Political prisoners
 

I wrote this as a bulletin in myspace some days ago and I'm posting it in here because I feel several of you guys would be willing to help me out:

I'm going to begin compiling a sort of catalog listing political prisoners, their 'crimes', their background, and their ideals.

This is so that eventually there are periodically tables in UTEP so that people are encouraged to write to these political prisoners and get interested in getting rid of the prison-industrial complex in America.

I need to search and compile over a hundred prisoner's information (ideally over two hundred) so I'm looking for help.

Anyone willing to give a hand on this?

It sounds like an interesting idea. Is your vision to create somthing similar to the "Innocence Project," for these individuals? Are you attempting to compliment it?

What criterion are you using to evaluate who qualifies for your list? Some may be political prisoners who have committeed other crimes that requires them to be imprisoned, and some not?

Some additional information may be helpful.
______________________________

"I died a long time ago."

I know I have to give more information, but I wanted for someone to respond before giving a more detailed exposition.
I haven't actually heard of Innocence Project before, so thanks, because you've already helped me out, giving me more information about the context of my project.
Nevertheless, if I got it right, Innocence Project is to free convicted people that are innocent under the law. My project is focused on people that are convicted for their political opinions, whether guilty or not guilty under the law.
There's some, like the relatively known Mumia Abu Jamal, that have actually acts that would be condemned criminal by most people; some, like Jeffrey "Free" Lewis, that have committed acts that people would empathize with but are legally criminal; and there are people that are convicted for neither legally nor ethically crimes, like countless individuals here on the border fighting for immigrant rights.
The project cares about all of them.

To put it more simply, the project is virtually identical to the Anarchist Black Cross, but I decided to distance myself from that name and not work directly with them by simply opening a branch in my town, because of the negative connotations of the word "anarchist."
I'm going to work with my campus's Amnesty International club for this, but unlike Amnesty International, it will also sympathize with those who have committed property violence and such.

Right now it will only be a stepping stone for hopefully a perpetuating attitude in my college, so for now I'm only planning an event rather than creating an organization.
The help I need then is to compile a list of political prisoners from all spectrums.
So-called (sometimes rightfully so, but only very rarely) "eco-terrorists" are kind of easy to find, as there's a lot of easily accessible radical environmentalist groups online and my philosophy professor knows many of them in person. My best friend also tells me she can find a lot of them locked up for their stances on immigration rights. But those are only two categories.
Hell, I could use some help into brainstorming other categories of political prisoners.

Jillian, I think it's a great idea. I would be glad to help you if you'd like. I'm pretty good at researching things.

I would like to lend a hand aswell, I don't know much about this sort of thing though so I don't know if I'll be of much use.

I would love to help.

The only thing I need right now from you guys is to help me get links of political prisoners.
It's preferable that they have their profiles/biographies/stories, like this site that links the names to individual pages
http://www.prisonactivist.org/pps+po...st-alpha.shtml
Any and all links you can find will help, and don't hesitate in linking me some that sound "bad." Mumia did kill a cop, for example.

Jillian, I forgot to ask before... Do you want a list of political prisoners from around the world, or do you want to stay within the North American region?

Oh, no, just the United States. I'm not sure of the procedure and standards for writing to political prisoners in other countries, so I only want American prisoners for now.

Ok, I'll post some links in a bit.

Actually, this is going to take some time. I can understand why you needed help. When I was searching, many of the links I clicked on have the political prisoners that were already listed in the link you gave.

Damn, but it's worth the effort. Knowing what these people went/are going through drives me nuts. I'm still looking...

There's a UK guy who's being extradited to America to be tried for 'war crimes' with a likely sentence of 70 years high security in the US.
He was a hacker with a dial up modem who was looking for proof of aliens, he was not an enemy combatant. He did no damage, caused no harm, stole nothing. But the desire to punish anyone who exposes US weakness is such that he'll be treated as a war criminal.
I'll see what I can find for you, if you want info on him.

Here are a few links. I didn't have time to look up more today so these are just the ones I collected from last night.

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/stories/norma.html

http://www.infoshop.org/prisons/publ...80205120542299

http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/

Awesome, I had seen the middle link before but I forgot it. Thanks!

Are you interested in political exiles as well?

Hm... good question. I think it would be a nice idea. If the procedure for mailing them and supporting them is similar, then it increases the scope of the event. And if it's too different, then I still have the information archived for when the action gets momentum.

You're welcome :) Do you still need more links?

Well, yeah, although not immediately. I have to wait at least a week before starting compiling the lists.

Alright, so it's been a month since I posted this thread, and it's about three weeks before the event takes place.
I think I have found enough political prisoners.
Turns out compiling their information is harder than I thought it would be. I should give the Anarchist Black Cross this information.
I'm going to end up with just about sixty political prisoners; maybe a little more. But that's ok. I realized that apathetic passersby would be more encouraged to write to them if the 'catalog' is small because then they don't have to leaf through each and every page to see who they find.

What if you compile different 'catalogs' and let each person look through one? Then it's short enough that they won't get bored but you can cover more people.

So, I had my Against Prisons event this friday. It was quite an experience. I had about four or five sympathizing bands playing.
When we were setting up I go to pick up the PA system, and UTEP tells me they have no request for it. Predictably so, with bullshit bureaucracies, turns out the form I filled was just to that they can fucking say "oh ok, that's cool" and that's fucking it. The items I request in the form I have to look for them somewhere else - so what's the fucking point of the form?!
Anyway, luckily there's people behind those bureaucracies, and I end up with a PA system. But then when the first band's about to play, turns out we didn't have any electricity in the park! I was about to freak out, but after about an hour we get electricity. The band's time slot was over, but we worked it out and they could play the next one.

After than, finally everything went up smoothly. Students for Reform set up our table with two catalogs (53 political prisoners if I remember correctly), envelopes, ink, pages, and two different political pamphlets I printed out. Also several kinds of patches for donation or giveaway - you write a letter and you get free communism. Amnesty international quickly joined us with their petitions for specific political prisoners.
There were always at least 20 people and about four times there were easily a hundred spectators. We hoisted our fucking awesome flag:
A peace symbol made of bricks, with the statue of liberty as the main line of the peace sign. Instead of a book, she is flipping everyone off, and instead of a torch, she has a set of keys. In the two small sections of the peace symbol, dozens of arms are trying to get out, but bars impede it. The banner reads, No Justice No Peace

We wrote on the sidewalks several facts about the prison-industrial complex, like the fact that under the Bush regime, five times more black people are arrested than under South Africa during apartheid! (this is percentages, not population)

Overall the event was ok. I gave out most of the pamphlets and some people were interested in my organization. Although more than that, it was musicians who came up to me because they wanted to play in the next event I make. The good thing is that with that banner, the mseeages in the sidewalk, and the talk by both organizations, it's impossible that anyone that walked through there could have ignored these facts.

Congrats and a job well done. :)

I would love to help out! My schedule is pretty tight, but if there is something I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask!

It's good to hear that things went alright Jillian. Just keep doing what you do and don't stop; it really helps make a difference.

I admire your activeness and conviction, Jillian. The only thing I believe in enough that I could put that much effort into it is art, and even then I prefer to sit alone in the studio and just do stuff.
Congrats, Jillian.