Saturday night during Wumbo Fest at WonderRoot, I heard Joseph Turner make an impromptu but impassioned speech. And no, it wasn’t the usual courtesy of “I love this music scene” or the familiar “fuck homophobia and racism” stance most vocalists offer while the band tunes. In fact, Turner’s band, Malevich, wasn’t even playing that night. He just grabbed the mic between sets to share some important information regarding the massive national prison strike and some local Atlanta protesters who were thrown in jail. I reached out to him afterwards to find out more.

Saturday night, you got on the mic at Wumbo Fest to share an important message. Can you fill in our readers?

Yeah, the night before there was a noise demonstration [in Atlanta] held in solidarity with the nationwide prison strike. Corporations that profit from prison slave labor were targeted for protest. A McDonald’s was shut down with support from the employees, a Wendy’s was shut down… Aramark was paid a visit, and then police began violently arresting protesters at a Starbucks. Three of them were arrested on trumped up felony charges.

It’s ridiculous that we don’t have the backs of anyone just because they are separated from the world and are behind walls. We find slavery to be unacceptable. Period. Right?

September 9th was the start of a nationwide, month-long prison strike with work stoppages in 29 prisons so far, and acts of solidarity in over 30 cities. The strikes were organized because of slave-like working conditions, illegal reprisals, and inhumane living conditions. And its important to note that they were planned [to commence on] the 45th anniversary of the Attica Rebellion.

These prisons and corporations profit from the unpaid labor of prisoners and as a society we don’t care. This is the side of our economy no one wants to acknowledge. And [the prisoners] are constantly being overcharged for things they need while being exploited for slave labor. It’s ridiculous that we don’t have the backs of anyone just because they are separated from the world and are behind walls. We find slavery to be unacceptable. Period. Right? And the prison system is just one example of how the state and capitalism feed the systemic racism and oppression of marginalized communities.

Absolutely. Is Malevich involved in any of this? Has it affected your mission statement?

Malevich isn’t really a cohesive political band. A lot of us have similar views. I would definitely consider myself an anarchist, but I’m not sure if everyone else in the band would. We have political overtones because I write lyrics [laughs]. We don’t have a certain cause, but when everyone found out about what happened there was complete and total support for spreading awareness about it.

How can people get involved? Where should they start?

If you’re interested, check out It’s Going Down. Check out the Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross, IWOC [Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee], and Support Prison Resistance. Those are all good places to start.

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UPDATE: In the interest of full transparency, it should be noted that the three protestors were arrested after reportedly vandalizing the Starbucks at the Midtown Shopping Center and getting into confrontations with patrons. According to an 11Alive report, one of the protestors was “…charged with battery with substantial physical harm, criminal damage to property, terroristic threats and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers by use of threats or violence. Officials have not said what the other two have been charged with at this time.”

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Solidarity Fund has issued the following statement:

“All three arrestees are now out of jail, thanks to hard work and contributions by many people! We are now working on legal support and trying to address the outrageously inaccurate media coverage of the arrests. It’s great to see so much solidarity in the face of repression.”

If anyone would like to contribute to their legal fund, they may do so here.

More Info
Bandcamp: malevichatlanta.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @malevichband
Instagram: @malevich.band
SoundCloud: @malevich-mcturnsimone-cole