New Years Noise Demo - Toronto

December 17 2010 Infoshop News

The New Year will soon be upon us. For most people this is a time of celebration and community. But for those imprisoned behind the merciless walls of the Prison Industrial Complex, the New Year looks bleak. There is little for those in jail to celebrate. The grey monotony of prison walls, the innate disempowerment of incarceration, and the violent reality of social isolation define the everyday existence of prison life.

Cut off from contact with the outside world, and deprived of the simple things that we take for granted on a daily basis, those trapped within the confines of a prison cell are dehumanized by the state and its tools of repressive control.

Prisoners are friends and lovers, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, and those locked behind bars are constantly in our thoughts, even if we do not know them personally. The state may have forcibly ripped them from our lives and communities, but they are in no way forgotten.

We reject the notion that prisoners are criminals, that punishment is a social necessity, and that the legal system delivers any sort of justice. Capitalist society itself is the crime – the real criminals sit comfortably in legislatures and boardrooms – while their victims rot away in cells.

To ring in the New Year, the beginning of a year and future we envision without prisons, we’re bringing the party to those who otherwise cannot celebrate. An evening of festive resistance and fireworks will welcome the arrival of 2011 at Toronto’s Don Jail.

2010 saw increased police repression, environmental destruction, and the further entrenchment of social inequality. These injustices were confronted by a groundswell of radical mobilizations that swept across the country like wildfire. With the rising tide of global austerity, such resistance will only become more determined and resolute. 2011 will commence with a bang, and set the mood for what will be a year of intensifying struggle and a celebration of resistance.

Bring noisemakers, pots, and pans, and be ready for an evening of defiant celebration!

Meet at 11pm at Riverdale Park East.

No prisons, no borders, fuck law and order!