Writings by Free

- Dispatch from October 9th, 2004
- My Goddess
- Technology Can't Save You
- Army of One
- Enough is Enough
- Divided and Conquered?
- Letter from Free
- Words from Free
- Another Letter from Free
- Free's sentencing statement
- Free's response to the second Romania fire
- Don't just stand there!
- Silence
- Free's commentary in the Oregonian 3/27/02 Free responds to congressman McInnis's comments

Dispatch 10/9/04

I have struggled with writing this for the last several weeks. In fact, I'm starting at several of the previous attempts in front of me as I try to find the words I need to say. Forgive my lapses in these dispatches. I've been doing them for a year now. I have strived to inspire people with my words. At times, I have tried to inspire action. However, the majority of the time I have tried to inspire you to look within your self and see your true strength and power-to find the courage to be free.

Too often, we accept the roles forced upon us whether they be stereotypes or the obligations of a content citizen. Sometimes, we create our own role to hide behind, afraid to face our true selves or our fears. The walls can be built so thick we can almost forget we have become guided by pain or fear.

In my life, I have been guilty of both and on more than one occasion. In fact, I am guilty right now. I feel an obligation to every person out there who looks up to me or admires me. I feel an obligation to a movement that expects its political prisoners to stand strong in the face of all adversity.

Many of the decisions I have made in the last four years I have made because of these obligations.

A friend of mine recently said to me, "What people don't get is there is the image of "Free"‚ the world sees and then there is the guy I'm walking the track with.

I have dedicated my entire adult life to the struggles I believe in. My sense of honor demands no less and despite all of my failures, personal and political, I am proud of myself. It's a personal victory. I found the courage to be me. But, lately I can't remember if I'm Free or Jeff or the two are even interchangeable. It's not that I've forgotten who I am. I've forgotten who I want to be.

So, now I must find the courage to let go of obligations; self-created or otherwise. I'm not a role model or a leader and I sure as hell ain't the hope for a better future-because that's you. No, I'm just a simple guy with a big heart and a lot of dreams. Actually, I'd like to think the only difference between you and I is that I got caught.

I've entered a stage in my life where I need to reevaluate what I need to be doing. There have been many changes in how I view my life, the people in it and my goals. This will be my last dispatch until my appeal is decided or I feel the need to say something. I'm not sure which will happen first.

Of course, I will continue to write articles and editorials as inspiration strikes. I will continue to stand strong in the face of all adversity, not because it is expected of me, but because I demand it of myself. We are all warriors, only our battlefields vary. Freedom is your birthright. Take it!

Jeffrey Luers, #13797671, OSP, 2605 State Street, Salem, OR 97310.

My Goddess

I close my eyes,
I feel here presence,
an intoxicating rush.
My blood runs hot,
her power coursing through my veins.

She heals my wounds,
makes me whole
under her touch my spirit soars.
She breathes life.
Freely, I give mine.

Before her I stand naked
and humble.
Entranced by her beauty and grace.
She knows my heart,
my thoughts,
my secrets.

She is my home,
Where my soul finds peace.
With her
I'm never alone.

She is truth
She is power
She is magik
She is real
She is the Earth

She is my Goddess.

Technology Can't Save You

Look at me, look in my eyes-to you I will not lie
I'm dying inside, and around me, the world dies
Cooking on the burning only I can smell
It's like looking on the world with hourglass eyes
I see the passing of time the hands spin around a clock
I hear the cry of the wounded wild
and the screams of a tortured child

The innocence of youth dies in the teacher's smile
Brainwashed children recite multiplication tables
And repeat history as told by those
Who do not want us to remember
School like factories churn out workers
Who will slave away their lives
Working for someone else
From nine to five, age eighteen to sixty five
Trading half their lives for a piece of paper
So they can buy goods from the people they work for
Consumed by consumerism, most people miss life completely

Outside the air turns stale, rivers a flowing sludge
Deserts have become toxic waste lands
Pollution comes back to haunt us
And no seems to notice
No one misses the buzz of the bees or
The fluttering of butterfly wings
Few miss the giant trees or
The exotic animals that once breathed

So many signs no one knows how to read
Out of tune, out of step, out of place we fall
The world we leave behind
Deceived by our own lives
Passed down for generations
Disguised as truth
"Technology will save us all"
it only costs our souls
bow down before the devil
you have created.

The sands of time blow through crumbling ruins
Of megatropolis the monilith of the ages
Now nothing more than dust
Long ago the human race composted into oil
The black ooze it once so coveted
A planet reborn from atomic ashes
Feeds new mutated life
Where now is your god who killed you?
Technology rots away

I wake up shuddering, bathed in sweat
The sheets constrict my breath
I pray it was only a nightmare
But, I fear no one hears my prayers
So many signs, no one knows how to read
Out of tune, out of step, out of time we fall

Army of One

I bow before no master
I salute no superior
To myself and those I love
I owe my intelligence

Under no flag
Will my body lie
The cause for which I fight
Is my own

With each breath I draw
I struggle for freedom
I am an army of one
And I stand with millions

Enough is Enough

In 1998, a report released by the Environmental Policy Institute concluded that only the rapid and total phase out of all ozone destroying chemicals could begin to stabilize ozone levels in the next few decades. That same year the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In 1990, in the first of four reports, the IPCC found that the doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) by the middle of the century will increase global temperatures by as much as 4.5 degrees Celsius. Ironically, they later revised that limit to 3.5 degrees because of estimated increases in low level air pollutants. That in the short term will mark the warming (as in the case of South Asia ãthe dense cloud of pollution ... cuts the amount of sunlight reaching the ground and ocean by ten percent to fifteen percent, cooling the land and water while heating the atmosphere [The Oregonian).

According to the World Watch Institute emissions of CO2 have risen 300% since 1950. Making C02 at its highest levels in the atmosphere in 420,000 years!

In 1995, a section of ice roughly the size of Rhode Island broke off all of the Larson ice shelf in Antarctica. (A section of ice nearly equal in size broke off earlier this year.) Just a few months later the UN would announce, the balance of evidence supports that there is discernible human influence on global climate change.

Now here we are more than a decade after the global warming crisis was discovered and still nothing has changed.

At the very moment 17% of all bird and mammal species are threatened with extinction. Spring, on average, a week earlier in the Northern Hemisphere. ãAn estimated 24 cubic miles of ice is disappearing annually from Alaskan Glaciers.ä (2) [The Oregonian]. That is about six feet of melting per glacier. TheThe glaciers are melting twice as fast as they were only 40 years ago. In the Arctic Ocean we have seen an average use of 10 Fahrenheit higher than the global average making the Arctic the fastest heating region on Earth. This has caused Arctic ice to recede by 10 percent. It is estimated that by 2015 the Arctic may be full of Ice during summer months.

While this may not seem like cause for concern consider this: The global sea level has risen 7.8 inches during the last 100 years. There has been enough ice melt to raise all the worldâs oceans more than half a foot. This will increase coastal flooding on every continent, resulting in property damage and loss of life. Already Ireland is suffering. ãAt least 750 acres of Irelandâs emerald coastal lands are being lost to the effects of global warming... further warming could subject Irelandâs shores... to frequent and powerful storm.ä

(3) [The Oregonian] What was once considered only a nightmare of bad science fiction has become reality.

The leading causes of this crisis are not hard to find. The politics of industrialized nations have placed short term economic gains ahead of global and social health. These political arenas are dominated by corporate interests.

Rich corporations and powerful military governments, like the US, are dominating and controlling the worldâs affairs. Through the use of organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organizations. These entities then hold the economic and military power to coerce or extort nations to do there bidding. While the few at the top of this arrangement profit the majority of the worldâs people suffer. It may be cliche, but it is true the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.

Recent scandals in the corporate domain are clear examples of this (Enron, Martha Stewart, and many more). In fact, even the current regime in the US has had its fair share of shady dealings. The illegitimate President George Bush was investigated for his role in the Harken Energy accounting scandal. And Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton at the time ãHalliburton subsidiary, Brown & Root, the old Texas construction firm that does much business with the US military, was fined $3.8 million for re-exporting goods to Libya in violation of US sanctions.ä (4) [The Oregonian]. Dick left Halliburton with a $34 million severance package.

The abuse of corporate power is nothing new. It has been happening in this country since corporations were given the same rights as individuals. The landmark Supreme Court case Santa Clara County V. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. 118 US 394 (1886) ruled that corporations enjoyed the same rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as did natural persons.

Even more worrisome than this corporate dominance is the apathy of the citizens of this nation. For the first time in the history of the United States the president was appointed by an act of the Supreme Court and not by an election. The president was appointed by the Judicial Branch of the government. The leader of the government was in essence appointed by the government and not by the people. Even the illusion of democracy has been eroded.

We use to at least choose who from the aristocracy would lead us. No longer, now we are told. And no one blinks an eye.There was no resistance, no declaration of illegitimacy, there was no refusal to obey. What little public outcry there was quickly died away.

Power has not been stolen from us we have willingly handed it over. We as a populous have bowed at the feet of our masters. The mega-corporations and their puppet politicians. We have given the reins of power to those who exploit us for their benefit. Those who steal from us. Those who own the worldâs resources and dole it out as they see fit. Those who plunder the planet for its riches leaving death and decay on every continent and in every ocean. They tell us what to think, how to feel and we obey. We have bought into their consumer culture with noto nly our money, but with our lives.

Their actions are killing us. Our lack of action is allowing them.

This is the most heartfelt and honest plea I have ever made of another human being. All life on this earth is being forever altered and destroyed by a greedy industrialized capitalist ideology that the world has been force-fed by those in power. The crisis affects all life from plants and animal to humans and even the earth itself. Those responsible for this madness have names and faces. They own and contract factories, corporations and governments. They control trade and make decisions that affect us all. If we donât stop them, who will?

Whether you are an activist or a worker, whatever your political leanings it doesnât matter. The future is bleak if we do not change our way of life immediately. We have to shut it down. Shut down the factories. Shut down the parts. Shut down trade. Reclaim the streets, the cities and our nations. We cannot continue to let things go on in the direction they are if we have any hope for the future.

I donât pretend to have all the answers. I do know, though, that we can do better than this. I know that one group of people should not dominate the world. I know that corporations should not and do not have the same rights as natural persons. And I know that we cannot exploit the earth forever without consequences.

This is the most important fight of your life and our childrenâs lives. We are working in a time frame. Unless we act now it is not a matter of if our lives will be affected by climate change and the fascism behind it. It is a matter of how soon.

Maybe it wonât affect you. Maybe you donât even care. But I want to leave a different legacy for our children. Future generations do not have the ability to vote. They have no political or financial power. Future generations have no way of challenging the decisions made today. They only have what we give them.

Our children deserve a healthy planet. Our children deserve a life of freedom and justice not dominated by corporate, military or government interests. Only we can give that to them. The only way we are going to do that is to act. We have to act now! Enough is enough. Shut it down!

Divided and Conquered?

For decades, people in this country have struggled and fought against imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism and countless other forms of oppression. Each one of these struggles has failed. Why? Because all of these struggles have allowed themselves to be divided, not only division amongst their ranks, but separated by their causes.

The truth is that all of our struggles are interconnected. On a deeper level all of us know this. Often we talk of community, mutual aid and solidarity. Yet where have these ideas manifested themselves?

I am not talking about the mass protests or direct action camps. I am talking about our everyday lives. We have to live the revolution.

All to often we allow ourselves to be divided into cliques. We can get so caught up in our own ideals that we may become unwilling to work with others who do not share the same ideological purity. At that point it becomes impossible to express ideas out of your own circle, and even harder to work with others for a greater good.

It would seem that we have dedicated more time to rhetoric and debating ideology; more time is spent arguing: reds against greens, anarchists against socialists, pacifists against militants. Struggles are condemned as single issues, others are deemed as more important. And the “all important” struggle of smashing the state, because of course, once we do that everything else will just naturally follow.

Every time I read one of our publications, whatever struggle it deals with, I find a common theme; people slugging off others who could be allies.

While we are so occupied arguing amongst ourselves about whose idea of the perfect world is better, the real world, the one we all live in is going to shit.

We think we have all the answers, if only people would do it our way, or my way, or your way. We are so caught up in attitudes of superiority that we fail to realize we are losing.

People we know and love are going hungry. People we care about are committing suicide and overdosing. People we know are being raped, beaten and abused. It is all around us, in every city, every town, every community. And we go right on writing our articles, putting out our zines, slugging people off and talking about the revolution.

What are we fighting for? Is there a goal? Because apparently we are not fighting for each other, for our community – because it does not exist. Maybe we are fighting to protect the earth, but that must not be it either because we all still use electricity from dams, drive cars, and dumpster or buy food.

We know there are alternatives, we talk about them all the time. Yet we never work together to create them.

The ideal world does not exist. Not everyone is going to be an anarchist. Not everyone is going to be a vegan. And it is going to take a long long time to phase out mass production, pollution and become completely sustainable. That is just reality. We can’t create the perfect world, but there is no reason why we can’t work together to make the one we live in better.

We have to use every tool in the toolbox. If that means we gotta work with the unions to accomplish something we do it. If we have to work with the church to feed hungry children we do it. If we have to vote to change something we do it. If we have to take direct action to stop something we do it.

Because if we don’t do it no one else will and 15 years from now you can read in Green Anarchy, The Earth First! Journal, Clamour Magazine (or whatever the fuck you read) how activists are fighting for the last acre of old growth, how the indigenous nations of the world have lost all their land, how 1 in 4 are in prison or under supervision. You will be able to read how we lost every single battle because we were to stubborn, to egotistical or to ideologically pure to work together.

We have a choice, we can shoot for the stars and accept nothing less or we can aim for the stars and take every step that gets us closer.

I would compromise almost anything if it meant we could actually change the world and not just talk about it.

Letter from Free

To my supporters: I guess first off I want to say thank you to all those people who have written me, supported me, or donated time or money to my defense. You have made this situation bearable. I cannot thank youenough. My heart especially goes out to those who have continued to fight, and have risked their own freedom, struggling against this destructive and oppressive system.

I have been able to adjust to prison life. I can tell you that it is a whole new experience. That puts it politely.

I do not know how long I will remain here, as of now I have 21 more years to go. It is my plan/goal to remain as active in the struggle for all life and against all forms of oppression as I can. By necessity I must use new tactics that can be employed from here.

I hope to complete a degree in sociology while I'm here. And to write and inspire with words. Already I have received many requests for interviews. I can only do the best I can to try to awaken people, raise awareness, and lend strength to those still on the front lines.

To all of you who try to bring change, in whatever form or tactic you use... whether you fight for the planet or against sexism, whether you are trying to raise minimum wage and create better work conditions or helping to create alternatives to traditional work: Our struggle comes in many forms. We fight different battles, in different fields. We use different tactics and different skills. We share different beliefs and different ideologies. Yet, we have one thing in common: we need each other, we need to stand side by side, to work and fight together. Only together can we create a world that we can all live in happily, healthfully, safely, and sustainably.

My goal in life is to help create that world. While I plan on continuing that goal, right now I need to focus on getting out of prison. My appeal will be underway shortly. I expect it will be a lengthy process. I'm asking for your continued support through these rough times ahead. Those of you that can donate money to my defense, thank you, it is very much needed and appreciated.

I would also like to ask that everyone write to the governor of Oregon* in regards to the length of my sentence and the lack of evidence in the Tyree case.

Thank you, Jeff "Free" Luers

Words from Free

I believe it is time for a serious re-evaluation of human priorities. As a species of such advanced intelligence and technology, we have the tendency to think of nothing but human advancement. We view the human race as being separate and above the life cycles of nature. This ideology of superiority over all things living and of the very land itself is leading to a large rupture in the natural order. One need not look far to see the ill effects of the "beneficial" technology.

Just count the number of super-fund sites or toxic/nuclear waste dumps. The hole in the ozone layer, that grows larger year by year with the ever rising climate temperature. The loss of wild areas, in search of more, always more, resources. These are just a few of the examples of destruction (there are many more) that the mindset of "human first" is causing. The very fact that we know the use of petrol chemicals releases toxins and pollutants into the ground water and the atmosphere attests to our continued willingness to ignore our impact upon our environment.

The reason for this willingness is, of course, that we have not yet significantly suffered the results of our actions. Although cancer is on the rise, the rate of extinction is increasing and natural disasters that have never occurred in certain regions of the world are becoming common,(i.e. tornadoes in Southern California), as a general rule we wish not to think of these things. No longer can we separate ourselves from wild nature, pretending that technology will keep us safe and intact. We must accept and embrace the fact that we, too, are a part of the natural life cycle, not above it, not on top of it. We must scrutinize the effect that we are having.

It is time for us to once again learn to live in harmony with the Earth and the other inhabitants of it. I am not suggesting that we go back to a completely primitive lifestyle, for we have forgotten far too many survival instincts for that. But we must have a reprieve of advanced, oppressive, life controlling technology. We must learn to live sustainably or become completely artificial. We have the means to change, the question is, do we have the desire?

Letter from Free

Greetings All,

I'd like to respond to Critter's-my co-defendant-critiques of my statement at sentencing. He's right. I was attempting to get across to the court and all those listening that sabotage, my action in particular, are the actions of desperation, actions taken because all else has failed. For me these actions are the lesser of two evils. I wish that they weren't necessary. But they are. We have no choice but to fight. Literally, fight, in the physical sense of the word. There is to much at stake for us to be tame in our struggles.

For years, decades, we have pleaded and petitioned those in power, those responsible for injustice, genocide and ecocide. This pleading has gone unanswered. It is time to use actions that can not be ignored. In defense of life, these actions are justified. "Strike a match, light a fuse. We only have the Earth to lose."

Don't get caught,
Free

Statement of Free (Jeff Luers) at his sentencing on 11/06/01

"I want to make clear why I set a fire at Romania Chevrolet. I'm not going to offer excuses. I want this opportunity to explain my actions so that they are not misunderstood or misinterpreted. I didn't to this for anarchy or because I'm anti-government. And I didn't do this because I enjoy property destruction. I don't. I did this because I'm frustrated that we are doing irreversible damage to our planet, our home. It is not an exaggeration to say that right now we are experiencing a period of extinction equal to that of the dinosaurs.Forty thousand species are going extinct each year. Yet we continue to pollute and exploit the natural world. I'm not going to justify my actions. I can't do that anymore than one can justify the destruction of the environment for profit. They are both wrong. I take responsibility for what I've done. You can judge my actions, but you can't judge my heart. It can not be said that I am unfeeling and uncaring. My heart is filled with love and compassion.

I fight to protect life, all life, not to take it. I took every precaution to insure that no one would be injured by this fire. If I thought for any reason that anyone- be it Mr.Kelly or any responding firefighter or police officers- would be injured, I never would have set this fire. It was not my intention to hurt anyone or place anyone at risk.

I'm not going to ask the court to grant me leniency. All that I ask is that you believe the sincerity of my words. that you believe that my actions, whether or not you consider them to be misguided, stem from the love I have in my heart."

Free's response to the second Romania fire

On March 31st, 2001, as I sit in jail awaiting trial, persons unknown torched 36 SUV's, causing an estimated $1 million in damages, at Romania Chevrolet Trucks. The same location I stood accused of torching. I have never been able to comment on the action. I would now like to do so.

On April 3rd, three days after the fire, I was re-indicted on 13 new charges. The majority were the same. Among the newest charges were Conspiracy to Commit Arson 1 w/Persons Unnamed. I do not believe that it was coincidence that I was given new charges immediately following the second fire. However, it should be noted that the District Attorney was growing increasingly frustrated with my failure to take a plea.

The second fire required me to change my defense strategy. Not by much, but significantly.

During the course of the trial the second fire was used by my attorney comparing it to my act. Put simply, I was accused of a horrendous life threatening fire. Yet, a fire literally 10-times more intense didn't even cause the damage of which I'm accused.

I cannot deny the joy in my heart when I read the newspapers in the days following the fire. But it was a mixed joy. I will always support acts of revolution, and I do support this act. However, I have seen the negative consequences of this action first-hand.

Not only did I come under investigation for ties to this fire - law enforcement believes I am a regional ELF leader. My friends and witnesses also came under investigation.

I also believe the fire contributed to the length of my sentence in two ways: A) It furthered the belief in the eyes of the law that they had caught a leader. B) The judge wanted to send a message to those responsible for that action, and similar ones.

My critique is this: this act would have been just as significant and more beneficial to me if my name was not mentioned in the communique. And while I understand that timing often depends on the target, I believe that if it was possible the action should have taken place earlier by some months or after my sentencing.

That said I would like to extend my revolutionary thanks to those persons unknown. Since I've fallen, several acts have been committed in solidarity with me. To those responsible for these actions, please know my gratitude. Know that each day I ask the spirits to watch over you, to keep you safe and invisible. May you continue to strike like lightening and disappear with the wind.

Don't Just Stand There

I watch in horror as my friend bleeds. Bloody on his hands, bloody on his knees. Being beat down, pulled by the hair, kicked in the ribs. The police don't care. I've looked in their eyes. And I know what I've seen. It's a hatred so intense, it really scares me. There is nothing I can do. Because the law's against me. So, I stand by helpless while my friend screams "Help...what did I do? Stop...no...ahhh! My eyes! Please...you're hurting me." I listen in anguish to the pleas, there's nothing I can do, the law's against me. I scream in rage as the clubs swing But there's nothing I can do, the law's against me. I feel disgust when I see the pigs smiling. And there's nothing I can do, cuz the law's against me. Fuck it! I ain't gonna let the law stop me.

I'll organize you just wait and see. I'll watch your system fall, I'll live to see us free. Your soul is so corrupt, your heart is truly black. I never used to hate, till you put a gun to my back. You fueled this rage inside me, made who I am. Your oppression made us hate. You made us warriors....Now tonight we strike.

Tear gas fumes fill the air. Fires rage and sirens blare. Men and wimmin dressed in black run through the streets. We're fighting back. Riot cops are forming lines, suddenly Molotov's come from the sides. Scared and outnumbered, their guns go off...it's too late for them. They could have joined us. Angry and armed we smash thru their lines. We're fighting for our freedom. We're fighting for our lives.

Some may think this message seems harsh. But, what'll you do when YOU ain't got no freedom left? Sometimes non-violence is compliance. Sometimes you have to fight back if you ever want things to change. Don't just stand there. FIGHT BACK NOW!!

Silence: A Poem by Free

Trapped in walls
Imprisoned by lies
living in a world that’s blind
to suffering
to suffering
See no evil
Hear no evil
SPEAK NO EVIL
Be blind
Be deaf
Be silent
BE SILENT!
IF you don’t have something nice to say
Don’t say anything at all.
We don’t talk about things that are unpleasant
Rape,
we don’t talk about that
Starving children!
Shhh!
Genocide, mass murder, nuclear war,
SHUT UP!
Global warming, poisoned water, poisoned air,
ENOUGH! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE!
Toxic soil, dying species, extinction
I don’t believe you. . .
I can’t believe you. . .
I don’t want to believe you.
It changes everything.
You just need the right anti-depressants.
I’m comfortable.
I’m safe.
EVERYTHING’S JUST FINE.
JUST FINE. . .
Trapped in walls
Imprisoned by lies
Happy in a world that’s blind
to suffering
to suffering.

Extreme actions

03/27/02

Jeffrey M. Luers

The history of the United States is based on acts of civil disobedience and sabotage. Our government was founded on the acts of a few brave men and women who were willing to risk their freedom. Samuel Adams and the other disguised men who participated in the Boston Tea Party would no doubt be labeled terrorists in today's political climate.

An In My Opinion ("Oregon's home-grown terrorists incite hate, violence," March 5) would like us to believe that there is no difference between property destruction and the murder of thousands of people. Author David C. Austin draws the comparison between the two when he states that Osama bin Laden and the Earth Liberation Front share "the same goals . . the destruction of our society."

In nearly a decade of its existence, ELF has never once caused an injury to life. Nor has ELF ever targeted individuals.

Violence against a person is the exertion of force resulting in injury. When a person is attacked, the person has been assaulted. When property is damaged, the property has been vandalized. There is a distinct difference between the two, and they are not comparable.

The truth is that ELF uses a campaign of property destruction to cause economic damage to institutions responsible for practices harmful to the environment, and to destroy equipment being used in those activities.

ELF has never claimed that "cutting a forest is morally akin to killing your child," as Austin claims. ELF followers are not the fanatics Austin makes them out to be. Rather, they are concerned individuals who have taken extreme actions to defend the wild.

ELF's goal is to stop practices that are incredibly harmful to the environment and to help create environmental sustainability.

Common sense tells us that a replanted forest is not the same as an ancient growth forest. A majority of Americans would like an end to old-growth logging. Yet, powerful logging interests have kept old-growth forests open to logging. And with only 5 percent of our old-growth forests left standing, is it any wonder that people would go to extremes to protect the last stands?

ELF is not attempting to destroy the free-market or bring about the downfall of society.

ELF has engaged in a strategic and apparently effective campaign to ensure protection for wild places. Colorado Rep. Scott McInnis said, "ELF's attacks have had an appreciable impact on the management of the national forests."

Several forests are, in fact, still standing only because of ELF's efforts to protect them.

I'm not justifying the actions of ELF. I do not agree with all of their adherents' actions.

However, there is a reason that ELF and similar groups have come into existence. They have received the support of many mainstream people because of the effectiveness of their tactics.

More important, ELF has received so much support because in a world prone to violence, the ELF has stuck by its code: Never place life in danger of harm.

Jeffrey M. Luers is an Oregon State Penitentiary inmate. He is serving a 22-year, 8-month sentence for a June 2000 firebombing at a Eugene car dealership that protested vehicles' effects on the environment, as well as for an attempted firebombing.

Free responds to congressman McInnis's comments

Dear Mr Scott McInnis,

I am writing in response to your recent statements and questions about me.

I do not appreciate your deliberate and malicious misrepresentations of my words to further your political goals. Not only have you taken my words and formed new sentences with them attributing them to me, you have quoted me as saying things that I have never said.

As an elected Representative of the people, I believe it is your legal and moral duty to be truthful when carrying out the political and legal activities of your office. However I do appreciate your concern about me " [wasting] away in prison for the next two plus decades."

You will be pleased to know that is not the case. I have stayed quite active in my college studies working towards my BA. Also, I have had a unique opportunity to discuss my situation with media from around the globe who have shown a surprising interest in my sentence.

You must realize Scott, that two years ago I was just a young man frustrated by the increasingly severe destruction of the environment. I burned some tires on some trucks as a result of that frustration. Perhaps my actions were misguided. Perhaps they can be rationalized as the lesser of two evils. It is all perspective.

Had I been given a reasonable sentence I would have been forgotten by the public. I would have been one news story.I would have served my sentence and finished my BA. I would have been released, reunited with my family and enjoyed the rest of my life. Yes, I would have continued to be active in efforts to protect the environment, but I would have avoided activities that would lead me back to prison.

By giving me a sentence of 22 years, viewed by a majority of people as overly harsh and extreme, the system has put me in the spot light, giving me international attention. I have been made to be an example. However, that has only served to make me a political prisoner and for some perhaps even a martyr.

This is not a role I chose to fill. It was forced upon me.

It is oppression that creates revolutionaries Scott, and it is injustice that ignites revolutions.

In defense of Mother Earth

Sincerely,
Jeff Luers