Category: Organizer Essays

Who is at risk of being arrested by ICE?

•Anyone without lawful immigration status

•People with status (e.g., lawful permanent residents, refugees and visa holders) who have certain criminal convictions. Someone with legal status may be a target even if: Your conviction is from years ago; You didn’t serve time in jail; Your case was minor or a misdemeanor; You’ve been an LPR for a long time; and/or All the other members of your family are US citizens.

Are ICE agents approaching anyone they think they can deport?

ICE agents usually identify the person they want to arrest ahead of time. Then, they go to homes, courthouses, shelters and even workplaces to look for that person. Increasingly, they are waiting on the street to make the arrest.

If I know I’m at risk, what can I do?

•Make a plan with your loved ones in case you are picked up by ICE!

•Talk to a lawyer before you apply to change your immigration status, renew your greencard, or travel outside of the United States!

What should I do if ICE agents approach me on the street or in public?

When ICE agents arrest someone in public, it typically happens quickly. They may call your name out loud and ask you to confirm your name and then detain you.

•Before you say your name or anything else, ask, “AM I FREE TO GO?” If they say YES: Say, “I don’t want to answer your questions” or “I’d rather not speak with you right now.” Walk away.

•If they say NO: Use your right to remain silent! Say, “I want to use my right not to answer questions” and then “I want to speak to a lawyer.”

•If ICE starts to search inside your pockets or belongings, say, “I do not consent to a search.”

•DON’T LIE or show false documents. Don’t flee or resist arrest.

•Don’t answer questions about your immigration status or where you were born. They will use any information you provide against you. Do not hand over any foreign documents such as a passport, consular IDs, or expired visas.

If officers come to my home, will I know they are from ICE?

Not always! Beware: ICE agents often pretend to be police and say they want to talk to you about identity theft or an ongoing investigation.

Can ICE agents enter my home to arrest me?

No. If ICE agents do not have a warrant signed by a judge, they are not supposed to enter a home without permission from an adult. Opening the door when they knock does not give them permission to enter your home.

So, what do I do if officers are at my door?

•Find out if they are from DHS or ICE. Try to stay calm. Be polite. Don’t lie. Say “I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Politely ask to see a warrant signed by a judge and to slip it under the door. If they don’t have one, decline to let them in.

•If they are looking for someone else, ask them to leave contact information. You don’t have to tell them where to find the person and you should not lie.

What can I do if ICE is inside my home to make an arrest?

•Ask them to step outside unless they have a warrant signed by a judge.

•If they came inside without your permission, tell them “I do not consent to you being in my home. Please leave.” If they start to search items in your home, say “I do not consent to your search.”

What are my rights if I am being arrested by ICE?

•You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to speak to a lawyer.

•You do NOT have to share any information about where you were born, what your immigration status is, or your criminal record. Ask to speak to a lawyer instead of answering questions.

• You do NOT have to give them your consular documents or passport unless they have a warrant from ajudge.

• You do not have to sign anything. Thanks to immigrantdefenseproject.org

These suggestions from the National Lawyers Guild “Know Your Rights” guide summarize the rules to which the police are theoretically subject. However be careful: the police, the courts, and the government can and do ignore these rules when they feel like it. Sometimes, police retaliate against people for exercising their rights. These tips may help you later on in court, and sometimes they won’t. But even though the state can’t be counted on to follow its own laws, it still may be helpful to know what these laws are so you can shame particular state agents or deal with particular situations. Always use your best judgment — if you aren’t doing anything wrong, there may be no reason to be excessively paranoid or escalate a potentially innocent and brief encounter with a police officer who is just saying “hi” into an ugly situation by acting suspicious and refusing to say “hi” back. The point is to avoid giving information.

Providing this information isn’t intended to scare you into inactivity or make you paranoid. Even in the current context, the vast majority of radical projects proceed with no interference from the police. The police hassle and arrest people because they hope that such repression will frighten the population into submission. We can take reasonable precautions while continuing the fight for liberation.

 

Never Talk to the Police

Anything you say to an FBI agent or cop may be used against you and other people — even if the questions seem routine or harmless. You don’t have to talk to FBI agents, police or investigators on the street, if you’ve been arrested, or if you’re in jail. (Exceptions: Your name, date of birth and address are known as “Booking questions” which are not included in your right to remain silent. Also, in some states you can get an additional minor charge for refusing to identify yourself after a police stop based on reasonable suspicion). Only a judge has the authority to order you to answer questions. Many activists have refused to answer questions, even when ordered by a judge or grand jury, and subsequently served jail time to avoid implicating others. It is common for the FBI to threaten to serve you with a grand jury subpoena unless you talk to them. Don’t be intimidated. This is frequently an empty threat, and if they are going to subpoena you, they will do so anyway. If you do receive a subpoena, call a lawyer right away.

Once you’ve been stopped or arrested, don’t try to engage cops in a dialogue or respond to accusations. If you are nervous about simply refusing to talk, you may find it easier to tell them to contact your lawyer. Once a lawyer is involved, the police sometimes back off. Even if you have already answered some questions, you can refuse to answer other questions until you have a lawyer. Don’t lie to the police or give a false name— lying to the police is a crime. However, the police are allowed to lie to you — don’t believe what they say. If you’ve been arrested, don’t talk about anything sensitive in police cars, jail cells or to other inmates — you are probably being recorded.

What To Do About Police Harassment On The Street

If the police stop you on the street, ask, “Am I free to go?” If yes, walk away. If not, you are being detained but this does not necessarily mean you will be arrested. Ask, “Can you explain why you are detaining me?” To stop you, cops must have specific reasons to suspect you of involvement in a specific crime. Police are entitled to pat you down during a detention. If the police try to further search you, your car, or your home, say repeatedly that you do not consent to the search, but do not physically resist.

What To Do If Police Visit Your Home

You do not have to let the FBI or police into your home or office unless they have a search warrant. If they have an arrest warrant you may limit entry if the person surrenders outside. In either case, ask to inspect the warrant. It must specifically describe the place to be searched and the things to be seized. You do not have to tell them anything other than your name and address. Tell the police that you can not consent to the search unless it is also inspected by a lawyer. If the officers ask you to give them documents, your computer, do not consent to them taking it. However physically trying to block them from searching or seizing items may escalate the situation. You have a right to observe what they do. You should take written notes of their names and what they do. Have friends act as witnesses.

What To Do If Police Stop You In Your Car

If you are driving a car, you must show police your license, registration and proof of insurance, but you do not have to consent to a search or answer questions. Keep your hands where the police can see them and refuse to consent (agree) to a search. Police may separate passengers and drivers from each other to question them, but no one has to answer any questions.

What To Do If You Are Arrested

Repeatedly tell the police “I am going to remain silent, I would like to see my lawyer.” If you suffer police abuse while detained or arrested, try to remember the officer’s badge number and/or name. You have the right to ask the officer to identify himself. Write down everything as soon as you can and try to find witnesses. If you are injured, see a doctor and take pictures of the injuries as soon as possible.

Searches at International Borders

Your property (including data on laptops) can be searched and seized at border crossings without a warrant. Do not take any data you would like to keep private across the border. If you have to travel with electronic data encrypt it before crossing and make an encrypted back up of any data before crossing in case your computer or phone is seized.

Police Hassles: What If You Are Not A Citizen?

In most cases, you have the right to a hearing with an immigration judge before you can be deported. If you voluntarily give up this right or take voluntary departure, you could be deported without a hearing and you may never be able to enter the US legally again or ever get legal immigration status. Do not talk to the ICE, even on the phone, or sign any papers before talking to an immigration lawyer. Unless you are seeking entry into the country, you do not have to reveal your immigration status to any government official. If you are arrested in the US, you have the right to call your consulate or have the police inform the consulate of your arrest. Your consul may help you find a lawyer. You also have the right to refuse help from your consulate.

Police Hassles: What If You Are Under 18 Years Old?

Don’t talk to the police — minors also have the right to remain silent. You don’t have to talk to cops or school officials. Public school students have the right to politically organize at school by passing out leaflets, holding meetings and publishing independent newspapers as long as these activities do not disrupt classes. You have the right to a hearing with your parents and an attorney present before you are suspended or expelled. Students can have their backpacks and lockers searched by school officials without a warrant. Do not consent to any search, but do not physically resist.

Common Sense Activist Security Measures

Don’t speculate on or circulate rumors about protest actions or potentially illegal acts. Assume you are under surveillance if you are organizing mass direct action, anything illegal, or even legal stuff. Resist police disruption tactics by checking out the authenticity of any potentially disturbing letter, rumor, phone call, or other form of communication before acting on it. Ask the supposed source if she or he is responsible. Deal openly and honestly with the differences in our movements (race, gender, class, age religion, sexual orientation, etc.) before the police can exploit them. Don’t try to expose a suspected agent or informer without solid proof. Purges based on mere suspicion only help the police create distrust and paranoia. It generally works better to criticize what a disruptive person says and does without speculating as to why.

People who brag about, recklessly propose, or ask for unnecessary information about underground groups or illegal activities may be undercover police but even if they are not, they are a severe danger to the movement. The police may send infiltrators/provocateurs posing as activists to entrap people on conspiracy charges of planning illegal acts. You can be guilty of conspiracy just for agreeing with one other person to commit a crime even if you never go through with it — all that is required is an agreement to do something illegal and a single “overt act” in furtherance of the agreement, which can be a legal act like going to a store. It is reasonable to be suspicious of people in the scene who pressure us, manipulate us, offer to give us money or weapons, or make us feel like we aren’t cool if we don’t feel comfortable with a particular tactic, no matter why they do these things. Responsible activists considering risky actions will want to respect other people’s boundaries and limits and won’t want to pressure you into doing things you’re not ready for. Doing so is coercive and disrespectful — hardly a good basis on which to build a new society or an effective action.

Keep in mind that activists who spend all their time worrying about security measures and police surveillance will end up totally isolated and ineffective because they won’t be able to welcome new folks who want to join the struggle. We have to be aware of the possibility of police surveillance while maintaining our commitment to acting openlyand publicly. Smashing the system is going to require mass action as well as secretive covert actions by a tiny clique of your trusted friends.

More info contact the National Lawyers Guild: 415 285-5067 or 212 679-5100; read The War at Home by Brian Glick or Agents of Repressionby Ward Churchill

Good sex is an act of mutual aid. Every person, regardless of gender, is responsible for contributing to the well-being and pleasure of their partners and themselves. We must explore and know our own desires and learn to speak them. We must hear and respond to the desires of our partners (even if that means accepting refusal gracefully). This means finding the words to express how we like to be touched, spoken to, tied up, and cuddled. Getting explicit permission, however vulnerable and scary it may seem, is a great turn-on. What better than knowing your partner really likes it when you touch them that way, talk in that voice, or use that prop? What is better than knowing you can ask for anything, and it will at least be considered respectfully? There is no way that we or our relationships can grow if we don’t find safe spaces in which to explore.

If you have never spoken during sex, or asked permission, or blurted out your desires, feel free to start small. Most people hear compliments well, and appreciate encouraging suggestions. However, it’s equally important to discover the boundaries of your comfort (often situational) and speak them as well. Starting off with a “this feels so good” or “I love it when you…” or “I’d like you to spend the night if you’re interested” is fantastically brave. If you’re not there, work on moaning—just get yourself vocal. Steady yourself for disappointment (and delight), and enjoy the benefits of good communication. Often, people’s boundaries are related to past experience, and creating a safer “right now” can help some people open up closed doors. There is no implicit consent to touch someone’s genitals because you have kissed them, or to have intercourse because you’ve had oral sex. If your partner tenses up or cries or is unresponsive, it’s really important to stop, check in, and support what they need. Be honest about any risk factors you bring, such as sexually transmitted infections, whether you have unprotected sex with other people, and if you have allergies to glycerin or spermicide (in lube) or latex. Details make all the difference.

It’s also important that we take care of our community and help out our friends. At the very least, we should directly check in with them about what they want and expect, and possibly act to get them to a place of lower risk. It’s also important to confront people (in a supportive way) who act aggressively, because they may not understand that what they are doing is possibly assault. They are either okay with what they are doing, or don’t believe there’s anything wrong with it.

While being so direct about sex is outside of most norms, it transforms sexual experiences. When we are sure that we agree with our partners about expectation and desire, there is no fear to distract us—only pleasure and humor. It’s much less pressure to offer someone a choice (“Would you like to come home with me or would you rather hang out here?”) than a request (“Would you come home with me tonight?”). If we allow for slow and comfortable intimacy, we are likely to experience it more fully and joyfully.

So, if you are often the initiator of your sexual experiences, experiment with patience and let someone else take the lead. Even if it means being alone more often, you may find you enjoy yourself more when you have partners. If you are less likely to initiate sex, think of ways you could safely ask for intimacy. Having the support of friends could make it easier to approach that really great someone.

It’s our responsibility to create new sexual expectations based on good communication that not only reduce the likelihood of sexual assault, but affirm that sex is normal and necessary. This begins with teaching children healthy ideas about their bodies and believing people when they share stories of sexual assault. Consider it turning on the lights. There are endless ways for us to end our internal oppression and explore healthy, better sex.

February 29, 2020 is Leap Day — could we use our extra day for something extraordinary and powerful instead of the same old same old? The capitalist/industrial system wastes our time, strips life from the earth, centralizes power into a few hands, and extracts the meaning and pleasure from our lives.

While most of us yearn for a different world, it’s hard to know how to fight back or how to make a difference. You can’t revolt alone, and the structures of oppression and destruction are designedto feel inevitable, unavoidable and overwhelmingly powerful.

Nonetheless, the world is always changing. Empires alwayscrumble to dust eventually. And yet slavery and monarchy didn’t replace themselves. Someone or a small group of people have to take the first terrifying step off the sidewalk and into the streets to force change.

Rebels are just regular folks the day before an uprising — worried about the rent, full of contradictions, unsure what to do next. Revolt transforms the lives of those who make it. It clarifies the meaning of our lives while it heals and transform us. There is nothing like the electric experience in the streets when the crowds advance, the police flee, and anything is possible.

The right time to begin revolt is right now, but the precise day is arbitrary. The correct conditions already exist and have been present for some time.

We need to openly discuss and challenge power and refuse to be consumers, viewers and objects to be managed. This goes way beyond just the distribution of resources — instead, its time to question whether resources, alone, is what life is really about. We demand a world organized around being awake and engaged — where we pursue intimate knowledge of others, ourselves and the world around us rather than getting distracted by treats distributed to keep us obedient and on-task.

Shifting the focus from things and entertainment to DIY experiences is what the world needs now to prevent the technological system from destroying the earth. Life is too short and the world too beautiful to spend more time muddling through accepting the compromises of the corporate system and waiting for something better — far off in the future. We don’t have enough time left for that anymore.

Working in tiny collectives, nurturing gardens and bike coops and art spaces is vital to the struggle, but it just isn’t enough as the earth slides towards extinction. It’s time to attack and defeatthe structures of power. We’re not going to get burned out or tired once we start winning.

Leap day offers an extra day and invites us to shake off our routine, but any other day could work just as well. The global system — while vast — is fragile and vulnerable. Alternatives to the system of ecological devastation and economic inequality exist — cooperation, local control, sharing, living in harmony with the earth.

This year, consider February 29 as an experiment and an invitation. How do you really want to live? What would you do if you were living life like it really mattered? Would you go to work like normal, or can you think of something better? This leap day can be a universal general strike and uprising for a world worth living in, but its up to you, your friends and the whole world to take that first step. Leap for it.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time, yet instead of urgent and massive efforts to change course before its too late, society is paralyzed — by fear, dread, sadness, infighting and fossil fuel-funded disinformation campaigns. .

We can’t save the world by continuing to play by the system’s rules. The rules must be changed. Everything needs to change. And it has to start today, but how? It is time to rebel.

Civil disobedience, blockades, strikes, building occupations, pipeline lockdowns, mass bike rides during rush hour, marches, street theater, riots, railroad barricades — and any number of other direct actions can be effective tactics to increase the costs of inaction and promote change. Preventing business as usual conveys the message that the operation of the machine has become so odious that unless it stops, the wheels will be prevented from working at all.

Not all actions or protests are the same in risk, the time and energy they require and their size and scope — nor should they be. Each situation calls for different strategies and tactics designed around political and social understandings of what will be the most helpful at a particular time. Here’s some very general tips that apply to a variety of different direct action and protest contexts — far from exhaustive or comprehensive but one has to start somewhere….

Pulling off effective, inspiring actions — either non-violent arrestable actions, legal protests or militant resistance — can be personally transformative experiences, not just for the change we’re trying to make in the world, but also for the change within ourselves. We will never be spectators again.

Affinity Groups

Affinity groups (AGs) are small direct action cells (4-8 people) who share attitudes about tactics and who organize themselves for effectiveness and protection during protests or civil disobedience actions.

The most effective affinity groups are composed of people with pre-existing relationships who know and trust each other.
In a chaotic protest or action situation, affinity groups enable decision making (as opposed to just reacting to the police) while watching each other’s backs. Affinity groups with experience and a vision within a bigger crowd can take the initiative and start something when the crowd is standing around wondering what to do next.
Some AGs use a code word which any member can yell if they have an idea for what to do next, so people can huddle and make a quick proposal the group can agree to or discuss alternatives.
AGs have divisions of labor in which some members stay away from the action to support members who might be arrested.
An AG can send scouts on a bike to check action opportunities.
Sometime different AGs cooperate before or during an action using an spokes council (meeting for making decisions involving large numbers of people more quickly, in which each AG is representedby a single member, often the rest of the group sitting behind their speaker to tell them about their views)

Action Aspects

•Recruit local people from diverse backgrounds. It can also help to have some local celebrities & upstanding community members as spokespersons.

•Safety first: know your limits! Discuss everyone’s limits before the action. Designate a police liaison and discuss each person’s capacity to risk arrest. Do parents have support with childcare? Do some people have disabilities, immigration issues, or other vulnerabilities?

•Checking in with each other during the action will keep the group united. Don’t forget to take pee breaks, which will be a lot easier when someone can act as lookout while you duck down behind a dumpster

•Educate. Some people are still plugged in to the corporate media and don’t understand the issues at hand. Be ready to explain the basics, and have some fliers to pass out.

•Personal Stories. Share personal stories about how you’ve been affected by what you’re protesting.

•Bring a book for blockades or occupations when you’ll need to stay awhile or musical instruments, depending on the desired tone. (Refer to the book list.)

•In a protest or march context, there are alternatives to confronting police lines. The police want you to play by their rules, but like guerrilla fighters, it’s our job to figure out forms of struggle where we have an advantage. Creating beautiful expressions of the world we seek to build — music, art, gardens, public sex, bicycle swarms, etc. — avoids the system’s us vs. them paradigm.

•Document any abuses. Designate multiple folks with cameras to document the action itself, and be prepared to capture abusive behavior by cops or security.

•In more organized contexts, avoid breaking the law aside from strategic aspects of an action. Talk through various scenarios beforehand, including potential police response. Incorporate a diversity of tactics, with different AGs filling different roles. If someone wants to do drugs or booze up, they perhaps need to go someplace else.

•Get legal support. Be in touch with local organizations like the National Lawyers Guild or law firms that specialize in civil disobedience, and with veteran activists who’ve dealt with local law enforcement in your area. Educate yourself about possible outcomes.

•Send us your stories of successful actions! We may run them in the Slingshot newspaper. All submissions to slingshotcollective@protonmail.com.

Some resources:

•Earth First!’s Direct Action Manual published on www.earthfirst.org has extensive detailed information about lockdowns, tree occupations, etc.

• The Ruckus Action Strategy Guide has some good tips: ruckus.org

•Some relevant titles: Requiem for a species by Clive Hamilton, Being the Change: Live well and spark a climate revolution by Peter Kalmus, DEBT: the first 5000 years by David Greaber and Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Fiction

The Hearing Trumpet – Leonora Carrington

America is Not the Heart – Elaine Castillo

Itzá – Rios de la Luz

The Marvellous Equations of the Dread – Marcia Douglas

Sabrina & Corina – Kali Fajardo-Anstine

M Archive – Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Mean – Myriam Gurba

Coyote Songs – Gabino Iglesias

Speak No Evil – Uzodinma Iweala

Black Leopard, Red Wolf – Marlon James

The Map of Salt and Stars – Zeyn Joukhadar

Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli

There, There – Tommy Orange

Girls Burn Brighter – Shobha Rao

A Man – Oriana Fallaci

NonFiction

This Accident of Being Lost – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Pleasure Activism – adrienne maree brown

Emergent Strategy – adrienne maree brown

Rage Becomes Her – Soraya Chemaly

The Terrible – Yrsa Daley-Ward

What You Have Heard is True – Carolyn Forche’

Uncut Funk – bell hooks & Stuart Hall

When They Call You a Terrorist – Patrisse Khan-Cullors

Heavy: An American Memoir – Keise Leymon

Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde

Tell Me How It Ends – Valeria Luiselli

Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief – Cynthia Milstein

Making Spaces Safer –Shawna Potter

Turning this World Inside Out – Nora Samaran

I’m Afraid of Men – Vivek Shraya

River of Fire: Commons, Crisis & the Imagination – Cal Winslow

Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines

Turn this World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture – Nora Samaran

Making Spaces Safer – Shawna Potter

River of Fire: Commons, Crisis, and the Imagination – edited Cal Winslow

Uncut Funk – bell hooks and Stuart Hall

Fateful Triangle – Noam Chomsky

Uprooting Racism – Paul Kivel

Graphic Novels

Fütchi Perf – Kevin Czap

Mis(h)adra – Iasmin Omar Ata

Young Terrorists – Matt Pizzolo

On a Sunbeam – Tillie Walden

Poetry

Electric Arches – Eve Ewing

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude – Ross Gay

Invasive Species – Marwa Helal

Magical Negro – Morgan Parker

Nature Poem – Tommy Pico

Don’t Call Us Dead – Danez Smith

Young Adult

The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo

Children of Blood & Bone – Tomi Adeyemi

Internment – Samira Ahmed

The Marrow Thieves – Cherie Dimaline

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali – Sabina Khan

Gabi Girl in Pieces – Isabel Quintero

Juliet Takes a Breath – Gabby Rivera

The Grief Keeper – Alexandra Villasante

White Rose – Kip Wilson

Prisoner pen pals

Prisoner support ranges from books-to-prisoners projects that mail free books to inmates to individually becoming penpals with a prisoner. Some people focus on political prisoners while others see the entire prison-industrial complex as illegitimate and criticize the way that it targets marginalized communities. A key way we can support prisoners is by communicating with them. In an email-dominated world, writing an old-fashioned letter on paper can be surprisingly rewarding for you as well as a prisoner. Here are some tips on writing letters to prisoners.

• When writing to prisoners, you have to put their prisoner number on the first line of the mailing address to get it through.

• Make sure to put a return address on your letter. If you are writing to a prisoner you don’t know, it may be best to use a PO box or other address that doesn’t disclose where you live.

• If you’re writing to a prisoner, keep in mind that the prison officials or other authorities may read your letter. Don’t discuss anything sensitive. If the prisoner is waiting for trial or sentencing (or on appeal), it may be better not to discuss the details of their case.

• Prisons prohibit mailing items like books, food, money, etc. Ask the prisoner for the rules.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep like offering to find a lawyer to take their case, sending them money or expensive items, offering them housing on release, organizing a support campaign, etc.— being let down when you’re locked up can be especially devastating. Be clear about your intentions. If you’re not looking for a romantic relationship, it can be helpful to all involved to say so right off.

• While the state locking people up is shitty, it doesn’t follow that all prisoners are angels. They are people just like everyone else, and some of them are flawed or can be manipulative. Use reasonable caution and treat prisoners like you would another penpal.

• Be careful about accepting collect phone calls from jail — prison collect calls are usually absurdly expensive.

Thank you for being with us for another year on this beautiful, magical planet. Yes, we’re teetering on the edge of the abyss but we’re still here, we still have some choices left, and it’s not over yet!

Our point of view is crucial. It’s time to stop spending so much energy imagining the end of the world, and rather imagine how we can be rid of fossil fuels, industrialism, capitalism and the instant-gratification-unsustainable tech we have all become accustomed to. To save ourselves, human society has to quickly change virtually all its technologies and activities all at the same time — it’s overwhelming.

There is no single way to respond to our predicament. While none of us can change everything all at once, everyone can change something and co-creating environments of change can snowball.  Perhaps things we cannot change on our own we can change together, organisms in an ecosystem of change.

Dramatic transitions can be opportunities not just for survival but for excitement, creativity and inspiring connections with other Earth rebels. The struggles, joy and liberation we find in fighting the powers that be is part of the point.  Even if we are not successful, fighting for this green Earth and for each other is the best way to spend the time we’ve got left.

This is the 26th time our collective hasamused itself by publishing the Slingshot Organizer. Its sale raises funds to print the quarterly, radical, independent Slingshot Newspaper. We distribute the newspaper for free everywhere in the US, often at the places listed in the Radical Contact List. Let us know if you can be a local newspaper distributor in your area. Also please send us content for the paper. Thanks to the volunteers who created this year’s organizer: Alex, Alina, Amy, Ana, Carolita, Charis, Daktie, Day, Devon, Diego, Dov, Fern, Francesca, Giz, Hannah, HB, Heri, Ingrid, Isabel, Isabella, Jeanne, Jenna, Jesse, Joanna, Jutta, Kale’akai, Kaleb, Karen, Katherine, Kerry, Laurel, Lew, Mark, Max, Melanie, Molly, Nadja, Nat, Natalie, Nich, Rachelle, Sabrina, Sasha, Saturn, Silvia, Staci, Talia, Taylor, Wyrm, & those we forgot.

Slingshot Collective

A project of Long Haul

Physical office: 3124 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94705

Mail: PO box 3051, Berkeley, CA 94703

510-540-0751 • slingshotcollective.org

slingshotcollective@protonmail.com • @slingshotnews

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Printed in Berkeley, CA on recycled paper

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All volunteer collective – no bosses, no workers, no pay.

Many people in radical circles spend a bit of their time doing prisoner support activities. This can range from joining a books-to-prisoners project that mails free books to inmates, to individually becoming penpals with a prisoner. Some people focus on political prisoners — prisoners held because of their involvement in radical actions or framed because of their beliefs. Other people see the entire prison-industrial complex as illegitimate, criticize the way that it targets marginalized communities, and/or believe that it is wrong to imprison people at all. Many people are in prison because of the war on drugs, or because economic inequality under capitalism impoverishes entire communities and pushes people to do illegal things to survive.

A key way we can support prisoners is by communicating with them. Prison is a deeply isolating environment. In an email-dominated world, writing an old-fashioned letter on paper can be surprisingly rewarding for you as well as a prisoner. There are many penpal networks that connect prisoners with those on the outside. If you’re in the bay area, Slingshot collective receives hundreds of letters from prisoners each year and is always looking for people to help us write back.

Here are some tips on writing letters to prisoners.

• When writing to prisoners, you have to put their prisoner number on the first line of the mailing address to get it through.

• Make sure to put a return address on your letter. If you are writing to a prisoner you don’t know, it may be best to use a PO box or other address that doesn’t disclose where you live.

• If you’re writing to a prisoner, keep in mind that the prison officials or other authorities may read your letter. Don’t discuss anything sensitive. If the prisoner is waiting for trial or sentencing (or on appeal), it may be better not to discuss the details of their case.

• Prisons prohibit mailing certain items like books, food, money, etc. Ask the prisoner for the rules.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep like offering to find a lawyer to take their case, sending them money or expensive items, offering them housing on release, organizing a support campaign, etc.— being let down when you’re locked up can be especially devastating. Be clear about your intentions. If you’re not looking for a romantic relationship, it can be helpful to all involved to say so right off.

• While the state locking people up is shitty, it doesn’t follow that all prisoners are angels. They are people just like everyone else, and some of them are flawed or can be manipulative. Use reasonable caution and treat prisoners like you would another penpal.

• Be careful about accepting collect phone calls from jail — prison collect calls are usually absurdly expensive.