Today supporters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and New York are holding rallies and speak-outs as part of a national day in support of the hunger strike, asking for all five core demands to be met, and for no retaliation against any and all prisoners who participated in the strike.
Supporters are also continuing to show support by participating in rolling fasts, writing letters to legislators, and words of encouragement and support to prisoners. Last week, more than 150 religious communities of Roman Catholic nuns mailed in letters of support of the prisoners’ requests to the governor of CA. The communities ranges from the Congregation of St. Joseph to the Loretto Sisters to the Sisters of Mercy. Each religious community represents from 100-18,000 nuns nationally and internationally. These representatives say: “We are with each of the prisoners and their supporters and loved ones in this struggle and extend our prayers of love, peace and support.”
Tactics of extreme isolation, social deprivation and torturous conditions are used throughout the US. [At least 60 super-maximum security prisons are operated in 44 states of the US]. People locked up throughout all prisons continuously resist repression and torture everyday, often working together in forms of both spontaneous and well-organized massive resistance.
Days within the Hunger Strike in CA ending, the Department of Corrections in Indiana put all the state prisons on lock-down in response to a stabbing no doubt instigated by guards. Prisoners in Indiana’s SHU joined together in resistance once the prison administration cut off all electricity and water in the prisons. Supporters are calling for an emergency call-in day today & tomorrow in solidarity with the Wabash protesters.
As we approach the 40th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion this September, we’re reminded of the decades before us of prisoners working together across prison-manufactured racial divisions, resisting brutal conditions of isolation, torture and imprisonment. We’re reminded of the long and tireless fight for humanity to be recognized. The hunger strike that started at Pelican Bay and swept across CA’s prisons system has rejuvenated years and years of anti-prison and human rights’ work throughout the US and internationally, galvanizing support and collaboration inside and outside prison walls.
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity 
Todd Ashker at Pelican Bay dated July 24,
2011. He says what the hunger strikers did was to give the CDCR a
temporary respite, a grace period of 2-3 weeks from July 20th, to give the CDCR’s
top administrators the opportunity to come up with some substantive changes in
response to their five core demands. If they don’t follow through they plan
to go back on hunger strike.
“It’s very important that our supporters know where we stand, and
that CDCR knows that we’re not going to go for any B.S. We remain as serious
about our stand now as we were at the start, and meant what we said re
indefinite hunger strike peaceful protest until our demands are met. I repeat –
we’re simply giving CDCR a brief grace period in response to their request for
the opportunity to get [it] right in a timely fashion! We’ll see where
things stand soon enough!!”
We here In Buffalo, NY, not far from Attica, continue to stand in solidarity with the California hunger strikers and their core demands for humane changes in treatment and conditions. We commenced a chain-fast on July 4th, and currently 9 of us are continuing to do a day or more a week, including a Muslim woman named Karima Amin who founded Prisoners Are People Too some years ago. Notwithstanding the expected denials and disinformation from official sources some of us know what the real deal is and our hearts are with people being oppressed and tortured and killed and we’ll stand and be supportive in whatever ways we’re able to. We’re planning for the 40th anniversary of Attica, a commemorative to those who stood and died that things might be improved for all of us. Peace and Justice.