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Lisbon, Portugal: Gathering 24/03 at the Spanish consulate in solidarity with Mónica and Francisco

NEITHER GUILTY NOR INNOCENT

For the State, terrorists are those that endanger its interests. Fed up with this reality of fear, corruption, police abuses, media manipulation, some decide not to give up, and fight. For this they are persecuted.

Thursday 24th March at 17:30
Consulate General of Spain
3, Salitre St., Lisbon

We gather to oppose the parody trial against the anarchists Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar.

SOLIDARITY WITH IMPRISONED ANARCHISTS

TEAR DOWN THE WALLS OF ALL PRISONS

solidárixs

Montevideo, Uruguay: Graffiti in remembrance of Javier Recabarren

JAVIER RECABARREN PRESENT IN EVERY INDOMITABLE, FREE AND WILD HEART – NO CAGE, NO ZOO

As of Friday 11th March there’s an international call-out from the Chilean region for agitation in memory of Javier Recabarren, who was sadly hit by a city bus of Transantiago on March 18th last year.

We don’t want to remember him only the day of his death; we want to remember him in every step that we take, in every action that brings us closer to our common ideals – animal liberation, among others.

He was an 11-year-old compa whose vegan nutrition practices and various different motivations for the closure of the Zoo in Santiago de Chile gave strength to many to remain standing!

From the Uruguayan region we send warm hugs to his family, his friends and comrades who continue the fight!

Neither walls nor borders will stop our yearning for freedom!
Until every cage in the entire world is empty!

Asturias: Spanish trains sabotaged in solidarity with Mónica and Francisco

On March 11th 2016, we cut the counterweights along the catenary of Avilés/Xixón rail line in both directions. The cuts were made at the height of the town of Villabona, locality where our comrades Mónica and Francisco are held hostage. These cuts produce a voltage drop on the line forcing a halt to train traffic, causing serious delays and economic losses. The action aims to send a warm revolutionary hug to our comrades on the occasion of the trial/farce organised by the Spanish State.

Also solidarity graffiti were painted on the two signs of the -penitentiary centre- indicating where they are held hostage.

Love for freedom, and hate of those who take it from us

Some anarchist individualities

Spanish | Greek, Portuguese

Marseille, France: Banners for the international day against police brutality

What do the police do? It’s blindingly obvious! ACAB

The police murder! Never forget, never forgive. 1312.

Some banners dropped on March 19th for the international day against police brutality. One for those mutilated and one for those murdered, on two Marseille bridges: Cours Julien and Saint Charles train station.

ACAB

Paris: Law, work, prison – destroy them!

Published March 18th:

These last weeks 8 ATMs were sabotaged by various means (hammer, expanding foam, extinguisher) in the north of Paris.

Instead of complaining alongside social partners (the guards of the revolt), destroy that which destroys us! No need for demos!

The “work law”, we couldn’t give a shit, we just want to break everything!

Solidarity with the anarchists of Koridallos.

in Greek

Marseille, France: Incendiary attack against a GDF Suez car in solidarity with Calais

Received March 19th:

In recent weeks, the State and its “good” army have intensified their attacks against our friends in Calais, between two racist pogroms unleashed by fascists. But those who attack libertarian networks should expect strong reactions.

If the houses built in Calais are destroyed, we’ll destroy the repressive infrastructure, in Marseille like anywhere else.

In response to the destruction and attacks against the Calais Jungle, we burned a van of {Cofely – GDF Suez}, who profit from the management of so-called “migrants” by participating in the construction of detention centres in France and in Italy – Friday 4th March in the neighbourhood of Baille.

The struggle against all borders, States, and the society of exclusion and eviction, will continue.

For a solidarity-based life.

H.i.H.i.H.i
(Insomniac Owls with Internationalist Mood and Incandescent Humour)

Toulouse, France: Incendiary attack against Vinci trucks

Photo from incendiary attack against Vinci trucks in Limoges, June 2015

Solidarity arson

Toulouse Saturday 27th February

We set fire to several trucks on a Vinci construction site.
We wanted to kick start a fire.
To have fun together,
to not go where we were expected.
It was great.
A fire in winter is warming.

Support to all the crusty kids, zadists or not

Some rascals

in Greek

Athens: Responsibility claim for incendiary attack against Hellenic Post branch in Nea Smyrni

(Original communiqué received March 19th 2016.)

Who will shatter the rock that for millennia has sat upon individual autonomy? For so long now learning to live has meant learning to die.”

How many years of commercial society? How many more of “civilised” existence? And all this for what? We take part in the most paranoid experiment of human domination. From the early stages of domestication up to economy’s invasion into life, oppression, exploitation and coercion have been the most structural components of society. The Power’s structures and logics have strived to ensure their presence over the centuries, transformed themselves, gained flexibility by stepping on human relations and finally imposed their universality through the commercialisation of existence. Non-compliance margins have narrowed. The ways of vomiting “needless waste” are being humanised. The sometimes aggressive and sometimes passive indifference of the capitalist world towards the sustainability of human or nonhuman beings, that are deemed unnecessary in various ways, is discernible at a glance, not very far away. How many bodies stacked dead or alive in seas or the coldness of gray rooms?

There are no excuses in the face of the existent; everyone sees, everyone knows. The expression of our position towards this situation takes shape through anarchist action. We’ll avoid distant and hypothetical analysis. We know that (not only in our own lives) the moments of freedom are so assimilable into the repeated everyday routine that we are unable to imagine any possible turn of events. The only sure thing is that we feel this world to be unbearably hooked in our skin, and the more we attack it, the less it leaves its marks on us.

While some were sleeping exhausted and dazzled by a three-day weekend of frenzied consumption and entertainment, some chose to swing into action. In the early hours of Tuesday March 15th 2016, we torched and destroyed a van and an ATM of the Hellenic Post (ELTA) branch in the district of Nea Smyrni, Athens. Because of the fire’s extent, the branch acquired a new facade as well.

Also this is a minimum act of complicity with incarcerated comrades that have recently faced or are once again facing the halls of judges and prosecutors. Strength to Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Revolutionary Struggle, as well as all imprisoned anarchists around the world, and everyone who in any way contribute to the intensification of anarchist war against Power.

PS. And because memory is integral to the continuation of anarchist struggle we cannot but recall the death of comrade Lambros Foundas, on March 10th 2010, after an armed clash with cops.

Until anarchy

Incendiary Disobedience Cell

Chile [16/3]: Handmade poster in memory of Javier Recabarren

Because No One Is Forgotten

Javier Recabarren Present

Porto, Portugal: Poster in solidarity with anarchist prisoners

English translation received March 17th 2016:

SOLIDARITY WITH THE ONES THAT FIGHT WITHOUT BEING AFRAID OF DARKNESS…

Despite the image that is painted, this society is not a neutral and paradisaical form of human organization. Its core is crossed by a multiplicity of power relations, of exploitation and domination.

In this side of the world, domination goes by the name of democracy. A system of values and practices that promote conformism and opportunism while oils the machine that benefits a few.

Against the misery of modern life, some choose to believe in the empty shells of nationalism and religion, while others chose the path of freedom and the open confrontation with all forms of authority.

Because the affirmation of a life worth to be lived takes with it the denial of all the paths that lead to alienation and subjugation. Only the dead fishes go with the stream.

The democratic regime doesn’t tolerate the ones that refuse its rules and that have declared war to it. As a result of it, lots of anarchists are nowadays imprisoned in the rotten cells of democracy.

In the times we live, no comrade should be left alone.

Solidarity with the ones that chose to defy the certainty of normality and apathy.

THE UNKNOWN IS THE BROTHER OF THE FUTURE!

here in printable size

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

in French and German

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

via Renverse.ch from Switzerland Indymedia (currently not available)

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, Portuguese

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 | Portuguese

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.

For the poster of the communique click here

in French and German

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

German | French via Nantes Indymedia

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 and Portuguese | Spanish via Attaque

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”