My mind is restless today, one of my sisters celebrates her birthday
today, the other one lies ill in bed, as summer ends and autumnal clouds
drift overhead,tender our hearts full of sorrow, I pray to invisible
gods to release healing to earth, to grant a better tomorrow, giddy is
my futile hopes, in reality I curse and scream, but at least at moment a
gentle hand touches mine, but the spectre of despair breathes as
my words melt into the air....
Today across Britain in towns and cities thousands of ordinary people from diverse backgrounds and many different faiths have been marching to show their solidarity with refugees. With
over 60
million people now currently displaced worldwide and nearly 20 million refugees we are
still in the midst of the largest refugee crisis the world has faced
since WW11.Last year alone nearly 90,000 lone children sought safety in Europe. We must continue to provide a vibrant welcome to refugees
among us, and to encourage our country to respond to the world's crisis
by offering hospitality to vulnerable refugees now more than
ever.
Women, men and children around the world are fleeing war, persecution and torture.They have been forced into the hands of smugglers and onto dangerous
journeys across the sea in rickety old boats and dinghies. Many have
lost their lives. Those who have made it often find themselves stranded
in makeshift camps in train stations, ports or by the roadside. And still, politicians across Europe fail to provide safe and legal routes for people to seek asylum.
Meanwhile though ordinary people have responded with extraordinary displays
of humanity and generosity. They've been moved to act after seeing
thousands of people drowning in the Mediterranean, the continuing misery
of camps in places like Calais, and images of the brutal conflicts
across the world.People however are still dying in numbers in the Mediterranean, on the way to
Europe and its borders. In Calais the population of the slum is over
10,000 people in more and more appalling living conditions, thousands trapped in Greece without running water or baby formula. Here as
elsewhere in Europe, the situation gets worse day by day for migrants, showing the
ineffectiveness and the murderous character of current policies combined with.the continuing the injustices and inefficiencies of Britain's own asylum system.
After today we need to keep telling the Prime Mister Theresa May that the UK government must do more - let's call on them to: Lead the way towards a more human global response to the millions fleeing conflict.Offer safe passage to the UK for more people who have been forced to flee their homes. and do more to help refugees in the UK rebuild their lives.The UK should be
leading the way and working with other states to give refugees safe,
legal routes to asylum, ending the trade in people smuggling.Putting up fences in Calais or Greece is not a solution. Since the
referendum campaign and vote, divisive rhetoric has been ever more
prevalent from a small but vocal minority.A racist offensive against refugees, migrants and Muslims is still being pushed by some politicians and press. It is crucial we respond
to this by standing in solidarity against attempts to divide our
communities. The appalling treatment of refugees across Europe and the
staggering rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes must be challenged. Let’s
send a message that drives back the tide of racism, fascism,
Islamophobia, and the scapegoating of migrants and
refugees and continue to loudly say refugees are welcome here and yes to diversity. This September, world leaders will meet to
discuss the refugee crisis at two crucial summits. This is the biggest
opportunity of 2016 to show our government and the world that Britain is
ready to welcome more refugees. We must keep up the pressure. Here is full list of organisations that supported todays events, which also acts as a link to the website Solidarity with Refugees. http://swruk.org/refugees-welcome-here-2016/#supporting-orgs
We have recently remembered the victims of 9/11. But this week
also marks the 34th anniversary of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila,
so a moments silence please.
This massacre took place between 16 to 18 September 1982. It is now
considered to be the bloodiest single atrocity committed against the
Palestinian people in living history. Similar in magnitude to the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the US,which left close to 3000 innocent Palestinian/Lebanese
people dead according to the International Committee of the Red Cross,men, women and children massacred in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut, by Christian
Lebanese Phalangists while the city was occupied by the Israeli army. The real number is hard to determine because bodies were buried quickly
in mass graves or never found, and many men were marched out of the camp
and simply disappeared. It is recognised as one of Israels most infamous crimes.
Palestinians had settled in Lebanon in the aftermath of the creation of
the State of Israel. During the summer of 1948, some 110,000
Palestinians were driven out of Galilee and crossed the border into
Lebanon. Most of them became refugees. During the
seventies, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) set up its
headquarters in Lebanon after its leaders and activists had been
expelled from Jordan. The PLO was responsible for some 340,000
Palestinians. It provided social services and basic infrastructures and
built institutions in various domains (economic, cultural, social and
political).
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) invaded Lebanon in June 1982 with
the goal of pushing out the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
After newly-elected President Bashir Gemayel was assassinated on
September 14th, the IDF invaded West Beirut, which included the Sabra
neighborhood and the Shatila refugee camp, which predominately housed
Muslim refugees. The IDF ordered their allies in Lebanon, the Kataeb
Party (also called the Phalange), a right-wing Maronite Christian party,
to clear the area of PLO militants to facilitate the IDF advance.On the 18th of September, after about forty hours of killing, the first
images of the massacre showing civilian victims appeared on TV. They
provoked worldwide indignation and compassion. Foreign journalists and diplomats entered the camps in the aftermath of
the massacre after the IDF had withdrawn from the entrances. Their
reports and photographs all expressed despair and brutality. Loren
Jenkins, from the Washington Post, wrote on September the 23th:
“The scene at the Shatila camp when foreign observers entered Saturday
morning was like a nightmare. Women wailed over the deaths of loved
ones, bodies began to swell under the hot sun, and the streets were
littered with thousand of spent cartridges. Houses had been dynamited
and bulldozed into rubble, many with the inhabitants still inside.
Groups of bodies lay before bullet-pocked walls where they appeared to
have been executed. Others were strewn in alleys and streets, apparently
shot as they tried to escape”.
Israel for a while denied it had conspired in the massacre, yet as a
result of international condemnation it launched an inquiry in 1983,
known as the Kahan Commission http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/kahan.htmlthis
found that the Israeli military were completely aware of the massacre
taking place, but had done nothing to stop it. The Commission
subsequently regarded Israel of being part of the 'indirect
responsibility' for the massacre. and Ariel Sharon, then Israel's
highest military leader, later the country's Prime minister of bearing
personal responsibility for the massacre because he did not prevent the
Lebanese Phalangist militia from entering the camps.
One of the reasons why people still talk about Sabra & Shatila, is
that no one has actually ever apologised for this crime against
humanity, which this incident surely was. Also no one has ever stood
trial or been held account for this crime. A massacre so awful that the people of the world should not be allowed to forget it, as we should not forget any crime against humanity, all are of
equal importance. It is unfortunately part of us all, a history and
legacy that is both shameful and bitter.On all accounts this was not an isolated incident, and to this day
Israels oppressive policies towards the Palestinians continue. We still
see the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has made the Gaza strip one of
the biggest prisons in the world.
Every September since then hundreds of Palestinians and friends from
around the world gather now in Shatila at the Martyr's Square to
remember and mourn, and mark the events that had previously occurred.
Even contemplating this dark anniversary, I never give up feeling that
there is still much hope in the future for the Palestinian people. I recognise their ongoing plight and make sure that they are not forgotten.This
week, we commemorate the thousands who died at Sabra and Shatila and
think of all Palestinians who continue to suffer from human rights
abuses.
I don't plagiarise
but admit to borrowing things,
caught amidst afternoon tears
find soliloquies to release,
in the company of clouds
lines of survival return,
beyond controlling forces
contours of freedoms echo,
from corners of memory
fragmented corners luminate,
beyond the darkness light returns
even when my hands tremble,
carrying thoughts of love and hope
beyond the prison of inner doubt,
floating free, allow thoughts to wander
before the rippled tears fall again,
and the ache in my heart
impels me to cry again.
Since Monday's post have heard that Chelsea Manning , the brave whistleblower has decided to end her hunger strike, as from yesterday September 13th. The army has finally agreed to treatment for her gender dysphoria.
"This is all that I wanted – for them to let me be me,” said Chelsea Manning. “But it is hard not to wonder why it has taken so long and why
such drastic measures were needed in order to get this help that was
recommended.”
Chelsea was shown a memo stating she will receive
gender-reassignment surgery under the DoD’s new policy affecting
transgender service members.If this actually occurs, she will be the first trans prisoner in the US to receive such treatment, setting a precedent that could benefit thousands of transgender inmates.
“This medical care is absolutely vital for Chelsea.It was the government's refusal to provide her with this necessary care that led to her suicide attempt earlier this year.
It is still outrageous though that she was forced into this situation in the first place, at then of the day she should be free from any confinement, and a pardon should be given to allow her the freedoms that we all take for granted. She still ridiculously faces charges for her suicide attempt earlier this year.
Read more here and sign petition to drop all absurd charges against her here:-
Was going to write about David Cameron today, but decided against it, goodbye and good riddance to the dodgy ***** to say he wont be missed is an understatement. I have spent a dreary wet afternoon in West Wales instead immersed in Call Me Burroughs a spoken word album by the author William S.
Burroughs, that was originally released in June 1965 by The English Bookshop in Paris and later
by ESP-Disk' in New York. Call Me Burroughs marks not only the recorded
debut of William Burroughs, but also for many the first encounter with
his inimitable incredible voice.
Drug addict, gun enthusiast, cat lover, convict, conjurer, queer iconclast, long have I been a huge admirer, I've carried Uncle Bill's writings and the knowledge of his struggles, failings and accomplishments with me for the entirety of my adult life,who I first discovered in my teenage years, this consumnate flouter of norms and consensus reality who became one of the most enduring icons of the counterculture and our times. He has had an enormous influence on others too,from the Beats to punk rock, and
even hip hop, no other figure today is so widely considered the
epitome of cool.
His book Naked Lunch" stands with Jack Kerouac's "On the
Road" and Allen Ginsburg's "Howl" as the seminal texts of the Beat
Generation. With its harrowing scenes of junkie depravity, its view of
postwar America was the most extreme of all the Beats.
Burroughs
wrote all of his books under the influence of drugs,principally
heroin, alcohol, marijuana and methadone, despite this, his genius for
surreal black comedy tempered with hard, practical thought never
deserted him. Though he chronicled all its horrors and tried various
treatment programs, Burroughs in some real sense chose
addiction; it was his entree to the street slang and chronic desperation
of the noir lifers who occupied his fiction from “Junkie” (1953) on.
When he died at 83 in 1997, his friends reportedly tucked some heroin
and marijuana along with his .38 into his coffin.
Call Me Burroughs features the author reading from Naked
Lunch, The Soft Machine and Nova Express, three of his best-known works that utilize the
cut-up method developed by Burroughs and his artist cohort Brion Gysin. An eerie,haunting, powerful
deadpan drawl guides the listener through sci-fi innerscapes, narcotic
nightmares, reports from the edge of the apocalypse. Phantasmagoric
passages echo real experiences roaming the streets of Mexico, the West
Village, Tangiers.
The excerpts which, read as short stories,
are independent and do not require listener to be familiar with the
novels and follows the exploits of junkies, prostitutes, doctors, and others
as they move through grisly underworlds without concern for the borders
between reality and hallucination. By turns, they are blackly funny and
deeply sinister, often within the same piece.
Burroughs believed that language and image were viral and that the
mass-dissemination of information was part of an arch-conspiracy that
restricted the full potential of the human mind..With cut-ups, Burroughs found a means of escape; an antidote to the
sickness of ‘control’ messages that mutated their original content. If
mass media already functioned as an enormous barrage of cut-up material,
the cut-up method was a way for the artist to fight back using its same
tactics.
Call Me Burroughs came to fruition modestly, reportedly the
idea of Gaît Frogé, owner of The English Bookshop in Paris, with Ian
Sommerville engineering the readings on a tape machine belonging to Brion Gysin. Frogé enlisted poet-artists Jean-Jacques
Lebel and Emmett Williams for liner notes and in April of ‘65 1,000
copies were pressed.Recorded in his instantly recognizable, craggy and clipped mid-western
drawl at the English Bookshop, Paris, France in 1965.
It's reach was initially limited, though it fell into famous hands, and it certainly made quite an impression that year. The album would go on to have a wide influence, particularly in
England. Barry Miles, in his liner notes for the 1995 Rhino re-release,
says, "The Beatles may have been the soundtrack to 1965 for the
beautiful people of swinging London, but to the cognoscenti there was
something even cooler to listen to." :
"It's
in all the best homes, my dear," said Brion Gysin, and he was right. At
the height of the '60s, Call Me Burroughs was an essential record. The
Beatles all had copies and subsequently Paul McCartney included Burroughs on the sleeve of
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Art dealer Robert Fraser bought
ten copies to give to friends such as Brian Jones and Mick Jagger.
Marianne Faithful and Keith Richards' dealer had copies, as did numerous
painters and writers.It remains a
personal favourite of mine. If you manage to get yourself an actual copy the
CD booklet contains a wealth of information about Burroughs, the manner
in which these recordings were made, and about the Beat community in
Paris in the 50's and 60's, as well as including the liner notes of
original 1965 edition of the album.
For the rest of his life,Burroughs recorded a number of solo projects, in addition to
collaborating with everyone from John Cale, Laurie Anderson , Tom
Waits, Material, Disposable Hero's of hypocrisy , REM and Kurt Cobain.He remained a spoken-word performer and visual artist until his death in 1997.Call Me Burroughs is also the title of a authoritative new biography from Barry Miles, essential reading if you want a more detailed look at William Burroughs work, I am pleased to say that my own bookcases are already full with books by and about him, plus his literary friends and acquaintances.
Anyway I include a link to a recording of the LP at the bottom, hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Track listing:
All composition by William S. Burroughs
"Bradley the Buyer" – 6:24
"Meeting of International Conference of Technological Psychiatry" – 4:56
"The Fish Poison Con" – 6:59
"Thing Police Keep All Board Room Reports" – 1:25
"Mr. Bradley Mr. Martin Hear Us Through the Hole in Thin Air" – 4:16
"Where You Belong" – 6:38
"Inflexible Authority" – 10:45
"Uranian Willy" – 1:59
Tracks 1 and 2 from Naked Lunch; 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 from Nova Express; track 6 from The Soft Machine.
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning, currently serving a 35-year prison term for
passing classified files to WikiLeaks, said on Friday that she would
refuse to eat until given help for her gender dysphoria and "treated
with dignity, respect and humanity" by the government.
The
28-year-old Army private, who was born male but revealed after being
convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman, tried to commit
suicide in July over what her representatives said was the government's
denial of appropriate treatment for those gender issues.
The Army
announced later that month that it would investigate Manning for
misconduct in connection with the attempt to take her own life, a probe
that could lead to indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification
into maximum security or additional prison time.
Some prison experts believe
that Manning's recent suicide attempt could result in a long stretch in
solitary confinement, a punishment viewed as torture in international
human rights conventions. Manning has already spent nine months in solitary
as a form of dishonorable,
illegal, shameful retaliation by the US military. She spent two months
in
a cage in a tent in Kuwait, and seven months at Quantico, where she was
forced to sit still, on her bed, staring directly ahead of her, for
hours
on end .She is currently serving a grossly unfair 35 year prison sentence for simply exposing lies and injustices,a brave courageous individual who now needs our support more than ever.In January 2010, Manning sent hundreds of thousands of documents to
Wikileaks about the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, revealing a
dramatically higher number of civilian casualties than the Pentagon publicly acknowledged. The documents also included a video of an Apache helicopter attack that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
After years of requesting the care she needs Chelsea has released a statement about the start of her hunger
strike,saying she would not willingly consume any food or drink, except water and prescribed medications.Manning also refused to “voluntarily cut or shorten her hair in any
way.” Army officials repeatedly force Manning to cut her hair to
“military standards” – an appearance that she says does not reflect her
gender identity.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly raised concerns about
Manning’s treatment in prison. After her arrest in 2010, she was
subjected to solitary confinement for extended periods and repeatedly stripped naked in her cell. Her treatment was so bad that a State Department spokesperson spoke out against the Pentagon and described it as “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”Since her conviction, Manning has been repeatedly threatened with indefinite solitary confinement, for charges as frivolous as keeping an expired tube of toothpaste in her cell.
She is demanding written assurances from the Army that she will
receive all of the medically prescribed recommendations for her gender
dysphoria and that the “high tech bullying” will stop. “High tech
bullying,” is what Chelsea describes as “the constant, deliberate and
overzealous administrative scrutiny by prison and military officials.”
Manning's condition is dangerous and cruel, and
presents a significant suicide risk for Manning.
Here is Chelsea Manning's impassioned statement which she released on Friday :
“I need help. I am not getting any. I have asked for help
time and time again for six years and through five separate confinement
locations. My request has only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given
trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this
administration.”
“I need help. I needed help earlier this year. I was driven to
suicide by the lack of care for my gender dysphoria that I have been
desperate for. I didn’t get any. I still haven’t gotten any.”
“I needed help. Yet, instead I am now being punished for surviving my
attempt. When I was a child, my father would beat me repeatedly for
simply not being masculine enough. I was told to stop crying—to “suck it
up.” But, I couldn’t stop crying. The pain just got worse and worse.
Until finally, I just couldn’t take the pain anymore.”
“I needed help, but no one came then. No one is coming now.”
“Today, I have decided that I am no longer going to be bullied by
this prison—or by anyone within the U.S. government. I have asked for
nothing but the dignity and respect—that I once actually believed would
be provided for—afforded to any living human being.”
“I do not believe that this should be dependent on any arbitrary
factors—whether you are cisgender or transgender; service member or
civilian, citizen or non-citizen. In response to virtually every
request, I have been granted limited, if any, dignity and respect—just
more pain and anguish.”
“I am no longer asking. Now, I am demanding. As of 12:01 am Central
Daylight Time on September 9, 2016, and until I am given minimum
standards of dignity, respect, and humanity, I shall—refuse to
voluntarily cut or shorten my hair in any way; consume any food or drink
voluntarily, except for water and currently prescribed medications; and
comply with all rules, regulations, laws, and orders that are not
related to the two things I have mentioned.”
“This is a peaceful act. I intend to keep it as peaceful and
non-violent, on my end, as possible. Any physical harm that should come
to me at the hands of military or civilian staff will be unnecessary and
vindictive. I will not physically resist or in any way harm another
person. I have also submitted a “do not resuscitate” letter that is
effective immediately. This shall include any attempts to forcibly cut
or shorten my hair or to forcibly feed me by any medical or
pseudo-medical means.”
“Until I am shown dignity and respect as a human again, I shall
endure this pain before me. I am prepared for this mentally and
emotionally. I expect that this ordeal will last for a long time. Quite
possibly until my permanent incapacitation or death. I am ready for
this.”
“I need help. Please, give me help.”
Fight for the Future has launched a petition supporting Chelsea in her hunger strike.Which you can sign here, please stand with her :-
The Israeli army has laid a
lengthy list of charges against Issa Amro, the longtime Palestinian
activist and organizer in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.Issa is a prominent human rights defender and founding member of
many non-violent organisations in Hebron who work peacefully against
Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Amongst these organisations include the the
Hebron branch of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), https://palsolidarity.org/ and Youth Against Settlements, which Issa, aged 36 is a founder a group that organizes non violent demonstrations and direct actions against the violent settler encampments that are protected by heavily armed soldiers who frequently harass Palestinian residents in the city.
Every year, Youth Against Settlements organizes a week of activities calling to open Shuhada Street.
Once the city’s main commercial strip, Shuhada Street was closed off to Palestinians in 1994.Issa inspired by the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and that of Martin Luther King, founded Youth
Against Settlements in 2007, advocating civil disobedience and
non-violent and pro-active measures to document and protest against the
Israeli occupation in Hebron and the West Bank. He also organizes nonviolent demonstrations to resist settlement expansion and the confiscation of land.
On 26 February 2016 a non-violent protest took place in Hebron, calling to re-open Hebron's Shuhada street, lift the closed military zone in Hebron and put an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine. Although the protest was totally peaceful and no stones were thrown, it was met from the outset with excessive violence from the side of the Israeli army, which fired rounds of tear gas, stun grenades, and runner coated steel bullets against the demonstrators. Two participants, the lawyer Farid Al Atrash and journalist Mohammad Jardat got arrested. The lawyer Farid Al-Altrash was holding a sign reading ' Free Palestine' when he was arrested and beaten before being taken to the Jaabara police station in the Kiryat Arba settlement.
Israeli soldiers and Border police attack journalists during Hebron protest .
From the outset of the protest it was clear that the Israeli armies main target was Issa Amro. For the first time since he started his human rights activities the Israeli civil administration had given the direct order to arrest him. At first rubber bullets were shot against him, then a sniper aimed at him, he quickly left the protest in fear of being shot.
On Monday 29 February 2016, three days after the protest, Issa passed through checkpoint 56 to meet an Israeli group from Breaking the silence, a link to their website is here :- http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/
However the group was also facing problems. Although they had a special permit to access Issa's house, the army refused to let them in, so the meeting needed to be held outside. While Issa was responding to questions from the group, soldiers came to arrest him.
Arrriving at the police station the investigator accused him of Facebook incitement and organising an illegal protest. The investigator accused him of being the main organizer of the Friday 26 protest and that he had disturbed soldiers on duty and escaped when they tried to arrest him. Je denied all the accusations, but the investigator continued to show him social media pictures from 2012, 2013, and 2014, all of which showed nonviolent events, such as the Olive harvest, the Open Shudada Strret campaign, and a recent art event. One police officer even told him, that they did not legally hold anything against him, but that there were orders from above to arrest him. The subsequent trial against him and of Farid Al- Atrassh is clearly aimed at punishing them for their human rights activities. Their treatment as well as the accusations against them ,lack any foundation and Israel is clearly misusing its military court system to restrict the fundamental basic rights of human rights defenders, including the right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Issa is not a criminal but a human rights defender who uses principles of non-violence that can only be commended. He and all other human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
I believe should be able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities,
including through the exercise of their right to free assembly, without
fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions. Amro is one of dozens of leaders across the West Bank and East Jerusalem
who are using nonviolent tactics, civil disobedience, and direct action
to challenge Israel's occupation. The work of these activists has gone
nearly unrecognized, with most of the international media attention
focusing on rockets launched from Gaza , but for years he and others have been working to instill the principles of nonviolent
resistance and civil disobedience in the hearts of Hebron's Palestinian
youth, even if no one is watching.
His military trial will begin on September 25th
Read more here, the original source of much of information contained above :-
On September 9th, 1971 the Attica Correctional Facility in the State of New York exploded in rebellion.
Less than two weeks after the killing of imprisoned black
revolutionary George Jackson inmates attempted to free a fellow inmate
from his cell after reports that he was being tortured. When guards
realized that prisoners had successfully come to the aid of their fellow
inmate they attempted to collectively punish the prisoners. Instead of
being punished the prisoners revolted. Almost 1,500 inmates in Cell Block D rebelled and seized control over the
Attica Correctional Facility several months after they had formally
submitted a 27-point manifesto to the prison administration and the
media with a list of demands for prison reforms and an end to racism and brutality against prisoners.
At the time of the uprising, there were 2,300 inmates living in a
facility built for 1,600. Though over 60 percent of inmates were Black
and Latino the prison was completely run by white guards and employees,
many of whom were openly racist..Prisoners were only allowed one shower
per week and one roll of
toilet paper each month. Their mail was heavily censored to cut out
anything involving prisons and prisoners’ rights. The medical neglect
within the facility was criminal. Guards often pitted inmates against
each other to incite racial violence.Inmates also labored for 40 cents a
day, assembling mattresses, shoes
and license plates.
The level of unity that developed among prisoners
was nearly unprecedented. There were four days of negotiations, until
then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered state police to take back
control of the prison by brutal force. When the uprising was over, at
least 39 people were dead, hundreds were left maimed and wounded and the prisoners left were subjected to extreme
brutality and torture. Those who were
considered leaders, the prisoner negotiators, spokesmen and security
men, were singled out for prolonged abuse. The example of the Attica prisoners uniting and
standing up for their rights and dignity in the face of such intense
repression inspired and electrified people around the world.
The Attica prison uprising was by no means an isolated or spontaneous
clash. It came as a revolutionary mood swept through Black and Latino
communities and other progressive sectors of the population in the
United States.By September 1971, the Civil Rights movement had transformed itself
into a movement for national liberation among the Black, Puerto Rican
and Chicano populations.Starting in 1964, rebellions swept urban areas throughout the United
States. Major insurrections took place in Rochester, Harlem, Watts,
Newark, Detroit and other cities. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was
murdered in 1968 more than 120 cities went up in flames as young people
battled police, National Guard units and state troopers.Revolutionary organizations like the Black Panther Party and Young
Lords Party were militantly organizing in urban communities. Millions of
people were protesting the Vietnam War and joining the women’s and LGBT
liberation movements.
This revolutionary mood in the community
sank deep roots within the prisoner population too. The Attica prisoners
were reading revolutionary newspapers. They were studying Marx and
Lenin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah, and Franz Fanon and reading
socialist, communist and revolutionary nationalist newspapers.Prisoners
were staging uprisings all over the country, not just in
Attica, New York. The rebellions were extensions of the national
liberation struggles happening all over the United States.
Attica Blues - Archie Shepp
Today September 9th on the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison rebellion, prisoners across the United States will begin a strike that will be a general work stoppage against prison slavery.
In short, prisoners will refuse to work; they will refuse to keep the
prisons running by their own labors. Prisoners are striking not just for
better conditions or changes in parole rules, but against prison
slavery. Prisoners state that under the 13th Amendment which abolished
racial slavery, at the same time it allowed human beings to be worked
for free or next to nothing as long as they were prisoners. Prisoners
see the current system of prison slavery to thus be a continuation of
racial slavery, which is a system that generates billions of dollars in
profits each year for major corporations in key industries such as
fossil fuels, fast food, banking, and the US military.
Due to all of these factors, at the present time round 1 in 100
American adults is locked behind bars, and many more are on probation,
parole, house arrest, or in immigrant detention facilities. While
African-Americans, Native, Latino, and poor whites make up the bulk of
the prison population, black, brown, and red convicts make up much a
higher percentage of inmates than their white counter-parts. For
instance, there are currently more African-American people locked within
the prison industrial complex than were held in racialized slavery
prior to the American civil war in the 1860s. It is in this climate in the footsteps of their predecessors at Attica that today's
prison rebels have organized themselves to carry out the strike.
45 years after Attica the cruel mass incarceration system in the USA that is still inherently merciless and immoral and must continue to be exposed.A radical vision for change behind bars is still urgently needed, and it was powerfully captured in the Manifesto of Demands
read out by LD Barkley, one of the leaders of the Attica rebellion who
was killed along with 38 others when the prison was violently re-taken:
We are men! We are not beasts and do not intend to be beaten or driven
as such. The entire prison populace has set forth to change forever the
ruthless brutalization and disregard for the lives of the prisoners here
and throughout the United States.
What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who
are oppressed...We call upon all the conscientious citizens of America
to assist us in putting an end to this situation that threatens not only
our lives, but each and every citizen as well.
