We must remember that all prisoners are political, and while we have a strong sense of affinity with those who have been targeted for explicitly political acts, our support does not begin and end there. This excerpt is taken from a memoir by Kelly Rose Pflug-Back, a comrade who was incarcerated after her participation in the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto. Read the full memoir here.
Some political prisoners are arrested for staging public demonstrations that address poverty, and some are arrested for living in poverty. Some actively protest social inequality, while others turn to drugs or alcohol because they can no longer bear the brunt of this inequality. Some choose to publicly draw attention to injustice by their words and actions, while others are swept off the streets because their very presence is a public exposure of this injustice. Now is the time for everyone in our community to think about what it really means to say that every prisoner is a political prisoner. The next time we’re shocked and outraged by an experience of being targeted, harassed, or otherwise mistreated by law enforcement or society in general, we should stop to recognize how much respect we owe to the people all around us who face much more than that every day of their lives. Every prisoner is a political prisoner.
Kelly Rose Pflug-Back