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Nov 18, 15

Bloc Party: Police Onslaught Across US Continues

Originally posted to It’s Going Down

We told you last week that we would be mainly focusing on prisoner news and revolts in this week’s Bloc Party. But did the cops all have a fucking conference call or something? Because they seemed to be handing out beatings and death sentences across the country. We will get to prisoner stuff in a second, but first we want to send a big ol’ FUCK YOU to every last cop and cop lover out there. While we generally consider ourselves to be somewhat jaded, grumpy anarchists that are not surprised by much, there are times when words still escape us. For a world such as this, the only words that seem to fit are those of broken glass, gasoline, and fire. From Minneapolis to Denver to San Francisco and Oakland, fuck these murderous piece of shit cops.

After the events in Paris, we are already seeing the rhetoric on the Right intensify. Governors across the U.S. have been releasing statements of refusal in regards to refugees from the current crisis that stretches across the Middle East and Europe. Jeb Bush suggested that refugees ought to be made to prove their allegiance to Jesus over Allah in order to be granted entrance into the country. Are you fucking serious, Jeb? Mosques have been attacked in Canada and Europe. In London a man literally tried to throw a Muslim woman in front of a moving subway train. In Denver a bookstore that has been named ISIS Books for far longer than ISIS has existed was attacked with windows being broken by someone who probably headed off to Bible study at Chik-Fil-A immediately afterward. Though when a mosque was attacked in Pflugerville, Texas we can all regain a little tiny glimmer of hope. Because some sweet little kid gathered up his piggy bank to donate to the mosque. 

While plenty is being written about this elsewhere, we haven’t seen much in the way of anarchists and antifascists discussing strategies moving forward to establish new affinities and defense initiatives with folks in these communities. As things escalate with Da’esh (ISIS), it would be a good strategy for folks to begin relationships now, getting ahead of our enemies and establishing lines of communication before things escalate in our specific localities. This not only gives us a strategic advantage to help prevent and respond to repressive and right wing attacks, but puts us in a position to stand as an alternative to the state for broader community support when attacks occur.

Back to those asshole cops for a second. Ferguson PD, none of us have forgotten you. You’re literally on all kinds of shit lists. Josh Williams, a young rebel from St. Louis and staple of the fight in Ferguson, was arrested last December for an attempted arson of a QuikTrip in Berkeley, MO. Josh pleaded guilty to the attempted arson and will be sentenced on December 10th. Folks who are interested in showing support and solidarity are encouraged to attend his sentencing:

December 10th, 2015 8:30am

Courts Building, 3rd Floor

105 South Central Ave

Clayton, MO 63105

https://twitter.com/MinkuAzad/status/564602819630481408

You can keep an eye out here in the weeks following his sentencing to find out more information of how to show your continued support for Josh. This kid may only be 19, but he is clearly fierce as hell.

Screen Shot 2015-11-18 at 6.26.14 PM

In other news… The Bad Kid award of the week goes to Denton, Texas’ a-team. Way to promote anarchy!

While everything on the outside has been a horrible shit show of terroristic cops and right wing reactionaries, folks on the inside are still fighting hard. Here is what has been going down on the inside and with those who work in solidarity with them:

We have lovingly referred to Sean Swain as the Andy Kaufman of anarchy in the past. We stand by it. But, you know, even Andy had a hard time now and again. Word reached us from some of Sean’s close support crew that he is having a rough time right now. We don’t have further details, though there is a direct request for letters and postcards of solidarity. Hit Sean up here:

Sean Swain

243-205

Warren CI

P.O. Box 120

5787 State Route 63

Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Sean can receive your letters, postcards, print outs from online sources, zines and photographs.

seanvodka1

Chelsea Manning has a new op-ed piece up at the Guardian. Check out another edition of her insightful writing. Chelsea has also been having an extremely difficult time emotionally with the dysphoria and shame caused by not being allowed to follow female grooming standards. We feel pretty certain your letters would be appreciated by her during this time:

CHELSEA E. MANNING     89289

1300 NORTH WAREHOUSE ROAD

FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2304

Robert Seth Hayes is in dire medical condition at this time and needs urgent support:

We also need people to call and fax Dr. Koenigsmann and Nancy Lyng in Albany to demand that Seth be immediately brought to a Pulmonary and Heart Specialist to address his cough, swelling legs, and breathing difficulties. That secondly the facility sticks to the medical plan given by the specialist. We also are asking that Seth be given a wheel chair and any other reasonable accommodation for his medical needs. We also are asking that C.O. Slater be prohibited from accompanying Seth to the clinic in the future. This is attempted medical murder of one of our beloved freedom fighters and we must do everything possible to help Seth at this time.

Superintendent Keyser at Sullivan: 845-434-2080

Dr. Koenigsmann: 518-457-7073 (phone) and 518-445-7553 (fax)

Nancy Lyng: 518-445-6176

Tyler Lang’s sentencing has been rescheduled:

This sentencing hearing is for his charges under the AETA for releasing thousands of animals from a fur farm. If you can be in Chicago, please attend the hearing to show support for Tyler. It is important that on this difficult day for Tyler that he feel surrounded by love and solidarity, and that the judge see that Tyler is part of a community that is there for him.

What: USA v. Lang, Sentencing Hearing

When: Monday, Dec. 18, 10:15am

Where: Courtroom 1241, Judge Amy St. Eve

U.S. District Court, Northern District of IL

Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse

219 South Dearborn Street

Chicago, IL 60604

To attend, please wear court-appropriate attire and behave respectfully. Please also be aware that you will likely have to show ID and be subject to search to enter the courthouse. Arrive early as the courthouse may be busy.

Kevin’s sentencing will be scheduled for a later date. He is currently in federal custody, so please continue to write him:

KEVIN JOHNSON 47353-424

MCC Chicago

Metropolitan Correctional Center

71 West Van Buren Street

Chicago, IL 60605

As of November 13th, Amazon was still on a hunger strike to put pressure onto the prison to transfer her to a women’s facility:

She is under tremendous pressure, has anguished and cried. Almost daily she is mistreated by prison guards and inmates because of her female presentation, including sexual mistreatment. She remains determined and steadfast and will not stop her efforts and resistance, whatever it takes. Amazon is now 61 years of age and the stress and strain of hunger strike will be on her more than during her previous strike years ago. However, the last straw has given way and she is determined to stick it out and not begin eating again until she is issued paperwork for a transfer to a women’s prison. She will endure force-feeding if necessary, but this is her position.

Contact the warden of Kern Valley State Prison, Martin Biter, to inquire why he is keeping a legal female in a men’s prison against her will and why he won’t verify her legal gender on her birth certificate with the Office of Vital Records in Sacramento, and demand that Amazon be transferred to a women’s prison immediately. The phone number for Kern Valley State Prison is (661) 721-6300.

Send the same message to the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Jeffrey Beard, at department headquarters in Sacramento. He can be contacted at (916) 323-6001.

Contact Amazon at:

Eva Contreraz #C45857

P.O. Box 5103

Delano, CA 93216

Up in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada there is a call for support of LBTQ2+ prisoners in a Women’s prison who are facing attacks by guards or are otherwise punished for engaging in relationships or simply for being who they are:

At Grand Valley Institute for Women (GVI), a federal prison in Kitchener, Ontario there has been a recent crackdown against LBTQ2+ prisoners and/or prisoners in relationships amongst themselves. Intimate relationships between prisoners are being attacked by a clique of guards acting without apparent direction or oversight from the Corrections Canada administration. We need your support with a call-in campaign to end these practises.

Check out the support page for all the details on the call in campaign and further ways to support these prisoners in Kitchener.

Looks like Joseph and Nicole have a motions hearing on December 21st in San Diego. If you’re around those parts you should show some loving solidarity. Also, there are some new buttons and stickers going out to those who make donations to their support fund. Hell yeah. Send a donation via PayPal and then you can put that new button on your black hoodie so everyone knows how you feel about AETA. Fuck AETA, right?

Jared Chase of the NATO 3 is scheduled to be released on his original charges in May 2016, which is coming up. Jared has also requested for supporters to return to male pronouns and using his name Jared or Jay as opposed to Maya. While in custody Jared acquired a new charge in regards to an altercation with a CO. His trial for this charge is scheduled for December 7th. Send Jared some letters and solidarity:

Jared Chase M44710

P.O. Box 99

Pontiac, IL 61764

There is a lot more we’d like to write this week about how much we hate prisons, cops and those who love them, but we’re honestly under the weather and mostly powering through only thanks to hot teas and episodes of Master of None (MORE DENISE!). Don’t worry, we haven’t gone soft. We’ll be back next week with all that repression news. In the meantime, keep fighting out there, Minneapolis, Oakland and Denver. Bad kids across this stupid fucking country have your backs, promise.

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Bloc Party is an ongoing column that looks at State repression, counter-insurgency, prisons, political prisoners, as well as what people are doing to resist them.

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