Bloc Party: Keeping Warm In The Winter

Originally posted to It’s Going Down

Hey everyone! Welcome to the latest edition of Bloc Party.

Last week we discussed Black December extensively, and since then two actions have been claimed in North America: a banner in Minneapolis and a the slashing of a security company’s tire in Montreal. We’d like to republish part of the former communique because it resonates with what we say so often:

We would also like to call on anarchists in the United States and elsewhere if it applies to act for Black December. Too often calls such as the one for Black December go unheeded in the U.S., and become a spectator sport as we watch the riot porn roll in from far away places. The mantra that ‘nothing happens here’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Insurrection is always timely!

And don’t forget, after Black December, after the New Year’s Eve noise demos, there’s the January 22nd International Day of Solidarity with Trans Prisoners.

Write to Josh Williams, imprisoned #Ferguson protestor who lit up the QT <3 https://t.co/cyzYGkHBf9 pic.twitter.com/BgAwtp62o9

— #GetFree (@daneyvilla) December 17, 2015

So let’s get to the bad news. Josh was sentenced to 8 years for allegedly lighting a QuikTrip on fire in Berkeley, MO last year after a police shooting there. There was an intense sentencing hearing which you can read about here. Anti-State STL provided the following update, encouraging comrades to write him letters:

Josh was transferred today to the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri. He will be held there for an undetermined amount of time before being transferred to a more long term facility.

Josh has expressed that he would like to receive letters, so please take a moment to drop him a line to help him remember he’s not alone and to help him acclimate to his new surroundings.

If you would like to donate to Josh’s commissary, please write to him and ask him to send you a deposit slip to send checks or money orders, or make an account at Access Corrections to send money electronically.

Write to Josh:

Josh Williams #1292002
E.R.D.C.C.
2727 Highway K
Bonne Terre, MO 63628

*As always, please remember that all incoming letters are read by prison staff. Never write to anyone in prison about anything illegal or potentially incriminating.

Federal charges are now being brought against Greg Butler, Jr. accused of slashing a fire hose during the Baltimore Uprising earlier this year. As militants from the past year and a half of rebellions face the state’s repressive fist, we must do our very best to support them along the way.

Mumia Abu-Jamal continued to fight in court for Hepatitis C treatment, although it looks like he has a long fight ahead of him.

Jared Chase of the NATO 3 had a court appearance earlier this month, and their trial has been postponed until April of the coming year. Brent Betterly wrote a report on the hearing which you can read here.

The Kansas City MO Anarchist Black Cross published a letter from long-term anarchist prisoner Casey Brezik, who writes about how he found anarchism:

Currently, I’m serving 12 years for a botched/failed assassination attempt on Governor Jay Nixon’s life. I’ll spare the details for my next post. For now, it’s only relevant that I’m serving 85% of those 12 years and will be eligible for parole in November 2020. Five years from now.

Who am I though? I’m an anarchist who doesn’t believe in forcing one’s self on any other, neither physically or ideologically. I don’t believe in coercion as a means to get what you want, but I do believe in self-defense (again, I’ll explain my case in my next post). I’ve identified as an anarchist for 7 years now. I was “radicalized” during my first extended stay (9 days) in jail, where I finally began to open my eyes and became conscientious of the deceptions taking place around me. I still have a scar above my left eye, courtesy of Lt. Scott.

(Read the rest here.)

The Which Side podcast recently interviewed Krow who was recently released after imprisoned for anti-mining actions. Listen to it here.

Immigrants in a Miami detention center are currently on hunger strike, who, according to the mainstream media, “expressed discontent with ICE and dissatisfaction with their immigration cases.” They joined immigrants in detention centers across several states who have started hunger strikes late last month.

Liberated Lens published a video about the sleep deprivation torture technique employed at Pelican Bay state prison in California.

On the other side of the country, prisons are using different techniques to torture inmates. Two letters just published by the Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross give an intimate look at the inside of Georgia prisons and the “TIER” program, which even drove an inmate to suicide:

Well he committed suicide just 50 feet from my cell in the holding pens at the back of the dorm. I witnessed this brother being strapped to a gurney and taken out by officers and medical staff well at approximately 9 p.m. Sgt. Powers came and placed crime scene tape in a holding pens area, which is clearly an indication that the brother is no longer living. My cell mate says this brother only had a 2 year sentence and had only 17 months before he could go home. Due to being placed in this torture program and being subjected to sensory deprivation his spirit and mind was broken and he took his own life. Like I’ve said over and over, there is nothing positive about this TIER program which arbitrarily strips its victim’s of basic human rights and arbitrarily denies them their guaranteed constitutional rights to be free from torture in this so-called democratic and free society.

I’m losing count as to how many have attempted suicide and how many have been successful. You already know Ga Dept. Of Kkkorections is workking overtime to cover this death up. How many more deaths will it take before something is done to end this torture program and actions taken to punish these neo-fascists who implemented an operation designed to torture Amerikkkan citizens. The TIER program equals torture plain and simple no justification can be given as to why a prisoner is denied his first amendment right to religious, political and cultural freedom his right to freedom of speech and his right to freedom of association. Instead prisoners are being persecuted and punished for his beliefs and how he expresses his religious, political and cultural views. He is denied his right to be free from being placed in double jeopardy, denied life liberty or property without due process of law. This the prisoner’s 5th amendment rights are arbitrarily and deliberately trampled upon in a guise to bamboozle the public into thinking it is safe from the ripple effect of such cruel and inhumane acts done in the name of public service and safety. The old saying you reap what you sow will ring true in due time in and due form. The Eighth Amendment guarantees a citizen the right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment yet it is made a mockery by these my modern day slave traders and these capitalistic pigs who use the slave system as a way to test and gauge public opinion in order to enact social control over the very public it has sworn to protect. It’s simple if you allow and imprisoned citizen to be put to death or tortured in a so-called free society then you will allow your so called God given right to be stripped from you and that’s any and all citizens of this so called free society are subjected to become victims of death and torture simply for believing that they live in a democratic country that uphold true democracy and its principles the reality of the matter is that anyone can be arrested and tortured for their religious political and cultural beliefs. So is it truly a free society? I think not! The klan took off the sheets and put on a uniform and badge the judicial robes and now the black brown and Asian and poor whites are the targets for the resubjugations into the slave trade. Hopefully the public society as a whole will take a good look at how this system is being operated and then take steps to end the practice of mass incarceration and torture of it common citizens. You never know one day it could be you or a member of your family!

Respectfully,

Kelvin

Hey, well today investigators arrived at 1:15 pm to take pictures of the crime scene. The young brother hung himself in a holding pen (dog cage). I witnessed and overheard unit manager Ryan Chambers and Lieutenant Cloud telling the investigator that Lil Taye was on strip cell which is not true. the brother had refused to go back in his cell after coming from the shower now Brian Chambers has tampered with a crime scene by placing Taye’s personal property in the holding pen area when all he had at the time of his death was a pair of boxer shorts, a washcloth and towel. I’m not certain as to what he used to hang himself with but the young brother was no older than 22 or 23 years of age. Now Georgia State Prison administrators are working overtime to twist his death into something it is not. there are videos security cameras in the dorms and they also record audio so if this death is properly investigated it will reveal that Lieutenant Cloud and Counselor Hall, unit manager Brian Chambers all showed deliberate indifference to the effects this torture program was having on Lil Taye. Pressure needs to be placed upon the U.S. department of justice to send investigators here monitors that are willing to talk and take action against this torture program. Yeah, I finally got the name it’s Anthony Moffett or Moffitt. Please look him up he is from Albany GA. This cover up needs to be exposed.

Respectfully,

Kelvin