Archive
May 1st – May Day letter-writing for Anarchist Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing
WHEN: May 1st, 2023
WHERE: your home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free
“Give flowers to the rebels who failed,
Their sight fixed upon the break of dawn,
To the bold rebel who fights and works
To the far-seeing poet who sings and dies”
from Primo Maggio (The First of May),
by Pietro Gori, 1890
May Day is historically an anarchist holiday, which honors the date called for a nation-wide general strike for the 8 hour day work day in 1886. The tumultuous days that followed in the mid-western states resulted in multiple skirmishes and several casualties on both sides, and ultimately led to the railroaded conviction of 8 known anarchists from the Chicago scene. On November 11th, 1887, four anarchists were hanged—Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer; Louis Lingg took his own life the night before to deny the state the satisfaction. Their sacrifice became symbolic of the sacrifices, struggles, and victories of anarchists the world over who have given their time, energy, and risked their lived and freedom for the Beautiful Ideal.
So this May Day NYC ABC is asking you to write letters to some anarchists and comrades currently held in U.S. prisons. Please drop them a line or send a card to let them know you are thinking of them. (Note: the addresses below are correct to the best of our knowledge as of the time of this posting, though in some cases links to info about their cases does not reflect this; ie, Casey’s address has changed due to new digitized mail protocols.)
Gage Halupowski #21894460
South Fork Forest Camp
48300 Wilson River Highway
Tillamook, Oregon 97141-9799
Alexander Contompasis 22-B-5028
Upstate Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 2001
Malone, New York 12953
Benjamin Varela #434577
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, Washington 98520
Eric King #27090-045
USP Florence ADMAX
Post Office Box 8500
Florence, Colorado 81226
Daniel Baker #25765-509
FCI Memphis
Post Office Box 34550
Memphis, Tennessee 38184
Marius Mason* #04672-061
FCI Danbury
Route 37
Danbury, Connecticut 06811
*Address envelope to Marie (Marius) Mason.
Xinachtli* #255735
W.G. McConnell Unit
3001 Emily Drive
Beeville, Texas 78102
*Address envelope to Alvaro Hernández
Casey Brezik #1154765
c/o Digital Mail Center- Missouri DOC
Post Office Box 25678
Tampa, Florida 33622-5678
Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Victorville Medium I
Post Office Box 3725
Adelanto, California 92301
BK/NY – NYE – Noise Demo Against the Prison Industrial Complex, In Solidarity with PPs and POWs
WHAT: Noise Demo
WHEN: 9:00pm, Saturday, December 31st
WHERE: Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC, the federal prison in Brooklyn); 29th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, Brooklyn, New York 11232 (D/N/R to 36th Street or R to 25th Street).
NOTE: we are not encouraging folks to take public transit or other risks. Please recognize your comfort level with attending this event)
BRING: Noisemakers, air horns, drums, anything that is loud!
On the noisiest night of the year in New York City, come help us remind folks locked up that they are not alone. NYC Anarchist Black Cross, in response to an international call for noise demonstrations outside of prisons, is asking folks to join us outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Come, not to appeal to authority, speak truth to power, or any other contrivance, but rather to stand with comrades, at a safe distance, and show direct solidarity to those on the other side of the wall.
The state, writ large, is targeting anarchists all across the United States and abroad. This will be both protest and celebration.
Illustrated Guide Version 15.3 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
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
Tuesday, April 20 – May Day letter-writing for Anarchist Prisoners
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, April 20th, 2021
WHERE: your home (or wherever you happen to be)
COST: Free
NYC ABC is an anarchist collective that supports political prisoners captured in liberation and anti-oppression struggles from a wide range of political or spiritual traditions. In other words, though we subscribe to anti-authoritarian principles, we don’t only support anarchists behind bars. But the May Day season is one in which we focus on those who struggle for a world without borders or bosses.
So, in remembrance of the Haymarket Martyrs—in whose honor May Day became known as an international workers’ day—we focus this week’s letter-writing on anarchists imprisoned for their beliefs and actions. Instead of getting together to sign and send May Day cards as we have in previous years, this week NYC ABC and Page One Collective are asking folks to to write letters or send books to one or more of the anarchist political prisoners we currently support, including Bill Dunne, Casey Brezik, and Gage Halupowski.
Unfortunately, anarchist political prisoner Eric King is currently on mail ban, so can’t receive letters. But he can receive book and magazines! Here is the link to Eric’s book wish list: tiny.cc/EK_Books
Casey Brezik #1154765
Jefferson City Correctional Center
8200 No More Victims Road
Jefferson City, Missouri 65101
Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Victorville Medium I
Post Office Box 3725
Adelanto, California 92301
Gage Halupowski #21894460
Snake River Correctional Institution
777 Stanton Boulevard
Ontario, Oregon 97914-8335
Illustrated Guide Version 13.3 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners.
Over 100 in the streets for NYC ABC NYE Noise Demo
2019 started strong as we welcomed home water protector Dion Ortiz. Throughout the year, we saw more comrades released (Janet, Janine, and Eddie Africa; Little Feather, Connor Stevens, and Nina Droz Franco). And yet, as more elders age behind the wall, we lost a true warrior, Tom Manning. To close the year, NYC ABC organized a noise demo outside of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in order to protest, celebrate, and let folks on the inside know they are not forgotten.
We got there a little after 8:30 and others were there waiting. We greeted old comrades and folks we’d yet to meet and by 9:00pm, a decent crowd had formed. The night was relatively warm by winter standards, but comrades from the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) showed up with tea and hot chocolate to make sure everyone’s vocal cords stayed nice and toasty as we yelled and sang upward, into the steel and cement monolith that is MCC.
There were all manner of noise makers, most folks brought their own. Hell, we even had a makeshift drum corps to keep this noise demo moving.
Photo by NYC RAM
And while folks were there to celebrate and reach through the walls, signs and banners also expressed the brimming rage of the crowd. A crew from The Base showed up with black flags and banners to make sure all inside knew there were anarchists organizing in solidarity with them.
The demo lasted a couple of hours, but not before folks broke out sparklers and fireworks. And not before a fair amount of cops came to observe. They didn’t have riot gear or visible plasitcuffs, so the threat was more in what a bunch of preposterous goons they are than in any potential for arrest.
We’ve been told before, by comrades who were once held in MCC, that the noise demos light up the whole place and get through to the prisoners. If you’re thinking about organizing a noise demo in your town, do it.
Shortly before the crowd started to break up and head out, the following statement was read as a call and response, ensuring that our comrades inside could hear it:
“To many it feels like we live in a time like no other with surveillance and repression at every turn but also resistance, rebellion, and open revolt. This is neither the new golden nor dark age, it is simply another moment in time where we can collectively force conflict with a fucked up system.
Every day there are revolts of varying scale, most of which you never hear about. For those captured in revolt we come together in protest and celebration. Through the din of revelry and rage we tie ourselves to those who suffer systematized white supremacy and war against the working class
Prison is a means of social control to be absolutely destroyed.
Here’s to the total destruction of a prison-based society!
Tonight we bring with us the courage of Bill Dunne, the ferocity of Joe-Joe Bowen, the wisdom of Mutulu Shakur.
We remember in every act of rebellion against the state, our deceased comrades Tom Manning and Robert Seth Hayes your legacies will never be forgotten.
We hold in our hearts comrades soon to be or recently imprisoned—David Campbell, Joseph Dibee, Gage Halupowski, Chelsea Manning.
Illustrated Guide Version 14.9 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners. Unfortunately, we are adding a prisoner to the guide this month–Plowshares activist Stephen Kelly. We are thankful to remove Nina Droz-Franco (halfway house!).
Illustrated Guide Version 14.8 Uploaded!
We’ve finished the latest version of the NYC ABC “Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War” and it’s available for viewing (and download) by clicking on the tab at the top of this page. This update includes updated mini-bios, photos, and address changes for several prisoners. Unfortunately, we are adding two prisoners to the guide this month–anti-racists Gage Halupowski and David Campbell.
BK/NY – Tuesday, September 17th – Letter-writing to Gage Halupowski
WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, September 17th, 2019
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
Hey guys! Are you ready to hear something literally crazy? Guess who the United States government and its flunkies in various state and local police departments are targeting to punish with potentially decades in prison. No, not billionaire capitalists and corrupt politicians (even when they are the same person). No, the state is laser focused on individual anti-racists and antifascists with the audacity to stand up against bigotry and systematized white supremacy. A not-too-deep reading of the history of this country reveals that it is founded, and relies, on white supremacy. So don’t expect the state to eat itself, ouroboros style. So until we can collectively push the twin monsters of the state and capital over the goddamned cliff, NYC ABC will support those folks trying to do just that–political prisoners and POWs. This Tuesday’s political prisoner letter-writing dinner will focus on Gage Halupowski, currently jailed for alleged actions in Portland, Oregon. NOTE: Gage is awaiting trial, so please do not write about anything illegal, overtly political, or likely to be used against him if it shows up in a court transcript. For tips on writing to prisoners, see nycabc.wordpress.com/write-a-letter
We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write a letter to Gage:
Gage Halupowski #817981
Multnomah County Jail
11540 Inverness Drive
Portland, Oregon 97220
NYC Anarchist Black Cross 
