Tag Archives: international call for solidarity

Proclamations

France: CALL OUT for solidarity actions from the ZAD of Notre Dame des Landes

received on 11.04.18

A CALL FOR INTERGALACTIC SOLIDARITY ACTIONS EVERYWHERE TO END THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ZAD OF NOTRE DAME DES LANDES

We are writing with the smell of tear gas rising from our fingers. The springtime symphony of birdsong is punctuated by the explosive echo of concussion grenades. Our eyes are watering, less from the gas than the sadness; because our friends’ homes, barns and organic farms are being destroyed. Bulldozers, supported by 2500 riot police, armored vehicles, helicopters and drones, are rampaging through these forests, pastures and wetlands to crush the future we are building here on the to the zad (The zone à defendre).

We are calling on you to take solidarity actions everywhere, it could be holding demos at your local french embassy or consulate, or taking actions against any suitable symbol (corporate or otherwise) of France ! And if you are not too far away, bring your disobedient bodies to join us on the zone. If the French government evicts the zad, it will be like evicting hope.

For fifty years, this unique chequerboard landscape was the site of a relentless struggle against yet another climate wrecking infrastructure – a new airport for the nearby city of Nantes. Farmers and villagers, activists and naturalists, squatters and trade unionists wove an unbreakable ecology of struggle together and three months ago on the 17th of January, the French government announced that the airport project would be abandoned. But this incredible victory, won through a diversity of creative tactics from petitions to direct action, legal challenges to sabotage, had a dark shadow. In the same breath that declared the abandonment, came the announcement that the people occupying these 4000 acres of liberated territory, the 300 of us living and farming in 80 different collectives, would be evicted because we dared not just to be against the airport, but its WORLD as well.

Since that victorious day, the battle has transformed itself and is now no longer about a destructive infrastructure project, but about sharing the territory we inhabit. We stoped this place from being covered in concrete and so it is up to us to take care of its future. The movement therefore maintains that we should have the right to manage the land as a commons (see its declaration The Six Points for the Zad because there will never be an Airport). Today this is the struggle of the zad (zone to defend) of Notre Dame Des Landes.

The zad was launched in 2009 after a letter (distributed during the first french climate camp here) written by locals inviting people to occupy the zone and squat the abandoned farmhouses. Now the zone has become one of Europe’s largest laboratory of commoning. With its bakeries, pirate radio station, tractor repair workshop, brewery, anarchitectural cabins, banqueting hall, medicinal herb gardens, a rap studio, dairy, vegetable plots, weekly newspaper, flour mill, library and even a surrealist lighthouse. It has become a concrete experiment in taking back control of everyday life.

In 2012 the French state’s attempt to evict the zone to build the airport was fiercely resisted, despite numerous demolitions 40,000 people turned up to rebuild and the government withdrew. The police have not set foot on the zad since, that is, until Monday morning, when at 3am the gendarmes pierced into the zone.

On day one they destroyed some of the most beautiful cabins and barns, but yesterday we stopped the cops from getting to the Vraies Rouge, which happens to be where one of our negotiators with the government lives. Destroying the house of those that agreed to sit at the table with you was a strategic mistake. The fabulous zad press team used this as the media hook and today we are winning the battle of the story. If enough people get to the zone over the next days we could win the battle on the territory as well. We need rebel everything, from cooks to medics, fighters to witnesses. We doubt this rural revolt will be finished before the weekend, when we are also calling people to come and rebuild en mass.

Already solidarity demonstrations have taken place in over 100 cities across France, whilst the town halls of several towns were occupied. Zapatistas demonstrated in Chiapas Mexico, there were actions in Brussels, Spain, Lebanon, London, Poland, Palestine and New York and the underground carpark of the french embassy in Munich was sabotaged. They will never be able to evict our solidarity.

Submit your reports and solidarity action: email soutienzad@riseup.net. For more info in english see www.zadforever.blog and watch this video to see what is being destroyed:

in portuguese

Announcements – Events, Prisons – Detention, Repression

June 11, 2018: A Day Against Oblivion

June 11th is an international day of solidarity with Marius Mason and all long-term anarchist prisoners. A spark in the eternal night of state repression. A day set aside for honoring those who have been stolen from us. On this day, we share in songs, events, and actions to celebrate our captured comrades and loved ones. In years past, June 11th celebrations have been international and wide-ranging – from potlucks with friends to various inspiring attacks; fundraising benefits and prisoner letter writing nights to all of the untold and unknown ways we keep the flame alive.

Building up to this day, each year several of us come together to discuss and reflect on lessons from years past and to renew this call for continuous solidarity. This year we invite you to explore and ponder w ith us how maintaining support for long-term prisoners depends directly on sustaining the movements and struggles we all remain part of. How can we expect to continue through decades of support as movements, groups, and people come and go, burn out, and get caught in the exhausting ebbs and flows of struggle? Going deeper, what can we learn from long-term prisoners and their legacies of solidarity? How can we sustain and improve the health of our movements, and in turn strengthen that support?

Over the last several years, critiques of incarceration have flourished, often resulting in a myriad of prisoner support efforts and projects. Embodying stability, commitment, and longevity are prisoners from Black liberation, the New Left, indigenous movements, and those who have unceasingly supported them for decades. In addition to these efforts, there has been an upsurge in organizing against mass incarceration itself. Though smaller groups had been pioneering these sentiments for many years prior, it is encouraging to see more people taking up this work. There has also been an extension efforts to support prison rebels who have been engaging in everything from work strikes to burning and trashing entire units on the inside. At the same time, more and moreprojects are critiquing the state itself – identifying that it is upheld by the pillars of prisons and police. Finally, there are more efforts aimed at addressing the needs of queer and trans prisoners, criminalized survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, and people living with mental health challenges, just to name a few.

In the spirit of June 11th, which invites everyone to participate according to their own desires, personal affinities, and tactical preferences, it encourages us to see such widespread activity. One thing in particular that we have been heartened to see is just how widespread newsletters, blogs, books, and zines written by prisoners have become. After years of discussion about amplifying prisoners’ voices, we are seeing the results and appreciate the countless hours put in by both prisoners and supporters to launch and sustain these publications. Complementing these efforts are those which have furthered international solidarity by translating and transmitting ´the words of our comrades, and those who have undertaken beautiful gestures and messages of solidarity with bold action and attack.

Amongst these many prisoner support projects we see a variety of orientations, tactics, strategies, and practices. Along with the
expansion of initiatives has come endless emergencies and urgent calls to action to have prisoners’ backs, on top of all the other constant crises in this nightmare world. With so much to do, we are forced to make choices. Traditional activism, which demands so much of our energy be directed into immediate and often symbolic responses at the expense of long-term intentions and strategies, simply will not do. We need to act with an eye towards sustaining our movements and projects, so that we remain capable of supporting comrades spending decades in prison. This requires a holistic approach to struggle and living in solidarity.
One-time gestures are important, and sometimes the best we can do. But what does it mean to be in it for the long haul?

While June 11th is only one day, it is a manifestation of the daily strength and fortitude of imprisoned comrades and the tireless,
behind-the-scenes work of those who support them. This often looks like visiting; writing; raising money; spreading information; and sharingtheir artwork, poems, and writings. We are inspired by Jeremy Hammond and Marius Mason’s support crews working consistently to keep them connected to the rest of the world. We hearken back to Sacramento Prisoner Support fighting for years to get Eric McDavid free. We are humbled by so many who have helped long-term prisoners like Zolo Azania, Russell Maroon Shoatz, David Gilbert, Sean Swain, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Jalil Muntaqim, Leonard Peltier and so many others publish books written in their cells.

Visions & Possibilities

Faced with both the long-term prospect of aiding comrades through decades in prison and the short-term work that this solidarity entails, we risk getting lost in alternating currents of despair and mania that leave no space for reflection. It’s difficult to know where to move when faced with the overwhelming task of ameliorating the deprivation and misery our comrades face, while also remaining critical of reformism. We want our comrades free now and all prisons demolished immediately, but we have no idea how to do this. Despite our combined decades of acting in solidarity with anarchist prisoners, we have no blueprint, only visions.

By throwing away divisive dichotomies and their tactical fetishes (mass struggle vs. direct action), we can come to a new metric by which to judge our work: can this sustain me and my comrades through the coming years? It seems unlikely that a vibrant movement of solidarity with prisoners can come to bloom if our concerns are solely ideological, tactical, or strategic. The joy and difficulty of human relationships, the sadness engendered by concrete and razor wire, the struggle againstoppressive ideas and behavior and the concurrent need for transformative forms of addressing conflict, the excitement and fear that come with a comrade’s release, and the frustration and exhaustion of doing this work should all become part of how we envision solidarity.

It seems to us that by actively engaging in these considerations, we can begin to think beyond the immediate crises: restricted literature, missing letters, stints in solitary, harassment from guards, scrambling for commissary funds, restricted phone calls and visits. By grounding ourselves in relationships with individuals in prison – seeing them not as celebrities, leaders, or abstract “oppressed people”– we open space to dream of what a life shared in common with our imprisoned comrades could mean. With this, we exit the realm of the purely political and enter the realm of the human. One cannot survive on duty and ideology, but human relationships can nourish and sustain us. And we must continuously fight to maintain clear paths to reach our comrades in this way, as the state continues to dehumanize and isolate them, increasingly restricting visits to those behind glass or worse, those on a screen, whether we be a few yards or hundreds of miles away. In-person and contact visits, priceless for building real human connection, are often high on the list of demands from prisoners and those supporting them on the outside. Recently we’ve been inspired by Fight Toxic Prisons’ campaign to keep contact visits in the Florida Department of Corrections.

We must strive for lives intertwined with our friends and comrades in prison. And indeed, in many ways, they are. The repression of prisoner support groups by Operation Scripta Manent (the Italian state’s attempt to repress anarchist activities by accusing individuals of carrying out incendiary and explosive attacks) remind us that there is often a thin line separating those who are imprisoned and those who are outside supporting them in whatever way they can.

What can these considerations on building sustainable movements, communities, and projects sugges t to us when thinking about accompanying our comrades through both pre-trial repression and post-release transitions? Passing on historical and intergenerational knowledge from those who have already survived the worst the state could throw at them would certainly be helpful and inspiring to those currently fighting to remain free. And what would be better for a comrade coming out of prisonthan a strong community and friends who have already been working and envisioning lives together?

Prisoner Updates

Throughout the past year, our imprisoned comrades have faced the cold eyes and violent hands of the state with integrity intact. In Chile, Tamara Sol attempted to escape from prison, was seriously injured in the process, and has since been transferred: first to a maximum security prison in Santiago, and then to the especially brutal Llancahue prison in Valdivia. The “Bombs Case 2” wrapped up, with Juan Flores found guilty of multiple bombings in Santiago and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In Germany, Lisa was sentenced to over 7 years in prison after being found guilty of robbing a bank in Aachen. She was transferred to JVA Willich II in February. In the United States, Walter Bond went on hunger strike for six days, demanding vegan meals, an end to mailtampering, and transfer to New York where he intends to live upon release. In retaliation, he was transferred to the Communications Management Unit in Terre Haute, Indiana. In Greece, Pola Roupa and Nikos Maziotis went on hunger strike for nearly 40 days demanding better conditions and more time for visits, as well as the abolition of the ultra-repressive C-type prison that Nikos has been held in. Dinos Yagtzoglou was arrested and is facing charges related to a letter bomb that injured a former Greek prime minister. His resistance behind bars sparked an uprising at three Greek prisons, securing his demand of transfer to Korydallos prison.

In the United States, trans anarchist and eco/animal liberation prisoner Marius Mason needs more mail! He enjoys getting articles about animal rights, environmental activism, resistance to the alt-right, Black Lives Matter, and other prison struggles. Carswell Federal Medical Center, where Marius has been held for the past several years, is a notoriously restrictive and cruel facility. Currently they are denying him medical care for his transition as promised, as well as adequate vegan food options.

June 11th is an idea, not just a day. June 11th is every day. And ideas are bulletproof. Let’s breathe life into the rest of the year and renew the celebration of anarchist prisoners’ lives by carrying on their struggles alongside them.

In short: It’s a call-out, so we’re calling on you! June 11th is what you make of it. Follow your heart and fill the world with beautiful gestures. There is no action that is too small or too grand.

june11

in portuguese

Proclamations, Repression

Solidarity with la ZAD from Wiradjuri country, in so-called Australia

received 4/13/18

For almost a decade la ZAD in Notre Dame Des Landes has been an autonomous zone, liberated from the French republic. The zone is currently being attacked by a massive police operation intent on the complete destruction of this seed of another possible world, a world free from the logic of capital.

ZAD Partout!

in German

Proclamations, Videos - Multimedia

Belgrade: Solidarity actions supporting the struggle for freedom and autonomy in Afrin

https://vimeo.com/260965926

In the recent days there have been several solidarity actions in Belgrade supporting the struggle for freedom and autonomy in Afrin, part of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (Rojava).

Posters and writings on the walls appeared in several focal points of the city, such as the turkish cultural center, to denounce the unspoken profit that the balkan weapon industry is making out of the recent conflict in Rojava and the political subjugation of the Vučić-government and other politicians in the Balkans-region to the AKP. In addition, this monday a banner was hanged from a buildung in Trg Republike (the main square of Belgrade) saying “Stop the invasion in Afrin! Lets defend self-organization against states and capital!!”

These actions are meant to support the resistance of people of Rojava, to stand for their social revolution that represents a threat to the expansionist fascism of AKP.
The silent complicity of EU and UN in the invasion is also mentioned as it is well known how several powers are benefiting not only financially but also politically from the attack on Afrin.

In Belgrade as all over the world solidarity is shown to unveil the dirty side of an imperialist war against the people in Afrin and all the region perpetrated by this coalition of forces.

These acts of dissent anticipate the official international day of action for Afrin, called by the comrades of Rojava for the 24th of March.

in serbo-croatian-bosnian l portuguese

Proclamations

[Russian Federation] Support political prisoner – anarchist Evgeny Karakashev

received on 21.03.18

We call for solidarity and support of Crimean anarchist Evgeny Karakashev. The collection of funds for the work of a lawyer and the payment of parcels is started.

Evgeny was born on August 21, 1978. He lives in Yevpatoria, Crimea. He is a leftist activist with anarchist beliefs. On February 1, 2018, Karakashev was detained, and on February 2, 2018, arrested on suspicion of committing crimes under Part 1 of Art. 282 (the incitement of hatredand enmity) and Part 2 of Art. 205.2 (public calls for terrorism) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. He is in custody from February 2nd 2018.

Case description

On February 1st, 2018, Evgeny Karakashev was detained by police officers in Yevpatoriya. Journalist Alyona Savchuk wrote in Facebook that on the day of his arrest, Karakashev was searched. “They took him tough: some men in civil broke into, did not introduce themselves, immediately laid him on the floor, grabbed, handcuffed him behind his back. Evgeny says that he stayed in handcuffs until the temporary detention facility. On his right forehead is a huge abrasion. Only in the evening Karakashev could call a friend and ask to find a lawyer”, – says Savchuk. – “The investigator Abushayev said that he does not remember how lon Karakashev had been handcuffed – 5 minutes or 3 hours, and that Karakashev voluntarily agreed on «offer» to go to police department”.

On February 2nd, 2018, the Evpatoria City Court arrested Evgeny for 2 months on suspicion of committing «incitement of hatred and enmity» and «public calls for terrorism».

It appears from the order on institution of criminal proceedings, according to the investigation, Karakashev published a video on one of his pages in social network «VKontakte» at the end of 2014, which allegedly calls for terrorism. In addition, according to the order, in January 2017, he posted from another account in a chat room for 35 people a text that contains signs of “propaganda of the ideology of violence” and “calls for terrorist activities”. It is not specified exactly what Karakashev published, however, the document says that the experts investigated «teletext, starting with the words “use grenade against” and ending with the words “in the windows of authorities, good luck”».

It is obvious that the reason for initiating the criminal case was the video “Video Appeal of the Primorsky Partisans” published in the socia network “VKontakte”, in which partisans explain the motives of their actions. This video is recognized in Russia as an extremist one, as  “incites hatred towards a particular social group” [police].

According to lawyer Alexei Ladin, Evgeny Karakashev himself believes that the initiation of criminal case against him and the subsequent arrest are related to his activism: he opposed the construction in a resort zone near Yevpatoriya close to a salt lake. Evgeny is an anarchist and antifascist. Karakashev always took an active civil position, f. ex. took part in a protest near the FSB building in the city of Simferopol, and in November 2016, planned to hold an action “against police brutality in the Crimea” near the building of the Ministry of the Interior of Evpatoria. Last action was banned by the local authorities. After this incident, Evgeny was called by the staff of the so-called law enforcement agencies and invited to a conversation to give explanations, Evgeny refused to give any testimonies.

Signs of political motivation for persecution

It is highly probable that the criminal case against Evgeny Karakashev was initiated in the context of his oppositional public and political activities as a participant of protest actions in the Crimea. In the context of the persecution of left-wing activists and antifascists since January 2018, the case of Karakashev seems highly politically motivated.

Thus, the circumstances of the persecution allow us to believe that the detention of Evgeny Karakashev was used to stop his public activities.
At the same time, detention was applied in violation of the right to a fair trial, other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and was based on the tampering with evidence of the alleged crime in the absence of elements of a misdemeanour offence.

How can You help:You can transfer money with the Paypal system: our address is abc-msk@ riseup.net also please mention “for Evgeny Karakashev”

Prison address of Evgeni:
Karakashev Evgeni Vitalevich, bul. Lenina 4, 295006 Simferopol,
Respublika Krym, Russia.

Note that in remand prison, only letters in Russian are accepted.

Moscow Anarchist Black Cross

source: avtonom.org

in portuguese

News, Prisons – Detention

Review of repressions against anarchists in Russia – 2017 and first months of 2018

received on 02.03.18

Moscow Anarchist Black Cross released the review of repression of anarchists by Russian state in 2017 and early 2018. During this period, the authorities continue to frame and persecute the Russian comrades. Anarchists are also a subject of repressions in prisons. Here is the extract of recently published list of repression in Russia.

St. Petersburg and Penza

In October 2017, Russian Special Services (FSB) fabricated a large-scale criminal case against anarchists and anti-fascists, whom they declared members of the terrorist organisation called The Network. Russian authorities allege that the accused planned and prepared terrorist acts to be conducted during the coming presidential elections in March 2018 and the World Cup over Summer the same year.

In Penza, Yegor Zorin, Ilya Shakursky, Vasily Kuksov, Dmitry Pchelintsev, Arman Sagynbaev and Andrei Chernov were detained. In St. Petersburg, the cops arrested Victor Filinkov and Igor Shishkin. Ilya Kapustin is currently a witness.  The relatives of the arestees reported that their loved ones were tortured in order to extract confessions from them. All detainees in this case are in a difficult situation, under the threat of repetition of tortures, and very much need your support – and your solidarity. You can make a donation towards their legal costs here. The arrested will also be delighted to recieve letters of support. Here are their addresses:

St. Petersburg:

191123, St. Petersburg, Shpalernaya St., 25 PKU SIZO-3 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia

Shishkin Igor Dmitrievich
Filinkov Victor Sergeevich

In Penza:

PKU SIZO-1, st. Karakozova, 30, Penza, Penza region, Russia, 440039

Shakursky Ilya Alexandrovich

Pchelintsev Dmitry Dmitrievich

Chernov Andrey Sergeevich

Sagynbaev Arman Dauletovich

Moscow

Two activists, Elena Gorban and Alexei Kobaidze, are charged with criminal damage of Putin’s United Russia Party offices. They were charged after, at the end of January 2018, unknown activists smashed the window of one of the branches of the United Russia Party in Moscow and threw a fire inside in protest against the upcoming presidential elections.

“No matter who becomes president, their policy is always the oppression and exploitation of a simple working people. We, as anarchists, offer self-government and direct democracy in exchange for presidents and other state institutions. Join our fight! “- the people responsible for that action said in their statement.

The police broke into the apartments where Gorban and Kobaidze lived on February 13. After the interrogations, the activists were released on bail, and now they are on the run.

Chelyabinsk: criminal case for anti- FSB banner

In Chelyabinsk, five activists were detained on 19th February 2018 after the action near the local branch of the FSB. Persons unknown hanged a banner saying “FSB – the main terrorist” and threw a smoke bomb over the fence of the FSB property. The action was held in support of the anarchists arrested in Penza.

The activists, who prefer their names to be published, reported that the FSB officers tortured them with a taser gun, demanding that they admit that they hung the banner. They were eventually released on bail, but with a condition preventing them from leaving the country or changing address. You can help them with legal costs by transferring money to the account of ABC.

Crimea: Yevgeny Karakashev arrested for “justifying terrorism”

In February 2018, Crimean FSB arrested anarchist Yevgeny Karakashev. He is accused of “inciting hatred” and “justification of terrorism”, or in other words, posting a video on Russian social media page VKontakte. Karakashev is currently under arrest.

Eugene has been busy with activism for some time. Prior to his arrest, he took part in a picket near the FSB building in Crimean city Simferopol, and in November 2016, along with like-minded people, planned to hold a picket “against police arbitrariness in the Crimea” near the building of the Ministry of the Interior. This picket was banned by the local authorities.

Administrative Persecution of Anarchists

In Janury 2017, on the anniversary of the political assassination of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, there were memorial events across the country, which the cops tried to break. Anarchists were detained in Moscow, Petersburg, Murmansk and Sevastopol. The police conducted more arrests this year during commemoration actions for Markelov and Baburova.

On 23rd February 2017, dozens of people were detained on left-wing “Desertir Fest” in the southeast of Moscow. The festival was held in protest against army conscription. The police considered such a cause unduly radical. In 2018 the festival did not take place because the cops prevented it in advance.

In Irkutsk in April 2017, searches were conducted with the participation of the SOBR (Russian Special Forces) unit and the Center for Countering Extremism. Nine people were detained. With regard to one of the activists – Dmitry Litvin – a criminal case was initiated under Article 148 of the Criminal Code (insulting religion). The rest were interrogated as witnesses in the case – the detainees themselves were sure that the main reason is different: local anarchists are the most active participants political life of the city and repeatedly intensified social protest.

In November 2017, when Russian antifascist traditionally commemorate Timur Kacharava: a musician and antifascist murdered by neo- nazis, the police broke the celebrations. As result, one person was arrested.

Persecution of Russian Activists Abroad

In April 2017, an anarchist Alexei Polykhovich was deported from Belarus after 12 days of arrest for participating in a rally in Minsk, where people protested against new taxes. During Summer, in the Belarusian city of Baranovichi, the riot police rushed into the lecture of Alexei Sutugi. The subject of the lecture was how to oppose the authorities from prison. Almost all those present were detained until evening. On October 12, a local court ruled that the materials confiscated at the lecture were extremist.

In October 2017 in the Belarusian city of Grodno the riot police interrupted a lecture of the philosopher Pyotr Ryabov. Pyotr Ryabov is sympathetic to anarchists associate professor of philosophy at the Moscow State Pedagogical University. He specialises in the history of anarchist thought. After the lecture entitled “Informal movement of Belarus 1991-2010” in Baranovichi, Ryabov was sentenced to 6 days of arrest for “dissemination of extremist materials”. After that, the Citizenship and Migration Department of the local militia decided to deport Ryabov and barred him from entering the country for 10 years. In Moscow, a series of pickets took place against the arrest of Pyotr Ryabov in front of the embassy of Belarus.

“The state overestimated my contribution to revolutionary propaganda: several of my lectures would have produced less hype than their prohibition. I think that the whole thing is in the term “anarchism”. The authorities remember, and the fact that the anarchists were condemned for the arson of the Russian embassy in 2010, and the fact that the anarchists in many cases led a mass protest against the law on parasitism, “ Ryabov said in an interview after his release.

In 2017 anarchists of Belarus were the most active force of protests against the tax on parasitism, which the Belarusian authorities wanted to introduce for the unemployed.

News from prisons

The Crimean anarchist Alexander Kolchenko celebrated his 28th birthday in prison where he is still kept – despite the recent exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia. On his birthday, the anarchists from Ukraine, Czech Republic and Poland held actions at airports in solidarity with him.

Kolchenko was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the case of the so-called “Crimean terrorists” – he participated in actions against the entry of Russian troops on the peninsula, in particular, the arson of the local branch of United Russia and the office of the nationalist Russian community of Crimea. In November, the convict was diagnosed with a “weight deficit”. At the same time, the FSIN denied him the opportunity to study in absentia at a Ukrainian university.

You can write a letter to Alexander Kolchenko at the address: 456612, Chelyabinsk Region, Kopeysk, ul. Kemerovskaya, 20, IK-6, detachment 4, Kolchenko Alexander Aleksandrovich.

In Mordovia, anarchist Ilya Romanov continues to serve his sentence for terrorism: a conviction he acquired after he was injured with fireworks in October 2013. Due to the accident, Romanov lost his hand, but still, he was convicted for terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In April, the ECHR considered one of the complaints of Romanov and awarded him 3,400 Euro in compensation for unreasonably long detention during the investigation. However, it is unclear how the prisoner will be able to receive this money – all his accounts are blocked by the state. The elderly relatives of Romanov, who tried to transfer the money to Ilya via the post office, were detained by the police. In May, Romanov was placed in solitary for four months, and in July, new terrorist case against him was launched

Ilya Romanov is detained in IK-22 Mordovia, the address: 431130, Mordovia, Zubovo-Poliansky district, st. Potma, n. Lepley. Write a letter to him, he will really appreciate it.

Finally free

In May 2017, anarchist Alexei Sutuga was released from prison. In September 2014 Sutuga, known by the nickname Socrates, was convicted to three years and a month after he allegedly took part in a fight in a cafe. The anti-fascist himself did not admit guilt: he says that he tried to break the fight, but he did not beat anyone. The victims in the case were Russian neo-Nazis.
In October 2017, the antifascist from Tomsk, Yegor Alekseev, disappeared before he was due to be sentenced for “public calls for extremist activity”, or posting a YouTube video on his social media profile. At the moment he is safe in unknown location. According to Yegor, he decided to hide from the Russian justice system, fearing to get a conviction with a real term of imprisonment.

In early November 2017, historian and anarchist Dmitry Buchenkov escaped from house arrest and is currently in undisclosed European country. His escape was possible because he was not fit with electronic bracelet due to lack of resources. According to investigators, on May 6, 2012, Buchenkov allegedly attacked a policemen.He was charged despite of evidence clearly indicating that on the day of alleged attack he wasn’t even present: he was visiting his family in other town. The complaint of his arrest and politically motivated persecution is directed to the European Court of Human Rights.

This review was prepared by the team of the ABC-Moscow. It is not a complete list of the prosecutions of anarchists by Russian state – at the request of some of the comrades, the review does not mention all the misadventures of post-Soviet anarchists. If you want to help, you can find out how to transfer money for the needs of the ABC Russia on this page .

Source: avtonom.org/en/news

in German, Portuguese

Announcements – Events, Posters, Prisons – Detention

Solidarity with Russian Anarchists – Action Week on March 11, 2018

2 Comments

We call you for action week on March 11, 2018

It will be the next Putin election on March 18. Inauguration rite on the reelection will take place in conditions of domestic terrorism and nuclear war threat. Russian security service has started mass repressions against all the dissenters with the regime, exerting unprecedented pressure for every dissident from liberal opposition movements to the anarchists.

Federal Security Service conducted a series of arrests and rummages in the homes of known to them anarchists and antifascists in autumn, 2017. Six anarchists from Penza were arrested and chargeed with preparation of coup d’etat. The only evidence of “preparation” was the fact that all the detainees had played playing airsoft. During several months the detainees were exposed to everyday tortures, until they pleaded  guilty.

Two anarchists were arrested in Saint Petersburg in January 2018. They also were exposed to tortures as Penza anarchists. Officers made them learn the confession and repeat it to the  investigator. One of the kidnapped anarchists, Victor Filinkov, was taken to the forest where he was put to tortures. Ilya Kapustin was also arrested and exposed to racks, he did not make a confession, so they nominated him  a “witness”.

A lot of raids occurred against Crimean anarchists and socialists in February and March. The first of detainees was Eugenie Karkashev. The reason for the arrest was a conversation in the social network “Vkontakte”. A month later, the mass raids took place against the other anarchists and communists of this peninsula. The list of detainees in the Crimea includes anarchist Shestakovich and communist Markov, who were arrested for10 days.

Then, Moscow anarchists Kobaidze and Gorban’ were arrested and accused of a rout of the ruling party “Unified Russia”. Officers refused to admit the lawyer to the detainee, until she pleaded guilty. They violated all the rules of law.

Three anarchists together with their friends and relatives were kidnapped by FSS in Chelyabinsk. They also were exposed to tortures with electric current. It was done in order to get from them necessary testimonies and make them admit their participation in the action of banner posting against repressions.

President Putin personally gave the order to “deal with”  the protest speeches and “organizers of unauthorized street actions” on the speaking engagement of collegiums Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). Our authorities are so unsure of themselves that they resort to the terror, abductions and tortures, finding the threat in any street protest.
At the same time, protest and maximum publicity of these events really can help to anarchists who are staying in prisons. There had not been any information about Penza anarchists and this enabled FSS  to put them to tortures for a long time. Saint Petersburg prosecutor’s office was forced to check  the statement of Victor Filinkov’s tortures only after the international campaign in February 2018. Remember that today’s silence and inactivity doom us to tomorrow’s arrests and abductions.

So, in the week before the Putin election, March 11, we call you to pay special attention to the conditions of terror, in which the election is held. Today, hangmen and terrorists want to be “elected” for the new term. And all of us can see what this election is. Now we can draw public attention (Russian and international), limit the scope of terror today and postpone its beginning tomorrow. Only public pressure can hinder state terrorism. We are calling for action. Evenings of solidarity, street agitation, spread of information, performances or rallies, everything for what you have power and fantasy, everything that could draw attention to the lawlessness, everything won’t be in vain.

Putin’s new term is a prison term for every Russian.

Requisites for help to repressed anarchists and addresses for letters: naroborona.info/2018/02/13

 in German, Portuguese

Prisons – Detention, Proclamations

Victoria, Australia: Solidarity with imprisoned comrades from the Hambach forest occupation

Received on 05.02.18

Solidarity from so-called Victoria, Australia, with imprisoned comrades from the Hambach forest occupation in Germany. On January 22nd, cops raided tree houses and barricade structures in the forest, and took 9 people into custody. We took this photo as a small part of the international day of solidarity with the Hambi 9 on February 3rd.

The occupation has for years now been an amazing and inspiring site of resistance against the continued expansion of Europe’s largest coal mine. It is part of a global struggle against ecological destruction brought on by capitalism.

Freedom for eco-defenders everywhere!

                                                                                      portuguese

Prisons – Detention, Repression

Russia: Support anarchist and antifa prisoners in St.Petersburg and Penza!

received on 31.01.18

Fundraising for lawyers working on cases about police raids and arrests of anarchists and antifascists in St. Petersburg and Penza, Russia has begun. At the moment two persons in St. Petersburg and five in Penza are arrested, more are connected to the case as witnesses. Raids and repressions are likely to continue. Arrested are charged with part 2 of rticle 205.4 of russian Criminal Code (participation in terrorist organisation) at the request of court from Penza.

On January 23, on the way to Pulkovo Airport the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Victor Filinkov. In order to get the testimony he was beaten up and tortured with electric shocks in the woods. Signs of torture were confirmed by the Filinkov’s lawyer and members of the Public Monitoring Commission (ONK) who have visited him in the pre-trial detention center. Filinkov is arrested for two months.

On January 25 the FSB came unexpectedly with a raid to Igor Shishkin’s apartment. After the raid neither his lawyer, nor members of Public Monitoring Commission were unable to find Igor for more than a day. On January 27 Igor with signs of a beating was brought to a court session where he was arrested in Pre-trial Detention Center for two months.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the hearing and evenmore two of them were arrested.

Tortures were also applied to witnesses. Ilya Kapustin was beaten up and tortured with electric shock while police demanded him to give testimony that some of his acquantances are up to “something dangerous”. Numerous
traces of the stun gun usage were recorded later by health service.

In Penza, arrests began already in October of 2017. Local FSB arrested six young persons, five of whom are currently in a pre-trial detention.
All of the arrested were brutally tortured. One may read in detail about the Penza events from this article.

Legal help is necessary for prisoners (whose number can increase) and witnesses. So far it is early to speak about the certain amount of money, but it will be at least 200 thousand rubles for work of lawyers in the next months.

Anarchist Black Cross St.Petersburg

DETAILS FOR TRANSACTIONS TO SUPPORT ARRESTED
PayPal: abc-msk@riseup.net ABC Moscow

In case you want to support a particular prisoner, add a note about that. In case you want to donate to St. Petersburg and Penza case, write a note For “St. Petersburg and Penza”. We recommend to send euros or dollars, as other currencies are automatically converted to euro according to PayPal rates.

Yandex-wallet of Anarchist Black Cross St. Petersburg  41001160378989

Bitcoin
1EKGZT2iMjNKHz8oVt7svXpUdcPAXkRBAH
Litecoin
LNZK1uyER7Kz9nmiL6mbm9AzDM5Z6CNxVu
Etherium
0x1deb54058a69fcc443db2bf9562df61f974b16f7
Monero
4BrL51JCc9NGQ71kWhnYoDRffsDZy7m1HUU7MRU4nUMXAHNFBEJhkTZV9HdaL4gfuNBxLPc3BeMkLGaPbF5vWtANQn4wNWChXhQ8vao8MA
Zcash
t1dX9Rpupi77erqEbdef3T353pvfTp9SAt1

In case you need another option for money transfer, please contact the Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow:
abc-msk@riseup.net

All material on the case can be found on this section:
Case of anti-fascists of St. Petersburg and Penza.

in portuguese

Announcements – Events, Prisons – Detention

June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners

Over the years, June 11th Day Of Solidarity with Marius Mason and All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners has supported and highlighted dozens of prisoners. More recently we have been trying to include more prisoners from outside the U.S. to avoid falling into the easy path of U.S-centrism and to more faithfully represent the rich, expansive anarchist and anti-authoritarian struggles across the globe. (You can find out more at june11.org).

It is with this in mind that we are asking for your help to translate and spread this short message.

We know there are many prisoners whose stories have not made it to us, or with whom it has been difficult to establish contact. While June 11th focuses on anarchist and long-term prisoners, these are not strict qualities. We are eager to support anti-authoritarian prisoners of many stripes and from many struggles. June 11th aims to keep on our lips the names of comrades who are locked away from many years, long after many have otherwise drifted into the background as there are always new struggles, new emergencies, and more friends being targeted by the state. We generally use about a ten year sentence as a bench mark, but are currently supporting some prisoners who are serving 6 or 7. We don’t make this distinction to diminish the experience of comrades being removed from their communities and tortured for fewer years, but as an acknowledgement that more has to be done to sustain support and solidarity for those who will be locked up through many cycles of struggle.

We are asking you to get in touch with us if you know prisoners who would be a good fit and would like to be included with June 11th. When possible, we desire a dialogue with supporters so we can more deeply explore how we can support them and keep their voices in our activities.

Please help us to translate and disseminate this message as far as possible. We want to hear from you:  june11th@riseup.net

Yours in Struggle,
June 11th Committee

In Italian / Portuguese / German

News, Prisons – Detention

Italy: Anarchist prisoner Davide Delogu still on hunger strike [update]

From Davide’s weekly phone call with his relatives, we learn that:

Davide will continue the long-term hunger strike, started on November 4th 2017, until his total solitary confinement, by article 14bis, is revoked.

Our comrade calls on everyone for direct solidarity.

He strengths his closeness to comrades in AS2 [high-security prison sections].

He has repeatedly stressed the need for a revolutionary solidarity.

He is in high spirits, but he has already lost 13 kilos [28 lb].

CNA [Croce Nera Anarchica]

italian l portuguese

Update: On November 29th, anarchist prisoner Davide Delogu suspended his hunger strike.

News, Prisons – Detention

Chilean prisons: Concerning the juridical situation of our comrade Marcelo Villaroel

Concerning the juridical situation of our comrade Marcelo Villaroel…or how the revenge of the State is perpetuated in silence

Last September, at the 4th Military Prosecutor’s Office in Santiago, the refusal of the petition to prescribe the sentences made by our comrade Marcelo, several months ago was notified.

Immediately, Marcelo appealed to this refusal, leaving the resolution of the appeal in the hands of the Martial Court, where it was reaffirmed in the first days of October.

These condemnations correspond to some causes originated by actions framed in his old militancy at the “Mapu-lautaro”, organization in which our comrade was an active fighter since a very young age and of which, while imprisoned, in 1995, he was expelled because of “anarchist deviations”.

Marcelo served his sentence without interruption for 11 years, two months and fifteen days from October 13, 1992 until December 28, 2003, remaining only his night prison until March 2005, when he granted the so-called “probation”, which obliges him to sign a document every week until completing 20 years of penitentiary control.

Marcelo is indicted as a participant in the assault on Bank Segurity in the early days of November 2007, as well as other comrades – expropriation in which a cop died and caused an unprecedented state response. Marcelo decides to assume clandestinity, and in February 2008, in his absence, he has his “probation” revoked.

In March 2008, he is detained in Argentina and in September 2014, he is sentenced to 14 years for 2 bank robberies.

In that same period, as penalties related to old causes emanated from the always sinister “Military Justice” were revised, the condemnation remained as it follows:

– Illicit terrorist association: 10 years and 1 day.

– Damage to a cop car with serious injuries to carabineers: 3 years + 541 days.

– Co-author murder qualified as terrorist: 15 years and 1 day.

– Theft with intimidation, Law 18.314: 10 years and 1 day.

– Explosive attack against the embassy of spain: 8 years.

In total, these old convictions compute 46 years, establishing its end on February, 2056.

There are a number of irregularities in this math, and although the legal issue is not our focus it never was, we believe that it becomes urgent and necessary to face this situation that at all lights represents a clear revenge against a comrade who holds high subversive autonomous and libertarian convictions, a comrade who has never abandoned the direct confrontation for total liberation, nor has it ever renounced its combatant history — leaving it as a commodity for books or prizes of borrowed stories, where hundreds of renegades hides while roaming around different pseudo radical spaces.

Our call is to get rid of the verbiage and the false gestures of solidarity to face this and each of the revenge that come from the State (as a constant policy against all those who do not deny their ties and convictions).

It’s time to act, to realize that no comrade in prison is alone.

FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL PRISONS!!!

AS MISERY EXISTS, THERE WILL BE REBELLION!!!

People near Marcelo

Santiago-Valparaíso (Chile)

October, 2017

in spanish l portuguese

Announcements – Events

International Week of Action against Speciesism [October 30 to November 5]


received 10/09/17

An international call for a week of action against speciesism, from October 30 and November 5, has been launched. It encourages folks to carry out all kinds of actions, from street propaganda (paintings, posters, distribution of leaflets …) to workshops/forums and debates in your meeting spaces – to self-organizing various actions against specific businesses with the tools that each person may consider appropriate – to mass mobilizations and demonstrations. May each one be organized as it suits each one involved, and may they shake all the cages. In memory of Barry Horne and all the human and nonhuman victims of speciesism and domination.

Solidarity between species is not just a written word!

in Spanish, Portuguese

Prisons – Detention, Proclamations

Vienna: Banner drop against prisons at Votiv Church

1 Comment

Received on August 21

Last night there was a banner drop happening in the context of the international week of solidarity with anarchist prisoners, therefore two banners saying “BURN ALL PRISONS” and “FREEDOM FOR ALL PRISONERS” were hung at the Votiv Church.

Prisons have to leave, have to leave society, have to leave our lives and our heads! They swallow everbody who is fighting for freedom, they are instruments of the ruling class to get rid of everything that’s rebellious and disobeys. Therefore the fight against prisons is also a fight against authority in general.
The week of international solidarity didn’t start yet, but solidarity is nothing thats tied to a calender!

Freedom for the prisoners of the resistance against G20!
Freedom for the Aachen convicted of bank robbery!
Freedom for all prisoners!

Greetings of solidarity from Vienna

https://solidarity.international/

in German

Posters, Proclamations, Repression

Panaji, India: 25 posters in solidarity to comrade Santiago Maldonado

Received on August 17

25 posters were placed in Panagi, capital of Goa, in solidarity to Santiago Maldonado (in the area where Benneton shops are located).

The text that can be read on the posters, based on information transmitted by Contra Info, is available in pdf here.

In Spanish l Portuguese l Germain

Announcements – Events, Prisons – Detention

[J11] Komotini, Greece: Solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners – “Sean Swain Was Here”

On Monday, June 12th 2017, we hung a banner at the Old Law School in Komotini as a small sign of solidarity with all long-term anarchist prisoners. We do not forget the comrade Sean Swain.

– Utopia A.D. anarchist squat

in Greek

Announcements – Events, Prisons – Detention

[J11] Exarchia, Athens: Banner drop in solidarity with Michael Kimble, anarchist prisoner in the U$

On Sunday June 11 2017, international day in support with long-term anarchist prisoners, we dropped a banner from Themistokleous 58 squat in solidarity with the comrade Michael Kimble, incarcerated in Holman prison, Alabama.

Michael Kimble is a gay black anarchist serving a life sentence for taking out a white homophobic racist. Even though he has been held captive for three decades, Michael keeps resisting the everyday imprisonment by all means necessary, and also propagates violent rupture with all Power.

With this banner we send him back some of the strength we get whenever we read his incendiary texts. Hold strong, comrade: your ideas and determination reverberate to the other side of the ocean.

NO PEACE WITH THE PRISON-SOCIETY!

Chaoten

in Greek

Proclamations

Athens, Greece: Molotov attack against the Ministry of Culture

On Monday night, May 22nd 2017, a group of comrades attacked the Ministry of Culture in Exarchia with Molotov cocktails. We carried out this symbolic action for two reasons:

To honor the memory of Mauricio Morales, who lost his life on May 22nd 2009 in Santiago, Chile, when the bomb he was carrying to strike the jailers academy exploded prematurely.

To send strength to the anarchist Eric King, who is serving a 10-year sentence in the US for attacking a government building with Molotov cocktails in Kansas City in September 2014. We support the international call in solidarity with Eric on June 28th.

Combative memory – incendiary solidarity!

in Greek, Spanish

Announcements – Events, Prisons – Detention, Repression

June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners

Each year, June 11th serves as a day for us to remember our longest imprisoned anarchist comrades through words, actions and ongoing material support.

*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.

We must not, however, confuse actual communication with the absentminded chatter of liberal democracy. In totalitarian societies, speaking out can be subversive to systems of power; in liberal democracies it strengthens them. History textbooks teach us to speak truth to power, allowing power to better understand our frustrations so it can then maneuver to undermine us – either by regurgitating and disfiguring our criticisms as popular appeals or otherwise attempting to sell them back to us through edgy marketing campaigns. The more we tell power what we’re mad about, the better the chance they can manipulate us. Ranting on the internet is a microcosm of the pressure valve function of free speech in neutralizing social unrest. We are encouraged to say whatever we want, as long as we don’t actually do anything about it. Free speech becomes a fetish. For people who have never experienced a moment of freedom in their entire lives, freedom of speech is taken for freedom itself.

When direct action actually does take place, it either is castigated as coming from “outsiders,” or framed to fit into democratic rhetoric around speech. After the uprising against police in Ferguson, Missouri, Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote that “riots are the language of the unheard” went viral because it was a way to frame the uprising as revolving around freedom of speech, as if the silencing of Ferguson residents’ voices is what caused the riots, or that their rioting was intended only to amplify their voices.

When we speak of communication, we are not talking about “freedom of information” – media attention and generalized knowledge of the horrific practices and conditions inside prisons will never result in public outrage, nor will they cause a wave of shame that will wash over the authorities and affect them to the point where they’ll change what they’re doing. While trying to bring attention to issues sometimes has it place, we don’t expect anything from the authorities (or the “public”) and we know all too well that, especially in democracies, public opinion usually does very little to affect the policies or practices of the state. We’re talking about something different: that finding and speaking with our comrades is vital to attacking power and living full lives.

Within liberal democracies, prison functions to isolate those who do not take the bait of the democratic illusion.  We amplify the stories of those anarchists serving time in prison who have chosen active revolt against any regime of power rather than played into democracy’s games.  In February 2017, Eric King received sanctions – including loss of phone, visits, and commissary; increase in security level; and loss of “good time” – for writing poems and drawing cartoons depicting violence towards the Bureau of Prisons and the government in general. In early 2017, Sean Swain went on a successful 50-day hunger strike demanding the restoration of his email and phone communications, which had been cut off years ago due to his alleged threats of outside direct action against prison officials. In 2014, Bill Dunne received a 15-year “hit” to his parole, with the parole commission citing his “continued association and affiliation with anarchist organizations” as evidence he “still harbor[ed] anti-authoritarian views that are not compatible with the welfare of society.” Marius Mason is currently being held in the intensely-restrictive federal prison in Carswell, Texas, which surveils and controls his communication with the outside world and imposes harsh limits to his ability to connect with struggles on the outside. The comrades arrested in Italy under Operation Scripta Manent have seen their mail restricted, including a permanent seizure of all material from Croce Nera Anarchica [Anarchist Black Cross].

Despite the state’s best attempts to fetter our comrades’ tongues, imprisoned anarchists continue to contribute to struggles inside and outside of prison. Sean Swain’s Final Straw segments, Marius’ art and poetry, Jeremy Hammond’s incendiary tweets, and prison writings crossing borders and oceans show the innumerable and diverse forms communication can take in the belly of the beast.

That said, we want to share specific news of Marius’ struggles on the inside.  This year was filled with new heartbreak as the Bureau of Prisons developed means of isolating him further.  Beginning last summer, Marius began to see huge gaps in the mail he received, sometime going weeks without personal mail, with movement newsletters even more scarce. It was finally revealed via a phone call with a friend that FMC Carswell had been cutting off all communication about the National Prison Strike and thus any personal mail mentioning the strike was destroyed.

Even with these more obvious events Marius is going into his 10th year of incarceration, friendships and supports on the outside have been pushed to their limit, consistently thwarted in their attempts to get mail past Carswell’s complex and unexplained regulations.  Aside from the few close friends and immediate family he has left, Marius receives very little mail. Mail is his lifeline to the outside world. He needs supporters to recommit to correspondence, and to visits, for those of us who knew him before his arrest (a requirement of the BOP).  Know that letters which mention political actions will not make it through the tight censorship.

On the outside, new projects which seek to break down the barriers imposed by prison have flourished. Comrades all over the US and elsewhere have started publishing prison newsletters, giving wings to the ideas of our imprisoned comrades, enabling them to spread seeds in the “free world” and in the prison cells. Individual support websites, counter-information websites, zines collecting prisoners’ writings, the Certain Days calendar, the new Black Bridge website, and other efforts keep our comrades behind bars connected with us, and us connected with them – through creative expression, mutual contribution to theory, and strategizing for continuation of struggle.

This extends also to the realm of action, with solidarity rooting itself in the spirit of combative, internationalist struggle against prison and its world. Following the arrest of Pola Roupa and Konstantina Athanasopoulou and the detainment of Pola’s six-year-old child Lambros-Viktoras, diverse and combative actions took place, resulting in Lambros-Viktoras’ grand-mother gaining custody of her grandchild. The actions taken all over the world in solidarity with the US prison strike in September 2016 offer a clear vision of how words and deeds can mix in the cauldron of revolt. We also want to mention the upcoming Fight Toxic Prisons convergence in Texas, drawing the important connections between ecological devastation and prison society and rooting both in active solidarity with imprisoned comrades.

This year we challenge ourselves to weaponize our words and gestures to one another, to give them teeth. Let’s find ways to fight the censorship of those sending messages from the inside, and those sending strength and support from the outside. Let us not be satisfied with merely expressing our desires and ideas to whoever is listening, but really live them, and develop them together. The state wishes to crush our comrades by separating them from communities of struggle. We will not let it succeed!

[PDF for reading]          [PDF for printing]

More information: june11.noblogs.org

Announcements – Events

Germany: ‘In Spite Of Their Separation’ – Call for international solidarity and action to defend R94 in Berlin

Defend Rigaer 94 and Kadterschmiede

We are writing to you from the threatened houseproject Rigaer 94 in one of Berlins once notorious squatting neighbourhoods.
Our contexts might be worlds apart or really close but the reality we lived last year bears the prints of the same systematically oppressive system.
In solidarity with all threatened projects, individuals and emancipatory struggles, we would like to better connect our structures and work on a closer link based on support, in our struggles.

Let’s keep walking this path together, but first a short summary of the recent past and our situation.

Last year saw us, the neighbourhood and people around, on the receiving end of much police repression, starting with the declaration by the state that our street and neighbourhood was a danger zone (Gefahrengebiet), giving the police extra search and detain powers and a green light for constant street harassment of anyone fitting their vision of a ‘leftist’, not white or somehow not normative person (this evolved into almost anyone being controlled, no matter how they presented).
This saw a massive rise in police riot vans cruising the streets, meaning constant conflicts for the neighbourhood, and in our efforts to fight for a autonomous and cop free area.
Rigaer 94 was at the centre of these conflicts, as the state and its cops declared it the crux of militant struggle.
This tactic can be seen in the wider context of reactionary imposed controls and intimidation, such as states of emergency and curfews, employed as constant stress factors (and datamining) to those against the aggressive progression of gentrification and public control.

In the beginning of the year, a traffic cop was confronted on the street while trying to give out parking tickets, seven hours later, 500 or more cops were used to raid our house.
Some days later we were raided again, this time after a bag of rubbish was thrown from a window, as cops were going through the nearby house dumpsters (this was a ‘life threatening attack’).
In response to these attacks, we made a call for 1 million euros of damage to the state and its structures to meet any attack on left radical spaces. This was consistently met.
The state was set on trying to destroy our structures and continued to put on pressure, but we never let them get on top of us.
The last attempt by them to crush our spirit was in the summer. A massive police operation was organised to evict the bottom story („Kadterschmiede“ bar and Workshop) of our project. This plan was concocted by the police chief and the interior minister, who then approached the owner for the final ok.
The house was surrounded 24/7 by cops, who fenced off the front entrance and occupied the attic, stairways and yards. They protected private contractors who started a process of clearing and gutting the bottom story and attic. They were then helped by private security to control the coming and going of people from our house. The narrative given to the media was that the bottom story was going to be renovated and rented as housing for refugees. This was of course proven to be a lie and a divisive tactic by the state, who was trying to manipulate the public opinion and crush left struggle with some of its own pitfalls.
This occupation lasted three weeks.

(This is a more detailed text from the time.)

In the summer we saw the occupation of our home and project come to an end from the combination of inspirational street actions and a court process.
The court hearing concluded that the police action was ‘illegal’ and we had some sort of squatters rights to the contested areas of the house. Whether or not this action was ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’ in the eyes of the courts was and is of no concern to us, but in that moment it meant the state had to eat its own laws and go home.
Of course it would not let go so easily, and there has now been an appeal by the house owner to obtain an eviction order. In their legal way.
This court process will happens today,Thursday Febuary 2nd, and we do not expect to ‘win’.
Once the owner has this eviction paper, the earliest they could evict with due notice is two weeks after the court decision.If their first attempt fails they can theoretically try again at anytime in the future with no prior warning.

The solidarity in response to the past attacks on Rigaer 94 was incredibly powerful.
To read everyday of the actions that had happened in the night before, filled us with the strength and fire that we needed to continue this fight. The forms of resistance within the „Day X“concept were as diverse as the people showing it. The streets were full of action, but not only for us, as the struggle against gentrification is international and these and other actions have inspired and been inspired by movements from all over.
This is our strength against the repressive state and its structures – decentralized actions and autonomous organising that the state cannot even come close to keeping watered down and sated.
This is the pressure we can excert on the apparatus of capital and state.

Selforganized spaces such as Kadterschmiede in Rigaer 94 have to be defended!

We want to keep fighting not just for our housing project but for all those threatened by state violence and oppression- all those fighting for living spaces, all those sitting in prisons, all those fighting for their own autonomous futures, all those who are fighting just to live.

All evictions are Day X.
Day X will only bring us together again and strengthen and extend our networks of rebellion.

Day X means Chaos

Teilt unsere Wut!
Every heart is a revolutionary cell.
See you on the streets.

R94

Proclamations

Bern, Switzerland: Local jail and police van attacked with paint bombs

On Saturday January 21st 2017, we paint-bombed the regional jail in Bern in a complete denial of all prisons. On the way back from our action, a cop van made the mistake of pursuing us and had to retreat after our determined intervention. This action was taken in solidarity with the global action day for trans prisoners and the call for support of the group Revolutionary Struggle in Greece.

Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity

January 22nd marks the second annual global Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity. Scrutinizing glances, abomination, isolation, harassment and sexualized violence are double for trans persons in prisons, owing to the physical and emotional restraints of the literal cage that leaves them no way out. This event is organized at worldwide level by trans prisoners and their supporters. It enables those on the outside to remember those behind bars, show solidarity and increase awareness about issues faced by trans prisoners. It also enables those on the inside to raise their voice and organize together.

Action Day in Solidarity with Revolutionary Struggle

A global day of action in solidarity with the prisoners of Revolutionary Struggle was called for January 21st. No matter how strongly the authorities may believe that by imprisoning anarchists they can eliminate the (armed) struggle, they’re wrong. In complete complicity, whether inside or outside prison walls, we stand for a world free of domination. In doing so, we do not hope for leftist parties such as Syriza, that’s only interested in social pacification, and has yet again revealed its true face through the arrest of Pola Roupa and her son, as well as with its treatment of anarchist prisoners.

Solidarity with all anarchists and other political prisoners, who’ve been kidnapped and incarcerated.

in German | Greek