1 00:00:02,709 --> 00:00:05,130 Greetings troublemakers... welcome to Trouble. 2 00:00:05,130 --> 00:00:07,224 My name is not important. 3 00:00:07,224 --> 00:00:10,421 Whether you see them as punitive sites of enforced isolation 4 00:00:10,421 --> 00:00:13,197 set up to protect the public and deter criminal behaviour, 5 00:00:13,197 --> 00:00:15,872 or oppressive and entirely illegitimate institutions 6 00:00:15,872 --> 00:00:18,766 that need to be abolished and systematically razed to the ground... 7 00:00:18,766 --> 00:00:21,199 everyone pretty much agrees that jail is a horrible place 8 00:00:21,199 --> 00:00:23,082 that you wanna avoid if at all possible. 9 00:00:23,082 --> 00:00:24,695 Alongside police and the courts, 10 00:00:24,695 --> 00:00:26,073 prison forms one pillar of 11 00:00:26,073 --> 00:00:27,924 the brutal apparatus of state control 12 00:00:27,924 --> 00:00:30,208 often called the criminal justice system. 13 00:00:30,208 --> 00:00:31,975 And as if this three-part system wasn't 14 00:00:31,975 --> 00:00:33,673 intimidating enough on its own, 15 00:00:33,673 --> 00:00:36,935 it forms only one part of the broader prison-industrial-complex 16 00:00:36,935 --> 00:00:40,109 -- a sprawling, self-propelled conveyor belt of human misery, 17 00:00:40,109 --> 00:00:43,261 whose primary beneficiaries include politicians, lobbyists, 18 00:00:43,261 --> 00:00:46,821 correctional workers’ unions (that is, prison guards, or screws), 19 00:00:46,821 --> 00:00:50,315 probation officers, construction companies, and private contractors. 20 00:00:50,318 --> 00:00:52,720 Whenever we take meaningful action that breaks the rules 21 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,203 set out by the powers-that-be, 22 00:00:54,203 --> 00:00:56,869 there's a chance that we will be subjected to a gauntlet of punishment 23 00:00:56,869 --> 00:00:58,550 that begins with our violent arrest, 24 00:00:58,550 --> 00:01:00,060 continues through legal proceedings 25 00:01:00,060 --> 00:01:02,352 that are often lengthy and definitely stressful, 26 00:01:02,352 --> 00:01:05,395 and could potentially end with us serving long prison sentences. 27 00:01:05,395 --> 00:01:07,728 This is a pretty daunting thing to come to terms with. 28 00:01:07,728 --> 00:01:09,656 But if we hope to be successful in our efforts, 29 00:01:09,656 --> 00:01:11,786 it's important for each of us to be aware of the risks 30 00:01:11,786 --> 00:01:13,237 involved in the actions we take. 31 00:01:13,237 --> 00:01:15,024 Whether you prefer working in a small affinity group, 32 00:01:15,024 --> 00:01:17,550 or as part of a larger network, be proactive, 33 00:01:17,550 --> 00:01:20,537 and take the necessary steps to prepare for the repression you might face. 34 00:01:20,537 --> 00:01:21,862 Without being properly prepared, 35 00:01:21,862 --> 00:01:23,512 we risk being set against one another, 36 00:01:23,512 --> 00:01:25,362 isolated and paralyzed into inaction, 37 00:01:25,362 --> 00:01:27,198 which is exactly what our enemies want. 38 00:01:27,198 --> 00:01:28,899 With that in mind, over the next thirty minutes 39 00:01:28,899 --> 00:01:30,799 we'll share the voices of a number of individuals 40 00:01:30,802 --> 00:01:33,505 who are helping people navigate complicated legal situations, 41 00:01:33,518 --> 00:01:35,496 offering crucial support to jailed comrades, 42 00:01:35,496 --> 00:01:37,397 building infrastructure for collective defence 43 00:01:37,397 --> 00:01:39,052 ... and making a whole lot of trouble! 44 00:02:04,815 --> 00:02:07,046 The political climate in the US right now 45 00:02:07,046 --> 00:02:10,746 is really bad for the radical left, 46 00:02:10,749 --> 00:02:12,670 and very dangerous for us as well. 47 00:02:12,670 --> 00:02:16,335 Not only are we facing the state repression that we've been so used to, 48 00:02:16,335 --> 00:02:20,050 we're also facing increasing threats from the right, 49 00:02:20,050 --> 00:02:23,461 whether that is alt-right trolls and doxxing 50 00:02:23,461 --> 00:02:26,395 and live-streamers at protests and rallies 51 00:02:26,395 --> 00:02:29,230 outing people to be targeted online, 52 00:02:29,230 --> 00:02:32,093 or it's ultra-violent and murderous actions 53 00:02:32,093 --> 00:02:33,945 such as in Portland most recently. 54 00:02:33,945 --> 00:02:36,789 There's also the threats from the police, 55 00:02:36,802 --> 00:02:39,573 who are working very clearly and very blatantly 56 00:02:39,573 --> 00:02:41,975 with the far-right in order to target 57 00:02:41,975 --> 00:02:43,931 radical left organizers and activists. 58 00:02:43,931 --> 00:02:45,854 So I think we're at a time right now 59 00:02:45,854 --> 00:02:48,386 where the stakes are really high for people. 60 00:02:48,399 --> 00:02:50,631 There is really widespread resistance, 61 00:02:50,631 --> 00:02:52,291 not only to the Trump administration 62 00:02:52,291 --> 00:02:57,757 but to a rise in white supremacist organizing and fascism across the country. 63 00:02:57,757 --> 00:02:59,444 There's a lot of resistance that's going on 64 00:02:59,444 --> 00:03:01,323 to police murder, police violence... 65 00:03:01,323 --> 00:03:03,831 also to extraction projects. 66 00:03:03,831 --> 00:03:06,546 And so I think that as resistance is growing, 67 00:03:06,546 --> 00:03:10,219 the repression that's coming from the government is increasing as well. 68 00:03:10,219 --> 00:03:11,510 Since the election, 69 00:03:11,517 --> 00:03:14,161 there have been hundreds of new felony defendants across the country 70 00:03:14,161 --> 00:03:16,976 ranging from everything that's happening over at Standing Rock, 71 00:03:16,976 --> 00:03:19,489 to the inauguration in DC. 72 00:03:19,489 --> 00:03:20,827 May Day in different places 73 00:03:20,827 --> 00:03:22,681 there was a good number of felony arrests as well. 74 00:03:22,681 --> 00:03:24,981 When people are arrested in political situations, 75 00:03:24,982 --> 00:03:27,693 it seems to be that the charges are becoming much higher 76 00:03:27,693 --> 00:03:29,253 than a lot of us are used to... 77 00:03:29,253 --> 00:03:32,034 with J20 being a really good example of that. 78 00:03:32,034 --> 00:03:34,401 On January 20th 2017, 79 00:03:34,401 --> 00:03:37,869 during an anti-capitalist, anti-fascist march in Washington DC, 80 00:03:37,869 --> 00:03:40,051 over 200 people, myself included 81 00:03:40,051 --> 00:03:41,861 were assaulted with chemical weapons, 82 00:03:41,863 --> 00:03:44,776 surrounded and trapped using a technique known as kettling 83 00:03:44,776 --> 00:03:45,717 and arrested. 84 00:03:45,717 --> 00:03:48,303 We were all charged with one count of felony rioting, 85 00:03:48,303 --> 00:03:50,390 which later became eight or more felonies 86 00:03:50,390 --> 00:03:52,007 including engaging in a riot, 87 00:03:52,007 --> 00:03:53,259 inciting a riot, 88 00:03:53,259 --> 00:03:54,746 conspiracy to riot 89 00:03:54,746 --> 00:03:56,683 and several counts of property damage. 90 00:03:56,683 --> 00:03:59,093 The sum of these charges carries a maximum sentence 91 00:03:59,093 --> 00:04:00,629 of 75 years in prison. 92 00:04:00,629 --> 00:04:03,448 To put this clearly, we are facing the rest of our lives 93 00:04:03,448 --> 00:04:05,210 behind bars for going to a protest. 94 00:04:05,210 --> 00:04:07,209 Conspiracy charges are one of the prosecutors' 95 00:04:07,209 --> 00:04:09,375 favourite tools because they're basically a thought crime. 96 00:04:09,375 --> 00:04:13,336 So it's a way of the prosecutors to put blanket charges on people 97 00:04:13,349 --> 00:04:16,524 and make them all responsible for actions 98 00:04:16,524 --> 00:04:18,652 that maybe only one person took. 99 00:04:18,652 --> 00:04:20,000 Basically they're saying that 100 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:21,812 200 people were equally responsible 101 00:04:21,812 --> 00:04:23,434 for breaking a handful of windows. 102 00:04:23,434 --> 00:04:25,509 We see conspiracy charges being used 103 00:04:25,509 --> 00:04:28,292 to really brutal effect in the so-called War on Terror, 104 00:04:28,292 --> 00:04:31,446 which is mostly targeted against Arab Muslims here in the US. 105 00:04:31,446 --> 00:04:35,072 We see a lot of conspiracy charges in the so-called War on Drugs 106 00:04:35,073 --> 00:04:37,605 targeted against both inner-city populations 107 00:04:37,605 --> 00:04:39,375 as well as a lot of rural populations. 108 00:04:39,375 --> 00:04:41,697 Mass arrest and prosecution is nothing new. 109 00:04:41,699 --> 00:04:43,746 What sets our legal cases apart 110 00:04:43,746 --> 00:04:46,629 is that the state has charged so many protestors 111 00:04:46,629 --> 00:04:48,654 with so many serious felonies. 112 00:04:48,654 --> 00:04:51,293 This is the first political arrest of the Trump presidency. 113 00:04:51,293 --> 00:04:53,291 This case is about giving the government more power 114 00:04:53,291 --> 00:04:55,406 to criminalize and shut down protest. 115 00:04:55,406 --> 00:04:58,053 Initially it was just answering questions 116 00:04:58,053 --> 00:05:00,040 about knowing your rights 117 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,811 and advising people about risks and consequences of actions... 118 00:05:04,811 --> 00:05:07,859 and when we had our first mass arrest, 119 00:05:07,859 --> 00:05:10,838 then it became a much more intense situation. 120 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:15,267 Over the course of a year there were over 800 people who were arrested, 121 00:05:15,267 --> 00:05:17,522 with really varying levels of charges. 122 00:05:17,522 --> 00:05:20,329 Early on it was things like criminal trespass. 123 00:05:20,329 --> 00:05:22,910 Y'know, as people were going to work sites 124 00:05:22,910 --> 00:05:27,490 and attempting to disrupt the work that was happening on the pipeline itself. 125 00:05:27,503 --> 00:05:29,917 And as those months dragged on, 126 00:05:29,917 --> 00:05:32,223 as more and more people were getting arrested, 127 00:05:32,223 --> 00:05:34,147 the charges then increased quite a bit. 128 00:05:34,147 --> 00:05:36,869 One of the things that the special prosecutor 129 00:05:36,869 --> 00:05:38,209 Ladd Erickson has said, 130 00:05:38,209 --> 00:05:40,020 in a motion, he writes: 131 00:05:40,020 --> 00:05:43,440 there's no relevance to any testimony or evidence 132 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,298 regarding historical treaty, tribal sovereignty, 133 00:05:47,298 --> 00:05:51,472 the merits of the Dakota Access Pipeline, climate change, 134 00:05:51,472 --> 00:05:55,279 sacred sites, corporate power, corporate media 135 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,449 or any other social or political cause. 136 00:05:58,449 --> 00:06:02,496 Meaning he is attempting to discredit the resistance efforts 137 00:06:02,496 --> 00:06:04,576 of the water protectors 138 00:06:04,576 --> 00:06:08,879 and the merits of the power of prayer 139 00:06:08,879 --> 00:06:12,662 and the responsibility to protect our first medicine... 140 00:06:12,969 --> 00:06:13,769 our water. 141 00:06:13,769 --> 00:06:17,086 There's also seven people who are facing federal charges, 142 00:06:17,086 --> 00:06:19,068 Red Fawn Fallis being one of them, 143 00:06:19,068 --> 00:06:22,994 who is facing upwards of 25 years in federal prison. 144 00:06:22,994 --> 00:06:25,536 And she is currently still being held in custody pre-trial, 145 00:06:25,536 --> 00:06:27,411 so she'll be awaiting trial 146 00:06:27,411 --> 00:06:30,411 while still in the custody of the US marshals 147 00:06:30,411 --> 00:06:31,736 up there in North Dakota. 148 00:06:31,736 --> 00:06:35,531 There's also six other people who are facing federal charges. 149 00:06:35,532 --> 00:06:39,330 And all of those people are facing the same charges of 150 00:06:39,343 --> 00:06:43,263 Civil Disorder and Use of Fire in a Civil Disorder. 151 00:06:43,263 --> 00:06:45,123 So these people are facing up to fifteen years 152 00:06:45,123 --> 00:06:46,097 in federal prison. 153 00:06:46,097 --> 00:06:49,903 All seven of those people are Indigenous water protectors. 154 00:06:49,903 --> 00:06:51,863 While the people who are facing state charges 155 00:06:51,863 --> 00:06:54,123 come from a wide array of identities, 156 00:06:54,123 --> 00:06:56,580 it seems that the federal repression matrix 157 00:06:56,580 --> 00:06:59,090 is really centered on Indigenous people, 158 00:06:59,090 --> 00:07:02,114 their resistance and their assertion of their own sovereignty 159 00:07:02,114 --> 00:07:03,862 over their lands and their waters. 160 00:07:03,862 --> 00:07:07,557 Due process is not going to be delivered to these water protectors 161 00:07:07,557 --> 00:07:09,718 by the way the trials have been set up. 162 00:07:09,718 --> 00:07:12,556 There is a continuing grand jury that was convened 163 00:07:12,556 --> 00:07:15,201 to investigate the activities of water protectors. 164 00:07:15,201 --> 00:07:18,806 They've been used historically as a means of political repression. 165 00:07:18,806 --> 00:07:21,706 As a way of shutting down resistance. 166 00:07:21,706 --> 00:07:25,617 Of starting to tear communities apart by spreading paranoia, 167 00:07:25,617 --> 00:07:28,067 suspicion, getting people to self-isolate. 168 00:07:28,067 --> 00:07:30,486 One of the most clear wins that we have 169 00:07:30,486 --> 00:07:33,571 in regards to the movement defence work 170 00:07:33,571 --> 00:07:35,011 that's happening at Standing Rock 171 00:07:35,011 --> 00:07:36,220 is around this grand jury. 172 00:07:36,220 --> 00:07:37,775 We found out about the grand jury, 173 00:07:37,775 --> 00:07:39,275 we very quickly organized, 174 00:07:39,275 --> 00:07:41,563 not only with the person who'd been subpoenaed, 175 00:07:41,563 --> 00:07:45,149 but also spreading - within the same day – 176 00:07:45,149 --> 00:07:48,031 information and resources throughout the camp. 177 00:07:48,031 --> 00:07:50,826 And then also put together a month-long tour 178 00:07:50,826 --> 00:07:53,917 to reach water protectors across the country as well. 179 00:07:53,917 --> 00:07:58,432 The US Attorney's Office, the FBI, the ATF, the JTTF, 180 00:07:58,432 --> 00:08:01,768 and other federal law enforcement bodies had a really clear vision 181 00:08:01,768 --> 00:08:04,724 of how that grand jury process was gonna unfold for them. 182 00:08:04,724 --> 00:08:06,846 And I think that we fucked it up for them. 183 00:08:06,846 --> 00:08:08,524 And I think we did a really good job of it. 184 00:08:11,101 --> 00:08:13,615 Many people who've never had a first-hand experience 185 00:08:13,615 --> 00:08:15,981 being a defendant in the criminal justice system 186 00:08:15,981 --> 00:08:19,405 tend to have a pretty skewed idea of what to expect going into it. 187 00:08:19,405 --> 00:08:22,187 And given the way that the legal process is generally depicted 188 00:08:22,187 --> 00:08:23,823 in movies, in TV shows 189 00:08:23,823 --> 00:08:25,987 and sensationalist corporate media accounts, 190 00:08:25,987 --> 00:08:28,863 it’s understandable that when people think of court proceedings, 191 00:08:28,863 --> 00:08:30,982 they usually imagine two sharply-dressed lawyers 192 00:08:30,982 --> 00:08:32,444 squaring off in a courtroom, 193 00:08:32,444 --> 00:08:35,545 each arguing the merits of their position in front of a stern judge 194 00:08:35,545 --> 00:08:37,911 and an undecided and apprehensive jury. 195 00:08:38,443 --> 00:08:44,196 -I hereby order Ruben Carter released from prison. - <> 196 00:08:44,858 --> 00:08:48,376 In fact, the whole process is less like a John Grisham novel, 197 00:08:48,382 --> 00:08:50,505 and more like something dreamt up by Franz Kafka. 198 00:08:51,498 --> 00:08:53,284 If you are privileged enough to make bail, 199 00:08:53,284 --> 00:08:55,522 which, by the way, most people aren't.... 200 00:08:55,522 --> 00:08:57,921 then you can look forward to a long stretch of time 201 00:08:57,921 --> 00:09:00,354 when your legal case will severely impact your life. 202 00:09:00,354 --> 00:09:01,670 This might be months... 203 00:09:01,670 --> 00:09:05,147 or if you wanna actually take the charges to trial, years. 204 00:09:05,147 --> 00:09:07,353 Either way, you’re looking at a steady stream of 205 00:09:07,353 --> 00:09:09,239 seemingly pointless court appearances, 206 00:09:09,239 --> 00:09:11,036 plus regular meetings with your lawyer. 207 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,149 More often than not, the process is entirely confusing, 208 00:09:14,149 --> 00:09:15,787 stressful and expensive. 209 00:09:15,787 --> 00:09:16,985 If you have co-defendants, 210 00:09:16,985 --> 00:09:20,271 get used to not communicating with them unless your lawyers are present... 211 00:09:20,271 --> 00:09:23,244 even if they're your partner, your close friend or your comrade. 212 00:09:23,244 --> 00:09:25,809 If you're lucky, your lawyer will respect your agency, 213 00:09:25,809 --> 00:09:27,997 and might even be sympathetic to your politics. 214 00:09:27,997 --> 00:09:30,109 If you have the support of some solid comrades, 215 00:09:30,109 --> 00:09:31,704 you might even be able to come up with a way 216 00:09:31,704 --> 00:09:34,170 of advancing your struggle through the court proceedings themselves. 217 00:09:34,170 --> 00:09:36,665 And who knows... the charges might even get dropped out of the blue. 218 00:09:36,665 --> 00:09:39,024 Sometimes for reasons nobody can really explain. 219 00:09:39,024 --> 00:09:40,866 In very kind of basic terms, 220 00:09:40,866 --> 00:09:43,508 a legal defence would be what somebody is saying 221 00:09:43,508 --> 00:09:47,303 in response to the state's allegations of them having broken a law. 222 00:09:47,303 --> 00:09:50,318 So if somebody is charged with destroying property 223 00:09:50,318 --> 00:09:51,681 such as breaking a window, 224 00:09:51,681 --> 00:09:54,157 a legal defence could be 'not guilty', 225 00:09:54,157 --> 00:09:56,137 as in that person did not do that. 226 00:09:56,137 --> 00:09:58,343 Political defence, in contrast, would be about 227 00:09:58,343 --> 00:10:00,613 looking at the political climate and figuring out 228 00:10:00,615 --> 00:10:03,806 what are the different leverage points that can be used 229 00:10:03,806 --> 00:10:06,805 to bring the politics of the case 230 00:10:06,805 --> 00:10:09,450 or the politics of the movement that's being targeted 231 00:10:09,450 --> 00:10:10,736 into the forefront. 232 00:10:10,736 --> 00:10:13,411 So your political defence is really based off of: 233 00:10:13,411 --> 00:10:16,342 “what are your goals politically for your movement?” 234 00:10:16,342 --> 00:10:18,630 whereas a legal defence is based off of: 235 00:10:18,630 --> 00:10:19,697 “what are your goals... 236 00:10:19,697 --> 00:10:23,097 to have the least harm through the legal system as possible?” 237 00:10:23,097 --> 00:10:25,218 Whether it is throwing down against racist cops, 238 00:10:25,218 --> 00:10:27,268 or locking down against earth-destroying machines, 239 00:10:27,268 --> 00:10:29,501 if you get arrested it's not just you that's on trial 240 00:10:29,501 --> 00:10:30,946 ... it's your struggle too. 241 00:10:30,946 --> 00:10:34,335 A successful defence campaign draws on both legal and political tactics 242 00:10:34,335 --> 00:10:36,866 to mitigate the potential repercussions the case can have 243 00:10:36,866 --> 00:10:38,967 on individuals and the movement at large. 244 00:10:38,967 --> 00:10:42,543 Your legal defence is based off of the confines of the legal system 245 00:10:42,543 --> 00:10:45,989 and the goal of defence is to get you off of charges. 246 00:10:45,989 --> 00:10:48,533 To make sure that you're acquitted at trial, 247 00:10:48,533 --> 00:10:51,967 or you negotiate a plea that's favourable to you 248 00:10:51,967 --> 00:10:54,474 and avoid going to trial if that might be the best thing 249 00:10:54,474 --> 00:10:56,884 in your particular legal situation. 250 00:10:56,884 --> 00:11:00,221 Whereas a political defence can sometimes actually 251 00:11:00,221 --> 00:11:03,082 butt up against that normal legal defence. 252 00:11:03,082 --> 00:11:04,856 There's different costs that can be involved. 253 00:11:04,856 --> 00:11:06,372 There's also a lot that can be gained 254 00:11:06,372 --> 00:11:07,933 through taking a political approach. 255 00:11:07,933 --> 00:11:09,592 This approach moves away from the realm 256 00:11:09,592 --> 00:11:11,747 of what is deemed legal by lawmakers 257 00:11:11,747 --> 00:11:14,329 and steps into the larger realm of ethics, morality, 258 00:11:14,329 --> 00:11:16,342 and liberation from all forms of oppression. 259 00:11:16,342 --> 00:11:18,754 It can also include defendants deciding that 260 00:11:18,754 --> 00:11:21,565 they're not going to cooperate with the proceedings against them. 261 00:11:21,565 --> 00:11:24,148 Notably different Puerto Rican independence fighters 262 00:11:24,148 --> 00:11:29,286 and some Black Liberation Army soldiers back in the 70s and 80s 263 00:11:29,286 --> 00:11:32,602 decided that they were taking a Prisoner of War approach to their cases, 264 00:11:32,602 --> 00:11:35,496 so they rejected the legitimacy of the US government 265 00:11:35,496 --> 00:11:37,636 to file and press charges against them, 266 00:11:37,636 --> 00:11:39,984 and refused to cooperate in the proceedings at all. 267 00:11:39,984 --> 00:11:44,559 Those prisoners of war were convicted despite their lack of participation, 268 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:46,746 and many of them sentenced to decades in prison, 269 00:11:46,746 --> 00:11:48,675 a good number of who are still serving that time. 270 00:11:48,675 --> 00:11:53,232 It can also mean trying to put pressure onto the legal system itself. 271 00:11:53,232 --> 00:11:57,953 Calling campaigns, reaching out to the prosecutor's office, or the judge. 272 00:11:57,953 --> 00:12:01,092 Writing letters to the judge from people all over the country 273 00:12:01,092 --> 00:12:04,066 or all over the world about this particular defendant 274 00:12:04,066 --> 00:12:05,970 or group of co-defendants. 275 00:12:05,970 --> 00:12:06,950 Over the last number of years 276 00:12:06,950 --> 00:12:10,662 there have been a number of successful uses of political defence. 277 00:12:10,662 --> 00:12:13,759 Most of those are also unfortunately, also mixed victories 278 00:12:13,759 --> 00:12:17,076 where we were able to win in certain respects and lose in other respects. 279 00:12:17,076 --> 00:12:20,892 An example that comes to mind is the Cece McDonald case in Minnesota. 280 00:12:20,892 --> 00:12:24,099 Cece is a Black trans woman who was attacked 281 00:12:24,099 --> 00:12:26,257 while walking to the grocery store late one night. 282 00:12:26,257 --> 00:12:28,006 And in the fight that ensued, 283 00:12:28,006 --> 00:12:30,509 one of the attackers was stabbed near the heart 284 00:12:30,509 --> 00:12:31,685 and died on the scene. 285 00:12:31,685 --> 00:12:34,626 He was later found to have a swastika tattoo on his chest 286 00:12:34,626 --> 00:12:38,642 which he received while involved in white supremacist gangs in prison. 287 00:12:38,642 --> 00:12:42,133 Cece was the only one who was charged in that incident at first, 288 00:12:42,133 --> 00:12:46,057 and she was initially facing 20 years on a murder charge. 289 00:12:46,057 --> 00:12:48,227 After a certain amount of time in her case 290 00:12:48,241 --> 00:12:50,917 she was offered a plea agreement to around ten years. 291 00:12:50,917 --> 00:12:52,220 And she rejected that, 292 00:12:52,222 --> 00:12:54,728 so the prosecutors added on a higher level murder charge 293 00:12:54,728 --> 00:12:56,995 that upped the amount of time she was facing to 40 years. 294 00:12:56,995 --> 00:12:59,123 I was involved in her defence committee 295 00:12:59,123 --> 00:13:02,868 and we were able to get a lot of support and solidarity for her 296 00:13:02,868 --> 00:13:05,387 from across the country and across the world 297 00:13:05,387 --> 00:13:09,881 and helped expose that prosecution for being a continuation of 298 00:13:09,881 --> 00:13:11,887 the racist transphobic attack against Cece 299 00:13:11,887 --> 00:13:14,513 that the white supremacists in the streets had begun, 300 00:13:14,513 --> 00:13:16,053 by attacking Cece and her friends. 301 00:13:16,053 --> 00:13:18,160 As a result of that pressure campaign, 302 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,910 in combination with her defence that her legal team was working on, 303 00:13:21,921 --> 00:13:23,736 she was able to accept a plea agreement 304 00:13:23,736 --> 00:13:28,775 to a lower-level felony charge of involuntary manslaughter. 305 00:13:28,775 --> 00:13:31,287 She had to serve about an additional year of prison time, 306 00:13:31,287 --> 00:13:33,148 and she's been released for a number of years now 307 00:13:33,148 --> 00:13:36,380 and has been involved in a lot of public organizing, 308 00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:39,768 public speaking and pursuit of justice for trans people, 309 00:13:39,768 --> 00:13:41,121 particularly Black trans women. 310 00:13:41,121 --> 00:13:44,194 Because of the large numbers of trans folks, 311 00:13:44,194 --> 00:13:46,140 and Black trans women in particular, 312 00:13:46,140 --> 00:13:49,061 who are assaulted, targeted and murdered in the streets. 313 00:13:49,061 --> 00:13:52,003 The legal system is meant to really individualize people 314 00:13:52,003 --> 00:13:54,032 and to isolate you from one another. 315 00:13:54,034 --> 00:13:55,485 And it's good at doing it. 316 00:13:55,485 --> 00:13:56,653 And so the more that we can 317 00:13:56,653 --> 00:13:58,924 maintain communication with one another, 318 00:13:58,924 --> 00:14:01,827 the more that we can maintain our solidarity with one another. 319 00:14:01,827 --> 00:14:04,347 There are plenty of people who are charged criminally 320 00:14:04,347 --> 00:14:07,819 that'll fold on somebody else in order to save their own self. 321 00:14:07,819 --> 00:14:11,022 But if that's something that is absolutely against 322 00:14:11,022 --> 00:14:12,990 your values and your politics, 323 00:14:12,990 --> 00:14:15,666 you need to find an attorney who also is gonna uphold 324 00:14:15,666 --> 00:14:17,048 those same values and politics 325 00:14:17,048 --> 00:14:18,648 and not push you to do something 326 00:14:18,648 --> 00:14:22,456 just because it might be better for your individual case. 327 00:14:22,456 --> 00:14:24,378 So if you have co-defendants, 328 00:14:24,378 --> 00:14:26,935 you wanna make sure that your plea agreement, 329 00:14:26,935 --> 00:14:29,400 or any statement of facts that you have to sign 330 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,605 aren't going to harm or incriminate other people 331 00:14:32,605 --> 00:14:34,992 if they're y'know, known co-defendants 332 00:14:34,992 --> 00:14:37,702 – especially if they're not known co-defendants. 333 00:14:37,704 --> 00:14:39,302 Y'know, if the state doesn't know something 334 00:14:39,302 --> 00:14:40,384 we wanna keep it that way. 335 00:14:40,384 --> 00:14:42,490 It is important that we understand the implications 336 00:14:42,490 --> 00:14:44,267 and consequences of snitching 337 00:14:44,267 --> 00:14:46,276 and do our best to ensure that all defendants 338 00:14:46,276 --> 00:14:49,301 feel supported and do not buckle under the state's pressure 339 00:14:49,301 --> 00:14:51,786 and coercion to comply with their demands. 340 00:14:51,786 --> 00:14:54,334 Non-cooperation agreements are meant to establish trust 341 00:14:54,334 --> 00:14:56,427 and solidarity between co-defendants 342 00:14:56,427 --> 00:14:58,987 and make it clear that defendants will refuse to help the state 343 00:14:58,987 --> 00:15:00,727 in its efforts to prosecute us. 344 00:15:00,727 --> 00:15:01,930 In the case of J20, 345 00:15:01,930 --> 00:15:04,829 over half of the defendants have agreed to points of unity, 346 00:15:04,829 --> 00:15:07,086 which include a non-cooperation agreement, 347 00:15:07,086 --> 00:15:10,154 refusing to snitch on each other or otherwise cooperate with the state 348 00:15:10,154 --> 00:15:12,471 in targeting and isolating their co-defendants. 349 00:15:12,471 --> 00:15:14,316 This agreement also includes a commitment 350 00:15:14,316 --> 00:15:16,098 to sharing resources and working together 351 00:15:16,098 --> 00:15:17,399 for our collective defence. 352 00:15:17,399 --> 00:15:21,112 There are people facing charges from all over the country. 353 00:15:21,112 --> 00:15:23,671 And people that maybe didn't know each other before, 354 00:15:23,671 --> 00:15:27,774 and communities that weren't necessarily very well connected to one another, 355 00:15:27,774 --> 00:15:29,569 are better connected now. 356 00:15:29,569 --> 00:15:33,661 And so while the state thinks they can use things like this to tear us apart, 357 00:15:33,661 --> 00:15:36,350 it's actually an opportunity for us to grow stronger 358 00:15:36,350 --> 00:15:38,998 if we are willing to be bold. 359 00:15:42,228 --> 00:15:45,226 The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky once wrote 360 00:15:45,226 --> 00:15:47,014 that if you want to understand a society, 361 00:15:47,014 --> 00:15:48,632 you should look inside its prisons. 362 00:15:48,632 --> 00:15:50,436 As a former prisoner himself, 363 00:15:50,436 --> 00:15:52,659 he understood that the ways in which power operates 364 00:15:52,659 --> 00:15:55,315 in a given society determine who the state locks up, 365 00:15:55,315 --> 00:15:57,466 under what conditions, and for what ends. 366 00:15:57,466 --> 00:15:59,632 Take, for example, the United States. 367 00:15:59,632 --> 00:16:02,539 Its lofty modern day position atop the global economy 368 00:16:02,539 --> 00:16:05,477 has its roots in the nation's lucrative plantation system, 369 00:16:05,477 --> 00:16:09,254 built through the unpaid labour of generations of enslaved Africans. 370 00:16:09,254 --> 00:16:12,927 Slavery in the US never really went away.... it just transformed. 371 00:16:12,927 --> 00:16:16,649 Like, there is literally an 'except' in the 13th Amendment. 372 00:16:16,649 --> 00:16:17,371 Look at it. 373 00:16:17,534 --> 00:16:20,125 Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, 374 00:16:20,125 --> 00:16:22,100 except as punishment for crime, 375 00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:24,273 shall exist within the United States. 376 00:16:24,435 --> 00:16:27,884 Today it is manifested in the country's system of mass incarceration, 377 00:16:27,884 --> 00:16:29,793 in which one out of every three Black males 378 00:16:29,793 --> 00:16:31,949 is imprisoned at some point in their lifetime, 379 00:16:31,951 --> 00:16:35,112 and prisoners of all races are forced to work for almost no money, 380 00:16:35,112 --> 00:16:38,387 helping to pad the profit margins of an array of wealthy companies, 381 00:16:38,387 --> 00:16:39,925 from McDonalds to Verizon. 382 00:16:39,925 --> 00:16:43,041 The US prison system is a byproduct of a specific society 383 00:16:43,041 --> 00:16:44,381 with a specific history, 384 00:16:44,381 --> 00:16:46,275 as are prisons everywhere else. 385 00:16:46,275 --> 00:16:47,955 But no matter where they’re located, 386 00:16:47,955 --> 00:16:49,713 prisons have at least one thing in common. 387 00:16:49,713 --> 00:16:52,328 Namely... they're full of people who have plenty of reasons 388 00:16:52,328 --> 00:16:53,585 to hate the state. 389 00:16:54,218 --> 00:16:57,752 The history of the Anarchist Black Cross begins in Russia 390 00:16:57,752 --> 00:17:00,727 in the period of 1900 to 1905, 391 00:17:00,727 --> 00:17:06,043 to support the comrades that were being persecuted and jailed 392 00:17:06,043 --> 00:17:08,762 in the context of the struggle against the Czar. 393 00:17:09,228 --> 00:17:13,620 Here in Mexico, the first one was established in the mid 90’s. 394 00:17:13,620 --> 00:17:18,676 The way in which we decide which comrades to support 395 00:17:18,676 --> 00:17:22,548 mainly it has to do with affinity. 396 00:17:22,548 --> 00:17:27,841 If there’s an anarchist comrade who is jailed, 397 00:17:27,841 --> 00:17:31,946 regardless if they are “guilty” or “innocent”, 398 00:17:31,946 --> 00:17:33,574 if they did it or not, 399 00:17:33,574 --> 00:17:35,573 for us that’s not relevant. 400 00:17:35,573 --> 00:17:39,104 What’s important is that it’s an anarchist comrade 401 00:17:39,104 --> 00:17:40,120 who is in prison. 402 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:42,986 One of them is Fernando Barcenas, 403 00:17:42,986 --> 00:17:45,623 a youth who has been imprisoned for three years, 404 00:17:45,623 --> 00:17:49,690 accused of having burned a Coca Cola Christmas tree. 405 00:17:49,690 --> 00:17:53,217 The work that we do with jailed comrades 406 00:17:53,217 --> 00:17:57,333 includes keeping up with how they are doing inside, 407 00:17:57,333 --> 00:17:59,619 physically and emotionally. 408 00:17:59,619 --> 00:18:03,357 Visiting them to establish a relationship based in solidarity. 409 00:18:03,357 --> 00:18:07,480 This is done with the intent of stopping the destruction of personality 410 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,073 that prison tends to achieve. 411 00:18:09,374 --> 00:18:14,537 We try to maintain a channel of communication 412 00:18:14,537 --> 00:18:15,750 through letter writing. 413 00:18:15,750 --> 00:18:19,778 Some of the actions that have been done from inside prison, 414 00:18:19,778 --> 00:18:21,799 and that we have supported, 415 00:18:21,799 --> 00:18:24,306 have been for example, hunger strikes. 416 00:18:24,306 --> 00:18:26,767 For example, a coordinated hunger strike 417 00:18:26,767 --> 00:18:28,262 from different prisons 418 00:18:28,262 --> 00:18:29,836 by four anarchist comrades 419 00:18:29,836 --> 00:18:31,926 who were in separate jails. 420 00:18:31,926 --> 00:18:34,962 The objective of the hunger strike was to denounce 421 00:18:34,962 --> 00:18:37,275 the existence of prison themselves, 422 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:39,748 and the social function of prisons 423 00:18:39,748 --> 00:18:42,598 as part of the disciplinary regime 424 00:18:42,598 --> 00:18:44,633 of society in general. 425 00:18:44,633 --> 00:18:48,599 We also try to support small organizing projects 426 00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:52,133 that deal more with everyday life inside prison. 427 00:18:52,133 --> 00:18:55,718 There was one collective that was focused on this, 428 00:18:55,718 --> 00:18:59,901 facilitating music workshops, creative writing workshops 429 00:18:59,901 --> 00:19:02,525 and also workshops on health care, 430 00:19:02,539 --> 00:19:04,259 on music, and some other things 431 00:19:04,259 --> 00:19:05,677 that have had results. 432 00:19:05,677 --> 00:19:09,668 There’s a newspaper of chronicles. 433 00:19:09,668 --> 00:19:11,989 They even recorded a punk album. 434 00:19:20,442 --> 00:19:23,203 We are the “La Fuga” (jailbreak) coordinating committee. 435 00:19:23,203 --> 00:19:25,038 We have been around since 2015 436 00:19:25,038 --> 00:19:27,468 and we began as a coordinating collective 437 00:19:27,468 --> 00:19:29,607 between small groups and individuals 438 00:19:29,607 --> 00:19:34,106 that have an anti-prison and anti-systemic perspective. 439 00:19:34,756 --> 00:19:38,908 Mainly we organize awareness-building actions 440 00:19:38,908 --> 00:19:42,059 - especially street actions like marches, and assemblies 441 00:19:42,059 --> 00:19:43,050 in different places. 442 00:19:43,050 --> 00:19:45,630 Days of awareness. 443 00:19:45,630 --> 00:19:48,938 This can be in city squares, universities, or in high schools. 444 00:19:48,938 --> 00:19:54,561 The days of actions are mainly in the streets and in public places. 445 00:19:54,561 --> 00:19:57,186 We also mobilize against state terror. 446 00:19:57,186 --> 00:20:00,619 This has to do with principle of international solidarity, 447 00:20:00,619 --> 00:20:03,260 and we have protested at different embassies 448 00:20:03,260 --> 00:20:06,028 to bring awareness to prisoners, 449 00:20:06,028 --> 00:20:09,962 but also state terrorism and repression. 450 00:20:10,543 --> 00:20:12,882 We have a horizontal structure, 451 00:20:12,882 --> 00:20:14,906 flexible, and by affinity. 452 00:20:14,906 --> 00:20:17,340 Our operation is dynamic. 453 00:20:17,340 --> 00:20:19,357 There are no pre-determined functions, 454 00:20:19,357 --> 00:20:24,249 instead it has to do with the initiative of each individual 455 00:20:24,249 --> 00:20:29,005 and what each wants to bring to the table for a specific action. 456 00:20:29,005 --> 00:20:32,078 We just facilitate the coordination of desires 457 00:20:32,078 --> 00:20:33,917 more than a set structure. 458 00:20:40,877 --> 00:20:43,216 The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee 459 00:20:43,216 --> 00:20:45,357 is a committee of the IWW. 460 00:20:45,361 --> 00:20:48,334 It was inspired by George Jackson's call 461 00:20:48,334 --> 00:20:51,418 for a prison labour union back in the day 462 00:20:51,418 --> 00:20:53,642 - he's an old Black Panther prisoner 463 00:20:53,642 --> 00:20:56,019 who was assassinated by the guards in California – 464 00:20:56,019 --> 00:20:58,373 and by recent struggles and uprisings. 465 00:20:58,373 --> 00:21:01,633 There was a big strike in Georgia in 2010, 466 00:21:01,633 --> 00:21:03,274 and then the Free Alabama Movement 467 00:21:03,274 --> 00:21:05,082 were shutting prisons down left and right 468 00:21:05,082 --> 00:21:07,566 and so a couple of members within the IWW 469 00:21:07,566 --> 00:21:10,349 who are formerly-incarcerated got excited about 470 00:21:10,350 --> 00:21:13,123 forming the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. 471 00:21:13,123 --> 00:21:16,394 We have over 800 members currently on the inside 472 00:21:16,396 --> 00:21:18,130 and we have people who are coming out 473 00:21:18,130 --> 00:21:20,625 and staying with the union and staying with the organizing, 474 00:21:20,628 --> 00:21:22,124 and really informing it a lot. 475 00:21:22,124 --> 00:21:24,155 The structure is really experimental 476 00:21:24,155 --> 00:21:26,779 and the day-to-day activities vary from state to state 477 00:21:26,779 --> 00:21:28,571 and different locals. 478 00:21:28,571 --> 00:21:31,532 In some places we're trying to build inside branches 479 00:21:31,532 --> 00:21:34,216 by connecting all the prisoners across the state. 480 00:21:34,216 --> 00:21:37,588 In other places they're focusing on single communities 481 00:21:37,588 --> 00:21:40,355 and single facilities, or even units. 482 00:21:40,355 --> 00:21:43,525 A lot of the day-to-day activity is correspondence. 483 00:21:43,525 --> 00:21:46,295 Writing and trying to facilitate communication 484 00:21:46,295 --> 00:21:48,077 across the bars and the fences. 485 00:21:48,718 --> 00:21:53,042 September 9th of 2016 was the largest prison strike in history. 486 00:21:53,042 --> 00:21:56,618 Tens of thousands of prisoners participated all across the country 487 00:21:56,618 --> 00:22:01,010 and engaged in a wide variety of different tactics and actions. 488 00:22:01,010 --> 00:22:05,488 It was called for by prisoners in Alabama, Ohio and elsewhere 489 00:22:05,488 --> 00:22:09,949 and how it went down was they wrote up a call to action, 490 00:22:09,949 --> 00:22:13,698 which we distributed as broadly and widely as we could. 491 00:22:13,698 --> 00:22:16,366 And prisoners all across the country got it. 492 00:22:16,366 --> 00:22:19,395 And then at the same time we organized on the outside 493 00:22:19,395 --> 00:22:21,841 to do solidarity actions and demos. 494 00:22:21,841 --> 00:22:24,457 And many many facilities were shut down 495 00:22:24,457 --> 00:22:28,004 because of either strikes or rumours of strikes, 496 00:22:28,004 --> 00:22:32,227 as well as individual prisoners engaging in kinda 497 00:22:32,227 --> 00:22:34,924 spontaneous or unexpected actions. 498 00:22:34,924 --> 00:22:39,603 There were hunger strikes in Ohio and Wisconsin 499 00:22:39,603 --> 00:22:44,052 and work stoppages all across Texas and the Pacific North West 500 00:22:44,052 --> 00:22:48,446 and in Florida and Michigan there were a couple of actions 501 00:22:48,446 --> 00:22:50,598 where prisoners kind of wilded out 502 00:22:50,598 --> 00:22:53,299 and tore shit up inside their facility. 503 00:22:55,648 --> 00:22:56,678 As individuals, 504 00:22:56,678 --> 00:22:59,172 we all have different experiences with the legal system 505 00:22:59,172 --> 00:23:01,193 and our odds of ending up in prison are shaped 506 00:23:01,193 --> 00:23:02,290 by a number of factors. 507 00:23:02,290 --> 00:23:05,243 Some of the most important determining factors are based on identities, 508 00:23:05,243 --> 00:23:08,953 such as nationality, race, and gender, that are inscribed on us at birth. 509 00:23:08,955 --> 00:23:11,312 Others are based on our personal experiences of trauma, 510 00:23:11,312 --> 00:23:14,087 medical diagnoses, poverty, and class position, 511 00:23:14,087 --> 00:23:17,533 which often help to determine our habits and drastically limit our options. 512 00:23:17,533 --> 00:23:19,565 Some are based on the strength of our political convictions, 513 00:23:19,565 --> 00:23:21,130 and our refusal to betray them. 514 00:23:21,130 --> 00:23:23,416 But there's one factor that we do have control over... 515 00:23:23,416 --> 00:23:25,395 and that's whether or not, when the time comes, 516 00:23:25,395 --> 00:23:26,879 we have each others' backs. 517 00:23:26,879 --> 00:23:29,720 The criminal justice system is designed to keep us divided, 518 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,093 because when we're isolated, we're weaker. 519 00:23:32,093 --> 00:23:34,036 It does this through a crude mixture of fear, 520 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:36,126 self-interest and reliance on social hierarchies 521 00:23:36,126 --> 00:23:39,373 formed by, and reinforced through systemic oppression. 522 00:23:39,373 --> 00:23:40,943 If we are serious about building movements 523 00:23:40,943 --> 00:23:43,493 capable of dismantling the ideological institutions 524 00:23:43,493 --> 00:23:46,450 of white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, 525 00:23:46,450 --> 00:23:48,040 and the capitalist states they uphold, 526 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,267 then we need to focus on the physical institutions 527 00:23:50,267 --> 00:23:51,332 where they play out. 528 00:23:51,332 --> 00:23:54,318 This means building movements that can provide meaningful solidarity 529 00:23:54,318 --> 00:23:56,993 to those most affected by the state's repressive apparatus, 530 00:23:56,993 --> 00:23:59,358 while building up infrastructure of collective defence 531 00:23:59,358 --> 00:24:01,486 that can help us weather the struggles to come. 532 00:24:03,212 --> 00:24:05,950 If one wants to confront the state, 533 00:24:05,950 --> 00:24:09,911 the immediate response from the state is going to be repression, 534 00:24:09,911 --> 00:24:13,312 and the basic ethic of any movement has to contemplate that. 535 00:24:13,312 --> 00:24:15,891 Has to contemplate the necessity to support 536 00:24:15,891 --> 00:24:20,414 and include the comrades that are being persecuted. 537 00:24:20,784 --> 00:24:23,211 What's actually really counter-intuitive is that 538 00:24:23,211 --> 00:24:25,227 when you're facing that kind of repression, 539 00:24:25,227 --> 00:24:30,554 one of your strongest tools that you have in your community 540 00:24:30,554 --> 00:24:32,210 or as part of your movement, 541 00:24:32,210 --> 00:24:34,566 is actually to make that shit public. 542 00:24:35,329 --> 00:24:37,530 Defendants are in need of considerable support, 543 00:24:37,530 --> 00:24:40,641 as each of us is facing the prospect of long legal battles, 544 00:24:40,641 --> 00:24:42,312 thousands of dollars in fines, 545 00:24:42,312 --> 00:24:44,460 and potentially prison sentences. 546 00:24:44,460 --> 00:24:46,760 All of us have been thrown together by the state 547 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,541 into an incredibly stressful legal situation, 548 00:24:49,541 --> 00:24:52,840 and now must figure out how to coordinate political and legal strategies 549 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:54,657 that will keep us all out of jail. 550 00:24:55,460 --> 00:24:59,025 That support can manifest in tabling at an event, 551 00:24:59,025 --> 00:25:00,685 doing fundraisers, 552 00:25:00,685 --> 00:25:04,242 doing social media blasts to bring prominence to the case 553 00:25:04,242 --> 00:25:05,743 and let people know what's happening. 554 00:25:05,743 --> 00:25:08,365 Also letting people know, like what implications this case has 555 00:25:08,365 --> 00:25:09,913 for people across the country. 556 00:25:09,913 --> 00:25:16,715 This case is very significant in terms of being such a massive case, 557 00:25:16,715 --> 00:25:19,504 and unprecedented in many ways that it happened 558 00:25:19,504 --> 00:25:22,475 right on Trump's first day in the presidency. 559 00:25:22,475 --> 00:25:23,862 It's not a coincidence that 560 00:25:23,862 --> 00:25:25,706 they're going so hard against these defendants. 561 00:25:25,709 --> 00:25:29,879 It's not a coincidence that this is a case that's trying to set the tone 562 00:25:29,879 --> 00:25:32,471 for what state repression looks like under Trump. 563 00:25:33,086 --> 00:25:36,390 The charges that Morton County State's Attorney's Office 564 00:25:36,390 --> 00:25:38,314 has brought against water protectors... 565 00:25:38,314 --> 00:25:43,723 there are over 569 pending cases in Morton and Burleigh County. 566 00:25:43,723 --> 00:25:46,615 And when we're talking about that number of people, 567 00:25:46,615 --> 00:25:52,684 and the insurmountable financial liability by retaining attorneys, 568 00:25:52,684 --> 00:25:56,415 posting bail, getting cars out of impound, 569 00:25:56,415 --> 00:25:57,985 horses that were impounded, 570 00:25:57,985 --> 00:25:59,144 dogs that were impounded, 571 00:25:59,144 --> 00:26:00,651 kayaks that were impounded... 572 00:26:00,651 --> 00:26:02,630 not only that, but travel expenses. 573 00:26:04,192 --> 00:26:08,979 We need support from people who care about this issue, 574 00:26:08,979 --> 00:26:10,621 who care about destroying capitalism, 575 00:26:10,621 --> 00:26:13,529 who wanna erode, and y'know, believe in the strategy 576 00:26:13,529 --> 00:26:16,302 of corroding the glue that holds capitalism 577 00:26:16,302 --> 00:26:17,982 white supremacy and patriarchy together 578 00:26:17,982 --> 00:26:19,619 -- which is the prison system. 579 00:26:20,029 --> 00:26:24,729 For us the strategy is always strong coordination, 580 00:26:24,729 --> 00:26:27,330 to stay away from sectarianism, 581 00:26:27,330 --> 00:26:29,400 and to be capable of establishing, 582 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,472 between different small groups and individuals, 583 00:26:33,472 --> 00:26:37,060 the creation of potent and permanent organizations. 584 00:26:37,060 --> 00:26:41,388 There is very seldom going to be a handbook to follow 585 00:26:41,388 --> 00:26:43,727 or a playbook to follow that will say: 586 00:26:43,727 --> 00:26:46,688 “if you do A, B & C, then you'll fully support the defendants 587 00:26:46,688 --> 00:26:50,200 and they'll win at trial, and then they'll walk home free." 588 00:26:50,732 --> 00:26:54,969 I would encourage people to not be intimidated by 589 00:26:54,969 --> 00:26:59,363 all of the, like, legal jargon and y'know... specifics 590 00:26:59,363 --> 00:27:02,646 of the legal system in and of itself. 591 00:27:02,646 --> 00:27:03,659 It's complicated. 592 00:27:03,659 --> 00:27:07,341 And while attorneys like to view themselves as being experts, 593 00:27:07,341 --> 00:27:09,506 even attorneys aren't experts at it. 594 00:27:09,506 --> 00:27:11,732 Because the state is constantly trying to 595 00:27:11,732 --> 00:27:15,622 switch the way that it's utilizing its own language and rules 596 00:27:15,622 --> 00:27:16,968 to its own benefit. 597 00:27:18,250 --> 00:27:21,363 Situations in prisons vary state by state, 598 00:27:21,363 --> 00:27:23,055 facility by facility. 599 00:27:23,057 --> 00:27:25,670 So there's not one single thing to do 600 00:27:25,670 --> 00:27:28,157 that can apply across the country. 601 00:27:28,157 --> 00:27:30,916 Instead you gotta plug in with local organizers 602 00:27:30,916 --> 00:27:32,693 and find things that are appropriate 603 00:27:32,693 --> 00:27:34,652 and connect with what's going on 604 00:27:34,652 --> 00:27:37,388 on the inside in the places that you're at. 605 00:27:38,538 --> 00:27:41,832 A lot of times I think people get burnt out very easily, 606 00:27:41,832 --> 00:27:43,484 or overwhelmed very quickly 607 00:27:43,484 --> 00:27:47,800 with how much there is to learn about the criminal legal system 608 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,993 and can feel stalled out in their work. 609 00:27:50,993 --> 00:27:52,617 And so when people are working, 610 00:27:52,617 --> 00:27:54,749 or engaging in this defence work, 611 00:27:54,749 --> 00:27:57,160 they need to really approach it with the idea of 612 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,382 entering into the unknown in order to fight a battle 613 00:28:00,382 --> 00:28:04,331 that is designed for the defendants to lose 614 00:28:04,331 --> 00:28:06,735 in order to figure out how to create space 615 00:28:06,735 --> 00:28:09,649 to either not give the state a full victory, 616 00:28:09,649 --> 00:28:11,683 or ideally to give us a victory instead. 617 00:28:12,917 --> 00:28:15,103 We think that one of the best ways 618 00:28:15,103 --> 00:28:17,260 to create solidarity with jailed comrades 619 00:28:17,260 --> 00:28:19,083 is to not forget that they are there for fighting. 620 00:28:19,083 --> 00:28:20,928 Not to forget that they are there because 621 00:28:20,928 --> 00:28:23,308 they decided to face the system, 622 00:28:23,308 --> 00:28:25,617 and that it’s necessary to continue the struggle 623 00:28:25,617 --> 00:28:27,483 and continue fighting against the system. 624 00:28:27,692 --> 00:28:30,060 It is important for people to consider that solidarity 625 00:28:30,060 --> 00:28:33,207 isn't just responding to repression by raising money and awareness. 626 00:28:33,207 --> 00:28:35,597 It also means continuing the struggle, 627 00:28:35,597 --> 00:28:37,566 so it's important that people not be scared away 628 00:28:37,566 --> 00:28:39,248 by what is happening to us. 629 00:28:39,248 --> 00:28:41,857 The necessity of resistance hasn't gone away 630 00:28:41,857 --> 00:28:44,990 just because 200+ people are facing felonies. 631 00:28:44,990 --> 00:28:47,032 If anything, it is just further evidence 632 00:28:47,032 --> 00:28:48,828 of how rotten this system is. 633 00:28:49,731 --> 00:28:52,355 As a whole we're facing a lot of state repression. 634 00:28:52,355 --> 00:28:54,869 We're facing a lot of threats from the right. 635 00:28:54,869 --> 00:28:59,194 And we're also organizing resistance and solidarity 636 00:28:59,194 --> 00:29:01,327 in really remarkably effective ways. 637 00:29:01,327 --> 00:29:02,737 We can always strengthen that. 638 00:29:02,737 --> 00:29:04,299 We can always come together more. 639 00:29:04,299 --> 00:29:06,373 We can always get better at how 640 00:29:06,373 --> 00:29:08,838 we are handling those different threats... 641 00:29:08,838 --> 00:29:10,882 but there's a lot of inspiring actions happening 642 00:29:10,882 --> 00:29:13,045 and a lot of inspiring organizing to bring people together 643 00:29:13,045 --> 00:29:14,518 in the face of all these threats. 644 00:29:14,518 --> 00:29:16,366 And hopefully we'll come out stronger 645 00:29:16,366 --> 00:29:18,155 as a result of all that organizing. 646 00:29:18,772 --> 00:29:22,629 The same kind of... fire that motivates people 647 00:29:22,629 --> 00:29:24,734 to get out into the streets, 648 00:29:24,734 --> 00:29:27,396 or to plan actions, 649 00:29:27,396 --> 00:29:29,794 or drop a banner in the middle of the night, 650 00:29:29,794 --> 00:29:31,314 or sabotage something, 651 00:29:31,314 --> 00:29:33,254 is the same kind of fire that motivates you 652 00:29:33,254 --> 00:29:36,062 to protect the people that you're in resistance with. 653 00:29:38,637 --> 00:29:40,759 As resistance to nationalist reaction, 654 00:29:40,759 --> 00:29:41,946 soaring inequality 655 00:29:41,946 --> 00:29:44,803 and rampant resource extraction continues to gain steam, 656 00:29:44,803 --> 00:29:47,707 our movements will face more waves of state repression. 657 00:29:47,707 --> 00:29:49,738 Whether this ultimately strengthens our movements, 658 00:29:49,738 --> 00:29:50,832 or crushes them, 659 00:29:50,832 --> 00:29:53,068 will depend a great deal on our capacity to develop 660 00:29:53,068 --> 00:29:55,859 the tools, resources, and infrastructure necessary 661 00:29:55,859 --> 00:29:57,898 to strengthen our collective defence, 662 00:29:57,898 --> 00:29:59,933 and our ability to thwart the state's efforts 663 00:29:59,933 --> 00:30:01,297 to isolate our comrades 664 00:30:01,297 --> 00:30:03,058 behind walls of steel and concrete. 665 00:30:03,058 --> 00:30:04,921 So at this point, we’d like to remind you 666 00:30:04,921 --> 00:30:06,769 that Trouble is intended to be watched in groups, 667 00:30:06,769 --> 00:30:08,841 and to be used as a resource to promote discussion 668 00:30:08,843 --> 00:30:10,435 and collective organizing. 669 00:30:10,435 --> 00:30:12,032 If there are no local legal defence 670 00:30:12,044 --> 00:30:13,842 or prisoner support initiatives in your area, 671 00:30:13,842 --> 00:30:16,084 please consider getting together with some comrades, 672 00:30:16,084 --> 00:30:18,142 screening this film and discussing what steps 673 00:30:18,142 --> 00:30:19,666 would be involved in starting one up. 674 00:30:19,666 --> 00:30:20,427 Hosting fundraisers 675 00:30:20,427 --> 00:30:22,045 and letter-writing nights for political prisoners 676 00:30:22,045 --> 00:30:23,286 is a great place to start. 677 00:30:23,286 --> 00:30:24,272 Check out the screening kit 678 00:30:24,272 --> 00:30:26,303 for this episode for more info on where to begin. 679 00:30:26,303 --> 00:30:28,385 Are you interested in running regular screenings of Trouble 680 00:30:28,385 --> 00:30:30,732 at your campus, infoshop, community center, 681 00:30:30,732 --> 00:30:32,306 or even just at your home with friends? 682 00:30:32,306 --> 00:30:33,567 Become a Trouble-Maker! 683 00:30:33,567 --> 00:30:34,810 For 10 bucks a month, 684 00:30:34,812 --> 00:30:36,589 we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show 685 00:30:36,589 --> 00:30:39,052 and a screening kit featuring additional resources 686 00:30:39,052 --> 00:30:41,810 and some questions you can use to get a discussion going. 687 00:30:41,810 --> 00:30:43,685 If you can’t afford to support us financially, 688 00:30:43,685 --> 00:30:44,413 no worries! 689 00:30:44,413 --> 00:30:47,147 You can stream and/or download all our content for free 690 00:30:47,147 --> 00:30:50,220 off of our website: sub.media/trouble. 691 00:30:50,220 --> 00:30:52,210 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, 692 00:30:52,210 --> 00:30:53,385 or just wanna get in touch, 693 00:30:53,385 --> 00:30:55,850 drop us a line at trouble@sub.media. 694 00:30:55,850 --> 00:30:57,283 We’re excited to see that people have been 695 00:30:57,283 --> 00:30:59,129 supporting our work by becoming troublemakers 696 00:30:59,129 --> 00:31:01,502 and wanna send a shout out to Marvin, Noah, 697 00:31:01,502 --> 00:31:04,808 Cameron, Liam, Joshua, Thomas, Johnny, 698 00:31:04,808 --> 00:31:09,503 Richard, Dark, Badger, BJ, Tino, Filip, Thomas, 699 00:31:09,503 --> 00:31:11,544 Maciej and Leslie. 700 00:31:11,544 --> 00:31:13,604 This episode would not have been possible without the 701 00:31:13,604 --> 00:31:16,492 generous support of Anda, Felipe, Whitney, 702 00:31:16,492 --> 00:31:18,209 Roger & Liberation Frequency. 703 00:31:18,484 --> 00:31:20,310 Now get out there, and make some trouble!