INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY
SHANOSIYd LSIHCUYNY WHAEONOT HLIM

THE LANDSCAPE
TRANSFORMS
June 11th

International Day of
Solidarity With Marius
Mason & All Long-Term

Anarchist Prisoners

-—— e

2025

The Landscape
Tranforms
pring is unfolding, and the time has again come to look towards June 11th,
the International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason and Long-term
Anarchist prisoners. While our celebration of this day s to lend attention to
Marius and other anarchist prisoners at risk of being forgotten because of
their long sentences, we're also continually thinking about how to emphasize how
integral prisoners are, and an anti-prison struggle as a whole is, on our path towards
freedom.

‘The site of prison has long held a rebellious and revolutionary potential. Prison
is a place for rebels to encounter one another, learn together and organize among
themselves. The historical legacy of revolt inside means that the prison of today
is even better equipped to manage, isolate and repress rupture. Yet prison, like
everything else, is not totalizing in its ability to control or stifle. Despite repression,
despite the stultifying effects of things like drugs and institutional violence, prisoners
continue to innovate and adapt and those of us on the outside can continue to do
the same, in our relationships of solidarity and in our moves toward a world without
prisons. This year, we're struck by a vision of a seed germinated by fie. It waits for
the heat and smoke to indicate when the environment i cleared and suitable, to take
its chance at ife. In a hyper-civilized world that has attempted to climinate fire in its
quest for domination, we must set fire to the old and call forth a birth of new lie.

As the terror of this dominant order comes to new, or at least previously obscured
heights, we are thinking about how to embolden new paths and relationships
alongside terrain that has held potential and embodied revolt since its inception.
Our paths will continue to demand experimentation, adaptability, ingenuity. May
we be stoked by the dying off of old forces, and enlivened by our readiness for, and
taking of, new ways of life!

There is a proud history of anarchists and other radicals meeting up in prison, and
a history of them mentoring and teaching others. Black Liberation and adjacent
struggles in the US created pockets of radicalization inside prisons, should they be
captured, that lead to moments like the Attica Uprising in 1971, Transfers of the
Tong-term recalcitrants lead to meetings of minds like when Sundiata Acoli, Joe Joe
Bowen, Hanif Shabazz Bey, and Ray Luc Levasseur met in Marion, llinois.Joe Joe, for
one, continued teaching guerilla strategies long after. Long-term anarchist prisoners
have been involved in hunger and work strikes in prisons the world over, notably
including many of the Greek comrades, ke Nikos Maziotis. The Chilean anarchist,
subversive, and Mapuche prisoners collectively pen statements for many days of
action, not least of all Ménica Caballero, staying connected to struggles beyond
the walls. They also inspire defiance outside of prison, as we see in many actions
claimed in solidarity with the comrades aforementioned, and of recent significance:
Alredo Cospito's 180-day hunger strike that, before ending last year, brought about

so many incendiary actions. There have also been instances of elders and lifers
taking responsibility for mass actions to try to shield others from additional time
and consequences,

The state uses prisons to limit and contain rebellious individuals, revolutionary
projects, and organizing on the outside. This can sometimes backfire, turning the
prison into a hotbed of revolt and radicalization. To adapt to the revolutionary
potential of prisoner organizing modem prisons make use of several tools
to control the movement of people, ideas, and skills in an attempt to quash
potential revolt. These tools include surveillance ~ increasingly technological ~ of
individuals, movement, and relationships, and stoking divisions among classes of
prisoners, pitting them against each other. Direct physical violence and isolation
are used even more liberally on the trouble-makers, advocates, and teachers. In
addition to throwing some one in isolation, sometimes for decades, the system
also transfers people away from their block, those they trust and organized with,
or across the country from their family and supporters. The ongoing expansion
of prison systems and facilities is necessary to be able to separate and distance
us from each other. Whenever prisoners rise up, the state increases and adapts
these measures, and innovates new ones, to prevent it from happening again.
All of the barriers we currently face in staying connected and empowered are
evidence of just how much the wardens and the managers have to be afraid of.

How, then, do we also adapt to the innovation of tools and techniques of control.
First, we must seck to understand them. Often it s the long-term prisoners who can
best observe, test, and articulate the behavior of the state, as they have seen it shit
over time. This is just one of many reasons why we must actively facilitate their
participation in anarchist spaces. So, for us, developing redundant and decentralized
ways to stay in communication despite the surveillance and censorship is essential
“This is required for us to build inside-outside organizing and collaborations between
the imprisoned and the more-free. Correspondence also serves to remind captives
that they are not forgotten and their captors that we are watching. Material support
is also essential. Money for anarchist prisoners not only helps them get what they
need from commissary, but can also flow to others who have less social support.
Beyond commissary, funds can also be used in the prison economy to buy or create
tools to maintain communication, or for protection from guard or fellow prisoner
violence. We must also build the capacity to act in solidarity and in response
to what we learn from inside comrades, whether that be in the form of prison
demos, phone zaps, destructive acts, and other things few of s have yet dreamt of

When an anarchist goes to prison, they can serve as a point of connection between
people inside and out. Our commitment to and style of doing prisoner support
enables this connetion o bear fruit, not only for individuals but also, in the best
cases, to challenge the power of the state where it is most concentrated. There
are many forms this role of anarchist and politicized prisoner can take. They
can use their position, voice, and ability to have it amplified, to speak to larger
issues. This informs outside comrades on the struggles of captive people. In the
US, this has best been seen in Black Liberation struggles and overlap between
the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army activity on the outside, and
the uprisings in jails and prisons across the country. More recently, we've seen
Eric King advocating for friends he made inside who helped him during some
of his hardest times. We've also seen several people locked up in Adanta jails for
involvement in Stop Cop City and in Pennsylvania for alleged involvement in
animal liberation use their media connections to describe conditions inside and
o tell the stories of people they met inside. Most people in prison do not have
anyone who can proliferate their words, whether through a blog, a zine, or graffti.
Anarchist spaces can and do just that, Michael Kimble is a great example of acting
as a conduit between outside support and a captive queer population doing mutual
aid on their own terms. Though they are still very precarious and under attack,
Marius Mason has been able to strongly influence the treatment of and access for
trans people in the federal prison system. In 2020, Jeremy Hammond recorded a
video of himself and other captives expressing solidarity with Black Lives Matter
protests in the streets. Malik Muhammad writes a column on his blog telling the
stories of and doing interviews with peaple he's met in segregation. Through his
connection to other anarchists, Michael Kimble shares radical Black history on
his block during Black History Month and Black August. In these ways, anarchist
prisoners tie inside struggle and radicalization to the larger movement outside.

‘The reverse isalso true. By the nature of their position, anarchist prisoners strengthen
the larger movement by informing its analysis, methods, and priorities. By their
inclusion in the anarchist space, we demystify incarceration and teach each other best
practices and survival techniques, This, in turn, empowers others to take necessary
risks, knowing they are not alone. Our commitment to supporting our prisoners keeps
us honest to our value of confronting state power even where it is most powerful.
Maintaining relationships and facilitating the participation in movement space of
people who are physically taken from us provides anarchists with a wing of struggle
that is “behind enemy lines” The power to incarcerate, to disappear, to silence,
to steal comrades, family, and friends must be contested. And that contestation
can only happen with other politicized and revolutionary prisoners. By meeting
and struggling together in prison, it strengthens ties between criminalized people
and the underclasses: an informal and irregular meeting of enemies of the state.

Our moves towards a life of freedom are undoubtedly shaped and strengthened by
struggling alongside those captured by the state. The inventiveness and courage needed
to maintain survival and one’s values inside can teach us a great deal about what spirit
will need to be mustered as we forge ahead. May this June 1 1th bea day to reflect on
those we love inside, those we grow and struggle with that are locked away, and to
make further moves against this world full of prisons and the forces that maintain it
Prisoner Updat
Marius Mason is now less than 2 years away from release! Despite the
progress he has made for himself and other transgender prisoners, and
due to anti-trans policies of the US. federal government, in March he
was transferred back to a women’s facility in Danbury, Connecticut
Undoing some of the progress he made with a name change, the state
is again requiring his deadname on incoming mail. Michael Kimble was
also recently transferred to another Alabama facility. He is still working
on his resentencing and continues to participate in anarchist publishing.
After going on hunger strike because of his property being taken and
other harassment, Malik Muhammad was transferred to another facility
in Oregon. At this facility, too, he has been targeted and thrown in seg.
falsely accused of trying to organize a general srike. Sean Swain contines
his collaboration with Final Straw radio. Comrade Z has also worked with
Final Straw and written articles for Texas Observer Magazine. Xinachtli
has a new fundraising campaign.

Internationally we celebrate that Claudio Lavazza was released from
prison last year, after a lifetime in the anarchist struggle. We also note
wed fight of Alfredo Cospito, and now Francisco Solar (in ltaly
and Chile, respectively), against their particularly heinous conditions.
Mnica Caballero continues to organize and speak out from inside the
Chilean prisons, and we've recently seen some calls for financial support.
New repression has also begun in Greece, after an untimely blast in
Athens killed one comrade and injured another named Marianna. We
stand with all those comrades charged after the explosion. Also, Nikos
Maziotis' request for conditional release has been rejected by the Greek
courts since he pronounced the obvious truth that “revolutionaries are
not ‘corrected nor ‘morally improved” so he is expected to serve his
full sentence. Finally, we added two more anarchists to our list of long-
term prisoners, as the Chilean state prepares to prosecute Aldo and
Lucas Hernandez ~ each facing decades in prison, having been held in
pretrial detention since December 2022. With each new and continued
attempt by the states of the world to enforce obedience to their oppressive
programs, we too recognize an urgent desire for their destruction.

Find prisoner info,
fundraising,
events,
actions,
reportbacks,
and more at

JUNEILORG