Happy Birthday, Jay Chase!
Please send a card, letter or some books. It means a lot to Jay that people care about him. He has been in segregation for a long time and can use the support.
Write:
Jared Chase
M44710
P.O. Box 99
Pontiac, IL 61764
On Monday, June 12th 2017, we hung a banner at the Old Law School in Komotini as a small sign of solidarity with all long-term anarchist prisoners. We do not forget the comrade Sean Swain.
– Utopia A.D. anarchist squat
in Greek
From Contrainfo
On Sunday June 11 2017, international day in support with long-term anarchist prisoners, we dropped a banner from Themistokleous 58 squat in solidarity with the comrade Michael Kimble, incarcerated in Holman prison, Alabama.
Michael Kimble is a gay black anarchist serving a life sentence for taking out a white homophobic racist. Even though he has being held captive for three decades, Michael keeps resisting the everyday imprisonment by all means necessary, and also propagates violent rupture with all Power.
With this banner we send him back some of the strength we get whenever we read his incendiary texts. Hold strong, comrade: your ideas and determination reverberate to the other side of the ocean.
NO PEACE WITH THE PRISON-SOCIETY!
Chaoten
in Greek
From Kite Line
This week on Kite Line we feature Arianna Staiger, daughter of Marius Mason, an anarchist prisoner who used to live and organize in Bloomington. Ariana speaks about how she experienced Marius’ arrest and persecution, her thoughts on ongoing support and about June 11, a day set aside every year to support and honor Marius and other long-term anarchist prisoners. Before starting with Ariana, we’d like to share a selection from Daniel McGowan’s recent interview about June 11. Daniel helped organize the first June 11 in 2004 before he himself was arrested for environmental sabotage, including actions against genetic engineering.
The June 11th tradition was initiated in 2004 to mark the anniversary of eco-prisoner Jeffrey Luers’ arrest. He was sentenced to 22 years after he burned 3 SUVs in protest against the fossil fuel industry, an action which hurt no one. Jeff won his release in 2009 but the day continues as an annual reminder of the anarchists prisoners serving the longest sentences for acts of sabotage and conscience. We will include a link to the history of June 11 on our website.
We’ve received updates from Joseph about the situation for him with vegan food and mail delays as he continues to be in the SHU at FCI Victorville:
Since being held at Victorville, my repeated requests for vegan meals have been ignored. On the prison compound, I can subsist on the few vegan options available on commissary, which is not available to SHU inmates. “Requests to Staff,” to Food Service, Religious Services, and Medical, as well as the Warden were all ignored. It took weeks of requests to acquire an administrative remedy form, which was never responded to, in violation of B.O.P. policy.
I can’t speak to other federal facilities, but Victorville does not offer vegan meals. Attempts were made to accommodate my diet at Lompoc, but here I’m only given a “no flesh” tray for lunch and dinner, often a soy dish with cheese, and non-vegan sides like coleslaw or mashed potatoes. Even the physician’s assistant commented on the fact that I’ve lost 20 pounds since my placement in the SHU.
Fernando Bárcenas is an anarchist political prisoner in Mexico. Earlier this week, he learned he must pay a 35,500 peso (1,950 USD) fine imposed during his sentencing by Friday, June 9 or have his imprisonment extended for 550 days. Let’s ensure he doesn’t spend one more day locked up.
Donate to the crowdfunding site!
Fernando Bárcenas is a 22-year-old anarchist who has been imprisoned by the Mexican state since December 13, 2013 and is serving a six-year sentence. He was arrested at a protest against fare hikes to Mexico City’s subway system during which a Coca-Cola Christmas tree was burned.
He was also fined 35,500 pesos and just learned from his lawyers that he must pay that fine by Friday, June 9 (in two days!) or face an additional 550 days locked inside.
In coordination with the Anarchist Black Cross-Mexico, we are attempting to urgently raise the needed funds to ensure this comrade does not spend anymore time behind bars.
Fernando has been extremely active organizing inside the prison. He started the Cimarrón Collective, a group of prisoners organizing autonomously that holds writing, painting, tattooing, yoga and health care workshops, has an anarchist library, is forming a community radio station and even has a punk band. More can be read about the collective’s work here.
As Fernando says, “We as anarchists can do work in society, whatever society we find ourselves in. Right now, I’m in prison and I’m going to do work here.” As such, he has consistently fought against the conditions inside Mexican prisons, going on four separate hunger strikes – including one in solidarity with the national prisoner strike in the US in 2016.
IGD has published many of Fernando’s writings in English here.
Fernando has shown no hesitation to act in solidarity with others. Now it is upon us to be in solidarity with him. If you are able, please contribute what you can. If you cannot make a donation, please spread the word widely.
Note: While the fine must be paid by June 9, we are running this campaign through June 17. Any additional funds will go to paying back people who have lent money so the fine may be paid on time. If funds beyond that are raised, we will approach you to either return your money or if your prefer, to send it along to support anarchist prisoners in Mexico.
From June 11th
For me communication with comrades on the outside of these prison walls has been key in keeping me on point and sane in this artificial world of all-pervasive domination. We anarchists are not immune to the blues and the sometimes-attractive pull of resignation in the face of dizzying odds.
Communication means more than receiving letters and publications. It means survival. It means resistance. It means saving lives on the margins of prison society.
Through communication and acts of solidarity I have been able to save the lives of queer and non-queer prisoners whose life was threatened because of debts, and yes, drugs for the sick, with funds sent to me by comrades on more than one occasion. Without communication none of this would have been possible.
Communication has allowed me and many others to create projects that “aim toward the destruction of this social order – that is to say an insurrectional anarchist projectuality.”
The point of this brief statement is my attempt to show how far and extensive communication extends for those of us anarchists being held in these man-made tombs.
Communication now needs to extend to the pigs of capital and authority – that no longer will their oppressive, authoritarian and brutal acts go unpunished. Let’s communicate that!
Dare to struggle!
Dare to be free!
From June 11th
As humans, we are the lucky beneficiaries of three biological developments that greatly contribute to our long-term survivability. The first one is the structure of our jaw which is conducive to eating meat and taking in proteins that non-meat-eating mammals don’t get. That’s the only one of the three that’s irrelevant to the discussion.
The second of the top three biological developments that contribute to our long-term survivability is our cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the outer-most layer of the brain, and is principally responsible for conceptual thought. Because of our cerebral cortex, we can imagine things that we cannot see. We can conceive of stuff we did not experience. Continue reading
JUNE 9, 2017
7pm
Boxcar Books
408 E. 6th St
For the June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners, we’ll be showing Peter Miller’s 2006 documentary on militant anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti.
The film explores the background to the trail (and eventual murder by the state) of Sacco and Vanzetti, positioning it within its context of widespread state repression against immigrants and radicals, ever-present labor struggles, and militant direct action against the state and capitalism by anarchist insurgents. It’s essential viewing for anyone who wants to look beyond the conventional narrative of Sacco and Vanzetti as simple “victims of the state” and instead understand that they were engaged in war on all forms of state power and economic exploitation.
Afterwards, we’ll write to anarchist prisoners held captive throughout the United States.
We’ll have hundreds of free zines, posters, handbills, and stickers related to June 11th and solidarity with anarchist prisoners.
From June 11th
The June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners is just around the corner!
We’ve uploaded a bunch of new zines, posters, and flyers to our site to help anyone looking to host informational events or cover their town with the names and faces of our imprisoned fighters.
