Contact

To contribute translations, editing-corrections and/or original material for publication, such as updates from the streets, reportbacks from actions, responsibility claims, texts of imprisoned or persecuted comrades, calls, brochures, opinion articles, etc.: contrainfo(at)espiv.net

Contra Info: Translation Counter-Information Network

Contra Info is an international multi-language counter-information and translation node, an infrastructure maintained by anarchists, anti-authoritarians and libertarians who are active in different parts of the globe. More »

Santiago, Chile: Flyers at the place where 11-year-old comrade Javier Recabarren was killed

On March 15th 2016, we went to the place where the anarchist comrade Javier Recabarren fell dead [on March 18th 2015] and threw dozens of flyers in his memory with the intention of actively remembering him, of bringing him out in the street during this week of agitation – the street where he was active, anonymously attacking the forces of order and insulting them; where he propagandised ideas and practices antagonistic to this rotten society on public occasions as well. This is our way to remember him, as a small rebel who contributed to the struggle against domination, and total liberation, in multiple forms.

[Communication] Contra Info has a new pgp key

For cryptographic privacy and authentication with encrypted data

We now have a pgp key to use for encrypted communication, for those of you who may wish to use it or require it.

Click here to download it in .asc text format (armored).

Obviously, we still receive unencrypted emails at contrainfo[at]espiv.net. You can also submit texts anonymously by using our comments section
(select: Leave a comment; fill in the blank field; then press: Post Comment).

Solidarity with our crypto comrades!
Contra Info

Finland: All Cakes Are Beautiful (ACAB) – Pyhäjoki protest camp cream pies’ the police brutality

Received March 18th:

On 15th of March the Pyhäjoki anti-nuclear protest camp participated the International Day Against Police Brutality with a banner drop and by serving two private Fennovoima-Rosatom security guards and a police officer with cream pies. The little goodwill demonstration encouraged the public to remember the dangers environmental and human rights activists face in different societies – for example in Russia.

The protest camp chose the tactic that would fit the Finnish mental landscape. Cream pieing world leaders, military commanders and other high profile figures is a humorous tactic to put serious topics into the public eye. Before the Pyhäjoki cream pie fiesta, the last person who got pied in Finland was the World Bank Secretary James D. Wolfensohn in 2001. Naturally, the cream pie fiesta was not aimed to any particular police officer, but targeted to the police institution’s global role in growing inequality and political persecution of dissidents. Police forces are the first ones to get thrown into the line of fire when societal inequality grows: as they are the ones sent to execute the political decisions that cause that inequality to grow.

At 10.30 AM the protest camp people visited Fennovoima-Rosatom and Titan-2, the Russian firm being the main constructor of the planned nuclear power plant site. In the centre of Pyhäjoki the activists climbed to the roof of Titan-2’s office and dropped their banners. Soon one of the Titan-2’s workers tried to seize his momentum by trying to pull the banner down from an opened window. Finding his attempt unsuccessful, the office staff withdrew, closing the shutters and hiding themselves form the cameras. This seems to be a common thinking pattern in Titan-2, that has a reputation of corruption, mob connections and failing to get salaries delivered to their subcontractors: close our eyes, do not answer the phones – if one cannot see the problem, the problem does not exist.

Singing and dancing

After the rooftop banner party the activists moved on to the Fennovoima-Rosatom’s office and held a jolly Hiroshima -themed group singing workshop for the entire office staff. It turned out to be more difficult to close a bunch of singing person’s by shutting the curtains.

Unsurprisingly enough, Fennovoima-Rosatom had different ideas of the jolliness of the singing workshop. As the closed curtains weren’t enough, office staff alerted the private security and the police. Being the first to arrive, the two security guards soon got a drift of Fennovoima-Rosatom’s transparency ideals. While singing group still held their banner high, one activist decided to leave the office voluntarily. Security guards singled him the lone activist out and regardless the fact that the person was willing to leave by themself, the guards decided to grab them and put the person in handcuffs.

However, the professionalism of these to private play cops did not convince the followers. Not only failing with the handcuffing, the two guards also managed to trip and fell themselves and their captive through the outer glass wall of the office. After a moment of rolling in the shattered glass, the guards managed to find their way out and drag the detained activist with them.

After this display of professionalism guards continued their attempt to handcuff the detained person lying on the ground. During the process both of the guards were greeted with a cream pie right into the face. Soon the two-officer strong police patrol arrived and proceeded to move the detained activist to the police car. During the process a third cream pie found its way to the face of the second police officer. All Cakes Are Beautiful, right?

The cream pie fiesta aimed to bring attention to the role of the police institution in increasing inequality and being a tool of political persecution. The police, of course, ends up in the frontline of societal tensions while fulfilling the unfair decisions for the state.

In Finland, for example the case of the neo nazi street patrols ”Soldiers of Odin” and the clown group, ”Loldiers of Odin” forms one example. While police secures the neo nazi group’s right to patrol and hold openly nationalistic and racist marches to ”protect the Finnish women from the immigrants”, the same police clads itself into riot gear and detainees the group of group of literal clowns singing, dancing and clowning against racism – especially, if the clowns go dancing against racism on the same streets with the neo nazis.

In Finland the general situation is not, of course, directly comparable to the experiences and everyday life of activists and dissidents in Russia or Latin america. However, the Pyhäjoki protest camp has had its share of risky or dangerous situations caused by the sort tempers and misjudgements of the local police. The police doing stupid shit to get activists off their lock on’s has resulted in various dangerous situations – for both parties. Detaching a person locked to the roof of a truck from their neck is a job for a specially trained team in Britain. In Finland a standard street cop and an angle grinder is enough.

Note from Contra Info: Since March 15th 1997, annual demonstrations in the streets of Montreal have taken place to highlight the International Day Against Police Brutality, which has already spread from Canada and Switzerland to numerous other countries.

Bern, Switzerland: Direct action against research on GMOs in solidarity with Billy, Silvia and Costa

On February 25th just passed, a branch of the Federal Department for the Environment in Bern was attacked with paint.

From February 22nd until 28th, a callout was made for an international week of action against technological nuisances and the world that produces them. It’s in this context that, on February 25th, we went and poured out a massive amount of paint on the walls of the Federal Office for the Environment in Bern.

For several years this Office issues the permissions to conduct research on genetically modified (GM) plants in the open-air “Protected Site” laboratory, in Reckenholz, Zurich. At this very moment a new request, concerning “Gala” apple trees, is being processed.

This attack against research and development of GMOs was carried out in solidarity with everyone in struggle against industrial society.

Solidarity with Billy, Silvia and Costa = silviabillycostaliberi.noblogs.org

some anarchists

USA: Call for actions in solidarity with prison rebels in Alabama

“Things here are tense but festive. The C.O. and warden was stabbed…It has nothing to do with overcrowding, but with the practice of locking folks up for profit, control and subjugation. Fires were set, we got control of two cubicles, bust windows. The riot team came, shot gas, locked down, searched the dorms. Five have been shipped and two put in lockup.”

– An inmate at Holman Correctional

This week, prison rebels at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama staged two riots in three days—battling guards, building barricades, stabbing the warden, taking over sections of the prison and setting a guard station on fire. These actions come as no surprise to those who have been paying attention to the crumbling prison system in Alabama and the increasing level of radicalization of the prison population there.

The uprising at Holman, and the conditions of Alabama prisons in general, provide a unique situation in which anarchist solidarity may prove strategic. Historically speaking, successful prison uprisings have often been the result of a degrading prison system (incompetence, understaffing, weak administration) in combination with a high level of prisoner-unity and the development of a strong political subculture within the prison that supports and encourages acts of resistance. These conditions shift the balance of power between prisoners and their captors and allow prisoners more latitude to take bold action. Prison rebels in Alabama report that guards often refuse to enter the cell blocks for months at a time out of fear of attacks. The conditions for rebellion are ripe in the Alabama prison system.

The connections that Alabama prison rebels and anarchists outside of prisons have cultivated over years have created a situation in which expressions of solidarity from anarchists may have an impact. There is a great possibility that news of solidarity actions will reach prisoners there and that those actions will make sense to these rebels.

Another way in which anarchist solidarity may prove uniquely valuable in this and other situations of prison rebellion is in our capacity to relate to these uprisings outside the framework of reform that the media, the state and the left will inevitably push them toward. We are already hearing the rhetoric of those outside Holman turning immediately toward reform, appeals to legitimacy in hopes of reaching journalists and liberals, and framing the riots as a ‘last resort’ after non-violent methods failed.

What we propose instead is direct affirmation, through action, of prisoners’ own revolt. In this, our solidarity is equally with those demanding better living conditions and those who say, quite simply, “they need to let us free up out this bitch” and “there’s only one way to deal with it: tear the prison down.”

In the spirit of diversity of tactics we’ve compiled a list of some ways to act in solidarity with prison rebels in Alabama. The intention of this list is to find ways to act in solidarity with the many, often contradictory, desires of the many different rebels involved in the uprising. Check it out on It’s Going Down.

[Marseille] New poster in solidarity with resistance in Calais

Click on image for hi-res version (4.8mb). Poster also available in French.

Read the full communique here, received on March 16th.

For more posters in solidarity with the struggle in Calais click here.

Athens: Gesture of solidarity with the squatters in Vancouver Apartman

“SOLIDARITY WITH VANCOUVER SQUAT – SHIT ON NATION”

Late in the evening of March 13th 2016, the Vancouver Apartman building which is squatted for a little over a decade came under attempted arson attack, when a Molotov cocktail landed in front of a door on Mavromataion Street.

At a time when the anarchist squat in Vancouver Apartman building is threatened with eviction, because of reconstruction plans by the Athens University of Economics and – above all – Business, it comes as no surprise that nationalist scum have rushed to assist the institutional repression.

Vancouver Apartman squat – which combines a housing infrastructure and a self-managed space where public activities take place – is an integral part of our ongoing struggle for individual and collective liberation, and we will defend it by all means.

Solidarity with the squatters in Vancouver Apartman!

AGAINST THE STATE AND CAPITAL
DEATH TO NATIONALISM

in Greek

Finland: Luxury cars sabotaged in eastern Helsinki

In the night between the 9th and 10th March 2016, we sabotaged about 10 luxury cars rendering them unusable.

Driving private cars, especially big ones in the city, is useless and ecologically unsustainable.

We will carry on action to disturb destruction and exploitation of nature and animals.

ENAB

in German

Germany: Ongoing eviction in the Hambach forest – Support needed!

Yesterday morning [March 14th] the meadow occupation was surrounded by cops. This turned into a huge police operation: All main paths in the forest were cleared, fixed and broadened, all barricades and triprods destroyed. Until today four unoccupied platforms were evicted. Police forces are still present all around, chasing people who try to build new barricades…

This is an urgent call-out for all kinds of support! What has happened the last two days is a massive attack! Because all the roads are cleared and passable for big machinery, it is important to protect the forest occupations NOW!
Come to the Hambach forest, we need food, water, blankets and most of all more people with fresh energy!

For more information: www.hambacherforst.blogsport.de

Thanks and greets to all comrades

German | Italian

Marseille, France: Week of action in solidarity with resistance in Calais

Received March 16th:

Following the recent evictions in Calais, a week of action in solidarity with the resistance of the ’’jungle’’ took place in Marseille. The various actions contained in this communique were anonymously contributed by numerous individuals and groups. All the targets chosen collaborate in the repression, subjugation and deportation of migrant and/or paperless people in Calais and elsewhere.
Below is the list of actions as they were communicated by those responsible:

* 500 stickers including “No to evictions/deportations(*) – Solidarity with the resistance in Calais”, “Migrants welcome – bring your mates”, “Collaborators – Solidarity with sans papiers in Calais”, as well as various others in French and English, distributed throughout the city.

* Several small actions took place Sunday 6 March:
Posters of FN (Front National) were destroyed and pro migration slogans spray painted on a wall nearby.
Tires punctured of a vehicle belonging to Orange Telecom (linked to the state).
“Collaborator in deportations/evictions” spraypainted on 3 postboxes of La Poste.
One cash point and security camera sabotaged with paint at BNP Paribas bank on Avenue de la Corderie – “collabo” written next to the ATM.
La Poste building also spraypainted with “Collaborator in evictions/deportations”.

* 200 posters pasted around Noailles, Belle de Mai and National (1st and 3rd districts) with four different posters: “Solidarity with the sans papiers in Calais”, “Solidarity with the resistance in Calais” and “Solidarity with the hunger strikes in Calais” (the latter in French and English).

* Wednesday 9th March early morning:
Banner drop reading “Solidarity with the resistance in Calais – no-one is illegal”
Slogans spraypainted “no documents, no deportations/evictions”, “burn the borders, burn the state”, “no borders – no state – no problems” “Vinci collaborators in evictions/deportations” and “No to deportations/evictions”.

* Thursday 10th March at 4.30am: Red Cross building, Rue Baille, 5th district. Windows smashed with rocks and locks sabotaged. Against the ‘humanitarian’ collaborators and their attempts of softening the violence of the borders. There are no peaceful evictions.

* Two collaborating LCL cash machines put out of service.
One metropole car sabotaged and “calais” painted on roof.

* Graffiti against six Groupe SOS buildings in the 1st; 3rd & 7th districts: 200 & 357 blvd national, 3 blvd grigou, 2 rue grigan (locks broken as well), 24a rue fort notre-dame, 1 blvd charles livron.
Also two post offices : 184 blvd national and place bernard de cabinet.
“Collaborator in evictions/deportations”, “Solidarity with the sans papiers in Calais” and “Solidarity with the resistance in Calais”

* Night of Thursday 10th: Graffiti and paint bombs against 3 Red Cross buildings around Boulevard Chave in the 5th district (a charity shop and the headquarters). Messages painted: “Solidarity with Calais” and “Collaborator in evictions”.

* A group of us decided to make a banner reading “Destroy all Borders- Solidarity with the eviction resistance in Calais” in French, Arabic, and English. We took a photo with some comrades holding the banner, as a small gesture to those struggling in Calais. This happened on Friday.

(*) Translators note: the word “expulsions” in French can mean interchangeably deportation and/or evictions, due to this, where the word expulsions has been used in the original French we have decided to always translate in both forms since we do not know the intentions of the contributors. Where specificity was either implied or openly stated, we have used the direct translation.

Click here for poster of the communique | in French

Collaborator in evictions/deportations

Groupe SOS collaborate in evictions/deportations in Calais

Solidarity with the resistance in Calais – Collaborator in evictions/deportations

Red Cross France

Collaborator in evictions – Solidarity with Calais

Athens: Fascist Molotov attack at Vancouver Apartman squat

On Sunday, 13/03, at Vancouver Apartman squat we were attacked with a Molotov cocktail by the local fascist group A.M.E.

The group published a text on their blog, taking the responsibility and threatening that they will come back. They didn’t reach their goal because no damages were done, as the bottle failed to set the house on fire.

This is the second fascist attack against squats within a month. The previous happened to Zaimi squat on 16/02 by the fascist group C18 Hellas.

Nothing will stop us. The threats of the fascists, the State, and ASOEE University (who owns the building) will not make us give up our struggle.

Solidarity to Zaimi, Libertatia, Mundo Nuevo, Analipsi, Autonomous Steki in Exarchia, Kouvelou, Terra Incognita and all the other squats and people who have been attacked. And to those who fight against fascists and fascism.

DOWN WITH FASCISM. VIVA ANARCHY.
RESISTANCE, SELF-ORGANISATION, SOLIDARITY!
SQUAT THE WORLD!

Initiative of anarchist squatters from Vancouver Apartman

in Greek, Portuguese, German

[Greece] Open letter of Pola Roupa about the attempt to break Nikos Maziotis out of Koridallos prison

Below is the first part of the comrade’s long letter; originally published in Greek on Athens IMC (March 8th 2016).
Under other circumstances, this text would be written by Revolutionary Struggle. However, the outcome of the attempt to break out the comrade Nikos Maziotis of Koridallos prison obliges me to speak personally.

On February 21st [2016], I attempted to break out Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis by helicopter. The operation was planned so that other political prisoners could join us, who wished to make their way to freedom. Details of the plan, how I managed to evade the security measures and board the helicopter armed, have no special significance and I will not refer to them; despite the fact that there has been a lot of misinformation. Just for the sake of clarity, I will only mention that the plan was not based on any previous helicopter prison escape, it is not associated with any findings of plans not yet implemented, and I do not have any relation to another fugitive person despite media portrayals to the contrary. Also, this attempt was not preceded by any escape plan that “was wrecked”, as reported by some media.

A quarter of the journey after our takeoff from Thermisia in Argolida, I took out my gun and I asked the pilot to change course. Of course, he did not understand who I am, but he realised it was an attempted prison break. He panicked. He attacked me pulling out a gun – a fact he “omitted”. Also because they will likely try to refute the fact he was armed, I remind everyone that there are publicly available reports about the discovery of two mags in the helicopter. One was mine, but the second wasn’t mine. The second mag was from his own gun, which he dropped from his hands during our scuffle during flight. And as for me, of course I had a second mag. Would I go to such an operation with only one mag?

He lost control of the helicopter and shouted in panic “we will get killed”. The description that was presented of a helicopter substantially unmanageable is true. But these images did not result from my actions, but his. The helicopter was losing altitude and swirled in the air. We flew a few meters over electricity wires. I screamed to him to pull up the helicopter, to do what I tell him so no one will get hurt.

Within no time at all, we were on the ground. Those who speak of a dispassionate reaction of the pilot, apparently judging from the result, don’t know what they are talking about.

Instead of doing what I told him to do, he preferred to risk crashing with me in a collision of the helicopter, which didn’t happen by chance. It goes without saying that upon entering the helicopter and trying to gain control of it, to direct it to the prisons, I had made my decision. If he refused to do what I told him, I would naturally react. Those who claim I was responsible for the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter, from 5,000 feet to the ground, what did they expect? That I would have said “if you don’t want to come to the prisons, never mind”? I fired my gun and we engaged – both armed – in a scuffle during flight.

He preferred to risk crashing with me on the mountain than to obey. When we finally landed on the ground with speed, even though I knew the operation was lost, I had every opportunity to execute him. I consciously decided not to do so. Although I knew that with this decision I was endangering my life or freedom, I did not execute him even though I had the chance. He himself knows this very well. The only factor that held me back was my political conscience. And I took this decision, risking my own life and possibility to get away.

Regarding the prison escape operation itself, it’s obvious that all possible safety measures were taken in order to safeguard the undertaking against the armed guards patrolling the prison perimeter, and I even carried a bulletproof vest for the pilot as well. In this case, the purpose was to make the prison break happen in a way that would ensure the lowest possible risk for the helicopter, the comrades and, of course, the pilot. I acted with the same thought when we landed on the ground; despite the fact that the operation failed because of the pilot; despite the fact that he was armed. I essentially put his life over my own life and safety. But I am to reconsider this specific choice.

Organising to break out Nikos Maziotis was a political decision, as much as it was a political decision to liberate other political prisoners as well. It was not a personal choice. If I wanted to only liberate my comrade Nikos Maziotis, I wouldn’t have chartered a large helicopter – a fact that made the operation’s organising more complex. The aim of the operation was the liberation of other political prisoners as well; those who actually wanted, together with us, to make their way to freedom.

This action, therefore, despite its personal dimensions that are known, was not a personal choice but a political one. It was a step in the path to Revolution. The same goes for every action I have carried out and for every action I will make in the future. These are links in a chain of revolutionary planning aimed to create more favourable political and social conditions, for broadening and strengthening revolutionary struggle. Below I will refer to the political basis of this choice; but first I have to talk about facts, and the way I have operated until now in regard to some of these facts.

As I previously mentioned, every action I carry out concerns an act related to political planning. In the same context, I expropriated a branch of Piraeus Bank on the premises of Sotiria Hospital in Athens last June [2015]. With this money, in addition to my survival in “clandestinity”, I secured the organising of my action and financing of the operation for the liberation of Nikos Maziotis and other political prisoners from Koridallos women’s prisons. The reason I refer to this expropriation (I couldn’t care less about the penal consequences of this admittance) is because, at this time, I consider it absolutely necessary to disclose how I operate in regard to the safety of civilians, who in certain circumstances happen to be present in revolutionary actions I am involved in, and my perspective about this issue on the occasion – always mutatis mutandis – of the prison escape attempt.

In the case of the expropriation of Piraeus Bank branch, what I mentioned to the bank clerks when we walked into the bank was that they should not press the alarm button, because this would endanger their own safety, since I wasn’t willing to leave the bank without the money. I did not threaten them, nor would they ever be in danger because of me. They would only be in danger because of the police, if cops arrived at the spot and we subsequently had an armed clash. And the police would only arrive if any clerks pressed the bank alarm. This was a development which they themselves wanted to avoid. Because people who happen to be present in every such action are not afraid of those trying to expropriate, but instead the police intervening. Besides, it’s really stupid for anyone to attempt to defend money belonging to bankers. And for the record, when a female clerk told me “we ourselves are also poor people,” I suggested to her that we step over to a “blind” spot, where cameras can’t see us, to let her have 5,000 euros, which she did not accept, apparently out of fear. If she had accepted the money, she can be sure I would not speak publicly about it. And one detail: what I was holding was a medical apron to conceal my gun while waiting outside the bank; it was not a towel(!), as mentioned several times.

In every period of time, in the struggle for Revolution – as is also the case in all wars – at times the revolutionaries are obliged to seek the assistance of civilians in their fight. The historical examples are too many – an attempt to document them would fill an entire book, and this isn’t the time to expand on the matter – both in Greece and in armed movements and organisations in other countries. In such cases, however, we essentially ask them to take sides in a war. Once someone refuses to assist, their stance is not just about the particular practice, but an overall hostile stance against the struggle. They endanger or cancel undertakings, they put the lives of fighters in danger, they throw obstacles in the way of a revolutionary process. They take a position against a social and class war.

Neither at Piraeus Bank branch nor during the attempted helicopter escape did I make my identity known. Therefore, no one involved in these cases knew that those were political actions. But after the failed escape attempt, and given that – as I already mentioned – I had the opportunity to kill the pilot but I didn’t, risking my own life, I have to make the following public: from now on, whenever I need the assistance of civilians again, and if I deem it necessary, I will make my identity known from the outset. Since my mission in any case concerns the promotion of the struggle for overthrowing the criminal establishment, let everyone know that any possible refusal of cooperating and effort of obstructing the action will be treated accordingly.

I am, of course, aware of the personal details of the pilot, but I did not threaten his family. I would never threaten families and children.

This is my balance sheet after the escape attempt, one I must make public.

THE PRISON ESCAPE OPERATION WAS A REVOLUTIONARY CHOICE

[…]

I ATTEMPTED THE PRISON ESCAPE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTION
ALL MY LIFE I STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTION
I WILL CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL REVOLUTION

Pola Roupa
member of Revolutionary Struggle

Montreuil, Paris: Attack against an architect of domination dedicated to Mónica and Francisco

In the night of 8th-9th March 2016, with garbage skips and flammable products we set fire to the front of the architects’ office of Archi 5, rue Voltaire, in the town centre of Montreuil-sous-Bois [Paris outskirts].

Archi 5 boasts on its website of having achieved, or trying to achieve, alongside insignificant constructions, the following list of macabre projects:

The prisons of Bourg en Bresse, Draguignan, Mont de Marsan, and Rennes, the jails of Condé-sur-Sarthe and Vendin the Veil, the Cergy-Pontoise Judicial Police Pole, Clichy-sous-Bois police station, Chartres Hight Court, and the French Polynesia detention centre in Tahiti.

We dedicate this action to everyone who fights for freedom and against all authority, in particular the anarchist comrades Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, who are facing heavy prison sentences in the hands of the Spanish state, who don’t renounce a word of what they think nor what they are.

Fire to the prisons.

Fire to those who build them.

Italian | Portuguese

Boston, USA: Solidarity with the hungers strikes in Calais

Received March 13th 2016 from Boston, Massachusetts:

See also: Chronology of resistance from Rabble and posters in solidarity here.

in Italian and German

Attack on the French Institute in Athens in solidarity with the persecuted migrants in Calais, against the evacuation of the Jungle!

Communiqué in Greek via Athens IMC.
English translation received March 12th 2016:

On March the 2nd we attacked the French Institute in Athens with molotov bombs. With this action we send a message of class solidarity to the persecuted migrants and fighters who struggle against the French state. The French Institute portrays the hypocrisy of the French Republic where behind the unfulfilled revolutionary slogan Freedom-Equality-Fraternity lurks the brutality of capitalist domination.

In the region of Calais, next to the border between Britain and France, migrants who arrive there hoping to cross over to the UK or who have been evacuated and persecuted from other refugee camps, have built a self-organized shanty town. The story of the so-called Jungle, as this favela of the downtrodden has been named, begins in 2002. Migrants who have been persecuted from their homes either due to war or to poverty, their persecution knows no end when arriving in the E.U. Hunted by border patrols, cops and fascists, many of them having passed through prisons and concentration camps, the new residents of Calais take a piece of their lives into their own hands. Despite the numerous attempts of the state in the past years to crush it, this huge community of migrants is resisting and self organizing life with perseverance in the most adverse circumstances of sheer poverty and constant repression. Makeshift restaurants, schools, kid spaces, art spaces and places of worship have been set up and are run by residents together with people in solidarity inside the Jungle.

On the one hand, the Jungle reflects the brutality of the regime which traps and isolated migrants into urban ghettos and concentration camps condemning them to a permanent life on the borderline. The imposition of total control is how the rulers attempts to deal with all those who defy them and who self-organize. Whatever doesn’t fall in line with capitalist “development” is attacked and subject to repression. The cops and Civil Guard often raid the Jungle gassing and brutalizing residents destroying homes and communal infrastructure, displacing and imprisoning migrants. On the other hand the Jungle is a declaration of struggle of the oppressed, struggle for survival against the plans of state domination. The existence of the Jungle and the determined resistance against eviction is a characteristic example of the struggle against persecution and imprisonment.

Last month the French state announced the evacuation of the south part of the Jungle, home to around 3,000 migrants, on the pretext of a sanitary risk to the area. The state in order to curb the resistance of the migrant residents initially attempted to lend humanitarian motives to the evacuation, by stating that the people will be moved to heated containers, while those who don’t fit will be moved to other concentration camps throughout France, not by force but by the”force of argument”. Finally the latest eviction attempt begun this week and bears the familiar face of state violence and terrorism. Those who will be confined in concentration camps will be separated from people with whom they have built a community, they will be registered (fingerprints, photos, e.t.c.) and will descend to state of totalitarian control, dependence and exploitation by the state.

The evacuation of the Jungle is a straightforward attack against migrants’ self determination. Consequently it is an attempt to crush the self-organisation of the oppressed. The strategy of the French state is part of the common European “management of the refugee flows” which whether it is invested with right wing or humanitarian rhetoric aims to control the oppressed and to fill the pool of debased human resources to be exploited by capital. The resistance against the attempt to demolish the Jungle is a struggle against the worst conditions of class subjugation.

In the clashes taking place in Calais, what comes to the surface is the colonialist history of France and its imperialist interventions such as today in North Africa; what is revealed is the inherent fascism of bourgeois democracy and its hypocritical humanitarians. We bring to mind once again Remi Fraisse who was murdered in October 2014, fighting for the Siven forest, murdered by the same bastards in uniform who are now attacking the Jungle.

RESISTANCE AND SELF ORGANISATION OF THE OPPRESSED EVERYWHERE

COPS OUT OF THE COMMUNITIES OF THE PRESECUTED

LETS TEAR DOWN PRISONS AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS

VICTORY TO THE STRUGGLE OF THE JUNGLE

SABOTAGE THE FRENCH STATE AND THE EUROPEAN FORTRESS

From the neighborhoods of Athens
Council of Anarchist Action “Gracchus Babeuf”

Besançon, France: Solidarity with Mónica and Francisco

Down with the moral order!

Solidarity with Mónica and Francisco

During the weekend of 5th-6th March 2016, La Madeleine church in Besançon, located in the Battant neighbourhood, was tagged in solidarity with the anarchists Mónica and Francisco, who are in the hands of the Spanish state and have already spent too many years behind bars.

Strength and courage to comrades!

Athens, 08.03: Action outside the embassy of Spain in solidarity with Mónica and Francisco

On Tuesday evening, March 8th 2016, we went with banners, flyers and sprays outside the Spanish Embassy in Athens (on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, in the Makrygianni district) in a minimum display of solidarity with captive comrades Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, who stand trial in Madrid.

The banners read: “All laws are terrorism – Freedom for Mónica and Francisco”; and: “A life of combat – Prisoners to the streets – Freedom for our bodies – Madrid, 8-9-10/3/16”. Walls of the embassy building were tagged with: MONICA Y FRANCISCO LIBRES (“Mónica and Francisco free”). Among the slogans shouted (mostly in Spanish) were the words “Mateo Morral: Presente” – as well as “Javier Recabarren: Presente” in view of the week of actions in Chile in memory of the 11-year-old comrade.

“Against repression, multiform action and internationalist solidarity! Madrid, 8, 9, 10 March 2016: Trial against anarchist prisoners Francisco Solar & Mónica Caballero // So long as misery exists, there will be rebellion! // Freedom for anarchists Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, hostages of the Spanish State // No terror-law can stop us – Liberation of those who are in prison cells/cages”

Also, the following text was handed out in Greek and English:

| On the occasion of this year’s 8th March

8th March is widely known to us as women’s day, internationally established as such in the early 20th century.

The same date may remind us the 1921 execution of the Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato by shots of Catalan anarchists in Madrid.

Back to Madrid, in the year 2016:

The 8th of March marks the beginning of the trial against two anarchists from Chile, Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, who are currently held in the prisons of the Spanish State.

Back in time, in Chile:

In August 2010, following police raids in squatted spaces and houses in Santiago and Valparaíso, Mónica and Francisco were among comrades captured under the anti-terrorism law, in the so-called “bombs case” (caso bombas). Both were remanded for more than 9 months. Then, together with other co-accused, they faced one of the longest trials with their convictions intact.

It’s probably worth mentioning that earlier, in December 2009, the Chilean police had raided squatted spaces to “prevent” an anarchist attack against the then electoral process. One of the houses raided was the squat La Crota, where Mónica Caballero was also living at the time. During the trial of the “bombs case”, the prosecution demonstrated “findings” of that raid, such as posters against the Church, trying to connect Mónica with the placement of an incendiary device against a catholic church in Santiago.

“Each time I sit in the dock I feel dirty being part of this democratic process; I have nothing to prove to any judge; the only opinion that matters to me is that of my accomplices to the crime of fighting for freedom and anarchy; they want to incarcerate me for not kissing the cross of repentance, for not lowering my head…”

| words from Mónica in November 2011

Eventually the sensational trial of the “bombs case” ended in a fiasco, and in June 2012 all of the prosecuted were acquitted of all charges.

About one and a half year later, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Mónica and Francisco were captured again – this time in Barcelona. In November 2013, they were remanded under the anti-terrorism law for actions against the ecclesiastical institution in Spain.

From the first moment of their arrest, the media scum contributed greatly to the anti-anarchist propaganda of cops and judges, while it became clear that Spanish and Chilean repressive mechanisms were in good cooperation.

From the first moment of their arrest, the two comrades – once again – made their stance crystal clear: neither innocent nor guilty.

Mónica and Francisco are charged with placing an explosive device that went off in a cathedral of Zaragoza in October 2013, as well as conspiracy to prepare another attack which was supposed to take place in a monastery of Barcelona. They are accused of alleged membership in ‘Insurrectional Commando Mateo Morral’ (a group that has claimed responsibility for the placement of two devices: one at a cathedral in Madrid and another in the aforementioned church of Zaragoza). According to the accusatory dossier, both are also prosecuted for participation in FAI-FRI (Informal Anarchist Federation-International Revolutionary Front) and GAC (Coordinated Anarchist Groups), although the responsibility claims by ‘Insurrectional Commando Mateo Morral’ make no reference to the specific acronyms.

“We understand solidarity as constantly putting our anarchist ideas into practice, in all their forms, making the enemy understand that nothing ends here, everything continues in the prison or the streets.”

| words from Francisco & Mónica in December 2013

The trial against Francisco and Mónica takes place on 8th, 9th and 10th March 2016 at Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, the highest judicial body that predominantly carries out “terrorism cases.”

The prosecution has already requested a sentence of 44 years in prison for each comrade, namely: 9 years for membership in a terrorist organisation, 18 years for causing serious damage with terrorist intent, 12 years for causing injuries, and 5 years for conspiracy.

This year’s 8th March, date of the scheduled start of the trial against Francisco and Mónica, we send a signal of internationalist complicity to the two anarchist comrades, who remain unrepentant in the Spanish dungeons.

OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE CHURCH, STATE, CAPITAL, PRISON
IS MUCH STRONGER THAN ALL THEIR LAWS OF TERRORISM

Anarchafeminist initiative in solidarity with Mónica & Francisco

(reportback in Greek)

Euskal Herria: Postering in solidarity with Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar

These posters were pasted in various locations of the Basque Country in solidarity with anarchist prisoners Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, who are facing trial in Madrid from 8th to 10th March 2016.

Let’s put our minds, hearts and hands to work to give meaning to the word Solidarity.

Now more than ever: tear down the prisons, freedom for Mónica and Francisco!

Death to the State and long live Anarchy!

Video in solidarity with Francisco Solar and Mónica Caballero, held captive by the Spanish State

Informative and agitational video in solidarity with comrades Francisco Solar and Mónica Caballero, imprisoned in Spain since November 13th 2013.

On 8th, 9th, 10th March 2016, Mónica and Francisco will face a trial in which they are looking at 44 years in prison.

Anarchic, Insurgent and Internationalist Solidarity with comrades Francisco and Mónica!

in Spanish

[Calais] Two posters in solidarity with the struggle – No to all evictions!

Click on image for high-res version (5.9mb)

Click on poster for high-res version (5.9mb)

Click on image for high resolution version (2.7mb)

Click on image for high resolution version (2.7mb)

Posters also published in French

Athens: Prison sentences in the 2nd trial against Revolutionary Struggle

On March 3rd 2016, the Koridallos prison court sentenced all co-accused in the second trial against Revolutionary Struggle with regard to the attack with a car bomb containing 75kg of explosives against the Bank of Greece’s Supervision Directorate in central Athens on April 10th 2014; the shootout in Monastiraki on July 16th 2014 (when comrade Nikos Maziotis was injured and recaptured by police); and expropriations of bank branches.

Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis was sentenced to life in prison plus 129 years and a fine of 20,000 euros.

Revolutionary Struggle (fugitive) member Pola Roupa was sentenced to 11 years in prison on misdemeanor charges (if arrested, she will stand trial on felony charges, too).

Antonis Stamboulos was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Giorgos Petrakakos was sentenced to 36 years in prison plus a fine of 9,000 euros.

Athens: Info event with a comrade from Uruguay

Wednesday, March 2nd 2016, at 19:00
in Gini building of the Athens Polytechnic School

Discussion with a compañera from Uruguay concerning the threat of eviction of the squatted social centre La Solidaria in Montevideo and broader anarchist struggles in the region

Squatted Gini building* inside the Athens Polytechnic School
(entrance from Stournari Street, Exarchia)
_

* Following an initiative of Themistokleous 58 squat, in collaboration with solidarians, Gini building has been squatted since February 29th 2016 to meet the housing needs of migrant families currently stacked in Victorias Square.

Nantes, France: Resistance demo against the states of emergency – February 20th

Resistance to the states of emergency

Published on February 25th via MIA:

No injuries, nor arrests, instead numerous facades revisited

Nearly 400 people marched in Nantes in the context of the week of resistance. The lead banner, decorated with the cartoon bird “the king and the mocking bird”, called for resistance against the states of emergency, whilst referencing Kobane to Kurdistan, Ferguson to the United States, and Notre-Dame-des-Landes in France.

300 police offices were supposed to prevent access to certain areas but they couldn’t prevent the redesigning of facades of some public buildings, banks, estate agencies and the Socialist Party office located on the path of the demonstration.

Demonstrators dressed in black, masked, and some with gas masks – with fire-extinguishers, paint and egg bombs – were able to indulge in paint and political graffiti on the walls of the city.

The police used several tear gas grenades following throws of projectiles, but the procession continued it’s course despite the gas that momentarily seperated the demo into two. The shields carried by demonstrators then formed a wall intended to protect the demonstrators from the police’s flashball and LBD-40 shots.

The police tried to tighten pressure around the march in the centre’s little streets, but without success. The BAC [Anti-Crime Brigade] were even fightened when they found themselves on the route of the demonstrators.

Without injuries nor arrests, the demonstration dispersed at Nefs, with €1 beers.

Photos via Le Chat Noir Emeutier | in German

Our desires make disorder

Patras, Greece: Event-discussion in solidarity with La Solidaria squat

On Friday night, February 26th 2016, an info event took place in the anarchist/antiauthoritarian space ‘Atakton’ in the city of Patras, with the presence of a compañera from Uruguay. The situation of La Solidaria squat in Montevideo, currently threatened with repression, as well as the wider anarchist struggle in Uruguay were discussed, in the context of the international week of action against the eviction of the autonomous social centre La Solidaria.

Athens: Action outside the embassy of Uruguay in the suburb of Kifissia

On Friday afternoon, February 26th 2016, an initiative of individuals from Themistokleous 58 squat in Exarchia and solidarian comrades – nearly twenty people in total – went outside the embassy of Uruguay in Kifissia (an expensive northern suburb of Athens) in response to the international call for a week of actions against the eviction of the autonomous social centre La Solidaria in Montevideo. We unfolded a banner, threw flyers and chanted slogans in different languages, disrupting even symbolically the bourgeois normalcy of Kifissia, and made it clear to officials of the Uruguayan State that our comrades in Montevideo are not alone.

Strength to those who defend La Solidaria squat!
Anarchist struggle everywhere!

(in Spanish)

La Solidaria resists everywhere! Hands off squats!

Hands off La Solidaria!