Archive for the ‘Prison Struggle’ Category
Damiano Bolano and Giorgos Polydoros put in isolation (Greece)
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
D. Bolano and G. Polydoros put in isolation
Since Saturday 01/10 the members of the RO-CCF Damiano Bolano and Giorgos Polydoros are in isolation because they complained about the conditions of detention in prisons of Nafplio (where they were transferred yesterday) and refused to enter their cells. In the beginning, they took them to isolation division as this part, due to a lack of space, it had been transformed a “regular” prison wing; however, few new prisoners were accepted afterwards. When the comrades refused to accept these conditions of detention, the answer was: one week in isolation.
No hostage in hands of the state
Anyone who forgets the POWs forgets the war itself
Hands off our comrades
In solidarity Allilegguoi/Allileggues
Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Damiano Bolano, Giorgos Polydoros, Greece, Isolation
Posted in Prison Struggle
Statement to the Judges of the Juvenile Court by Theofilos Mavropoulos (Greece)
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
via This Is Our Job
On September 23, anarchist comrade Theofilos Mavropoulos and five others appeared in juvenile court on charges stemming from damage caused during a 2007 school occupation. The following was his statement to the judges. Recall that Mavropoulos is also facing two counts of attempted homicide, among other charges, for his alleged role in a shootout with the pigs on May 18 in the Athens neighborhood of Pefki.
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“In addition, these whorehouses called schools only offer us sterilized knowledge. Therefore, when we go to classes now, all we think about is how to vandalize them. Plus, what do we have to get excited about? Which of this society’s values can we embrace? Let’s say it very clearly: we are not nor will we ever be those good little children our parents and teachers want to turn us into. Along with teachers and professors, we also hate our classmates—the ones who always kiss ass to get a good grade, the ones who shun every idiosyncrasy and isolate the shy and the strange.”
—Excerpted from the claim of responsibility for the attack by the Circle of Delinquents
Therefore, sabotage is now the last word. Sabotage against the schools, against the universities. Sabotage against the very institution of justice, the prisons, the police, the army. Sabotage against the everyday rottenness of authoritarian relationships. The creation of anarchy follows the deconstruction of the present social fabric.
Beginning thus with the institution of learning, society concerns itself with transmitting its values to its newest members. Discipline, obedience to those who possess authority, uniformity, the democratic view with its corresponding ethic: these are the indispensable requirements for being a good citizen. The strictly scheduled class hours and strictly scheduled breaks make even a minor, chance deviation from the schedule (for example, a sick teacher) seem like the day’s most wonderful surprise. Day-to-day misery behind the desks tests the patience of every student.
Teachers and administrators with their fascist or democratic mentalities attempt to impose order and hierarchy, each in their particular pedagogic-grotesque way. However, responsibility for the proper functioning of schools also belongs to those students who fulfill the duties of the absent through their conformity, and all those who obediently lower their heads on the orders of their superiors. Nor can one excuse the human garbage that satisfies its vanity by being elected to the 15-member school councils.
For all of them then, the shortsighted who “innocently” ask why those who don’t want to live under the yoke of institutionalized education don’t just decide to go away somewhere, the answer is very simple: the putrefied world of power cannot coexist with a decentralized society in which there is no power. Real freedom isn’t limited by the framework of legality and democratic rights. And as far as rebellious members of institutionalized education are concerned, their role is none other than to sabotage it. Therefore, I also take responsibility for having participated in the school occupation in question. I am in agreement with every bit of vandalism done and being done in any school.
Certainly, reality is always chaotic. No system is perfect whenever it is affected by incalculable external factors. Thus, deviant behavior also manifests itself in school, along with unruly students, teachers who don’t do their jobs well, heroes as well as antiheroes. When these phenomena are sifted into the broadest framework—that of society—they become nothing other than crime and the fight against it. Gangsterism and crime naturally can’t be defended unless they develop the appropriate political characteristics. Otherwise, they would be nothing more than the other side of the same coin—that of society. And capitalism has shown just how well it can assimilate such cases.
Therefore, as a revolutionary and an anarchist then and now, I don’t regret for a single moment my decisions against the regime. At the same time, I haven’t stopped evolving, on the level of theory as well as my practice. From stones to bullets, and from conscious revolutionary illegalism to my captivity in the hands of the state. It’s with these decisions and experiences that I fill my personal voyage of wild and fascinating involvement in revolution. A voyage that continues to this very day, as a political prisoner.
Because that’s exactly the revolutionary evolution I propose and support as a choice for all revolutionary beings. Everything evolves, but any stagnant viewpoint or practice becomes dogma. Whoever allows their point of view to become stale and calcified, no matter how much progress they’ve already made, will in every instance be buried by their own contradictions.
Wars are won by the cleverest, the strongest, the most capable of adapting. Surprise ruptures in social space-time leave the enemy camp materially, ethically, and ideologically paralyzed, regardless of its potential superiority. Against it, all we have to offer are our weapons. What we want and what we will do is to launch furious attacks against this society’s structures and values, arming our consciences to steal our own freedom. Revolution first and always.
—Theofilos Mavropoulos, political prisoner, A Wing, Korydallos Prison
Tags: Fuck the Law, Greece, Juvenile Court, Korydallos Prison, Statement, Theofilos Mavropoulos
Posted in Prison Struggle
Text written by the three imprisoned members of Revolutionary Struggle about the trial of the organization which will start on October 5, 2011 (Greece)
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
The trial of the organization Revolutionary Struggle, which will begin on October 5, is the continuation of the repressive attack of the State which started in April 2010 with our arrests against the organization Revolutionary Struggle and of course the fighters involved in it.
The main purpose of the arrests, the trial but also the sentences to many years’ imprisonment that will be pronounced by the Special Court, is that the State will be able to eliminate the political threat of Revolutionary Struggle, bend our will to fight, make every fighter and every resisting person think that the political choice of armed action is hopeless, unrealistic and with no prospects.
The challenge for the State is to politically defeat Revolutionary Struggle, to defeat us, who participate in it, to defeat armed struggle and in perspective bend any desire to organize an armed proletarian counter-attack on the regime and its overthrowal and any will for an armed revolutionary attempt. Both the action of Revolutionary Struggle and the repressive policy against it are inseparable from the existing historical context, the persecution, imprisonment, trial and our condemnation concern the elimination of a political force that had and still has as its tactic the undermining of the plans of the economic and political elites to financially destroy the majority of society in the name of getting out of the system’s crisis.
The protection of the economic and political state from a threat such as Revolutionary Struggle and ensuring through repression that no armed revolutionary attempt against it will occur, has become particularly urgent lately now that the Greek State is just about to announce its final bankruptcy while the occupation by the Greek government, the IMF, the ECB and the EU is plunging the country deeper and deeper into the most cruel, brutal form of exploitation and oppression that this country has seen since the second world war.
As part of dealing with Revolutionary Struggle, the arrest and capture of members of the organization, comrades V. Stathopoulos, S. Nikitopoulos and C. Kortesis, who will be tried with us, were also arrested, while comrade K. Katsenas is still in hiding.
As well as the four comrades, who are not involved in the organisation, the State sought to widen the circle of hostaged fighters by going into massive interrogations in October 2010. At the same time they delivered a summons to K. Gourna’s companion, Marie Beracha, who will be tried with us on October 5. The State has involved M. Beracha, making a clear attempt to personally strike comrade K. Gournas, curb his desire for resistance and thereby harm the organization itself.
Despite the fact that the move of massive investigations was unproductive in terms of further prosecutions, it was definitely an opportunity to exercise further pressure on us, since by intimidating a large number of comrades, it aimed at our political isolation from the political milieu to which we belong.
Moreover, our political isolation is always an aim of the State since it is a necessary condition for achieving the final goal in the war conducted against us: our political extermination.
As a result, the attack on Revolutionary Struggle can also be interpreted as the prosecution of other comrades and the targeting of the broader political and interpersonal relations within the anarchist milieu, while a broader effort to intimidate anyone who resists is always an objective of any punitive attack.
During our trial, as members of Revolutionary Struggle who took political responsibility for participating in the organization, we can only have armed struggle as our main and central point of reference.
Our trial will be a field of political confrontation with Capital and the State; it will be a political step to defend the action and positions of our organization, where we will claim that armed struggle is over time an integral part of the revolutionary movement of the struggle and social revolution. That armed struggle is more suitable and necessary than ever, especially under the current conditions of economic crisis and modern totalitarianism that we experience after placing the people under the authority of the international financial elite by violently imposing the agenda of troika, IMF, ECB and EU.
We will defend, as we have already done, comrade L. Foundas, a member of the organization killed in a gunfight with cops during an action of the organization in preparation for an attack against the regime, an attack in accordance with the strategy of Revolutionary Struggle so as to confront the current junta of Capital and State.
As members of Revolutionary Struggle we are consistent in promoting the views and opinions of the organization from the prison and we will do the same in court.
The action and aim of Revolutionary Struggle is associated with the struggle against neoliberal globalization, with a strategy and perspective that sees the current economic crisis and consequent de-validation of the economic and political system in the eyes of the social majority, as a unique opportunity to promote the overthrowal of Capitalism and the State.
All this, which we have mentioned before in texts that we sent out from prison, will emerge in our forthcoming trial.
Within the framework of our political advocacy we made an international call of solidarity calling as political witnesses to our trial comrades who have previously fought in the ranks of armed struggle under different economic, political and social conditions and who have remained adamant and unrepentant concerning their choices and defended their struggles, paying for them with many years in prison.
Our aim is to highlight the continuity of armed struggle through a historical record of the guerrilla, to highlight the necessity and opportuneness of armed struggle as a necessary tool of the revolutionary movement, to highlight that the struggle for freedom and revolution is continuous.
We also believe that there is an imperative need to organize an international revolutionary movement. Very important to our trial is also a statement of solidarity from our comrades witnesses from the anarchist milieu who, as activists operating in other forms of struggle, through their words affirm the unity and diversity of struggling to overthrow power, annulling the divisive dilemmas of the latter such as “legality or illegality” or “mass struggle and armed struggle.” After all, we come from the anarchist milieu and have many years of experience participating in mass events, demonstrations, squats; in clashes in the streets and assemblies, as well as, some of us, experience of participating in collectives and groups.
[We also aim to highlight] the proposals of Revolutionary Struggle such as the destruction of the State and the imperative need for social self-organization and self-management, as recorded through the organization’s proclamations and through the texts written in prison, come from the traditional anarchist movement.
For us, armed struggle is a strategic plan of attack against sovereignty while pursuing the possibility of a social address, with the aim always being the sharpening of the social and class war against the State and Capital, the propaganda of armed proletarian counter-attack to overthrow the system, and social revolution.
Finally, to note that not only our arrest and detention haven’t swayed us, as our pursuers hoped, but that we are stronger than ever.
Also, that in this political battle that we will give in court and despite the years of imprisonment that will be imposed by the straw men of the regime, in the end we are the ones who will be the victors.
The members of Revolutionary Struggle
Pola Roupa, Kostas Gournas, Nikos Maziotis
“kim”/sysiphus/actforfreedomnow!
Tags: Christoforos Kortesis, Kostas Gournas, Lambros Foundas, Maria Beraha, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa, Repression, Revolutionary Struggle, Sarantos Nikitopoulos, Trial, Vaggelis Stathopoulos
Posted in Prison Struggle
Solidarity with the comrades of Revolutionary Struggle from anarchist anti-fascist prisoner Thomas Blak (UK, Greece)
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
SOLIDARITY WITH THE COMRADES OF R. S
I send you my support and hopes of strength for the trial.
A spectacle set up by corrupt judges, cops and politicians.
In the north, we will raise a clenched fist through the barred windows of the English prisons, high towards the sky.
Never losing sight of our goal.
Sharing dreams of freedom and victory.
With determination and courage, united we will succeed.
No one is free until all are free.
Fire to the prisons and the states that create them.
T. Blak
28/09/2011
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TEXT IN GREEK
ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΟΥΣ ΤΟΥ Ε.Α.
Σας στέλνω την υποστήριξή μου και τις ελπίδες δύναμης για τη δίκη.
Ένα θέαμα που έχει στηθεί από διεφθαρμένους δικαστές, μπάτσους και πολιτικούς.
Στο βορρά, θα υψώσουμε μια σφιγμένη γροθιά μέσα απʼτα κάγκελα των παραθύρων των Αγγλικών φυλακών, ψηλά προς τον ουρανό.
Ποτέ μην λησμονείτε τον στόχο μας.
Ας μοιραστούμε τα όνειρα της ελευθερίας και της νίκης.
Με αποφασιστικότητα και θάρρος, ενωμένοι θα πετύχουμε.
Κανείς δεν είναι ελεύθερος έως ότου όλοι να είναι ελεύθεροι.
Φωτιά στις φυλακές και στα κράτη που τις δημιουργούν.
T. Blak
28/09/2011
Tags: Greece, International Solidarity, Letter, Revolutionary Struggle, Thomas Blak, UK
Posted in Anti-Fascist, Prison Struggle
Letter from Revolutionary Struggle – Solidarity to Andrea ‘Andi’ Stauffacher (Greece, Switzerland)
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Dear comrades,
We, the imprisoned fighters of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle, express our solidarity with comrade Andi, member of the Revolutionärer Aufbau in Switzerland and the Secours Rouge International (International Red Aid), who is accused for arsons by the Swiss State.
Any incrimination of a comrade, anywhere in the world, is incrimination of all who fight against the Capital and the State.
In our struggle it is important to develop international solidarity, especially among the fighters, in our era where the war carried out by the international financial elite, the States and the governments against the people to support the current capitalist system is aggravated because of repression and state terrorism.
International solidarity is a relationship that not only connects and continues our struggle, but can also lay the foundation for the creation of an international revolutionary movement, the organization of which is now more necessary than ever, and can benefit from the present systemic crisis to attempt the overthrow of the current capitalist system and the State.
International solidarity is a necessary condition for worldwide social revolution.
No prosecution against comrade Andi
Freedom to all imprisoned fighters in the world
Pola Roupa, Kostas Gournas, Nikos Maziotis
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Beginning of the trial against Andi: September 28th, 2011, 10.15 am, Viale Stefano Franscini 3, 6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland
Tags: Andrea 'Andi' Stauffacher, Greece, International Solidarity, Kostas Gournas, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa, Revolutionary Struggle, Switzerland
Posted in Prison Struggle
Comrade Luciano ‘Tortuga’ new court date (Chile)
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Luciano ‘Tortuga’ Pitronello, wounded comrade in action, has next been demanded to appear before the court on November 22 2011, for the explosive attack against Santander Bank in Santiago, Chile, June 1 2011.
Tags: Chile, Luciano Pitronello Schuffeneger, Repression, Santiago
Posted in Prison Struggle
International Proposal from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (Greece)
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Note: Updated corrected email address – sinomosiapf (at) yahoo (dot) gr
To all anarchist prisoners:
Prison is the country of prisoners. From here inside, we want to send greetings to our comrades imprisoned around the world, as well as set a proposal in motion.
In the country of prisoners, the days go by one after the other, slow and indifferent, while everywhere cement and an immense boredom prevail.
Nevertheless, our minds often escape and secretly visit our brothers and sisters imprisoned in Chile, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England, Russia, Denmark, and wherever else there are cells full of people who haven’t lost the desire for freedom.
Comrades, we talk to you even though we don’t speak the same language. We see you even though we’ve never met face-to-face. We smile at you even though we don’t know one another.
The enemy believes it can break our morale by locking us up in its cells for months and years. Power thus expects to receive a declaration of remorse, a renunciation of direct action, a revision of our anarchist values.
But the only thing it will receive is our utter contempt and our most potent rage. All of us who have assumed responsibility for belonging to the first phase of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire expect sentences of many years—condemnation by a system we have declared war on because we will not tolerate it governing our lives.
We want to transform the upcoming trial of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire into a trial of the system.
By way of our discourse and our attitude, it won’t be us defending ourselves in front of the judges, but they defending themselves in front of us for the crimes committed by the Power they serve.
At the same time, we want to draw attention to the fascist mechanism constructed to persecute us via the collaboration of the police, the judiciary, and the mass media.
A mechanism that launched an unprecedented anti-anarchist campaign whose goal was not just our arrest, but also the creation of a climate of widespread fear in which even the possession of previously published texts by anarchist prisoners could lead to a date with the prosecutor.
This was preceded by numerous detentions, the issuing of arrest warrants, the publication of photos of those of us who were at large, mass media screenplays about “connections between all the guerrilla organizations,” reports about the “revolutionary fund” and our participation in bank robberies, “specialist” analyses of each of our “psychological profiles,” and many other methodical schemes whose objective was to isolate us morally and marginalize anarchist urban guerrilla warfare.
The State wants to wipe the choice of anarchist direct action off the map of values held by subversive circles.
It wants to portray direct action as a futile decision that leads directly to prison, changing nothing.
However, when you choose direct action, you choose to take your life into your own hands.
Through direct action, we break away from stagnant thinking, we negate spineless movements, and we sabotage the clocks of discipline, creating free time and space within the hostile environment of the metropolis.
There, where surveillance cameras record our every move, uniformed police pigs memorize our faces, and the screens of the spectacle fabricate our desires, we once again don our masks. Our hands grab hold of stones, Molotovs, bombs, pistols, and we pour into the streets in search of freedom.
Now, even in prison, we don’t ever forget that feeling, and we’ll do exactly the same thing again the first chance we get.
We therefore don’t want intellectuals, university professors, or any of the well-known hacks from leftist cliques defending us at our trial.
What do any of them know about the adventure of direct action and its values?
What can be said by those who spend all day firmly seated in their comfortable offices, chitchatting against the system from the vantage point of their leftist salon culture while that very system feeds them?
No, let them keep their “sensitivity” and the guilt they feel for having sold out to the Power that wants to portray us as “troubled, socially impressionable youths.”
We’re not looking for fake sympathy or support from the Left. Far from it. We seek accomplices to the same crime: the fight for anarchy and freedom.
There can be no more appropriate place for our search than the prisons that constitute an obligatory stop on the path of many anarchist comrades.
Therefore, comrades, we present you with a proposal/invitation.
In a few months the second Conspiracy of Cells of Fire trial will be held.
Even now we know that they will sentence us, and not for one minute will we take a step back, nor will we lower our heads or our voices in order to benefit from some “extenuating circumstance.”
Therefore, there can be no better or stronger argument for our defense that your own voice, comrades. It’s from your expressions of solidarity and the attacks carried out by anarchist direct action groups that we draw the courage to look our persecutors directly in the eye. Surely you’ve felt the same thing, imprisoned in other countries and paying the same price for our shared passion for freedom.
More specifically, what we’re thinking about and proposing is to release, ahead of the trial, a pamphlet containing your international words of solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire case.
At the same time, given that solidarity is a reciprocal concept to us, we’d like it if those of you who want to contribute something—thereby giving us strength and support—accompany it with an introductory text explaining your own case.
The pamphlet we want to release will thus include summaries of each of your cases, carrying your own experience of struggle to Greece and the other countries where the publication will be distributed, creating new opportunities to instigate hostilities with the system as part of international solidarity.
Together we will create an international experience of struggle that far exceeds our specific case, since we don’t view the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire as the simple calling card of an organization. We view it as a way of being that describes and comprises the features and trajectory of the anarchist struggle we’re all engaged in, another part of which is our time spent in prison.
This is an experience we want to share with all you comrades who find yourselves prisoners in the hands of the State, and it’s simultaneously a proposal through which we can also be accomplices to your experiences.
It thus becomes possible to reach, within international anarchist circles, a level of unity and coordination that isn’t vague, but essential.
Contact between comrade prisoners at an international level transforms solidarity into a revolutionary workshop, revealing the different perceptions that shape a joint anarchist action front.
The first contact between us will be capable of creating the preconditions that open up an international dialogue among prisoners as well as comrades on the other side of the prison walls—a dialogue in which each person’s specific perceptions and analyses can be discussed, thereby promoting coordinated attacking actions against the State. Of course, this doesn’t mean the fusion or the dismissal of different opinions
Additionally, such differences cannot and must not be obstacles to reciprocal support.
This is about trying to move from sympathy, which has developed among us through letters and shared textual references, to international coordination. It’s about trying to become accomplices, together forming the Black International of anarchist prisoners and supporting—if so desired—our Italian comrades’ proposal regarding the strengthening and broadening of the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front.
The potentialities opened by this commitment are enormous, since it concerns a process of intensifying hostilities between revolutionary anarchists and the system.
It’s worth imagining the strength gained by something that, for example, begins in Chilean prisons, crosses borders, and winds up in the cells of Greece. An international solidarity campaign can thus be initiated from prison, just like in the past when it was a matter of supporting comrade Gabriel Pombo da Silva.
At the same time, the formation of an autonomous network of communication among prisoners creates the appropriate preconditions for the existence of a permanent flow of information about what’s going on in each prison, the conditions of imprisonment, upcoming trials, potential sentences, and ultimately the preparation of a counterattack plan by comrades outside prison.
For each sentenced comrade, for each disciplinary measure, for each prohibited letter or visit, for each vindictive transfer: no guard, no embassy, and no police officer should feel safe. When prisoners have the potential to communicate in their hands, there will be decisive comrades everywhere responding with action, sabotage, and fire.
We consider the proposal to release the International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet to be the first step in that direction.
There will certainly be many more steps to come, but at some point one must simply begin.
In conclusion, we salute and stand beside—with our thoughts as well as our hearts—the Chilean comrades charged in the Bombings Case and also comrade Tamara, who is facing State persecution for sending a letter-bomb.
From the prisons of Greece we send anarchist smoke signals to Mónica Caballero, Andrea Urzúa, El Viejo Loco, and the rest of the comrades charged in the Bombings Case; Gabriel Pombo da Silva; Thomas Meyer-Falk; Marco Camenisch; Silvia, Billy, and Costa; Braulio Arturo; Walter Bond; Villarroel and Fuentevilla; Thomas Black and the English antifascists; the imprisoned Italian insurrectionists; the Russians and Belarusians; the Danes; and all those we’ve forgotten or whose names we simply don’t know but want to know, because all of us have together chosen to sail against our epoch, using anarchy as our compass.
The following excerpt is dedicated to us all:
One day of prison. Two days of prison. Three days of prison. A month of prison.
The door closes and opens, then closes and opens again. Three months of prison. A year of prison. I need to know if others are thinking about me as much as I’m thinking about them. The days can’t go by fast enough now. Four-hundred-eighty-two days of prison. Four-hundred-eighty-three days of prison. Four-hundred-eighty . . . I’ve lost count. Fuck. It’s better that way. Counting is no good in prison. The arithmetic makes no sense whatsoever. Prison has its own smell. A smell that gets all over you and follows you around. I’ll never manage to get it off me. Yesterday marked two calendars in prison. Two fucking years. I don’t get any sleep. I’ve forgotten how to smile and now I can’t dream. “Clink clink” in the night. They wake me up for a search. Maybe they’ll find the shanks? Seven-hundred-fifty-one days of prison. Are you satisfied, my dear judges? Pigs. Seven-hundred-fifty-two days of prison, pigs. Seven-hundred-fifty-three pigs. Coming and going and off I go. Coming and going and off I go. My cell is three meters by three meters. From the second floor window I see 20% of the sky over the top of the fucking prison wall. I walk through the yard like an automaton. I walk kilometers in a yard measuring just a few meters. Boredom and boredom again. Today I vomited up my very soul. I vomited bars, walls, solitary confinements, years of prison, judicial sentences. I vomited three years of prison. I don’t want to count anymore. I completely close my eyes and think. I think about my comrades, whom they’re keeping far away from me in other prisons. I think about fires on the prison roofs. I think about everything prison has tried to make me forget. I think about a smile, a caress, a journey that doesn’t end over there where the wall ends, a glance that isn’t trapped behind the fucking prison bars. I stop thinking. I open my hand. I look at the metal file I have. Now I know. I know exactly what I have to do. Let’s go then, once again. This time with feeling. Until the end. Long live Anarchy.
—An altered excerpt from the text signed by J. and V.
LONG LIVE THE CONSPIRACY OF CELLS OF FIRE. LONG LIVE THE INFORMAL ANARCHIST FEDERATION/INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY FRONT.
P.S. The current proposal to release the International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet will be mailed to all our imprisoned comrades around the world. In order to counteract potential difficulties (censored correspondence), and due to the lack of information regarding certain comrade prisoners (unknown prison mailing addresses), our proposal will also be posted on anarchist Web sites. But what’s crucially needed is that our comrade prisoners be informed. All responses, texts, comments, and critiques can be sent by e-mail to sinomosiapf (at) yahoo (dot) gr and by conventional mail to:
Post Box 51076
TK 14510 Nea Kifissia
Athens
Greece
— Imprisoned Members of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Panayiotis Argyrou, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Christos Tsakalos, Giorgos Polydoras, Damiano Bolano, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Olga Economidou
Tags: 14/14, Braulio Arturo, Chile, Christos Tsakalos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Damiano Bolano, Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Polydoras, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet, Marco Camenisch, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Olga Economidou, Panayiotis Argyrou, Proposal, Thomas Blak, Thomas Meyer Falk, Walter Bond
Posted in Prison Struggle
Solidarity Demo to Luciano Pitronello ‘Tortuga’ at the Chilean Embassy in London (UK)
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Today, September 22, 2011 a group of comrades paid a visit to the Chilean embassy in London in solidarity with Luciano ‘Turtle’ Pitronello, on the day he is due to appear in court to be formally charged concerning an attack on a bank in Santiago which resulted in him being seriously wounded.
A long banner was immediately unfolded outside the embassy as other comrades tried to enter. The embassy officials refused to open the door and within seconds sirens could be heard screaming. Five motorbike cops arrived, followed shortly after by a red cop car with armed special cops. Everybody in the small group stood their ground, shouting ‘FREEDOM TO LUCIANO PITRONELLO; ALL STATES ARE TERRORIST; HANDS OFF MAPUCHE LAND’.
This attracted the attention of neighbours, building workers and passersby, most of whom were curious to know who Luciano was and why we were there. Many took leaflets and actually read them, more than a few wishing ‘Good luck’!
As they left, the comrades continued to display the banner, walking (followed by the cops on motorbikes) along the streets housing some of the biggest mafias on the planet and their henchmen – Buckingham Palace, Scotland Yard, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, etc etc. Some tourists snapped pictures of the banner and took leaflets.
Greetings, Luciano, from some rebel spirits in London, and also from a few strangers who for a moment were jolted out of their daily routine. Your strength and courage are inspiration and instigation.
“Forward everyone! And with arms and heart, sword and pen, dagger and gun, irony and curse, theft, poisoning and arson, let’s make… war on society! …” (Dejacque)
THE LEAFLET HAND OUT TODAY:
FROM PINOCHET’S DICTATORSHIP TO PINERA’S DEMOCRACY
All over the world young people are fighting for their lives, their future. They have been born into a reality that can no longer conceal the massive gulf between the minority active in plundering the resources of the planet and the great masses who are being made to pay for their voracious greed and the consequences of related investment and banking procedures.
All this is carried out within the context of democracy, its rhetoric, moral imperatives and daily deception by the media aimed at perpetrating this swindle. People are brainwashed into accepting integration and collaboration in this ‘society’ as the only possible life perspective, while at the same time, due to the very needs of the mechanisms of post-industrial capital, they are excluded from doing so from school onwards.
In Chile this process has come to the attention of the world thanks to the massive protests that have been taking place over recent months and are still going on. Everybody knows about Pinochet’s ruthless dictatorship and are happy and relieved at the thought that Chile, like the other ex-dictatorships of Latin America, are now well-established democracies. But the people of Chile are no longer prepared to suffer this new form of oppression in silence. The Mapuche people have fought ceaselessly against the theft of their land and plundering of its resources to feed international capital. Since 2004 anarchist and anti-authoritarian action has grown explosively, in the streets, neighbourhoods and universities, showing the rejection of authority, the State and Capitalism. Over recent months university and school students have occupied their colleges and taken to the streets in an attempt to overturn years of neo-liberal education policies such as mass privatisation, and massive cuts in education budgets. In struggles which extended to teachers and school pupils as well as students all sorts of tactics have been tried alongside the mass demonstrations in the streets in which two young people have been killed by the police. There have been massive arrests and huge public support for the demonstrators, including the banging of pots and pans by residents of Santiago.
In this context many diverse groups have decided to pass to the offensive, attacking banks, police stations, churches, shopping centres and other structures of oppression and exploitation. In this way they are recognising who the real enemies are and where they conceal themselves, at times boldly entering the panoptical urban labyrinth to strike them, only to disappear into the night. These small attacks are carefully planned not to hurt or wound anybody, only to damage the structures of power.
But one freezing dawn of the month of May 2009, a young anarchist Mauricio Morales, is killed when the explosive charge he was carrying blew up in his hands. Following his death that was grotesquely exploited by the media, police invaded his surroundings and circle of comrades. After years of investigation the diverse police organisms had been incapable of finding the people responsible for the attacks. It takes its revenge by attacking 14 people and accusing them of forming an illicit terrorist association and carrying out the majority of these attacks in a sensational media-propelled ‘Bombs Case’ which is visibly crumbling after continuous struggle by the accused and their comrades.
In spite of such attempts by the forces of repression to silence these forms of struggle, there are still those who use all the instruments possible to fight against power.
Sadly on June 1, 2011, a terrible accident stains a new date in the calendar with blood. That cold dawn anarchist comrade Luciano Pitronello, 22 years, takes the terrible blast of the shockwave of a homemade bomb placed in a bank.
Luciano is severely wounded. His right hand and three fingers of the left one have been amputated. His eyes are seriously damaged and he can only distinguish indistinct forms. His hearing has been damaged and he has had dozens of skingrafts to his body. He continues to struggle, pushing his body to heal and facing the moral and judicial consequences.
In fact, today, 22 September 2011, Luciano (Turtle), will face the formalization of the charges against him in front of the Chilean judges. Still convalescing from his wounds and wearing a special suit for burns, Luciano will have to appear before a crowded room not only of judges lawyers and police, but also the mercenary journalists. The revenge he will receive is double – judicial and exemplary in order to give a clear signal to all those who go beyond the submissive citizen routine and the peace of cemetries imposed by normality. Power yearns to turn the life of our comrade Turtle into the example of punishment, to instill fear and stagnation into all the dissident sectors of the democratic theatre.
Immediate freedom for Luciano Pitronello!
Love and solidarity. Your rebellion has not been lost in this ocean of filth.
Anarchists in solidarity
Tags: Chile, Demo, Embassy, International Solidarity, London, Luciano Pitronello Schuffeneger, UK
Posted in Prison Struggle
Active Solidarity with Luciano Pitronello, Tortuga – September 22 (Chile)
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
For the spreading of action
Anarchist and anti-authoritarian dissidence has grown explosively in Chile since 2004. In the streets, neighbourhoods and universities a presence has increased without a doubt, showing the rejection of authority, State and Capitalism.
In this context many diverse groups have decided to pass to the offensive illegal struggle against the State.
In this optic they have attacked various bank agencies, police stations, churches and amusement centres of the bourgeoisie and the rich with explosive devices.
Each one of the attacks is claimed in political communiques with names of dead fighters we want to remember. They are carefully planned not to hurt or damage anybody, only the structures chosen to be attacked.
This fact is not insignificant, because there is evidence of a precise recognition of what is the enemy, and where it hides itself, not confusing it with anyone. This demonstrates in the long term, a projectuality of struggle and not the simple desire to appear, as happens with militarists drifts, the adrenalin fetish, or ego-driven action.
So, the attacks follow one another, increasing in boldness and complexity over the years. Power is tricked from the very interior of the panoptical city, which is why it is made to feel the hysterical rage sweating out from the ministerial palaces. So the hunt begins, the judicial but also media persecution unfolds. Known anarchists, ex- political prisoners and those who have transformed practical vindicated solidarity into a continuous way of life, are threatened and persecuted by pro-government and official means.
After years of investigations, interception of telephone calls, pursuits, shootings and search points, the diverse police organisms are incapable of finding the people responsible for the attacks.
But one freezing dawn of the month of May was to make the police lighten their step. The 22 of May of 2009, anarchist comrade Mauricio Morales (27 years) is killed. The explosive charge that he was carrying blows up in his hands, killing him in the act.
He was on his way to the gendarmerie school, an institution that has links with the jails of the whole country, directly responsible for the confinement of hundreds of thousands of prisoners.
Following the death of the comrade Mauri the police immediately dart towards his surroundings and circle of comrades. So, the anti-cultural spaces that Mauri visited are pointed at and attacked, the same day and over the following months.
Houses searched, comrades kidnapped, okupas (squats) are evicted and the circles are narrowed. Beyond the accuracy or falsity of the conjectures of power, what is certain is that those with relations of affection and comradeship will be struck and harassed.
Anybody that has shared something with the comrade Mauri and who does not accept remaining in silence as a form of memory, will be immediately swell the list of suspects.
In spite of the adverse context, there are still clenched fists, comrades that do not shut up, that are still not resigned… there are those who smile with each overflowing act of rebelliousness. The pain is terrible, but many attacks change the pain into rage. The permanent scar will remind them every day of the loss of the comrade.
The attacks follow and the look of shame on the powerful takes a walk exasperated, because direct action even arrives two blocks away from the president’s home. The anarchists are laughing and they are laughing loudly.
Power will take revenge for its incapacity to discover those responsible for the actions, attacking 14 comrades, prisoners, under the gross and fictitious accusation of forming an illicit terrorist association. This group would be responsible for at least 30 of the attacks produced in the capital city.
The investigations, denominated by the press the “Bombs case”, forcibly and capriciously regroups 14 people who did not know each other, that have no links in some cases, even politically.
The charges that weigh on the comrades are a gross and ignorant blow, because historically anarchists have never have regrouped around a leader or cupola. The illicit association, as a concept , attacks the basis of anarchist horizontal organization, the only real thing about the application of this charge and concept is the increasing of possible sentences.
Power is smiling through the press, because revenge has been unleashed on a diffuse area that questions the very existence of authority. It’s raining insults and the fear is spreading, making many retreat and stay in silence and remaining silent as their only answer.
In spite of that, not everything is silenced, there still exist those who use all the instruments possible to fight against power.
Sadly, on June 1, of 2011, a terrible accident stains a new date in the calendar with blood. That cold dawn comrade Luciano Pitronello, Turtle, (22 years) takes the terrible blast of the shockwave of a homemade bomb placed in a bank. The comrade Turtle advances wounded and in shock, while the security cameras record those crucial minutes. The fire devours his clothes while his steps are disoriented by the pain.
The press arrives at the spot almost immediately. Like the good mercenaries that they are, they point their cameras with morbid intention to hurt the feelings of Turtle and his dear ones.
This is the way that the comrade is filmed : wounded and naked, covered in gunpowder and screaming in pain. These images will be repeated continuously as the best advertisement of the misery that represents capital and its culture of arrogance.
“A comrade is wounded and in the hands of the police, that is reason enough to support and show solidarity”….
Turtle is transferred to a hospital, where his right hand and three fingers of the left one are amputated from him. His eyes are seriously damaged and he is only able to distinguish indistinct forms. His hearing has also been damaged, and he has had dozens of skingrafts of his own skin.
He is badly wounded and his condition is serious. Even so, he manages to go forward, to push his body in spite of facing a very complex situation, as much in terms of health as in the moral and judicial consequences.
Almost 4 months after Turtle’s accident, the comrade left the clinic where he was being held, and transferred to the home of his mother, where he remains under police and family monitoring.
Sadly, in all these months, not only has his nuclear family collaborated with the police organisms giving the names of Turtle’s circle of friends, but they have also publicly discredited the ideas and way of life of our comrade Turtle.
This lamentable fact reminds us of other experiences, where even brothers or couples decided to collaborate with the police, due to fear or for economic reward.
Very different from the combative and supportive attitude that other parents and families who have come out into the streets for many years, demanding the freedom of their dear ones or rescuing their names from oblivion.
Respect for the ideas and decisions of their sons and daughters is essential for those who do not become collaborators of their relatives’s enemies.
Turtle’s partner, with whom he has a 3 year old daughter, has been supportive of the comrade, but also has been the target of the revenge of the press and of justice. Her home has being raided and her personal life has been put on display as a way to break her morale.
Face to face with the enemy
This September 22, the comrade Turtle will have to face the formalization of charges in front of the Chilean judges. That day Capital, the Chilean State and its powers, will wreak revenge on the comrade. Revenge that has been meticulously orchestrated and prepared, for every detail strikes him accurately.
Comrade Luciano, still convalescing from his wounds and wearing a special suit for burns, will have to appear before a crowded room not only of judges, lawyers and gendarmes, but also of mercenary journalists. Who will no doubt photograph each of his wounds and film any difficulty the comrade has in moving.
Therefore the revenge that he will receive is composed of two factors, one entirely judicial, because the comrade will face a court who represents the bourgeois and democratic social order. A court that will not hesitate a second in sentencing him to one long sentence in some modern extermination centre. With this, looking to give a clear signal to all those who decide to go beyond the submissive citizen routine and the peace of cemeteries imposed by normality.
But a second aspect, no less important, of the revenge orchestrated by Power against Luciano, has to do with the level of media exhibition.
The morbid spectacle that they will erect in that room of the court, has the aim of destroying the comrade, to make him collapse politically and psychically, to attack his moral and annihilate it. As also to strike those close to him and who are like him and support with him.
Power yearns to turn the life of our comrade Turtle into the example of punishment, to instill fear and stagnation into all the dissident sectors of the democratic theatre.
By punishing Turtle, they will try to punish all those who refuse to swallow the story of the social pact; there are already groups, anarchists, who are taking upon themselves an open offensive against capital state/, with its symbols and organizational forms, like also all the groups and individual students that in insurrectional ways are taking to the streets and leaving in them the sweat and the blood, after long days of confrontations with the police.
All of the context lived recently on that piece of land named Chile, constitutes one more of the scenarios of the social war like in various parts of the “globe”.
The overflowing of the “citizen protests ” of the uncontrollables, once again surpasses with deeds and words the desired social control and sense of normality that is installed through mass means.
It is in this same path of struggle and action, of persistence and courage, that Turtle took words and dreams, turning them into arms, attacking in spite of the possible consequences that we all know.
The State/Capital through its legal/mediatic/policial institutions is trying to establish its authority unquestioned. Public defamation, repression, jail and bullets will be some of the varied weapons that they will use with in the object of breaking the will and the actions of the irreducible ones that do not look for dialogue, because they are consumed in war against all authority.
In that sense fear, paralysis, passivity or silence concerning the situation that faces Luciano means to hand oneself over to the enemy. Our resignation against what happens with the comrade will give a victory to power and its control mechanisms.
The role of the journalists/police in the conflict.
The State, shamed by the lack of concrete results to give the people charged with the explosive attacks, is elaborating ridiculous theories, that they are trying to sustain with police stupidity, mass media and massive indifference.
Lamentably, Turtle’s accident grants them the perfect occasion to create an immense apparatus in the style of the old Roman circus to apply its laws.
In this process of public lynching not only police and judges have become jumbled, but the great mass media, who play a fundamental roll. Contributors, accomplices, collaborators and central place in the power relationships.
Not only do they work openly with the police, in addition they do not scrimp in efforts to publicly and morbidly exhibit the bodies of the comrades in the prisoners’ dock, exhibit their wounds or their dead bodies.
They exhibited our brother Mauri, showing his dead body, causing deep pain to his dear ones and comrades. They invented a supposed interview to false comrades of Mauri, eager only to discredit him and systematically attacked his surroundings of affection and commitment. They validated with infamous news articles, all the repressive game of the bomb case.
The insult that we have received from the journalists cannot be forgotten, it cannot be standardized and ingenuously believed that they are just the excesses of precise people. They have attacked, they have harmed our dignity and the privacy of our brothers and that humiliation must be returned, blow by blow, until they back down.
It is the work of the press, more and more committed in the direct fight against those who take up the offensive, that has generated gross stereotypes of those who fight. Their news articles instill paranoia and demonisation, generating concepts like “ vandals ”, “ soulless ” and “ violent ”, to mention a few.
In these days they give a prize to the good citizen, decree the minute of fame, for the stupid idiot ones that collaborate with the control organisms, or assume reactionary positions as informers in the student mobilizations.
But the footmen journalists have not stopped there, they took a further step in persecuting, coarsely denouncing and defamating the comrades in incredible ways. They have arrived at the point from which journalists like Max Frick and F.A.V.P. appear as protected witnesses in the Bomb case.
Their testimonies, plagued with lies and personal revenge, are trying to condemn the comrades in one of the most media orchestrated cases of recent times. For their declarations these two idiots receive protection and money from the State… their lives get fat and comfortable, while our brothers undergo confinement.
Our answer: solidarity
It is against these facts and against the police attack, that we must make clear that revolutionary solidarity, internationalism and active memory are substantial and indissoluble elements in all the process of struggle.
To the comrades who are in the front firing line receiving the blows of the power, we, from this small written gesture, shout with all our lungs: solidarity, memory and action!!!
All those directly facing Capitalism are our brothers, and we shout tears for those no longer physically with us. We have not forgotten them, we are all with you and in all the possible ways, always present, eternally present.
This is the moment in which the slogan “nobody is alone in the social war”, must acquire a special practical meaning. It depends on us, certainly, and on our real will to realise the common effort of solidarity.
All actions are extremely valuable and urgent: letters, pamphlets, discussion, agitation, bombs and fire, are feeding the indomitable spirit of our comrades.
For that reason the call is to organize solidarity this September 22. We must make our brother and comrade feel by means of all type of gestures, that the fighters of all parts of the globe are sharing this hard trial with him. Because the fight for freedom is one, inside and outside. Forgetfulness and silence… are characteristic only of traitors.
Debate, spread, attack, not one step back in front of the enemy.
Fire and more fire for Capitalism, their defenders and their false critics.
A fraternal greeting and total support to comrade Luciano at this difficult moment and those that may come.
Rebel spirits: they are not satisfied with being affected by what happens to Luciano… from words to acts, the actions will make us brothers, no matters how dark the night appears.
Active solidarity, with the comrades in Chile, Greece, Switzerland, Mexico, the USA and all the accomplices of the revolt in each corner of the world.
Freedom to all political prisoners! Fire to the jail, flight to the rebels!
To the streets for the young people assassinated during the student protests: Manuel Gutierrez and Mario Parraguéz, we do not want bourgeois justice, we look for revolutionary execution …..
In memory of our dear comrade Claudia Lopez, young anarchist assassinated by the police on September 11, 1998 in area of La Pincoya.
Black September of 2011.
Tags: Black September, Chile, International Solidarity, Luciano Pitronello Schuffeneger, Repression, Santander Bank
Posted in Prison Struggle
Communiqué from the Buenos Aires Support Network for Freddy, Marcelo, and Juan (Argentina & Chile)
Monday, September 19th, 2011
We never forget our imprisoned comrades. We don’t mystify our respect for them but neither are we indifferent to their everyday experience. Solidarity is not, as has been demonstrated on several occasions, just a beautiful word or a slogan, but a practice inseparable from our struggle. This can be expressed in many diverse ways, and there are moments when an idea takes shape with forcefulness and continuity. Given the delicate situation (in court and in prison) that faces our comrades Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, and Freddy Fuentevilla Saa, who are currently held captive in prisons of the Chilean state, several individuals from Buenos Aires have decided to form a new support network in order to provide updates and disseminate information about their situation, as well as hopefully assisting in their return to the streets.
As mentioned earlier in a communiqué published during the campaign to stop their deportation from Argentina, the discourse of the law (guilty/innocent) holds no validity for us because it refers to a language that isn’t ours.
We have never intended, and don’t intend now, to empty out the meaning of ideas and practices that threaten the State. We will always understand that while misery exists there will be rebellion, and because of this, our brothers are those who, one way or another, question and confront the system of authority we live in. We offer our solidarity to them, to be understood as an extension and intensification of their own struggle, which is ours as well.
We encourage other comrades to form new support networks or show solidarity in the way they see fit, to strengthen the struggle for Marcelo, Freddy and Juan’s freedom.
A brief summary
In October of 2007, a Santiago branch of Banco Security was robbed, during which a servant of the bourgeoisie (a cop) was killed. From that moment, a political, juridical, media and police campaign was launched, aiming to use this well-known incident in the anti-capitalist struggle to criminalize specific people: just like during the Pinochet dictatorship and the so-called democratic transition. Shortly afterwards, more precisely, on December 13th of that year, comrade Axel Osorio was arrested and sentenced to 3 years and 1 day in prison. Fortunately, he is now back in the streets.
Clearly, the search didn’t stop at that, and so on March 15th, 2008, in Neuquén Province, several police forces arrested comrades Freddy Fuentevilla and Marcelo Villarroel, as well as a third person who was soon deported to Chile and accused of “aiding”.
Freddy (an ex-militant of the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria/Revolutionary Left Movement]) and Marcelo (an ex-militant of the Mapu Lautaro and currently an anarchist comrade) were subjected to severe beatings and interrogations by the Chilean and Argentinean police, until at last they were transferred to Unit No. 11, a maximum security prison with a long history of torture by officers and jailers, and both charged with the possession of a weapon of war.
From that moment on the Chilean State began a frantic race to ensure the speedy extradition of the two rebels and bring them before a military tribunal. At the same time, support networks were formed in Buenos Aires, Neuquén, La Plata, Valparaíso, Santiago, etc, spreading news of the case to comrades and offering political asylum in Argentina.
Moreover, despite their constant subjugation by jailers and judges, Freddy and Marcelo have been able to get their voices and thoughts communicated through letters and telephone calls, which builds support from the other side of the walls. This has resulted in numerous activities such as: days of action, blockades of roads and train tracks, demonstrations and public events, concerts, lectures, debates, and direct actions of all kinds. These increased even more after November 17, 2008, when the comrades decided to begin a hunger strike, which finished on January 9, 2009, winning basic improvements in the conditions of their confinement. Before then, Freddy and Marcelo were isolated 23 hours a day without sunlight or contact with other prisoners.
We can’t fail to mention the solidarity that has developed around the expected repression unleashed by the state. One example is the imprisonment of comrade Andrea Urzua Cid on September 18, 2008, accused of trying to sneak explosives into Neuquén prison following an alleged escape attempt. She was released 48 days later, but was imprisoned again as a target in what the media calls the “bombs case” and is now on house arrest in Chile.
Nor do we forget the constant threats, and in some cases, beatings, which comrades from many regions were subjected to while in prison.
Finally, on December 15, 2009, the Argentinean state, by the hand of Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo and with the complicity of President Cristina Kirchner and Michelle Bachelet, signed the treaty for the extradition of Marcelo and Freddy from Argentina to Chile…
Another comrade arrested
On July 9, 2010, comrade Juan Aliste Vega (a fugitive since October 2007) was arrested at the bus station in Retiro. He was also accused of participating in the robbery of the Banco Security. The arrest was replayed for days in the mass media, as an exemplary achievement of the joint operation between Argentinean and Chilean police forces, making us wonder if there will be a repeat of Operation Condor [The counter-insurgency campaign operated by various South American states in the 1970's, with cooperation from the CIA]. Juan is locked up in Prison No. 1 of Ezeiza.
Immediate responses were organized, such as graffiti, leaflets, road blockades and communication of various forms, but this time the Argentinean government didn’t want trouble and decided to get rid of Juan quickly. He was expelled on July 22, but not before having been tortured by the federal prison service (prison guards), the anti-terrorist squad of the Argentinean Federal Police, as well as members of the Chilean investigative police, who have long been used in Argentina to find comrades who refuse to surrender themselves to the enemy’s courts…
The comrades’ current situation
Today, Marcelo, Freddy and Juan are in the High Security Prison of Santiago in Chile, awaiting the trial, which is expected to begin in November with several hearings. While the media incessantly reprints the pictures of the dead policeman’s widow, clamoring for revenge for their “loss” and President Piñera and his inferiors all spread the social condemnation of these three warriors, we know they are strong and in high spirits, proud of their decisions and of having followed through with them to the end.
We recently learned that, like Marcelo, Freddy and Juan were subjected to searches and punishments. Such is the behavior of wretches who are scared of what they don’t understand—they attack it. We proceed attentively, and once again urge comrades to express their solidarity with Freddy, Marcelo and Juan.
WHILE MISERY EXISTS, THERE WILL BE REVOLT!
ONLY STRUGGLE MAKES US FREE!
FREDDY FUENTEVILLA, MARCELO VILLARROEL, JUAN ALISTE, TO THE STREETS!
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL PRISONS, FOR FREEDOM!
Support Network, Buenos Aires
http://freddymarcelojuan.noblogs.org/
– freddymarcelojuan(at)yahoo.com
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Chile, Freddy Fuentevilla Saa, Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, Repression
Posted in Prison Struggle
Costantino Ragusa transferred to Regensdorf prison in Zurich (Switzerland)
Monday, September 19th, 2011
Our comrade Costantino “Costa” Ragusa, who had been locked up in Berne, was recently transferred to Regensdorf prison in Zurich. His new contact information is:
Costantino Ragusa
PF 3143
8105 Regensdorf
Switzerland
Tags: Costantino Ragusa, Prison Transfer, Switzerland
Posted in Prison Struggle
Combative Solidarity with Cristobal Bravo Franke (Chile)
Friday, September 16th, 2011
UPDATE : CRISTOBAL IS FREE UNDER JUDICIAL CONDITIONS TO SIGN AT THE POLICE-STATION TWICE A MONTH UNTIL THE TRIAL (THE DATE IS NOT DECLARED YET).
Urgent news of an arrest of a comrade in Chile, our quick translation:
Yesterday a vegan anti-authoritarian comrade, Cristobal Bravo Franke, was arrested and accused of being involved in an attack on a minion of power at the commemoration of September 11 in Chile (the date on which the military coup occurred in 1973 always has large anarchist/anti-authoritarian demos).
From the press, faithful followers of the police, they spout that the comrade was being investigated in the “Caso Bombas” (A case in which power, on 14 August last year, placed a vengeance against 14 comrades for scores of attacks they could not solve.), and Cristobal was watched and persecuted.
Unfortunately for the comrade, Attorney Alejandro Peña himself has taken his case, this bastard is responsible for implementing “Operation Salamander” (which was the official name of the so-called “Caso Bombas” by the press) that actually took 14 comrades to prison. …
On the other hand, we call to be cautious about the information which is coming out about the situation, because so far nothing is made public [other than this statement], as even the words of those who represent you in court is not significant until we hear the words of the comrade himself.
This does not mean that we stood still against this repression …
Desde acá te enviamos un abrazo en revuelta a tí y a tus cercanxs, hermanándonos en tu actitud beligerante frente al enermigo.
DEFEND THE COMBATIVE SPIRIT
URGENT SOLIDARITY WITH CRISTOBAL!
Tags: 14/14, Arrests, Chile, Cristobal Bravo Franke, Repression, September 11
Posted in Prison Struggle
Upcoming trial dates and updated contact info for anarchist comrades (Greece)
Friday, September 16th, 2011
From Culmine (September 14, 2011), via This is our Job:
Trial Dates
September 16
Aris Seirinidis: Charged with weapons possession.
Simos Seisidis: Charged with attempted murder of the pig who shot him from behind, leading to the amputation of Seisidis’ leg.
October 5
Costas Gournas: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Nikos Maziotis: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Pola Roupa: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Christoforos Kortesis: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Sarantos Nikitopoulos: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Vangelis Stathopoulos: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Maria Beraha: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
Unnamed fugitive comrade: Charges pertaining to Revolutionary Struggle.
October 18
Alexandros Kosivas: Charged with bank robbery.
Michalis Traikapis: Charged with bank robbery.
Maria Economou: Charged with bank robbery.
V. Polykratis: Charged with bank robbery.
Contact Info
Due to the frequent transfers of Conspiracy of Cells of Fire prisoners, a post office box has been set up for those wishing to communicate with them:
Post Box 51076
TK 14510 Nea Kifissia
Athens
Greece
If you use this address, USE THE ADDRESS ONLY. DO NOT WRITE THE NAMES OF SPECIFIC COMRADES ON THE OUTSIDE ENVELOPE.
As a “disciplinary measure” in response to his frequent intransigence and rebelliousness, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire prisoner Damiano Bolano was recently transferred to the prison in Nafplio. If you want to contact him directly, his new address is:
Damiano Bolano
Dikastiki Filaki Nafpliou
TK 21100 Argolis
Greece
Finally, the address for Christos Kolentinis, arrested on July 9 for a Molotov attack on the police:
Christos Kolentinis
Dikastiki Filaki Koridallou, A Pteryga
TK 18110 Korydallos
Athens
Greece
Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Greece, Revolutionary Struggle
Posted in Prison Struggle
Tamara Hernández sentenced to eight years in prison (Catalunya)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
The Court of Barcelona has sentenced anarchist Tamara Hernández Heras to eight years in prison for sending a letter-bomb to former Prison Services General Secretary Albert Batlle in October 2009.
Hernández was to be tried today in the seventh circuit of the Court of Barcelona, but she ultimately accepted the reduced sentence offered by the Prosecutor’s Office, settling for eight years in prison—half of what the Prosecutor’s Office initially requested, according to court sources.
Had Hernández not accepted the plea deal, the prosecutor would likely have pushed for a 16-year sentence—12 years for attempted murder and 4 years for possession of explosives.
Despite strict security measures, a demonstration protesting Hernández’ sentence was held at the entrance to the Court of Barcelona.
Tags: Barcelona, Catalunya, Repression, Tamara
Posted in Prison Struggle
Letter for anarchist Tamara Hernández from Greek anarchist prisoners (Greece, Catalunya)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
‘’Sincerely, can you hear the voices behind bars?
Can you spot the glances filled with hate, to feel the hearts fighting to remain free within bodies buried in the cement-made cages that you’ve built?
Even in the smallest and darkest cell, our thoughts pass through the walls, rise above every barbed wire and every vigilant warden’s eye and travel kilometres away to meet free spirits and consciences having the same desire: The desire for the absolute destruction of every prison.’’
Imprisoned in every corner of the world, we experience the oppression, the paranoia and the vindictiveness of the penitentiary system, in every moment of a life that is captured in the routine of an imprisoned daily life.
Such a struggle gave in Spain in autumn 2009 the anarchist bank robber Amadeus Casellas, who despite the fact that had served his sentence of 20 years imposed by his pursuers, he was still incarcerated. During the hunger strike in which went regarding this subject, a bomb parcel arrived on October the 7th in 2009 to the director of correctional prisons of Catalonia, Albert Battle who was in charge of his case.
On the 15th of December 2009, anarchist Tamara Hernández Zela Heraz was arrested as the sender of this parcel on charges of attempted murder. Comrade Tamara remained for some time in prison where she participated in the struggles of the prisoners’ movement and finally she is provisionally released. On the 14/09/2011 she will be tried about the bomb parcel case for which the competent Public Prosecutor has proposed a penalty of 16 years.
For us the struggle against the prison is neither innocent nor guilty, but an integral part of anarchist action. It doesn’t matter if the comrade did it or not, as the whole attitude and life perception she has is standing aggressively in front of sovereignty.
From the Greek prisons so we send our revolutionary greetings and a signal of solidarity to comrade Tamara.
No comrade wherever they are, they are not alone
For Anarchy and Revolution
Long live the Informal Anarchist Federation
Long live the International Revolutionary Front
The Anarchists POWs:
Giannis Skouloudis
Socratis Tzifkas
Dimitris Dimitsiadis
Babis Stulianidis
Theofilos Mauropoulos
The imprisoned members of CCF:
Panagiotis Argurou
Gerasimos Tsakalos
Michalis Nikolopoulos
Olga Economidou
Giorgos Nikolopoulos
Giorgos Poludoros
Haris Hatzimichelakis
Damiano Bolano
Christos Tsakalos
Tags: Amadeu Casellas, Babis Tsilianidis, Catalunya, Christos Tsakalos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Damiano Bolano, Dimitris Dimtsiadis, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Giannis Skouloudis, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Polydoros, Greece, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Olga Economidou, Panagiotis Argyrou, Socrates Tzifkas, Tamara, Theofilos Mavropoulos
Posted in Prison Struggle
Athens: Prisoners’ mutiny in Koridallos men’s prisons in solidarity with two members of the R.O. CCF (Greece)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
On Tuesday, September 13th, 275 inmates in the 1st wing of Koridallos men’s prisons refused to enter the prison cells in solidarity with two imprisoned members of the anarchist revolutionary organization Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, namely Gerasimos Tsakalos and Panagiotis Argirou who were transferred to Domokos prisons yesterday, September 12th.
Both refused to comply with the psychological torture of forcible full body search, and were attacked by warden Christos Kliaris and a group of the prison guards’ staff. The two political prisoners resisted the jailers’ blatant attack and threats, demonstrating that not all inmates remain apathetic to prison humiliating procedures and authorities.
The communiqué is co-signed by a total of 275 inmates who decided to remain outside the prison cells for three hours during midday. They dedicate their action to Gerasimos Tsakalos, Panagiotis Argirou and all prisoners that struggle for their dignity and have suffered tortures.
NEITHER CRIMINAL NOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
SET FIRE TO ALL PRISONS
FROM : http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net
Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Greece, Korydallos Prison, Letter, Panagiotis Argirou, Repression
Posted in Prison Struggle
International Call for Solidarity with the Revolutionary Struggle (Greece)
Saturday, August 6th, 2011
The 5th of October has been set as the day that the trial of the Revolutionary Organization – Revolutionary Struggle will begin. The trial will take place in the court room of Koridallos prisons.
Eight accused will stand trial, who according to a recent order of the Council of Appeals will be tried for participation in the organization.
Accused in the case of the Revolutionary Struggle are: N. Maziotis, P. Roupa, K. Gournas, Ch. Kortesis, V. Stathopoulos, S. Nikitopoulos, K. K., (not arrested he is on the run) and M. Beraha (K.Gournas wife).
Kortesis, Stathopoulos and Nikitopoulos were released from prison on terms recently, after two decisions of the council of Judges of appeals, since the Supreme Court applied a recantation on the first and another was made that ratified the decisions of the appeals judges.
The charges of each individual concern the felonies of constitution and participation in a terrorist organisation, supply manufacture and possession of explosive materials, explosions and numerous attempted homicides.
Revolutionary Struggle has made many attacks, among which the rocket launcher attack on the American embassy, on January 12th 2007 and the armed attack on cops on Bouboulinas street on January 5th 2009.
Revolutionary Struggle are thought to be responsible for the following attacks, all in Athens:
* September 5, 2003: Bombing at courthouse.
* March 14, 2004: Bombing at Citibank subsidiary in Psychico neighborhood.
* May 5, 2004: Bombing at police station in Perissos neighborhood.
* October 29, 2004: Bombing of police buses.
* June 2, 2005: Bombing at Labor Ministry.
* December 12, 2005: Bombing at Finance Ministry in Syntagma Square, near Parliament.
* May 30, 2006: Attempted assassination of Georgios Voulgarakis, former Minister of Public Order, now Minister of Culture.
* January 12, 2007: Wasp 58 LAW rocket attack on United States Embassy.
* April 30, 2007: Shots fired at police station in Nea Ionia neighborhood.
* October 24, 2008: Bombing at Shell offices in Palaio Faliro neighborhood.
* December 23, 2008: Shots fired at riot police bus near Athens University in Goudi neighborhood.
* January 5, 2009: Shots fired at police guarding Culture Ministry in Exarcheia neighborhood. One riot cop critically wounded.
* February 18, 2009: Car bombing at Citibank headquarters in Kifissia neighborhood. Bomb fails to detonate.
* March 9, 2009: Bombing at Citibank subsidiary in Nea Ionia neighborhood.
* May 12, 2009: Bombing at Eurobank subsidiary in Argyroupoli neighborhood.
* September 2, 2009: Car bombing causes serious damage to Stock Exchange building.
”’The three comrades who took responsibility for the actions of Revolutionary Struggle show that fighting for what you believe in is not a task that only the “elite” can take on. Its in everyone that has suffered in the system that has been created to control us. The state knows they are the real terrorists and as long as no one is fighting back they have nothing to fear. Its time to show them enough is enough and attack it with all means available.”’
SOLIDARITY TO THE 5 ACCUSED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE CASE
FREEDOM NOW TO N.MAZIOTIS, P.ROUPA AND K.GOURNAS
HONOUR FOR EVER TO ANARCHIST FIGHTER AND MEMBER OF REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE LAMBROS FOUNDAS
SOLIDARITY TO ALL IMPRISONED FIGHTERS
Tags: Athens, Christoforos Kortesis, Greece, International Solidarity, Korydallos Prison, Kostas Gournas, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa, Repression, Revolutionary Struggle, Sarantos Nikitopoulos, Trial, Vaggelis Stathopoulos
Posted in Prison Struggle
‘The Sun Still Rises’ by Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell (Greece)
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20111008122305im_/https://actforfreedomnow.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/spf.png?w=220&h=220)
From culmine via this is our job:
May 30 saw the publication of ‘The Sun Still Rises’, a pamphlet containing a chronology of Conspiracy of Cells of Fire attacks and the following new text by the group:
The Sun Still Rises
Knowledge chooses its project, each project is new and chooses its moments, each moment is new, but simultaneously emerges from the memory of all the moments that existed before
—The Interior of the Absolute
1. The Beginning
The Conspiracy of Cells of Fire Revolutionary Organization didn’t begin its activity from out of nowhere. It wasn’t as if a straight line had cut through space and time. It was a future crying out from the past. The Conspiracy comprised a collective synthesis, connecting the backgrounds and viewpoints of all who participated in it and drawing valuable conclusions from past experiences of subversive projects and attacks we took part in.
It represented our desire to take a step further, not to climb some ladder of informal hierarchy that fetishizes violence and its methods, but to simply advance, move forward, and explore new perspectives, making the shift from a “bunch of friends” to an organization, from the sporadic to the consistent, from the spontaneous to the strategic. (more…)
Tags: Arson, Christos Tsakalos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Damiano Bolano, Fuck the Law, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Polydoras, Greece, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Olga Economidou, Panayiotis Argyrou, Sabotage, The Sun Still Rises
Posted in Autonomy, Cognitive Liberty, Prison Struggle
Text by the members of the R.O. CCF Christos Tsakalos and Giorgos Nikolopoulos about the Letter-bomb that was sent to Berlusconi (Greece, Italy)
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
“Through the sadness of endless mediocrity that suffocates us from everywhere, I console myself that somewhere in a closet several stubborn people struggle to counteract the spoilage.” [Odysseas Elytis]
We are summoned to appear before the Prosecutor’s Office of Bologna, Italy, on June 28th in order to participate in a preliminary investigation in regard to the ‘punishable offense under Articles 110, 280 of the Criminal Code (attempt with terrorist and subversive purposes)’ of the inflammatory parcel’s postage addressed to Silvio Berlusconi. Moreover, according to the official notification of the Prosecutor’s Office that was delivered to us via fax in the prisons in which we are detained, Berlusconi himself is called to attend the process as ‘victim of the punishable offense.’ (more…)
Tags: Berlusconi, Carlo Giuliani, Christos Tsakalos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Edoardo Massari, Fuoriluogo, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Greece, Horst Fantazzini, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, Italy, Letter, Letter-bombs, Sole (Maria Soledad Rosas), Switzerland
Posted in Prison Struggle
‘Resist to Exist’ by Walter Bond, imprisoned anarchist comrade (USA)
Monday, June 27th, 2011
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20111008122305im_/http://www.supportwalter.org/Images/Walter/WalterBond.jpg)
Walter Bond was arrested on July 23, 2010 and has plead guilty to the arson of the Sheepskin Factory in Colorado and openly admits that he is the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) “Lone Wolf”. Bond has plead not guilty to federal charges. He has also been indicted in Utah for the arsons of the Tandy Leather Factory and Tiburon (foie gras restaurant).
Resist to Exist
I am an anarchist.
I’m not the politically-correct hipster anarchist.
I am not the rhetorical anarchist either.
Reading dry accounts of the various factions of anarchism has never held much interest for me. I am an insurgent, an opposser. Why? Because I was born that way. When I was in kindergarten my teacher, Ms. Whirly, had a parent/teacher conference with my mom. I remember her saying something about me being a very bright young man but that I had serious problems with authority and one day it would get me in a lot of trouble. I do, and it did.
I came to find out that school doesn’t want you to be a ‘bright young man’. Serious questioning is the enemy of primary and secondary schools’ indoctrination of youth. While my grade school teachers prattled on and all the kids answered in unison, I sat at the back of the class reading about dinosaurs, mythology, and astronomy. It made me feel hopeful that places or times existed that were far from here. far from Iowa’s Aryan education. times and places where humans weren’t the center of the entire universe. (more…)
Tags: ALF, Letter, Lone Wolf, USA, Walter Bond
Posted in Prison Struggle