A Note oN “PrisoN Poems” We struggled over the decision to include the following author’s work, as we struggled to come to terms with the offence that has landed them behind bars. Making the decision to include this contribution forced us to try to grapple with the realities of the world we live in and the complexities of the issues within it. We had to face a hyper-reality we had not expected to confront. When we started this journal, we were expecting contributions from political prisoners and prisoners who committed “crimes” that were driven primarily by the circumstances forced on them by the brutal, capitalist society we live in. We were imagining hearing from drug addicts and thieves, protesters and vigilantes. We didn’t expect to hear from the man behind the gun in a famous Australian shooting. But when you open a door for voices to emerge from prison, all sorts of voices can come out. The question was: do we close that door to some voices and not others? We absolutely understand the community condemning the actions of this man. He shot and killed 7 people. 7 people whose lives he knew nothing about, whose families had pieces of their heart cut out and thrown away by someone who made a decision to shoot randomly at passersby in a Melbourne street. This is the height of anti-social behaviour. This is far from a world we would imagine. But this forced us to ask ourselves, as prison abolitionists, what would the fate of this man be if there were no prisons? How do we, as a community, respond to such actions? Do we silence this man’s voice forever? In all honesty, we don’t know what the “right” answer is, but we felt that his writings offered something of value and do not in themselves go against any of our Terms of Publication. We do not feel it is our place to pass judgement over the inclusion or exclusion of writings based on the charges against those incarcerated, but rather based on the content of their work. We felt it was important to comment on this no matter what our decision had been; we welcome your thoughts on the matter.
EMAIL: runningwild@riseup.net
POST: PO Box 1989, Armidale, NSW 2350 Australia
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