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Vol. 81/No. 6 February 13, 2017
‘Militant’ wins solidarity fighting prison censorship
BY SETH GALINSKY
While the Militant continues to garner support in its fight against
censorship at Attica prison in New York, a prison in Illinois has
decided to ban some of the same issues of the paper.
The impounding of the Militant at Attica “infringes prisoners’ rights to
freedom of expression and violates the UN Standard Minimum Rules on the
Treatment of Prisoners, otherwise known as the Mandela Rules,” Margaret
Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, told the Attica
Media Review Committee in a Jan. 26 letter.
Attica officials impounded three issues of the paper sent to subscriber
Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom). Muntaqim, a co-founder of the Jericho
Movement, which fights for amnesty for political prisoners, has since
been transferred to the Southport Correctional Facility, after he was
accused by Attica authorities of violating prison rules for comments he
made during a class on Black history he was teaching to fellow inmates.
He was sentenced to four months of solitary confinement.
The first banned issue featured an article on the 45th anniversary of
the 1971 Attica prison rebellion, an anniversary covered by news media
across the United States and around the world. “While the language used
may be strong,” Huang noted, “in no way does it encourage insurrection
or even civil disobedience.”
The impounding of two subsequent issues of the paper that reported on
the fight against the censorship “serve no purpose in regards to
facility safety and security,” she noted.
Supporters of the fight against censorship include a wide range of
organizations and individuals (see box below).
The Militant’s lawyer, David Goldstein, from the prominent civil
liberties firm Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, has
appealed the impoundments at Attica. A representative of the Central
Office Media Review Committee told Goldstein that a decision has been
made, but despite repeated requests, officials have not provided copies
of their decision, nor informed the Militant of what it is.
Meanwhile, the Illinois River Correctional Institute sent notices to the
Militant that it had impounded for review three issues of the paper, all
of which contain articles on the fight against censorship at Attica. The
notices are dated Dec. 10, 2016, but were not sent to the Militant until
Jan. 27, 2017. The notices have a check next to a box that says the
paper could be “detrimental to security, good order, rehabilitation, or
discipline or it might facilitate criminal activity or be detrimental to
mental health.”
“We will appeal Illinois officials’ seizure of the paper and continue
our fight against censorship at Attica,” Militant editor John Studer
said Feb. 1. “The charge that the paper could spark rebellion is an out
and out slander. Workers behind bars in New York, in Illinois or
wherever have a constitutional right to know what’s going on in the
world, including in the rulers’ prisons, to consider a range of
viewpoints and to think for themselves.
“I encourage our readers to help us win this fight by getting their
unions, community and church organizations to send letters opposing the
censorship of the Militant,” Studer said.
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