In memory of Tom Manning – A Memorial Zine

Some friends have put together a zine collecting the public statements made in memory of Tom Manning since he passed away on July 30th.

We wanted to offer it to people today to join in spirit with all those who gathered for Tom’s memorial in Boston.

Tom was a comrade, an elder and a teacher for generations on both sides of the walls. Many of us will always continue to carry Tom’s spirit in our hearts and our work. We thought that having these beautiful statements collected in a zine would be one way to honor Tom and to help our many different projects and spaces keep Tom present with us. We also wanted to collect the statements to uplift and support the political prisoners who wrote about Tom and heed their words about our struggles as we mourn a movement elder.

Here is the reading version and the printable version of the zine.

RIP, Tom Manning.

NYC – Friday, September 12th – Love & Resistance for Imam Jamil Al-Amin

WHAT: An evening of LOVE AND RESISTANCE for Imam Jamil al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown)
WHEN: 6:00-10:00pm, Friday, September 12th
WHERE: MLK, Jr. Labor Center (Local 1199) – 310 West 43rd Street
COST: FREE; Light supper $8
Imam Jamil Al-Amin is facing serious illness in a prison hospital in North Carolina. We must wage a campaign to ensure that he is not returned to solitary confinement and that he is released.

HEAR:
Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, former Black Panther and NY Panther 21 leader, former political prisoner, Black liberation spokesperson
Karima Al-Amin, wife of Imam Jamil and lawyer
Amir Khalid Abdus-Samad, representing the Imam Jamil in working with youth and street organizations since 1993
Imam Al Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid, President of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Minister of Confrontation, MOVE Organization
IMPACT Repertory Theatre, youth activists who view the creative arts and leadership training as a way to develop ourselves and change the world in a positive way

Sponsored by:
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), The Uncompromising International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, The MOVE Organization, The Imam Jamil Action Network

Endorsed by:
NYC Anarchist Black Cross, Campaign to End the New Jim Crow, the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, the National Jericho Movement, Universal Zulu Nation, Safiya Nuh Foundation, People’s Survival Program, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, Sekou Odinga Defense Committee

Book drive for Cody Sutherlin (Tinley Park Five)

With one of his co-defendants recently released, Cody Sutherlin— a member of the Tinley Park 5, is collecting books for his prison’s library. He says, “The library here is full of garbage and people want something with substance…I’m asking that people send whatever they can as long as it’s not too extreme [or it won’t get in]. History, politics, biographies, and quality fiction would be nice. Let’s flood this motherfucker with some good shit!”

One of Cody’s supporters met in person with the library volunteer at Robinson Correctional Center on Friday. The volunteer explained the review process– books are not allowed if they describe how to make weapons, depict or describe penetration (other sexually explicit material is okay), or are on the topic of negotiation. Those were the only topics not allowed, though Cody thinks that graphically violent or explicitly illegal content will also be barred. Books that fail the review process are destroyed.

You can send books to:
Library Services
13423 East 1150th Avenue
Robinson, Illinois 62454

If you are near Robinson, Illinois, you can also drop them off at the prison.

Spread the word!
More information at tinleyparkfive.wordpress.com

Letters urgently needed for Jeremy Hammond

Jeremy Hammond, who is being held right here in NYC, has an upcoming sentencing date. In preparation for that, his support crew is urging folks to write letters requesting leniency from the judge. NYC ABC, in turn, are asking you to help Jeremy and his supporters. Historically, pre-sentencing letters have proven to persuade judges’ opinions in that they show how much support someone has and how valuable they are to their communities. Jeremy deserves to be free NOW, so whatever you can do to encourage Judge Preska to do the right thing, please do it. And don’t forget to pack the courtroom on Friday, November 15th, the day on which Jeremy will be sentenced.

From freejeremy.net:
“We are currently collecting letters of support to ask Judge Loretta Preska for leniency in sentencing.

You can find the template below, or you can download it in either Microsoft Word or PDF formats.

The deadline for submitting these letters is October 15, 2013.

NYC – Saturday, November 2nd – 5th Annual Freedom Dance

WHAT: Party With A Purpose – The 5th Annual FREEDOM DANCE
WHEN: 7:30 pm to 1:00 am, Saturday, November 2nd
WHERE: National Black Theater – 2031 5th Avenue (at 125th Street) Harlem
COST: $20 (proceeds support U.S.-held political prisoners)

Celebrate 34 years of liberation of Assata Shakur―and fight to keep her free! There will be food, drink, and dancing with music provided by DJ Revolution. And we’ll introducing the new cocktail, the ¡ASSATA LIBRE!

For more information: FreedomDancing5@gmail.com

Call for Actions in Solidarity with Fugitive Comrade F.R. by Mexico City ABC

We recently received this from comrades in Mexico City Anarchist Black Cross.

A call for two weeks in solidarity (February 21st- March 7th) with F.R., an anarchist comrade on the run.

Greetings in Solidarity to all anti-authoritarian hearts who read this wherever they may be. To everyone who, with conviction and strength, combat, in whatever manner they see fit, every institution and symbol of the apparatus of capitalist patriarchy, oppression, domestication and the farce of power.

Comrades, we put this call out from inside of the beast to howl our solidarity with our sister and comrade F.R., who remains fugitive from the claws of the state after more than 7 months.

In the early hours of June 27th, 2012 an unfortunate event occurred: an explosive device detonated leaving our comrade Mario “Tripa” López injured (and behind bars for 6 months). Mario is now “free” on Conditional Release and has an ongoing case against him. After police and government forces found F.R.’s passport, and facing the risk of also being put in jail, our comrade began life as a fugitive.

Since then we know that there has been constant harassment of her relatives in her country of birth (Australia) as well as throughout the so-called social networks. It is also possible that more investigations have been opened in other countries attempting to tie together various action oriented anarchist cells. This all forms part of a frame-up instigated by police forces on an international level that is used to attack the anarchist movement using fear and terror in an attempt (unsuccessfully) to immobilize us.

We understand the difficult situation that F.R. must be facing after all these months. Living clandestinely, despite being a better option than the cold bars and cynicism of a jail cell, also becomes a form of prison in that it stands in the way of enjoying full liberty because of the constant threat of possible detention. This situation brings many difficulties in terms of mobility, for self-sufficiency, and struggle; isolation and distance from loved ones and the abandoning of life plans.

Clandestine life as a necessity, and not as a privilege of an authoritarian vanguard, also requires our solidarity, the obligation of our comrades to constantly be on the run, pushed underground and forced to dig their way to liberty, deserves our support.

Living clandestinely does not afford the same support, material and emotional, that a comrade in prison receives from the outside. We know that wherever our comrade F.R. may be, she stands firm in her convictions as an anarchist, she laughs at the enemy while continuing to attack them, face to to face.

From here we send a warm greeting and call on all of our forces as anti-authoritarians to participate in two weeks of activities, greetings, and gestures in solidarity with our comrade F.R. from the 21st of February until March 7th, to take the form that one sees fit, so F.R. knows that she is not alone and that solidarity between anarchists in struggle is not merely a written word, or a phrase used to adorn pretty “revolutionary” pamphlets.

For us solidarity is a weapon that destroys power. We also wish to remember that there are other comrades living as fugitives like Hans Niemeyer, persecuted by the Chilean State, as well as Grigoris Tsironis, Marios Seisidis, Vassilis Palaiokostas, Nikos Maziotis and Pola Roupa from Greece.

No Remorse, No Defeat!!!!
Free and Wild, F.R. is with us!!!
Comrade, you are not alone!!!! Many of us follow you in struggle and embrace your convictions!!
Freedom to all prisoners of the social war!

THE OMFG DANIEL MCGOWAN IS COMING HOME BOOK SALE!

So local friend, comrade, and all around good guy Daniel McGowan gets released to a halfway house in December. To raise funds for his release, Book Thug Nation and Family & Friends of Daniel McGowan are organizing a book sale. For this thing to work, you have to donate books. NOW! The details are below.

WHAT: 7th (and LAST!!!) Annual Benefit Book Sale for Daniel McGowan
WHEN: 11am to 7pm, Saturday, September 29th, 2012 [rain date: Sunday, September 30]
WHERE: Bedford Ave & North 6th Street (NE corner), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York 11211
COST: There will be books priced for any budget

This will be the FINAL Benefit Book Sale for Daniel McGowan!!!

Daniel is going to halfway house in December which is wonderful news. However, he is not out of the woods yet. This book sale is your chance to help with prison expenses such as overpriced phone calls and prison necessities as well as the expenses of transitioning back to life on the outside— the car ride back to New York, rent, clothes that might fit him now, and all the other little things that he’ll need to live halfway in, halfway out of the criminal injustice system. Prisoner support does not end with release but this will most likely be the last book sale to happen in support of Daniel while he’s in prison. We’ve had great success and good times with these book sales in the past and with your help, this last one will be EPIC.

On Saturday, September 29^th, Book Thug Nation and Family & Friends of Daniel McGowan will be having an all-day book sale to raise money for Daniel’s legal defense, commissary, and coming home fund. The sale will be held at the Book Thug Nation book tables on Bedford Avenue and North 6th Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn.  Along with great books at inexpensive prices, there will be music, a table with Daniel t-shirts, merchandise and literature and maybe even some free food! If you can’t make it to the book sale, please consider donating to Daniel today (http://tiny.cc/danieldonation).

To make the sale happen we NEED your book donations— preferably ahead of time.  Please see the list of guidelines below for what to donate. The best way to donate is to bring your books to the Book Thug Nation storefront at 100 North 3^rd Street (between Berry and Wythe Streets) from 12-9pm any day before the sale. Please be sure to tell whoever is working that the books are specifically for the Daniel McGowan Benefit Sale. You can also bring books to North 6th Street and Bedford Avenue the morning of September 29^th or contact krazdale@gmail.com to make specific arrangements for donating.

DONATION GUIDELINES

BOOKS WE WANT:

• Contemporary and Classic Literary Fiction (e.g. Murakami, Nabokov, Plath, Safran Foer, Hemingway, Didion, Poe, Bolano, et cetera)
• Non Fiction on topics such as:
• History
• Sociology
• Women’s Studies
• African American
• Latino/a
• Art
• Eastern Religion
• Alternative Health/Nutrition
• Dictionaries and Thesauruses (these books will be donated directly to NYC Books Through Bars)

Books we DON’T want:

• Pulp fiction (a.k.a drug store paperbacks, best-sellers, e.g. Danielle Steele, Michael Crichton, Anne Rice, Tom Clancy, et cetera)
• Cook Books
• Self Help

Books that aren’t sold on the day of the sale will be held for future benefits or donated to NYC Books Through Bars.

Brought to you by Book Thug Nation, bookthugnation.com

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to donate books before Daniel come home, so DO IT!

NYC – December 7th – Raffle and CCR + Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan Panel Discussion

WHAT: Panel discussion with Robert Meeropol, Will Potter and Jenny Synan with an introduction by Rachel Meeropol plus an AMAZING raffle
WHEN: 6:30-8:30, Wednesday, December 7th
WHERE: Community Church of New York (40 East 35th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues)
COST: Free entry; raffle tickets are $2 each or three for $5

On the sixth anniversary of the first wave of Operation Backfire arrests, including that of friend to NYC ABC Daniel McGowan, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Family & Friends of Daniel McGowan are hosting a panel discussion and raffle. The panel will discuss the Red Scare, the Green Scare, and ongoing repression of political dissidents in the United States.

Raffle prizes are being added daily, but currently include:

• Fingerless mittens, hand-knitted by Sarah Paul (mother of Jonathan Paul, Daniel’s co-defendant!)
• Sparrow Media Shirts: One, Two, and Three
• Bluestockings membership & t-shirt
• Books from Crimethinc. (Recipes for Disaster and Work)
• Pie Any Means Necessary: The Biotic Baking Brigade Cookbook
• $75 worth of Books from Justseeds
• IFC Membership (The Cineaste Plus One)
• If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front DVDs
• Livescribe Echo 4GB smartpen + 4-pack of Livescribe Dot Paper
• BORF signed limited-edition Support Daniel print ($100 value)
• Dr. Bronner’s Holiday Gift Basket ($50 value)
• Let Freedom Ring, edited by Matt Meyer
• Eco-Warriors by Rik Scarce
• Subscriptions to Fifth Estate
• The Will of the Many by Marrianne Maeckelbergh
• Books by Brian Tokar (“Toward Climate Justice” and “Agriculture & Food in Crisis“)
• 2012 Justseeds/Eberhardt Press Organizers
• Books from Eberhardt Press
• Books from Combustion Books
• Books from Burning Books (Buffalo, New York)
• Green is the New Red book donation and signed posters
• A pair of tickets to the Spectacle Theater
• Two gift certificates to Book Thug Nation
• 1 acupuncture session with Famous
• Wind(s) from below: Radical Community Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible
• Team Colors Posters
• 1/2 Gallon Wilder Brook Farm Maple Syrup
• DVDs from Whispered Media (Boom and We Interrupt This Empire)
• Art by Elektra KB
• Support Daniel McGowan T-shirt
• Support Daniel McGowan Water Bottle
• Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners 2012 Wall Calendar
• One year subscription to 4StruggleMag

Buy your raffle tickets at supportdaniel.org

NYC ABC + Book Thug Nation Host Certain Days Calendar Release Party

WHAT: NYC Release Party for the 2012 Certain Days Calendar with folks from Toronto ABC
WHEN: 7:00pm, Monday, November 14th
WHERE: Book Thug Nation – 100 North Third Street (Between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue), Brooklyn
COST: Free. There will be copies of the calendar for sale at the event.

The theme for this year’s calendar is “COINTELPRO: Repression and Resistance, Then and Now” and folks from Toronto Anarchist Black Cross will give a brief presentation on the calendar project. For more information about the calendar, head to certaindays.org

OWS – 8 Oct – Join Us To Send Cards to Political Prisoners and Hunger Strikers

WHAT: Letter and card writing for PPs, POWs, and prisoners on hunger strike in California
WHERE: Zuccotti Park (Liberty Street and Broadway, New York, New York)
WHEN: 11:00am-2:00pm Saturday, October 8th
COST: FREE!

We’re joining comrades from Resistance in Brooklyn (RnB) in a ‘write in’ to political prisoners and hunger strike prisoners with Occupy Wall Street protesters at the park on Saturday the 8th at 11am. RnB have already spoken to some of the protesters who are up for it. As RnB wrote, “We have been encouraged to do this to bring the unjust, racist criminal justice [system] into the lists of grievances.”