‘Prison Struggle’ Archives
June 28 – International Solidarity Day with imprisoned anarchist comrade Eric King (USA)
Saturday, May 13th, 2017
June 28th of this year will mark one year since Eric King was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and one year since he stood up in court in Kansas City, Missouri. EK read the statement he had prepared declaring why he took action on that fateful night and that he still has no regrets. Eric has seen and experienced a lot in the nearly three years of his incarceration, and every step of the way he is unwavering in who he is and with the principles he upholds. From long stints in the S.H.U (Secure Housing Unit), to getting moved from one institution to another, to anxiety filled situations where he doesn’t know where he might be going next, he always maintains a kind of spirit that keeps him afloat no matter what they throw at him.
He also understands that while he may be locked up, he is far from forgotten about, as evidenced through the collective efforts of those actively supporting him directly or on the periphery. EK is emboldened by anyone who responds to that fire inside, fights against oppression as a part of the anarchist struggle undeterred, and who remains unrelenting no matter what that state throws at you. (more…)
Tags: Eric G. King, International Solidarity, USA
Posted in Prison Struggle
Warsaw 3 – A Call for Solidarity Actions on May 31st 2017
Saturday, May 13th, 2017
Dear Friends,
We have been waiting for over a year for the trial of the Warsaw 3. Today, we send this call out for solidarity actions on the first court sitting – the 31st of May 2017.
There is also a demonstration ‘WE ARE ALL TERRORISTS’ planned for that day in front of the court in Warsaw (adress: Marszałkowska 82).
The Polish government follows the international trend to see terrorist threat everywhere. There is no better reason to fuel war economy, enhance policing tools and prepare the ground for autocracy than the figure of the enemy. Either external threat – migrants (including kids ready to commit acts of terror), or the inside threat in the form of the domestic terrorism category is at this point commonly used in the whole EU to scare the population into obedience. (more…)
Tags: International Solidarity, Poland, Trial, Warsaw, Warsaw 3
Posted in Prison Struggle
For a Dangerous June – Call for a month of mobilization in solidarity with Italian anarchist prisoners
Tuesday, May 9th, 2017
A text that sums up the ideas expressed during the meetings ‘With our heads held high’
State repression is the most important part of the system of dominion and one of its most disgraceful expressions; it doesn’t surprise us that those who are struck most are historically those who don’t let themselves be recuperated by the system of power, i.e. anarchist, revolutionary and rebel individualities.
The latter respond to the physical, psychological, moral, social and economic repression unleashed by all the components of democratic power and to the brutal indiscriminate violence of its armed hands and the judiciary. This they do with direct action aimed at those responsible for repression, with the creative and liberating destruction of the places of dominion and the sabotage of its infrastructures, so as to put an end, or at least hamper, the causes of exploitation and oppression by human beings on other human beings, the earth and animals.
In the view of total liberation, to passively watch the reproduction of dominion means to be accomplices, so there are those who continue to hold their heads high and rebel. (more…)
Tags: International Solidarity, Italy, Operation Scripta Manent
Posted in Prison Struggle
Update about Operation Scripta Manent + Alfredo Cospito is on hunger strike (Italy)
Thursday, May 4th, 2017
A couple of week ago the investigations concerning the op. Scripta Manent were closed, so now the preliminary hearing is awaited, when the judge will decide whether to put on trial the suspected comrades.
Today [3/5/17] anarchist prisoner Alfredo Cospito begins a ten-days hunger strike against the censorship imposed to him by prosecutor Sparagna [in charge of op. “Scripta Manent”], which blocks almost the whole incoming and outgoing correspondence.
Alfredo asks all comrades outside to send books, magazines, letters and printed materials in general, in protest and in support of his strike.
ALFREDO COSPITO: Via Arginone, 327 – 44122 Ferrara, Italia
via anarhija
Tags: Alfredo Cospito, Italy, Operation Scripta Manent, Repression
Posted in Prison Struggle
Letter of solidarity from anarchist prisoners in Korydallos Prison to Palestinian hungerstrikers (Greece, Israel, Palestine)
Friday, April 28th, 2017
The struggles of the Palestinian political prisoners are directly and inextricably
connected with the overall struggle of the Palestinian people. 70 percent of the
Palestinian families have at least one member that has been imprisoned for
action against the state of Israel. 20 percent of the total population has been
imprisoned at least once in their life while according to other estimations 40
percent of the male population has been imprisoned at some point in their life
within the past 30 years.
Another revealing manifestation of the situation the Palestinian strugglers find
themselves in while inside the Israeli prisons is the fact that until 1999 “mild
torture” during interrogation was considered legitimate practice by law. These
tortures included- among others – deprivation of sleep, immobilization in an
uncomfortable body posture, loud music, exposure to extremely cold or hot
temperatures, placement of malodorous cloths over the face etc. In 1999 the
supreme court of Israel upheld that in certain cases these practices were illegal
and thus imposed some restrictions. These restrictions did not, however, rule
out force-feeding as illegal in accordance with the UN provisions.
On the 1st of May 2000 almost 1000 out of the 1650 Palestinian political
prisoners participated in a large-scale hunger strike that lasted one month,
demanding better living conditions, better treatment by the guards, family visits,
abolition of the solitary confinement, access to healthcare and release of political
prisoners. During the solidarity demonstrations seven Palestinians lost their
lives while one thousand got injured. Meanwhile, sixty Israelis got injured, too.
On the 31st of the same month the government of Israel satisfied some of the
demands. (more…)
Tags: Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos, Antonis Stamboulos, Argiris Dalios, Dimitris Politis, Fivos Harisis, Gaza, Giannis Michailidis, Giorgos Karagiannidis, Greece, Grigoris Sarafoudis, Hamas, Hunger Strike, International Solidarity, Israel, Korydallos Prison, Letter, Palestine, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Tasos Theofilou
Posted in Prison Struggle
Summary of session 17 in the Aachen bank robbery case (Germany)
Thursday, April 27th, 2017
The session on the 24th of April barely took three hours. It begun with the attempt to “coordinate” the agendas so that the biometrical expert would be able to testify. It was expected that this would happen on the 25th of April, but on this day the expert is not able to come, and since the prosecution has insisted that he/she is an important witness, the dates of the court have been changed. It seems now that this expert will testify on the 12th of May (although this still needs to be confirmed). Tomorrow’s session is cancelled, and for the moment there are three new sessions: on the 31st of May, and the 7th and 13th of June.
The session consisted of reading a part of the file, concerning the phones which were confiscated during the house raids: corresponding numbers in the contact lists of various phones have been compared, without having been able to read the conclusions of the police, since the lawyers prevented this (protected by some German law). A phone bill of one of the accused was also read out; there are some text messages which do not appear on the bill, and the prosecutor has assumed that these are roaming messages, although the lawyers have suggested that these could be advertising messages (which also do not appear on bills). Furthermore, according to the policy of Vodafone, data needs to be destroyed after one year, which implies that the information of this phone bill (provided by the Spanish police) cannot be used and has been obtained illegally. Because of all this, the prosecution and the judge have requested that an expert of the police will come as a witness in order to explain on the one hand how they have come by these data, and on the other if the aforementioned text messages are roaming messages or not. This will happen during the next session on the 28th of April.
Finally a letter was read out, sent from Berlin to one of the comrades accompanied by a poster about a talk concerning the historical relation between anarchists and expropriation. Various claims of acts in solidarity with our imprisoned comrades, which happened last week, were also read out.
The next session will be on the 28th of April at 09.00
https://solidariteit.noblogs.org
Tags: Aachen, Bank Robbery, Germany, Trial
Posted in Prison Struggle
June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners
Monday, April 24th, 2017
June 11, 2017 – Communication is a Weapon
By now it is a platitude to speak of the isolation and silence that prisons strive to impose. Every week another one of our imprisoned friends tells us that their mail is getting fucked with, the phones on their unit are “broken,” or that our publications are being rejected with no recourse.
For us, one of the most exciting elements of June 11, 2016 was the proliferation of words and ideas shared between and from anarchist prisoners. Along with spreading material solidarity internationally and keeping the names of our comrades on our lips, our contribution to facilitating that communication is one of our most important tasks. While the starting point of our project was support for Marius Mason and Eric McDavid (the first of whom remains imprisoned in an extremely restrictive unit, while the latter has been freed!), it has been through a spreading web of communications that we have expanded the scope of our project to solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners around the world. This year, we are seeking to emphasize this communication.
Maintaining communication is a lifeline for those caught in the snares of state repression or locked in its dungeons. Prisons function to isolate those held within these dungeons, to remove them from human community, and to break their will. Receiving letters and publications, being able to connect with individuals outside of the walls, and being able to call upon the solidarity of comrades on the outside are all vitally important to retaining dignity in dehumanizing conditions. When Chelsea Manning attempted suicide, communication enabled her and those close to her to mobilize and act. For prisoners who seem to live under a microscope due to their rebellious activities, a constant stream of letters shows their tormentors that they have friends on the outside and that there will be consequences for any action taken against them. Throughout the September 9th US prison strike, the relationships built over years made it possible to know of work strikes and rebellions happening in prisons all over the country, allowing supporters to organize counter-repressive action.
(more…)
Tags: International Solidarity, June 11th Solidarity, Marius Mason, USA
Posted in Prison Struggle
A report of the trial of anarchist Marios Seisidis – Athens (Greece)
Monday, April 17th, 2017
Comrade Marios Seisidis has been acquitted of six of the robberies that he had been accused of but was found guilty of the bank heist at Solonos street and three consecutive ‘attempted murder’ charges (concerning the bank guard and two police officers).
He has been sentenced to 36 years imprisonment in total. The court did not accept the defendant’s lawyer’s request to get a penalty suspension until the second degree court nor did it accept any attenuating circumstances for Marios Seisidis. Once again the vengeful tactics of the judicial system against our comrade were more than obvious.
It was encouraging that lots of comrades were present in the courthouse where they protested the court’s decision with slogans against the judges.
–
What is the crime of robbing a bank compared with the crime of founding one.
Bertolt Brecht
–
BANKS ARE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, THOSE WHO MAKE THEM FUNCTION ARE TERRORISTS IN THE TRUE SENSE OF THE WORD
FOR THE SABOTAGE OF THE EXISTENT BY ALL THOSE WHO ARE NOT AFRAID TO REJECT DOOM-STRICKEN SECURITY AND VENTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN.
Anarchists in London
via actforfree
Tags: Athens, Bank Robbery, Greece, Marios Seisidis, Trial
Posted in Prison Struggle
Update on the trial against accused anarchist bank robbers – Aachen (Germany)
Monday, April 17th, 2017
13th of April 2017
If reason is a compass, passions are the winds
Alexander Pope
Today marks one year since our comrade was arrested, when she was kidnapped by the Mossos d’Esquadra on the 13th of April 2016 in an joint operation with the German police. At the moment she is held in preventive arrest in the prison of Cologne, while the court case against her and another comrade (in the prison of Aachen) is in full course. They are accused of having robbed a branch of the Pax-Bank in Aachen in November 2014.
Furthermore, the comrade from Amsterdam that was acquitted last December from having expropriated a branch of the Aachener Bank in 2013 is still awaiting the decision of whether the revision requested by the prosecutor will be accepted or not.
As this court case has unfolded we have been able to clearly see the use of all the mechanisms of control that the repressive apparatuses of the State have at their disposal (intercepted telephone calls, police tails, exchange of DNA databases, recordings of security cameras, biometric information, various university experts assisting the forensic laboratories, collaboration between functionaries of various States, etc.) to secure the “normal functioning” of a society which we loathe. A society based on capitalist domination and oppression, the control of all aspects of our lives, the consumerist alienation and the misery of the majority which benefits a few privileged ones. It is of little interest to us whether the accused are responsible or not for what is attributed to them; those who challenge the logics of private property and exploitation and risk their freedom for a more complete life have all our complicity. We also do not care about their categories of innocent and guilty. In order to maintain the social peace, power first and foremost points at some “usual suspects”, and their punishment serves an example for all the potential subversive factors that in their moments could oppose the System. And with the permanent threat of “having a record, being surveilled, processed and imprisoned”, the State attempts to break the connections of solidarity between rebellious hearts that in the face of the imposition of borders and bars recognize themselves in the same struggle towards freedom.
Neither innocent nor guilty! Rebellious and international solidarity!
Our comrades will not feel alone in the last phase of the trial! May they feel our rebellious heat and love! For the destruction of the banks, prisons and the society that needs them!
Some anarchists, 13 April 2017.
Tags: Aachen, Bank Robbery, Germany, Trial
Posted in Prison Struggle
Vienna: Solidarity event with imprisoned comrades of Korydallos Prison at ABC Festival (Austria)
Saturday, April 15th, 2017
[Vienna] Solidarity event of “Anarchist Black Cross – Solidarity Cell” with imprisoned comrades of Koridallos prison (Athens) @ ABC FESTIVAL VIENNA (20. – 23. April 2017)
“As anarchists, we perceive the need of a multiform anarchist struggle, posing the issue of attack against state and vassalage that is imposed, with every means possible, here and now.” (from the self presentation text of the ABC Group)
In this event the comrades from “ABC – Solidarity Cell” will talk about the importance of solidarity with anarchist prisoners and the connection of struggles inside and outside the walls.
Further, the talk will contain a deconstruction of the meaning of the ‘anarchist movement’ and the myth of the district of Exarchia.
“(…) we do not consider that the action of our anarchist comrades is finished after imprisonment or repression.” (from the self presentation text of the ABC Group)
During the event there will be the presence of three anarchist prisoners, via Live-Connection, from Koridallos prison:
– Nikos Romanos
– Panagiotis Argyrou – CCF-Metropolitan Violence Cell/FAI-IRF
– Olga Oikonomidou – CCF-Urban Guerrilla Cell/FAI-IRF
They will talk about the following topics:
– The conditions in prisons and the situation of anarchist prisoners in Greece.
– The importance of solidarity assemblies for the anarchist prisoners and the connection of struggles inside and outside the walls.
– The choice and the importance of the armed struggle, the claim of responsibility for direct actions and the particulars of participation in armed organisations, and the importance and consignment of those choices.
– The choice of jail-breaking.
– The position of women in the armed struggle.
It will be also possible to raise questions to the comrades in prison, so the communication will be in both directions.
Some words from anarchist prisoner Panagiotis Argyrou dedicated to the ABC Festival:
There are times when you feel a certain kind of strength inside you.
This may be happening for different reasons each time but undoubtedly it is always a very positive feeling. Such a kind of strength a prisoner may feel when he/she discovers that there are other individuals wanting a touch, a contact, a communication, a conversation with him/her. It is a very strong feeling, a unique one, the feeling of a great strength filling you all over and this is something priceless. This feeling that you are not alone, that there are other comrades wanting to share moments, experiences or whatever, with you, is something so valuable that only freedom itself can compare with it. So let me thank you very much for the opportunity you offer me to have some contact even if it is for so little. I wish that the future brings us more opportunities so that one day we can have the chance to have a live talk outside the walls. A big warm hug,
Panagiotis Argyrou, member of CCF-FAI
Contacts:
ABC Solidarity Cell Website: https://abcsolidaritycell.espivblogs.net
E-Mail: abcsolidaritycell@riseup.net
Nikos Romanos State prison of Korydallos – Mens prison-ward A’, P.C.
18110, Korydallos, Athens
Panagiotis Argyrou State prison of Korydallos – Mens prison-ward A’,
P.C. 18110, Korydallos, Athens
Olga Oikonomidou State prison of Korydallos – Womens prison, P.C. 18110,
Korydallos, Athens
Other events @ the ABC Festival Vienna you can find here.
Location:
ERNST KIRCHWEGER HAUS
Wielandgasse 2-4
1100 Wien
Tags: ABC - Anarchist Solidarity Cell, ABC Wien, Anarchist Gatherings, Austria, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Exarhia, Greece, International Solidarity, Nikos Romanos, Olga Economidou, Panagiotis Argirou, Vienna
Posted in Prison Struggle
Imprisoned anarchist comrade Lukas Borl is released (Czech Republic)
Thursday, April 13th, 2017
Lukáš Borl, an anarchist imprisoned on remand since September 2016 was released on bail today. That means that he will wait for the court outside of the prison walls. It is the first time since the beginning of the Operation Fenix when no anarchist in so called Czech Republic is held in prison.
Tags: Czech Republic, Lukáš Borl
Posted in Prison Struggle
Comrade Davide Delogu accused of attempted escape from the prison of Buoncamminno (Italy)
Monday, April 10th, 2017
The trial against Davide, due on 9th March in the court of Cagliari, was postponed to 17th May. Davide is accused of attempted escape from the prison of Buoncamminno.
Sempri Ainnantis!
«… dreams are to be made true here in the present time and not in a hypothetical future, given that the future has always been sold by the priests of all religions and ideologies so that they could steal from us with impunity. We want a present time that is worth living and not simply sacrificed to a messianic wait for the future Eden. For this reason we wanted to talk concretely about anarchy to be realized now, not tomorrow. The “everything now” is a bet, a game we play and whose stake is our life, everyone’s life, our death, everyone’s death…» Pierleone Mario Porcu
We know people… quiet and loquacious, shy and bold, humble and arrogant people…
People who live obedient like sheet, and others who don’t hide themselves in betrayal, they look into your eyes and stay always side by side no matter what. We know people who dream without imagination and live without dreaming, people whose eyes are used to stare below and whose ears are used to take orders such as “wake up”, “work”, “pay”, “buy”, “believe” , “respect”…
We know many people alone in the crowd, patiently waiting for an answer to their prayers till the end of their lives, for an eternal tomorrow, for better days, for a bright future.
But those who wait for a better life tomorrow are already dead today.
We know many individuals but only few of them are our comrades. Indomitable and unrepentant anarchists are shouting “a slow death or else the anarchist struggle here and now!”
And we are shouting with them, this is the only path of struggle we think worth the joy to take.
We’ve chosen to be there, to be on their side. We know our words don’t speak to the many, but we’d like them to cut like blades today, and to burn the bridges with the past in the concreteness required by action. (more…)
Tags: Davide Delogu, Italy, Trial
Posted in Prison Struggle
Against the Police-State : Solidarity to Juan, Nataly and Enrique (Chile)
Saturday, March 25th, 2017
Tags: Chile, Enrique Guzmán, Flyposters, International Solidarity, Juan Flores Riquelme, Nataly Casanova
Posted in Prison Struggle
Eco-anarchist Marco Camenisch is free! (Switzerland)
Thursday, March 16th, 2017
March 10th, 2017 — We learn from the Red Aid that — finally — Marco Camenisch has completed the process of “gradual release”.
The comrade Marco Camenisch is free!
anarhija.info
Tags: Marco Camenisch, Switzerland
Posted in Prison Struggle
Letter from anarchist comrade Joaquin Garcia (Chile)
Friday, March 10th, 2017
It has been five months since I returned to inhabit the cells of the Maximum Security Section of the High Security Prison and I think it is necessary to refer to both the personal and the prison scenario. The reasons for not writing before are obviously personal; but more than anything it is due to the belief – despite being convinced that sharing experiences generates inexhaustible links – that the virtual platforms and their set of communications is far removed from the real and approaches an abstract idea of the day to day life of jail and that of the individual. Irreducible? Yes, whether or not there is a swing of emotions, neither conviction nor mind falters, but that disgusting idea of the steel martyr behind the bars must fall. By the suicide of the image and the fetish, by the real destructive complicity. (more…)
Tags: Celula Revolucionaria Paulino Scarfo - FAI/FRI, Chile, Eco-Extremism, Individualists Tending Toward the Wild (ITS), Joaquín García Chanks, Santiago
Posted in Prison Struggle