Marie Mason Birthday Events Being Planned Across the World

12th Jan 2012. Marie Mason’s 51st birth­day is com­ing up on Jan­u­ary 26, 2013. We are ask­ing that folks hold events for Marie around her birth­day as part of what will be an annu­al time to cel­e­brate her life and keep her spir­its up while she remains impris­oned.

12th Jan 2012. Marie Mason’s 51st birth­day is com­ing up on Jan­u­ary 26, 2013. We are ask­ing that folks hold events for Marie around her birth­day as part of what will be an annu­al time to cel­e­brate her life and keep her spir­its up while she remains impris­oned.

 We know that the mid-win­ter hol­i­days are a busy time for every­one, but they are a sad time for the pris­on­ers who remain inside – and every­one wants some cheer on their birth­day! So we hope that folks can find time to plan a small event for Marie, such as a let­ter-writ­ing or birth­day par­ty. (If time per­mits, we rec­om­mend that you might want to hold let­ter writ­ings a week or more ear­li­er so the cards can reach her before the 26th.)
 
Some peo­ple are con­fused about Marie’s mail sit­u­a­tion. It is true that she can only send let­ters to a pre-approved list of 100 peo­ple. How­ev­er, she can receive let­ters from any­one and so she will be able to receive all these birth­day wish­es. (Please be sure that the sender’s first and last name are on the enve­lope, that let­ters are all in Eng­lish – she can receive let­ters in oth­er lan­guages but will be delayed – and that cards do not have glit­ter or oth­er things added to them.)
 
Last, if you are plan­ning a pub­lic event for her birth­day, please tell us and we’ll include the infor­ma­tion on the web­site. Sev­er­al cities have start­ed mak­ing plans, includ­ing NYC, Philadel­phia, Min­neapo­lis, Bal­ti­more, Bloom­ing­ton, Lake Worth and Haifa (Israel).  A cur­rent list­ing of events can be found here.  If you are orga­niz­ing an event and would like it list­ed on the site email us at supportmariemason@gmail.com
 

About Marie Mason

Marie Mason is a lov­ing moth­er of two and a long-time activist in the envi­ron­men­tal and labor move­ments. In March 2008, she was arrest­ed by fed­er­al author­i­ties for charges relat­ed to two acts of prop­er­ty destruc­tion that occurred in 1999 and 2000; no one was injured in either of them. She accept­ed a plea bar­gain and was sen­tenced on Feb­ru­ary 5, 2009 to just under 22 years. She is now serv­ing the longest sen­tence of any “Green Scare” pris­on­er.

The “Green Scare” is the name giv­en to the recent arrests of ani­mal rights and envi­ron­men­tal activists who have been charged with acts of eco­nom­ic sab­o­tage. Fed­er­al author­i­ties have sought out­ra­geous sen­tences (often Life in prison) and have pub­licly and legal­ly labeled the activists as “ter­ror­ists” – despite the fact that no one has been killed or injured in any of the acts.

Sup­port­ing Marie Mason does not mean agree­ing with the actions that she took — but it does mean oppos­ing the fear-mon­ger­ing tac­tics of the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment and the out­ra­geous sen­tences they have imposed.

The orig­i­nal call out for Marie’s birth­day can be found at www.supportmariemason.org, along with her cur­rent address, art­work, inter­views, let­ters and more ways to get involved.