NYC – Tuesday, May 27th – Letter-writing to Cecily McMillan

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street (UPSTAIRS) New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for NYC ABC. Our comrade Jerry Koch participated in his first post-prison public speaking event, a panel coordinated with the 2014 NYC Anarchist Book Fair. Speaking of, we also tabled the Book Fair (this year with 80% less drama!) and were able to reconnect with old friends and talk with a host of new folks. In the same time period, we also reached our goal in the release fund for antifa political prisoner Cody Lee Sutherlin of the Tinley Park Five.

And then there’s the bad news.

Cecily McMillan, an Occupy Wall Street activist who was assaulted by the NYPD, yet convicted herself of assault in a miscarriage of justice, was sentenced to three months in jail and five years probation.

So that lands us where we are, doing what we do. In solidarity with Cecily, and to let her know the breadth of support she enjoys, we focus our next Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner on her. We will have a special guest speaker, Lucy Parks from Cecily’s support crew, so this event is not to be missed.

If for some nutty reason you can’t make it out, but still want to support Cecily (or send her a book), you can write to her at:
Cecily McMillan
Book & Case Number 3101400431
Rose M. Singer Center
19-19 Hazen Street
East Elmhurst, New York 11370

For more information, be sure to visit the justiceforcecily.com

Cecily McMillan Found Guilty – Write to Her!

On Monday, May 5th, Cecily McMillan was found guilty of assaulting a cop. That McMillan was merely reacting to an actual assault by the cop seemed irrelevant to the judge. She was immediately remanded and will be jailed until her sentencing date on May 19th.

Being unexpectedly jailed is terrifying and the first few days are understandably the most difficult. Help make this time more bearable by writing to Cecily to let her know folks on the outside have her back.

 

Her current address is:
Cecily McMillan
Book & Case Number 3101400431
Rose M. Singer Center
19-19 Hazen Street
East Elmhurst, New York 11370

For up to date information and other ways to help, make sure to visit justiceforcecily.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.

NYC – Tuesday, May 14th – Letter-writing Dinner in Solidarity with the NATO 5

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm sharp, Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street (UPSTAIRS) New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free

Hard on the heels of our Mother’s Day Eve Noise Demo, NYC Anarchist Black Cross is back at it with another political prisoner letter-writing dinner. Though a couple of days early, this week’s event is our answer to the call for an International Week of Solidarity with the NATO 5.

The “NATO 5” can be a confusing name because there are 3 separate cases involving 5 defendants:      The NATO 3– Brent Betterly, Jared “Jay” Chase, Brian “Jacob Church”; Mark “Migs” Neiweem; and Sebastian “Sabi” Senakiewicz. The name “NATO 5” is used to highlight the common thread between these cases—all five of these activists were targeted by two undercover Chicago cops known as “Mo” and “Gloves”/“Nadiya”/“Nadia” for preemptive, politically motivated arrests prior to the 2012 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit in Chicago, Illinois. For more information on background and individual cases, visit nato5support.wordpress.com

If, for whatever reason, you can’t make it to supper, please take time to write some letters to these comrades NOTE: Brent, Jay, and Jacob are still pre-trial. DO NOT write about their case or alleged actions. In the past, we’ve seen how this has come back to negatively impact cases.

Brent Betterly 2012-0519001
Jared Chase 2012-0519003
Brian Church 2012-0519002
Cook County Department of Correction
Post Office Box 089002
Chicago, Illinois 60608

Mark Neiweem* #M36200
Stateville Correctional Center    Pontiac Correctional Center
Post Office Box 112  h              Post Office Box 99
Joliet, Illinois 60434 h              Pontiac, Illinois 61764
*Address cards/letters to MIGS.

Sebastian “Sabi” Senakiewicz #M32870

Facing 15 years in prison followed by deportation to his native Poland after serving his sentence, Sebastian took a non-cooperating plea deal in November 2012. He is currently serving a four month sentence in boot camp, unable to receive mail.

BK/NY – Tuesday, October 11th – Commemorate the Legacy of the Black Panthers

What: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
When: 7pm (sharp), Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Where: 885 Park Avenue, Brooklyn, New York (see below for directions)
Cost: Free

It could very well be that folks in the United States are fed up. Fed up with the state and capitalism, fed up with the authorities in their lives that keep pushing and pushing and pushing, fed up with bosses, with landlords, with cops, wardens, and commanding officers. While far from flawless, Occupy Wall Street and its successors have given form to the anger and potential we share. At the same time, over 12,000 prisoners in California continue to protest the inhumane conditions and fucked up policies under which many of them are imprisoned. And their hunger strike is spreading.

In this same month, we must acknowledge a significant anniversary. It was in October, 1966 that the Black Panther Party was founded. Much of the movement we see today, in the streets on in prisons, has a direct lineage to the Panthers. It is with that in mind that we focus our every-other-week political prisoner letter-writing dinner.

This time around, we’ll be focusing on current political prisoners and prisoners of war who were members of the original Black Panther Party. As there are currently twenty Panther political prisoners or prisoners of war, we will be hosting a card-signing, with additional information available for those able to write a separate letter or begin a correspondence.

OWS – 8 Oct – Join Us To Send Cards to Political Prisoners and Hunger Strikers

WHAT: Letter and card writing for PPs, POWs, and prisoners on hunger strike in California
WHERE: Zuccotti Park (Liberty Street and Broadway, New York, New York)
WHEN: 11:00am-2:00pm Saturday, October 8th
COST: FREE!

We’re joining comrades from Resistance in Brooklyn (RnB) in a ‘write in’ to political prisoners and hunger strike prisoners with Occupy Wall Street protesters at the park on Saturday the 8th at 11am. RnB have already spoken to some of the protesters who are up for it. As RnB wrote, “We have been encouraged to do this to bring the unjust, racist criminal justice [system] into the lists of grievances.”