Hope it's okay to share some quotes from the transcription of this interview:
SM: Why would they do that as a favor to the president, do you think? Why do you think Trump would see that as an assist for him?
AH: Because the president, you know, tweeted directly about us. Our case is the first case in United States history where any defendant has been successfully tried and convicted as part of a, like, an antifa-related thing, right? The Justice Department said, āThis is the first time we have put antifa behind bars,ā basically. But not in those exact words, right? But this is a part of the presidentās agenda, you know, to create this narrative of left-wing terrorism, you know, basically in order to be able to prosecute political dissent against him. So I think that, like, if the Fifth Circuit were to overturn this case, which is the first of hundreds, right? The Justice Department has tried to go after, you know, people from Stop Cop City, you know, people from Minnesota and the George Floyd rebellions, and say like, āThese people are antifa,ā and hundreds of such cases have been shut down. Ours is the first such case to have made it all the way to conviction and sentencing, and thatās because of the fact that they were able to get such a conservative judge, such a conservative prosecutor, and have it tried in such a conservative district, right? In other jurisdictions, this would have been thrown out as a matter of law, but itās thanks to the fixing of Mark Pittman and the pressure that the prosecutor Sean Smithās superiors put on him to take this case all the way to trial, that that is what happened and I am here today.
SM: What has this been like for you from a mental perspective? How has it affected your state of mind? Like I canāt imagine this has been easy, and through this interview to me, youāve come across as kind of chill.
AH: You know, Iām a pretty spiritual person, pretty philosophical person. When I am in a situation where no action is likely to lead to an acceptable outcome, I take no action. And to a certain extent, I do not believe in 50 years. I donāt. Maybe Iām in denial but I still kind of donāt believe that Iām actually going to serve out this whole sentence and I think thereās a little reason for optimism in that regard. There is a big movement of support for a political pardon for us from the next Democratic president of the United States. My mother told me that my father said that the next time a Democratic president is in office, heās going to write him a letter to ask for a pardon for me. And that was the first positive interaction that Iāve had with my dad in five years. And when I heard that, I just burst into tears and, like, just became hysterical for five minutes because it was just the perfection of the absurdity of the time to me. My arch-conservative father, who I canāt really stand to be in the same room as right now because of his transphobia, that he would do this thing, right, like appeal to a Democratic president on my behalf. And it really shows this bipartisan sentiment that this is obviously unjust, this is obviously political. You know, if this arch-conservative and I can find common ground over the belief that this is a political persecution, I think that thereās a very strong chance for some future good thing to come our way out of that.
SM: Is there anything else I didnāt ask you that you want to get out, that you wanna say in this context? Obviously, people will see this and I know you have limited connection to the outside world.
AH: I would say the same thing that Iāve said before, which is: Be brave. Weāve been accused of being terrorists, but terror is the power that this administration wants to ply in order to keep people quiet, in order to keep people content. Fear of incarceration, fear of homelessness, you know, itās this fear, this fear that weāre going to lose our privileges, that we are going to use our comfort, that keeps people docile, keeps people from speaking the truth. Donāt be afraid.
gummygunk
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
discoholicmusic
snowghoul
