Political prisoners list July 2011

Here is the monthly list of political prisoners compiled by Bristol ABC, for July 2011.
As an open office doc: prisoner-list_july2011

It is a worrying fact that the list of political prisoners is growing both here in the UK and around the world. The fact of the matter is that we barely scratch the surface of the list of people doing time for their political beliefs and actions. Indeed, if you look through our list, you will note that details of political prisoners across eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the middle east are almost entirely absent. These peoples’ plights are virtually unrecorded (in the english language at least) , and they number in the tens of thousands, with many disappearing forever, as often as not murdered by their repressive regimes.

Solidarity fund for six new anti-fascist UK prisoners

Our comrades at Leeds ABC have helped set up a solidarity fund for the 6 UK anti-fascists recently imprisoned for upto 21 months: “A solidarity fund has been set up to support the antifascist prisoners recently arrested. At a time when the state is applying increasingly draconian measures to thwart all forms of political protest and resistance of all kinds it is important that our prisoners are supported.”

Please send cheques made payable to ‘The Cable Street Society’, c/o Leeds ABC, 145-149 Cardigan Road, Leeds, LS6 1L
Or pay by bank transfer – details here.

Leeds ABC have been in touch with the prisoners: “These comrades have been fitted-up and deserve our fullest possible support. Please write to them or send a solidarity card. Please send a stamped self-addressed envelope if you would like a reply, or if you can afford it they can receive stamps, stationery, and postal orders (made payable to ‘The Governor’). They can also receive books sent via Amazon.

Whilst we were away Bristol rebelled

The Bristol ABC blog has been quiet the last 8 weeks, whilst Bristol has been very rebellious and making national headlines. We’ve not exactly been away, but lack of people to do the work has meant the blog hasn’t been maintained as we’d like it to be. In fact those of us who have been around and about and healthy have been very busy locally, including helping out with legal and prisoner support. We’ll be trying to keep the blog upto date from now on, and we have a pile of info and news to pass your way.

Stokes Croft
Whilst Stokes Croft is actually just a fairly short street to the north of the city centre, it has become known as an ‘area’ that extends north, west and east into surrounding streets and neighbourhoods. On April 21/22 and 28/29 it was the scene of some fairly serious resistance to a police invasion and attempts at repression, events that have been heavily reported on Bristol Indymedia, and the local corporate press, and nationally. Whilst some saw it as just opposition to Tescos locally, in fact it was much more than that. Such high profile resistance does come inevitably with a state and media crackdown afterwards, with at least 50 arrests so far, and the need for some serious defendant solidarity.

March prisoner list and letter-writing night

Our monthly list of political prisoners welcoming support has been updated and is published below. It’s packed with links for more info, please use them. If you have any corrections of additions please let us know. Solidarity.

March list (open office format): Prisoners list_March2011
March list (pdf): Prisoners list_March2011

Prisoner support letter-writing night – Wednesday 9 March
Our monthly public letter-writing night returns this month to Kebele social centre, at 14 Robertson Rd, Bristol BS5 6JY. We’ll be there from 7 to 9pm with list of prisoners, paper, pens and envelopes. Come along and help send messages of solidarity to people locked up in places near and far away. Plus lots of other info and interesting news available at Kebele.

Prisoners welcoming support list for February 2011

Here is our monthly list of UK & international prisoners welcoming support.
Open office versionPrisoners list_Feb2011
Pdf version Prisoners list_Feb2011
As ever, if you have corrections, updates or additions then email them in to us please.

9 February – prisoner support letter-writing night.
From 7 to 9pm at The Factory, 2-8 Cave St, BS2 8RU
We have lists of prisoners in the UK and internationally who welcome support, along with info on specific cases and campaigns. We will have paper, pens, envelopes and info, all you need to bring is some writing power, and perhaps a donation towards postage. Come along to find out more of what we do, and the benefits of prisoner support. Drop in for a bit or for the whole 2 hours. Hot drinks etc available.

Prisoners requesting support December 2010

Here is our updated December 2010 list of international and UK political prisoners welcoming support.

Download a copy:
As a PDF: Prisoners list_Dec 2010
As an open office doc: Prisoners list_Dec 2010

Why not print off a copy and pass it around/pin it up at your workplace, community or social centre, local pub/bar or alternative bookshop/space? Get your friends or campaign group to adopt a prisoner, or just send a few seasonal cards of solidarity? Remember these people are in prison because of acting on their political beliefs. It could be you one day.

Greek prisoners launch new mass action

Echoing the large mobilisations of November 2008, when prisoners went on meal abstaining/ hunger strikes across the country, a fresh wave of mobilisations in the Greek prisons began last Monday 29 November, as first reported here.

Solidarity poster for Dimitrakis: "What's breaking into a bank compared with founding a bank?" Bertolt Brecht (the Beggars Opera)

This comes as there is a fresh escalation of struggles across various sectors in Greece. December 6 marks the 2nd anniversary of the murder of the teenager Alexis, that led to weeks of street battles. There are then further protests leading up the next Greek general strike on 15 December. Many anarchists & anti-authoritarians in prison face trials in the next few months, starting with the appeal trial of Giannis Dimitrakis on 6 December – read the callout for solidarity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, over the last couple days there has been a huge crackdown by the state in major Greek cities with searches and arrests.

Prisoner support list for November

The updated November 2010 list of UK & international political prisoners welcoming support.

Here is our latest updated monthly prisoner support list to download:
open office doc version: Prisoners list_Nov 2010
pdf version: Prisoners list_Nov 2010

October 2010 prisoner list and letter-writing night

Our monthly public letter-writing sesion takes place on Wednesday 13 October, from 7 to 9pm, at 28 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol, BS2 8RU (ring the olde bell on the green side door and say you’ve come for the ABC event).

All those with an interest in supporting anarchist, class struggle and other radical prisoners…are very welcome. We will provide paper/cards and enelopes, but welcome donations towards postage.

This month we will be focusing on the dire situation of Jock Palfreeman, currently serving 20 years in a Bulgarian prison. Jock has an appeal against his sentence starting on 21 October, and now is the time to increase pressure on the Bulgarian authorities to demand justice for Jock. See his campaign website and our previous posts on Jock for more info.

We will of course be encouraging people to write to other prisoners and find out about their situations. We have now updated our monthly list of UK and international prisoners. Feel free to print it off and circulate it amongst your friends, fellow workers and campaign groups. It is availabe here:
As a pdf – Oct 2010 prisoner list
As an open office doc – Oct 2010 prisoner list
Until all are free!

Next events and new prisoner list

Thanks to everyone who, despite the annoying rain, came to the Prison? play at the Cube organised in collaboration with Bristol Indymedia. Interesting night, let’s keep questioning things…to break the bars of the prisons within ourselves. Thanks to Charlie Ryder!

We’re having our next letter writing night at Kebele on Wednesday 15th September from 7 pm…as usual, we’re going to bring paper, envelopes and stamps…you bring the solidarity!

For those of you who can’t make it or can’t wait till then to write to prisoners, here’s our updated prisoner list: Sept 2010 Prisoner List.

Before the letter writing night we’ll also be having a stall at the Anarchist Bookfair in Hamilton House this Saturday 11th September: details here.