BK/NY – Tuesday, December 6th – Letter-Writing Dinner For Animal Liberationist Joseph Buddenberg

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, December 6th, 2016
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free

This week at the twice monthly NYCABC letter writing dinner for political prisoners we will be focusing on Joseph Buddenberg.  Joseph pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) after being indicted, along with Nicole Kissane who is awaiting sentencing, for “travel in interstate and foreign commerce for the purpose of causing physical disruption to the functioning of animal enterprises, to intentionally damage and cause the loss of real and personal property, including, but not limited to, animals and records used by the animal enterprises, and caused economic damage in an amount exceeding $100, 000″ by allegedly releasing thousands of animals from fur farms and destroying breeding records in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. For this, under a non-cooperating plea agreement, he has been labeled a terrorist and is serving two years in federal prison.

Joseph was recently transferred to the medium security federal prison FCI Victorville where he is expected to be for the remainder of his sentence.  Before he was transferred, Joseph was recently having trouble receiving his mail and gaining access to vegan food at USP Lompoc.  There was a successful call in campaign to get him the dietary needs in accordance with his ethics.

If you can’t make it to dinner, please write to Joseph at:
Joseph Buddenberg #12746-111
FCI Victorville
Post Office Box 3725
Adelanto, California 92301

BK/NY – Tuesday, May 10th – Letter Writing Dinner for Joseph Buddenberg

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 10th, 2016
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free

It’s that time of year again– love is in the air and animal liberationists are out taking direct action to free caged and tortured fur-bearing animals. Unfortunately, the federal government has a long-standing preoccupation with folks determined to free non-human animals and fight for the defense of this planet. As such, thanks to instrumental support by industries that profit from animal exploitation, there exists legislation that allows the feds to investigate and prosecute acts of property destruction and animal liberation as terrorism. And when folks get caught up in that mess? Well, that’s when NYC ABC shows our support in a tangible way– through letter-writing.

This week we are writing to Joseph Buddenberg, who reported to federal prison just days ago. Joseph pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). For this, under a non-cooperating plea agreement, he has been labeled a terrorist and will serve two years in federal prison.

If are unable to join us on Tuesday, you can still write to Joseph (or send him a book):

Joseph Buddenberg 12746-111

MCC San Diego
808 Union Street
San Diego, California  92101

BK/NY – Tuesday, February 17 – Letter-writing to Jaan Laaman and Tom Manning

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Free
Can you name one thing that’s more important than a celebrity publicly criticizing another celebrity? It’s as if cops weren’t indiscriminately murdering folks and landlords weren’t looking to kick folks out into the street to make a buck. Meanwhile the state fabricates legislation to repress dissent. But by all means, corporate media, distract us with what some musician rants about. The crew in NYC ABC sees through the bullshit and refuses to lose focus on supporting imprisoned revolutionaries.

This Tuesday’s dinner will focus on two Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners– Jaan Laaman and Tom Manning. Both are imprisoned for actions carried out by United Freedom Front (UFF), a clandestine revolutionary organization active in the United States in the early 1980s. The group targeted government institutions and major corporations that had ties to the South African Apartheid system or right-wing paramilitaries in Central America. This included taking actions directly against the South African and United States governments. 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.

We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write letters to Jaan and Tom:
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

BK/NY – Friday, February 13th – “If A Tree Falls” Benefit Screening for Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang

WHAT: Benefit for AETA defendants Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang
WHEN: 8pm sharp, Friday, February 13th, 2015
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
COST: Entrance is free but we will be requesting donations for Kevin and Tyler’s legal defense fund.

Tyler Lang and Kevin Olliff are two animal rights activists who, in 2014, were arrested in Illinois for “possession of burglary tools.” After a traffic stop, cops allegedly found bolt cutters, muriatic acid, ski masks, and camouflage clothing in the car. Tyler pleaded to 3 months time served while Kevin received a 30 month sentence in state prison. In July 2014, both were indicted under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) and are accused of liberating animals from fur farms in 3 different states. They face up to 10 years in prison.

We will be screening If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, a film that focuses on our friend and New Yorker, Daniel McGowan. He was arrested in 2005 by federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front– a group the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” The ELF operates in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership and launched spectacular actions against dozens of environmentally destructive businesses: timber companies, SUV dealerships, wild horse slaughterhouses, and a $12 million ski lodge in Vail, Colorado.

After the film, there will be time for questions and answers with special guests, including Rachel Meeropol (Center for Constitutional Rights attorney on Kevin and Tyler’s legal team) and Jenny Synan. NYC ABC will have a table with information and merchandise on political prisoners.

For more information, go to supportkevinandtyler.com

BK/NY – Wednesday, April 9th – FOIA Street Fighter Ryan Shapiro at The Base

WHAT: Ryan Shapiro on Fighting to Expose the U.S. Government’s War on Mandela, Occupy, Animal Rights, & More
WHEN: 8:00pm, Wednesday, April 9th
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (Directions below)
COST: Free, but donations are appreciated.
Come join NYC ABC and The Base for a discussion with “FOIA Street Fighter” Ryan Shapiro.

Will Potter has called Ryan Shapiro “The FBI’s Worst Nightmare,” and a recent article about Shapiro’s work opened by declaring, “Depending on whom you ask, Ryan Shapiro is either the country’s ‘FOIA superhero’ or a ‘threat to national security.’” Shapiro is a longtime radical social justice activist and now also a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Science, Technology, & Society (HASTS). Shapiro’s research focuses on the political functioning of national security and the policing of dissent. To this end, he currently has over 700 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in motion with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and National Security Agency (NSA), as well as numerous ongoing lawsuits against these agencies for failure to comply with his FOIA requests. The FBI is even now arguing that Shapiro’s dissertation research on FBI campaigns against animal rights and environmental protesters is itself a threat to national security.

A recent revelation resulting from Shapiro’s research is the FBI monitoring of Occupy Houston. As important as the monitoring itself, is the fact that the FBI uncovered a plot to assassinate Occupy “leaders,” yet did not share this information with potentially endangered activists.

Additionally, through his FOIA research and lawsuits against the FBI, Shapiro has exposed FBI attempts to bring Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges against animal rights activists conducting undercover investigations of factory farms. Notably, Shapiro is also one of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

And just last week, Shapiro and his attorney filed a law suit against the NSA, FBI, CIA, and DIA for their failure to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests filed shortly after the death of Nelson Mandela. In this particular series of FOIA requests, Shapiro is trying to determine the role the United States played in Mandela’s 1962 arrest, and to answer why the U.S. government kept Mandela on a terrorist watch list until 2008 and what qualified him as a terrorist in the first place.