RAIL a hit at Critical Resistance
MIM Notes 174, November 15 1998
BERKELEY, CA - The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) received a warm response from many of the three thousand people who attended the "Critical Resistance" conference at the University of California - Berkeley in September. The conference focused on what organizers called the "Prison-Industrial Complex." As MIM investigated at length in MIM Theory 11, Amerikan prisons are part and parcel of national oppression in Amerika and are increasingly becoming a big business.
Talks ranged from the musty corners of academia, to human rights reformism, to more revolutionary speakers who made the connection between imperialism, national oppression, and Amerikan prisons. Some speakers drew the important connection between white privilege and prisons, either by pointing out how rural communities profit directly from the prison-building craze or by explaining how imperialism benefits the entire white nation.
The Free Books for Prisoners program drew special notice at RAIL's table, and in the weeks following the conference RAIL has received several donations from conference participants.