Help Save Liberation Ink!
Almost a month ago, our comrades at Liberation Ink—the all-volunteer collective that produces those hip t-shirts we all know and love—announced they would soon be closing up shop. But since they made their announcement, they’ve gotten so much supportive feedback that they’re giving it one more shot.
I remember I first learned of Liberation Ink a few years ago when I saw their table at an event where I was also tabling for AK. They had a display of totally bad-ass t-shirts featuring the likes of Assata Shakur, Comandante Ramona, Emiliano Zapata, Leila Khaled, and Yuri Kochiyama… plus my favorite one, “Prisons & Poppies,” featuring a print by Fernando Marti. I was very impressed and went back to the AK Press collective insisting that we should try to pick up some of their shirts for distro!
But there’s more to them than just their mad design skills. When I asked him to sum up the contributions of Liberation Ink to radical organizing, collective member Le Tim Ly had this to say: “Our products help showcase s/heroes of our movement that are often not recognized. And our shirts are the product of community building and collaboration. Our profits are also all used to support social justice projects.”
Liberation Ink has provided ongoing funding for the May 1st Alliance for Land, Work and Power and the Deporten a la Migra Coalition, and has helped seed buildthewheel.org, a new popular education curriculum sharing website.
Even though the collective donates their labor, there are still some very real costs associated with their business, and in order to keep going they’re going to need some help. They’ve set up a new membership program, with the goal of signing up 200 members by the end of October and another 200 by the end of 2009. For $30+ a year, you can help sustain Liberation Ink and keep them running (plus get a free t-shirt of your choice). If you can help Liberation Ink out by becoming a member, please do so! They’re also having a sale on their website through the end of the month, or you can buy some of their designs through AK Press and support both of our worthy projects at once! Just click here.
Please help spread the word so Liberation Ink can keep up their good work!