Category Archives: English

Update zu Griechenland (4.4.)

Die MitgliederInnen der Verschwörung der Feuerzellen (CCF) haben heute den Hungerstreik abgebrochen. Sie waren im Hungerstreik, um die Freilassung von der Mutter von zweien von ihnen sowie der Frau von einem von ihnen durchzusetzen, welche wegen Beihilfe zur Flucht als Mitgliederinnen der CCF inhaftiert wurden. Die Gründe, wieso sie stoppten, können hier auf englisch nachgelesen werden. https://interarma.info/2015/04/04/ellada-niki-tis-apergias-peinas-tis-spf/?lang=en.

Die anderen Streikenden, die für die Abschaffung der Typ C Hochsicherheitsknäste, die Abschaffung des “Anti-Terror” Gesetzes, die Abschaffung des Kapuzengesetzes, die radikale Veränderung im Prozess der DNA-Entnahme und -Identifikation, die Freilassung des ernsthaft kranken Mitglieds des 17. November, Savvas Xiros, kämpfen, sind nach wie vor im Hungerstreik.

Das hat damit zu tun, dass der Gesetzesentwurf des Justizministerium, welcher in das Parlament gegeben wurde, einige Forderungen wie das Kapuzengesetz und die Anliegen wegen der DNA nicht beinhalten. Der Gesetzesentwurf sorgt für die Abschaffung der Typ C Knäste und für erste Massnahmen für den ernsthaft kranken Savvas Xiros.

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The members of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (FAI) stopped the hunger strike today. FAI members went on hunger strike for the release of the mother of two of them and the wife of one of them, which are in costudy as members of the FAI because they helped a wanted person to hide. The reasons why they stop are explained here in english: https://interarma.info/2015/04/04/ellada-niki-tis-apergias-peinas-tis-spf/?lang=en.

The other hunger strikers who are fighting for: the abolition of Type C high security prisons, the abolition of the “anti-terrorist” law, the abolition of the “hoodlaw”, the radical change in the process of taking and identification of DNA samples , the release of the seriously sick member of 17N, S. Ksiros, continue the fight.

That’s because in the Ministry of Justice’s draft law submitted in the parliament committees some demands like the hoodlaw and issues about DNA are not included . Τhe draft law provides the abolition of type C prisons and there are provisions for severely ill as Savvas Xiros.

April 1st: Day of International Solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike (Greece)

March 26th, 2015

INTERNATIONAL CALL for revolutionary solidarity with the political prisoners on hunger strike since 2nd of March in Greece

At the present moment, the imprisoned anarchists, members of DAK (Network of imprisoned social fighters), A. Stamboulos, A. Theofilou, G. Karagianidis, D. Politis, F. Charisis, A. Dalios, D. Mpourzoukos, G. Sarafoudis, G. Michailidis, the members of the “Revolutionary Struggle” N. Maziotis and K. Gournas, the member of “17th of November” D. Koufontinas, a number of Turkish political prisoners and the prisoners G. Sofianidis and M. S. Eltsibach, are on a hunger strike, fighting against the repressive legal state of exception which has been established by the Greek state since the beginning of 2000.

Starting 2nd of March, along with the comrades outside the prison walls, we commenced a struggle for the abolition of Type C high security prisons, the abolition of the “anti-terrorist” law, the abolition of the “hoodlaw”, the radical change in the process of taking and identification of DNA samples, the release of the seriously sick member of 17N, S. Ksiros.

Our struggle for the fulfillment of these demands is a struggle against the core of the state of emergency. It is a struggle against the core of the new totalitarianism which has been enforced by the state of Greece, as well as by the rest of the states globally.

*Recognizing the fact that the nexus of dominance’s designs transcends the narrow geographic borders of national states, we call all the comrades to support our fight.*

*We call all comrades to act in solidarity on the 1st of April, sending a message of revolutionary unity.*

VICTORY TO THE STRUGGLE OF THE HUNGER STRIKERS
IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT OF ALL THE DEMANDS
FOR THE ABOLITION OF STATE AND CAPITALISM

DAK (Network of imprisoned social fighters)

Source: https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1541777/

Quelle: http://325.nostate.net/?p=15562

Communique of Network of Fighting Prisoners about the continuation of the hunger strike (Greece)

Translated by Actforfree:

After the deposition of the legislation of the Ministry of Justice, there appears to be a first victory of the political prisoners’ hunger strike.

The abolition of the legal framework that defines the operation of the C’type prisons and the beneficial provisions for patients and disabled prisoners, that lead to the release of multi-injured guerilla of the revolutionary organization 17 November, Savvas Xiros, would feel (or at least not so soon) without the struggle that is being carried out. But there is much more to happen.

We do not care for any governmental statement or any promise coming from state employees. Every authoritarian mechanism that deals with a hunger strike by its stated enemies will go into a deterioration war that will include promises, negated deadlines, vague statements and anything that could wear us down physically and/or psychologically. Especially Syriza, who all during its political life as a major or minor opposition demeaned and de-politicized the hunger strikes carried out by anarchist hostages, has great experience in the systemic managing of such situations.

Now, as a government disclaims its responsibilities transferring the granting of our demands to a (vague) future.

From our side we continue the hunger strike without a thought of retreating until the granting of our demands and specifically:

The abolition of articles 187 and 187A, in other words the first and second terror-laws. These articles consist the core of the regime of exclusion we experience at a penal level as political enemies of the state. This exclusion regime is not limited to political prisoners but extends to 30% of the prisoners and includes: special court rooms, special lotteries for judges and prosecutors, special transfers, fragmentation of the cases, penalization of belief and solidarity, and mainly the excessive increment of the sentences. We consider the subversion of concepts which introduce these articles as a basic stake
of our struggle.

The abolition of the imposing provision of an act carried out with a covered face, in other words the hoodie-law. A law voted in after the insurrection of December ’08 and has been repeatedly applied on demonstrators arrested during the clashes, upgrading the indictment to a felony case. Also various acts (robberies, kidnappings etc) are penally loaded independently of the individual characteristics (weapons, use of violence etc) with the existence of the hoodie-law.

The limitation of the legal framework concerning the way DNA is collected, processed and analysed. The displacement of how crucial this demand is from the public sphere is not accidental. The forensic use of DNA is right now the epitome of this oppressive onslaught in the field of proving evidence. The expansion of its use is organically connected with the expansion of use of articles 187 and 187A.

The insistence of police in creating bases of bio-records lead to the obligatory taking of DNA which unavoidably lead to the torturing of prisoners if they resist, as their conscience and dignity orders.

Persecution through analyzing and processing DNA takes place in a completely irrational way since the method that is used to identify it, was invented to work as presumption of innocence and not as proof of guilt. And this, because contrarily to the misunderstandings, it is not the genetic code which unique to every person, that is compared but the genetic type (i.e. the measuring of the length of some parts of the DNA) which could correspond to more people. Therefore if the genetic type is not identified, it can be said with some certainty that the DNA sample is not from one specific person, but if the genetic type is identified it can only be presumed from who the sample came from. And the already stretched persecution through identifying genetic types, is extended to the analyzing of a DNA blend of more than two people where the blended genetic types cannot be separated,thus giving more possible combinations of genetic types.

In this way, in DNA blending, there can be a large amount of genetic types, basically making anyone a possible suspect.

Calculating also the factors of contamination by the cops who collect it, the opaque operation of police laboratories, the knowledge of the name of the suspect to the bio-cops in advance, the lack of protocol etc, is obvious because DNA analysis consists of a super-weapon of modern scientific oppression. With this approach the accused is incriminated in every way. Additionally they are deprived of the access to the sample by professionals they trust. In the end, the detailed evidence vagueness coming from police laboratories is validated from the penal vagueness of the terror laws.

The hunger strike we are carrying out does not seek the ease of the legal framework. What it seeks is to place the revolutionary movement in a position of attack overturning the attack carried out by authority. With the hunger strike as our weapon we seek the forging of our relations with the comrades outside the walls, the strengthening of our public resonance, the intensification of the attacks against state and capitalist targets with all means.

Now is the time to strengthen our position even more in the war we are carrying out.

Until the end, until victory…

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

COMBATIVE PRISONERS NETWORK

Hunger strikers:

Antonis Stamboulos, Tasos Theofilou, Fivos Harisis, Argiris Dalios, Giorgos Karagiannidis, Grigoris Sarafoudis, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos, Dimitris Politis.

Quelle: http://325.nostate.net/?p=15397

Domokos: Text by Nikos Maziotis about the elections on January 25th and the coalition of SYRIZA and ANEL (Greece)

Translated by Act for freedom now!

The January 25 elections was one more “triumph” of civil democracy. It was further proof of the discrediting of a rotten political system, where more than 1/3 of the electoral body turned its back on the “fiesta” of democracy and did not go to vote. Out of the approximately 9.800.000 voters registered in the electoral records participation was at 63,5%, meaning that the valid votes were about 6.180.000, while the other 3.620.000, which accounts for 36,5%, did not go to vote. Out of those who voted, SYRIZA got 36%, i.e. around 2.200.000 voters, meaning that out of all the registered voters, SYRIZA’s government was based on less than 1/4 of the electoral body.

A triumph therefore of “popular dominance” and democratic centralization! In the end it’s not the majority through representatives that “governs” as is supposed, but the minority. It has been proved yet again that the political system of civil parliamentarianism is disparaged by millions of citizens. It was proved that precisely because of this disparaging of the political system as a result of the economic crisis, all the governments of recent years are minority governments and that self-reliance is now impossible. In reality, one could say that the main power are those abstaining from electoral illusions and staged circuses of professional liars and fraudsters, right or left.

Millions of citizens do not hope for and do not expect anything from any political party. But rage and resentment, when not accompanied by active political action for the subversion of the authority of the supranational economic elite and the civil parliamentarianism that supports it, bring no result. We will only ever get rid of the current suffering if the rage and resentment of millions of citizens transforms itself into dynamic political action. Into a wide social and class tendency that places itself for the prospect of revolution, the violent and armed subversion of capitalism and the state with the prospect of direct democracy, where instead of people outsourcing social matters to professional politicians they practice it themselves through structures of self-management. As expected, the results of the elections on January 25 brought a coalition government of left and right.

Because how else could you define ANEL [*Independent Greek party, the right wing party SYRIZA made a coalition with], a party that comes from the entrails of the traditional nationalist right wing. It has a far-right agenda, with nationalist and orthodox dogma such as “country-religion-family”, a political line characterised by state authoritarianism, law and order dogma, increased intolerance, fear and conspiracy theory rhetoric and an iron fist attitude against those considered dangerous for the country i.e. immigrants, anarchists, armed fighters.

All that is missing are the swastikas. But the SYRIZA people’s thirst for authority as well as that of the ANEL made this weird marriage between left and far-right possible, on the rotten base of a nebulous anti-memorandum block, a marriage never seen before, not only in Greece but also internationally. But the Golden Dawn Nazi party is also considered an anti-memorandum party. Contrary to SYRIZA, it is steadfastly against the European Union. An overwhelming majority of its voters are from the area of the traditional nationalist right wing who were disappointed by New Democracy [outgoing right-wing government], who until recently expressed the majority of this area and part of which always considered the collaborators and traitors of the (Nazi) occupation, the “Chites” [members of group ‘X’, a military group that cooperated with the Nazis during the occupation of Greece] and Security Battalion members [para-military groups that worked closely with the German-Italian forces during the occupation of Greece], to be “Greek patriots” who saved the country from Communism by making an alliance with the Germans.

Many of the voters of ANEL share the same opinion. It is therefore paradoxical that while many, even anarchists, voted for SYRIZA as a bulwark against the far-right, SYRIZA is cooperating with a part of the far-right political spectrum in order to govern. It is a given that many voted for SYRIZA in desperation, believing that they were choosing the lesser of two evils. And the same goes for those anarchists, who by trampling on their own values, voted for SYRIZA because they had promised to abolish the C’ Type (high security) prisons for political prisoners and armed fighters and because they believe in the mitigation of state oppression by the new government concerning mobilizations and demonstrations. But even if the government of SYRIZA-ANEL, in a tactical move, were to abolish the C’ Type prisons, this would not excuse voting and the trampling on revolutionary anarchist values.

Because demands are won with struggles, as the history of the revolutionary movement has shown, not with concessions by each relevant authority, which, for tactical reasons, in this case for reasons of assimilation of the anarchist/anti-authoritarian milieu, knows how to use the carrot and if necessary also the stick. The votes of anarchists for SYRIZA were bought. It is a ridiculous phenomenon to see anarchists demonstrating alongside the youth section of the governing party, which cooperated with far-right members of ANEL on the Imia incident anniversary, against the gathering of Golden Dawn.

Movements have carried out anti-fascist struggle, armed anti-fascist struggle – such as the anarchists in Spain in 1936 – and not the elected governments. Now the coalition state of SYRIZA and far-right ANEL is “anti-fascist”!! Just as Samaras’ government was supposedly “anti-fascist” because it imprisoned members of Golden Dawn!! In reality, all those who consider themselves a fighter or anarchist and voted, have not shown that they made a good tactical manoeuvre, but proved their political weaknesses and the lack of political will to contribute to creating an anti-capitalist revolutionary movement in order for us to subvert the regime which is responsible for the crisis and the ills it has caused.

With their stance they proved that they have been assimilated and follow the coat-tails of the government that is the leftist crutch of capitalism. Obviously they have forgotten the historical chant we used to shout at protests, “the bosses are the same – either on the right, either on the left”. The takeover of government by SYRIZA does not change the stance of those anarchists who consider themselves consistent and are dedicated to the struggle for revolution, the struggle for the subversion of capital and the state and in this struggle SYRIZA, like every government, stands in the way as an obstacle and an enemy.

As I said in the text “The solution is not given by elections but by the armed people”, the duration of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition will be short and will have the same luck as the previous governments of Samaras and Papandreou. Because it will decompose and collapse under the weight of its contradictions and the breach of their pre-election declarations, not being able to avoid responsibility for the policies it will be obliged to enforce and the compromises with the lenders and the supranational economic elite. A big question for the post-SYRIZA era is what political reserves does the system have for managing the crisis in Greece. Additional proof of the already obvious instability of today’s government that will speed up the crisis and its collapse, is not only the pluralistic tendency of its components, but also its cooperation with the far-right ANEL.

It is a given that this government will disappoint many of those who voted for SYRIZA, precisely because of the great expectations it created and because of its “leftist” profile. Already the declarations of the new government on the night of the elections from the mouth of the new prime-minister Tsipras – that they would not come into conflict with the lenders and the supranational economic elite – presage the coming compromises. Because there is no middle road between conflict and subjugation. And since the new government will not create conflict, it will have to subjugate.

What we said as Revolutionary Struggle has been proved, that neither SYRIZA nor any other party of the regime desires war with the supranational elite and the lenders, and that their only concern is authority, to eat from the pie of authority. Already the matter of abolishing memorandum conventions, as some members of SYRIZA had propagated before the elections, is a thing of the past, now in the time-box of history, and which has been replaced by what was expected, the renegotiating of the memorandums and the debt.

This means that they do not refuse the memorandum, or the debt, i.e. the shackles of the Greek people. Even before “the cock crowed”, we had the first and main treachery and breach of the pre-election declarations for which they were voted. Although they declare that they are suspending completion of some privatizations, such as part of Pireus Harbour (OLP) and the National Electricity Company (DEI) or the Public Natural Gas Company (DEPA), they state that they will respect the conventions that exist so far and that it is for investment, namely for the exploitation of the people, the workers and the natural resources of the country for capital. Lafazanis, the Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy and member of the left platform and defender of the Drachma [Greek currency before the euro], stated that he is for the privatization of DEPA, as well as saying that all memorandum laws will be abolished bit by bit.

As for the new Minister of Economy Varoufakis, he states that he is in favour of privatization giving the example of privatizing OLP. Prime minister Tsipras, on Bloomberg, assures that the country will fulfill its obligations to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while Varoufakis at his meeting in Paris with his French counter-part, states that he is in favour of a new contract or a new deal with the partners-lenders. This means the adoption of a new program, irrelevantly of whether its called a memorandum or not, with obligatory enforcement of new measures, cuts, or corrective structural changes. He said the same at the banquet in the City of London organized by Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. Let me recall that the previous Samaras government was also going to take new measures, after the last evaluation by the Troika [IMF-EU-ECB], with the adoption of a new program that in their words was not be a new memorandum.

The retreat of SYRIZA concerning their pre-election declarations continues unabated under the weight of the lenders and especially after the decision of the ECB not to accept Greek bonds, a decision that although it will be effective as of February 28th when the current program-memorandum ends, will come in effect many days earlier in order to put pressure on the Greek government to submit under fear of liquidity, shortage and bankruptcy as the cash reserves of the country are becoming increasingly more scarce. Thus the regressions, the blatant contradictions and the self-denials of statements and declarations, continue. Although Varoufakis, when meeting Dijsselbloem spoke of tearing up the memorandum, in his meeting with Schauble he stated that he will respect 67% of the memorandum obligations.

As for the new Vice-Minister of Economy, Valavanis, although she initially asked for the resignation of the management of the TAIPED (Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund), with the prospect of evolving it, a week later she set aside her decision under the weight of developments. Otherwise, they continue to fool the people about the end of the memorandum era. They are the most vulgar dealers of hopes of a whole people.

Already the first samples what we wrote as Revolutionary Struggle a few days after the elections, when we attacked the Management Oversight of the Bank of Greece, the infeasibility and utopianism of the socialist-democratic proposals of SYRIZA have been proved by its complete retreat on all matters of management of the crisis and its transformation into a Socialist-Neoliberal party. There has never been a faster rebuttal of pre-election promises in the history of Greek politics than the SYRIZA one.

The policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL government is not different to the policy of its predecessors and sooner or later will lead to its political bankruptcy and collapse, as happened to its predecessors. You cut the chains that hold the Greek people, namely the debt and the rescue memorandum-program, completely.

You do not negotiate their lengthening. This can only be carried out by a revolution with the people armed, and this happens: with the non-recognition and unilateral deletion of the entire debt, the abolition of the memorandum laws and the deletion of all debts of the people towards the banks, the return of small properties repossessed by banks, the abolition of the banking system and the socialization of bank assets.

As well as the re-appropriation and socialization of the wealth of capital and state, big businesses and multinationals.

A re-appropriation that will include liquidity, movable and unmovable property. The economic reconstruction will be funded and supported materially on the basis of self-management and self-organization, just as industrial and productive reconstruction will be supported, the reconstruction of agricultural production and the self-organization of social life everywhere. Only such a revolutionary procedure will provide a solution to the suffering caused by the capitalist crisis. It will eliminate class and social divisions, it will give the management of social matters to the people, through structures of self-organization and self-management, through a confederated system of popular assemblies and labour councils that will enact libertarian communism.

Therefore it is the duty of all fighters, it is the duty of the anarchist/anti-authoritarian milieu, it is the duty of all of us to work for the creation of a revolutionary movement for the subversion of capital and the state and exploit the political bankruptcy of the clowns of SYRIZA and the political system generally.

NO TRUCE – NO ASSIMILATION
LET’S BUILD A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
ARMED COUNTER-ATTACK FOR THE SUBVERSION OF STATE AND CAPITAL

Nikos Maziotis
Member of Revolutionary Struggle
Domokos prisons

Quelle: http://325.nostate.net/?p=15143

Greek prisons: Text of anarchist hunger striker Nikos Maziotis about the CCF members’ hunger strike

NO ONE LEFT ALONE IN THE FACE OF STATE REPRESSION

Political prisoners have currently launched a hunger strike in Greek prisons beginning from March 2nd 2015. Some of them, like me, have a common context of demands regarding: the abolition of the ‘antiterrorism’ legislations, the abolition of the hoodie law and the type C prisons, and the release of the convicted 17N member Savvas Xiros on health grounds.

At the same time, the political prisoners of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire have also begun a hunger strike, demanding the release of their family members who were recently arrested and placed under preventive detention, after it was disclosed that CCF members organised a plan to escape Koridallos prisons.

Regardless of differences in demands, I support the CCF prisoners’ struggle as regards their demand. Despite the political differences between political prisoners and the problems that have arisen among them, despite the different context of the hunger strikes, I believe that people in solidarity, the anarchist-antiauthoritarian space should support all political prisoners. No one should be left alone in the face of repression.

Nikos Maziotis, member of the Revolutionary Struggle
Domokos type C prison

Quelle: http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2015/03/05/greek-prisons-text-of-anarchist-hunger-striker-nikos-maziotis-about-the-ccf-members-hunger-strike/

Greek prisons: Combative prisoners on collective hunger strike as of March 2nd 2015

On March 2nd 2015, combative prisoners launched a hunger strike in various Greek prisons. Their main demands are: the abolition of Article 187 (criminal organisation) and Article 187A (terrorist organisation) of the Greek Penal Code; of the “hoodie law” (acts committed with concealed physical characteristics); of the legal framework for type C prisons; of the prosecutorial provision of forcible taking of DNA samples – and the immediate release from prison of Savvas Xiros (convicted for his participation in the R.O. 17 November) on health grounds.

So far, those who have joined the political prisoners’ mobilisation and collective hunger strike are three urban guerrillas incarcerated in the E1 wing of Domokos type C prison: Dimitris Koufontinas, Kostas Gournas, and Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis – and five participants in the Network of Imprisoned Fighters (DAK): Antonis Stamboulos (Larissa prison), Tasos Theofilou (Domokos prison), Fivos Harisis, Argyris Ntalios and Giorgos Karagiannidis (Koridallos prison). The rest of the comrades who participate in the Network of Imprisoned Fighters will join the hunger strike in the coming days.

Furthermore, in the E1 wing of Domokos type C prison, Giorgos Sofianidis has been on hunger strike since February 27th, requesting the abolition of type C maximum security prisons, in addition to his immediate transfer to Koridallos prison in order to continue his studies – and as of today, March 2nd, Mohamed-Said Elchibah also went on a hunger strike.

Quelle: http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2015/03/02/greek-prisons-combative-prisoners-on-collective-hunger-strike-as-of-march-2nd-2015/

Greece: Statement signed by all the prisoners in the E1 wing of Domokos type C prison

Prisoner Giorgos Sofianidis began a hunger strike on Friday 27/2 demanding his transfer to Koridallos prison (where he was incarcerated until News Year’s Eve) so that he is able to attend his studies in the same region where educational institutions to which he has already been admitted are available (besides, one of those schools operates inside Koridallos prison). Below is a statement by all the prisoners in the E1 wing of Domokos maximum security prison.

We, all the prisoners currently held in the E1 special wing in the prison within the prison, the type C prison of Domokos, declare that as of today February 27th 2015 we are going to abstain from prison meals and refuse to enter the cells at noon.

We stand by our fellow prisoner, hunger striker Giorgos Sofianidis, and ask that he be moved back to Koridallos prison, otherwise he risks losing any possibility to study at the TEI (Technological Education Institute) of Piraeus and the IEK (Institute of Professional Training) of Koridallos prison.

We demand that the special conditions of detention as well as the barbaric and inhumane type C prison be abolished.

Our mobilisations will continue until the type C prisons are permanently abolished.

Kostas Gournas
Nikos Maziotis
Dimitris Koufontinas
Giorgos Sofianidis
Yannis Naxakis
Alexandros Meletis
Konstantinos Meletis
Vasileios Varelas
Mohamed-Said Elchibah
Alexandros Makadasidis

Quelle: http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2015/02/27/greece-statement-signed-by-all-the-prisoners-in-the-e1-wing-of-domokos-type-c-prison/

Eco-anarchists Billy, Silvia and Costa are on trial again 23 April 2015 (Italy)

From informa-azione.info
Translated by act for freedom now

THE TRIAL OF BILLY SILVIA AND COSTA IS APPROACHING:
LET’S RELAUNCH THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TOXICITY

Five years have passed since we were arrested in Switzerland when police at a checkpoint on the Albis pass, Canton of Zurich, found explosives, propane gas canisters, petrol cans and several copies of a claim by Switzerland Earth Liberation Front in the car we were in. The target of the proposed attack was the Binning and Rohrer Nanotechnology Centre, a structure that was under construction at the time, property of IBM in collaboration with ETH, the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich.

The trial took place a year and a half later where we were accused of: preparing deliberate arson; concealing and transporting explosive material; unauthorized trade (importation) of explosives. Federal prosecutor Hansjörg Stadler demanded sentences of 3 years and 4 to 8 months, broadly accepted by federal judge Walter Wütrich. The court confirmed all the charges, except that of illicit traffic (importation) of explosives, a charge we were cleared of.

Parallel to this, the Public Prosecutor of Turin had begun a thorough investigation of the explosive cartridges that the Swiss authorities had found on us to find out where the material had come from. When the investigation was completed, prosecutor Enrico Arnaldi Di Balme issued three more charges against us: terrorist activity involving lethal and explosive devices, possession and transport of explosives in the public space and receiving stolen goods (explosives), all charges aggravated with ‘terrorist intent’.

In these last 5 years our analysis of the present has been reconfirmed, and consequently our anarchist and environmentalist beliefs have simply strengthened. Nano-biotechnologies are the latest path beaten by the techno-industrial capitalist system in the plunder and devastation of the Earth. These paths, like all the previous ones (think of the Industrial Age), are presenting as miracles what we can easily imagine are destined to turn into nightmares. These technologies are born from the new vision of the world of the computer era that has substituted the mechanistic one of levers and gears with a mathematical one of information bits where the whole of reality must fit into one algorithm. This new vision has now taken root as it is more suited to the needs of the present system. In asserting itself it has opened up hitherto undreamed possibilities for science to carry out what the moment and self-cannibalism of the system are urgently pressing it to do: appropriate everything in the universe and break it down into its smallest, infinitesimal components, into ‘bits’.

In other words, to achieve some universal basic unit with which scientists can reduce the whole of the existent to a level of interchangeability and equivalence so that through the engineering of this new (inaccessible up until now) raw material it will be able to make anything in the universe usable for the needs of power. These technologies are therefore the pillars upon which the system will be able to re-arrange the processes of production and supply that are vital to its growth, a growth to infinity on a planet that has already been plundered beyond the limits of its possibilities. And, as in the case of GMOs [Genetically Modified Organisms], the convergence of the sciences is the latest promise of a development trend that is supposed to tackle the ecological crisis that ecocidal progress itself has taken us to.

As we have written elsewhere, the Binning and Rohrer Nanotechnology Centre was rendered operative and inaugurated a few months before our trial in Switzerland. For almost three years it has been offering 950 square metres to collaboration in the basic research for new materials and elements of nanometric construction. This site will allow the researchers of IBM, ETH and their partners to push the knowledge and above all the application possibilities of nanotechnology far beyond, very far beyond, the current use reached by cosmetics, tyres and nanotech sprays. That is what the director of the structure Matthias Kaiserswerth is promising. For us, even if the men of IBM and ETH boast of having a laboratory that is unique in the world – and in certain aspects they are right – the reality is that the places where the engineering and manipulation of life and the planet are being pushed forward are numerous and scattered a little everywhere. From the research centres of the multinationals to the universities, from scientific hubs to international research institutes: this world is moving parallel to the reality we know, planning and building a future that will be imposed upon us, some aspects of which we can already see around us. This world has a name and address.

We have felt the urgency of trying to build struggles against this development more and more throughout the years, starting by understanding how indispensable bio and nanotechnologies are to the system and their potential harm. It is important to clarify that this harmfulness does not so much concern damage to human health or the environment as the relation between power and technology that is becoming a remodelling/substitution/ destruction of living ecosystems. It is a far wider concept of nocivity [toxicity/harmfulness] directly linked to nocivity as a whole: the system itself. We still feel this urgency, and given the advance of the technological and industrial system we are still convinced that it must be translated into a radical critique, which cannot ignore the economic and social context of which these nocivities are both a product and a necessity. In turn, this critique must be able to transform the oceans of ink and words required to express and deepen it, into struggle and direct action. So we are still convinced of the need to develop radical environmental struggles against this deadly techno-industrial system; but we want to point out that the struggle needs to be seen as a real possibility to put everything into question, not just a space to find a role in the political theatre or for offering ‘eco-sustainable’ alternatives to the system.

What we see is how the places of techno-scientific power are being decentralized and molecularised into a constellation of interests and ultra specific projects, although these are still necessarily all interconnected. Intervening and striking where it hurts most is always less evident and easy to understand. A constant source of inspiration in this respect are those all over the world who, still feel the urgency of the struggle, are carrying out projects, campaigns and mobilizations in defence of what they feel they are a part of, and sabotaging and attacking the gears of the techno-scientific patriarchal and capitalist industrial system.

We know that putting oneself on the line through the struggle probably means having to face repression sooner or later, and there’s no escape from that. What one can and must avoid is leaving those who have been struck by the repression alone. Support for prisoners is something that can’t be forgotten, and besides solidarity and basic support, it is just as important and fundamental to carry on the struggles that the comrades are paying for. As far as we are concerned, now outside these walls, we really appreciate the efforts of so many who have organized events and initiatives over recent months. As well as the warmth of their immediate necessary support they have given space to our case and above all, to the topics we want to discuss and express what we feel. This is fundamental for us.

April 23 is the day set for the preliminary hearing, where it will be decided whether or not this ‘déjà vu’ trial is to take place. For our part, we are not as interested in drawing attention to our specific case and the trial against us, as in the desire to succeed in also transforming this moment into an occasion, mobilization, to re-launch these topics and feelings we share.

Not putting repression at the centre of things, but acting without delegating to others, against bio and nanotechnologies, nuclear power and all other forms of nocivity produced by this system of death; against the present moment of annihilation and devastation.

For earth liberation, for animal liberation

Billy, Costa, Silvia.
[Luca (Billy) Bernasconi, Costantino Ragusa and Silvia Guerini]

February 2015
In view of the trial where we are going to have many legal costs, we are asking everyone for their support through benefit initiatives and donations to the postal account in the name of:

Marta Cattaneo
IBAN:IT11A0760111100001022596116
Reason for payment: solidarity with Silvia Billy Costa
Contacts: info@resistenzealnanomondo.org

resistenzealnanomondo.org

Quelle: http://325.nostate.net/?p=14817

Brief von Nikos Romanos

Translated by Act for freedom now!

I am writing this text to critically evaluate the struggle we carried out, as it is an important legacy that needs to be analysed so that we can use it as a strategy compass for the hard days ahead.

The State, aware of the political defeat it suffered, is counter-attacking on other fronts of the struggle, so the continuation of a coordination based on specific agreements is necessary. Not only as a defensive battle position but as a conscious possibility of re-entering the chessboard with assertion as some comrades have rightly said.

During the hunger strike the State weighed up what the political cost of my possible extermination would be; the more the multi-form solidarity movement strengthened, the more the State changed its rhetoric. In brief we can say that the chameleons of government policies changed colour four times. From provocative indifference to superiority, then to a show of power, followed by panic. But let me be more specific.

“Provocative indifference”

The Ministry of Justice secured the intransigence of judicial authority through political orders right from the start of the hunger strike. This was obvious from the moment that the Special Appellate interrogator Nikopoulos took up the case. Up until then he had claimed to have no jurisdiction. This was confirmed when the Ministry of Justice made an announcement just before my claim was examined in another judicial council, in which the reason for my not getting the furlough was explained, passing on the responsibility to Nikopoulos’s negative decision.

This was something I realized and had communicated to the comrades beyond the walls in my intervention at the event in the Polytechnic, as well as in the text that I wrote during the hunger strike. That’s why my choice of making a claim to all the judicial councils had the precise aim of revealing the government’s political strategy, causing simultaneous hotbeds of increasing intensity, which is what happened as I shall explain better.

The phase of chronic indifference ends with my admission to hospital and the mainstream media’s focus on my case.

“Superiority”

The State mechanism had already planned its strategy for this phase and began the process of materialising it communicationally. Given, as I said, that it had secured the intransigence of judicial authority, it would then present an amendment which would seemingly solve the problem in the eyes of “public opinion”. The case would be followed through the distorting lens of the mainstream media, while it basically it was toughening its correctional policy even more by demonstrating the dogma of zero tolerance to all resistance.

On my back they attempted a restructuring of the correctional policy of the fascist legislation for the C’type prisons. This would now concern all prisoners, as no prison council would ever give an educational furlough because tele-conferencing would solve the problem, relieving them of their permanent fear of responsibility.

With this changing inter-State strategy the authorities want to demonstrate to their subjects that the struggle always makes things worse and that only they, like small gods, can help common mortals. This is how the State monopoly of violence is secured and State omnipotence is validated. This is why the State intensifies repression after every guerrilla act, this is why the MAT (riot cops) beat people indiscriminately at protests, this is why the military councillors of the capitalist super-powers write in their manuals that in order to attack the morale of any resistance you must target the non-combatants. Because the aim is to internalize fear and turn everyone against those who are factually disputing the existent. This is exactly why all “provocative chatter”, theories that put the blame for repression on the urban guerrillas and the condemning of direct action give political support to power, consciously or unconsciously aligning with it.

Therefore, with this successful recipe in mind, governmental executives and known major-journalists vomited mud on me on a daily basis.

Athanasiou (ex-Minister of Justice) himself, before my claim was even examined in other judicial councils and forgetting the standard that executive authority does not intervene in judicial matters, said: “Even if god himself were to come down, Romanos would not get his furlough”. Soon we will live the days of the second coming, and despite being an anarchist I have begun to pray that the State be destroyed by divine intervention, maybe god has finally chosen the side of revolution. Judgement day is coming, Mr. Athanasiou, repent.

This and many others were targeted political interventions pointing to their superiority, wanting to make me believe that I had already lost. Suddenly a filthy riff-raff of politicians, columnists and commentators all had an opinion. With words that dripped blood they stressed that an unrepentant criminal cannot blackmail the State. They would really like to see me kiss the cross of repentance with which they sanctify their crimes, it would be a trophy for them to see an anarchist begging for mercy. A victory for them to write down in gold letters in the book of the history of subjugation those who did not bow their heads to their power. A victory I would never give them.

Demonstration of strength

The more the 6th of December approached along with whatever this means to each one, the hunger strike and the dynamics that developed around it emerged as a major political question for the regime.

The State, continuing the strategy I mentioned above, announced the voting of the amendment on December 9th and was ideologically and repressively prepared for the attack it was receiving. Meantime, through the mass media and prosecutor Evaggelia Marsioni the question of my force-feeding was rendered public. This happened so that in the eventuality of my dying they could give penal responsibility to the doctors, whom they had threatened to sentence to life imprisonment.

A characteristic example is the embalmed Tragas, who wondered why the doctors had not yet tied me to the bed in order to perform the force-feeding and could not understand why no one was bothering with the problems of other prisoners. Of course the sensitivity of this specific journalist was extremely selective since a few months earlier he had dedicated hours on end crying about the unfair treatment of slime-ball Lavrendiadis (banker accused of embezzlement), something obvious since Lavrendiadis had plenty of what Tragas was interested in, money.

Even the prime-minister of this cursed country, in a conflict he had with Tsipras in parliament for their own party reasons concerning my case, informed the whole of Greece that I have been sentenced to “15 years for a robbery with a Kalashnikov” in the style of a war correspondent under the influence of psychotropic-pharmaceuticals.

In the meantime major publishers and business lobbies prepared for war through their salaried pen-pushers. Some of the statements that came out just before the 6th of December are indicative.
“If the State retreats it will appear that it is giving privileged treatment because it was blackmailed”
“The hunger strike has become the reason for the most violent protests of the last 2-5 years while the State is called to save face against its defiers”
“No law-abiding class can give a furlough to someone indicted and convicted who does not respect the laws”
“Zero tolerance and undercover police on every block”
“Three days of suspense for Athens with 20.000 police officers on the streets”

And when the day came and prolonged enraged clashes broke out with the thousands of cops, all these people wondered about the failed operational plan of the police. What they cannot understand is that memory is a well-honed knife. Memory, present and future are connected with an invisible thread of pain and hope. Pain for those who were left behind and now appear only as ghosts that haunt their sleep. Hope for those who stubbornly seek the traces in the snow in the frantic course for a slave-less life. That is where the revolutionary perspective is born, in the constant insurrection that knows where it comes from, where it is and where it is heading. That is where all of us who believe in the force of the free human meet. And in the passing of time, in the turning of the circles we might be few or many but never alone.

“Panic”

The panic of the State mechanism made its appearance when they realized that the zero tolerance plan had failed and that contrarily revolutionary solidarity continued to grow, igniting a strong social polarization and forcing wider social forces to take a position for or against.

Their last spasmodic move was the negative decision of the Supreme Court the day the amendment was due to be voted in Parliament in order to blackmail me into accepting defeat, something that they did not succeed in doing since I started a thirst strike as well, as I had decided, in the final days.

Independently of this however the political world had realized that if the State murdered me with its attitude an insurrection would break out and it would be especially destructive for their political plans. It would have given the coup de grace to the economy that was expecting profits from the consumerist high of Christmas, it would have damaged the image of the country abroad because of the murderous attitude towards the hunger strike as well as the desperate attempt to present Greece as a country safe for tourists and investors, and at the same time stigmatize the political career of government officials.

This is why the same journalists, who a few days earlier had given a recital defending the dogma of zero tolerance, now call the government to find solutions wearing the suit of humanitarianism which is always well pressed and ready in the closet of democracy for such urgent situations. They stressed through the newspapers and TV channels that the hunger strike had created a time-bomb for the political scene.

In this logic Athanasiou publicly pleaded with me to end the hunger strike and the opposition’s representatives proceeded to make declarations about the value of human life. Not because all these people were interested in my life but because they feared for political stability at a crucial time for them. Moreover it is not by chance that the amendment was voted in by all parties in order to reverse their defeat by presenting it as a victory of democracy that saved a human life. The State has always had the tendency to present its retreats as charity, the decision of the Supreme Court with which Kostas Sakkas was released after his hunger strike wrote that “he has been released for humanitarian reasons” and not because he had been in pre-trial detention for 2.5 years, also inside prison everything that has been conquered with struggles in past times are presented as “benefits”.

But besides the permanent hypocrisy of democracy there were some enemies who were honest, who said it as it was. I am speaking about ex-parliamentary representative Adonis Georgiadis who voted against the amendment and made an announcement explaining why he did it, saying that he refused to vote in the amendment because the State cannot be blackmailed and continues “if the State really wants to change this law, it should do so at a politically neutral time and not under negotiations and blackmail by a criminal convicted of bank robbery… That is to say the State, which to be called such must share its authority with no one, feared the reactions of the organized Brigades of Anti-authoritarians and Terrorists.” The second reason as he says is a flash ordinance which was formed and voted for one person. And he continues, “However I must publicly recognize that he is honest. He never bought the story the Media served us up. In all of his texts he defends his ideas and boldly states that he wants to win his freedom from the Bad State, so he can be in the streets of struggle again and do the same. As for Studies and Universities, just a few days ago he publicly claimed that universities do not interest him because they are also means of State repression.” And his text ends saying that “The Romans who gave the global standard on how States are organized, showed the way for the case of Romanos: DURA LEX SED LEX (a tough law but a law)”.

These opinions are not the individual opinions of Adonis Georgiadis, on the contrary they were the collective opinions of government executives as expressed during the hunger strike and prove that their initial target was to continue an extermination strategy which failed for the reasons I have explained above.

“Grasping the new facts”

In this short description I have tried to describe the most important facts and ways with which the State mechanism acted. The result of this political blackmail we carried out was that educational furloughs were granted to all prisoners whom the prison council had rejected, with electronic surveillance (ankle tag) after they have successfully passed 1/3 of the semester classes (two classes in my case) widening the use of the “tag” which had only been used for economic crimes and thefts for all prisoners independently of the crime, including law 187A (‘anti-terrorist law’) while the opinion of the investigator for those in pre-trial detainment has been abolished.

Because many critiques have come to light by comrades and “comrades” concerning the matter of the “tag”, I will explain my frame of thought.

Taking into consideration that all the legal routes had closed, the only solution was for the government to change its initial amendment. The opinion of the interrogator had to change and the furlough had to be conceded. This happened with the parameter of the tag because it simply could not happen in any other way. That is to say, how could they abolish the jurisdiction of the interrogator as they did and cancel the negative decision of the prison council as they did.

Undoubtedly the “tag” could in the future operate in order to put under digital captivity those under bail conditions, those who are released with conditions etc. No dispute about that, but in this case its application is defensive. And to put the matter differently, this would mean that with the escape of the 11 from Trikala prisons following which the first announcements about high security prisons were made, the prisoners with their choice legitimized C’type prisons, that comrade Maziotis who violated his bail conditions after the 18 month pre-trial detention period ended, legitimized the indefinite detainment of political prisoners. All this might sound like a Syriza (leftist political party) conference, the problem however is that they are also the opinions of specific comrades who accuse me of “legitimizing” the tag.

However, things are simple, life within the system is death transformed into a thousand faces. Every expression of this world is hostile ground where exploitation and subjugation dominate. All those who want to be called enemies of oppression must carefully study and analyse the moves of the opponent, process the internal clashes within the gulfs of authority, see the facts in their substantial dimension and through the lens of ideological formations, provoke social atomization in order to exploit the social objections in favour of this case, unleashing the anarchist war to the politically weakened enemy ground.

In the world we are living in there are no innocents let alone expressers of “clean-cut” viewpoints. These are usually dipped in the filth of inactivity and glance at real life from the summits of the glass towers of ideology, which will be blown up sooner or later along with their bosses.

All of us contribute more or less to feeding the social machine through our participation in the consumerist cycle, waged labour and much more. The sole and deep structural difference are those who choose to become sand as well as oil in its cog-wheels, setting fire to the social space-time of monotonous repetition and liberating messages, hopes, concepts and destructive intentions against the world of power. Hence our date for this chaotic point of no return.

“A step forward without illusions”

One of the main targets of the hunger strike was to create a struggle front at a time when so much is at stake for the system as well as those fighting against it.

A struggle front that was formed with words and acts, overcame fear, frigidity, fragmentation. With the persistence and rage of everyone it managed to bring back and light up anarchist direct action, warming the frozen nights and the hearts of many captive comrades, creating live hotbeds of the spread of subversive actions through dozens of occupations. It raised the existence of anarchist political prisoners inside Greek prisons to a central political level, clashed in the streets without inhibitions, connected the dots on the map of international revolutionary solidarity, spreading the rays of destruction in many countries around the world. Closing my eyes in the bed of the hospital my mind travelled behind flaming barricades and fortified roof tops, the dark alleys of a conspiratorial meeting, through occupied buildings where our banners and flags hung, to every spot where anarchy remained alive in the minds, hearts and hands of those comrades, all that filled me with strength and made me know that it was all worth it.

We keep all these positive signs of struggle as a legacy and look ahead. The point is for this struggle front to set aims, plan strategies, cause an aponeurosis to the dominant ideological propaganda and risk by striking neuralgic points of the regime.

Already as we speak the State has inaugurated the cement graves in which they will bury the political prisoners alive, a grand opening carried out with sudden transfers and raids of the EKAM (special forces). While government officials and Media speak of triumph through a new anti-terrorist campaign of the State mechanism to prevent an escape attempt of the prisoner members of the CCF from Koridallos prisons and by unleashing a witch-hunt against comrades through warrants and photographs.

So the question now is whether we will take a step forward without illusions, bare our teeth to the claws of repression that will inevitably attack us as a “reward” for our effectiveness, play it all or nothing now that the stability of the system has been threatened. This is the wager that must be made, not with harmless blabbering but through acts inside and outside the walls.

I believe a dynamic anti-election campaign using as a spearhead the C’type prisons and solidarity to political prisoners could create ruptures in the regime which is a topic in the foreign Media because different powerful geo-political interests are clashing for the model of managing bankrupted Greek capitalism which, unless something unexpected happens, will be a source of political instability and social intensities in the wider territory of Europe.

Now everyone should take their responsibilities and act consciously. The time is now and the place is here. Once more I would like to send out my love to those who stood by my side, fought, risked, dared.

You all have a special part in my heart.

FOR A POWERFUL STRUGGLE FRONT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE PRISONS
BECAUSE WHOEVER FORGETS THEIR HOSTAGES FORGETS THE STRUGGLE ITSELF
SOLIDARITY TO ALL HOSTAGE AND WANTED COMRADES
STRENGTH TO ALL OF US!
LONG LIVE ANARCHY!

Nikos Romanos
Koridallos Prisons

January 2015

Quelle: http://325.nostate.net/?p=14732

12. International Symposium against Isolation

International Symposium against Isolation

For 12 years now, the International Platform against Isolation is organizing international symposias in different countries of Europe, in order to bring together movements, solidarity campaign groups, NGO’s, intellectuals and people of all nationalities on the base of struggle against Isolation.

This project was brought to life in the long period of resistance against prison isolation, which had been continued by the political prisoners in Turkey over 7 years in total, defending their human rights with long term hunger strikes (death fasts).

Also hear an amazing song produced by Irish protest singer Pol Mac Adaim, dedicated to the resistance in F-type jails in Turkey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2QB-7TF8HU

It was very obvious that isolation was not only a policy used behind the prison walls, but also as a means in the world outside to silence system critical voices.

Our symposias therefore dealed with isolation in a larger context, from the prisons to the struggle of social and political movements, from media censorship to the occupations, blockades and war crimes in many parts of the world.

Our first aim is to create and coordinate the solidarity and unity among the peoples and organizations, to promote the efforts or common actions on international level and to built up thematical groups, as for instance exchange between progressive lawyers, the relatives of prisoners in different countries and also between political prisoners themselves.

We have organized already 11 symposias, being joined by wonderful people from all continents, building a bridge between intellectuals, artists and political activists for a common goal: Struggle for human dignity, freedom and justice.

While our earlier symposias were held in Noordwijk (Holland), Florence (Italy), Paris (France), Vienna (Austria), Brussels (Belgium), London (UK), Athens (Greece), Berlin (Germany) and Amsterdam (Holland), we decided this time to move towards the Arab world, namely to Beirut in Lebanon.

We want to come closer to the heart of the conflict to discuss with peoples of the region about our role to support the people in their tragedies of life, which were brought by the wars of profit.

To realize all this, means a lot of costs. There are many groups and persons involved, mainly from economically weak regions. This means huge travel expenses, infrastructure as meeting place, translation equipment, hosting, food and many others.

We always tried to find a way to manage, but in these times it’s getting harder to find support. The fact, that the location of our symposias is changing every year, makes it even more difficult to get stable funds.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/12th-international-symposium-against-isolation