Everyone Has a Role
Solidarity is not a spectator sport. Whether you have five minutes or five hours, your action matters.
The fight to abolish prison slavery needs people from all backgrounds to form a committed base. This page is for everyone who believes in real justice and is looking for a meaningful way to participate.
If you happen to be a union member, educator, attorney, law student, law school faculty, or researcher, please check out the pages specifically about how you can use your social position to help. If you are a journalist or reporter, please check out our press center.
However, for everyone else, please see below.
If You Have 5 Minutes…
These actions are immediate and powerful. Do one today.
- Subscribe for Updates. The single most foundational thing a busy person can do is stay informed. Our email newsletter is where we share urgent action alerts, movement victories, and ways to plug in. You can’t show up if you don’t know what’s happening. The form to join is at the bottom of each page on this website.
- Amplify a Voice. Follow and share content from IWOC plus aligned groups and individuals on social media. You help break the isolation of prison and bring critical stories to a wider audience. Do you happen to have a decent sized online audience that you’d like our help informing and activating around prison slavery and other criminal injustice issues? Please contact us.
- Plant a Seed. Talk about what you’re learning about prison slavery with one person this week, whether a friend, family member, or coworker. Changing public consciousness starts with individual conversations.
- If your time is limited but you have financial means, a donation provides fuel for our organizing in the form reimbursements for printing and mailing expenses, hardship funds for formerly incarcerated members, and more. It’s a backbone of practical support. Please use our general contact form to reach out to us for this purpose.
If You Have an Hour or More…
Ready to take a deeper step? These actions build tangible support.
- Also Subscribe for Updates. Direct contact is far more valuable than contact mediated by a secret, profit-driven algorithm. Our email newsletter includes updates on not just our efforts, but the overall movement to combat state violence, exploitation, and lay the foundations of a more free and equal future. The form to join is at the bottom of each page on this website.
- Join an Online Event. Come to an online event hosted by us or an aligned group to learn more about what people have done and are doing to abolish prison slavery and more. Such events are promoted by us via our email newsletter and social media.
- Provide Skilled Support. Are you good with graphic design, web or app development, data entry, or writing? We always need help with the infrastructure that keeps our organizing running. Let us know what you can do via our general contact form.
- Start a Local Solidarity Pod. You don’t need our permission. Gather a few people in your area to discuss the work of IWOC and similar groups, organize letter-writing to incarcerated members of your community, or host a film screening. Check out our guide to pressuring prison and jail administrations using zaps. If you reach out to us, we can provide other starter resources, too.
- If you really like what you’re reading here, consider joining IWOC. This will also entail joining the IWW, which we can help you out with if necessary. If you are unemployed, in debt, or on a fixed income, dues can be as low as $6/mo. It’s okay to fill out our join form now and contemplate paying IWW dues later. You also don’t need a ton of life experience, expertise, or a ton of time on your hands to join. A curious mind and a caring heart are enough.
What Your Solidarity Builds
Every action, big or small, contributes to a concrete goal: building the organized power needed to support prison strikes, contest unjust laws, challenge illegal “enforcement,” and amplify the voices of incarcerated workers. You are not just “helping,” you are becoming part of our movement’s essential ecosystem.