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Posts Tagged ‘Letter’

Letter of anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito (Italy)

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016

Note: This text was written by Alfredo during his recent hunger-strike which began on October 3rd and ended on October 25th when prison authorities released him from isolation.

Prison of Ferrara – Italy
Letter of anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito

Valentina, Danilo, Anna, Marco, Sandro, Daniele, Nicola friends, brothers, sisters, comrades were arrested and rearrested.

I should narrate the same old story about another fabrication. Instead, I want to talk about the reason why they were arrested. Brothers and sisters were arrested because they attacked, they were tired of waiting, they ignored the decisions of the majority and took action.

I remain optimistic and in high spirits because the logic of “1 + 1 = 2” tells me that the comrades who struck are still free, therefore they are able to strike again.

The power does not repress randomly. Today it wants to isolate and to annihilate part of anarchist movement, a “small” as it may be it was able to break the chains that tied it to the “old social anarchy”.

A social anarchism that in suicidal and compulsive way looks for “consensus at any costs”. Diluting continuously its aspirations.

This vision that “never goes beyond” is very convenient for power, on the contrary it fears those anarchists who refuse that “consensus” ties their hands, because they believe that only out of the action (not made of abstract theories or searching-pursuing of “people”) can the strategy be born, the path to follow.

I don’t want comment the “charges” and so-called “evidences”. The only thing I would say is that the brothers and sisters of FAI-FRI have always claimed with head held high, in front of black-robed pigs, their own merits, their own actions, taking the responsibilities, spitting in the pigs’ faces, as we did in Genoa.

My main priority is not to get out of prison at all costs, but to get out with head held high without having denied anything of what I was, and I am.

I will get out by hook or by crook, it will all depends on my strength, on my abilities, on the strength of my brothers and sisters outside, but definitely I will get out with head held high.

My ideal complicity goes to brothers and sisters of the “Cooperativa Artigiana Fuoco ed Affini”-FAI, to brothers and sisters of FAI-RAT(Rivolta Anonima Tremenda) and to brothers and sisters of Narodnaja Volja – FAI, whoever they are, wherever they are.

My ideal complicity goes to anarchism of praxis, which in new forms is rising in most of the world, after a long hibernation.

Forward, without fear.

The future is ours.

Thought and Dynamite

Alfredo Cospito

via CNA, Traces of Fire, InsurrectionNews

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Posted in Prison Struggle

A writing by CCF members for the US prison mobilization and anarchist prisoners in Italy (Greece)

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

NON SERVIAM – I WILL NOT SERVE YOU

“Worse than enslavement is getting used to it…”

Life in the modern civilized world comprises false representations, false patterns, and false formalities. Formalities that determine our upbringing within a family, our education, our professional career, our relationships, our emotions, our smiles or tears. Patterns that castrate the scope of our perception so that our thoughts are directed onto a moving walkway going only one direction. Representations that disguise the system’s functions and pathogenies so that we see life unfold only on stage, and never wonder what’s hidden backstage. So, the thousands of suicides of desperate debtors is just another statistic among the unpleasant consequences of the economic crisis, the impoverishment of the so-called third world is just an unfortunate fact, and its wounds will heal by charity organizations, the countless dead of modern crusades, the unfortunate victims of the absurdity of war, and the convict slaves in American prisons are simply antisocial elements that provide social services to Democracy.

Prison itself is exile from life; a non-place and non-time behind the screen of a decent society, to make the ugliness that bothers the eyes of reputable citizens unseeable. Prisons are a proof of the perverse intelligence of authoritarian minds. They’re built onto walls echoing the screaming and weeping of thousands of people who’ve learned to sleep with anguish and despair. Prison is the country of captivity, the country where one learns to kneel before the “Forbidden”, a landfill for the disposal of human waste, an industrial dump where the social machine’s hazardous waste ends up. For most people, however, for all those who never learned to doubt, to question, to look beyond the obvious, prison is a security wall necessary to protect their peaceful and quiet life. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Letter from imprisoned anarchist comrade Lukas Borl in solidarity to the prison uprising in the United States (Czech Republic)

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Hello. My name is Lukáš Borl. I am 34 years old and recently I am held in custody prison in Czech republic – Europe. I am an anarchist and I express my solidarity with all oppressed and exploited people around the World regardless their origin, sexual orientation or gender. From this perspective I decided to send few words of solidarity to the prisoners in USA where, according to the information available to me, a general strike of working prisoners began on 9.9.2016. Regardless what they’ve done, regardless how the Criminal Procedure is categorizing it, I want to express my support to every striking person in prisons around USA.

Every person without exception has a right to respect and human dignity. All prisons trample this right in different ways. For example, a person whose dignity was taken away by prison is additionally exposed to exploitation by working there. As prisoners, you labor hard under hard conditions and often in danger to your own health. Time spent at work is managed by bosses, and the products of this work are taken by capitalists. On one side, there is the growing wealth of corporations, and on the other, you: the humiliated and exploited people who create the profit produced by their work. The implacable antagonism of these two worlds is obvious. If you decided to go on strike, then, it is a legitimate form of a struggle for ending exploitation. I understand this struggle and I support it. I want to let you know that your struggle is also mine. We share the same reality as human beings suffering under the control of the capital and state. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

A statement in support of the US prison mobilization by CCF-FAI/FRI Urban Guerrilla Cell (Greece)

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Soledad Brothers (from left to right): John Clutchette, George L. Jackson (September 23, 1941 — August 21, 1971) and Fleeta Drumgo

“Gentlemen, the Dragon Will Fly Out”
In Support of September 9th Mobilization in US Prisons

“Gentlemen, the dragon will fly out” is a saying attributed to prisoner George Jackson. On August 21st 1971, holding a pistol, he opened all the cells in an adjustment unit, taking jailers hostage. George Jackson was killed in his attempt to escape…

Since September 9th, prisoners in the United States have called for action against slavery.

A multitude of “invisible” slaves (there are about 2.5 million prisoners in the United States) are condemned to forced labor, or as jailers of their own selves (internal work in prisons, cleaning, repairs, technical operations), or as cheap meat in the service of corporate behemoths (Honda, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, and many others). Besides, the 13th amendment to the US constitution clearly states: “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…” To put it simply, detainees are considered slaves as part of their punishment.

Prisons in America—and not just there–aren’t only bars, walls, surveillance cameras or lockdowns. They’re also an enormous lucrative business. Prisons are a dirty dealing for continuously supplied shackled labor force without name and without voice. They represent a modern slave trade, making billion-dollar profit, that not only supplies the companies-caretakers but also the industry of lawyers, judges, cops, corrections officers, private prisons. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Conspiracy of Cells of Fire – “For Alfredo and Anna – Until we meet” (Greece, Italy)

Tuesday, October 25th, 2016

In Italy, comrade Alfredo Cospito since October 3rd and comrade Anna Beniamino since October 10th, are on a hunger strike against the isolation imposed on them and on the anarchists imprisoned for the attacks of FAI (Operation “Scripta Manent”).

We know that the struggle against authority is unequal… Nevertheless we choose the war for freedom instead of the peace of fear.

Because we know that there are “free” people, who are more enslaved than prisoners, and living people that are more dead than most of our dead comrades who fell in the battle for freedom.

Because for every battle that we lose, a new one begins.

“Because if I don’t get burnt, if you don’t get burnt, how will the darkness turn to shining…”

For us solidarity is not simply a “touching” word, but a way of life, of becoming people with the dream as our measure.

We stand by our comrades Alfredo and Anna with all our hearts and minds, until our dreams meet…

STRENGTH AND SOLIDARITY TO THE COMRADE HUNGER STRIKERS

ALFREDO COSPITO AND ANNA BENIAMINO

NEVER REGRETFUL
NEVER DEFEATED

CCF / FAI – Urban Guerrilla Cell

George Polydoros

Olga Economidou

Gerasimos Tsakalos

Christos Tsakalos

Korydallos prison

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CCF Per Alfredo ed Anna fino al incontro

In Italia dal 3 ottobre il compagno Alfredo Cospito e dal 10 ottobre la compagna Anna Beniamino sono in sciopero di fame contro il regime d’isolamento imposto a loro ed agli anarchici incarcerati per attachi di FAI (operazione scripta manent).

Conosciamo che la battaglia contro il potere è ineguale….però scegliamo la guerra per la libertà che la pace di paura. Perché sappiamo che ci siano “liberi” più schiavi che i carcerati e vivi più morti che i nostri compagni caduti in battaglia per la libertà. Perché per ogni battaglia che perdiamo, una nuova comincia. “Perché se non mi brucio io, se non ti bruci tu, come il buio diventerà splendore…”

Per noi la solidarietà non è una parola “emozionante” ma una maniera di vivere ad essere umani dove la nostra misura sarà il sogno.

Stiamo a lato dei compagni Alfredo ed Anna con tutta la nostra cuore e nostro mente fino al incontro del sogno…

FORZA E SOLIDARIETÀ AI COMPAGNI CHE FANO SCIOPERO DA FAME ALFREDO COSPITO ANNA BENIAMINO MAI PENTITI MAI PERDITI CCF/FAI-Cellula guerriglia urbana

Polidoros Giorgio Iconomidu Olga Tsacalos Gerasimos Tsacalos Christos Dalle prigioni di Coridalos

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Italy – Anarchist comrades Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino ended their hunger strike on 22nd October
On 22nd October, following the revocation of solitary confinement, Alfredo and Anna stopped their hunger strike, which they had begun on 3rd October and 10th October respectively.

via: Croceneranarchica, actforfree

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Letter from imprisoned anarchist comrade Lukas Borl (Czech Republic)

Tuesday, October 25th, 2016

Statement to my arrest
On Sunday, September 4th, 2016, I was arrested by the police in Most and then taken to the remand prison in Litomerice. Unfortunately it happened what I did not want to, but knew all along that this may occur at any time. Fortunately, I have mentally prepared myself for such situation so it allows me to deal calmly with this kind of unpleasant reality, which I’m and apparently people close to me are exposed to now.

I was captured by those who defend the rule of capital over our lives. Nevertheless, that doesn’t change anything on my will to continue along the path that I have chosen. I will continue to destroy and create. To fight and love. I remain an anarchist with everything that belongs to it. I decided for now to write a few paragraphs about my imprisonment. Surely I will soon express my opinion about other issues that I consider important.

Before the arrest
It’s no secret that at a certain moment I decided to “disappear”, in worry that the police was planning my arrest. I have expressed my reasons in the text “Disappearance of supervision of state power”, which is published various sites of the anarchist movement. The choice I made, allowed me to live hidden and quite happily for months. I freely moved and ate a good food. Whole world became home for me, and I was able to find havens for cultural and social existence in it. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Communique from Anarchists from D Wing, Korydallos Prison, Athens, for the struggle in Syria (Greece)

Wednesday, October 5th, 2016

1st of October
A minimum response on the call-out for the day of Rage against the massacre at Aleppo.

Even if there are only ruins left at Aleppo, the bombings haven’t stopped. Even now, after 5 years of bombs and sieges, people still live in this city. Some because they didn’t manage to leave, some because they didn’t see a better future at Mediterranean’s seabed, some because they refused to abandon the revolution against the dictatorship of Assad, that started with the Arab Spring. At Aleppo’s ruins a guerilla warfare is taking place, that until now, Assad with Hezbollah, Iran and Russian military machine haven’t achieved to defeat.

If the things that happened with the repression of Spanish Revolution by Franco and the Nazis were the rehearsal of World War II, probably the war in Syria is an image of the post-industrial future on earth. A future, where the democratic excuses collapse and the absolute violence prevails. A world, that despite the gigantic military power of the tyrants, the most effective way to control the insurrection is still by division. A situation of despair, where people in order to defend themselves and survive, are organized in groups manipulated by generals, who only seek more power and who lead the revolting crowds away from the fight against the regime and into a fight for control of the war zones of their interests.

The result is a constant war, a profitable business for the capitalists, who sell weapons and armament to war zones, where trade and economy still exist.

The example of Syria’s punishment is a clear warning to everyone in the world, who even thinks about revolting.

In this chaotic total war, the reference point for us, are the few guerilla groups, organized outside the control the “moderate Muslims” of Al Nusra, or the “cosmics” of the FSA, who are both manipulated from the dominant powers of imperialistic competition, like USA, and both have the same target, a big piece from the power reallocation.

In a situation where people are cruelly attacked from one imperialist, and seek safety from the actions of its rival, we are affected by some revolutionaries, like the Leon Sedov Brigade, who stand against any imperialist and propose the solidarity and unity among the repressed of this world. We are inspired from the attempts of organization from the Revolutionary Coordination Committees against the dividing of the uprising, from the manipulant organizations.

Those rebels who try to self-organize in a battlefield with bombs and chemical weapons, who are still fighting despite the heavy losses, who prefer to die rather than surrender to the murderer Assad, who define and defend their freedom at all costs, they spread the message that in every condition struggle is possible, if there is the will to fight.

They spread a message that the powerful military machines of Al Assad, Iran, Lebanon, Isis, Russia and USA haven’t achieved to defeat them for more than 5 years.

That explains the cruelty of the attack to Aleppo, the capital of revolution. After smaller towns were besieged and lead to starvation, the same tactic was attempted at Aleppo. But there were dynamic demonstrations where banks were expropriated, actions outside the guidelines of the army parties, which control the masses. That’s why Aleppo is now being totally destroyed.

A major factor for the ongoing slaughter in Syria is the absolute absence of social resistance to this war, from the people of the imperialistic countries that invaded Syria.

European people, not only they do not react to the war, but the majority consent to the closure of the borders for refugees, who, if they survive from the death in the sea, are the only fighting, like the great example of Syrian refugees in Paris who went on hunger strike, demand the termination of the war.

We don’t have a clear picture of what happens in movements in the rest of the world, but we are going to talk for the Greek case. Because after all, the economic crisis and poverty here in Greece, except from radicalizing parts of the people, lead more to the pacification. On the one hand we have people who take care of the refugees, rescuing them with their boats, independently from political parties and non-governmental organizations, and on the other hand there were beatings, fascist attacks and actions against the refugees. No big anti-war demonstration though, as happened in the past, because now economy is the only concern. Using it’s left mask, Syriza combining fear management and harsh repression, lead social resistances, in general, to surrender. And now Greek state is placing refugees to concentration camps, obeying the demands of the European Union. Sadly, the solidarity to the refugees is limited to charity, without any reference to the revolution, that lead to war.

For the lefts, the “anti-american” feelings and the belief that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” doesn’t allow them to stand against Assad, while the majority of the anarchists, lacking analysis, refer exclusively to Rojava.

At the same moment, refugees give their own fights like the uprising in Moria, where after destroying a large part of the infrastructure, they escaped, but rather than run, as usually happens, they gathered and demonstrated, resulting their arrest.

In our opinion, we seek the expansion of the solidarity to the refugees, in a more general context, that will regard the war in Syria as an example of an uprising and how capitalists dealt with it, in order to be able to exclude the proper conclusions from it.

It’s obvious, that the unity of the rebels doesn’t come from the big, centralized, hierarchical organizations, that end up fighting each other for the biggest share of power. The only hope is a horizontal organization, that doesn’t allow to any ambitious leader to sell the fight. The decentralized network of collectives that fight with their one will to a common direction, coordinating when possible, exchanging information, know-hows, arms and political ideas.

The views that see hierarchical organization as a necessary condition to achieve victory in a revolutionary war, were tried in the past and were lead to defeat or to the reproduction of the same social systems that they hypothetically fought.

The example of Syria, where small guerrilla groups and no centralized armies stand against the Russian military machine and the alliance of local armies, proves that what is missing is not the proper leadership, but a new mindset of organization. And that applies to every field of organization of revolutionary action, whether it is guerilla warfare, or the spread of revolutionary ideas, that do not persuade anyone because they are signed by the biggest federation, but are spread through initiative, close human contact, and co-action.

The massacre in Syria won’t stop, unless we do something to stop it.

Unless we face it as a part of the repression that we all have felt. If we don’t feel the tenacity of the rebels who don’t surrender. If we don’t realize that the distance from suffocating because of tear gas in demonstrations to the endless gas chamber of Syria is short. As long as we abstain from the streets, we give our permission to this bloodshed.

When captivity and death become universal condition, we are called to make insurrection and solidarity a universal condition.

EVERY DAY, A DAY OF RAGE
WAR AGAINST AUTHORITY ON EVERY INCH OF EARTH

Anarchists from D’ wing of Koridallos Prison (Greece)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Fernando Bárcenas, Mexican Anarchist Prisoner, Calls for Solidarity with US Prison Strike (Mexico)

Wednesday, August 31st, 2016

Via Actforfree:

Open letter to compañerxs.

Note: The use of the word prison in this text refers to all artificial environments that domesticate us so as to insert us by force into the capitalist system of production; this is a contribution to deepen the reflection of all living beings in the hands of economic powers and the technological project…

Compas, I greet you with insurrectionary love, that these words of war may reach you; greeting as well the coming days of insurrection, as ideas bloom in the fields like flowers we should not stop tending. We do not know if there will be a victory, but what we do know is that they will not occupy our dreams and our lives…

The only truly free moment is when we fight for freedom, because we prefer to die rather than accept this way of life, and without realizing it we are already free, because nothing occupies our minds except the sole desire to set fire to reality…

But what hides behind this destructive war, behind the somber darkness of the human spirit? Is it not perhaps the reflection and poetic manifestation of beings taking back their lives and actively influencing the organization of the daily life? (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Call for International Anarchist Action in Solidarity with US Prison Strike

Friday, August 26th, 2016

On September 9th, prisoners across the United States will begin a strike that will be a general work stoppage against prison slavery. In short, prisoners will refuse to work; they will refuse to keep the prisons running by their own labors. Prisoners are striking not just for better conditions or changes in parole rules, but against prison slavery. Prisoners state that under the 13th Amendment which abolished racial slavery, at the same time it allowed human beings to be worked for free or next to nothing as long as they were prisoners.

Prisoners see the current system of prison slavery to thus be a continuation of racial slavery, which is a system that generates billions of dollars in profits each year for major corporations in key industries such as fossil fuels, fast food, banking, and the US military.

Soon after the passing of the 13th Amendment, many former slaves were soon locked up in prisons on petty offenses, quickly returned to their former roles as slaves. Over a century later, the Drug War sought to deal with the growing unemployment rate brought on by changes in the economy (outsourcing, financialization, deregulation, etc), as well as the threat of black insurrection which grew in the 1960s and 70s, by throwing more and more people in prison. At the same time, the state and corporations continued to look towards prison labor as a source to generate massive profits. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Letter from imprisoned anarchist comrades Tamara Sol and Natalia Collado (Chile)

Thursday, August 25th, 2016

Comrades Tamara Sol and Natalia Collado have sent this statement on the occasion of the following initiatives: Anti-authoritarian Day for comrades Tamara Sol, Natalia and Nataly at the Libertarian Library Manuel Rojas. Sunday, July 17; 1st Antiauthoritarian Café Literario at the Kanno Suga and Denjiro Kotoku library. Saturday, July 30.

To the comrades, those in affinity, to those present. We were surprised to learn of this initiative, and we consider it very highly knowing that it is an initiative that comes from people whom we do not know or with whom we have no ties, who as individuals and as a group feel the desire to come together in an act of solidarity and affinities, which we greet with the affection and strength that we receive and which gives us the energy to face the prison context as we would like to.

Three weeks have passed since we found ourselves in the maximum-security section of the prison where, unlike the rest of the prison population (the other pavilions), we cannot get out of the section unless handcuffed and with a guard at our side to control us. Likewise we are prevented from participating in learning or recreational activities apart from going out a couple of days to play women’s football at the field. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Letter from imprisoned anarchists Kostas Sakkas and Marios Seisidis (Greece)

Saturday, August 20th, 2016

On August 4th, because of a random police check just outside Sparta, the journey of freedom ends. Two different paths ended, two different beginnings, which however converge on a common purpose. That of freedom. The freedom that was not given to us and was not granted even for a moment. Contrarily, each one of us, in our own way and with our own characteristics, fought very hard for something most consider obvious.

We fought for every free glance to the sky, every free handshake, every free hug, every free breath.

We asserted what the persecutory mechanisms deprived us of, our only weapons the endless desire for freedom, but also the courage we took from the thought that we also continue to fight for those who stayed behind.

On the other hand, on the opposite of freedom and life itself, we came up against the uniformed murderers of the state, the obedient dogs, the servants of the bourgeoisie and its capital. Those who did not hesitate to shoot at us from behind, those who tortured us because we instinctively did the obvious, trying to escape from their hands. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

‘Disappearing From State Control’ by fugitive anarchist Lukáš Borl (Czech Republic)

Sunday, August 14th, 2016

Note from Insurrection News: What follows is a newly translated text that was written by anarchist comrade Lukáš Borl in September 2015, shortly after he made the decision to become a fugitive following serious police harassment and surveillance in the Czech Republic for suspected involvement with SRB / Network of Revolutionary Cells…

I´m an anarchist, a rebel and this means so much to me. Among others also that I´m threatened by those against which I fight. Besides other rebels it´s more complicated with us, anarchists. The threat is always here for us and it doesn’t matter what time or place we live in – in the position of fighters against all states the anarchists are always under the threat of repressions and violence. During monarchy, theocracy, fascist or bolshevik dictatorship, same as during the times of liberal democracy. All anarchists must live with knowing that everyday can appear the fist of the state repressions. (more…)

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Posted in Social Control

Political statement of Panagiotis Argyrou for the trial for the escape attempt in 2015 (Greece)

Friday, July 22nd, 2016

Political statement of Panagiotis Argyrou for the trial for the escape attempt

Looking back…

“We’re given our life only once, like a unique chance. It’s never going to exist again, at least in this autonomous form. And what do we do with it instead of living it? What do we do? We drag it from place to place, killing it…” (Hronis Missios)

The courts have a unit of their own to count life and freedom by; a unit that uses types and algorithms of the legal language to say what’s fair or unfair, right or wrong, normal or in decline. And in this process where lives and freedoms are being put in the balance of the law, you’re sometimes given the chance to look back; you feel guilty or you don’t. It’s an important moment because whatever you say might pour some more cement around you, it might increase the amount of those moments where the door opens up and closes, perhaps it makes your ear get used even more to the sound of the key turning into the door’s slot, enough to make you think you’ve always been hearing this sound, that there was no morning or evening you didn’t hear this sound at a certain pre-arranged time.

So here we are… For five and a half years I‘ve been hearing that key. Five and a half years that my eyes crash onto the walls. Five and a half years with two sentences (37 and 19 years) and another two coming. And now here in this trial one more. This will be the fifth trial in a row where I wait “to see what will happen to me” or for “my laughter to turn to crying“. And it is again the moment to put a mirror in front of the past and my choices and look back. So I look…

(more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

Two letters from Kevan Thakrar, imprisoned within the CSC Units (UK)

Sunday, July 17th, 2016

UPDATE – Demo: Thursday 21st July 2016, between 12.30pm and 2.30pm – Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Rose Court, Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS, UK

From a comrade of ABC Brighton:

25th May 2016

Having just read George Jackson’s ‘Soledad brothers. Two things have struck me, this book was written in 1960’s America during the black rights movement detailed the racism found in their prisons then but could quite easily depict the current state of English prisons today. Cowardly white prisoners colluding with the prison officers in order to subject the minorities to a worse quality of life than they face, rather than seeing their fellow prisoner as an ally in attempting to improve life for all, is a growing problem in England although those with Islamic beliefs are the main targets rather than the Blacks. The expansion of Nazi gangs which is facilitated by prison service personnel at all levels, with random unprovoked attacks on minorities being the result is successfully dividing the prison population, causing a distraction from the serious deterioration in conditions within prisons which are creeping behind the racists.

The book covers much wider ground, looking at capitalism and imperialism as the route causes for the exploitation of humans by America but it is within prisons where these effects are magnified. The fact that this conservative government are oppressing the masses today, demonizing immigrants and Muslims whilst dropping bombs all over the middle east is no different to the American government in the 60’s implementing Jim Crow, warring with Vietcong and misleading the public with propaganda. (more…)

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Posted in Prison Struggle

CCF Escape Case: Statement of Athena Tsakalou to the court (Greece)

Tuesday, July 12th, 2016

Below is the statement of Athena Tsakalou (the mother of CCF anarchist prisoners Christos Tsakalos and Gerasimos Tsakalos) which was read out in Koridallos prison court by her defense lawyer in late June 2016, while the CCF escape case trial was still underway.

I haven’t chosen silence, even though it expresses me on many occasions because everyone interprets silence as it suits them. I’ve preferred to make this personal statement. And I call it personal because I don’t belong anywhere; I only belong to myself.

There comes a moment when you take a look back at the years in your life, and you realise you’ve left to live far fewer than the years you’ve already lived; that is, if everything goes well. And this is a strange but intense sensation, which makes me ask myself to be sincere. Not in the simple way we often think about it, but in an essential, deeper way.

I don’t like to say: where is this world going? It’s something that we – people at an older age – often do, but such a phrase conceals some sort of innocence that I refuse to accept. I prefer to ask myself: how do you yourself walk through this world?

And the truth is that all I want is to walk among people in a consolatory manner. It’s very important to be able to console people, especially your own people; to be able to tell them when they’re going through tough times: I’m standing by you; I’ll always stick with you. Nothing else. This is my only desire, and I’m glad whenever I’m able to do that.

So when Angeliki knocked on the door of my home, that’s exactly what I did. And it was a great pleasure for me that I was able to offer her refuge, even if only for a short while. The way the world is, the only place I want to live in is the place of defiance.

Assuming that, throughout the centuries, people have intended to live, if not a life of happiness, at least a joyful life, their history to date shows that they’ve failed. History books, either the official, inspected ones, or the secret ones that it’s hard to come by, show that people have failed. It may be that the conditions for survival or living standards got better – although ‘better’ is relative, as this is not the case in some parts of the earth – but the pain, the horror of wars, of hunger and oppression continue to rise.

Of course there’s a difference; a nightmarish difference. Nowadays, death is no longer caused just by hand-to-hand combat on the battlefields where, even from a distance determined by a firearm, you’re able to see the falling body and hear the cry of pain, and regardless of how much dehumanised you’ve become, this sight and sound leaves a peculiar imprint within you that, at some point, might make you not want war anymore. On today’s battlefields, we find ourselves in the era of smart bombs, and one is able to retain ‘their innocence’ by pressing a button which brings mass death; that’s the difference.

For some time now, more than 10,000 refugee children who were travelling unaccompanied have disappeared in Europe over the past 18–24 months. There are fears that many of them have fallen victim to exploitation by organised crime networks…

The world’s 62 richest people hold as much wealth as half the population on the planet…

The earth’s products are enough to feed its entire population, yet millions of people, millions of children die of hunger.

Some very few, like these 62 wealthiest people in the world, might say: ‘all this stuff about a joyful life is nothing but a trap set for the many to be lured into it, because the whole deal with the world is a game, a game of death. It’s not just the money that matters; besides, we have plenty of that; what really matters is the ability to use our power to play games with the entire world; all of a sudden, to drive thousands of people to death; to scare entire populations with wars, famine and diseases when we’re bored; because that’s also up to us, to cause diseases, thanks to scientists. In some sense, we’re a kind of gods; and gods are always almighty.’

And this is true, but it’s also true that there are no gods without believers. Gods cannot just live all by themselves; they want their faithful to walk quietly around their gardens, ready to execute their orders – all of their orders, even if it means killing one another. However, there are always those whose blood is resided by the first rebellion of Eve and Adam.

And it’s about time we said: after so much human blood watering the earth’s soil every day, after all this lament filling the earth’s air, if there’s no change of course for the human species, if the human mind isn’t crossed by a lightning at some point, so that we see everything differently… then indeed it’d be a brave decision if people eventually said: ‘for so many centuries, we’ve been unable to find joy; we might as well admit that as a species we aren’t capable of something like this; we might as well admit our failure and leave calmly; let us be the last of the humans; let us admit that only trees deserve life, continuity, eternity as they’re free of the instinct of war, of horror.’

Lately all I want to do is plant trees. And someone might ask me: but is this truly your deepest desire? No, I haven’t done well; I’m still determined by the ability to see as far as my eye can see, to keep my mind off things by taking pleasure in small joys; but when I open the eye of my mind to a worldwide wandering, a worldwide looking, and I see how small a share joy has in people’s lives, I say once more: if the dream doesn’t enter people’s lives, if there’s no change of course for the human species, only trees deserve continuity, life, eternity.

Athena Tsakalou

– via contrainfo

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Posted in Cognitive Liberty