Bloc Party: Out in the Cold

Originally published to It’s Going Down

As the cold weather rolls in, we are left this week thinking of folks up in North Dakota, where there are an estimated 7,000 people camping out in the cold. With cold weather rolling in, it seems like the authorities are trying to set up the climate for more repression, as the Army Corps of Engineers released a statement declaring all folks to be left by December 5th to be trespassing, the governor of North Dakota releasing a mandatory evacuation order, and the fucking pigs threatening to cut off food and water supplies to the camps with thousand dollar fines and potential charges.

The last couple of weeks has also seen a massive media campaign against the water protectors, with Morton County Sheriffs also releasing the first part of what they say will be a series of videos documenting why they have needed to use the tactics they have been using. We have watched the first video. Big surprise, they still look like fucking dorks. Oh yeah, they are also actively a part of Blue Lives Matter, which has close affiliations with white nationalist groups.

Much like #PrisonStrike coverage, CNN has this late in the game decided to act like something is happening at Standing Rock, and while we don’t hold out illusions that CNN gives a shit, we do hope the increased attention will cause the cops to think twice about how they approach things. Just in the last few days of coverage, the governor and Army Corps have done some back pedaling on their threats, saying they have “no plans to forcibly remove” people and that actually no, they won’t blockade essential supplies like food and water from entering the territory. That being said, one blizzard has rolled in already, and there is more snow along with subzero temperatures heading there next week.

Resistance elsewhere to DAPL has only amped up over the last few weeks. December was declared as a global month of solidarity, and folks have been taking that shit pretty serious. Of course, people are continuing to bring it in Iowa, with two lock downs in a couple days. Several actions occurred in the Twin Cities, there were smaller actions and solidarity demos in multiple states and countries, marches, folks organizing mass withdrawals from banks with investments like Wells Fargo, and blockades and sabotage in Olympia, Richmond, New York, Canada, and even Switzerland.

and now, your news from the bloc:

Red Fawn Fallis was moved to a new facility, now with federal charges of possession of a fire arm as a convicted felon. Red Fawn is facing some of the heaviest charges coming from the struggle in Standing Rock, and deserves every bit of our support.

Her new address:

Red Fawn Fallis
Stutsman County Correctional Center
205 6th st. SE, Ste 201
Jamestown, ND 58401

Leonard Peltier wrote his annual Day of Mourning letter, the address he gives yearly to coincide with Thankstaking every year.

My home is in North Dakota. The Standing Rock people are my people. Sitting Bull lies in his grave there at Fort Yates. My home at Turtle Mountain is just a few hours north of Standing Rock, just south of Manitoba, Canada.

I have not seen my home since I was a boy, but I still hold out hope of returning there for whatever time I may have left. It is the land of my father and I would like to be able to live there again. And to die there.

Please write to him:

Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
USP Coleman I
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521

Former Black Panther and current political prisoner, Sundiata Acoli was denied parole after more than 40 years in prison. Sundiata is a comrade of Assata Shakur, and was convicted of killing a state trooper in a New Jersey shootout in 1973 as a part of the Black Liberation Army. Sundiata has been eligible for parole since 1992, and he turns 80 years old next month.

Eric King has some new poetry up on his support site:

To the tune of Johnny Cash’s ‘Everywhere Man’

If you hurt their feelings
they will send ya
Arms to Arkansas
Eyes to Eugene
Lips to Lousiana
Knees to Kentucky
Mouth to Montana
Teeth to Tennessee
Hips to Hawaii
Knuckles to North Carolina
Fingers to Florida
Ribs to Rhode Island
Gums straight to Georgia
Toes to Texas
Areolas to Arizona
My penis to Pennsylvania
Theyre shipping ya off!
Veins to Vermont
Calves to California
Arteries to Alaska
Skin to South Carolina
Irisus to Idaho
Hair to New Hampshire
My teeth to Topeka
Wrist to Washington
Elbow to New England
Theyre Shipping ya out!
My mucus to Mississippi
My Obliques to Ohio
New Jersey will get my nose
Every little pice of me
Every little thought I think
they’re shipping us out

Uhuru Mutawakkil, a Wisconsin prisoner, has filed a lawsuit to stop the practice of force-feeding hunger striking prisoners. Uhuru was part of food refusal campaign in Wisconsin prisons, which at this time is still possibly continuing though information is hard to get. The force-feeding began just a few days into the campaign, clearly not under emergency health circumstances, as a form of punishment and as an attempt to break the strike.

The last year’s worth of poetry from eco-prisoner Marius Mason was just compiled into a zine, entitled “Trans.Formation.” Marius is a transman and anarchist imprisoned in a women’s facility for actions taken against animal exploitation and environmental destruction. For more info on how to support Marius, check out his support crew’s website, Free Marius Mason.

Anarchist prisoner Sean Swain also has some new audio essays worth checking out.

Florida prison rebels are back at it again, the same day that a $800,000 settlement was reached with 3 prison inspectors. The three inspectors were retaliated against for exposing the prison’s cover up of abusive practices that led to the death of an inmate in 2010. The mainstream media and some elements within the DOC would like to explain it as an issue of the facilities being notoriously understaffed, but we tend to think its more likely that prisons fucking suck.

– some frost bitten bad kids