Dinner Theatre Solidarity Fundraiser

[read the reportback from this event here.]


June 11th is a new holiday! It's the international day of solidarity with long term anarchist prisoners.

RedBird Prison Abolition is planning an event to celebrate this holiday in Columbus. Please join us at 64 King Ave, on Sat June 11th for the following activities.


6PM- Discussion Circle, come talk about and take action on making ourselves and our community less dependent on the police and prison system. Continue and join the conversations we had after the last performance of Ad Seg.

Ad Seg reportback...

We performed Ad Seg after the weekly 64 King potluck on Tuesday, and followed with an intentional and fruitful discussion about what we, as a group of people from various backgrounds and social groupings can do to reduce our dependence on police.

There were about 20 people there and we first talked about the play a little, then did a go around sharing stories of times we'd called the police, or avoided calling the police. Meg from CAAC was also there and shared insights about transformative justice and her experiences with CAAC.

Things that came from this discussion include:

• suggestion that housemates/friendship groups have intentional discussions among themselves about things like when they're comfortable or not

Special Performance of Ad Seg

Insurgent Theatre has been touring with this show called Ad Seg since February. After a recent jaunt to Ben and Kate's former homeland of Wisconsin we decided to do a local performance in Columbus focusing on the radical community here and centering the discussion on alternatives to police and prison.

This performance will be at 64 King Ave, following the weekly vegan potluck (food starts at 7, play around 9) and the discussion will feature members of RedBird Prison Abolition and Megan Zakany from Community Accountability Action Collective (CAAC). 

The potluck is not exclusively vegan food, but please label any non-vegan things you bring. The play is about 40 minutes long, and discussion will go as long as people want to talk about things. There is nudity in the play. A donation jar will be passed, some of the proceeds will go to covering RedBird Prison Abolition's very low operating expenses.

Reportback: Amnesty Intl Conference.

So, Amnesty International at OSU held a human rights conference on Sat April 9th. One part of this conference was a panel discussion on human rights abuses in US prisons.

The panel was comprised of Brian Wells, Executive Director of T.O.U.C.H. Eric Crew, Advocate with Ohio Justice and Policy Center (OJCP) and Sharon Dannon of the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network. Each spoke for 15 minutes, and then things were opened up to questions.

Protest this weekend!

Some members of Redbird Prison Abolition will be heading to Youngstown on Sunday to participate in a rally outside the Ohio State Penitentiary. If you would like to join us, contact Ben insurgent.ben@gmail.com or 414 305 9832


The protest is April 10, 2:30 PM, 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd., Youngstown, OH. Carpool with us!


There are two issues the rally will be focusing on:


1. Native American prisoner Janson Campbell, who recently went on hunger strike to gain access to items needed for his worship practices. Read more about him here.


2. The continued confinement in solitary, on death row, of the Lucasville negotiators. April 11th is the anniversary of the uprising. We've raised money and awareness for them in the past. Read about that here. Also, here is a statement from one of the inmates, Bomani, made 4 years ago on the 14th anniversary of the uprising.

March Solidarity Showcase Report Back!

One week ago, Redbird Prison Abolition and Insurgent Theatre hosted yet another Solidarity Showcase at Kafe Kerouac, here in Columbus. A bunch of people turned out, including some moms and longtime prison abolitionists, as well as friends and showcase regulars. Two special occurrences marked this showcase as particularly resonant for me: one, Insurgent Theatre's Columbus debut of their new play, AD SEG, and two, a live phone call from Siddique Abdullah Hasan, who currently sits on death row in the Ohio State Penitentiary for a crime he did not commit.

This Solidarity Showcase was to raise funds (made $226 with Insurgent Theatre's matching donation) and awareness for those railroaded and placed on death row following the Lucasville Uprising. Five men from the Lucasville Southern Ohio Correctional Facility,

Ad Seg Tour!

Some of us took a play about the US prison system on tour. We brought in $178 to cover some of RedBird's recent expenses. There's a full report and lots more information about the play available online here.