Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday, August 23, 2018 for our demo in solidarity with the National Prison Strike, happening 8/21-9/9. The morning began with a banner drop on the bridge over the Science Park MBTA station, overlooking Storrow Drive/I-93.
The evening had a demonstration at Nashua Street Jail, a county lockup that is also used for prisoners awaiting trial. The evening was kicked off hearing from #DeeperThanWater organizer Wayland “X” Coleman, speaking live from NCCI Gardner, a medium security prison in central Massachusetts. Many of the speakers at this rally were currently incarcerated, whose voices were fed live through a sound system into an array of 3 50-watt megaphones that could be heard for nearly a mile. Participants also included a live brass band, and Siham Byah, who was detained and eventually deported by ICE for her activism in the greater Boston area. Please support Siham here.
We want to thank all our comrades: endorsing organizations, medics, banner droppers, and everyone who supported us with logistics, promotion and running of this event.
Please stay tuned for what comes next in the National Prison Strike and support the strike! Next: IWOC providence is holding an event on Sept. 1st, and IWW CT will be holding another one between Sept. 7th-9th. Also please join our comrades at the Harvard TPS coalition as they fight for Rigoberto, and Hungry4Justice as they rally outside South Bay.
| Wayland “X” Coleman kicks off the festivities for August 23rd demo. X finishes with a salute to a comrade who was stolen by the state, and is currently being held as a political prisoner. One of the main charges against him is the use of the phrase “shut this sh*thole down.” | |
| Second Line Brass Band provides a musical interlude and noise demo at the entrance to the facility. | |
| A #DeeperThanWater organizer addresses the crowd and the guards directly about the hypocrisy of mass incarceration in a country that lays such claim to “freedom” and “liberty.” | |
| Doris, from the Harvard TPS coalition speaks about family separation through prisoners, jails and deportations. Doris connects all struggles for liberation. | |
| Siham Byah, an organizer who was deported by ICE fascists earlier in the year speaks to the crowd from Morocco about the intersection of wage theft, prison slavery and racist deportations. | |
