BK/NY – Tuesday, April 24 – May Day Card-signing for Anarchist Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 24th, 2018
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

You’ve probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war– the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don’t already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.

If there’s absolutely no way you can come eat our home cooked vegan meal and sign a lot of May Day cards, but still want to support political prisoners, please consider sending some books from their wish lists.

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.

BK/NY – Tuesday, April 25 – May Day Card-signing for Anarchist Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 25th, 2017
NOTE: The Base is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and has a gender neutral toilet.
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
COST: Free

You’ve probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war– the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don’t already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.

If there’s absolutely no way you can come eat our home cooked vegan meal and sign a lot of May Day cards, but still want to support political prisoners, please consider sending some books from their wish lists.

BK/NY – Tuesday, August 30th – Solidarity With International Anarchist Political Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, August 30th, 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

We won’t let our excitement for this year’s Running Down the Walls (Sunday, September 4th) get in the way from having our every other week letter writing dinner for political prisoners.  We won’t let our sharing of the sponsorship form, promotional flier, and updated online donation spot stop us from being psyched as always to see you all this Tuesday.  For sure we couldn’t allow ourselves to remind you the importance of sustaining the ABCF Warchest Program, the 22 year long running fund that currently gives money to ten US held political prisoners on a monthly basis, in our announcement for our biweekly gathering.  Have we mentioned the amazing work that the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project (QDEP) is doing and how happy we are they will also be benefiting in this year’s Run?  We have and we will again this Tuesday as we participate in the week of International Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners by sending cards to anarchist prisoners internationally.

Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organizations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries.

Here in the states, folks are being persecuted for possibly even associating with anarchists or animal liberationists. Around the globe, the state and capital collude in much the same way, and as a result rebels are imprisoned for acting on their desire for a free world. Please join us in sending cards to these imprisoned comrades. We’ll see you at supper!

Running Down the Walls 2015 – A Reportback

Running Down the Walls (RDTW) 2015 was a success in building relationships, feeling the solidarity of running as our imprisoned comrades did the same, and raising funds for the ABCF Warchest and Family and Friends of Maliki Shakur Latine (Maliki is a New York state held political prisoner whose support crew is currently raising funds for his parole campaign). We arrived early, to avoid getting beaten to a sweet spot in Prospect Park (Brooklyn), which gave us time to set up our hand-painted RDTW banner, tables of literature and food, and mark turns along the route of the run. The route is commonly known as “The Inner Loop” by local runners and two laps around equals almost exactly 3.1 miles, or 5 kilometers.

Given that this was also a picnic– outdoors, breezy, and mildly unpredictable, we set up a scaled down version of our literature table. This meant our ubiquitous red wire rack of free literature, including copies of the recently published Battle Tested, After Prison, the NYC ABC Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoner and Prisoners of War, and all of the tri-fold pamphlets about many of the prisoners we support. We also sold our ASL All Cops Are Bastards (ACAB) t-shirts.

We had printed bib numbers for the participants. The flipside of the bib numbers had information about NYC ABC and guidelines for writing to prisoners, making it both a memento and a useful reminder to write to folks.

A few serious runners arrived as early as 1:30pm, though the announced time of the event was 2:00-7:00pm and we typically use the first half hour to register folks and take sponsor forms from those who hustled to get sponsors. Even with this schedule in mind, anarchist time prevailed and the run actually started closer to 2:45, following a group photo around the RDTW banner.

Before the run, an NYC ABC collective member went over some basics, while also kicking facts about political prisoners and state repression. We then played a greeting from Jaan Laaman, recorded specifically for the event. Jaan recommended we dedicate RDTW 2015 to the memory of our fallen comrade Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell. As a special treat, Dequi Kioni-Sadiki started the race with the drop of a red bandana.

At this point, it’s impossible to write about the event without mentioning that squarely in the middle of the Inner Loop, our run path, sat the inaugural installation of a foodie event that shall not be named. Our participants had to run through a sea of yuppies, starving for local micro-butchery, artisanal ice cubes, and whatever other contrived bullshit passes for authenticity to the ruling class. On the upside, this drove a lot of folks to our literature table and put us in the position to talk to individuals who would likely never otherwise approach us. Of course anarchists won’t be happy until the last capitalist is hung with the guts of the last bacon-infused mustache wax-wearing yuccie, but until then it was good practice to talk to strangers about our political prisoners. A fair number of park guests stopped at the table to get information about the prisoners, Running Down the Walls, and NYC ABC.

Of the 60-70 folks who came to RDTW 2015, about 45 participated in the 5k. The age range was 3-71 years old. Hashtag multi-generational. Several runners were serious, several were fast, and the venn diagram of those two categories resulted in the same person running the fastest laps this year as last.

After running, bronchial passages fully dilated, through clouds of meat smoke and whatever cologne investment bankers wear, what sounds better than a plate of barbecue and potato salad? Chorizo tofu empanadas? You’re right.

The picnic consisted of Texas style barbecued jackfruit sandwiches with fresh pickles; potato salad; pasta salad; empanadas; chocolate-coconut cream layer cake; and plum-peach lemon almond polenta cake. Yes, a lot of folks came just for the food.

Before we got too deep into socializing, we read a statement written for the event by Maliki Shakur Latine, and then gave prizes. Oh yeah, RDTW had prizes this year. Friends from AK Press and Combustion Books donated prizes that were given for the three folks who raised the most money in sponsorships as well as for the person who made the single largest donation at the event. We also had a laser cut acrylic “ACAB” plaque for the runner who completed the 5k in the least amount of time.

One participant garnered over $1,300 in sponsors, and several others raised hundreds of dollars each. All told, between the event and what was sold through our table, we raised a respectable amount of loot.

Folks sitting around, talking, having just shared the run, felt good. The group consisted of folks from diverse backgrounds, many of whom were new faces to our collective. Twitter followers brought IRL friends and comrades & allies turned up as well. South Brooklyn ABCF, Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), NYC Jericho Movement, International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, Family and Friends of Maliki Shakur Latine, the campaign the Bring Mumia Home, Marius Mason’s support crew, and the campaign the Free the MOVE 9 prisoners were among the represented organizations that explicitly work on political prisoner support. We were also thankful for the presence of Sekou Odinga, former political prisoner and consistent example of solidarity through action.

Most folks had left by 6:30 and those who stayed did so to help clean up and transfer everything to the cars. So the event went as scheduled, almost to the minute.

Knowing the history of the run and the imprisoned comrades with whom we ran in solidarity elevated Running Down the Walls 2015 to an even more inspiring level.

And that’s how we get down (the walls).

NYC ABC

NYC – Tuesday, June 9th – Letter-writing to Marius Mason and Eco-prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, June 9th, 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

What’s less surprising, that a cop stole a dead man’s credit card to buy a diamond ring or that chimpanzees can cook? You’re right, it’s a draw. Also not surprising is that it’s again time for NYC ABC’s every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner (the acronym, PPLWD, just rolls off the tongue). This week, in honor of the call for a June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason, Eric McDavid, and long-term eco and anarchist prisoners, we will be sending letters to several imprisoned comrades. Thankfully this year, we won’t be sending a letter to Eric, who has been released.

Three days later, join us, with members of Marius Mason’s local support crew, for a rousing night of Punk Rock Karaoke.

We’ll be joined by a member of Marius’ local support crew and will have information about the other prisoners. If you don’t already know about the folks to whom we are writing, make sure to check out our Illustrated Guide To Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War.

BK/NY – Tuesday, May 12 – Letter-writing to Bill Dunne and Casey Brezik

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 12th, 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
We’ve been told that last week a historic fight took place, but those who keep talking about it seem confused. The real fights have been taking place in Baltimore, in Seattle, in Ferguson. And these fights still rage. We in NYC ABC are fighters, too. We fight for those comrades who are imprisoned and this week we are focusing our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner on two such folks. This week we are writing to anarchist prisoners Casey Brezik and Bill Dunne.

In 2010, anarchist Casey Brezik tried to assassinate the governor of Missouri. In June of 2013, he was convicted and sentenced to a dozen years on each of three counts – assault and two armed criminal action charges – and seven years on a second count of assault. All sentences will run concurrently.

Bill Dunne is an anti-authoritarian sentenced to 90 years for the attempted liberation of comrades from Seattle’s King County Jail in 1979 and for attempting to break himself out of Leavenworth Penitentiary in 1983. Dunne was charged with possession of an automatic weapon, auto theft, and with aiding & abetting the escape. Charges further alleged the operation was financed by bank expropriations and facilitated by illegal acquisition of weapons and explosives. Bill went before the parole board in the winter of 2014, was rejected and given a 15 year “hit” (meaning he cannot go back to the board for that time period).

We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write letters (and send books) to Casey and Bill:
Casey Brezik #1154765
Jefferson City Correctional Center
8200 No More Victims Road
Jefferson City, Missouri 65101

Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Herlong
Post Office Box 800
Herlong, California 96113

NYC – Tuesday, July 8th – Letter-writing to Alvaro Luna Hernández

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, July 8th, 2014
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street (UPSTAIRS) New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free
NYC ABC has been very fortunate lately. We’ve been invited to table at some great events and have hosted talks by close comrades. This kind of community building really gives us the momentum to work on our core projects, including the upcoming every-other-week letter-writing dinners.

This week we are focusing on Alvaro Luna Hernández. Alvaro Luna Hernández is a Chicano-Mexicano political prisoner sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated assault on a cop when he disarmed a sheriff attempting to shoot him.

Deeply effected by witnessing the murder of one of his friends by a known racist cop (yes, it’s redundant), Alvaro dedicated his life to fighting police brutality, especially as it was manifest against the Chicano community. From 1976 through 1990, Alvaro was falsely accused of murder (and after public outcry eventually released) and severely beaten by police, all the result of his work to end police brutality in Houston, Texas.

In 1996, Brewster County Sheriff Jack McDaniel came to Alvaro’s house, allegedly to arrest him for robbery (side note: the robbery charge was summarily dismissed). The cop didn’t have an arrest warrant and when Alvaro, unarmed, questioned the cop’s abuse of power, the cop pulled his gun. Before he could shoot, Alvaro disarmed the cop without injuring him, and fled.

Upon his capture, Alvaro was found guilty and sentenced to an unbelievable 50 years in prison. Since his imprisonment, he has been denied access to library materials, faced increasing censorship of his mail, and had to deal with retaliation from prison staff over his filing of grievances.

If for some bizarre reason you can’t make it to dinner, please write to Alvaro from home. His address is:

Alvaro Luna Hernández #255735
James V Allred Unit
2101 FM 369 North
Iowa Park, Texas 76367

For more information, visit freealvaronow.blogspot.com

BK/NY – Tuesday, April 29th – May Day Pizza Party + Card-Writing for Anarchist Political Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 29th, 2014
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
COST: Free

NOTE: This week, letter-writing will be in Brooklyn, at our favorite anarchist space– The Base. For more information, visit thebasebk.org.

You’ve probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war– the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here’s where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our seventh annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there’s an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don’t already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.

If there’s absolutely no way you can come eat a ton of pizza and sign a lot of May Day cards, but still want to support political prisoners, please consider sending some books from their wish lists.

Jaan Laaman’s Message to Running Down The Walls 2013

Long-term anti-imperialist prisoner Jaan Laaman has always been a great promoter and participant in Running Down the Walls. This year is no different and he’s given us an audio address for the event. Via prisonradio.org:

Jaan Laaman’s Message to Running Down The Walls 2013

UPDATE: We’ve also received, via Los Angeles ABCF, a report from Jaan on Running Down the Walls that happened in the prison that currently holds him captive:

Hello everybody – hope this has been/is being a good running day for all of you.  About 30 of us in here – young and old, Black, white and Latino, did a real nice RDTW this morning.  We got together before taking off, had some words about the meaning of Running Down the Walls and it’s origin and ongoing reality.  Then we took off and got a real decent 5k – some walked some laps, but most ran all the miles.  Afterwards we all drank a cold soda and talked about people running in other cities and towns, in other kamps too, some at that very moment.  So it was a positive morning and a good run and we hope and expect that all of you and many many others, even in Switzerland! I hope they had a good run today too.  Now let’s hope Obama does NOT launch a new war in the mid-east, in Syria and, of course, I know we will all do what we can — Freedom Is A Constant Struggle !  jaan

Jaan Laaman’s Organizing Announcement for Running Down the Walls 2013

It’s time to lace up those running shoes for Running Down The Walls 2013. Political Prisoner Jaan Laaman explains the history of the event and implores listeners to get organized for 2013’s run. Thanks go out to Prison Radio for recording this.

Jaan Laaman Organizing Announcement

Runners, walkers, Human Rights supporters and people of positive consciousness, it’s time to lace up your running shoes and get ready to participate in the 2013 Running Down The Walls.   Hello, this is Jaan Laaman, your political prisoner voice coming to you from the u.s. prison in Tucson, Arizona.  Let me tell you about this annual 5k run, that takes place in dozens of cities  and  towns, and behind   state and federal prison walls across the usa and in some Canadian cities too.

Running Down The Walls was started 14 years ago in Los Angeles by the ABC Federation, to support and bring attention to the reality of political prisoners in the United States.  More broadly this run helps to publicize the denial of Human Rights and abusive conditions, that so many men, women, and children locked up in american prisons, face daily.

In addition to the runs held in cities around the country, prisoners organize solidarity runs in prison yards, also across the country.  These solidarity runs allow us to join with and show our support for the folks running outside.  Also, this shows unity among ourselves, old, young, Black, white, Latino, Native and all prisoners, running together for a positive goal of justice and freedom.

This year Running Down The Walls will take place on Sunday, September 1st.

If there is no run in your area yet, why not pull one together yourself? Join in, with the thousands of runners — inside and out on September 1st.  We might be separated by miles and bars,  but we are united in our goals of Justice, Human Rights, and Freedom!

Until next time, remember, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle.