[IMC] Political Prisoner Birthdays in May 2014

[ppbirthday at riseup.net]

Hello Friends and Comrades,

1) Here is the political prisoner birthday poster for May</a>. As always,
please post this poster publicly and/or use it to start a card writing
night of your own.

http://prisonbookscollective.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/may2014.pdf
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2) It's not too late to plan a noise demo outside a prison or jail near
you that holds women captive for Mother's Day. Mother’s Day began not just
as a day to honor mothers, but as a day for mothers to express solidarity
with one another and against the wars that left widows and orphans
impoverished. Check out last year's call for noise demos for inspiration.

http://wp.me/p18Qq1-G7
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3)The Mysterious Rabbit Puppet Army reprinted shirts from their hit
show What Are Prisons For? and donated them to us to help raise funds. The
shirts come in red with black writing. They’re printed on Tultex brand
shirts that are 100% sweatshop free. They are $20 , but sign up to become
a Prison Books Sustainer and get one for free. To order the shirts
donate twenty dollars or more OR sign up to be a sustainer, then email us
at  prisonbooks (at) gmail dot com with your size and the address where
you would like the shirt sent to.

Every single dollar received goes to mailing packages of books to
prisoners. We rely solely on donations for our operating expenses, which
primarily include the cost of postage for mailing packages. We are
currently spending over $200 a week on postage alone, and are in desperate
need of support.

https://www.everribbon.com/prisonbooks
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4)Pensacola Prison Books Is In Urgent Need Of Solidarity

    For those who were not aware, Open Books--a non-profit bookstore which
houses the Prison Book Project--was hurt very badly in see recent
floods in Pensacola, Florida. As you can imagine, books and water do
not mix well. Due to three feet of water entering our store, we lost
approximately 3000 books and have an estimated damage amount at
$10,000. We also lost a considerable amount of the stock for the
Prison Book Project.

         If you are not familiar with us, all of the proceeds at Open
Books goes directly to fund the Prison Book Project. The Prison
Book Project, which runs out of our store, has been in operation
for 14 years. We have survived several hurricanes, flooding, and
numerous economic calamities. However, this flood hit us very
hard.

         In the past, we have been incredibly fortunate to have great
support throughout our various communities, both local and
international. We have supported numerous Prison Books Projects
throughout the country. We've donated resources to several
up-and- coming prison book projects, we have helped fundraisers
for others in need, we have taken thousands of letters from other
projects which were in trouble, and have offered our experience
to those who might need help. With the help of these communities
in the spirit of mutual aid, we have been able to function for
over a decade now, a great feat for any prison book project. And
although we know everyone's projects are always functioning on a
shoestring budget, we reluctantly feel the need to ask for your
help.

         Many have asked what are the best ways to help. The best ways in
which you can help us are as follows:

    1) Money. For us to be sustainable, we need to pay our overhead, and
we also need to restock our shelves so that we will have the ability 2
braves money for the prison book project. We also need money 4 stamps,
office supplies, bookshelves, and backup resources. Although we are
getting support from the community, many others around us, including
many of our neighbors, have lost everything. If you have never
experienced a natural disaster, is hard to describe the ways in which
your community is affected. We would like to shore up our resources so
that we can withstand future troubles and continue to send books to
prisoners as we have done for the past decade. If you would like to
donate money to us, anything would be appreciated. You can either mail
it to us, or you can send us donations via PayPal. Our website is
openbookspcola.org.

    2) We need books. We lost a lot of great stock, and we need help
replenishing that stock. In particular, we need books that are always
popular with the present book project. Does include dictionaries,
black history, language books, and GED material. More specifically, we
need political books. Our entire political science section was
destroyed, and as a radical book store without a political section, we
have an amazing hole that is difficult to fill quickly in the local
thrift shops. Also, as you can imagine, when the newspaper writes a
story about things we need, they do not mention our desire for radical
literature or anarchist tomes. We understand that many of you want to
hold on to these books, just as we did, but if you can possibly spare
any political books that you think will be read, and of interest to a
diverse community, please send them to us. If necessary, we may be
able to help with shipping, but I cannot promise that. At any rate,
this is one of our biggest needs right now. I also think that this
community maybe in a particularly good place to help with this need.

In closing, we appreciate any help that you can give us. If you have any
questions, please contact us. We will be more than happy to answer any
questions. Thank you in advance for your support, and thank you for all
that you do.

    -Scott at Open Books

http://www.openbookspcola.org/

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5) Be sure to check out the latest Political Prisoner/Prisoner Of War
every-other week update by the NYC-Anarchist Black Cross. There are lots
of important updates on many political prisoners.

http://nycabc.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/updates-29-apr-20141.pdf
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Until Every Cage Is Empty,

The Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective

http://prisonbooks.info