It’s not too late to get your hands on a Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar for 2016!
The calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. The initial project was suggested by Herman, and has been shaped throughout the process by all of our ideas, discussions, and analysis. All of the members of the outside collective are involved in day-to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from refugee and immigrant solidarity to community media to prisoner justice. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer and trans positive position.
Today’s anti-war, anti-globalization, and anti-colonial movements are rooted in the history of earlier struggles for justice, including the mass movements of the 60s and 70s. Many of the political prisoners and prisoners of war featured in this calendar were organizers during that period: members of the Black Panther Party, or the American Indian Movement; Puerto Ricans fighting for their homeland, or white anti-racist allies working in solidarity with oppressed peoples. Some of them have been in prison SINCE THAT TIME – 35 years or more. Yet these prisoners are not relics of past movements; they are still active in their political work, and despite the hardships of organizing in prison, they continue to organize for justice in the present day, justice behind bars and justice on the streets. This calendar is our tribute to them.
Proceeds from the calendar benefit:
The New York State Task Force on Political Prisoners, dedicated to winning the release of political prisoners in New York prisons. All but one of these seven prisoners are past members of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army and have spent 30+ years years in prison. It includes former political prisoners, lawyers, and representatives of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution which focuses on human rights issues (Addameer is Arabic for conscience). Established in 1992 by a group of activists interested in human rights, the center’s activities focus on offering support for Palestinian prisoners, advocating the rights of political prisoners, and working to end torture through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns.
