Not Guilty
Speaking Truth to Power
Betty Krawczyk
_______________________________________
Born
and raised in the bayous of Southern Louisiana, Betty Krawczyk
is the mother of eight children,, an equal number of grandchildren,
and a great-grandchild. She has spent her entire life engaging
in social issues, dating back to the Civil Rights struggles in
her home state, and she was cofounder of one of the first women's
centres in Canada.
On
January 25, 2001, 'Grandma K' Betty Krawczyk was freed alter serving
four months of a year-long sentence imposed upon her for her actions
in blockading logging roads in the Elaho Valley of Canada. Her
trial judge justified the lengthy sentence as due to her criminal
contempt. Vancouver judges Donald and McKenzie overturned the
sentence.
What
follows are excerpts from the transcript of her original sentencing
hearing. Krawczyk is responding to a challenge from the judge,
who has asked her to ex plain why she blocked a road and why she
doesn't respect the law.
"...I
hear so often from friends and people who love me,
'Why do you do this ? It's not called for. Let things work out as
they will,' but if everybody did that, the society would never evolve.
We wouldn't get anywhere, ever. I know the difference between lawlessness
and responsibility, and the only way things ever change is through
responsibility and the willingness to take on the consequences of
the actions when one is trying to make change. It's just that it strikes
a point with me because my little granddaughter says, 'Grandma, why
don't you leave those trees alone and come play with me?' She doesn't
understand it, either.
About
sentencing, specifically my own sentencing. Sir, I can only say that
I am responsible for my own actions. The devil didn't make me blockade
Interfor logging trucks, and God didn't make me do it either. Neither
did PATH [People's Action for Threatened Habitat] or FAN [Forest Action
Network] or Friends of the Elaho. I told me to do it.
In my
opinion, my attempt to try to help stop Interfor's rapid destruction
of the Elaho Valley by standing in front of the logging trucks was
not an evil, criminal, crazy thing to do. In my scheme of things,
it was the eminently sane thing to do. I believe it to be crazy and
insane to stand by mutely while our collective life support systems
are being destroyed.
I do
not regret my actions in the slightest. And when I am in jail I consider
myself a political prisoner and I act accordingly. But, in reality,
the only real freedom that anyone actually finds is with the confines
of one's own mind and spirit. It sounds trite, I know, but that kind
of freedom really can't be imprisoned.
"You
can put me in jail, sir, but I will not be your prisoner. I will not
be Interfor's prisoner, or a prisoner of the Attorney General, or
a prisoner of these nice deputy sheriffs, or a prisoner of BCCW [Burnaby
Correctional Centre for Women]. I am only a prisoner of my own conscience,
sir, and that makes me a free woman, a free person.
And, as a free person, I refuse to enter into any sort of collusion
with this court in terms of potential house arrest or electronic monitoring
as part of my sentence. I will never be a party to assisting in my
own punishment in ways that would force me to internalize prison,
to internalize confinement, to internalize guilt, to internalize the
power of Interfor and the Attorney General's office to punish me for
trying to protect public property, property that every citizen has
a right, not only a right but also a duty to protect and enjoy and
love.
"As well, sir, I will not accept any kind of community service
as part of punishment. I have done more than my share of community
service in my lifetime. I have done it freely and as a labor of love,
and I will Dot have it imposed on me as punishment. I will also resist
paying a fine, however small. To pay a fine, at least for me, would
be tantamount to admitting guilt. This would imply that my actions
in the Elaho were harmful and antisocial and must be atoned for. And
again if I pay the fine, however small, I would have to internalize
a sense of guilt that I do not feel.
"There
have been actions in my life that I truly regret and feel sorry for,
but trying to protect the ancient forest of the Elaho is not one of
them. I love the Elaho. I love all of the old-growth forests of British
Columbia. To fight to preserve what one loves is to act in harmony
with oneself and with nature.
So, sir,
I refuse anything that would dilute the reasons of why I am here,
of why I tried to stop the logging of the Elaho. I refuse fines, community
service, and the internalized guilt of a shamed and shameful compliance.
You must lock me up, sir, or let me go. Thank you."
Excerpt
from
"Global
Uprising, Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century"
Stories from a New Generation of Activists
by Neva Welton & Linda Wolf