Jan 5, 2010 Infoshop News
On December 31, 2009, about 30 anarchists took to the streets in Hamilton,
Ontario surrounding the Barton St. Jail (or the Hamilton-Wentworth
Detention Center). Our intention was to show solidarity with prisoners
locked behind those walls, and also as an act of solidarity with the
revolutionary prisoners on hunger strike throughout the world. This action
was an attempt to break the isolation between inside and outside the
prison walls. We used our voices, drums, fireworks, whistles, and other
noise-makers to disrupt the day-to-day normalcy of the prison. We chanted:
“The passion for freedom is stronger than their prisons!” “No prisons, no
borders, fuck law and order!” “They might take our lives away, but not our
dignity. Our hearts will pound against their walls until we are all free!”
Prisoners waved and banged on the windows while we were outside. We wished
them a Happy New Year.
There was also a banner that said “ESCAPE” attached to helium balloons
that was freed next to the prison and floated into the sky. It was
originally intended to say “escape into rebellion” but our 120 latex
helium balloons weren't enough to lift it into the sky. We decided to cut
it down to roughly 6 x 3 feet because we wanted a flying banner.
A speech was read on two sides of the prison through a megaphone.
Here is the speech:
“I'm standing here today because I refuse to accept the leash of
submission that this society hopes to tie around my neck. With every one
of its laws, courts, cops, prisons and networks of surveillance, it's made
very clear that the 'life' we're supposed to accept is nothing more than a
life sentence in an open prison.
“I'm here to stand in solidarity with the fifteen social rebels who've
been on hunger strike in prisons around the world because they continue to
refuse the meek existence that the state and capital tries to impose on
them with every weapon that it has available.
“I'm also here in solidarity with the man who escaped from the [custody
of] Barton Jail a little while ago, as well as his accomplices, and anyone
on the inside who yearns for freedom and will do what it takes to take
their lives back.
“Because with every act of solidarity and with every individual who
attacks this prison world, alone or with others, the walls that stand
between us begin to look a hell of a lot a thinner. For an end to prisons
and the world that needs them!
“Let's escape into rebellion!”
This prison is located close to downtown Hamilton in a working-class
neighborhood. For many of us who have spent time or live in Hamilton,
Barton Jail is not an abstract or seemingly invisible place – it is a
constant threat and reminder of the reality of prison. People who live
here have spent time in it, know people who have, or are well aware that
they may one day find themselves kidnapped behind its walls. These might
be some of the reasons why people getting groceries at the supermarket
next to the jail and people walking by, who checked us out, took the time
to express their solidarity. Some people stood with us and cheered, while
others took part in the noise demo by honking their car horns in the
supermarket parking lot. One woman used the megaphone to wish her own
happy new year to the prisoners. Also, a child took a picture of the
flying banner. The excitement both on the inside and the outside revealed
possibilities of, and will only push us further in, the struggle against
prison and its world.
FREEDOM FOR THE IMPRISONED REVOLUTIONARIES ON HUNGER STRIKE AROUND THE WORLD!
SOLIDARITY WITH COMRADES FIGHTING AGAINST PRISON, INSIDE AND OUT!
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