Tuesday, February 21st – Letter-writing for Ben Varela

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, February 21st, 2023
WHERE: from wherever you happen to be
COST: Free

“I greatly appreciate letters and your words of solidarity.” That’s from a recent letter we received from Ben Varela, who NYC ABC is encouraging folks to write this week, and we will write more about Ben below. For now, though, re-read that initial quote. It’s the same sentiment we hear time and time again from the political prisoners and prisoner of war we support. It seems really obvious, we know. Now think of the absence of those letters and words of solidarity. Think about being locked away for acting on your revolutionary desires or for being framed as a result of the wrong cops, from local to feds, deciding those desires and ideas are too powerful. As a collective, we organize support for those with whom we share affinity and those who come from many of the same movements and communities that we ourselves are a part. And, thankfully, we are but one collective in a broader universe of crews, collectives, organizations, cadres, formations, and individuals organizing similar support. All of that organizing only matters when reduced down to the individual reading this deciding that they, too, should act, in this case by writing a letter. So consider both the positive of writing to someone and the negative of letting another moment pass by without offering this lifeline of support.

Ben Varela is currently serving a three year sentence for shooting notorious Proud Boys member Tusitala “Tiny” Toese after Toese and other Proud Boys attacked a group of anti-fascists when counterprotesters failed to appear at an anti-vaccination event for which they were providing “security.” As the Proud Boys chased folks with baseballs bats, clubs, and maces, Ben made the decision to defend himself and others from being attacked, drew his pistol, and shot. Toese was hit, but suffered an injury that was only enough to stop the attack, not life-threatening. You can support Ben by writing a letter and by contributing to his commissary fund.

Please take the time to write a letter to Ben (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Benjamin Varela #434577
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, Washington 98520

Tuesday, January 24th – Letter Writing for Alex Stokes

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: Tuesday, January 24th, 2023
WHERE: from wherever you happen to be
COST: Free

We are living in a time in which there is more to keep up with than is seemingly possible, both in terms of repression, but also resistance. As everyone reading this probably knows, forest defender Tortuguita was shot and killed in a raid by multiple armed police forces just days ago, on January 18th. There have also been several more arrests, with ‘terrorism’ charges being levied at even more protestors opposing Cop City. As horrific as this repression is, it points to the serious challenge posed to the Cop City project by the Forest Defenders, and the strength of the intersectional movements supporting them.

This brings to mind other recent episodes of heavy repression against those resisting oppression and fighting; the abolitionist uprising following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, and the anti-fascist resistance surrounding the attempted coup of January 2021. Fortunately, good people did what they could to help expose the murderous nature of racial policing in the United States in the former, and to help defend their communities against fascist violence in the latter. Unfortunately though, good comrades are being locked behind bars for both, sometimes with brutally long prison sentences.

One of these is Alex Stokes, who we are asking everyone to write to this week. From Alex’s support site:
On January 6, 2021, protestors gathered outside the New York State Capitol in Albany, NY in support of the Stop the Steal rally in Washington DC. A handful of counter protesters spoke out against them and a melee broke out after a Proud Boy tased a Black man in the neck. Alex was watching from the sidelines and ran to help others. Police did not intervene until the violence had ended and ultimately arrested three Black activists. Alex was charged with several violent felonies. The Proud Boys that engaged in the violence were not arrested at the scene.

Alex’s family and friends maintain that he was railroaded by the system. He was a journalist under a court-ordered gag-order for over a year. His previous work and experience with dangerous hate groups were inadmissible for his defense, but the prosecution picked apart his social media accounts and portrayed his actions as premeditated. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite the fact that no one died and neither of the victims received life-altering injuries.

In addition to being a journalist and an activist, Alex is also a talented artist with an interest in graphic novels if anyone wants to send him some reading material. There is also a donation page set up to help with Alex’s legal bills to help overturn the horrendously long sentence he is serving. More information at freealexstokes.com

NYC ABC is asking you to please help send Alex some love and solidarity. Write him a letter!
(As always, please refer to the “Write a Letter” section if it’s your first time writing someone inside.

Please take the time to write a letter to Alex (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Alexander Contompasis 22-B-5028
Upstate Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 2001
Malone, New York 12953

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021 – Letter-writing to Gage Halupowski

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, July 27th, 2021
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free

On July 19th, 1936, right-wing authoritarian generals and their fascist allies revolted against the timidly left-leaning government of the Spanish Republic. Though no friends of the liberals in power, Spanish anarchists saw the existential threat to the working classes—and humanity—that fascism posed, and fought heroically not to save the government, but to repel the coup. What followed has been called revolution (as people in liberated cities and villages dramatically re-organized their social and economic lives), civil war, triumph, defeat, and folly, depending on who you ask and where their ethics lie. Whatever you call it, it was the first major international battle against fascism, and included some of the largest experiments in real-world anarchism the world had seen. This confluence is no coincidence, since every form of centralized government contains the seeds of fascism. As Buenaventura Durruti put it: “No government fights fascism to destroy it. When the bourgeoisie sees that power is slipping out of its hands, it brings up fascism to hold onto their privileges.” Y la Lucha continua…

July 25 is the International Day of Solidarity with Anti-Fascist Prisoners. In honor of this, NYC ABC and Page One are asking folks to write a letter to anti-fascist political prisoner Gage Halupowski.

Gage Halupowski was arrested along with two other protesters in the wake of clashes in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square, later indicted on four criminal charges, including second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, attempted assault of a public safety officer, and interfering with a peace officer. In November 2019, Gage was convicted and sentenced to six years in state prison.

Please take the time to write a letter to Gage (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online):
Gage Halupowski #21894460
Snake River Correctional Institution
777 Stanton Boulevard
Ontario, Oregon 97914-8335

BK/NY – Tuesday July 28th – Letter Writing for International Antifa Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: 7pm, Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
WHERE: YOUR HOME
COST: Free

Since the last July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners, the worldwide struggle against the nightmare of fascism and the far-right has grown and intensified. The news steadily reports racist and bigoted attacks, the harassment of journalists, the increasing presence and violence of organized fascist and far-right groups, and the demonization of those who most militantly oppose them. Unidentified federal agents roam U.S. cities in response to uprisings against cops killing Black folks (and policing in general). While the bigoted, nationalist imagination reproduces itself on a global scale, it also attempts to turn us all into prisoners of the border. Meanwhile, there are still many prisoners around the world, held for their explicit rejection of fascist ideology and organizing. Therefore, NYC ABC, in collaboration with Page One Collective, is answering the call and encouraging folks to support those in prison through the simple act of writing a letter as we continue our every-other-week letter-writing events while maintaining social distance by writing from home.

Please take the time to write a letter to one or more of these anti-fascist prisoners (and share a photo of your completed envelopes with us online): supportantifaprisoners.wordpress.com/antifascist-prisoners

NYC ABC Fund Raiser For Jason Hammond

We just found a handful of the Tinley Park Five t-shirts NYC ABC designed and printed as a fund raiser for those five antifa comrades. There are very few t-shirts left and we find it fitting to use them to support another comrade arrested and imprisoned as part of the Tinley Park action. So, we are offering these shirts to raise funds for Jason Hammond. Get your shirt at gum.co/JasonHammond

Supporting antifascists sends the message that white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists won’t be allowed to organize without facing opposition. By supporting Jason, you are not simply buying a t-shirt, you are placing yourself in a community of individuals committed to upending organized white supremacy. So even if there is not a shirt in your size, you can still make a donation and have the t-shirt as a reminder of Jason, the Tinley Park Five, and all the unnamed folks willing to risk their freedom to stand against fascism. Hang it on a wall, give it as a gift, cut it up and make it a patch, banner, or flag.

Jason Hammond pleaded guilty, while refusing to provide information on others, to state charges against him for participation in an organized direct action taken against a group of white supremacists in May 2012 in Tinley Park, Illinois. Jason is currently serving a sentence of nearly three and a half years in an Illinois state prison.

BK/NY – Friday, July 25th – Day of Solidarity With Antifascist Prisoner Jock Palfreeman

WHAT: International Day of Solidarity
WHEN: 7:00pm, Friday, July 25th
WHERE: The Base – 1302 Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11221 (directions below)
COST: Free, but donations are appreciated.
Jock Palfreeman is an antifascist prisoner in Bulgaria. Originally from Australia, he came to the aid of two Roma men being attacked by a mob of neo-Nazi football hooligans, and in the intervening fight one of the attackers was killed. After a biased trial, Jock received a 20-year sentence, which he is serving in a notoriously rundown prison in Sophia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government has refused to allow his transfer to Australia to serve his sentence, despite international agreements, unless his family pays a massive ransom.

In response to a call for an international day of solidarity with Jock, we’ll talk a little about the situation of the Roma, show a documentary about Jock’s case, eat popcorn, and write letters asking that Jock be transferred to Australia. At his request, we’ll be taking donations for the Bulgarian Prisoners Association, which he is chair of; they will be used for a legal aid defense fund and for lawyers to protect prisoners against punishments of the prison.

For more information on Jock Palfreeman:
freejock.com
facebook.com/WhoIsJockPalfreeman
brightonabc.org.uk/jock.html

A letter from Cody Lee Sutherlin

With the fundraising campaign initiated by Bloomington ABC, Sacramento Prisoner Support, and NYC ABC a recently-completed success, we want to make sure folks see what your support for political prisoners like Cody Lee Sutherlin means. We’ve been lucky enough to work with Cody Lee on projects that he organized while inside, including a book drive that generated about 300 books for the prison library. Since the support we’ve been able to give Cody Lee is via organizing with folks like you, this letter is as much to you as to our collective.

From Cody:
What’s up Brooklyn?!
I am ecstatic to say that one month from today I will be a free man! I want to thank y’all for the amazing support you’ve shown throughout this ordeal. Words can not express how much it means to me. At this point, I am just waiting on my interstate compact to be approved so that I can parole back home to Indiana. Aside from that, I’m finishing up my last module of school, saving what money I have left on my books, lining it up job opportunities back home, and finding potential back up parole sites here in Illinois. The weather has been amazing the last few days and definitely has helped to keep my spirits lifted. On a side note, the book drive has gone pretty well and by my estimates, we have collected roughly 300 books for the inmates and library here! Thank you for your help. Not long from now I’ll be done with this legal shit and be able to head east so you all could show me a good time out there in NY. Thank you again for all your love and support over the last couple of years.

Sincerely,
Cody Lee

Thank You From Recently Released Antifa Prisoner John Tucker (Tinley Park Five)

After twenty months of imprisonment, antifascist political prisoner John Tucker is free. John is the second of the Tinley Park Five to be released and he’s written a thank you letter to his supporters. The letter reads:
“These past 20 months have been an ordeal to say the least. From court drama to safety issues to just the woes of incarceration itself, this has been a trying process. Yet, even within the darkness of a cell, cut off from the world, some light could still be seen.  Your letters, donation,s and noisy solidarity were things of beauty to eyes forced to view the despair of a broken system day after day and eyes that could not help but watch as any glimmer of hope faded from so many youths as they were dehumanized by the tortuous conditions in which they were forced to dwell. Your zines brought much needed and often obscured information into a citadel of ignorance and fear, your books lifted the weight of monotonous oppression, and your donations aided in the welfare of so many with nothing but the state to care for them. A parcel of food here or some cosmetics there so often mean the difference between another night spent hungry or unclean and a good night’s rest, and never doubt the weight of one’s spirit in a time of need. Sadness, loneliness, and a lack of basic human needs often crush that vital spark necessary for a meaningful, productive, life and sadly press those “corrected” into a self-defeating cycle of unchecked violence or harsh drug use.

For so much I am thankful for the supporters, but of greatest importance was the solidarity. Your constant stream of letters and cards not only kept myself sane, but also gave tangible, physical proof of solidarity which revealed the tremendous weight of the conviction of people from the real world who likewise are willing to make a stand against the far too often accepted evils of the world, to an incarcerated populace who had often not heard of such people before. The attention brought by the constant stream of mail peaked curiosity and drove many to question what was going on. This in turn lead to discussions, which in turn lead to some longer discussions that I hope have made a difference in at least a few lives over the course of my stint of incarceration.

Now that I am free I am no less thankful for everything I have received from our amazing support network, which is in itself a testament to the will of a people willing to sacrifice to make a change. A support network populated by good hearted, noble people who have often suffered first hand under the weight of unchecked and unopposed malice. Thank you once again for everything you have done and continue to do; you are indeed an amazing people.

In Solidarity,
John Tucker”

While John is now out of prison, he undoubtedly needs the kind of support that those nearest to him can provide. At the same time, three of the Tinley Park Five remain imprisoned. Please take this time to write to them. Their addresses are:

Cody Sutherlin M34021
Robinson Correctional Center
13423 East 1150th Avenue
Robinson, Illinois 62454

Dylan Sutherlin M34022
Centralia Correctional Center
Post Office Box 7711
Centralia, Illinois 62801

Jason Sutherlin M34023
East Moline Correctional Center
100 Hillcrest Road
East Moline, Illinois 61244