Sherman Austin- What the heffa jeffa?!?! GET ON YOUR SOAPBOX!

this is the most absurd, blood-boiling, pissing-me-off-really-bad case ive had with the government in a while.

its almost too much. the fact that this was not more puiblic is drving me crazy. i feel horrible, ignorant, and oblivious for not finding out about this sooner. but i thought that some more people should read up on this too.


this is Sherman Austin

�First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.� - Pastor Martin Niem�ller on moral failure in the face of fascism

Though only a teenager, Sherman Austin was still quite capable of communicating his politically progressive ideas. After all, he was raised in Los Angeles by his mother, Jennifer, to feel free to speak his mind about any issues of the day.

So, this Internet-savvy young Black boy set up his own website named www.RaiseTheFist.com where he - and others - railed regularly against enemies of the African-American community in articles on police brutality, racism, globalization, imperialism, the U.S. government�s hidden agenda and so forth.

As an anarchist, Sherman opposed �all forms of political, economic and social hierarchies.� And he condemned violence in any form, whether by �bin Laden or the USA.� But make no mistake about it, RaiseTheFist.com was a website where George Bush and his cronies were catching holy hell from an assortment of contributors for the war in Iraq and for other foreign and domestic policies.

In January 2002, about 25 heavily armed FBI agents raided the Austin home, ransacking it while interrogating the terrified teenager for over five hours. The FBI seized the whiz kid�s network of computers in order to take down his rabble-rousing website, accusing him of disseminating bomb-making information.

What they were referring to was a link on RaiseTheFist.com to a protest guide, which wasn�t even written by Sherman Austin, but by the son of wealthy, well-connected Republican from Orange County, Calif.

While this White kid�s link did contain some rudimentary info on explosives, he was never charged with breaking any laws. However, Sherman, a week after his computers, political literature and protest signs had been carted off, was arrested for the �distribution of information related to explosives over the Internet with intent.�

Denied bail by a federal judge after an FBI agent described him as a �man on a mission,� the youngster subsequently spent his days awaiting trial, wasting away in a maximum-security facility under 24-hour lockdown.

What chance does a poor Black boy being solely supported by a single mother without any assets have against a vindictive attorney general intent on making him the poster boy for how America now deals with political dissenters? Zero chance.

If Sherman had been rich enough to mount a decent defense, then the prosecutor - quite obviously - would never have been able to prove any intent on his part to blow up anything.

Sadly, the badly intimidated pacifist anarchist agreed to a plea bargain in reaction to a threatened enhancement of the charges against him to �terrorism,� which could have added another 20 years to his sentence. In open court, the judge then shocked everybody by ignoring the plea deal that had been worked out, and by tripling Austin�s sentence and throwing away the key.

How could this country contemplate such harsh treatment of a defendant with no prior history of violence in a case based on such flimsy evidence? Especially when the court psychiatrist testified that he posed absolutely no threat to anyone but rather was likely to be - himself - adversely affected by further incarceration due to his peaceful nature.

What has this society regressed to if the Patriot Act is being implemented in such patently partisan fashion to silence foes of the administration?


www.infoshop.org.../03/04/4592554

just go from this site and youll be linked to hundred of sites about the case. its an outrage.WAKE UP! this is happening now and this is happening to you.

an interview with austin-
www.counterpunch.org...

www.infoshop.org.../01/29/3882232

another interview-
www.la.indymedia.org...

his site, just go and see what happens-
www.raisethefist.com...

remake of his site-
www.raisethefist.com...

this is...god..i cant even write right now! i found this picture and this explains what we need:




[Edited on 3-8-04 by Scat]

[Edited on 3-8-04 by Scat]

news to me as well...Thanks for posting this. I am about to go home for the night, but will surely read up on this tomorrow....

That is fecking sick
So much for freedom of spoeech and justice. They went straight out the window. This is nothing but unadulterated evil masquerading as 'protection of the people'.

And as for this crap ...

What they were referring to was a link on RaiseTheFist.com to a protest guide, which wasn�t even written by Sherman Austin, but by the son of wealthy, well-connected Republican from Orange County, Calif.

Fecking repugnant bastards. Corrupt to the core.
(With apologies to Colonel for the plagiarising of his word)

Viva la resistance! Although I frown on the bomb making website, I still dont think he should have jail time.

That is horrible. Disgusting and just...UGH. I can't imagine it. So much for freedom of speech. We're on the fast track to a dictatorship. Cases like this prove everything negative any one says about the Patriot Act. Our rights, just like Sherman Austins, are meaningless.

Originally posted by JustAnIllusion
Viva la resistance! Although I frown on the bomb making website, I still dont think he should have jail time.

viva la resistance, hell yeah! but the fact that the bomb making website WASNT EVEN HIS is the killer! every riot and protest he had been a part of had always been peacuful. he was a passive anarchist, not an aggressive window smasher!

and the patriot act!

why was it that people like austin were already being arrested, yet we didnt even get all fussy about it until recently!
or at least, huge media coverage fussy

Originally posted by Scat
and the patriot act!

why was it that people like austin were already being arrested, yet we didnt even get all fussy about it until recently!
or at least, huge media coverage fussy

The mainstream media has to wait until it will transfer into ratings.

Seems this trend of peresecuting free thinkers is a regular occurence in America, from the alien and sedition acts in our founding, the hunt for ethnic sympathizers during WW1, the post WW1 palmer raids, the Japanese internment and the Great Red scare, it seems like a tide that ebbs and flows, the Palmer raids came after a time of extreme radical progressive movements, and the answer the conservatives had was Sacco and Vanzetti, those two poor anarchists that the government had exectued through perjury and circumstantial evidence.

It would seem your freind Austin is the new Sacco and Vanzetti, only hopefully the government wont find a way to put him to death.

The interview link you have is good.
"They grabbed my neck and hurled me out of the courtroom, put me in this black SUV and then drove me to a federal building..."

I never knew this story. Thanks for posting.

The prosecution of Sherman Austin has taught all activists and social justice advocates some hard lessons. As Jennifer Martin said, "Sherman was railroaded into that plea. Basically, we were told to keep quiet, don't talk to reporters, don't go public, don't fight it. That's the wrong strategy! I'd never do it that way again. Their agenda is to do everything behind closed doors so no one will know what's going on. My advice is, don't remain silent! We have to challenge the system!"
From Revolutionary Worker: The Persecution of Sherman Austin

I never knew this story. Thanks for posting.

[

neither did i, and thats whats scaring me.

no one, no matter how determined we are to fight this system, is completely aware of all the crazy underground projects that have been stomped and strangled, peaceful and violent alike! its as if we've taken off the rose tinted glasses, but are still blind.

things like this frighten me, because im scared to death that my own anarchist publication (Lo-Life) is going to be stomped out.

but, after maybe 2 seconds, i realize i need to stop being a scared pussy and do something about it! this is just going to make my stuff stronger, and hopefully, austins supporoters will become stronger in the coming months as well, and not die out like many other good intended fights have.

viva la resistance, great line illusion
i have an article youd probably enjoy having to do with that

I think this should be writen up as some sort of special report for ATSNN. This cannot be ignored. This guy could very well have been a visitor of this site. This guy could have been one of us. ATS should stand by its motto of Deny Ignorance and get this on the news site so more people can see it.

Originally posted by Garon
I think this should be writen up as some sort of special report for ATSNN. This cannot be ignored. This guy could very well have been a visitor of this site. This guy could have been one of us. ATS should stand by its motto of Deny Ignorance and get this on the news site so more people can see it.

# lets do it! ill post it on ATSNN, see if theyll let me get away with it

As Paul Harvey would say.......here's the rest.............................................................of the story.

freesherman.fightcapitalism.net...


EDIT: The funny thing about this is, I was thinking how much he looked like Zach DeLaRocha and went on Google image search for a pic to compare the two. Lo and behold, I find the two of them together !!!



[Edited on 3-8-2004 by darklanser]

I just sent it to David Icke - Hopefully he will put it on his site and get Sherman more publicity.

Originally posted by Pisky
I just sent it to David Icke - Hopefully he will put it on his site and get Sherman more publicity.

Who are the lizards in this case? j/k
Does he really publicize cases of this nature?
I have one of his books, but was put off by a lot of what he was saying.

Originally posted by Pisky
I just sent it to David Icke - Hopefully he will put it on his site and get Sherman more publicity.

HELL YEAH! you rule i posted this on ATSNN, but its basically the same thread, except i wrote an editorial.

and yeah, zach de la rocha is one of Austins biggest (or at least, most well known) supporters! pretty rad!

Originally posted by darklanser


Who are the lizards in this case? j/k
Does he really publicize cases of this nature?
I have one of his books, but was put off by a lot of what he was saying.

the lizards???
huh?
sorry i dont get the cliche

Originally posted by darklanser

Originally posted by Pisky
I just sent it to David Icke - Hopefully he will put it on his site and get Sherman more publicity.

Who are the lizards in this case? j/k
Does he really publicize cases of this nature?
I have one of his books, but was put off by a lot of what he was saying.

Yes - He's directly linked to some of the sites I have sent him. He has also published certain pieces of info relevant to the erosion of public liberties. This situation certainly is relevant.

Originally posted by Scat
HELL YEAH! you rule

i posted this on ATSNN, but its basically the same thread, except i wrote an editorial.

and yeah, zach de la rocha is one of Austins biggest (or at least, most well known) supporters! pretty rad!

I feel we should be doing something. This poor guy could be any one of us. RaiseTheFist.com could just as easily be AboveTopSecret.com.

It hits close to home.