Dear friends and supporters,
Again, it’s been a while since I wrote one of these things. Like last time, I have a pretty good excuse, arguably the same excuse: depression. Last dispatch it was my father’s death. This time around it’s a break up. My girlfriend of six years decided to move on with her life back in February. I’m excited for her. She should be out enjoying her one and only go-around on this planet, not missing a boyfriend who can only be a voice on the phone or words on a sheet of paper. Still, it was an emotional blow and a reminder of just how much prison has taken from me.
Of course, my friends will tell you that you can’t fade The Harper! Unjust imprisonment, bad family news, getting dumped, the continuing popularity of Nickelback— these are all awful things, but I have amazing friends, wonderful co-defendants, and the indomitable spirit of resistance that makes our movement so strong. I’ve been tested, but I’m unbroken. (Insert your favorite straight edge hardcore lyric here.)
Anyhow, I don’t have too much to say right now, but here are a few thoughts that have been running through my head…
Well, I think that’s all. Our appeal is still stalled, I’ve been here for nearly a year and a half, and I think my hair is thinning. It’s a bummer, man, but you can count on this old vegan warrior to keep on keepin’ on. Thanks for your time, your support, and most of all, your action. Make this summer a hot one!
Vegan Revolution,
Josh
Dear Supporters,
It has been a long time since I wrote one of these updates. One reason for that is the growing difficulty of self censorship. I’ve already spent 96 days in the hole and lost 27 days of good time for expressing my deeply held ethical belief that the best defense for wilderness and animals is a good offense. There are so many things I want to convey but I know once I put them on paper no one but prison censors will ever read them. The letter would be illegally confiscated (the Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners retain their First Amendment rights on outgoing mail so long as it doesn’t threaten the safety of the prison, but hey, who still believes that the government abides by the law?) and my release would be sent back... again.
There is also another reason I’ve been silent lately. Shortly before I “surrendered” to federal custody I heard that my father had gone missing. A family member called the Veteran’s Administration (my dad was wounded in Vietnam) and found out that he had not cashed his disability checks in several months. One sunny morning about half a year ago now I found out why. “They found your father’s body,” my visitor said. He was partially buried by rocks in a wilderness area near Roseburg, Oregon. The coroner believed he had been there for at least a year.
The difficulty of trying to mourn a dead parent while incarcerated can not be overstated. In this hyper-masculine culture a person puts themselves at risk by showing emotion. Walking back from my visit that day I felt hollow. I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t talk to anyone, I couldn’t even discuss my father’s death in letters or over the phone for fear of being placed on a bogus suicide watch. Until now I’ve only told five people about my dad dying.
Me and “Big Al”, as my father was known, had a complicated relationship. He was an on again/off again drug addict with abusive tendencies and a hair trigger temper, but he was also kind to strangers and generous to his friends. He was miserably homophobic, but had a gay best friend named Jack. When Jack died is seemed like my father might grieve out his anti-gay bias, but sadly he had enough to last a lifetime. He could make sweeping racist statements one day and then hang out with his black and Middle Eastern friends the next. He put my sister, mother, and me through some terrible times but certainly had his moments of tenderness. Sadly, those were few and far between. In 2001 he sent me an e-mail threatening to kill me and saying I was no longer his son. Since then we had only two encounters, both on-line and both awful. Despite all of this he was still my pops and I was still his kid. His death hurts in a way I don’t have words for. Last week while I was performing my federally mandated prison labor my family finally held his funeral. I could not be there to share memories of the man who raised me, so I’m going to take the opportunity to do so now.
When I was about 6 or 7 my family lived in San Diego in a little house that resembled the Alamo. Allen and I were watching cartoons in the living room when we heard screaming outside. Al never hesitated to help someone in distress, he leapt from the couch and ran to the porch. Our neighbors were outside watching a man down the street hitting his son with a wooden dowel. The only person who intervened was my dad, grabbing the perpetrator and pushing him backward into a sliding glass door. I felt pride as Al disarmed the man to the ovations of our neighbors. It was one of the few times I ever wanted to be like my old man, and in my better moments I hope I’ve exhibited the same compassion and resolution he showed that day.
Rest in Peace Allen Scott Harper,
Josh
Hey everyone,
So, it is now the end of August and I haven't written an update in a few months. In part it's because I've been busy with other things, like my fabulous new job assignment in the dishroom, and in part because I've been spending my spare time getting repeatedly beaten at chess by my friend Ellis. Seriously, I've lost about 150 games and won about 2, which means that time I could have spent writing updates was instead spent softly sobbing into my pillow. Damn you, Ellis! Damn you straight to Hell!
Anyhow, I've taken a break from the chessboard to bring you this, the latest in a series of factoids from Sheridan.
Hats off to my codefendants! All of my fellow SHAC7ers deserve some congratulations- Darius is about to be released from prison, Lauren has been acepted into law school and is working on her degree while she is incarccerated, Andy is about to have his first book published, Jake is doing 400 push-ups a day so he can punch me for only mentioning how many push-ups he can do, and finally, Kevin was inducted into the Animal Rights Hall of Ffame! (Controversially there is talk of an asterix being placed by his name after he tested positive for performance enhancing co-defendants.)
Manimal Liberation, a microwave cookbook for dudes. Me and my friend Chad have been discussing writing a cookbook full of simple recipes to be used on manly occasions like guys night out, bro-downs, root beer keggers, and viewings of the film "Beaches." The book will contain all of my prison recipes, including the Earth Crisis themed "OatsThat Keep Me Free."
Listen to Pattrice. Patrice Jones is one of the most important new voices in the animal liberation movement. If you haven't alread read her interview on Herbivore's subscriber forum, I highly recomment it. Her book, Aftershock, is available from Lantern Books or your local independent bookstore.
The Longest Struggle. Speaking of books published by Lantern, Norm Phelps' The Longest Struggle is as engrossing as it is frustrating. Covering the history of animal rights theory from 600 BCE onward, it is an important and timely documentation of the people and philosophies that shaped our movement. Sadly, I knew his depiction of the contributions made by militants would be biased as soon as I read the acknowledgments. Out of the 19 people thanked for giving interviews only two, Ingried Newkirk and Bruce Friedrich are avowed defenders of direct action.
Phelps spends an ample number of pages disparaging the ALF and SHAC without having bothered to interview a single one of their former members. He instead relies on industry and government propaganda to make his case, going even so far as to mimic the claims of the Chiron Corporation that Kevin Jonas was involved in the bombing of the Emeryville, California facility. Chiron based this nonsensical assertion on the fact that FBI records show Kevin's cell phone was used to call the primary suspect in the bombing on the morning that it occcured. Of course,, if Phelps had been willing to dig deeper he would have discovered that those same records show many other calls to the same area. Why? Because Kevin's partner used the phone to call multiple activists that morning, asking them to tape the local news and send it to SHAC's office so that they could adequately prepare a response. The Longest Struggle is riddled with similar attempts to demonize supporters and practitioners of illegal tactics. By failing to dialogue with activist of a different stripe, Phelps missed an opportunity to discover and reveal the real motivations of animal rights militancy, which is a shame when one considers that the forerunners to the ALF were active prior to the publication of Singer's Animal Liberation.
Although I could spend pages decrying the errors and misrepresentations contained in The Longest Struggle, I could spend an equal amount praising the early chapters. It is a flawed, but gripping tale of the fight against human supremacy. Read it, but do so with a critical eye.
Things that make me happy. Yes, prison sucks, but as always I find little things to make me smile. Like; Skinheads in hairnets. It's hard to hate in a hairnet! Pigs Peace Sanctuary, heaven on earth for the animals who live there. I think all my readers in advance for the donations you're about to send after you check out pigspeace.org. Malalai Joya is one of the bravest people alive, a fierce feminist fighting for gender equality in Afghanistan. Read about her in the final issue of Satya or online at Malalaijoya.com. My friends Steve and Monae have really been holding it down for me in Colorado. They've written me frequent letters since my 2nd week behind bars and have tabled for the SHAC7 as well. They even got Propagandhi to dedicated a song to us at a show. Thanks guys! This Time Tomorrow play chugga-chugga-squeal music, and I mean that in the nicest way. Catch them on tour with Peter Young and buy their album. Dishwasher is a great book by old-school zinester Pete Jordan. I couldn't put it down, check out dishwasherpete.com for more info.
In closing. I apologize to those of you who have sent me books or magazines and never got a thank-you. Often times packages arrive for me in the unit without any indication of who sent them. I read and enjoy everything I'm sent. I wish I could express my appreciation to all the generous folks who mail me stuff, sadly that isn't always possible.
Alright, that's it for this update. Until next time —
Vegan Revolution,
Josh
ps. One last thing - a quote. "On what does the survival of oppression depend? On Us! On whom must we depend for its demolition? On Ourselves!" - Bertold Brecht
Dear Supporters,
I've been promising myself that I would write this update every morning since I was released from the hole a week ago. But, then I'd go outside and feel the sun on my skin, breathe in the fresh Oregon air, and listen to the birds sing. Experiencing these little joys after more than 3 months on 24 hour lockdown would melt away my discipline and another day would pass without a dispatch. My apologies tot those of you who care.
A little while ago someone wrote to me asking, "Why don't you write about anything political anymore?" I have a few answers to that query, the first being "What do you think I just spent nearly 100 days in the SHU for?" I came to prison because of speech activity, does anyone truly think that suddenly the governement is going to allow me my supposed first amendment rights? There is so much I want to say, and so little the prison censors will allow me to write. I still have all the fire and passion I've always had, and my fury at injustice has only been heightened by incarceration. The option to fully express my feelings, however, is on temporary hiatus.
I think the animal liberation movement can do quite well without me being a constant blowhard anyway. Heh heh. You can bet I'll be back in all my loudmouthed glory someday soon. Until then, let's move on to less serious matters.
The SHAC7 were declared to be amongst the "25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians" by VegNews Magazine! (note to VegNews - we aren't all in our 20's, by the way. In fact, half of us are in our 30's and the other half are about to join us.) I was happy to see such a mainstream magazine give a nod to imprisoned radicals, and also very excited to be included on a list with Forest Whiteaker. I loved him in Bloodsport! Sadly, VegNews had little space to dedicate to talking about the things that make me and my co-defendants so intriguing, so I've taken the liberty to compile my own "Fascinating Facts":
Anyhow, that's all for this time. Thank you for your continued support, and please make sure to write my co-defendants. Much love to you all!
For wilderness. For revolution!
Josh
Dear Supporters,
I imagine that by now many of you will have heard about my recent misfortune. I figure that's as good of an excuse as any for not writing a proper update for the last few months and for subjecting you all to another round of my prison diary "Factoids."
This Housing unit isn't very special. An alert soldier in the war on terror recently intercepted an interview I had participated in for a small skate / dumpstering / vegan ‘zine. I was promptly grabbed from my unit and placed on 24 hour lock down in the "the hole". Now the FBI is investigating and I expect to be in here for a while. It's horrible but at least I get the joy of imagining Mr. Maturity ( A.K.A Jake Conroy) chuckling while he exclaims, "heh heh. ' the hole'." Good times.
Millions of 9 year olds can't be wrong. Those of you who have written me lately to mock my new found love of the Harry Potter Novels should know that I feel no shame about it... with one exception. The glee I felt when Harry had his first kiss with Cho was probably a little embarrassing. But in book 4 Hermione talks about moving past advocacy and towards "direct action" in her fight for house elf rights! See, I'm actually doing same deep political reading.
Group love. When I came to prison I sort of figured that I'd get some flirtatious letters. What I didn't know is that the flirting would be directed towards other activists. Seriously ladies, I know that Peter Young is awesome, but you can tell him that directly. That's what MySpace is for. And fellas, I agree that Lauren Gazzola is amazing, but I'm unable to share your messages of admiration with her. Please write to her directly. Thanks.
And the award for most ignorant inmate goes to... A while ago I noticed a guy in here talking loudly about how much he hates all non-white, non-hetero, non-Christians. He has a southern flag tattoo, so out of curiosity I asked which state he hails from. His answer? "Idaho." Holy cow...
Don't be a jerk. So many inspiring independent magazines have gone under in recent years which isn't just a shame for our movement, it's a shame for all of us political prisoners. With no access to the Internet we rely on small press magazines and papers for much of our news on various struggles. Please support independent media by subscribing to at least one of the following magazines - Herbivore, Earth First! Journal, Bite Back, Satya, or Alternative Press Review.
In closing. I'm doing okay even though vegan food is scarce and prison sucks in general. It's alright though. When I get out I'm going to have 3 years of resistance, skating, eating, and hanging out to make up for and I know you're all going to help me catch up. I can't wait! Make some noise for me in the meantime, alright?
I also just wanted to say please keep writing even if you haven't received a reply from me lately. I get so many great letters but in the hole I only have access to a few envelopes each week. I'll reply to everyone I can. Please don't give up on me.
Vegan Revolution,
Josh Harper
p.s. shout outs to Kami's Mom!
p.p.s. shop at Food Fight
Hello again.
So, I’ve been working on an update for the last few weeks, but as it neared completion, I recognized that it was boring, depressing, and entirely too long. I’ve just thrown it in the trash. Instead, I offer you the following “factoids” about the recent history of my incarceration.
Keep fighting!
Josh
Season's greetings from the Sheridan Federal Detention Center on the lovely Oregon coast. I know that the animal rights prisoner party line dictates that I tell you how easy my incarceration is and that animals have it much worse. I concede the latter, but cannot minimize how difficult it is to be underfed and locked down 21 hours a day with 3 men in a cell designed to house only 2. The prison system is no picnic, but I am hoping to be transferred soon to a more comfortable facility near-by.
As dark as my surroundings can be, some rays of light get through. My cellmate Jesse, for example, is a fantastic artist who hasn’t let his 6-year sentence for an act of self-defense damper his sense of humor, love for music, or fascination with Japanese culture. Our other “celly” is named Luis, and his descriptions of life in Socialist South and Central American countries are told with a zeal that transports me over the prison walls and nearly make me forget my anarchist convictions. Then there is Rudy, a bank robber whose determination to live free landed him behind bars, We talk politics, exchange books, discuss our shared fervor for punk and hardcore music, and reminisce about our mutual friend; political prisoner Jeff Luers.*
Alexander Berkman used to covertly publish a newsletter from inside prison, which was then illegally distributed to the inmates. It’s name translated to “Prison Blossoms,” a tribute to the indomitable spirit of those buried by the system, who never-the-less manage to push back through the cracks and reach the surface. All the horror around them cannot extinguish their beauty. Thank goodness, their will to press onward steels my own perseverance.
These fellow inmates aren’t my only source of strength! My friends on the “outs” offer continuous encouragement and in the 4 weeks since my arrival I have received 203 letters, 6 books, 5 magazines, 2 newsletters, and countless e-mails forwarded from my support team. Words can’t begin to thank those of you who have written and I send apologies to everyone who has not received a reply. I am only allowed so many stamps, but I write to as many of you as I can and appreciate each and every page you have sent.
Well, it’s lockdown and I have to go. Let me leave you with this thought – Animal exploiters are only as strong as we are weak. The quicker we rise, the faster they will fall. Animal liberation is not mere philosophy; it is a revolutionary ideal that demands action. Get busy.
With love and gratitude,
Josh
* Note: if you’d like to write any of the other prisoners mentioned in this letter, here’s some contact info.
Jesus “Jesse” Balderas
#69096-065
FDC Sheridan
Federal Detention Center
PO Box 6000
Sheridan, OR 97378
Luis G Zaldaña
#65556-065
FDC Sheridan
Federal Detention Center
PO Box 6000
Sheridan, OR 97378
Rodolfo “Rudy” Mayorga III
#690019-065
FDC Sheridan
Federal Detention Center
PO Box 6000
Sheridan, OR 97378
Jeffrey Luers
#13797671
OSP, 2605 State Street
Salem, OR 97310
"Dear friends,
For those of you don’t know me, my name is Josh Harper, and I’m an animal liberationist currently in prison at the Sheridan Federal Detention Center. I am serving a 36 month prison sentence for the horrible crime of organizing legal protests, delivering lectures at colleges, and giving unapologetic vocal support to the illegal tactics of others.
The bureau of prisons has classified my actions as being of the greatest severity on par with the hijacking of planes, exporting of sophisticated weaponry, treason, importing of more than 250 kilos of cocaine, and murder. I am currently kept on 21 hour a day lockdown, and thus far have been denied vegan food. I won’t deny that the situation scares and upsets me, but strangely I’ve been feeling more joy than trepidation.
Emma Goldman once said “Repression is the leavening of revolutionary zeal.” Since, the conviction of the SHAC7 I have received letters of outrage from around the world. People who have never before considered the sensitivity and sensibility of animals have joined the cause and gone vegan. And those formerly opposed to militancy have developed sympathy for radical tactics. Everywhere the anger at the violation of our liberty is growing, and I have no doubt that a corresponding rise in activism will occur.
So don’t worry too much about me or my co-defendants. Worry instead about bringing freedom to animals. For it is your actions on their behalf that truly sustains us behind bars. Fight with all the ferocity that their lives demand, and victory may yet be ours.
With love and respect, Josh."
Facing the Agents of Omnicide: Josh's chapter from Igniting a Revolution.