The country-wide Never Alone tour is crisscrossing the US in April 2012,
featuring presentations about long-term anarchist prisoner support.
Focusing specifically on the cases of Eric McDavid and Marie Mason, the
tour will mark the spots where the events of these cases unfolded, using
multimedia presentations to bring the facts of these cases to light. In
Montreal, we will be doing a live simulcast of the presentation from
Eugene, Oregon, featuring former eco-prisoner Jeff Luers as a guest speaker.
As well as raising awareness and support for Eric and Marie, the event
will also feature strategizing about how to more effectively grow a
culture of resistance that can breach the prison walls and sustain us
and our friends for the long term.
When our friends and loved ones are snatched from us and held captive by
the state, we become all too aware that we are never alone. The eyes of
the state are always upon us, attempting to silence our voices and still
our hands. To keep us from doing the work we know must be done. We must
act despite this.
Because we also know that it is imperative that our friends on the
inside know that they, too, are never alone. That we will stand by them
throughout their time in prison, and welcome them with open arms when
they return. That the struggles they were involved in continue on, and
that they are empowered to continue on in struggle from inside the
prison walls.
And we know that we can’t do this alone. We need the active support of
our communities to give us the strength and courage to struggle for our
friends and their freedom.
Our friends remind us of what is possible. They remind us that we don’t
have to wait for permission to do what we know is right. They remind us
that we are not powerless. Like Marie and Eric, we are tired of watching
all that we love be destroyed by all that we hate. We know what needs to
happen.
Find out more about the tour: http://neveralonetour.wordpress.com
About Marie Mason
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 after her former partner, Frank Ambrose, turned
informant for the FBI. Facing a life sentence if she went to trial, she
accepted a plea bargain in September 2008, admitting her involvement in
two acts of property destruction that occurred in 1999 and 2000 –
damaging an office connected to GMO (Genetically Modified Organism)
research, and destroying a piece of logging equipment. No one was
injured in either act. On February 5, 2009, she was sentenced to just
under 22 years. She is now serving the longest sentence of any “Green
Scare” prisoner. Marie is currently being held in an incredibly
restrictive unit at the prison in Carswell, TX. Other political
prisoners, such as Lynne Stewart, are also housed there. For more
information on Marie and her case, please visit
http://www.supportmariemason.org.
About Eric McDavid
Eric McDavid was arrested on January 13, 2006 and charged with a single
count of “conspiracy to damage and destroy property by fire and
explosive.” No action ever took place. Eric was arrested after being
entrapped by a government informant, known as “Anna,” who was paid over
$65,000 for her work with the FBI. Eric stood strong in the face of
great repression and refused to cooperate with the government, choosing
instead to take his case to trial (even after both of his former
co-defendants took a plea bargain and agreed to testify against him in
court). After a trial riddled with errors, a jury convicted Eric in
September 2007. Many of these same jurors later went on record making
damning statements about the FBI. Two of them later submitted
declarations to the court stating that they believed Eric deserves, at
the very least, a new trial. Despite this, in May 2008, the judge in
Eric’s case sentenced him to an outrageous 19 years and 7 months in
prison. Eric is now serving an almost 20 year sentence for what amounts
to “thought crime.” For more info on Eric and his case, please visit
http://www.supporteric.org.
This tour is part of the collaboration for International Day of
Solidarity for Long-term Anarchist Prisoners, June 11. http://june11.org
We’re excited to see you there!
*We apologize for having this so late in the evening; it is not by
choice. The event is being simulcast live, and there is a 3 hour time
difference. Unfortunately this was the only way to make this happen.
Coffee and late-night snacks will be provided.
The site for the Montreal local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.