Plantations Were Prisons: Mobilizing for the Aug. 19 Prisoners Human Rights March (tags)
Law Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell confronts the history and legacy of slavery head-on, asserting: "When it comes to African Americans, we have been incarcerated from the time we arrived in this country. Plantations were prisons. The change from incarceration on a plantation, to incarceration in custodial institutions, to incarceration where there are no physical limitations, but where one exists in a state of civic and political oppression, in my view, is nothing more than semantics. Mass incarceration started when slavery started."
Restorative Justice Is Needed For Albert Woodfox, The Black Panther Party And The Nation (tags)
On Monday, June 8, 2015, US District Court Judge James Brady ruled that the Angola 3's Albert Woodfox be both immediately released and barred from a retrial. Among those who communicated with Albert during that emotional week was Southern University Law Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell. In the days following Judge Brady's ruling, she was a featured guest on several television and radio shows that focused on Albert's case, including National Public Radio. In this interview with Angola 3 News, Prof. Bell discusses her new law journal article and reflects upon the latest developments in Albert's fight for freedom. She argues that recent Angola 3-related media coverage in the US is becoming "more substantive," and that this month "the media got bolder and began digging deeper than just a soundbite."
Stanley L. Cohen: Guilty of Doing His Job Honorably (tags)
police state
Terrorism, COINTELPRO, and the Black Panthers -An interview with Angela A. Allen-Bell (tags)
In her new law journal article, “Activism Unshackled & Justice Unchained,” law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell concludes that the US government’s multi-faceted response to the BPP, primarily within the framework of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO, was indeed the very definition of terrorism. Bell writes that “the magnitude of the unwarranted harm done to the BPP has not yet been explored in an appropriate fashion. Much like a fugitive, it has eluded justice.” As a result, “the FBI's full-scale assault on the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s remains an open wound for the nation itself. This is more than a national tragedy; this is a human wrong.
Panthers in the Hole: French Angola 3 Book Illustrates US Prison Crisis (tags)
Amnesty International France and La Boîte à Bulles have published a 128-page French language graphic novel entitled Panthers in the Hole. The book's co-authors David Cénou and Bruno Cénou present with visual art what Amnesty France describes as "la tragique histoire des Trois d'Angola" (the tragic story of the Angola 3). We interview Nicolas Krameyer, who is head of the Individuals at Risk / Human Rights Defenders Program for Amnesty International France.
Challenging the Ruling Economic Orthodoxy: Economics Students Begin to Revolt (tags)
Pete Dolack writes the Systemic Disorder blog. He has been activist with several groups.
A Moral Outrage: Rev. Dr. Patricia Bates on the torture of Albert Woodfox (tags)
We interview Rev. Dr. Patricia Bates from the National Religious Coalition Against Torture (www.nrcat.org), who attended Albert Woodfox's recent January 7 oral arguments before the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and made a statement at the press conference outside the courtroom on behalf of NRCAT.
Torture by Design: Saying No to the Architecture of Solitary Confinement (tags)
Friday, August 16 marked the 40th consecutive day of a multi-ethnic statewide prisoner hunger strike initiated from inside the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of California's Pelican Bay State Prison. As the horror of solitary confinement comes under increasing scrutiny in the US and around the world, human rights activists are confronting this public health and safety epidemic from a variety of angles. One group, called Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility has challenged solitary confinement in US prisons by recently launching a Change.org petition asking the American Institute of Architects to amend its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to prohibit the design of spaces for killing, torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Opening the Box: Sarah Shourd on Herman Wallace, CA Hunger Strikers & Solitary Confinement (tags)
Herman Wallace of the Angola 3 has been transferred out of solitary confinement, as Louisiana’s Hunt prison reduced his classification from maximum to medium security. Herman is now staying at the prison hospital in a 10-bunk dorm, with access to a day room, and does not have to wear leg irons anymore. While celebrating the more human conditions, Herman and the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 emphasize that the transfer from solitary is not enough. They are asking folks to continue supporting Amnesty International’s call for humane release.
Abusing Prisoners Decreases Public Safety --Interview w/ author and former (tags)
If given the attention it deserves, an important new book is certain to make significant contributions to the public discussions of US prison policy. The author, Shawn Griffith, was released last year from Florida’s prison system at the age of 41, after spending most of his life, almost 24 years, behind bars, including seven in solitary confinement.
Author Nancy Kurshan: Strategizing to Defeat Control Unit Prisons and Solitary Confinement (tags)
Author and longtime activist Nancy Kurshan’s new book, entitled Out of Control: A Fifteen Year Battle Against Control Unit Prisons, has just been released by the Freedom Archives. Kurshan’s book documents the work of The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML), which she co-founded in 1985 as a response to the lockdown at the federal prison in Marion, Illinois. It quickly turned into a broader campaign against control unit prisons and human rights violations in US prisons that lasted fifteen years, until 2000.
Freedom for Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, After 40 Years in Solitary Confinement? (tags)
After four decades of solitary confinement in the nation's most populated maximum-security prison -- and one of its most historically brutal -- a member of the internationally known "Angola 3" has reasonable cause to expect that he will soon be released, his attorneys and supporters say. The request to set free Albert Woodfox, 65, is being heard by the same federal judge who in 2008 ordered that Woodfox be released, a ruling that Louisiana prosecutors successfully appealed and blocked.
The Black Panther Party’s Living Legacy --Touring Oakland and Berkeley w/ Billy X Jennings (tags)
Last week, the "Dismantling Racism" class from St. Catherine University in Minnesota was taken on a Black Panther History Tour in Oakland and Berkeley, California, led by Billy X Jennings from It's AboutTime BPP Alumni & Legacy. Angola 3 News came along and filmed the tour. This is part one.
Amnesty International Denounces Torture in California Prisons --Interview w/ Tessa Murphy (tags)
2 weeks after the release of Amnesty Intl’s new report on the use of prolonged solitary confinement inside California’s ‘Security Housing Units’ (SHUs), entitled "The Edge of Endurance," prisoners initiated another hunger strike, with 500 participants statewide. In this new interview, Tessa Murphy speaks about her visit to California SHUs and Amnesty's report based on the visit.
World Premiere of Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal (tags)
On October 6, the new film "Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal," will be making its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and then begin touring around the world. We interview two of the filmmakers.
Will AB 2530 Unshackle Childbirth in California? -Interviewing Tina Reynolds and Vikki Law (tags)
A bill opposing the shackling of pregnant prisoners, AB 2530, has been passed unanimously by the California State Legislature and is now on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk, with thirty days to either approve or veto it. Last year, a previous version of this bill was also passed unanimously by the Legislature, but it was ultimately vetoed by Brown. With Brown’s decision expected anytime, local activists are urgently mobilizing to stop him from vetoing this important bill once again. AB 2530 supporters have created a webpage for the public (not just California residents) to contact the Governor.
Do US Prisons Violate European Human Rights Law? --Interview w/ Hamja Ahsan & Aviva Stahl (tags)
An important ruling is expected early in September from the European Court of Human Rights, regarding whether or not US prisons respect human rights enough for the UK to extradite ‘war on terror' suspects to the US. We interview activist/journalist Aviva Stahl from CagePrisoners.com alongside Hamja Ahsan, the brother of Talha Ahsan, one of the appellants that will be seriously affected by the September ruling, imprisoned since 2006.
Solitary Confinement on Trial --An interview with law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell (tags)
On the eve of Tuesday's Senate hearing on solitary confinement, we interview Angela A. Allen-Bell, a law professor at Southern University in Baton Rouge. The newly released issue of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly features an article by Prof. Bell entitled "Perception Profiling & Prolonged Solitary Confinement Viewed Through the Lens of the Angola 3 Case: When Prison Officials Become Judges, Judges Become Visually Challenged and Justice Become Legally Blind.”
Guantanamo Prison's True Secret: Jason Leopold in Conversation With Andy Worthington (tags)
Activist/Journalist Andy Worthington was recently a guest speaker alongside investigative journalist Jason Leopold at the UC Hastings College of Law, in San Francisco, hosted by the college’s chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The event, entitled “Ten Years of Guantanamo,” was held amidst protests around the world calling for the prison to be immediately shutdown. Worthington, the author of “The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison,” has been documenting the array of human rights abuses at Guantanamo for over six years now.
Medical Self Defense & the Black Panther Party --An interview w/ Alondra Nelson (tags)
Alondra Nelson, the author of 'Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination' writes that “the Party’s focus on health care was both practical and ideological.” On a practical level, the BPP provided free community health care services. Simultaneously, the BPP railed against the medical-industrial complex, declaring that health care was “a right and not a privilege.”
15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners in California (tags)
An interview with Diana Block, Pam Faden, and Dierdre Wilson --three members of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, which is celebrating its 15th year with an event in SF on Friday Oct. 14.
California Prison Crisis Sparks Statewide Hunger Strike --interview w/ Critical Resistance (tags)
We discuss the recent statewide hunger strike initiated by prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison. The strike is put in context, alongside a statewide grassroots movement calling for cuts in prison spending to address California?s budget crisis, and a recent US Supreme Court ruling that calls for the reduction of California state prisoners by at least 30,000, in response to overcrowding.
The Real Cost of Prisons --An interview with Lois Ahrens (tags)
The racist sub-text of the neo-liberal political agenda succeeded in creating acceptance of mass incarceration while simultaneously creating the laws and industries to police, prosecute, cage and control millions of people?almost all poor people and people of color. Neo-liberal policies have been in place for more than thirty years. As a result many people are not aware that our current political and economic situation is not the result of a natural course of events, but rather, of a systemically created ideology that has pervaded every aspect of our daily lives.
Troy Davis Execution Date Expected Anytime --An interview with Laura Moye of Amnesty Intl. (tags)
Laura Moye is director of the Amnesty International USA Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. Moye talks about Troy Davis, an African American on death row for over 19 years. Following a recent US Supreme Court ruling, his execution date is expected to be scheduled any day now. We must act to stop it!
Dancing With Dynamite --An interview with Ben Dangl (tags)
Video-interviewed by Angola 3 News this week while touring the SF Bay Area with his new book Dancing With Dynamite (AK Press), author Benjamin Dangl argues that “because South American social movements have been so successful in the past decade, I think it is important to learn and understand what’s been successful and to apply those strategies and tactics here, where we are facing very similar challenges.”
War, Prisons, and Torture in the US & UK --An interview with Richard Haley (tags)
We launched "Stop Isolation" because the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is considering the appeals of four British citizens--Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Haroon Rashid Aswat, and Abu Hamza--against extradition to the US to face terrorism charges. The court's long-delayed judgment is expected in the next few months. It will be a landmark in the development of human rights law.
Dylcia and Cisco on Panthers and Independista --SF8 Hearing on March 2 (tags)
This new episode of Freedom is a Constant Struggle (filmed by Angola 3 News) features Dylcia Pagan and Cisco Torres. Dylcia is a Puerto Rican freedom fighter, Independista, and former political prisoner. Cisco is the last member of the SF8 facing charges. He has an evidentiary hearing on March 2, 2011, and there is an 8 AM rally prior to the hearing, where supporters are urged to attend.
Lucasville Five Hunger Strike Begins --An interview with author Staughton Lynd (tags)
The Lucasville Five are now back in the news with an announcement last week that four of the five will be participating in a simultaneous “rolling hunger strike,” beginning today, January 3. They are using the hunger strike to protest their convictions (having always maintained their innocence) as well as their living situation, which is more restrictive than for most prisoners on Ohio’s death row.
Bradley Manning and GI Resistance to US War Crimes --An interview with Dahr Jamail (tags)
When someone becomes a soldier, they swear an oath to support and defend the US constitution by following “lawful” orders. Thus, they are legally obliged by their own oath to not follow unlawful orders. What Bradley Manning did by leaking this critical information has been to uphold his oath as a soldier in the most patriotic way. Now, compare that with how he has been raked over the coals by most of the mainstream media.
Resisting Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex --An interview w/ Victoria Law (tags)
Victoria Law is a longtime prison activist and the author of the 2009 book, Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (PM Press). Law’s essay “Sick of the Abuse: Feminist Responses to Sexual Assault, Battering, and Self Defense,” is featured in the new book, entitled "The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism," edited by Dan Berger.
The FBI’s War On Democracy --Claude Marks discusses the new film COINTELPRO 101 (tags)
Claude Marks, Director of The Freedom Archives,says "we undertook to make this new film, knowing that no government agent or agency has ever been held accountable for the assassinations of leaders, the destruction of organizations, the imprisonment and political targeting of so many people - people who still remain prisoners of the wars against movements for liberation and self-determination within the US borders."
Prison Abolition In Practice --Part two of an interview with Criminal Injustice Kos (tags)
Let’s get rid of prison rape. Let’s reinstitute rehabilitation. Let’s repeal certain draconian sentencing laws. All good and essential ideas. But very little – in some cases, nothing - will fundamentally change unless those ideas, and more, are advanced within a strategic framework of abolition.
COINTELPRO and the Omaha Two --An interview with Michael Richardson (tags)
In 2007, veteran journalist Michael Richardson began writing a series of articles for OpEdNews.com about Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa, who are two Black Panther political prisoners known as the Omaha Two. Richardson argues that they were framed for the 1970 murder of a policeman as part of the FBI’s notorious counterintelligence program, dubbed “COINTELPRO.”
Abolishing the Prison Industrial Complex --An interview with Criminal Injustice Kos (tags)
Focusing on the prison abolitionist movement, we interview two co-editors of an exciting new series at Daily Kos, called Criminal InJustice Kos, a weekly series "devoted to exploring the myths of 'crime', 'criminals', and criminal justice and the intersection of race/ethnicity/class/gender/sexuality/age/disability in policing and punishment. Criminal Injustice Kos is committed to furthering action towards reducing inequity in the US criminal justice system." Look for Criminal InJustice Kos every Wednesday at 6 pm CST.
The Jena Generation --An interview with Jordan Flaherty (tags)
If this city is going to recover, the first step is getting out the truth that New Orleans is not okay. Most of the country believes either that New Orleans has been rebuilt, or that, if not, it’s because people here are lazy and/or corrupt and wasted the nation’s generous assistance. But New Orleans is still a city in crisis. The oft-promised aid, whether from FEMA or various federal and private agencies, has not arrived.
A Christian Perspective on Prisons --An interview with Stan Moody (tags)
Only as the public becomes aware of the enormous cost of the revolving door of incarceration will they begin to pay attention to what is going on inside and how we might change the dynamic. Corrections has taken full advantage of this denial by essentially saying, “You cannot possibly understand what we are up against.” They have built incarceration into a growth industry that is sapping our national strength and shredding our decency.
Visiting A Modern Day Slave Plantation --An Interview With Nancy A. Heitzeg (tags)
My interest in Angola is as both a paradigm of the Southern transformation of plantations into prisons and as a prototype for what we now call the prison industrial complex. Many old plantations in the South became prisons after the Civil War. Angela Y. Davis traces the initial rise of the penitentiary system to the abolition of slavery, writing: “in the immediate aftermath of slavery, the southern states hastened to develop a criminal justice system that could legally restrict the possibilities of freedom for the newly released slaves.”
Blocking Freedom Marcher/Viva Palestina Aid to Gaza (tags)
Egypt complicit with Israeli siege
Confronting Human Rights Abuses in US Prisons --an interview with Bret Grote of HRC/Fed Up (tags)
Bret Grote is an investigator and organizer with Human Rights Coalition/Fed Up!, a prisoner rights/prison abolitionist organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. HRC/Fed Up! is documenting human rights abuses in Pennsylvania prisons, and using this documentation to fight back. For more information: http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/fedup/
“Future Without War” Author Discusses Women Nobel Laureates (tags)
Of the 789 people who have won the Nobel Prize, just 35 of them have been women. But among them are individuals with truly remarkable stories, Dr. Judith Hand told the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego at a program September 20 at the San Diego Public Library. They range from pioneering scientists Marie Curie and Barbara McClintock to writers Pearl S. Buck, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison and Doris Lessing and peace activists Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan, Aung San Suu Kyi, Rigoberta Menchú, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi and Wangari Matthai. Dr. Hand shared some of these women's stories in the context of her own belief that more involvement of women in the public affairs of the world can lead to a future without war.
Kevin Cooper: Will California Execute An Innocent Man? (tags)
Author J. Patrick O'Connor was recently interviewed in San Francisco about his research into the case of San Quentin death row prisoner Kevin Cooper, whose appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court was recently denied, with Judge William Fletcher writing a stinging dissent, declaring that the "State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.” This fall, Cooper will be appealing to the US Supreme Court, which is last chance to avoid execution.
Alabama - Louisiana solar links (tags)
Links to groups, in ALABAMA to LOUISIANA, supporting LOCAL Renewable Energy, Honest elections, safe schools, healthy children, disease prevention, clean water, clean air, cancer prevention and LOCAL Organic Family farmers. Please help set up and support in your LOCAL community, groups that support the above. Thank YOU.
review of support groups for solar energy, climate protection, clean air and food securtiy
Bush Sr. Warns Son Over Unilateral Action (tags)
"This war is for Daddy" - how much legitimacy does he have now, when even "Daddy" says it's a bad idea?