Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 240 August/September 2014
Prison censorship: stupid excuses, part 1
So HMP Whitemoor has banned FRFI again. I was originally told this was due to it being ‘a racist and anti-authority newspaper’, but after complaining about the stupidity of this claim, Governor Ruth Stephens, head of security, changed the excuse to the return address for FRFI being ‘a security risk’.
As I have no intention of returning my issue of the newspaper and definitely not prior to having read it, this new excuse is as ridiculous as the original one. It seems wherever I go, the attempts to restrict my access to FRFI are based on more and more desperate claims. Woodhill, Manchester and now here, all make up their own nonsense to achieve the same objective.
These restrictions always begin once I am mentioned in the publication, but strangely enough I have never once heard of any other newspaper being banned even though most of them have run stories about me on their front pages. Maybe if FRFI printed fantasy like the tabloids it would be deemed a respectable enough paper to enter prisons without so much difficulty.
KEVAN THAKRAR
HMP Whitemoor
Frankland: stupid excuses, part 2
Meanwhile, at HMP Frankland Rangzieb Ahmed has once again had his copy of FRFI withheld, after issue 239 carried an article highlighting the harassment he has been subject to at the prison, including, ironically, having FRFI withheld. Following an FRFI supporter’s complaint to the prison, including a copy of a recent prison ombudsman ruling that prisons should normally simply remove the offending article rather than withhold an entire publication, we have received the following from the security department at Frankland.
‘Thank you for your letter… The decision was taken to withhold the publication due to the possible issues it may cause at HMP Frankland. Mr Ahmed is will [sic] within his rights to submit an application to have the publication with the article removed.’
Support for US prisoner on hunger strike
Prisoner DJ Taylor is in the same US supermax prison as Babar Ahmed and, until recently Talha Ahsan. DJ is presently on hunger strike in order to draw attention to the corruption and brutality in the prison. When he began the strike, DJ was moved to the prison psychiatric unit and placed in an observation cell, where the 24-hour lighting meant he was deprived of sleep. At first he was naked, and has only recently been allowed underwear. After eight days without food or fluids a naso-gastric tube was inserted and he was force-fed while shackled to a trolley. Having worked as a nurse some years ago, I can well believe that this was horrendously distressing, especially given his severe state of dehydration. DJ passed out, sustaining a massive black eye.
DJ sends greetings to comrades and says our support means so much to him. His brutal maltreatment at the hands of the US, the ‘global policeman’ with whom Britain shares its ‘special relationship’ is truly shocking. I have written to assure DJ of our ongoing solidarity and concern. Please write to him: DJ Taylor #179983, Northern Supermax, 287 Bilton Road, PO Box 665, Somers, CT 06071.
GEORGE COOMBS
Brighton
WHO praises Cuba
In July, Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation said: ‘Cuba is the only country I have seen which has a health care system closely linked to closed-loop research and development… I keep a special place in my heart for Cuba and recognize the efforts of the Cuban government to establish health as an essential pillar of development.’
She and the director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), were attending the inauguration of a new medical development centre in Cuba. PAHO director Clarisse Etienne stressed: ‘we’re here to celebrate the genius, creativity, tenacity and perseverance of the Cuban people and the concretisation of a visionary leadership.’
Under socialism, Cuba has fostered a cutting edge bio-technology sector, developing the only advanced lung cancer vaccination in the world, alongside vaccines against meningitis B, pneumonia, diphtheria, pertussis and dengue. This year Cuba achieved the historically low infant mortality rate of 4.2 per 1,000 live births, one of the best rates in the world. Cuba has sent 135,000 health care professionals to 154 countries, and trains for free thousands of medical students from developing countries at the Latin American Medical School in Havana. Socialist Cuba continues to shine as a beacon of hope for human development.
SAM MCGILL
Newcastle
