[Download Issue #1] (Prints 8.5×11)
We’re excited to announce the first issue of Wildfire, a new quarterly newsletter of anarchist prison struggle.
We have two goals with this project: to spread the words and actions of anarchist prisoners in the United States and to offer news and updates on anti-authoritarian struggle for comrades in prison who might not otherwise have access to this information.
Wildfire flows with our continued frustration with the state of anarchist prison solidarity in the United States: the lack of prisoners’ voices in our publications, the half-hearted solidarity shown toward captured fighters, the dead-end of “political prisoner” designation. It also flows from our long-term relationships with imprisoned comrades, the mutual affinity found in struggling together. Rather than complain and critique, we prefer to strike out in another direction, embodying our own vision of solidarity. We hope this publication can be a contribution to a more diverse, more combative, and stronger anarchist struggle against prison.
We do not wish to be mediators of prisoners’ voices. Aside from updates and an introduction, the publication consists solely of prisoners’ writings. Most of the prisoner writings in this first issue were sent to us directly by comrades, but we have also reprinted statements by Jason Hammond and Eric McDavid that we found inspiring.
We want to make clear that acts of solidarity with captured anarchists are not the full extent of struggle. While this project chooses to focus on imprisoned anarchists due to our limited time and energy, this is only one aspect of a polymorphous war against the social order. There is a great need for projects focused on supporting prison rebellion in the wider prison population, rebellion that some of our imprisoned comrades are actively involved in. Solidarity, if it is not to die in our mouths, should extend beyond politics and subculture, bringing to life instead an iconoclastic attack on power.
While we are in contact with most of the anarchist prisoners we know of in the United States, we would love contacts for others who we may not know about. Contact us at wildfire [at] riseup [dot] net
CONTENTS
– “Against Democracy, For Anarchy: Anarchist Responses to Operation Pandora”
– “Hour of Vengeance: The Struggle Against the C-type Prisons in Greece”
– A chronology of other attacks on the social order
– A letter and an update from Andy Homer
– A Letter from Casey Brezik
– “Visions, Not Blueprints” by Connor Stevens
– An introduction by Jennifer Gann
– An appeal for solidarity from Brandon Baxter
– “Direct Action” by Sean Swain
– Sentencing Statement of Jason Hammond
– “Inner Anarchy” by Tommy Jones
– “To My Comrades” and “Up the Ante” by Michael Kimble
– Some words from Eric McDavid after his release
– A call to support Dante Cano, a young anarchist facing charges in the Bay Area