In memory of Marcia J. Powell and all those prisoners who have suffered or died in the custody of the state.
The 'Friends of Marcia Powell' are autonomous groups and individuals engaging in prisoner outreach, informal advocacy, and organized protest and direct actions in a sustained campaign to: promote prisoner rights and welfare in America; engage the Arizona public in a creative and thoughtful critique of our system of "justice;” deconstruct the prison industrial complex; and dismantle this racist, classist patriarchy...
Retiring "Free Marcia Powell"
As of December 2, 2010 (with occasional exceptions) I'm retiring this blog to direct more of my time and energy into prisoner rights and my other blogs; I just can't do anyone justice when spread so thin. I'll keep the site open so folks can search the archives and use the links, but won't be updating it with new posts. If you're looking for the latest, try Arizona Prison Watch. Most of the pieces posted here were cross-posted to one or both of those sites already.
Thanks for visiting. Peace out - Peg.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Vote the Bums Out, 2010.
Sorry, all - be patient with me. I'm five or so days behind in my email, and not catching up fast. This was up there the AM of January 1st, somewhere on 202.
Decided to plant this in here with a widget as a permanent reminder to those out there struggling through life that we need you here. All the injustice, grief, and human suffering calls for us to stay and do everything we can about it while we're here. Don't give up the fight - your last shred of hope may just keep someone else alive, too.
The Sound Strike: Artists Boycott Arizona.
Phoenix Copwatch
End Police Brutality and Racial Profiling.
INCITE!
Excellent resoure for abolitionists and feminists everywhere
AZ Law Help.org
Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education
Action Committee for Women in Prison
War on the Drug War: Petition
President Obama: Commute Hamedah Hasan's Sentence
Lives in Focus Project
Great resource on the effect of prison on families.
"DECRIMINALIZE ME"
Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence / Critical Resistance Joint Statement
Great Resource for Street Artists (including sidewalk chalkers...)
ON DIRECT ACTIONS, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, ETC.
Taking a cue from the animal rights activists (who usually don't even put their names and faces on their sites), I thought I should clarify a few things here.
The Friends of Marcia Powell and freemarciapowell.blogspot.com are not very organized, nor are we affiliated or associated with any other group or organization. We all just crash each other's protests to show solidarity. Me (Peg) - I'm just winging this stuff.
The information and ideas provided on this website are not meant to incite illegal actions or activities, even if it looks like that may be what we're doing. That's not to say we frown on civil disobedience; there's an important place in history for diverse tactics of resistance. We are each only responsible for our own actions, though.
The point is for folks to get involved in the 2010 political campaigns and challenge the BS around the prison industrial complex, but please be creative enough that no one gets hurt or arrested (well, a few lawmen and makers need to be indicted and disarmed, still, but we don't want any more of our friends getting into trouble.)
Do be advised: these are not nice people we're picking fights with, they far outgun us, they make all the rules, the game is already rigged, and if you piss the wrong person off bad enough in this state, you don't even need to break a law to go to jail or prison.
In any case, make sure you have the number you'll need to call for help from jail written on your arm if you think you might get arrested. Live on the buddy system (keep an eye on each other for awhile and check the jail if anyone goes missing). Don't let things you're responsible for drag anyone else down; keep your loose ends neat.
Don't rat out your comrades, and don't automatically believe it if someone says that someone you trust ratted out you first. That's a classic tactic. So is trying to make you think that something perfectly legal you did is a crime. Just because it's secret doesn't mean it's criminal or shouldn't be protected.
Be true to yourself and the cause regardless.
If you have any questions about the legality of any direct action you are considering, we encourage everyone receiving this (or the) action alert(s) to check your local laws and ordinances and think about the possible consequences before proceeding to do anything. Not that you'd be on your own, but most of us are too poor to bail you out, and too politically disenfranchised to otherwise wrest you free.
July 29, 2010. Cesar Chavez Plaza/Wells Fargo, Phoenix.
Advocacy for women in Florida prisons
American Civil Liberties Union
National Prison Project Report
Mental Illness In Prison
Ill-Equipped: US Prisoners and Offenders with Mental Illness
Death by Incarceration
US DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics: 2001-2006 Prison Deaths (pdf)
Gerlad & Maas' Nights Lantern
Excellent resource by our neighbors to the North on Human Rights, Political Prisoners, and the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Rag Radio on Political Prisoners: Angola 3; Marilyn Buck.
"NO HUMAN INVOLVED": HELP FREE MARCIA POWELL!!!
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*a free Marcia Powell in 2008*
* on Van Buren and 16th st, downtown Phoenix*
*Photo by Gary Millard*
*As many of my friends in Phoenix know, from time to ...
EJI and children: Life still = Death in prison.
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*A little catching up, with help from Equal Justice Initiative...*
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*Death in prison sentences for 13 and 14-year olds.*
*Do...
Sex Worker rights: End discrimination!
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Remembering Marcia Powell.
Sex Worker Outreach Project / Arizona Department of Corrections Protest.
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.
...
13 years ago
"My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong." - Mother Jones
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