Urgent call for solidarity actions: July 1st Prisoner Hunger Strike begins at Pelican Bay, CA

Dear Friends and Comrades,

On July 1st, 50-100 prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in Northern California will begin an indefinite hunger strike to protest the tortuous and inhumane conditions of their imprisonment. Pelican Bay is notorious for its repressive methods of solitary confinement (like the SHU, i.e. Security Housing Unit). The CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prides itself on Pelican Bay being “the end of the line,” and is part of a continuation since the 1960′s of prisons using solitary confinement as a main tactic to crush rebellion and resistance.

As anti-authoritarians and anarchists, this is a crucial moment to show our solidarity with those on the inside who are ready to die in their fight for dignity and the most basic necessities of life that the state continues to deny. This will be the third major hunger strike in a US prison in the past year and those of us fighting on the outside need to make a visible show of support for this wave of prisoner-led organizing.

“The passion for freedom is stronger than any prison”

This is a call out for any and all courageous and creative actions to build our solidarity and confront the prison-industrial complex!

Requests:
• creative! inspiring! strategic! banner drops, billboard liberation, propaganda distro, flash mobs etc.
• please make sure your action is well documented.
• the prisoners organizing the strike initiated contact with a number of grassroots and anti-prison organizations in the Bay Area to support their action. This led to the formation of Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity which will be providing some infrastructural support during the strike such as legal and medical monitoring and visits. We want to be able to communicate to the prisoners while doing weekly visits during the strike that people outside are supporting them. We want to be able to tell them about the creative ways people are showing their support and amplifying the prisoner’s voices. Please send photos, statements, and descriptions (with your strategic discretion) to the coalition through email: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com. The coalition will also be updating a page on demo’s and actions on the coalition blog so info can go on their too (prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com)
• If it’s an action other people can participate in, please let us know a head of time so we can help spread the word through our blog and facebook.
• amplify the voices of the prisoners– this is a struggle initiated by the prisoners themselves, calling for comrades and allies to make sure their voices are heard outside prison, so solidarity will be stronger when keeping this in mind.

THE STRIKE BEGINS ON FRIDAY JULY 1
so that would be a great day for an action, as well as one or two days before it. The strike could last for quite a while so it’d be a good idea to stay tuned to the blog for updates on how the strike is developing. There will be rallies internationally on July 9th in San Francisco, Arcata (or outside Pelican Bay), Montreal, Ontario and Vancouver. It’d be great if there are more rallies and demos on that Saturday, and other actions/demos leading up to that day.

If you have any questions or info to share, hit up Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com.

more info

http://www.prisons.org/hungerstrike.htm

http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/719

http://4strugglemag.org/2011/06/24/solitary-watch-confronts-torture-in-us-prisons/