Tim DeChristopher has been sentenced to 24 months in prison, with a 10,000 dollar fine.
Time to re-read Thoreau. The idea of civil disobedience is not that one magically escapes punishment, due to ‘good intentions”. Thoreau went to prison, and famously asked Emerson why he, too, was not there.
Courts and Judges will do what they do, and breaking the law has consequences. But the purpose here is to shine a light, through the depth of one’s own commitment, on ignorance, injustice, or on violations of a laws higher
than our own.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A sentencing hearing turned into a rally supporting an environmental activist who has become an antihero after disrupting a government auction of oil and gas leases near two national parks in Utah.
Protesters gathered around the courthouse and dozens were arrested Tuesday as Tim DeChristopher launched into a lengthy address urging others fight climate change by taking similar steps of civil disobedience.
But U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said there was no excuse for the 29-year-old former wilderness guide’s blatant disrespect for the rule of law.
Benson sentenced DeChristopher to two years in prison on Tuesday, making him the first person to be prosecuted for failing to make good on bids at a lease auction of Utah public lands. He ran up bids on 13 parcels totaling more than 22,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands national parks in 2008.
“You have authority over my life, but not my principles. Those are mine,” DeChristopher said. “I’ll continue to confront the system that threatens our future.”
Tim DeChristopher’s mouth — and not just his 2008 disruption of a federal oil and gas lease auction — landed him behind bars Tuesday, a judge said as he slapped the activist with a two-year prison term.
The incarceration of the burgeoning folk hero among climate activists set off anger inside the courtroom and a concerted protest outside that ended in more than two dozen arrests.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson pointed to DeChristopher’s continued defiance and frequent assertions to reporters that civil disobedience is justified in fighting climate change. He mentioned DeChristopher’s speech after his March conviction, in which the activist implored others to buck the system.
You can read his entire amazing statement to the court here:
http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2011/07/statement-to-court-by-tim-dechristopher.html
Here’s hoping that the Republican House’s attack on the environment will encourage more people to speak out and act out on these issues.
“Republicans Seek Big Cuts in Environmental Rules”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/science/earth/28enviro.html
They are the ‘science free’ party.
Ouch.
Who governs the US? Corporation oligarchs.
What’s the difference to Russia? Russia has Russia Today, the US have Faux News.
Aloha Peter,
Mahalo for the information on Tim DeChristopher’s sentencing. I’m going to begin a Facebook campaign to have President Obama pardon or commute Tim’s sentence. Your blog is becoming invaluable to me, as I said a couple of weeks ago on the story about the conditions in Somalia. At that time I tried to get your position on the “soot question.” You can get a quick update on the Stanford research I was referring to here, in my summary of an article I found on the newstalkers website. I hope your schedule is less hectic now, and that your life is blessed with peace and love.
The article that I wanted to bring to your attention can be found on my newser-by -users summary here. http://www.newser.com/story/123584/co2-not-the-key-to-saving-arctic-sea-ice-cover.html
B ^)
PS – You may also appreciate my summary of your piece exposing the Koch brothers and their think tank as “wind power haters.” http://www.newser.com/story/comments/124404/koch-brothers-outed-as-wind-energy-haters.html
contributions to Tim’s appeal and fine can be made here:
http://www.tarsandsaction.org/tim-dechristopher-legal/