Tag Archives: Koridallos

Athen: Pola Roupa und Nikos Maziotis setzen ihren Hungerstreik im Koridallos Gefängnis fort

Am 5. Dezember 2017 wurden die Mitglieder des Revolutionären Kampfes
Pola Roupa und Nikos Maziotis gewaltsam aus dem Gefängnis von Koridallos
entfernt und unfreiwillig in das Allgemeine Staatl. Krankenhaus von
Nikaia eingeliefert. Der Gefängnisanwalt drängte die Ärzte dazu, die
beiden Hungerstreikenden zwangsernähren zu lassen. Die Krankenhausärzte
verweigerten es, die Gefangenen gegen ihren Willen zu behandeln und
berichteten nur, dass Nikos Maziotis 14.6% seines ursprünglichen
Körpergewichts verloren hat und Pola Roupa 12.8%.

Am 6. Dezember (am 26. Tag ihres Hungerstreiks) wurden Roupa und
Maziotis dann aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen und beide kehrten zurück ins
Koridallos Gefängnis. Sie haben sich entschlossen, ihren Hungerstreik
fortzusetzen, bis ihre Forderungen erfüllt sind (unter anderem fordern
sie eine Verlängerung der Besuchszeiten ihres sechs Jahre alten Kindes).

Maziotis wurde informiert, dass er in einem abgetrennten
Disziplinartrakt im Untergeschoss des Koridallos Frauengefängnisses
verlegt werde, bis die Schäden in der Isolationsabteilung B im Keller
des Frauengefängnisses Koridallos behoben sind. Das bedeutet, dass der
Gefährte dafür bestraft wird, dass er den Isolationshaftflügel, in dem
er für mehr als fünf Monaten untergebracht ist, vollständig zerstört hat
jetzt noch furchtbareren Bedingungen, als den bisherigen, ausgesetzt ist.

https://de-contrainfo.espiv.net

Statement by Nikos Maziotis to the appeals court at the first trial of the Revolutionary Struggle on July 7 – Concerning the bankruptcy of the country (Greece)

As is well known, the repressive attack by the state against Revolutionary Struggle in 2010, as an historical fact, was a counterpart to the signing of the first memorandum by the Papandreou government and bringing the country under the authority of the IMF, the ECB, and the EU. As was said at the time by a government official, our arrests prevented “a large terrorist attack that would have ended the economy,” a statement proving the dangerousness of the action of Revolutionary Struggle at a critical juncture for the regime.

The first trial against the organization was in the period of the application of the first memorandum, developments that included controlled bankruptcy proceedings and imposed a social policy of genocide and euthanasia towards segments of the population that caused thousands of deaths so far, and poverty, hunger and misery. When the first trial started in October 2011, we had stated that the trial was conducted in a period awaiting formal bankruptcy of the country, which did not happen then, because there was unveiled a controlled bankruptcy regime in order to save the lenders, the then holders of Greek bonds and to defend the Eurozone from the risk of transmission of the Greek crisis.

It is an irony of history that ultimately the bankruptcy of Greece is associated with the days of the leftist Syriza government almost four years later, which announced a referendum on the question YES or NO to the proposals of lenders for the new memorandum that they will sign. Along with the bankruptcy of the country comes the bankruptcy of the left social-democratic illusions that promised state interventions in favor of the workers and the poor of the EU inside a globalized neoliberal environment.

In our most recent attack on 10/04/2014 on the Annex to the ECB Supervision Department of the Bank of Greece (which housed the office of the permanent representative of the IMF in Greece), in our responsibility claim, we recognized almost a year in advance what the Syriza government would do. We diagnosed the impossibility of their program and their declarations, and we highlighted the hypocrisy of their representatives. Some of them then were speaking about non-recognition of debt, others a restructuring or debt haircut. Others supported the abolition of the Memorandum, and yet they all ended up leading to its renegotiation.

The majority of Syriza officials proclaim a steady course for Greece inside the EU and the euro area, while the left tendency support the country’s exit from the euro and the adoption of the drachma, but inside the EU. After assuming power, the Syriza followed a predictable course. In total contrast to pre-election declarations, they recognized the totality of the debt and its repayment, recognized memorandum agreements, recognized monitoring and evaluation of the Greek economy by the technical teams of the Troika -the multinational organizations of the IMF, the ECB, and EU– which have been renamed for communication purposes, no longer the Troika, but the institutions.

On February 20, 2015, the government of Syriza confirmed a total retreat with its signing of the bridging agreement for Memorandum No. 2 that the Samaras government had signed in November 2012. Alongside this they conducted negotiations for the agreement of a new memorandum with lenders. But their retractions, contradictions, and vacillations made the Syriza government seem in the eyes of the lenders unreliable for the management of the Greek crisis, which has resulted in economic suffocation and bankruptcy of the country. Lenders knew in advance that time was on their side and that they could force the Syriza government to accept their terms with the weapon of economic strangulation and the threat of bankruptcy.

They know that a Greek default and exit from the eurozone does not negate the country’s obligations to repay the debt, which all Greek governments have signed off on from 2010 onwards.

The government of Syriza came to grief because while they launched a referendum to accept or refuse the proposals of lenders after withdrawing from the negotiations, after the referendum announcement they returned begging for the resumption of negotiations by accepting the majority of the lenders’ proposals. The referendum was a public-relations exercise of the Syriza government to manage their own political bankruptcy, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

The course taken by the Syriza government proves what we as Revolutionary Struggle claimed in our announcement for the Bank of Greece attack, that, “Syriza, after a long march of political retreats, contradictions and a reversal to ‘political realism’ , indicates the very impossibility of a stable social democratic model in our time, it tends more and more clearly to become a protest party of the neoliberal economic model but with a predetermined total retreat on all issues of crisis management. The acceptance of all the dominant structures, mechanisms and alliances, the acceptance of the EMU, the euro, the EU, the removal of positions for the abolition of the Memorandum and unilateral cancellation of the debt show that the development of a social-liberal party with a social democratic façade becomes –even before they take power, assuming they take power– that they are provided to ensure approval and support for the economic bloc of authority”.

A bit more than a year later, we of Revolutionary Struggle confirm the political bankruptcy of Syriza. The political bankruptcy of Syriza and the expected fall of the government sooner or later proves the impossibility of solving problems highlighted by the capitalist crisis through reforms within the economic market system and bourgeois parliamentarism. This shows what for years Revolutionary Struggle claimed, that “the only realistic solution to the crisis is social revolution”, the action of sections of society and the population for armed confrontation with the regime, for the overthrow of capital and the state in Greece. Social revolution is real rupture. The cause of the crisis is the very existence of capitalism and the market economy, the existence of class and social divisions, the perpetual cycle of capital investment for profit and reinvestment of these profits for even greater profit, a process whose seamless continuation is a sign of capitalist prosperity and whose stopping signals crisis.

As Revolutionary Struggle, in replying to the euro or drachma dilemma, we have argued that the adoption of the drachma in Greece within the framework of the EU and with intact memorandum agreements that prohibit debt default on the part of the debtor, or its conversion from euros to a national currency, not only will not reduce the debt but will rather increase it, and also reduce the purchasing power of salaries of employees, which would mean a deterioration of living standards and increasing poverty.

The issue of currency does not by itself solve any problems. It does not solve the problem of debt, poverty, misery, hunger, death from hardship, illnesses, suicides. No solution is found within the capitalist system. No solution is found in the proposals of parties, no solution results from elections for the bourgeois parliament or from the referendums of authority.

As Revolutionary Struggle, against the continuation of the current policy imposed by the multinational economic elites (i.e. the fascism of the markets), a policy whose exponents are most of the parties including the Syriza government, and unlike the proposal for full nationalization of economic functions and centralized control– a proposal that failed historically– we recommend as a revolutionary solution the collapse of capitalism, the market economy and the state.

It is a more realistic solution, an armed uprising of the people which refuses to pay the debt, which does not recognize loan agreements and memoranda, which does not recognize and accept the euro and structures such as the European Union that have no other purpose than to make them serfs of the markets.

It is a more realistic solution– for an armed uprising of the people that would expropriate the property of the capitalists, the movable and fixed property, the means of production whether from multinationals, banks, or local capitalists, from all those who have purchased state property, business utilities and whatever is left in the hands of the state.

It is a more realistic solution– for the socialized ownership of private and state capital, managed by councils of workers and popular assemblies. The same applies to all sectors of societal production, such as health and education, where the management will be exercised by workers and those who participate with them.

It is a more realistic solution– for the implementation of a social revolution of direct democracy that will immediately eliminate the state and bourgeois parliamentary political professionals responsible for the management of social affairs instead of the people and workers, and in its place will put a confederal system of workers councils and popular assemblies, in which everyone will participate, speak and take decisions together on all social matters affecting them in the workplace, schools, hospitals, universities, neighborhoods, villages or cities.

The choice of our time is not yes or no to the proposals of lenders, it is not between a hard or less hard memorandum, or for the euro or the drachma. The choice is capitalism or revolution.

Nikos Maziotis, member of Revolutionary Struggle
Korydallos prison

Source: http://325.nostate.net/?p=16723

Nikos Maziotis: Griechenland’s Zahlungsausfall und der Austritt aus der EU und dem EURO

Die SYRIZA Regierung bricht zusammen. Der griechische Zahlungsausfall und der Austrittsprozess aus der Eurozone, von den Kreditinstitutionen vorgesehen, begann schon 2010 und steht heute für den Anfang vom Ende der SYRIZA-Regierung. Die Umsetzung des Memorandum von 2010 steht für eine Phase im planmässigen griechischen Zahlungsausfall. Dieses Memorandum ist ein Beschluss der Überstaatlichen Wirtschaftselite zur Unterstützung und Sicherung des Euros und den Ausschluss eines Mitglieds was mittlerweile als Krebsgeschwür, der Krise und der Verschuldung, wahrgenommen wird. Der Zahlungsausfall wurde von der Überstaatlichen Wirtschaftselite stets als Voraussetzung für die Rettung des Landes gesehen. Man hat auch nie die Verpflichtungen gegenüber den Gläubigern vernachlässigt. Dies wurde durch den Miteinbezug des IWF, EZB und der Europäischen Kommission nochmals versichert. Seit 2009 war Griechenland ein bankrottes Land, dies wusste sowohl die damalige Regierung von Georgios Papandreou als auch die EU. Seit 2010 vertrat die Überstaatliche Wirtschaftselite eine Zahlungseinstellungstaktik. Dies zum Schutz der Gläubiger die damals im Besitz von Griechenlandbonds waren, namentlich: französische, deutsche, britische und amerikanische Banken.

Das erste Ziel des Memorandum war ein Verbot gegen eine einseitige Aufhebung der Kreditrückerstattung seitens der Schuldner. In Folge dessen konnten alle Güter des Griechischen Staates eingefroren werden, um die Kreditrückzahlungen zu garantieren.

Zusätzlich wird nun kein griechisches Recht mehr, sondern angelsächsisches Recht angewendet. Dieses verbietet die Umwandlung des Kredits vom Euro in eine andere unterbewertete Währung. Der griechische Staat verzichtet auf die Souveränität der eigenen Güter, die nun alle unter Verwaltung der Kreditoren stehen. Das zweite Ziel des Memorandum war die Rückerstattung der griechischen Bonds und des Schuldentransfers an internationalen Organisationen wie der IWF, EZB und Mitgliederstaaten der EU. Dies gelang durch einen weiteren Kredit von 110 Billionen Euro, welcher die alten Schulden mit neuen ersetzt hat. Durch diesen Prozess der Vergrösserung des griechischen Bankrotts, konnten die Besitzer der griechischen Bonds ihre Abfall-Aktien mit kleinstem Verlust loswerden.

Dieser Prozess wurde auch mit dem PSI (Private Sector Involvement) vorangetrieben, als im März 2012 die Schulden umstrukturiert wurden. Die grossen Gewinner waren die ausländischen Banken und die grossen Verlierer die griechischen Banken, die griechischen Fonds für die soziale Sicherheit und die Kleinanleger.

Gleichzeitig drängte die Überstaatliche Wirtschafts- und Politikelite das Land in den Ruin. Dafür benutzte sie das Dilemma „Austerität oder Bankrottdesaster“ und vertrat für fünf Jahre eine Politik zivilen Völkermords und Euthanasie gegenüber der breiten Gesellschaftsschicht. Das Ergebnis sind tausende Tote und Arme, Hunger und Verelendung.

Das Endziel der Kreditgeber ist die Schaffung einer zweispurigen EU. Mit mächtigen Länder mit einem grossen Überschuss und schwächere die sich bei den anderen verschulden.

Wie wir von „Revolutionärer Kampf“ schon im Dezember 2008 in unserem Papier „Griechenland als Ausgangslage für den revolutionären Kampf machen“ sagten: Unser Austritt aus der EU und dem Euro ist heute eine Tatsache, die der Stärkung des Euros dient. Mit dem Voranschreiten der Krise und dem finanziellen Zusammenbruch eines europäischen Landes nach dem anderen, wird es für die EU, dem Euro und der ganzen Europäischen Union immer schwieriger zu überleben. Ein optimistisches Zukunftsszenario für die Union wäre eine Aufteilung, in der die stärkeren Länder mit grossem Überschuss über die schwächeren Länder bestimmen können. Periphere und bankrotte Länder der EU wären dann Protektorate, weil sie ihre politische und wirtschaftliche Souveränität aufgeben würden und den politischen wirtschaftlichen Direktiven der EU folge leisten müssten. Dieses Verhältnis wird von der EU gefördert und festigt einen „Zahlungsausfall Mechanismus.“

Fünf Jahre später konkretisiert sich dieser Prozess innerhalb der EU: der griechische Zahlungsausfall und der Ausstieg aus der Währungsunion. Durch diesen regelrechten Default-Prozess weiht Griechenland nun die zweite Spur der EU ein. Alle griechischen Regierungen sind, seit dem Jahr 2010, diesen Ambitionen der Überstaatlichen Wirtschaftselite treu geblieben.

Die SYRIZA – Regierung geht noch schneller unter als ihre Vorgänger Samaras und Papandreou. Die Kreditinstitute haben sich für den Zahlungsausfall und den Ausstieg aus der Währungsunion entschieden. Selbstverständlich ohne irgendwas an den Rückzahlungsverpflichtungen zu ändern. Dies obwohl die SYRIZA schon nach den ersten fünf Monaten ihr Wahlprogramm verworfen hatte. Sie stimmte einer Rückzahlung zu und der Erweiterung des Memorandum Nr. 2. Sie überschritt in den Verhandlungen viele ihre sogenannten „Roten Linien“ und erhoffte sich dadurch ein neues Memorandum zu unterschreiben. Ein Memorandum, das SYRIZA selbst als rigider bezeichnet hat als das vom ehemaligen Finanzminister Hardouvelis. Die SYRIZA hat in fünf Monaten folgendes bewiesen: die Nichtumsetzbarkeit ihres Programms, wie unmöglich es ist ihre keynesianischen Reformen im heutigen globalisierten Neoliberalismus innerhalb der EU anzuwenden, wie widersprüchlich es war die Rückzahlungsverpflichtung zu akzeptieren und gleichzeitig den Mindestlohn erhöhen zu wollen, den Privatisierungen zustimmen und dennoch innerhalb der privatisierten Unternehmen als Staat vertreten zu sein. Man wollte weitere Kredite verlangen, obschon man sich weigerte die vertraglichen Bedingungen einzuhalten, nachdem diese explizit angenommen wurden als Gegenleistung für eine Rückzahlungsverlängerung bis zum 20 Februar 2015. Man verstrickte sich in heiklen Verhandlungen und überschritt die „Roten Linien“ als neue Massnahmen des Memorandums akzeptiert wurden. Es wurden neue Steuern erhoben, die Mehrwertsteuer stieg, das Einkommen und die Arbeitslosenversicherung sanken, dafür stieg die Arbeitslosigkeit. Dadurch erhoffte man sich die Kreditinstitute zu erpressen und drohte die Raten des Darlehens nicht zu bezahlen. Gleichzeitig hatte die SYRIZA am 20 Februar zugestimmt, das es keine einseitige Aufhebung der Rückzahlung gäbe, die griechischen Güter nicht eingefroren und verkauft bei einer Rückzahlung.

Offensichtlich hielten die Geldgeber die SYRIZA –Regierung für einen vertrauenswürdigen Partner und eine gute Administration der griechischen Krise. Der Vorschlag der Regierung eine Abstimmung am 5 Juli zu veranstalten, um auf die Vorschläge der Kreditoren einzugehen oder verwerfen, ist lediglich ein Nachrichtenmanagement des sinkenden Schiffs. Hinzu kommen Verschwörungstheorien, Putschverdachte und eine Wiederholung der Geschehnisse des vom Juli 1965, welche den Umsturz wollen.

In Wahrheit bricht die SYRIZA unter ihren Widersprüchen und Stillstand zusammen. Für die Abstimmung gibt es keine Grundlage. Fünf Tagen vor der Abstimmung, am 30 Juni, endet das Austeritätsprogramm. Das Land befindet sich schon im Zahlungsverzug. Somit gibt es weder Neuverhandlungen noch einen Einigungsvorschlag mit den Kreditinstitutionen. Übrigens, das Ergebnis wird keinen Einfluss auf den Staatsbankrott und den Euroaustritt haben. Beides ist nicht mehr aufzuhalten, genau wie der Untergang der Regierung.

Bei einem „JA“ für den Vorschlag der Kreditinstitute, wäre der Untergang unmittelbar, da die Regierung ein „NEIN“ empfiehlt. Gäbe es eine „NEIN“-Mehrheit, würde die Regierung ein wenig Zeit gewinnen. Sie ist dennoch völlig unvorbereitet und unfähig mit den Konsequenzen eines Staatsbankrotts und den Euroausstieg umzugehen. Sie wird irgendwann Untergehen.

Unabhängig vom Wahlergebnis bietet diese Abstimmung keine Lösung. Es geht um das Dilemma Drachme oder Euro, es bietet aber keine Lösung für die Probleme der Bevölkerung.

Wie wir vom „Revolutionären Kampf“ schon gesagt haben, tilgt der Euroausstieg und die Wiederaufnahme der Drachme innerhalb der EU keineswegs die Schulden oder die Verpflichtungen gegenüber dem Memorandum. Eine der Richtlinien des Memorandum verbietet die Umwandlung des Kredits vom Euro in eine andere unterbewertete Währung. Die Drachme würde die Schulden sogar vergrössern.

Die Anwendung der entwerteten Drachme würde zusätzlich die Kaufkraft der Arbeiter senken und somit den gesamten Lebensstandard. Was Armut und Verarmung steigern würde. Das Problem wird nicht einfach durch die Währungsfrage gelöst. Wer glaubt der Euroaustritt innerhalb der EU sei eine radikale Lösung macht einen grossen Fehler. Der Euroaustritt ist ein Wunsch der Kreditinstitute, um aus einem Land ein Protektorat innerhalb der EU zu machen. Somit vereinfacht es den Verkaufsprozess für die Schuldenrückerstattung.

Nur eine Mobilisierung von unten, der Umsturz von Staat und Kapital durch eine revolutionäre Bewegung wird die Schulden tilgen, das Land von der EU, der NATO und der Marktwirtschaft befreien und eine radikale Lösung darstellen. Sie würde einen neuen Gesellschaftsvorschlag einbringen. Eine Gesellschaft. die auf den libertären Kommunismus basiert, aufbauend auf eine Föderation einzelner Gemeinschaften, Arbeiterräte und Volksversammlungen. Die Bankrottpolitik der SYRIZA, der Staatsbankrott und der Euroaustieg, dessen Konsequenzen nicht mal die Geldgeber selbst kennen, schaffen für revolutionäre Kräfte eine Vielzahl von Möglichkeiten für die von uns vorgeschlagene Umsturzperspektive.

Stimmenthaltung beim Referendum

Nein zum Euro oder Drachme Dilemma

Die einzige Lösung ist die soziale Revolution und die Bewaffnung des Volkes

Nikos Maziotis

Koridallos Gefängnis

28 Juni 2015

 

Quelle aus dem Englischen: http://rotehilfech.noblogs.org/post/2015/07/03/nikos-maziotis-greeces-default-and-exit-from-the-emu/

Greek prisons – Revolutionary Struggle case: Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas transferred to Koridallos prison ahead of second-instance trial

On May 21st 2015, the Solidarity Assembly for political prisoners & imprisoned and prosecuted fighters reported that the anarchist prisoners Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas were transferred from Domokos prison to the dungeon in Koridallos women’s prison ahead of the second-instance trial on the Revolutionary Struggle’s first-period action (2003-2010).

Gournas and Maziotis are currently separated from other prisoners convicted as members of armed revolutionary organisations, who are also being held in the basement of Koridallos women’s prison (i.e. four CCF anarchists, and the convicted 17N member Iraklis Kostaris).

The appeal trial in the Revolutionary Struggle case (first-period action) will begin on Friday, May 22nd 2015, at 9am. The Solidarity Assembly for political prisoners & imprisoned and prosecuted fighters call everyone to express their solidarity with the comrades on trial and attend court proceedings at Koridallos prison.

The comrades who were sentenced in the first-instance court ruling are the prisoners Kostas Gournas and Nikos Maziotis, as well as the fugitive Pola Roupa, who have assumed political responsibility for their participation in the organisation, but also the conditionally released Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis, who have denied their involvement.

A few notes on the Revolutionary Struggle case:

The anarchist urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle (Epanastatikos Agonas) has carried out direct actions in Athens since 2003, targeting structures and organs of the State and the Capital, defending armed and class struggle, and aiming towards social revolution. Their revolutionary action includes a rocket propelled grenade attack, car bomb explosions, bombings and gunshots, among others, against the Finance and Labour ministries, the United States Embassy, the Athens Stock Exchange, anti-riot cops, police stations, court buildings, multinational corporations, banks, as well as a politician implicated in high-profile scandals.

In March 2010, anarchist Lambros Foundas was killed in a shootout with cops. A month later, Pola Roupa, Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas (in pretrial incarceration at the time) claimed political responsibility for their participation in the Revolutionary Struggle and explained that Lambros Foundas was also a member of the same organisation.

In no way does the claim of political responsibility mean that these anarchists accept criminal charges such as ‘terrorist association,’ and so forth. Below are short excerpts from a letter of the three members on their reasons for undertaking responsibility after they were caught by police:

“By claiming political responsibility, we wanted to defend the armed struggle, and to highlight its timelessness and importance within the broader struggle for the overthrow and social revolution. (…) Also, by undertaking political responsibility we wanted to restore the memory and honour of our comrade Lambros Foundas, who was a member of the Revolutionary Struggle and was killed in an armed battle with cops in March 2010 during an attempted expropriation of a car —a preparatory act of a wider action plan of our organisation.”

The first trial on the Revolutionary Struggle’s first-period action (2003-2010) started in October 2011 and reached its end in April 2013. Out of 8 defendants, only three were self-admitted members of the Revolutionary Struggle: Pola Roupa, Nikos Maziotis (both of whom became fugitives in the middle of the proceeding) and Kostas Gournas. The three members received sentences of up to 50 years imprisonment.

Two other accused comrades, Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis, were sentenced to (a little over) 7 years, even though they have denied their participation in the organisation. They were then taken to prison alongside Kostas Gournas. In July 2013, Kortesis and Stathopoulos were granted conditional release and walked out of Koridallos prison under restrictive conditions.

In July 2014, Nikos Maziotis – who had gone underground along with Pola Roupa two years earlier – was seriously injured after a shootout with cops in the area of Monastiraki, central Athens, and taken captive. A few days later, he was transferred to a prison in northern Greece. The comrade was the first prisoner to be moved, on December 30th 2014, to the (then) newly-inaugurated ‘type C’ maximum security prison in Domokos.

Nikos Maziotis faces another trial, accused of the bomb attack against the Supervision Directorate of the Bank of Greece at Amerikis Street in Athens, in April 2014, the shootout in Monastiraki, and bank robberies. As a member of the Revolutionary Struggle, Nikos Maziotis assumed political responsibility for the bombing at the Bank of Greece, which marks the second period in the ongoing action of the organisation.

Already in 2009, the anarchist urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle was designated a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’ by the U.S. Department of State, in the aftermath of a rocket propelled grenade attack against the U.S. Embassy in Athens in January 2007. Recently, in April 2015, the State Department issued ‘terrorist designation’ against anarchist prisoner Nikos Maziotis, member of the Revolutionary Struggle.

Beginning May 22nd 2015, the appeal trial on the Revolutionary Struggle case (first-period action) will be held in the special court of Koridallos women’s prison. In Athens, trial sessions in cases regarding so-called ‘terrorist’ organisations take place at courtrooms inside the prison. Each time that visitors and lawyers enter the specific courtrooms, their identity cards are kept upon entry, with all that this entails.

Solidarity with the urban guerrillas Kostas Gournas and Nikos Maziotis, members of the Revolutionary Struggle, and the comrades Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis, who stand trial in the same case.

Solidarity with the wanted comrade Pola Roupa, member of the Revolutionary Struggle.

Quelle: http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2015/05/21/greek-prisons-revolutionary-struggle-case-nikos-maziotis-and-kostas-gournas-transferred-to-koridallos-prison-ahead-of-second-instance-trial/

Text by Nikos Romanos about the hunger strike of political prisoners (Greece)

Inter Arma received and translated:

On March 2, Anarchists/political prisoners began a hunger strike with demands aiming at the suppressive context of the counter-terrorist crusade that goes on smoothly, despite the left governance of the traders of hope. The anarchist comrades involved in the Network of Fighting Prisoners (NFP) and comrades Maziotis, Koufodinas and Gournas have put in a general framework that depicts the development of repression in recent years. That’s why each one of their demands separately deconstructs the emergency regime and its basic expression which is none other than repression.

After SY.RIZ.A was elected, many comrades -including me- believed that there was a need for provocations from anarchist perspectives in order to force SYRIZA to reveal its real face. The face of capitalism, the face of the managers of modern power, the face of the servants of Capital. Besides, to this masquerade with guests from all historical periods, viewers are forced to discover that beneath all the masks hides the face of power, which can neither be improved nor reformed, only destroyed, with continuous struggle by all means. And let all those anarchists that were dragged to the polls to cast a vote in SY.RIZ.A hear this.

But it became obvious that SY.RIZ.A made a rapid shift from being the institutional arm of any social struggles and from digestible rhetoric of the pre-election period to the government realism, as we all know it.

Because the internationalized storm of repression that sweeps everything in its path, is implicitly connected to the structural crisis of capitalism and its restructuring at all levels of social life. The royal-matte of domination to its subordinates goes on. After having bought their conscience by giving them membership cards for the capitalist paradise through bank loans, it is now trying to ensure their faith in that democracy has no dead ends. Of course, the road to hell is always paved with the best intentions. And it’s neither the first nor the last time the Left has some essential contribution to the strategic directions of world domination.

So, the last act of repressive puzzle took place with the arrest of comrade Angelikiand the pogroms of the counter-terrorism agency against relatives and friends of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire. Those who have spent a period of their lives behind the walls, can easily grasp the magnitude of emotional blackmail, of watching your loved ones who stand beside you in captivity’s everyday monotonous repetitions, behind prison bars.

A real nightmare instigated by the counter-terrorism agency and judges. And if the personal cost is to be lifted by them, the political costs would be addressed to their political superiors. And in order to pretend they have honor, let them have their fists raised when the time comes. So, the hunger strike of the imprisoned members of CCF and its victorious outcome will result in blocking the vindictive persecution of relatives of the rebels. In the same way, the victory of the comrades of NFP and of Maziotis, Koufodinas, Gournas will put a major obstacle before the attack of domination against its political opponents. So, in this context, the importance of the struggle of rebel prisoners and the solidarity movement is great. The opportunity to open cracks in the walls not only in prisons but within authority itself (and its image) is ahead of us. We understand the circumstances, we coordinate our actions, we join our views with passion against all authority, of any origin and rhetoric. Because anyone who loves freedom and hates injustice will always look for ways to destroy prison.

NO TRUCE WITH THE CIVILIZATION OF EXPLOITATION

VICTORY TO THE STRUGGLE OF THE HUNGER STRIKERS

IMMEDIATE SATISFACTION OF ALL DEMANDS

Nikos Romanos

E wing of Korydallos prison, 15/3/2015.

http://325.nostate.net/?p=15276

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/

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