UW-Seattle Shooting Victim Was Anti-Racist Organiser

SEATTLE, USA — The victim of the shooting at University of Washington’s Seattle Campus (UW-Seattle) on Friday, January 20, 2017, is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the IWW’s General Defense Committee (GDC), an anti-racist and anti-fascist organization. He was present at the protests against Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos on Friday night to oppose Milo’s hateful speech, which encourages violence towards minority groups, and has resulted in actual violence in the past. The victim spent the period prior to being shot de-escalating conflicts between protesters and counter-protesters.

The shooter is unknown to the public at this point. Despite using a firearm against another unarmed citizen in a place where firearms are prohibited, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) released the shooter shortly after he turned himself in. It is unclear to us that this is standard SPD practice. We do not yet know the real motivations behind the actions of the shooter at Friday’s protest. We do know that he brought a loaded weapon on the UW’s campus, into a protest situation. We understand that this is already a violation of law. We do know that he claimed self-defense against a person who was explicitly there to de-escalate violence, and that the shooter appears to have a considerable amount of confusion as to whom he shot, since he claims to have thought the victim was himself a white supremacist. The shooter displayed a serious lack of responsibility when he brought a loaded firearm onto UW’s campus in a protest situation, and even more when he used it. We do not understand the rationale for releasing this man.

The victim is a 34-year-old man from Seattle who has been a long-time anti-racist and anti-fascist activist. The shooter has apparently claimed that he shot the victim in ‘self-defense.’ The victim was unarmed and attempting to de-escalate conflict at the protest. We request that the press not identify the victim by name. The so-called ‘alt-right’ is notorious for creating virtual mobs to harass those with whom they disagree. The press should resist unintentional collaboration with these tactics. We recognize the pressure for the media to get stories out early and first. We request that the media engage with the victim directly, when he is recovered sufficiently to do so. In the meantime, please refrain from repeating the shooter’s claim that the victim was a white supremacist, without qualifying it with our statement.

The greatest needs for our member are of course personal, physical, and emotional. But the financial needs will be great. Supportive members of the public can donate to the shooting victim’s recovery fund at the internet address below.

We are deeply saddened by the attack on our friend. We are saddened but not surprised that the police released the attacker so swiftly.

To donate to the victim’s medical funds, please visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/medical-fundraiser-for-iww-and-gdc-member-shot-in-seattle

9th of September condensed news reports

Send information about the recent US prison strike to folks inside! Here are some files of information that has been gathered about the strike formatted to fit on A4 sheets of paper per file so they can be printed and mailed in to prisoners (where prisons are not too aggressive with censorship, that is).

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Dinner and infonight in solidarity with US national prison strike

On the 8th of September we are having a fundraising dinner and infonight in solidairty with striking workers who are fighting against the slavery of the United States prison industrial complex.

Come to Kebele Community Centre, 14 Roberstson Road, BS5 6JY, at 6.30 pm on Thursday the 8th of September for food and to find out more about their struggle. There will be a discussion with the importance of prisoner solidarity and the need for prisoners’ unions with Bristol ABC and members of the  Incarcerated Workers’ Organising Committee, who are involved in assisting with the prison strike from the outside in the US.

In the words of prisoners involved in the strike:

Slavery is alive and well in the prison system, but by the end of this year, it won’t be anymore. This is a call to end slavery in America. This call goes directly to the slaves themselves. We are not making demands or requests of our captors, we are calling ourselves to action. To every prisoner in every state and federal institution across this land, we call on you to stop being a slave, to let the crops rot in the plantation fields, to go on strike and cease reproducing the institutions of your confinement.

This is a call for a nation-wide prisoner work stoppage to end prison slavery, starting on September 9^th, 2016. They cannot run these facilities without us.

For the rest of the callout and for more information about the strike, visit iwoc.noblogs.org and itsgoingdown.org

 

Call for solidarity with USA prison strike on the 9th of September

On September 9th, 2016 prisoners across the United States will be conducting work stoppages, hunger strikes and other forms of action in a call to end prison slavery. The call was originated by organizers from the Free Alabama Movement. A national coalition of community groups associated with the IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Anarchist Black Cross chapters and others throughout the country have come together to build a national support network to push for a final end to prison slavery.

To achieve this goal, we need support from the international community. We hope that prisoner support groups in the across the globe will hold solidarity demos and inform prisoners they are in contact with about the September 9th day of action. This spring and summer will be seasons of organizing, spreading the word, building networks of solidarity and showing that we’re serious and what we’re capable of. We ask that you organize some sort of solidarity action and help spread the word to prisoners in your area. We hope that the fires of prison rebellion spread from the United States to prisons across the globe! With one unified voice of rebellion we can send a strong message to captors across the globe that the iron bars of their cage cannot contain our thirst for freedom!

Over the next month members from the Anarchist Black Cross in the United States will be traveling Europe and available to do presentations or talk with your collective if you have the time/if our itinerary has us come through your area. It would also be most helpful if folks could help us get in contact with other groups throughout Europe to spread the word and who might be interested in meeting with us while we are in their area.

Dare to Struggle
Dare to Win

Portland ABC
pdxabc.org

More info on the Sept. 9th Day of action.
supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org/s…/
FreeAlabamaMovement.com
iwoc.noblogs.org
unityandstruggle.org/2016/05/05/incarce…/

If you or your collective are interested in meeting with us we will be in the following European cities on the following dates. We would love to do a presentation or share about the national prisoner strike with your group. If you have connections to prisoner support groups in any of the following cities it would be greatly appreciated if you could connect us!

July 6-10th: Berlin
July 10th-15: Barcelona
July 15-20th: Naples
July 20th-24: London
July 24-29th: Paris
July 29-August 6: Athens