Jericho Amnesty Movement to Free All Political Prisoners
 
 National Meeting in Los Angeles, February 18-19
Southern CA Library for Social Studies
6120 S.Vermont Ave., LA
Jericho Amnesty Movement, L.A. chapter [323-901-4269] [jerichoamnestylosangeles@gmail.com] [www.thejerichomovement.com] [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jerichoamnestycoalitionla]

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Political-Culture Event
Sat. Feb. 18. 7-9:00pm
Danza Cuauhtemoc, Theater by ex-PP Jihad Abdulmumit, Son Real (jarocho music), Hip-Hop/Spoken Word
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Regional Gathering
Sun. Feb. 19 12-4:00 pm
Come meet national & local leaders in the struggle to free political prisoners and help shape campaigns in CA and on the West Coast for Romaine 'Chip' Fitzgerald, Ruchell Magee, Dr. Mulutu Shaker, General T.A.C.O. of the Black Riders, Patrice Lumumba Ford and other political prisoners in this region.
Donation requested for program and meals.
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(Following is published in 2012-02 "Turning the Tide" newspaper)
"Jericho Amnesty Movement to Free All Political Prisoners" -
 Even as political prisoners are being released in Burma (Myanmar) and Egypt, even Palestinians held by Israel, and elsewhere around the world, the U.S. continues to hold freedom fighters and political dissidents in state and federal prisons. Some of the longest held political prisoners in the world are being held captive here in the U.S. and in California. These unjust imprisonments have not only resulted in suffering and even torture for the individuals held, but they have served to damage the liberation movements and freedom struggles from which effective, principled leaders have been removed and isolated.
 The targets of COINTELPRO (the FBI-led Counter-Intelligence Program that sought to destroy the Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement and other revolutionary forces) like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal have been joined by a new generation of prisoners from the radical environmental movement, the Black Riders Liberation Party, the Occupy movement, and others. In addition, the assassination, incarceration of principled of principled grassroots leaders in the 1960s and '70s disoriented the transformational social and political struggle of that era.
 The state's counter-revolutionary and counter-insurgency operations then began to spread to preemptive mass incarceration, particularly of Black and Brown youth, through the drug war, Three Strikes, gang injunctions and other repressive measures. Prison-within-a-prison control units and 24-hour isolation, originally designed to isolate resisters and political activists from the general population, spread and became the norm in both state and federal systems. When COINTELPRO killed Fred Hampton and framed up Geronimo ji Jaga, there were about 200,000 locked up in all the prisons and jails in the U.S. Today, there are over 2,200,000  one-fourth of all the prisoners in the world are incarcerated in the U.S.
 Thus, the struggle to free political prisoners is integral to any movement for social and economic justice, particularly here in the US. Every such movement is inevitably greeted with repression, surveillance and infiltration by the state and attacks by other reactionary forces and elements in society. The situation of the political prisoners also focuses attention on the injustice of the entire "criminal justice" system and the prison-industrial complex of preemptive mass incarceration of youth of color. But in freeing our prisoners and resisting such attacks, we create a dynamic that strengthens the forces of liberation and builds communities of resistance. In recent months, we have overturned the death penalty against Mumia, won acquittals and dismissal of charges in the case against the San Francisco Eight, and built active legal/political defense campaigns around those arrested in the Occupy movement here in southern CA and nationally.
 The Jericho Amnesty Movement to free all political prisoners invites your participation in this vital work, in writing to and materially aiding the prisoners, and in building survival programs like the Family Transport to Prisoners program and the Break the Lock prisoners' literature project. Jericho is holding its annual national meeting in Los Angeles this year, where LaaLaa Shakur, National Youth Coordinator of Jericho, serves as Chief of Staff of the Black Riders Liberation Party (BRLP). L.A. has one of the largest, most youthful and dynamic chapters of Jericho. Through the BRLP and Anti-Racist Action, which both participate in the local chapter, Jericho reaches out to hundreds and hundreds of prisoners throughout California and across the U.S.
 The national Jericho meeting will also provide opportunities for local community people to participate. On Saturday evening, February 18 from 7-9:00 PM, Jericho will hold a political/cultural evening at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, 6120 S. Vermont Avenue between Slauson and Gage in south L.A. The program will feature theater by former political prisoner Jihad Abdulmumit, the national co-chair of Jericho, along with Danza Cuauhtemoc, and performances by Son Real, a jarocho (Afro-Mexican) band, and hip-hop/spoken word artists from the Black community. The event will be a fundraiser for Jericho. A dinner will be served for an additional donation.
 The next day, Sunday February 19 from noon to 4:00 PM, also at the Southern California Library, Jericho will host a local and regional gathering and community speak-out. People can learn more about and help shape campaigns on behalf of political prisoners in this region, including Dr. Mutula Shakur, Ruchell Magee, Gen. T.A.C.O. of the Black Riders, and Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald, a former Black Panther who is one of the longest-held political prisoners in the world. There will also be opportunities to write to political prisoners, and to find out more about the Family Transport to Prisoners program and the Break the Locks literature to prisoners program. Lunch will be served for a donation.
 For more information about those and other campaigns, including an educational film series about the political prisoners, letter-writing, visiting and providing educational resources and material support to political prisoners, contact us.