The Brighton and Bristol Anarchist Black Cross prisoner support groups will both have stalls at the London anarchist bookfair, this Saturday 24 October. We’ll be alongside the comrades from the Campaign against prison slavery, and Haven Distribution books to prisoners. Come along and have a chat with us, find out more and pick up some interesting info and prisoner’s details.
Brighton and Bristol are also hosting the following workshops: (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: events, fundraisers, Greece, Haven, prison abolition, resistance, rights, solidarity, state repression
Prisoner support should be an essential facet of any anarchist’s political activities; yet our prisoner support groups attract so little actual support from our fellow anarchists. Why is this?
The following article has been written by comrades from Brighton ABC, with input from other anarchists including us here in Bristol. The article is due to appear in the special issue of Freedom newspaper to be given out at the London Anarchist Bookfair on 24 October 2009. We think its well worth circulating far more widely….
Why Prisoner Support?
Prisoner support should be an essential facet of any anarchist’s political activities; yet our prisoner support groups attract so little support from our fellow anarchists. Why is this?
Of course, it is natural for us to support someone we are close to, friends and family or even a comrade from ones affinity group, when they are banged up. Yet why do so few anarchists support comrades from within the wider movement, let alone prisoners in general? Mutual aid and solidarity are surely a central tenet of the anarchist ‘belief system’, one brick that any anarchist society should be built upon, yet it is something that often doesn’t extend beyond one’s immediate environment (family/friends/affinity group). (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Haven, prison abolition, prison slavery, resistance, solidarity, state repression, writing
Prisons are in the news this week, and not just because of the shocking statistic that the prison population has increased by 66% since 1995, to just over 84000 locked up human beings. The main furore has been the call by the Prison Governors to abolish prison sentences of less than 1 year, which is a start…but their call is not driven by a sudden awakening to the concept of freedom. No its down to fear, fear that their overcrowded, corrupt and inhumane institutions are close to exploding, despite the introduction of countless measures since the Strangeways riot in 1990 to ever more control and isolate prisoners. (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Ben Gunn, events, prison abolition, prison slavery, solidarity, state repression
On 31st Oct/1st Nov 2009, at the Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton, UK.
2 Days of discussions & presentations about the struggle for liberation, inside and outside of the prison walls. Organised by random anarchists and the Anarchist Black Cross, and in attendance comrades from across Europe. Topics/Themes include: (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: events, prison abolition, resistance, solidarity, state repression
Bristol ABC has attended the three founding meetings of a new campaign:
Communities of Resistance (CoRe) – Building a campaign against Titan prisons
The campaign has now been formally launched. Leaflets and more info available soon. If you live in the Bristol area and want to know more, or get involved, please contact Bristol ABC. We would be particularly interested to hear from prisoners and their families.
The new campaign has this to say:
(more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Anti-Titan, prison abolition, prison policy
A weekend Festival of Resistance drawing together the themes or anti-prison campaigning & prisoner support, and organising against border controls and the demonisation of migrants.
You don’t need to be a genius, nor an anarchist, to see the links between the two, as the number of prisoners and detained migrants rockets, as state surveillance reaches new levels of intrusiveness, all against a backdrop of global financial crisis and the start of a major economic depression. The state is clamping down on dissent, preparing for social unrest, and as usual scapegoating the most vulnerable sections of society.
This weekend of events will look at alternatives to the current failing economic & social policies, and highlight examples of resistance.
(more…)
Categories: events
Tagged: events, prison abolition, prison policy
24th October 2008
7pm
Kebele Social Centre
14 Robertson Road
Bristol, BS5 6JY
www.kebelecoop.org
Free entry
Drinks and snacks by donation
Bristol ABC is very pleased to host this free workshop, facilitated by Sam Lamble. This is a shortened version of a longer workshop that examines the social cost of prison, especially for women, transpeople, queers, people of colour and poor people, while also exploring the alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
For an online resource pack that complements the workshop, please visit this site:
http://www.mediafire.com/?spducjbhkqp
Categories: events
Tagged: events, prison abolition, prison policy
