December 3rd was the first International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners. Filipino political prisoner Donato Continente suggested the day as a way to challenge the globalization of repression. People in countries around the world marked December 3rd with rallies, marches, and other forms of resistance. In the Bay Area, California Anarchist Prisoner Solidarity, the National Coalition to Free the Cuban Five, Club Knowledge - Laney College, and New College’s Activism and Social Change Program sponsored several events, including a film festival.

There are tens of thousands of political prisoners held in prisons and jails around the world. The governments that incarcerate and criminalize them hope that the world outside will never know their names or learn why they really are in prison. The United States has some of the longest-held political prisoners in the world – people who were part of struggles for self-determination and social justice in the 1960's and 1970's. Many were targets of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program which used assassination, disinformation, and frame-ups to crush people’s liberation movements and social dissent.

People hung banners over the 101 Freeway in San Francisco on Friday morning to remind commuters about the hundreds of political prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay for four years without charges. Photos A Day of Solidarity took place on Saturday, December 3rd at the First Unitarian Church in Oakland. This latter event included former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver and former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Alicia Rodriguez. Also on December 3rd, a video screening was held in Sacramento, at the SOL Collective - Arts & Cultural Center.
Read more | More info about political prisoners and events during the week of the International Day of Solidarity | Indybay's Police Brutality and Prisons News Page