https://themilitant.com/2019/08/17/end-censorship-of-the-militant-walmart-workers-tell-florida-prisons/
End censorship of the ???Militant,??? Walmart workers tell Florida prisons
??By Brian Williams
Vol. 83/No. 31
August 26, 2019
???We the undersigned Walmart workers in Illinois demand the end to the
censorship of the Militant?? newsweekly by Florida prison officials,???
said a petition signed by 22 workers at three stores and sent to the
prison system???s Literature Review Committee in early August. ???Prisoners
have the right to read what they want.???
Florida prison officials have impounded 11 of the last 12 issues of the
paper, nos. 17-20 and 22-28. They claim these present ???a threat to the
security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system.???
Florida prison authorities are banning the Militant?? ???because of
disagreement with its political viewpoint,??? wrote David Goldstein, the
Militant???s attorney, in an appeal filed with the Literature Review
Committee challenging the impoundments of issues no. 26 and 27.
The notice for impounding no. 27 cites ???Front Page & pg 9 Victory over
ban in Kansas ??? fight in Florida.??? The article points to the decision by
Kansas prison authorities to overturn their ban on the Militant. Facts
about the Kansas censorship first came to light in May when Newsweek??
magazine reported that the Human Rights Defense Center had obtained and
made public a list of 7,000 books and periodicals banned there. It
included eight issues of the Militant.
When the Militant???s attorney informed Kansas prison officials that the
paper would appeal these bans, they were promptly overturned. Kansas
officials said they reviewed every issue the Militant?? had sent, and
could find no valid reason to ban them.
???It is simply inconceivable,??? wrote Goldstein, ???that coverage of
censorship in Kansas prisons that Kansas prison officials subsequently
overturned as presenting no threat to prison operation could threaten
prison security in Florida.???
The first ban the Literature Review Committee upheld this year was for
issue no. 15. It covered a speaking tour by Albert Woodfox, who spent
over 40 years in solitary confinement in a state penitentiary in Angola,
Louisiana, including a speech at the Brooklyn Public Library. All but
one of the rest were clamped down on for reporting on the Militant???s
ongoing fight against prison censorship.
Over the past several months Florida prison authorities have stepped-up
efforts to keep the paper out of the hands of subscribers behind bars.
From mid-2017 to late 2018, nearly one-third of issues were impounded,
but almost all were overturned by the Literature Review Committee. Of
the 10 issues recently banned, the committee has upheld censorship of
nos. 18-20, 22 and 23. Appeals of nos. 24, 25, 26 and 27 are pending.
Impoundments of over 30 Militants in Florida over the past two years is
???at least 6-7 times as many as in the entire rest of the nation, state
and federal prisons combined, in the past decade,??? noted Goldstein.
The Militant?? currently has 142 subscribers in 74 prisons in 21 states,
but it is only being systematically censored in Florida.
Among the groups that have called on Florida officials to overturn the
bans are Amnesty International USA, the National Coalition Against
Censorship, the Florida Press Association, National Lawyers Guild, the
American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, WeCount! in Miami-Dade
County, and the Riverside Church Prison Ministry.
In a letter sent to the Literature Review Committee Aug. 2, Mark
Ginsburg, a professor at the University of Maryland-College Park,
writes, ???Banning of any issues of this informative newsweekly violates
the prisoners??? First Amendment rights to read as well as publishers??? and
others??? rights to send literature to individuals who have been
incarcerated.??? Instead of banning the Militant, he added, each prison
library should get a subscription.
???With every issue they ban, it becomes even clearer that Florida prison
officials just object to our political views,??? said Militant?? editor
John Studer. ???This is a violation of constitutional rights. We???re
fighting to defend our right to have subscribers behind bars and the
right of prisoners to read material of their choosing.???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Stop the raids! Amnesty for immigrants in the US!
???Protesters in Kashmir say, ???India get out of our country???
???SWP presents working-class candidates, road forward
???Blackjewel miners win solidarity in fight for jobs and stolen wages
??????Workers need to organize unions to fight to change our conditions???
???End censorship of the ???Militant,??? Walmart workers tell Florida prisons
Feature Articles ???Fight to end US embargo of Cuba discussed at Nepal forum
Also In This Issue ???Hong Kong protests demand Beijing grant political rights
???US Steel ???doesn???t care about health of Mon Valley people???
???Layoffs, workers??? debts refute gov???t claims of ???good times???
???Ebola outbreak worsened by wars wracking Congo
???New Puerto Rico governor defends US colonial rule
??????Militant??? reporters head to Puerto Rico
Books of the Month ???Women???s emancipation requires ending domestic servitude
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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George Carlin
??? Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe,
and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they
have to touch it to be sure. ???
??? George Carlin