Reportback from Noise Demo at Metropolitan Correction Center Chicago

Report back on recent noise demo on New Year’s Eve in so-called Chicago, IL. For a full roundup of noise demos across the so-called US and Canada, go here.

“BURN THIS JAIL!” “INTIFADA” “FTP”

Painted on the side of the hideous carceral monstrosity known as MCC Chicago, where dozens gathered to raise the spirits of those behind bars. Hidden downtown in plain sight, this federal jail holds 500 people captive within its walls of a fashy brutalist aesthetic.

As pig forces double down by building new cop cities and prisons, including a proposed federal prison in Letcher County KY, we are inspired by those who fight back: from those who have braved escape from this downtown misery, to prison rioters and forest defenders, to hunger strikers in Palestine refusing a single inch to their genocidal captors. Refusing to accept the neoliberal cellblocks of compromise and complicity, we are reinvigorated to bring it all down beyond recognition, every force that expands the carceral logic and bolsters prison society.

Gazing up from the ground of this 30 floor spire we see lights flickering on and off from the window slits to the cells, a sign that people inside see us and are joining in on the festivities. A chaotic cacophony of pots and pans, boomboxes and bucket drums. And in a random beautiful coincidence, a person who had just been released from MCC joined us in the streets, appreciative of the crowd gathered to show love and solidarity for those inside, but also rage… no human being deserves this brutal punishment, this cruel torturous expression of a cannibalistic society.

A small handful of feds eventually came out in full riot gear armed with pepper bullet guns in one hand and bear mace in the other. The only party they were invited to was the one that nobody wanted them at, these sad pigs stared down with naked jealous hatred upon the crowd of fun-loving liberation enthusiasts. Although they were suited and ready for us when we arrived, they were too slow to save their repressive walls from redecoration. Streets blocked, façade defaced, fireworks boldly bouncing off the building. A “Thin Blue Line” flag went up in flames. A rowdy countdown and a promise to those locked up that we’ll give it everything we got so that no walls fences or borders can separate us again.

After the countdown we took the streets and marched down major avenues, witty and sardonic anarchist banners drawing the eyes of cheering new years revelers passing by: “Resolution: Revolution”, “Criminals Make Better Lovers”, “Free Them All.” All was joyous, but pigs are pigs: without warning, CPD attacked the march making our way across the bridge north of State and Wacker, pushing people to the sidewalks and arresting two on frivolous charges. Others disappeared into the promise of darkness, to parties and jail supports, to the certainty of future revolts. Later, we’re told, our comrades laughed at how pathetic the pigs had acted to try and ruin the fun, rededicated to go even harder this next year.

We dare each other to dream loudly and explosively, to freely break prison society, to hold no bars back in bucking the system.