HABC Newsletter #1

This is the first issue of Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross' newsletter, a publication we hope to produce on a semi-regular basis. The function of this newsletter is to provide news and updates related to regional struggles and conflicts happening and eventually analysis and info on what our group has been up to.

The newsletter is available free to download.
Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross Newsletter Issue 1

Who We Be

The Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross came together as a group to collectively answer the need for organization that can both respond to repression from the police and legal system as well as build capacity to respond to these apparatuses in the future. We recognize the legal system, prison system and the police as structures that are implemented and maintained by the rich and therefore can only serve their interests. The purpose of these structures is violence and social control against working class, exploited and oppressed people. We recognize that any movement thathopes to overcome these factors in favor of a free and egalitarian way of life will come into conflict with these forces. We strive to support, provide resources and help build a framework for defense with communities which are burdened by the legal system, courts, jails, prisons, arrests, police harassment and police violence.

For Defence:

Any movement that does not have the infrastructure or ability to defend itself against repression will inevitably fail to gain any ground. Equally important is maintaining emotional and material support for those who are the victims of this repression and are paying for it via the legal process and jail time. Building a defence means access to resources like lawyers, support networks, fundraising, maintaining relationships with those locked up and connecting with those who face similar struggles. Education and outreach regarding the legal process, the prison system and dealing with the police will help build these resources. Distinguishing between “political prisoners” and other prisoners can be a limiting practice; the very idea of prison exists as a result of class and the political and social environment. The better we understand this the stronger our defence from it, the stronger our struggle against it.

For Abolition:

Because of the way our society is organized, the threat of arrest and imprisonment is largely targeted at the working class, impovershed and excluded people. In order to maintain this social organization, anyone who steps outside or is forced outside of what is deemed ‘acceptable behaviour’ is punished. This coupled with poverty, alientation and exploitive work, lays fertile ground for anti-social violence, addiction issues, and diminished mental health leading to a continuous cycle of criminalization and repression. Imprisonment is the opposite of a realistic solution to these problems; instead it is an engine that propels them further. A society based on the imposition of violence and exploitation will of course lead to this behaviour materializing and being accepted in our day to day relations with each other. To confront these issues in a realistic way means challenging prisons and the conditions that create them.