Historic Work Strike in US prisons

Payday An international network of men                                                           Newsletter September 2016 working with the Global Women's Strike                                          More on www.refusingtokill.net
We campaign to defend whistleblowers, prisoners and military refuseniks, for a society which invests in caring not killing!
Historic Work Strike in US prisons				Join us at TWT Building the new movement from a grassroots women’s perspective Monday 26 Sept 1-3pm Sara Callaway, Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike ● Michael Kalmanovitz, Refusing to Kill ● Nina Lopez, Legal Action for Women ● Ariane Sacco, Queer Strike ● Rebecca Talah, All African Women’s Group ● Aliya Yule, student from Preventing Prevent   Payday has been supporting the Jeremy for Labour Campaign   We also invite you to:  We should all be feminists SAT 24, 4-6pm The Studio      Sex, Race, Nation…& Class. What divides us? What can unite us? SAT 24, 6-8pm Chamber Theatre       Come hear Selma James from the Global Women’s Strike and women speakers from organisations we work with.
“This is a call to action against slavery in America,” organizers wrote in an announcement issued in April and circulated inside and outside prisons nationwide, and that sums up the strikers’ primary demand: an end to free prison labor.   According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, prisoners at federal facilities can make between 12 and 40 cents an hour for their work, while state prison rates can be higher or lower. In several states, including Texas and Arkansas,			inmates are paid no wage for their labor.      The strike started on 9 September and spread to 24 states. “There are probably 20,000 prisoners on strike right now, at least, which is the biggest prison strike in history, but the information is really sketchy and spotty,” said Ben Turk, of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, a chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World union helping to coordinate the inmate-led initiative from the outside. Support!
The 9 September was chosen because on 9 September 1971, prisoners took over and shut down Attica, New York State’s most notorious prison.
NO TO THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE!
		On 10 September, pressed by ongoing protests, three federal agencies have blocked the construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline “pending a thorough reconsideration of the process”.  The struggle continues for thousands of people from over 200 Native Tribes who have joined the Standing Rock Sioux’s efforts to protect their lands. Sign the petition.
DROP THE CHARGES - FREE CHELSEA MANNING!				Free trans woman prisoner Chelsea Manning! Workshop at the Anarchist bookfair Sat 29 Oct – 5pm room LG52 Park View School West Green Road, London, N15 3QR Organised by Queer Strike and Payday men’s network As Chelsea Manning is appealing against her 35 year prison sentence, the US military wants to make an example of her to deter other whistleblowers and trans prisoners. Come and discuss how we can organise internationally to free her!
Chelsea, a former US soldier, disclosed US and other governments’ war crimes to Wikileaks. Write to her and sign the Petition for Obama to pardon her.	On 13 September, trans woman whistleblower Chelsea Manning ended a 5-day hunger strike, after the U.S. military agreed to move forward with the recommended treatment for her gender dysphoria.   However, the Army is punishing her with 14 days solitary confinement for charges directly related to her suicide attempt.   Chelsea wrote: “I am not alone in my struggle. Suicide pervades the trans community. The risk among our trans siblings with no or inadequate treatment is staggering.”   If Chelsea receive this gender-reassignment surgery, she will be the first trans prisoner in the US to receive this treatment, setting a precedent that could benefit thousands of transgender inmates.
SUPPORT JULIAN ASSANGE On 17 October Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange will be questioned at the Ecuador embassy over rape allegation which has been used to try to extradite him to the US where he would be punished for blowing the whistle on war crimes and corruption..			Invest in caring, Not Trident! The UK government plans to spend £205 billion to replace Trident nuclear submarine. Wouldn’t this money better spent on the NHS and other caring?   Jeremy Corbyn has put forward a Defence Diversification which aims to transform defence industry work into socially useful work.   On 26 November, a Conference will discuss the 1971 Lucas plan - an attempt of this company’s workers to put into practice this diversification.
Support refugee mothers on hunger strike in Pennsylvania In August, refugee mothers went on hunger strike at family detention centre in Pennsylvania to protest indefinite detention and the traumatic effects on their children who are with them. They wrote: “We are 22 mothers who have been detained at Berks Family Residential Center from 270 days to 365 days with children ages 2 to 16 years old, depriving them of having a normal life, knowing that we have prior traumas from our countries.”   Send a message of support.
REFUSING TO KILL – OR TO BE KILLED – IS NOT A CRIME! For information and to join the mailing list: payday@paydaynet.org  Updates www.refusingtokill.net

 

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