Prison Resistance-Then & Now: Ed Mead & Mark Cook @ TESC

Ed Mead & Mark Cook, former prisoners & members of the George Jackson brigade

When: Wednesday, April 23 @ 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Where: Lecture Hall 2 @ TESC

What:  This event is a part of RETHINKING PRISONS MONTH – APRIL 2014!

Ed mead and Mark Cook, former prisoners and former members of the George Jackson brigade will discuss their experiences organizing against the prison system both from the inside and out.

Ed Mead is a former political prisoner who was arrested for his participation in actions done by the George Jackson Brigade in the northwest during the 70s. He spent 18 years in prison and while at the Walla Walla Correctional Facility helped found Men Against Sexism which stopped prisoner-on-prisoner rape while he was held there. He also co-founded Prison Legal News.

Mark Cook was born and raised in Seattle, growing up in a poor family and moving frequently from school to school. At the age of 17, he was arrested, sent to a state mental hospital, and subsequently abused by the facility staff. Later, he served a sentence for armed robbery.

Released in 1967, Cook became active in a growing leftist paramilitary underground in Seattle, which perpetrated a series of high profile bombings and robberies. In and out of prison, he was co-founder of the Black Panther Party chapter in the Walla Walla State Penitentiary and served as its Lieutenant of Information for many years. In 2000, he was released after serving 24 years in prison for his participation in a bank robbery and jail break associated with the George Jackson Brigade in Seattle. His interview provides a detailed and startlingly honest account of the social organization and violence of prison life, as well as his extensive efforts to improve the conditions for prisoners.

ABOUT THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

Ed Mead & Danny Atteberry on the Tier of Walla Walla’s Isolation Unit in the 70’s

from Earful of Queer Radio

**TRIGGER WARNING: discusses topics and stories around rape and sex slavery within prisons.**

Ed Mead is a revolutionary, Queer, Godless Commie and Ex-Political Prisoner who went to jail for his part in a group called the George Jackson Brigade, which carried out a number of bombings, prisoner liberation’s and bank expropriations to further anti-capitalist struggle in the Pacific Northwest.

Earful of Queer talked with Ed about the history of his incarceration and his work with the revolution prison group called Men Against Sexism, which used violence and the threat of violence to stop rape within prisons in the Northwest of America in the 70′s.

We hear about the rise and fall of Men Against Sexism, failed escape attempts by Ed Mead & other revolutionaries, and the state of prison resistance then and now.

This is a beautiful collection of stories of queers engaged in class war against the state, and of small victories in that struggle.

This is a 3-part interview, you can find the links to the audio on Media Co-op below:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Ed Mead’s Current Projects:

Prison Focus Magazine
Seattle Jericho Movement

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1 Response to Prison Resistance-Then & Now: Ed Mead & Mark Cook @ TESC

  1. Rick Sindars says:

    I remember to this day a statement Ed Mead made to me so many years ago as though it was yesterday. That statement is even more true today as it was the day Ed stated to me that “The most dangerous men in the World never go to prison.”

    Years later whenever I reflected back upon Ed’s statement that he made while working with me in the prison law library years ago the very first name that came to mind was former Vice President, Dick Cheney.

    However, for the past several years the names that are foremost to mind whenever reflecting on Ed’s statement are the Koch Brothers. That is Charles and David Koch two surreptitious vipers that they are.

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