325

Squalid transfer conditions for comrade Charis Chatzimichelakis imprisoned member of R.O. C.C.F due to health issues (Greece)

November 8th, 2011

When fear becomes revenge

Over many months (since around March 2010) Charis Chatzimichelakis, imprisoned member of R.O. C.C.F is suffering from a health problem that however much he has tried, it cannot be treated! Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Greece, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Korydallos Prison
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Attack on Kerava Police Station on the 6th of November (Finland)

November 8th, 2011

6 November 2011

We attacked the Kerava police station with fire on Sunday the 6th of November at 5 in the morning.

We threw six molotovs at the main entrance and at a separate entrance to the police parking garage.

However, we did not throw molotovs into the building because we did not want our action to bring harm to those possibly imprisoned at the station, knowing this course of action could have very well placed these people in mortal danger.

We want to take a stand against the oppression of nature, animals and life, the oppression that the police as the vanguards of the state enforce and maintain.

Organize, form affinity groups and take action!

Death to the state!

FAI – Informal Anarchist Federation – Northern chapter

FUCK THE POLICE!

Tags: FAI - Informal Anarchist Federation - Northern chapter, Finland, Fuck the Law, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, Molotovs
Posted in Direct Action |

Freedom Now! A Letter Appeal for Thomas Meyer-Falk (Germany)

November 4th, 2011

If you fight against the state, if you fight for a better world, fight for freedom, there is a chance that you will get thrown to the cage – that is the place where I stay. For over 15 years now. In the infernal regions, kept in isolation for security reasons, for more than 10 years. I was arrested in 1996, and only released into the general prison population in 2007.

In October 1996 I was arrested after a bank robbery to raise money for left-wing projects – legal and illegal ones. I was convicted to 11 and a ½ years and P.D. (Preventive Detention, based on a Nazi-law from 1933 which permits the state to keep me in custody for a life-time, as long as they believe that I am a “threat to public safety”). Because I fought back strong they kept me in isolation for more than 10 years; I have spent the last 4 years in the general prison population, but I refuse to cooperate with the state nor accept forced labour. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bank Robbery, Germany, Letter, Thomas Meyer Falk
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Letter from Kyle Major from the psychological torture isolation units of England (UK)

November 4th, 2011

Here I am in the harsh and psychological torture unit (aka Close Supervision Centre CSC) at HMP Woodhill, in a high control cell with a six-officer riot unlock. You will have been reading about CSC recently in MOJUK and FRFI articles by John Bowden, Kevan Thakrar, which are all true.

As a prisoner experiencing it at the present time it is very unpleasant only two days ago a prisoner on the unit Danny Walker more or less amputated his arm. Requiring emergency hospital treatment where his arm had to be stitched back together and an operation to reconnect his nerves and arteries. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Close Supervision Centre CSC, HMP Woodhill, John Bowden, Kevan Thakrar, Kyle Major, Muslim Prisoners, UK
Posted in Prison Struggle |

A Letter of Solidarity with the Informal Anarchist Federation by Walter Bond, A.L.F Prisoner of War (USA)

November 3rd, 2011

Hello, my name is Walter Bond. I am currently serving a prison sentence in the United States for 3 A.L.F. arsons totaling nearly 2 million dollars’ worth of damage. Recently, I read a statement in solidarity with the Conspiracy Cells of Fire attempting to create a real voice for all of us political prisoners and prisoners of war, those of us that have fought and still fight from our prison cells against all civilization. I was happy to see that solidarity was signed with me in that article as well. As a small token of my support please accept the enclosed brief letter of solidarity that I have written for the Informal Anarchist Federation. Animal Liberation, Whatever It May Take! Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ALF, Animal Liberation, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Earth Liberation Front, ELF, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet, USA, Walter Bond
Posted in Eco Struggle, Prison Struggle |

Words of Solidarity with Conspiracy of Cells of Fire from some members of Russian Earth Liberation Front / FAI-IRF (Russia)

November 2nd, 2011

So many of us captured, thrown into prisons, tortured, wounded or even dead. It’s getting more and more difficult to mention every comrade in each communique. Yet they are all worth mentioning, they shouldn’t fade into obscurity of silence of prison cells. Names spin in the head… People we’ve never known, but their dedication and sacrifice for the cause resonates with our worldview, with our own cause. And faces of friends we’ll never see again. Dead, murdered by the System. Is it everywhere like this? Are we all alone in this hostile world? Are there other mutineers, saboteurs, discontent? How do we get in touch with all this censorship?

How do we let them know with all this conspiracy of silence in media and society, even among political left? How do we communicate? We don’t know their language even. How do we write? Can they translate from Russian? OK, let’s just give it a try, we’ll see where this’ll go soon enough… Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alexis Grigoropoulos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Earth Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front (Russia), ELF, Greece, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet, Luciano Pitronello Schuffeneger, Russia, Walter Bond
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Words of support to R.O. Conspiracy of Cells of Fire and all imprisoned revolutionary anarchists from Conspiracy of Cells of Fire: Russian Cell / FAI-IRF (Russia)

November 2nd, 2011

While reading letters written by imprisoned comrades and their communiques, we can feel with all our hearts their hatred towards status quo, their anxiety to create another world by destroying this one. Each line of such texts flows like a stream through your veins. It gets right to the core and stays forever in your soul.

While walking down cold and dark streets of the metropolises, we never forget about hundreds of imprisoned comrades and thousands who have died. Sorrow mixed with anger channeled through a prism of revolutionary consciousness give us a huge pulse to make revolution a reality. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire: Russian Cell, Greece, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, International Words of Solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire pamphlet, Letter, Russia
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Πρώτη Aνακοίνωση: International Informal Anarchist Federation / FAI (Ελληνική μετάφραση)

November 1st, 2011

Το κείμενο που ακολουθεί αποτελεί την ολοκληρωμένη προκήρυξη της αγγλικής οργάνωσης International Informal Anarchist Federation/FAI. Η μετάφραση του κειμένου από την αγγλική έγινε από τη Συνωμοσία Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς/Άτυπη Αναρχική Ομοσπονδία.

[English translation: What follows is the complete text of the English organization International Informal Anarchist Federation / FAI. The translation from English was done by the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire / Informal Anarchist Federation.]

Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Informal Global Federation / Anarchist Network, International Informal Anarchist Federation / FAI, International Revolutionary Front, Rain & Fire
Posted in Library |

The “Caso Bombas” has not finished – End the Political Trial (Chile)

November 1st, 2011

Tags: 14/14, Chile, Poster, Repression
Posted in Social Control |

New: Booklet in Solidarity with Kulon Progo, the Yogyakarta 3 and Tukidjo (Indonesia)

November 1st, 2011

New booklet just released from Act for Freedom / Elephant Editions, all about the struggle in Indonesia against the mega-project threatening the coastal farming communities of Kulon Progo, featuring action reports, communiques, international solidarity and more.

Download the booklet from 325

Booklet + Cover

The booklet is designed in a format to be printed out and reproduced. Please distribute.
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Background info: 1 & 2

Soli-website for Kulon Progo.

FREEDOM FOR THE PRISONERS IN INDONESIA AS ELSEWHERE

Tags: Bandung, Indonesia, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), International Conspiracy for Revenge, International Revolutionary Front, International Solidarity, Kulon Progo, PPLP (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai = Shoreline Farmers' Association), PPLP-KP (Coastal Farmers Association of Kulon Progo), RO-FAI (Indonesia Section), Tukijo
Posted in Eco Struggle, Library |

Solidarity with Cristobal Franke (Chile)

November 1st, 2011

Roughly translated from Liberacion Total.

On Friday 28 October, our comrade Cristobal Franke (“Mono”), was beaten by three prison guards.

The situation occurred around 16:45 pm, Mono was dozing in his cell when the bastards entered carrying out a search. When one of them asked if he had something of value, Cristobal says “yes”, “their money”. The guards replied without humour by beating Mono and throwing him down a flight of stairs. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Chile, Cristobal Bravo Franke, Repression
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Chronology and Fourth Communique from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire – Mexico / FAI

October 29th, 2011

From culmine via this is our job:

To all like-minded arsonists and antagonists, the fourth communiqué from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire – Mexico / Informal Anarchist Federation:

For Total Liberation!

Yesterday [26/10/11] at 6:23 p.m., liberatory fire again burned where it hurts most, destroying merchandise. The Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) faction of the Mexican Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI-M), Veracruz section, gave life to liberatory fire at the Wal-Mart located at Universidad and Avenida Las Palmas in the heart of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. With this new attack, we avenge comrade Gabriel Pombo da Silva (held captive in Aachen prison) and demand his immediate release from the German and Spanish states. We also stand in solidarity with our comrade Tamara, with the Bombings Case compas in Chile, with the imprisoned Conspiracy of Cells of Fire compas in Greece, and with all our comrades abducted by the State in Mexico and the rest of the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 14/14, Arson, Coatzacoalcos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Germany, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Informal Anarchist Federation - Mexico (FAI-M), International Solidarity, Luciano Pitronello Schuffeneger, Mexico, Revolutionary Struggle, Spain, Tamara, Veracruz, Wal-Mart
Posted in Direct Action |

Solidarity with Viktor Padellaro, animal rights activist (Sweden)

October 29th, 2011

The Swedish animal rights activist, Viktor Padellaro, has been charged with:

- Arson against a McDonalds.
- Smashing windows at a restaurant which he believed served shark fin soup.
- Sending 17 threatening letters to people involved with the fur industry.

Send letters of support to:

Viktor Padellaro (11/11 7-4)
Ullevigaten 11. Box 216
401 23 Gothenburg
Sweden

From Earth Liberation Prisoners Email List

Tags: Animal Liberation, Sweden, Viktor Padellaro
Posted in Prison Struggle |

Communique for the bombing of the Athens Stock Exchange – 2/9/2009 (Greece)

October 28th, 2011

From boubourAs / actforfreedomnow!, a communique previously untranslated into English claiming responsibility for the direct action against the Athens Stock Exchange by RO- Revolutionary Struggle on 2 September 2009. The release of this communique comes as the global social struggle against the capitalist system threatens to develop to a new level, shaking the entire legitimacy of the exploitative banking system. The RO- Revolutionary Struggle in their texts and actions reveal a foretelling vision of a free society of equality and harmonious co-operation without the violent parasitism and coercion imposed on us by the super-elite.

From the Revolutionary Organisation – Revolutionary Struggle

On the 2nd of September in the early morning we attacked the temple of money, the stock exchange of Athens, by placing an expropriated van with 150 kilos of ammonium nitrate (AN/FO). This action is the continuation of a strategy of attacks with large quantities of explosives in order to hurt the infrastructure of multinational and local capital, a strategy initiated the 18th of February last year with the attempt on the central offices of Citibank on Nea Kifissia and continued with the bomb attack on the Eurobank branch on Vouliagmenis avenue, Argiroupoli on May 12th last year.

Maybe the explosion, despite the enormous amount of damage it caused to the building, did not stop the operation of the stock market since it did not destroy the central software system, but we believe that it worked, and it will continue to work negatively on the market and on the psychology of all kinds of opportunists, since the message was clear and was received by economic power as a whole: those responsible for the current crisis, the major shareholders, the golden boys, the capitalists, will pay for their criminal activity, and no State mechanism can protect them. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Athens, Economic Crisis, Kostas Gournas, Lambros Foundas, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa, Revolutionary Struggle
Posted in Direct Action |

Report from the trial of the armed group Revolutionary Struggle, Athens (Greece)

October 28th, 2011

October 24 2011

Heavy accusations against the capitalist economic-social system and the urban system of power, the state and its persecutory mechanisms were made by the members of Revolutionary Struggle at the first (substantial) day of their trial, when the chairman gave them the word in order to place themselves in short concerning the charges. Their statements were anything but short. For over half an hour, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas (we mention them according to how they mentioned in the court brief and in the order they spoke) addressed charges against the system and defended their political choices, transforming the room of the terror-court into a step for their opinions. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Christofos Kortesis, Costas Katsenos, Greece, Kostas Gournas, Lambros Foundas, Maria Beraha, Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa, Revolutionary Struggle, Sarantos Nikitopoulos, Trial, Vaggelis Stathopoulos
Posted in Prison Struggle |

General Strike Called In Oakland – Calls For US & Global General Strike Nov. 2 (Global)

October 27th, 2011

325 receives and transmits : Source

Below is the proposal passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. 1607 people voted. 1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count.

PROPOSAL:

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.

The Strike Coordinating Council will begin meeting everyday at 5pm in Oscar Grant Plaza before the daily General Assembly at 7pm. All strike participants are invited.

Stay tuned for much more information and see you next Wednesday.

Since this announcement, social media has been abuzz with calls for a US-wide General Strike and a Global General Strike!

Tags: #Occupy, Economic Crisis, General Strike, Oakland, Occupy Oakland General Assembly, Oscar Grant, Oscar Grant Plaza, USA
Posted in Autonomy |

Oct 8th, Anti-Capitalist Demo Report from Bern (Switzerland)

October 27th, 2011

On October 8th, at the completion of the campaign ‘Keep in motion – Abolish capitalism’, over 150 people demonstrated in Bern against the State and the Capital. After more than a month in which various counter-information actions were held about the evils of capitalism, anti-capitalists/anarchists took their criticism to the streets again.

The protest rally flowed calmly, apart from two small incidents. For instance, independent city councilor Jimy Hofer approached a group of about 60 protesters. He first addressed to them verbally, tried to snatch their front banner, but also turned violent against a protester. Only then, pepper spray was used to ward off his attack.

The gathering was scheduled at 16.00 o’clock outside Heiliggeistkirche at Bahnhofplatz. Demonstrators were welcomed, while examples were used to indicate which damages capitalism inflicts on a daily basis. With slogans and fireworks, the demo went through the Altstadt (old town). When the protesters block reached Kornhausplatz, people had a chance to hear about the anarchist struggle for a world without State and Capital. They put up a banner there, which read SCHEISS AUF WAHLKAMPF, WIR WOLLEN KLASSENKAMPF (‘Fuck the electioneering; we want class struggle’).

In Hirschengraben demonstrators and passers-by got more familiar with the critique on capitalism and its guarantor, the bourgeois State. It also became apparent why reforms will never lead to a substantial improvement in living conditions. The protest march ended in Bahnhofplatz.

This demonstration marked the completion of the anti-capitalist campaign and the ongoing struggle against a system where every day tens of thousands are starving while others accumulate billions via property rights; against a system in which the vast majority is forced to sell their labour-power; against a system where a small minority possesses and determines everything; against a system which goes further without taking account of nature, animals and humans.

For a self-organized society without domination.

For the social revolution!

Source/More info: ak-kampagne.ch via Contra-Info

Tags: Bern, Demo, Switzerland
Posted in Autonomy |

New wave of anarchist direct action spreads (Russia)

October 25th, 2011

08.10.2011 – anarchist guerilla squad has attacked the parking of the police cars in the town of Troitsk (Moscow region). Two cars were destroyed. Here’s a fragment from our communiqué:

“Police station of Troitsk-town… sturdy police building, which looks like stronghold, if you observe it from the Kaluzhskoe highway. Entrance is blocked by antitank hedgehog; high iron wall is ending by barbwire… But as it often happens with state institutions, solid and threatening façade hides rotten and useless content. Taking in the rear of armed police criminals, we have found a parking of patrol police cars without any security. These place is used by the brave Guardians of the Law just for drinking alcohol, as we have seen by our own eyes. As drunken pigs went home – we have attacked a parking [lot] and seriously injured by fire at least two police cars”.

Also this night at least 9 luxury cars were burnt in Moscow, but none has taken responsibility for these acts.

15.10.2011 – in Volsk-town (Saratov region) two cars, which belong to police officer and his wife, were set on fire and destroyed.

18.10.2011 – in Khimki-town (Moscow region) a police car was blown up. Police lie about a “technical disease”. None has taken a responsibility for this action.

22.10.2011 – in the town of Kamensk-na-Obi (Altai territory) a cottage of the depute and ex-mayor of the town, Valeriy Gorozhankin, was set on fire by unknown people.

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All imprisoned people are released

Few days ago, all people arrested under suspicion of participating in road police blast were released from detention without any charges. Now it is clear that the police have shown their incompetence once again.

blackblocg.info

Tags: Arson, Black Bloc, Fuck the Law, Kamensk-na-Obi, Khimki, Moscow, Russia, Troitsk, Volsk
Posted in Direct Action |

Gabriel Pombo da Silva : A Contribution for the Comrades in the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire / Informal Anarchist Federation (Germany)

October 24th, 2011

from liberacion total via thisisourjob…

Dear brothers and sisters:

To Michalis and Christos (who exuberantly burst into “my” cell, destroying the ISOLATION I’ve lived in for over seven years), their brothers and sisters, and all the other comrades who constitute the first generation of the Revolutionary Organization – Conspiracy of Cells of Fire / Informal Anarchist Federation.

My eyes and my heart have always been very close to you in Greece. I still remember Nikos Maziotis’ action and his attitude in front of the court. That moved and affected us very much, to the point that some of my comrades took their own action by sending a package-bomb to the Greek embassy in Madrid.

Those comrades of mine were arrested in September 2003, and the blow came at the worst possible time. Really, it couldn’t have been worse. Back then I was regularly “on leave” from prison. Regardless of all the racket regarding my judicial/prison situation, I had already “served” the maximum sentence allowed at the time: 20 YEARS. And out of those 20, 14 were in solitary confinement and FIES [Spanish isolation units]. I don’t have to tell you what it meant to me to have to lose so many good comrades who, tired of bearing all kinds of systematic torture for decades, decided to leave “by the back door, feet first.”

The arrest of my comrades in Barcelona left me shaken. I could have been with them! The “death” of Paco Ortiz, the coming to power of the neo-Francoist People’s Party — all these things went through my head before I decided to make a getaway.

My escape began by putting one foot in front of the other. The first thing was to get a bit of distance behind me. With that done, I crossed the Pyrenees, destination unknown.

Once abroad, I got in touch with some old comrades. I managed to buy myself perfect identification (with which I was even able to open a checking account at a bank, rent an apartment, etc.), and I took some time to think, meet new comrades, and discuss things. From that moment on I was known as Michele Cataldi, Italian citizen.

I had decided to break out one of the compas arrested in Barcelona, and for that task I needed reliable, experienced comrades.

Luck was on my side when some Iberian Peninsula compas called to tell me they were sending someone over. I thought for sure it would be an “anarchist” comrade, yet nevertheless I saw Josepi show up (he had also escaped while “on leave”), and he knew absolutely nothing about anarchy or theory. However, I was almost happier to have a “criminal” on my side than an “anarchist.” At the end of the day, the endeavor and purpose motivating me was to break a compa out of prison, and I needed someone by my side who hated the institution of prison with absolute intensity, like I did. Josepi, with his (in total) 23 years of prison behind him, was an ideal candidate. In addition (and just like me), his “trade” was robbing banks, which is of course always indispensable.

Back then, I didn’t know which Iberian Peninsula comrades I could count on (or how many, as I believed/assumed that a large portion of the Libertarian Youth had gone underground). I’m not talking about matters regarding “solidarity funds” or “ideological debates.” Rather, I mean comrades ready to take up arms in order to expropriate funds, hijack a helicopter, break out other compas, etc.

My proposal to liberate our compa was supported by José, and later on two other anarchists joined the endeavor.

We decided that the first thing we needed was money (we already had two handguns), and to that end we robbed a bank. If I remember correctly, we expropriated 40,000 or 50,000 euros, which was useful to us at the beginning for the acquisition of cars, electronic gear, etc.

Over the course of several months (and to the extent that it was possible for me), I was able to attend a number of meetings with internationalist comrades. Those meetings between comrades, where positions and approaches were clarified through critique and analysis, deserve all my respect, yet they left me feeling very uneasy.

Perhaps I had poorly “digested” the analyses of the “Italian insurrectionaries”. Perhaps I hadn’t stopped to think about the importance of knowing just how many comrades were truly for revolutionary anarchy. And perhaps our “adventure” of freedom and “glory” was doomed to “failure” from the start.

At that time, some communiqués from the newly-formed Informal Anarchist Federation fell into my hands. For someone like me, who came out of the Anarchist Black Cross (and was therefore already federalist and anarchist), the notion of “informal groups” opened up a world of possibility. In Northern Europe, insurrectionary ideas were practically unknown.

On June 28, 2004, three anarchists and my sister (who is apolitical) were traveling to Germany in a BMW. At noon, upon entering the city of Aachen, a Federal Border Guard (BGS) patrol car pulled up in front of us and signaled for us to follow it.

We followed the patrol car (my sister was driving) to a gas station.

At the gas station, one of the border police officers approached and asked us for our passports. José had a forged Spanish passport (a very good one) and was called Alfonso Domínguez Pombo. He could have been my sister’s cousin. Then Bart handed over his Belgian passport, as he and my sister were “clean.”

Obviously, José and I were armed and ready to save our skins at any cost. We knew what was waiting for us.

The border police officer went off with all our passports and didn’t come back for 10 or 20 minutes, after which time both officers approached, passports in hand, while another BGS car suddenly appeared and parked directly behind us, sandwiching us between the two patrol cars.

The police officers “suggested,” in a “friendly” way, that we get out of our car. Our papers were fine, but now they also wanted to search the car, since a car with so many foreigners in it is viewed as “suspicious” in Germany.

We got out of the car and the police officers immediately began searching it. José and I both had our weapons on us. His was in a small backpack and mine was in one of those fanny packs that tourists often carry.

After more than a half-hour of searching, an officer approached José and asked him to put his backpack in the trunk of one of the patrol cars. Since José didn’t understand what he was saying, the officer asked me.

There were no longer any more “conversational alternatives.” The time had come for me to simply tell José: “You grab this one and I’ll go for the other one.”

Despite all the tension, it was definitely a relief to finally put an end to that comedy. Gun in hand, taking the initiative, I really believed we would succeed. José’s police officer took off when José pointed his Ravachol-era revolver at him, and that image of José running after a German border police officer, telling him to “surrender” and put his “hands up,” is something that makes me crack up even today.

Unfortunately, José “misinterpreted” what I said. When I told him to “grab” the police officer, I meant exactly that: to grab hold of him. But in any case, “my” police officer and the other ones ran from me as well, so I was unable to grab them. And what worried me most during the whole situation was my sister.

How was I going to tell my mother about all this? My sister remained very still throughout, and if she had wanted to (to save her own skin), she could have told the police my name and blamed me for everything. The police unfortunately had us surrounded, and the only thing that occurred to us at the time was to “kidnap” two “citizens” in order to shield ourselves. You already know the rest. . . .

My sister (despite what’s been said) refused to “collaborate” or give a statement. She was even mistreated at the police station because of her refusal to let them take her fingerprints or her photograph. Her prints, as well as her DNA and her photo, were taken by force. I was very proud of my sister and the rest of my comrades.

I waited (in vain) for our Iberian Peninsula comrades to “avenge” us, as well as for them to defend direct action as a revolutionary methodology.

By one of life’s coincidences, a brief analysis by my old comrades appeared in issue 2 of Inferno magazine, more than seven years after our arrest here. But did that article explain why José and I were left alone, “abandoned” by the Iberian movement? I don’t want to “argue” or “settle scores.” I just want to write about our experiences in order to record and expand our rebellious, subversive memory.

What you have achieved is part of what I and others dreamed of. More than dreamed of, actually. You’ve dared to defy political resignation. As my comrades aptly wrote in their text, we were the “pioneers of Iberian insurrectionism”. It doesn’t make sense to ask (yet nevertheless that’s what has constantly been done since our arrest) if Iberian insurrectionism would have come about back then had some of us met and had other little things been encouraged.

But it is interesting to ask — since part of our past is becoming known bit by bit, and since our dream of an Informal Anarchist Federation / International Revolutionary Front is gradually spreading — if our Iberian Peninsula counterparts will now remain mired in the anonymous multitudes or instead join the revolutionary effort.

Just like you, I have always believed that rebellion is a permanent process that doesn’t stop for courts or jailers. The certainty of our convictions and our love of freedom embolden us. We may be “naive” for believing ourselves capable of taking our “destiny” into our own hands, but that will always be preferable to joining the chorus of naysayers and complainers.

The courts have been and are sites of power where anarchists don’t “defend” ourselves with judicial arguments, but instead base our “defense” on the ideas and values that have led us to the defendant’s dock.

Prisons are the ideal settings in which to spread anarchist ideas and values. They are the universities where we get degrees in all the arts and trades of illegality.

Comrade prisoners, fugitives, etc.: the spread of our ideas, memories, and histories is the compass that guides our footsteps.

I don’t know if this writing is in keeping with what you expect from contributions for your second trial. Perhaps I should have touched a bit more on theoretical aspects (about which we still have much to discuss), but I’m convinced that we will have opportunities to talk/write more about that and many other things.

What’s important is that we seek a direct relationship between us, the prisoners (in that sense, I’m having serious problems with correspondence), and that we find more like-minded people among us with whom to exchange ideas, information, etc.

We won’t be in prison for our entire lives. And as you correctly say in some of your writings: “the power of the jailers ends outside the walls.”

As far as José and I are concerned, we are awaiting our deportation to the Spanish state. There (in Spain), according to their laws, we should be released shortly.

For me, Germany is a chapter in my life that is best forgotten. Never in my life have I seen prisoners more disgraceful, more disposed to snitch and kiss ass, than those I have had the displeasure to meet here. I haven’t lacked desire or idealism. What I’ve lacked is contact with people who have a minimum of dignity—oppositional, rebellious people. That fact has isolated me more (and of course hurt me more) than the institution itself.

In seven years in this country, I haven’t managed (and/or wanted) to create any kind of regular link or communication with people from the “radical left.” I haven’t wanted to “tone down” my discourse in order to be “accepted” by the “radical community.”

Quite often, while reading the “leftist” (including anarchist) newsletters, fanzines, and magazines that “report” on us (the “Aachen four”), I get the impression that my only “merit” as an “anarchist” is my past of “prison struggle,” which ignores (consciously or unconsciously) the intensive revolutionary work and effort I’ve undertaken while “free.” Likewise, my political writings and texts have been met with either censorship or disinterest.

But I’m now writing about all that in my new book, which is taking much more work than I previously thought, especially the political section.

Before beginning to write about my/our recent past as well as its consequences (for each one of us), it was essential to me that my comrades be free to send me “signals.” Perhaps communication will be reopened by those “signals.” And perhaps all of us will then have the opportunity to write a new chapter in the history of Iberian anarchism — one more stream flowing into the wide-open anarchic sea, now that the ground is fertile and the world is falling to pieces.

We did what we could, and we will keep doing what we can. Let’s hope that each new generation of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire / Iberian Anarchist Federation is infinitely better, more dynamic, and more effective than we have been. Regardless of my total of over 27 years imprisoned in the Spanish and German states, as well as my being uncertain of the day of my release, I am absolutely positive that I have nothing to apologize for. I only regret not being wiser and more adept at the moment of my intersection with the course of history.

With these words that break my isolation, cross borders, and arrive in the hearts of all our people in Greece and throughout the world, I embrace our brothers and sisters in the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire / Informal Anarchist Federation.

Long live the Informal Anarchist Federation / International Revolutionary Front!

Long live anarchy!

— Gabriel, Aachen, early October 2011

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Gabriel Pombo da Silva
c/o JVA Aachen
Krefelderstrasse 251
52070 Aachen
Germany

Tags: Aachen, Christos Tsakalos, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Germany, Greece, Informal Anarchist Federation, International Revolutionary Front, Letter, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Nikos Maziotis
Posted in Prison Struggle |

“Someone likes it hot” – About the events of Oct 15 in Rome (Italy)

October 22nd, 2011

Rome, Italy, October 15 2011: anger explodes uncontrollable during a demonstration against the austerity measures imposed by the government to tackle its economic crisis.

This communiqué of Asilo Occupato from Turin, picked up among many others, offers a beautiful insight into the event. For more info and communiqués see informa-azione.info

A march was held in Rome on 15th October against the new financial measures of the government and the austerity measures adopted to tackle the worn-out spectre of the crisis. In practice people took to the streets to react against the threat of the nth season of tears and blood to the detriment of the poorest, always forced to tighten their belt and to endure daily sacrifice and exploitation in a world full of goods and governed by the interests of the few who can afford to consume.

For the organizers, the sinister caravan of citizenists and Italian ‘indignados’, it was meant to be a pacific march, a lively but respectful stroll ‘to have our say’, to express the harmless buzz of opinions timidly and from inside the ranks. A pre-prepared package, a film already seen and whose end was foreseeable, all this inside the balance of a well managed normality. The fair game between power and the recuperators of anger enables the functioning of the desert of real democracy by suffocating the storming of hostile passions.

But this time there was no theatre, the march broke down with the first smashed windows, and the spectacle went up in smoke among the clouds of teargas and the rain of stones.

A chaotic rhythm of destroyed cash machines and shops resounds on Via Cavour, a looted market and cars in pieces, that is to say the expression of a fury which takes aim at random.

To organize oneself in order to hit banks and the provocation of luxury is the first step to invade the streets and knock down the physical places of exploitation, one by one. To know how and when to do it is a question of time, space and a lot of methods to be learned in the practice: to set fire to a car in order to erect a barricade is a different thing than do it in the middle of a march thus endangering the rest of the demonstrators and those who live in the opposite building, which also pushes possible accomplices away. Black hoods and helmets are useful tools to protect oneself and to remain anonymous, but they are not a uniform to show off. Let’s leave the logic of military blocks to the press of the regime and to the reports of the police, we are angry proletarians. Today the hatred towards the bosses and the police is not exclusive to militant sects worn out by years of isolation and search for purism, but a reality that enters with force the life of so many.

14th December 2010 in Rome, the battles of Val Susa against the TAV, the revolts in Greece and mass expropriations in London tell us something on the social temperature of the present in which we live, on how endurance has gone out of fashion. We don’t give a fuck of demonstrative gestures and allusions to revolt. As a very long winter of pacification seems to finally croak, rebellion doesn’t go through symbols, even if the latter are more beautiful and evocative than the zombies of politics, but it goes through actions and practical and efficient instruments. Identities and ideological fetishes catch on exactly because of a historical lack of insurrection, whereas today to pick up the possibility of insurrection means to take the responsibility for raising one’s sights.

The battle of Piazza San Giovanni was an occasion to measure oneself against police power, and there the day took its mass breath. There were people of all kinds and ages to face police charges, many unmasked and at their first experience in the streets… nothing was arranged and decided in advance. The strongest and most explosive moment of the demonstration, the one that brought down all plans, stirred the blood and made the atmosphere hot had as its only protagonist the determination to take hold of a piazza and defend it, the uncontrolled and widespread anger.

There is much to learn from this demonstration of courage, displayed mainly by fed up kids without flags, like many of their peers in many other cities of the world. What Black Bloc? Instinct, practical intelligence and sudden reciprocity of intents: to attack a police van, re-launch the teargas and charge the police. The shout is Free Rome. Vandals can do it by themselves.

Organization by little groups, affinities and friendships, precise objectives and agility are common characteristics that make us almost undetectable to the eyes of the enemy. The civil war scenario that resonates from many parts of the world has crashed the faded image of the Spanish protest… the party of the citizens has lost. The call of revolt is much stronger. We won’t ever go back… Fuck off!

Asilo Occupato of Via Alessandria 12, Turin.
19-10-11

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For those who want to write their solidarity to the arrested ones here is the list. Send information to modernize this list.

Ilaria Ciancamerla
c/o Casa di Reclusione di Rebibbia.
Via Bartolo Longo, 72
00156 Roma

Fabrizio Filippi
Robert Scarlet
Stefano Canigliaro
Giovanni Caputi
Giuseppe Ciurleo
Alessandro Venuto
Giovanni Venuto
Lorenzo Giuliani
Valerio Pascali
c/o Casa Circondariale REGINA COELI
via della Lungara, 29
00165 Roma

Tags: Economic Crisis, Insurrection, Italy, Riots, Rome
Posted in Autonomy |