Liberation Movement

This is the script to the video that I am posting on YouTube. Zach De La Rocha is the speaker and I'll post the video after it's done.
It took me forever to write it all down. ha






Script:


It began nearly two years ago, January 24th -- 2002 to be exact.
It was 4 in the afternoon, Sherman Austin was asleep. Seemed like a normal day until reason was stripped from reality. Twenty five fully armed special agents surrounded Sherman's house. Two of the agents met him at the door, showed him a warrant and drudged him outside. With shotguns and machine guns, they entered his house and went straight to his room. Once inside, they began ripping through his belongings. Seizing his books and political posters and finally dismantling his computer, which was taken into federal trucks parked outside, and had all his information downloaded to servers that were confiscated. And then they left.

His room, torn apart and the life of his friends and family turned upside down.

They left, and he was charged with nothing.

It began almost two years ago when it was just the beginning.
A month later, in February, after his home was raided, Sherman drove 3000 miles to New York to participate in a peaceful demonstration against the policies of the world bank and the IMF. Standing in columbus circle, as the march was beginning, he was again rushed. This time, by twenty police officers, and arrested. He was jailed and interrogated, without the presence of a lawyer, for 30 hours. While inside, he was asked over and over again is he was a terrorist and if he belonged to terrorist organizations.

He was released without being charged.

Almost two years ago, it was just the beginning.
While waiting for a ride thirty minutes after he was arrested without a charge, thinking the worst was over, at the same courthouse where he was arrested and released, he was surrounded again. This time, by six FBI agents, and arrested. He was grabbed by his neck, thrown into an SUV and taken to a federal building where he was placed in a maximum security jail and held for eleven days. He was then taken out of prison in new york and was taken to Oklahoma and put in a federal jail for two more days. At this point, you might be asking..

What was the crime?
Was he a murderer?
Did he kill anybody?

Or was it, that he was a young, black Anarchist and an activist who refused to be silent.

The website that the government has tried to shut down is called

RaiseTheFist.com --

It was a website that Sherman ran out of his bedroom. It posted information about all kinds of topics, covered all kinds of views, dealing with everything -- challenging racism and police brutality, giving a voice to those engaged in the movement to challenge corporate globalization. The site,

RaiseTheFist.com --

RAISETHEFIST.com, one word --

also functioned as a host server, providing links to the sites of others. One of those sites*, not authored by Sherman, contained information about explosives. Yet it was Sherman, after two years of harassment, leaving the lives of his family, who was charged with distributing material related to explosives with the "intent to use them". He was charged and sentenced to a year in federal penitentiary for having a LINK to a SITE that he himself did NOT author or personally endorse, containing information that could be found ANYWHERE. I mean ANYWHERE**. It can be found in libraries, it could be found in bookstores, it could be found on internet book distributors -- you can find it on Amazon.com. In fact, several years ago, I found a cartoon I found interesting. The first Rage Against The Machine T-shirt that was ever put out had instructions in Spanish on how to make a molotov cocktail. Looking back, it was somewhat of a silly provocation, but the interesting thing about was that

it was authored by the CIA.

These cartoons were used in the training of an unconstitutional and illegal terrorist army known as the Contras who are responsible the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people -- tens of thousands of innocent Nicaraguan civilians. The US government, in violation of the highest forms of international law, attempted to seize control of the resources of a sovereign country. A country, by the way, that may never recover from the destruction imposed upon it.

I mention this only as a clear example of the level of hypocrisy that not only runs right through Sherman's case, but also weaves its way into the fabric of our everyday life. It's an example of this vicious and oppressive political climate that is set into motion by the Bush Administration and the aftermath of september 11th. A climate in which the right-wing, violent police state sets examples of unjust bombings and the occupation of Iraq and sanctioned in the name of building a democracy while simultaneously, they destroy it right here. It is in this climate where blind obedience and and buying things are seen as patriotism. Where being a Muslim is being considered a suspect. Where being a young, black, free-thinking, rebellious, righteous Anarchist is equated with being a violent criminal.

All of this, of course, doesn't speak to the unjust suffering imposed upon his family. The fear, the harassment, the humiliation, the intimidation, the longing at the loss, the pain which I'm sure no words can describe.

But it brings up one of the reasons that brought us here to give our support, our love, our solidarity to help give them the strength, the courage to continue to fight and bring some justice home for Sherman.

The second, and equally important reason, is to let this fucking government know that they are not going to silence Sherman and keep his case in isolation. The government's case against him is so weak that they thought they could railroad so long it was kept from public view. But the fact that we're here tonight is proof that they have failed.

Word travels fast, and with some diligence and some struggle, justice can't be far behind.




*The site was posted by a rich, white boy of a Republican family who was into pyrotechnics.
**Do a Google search, you will find hundreds of results.