This is the book that killed two months of my summer, doing layout like i'd never done it before and finally breaking in InDesign. It's a 912 page brick, full of historical documents collected by Matt Meyer (of Resistance in Brooklyn and the War Resister's League), all giving a very particular and interesting perspective on some of the key campaigns to free political prisoners over the past twenty years.
Apart from the foreword by Argentinean former political prisoner (and Nobel Peace Prize recipient) Adolfo Pérez Esquivel there are also afterwords by Lynne Stewart and Ashanti Alston. Not to mention writings by Mumia Abu-Jamal, Sundiata Acoli, Ramona Africa, Dan Berger, Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, Terry Bisson, BO, Marilyn Buck, Safiya Bukhari, Chrystos, Angela Davis, Susie Day, Bill Dunne, Jill Soffiyah Elijah, Bob Lederer, Jose López, Oscar López Rivera, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Jalil Muntaqim, Luis Nieves Falcón, Leonard Peltier, Ninotchka Rosca, the San Francisco 8, Assata Shakur, Meg Starr, Jan Susler, Linda Thurston, Desmond Tutu, Laura Whitehorn, and many more.
As the back cover blurb explains:
Let Freedom Ring presents a two-decade sweep of essays, analyses, histories, interviews, resolutions, People’s Tribunal verdicts, and poems by and about the scores of U.S. political prisoners and the campaigns to safeguard their rights and secure their freedom. In addition to an extensive section on the campaign to free death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, represented here are the radical movements that have most challenged the U.S. empire from within: Black Panthers and other Black liberation fighters, Puerto Rican independentistas, Indigenous sovereignty activists, white anti-imperialists, environmental and animal rights militants, Arab and Muslim activists, Iraq war resisters, and others. Contributors in and out of prison detail the repressive methods – from long-term isolation to sensory deprivation to politically inspired parole denial – used to attack these freedom fighters, some still caged after 30+ years. This invaluable resource guide offers inspiring stories of the creative, and sometimes winning, strategies to bring them home.This is almost a reference book, providing snapshots of the work being done on the oustide, and of the condtions on the inside of amerika's gulag system. For me personally, some of the most interesting pieces were the contributions by political prisoners, many of which were sent in to Resistance in Brooklyn for photocopies booklets they produced in 1992 (Dissing the "Discovery") and for the "John Brown 2000" conference. Let Freedom Ring also provides a good framework through which to get an idea of some of the forces in the national liberation movements of the internal colonies - Indigenous people, Puerto Ricans, Chican@s, and Black/New Afrikan people - and a glimpse at the reasoning and worldviews that have motivated people from these movements from the 1960s on.
For more details, feel free to check out the appropriate page on my Kersplebedeb website: http://www.kersplebedeb.com/letfreedomring.html
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Seeing as this is a brick, weighing almost three pounds, postage is going to be a pain in the ass. In fact, by my reckoning Canada Post is going to charge me almost $20 to ship a copy anywhere in the u.s. - definitely a bother.
To ease the pain, i'm going to be charging $15 postage and for a limited time will be throwing in a FREE copy of the 2009 Certain Days Freedom For Political Prisoners calendar with every order. You can email me (info@kersplebedeb.com) for more details, or else just use the paypal button here to pay online:
WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OPPOSES YOUR RIGHT TO BE FREE!!
ReplyDeletePuerto Ricans, whether they are called Independents (independentistas), Patriots or Nationalists or Freemen, who desire to be free, must always know that the federal government, here in the States has no “subject matter jurisdiction” over the person, case or location and should be challenged to proof it. These are magic words to learn when in Federal Court for desiring freedom for your/our Country.
You won’t be told this in court but: All jury members, judges, attorneys, and employees working in federal court, must reside in federal territory to legally be a federal juror or touch your case or they can be commercially sued, disbarred and financially ruined for violating your constitutional rights etc.
Your God given right to be free is not wanted by the USA, it will oppose your desire for independence and freedom, because the Federal USA is a profit based Corporation.
The Federal Government is a District of Columbia “Corporation”, as are all the States of the USA. What you know of as the USA, is NOT a Republic, but a multi-based Corporation acting as a Country. These Corporations were formed for the benefit of the real owners. Since June of 1933, everything since then, is under Contract law or commercial law, aka Admiralty law, to benefit your masters in power.
The Federal Government owns Puerto Rico as an ASSET, because it is a slave colony—whether you like the idea or not. But the Federal Government takes orders from those who own and run this (Corporation) Country, but are not of this country. The International Bankers, who really own the corporations called the USA and also the Federal Reserve, will let the slaves of PR be free, only if enough real men of Boricua blood wish to be free, by reserving their rights under the Constitution. Their books will be adjusted and we will be free.
The answer to your freedom lies in your Constitutional rights --- To win --You must always reserve your constitutional, commercial rights and know what they are and how to do so.
A Puerto Rican without a desire for independence and/or freedom from alien control has no heart and soul of a man.
The fact that the public does not know that we are NOT free, makes no difference, to the desire to be free. The PR that wants Statehood is a Gringito, who has no soul of a man left in his traitor's heart. Freedom is happening all over the world and yet we allow Gringitos to kill our right to be free.
A Gringito is a non-Anglo THING, IT is not really a “person”, just like a mass murderer is more like an animal than a person, who internally is so inferior, that he desires to be what he can not be—thus Gringito means little gringo.
The Gringito is like an Uncle Tom to blacks or a collaborator and traitor to many others. To us he/she is all three and much worst. The “It or thing” I call Gringito, is the enemy of freedom -- all thru out HUMAN history.
We allow the Alien Invaders to kill, harm, abuse, rape, and scam us and yet the Gringito wants to give our Country away.
This abuse must end. No man or woman is a real Man or real woman who is too scared to fight for their souls and be free. If you listen to the Gringito, you will lose your soul.
Thru out eternity, humanity owes its freedom from slavery, ONLY TO BRAVE SOULS who fought and DIED for your right to be free.
The fight will NOT succeed if you don't fight the Gringito enemy/traitor/collaborator at home first. He is there next door and claims he is a real man and tries to give you many excuses of why PR can't be a free Country.
To give away your/our/my Country is not a right of alien invaders, visitors or foreigners with NO Puerto Rican Blood.
The right to vote on THIS ISSUE should NOT be given to NON-Puerto Ricans.
The fight for the independence of Puerto Rico is now non-violent and will be won in the hearts of real men around the World.
The Ronbothunter,
A proud freedom loving Puerto Rican.
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