ATTICA: ROOTS OF RESISTANCE
ATTICA: ROOTS OF RESISTANCE
Directed / Produced by Ashley Hunt
The Corrections Documentary Project
2001 / 11 minutes
To better understand what struggles we face today, we can look to history to help us interpret the present and our place within it. ATTICA: ROOTS OF RESISTANCE (2001) gives a brief yet compelling portrait of one of the U.S.’ most infamous rebellions, and a most brutal example of state repression that was deployed to destroy it.
The video places the 1971 Attica uprising within its proper historical and political context: the peoples’ liberation movements of the 1960’s and 70’s, at the the intitial rise of today’s prison industrial complex. A valuable organizing and public education tool, it leaves us to question whether the state’s violence in ‘71 has been tempered, or merely built invisibly into the walls and structures of today’s system.
Words by Masai Ehehosi
Imagery based on the archive of Ashanti Alston
Featured at the 2001 BLACK PANTHER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Produced to open the CRITICAL RESISTANCE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
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To better understand what struggles we face today, we can look to history to help us interpret the present and our place within it. A brief yet compelling portrait of one of the U.S.’ most infamous rebellions, and a most brutal example of state repression that was deployed to destroy it.
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