repression

Prisoners refused food, called 'cave monkeys' and 'terrorists' by racist guards

This July 2010 marks 10 years since Philadelphia was the site of the 2000 Republican National Convention. The week of August 1, 2000, thousands of activists took to the streets of Center City Philadelphia for direct action against police brutality and the prison industrial complex.

Thousands of people flooded the streets. The police made numerous arrests for disorderly conduct, property damage, theft, and even arson. Local hospitals reported a slew of injuries.

These events occurred after the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. The city took it in stride. There was no public outcry, no crackdown on Phillies fans, no call to prohibit future baseball games. Riding the wave of euphoria, the public largely accepted these crimes as collateral damage. After all, the Series was good for the sports franchise, good for city tourism, and good for city pride.

On March 20th of this year, a similar event took place. Thousands of teenagers converged on South Street in a flash mob. Several injuries and incidents of vandalism occurred. The city’s reaction, however, was very different. The local media published images and video of unruly and destructive African American youth. Officials painted a picture of an epidemic of Black teenagers terrorizing the innocent people of the city. The violence that occurred provided a pretense for perpetuating a longstanding racial stereotype of the threat of out-of-control Black youth.

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Human Rights Coalition Action Alert- May 9, 2010

HRC report spurs retaliation by SCI Dallas staff

Prisoners beaten, shackled and starved by vengeful guards in campaign of terror

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Long Island Food Not Bombs Makes Call For Solidarity

Account from a member of Long Island Food Not Bombs

Call to action! Police raze Huntington Station Tent City, hundreds homeless and facing the possibility of freezing to death! Long Island Food Not Bombs (LIFNB) needs your help to prevent that from happening! 

From the Justice for Lynne Stewart website: “Radical human rights attorney Lynne Stewart has been falsely accused of helping terrorists. This is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government’s racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.” She is currently serving a 28-month sentence and is in need of medical attention.

December 4, 2009

For the last two years a collective house in Chicago’s Hermosa/Logan square neighborhood has been squatted and used as an anarchist organizing space. Taking advantage of a heavily-indebted landlord who disappeared, the house has functioned as a place for fundraisers and a Food Not Bombs chapter. While the housing crisis has slowed the pace of evictions in Chicago, the Lowercase collective was recently served an official eviction notice and is seeking supplies and support.

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lowercasecollective@riseup.net