south brooklyn anarchist black cross

ABC Groups Worldwide

sbrooklynabcf — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 03:28:31 +0000

South Brooklyn ABCF is no longer in operation, but there are dozens of other ABC groups worldwide:

Help Zolo Rebuild His Life

sbrooklynabcf — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 18:36:38 +0000

Political prisoner and former death row inmate, Zolo Agona Azania, needs your help. Zolo will finally be released in a few short months, in February 2017, after spending 35 years in prison, 27 years on death row. Zolo is a prolific writer and an accomplished artist. His writings and art reflect his deep commitment to the Black freedom struggle and a just world for all people.

Zolo will exit prison practically penniless and will face enormous financial challenges. He will need to pay for housing, food, clothing, transportation, furniture, a cell phone, utilities, and the many other expenses we all encounter.

Zolo will seek employment but at the present time he has little savings. He has been paid $.35 an hour during most of the time he has worked inside Indiana’s prisons.

Let’s ease Zolo’s path and make sure he does not confront his financial challenges—and all the challenges he will face–alone. Please donate generously.

Zolo is alive today due to his efforts and the work of his supporters and a strong legal team. The Indiana Supreme Court twice reversed his death penalty conviction due to racially discriminatory practices that occurred during the trial process.

Zolo is a jailhouse lawyer. He has done legal work on his own behalf and for other inmates. He has acquired a paralegal certificate and has gained an associate degree by completing 2 years of college work.

In spite of his difficult circumstances, Zolo is a positive person with a quick smile and a vibrant laugh. Let’s answer his positivity with support.

All funds will go directly to Zolo and will be deposited into a fund managed by a team that has supported him for 13 years. For more information contact: zoloazania.org and the Chicago Committee to Free Black Political Prisoners.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Help spread the word!

International Political Prisoner Database

sbrooklynabcf — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 03:01:04 +0000

It has been several months since we updated this blog because we have been knee-deep in preparing for the beta launch of Prisonersolidarity.net, a new website built by members of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation that seeks to provide a one-stop-shop for people to get accurate and up-to-date information about political prisoners worldwide. We’re seeking to solve the problem of out-of-date prisoner lists forever!

We’ve been working on this project for two years, and as a support group for political prisoners, Prisonersolidarity.net offers a number of important features:

– A searchable, exportable database of political prisoners internationally. This enables you to do things like send birthday cards to every prisoner associated with a particular movement, or find all Amazon wishlists of prisoners associated with a particular movement.
– An openly-editable database of prisons internationally that includes contact information for prison officials, links to official rules/regulations, prison history, and lists of political prisoners housed in each prison.

Additionally, we are planning a number of awesome features for the site once we get out of beta such as an ability for people to write prisoners directly from their page, have action alerts, be notified when a prisoner’s birthday is coming up, etc. We’d appreciate your input on what features you’d like to see and hope this will be an awesome organizing resource for you!

Support Parole for Herman Bell: Letters Needed

sbrooklynabcf — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 21:12:26 +0000

Herman Bell has been to the New York state parole board six times and has been denied each time. His next parole board appearance will be in early February 2016. Each time, the board – always made of up former law enforcement personnel and former prosecutors — reviews his very impressive record, the Bachelor’s and Master’s college degrees he has attained since being locked up, his job offers, his numerous letters of support from family, friends, and community members from many walks of life. They have before them evidence of all the ways Herman has helped so many people throughout the course of his confinement and is still leading a positive and progressive life despite being locked up now over four decades. And then they deny him parole based on their opinion that to release him would “deprecate” the serious nature of his charge of conviction. Is this rationale not, in effect, an illegal re-sentencing to life-without-the-possibility-of parole? When one goes to trial, there is a prosecutor, one’s defense attorney, a judge, and a jury. When one goes to the parole board, there is only the prosecution.

Here’s how you can help:

Herman has taken responsibility for his part in the Black Liberation Movement’s resistance to racist authority. He has paid a great price – 42 years of imprisonment, thus far. He is going to the New York state parole board for the seventh time in February 2016 and deserves to be paroled, to come home to his family and community.

1 – Please write your letter to the parole board on professional letterhead. Your letter should be addressed to: “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Parole Commissioner”. The subject line should be “Herman Bell, 79C-0262.”

2 – Please indicate how you know Herman, or if you don’t know him personally, how you know of him.

3 – Please sign your letter and mail to Herman’s attorney:
Robert J. Boyle, 277 Broadway, Suite 1501, New York, NY 10007.
Herman very much appreciates your efforts and your support.

Message from Herman Bell Fall 2015

I’ve been told it’s good that you should hear my voice, hear something direct from me. So where to begin, what to say?

A pal of mine, I met him in here, went home after 32 years of imprisonment. He left me a note as he departed. He wrote:

“It appears my number has come up. You witnessed firsthand how corrupt and confusing the Penal/Parole System is . . . I will be forwarding you a redacted copy of my minutes so you’ll know exactly how trifling the system is. Listen to me preaching to the choir . . .

“Anyway, you have seen a hundred decent guys get out. It breaks my heart that they think of you as a threat to society because I know you personally and it has been a pleasure to be in your presence, as you always maintain a positive outlook, even during the most painful times. The Herman Bell that I know is a warm, caring human being that understands how life works, understands that he cannot change what took place almost half a century ago. Yet, you smile, hold your head high, and gave me invaluable advice, genuine concern, and let a few knuckleheads know I was a friend of yours, which I hold dear to my heart. Your friendship is valued beyond words. In a real world setting, I believe you would be a fine addition to society. If the Board could see what I see.

“I value your friendship and am always an ear for you and a shoulder to lean on. Be safe, stay strong, and know you have a real friend out there.”

My thought is that your curiosity might want to hear what he says of me, as I want you to connect with me, want you to feel my hand in yours, want you to see and experience my journey.

I’ve been locked in a prison cell for 42 years; have spent more time in prison than I have on the streets. I need your support to get

me out so I can go home. I’m as ordinary as your neighbor next door. No different than you are. I have a wife, children, and two lovely school-age granddaughters. I value hard work, fair treatment, social justice, transparency and accountability. You can say I’m a “people’s” person. I believe strongly that people should help people, that “to each according to his or her needs and from each according to his or her ability.”

You see, I am not a criminal in the strict sense of the word. I never posed a danger to civil society. I never sought personal gain from my political actions; never robbed, never threatened, coerced, nor intimidated anyone in civil society. I never sold drugs. But I did, as did others, militantly resist the unrelenting structural violence of white racist domination and control that has afflicted the Black community since Black people were brought here as slaves.

Accordingly, in early February 2016, I will appear once again before the New York State Parole Board, my 7th. I’m eligible for parole release every 2 years. I’ve done the time on a 25-to-life sentence. I have satisfied all structural requirements over these long years and have had no serious disciplinary issues. Yet each time I appear before the Board, I’m denied parole “due to the nature of my offense;” the assassination of two NYC policemen.

The nature of my sentence of conviction arose from the immense social turmoil of the ‘60s and ‘70s and the f.b.i.’s infamous counter-insurgent program known as COINTELPRO that sought through diverse and insidious means to destroy the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland, CA in 1965, that I was a member of. This government program sought to deny Black political and economic self-empowerment. Destruction of the B.P.P., in the words of then f.b.i. director Hoover “by any means necessary,” was paramount to this design. Nationally, Cointelpro enlisted the aid of local and state police agencies in this campaign. It was a push to maintain the levers of racist political power in this country that has dominated and controlled the lives of Black people through terror, bloodshed, lashing and lynching since its founding. (The rage and sorrow of Black people had sat in the darkness far too long.) And we pushed back in defense of our community: against that tradition of domination and control that has persistently fed off Black people in this country longer than they have been freed. It was an unapologetic direct attack on and resistance to the racist power structure in this country that has so historically maltreated and shamelessly exploited Black people as though it were a national birthright. It gratified some and astonished others. And as unfortunate and regrettable as it often is in civil conflict, violence and bloodshed on both sides are bound to occur. You may find my sentence of conviction inexcusable. You may likewise find the government’s actions during those times inexcusable too. We Panthers were imprisoned. F.b.i., state, and local police agents and their provocateurs went unindicted for their unprovoked attacks on the Black community.

“Slavery by Another Name,” a book by American author Douglas Blackmon, says of america: “We formed in molds twisted by the gifts we received at the expense of others. It is not our ‘fault.’ But it is undeniably our inheritance.” Current f.b.i. director Comey admits that “the history of law enforcement in this country was not only part of the architecture of oppression but also a brutal tool of that system.”

This history, these events, are what I’m up against whenever I go before the Parole Board. The NY police union (PBA) have a close connection with the NY tabloids and each time before I go to the Board, newspaper articles opposing my release is a front page story and online the PBA circulates a petition opposing my release, creating the impression of groundswell opposition to my release, when it’s just the PBA.

You can write the New York State Parole Board and tell them how you feel. By writing the Parole Board supporting my release (because I’ve done the time, have satisfied all legal requirements, and deserve to be released) does in no way mean that you advocate, support, or intend to mimic what I did yourself. It simply mean you think I’ve done enough time and should be allowed to go home.

Thank you — Herman

Sept. 23rd Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement: Locations & Details

sbrooklynabcf — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 20:41:44 +0000

Source: Sept. 23rd Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement: Locations & Details

Chelsea Manning threatened with indefinite solitary confinement

sbrooklynabcf — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 08:42:00 +0000

August 12, 2015

Aside from her 35-year prison sentence, Chelsea Manning is now facing indefinite solitary confinement to be determined in a hearing next Tuesday, August 18.

Worse yet, Chelsea faces this incomprehensibly severe punishment as a result of ridiculously innocuous institutional offenses, including the possession of books and magazines related to politics and LBGTQ issues (which she received openly via the prison mail system), and having a tube of toothpaste that was past its expiration date (apparently deemed “medical mis-use”). The catalyst for this attack on Chelsea seems to have been an incident in the mess hall where she may have pushed, brushed, or accidentally knocked, a small amount of food off of her table. She then asked to speak to her lawyer when confronted by a guard. The absurd charges were tacked on later.

These charges obviously could never justify indefinite solitary confinement- one of worst forms of psychological torture. Chelsea is now regularly publishing op-eds in the Guardian newspaper, and recently won the ability to begin hormone therapy by threatening to sue the military. It’s clear this is an attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice.

Our friends at Fight for the Future (FFTF) have created a petition where you can sign on to a letter condemning the US Army’s treatment of Chelsea.

As FFTF notes, this is a disturbing attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice.Chelsea has been very active while in prison, speaking out through her twitter account about issues of government transparency, transgender rights, and the prison system. She’s been writing a regular column for The Guardian, and even wrote a bill to reform the Espionage Act and protect journalism.These absurd charges against Chelsea, and the outrageous threat of indefinite solitary confinement, are clearly an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice and cut her off from the outside world.We have to make sure this attempt to silence Chelsea not only fails, but backfires. Fight for the Future has created a petition to let the U.S. government know that the whole world is watching, and we won’t stand by while they jail and torture whistleblowers who stand up for democracy and free speech. Sign and share this petition right now!

Chelsea requested that her hearing be open to the press- but she was denied. If it’s not open to the public and the press, there will be no way to ensure that Chelsea isn’t unfairly subjected to one of the worst forms of psychological torture.

Below is an actual list of the charges that were sent to Chelsea (emphasis added).

Here’s the list of books and magazines that were taken from Chelsea and not returned: Vanity Fair issue with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover, Advocate, OUT Magazine, Cosmopolitan issue with an interview of Chelsea, Transgender Studies Quarterly, novel about trans issues “A Safe Girl to Love,” book “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy — The Many Faces of Anonymous,” book “I Am Malala,” 5 books by Robert Dorkin, legal documents including the Senate Torture Report, book: “Hidden Qualities that Make Us Influential.”

“Given the materials that were confiscated, it is concerning that the military and Leavenworth might be taking action for the purpose of chilling Chelsea’s speech or even with the goal of silencing her altogether by placing her in solitary,” ACLU attorney Chase Strangio wrote. “Hopefully with public scrutiny the prison will respond by dismissing these charges and ensuring that she is not unfairly targeted based on her activism, her identity, and her pending lawsuit.”

Update: Take Action: 180 prisoners now on hunger strike; PFLP prisoners to strike Tuesday

sbrooklynabcf — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 20:26:09 +0000

There are now 180 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on open hunger strike and hundreds more set to begin striking on Tuesday, 11 August. The wave of strikes was initiated after Israeli special forces attacked Palestinian prisoners in Nafha, injuring 30 prisoners in a violent nighttime raid, including Ahmad Sa’adat, Palestinian political leader and General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Groups of prisoners were isolated and transferred from Nafha and Palestinian prisoners launched a campaign of resistance.

TAKE ACTION: Click here for action steps to support Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.

120 prisoners in Nafha affiliated with Fateh launched a hunger strike on Thursday, 6 August, demanding an end to isolation and solitary confinement, the return of transferred prisoners, an end to the denial of family visits, canteen access and an end to the raids on prisoners. On 9 August, 32 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad launched a hunger strike as several dozen more Fateh prisoners in Ramon and Eshel prisons joined the strike. The prisoners of Islamic Jihad announced that they were dissolving their leadership as of Monday 10 August – thus leaving no official representatives to negotiate with Israeli prison administration, and demanded the end of the isolation of prisoner Nahar Saadi, the end of the force-feeding law and in particular its use against Muhammad Allan, and expressed their support for the striking Fateh prisoners and their demands.

These open hunger strikes come in addition to several individual hunger strikes, including that of Muhammad Allan, 31, a Palestinian lawyer held without charge or trial in administrative detention who has been on hunger strike for over 55 days, is in a severe medical emergency situation and is being threatened with force-feeding by the Israeli military under the new force-feeding law that has been condemned by UN representatives, the Israeli Medical Association and human rights advocates. Click here to take action on Muhammad Allan’s case!

The prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in all Israeli prisons announced on 9 August that their escalation to open hunger strike – earlier announced for Sunday and then delayed until Wednesday – will now take place on Tuesday. Ahmad Sa’adat, for whom the Israeli prison service had promised to end the denial of family visits, was instead ordered to an additional three-month prohibition on family visits on Sunday, even as a one-month ban on family visits was imposed on all Palestinian prisoners in the Negev prison.

The leftist party’s prison branch issued the following statement:

The prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, headed by national leader Ahmad Sa’adat, will launch an open hunger strike on Tuesday [11 August], following a stalemate in the negotiations with the Prison administration, brought about by the Prison Service’s intransigence in response to the just demands of the prisoners. In addition, today a military order was issued extending the security prohibition against leader Sa’adat, denying him family visits for an additional three months.

The prison branch confirmed that the Front’s prisoners, led by Sa’adat, have decided to fight a long and difficult battle with the occupation which is not conditioned by any covenants or undertakings, after exhausting all options in order to impel the occupier to respond to the demands of the prisoners.

The PFLP prisoners called on the masses of our people, the Arab and Muslim communities and countries, and the forces of justice and freedom in the world to provide the widest support and solidarity to the struggle of the prisoners’ national movement in the battles of confrontation and steadfastness they are waging around the clock against the prison and intelligence officials of the occupation. The breadth and depth of solidarity gives prisoners inspiration to continue the struggle until their rights are achieved in full.

The PFLP prisoners have put forward their demands:

allowing family visits for prisoners who have been, until now, prohibited from such visits with their loved ones, including Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa’adat;
providing necessary and adequate medical care to sick prisoners;
ending the policy of administrative detentions;
improving the living conditions inside the prisons;
prohibiting invasions and raids by special units of the Zionist forces, including the Metsada unit, on the sections and cells of the prisoners.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network expresses its strongest solidarity with all Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and those launching their strike on Tuesday, and all of the over 5750 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. They and their bodies are daily on the front lines of the Palestinian struggle for justice, return and liberation, and their political strength and unity are a compass point that inspires all of us in the solidarity movement.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network fully and unconditionally supports the prisoners in their demands and urges actions around the world by friends of Palestine and Palestinian communities to support these prisoners.

Take action now!

1. Sign on to this statement in support of the prisoners’ demands. Organizational and individual endorsements are welcome – and organizational endorsements particularly critical – in support of the prisoners’ demands and their actions. Click here to sign or sign below: http://bit.ly/HungerStrikeSolidarity

2. Send a solidarity statement. The support of people around the world helps to inform people about the struggle of Palestinian prisoners. It is a morale booster and helps to build political solidarity. Please send your solidarity statements to [email protected]. They will be published and sent directly to the prisoners.

3. Hold a solidarity one-day hunger strike in your area. Gather in a tent or central area, bring materials about Palestinian prisoners and hold a one-day solidarity strike to raise awareness and provide support for the struggle of the prisoners and the Palestinian cause. Please email us at [email protected] to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

4. Protest at the Israeli consulate or embassy in your area. Bring posters and flyers about administrative detention and Palestinian hunger strikers and hold a protest, or join a protest with this important information. Hold a community event or discussion, or include this issue in your next event about Palestine and social justice. Please email us at [email protected] to inform us of your action – we will publicize and share news with the prisoners.

5. Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Don’t buy Israeli goods, and campaign to end investments in corporations that profit from the occupation. G4S, a global security corporation, is heavily involved in providing services to Israeli prisons that jail Palestinian political prisoners – there is a global call to boycott it. Palestinian political prisoners have issued a specific call urging action on G4S. Learn more about BDS at bdsmovement.net.

Write/Fax-in to support Palestinian activist Amer Jubran, unjustly sentenced to 10 years in prison in Jordan

sbrooklynabcf — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 19:49:25 +0000

For more information about Amer’s case as well as a recorded statement by Amer on his sentencing, see freeamer.wordpress.com.

Please remember to send e-mails and faxes between Monday, August 10 and Wednesday, August 12, to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the Jordanian Cabinet members listed below.

E-mails/Fax numbers:

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Fax: (41 22) 917 0008 (If faxing from US: 011-41-22-917-0008)
E-mail: [email protected]

Prime Minister and Defense Minister
Abdullah Ensour
Fax number 962-6-464-2520 (If faxing from US: 011-962-6-464-2520)
e-mail: [email protected]

Minister of Interior
Salamah Hammad
Fax number 962-6-560-6908 (If faxing from US: 011-962-6-560-6908)
e-mail: [email protected]

Minister of Justice
Bassam Talhouni
Fax number 962-6-464-3197 If faxing from US: 011-962-6-464-3197)
e-mail: [email protected]

Sample Letter

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
email [email protected][email protected]>

August 10, 2015

Dear UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein:

I am writing to ask that you intervene immediately in the case Amer Jubran of Jordan, who was sentenced on July 29th to ten years in prison by Jordan’s State Security Court.

Amer Jubran was arrested on May 5, 2014 and detained for over two months without contact with lawyers or family, in violation of Article 9 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. A petition against arbitrary detention was filed on his behalf with the OHCHR on July 2, 2014. Mr. Jubran is an internationally known activist, speaker and writer on the rights of Palestinians and against US and Israeli policies in the Arab world. His detention and trial by the GID conforms to a pattern of repression carried out by the government of Jordan against Jordanians who criticize these policies. Such prosecution violates Article 19 of the ICCPR, guaranteeing freedom of opinion and expression.

Mr. Jubran was charged in August, 2014 under a new law that makes “harming the relationship with a foreign government” a crime of “terrorism,” further demonstrating the political nature of his arrest and imprisonment. The wording of this law is so vague that it criminalizes a broad range of political activities including journalism.

Mr. Jubran’s trial under this law, enacted one month after his arrest, also constitutes a violation of Article 15 of the ICCPR, which stipulates, “No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time when the criminal offence was committed.”

Mr. Jubran was tried before Jordan’s State Security Court, a military tribunal that fails to meet even minimum standards of judicial independence. Proceedings before the SCC violate Article 14 of the ICCPR, which guarantees “everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.” Mr. Jubran maintains that his defense team effectively proved all “terrorism” charges against him false and that the verdict of the SCC was reached without regard for evidence. His conviction and harsh sentencing were an act of retaliation for his refusal to work as an infiltrator and informant for the GID–a violation of his fundamental right to freedom of conscience and political opinion, Articles 18 and 19 of the ICCPR.

In your acceptance speech at your confirmation as the UN High Commissioner by the General Assembly last year, you spoke of your commitment to push forward the issue of human rights on the Asian continent. Such a commitment can only be taken seriously if you are willing to begin at home. Jordan is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As Human Rights Commissioner and a Jordanian, you have a responsibility to oppose the well known human rights violations of Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate and State Security Court. The unjust verdict and sentence against Amer Jubran must be overturned immediately.

Sincerely,

cc:

Prime Minister and Defense Minister
Abdullah Ensour, e-mail: [email protected]
Fax number 011-962-6-464-2520

Minister of Interior: Salamah Hammad, e-mail: [email protected]
Fax number 011-962-6-560-6908

Minister of Justice Bassam Talhouni, e-mail: [email protected]
Fax number 011-962-6-464-3197

August 6: Day of Action for Leonard Peltier

sbrooklynabcf — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:15:46 +0000

August 6: Day of Action for Leonard Peltier

Fight the Good Fight – NYC (August 16th & 21st, 2015)

sbrooklynabcf — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 19:32:32 +0000

The 4th Annual NYC ‘Fight the Good Fight’ – a day of rejuvenation in honor of Dr. Mutulu Shakur

Sunday, August 16th
11:30am – 5:30pm
40 Exchange Place, 3rd Floor, Manhattan
J/Z to Broad Street, 2/3 or 4/5 to Wall Street

Book an appointment for acupuncture or massage for yourself or as a gift for someone who deserves it. Through his revolutionary work with Lincoln Detox, Black Advisory Association of North America and the Harlem Institute of Acupuncture, Dr. Shakur utilized acupuncture to not only heal but also empower. In honor of this legacy, Dr. Shakur’s former student Dr. Shadidi Kinsey and licensed acupuncturist Margie Navarro will provide acupuncture for sliding scale donations of $20- $60. Licensed massage therapist Sherley Accime will provide Kan’Yah Afro-Caribbean Bodywork also for $20 – $60 sliding scale. Donations are tax-deductible & support Dr. Shakur’s legal defense, commissary essentials, and projects promoting justice for the Black community. Since space is limited, so follow the link below to register for schedule an acupuncture or massage appointment:

-> Schedule an Appointment

—

Birthday Party for Dr. Mutulu Shakur
at PEACE Health Center

Friday, August 21st
5-10 pm
582 Halsey Street, Brooklyn
A/C to Utica or J/Z to Gates; B26 or B46 buses

Please join us for an evening of live jazz by the Donald Smith trio, plus a 70′s set by DJ Jah Medicine, and dancing in celebration of the birth and struggle of Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Food (vegetarian options) and beverages (alcoholic and non) available by donation. Brief presentations will be made by Family & Friends of Mutulu Shakur and the PEACE Health Center.