Leeds Anarchist Black Cross have published a number of pamphlets focusing on prisoner resistance. The ones below are all currently in stock. Prices given are all postpaid in the UK. Please email us about bulk orders or for international rates. Send well-disguised cash or open postal orders to: Leeds ABC, 145 – 149 Cardigan Road, Leeds, LS6 1LJ. Details of other stock we carry to follow soon….
A Passion for Freedom – An interview with Jean Weir
“We must never forget that – beyond the anecdotes and reminiscences, prison consists of so many reinforced boxes that millions of people all over the world are locked up in day and night. The latter are hostages of the State and live at the mercy of a hierarchy of vile cowards 24 hours a day.”
Despite her long involvement in our movement, Jean Weir’s natural modesty has made getting an interview out of her “like getting blood out of a stone”. Our comrades at the anti-prisons magazine ’325′ succeeded though, and having read the interview with great interest when it was published in ’325′ a couple of years ago, we thought that others would enjoy reading it as a small pamphlet.
In the interview, Jean talks about her experiences in Italian prisons in the 1990′s, and about the solidarity she received, both from comrades outside and from her fellow prisoners. As always she has much of interest to tell us, going on to speak about organising in Sicily in the1980′s and about her ideas in general.
We have produced this pamphlet in an A6 format so that you can slip it into your pocket (perhaps next to your lighter and bandana) and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did. All money raised from sales will go to supporting imprisoned comrades in Greece, a cause which like that of supporting prisoners everywhere, we know Jean holds dear.
‘A Passion For Freedom’ is available for £2.50, including UK postage, from Leeds ABC, 145-149 Cardigan Road, Leeds, LS6 1LJ. Please send well-disguised cash or blank postal orders. As with all Leeds Anarchist Black Cross publications it will be sent to prisoners free of charge upon request.
ACTIVISM IS MY REVENGE! is a new 32 page pamphlet from Leeds Anarchist Black Cross. It is published at a time when repression is both widespread and increasing, and when resistance to that repression will inevitably lead to more and more people going to prison. Also at a time when the lengths, and depths, that the State will go to in terms of infiltrating and spying on our movement has been increasingly revealed. In the wake of this, while some are cowed or intimidated, ACTIVISM IS MY REVENGE! gives a bold ‘two fingers’ to the cops.
New 32 page pamphlet from Leeds ABC
ACTIVISM IS MY REVENGE! is the text of a talk given by Mark Barnsley in Amsterdam in 2003, and previously only available on CD. In it Mark talks about his life and about his time in prison, his campaign for freedom, the struggle against repression, prison abolition, prisoner solidarity, and what happens to the cops when the revolution comes!
ACTIVISM IS MY REVENGE! features an introduction by Henk Zwart of Amsterdam Anarchist Group, a foreword from Leeds ABC, and a further introduction by Mark Barnsley.
Building on the existing range of pamphlets from Leeds ABC, ACTIVISM IS MY REVENGE! is a further contribution to the struggle against prisons and an informative text about a subject of which there are still only a few worthwhile first hand accounts – repression and resistance in British prisons.
Available for £2.50 (plus 50p postage)
DOWN WITH THE PRISON WALLS! – A talk by Laudelino Iglesias Martinez
Laudelino Iglesias Martinez left prison on the 9th of August 2004 after spending more than 23 years in Spanish cells. He is one of the well-known social rebels and anarchists imprisoned in Spain, participating in the revolutionary organisation of prisoners who were refused amnesty by the state after the death of Franco, and continuing to struggle against isolation and against the many abuses of a brutal incarceration system. Laudelino spent many years suffering at the hands of fascist screws in the infamous FIES units but never stopped fighting.In autumn 2005 Laude began a European tour to spread information about past and current resistance to the repressive state apparatus that is the penal system, and to encourage solidarity with the many free and strong individuals who are currently behind bars.This short pamphlet is a transcript of a talk he gave at Bradford 1in 12 Club in October 2005 where he was accompanied by an activist from the Spanish prisoner support group Salhateka. Available for £2ppd in the UK.
IF IT WAS EASY THEY WOULDN’T CALL IT STRUGGLE
Mark Barnsley has been involved in the anarchist movement all his adult life–spending time fighting in Lebanon, editing The Sheffield Anarchist, supporting striking miners, confronting fascists, and spending ten years in prison. Held in twenty different maximum or high security prisons, and eighteen different segregation units, he has always taken the fight to the Enemy in jail. Released from prison in 2002, Mark continues to be as active as ever. This pamphlet consists of edited portions from two talks Mark gave after his release from prison.
“I don’t want to do my imprisonment ‘easy,’ to succumb to a living death, I want to do it ‘hard’ even if it means that I am brutalized. Even in prison I want to know that I am living every day of my life, to fight back as best I can.” –Mark Barnsley Available for £3ppd in the UK
PRISON WAS CREATED FOR THE POOR
Mothers & Sons: From FIES to Aachen
Pastora & Xose Tarrio Gonzalez
Julia & Gabriel Pombo da Silva
Prison Was Created For The Poor focuses on two tireless militants of the Spanish prison struggle, Xose Tarrio Gonzalez and Gabriel Pombo Da Silva, who fought against the brutal F.I.E.S. isolation units. Xose was killed by a life behind bars, and Gabriel now rots in a German prison. The main part of this book though, is written by neither Xose nor Gabriel, instead it is the text of an interview with their mothers, Pastora and Julia. Through this medium, they tell a powerful and emotional story, which not only takes us inside the world of Spanish high security prisons, but reflects on jails throughout the world. Prison Was Created For The Poor is a compelling read.
£2.50 ppd in the UK
WITH A SMILE AND A TWINKLE IN MY EYE Translation of an interview with Mark Barnsley that was first printed in the German anarcho-syndicalist paper Direkte Aktion in 2003. A6 pamphlet – available for £1.50 ppd in the UK
