Anarchis Black Cross ideology

[Pogue]

Is there anyone on here who is either involved in or just very knowledgeable about the ideas of this group? If so I have a few questions I will direct towards you, if thats alright, thanks.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

As far as I understand the Anarchist Black Cross movement is solely concerned with prison reform, their ultimate aim being revolution and the abolition of prisons. They offer support to political prisoners whilst at the same time stressing that every prisoner is a political prisoner. I think that is pretty much the groups line.

[Pogue]

whats their views on rapists? do they believe they deserve support? whats their alternative to prisons? i agree with the need for prison support for impriosoned comrades but not for just any prisoner.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

I do not think they are too explicit on their alternative to prison and I think they support only imprisoned comrades but will stress that Capitalist society is the root of non political prisoner's crimes.

[revolution inaction]

my impression is that the different groups vary a great deal, but sum of them support some really dodgy people. For example http://libcom.org/forums/news/hands-john-bowden



In fact, he and 2 others were sentenced for luring a fellow drunkard to a flat (in other words, contrary to what you say, it was premediated), throwing him into a bath of boiling water, then dismembering him while he was still alive, keeping his head in a fridge and scattering the other body parts around the area.


also some members of abc attacked one of the libcom admins because of comments on this thread

[Искра]

isn't ABC about political prisoners?
why would they help rapist?

[revolution inaction]

isn't ABC about political prisoners?
why would they help rapist?

some of them will help anyone who calls themselves an anarchist.

[Pogue]

i would support it solely if it was about helping political prisoners...not just any prisoner.

[Искра]

I agree. I support only if its for political purpose, for political prisoners.

[which doctor]

i would support it solely if it was about helping political prisoners...not just any prisoner.
What exactly do you mean by "political" prisoners? Separating the political realm from the social and economic realms is precisely one of the things that prevent the Left from grasping the totality of society. Focusing on specifically "political" prisoners contributes to this isolation of the political realm from the social and economic, alienating the other prisoners, while simultaneously justifying the incarcerations, all contributing to a "politics as usual" which is something we should all be vehemently opposed to.

For instance are people incarcerated for drug crimes political prisoners because the violated
Are thieves, who commit crimes against property (which the capitalist state is set up to protect) also political prisoners?

Examining this in the Marxian sense, things become much less clear (or maybe more clear?) because you find that the political cannot be separated from the economic which cannot be separated from the social. The prison system is much more than a system devoted to cleansing society of its ills, it is a crucial part of state control over the proletariat.

For more on this, I'd advise you to read Crime and Criminals: Address to the Prisoners in the Chicago Jail by Clarence Darrow. Although it was written in 1902, its been no more relevant than it is today, with record numbers of people incarcerated.

[Sasha]

to my experience they activly support individual political and politicised prisoners, they support any prison rebelion and advocate prison abolishment...

[thejambo1]

i think abc deserve our support,they try to do there best in very hard circumstances. there are a lot of grey areas but it is very tricky to try and get the balance.

[counterblast]

whats their views on rapists? do they believe they deserve support? whats their alternative to prisons? i agree with the need for prison support for impriosoned comrades but not for just any prisoner.

The general stance of the Anarchist Black Cross is that ALL criminals are victims of an oppressive political system, and are therefore victims of state violence, and in that capacity alone they deserve support.

As for dealing with things like sexual assault, alternative methods for dealing with assailants (http://www.phillyspissed.net/) and supporting victims (http://www.phillyspissed.net/) are already used in anarchist communities, with the two I provided links for being the most notable.