Guards.

 

           More poetry from His Majesty's Prisons. Taken from the book Chains of Hate, The Prison Poetry of Sammy Ralston, published by Random Factor, Edinburgh and distributed by Edinburgh Black Cross, 

 

 Who Guards The Guards.

Enquiries were held, everyone agreed
The prisoner was murdered - a terrible deed.
Three prison guards charged into his cell
A vicious onslaught, a defenceless man fell,
Kicked him and punched him, broke flesh and bone,
Left him there to die all alone.

Who Guards the guards? The question was cried.
Who guards the guards? But no-one replied.
Who guards the guards? His last dying breath.
Who guards the guards that beat him to death?

Court was assembled, culprits brought to book
Statements were given, the oath it was took -
But killers went free - no retribution,
'Not Guilty' verdicts - a legal execution.
They say justices is blind, that much is plain,
She would have wept to see what was done in her name.

Who guards the guards? the question was cried.
Who guards the guards? But no-one replied
Who guards the guards? His last dying breath.
Who guards the guards that beat him to death?

Hey mister screw! Help us understand
How your conscience justifies blood on your hands.
Do you still sleep at night, do your kids fear your touch?
Can you look into your wife's eyes, does it bother you much
That a prisoner's been murdered and no-one's to blame......?
Just clean up his blood......and score out his name.

Who guards the guards? his last dying breath.
 Who guards the guards the beat him to death? 

 

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Assassination.

          I can only repeat, the state is an institution without humanity or compassion. In this case it is the Greek state, that with callous disregard for the health and welfare of one of its citizens. Giannis Michailidis. An anarchist prisoner of the state is in a severe condition regarding his health, after 61 days of hunger strike, yet the state ignores his right to justice, having served his time, he is being held, not for any crime, but for his political stance. Giannis deserves all the support and solidarity that we can muster, across borders, this injustice of the Greek state must be called out loud and clear, Giannis has a right to be free. 

The following from Act for Freedom Now:

           The anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis has been on hunger strike since 23/5, demanding his release from prison. Today he completes 61 days of hunger strike without his request being accepted. His health condition has deteriorated greatly, as he has great difficulty in getting out of bed, standing up, reading and writing, his spleen and gall bladder pains are becoming increasingly severe, and he has reached a point where it is difficult for him to drink much water.
           His body weight has reached 54.1 kg. Having started the hunger strike at 73 kilos, he has now lost 19 kilos, or 26% of his original body weight. His high blood pressure is 9 and low is 6, and his blood sugar was measured at 67. Having lost over 25% of his original body weight, and with his health indicators steadily deteriorating, his chances of permanent physical damage are now very high. At the moment, comrade Giannis Michailidis is on the verge of hypoglycemic shock and doctors say that there is a possibility that he could fall into a coma. The state and judicial authorities are gambling with the life and integrity of anarchist Giannis Michailidis.

           We reiterate from the previous update that his white blood cell count has dropped so far below the lower normal limit (value: 2.43 with limits of 4.60-10.2 K/μL), leading to immunodeficiency. Platelets are also counted much lower than the lower normal limit (value: 90 with limits of 142-424 K/μL), and Thrombocytopenia can cause severe and threatening internal bleeding. Based on his latest medical examinations and according to his treating physicians, he is at risk of severe osteoporosis and he is already experiencing joint pain. In addition, he has severe chest pain when trying to move around. He already has a potentially permanent neurological problem in his eyes, as the neurological examination showed double vision in extreme positions due to lack of nutrients.
         The latest radiological examinations and ultrasound examination (on 18/7) showed that the organs now at immediate risk of permanent damage are the bile and the spleen, with the latter facing an additional burden, as Giannis has congenital thalassemia (thalassemia). Finally, there is severe pain in the left kidney. All of the above is not helped by his increased sleep disturbances, and certainly the sensory isolation space in which he is in, leading to the almost total absence of support, care and monitoring by his family members and his personal physician.----

 

       -----We warn the judicial authorities and make it clear that the delay of the decision or the possibility of a rejection by the Lamia council is tantamount to state murder of anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis. We therefore emphatically emphasize the weight of responsibility that weighs on this decision and the time of its making.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS

Against the regime of exemption of political prisoners

Assembly in solidarity with the anarchist hunger striker Giannis Michailidis

assembly email : mihallil@riseup.net

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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Prisoners.

           You probably pass them without much of a thought, they sometimes look like a large factory or some business complex, sitting there usually quiet and uninteresting. But behind their bland walls there is a continuing tale of human degradation, misery and brutality in many guises. They are in fact state institutions for crushing human dissent. This is where the state throws individuals that don't fit into its authoritarian desires, a place to try to bury or break those who would dare to challenge its desire for omnipotence. 

      We must never forget those who find themselves enmeshed in this state process of attempting to crush dissent and never leave them forgotten to languish behind its cold unassuming walls. Prisons are a scar on the face of humanity an anathema to civilised thought.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

        To argue and fight for a society free of domination can lead to people being thrown into the dungeons of the respective regimes. There, the bodies are to be locked up in the tightest of spaces and the resistant spirit put in chains, forged against the bare concrete walls.
        Those who are not willing to submit face a long, a very long time behind bars. But it is weeks of action like now in August 2021 that forge a bond between the people in front of and those behind the prison walls. A bond between people whose hearts beat for liberation and for freedom.
      One of the challenges seems to me to be keeping a vibrant solidarity movement intact over very long periods of time, because even as more and more states are officially renouncing the death penalty, they are shifting to locking people away for decades at a time. What may seem to some to be an even worse punishment, the sheer eternity of being locked away. In order to help the people in prison to keep hope alive, but also to give those comrades who are actively fighting in front of the walls the certainty that they will never be forgotten, action weeks can be an essential means of affirmation!
       I myself was arrested in October 1996, taken to Stuttgart-Stammheim, and spent the first 11 years in solitary confinement (in legal language, this was called “solitary confinement: uninterrupted segregation from other inmates”). Although the incoming/outgoing letters were read by the prison administration, and often copied, these letters were a bond to the people outside. This gave such strength, words cannot really describe it.
       The more often concrete physical violence is dispensed with in modern prisons, the more hopelessness, abandonment, isolation become the weapons of the regime with which the comrades want to be broken.
       In my eyes, the “Week of Solidarity” also stands for setting something loud and militant against this.

Thomas Meyer-Falk, z.Zt. Justizvollzugsanstalt (SV)

Hermann-Herder-Str. 8, 79104 Freiburg

https://freedomforthomas.wordpress.com

via: solidarity.international

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Fire Ant, Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners.

This from Act For Feedom Now:

     Fire Ant is a quarterly publication focused on spreading the words of anarchist prisoners and generating material solidarity for our imprisoned friends. Begun as a collaboration between anarchist prisoners and anarchists in Maine, Fire Ant seeks to raise material aid for anarchist prisoners while fostering communication between anarchists on both sides of the walls.
      Issue #4 includes writings by anarchist prisoners Michael Kimble (on the state of Alabama prisons), Noah “Kado” Coffin (on racial segregation & summer survival techniques), Thomas Meyer-Falk (in memory of his friend Willi), Sean Swain (on cannibalism), and Eric King (three poems). Additionally: a piece honoring Willem Van Spronsen, a rundown of this year’s June 11th Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners, and a call for August’s International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners. Plus original art by Noah Coffin, Marius Mason, Sean Swain, and Michael Kimble. 

Download Free PDF:
 

 BULK COPIES OF FIRE ANT.

      Do you run a distro, space, or project that would like copies of Fire Ant? Bloomington ABC will send bulk copies for free to anyone who wishes to distribute it . Please email us at bloomingtonanarchistblackcross (at) riseup (dot) net. (Note: United States only, for now. It may take a few weeks to ship out orders.) 

The Fire Ant collective can be contacted at
Fire Ant
PO Box 164
Harmony, ME 04942 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Scar On The Face Of Humanity.

      The state's brutal repressive tool, prison, has no place in a civilised society. Forget the crap about correcting behaviour, rehabilitating people back into society, it is a hammer that is used to bludgeon people in to submitting to the state's dictate. Inhuman warehouses to instil subservience. Institutions whose only outcome is to de-civilise its captives, prisons are scar on the face of humanity.

"Up the ante" an article by Michael Kimble from  his blog Anarchy Live:

       If we’re serious about destroying oppression in its many forms, prisons are the starting point, especially since the many forms are more concentrated in prison than anywhere else in society, and prisoners are the most defenseless targets of these oppressions, one could argue. Many people try to separate prison struggles from the overall struggle for freedom and call it “The Prison Movement.” I’ve been guilty of this myself at times, but we can’t divorce it from the overall struggle. As anarchists we attack all forms of oppression simultaneously. We try to understand the nexus of the many forms of oppression so we can overcome them, as well as a way to practice freedom NOW, rather than relegating it to some distant future.

       Prison has swallowed up millions of people. Those who have been lucky to survive them have problems with housing, jobs, and education, among many other problems stemming from being held captive by the state. Once one has been digested by the state into their prisons, they are forever more targeted for discrimination and further oppression by society. Prisons must be abolished and the only way to end prisons is to destroy the state. Reform is the only outcome of “Prison Movements.” We have to up the ante. We have to make this muthafucka ungovernable.

      “They call us criminals and indeed we are criminals when we act outside of laws made by the state. We are free only when we act outside of laws made by the state.”