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News :: Prisons |
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Anti-prison discussion at area home goes off with a BANG |
Current rating: 0 |
by unbridled artist network
Email: intheheart2 (nospam) ziplip.com (unverified!) |
24 Jan 2004
Modified: 03:27:52 PM |
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A representative from Anarchist Black Cross-Chicago visited Urbana to attend an anti-prison conference. Local organizers then brought him over to more informally discuss his group's work Friday night, with better than expected attendance, and an overall mutually inspiring time! Article includs links to various anti-prison info sites. |
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Basic topics covered:
short coverage of meeting
ideas for getting info to prisoners
positive reinforcement of prisoners
seeking to bridge with rank and file
tactics/strategy of the system
resources
Short coverage of meeting
IT's not a common occurrence for this author to engage with anarchists, but thanks to a local conference that happened at the Levis Faculty Center and just a little care from locals (outside the IMC crowd), an "elder statesman"-type agreed to stop by an area home for some sharing, feedback, fun, and food.
It was a smashing success, and even though there was a relatively small turnout (the event was made on relatively short notice), one doesn't need "lots of people" to have excellence. As Margaret Mead has said, small groups of people have most often been the main instigators of change in this country.
Anthony, the speaker, went through his basic information, spending a lot of time on how heavy the prison industry is these days. And the meeting might have ended with this heaviness in short order, hadn't a local (who wasn't afraid to speak his mind) started to engage him with insights he hadn't thought of before.
"This guy broke the ice for the rest of us," one attendee said. "Most of the people there are so used to going to these kinds of things and just quietly sitting and consuming. It's as if they're letting their conditioning as 'students' in 'class' tool them."
"Things got a lot more enjoyably heated later in the night. A small group of us even ended up staying up till maybe 3AM; it was that much fun!"
ideas for getting info to prisoners
Basically we discussed the clamp down on radical information allowed to prisoners and ways to avoid such.
positive reinforcement of prisoners
Ideas ranging from ideas like naming a piano in honor of a prisoner (and sharing with all visitors to one's home), encouraging prisoners to take a more pro-active (not passive consumer) role in various activities outside, to holidays in which non-prisoners celebrate prisoner participation and excellence, were played with in heightening joy--as a way to duck the psychological warfare mandate of prison authoritarians on defenseless inmates.
tactics/strategy of the system:
Against prisoners and against "citizens":
To understand the mindset of social controllers' mandates being "implemented" on you/loved ones is to be able to step beyond where they want you to be stuck in (re: the direct attack made by strategically duped/tooled *screws*) and formulate more thoughtful forms of resistance consciousness. To not endeavor this is to allow yourself to remain completely out of any possible control, and fall into neurosis and suicide.
The thought control system, on the whole, is more *integration propaganda*-oriented than anything else (short of mobilizing us to specific wars foreign and domestic). Here, an over-arching image of apparent omnipotence is vital, whether in prison or at home. Movies, news, soaps and docu-dramas, and a heightened force of municipal police on the street, make more for an image of complete dominance in people's minds than actual reality.
In reality, soldiers called police are more heavily deployed (by their generals) against specific areas of perceived threat, and in a context of tactical methodology, at least at home (in prison this may be noted in the various levels prisoners are encouraged to attain, as well as variations of prisons themselves).
Racial minority communities and youth rebellion scenes (at home and in prison) are of particular interest to the meta methodology of social control strategists. As institutional analyst, Noam Chomsky, points out, people should educate themselves *to better understand institutions* (like the police) and *realize how and when to exploit any noted weaknesses and openings, in terms of liberatory work.
"The biggest cops are the cops in our heads":
Soldiering methodology is multi-faceted, and "citizens" as well as prisoners have much to learn. We don't have to be stuck in reacting hysterically after shit comes down. We're not "supposed" to be coherent. In fact, the ideology of social control claims that we're "TOO STUPID" and "arent' capable" of understanding things, period; but of course that conveniently avoids the background context of that value-laden assumption.
The real radicals do not appear to be radicals; they don't exhibit the hype of the popularized notions of "radicals", because they can "pass" longer. They learn to and come to know how to don thoughtful camoflauge, and duck the profiling methods, et al, of the police state.
This includes a consciousness about dealing with this form of professional soldier on a one-to-one basis. The ACLU has tried to basically cover that base for non-prisoners (and I'm not aware of anyone else doing better), and has come up with a very basic, hardliner text that merits more grey area discussion. See: www.aclu.org/issues/criminal/bustcardtext.html
Prisoners are more and more forced into a much more radicalized position, owing to stepped-up warfare unleashed on traditional Jail House Lawyer types (in some facilities) and any others who dare seek to coherently help their fellow inmates. More covert methods, then, need to be thought of or enhanced, and points were made to learn from "3rd world" inmates and POWs.
seeking to bridge with rank and file:
Including cops and guards. The tendency (?) of anarchists and Leftists so far has been to reinforce the alienation enforced by official prison strategists. This is shooting ourselves in the foot. Solidarity with *all* is crucial, as the Jews and others were forced to learn in a Jew/other-hating world (of WWII-era).
for more information:
understanding official propaganda, including integration propaganda (excerpts from book called _Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes_ by Jacques Ellul)
www.intheheart.net/propag.html
WHY DO WE ALL LIVE IN PRISON? Prison, Law and Social Control (article)
http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus/vb/wd4-1prison.html
Against Prisons (article)
http://www.omnipresence.mahost.org/antiprison.htm
Links to sites about Prisons and anarchist prisoners (listing, 7th section down page)
http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus/prisoners.html
Stop Prisoner Rape
www.spr.org
Sorry, don't have further information about the University conference against prisons, but am told that many varieties of ideas were well-exchanged. Hopefully someone who attended the conference will provide details! |
See also:
http://www.anarchistblackcross.org/
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This work is in the public domain |
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Re: Anti-prison discussion at area home goes off with a BANG |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Jan 2004
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Editors Note:
The title of this article contained the words Prison and Bang. We are sorry for not correcting this oversite more quickly.
Jack |
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Heh-Huh, Heh-Huh |
by Beavis
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Jan 2004
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He said, like, BANG.
Heh-heh, heh-heh.
Coool. |
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That's My Dad |
by Butthead Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Jan 2004
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He's so co-ool.
This is almost as co-ool as the night he told me he wanted to discuss the 'birds-n'bees' and he ended up talking about nothin' except masturbation.
Heh-heh. |
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Re: Anti-prison discussion at area home goes off with a BANG |
by Muck Raker
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
27 Jan 2004
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I realize this is off topic, but yet it seems apropos given Jack Ryan's comments.
You see, I did a web search for Mr. Ryan and came up with the somewhat surprising result that Jack Ryan is a gay porn star.
See http://gaypornstars.com/stars/r/jack_ryan/
(warning, this is a porn site, so if you don't want to see porn images, don't click).
Now, I, personally, have no problem with that. But it appears to me, that with all his homophobic remarks here, Mr. Jack Ryan, the gay porn star and possible Illinois Republican Candidate for Senate, may be in a bit of denial about his own sexuality.
Come on, Jack, (no pun intended), you can come out of the closet here. Unlike your conservative friends, we won't discriminate against you for being gay or a porn star (even if some of your conservative friends secretly enjoy your videos).
In fact, I might have to check out some of your best work, since from the pic you look like you're quite a hot stud. Or maybe you'd be willing to give me a private screening? |
