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Political persecution at Pelikkkan Bay State Prison
January 29, 2012
In 2007, after serving 24 years in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), I became eligible for release, but the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) and the Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI) denied my release solely based on my political writings and activities. I am now going on my 30th year in solitary confinement.
Rwanda will never be the same, after Victoire Ingabire’s return
January 16, 2012
As with the path that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement took after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, nothing in Rwanda will ever be the same after Victoire Ingabire’s defiance of the Rwandan government’s unjust laws. She sparked a spirit of resistance.
Oppression is worse than slaughter
October 12, 2011
“Imprisonment is an aspect of class struggle from the outset. It is the creation of a closed society which attempts to isolate those individuals who disregard the structures of a hypocritical establishment as well as those who attempt to challenge it on a mass basis. Throughout its history, the United States has used its prisons to suppress any organized efforts to challenge its legitimacy.” – George L. Jackson, “Blood in My Eye”
Reflections on the victorious resistance at Sogorea Te
August 18, 2011
Glen Cove was a large village and ceremonial grounds that was used by many different tribes throughout the Bay Area. This area has been deemed, declared and even federally recognized as sacred to indigenous peoples. Many Natives alive today have ties to ancestors buried there.
The People’s Lawyer: an interview wit’ Lynne Stewart
August 16, 2011
Lynne Stewart is one of the legendary activist lawyers of our time and also one of the many political prisoners of our time, who was incarcerated because her style of lawyering was called aiding and abetting a terrorist organization, by one of the biggest terrorist organizations ever known to humanity: the United States government.
Haiti: the next round
July 17, 2011
On March 18, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family returned home from a seven-year forced exile in South Africa – an exile brought about by the violent U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004. Up until the last minute, the U.S. government tried to stop the return, with President Obama going so far as to place a last-minute call to President Zuma of South Africa.
Why Bernard Gousse should not be Haiti’s next prime minister
July 9, 2011
In 2004, I was in Haiti living under the injustice Bernard Gousse inflicted on his own people while serving the Haitian elite and the “international community.” Like many of Gousse’s victims, I was driven into hiding after the arrest of the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent Lavalas leader and human rights activist.
Wanda’s Picks for July 2011
June 29, 2011
A number of trees have fallen in the forest this past month and we want to acknowledge the huge spaces their absence brings: Geronimo ji jaga Pratt, Black Panther, decorated veteran of multiple wars …
‘I Mix What I Like’: an interview wit’ author Jared Ball, Ph.D.
May 14, 2011
Emancipatory journalism aggressively argues that we need radical community-based journalism that, while professional, organized and researched, is clear about its bias in favor of oppressed communities and their political organizations and struggle.
The story of the Omaha Two
May 12, 2011
The Omaha Two are Edward Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice). Both men are imprisoned at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, where they are serving life sentences for the Aug. 17, 1970, bombing murder of an Omaha police officer, in which they deny any involvement.
20th anniversary of the Welfare Poets: an interview wit’ founding member Rayzer
March 26, 2011
The Welfare Poets have shared a stage with Dead Prez, Immortal Technique and the revolutionary Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Minister of Information JR Valrey speaks with founding member Rayzer about what has kept them going strong for 20 years.
The people have won!
February 11, 2011
This people’s victory in North Africa, first in Tunisia and now in Egypt, is OUR VICTORY TOO. We, the people of the world, must move forward toward global revolution that will liberate the entire global community.
Standing on the side of the Black Panthers, not the police
January 3, 2011
Journalist JR Valrey, who was born in 1978, grew up mostly in Oakland, where the legend of the Black Panther Party was all around him. “A lot of the people around here are Panthers, or knew Panthers or are members of the Black Guerilla Family, which was an organization that Field Marshall George Jackson of the Black Panther Party founded. The revolution is very deep in Oakland. It’s not so cosmetic as it is other places. It’s not just about bandannas and t-shirts and concert throwing and posturing. I think it’s more grassroots here and more ingrained in the spirit of the people.”
An epidemic of brutality: Oakland filmmaker feels police wrath
November 15, 2010
Hours after San Francisco Bay Area radio show host JR Valrey screened his documentary film, “Operation Small Axe,” about police brutality at a university in Philadelphia, daily newspapers in that city carried articles about two separate lawsuits filed against Philly police alleging brutality. “Police brutality is definitely not ‘isolated incidents,’ as officials always say after each new killing or beating by police,” said Valrey, host of the Block Report, a program aired on KPFA-FM, the Pacifica station in the Bay Area.
Save KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio, Flashpoints and Full Circle
November 3, 2010
We must protect Hard Knock Radio, Flashpoints and Full Circle from the KPFA chopping block because in essence we are protecting our right to an accessible community radio station, where we can learn, teach and participate in local struggles for community power.
Rwanda President Kagame jails, tortures leading opponent
November 1, 2010
Victoire Ingabire, widely regarded as Rwanda’s opposition leader, was arrested on Oct. 14, 2010, after a week long police siege on her home. She is charged with the formation of a terrorist organization with the aim to disrupt the territorial security of Rwanda.
Rwandan opposition calls for immediate release of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza
October 17, 2010
The Permanent Consultative Council of Opposition Parties in Rwanda is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Ms. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and the release of all other political prisoners.
Pam Africa: 100% death penalty abolition must include Mumia
October 10, 2010
Minister of Information JR speaks with Pam Africa about a secret memo signed by the U.S. members of the Steering Committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty that can be summed up as “throwing Mumia under the bus.”
Locked far too long behind the walls
September 29, 2010
I’ve been corresponding with prisoners since 1970, shortly after joining the Black Panther Party in 1969. There were fierce arguments being waged regarding individual leaders, strategies and tactics, and ideology.
Marilyn Buck on September 11, 2001: ‘Incommunicado’
September 11, 2010
“This poem by Marilyn Buck was written in the wake of 9/11 when Marilyn and other political prisoners on mainlines were put into lockup (solitary confinement) in prisons across the country. It’s very moving and so pertinent and timely.” – Kiilu Nyasha, friend and supporter of Marilyn Buck and all political prisoners