Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Comment on the local 'Bike Back' scheme

Splinter | 20.09.2010 13:22

At first glance this appears to be a worthwhile scheme.

Disregarding the fact that certain groups and individuals have been doing this for years there are some pretty basic faults with this project.

While reducing buying items new, reusing items already brought and recycling unwanted items is to be encouraged - slave labour should not.

At first glance this appears an idea; long overdue for council backing is a sure winner.
Then on further reading you see who's doing all the work, i.e. volunteers - OK maybe and prisoners.
Certainly NOT OK unless they are receiving a decent wage for their industry.

And to say the alternative is worse (see below) is not a good enough position.

CLOSE DOWN PRISONS

This project could still be run without having people locked up, e.g. community service with training.

It’s not crime that breeds isolation in society, its society itself that breeds crime by destroying community.
It would be naïve and hypocritical to think that laws are made for all and in the name of all.
It is better to recognise that the law is made by the few to impose on the many.
Never ending trials, bureaucracy, bullying, the system of punishment, this justice mechanism steals the strength of those caught in its gears, strengthening its position in the world of power that flaunts its exclusive right to punish others.
In order not to offend public sensibility, the system of power has had to come up with subtler forms of punishment than the traditional torture and murder in its desire for vengeance.
Jail in its modern morphology, was created in the eighteen century.
Since then, mass internment has become the punishment of choice.
Contemporary prisons have become the status symbols of the dominant class,
who flaunt their exclusive right to punish others.
Prison is a ghost, a daily threat to those who dare to see beyond their social cages,
it’s a fundamental tool for maintaining social peace,
the last fortress of power in the state’s war against its people.
Prison functions according to efficient methods of repression, torture and manipulation;
every single aspect, from the architecture to the all encompassing rules,
promote the practice of repression and isolation.
Inside its walls there are rules similar to the ones ruling the society outside,
only they are even more tightly enforced.
Arrogance and silence stifles everything.
Detainees are particularly vulnerable as they suffer the repression in a more direct and evident way.
An illusion of hope is created in order to maintain order.
The detainees having something they can believe in are forced into being obedient.
There are benefits for those who cooperate and stay calm while the smallest signs of rebellion are recorded and punished with disciplinary convictions: cancellations of permits, isolation, transfers.
Drugs, mainly psychotropics, are distributed without measure, ensuring repression both at physical and intellectual levels.
Relationships between detainees and their behaviours are controlled to avoid solidarity relationships – which are seen as dangerous by the prison authorities because they are still able to shake the waters of the jail.
Transferring, or ghosting, prisoners to other jails, are the most used tactic to demoralise and break bonds between detainees.
The control must be continuous.


Splinter
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/693527

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech