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The Drug War - It's Prisons, Poisons and Environmental Racism
A new November Coalition Family Album, an educational exhibit
available to small or large groups and organizations that have
"public lobby space." This colorful, visual presentation
and companion literature illuminates the intersection of the
drug war, prison expansion and global environmental destruction.
Use the new DRUG WAR: It's Poisons,
Prisons and Environmental Racism Family Album display at
local events, or create your own event at local churches or libraries.
Contact us at supplies@november.org
for details. |
For volunteers looking to build key alliances in the coming
years, this exhibit anchors and assures interaction with others
concerned for people and our environment. Consider putting the
exhibit in regional libraries, civic clubs, office lobbies, churches,
and at other public or private places where non-profit groups
are welcomed.
Original and fresh materials are created by members of our
group to do the difficult job of teaching diverse communities
new ways of thinking about the harms brought by the war on drugs.
November Coalition volunteers steadfastly illustrate the horrifying
facts of a policy so destructive that it's produced a vast prison
industrial complex and global network of for-profit companies
intertwined with police and military might.
Intent on attracting casual passersby, the unique, eye catching
displays and other public informational materials need volunteers
to share them with others in their region. Donations help make
these exhibits available. Consider being a supporting member
of this project with a contribution today.
With an annual membership contribution of $30 or more, you
will receive The Razor Wire, the November Coalition's
newspaper published twice a year. All year long you'll also receive
individual notices of website updates, breaking news and announcements
about projects that our national network of volunteers uses to
teach about drug war injustice. Dues and donations are tax deductible.
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The November Coalition was founded in 1997 to warn fellow
citizens about the destructive increase in prison populations
in the United States caused by more than 20 years of harsh drug
sentencing laws and dubious policing techniques. The Coalition
built alliances with groups all over the world because drug war
injustice is global.
Drug war battles aren't fought on the streets of the wealthy.
Drugs, legal and illegal, are used in all classes of people,
and at about the same rates.
Prisons and jails aren't built in upper-class neighborhoods
either. So-called "Correctional Complexes" are being
built in rural areas where workers are so desperate for jobs
they are reduced to working in warehouses for people. In other
eras, mass imprisonment employed 'disposable populations' or
'undesirables' as slave workers in concentration camps.
In Colombia and now Afghanistan, the people living gentle
on the earth, the sustainable farmers, can be sprayed with poisons
that kill fish in streams, livestock, food crops and human life.
Like the jobless and poor of the United States, people who are
economically vulnerable become easy prey for drug manufacturers.
Not unlike prison profiteers, the drug trade relies on desperate
people who need jobs and an economic future.
People can be convicted in broad drug conspiracies and sentenced
to prison for decades without any physical evidence presented
in court. Drug war enforcement relies heavily on 'bartered testimony,'
wherein the first people arrested in a group of drug-involved
friends can 'snitch' their way to freedom by telling on others.
Without a system of easily obtained plea bargains and convictions,
prisons could not be profitable.
Corporate profits increase sharply with the use of herbicide
defoliants, a growing global military force, and steady expansion
of multi-agency policing that fills an international network
of prisons. Power to control large human populations, primarily
poor classes of people, and the destruction of natural resources
form a steady and cozy weave in globalization strategy.
The drug war is institutionalized and is devastating environmental
racism that needs urgent citizen action.
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How you can help:
If you don't belong to a group that has a No New Prisons committee,
or is working to end drug war injustice, consider starting one.
We have organizing instructions on our website at www.november.org.
called Bottom's Up: Guide to
Grassroots Activism
You may easily find others who will work with you to increase
pressure on local and state governments, and then combine that
united influence on federal lawmakers as well. Plan to teach
other people you know, one by one, day by day, about the environmental
racism of the war on drugs. Ask them to become members of the
November Coalition, too.
If you or your group wants a "Drug War - It's Prisons,
Poisons and Environmental Racism" Display, send $100.00
(shipping included), and your contact information, or order online
via PayPal using the form provided
here.
November Coalition is also offering "seed grants"
to volunteers, allied groups and our members who can't afford
start-up costs of an effective public educational display. These
groups should also be interested in fundraising for their local
group. To apply, fill-out and submit
this online application.
Please remember the November
Coalition in your charitable giving. Your support is greatly
appreciated.
November's 'Family Album' Displays in Action
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Earth Day 2007 Event, Spokane, WA, April 21, 2007 - photo by
Tom Murlowski |
Center
for Justice main lobby, Spokane, WA, April , 2007 - photo
by Tom Murlowski |
Miami, FL, 2/20/07 - photo by Chrystal Weaver |
Ft, Benning, GA, Nov 06 - photo by
Fr. Tom Hereford |
Durham, NC, June 06 - photo by LaFonda
Jones |
Laguna Beach, CA, 5/14/05 - photo
by Rachel
Morton |
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