[Ppnews] Letter from Daniel McGowan

[Political Prisoner News]

July 26, 2007

I'm pretty convinced at this point, nearly 20 
months after my arrest, that I am incredibly 
lucky to have the best support network I have 
ever seen, the aptly named Family and Friends of 
Daniel McGowan. No offense is meant to any other 
defendant (or prisoner) support group, but I've 
only experienced the love and support of my crew. 
That intense support - moral, legal, financial 
and otherwise - has made all the difference to me 
and it's why I write today with acceptance of my 
current situation and with clear conscience. Ok, 
maybe not full acceptance - I mean, I still have 
eyes and ears and can see what is going on in America's prisons.

I can remember a conversation I had in early 
January 2006 with my wife jenny. I was in Lane 
County Jail in Oregon and my bail hearing was a 
few weeks off but she told me, "We put a website 
up for you - supportdaniel.org." That news helped 
sustain me through my 23 hour lockdowns knowing 
my friends had my back and the country would soon 
hear about the <http://www.greenscare.org/>Green 
Scare being promoted by the good ol' US of A. To 
name or attempt to list the many things my 
support network has done would be a failure. The 
list is too long and surely I would forget many 
things. More than things I could list are the 
intangibles - the subtle and not-so-subtle hints 
- "Either way, we got your back", "I don't care 
if you did it or not", "We'll be here to the 
end". Most recently, I've had people remind me 
they will be there with a hug the day I walk out of these prisons.

This will sound cliché, and it is, but maybe 
that's a sign you are doing something right. Mail 
call is my favorite time of the day! You've heard 
this before, maybe from 
<http://www.joshharper.org/>Josh Harper, Peter 
Young or <http://www.freefreenow.org/>Jeff Free 
Luers and others. Since I've been here at MDC, I 
have been embarrassed (in a good way) over and 
over, each and every day by the insane amount of 
mail, books and magazines I get. It keeps me 
reading for hours and although I cannot write 
people back right now, I at least have a mountain 
of mail to chip away at. I get this mail because 
my support network sends out countless bulletins 
on my list, myspace, IMCs, etc and has printed 
over 250,000 flyers with my mug on it and because 
my wife works her ass off on my website. I could 
go on forever praising people but it can never 
fully express how thankful I am for all of the 
support. Solidarity is what makes this term on 
the "disabled list" doable. (sorry for the sports 
reference - I stole that one from a friend.)

As always, please keep my codefendants 
<http://www.greenscare.org/>Sadie (statename 
Joyanna Zacher), 
<http://www.greenscare.org/>Exile (statename 
Nathan Block) and 
<http://www.greenscare.org/>Jonathan Paul (set to 
be sentenced in early August) on your mind and in 
your hearts. All of us are or will be in federal 
transport soon - a very stressful and chaotic affair.

Finally, I've read a few good books lately and highly recommend them:
<http://www.akpress.org/2007/items/damnationdispatchesfromthewaterunderground>Dam 
Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground by 
Cleo Woelfle-Erskine (Editor), Laura Allen 
(Editor), and July Oskar Cole (Editor) (2007). 
This anthology of writings on water range from 
dam removal, international water struggles and 
Manifest Destiny to grey water system 
construction. This book made me long for the 
outside where I could set up a grey water system 
in my own backyard. Published by 
<http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-80-8>Soft 
Skull Press and available there or through <http://www.akpress.org/>AK Press.

<http://chavezfoundation.org/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23>The 
Fight in the Fields: César Chávez and the 
Farmworkers Movement by Susan Ferriss (Author), 
Ricardo Sandoval (Author), Diana Hembree 
(Author). I was so hopelessly ignorant of the 
plight of farmworkers in California before 
reading this excellent book. I still am but 
realize there is a tremendous amount to learn 
from this hard-working and fairly successful 
movement. It also made me think a lot about the 
recent campaigns against Taco Bell and Burger 
King by the <http://www.ciw-online.org/>Coalition 
of Immokalee Workers in Florida.

Love and rage,
Daniel

<http://www.supportdaniel.org>Daniel McGowan is 
an environmental and social justice activist. He 
was charged in federal court on many counts of 
arson, property destruction and conspiracy, all 
relating to two incidents in Oregon in 2001. 
Until recently, Daniel was offered two choices by 
the government: cooperate by informing on other 
people, or go to trial and face life in prison. 
His only real option was to plead not guilty 
until he could reach a resolution of the case 
that permitted him to honor his principles. As a 
result of months of litigation and negotiation, 
Daniel was able to admit to his role in these two 
incidents, while not implicating or identifying 
any other people who might have been involved. He 
was sentenced to 7 years in prison on June 4, 
2007 and began serving his time on July 2, 2007.

http://www.supportdaniel.org/




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