We Salute Tim DeChristopher
Posted on August 31st, 2011 | by A Worker |Tim DeChristopher is a young man with great courage. He is a climate activist who while studying in Utah attended a gas lease auction for public lands. He bid $1.8 million on 14 parcels of land. He didn’t have the money to pay of course. He did it as a form of civil disobedience to ensure that the land would not be sold that day. It worked and before the land could be sent back to be bid on again the Obama Administration took over from Dubya and little Dick and cancelled the sales.
Tim got two years in prison. He’s locked up right now. In his letter below, he says the judge would have given him 30 days if he knuckled under and apologized for what he did. He refused. He’s in jail because of his political statements after the incident. The government punishes acts of civil disobedience harshly.
The labor movement needs tens of thousands of DeChristophers willing to commit creative acts of civil disobedience against the myriad of unjust labor laws that make effective organizing and strikes nearly impossible. We also need to hook up with all these young people in the environmental movement. Labor, economics and the environment are all connected. What good is having a good job if our planet is poisoned. I’ll have more on this later. For now read Tim’s letter published in Alternet. It might inspire you.
A Letter From Prison: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out
By Tim DeChristopher, Grist.org
Posted on August 30, 2011, Printed on August 31, 2011http://www.alternet.org/story/152222/a_letter_from_prison%3A_tim_dechristopher_speaks_out
The following text appeared in a handwritten letter from Tim DeChristopher addressed to Grist’s Jennifer Prediger.
If I had ever doubted the power of words, Judge Benson made their importance all too clear at my sentencing last month. When he sentenced me to two years in prison plus three years probation, he admitted my offense “wasn’t too bad.” The problem, Judge Benson insisted, was my “continuing trail of statements” and my lack of regret. Apparently, all he really wanted was an apology, and for that, two years in prison could have been avoided. In fact, Judge Benson said that had it not been for the political statements I made in public, I would have avoided prosecution entirely. As is generally the case with civil disobedience, it was extremely important to the government that I come before the majesty of the court with my head bowed and express regret. So important, in fact, that an apology with proper genuflection is currently fair trade for a couple years in prison. Perhaps that’s why most activist cases end in a plea bargain. Read the rest
