Reportback on Hamilton’s Abolitionist Pride
On August 26, the night before Hamilton’s official Pride event, a bunch of rowdy queers marched through the city’s North End in an autonomous, abolitionist march. Read More …
Tag: Hamilton
Announcing the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair 2023
Submitted by the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair Announcing: the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair 2023! Mark your calendars and join us September 30th 2023 for a day of rad vendors, workshops, and seeing old friends and making new connections! Applications for tables and workshops are open now at https://hamiltonanarchistbookfair.noblogs.org/ – deadline is August 4th. Location to be announced soon. Free to attend. Saturday: Bookfair 10am-6pm Sunday: Community BBQ and pick-up softball game Keep Read More …
Hamilton: Reflections on Ongoing Hunger Strike in the Barton Jail (Spring 2023)
This past Wednesday, April 19, 2023, we received word that prisoners on all the ranges on the fourth floor of the Barton Jail had coordinated to begin a hunger strike. At the same time and without knowing about what was going on upstairs, prisoners on the third floor had drafted and circulated a five-page letter outlining their issues with conditions in the prison. It was signed by all prisoners on several ranges and was delivered to the superintendant. Once the prisoners on 3 learned about the strike, they joined in the next day, on April 20. Read More …
Hamilton: Letter Writing Night in Solidarity with Atlanta Arrestees
Anonymous Submission to North Shore Counter-Info On Saturday, we brought some friends together to write letters to the people accused of domestic terrorism and held without bond in Georgia. We talked about the case and about cop city and sent out as many letters as we could. It’s a small thing, but small gestures of solidarity like this are happening all over and we thought it might be worth saying Read More …
Bailing on Justice and Rearranging the Chains: Fuck Prison
So-called Canada’s 13 premiers recently signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging stricter bail requirements. “The time for action is now, our heroic first responders cannot wait”. Hopefully, this short analysis can shed some light on the recent preparations made by the state to strengthen their security-apparatus. Hopefully, this will help us make our own preparations. Read More …
Practical Abolition from the Inside Out: Reflections on Prisoner Solidarity Organizing
In the US and Canada, it doesn’t get that much lower than the prisoner. Excluded in every way, stripped of their most basic rights, exposed to humiliation and violence regularly, deprived of basic necessities, prisoners are at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, scorned and blamed by all the other classes. Prison crystalizes all forms of oppression and also props them up, and so organizing around prison can be a way of getting at the core of exploitative power relations in a community.
In Hamilton, our local prison is right in middle of the city, in between the cheap grocery store and the beer store. We pass it all the time, and it literally casts it shadow over us. Our goal in starting the Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project (or BAPSOP) in 2018 was to “thin the walls” and make it so we could hear the voices of our neighbours on the inside, make them feel a little less alone. Read More …
NYE Noise Demos in Hamilton, 2022
This was our 14th consecutive year of marking New Year’s Eve in Hamilton with noise demos outside our local prisons. This year, we visited the Arrell Youth Prison on the Hamilton mountain before making the traditional stop at the Barton Jail. Read More …
Hamilton Queer Community Defence Reportback
On November 24, people in Hamilton showed up to support a drag storytime event after word spread online that haters would be coming to protest it. Some of the apparent organizers of the event emerged from the ‘freedom convoy’ movement but lately seem to have been focusing on queer/trans-related issues, especially those concerning kids. Read More …
Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito! From Barton to Bancali \\ Solidarité avec Alfredo Cospito! De Barton à Bancali
We were out holding up a banner with a phone number on it to connect with prisoners at the Barton jail in Hamilton, Canada, the way we usually do, but we thought we would also take a moment to express our solidarity with anarchist prisoners in struggle.
Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike since October 20th to demand that he be moved out of segregation and have his phone calls, mail, and visits restored. He was placed in these conditions back in May essentially to punish him for staying involved in the anarchist struggle from inside. Read More …
A Love Letter To The Wet’suwet’en (And Their Allies) Who Fight For The Land
We heard some Wet’suwet’en Chiefs were visiting Six Nations territory Tuesday. We appreciate the energy and determination the Wet’sutwet’en have shown towards defending the land and lives of their people. We wanted to welcome them to the area.
We cannot be out west with you, but we are with you from here.
In the night of July 31, 2022 several small groups enjoyed the cool evening and – where opportunities presented themselves – took small actions against local rail infrastructure. Read More …