This article is from our associated project, CreativeResistance.org
Artist and musician Marie Mason is a loving mother of two and a long-time activist in the environmental and labor movements. In March 2008, she was arrested by federal authorities for charges related to two acts of property destruction that occurred in 1999 and 2000; no one was injured in either of them.
One was on an office at Michigan State University where research into genetically modified organism (GMO) crops was being conducted by agribusiness giant Monsanto. The other attack was damage to commercial logging equipment. She accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced on February 5, 2009 to just under 22 years. She is now serving the longest sentence of any “Green Scare” prisoner.
Painting by Marie Mason.
The “Green Scare” is the name given to the recent arrests of animal rights and environmental activists who have been charged with acts of economic sabotage. Federal authorities have sought outrageous sentences (often Life in prison) and have publicly and legally labeled the activists as “terrorists” – despite the fact that no one has been killed or injured in any of the acts.
Supporting Marie Mason does not mean agreeing with the actions that she took – but it does mean opposing the fear-mongering tactics of the federal government and the outrageous sentences they have imposed.
Painting by Marie Mason.
June 11th is International Day of Solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid and Long-term Eco and Anarchist Prisoners.
June 11 began in solidarity with long-term eco-prisoner Jeff “Free” Luers in 2004. At the time Jeff was serving 22+ years.
Infuriated by the environmental devastation he saw occurring on a global scale, Jeff torched three SUVs at a car dealership in Eugene, Oregon. The sentence imposed on him was meant to send a clear message to others who were angered by capitalism’s continued war on the Earth’s ecosystems – and to those who were willing to take action to put a stop to it.
After years of struggle, Jeff and his legal team won a reduction in his sentence and he was released from prison in December 2009. But in the years intervening Jeff’s arrest and release, the FBI had carried out a series of indictments and arrests in an attempt to devastate the radical environmental and anarchist communities. Two of the people caught up in this maelstrom of repression were Eric McDavid and Marie Mason.
Marie Mason and Eric McDavid share the unfortunate distinction of having the longest standing sentences of any environmental prisoners in the United States.
Never Alone Online Art Exhibit
This year on June 11 – the International Day of Solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid & all Eco-prisoners – Never Alone Art will be running the 2nd annual Never Alone online exhibition. It will serve as an avenue not only for fundraising for these political prisoners, but as a way to reach out informatively to a broad audience on issues of earth & animal liberation and state captivity. You are invited to contribute an artwork to this exhibition. For submission information go to the Artist Call Out PDF.
Go to this page between June 11-30,2014 to view this year’s Never Alone online exhibition.
Can you help promote the exhibition? Download the quarter page flier and use it for tabling or ask your local radical space/friendly store to have some on their counter.
You can still view the 2013 exhibition here.
Great Lakes Tar Sands Resistance, by Pat Perry, is one of the pieces to be featured in Never Alone 2014. Pat Perry Art on Facebook.
June 11 Events Across the USA
In Brooklyn, NY: Wednesday, June 11, 2014, at 8pm at The Ho_se, 28 Lawton St #1, Bushwick. Short talks from: lawyers who represent Marie Mason; members of her support group; former political prisoners on what support means to people on the inside. Plus slideshow and music! Co-sponsored by Anarchist Black Cross. Facebook event here.
Or go to the Political Prisoner Benefit Show at The Pleasure Jail, 603 bushwick upstairs, 8pm, $8, all ages. Go to the Facebook invitation to see bands.
In Chapel Hill: Share food, stories, slideshows and celebration of Marie, Eric and movements to defend the earth, Wednesday, June 11 at 7:00pm at the Internationalist Books and Community Center, 405 W. Franklin St.
From the Facebook invitation: As we support Marie and Eric, we also work to build networks of support for our movement to resist state repression and recognize that the state’s tactics against our movement can affect all of us. This is a time to remember our friends who are in prison, who are continuing their struggles on the inside. This is also a time to continue and strengthen the very work for which Eric and Marie are now serving so much time – to struggle against capitalism, ecological devastation, and the ever more diffuse forms of control in this prison society. June 11 is a reminder to those of us on the outside that there are things worth fighting for and consequences worth facing because the future will be decided by the actions we take. (See the Earth First! Journal.)
In Durham: Noise Demo at the Durham Jail, June 13th 8:00pm, Friday, June 13th, 217 S. Mangum St. Bring anti-prison banners and flags, drums, pots and pans, and anything that makes light and noise. Bring your hopes and visions for struggle, and your rage and anger for the prison system that locks up our friends, comrades, and family members. We’ll come together to show our solidarity with all prisoners and express our rage and bring light to the struggles taking place in Durham and throughout prisons and jails in North Carolina (and beyond). We do this in solidarity with Marie and Eric, long-term eco and anarchist prisoners, and all those struggling in and against prisons.
If you’re in the Twin Cities: Join in an evening of music, info and hangin’ out at the Seward Cafe, 2129 E. Franklin Ave, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404, Wednesday, June 11
at 7:00pm.
In San Fransisco: The Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 518 Valencia St, Wednesday June 11th, 7pm. $10-20 donation. This event is accessible. Facebook invitation here.
In Eugene, Oregon: Saturday, June 7 at 7:00pm come out to the Bike Church, 2nd and Garfield, for Summer Solidarity. Hear music, drink and show support for eco-prisoners. Musical guests include David Rovics! 5-20$ suggested at the door, all money raised will go directly to prisoners. Bring a mug!
Marie with supporter David Rovics.
The Campaign to Move Marie Out of High Security Prison
From movemarie.com: After being sentenced to the disproportionately long prison sentence of 22 years for the actions she carried out with the Earth Liberation Front, Marie’s persecution by the government still continues. This time, it is the unjust transfer of her from a medium security prison to a high security prison at FMC Carswell.
Marie was first sentenced to prison at FCI Waseca. During her time there she taught fellow inmates to play guitar, helped with writing workshops and never received a single infraction for her behavior. Despite all of this, in 2010 she was unexpectedly transferred to FMC Carswell.
Her life at Carswell has been dramatically different. Outside of Fort Worth, TX Marie is over a thousand miles away from her friends and family in Michigan. She has no access to the prison’s general population. Instead, she is confined to the 20 woman prison block she is a part of. Her communication with the outside is under close scrutiny, further restricted, and mail correspondence between her and others is routinely delayed or lost.
When pressed to explain the transfer, the BOP has refused to provide an answer or hearing.
This is a clear attempt once again by the government to go after individuals for their political beliefs. They’ve already sentenced her to the longest prison sentence of any environmental activist, now they’ve made it their commitment to isolate her and restrict her movement as much as possible without due process.
Joining Myrtle and Socks in a Daydream, by Marie Mason
This campaign is an effort to both move Marie to a facility closer to friends and family, as well as lift the unjust restrictions being placed on her within prison. It is also a campaign to highlight the extreme injustice of Marie’s case in general, as well as the way the criminal justice system continues to use isolation and increased restriction as a means of punishment against political prisoners, politicized prisoners, and the prison population in general.
We will use grassroots organizing, creative media interventions, and coalition building to get Marie moved, raise up the cause of political prisoners, and further the movement towards prison abolition.
We invite you to join us in this campaign. Use this brochure to help spread the word.
Move Marie, Free Marie, Free All Political Prisoners
Audio And More:
This radio documentary covers the cases of environmental political prisoners Eric McDavid and Marie Mason, who are both serving sentences of around 20 years imprisonment in the US. We look at why these two are considered to be political prisoners and the movement of prisoner solidarity around the world. We explore the significance of these cases from a global perspective and talk about June 11th, the international day of solidarity with Eric and Marie.
Featuring: Jeff Luers (former political prisoner), Will Potter (author of Green is the New Red), Jenny (Sacramento Prisoner Support) and Peter (Support Marie Mason).
In 1999, Marie Mason put out the powerful neo-folk album , Not for Profit.
It is now available for all to hear on soundcloud.
You can donate directly to Marie & Eric’s support funds, and find out more information here:
• Support Marie Mason
• Support Eric McDavid
Names and addresses of eight eco-prisoners to remember and support on June 11 can be found here.
Earth First! Prisoner Support Project focuses on eco-prisoners, caged animal liberationists and prisoners of indigenous land struggles, who share an Earth First! bio-centric viewpoint, either in the actions which lead to their arrest or in their general activism and stands in solidarity with people facing imprisonment for their beliefs and actions reflecting a broader vision towards liberation from the oppressive systems.