Informants & Snitches

FBI Looking for Informants to Infiltrate Vegan Potlucks

Eric McDavid was just sentenced to 20 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” in a case that would never have been possible without a “confidential source” known only as Anna. She was paid by the FBI. She provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who […]

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How the FBI Used “Anna” the Informant to Entrap Eric McDavid and other Environmentalists as “Terrorists”

The FBI paid a young woman, known as “Anna,” to befriend environmentalists Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson and pressure them into illegal activity.

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Which Prisoners Should Receive Support?

When environmental and animal rights advocates are sentenced to lengthy prison terms—many as “terrorists”—they depend on the support of friends, family and the larger activist community. They need money in their commissary account. They need books and magazines. They need visitors, phone calls, and perhaps above all else, according to many current and former prisoners […]

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“Cooperator,” “Snitch,” or Something Else?

Darren Thurston’s support committee has posted an open letter responding to what seems to be widespread condemnation by other activists that Thurston and others “snitched,” or cooperated with the government (as opposed to the non-cooperating defendants), in hopes of receiving reduced sentences in the Operation Backfire cases. Here’s an excerpt, or also take a look […]

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First Operation Backfire Defendant Sentenced as “Terrorist”

A federal judge labeled property destruction in the name of the environment “terrorism” yesterday and sentenced the first of the Operation Backfire defendants to 13 years in prison. Activists around the country– and particularly the remaining nine defendants– had been watching the sentencing very carefully, because the judge’s tenor may foreshadow the remaining court dates. […]

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