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A couple of weeks ago we found these five principles of movement building from @buildingmovementproject on the @sanfranciscofoundation website. This clear road map has been resonating with us ever since:

**Making Visible the Invisible
While issues that movements are built around are not invisible to those living with the effects, this stage is meant for raising general awareness about the problem.

**Relationship Building
This is when different groups that are working on the same issue begin to work together. Often social movements fall apart at this stage because groups fail to reach enough consensus on ideology or action in order to come together under the unified front that is often crucial for success.

**Infrastructure
When groups begin to create formal and informal, but stable, networks that help people engage in their communities; facilitate communication and capacity to get the word out and coordinate messages.

**Catalyst
With well-known social movements, there is usually one defining moment that comes to mind when we think about them. This is usually the “catalyst” – the event that serves as a flash point to mobilize the masses around the issue. Sometimes the catalyst is planned by the group itself, but other times mobilization occurs in response to an action inflicted against members of the movement.

**Sustained Action
This depends on steps 1 – 4 already having been established. When there is true public awareness about the issue, groups have united under a common front and built a stable infrastructure for communication, and there has been a mobilizing event that has led to mass mobilization, social movements can truly have potential for making change.

--This is quoted from the Building Movement Project website. You can go there to explore more: https://buildingmovement.org/our-work/movement-building/

A couple of weeks ago we found these five principles of movement building from @buildingmovementproject on the @sanfranciscofoundation website. This clear road map has been resonating with us ever since:

**Making Visible the Invisible
While issues that movements are built around are not invisible to those living with the effects, this stage is meant for raising general awareness about the problem.

**Relationship Building
This is when different groups that are working on the same issue begin to work together. Often social movements fall apart at this stage because groups fail to reach enough consensus on ideology or action in order to come together under the unified front that is often crucial for success.

**Infrastructure
When groups begin to create formal and informal, but stable, networks that help people engage in their communities; facilitate communication and capacity to get the word out and coordinate messages.

**Catalyst
With well-known social movements, there is usually one defining moment that comes to mind when we think about them. This is usually the “catalyst” – the event that serves as a flash point to mobilize the masses around the issue. Sometimes the catalyst is planned by the group itself, but other times mobilization occurs in response to an action inflicted against members of the movement.

**Sustained Action
This depends on steps 1 – 4 already having been established. When there is true public awareness about the issue, groups have united under a common front and built a stable infrastructure for communication, and there has been a mobilizing event that has led to mass mobilization, social movements can truly have potential for making change.

--This is quoted from the Building Movement Project website. You can go there to explore more: https://buildingmovement.org/our-work/movement-building/

Have you heard about Planting Justice? Based in Oakland their purpose is to empower people impacted by mass incarceration and social inequities with the skills and resources to cultivate food sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing. Check out their work today @planting.justice

Have you heard about Planting Justice? Based in Oakland their purpose is to empower people impacted by mass incarceration and social inequities with the skills and resources to cultivate food sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing. Check out their work today @planting.justice

Don't miss this short playing for a limited time on our channel! Check it out today. LINK IN BIO: https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

SPEAKING IN TONGUES: TAKE ONE
Christopher Harris, 2024, 15 min

A film about Black ecstasy and the carceral forces arrayed against it.

Don't miss this short playing for a limited time on our channel! Check it out today. LINK IN BIO: https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

SPEAKING IN TONGUES: TAKE ONE
Christopher Harris, 2024, 15 min

A film about Black ecstasy and the carceral forces arrayed against it.

Don't miss this short playing for a limited time on our channel! Check it out today. LINK IN BIO: https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

DREAMS UNDER CONFINEMENT
Christopher Harris, 2021, 3 min.
Frenzied voices on the Chicago Police Department’s scanner call for squad cars and reprisals during the 2020 uprising in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, as Google Earth tracks the action through simulated aerial views of urban spaces and the vast Cook County Department of Corrections, the country’s third-largest jail system. In Christopher Harris’s Dreams Under Confinement, the prison and the street merge into a shared carceral landscape.

Don't miss this short playing for a limited time on our channel! Check it out today. LINK IN BIO: https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

DREAMS UNDER CONFINEMENT
Christopher Harris, 2021, 3 min.
Frenzied voices on the Chicago Police Department’s scanner call for squad cars and reprisals during the 2020 uprising in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, as Google Earth tracks the action through simulated aerial views of urban spaces and the vast Cook County Department of Corrections, the country’s third-largest jail system. In Christopher Harris’s Dreams Under Confinement, the prison and the street merge into a shared carceral landscape.

Come see two new XO & STRUGGLE PART 2 videos from Alex Johnston and Kelly Gallagher up on the Solidarity Media Network Presents channel on YouTube!

COZY CUDDLY, ARMED AND DANGEROUS: A FILM WITH THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Alex Johnston, 2025, 17 min, (Work-in-Progress Excerpts)

An intimate present-day group portrait of three surviving George Jackson Brigade members, the film takes its name from the concluding lines of a 1976 GJB communique, released on International Women’s Day: “We are cozy cuddly, armed and dangerous, and we will raze the fucking prisons to the ground!”

AND

PEARL PISTOLS
Kelly Gallagher, 2014, 3 min.
A glitter-bomb resurrection of a speech by Queen Mother Moore.

LINK IN BIO
https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

Come see two new XO & STRUGGLE PART 2 videos from Alex Johnston and Kelly Gallagher up on the Solidarity Media Network Presents channel on YouTube!

COZY CUDDLY, ARMED AND DANGEROUS: A FILM WITH THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Alex Johnston, 2025, 17 min, (Work-in-Progress Excerpts)

An intimate present-day group portrait of three surviving George Jackson Brigade members, the film takes its name from the concluding lines of a 1976 GJB communique, released on International Women’s Day: “We are cozy cuddly, armed and dangerous, and we will raze the fucking prisons to the ground!”

AND

PEARL PISTOLS
Kelly Gallagher, 2014, 3 min.
A glitter-bomb resurrection of a speech by Queen Mother Moore.

LINK IN BIO
https://www.youtube.com/@SolidarityMediaNetwork

The Angola Prison Rodeo is the only rodeo in the country where incarcerated men compete in bull riding, buck breaking and other controversial, dangerous events. The rodeo plays a significant role in the prison’s economy. Critics liken the rodeo to Roman Gladiator games.

The Angola Prison Rodeo is the only rodeo in the country where incarcerated men compete in bull riding, buck breaking and other controversial, dangerous events. The rodeo plays a significant role in the prison’s economy. Critics liken the rodeo to Roman Gladiator games.

Thanks to all who came out for XO & Struggle on Saturday night! We shared in a wide-ranging conversation on the political utility of images in the context of abolitionist struggle. We are still basking in the generous spirit of all who participated 🌀

The show isn’t over yet though! If you couldn’t join us IRL, you can watch these incredible films (and a recording of the Q&A) via our YouTube channel. We’ll be posting them in wavelike installments between August 8th and September 29th. We hope you’ll join us virtually as well.

[We’re not doing any of that algorithm tweaking micro-management sh*t (turns out we don’t even have enough followers to host an IG live!), so you’re gonna have to just keep coming back and checking in with us like you do with your grandmas and aunties]

Here’s the schedule below! Mark your calendars and share with your friends:

August 9th - September 7th
Dreams Under Confinement (Christopher Harris, 2021)
Speaking in Tongues Take 1 (Christopher Harris, 2025)

August 17th - September 14th
Cozy Cuddly, Armed and Dangerous: A Film with the George Jackson Brigade (Work in Progress) (Alex Johnston, 2025)
Pearl Pistols (Kelly Gallagher, 2014)

August 24th - September 21st
The Line (Cameron A. Granger, 2021)
Just Below Heaven (Cameron A. Granger, 2025)

August 31st - September 29th
Darker (Matazi Weathers, 2024)
Abolition Affirmations 1 & 2 (Saeedah Cook, 2021)

YouTube link in bio 🦋

Thanks to all who came out for XO & Struggle on Saturday night! We shared in a wide-ranging conversation on the political utility of images in the context of abolitionist struggle. We are still basking in the generous spirit of all who participated 🌀

The show isn’t over yet though! If you couldn’t join us IRL, you can watch these incredible films (and a recording of the Q&A) via our YouTube channel. We’ll be posting them in wavelike installments between August 8th and September 29th. We hope you’ll join us virtually as well.

[We’re not doing any of that algorithm tweaking micro-management sh*t (turns out we don’t even have enough followers to host an IG live!), so you’re gonna have to just keep coming back and checking in with us like you do with your grandmas and aunties]

Here’s the schedule below! Mark your calendars and share with your friends:

August 9th - September 7th
Dreams Under Confinement (Christopher Harris, 2021)
Speaking in Tongues Take 1 (Christopher Harris, 2025)

August 17th - September 14th
Cozy Cuddly, Armed and Dangerous: A Film with the George Jackson Brigade (Work in Progress) (Alex Johnston, 2025)
Pearl Pistols (Kelly Gallagher, 2014)

August 24th - September 21st
The Line (Cameron A. Granger, 2021)
Just Below Heaven (Cameron A. Granger, 2025)

August 31st - September 29th
Darker (Matazi Weathers, 2024)
Abolition Affirmations 1 & 2 (Saeedah Cook, 2021)

YouTube link in bio 🦋

We’re thrilled to announce that our newest Solidarity Media Fellow, Kelsey, is coming home today. Welcome Home Kelsey! We are looking forward to working with you and making beautiful things together.✨✨

We’re thrilled to announce that our newest Solidarity Media Fellow, Kelsey, is coming home today. Welcome Home Kelsey! We are looking forward to working with you and making beautiful things together.✨✨

We are cozy cuddly, armed and dangerous, and we will raze the fucking prisons to the ground!
– George Jackson Brigade, 1976

So much gratitude to @softdiskrock and @spectaclenyc for putting together this cozy, cuddly, armed, and dangerous trailer 🙌

There are still a handful of tickets available for XO & Struggle II this Saturday 8/9 at 7:30PM EDT. Together we’ll revel in eight short abolitionist films, followed by a discussion with filmmakers, Christopher Harris, @aljiers, @realtayediggs, @sazibeen, moderated by @ghostpnctuation.
Not to be missed xo

And if you can’t make it IRL, tune into IG Live around 8:20PM EDT to join the post-screening discussion. The films will also be available for streaming in the weeks ahead – stay tuned!

Tickets & Info at link in bio ❤️‍🔥

We are cozy cuddly, armed and dangerous, and we will raze the fucking prisons to the ground!
– George Jackson Brigade, 1976

So much gratitude to @softdiskrock and @spectaclenyc for putting together this cozy, cuddly, armed, and dangerous trailer 🙌

There are still a handful of tickets available for XO & Struggle II this Saturday 8/9 at 7:30PM EDT. Together we’ll revel in eight short abolitionist films, followed by a discussion with filmmakers, Christopher Harris, @aljiers, @realtayediggs, @sazibeen, moderated by @ghostpnctuation.
Not to be missed xo

And if you can’t make it IRL, tune into IG Live around 8:20PM EDT to join the post-screening discussion. The films will also be available for streaming in the weeks ahead – stay tuned!

Tickets & Info at link in bio ❤️‍🔥

After many months of love and labor, Solidarity Media Network (SMN) is delighted to announce our very first in-person program, XO & STRUGGLE II, at @spectaclenyc in Brooklyn!

Join us next Saturday 8/9 for an evening of abolitionist cinema that pays homage to the George Jackson Brigade’s militant legacy, while reveling in the joys, struggles, and creative possibilities of a future FREE OF PRISONS!

XO & STRUGGLE is neither lament nor call for demolition. It’s a call to action, to creation—for presence, experimentation, abundance, care, and building anew. It’s the invocation of a political project at times mournful and destructive, and yet endlessly invigorated by the preciousness and creativity of human life.

💙 Featuring work by Christopher Harris, Saeedah Cook, Kelly Gallagher, Cameron A. Granger, Alex Johnston, and Matazi Weathers 💙

In-person Q&A with Christopher Harris, Saeedah Cook, Cameron A. Granger, and Alex Johnston, moderated by Emily Rose Apter to follow.

If you can’t make it to Brooklyn, you can watch the FULL program on the SMN YouTube channel in the weeks to come. Plus tune into IG Live around 8:20 EDT on Sat 8/9 for a live-streamed Q&A!

Tickets & info at link in bio

Special shoutout to @roseopossum for capturing the program’s revolutionary spirit in graphic form 🌀

Solidarity Media Network is a new grassroots media initiative, dedicated to supporting presently and formerly incarcerated artists through media production & distribution, return resources, workforce development, and public programming. We believe systems change at scale to undo the pernicious effects of mass incarceration on individuals and our society at large. This requires a rigorous commitment to shared resources, community engagement, and capacity building from the grass roots to the industrial.

Please visit solidaritymedianetwork.org to learn more about upcoming projects and support our work!

After many months of love and labor, Solidarity Media Network (SMN) is delighted to announce our very first in-person program, XO & STRUGGLE II, at @spectaclenyc in Brooklyn!

Join us next Saturday 8/9 for an evening of abolitionist cinema that pays homage to the George Jackson Brigade’s militant legacy, while reveling in the joys, struggles, and creative possibilities of a future FREE OF PRISONS!

XO & STRUGGLE is neither lament nor call for demolition. It’s a call to action, to creation—for presence, experimentation, abundance, care, and building anew. It’s the invocation of a political project at times mournful and destructive, and yet endlessly invigorated by the preciousness and creativity of human life.

💙 Featuring work by Christopher Harris, Saeedah Cook, Kelly Gallagher, Cameron A. Granger, Alex Johnston, and Matazi Weathers 💙

In-person Q&A with Christopher Harris, Saeedah Cook, Cameron A. Granger, and Alex Johnston, moderated by Emily Rose Apter to follow.

If you can’t make it to Brooklyn, you can watch the FULL program on the SMN YouTube channel in the weeks to come. Plus tune into IG Live around 8:20 EDT on Sat 8/9 for a live-streamed Q&A!

Tickets & info at link in bio

Special shoutout to @roseopossum for capturing the program’s revolutionary spirit in graphic form 🌀

Solidarity Media Network is a new grassroots media initiative, dedicated to supporting presently and formerly incarcerated artists through media production & distribution, return resources, workforce development, and public programming. We believe systems change at scale to undo the pernicious effects of mass incarceration on individuals and our society at large. This requires a rigorous commitment to shared resources, community engagement, and capacity building from the grass roots to the industrial.

Please visit solidaritymedianetwork.org to learn more about upcoming projects and support our work!

Abolition is not absence, it is presence. What the world will become already exists in fragments and pieces, experiments and possibilities. So those who feel in their gut deep anxiety that abolition means knock it all down, scorch the earth and start something new, let that go. Abolition is building the future from the present, in all of the ways we can.
— Ruth Wilson Gilmore
“Making Abolition Geography in California’s Central Valley”
The Funambulist, 2018

Abolition is not absence, it is presence. What the world will become already exists in fragments and pieces, experiments and possibilities. So those who feel in their gut deep anxiety that abolition means knock it all down, scorch the earth and start something new, let that go. Abolition is building the future from the present, in all of the ways we can.
— Ruth Wilson Gilmore
“Making Abolition Geography in California’s Central Valley”
The Funambulist, 2018

Yvette T. Butler argues that certain types of crime should be viewed as a form of labor. What do you think?

"Consider the story of Robert Ibarra, a New York City resident who stole a sandwich. Government assistance—a stipend and food stamps—had allowed him to cover his basic expenses from month to month. However, an unexpected expense had then brought him “down to zero.” Luckily, he was able to avoid jail time for the offense. But what will keep this scenario from repeating for him down the road? And what about others like him who want to stay out of trouble, but have limited options once they’re out of money and have no other supports? Studies show that approximately 56 percent of Americans do not have the savings to cover a $1,000 emergency expense; 32 percent would be unable to cover a $400 expense without going into debt."

Yvette T. Butler argues that certain types of crime should be viewed as a form of labor. What do you think?

"Consider the story of Robert Ibarra, a New York City resident who stole a sandwich. Government assistance—a stipend and food stamps—had allowed him to cover his basic expenses from month to month. However, an unexpected expense had then brought him “down to zero.” Luckily, he was able to avoid jail time for the offense. But what will keep this scenario from repeating for him down the road? And what about others like him who want to stay out of trouble, but have limited options once they’re out of money and have no other supports? Studies show that approximately 56 percent of Americans do not have the savings to cover a $1,000 emergency expense; 32 percent would be unable to cover a $400 expense without going into debt."

Last month, Solidarity Media Network, with the support of IDA, BAVC, and the Just Trust, held a convening in San Francisco of formerly incarcerated media makers, funders, culture workers, and allied industry community. We shared space, broke bread, and thought through the ethics, opportunities, and challenges of inside/outside media collaboration.

The convening was originally designed to be held inside of San Quentin so we could be in direct conversation with incarcerated media makers. In the end, San Quentin did not allow us to bring this conversation inside of the prison walls but we did get some very practical questions from San Quentin media makers that we'd love your help answering.

Copy and paste the link below or click on the link in bio to respond to any of the questions. We'll be collecting answers until May 30 and sharing the responses with our colleagues inside.

Use the link below to fill in the form to respond to San Quentin Media Maker Questions:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pqbS6AHbTpo0FbmvVbXti-_QaERbRwQcragSMa5eDtA/edit

Last month, Solidarity Media Network, with the support of IDA, BAVC, and the Just Trust, held a convening in San Francisco of formerly incarcerated media makers, funders, culture workers, and allied industry community. We shared space, broke bread, and thought through the ethics, opportunities, and challenges of inside/outside media collaboration.

The convening was originally designed to be held inside of San Quentin so we could be in direct conversation with incarcerated media makers. In the end, San Quentin did not allow us to bring this conversation inside of the prison walls but we did get some very practical questions from San Quentin media makers that we'd love your help answering.

Copy and paste the link below or click on the link in bio to respond to any of the questions. We'll be collecting answers until May 30 and sharing the responses with our colleagues inside.

Use the link below to fill in the form to respond to San Quentin Media Maker Questions:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pqbS6AHbTpo0FbmvVbXti-_QaERbRwQcragSMa5eDtA/edit

Angela Davis' classic "Are Prisons Obsolete?" is full of endless and accessible insight. A must read for anyone interested in getting an overview of the philosophies of punishment and incarceration as well as the history of prison abolition.

In the book, Davis quotes Elliot Currie's words: “Short of major wars, mass incarceration has been the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time.”

Angela Davis' classic "Are Prisons Obsolete?" is full of endless and accessible insight. A must read for anyone interested in getting an overview of the philosophies of punishment and incarceration as well as the history of prison abolition.

In the book, Davis quotes Elliot Currie's words: “Short of major wars, mass incarceration has been the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time.”

Introducing our "Love and Inspiration" Beat. . .starting with Joy!

Introducing our "Love and Inspiration" Beat. . .starting with Joy!

Crime as a category is determined by social actors making decisions in a particular time and place. This makes crime an artifact of competing struggles and social antagonisms. Unlike other social constructs whose meaning is relative and mobile, however, crime is invested with both legal and moral authority. It’s easy to forget this when we use crime as a synonym for harm: not all crimes are harms and not all harms are crimes.

Read the full article by Pooja Rangan and Brett Story in World Records Journal Volume 5 Article 16

Crime as a category is determined by social actors making decisions in a particular time and place. This makes crime an artifact of competing struggles and social antagonisms. Unlike other social constructs whose meaning is relative and mobile, however, crime is invested with both legal and moral authority. It’s easy to forget this when we use crime as a synonym for harm: not all crimes are harms and not all harms are crimes.

Read the full article by Pooja Rangan and Brett Story in World Records Journal Volume 5 Article 16

"One voter in the Jefferson County jails voted for the first time and hadn’t known he was eligible, Gonzalez said. He told her staff it was “one of the top five experiences of his life and that it made him feel like he mattered.”

“Of course, every voice matters, but in particular, this is a population of people who are often told that they don’t matter, or because of a mistake that they made, that they shouldn’t have a voice,” Gonzalez said. " Read the full article by Lindsey Toomer in Colorado Newsline February 12, 2025.

"One voter in the Jefferson County jails voted for the first time and hadn’t known he was eligible, Gonzalez said. He told her staff it was “one of the top five experiences of his life and that it made him feel like he mattered.”

“Of course, every voice matters, but in particular, this is a population of people who are often told that they don’t matter, or because of a mistake that they made, that they shouldn’t have a voice,” Gonzalez said. " Read the full article by Lindsey Toomer in Colorado Newsline February 12, 2025.

"California declared itself a free state in 1850, yet slave owners from other states could bring their slaves with them without much consequence — particularly for use in labor endeavors like mining during the gold rush era. When the 13th Amendment abolished slavery but allowed the exception as punishment for convicted crimes, California followed suit and immediately started using prisons like Folsom and San Quentin to exploit mostly Black prisoners for contracted labor and capital gain. " Read the full article by Joe Garcia in Cal Matters February 13, 2025.

"California declared itself a free state in 1850, yet slave owners from other states could bring their slaves with them without much consequence — particularly for use in labor endeavors like mining during the gold rush era. When the 13th Amendment abolished slavery but allowed the exception as punishment for convicted crimes, California followed suit and immediately started using prisons like Folsom and San Quentin to exploit mostly Black prisoners for contracted labor and capital gain. " Read the full article by Joe Garcia in Cal Matters February 13, 2025.

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