[Ppnews] They Never Crushed His Spirit... A Tribute to Richard Williams

[Political Prisoner News]

A new title is available from Kersplebedeb:

*** They Never Crushed His Spirit: A Tribute to Richard Williams ***

With an introduction by Lynne Stewart, and 
contributions by Netdahe Williams Stoddard, Jaan 
Laaman, Tom Manning, Ray Luc Levasseur, Jamila 
Levi, Pat Levasseur, Kazi Toure, Mumia Abu-Jamal, 
Marilyn Buck, Nehanda Abiodun, Sundiata Acoli, 
Mutulu Shakur, Russell "Maroon" Shoats, Carlos 
Alberto Torres, Oscar López Rivera, Laura 
Whitehorn, Susan Rosenberg, Adolfo Matos 
Antongiorgi, and many other friends, family and comrades of Richard's.

Richard Williams was a lifelong anti-imperialist 
and socialist, one of the Ohio 7 convicted in 
1984 of having carried out armed actions against 
racism and imperialism as a member of the United 
Freedom Front. Targets included South African 
Airways offices, Union Carbide offices for their 
manufacture of cluster bombs used against 
revolutionaries in Central America, US Army and 
Navy reserve offices, General Electric, as the 
fourth largest military supplier, particularly 
against El Salvador, and IBM for building the 
computers that enforced the South African pass system.

After over twenty years of captivity and medical 
neglect, Richard passed away on December 7th 2005, at the age of 58.

 From the editorial note: "The book is a tool, 
both to educate and to offend our sense of 
humanity. Let us take our outrage and use it to 
insure that not one more political prisoner dies in prison."

published by Kersplebedeb and Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project
143 pages
ISBN 1-894946-22-7
$7.00 US plus postage

************************

It has been nine months since Richard Williams 
died, killed by a combination of Hepatitis C and 
consistent medical neglect on the part of the US prison system.

Richard Williams was a political prisoner, a 
working class communist who spent over twenty 
years behind bars for his activities in the armed 
clandestine movements of the 1970s and 80s.

Richard paid a high price for his political 
commitment. On top of the oppression and neglect 
that all prisoners suffer, political prisoners 
who do not renounce their beliefs are often 
subjected to particularly harsh treatment. 
Immediately following September 11, 2001, several 
political prisoners, including Richard, were put 
in isolation, even though there was no evidence 
of any kind linking them to the attacks.  Richard 
was the last  political prisoner to be released 
back to the general population on  February 11, 
2002.  He spent 5 months in isolation, in 
freezing cold conditions.  He was put in shackles 
and had a video camera fixed on him  every time 
he left his cell, even to take a shower.  He had 
virtually no  contact with any one, not even his 
family, as his phone calls were restricted to one 
15-minute call per week. The day after Richard 
was released back to general population, he suffered  a minor heart attack.

As the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project 
explain: "Richard's health deteriorated rapidly. 
He suffered a heart attack, was treated for 
testicular cancer, discovered he had untreated 
diabetes for a long time and had troubles with 
his gall bladder. In November 2004, he gained a 
transfer to the prison medical facility in 
Butner, North Carolina, where the treatment was 
noticeably better than in Lompoc. Still, adequate 
medical treatment was slow coming. What 
ultimately killed Richard was Hepatitis; his 
liver stopped functioning and his body was unable 
to process food. Richard was only 58 when he died 
the night of Wednesday, December 7, 2005."

So it is something that is very sad, even though 
it is also an honour, to have been able to have 
some involvement in publishing this book.

I encourage you all to either download a copy 
(for free) from 
http://www.ipoc-ministry.org/rwtributepdf.html or 
to order a copy for $7 US plus postage (which 
comes out to $12 for individual copies, making a 
total of $19 US) - email me at info at kersplebedeb.com for details.

And most importantly - honour the memory of this 
fallen freedom fighter by fighting harder, both 
for those others who remain behind bars, and for 
a world in which the vicious racism, sexism and 
class oppression of the present day will all be things of the past.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20060912/d8baaba4/attachment.htm>