How to Build Regional Organizing Committee’s
Step 1: Study & Find folks who wanna study with you
Study material should focus on establishing structure/programs, understanding the political line that we are focused on & more importantly how to maintain that line and keep those politics in command. *See “Curriculum” below
Step 2: Focus on Cadre Development
Building individuals up to the point that they overstand the political line & programs, they are able to educate and train others, turning theory into practice. We can have all the theory and programs in writing but we need cadre in action or there is nothing. This includes enacting Decolonization Programs. Part of colonization is that we depend on the oppressor/establishment for education, food, clothing, housing, employment, and security. Decolonization means establishing self determination in all of these spheres. (Contact PLM for more details on roles etc…)
Step 3: Establish inside-out contact, coordination, & comradeship
Finding the committed individuals inside & out that are willing to correspond and network to help build the chapters/statewide structure/infrastructure through the roles of ROC (if it does not already exist in your region) Connect with National Coordinating Committee to learn more about creating this infrastructure. Once you've established a list of individuals inside-out set up conference calls to strategize what decolonization looks like and how to actualize it. Network with existing formations; share resources & collaborate on tactics, and form spokes-councils to move ideas forward & maintain communication between formations.
Step 4: Political Steering Committee
Selecting cadre within the collective who are able to strategize and move things forward through sharing collective ideas and finding new ways to turn those ideas and theory into concrete plans of action, that's most suitable for the collective. Doing these things with a focus on what the desires of the collective are and meeting their needs as they move forward.
Step 5: Extend your Network
When you have social media; link up with our FB: “Prison Lives Matter NCC” and lets collectively share each others struggles. Follow us on IG @PLMnational. Have your outside support system check out www.supportprisonlives.org & join our emailing list. To request a more in-depth break down of PLM Infrastructure Building or to JOIN our mailing list write a request to: PO BOX 134 Arvonia, VA 23004 OR EMAIL PrisonLivesMatter@protonmail.com
We Can
✔ Print/send educational materials, a resource guide, relevant news articles
✔ Send you information on joining PLM as a GM, Field Marshall, ROC or NCC member.
✔ Connect you with folks in your region
We Can’t
✗ Be individuals Pen Pals
✗ Take on legal cases
✗ Take on personal individual requests
Prison Lives Matter: Curriculum
Prison Lives Matter is a collective in which we come together as a like-minded politically oriented community to strategize on how to obtain collective liberation from an oppressive state. Currently we are focusing on cadre development, to educate ourselves on the current political climate and use our critical thinking to find ways to combat oppression. With a focus on POW Journal Book 9 cadre development section to get a better idea on how to move forward. If you would like a copy of this journal please write to us to request it.
“New Afrikan POW Journals #1-12” (emphasize on 1, 9, &12) (contact us for copies of these journals)
We Are Our Own Liberators by Jalil Muntaqim
Stand Up, Struggle Forward by Sanyika Shakur
Lumpen by Ed Mead
Cages of Steel by Ward Churchill
Meditations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth by James Yaki Sayles
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex Edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith