Protestors expose former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani’s connection to for profit prisons on Bastille Day

Outside the MetLife building last night, on the eve of Bastille Day, a group of around 25 or so demonstrators gathered to protest former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his role in profiting from the CCA, Correctional Corporation of America. A corporation that owns and operates for profit prisons all across the United States. The Bastille is a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. Many people in France associated it with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy in the late 1700s. On July 14, 1789, troops stormed the Bastille. This was a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution. Fête de la Fédération was held on July 14, 1790. This was a way to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/france/bastille-day

Steve Millies, holding a sign reading GIULIANI PROFITS OFF PRIVATE PRISONS spoke out angrily speaking about the poor in Paris who had finally had enough of King Louis XVI and stormed the prison Bastille in 1789. King Louis was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the king and his wife Marie Antoinette, were executed. The Bastille was first used as a state prison in the 17th century, and its cells were reserved for upper-class felons, political troublemakers, and spies. Most prisoners there were imprisoned without a trial under direct orders of the king. Standing 100 feet tall and surrounded by a moat more than 80 feet wide, the Bastille was an imposing structure in the Parisian landscape. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/french-revolutionaries-storm-bastille Mr Millies, “WE HAVE RIKERS, WE HAVE ATTICA, WE HAVE JOLIET, WE HAVE SAN QUENTIN, WE HAVE 10 THOUSAND BASTILLES WHERE SOME PRISONERS HAVE SPENT DECADES IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. PRISONS ARE CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR THE POOR AND RUDY GIULIANI PROFITS FROM THEM”.

The group of mostly older folk protesting outside the office of former mayor Rudy Giuliani for his role in profiting off the imprisonment of the poor and marginalized in the “free” country of the United States of Amerika.

One sign held up,,,

Larry Holmes of The People’s Power Assembly speaking out last night around 6 pm outside the MetLife Building outside Grand Central Terminal connecting the role of Giuliani and the for profit prison system to the recent murders of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Delrawn Small by police last week. “WE MUST DO SOMETHING TO DISRUPT THE STATUS QUO UNTIL THIS WAR AGAINST BLACK AND BROWN YOUTH IS OVER”.

Steve Millies told me how he became involved in activism, “My brother was involved in CORE, fighting against racism in the south. I joined Youth Against Fascism in 1968 which called the first demonstration in 1962 agains the Vietnam War. We were thanked by Hồ Chí Minh himself. Ever since that time I’ve been in the ranks of Workers World.”

Protestors expose former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani’s connection to for profit prisons on Bastille Day

Author: Cat April Watters

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