UPDATE ON BLOGS

Ash's proposed blog is on hold for now. James and Tyrone received my message and will get back to me. I don't know whether Kris has received my message.

Below I am publishing Ash's letter to me, as requested. Fell free to add comments and questions and I shall print it off and send it to him in one week. That's almost a blog!

Given that the print-out of the comments will be read by prison censors, please follow the following guidelines:

1. Do not use racial epithets or even remotely "fedpost" -like language.

2, Do not discuss or ask about other, particular prisoners.

Letter from Sharp - Dated 10/8/23, Received 18/8/23

Hi [name],

I really appreciate you taking the time to write and for setting up a channel to help Political Prisoners in the UK. Speaking from experience on both sides of jail life, simply receiving a physical letter is great for morale. Outgoing mail like this is free and emails like this only allow 1,000 characters.

As far as books go I am doing well, I brought 15 with me and friends send me more. Please save your funds for my less fortunate brothers. I appreciate the donation to ‘Givesendgo’, that helps my wife and two young daughters more than you know.

As to how I am doing – the good news is I am physically training every day and doing fine on the wing. I worked as a Prison Officer for 3 years, which has its advantages. I really feel for the other lads who come into this environment without a clue how jail works – it has to be stressful. I get to go to church in this prison every other Sunday and receive Communion.

Now for the other not-so-good-news. I hear that ‘Hope not Hate’ have published a piece saying I was in ‘National Action’ while a serving Prison Officer. This is Libel and will be dealt with, given in 2016 when the group was banned I was living overseas, and didn’t join the Prison Service until 2019. Time travelling “Nazis”, whatever next. I also was never in ‘National Action’, and at the same time they were active I would have been ideologically opposed to them.

The State is also pitching for a 6-9 year sentence, which for possessing a book I didn’t read I think is a bit draconian. Despite having a track record of peaceful advocacy that goes back 7 years, and despite the Crown saying in Court I am not considered a violent threat, they are now alleging that national socialism itself is terroristic in nature.

The Judge in the case said himself that I was not on trial for national socialist views, but here we are. I suspect the State is angry I was found Not Guilty’ for sharing Mr Bond’s Rap music, which if you didn’t know, they said would inspire terrorism. That is what they wanted to set precedence for and would allow them to arrest peaceful people for sharing all manner of artwork under terror laws.

However, we must hope their arguments don’t hold water. If the State was truly worried about violence from ‘White Stag’, surely with the resources of MI5 and Counter-Terrorism Police they would have established our risk and acted accordingly. If it really is the case the State thinks we are Terrorists, by jailing only me, they have driven 30 “violent extremists” underground being that we advocated for peace, brotherhood and seriously fun adventures I don’t think the state believes we were a threat to anybody, except that if I am right and White Stag could show the troubled kids who are so angry that violence seems the only option, if we could show them a better way, then…then we would have essentially eliminated “Right Wing” terrorism.

It is clear then that the State prior to the Court Case did not think I was a genuine threat, or they would have acted very differently. Rather I am faced with Ideological Persecution and an inflated sentence because the thing that the State fears the most is organized, peaceful Nationalists who de-radicalise their own, very small radical fringe.

We know from the ‘Shawcross Prevent Report’ and the Parliamentary Select Committee that.
1. The State does not think violence comes from Nationalist Groups and
2. Prevent does not engage with Nationalist Groups at all.
3. When a Group does appear with the aim of giving young white men a positive outlet, it is crushed.
The State needs and wants right wing “terrorism” convictions to prop up its flagging legitimacy.

In any event, if I am so hated by the State and the media that they will lie and cheat to put me in a cell, I’ll have to take that as a badge of honour.

My Lord Jesus knows I have done no wrong and harmed none while helping many. And that is enough for me.

In closing then, I want to remind everyone that our cause is just and one day all lies will be exposed. Never give up, and never give in to wrath, justified though that wrath may be.

God Bless,

Ash

(Political Prisoner)

P.S. – Please publish.

Many thanks to Gabriel for typing the above!

I've been advised as follows:

Ash has been moved to Nottingham prison prior to tomorrow’s sentencing. We’re unsure if he’ll remain in Notts after or return to Liverpool. We’ll get an updated address if he’s moved.

I challenge anyone to read these sentencing remarks and tell me it was a fair trial. He might as well have been tried by an out-and-out antifa, the judge even goads and insults him multiple times.

You know the system is evil but to see it’s naked face is something to behold.

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/R-v-Ashley-Podsiad-Sharp.pdf

They crucified him, I was honestly shocked to hear such rhetoric coming from a judge, I've heard more reasoned words being shouted at me at protests.

900-odd people viewed his letter and none saw fit to comment, or were too scared to comment, despite probably using a pseudonym?

I think that means I can forget about two-way blogs for the prisoners. It would be of immense benefit to a prisoner to have such a conversation even if it were as sporadic as replying in his next post to questions and comments on the previous one. So one-way blogs it will have to be.

New grid sheet today.

Kris is said to have written me a letter a month or so ago but I have not received anything. No worries. I know that he gets my books, cards, messages and donations, so he will likely get yours. Hopefully there will be news soon of his case which i shall post here.

I just received word that Kris likes the idea of a blog but "no chat."

He is writing another letter today.

I have suggested that he write the letter and then read it aloud over the phone, to be recorded and typed up.

If one's followers remain mere followers then they are the very definition of slacktivists. That is exactly and precisely what slacktivism is, a symbolic act by which the follower feels that he has "done his bit." Getting vetted then doing nothing more, retweeting, emoticon-ing, to the exclusion of irl activity, is slacktivism.

The leader that indulges such empty behaviour in his followers is doing them a great disservice.

^^^ Some people fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the fasces. They think that the twigs are there to support the axe, or that the axe is just the biggest and most brilliant twig. No, the axe is an emergent property of the bundle as a whole.

Without irl structure the twigs are an unruly mob, or a hindrance, a deadweight, and there is no axe.

What do you think of an online newspaper similar in approach to Justice Report, but with some differences?

Have a look: https://justicereport.news/

* Needs a bit better production values - it looks like a dog's dinner. And it needs auto-detection of screen type - In this day and age one should not need to click to see the mobile version. Also, auto-detection of screen type is important for SEO.

* No paywall - at least initially.

* Wordpress, themed for an online newspaper. Any recommendations of packages? Any WP experts here?

Anything else we should consider?

This is probably one of those projects that will demonstrate the utility of the SIAS ("suck it and see") approach as compared to BB ("Big Bang").

Previously, we discovered there was no demand for two-way prisoner blogs, Thank goodness I didn't invest any time or resources in that. However, publishing one letter from a prisoner grew the subscriber list by about one third. So one way blogs, even if in a primitive format, is a winner.

Similarly, an online newspaper can start as a mere Telegram channel or as a single scrollable webpage, or both, and what people want to see is a process of discovery, of what seems to work.

Investing time and resources in something that it turns out no-one wants, is not activism.

Today I sorted out something that isn't my job but, since I seemed to be the only intelligent adult in the room, I had to do - namely an apparent disinterest by NHS surgeons and specialists to communicate with one another in an efficient manner. During a consultation I extracted an actual plan from the specialist, that he committed to communicate to my surgeon and GP. Amazing, but it is not activism, since it has no impact on anyone else.

Also, if someone said I was a genius for accomplishing this then I would just laugh but say nothing, because such praise is REALLY not activism. 😊

04/09/23 Update. I've just had a good chat with Ash and he is still in Nottingham awaiting relocation to another prison, which is waiting to be confirmed. How long that will be is anyone's guess. He has just received one letter that I had posted to Liverpool before I knew of his move prior to sentencing, so at least that has been forwarded. He's not received the email I've sent yet and thinks at Nottingham they print and deliver the letters instead of reading them at a computer. He is in remarkable good spirits and determined to appeal and to continue fighting. Any other updates and I'll let you know. A big thanks to all that have communicated with him, he truly appreciates it.

Ever one to think aloud, I state here a compelling strategic reason to publish an online newspaper with original material such as video and reports (and indeed to pay the authors). Copyright. Such items will inevitably be forwarded/retweeted/linked to. We shall watermark any video, and to request attribution in a legally sticky way (like the GPL), thus propagating its brand.