BK/NY – Tuesday, June 6 – Letter Writing Dinner for June 11th Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, June 6, 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
Each year, June 11th serves as an international day of solidarity with Marius Mason and long term anarchist prisoners. The June 11th collective has spent the past couple of weeks interviewing various folks doing direct support work for some of the prisoners featured on this day, including Eric King, Jeremy Hammond, the Cleveland 4, Nicole Kissane & Joseph Buddenberg, among others. You can check those out and give them a listen here!
Join NYC ABC this Tuesday to write cards to these folks to let them know we’re thinking about them.
If for some insane reason you can’t join us Tuesday, be sure to check out more information about June 11th, including how it started and how it has evolved, here.
Sign on to a Statement of Solidarity with #DisruptJ20 Defendants
NOTE: Here in NYC, we have over two dozen defendants in this case and financial support for them can be made at youcaring.com/nycdisruptj20codefendants-750321
The following statement was drafted by supporters of those arrested at Inauguration protests in DC on January 20th, with the intent of providing a public platform for organizations around North America to express their collective opposition to these charges. The list of signees will be posted and continually updated at defendJ20resistance.org and several other sites.
To have your group or crew sign on, send an email to J20endorsements@protonmail.com.
On January 20, 2017, tens of thousands of people converged in Washington, D.C. for the #DisruptJ20 protests to oppose the inauguration of Donald Trump. A combination of blockades, marches, and festive demonstrations shattered the spectacle of a peaceful transition of power, and made it clear around the world that people do not recognize Trump’s authority. What could have been a day signaling resignation and defeat became a moment of defiance and resistance. As such, the protests on J20 set a tone and precedent for the events that unfolded shortly after, including the notably successful, mass direct actions at airports against Trump’s Muslim ban, as well as ongoing resistance to deportations. While Trump and his alt-right footsoldiers have encountered few meaningful obstacles from liberal politicians in the halls of power, grassroots resistance has continued to prove a substantial force.
Unfortunately, however, with resistance comes repression. In addition to shooting pepper spray and concussion grenades indiscriminately at protesters, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, DC police cordoned off an entire block and mass arrested more than 230 people in an attempt to stop an anti-capitalist and anti-fascist march. While mass arrests are not unheard of, in this case arrestees were originally charged with felony riot, a charge that potentially carries ten years in prison. On April 27, the prosecution announced additional felony charges against the entire group — inciting to riot, rioting, conspiracy to riot, and five counts of property destruction.
With these heightened charges the state is trying to set a precedent for harsh crackdowns of disruptive protest in the future, so that Trump can proceed with his agenda unimpeded by anything but symbolic hand-wringing. This strategy corresponds with a broader wave of repression and reaction, from the arrests and grand jury investigations of Indigenous water protectors at #StandingRock to backlash against #BlackLivesMatter and black-led uprisings against police. The arrests at J20 also inform local strategies for repression, including anti-protest laws that have been proposed in 18 different state legislatures, which further criminalize commonly used tactics like highway takeovers and in some cases make it legal for drivers to knowingly hit protesters marching in roadways.
The charges against J20 defendants are an experiment. If the courts are able to successfully prosecute those arrested at J20, this will send a green light to the forces of repression seeking to contain, control, and eliminate social movements around the country. Just as all of our struggles are connected, we understand these arrests to represent a real threat to all efforts towards true freedom, dignity, and autonomy. We call for the immediate dropping of all charges, and express our sincere solidarity with and support for those arrested, and encourage others to do so as well.
BK/NY – Tuesday, May 23rd – Letter Writing Dinner for Sundiata Acoli & Mutulu Shakur
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
This week brought the much anticipated releases of both Oscar Lopez Rivera and Chelsea Manning. While it has been fun and exciting to watch them celebrate, be celebrated, and hit the ground running reclaiming their lives outside of prison walls, we must remember that there are still many more comrades and elders that remain behind bars requiring our relentless support.
This week NYC ABC will focus on Sundiata Acoli and Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a former Black Panther Party member and a former Black Liberation Army member who are serving time for charges connected to Assata Shakur and/or her successful 1979 prison break and escape.
A New York Black Panther, Sundiata Acoli endured two years of prison awaiting trial for the Panther 21 Conspiracy Case. He and his comrades were eventually acquitted on all the bogus charges. The case was historic and a classic example of police and government attempting to neutralize organizations by incarcerating their leadership. As a result of this political attack and because of the immense pressure and surveillance from the FBI and local police Sundiata, like many other Panther leaders went “underground.” On May 2, 1973, Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur and Zayd Shakur were ambushed and attacked by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. Assata was wounded and Zayd was killed. During the gun battle a state trooper was shot and killed in self defense. Sundiata was tried in an environment of mass hysteria and convicted, although there was no credible evidence that he killed the trooper or had been involved in the shooting. He was sentenced to thirty years. Sundiata was ordered released on parole by a state appeals court in New Jersey in September 2014 when the court ruled the parole board had “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it previously denied him parole. The State of New Jersey has appealed the decision. More information: sundiataacoli.org
In 1987 Dr. Mutulu Shakur was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment for his role in the Black Liberation Movement. In March 1982, Dr. Shakur and 10 others were indicted by a federal grand jury under a set of U.S. conspiracy laws called Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) laws. These conspiracy laws were ostensibly developed to aid the government in its prosecution of organized crime figures; however, they have been used with varying degrees of success against revolutionary organizations. Dr. Shakur was charged with conspiracy and participation in the Black Liberation Army, a group that carried out actual and attempted expropriations from several banks. Eight incidents were alleged to have occurred between December 1976 to October 1981. In addition, he was charged with participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, who is now in exile in Cuba. After five years underground, Dr. Shakur was arrested on February 12, 1986. While he was on the street, Dr. Shakur challenged the use of methadone as a tool of recovery for addicts. He believed in natural remedies instead and, based on those beliefs, founded the Black Acupuncture Advisory Association of North America. Many people credit Shakur with saving their lives. Dr. Shakur has worked to free political prisoners and to expose government abuses against political organizers. While in prison, he has struggled to create peace between rival gangs. More information: mutulushakur.com
If for some insane reason you cannot join us Tuesday, please write them at home:
Sundiata Acoli* #39794-066
FCI Cumberland
Federal Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 1000
Cumberland, Maryland 21501
*Address envelope to Clark Squire
Dr. Mutulu Shakur #83205-012
USP Victorville
Post Office Box 3900
Adelanto, California 92301
BK/NY – Tuesday, May 9th – Letter Writing to the Cleveland 4
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 9th, 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
Coming on the heels of the 5th anniversary of the Cleveland 4 being captured by the State after a coordinated effort to entrap them, we ask that you join us in sending some love their way as we write to Brandon, Connor, Skelly, and Doug.
From cleveland4solidarity.org:
On the 5th Anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4
April 30, 2017. Tonight marks the fifth anniversary of the arrest of Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, Doug Wright, and Josh “Skelly” Stafford—the young men who came to be known as the Cleveland 4. Their arrest was the culmination of an FBI-created plot to place (fake, government-supplied) explosives under the base of a bridge and brand Occupy activists as “terrorists.” On this anniversary, we should pause. Take a moment to think about what was done to the Cleveland 4, the consequences they continue to suffer and the support they need, and how their case is a reflection of the bigger political moment in which we are living—and what that requires of us.
The plot to blow up a bridge was the result of months of coercion by a paid government informant and elaborate orchestration by the FBI. In a common pattern since 9/11, the FBI created a terrorism plot, entrapped vulnerable people in it, supplied the materials, and then supposedly heroically captured the made up “terrorists”—reassuring the public that the government would protect them…from a threat that never really existed. In addition to being used against the Cleveland 4 as anarchists in the Occupy movement in an attempt to quell it, this pattern has repeatedly been used to entrap young Muslim men and manufacture Islamophobia. And the pattern will surely continue to be used and adapted. As long as the FBI issues press releases that smear people across the media as “terrorists,” the State will continue to use the crafted narrative to justify its Orwellian surveillance and COINTELPRO tactics that tear apart individuals, communities, and movements.
We have a responsibility to see through the smoke and mirrors, to criticize and expose how the State uses so-called “terrorism” to suit its interests by stirring up fears—and recognize that this political landscape is not an accident, but a State power that our organizing must take into consideration. And we have to not let Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly be lost in the smoke and mirrors; rather, our support of them should be a beautiful showing of resistance through taking care of each other. When the State tries to take our loved ones from us, we have to still hold on in all the ways that we can through the walls of prison.
Through the narrative that the States creates in terrorism prosecutions, it seeks to tell a certain story. In doing so in the case of the Cleveland 4, the government succeeded in putting Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly in prison, but that does not mean that it gets to write the rest of this story. That’s for us to do—to turn a government-crafted plot into a setting that’s lighted by an unwavering commitment to making sure that every anniversary of the arrest of the Cleveland 4 marks another year of tangible acts of solidarity.
Write and send books to the Cleveland 4, donate to their support fund, and let our solidarity with each other be stronger than the forces that would tear us apart. Take care of each other and make sure that Brandon, Connor, Doug, and Skelly know that we are here to take care of them.
If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Brandon Baxter #57972-060
FCI Pekin
Post Office Box 5000
Pekin, Illinois 61555
Illustrated Guide Version 12.3 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 25 – May Day Card-signing for Anarchist Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
COST: Free
You’ve probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war– the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don’t already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.
If there’s absolutely no way you can come eat our home cooked vegan meal and sign a lot of May Day cards, but still want to support political prisoners, please consider sending some books from their wish lists.
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 11th– Letter Writing Dinner for Jalil Muntaqim & Eric King
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 11th 2017
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
No doubt we are not alone in our feelings of disdain for the state as they yet again flex their imperialistic muscles, roll up their sleeves, and unite across party lines to rain down the repression and violence overseas and here in the so called United States.
However there are plenty of anarchist news outlets bringing the realness- It’s Going Down, Unicorn Riot, Which Side Podcast, The Final Straw, sub.media… we want instead to actually mention a couple of the positive things happening in the Political Prisoner support world:
Mumia Abu Jamal finally began his medical treatment for Hepatitis C and Robert Seth Hayes was finally given an insulin pump (although the monitor is still missing, wouldn’t be the pigs if they just made it easy). Both of these have been months if not years in the making and the fighting from the inside and out.
In other positive (as positive as updating about comrades held in cages can be) news, Jalil Muntaqim was transferred out of the hellhole that is Southport Correctional Facility to Shawangunk Correctional Facility which is only a couple of hours from New York City. Eric King is settling into FCI Florence and gets off of phone, visit, and commissary restriction April 10th! Join us Tuesday as NYC ABC writes to these two folks.
Jalil Muntaqim is a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who, in 1971, was arrested in California and ultimately convicted for the killing of two New York City cops. In 1974, Muntaqim was convicted and received a prison term of twenty-five years to life. Jalil is a writer, a poet, a scholar, and an educat
or. He has taken the same persistence and dedication he had on the outside engaging in the Black Liberation struggle to the inside, dedicating his time there to improving the lives of those who have found themselves behind the same bars. In December of 2016 Jalil was thrown in the SHU for a lesson he taught as a part of the prison approved Black History class he was teaching. He then got sent to Southport Correctional Facility, known as the “SHU prison” where the most dangerous or most threatened prisoners are sent. A few weeks ago he was finally transferred out and is currently being held at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
Eric King is a 30 year old vegan anarchist prisoner who’s currently serving a 10 year sentence for an attempted firebombing of a government official’s office in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2014. Eric was being charged with throwing a hammer through a window of the building, followed by two lit Molotov cocktails. The criminal complaint 
states that both incendiary devices failed to ignite. Eric was identified as a suspect by local police because he had previously come under suspicion for anti-government and anti-police graffiti. On March 3, 2016, he accepted a non-cooperating plea agreement to one count of using “explosive materials to commit arson of property used in or affecting interstate commerce. Then almost three months later on June 28th, at the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri. Eric King was sentenced to ten years, the statutory minimum and maximum for the charge he plead guilty to.
In January Eric was unexpectedly transferred to FCI Florence and held in SHU there awaiting a disciplinary hearing. He is at the tail end of completing the sanctions he got as a result: loss of commissary, visits, and phone for a total of 93 days (that started before the disciplinary hearing). He is now currently in general population at FCI Florence.
If for some insane reason you cannot join us on Tuesday, please write them from home:
Anthony J. Bottom #77-A-4283
Shawangunk Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589-0700
*address card/letter to Jalil Muntaqim
Eric King #27090-045
FCI Florence
Federal Correctional Institution
Post Office Box 6000
Florence, Colorado 81226
