Sanyika Shakur, August Third Collective, On July 1 Hunger Strike

Print PDF

Due to the recent strike, i only received this letter dated June 13 a few days ago:

i was given an indeterminate SHU term in 1989, for being a threat to the institutional security. The CDC cited writings i had from Comrade-Brotha George, exercising in military fashion with known revolutionaries & conducting joint military manoeuvres with other formations in the New Afrikan Independence Movement. i came up for an “inactive” review in 2008, but the political police said my name was found on a roster of known & active members of various formations in the cell of a New Afrikan on San Quentin’s death row. For this & writing “Black August” in a letter, i was given an additional six years in the SHU, on an indeterminate status. i have, like others in the SHU class, stood firm thru it all & will continue to do so until i am no more. We of the August Third Collective of the New Afrikan Independence Movement will join in & support the July 1st hungerstrike in resistance to the draconian treatment meted out against all SHU prisoners.

Rebuild!
Sanyika Shakur, August Third Collective

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Video to Support the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike!

Print PDF

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Pelican Bay Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike to Protest Grave Conditions: Lawyers, Advocates, Organizations Hold Press Conference, Voice Prisoner Demands

Print PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—June 29, 2011

Press Contact: Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director, Critical Resistance
Office: 510 444 0484
Cell: 510 517 6612



What: Press Conference
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:00am
Where: Elihu M. Harris State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland, CA

Oakland—Prisoners at the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, CA will initiate an indefinite hunger strike on July 1st, 2011 to protest condition in the prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU). Lawyers and advocates who have been in contact with the prisoners will hold a press conference Thusday June 30th at the Oakland Federal Building, at 11am to rally support for the strike and put pressure on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to respond to the prisoners’ demands. Prisoners have delivered their demands to Pelican Bay warden Greg Lewis, the CDCR, and to Governor Jerry Brown. Their demands include an end to long-term solitary confinement, collective punishment, and forced interrogation on gang affiliation. The prisoners have also stated that they are willing to give up their lives unless their demands are met.

"The prisoners inside the SHU at Pelican Bay know the risk that they are taking going on hunger strike,” says Manuel LaFontaine, of All of Us or None, an organization that supports former prisoners and part of a Bay Area-based Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition supporting Pelican Bay’s prisoners. La Fontaine continues, “The CDCR must recognize that the SHU produces conditions of grave violence, such that people lose their lives in there all the time." U.S. and international human rights organizations have condemned Security Housing Units as having cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions. SHU prisoners are kept in windowless, 6 by 10 foot cells, 23½ hours a day, for years at a time. The CDCR operates four Security Housing Units in its system at Corcoran,California Correctional Institution, Valley State Prison for Women as well as Pelican Bay.

Recent work and hunger strikes in Georgia and Ohio prisons were successful in both winning some concessions and alerting the public to the conditions inside US prisons. "People who are in prison are already being punished. They are still human beings and should not have to lose their civil and human rights" says Karen Shain, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.

Pelican Bay’s hunger strike begins amidst the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling condemning California’s prison overcrowding and order the reduction of its population by at least 33,000 people. At the center of the overcrowding ruling were dozens of prisoner deaths a year due to the lack of basic medical and other healthcare. Thursday’s Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity press conference will touch off several events happening in cities across North America in the coming weeks.

Legal workers, advocates, and experts on the California prison system will be available for comment and interviews.

###

for more information: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Unlock the Box at the Maison Norman Bethune, July 1

Print PDF

This Friday July 1 in Montreal the comrades from the Maison Norman Bethune (the PCR/RCP's bookstore) will be hosting a film screening of Unlock the Box, a documentary about isolation torture and control units in the united states.

The film is in english, though there will be whisper translation into French, followed by a discussion of events being organized in Montreal to support the California prisoners' hunger strike.

The Maison Norman Bethune's announcement is reposted here in French, and below that you can see a clip from the film:

Dans le cadre des Rendez-vous de la Maison Norman Bethune:
Grève de la faim à la Pelican Bay State Prison: À bas l’isolement carcéral!

Le 1er juillet prochain, en Californie, entre 50 et 100 prisonniers de la Security Housing Unit (SHU), Corridor D, à la Pelican Bay State Prison, vont entamer une grève de la faim indéfinie. Ils protesteront ainsi contre les conditions de détention inhumaines qu’on leur impose, notamment le recours systématique à l’isolement carcéral. Pour l’occasion, nous présenterons un documentaire, Unlock the Box (Reel Soldiers Production, version originale anglaise avec traduction chuchotée), qui expose justement la lutte contre l’isolement carcéral. Nous annoncerons également les actions de solidarité avec la grève de la faim qui auront lieu dans la région de Montréal.

Le vendredi 1er juillet à 19h00
1918, rue Frontenac
Montréal (métro Frontenac)

Entrée libre • Info: 514 563-1487

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Kersplebedeb Publishing Responds to Pelican Bay Ban on Defying the Tomb

Print PDF

On April 5, K.L. McGuyer, Associate Warden of the Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit, mailed a letter to Kersplebedeb Publishing informing us that Defying the Tomb: Selected Prison Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson featuring Exchanges with an Outlaw, was now being deemed contraband at Pelican Bay.

The letter (which was mailed to the wrong address, and that we only received on May 27), explained that this was due to alleged promotion of “gang activities”.


According to CCR, Title 15, Section 3000, Definitions:

Gang means any ongoing formal or informal organization, association or group of three or more persons which has a common name or identifying sign or symbol whose members and/or associates, individually or collectively, engage or have engaged, on behalf of that organization, association or group, in two or more acts which include, planning, organizing, threatening, financing, soliciting, or committing unlawful acts or acts of misconduct classified as serious pursuant section 3315.

Having reviewed the aforementioned Section 3315, Kersplebedeb Publishing is challenging this ruling as is our right under CCR, Title 15, Section 3137. (For these and all other regulations referred to here, see California Code of Regulations Title 15. Crime Prevention and Corrections.)

The only “formal or informal organization, association or group of three or more persons” which Defying the Tomb might be said to promote is the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, and this organization has not engaged in “two or more acts which include, planning, organizing, threatening, financing, soliciting, or committing unlawful acts or acts of misconduct classified as serious pursuant section 3315.”

As such, the New Afrikan Black Panther Party does not meet the CDCR's own definition of a gang. In order to appreciate the nature of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, and the fact that it does not constitute a “gang” under the CDCR's regulations, consider the following quote by the author of Defying the Tomb, Keven “Rashid” Johnson:

In 2005, I co-founded the New Afrikan Black Panther Party/White Panther Organization, a non-violent, legal and above-ground party whose focus is on promoting the interests and human rights, in strictly legal forms, of sectors of the U.S. population whose needs and interests are ignored, and who are not represented, by the ‘established’ political – economic system – especially poor, working class and imprisoned Blacks.

The NABPP/WPO specifically opposes criminal activities, ‘street gang’ mentalities and behaviors, violence (except in the extremes of self-defense), all forms of discrimination (racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, national, etc.) and all forms of oppression. We also promote the right to free, open and honest speech. Our orientation, ideologies, and views have been and are elaborated in our various periodicals and publications; many of them I authored.

The above quote is from Rashid’s essay “Racial and Political Persecution of Grassroots Black Political leaders and Activists”.

Accusing people of belonging to a “gang” has become a convenient way to deprive those people of the ability to communicate, to develop politically/intellectually/culturally, and to pursue what are supposed to be their rights under the system's laws. Many people are understandably fearful of the violence and mayhem associated with many criminal organizations, and these fears are exploited by institutions such as the "California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation" (sic!) in order to justify clamping down on any collective activity, accusing those they don’t like of being members of “gangs” whether or not this is true. Perhaps not so coincidentally, this works to isolate these people from their communities, further eroding the ties of solidarity that exist between poor and oppressed people, leading to an increase in atomization and antisocial violence which in turn makes these communities all the more vulnerable to actual criminal organizations and oppressors operating on both sides of the law.

In other words, repression of “gangs” serves as a fig leaf for the repression of any collective action or organization by the oppressed that does not suit the plans of the oppressor. This dynamic exists in oppressed communities throughout the united states, but like most oppressive dynamics it appears in its most concentrated form within the prison system.

As even the system's own Associate u.s. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black pointed out in Barenblatt v. U.S. (360 U.S. 109, ISO(1959) (dissenting opinion)):

History should teach us… that… minority parties and groups which advocate extremely unpopular social or governmental innovations will always be typed as criminal gangs and attempts will always be made to drive them out.

Indeed, the CDCR's use of the “gang” label to censor political materials and repress political organizations directly contradicts one of their own rules, CCR, Title 15, Section 3004(c):

Inmates, parolees and employees will not subject other persons to any form of discrimination because of race, religion, nationality, sex, political belief, age, or physical or mental handicap.

Specifically, Pelican Bay's use of the term “gang” to describe the New Afrikan Black Panther Party discriminates on the basis of political belief.

For this reason, we will be appealing Pelican Bay's decision and requesting that the designation of Defying the Tomb as contraband be withdrawn, and that the implied designation of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party as a gang be similarly withdrawn. Failing that, we will be asking that Pelican Bay detail which “unlawful acts or acts of misconduct classified as serious pursuant section 3315” they are using to justify this designation.

This kerfuffle over a book that we published last year occurs just as prisoners at the Pelican Bay SHU are inspiring us all as they prepare to go on an historic hunger strike this July 1. Censorship of political materials is just one of so many ways in which the prison authorities attempt to isolate prisoners. We strongly urge people to learn more about this hunger strike, and if possible to organize solidarity actions in your area. For more information, see the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition's blog at http://www.prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/ or contact them by telephone at 510-444-0484.

For more information about Kevin "Rashid" Johnson and the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter) see: http://rashidmod.com/

Order copies of Defying the Tomb from Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks.net or from AK Press.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

David Gilbert Transferred

Print PDF

David Gilbert has been transferred to Auburn prison; his new address is:

David Gilbert, 83A6158

Auburn Correctional Facility

PO box 618

Auburn NY 13021

David is a North American political prisoner. The Civil Rights struggle of the 60s exposed him to the sham of US democracy and embodied the beauty of collective struggle. In 1965 he started the Vietnam Committee at Columbia University in NY and became a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) there. In 1967, David authored the first SDS pamphlet on US Imperialism and participated in the Columbia Strike of 1968. After about 5 years of organizing in the above ground movement, David joined the revolutionary underground, spending a total of 10 years living clandestinely, actively resisting imperialism with arms. On October 20, 1981, he and other comrades were captured at Nyack, NY during an attempted expropriation by a unit of the Black Liberation Army working with white revolutionaries (subsequently known as the Revolutionary Armed Task Force- RATF). During the expropriation attempt, one Brinks guard and two police officers were killed. Charged and convicted of felony murder, David is serving a 75 year (minimum) to life sentence.

While in prison, David has been actively involved in the struggle against AIDS, and has remained a staunch opponent of oppression still dedicated to human liberation. He is also a longtime advisor and collaborator in the annual Certain Days Free Political Prisoners Calendar project.

A book of David's writings, No Surrender, was published by Abraham Guillen Press in David's memoirs, Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground and Beyond, is due to be published by PM Press in December.

For an incomplete collection of David's writings, see the page devoted to him on Kersplebedeb.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

June 4: Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair

Print PDF

i've meant to table at every Hamilton bookfair so far, but there's been a variety of events and calamities that have always interfered ... but not this year! Finally it seems like we'll be able to be there, tabling for Kersplebedeb and PM Press too ...

if you're in Southern Ontario, make sure to drop by and say hello!

Saturday, June 4th 2011
10am-5pm
51 Stuart Street
Hamilton, Ontario
Free Lunch and Free Childcare
hamiltonbookfair@gmail.com

As the organizers say:

The 4th annual Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair is right around the corner — are you coming? It’s happening this Saturday, June 4th!

We want you all to come. It’ll be fun, promise! Together, we’ll talk all about what’s terrible, and how we might wanna fix it. We’ll sit side by side, and be glad to share our intensity, our dreams, and our relentless passion — I’m sure we’ll find that we have a lot to learn from each other! There will be over 27 vendors with books and literature, 8 workshops and discussions; and of course, free lunch and all-day childcare. For more details about the workshops, look under the ‘Workshops’ tab for an updated list.

See you Saturday!
big love, The Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair Collective

Here's the finalized Schedule:

10 to 11am: Welcome! (and coffee)

11 to 12:30: Workshops!
+ Solidaity Networks // with Steel City Solidarity – JCC Rm. 9
+ Deepening Our Strength: Radical Spirituality Discussion – JCC Rm. 3
+ Tech Security // with ATS (Anarchist Tech Support) – WAHC Rm. 1

12:30 to 1:30: LUNCH!

1:30 to 3:00: Workshops!
+ Film Screening: “CopWatch: These Streets Are Watching.” // with Hamilton Copwatch – WAHC Rm. 1
+ Anarchist-Indigenous Solidarity // With the Six Nations Solidarity Network – JCC Rm. 3

3:15 to 4:45: Workshops!
+ Intro to Anarchism – WAHC Rm. 1
+ Knowing the Land is Resistance // with the KLR Collective – JCC Rm. 3
+ Anti-Gentrification Radical Walking Tour – WAHC Rm. tba

Here is a Map of bookfair locations and other useful stuff for out of towners, if you have any questions the organizers can be emailed at hamiltonbookfair@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Pelican Bay Prisoners Set to Hunger Strike July 1

Print PDF

On July 1, 2011, between 50 and 100 prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), Corridor D, are going on an indefinite hunger strike. The D corridor (also known as the "short" corridor) has the highest level of restricted incarceration in the state of California and among the most severe conditions in the united states. The rules of their confinement are extremely harsh in order to force them to "debrief" or offer up information about criminal or prison gang activity of other prisoners. Most inmates in the SHU are not members or associates of prison gangs, as the PBSP staff claims, and even those who are put their lives and the lives of their families and other prisoners at risk if they debrief.

Using conditions of severe mental and physical harm in order to force prisoners into confessing is torture! Many debriefers simply make up information about other prisoners just to escape the isolation units. This misinformation is then used to validate other prisoners as members or associates of prison gangs who in reality have nothing to do whatsoever with gang activity.

These are the five core demands of the hunger-striking prisoners:

1. Eliminate group punishments. Instead, practice individual accountability. When an individual prisoner breaks a rule, the prison often punishes a whole group of prisoners of the same race. This policy has been applied to keep prisoners in the SHU indefinitely and to make conditions increasingly harsh.
2. Abolish the debriefing policy and modify active/inactive gang status criteria. Prisoners are accused of being active or inactive participants of prison gangs using false or highly dubious evidence, and are then sent to longterm isolation (SHU). They can escape these tortuous conditions only if they "debrief," that is, provide information on gang activity. Debriefing produces false information (wrongly landing other prisoners in SHU, in an endless cycle) and can endanger the lives of debriefing prisoners and their families.
3. Comply with the recommendations of the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons (2006) regarding an end to longterm solitary confinement. This bipartisan commission specifically recommended to "make segregation a last resort" and "end conditions of isolation." Yet as of May 18, 2011, California kept 3,259 prisoners in SHUs and hundreds more in Administrative Segregation waiting for a SHU cell to open up. Some prisoners have been kept in isolation for more than thirty years.
4. Provide adequate food. Prisoners report unsanitary conditions and small quantities of food that do not conform to prison regulations. There is no accountability or independent quality control of meals.
5. Expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates. The hunger strikers are pressing for opportunities “to engage in self-help treatment, education, religious and other productive activities..." Currently these opportunities are routinely denied, even if the prisoners want to pay for correspondence courses themselves. Examples of privileges the prisoners want are: one phone call per week, and permission to have sweatsuits and watch caps. (Often warm clothing is denied, though the cells and exercise cage can be bitterly cold.) All of the privileges mentioned in the demands are already allowed at other SuperMax prisons (in the federal prison system and other states).

This widespread hunger strike has the potential to become the most significant event in California prison reform in the last decade. Public support is crucial. Outside support work for the July 1st hunger strike is being coordinated by California Prison Focus, which works to abolish the California prison system in its present condition. Members of CFP travel regularly to Pelican Bay and Corcoran state prisons to uncover and disseminate information on the current conditions prisoners must endure.

California Prison Focus
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 507
Oakland, CA 94612

email: contact@prisons.org
web: http://www.prisons.org

The hunger strike will predictably be met with a media whiteout, and it is our responsibility on the outside to make this untenable for the powers that be. We can do this by carrying out solidarity actions - pickets, demonstrations, banner-drops or whatever - to make this news. It is an obscene sign of where things are at that these people will be putting their lives on the live with this hunger-strike, and yet it will be far less risky or heavy actions on the outside that will either provide the context in which this struggle will succeed - or not.

One prisoner had written asking people to organize candlelight vigils on July 1st, while organizers from California have suggested that July 9th might be the best day to organize public rallies of support - one way or another, though, everyone should be thinking of doing something, and proceeding accordingly.

Here in canada, support work around prisoners often ends up focusing on situations (like this one) in the united states, and this can seem odd. In fact, in some ways it is odd. But there is a reason for this odd situation; while all prisons are instruments of mass oppression, the u.s. prison system is unique in both its scope and its intensity, and constitutes a laboratory for all those sciences intended to destroy human beings, the cutting edge of state repression, whose lethal lessons are then exported around the world.

We can see what this means when we look at California, whose state population is roughly the same as that of Canada, but whose prison population is over five times as large. Within this capitalist tumor which is the u.s. prison system, isolation-torture represents the cutting edge of social control, intended to destroy prisoners without leaving any physical evidence of harm. On any given day there are tens of thousands of people subjected to such torturous conditions in the u.s. gulags.


Here in canada, the new Harper majority government is planning on accelerating the trend of importing elements of the u.s. prison-industrial complex. Supporting the Pelican Bay prisoners resistance to torture and isolation is not separate from building our own resistance to the spread of this new form of human subjugation here and around the world.


i've put together a page of information about this hunger strike on the Kersplebedeb website, including all the key documents, agit prop materials, and background information that i could find. You can visit it here.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

This Weekend: Montreal Anarchist Bookfair!

Print PDF

The bestest and biggest radical bookfair in North America, and i'm lucky enough that it happens in my town. Come and say hi and check out the books at this year's bookfair!


MAY 21-22, 10am-5pm
at the CEDA,
2515 rue Delisle
(a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro)
FREE. Welcome to all! Bring your kids!

For anarchists and people curious about anarchism.

Main Hall, Kid Zone, Introductions to Anarchism, Workshops and Presentations, Autonomous Media and Technology Room, Anarchist Film Room, Kids Zone, Anarchist Cabaret, Festival of Anarchy and more.

Participants from all over Quebec and North America, booksellers and vendors, workshops, films, discussions, kids activities, art exhibits and more!

NOTE: During this year’s Bookfair, tabling will take place over TWO DAYS: May 21-22 between 10am-5pm.

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair — and month-long Festival of Anarchy — bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation.

The Bookfair is for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as well as a space for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome.

The Bookfair is organized in a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. Together we share a commitment to promoting anarchism through the values of mutual aid, grassroots democracy, direct action, autonomy and solidarity, while opposing oppression in all its forms.

The Bookfair and Festival of Anarchy provide an important gathering and reference point for anti-authoritarian ideas and practice in North America.

What Happens at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair? Read more here: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/about/what-happens-at-the-bookfair

Accessibility Statement: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/accessibility


WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Introductions to Anarchism – SATURDAY, MAY 21

* 1pm: Anarchism without Anarchists / Anarchism with Anarchists: The Practice and Relevance of Anarchism (Jaggi Singh)
* 1pm: Discovering Anarchism Through Music (Philippe Morin)

Introductions to Anarchism – SUNDAY, MAY 22

* 1pm: Wage Labour and Alienation: An Anarchist Critique of Work (Camille Robert)
* 1pm: Embracing Brazen Laziness: Introduction to Anarchism (Adrienne Hurley)

Workshops & Presentations – SATURDAY, MAY 22

* 11am: The importance of struggle at the workplace (Industrial Workers of the World)
* 11am: Transforming Harm: Supporting Survivors and Confronting Sexual Assault in Our Communities (SACOMSS & Philly Stands Up)
* 11am: Oppose and Propose! Lessons from Movement for a New Society (Andrew Cornell)
* 12pm: Anarchist Writers Bloc Workshop (Anarchist Writers Bloc-Montreal)
* 1pm: Anarchist responses to “austerity” measures (l’Union communiste libertaire and others)
* 1pm: Social struggles in Indigenous communities of South America (Mapuche Support Committee and Nicolas Van Caloen)
* 3pm: An Introduction to Animal Liberation & Anarchism: How Animal Liberation Attacks the Roots of the Capitalist System (Love & Rage Liberation Collective)
* 3pm: Orwell, the Anarchist-Tory (Eric Martin)
* 3pm: Support and Self-Defence in the Face of State Repression: The example of the G20 in Toronto & Montreal (La Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes, CLAC)
* 3pm: Contemporary Anarchist Perspectives: Introduction to Contemporary Anarchisms (Christian)

Workshops & Presentations – SUNDAY, MAY 22

* 11am: Anti-authoritarian perspectives on the ongoing revolutions from the gulf to the ocean: Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain,Libya, Iran, Iraq, Palestine (Tadamon! Montreal)
* 11am: Lessons in Solidarity: The Oscar Grant rebellions and the movement against police terror in Oakland, CA. (Oakland 100 Support Committee)
* 11am: Physical Proximity, Neighbourhood Life and Anarchist Struggles: The Experience of la Pointe Libertaire (La Pointe Libertaire)
* 12pm: Towards an International Anarchist Gathering in St. Imier (Switzerland) in 2012 (La coopérative Espace noir)
* 1pm: Philosophy is child’s play! (Louise Caroline Bergeron, Mubeenah Mughal & Marike Reid-Gaudet)
* 1pm: Round-table: 10 years after the Summit of the Americas: What impact on anarchists? (Hélène Nazon, Maxime Fortin, Sarita Ahooja and others)
* 1pm: The Struggle for Reproductive Autonomy: From underground abortion collectives to the fight to decriminalize sex work (Emily Davidson & Kaley Kennedy) – Women & trans only
* 3pm: Anarchism, Colonialism, and Aboriginal Dispossession in the Canadian West (Paul Burrows)
* 3pm: Fifty Years of Struggle Against Police Brutality in Montreal, Fifteen March 15 Demonstrations, New Strategies Against the Oppressive State? (Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière, COBP)
* 3pm: Todos Somos Japon and Planetary Anarchism (Go Hirasawa, Adrienne Hurley & Sabu Kohso)
* 3pm: Parole Sans Parole (the termite collective)
* 3pm: Decolonizing our Solidarity (Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie, PASC) [More...]

Workshops and presentations will take place on BOTH Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, from 11am-5pm. Workshops will take place either in French or English or are bilingual. There is whisper translation available into French or English for every workshop.

This year there will be four introductory style workshops for people who are new to, or curious about, anarchism and anarchist ideas and practice. The other workshops (20 in total) go in greater depth into various currents of anarchism and issues facing anarchists. There is also a space for the Anarchist Writer’s Bloc and an info-session about the Rencontres internationales de l’anarchisme in St Imier (Switzerland).

Workshops take place either at the main Bookfair space – the CEDA at 2515 rue Delisle – or at the Georges-Vanier Cultural Center located across from the CEDA.

For more detailed descriptions of the various workshops, see http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/workshops-2011

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

May 11: "Beyond the Walls": A new publication about political prisoners in Colombia

Print PDF

it's the Festival of Anarchy in Montreal, a month of radical events around the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair... i'll be highlighting some of these on this blog, the first of which is actually in just 2 days, as the PASC - a local group doing solidarity with Colombian political prisoners - launched a new publication. Definitely worth checking out...

"Beyond the Walls": A new publication about political prisoners in Colombia


May 11, 6pm
Bar Populaire
6584 boul. St-Laurent
(Montreal)

PASC is launching a new brochure, using the situation of political prisoners as a lens for tackling the problem of crimes perpetrated by the state in Colombia. Political prisoners are those imprisoned because their political views and/or actions run contrary to those of the state. In Colombia however, one ought also to include in this category those who have been imprisoned, quite apart from their personal politics, for the simple reason that their mere existence impedes the plans of the ruling elite. It is in precisely this situation that a great many rural Colombians find themselves, living in armed conflict zones where the lands they occupy have been targeted for mega development projects.

The brochure is accompanied by a DVD containing audio and video recordings from political prisoners themselves as well as from their allies at the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Colombia (with french subtitles).

Contact us for copies of the brochure and DVD or come to the launch!
Montréal launch as part of the Anarchist Festival on May 11, 2011

6pm at Bar Populaire 6584 boul. St-Laurent, Montréal

Opening Panel: Certain Days*, Recon**, PASC Several groups from around Québec working with prisoners here and abroad will join us for a panel discussion.

* Certain Days : Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar: is a collective composed of political prisoners and their allies. Contemporary resistance movements against war, globalization and colonialism are rooted in a long struggle for justice that has included the mass protests of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the political prisoners and prisoners of war who have participated in this calendar were organizers during this period: members of the Black Panther Party or American Indian Movement, Puerto Ricans fighting for their lands, white anti-racist allies working in solidarity with oppressed groups. Some prisoners have been incarcerated since that time period, in some cases MORE THAN 35 YEARS. These prisoners are not relics of a bygone era; they remain politically active and despite the difficulties associated with organizing while imprisoned, they continue to struggle for justice behind bars and in the streets.

** Re-Con is a prisoner-initiated Q-pirg Concordia working group created in 1999 by lifers, long-term prisoners and volunteers at the Federal Training Centre penitentiary in Laval, Quebec. Re-Con aims at establishing positive links with various communities and attempts to diminish the effects of long term incarceration. An additional goal of Re-Con is to counter the negative perceptions that are often held toward those incarcerated.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Toronto Anarchist Bookfair - Workshop Schedule!

Print PDF

While the bookfair itself will be taking place at 25 Cecil Street, there will be two days of workshops happening at Bahen, nearby. Here is the workshop schedule; for actual workshop descriptions see http://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/workshops-2/



Community Dinner Friday April 15

7pm - 11pm

Saturday April 16/Sunday April 17

10am - 6pm

supper and books at the

Steelworkers Hall

25 Cecil St.

workshops at

Bahen

50 St. George. St

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Saturday                   

All Day
DIY Screenprinting (All day drop in workshop!) - outside

10:00am-12:00pm

• Anarchism 101 - Room 2145
• Expanding Bases of Safety - ASL - Room 2155
• Anarchist Organizational Issues During the Spanish War, 1936-1939 - Room 2159
• Conversations about Transphobia and Cissexism - Room 2165

1pm-3:00pm

• Organize the Hood! - Room 2145
• Community Accountability and Sexual Assault - ASL - Room 2155
• Union Organizing 101 - Room 2159
• Anti-Authoritarian People of Colour Caucus: Lunch, followed by SKYPE talk with @narchist Panther Ashanti Alston - Room 2165
• DIY Bicycle Maintenance - outside

3:30pm-5:30pm

• DIY Floggers and Safer Sex Skillshare - Room 2145
  
• Deaf Culture 101 - ASL - Room 2155
  
• Reclaiming Power (Back to the Land) (3:30-4:30) & Signals of Disorder (4:30-5:30) - Room 2159
  
• Anti-Authoritarian People of Colour Caucus: building an anti-authoritarian people of colour and indigenous peoples movement in toronto facilitated discussion - Room 2165
  

5:30-7:30pm

• Intro to Encrypted Online Communications - Room 2145
• Anti-Authoritarian People of Colour Caucus: zine share and food - Room 2165 

Sunday                   
10:00am-12:00pm

• Indigenous Sovereignty and Anarchist Allied Resistance - Room 2145
  
• Broadcasting Pirate Radio - Room 2155
  
• Anarchist Organizations - Room 2159
  

10:00am-11:00am SKYPE Workshop
Anarchism’s Social Vector: Drawing lessons from an historical overview in South Africa and Brazil with Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front - Room 2165

11:00am-12:00 SKYPE Workshop
Anarchist Organizing in the Age of Collapse with Uri Gordon - Room 2165

1:00pm-3:00pm

• Information Security and You - Room 2145
  
• Anti-Racist Action Network - Room 2155
  
• Building Sexual Consent - Room 2159
  

1:00pm-2:00pm SKYPE Workshop
Imperialism, National Liberation and Class with Andrew Flood  - Room 2165

2:00pm-4:00pm SKYPE Workshop
"We Are An Image From the Future" with VOID Network - Room 2165

3:30pm-5:30pm

• Alternative Media - Room 2145
  
• Political Prisoners in Canada and the United States - Room 2155
  

3:30pm-4:30pm
Anarcho-Nutritionism- Room 2159


4:00pm-5:00pm SKYPE Workshop
Appropriating Corporate Video for Anarchist Filmmaking with subMedia - Room 2165

4:30pm-5:30pm

Animal Liberation and Anarchism - Room 2159

5:00pm-6:00pm SKYPE Workshop
Refusing to Wait: Anarchism and Intersectionality with Jen Rogue/Deric Shannon - Room 2165

More information at https://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Toronto Anarchist Bookfair: Next Weekend!

Print PDF

It is that time of year again - time for the Toronto Anarchist Bookfair!

It's happening next weekend, at the Steelworkers Hall at 25 Cecil Street, and you know i'll be there, tabling with all my own stuff as well as friends'.

While the final workshop schedule has not been announced yet, i am slated to be giving a talk about political prisoners and prisoners of war, probably on the Sunday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30. All workshops are being held at Bahen, just two and a half blocks from the bookfair at 50 St. George. St. No finalized workshop schedule is available yet, but you can see the list right here.

Here is a guide to the different sections of the bookfair website:

* General Information
* Tabling Groups

Programming
* Anti-authoritarian People of Colour and Indigenous Peoples Caucus
* Friday Community Dinner and Assembly
* Really Really Free Market
* Workshops

Principles and Policies
Safer Spaces Policy
Sexual Assault and Consent Policy
Statement on Accessibility

& here is the latest callout from the organizers:

The countdown has begun! The 2011 Toronto Anarchist Bookfair is less than two weeks away, and is set to be an amazing weekend of workshops, radical discussions, books, zines, great food and friends. The bookfair is set to be the largest Toronto has seen in years, and will bring to the city vendors, exhibitors and workshop facilitators from across North America and beyond.
The Bookfair will run from Friday, April 15th- Sunday, April 17th, and be held in two central locations. The Friday evening community dinner and assembly, as well as bookfair tabling will be held at the Toronto Steelworker's Hall (25 Cecil st.), while bookfair workshops will be held at the nearby Bahen Centre (40 st.George st.).
Below you will find all the information you'll need to know about participating in the Bookfair, and getting the most out of the weekend.

a) Community Dinner and Assembly
To kick off the weekend of events the Bookfair Collective will be hosting a free community dinner, followed by a general assembly. Join us for a sit down vegan dinner, and an evening of community building dialogue. The dinner and assembly will be held from 7-11pm at the Steelworker's Hall.
We're inviting anti-authoritarians, anarchists and anyone interested to discuss the current organizing climate in the city, and brainstorm strategies as to how to build a stronger, more inclusive anarchist movement in the city and surrounding region. The assembly will begin with a handful of introductory remarks presented by long-term anarchist organizers, after which the floor will be opened for a general conversation on the potential directions Torontonian anarchism could take in 2011 and further. The assembly will then conclude with the opportunity for break-out sessions based on interest in specific ideas, plans, or projects that participants would like to discuss in more detail.

b) Tabling and Exhibits at the Bookfair
This year's bookfair will host over 40 independent publishers, booksellers, distributors, community organizations and political groups from throughout North America. Bookfair fair tabling will be taking place in the main area of the Steelworker's Hall, and be held both Saturday, April 16th and Sunday, April 17th from 10am-6pm.
For a complete list of tabling groups, publishers and organizations, visit:
https://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/tabling-groups/

c) Workshops at the Bookfair
The bookfair weekend is jam-packed with over 30 workshops, from DIY Bike Repair, discussions on the Spanish Civil War and Anarchism and Indigenous Resistance, to Building Consent, Alternative Media, and everything in between, workshops will be covering an incredibly broad spectrum, oriented towards the development of both practical skills and theoretical knowledge, and will include a series of international workshops skyped in from across the globe. Workshops will be taking place Saturday, April 16th and Sunday, April 17th from 10am-5:30pm each day.
For a complete workshop list and schedule, visit:
https://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/workshops-2/

d) Anti-authoritarian People of Colour and Indigenous Caucus
From 3:30-7:30pm on Saturday, April 16th the Bookfair will host a People of Colour Caucus. This space, open only to self-identified people of colour and indigenous people, will focus on 1) identifying gaps in anti-authoritarian organizing in Toronto that serve to exclude people of colour and indigenous peoples; 2) facilitating a discussion on how anti-authoritarian people of colour and indigenous peoples can link various struggles and organizing experiences, and 3) building an intersectional space where people of colour and indigenous peoples that adhere to an anti-authoritarian politic in Toronto can share resources and organize.

e) Volunteers!
In order to make the bookfair a smashing success (and we know how much anarchists like smashing ;) we need volunteers! Specifically we need volunteers to fill the following roles:
Food Preparation: If you like to cook or are interested in learning, this is the perfect opportunity! In addition to the Friday night community dinner, the bookfair will be serving lunch both Saturday and Sunday, and needs volunteers to help with food preparation.
Registration/Welcome Table: For the duration of the bookfair weekend there will be welcome/registration tables set up at both the Bahen Centre and the Steelworker's Hall. We need volunteers to hang out with Bookfair Collective members and help us staff these tables.
Set-up & Take-down: Let's be honest, grunt work sucks. That said, grunt work is crucial to most events and the Bookfair is no exception. We need volunteers to help us with set-up Saturday morning, and then again with take-down Sunday night.

f) Childcare
Childcare will be offered all day Saturday and Sunday from 10am-6pm on site at the Steelworker's Hall. Children's activities are planned for throughout the weekend, and snacks will be provided. If you intend to drop your child off, and have any special requests or concerns, please email us beforehand at toanarchistbookfair@gmail.com.

g) Accessibility
Both the Steelworker's Hall and the Bahen Centre are barrier-free venues with accessible washrooms. Attendant care will be provided, and ASL interpretation will be offered for select workshops.
To view the Bookfair's Safer Spaces Policy:
https://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/safer-spaces-policy/
To view the Bookfair's Sexual Assault and Consent Policy:
https://torontoanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/sexual-assault-and-consen...
If you have any comments, concerns, suggestions or request please email the Bookfair Collective at toanarchistbookfair@gmail.com
See you at the bookfair!

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

New Address for Roger Clement

Print PDF

A message from Ottawa Movement Defense, regarding Roger Clement, who is doing time after having plead guilty to firebombing a Royal Bank of Canada branch in Ottawa last April:

Roger Clement has been transferred from the Millhaven Assessment Unit to the Pittsburg Institution in Joyceville, Ontario. Pittsburg is a minimum security facility located just north of Kingston and housing about 250 inmates. For more info on Pittsburgh, visit http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/facilit/institutprofiles/pittsburgh-eng.shtml

Roger appreciates receiving mail from the outside. While he can't always reply to every bit of correspondence, having access to letters and other reading material really help him cope with his time in prison.

His new address is:

Joseph Roger Clement (FPS-420268X)
Pittsburgh Institution
Highway 15, No. 3766
PO Box 4510
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 5E5

For more information about the J18 or Ottawa Movement Defense, get in touch with us at ottawamovementdefense@gmail.com.

In struggle,
Dan
OMD

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Counter-insurgency Panel on Recent Protests in England

Print PDF

Please take the hour and some minutes to watch this video, which i learned about through the Sons of Malcolm blog.

Four counter-insurgency professionals from the UK discuss recent militant protests in London, and the best ways to isolate and repress the radical left.

As a public document, it is not surprising that there are no theoretical breakthroughs here, however there are an astonishing number of very candid quotes. Open talk of the "feral underclass" and the need to target it for political neutralization, all the while exercising as much ideological control as possible: i.e. "the government or the politicians have to kettle the political debate as efficiently as the met kettles rioters."

This is our enemies talking, and probably not thinking that we would be listening. It is a good occasion for us - even if you don't learn anything listening to this, the examples of what they are saying may be useful in educating others.

Take the time. Take some notes. Do some thinking.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

North American Anarchist Studies Conference: January, 14-16th 2011

Print PDF

This weekend is the 2nd North American Anarchist Studies Conference, to be held in Toronto, Canada. i'll be tabling there on behalf of Kersplebedeb and PM Press - please do come by to say hello!

The schedule, for those of you thinking of attending:


North American Anarchist Studies Conference: January, 14-16th 2011


Friday, January 14th

Opening Film Night!

CINECYCLE- 129 Spadina Avenue (in the old coach house down the alley).

7pm-12am

Join us for a low-key evening of radical film screenings, discussion and socializing to kick off the conference.

-Featuring-

• “Tales From the G20”- Open Media Initiative w/ Justin Saunders.
• Chet Singh dub poetry performance.
• “Carne de Fieras” (1936) w/ Jesse Cohn introducing.
• Short contributions from NAASN members and members from the Toronto Alternative Media Centre.

Saturday, January 15th

STEEL WORKER’S HALL- 25 Cecil St.

Conference begins!


8-9am

Registration and coffee!

9-10:50am

Opening/plenary panel and group discussion!

‘The Past, Present and Potential Futures of Anarchism’ – Jaggi Singh, Irina Ceric, Denis Rancourt, Lesley Wood.

Facilitator: Sharmeen Khan

11-12:20pm

Room #1:
Contemporary Anarchism and the Arts

• Adrian Blackwell- Anarchist Urban Design
• Sandra Jeppesen- Anarchist Literature
• Luis Jacob- Groundless Aesthetics

Moderator: Allan Antliff

Room #2:
Anarchist Economics: History, Analysis and Vision

• Deric Shannon- An Overview of Anarchist Economics
• Chris Spannos- The History of Anarchist Economics as a Lens to See the Future
• Abbey Willis- Tools for Understanding Capitalism in the 2000s
• Wayne Price- The Anarchist Post-Capitalist Vision

Moderator: Jasmin Mujanovic

12:30-1:30pm

Lunch!

1:30-2:20pm

Workshops!

Room #1:

Alexis Shotwell- Practical Strategies for Anarchist Writing: A Workshop

Room #2:

Testament- Building Bridges and Working with Unlikely Allies

2:30-3:50pm

Room #1:
Movement Knowledge I: Movement Research

• Aziz Choudry- Activist Research: Mapping the Practices of Knowledge Production for Social Action
• Chris Dixon- Accountability to whom? Ethics and Activism in Movement Research
• Gary Kinsman- Mapping Social Relations of Struggle: Producing Knowledge for Social Transformation
• Research Group on Collective Autonomy- Ethics and Accountability in Prefigurative Participatory Antiauthoritarian Research

Moderator: Kalin Stacey


Room #2:
Transnational Anarchism in the Americas 1

• Kenyon Zimmer- ‘Yiddish is My Homeland’: A Transatlantic History of Jewish-American Anarchism, 1880s-1930s
• Kirt Shaffer- Panama Reds: Anarchist Politics and Transregional Networks in the Panama Canal Zone, 1904-1916
• Steve Hirsch- Constructing a Working-Class Counterculture: Transnational Anarchism and the Anarchist Press in Northern Peru, 1898-1922

Moderator: Nathan Jun

4-5:20pm

Room #1:
Anarchism, Gender and (Dis)ability: Expanding the Anarchist Critique

• Mitchell Verter- Towards an Anarchafeminist Subversion of Politics
• Anne Goldenberg- Feminist Takes on Organizing in Critical and Technological Movements
• Liat Ben-Moshe- Queercripping Anarchism
• Timothy Luchies- Creative (Self-)Destruction: Critiquing White and Male Supremacy in North American Anarchism

Moderator: Anthony J. Nocella II

Room #2:
Challenging Conformity: Anarchist Memory and Prospects

• A.D Hoyt- The International Anarchist Archives: A Report on Conditions and a Proposal for Action
• Nathan Jun- Flowers for the Fallen: The Romantic Anarchism of Pietro Gori
• Bryan Nelson- Orientation and Mappings: Anarchism, Marxism, Democracy: Traditions in Theory
• Ron Sakolsky- Mutual Acquienscence

Moderator: Daniel Cairns

5:30-6:50pm

Room #1:
Greening Anarchy

• Micheal Loadenthal- Militant Not Terrorists: How the Radical Animal and Earth Liberation Movement Challenges the State and Capitalsim
• Karl Hardy & Usman Mushtaq- Responses to Climate Change: Radical Critiques and Utopian Alternatives
• Andrea Palichuck- Alienation and Exclusion in Food Lifestyle Politics and Anarchist Organizing
• Michele Flippo Bolduc- Are Community Gardens Inherently Radical?

Moderator: Deric Shannon

Room #2:
Anarchist Readings of Nietzsche

• Nick Day- Ubermensch, Overcoming and Direct Actor: Reconciling Nietzsche with Liberatory Praxis
• Laura Greenwood- Goldman’s Nietzschean Anarchism: A Griemasian Reading of ‘Minorities Versus Majorities’
• Grant Yocom- The ‘Last Man’ in Detriot: Timely Revisions and New Targets for the Arrows of Lomnging

Moderator: Rachel Melis

7-8:20pm

Room #1:
Riot 2011: Direct Action, Revolt and the Question of Violence

• Kyla Bourne- Alterrepresentation and the Democratic Possibilities of Direct Action
• Edward Avery-Natale- ‘We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Anarchists’: The Nature of Identification and Subjectivity Among Black Blocs
• Andreas Reichelt- When the universities were burning (with activism) in…2009
• Madison Trusolino- Human Emancipation, The Spectacle, Divine Violence

Moderator: Tammy Kovich

Room #2:
Perspectivas Anarquistas de America Latina

• Jorella A. Melendez Badillo- El Anarquismo En Puerto Rico: Su Influencia En La Cultura Proletaria En Las Primeras Dos Decades Del Siglo XX
• Octavio Cabrera Serrano- El Antropologo Autogestivo
• Milena Alveo- Cultura anarquista, reflexiones a cerca de la cotidianidad

Moderator: TBA


Saturday Night Social/ UPPING THE ANTI Issue 11 Launch Party!!!

TORONTO FREE GALLERY- 1277 Bloor Street West (at Lansdown).

Doors open at 8:30pm until late!

Join us for the NAASN Conference Saturday night social/ UPPING THE ANTI’s Issue #11 Launch Party.

-Featuring-

• Musical performances by LAL and Test Their Logik.
• Kick ass sets by DJs Nik Red and B#.
• Plus refreshments, raffle prizes and more.

Admission $10 with a copy of UPPING THE ANTI, $5 without, and free for UPPING THE ANTI sustainers.


Sunday, January 16th
Steel Worker’s Hall- 25 Cecil St.

9-9:30am

Coffee!

9:30-10:50am

Room #1:
Postanarchism, The Specter of Primitivism and Song

• Gregory Kalyniuk- Jurisprudence of the Damned; Deleuze’s Masochian Humor and Anarchist Neo-Monadology
• Daniel Murray- Social Tyranny of the State: Bakunin, Governmentality and Resistance
• Sandy Krolick- A Spector is Haunting America
• Carrie Yvonne Mott- Music in the Anarchist Movement: Radical Politics and Solidarity Through Song

Moderator: Ryan Mitchell

Room #2:
‘Anarchizing’ the Disciplines

• Dennis Fox- Anarchism and Psychology
• David Westling- Anarchism and Individual Psychology
• Dana Williams and Jeff Shantz- Defining an Anarchist-Sociology (A Long-Anticipated Marriage)
• Shaista Patel- Inviting Settlers of Color in Nation Building Projects of White-Settler Colonies

Moderator: Courtney Cecale

11-12:20pm

Room #1:
Movement Knowledge II: Trajectories of Contemporary Movements and Possibilities for Change

• Kate Milbery- History Will Teach Us Everything: Towards a Praxis of Social Justice
• Andrea Eiland- Breaking Down the Wall: Anarchism and Social Change in the 21st Century
• Dawn Paley- Beyond Alternative Media: Building Space for Radical Journalism
• Michael Trusello- The Trouble With Social Media

Moderator: Ryan Mitchell

Room #2:
Transnational Anarchism in the Americas II

• Geoffroy de Laforcade- counter-Currents and Oppositional Trends Within a Syndicalist Labor Tradition: Locating the Anarchist influence on the Politics of Maritime Trade Unionism in Argentina, 1903-1950
• Amparo Sanchez Cobos- The Island and Beyond: Spanish Anarchist Networks in Cuba, 1900-1925
• Travis Tomchuck- The Radical Culture of Italian Anarchists in North America
• Davide Turcato- Biography, Anarchism and Transnationalism

Moderator: TBA

12:30-1:30 pm

Lunch!

1:30-2:20pm
Workshops!

Room #1:

Crimethinc- Fighting in the New Terrain: Anti-Capitalist Strategies in the 21st Century


Room #2:

Matt B- Know Your Enemy: Conspiracism, Right Wing populism and the Anarchist Movement

2:30-3:50pm

Room #1:
TBA Activist Workshop

Room #2:
Militant Methodologies and the Question of Authority

• Max Haiven and Alex Khasnabish- Radicalizing Methods: ‘Convoking’ the Radical Imagination in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Paul McLaughlin- Methodologies Considerations on Anarchist Theory
• Michael Gutierrez- Two Poles of Authority
• Alden Wood- ‘On Bernadette Corporation’s Get Rid of Yourself’: An Anarcho-Autonomist Critique of the Mimetic Representation of Revolt

Moderator: Michael Loadenthal

4-5:20pm

Room #1:
Anarchist Subjectivities: Discussions of the Self and Other

• Cameron Ellis- The Loving Anarchist: An Inquiry into the Nature of the Subject of Anarchy
• Kalin Stacey- Innocence and Complicity in Anarchist Discourse
• Joey Brooke Jacob- Why the ‘Stanger’ is Unequal: Towards a Manifesto for Inclusion
• Matthew Hayter- Understanding ‘Power’ as always both power-for and power-over: What can this Perspective do for the sake of anarchist social relations?

Moderator: Ed Avery-Natale and TBA Co-Moderator

Room #2:
Anarchism, Education and the Strange World of Academia

• Paul Lemley- Navigating Respectability
• Dan Webb- ‘The Left’s Wrong Turn and the Postmodern Disavowal of Anarchism’
• Anthony Meza-Wilson- Educational Projects for Decolonization: Anarchist Allyship and Resistance Education in the Americas
• Joseph Todd Montclair- Triangulating Freedom, Power and Education: Learning Webs, Subjectivity, and Resistance

Moderator:

5:30-7pm

Closing Discussion and Break Out Session!

Facilitator: David McNally


*Childcare will be provided on site for the duration of the weekend.

** The suggested conference fee is sliding scale $10-25 or PWYC (no one will be turned away for lack funds), and all money raised at the door will be donated to the Toronto G20 Legal Defence Fund.


Exhibitors at the Second Annual NAASN Conference:

AK Press
Arbeiter Ring
Autonomedia
Between the Lines
Black Cat Press
Brunswick Books
Common Cause
Community Solidarity Network
Empowerment Infoshop
Fernwood Publishing
Kersplebedeb
Little Black Cart
Pluto Press
PM Press
Rebel Film Board
Thought Crime Ink
Transformative Studies Institute
Upping the Anti
Zed Books

Sponsored by NAASN (www.naasn.org), OPIRG York (www.opirgyork.ca) and OPIRG University of Toronto (www.opirgtoronto.org).

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Jan. 19: Political Prisoners and Prison Solidarity Work in North America, History and Current Context

Print PDF

Certain Days & Kersplebedeb Publishing invite you to:

Political Prisoners & Prison Solidarity Work in North America:
History & Current Context

When: Wednesday, January 19, 6:30pm
Where: QPIRG Concordia 1500 de Maisonneuve West, metro Guy-Concordia*

Free. Venue is wheelchair accessible. Traduction chuchotée vers le français.

Depending on your definition, there are dozens or hundreds or thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war held by the United States government. This talk will focus on political prisoners and prisoners of war who came out of the revolutionary movements from the 1960s to today, including the national liberation movements, the armed struggle, white anti-imperialists and, more recently, the Green Scare defendants. Topics will include the relationship of the prisoners to our own struggles today, the varying definitions of "who is a political prisoner", and a look back at some of the support work that was being done in the 80s and 90s, especially in Canada. Certain specific cases will also be discussed, for instance Assata Shakur, Leonard Peltier, Marilyn Buck and Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson, as well as the recent strike by prisoners in Georgia.

The talk will be given by Karl of Kersplebedeb Publishing, followed by discussion.


Kersplebedeb Publishing has published several books and pamphlets by and about political prisoners, and has just published "Defying The Tomb," a book by Kevin "Rashid" Johnson of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter. info: www.kersplebedeb.com

The Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three New York state Political Prisoners: Herman Bell, David Gilbert and Robert Seth Hayes, and is a working group of QPIRG Concordia. info: www.certaindays.org

INFO:
514-848-7583
info@certaindays.org


Click on the link to download a poster or fliers for this event.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

subMedia Riot 2010! Triple Cheeseburger Worldwide Exclusive Interview

Print PDF

This week: 1. Olympic Resistance in Vancouver 2. RBC gets torched 3. They few, we many 4. Talkin' bout a revolution 5. Matthew Morgan-Brown speaks to subMedia (Interview with MMB about being arrested, updates regarding Roger's situation and regarding the police infiltrator, "Francois Leclerc")

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Another Update on Roger Clement and Ottawa Comrades

Print PDF

Roger was transferred to Millhaven mid-December and it is expected that he will be there for 2-3 months before being transferred to the federal penitentiary where he will stay for the rest of his 3.5 year sentence.

In the immediate future, letters can be sent to Roger to the following address:

Joseph Roger Clement (FPS-420268X)
Millhaven Institution
PO Box 280 Bath Rd.
Bath ON K0H 1G0

Roger thanks everyone for all their support.

Donations for outstanding legal expenses can be made to "Ottawa Movement Defense" c/o the Ottawa Women's Credit Union. Donations can also be made online using Paypal.

Ottawa Movement Defense
OPIRG-GRIPO Ottawa
631 King Edward Ave.
(3rd floor / 3ieme étage)
Ottawa, ON, K1N 7N8
Canada

In solidarity,
Ottawa Movement Defence

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Update on Roger Clement and Ottawa Comrades

Print PDF

Roger is still in prison. Claude is still going to court. People still need your love and support. OMD is still fund raising. Join the FB group, donate, write a letter to roger, get involved, support prisoners and political prisoners.

FB group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Ottawa-Movement-Defense/119652828099161

We will be organizing a letter writing night for roger and other prisoners in early - mid january. And we are planning to have a fund raising party in the spring, hopefully around march. The J18 defendants still have significant legal costs, so if you can donate, it is much appreciated. Better yet, organize a fund-raiser in your community. Let us know what you are doing, and feel free to contact us if there is anything we can do to help, or if you would like someone from OMD to speak at your event.

What follows is a recent article by Sara Falconer from Ottawa XPress

Community Garden
Sara Falconer

Matthew Morgan-Brown is getting ready to visit Roger Clement in jail. It's only been a few short weeks since Morgan-Brown's own charges in the May 18 RBC firebombing were stayed due to lack of evidence, but already he is focused on making sure that his friend has the support he needs. Indeed, talking to him, it's clear that one of the things he found most difficult in the months following his arrest was not being able to help others. "Not being able to organize was really shitty. It's very important to me," he says. "The day they lifted my conditions I started organizing again." He has long been an active member of Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa (IPSMO), and has now joined Ottawa Movement Defense, a group originally formed to support the three people arrested on June 18: himself, Joseph Roger Clement and Claude Haridge.

On Dec. 7, Clement was sentenced to a term of three years and six months, having pled guilty to the arson at the Glebe branch of the Royal Bank, as well as smashing windows and ATMs at a different branch in February. It's an unusually harsh sentence for property damage crimes, given that both the defence and Crown attorneys acknowledged he took great care to eliminate any possible injury to people.

In a statement, Ottawa Movement Defense said that they were inspired by Clement's strength of character: "Even when offered the chance to apologize for his role in the firebombing, Roger refused to do so, even though his liberty was on the line." The 58-year-old

former civil service employee is well known to local activists from years of social justice organizing. "I think he's a really principled person," says Morgan-Brown, who has known Clement for several years. Haridge, who was never charged with arson, has his last day in court this week. Most of the charges against him have been stayed, other than a charge for improper storage of ammunition, and unrelated charges from a protest several years ago.

The publication ban on the case has finally been lifted, but Morgan-Brown still finds it hard to speak freely. He's on a relatively short leash, as his charges have only been stayed, not dismissed - the Crown still has a year in which it can reinstate them.

Having spent time in jail before being released on bail, he knows first-hand how much community solidarity can mean. "When I was inside, I definitely felt like there was quite a bit of support," he says. "I enjoyed getting lots of letters."

Now working at his job again and devoting his spare time to activism, he says he is grappling with the psychological scars of the arrest and months of uncertainty. "The only concern I have is to avoid pushing myself too hard. It was definitely a traumatic experience."

As he looks forward to speaking to Clement for the first time since their arrests - albeit through a heavy plastic visiting window - he hopes that the community will continue to support them and other organizers fighting charges across the country. "My thoughts are with the people who were arrested on conspiracy or other G20 charges, with massive bail restrictions," he says. "People are looking at trials two years from now, because part of their punishment is those conditions, regardless of anything else around their cases."

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST

Prisoners on Strike in Georgia! Show Support!

Print PDF

A very important message, sent from friends at defenstrator:

Now in it's 2nd day with rumors the strikes have spread to up to ten prisons. Prison officials are reported to be threatening disproportionate levels of repression. Please show support!!

FWD:

Please urgently call each of the numbers below to protest any violence on the part of the guards or prison officials against a non-violent, multi-racial, one day strike.

When we called, the person put the phone down on us as soon as we said what we were calling about. So please get the name of the person who answers first so that you can then complain about them putting the phone down -- in writing if necessary.

Please forward widely to your networks!
Published on Black Agenda Report (http://blackagendareport.com)

GA Prison Inmates Stage 1-Day Peaceful Strike Today

By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

In an action which is unprecedented on several levels, black, brown and white inmates of Georgia's notorious state prison system are standing together for a historic one day peaceful strike today, during which they are remaining in their cells, refusing work and other assignments and activities. This is a groundbreaking event not only because inmates are standing up for themselves and their own human rughts, but because prisoners are setting an example by reaching across racial boundaries which, in prisons, have historically been used to pit oppressed communities against each other. PRESS RELEASE BELOW THE FOLD

The action is taking place today in at least half a dozen of Georgia's more than one hundred state prisons, correctional facilities, work camps, county prisons and other correctional facilities. We have unconfirmed reports that authorities at Macon State prison have aggressively responded to the strike by sending tactical squads in to rough up and menace inmates.

Outside calls from concerned citizens and news media will tend to stay the hand of prison authorities who may tend to react with reckless and brutal aggression. So calls to the warden's office of the following Georgia State Prisons expressing concern for the welfare of the prisoners during this and the next few days are welcome.

• Macon State Prison is 978-472-3900.
• Hays State Prison is at (706) 857-0400
• Telfair State prison is 229-868-7721
• Baldwin State Prison is at (478) 445- 5218
• Valdosta State Prison is 229-333-7900
• Smith State Prison is at (912) 654-5000
• The Georgia Department of Corrections is at http://www.dcor.state.ga.us and their phone number is 478-992-5246

This is all the news we have for now, more coming.

One in every thirteen adults in the state of Georgia is in prison, on parole or probation or some form of court or correctional supervision.



*********************************

Press Release

BIGGEST PRISONER STRIKE IN U.S. HISTORY

Thousands of Georgia Prisoners to Stage Peaceful Protest

December 8, 2010…Atlanta, Georgia

Contacts: Elaine Brown, 404-542-1211, sistaelaine@gmail.com ;Valerie Porter, 229-931-5348, lashan123@att.net ; Faye Sanders, 478-550-7046, reshelias@yahoo.com

Tomorrow morning, December 9, 2010, thousands of Georgia prisoners will refuse to work, stop all other activities and remain in their cells in a peaceful, one-day protest for their human rights. The December 9 Strike is projected to be the biggest prisoner protest in the history of the United States.

These thousands of men, from Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith and Telfair State Prisons, among others, state they are striking to press the Georgia Department of Corrections (“DOC”) to stop treating them like animals and slaves and institute programs that address their basic human rights. They have set forth the following demands:

• A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK: In violation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, the DOC demands prisoners work for free.
• EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: For the great majority of prisoners, the DOC denies all opportunities for education beyond the GED, despite the benefit to both prisoners and society.
• DECENT HEALTH CARE: In violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments, the DOC denies adequate medical care to prisoners, charges excessive fees for the most minimal care and is responsible for extraordinary pain and suffering.
• AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: In further violation of the 8th Amendment, the DOC is responsible for cruel prisoner punishments for minor infractions of rules.
• DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS: Georgia prisoners are confined in over-crowded, substandard conditions, with little heat in winter and oppressive heat in summer.
• NUTRITIONAL MEALS: Vegetables and fruit are in short supply in DOC facilities while starches and fatty foods are plentiful.
• VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES: The DOC has stripped its facilities of all opportunities for skills training, self-improvement and proper exercise.
• ACCESS TO FAMILIES: The DOC has disconnected thousands of prisoners from their families by imposing excessive telephone charges and innumerable barriers to visitation.
• JUST PAROLE DECISIONS: The Parole Board capriciously and regularly denies parole to the majority of prisoners despite evidence of eligibility.

Prisoner leaders issued the following call: "No more slavery. Injustice in one place is injustice to all. Inform your family to support our cause. Lock down for liberty!"

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE POST

COLLAPSE POST