Articles 4

NEWS RELEASE: THE D.R.I.V.E. MOVEMENT  (DEATH ROW INNER-COMMUNALIST VANGUARD ENGAGEMENT)

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DRIVEMOVEMENT@YAHOO.COM

Monday, January 8, 2007

THE NON VIOLENT PROTEST AGAINST THE INHUMANE DEATH PENALTY PERSISTS – A SECOND HUNGER STRIKE IS UNDERWAY ON TEXAS DEATH ROW

A new year has begun. This month alone, the state of Texas is planning to murder 5 men in the name of justice. They will murder sons, fathers and husbands. As last year showed, some of them don't wait for the state to kill them; they take their own life in protest of a flawed judicial process. Michael Johnson died after he took his own life on 19-10-2006 proclaiming his innocence.

The New Year also brought a new stronger and more coordinated wave of protests. The non-violent resistance, claiming a change in inhumane conditions, which had been strongly supported by a hunger strike that started on October 8th, 2006, is now deployed on a larger scale. Early reports talk about at least a dozen men on one pod alone, determined hunger strikers now working within DRIVE or in collaboration with since New Year Day. Their goal? They only want a little bit more than they have now at Polunsky Unit Death Row. They are simply stated hungry for humanity. Nothing complicated, nothing outrageous, nothing more then the very basic human needs and nothing more then what almost all other death row inmates in America are allowed to have.

Also, new recruits were thus found among the men of Texas Death Row and women among Death Row inmates in Pennsylvania. While this inside struggle is going on, the outside support hasn't been still: Among several things, a rotating hunger strike in solidarity with the men inside has started from the 1 st of January; and the national DRIVE spokesperson and CEDP-Austin (Campaign to End the Death Penalty) member Bryan McCann and some other anti-DP activists had an important meeting on December 18th with Rep. Jerry Madden, Chair of the House Committee on Corrections, at the request of the latter. DRIVE issues were addressed and for the first time, DRIVE was officially heard by the Texas authorities.

The DRIVE Movement is getting stronger by the day. DRIVE's determination is overwhelming, not a single protester has broken the rule of non-violence and therefore the impact gets bigger. DRIVE is to be taken seriously. DRIVE actions cannot be rejected.

"One of our main goals here is to chronicle our struggle to give you a good look inside these walls. One rarely gets to see beyond the facade the system presents to the world. As stated by one of this century's most prolific writers, Paulo Coelho: "What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over." We hope that if we can help you see we can move you to act. We also hope to somehow foster the attitude throughout the world that we on Death Row are fellow human beings. I will try my best to remove the misconceptions generally held that we are monsters - cold blooded, un-feeling, unthinkably evil. Most people who are pro-death and those working with the machine feel this way. They have to. If they don't hate us enough, how can they kill us? And how else can one learn to hate a person, without first removing their humanity? I refuse to give up my humanity. And I refuse to allow you to see me as anything other than who I am. Through our sacrifice and return of good for evil, we intend to win this fight." said DRIVE comrade Steven Woods.

For more information, personal reports of the inmates and much more, please visit http://drivemovement.org.

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Prisoner Hunger Strike!

by Abigail Fisher

Monday, Jan. 08, 2007

Prisoners on Death Row in Texas have started another hunger strike beginning on January 1,2007. After a first attempt where not too many people joined in and only one man, Steven Woods of the DRIVE movement who called the strike, lasted 27 days. He decided to end the strike, regroup, organize, and have a go at it again. With more planning this time and preparation, he hoped more prisoners would join the nonviolent protest. Since the beginning of the year, approximately 15 men have been participating in the strike, subsisting only on water.

Steven issued this statement at the beginning of the initial fast in October describing the conditions at the Polunsky unit and why they are going on strike. " For the past several years, I and a few hundred others have been living out what can easily be called a nightmare. After the injustice of being sentence to death by a corrupt legal system (our universal right to life not withstanding), we’ve been shipped of to be warehoused in a penal institution of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Upon arrival, we are shorn of our dignity and our identity, caged and treated like animals, while we wait through the years of appeals and the judges eventual signing of our death warrants. We spend these years stored in the Polunsky Unit, in a segregated housing facility that has been designed to house over 500 people in a complete indefinite isolation."

Texas Law states that no prisoner shall be housed in complete isolation without due cause yet all death row prisoners were moved to total isolation in 1999. Since then, all their priviledges have been stripped from them such as the ability to work, to have contact visits, group recreation, to make regular phone calls. They do not have access to religious services, educational and art programs or a law library-neither are they allowed televisions or radios. They are on lockdown in a little cell by themselves for 23 hours a day, being let out one hour for solitary recreation.

Steven goes on to say.."The situation we’re stuck in leaves a question begging to be asked: What can we do about it? Unfortunately, an answer really isn’t forthcoming, the courts, state, and federal government are apathetic, even hostile to us. We’ve tried lawsuits, please and petitions. Each has been futile, and it has sometimes resulted in further abuse of us and our outside supporters. One of our main problems is that an insufficient number of us speak up about the abuse.

To answer that, a few of us have come together out of necessity, realizing that it’s going to take more drastic measures to try to compel a change. We will not accept another morsel of food from our captors until such a time as TDCJ makes a credible effort towards the changes necessary to remove the current inhumane conditions. It’s a shame that we have to starve ourselves to be treated decently. We’re hoping we don’t have to starve to death, but we cannot allow ourselves to be denied our basic human rights. We cannot, we will not live like this any longer.

Yet even as we take this drastic step to stand against this injustice, we realize our actions alone will not likely bring the changes we require. We need your support in this struggle, fighting with us side by side. The administration will try to cover up and misconstrue our efforts, so we’re asking you to get involved, to put up as much effort as you’re able. Any actions you can take to help vocalize our plight are positive, be it writing to government officials, TDCJ administration, the media, participation online blogs and forums, protesting if you are able, and encouraging others to get involved. We’ll also need your encouragement and solidarity to help keep us from faltering, as even the most stout of heart can waver. The struggle will be long and hard, but in the end, with your help, we hope to succeed. "

DRIVE movement supporters on the outside are doing all they can to bring media attention to the strike. They also began a rotating fast on January first, in an act of solidarity with the guys on the inside, a different supporter fasting each day of the month of January.

Another man participating in the hunger strike, Reginald “Omari Huduma” Blanton, recently sent out this letter.

"As of January 1,2007 I will proceed with a Hunger Strike. The only thing I will consume is water and the beautiful spirits smiling forth from my fellow brethren proceeding likewise.I’ve never envisioned myself resisting in this manner (hunger strike) for any prolonged period of time. However, I’ve always been willing to do whatever necessary to bring attention to our humanity and these inhumane conditions. I can’t say how long I will be able to deny myself food, but I will go as long as I can, extending the love and solidarity to the some dozen others on this pod (not certain of the number on other pods) sacrificing their time and bodies for the cause of being recognized as a human being with unalienable right to life given by God and ratified through the US Constitution.

Yes! After a year, the movement is stronger and the solidarity still crosses color lines. In light of Hunger Strike 1, brothers see we are remaining dedicated to the cause we sat out on, and they are beginning to believe in the cause, believe in themselves, believe that WE can do something about our conditions."

He is calling for a harder stance from the American public against the death penalty.

The DRIVE movement is one of the main forces behind the fast, both on the inside and out in the free world. DRIVE stands for Death Row Inner Communalist Vanguard Engagement. It was founded a couple of years ago by a few prisoners who wanted to bring attention to their inhumane conditions and stand up to the authorities by staging nonviolent protests and refusing to comply with orders. Since its inception, the DRIVE movement has grown tremendously, adding new members to its forces such as Carol King from Pennsylvania death row and Coyote Sheff from a Supermax isolation unit in Nevada.

To learn more about DRIVE and a movement that is sweeping the nation, go to http://www.drivemovement.org.