Saturday, March 26, 2016

Certain Days 2017 Call for Submissions: SUSTAINING MOVEMENTS

certaindays2016coverWhat: A call for art and article submissions on sustaining movements for the 2017 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar

Deadline: May 15, 2016

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective (www.certaindays.org) is releasing its 16th calendar in the Fall of 2016. Over the years, we’ve turned our attention to various themes: grassroots organizing, resisting repression, and visions of justice. The theme for 2017 is focused on what it takes to sustain our movements.

We are looking for 12 works of art and 12 short articles to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 2,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells, and community spaces around the world.

We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work.

THEME GUIDELINES

Social justice movements face formidable challenges, from state repression to internal conflict to organizer burnout. Yet there are movements that manage to thrive and grow over time, welcoming new participants and contributing to ongoing struggles.

What do these sustained movements have in common? What does it take to keep on keepin’ on, over many years and hurdles? What groups can we look to and learn from as we try to find ways to strengthen our work? What lessons can we draw from liberation movement history? How can we envision our work spanning several generations?

Artists – is there a visual way to represent sustained struggles over time? What visual images from movement history prompt us to engage with these questions? (Both new and archival works are welcome).

As one of our editors Herman Bell writes, “[We need to] review the way we, the progressive community, do our business: In other words, review how we organize, how we elicit support from other groups in support of our particular issue(s); what do we say to them, how do we foster stronger support from them and they from us.”

We welcome both artwork and articles that explore this theme.

We encourage submissions from prisoners – please forward to any prison-based artists and writers.

FORMAT GUIDELINES

ARTICLES:

1. 500-600 words max. If you submit a longer piece, we will have to edit for length.

2. Please include a suggested title.

ART:

1. The calendar is 11” tall by 8.5” wide, so art with a ‘portrait’ orientation is preferred. Some

pieces may be printed with a border, so it need not fit those dimensions exactly.

2. We are interested in a diversity of media (paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, computer-designed graphics, collage, etc).

3. The calendar is printed in colour and we prefer colour images.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Send your submissions by May 15, 2016 to info@certaindays.org.

2. ARTISTS: Please send images smaller than 10 MB. You can send a low-res file as a submission, but if your piece is chosen, we will need a high-res version of it to print (at least 300 dpi preferably 600).

3. You may send as many submissions as you like.

Chosen artists and authors will receive a free copy of the calendar and promotional postcards.

Because the calendar is a fundraiser, we cannot offer money to contributors.

ABOUT THE CALENDAR

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Toronto, and New York, in partnership with three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. We are committed to doing work grounded in an anti-imperialist and anti-racist perspective. We work in solidarity with anti-colonial struggles, Political Prisoners and the rights of undocumented citizens and migrants. We are queer- and trans- liberationist. We raise awareness of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the United States and abroad, many of whom are now in their fourth decade of imprisonment. People on the streets should understand the history of today’s social justice movements and how that history is linked to solidarity for PPs/POWs. In addition to building that historical awareness, we emphasize the ongoing involvement and continued commitment of PPs/POWs in these same movements.

Proceeds from the calendar will be used for direct support work for Political Prisoners and anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggles in the U.S. and Canada.

 



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1PwReiS



Friday, March 25, 2016

La Radio Libertaire prive des femmes voilées d'antenne



Vendredi 18 mars 2016, alors qu’ils avaient été conviés par la Radio Libertaire pour parler radicalisation et discriminations, des membres du Collectif contre l’islamophobie et les racismes 20e (CIR) ont été contraints de faire demi-tour.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at La Radio Libertaire prive des femmes voilées d'antenne



La Radio Libertaire prive des femmes voilées d’antenne (repost)

Vendredi 18 mars 2016, alors qu’ils avaient été conviés par la Radio Libertaire pour parler radicalisation et discriminations, des membres du Collectif contre l’islamophobie et les racismes 20e (CIR) ont été contraints de faire demi-tour.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at La Radio Libertaire prive des femmes voilées d’antenne



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1UMesd1



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Aric McBay Reviews Lumpen: The Autobiography of Ed Mead Book (in Briarpatch)

lumpen_edmead_webLumpen: The Autobiography of Ed Mead
By Ed Mead
Kersplebedeb, 2015

Ed Mead’s autobiography, Lumpen, tells a story of a revolutionary life. Mead writes openly and unflinchingly about his days as a social prisoner, his time in the underground George Jackson Brigade, and his work as a prison organizer and founder of Men Against Sexism. The title, Lumpen, refers to Marx’s term lumpenproletariat – a social underclass of gangsters, swindlers, and petty criminals who, Marx argued, had no revolutionary potential; Mead sets out to prove Marx wrong about the lumpenproletariat’s contributions to social justice and revolution.

Read the complete review on the Briarpatch website



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Monday, March 21, 2016

Aujourd’hui ! « Comité d’accueil » montréalais pour Marine Le Pen | Today! Marine Le Pen “Welcoming Committee”

manifestation-marine-quebec_sn635

« Comité d’accueil » montréalais pour Marine Le Pen
LUNDI 21 MARS, 20 h
Montréal Marriott Château Champlain Hôtel
1050 de la Gauchetière Ouest (près Peel et Place du Canada)
prés métro Bonaventure ou métro Peel
facebook: http://ift.tt/1Scad6X
carte: http://bit.ly/1Uw1xvt

Marine Le Pen Montreal “Welcoming Committee”
MONDAY, MARCH 21, 8pm
Montréal Marriott Chateau Champlain Hotel
1050 de la Gauchetière West (near Peel and Place du Canada)
near métro Bonaventure or métro Peel
facebook: http://ift.tt/1Scad6X
map: http://bit.ly/1Uw1xvt

[English below]
[svp diffusez largement ! please share widely!]

La cheffe du Front National, un parti politique anti-immigrés de l’extrême droite française — Marine Le Pen — est de façon inattendue au Québec, et elle est censée d’être à Montréal ce lundi au mercredi.

Il y a des informations fiables que Marine Le Pen et son entourage resteront au Marriott Château Champlain Hôtel à Montréal, au coin de Peel et de la Place du Canada (près de métro Bonaventure ou de métro Peel) ; voici une carte : http://bit.ly/1Uw1xvt

Elle voyage de Québec à Montréal ce lundi (21 mars), et elle organise une conférence de presse à Montréal mardi matin.

Nous encourageons tout le monde à prendre position contre le racisme, le sexisme, l’homophobie et l’avancée dans le monde de l’extrême droite, en nous rejoignant dans notre « Comité d’accueil pour Marine Le Pen » ce lundi 21 mars à 20 heures. S’il vous plaît, apportez des objets qui peuvent faire du bruit, de sorte que nous pouvons clairement passer notre message à tous les clients et le personnel de l’hôtel. S’il vous plaît, notez qu’il existe également des plans pour manifester à la conférence de presse de Le Pen ce mardi (événement fb :http://ift.tt/K6anqc1696022560638656/).

Nous encourageons les actions autonomes pour perturber la visite de Marine Le Pen à Montréal, y compris à l’intérieur de l’hôtel. Nous vous encourageons également à téléphoner l’hôtel et leur demander d’annuler la réservation de Marine Le Pen (tél. : 514-878-9000).

Nous sommes inspirés par les actions de nos camarades de la ville de Québec, qui ont perturbé la conférence de presse de Le Pen là dimanche matin. Pour plus de détails sur la perturbation Ville de Québec : www.lapresse.ca/actualites/201603/20/01-4962694-marine-le-pen-accueillie-par-des-manifestants-a-quebec.php ou www.facebook.com/subvercite

S’il vous plaît, partagez cet appel largement ; s’il vous plaît, invitez vos ami.e.s, voisin.e.s et collègues pour assister à cette manifestation, pour montrer clairement que Montréal est une ville qui accueillent les migrants, et confronte les racistes et fachos.

— Un appel par des militants antiracistes et antifascistes de Montréal.

+++++++++
+++++++++

Marine Le Pen Montreal “Welcoming Committee”
MONDAY, MARCH 21, 8pm
Montréal Marriott Chateau Champlain Hotel
1050 de la Gauchetiere West (near Peel and Place du Canada)
near métro Bonaventure or métro Peel
map: http://bit.ly/1Uw1xvt

The leader of the French far-right, anti-immigrant political party Front National — Marine Le Pen — is unexpectedly in Quebec, and she’s supposed to be in Montreal this Monday to Wednesday.

There is reliable information that Marine Le Pen and her entourage is staying at the Montréal Marriott Chateau Champlain Hotel at the corner of Peel and Place du Canada (near métro Bonaventure or métro Peel); here is a map: http://bit.ly/1Uw1xvt

She is traveling from Quebec City to Montreal on Monday, and planning at press conference on Tuesday morning.

We encourage everyone to take a stand against racism, sexism, homophobia, and the worldwide advance of the far right, by joining us in our “Marine Le Pen Montreal Welcoming Committee” this MONDAY, MARCH 21 at 8pm (sharp). Please bring items that can make noise, so that we can let all hotel guests and staff know exactly who is staying in the hotel. Please note, there are also plans to confront Le Pen’s press conference on Tuesday (fb event: http://ift.tt/K6anqc1696022560638656/).

We encourage autonomous actions to disrupt Marine Le Pen’s Montreal visit, including inside the hotel. We also encourage you to phone the hotel and ask them to cancel Marine Le Pen’s booking (tél: 514-878-9000).

We are inspired by the actions of our comrades in Quebec City, who disrupted Le Pen’s press conference there. For more details of the Quebec City disruption:

www.lapresse.ca/actualites/201603/20/01-4962694-marine-le-pen-accueillie-par-des-manifestants-a-quebec.php or www.facebook.com/subvercite


Please share this callout widely; please invite your friends, neighbors and co-workers to attend this demonstration, to show clearly that Montreal is a city that welcome migrants, and confronts racist scum.

– A callout by local anti-racist and anti-fascist activists.



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1Scad73



Sunday, March 20, 2016

Marine Le Pen of the French Front National — Disrupted in Quebec City!

manifestation-marine-quebec_sn635

Comrades in Quebec City organized with just a few days’ notice to successfully disrupt a press conference held by Marine Le Pen — leader of the far right anti-immigrant French Front National – earlier today.

Le Pen is in Quebec for a week of racist rabblerousing, which was to include press conferences in Quebec City and Montreal, and in which she hoped to meet with canadian politicians. Fearing the protests which have “welcomed” previous forays by the FN into Quebec in the past, Le Pen only announced she would be coming in Friday, the day she actually arrived.1

Below you can see a video of the successful disruption, organized and executed with less than 48 hours notice:

Stay tuned — and if you can, clear your agendas — for news of similar actions planned for Montreal over the next few days

  1. Twice in the 1990s, the Front National sent high-level members to Quebec to publicly attempt to organize support for the far-right part here. Each time they were successfully preempted by antifascist protests.


on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1XFRQsH



Thursday, March 10, 2016

Texas Prisoners’ Plan Work Strike, April 4th

gaggedfacePrisoners in Texas are planning a work strike, to commence this April 4th. Their top five demands are:

Meaningful Work Time – Applied retroactively, when our Flat Time and accrued Good/Work Time equals 100% we should be ENTITLED to Mandatory Supervision I Parole.
We want a “Presumptive Parole System” which requires the release of a Prisoner at their earliest release date, unless there are valid objective reasons not to do so. Those reasons might include poor institutional behavior or refusing to participate in programming. The nature of the crime or any other “Static Reason” (things prisoners can NOT change) would NOT be a valid reason to deny parole.

Repeal/Overturn the $100 Medical Copay – The underlying motive for enacting the $100 Medical Copay was to discourage prisoners from seeking medical care. Medical is a basic Human Right and since Texas prisoners are NOT paid for their labor, it is fundamentally unfair and counter productive to charge such an excessive Copay to wards of the State.

Right To An Attorney on Habeas Corpus – We want the law changed to provide a Right to an Attorney on Habeas Corpus. The current structure, design, and operation of the Texas Procedural System dictates that no indigent prisoner in Texas will have the benefit of counsel in raising a valid claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.
After the Supreme Court rulings in Martinez and Trevino the lack of appellate counsel for raising such claims raises serious questions of Constitutional Magnitude.

TOCJ Oversight Committee – This is a Bill that has been proposed over the past few legislatures but has not been made into law. This Bill will restructure our Grievance Process and create an independent committee to review our Grievances off the Unit. The committee will have special investigative powers – like doing a walk-in inspection without prior notice.

Humane Living Conditions and Treatment – We are Humans. We have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We have the Right to safe living conditions. We are DEMANDING that TDCJ make the necessary changes to ensure that we have A/C during the Summers, Adequate Medical Care, Sufficient and Nutritious Meals, Limited Use of Solitary Confinement, Education for Ad Seg Prisoners, a four stage process to release confirmed Seg Prisoners from Solitary, Freedom of Religion and Association, Fix leaking roofs and roach infestations – and all other conditions and treatment which violates our Human Rights.


 

As a flyer being circulated in this regard explains:

Monday April 4th 2016, Texas prisoners will begin a SERIES of Statewide Work Stoppages, Strikes, and Slowdowns to force the Texas Legislature to address much needed Reform to the Parole, Medical, Grievance, and, Legal System in Texas. Prisoners are also DEMANDING Humane Living  Conditions and Treatment.

The above FACEBOOK PAGE is for your Freeworld Friends and Family to join – Their support is essential to show that these issues can no longer be ignored. The Facebook Page is also a place where you can report about the Work Stoppage and make YOUR voice heard – get them to post your testimony/stories about why our DEMANDS (see above) must be met. This is a valuable resource for the MEDIA to see what is really going on in Texas Prisons.

It is also a tool for COLLECTIVE ACTION, if, for example, the Guards on your Unit retaliate against you for exercising your Right to peacefully protest unjust laws and treatment, you can write or call home and get your family to post on Facebook for everyone to call the warden, ombudsman, or the Media and DEMAND the retaliation STOP.

This work stoppage has Freeworld Support, including from IWW – The Industrial Workers of the World. It is a part of a larger MULTI-STATE Work Stoppage planned for 2016 to put strategic pressure on the Prison Industrial Complex and to End Mass Incarceration and Prison Slavery (Uncompensated Servitude).

Our Justice System is broken. 1 out of every 100 Americans is now behind bars.70 Million Americans have a criminal record. We are NOT alone. We have a critical moment of opportunity. But we must TAKE A STAND!

There is a Huge Movement in the Freeworld to reduce America’s Prison Population by 50% over the next 10 years. Get your Friends and Family involved by asking them to join our FACEBOOK PAGE to support our Work Stoppage. They can also join the Texas Support Group by emailing iwoc@riseup.net or calling 816-866-3808. They can get involved in the National Movement at #cut50 and signing their petition by going to change.org

Please pass this information on to other prisoners and try not to get caught with it as the authorities will deem it a threat to the security of the facility. When passing information to your Friends and Family please do so in a way to reduce suspicion. Our FACEBOOK PAGE is searchable under “F.T.S.”

“Revolution Begins From Within” -F.T.S.


 

An open letter to the media is being circulated, written by someone whose brother is in the Texas system, which is also worth reading:

Feb./2016

I would like to inform you of a very important and serious incident that is about to take place in Texas prisons very soon, and will go unnoticed if the media don’t report on it.

There is not much said on the news about prisons, specifically Texas prisons. The government tells the public, “We are waging a war on crime and on drugs.” They use and manipulate crime rates for political reasons. Truth is, people don’t understand or care about crime rate statistics or prisoners. All they care about is unemployment and taxes; not knowing that the “prisons” issue affects these very problems. The public see prisoners as a burden for the law-abiding tax paying citizen. What they fail to see is the root of the problem, who creates it? and the reasons behind it.

AMERICAN FACTORY

The roots of the American Factory System of Criminal Justice, as with so many developments in American political life, lie with Richard Nixon and his pursuit of Southern conservatives, particularly the followers of George Wallace, as a path to long-term political success for the Republican Party.

President Nixon’s “War on Crime” and his subsequent “War on Drugs” had a transformative effect on our criminal justice policy.

Between 1970 and 2005, incarceration rates in the United States rose by 700%. Today, the U.S. locks up almost one-quarter of the prisoners in the entire world. Of note, while crime rates were increasing at the time that the War on Crime began, the explosion in the prison population has continued unabated in the ensuing decades through periods of falling crime rates.

Due to the current economic turmoil in America, numerous states are experiencing tremendous difficulties meeting their fiscal budgets. Federal, State and local government agencies are cutting programs in numerous departments (i.e. Department of Education, Defense, etc.). Numerous states are even forced to consider releasing thousands of prisoners and closing select prisons in an effort to combat the current economic recession and make progress towards closing their budget gaps.

Several states have authorized or have pending legislation for the release of prisoners as a method for meeting their budget shortfalls. Instead of covering the massive cost of imprisonment, states are relying on electronic monitoring and community-based programs to supervise and correct those who have committed crimes.

These methods are being employed throughout our nation. From state to state, coast to coast, states are considering the release of prisoners as a viable option to lowering and meeting their budgets, EXCEPT TEXAS! The state with the second largest prison system (120 prisons, 180,000 prisoners) in America, is actually looking to expand its prison system and population, even during these dire financial times, because the prison system in Texas is a cash-laden Industrial Complex!

TCI

Under the guise of being “self-sufficient,” Texas prison officials created an industry called “Texas Corrections Industries” or “TCI” in 1963, where free prisoners’ labor is utilized to make all types of products, from hand soap to bed sheets, from raising livestock to making iron toilets and portable buildings, all for sale. Free prisoners’ labor also maintains the water recycling and purification system for all Texas prison units.

TCI is a “Publicly Traded Stock” on the New York Stock Exchange, making Texas Prison System the only prison system you can buy stock in. Throughout Texas’s 120 prisons, TCI operates numerous furniture factories that make all sorts of residential, commercial and office fixtures (i.e. sofas, tables, desks, cabinets, etc.) that goes directly to the open market. In addition, the metal fabrication factories that exist throughout Texas prisons, build metal residential and commercial furnishings that mostly go straight to the open market.

The garment and textile factories that are also operated by TCI’s free prisoners’ labor, make all types of clothing attire (shirts, socks, jackets, uniforms, etc.) as well as bedding materials that are sold on the open market as well. There are slaughter houses, meat packing plants, where all the livestock that are raised on the grounds of Texas prisons are taken to be slaughtered, prepared and packed for selling on the open market. The meat is sold while prisoners are being fed with the leftovers mixed with soybean. All these factories and plants are operated on the backs of prisoners who are not paid.

An investigation that was conducted by the Dallas Morning News a couple years ago, revealed that the furniture factories alone, produce nearly 90 million dollars (annually) of revenue (income) for TCI. Now consider the grand total of all revenue income when combining TCI’s industries altogether, 700 million?? 1 billion?? And all on the backs of prisoners who are not being paid nor given credit for that labor.

Considering these facts, no wonder why Texas doesn’t want to decrease its prison population. Why downsize a thriving and lucrative cash-laden business? I haven’t mentioned the other entities of TCI, like out-sourcing prisoners’ labor to other open market companies, which I’m sure produce millions more dollars annually. This explains why more than 50% of Texans have a friend or family member in prison, or have done time themselves.

Texas is not full of criminals, it’s full of corruption in its “Criminal IN-Justice System.” From cops all the way to District Attorneys and Judges, the criminal system is corrupt. They keep a high conviction rate at any cost, all for the well-being of the multi-million dollar Prison Industrial Complex.

Immediately after the creation of TCI and the “Publicly Traded Stock,” Texas’s prison population exploded. I wonder how many Judges, District Attorneys and government officials (or their family members) own stock in TCI?

One would think there exists a conflict of interest or even “insider trading” when the people who hold stock in a prison industry company, are the very ones who control prison sentences and populations? Wouldn’t you think it’s a criminal act to convert a place that was designed for punishment and correction, into a multi-million dollar industry?

HOW DOES THIS PROBLEM AFFECT US?

  • Many Texans complain about the burden of prisons when they should be asking, who is profiting from inmate free-labor? Certainly all those millions of dollars end in the pockets of just a few.
  • What about the unemployment in Texas? Sixty percent of the 180,000 prisoners work. That’s about 100,000 jobs. Texans should be demanding that the state give those jobs to citizens. Those 100,000 new jobs would alleviate the unemployment rate in Texas.
  • What about the corruption? Law abiding citizens don’t care about corruption or criminals until we or a family member becomes one. We usually think that cops, D.A.s and Judges are honest, when the reality is otherwise.

Texas has more innocent people behind bars than any other state. The Texas criminal system kills more people than any other state. It has been proved beyond doubt that Texas, time after time, had wrongly-convicted, incarcerated and put to death more people than any other state. Former Texas governor Rick Perry killed more than 30 people on death-row, some of them innocent citizens that were victims of this corrupt system. Rick Perry is a true serial killer.

These are the things we should be worrying about. Most people think that they are on the safe-side because they are not committing any crime; well, they are wrong, Texas can make a criminal out of a saint.

Cameron Todd Willingham, Gary Graham, Ponchai Wilkerson, Kevin Kincy, Derrick Frazier and Francis Newton, just to name a few, were wrongly convicted and still yet put to death by the Texas Criminal IN-Justice system. And what about the thousands of wrongly convicted people that are currently serving long sentences in Texas prisons, now working as slaves? That could be me, you or anybody!

HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS vs. SLAVERY

Human and Civil Rights are not allowed in Texas prisons. There are so many violations to these rights on a daily basis, but we don’t hear about it because those violations, if fought against, rarely make it to the court.

What about the slavery case? We don’t hear about it in the media because it’s politically incorrect to talk about it. The truth is that “slavery” it’s very much alive and thriving in Texas. It is being disguised by the TDCJ. Texas has the largest slave trade in the world.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically states that “NO ONE shall be held in Slavery or Servitude.” It does not say “No one, except prisoners.” Critics often argue that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery “except as a punishment for crime.” It is true the 13th Amendment allows that – but that doesn’t mean involuntary servitude of a prisoner is morally right or justified. While the 13th Amendment allows slavery only “as a punishment for crime,” we should note that not a single prisoner currently incarcerated in Texas, has being sentenced to “hard labor, or involuntary slavery – servitude” but they are being enslaved on top of their sentences.

Every convicted felon goes through the judgement process; if found guilty, then he/she goes through the “punishment” phase. The punishments go from probation, community service, restitution, etc., to more harsh punishments like jail or prison time, or death penalty.

Judges and juries have the leeway (according to the 13th Amendment) to punish a criminal with “slavery or servitude,” but nevertheless, not a single criminal presently incarcerated in Texas has received such a sentence. TDCJ has taken upon itself the authority of punishing prisoners with slavery ON TOP OF THEIR SENTENCES, violating therefore, their Human and Constitutional Rights.

In 1948, the International Community adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in Article 4, that involuntary servitude was a violation of “the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”

It is about time the United States, and especially Texas, honor these Human Rights.

WHAT IS COMING?

The reason why I am today mentioning this issue to you is first, to create awareness with Texas citizens of the abuse, corruption and danger that the Texas Criminal System presents to all of us, free and slave. And secondly, to let everybody know that Texas’s prisoners are the slaves of today, and that slavery affects our society economically, morally and politically.

They are forced to work on a daily basis, if they refuse to work a single day, they are punished in many different ways. They work without any payment. They don’t get any credit for their work neither for their good conduct.

I have a brother in prison and will not mention his name for his safety. Even in 21st century America, prisoners still get beat up and even killed by prison guards, and they make it look like an accident or a suicide. Don’t fool yourselves thinking that this is not your problem; this issue affects all Texans.

Since Texans are not aware of this situation, prisoners are doing their part; they have been organizing since last year, a peaceful State-Wide Work Stoppage. Beginning on April 4th, 2016, all inmates in Texas will stop all labor in order to get the attention from politicians and Texas’s community alike.

This work-stoppage will affect the pockets of all those who benefit from prison slavery. We need to be clear about one thing, prisoners are not looking for a lazy life in prison. They don’t want to spend their sentences sitting in a cell, eating and sleeping. They still will attend every education-rehabilitation and training program available. They are not against work in prison – as long they receive credit for their labor and good conduct that counts towards a real parole-validation. I said “real parole” because the present Texas Parole Board is a joke.

The Texas Parole Board does not care about the rehabilitation of prisoners; all they want is to keep a high prison population in order to keep their slavery business rolling. What we see and hear on the news media and what TDCJ advertises on its web site is far away from the truth.

Please report on this issue! Thank you.


 

These documents in their original form can be downloaded from http://ift.tt/1U53oaz

A good resource for reporting from within the Texas prison system, about conditions facing prisoners, is Kevin Rashid Johnson’s website: http://ift.tt/1QOZOvm



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1U53lvd



Monday, March 07, 2016

How 19th Century Cotton Mills Influenced Workplace Gender Roles (repost)

Equal pay and access to jobs are crucial goals for many working women today. That was also true nearly 200 years ago, when the entire system of waged labor, as we understand it, was still in its early stages.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at How 19th Century Cotton Mills Influenced Workplace Gender Roles



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1R1RIPb



How 19th Century Cotton Mills Influenced Workplace Gender Roles



Equal pay and access to jobs are crucial goals for many working women today. That was also true nearly 200 years ago, when the entire system of waged labor, as we understand it, was still in its early stages.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at How 19th Century Cotton Mills Influenced Workplace Gender Roles



Thursday, March 03, 2016

Written Behind Bars, This 1850s Memoir Links Prisons To Plantations (repost)

At an estate sale in Rochester, N.Y., in 2009, a rare book seller came upon a curious literary artifact. As it turned out, it was a memoir written in the 1850s by Austin Reed, a black man who spent most of his life in prison.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Written Behind Bars, This 1850s Memoir Links Prisons To Plantations



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1WXSFww



Written Behind Bars, This 1850s Memoir Links Prisons To Plantations



At an estate sale in Rochester, N.Y., in 2009, a rare book seller came upon a curious literary artifact. As it turned out, it was a memoir written in the 1850s by Austin Reed, a black man who spent most of his life in prison.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Written Behind Bars, This 1850s Memoir Links Prisons To Plantations



Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Communists and armed struggle – Greece and Yugoslavia (repost)

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! no. 91 November/December 1989 During World War II, Yugoslav and Greek communists conducted an armed struggle against the Nazi occupiers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Communists and armed struggle – Greece and Yugoslavia



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1Uxp2DB



The Curious Islamophobic Politics of Dem Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard (repost)

“Meet the Democrat Who’s Not Afraid to Criticize President Obama on ISIS,” intones a recent ABC News headline. The story describes remarks by Hawaii Rep.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at The Curious Islamophobic Politics of Dem Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1RF6Ipd



Communists and armed struggle - Greece and Yugoslavia



Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! no. 91 November/December 1989 During World War II, Yugoslav and Greek communists conducted an armed struggle against the Nazi occupiers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at Communists and armed struggle - Greece and Yugoslavia



The Curious Islamophobic Politics of Dem Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard



“Meet the Democrat Who’s Not Afraid to Criticize President Obama on ISIS,” intones a recent ABC News headline. The story describes remarks by Hawaii Rep.

Read the rest of this post on the original site at The Curious Islamophobic Politics of Dem Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard