Saturday, March 31, 2012

Jalil Muntaqim is out of the box

Jalil Muntaqim received a visit today and he was in general
population. He didn't know the specifics but was told that the
charges against him were dropped and expunged from his record. He
thanks everyone for the support!

He is on regular visiting now, he was in good spirits looking ahead
to his parole date.

Jalil's Attica cell had been raided on Thursday, January 5th. When
Jalil asked why his cell was being searched, he was told it was
because "something happened in California." The COs confiscated
pictures of the memorials for BPP members Cetewayo (Michael Tabor)
and Mark Smith "Smitty" of New Jersey. Jalil received a Tier 3 ticket
for possession of these photos from an "unauthorized organization"
(the Black Panther Party presumably). Of course, these photos had
been sent to him by mail and had been approved by the prison mail room.

Jalil's cell has been turned over five times in the last months. He
had been given a 6-month SHU sentence.

Palestinian prisoner ends hunger strike

March 30, 2012 Al Jazeera

Hana Shalabi to be deported to Gaza in deal to end her 43-day protest against her detention without charge by Israel.
Shalabi is one of around 300 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails under administrative detention [Reuters]

Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian woman on hunger strike for 43 days in protest against her detention without charges by Israel, has ended her fast under a deal that will see her deported to Gaza.

"Hana Shalabi agreed to end her hunger strike following an agreement with Israeli authorities under which she will be exiled to the Gaza Strip," Issa Qaraqaa, Palestinian prisoner affairs minister, told AFP news agency on Thursday.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club, which tracks detainees in Israeli jails, said Shalabi, a 30-year-old from the West Bank, would have to stay for three years in Gaza.

"She had to accept because Israel put pressure on her. But we are totally opposed to all deportation measures," said the minister.

Jawwad Boulous, Shalabi's lawyer, said he did not know when the deal might be implemented given her deteriorating health.

Confirming the agreement, Israel's military said Shalabi would be deported to Gaza "in the next few days" and that she had promised "to avoid any involvement in terror activity".

The Israeli army has described Shalabi as a "global jihad-affiliated operative" who was re-arrested on suspicion that she "posed a threat to the area." But no charges were filed.

Last Sunday, an Israeli military court rejected an appeal from Shalabi against a four-month administrative detention order which allowed for her to be held without charge.

She had been on hunger strike since her detention on February 16, to protest both her detention without charge and violence she says was inflicted during her arrest.

Last week, rights group Amnesty International urged Israel to prosecute or free Shalabi, saying she was "at risk of death”.

She was hospitalised on March 19, after 33 days without food, with doctors saying she had lost 14 kg and her pulse was "feeble”.

Israel had previously held Shalabi for 25 months but released her in October last year under a prisoner swap deal with the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.

She was among more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Gaza-based groups for more than five years.

Shalabi is one of about 300 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails under administrative detention orders, which allow a court to order an individual to be detained for renewable periods of up to six months at a time.

Her action followed a hunger strike undertaken by another Palestinian prisoner, Khader Adnan, who also protested his detention.

Adnan refused food for 66 days, only agreeing to end his hunger strike after a deal was struck ensuring he would be released at the end of his four-month term.

In the wake of his hunger strike, dozens more Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails launched similar protests, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials.

Anti-Terrorist Cuban Fighter Rene Gonzalez in Cuba

Havana, Mar 30 (Prensa Latina) Rene Gonzalez, one of the five anti-terrorist Cuban fighters unfairly given harsh prison sentences in the United States, arrived to Cuba on Friday on a family, private visit in the wake of authorization by a US judge to visit his gravely ill brother.

According to information released by the TV news program, Rene arrived minutes alter midday.

On February 24, Rene had filed through his lawyer an emergency motion before the South Florida District Court, requesting an authorization to visit his brother, seriously ill in Cuba.

Nearly a month later, on March 19, Judge Joan Lenard, who have been handling the case of The Cuban Five since the start of their proceedings, authorized the trip for 15 days under certain conditions, including obtaining all US government travel permits needed.

She also set as a prerequisite failing a detailed travel schedule, his location in Cuba and information of contact in the country, as well as a systematic phone contact with his probation officer.

The judge also made clear that all conditions of Rene's supervised release remain unchanged and he has to go back to the United States as soon as the two weeks pass from the date of his trip.

After having suffered 13 years of unfair prison, Rene is under a supervised release regime for another three years during which he has to remain in the United States, which constitutes an additional sanction.

The decision of authorizing his trip is fully in line with conditions established for his supervised release, which allow him to travel to Cuba after an approval by the probation officer or the judge.

Even the US Government, which has opposed all motions filed by Rene to be allowed a permanent return to Cuba and his temporary visit to his brother, admitted that conditions of his supervised release do not prevent him from visiting our country.

In this regard, as of March 7, 2011, the Attorney General's Office argued that the terms of Rene's supervised release do not prevent him from travelling to Cuba during that period. "Nothing will prevent him from requesting his probation officer (or the court, if he was denied that by the former) a permit to travel to Cuba to visit his wife, his old parents or other relatives."

In the motion filed by his lawyer, Rene said he would comply with the terms established for the visit and return to the United States.

Despite the terms imposed, our people, with deep respect, welcomes home our beloved Rene, and do not stop fighting for his final, permanent return home along with his four close brothers, says the press release.

Rene Gonzalez, along with his comrades Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, was detained in 1998 in the United States for monitoring Miami-based violent groups operating against Cuba.

Indefinite Internment Without Trial

'If they come for me tonight they will
come for you in the morning' – Angela Davis

In Britain today there are a group of men held in prison without trial or any form of due legal process, and they are being detained indefinitely. These men have committed no crimes in Britain and are being held at the behest of a foreign state, the U.S., whilst their extradition to that country has been ruled unlawful by the British court. Their continued imprisonment, in breach of the most elemental civil and human rights, has clear implications for every citizen in the U.K. because if the rule of law is suspended in the case of any unpopular minority then dangerous precedents are set that will eventually be used against anyone or any group viewed as worthy of 'special measures'.

There are currently seven men, all of Middle Eastern and Asian extraction, being held in a small isolation unit at Long Lartin maximum-security prison in Worcestershire, some of whom have been there for almost ten years. Originally designed and used as a prison punishment unit, the Detainee unit is very much a
prison and it's inhabitants are kept strictly separated and isolated from other prisoners in the jail. Methods of small-group isolation and control are applied which over a prolonged period of time are known to have a seriously damaging effect on the mind and personality. In June of 2011 the Chief Inspector of prisons, Nick
Hardwick, was extremely critical of the situation of the prisoners confined to the Detainee unit and in a report on the unit wrote, “The Detainee unit at HMP Long Lartin is a prison within a high-security prison. It holds a small number of individuals suspected but not convicted of involvement in international terrorism and held under immigration or extradition law. Some have been held for many years as they fight removal from the UK and all are held in the highest security conditions. We have previously raised concerns about holding a small number of detainees, who already inhabit a kind of legal limbo, in a severely restricted environment for a potentially indefinite period. The risks to the mental and physical health of detainees of such lengthy, ill-defined and isolated confinement are significant.”

The existence of this group of prisoners is proof that none of our legal traditions and rights are safe from serious compromise and surrender, and their continued detention in conditions of virtual solitary confinement makes a complete mockery of the belief that anyone is truly safe from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, especially when the state decides to widen the focus of it's 'War on Terror'.

The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, claimed in response to the release of Abu Qatada that 'indefinite internment without trial' does not exist in the U.K. This is a lie. He is fully aware that in the Detainee unit at Long Lartin a group of men are currently being held in exactly that unlawful situation as a gesture of acquiescence to American power.

John Bowden
March 2012
HMP Shotts

Addameer, PHRI won’t confirm Hana Shalabi ends hunger strike, warn of coercion in banishment deal

Just after 2AM Palestine local time, or around 7PM US East Coast time, Addameer, the Palestinian prisoner’s rights group, issued this important statement in Arabic via Facebook and in English on its website regarding Hana al-Shalabi, the Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than 40 days against her detention without charge or trial by Israel.

The statement followed reports by Ma’an News Agency, the BBC and other outlets, that Shalabi had ended her hunger strike as part of a deal which would see her banished from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip for three years.

Official English version of Addameer/PHRI statement

Addameer and PHR-Israel Cannot Yet Confirm That Hana Shalabi Has Ended Her Hunger Strike

Joint Statement, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel

Ramallah-Jaffa, 29 March 2012− In response to this evening’s reports in the media that Hana Shalabi has ended her hunger strike on its 43rd day and agreed to a deal in which she will be deported to Gaza for three years, Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) cannot yet confirm this news. Addameer’s lawyers were deliberately denied access to Ms. Shalabi today and PHR-Israel’s doctor has been denied access to her tomorrow. Her family has also been denied permission to visit her.

Addameer and PHR-Israel are first and foremost concerned about Ms. Shalabi’s health. Addameer and PHR-Israel are further concerned that her medical condition and the high danger on her life were used in order to threaten her to take the sole option of being deported.

Addameer and PHR-Israel are against this form of forcible deportation, which is not only illegal under international law, as clearly stated in the Fourth Geneva Convention, but is also part of an Israeli policy that is not new; Israel has systematically made agreements in which Palestinians are deported from their homes and separated from their loved ones.

Addameer and PHR-Israel are working hard to receive confirmation about Ms. Shalabi’s condition and will release a more comprehensive analysis of today’s events shortly.

Earlier Electronic Intifada rush translation of Arabic version

The Arabic statement is rush-translated by The Electronic Intifada:

Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights cannot confirm end of Hana Shalabi’s hunger strike

Regarding what has appeared in the media this evening regarding the prisoner Hana Shalabi ending her hunger strike on its 43rd day, and her agreement to a deal that would include banishing her to Gaza for three years, Addameer and Phyisicians for Human Rights - Israel [PHRI] cannot confirm this news as of this moment, given that Addameer’s attorney was prevented from visiting her today, just as physicians have been prevented from visiting her tomorrow. She is also forbidden from receiving family visits.

Addameer and PHRI, first and foremost, are gravely concerned over the health of Shalabi, and are afraid that her critical health condition and the danger to her life were causes of pressure and threat to accept the only choice which was banishment to the Gaza Strip.

Addameer and PHRI oppose this kind of compulsory banishment, which is not only against international law, and is mentioned clearly in the Fourth Geneva Convention, but is also a long-standing part of Israel’s policy which it has come to rely on - to make deals with Palestinians that result in banishing them from their homes and families.

Addameer and PHRI are working to obtain confirmation regarding the condition of Shalabi and they will release a more complete analysis of the day’s events soon, and they call on media to exercise caution and and to verify information before publishing it.

Police torture in Russia causes public outrage

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | Associated Press – March 29,2012

MOSCOW — Russia's top investigative agency filed new charges Thursday
against police officers accused of torturing detainees amid growing public
outrage over police brutality.

The Investigative Committee said it had charged four officers in the
Siberian city of Novokuznetsk in the torture death of a detainee. It also
leveled new accusations against a police officer in the Volga River city
of Kazan who is already in custody on charges of torturing a man to death.

Victims and human rights activists say Russian police routinely use
torture to extract false confessions from those they have arbitrarily
rounded up. They say police reforms undertaken by President Dmitry
Medvedev have failed to stop or even contain police crimes and achieved
little beyond changing the force's name.

Kazan resident Sergei Nazarov died earlier this month of injuries suffered
when police officers allegedly sodomized him with a champagne bottle. His
case has caused outrage across Russia and drawn calls for an urgent
overhaul of a force long accused of corruption and brutality.

The four officers charged in Novokuznetsk were accused of causing a
detainee's death by asphyxiation by putting a gas mask on him and cutting
off the access to air — a torture technique popular among Russian police,
according to rights groups.

Police regulations still require officers to report a certain quota of
solved crimes, a practice that encourages police to make arbitrary arrests
and extract false confessions to make their numbers. Police from across
Russia also learned cruel interrogation practices during tours of duty in
Chechnya and other restive provinces in Russia's Caucasus, contributing to
the culture of brutality.

In the Kazan case, officers rounded up the 52-year-old Nazarov on charges
of stealing a cellphone. He died at a local hospital two days later of a
ruptured rectum.

His death sparked street protests in Kazan that attracted nationwide
attention and led to a federal probe. The investigators arrested five
police officers accused of torturing Nazarov, and the entire precinct was
disbanded.

Local residents then began lining up to tell federal investigators their
stories of torture by police officers.

The Investigative Committee said Thursday that Almaz Vasilov, one of the
suspected torturers of Nazarov, has been charged in a separate case when
he and other officers tried to force a 20-year-old man to confess in a
crime by beating him and then pulling down his pants and trying to
sodomize him with a pencil. The committee said the victim managed to avoid
the torture by running out into a corridor.

Many others couldn't run away, according to Russian media, which reported
the stories of several other victims. In one case, a 22-year-old computer
programmer said officers from the same precinct tried to force him to
confess to a theft and then sodomized him, first with a pencil, then with
a champagne bottle.

"Where is the bottle? You always must have a bottle!" Oskar Krylov
recalled a police chief yelling to his subordinates, according to the
Gazeta.ru news website.

The Investigative Committee said it had detained that officer and his
colleague on charges of torturing Krylov.

The scandal over police torture in Kazan followed other cases of police
brutality, some publicized and others previously hushed up or unreported.
They include:

— A local journalist in the Siberian city of Tomsk died of injuries in
2010 after a police officer sodomized him with a broomstick.

— A teenager in St. Petersburg was beaten to death in police custody in
January.

— In another case in the same region of Siberia as Novokuznetsk, two
officers were accused of torturing a detainee to death in a garage and
then throwing his body out on a road.

Activists have urged the Kremlin to change regulations that encourage
police brutality, oust Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, conduct a
thorough cleansing of the police force and set up a separate independent
body to would investigate police crimes.

Alexei Navalny, a popular anti-corruption blogger and a key organizer of
massive opposition protests in Moscow, said the government should dismiss
all Kazan policemen and recruit new ones as a model of how to conduct a
future nationwide reform of the police.

"It can't get any worse," he wrote on his blog. "And they need to throw
Nurgaliyev out. How long can it go?"

Revolutionary greetings - Robert Seth Hayes

Revolutionary greetings, dear comrades, friends and supporters.

This is Robert Seth Hayes, a former member of the
Black Panther Party and a Black Liberation Army
combatant. Still incarcerated, yet still
progressing, I am determined to have closure to
an era of Civil Rights struggles. To those of you
who have been partners in solidarity, I extend my
arms to enfold you, let the vibration of my
beating heart, surround and comfort you. And may
my spirit ever illuminate as a light along the
path, as you continue your journey of making
history. Greetings of profound respect. To all
the Sisters and Brothers new to this all
inclusive struggle: welcome, thank you, your
support and attention are sorely needed.

In June of 2012 I will return to the New York
State parole board, and again apply for release.
After being originally incarcerated in 1973, I
first came up for parole in 1998, and have
continued to receive two year hits since then. At
present, we are again engaged in fund raising
mode for our new legal strategy and have our work
cut out for us. We are our own liberators, so we again ask you for assistance.

June of 2012 is the next date where we will again
meet our opposition and enter the fight for
freedom. We have already accomplished much, but
the battle resumes and again we must be prepared.

Please assist us with whatever funds you can
contribute in this on going fight to free all PP/POW's.

Please send contributions for the Legal Defense
Fund for Robert Seth Hayes to our director: Nate
Buckley, 438 Massachusetts avenue, Buffalo, NY 14213.

If you wish to send a letter to the parole
commissioners requesting my release and asking
them to bring closure to both our fallen freedom
fighters and our communities as a whole, send
your letters c/o Cheryl L. Kates, P.C., Attorney
At Law, PO Box 734, Victor NY 14564.

Your efforts are honored and appreciated. Stay Strong.

Know that your love and support provides support
and strengthens my and others determination to prevail.

As a political prisoner and prisoner of war, I
extend to you much love and admiration, from the
many who are confined, but who remain still at
the heart of the struggle. Much love to you!

With honor and respect, love and solidarity,

Robert Seth' Hayes

Friday April 6th day of actions in solidarity with Stella Antoniou

The anarchist Stella Antoniou has been in pre-trial prison custody for 16
months.

She is accused of participation in the Revolutionary Organization Conspiracy
of Cells of Fire.

She was arrested in December of 2010 along with the comrades Costa Sakka,
George Karagiannidi and Alexander Mitrousia, who are also in prison for the same
case.

Stella refuses, as do the others, the rotten and bloated charges, which are
constantly renewed with new prosecutions and which are based on their personal
relationships and of course their political identities as anarchists.
Stella suffers from a severe illness which is continuously worsening due to
her confinement and for that reason she repeatedly files applications for
release, which are denied one after the other.

However, she never ceased to struggle with courage inside prison...
She never refused that she stood in solidarity to a wanted comrade of
hers...

SHE HAS THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF CASE FILE AGAINST HER...
SHE HAS THOUSANDS OF COMMRADES WITH HER
AND WE WILL TAKE HER BACK!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF STELLA ANTONIOY
FREEDOM TO SAKKA, KARAGIANNIDI, MITROYSIA
DEMONSTRATION, FRIDAY 6/4/2012
SYNTAGMA, 6.00pm.

Assembly of solidarity to imprisoned and prosecuted agonists
(end poster)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because of the 5th in series application for release, filed for
health reasons by the anarchist comrade Stella Antoniou, collectives,
occupations, assemblies and individuals, in an open discussion (in Athens,)
decided upon the organizing of a march in solidarity, from Parliament Square at
6pm on Friday April 6th. At the same time they direct an open call to all
collectives for a Nation-wideday of actions in solidarity with Stella
Antoniou on the same day as the march.

We also translate and transfer the call so that other comrades
wherever they are may contribute to the solidarity which will be expressed on
that day demanding the immediate release of Stella Antoniou.

*******************************************************************************************************
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
(αφίσα)
Η αναρχική Στέλλα Αντωνίου είναι προφυλακισμένη εδώ και 16 μήνες.
Κατηγορείται για συμμετοχή στην Ε.Ο. Συνωμοσία Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς.
Συνελλήφθη τον Δεκέμβρη του 2010 μαζί με τους συντρόφους Κώστα Σακκά, Γιώργο
Καραγιαννίδη και Αλέξανδρο Μητρούσια, που επίσης βρσκονται στην φυλακή για την
ίδια υπόθεση.
Η Στέλλα αρνείται, όπως και οι υπόλοιποι, το σαθρό και υπερδιογκωμένο
κατηγορητήριο, που διαρκώς ανανεώνεται με νέες διώξεις και βασίζεται πάνω σε
προσωπικές σχέσεις και φυσικά την πολιτική ταυτότητα όλων ως αναρχικών.
Η Στέλλα πάσχη από σοβαρή ασθένεια που διαρκώς επιδεινώνεται λόγω του
εγκλεισμού και γιαυτό το λόγο καταθέτει συνεχώς αιτήσεις αποφυλάκισης, οι οποίες
απορρίπτονται η μια πίσω από την άλλη.
Δεν σταμάτησε όμως ποτέ να αγωνίζεται με σθένος μέσα στη φυλακή...
Δεν αρνήθηκε όμως ποτέ, ότι στάθηκε αλληλέγγυα σε καταζητούμενο σύντροφό
της...
ΕΧΕΙ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΣΕΛΙΔΕΣ ΔΙΚΟΓΡΑΦΙΩΝ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΩΝ ΤΗΣ...
ΕΧΕΙ ΧΙΛΑΔΕΣ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΟΥΣ ΜΑΖΙ ΤΗΣ
ΚΑΙ ΘΑ ΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΟΥΜΕ ΠΙΣΩ!
ΑΜΕΣΗ ΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΗ ΣΤΗ ΣΤΕΛΛΑ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΟΥ
ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΣΑΚΚΑ, ΚΑΡΑΓΙΑΝΝΙΔΗ, ΜΗΤΡΟΥΣΙΑ
ΔΙΑΔΗΛΩΣΗ, ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗ 6/4/2012
ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑ, 6.00μμ.
Συνέλευση αλληλεγγύης στους φυλακισμένους και διωκόμενους
αγωνιστές
(τέλος αφίσας)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Με αφορμή την 5η κατά σειρά αίτηση αποφυλάκισης της Αναρχικής συντρόφισσας
Στέλλας Αντωνίου που κατατέθηκε για λόγους υγείας, συλλογικότητες, στέκια,
καταλήψεις, συνελεύσεις και άτομα, σε μια ανοιχτή συζήτηση (στην Αθήνα)
κατέληξαν στη συνδιοργάνωση πορείας αλληλεγγύης από το Σύνταγμα την Παρασκευή
6 Απρίλη. Συγχρόνως απευθύνουν ανοιχτό κάλεσμα σε όλες τις συλλογικότητες
του χώρου για Πανελλαδικήμέρα δράσης αλληλεγγύηςστην Στέλλα Αντωνίου την ίδια μέρα
με την πορεία.
Μεταφράζουμε και μεταφέρουμε το κάλεσμα ώστε και άλλοι σύντροφοοι όπου
βρίσκονται να μπορέσουν να συμβάλλουν στην αλληλεγγύη που θα εκδηλώνετε εκείνη
την μέρα με απαίτηση την άμμεση απελευθέρωση της Στέλλας Αντωνίου.


www.abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=whats1

Friday April 6th day of actions in solidarity with Stella Antoniou

The anarchist Stella Antoniou has been in pre-trial prison custody for 16
months.

She is accused of participation in the Revolutionary Organization Conspiracy
of Cells of Fire.

She was arrested in December of 2010 along with the comrades Costa Sakka,
George Karagiannidi and Alexander Mitrousia, who are also in prison for the same
case.

Stella refuses, as do the others, the rotten and bloated charges, which are
constantly renewed with new prosecutions and which are based on their personal
relationships and of course their political identities as anarchists.
Stella suffers from a severe illness which is continuously worsening due to
her confinement and for that reason she repeatedly files applications for
release, which are denied one after the other.

However, she never ceased to struggle with courage inside prison...
She never refused that she stood in solidarity to a wanted comrade of
hers...

SHE HAS THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF CASE FILE AGAINST HER...
SHE HAS THOUSANDS OF COMMRADES WITH HER
AND WE WILL TAKE HER BACK!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF STELLA ANTONIOY
FREEDOM TO SAKKA, KARAGIANNIDI, MITROYSIA
DEMONSTRATION, FRIDAY 6/4/2012
SYNTAGMA, 6.00pm.

Assembly of solidarity to imprisoned and prosecuted agonists
(end poster)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because of the 5th in series application for release, filed for
health reasons by the anarchist comrade Stella Antoniou, collectives,
occupations, assemblies and individuals, in an open discussion (in Athens,)
decided upon the organizing of a march in solidarity, from Parliament Square at
6pm on Friday April 6th. At the same time they direct an open call to all
collectives for a Nation-wideday of actions in solidarity with Stella
Antoniou on the same day as the march.

We also translate and transfer the call so that other comrades
wherever they are may contribute to the solidarity which will be expressed on
that day demanding the immediate release of Stella Antoniou.

*******************************************************************************************************
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
(αφίσα)
Η αναρχική Στέλλα Αντωνίου είναι προφυλακισμένη εδώ και 16 μήνες.
Κατηγορείται για συμμετοχή στην Ε.Ο. Συνωμοσία Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς.
Συνελλήφθη τον Δεκέμβρη του 2010 μαζί με τους συντρόφους Κώστα Σακκά, Γιώργο
Καραγιαννίδη και Αλέξανδρο Μητρούσια, που επίσης βρσκονται στην φυλακή για την
ίδια υπόθεση.
Η Στέλλα αρνείται, όπως και οι υπόλοιποι, το σαθρό και υπερδιογκωμένο
κατηγορητήριο, που διαρκώς ανανεώνεται με νέες διώξεις και βασίζεται πάνω σε
προσωπικές σχέσεις και φυσικά την πολιτική ταυτότητα όλων ως αναρχικών.
Η Στέλλα πάσχη από σοβαρή ασθένεια που διαρκώς επιδεινώνεται λόγω του
εγκλεισμού και γιαυτό το λόγο καταθέτει συνεχώς αιτήσεις αποφυλάκισης, οι οποίες
απορρίπτονται η μια πίσω από την άλλη.
Δεν σταμάτησε όμως ποτέ να αγωνίζεται με σθένος μέσα στη φυλακή...
Δεν αρνήθηκε όμως ποτέ, ότι στάθηκε αλληλέγγυα σε καταζητούμενο σύντροφό
της...
ΕΧΕΙ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΣΕΛΙΔΕΣ ΔΙΚΟΓΡΑΦΙΩΝ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΩΝ ΤΗΣ...
ΕΧΕΙ ΧΙΛΑΔΕΣ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΟΥΣ ΜΑΖΙ ΤΗΣ
ΚΑΙ ΘΑ ΤΗΝ ΠΑΡΟΥΜΕ ΠΙΣΩ!
ΑΜΕΣΗ ΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΗ ΣΤΗ ΣΤΕΛΛΑ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΟΥ
ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΣΑΚΚΑ, ΚΑΡΑΓΙΑΝΝΙΔΗ, ΜΗΤΡΟΥΣΙΑ
ΔΙΑΔΗΛΩΣΗ, ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗ 6/4/2012
ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑ, 6.00μμ.
Συνέλευση αλληλεγγύης στους φυλακισμένους και διωκόμενους
αγωνιστές
(τέλος αφίσας)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Με αφορμή την 5η κατά σειρά αίτηση αποφυλάκισης της Αναρχικής συντρόφισσας
Στέλλας Αντωνίου που κατατέθηκε για λόγους υγείας, συλλογικότητες, στέκια,
καταλήψεις, συνελεύσεις και άτομα, σε μια ανοιχτή συζήτηση (στην Αθήνα)
κατέληξαν στη συνδιοργάνωση πορείας αλληλεγγύης από το Σύνταγμα την Παρασκευή
6 Απρίλη. Συγχρόνως απευθύνουν ανοιχτό κάλεσμα σε όλες τις συλλογικότητες
του χώρου για Πανελλαδικήμέρα δράσης αλληλεγγύηςστην Στέλλα Αντωνίου την ίδια μέρα
με την πορεία.
Μεταφράζουμε και μεταφέρουμε το κάλεσμα ώστε και άλλοι σύντροφοοι όπου
βρίσκονται να μπορέσουν να συμβάλλουν στην αλληλεγγύη που θα εκδηλώνετε εκείνη
την μέρα με απαίτηση την άμμεση απελευθέρωση της Στέλλας Αντωνίου.


www.abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=whats1

3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference, Portland State University, April 6-8th 2012.....Finalized Program

From: "Law-An Disorder"
Date: Wed, March 28, 2012

*STUDENTS FOR UNITY PRESENTS*
*
The 3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference*
*
April 6-8th 2012 Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student Union
Free, open to the public, disability affirmative & Safer Space** *
*
*
*Links: Bmedia
Trailer
*
* lawandisorder.wordpress.com *
* lawandisorder@gmail.com *
* Conference
**Facebook
*
* **Direct Action Training Workshops on
Sunday
**
* *Friday night panel *"Gender and the PIC - Towards a
Queer, Trans and Feminist Abolition
Politic"
*
*
This year's event featuring:
Chairman Fred Hamton Jr.- POCC/BPPC
Dylcia Pagan-Former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner
Captive Genders-Eric Stanely, Dean Spade, Ralowe Ampu, Vikki Law
Insurgent Theater- Interactive Prison Abolition Theater Collective
Paulette D'auteuil- The Jericho Movement
Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center
Scott Crow- Common Ground Collective
Lauren Ornelas- Food Empowerment Project
Critical Resistance- Grassroots Prison Abolition Organization
PM Press
Civil Liberties Defense Center
Decolonize PDX
Rose City Copwatch
Bmedia Collective
Oregon Jericho
NW Jericho Coalition
Parasol Climate Collective
PDX Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Portland Rising Tide
Prison Activist Resource Center
Cascadia Earth First
Portland Animal Defense League
Portland Industrial Workers of the World
Rosehip Medic Collective
Student Animal Liberation Coalition
Institute for Anarchist Studies
Students for Unity
Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
Portland Central America Solidarity Committee
Redbird Prison Abolition
Insurgent Theater
Portland Books to Prisoners
Committee to Connect the Dots

Program for 3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference

April 6th-8th 2012

All Events at Portland State University in Smith Memorial Building

1825 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

**Evening events for 7th & 8th are in Hoffman Hall*


*Friday April 6th 2012 5:30pm-9:30pm*


*5:30pm-7:30pm (Vanport Room 338) *

*Dylcia Pagan- Former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner *


*7:30pm-9:30pm (Vanport Room 338)*

*Gender and the Prison Industrial Complex: Towards a Queer, Trans and
Feminist Abolition Politic*

Eric Stanley, Dean Spade, Ralowe Ampu, Vikki Law


*Saturday April 7th 2012 9:00am-8:30pm*


*9:00am-10:30am (Vanport Room 338) *

*Doors open, Coffee, tabling, baked goods!*


*10:30am-11:45am Panels 1,2 & 3 (327, 328 & 329)*


*Panel 1 (327)*

*Decolonization Means Prison Abolition*

Decolonize PDX- Collective of radical people of color in Portland, Oregon

*Summary*

This panel will feature members of Decolonize PDX exploring the radical
implications of prison revolt, prison abolition, anti-blackness, and
colonization. We will engage in a dialogue with those present about the
necessity of and opportunities for radical

movements supporting organizing behind the walls. The existence of the
prison industrial complex is a continuation of the colonial project.
Resistance behind prison walls coupled with outside support has radical
liberatory implications for those of us

caught in the cage of a socially and ecologically collapsing world.


*Panel 2 (328)*

*OWS, Repression and New Models for Society*

Peter Bohmer- Activist scholar (The Evergreen State College)

*Summary*

What promises does the OWS movement bring? What is left to be desired?
Peter Bohmer will review the political possibilities, limitations and
opportunities resulting from OWS. These questions will be addressed within
the historical context of earlier national, and transnational movements,
given his experience as a community organizer, economic scholar, and
anti-capitalist advocate for global communities. This discussion will
reflect on what about the national and global state of affairs has sparked
the community mobilization efforts. This discussion also hopes to find
ways to show avenues for cross-movement solidarity.


*Panel 3 (329)*

*Know Your Rights Training*

Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center

*Summary*

The Know Your Rights training will give you the confidence to make
decisions about how to engage your actions. Where is the line drawn
between legal and potentially illegal protesting? Armed with knowledge,
activists can make informed choices regarding their interactions with
government agents and can best protect their rights should they end up in
handcuffs and in the legal system. The training will be facilitated by
Lauren Regan, executive director from the Civil Liberties Defense
Centerthat provides both legal observation at
protests and gives people tools
they need to invoke their rights.


*12:00pm-1:15pm Panels 4,5, 6 & 7 (327, 328, 329 & 333)*


*Panel 4 (327)*

*Political Prisoners and Cultural Memory: Resisting Repression on the
Inside and Out*

Erika Gisela Abad- Doctoral Candidate in American Studies, Center for
Social and Environmental Justice

Paulette D'Auteuil- Co-chair for the Jericho Amnesty Movement

*Summary*

Political Prisoners (PP’s) have experienced repression inside and outside
of prison. The struggle to maintain cultural memory and a sense of identity
in empire is a great challenge. This panel will discuss the history and
significance of u.s.-held PP’s, the movements that influenced
OWS/Decolonize movement and how new forms of repression and state
sanctioned terrorism propose new challenges for activists today. Given the
wide array of political protests and mobilizations that have taken place
within the past few years, the lessons we can learn from current and former
PP’s are crucial. Aspects of those lessons are Puerto Rican PP’s amnesty
and democratic struggles in the context of Puerto Rico’s colonial
relationship with the United States. This presentation will touch upon PP’s
efforts to support their communities’ disenfranchisement while speaking out
against institutional abuses and the need for continued mobilization in
colonized communities. Within the frame of this panel’s theme, we will
also discuss U.S. North American indigenous prisoners spiritual and
religious repression as such is connected to the greater question of their
communities’ continued colonial reality. Indigenous PP’s such as Leonard
Peltier and Oso Blanco are examples of Native prisoners who struggle daily
to practice their culture within the western confines of the U.S. empires
prison industrial complex. On the outside the government can now legally
detain and disappear citizens and undocumented people further indicating a
military state trampling constitutional, human, non-human and environmental
rights.

**

*Panel 5 (328)*

*Abolishing the Police*

Rose City Copwatch- Portland-based organization that seeks to disrupt
police violence and abolish police institutions through education, action
and movement building.

*Summary*

Members of Rose City Copwatch will lead a discussion around the role of
police institutions in society and the need to build a world without
police. We will look at different alternative models of safety and
accountability rooted in peoples movements and think about the lessons of
these struggles and experiments in abolishing racist state violence and
building and defending safe communities.


*Panel 6 (329)*

*Green is the New Red!: Updates on Earth and Animal Liberation Political
Prisoners*

Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center

*Summary*

Over time activists defending the environment and non-human species have
been targeted and infiltrated by the government. Learn about their cases
and how you can help. This presentation will focus on U.S.-held Political
Prisoners from the earth and animal liberation movements.


*Panel 7 (333)*

*Striking Based Self Defense*

Anthony Patch- Local anarchist self defense instructor


*1:15pm-2:00pm Lunch (Wherever you can get it!)*


*2:00pm-3:15pm Panels 8, 9, 10 & 11 (327,328, 329 & 333)*


*Panel 8 (327)*

*What, Me Worry? The Rise Of The Surveillance State & What We Can Do About
It*

scott crow- Anarchist community organizer, writer, speaker

*Summary*

This presentation will examine the rise of the current surveillance
industrial complex and its impact for radical social movements today. Crow
will also place the current strategies and tactics of government and
corporate surveillance in the historical context of political repression in
the US; reflect on his personal experiences with surveillance,
infiltration, being labeled a domestic terrorist and repression; and offer
ideas for how activists can defend themselves and their communities to
continue creating more just and sustainable worlds.


*Panel 9 (328)*

*"Reach Out and Write!" *

Oregon Jericho Movement - Local Chapter for the Jericho Amnesty Movement
Suna Nash- International Political Prisoner activist and volunteer with
Portland Books to Prisoners

*Summary*

This panel will focus on the different areas of state repression and
discrimination that go into making a Political Prisoner (PP,) and why
communication with them is so important. We will also cover some basic
guidelines for writing and sending books in to prisoners. Writing to PP’s
helps people behind bars counter feelings of isolation. It makes state
institutions mindful of the fact that people on the outside are watching
how they treat the prisoners in their care. Portland Books to Prisoners is
an all-volunteer collective working to distribute books free of charge to
prisoners. We are dedicated to offering people behind bars the
opportunities for self-empowerment, education and enjoyment that reading
can provide. Oregon Jericho Movement is the Portland based chapter of the
National Jericho Amnesty Movement. Jericho's goal is to gain recognition
of the fact that political prisoners exist inside of the United States and
to win amnesty for them.

**

*Panel 10 (329)*

*The Forgotten Palestinian Political Prisoners*

Wael Elasady- Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights

*Summary*

The situation of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails gets
very little coverage in the mainstream media. For 64 years Palestinian
political prisoners have endured deplorable torture, abuse, and
persecution, yet remain steadfast in their commitment to the struggle for
liberation and return. Palestinian prisoners represent a microcosm of
Israel’s brutal occupation, crippling siege, and systematic discrimination.


*Panel 11 (333) *

*Drop the Drug War Workshop*

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

*Summary*

The Hands Off Latin America committee of the Portland Central America
Solidarity Committee (PCASC) is offering a popular education workshop
exploring the causes and impacts of the "War on Drugs." Through
participatory discussion and group exercises, we will ask who benefits from
the Drug War and who pays the costs. We will also look at grassroots
resistance to the War on Drugs. This workshop is facilitated by PCASC's
Hands Off Latin America (HOLA) committee, a group that works to fight
militarism and US intervention abroad, and to support movements for social
justice in Latin America.


**

*3:30pm-4:45pm Panels 12, 13, 14 & 15 (327,328, 329 & 333)*


*Panel 12 (327) *

*Beyond Veganism: Food Justice*

Lauren Ornelas- Food Empowerment Project

*Summary*

Everyone should have the right to choose foods they want to eat, especially

foods that are healthier for them and that meet some of their ethical

beliefs. Communities of color and low-income communities often have

difficulty accessing healthier foods when compared to higher income areas.

This presentation will address how these communities are often unable to

purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as other vegan foods that are

healthier for them and for the planet. Spotlighted will be Food Empowerment

Project's work in Santa Clara County, CA to not only help assess the issue

of access in these communities, but to also find solutions to a problem that

can be seen in communities around the world. This talk will also explore the

lives of farm workers in the fields and slavery in the chocolate industry as

every food-related industry is laced with its own corporate greed. Ways in

which every individual can make a difference will be covered.


*Panel 13 (328) *

*The Role of Writing and Research in Developing Revolutionary Movements*

Hosted by the Institute for Anarchist Studies and co-sponsored by Team
Colors

*Summary*

The Role of Writing and Research in Developing Revolutionary Movements will
explore the importance of the written word and engaged research to movement
building. When revolutionary movements incorporate research practices,
knowledge development, and self-education they strengthen their participant
members as well as intensify the effects their organizing and strategies
can have. Topics such as the importance of theory, the role of study
groups, co-research strategies, using the public library for research,
investigating organized racists, and the importance of radical media will
be discussed. Six ten-minute presentations will be followed by a two tier
discussion period: the first will explore specific questions for current
campaigns, to be followed by open discussion. Come prepared to participate
with questions from your own organizing. Panel participants include
representatives from the Institute of Anarchist Studies, Portland Occupier,
Rose City Antifa, Team Colors Collective, Parasol Climate Collective,
Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, and a local radical librarian.


*Panel 14 (329)*

*30 years of Covert Disruption of the Movement*

Keith McHenry- Artist and author

*Summary*

The history and methods used in covert disruption of the left in the U.S.
since the end of COINTELPRO to today and ways we can make sure it does not
harm our work. A review of the strategies used in coordination by local,
state, federal and corporate efforts to stop nonviolent protest including
dirty tricks which have been used against the presenter. From police
doubles, stress position cages, wiretapped and other strategies that didn't
end with COINTELPRO or start after 9/11. Plus strategies on how to protect
the movement from these programs. Materials and internal government memos
provided.

**

*Panel 15 (333) *

*Prison Divestment, Corporate Campaigning and Direct Action*

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

*Summary *

Members of the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) will
speak about their campaign targeting Wells Fargo for their financial
investments in the private, for-profit prison industry. Wells Fargo is a
major shareholder in Geo Group, and is also invested in the Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), the industry leaders in for-profit prisons
and immigrant detention centers. PCASC is employing a campaign strategy
that combines divestment, corporate campaigning, and strategic direct
action to target the financiers of the private prison industry. Come to
this panel to find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved!

**

*4:45pm-6:00pm (Multicultural Center) *

*FREE DINNER: CATERED BY ENJONI CAFE!*


*5:30pm-6:30pm *

*Bo Brown- Former George Jackson Brigade Political Prisoners, Prison
Activist Resource Center*

**

*7:00pm-8:30pm (Hoffman Hall) ***This is in a separate building from Smith
Memorial*

*Hip Hop as a Tool for Organizing*

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.-* **P*risoners *O*f *C*onscience
*C*ommittee/*B*lack
*P*anther *P*arty *C*ubs

*C*hairman *F*red *H*ampton *Jr*. is an unleashed Political Prisoner who
was incarcerated a little under nine years in various state prisons. In
the eyes of the state, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. is a three-strike
offender: *Strike One:* For simply being African. *Strike Two:* For
being the offspring of freedom fighters: assassinated Deputy Chairman of
the Illinois Chapter Black Panther Party Fred Hampton, and his
mother/comrade Akua Njeri. And…*Strike Three:* For continuing the fight
for the liberation of African people. His powerful organizing throughout
the Black community placed a target on him just as the one that took his
father’s life. He was kidnapped from the streets by the infamous Chicago
Police Department, as well as a myriad of other law enforcement agencies in
May 1992. The state claimed Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. firebombed two
Korean owned stores on the south side of Chicago, IL supposedly in response
to the Simi Valley verdict rendered in the case of the LAPD beating of
Rodney King. While imprisoned, the attacks continued: threats on his
life, denying him visitation rights, sabotage of mail, destruction of
personal property, and long stints in “segregation”…the prison within the
prison. Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. continues to expose the brutal prison
conditions and continues to fight for the release still held political
prisoners, prisoners of war, and prisoners of conscience. Chairman Fred
Jr. also continues to push for pardon based on his innocence in order to
clear his name of the dubious charges. Under his leadership POCC/BPPC has
authored and organized campaigns around the African Anti Terrorism Bill;
Harriet Tubman Code; Code of Culture; and much more. A revolutionary,
powerful speaker and spoken word artist, Chairman Fred’s poignant
presentations have captivated audiences worldwide.

**

*Sunday April 8th 2012 9:00am-8:30pm*


*9:00am-10:30am (Vanport Room 338) *

*Doors open, Coffee, tabling, baked goods!*


*10:30am-11:45am Panels 1,2,3 (327, 328, 329)*


*Panel 1 (327)*

*Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism: Part I*

Portland Industrial Workers of the World

*Summary*

“Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism” is based on the
experiences of female-identified fellow workers who have found commonality
in their experience of gender oppression and have developed strategies for
organizing in solidarity with people of all genders.


*Panel 2 (328) *

*Women’s Prison Resistance: Part I*

Victoria Law- Writer, photographer, zinester, mother and co-founder of
Books Through Bars (NYC)

*Summary*

In this presentation, I will use the stories and observations in *Resistance
Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women* to 1) examine the
specific issues facing women behind bars discussing ways in which
incarcerated women are resisting and organizing 2) examine the obstacles
they face when trying to organize inside 3) challenge the audience to
examine *why* these actions have not been (and are not being) recognized
and talked about in discussions about the prison-industrial complex and
prisoner activism and resistance 4) generate discussion of concrete ways
(both big and small) that outside people, especially those dedicated to
resisting and abolishing the prison-industrial complex, can provide support
to women who are struggling inside.


*Panel 3 (329)*

*The Dark Side of the Internet: A Bit About Darknets*

Kyle Terry

*Summary*

Darknets are the hidden and obscure places of the internet. They are

used by organizations, law enforcement, activists, and people who

don't want to conform to the (very) public nature of the high level

internet. What are they? This talk will touch on the history of

darknets, what types of darknets exist and how activists and

hacktivists use them.

**

*12:00pm-1:15pm Panels 4,5, 6 & 7 **(327, 328, 329 & 333)*


*Panel 4 (327)*

*Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism: Part II*

Portland Industrial Workers of the World

*Summary*

“Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism” is based on the
experiences of female-identified fellow workers who have found commonality
in their experience of gender oppression and have developed strategies for
organizing in solidarity with people of all genders.


*Panel 5 (328)*

*Women’s Prison Resistance: Part II*

Victoria Law- Writer, photographer, zinester, mother, co-founder of Books
Through Bars (NYC)

*Summary*

Although the dramatic increase of women in prison has led to a growing
interest in female incarceration, the voices and actions of the women
inside often remain unheard. Much of the recent literature and discussion
on the subject articulates how the needs of incarcerated women differ from
those of their male counterparts. However, it fails to examine how these
differences have affected and changed the ways in which women challenge and
organize against prison conditions and how these differences prevent
outside recognition of these acts of resistance.


*Panel 6 (329)*

*Occupation Nation: A Video Reportback From the Movement*

Bmedia Collective- Local Video Art Collective

*Summary*

An interactive analysis framed by video clips from across the national
Occupy Movement. B Media Collective will facilitate a reflective discussion
prompted by video recorded during the occupation in New York, DC,
Philadelphia, New Haven, Baltimore, Providence, Portland with an eye
towards deepening our analysis of the experience. Discussion will revolve
around the history of occupation, the experience in the camps, the process
of internal organizing, the personal transformation evident in the camps,
the role of the media, and the national similarities and localized
differences between the camps. Video clips from the national occupations
and pieces produced within Portland will frame the discussion and prompt
reflection. The goal of the workshop is to share first-hand footage and
interviews from around the country, begin to synthesize the larger reality
of the occupation, and enable space to process the experience within a
collective setting.


**

*Panel 7 (333) *

*Connect the Dots 101: White Supremacy and the Prison Industrial Complex*

Lydia Bartholow- The Committee to Connect the Dots

*Summary*

This workshop offers a framework for tackling white supremacy within
radical currents. It briefly covers the history of white supremacy, the
ways in which the prison industrial complex is central to the maintenance
of a white supremacist culture, and finish by working together to connect
the dots between multiple struggles.


*1:15pm-2:00pm FREE LUNCH: CATERED BY ENJONI CAFE!*


*2:00pm-3:15pm Panels 8, 9 & 10 (327, 328 & 329)*


*Panel 8 (327)*

*Safe and Healthy in the Streets*

Rosehip Medic Collective- Group of volunteer street medics and health care
activists active in Portland, Oregon

*Summary*

Come join the Rosehip Medic Collective as we discuss ways to prepare

yourself for the next demonstration, occupation, or whatever else may

be on the horizon. We'll be covering everything from warm layers (no

cotton!) to jail support and the proper treatment for pepperspray.

**

*Panel 9 (328)*

*Abolition 101*

Critical Resistance- National grassroots prison abolition organization

*Summary*

This will be an interactive workshop that will provide participants with
the opportunity to engage in thinking through the Prison Industrial Complex
with a focus on policing. Participants will work through working
definitions of the PIC and Abolition before tackling the topic of policing,
how it's used and what we can do about it. Through video and scenarios,
participants will walk through what community responses to the policing and
the impact of the PIC. This is all with the goal of really seeing a clear
picture of where policing fits in the PIC puzzle.

**

*Panel 10 (329)*

*Decolonizing Street Art*

Decolonize PDX- Collective of radical people of color in Portland, Oregon

*Summary*

This interactive workshop will feature Decolonize PDX’s street

actions, which have involved props and art to engage folks on issues

surrounding police brutality and prison abolition. Participants will

give a short explanation of our methods, and have time to engage with

the actual props on both of those issues. We will also have a new set

up designed to forefront issues of white privilege, and will be making

a new video during the workshop, with all those who attend as

participants.

**

*3:30pm-4:30pm (Hoffman Hall) *

*In the Belly*

Insurgent Theater

*Summary*

In the belly is where things digest, where they are broken down so their
value can be extracted. This is where things are made to rot. If our
society is a beast, its belly is the prison system. This work from
Insurgent Theatre seeks to manifest imprisonment on stage, overlays it with
critical analysis of the system, and follows up with in-depth discussion
about abolishing prison in America.

**

*4:30pm-5:30pm (Hoffman Hall) *

*The Lucasville Uprising*

Presented by RedBird Prison Abolition

*Summary*

In 1992 more than 400 prisoners protested the oppressive and racist
policies at the Southern Ohio Correction Facility (SOCF). During one of the
longest prison uprisings in U.S. history, inmates came together across gang
and racial divides to not only confront the state,* *but also negotiate a
peaceful resolution. Although the negotiations included an agreement of no
repercussions for anyone involved in the uprising, the state has since then
targeted individuals perceived as 'leaders' of the uprising. The trials
for those involved have been fraught with snitch testimony, coercion,
obstructed access to council and evidence, and biased judges and court
rooms. Today, dozens of people are serving time or are condemned to death
for their alleged involvement. The Lucasville Uprising and its aftermath
brings up important questions for those working on prison issues
everywhere. The workshop focuses on the voices of prisoners, and in the
past we have had an inmate call-in to speak about the case. We also
include written and radio pieces made by prisoners involved in the
rebellion. Although the workshop is partitioned into four general
sections, all the parts encourage participants to actively examine and
respond to some of the hard questions we ask.



More specifically, the Lucasville Uprising Workshop will...

1. summarize the uprising and the aftermath
2. compare and contrast Lucasville with present day prisoner resistance
(Pelican Bay, Georgia Prison Strike, etc)
3. explore convict unity across racial factions and
4. discover better ways to support prisoners in resistance.

****Direct Action Workshops at the 3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference*

*Sunday April 8th 2012 10:30am-3:15pm*

Portland State University in the Smith Memorial Building

1825 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

(Multicultural Center-2nd Floor)


*10:30am-11:45pm*

*Mass-mobilizations with Spokes Councils and Affinity Groups: The Portland
Action Lab Model*

Portland Rising Tide and Portland Action Lab

*Summary*

During the beginning of the Occupy Movement, a group of organizers in
Portland recognized the potential for days of mass direct action and began
organizing the direct action spokes council that would become the Portland
Action Lab. The Portland Action Lab organized the N17: Occupy the Banks and
the F29: Shut Down the Corporations days of action. The latter were part of
some 80 actions across the country that were called for and coordinated by
the Portland Action Lab. This panel will explore the model used by the
Portland action Lab and provide lessons learned from the experience, which
can both empower and provide tools for people interested or engaged in
planning large scale direct action.


*12:00pm-1:15pm*

*Urban Direct Action: Orchestration, Planning, & Implementation*

Portland Animal Defense League

*Summary*

Direct action amounts to a diversity of tactics that can be utilized in a

myriad of unique circumstances. Variations in an activist's surroundings

and conditions can vastly alter the options and plans for direct action.

The urban environment provides for one set of these particular

characteristics. This workshop will explore the options for direct

action in an urban setting, the circumstances that act as limitations,

the process of action planning, and the nuts and bolts of action

engagement.


*2:00pm-3:15pm*

*Renegade Blockades*

Kim Marks- Grassroots organizer, Rising Tide and Cascadia Forest Alliance

*Summary*

This is focused on back country actions: scouting, action planning

learning how to be effective with out getting arrested, how to survive in

the woods and a power point of different types blockades.

Boston pays $170k to settle cell phone recording lawsuit

Boston pays $170k to settle cell phone recording lawsuit

The City of Boston has agreed to pay Simon Glik $170,000 in damages and legal fees to settle a civil rights lawsuit. Glik was arrested in 2007 on Boston Common for using his cell phone to record the arrest of another man. Police then arrested Glik, too, and charged him under the strict Massachusetts wiretapping statute. They eventually dropped the charges, but with the help of the Massachusetts ACLU, Glik filed a civil lawsuit against the city for false arrest.

Last year, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously ruled that Glik had a "clearly established" First Amendment right to record the actions of public officials on a public sidewalk. Boston finally admitted it had made a mistake earlier this year, and Boston taxpayers will now be paying for the screw-up.

"The law had been clear for years that openly recording a video is not a crime," Glik said in a statement. "It's sad that it takes so much for police to learn the laws they were supposed to know in the first place. I hope Boston police officers will never again arrest someone for openly recording their public actions."

Glik claims that officers in Boston's Internal Affairs Division made fun of him when he filed his original complaint with the police department; he says they suggested he'd be better off filing a civil lawsuit instead. They probably aren't laughing today.

The Massachusetts ACLU says that the City of Boston has changed its practices since Glik filed his lawsuit. The city "developed a training video based on facts similar to the Glik case, instructing police officers not to arrest people who openly record what they are doing in public."

An Massachusetts ACLU spokesman tells Ars that Glik himself will receive $50,000 of the money; the rest will go to cover the costs of his legal case.

We've also sought a comment from the City of Boston and will update our story if they respond.

Inside the home of Hana Shalabi her pain, struggle and absence are deeply felt

Hana al-Shalabi is on her 41st day of hunger strike. She may suffer cardiac arrest at any moment. Support around the world is growing, but here in Ramallah, and the West Bank in general, a protest in support of Hana can’t muster up more than a dozen people.

It’s depressing. It doesn’t help to remember that it took Khader Adnan over 50 days on hunger strike before people decided to protest. Some photojournalists have expressed their annoyance at covering protests called for by random persons that end up being a total waste of their time because of the handful of protesters that show up. I won’t get into that nor try to explain the reasons behind the failure of the Palestinian street in supporting their Israeli-held prisoners.

Last week, I went to the northern West Bank village of Burqin and visited the Shalabi family. I ended up interveiwing Hana’s sister Zahra, which was really emotional. The Shalabis are a family of farmers, evidently still grieving for their brother and son Samer who was killed by Israeli warplanes in the family’s field in 2005. The first and inexplicable arrest of Hana in 2009 further added to the grief, and when she was released last October it was like “balm soothing our tormented souls,” as Zahra put it.

Here are some excerpts:

Prior to her release in October, Hana had spent 25 months in prison under administrative detention, which can be renewed every six months.

During the last family visit, Hana informed her mother that she would begin a hunger strike if her detention was renewed for the sixth time. When the prisoners’ deal came out, it was a welcome and joyous surprise.

“We were all filled with immeasurable happiness,” recounts Zahra. “Hana couldn’t believe she was out of prison. We stayed up past midnight on the day she was released, just chatting and laughing so much. She told me stories about life in prison, the types of dinners she’d cook with the other female prisoners, the sanitary conditions of the cells, all in a joking way.”

The four months between October and February were trouble-free days, bursting with dreams and ambitions. Hana loved to socialize and meet with people. She was busy with getting her papers in order to register for university, with her eyes set on enrolling at the American University in Jenin. She wanted to get her driver’s license, and later buy a car. She went on a shopping spree, buying new carpets and curtains for her bedroom, as well as new clothes since she couldn’t stand to wear the ones she owned before her imprisonment. Also she dreamed of getting married and of finding the perfect man to spend the rest of her life with.

On February 16, at 2:30am, Zahra woke up to the sound of unusual noises outside the house. At first, she thought it was a few stray dogs, but then came the unmistakable rumble of an Israeli army jeep. Hana woke up in a frenzy, gasping “The Israelis, the Israelis!” She confusedly thought that the occupation soldiers had come for her brother Ammar, who spent two weeks in prison after the Palestinian Authority arrested him in 2009 on the baseless accusation of weapon possession. The thought of getting rearrested did not cross her mind until the Israeli commander called her name.

“She began jumping around like a caged bird,” Zahra says. “She was panicking, and kept repeating over and over again that she was not going to go with the soldiers because she didn’t do anything.”

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

There are no words left after this. I picture Hana lying in a hospital bed, enduring an incredible amount of physical pain in addition to the taunts of the Israeli soldiers around her, who tell her over and over again that she will not survive, that she is not Khader Adnan, that the world does not care about her, that she will die alone and forgotten.

I don’t want to immortalize her; I just want her to live. The biggest injustice is happening right before our eyes and we are powerless to do anything about it. Relying on those so-called civilized western governments is like leaning on an nonexistent wall.

Free Hana. Save Hana.

Earth Liberation Political Prisoners Sadie and Exile Punished for Being “Unrepentant”

March 28, 2012 Earth first! Newswire

by Leslie James Pickering

Earth Liberation prisoners Joyanna “Sadie” Zacher and Nathan “Exile” Block, who are a married couple, have been disallowed correspondence by their captors with the excuse that Sadie is “unrepentant” of her crimes.

Sadie and Exile are nearing the end of their seven-year-and-eight-month federal prison sentences for two million-dollar arsons prosecuted under the FBI’s Operation Backfire investigation into the Earth Liberation Front. Specifically, the couple has been convicted of the the $959,000 arson of the Romania Chevrolet dealership on March 30, 2001 and the $994,412 arson of Jefferson Poplar on May 21, 2001.

For the past 4 years, the couple has been allowed correspondence between the Federal Correctional Facilities in Dublin, California (where Sadie is locked up) and in Lompoc, California (where Exile is imprisoned). However, shortly after Sadie released a public statement on her case, their correspondence ‘privileges’ were revoked. When Sadie’s lawyer wrote the sentencing Judge on the matter, the US Attorney’s Office in Portland, Oregon sent a rebuttal directing the Judge to an online video of the release of Sadie’s statement being read by former Earth Liberation Front Press Office spokesperson, Leslie James Pickering, at Burning Books in Buffalo, New York.

In the statement in question, Sadie wrote, “There have been some dark days in here, when the rage of being imprisoned boils over into tears of frustration – but never regret, not ever. Even knowing this would be the price to pay – seven years of my life here, I still would not change my actions in any way.”

This “unrepentant” tone is anything but new. Shortly after their sentencing, the two released a joint statement, which righteously criticized those of their codefendants who opted to cooperate with the state in their own prosecution. The statement made clear their “opposition to cooperation with, or apology to, the state” and read, in part, “Those who now work in collaboration (under the innocuous term ‘cooperation’) with the same powers which they once felt compelled to raise themselves in opposition to, have in their wicked apostasy, desecrated the sacred covenant that exists between nature and those who align themselves with the very Element of Fire and the very Essence of Destruction in the defense of the Wild… for in the hour when the struggle returned for them, when the predator had once again become the prey, they failed in spirit and resolve, cowardly breaking long held oaths and begging for mercy from their captors, hoping to gain leniency by offering as a sacrifice to the altar of a perverted ‘justice’ their former friends, trusted colleagues and any dignity they once held.”

It appears that what the government is really after is a 1984-style public apology, but when that isn’t forthcoming something less than repentance will suffice, so long as it is silent. However, when strong examples of outspoken resistance are set by prisoners they are punished for their thoughts and words. Daniel McGowan, the most vocal of the Operation Backfire targets, and who was the focus of the Oscar-nominated 2011 documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, has been housed in a new, ultra-restrictive Communications Management Unit in response to his being continuously outspoken.

You can currently write Sadie at Joyanna Zacher #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5701 8th St., Camp Parks, Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568 and Exile at Nathan Block #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436. Sadie and Exile are due to be reunited at a halfway house this spring. The struggle continues…

Pelican Bay SHU Short Corridor Collective’s Rejection of CDCR Proposal

March 27, 2012 Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

Pelican Bay Human Rights Movement

Preface:

The PBSP-SHU short corridor prisoner representatives have read, carefully considered, and hereby oppose the CDCR’s March 1, 2012, the Security Threat Group Prevention, Identification and Management Strategy proposal (hereinafter proposal), based on the following reasons. Additionally, we do hereby present our counter proposal (attached hereto).

One, Summary of issues

Beginning in May of 2-11, the PBSP-SHU short corridor prisoners collective presented CDCR with a ‘Formal Notice’ of intent to go on a peaceful protest hunger strike beginning July 1, 2011, in order to expose for force policy changes regarding our subjection to 25 years of torturous human rights abuse in California SHU and Ad Seg. units. The Formal Notice included a list of “five core demands” and a “Formal Complaint” summarizing the facts and circumstances leading up, and supporting the basis for putting our lives on the line to stop the torture of our families and us.

During negotiations conducted in late July, August, and October of 2011 top CDCD administrators several times admitted, to PBSP-SHU representatives and to our mediation team, that the five core demands made by prisoners were reasonable. The CDCR made repeated assurances that the Five Core Demands would be addressed via meaningful substantive changes, responsive to the specific demands as soon as possible. The five core demands are summarized here for the purpose of clarity.[1]

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 long-term 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 long-term 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 and nutritious 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 sweat-suits and watch caps.

With respect to core demands #1,2,3,and 5, Policy and Practice of basis for indefinite SHU isolation averages(s) available for gaining one’s release therefrom, and the progressively punitive nature of SHU/Ad Seg conditions, it’s important to remember, many SHU prisoners have been held indefinitely, and subject to sensory deprivation, and every other abuse imaginable, that occurs in such hidden hell holes, for between ten to forty years and counting, solely bases on what CDCR-OCS refers to as their “intelligence system” i.e., debriefer allegations and innocent associational activity without ever actually being charged and found guilty of committing a criminal gang-related act.

Thus, the parties understood CDCR’s intelligence system for indefinite SHU placement was one of the major issues of concern to the class of SHU prisoners and their families, subjected to such long term isolation and abuse, without being charged and found guilty of committing a criminal act by credible evidence, and after the due process such formal charges would require. The parties all understood that major, meaning, and fundamental, change away from the above referenced “intelligence” based system … to a “behavioral” based system. A system defined as one in which a prisoner who engaged in “criminal gang activity” that is supported by “credible evidence” will be subject to sanctions (Per CDCR, Title 15, §§ 3312-3315, et seq., i.e., rule violation reports, referral for prosecution, determinate SHU term, and corresponding loss of privileges—after receiving due process and being found guilty of the criminal act alleged). On March 9, 2012, CDCR issued a press statement and presented their proposed gang management policy changes (the Proposal) in response to our peaceful protest activity and related five de3mands and negotiation process referenced above.

Two. CDCR’s Proposal Is Not Acceptable

The PBSP-SHU short corridor prisoner reps have read and carefully considered CDCR’s March 2112 proposal and we hereby summarize our opposition to the proposal. This rejections is based upon the CDCR’s failure to act in good faith, as demonstrated by the mockery made of our agreements (referenced in above section I), including Secretary Cate’s delegation of the policy change process to the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS), who resorted to the same twenty-five years plus fear tactics of California prison gangs being the “worst of the worst” in order to propagate, manipulate, and promote their own underlying agenda, which is to increase the power, staffing, and money of the OCS office within CDCR. (See, e.g., Proposal, P.5, at last paragraph; “the continuing evolution of our existing intelligence network…”). It should be noted that the OCS is the gang intelligence/goon squad in charge of SSU/IGI units within CDCR. This propagandist-manipulative abuse of state power—includes the ongoing use of long-term sensory deprivation, designed to coerce prisoners to become state informants, while also making a ton of money from such SHU/AD Seg torture units.

The Proposal seeks to manipulate the law makers and the tax payers into allowing CDCR-OCS to significantly expand on the use of these SHU/Ad Seg units, via the creation of new criteria and classes of what they term Security Threat Groups (STG) involved in “criminal gang behavior” (See Proposal in general).

The CDCR-OCS is asking the law makers and tax payers to allow them to continue to violate thousands of prisoners human rights, including the use of torture with impunity bases on false propaganda scare tactics exemplified below.

The Proposal (and related CDCR press statement) begins with propaganda claiming California prison gangs are “the most sophisticated and violent in the nation—connected to major criminal activity in the community, and having influence on nearly every prison system within the United States” (Proposal pgs. 2,3,5 and Press Statement of March 9, 2012). They also claim their current torture practices, those utilized for over 25 years, “have been successful in reducing the impact of sophisticated gang members have in CDCR facilities” … “by removing them from the general prison population” (Proposal, p.2 at paragraph 2, 3). These are the same manipulative tactics used by OCS for twenty-five years. They’ve gotten away with it at a cost of hundreds of millions of tax payers’ dollars, and with the destruction/severe physical-psychological damage long term subjection to torture units has caused thousands of prisoners and their loved ones outside prison. And all of this in the face of the facts and evidence to prove CDCR-OCS propaganda-manipulative statements are false. In spite of being subject to 25 to 40 years of extreme security surveillance by alleged gang expert special agents the majority of the prisoners classified a prison gang members have never been charged or found guilty of any criminal gang related acts! Moreover, a statistical study of the CDCR’s practice during the twenty-five year period prior to imposition of the current policy of placing all prison gang affiliates in SHU and comparing this data with the current 25 year SHU policy will prove that CDCR general population prisoners have been significantly more violent and out of control since the current policy has been in place.

CDCR-OCS are directly at fault for this 25-years of madness that continues to take place in this state’s general population facilities, including staff manipulating prisoners against each other to further the staff’s agenda (a lot of riots or other violence is useful in supporting demands for extra hazard pay, overtime, etc.).

CDCR-OCS’s gang management policy of the last 25 years is a one hundred percent failure, and their march 2012 proposed changes are not acceptable because they seek to increase the use of torture units and do not change the many of dealing with those classified as prison gang members at all, which is a blatant violation of the parties agreement(s) during the negotiation process last year. This is shown by reference to the following examples:

  1. The Proposal wants to change the classification of “prison gang member” into “security threat group I” member (STG-1 member), while continuing the current policy and practice of keeping these alleged gang members in SHU indefinitely, using the same alleged “evidence” that’s been used for the past 25 years. The Proposal specifies that “… STG I members will remain in SHU indefinitely, until they successfully complete the debriefing process … or the ‘step-down program’ consisting of a minimum of four years to complete all four steps.” Notably, it states, “…STG-I members will remain in SHU and will not be able to gain release to the general prison population via step down program based on IGI’s confirmation of participation in criminal gang behavior.” Confirmation requires “either (1) a guilty finding in a serious rule violation report and/or (2) any document that clearly describes the gang behavior and is referred to the institution I.G.I. for confirmation.” Number 2 is in reference to “documentation” consisting of statements from confidential inmate informants/debriefers, staff’s alleged observations, and other forms of innocent associational type behavior (See Proposal, at page 7, 17-25,3). This is the exact same process CDCR-OCS has used and abused for 25 years. This changes nothing for the prisoners classified as prison gang members, which is a majority of those in PBSP short corridor, most of whom have been in SHU for between 10 and 40 years already—without ever being formally charged and found guilty of a criminal gang act.
  2. The Proposal fails to make meaningful, substantive changes responsive to core demands 1, 2, and 3, (and does so unsatisfactorily re: Core Demand #5, e.gl. mockery of our request for weekly phone calls, no contact visits for step 3 and four, etc., etc.). We see no point in having four steps—each requiring a minimum of one year to complete. And the vague wording regarding the rest of the Proposal leaves much room for abuse and manipulation—which CDCR-OCS staff have a long history of doing. All of which makes CDCR-OCS proposal unacceptable.

Three, PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Prisoner Representatives

Based on CDCR’s lack of good faith in the process of changing their illegal policies and practices regarding the use and abuse of long-term isolation/torture, and for the reasons briefly summarized above, together with our belief that the CDCR-OCS proposal is so blatantly out-of-step with what was agreed during negotiations between July through October of 2011, as to con statute an intentional stall tactic designed to prolong our subjection to those torturous conditions.

Therefore, we hereby respectfully present our attached counter proposal—to be implemented without further delay.

Date: 3-19-2012

Respectfully Submitted by:

Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa – Dewberry C-35671

Arturo Castellanos – C-17275

Todd Ashker – C-58191

Antonio Guillen – P-81948

Pelican Bay SHU Inmates Respond to California’s Proposed Prisons Reforms

March 27, 2012 Solitary Watch

In response to reforms recently outlined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding gang validation, a group of inmates held in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU) submitted a “counter proposal” to prison activists.

Asserting that the CDCR “is asking law makers and taxpayers to allow them to continue to violate thousands of prisoners human rights” and that the current system is based on “false propaganda scare tactics” the inmates claim that the “proposed changes are not acceptable, because they seek to increase the use of torture units and do not change the manner of dealing with those classified as prison gang members at all.” Central to their rebuke of the reforms is the controversial debriefing process, which the inmates claim are “arbitrary” and “unfair.”

They describe the negative effects of solitary confinement:

Long term solitary confinement by itself is an irrational, and unjustifiable instrument of corrections and when the state of California allowed the prison-industrial complex (PIC) to implement such sensory deprivation for over five (5) years, they (CDCR) have recklessly modified the genetic features of what are human beings social characteristics, and by suppressing a humans natural social behaviors it changes the thought process of targeted prisoners by removing objective reality. Once deprivation sets-in, the second signal system (subjective reality) of the targeted prisoners thoughts will supersede the first signal system, which then produces: Irrationalism, Cannibalism, Racism, Chauvinism, Terrorism, Conformism and Obscurantism….the targeted prisoners of deprivation believes they’re no longer accountable for their behavior and actions.

Further, they write:

Sensory deprivation has a secondary phenomena, which are social deprivation, cultural deprivation, ethical deprivation, and emotional deprivation. No sane targeted prisoners can escape this type of deprivation that comes from long term internment in a supermax control unit. The science of deprivation has been perfected by the handlers to operate with devastating force.

The inmates, as they have stated before, propose a “Max B Management Control Unit” program as used in San Quentin’s Max B unit decades ago. According to the model proposed by the inmates, the program would be based on a three phase “step program.” Inmates under this model would have access to greater programming and be subject to classification reviews every 90 days. This was previously noted in an Office of the Inspector General Report in October 2011, in which it was asserted, based on the experience of a former CDCR executive that the “Max B program would be considered irresponsible” given the “numerous inmate assaults and prison disruptions associarted with the Max B model.”

It is unclear whether such disagreements may lead to further action by California inmates in solitary, particularly after the death of one hunger striker, Christian Gomez, at California State Prison, Corcoran in February.