Freedom will solely be a prisoner listing publication. However, to remind everyone of all the prisoners we do support we will be circulating the Spirit of Freedom prisoner listing on a monthly basis, to give everyone a regular reminder of all the prisoners we support. Whilst looking through the list, if you notice an error, please contact ELP and we will correct it immediately. In the meantime, remember, no matter where you are in the world, support the eco-prisoners and no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!

ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS

Fadalla Idris Alajaimy (address unknown). Sudan anti-dam protester on remand accused of Waging War against the State for protesting against the construction of a dam.

Mohamed Ahmed Alajaimy (address unknown). Sudan anti-dam protester on remand accused of Waging War against the State for protesting against the construction of a dam.

Tre Arrow, CS# 05850722, Vancouver Island Regional Correction Center, 4216 Wilkinson Rd., Victoria, BC, V8Z 5B2, Canada. On remand accused of involvement with an arson on logging trucks and an arson on vehicles owned by a sand & gravel company. Both arsons occurred in the USA. Tre is fighting his extradition to the USA.

Grant Barnes #1533241 22, Denver County Jail, PO Box 1108, Denver, CO 80201, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. On one of the vehicles the letters ELF was spray-painted.

Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy.

Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland. Serving 18 years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In 02 Marco completed a 12-year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy.

Ibai Ederra, Carcel de Pamplona, C/San Roque. Apdo. 250, 31080 – Iruñez Pamplona, Navarra (España), Spain. Serving just under 5 years for sabotaging machinery at the controversial Itoiz dam construction site.

Betty Krawczyk, Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, P.O. Box 1000, Maple Ridge, BC, V2X 3K4, Canada. Serving 10-months for protesting against the development of the Winter Olympics site on traditional Squamish territory

Jeffrey Luers, #13797671, OSP, 2605 State St. Salem, OR 97310, USA. Serving 22 years & 8 months for arson on a SUV dealership & the attempted arson of an oil truck.

Ali Mohamed Alhassen Massad (address unknown). Sudan anti-dam protester on remand accused of Waging War against the State for protesting against the construction of a dam.

Eric McDavid X-2972521 4E 231A, Sacramento County Main Jail, 651 “I” Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA. On Remand accused of planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants.

Daniel McGowan, #63794-053, MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, PO Box 329002, Brooklyn, NY 11232, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against a lumber company. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy.

Jonathan Paul See details in Animal Liberation Prisoners List.

Costantino Ragusa, Casa Circondariale, Via Prati Nuovi 7, 27058 Voghera (PV), Italy. Il Silvestre activist serving 2½ years. 1) 18-months for burgling and firebombing a multinational company. 2) 12-months for organising an anti-GM protest. Costanino is also awaiting trial accused of using explosives to damage an electricity pylon in protest at nuclear energy.

Joyanna Zacher, #0707300576, San Bernardino CDC, 630 E. Rialto Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92415, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted her role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy.

ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS

Jon Ablewhite TB4885, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection.

Gregg Avery TA7450, HMP Winchester, Romsey Road, Winchester SO22 5DF, England. On remand accused of conspiracy to blackmail, in relation to his involvement with the SHAC campaign.

Natasha Avery NR8987, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx. TW15 3JZ, England. Jailed for breaching her parole conditions imposed on her for telling a fox hunting murdering scum what she thought of them. Also awaiting trial accused of conspiracy to blackmail, in relation to her involvement with the SHAC campaign.

Nathan Block See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

Jacob Conroy #93501-011, FCI Victorville Medium I Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 48 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Donald Currie TN4593, HMP Whitemoor, Longhill Road, March, Cambs, PE15 OPR, England. Serving an Indeterminate Sentence, of not less than six actual years, for carrying out arsons against targets associated the vivisection industry including HLS.

Darius Fullmer #26397-050, FCI Fort Dix Satellite Camp, P.O. Box 1000, Fort Dix, NJ 08640 USA. Serving 12 months for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Lauren Gazzola #93497-011, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route #37Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving 54 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Sarah Gisborne, LT5393, HMP Cookham Wood, Rochester, Kent, ME1 3LU, England. Serving 5½ years for conspiracy to cause criminal damage following the damaging of 8 vehicles owned by people linked to Huntingdon Life Science.

Joshua Harper #29429-086, FCI Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 5000, Sheridan, OR 97378 USA. Serving 36 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Joseph Harris TN5728, HMP Bullingdon, Patrick Haugh Road, Arncott, Nr. Bicester, Oxon, OX25 1WD, England. Serving 2 years for damaging the property of people associated with Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Kevin Kjonaas #93502-011, FCI Sandstone, PO Box 1000, Sandstone, MN 55072 USA. Serving 72 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Josephine Mayo PR6508, HMP Drake Hall, Eccleshall, Staffs, ST21 6LQ, England. Serving 4 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection.

Daniel McGowan See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

Heather Nicholson VM4859, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx. TW15 3JZ, England. On remand accused of conspiracy to blackmail, in relation to her involvement with the SHAC campaign.

Jonathan Paul, c/o Friends of Jonathan Paul, PMB 267, 2305 Ashland St., Ste. C, Ashland, OR 97520, USA. Sentenced to 51 months for an ALF arson on a horse meat plant. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy.

John Smith TB4887, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection.

Andrew Stepanian #26399-050, FCI Butner Medium II Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 1500, Butner, NC 27509 USA. Serving 36 months for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign.

Mark Taylor TT6636, HMP YOI Onley, Rugby, Warkwickshire, CV23 8AP, England. Serving four years for organising loud demonstrations outside the offices of companies with links to HLS.

Suzanne Taylor, TM7154, HMP Foston Hall, Foston, Derby, Derbyshire, DE65 5DN, England. Serving two and a half years for helping organise loud demonstrations outside the offices of companies with links to HLS.

Kerry Whitburn TB4886, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection.

Joyanna Zacher See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

PLOUGHSHARES PRISONERS

Helen Woodson, 03231-045, FMC Carswell – Admin. Max. Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 8 years 10 months for actions that focused on the interrelationship of war & the destruction of the natural world. The actions included pouring red paint over the security desk of a federal court and making threatening communications. Previously Helen had served 20½ years for: 1) Using a hammer to disarm a nuclear missile silo. 2) Burning $25,000 on the floor of a bank whilst denouncing war, environmental destruction & economic injustice. 3) Mailing warning letters with bullets attached to Government & corporate officials.

OTHER ANTI-WAR PRISONERS

Brendan Walsh 12473-052, FCI/FSL Elkton, PO Box 10, Lisbon, OH 44432 USA. Serving 5 years for an arson on an army recruitment office in protest at the War on Iraq.

THE LECCE FIVE
The Lecce Five have been charged with subversive association accused of damaging Esso petrol pumps to oppose the War on Iraq; sabotaging the cash machines of a bank which funds an immigration centre; and targeting the multinational company Benetton in support of Mapuche land rights activists in Chile. All of the defendants are currently either under house arrest or released on bail.

ANTIFA PRISONERS

Lasandra Burwell W063658, Ohio Reformatory for Women, 1479 Collins Ave. Marysville, OH 43040, USA. Serving 5 years for taking part in an anti-fascist demonstration which turned into a riot.

Vahtang Devitlidze, ul. Libbedova 42, UO 68/2, otryad 14, brigada 142, g. Hagyshensk, Krasnodarskiy Kray, 352680 Russia. Serving 2½ years for stabbing a neo-nazi in the leg whilst defending himself from attack.

Augustin Kraus, Vazebni veznice, PP-1, Litomerice, 41 201, Czech Republic. Serving 14 months for his participation in attacks against local neo-nazis. His charge was “bodily harm”. He speaks Czech, Slovak and Polish. You can also write him short postcards in English.

Christian Sümmermann, BNR: 727/07/7, JVA Tegel, Seidelstr. 39, 13507 Berlin, Germany. Serving 40 months for breaching the peace whilst serving a suspended sentence issued for anti-fascist activities.

Tomasz Wiloszewski, Zaklad Karny, Orzechowa 5, 98-200 Sieradz, Poland. Serving 15 years for accidentally killing a neo-nazi whilst defending himself.

OTHER PRISONERS

Oscar Santa Maria Caro, CERESO, Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz, Oaxaca en Hall B, Cell 5., Mexico. On remand. The exact charges against Oscar are unknown but Oscar is a member of RATA, a known animal rights group.

Sacramento Delfino Cano Hernandez, CERESO, Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz, Oaxaca en Hall B, Cell 5., Mexico. On remand. Co-defendant of Oscar Santa Maria Caro.

Olga Aleksandrovna Nevskaya, UU163/5, 7 Otryad, pos. Dzerzhinskiy, Mozhaysk 140090 Moskovskaya oblast, Russia. Eco-activist serving 6 years for arson, criminal damage and causing explosions in protest at the war in Chechnya.
Due for release in 2009.

Fran Thompson, #1090915 HU 1C, WERDCC, PO Box 300, Vandalia, MO 63382, USA. Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nuke campaigner.

MOVE
MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, died in prison in 1998.

Debbie Simms Africa (006307), Janet Holloway Africa (006308) and Janine Philips Africa (006309) all at: SCI Cambridge Springs, 451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238, USA.

Michael Davis Africa (AM4973) and Charles Simms Africa (AM4975) both at SCI Grateford, PO Box 244, Grateford, PA 19426-0244, USA.

Edward Goodman Africa (AM4974), 301 Morea Rd, Frackville, PA 17932, USA. William Philips Africa (AM4984) and Delbert Orr Africa (AM4985) both at SCI Dallas Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612, USA.

Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in 2001.

STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE
Some people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions. Spirit of Freedom does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.

ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORK
ELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:

Spirit of Freedom is ELPs international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail.

Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail ELP4321@hotmail.com

On-Line Newsletters ELP has a number of websites that provide news, prisoner lists and additional info about ELP & the prisoners.

English language ELP Website
www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

North American ELP Website
www.ecoprisoners.org

Turkish language ELP Website
www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm

ELP Extra is an e-mail group that circulates the details of political prisoners, ELP learns about, who do not fall within the remit for support by ELP. To subscribe to the list e-mail ELP4321@Hotmail.com

Belgium ELP.SN is our Belgium contact. For more info e-mail elp_bel@hotmail.com

German ELP.SN is a prisoner led initiative run by eco-prisoner Marco Camenisch. For more info contact Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland.

North American ELP is our North American contact. For more information e-mail naelpsn@mutualaid.org

Turkey ELP.SN is our Turkish contact. For more info e-mail yesilanarsi@yahoo.com

North American ELP Prisoner Fund. The North American ELP group has set up a fund where people can pay money, for North American Eco-Defence and Animal Rights prisoners, which will then be distributed to the North American prisoners. For information about the Fund and how to make a donation please contact naelpsn@mutualaid.org

DEDICATION
This Edition of Spirit of Freedom is dedicated to Bill Avalon Rodgers, the American Oregon Defendant who ended his own life in December 2005 whilst on Remand.

New Earth First Action Update OUT NOW!

The printed EF! Action Update is back again! After a bit of a lull a new editorial collective is in place and ready to roll. We have just produced a summer edition in time for the Camp for Climate Action, where you can pick up printed copies.

The Action Update is produced quarterly to aid the sharing of news, information and ideas amongst those interested in taking action. The next newsletter will be out in November. If you’ve got news to share about your groups, campaigns and actions post them straight onto this website and we’ll make sure they’re included in the next edition.

You can also download and print out the PDF of the Action Update by clicking here.

Protesters decontaminate the UK’s last remaining GM potato trial

During the night of Friday 6th July, a group of activists converged on Britain’s last remaining GM trial site just outside Cambridge. They scaled the security fences and destroyed the crop of genetically modified potatoes.

The potato plants were already flowering, spreading genetic contagion into the surrounding countryside.

A similar trial planned in Hull was abandoned earlier this year after a strong campaign and massive concern from nearby farmers. With the destruction of the Cambridge crop, Britain is once again GM free.

Public concern and demonstrations had failed to sway NIAB, the National Institute for Agriculture and Botany, who are carrying out the five-year trial on behalf of BASF, a multinational chemical corporation. Many feel that if corporations refuse to listen to public opinion it is necessary to take direct action.

Friday’s action follows the latest in a series of protests, on the previous Sunday (July 1st), when demonstrators marched on the potato field. On that occasion, they were met by overwhelming numbers of police and two participants were arrested.

This time, however, no such obstacles were met, and the activists were able to successfully decontaminate the field.

If this trial had been allowed to run full term it could have led to a whole new generation of GM crop trials in this country. Friday night’s events show that public concern about GM food and willingness to take direct action to keep Britain GM free remain high.

Cambridge GM potato demo report & photo series & court update (with added video)

There was a protest today against the last remaining GM potato trial in the UK just outside of Cambridge.

Despite being heavily outnumbered by the police & Chubb security guards, protesters were able to make their way right up to the twenty metre perimeter fence surrounding the trial site (with electric fence inside). Two demonstrators were arrested, one for attempting to breach the fence and another some distance from the site.

Protesters played frisbee and ate a picnic at the site but, due to being outnumbered, were not in a position to get through the fence to decontaminate the site.

Full write up of protest and some background

One knew right from arriving at the start point of this protest in Girton that the police were going to be totally in control. Protesters were greatly outnumbered. Also there were no mainstream journalists present at all. There were lines of police photographers with big cameras and long lenses positioned all around the centre of the village. This was clearly a way of warning any locals who might wish to become involved that they would be treated as potential criminals even though it was a very fluffy protest. Protesters set off along the road, turned off onto a public footpath towards the site, escorted and watched all the way by dozens of police on foot and in vehicles. Police made a token attempt to stop everyone from leaving the footpath but the determined protesters quickly nipped through a gap in the hedge and straight onto the corporate land that was allegedly protected by a hurriedly obtained injunction. From there, one could see the test plot in the distance across corn fields with many expensive police 4X4s surrounding it. Protesters then walked carefully along the headlands so as not to be accused of damaging the adjoining (hopefully non GM) wheat and barley crops and then settled down to picnic right next to the block and mesh fence that had only just been erected around the potato test site. Many of the picnicers lunch boxes seemed to contain potato salad! One very brave protester managed to leap over this fence when most of the yellow jackets were distracted but was immediately arrested. A little while later a very polite man from Chubb security came to announce that an injunction had been obtained and that everyone was within the injuncted area and that he would be very greatful if everyone were to leave soon. After conferring amongst themselves, protesters realised that because they were so outnumbered by both police and private security guards and because a six foot fence stood between them and the much despised crop, the protest could only be a symbolic one and so they upped and left.

The pupose of this genetically modified crop trial is allegedly to evaluate the resistance of a new GM potato variety to late blight in the field. I really cannot see why this experiment has to be done in the open countryside rather than inside a closed laboratory. Blight needs particular conditions of temperature, humidity and air circulation in order to strike. These conditions would be easy to simulate in a large climatically controlled greenhouse but out in a field, the correct conditions may not be achieved from one year to the next despite the fossil fuel corporation’s best/worst attempts to change our climate. Not only that but the growing potatoes were visibly in flower, therefore producing GM pollen and I did indeed see at least two bee hives presumably installed and maintained by BASF about 300 metres away near the hedge. Since it would be easily possible to pinch out the GM pollen producing flowers on such a small plot (doing this actually INCREASES potato yield by about 15%) and since the flowers hadn’t been removed, one has to conclude that BASF deliberately want to spread GM pollen around Cambridgeshire as part of their open-air experiment. Pity any local honey producers as they could lose their organic status over this. I’m wondering if BASF have any monitoring hives 3km away rather than just 300m as bees can easily travel this distance in search of flowers or maybe BASF don’t want to know such a fact?

Being a keen potato fancier and grower, I have a particular interest in this blight issue. Potato late blight is a particularly devastating fungus that spreads faster than any other plant disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_blight
This is the same disease that caused the famous 1845 Irish potato famine that claimed a million lives. (In fact it would be more accurate to say that the British governement caused the deaths by completely ignoring the famine and suffering that they knew was occurring.) Blight, being a fungus, thrives in warm damp still weather. Last year’s very wet early autumn weather caused my own potato crop to dramatically succumb to blight in just two days. In that short period, the foliage changed from healthy green to a black putrefying slime and the only remedy at that stage is to attempt to remove every scrap of infected material from the soil, lift all the tubers from the ground and dry the intact ones as quickly as possible before storing them. It’s not over then – one has to frequently check the stored potatoes for months and pull out the considerable number that continue to go putrid before the tuber blight spreads to the entire sack. As a rule, fungal diseases can only be controlled by spraying with quite strong chemicals. The only permitted (just) organic control is Bordeaux mixture – copper sulphate and lime. This is only moderately effective – rather useless under severe conditions like last year as, since copper suphate is soluble, it has to be reapplied after each heavy rain by which time, the disease may have become unstoppable. So you can see that inorganic potato growing can require strong chemicals and organic growing is really quite problematic. In these days of unstable weather, my overriding criterium for choosing potato varieties to grow now is no longer flavour or outrageous colour but blight resistance. I would truly love a 100% blight resistant potato to grow myself. However I cannot see myself trusting an injunction wielding GM corporation’s creation any further than I could throw that entire corporation uphill. As I see it their overriding interest is not to help struggling farmers or alleviate world famine. It is profit and the wish to monoplise and dominate the potato seed market with just a very few expensive patented-up-to-the-hilt varieties.

If you go to the supermarkets, you’ll see on display just six or so varieties of potatoes. In fact worldwide there are an amazing 5000 different varieties, 800 or so varieties in this country and about 150 of these are easily available commercial seed varieties. The consequences of any market dominating GM variety could cause the gradual extinction of many irreplacable heritage varieties. Being brutally honest, the few heritage varieties that I’ve tried growing myself have been too susceptible to blight for me to continue to grow them organically. However tucked in amongst all those thousands of varieties there could be some almost forgotten about ones that have naturally high resistance. Not only that but this huge repository of varieties can be used in traditional selective breeding programs to produce new non GM varieties that have much higher resistance. This year I am trying Sárpo Mira, Sárpo Axona and Verity which are all new varieties recently created in just this way and that are claimed to have exceptional resistance. So the point I am making is that there are clear and hopefully viable alternatives to genetic manipulation without the risks.

.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

GM protester court news

Two protesters were in court this morning having been arrested on Sunday during protests at the site of the UK’s only GM trial – potatoes.

Both were charged with Criminal Damage. One pled not guilty, and that trial will resume in 4 weeks. The other pled guilty and was fined.

Teddy Bears Picnic – video/quicktime 31M

GM Victory! Hull down! One more pota’t’go! – Sunday July 1st

Following extensive local and national resistance, BASF (the company trialing the GM potatoes), announced last month that they would not be conducting a GM potato trial in Yorkshire this year!

Last month the government approved the BASF application for a GM trial in Hedon, East Yorkshire. Following the ruber stamping by DEFRA, the company announced that it would not proceed with the trial this year, but said they may do so in the future.

This means the BASF/NIAB site in Cambridge (planted around the beginning of May) is now the only location in Britain where GM crops are contaminating the countryside…

One down, one to go – let’s keep Britain GM free!

It’s not too late to stop GM spuds. Join us for a walk to see the trial site and a protest picnic.

Following extensive local and national resistance, BASF (the company trialing the GM potatoes), announced last month that they would not be conducting a GM potato trial in Yorkshire this year!

This means the BASF/NIAB site in Cambridge (planted around the beginning of May) is now the only location in Britain where GM crops are contaminating the countryside…

One down, one to go – let’s keep Britain GM free!

It’s not too late to stop GM spuds. Join us for a walk to see the trial site and a protest picnic.

Bring costumes, families, footwear and clothing for a country stroll and your favourite potato-based dish. Starting from Girton Parish Church, Girton, Cambridgeshire.

12 Noon, Sunday July 1st

See www.mutatoes.org for directions, help with transport and more detailed information on the campaign.

Background

BASF announced on the 14th May that they would not go ahead with the Hedon trial this year. When the trials were originally announced in March 2007, beekeepers expressed concerns to the borage farmers about the possible contamination of borage honey with GM pollen and pointed to their industry’s guidance that required hives to be a minimum of 6 miles from the nearest GM site.

It was reported that the owner of the proposed GM site near Hull wanted the borage farmers concerns had to be dealt with before he finally agreed to the trial going ahead. BASF’s u-turn on going ahead with the trial in 2007 suggests that attempts to reassure borage farmers concerns were unsuccessful. However, the statutory approval granted to BASF is valid until 2011.

The case has wider implications for GM crops. Last year Defra’s consultation on the coexistence of GM, conventional and organic crops did not include beekeepers in the list of people who would be statutorily required to be informed by a farmer intending to commercially grow a GM crop.

Pete Riley of GM Freeze said: “The cancellation of the Hedon GM potato site is warmly welcomed – we could never see the point of allowing this commercial development trial to go ahead when we already have a growing number of blight resistant potato varieties produced by conventional plant breeding. Consumers don’t want GM potatoes and the potato processors have said they will not use them. We hope this is the end of GM trialling in Hedon and the rest of the UK…….The impact of the trials on honey and beekeepers has been central to the cancellation. If any GM crops are ever approved for commercial growing in the UK this type of problem could become common place. Defra have repeatedly tried to ignore the impact of GM crops on beekeepers and the potential economic impacts but at Hedon they have been stung. The economic and agricultural importance of honey bees can no longer by sidelined by Defra’s GM policies. Ministers need to learn the lesson of the debacle over the Hedon site and protect beepers from GM contamination in the future”.
http://www.mutatoes.org