NYC – Tuesday, July 23rd – Letter-Writing to United Freedom Front Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street (UPSTAIRS) New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free
When Barack Obama recently went to visit the cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years as a political prisoner, the irony wasn’t lost on NYC ABC. And while we planned to focus our next political prisoner letter-writing dinner on two U.S. held prisoners who, like Mandela, fought to upend the apartheid regime in South Africa, other folks were offering a similar analysis. So this week, as we gear up to send letters to United Freedom Front prisoners Jaan Laaman and Tom Manning, we share the following from World’s Deadliest Herbivore. If you aren’t following that tumblr, you should be.

“While Barack Obama uses a visit to Nelson Mandela to avoid criticism for his human rights abuses at home and abroad, he is also ignoring two other men who fought against Apartheid in South Africa. Jaan Laaman and Tom Manning, members of the United Freedom Front, participated in actions less militant than Mandela but remain incarcerated here in the United States.

Despite the efforts of conservative and liberal politicians alike, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990. Others, like Laaman and Manning, were left to rot for being brave enough to fight against the evils of apartheid. While Obama claims to respect the legacy of Mandela (while supporting apartheid in Israel) he is allowing others who were cut from the same cloth to spend their lives behind bars.

While we can not expect Barack Obama to lift a finger to help anyone but the wealthy friends of the DNC, we can personally do something to make Jaan’s 53 year and Tom’s 80 year prison sentences easier to endure. Start by writing Jaan and Tom some letters!”

Jaan Laaman and Tom Manning are anti-imperialist revolutionaries who were active in the United Freedom Front, a clandestine anti-imperialist organization. The UFF carried out targeted bombings of corporate buildings, courthouses and military facilities as well as bank robberies to fund revolutionary projects. Both men were deeply involved in anti South African apartheid organizing.

If for some insane reason you can’t make it out, but still want to support the prisoners, you can write to them at:
Jaan Karl Laaman #10372-016

USP Tuscon

Post Office Box 24550

Tuscon, Arizona 85734

Thomas Manning #10373-016

FMC Butner

Post Office Box 1600

Butner, North Carolina 27509

Stay up to date by visiting: 4StruggleMag

The deal, as always, is that you come bringing only yourself (and your friends and comrades), and we provide you with a delicious vegan meal, information about the prisoners as well as all of the letter-writing materials and prisoner-letter-writing info you could ever want to use in one evening. In return, you write a thoughtful letter to a political prisoner or prisoner of war of your choosing or, better yet, keep up a long-term correspondence. We’ll also provide some brief updates and pass around birthday cards for the PP/POWs whose birthdays fall in the next two weeks thanks to the PP/POW Birthday Calendar.

DIRECTIONS:
Getting to CAGE is simple:
From the J/M/Z:
Essex Street Stop: Walk west on Delancey Street (toward Essex Street, away from Norfolk Street) and make a left on Essex Street. Walk three blocks and turn right onto Hester Street. We’re two and a half blocks down, on the right.

From the F:
East Broadway Stop: Walk north on Rutgers Street (toward East Broadway, away from Henry Street), that becomes Essex Street, and turn left on Hester Street. We’re two and a half blocks down, on the right.

From the B/D:
Grand Street Stop: Walk east on Grand Street (Toward Forsyth Street, away from Chrystie Street) and turn right on Orchard Street. Walk one block and turn right onto Hester Street. We’re a few storefronts down on the right.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Otherwise, we’ll see you at supper.

This event is brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Anarchist Black Cross.
–
NYC ABC

Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211

nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
https://nycabc.wordpress.com
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http://www.abcf.net/nyc

Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!