Graphic depicting solidarity with the Pelican Bay hunger strikers of July 2011. Despite a corporate and government whiteout the actions of the inmates drew international support., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
amplifying the voices of CA prisoners on hunger strike
Posted on August 1, 2011 prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity
Hunger Strike Supporters everywhere are gearing up for the legislative hearings to begin on August 23rd in Sacramento, CA by holding lead-up events in the weeks before the 23rd.
Today supporters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and New York are holding rallies and speak-outs as part of a national day in support of the hunger strike, asking for all five core demands to be met, and for no retaliation against any and all prisoners who participated in the strike.
Supporters are also continuing to show support by participating in rolling fasts, writing letters to legislators, and words of encouragement and support to prisoners. Last week, more than 150 religious communities of Roman Catholic nuns mailed in letters of support of the prisoners’ requests to the governor of CA.
The communities ranges from the Congregation of St. Joseph to the Loretto Sisters to the Sisters of Mercy. Each religious community represents from 100-18,000 nuns nationally and internationally.
These representatives say: “We are with each of the prisoners and their supporters and loved ones in this struggle and extend our prayers of love, peace and support.”
Tactics of extreme isolation, social deprivation and torturous conditions are used throughout the US. [At least 60 super-maximum security prisons are operated in 44 states of the US].
People locked up throughout all prisons continuously resist repression and torture everyday, often working together in forms of both spontaneous and well-organized massive resistance.
Days within the Hunger Strike in CA ending, the Department of Corrections in Indiana put all the state prisons on lock-down in response to a stabbing no doubt instigated by guards. Prisoners in Indiana’s SHU joined together in resistance once the prison administration cut off all electricity and water in the prisons. Supporters are calling for an emergency call-in day today & tomorrow in solidarity with the Wabash protesters.
As we approach the 40th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion this September, we’re reminded of the decades before us of prisoners working together across prison-manufactured racial divisions, resisting brutal conditions of isolation, torture and imprisonment.
We’re reminded of the long and tireless fight for humanity to be recognized. The hunger strike that started at Pelican Bay and swept across CA’s prisons system has rejuvenated years and years of anti-prison and human rights’ work throughout the US and internationally, galvanizing support and collaboration inside and outside prison walls.
No comments:
Post a Comment