Gaza Talks
ANONYMOUS
as i walk through the check-points-
“PASS!” fires at me.
i grimace, flashing the papers that allow me
to get to my destination.
i never make eye contact,
only press my paper on the gates.
we’re all in uniforms.
weapons surround us as we weave through traffic/
long lines of lost souls
trekking through the fog of
broken lives,
broken hearts and
hard life sentences.
a few rebels are sprinkled in the mix.
lethargy surrounds me.
i’ve been able to blend in,
only slightly detectable
when my face goes stone at the sounds of
“RIGHT SIDE OF THE LINE!
SINGLE FILE!”
i’m shuffled back into a place that
at least 90% of my surroundings don’t know exist,
even though the guards are the same,
the walls are the same,
the mentalities are the same and…
the slow motion genocide is the EXACT same!
the beast continues to chomp away at the
people whom are less fortunate.
i’m part of the few that have
merged with the feelings of rage of the oppressed!
Suheir Hammad’s poetry has become a
Bible Study in my daily walk.
i pass the check points/gates/cages
and almost fail to realize
This is McConnell Unit
(and not Palestine)
which is like Polunsky
which is like Telford
which is like Michaels-
the prototypes
of a new oppression:
control unit prisons!
boxes within boxes within boxes.
we have apartheid here too!
we smuggle tastes of freedom under our clothes too!
we hustle for extra food too!
just trying to
reclaim those feelings of
humanity stripped from our fingertips.
my face contorts at orders and
those that accept them with no rejection.
at least give me some disdain.
our annihilation has become a sugar-coated bomb.
in our gluttony and ignorance
we greedily gobble down the
high cholesterol laws and policies
that are slowly
creeping through our valves
getting ready to
STRANGLE OUR HEARTS!
there has been no true cease fire.
just as Israel has increased the
number of settlers in the West Bank
from 190,000 to more than half a million
Texas has built over 120 prisons
over a span of 20 years.
137 prisons total.
political minded prisoners should be sprouting abundantly!
Texas and Gaza are fraternal twins separated at birth-
Both spawning concentration camp like conditions.
amerika can’t swallow the Intifada breathing down their door.
we must tap into the wind of
international consciousness
which brings our pain to ONE inhale
and our actions into ONE exhale.
i’ve overridden my prison #’s with
Arabic tattooed on my neck-
my body
(chest to back)
is now a billboard for revolutionary messages.
YES!
our massacre is unfolding in slow motion
and not even death
should stop us
from trying to rewind this
fucked up story
which has become our
LIFE!
Samidoun Statement on Prisoners Justice Day
August 10, Prisoners’ Justice Day, was initiated by prisoners at Millhaven Maximum Security Penitentiary in 1976 as a day to remember all of the men, women and youth who have died inside Canadian prisons, and to draw attention to the conditions that contribute to prisoner deaths. Thousands of prisoners across Canada went on a one day hunger strike to protest the deaths of prisoners and, in particular, the use of solitary confinement, and supporters outside held vigils and fasts outside prisons across the country. In the ensuing years, prisoners in the U.S. and Europe also joined in 24 hour fasts on August 10 for justice, dignity and against solitary confinement and repression.
36 years later, on Prison Justice Day 2012, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with prisoners in Canada and around the world struggling for justice on this day. We note in particular that the prison system disproportionately affects Indigenous people and communities, and has been a weapon of colonialism and destruction further uprooting Indigenous nations from their land. Prisons continue to reflect the horrors of the residential schools, as people, families and communities affected by residential schools continue to be frequently criminalized today.
Refugee claimants, migrants, asylum seekers, racialized and oppressed communities are subject to detention and imprisonment, and heavily criminalized physically in prisons and through government rhetoric in Canada. The creation of security certificate regimes and other forms of “anti-terror” imprisonment particularly target Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities, and highlight the ways in which political imprisonment, criminalization and racism go hand in hand for all prisoners. And while the government denies refugees access to health care, defunds programs and supports for migrants, refugees and communities, it pursues the building of ever more prisons across the country.
Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons struggle daily against solitary confinement, racism, and a mass imprisonment system that targets Palestinians as a whole for criminalization and subjugation. Yet Palestinian prisoners have been a beacon of resistance and steadfastness, leaders of the Palestinian movement for liberation. Today, at least 4 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike – Samer al-Barq (81 days), Hassan Safadi (51 days), Ayman Sharawna (41 days), and Samer al-Issawi (10 days) – demanding freedom and an end to their unjust imprisonment without charge or trial.
Samidoun expresses its solidarity with all those in prisons struggling against solitary confinement, racism and oppression, and longs for a day of freedom, justice and liberation for all.
Prisoners’ Statement on Prisoners Justice Day
On Prisoners’ Justice Day in every jail in Canada and in prisons around the world, inmates will go on a 24-hour hunger strike. We do this to remember Eddy Nolan who died in Millhaven Penitentiary in Ontario on August 10 1974 as a victim of the inhumane conditions in that prison at that time. We do this to remember all of the inmates who fought and the two who died in a four day riot in April of 1971 at Kingston Penitentiary. Both of those incidents led to major reforms in the Canadian prison system. We fast so that we ourselves remember. We strike to remind the institutions and the world that even behind bars we are still entitled to human rights and human dignity, and we can still fight for both.
This statement for Prisoners’ Justice Day 2012 was written by Alex Hundert, with input from more than a dozen inmates inside the Central North Correctional Complex in Penetanguishene Ontario, and Mandy Hiscocks at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton Ontario. Both are provincial jails in Ontario, Canada. This statement has been signed so far by 56 inmates in Penetang and Vanier, which is 100% of all of those who had the opportunity to read it. Most of those at Penetang who provided input into the very first draft of the statement were unable to sign onto this final version as they were, for reasons unrelated to the drafting of this statement, either moved or are now in the hole (administrative segregation).
It is an outrage that the federal government is enacting the first measures of its Omnibus Crime Bill C-10, the so-called ‘Safe Streets and Communities Act’ on August 9, just one day before the annual Prisoners’ Justice Day. This bill will only serve to make prisons more crowded and will make our prison system even less about justice than it currently is. We want people to know how bad things already are before they get worse.
In provincial jails in Ontario we have no functional protections for our human rights the way that federal penitentiaries have had since the 1970s when inmates fought and died for them. In provincial jails we are subject to arbitrary authority with no effective grievance process. Provincial prisons are significantly more overcrowded than federal penitentiaries. Close to 70% of inmates in Ontario provincial institutions have not actually been convicted, and are instead awaiting bail or trial or in many cases are awaiting deportation. With the loss of conditional sentences and instead new harsher measures (especially for youth) and mandatory minimums, there will be an even greater reliance on the prison system. We are concerned and angry that the federal laws are going to do nothing but aggravate an already unacceptable situation.
Rehabilitation programs have been decimated and jails have become little more than warehouses. For example, this year we will see a massive cut to the Drug Treatment Program by $42 million dollars and under Bill C-10 this money will now be directly transferred to investigations and prosecutions. Bill C-10 will cost Ontario an estimated $1 billion dollars on new prison infrastructure, while social programs and jobs are gutted, further driving people into poverty. The Ontario government says that the average cost to keep someone in a provincial prison is $183/day in comparison to social housing which is $5-25/day – yet jails are being built in the place of housing.
If you want to genuinely make communities safer, the solution cannot be locking away more people for longer in jails where we only become more angry and disillusioned. We need to change the conditions under which people are locked away and we need strategies to make sure fewer people from our communities are locked up at all. We need to focus on rehabilitation and not warehouses. We need to focus on the root causes of why people end up here in the first place so that when people get out there is something better to go back to. We need to uphold human dignity, not deprive people of it. We can do this by safeguarding people’s human rights, not by stripping them of all responsibility and opportunity. We need to foster community and interpersonal ties that are based on something deeper than the ‘us against them’ mentality that this system instills in us.
By moving towards a system that protects the rights of all people including prisoners we can move towards real justice for all.
Support Six Nations Land Defenders: An Open Letter to All Those Who Have Supported Me
BY ALEX HUNDERT [G20 political prisoner]
alexhundert.wordpress.com
This is a letter I am writing to everyone who supported me over the past two years, since our arrests brought to light the massive police operation against a group of solidarity activists and community organisers.
In that time I have received such an incredible amount of support from friends and family, from allies, from “movement” organisations, and also from civil liberties organisations, academic and journalist associations, and unions. I have a tremendous amount of gratitude and appreciation for all of it.
As I head back into jail on Tuesday, lots of people have been offering renewed support, and having seen how substantial that support can be, I am asking that the support people are hoping to give to me over the next year, be instead extended to the new Legal Defence Fund recently established for Six Nations Land Defenders.
The type of targeting, repression, manipulation, intimidation and harassment that were directed at anarchist and other activist communities in the lead up to the Olympics and the G20 are realities that are standard fare in Indigenous communities where resistance to colonialism is a part of daily life.
However, in the years since the Reclamation action in 2006, people from Six Nations have not always seen the same kind of support that I and some of the other G20 defendants received.
Part of what is sadly ironic about the contrasting levels of support is that those who were most directly targeted by the intelligence/security operation against activists in the lead up to the G20 were those whose primary organising work includes building linkages and relationships with the strong network of Indigenous Sovereigntists and their allies, migrant justice organisers, and anarchists. The policing operation was largely designed to disrupt those relationships and that movement building. These are standard tactics used against the resistance movements that arise from Indigenous and other racialized or otherwise targeted communities.
I would like to propose that we now strengthen those linkages by turning the massive capacity for support that we have developed over the past two years towards supporting front line land defenders from Six Nations.
Since 2006 there has been a particularly insidious wave of criminalisation and demonisation aimed at Haudenosaunee people who are asserting the sovereignty of the Six Nations Confederacy and defending the land. The tactics used in everyday policing operations against Six Nations, like with other Indigenous nations, are exactly the type of oppressive state security that the rest of the southern Ontario “activist community” got a taste of around the G20.
I would strongly encourage you to consider formally supporting the new Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund.
The fund is currently being administered and coordinated by the April 28 Coalition which includes organisers from Six Nations as well as established allies from various unions and activist organisations. If the fund is successful, a formal board of directors will be established and procedures codified. For now, the immediate concern is fundraising for Francine “Flower” Doxtator and Kevin “Sleeper” Greene, though the goal is a sustainable fund that can cover legal costs for people from Six Nations who are charged while engaging in land defence actions.
Support for the Six Nations Land Defenders Legal Defence Fund could include a formal endorsement, a public statement of support, promotion within your organisations or networks, and/or making donations. Please contact the April 28 Coalition (kanonhstaton@gmail.com) for more information, or visit this link to donate directly: bit.ly/K39HCN.
Thanks again so much for your continued support.
Court Confirms Ten-Year Sentence for Lynne Stewart
BY JEFF MACKLER
lynnestewart.org
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today confirmed the 2010 decision of Federal District Court Judge John Koeltl to change his 28-month jail sentence for radical attorney and human rights activist, Lynne Stewart, to ten years. The court’s June 28, 2012 decision was not unexpected.
Following federal prosecutors’ appeal of what was widely considered a “lenient sentence,” the Second Circuit all but ordered a compliant Koeltl to re-sentence Stewart and harshly. Koeltl did just that, forcing Stewart to appeal to the very court that originally pressured Koeltl, in what was widely considered a “career decision” to do Stewart great harm.
Stewart was convicted at an outrageous 2005 New York frame-up trial on five counts of conspiracy to aid and abet and provide material support to terrorism. Her crime? Representing the “blind Sheik,” the Egyptian cleric, Omar Abdel Rachman, who has also been convicted on trumped-up conspiracy charges, Stewart issued a press release from her client stating his views on how Egyptian Muslim oppositionists should react to the ongoing crimes and murders of Egypt’s then President Hosni Mubarak.
Stewart was convicted of violating a vaguely-worded court-ordered SAM (Special Administrative Measure) that barred her from revealing her client’s opinions. The penalty for such violations had traditionally been a mild slap on the wrist, perhaps a warning to not repeat the “violation” and to bar attorney-client visits for a few months. Stewart, barring an unlikely Supreme Court reversal, will now serve her ten-year sentence with perhaps a one-year or ten percent reduction for “good behavior.” She is presently incarcerated at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
Koeltl’s original 28-month sentence statement, in the face of federal prosecutors demanding 30 years, noted that Stewart, known for representing the poor and oppressed for three decades with little financial remuneration, was a “credit to the legal profession.”
Stewart served as lead counsel for her client along with former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who testified on her behalf during the trial. Clark himself has issued similar press releases with no punishment. Indeed, an indignant prosecutor during Stewart’s trail suggested that Clark himself be charged with conspiracy, but his superiors decided that imprisoning the nation’s former top attorney was not yet in their game plan and the suggestion was ignored.
The Second Circuit decision was based on the allegations that Stewart demonstrated insufficient deference to the original sentence. The court claimed that her statement to the media immediately following her sentence that, “I can do 28 months standing on my head” demonstrated contempt for the legal system.
I was standing next to Stewart at that moment and saw nothing other than a great expression of relief that she would not be sentenced, in effect to death, based on the 30 years that federal prosecutors sought. Stewart entered the sentencing hearing on that day, totally ignorant of whether her sentence would be the deeply punishing 30 years demanded by the federal prosecutors or perhaps something that she, 70 years old at the time, could “live with” and look forward to a normal life. She carried nothing but a plastic bag, some medicines and a toothbrush.
The Second Circuit also took umbrage at Stewart’s courageous statement when she took the stand to make her closing remarks. Her attorney at that moment, Michael Tiger, asked, referring to Stewart’s issuing the press release on her client’s behalf, “Lynne, if you had to do it all over again would you do the same thing?” With a tear in her eye, Stewart stated, “I would hope that I would have the courage to do it again, I would do it again.”
Stewart also insisted that her sworn duty to represent her client had to be weighed against the formalities of laws or court orders that prevented such diligent representation.
This refusal to bow to authority, to show the “required deference” to legal bullies with power, outraged her persecutors, who sought vengeance in the rigged criminal “justice” system.
Stewart’s now rejected appeal argued three essential points:
1. In relying on Lynne Stewart’s public statements to enhance the original sentence of 28 months, her First Amendment rights were abridged.
3. The fourfold increase in the sentence was substantively unreasonable and failed to balance her lifetime of contribution to the community and country with the criminal act of which she was convicted.
5. The Judge’s findings of Perjury and Misuse of her position as an Attorney on which he also based the increase, were error.
“Free Lynne Stewart” must remain the rallying cry of all those who cherish civil liberties and democratic rights.
Stewart, like so many others, but perhaps among the first tier, was a victim of the government-promoted malicious and murderous “war on terror” aimed at stifling all dissent and imprisoning the innocent to justify its wars against working people at home and against the oppressed and exploited across the globe.
Write Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart 53504-054
FMC Carswell
P.O. Box27137
Ft. Worth, TX
USA 76127
Contributions can be made payable to the
Lynne Stewart Organization
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York
USA 11216
Jeff Mackler is the West Coast Coordinator of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee.
‘Panther Baby’: The Journey of Jamal Joseph
REVIEW BY MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
From www.workers.org
Joseph, Jamal, Baby Panther: A Life of Reinvention & Rebellion. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2012.
If one is high school age in America, the story of the Black Panther Party, one of the most significant Black radical organizations of the mid-20th century, is virtually unknown.
Few teachers dare to teach it, burdened as they are by the repressive, politically driven testing frenzy that ensures teachers stick only to the tests, amid fears of the consequences of failure.
If some rare teacher wants to teach this powerful period, they need look no further than Jamal Joseph’s new autobiography, Panther Baby.
Jamal Joseph was a member of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party, but a member with a difference. At 15, he was still in high school, and thus the youngest member in the state.
Thankfully, he writes with the head of a teenager, explaining his choices as they are presented to him — often based on his rampaging emotions at the time. Why did he join the Party? Why not other such groups?
What did his foster grandparents, who though they were old Garveyites [named after Marcus M. Garvey, the founder of an early 20th century nationalist group], really think of his joining?
That story is as funny as it is tender, for these parents — though not of his blood – loved him intensely, and worried about a boy his age running around with Black Panthers, people frankly regarded as crazy.
Jamal’s story is one of a social movement, that, at the height, lifts all to new levels of possibility. But like a wave, it can wash away, leaving the once-high steeped in mud.
Throughout this often heart-rending cycle of love and betrayal, Joseph finds his best self and arises from the mud to find a life of service and reconciliation.
Panther Baby is a touching, beautiful and transformative document. May it reach as many young people as possible.
Ruchell Cinque Magee: Sole Survivor Still
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Slavery is being practiced by the system under color of law – Slavery 400 years ago, slavery today; it’s the same thing, but with a new name. They’re making millions and millions of dollars enslaving Blacks, poor whites, and others – people who don’t even know they’re being railroaded. – Ruchell Cinque Magee (from radio interview with Kiilu Nyasha, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle,” KPFA-FM, 12 August 1995)
If you were asked to name the longest held political prisoner in the United States, what would your answer be?
Most would probably reply “Geronimo ji jaga (Pratt),” “Sundiata Acoli,” or “Sekou Odinga” – all 3 members of the Black Panther Party or soldiers of the Black Liberation Army, who have been encaged for their political beliefs or principled actions for decades. Some would point to Lakota leader, Leonard Peltier, who struggled for the freedom of Native peoples, thereby incurring the enmity of the U.S. Government, who framed him in a 1975 double murder trial. Those answers would be good guesses, for all of these men have spent hellified years in state and federal dungeons, but here’s a man who has spent more.
Ruchell C. Magee arrived in Los Angeles, California in 1963, and wasn’t in town for six months before he and a cousin, Leroy, were arrested on the improbable charges of kidnap and robbery, after a fight with a man over a woman and a $10 bag of marijuana. Magee, in a slam-dunk “trial,” was swiftly convicted and swifter still sentenced to life.
Magee, politicized in those years, took the name of the African freedom fighter, Cinque, who, with his fellow captives seized control of the slave ship, the Amistad, and tried to sail back to Africa. Like his ancient namesake, Cinque would also fight for his freedom from legalized slavery, and for 7 long years he filed writ after writ, learning what he calls “guerrilla law,” honing it as a tool for liberation of himself and his fellow captives. But California courts, which could care less about the alleged “rights” of a young Black man like Magee, dismissed his petitions willy-nilly.
In August, 1970, Magee appeared as a witness in the assault trial of James McClain, a man charged with assaulting a guard after San Quentin guards murdered a Black prisoner, Fred Billingsley. McClain, defending himself, presented imprisoned witnesses to expose the racist and repressive nature of prisons. In the midst of Magee’s testimony, a 17 year old young Black man with a huge Afro hairdo burst into the courtroom, heavily armed.
Jonathan Jackson shouted “Freeze!”, tossing weapons to McClain, William Christmas, and a startled Magee, who given his 7 year hell where no judge knew the meaning of justice, joined the rebellion on the spot. The four rebels took the judge, the DA and three jurors hostage, and headed for a radio station where they were going to air the wretched prison conditions to the world, as well as demand the immediate release of a group of political prisoners, know that The Soledad Brothers (these were John Cluchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and Jonathan’s oldest brother, George). While the men did not hurt any of their hostages, they did not reckon on the state’s ruthlessness.
Before the men could get their van out of the court house parking lot, prison guards and sheriffs opened furious fire on the vehicle, killing Christmas, Jackson, McClain as well as the judge. The DA was permanently paralyzed by gun fire. Miraculously, the jurors emerged relatively unscratched, although Magee, seriously wounded by gunfire, was found unconscious.
Magee, who was the only Black survivor of what has come to be called “The August 7th Rebellion,” would awaken to learn he was charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, and further, he would have a co-defendant, a University of California Philosophy Professor, and friend of Soledad Brother, George L. Jackson, named Angela Davis, who faced identical charges.
By trial time the cases were severed, with Angela garnering massive support leading to her 1972 acquittal on all charges.
Magee’s trial did not garner such broad support, yet he boldly advanced the position that as his imprisonment was itself illegal, and a form of unjustifiable slavery, he had the inherent right to escape such slavery, an historical echo of the position taken by the original Cinque, and his fellow captives, who took over a Spanish slave ship, killed the crew (except for the pilot) and tried to sail back to Africa. The pilot surreptitiously steered the Amistad to the U.S. coast, and when the vessel was seized by the U.S., Spain sought their return to slavery in Cuba. Using natural and international law principals, U.S. courts decided they captives had every right to resist slavery and fight for their freedom.
Unfortunately, Magee’s jury didn’t agree, although it did acquit on at least one kidnapping charge. The court dismissed on the murder charge, and Magee has been battling for his freedom every since.
That he is still fighting is a tribute to a truly remarkable man, a man who knows what slavery is, and more importantly, what freedom means.
FREE CINQUE !!
BY JONATHAN JACKSON, JR.
From the Forward to Soledad Brother (1994)
I was born eight and a half months after my father, Jonathan Jackson, was shot down on August 7, 1970, at the Marin County Courthouse, when he tried to gain the release of the Soledad Brothers by taking hostages. Before and especially after that day, Uncle George kept in constant contact with my mother by writing from his cell in San Quentin. (The Department of Corrections wouldn’t put her on the visitors’ list.) During George’s numerous trial appearances for the Soledad Brothers case, Mom would lift me above the crowd so he could see me. Consistently, we would receive a letter a few days later. For a single mother with son, alone and in the middle of both controversy and not a little unwarranted trouble with the authorities, those messages of strength were no doubt instrumental in helping her carry on. No matter how oppressive his situation became, George always had time to lend his spirit to the people he cared for.
A year and two weeks after the revolutionary takeover in Marin, George was ruthlessly murdered by prison guards at San Quentin. Both he and my father left me a great deal: pride, history, an unmistakable name. My experience has been at once wonderful and incredibly difficult. My life is not consumed by the Jackson legacy, but my charge is an accepted and cherished piece of my existence. It is out of my responsibility to my legacy that I have come to write this Foreword to my uncle’s prison writings.
Today I read my inherited letters often – those written from George to my mother with a dull pencil on prison stationery. They are things of beauty, my most valuable possessions, passionate pieces of writing that have few rivals in the modern era. They will remain unpublished. However, the letters of Soledad Brother demonstrate the same insight and eloquence – the way George’s writings make his personal experience universal is the mainstay of his brilliance.
When this collection of letters was first released in 1969, it brought a young revolutionary to the forefront of a tempest, a tempest characterized by the Black Power, free speech, and antiwar movements, accompanied by a dissatisfaction with the status quo throughout the United States. With unflinching directness, George Jackson conveyed an intelligent yet accessible message with his trademark style, rational rage. He illuminated previously hidden viewpoints and feelings that disenfranchised segments of the population were unable to articulate: the poor, the victimized, the imprisoned, the disillusioned. George spoke in a revolutionary voice that they had no idea existed. He was the prominent figure of true radical thought and practice during the period, and when he was assassinated, much of the movement died along with him. But George Jackson cannot and will not ever leave. His life and thoughts serve as the message – George himself is the revolution.
The reissue of Soledad Brother at this point in time is essential. It appears that the nineties are going to be a telling decade in U.S. history. The signposts of systemic breakdown are as glaringly obvious as they were in the sixties: unrest manifesting itself in inner-city turmoil, widespread rise of violence in the culture, and international oppression to legitimize a state in crisis. The fact that imprisonments in California have more than tripled over the last decade, supported by the public, is merely one sign of societal decomposition. That systemic change occurred during the sixties is a myth. The United States in the nineties faces strikingly analogous problems. George spoke to the issues of his day, but conditions now are so similar that this work could have been written last month. It is imperative that George be heard, whether by the angry but unchanneled young or by the cynical and worldly mature. The message must be carried farther than where he bravely left it in August of 1971.
Over the past twenty-five years, why has George Jackson not been an integral part of mainstream consciousness? He has been and still is underexposed, reduced to simplistic terms, and ultimately misunderstood. Racial and conspiracy theory aside, there are rational reasons for his exclusion. They stem not only from the hard-line revolutionary aspects of George’s philosophy, but more importantly from the nature of the political system that he existed in and under.
Howard Zinn has pointed out in A People’s History of the United States that “the history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated.” U.S. history is essentially that type of hidden history. Without denying important mitigating factors, the United States of today is strongly linked to the values and premises on which it was founded. That is, it is a settler colony founded primarily on two basic pillars, upheld by the Judeo-Christian tradition: genocide of indigenous peoples and slave labor in support of a capitalist infrastructure. Although the Bible repeatedly exalts mass slaughter and oppression, Judeo-Christian morality is publicly held to be inconsistent with them. This dissonance, evident within the nation’s structure from the beginning, informs the state’s first function: to oversimplify and minimize immoral events in order to legitimize history and the state’s very existence simultaneously.
Ironically, traditional Judeo-Christian morality is a perfect vehicle for genocide, slavery, and territorial expansion. As a logical progression from biblical example, expansion and imperialism culminated in the United States with the concept of Manifest Destiny, which held that it was the colonists’ inherent right to expand and conquer. Further it was a duty, the “white man’s burden,” to save the “natives,” to attempt to convert all heathens encountered. Protestant Calvinism provided a set of ethics that fit perfectly with the colonists’ conquests. Max Weber, in his definitive study on religion, The Sociology of Religion, wrote, “Calvinism held that the unsearchable God possessed good reasons for having distributed the gifts of fortune unevenly”; it “represented as God’s will [the Calvinists’] domination over the sinful world. Clearly this and other features of Protestantism, such as its rationalization of the existence of a lower class, were not only the bases for the formation of the United States, but still prominently exist today. “One must go to the ethics of ascetic Protestantism,” Weber asserts, “to find any ethical sanction for economic rationalism and for the entrepreneur.” When a nation can’t admit to the process through which it builds hegemony, how can anything but delusion be a reality? “The monopoly of truth, including historical truth,” stated Daniel Singer in a lecture at Evergreen State College (Washington) in 1987, “is implied in the monopoly of power.”
Clearly, objective history is an impossibility. This understood, the significant problem lies in how the general population defines the term; history implies that truth is being told. It is an unfortunate fact that history is unfailingly written by the victors, which in the case of the United States are not only the original imperialists, but the majority of the “founding fathers,” dedicated to uniting and strengthening the existing mercantile class among disjointed colonies. There can be no doubt that from the creation of this young nation, history as a created and perceived entity moved further and further away from the objective ideal. Genocide, necessary for “the development of the modern capitalist economy,” according to Howard Zinn, was rationalized as a reaction to the fear of Indian savages. Slavery was similarly construed.
The personalization of history, the process by which we construct heroes and pariahs, is a consequence of its dialectical nature. Without fail, an odd paradox is created around someone who, by virtue of his or her actions, becomes prominent enough to warrant the designation “historical figure.” There is a leap on the part of the general public, sparked by the media, to another mindset. Sensational deeds are glorified, horrible acts reviled. A few points are selected as defining characteristics. The media, conforming to their restrictions of concision (which make accuracy nearly impossible to attain), reiterate these points over and over. Schools and textbooks not only teach these points but drill them into young minds. Howard Zinn comments that “this learned sense of moral proportion, coming from the apparent objectivity of the scholar, is accepted more easily than when it comes from politicians at press conferences. It is therefore more deadly.”
A few tidbits, factual or not, incomplete and selective, are used to describe the entirety of a person’s existence. They become part of mainstream consciousness. We therefore know that Lincoln freed the slaves, Malcolm X was a black extremist, and Hitler was solely responsible for World War II and the Holocaust. All half-truths go unexplained, all fallacies go unchallenged, as they appear to make perfect sense to the everyday, noncritically thinking American. The paradox has been created: The more famous a person becomes, the more misunderstood he or she is. This accepted occurrence is incredibly counterintuitive: the public should know more, not less, about a noteworthy individual and the sociopolitical dynamics surrounding him or her.
This historical mythicization is not, for the most part, a consciously created phenomenon. The media don’t go out of their way to mislead the public by constructing false heroes and emphasizing the mundane. Fewer “dimly lit conferences” take place than conspiracy theorists believe. It is the existing political system that is responsible for the information that reaches the general public. The state’s control of information created the system, and it continually re-creates it. Propagated by schooling and the media, information that reaches the public is subject to three chief mechanisms of state control: denial, self-censorship, and imprisonment.
Denial is the easiest control mechanism, and therefore the most common. If events do not follow the state’s agenda or its ecumenical ideology and might bring unrest, they are denied. Examples are plentiful: prewar state terrorism against the people of North and South Vietnam and later the bombing of Cambodia; government funding and military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras; and support of UNITA and South Africa in the virtual destruction of Angola, among many others
Denial goes hand in hand with self-censorship. The media emphasize certain personal characteristics and events and de-emphasize others, in a pattern that supports U.S. hegemony. The information that reached the public after the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 is telling. It was not until much later, after the heat of controversy, that the average citizen had access to the scope of the devastation. The effectiveness of self-censorship in this case was maximized, as the full details of the Panama invasion were patchwork for years.
While we may assume that the media have an obligation to accurately convey such an event to the public, the media in fact perpetuate the government’s position by engaging in their own self-censorship. Noam Chomsky points out in Deterring Democracy, “With a fringe of exceptions – mostly well after the tasks had been accomplished – the media rallied around the flag with due piety and enthusiasm, funnelling the most absurd White House tales to the public while scrupulously refraining from asking the obvious questions, or seeing the obvious facts.”
Denial and self-censorship create a comfort zone for the U.S. citizenry, generally uncritical and willing to accept digestible versions of historical personalities and world events. The reasoning behind denial and self-censorship: do not make the public uncomfortable, even if that means diluting, sensationalizing, or lying about the truth.
Ultimately, when denial and self-censorship may not be sufficient for control of information, the state resorts to imprisonment. All imprisonment is political and as such all imprisonments carry equal weight. Society does, however, distinguish two categories of imprisonment: one for breaking a law, the other for political reasons. A difference is clear: American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier, serving a federal sentence for his supposed role at Wounded Knee, is considered a different type of prisoner than an armed robber serving a five-to-seven-year sentence.
State policy reflects institutional needs. When the state as an institution cannot tolerate an outside threat, real or perceived, from an individual or group, the consequences at its command include isolation, persecution, and political imprisonment. All may occur in greater or lesser form, depending on the degree of threat.
Political incarceration removes threats to the political and economic hegemony of the United States. Even though in 1959 George Jackson initially went to prison as an “everyday lawbreaker” with a one-year-to-life sentence, it was his political consciousness that kept him incarcerated for eleven years. In 1970 George wrote:
International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle. The entire colonial world is watching the blacks inside the U.S., wondering and waiting for us to come to our senses. Their problems and struggles with the Amerikan monster are much more difficult than they would be if we actively aided them. We are on the inside. We are the only ones (besides the very small white minority left) who can get at the monster’s heart without subjecting the world to nuclear fire. We have a momentous historical role to act out if we will. The whole world for all time in the future will love us and remember us as the righteous people who made it possible for the world to live on. If we fail through fear and lack of aggressive imagination, then the slaves of the future will curse us, as we sometimes curse those of yesterday. I don’t want to die and leave a few sad songs and a hump in the ground as my only monument. I want to leave a world that is liberated from trash, pollution, racism, nation-states, nation-state wars and armies, from pomp, bigotry, parochialism, a thousand different brands of untruth, and licentious usurious economics.
Nothing is more dangerous to a system that depends on misinformation than a voice that obeys its own dictates and has the courage to speak out. George Jackson’s imprisonment and further isolation within the prison system were clearly a function of the state’s response to his outspoken opposition to the capitalist structure.
Political incarceration is a tangible form of state control. Unlike denial and self-censorship, imprisonment is publicly scrutinized. Yet public reaction to political incarceration has been minimal. The U.S. government claims it holds no political prisoners (denial), while any notice given to protests focused on political prisoners invariably takes the form of a human interest story (self-censorship).
The efficacy of political incarceration in the United States cannot be denied. Prison serves not only as a physical barrier, but a communication restraint. Prisoners are completely ostracized from society, with little or no chance to break through. Those few outside who might be sympathetic are always hesitant to communicate or protest past a certain point, fearing their own persecution or imprisonment. Also, deep down most people believe that all prisoners, regardless of their individual situations, really did do something “wrong.” Added to that prejudice, society lacks a distinction between a prisoner’s actions and his or her personal worth; a bad act equals a bad person. The bottom line is that the majority of people simply will not believe that the state openly or covertly oppresses without criminal cause. As Daniel Singer asked at the Evergreen conference in 1987, “Is it possible for a class which exterminates the native peoples of the Americas, replaces them by raping Africa for humans it then denigrates and dehumanizes as slaves, while cheapening and degrading its own working class – is it possible for such a class to create a democracy, equality and to advance the cause of human freedom? The implicit answer is, `No, of course not.”’
How does a person – inside or outside prison – confront the cultural mindsets, the layers of misinformation propagated by the capitalist system? Sooner or later, what can be called the “radical dilemma” surfaces for the few wanting to enter into a structural attack/analysis of the United States. Culturally, educationally, and politically, all of us are similarly limited by these layers of misinformation; we are all products of the system. None of us functions from a clean slate when considering or debating any issue, especially history as it pertains to the United States.
George Jackson struggled against the constraints of denial and self-censorship, to say nothing of his physical and communicative distance from society. Political prisoners are inherently vulnerable to an either/or situation: isolating silence or elimination. For George, his vociferous revolutionary attitude was either futile or self-exterminating. He was well aware of his situation. In Blood in My Eye, his political treatise, he wrote:
“I’m in a unique political position. I have a very nearly closed future, and since I have always been inclined to get disturbed over organized injustice or terrorist practice against the innocents – wherever – I can now say just about what I want (I’ve always done just about that), without fear of self-exposure. I can only be executed once.”
George was equally aware that revolutionary change happens only when an entire society is ready. No amount of action, preaching, or teaching will spark revolution if social conditions do not warrant it. My father’s case, unfortunately, is an appropriate indicator. He attempted a revolutionary act during a reactionary time; elimination was the only possible consequence.
The challenge for a radical in today’s world is to balance reformist tendencies (political liberalism) and revolutionary action/ideology (radicalism). While reformism entails a legitimation of the status quo as a search for changes within the system, radicalism posits a change of system. Because revolutionaries are particularly vulnerable, a certain degree of reformism is necessary to create space, space needed to begin the laborious task of making revolution.
George’s statement “Combat Liberalism” and the general reaction to it typify the gulf between the two philosophies. George was universally misunderstood by the left and the right alike. As is the case with most modern political prisoners, nearly all of his support came from reformists with liberal leanings. It seems that they acted in spite of, rather than because of, the core of his message.
The left’s attitude toward COINTELPRO is a useful illustration. COINTELPRO, the covert government program used to dismantle the Black Panther Party, and later the American Indian Movement, is typically cited by many leftists as a damning example of the government’s conspiratorial nature. Declassified documents and ex-agents’ testimonies have shown COINTELPRO to be one of the most unlawful, insidious cells of government in the nation’s history. COINTELPRO, however, was really a symptomatic, expendable entity; a small police force within a larger one (FBI), within a branch of government (executive), within the government itself (liberal democracy), within the economic system (capitalism). Reformists in radicals’ clothing unknowingly argued against symptoms, rather than the roots, of the entrenched system. Doing away with COINTELPRO or even the FBI would not alter the structure that produces the surveillance/elimination apparatus.
In George’s day, others who considered themselves left of center, or even revolutionary, concerned themselves with inner-city reform issues, mostly black ghettos. The problem of and debate about inner cities still exists. However, recognition of a problem and analysis of that problem are two very different challenges. The demand to better only predominantly black inner-city conditions is unrealistic at best. In the capitalist structure, there must be an upper, middle, and especially a lower class. Improving black neighborhoods is the equivalent of ghettoizing some other segment of the population – poor whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Nothing intrinsic to the system would change, only superficial alterations that would mollify the liberal public. As Chomsky asserts in Turning the Tide:
Determined opposition to the latest lunacies and atrocities must continue, for the sake of the victims as well as our own ultimate survival. But it should be understood as a poor substitute for a challenge to the deeper causes, a challenge that we are, unfortunately, in no position to mount at the present though the groundwork can and must be laid.
Failure to understand the radical, encompassing viewpoint in the sixties led to reformism. In effect, the majority of the left completely deserted any attempt at the radical balance required of the politically conscious, leaving only liberalism and its narrow vision to flourish.
Nobody comprehended the radical dilemma more fully than George Jackson. Indeed, he developed his philosophy not out of mere happenstance, but with a very conscious eye upon maintaining his revolutionary ideology. He writes in Blood in My Eye:
“Reformism is an old story in Amerika. There have been depressions and socio-economic political crises throughout the period that marked the formation of the present upper-class ruling circle, and their controlling elites. But the parties of the left were too committed to reformism to exploit their revolutionary potential.”
George’s involvement with the prison reform movement should therefore be seen as a matter of survival. Unlike the reformist left, prison oppression was directly affecting him. His balanced reform activities – improving prisoners’ rights while speaking out against prison as an entity – were required to make living conditions tolerable enough for him to continue on his revolutionary path. Simply, he did what he had to do to survive – created space while simultaneously pursuing his radical theory.
The reform George Jackson did accomplish was and still is incredible, transforming the prison environment from unlivable to livable hell, from encampments that he called reminiscent of Nazi Germany to at least a scaled-down version of the like. With his influence, these changes occurred not only in California, but throughout the nation. Only now is his influence beginning to slip, with reactionary politics bringing about torture and sensory deprivation facilities such as Pelican Bay State Prison in California, as well as the reintroduction for adoption of the one-to-life indeterminate sentence. This type of sentence is fertile ground for state oppression, as it is up to a parole board to decide if an inmate is ever to be let go. A prison can easily and effectively create situations that transform a one-to-life into a life sentence. (Tellingly, the indeterminate sentence is being promoted not by the right, but by a California senator formerly associated with mainstream liberal causes.)
Politically, George Jackson provided us all with a radical education, a viable alternative to viewing not only the United States but the world as a political entity. He gave the disenfranchised a lens through which they could clearly see their situation and become more conscious about it. He wrote in April 1970:
“It all falls into place. I see the whole thing much clearer now, how fascism has taken possession of this country, the interlocking dictatorship from county level on up to the Grand Dragon in Washington, D.C.”
Crucially, George’s treatment is a concrete, undeniable example of political oppression. Race is more times than not the easy answer to a problem. Among people of color in the United States, the quick fix, “blame it on whitey” mentality has become so prevalent that it shortcuts thinking. Conversely, stereotypes of minorities act as simple-minded tools of divisiveness and oppression. George addressed these issues in prison, setting a model for the outside as well: “I’m always telling the brothers some of those whites are willing to work with us against the pigs. All they got to do is stop talking honky. When the races start fighting, all you have is one maniac group against another.” On the surface, race has been and is still being put forth as an overriding issue that needs to be addressed as a prerequisite for social change. In fact, although it seems to loom as a large problem, race as an issue is again a symptom of capitalism. Of course, on a paltry level and among the relatively powerless, race does play a part in social structure (the racist cop, the bigoted landlord, etc.), pitting segments of the population against each other. But revolutionary change requires class analysis that drives appropriate actions and eliminates race as a mitigating factor. Knowing these socioeconomic dynamics, George Jackson was first and foremost a people’s revolutionary, and he acted as such at all times without compromise. His writings clearly reflect his belief in class-based revolutionary change.
Considering the many structural elements affecting him, it is easy to see why George and his message have been misinterpreted. The quick takes on him are abundant: it’s assumed that he was imprisoned and oppressed because he was black, because he had publicized ties with the Black Panther Party and was a well-known organizer within the prison reform movement. Although George became a “prison celebrity,” a status that certainly didn’t help him in terms of acquittal and release, ignorance of the actual forces responsible for his prolonged imprisonment is inexcusable. The radical viewpoint is absolutely indispensable when regarding both George’s life circumstance and philosophy. His life serves not as a mere individual example of prison cruelty, but as a scalding indictment of the very nature of capitalism.
In these times, there are two very different ways to be born into privilege. First and most obvious in the system of capital is to be born into wealth. Second, and not precluding the first, is to have an intellectual, politically conscious base from which to grow as a person philosophically and spiritually. Radical figures in modern society – Lenin, Trotsky, Ché Guevara, my father, Jonathan Jackson, and my uncle George Jackson – have the capability of providing this base through their examples and writings.
Those not born into privilege can achieve a politically conscious base in different ways. No veils separate the lower class from the realities of everyday life. They have been given the gift of disillusion. Bourgeois lifestyle, although perhaps sought after, is in most cases not attainable. Daily survival is the primary goal, as it was with George. Of course, when it finally becomes more attractive for one to fight, and perhaps die, than to live in a survival mode, revolution starts to become a possibility. Not a riot, not a government takeover by one or another group, but a people’s revolution led by the politically conscious.
This consciousness doesn’t simply appear. Individuals must grow and work into it, but it’s an invaluable gift to have insight into and access to an alternative to the frustration, a goal on the horizon. The nineties are an unconscious era. The unimportant is all-important, the essential neglected. What system than capitalism, what time period than now, is better suited to naturally create the scape-goat, the seldom-heard political prisoner, misunderstood in his cult-of-personality status, held back in a choke hold from society? It is not only our right, but our duty, to listen to and comprehend George Jackson’s message. To not do so is to turn our backs on one of the brilliant minds of the twentieth century, an individual passionately involved with liberating not only himself, but all of us.
“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will die or live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.” – George Jackson
Clipped Wings
BY JALIL MUNTAQIM
freejalil.com
With clipped wings I’m laid to the test,
where the weary gets no rest.
Subject to psychological warfare to learn
if I can withstand others who grandstand
because they believe they own the land.
While my life is sustained by sleight of
hand – no it’s not magic – it’s a matter
of having a better plan.
You ask, what is the plan? Well, it’s to
know your enemy as you know yourself. Be
capable of adjusting to conditions you do
not trust; stay away from those who don’t
have your best interest at heart; and
always depart when all else is lost.
Get as much education as your brain can
stand; build a strategy even from a grain
of sand – heat applied to sand will make
glass – so turn up the heat and out your
ass to the task.
As they say, free your mind and your ass
will follow – as opposed to a closed mind
that is often hollow. Nothing on the
brain and time to waste is the place
where the devil makes grace – prepared to
feast on your life, like your enemy to
to ensure you stay on a path of strife.
What can be said when you know the
repercussions of your decision?
A matter of acknowledging a reality not
of my choosing, and yet not claiming its
name. A prisoner of colonial consciousness
the farce of it, not claiming its name for
all the shame that strains the brain, that
hurts the heart and stirs the soul in a
dark place, in haste to escape.
However, my light ignites the night and puts
shadows in convulsions, as death creeps on
my illumination, footsteps moving from the
past in slow motion, the turning back to
darkness incremental reaction to revolution.
The future beholds the enlightened, as earth
emits magnetic gravity, holding down truths –
as is often said, truth crushed to the
earth will rise again.
And, again I Rise !
The defiant denial of the demented racist,
although my aspirations are chained to
steel bars as the grim reaper tests my
hope for tomorrow, unable to kill my
dreams.
I Rise !
Soaring to make a country a home of my
own embraced by a population in elation,
who identify themselves as free beings,
never to deny each other’s lives – to be.
I dream beyond M.L. King, for I seek to
redeem the scheme of Afrikan Kings from
Ahkenaton to Kwame Nkrumah, that Marcus
Garvey and Malcolm X claimed the pain
to demand the same.
For we know that Liberators freed their
minds of colonial consciousness!
Liberators freed their minds and grew
Wings !
U.S. Elections: Flag-waving and False Unity
BY LOIS DANKS
Freedom Socialist, Vol. 33, No. 4, Aug-Sept 2012
socialism.com
Every four years the big capitalist parties break out the red, white, and blue banners to create a frenzy of patriotism. Voters are expected to jump on the bandwagon and cheer for the good old USA, blind to the gulf between Wall Street’s billionaires and Main Street’s evicted.
This is especially true in the 2012 election, because the ruling class is faced with a staggering economy, big-time international trade competition, and unprecedented popular anger at the high and mighty. So they pour illusory phrases into the public air waves such as, “national economic interest,” “national security,” “national unity,” “national competitiveness,” and so on. Here’s what these words really mean.
Painting over class differences.
One of the key arenas for nationalist fast talk is the economy. In the patriotic fog voters are urged to ignore class divisions, shun unions, and join the bankers and bosses, sacrificing their own worker interests for the “good of the nation.”
Obama tells the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “We need to make America the best place on earth to do business … and we have to do this together: business and government; workers and CEO’s; Democrats and Republicans.”
Romney charges “Unions drive up costs and introduce rigidities that harm competitiveness and frustrate innovation.” Lumping workers and business together against unions, he asks “Whose interests should come first, those of workers and businesses, or those of organized labor?” Put his way, you’d never know the “costs” unions “drive up” are workers’ wages — for creating all the wealth!
So let’s get real. Service cutbacks, austerity measures, and wage cuts benefit only the bigwigs, not the whole country. The capitalist economy can never work for all of us, because it’s designed for the wealthy, who control the elections and relentlessly widen the gap between rich and poor.
Romney promises to “press for an immigration policy designed to maximize America’s economic potential” by attracting those with advanced degrees and granting immediate citizenship to wealthy “job creators.” This assumes that immigrants with money will fix our economic crisis, and others should be turned away.
But rich business owners are not job creators — workers are. Bosses don’t create jobs out of kindness. They hire more workers when other wage earners have enough income to buy more products and services.
Militarization pure and simple.
Ever since 9-11, the U.S. public has been pressed to the heights of patriotism, dread of terrorism, and fear of “foreigners.” It is all crafted to justify warmongering and massive military operations abroad, and Homeland Security spending at home. This all in the name of “national security.” Militarization, of course, is very profitable.
But not for the soldier/workers. Occasional, well publicized flag-waving and war medals welcome some returning troops. But poor youth volunteer for service out of necessity, or to gain citizenship. When they get home, soldiers are not getting what they need — jobs, healthcare and support services.
Romney chillingly pledges to use “the full powers of the presidency to complete an impermeable border fence protecting our southern frontier from infiltration by illegal immigrants, trans-national criminal networks, and terrorists.” Immigrants, we are to believe, have become the “national enemy.”
Condoleezza Rice called education a “national security” issue, turning charter school foes into national enemies!
Wall Street concern over increasing China and India trade with Latin America has led to troop deployments, activation of the Pacific fleet, and massive spending on Latin American militaries — to “protect U.S. economic interests.”
An escalating military presence in Australia is creating a staging area for U.S. intervention in Asia and the Pacific—to “preserve our global competitiveness.” And over 3,000 more U.S. troops are being sent to Africa to gain control of resources there — in the guise of “spreading democracy.”
Protectionism is not for workers.
When Obama intones, “I hope you buy an American car,” or unions run “Made in America” campaigns, they are really pitting U.S. workers against their class allies in other countries. These pro-America campaigns enrich the very corporations that outsourced and caused job losses in the first place in order to exploit cheap labor.
Union misleaders fan the flames of nationalism to hide the fact that they are not willing to fight against mass layoffs and take backs. It’s their way of diverting U.S. workers’ anger toward other countries’ laborers and away from the real cause of the economic crisis — the profit system. U.S. working people can improve their conditions by uniting with the mates across borders, instead of swallowing patriotic slogans against their own class interests.
In the same way, union heads push through endorsements for Democrats, against the wishes of many union members, in order to keep the rank and file caught up in the capitalist electoral campaigns instead of building their own labor party. Obama says, “I know we can out-compete any other nation on earth. We just have to make sure we’re doing everything we can to unlock the productivity of American workers.” Increased productivity’ is really code for speedup, downsizing, and pay cuts! To be patriotic, workers are told they must nobly sacrifice to save the economy and the nation. “Bullshit,” a good many say.
“Shared sacrifice” means accepting giveback contracts without rocking the boat with protests and strikes — all for the good of “our” national economy! Now, doesn’t that sound better than sacrificing for the bonuses of “our” CEOs?
In this together?
A Michelle Obama campaign letter says “America prospers when we are all in this together, when everyone from Main Street to Wall Street — does their fair share.” Speaking at Laborfest in Milwaukee, the president exhorted unions to, “Remember that we all rise or fall together — as one nation, and one people.”
Some progressive and liberal third parties are also treading in this nationalist goo. Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, says “It’s time to … make this economy work for all of us,” and to “not rest until we’ve pulled our nation back from the brink.” Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party is much concerned with “national security.”
The working poor and shrinking numbers of well-paid workers in the U.S. have much more in common with exploited workers in India, austerity protesters in Greece, student strikers in Quebec, and farmers reclaiming land in Honduras, than with capitalist America. This year’s election is a great time to reject the false unity of nationalist appeals and vote for socialists and anti-capitalists — our own working class interests.
Send feedback to lfdanks@yahoo.com.
Support the Tinley Park 5
BY MONICA MOOREHEAD
From workers.org
The Tinley Park Five — Jason W. Sutherland, Cody L. Sutherland, Dylan J. Sutherland, Alex R. Stuck and John S. Tucker — are currently imprisoned in Cook County Jail in Chicago. The Five, white anti-racist anarchists, were arrested on May 19 for allegedly physically breaking up an “economic summit” by members of the Illinois European Heritage Association at a restaurant in Tinley Park, a Chicago suburb. The Five are facing major felony charges, including “mob action, criminal damage to property and aggravated battery.”
Two of the IEHA members were also arrested at the scene. One was charged with Internet child pornography. The other was charged with unlawful possession of a semiautomatic weapon in his car, which was parked near the restaurant. Bail for the latter charge is $25,000. The bonds for the Five, who reportedly possessed no guns, are $175,000, $200,000 and $250,000!
The IEHA is part of a worldwide network of white supremacist neofascists known as “Pioneer Little Europe,” which is connected with Storm Front. This network promotes the outright extermination of people of color and Jewish people. The “summit” was one in a series called throughout the Midwest over the past several years. White supremacists have ratcheted up their racist demagogic organizing, especially in the economically hard-hit Midwest region.
The Five are being defended by the Hoosiers Anti-Racist Movement, based in Indiana. HARM has been monitoring and exposing the activities of the neofascists for many years. Thirteen other anti-racist activists allegedly took part in the breakup of the IEHA meeting and are still being pursued by the police.
When this WW reporter asked Chandra Vanvliet from HARM about the well-being of the Five, she explained, “They have a wonderful legal team representing them. They are in great spirits. They’re looking forward to their day in court and are humbled by the shows of solidarity that they’ve received, especially from people they’ve never met. They’re getting along fine without any problems whatsoever from fellow inmates and guards. Their support network has been doing all they can to make sure that they’re as comfortable as possible and have reading materials to keep their minds occupied.”
June 12: Pack the courtroom
The Five are scheduled to have an initial court hearing on June 12 at 9 a.m. at the Bridgeview Courthouse, which is located at 10220 S. 76th Ave. in Bridgeview, Ill.
HARM is urging supporters to pack the courtroom. Vanvliet’s message to the progressive movement, which she conveyed to WW, is the following: “At the arraignment, the mainstream media decided to take pictures and hound a few personal friends of the defendants after they made it clear they weren’t interested in talking to the press. These unaffiliated friends have since received death threats because of the recklessness of the Chicago Tribune, despite the fact that they were clearly warned about the potential consequences of releasing identities of family and friends when a member of HARM gave an interview to Stacy St Clair.”
Vanvliet went on to say: “What we’re trying to do, is to gather a large enough group of supporters at the courthouse and in the courtroom that the white supremacists will be unable to ascertain who actually has ties to the Tinley Park Five and who is simply there to support. We wish to stress that this show of support still carries some degree of risk, but we encourage those that might come out to support not to allow themselves to be intimidated by white supremacy.
“We’re hearing stories about other groups all over the country raising funds to help their families and legal defense by having benefit shows and bake sales. The Tinley Park Five and their friends and families are so moved by the support they’ve received, especially from the anarchist community. I can’t tell you how much any show of solidarity means to both them and us.”
WW wrote in a recent editorial called, “Tinley Park Five: Fight Fascism,” which is posted on HARM’s website: “What the Tinley Park 5 did on May 19 was to carry out a preemptive strike to help expose the real danger that extremist groups pose to the movement and the masses here and worldwide. The Five heroically showed that these groups have to be crushed sooner than later. Free the Tinley Park 5!” Go to indianaantifa.wordpress.com for information on the case. To send letters of support to the Tinley Park Five along with reading materials, go to tinyurl.com/88a5rkw.
United Struggle Project
Giving a voice to displaced people globally through music. United Struggle Project aims to produce CDs/DVDs of songs, music videos, and documentaries recorded in remote communities slums refugee camps, and prisons in Africa, Palestine, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Australia. Help us bring these voices to the world.
I want to produce 1000 audio CDs and DVDs containing the best musical and video elements of my project United Struggle. It will consist of songs, music videos and mini documentaries that I have recorded and filmed over the past 2 years of United Struggle tours in slums, refugee camps, war zones and prisons in Africa, Palestine, Afghanistan, Cambodia and remote aboriginal communities in Australia. I am currently trying to source funding to produce these DVDs and CDs and send them to the artists involved as well as unleash to the world this unheard talent and stories of survival.
My name is Isabella Brown, founder of the no profit collective – United Struggle Project, rapper in Melbourne hip-hop band Combat Wombat and co founder of the Lab Rat Solar sound system. I’m a lyricist, performer and film maker. My latest film “Ghettomoto” premiered at the London International Documentary Film Festival. I presently live in Melbourne but have spent the last few years on tour with United Struggle project.
Donate a Beat
Producers from around the world delved deep into their hard drives to donate beats to host unheard voices of displaced peoples. I then took the donated beats to those artists in places with little access to beat making technology to collaborate on.
Objectives:
1. Record music and make music video clips addressing issues faced by displaced people with artists in affected areas, displaced by war, colonisation, development, poverty and environmental issues.
2. Create collaborative songs with representative artists from each place.
3. Create a forum for displaced people to express their stories through music and video and documentary making.
4. Create networks to unite struggles and create links amongst artists globally
5. To target racism in the broader international community with music.
Background and Inspirations
I was first inspired to do this project whilst I was in Kenya 2007 filming the documentary Ghetto Moto (fire) about the journey of a hip-hop spoken word poet after the post election violence. During the filming I was approached daily by artists from the slums in Nairobi to produce music videos of their songs. I noticed the huge demand and lack of accessible equipment and skills in video production for people in these poverty stricken areas. I also noticed a wealth of talent and wisdom.
I met a Rwandan refugee in Nairobi who got me to film a music video for his song One Nation Africa. He told me of many other artists like himself but who were still trapped in refugee camps. After the success and popularity of the music videos in the slums I thought why not try and reach artists in these camps and give them the opportunity to record music and communicate their issues through video. I had a very strong feeling that there was some incredible talent and insight hidden in these isolated places of limbo.
An example of uniting artists and struggles is the song ‘Bow Down No Way,’ a collaborative track between Shoeshine Boy from Mukurru slum and Adel from Star Studios in Nairobi with Monkeymarc (Combat Wombat) and myself. The video clip was shot in Nairobi, Melbourne and Alice Springs. It has had a good response and draws parallels between the poverty of indigenous people in Australia and Africa and unites their struggles.
Palm Island was a prison island made up of 65 different tribes displaced from their traditional lands. The people from Palm Island are dealing with similar social issues as the displaced people in the camps in Africa, Palestine and Cambodia, including overcrowding, poor health and tribal tensions. Today they are still suffering the effects of colonisation.
“I feel like a refugee in my own country,” Uncle Chappy, Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
I have been working in remote Aboriginal communities all over Australia since 2000. I have seen a very positive response from the kids and the community to the music and video workshops. They have proven to be a fantastic way for youth to voice their issues. Even though Australia is a very multicultural society there is a definite underlying racism that needs to be addressed in the cases of refugees and indigenous people. Music, being a universal language, can be a very effective way to address the issues of racism in society.
Another element of the project is the ‘Donate a Beat’ web site. This gives producers from anywhere in the world the opportunity to donate beats to the project via the Internet, Thus creating links with producers and artists globally.
My main motivation is my love for music and belief in social and environmental justice. Music can be used as a tool for change and education to break down walls, create common ground and unite common struggles.
With a suitcase sized recording studio in hand, my 7 year old son Bassi Brown and I will set out on a 2 year tour to record and collaborate on trax and make music videos in the far corners of the planet in refugee camps slums and prisons and remote communities. Help us bring these voices to the world…enjoy the journey
unitedstruggleproject.org
Solidarity Statement Against the Raids and Grand Jury
On Wednesday July 25, the FBI conducted a series of coordinated raids against activists in Portland, Olympia, and Seattle. They subpoenaed several people to a special federal grand jury, and seized computers, black clothing and anarchist literature. This comes after similar raids in Seattle in July and earlier raids of squats in Portland.
Though the FBI has said that the raids are part of a violent crime investigation, the truth is that the federal authorities are conducting a political witch-hunt against anarchists and others working toward a more just, free, and equal society. The warrants served specifically listed anarchist literature as evidence to be seized, pointing to the fact that the FBI and police are targeting this group of people because of their political ideas. Pure and simple, these raids and the grand jury hearings are being used to intimidate people whose politics oppose the state’s agenda. During a time of growing economic and ecological crises that are broadly affecting people across the world, it is an attempt to push back any movement towards creating a world that is humane, one that meets every person’s needs rather than serving only the interests of the rich.
This attack does not occur in a vacuum. Around the country and around the world, people have been rising up and resisting an economic system that puts the endless pursuit of profit ahead of the basic needs of humanity and the Earth. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to now Anaheim, people are taking to the streets. In each of these cases, the state has responded with brutal political repression. This is not a coincidence. It is a long-term strategy by state agencies to stop legitimate political challenges to a status quo that exploits most of the world’s people.
We, the undersigned, condemn this and all other political repression. While we may have differences in ideology or chose to use different tactics, we understand that we are in a shared struggle to create a just, free, and liberated world, and that we can only do this if we stand together. We will not let scare tactics or smear campaigns divide us, intimidate us, or stop us from organizing and working for a better world.
No more witch-hunts! An injury to one is an injury to all.
Survivor of Domestic Violence Gets 20 Years
BY MARGARET VIGGIANI
Freedom Socialist, Vol. 33, No. 4,
August-September 2012, socialism.com
In August 2010, only nine days after giving birth, Marissa Alexander fired a warning shot into the kitchen ceiling of her home in Jacksonville, Fla., to fend off her abusive estranged husband. Alexander is a young Black mother of three.
The jury deliberated 12 minutes before convicting Alexander of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — even though her husband had previously hospitalized her, she had no prior criminal record, and no one was injured.
On May 11, 2012, a judge rejected Alexander’s “stand your ground” defense and sentenced her to 20 years under Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing rules. As is so often true for abused women, especially those of color, the “justice system” proved to be anything but.
Outraged supporters around the country, including Radical Women (RW), are organizing rallies, vigils, and letter campaigns. Seattle RW wrote a statement and has collected hundreds of signatures on a petition demanding Alexander’s release. The statement and a link to an online petition can be found at www.radicalwomen.org.
In June, Friends of Marissa Alexander organized a Freedom Rally and Motorcycle Ride to raise awareness and funds. And on July 13, the Jacksonville NAACP chapter held a rally in defense of Alexander and victims of domestic abuse.
In a letter thanking RW for its support, Alexander wrote that she is “Keeping my head up!” To help build a big, visible, and determined fight for her pardon and release, go to Justice4Marissa.com.
Via our friends at Freedom Archives:
Attorney Bruce Afran’s appeal of Sundiata Acoli’s parole-denial and 10 year hit resulted in the New Jersey Appellate Court’s remand to the NJ Parole Board that its 10 year hit be cut to 2 years. It was done and Sundiata has become immediately eligible for a parole hearing again. The Appellate Court must still rule on Sundiata’s 2010 denial of parole but meanwhile he’s preparing to go before the parole board again for his newly won 2012 parole hearing. In that regards he would greatly appreciate any and all letters sent to the parole board urging that he be released.
Sundiata is 75 years of age and has been in prison 39 years resulting from a stop of his car by state troopers on the NJ Turnpike, in 1973, which erupted in gunfire that resulted in the death of his passenger, Zayd Shakur, and a state trooper, Werner Foerster. The other passenger, Assata Shakur, was critically wounded and captured on the scene where another trooper, James Harper, was also wounded. Sundiata was wounded at the scene, captured in the woods 40 hours later and subsequently sentenced to life in NJ State prison.
Sundiata is now the longest held prisoner in New Jersey’s history of similar convictions. He has maintained an outstanding record in prison and has had only a few minor disciplinary reports over the past 30 years and none during the last 16 years. He’s also maintained an excellent work and scholastic record and has always been a positive influence in prison, particularly in mentoring prisoners toward becoming crime-free benefactors to the community upon return to society and thereby break their cycle of recidivism.
Sundiata is a 75 year old grandfather who has long been rehabilitated, has long satisfied all requirements for parole and has no or “little likelihood of committing another crime:” which is the main criterion for parole in New Jersey. Sundiata is an old man, in declining health, who wishes to live out the rest of his days in peace tending his grandchildren.
Send letters urging the board that “39 years is enough! Release Sundiata Acoli! NJ #54859/Fed #39794-066″ Address the INSIDE LETTER to: The New Jersey State Parole Board, P.O. Box 862, Trenton NJ 08625, BUT ADDRESS/MAIL THE ENVELOPE TO:
Florence Morgan,Esq.
120-46 Queens Blvd.
Queens NY 11415
and the letter will be forwarded to the parole board after a copy is made for SAFC files.
Thank you for your support. Please keep in touch with SundiataAcoli.org at The Sundiata Acoli Freedom Page to stay abreast of Sundiata’s parole situation and additional ways you can express support/solidarity with his parole effort. Sundiata and his Freedom Campaign, SAFC, send their sincerest condolences to the family and comrades of Christian Gomez, the prisoner who died in the California Prisoner’s Hunger Strike – and we send our warmest shout out of solidarity and strength to all those participating in or supporting the California Prisoner’s Hunger Strike.
From prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Hunger strike representatives at Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU), known as the Short Corridor Collective, have written and released a document rejecting the CDCR’s proposed plan for new regulations concerning SHU placement and gang validation, and presenting a counter-proposal. Read the Short Corridor Collective’s rejection here and read their counter-proposal here.
The New Boss Looks A Lot Like the Old Boss
AN ANALYSIS OF THE CDCR’S PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF THE VALIDATION AND SHU PLACEMENT PROCESS
By Ed Mead
Reprinted from prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
“[T]he goals we are currently pursuing are objectively incorrect. To reform the validation process is good, but as an ultimate objective it is not a resolution. It’s a peripheral manifestation of the SHU’s themselves. It’s secondary, like bed sores on a cancer patient. Bandages and topical treatment are necessary, as a reformation of the validation process, to cure the bed sores, which are peripheral to the cancer, but the patient needs to be cured of the cancer. We are not going to be cured of perpetual isolation with Band-Aids, by reformation of the process, but only by dealing with the principle source of this illness—the SHU itself.” – A SHU prisoner
In an apparent response to CA hunger strikes one and two the CDCR has proposed new regulations with respect to gang management and SHU placement. As you’d expect, there is very little velvet glove and a lot of iron fist—lots of stick but little carrot. The essence of their draft rules is to do away with gang status as a means of SHU or ASU placement, and to replace it with some sort of threat model or designation, like the feds do. In other words, instead of them saying you are somehow related to a gang, a classification the courts have held requires some measure of proof; they now change the name of “gang” to “Security Threat Group.” If you should (god forbid) be one of those people who might write about or verbally communicate something to the effect of how messed up it is to be a slave in 2012 America, then you are a “threat.” My friend Bill Dunne has been perpetually locked down in the federal system under just such a designation. But more to the point, how does this proposed new policy meet the five core demands?
The name has changed but the game is the same
The CDCR plans to no longer utilize the terms “Prison Gangs” or “Disruptive Groups” and instead will use a “Security Threat Group” designation or STG. STGs are divided into two groups, STG-I and STG-II, what used to be gang members and gang associates or affiliates, respectively. What is a STG? It is defined as “[a]ny group or organization of two or more members, either formal or informal (including traditional prison gangs) that may have a common name or identifying sign or symbol, whose members engage in activities that include, but are not limited to … acts or violations of the department’s written rules and regulations” or any law or attempting, planning, soliciting, etc. to do such things. How is one assessed to be an STG? The list is too long to detail here, suffice it to say two or more people who the cops feel might represent “a potential threat to the safe and secure environment of the institution … such activities as group disturbances [like a peaceful hunger strike?].”
Validation continues to be “[t]he objective process by which an inmate is determined to be or have been an active member of a STG.” While the CDCR’s draft documents refer to the STG designation, the surrounding verbiage is all about gangs and validation. The stated purpose is still to “prohibit inmates from creating, promoting, or participating in any club, association, or organization, except as permitted by written instructions.” This of course prohibits forming a prisoners’ union, something guaranteed to all humans by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Validation Changes
Under the proposed new rules it would still takes three sources to validate a prisoner as a gang member (STG) or associate. The only difference would be that under the new system these sources would be “weighted” in a ten point scale. Use a hand sign, that’s two points. Someone informs on you, three points. Got gang-related material in your possession, four points. A photo of you taken with suspected gang members, four points. Staff observations, for example, you are exercising with the wrong group of people, four points. Another agency says you are gang affiliated, four points. Association, four points. Visitors who are claimed to be promoting gang activity, four points. Phone conversations, mail, notes, greeting cards, etc., four points. Tattoos or body markings, six points. Legal documents evidencing gang conduct, seven points. There is more but you get the idea—the new boss is a lot like the old boss.
Behavior modification by another name
Before there was the super-max prison in Florence Colorado, the federal ADX, there was the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, which was built to replace Alcatraz. Marion housed “the worst of the worse”, a phrase frequently used by California’s prison officials with respect to SHU prisoners.
In the 1970s the feds implemented a controversial step or behavior modification program at Marion. Prisoners in the program would start out with nothing, and step-by-step be given their rights based on their behavior. In the final phase or step, in order to show you were worthy of transfer to a less secure facility, during the regular group meetings you would be expected to snitch on fellow prisoners who may have violated some minor unit rule. Marion prisoners waged a historic and eventually successful struggle against this behavior modification program and it was shut down. To see this exact same program slated for implementation inside of California’s SHUs is a chilling reminder of those terrible days; a reminder of how history tends to repeat itself for those who fail to learn from the past.[1]
The process is a simple one. There would be a series of steps or phases. In phase 1you may or may not participate in the debriefing process, but you will have nothing in your cell but minimum hygiene items, locked up 23 hours a day, subject to mandatory urinalysis, no contact with others, and otherwise very restrictive regimen. After a given amount of time, with what your captors regard as good behavior, the prisoner slowly moves from one phase to another. With each phase they get more privileges, and also have additional obligations, such as participating in mandatory group programming, small groups at first, then larger ones. Upon successful completion of the “Inmate Treatment Plan” (behavior modification process) the prisoner is released either to an SNY or to GP, or possibly returned to the SHU if the process is deemed unsuccessful.
The Carrot
Of course there must be a little carrot in there, it can’t be all stick. That bite of carrot is the opportunity to at some point allow an administrative review of the status of current SHU or ASU prisoners, which of course would be fair and impartial—that what they had to say to you yesterday will be different than what they have to say to you tomorrow.
The CDCR says it “will be conducting a case by case review for program determination of the existing STG population housed in SHU facilities.” They continue, “[I]t cannot be overemphasized that change of this magnitude in current housing of SHU offenders must be done in a thoughtful and security minded manner…” (read slow). So when will this administrative review of existing SHU prisoners take place? They say “[u]pon approval of this document, CDCR will develop new regulations consistent with this policy for submittal to the Office of Administrative Law” for approval. Sometime after that approval the case by case review will start to take place.
Conclusion
Maybe some will be released from the SHU, people will call it a victory, and everyone will go home (to GP) happy. But what has really been won? A new generation of SHU prisoners will take the place of those few who go through the behavior modification program or are otherwise released from the SHU. The process of litigation will start all over again, and another 15 years are wasted—a period during which even more lives are destroyed. In my opinion this is not the time to be settling for cheap trinkets. It is time to finish off the SHU once and for all.
On March 10th the NY Times printed an article titled “Prisons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity.” Similar articles are in the New Yorker magazine and other trend-setting publications. The mood on the streets is open to substantial change in segregation policies—not a merely changing the name of the bland soup they always serve up. SHU prisoners have finally stepped onto the stage of history, now it is time to amplify their voices even further—not just to the halls of power, but to their peers and communities as well. Now’s the time to build a lawful and peaceful movement to bring about a positive change in the existing prison paradigm. ♦
[1] . For a history of the struggle by Marion prisoners against the behavior modification program, outside people can Google the subject for articles such as “Resisting Living Death at Marion Federal Penitentiary” (http://realcostofprisons.org/materials/Resisting_Living_Death_Gomez.pdf).
Family of a Hunger Striker Speak Out Against Death of Loved One
Reposted from prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Christian Gomez was participating in the most recent hunger strike at Corcoran State Prison in the Administrative Segregation Unit (AdSeg/ASU), and died due to “medical conditions,” according to the CDCR. Gomez’s sister, Yajaira, speaks out on behalf of her brother and their family on Democracy Now. Attorney Carol Strickman, of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, explains developments with the prisoners’ struggles against torturous conditions of solitary confinement in CA.
watch video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJS4cUCiZO0&feature=player_embedded
Anonymous Vandalizes US Prison Contractors’ Site
By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press
LONDON February 24, 2012 (AP)
The website of an international prison contractor was defaced by hackers who on Friday replaced the company’s home page with a hip-hop homage devoted to former death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal.
Hackers allied to the loose-knit Anonymous movement claimed responsibility for vandalizing the site of Boca Raton, Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which manages some 60 custodial facilities in Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa.
A call to the GEO Group Inc. was routed to The GEO Group Foundation, a charitable organization linked to the company. The foundation’s Abraham Cohen refused to discuss the attack, asking that questions be submitted in writing to the foundation’s Executive Director Pablo Paez.
Paez didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Anonymous said in a statement posted to the stricken website that its hack was “part of our ongoing efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex.”
Earlier Friday, Anonymous claimed credit for defacing the website of a Dayton, Ohio-based chapter of Infragard, a public-private partnership for critical infrastructure protection sponsored by the FBI. The group’s site was replaced by a video of Coolio’s 1995 rap hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
The FBI declined to comment on that attack.
Anonymous, an amorphous collection of activists and Internet mischief-makers, has increasingly focused its energy on military, police and security companies in recent months. Among its most spectacular coups: The interception of a conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard cyber-investigators working to track them down.
At least one element within the group has promised weekly attacks on government-linked targets.
****************************************
Hacker campaign targets US prison contractor
(AFP) – 15 minutes ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gBwPi3Q43wMi5Ab1AFaNymZ2-6sw?docId=CNG.ad762637d58cc0a3da55ce9398 9c75c5.5a1
SAN FRANCISCO Hacker group Anonymous on Friday vandalized the website of a major US prison contractor in the latest salvo in an anti-police campaign.
Anonymous subgroup “Antisec” took credit for replacing The Geo Group website home page with a rap song dedicated in part to convicted murderer [sic] Mumia Abu-Jamal and a message condemning prisons and policing in the United States.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose birth name is Wesley Cook, is a former Black Panther and radio journalist serving a life sentence for the 1981 shooting death of a police officer in Philadelphia.
Activists around the world have rallied in support of the former Death Row inmate, who they contend fell prey to racism in the justice system.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex, we attacked one of the largest private prison corporations in the US – Geo Group,” Anonymous said in a message posted at the Geo Group website.
“We are acting in solidarity with all those who have ever been wrongfully profiled, arrested, brutalized, incarcerated, and have had all dignity and humanity stripped from them as they are cast into the gulags of America.”
The Geo Group manages prisons, mental health facilities, or detention centers in Australia, Britain, South Africa, and North America. The corporation reported $77.5 million in net profit on $1.6 billion in revenue last year.
Anonymous took credit Thursday for an online raid of the Los Angeles Police Canine Association and the posting of personal and potentially embarrassing information.
“Over the past three weeks, we in the cabin have been targeting law enforcement sites across the United States,” hackers said in a message atop a file at Pastebin.com containing officers’ addresses, phone numbers and more.
“Be it for injustices they have allowed through ignorance or naivety, taken part in, or to point out the fact that their insecurity failed to protect the safety of those they took an oath to serve,” the group said of its motives.
The hackers claimed to have gotten the addresses of more than 1,000 officers along with information from police warrants and court summonses as well as about informants in their weeks-long series of attacks on police computers.
Anonymous law enforcement targets in recent weeks have included the websites of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Family of California Prisoner Who Died on Hunger Strike Speaks Out
The family of Christian Gomez, the 27-year-old prisoner who died while on hunger strike at California’s Corcoran State Prison, is speaking out about the loss of their family member in the hope that similar incidents in the future are avoided.
In a phone call with Solitary Watch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Terry Thornton confirmed that Gomez had been placed in solitary confinement in the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) pending investigation of assault on another inmate with a weapon on January 14, 2012. Thornton would not confirm the status of this investigation. Gomez was serving a life sentence for first degree murder and attempted murder.
Christian Gomez had not told his family members of his intentions to participate in the January 27-February 13 hunger strike held by ASU inmates in protest of their conditions. According to an interview with Gomez’s sister, Y.L., she “found out when the coroner Tom [Edmonds] implied that there was a possibility of a chemical imbalance due to a hunger strike he was participating in. That’s the first I heard of this. Back in Sep or Oct when he first was transferred there he did tell me that they were having a hunger strike to fight for their rights but he was in general population.”
Contrary to earlier reports that he had only been on a hunger strike for four days when he died, Terry Thornton confirmed to Solitary Watch that Gomez joined the strike on January 27 with 31 other inmates. This means that he had been on hunger strike for a week at the time of his death.
The family says that Gomez had high blood pressure, thyroid and kidney problems. According to Y.L., before being sent to Corcoran he had been incarcerated at High Desert State Prison for four years. “He told me things were a lot different at this prison and that he didn’t receive the same medical attention he received over at high desert,” said Y.L.
Gomez was found unresponsive in his cell at an unconfirmed time on February 2. Reports from other inmates indicate that they had pounded on their cell doors and screamed to get the attention of the correctional officers. He was declared dead at Corcoran District Hospital at 12:22 PM.
According to Y.L., “My mother received the call of my brother’s death on Thursday February 2, 2012 at approximately 1pm. She then called me hysterically and that’s when I went over to her house. When I got there I asked her who called and she said someone from the prison. [I] asked her if they gave her a number were we could call to obtain more info and she said no. They told her that she would receive a letter in the mail explaining everything and where we could claim the body… I was so upset that things were being handled this way, for God sake we were talking about a human being not an animal.”
Asked how she would like people to remember her brother, Y.L. responded,”he was a genuine person that had not lost hope in the system. He knew that he would eventually get out. Although he had made bad choices in who he hung around with he didn’t murder anyone. The witnesses in his case never identified him on the contrary, but yet he was still convicted. Unfortunately we couldn’t afford a good attorney and he got screwed. He was very caring with his family and friends and therefore he will be greatly missed by those who knew him. He had matured a lot in prison and can be remembered by those who knew him as a prankster. There was never a dull moment with him. He always had a big smile when we visited him and never discussed how bad things were in there to not worry us. He always said he was fine. Even in the last letter he wrote on Jan 30th which my mom received on Feb 3rd he wrote that he was fine.”
From N.C.T.T. at Corcoran SHU to the Occupy Movement
Reposted from prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Prisoners at Corcoran’s Security Housing Unit (SHU), who participated in the hunger strike in the summer and fall and have been writing reports and statements about prisoners’ struggles inside–the NARN Collective Think Tank (NCTT)– have issued a proposal for 10 demands to the Occupy Movement (Read the full proposal and 10 demands here). The NCTT has also written more analysis for the Occupy Movement, which has been published by the SF Bay View Newspaper. Read “A Discussion on Strategy for the Occupy Movement from Behind Enemy Lines” here.
Feb. 20th: Occupy National Day in Support of Prisoners!
Reposted from prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
On Monday, February 20th, over a dozen rallies and demonstrations will be held throughout the US for a “National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners,” including in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Family and community members of prisoners, former prisoners, and people directly affected by the prison industrial complex will speak out against the destructive impacts of imprisonment by sharing their own experiences and reading statements from their loved ones inside prison.
Since the fall of 2011, a surge of people power has been growing in the US and worldwide, as thousands of people have been mobilizing protests against gross social and economic inequality. At the same time the Occupy movement gained steam in October of last year, 12,000 prisoners were participating in the second wave of a massive hunger strike against California’s notorious prison system. Strike actions continue inside California prisons, with dozens of prisoners at Corcoran State Prisons’ Administrative Segregation Unit refusing food in protest to the conditions of their confinement again.
California Hunger Strike representatives imprisoned in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison, who launched the historic hunger strike in July, have written a statement of solidarity which Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity will read at Occupy 4 Prisoners’ February 20th demonstration outside San Quentin:
“Corporate Amerika has coalesced its efforts around the exploitation of human beings, while using the political apparatus of the U.S. government, federal, state and local to institute policies that set in motion the creation of a corporate police state, which has targeted the poor as a surplus for incarceration and exploitation.
Those of us housed in solitary confinement throughout California and Amerika, support “Occupy Wall Street” and understand the necessity to resist against corporate greed. We will no longer willingly accept the subjugation, oppression and exploitation of humanity.
Banks and the prison industrial complex are corporate empires that prey on the souls of humanity. Therefore we officially join you all in Struggle. One Love, One Struggle!”
Prisoners in the forefront of the struggle against imprisonment have continuously braved abuse, torture and retaliation by prison administration and have reminded us of how necessary support outside of prison truly is. Let’s match this courage and amplify the voices of prisoners and their loved ones–those who have been systematically denied a voice for far too long– to further struggles against imprisonment, the loss of jobs, racism, the denial of good education and decent healthcare.
Come out on February 20th & support prisoners!
International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier
The Courts may not be able to act but Barack Obama, as President, can. Please join with us to free an innocent man. On February 4, 2012, tell Obama to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.
Solidarity events will be held in various locations around the world. Please plan to attend a scheduled event near you. See < http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/calendar.htm> or
< http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/02FebSolidarity.htm>.
Take a few minutes out of your busy day to write to the President, too:
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail:
< http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments >
For guidance in writing to the President in favor of clemency,
see < http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/clemency.htm>.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of Leonard Peltier.
——-
Background: Native American activist Leonard Peltier was wrongfully convicted in connection with the deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite the courts’ acknowledgment of FBI and prosecutorial misconduct in the case, Peltier has been imprisoned since 1976, currently at the U.S. Penitentiary at Coleman, Florida.
The evidence shows that the FBI was the aggressor in the firefight that occurred on June 26, 1975. From 1973 to 1976, Indigenous People on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota were victims of beatings, drive-by shootings, and stabbings carried out by local vigilantes who collaborated with the FBI. Peltier and other Indigenous activists were forced into a defensive posture to protect not only their lives, but the lives of others who were present-elders, women, and children. Indeed, Mr. Peltier’s co-defendants, tried separately, were acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
The evidence also clearly shows that the U.S. government’s goal was to orchestrate Mr. Peltier’s conviction by any means-including falsifying extradition documents and intentionally committing fraud on a Canadian court, as well as suppressing evidence of Mr. Peltier’s innocence during his trial. By the government’s own admission, the critical part of the prosecution’s case against Mr. Peltier was the ballistics testimony which, years after his conviction, was discovered to be false.
You can help to free an innocent man. Learn more about the Peltier case at www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.
Lauched into cyberspace by the
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
UTA Interviews Mandy Hiscocks
Incarcerated last week on G20 related charges
One week before she began serving a 16th month sentence related to her participation in organizing the G20 protests, UTA sat down with Amanda Hiscocks for a wide ranging discussion about her situation as a political prisoner and her analysis of the fallout of state repression against those organizing against the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010. This interview will be published in a forthcoming issue of UTA, but we are making the raw audio available here so that activists can get a better a sense of Mandy’s assessment of the features of state repression and what needs to be done to support the G20 political prisoners.
Mandy is a member of the UTA advisory board, and has been a radical political activist working out of the town of Guelph, Ontario since the mid-1990s.
The interview was conducted on January 6th, 2012 in Toronto by Tom K. of the UTA Editorial Committee. Please feel free to share this audio widely through your social networks. If you want to play it on your local community radio, we’re cool with that, but please contact us at uppingtheanti@gmail.com to let us know. We will be making a written transcript of the interview available soon.
Note: Mandy is now incarcerated at the Vanier Detention Centre. She has a blog up at http://boredbutnotbroken.tao.ca/ and you can send letters to:
Amanda Hiscocks
Vanier Centre for Women
655 Martin Street
Box 1040
Milton, ON
L9T 5E6
Prisoners at Corcoran Administrative Segregation Unit Challenge the CDCR & Advance Prisoners’ Struggle
Prisoners in the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) at Corcoran State Prison issued a petition listing 11 demands for reform to the CA Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR). The prisoners explained to CDCR officials on December 19th that the petition serves as a notice of a peaceful protest if these demands are not met in a timely manner. CA hunger strike supporters, prisoner advocates and family members were informed today that prisoners at Corcoran began refusing meals on Dec. 28th. Supporters are currently trying to get more information, and will send out another update as soon as possible.
Update from the Pelican Bay Short Corridor
(December 2011)
A Shout-out of respect and solidarity – from the Pelican Bay Short Corridor – Collective – to all similarly situated prisoners subject to the continuing torturous conditions of confinement in these barbaric SHU & Ad/Seg units across this country and around the world.
This is our update of where things currently stand and where we’re going with this struggle – for an end to draconian policies and practices – summarized in our “Formal Complaint” (and many related documents published and posted online, since early 2011)
As many of you know… beginning in early (2010), the PBSP – SHU Short Corridor Collective initiated action to educate people and bring wide spread exposure to – the (25+) years of ongoing – progressive human rights violations going unchecked here in the California Department of Corruption – via dissemination of our “Formal Complaint” to 100’s of people, organizations, lawmakers, Secretary Cate, etc… wherein, we also sought support and meaningful change.
The response by CDCR – Secretary Cate was “file an inmate appeal” (collectively, we’d filed thousands); therefore, after much reconsideration and dialogue, the collective decided to take the fight to the next level via peaceful protest action – in the form of hunger strike.
With the above in mind – beginning in early (2011)… we again sought to educate people about the ongoing torture prevalent in these prison systems – solitary confinement units; and pointing out our position that – the administrative grievance process is a sham, and the court system’s turned a blind eye to such blatantly illegal practices – Leaving us with no other meaningful avenue for obtaining relief, other than to put our lives on the line and thereby draw the line and force changes, via collective peaceful protest hunger strike action.
We believed this was the only – fully advantageous – way for us to expose such outrageous abuse of state power, to the world and gain the outside support needed to help force real change.
We requested support in the form of – asking people to write letters to those in power… we received more support than we ever expected – in the form of letters, rallies, and hunger strike “participants” – more than (18,000) similarly situated prisoners and some people on the outside!
All united in solidarity, with a collective awareness – that the draconian torture practices described in our “Formal Complaint” are prevalent across the land; and that – united in peaceful action, we have the power to force changes.
The hunger strike actions of (2011) achieved some success, in the form of – mainstream world wide exposure – solid, continuing outside support – some small improvements to SHU/Ad-Seg unit conditions … and assurances of more meaningful – substantive changes to the overall policies and practices re: basis for placement and amount of time spent, in such units – a substantive review of all prisoners files, per new criteria – and more change to the actual conditions in such units.
However, this fight is far from over! Notably, the second hunger strike action was suspended in mid-October … in response to top CDCR administrator’s presentation that the substantive changes be finalized… would be provided to “the stakeholders” (this includes our attorneys), within 60 days for comment. To date, CDCR hasn’t produced anything re: SHU/Ad-Seg policy changes; and PBSP’s Warden has not even replied to the (2) memo’s we’ve sent him concerning – additional program – privilege issues, per core demand #5 (see footnote #1 below)
Naturally, many people are not happy about CDCR’s failure to abide by their word – again – and they are asking… “what’s the next move in this struggle?”
Based on our collective discussions, our response is … people need to remain focused, and continue to apply pressure on CDCR, via letters, emails, fax, etc… summarizing the continuing core demands – immediately! There’s real power in numbers!! (see addresses to contact below, at footnote #2)
It’s important for everyone to stay objective and on the same page – remember… united we win, divided we lose. And, if we don’t see real substantive changes within the next 6 months… we’ll have to re-evaluate our position.
Additionally, now is a good time for people to start a dialogue about changing the climate on these level IV mainlines… As it stands now, these lines are warehouses, with all the money meant for programs – rehabilitation, going into guard pockets.
It’s in all of our best interests to change this in a big way, and thereby force CDCR to open these lines up and provide all of us with the programs and rehabilitative services that we all should have coming to us!!
Respect and Solidarity,
T. Ashker, A. Castellanos, Sitawa (s/n Dewberry), A. Guillen
Footnote#1: To date, we’ve received zero improvements re: core demand #5 … while Corcoran and Tehachapi have gained on canteen and dip-pull up bars – which, is all good. This is an example of what we pointed out in our “Formal Complaint” re: disparate treatment at PBSP-SHU compared to other SHU’s.
This is also a typical CDCR attempt to create discord and disruption to our unified struggle…we’re certain this feeble move will fail because all of us understand what our main objective is – an end to long term torture in these isolation units! It is our fundamental right to be treated humanely… we can no longer accept state sanctioned torture – of our selves! (and, our loved ones!) and we remain unified in our resistance!!
Footnote#2: Addresses of people to write
- Tom Ammiano, Assemblyman/ Capitol Bldg. Rm# 4005 / Sacramento, CA 95814/ Phone# 916-319-2013/ Fax# 916-319-2113
- Governor Edmund G. Brown/ State Capitol, Ste #1173/ Sacramento, CA 95814/ Phone# 916-446-2841/ Fax# 916-558-3160
- CDCR – Secretary Matthew Cate / 1515 S. St. Ste. #330/ Sacramento, CA 95811 / Phone# 916-323-6001
All prisoners writing to these people should be sent ‘confidential mail’ and anyone outside of prison, supporters, family members, etc… please write and also email.
Criticisms of the Occupy Movement
BY KAMAMA UTSI
There exist many criticisms of the Occupy movement, from allies and enemies alike. The more constructive criticisms tend to come from people who view the Movement as having potential for creating real change. So, what are some of these critiques? And are they valid?
From the onset the Occupy Movement has been criticized on multiple fronts for its claim to represent the 99% (in a supposedly leaderless fashion), which isn’t surprising given the boldness and scope of the claim. It is important to point out that each Occupy chapter operates on an autonomous basis, and that not all criticisms can be applied equally amongst the numerous chapters. Also necessary to keep in mind, is the point in time these criticisms are referring to, because conditions may have changed in certain cases. Perhaps it is best to start off with the more universal criticisms.
Since OWS’s inception the media and other spectators have asked to see a list of specific demands (even a reduction to ONE demand!), believing that a list would be more coherent and more likely to inspire an act of Congress. This is based on assumptions that the protesters are acting in the goal of compelling Congress to review their demands, and that protesters are able to exercise a right of free speech that has the capability of bringing politicians to the negotiating table. Clearly, these assumptions are not grounded in reality. For mainstream media, it is not within the acceptable parameters of discussion to consider the possibility that these occupations stand for something much greater than a desire to get Congress’s attention.
Nonetheless, some chapters have responded by creating special committees responsible for drawing up a set of demands. OWS in early October formed the Demands Working Group, who have been meeting regularly to create a list of specific proposals. A two-thirds majority in the GA is necessary to approve each proposal. One protester, Gabriel Willow, disagrees with the demand-approach. “Demands are disempowering since they require someone else to respond,” said Willow.
Other chapters that have taken up a demand-approach include L.A., Austin, Boston, D.C. And Philadelphia.
The structure itself has also been critiqued. The particular form of consensus used to pass/reject proposals has been viewed by some as a “tyranny of the minority” and “undemocratic” because it only takes one participant to block a resolution that everyone else may agree upon. This is clearly problematic for General Assemblies, which typically range anywhere from 30 to 300, making for some very tedious and frustrating meetings that in certain cases have resulted in people seceding from the GA (or the protest altogether).
Also scrutinized is use of “the people’s mic,” in which the crowd amplifies a speaker’s message by repeating what was said, echoing phrase by phrase. One Occupy LA participant called it “a Pavlovian conditioning tool…It begins to INVALIDATE internal dissent and force the person to accept what is being said and repeated as truth. It is almost like a cult. This is NOT democratic any way.” It is unclear how widespread this practice is.
There has been active antagonism of the lumpenproletariat amongst some Occupy locations: homeless people and people with mental disabilities have been routinely targeted for abuse and thrown out of the parks. This is especially ironic considering that many of these individuals were the original people sleeping in the park.
At Occupy Wall Street (Zucotti Park), a woman named Sparro Kennedy has had no choice but to designate herself defender of these vulnerable populations. “There’s a push to drive out the homeless and those with special needs,” Kennedy says. “Our responsibility as a community is to make sure that everyone has a voice and that nobody is left behind. I’m here to make sure of that.”
In Occupy Sacramento (Cesar Chavez Park), some of the homeless have found themselves alienated by the Occupiers, who have essentially taken over their sleeping quarters and imposed a set of rules upon them without factoring in their voices. “They got their own security, they act like the police,” one homeless man says. “Anytime you do anything they say you can’t do this and that …and we’re saying `you’re not the police.'”
Self-labeled “pacifists” have used the police as a weapon against fellow demonstrators by turning in anyone who does not strictly adhere to their definition of appropriate conduct. According to a member of Denver ABC, the “leaders” in Occupy Denver are disowning protesters that have been arrested (39 so far), and even helping the cops by turning over videotapes and identifying people in the protests that “turned violent.” This has come not only as an act of betrayal, but a slap in the face for people of color, undocumented migrants and other less-privileged folks who in no way view the police as “guardians” or “keepers of the peace.”
One of the most widespread criticisms of Occupy is on the issue of racial representation. The flagship chapter at Wall St. in particular suffered from an obvious failure to include people of color in its initial organizing, reflected in the lack of representative demographics amongst its participants. OWS drew upon a mostly white, liberal, middle class tendency that by default ignored its own privileges and alienated a huge portion of 99ers (in Occupy-speak).
Not surprisingly, several critiques have been circulating online of OWS’s failure to be inclusive of POC and Indigenous people’s rights.
In “Seven Occupy Wall Street Racial Justice Roadblocks” (posted on peopleofcolororganize.com), Ernesto points out the “credibility gap” that exists between POC and white activists. He vocalizes the question on many people’s minds: “What do people of color gain by staking our credibility in our communities on a group of white left activists, many of whom we do not know, have no history organizing with, or have no knowledge of their personal and political efforts in our communities?” He also shares how one Occupy protest was deemed “openly hostile to activists of color, treating community concerns as `identity politics.'”
From an Indigenous perspective, the name “Occupy” comes off as offensive and ignorant of the historical reality of America’s ongoing occupation of Indigenous land. Jessica Yee, in her piece “Occupy Wall Street: The Game of Colonialism and Further Nationalism to be Decolonized From the Left” points out the need for an anti-colonial stance, asserting that “Colonialism also leads to capitalism, globalization, and industrialization. How can we truly end capitalism without ending colonialism?”
JohnPaul Montano, an Anishnaabe writer, reminds readers about the consequences of genocide, land theft, and notions of White cultural superiority in “An Open Letter to the Wall St. Activists”:
“I had hoped that you would address the centuries-long history that we indigenous peoples of this continent have endured being subject to the countless ‘-isms’ of do-gooders claiming to be building a ‘more just society,’a “better world,” a ‘land of freedom’ on top of our indigenous societies, on our indigenous lands, while destroying and/or ignoring our ways of life…It just seems to me that you’re unknowingly doing the same thing to us that all the colonizers before you have done: you want to do stuff on our land without asking our permission.”
Montano also adds a list of suggestions to fix OWS’s “pro-colonialism position,” which includes: “Demand immediate freedom for indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier” and “Demand that the colonial government of the United States of America honor all treaties signed with all indigenous nations…” Throughout the article he refers to OWS activists as “friends” and believes that their “hearts are in the right place.”
In “To Occupy And Unoccupy,” Vagabond (Puerto Rican) takes a more cynical view of OWS activists:
“If you ever wonder why more people of color haven’t yet swelled your “occupation” ranks it may be because historically, once you have what you want, you’ll go back to occupying the comfortable role of white privilege that led you to believe that racism was different from classism. What you are experiencing is old hat for us, the forced removal from your homes, the inability to find work that pays a living wage, the police brutality, frivolous arrests, and your adventures with the justice shitstem, even your homeless encampment are just a few of the things we have lived with for longer than you would care to imagine. We have lived with a knowledge of things that you are now, only beginning to realize.”
Furthermore, he warns “Unless you begin to deal with the roots of this occupation that began 500 years ago your current occupation will fail.”
An encouraging example of an attempt to address this issue is that of Albuquerque, whose General Assembly passed a resolution to change the name from “Occupy Albuquerque” to “Unoccupy Albuquerque,” in recognition of and opposition to Euro-perpetrated settler occupations of Indigenous land.
Also of concern throughout Occupy America is the question of militancy. Many protesters and spectators have asserted that the Occupy protests are not militant enough, and that incidents like the one at Brooklyn Bridge (in which over 700 demonstrators peacefully allowed themselves to be arrested) undermine the movement’s leverage. People on Facebook have posted reminders that not a single Wall St. bankster or corporation (considered to have “personhood”) has been arrested.
Surprisingly, Occupy LA has not been one of the more militant branches, and has suffered from an almost discouraging level of authoritarianism in the form of self-appointed leaders controlling the location, who is allowed to participate, and what is allowed to be said. Most shocking was the initial level of white dominance in a city that is 70% of color.
On October 2nd, one LA participant posted on Facebook, “A full 85% of the speakers, at least during the “controlled” portion of the General Assembly, were white. Among comrades last night, there was much discussion how there seems to be a lot of tokenism with people of color, but that decisions are essentially being made by a few white individuals.”
On the issue of civil disobedience, he wrote, “There was much frustration over how “occupation” would be handled. The organizers kept stressing that they wanted this movement to last three months and that by disobeying the orders of the LAPD, they would come and shut it down. The other argument was that the movement should have NEVER been negotiating with the cops in the first place, and that by following the city ordinance, it was NOT an occupation at all.”
In “Occupying LaLa Land” Federica Lorca, also frustrated by cooperation with the police, wrote “This is an occupation by permission. Really. A couple hundred people camped out on the lawn of Los Angeles’s City Hall after they got the permission of the Los Angeles police…In the better areas of LA, this counts as occupying something. In the rest of town, you actually have to claim some space in the name of the people and defy LAPD. But not for us. This is a LaLa Land occupation: an illusion wrapped up in a metaphor. A light image where something material and real is supposed to be.”
Despite the Occupy movement’s demonstrable flaws, various polls show that the majority (59-61%) of Americans stand in favor of the Occupations.
Popularity assured, perhaps the most fundamental roadblock is the overarching question of sustainability.
Naomi Klein has a warning: “It is a fact of the information age that too many movements spring up like beautiful flowers but quickly die off,” she said. “It’s because they don’t have roots. And they don’t have long-term plans for how they are going to sustain themselves. So when storms come, they get washed away.”
As of yet, there seems to be no agreed-upon long term strategy. As far as Occupy’s endurance goes, only time will tell.
Suicided
BY CHAD LANDRUM
The CDC’s shameless attempt to suppress the tragic loss of life of three recent hunger strikers has inevitably failed in the whole, despite the fact that it still refuses to knowledge its own complicity with regards to the particular details surrounding these deaths. The essential facts are widely known among the prison masses.
This comes as no surprise for those of us familiar with the practices of the CDC. Yet for those naïve to the CDC’s duplicity, there are valuable lesson to be learned from all of this. With respect to the three men who needlessly lost their lives, it is significant that we not pass judgment on them prematurely.
The taking of one’s own life is a conscious decision, and such a decision is as relevant as the surrounding conditions that gave rise to the decision itself. This inseparability between our consciousness and our environmental conditions is summed up well in Karl Marx’s simple, yet revealing, statement:
“…the ‘ideal’ is nothing more that the material world reflected in the human brain and translated into forms of thought….”
To speak of these avoidable deaths in the context of “suicides” is to legitimize the state’s role in creating the oppressive conditions that resulted in these deaths, and thus, exonerates it of responsibility.
To judge the suicides based solely upon the “possible” decisions of these three individuals alone is to allow ourselves to be divided and conquered. We should not pass judgment upon the alleged decisions alone, but also upon the state and the conditions that gave rise to such contemplations.
The state apparatus of various governments, including the US government, have a long history of eliminating opposition to the status quo, and in particular, “suiciding” that opposition when they are confined. We must ask, did these three human beings commit suicide? Or were they “suicided” by inconspicuous means? All three of these deaths have been quite conveniently classified as suicides. Yet by all indications these classifications do not correspond with the actual circumstances.
How do we know that these men intended suicide? We don’t. But of greater significance, we do know that there were repeated attempts to call “Man Down”, kicking on cell doors, etc., which was willfully ignored and neglected by guards. In parallel circumstances, were not state employees involved, anyone else would be charged with either murder or at the very least manslaughter.
If this concept comes across as unorthodox, this is only a 
demonstration of how effectively we have been conditioned to think, but the objective reality is, these three men were “suicide” even though it was by inconspicuous means—intentional neglect. It requires no great feat of intellect to understand that the state will rarely prosecute its own. But to ensure that the deaths of the three men were for naught, we must do all that we can to publicize and transform this tragedy into an educational opportunity.
We call on Amnesty International to assist us and demand a United Nations investigation into these deaths and the deplorable conditions of solitary confinement throughout the US penal system. We likewise call upon the UN to appoint an independent and unbiased autopsy of these men and any others who may be subjected to a similar fate.
There is no such thing as prisoner rights, only power struggles.
*Chad Landrum has consistently and courageously written about the hunger strikes and shared his analysis condemning the CDCR’s torturous use of isolation, which you can find along with other writing and statements from prisoners on our Voices from Inside page. Chad is currently locked up at Corcoran State Prison.
Police Brutality Against Anti War demonstrator
Back in April I, Nate Buckley was brutalized and sprayed with mace (while restrained) by NFTA police during a protest to “Stop all US Wars of Agression at Home and Abroad” at M&T Bank in downtown Buffalo. The whole incident was captured on a cellphone camera and a short documentary about the incident has gotten over 60,000 views online.
Watch and share!- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhN9RlrENJs
Come watch me give a public presentation on my case. Zaw Win from former Political Prisoner from Burma, and Santiago Masferrer former Political Prisoner from Chile will also talk on the importance of exercising freedoms, and the dismantling of US Civil Liberties and how their countries became such repressive regimes.
7pm, Wednesday Jaunuary 4th 2012 at Burning Books 420 Connecticut st. Buffalo
After eight months of pretrial hearings, the case is going before a jury in Part 6 of Buffalo City Court (50 Delaware Ave.) beginning at each of the following days at 9am on Monday, January 9, Tuesday Jan. 10, and concluding Thursday Jan 12.
COME TO BOTH, SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Introduction to Issue 20
Readers, fellow activists and revolutionaries, welcome to issue 20 (Winter, 2011-2012).
This issue is a little different. Most of it is a retrospective, a look back at some of the issues, information and dialogue 4sm has brought forward. We are reprinting select articles from issue 1 through 19. We also have a short reminder (with the name of the article, issue and page numbers), of some of the detailed and theoretical pieces, including entire booklets, 4sm has printed.
We think these writings have continuing value, especially for all the righteous activists and occupiers putting the issue of social and economic justice out loud and strong, to the country and the world. These longer pieces are worth checking out or checking out again.
We do have some new words, including material on the Occupy movement, an update of the struggle from Pelican Bay State Prison, and more.
This issue is coming to you about one month later than scheduled. When you read my words, “Death,” you will understand the delay.
Issue 21 will be coming out in March. Remember we welcome your ideas and insight — from prison cells to occupy sites and beyond — the Freedom Struggle is what 4strugglemag does.
RED Season’s Greetings, Kwanzaa Greetings, and positive and healthful New Year’s Greetings of struggle, to each and everyone of you! From 4sm and its People,
Jaan Laaman, editor
Jaan Karl Laaman
#10372-016
USP Tucson
PO Box 24550
Tucson, AZ
USA 85734
4strugglemag 