Chile.

   

                                                 Image courtesy of NPR.

       The people of that part of the planet that goes by the name of Chile have been fighting on the streets for freedom and justice for some considerable time. The longer the struggle the more brutal the state repression, the more young people get caught up in the mesh of the state's judicial and prison system. No evidence is so inefficient, no evidence is so outlandish for it not to convince the authorities to hold and incarcerate the youth of that land. 

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

Do Not Publish.

            This filming corresponds to a fiction based on information provided by different coordinating committees and popular defenders of the Chilean people, and at the request and need of the relatives and friends of political prisoners in the context of the Revolt. There are more than 1500 children, siblings, nieces, nephews, nephews and friends who have been imprisoned for months and even years. These are some of the «evidences» against them:

I took a selfie in a place near the crime scene.
Their clothing was similar to that of the police cameras.
Bragging posts about actions that occurred during a protest.
Message to bump into a demonstration on the day of the events.
Appears in color in independent press broadcasts live on the day of the events.
Has a tattoo in the same area as the suspect, although the design cannot be distinguished.
On that day the defendant was not at home.
He participates in a soup kitchen and a group from a vulnerable part of town.

             As absurd as it may seem, these are some of the «evidences» that by themselves, according to Chilean justice, can keep you in prison for investigation for YEARS, and in the worst case, serving a sentence.
           «DO NOT PUBLISH» is directed mainly to people active in the street demonstration and related media. «DO NOT PUBLISH» immediately seeks to get the demonstrators to take the security measures they have in their hands. The emphasis is on NOT POSTING content on your social and messaging networks where your appearance, identity and clothing could be ATTRIBUTABLE for direct action and eventual criminal investigation and potential incarceration.
            This post is accompanied by the following clarification both to report the gross amount of forced accusations at the expense of inaccurate and disconnected evidence; and to emphasize how necessary self-care is when you are at a demonstration. And so, the MISTAKES OF THE PAST ARE THE LEARNING OF TODAY AND TOMORROW.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Lies.

          We are facing the worst crush on our standard of living in many a year, a throw back to Victorian times, with all the repercussions that this entails, drastic effects on the health and well being of our children and ourselves, increase in stress and anxiety, an increase in mental health problems also leading to an increase in poverty, destitution and homelessness. We live in one of the richest counties on the planet and our lives are controlled by a rich group of privileged parasites.

                                             Image courtesy of World Socialist Web Site

      We have a Chancellor of the Exchequer who spouts that he understands the hardship the ordinary people are facing, he is lying, he doesn't, he can't possibly know how to juggle with decisions of whether to skip a meal to buy your kid a pair of shoes for the winter, making the decision of whether to turn the heating on or go cold so that you can put food on the table. He lives in a bubble that insulates him from the reality of the ordinary people. This man who states he understands our problems is a multi-millionaire, he and his wife have a personal fortune of around £730 million between them. Last year, his wife, daughter of a billionaire, received approximately £11 million in dividends from her 9% share in her fathers multi-billion pound company. How they can have the audacity to say, they understand our problems, when they don't even know anything about our lives and daily struggles. Two different worlds, one of opulence and excess the other of daily struggle to have a half decent life, with the ever present risk of not making it even to that level.

Image courtesy of The Journal.

       Why do we tolerate this subservience to this bunch of rich, selfish parasites? They need us to make their fortunes for them, we don't need them. We the ordinary people have made everything, distributed everything, but always do it to the dictate of the rich and powerful, all to the advantage of the rich and powerful, why?  

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

The Justice Illusion.

        Prisons, the not too subtle procedure of the state to protect the wealth and privileges of the rich and powerful. Hellholes of brutality, injustice, overcrowding slave labour and inadequate medical facilities. We have them in every country from so called democracies to dictatorships, it makes no difference, the state, no matter what shape or style, will have its array of prisons, backed up by a loaded, in favour of the powerful, judicial system and a brutal police force.

 

         A civilised society can't exist as long as we have the prison system, the two are incompatible. Prison are a barbaric way of keeping the status-quo, they have nothing to do with protecting the public, communities are well able to look after themselves in the interests of the community. In the vast majority of "crimes" the root cause in inequality and injustice, the very things that the prisons are their to perpetuate by keeping society structured the way its and to suit the rich and powerful.

 

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

26 Years A Slave.

       It is impossible to imagine how you would feel if at the age of twenty you were incarcerated in a hellhole of a prison for a crime you did not commit and then spend the next 26 years locked away from public view, proclaiming your innocence, lots of that time in solitary confinement. However, in this state controlled world we live in, these things do happen, sometimes the person never manages to prove their innocence serves their full term, or worse ends their days under the shackles of state incarceration.
       Lots of individuals who do leave prison, are often broken and damaged after their experience, some with that wonderful human resolve, fight to maintain their humanity and succeed, we should honour them and support them all. One day, when we become a civilised species, prisons will be a horrible memory from the distant past.

FROM LACINO HAMILTON:

         My life changed in an instant on September 30, 2020 when a Wayne County circuit court judge apologized for 26 years of wrongful incarceration, and then released me from prison.
         I walked out of the Michigan prison and into a crowd that worked years to prove my innocence. But that was a beginning of sorts. The challenges have been both small and big.
       The small challenges have been things like never having used a cellphone and not knowing what I’m doing. The bigger ones have been things such as re-entry during COVID-19 – with so much shut down or slow or not working.
       While incarcerated, I painfully self-educated and became a social justice activist, organizer and critical thinker. And in between starting life completely over at 46, I’m searching for ways to do the same on this side of the wall.
       I want to continue to be an advocate for justice.
       I’ve come a long way in less than two months due to the assistance of RootsAction and others. But I have so far to go, and counting on the support of the broader community.

Thank you,
Lacino Hamilton

P.S. from the RootsAction Education Fund:

     Through all those years in prison, many of them in solitary, Lacino never gave up or gave in. Now that he’s freed, we need to help amplify his voice so he can educate his fellow citizens about the evils of mass incarceration.
     You can help make that happen with a U.S.-tax-deductible donation of any amount. Please do what you can to support Lacino Hamilton’s advocacy.

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Background:
  Truthout columns by Lacino Hamilton

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