UPDATE 5/4/11 4PM MST: Thanks to an amazing outpouring of support, several people are being bailed out today. It’s not over yet, though — keep it coming!
UPDATE 5/3/11 12AM MST: Bail has been raised to $65,000 each. Your support is more crucial than ever!
UPDATE 5/3/10 5PM MST: Sorry for the prior confusion, the following has been confirmed: All arrestees appeared in court today and each faces 3 pending felony charges on top of the 10 misdemeanors, one of which will be felony rioting. The judge raised bail on each person (with one possible exception) to $50,000. The arrestees will all appear in court again tomorrow, and the felony charges are expected to be filed then. See this news article for more.
* this post will remain at the top of our blog for a few days *
A call for solidarity to the 11 arrested in Asheville, re-posted from Infoshop News:
Eleven people were arrested here yesterday evening, including folks from Milwaukee, Carrboro, Raleigh, Asheville, and OKC. Ten people have $10,000 bail and seven counts of misdemeanor damage to personal property, three counts of misdemeanor damage to real property; one person has $11,000 bail and an extra charge. One person has been bailed out by their family so far.
Everyone will be arraigned tomorrow at 8:30am, so we’ll know more then. Their charges and bail may change, and we may be able to get folks out then. We haven’t heard much from the people inside, so we aren’t sure who wants to be bailed out right now. We’ll update y’all once we have more information.
As you can probably tell, we could use cash money. We’re working on getting a paypal set up, but if you’d like to wire us money or send us checks, email howdotheywork@gmail.com.
More news as it comes! Thanks for all of the love and solidarity that’s been pouring in already, and good luck to everyone else who got in trouble yesterday.
Filed under: News Tagged: | Anarchists in Trouble, May Day
At a press conference today, the APD chief said that the 11 would be charged with an additional 3 felonies (at least according to the Ashville Citizen-Times). This makes the need for support even greater…
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100503/NEWS01/100503038
Dear various and sundry enemies,
Please don’t waste your time expressing your distaste for what the accused anarchists are alleged to have done.
We know you think that small locally-owned mom&pop gay-owned businesses are super awesome, and that these kids are super rich, but you’ve clearly got the bourgeoisie and the proletariat completely backwards and your comments will never see the glow of any computer screen but ours.
Thank you.
Total solidarity to the Asheville 11!
[...] Asheville May Day arrestees need your help! [...]
I am hoping that someone can help me to understand a few things about the “Asheville 11″. First, who the hell am I to be asking? Well, I find that I have a unique relationship to the events. I am the Uncle of one of the 11 and Asheville is home to one side of my family going back generations.
Here is what I am looking for clarity on, I hope you can help. Were the actions of the “rioters” a political statement? If so, what was the statement?
Additionally, the 11 belong to a community or movement, many of it’s members are very active in the Anarchist movement, is it the general feeling in the community that they are innocent (didn’t break windows etc.), they did it as a civil protest and are willing to go to jail for their beliefs, or that they did it, but by fighting the charges they do a great serves to the cause?
A bit of a run on sentence, I know.
As I research groups, especially pertaining to the Asheville Incident, I see a lot of people supporting the 11 and using the phrase “Solidarity”. This brings me back to the question about a “political statement”, and it may show the infancy of the knowledge that I have for the Anarchists belief, but I would think that if someone else was involved they would come forward in “Solidarity”.
I know others were involved, both in planning and execution, so why don’t they stand up for their beliefs as the 11 will have to do in court? That seems like “Solidarity” to me. If they are innocent, then really, someone has to come forward, don’t they? Otherwise there is no statement. The breaking of the windows would be pointless.
Thanks for your help,
Lon,
We can’t answer any questions about guilt or innocence, or motives, etc… Any speculation on our part could hurt any efforts of the 11 in court. Already, with so many articles out there that either support or condemn the 11, there is speculation about guilt or innocence and motivations for such actions, and any of these opinions can be used by the folks that want to lock up your neice/nephew/relative.
What we can speak to is the idea of solidarity. We stand in solidarity with the 11 because, for at least us in Denver, they are friends and comrades and because we find afinity with them. Whether they are guilty or innocent doesn’t matter in the end. They were our comrades before they were arrested and they will remain our comrades after, granted that they continue to act like our comrades.
As far as a third party coming forward to claim their own guilt as an act of solidarity, that wouldn’t make much sense. To deliver more people into the hands of a state is not strategic, is illogical, and does nothing to strengthen our movement.
The 11, and anyone else engaged in any sort of work within our movement (should) know this. Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement have claimed for years that they know who the real shooter at Pine Ridge was, but they won’t devulge that person’s name just to hand someone else over to the state, although it would mean that Leonard would quite possibly, finally, be free.
We all have choices to make in how we manage our lives and how we manage our position in a social struggle. At least some of the 11 made a choice to act within this movement before the events of May 1st ever happened. Being active within this movement in anyway opens us up to attack and repression, and it’s something we all have to be prepared for and know is coming.
If folks from the 11 were not prepared for that, based on a lack of experience or knowledge, that cannot be helped at this point. However, for all of us willing to stand with them across the country (and even the world), we have a lot of work to do to show them the support they will need through this legal proceeding and after, no matter what the outcome.
Thanks.
A member of DABC
[...] in Asheville, NC involved more than 20 black-clad thugs — for whom a Denver anarchist group is now raising legal funds. Reminder: SEIU and little ACORN knock-offs launch banking shakedown campaign. When Ponzi schemes [...]