| home | about elp | addresses | profiles | donate | resources | fallen friends |
|
In a recent letter to our North American group, Helen outlines what she is imprisoned for:
"I have consecutive sentences totalling 27 years for 3 seperate actions: 1)robbing a federal reserve bank and burning $26,000 on the lobby floor after distributing a statement denouncing the materialism and obession with wealth and power that caused environmental destruction, wars and various other social ills. For this, I was convicted of robbery by force. 2)Mailing warning letters with .38 claiber bullets affixed to various governement and coprorate officails including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, CEOs of Steppan Chemical Co. and National Lead CO, director of EPA and chariman of Federal Reserve Board. Letters said that their actions were like bullets fired into the heart of creation. For this, I was convictred of theatening communciation and being a felon in possesion of ammunition. 3)disarmament of a Mintueman II missile silo with a jackhammer. For this, I was convicted of sabotage, destruction of governement property and conspriacy. I'd prefer you list actions 1,2,3, state the total senetcnes as 27 years and say that im starting my 19th year. September 4th Letter from Helen Woodson The Government in Washington DC has taken a new tack in my case. They have ordered that an evaluation be made to determine the "suitability" of my release at the eventual end of my sentence. They are proposing that I be permanently detained as a threat to national security. An attorney told me that the US is now being ruled by "King George" and that no one in government is willing to stop him. It is even possible to have activists labelled "dangerous and insane" and confined in psychiatric hospitals as was done in the former Soviet Union and is reported to be common in China today. During the eighteen and a half years that I have been imprisoned for anti-war and environmental actions, I have never sought personal publicity, and in my occasional writings I have tried to keep the focus solely on the issues. But now, I must get a little personal. When I left my beloved children, friends and home to do these actions, I knew I would never return. Many old friends have dropped out of contact, I have a daughter-in-law and grandchildren whom I've never met, and I have no assets besides my prison commissary account. Serious resistance is serious business. It is not easy, but the rationale remains simple. Jesus said "Render to Caesar the that's that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." Thus the question is, what does rightfully belong to Caesar? Not the lives of my family and all families, not the lives of all other species, not the mountains, deserts and aid, not the earth itself. In religious terms resistance is a way of rendering the creation back to God from whom it came. People whose action is framed more in political terms will express it differently, but the meaning is the same. Nuclear weapons, war, the destruction of the natural world, and government and corporate greed must be resisted. Whatever the outcome here, I will remain faithful to this witness, either with another action if I am released or as a permanent detainee if I am not. Obviously, though, my situation has implications for others. As the post-September 11 hysteria spreads, any serious opponent of official policy may become a target. I may be the first to be subjected to this particular process, but undoubtedly I will not be the last. Be forward, be serious, be conscientious, be joyful and be alive! Silo Pruning Hooks Disarmament Action 1984 Helen Woodson |
