North Carolina rally in solidarity with Georgia prisoners

Around 35 individuals representing Raleigh Fight Imperialism, Stand Together; Workers World Party, Durham branch; Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective; NC Heroes Emerge Among Teens; Black Workers for Justice; and Bull City Insurgent gathered at Central Prison in Raleigh on Dec. 17 for a solidarity action with prisoners participating in a six-day prison strike in Georgia. Those at the action played drums, rang bells and used whistles and shakers to make noise in support of the strikers, who had engaged in one of the largest prison strikes in U.S. history.

Solidarity activists shouted chants such as, “Free all prison rebels!” “No work for no pay! Georgia prisoners rise today!” and “Jail the cops and burn the prisons! Anarchy and communism!” Signs read, “Solidarity with Georgia prisoners,” “Georgia prisoners shut down the system: you can too!” and “Repression breeds resistance.”

Several people spoke at the rally, making connections between the actions of the Georgia prisoners and the overarching prison-industrial complex. One person said, “There has been a continuous line from slavery to the prison system that has remained unbroken. The striking Georgia prisoners are North Carolina prisoners, are prisoners everywhere.”

Erin Byrd spoke to one of the nine demands being made by the striking prisoners — that the prisoners be paid a living wage for their labor. Byrd reported that in some instances, prisoners make less than 40 cents an hour for their work. “The prison-industrial system is modern day slavery. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.”

The rally lasted for two hours, displaying high energy and solidarity.