We, Serikat Tahanan, is an anti-authoritarian prisoners association. We organize mainly inside, but also outside, eleven different prisons across Indonesia, reaching out to fellow convicted anti-authoritarian activists to advocate and educate the public about prison conditions in Indonesia. This initiative, driven by the currently convicted, was started as a simple form of solidarity among us—to nurture hope—so we don’t feel left out or come out of jail as a more damaged human beings. By organizing in Serikat Tahanan, we are constantly reminded why we started our fight. Our long term agenda is to abolish prison.
We have been writing, or at least learning to write, our own experiences and thoughts inside the prison. We want to publish these writings but, of course, we don’t have money. Indonesia's corrupt prison system provides inadequate food rations and forces prisoners to pay for it themselves. All these time we have been living off solidarity from comrades outside prison as it's almost impossible for us to work. Lack of funds and bribe-ridden prison conditions worsen our lives and hamper our writing project. We will use the proceeds from book sales to run the program that has been determined and run by the prisoners themselves. The book we publish will consist of about a dozen writings by prisoners and ex-prisoners convicted of arsoning, destruction of property, incitement to riots and drug use. This paper will contain social criticism of the structure of Indonesian society, reflections of action, survival in prison, and a wealth of lessons that are useful for audiences and social movement actors. We will also allocate a portion of the free published books for collectives and libraries.
Therefore we ask the international anti-authoritarian activists, anarchists, anti-fascists and abolitionist network to stand in solidarity in our efforts to publish our writings. We have budgeted around IDR 5.5 million (327 euros) for the cost of communicating across prison, sneaking writing tools, editing, printing and distributing the books. Help us publish our writings within Indonesia's corrupt prison system and support prisoners' campaigns!
This fundraising is supported by the Indonesian Anarchist Publishing Network (JPA) and the Abolitionist Collective (Japan). These writings will also be translated into English and Japanese.
Book cover draft for the Indonesian version:
120% of €327
€ 395 reached in total
-419 days left