Tag Archives: prison

abolition, gender, General, North Carolina, Prisons, Sexism, Transcribed, United States

NC Womens Prisons + Overcrowding Post-Helene in NCDAP

This week, we’re featuring two interviews concerning prison conditions in North Carolina.

"TFSR 11-17-24 | NC Womens Prisons + Overcrowding Post-Helene" featuring a photo of women in a county jail in NC and a photo of Benevolence Farm
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First up, you’ll hear from Elizabeth Simpson of Emancipate NC, one of the signatories to a public letter to this state’s department of corrections calling for the release of hundreds of prisoners in North Carolina. This comes in response to over-crowding and understaffing of prisons following the emergency transfer of 2,000 prisoners from prisons in the western part of the state effected by Hurricane Helene. [00:01:15 – 00:18:50]

Then, Mona Evans of Benevolence Farm, a post-release residence and re-entry program in North Carolina for people coming out of the women’s prisons talks about their programs, re-entry and some of the realities faced inside womens prisons in this state.   [00:20:04 – 01:04:40]

In this conversation I mentioned Victoria Law’s latest book, Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration (Haymarket Books). You can find our 2013 interview with her about her 2nd edition of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women at this link.

Other projects Mona mentioned include:

  • Arise Collective re-entry program
  • DownhomeNC engages in a number of progressive causes in this state, including the bail fund that Benevolence Farms is currently running. You can find our 2020 interview with them here.

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Featured Track:

  • Women on the Inside by Sistas In The Pit from The We That Sets Us Free: Building A World Without Prisons

Continue reading NC Womens Prisons + Overcrowding Post-Helene in NCDAP →

abolition, Antifa, Deutsch, fascism, Immigration, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PNW, Prisons, Protest, repression, Transcribed, United States, zine

Resisting Immigration Prison in Tacoma and Fascists in Pittsburgh

This week, we’re featuring three segments in our episode.

Burgundy, yellow and red banner with the words "Shut Down The NWDC", the logo for Pittsburgh Fash Watch featuring the keystone shape of PA plus the three Iron Front arrows in a circle and "We Keep Us Safe"
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First up, you’ll hear Maru Mora-Villalpando talking about the immigration prison known as the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA and the organizing that her organization La Resistencia does to shut down this private prison run by Geo Group. [ 00:00:54 – 00:44:00 ]

Then, a member of Pittsburgh Fash Watch, an antifascist group, talks about their mobilization and unmasking of white supremacists in their area, such as WLM and Goyim Defense League (GDL) chud Brandon Cahall. [ 00:45:07 – 00:54:42]

Finally, Sean Swain addresses post-election ennui. [ 00:54:45-end ]

. … . ..

Featured Track:

  • Bella Ciao by Leslie Fish

Continue reading Resisting Immigration Prison in Tacoma and Fascists in Pittsburgh →

activism, Deutsch, General, Political Prisoner, Prisons, Transcribed

Prisons and Prisoner Solidarity with Eric King, Jake Conroy and Josh Davidson

Prisons and Prisoner Solidarity with Eric King, Jake Conroy and Josh Davidson

collage of photos of Eric King smiling with his book, Josh Harper and Jake conroy
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This week we’re sharing a discussion recorded some months back in the pacific northwest featuring former political prisoners Eric King, who went in for actions in solidarity with the Ferguson Uprising in 2014, and Jake Conroy, who was convicted for coordinating successful anti-vivisection divestment campaigns against Huntington Life Sciences as one of the SHAC7. They are joined by Eric’s co-author of Rattling The Cages, Josh Davidson. We hope you appreciate the wisdom and passion of the discussion.

You can find Jake’s youtube channel The Cranky Vegan for a long-running and ongoing commentary on animal liberation topics. And you can follow Eric’s panels with other former prisoners and supporters on the instagram for Rattling The Cages and past media and articles by and about Eric (including past interviews we’ve done with or about him) at SupportEricKing.org and find more from Josh at linktr.ee/JoshDavidson..

Prior interviews:

There are two upcoming Firestorm Books political prisoner panel talks in November, both of which you won’t want to miss.

  • Saturday, Nov. 9th, 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET, Eric King will be talking with Jason and Jeremy Hammond. Register now!
  • Saturday, Nov. 23, 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET, Eric will be talking with Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn, and Nicole Kissane. Register now!

A few other things (per Josh):

  • BPP/BLA comrade and former NY Panther 21 defendant Dhoruba bin Wahad needs our support. Help if you can!
  • The 2025 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar is now available, and it’s beautiful. Get one or 100 today!
  • If you missed the last panel talk with Eric, Jake Conroy, and Claude Marks – or any of the previous 6 Firestorm Books panel talks – watch them here.
  • Don’t stop talking about Gaza, genocide, and US imperialism. Long live all those dying every day for Palestine.

. … . ..

Featured Track:

  • Walking Is Still Honest by Against Me! from Crimes As Forgiven By…

Continue reading Prisons and Prisoner Solidarity with Eric King, Jake Conroy and Josh Davidson →

Anti-Racist Action, Antifa, History, J25Antifa, Political Prisoner, Prisons, repression, Transcribed, zine

July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners (2024)

July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners

Flyer featuring "International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners" featuring downward arrows cracking prison walls from the sky
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Here’s an interview with Walter of the Antifa International social media project. In 2016, this took over the running of the annual July 25th Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners that was formerly a day to show affinity with Jock Palfreeman, an Australian antifascist who was incarcerated in Bulgaria for defending some Romani people from a right wing attack in which an attacker died.

For the hour we talk about the day of solidarity, the associated Antifascist Defense fund, international lines of solidarity around antifascism, recent cases of repression and continuing to support cultures of resistance while comrades are behind bars.

Past interviews on July25

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Featured Track:

  • Rude Boys Outa Jail by Neville Staple from 2 Tone – Tribute Collection  Vol. 1 (A Checkered Past)

Continue reading July 25th International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners (2024) →