“New Year’s Eve is a day of celebration, but someone in a detention center doesn’t get to celebrate,” Flory explains. “This is a way of showing solidarity. It’s a way of saying, ‘Hey, you’re not alone in there. People are thinking of you.’”
It’s all part of a much larger demonstration being held at jails, prisons, and detention centers across the world this New Year’s Eve. There will be events in New York City, Durham, Quebec, London, and other cities. Flory believes this will be the first noise demonstration at the Broward County Jail.
Holding noise demonstrations outside prisons and jails is a tradition among anarchists and activists, especially on New Year’s Eve. For them, it’s a way of showing compassion to prisoners while also protesting the prison-industrial
Flory and local activists agree. To them, it’s not about the prisoners' crimes but about being trapped in an unfair system. “Prisons do not work as rehabilitation, just a form of punishment,” Flory says. “The prison system is inherently violent, racist, transphobic, classist, and very counterproductive to having a just society.”
It will be hypocritical, Flory explains, for police to interfere with the demonstration. “It’s New Year's Eve in downtown Fort Lauderdale. There will be people making much more noise with fireworks, much later than us,” he says. “We’re also on public property.”
Since the Broward County Jail is located within earshot of the road and sidewalk, Flory expects the prisoners to be able to hear them. “We wanted to be sure that we’d be close enough for the prisoners, so they could hear us."
Everyone is welcome to attend the noise demonstration, Flory says. They will be meeting at 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve outside of the Broward County Jail, located at 555 SE First Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Flory expects they will make as much noise as possible for about two hours.
“We’re going to be following all the laws we know about,” Flory says.
