"An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of
Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for
Seadrift, Texas" (Chelsea Green Publishing).
A Letter from Prison: Diane Wilson Reports from Texas County Jail
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/012706WA.shtmlChelsea Green Publishing | Press Release
Diane Wilson has written a book about her life that Molly Ivins says "will become a classic, not just of the environmental movement, but of American lit, as well. It is the rare, clear, moving voice of a working-class woman goaded into action against the greatest massed forces in the world today: globalized corporate greed backed by government power."
Friday 27 January 2006
Diane Wilson, author of "An Unreasonable
Woman," is almost two months into a 150-day
sentence in a Texas jail for a misdemeanor
trespassing charge. The conditions in the
Victoria County jail are deplorable, according to
Wilson, a dedicated activist exposing injustice
wherever she goes. Now Wilson is breaking
through the walls of fear that prevent so many
inmates from speaking forthrightly to the
administrators of the penal system. She has
written a public letter, addressed to Victoria
County Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor, describing
abusive conditions within the jail, violations
of basic inmates rights, horrifying reports of
the withholding of medical treatment from ill
women who were jailed on non-violent charges,
and the lack of a functioning avenue for inmates
to address these problems within the system.
Wilson's jailing stems from a political
action at a Dow Chemical facility in her
hometown of Seadrift, TX, in 2002, when she
climbed a tower at the plant and hung a banner
reading "Justice For Bhopal," in reference to
the thousands of Indians killed following a toxic
release of methyl isocyanate in 1984 by Dow
subsidiary Union Carbide.
Wilson is a longtime advocate for the
victims of the Bhopal disaster, who continue to
seek justice for the deaths of their loved ones.
Wilson has been trying to meet with Warren
Anderson, the ex-CEO of Union Carbide, to demand
he return to India to face outstanding criminal
charges for culpable homicide in the Bhopal
toxic release. She had avoided returning to
Texas to serve time for her misdemeanor,
demanding that Anderson face up to his more
serious charges before turning herself in.
Though India has filed with the US government for
Anderson's extradition, he remains at large.
On December 5th, 2005, Wilson returned to
Texas to infiltrate a fundraiser in Houston for
recently-indicted US Rep. Tom Delay attended by
Vice President Dick Cheney. While protestors
outside waved placards opposing the Iraq War,
Wilson purchased a ticket, entered, and unfurled
a banner reading "Corporate Greed Kills-From
Bhopal to Baghdad" as Vice President Cheney was
speaking. Wilson was removed from the event,
arrested, and subsequently transferred to
Victoria County jail to serve out her sentence
stemming from her earlier protest at the Dow
Chemical facility.
Wilson, mother of five, former shrimp boat captain, and a co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace, has been an activist since 1989,
staging actions and hunger strikes from
Washington to Austin. Her environmental work on
behalf of the people and bays of the Texas Gulf
Coast has won her many awards including: Mother
Jones Hellraiser of the Month, the National
Fisherman Highliner Award, and the Bioneers Award.
Last fall, Wilson published her first
book, "An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of
Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for
Seadrift, Texas" (Chelsea Green Publishing). In
it she details her discovery that local chemical
companies have made her county one of the most
polluted in the country, and her transformation
from mother and wife to environmental activist.
She soon finds herself in a fight against
Formosa Plastics, a multi-billion-dollar
corporation that has been covering up toxic
spills, silencing workers, flouting the EPA, and
dumping lethal ethylene dichloride and vinyl
chloride into the bays along her beloved Texas
Gulf Coast.
Diane Wilson's letter follows:
January 20th, 2006
Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor
Victoria County
101 North Glass Street
Victoria, TX 77901
Read the letter at Truth Out:
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/012706WA.shtmlFor updates on Wilson, please visit:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/ ... n/fromjail[ This Message was edited by: Eudora on 2006-02-25 10:03 ][ This Message was edited by: Eudora on 2006-02-25 10:04 ]