Central Prisoners Vote to End Hunger Strike

August 4, 2012 Prison Books.info

 

We just received word that earlier this week prisoners at Central in Raleigh voted to end their hunger strike, started on July 16th in protest of conditions on Unit 1. We have not heard from prisoners at Bertie or Scotland. Small groups of prisoners at Foothills CI and Tabor CI have also said they have joined the protest.

The strike was organized to take aim at the fundamental conditions of sensory deprivation, psychological and physical torture, and abuse that characterize solitary confinement, and for that matter, prisons in general. It was also catalyzed by the need for law libraries for prisoners to be able to be better organize and defend themselves in the legal realm.

Some of the short term demands of prisoners, such as tools with which to clean cells, clearing the windows to the outside, and other demands have already been granted, but more significant demands have been put to the unit manager and have yet to be addressed. For the strikers involved, it seems like this strike was a way to garner much needed attention towards their conditions, as well as demonstrate to other prisoners that it is indeed possible to organize across lines of race or gang status, and to do so with meaningful support and solidarity from the outside.

At least one of the strikers, Jamey Wilkins, who has also been active in a successful lawsuit against guards, is facing reprisals for his involvement in organizing activity. Despite not having write-ups or infractions, he is being recommended for Supermax. Outside supporters are strongly encouraged to continue to call in or demonstrate on his and others’ behalf; prison officials are trying to send a warning to others who would organize or rebel, and they must be opposed resolutely.

In related news, several of the “Strong 8″ prisoners, eight men who refused to continue to work in the face of unaddressed labor grievances in Central’s kitchens, have been taken off I-Con status and allowed back to general population, despite their involvement in the hunger strike. Others have remained on solitary due to (the admin. claims) infractions.

This hunger strike has garnered a good deal of attention, and the support and solidarity of a number diverse groups. At least four solidarity demonstrations have occurred, as well as a growing swell of support from alternative and social media sources and call-in days from all over the country. So it seems appropriate to end this update with some words of thanks from the strikers with regards to outside support and protest:

“I had assumed that the strike was over until Friday when I heard it on NPR! I’m going to practice solidarity with my fellow activists abroad and push out 2 or 3 days…I really appreciate you guys on your activism and bringing things together. Stay solid!” -Foothills CI, Morganton, NC

“I’ve been housed on Unit 1 since may 15th 2009 for assault on police back in 2007. So I know all the bullshit that goes on here at central or unit 1. I heard y’all  by my cell window good around 1pm or 130 pm on Sunday, but i couldn’t understand the words that was said because everybody on unit one was kicking their cell doors.” – Central Prison, Raleigh, NC

“Keep up the good work all the up and tell everybody we do really, really appreciate all the help of stepping up for prisoners period.” – Central Prison, Raleigh, NC

“I told a couple guys about the hunger strike and we began a little something of our own. It’s only like four of us, but four is plenty!” - Tabor CI, Tabor City, NC

“Thank your for the demo! I heard it from outside. The solidarity is felt.” – Central Prison, Raleigh, NC

“We heard y’all! I was ready to go all out!” – Central Prison, Raleigh, NC

Hopefully this strike can be seen and felt as a beginning. Not to editorialize, but we would urge fellow supporters on the outside not to see this sort of flare-up as a simple quest for certain demands, like toilet brushes or cleaner windows or even law libraries. This kind of moment, even on the small scale in which it has occurred here, can only be fully understood as a struggle for dignity and freedom in the face of the largest and arguably the most brutal system of policing and human warehousing in the history of the world. The forms of these moments will grow and change: it may be a hunger strike today and a riot tomorrow, or a quiet study group the next day. But the content of these struggles, at least for some, remains a burning desire for liberty set against an institutional matrix of petty tyrannies and genocidal abuses that characterize all prisons everywhere.

North Carolina Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike

August 1, 2012 Solitary Watch

by Sal Rodriguez

Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina

On July 16th, inmates at Central Prison, Bertie Correctional Institution and Scotland Correctional Institution launched a hunger strike in protest of various prison conditions, including solitary confinement.  North Carolina Department of Corrections currently holds over 7,000 inmates out of approximately 36,000 in “Close Custody.” Among these are inmates are those held in Maximum Control, Protective Custody, Disciplinary Segregation and Intensive Control. Maximum security units are described this way by the DOC:

Inmates confined in a maximum security unit typically are in their cell 23 hours a day. During the other hour they may be allowed to shower and exercise in the cellblock or an exterior cage. All inmate movement is strictly controlled with the use of physical restraints and correctional officer escort.

Prison officials at Central Prison indicated on July 28th that only seven hunger strikers remained, but that the number fluctuated with inmates joining and stopping. The strikers are all Close Custody inmates and are held in their cell for 23 hours a day in isolation. As many as 100 inmates were reported to have participated since the launch of the strike.
Demands of the strikers include:

• “The end of cell restriction. Sometimes prisoners are locked in their cell for weeks or more than a month, unable to come out for showers and recreation.”
• “An immediate end to the physical and mental abuse inflicted by officers.”
• “Education programs for prisoners on lock-up”
• “The levels of I-Con, M-Con, and H-Con need to be done away with altogether. When one is placed on Intensive Control Status (I-Con), one is placed in the hole for six months and told to stay out of trouble. But even when we stay out of trouble, we are called back to the FCC and DCC only to be told to do another six months in the hold, infraction free.”
• “The immediate release of prisoners from solitary who have been held unjustly or for years without infractions; this includes the Strong 8, sent to solitary for the purpose of political intimidation.”

Central Prison in Raleigh was the site of a strike by inmates in December 2011. The inmates were protesting conditions in their kitchen employment. The strike leaders, referred to as the “Strong 8″ were placed in solitary confinement for launching the work stoppage. According to one of the strike leaders placed in the Intensive Control unit, “I-Con is an intensive form of segregation, typically 23 hours a day in a small solitary cell, with few if any resources available, constantly censored mail, and little recreational activity. Sentences on I-Con often last 6 months or longer.”

Central Prison currently holds over 600 inmates in Close Custody. In March, an inmate with a history of self-harm was found dead in his solitary confinement cell. In North Carolina, self-harm can be punished by up to 30 days in isolation.

According to local media, it is the intention of the DOC to address the concerns of the inmates after the strike ends.

Announcing Call-In Day and Petition for NC Hunger Strikers

July 23, 2012 Prison Books.info

 

First, we are announcing and encouraging people to participate in a call-in day to support NC prison hunger strikers on Wednesday, July 25th. You can find phone and fax numbers here. Because the strike may have spread to facilities we don’t yet know about, folks are especially encouraged to call the Division of Prisons HQ in Raleigh.

Second, the Asheville Prison Book Program has set up a petition for the strikers which supporters can sign here.

Third, a poster made for public distribution can be found here; feel free to put this up everywhere in your town, as a general reminder that prison struggles are happening.

Fourth, please write to prisonbooks@gmail.com if your group would like to be mentioned as supporting the strike. Feel free to also write your own statement of support like these folks. As soon as that list starts to come together we will post it.

Fifth, prisoners have called for solidarity actions and boycotts (the latter largely intended for other prisoners) against companies that exploit prisoners and their families via the canteen. A list of companies involved can be found here.


A weekly anarchist radio show out of Asheville, NC, called the Final Straw, recently did an hour long interview regarding this hunger strike. You can hear the interview here.

As soon as more news emerges from prisoners we will be sure to post it. Also, please send us by email or comments any news on your end about solidarity actions, demonstrations, etc.

Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike at Three Facilities In NC

July 18, 2012 Prison Books.info

 

On Monday July 16^th, prisoners began hunger strikes at Bertie CI in Windsor, Scotland CI in Laurinburg, and Central Prison in Raleigh. Targeting a wide range of conditions related but not exclusive to solitary confinement, the prisoners have vowed not to eat until their demands are met.
Prisoners have encouraged supporters to call or fax the administrations of these different facilities as well as Director Robert Lewis (see information below), to “march or protest in front of Central Prison and others,” “boycott all products being sold in these prisons,” and to “contact media outlets and let them know what we are doing.”

The prisoners have listed the following demands (listed at the bottom), though they are also encouraging others to include any other grievances specific to their conditions. It is still unclear how many prisoners are currently participating, but correspondence with those on the inside has made it clear that the strike has spread to three at least three different facilities.

Constant attention and pressure on administrations can help make this strike a success, and protect those who are putting their lives on the line. Prisoners have asked folks on the outside to call everyday to check on fasting prisoners and pressure administration. You can contact officials at:

Robert C. Lewis, Director of Prisons
phone: 919.838.4000
fax: 919.733.8272
Central Prison Warden Ken Lassiter
phone: 919.733.0800
fax: 919.715.2645
Bertie CI Warden Renoice Stancil (The Receptionist Says Stancil Is Replaced With A Man Named Anderson)
Phone: 252-794-8600
Fax: 252-794-4608
Scotland CI Warden Sorrell Saunders
Phone: (910) 844-3078
Fax: (910) 844-3786
PRISONERS’ DEMANDS

1. Law Libraries. We are tired of being railroaded by the courts, and having our rights violated by prison staff and officers. NC Prison Legal Services are inadequate and oftentimes do not help us at all. A law library is needed to enable us to legally defend ourselves.
2. An immediate end to the physical and mental abuse inflicted by officers.
3. Improve food, in terms of quality and quantity.
4. A better way to communicate emergencies from cells; many emergency call buttons are broken and never replaced, and guards often do not show up for over an hour. At least one prisoner has died this way.
5. The canteens that serve lock up units need to make available vitamins and personal hygiene items.
6. An immediate stop to officers’ tampering or throwing away prisoners’ mail.
7. Education programs for prisoners on lock-up.
8. The immediate release of prisoners from solitary who have been held unjustly or for years without infractions; this includes the Strong 8, sent to solitary for the purpose of political intimidation.
9. The immediate end to the use of restraints as a form of torture.
10. The end of cell restriction. Sometimes prisoners are locked in their cell for weeks or more than a month, unable to come out for showers and recreation.
11. The theft of prisoners’ property, including mattresses and clothes. When on property restriction, we are forced to sleep on the ground or steel bed frames naked, with no bedding.
12. Medical privacy and confidentiality. Guards should not be able to listen in on our medical problems when on sick call.
13. Change our cell windows to ones which we can see through. The current windows are covered with feces and grime. Not being able to see out is sensory deprivation, and makes us feel dissociated from everything that exists outside of prison.
14. An immediate repair of cell lights, sinks, toilets, and plumbing.
15. Toilet brushes should be handed out with cell cleaning items.
16. The levels of I-Con, M-Con, and H-Con need to be done away with altogether. When one is placed on Intensive Control Status (I-Con), one is placed in the hole for six months and told to stay out of trouble. But even when we stay out of trouble, we are called back to the FCC and DCC only to be told to do another six months in the hold, infraction free.

Support Striking Raleigh Prisoners! Announcing Demo and Call-In Day

March 8, 2012 Prison Books

On December 16^th, 15 prisoners working in the kitchens at Central Prison, in Raleigh, sat down on the job in protest of the hours, lack of gain time, and working conditions. Prisoners in these kitchens are made to work ten hours a day, seven days a week. The strikers refused to go back to work until questions were answered regarding their hours and gain time. Instead of addressing their concerns, the head kitchen corrections officer told the men to, “get [their] sorry asses back to work,” and called in for backup. This is the same facility where a scandalous media report on conditions in the mental health ward forced Warden Branker into early retirement.

Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, guards soon came and threatened the men into returning to work. Eight of the men, however, continued to refuse to work until their questions were asked. These men were charged with “disobeying a direct order” and “work refusal,” and placed in solitary cells. Just a few days ago, the men were given an abrupt disciplinary hearing, in which they were railroaded into I-Con (Intensive Control) as punishment. I-Con is an intensive form of segregation, typically 23 hours a day in a small solitary cell, with few if any resources available, constantly censored mail, and little recreational activity. Sentences on I-Con often last 6 months or longer. One prisoner wrote about the hearing, “I tried to plead my case to the hearing officer, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t even listen. It was already pre-arranged what the outcome would be. It amazes me what Central Prison gets away with. They don’t even care about policy. They do what they want.”

The men who refused to return to work are calling themselves the “Strong 8,” and have been in touch with outside support groups to spread news of and ask for solidarity in their struggle. It is clear that the attempt to isolate and repress these men’s strike is an effort to intimidate any efforts at organizing on the inside before they start. The struggle to get these men off of solitary is about more than just the freedom of these 8 men – it is about the use of solitary confinement as a tool for political intimidation, prisons as a form of forced labor, and the “new jim crow” of the contemporary prison-industrial complex.

Outside supporters are initially calling for several different approaches to get these men off solitary. First, there will be a mass call-in day to both the prison warden and the NC Director of Prisons on Wednesday, March 14^th. This is being heavily publicized both regionally and nationally – we’re hoping that those who are too far away to attend demonstrations will help out in other ways. The contact information for these call-in days is below:

Central Prison Warden Ken Lassiter

ph:(919) 733- 0800

fax: (919) 715-2645

NC Director of Prisons Robert C. Lewis

ph: (919) 838-4000

fax: (919) 733-8272

Second, there will be a demonstration outside of Central Prison, at 1300 Western Blvd. Raleigh, NC 27606, on Sunday March 25^th at noon. We encourage people to bring signs, banners, and drums and noisemaking devices of all kinds. The prisoners have explicitly asked for some banners and signs to read, “Free the Strong 8 Kitchen Workers” and “Fire Mr. Rice.” The protest will be during visiting hours, so we hope to directly spread word of support for the strike throughout the inside via family members, as well as increase pressure on the administration to return the men to general population.

Thirdly, we are asking for people to conduct a massive media and internet outreach campaign around this strike and the subsequent punishment of the workers. Administrations get away with this kind of thing in part by sweeping news of any and all prison resistance under the rug, so that family, friends, affected communities, and other prisoners don’t hear about it. Please spread news of this struggle by any and all websites, newspapers, radio stations, and other media outlets you can think of.

The struggle to get these men off solitary won’t stop with these small actions; this is likely just a beginning. It goes without saying that any and all acts of solidarity and support are encouraged. We will continue to post and send out more information as it is available, both from the inside and outside. To see the original post of the story and find future updates, you can go to prisonbooks.info.

Until Every Cage is Empty,

Against Prisons and the Society that Builds Them,

an ad hoc coalition of groups and individuals supporting the Strong 8

Occupy Eviction News

Image from Zuccotti Park

Police dismantle Oakland camp, protesters on march

By Laird Harrison | Reuters – Nov 14, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) - Police forcibly evicted anti-Wall Street
protesters from their camp in downtown Oakland early on Monday, setting
the stage for possible showdowns with some demonstrators who vowed to dig
in after marching through the streets.

Throngs of protesters headed back to Frank Ogawa Plaza in the late
afternoon, regrouping hours after officers in riot gear cleared the area
and arrested 33 people as they removed about 100 tents. But the police
action avoided clashes that marked a previous attempt to shut down the
encampment.

"This movement cannot end!" a speaker told the crowd as the march began
outside a downtown library. Police largely stood back, and at one point
even stopped traffic for the marchers, who authorities said could return
to the plaza so long as they did not camp there.

The march ended peacefully with activists huddling in a "general assembly"
meeting, with speakers divided between those who urged rebuilding their
camp in defiance of police and those who advocated various other tactics.

Recent unrest surrounding the Oakland encampment has helped rally
nationwide support for Occupy Wall Street, a movement launched in New York
in September to protest economic inequality and excesses of the financial
system.

By late evening, Oakland crowds had largely dissipated after a consensus
emerged to join a march and rally planned for Tuesday by students and
faculty on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

The daylong Berkeley strike was called in response to a confrontation last
week with campus police who cleared out a short-lived encampment there and
arrested 39 protesters. Organizers said their rally on Tuesday would
culminate with the "reestablishment" of their "Occupy Cal Encampment."

The move to clear out Ogawa Plaza, after nearly a month of indecision on
how to handle the Oakland protests, came days after a fatal shooting near
the encampment fueled renewed pressure on the city to close it down.

Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said the shooting death of
Kayode Ola Foster, 25, last Thursday left him no choice but to again
dismantle the encampment.

"We had to take action. I tried to do it the next day (following the
shooting) but I didn't have the resources ready. I was going to go all
in," he said.

Jordan said it was unclear if Foster had been living in the protest camp
but that the suspected gunman had been there for several weeks. Occupy
Oakland organizers have said the incident was unrelated to their movement.

Officers in the early morning raid on Ogawa Plaza appeared to take a less
aggressive approach than in a similar action three weeks earlier, and were
met with less resistance from Occupy Oakland demonstrators.

"We had to bring the camps to an end before more people got hurt," Mayor
Jean Quan told a news conference later.

Monday's action saw officers sometimes smiling and talking with protesters
as they took down tents while a helicopter overhead illuminated the area.
A separate line of officers kept a chanting crowd from entering the camp.

Meanwhile, several blocks away from Ogawa Plaza, some 40 tents remained
standing at a separate park where a smaller group of demonstrators said
they have been camping with relatively little attention paid for the past
few weeks.

Protesters there said they too had received eviction notices from the
police on Sunday but that no move had been made to force them to leave the
park.

MOVE PROMPTS RESIGNATION

The decision to evict the camp at Ogawa Plaza prompted the resignation of
a top adviser to Quan, whose handling of the protests has come under
withering criticism. The adviser, Dan Siegel, called the move a mistake.

"I don't know if it will remain calm or if it will become very volatile,"
Siegel told Reuters in an interview.

Quan, asked about Siegel's resignation, said only: "He's moving on, I'm
moving on."

City officials said there were no injuries to citizens or officers and
that Ogawa Plaza, where protesters had camped for about a month, would
reopen for peaceful demonstrations.

Taxi driver Brad Newsham, holding a placard with the slogan "Re-Occupy,"
said: "We were moved off by the 1 percent and the powers that be."

A previous attempt to clear the square on October 25 had sparked
confrontations between protesters and police that evolved into one of the
most violent episodes since the anti-Wall Street movement began in New
York.

Former Marine Scott Olsen was critically injured during those
altercations, galvanizing protests nationwide. In the aftermath of the
confrontations, Oakland protesters were able to return to the plaza.

Oakland is one of just several cities where authorities have acted in
recent days to shut down Occupy camps, saying they have become sources of
rising crime.

In Eureka, California, early on Monday, police arrested 33 people in
dismantling a protest camp there.

The weekend saw police clearing operations in Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake
City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as well as
threats of action in other cities if protesters did not clear out on their
own.

In St. Louis, where 27 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested on
Saturday, attorneys for members of Occupy St. Louis planned to take their
battle to regain a downtown campsite to federal court on Tuesday.

They were seeking an injunction that would allow an overnight presence in
Kiener Plaza, the downtown city park near the Gateway Arch where
protesters against economic inequality maintained a camp for six weeks.

Meanwhile in New York, protesters said they would seek to shut-down Wall
Street on Thursday by holding a street carnival to mark the two-month
anniversary of their campaign.

Organizers acknowledged that the move could be the group's most
provocative yet and could lead to mass arrests and further strain
relations with city authorities.

(Additional reporting by Emmett Berg, Jim Christie, Noel Randewich, Dan
Levine, Peter Henderson, Mary Slosson, Dan Whitcomb, Bruce Olson and Chris
Francescani; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jerry Norton and Cynthia
Johnston)


New York police evict anti-Wall Street protesters

By Michelle Nichols | Reuters – Nov. 15, 2011

http://news.yahoo.com/ny-police-try-evict-anti-wall-street-protesters-064557041.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police wearing helmets and carrying shields moved to
evict protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement early on Tuesday
from the park in New York City's financial district where they have camped
since September.

Authorities declared that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park --
which had become a sea of tents, tarps and protest signs with hundreds of
demonstrators sleeping there -- posed a health and safety threat.

Scores of police barricaded streets around the park, which had been lit up
with spotlights, and were keeping people about a block away. More people
were arriving at the scene to support Occupy Wall Street after the
protesters sent out a mass text message alerting followers to the raid.

"They gave us about 20 minutes to get our things together," protester Sam
Wood said. "It's a painful process to watch, they are sweeping through the
park."

The protesters had set up camp in Zuccotti Park on September 17 to protest
a financial system they say mostly benefits corporations and the wealthy.
Their movement has inspired similar protests against economic inequality
in other cities, and in some cases have led to violent clashes with
police.

The office of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the protesters
should "temporarily leave" the park and remove their tents and tarps.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the city and the owners of the park,
commercial real estate corporation Brookfield Office Properties, issued
fliers to the protesters saying the park would be cleared for cleaning
shortly after 1 a.m. (0600 GMT).

Browne said 15 people had been arrested for disorderly conduct and
resisting arrest.

The flier said the city and Brookfield had decided "that the continued
occupation of Zuccotti Park posed an increasing health and safety hazard
to those camped in the park, the city's first responders and the
surrounding community."

Browne said most people had left peacefully, but there was a small group
of people in the middle of the park refusing to leave. He said the
protesters can return if they want after the park is cleared but without
their tents and belongings.

The protesters had set up a kitchen in the middle of the park and they
also had a medical tent, a social media headquarters and a library.
Protesters have said several hundred people had been regularly sleeping in
the park.

Some protesters said police had used pepper spray while clearing the park
and journalists at the scene said they smelled the substance.

'SWEEPING THROUGH THE PARK'

Police were using a loudspeaker to tell protesters still at the park that
if they did not leave they would be arrested.

Wood, an unemployed 21-year-old from Farmingdale, New York, said he had
been living at the park since the protests started on September 17. "They
weren't disassembling anything nicely. ... They trashed our library," Wood
said.

Wood said there were still about 50 to 80 people in the park, many of whom
had linked arms and were sitting around the kitchen area in the middle of
the site. He said he saw some people who had chained themselves to trees.
Wood said dozens of sanitation workers were helping police clear the park.

Samantha Tuttlebee, 35, from the Brooklyn section of the city, said she
was volunteering at the protesters' medical tent when the raid happened.
She said she had not been living at the park.

"I'm shocked. They put my arms behind my back. They are really violent,"
Tuttlebee said. "We were trying to leave and they threw us out."

The protesters issued a statement by e-mail that said, "You can't evict an
idea whose time has come."

"Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces -- our
spaces -- and, physically, they may succeed. But we are engaged in a
battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve
us, the people -- all of us, not just those who have amassed great wealth
and power," the Occupy Wall Street statement added.

Police on Monday moved into an encampment by anti-Wall Street protesters
in Oakland, California, clearing out occupants and taking down tents,
while in Portland, Oregon, police confronted an estimated 1,000 protesters
on Sunday.

The protesters in Wall Street had said they hoped on Thursday to shut down
Wall Street -- home to the New York Stock Exchange -- by holding a street
carnival to mark the two-month anniversary of their movement.

(Editing by Will Dunham)


Police with Assault Rifles Raid Newly Established Squat, Crowds Gather

Nov. 14, 2011 Anarchist News

In one of the largest coordinated police responses in recent Carrboro
Chapel Hill history, dozens of SWAT team members raided the newly
established squat in the 10,000 square foot Chrysler building. With guns
drawn, they blocked off the surrounding streets. Eight people were
ultimately arrested, likely on trespassing charges or break and entering.
A large crowd gathered outside, booing the cops, screaming, and vowing to
return. Two town aldermen from Carrboro even took part, ironic considering
Carrboro police were involved.

A benefit show is being held tonight and bail money is being raised as
this is typed. Solidarity actions everywhere are appreciated; the cops
here have seriously overstepped their normal bounds, and have been
captured on film by mainstream press with guns drawn on old ladies and
legal observers.

This is only the beginning of this effort, and we already have found more
comrades than ever before through this struggle.

More updates coming asap...

[Note the beautiful juxtaposition w/ the banners?]

Police arrest Chapel Hill protesters who occupied vacant business

By Katelyn Ferral and Mark Schultz News Observer

CHAPEL HILL -- A police tactical team of more than 25 police officers
arrested eight demonstrators Sunday afternoon and charged them with
breaking and entering for occupying a vacant car dealership on Franklin
Street.

Officers brandishing guns and semi-automatic rifles rushed the building at
about 4:30 p.m. They pointed weapons at those standing outside, and
ordered them to put their faces on the ground. They surrounded the
building and cleared out those who were inside.

About 13 people, including New & Observer staff writer covering the
demonstration, were forced to the ground and hand-cuffed.
Click here to find out more!

Those who had been outside of the building at the time of the arrests -
including N&O staffer Katelyn Ferral - were detained and then let go after
their pictures were taken. Eight people inside the building were cuffed
and put on a Chapel Hill Transit bus to be taken to the police station to
be charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering.

"Along with facilitating citizens' ability to exercise their
constitutional rights, it is also a critical responsibility of all levels
of government in a free society to respond when rights of others are being
impinged upon," Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said in a statement
issued Sunday night.

"This weekend a group of protesters broke into and entered a privately
owned building in downtown Chapel Hill. ... The Town has an obligation to
the property owners, and the Town will enforce those rights ..."

Police closed off four blocks of West Franklin Street with six squad cars
and a fire truck while officers removed signs the demonstrators had hung
in the former dealership's show room windows.

In a statement Sunday night, police said they had been monitoring the
building since Saturday night when they learned attendees of an anarchist
book fair held this weekend were aligning themselves with Occupy Chapel
Hill and that about 70 people had entered the former car dealership.

"Officers also learned that strategies used by anarchists in other
communities included barricading themselves in buildings, placing traps in
buildings, and otherwise destroying property," said the statement released
by Sgt. Josh Mecimore. "The group in the ... building used large banners
to obscure the windows to the business and strategically placed members on
the roof as look-outs."

Police waited until the crowd had reached "a manageable size" before
moving in Sunday, the statement said.

A crowd of between 50 and 75 people gathered across the street, watching
and taking pictures as the bus carrying the protesters pulled away. They
jeered police officers, chanting, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" When someone
noticed the Wells Fargo advertisement on the side of the bus, they began
chanting "Who do they serve? Wells

The group, who identified themselves as "anti-capitalist occupiers" moved
into the former University Chrysler and Yates Motor Co. building at 419 W.
Franklin St. on Saturday night, the police statement said.

The brick and cinderblock building with large windows fronting the
sidewalk is owned by out-of-town businessman Joe Riddle and has stood
empty for many years. One demonstrator said they were acting in the
tradition of working-class squatters' movements around the world that some
say inspired the Occupy Wall Street movement and its offshoots across the
United States.

The group printed a flier that proposed a possible new use for the space
that would include a free clinic, kitchen, child care, library and
dormitories, among other uses. The flier acknowledged they were breaking
the law by entering the building.

"Make no mistake: this occupation is illegal," it said, "as are most of
the other occupations taking place around the U.S., as were many of the
other acts of defiance that won the little freedom and equality we
appreciate today."



THIS BUILDING IS OURS! Chapel Hill Anarchists Occupy Downtown Building

Nov. 13, 2011 Trianarchy

In the midst of the first general strike to hit the US since 1946, a group
of comrades occupied a vacant building in downtown Oakland, CA. Before
being brutally evicted and attacked by cops, they taped up in the window a
large banner declaring, “Occupy Everything…”

______

Last night, at about 8pm, a group of about 50 – 75 people occupied the
10,000 square foot Chrysler Building on the main street of downtown
Chapel Hill. Notorious for having an owner who hates the city and has bad
relations with the City Council, the giant building has sat empty for ten
years. It is empty no longer.

Following the Carrboro Anarchist Bookfair, a group “in solidarity with
occupations everywhere” marched to the building, amassing outside while
banners reading “Occupy Everything” and “Capitalism left this building for
DEAD, we brought it back to LIFE” were raised in the windows and lowered
down the steep roof. Much of the crowd soon filed in through one of the
garage door entrances to find a short film playing on the wall and dance
music blasting.

People explored the gigantic building, and danced in the front room to
images of comrades shattering the glass of bank windows 3,000 miles away
in Oakland. Others continued to stay outside, shouting chants, giving
speeches, and passing out hundreds of “Welcome” packets (complete with one
among many possible future blueprints for the building – see below for
text) to passersby. The text declared the initial occupation to be the
work of “ autonomous anti-capitalist occupiers,” rather than Occupy Chapel
Hill, but last evening’s events have already drawn the involvement of many
Occupy Chapel Hill participants, who are camped just several blocks down
the street.

Soon several police showed up, perhaps confused and waiting for orders.
Three briefly entered the building, and were met with chants of “ACAB!”
Strangely, the cops seem to have been called off, because they left as
quick as they came. For the rest of the night they were conspicuously
absent, leaving us free to conduct a short assembly as to what to do with
the space and how to hold it for the near future. The group also decided
to move a nearby noise and experimental art show into the building. As
some folks began to arrange the show, others began filtering across town
seeking things we needed for the night.

Within 30 minutes of the assembly ending, trucks began returning with
everything from wooden pallets, doors, water jugs, and a desk, to a
massive display case for an already growing distro and pots and trays of
food donated by a nearby Indian restaurant. Others began spreading the
word to the nearby Occupy Chapel Hill campsite, and bringing their camping
gear into the building.

Over the next few hours more and more community members heard about the
occupation and stopped by, some to bring food or other items, others just
to soak it all in. All the while dozens of conversations were happening
outside with people on the street. The show began eventually, and abrasive
noise shook the walls of the building, interspersed with dance music and
conversations, and ending with a beautiful a capella performance, and of
course more dancing.

More events are to follow tomorrow in our new space, with two assemblies
from the anarchist bookfair being moved to the new location, and a yoga
teacher offering to teach a free class later in the afternoon.

As of the early hours this Sunday morning, the building remains in our
hands, with a small black flag hanging over the front door. The first 48
hours will be extremely touch and go, but with a little luck, and a lot of
public support, we aim to hold it in perpetuity. Regardless, we hope that
this occupation can inspire others around the country. Strikes like the
one in Oakland present one way forward; long term building occupations may
present another.

-some anti-capitalist occupiers

TEXT FROM THE “WELCOME” HANDOUT:

We would like to welcome you to an experiment.

For the past month and a half, thousands of people all over the US have
been occupying public space in protest of economic inequality and
hopelessness. This itself began as an experiment in a small park in New
York City, though it did not emerge out of a vacuum: Occupy Wall St. “made
sense” because of the rebels of Cairo, because of the indignados of Madrid
and Barcelona and Athens. All of these rebellions were experiments in
self-organization which emerged out of their own specific contexts, their
own histories of struggle and revolution. Each were unique, but also
united by the shared reality of the failure and decline of late global
capitalism, and the futility of electoral politics.

Recently, this “Occupy” phenomenon has expanded beyond merely “providing a
space for dialogue” to become a diverse movement actively seeking to shift
the social terrain. From strikes and building occupations to marches and
port blockades, this looks different in different places, as it should,
but one thing is clear: Many are no longer content with “speaking truth to
power,” for they understand that power does not listen.

Toward that end, we offer this building occupation as an experiment, as a
possible way forward. For decades, occupied buildings have been a
foundation for social movements around the world. In places as diverse as
Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Mexico, and Germany, just to mention a few,
they offer free spaces for everything from health clinics and daycare to
urban gardening, theaters, and radical libraries. They are reclaimed
spaces, taken back from wealthy landowners or slumlords, offered to the
community as liberated space.

All across the US thousands upon thousands of commercial and residential
spaces sit empty while more and more people are forced to sleep in the
streets, or driven deep into poverty while trying to pay rent that
increases without end. Chapel Hill is no different: this building has sat
empty for years, gathering dust and equity for a lazy landlord hundreds of
miles away, while rents in our town skyrocket beyond any service workers’
ability to pay them, while the homeless spend their nights in the cold,
while gentrification makes profits for developers right up the street.

For these reasons, we see this occupation as a logical next step, both
specific to the rent crisis in this city as well as generally for
occupations nationwide. This is not an action orchestrated by Occupy
Chapel Hill, but we invite any and all occupiers, workers, unemployed, or
homeless folks to join us in figuring out what this space could be. We
offer this “tour guide” merely as one possible blueprint among many, for
the purpose of brainstorming the hundreds of uses to which such a building
could be put to once freed from the stranglehold of rent.

In Love and Rage,

for liberty and equality,

-some autonomous anti-capitalist occupiers

Raleigh: Anarchists, Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation Join Up to Protest NC Prisons

November 5, 2011 prisonbookscollective

(from anarchistnews.org)

Roughly 60 protesters gathered yesterday in the freezing cold rain at the headquarters of the NC Division of Prisons in Raleigh to show our anger and resentment towards the prison system, and solidarity with prisoners struggling on the inside. The crowd represented folks from multiple cities, and in addition to anarchists and anti-prison activists was co-organized with and brought out about 25 members of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, a street organization with several members on the inside in NC.

Due to the harassment and recent segregation of these members, as well as the constant targeting of politically active NC prisoners and the recent hunger strike in CA, the demo particularly focused on solitary confinement. Folks carried banners like, “Against Solitary – Love for All Prison Rebels,” “Solitary is Torture,” and “Against Prisons,” and shouted ALKQN chants and slogans against cops and prisons.

Needless to say, cops arrived quickly on the scene and appeared increasingly nervous as the afternoon went on. A delegation of anarchists and ALKQN attempted to go in the building, but were prevented from doing so by armed guards and a terrified-looking Director.

After an hour and a half of drumming and screaming, we decided to march down the street so as to be in view of the rear half of Central Prison, the largest prison in the triangle-area. Though prevented from marching to the fence by a line of police cars, prisoners apparently could see us well enough to gather at the windows in the corridors of the facility, banging on the glass and pointing.

From there we marched back to our cars, taking the opportunity to take a group picture behind a beautiful black banner depicting a golden crown and the initials “ADR* – ACAB.” All in all we made a bunch of new friends yesterday, and will continue to organize with them into the future.

Though the Occupy movement has captured much attention as of late nationally, and elements of it such as Oakland’s general strike and building reclamation have inspired us, the struggle against prisons and policing in our state continues to be a major focus. We’d be lying if we did not say that this demo, as relatively tame as it was, felt like a breath of fresh air in contrast to the endless conversations by a recently disenfranchised middle-class about nonviolence and the “99%” which have surrounded us at various “occupations” in the triangle-area. Hopefully these struggles can intersect in a meaningful way, but it does seem that the “issues” of police and prisons will continue to be a major line in the sand relative to the racial and class topography of the Occupy movement.

Until Every Cage is Empty,

some NC anarchists against prisons

* ADR stands for Amor De Rey, a chant and slogan of the ALKQN.

**A brief news story and interview can be seen at: http://triangle.news14.com/content/top_stories/649140/family–friends-rally-for-inmates-in-solitary-confinement

*** For a more exhaustive reflection on anti-prison efforts in NC, check out: http://anarchistnews.org/node/1551

**** Below is the text from a handbill given out to media and passersby at the demo:

AGAINST PRISONS (and the world that creates them)

We are here to protest solitary confinement in NC prisons, and its use against politically active prisoners. The conditions are unbearable and amount to torture: years on end in a tiny cell with little to no stimulation 23 hours a day, unsanitary and inadequate food, no educational resources, completely inadequate “healthcare,” the consistent targeting of Black and Latino and politically conscious prisoners, a grievance procedure that amounts to a kangaroo court.

This protest comes on the back of the historic prisoners’ hunger strike against solitary confinement in California, which spread to over 11 facilities this summer, and inspired solidarity strikes in places as far away as Canada and Palestine. Prisoners in NC have been active for the last year as well, organizing radical study groups, staging a yard occupation in Windsor, hunger strikes in Taylorsville and Polkton, and speaking out against the beating of a handcuffed prisoner at Central Prison in Raleigh.

We are the family, friends, and supporters of those on the inside, both in general population as well as the “prison within a prison” that is solitary confinement. These people are our loved ones and comrades, stolen from us, from our families, crews, and neighborhoods, by the police and courts and this very Department of “Corrections.”

We do not accept this. We reject this modern-day plantation system. We will not sit by while our friends and family are tortured, while the prison walls continue to expand until all of society – work, school, the neighborhood, the city – resembles prison. We encourage everyone who has ever had a friend or brother or sister or parent behind bars, who has ever experienced the arrogant authority of a judge or cop, to join our protest in whatever way you can. If the whole world is like a prison, prison rebellion can happen anywhere.

—-

Two days ago, in the midst of a massive general strike which shut down the city of Oakland, CA, hundreds of occupiers took over a vacant building which had housed the homeless before it was foreclosed upon by bankers. In the windows of that building they stretched a massive banner which declared, “Occupy Everything.”

We are answering their call.

OCCUPY – NC D.O.C.

Proposals: Reflecting on an Anarchist/Prisoner Publication

Oct. 9, 2011 Anarchist News

The following is a self-reflection regarding a North Carolina-based
publication titled Proposals. This publication was a joint effort of
anarchists on the outside and many prisoners on the inside: on a monthly
or bimonthly basis it published prisoner-supplied letters, report-backs,
analysis, and historical accounts, as well as news briefs and anarchist
perspectives on anti-prison struggle from the outside. The contributors
were mostly not “political” prisoners in the traditional leftist sense but
rather conscious, “social” prisoners seeking a way to ignite some kind of
rebellion in their facilities. By our accounts, Proposals reached as many
as 1000 of the 40,000 prisoners in North Carolina, and continues to be
passed around at least half of the State's facilities, excluding jails.

Though the project was fairly short-lived (it lasted from January to
September), it has contributed to an ongoing trajectory of anti-prison
politics and action in our State, as well as a large number of
relationships with rebellious prisoners. For this reason we desired to
present a broad self-critique of the project to the larger national
anarchist milieu, in hopes that the questions, answers, and points of
departure we have found may find some resonance in others' anti-prison
efforts. Up until now the project has been mostly kept out of the
anarchist space, for reasons both of focus as well as a desire to avoid
unwanted attention. Now that these efforts have shifted somewhat, we hope
that an open discussion of our successes and failures might benefit
others.

To view various issues of Proposals, check out:
http://prisonbooks.info/resources (The issues are formatted for printing,
but you can figure it out...)

Original Intent

The origins of this modest project lay partly in past experiences with
similar publications as well as the world of books-to-prisoners projects
and anarchist black cross activity. A desire to “find” and create
relationships with various rebellious prisoners in our State, a strong
critique of the political/social prisoner dichotomy created by much
anarchist and leftist practice*, and an eagerness to explore the possible
affinities between outside anarchists and prisoners all contributed to the
project. This eagerness is not simply “political;” we hold a deeply
personal hatred for prisons and the shroud of fear they drape over our
lives. One might say the gap between “anarchist” and “prisoner” has become
increasingly shallow, if no less wide. Relative to past experiences, an
anxiousness to move beyond the individual political prisoner advocacy of
much anarchist prisoner support, on the one hand, and the largely faceless
“send-literature-to-prisoners-and-hope-for-the-best” approach, on the
other, also animated our motivations.

To briefly summarize, we believe anarchists need to find new ways to
engage with prison struggles. The once vibrant network (and federation, to
recall a stale debate) of ABC chapters is now largely absent from the
scene, and in any case was often forced to limit itself to individual
advocacy rather than any strategy capable of spreading general rebellion
against prisons or policing. While such a support base is absolutely
necessary in hard times for comrades on the inside, individual advocacy
cannot surmise the primary avenue of anarchist struggle with regards to
prisons. In their best manifestations, such groups have focused equally on
campaigns of a more general nature that have the promise of reflecting
broader tensions in society. And of course, as recent struggles against
police in the Northwest have shown us, such campaigns of activity hardly
necessitate an ABC chapter.

On perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum of “anarchist” franchises
(with regards to prisons) lies the books-to-prisoners project. Though
nearly thirty of these exist across the US, the majority are largely
apolitical charity exercises that require little attention here. Some,
however, have been organized (or taken over!) by comrades, and continue to
exist in their towns as a sort of node of anti-prison activity of some
kind. These groups tend to focus more on sending anarchist and other
radical materials in to prisons when possible, and sometimes engage in
other activities as well. The sending of thousands of anarchist pamphlets,
many themselves written by anti-authoritarian ex-panthers and fellow
prisoners, in to prisons, is a worthwhile task. The bureaucratic
restrictions on sending in written materials means that if any group is to
accomplish this, it will probably have to be a books-to-prisoners-type
organization with a certain degree of legitimacy.

Nevertheless, the limitations of such activity are clear. As mentioned, it
easily collapses back into a service-oriented mode, de-prioritizing the
support and spread of rebellion for the less-risky humanitarian endeavor
of packing as many dictionaries into the cage as possible. This is
inevitable of any organization that begins to place its own continued
existence over the actual tasks and principles it originally set out for
itself. This is a movement where movement putting ourselves “out of
business” should be a top priority.

This model also involves a faceless approach: these projects are
notoriously backlogged and deal with thousands of book requests, so that
personal relationships with would-be prison rebels can be all but
impossible. Real affinity cannot solely be the result of a one-sided
postal relationship, yet by itself the books-to-prisoners model offers
little else.

In summary, for us Proposals represented an attempt to put into practice
some of the many critiques and analysis towards prisons and anti-prison
struggle that have been floating around in insurrectionary anarchist
discourse in the past few years, with the hope that such an experiment
could push back against or transcend some of the limitations various
anarchist projects have encountered. This should not be interpreted as a
dismissal or repudiation of all earlier efforts or strategies; many of
these efforts have borne fruit in surprising ways, and in any case
represent the hard work of people attempting to struggle in an anarchist
culture bereft of collective memory or strong support from other political
milieus.

The Project

As mentioned earlier, Proposals was always conceived of as an experiment.
Starting out we had little idea if the publication would reach widespread
appeal or if the censors would ever allow it through the door. For that
reason we remained committed to the intent behind the project more than
its actual form. This form took shape as a monthly newsletter that would
be sent out at the beginning of the month to a mailing list of prisoners
who had already expressed interest in radical topics, or who had mentioned
organizing study groups of their own. By definition, then, the project was
built on the efforts of earlier efforts and contacts, for which we are
thankful.

Short-lived, or abruptly ended projects dealing directly with prisoners
are detrimental to creating lasting relationships. By creating Proposals
as the continuation of the already strong connections between Anarchists
on the outside and prisoners on the inside, we were able to effectively
end the project without creating that disconnection. There are certainly
prisoners disappointed about being given a publication only to have it
cease a half year later. But by having the cyclical relationship that
Proposals had with the local books-to-prisoners group we have not lost the
ability to have two way communication.

Our goal was to provide a venue for prisoners to discuss and debate their
common situation. We actively solicited submissions in private letters and
in the publication itself, though we reserved the right to not print
things with which we strongly disagreed, or that might endanger the
publication. We consistently attempted to have a back and forth
correspondence with regards to editing various pieces, revolving around
not just grammar or writing style but also perspectives on everything from
various nationalisms to how best to create prisoner unity. This process
was difficult and time-consuming; ultimately we switched to a bi-monthly
rotation so as to have time for the correspondence to take place. Often we
would hear about a struggle or action at a certain facility from one
prisoner and have to write back to a dozen others to confirm or
substantiate the activity, or to gain another perspective.

Despite the difficulties of the process, we were happy with the results.
Within a matter of days of the first mailing, letters began pouring in
with prisoners asking to be added to the mailing list. It seemed the
publication was being passed along entire blocks in some facilities. We
can only estimate that, on average and excluding the many prisoners on
segregation, for every prisoner that received Proposals at least another
four or five read it. This combination of personal correspondence, based
on a political affinity, and a broad audience was exactly the niche
Proposals was designed to fill.

As things progressed, it became clear that while prisoner unity was a
tremendous obstacle (along with punitive segregation, it was probably the
biggest obstacle) more was going on inside than anyone on either side of
the walls had previously known. Multiple yard occupations in various
facilities, hunger strikes, prisoners flooding their cells en masse—while
none of these actions were large, or achieved coordination with multiple
facilities like Georgia or California, prisoners across the state were now
hearing and talking about them together in their yards and in newly formed
study groups. We also had the privilege of publishing accounts of
previously hidden prison struggles, including a 5-day (!) riot in 1975 at
a women's facility in Raleigh (issue 2) as well as a new year's eve riot
at a Raleigh youth center in 1991 (issue 3).

Along with more widely known struggles like the California hunger strike,
this has helped galvanize people on the outside as well as the inside: in
the last six months demos outside of prisons and jails have occurred in
Asheville, Durham, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Windsor, NC, the last of which
managed to be coordinated with prisoners on the seg unit of the rural
facility. Much of this activity has had a certain feedback loop: prisoners
see the demos, write to either Proposals or a local books-to-prisoners
project in response, and a relationship is formed. This represented for us
a certain advance upon the now popular tactic of prison or jail noise
demos, a tactic that while exciting in its reproducibility seems to be
limited to creating a sort of temporary, anonymous affinity. To exchange
shouts or upraised fists between the walls with a group of unknown
prisoners can be exciting-- to also interact with some of those same
prisoners the following week via a joint anarchist/prisoner publication is
even better.

Despite these successes, however, censorship increasingly began to drag
down the publication. Correspondence was interrupted, issues were banned,
many of the prisoners who most needed to see new issues were unable to
receive them without great difficulty. We never had a good plan to deal
with this censorship, nor the power or capacity to meet it head-on. It
became clear that mailroom guards were pulling issues immediately upon
sight of our return address, and while a rebranding of the publication
helped temporarily, it became clear that something needed to change.

Problems/Dilemmas/Questions

In addition to censorship, the lack of a common narrative framework also
presented a problem, albeit one that might have been better overcome
without constant bureaucratic interference. The people on our mailing list
primarily shared two things: their position as prisoners and a desire to
act. Outside of this commonality, many prisoners clearly spoke very
different languages with regards to prison struggle, or conceived of it in
extremely different frameworks. This is hardly surprising, but it
represents a certain obstacle to publishing a semi-coherent anarchist
publication. For this reason and others, much of the submissions we
printed were limited to immediately practical concerns, such as
report-backs from specific facilities or vague calls for “prisoner unity”
in the face of administrative repression. Articles carrying deeper
analysis often came from outside the prison walls, though they seem to
have been received with enthusiasm.

Part of this lack of shared language or narrative (or analytic depth) is
to be expected from a prison population that has both grown massively and
has experienced little broad-based rebellion in the last 40 years. If one
were to (tentatively) suggest that the strikes in Georgia and California
represent a renewed era of prison struggle in the US, one might expect the
current political depth of prisoners' critique to elaborate and deepen in
the coming years. Of course, the prison newspapers that operated in many
facilities across the country in the 60's and 70's are long gone; if any
publication is to support this process of radicalization and dialogue, it
might have to be publications such as this one. How to continue such a
project that remains committed to its task of helping to generalize
rebellion and deepen radical discourse on the inside without drawing so
much attention from the authorities remains to be seen.

It is probably clear that the consistent question in our minds remains
that of the role of the outsider. Certain things are apparent to us: our
role is not to mediate prisoners' struggles, to place ourselves as
negotiators between them and the guards and wardens as so many “prisoner
support” groups have done before us. That is the way of the Left, but it
is not our way.

Any rebellion, but particularly one which is concerned with an apparatus
of isolation and separation, will die if it does not spread. Up until last
December in Georgia, the history of prison rebellions in the US consisted
mainly of single-facility uprisings or organizing efforts, which almost
always failed due to their containment to one prison and the apathy of the
larger society. One need not read a history of Attica to know that for
those who have the courage to risk everything, such containment has brutal
costs.

The role of the outsider then must be to fight containment and generalize
a struggle wherever possible: beyond just one block to a whole facility,
beyond a single facility to an entire region of prisons, beyond prison
walls to other sectors of society which have their own tensions with
prisons, policing, or the economy. In the last year two different prison
struggles have achieved some degree of generalization, the first (Georgia)
without hardly any help from the outside except for the role of media
liaisons.**

Albeit on a much smaller scale, Proposals attempted to support this
process of generalization whenever possible. Obviously this took place
through constant correspondence as much as through a printed newsletters,
but the newsletter is what congealed these activities together. Our
efforts were partially successful, in terms of the spreading of
information, but rarely were prisoners well-organized enough to act on the
information. What's more, anarchists in NC (or possibly anywhere in the
US) simply don't yet have the capacity, on their own, to support such
struggles adequately on the outside.

Here we have a paradox: part of the appeal of anti-prison struggle for
anarchists in the US is that the terrain is still uninhabited by the
typical stew of NGOs, leftist party-sects, and “movement organizations”
that so often serve as barriers to more revolutionary activity. The
reasons for this absence are varied, but it opens up a broader space for
experimentation and radicalization than exists in the more
institutionalized realms of issue-based politics. At the same time, in
situations of crisis this means that unless we are very well connected
with friends or family members of the prisoners themselves, we are likely
to be the only ones standing outside the prison walls. It is one thing to
print a publication charged with the spreading and sharing of information
to different facilities; it is another thing entirely to be capable of
targeting a dozen or so facilities or DOC offices on a regional level
simultaneously.

Another dilemma we experienced could be seen in the demands issued on
multiple occasions by prisoners. As seen in both Georgia as well as
California, not to mention the smaller struggles in NC, the demand-form is
still a standard way that prisoners communicate with prison officials.
Examples abound even from the very pages of our small newsletter:
Prisoners occupied a yard and demanded that a snitch be moved off their
block; a prisoner went on a one-person hunger strike and a whole list of
relatively minor demands were met; on a seg unit prisoners set fires and
banged on their doors while a crew submitted demands for better
healthcare. Outside of praising anyone who has the courage to act under
the threat of torture, we have no interest in passing judgement on this
issuing of demands. But it raises questions for us that we would address
to the general milieu: does such an issuing of demands deserve critique?
What is the alternative – prisoners occupying their yard until the
destruction of “the totality?”

Many of the uprisings that have struck the globe in recent years almost
instinctually sought to transcend the demand-form. This makes sense: it is
a primary way that power reestablishes mediation and management, a method
of recuperation all too common. When one desires an entirely different way
of life, this is not a demand that can be granted by power, even if it
would. And of course, as anarchists our one “demand” with regards to
prisons is that every prisoner be let out, and every prison be torched.
But Proposals gladly printed the demands of those prisoners who insisted
on acting, even when they knew they did not yet have the capacity to enact
such a struggle for total freedom. Were we wrong to do so? How will other
anarchist initiatives interact with this phenomenon of demands in the
future?*** Is every prisoners' struggle that involves demands simply the
puppet of managers and would-be politicians? How do we read these
situations? Because the issue will arise again, and it will likely be less
cut and dry than we have found it to be in these limited circumstances.

A final question we would raise is that of how differing anti-prison
initiatives might interact. Despite the aforementioned criticisms of the
books-to-prisoners model, we maintained a mutually beneficial relationship
with the prison books project in our town. Many of the same prisoners
wrote to both projects, and our cooperation was crucial. Demonstrations at
prisons or jails in the region have become a regular phenomenon as well,
and discussions of how to elaborate on this model continue. What needs to
be developed more fully is ways in which one-off actions like
demonstrations or attacks can intersect with long-term efforts at
communication like a books-to-prisoners collective that sees itself
outside of the charity model, an ABC chapter, or a specific publication.
In so far as the former requires discretion, the latter require distance,
making the intersection difficult. Yet somewhere in our various
relationships with prisoners this intersection must be possible.

In Conclusion

As in most instances of self-criticism, we've brought to the table more
questions than answers. For us at least, Proposals struck new ground in
combining communication, analysis, and action against prisons. Along with
the difficulties of the current social terrain of NC prisons (absence of
any coherent discourse, deeply divided prison populations, the constant
segregation of politically active prisoners), the project was partially
successful, to the point where institutional obstacles became prohibitive.
But of course this is to be expected with such efforts, and it hardly
means they will cease. For us this is the point of such experimentation,
to move quickly across the terrain, strike forcefully, and appear in new
and ever more creative ways, not abandoning but building on that which
came before.

Hopefully this piece can at least spark some discussion in that direction.
We know many comrades around the country are asking similar questions, and
perhaps our experiment can at least find resonance if not provide answers.

In love for all our friends and comrades,
and absolute hatred for prison society,

Proposals editing crew

FOOTNOTES...

* - An excellent essay on this and other topics can be found in the essay
“3 Positions against Prison,” which originally appeared in Fire to the
Prisons #10 and can also be found in zine form at
http://zinelibrary.info/files/3positionstotal.pdf

** - With the use of clandestine cell phones across as many as 11
facilities, prison rebellion made a giant overdue leap into the digital
age in Georgia. We would urge our more tech-savvy comrades (or even just
anarchists who know how to use a phone) to seize the opportunity this
presents.

*** - Perhaps our Greek friends have some insight into this. Greek
anarchists played an influential role in supporting a widespread prison
hunger strike in November 2008 (the government ultimately agreed to
release over half the country's prison population!) while remaining
critical of the issuing of demands as a strategy. Rendering concrete
solidarity while remaining critical is obviously possible, but the
question remains whether issuing demands in a prison context is or is not
the best approach.

Noise Demo in Asheville (NC) Solidarity w/Seattle Anarchists & Others

Sept. 8, 2011 Puget Sound Anarchists

On September 2nd, around thirty people rallied in downtown Asheville’s
Pack Square to hold a noise demonstration denouncing the police and prison
system. A large, gruesome puppet head depicting a police officer as a pig
bobbed above the crowed and mocked the APD. A banner hung beneath the
puppet reading “Police are the violent force separating community from
self-determination” and “Police ARE brutality!”

The crowd took the busy intersection with chants such as “Our passion for
freedom is stronger then their prisons!” and “Pigs on the street and the
poor in prison? There’s no justice in this system!”. The group marched in
the downtown streets around busy Prichard park to the shock and amusement
of many. Several onlookers joined the procession on its way to the local
jail.

Outside the jail, the intensity and volume of the protest grew as the
pig-cop puppet was smashed to pieces and left skewered on a fence. Flyers
were passed out which read “Over the past few months, we have been
inspired by the actions taken by prisoners striking in Georgia and the
Pelican Bay inmates in California who have refused food in order to have
their voices heard, as well as all inmate struggles behind prison walls.”

Upon arrival back at Pack Square, squad cars surrounded the park in a
hilarious spectacle of finger-waiving. A large number of tourists,
shoppers and workers watched the stand-off which was ended with a final
“Fuck the police!” and dispersal. Four people were detained after the
rally for jay-walking, one of whom was arrested for an outstanding warrant
but later released.

This demonstration comes in light of the recent uprising against the
police in London, a wave of anti-police activity on the west coast and the
unyielding corruption of the Asheville Police Department.

Solidarity with Seattle anarchists and all of our friends and family
facing charges in Asheville, Carrboro and beyond.

Solidarity with all prisoners who fight for freedom around the world, who
refuse to accept forced confinement, isolation and abuse, who dream of the
day when we destroy these walls together.

Raleigh Stages Anti-Prison Demo

August 16, 2011 by prisonbookscollective



At 2:30pm on Sunday August 14th, over 30 people gathered in front of the

huge max-security men’s Central Prison in Raleigh, NC to stand in

solidarity with the the thousands of California prisoners on hunger

strike. We we were also there to express our continued support for our

brutalized and arrested comrades in Seattle, the victims of the recent

spate of killings by police in California, local prison resisters such as

the 10-15 death row inmates who staged a cafeteria protest on July 14th

inside Central Prison to condemn the beating of fellow death row inmate

William Bowie by prison guard Sergeant Soucier, and James Graham, a

Lanesboro, NC prisoner who succeeded in getting most of his demands met

after a week-long hunger strike last month. We timed this demonstration to

coincide with the latest block of visiting-hours for that day, so that

prisoners’ friends and loved ones might see us and relay our messages to

the inside.



A number of passing motorists honked, waved, yelled in support and shot us

thumbs-up as we held banners, banged on drums, chanted and darted into the

street to distribute handbills through open car windows. After about 45

minutes we migrated to a side of the property that lay a bit closer and

within clearer sight of the prison’s housing units, came up to the metal

fence and for about 2 minutes yelled and beat on drums and cookware as

loud as we could while facing our banners and signs toward the prison’s

windows, hoping that prisoners could briefly see or at least hear us in

those last few moments.



Out of all the locations in NC’s capital city that sustain the functioning

of the prison-industrial complex, we chose this particular correctional

facility to demonstrate in front of for its proximity to a major boulevard

and thus, high visibility to passing traffic, and its particularly

loathsome status as the state of North Carolina’s “execution prison,”

currently housing over 150 death row inmates set to be murdered by the

State within those very walls.



This demonstration followed on the heels of similar events held in front

of the Guilford County Jail in downtown Greensboro on Sunday July 24th,

and Sunday August 7th in front of the downtown Durham jail.



As a climate of nationwide and international resistance against

correctional systems and law enforcement continues to develop, we will

maintain our support for all prisoners and victims of police violence and

harassment, to demonstrate affinity with those trapped behind bars, and to

lend solidarity to those who disrupt business-as-usual in the prison

system.



-some NC anarchists against prisons

NC Prisoner’s Hunger Strike Ends Successfully

August 10, 2011 by prisonbookscollective

On July 15th, North Carolina prisoner and anarchist James Graham began a
hunger strike at Lanesboro CI in solidarity with the thousands of striking
prisoners across California. For over a year Graham has been isolated in
solitary conditions similar to those being protested by the prisoners of
Pelican Bay, where California’s hunger strike began.

In addition to acting in solidarity with California’s prison rebels,
Graham also used his strike to address a number of immediate issues
surrounding living conditions on lock-up at Lanesboro. Less than a week
after submitting his demands along with an announcement of his strike,
most of his requests were addressed. We recently received word of this by
mail. Below is a list of the demands accompanied by the results of the
strike.

“This notice brings to light a hunger strike that will start on July 15th,
2011 and includes the following demands:

-Provide toilet brushes, so that prisoners can adequately clean their
toilets on lock-up during weekly clean-up.

Results: On 7/19, the Unit Manager and Assistant Unit Manager came
personally to show me we now have toilet brushes to clean our toilets.

-Provide shower mats outside the shower, to prevent injury by slipping.

Results: On 7/22, the Asst. Unit Manager passed ou shower mats to go
outside the showers on every block.

-Provide Adequate Food/Medical Soft Diet. We want wholesome nutritional
food served in sanitary conditions. Also, I requested personally to be put
on a soft vegan diet due to a medical condition.

Results: On 7/20, I was finally placed on a soft vegan diet after being
denied and lied to by saying, “There is no such thing…” Also,
prisoners have been saying that portions have increased.

-Fix Prisoner’s Nightlights.

Results: On 7/18, maintenance men came to every block and replaced ever
prisoner’s bulbs that were out.

-Provide Adequate Medical Care. We want nurses to execute prompt response
to sick-calls and medical emergencies and to perform daily seg checks.

Results: On 7/21, they finally called prisoners for sick-calls that had
been waiting for over a month. They still haven’t been performing daily
seg checks to check on the well-being of lock- up prisoners.”

We’ll do our best to keep folks updated about struggles going on at
Lanesboro, particularly if there is a need or call for outside solidarity
actions of any kind. We hope that small victories like this one can
encourage greater unity and resistance behind the walls.

In love and rage,

-a few anarchists against prison

Durham Represents! Noise Demo in Solidarity with California Prisoners and the Seattle 26

August 8, 2011 by prisonbookscollective

At 5:30 pm on Sunday August 7th, about 35 folks gathered in front of the
jail in downtown Durham to spread awareness of and show our solidarity
with hunger striking prisoners in California. We also wanted to draw
attention to recent attacks on anarchist comrades in the Northwest. This
demo followed up a similar protest two weeks ago in Greensboro.

Our presence was purposely timed with visitor’s hours at the jail, and for
the hour and half we were there there was a constant stream of family and
friends coming in and out of the large, modern, Orwellian structure.
Handbills in English and Spanish explaining the various anti-prison
struggles around the country (see text below) and business cards with
information on how prisoners can get material support from local
anarchists on the outside were given to folks visiting loved ones. Others
banged on pots and pans, played drums, blew on kazoos, held banners, and
chanted (“Cops, Pigs, Murderers!”, and “Abajo las Presiones, la Policia
son Cabrones” were two favorites). One person just waved a large stick in
the air with word “against” written on the end of it.

Soon after we arrived, prisoners on every floor of the building began
cramming up against the plexiglass windows of their cells to get a better
look, while some stood in stairwells or on balconies waving and throwing
fists in the air. Eventually many of these prisoners managed to make small
posters out of paper on hand, reading things like, “I love this,” “Fuck
Cops,” and “@.” Others started banging on the plexiglass. Most of the
family members expressed similar sentiments. Though a fleet of cop cars
showed up to watch, and a couple of us were eventually forced off the jail
property for “agitating the prisoners,” the demonstration otherwise
proceeded without incident.

This kind of breakdown of the isolation of prison, however brief, along
with the love and rage expressed back and forth through a thin vein of
plexiglass, however circumstantial, alone made the demonstration feel
worthwhile. Of course, we also hope that hearing about such things can
raise the spirits of prison rebels in California, not to mention inspire
similar rebellion to spread here. We also want comrades in the Northwest
to know that despite the repression they’ve faced, their struggle
continues to be an inspiration. And of course, though we only just learned
of it, we send our best to those engaged in fighting the police this very
moment in London.

Text from the handbill is printed below. Pictures should soon be available
at the beautiful, brand new www.trianarchy.wordpress.com

SOLIDARITY WITH ALL PRISON REBELS

On July 1st, dozens of prisoners in the long-term isolation unit of
Pelican Bay in California began an indefinite hunger strike. Their strike
quickly spread, and has now been joined by over 6,000 prisoners in at
least 11 prisons across the state. Though some prisoners have entered into
negotiations with officials, an estimated several thousand in southeastern
CA remain on hunger strike.

These prisoners are held in soundproof cells with no windows for 22½-24
hours per day, often for years at a time. The only way out of this slow
torture is to “debrief”, i.e. inform on other prisoners, a situation which
clearly encourages false accusations. They are served unsanitary and
unwholesome food, punished collectively for the actions of individuals,
and routinely denied access to basic services like phone calls or warm
clothing. In an attempt to change these conditions, these prisoners have
united to put their own lives on the line. Over 100,000 American prisoners
are held in these solitary conditions. Solitary confinement is not an
aberration from the norm but in fact the logical result of a country that
locks up more of its population per capita than any other nation in the
history of world.

We are here to support the efforts of these strikers, and the struggle of
all prisoners to free themselves from the brutality and isolation of
prison. We also want to draw attention to other acts of state repression
on the west coast. This past weekend 26 Seattle anarchists were arrested,
seven attacked and critically injured by police armed with shovels in
their own home. Only a matter of days earlier, police in the Bay Area
murdered an unarmed African-American teenager for not paying a $2 metro
fare. Both of these incidents have elicited acts of solidarity and
counter-attacks.

It goes without saying that the brutality of the police and the torture of
prisons are inextricably linked. In both cases, the function of these
institutions is not to reduce crime but to perpetuate a long history of
slavery and exploitation. If prisons are to be understood as warehouses
for the poor, then the police are the bosses of the unemployed. As such we
wish for nothing but their destruction.

-some anarchists against prisons, and the world that creates them.

www.prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com |
www.trianarchy.wordpress.com | www.prisonbooks.info

AGAINST POLICE AND PRISONS!

Raleigh: Death Row Prisoners Stage Cafeteria Protest

August 4, 2011 prisonbookscollective



On July 14th, 2011, a group of ten to fifteen death row inmates at Central

Prison in Raleigh staged a peaceful group protest in reaction to the

brutal beating of another death row inmate, William Bowie. Bowie was

handcuffed, with his hands behind his back, and then beaten by one

Sergeant Soucier in front of 25-30 inmates.



During the protest, prisoners stood up in the cafeteria and gave speeches

against the abuse. The following day, officials placed the men on

administrative segregation (solitary confinement) as punishment for the

protest.



One prisoner, Morgan Herring, was quoted as saying, “Rather than

discipline one of their own, the Central Prison authorities would exact

retaliation against those who seek the dignity and respect to which they

are entitled under NC administrative codes.”



This protest comes off the back of related protests in US prisons.

Recently thousands of prisoners in California entered the fourth week of a

massive hunger strike, which has spread to over a third of the state’s

facilities, in protest of the torture and isolation of long-term solitary

confinement. Prisoners in Indiana’s Wabash Valley Segregated Housing Unit

also engaged in group protest last week. Last December in Georgia, the

largest prison labor strike in US history, coordinated across vast

divisions of race, gender, and religion, spread to over 6 facilities in

opposition to a variety of policies including forced work with no pay.



These protests have elicited solidarity actions and demonstrations all

over the country, and has even spread internationally from Canada to

Turkey. Recently in Greensboro a noise demonstration took place outside

the Guilford County Jail to help spread awareness of the strike to North

Carolina prisoners.

July Political Prisoner Poster Is Now Available

Hello Friends and Comrades,

Here is the political prisoner birthday poster for July. As always, please
post this poster publicly and/or use it to start a card writing night of
your own.

Download at:

http://zinelibrary.info/files/ppbij.pdf

Members of our collective who are in The Mysterious Rabbit Puppet Army are
going on a month long excursion with their newest show. The Show, "What
Are Prisons For?" uses shadow puppets to outline the history of the Prison
Industrial Complex, from chattel slavery in the south to where it is
today.

Until Every Cage Is Empty,

The Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective

http://mrpuppetarmy.wordpress.com/

http://prisonbooks.info/

Chapel Hill police charge 3 with rioting in Greenbridge protest

By Mark Schultz - New Observer June 20, 2011

CHAPEL HILL -- Police charged three people with felony rioting and damage
to real property after a group of protesters vandalized the Greenbridge
condominium project in downtown Chapel Hill over the weekend.

A group of about 15 to 20 people entered the 10-story building Saturday
afternoon, while another group stood outside on the sidewalk with signs
asking drivers to honk if their opposed the project, said Lt. Kevin
Gunter. The project sits on edge of the historically black, working-class
Northside neighborhood.

An officer initially thought the protest was confined to the sidewalk. He
then learned more protesters were inside. The vandals had sprayed foam
inside the lobby, broken furniture and moved couches and end tables to
block the elevators.

The group ran out a side door when they saw the officer, Gunter said.
Police stopped and charged three protesters with one count each of felony
rioting and two counts each of damage to real property.

*** names omitted ***

There have been several incidents of vandalism and bomb threats against
the project, which critics say will hasten gentrification in the
surrounding neighborhood. Census data, however, shows the neighborhood has
been undergoing change since long before the project opened last summer.