Undying Desire To Be Free.

        Gabriel Pombo da Silva's first letter of gratitude and commitment from outside the Spanish state's cages.
From Act For Freedom Now:

      “Anarchism concerns the individual, not only with regards to collectivity but also with regards to itself’. Anarchism is not directed at the “citizen” but to people.” – Albert Libertad.

Dear comrades,

        Finally, after endless games and chicanery by the prison institution and the ministry of the interior they were forced to obey their own laws, which they constantly break, here I am finally free, writing these first words of gratitude and love to all those who over these past 30 years have accompanied me and reaffirmed my own anarchist beliefs, putting into practice the basic values and principles of anarchism like mutual support and solidarity and have finally managed to pluck me from the clutches of the prison beast which I will continue fighting from the street without forgetting, obviously, the combat being waged outside.

          I am certain that even in all of this I am very privileged to have had the support of comrades, because there are many who do not have this possibility. In the coming days we will send out statements in more specific terms about what concerns our movement and possible strategies that we must develop so that we can cure the revolutionary anarchism of our elders of all institutionalism and insubstantial chatter. I want to be clear that I will never forget our libertarian comrades imprisoned in the spanish state and around the world, particularly Mónica, Francisco, Claudio, and the latest comrade to be arrested who will soon be extradited to the german state, and many more unnamed.

         There is still so much to do, I know, and it will certainly not remain undone due to lack of will, passion and commitment. In these moments I won’t refer to the pettiness implemented by the prison administration to try to impede my release because we will be documenting this with official papers that denote, clearly, how crude and cunning the justice administration in this country is.

           I am free and apparently in 45 days they intend to imprison me again, they will unleash their hounds on me. Obviously, I will not go voluntarily or participate in any way in any kind of agreement or negotiated release with those disgusting people. Therefore I suppose that I have no choice but to continue, as always, fighting from the shadows, supporting those processes and anti-authoritarian projects that I consider it necessary to give life to with all the means I can reach from my imposed clandestinity.

       It would be impossible to mention here all the people and organisations that have supported me throughout all these years, because they are too many. I only want them to know that they can count on me yesterday, today and forever for anarchism and social revolution.

         Today, from a place outside the walls, huge greetings to all my sisters and brothers in latin america and southern europe, with the confidence that we will find ourselves on this journey and project of emancipation that is our lives in struggle.

Gabriel Pombo da Silva   10th June, 2016.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Even Animals Shouldn't Be Caged.

        A call for solidarity from inside the cages. Most of us outside those state cages of repression, have no idea of what it is like. Apart from the separation from family and friends, there is the restriction on your actions and movements, continuous surveillance, and control, on top of this there is the arbitrator punishment and the brutality. Prison and civilised society, can't co-exist, most of accept that even animals shouldn't be caged. If we aim for a civilised society, we have to bring down the prisons.

From a comrade of ABC Brighton:

         A secret world exists within the high security prison estate in England, known as the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system. The dehumanisation of CSC prisoners begins at a very early stage, in the official justification for the creation of the CSC system, which focuses on the need to contain a new breed of unmanageable and unpredictable risks. It continues with the creation of classificatory categories of ‘dangerousness’ which objectify prisoners and make more of the category and less of the human in them, and it is reinforced by the tightly controlled and highly regulated routines.
         In addition to isolation and extremely restricted movements, prisoners’ in-cell belongings are carefully regulated and subjected to relentless scrutiny and inspection.
         Prisoners remain in CSC units for years, decades even, made frustrated, angry and bored by their experiences with few avenues to vent their anger and with almost no opportunities to advance through the system. All perceived acts of disobedience or non-compliance by CSC prisoners, even of the most petty kind, are responded to brutally by gangs of prison officers clad in full riot gear who show no mercy when demonstrating their authority and power, sanctioned by Prison Service management at the highest levels.
        Rather than controlling violence, as it officially aims to do, this hyper-controlled environment breeds it. Having now spent six years subject to the unofficial punishment of allocation to the CSC myself, it is clear that without real pressure to force the required change nothing but more negative and oppressive measures will be added.
          Please lend your support for the abolition of the CSC system by attending the protest demonstration:
         21 July between 12.30pm and 2.30pm outside the offices of the Prison Ombudsman and Independent Monitoring Board, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS.

Kevan Thakrar A4907AE
Close Supervision Centre,
HMP Wakefield,
5 Love Lane,
Wakefield
WF2 9AG

www.justiceforkevan.com
www.Facebook.com/JusticeForKev

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

When Will We Abolish Slavery??

        Look around and what we see is blatant greed and corruption by the wealthy and powerful, with the people growing more and more aware of this looting and a realisation that the ballot box is just an illusion to fool the subservient. So protests grow, turmoil increases and the system cracks and starts to crumble. In the capitalist system protest and direct action is the only road to real change, justice and freedom. The states answer to this threat is to lock more people up in cages, believing this will solve the problem. However, people in cages are still people, and their resolve to be treated as such will always be there and grow.

        Across the system those locked up are also turning to direct action as much as they can within the confines of the brutal state incarceration. Prisoners direct action is growing, in Greece there is a constant battle within the prison system in America across several states prisoners are on strike, and the latest in Europe is in Belgium, where several prisons have prisoners roiting, to the extent that the Belgian government has sent in the troops. Slavery is not dead as long as we have prisons and those locked up used as productive units to make profit for large corporations, as happens in every country in Europe. In America, prisons are nothing more than large production units useing the inmates as slave labour. All those who are protesting, striking, taking direct action, within the prison system must be able to call on the support and solidarity of all those outside the cages, we are all fighting the same system, exploitation,injustice and corruption.

      A small chronology of the riots spreading the Belgian prisons, where guards are on strike for more than two weeks now…

On Monday 25th of April, the prison guards of all prisons in the French speaking parts of Belgium went on strike, in total 21 prisons. The prisoners are confined in their cells. All activities, like the walk, shower, visit, legal counsel, are cancelled. The police took over the control of the prisons to assure security.

After one week of guards on strike, and with conditions rapidly deteriorating inside, incidents start to spread in many prisons. In some prisons, the situation could be called catastrophic. Prisoners only receive food once a day, didn’t go out of their cells in more than ten days, hygienic conditions are terrible with infections and diseases spreading.---------

Read the full article HERE:

And in America, prisoners strikes are growing.

      Alabama prisoners who have been on strike for 10 days over unpaid labor and prison conditions are accusing officials of retaliating against their protest by starving them. The coordinated strike started on May 1, International Workers’ Day, when prisoners at the Holman and Elmore facilities refused to report to their prison jobs and has since expanded to Staton, St. Clair, and Donaldson’s facilities, according to organizers with the Free Alabama Movement, a network of prison activists.

      Prison officials responded by putting the facilities on lockdown, partially to allow guards to perform jobs normally carried out by prisoners. But prisoners told The Intercept that officials also punished them by serving meals that are significantly smaller than usual, a practice they have referred to as “bird feeding.”----------

Texas.

       Claiming that they are treated like slaves, inmates from up to five Texas prisons have orchestrated a historic workers’ strike. A lack of access to quality food and water, low wages, overcrowding, and poor working conditions were among their complaints.

Striking inmates are refusing to leave their cells for work assigned by Texas Corrections Industries (TCI), a publicly traded company.

        Established in 1963 under the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, TCI uses prison labor to make a variety of products “from hand soap to bed sheets, from raising livestock to making iron toilets and portable buildings,” all of which are sold to local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as public schools, and hospitals ‒ and prisoners receive none of the profits, according to a letter outlining the reasons for the strike.--------

     PRISON INMATES around the country have called for a series of strikes against forced labor, demanding reforms of parole systems and prison policies, as well as more humane living conditions, a reduced use of solitary confinement, and better health care.

       Inmates at up to five Texas prisons pledged to refuse to leave their cells today. The strike’s organizers remain anonymous but have circulated fliers listing a series of grievances and demands, and a letter articulating the reasons for the strike. The Texas strikers’ demands range from the specific, such as a “good-time” credit toward sentence reduction and an end to $100 medical co-pays, to the systemic, namely a drastic downsizing of the state’s incarcerated population.

       “Texas’s prisoners are the slaves of today, and that slavery affects our society economically, morally and politically,” reads the five-page letter announcing the strike. “Beginning on April 4, 2016, all inmates around Texas will stop all labor in order to get the attention from politicians and Texas’s community alike.”---------

Well worth reading these articles in full.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Anarchist Black Dragon.

      The Anarchist Black Dragon pamphlet was founded by anarchist prisoner Carl Harp, and the Anarchist Black Dragon Collective in Washington State prison. Most people accept that Carl was wrongly convicted of the Seattle sniper crime and then brutally tortured and murder in prison in 1981. The pamphlet is dedicated to all those suffering in the dungeons of North America and all those revolutionaries who have lost their lives in prison anywhere in the world
       Spirit of Revolt has three copies of this pamphlet in their Bratach Dubh Collection, issues No. 8, 9, 10, and we have just made them available to read on line at: http://spiritofrevolt.info/bratach-dubh-collection-2/  just click on and scroll down to 1-23. Other copies can be read at: https://anarchistblackdragon.noblogs.org/

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The State And Repression Go Hand In Hand.

 

       Scan the map of the Earth, pick your state, no matter which one you select, you'll find it indulges in brutal repression, cruelty and inhumane treatment of its own people. The state apparatus has to, to maintain its hold over the people, to allow freedom of speech and expression would be the demise of the state and its corrupting, debilitating influence. Violence and repression are the state's weapons of survival.

An appeal from ABC Istanbul:

     Vegan anarchist prisoner Osman Evcan was recently exiled (aka transferred) from Kandıra prison No.1 to Silivri L-type closed prison No.6, and has suffered repression such as naked body search, cameras in cells, ban on letters and visitors, and blocking of vegan food. He has undertaken hunger strike since February 22nd 2016 to resist this oppression. Help spread the word!

More info HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Closed Supervision Centre Is Torture.

        All prisons are inhumane, some worse than others, and at the pinnacle of this barbarity is the CSC, Closed Supervision Centre.

 Closed Supervision Centre, Woodhill.

This from 325:

JOIN THE PROTEST in support of Kevan Thakrar:

Thursday Feb 18, 12:30-2:30 pm
HM Prison Service Headquarters
Clive House, 70 Petty France London SW1H 9EX

Directions:
- Nearest Station: St James’s Park underground station, a 5 minute walk to Clive house.
- Buses: Any buses stopping at New Scotland Yard then continue along Victoria Street then turn left on to Caxton Street then turn right on to Palmer Street, continue until you will reach Petty France.

Kevan Thakrar Needs Your Support!
Kevan Thakrar was found not guilty of attacking three prison officers and vindicated by evidence that showed he acted in self-defence after months of racial, physical and psychological abuse. Any court ruling that goes against prison officers is VERY unusual. Kevan continues to be held in isolation in the prison services ‘Close Supervision Centres’ more than six years later, no doubt as retribution for his court victory. See here for more info about Kevan’s wrongful conviction and fight for a new trial:

www.justiceforkevan.com
www.facebook.com/JusticeForKev
Please sign the petition: www.change.org/p/justice-for-kevan

Read the full article on the racist abuse inside Wakefield Prison.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Tomorrow, January 22nd. Trans Prisoner Day Of Solidarity.

       Society is not civilised as long as it locks people up in cages. All those unfortunate enough to find themselves locked up under some state legislation, suffer humiliation, trauma and violence, both mental and physical. For some the experience can be even more brutal, those who society considers not to fit the "norm", can find prison an unbearable experience, and in many cases, their experience ends in suicide. This type of treatment is intolerable in a modern civilised society. We have a duty to stand up for those put through this repressive state treatment, and show our unstinting solidarity.

Download and distribute this pdf zine in low-res (6mb) or high-res (24mb)
This zine will be distributed to folks both inside and outside prison walls.

       January 22nd 2016 will be the first annual Trans Prisoner Day of Action: an international day of action in solidarity with trans prisoners. This project was first imagined by Marius Mason, a trans anarchist prisoner in Texas, USA. Since then, through his friends and supporters, an international collective of people both inside and outside of prison walls have come together to make this day a reality. A preliminary list of trans prisoners can be found here.

 

US prisons: 
Statement from Marius Mason for the Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity January 22nd 2016

        Happy New Year, Family and Friends! Many, many thanks for so much support and care over this year from both long-standing friends and new pen pals. I feel very grateful and am always humbled by the encouragement and resources sent my way by folks who are doing so much already to increase our collective chances for survival. The news has been full of stories about someone winning the big money pool that has accumulated for the US Lotto – but the most important “win” has nothing to do with money. I am betting on the movement to win big this year: in getting more control over their communities and defending against police brutality and racial inequality, in winning more victories for animal and in the defense of wild spaces, in creating social relations based on respect, dignity and compassion for all people… irregardless of their race, orientation, creed or gender presentation.       Thank you for coming together today, to hold up those members of our community who struggle so hard behind walls to keep their sense of self intact. Sovereignty over our selves, our bodies is essential for any other kind of liberty to be possible. By reaching out to trans prisoners, you affirm their right to define themselves for themselves – and defend them against the overwhelming voices who claim that they do not exist, that they must allow others to define them. In the isolating environment of prison, this is toxic and intimidating, and amounts to the cruelest form of psychological torture. By offering your help and solidarity, you may just save a life. I know that for the last year and a half, as I have struggled to assert myself as a transman, as I have advocated for the relief of appropriate medical care for my gender dysphoria – it has been the gentle and loving reminders of my extended family of supporters who have given me strength and courage to continue. Please join me in offering this help to so many others who need it to keep going. Never underestimate the healing power of a letter, those letters have kept me going…and I want to pass that gift on, if you will help me.
       Thank you again for coming together on this day, for connecting to those on the inside who truly need you, who need you to see them as they really are and striving to be. Until the prisons are gone, we need to work hard to support those of us inside – especially those of us who are not always as visible to the rest of the world. We are always stronger together.
Marius Mason
January 2016

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Inhumanity Of Prisons.

        All prisons are an injustice, prisons are the state's tool of repression, and in America, the corporations business model. Being locked up separated from you family and friends can be a very traumatic experience, but when added to that there is brutality, humiliation, sexual harassment and solitary confinement, it can be beyond endurance. All those who are subject to this state de-humanising experience, unreservedly deserve our total solidarity. Below is just one case of the millions across the globe who suffer from this inhumanity at the hands of the state. 

***PLEASE CALL THE NEW MEXICO WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL FACILITY (a Corrections Corporation of America run prison) TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR CHLOE WELLS***
       Chloe is currently being held in solitary confinement and has been for over 8 weeks at the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants, NM. after being found not guilty on charges of inciting a riot.
       After leading 5 other women in an attempt to speak to the prison's inmate advocacy representative, Chloe was told she and others would not be allowed to file a report against a corrections officer who had allegedly committed acts of both sexual and physical abuse against many of the 611 inmates housed in the Grants facility.
       At this time all the other inmates who took part in the stand-off lead by Chloe Wells have been released from solitary confinement and all charges have been dismissed except for those against Chloe.
        Despite being found "not guilty" of the charges, Chloe will still suffer the consequence of being the first woman in the history of this facility to be moved to maximum security Level 6; a program dedicated to solitary confinement for male inmates displaying predatory behavior.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

           Please use the attached contact list of prison officials to call on her behalf. Feel free to use this script (leaving your phone number if you reach voicemail is optional) or speak in your own words, but please be polite and courteous! Finally, please like the Facebook page "Justice For Chloe Wells" and let us know how your phone call(s) went. If you are especially moved by Chloe's story, there is also information on that page on where you can write her a letter to keep her spirits up. Thank you!
       "Hello, my name is _____, and I am calling out of concern for an inmate at New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility by the name of Chloe Wells, inmate number 79147. I am calling to demand that she be released from solitary confinement and put back in general population, that she have access to the same medical care and programs she had before being moved to solitary, and that she and other inmates at this facility are allowed to meet with their inmate advocacy representative and file complaints against allegedly abusive corrections officers as is their right. Furthermore I demand that Chloe’s transfer to Level 6 be cancelled, as this wing is reserved for sexual predators and Chloe’s transfer there is clearly in retaliation for her courageous stand against the sexual abuse of her fellow inmates. I find this whole situation outrageous and disgusting, and I am sure you share my concern about the welfare of these women. Please call me back at (000)-000-0000. Thank you for your time and action on this important matter."

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACTS FOR CHLOE WELLS

For Stage 1 of Call in Campaign 1/1/2016
MAIN PHONE NUMBER FOR THE PRISON: 505­287­2941
CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA HEADQUARTERS:
615­263­3000

Paula Burns
NM Corrections Office of Internal Audit and Investigation 505­827­8633
Paul Montoya
Administrative Services Director for NM Dept of Corrections 505­827­8632
Melissa Ortiz
Deputy Director of Administration and Female Facilities for NM Dept of
Corrections 505­827­8677 office
James Lopez
Assistant Warden for NM Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, NM
Currently has no phone number listed online, was former warden for
Grants facility but retired in 2012.
Rhonda Ayers
Chief of Security at NM Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, NM 

505­449­7394
Was named in most recent PREA Audit as Chief of Security.
Pete Perez
Deputy Warden for State of New Mexico Corrections Dept 505­876­8300 

fax 505­876­8200
Gregg Marcantel
CEO of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
Has commented personally on most recent allegations of Sexual Abuse of
female corrections officers and inmates that took place in March 2015 

505­827­8884
Dr.Margaret Western
Ordering Physician for Women’s Prison in Grants, NM
Works with Corizon Healthcare, the Healthcare provider for the Women’s
prison 505­287­3666

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Trans Prisoner Day Of Action.

       In the type of society we live under injustice wears many masks, and in lots of cases the laws of this unjust system exacerbate that injustice. All prisons are an injustice, but to certain people the injustice of prison is multiplied many times because of the fact that they don't fit the pattern of the societies perceived "normal". Among those who suffer in this way are trans-gender individuals, who already face many problems in this society, but prison can turn what can be a very difficult life, into an unbearable nightmare.

From Contra Info:

       January 22nd 2016 will be the first annual Trans Prisoner Day of Action: an international day of action in solidarity with trans prisoners. This project was first imagined by Marius Mason, a trans anarchist prisoner in Texas, USA. Since then, through his friends and supporters, an international collective of people both inside and outside of prison walls have come together to make this day a reality. A preliminary list of trans prisoners can be found here.

 Click here for pdf version of poster

      “As Queers, we know the terror of scrutiny, disgust and isolation; we have all been denied the ability to live the way we want by society for at least some portion of our lives. For trans and gay people in prison, those problems are doubled by the physical and emotional restraints of a literal cage. For decades, early queer activists showed active solidarity and support for their imprisoned brothers and sisters — they wrote letters, had marches and demanded not just that they be treated with respect and dignity, but their total and unconditional release. Gay and trans prisoners organized with each other and the outside world.” – Call-out from Marius and friends.

 Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

You're Ill, Go To Prison.

        This exploitative authoritarian system can't function without repression and intimidation, that's where the prison system comes into its own. Be submissive or risk being caged. In any civilised society we would see people with mental health problems having compassionate care, support and the assistance that they need. However in this insane society such people are more likely to end up in prison. Figures from Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners In England And Wales, 1998, state that more than 70% of the prison population has two or more mental health disorders. It is likely to be a two edged sword, mental heath problems lead you to prison, and prison creates mental health problems for those incarcerated in these inhumane hell-holes. Suicides in prisons are approximately 15 times higher than the general public at large. That to any sane person tells you that there is something drastically wrong with the way that these people are treated. But then again, it is all about control, intimidation and repression, so I suppose to the eyes of the state's minders, the system is working. 

This from Act For Freedom Now: 

      After this year’s London Anarchist Bookfair South Wales Anarchist’s bus went to HMP Send on Saturday night for a Noise Demonstration outside this women’s prison. People chanted calling for prison abolition and shouted cheers of solidarity. Prisoners waved back, it was great to communicate through the prison bars.
       On leaving the demonstration local screws not in uniform (one claiming to be the Governor) assaulted two women that attended the Demo. The three of them were spoiling for a fight. They blocked the road in an attempt to prevent the bus from leaving but it seems that after they discovered that the Police had no intention of coming, after around half an hour they had to let us leave.
      During the course of their interaction with us, they said to us “”Haven’t you heard them all kicking off on J wing?”” and scolded us with ““Don’t you know how hard it is to control them in there?””. Needless to say hearing them say that almost made their irritating attempt at a citizen’s arrest worth it.
       In addition as being a demonstration in solidarity with Anarchist Comrades behind bars it was a also for class struggle prisoners. As prison abolitionists this quote by Angela Davis illustrates why we think it is so important for us all to show solidarity in this way;
      “”Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages”.”

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Elections- A Paracetamol For The People.

      The babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, has turned its attention from Greece to migrants, that doesn't mean that there is nothing happening in Greece. Greece is still in turmoil, apart from prisoners relatives being imprisoned for being related to prisoners, prisoners on hunger strike, and austerity still savagely slashing at the living standards of the people, there is still anger on the streets. 

      There are a series of strikes on an ongoing bases, and the unions are organising for a general strike on the 12th November. As far as the people of Greece are concerned, the recent election solved nothing. But then again, we know that elections never solve anything for the people. An election is nothing more than the system attempting to give the people a paracetamol to calm things down. 

From Barbarian Times:

      The pharmacists have started rolling 24 hour strikes in protest at the new austerity measures, and farmers are planning protest actions soon. There is a general strike called by the unions for November 12.
Syriza and Anel had their offices vandalized in the Byronas neighborhood. https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1550551/
Also a minister of Syriza, Skourletis, recently was attacked and forced to leave a cafe in Exarcheia. https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1550434/
The person in charge of the committee advising on the pension reform received a threatening letter and a bullet in the mail.

     ANEL offices in Athens were occupied by the anarchist group Roubikonas, who sent out an anti-austerity communique, and then shortly police arrived and are pressing some charges for those involved in the occupation. More as it comes…

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Freedom At The End Of A Leash.

 

      A state decrees that a wife cannot communicate or meet up with her husband, not because of any grievance between the couple, but because the state sees such a meeting as some sort of threat. Or is it vindictive repression by the state against anybody who seeks to challenge its authority over the individual's freedom?

     Evi Statiri continues her struggle, having won her release from the state's inhumane cages, by means of a long and dangerous hunger strike, she now faces a struggle against the repressive conditions placed on her, so called "freedom", by that vindictive state. That "freedom" consists of being treated like some monitored animal on a leash, permanently under the piercing eye of the state.  

This from Contra Info: 

      According to our latest information, Evi Statiri suspended hunger strike on October 2nd 2015, when the competent judicial council decided to grant her a conditional release from preventive detention. In the coming period she is expected to file a motion for the lifting of restrictive conditions imposed on her, which include the following: ban on exiting the country; obligation to report to her nearest police station 3 times a month; prohibition on communicating or meeting with her husband (CCF imprisoned member Gerasimos Tsakalos) and any other of her co-accused; obligation to reside only in the home she has declared as permanent residence; and ban on moving outside a perimeter of 1 kilometer around her home.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Is No Freedom While Prisons Stand.

       We all know that prisons are one of the state's tools for keeping control of the population, and the development of super high security prisons, is just a tightening of that control. Prisons have never been institutions of reform, except to reform the rebellious to the submissive. They are also symbols of state cruelty, when you consider that a very high proportion of those incarcerated have mental health problems, and/or suffer from substance addiction, they are therefore more in need of medical help rather than locked up in a super high security cage. There is also a very high rate of illiteracy among those incarcerated, the humane answer would be training in literacy, rather than being caged. There is no place in a free society for those repressive symbols of power and repression.

 This from Contra Info:

Five days of gatherings and debates September 29th – October 3rd 2015 in Brussels The program of events can be found here.

      If the state counted on silently building in Brussels the largest prison complex in Belgian history, it was mistaken. Against this maxi-prison project, a struggle was born and has intensified. An uncompromising struggle that has taken the initiative, which creates paths without political parties or formal organisations, that embodies itself in self-organisation and direct action against what makes the maxi-prison possible.

      The project to build a maxi-prison is inscribed into a wider economic and political context. In this time of new economic and political instability, the Belgian State, like other States, level up with strengthening the repression. Whether this translates into tougher laws, more control at all levels, cameras everywhere, militarisation of borders, soldiers in the street, urban regeneration to “restore order”, there are also all types of extensive prison building programs. Because prison will always be one of the threats used to try to make us fall into rank as well as a powerful state tool to keep in order its world divided into rich and poor, powerful and excluded, oppressors and oppressed.

If ideas and actions have to join hands, if thought and experience can sharpen the fight we lead, if the construction of the maxi-prison is not just a question of four walls, but perhaps above all a social issue that affects the whole of this society, these five days of gatherings around the struggle against the maxi-prison could be a valuable opportunity.

      At these meetings, comrades from different corners of the world will chat about their experiences of struggle, bringing along their reflections around insurrectionary struggle and explore ways to deepen the fight against the maxi-prison, but not solely.

      Text in French | Program of events in French and Dutch (pdf)
      Further reading: “The struggle against the maxi-prison” (pdf)

Tuesday 29th September, 7:30pm
Le Passage – Rue Rossini 11, Anderlecht
The hour of the revolt (comrade from London)

Wednesday 30th September, 3pm
Lion D’or – Avenue Jamar 5, Anderlecht
The struggle against the maxi-prison

Wednesday 30th September, 7:30pm
Pianofabriek – Rue du Fort 35, Saint-Giles
The struggle against the new Type C prisons in Greece

Thursday 1st October, 7:30pm
Acrata – Rue de la Grande Ile 32, Brussels
Towards the insurrection (comrade from Italy)

Friday 2nd Octoer, 5pm
Acrata – Rue de la Grande Ile 32, Brussels
Undermine the prisons of the democracy in Chile

Friday 2nd Octoer, 7:30pm
Le Passage – Rue Rossini 11, Anderlecht
Rebellion in Spanish prisons (comrade from Spain)

Saturday 3rd October, 2pm
L’eau Chaude – Rue des Renards 25, Marolles
Feedback and perspectives of struggle

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wildfire.

    Across the globe the various states have their ways of trying to repress dissent, from standardised education systems to draconian laws, and dehumanising prison systems. No matter how vicious the system, dissent and resistance will persist and eventually prevail.

       Wildfire gives a voice to those at the sharp end of that state repression, here you can read personal accounts, poetry and letters from those that the state has set out to destroy. Issue 2 is now available for free download.

By Wildfire  -----  Download Issue No.2.

From Act For Freedom Now:

          The past months have seen a continuation of prison struggle in its many forms, as well as a blanket of repression from state forces against anarchist insurgency. As international attacks multiplied and the comrades remained steadfast, the Greek hunger strikers won many of their demands. At the same time, the Czech Republic unleashed Operation Phoenix in an effort to repress the struggle there, and the Spanish state continued its attacks against anarchists by initiating raids and arrests in Operation Piñata. Chilean comrades Nataly, Juan, Enrique, and Guillermo won many of their hunger strike demands; while elsewhere in Chile, the state continued its attacks on Tato and Javier, accused of burning a Transantiago bus. Sean Swain was held incommunicado for months and Marius Mason was thrown in solitary for a month. And just days ago, anarchist comrade Ignacio Muñoz Delgado was arrested in Chile by plainclothes cops, who say they found Ignacio with an explosive device and pamphlets expressing solidarity with comrades arrested for an arson attack on the Homicide Investigation Brigade. Hunger strikes from Greece to Chile to Alabama, widespread counter-attacks against repression, the ceaseless cadence of the anarchist war against power. We are disgusted by the state’s attempts to grind our comrades into dust, but we are strengthened by the beautiful flames of anarchy that cannot be contained by recuperation or prison walls.

          We are excited to share the writings in this second issue of Wildfire, for their diversity and their incisiveness. We print texts from comrades previously unknown to us and from those we have struggled alongside for years. We print introductions, poetry, updates, and the first steps in a debate on prison strikes and reformism. Since we refuse any ideology that flattens the polymorphous nature of anarchist thought and practice, we print these very different texts with joy at each of their particularities.

         We send our love to all anarchist combatants caught in the enemy’s dungeons!

CONTENTS
– “All Prisoners are Political” by Sean Swain
– “Remember the Dead, Solidarity for the Living” by Brandon Baxter
– A letter from Manuel Salas
– Call for support from Anarchist Black Cross – Florida Prison Chapter
– A letter from Todd Shepard
– Introduction by Christopher L. Young
– “From an Alabama Prison” by Fahamivu Amon
– An update from Gender Anarky
– A letter from Julia Wheelwright
– “Silent Scream” by Francisca Orellana Polanko
– “Buckin in the BOP” by anonymous
– “Federal Sentencing Reforms” by anonymous
– A letter from Michael Kimble
– “Chaotic Confinement” by Charles Chatman
– A Letter from Blacc Lion
– A chronology of the last four months of revolt, repression, and attack.
– “For Spyros Dravilas: Awaiting the Hour of Vengeance”

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Mumia Abu-Jamal Appeal.

Regarding the appeal on behave of Mumia Abu-Jamal,

Corrected phone number for PA Gov Tom Wolf:  717-787-2500

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