- Anarchist Black Cross Network
The Anarchist Black Cross Network is a world-wide decentralized and egalitarian network of organizations committed to the original ideals of the
Anarchist Black Cross movement -- of seeingprison s and the poverty,racism andgenocide that accompanies them to be symptoms of a social order whose last days are near.Anarchist Black Cross Network differs significantly with
Anarchist Black Cross Federation , since it has no official joining procedure or strict requirenments. So even a group that does not name oneself asAnarchist Black Cross may join as long as it does work in bettering prison conditions or working to abolish prisons all together. Anarchist Black Cross Network refers to that as defensive work (bettering prison conditions) and offensive work (abolishing prison system).History
Lorenzo Komboa Ervin , former member ofBlack Panthers Party , ananarchist political prisoner wrote "A Draft Proposal for an Anarchist Black Cross Network" in1979 . Here is an excerpt from that proposal::"The stated purpose of the Anarchist Black Cross Network is to actively assist prisoners in their fight to obtain their civil andhuman right s, and to aid them in their struggle against theState /Class penal andjudicial system . Theprison system is the armed fist of the State, and is a system for Stateslavery . It is not really for "criminals" or other "social deviants," and it does not exist for the "protection ofsociety ." :It is for State social control and political repression. Thus it must be opposed at every turn and ultimately destroyed altogether. The abolition of prisons, the system of Laws, and the Capitalist State is the ultimate objective of every trueAnarchist , yet there seems to be no clear agreement by the Anarchist movement to put active effort to that anti-authoritarian desire. We must organize our resources to support all political/class war prisoners if we truly wish to be their allies, and we must give something more than lip service. :Organizing against the enemy legal and penal system is both offensive and defensive. It is carried on with individuals, groups and among the masses in the community. We must inform the people on a large scale of the atrocities and inhumanity of the prisons, the righteousness of our struggle, and the necessity of their full participation and support. We must organize our communities to attack the prison system as a moral and social abomination, and we must fight to free all political/class war prisoners." Fact|date=March 2007Later, it became obvious that this is notsingle issue campaign . But rather a part of a larger fight againstracism ,nationalism ,sexism ,homophobia ,religious intolerance etc. After much dialogue Anarchist Black Cross Network was formed in2001 . Manyprison abolition groups who didn't want to or couldn't joinAnarchist Black Cross Federation have joined in. In addition to that many new groups have started up or changed their inner politics to support this struggle.External links
* [http://www.anarchistblackcross.org/abc/network.html Official Website]
* [http://www.iww.org/en/projects/gdc IWW General Defense Committee]ee also
*
Prison abolition movement
*Prisoners' rights
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.