US Prison Strike

Just by chance I came across Romany Malco's video talk/act on the 'Racket of Racism' - a very fluid and biting introduction to the history of what he calls the 'Prison Industrial Complex' in the US, with its roots in the slave system and its various replacements.

I didn't realise it was still going on, I thought it was a one-day affair, so thanks very much for letting me know

Yeah, I posted a thread looking for suggestions for organizing/support other than the usual letter-writing campaign in the organize forum. Nobody has answered yet, but if any one of you comrades has any valuable experiences they can share that would be great

The IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee's (IWOC) facebook page has a lot of updates:

It's Going Down has been posting a lot of updates as well.

If you want to get involved, there are IWOC chapters around the US. I would contact them here and ask if there's a chapter near where you live.

infektm

Yeah, I posted a thread looking for suggestions for organizing/support other than the usual letter-writing campaign in the organize forum. Nobody has answered yet, but if any one of you comrades has any valuable experiences they can share that would be great

In my city, when some comrades of mine held a protest against the local prison/for prison justice with a rather large crowd that had been mobilised (they had had several info pickets downtown; lots of people had been incarcerated in that particular jail), the sheer noise they managed to make from the outside was heard inside; people in the jail started making noise on their own to respond. From what I heard, it was really appreciated by those who were in that jail (at the time I think they were demanding less overcrowding, less beatings etc).

I wish I had taken part in the organizing and the protest so I could tell you more, but alas on that day and the weeks leading up to it I was engaged with other projects.

We actually did something very similar in my town. We did a noise demo, marched up to the jail and could see inmates through some windows, and we could tell they could clearly hear us. They didn't make noise in response, but it was still something to see. The cops tried to shut us up, but ended up turning on their sirens which only added to the noise haha!!

Last Saturday guards at Holman Prison in Alabama, which has seen several strikes and riots over the past few years including the national September 9th strike, went on a wildcat strike:
http://jezebel.com/alabama-prison-guards-went-on-strike-this-weekend-in-so-1787142561

The article claims that the guards struck in solidarity with the striking prisoners, but statements elsewhere say that they were afraid of a prison uprising, which makes more sense to me.

A lot of this is connected with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) which is a committee of the IWW. I'm not involved with this so its hard for me to tell where the IWW ends and prison organizations and other outside groups begin, but prisoners now make up nearly 40% of total U.S. IWW membership, so I assume that a lot Wobbly prisoners have been involved with this nationwide.

In Athens, Greece there have been a few actions in solidarity recently. I think there has been a fair few banner drops around. A solidarity assembly organised short actions outside places like Mcdonalds and Starbucks which blocked them for a while. The other day was a fairly significant incident when a group protested at the Greek-American Union, a cultural- commercial centre in Athens. Around 20 people were detained at the brief demonstration and have had this converted into arrests, so they now faced trial with a possible one year penalty(I may be a bit off on the details). There will be a demonstration in Athens outside the US embassy on Saturday, in solidarity both with the prison strike and the arrested in Greece.

infektfm

We actually did something very similar in my town. We did a noise demo, marched up to the jail and could see inmates through some windows, and we could tell they could clearly hear us. They didn't make noise in response, but it was still something to see. The cops tried to shut us up, but ended up turning on their sirens which only added to the noise haha!!

Also in my city.

That Greek solidarity campaign is awesome

Some news from my neck of the woods

Three Michigan Prisoners Die Within One Month Amid Crackdown on Prison Strike
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/10/14/headlines/three_michigan_prisoners_die_within_one_month_amid_crackdown_on_prison_strike

Officials probe inmate death at corrections facility
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/2016/10/13/officials-probe-inmate-death-corrections-facility/92034182/

PRISONERS TEAR-GASSED, ZIP-TIED, LEFT OUT IN RAIN IN RETALIATION
https://itsgoingdown.org/prisoners-tear-gassed-zip-tied-left-rain-retaliation/

And this
Prison Strike Having Major Financial Impact On California
https://www.popularresistance.org/prison-strike-having-major-financial-impact-on-california/

There was a march around the prison in the city I live now. It was a small crowd, organized by IWW, some anarchists, few leftists (trotskyists) and students. Not more than 100. Prisoners welcomed the solidarity by flickering the lights and hitting the windows and the bars. This was a few weeks ago and, sadly, nothing followed since then. Just as a side note: the students who are working in the university complex here are also trying to build up an activist campaign for increase in their wages and the professors are, well, they are just trying to unionize in a shitty union... This is an old industrial town with a long and fierce history of class struggle, but the industry was brutally restructured in 1980. It is now a university + hospital + new tech city mostly. Prisons and low paid jobs are invisible to most, but they are big and there is a big working class population and a new -definitely in the deep but still- emerging will to struggle as well.

I have a hard time even knowing where we're at because I don't organize with IWOC nationally but I do locally. But all locals need help and we need to start new ones, because prisoners in the US are enslaved and they are uprising and organizing, and they need our support. Like the above post says, you can get involved in IWOC or some ABC groups or Jerricho or BlackAndPink or PrisonAbolitionPrisonerSolidarity or other abolition groups or start your own letter writing. IWOC can help with resources and we've even done some training but our capacity is seriously lacking for outside coordination. Also teachers and clergy are very encouraged to get involved due to their connection with families of incarcerated people and prisoners themselves. Holman prison is prison strike MVP right now, last I heard prison guards are slowing their labor as well, some have joined the strike, For more strike roundups go here:

p.s. you don't have to be in Industrial Workers of the World to help do work in IWOC but there's a really good chance we'll pull you in anyway ;)

https://itsgoingdown.org/
https://supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org/