UPDATE: 29/12/12

I am resuming working on this project whenver I get time and feel an urge to work on it, my initial excitment and promotion of this project is dampened by the fact that I only recently discovered that Ali abused several of the women in his life. The NYC ABC wrote an article about it at the time, which I will reproduce here in full. (with identifying information removed as it kinda doxxes the person its addressed to.)  If anyone wants the keys to this project and wants to take it on, please send me an email. fawnarchy(at)grrlz.net

NYC-ABC Statement on Ali Khalid Abdullah [Friday, 31 May 2002]

An open letter to the revolutionary community

Over the last month, following much discussion and analyses, the New York City chapter of the Anarchist Black Cross has decided to no longer support Ali Khalid Abdullah, nor to work on the campaign for his freedom. As active supporters and organizers in his campaign, we felt it was necessary and responsible to publish a public explanation as to our decision, as well as a synopsis of the larger conclusions we have made while struggling through this decision. It was brought to our attention two months ago, via Anthony Rayson, that a female prisoner named Kebby Warner had come out with the claim that Ali had been abusive and threatening throughout the course of their relationship. In corresponding with Kebby, Ali made numerous references to pedophilia, violent female subordination, and created an atmosphere within the relationship that was violent, misogynistic, and overwhelmingly patriarchal. Following Kebby?s brave testimony about the nature of her relationship with Ali, other women came out with stories of varying degrees about Alis abusive and domineering attitude towards them. For many months now, we have noticed in Alis personal correspondence, moments of frightening language when discussing women in his life. We made the mistake of disregarding these statements as minor problems, however after putting them into the context of these recent allegations, they become much more serious. We also have seen in Alis writings, numerous instances of threatening language, giving me no reason to disbelieve Kebby?s claim that Ali attempted to threaten her into silence. After taking into consideration the stories of all these women, and looking back on the relationship that  we have had with Ali, we decided collectively to end our support of Ali and his campaign for freedom. 

As Revolutionary anarchists, we see a dedication to feminism as vital to our movement. We expect people within our movement to have the same ethics in their treatment of women, as their theoretical writings espouse. By creating an uncomfortable and unsafe atmosphere for women within the political prisoner movement, Ali Khalid Abdullah did not only violate the ethics of a revolutionary, he also threatened greatly the strength of our movement. This type of behavior gives the state more legitimacy in their attacks against prisoners, and more importantly it discourages females both inside and out, from joining a movement that at the moment is disproportionately male. Alis unprincipled reaction to these allegations isin many ways more indicative of his principles than was his original behavior. By immediately disregarding this as a smear campaign, and attempting to discredit all involved parties, Ali has made it evident that he is not concerned with dealing with these issues in a respectful and responsible manner. His claims about Anthony Rayson are unfounded and horrendous. 

Anthony Rayson has been a dedicated supporter of Ali and all political prisoners. His decision to make these affairs public is one of the most principled things we have seen him do, and renews our faith that Anthony is dedicated to fighting oppression and oppressive behavior. We will not tolerate a smear campaign against Anthony, and threats against him will be even less tolerated. No revolutionary should be chastised for holding to their principles, and ensuring that our treatment of individuals is as ethical as the theories that propel us. 

As revolutionary anarchists, our decision to work for the freedom of political prisoners was a strategic one. It is the obligation of any movement to ensure that their captured comrades will be supported and freed. Beyond that, we feel that working to free political prisoners is vital to the building of an anti-capitalist movement in the 21st century. Prisons are a key element of social control, necessary to the privatization of capital, and thus a movement against capitalism must have at its core a strong commitment to prison abolition. 

Our jailed comrades are key to this work, and we work for the freedom of jailed allies, understanding that their experience and work on the inside is necessary if we are to dismantle the prison industrial complex. This is precisely why we have made the decision to work with both political prisoners, and politicized prisoners. We are committed to supporting anyone in prison with revolutionary politics, knowing that they are an asset to the movement for the work they do on the inside, and knowing that when released they will bring invaluable skills and resources to our movement. 

This analysis has led us to end our support for Ali Khalid Abdullah, for we are unsure now if he continues to be an asset to the movement knowing that he is abusive and threatening in his treatment of female comrades. In recent weeks many people have become vocal in apologizing for Ali, using the argument that the conditions of both prison and poverty effect people in adverse ways. We obviously understand the effects of environment, however at the same time we see no positive outcome to romanticizing prisoners, or holding them to different standards than other comrades in our movement.

 There is a fundamental difference in supporting jailed revolutionaries, and the strategy necessary for working with social prisoners. Revolutionaries regardless of whether they are in prison or not must be expected to have the same principles and ethics in regards to their treatment of individuals, and in their dedication to fighting exploitation. In working with social prisoners we must be able to provide support and education within the context of revolutionary politics. As prison abolitionists we do not think the state is ever justified in incarcerating people. There is no motive other than profit and power for the jailing of human beings. We have decided that appropriate response to this situation by friends and supporters of Ali is to help him find radical left wing groups who specialize in counseling and educating men on issues of sexism and sexual violence. In doing this, we create an example of how we can deal with social problems outside of the power structure of the state. 

Our experience with Ali Khalid Abdullah will in no way have an impact on our dedication to fighting alongside jailed revolutionaries. It merely strengthens our convictions and desires to help imprisoned revolutionaries organize, and ultimately dismantle the prison industrial complex. This experience has taught us many things. Mainly that we must ensure that the allies we support and organize with are honest in their convictions. Secondly we want  to develop closer working relationships with radical social service organizations, so we are prepared to confront similar situations in the future. We will continue to support any prisoner with revolutionary politics, and are certain that in the future this type of situation will not be allowed to exist for so long without being addressed. We want to apologize to the women that were harassed and threatened by Ali, and make a promise to the movement that in the future our decision to support people will be more thought out, and better calculated.

In Struggle 

New York City Anarchist Black Cross

https://www.ainfos.ca/d/ainfos00248.html