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

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.