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Making this zine started for me as a vague desire to know how Assata Shakur escaped from prison. I had enjoyed reading her autobiography “Assata” and I was left wanting to know more. One chapter ends with her declaring that she was done with being locked up, and the next begins with her living in Cuba if I remember correctly. I mostly moved on, focusing on other things. More recently a friend mentioned that they had heard of a book about the Shakur family that went into the details of the liberation. The book in question was An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs And The Nation They Created by Santi Elijah Holley. I sought out the book and found a text that not only went into the details of Assata’s liberation but provided context about who all took part, the social movements and underground networks they were a part of and a whole set of histories that intrigued me.
I decided to only reprint the parts that explicitly deal with the liberation of Assata Shakur from prison and her transit to Havana, Cuba. The rest is worth reading in my opinion, as well as Assata’s own autobiography which gives context to Assata’s life path and freedom struggle, and Russel Maroon Shoatz’s I Am Maroon which also documents prison escapes, life on the run, and life underground from a Black liberation perspective. The idea that prisons are impenetrable, inescapable is demonstrably false and these histories are proof of that (as are the escapes that continue to take place today)! This bootleg reprint is only a snippet of a larger history of experimentation in collective and individual liberation that I feel Black anarchists and other revolutionaries could benefit from familiarizing ourselves with and learning from.
In the wake of the genocide taking place in Palestine at the hands of the zionist entity numerous calls have gone out for escalation and also — though less well circulated — for (re)building the underground in today’s movements for decolonization and liberation. Today’s undergrounds will look different from those of the 1970s and 1980s, yet there is still much we can learn from them. We are already seeing waves of political repression attempting to capture, pacify, eject, and domesticate rebels from the George Floyd revolts, the struggles to stop the construction of cop city in Atlanta, and the struggles in solidarity with Palestinians fighting for liberation. Unfortunately we are already seeing a new generation of political prisoners and exiles. Of course it is inevitable that some will be locked up as long as liberation struggles haven’t destroyed the cages. By learning from the struggles that came before us we can be better equipped to make the state’s work as hard as possible. Some of my goals for reprinting and circulating this account of Assata Shakur’s liberation from prison are to exercise our collective imagination of what is possible and contribute to dialogues about escalation, building undergrounds, and facing state repression.
Another goal of spreading this story is a fear that many stories of this kind, especially the illegal ones, will be lost. Either buried with the aging revolutionaries who made them happen, locked behind tight lips to ensure the safety and anonymity of the guilty, or neatly entombed in academic or historical literature that few will have the patience and position to read. To me these histories are not meant to be left in the dirt or hidden away in sleepy archives accessible with a student ID, they are part of our struggles today, weapons to be used to free ourselves, and by freeing ourselves free the dead who wrote these histories with their own sweat and blood. We can remember and tell these stories as part of our own race toward liberation and freedom now.
More selfishly, I am exciting to be adding a little something to a growing tendency of Black anarchist struggles. Anecdotally it seems there are more Black anarchists than before and that more approaches to Black liberation are imagining freedom through an anti-authoritarian lens. The former Black Panthers and Black Liberation Army soldiers who advocated anarchic visions of freedom and struggle, during and after the decline of the Black Panther Party have paved the way for Black radicals to understand anarchy as a vision of freedom we can hold as our own. Russel ‘Maroon’ Shoatz, Kuwasi Balagoon, Ashanti Alston, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, and Martin Sostre are coming up more in the anarchist space, as well as the dialogues of Black revolutionaries. The last decade has seen a number of anarchically oriented Black liberation groups and projects that explore the synchronicity between Black freedom and anarchy. Salish Sea Black Autonomists, Afro-Futurist Abolitionists of the Americas, various zines, a handful of small gatherings, dialogues across geographies, increased interest in anarchists in Africa generally.
The text below is part of a longer book that goes into the history of the Shakur family. While I do not agree with the author’s position that the Shakurs aimed to improve amerika I have found the information useful nonetheless. I have added a few of my own notes to the text and added complete names in brackets to give context to readers who may not be familiar with the history of the Black Liberation Army, Assata Shakur, or other aspects of the struggles taking place at the time of Assata’s escape from prison. Again I encourage readers to dig deeper, to learn about the Black liberation struggles, guerrilla groups, and social movements that the people involved in Assata’s liberation were part of.
from Philly ABC
While the demonstration at the University of Pittsburgh forms the context in which Peppy and his wife Krystal were charged, it is crucial to note that the FBI began stalking the couple well before April 18th, and that their charges intersect with national trends in state repression . In their affidavit for a search warrant, the FBI describe following the DiPippas a week before the demonstration. While searching the couple’s trash, federal agents found a pamphlet from the movement to Stop Copy City , which they described as a “zine… discussing anarchist ideology.” During their trial, the prosecution focused on Peppy’s “strongly held belief system that embraces anarchism” and “sense of community among anarchists.” The judge cited Peppy’s “sentiments supporting anarchism” in his decision to hold Peppy in pre-trial detention with no possibility of bail. This attempt to criminalize the ideas and beliefs of what the state calls “AGAAVE” (anti-government and anti-authority violent extremists) aligns closely with repression of the Stop Cop City movement, in which defendants were charged with racketeering simply for sympathizing with anarchism .
At their sentencing, Peppy and Krystal issued this joint statement :
We hold in our gravity a deep reverence for love beyond the limited words we have. We know the devoted embrace of solidarity – people leaning in to one another against involuntary servitude and for a world of mutual aid. If we are convicted, it is of love for each other, and for our community, to which all brave hearts beat devotion to the impossible task of liberation. We are grateful for those who care take, for without you, freedom would be even more distant.
If you are unable to join us at Wooden Shoe for this event, you can still write to Peppy:
Brian DiPippa #66590-510
FCI Elkton
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O Box 10
Lisbon, OH 44432
When I read your letters, my soul escapes this place to walk alongside you, to commune; and with a big inhale I share our smiles with others experiencing incarceration. Thank you for reaching through these windowless walls. Respect and solidarity to all the bravehearts!
– Peppy
from O.R.C.A.
from It’s Going Down
There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
Mumia Abu-Jamal was recently interviewed by Turkish outlet Evrensel.
Cara and Celeste, who are facing charges connected to an alleged mink liberation action, have a court date scheduled for April 21st in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where the defense will present a motion arguing for their charges to be dismissed. Donations to their legal funds can be made via Philly ABC here.
The Final Straw Radio also recently broadcast an interview with one of the RICO defendants alongside one of the organizers of the upcoming Stop Cop City: Imaginary Crimes tour, which will be visiting over 60 cities.
Pennsylvania uprising defendant Khalif Miller has now completed his federal sentence and been moved to a state prison to serve a state sentence for violating parole. His new address is:
Khalif Miller
#QQ9287
Camp Hill
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. You can also check With Whatever Weapons for regularly-updated zines listing current prisoners. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Khalif Miller #QQ9287
Camp Hill
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia is an award winning journalist and was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party chapter in Philadelphia, PA. He has struggled for justice and human rights for people of color since he was at least 14 years old; the age when he joined the Party. In December of 1982, Mumia, who moonlighted by driving a taxi, happened upon police who were beating his brother. During the melee, a police officer was shot and killed. Despite the fact that many people saw someone else shoot and then run away from the scene, Mumia, in what could only be called a kangaroo court, was convicted and sentenced to death. During the summer of 1995, a death warrant was signed by Governor Tom Ridge, which sparked one of the most effective organizing efforts in defense of a political prisoner ever. Since that time, Mumia has had his death sentence overturned, but still has a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.
Pennsylvania uses Connect Network/GTL, so you can contact him online by going to connectnetwork.com, selecting “Add a facility”, choosing “State: Pennsylvania, Facility: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections”, going into the “messaging” service, and then adding Mumia as a contact by searching his name or “AM8335.”
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335
SCI Mahanoy
Post Office Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Janiis Mathis
Delaware uses Pigeonly for digital mail services.
Birthday: April 24
Address:
Janiis Mathis
SBI# 00492275
Delaware DOC – 1101
PO Box 96777
Las Vegas, NV 89193
from O.R.C.A.
6:30 PM
April 3
O.R.C.A.
The Gentleman Bank Robber delves into the life of bo brown, an ex-political prisoner, a white working class butch, and a former member of the George Jackson Brigade. Journey through recollections of bank robberies and life underground, alongside the day to day life of an unrepentant former guerrilla. Queer, witty, and serious all at once.
We’ll have copies of Queer Fire, a zine of writings and interviews with bo brown and other George Jackson Brigade members, available to $0-$99 sliding scale to raise money for the space.
46 mins
Directed by Julie Perini
English with subtitles
from Making Worlds Books
In Skyscraper Jails, scholars and organizers Jarrod Shanahan and Zhandarka Kurti detail how progressive forces in New York City appropriated the rhetoric of social movements and social justice to promise “downsized” and “humane” jails. The principal advocates of these new jails were not right-wing politicians, but prominent city activists and progressive non-profit organizations. Join the authors for a discussion of this unique moment for anti-jail activism and what it means for moving forward.
Zhandarka Kurti is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Loyola University, Chicago. She researches and writes about race, class, policing, incarceration, and mass supervision. She is the co-author of States of Incarceration: Rebellion, Reform and the Future of America’s Punishment System and editor of Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity. She lives in Chicago.
Jarrod Shanahan is the author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage, co-author of States of Incarceration: Rebellion, Reform, and America’s Punishment System, and City Time: On Being Sentence to Rikers Island, forthcoming from NYU Press, and editor of Treason to Whiteness Is Loyalty to Humanity. He lives in Chicago and works as an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Governors State University in University Park, IL.
from Instagram
Bring signs and posters and remember to mask up!
Rallly coordinate by autonomous individuals not affiliate with any organization
FREE MAHMOUD, FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS]
from O.R.C.A.
For more info and copies/free pdfs after event, visit reekingthicketspress.noblogs.org
from It’s Going Down
In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always are updates, fundraisers, and birthdays.
There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
An event was held in February at the Black Workers Center in DC, celebrating the anniversary of the Vaughn prison uprising. The event also served as a soft release for Jarreau “RUK” Ayers’ upcoming book.
Vaughn 17 prisoner Alejandro “Ajay” Rodriguez-Ortiz recently suffered the loss of his mother, and was unable to attend a wake for her due to being attacked by the CERT team and moved to isolation as revenge for giving an interview to a journalist. You can donate to help support the Ortiz family through this time here.
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. You can also check With Whatever Weapons for regularly-updated zines listing current prisoners. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Khalif Miller #70042-066
USP Big Sandy
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 2068
Inez, KY 41224
from Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition
On 2-7-25, I sat before the PA Parole Board. Correction: I sat before one member of the Board and a hearing examiner. In PA, imprisoned people don’t see the entire Board which consists of nine members. We see only one member. From the start, the interview was contentious. I didn’t expect it to be. I had done everything the Board asked me to do: successfully completed all programs, remain misconduct free, and obtain the PA DOC’s recommendation for parole. I wasn’t asked about any of these matters.***
Instead, the interviewer began by stated that I am part of a security threat group. When I asked what gang I belong to, he said: “The Abolitionists.” Seriously. I had never heard this before. I was baffled. How are abolitionists a gang? He asked me to explain my gang affiliation. I continued to tell him abolition is not and has never been a gang. I asked if he wanted me to explain why I am anti-racist, anticapitalist, and anti-imperialist. This went over his head. We continued in this fashioned for almost five minutes. I knew my chances of parole were doomed.***
The remainder of the interview went the same way: his insisting upon some falsehood and my refuting his notion. A few days later, I was called to the parole department for the inevitable: parole denied. That was the last time I will ever sit before the Board. I max out on 2-9-26. My sentence will be completed. Sixteen years. They cannot deny or delay my release on that date. I never thought I would max this sentence out. I was required to do half of it incarcerated. I have been parole eligible for eight years. Being a prison (dis)organizer, I know full well the oppressive and retaliatory actions of the DOC and the Board. My organizing and educational work stymies the goals of the PIC: isolating and alienating imprisoned people to render them powerless in the face of oppression. I have no regrets. I work and continue to work to dismantle oppressive systems everywhere. I work and continue to work to build life-affirming and life-enhancing relationships and institutions. Like Martin Sostre, I am being maxed out in retaliation for dreaming freedom and striving to actualize it. And like him, I remain undaunted.***
I am so grateful for the unstinting support I have received over the years. Without you, I could not have made it. I couldn’t have done the work. Thank you. There are so many people, organizations and collectives that have supported the work, in whatever prison I was caged in, and I want to thank you all. But the list would be many emails long. I do want to especially thank some folx who have stood in solidarity with me for numerous years. Your love and friendship have sustained me, helped me grow and kept my head up. I cannot wait until 2-9-26 when I can be out there and return the love in person: Mom, Lois, Sarah, Ian, Casey, Eli, Danielle, Molly, Minali, Jacqueline, Safear, Mariame, Ruthie, Kelly, Eliza, Dylan R, Dana, Tyler, Rehana, Dylan B, Joy James, Roberto, Eric Stanley, Miriam, Moira, Katy, Tricka, Nora, A Ram, eae, Andrea, Ann Russo, Maya, Brian S, Rinaldo Walcott, Alex, Caren, Dan B, Amanda, Woods, Mari, Critical Resistance, Haymarket, Love & Protect, Survived and Punished, Hearts On A Wire, Massive Bookstore, Black Agenda Report, Inquest, Verso, the Pinko Collective, Empowerment Avenue, and imprisoned folx at every prison I have been caged during this bid. The list could go on and on. But I wanted to especially thank certain folx. As this year winds down, I am preparing to transition the work to other imprisoned people and look forward to working from the other side of the walls. I hope to continue to be blessed with your support and love during this time.***
Always,
Stevie
p.s. Please held me raise funds to continue the study groups and mutual aid for the remainder of my time in here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-9971s-work-behind-the-walls
Submission
flyer .png: https://upload.disroot.org/r/hUBqVExC#PhuSmVKBegubTa6qLs72At5lyIHGsK3aX6at31YXjIU=
flyer PDF: https://upload.disroot.org/r/DfteY0Wu#BVshmlG7jvVnbolWTfoSUAylk+Dm7KAf4m97jB1/HEg=
How can one live freely in the shadow of a prison?
There are moments, like today in Syria, when we can only rejoice. See the statues of Bashar and his relatives looted, the crowds in the streets, the open prison doors. These moments that remind us that all regimes, including the most authoritarian ones, can fall.
If there is a constant in the revolutions, it is that of freeing prisoners. Symbol of power, of who can decide the freedom of its subjects, prison is one of the nodes on which rests submission to the State and acceptance of social norms.
One of the worst prisons in the world, Sednaya, has apparently been completely emptied of its prisoners, allowing people to see their relatives whom they had not heard from for many years or even meet them for the first time. But let’s not be mistaken, while the «rebels» are emptying the prisons of the fallen regime, those under their control are already filled with opponents.
Revolutionaries have already fallen in the trap of supporting pro-State organisations, by third-worldism, against imperialism, seduced by kurdish communalism or the romanticism of the guerrilla. Unfortunately it is more a religious alliance, wishing to give direction to “the will of the people” than the insurgents in Syria who managed to overthrow the regime. Such structures using military practices will never be desirable. We want to carry an anti-authoritarian and without borders solidarity with the revolted in Syria, because our hopes in the Syrian revolution go beyond the perpetuation of a society held by arms, subjected to a celestial power as earthly, which requires prisons to exist.
While we welcome the liberation of syrians from the shackles of Assad’s clan, we can only hope that what was in seed during the 2011 insurrections can go even further, towards a self-organisation of all spheres of daily life, attack and the total questioning of power and property.
Here as there, so much remains to be destroyed. Prisons, Religions, States.
Happiness to the reunion of the freed, force to the ones locked up all over the world!
Anarchists, confident as wary,
France, December 9th 2024
from Philly ABC
Join us on Sunday, December 8th at 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books for the next session of our letter-writing series illuminating facets of resistance movements for a free Palestine. This month, we’ll be writing to the Merrimack Four, a group of young women currently serving a 60-day sentence for a direct action that temporarily halted operations at an Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack NH. Elbit is Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, targeted with direct action for several years now by Palestine Action . We’ll also sign cards for political prisoners with birthdays in December: Fred “Muhammad” Burton (December 15th) and Casey Brezik (December 30th).
On November 20 2023, activists working under the banner of Palestine Action US blocked the driveway to Merrimack NH’s Elbit Systems facility, spraypainted the front of the building, smashed its windows, locked its front doors with bicycle locks, doused its logo with fake blood, scaled its roofed, smashed its skylights and HVAC equipment, and released smoke flares in green, white, and red: Palestine’s national colors. Prosecutors originally charged the arrested activists with five trumped up felonies that could have amounted to sentences of 37 years. Unsurprisingly, none of these felony charges held up in court, and the Merrimack Four were eventually sentenced to 60 days in jail and a 24-month suspended sentence.
Elbit Systems develops and builds the infrastructure of apartheid and genocide in Palestine, including military electronics, training simulators, surveillance systems, drones, and security systems. It then markets this “field-tested” equipment to repress people all over the world. Calculating the scale of suffering caused by these systems in Palestine is difficult due to Israel’s blockade of journalists, but researchers estimate that in the first year of the genocide (October 2023-October 2024), 53,887 people were directly murdered by Israeli munitions, and another 67,413 died of starvation caused by Israeli destruction of civilian infrastructure and blockade of food aid. In May, Elbit CEO Bezhalel Machlis told Reuters that the company’s sales goal of $7 billion by 2026 would be reached “much earlier” because of intensified demand.
Snacks and letter-writing supplies will be provided. We’ll tune in to a related podcast while we’re writing. If you are unable to join us, you can write to the Merrimack Four at:
Bridget Shergalis #67968, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103
Calla Walsh #67970, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103
Paige Belanger #68132, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103
Sophie Ross #67969, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103
Include a name and return address on both the envelope and the letter because the envelopes will not be given to them. For general prisoner letter-writing suggestions, see this how to.
from It’s Going Down
There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
As Scott Campbell wrote:
According to The New York Times, just last semester more than 3,100 people were arrested on 73 campuses across the U.S. While the state attempts to frame the Palestine solidarity movement as violent (despite evidence to the contrary), the real violence has emerged from law enforcement and the far-Right. Harkening back to the police-facilitated far-Right street violence against antifascists several years ago, there has also been violence by Zionists, most notably at UCLA, where a far-Right mob attacked the Gaza solidarity encampment for hours as police watched. And the state and its allies in the universities have only ramped up for more repression this fall.
Whether it be through the purchase of drones and less-lethal weaponry, the creation of new policies designed to stifle student expression, firing tenured professors, or deeming Zionists a “protected class,” the overall pattern, as summarized by Palestine Legal, is that “these policies have ultimately consolidated administrative and state power while undermining freedom of expression, the right to assembly and protest, academic freedom, and safety for students and faculty on campuses across the country.” As this article was being put together, pro-Palestine organizers in Philadelphia at Penn State had their home raided by armed police who made no arrests. This follows the university banning Penn Students Against the Occupation back in April. Combined with statements from Donald Trump that he’ll deport radicals and protesting students, or attention seekers like Republican Senator Tom Cotton calling for protesters to be thrown off bridges, there is a perfect storm of hate, fear, ignorance, repression, fascism, and genocide.
This moment has also seen the ongoing weaponization of anti-Semitism. Rather than deal with the very real threat and severity of anti-Semitism in the United States, what can be seen is a continuation of Trump-era policies, where as president he embraced the anti-Semitic far-Right while deploying his administration, notably under the tenure of Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kenneth Marcus, to crack down on speech critical of Israel in the name of fighting anti-Semitism. Recently, the Heritage Foundation, author of Project 2025, released “Project Esther,” which calls for the government to go after anti-Zionists in the name of combating anti-Semitism. The report claims groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine form an elaborate “Hamas Support Network” and should be targeted using counter-terrorism, immigration, and RICO laws. On Palestine, the state, the university “liberal elite,” and the reactionary far-Right all speak in one voice: Question the genocidal settler-colonial status quo, and we’ll come for you.
You can continue to write Hybachi using this form or by sending a single sided letter to this forwarding address:
Hybachi LeMar
c/o Midwest Books to Prisoners
1321 N Milwaukee Avenue PMB 460
Chicago, IL 60622
Hybachi’s support crew have also recently posted a series of audio messages from him, covering subjects including zines as resistance, reading while squatting, what it means to be different and the life of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Maria Nikoforova.
The North American Animal Liberation Press Office is organizing to support two people who have been arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with an alleged action at a mink farm.
The Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross has a post up with info and ways to donate and there is a crowd-funding campaign set-up here.
See Uprising Support for more info, and check out the Antirepression PDX site for updates from Portland cases. To the best of our knowledge they currently include:
David Elmakayes 77782-066
FCI McKean
Federal Correctional Institution
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701
Khalif Miller #70042-066
USP Big Sandy
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 2068
Inez, KY 41224
Dwayne Staats
One of the two Vaughn 17 defendants to be convicted for taking part in the Vaughn prison uprising of early 2017. Dwayne and his co-defendant Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers bravely admitted to their own parts in the uprising, and then, free to testify openly without fear of incriminating themselves any further, tore holes in the prosecution’s attempts to convict anyone else – as he put it, “we’d accept being stabbed in the chest to present others from getting stabbed in the back”. To learn more about Dwayne in his own words, you can follow his instagram, read his letter to the Kentucky Attorney General, or his contribution to the Vaughn zine, “Live from the Trenches”.
Birthday: November 10
Address:
Dwayne Staats 467005
Delaware DOC – 1101
P.O. Box 777
Las Vegas NV 89193
