...........CRITICAL RESISTANCE ...

Critical Resistance East is a gathering of activists and community members formed to address the rapid growth of prisons which led to the hyper-incarceration of primarily poor and working class people of color. Our objective is to raise consciousness of the prison industry and, in turn, to galvanize action to resist the prison industrial complex. For the past ten years, prison construction has escalated exponentially and has engulfed communities of color in its wake. Disproportionate numbers of Native, Black and Latino women, men and young people and growing numbers of Asians and Arabs are serving hard time -- often for offenses stemming from poverty. The increased culture of incarceration allows corporations to exploit prison populations as cheap labor.

We believe that the daunting rate of incarceration must be stopped. We believe that prison expansion is in concurrence with the new trends of the global economy and its corporate dominance. We believe that halting prison construction is not enough. It is a necessary step in stripping naked the architects of the exploitation -- the real criminals. We believe that instead of locking people up, public funds should be used for community programs like literacy projects, gardens, public works jobs, drug programs, day care centers, people's art projects, and health clinics.

Inspired by the vision and breadth of the 1998 Critical Resistance Conference in Berkeley, California, we will unite with prisoner rights activists, prisoners, families and loved ones of prisoners, former prisoners, political prisoner supporters, students, teachers, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered activists, cultural workers and community members to create a resistance movement against prisons. We want to create a network that is in solidarity with those both inside and outside the prison walls.

Goals of the Critical Resistance Northeast Regional Conference

1. To increase public awareness and activism around the Prison Industrial Complex.

2. To build a united prison movement in this region.

3. To build bridges to diverse activist communities.

4. To create concrete community organizing strategies.

5. To develop statewide and regional networks that will produce principles of unity, joint strategies and shared resources and skills.

6. To build momentum for similar conferences in the South and other regions.

7. To increase public awareness about the existence of national liberation and anti-imperialist movements in the US. To develop working strategies to effectively address these issues as related to political prisoners and prisoners of war.

8. To create a counter-culture to the culture of incarceration. To build a culture that opposes the Prison Industrial Complex.

9. To continue, in the Northeast, the work begun at the 1998 national Critical Resistance conference and continued by the national Critical Resistance Campaign.

10. To tear down the Prison Industrial Complex!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Move to the Due Process article page

Move to Books to Prisoners page