Get Involved

There are many ways of getting involved in Anarchist Black Cross work. You or your group can:

• Join your local ABC group. Click here for a listing.

• Set up your local ABC group. Click here for advice on starting a group.

• Do local outreach. Here are a few ideas.

• Donate labor, materials or money to the ABC. Here are common needs many ABCs have.

• Become active in the Emergency Response Network

• Help as an individual by spreading information about ABC, prisoners, writing to them, making visits, sending reading materials, allying and supporting a books-to-prisoners project and more...

If you are an individual interested specifically in getting involved with the Anarchist Black Cross movement or are with a group that wants to join or start an ABC group, great! If you or a group you work with is considering affiliating with the Anarchist Black Cross movement, keep the following in mind:

1. The Anarchist Black Cross movement is decentralized and anti-authoritarian. We do not require to sign on to bylaws or other policies are a means to join or be involved. How your group operates and has operated is completely up to you. All our projects are voluntary (meaning you participate as your time allows). One of the goals here is to facilitate better communications of and actions by different anti-prison groups and developing a united front against the state and its weapons of incarceration, poverty, border controls, capitalism, colonialism and genocide.

2. The Anarchist Black Cross movement is not a 'single-issue' organization. While the Anarchist Black Cross movement addresses issues of incarceration and criminalization, affiliated groups see these issues in the context of a larger picture -- namely, a systen and its enforcers, capital and laws aimed at oppression. Groups are encouraged to be active on as many fronts as they can.

3. The Anarchist Black Cross movement is nonsectarian. We welcome organizations that aren't explicitly ABC groups and groups that may not have anarchist in their names, but which all support the roots of the ABC movement in the fight against prisons as a revolutionary battle against the state.

4. The Anarchist Black Cross movement respects, encourages and acknowledges a diversity of tactics and autonomy among affiliates. We welcome a variety of perspectives in our tasks in the cause of unity and revolution. Whether your work is primarily around police accountability, political prisoners, youth rights, 'nonpolitical' prisoners fighting for their religious freedoms, earth liberation prisoners, gentrification or community empowerment, recognize that we have a common struggle and get involved.

If you are interested in getting involved with the ABC Network, read more about the Network requirements, and get in touch.

top of page