Striking Back Against Prison Slavery

Description

Reflections on the September 2016 Prison Work Strikes: An Interview with Comrade Rashid

By James K. Anderson
Kersplebedeb Publishing

This searing interview with Kevin “Rashid” Johnson—prisoner, revolutionary theorist, and cofounder of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party—offers a firsthand account of the lead-up, politics, and legacy of the September 9, 2016, prison strike. Speaking with freelance journalist James K. Anderson of the IWW, Rashid reflects on the strike’s roots in the long struggle against prison slavery, its coordination across racial and ideological lines, and the tensions between prisoner-led organizing and outside political currents.

More than a retrospective, this dialogue is a trenchant critique of “abolitionism” as it has come to be defined in the mainstream and a passionate defense of revolutionary intercommunal struggle from inside the belly of the beast. Rashid’s analysis unflinchingly connects the modern prison system to slavery, capitalism, and imperialism—and calls for solidarity grounded not in tokenism, but in shared struggle and political clarity.

This pamphlet can also be downloaded for free, or read online, on Rashid’s website here.