#PrisonStrike: An anti-capitalist movement that wants to abolish all prisons (video)

Industrial Workers of the World (red flags with white lettering) walk alongside anarchists (red and black flag) in Oakland rally to abolish prisons in 2016

“…a general strike could rid us of capitalism and build a society based on our interests … whose goal is to see smoke rise from the ashes of every empty state and federal prison, every immigrant and juvenile detention center, in the whole country…” -“Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee”

“We’re prison abolitionists, so we believe there shouldn’t be prisons, whether federal or state. We don’t believe in detention facilities. We don’t believe in juvenile halls.” – Cole Dorsey, organizer with Industrial Workers of the World’s (IWW) front group “Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee”

A communist-driven movement featuring events designed to ultimately rid the world of prisons and police is scheduled to take place between August 21 and September 9 2018. The movement, being touted on Twitter as #PrisonStrike, is receiving favorable coverage from the complicit mainstream media.

Driven largely by the “Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee,” (IWOC) who jumped on board after a group called “Jailhouse Lawyers Speak” published a press release in April, the idea is to organize prisoners in the quest to rid the world of capitalism and prisons altogether. They call for actions such as “Work Strikes,” “Sit-Ins,” “Boycotts” and “Hunger Strikes.”

The IWOC is a project of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an anti-capitalist organization that as of 2017,  claimed to have 1000 “union members” in the prisons nationwide. While these communists seek to have a mass uprising of prisoners every year, this year they appear to have support from the establishment media, including social media, where Twitter dutifully promoted the hashtag #PrisonStrike.

This is a Facebook post featuring an image of damaged property from IWW’s Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee:

The Democratic Socialists of America eagerly jumped on board, as they also want to abolish prisons and police, an initiative they approved in their platform at their national convention in 2017. Local DSA chapters in East Bay (Berkeley), Central IowaLos Angeles, North Jersey, Worcester, Massachusetts also enthusiastically expressed support with their own events and statements. The DSA National Climate & Environmental Justice Working Group Steering Committee expressed support, as did the Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The San Francisco Chapter of the DSA called for the “disbanding of the police, and the elimination of prisons along with the emancipation of prisoners from the prison system:”

“Democratic Socialists of America, San Francisco stands in solidarity with all incarcerated people and with the calls for an end to prison slavery, the disbanding of the police, and the elimination of prisons along with the emancipation of prisoners from the prison system. We recognize the self-organization of incarcerated people as the forefront in the struggle of all oppressed people against their oppressors. DSA SF endorses the upcoming prison strike beginning August 21st and supports all demands put forth by the organizers.”

Politico even sought to downplay the radical nature of the movement to abolish prisons:

“At first blush, the idea might seem fringe and unreasonable; where, for instance, would all the criminals go? What happens to rapists and murderers? But the movement’s backers counter that it is the only truly humane direction we can head in as a society—that is, if we really aspire to live in a world rid of interpersonal harm and racial inequality. And they might actually be making headway.”

A collective of radical organizations including the Stalinist pro-North Korea Workers World Party, the San Francisco chapter of the DSA, and ANSWER (a front group for the Party of Socialism & Liberation) is even busing people to San Quentin State Prison on Saturday (through their coalition: “The Bay Area National Prison Strike Solidarity Committee.”) The movement even has their own fundraiser, and as of today raised over $8,000 to be “evenly distributed” among “prisoner organizing and support groups” including the IWOC.

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee promotes “Nationwide Prison Strike” on August 21

The “prison strike” received glowing coverage from The Guardian, USA Today, Vox, the DSA-Aligned magazine The Nation, the tax-payer funded NPR, the Independent and Newsweek – often tweeted out by Marxists with verified Twitter accounts like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee Logo

These enemies of America are not interested in so-called “prison reform”, they want to abolish capitalism and prisons altogether. Consider this excerpt from an IWOC member at a rally covered by the Antifa collective “It’s Going Down” in 2016:

“We should use this day and this strike as a stepping stone to continued collective direct actions against the state and white supremacy. Solidarity amongst all members of the working class, both inside and out of prison, into a general strike could rid us of capitalism and build a society based on our interests … whose goal is to see smoke rise from the ashes of every empty state and federal prison, every immigrant and juvenile detention center, in the whole country…”

While Twitter and the mainstream media gushes about a nation-wide prison strike, what they do not bother to tell you is that the promoters of the IWW “movement” believe in overthrowing capitalism by promoting worldwide unionism.

Prominent anti-prison activist Cole Dorsey of Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee carries the Industrial Workers of the World flag at a rally in 2017

Some supportive tweets from the usual suspects:

Watch video promoting the 2018 Prison Strike featuring Cole Dorsey, the IWW flag waver above:

It is not about “prison reform”. There is a reason communists hate police and prisons: They are criminals.

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Author: renee nal

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