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Anonymous submission received on 08.22.18

Sometime after midnight on Saturday, August 18th, a dozen or so anarchists rolled up on a Skull Fest (it’s a punk fest) show with a sound system, flags, banners, and goodie bags full of road flares, black masks, and pamphlets about the National Prison Strike.

From August 21st (the anniversary of Nat Turner’s revolt and of the assassination of Black Guerrilla George Jackson) through September 9th (the anniversary of the Attica prison uprising), prisoners from all across the so-called united states are rising against the modern plantation system.

As It’s Going Down writes,

“Already, the strike has spread into Canada, and numerous facilities around the US are already seeing hunger strikes pop off as prisoners issue demands. Prison officials are also cracking down on various facilities, shutting them down, and locking up prison rebel leaders as deep in the hole as they can.”

Since we figured Skull Fest punx probably know shit is fucked and might be down (?), we took the opportunity to incite our friends on the outside to act in solidarity with our friends who are locked down on the inside. Even small gestures like ours can subvert the isolation of prison, inviting the unrest that’s too often locked and hidden behind walls into our streets.

Out of the large crowd, a few punx showed interest in joining the march, and some actually did for a bit, which was tight. But tbh most remained indifferent and just kinda stared at us. One jag yelled, “Burn out already!!” If only he knew how many times we have (: …but pamphlets about the strike were distributed to the fest goers, and a few fists were raised. Punk is dead, blah blah. ANYWAYS, the march made its way up on to fucking Butler Street. What’s good, hipsters?

After leaving the show, we marched a short ways through Lawrenceville, distributing literature to some (surprisingly receptive?) folks at a few hipster bars. We dispersed shortly after the cops arrived, but not before getting a few laughs in first—this one pig’s tough-guy “who’s in charge?” routine devolved into him jogging from person to person straight-up pleading for someone, anyone, to talk to him. He had this sorta desperate look on his face, clearly just couldn’t process it. Dude was shook as fuck. The authors of this report would also like to add that we hope he winds up like those two screws who got shanked at Allegheny County Jail the other day.

It’s been a hot summer in Pittsburgh, but as the homies at Torchlight write,

“[Pittsburgh’s new protest restrictions] make it obvious that the cops are gaining confidence and worrying less about Pittsburgh going up like Ferguson.”

Spontaneous, unpredictable actions do more than show solidarity and “raise awareness” — they disrupt the state’s ability to use threats of repression to siphon unrest into the professional Left’s array of dead-end “community” dialogues and electoral campaigns. The new protest guidelines threaten to criminalize radical individuals, crews, and organizations who continue to organize beyond the self-appointed leaders and managers of the various movements. So let’s continue catching the pigs off guard, challenging their newfound confidence, and opening up space for further decentralized, autonomous action — by any means necessary.

Solidarity with everyone that’s still pushing the envelope in Pittsburgh. Solidarity with all prisoners. 

Behind Enemy Lines probably said it better than us:

Immersed in political strategies
Government policies create endless catastrophes
and we all pay the price
when our movement becomes stagnant, anchored by apathy
We can’t just give up, we can’t just give in
There are no wasted attempts when it comes to action
The smallest act could cause a chain reaction
that could bring this entire system down
Light it up
Ignite a spark
Every single action could be the start
It will take all of our efforts to get out of the dark
You could be the one
that offers hope and inspiration
to everyone who feels defeated
and moves the depleted towards motivation
and helps the flame continue to burn
The most important thing that we still need to learn
is that we’re in this together, don’t shut out one another
Don’t ever forget that we depend on each other

 – some anarchists

For more on the prison strike, check out prisonstrike.com, It’s Going Down, Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, follow #PrisonStrike & plenty of other stuff.

For background information, strike demands, as well as a list of solidarity events, please go here.

Action report from the Fight Toxic Prisons convergence.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — On the heels of the 3rd Annual Fight Toxic Prisons Convergence, dozens of organizers, community members, and friends and family of currently- and formerly-incarcerated peoples marched through downtown Pittsburgh, making stops at the headquarters of EQT and ending at a power plant belonging to coal utility NRG Energy on the North Side. The demonstration concludes a weekend of lectures, workshops, and discussion about mass incarceration and its links to environmental health.

EQT Corporation, a major oil and gas company notorious for poisoning drinking water supplies across rural Appalachia, is one of the largest companies involved in fracking, with 793 active wells in Pennsylvania alone. They’re also one of the top ten worst polluters in the industry, according to a 2015 report published by the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 2012, EQT received several charges for water pollution and disturbance of waterways, and a $1.1 million fine for poisoning drinking water supply sources through a shale pit leak at Rock Run in Tioga County, PA, and has received several other fines, violations, and complaints as well.

The march culminated in a rally at the NRG Energy Center calling attention to the health and human rights atrocities occurring at SCI Fayette, a state-run prison that currently houses 2,176 inmates. SCI Fayette was built in 2003, directly on top of a toxic coal ash dump that has been in operation for decades, receiving millions of tons of waste from coal processing companies, including NRG.

The inmate population of SCI Fayette, and the surrounding community of Labelle, PA, have reported alarmingly high rates of health issues linked to the ash that blows off the dumping site and into the surrounding air.

Richard Mosley, a member of Fayette Health Justice and Put People First PA and a former prisoner at Fayette, spoke to the crowd via telephone about his experiences there, including respiratory ailments and medical neglect. “I was admitted into the infirmary well over 10 times and at medical at least 40 times during my four years at SCI Fayette. My weight dropped down from 225lbs to 170lbs. I got so sick at one point that I kept a letter with me to send to my family in case I died.”

Other speakers at the rally highlighted campaigns and organizations working alongside and on behalf of prisoners everywhere, including Shandre Delaney of Human Rights Coalition (HRC), a prisoner-led human rights organization based in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, PA. HRC was a local host of the Fight Toxic Prisons Convergence.

Speaking to the crowd, Ms. Delaney said “HRC believes that it is critically important that prisoners are treated with humanity in every aspect of their incarceration. A prison sentence should not become a death sentence because of the lack of healthcare or the access to legal remedy or complaint of their treatment.”

HRC is involved in drafting legislation to end solitary confinement in Pennsylvania, as well as highlighting ongoing cases of abuse behind prison walls. They were also involved in co-producing a report on the toxic conditions at SCI Fayette with the Abolitionist Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit based in Pittsburgh.

More information about the Fight Toxic Prisons Convergence can be found at: FightToxicPrisons.org

Originally published by It’s Going Down

The following is an announcement for third annual Fight Toxic Prisons convergence.

The third annual Fight Toxic Prisons Convergence will take place in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania from June 8-11th. The convergence will include speakers, panels, workshops, protests and cultural activities exploring the intersections of anti-prison and environmental struggles. We are currently confirming speakers for the conference and are excited to share updates with you in the coming months. We maintain a commitment to creating a space in which those most directly impacted are centered.

You can register at https://bit.ly/2uEVXlq

To get a sense of what to expect, check out the panels and rabble-rousers from our 2017 Convergence to get a sense of what to expect.

Cost:

While the conference is free and open to all, paying the sliding-scale registration fee of $25 – $50 will help cover the cost of food, housing and travel assistance to those who request it.

Travel:

The closest airport is the Pittsburgh International Airport, and there are also Megabus and Greyhound bus routes, as well as train routes.

Housing:

There will be some housing assistance offered. Please make sure to check that in the registration form.

Help Us Fundraise?:

Your donation will help us ensure that grassroots organizers, former political prisoners, family members and supporters of current prisoners are able to attend this convergence.

Donate through our fiscal sponsors at the Abolitionist Law Center by clicking here.

PLEASE NOTE, you must click “Is this for a specific case or project?” and type “FTP 2018 Convergence” to ensure the funds are available to us directly.

You can also donate via our 2018 fundraising site here.

By bringing together hundreds of grassroots activists from across the country the annual Fight Toxic Prisons Convergence seeks to build momentum across, bridges between, and solidarity among the movements for ecological justice, environmental justice, and prison reform/abolition. Through our annual convergences we seek to create space at the intersections of our various movements and across prison walls (at our 2017 convergence 9 prisoners called in to speak on panels and breakout groups), a space in which we can collectively explore how we might achieve liberation and justice. A space where we can directly share and learn from tactics, strategies, and experiences beyond the scope of our particular movements and campaigns that might play decisive roles in our local victories.

Check out more of our work and campaigns www.FightToxicPrisons.org.

Please share the event and invite people on Facebook.