Anarchist Black Cross - Definition and Overview

The Anarchist Black Cross (or ABC) is an anarchist political Prison Abolition organization, first started in Russia as the Anarchist Red Cross, a support organization for political prisoners. During the Russian Civil War (1918-20), the group's name was changed, so as to avoid confusion with the Red Cross. The Black Cross declined in influence during the Great Depression; however, during the 1960s, it was reformed in Britain and, during the 1980s, expanded into North America. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prisoners with political literature, but it also organises material and legal support for class struggle prisoners worldwide. It commonly contrasts itself with Amnesty International, which organisation is concerned mainly with prisoners of conscience, whereas the ABC openly supports those who have committed crimes in furtherance of revolutionary aims that anarchists accept as legitimate.

Quotes

• "We believe, as most Anarchists do, that prisons serve no useful function and should be abolished along with the State. We believe in the abolition of both the prison system and the society which creates it. We believe in direct resistance to achieve a stateless and classless society. We share a commitment to revolutionary Anarchism. We see a real need for Anarchists to be militantly organized."

• "When power is challenged, be it in South Africa, occupied Palestine, Chile, Ireland or Canada, it inevitably turns to violent repression and political imprisonment to maintain itself."

See also

• Anarchist Black Cross Network
• Anarchist Black Cross Federation
• anarchist symbolism
• Amnesty International
• Black Flag
• Prison abolition movement

External links

• Anarchist Black Cross Network (http://www.anarchistblackcross.org/)
• Anarchist Black Cross Federation (http://abcf.net/)
• List of ABCs (http://www.contrapoder.org.ve/link.htm)

Activist prisoners' resources

• Prison Activist Resource Center (http://www.prisonactivist.org/)
• Justice Denied, The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted (http://justicedenied.org/)
• Earth Liberation Prisoners (http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/)
• The Jericho Movement (http://www.thejerichomovement.com/)
• Anti-"Drug War" Publication (http://www.november.org/)