Open Letter from Connor Stevens (Cleveland 4)

Taken from http://www.cleveland4solidarity.org.

165315_1367293881963_1820169949_671811_6720828_nFrom:
STEVENS, CONNOR C
open letter v.3.#madworld
May 2, 2013 9:24 AM
an open letter from an anarchist prisoner

May 1, 2013

It has been a year of nightmares, of renewed struggles, of rebirth and mass death. The passage of the seasons and the dreams that come with them revitalize the mysteries of time. One year since i was arrested, i write this letter in the interests of a few brief reflections.

Much has happened in these past twelve months. First and foremost i extend my gratitude to those who have supported my comrades and myself, and to those who continue to do so. Without this support the world would certainly seem a totally dark and lonely place to us. Thanks for a little warmth.
Also i extend my humble gratitude to those supporting political prisoners, prisoners of war, and prisoners in general. May it not be forgotten that when it comes to prison reform, the only acceptable tool is the bulldozer.

“It’s about time we stopped acting so reasonable.”
~ Arundhati Roy, Democracy Now! interview, March 18, 2013

We are dealing with psychopathic murderers.

They attempt to control the world, and by doing so only bring unnecessary pain and senseless destruction. Even as the hopelessness of our situation becomes more obvious every day, the enemy pursues the same old game of maintaining monopolies on their illusory control — thinking they can corner the markets of information and violence. With the faith of fanatics they believe their tools will make them exempt from the list of the dead and endangered. When the course of events shows their fanaticism for what it is, they call it an “accident,” an “isolated incident.” If anyone challenges their self-declared monopolies, they are denounced as terrorists.

“… [P]eople tend to justify whatever affronts they don’t avenge … ”
~ Guy Debord, In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

A growing number of specialists concur that solitary confinement beyond about three weeks constitutes torture. Of the many i know who have experienced this, none of us disagree. A few have been destroyed.
During the three months i spent in a cold, dark little box, alone except for the screams of the mad and the taunts of those playing cops, dressed up in uniforms, a dear friend smuggled little soldiers to me. i am sure they were intercepted by the enemy, but they made it through nonetheless. These soldiers came in the form of words, which today only remain written on my heart.
It was a great relief to meet such steadfast little comrades in the midst of complete desolation. In solitary confinement, there is a certain form of death that takes place, but these little soldier-words did mighty battle with loneliness.
Now i write, marshalling these meager soldiers forth, with the battle plan being one of action — or at the very least may they provide materiel in a dreary war.
Let us be clear — the sole purpose of this letter is to point towards the examples of those “on the front lines” of our struggle. We have to step forth and reclaim our lives. There are many paths leading out of the defensive position. If we are sincere, one step is all it takes to set us on the path. The struggle will propel us into a new light. And to this end, i aim here to illuminate the faces of some of the comrades with whom we are walking.

“… the general misery becomes intolerable the moment it is shown for what it is, a thing without cause or reason.”
~ The Coming Insurrection, Fifth-Circle

i stand in solidarity with those supporting human beings whom the governments of the world deem illegal and undesirable.
No prisons, No borders!

i stand with the growing movement of children, women, and men who do not tolerate rape in any sense, who seek an immediate end to patriarchy and child slavery, by any means necessary.
i stand in solidarity with all who are making abundantly clear the weak points in the armor of neocolonialism.

i stand in solidarity with those whose lives are being destroyed in the Middle East and North Africa as a result of u.s., israeli and saudi violence. i stand with the resistance in Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Egypt, among others. May the royal family of saudi arabia be toppled like so many vicious thugs!

i stand in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, in the interests of a Third Intifada, in open rebellion against israel for murdering Palestinian prisoners and jailing the youth, among so many other corpses and maimed lives in the continuing genocide which israel is carrying out against the people of Palestine.

i stand in solidarity with the resistance in Greece, with those who are now evading capture by the fascists.

i stand will all who are resisting u.s. imperialism around the planet.

i stand in solidarity with the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay on Hunger Strike, drawing attention to the hypocrisy of u.s. imperialism, and with those facing the Great Lie that is their persecution for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
i stand in solidarity with those dedicated to making known the truth of what happened on 9/11, the Great Lie of our era. i will never stray from the side of those who resist these oppressors, these mass murderers: the war criminals behind the Project for a New American Century (namely, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Bush I and Bush II, James A. Baker III, Donald Rumsfeld, “Scooter Libby,” and so on), the saudi royal family (most obviously, Prince Bandar bin Sultan), and the treacherous war criminals in the so-called u.s. “intelligence community.”

i stand in solidarity with the Idle No More movement, and the Hopi resistance to the capitalist exploitation of sacred artifacts.
i stand in solidarity with the Unist’ot’en Camp Collective, fighting to save the wilderness of the Wet’suwet’en territory (“british columbia”), and in the process helping to defend all life on Earth, providing an excellent model for the rest of us. And the Waorani, who have vowed to fight to the death to protect their homeland against oil companies.
i stand in solidarity with Earth First!
i stand in solidarity with all Earth Warriors, those currently on the front lines in the defense of life on Earth, those who have come before, and those who will join the fight.
i stand with the next seven generations.

Let us jump up and live again!

“And the death in every bombing will not detain the sun”

In Dignified Rage,

Connor C. Stevens

# 57978-060
FCI McKean
P.O. Box 8000
Bradford, PA 16701