**June 11th 2013 Callout Statement **
June 11th is the international day of solidarity with Eric McDavid, Marie
Mason, and other longterm anarchist prisoners. If you are planning on
doing an event for the day, please email us at june11[at]riseup[dot]net. You can find
resources, information about events from previous years, and word on
upcoming events at june11.org. Read on to see our thoughts on what it
means to do longterm solidarity, on how Eric and
Marie inspire us, and to learn how June 11th began.
The state stole Eric McDavid and Marie Mason from us in 2006 and 2008 respectively. In the years since their arrests, repression has come to feel less like a specific event and more like an inescapable, ongoing nightmare. Sentenced to 22 years and 20 years, respectively, Marie and Eric remain in cages to this day, and know this nightmare more intimately than most.
Lately, we hear lots of talk about the end times, and total environmental collapse seems imminent. But what do these forces mean to those inside prison cells? And what do they mean for us on the outside? We are trying to save both each other and some shred of wildness on this earth. Our task is difficult, and sometimes seems impossible, because the harder we fight, the more repression we face. Every day we lose more species, more land, more friends… and this process shows no signs of slowing. How do we survive and continue to struggle in the face of this reality?
If winning was our only goal, it would be easy to quit. But although we may fight to win, we also fight because, in this situation, to fight means to live. From the outside it’s easy to equate a prison sentence with the end of everything… but Marie and Eric are still fighting. With both our love for them and our hatred for their jailers intact, we fight alongside them.
That means not only continuing our struggles on the outside, but also engaging with the imprisoned in ways that keep them connected to their friends and communities on the outside. The state has kidnapped our friends, and we must ensure that the state is not successful in its attempts to isolate and destroy them. Our struggle can only continue if we struggle together.
June 11th is a means to that end. June 11th is about remembering– not in the way that we remember a fact or history, but an active remembering: a re-membering, a putting back together. It is often easier for us to raise money and generate material support for people who have just been arrested than for people who have been locked away with many years in prison ahead. This day is a time for us to concentrate our energy, resources and love on those people, who cannot be forgotten.
June 11th has also become a staging ground for building our international ties of solidarity. The last two years have seen an incredible show of support from people outside of the US for Eric and Marie, and some efforts within the US to show solidarity to long-term anarchist prisoners in other places. This year, we hope to have more translations, more cross-referencing of struggle, and a further broadening of solidarity that does not take away, but adds. We refuse to recognize their borders; we aim to make that refusal more tangible.
June 11th is only two months away. Hold a fundraiser, plan a noise demo, host a letter-writing night, or use your own context and imagination to explore other possibilities. Use your creative energies to show your comrades that they’re not alone and that we will continue to struggle for them, for the earth, and for total liberation. They have tried to destroy us, that’s what they do–but Marie and Eric, Justin Solondz, Marco Camenisch, the grand jury resisters of today and tomorrow, and so many others show us how to survive those attempts. Let’s make June 11th a celebration of our shared survival and resistance.
<3 the June 11th crew
PS For a brief history of June 11th, click here