
What is the Anarchist Black Cross?

The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) is an international network of autonomous
groups of anarchists who work to ensure that imprisoned activists aren't
forgotten.

The origins of the Anarchist Black Cross date back prior to the Russian
Revolution.  An Anarchist *Red* Cross was formed in Tsarist Russia to
organize aid for political prisoners and their families, and self-defense
against political raids by the Cossack army.  During the Russian Civil War,
the organization changed its name to the Black Cross in order to avoid
confusion with the Red Cross who were organizing relief in the country.
After the Bolsheviks seized power the Black Cross moved to berlin.  It
continued to aid prisoners of the Bolshevik regime, as well as victims of
Italian fascism and others.  Despite the increasing demand for its
services, the Black Cross folded in the '40s due to a simultaneous decline
in available finances.  In the late '60s the organization resurfaced in
England, where it initially worked to aid prisoners of the Spanish
resistance to Franco's fascist regime.  In the 1980's the ABC expanded and
now has groups in many different regions of the world.

Working Towards Liberation

We believe that prisons serve no function except to preserve the ruling
classes.  We also believe that free society must find alternative,
*effective* ways of dealing with anti-social crime.  But a decrease in
anti-social crime is only likely to happen (and therefore prison abolition
can only be a realistic option) accompanied by a dramatic change in our
economic, social and political systems.  These conditions lie at the root
of both anti-social crime and the reasons for a prison system.  Our primary
goal is to make these fundamental changes.  We work for a stateless,
cooperative/classless society free from privilege or domination based on
race or gender.  But it's not enough to build the grassroots movements
necessary to bring about these changes in society, we must also be able to
defend them.  The ABC defends those who are captured and persecuted for
carrying out acts on behalf of our movements.

Support for Imprisoned Activists

The ABC aims to recognize, expose and support the struggles of prisoners in
general, and of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in particular.
The form our solidarity takes depends on each individual's situation.  To
some we send financial or material aid.  With others, we keep in contact
through mail, make visits, provide political literature, and discuss
strategy and tactics.  We do whatever we can to prevent prisoners becoming
isolated from the rest of the movement.  We fundraise on behalf of
prisoners or their defense committees for legal cases or other needs, and
organize demonstrations or public campaigns of solidarity with prisoners we
support.  We regard prisoners as an active part of our movement and seek to
maintain their past and potential contributions by acting as a link back to
the continuing struggle.  Increased communication between activists both
inside and outside prison inspires resistance on both sides of the prison
walls.  We hope that we can encourage other activists by providing
assurance that even if you are persecuted for your activities, the movement
will not abandon you: we will take care of our own.  Through the ABC, we
are building organizational support for resistance.


Defending Resistance

Outside of prisoner support work, the ABC is committed to the wider
resistance in which many of these prisoners are engaged.  We see a need to
be highly organized if we are to effectively meet the organized repression
of the State and avoid defeat.  When power is challenged, be it in South
Africa, occupied Palestine, Chile, Ireland or Canada, it inevitably turns
to violent repression and political imprisonment to maintain itself.  In
1989 we set up an "Emergency Response Network" (ERN) to respond to
political raids, crackdowns, death sentences, hungerstrikes, torture or
killings of members of or communities we work in solidarity with.  An ERN
mobilization means ABC groups and others around the world send telegrams
and phone calls, organize demonstrations or other actions within 48 hours
of the network being alerted.  For instance, two Greek anarchist prisoners
reported to be held incommunicado and subject to torture were released from
solitary confinement and allowed access to lawyers after the ERN's first
mobilization brought demonstrations, calls, faxes, and telegrams to Greek
embassies around the world.  The ABC's international network plays the one
trump card grassroots movements have in our deck: solidarity.

Remember: We're Still Here

We decide what prisoners to support and what work we will do on a
case-by-case basis.  We put priority on the cases of political/politicized
prisoners and POWs as this corresponds to our committment to building
resistance.  Although imprisonment is in itself "political", Political
Prisoners and Prisoners of War are being held specifically for their
beliefs or actions.  Unlike Amnesty International, we don't place
judgements on what are valid and invalid expressions of resistance:
non-violence is not a criterion for support.  Unlike other organizations
supporting political prisoners, we include those who were "politicized" by
the prison experience and have since become organizers inside prison.  Many
"politicized" prisoners face increased harrassment in return for their
activism.

Getting Involved

There are many ways of getting involved in this work.  You or your group can:
* Join your local ABC group
* set up your local ABC group
* donate labour, materials or money to the ABC
* become active in the Emergency Response Network
* or help as an individual by spreading information about prisoners,
writing to them, making visits, sending reading materials and more...

For more information on the ABC and getting involved, contact us at the
address below.

Chicago Anarchist Black Cross
c/o WCF, PO Box 81961
Chicago, IL 60681  USA

(or you can put your local group's address here)

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@ Chuck Munson                                                   @
@ Media and Microcomputer Center                                 @
@ College Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison               @
@ Internet: ctmunson@macc.wisc.edu                               @
@ Bitnet: ctmunson@wiscmacc.bitnet                               @
@                                                                @

@ "a library without walls tends to fall down"                   @
@                                                                @
@ "A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can   @
@  learn in no other way"   --Mark Twain                         @
@                                                                @
@ "You cannot create experience.  You must undergo it.  --Camus  @
@                                                                @
@ "The human tendency prefers familiar horrors to unknown        @
@  delights."  --Fred Woodworth                                  @
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