Anarchist Prisoner Profile from We never Sleep

Rob los Ricos

"Rob los Ricos (12/31/59-) is the anarchist tag of Robert Thaxton.

When the revolution Rob had prepared himself for didn't happen in the 70s, he drifted into activism in the 80s in Dallas, TX, and was involved in ACT-UP and CISPES, as well as KNON-FM community radio station, where he was eventually elevated to program director...  The Gulf War erupted shortly and the anarchists became the most militant and spectacular faction of the Austin anti-war effort. The media silence over the opposition to the war and the ineffectiveness of the protests led Rob to believe that protests-as-usual were a waste of time. He then turned his energy towards developing networks and gatherings of anarchists in Texas which resulted in two statewide gatherings in Austin ('92 & '93) and also an anarchist presence at the Republican National Convention in Houston ('92).

Rob began to re-examine his anarchist thoughts in order to try to direct his efforts to create a life more in line with his desires for a liberated existence and also decided to start a family. Though that relationship failed, he has a wonderful daughter (Raven) because of it.

When life in Portland, Oregon became unbearable, Rob joined a group of friends in the woods of Southern Oregon, where people were rediscovering a simpler way of life - gardening, homebrewing and creating basic living structures with materials the forest provides.
Though life in the woods was rewarding, Rob still wished to stay in touch with and be a part of the anarchist community at-large. To do so, he began a website, Anarchy and Chaos, mostly to give voice to the more thoughtful and militant anarchist writers he'd encountered, both personally and via the mail.  He also spent the winter of '99 in Columbia, MO, to become better acquainted with the publisher of Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and be more involved in that project.

Just as things were beginning to work out to Rob's satisfaction, he traveled to Eugene to attend a two-day anarchist conference and the 6/18 Reclaim the Streets festival there.

A cloud of tear gas, random attacks by riot police and a tossed rock later, and Rob was  in jail, and eventually sentenced to 7 years and 4 months in prison.

Determined to continue the struggle - even while incarcerated - Rob and his supporters in Portland formed the Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network, a resource-sharing and communication network for incarcerated anarchists."