Leah broke, to what degree remains uncertain, but we know that she at least cooperated in someway with the grand jury investigation. She broke the wall of silence anarchists in the northwest had tried their best to craft for about four months. Leah broke the silence of refusal, and has still refused to comment on the conditions of her release. She has spoken with the state but has refused to speak to her (former) comrades and supporters.
Let's be realistic here, it has been over two weeks since she has been released and she refuses to release a statement about the conditions of her release. Maybe I was naive, but I really did have faith that those who pledged to keep silent would, and it breaks my heart that this is no longer the case. As said already, we don't know the conditions of Leah's release, we don't know how much was said. But we do know that she isn't saying anything right now. You might be out Leah, but the subpoenas are still coming in. My friends are still in cages, and my life has still been entirely uprooted from pretty much everyone I know. Leah not only broke the silence, she broke the solidarity.
To me the broken solidarity is what hurts the most. As many anarchists have said before, we strive to offer solidarity not charity, we seek affinity and the furtherance of a shared struggle. Much of the support Leah has received from anarchists all over the world has not been solely based on people feeling sorry for her or offering her sympathy. Anarchists worldwide have seen a connection between the grand jury resister's silence of refusal and their own personal struggle to destroy domination and spread anarchy. People did not donate thousands of dollars to Leah simply because they felt sorry for her, there's lots of people in the world to feel sorry for. The reasons why people have destroyed cop cars, held noise demos, done banner drops, smashed out bank windows, attacked court houses, torched security cars is not simply because people feel bad for her. It's because many people found the resisters actions inspiring.
I understand that prison is really rough, I imagine it's horrible place, but what about all those who risked the same fate by torching a security car to further the shared struggle against domination and exploitation? Or those who tampered with railroad tracks (an automatic felony) to show solidarity to the resisters? People put themselves out there for the resisters, and Leah's silence to all those who have supported her thus far should be seen as a betrayal until she choses to clarify the conditions of her release.
If Leah really does believe that she doesn't owe anybody anything, then she's dead fucking wrong. She owes people who donated money to her based on her non-cooperation thousands of dollars, she owes an explanation to all those who have put their own neck on the line to further the struggle, and she owes an explanation to all those who have put in hours and hours of support based on her vow of non-cooperation.
To those anarchists weary to withdraw support from Leah, you call can what you want. I'm not trying to dictate who individuals should or should not support, I'm just trying to point out that Leah breaking the silence and then refusing to comment is not something to be taken lightly. People really showed up for Leah, more than any of the other resisters and for her to not clarify the conditions of her release is something that breaks our solidarity.
"The State thinks it is a black hole that can destroy whatever it wants." When the wall of silence comes tumbling down and Leah offers no explanation, it must only reinforce that opinion.
Sincerely,
Still a Resister