"Building Infrastructure: Identifying Tactics for Sustainable Formations": A Panel Discussion Supporting Jailhouse Lawyers Speak's #SHUTEMDOWN2021 Demos

For this episode we offered our platform to some organizers inside and out, who put together a series of discussions on the state and needs of prisoner movements today.

This is the third segment of a series of political discussions focused on building support for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak’s 2021 National Call To Action “Shut ‘Em Down” and looking forward to next summer’s 2022 National Prisoner Strike and Boycott. The first two panels were hosted by George Jackson University and Final Straw Radio, we’ll link to both in the show notes and people should really listen to all these conversations in dialogue with one another.

From various New Afrikan perspectives, panelists discuss cadre development and political education as a crucial strategies toward building sustainable formations and community infrastructure. They discuss how these formations and related infrastructure can propel the prisoners’ resistance movement towards the abolition of prisons.

The moderator of this panel is coco. coco is a conscious New Afrikan engaging in prisoner solidarity work along with political education & New Afrikan resistance.

The panelists for this discussion are:

Kwame “Beans” Shakur. Kwame is Chairman and Co-Founder of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective (NALC) and National Director for the Prison Lives Matter Movement. Kwame is a political prisoner currently being held in Indiana DOC solitary confinement (SHU) in an attempt to silence his work inside & out.

Nomi Isaac, pronouns they/them/theirs, is an afro-futurist cultural organizer, and earth liberation advocate engaged in class struggle taking place on Pamunkey Land, or what is commonly known as Richmond Virginia. They co-produce the Black Feminist podcast Race Capitol and are a proud member and support the work of prisoner solidarity efforts within VA Prison Abolition Collecitive (VPAC), NALC, and the Richmond Community Bail Fund.

Abbas Muntaqim is a New Afrikan Muslim educator and organizer who co-chairs People’s Programs, an Oakland based New Afrikan/Pan Afrikan organization. He also co-hosts Hella Black Podcast.

One note on audio, apologies but there were some technical difficulties with the audio coming from Kwame Shakur who was calling us from inside. Those clear up after the first couple of responses, but I encourage folks to stick with the conversation despite the distortion in the audio in his first couple of segments.

A reminder that as we publish on September 8th, tomorrow is the 50th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion and a second set of “Shut ‘Em Down” demonstrations are scheduled around the country in response to Jailhouse Lawyers Speak’s Call to Action.