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Action Alert!!!
Support
Pennsylvania Prisoner
Whistleblowers
Stop the abuse and
torture of prisoners!
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The Dallas 6 are six
African-American prisoners in solitary confinement in SCI Dallas
PA prison who blew the whistle on & peacefully protested against abuse and
violence by prison guards. Four of them face trial on Feb 17 in Luzerne County
(infamous for the “kids for cash” scandal) for “rioting.”
Their jury trial will
begin on February 17, 2015 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA.
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Why support
the Dallas 6?
They
are whistleblowers
who put their lives on the line by taking action to stop the rampant abuse and
violence by guards at SCI Dallas and other PA prisons.
We
all depend on prisoners like the Dallas 6
to tell the truth about our society and to defend all our civil and human
rights.
They
are part of a movement
of prisoners taking action and speaking out through hunger and work strikes such
as in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and
California.
Torture
must remain illegal
in this country. Charles Graner honed his torture
skills in PA where he was a prison guard before moving on to Abu Ghraib. We should not have to go to Iraq to find out what is
happening here, not when there are prisoners telling it like it is.
Solitary
confinement is torture according
to Juan Méndez, UN Special Rappateur on Torture, who has called for an absolute ban on
solitary for longer than 15 days.
Mass
incarceration has meant many
prisoners are inside for non-violent
offenses such as minor drug convictions, immigration and parole violations
& not paying fines, or are innocent of any offense. But whatever the
offense, the sentence does not include
torture.
Their trial is taking place
in the infamous Luzerne ‘Kids for Cash’
County where judges were convicted of kickbacks for incarcerating children.
Legal help is needed to navigate those dirty waters.
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What can you
do?
► Help to pack
the court on Feb 17. Sign up
here if you are planning to come, need or can offer transportation/ housing.
► Set up a speaking engagement for Shandre, Derrick and Isaac who give dynamic
presentations (see video below).
► Help with
housing, rides, food for those coming to the trial.
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Your support is needed to insure that
these men receive a fair trial, that the abuses that they faced in prison do not
continue, and, for the legal precedent that this court case will
establish.
If the Dallas 6 are justifiably cleared of all charges Pennsylvania prisoners
will be able to speak up against abuse and torture without fear of
retaliation.
 Derrick Stanley
of the Dallas 6 (at right) with Shandre Delaney
(center), mother of Carrington Keys of the Dallas 6 and campaign
coordinator | |||
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For more
information
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Justice for the Dallas 6 Support
Campaign: Abolitionist Law Center; Every Mother is a Working Mother Network;
Fight for Lifers West; Germantown Friends Meeting Mass Incarceration Working
Group; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS
– US; Human Rights Coalition – Fed Up; Human Rights Coalition – Philadelphia;
Marcellus Shale Earth First; Mishkan Shalom New Jim
Crow Study-Action Group; Payday men’s network; Peacehome Campaigns; Shalefield
Organizing Committee. Endorsements: Brandywine Peace Community; California Families Against
Solitary Confinement (CFASC); The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC); Decarcerate PA; Defending Dissent Foundation; Global Women’s
Strike & Women of Color@GWS – UK; Human Rights
Defense Center – Lake Worth, Florida; Jewish Voice For Peace - Philadelphia; Sin
Barras – Without (Prison) Bars – Santa Cruz; T'ruah:
The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; WHAT’S UP?! Pittsburgh; Welfare Warriors;
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – Philadelphia. Individual Endorsements: Pam Africa,
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal; Patrice Armstead, Building People’s Power
and Coalition Demanding Reinstatement of Dr. Monteiro;
Malik Aziz, Founder, Men United for a Better
Philadelphia and Chairman, National Exhoodus Council;
Pastor Antoinette Johnson, King Solomon Baptist Church; Dr. Anthony Monteiro; Rev. Bob Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for
Peace Action (for id purposes only); Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, Professor of
African American Studies & History, Temple University; Dr. Cornel West,
Princeton University; Dr. Carla Willard, Africana Studies Program, Franklin
& Marshall College. Partnering
with: AFSC Prison Watch.
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Background
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Six African-American
prisoners from the State Correctional Institute (SCI) in Dallas, PA are facing
charges of “rioting” for blowing the whistle on the abuse of prisoners in
solitary confinement.
On April 10, 2010,
illegal and barbaric conditions at the hands of prison guards at SCI Dallas led
these inmates, held in solitary confinement, to stage a protest. For over a year
they had suffered food deprivation, destruction of mail, beatings, neglect of
medical conditions, use of a torture chair and the
deaths of some other prisoners,
including the coerced suicide of an older white prisoner with mental health
issues.
After guards kept
prisoner Isaac Sanchez confined in a torture chair overnight, six protested by
covering their cell door windows with their bedding. The prisoners demanded that
the abuse stop, and requested access to their counselors, state police, the
District Attorney and the Public Defenders’ Office. They had no access to
telephones or computers and their incoming and out-going mail were being
destroyed to undermine their ability to expose the corruption.
Prison guards
responded with an armed assault against the unarmed men locked inside individual
cells. They attacked the six men with electroshock shields, tasers, fists and pepper spray.
The guards involved
suffered no injuries and initially no charges were filed against the Dallas 6,
who were left bloodied, naked, burnt and in pain. Although some of the men were
transferred to other prisons, they were able to file complaints and initiate
civil actions against the prison guards and officials involved.
Prison officials,
state police and the Luzerne County DA retaliated four months later by charging
the Dallas 6 with rioting. The Dallas 6 believe that they are facing these
trumped up charges because they contributed to Institutionalized
Cruelty, Human Rights Coalition Report 1, and, then
subsequently stood up for their lives, which is documented in Resistance &
Retaliation, Report 2.
The US has the
largest prison population in the world with Black and Brown communities
disproportionately impacted. Prisoners across the US are taking action and
speaking out against their inhumane and tortuous conditions, including prisoner
hunger and work strikes in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia
and California. As a result of their actions, prisoners are retaliated against by prison authorities. The trial of the
Dallas 6 will represent a moment of truth and exposure about wide-spread use of
solitary confinement and torture in prisons. We call on all who believe in
justice and equality to support the Dallas 6.
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Wednesday, February 04, 2015
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(please forward widely)
On March 21, the antiwar movement will return to
Washington, DC for a massive rally against U.S. Wars
On January 10, UNAC joined many other major antiwar
organizations at a meeting in Washington, DC where we planned for several days
of action around the date of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is time that
we are back in the streets in a big way. Please plan to join us, organize buses
and car pools and save the date. For areas that are too far from Washington,
DC, plan your own action in your area. End all Wars at Home and Abroad! Join
us!
Here's the schedule so far:
Wednesday, March 18: Peace gathering and fellowship.
Thursday, March 19th: Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals.
Friday, March 20th: Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War.
This event will examine ISIS and U.S. warmaking in Western Asia and elsewhere; the damage militarism does to the natural environment, economies, and civil rights; and how the war system can be replaced with a peace system.
Saturday, March 21st: Protest at the White House, followed by march.
To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here
Here's the schedule so far:
Wednesday, March 18: Peace gathering and fellowship.
Thursday, March 19th: Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals.
Friday, March 20th: Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War.
This event will examine ISIS and U.S. warmaking in Western Asia and elsewhere; the damage militarism does to the natural environment, economies, and civil rights; and how the war system can be replaced with a peace system.
Saturday, March 21st: Protest at the White House, followed by march.
To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here
Save the Date - UNAC National Conference, May 8 - 10, 2015
Join the Facebook event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1426863107605812/. Invite your Facebook friends to join the event.
 |
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(please forward widely)
On March 21, the antiwar movement will return to
Washington, DC for a massive rally against U.S. Wars
On January 10, UNAC joined many other major antiwar
organizations at a meeting in Washington, DC where we planned for several days
of action around the date of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is time that
we are back in the streets in a big way. Please plan to join us, organize buses
and car pools and save the date. For areas that are too far from Washington,
DC, plan your own action in your area. End all Wars at Home and Abroad! Join
us!
Here's the schedule so far:
Wednesday, March 18: Peace gathering and fellowship.
Thursday, March 19th: Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals.
Friday, March 20th: Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War.
This event will examine ISIS and U.S. warmaking in Western Asia and elsewhere; the damage militarism does to the natural environment, economies, and civil rights; and how the war system can be replaced with a peace system.
Saturday, March 21st: Protest at the White House, followed by march.
To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here
Here's the schedule so far:
Wednesday, March 18: Peace gathering and fellowship.
Thursday, March 19th: Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals.
Friday, March 20th: Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War.
This event will examine ISIS and U.S. warmaking in Western Asia and elsewhere; the damage militarism does to the natural environment, economies, and civil rights; and how the war system can be replaced with a peace system.
Saturday, March 21st: Protest at the White House, followed by march.
To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here
Save the Date - UNAC National Conference, May 8 - 10, 2015
Join the Facebook event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1426863107605812/. Invite your Facebook friends to join the event.
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Reactions to Presidential
Medal nod to CIW history, power of Fair Food Program…
From the mainstream media to the blogosphere to
twitter, news of the CIW’s reception of the Presidential Medal for Extraordinary
Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking traveled far and wide last week, and we’ve
collected some of the highlights for you here.
Let’s start with the Ft. Myers News-Press, the paper
of record for the Fair Food movement. The News-Press went straight to a source
— former Chief Assistant US Attorney Doug Molloy — who has not only known the
CIW’s work for the better part of two decades but was the prosecutor that helped
bring several slavery rings to justice in collaboration with the CIW during his
distinguished career. Here are his thoughts on the award:
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FILM: Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
When: Thursday, February 5, 2015, 6:45 pm
to 9:00 pm
Where: Central Square Cambridge Library
• 45 Pearl Street • In Honor of Black History Month • Cambridge
“For more than four decades the world renowned author, activist and scholar Angela Davis has been one of the most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States. An icon of the 1970’s black liberation movement, Davis’ work around issues of gender, race, class and prisons has influenced critical thought and social movements across several generations.” From Democracy Now, March 6, 2014
Parking nearby Municipal garage on Green Street
Sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Light refreshments will be served
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United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
today.
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In The Beginning Was The Jug- The Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Who knows how it happened maybe somebody in the band looked up some songs in the album archives, or found some gem in some record store, an institution that sustained many for hours back then in the cusp of the 1960s folk revival when there were record stores on almost every corner in places like Harvard Square and you could find some gems if you searched long enough and found Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music (although sometimes the search was barren or, maybe worse, something by Miss Patti Page or Tennessee Ernie Ford stared you in the face). From there they found, maybe Cannon’s Stompers, the Mississippi Sheiks or the Memphis Jug Band, saw they could prosper going back to those days if they kept the arrangements simple, and that was that.
See, everybody then was looking for roots, American music roots, old country roots, roots of some ancient thoughts of a democratic America before the robber barons and their progeny grabbed everything with every hand. And that search was no accident, at least from the oral history evidence having grown up with rock and roll and found in that minute that genre wanting. Some went reaching South to the homeland of much roots music and found some grizzled old geezers who had made a small name for themselves in the 1920s when labels like RCA and Paramount went out looking for talent in the hinterlands.
So there was history there, certainly for the individual members of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Jim, Geoff Mulduar, Mel Lymon, Maria Muldaur, Fritz Richmond , all well-versed in many aspects of the American Songbook (hell, I would say so, even old tacky Irving Berlin got a hearing), history there for the taking. All they needed was a jug, a good old boy homemade corn liquor jug giving the best sound and so they were off, off to conquer places like Harvard Square, like the Village, like almost any place in the Bay area. And for a while they did, picking up chimes, kazoos, harmonicas, what the heck, even standard guitars and they made great music, great entertainment music, not heavy with social messages but just evoking those long lost spirits from the 1920s when jug music would sustain a crowd on a Saturday night. Yeah, in the beginning was the jug…
I Did It My Way-Bob Dylan’s Shadows In The Night
CD Review
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
Shadows In The Night, Bob Dylan, 2015
It was bound to happen if he lived long enough. Strange as it may seem to a generation, the generation of ’68, the AARP generation, okay, baby-boomers who came of age with the clarion call put forth musically by Bob Dylan and others to dramatically break with the music of our parents’ pasts, the music that got them through the Great Depression and slogging through World War II, he has put out an album featuring the work of Mr. Frank Sinatra. The music of the Broadway shows, Tin Pan Alley, Cole Porter/Irving Berlin/ the Gerswhins and so on. That proposition though seems less strange if you are not totally mired in the Bob Dylan protest minute of the early 1960s when he, whether he wanted that designation or not, was the “voice of a generation,” catching the new breeze a lot of us felt coming through the land.
What Dylan has been about for the greater part of his career has been as an entertainer, a guy who sings his songs to the crowd and hopes they share his feelings for his songs. What Dylan had also been about had been a deep and abiding respect for the American songbook (look on YouTube to a clip from Don’t Look Back or stuff from the Basement tapes). In the old days that was looking for roots, roots music from the mountains, the desolate oceans, the slave quarters, along the rivers and Dylan’s hero then was Woody Guthrie. But the American songbook is a “big tent” operation and the Tin Pan Alley that he broke from when he became his own songwriter is an important part of overall tradition and now his hero is Frank Sinatra. I may long for the old protest songs, the roots music, the odd and unusual but Dylan has sought to entertain and there is room in his tent for the king of Tin Pan Alley (as Billie Holiday was the queen). Having heard Dylan live and in concert over the past several years with his grating lost voice (it was always about the lyrics not the voice) I wonder though how much production was needed to get the wrinkles out of that voice to sing as smoothly as the chairman of the boards.
To Promote A New Album, Bob Dylan Gave His Only Interview To ... The AARP?
"This music is almost sacred to him," Bob Love says of Bob Dylan's love for Frank Sinatra and the Great American Songbook. Christopher Polk/Polk/Getty Images for VH1 hide caption
itoggle caption Christopher Polk/Polk/Getty Images for VH1 
"This music is almost sacred to him," Bob Love says of Bob Dylan's love for Frank Sinatra and the Great American Songbook.
Christopher Polk/Polk/Getty Images for VH1 "Bob [Dylan] intentionally wanted to reach the AARP audience," says Bob Love, editor in chief of AARP The Magazine, "and he thought that this record would be more appreciated by people who have more wisdom and experience in life."
You can hear Love discuss his 9,000-word article at the audio link.
Featured Artist
Bob Dylan Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Getty Images
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