Mar 27, 2017
Interview
This week Bursts spoke with Jude, a member of the Tilted Scales
Collective, about the collective's new book, A Tilted Guide to
Being a Defendant out from Combustion Books. In this interview, they speak
about the Tilted Scales Collective, which is "a small collective of
dedicated legal support organizers who have spent years supporting
and fighting for political prisoners, prisoners of war, and
politicized prisoners in the occupied lands of Turtle Island (i.e.,
the so-called united states)." from their website, and about the book which is a comprehensive
run down for people facing legal charges and how to cope with
handling them.
You can visit them at https://tiltedscalescollective.org/
Announcement
From fighttoxicprisons.org:
The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) is a collaboration with
the Abolitionist Law Center. FTP’s mission is to conduct grassroots
organizing, advocacy and direct action to challenge the prison
system which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous
environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding
communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation. At
this time, FTP is focused on opposing the construction of a new
federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky.
FTP is inspired by the abolitionist movement against mass
incarceration and the environmental justice movement, which have
both been led by the communities of color who are hardest hit by
prisons and pollution.Both these movements also have long histories
of multi-racial alliances among those on the front lines of the
struggle and those who can offer support and solidarity, which we
aim to build on.
FTP has been informed by the ongoing research and analysis of the
Human Rights Defense Center’s Prison Ecology Project, as well as
the work of the Earth First! Prisoner Support Project and June11.org
FTP has just announced that their 2017 convergence will be from
June 2-5th in Denton/Fort Worth Texas. It will include speakers,
panels, workshops, protests and cultural activities, including an
art show and hip-hop performances.
Some proposed topics are:
– Mapping Toxic Prisons
– The History and Future of June 11
– Building Mult-Racial Alliances Against Incarceration
– EJ Lessons from the Pipeline struggles
Why Texas?
Environmentalists know Texas as the financial headquarters of oil
and gas empire that controls the nation’s political system, where
fights against pipelines like Keystone XL and Trans-Pecos have
captured the attention of the nation.
Prison abolitionists know Texas as home to one of the most brutal
and corrupt state prison systems in the country, where extreme heat
is coupled with tainted water, and vocal participants from the
September prisoner strike like Keith ‘Malik’ Washington sit in long
term solitary confinement, subjected to both.
You can stay updated on this event and see more about Fight Toxic
Prisons at http://fighttoxicprisons.org
Playlist: here