According to an update we received from the ‘Relatives–Friends of prisoners and prosecuted fighters’, Evi Statiri (currently hospitalised) is soon to be released from prison, though with the provision of the strictest restrictive conditions.
As of today, September 30th 2015, we participate in the mobilisation of prisoners throughout Greece (at the prisons of Trikala, Domokos, Grevena, and the women’s and men’s prisons of Koridallos in Athens) for the immediate RELEASE of Evi Statiri, wife of political prisoner-member of the Cells of Fire Gerasimos Tsakalos.
Evi has already been admitted to the General State Hospital of Nikaia, having entered her 16th day on hunger strike.
Solely responsible for her life are the justice minister — who enacted an amendment-scrap of paper for the cessation of prosecution against relatives of inmates, which nevertheless remains inactive — as well as the judicial council where the request for Evi’s release has been filed – who are procrastinating at the expense of her constantly deteriorating health.
Until Evi is released from prison, we refuse the midday lock-up and count in our cells.
Initiative of Political Prisoners
Koridallos Prisons Underground Annex [*]
September 30th 2015
[*] basement in Koridallos women’s prison, a special high-security unit for men where those convicted as members of armed revolutionary organisations, including anarchist comrades, are being held separately from the general population of inmates
Read the full article HERE:On September 23rd, prisoners in the administrative detention unit at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois declared a hunger strike in response to the administration’s continued unwillingness to respond to their demands for relief from their conditions of long-term solitary confinement. See below for their list of demands and description of their conditions. This strike is a continuation of a series of hunger strikes by the prisoners there, which began in January 2014.
Our core demands are:
· We demand an end to long term solitary confinement.
We demand minimum due process at Administrative Detention Review Hearings by providing inmates with written reasons, including new information relied upon, for Committee’s decision for our continued placement in A.D. and be allowed to grieve all adverse decisions. As it stands, the basis of the Committee’s votes are kept secret.
We demand more access to outside recreation for the sake of our physical and mental health. As it stands, we are confined indefinitely to these cages for 6 days out of the week, with the exception of one 5-hour day. This is unbearable.
We demand that meaningful educational programs be implemented to encourage our mental stability, rehabilitation, and social development for the sake of ourselves and our communities that we will one day return to.
We demand access to more visiting privileges. For most of our families traveling to Menard is like traveling to another state. Considering the distance, 2-hour visits behind plexiglass is insufficient. We should be allowed 5 or 6 hours. Moreover, our family members, including inmates, should be provided the human dignity and decency to purchase food items and refreshments from vending machines after traveling such great distances. This would benefit one’s social development, as well as benefit prison staff environment.
We ask the public’s help by calling the warden, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, and the Governor on September 23, 2015, and so forth, to check on our welfare.
Warden Kimberly Butler, 618-826-5071
Menard Correctional Center
711 Kaskaskia Street
Menard, IL 62259
Director John Baldwin, 217-558-2200
Illinois Department of Corrections
1301 Concordia Court
P. O. Box 19277
Springfield, IL 52794-9277
Governor Bruce Rauner, 217-782-0244
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
We will stay on [hunger strike] as long as possible in order to hopefully bring some change to our conditions. We thank you for any kind of support you can give us.
A huge banner reading "Refugees Welcome Home" is draped across the front of a derelict building in Exarchia, Athens – a district that's generally regarded as the spiritual home to the city's anarchist movement. On Tuesday morning, members of the Anti-authoritarian Movement Athens (AK) occupied a former university dining hall, with the aim of transforming it into a temporary residence for refugees. They want to fix up the space and make it fit to accommodate refugee and migrant families arriving in Athens.Read the full article HERE:
Crossing a rubble-strewn courtyard, I entered the building to find members of AK making plans for an open meeting later that day. They offered to show me around and explained that before any refugees can be housed, they'll need to work together to clean, disinfect and make the place habitable. The truth is that it'll take a hell of a lot of time and effort because at the moment it's just a building site. The three floors are vast and empty. The ground level consists of a sort of living room, plus what's left of the old kitchen and bathrooms. The first and second floor will accommodate the families, while there are also plans to turn the basement into a storage area. Once complete, it's estimated that the building will accommodate up to 200 people.
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smileThe short and simple annals of the poor.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vaultThe pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
Can storied urn or animated bustBack to its mansion call the fleeting breath?Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laidSome heart once pregnant with celestial fire;Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample pageRich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,And froze the genial current of the soul.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breastThe little tyrant of his fields withstood;Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.
Hi there: Several different groups from Glasgow are planning to take things to Calais in the week starting Monday 12th October so we are having one last push to collect donations to take.
WE NO LONGER NEED ANY MORE CLOTHES - thank you to everyone who has donated clothes but we have been overwhelmed and have more than enough. The clothes are being sorted and some will be donated to charities in Glasgow, others will be sold on to raise funds to help pay for taking things to Calais. A lot of the clothes are going to be sent by container to refugee camps in the Lebanon and elsewhere.
CAN YOU HELP PREPARE THE CAMP IN CALAIS FOR THE COMING WINTER BY
DONATING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING?
- saws,
- hammers,
- screwdrivers,
- crow-bars,
- boltcutters,
- spades
- pickaxes,
- work gloves
- nails and screws,
- wood burners
- camping gas cookers
- cooking pots [not crockery or cutlery please]
- water containers,
- candles,
- tents,
- tarpaulins
- plastic sheeting
- sleeping bags
- blankets.
- Push bikes
Donations can be dropped off at the St Pauls Building opposite Strathclyde Student Union, 90 John Street G1 1JH MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS & FRIDAYS from 4pm - 7pm.
PLEASE HELP FUND US
We're also looking to raise money to cover the cost of an extra van from Glasgow. If you can help support us please make a donation to the Calais Solidarity Mission
https://www.indiegogo.com/…/solidarity-mission-to-calais-ca…
Thanks!
America is a 'Leader' in Child PovertyThe sad and horrific conditions of the citizens of the wealthiest country in the world goes on, in every aspect of their lives, poverty overwhelms them in the midst of opulence.
The U.S. has one of the highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world. As UNICEF reports, "[Children's] material well-being is highest in the Netherlands and in the four Nordic countries and lowest in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the United States." Over half of public school students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies, and almost half of black children under the age of six are living in poverty. With 32.2 percent of children living below this line, the U.S. ranks 36th out of the 41 wealthy countries included in the UNICEF report. By contrast, only 5.3 percent of Norwegian kids currently meet this definition of poverty.
Nevertheless, other measures of child well-being tend to confirm what the high childhood poverty rate suggests: According to a UNICEF report on 29 similarly affluent countries, American children rank 25th in safety, 27th in education, and 23rd in housing and environment, among other metrics. These results are less open to charges of political bias; the education ranking, for example, bases its findings mostly on school participation rates and international test scores.
Los Angeles just realized it has a ginormous Skid Row problem and is galloping to the rescue with alleged plans to help the homeless. Bizarrely, this happened right after a devastating L.A. Weekly article detailed just how hideous things there are now. I guess the article shamed the city into doing something.
Skid Row in Los Angeles is so dangerous and disease-ridden that Union Rescue Mission workers are afraid to eat lunch at nearby restaurants and its CEO is now confined to a wheelchair due to bacterial infections he got from walking around the area. It’s at least as bad as diseased third world cities.
I lived in L.A. for years so pardon my skepticism, but I’m guessing the plan involves chasing the homeless out of the Skid Row, sterilizing and fumigating the area, then gentrifying it. Sure, housing for homeless might help some of them. However many homeless prefer living on the street and the plans don’t involve looking at roots causes, like what caused them to be homeless and, often, addicted to something. It’ll be out of sight, out of mind. The homeless will go elsewhere.
Andy Bales, the CEO now in a wheelchair, says “conditions on Skid Row are worse than they have ever been in the 11 years I’ve been here and I would venture to say that they are the worst and the most violent and the most lawless they have ever been.” He had a blister that became infected with E. coli, staph,, and strep while walking around, even though wearing a special boot. It quickly became hideously infected.
The shockingly unsanitary conditions found on Skid Row are rarely seen outside the Third World. In 2013, public health officials discovered a strain of tuberculosis believed unique to the area. And while all this makes just walking down the street dangerous, for diabetics and other people with compromised immune systems, it can be deadly.
Remember the secret corporate courts that allow corporations to sue governments for protecting their citizens?
Following pressure from thousands of people like you from across Europe, the European Commission has now admitted that these courts are bad in their current form. However, the EU now wants to sign a lesser-known toxic trade agreement leaving our government open to huge law suits for things like raising the minimum wage or stopping fracking.
Take action now to stop the corporate courts.
Today is one year since the EU and Canada finished negotiating the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). Our elected representatives in the EU parliament will vote on CETA next year. We need to remind them that as they have already rejected secret corporate courts, they will also have to reject CETA.
Tell your Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) it’s time to reject CETA now.
CETA is TTIP's little brother. It poses major threats to our public services, local jobs, the environment, and to the safety of our food. We’re facing raft of dangerous trade deals, and as CETA is the furthest progressed, it is vital we stop this toxic deal.
Best wishes
Guy Taylor
Global Justice Now trade campaigner
