Free Darren Thurston - Support Site

My statement/essay can be downloaded here as a PDF file now. My support group will be posting this as an html document in the next few days.

Please note, permission is granted to reproduce this document in full, but if you wish to quote or cite excerpts, you must seek permission from freedarren@resist.ca

Commenting on this blog is a bit screwy at the moment - so please email comments to the above email address as well as posting them here to ensure we receive them.

Thanks,
Darren Thurston
Fired Back: Some Words in Response to Operation Backfire

Finally. It looks like Darren is at his destination after a month of being bounced between facilities. We are hoping that from now until his release August 14, 2008 he will be staying put at FCI Marianna in Florida. It’s a long way from home but it’s where the Bureau of Prisons has decided he shall go.

Please write him and send books to:

Darren Thurston 69110-065
FCI Marianna
P.O. Box 7007
Marianna, Florida 32447 USA

Not only is the holiday season coming up but this Friday marks the 2-year anniversary of his incarceration. Please let him know that you are thinking about him and awaiting his release late this summer!

And thanks to all of you who continue to support him in this time of need. His statement to all of you will be released later this month.

In gratitude,
Darren Thurston Support Committee

Briefly:

Darren has been moved again and is currently waiting at the Oklahoma FTC for reassignment to a new facility. Please do not send him books while he is between facilities as we are not sure how long he will be at OK-FTC - but do send him letters to help him pass the time!

He can be reached at:

Darren Thurston, 69110-065
FTC OKLAHOMA CITY
P.O. Box 898801
Oklahoma City, OK 73189

And his official release date has been amended and posted to the Bureau of Prisons website - he will be sent back to Canada shortly after August 14, 2008.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support Darren - he really appreciates your letters and will be issuing a statement when he is settled into a regular facility once again.

We’re glad to report that Darren has finally been moved into his final “home” where he will be imprisoned until the end of his sentence next year. He is now in FCI Sheridan and can be reached at:

Darren Thurston 69110-065
FCI Sheridan
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 5000
Sheridan, OR 97378
USA

We are asking that you PLEASE send him books and letters ASAP as it helps the transition immeasurably to have reading materials and support from the outside. Those of you wishing to visit Darren can get in touch with him via letter or at this email address for further info about making that happen.  We have updated his book list at http://freedarren.org/?page_id=25 and ask that you consult that page for suggestions. Please also note that Darren’s #1 request is a New York Times subscription which you can either purchase directly or make a donation to the support committee to contribute towards.

Overall Darren is doing well at the moment as he adjusts to his new facility and is hopeful that he will be out inside of the next year (we are awaiting his official release date). He is working on an essay regarding his case that he aims to have released by the end of September - and will be distributed via this list and his support website.

Thanks again to all who have supported him through this time. It really is the home stretch now.

In gratitude,
Darren Thurston Support Committee

An open letter, reflecting on the recent Green Scare hearings;

It has come to my attention in the past few weeks both through my involvement with the Resist! Collective, as well as by the insistent emails from friends, that there has been quite a bit of talk circulating since the close of the Green Scare hearings in Eugene at the beginning of June. Some time ago, I made promises to post a statement at the conclusion of those hearings, and yet it has been more than a month since my return from Eugene. Unfortunately, my silence has only allowed the critical voices to grow and the misinformation about Darren to spread. Part of my reticence in writing comes from a fear of provoking more backlash against myself or others, but this of course is not all. Pride, resentment and anger have all played into my unwillingness to speak openly in the aftermath of the court hearings, a childish resistance which has no place in the building of honest and ethical community.

For those of you who do not know me, I have run Darren Thurston’s support committee and website since his arrest in December 2005, and have a close association with some others indicted in the Green Scare case including Chelsea, Joe and Rebecca. This is only one facet of my long history of activism, but it is that which is most salient to this letter. Since his decision to co-operate with the US Government’s investigation into the ALF/ELF early last summer, there have been a lot of allegations made about Darren and others which are either untrue or overblown in order to paint a particular picture. I would like to start here by explaining the truth as I have understood it as a participant and supporter in this case, then briefly talk about the personal effects of this situation, and also the greater ethics of our political movements. A dissertation this is not, I will try to be brief but thorough.

Continue reading ‘DTSC: An Open Letter.’