Anarchic update news all over the world - Part 1 - 14.07.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  US, black rose fed CRIMINALIZING DISSENT: "UNMASKING ANTIFA"
      BILL INTRODUCED By BRRN Social Media Team 
     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  [Indonesia] Update on anarchists made prisoners in
      Yogyakarta By ANA (pt) [machine translation] 
     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #285 - Edito: The Aquarius
      or the " soft " fascism (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #285 - Bure: The diversity
      of tactics against the nuclear diktat (fr, it, pt)[machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Greece, liberta Initiative of Thessaloniki: march against
      NATO, nationalisms and wars (gr) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Black Cross Indonesia: Brick Demi Bata: Building a World
      Without Jail -- oleh Layne Mullett [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





In a move to expand the atmosphere of repression against the left, a bill specifically 
targeting anti-fascist or "Antifa" protesters was introduced to the Judiciary Committee in 
the House of Representatives in June. Titled the "Unmasking Antifa Act of 2018," the bill 
is sponsored by Republican Rep. Daniel Donovan of New York (@RepDanDonovan) and calls for 
fines and prison up to 15 years for anyone who "injures, oppresses, threatens, or 
intimidates any person" while wearing a mask or disguise. Police and law enforcement are, 
of course, exempted. ---- "Mass surveillance provides the state with opportunities for 
unprecedented repression. This bill clearly attempts to eradicate blind spots in the 
state's vision so that anonymous resistance is impossible," says Mark Bray, author of 
"Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook" and a member of Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist 
Federation.

"I think it is worth addressing because it seems to be a way to prepare for the next 
J20-style repression to actually work," noted Bray referring to the now-failed charges 
against more than 200 protesters arrested during President Trump's inauguration on January 
20, 2017. The charges were ultimately dismissed for lack of evidence and misconduct by the 
prosecution but was seen by many as an effort to criminalize dissent by the Trump 
administration.

http://blackrosefed.org/unmasking-antifa-bill/

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Message: 2




" Prison is a stage on the path of revolutionaries towards freedom. It's an intermediate 
stop, but not an end "- Conspiracy of Fire Cells ---- From 1 May 2018 until today (July 4, 
2018), the anarchists held in Yogyakarta have not yet been tried in court. The information 
given is that the anarchists should have been transferred to Cebongan Prison in Sleman on 
June 29 of that year, but the prosecutor's office has kept them at the Yogyakarta police 
station (Polda Yogyakarta) since 1 May for the process of investigation. However, the 
planned transfer was canceled and the period of detention in Polda Yogyarta was extended 
until July 30, under the pretext of further investigations. Our suspicion is that the 
extension of the investigative process is due to the fact that it is a political case, 
since it is evident from various perspectives that the action of May 1 was a protest 
against the government.

Regarding the condition of the anarchists taken prisoners, one of them - Brian Valentino, 
better known as Ucil - was taken to hospital for suffering from shortness of breath and 
stomach problems. At the moment, Ucil is recovering, but continues to maintain the mood 
and is always making the prisoners laugh.

On the others, everyone is healthy both physically and psychologically, despite this, we 
know that they are under pressure from various social strata, especially the police and 
the state.

We will continue to provide information on the prisoners made anarchists and on the case 
process. We thank all the friends who have shown solidarity for the anarchists imprisoned 
in Yogyakarta.

" Unfortunately, the dream we carry in our hearts is too great to avoid the risk of 
beating headlong with the monstrous wall of authority that rises in defense of the State 
and Capital " - Nicola Gai

More information:

Instagram account: @palang__hitam

Website:  palanghitam.noblogs.org

Email:  civilrebellion@riseup.net

Translation> Baderna

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Message: 3





It is no longer a threatening horizon but a present reality: the extreme right is in power 
in many capitalist countries and its footprint on the course of the world is central 
today. ---- In Europe, it already runs Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary or Finland, and 
weighs heavily in other countries. But this situation is only the "  logical  " extension 
of the policies pursued for years by Liberal governments. Point of rupture but the 
continuity of the same power which hardens to palliate the increasing delegitimation of 
the parliamentary bourgeois democracies. ---- Witness the dark history of Aquarius. The 
boat, carrying 630 refugees, is prevented from landing in Italy by the neo-fascist 
government. While the humanitarian situation is worsening on board, the French government 
announces coldly that it will not welcome it either and it is in Spain that it will 
finally be able to land after days of wandering. The humanitarian situation is sacrificed 
on the altar of political calculations. The dehumanization of the refugees it testifies is 
overwhelming. As a prelude to the disaster.

And it does not have the exclusivity of the official extreme right. A few days later, 
Macron will welcome with open arms the Italian Prime Minister, thus ratifying the alliance 
of the two faces of barbarism. On the one hand, the braillard face of an openly fascist 
extreme right and on the other the politicized and marketed side of soft fascism.

Alternative Libertaire, July 4, 2018

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Edito-L-Aquarius-ou-le-soft-fascisme

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Message: 4





In Bure, the project to bury nuclear waste continues to provoke resistance from local 
populations. The Macron government has only one answer: repression ! ---- A demonstration 
was held June 16 in Bure (Meuse) against the project of burying nuclear waste. 3,000 
people participated in the call for associations, political organizations, autonomous 
movements and "  citizens  ". Resistance is growing in the diversity of wrestling 
practices. The "  Owls  " - who build huts in the trees to occupy the wood Lejuc - have 
become the standard. ---- The repression hardens. On June 20, 200 gendarmes were deployed 
to search five places of life - including the House of resistance - around Bure. Seven 
people were taken into custody. This is the heaviest search wave ever experienced in the 
movement. This is reminiscent of the evacuation of the wood Lejuc in February, where 500 
cops were mobilized for 20 activists perched in the trees ... Each time, Hulot goes with 
his little sentence to justify the repression: " the burial of waste[would be]the least 
bad solution .

With the commissioning of the EPR built in Taïshan, China, EDF bragging. Macron and Merkel 
are preparing a European financing plan to impose the all-electric (digitization, car ...) 
in Europe, structured in France around the development of nuclear power. Yet the errors on 
the site of the EPR Flamanville continue. Its commissioning will still be postponed for 
poor workmanship and despite this the State delegates the schedule to EDF. The occupation 
of the Lejuc wood site - with the actions of the owls - is a stone in the shoe of the 
nuclear industry. Alternative libertarian calls to amplify support for this action.

Reinette reinette (AL Aveyron)

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Bure-La-diversite-des-tactiques-contre-le-diktat-nucleaire

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Message: 5





A NATO Summit takes place in Brussels on 11 and 12 July 2018. At the same time, the 
American (and not only) war machine attempts on the front of Syria, where it collides with 
Russian interests, while the US state is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear program, which 
paves the way for a new generalized war collision. ---- At the moment, global capitalism 
is experiencing another structural crisis of over-accumulation, which emerges clearly from 
its inherent internal contradictions. A fundamental feature of capitalism is the 
accumulation of profit through the exploitation of human labor and nature. Expansion and 
reproduction of capital is a necessary condition for the perpetuation of capitalism. 
States as well as capital are expansive, with each one wanting to expand its radius of 
power and influence. In order to survive in market competition, capital needs to spread 
and find international investment paths. The most direct way to achieve this is war.

As the weather passes and the rivalries between states - and especially the major powers - 
are becoming more and more intense, the possibility of a war of enlarged dimensions is 
quite large. After all, a war of local dimensions is being carried out, and even close to 
us - we see the bombing of the United States, Britain, France, Russia and the Assad regime 
in Syria every day. The big wage of the war is the control of rich energy sources mainly 
in the Middle East and the wider eastern Mediterranean. The "big players" on the energy 
control board are the states that are high on the pyramid of the imperialist hierarchy 
like the US and Russia. Of course, regional imperialist powers (Israel, Turkey, Iran, the 
powerful EU countries) play a minor but important role in this game, but having managed to 
gain relatively high negotiating power in the face of superpowers. Greece wishing to prove 
that it is a "pillar of stability and peace" in the Eastern Mediterranean invested in 
making international alliances in the US. However, the chances of engaging the Greek state 
in a war with the Turkish are well founded. In recent months, we have witnessed 
competition between the two countries for the prevalence of each other on energy sources 
in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Marine plots, EEZs, airspace, coconuts, and 
so on are just a few of the reasons for a conflict and, by extension, a national war. But 
for us, this kind of war means something very specific: it means war for the interests of 
our bosses. Greece wishing to prove that it is a "pillar of stability and peace" in the 
Eastern Mediterranean invested in making international alliances in the US. However, the 
chances of engaging the Greek state in a war with the Turkish are well founded. In recent 
months, we have witnessed competition between the two countries for the prevalence of each 
other on energy sources in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Marine plots, EEZs, 
airspace, coconuts, and so on are just a few of the reasons for a conflict and, by 
extension, a national war. But for us, this kind of war means something very specific: it 
means war for the interests of our bosses. Greece wishing to prove that it is a "pillar of 
stability and peace" in the Eastern Mediterranean invested in making international 
alliances in the US. However, the chances of engaging the Greek state in a war with the 
Turkish are well founded. In recent months, we have witnessed competition between the two 
countries for the prevalence of each other on energy sources in the Aegean and the Eastern 
Mediterranean. Marine plots, EEZs, airspace, coconuts, and so on are just a few of the 
reasons for a conflict and, by extension, a national war. But for us, this kind of war 
means something very specific: it means war for the interests of our bosses. In recent 
months, we have witnessed competition between the two countries for the prevalence of each 
other on energy sources in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. Marine plots, EEZs, 
airspace, coconuts, and so on are just a few of the reasons for a conflict and, by 
extension, a national war. But for us, this kind of war means something very specific: it 
means war for the interests of our bosses. In recent months, we have witnessed competition 
between the two countries for the prevalence of each other on energy sources in the Aegean 
and the Eastern Mediterranean. Marine plots, EEZs, airspace, coconuts, and so on are just 
a few of the reasons for a conflict and, by extension, a national war. But for us, this 
kind of war means something very specific: it means war for the interests of our bosses.

At a time when war plans are dwindling and are slowly approaching the "West" itself (eg 
Ukraine), all oppressed and exploited are those who are destined to become northerners in 
the canons of the sovereigns. War is a passage to capital so that it can emerge from the 
structural crisis of over-accumulation that capitalism itself gave birth, destroying 
stable and variable capital - through production and workers - creating new markets with 
business opportunities of excessive profitability, so that capitalists can exploit raw 
materials and workers in utterly derogatory and degrading terms so that capital can be 
reconstructed and developed after a long period of destruction, staring on the corpses of 
the international proletariat.

As anarchists we will not fight for the bosses. We are not going to turn arms barrels to 
our class brothers, from which they are only separated us artificially from top border 
lines, nations and religions, in order to reinforce the disorientation of the underpowered 
political oppression and economic exploitation that exist and divide themselves among 
themselves rather than the community of their material interests. The only war we are 
involved in is the endless social and class war,

To express this, their explicit refusal to fight for the interests of their bosses and 
their explicit aversion to the idea of picking up a weapon against any oppressed, any 
nationality, many comrades all over Greece and all over the world have decide to follow 
the path of total refusal to serve (not serving in the army in any "alternative way"). 
This decision bothers every state mechanism around the world as it challenges the basis on 
which its own existence rests: the "people" rallying around a national idea - always to 
cover up the class exploitation. Against this ideology that all he does is serve the 
interests of capital, we answer that there are no Greeks or foreigners. There are only 
proletarians,

AGAINST WAR AND IMPERIALISM

AGAINST NATO'S WORLD MACHINE AND THE TRANSMISSION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

NO WAR BETWEEN THE EMPLOYEES - NO PEACE BETWEEN TAXES

WE DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT FOR THE INTERESTS OF OUR AFFECTS

FIGHT AGAINST NATO, NATIONALS AND WARES on
the day of the NATO summit in Brussels WEDNESDAY 11 JULY, 18:30, VELIZELOS AGALMA

Eleftherial Initiative of Thessaloniki - member of the Anarchist Federation 
lib_thess@hotmail.com http://www.libertasalonica.wordpress.com

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Message: 6





Since the publication of Michele Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the 
Age of Colorblindness in 2012, there has been much talk about the need to end mass 
incarceration . More and more people speak openly about the moral and financial 
implications of maintaining the world's largest prison system. However, what is the 
significance of ending mass imprisonment, and what is needed to end it, remains unclear. 
---- Mass imprisonment plays a central role in maintaining state and capitalist powers in 
the United States, and abolishing the prison system must play a central role in the 
movement for radical change. Mass imprisonment allows the state to perpetuate unpopular 
economic policies, which would not have been able to successfully confront a strong 
resistance movement. While reform efforts can cause the structure of mass imprisonment to 
shift, and lead to a reduction in prison populations (as has happened in some places), a 
more fundamental transformation is needed if we expect to see a real shift rather than 
just cosmetic changes to the meaning and practice of "justice."

Our efforts to end mass imprisonment can not take root in reform, but must address the 
structural roots that have brought the world's largest prison system. We must create a 
movement that penetrates our differences and builds our strength. The prison system is at 
the point of connection of various forms of oppression, so we must produce the analysis 
and resistance that intersect. Supporting political prisoners, developing capacity to 
resist state oppression, and embracing meaningful forms of justice and healing, the 
horizontal model of sharing power , and feminist and queer ways of understanding the many 
possibilities of the future, are part of the struggle this.

Many of the ideas put forward here come from people organizing against mass imprisonment, 
and these movements are on the rise. Unfortunately, so is state repression. For example, 
in 2013, the FBI announced that it had added Assata Shakur to the FBI's "Most Wanted 
Terrorists" list with a $ 2 million prize. As a former member of the Black Panther Party 
(BPB) and member of the Black Liberation Army), Assata escaped from prison in 1979 and has 
been living in exile in Cuba ever since. Assata's placement in the list of fugitives, 
besides of course bad news, also tells us something about strength, or potential power, 
from radical and revolutionary movements. Does the FBI think Assata Shakur will launch an 
attack on the United States? No. But for the country he's worth $ 2 million, wants him to 
live or die, because of what he represents. Assata is a global symbol of the Black 
Liberation movement. The FBI targets it because they know that the legacy they represent 
is strong enough that they destroy it, and $ 2 million is worth trying.

We need to recognize the power of our movement as well. Not just because history is 
important, because it is true, but also because we need this power to plan for a different 
future. The persecution of political prisoners, the rise of state oversight, and the mass 
imprisonment of the poor and the colored are all part of a system designed to prevent the 
form of revolution as Assata and others are fighting for.

Recent years have seen some small steps in progress, with massive strikes in state and 
federal prisons and imprisonment centers, and the release of political prisoners like Lynn 
Stewart, Marshall Eddie Conway, Eric McDavid, Sekou Odinga and Herman Wallace (just a few 
days earlier his death). Grassroots campaigns targeting punishment and parole practices 
have won reforms in states across the country, and protests against austerity and 
authoritarianism continue to erupt around the world.

That same month when Assata was placed on the "Most Sought" list, in my own little corner 
of the world, I did a 100 mile parade with Decarcerate PA, a grassroots campaign working 
to end mass imprisonment in Pennsylvania. We marched from Philadelphia to Capitol in 
Harrisburg to protest the expansion of the $ 400 million Pennsylvania prison system and 
demand that resources be directed to the needs of the community.

As part of the parade, we try to create many ways for people to participate, and to bring 
together many different visions of the future, without prison. We work with people across 
the state, children and adults, people inside and outside of prison, to create hundreds of 
flags with a visual representation of what we will build rather than prison. Responding 
included schools, mental health care, real historical education, transformative justice, 
freedom, swimming pools and "dinner without missing family members." We brought this flag 
to Harrisburg with us to present our "people's budget". Though not everyone can physically 
line up with us, their ideas and vision go with us.

Many Decarcerate supporters in the Pennsylvania jails also sent statements to read at 
rallies, taken to the governor's office, or shared with the demonstrators during our 
breaks to help motivate us to keep going. Many people write to us to say they march with 
us, in spirits if not in their bodies. They eloquently and firmly expose the problem with 
the system as it is, and offer a vision for the world as it should be. This is only part 
of one of these statements, from Eduardo Ramirez:

" My words, my soul, I share with you all. I offer myself in solidarity with your struggle 
as you offer to me. I can not march with you, but know that my spirit is there-like you 
are here. I hope to comfort you, because my brothers and I are comforted by your presence 
and commitment. 'If the abolition of slave slavery begins as a vision for unfettered 
hands, then this year is the time' '[1]... Let this be a year of famine filled with 
Angels' Bread, ignorance confronted by the understanding of the hand of love, and greed 
overcome by the will of the Believers that investment should be done in the liberation of 
people rather than for their confinement . "

Eduardo's words remind us to take seriously that every day we should not just "hold a 
hand-held vision," but take the necessary risks-great and small-to make it happen.

The rise of Mass Exodus

In the US there are more than 2.4 million people held in jail, in confinement, and in 
state and federal prison centers; millions more in probation or parole, house arrest, or 
some form of supervised release. And we are all subject to a growing number of data 
tracking and surveillance under a broad and sophisticated state oversight. This oversight 
and punishment system is designed to keep people subservient and gives us a sense of 
inevitability about the presence of the state, dampening ideas about possibilities, 
redistribution of resources, or more equal social relationships. At the same time the 
repressive state apparatus has grown, austerity politics in response to the real and 
manufactured crises, removes much of the remnants of the welfare state.

The imprisonment rate began to increase dramatically in the late 1970s, behind the Black 
Liberation movement and other social movements. From 1950 onwards, revolutionary movements 
around the world increased. From 1957 to 1975 alone, the independence movement had 
overthrown colonial rule in 15 countries in the Global South .[2]This wave of revolutions 
shook the foundations of the capitalist, imperialist system, and helped spawn similar 
movements in the United States. The Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the 
Chicano movement, the Puerto Rican independence movement, and the fight against the war in 
Vietnam, all put forward a radical critique of what happened, and illustrate a vision of a 
different kind of what the world is capable of.

These movements strongly threatened the US government and resulted in repressive 
crackdowns. In 1956, the FBI launched the Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) to 
infiltrate, disrupt and destroy radical and progressive movements and their 
leaders.[3]Between 1968 and 1971, the FBI was involved in forty murders of the Black 
Panthers.[4]Even brutal repression was directed at the American Indian Movement and its 
supporters. Between 1973 and 1976, the government was responsible for sixty-nine murders 
only on Pine Ridge reservations alone.[5]And thousands of people across the country are 
subjected to lower forms of oppression-harassment, oversight, imprisonment, threats, and 
general disruption to various activities of the movement. Many remain in prison as a result.

This open oppression goes hand in hand with the buildup of policing and prisons in 
general. State and corporate interests see the revolutionary movement, and Black 
Liberation in particular, as a direct and immediate threat to their power. In addition 
(and often related to) revolutionary direct targeting, they build military police forces 
and expand prisons and confinements across the state. The first SWAT team was designed to 
target the Los Angeles Panthers,[6]and prisons and early super-maximum control units were 
built to accommodate political prisoners.[7]But these tools of oppression are rapidly 
deployed on a mass scale as a way of blocking future organizing efforts in oppressed 
societies. Mass imprisonment, in part, is a direct response to radical and revolutionary 
movements, especially since the movements are very powerful. The purpose of this is not 
just to suppress the movement, but also to prevent the movement that will come from the 
future.

 From the Welfare State ( Welfare States ) to the Public Prison ( carceral States )[8]

As the prison industrial complex ( prison industrial complex )[9]developing, a major shift 
also occurs in the structure of the global economy. These events are not unrelated. An 
anti-colonial struggle and victory around the world and an increasingly militant working 
class at home make the old ways of extracting profits unsustainable. At the same time, 
technological innovation means that production can occur in a dispersed way, which makes 
it easier to control workers and more difficult for the workers themselves to seize the 
means of production. US-based manufacturing industries are moving abroad to look for cheap 
and exploitable labor. The strength of unions was undermined and union membership in the 
US declined from almost 35 percent to 11 percent.[10]Deregulation and privatization are 
promoted in response to economic growth, and social services that are at the same time 
always unequally distributed and often used as a means of social control, are also 
disarmed. The shift to neoliberalism means that job prospects and social safety nets are 
more critical.[11]Wealth is spread over.

In order to consolidate and retain this advantage for the ruling class, some expenditure 
is required from most of the general population-and the white middle class in 
particular-even if their economic interests are not served. Right-wingers, and then 
neoliberal politicians across the political spectrum, began to mobilize politics "that are 
tough on crime - tough on crime ". This politics was designed to evoke racial fears among 
whites, mobilizing a political base to choose an increase in domestic militarization and 
the expansion of a karseral state that joined the expansion of economic policies favoring 
wealthy elites.[12]It also has a dual function of imprisoning those who are very likely to 
refuse this economic and political restructuring in the first place-that is, the poor and 
the colored workers.

Poet and anti-prison activist Emily Abendroth who commented on the prison state's 
imprisonment wrote:

" This is an enormously enlarged element that at this point has a hand in shaping almost 
every dynamic of our social, cultural, and physical environment with or without our 
recognition of it ... In the face of this fact, one of the goals of our contemporary 
poetry must be, based on need, to voice the catastrophic buzz and the weakening of life in 
society that has effectively criminalized the most basic features of livelihood and the 
requirements for existence (our youth, our old age, our poverty, our need for housing or 
doctors' care, hungry) and instead give them back to us as dangerous and / or 
unsustainable and unsustainable behavior . "[13]

If we can not cope with this landscape, we can at least illuminate its existence and call 
its inseparability a question. The karseral consequences of unmet needs seem great for 
resource-deficient people, and examples of these consequences sometimes seem endless and 
insurmountable.

Even relative to most race and class people, prison saturation, police, and supervision 
interfere with many aspects of life, from the media to the streets. As the imprisonment 
rate increases and the war on drugs continues, even the white-skinned middle class is 
unaffected. Statistically one out of every 17 white men will be jailed at some point 
(compared to one in three black men and one in six Latin men).[14]Criminalization of drug 
use, mental illness, and sex work all play a role within the reach of long systems.

Supervision status forms this landscape. Enlightenment obtained by Edward Snowden, 
confirms that the PRISM program[15]by the National Security Agency[16]has almost unlimited 
access to data from Apple, Google, Facebook and others, only confirms what has been widely 
suspected: we are being closely watched, and violations, whether real or imaginary, have 
dire consequences. The combination of savings and assertiveness, along with physical 
infrastructure and psychological burden of surveillance status, shapes our response (or 
lack of response) to injustice.

What Is Encouraging Mass Imprisonment?

If repression and power consolidation are all about why the karseral state is so 
dramatically developed, there is also the question of how . Mass imprisonment is built on 
a range of policies and practices, ranging from systematic divestments in public education 
to legislation, punishment, and law enforcement tactics. The main drivers of mass 
imprisonment have been thoroughly documented in many other places,[17]so I will only 
mention them a little bit.

The War on Drugs: The Drug War was officially launched by Ronald Reagan in 1982 when drug 
use was really declining , and has led to massive imprisonment of colored people and, to a 
lesser extent, poor whites.[18]The Drug War has been partially financed, although a series 
of federal programs that reward police departments for drug-related arrests have been 
made. It has also resulted in highly militaristic police forces using high-volume capture 
strategies, such as stop-and-frisk ,[19]to harass and frighten Black and Latin communities 
in particular. The war on drugs is a clear attempt to mobilize racial reactions to colored 
people and criminalize the economy for survivors.
Minimum ( mandatory ) obligations[20], " three strikes ," and a long sentence verdict: The 
minimum liability burden and three strikes laws[21]mean that people get longer sentences 
and judges can not consider any mitigation factor. Since the parents released after 
serving long sentences for serious crimes have a very low level of recidivism (1.3 
percent),[22]it is quite clear that this policy is purely punitive and has no connection 
with the stated stated objective of rehabilitation or public safety .
The erosion of rights, conditions and programs within the prison: In recent decades, 
prisoners have seen their rights eroded at the judicial level and also reduced access to 
programming, educational opportunities, and mental and physical health services.
Why Fight the Prison?

If we are interested in creating a radical movement that can be a mess, and a generative 
process that we can understand as revolution, challenging the prison system is a good 
starting point. Prisons are a sign of the desire of the capitalist state to consolidate 
wealth and power. They provide a way for the state to continue functioning effectively and 
is a phase in the line of slavery, plundering, and genocide. To eliminate capitalism, 
patriarchy, and white supremacy, we must work to end mass imprisonment. To reach the roots 
of mass imprisonment, we must take a broader system that produces logic to hold millions 
of people in captivity.

Prisons are a specific response to the moment of instability and crisis in the capitalist 
system. The destabilization and imprisonment caused by the prison industrial complex 
enabled the country to perpetuate unpopular economic reforms that would not have been able 
to deal with the strong resistance movement. Activist and scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore 
explains how the prison industry complex helped save the country from the economic and 
social crisis: "Prison expansion is a geographical solution to socio-economic problems, 
politically governed by countries undergoing radical restructuring."[23]He goes on to say 
that "the modus operandi for solving the crisis has become coercive control, relentless 
identification, and the abolition of violence by both foreign and domestic enemies." The 
"enemy" in this context is anyone who has investments in overthrowing this dominance system.

Prisons are not alone in becoming state weapons to respond and face such crises. But 
unlike the globally "intervention" of the military, prisons are the inward focus, domestic 
solutions to domestic "problems". And the compactness of this response dramatically 
reduces the capacity of local resistance to violence and militarism of this kind, both 
within and outside the US. Whether we handle it or not, prison is where we will end if we 
succeed in promoting a real challenge to state power. Such challenges undoubtedly lead to 
a repressive response from the state, and activist targeting and imprisonment are the most 
likely outcome.

Prisons are an example when the power system becomes most concrete, brutal, and legible. 
They are seated at the crossroads of so many oppressive power systems: white supremacy, 
class exploitation, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, atheism, and criminalization of 
poverty, from different people, from those who survive. The racial gap - racial disparity 
in the legal system is well documented, with Blacks imprisoned at a rate nearly six times 
higher than whites.[24]The level of imprisonment for women is on the rise, and women in 
prison are facing special difficulties - like being forced to give birth in handcuffs - 
which are often left out of the narrative of imprisonment.[25]The queer and trance were 
incarcerated at a higher rate than heterosexuals, and were more likely to be abused in 
prison and held in isolated cells.[26]People who struggle with mental health problems are 
channeled to the prison system rather than being directed to care access. According to the 
National Association for Mental Health (NAMH), between 44 percent and 64 percent of 
detainees have a documented mental health diagnosis.[27]And most of the people in prison 
are poor.

It is very clear that the prison system is targeting marginalized people, and especially 
those who live at the crossroads of various forms of oppression. So if prison is an 
example of "bad intersection," the place where marginalized people are channeled together, 
then we have our resistance to the prison system an opportunity to build a movement that 
embraces a strong and positive intersektionality. According to activist and author, Dean 
Spade, who writes much about trans and criminal law systems, "... finding out the specific 
arrangements that cause certain communities to face certain types of violence at the hands 
of the police and in custody can enable us to develop solidarity around sharing different 
experiences with these forces and building effective resistance that can get to the root 
of the problem this. "[28]This kind of solidarity develops in our differences, and builds 
our strength, and responds to the policing of a rigid prison system and categorization 
with rejection to be defined by a system that tries to contain us. Fighting against the 
prison industrial complex can be a site where we build new forms of alliance (and build on 
old forms) to face the wider challenge for forces that create and benefit from oppressive 
systems.

Lose the Prison Industry Complex

Building a movement strong enough to lower this system will not happen overnight. The US 
state is very strong, and movements especially on the radical Left, are very weak. One 
approach that has gained some fascination in recent years is the "decarceration - 
decarceration strategy. "Decarseration includes the attempt to bypass policies and 
practices that establish criminal justice systems. Attempts to replay the minimum 
obligations, rewrite the penalty policy, decriminalize the use of drugs and reform the 
practice of parole, all fall into this category of declaration. At the best of times, this 
deconcertation strategy brings a real victory that takes people home from jail or keeps 
people out of jail, and at the same time builds larger and stronger movements that can 
increase the challenge of the prison system itself.

Decarseration as a strategy is used both by perpetrators of prison bondage and those who 
believe in reform. This can be a challenge, like someone who believes in a world without 
prison, to figure out how to create a prison strategy that can lead to that world, rather 
than just build a better and gentler prison state. Here are some possible stepping stones 
toward structural change.

Practical Removal

There is often a tension between prison abolition and reform. It is plausible that this 
tension exists, for the purpose of getting rid of prisons together has far different 
implications than, for example, the goal of getting a shorter sentence for non-violent 
drug offenses. The movement of reforms can be so focused on short-term goals that they 
fail to consider (or ignore) the wider implications of their demands. Many anti-death 
penalty organizations are supporters of life sentences without parole - Life Without 
Parole (LWOP),[29]based on the idea that people will only accept the termination of the 
death penalty if LWOP is the choice of punishment. For the time being, this may seem 
pragmatic for the short term, in the long run it reinforces the idea that those in prison 
can not be cured of what they mean by "ugliness," and that the harshest punishment is the 
right response. On the other hand, abolitionists are often criticized for being out of 
touch, and too stuck in a utopian vision to face the actual urgent needs of society or 
engage in reforms which, though far from perfect, mean that some people get out of jail.

Although we should not ignore the big political differences, these things should not be 
diametrically opposed, and we can sometimes pursue short-term reform goals to build 
radical movements over the long term. After all, there are only two ways to get people out 
of prison: we can destroy them ourselves or we can convince, suppress, or force the state 
to let them out. If we lack the capacity to do the first, we must do the second. And in 
fact there are many dead anti-death activists who do not support LWOP, and many 
abolitionists are involved in the messy reform struggles in the field.

At the same time, we should not be caught up in short-term goals (eg, abandoning specific 
policies leading to mass imprisonment) that lead us to abandon our co-opted struggle. In 
Decarcerate PA, we talk a lot about using language that is "in line with prison 
abolition." That is, we may all have different ideas about how to end mass imprisonment 
and how to get there, but we never want to use language or messages that reinforce the 
idea that some people deserve jail. Many prison reform groups make arguments that 
basically say prisons should only be reserved for "cruel criminals" and people with 
low-level offenses should be released. This kind of language accepts the view that prisons 
play an important social role, and only criticizes the ways in which it applies. It 
degrades people convicted of crimes of violence and removes racist structures that dictate 
who is accused and punished for the crimes, and how long they are worthy of their time.

We also have to work to reduce the burden of the prison walls, even though we have not 
been able to physically destroy them. This means undermining prison alienation and "social 
death," doing the work of eroding the legal and psychological barriers that separate them 
in our remaining and vulnerable prisons. This means forging real and collaborative 
relationships and political, social, artistic and cultural projects with people in prison. 
This means creating a support network that weakens isolation and alienation. That means 
spending a lot of time writing letters. That means developing a real relationship with the 
people behind the wall.

It also takes a while to figure out what erasure means. In some academic circles and 
activists, the abolition of prisons is spoken of as something given, as something we hold 
as part of collective politics. This is a sign of progress, hard work like the Critical 
Resistance[30]has done to popularize the radical idea that a world without prison is not 
only possible but also necessary. But with the popularity of the idea, there is a risk 
that our understanding of the abolition of prison becomes shallow. We must take seriously 
what our removal asks. Because of course there are many, many injustices, dangers, and 
acts of violence that must be dealt with, in one way or another. This damage occurs 
interpersonally, and also systemically.

What is a reasonable response to taking a person's life, a violation of the body? How do 
we create structures capable of holding people accountable and also leaving room for 
transformation and healing? How do we understand the interpersonal danger in the larger 
context of the century of white supremacy and patriarchy that has planted every corner of 
our history with unimaginable violence and loss? Of course there is no reasonable 
response. There is no reasonable response to the dangers of capitalism, the trauma of 
slavery, plunder, and displacement. Is accountability seen in the face of countless 
errors, both on the individual and the systemic level? This is a question we must strive 
for if we are serious about talking about the abolition of prison.

What we know is that the current system is not working, or the system works very 
effectively in destroying communities, but not to create justice and healing. The 
astronomical level of violence, from interpersonal violence, armed violence, violent 
militarism and war, presents an urgent issue which, by virtually every possible analytical 
lens, shows that imprisonment has failed to overcome it. Philadelphia has one of the 
highest rates of imprisonment anywhere in the world, but the last few years on average we 
have more than one murder each day. Studies show that imprisonment rates do not correlate 
directly with crime rates,[31]Locking people in oppressive and cruel institutions with 
limited access to education and care, and limited communication with the outside make 
people traumatized. Imprisonment perpetuates, rather than rest, a dangerous cycle. In the 
face of this reality, it becomes more possible to imagine deletion as a realistic 
alternative. But deletion will only become popular on a mass scale when we not only show 
how prisons make us unsafe, but also to show real alternatives.

State Oppression, Supervision, Solidarity

Broadly speaking, the prison system has two main functions. The first is actual 
imprisonment: physical action to uproot people from their community and lock them in 
confinement. The second is to create the threat of imprisonment everywhere. Fear of 
imprisonment can prevent us from taking the most likely risks necessary for systemic 
change. To wrestle with this fear is to demand that the prison system release its hold on 
our minds.

Non-cooperative can make the cost of repression much higher for the state. Non-cooperative 
can mean many things-for example, refusing to cooperate in police investigations, not 
giving testimony to the council of judges, or one of the many ways we can withdraw our 
agreement from an unjust system. Many political prisoners and dissidents have become 
examples in this regard, and show us why non-cooperative equally can be effective in the 
long run even if it does not make people accept a shorter verdict. Non-cooperative seeds 
are in our community, but collective solidarity does not always arise organically. It 
should be cultivated and nurtured by the work we do.

For example, in the early 1970s, when the police repression of radical activists increased 
and many left the militants carrying the burden of long prison sentences, some made the 
decision to change their identity and go underground. As a result, the communities around 
them are often subjected to increased FBI control and police harassment. Rather than 
succumbing to this pressure, countless people refused to cooperate with law enforcement 
and as a result, fugitives could spend years beyond the reach of the state.[32]

In 1970, after participating in a bank robbery that resulted in the death of a police 
officer, radical activist Susan Saxe was included in the FBI's "Top Ten Most Wanted" list. 
In the following years, Saxe lived underground, came out as a lesbian and took refuge in a 
lesbian feminist community across the country. One night in 1974, lesbians in Philadelphia 
learned that the FBI was coming to the lesbian community of Philly to find information 
about Saxe.[33]The main assembly associated with the Saxe has been held, making a fuss and 
distrust in the lesbian community. A group of radical lesbians at Philly wanted to make 
sure that the same thing did not happen in their community. They quickly collect leaflets 
explaining why people should not talk to the FBI even if they believe that there is 
nothing to hide. The flyer emphasized that the FBI not only gathered information about 
Saxe, but also tried to map the entire network of people who might be coupled with the 
Saxe, and once this information was gathered, no one knew what law enforcement could do.

The women then spread throughout the neighborhood, going door to door to share 
information. Working through the night to ensure they reach as many people as possible 
before the arrival of the FBI, they encourage people to protect their community and stand 
in solidarity with the Saxe by not providing any information. Although Saxe is a 
controversial figure in the lesbian community, and many do not support his actions, nobody 
collaborates with the FBI investigation. Although leaflets at night did not prevent the 
Saxe from finally being caught, a proactive approach to anticipating the country's 
oppression did help fuel the lesbian Philadelphia community against the possibility of 
intensive surveillance and indictments in the future. In fact, the resistance against the 
FBI goes beyond Philly,

This action helps foster a sense of solidarity that is able to overcome the fear of 
non-cooperative consequences. Solidarity in the face of oppression (and in the context of 
internal ideological disputes) is of the utmost importance in contemporary moments. 
Although surveillance cameras track our movements and the NSA reads our emails, law 
enforcement still requires actual qualitative information to perform its tasks 
effectively. Now more than ever the police departments and intelligence agencies across 
the country and military cooperatives around the world rely on network mapping, community 
policing, and door-to-door information gathering to prevent the "insurgent" movement from 
taking root.[34]

And sometimes state repression backfires. Sometimes we can use moments where the state is 
dropping us or our allies to build something bigger than we had before. An example is the 
story of Angela Davis, a lifelong revolutionary activist and scholar who was arrested in 
1970 for her involvement in a campaign to free George Jackson and her role as a prominent 
Black radical intellectual. He was accused of murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy. 
The country's blatant racist persecution of Davis touched the courage and galvanized the 
people to join the movement to liberate it. Within a year of his arrest there were 200 
committees to free Angela Davis in the United States and sixty seven in other countries 
around the world. He was finally released from all charges. Today, Davis is the leading 
voice in the movement to remove the prison.[35]

Many people were politicized, radicalized and brought into motion during the international 
campaign to free Angela Davis. Similarly, many were involved because of international 
efforts to free Mumia Abu Jamal[36]or open their eyes by the Attica revolt.[37]State 
oppression is never positive, but when it does, we can respond in a way that reveals the 
deep injustices and contradictions within the state and strengthens our movement's ability 
to resist. Repression illuminates the role of the US government, and when the role becomes 
more visible, it is possible for us to build that awareness.

At these times, the scale leads to oppression and imprisonment that breed resistance 
rather than involvement, despite fear of its consequences. How do we imitate the 
conditions in which such fears can be overcome? Some of the answers are simple, although 
nothing is easy. We build a strong and supportive community, both inside and outside of 
prison. We foster a non-cooperative spirit with the state, withhold important information, 
refuse to collaborate with governments in all the creative, bold, big and small ways we 
can think of. We can look to the resistance models inside the prison for inspiration. We 
oppose the ideas and practices that uphold the prison system and the forces that humiliate 
humans in their hands.

What We Can Learn from Political Prisoners

" If we use the 'should not lie ' approach to organizing, then we take the time to build 
the foundation for a movement destined to bring about the victory we say we will strive 
for. So there is no need to hold a separate program to educate the public about the 
existence of political prisoners. No. Because while ki ta work to organize strikes rental 
houses and clicking ambilalih abandoned building -to create adequate housing in 
communities ki ta through sweat equity ki ta - ki tawill talk about how Abdul Majid and 
others are organizing tenant associations such as the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Renter 
Association in Brooklyn. While ki ta organize around issues of quality education that 
teaches the history and the real role ki ta in this society, ki ta will talk about Herman 
Bell and Albert Nuh Washington and their work with schools liberation. While ki ta 
organizes food co-ops and other survival programs, we will talk about Geronimo Pratt, 
Sundiata Acoli, Robert Seth Hayes, and all other political prisoners and prisoners of war 
working in free health clinics and centerschild care - and who go to prison as a result of 
their active participation in organizing efforts around issues that directly affect Black 
and oppressed communities . "- Saffiya Bukhari[38]

Political prisoners are not only part of the history of our movement, they are part of our 
being. The actions, words and thoughts of our political prisoners can help us in 
revolutionary politics even in reactionary times, for fighting for the freedom of 
political prisoners is also an opportunity to talk about more radical or militant actions 
and ideas than the most social movements that exist in the US today. Showing strong 
support for political prisoners is an important part in creating movements that do not 
cooperate with the state, as people who end up facing political-motivated oppression and 
criminal charges know that the movement will be on their shoulders, not only initially but 
for the duration of the prison sentence their potential.

There are nearly 100 political prisoners serving sentences in US prisons, many from the 
Black Liberation Struggle. Here in Pennsylvania, Russell Maroon Shoatz[39]has served 
forty-two years, mostly in solitary confinement, for his participation in the Black 
Panther movement. And Mumia Abu Jamal, perhaps one of the most famous political prisoners 
in the world, was recently released from the death penalty but remains in jail despite 
evidence that he is innocent and there are many global moves for his release. Across the 
country there are political prisoners from other liberation struggles, such as Oscar Lopez 
Rivera, who has been imprisoned since 1981 for participating in the Puerto Rican 
Independence Movement;[40]American Indian Movement Leader Leonard Peltier, who has been in 
prison since 1976 based on evidence made by the FBI;[41]David Gilbert, an anti-imperialist 
whites who served seventy-five years for supporting the Black Liberation Army;[42]Marius 
Mason, spent twenty-two years fighting for environmental justice;[43]Chelsea Manning, 
serving thirty-five years for continuing secret military documents about the wars in Iraq 
and Afghanistan.[44]And there are many others.

As the movement against mass imprisonment develops, the problem of political prisoners can 
sometimes be pushed aside because it is too specific or too radical. And on the other 
hand, movements to support political prisoners sometimes have isolated political prisoners 
at the expense of talk of mass imprisonment as a whole.

Movements to support political prisoners and movements working to end mass imprisonment 
have everything to achieve by working together. The support of political prisoners is 
essential to create a context in which militant resistance is possible. Political 
prisoners are often the ones who take great risks to advance the work of the movement. 
Although we may disagree with every tactic or strategic decision they make, we stand on 
the shoulders of the movement that came before and owe it to the people who made those 
movements to honor their inheritance. In our effort to create large-scale social change in 
the US, we know we are facing a very long opportunity, and we challenge this system at 
great risk to ourselves and our community. Fostering a movement that suits this task means 
creating a context in which people feel that they can stand in the face of oppression. 
When people take risks, it is important that they can do so by knowing they have support, 
regardless of the consequences.

Supporting political prisoners can help us learn about and from the history of the 
movements that came before us. In the words of former political prisoner Ashanti Alston, " 
When you are connected to political prisoners, you say that you honor the dreamers of the 
past, whose dreams you have now, and you respect the future, for you say we do not can 
move with real integrity unless we work for their freedom. "[45]

Mobilizing political prisoners can also be an important part of bringing urgent issues and 
radical ideas to the forefront, even when the movement is far from reaching a broader 
goal. The independence movement of Puerto Rican independence to free their political 
prisoners is a good example. In 1999, eleven former members of FALN ( Fuerzas Armadas de 
Liberación Nacional, or the National Liberation Armed Forces) was released from prison 
after spending nearly twenty years behind bars. FALN is an underground organization that 
is fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico. They claimed responsibility for more than 
a hundred armed actions in the United States targeting US military, police, and corporate 
power symbols. In the early 1980s, many of them had been arrested and charged with 
"disobedient conspiracy" to overthrow the US government. During their trial, the majority 
of defendants took the position of Prisoners of War, refusing to recognize US government 
authorities or participate in their own defense. They received sentences ranging from 
thirty-five years to life. However, in his last days in office, President Bill Clinton 
changed their sentences.[46]

Their freedom came because the independence movement refused to accept life sentences for 
their political prisoners, and worked for two decades to bring home prisoners. They work 
in various fields, gain support from Nobel laureates and religious and political 
leaders,[47]protest and civil disobedience, and build alternative institutions such as 
clinics and schools that teach the history of the anti-colonial struggle. These years of 
hard work-both by the outside and non-collaboration of the prisoners themselves-guarantees 
their release.

The campaigns produce (and still produce, like Oscar Lopez Rivera who remains in jail) 
some functions. The first is the release of the prisoners themselves. But the campaign 
also provides vehicles to raise issues of oppression and independence that are not 
possible in other ways. Puerto Rico's political prisoners, imprisoned in the US, became a 
symbol of colonialism itself and kept the issue of independence alive even as the wider 
movement was returned by a wave of oppression initiated by counter-intelligence operations 
and by the changing context created by neoliberalism and globalization.

The movement of political prisoners can also benefit from working closely with the 
movement to end mass imprisonment. While organizations such as the Jericho Movement, the 
Anarchist Black Cross (ABC ), the Boricua National Rights Network, and many others have 
done a good job while retaining support for political prisoners over the years, major 
changes in public awareness and willingness politics at the national level is urgently 
needed to bring massive political prisoners home. The movement against mass imprisonment 
gains momentum in a way that might make the shift possible.

Determining the World Without Prison

Politik Prefiguratif berarti, dalam kata-kata Pekerja Industri Dunia (Industrial Workers 
of the World -IWW), "membangun dunia baru di cangkang orang lama," merangkul gagasan bahwa 
kita tidak hanya perlu menggulingkan sistem saat ini, tetapi perlu menciptakan praktik, 
proyek, dan lembaga yang memungkinkan hubungan dan distribusi sumber daya yang lebih adil. 
Artis dan mantan tahanan politik Elizam Escobar menjelaskan:

" We can not wait for the day when the majority will rule to promote the structures needed 
to build a free, fair, egalitarian, and classless society. We must build in the ruins and 
hostilities of the present conditions by creating a transitional alternative now. We must 
build a socio-economic, political, and cultural structure that is controlled by those who 
strive for change and the communities they serve. These structures, the 'school' to 
address all these issues, will practice the idea that only by facing the reality of 
submission can we begin to freely create the liberating arts that liberate people from the 
illusion of the dominant culture . "[48]

At best, prefigurative effort allows us to model what kind of post-revolution society 
models. Prefiguration can meet the needs of today's people and can also help draw power 
from the state, thus undermining its ability to control our lives. Predicting different 
types of relationships, different ways of survival, different access points for our basic 
needs can also create a resilient community and increase our control over our body, mind, 
and life. Such self-determination has always been a threat to the state. Prefigurative 
politics enables us to imagine what it's like to be out of control.

This is why the state responded to the Black Panthers Breakfast Program and other programs 
for "survival of the revolution" were so brutal. Starting in 1969, Black Panthers provide 
free breakfast for thousands of children across the country. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover 
went so far as to say that the Breakfast Program " represents the best and most 
influential activity going on for BPP and, thus, has the potential to be the greatest 
threat to efforts by the authorities to neutralize BPP and destroy what is going on 
.[49]In September 1969, armed police stormed the Breakfast Program in Oakland. A similar 
attack occurred in Chicago. This oppression coincides with the Federal Government 
launching its own subsidized breakfast program.[50]Countries need to suppress radical 
autonomous activities designed to meet the needs of society and co-op the radical service 
model into state-controlled institutions. These actions are a clear sign that 
self-determination and community autonomy undermine state power, and the state will 
disrupt the programs in any way.

Of course, it is rather difficult to figure out how one can describe a world without 
prison when the prison system becomes so (literally) concrete and ubiquitous, and often 
forces us to engage in it. There are three things that come to mind about what it means to 
engage in prefigurative anti-prison policy. The first is to create structures and values 
in our movement that fight against forces that oppress people against others. The second 
is to build transformative forms of justice that address the root causes of violence and 
harm in our community. And the third, partly at the crossroads of both, leaves space in 
our minds, hearts, and movements for transformative possibilities that we can not yet imagine.

Intersexionality and Horizontalism

Prisons are an institution that thrives on categorization and sharing, on violence and the 
threat of violence, as a means of social control. The prison system is a tool of 
oppressors and aggregators. It is a tool of oppression because prisons play a crucial role 
in "managing" potential rebels by holding people in large numbers and locking them up. But 
it is also an aggregator of oppression, both in the sense that the experience and 
collateral consequences of imprisonment further marginalize the people, and because the 
prison itself becomes a special location where the oppressed are criminalized and put 
together.

At the same time, these constraints can make prisons a source of creativity and ingenuity. 
Oversight and lack of access to daily necessities mean that people in prisons find new 
ways to create art, learn, make food, help each other, and to resist. This does not mean 
that prisons are doing something good, there is just something to learn from the 
creativity that comes with survival and daily resistance. And just like prisons can be 
places where powerful divisions are enacted, they can also be places where people gather 
together above differences to fight for justice.

For example, during a Pelican Bay arrest strike in California prison in 2012, a group of 
strike leaders released an agreement ending racial hostility in prison. The statement 
reads, in part:

" If we really want to bring substantive substantive changes to the[California Department 
of Correction and Rehabilitation]system in a way that is beneficial to all solid 
individuals, who have never been tortured by the CDCR torture tactics intended to force a 
person into a state informer through the supply of[debriefing], that it is now time for us 
to collectively collect this moment in time, and end up over 20-30 years of hostilities 
between our race groups ... we all must hold our mutual agreement from this point and 
focus on time, and our energy at the goal of beneficial return to all of us[ie, 
prisoners], and our best interests. We can no longer allow CDCRs to use us with each other 
to their advantage!! Because the reality is that collectively, we are a powerful, powerful 
force that can positively transform this entire corrupt system into a system that truly 
benefits prisoners, and thus the public as a whole ... "[51]

It is this spirit of unity that we must foster deliberately in our organizing, both inside 
and outside of prison. This means building a movement in which different people's 
experiences can be recognized and where a particular person's identity can be respected 
rather than set aside.

To win against this powerful system of oppression, there must be more than "us," those who 
recognize the dangers perpetuated by white supremacy, capitalist patriarchy and who are 
willing to stand up for the system, for "them," that is, those who get benefits, or 
believe they benefit from the system. Many of us simultaneously benefit from certain 
privileges while being oppressed by others. The trick is to understand that although 
oppression affects people in different ways, we all have something to achieve by working 
together to thwart it. This means creating a broad understanding of who "we" is. This 
system depends on disunity. We can not, and can not, work for this system (that is, we 
should not be divided).

We can not escape by being not so bad, not so gay, not so racist, not so radical, not so 
brave. And if we try, what else is left? Who do we go with? Nothing satisfies the demands 
of white supremacy, capitalist patriarchy. In the words of Audre Lorde, "the machine will 
try to grind us into dust, regardless of whether we speak or not. We can sit in our 
corners, mute forever while sisters and ourselves are wasted, while our children are 
distorted and destroyed, while our earth is poisoned, we can sit in safe and quiet corners 
as bottles, and we remain not afraid ... "[52]

When we seek to eliminate ways that make powerful interests divisive, we can also build 
movements that do not replicate the structures of the state. One way to do this is to 
build an organization / campaign / collective that fights the hierarchical model of a 
prison state with a horizontal structure that shares power. There are several advantages 
to this. One is that creating a horizontal force sharing mode makes movement more 
difficult to control or co-opt. The spread of power can be replicated and not dependent on 
individual leaders to push them forward. Developing a collective decision-making model can 
also be an important part of building a more collective form of justice and healing, a 
non-punitive form (non-punitive).

Non-hierarchical organizations allow different and diverse opinions, resulting in 
consensus creation, and generating opportunities for participation. Anarchist movements in 
America and elsewhere have created models for organizations that share power collectively 
rather than consolidate them into a handful of leaders. It is no coincidence, too, that 
anarchists who have vocally criticized the prison system for the last few hundred years 
have identified prisons as systems designed to curb dissent and create benefits rather 
than to solve the problem.[53]Because anarchists and other anti-authoritarians are 
critical of the state, and since the prison system is an important part of the 
consolidation of state power, many anti-authoritarians identify the struggle against the 
state as an important key.

Part of building this movement is creating a participative structure that gives some 
people the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect their lives. According to 
the author of anarchist and founder of Black Panther and member of the Black Liberation 
Army, Ashanti Alston, " whether you value the capacity of people to think for themselves, 
to govern themselves, to creatively design their own best way to make decisions, to be 
accountable, to solve problems, destroy isolation, and commune with a thousand ways ... OR 
you do not appreciate them. You do not value us ALL. "[54]The prison system functions by 
maintaining isolation, and our resistance is to destroy it. Building a fighting movement, 
rather than strengthening the hierarchical and oppressive structures of the prison system, 
is also to undermine the logic that allows such a system to exist. Creating 
non-hierarchical structures and participatory decision-making forms are also part of this 
process.

Transformative Justice

In the movement against mass imprisonment, the usual questions are, "If we do not have 
prison, how do we respond to violence and attacks against our community?" The question has 
many answers, but one useful is the idea of transformative justice. According to Philly 
Stands Up, a collective working with people who have sexually abused, transformative 
justice is "a double process of securing individual justice while changing the structure 
of social injustice that perpetuates such abuse."

Developing transformative practices is strongly opposed, especially in the context of the 
existing punishment system. But there are organizations that work by changing what the 
community must do to respond to attacks and violence. One organization frames their 
mission as follows:

" It is a way of practicing alternative justice that recognizes individual experience and 
identity and works to actively fight the state criminal injustice system. Transformative 
justice recognizes that oppression is at the root of all forms of danger, harassment and 
assault. Therefore, the exercise aims to overcome and face oppression at all levels and 
treat this concept as an integral part of accountability and healing . "[55]

Unlike the legal system, which focuses on punishment rather than healing for the people 
involved, transformative justice offers ways to deal with dangers that open space for 
something to truly change.

" Creative Interventions assume that relationships, families, and communities where 
violence occurs are also locations for long-term change and transformation. This assumes 
that those most affected by violence are the most compelled to challenge violence. This 
assumes that friends, family, and society know closely the conditions that lead to 
violence and the values and powers that can lead to transformation. "[56]

Instead of "justice" imposed by an outside judge, a response to violence must be developed 
within a community that has the deepest knowledge and importance while creating lasting 
change.

This thought and work takes place inside the prison as well. As part of a project with the 
goal of ending life sentences in Pennsylvania, I have conducted written and audio 
interviews with people serving life sentences without parole (LWOP). Many people inside 
who worked with us on this project have been part of the movement against mass 
imprisonment for years. One of the men I wrote, among other forms of political 
involvement, led a workshop inside the prison on restorative justice practices. When I 
asked him how he would respond to those who argued that highlighting the voices of those 
convicted of crimes compromised the victim, he replied, "I would say that it could also 
have the effect of freeing those who have been victimized from the prison of fear. Because 
of how prisons dump and isolate, victims are usually living with a freeze-by-time picture 
(frozen-in-time ) of the people who harm them. Learning that the people who make that 
change can bring a sense of security and can reduce the concerns of someone who continues 
to hurt. "This shows the great benefits of transformative justice, which takes something 
that we know intuitively-the transformation is possible.

Transformative justice recognizes that real danger, violence, and trauma occur and deserve 
a meaningful and serious response, but the prisons and police do not offer a sustainable 
solution. This should be at the core of abolitionist practice. Whenever we tackle violence 
and danger in new ways that do not involve the state (or at least minimize state 
involvement), we build towards what the world is like without the prison.

Beyond the Swamp Time Now

" Detainees are dreamers, and what they most dream about is 'freedom.' "
- Elizam Escobar[57]

Everywhere the prison system and the repressive state make it difficult to imagine being 
without them. Part of our work is to make the imagination possible, even though we have 
not fully known the set of possibilities that will be unlocked by reversing the current 
system. Quoting Dean Spade:

" What does it mean to embrace, rather than shy away from, the impossibility of our way of 
life and our political vision? What does it mean by wanting a future that we can not even 
imagine but the story never existed? We see the abolition of improper police, prison, 
custody, and imprisonment as narrow answers to prisons and abuses within the prison, but 
also as a challenge to the rules of poverty, violence, racism, alienation and 
disconnection we face every day. ... Abolition is the practice of transformation here and 
now and forever . "[58]

It echoes in the work of queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz, who wrote:

" Queerness is structuring and educating the mode of desire that allows us to see and feel 
what is beyond the ruins of the present. Here and now is a prison house. We must strive, 
in the face of the total reality here and now, to think and feel at that moment and there. 
Some will say that everything we have is a pleasure right now, but we should not be 
satisfied with that minimal transport; we must dream and create new and better pleasures, 
other ways to be in the world, and ultimately a new world. "[59]

It is no coincidence that Muñoz used the "prisoners" language to describe the present. 
Indeed, rigid adherence to what is possible in the present will always lead us back to a 
stagnant form of reform which instead supports rather than challenges the status quo. For 
removal, it takes even more.

I have tried to give some idea about what is mass imprisonment and what can be done about 
it. Mass imprisonment, and the existence of prisons in response to social problems, are 
inevitable or destroyed. This is a set of policies planned to dampen radical movements and 
suppress marginalized communities. To counter this we need to build movements that 
encourage multiplicity-strategies, multiple identities, some modes of participation-and 
respect and fight for political and political prisoners who have built these movements 
from within the wall as we struggle to build them from the outside. We must stand firm in 
the face of oppression and know that we are stronger as we stand for each other and 
recognize the bets we all have in this struggle. And while we remain rooted in the 
practical concerns of our urgent daily struggle, we must remember the visions, dreams, and 
imagine what the new world can develop from our work.

To end the last row I attached Martín Espada's poem which Eduardo referred to in his words 
to the PA demonstrators in Decarcerate:

" If the abolition of slave slavery
begins as a hand vision without handcuffs,
then this is the year;
if the closure of the extermination camp
begins as the imagination of a
barbed wire or crematorium,
then this is the year;
if every rebellion begins with the idea
that the conquerors on horses are
not many many-legged gods, that they also drown
if they fall in the river,
then this is the year.

So may every mouth that is despised, a
tooth like an unclean stone that has been tarnished,
filled with angels of bread. "

Note

For two years I worked as a legal assistant on the legal project of detention right. 
During that time I read thousands of letters from people imprisoned across the state, 
detailing what is often a brutal and painful offense against them. People are attacked by 
guards, deliberately or indiscriminately put into dangerous situations, denying their 
lives medical treatment, being stripped and inserted into solitary confinement as 
punishment, restricted for days or even weeks in restraint, refusing treatment and mental 
health care, adequate food, and access to clean water. I read graphic descriptions of 
sexual assault, and on one occasion a letter depicted in vivid detail when the guard 
deliberately inserted an old man into the cell with someone who had serious mental health 
problems and who had repeated that he would kill anyone who had an affair with him. The 
letter writer, along with everyone in the cell block, had to watch - locked in their own 
cell - when one person killed the other.

These stories, which I experienced as witnesses farthest from the trauma of others, 
returned to me at a strange interval, as a wave of anger and despair. But there are other 
words that remain with me as well.

I opened a letter one day and received a letter from someone I met. The letter was to 
inform me that he had been transferred from one prison to another. When describing a new 
prison, he wrote, "The mountains are so close that I feel I can almost touch them. "I do 
not know if that line has any special meaning to him, or if it was just a last wind 
comment, a conversation next to his business letter to the legal services organization. 
But something about that phrase persists in me.

The mountains were so close that they almost touched them.

So much in such a short phrase. Mountains, mountaintop, symbols of eternal struggle.

In his last public address, Martin Luther King Jr. said:

" We had some difficult days going forward. But that does not matter to me now. Because 
I've been to the top of a mountain. And I do not mind. Like anyone, I want to live a long 
life. Long life has its place. But I am not worried about that now. I just want to do 
God's will. And He allowed me to go up the mountain. And I've seen. And I have seen the 
promised land. I may not be able to go there with you. But I want you to know tonight, 
that we, as people, will get to the promised land. "

We are familiar with mountain metaphors. And sometimes the mountain is not a metaphor at 
all, like the Chiapas mountains, where the Zapatistas spent ten years building their 
movement and troops before they appeared in 1994 to protest the signing of NAFTA and 
reclaim the land they had stolen from them. In that sense, the mountain is a sanctuary and 
a fortress, contested, but still standing so close that I almost touch them .

But what is more than a mountain is "almost." There are so many possibilities and 
geography and failures and hopes that make it "almost" possible.

But in that case it is almost also a promise of what can happen, how things can be 
different. For "very nearly" actually, by definition, not that far. For the width of the 
distance, the chasm of history that separates one reality from the next, there is also 
another set of possibilities, another set of futures, almost here. Because if you can 
imagine, it can be made. Because prisons are either more or less than their number of 
parts, of razorable cutlable wings, of loose concrete, of repairable steel. Because the 
prison wall is not the beginning and end of anyone's reality, let alone their dreams. 
Because imprisonment can not exist without the threat of widespread freedom. And since we 
are building, slowly, unevenly, imperfectly,

That's why political prisoners are so inspiring, and starving strikers, people who have 
taken a risk, put their bodies in line, marching, singing, spending hours in hours in long 
meetings. These actions say we have confidence that in the end we will be somewhere 
different from the one we started. The conviction that we can change ourselves and each 
other, that we can resist all odds to destroy this destructive system and build something 
new. The faith we can embody in our actions, our relationships, our selves, the seeds of 
something else, something we can almost imagine.

Layne Mullett lives in Philadelphia and has been involved in organizing against the 
gentrification, austerity, and prison industrial complex and for the freedom of political 
prisoners. He is one of the founding members of Decarcerate PA, a group that works to end 
mass imprisonment in Pennsylvania. This essay is made possible in part by the IAS 
grant-writing and IAS editorial assistance, and appears in the current issue of 
"Perspectives on Anarchist Theory," No. 28, on the topic of Justice. This paper was later 
translated into Indonesian by Peter Simbolon for the Indonesian Black Cross.

_________________________________

[1]Martin Espada, "Imagine the Angels of Bread," Matin Espada, diakses pada 14 Juli, 2014, 
http://www.martinespada.net/Imagine_the_Angels_of_Br.html.

[2]Dan Berger, The Struggle Within (Oakland: PM Press/Kersplebedeb, 2014).

[3]Ward Churchill dan Jim Vander Wall, The COINTELPRO Papers (Cambridge, MA: South End 
Press: 2002).

[4]David Gilbert, Love and Struggle (Oakland: PM Press, 2012).

[5]Brian Glick, "War at Home: Covert action against US activists and what we can do about 
it," (South End Press Pamphlet Series, 1999).

[6]Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, disutradai oleh Shola Lynch (Lionsgate 
2012), DVD.

[7]Nancy Kurshan, "The Battle Against Control Unit Prisons," Counterpunch, 5 Juli 2013, 
diakses 11 September  2013, 
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/05/the-battle-against-control-unit-prisons/.

[8]Carceral means anything to do with prison. Next I translated it as a karseral society 
-Petrus Simbolon.

[9]The prison industrial complex emerged in the 1950's linked to the rapid expansion of 
the US prison population to the political influence of private prisons and businesses 
supplying goods and services to government prison institutions for profit -Petrus Simbolon.

[10]Drew Desliver, "American unions membership declines as public support fluctuates," Pew 
Research Center, 20 Februari 2014, diakses 20 Mei 2014, 
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/20/for-american-unions-membership-trails-far-behind-public-support/.

[11]David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

[12]Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 
(New York: The New Press, 2010).

[13]Emily Abendroth, Exclosures (Ahsahta Press: 2014).

[14]"Racial Disparity," The Sentencing Project, diakses 5 Juli 2014, 
http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122.

[15]PRISM is the code name for the program in which the United States National Security 
Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various US internet companies -Protrus 
Simbolon.

[16]Glenn Greenwald, "NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others," 
The Guardian, 6 Juni 2013, diakses 29 Agustus 2014.

[17]Seperti misal, karya Marc Mauer, Race to Incarcerate dan karya Michelle Alexander, The 
New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

[18]Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 
(New York: The New Press, 2010).

[11]"Stop and Frisk" is a police practice when police stop, question and search 
pedestrians if they have " reasonable suspicion " that allows a person to commit a crime. 
A study shows that this practice is usually targeting the Black and Latino communities.

[20]A penalty that obliges offenders to serve a predetermined punishment for a particular 
offense, a normally serious offense and violence. Judge is bound by law; these sentences 
are produced through the legislature, rather than the justice system - Peter Simbolon.

[21]"Three Strikes Laws," or the suspect's habitual law, applies additions and harsh 
penalties to people who have committed multiple crimes.

[22]"Threat to public safety or abuse of human rights," Release Aging People in Prison, 
diakses 13 Juni 2014, 
http://nationinside.org/campaign/release-of-aging-people-in-prison/facts/.

[23]Ruth Wilson Gilmore, "Globalisation and US prison growth: from military Keynesianism 
to post-Keynesian militarism," Race and Class 40 (1999).

[24]"Interactive Map," The Sentencing Project, diakses 5 Juli 2014, 
http://www.sentencingproject.org/map/map.cfm.

[25]Victoria Law, Resistance Behind Bars: the Struggles of Incarcerated Women (Oakland: PM 
Press, 2009).

[26]Catherine Hanssens, Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, Andrea J. Ritchie, Dean Spade, dan Urvashi 
Vaid, "A Roadmap for Change: Federal Policy Recommendations for Addressing the 
Criminalization of LGBT People and People Living with HIV," (New York: Center for Gender & 
Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School, 2014).

[27]Inmate Mental Health, National Association of Mental Health, diakses pada 1 September 
2014, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1DOJ.shtml.

[28]Eric Stanley, Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, 
(Oakland: AK Press, 2011).

[29]

[30]Critical Resistance is a prison abolition organization established in 1997. 
http://criticalresistance.org/.

[31]"Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime: a Tale of Three States," the Sentencing Project, diakses 
2 Agustus 2014, 
http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Fewer_Prisoners_Less_Crime.pdf.

[32]Dan Berger, The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism (New Jersey: Rutgers University 
Press, 2010).

[33]Sherrie Cohen, an interview by Layne Mullett and Sarah Small, February 6, 2012, at 
Hamifgash Restaurant, Philadelphia, PA.

[34]Kristian Williams, "The Other Side of the COIN: Counterinsurgency and Community 
Policing," dalam Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency, penyunting: Kristian 
Williams et al. (Oakland: AK Press, 2013).

[35]Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, disutradarai oleh Shola Lynch (2012; 
Lionsgate) DVD.

[36]"Who is Mummy Abu Jamal," Free Mumia, accessed June 19, 2014, http://www.freemumia.com .

[37]In 1971, two weeks after the murder of George Jackson, the prisoners at the Attica 
State Prison in New York rose and took prison. They issue a list of claims for basic human 
rights, honor and self-determination. Instead of meeting these demands, Governor Nelson 
Rockefeller ordered the police to suppress the rebellion. The police killed 43 people and 
tortured innumerable prisoners.

[38]Saffiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, 
Keeping the Faith in Prison, and Fighting for Those Left Behind, (New York: Feminist 
Press, 2010).

[39]Russell Maroon Shoatz, Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon 
Shoatz (Oakland: PM Press, 2013).

[40]Oscar Lopez Rivera, Between Torture and Resistance (Oakland: PM Press, 2013).

[41]"Case of Leonard Peltier," Free Leonard, diakses pada 19 Juli 2014, 
http://www.freeleonard.org/case/.

[42]David Gilbert, Love and Struggle: My Life in SDS, the Weather Underground, and Beyond 
(Oakland: PM Press, 2012).

[43]"About Marius Mason," Support Marius Mason , accessed on July 19, 2014, 
http://supportmariusmason.org.

[44]"Support Chelsea Manning," accessed July 19, 2014, http://www.chelseamanning.org .

[45]Team Colors Collective, "We Can Begin to Take Back Our Lives: A Discussion with 
Ashanti Omowali Alston," in Uses of a Whirlwind: Movement, Movements, and Contemporary 
Radical Currents in the United States, ed. Team Colors Collective (Oakland: AK Press, 2010).

[46]Jan Susler, "More Than 25 Years: Puerto Rican Political Prisoners" dalam Let Freedom 
Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners, 
penyunting: Matt Meyer (Oakland: PM Press and Kersplebedeb, 2008).

[47]Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project, "Proclaim Release: A Call to Conscience 
and Action for the Release of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners" in Let Freedom Ring: A 
Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners, ed. Matt 
Meyer (Oakland: PM Press and Kersplebedeb, 2008).

[48]Elizam Escobar, "Art of Liberation: a Vision of Freedom," dalam Imprisoned 
Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion, 
penyunting: Joy James (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

[49]Marc Mascarenhas-Swan, "Honoring the 44th Anniversary of the Black Panther's Free 
Breakfast Program," Organizing Upgrade, 18 Januari 2013.

[50]The federal pilot program for subsidized breakfast was launched in 1966, but the 
program did not actually get official status or permanent funding until 1975.

[51]"Agreement to End Hostilities Starts TODAY!!," Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, 10 
Oktober 2010, 
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/agreement-to-end-hostilities-starts-today/.

[52]Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Berkeley: Crossing Press, 2007).

[53]Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969).

[54]Ashanti Alston, "Anarchist Panther,"diakses 1 Mei 2014, http://www.anarchistpanther.net.

[55]"Philly Stands Up," diakses 1 Mei 2014, http://phillystandsup.com.

[56]"Creative Interventions," diakses 1 Mei 2014, http://www.creative-interventions.org.

[57]Elizam Escobar, "The Heuristic Power of Art," dalam The Subversive Imagination: The 
Artist, Society and Social Responsibility, penyunting Carol Becker (New York: Routledge, 
1994).

[58]Morgan Bassichis, Alexander Lee, Dean Spade, "Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer 
Movement with Everything We've Got," dalam Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the 
Prison Industrial Complex, penyunting Nat Smith & Eric A. Stanley (Oakland: AK Press, 2011).

[59]José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (New York: 
NYU Press, 2009).

https://palanghitam.noblogs.org/?p=190

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