In the past few months, some of Michael’s writings have appeared in some amazing publications. We will be adding a page to the toolbar for publications with Michael’s writings.
What is Prisoner Support?
A collection of letters from prisoners about support and solidarity.
Wildfire, No. 1
An anarchist prison newsletter with writings from many US anarchist prisoners.
Due to my inability to take part in the shutdown (work strike) that was called for by the Free Alabama Movement here in Alabama and subsequently put in effect at the St. Clair Maximum security prison on March 1, 2015 – I am in solitary confinement and have to work assignment to shut down from – I can only express my solidarity and contempt for this greedy and rotten slave system with the way of a hunger strike and not words alone. I ask that other rebels in similar situations as I’m in do that same. Being on hunger strike will hopefully further the cause of bringing pain and disorder to the capitalist slave plantations in Alabama euphemistically named the Department of Corrections. What a joke!
Freedom or death!
Ain’t nothing else!
FUCK the DOC!
Viva Anarchy!
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Some recent direct actions in Alabama prisons:
January 8, 2015: Two guards stabbed and kicked to the floor by a prisoner at Holman Correctional Facility.
March 1, 2015: Prisoner escapes from Holman but shortly after is apprehended.
March 1, 2015: Prisoner at St. Clair prison in Alabama goes on work strike.
Sean Swain, an anarchist being held captive by the state of Ohio has started a hunger strike and refusing all medications in protest to the state’s blocking of his ability of communication. One of the tactics of the state/prisons is to control the flow of information and the extent of one’s ability of communication as a form of isolation and mental torture of prison rebels. Sean is a fierce warrior against the state and authority. We should be inspired by this comrade’s indomitable spirit of resistance and ability to carry on the fight despite being in the lion’s den. Imagine! All the power of the state aimed at one individual who’s already in their clutches, but refusing to give them one day of respite. Wow! We must stand in solidarity without doubt. How can we do anything less?
For more info: seanswain.org
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in response to police violence and the oppression of Black people in the USA. In a poll by Jet magazine in 1970, 70% of Black people agreed with the programs and methods of the BPP. The BPP established patrols to monitor the police in the Black community, sickle cell anemia testing, liberation schools, buses to prisons for visits, free clothing, free clinics, free breakfast for children, free groceries, political/history classes, etc. as part of their “Serve the People” program. Huey P. Newton explained the programs as survival programs pending revolution; that the programs were not solutions to the problems of Black people.
In a speech, Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old Chairman of the Chicago BPP chapter, spoke of the role of the children’s breakfast program. He spoke of it as strategy of observation and participation, that Black women who were financially distressed saw the BPP feeding the children and started volunteering in the program by cooking and serving the children. And of course, when the pigs approached Black women and attempted to turn them against the BPP by slandering the BPP and denouncing them as communists, the women said that they don’t know nothing about communism, but that they had better not fuck with the breakfast program because it fed their children. Safiya Bukhari mentioned in a writing that she and her sorority sisters volunteered with the BPP breakfast program in NYC and that’s what got her involved with the BPP. The same with Assata Shakur. They all started out on the Breakfast program and the involvement evolved from there. The children’s breakfast program was so popular in the Black community that the FBI waged a war against the program to discredit it. There’s no wonder that the BPP grew to 33 chapters in two years of its founding.
In spite of the BPP being an authoritarian, Marxist-Leninist organization, no one can deny the contributions they made to revolutionary organizing in the USA. I think it would be instructive if anarchists today would adopt some of the programs the BPP started, without the hierarchical structure.
All Power to the People!
On January 27, 28, and 29, 2015, prisoners in the segregation unit at Holman prison in Alabama went on the attack after the Warden started having prisoners who had their tray slots open fed sack lunches (1 peanut butter / 1 cheese sandwich) as punishment. Prisoners started fires and threw feces and urine on guards. One guard’s pant leg caught fire while trying to put out a fire. Three prisoners were sprayed with pepper spray and one beaten while handcuffed.
Comrades, I hope you all are doing well and continuing to resist the excesses of this rapacious system of slavery, exploitation, and oppression. I’m doing great, although I’ve had some rough times lately. But I’m alive and in resistance and find solace in that, along with all that’s happening out there.
Comrades, from all the info I’ve been able to get my hands on there seems to be a heightened level of struggle and movement building in the Black colonies throughout the USA against police violence, racism, white supremacy, and it hasn’t taken long for this movement in infancy to make the connection between the above mentioned ills of US capitalist society and the mass incarceration of Black and Brown people. One participant of a new formation of various organizations/collectives called Third World Resistance (TWR) made the following statement during the #ReclaimMLK demo in Oakland in January: “It is really empowering to see our communities rising up against the violent policing of Black people. But we must also be just as enraged at the violence that is harder to see, the violence of our people disappearing into cages. This country, which locks up more people than any other, plays a hand in locking up even more beyond its borders by exporting and sharing tactics and models of repression with oppressive governments, from Israel to Haiti and the Philippines.”
Connections, the whole matrix between the prison-industrial complex, white supremacy, business, domination, control, and exploitation, etc. That’s what we’re looking for and need to explain in a clear, no bullshit language. This is the point of attack. From all that’s taking place out there I’m really beginning to believe that we just may get to witness the destruction of Leviathan and dance in the ruins of civilization in our lifetime. And it’s having its presence felt in the prisons. Will it translate into action? Who can say? But the slaves are getting restless in here. Bolder. The drugs, TV, sports, gangs, etc. can’t keep up distracted forever. People can’t be so repressed that they can’t fight back in some way. And you all should know that prisoners are really ingenious. I’m taking heart in the rebellions taking place throughout the world, not just in the USA. The only freedom today, now, is in struggle and aggressive free action.
Relentlessly,
Michael
For the last few months I’ve been reading and analyzing the rapidly building movement since the rebellions in Ferguson and Oakland, and other places where anti-police demos have been popping off. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I simply want people to accept this as a contribution to the development of anarchist strategy. I think all the old models of bring about revolution is obsolete to a large degree and that the informal organization that appears to be developing is the correct strategy, but I would point out that we need to be setting some specific goals, long-term and short-term. Our long-term goal is of course, the smashing of the state, so we can begin the struggle of building new social relationships, without a hierarchical, capitalist society.
Our long-term goals do not excuse us from doing just that now in the midst of struggle. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what we should be doing right now as the fires of collective anger burns. Altho we say we don’t know what change is going to look like. Of course we don’t. We’re not soothsayers, but the idea is to make it look the way we desire. Nothing is guaranteed but can we afford to continue to allow others to develop the change they desire. If not, then part of our social strategy should be the projection of our vision of change we desire.
As the fires of rebellion continue, many rebels will find themselves behind the walls or on the run. Remember, revolution is outlawed, illegal. So, the care and safety of comrades who find themselves in these situations should be part of our short-term goals (finances for bail, safe-houses, etc.) along with our narrative of what’s going on and how change is possible, and what that change can possibly look like.
“I believe in human beings’ ability to live without control and exploitation, but we have an entire social order to destroy, and lifetimes of socialization to undo. Our ways of fighting, our ways of being together, can carry our ideal world in them, but that’s about all we have right now. I’ve spent enough time on anarchy as a daydream, the point seems to be to create it wherever we can.”
This not only meets the need and care of comrades who find themselves behind the walls but shows unity and solidarity not only to the comrades but to others who are watching how we deal with each other. Believe me, they are watching. So, we need to come up with an economic strategy to raise the cash that’s needed for such a project. Concerts, nightclubs, restaurants, expropriations, etc. are some of the ideas that come to mind.
I’m lumping economic, social, and political strategy together since they will overlap. Cash is also needed for other projects like purchasing land, agriculture, events, clinics, etc. Part of this strategy should be the raising of, let’s say, $1000 from each anarchist group/collective, etc. I’m sure we can get 30 anarchist groups throughout the US alone to raise $1000 a year. That’s $30,000 and we can replicate this year after year. Also, many prisoners have skills/talents such as craftmaking, leathercraft, etc. that can contribute to the economic strategy.
Another aspect of our political/social strategy should be establishing projects to feed the hungry, clothing, etc. Not as solutions but as examples of mutual aid and to point out the contradictions of the state. And as one avenue of subverting the state’s institutions.
In January 2015, as prisoners in Alabama begin to discuss launching another work strike an building communication and support with outside comrades, I submitted a few questions to one of the organizers within the Free Alabama Movement (Holman). Here’s the questions I submitted and here’s his answers.
ANARCHYLIVE: Could you tell me a little about your life, age, sentence, and affiliations?
FAHAMIVU: I got locked up when I was 18. Well, locked up this time when I was 18. I have been getting locked up my whole life really. This time I was sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP). I have been doing time on this since 2006. Throughout my existence (life) I have always been rebellious, but when I was twelve I went down for the Gangsters Disciples (GDs) and that’s when my action went from misplaced rebellion to criminal. The people whom I associated with and the older GDs we looked up to didn’t live according to the laws of our leader Larry Hoover. I wasn’t introduced to his vision until many years later. We came up in poverty and the guys who were living the best were the ones selling dope and robbing so that’s what we started doing. Fast forward through a life of crime, here I am at Holman.
AL: I know you are a member of FAM as I am, but what are some of the things you think could/should have been done to make the January 2014 work strike more successful?
F: Yeah FAM, you know it’s Free Alabama! Free 1 MO! Freedom or Death! And Fuck the DOC! All day, every day!!! As far as the work strike goes, I think the preparation and execution could have been a lot better. For the first few days it was as if we were just going with the flow, with little to no organization in some cases. So, in the beginning guys didn’t really take it all that seriously. But on January 1st at 1:00 AM we performed the first demonstration in C-unit. By C-unit being the kitchen dorm they would be the first people to go to work for the day. We stayed up all night yelling “Free Alabama!” and making it known to everyone in the dorm that there would be no working tomorrow, and that if you left out of the dorm to work you may as well take your property with you because if you tried to come back in the dorm from working we were going to beat the brakes off your ass! You already know C-unit is known for being one of the wildest, youngest, and arguably the most violent dorm in the camp, so for the young guys in this dorm it was right up our alley. The police tried to threaten and intimidate some guys into going to work in the beginning, but we defended them and made it clear that we would whip their ass if they tried to make someone go to work.
Sometimes this included just talking to them, other times it involved us throwing things and physically forcing them out of the dorm. We started turning off the TVs periodically during the day to gather everyone together and share opinion and visions for the demonstration so that we would all stay on the same page. This created a unity in us like I have never experienced in any form of resistance I have participated in or witnessed. But it didn’t catch on in all of the dorms, with the exception of B-unit. And that is what ended the demonstration. The other dorms allowed the people we kicked out to go back and forth to work from their dorms. They wasn’t really dedicated to the movement. If we could have gotten at least 10-15 guys in those dorms to enforce the no-work policy I think we would have made a much larger impact, if only just be able to sustain the demonstration longer. Continue reading
In August 2007, prisoners at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama went on a work/hunger strike in protest of the horrendous, unsanitary, decrepit living conditions and arbitrary institutional lockdowns. The initiator of this action was a young, Black prisoner named James Bond AKA Eternal. I took the time to catch up with him on the segregation exercise walk (cage) and asked him a few questions. This is his answers to the questions.
ANARCHYLIVE: What’s up brotha?
ETERNAL: Revolution!
AL: For real. But let me ask you a few questions about yourself. How old are you, where are you from and how much time are you doing?
E: I’m 30 years old and I’m one of those 507 Bottom Boyz, Westside of Dothan, Alabama. I have a LWOP (Life Without Parole) sentence.
AL: At the time of the August 2007 work/hunger strike you had just recently come off of death row –
E: Yeah, yeah, my momma said I was sentenced to death before I was out of the womb, and after studying history I’ve found out that’s true. But yeah, I spent a few years on the row. I was the last of the youngest to come off death row at that time. Continue reading
Recently, I’ve had more than one comrade ask me how could they show solidarity to rebels behind prison walls. I got the sense that they are somewhat frustrated and that the work they are doing seems unproductive and personally unfulfilling. Believe me, I and other prison rebels have the same frustrations about our efforts and work not having the desired effect we would like. But to be honest I want you comrades out there to know that the education you all do in the prisons by way of zines and books are phenomenal. The relationships comrades are building with those of us on the inside, the financial support, love, and permitted acts of solidarity is very very important. But we need some stronger stuff if we really want to do some damage to this colossal human destroying system.
From the inside, prisoners have historically used mainly 5 methods: hunger strikes, work strikes, riots, lawsuits, and letter/phone campaigns to address the inhumane conditions prisoners exist in such as pig hostility, solitary confinement, medical neglect, absence of educational/rehabilitation programs, unsanitary conditions, etc. But none of these struggles were about abolishing prisons, but reform of prison. Most prisoners believe that prisons and police are needed, just in a more humane way. Sad, but true.
From the outside, those who support prisoners, even anarchists, who claim to want the abolishment of prisons mainly use 3-4 activist type methods in support and solidarity with prison struggles. These methods are letter/phone campaigns, lawsuits, rallies, and public education. All of these are permitted methods that do little to really challenge the legitimacy of prisons, and they certainly don’t abolish it. They are merely bourgeois (legal/permitted) forms of protest that attempts to appeal to the moral conscience of bureaucrats to treat prisoners in a more humane fashion. This only legitimizes the prestige of the state.
Of course, no one wants to see prisoners (humans) mistreated and abused. My critique is that none of these methods in and of themselves will bring about the destruction of prison/state. And that those on the outside are involved in legal forms of struggle while prison rebels are involved in illegal forms of struggle. Dissent while in prison is illegal and prisoners are at the receiving end of the state’s brutality, harassment, and retaliation.
We’ve had some bloody riots, deadly and brutal hunger strikes/work strikes, lengthy lawsuits, etc, throughout the years, but there are more prisons, more prisoners, and more abuse. None of the methods in the past has knocked a dent in the state’s armor. And I’d be remiss not to mention the notion that we shouldn’t use revolutionary violence. The thinking behind this is that if we use revolutionary violence, the state will gain an upper hand in the media and discrediting us as thugs, criminals, and terrorists. Fuck, the state always has the upper hand in the mainstream media outlets. The media is controlled by the state through big business, who is in cahoots with the state.
Since prisons are the most concentrated centers of authority, coercion, and control in society, it should be the point of attack, prison abolition should be at the forefront of any movement against authority and for freedom, and prisoners’ voices should have a prominent place in the movement simply because of their unique position. This is not about romanticism or adventurism as some would like to claim to justify their lack of action. Of course, no one can say what strategy and tactics will be successful in spreading revolt, but I can’t think of anything more clear than attack where it hurts. So, with all that said, I’d like to layout “Some Things to Do” that comrades should give serious thought.
Some Things to Do
