Kite Line: On Strike!

Abolitionist radio show and podcast Kite Line looks at the recent wave of prisoner led strikes and resistance.

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This week, amid a spate of prisoners’ strikes, we share our monthly round up of prison disturbances for June 2021, compiled by Perilous Chronicle. Prisoners are hunger striking across the continent, agitating for safer conditions, and pushing back against labor exploitation.  We share an excerpt of the story entitled Prisoners Strike Against Racism and Colonialism in Canada’s “New Residential Schools” written by Abby Stadnyk.  This agitation is particularly striking as we approach Black August and the broad calls for “Shut ‘Em Down” protests on August 21st and September 9th.

Afterwards, we have more from David Campbell, former antifascist political prisoner, who recently did a year on Rikers Island. In this segment, he continues to talk about “sticking it up” – the various ways that prisoners resist their confinement. In his case, they had to strike in order to get masks and cleaning supplies to help protect them as COVID-19 spread throughout the facility. Last week, he told us about conditions on Rikers, and the lead up to their strike. In this segment, he starts out with the aftermath of the strike and how things changed once they finally received media attention.

You can read the entire article by Stadnyk here.