BK/NY – Tuesday, March 31 – Letter-writing to Y12 Plowshares Prisoners

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, March 31st, 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
March is one of those months where NYC ABC is lucky enough to host three letter-writing dinners. This upcoming Tuesday, we will be writing a trio of radical Catholics. We know what you’re  thinking— is this some kind of April Fool’s joke? Radical Catholics exist? Let us assure you that they do and they have been trespassing at military sites and smashing up equipment belonging to the military and war profiteers for over 25 years now.

We will be joined by Carmen Trotta of the Catholic Worker, who will speak about the case. Carmen has served on the National Committee of the War Resister’s League and is a founding member of Witness Against Torture.

The three activists we are writing– Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed, are from the Plowshares movement. In 2012, the three cut holes in the fence of  the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Once inside the “secure” area, they hung protest banners on a uranium storage site, poured human blood and spray-painted the walls with anti-war slogans. In May 2013, the activists were convicted on the charges of damaging property & intending to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of the United States. Walli and Boertje-Obed were sentenced to just over 5 years in federal prison, while Sister Megan is serving a 3 year sentence at nearby MDC Brooklyn.
More information: transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com

We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write letters (and send books) to the prisoners:
Megan Rice #88101-020
MDC Brooklyn
Post Office Box 329002
Brooklyn, New York 11232

Michael R Walli #92108-020
FCI McKean
Post Office Box 8000
Bradford, Pennsylvania 16701

Gregory Boertje-Obed #08052-016
USP Leavenworth
Post Office Box 1000
Leavenworth, Kansas 66048

BK/NY – Tuesday, March 3 – Card-signing for Women’s History Month

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, March 3rd, 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
So cops in Chicago now function like the thugs of the CIA by having a black site where they torture and disappear folks they arrest. Let that set in for a minute. Chicago cops, with a storied history of corruption and brutality, operate an off-the-books compound where they interrogate folks. Ask many of the prisoners we support and they’ll describe similar torture during their detentions and/or imprisonments. Speaking of supporting political prisoners, it’s time again for the every-other-week NYC ABC political prisoner letter-writing dinner. In this month of women’s history, we offer our solidarity to female rebels.

Come find out more about Debbie, Janet, and Janine Africa, Maya Chase, Chelsea Manning, Rev. Joy Powell, Megan Rice, and Rebecca Rubin. We’ll also have other political prisoner news, so come enjoy a meal with friends (new or old).

We expect to see you on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, please take the time to write letters to the prisoners:
Debbie Sims Africa #OO6307
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403

Janet Holloway Africa #OO6308
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403

Janine Phillips Africa #OO6309
SCI Cambridge Springs
451 Fullerton Avenue
Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403

Maya Chase M44710
Dixon Correctional Center
2600 North Brinton Avenue
Dixon, Illinois 61021
*Address envelope to Jared Chase.

Chelsea E. Manning 89289
1300 North Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-2304

Reverend Joy Powell #07-G-0632
Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
Post Office Box 1000
Bedford Hills, New York 10507-2499

Megan Rice #88101-020
MDC Brooklyn
Post Office Box 329002
Brooklyn, New York 11232

Rebecca Rubin #98290-011
FCI Dublin
5701 8th Street – Camp Parks
Dublin, California 94568

150 in the streets for NYC ABC NYE Noise Demo

Last year, we hoped that the release of Lynne Stewart on New Year’s Day would usher in a year of political prisoner releases. It did. We welcomed 20 of the prisoners in our Illustrated Guide to Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War back to the world and, on the eve of 2015, also welcomed Lynne as she joined us at our annual New Year’s Eve noise demo.

The night was cold, but not exceptionally so. Regardless, hot cocoa supplied by comrades from Stop the Anarchist Witch-hunt (SAW) kept revelers from freezing as the crowd grew larger. Noise being the operative term, we had a complete miss-mash of sound as radical marching band Rude Mechanical Orchestra competed with a mobile sound system and a host of air horns, whistles, and vuvuzelas.

For those unfamiliar, the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC New York) is a brick and steel monolith in one of the small corners of Manhattan not filled with residential buildings. As we arrived, there were very few cops or federal prison guards. Once our numbers swelled to over 100, that changed. They kept their distance, perhaps as part of the alleged NYPD union work slowdown, but it was clear that they were prepared to bust skulls if given the chance. Later that night, cops unleashed their pent up feelings of inadequacy on an impromptu in-the-streets dance party not far from where the noise demo ended.

The mood was festive and celebratory, but it was clear that the crowd, eventually peaking at around 150 noisy rabble rousers, was also full of rage as evidenced by the signs and banners, including a wanted sign for cops involved in the murder of Eric Garner.

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, behind steel bars and safety glass.

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 Sundiata Acoli, the ferocity of Joe-Joe Bowen, the wisdom of Mutulu Shakur.

We hold in our hearts comrades soon to be or recently imprisoned: Greg Boertje-Obed, Kevin Chianella, Eric King, Luke O’Donovan, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli.

YOU. ARE NOT. ALONE.”