ADVISORY BOARD: CARL ANTHONY GARY BALL BETTY BALL LISA BARI MARTHA BARI ELAINE BERNARD DANIEL BERRIGAN JELLO BIAFRA DAVID BROWER HERBERT CHAO GUNTHER DARRYL CHERNEY DAVID DELLINGER BARBARA DUDLEY BARBARA EHRENREICH DAN HAMBURG CARRIE HAMBURG NOELLE HANRAHAN EDWARD HERMAN DANNY LEVITAS PETER MATTHIESSEN ROBERT MEEROPOL GRACE PALEY MICHAEL PARENTI U. UTAH PHILLIPS VICTOR NAVASKY MARGARET RANDALL KAREN RUDOLPH NICOLE SAWAYA PETE SEEGER CORA LEE SIMMONS JIMMIE SIMMONS KELPIE WILSON HOWARD ZINN STAFF: TANYA BRANNAN,        DIRECTOR  MARVIN STENDER, ESQ. ERICA ETELSON,ESQ. TONY SERRA, ESQ. ALICIA LITTLETREE LEGAL OFFICE: REDWOOD SUMMER JUSTICE PROJECT 674 23RD STREET, STE. G OAKLAND, CA 94612 PH: 510.763.2506 FAX: 510.763.2507		August, 2000  Dear Friends and Supporters, Here’s a quick update on our latest amazing accomplishments and events commemorating the 10th anniversary of the bombing of Earth First!ers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney.    Trial Date Set in Landmark Civil Rights Lawsuit!   Federal district court Judge Claudia Wilken has set Bari v. USA for trial on October 1, 2001.  This comes on the heels of the dramatic 9th Circuit appellate court ruling in our favor, holding that individual officers of the Oakland Police (OPD) must stand trial.   The ruling is so solid it also precludes the FBI from asserting qualified immunity, always the biggest barrier to justice in cases against law enforcement.   (See the enclosed case update.) With trial in just 14 months, our goal of exposing the dramatic evidence that the FBI and Oakland Police conspired to illegally disrupt and destroy Earth First!'s campaign of mass organizing to save the old-growth redwood forests is finally within reach.  Over the course of the lawsuit we have gotten access to 7,000 pages of FBI and police files, viewed the physical evidence and compiled more than 6,000 pages of sworn testimony by FBI agents, Oakland police officers and others, all proving that the federal and police agents conspired to frame Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney for the bombing that was meant to kill them.  We can’t wait to bring this evidence before a jury and bring these agents of repression to justice. Detail of banner by Martin Travers;  photo by Nicholas Wilson Fiddling Down the FBI! On May 24th, exactly ten years after the shrapnel-wrapped pipe bomb exploded under Judi Bari's driver’s seat, 350 people rallied outside the FBI field offices in San Francisco where "Squad 13" (also called the  "Terrorist Squad") is based.  Darryl Cherney and Morgan Fichter led the protest, joined by more than sixty other fiddlers and musicians including Darol Anger, Utah Phillips, Laurie Lewis, Mike Marshal, Kayla Flexer, and the amazing Clarridge Family.  Art and Revolution’s 30?foot puppet of Judi and cardboard fiddles that spelled out “Who Bombed Judi Bari?” added to the extravaganza.  Lead attorney Marvin Stender spoke to the crowd, fresh from a morning meeting with FBI attorneys calling for their release of illegally withheld documents.    The Targets of COINTELPRO On May 19th in Berkeley we hosted "Targets of COINTELPRO" a historic meeting of people and movements that have been targeted by the FBI. Speakers included Geronimo ji jaga (Black Panther Party), John Trudell (American Indian Movement),  Alicia Rodriguez & José Lopez (Puerto Rican Independence Movement), Karen Pickett (Earth First!), and Peter Bohmer (professor and anti-war activist).  All had been targeted by the kind of FBI counter-intelligence operations perfected by Richard W. Held who, as Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco FBI office, supervised the Judi Bari bombing case. Held is notorious for his role in neutralizing activists and groups in the social change and liberation movements of the 1960s and 70's.  He was personally responsible for framing and imprisoning Geronimo ji jaga and AIM leader Leonard Peltier, as well as the assassination of members of the Puerto Rican independence movement.  The event was an eye-opener, with new revelations of the treacherous tactics used by the FBI to try to destroy grassroots resistance movements.  Among other 10th anniversary events was a 25-city tour, bringing the story of the FBI’s dirty dealings with Earth First! to activists around the country.  We also broke through the press “white-out” on the case with features in the Oakland Tribune, Santa Rosa Press Democrat and the San Francisco Daily Journal. Portland’s public radio station KBOO did a 3-hour special broadcast on the 24th, and "Democracy Now!" Pacifica Network's award-winning national radio news show, featured an hour?long radio documentary "Judi Bari: Revolutionary Ecology."  So you can see we’ve been busy.  Building national solidarity and keeping this lawsuit going for all these years has been a monumental task.  Even though our legal team works for a small fraction of what they are worth (and often for free), the costs of pursuing a case in federal court are enormous.  With the trial date approaching, please contribute at whatever level you can -- $25 ... $50 ... $100 -- to help us take this final step ...                                                               Toward justice,       Tanya Brannan                                                            Darryl Cherney P.S. --- Help us build solidarity for this case among the movements and communities long-targeted by FBI wrongdoing.  Please let us know if you can host an event, place a media story or do a solidarity action in your own community. P.P.S. --- A limited number of cassette tapes of "Judi Bari: Revolutionary Ecology," the radio documentary featured on Democracy Now! have been donated to Redwood Summer Justice Project.  We’ll send you one for your contribution of $100 or more.
		Now please read the latest Bombing Case Update, August 2000, with the latest news about the lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police

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