Archive for December, 2009:
Brick by Brick, Wall by Wall…
Letter from Lynne Stewart
Dear Sisters and Brothers, Friends and Supporters:
Well the moment we all hoped would never come is upon us. Good-bye to a good cup of coffee in the morning, a soft chair, the hugs of grandchildren and the smaller pleasures in life. I must say I am being treated well and that is due to my lawyer team and your overwhelming support.
While I have received “celebrity” treatment here in MCC—high visibility—conditions for the other women are deplorable. Medical care, food, education, recreation are all at minimal levels. If it weren’t for the unqualified bonds of sisterhood and the commissary it would be even more dismal.
My fellow prisoners have supplied me with books and crosswords, a warm (it is cold in here most of the time) sweat shirt and pants, treats from the commissary, and of course, jailhouse humor. Most important many of them know of my work and have a deep reservoir of can I say it? Respect.
I continue to both answer the questions put to me by them, I also can’t resist commenting on the T.V. news or what is happening on the floor—a little LS politics always! (Smile) to open hearts and minds!
Liz Fink, my lawyer leader, believes I will be here at MCC-NY for a while—perhaps a year before being moved to prison. Being is jail is like suddenly inhabiting a parallel universe but at least I have the luxury of time to read! Tomorrow I will get my commissary order which may include an AM/FM Radio and be restored to WBAI and music (classical and jazz).
We are campaigning to get the bladder operation (scheduled before I came in to MCC) to happen here in New York City. Please be alert to the website I case I need some outside support.
I want to say that the show of support outside the Courthouse on Thursday as I was “transported” is so cherished by me. The broad organizational representation was breathtaking and the love and politics expressed (the anger too) will keep me nourished through this.
Organize—Agitate, Agitate, Agitate! And write to me and others locked down by the Evil Empire.
Love Struggle, Lynne Stewart
—lynnestewart.org, December 4, 2009
To write to Lynne Stewart:
Lynne Stewart
#53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY NY 10007
For more information e-mail us at
info@lynnestewart.org
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
350 Broadway, Suite 700
New York, NY 10013
212-625-9696
Don’t Beg for the right to learn, Take it!
“On November 18th students from universities across California united with faculty and staff workers for a multi-day strike that reached national recognition. The action, quite possibly the most significant student action since the 60s and 70s, was the apex of months of organizing that began after Governor Schwarzenegger announced cuts to resolve a twenty-one billion dollar deficit in California’s budget. Students and workers under the University of California (UC) system faced continued budget cuts and job losses as well as an outlandish thirty-two percent tuition hike. Students throughout California at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Napa Valley College, and CSU Fresno, have stood united with workers against budget cuts and the proposed 32% tuition hike, with reports of more campuses taking action coming in everyday. Students and youth from around the country will look at the events that have happened the past week in California, for a model as they seek to organize similar struggles on their own campuses.” -Wes Strong