Prison Struggle
Demand Freedom for Thomas Meyer-Falk
Thomas has been imprisoned since 1996 for trying to raise money for both legal and illegal left wing projects by robbing a bank.
Thomas should now be up for release after serving 2/3 of his sentence, but is still locked up. Write to the courts and demand Thomas' immediate release: ...(More)
Protest letter for Gabriel Pombo da Silva
Here pasted below is a German language letter of protest to send in solidarity with anarchist comrade, Gabriel Pombo da Silva, long-term rebel in jail in Germany. The letter concerns the censorship and interference with Gabriel's mail by the prison system, and calls for it to stop.
Freedom for Gabriel!.....(More)
Solidarity with Anarchist prisoner Amadeu Casellas Ramón
Hello friends: Our imprisoned comrade has been in hunger strike for already a month (since last June 23th) and he needs more than ever our support and solidarity.
Amadeu Casellas is a well known anarchist prisoner. Amadeu spent already 25 years in jail, in fact he's the most veteran prisoner in Catalonia. He joined many collective protests, hunger strikes, rebellions, etc and suffered many tortures and reprisals as a direct consequence of his permanent confrontational attitude against the system. Now Amadeu thinks that it's time to be released, but the prison authorities don't want to release him, so he decided to take a step forward again and started an indefinite hunger strike. Amadeu said that the only options are freedom or death. He's already at the sickbay of Quatre Camins prison and his health is going worst and worst everyday.
That's why we ask you to join a campaign to ask for the release of Amadeu.....(More)
German Prisoners Set to Hungerstrike over - Conditions Solidarity welcomed!
Almost 500 prisoners in Germany have answered a call for a coordinated hunger-strike on August 1st - 7th 2008 by prisoner solidarity group "Iv.i" (Representation for the Interest of the Detainees). Gabriel Pombo da Silva, a Spanish anarchist who escaped from the brutal F.I.E.S isolation units in Spain, and who is now serving a prison term for attempting to escape a police control near Aachen, Germany, with another Spanish anarchist escapee, Jose Fernandez Delgado who is also now in a German jail, have made an extended international call for all those who wish to participate in the way that they choose in solidarity with the prisoners' hungerstrike......(More)
Update on John Bowden from Brighton ABC
In May this year, long-term prison resister John Bowden went on the run whilst out on a routine shopping trip from HMP Noranside. We can now reveal why he did so when he was so close to a new parole hearing.
Lifer and long term prison rebel John Bowden, who absconded from Open Prison whilst on home leave, was recaptured on 6/6/08. After 3 weeks on the run the Police discovered JB hiding on a farm on the outskirts of Glasgow. He now languishes back in maximum security conditions in HMP Glenochil in need of support and solidarity.
The incident at the farm quickly escalated into a tense siege situation, with armed anti-terror Police, who were acting on a tip off from an informant, ringing the perimeter. It was at this point that John feared that this was a scene the cops would be only too happy for him not to walk out of alive. However with the intervention of a sympathetic journalist a line of communication was opened and the siege ended peacefully after 7 hours, with John and another person arrested.....(More)
About a hunger strike in Germany...
A hunger strike will take place in the German prisons from the 1st until the 8th of August. The organisation Iv.I., 'Representation of the interests of the prisoners', is mobilizing for this hunger strike. About 470 prisoners would be participating in this protest. The demands cover a wide spectre, but in particular they deal with the isolation and detention circumstances of Nadine Tribian. Apart from this, the Iv.I. demands the abolition of prison costs, obligatory work, lifelong prison sentence and isolation.....(More)
A report on the first day of Tsourapas-Kontorevithakis Jury (Athens, 11/7/2008)
Athens, GR: Anarchists Tsourapas and Kontorevithakis convicted, set free
Greek anarchists Tsourapas and Kontorevithakis were arrested earlier in June and were badly beaten by the police. See Athens IMC
See also here - 3 Arrests for attempted gas canister attack in Athens, Letter by two imprisoned anarchists in Greece .
Today in Athens, Evelpidon courthouse, begun the process against the two activists, Marios Tsourapas (21 y.o.) and Chrissostomos Kontorevithakis (19 y.o.), accused for attempted arson against a municipal police car.
They claim responsibility for this action. With them a student, Stefania D., is also accused, since she was arrested by undercover policemen in the wider area of the event, but having nothing to do with it, as both she and her co-defendants state. She was active in the students movement, so it could have something to do with that. All three of them were beaten up and tortured both during their arrest and also when kept in the notorious police station of Omonia.....(More)
"About forced labour and other rights" by Gabriel Pombo da Silva
... This is Gabriel's call to the hungerstrike which will take place in the first week of August (1-7th) against the conditions of detention in the German jails. He explains himself the context and the objectives he sees in this hungerstrike. He will participate in this with Jose Delgado, Pit (a member from I.vI who also is a prisoner in Rheinbach Jail. Also around 470 prisoners from 28 jails said that they will participate in their own way (sometimes doing 2 days of hunger strike) in this movement, which seems really interesting even if it has certainly some limits in the means and methods it chooses, which Gabriel also mentions in his text, but which also may be overcome.
Let's see how different groups or individuals want to take part in their own ways on this ....(More)
Letter from Paola Gori in prison
They have not let at least a month pass from the last acquittal... and a new process, the same arguments, the same references, the same attempt is already ready to paralyze. Stupid guards continue spying and listening on me. What a pity they do not have a breadcrumb of brain.. because if they had it, by force of listening they would understand, by the minimum to at least realize they are servants of a system in which they themselves are meat to the slaughter house. But probably if a servant is born, he remains a servant and although it seems stupid it is made voluntarily if it is created to have a little power.......(More)
Freedom for the Imprisoned Munich Squatters!
On the 27th of June 2007, Steffi, Sven, and Lukas (all at that time between 17 and 19 years old) were stood in an empty building in Westendstrasse in Munich. The majority of the houses located in this street have been uninhabited for a long time, and some of them are used by punks and others to gather. Since this day these three people are in jail, and at the end of January this year they were sentenced to five years in prison, because of throwing stones which was classified as attempted murder......(More)
Letter from Ivan and Bruno from the prisons of Fresnes and Villepinte
Greetings to all friends, to all those who are not resigned to the situation in which we live: police occupation of the streets, of the cities, raids, deportations, arrests, daily difficulties, the dispossession of our lives; the situation that pushes us to cede a major part of our lives to the bosses of every genre, to those who preside over our destinies, to power. If we've taken the road of revolt, it's for all these reasons, to retake the power over our lives, for the freedom to live.
We were arrested on January 19. Two of us are in prison, the third is under judicial control (he passed by and had the bad luck of knowing us). We had in our possession a smoke-bomb that we made with a mixture of sodium chlorate, sugar and flour. When burned, this mixture produces a lot of smoke. We were going to use it at the end of the demonstration which took place that day in front of the detention centre of Vincennes. Our idea: to be visible near the imprisoned undocumented immigrants, knowing that the police would surely try to prevent us from getting near the centre. We also had firecrackers for making noise and tire-poppers (bent nails) which can be put on the road to block cars from passing. .....(More)
Raids in Italy against anarchists - Paola in prison
From Earth Liberation Prisoners:"On the 29th of May 2008 the Italian police raided a number of houses whose occupants are connected to the eco-anarchist group Il Silvestre (most ELP supporters will be aware the police are constantly harrassing and bringing false prosecutions against the group Il Silvestre). The charge against those raided this time is "subversive conspiracy". It is alleged that Il Silvestre activists robbed a post office to help fund their alleged direct action activities and publish their literature. One of the people raided yesterday is vegan activist Paola Gori who is linked to the Italian prisoner support group Senza Gabbie. As a result of these latest raids Paola has been remanded into custody. ... Paola can read English as well as Italian, so please send her a letter of support today.....(More)
Week of Solidarity without Borders- 9 to 16 June 2008
Update: From France (paris.indymedia.org and cettesemaine.free.fr):
"On Friday, June 6, 2008, Ivan and Bruno were released from prison and put under judicial control. Farid, who was arrested on January 23 at Vierzon with his companion Isa, has also been released under judicial control, but Isa is still being detained at the prison of Lille-Sequedin. The week of solidarity called for June 9 to 16 is obviously still on, for the freedom of Isa and all the other prisoners. There are solidarity events planned to take place in Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Vigan, Sete and Brussels (Belgium)."
19th of January 2008 - Ivan Bruno and Damien are stopped by police on their way to a demonstration going to the detention centre for immigrants in Vincennes (near Paris). They had home-made smoke bombs and torn nails (crow's-feet) with them. They were arrested and taken to the police station where they refused identification through finger prints and DNA. Two were imprisoned; the third one was placed under judicial surveillance......(More)
No More Prisons Demo 10/8, HMP Styal, for International Prisoner Justice day
International Prisoner Justice Day is held every year on August 10th. This year in the UK there has been a call by the 'No More Prison' campaign for a demo outside the notorious prison for women, HMP Styal, Cheshire, to show solidarity with the women locked up inside and to remember those who have died in women's prisons all over the country. It will also be a tribute to the recently deceased Pauline Campbell, whose only daughter, Sarah, died in Styal prison. Pauline campaigned fearlessly against deaths in women's prisons as well as advocating the closure of all women's prisons. The demo will start at 1pm outside the gates of the prison......(More)
Solidarity gathering at the prison of Lantin, Belgium
28.04.2008. Last monday, around 15 people went to the prison of Lantin. This solidarity gathering against all prisons took place on the occasion that the prison guards told Farid Bamouhammad that they are building a new cage for him in the caves of the prison. Recently, he had put his isolation cell in fire (at the end of march, together with two other prisoners locked up in the same wing, who were transfered immediately after) Some weeks ago, they started 'renovating' the isolation bloc U and they are building extra secured isolation unit. The same happens in the prison of Brugge. These permanent isolation units will be used to lock the most rebellious prisoners.....(More)
Letter from Gabriel Pombo da Silva
This text was written by Gabriel Pombo da Silva and read on the tour that Xose Tarrio's mother, Pastora did in April in some european countries. It was translated from german by ABC Berlin.
8 March, Aachen.
The dream of so many politicians is to conceive cities as prisons: a camera on every corner, a strong reflector which does not leave anything in the darkness, a cop or a screw, who control each individual, and the fact that every protest or simple doubt about the system has to be reduced to a question of individual unsatisfaction, seeking then the useless judicial way, which guarantee us a line of "Rights", called by them Basic or Human Rights....(More)
Letter from anarchist prisoner Juan Sorroche on hunger strike in Italy
Hello to everyone, I write to you from Poggioreale (Napoles) prison from the Venecia EIV wing (High Vigilance Wing). I am writing to inform you all that from Monday 14/04/08 I will be on hunger strike until it appears appropriate to stop.
My principal motivation for this hunger strike is to be in solidarity with Mauro, a jailed companion here with serious health problems. He has not been taken to a suitable place to receive the treatment he needs. As well as that, it's going on two months now that the prison has refused to give me letters written in Spanish...(More)
Letter from Natalja, prisoner of NATO
Please spread this info - Solidarity is a weapon
On Saturday the 9th of February 2008, Natalja was arrested during a demonstration in Munchen, Germany against the NATO 'security' conference that is held there every year in February. She's accused of having violently resisted police measures. A judge decided that she was to be taken to the prison of Munchen. Natalja had been previously arrested during the G8 summit in Germany last summer and got convicted to 10 months imprisonment. She also has a third trial hanging after that she was arrested on the demo on the first of May last year. It is likely that she will have to spend some time in prison. During one month, she has not had any visits. On the 30th of April, her trial will take place in Munchen...(More)
Jerome White-Bey Letter Appeal - Enough Is Enough!
The Missouri Prison Labor Union is an anarchist driven prison initiative that was organized by prisoners and supporters in the hope of bettering the living and working conditions in the State of Missouri prison system. One of their goals is to establish minimum wages for prisoners and to stop all prison abuse....(More)
MOVE Members Up Before The Parole Board
MOVE is an organization formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia, in 1972 by John Africa. MOVE was described by CNN as "a loose-knit, mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a 'back-to-nature' lifestyle and preached against technology." Their actions brought close scrutiny from the Philadelphia police. The event that escalated MOVE tensions occurred in March 1976, when MOVE and Philadelphia police skirmished, leaving a number of individuals on both sides injured. One of these was Life Africa, an infant that was killed in the attacks. This death was so heinous that it brought John Africa to move to a more Black-Panther-esque type of armed resistance; that "MOVE would counter with violence if attacked." The downward spiral of action culminated in two events: MOVE's outside patrolling of their house with weapons and the later 1978 shoot-out, which led to the death of Officer James Ramp, and several woundings...(More)
The Crisis in Scottish Prison Service Industries
If you are nicked and sentenced and find yourself detained at Her Madge's Convenience, there is a chance that you will be offered work [where available] for a pittance as an alternative to being banged up all day. This can take one of two forms. Either you are involved in the day to day maintenance of the prison itself - cleaning floors, picking up litter, working in the laundry or kitchens. Or prisoners can be offered the dubious privilege of a place in the workshops and, even in a few places, on the prison farm ...(More)
Stunning like Marassi in Flames (video)
This next piece of writing is taken from 'Detour' an Italian-made film about the severe disturbances in Genoa, Italy, at the time of the 2001 G8 Summit. The text is a spoken voice track overlaid on the scenes of the attempted liberation of Marassi prison. This section of the film can be seen embedded on the righthand side of this page. The title of the piece refers to the attack by the black bloc on the gates and offices of the jail, as they attempted to burn it down. The summit was marked by extreme pre-planned police brutality, there was a large number of detainees who were systematically abused and beaten. Some prisoners were made to grovel on the floor like dogs whilst guards simulated sex with them, some made to sing fascist songs and salute pictures of Mussolini.
The text actually describes the liberation of Newgate prison, London, during the Gordon Riots of 1780. The riots were the largest municiple insurrection in the 18th Century, in a time that saw several others across the world. It was "a motley crew, and of every colour", The insurgent masses were working class, multi-racial, and fought for liberty against the slavery and confinement enforced by the rich...(More)
Letter by anarchist prisoner Nikos Kountardas (Greece)
Nikos is an anarchist prisoner in Greece on a circular hunger strike (one week on, one off) accused of hanging two banners against the new "anti-terror" sports law in a soccer stadium ("provoking insubordination"), and also accused without any evidence of an explosion against an ETE bank in Ksanthi (a small town in northeastern Greece). He has also passed 1.5 years in pre-trial imprisonment, accused of beating up Polyzogopoulos, a member of PASOK (ex ruling party), and ex-president of GSEE (the main sell out trade union, friendly to PASOK). He was recently moved to Chios juridical prison (Dikastikes Fylakes Xiou, Xios, TK 821 00, Greece), an overpopulated prison in Chios island, where a few months ago, Panagiotis Georgiadis, a long-time prisoner in struggle, was beaten by prison guards for distributing political material. Nikos is on a circular hunger strike (one week on, one off) and will go on with a strict hunger strike. This is a translation of the recent letter from Nikos (9/3/2008)....(More)
"Estamos en Huelga..." We are on Strike by Gabriel Pombo da Silva
This is a newly translated letter about the hungerstrikes by rebellious prisoners across Europe in November. Many prisoners in Italy also made a hungerstrike against prison terms of more than 20 years or more ('life sentence').
There is no end to how far you can fall in this monstrous system...if one believes that pain (especially psychic) has a limit then one does not know the isolation regimes of the penitentiary.
Only the escape (in all its forms) is the nitrate that feeds the growing from nothing, routine and monotony....(More)
Letter from anarchist Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis (Greece)
Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis was arrested after a bank robbery in Athens, Greece, in October 2007.
That morning everything was ready for the big charge in the cashiers of the national bank. Adrenaline on full, minute-hands giving the tempo of countdown, armed pistols going around unsuspected citizens in their hidden crypts. Days became hours and the hours became seconds with images. The world of work bows in front of your steps and the feeling if illegal touches for a bit total freedom.....(More)
Berlin Antifascist Christian S. moved prisons after drug test farce
Christian Summermann, autonomous antifascist prisoner serving time for militantly opposing nazi demonstrations in Berlin, has been transferred to another prison.
His move was supposed to take place much earlier (the actual prison has slightly better conditions than the previous one), but it was actually delayed after prison autorithies moved him to inside the so-called "junkie-department" of Tegel prison.
Their reason were that too much water was present in his last urine-test which happened before his move : a tactic, they said, to cover the presence of drug traces.....(More)
Letter from Anarchist Vaggelis Botzatzis & 3 Comrades on the Run (Greece)
Vaggelis Botzatzis has been remanded into custody accused of setting fire to two company cars owned by a energy/power company. It is believed that the person or persons unknown who carried out the arson did so in protest at the destruction of the natural environment and in support of two workers who died at the power plant. Vaggelis is also accused of setting fire to a bank and starting a fire inside a French car dealership in solidarity with the recent riots by young people. Vaggelis denies all the allegations against him and maintains his innocence....(More)
Systematic Child Abuse BY The State - John Bowden writes from Noranside Prison
Britain has a long and pernicious history of abusing and brutalizing working class children confined to state institutions, so it was hardly surprising recently when a statutory instrument amending the rules governing the treatment of children in "secure training centres" legitimized the use of so-called "physical control in care restraint techniques", one of which authorized staff to inflict blows to the face of children, euphemistically called the "nose distraction technique".
Of course the use of overt physical violence to control socially marginalized and powerless children in penal-type institutions is nothing new and for decades Borstals and Detention Centres operated regimes that were intrinsically brutal and designed to teach a "tough lesson" based on fear and intimidation. The death of a child in the notorious Reading Detention Centre in the late sixties partially exposed the regime of terror that operated in such places, although the state was always careful to maintain the illusion that it neither sanctioned or created the violence routinely inflicted on children in such custodial settings....(More)
Solidarity Is Our Only Weapon
"The power of effective and dynamic prisoner support was, in my experience, never better illustrated than in the way a prison authority climbed down on this occasion, and it was an incredibly empowering experience to be a part of it."
John Bowden
There are important lessons to be learned from last year's successful campaign in support of prisoner John Bowden, and in defence of the Anarchist Black Cross. When comrades are attacked, it is not a time for complacency, but a time for determined and decisive action. In our struggle against the State, our collective strength and solidarity is the only weapon we have...(More)
Occupation of prison yard beaten down in Belgium
On the 16th of December, at least 40 prisoners of the prison of Ghent have occupied the yard and refused to go back to their cells. The media said that order had been restored when policemen had guided the prisoners back to their cells, using "light coercion"...(More)
Solidarity with Antonio Ferreira de Jesus
Our friend, 67 years old, born in a poor family, was discontent with the surrounding social realities, he realized his protest in practice and ended up to a prison in first time when 17 years old. Since then, he was illegally incarcerated five more times - by fascist regime of Portugal (until 1974) and by current democratic state. He used his time inside by reading, self-educated by gathering more knowledge on the world around. Antonio is a self-learned libertarian...(More)
Barcelona 4F prisoners 7-11 Jan trial & Resistance
Urgent solidarity needed with anarchist prisoners in Barcelona
From 7th to 11th of January 2008 there will be the long awaited trial of the 4F-prisoners Juan, Rodrigo and Alex, imprisoned nearly 2 years (arrested 4th of February 2006), because of the false accusation to hurt heavily a municipal police officer of Barcelona. For 2 years now they had to suffer tortures, prison, the changing of the oficial versions of "their case", the threats of the judge against witnesses of the defense and the fact that the justice ignores the statements of specialists which excuses our comrades. If that wouldn't be enough, now the fiscal demands 520.000 euro + 11 years of prison for each defendant and between 4 and 8 years of prison for 6 other accused comrades!...(More)
Struggle in Spanish FIES units for Antonio and Rafa
Since some time, in the new maxi-prison of Puerto III, several FIES prisoners are struggling to expose the brutal conditions in the isolation wings of Puerto III. Some communiques about this have been spread recently.
One of the FIES prisoners is the anarchist prisoner Antonio Rubiales Puerto. (Antonio Rubiales is a friend of another anarchist prisoner Rafael Martinez Zea - they were both imprisoned in Badajoz prison before, and are now both in Puerto III (Rafael in 2nd degree)...(More)
Solidarity with Imprisoned Berlin Anti-Fascist Andrea!
On the 1.12.07 the Berlin anti-fascist Andrea has been arrested by plainclothes cops of LKA's political branch.
She was in a neighbourhood in southeast Berlin where a Neo-Nazi demonstration was taking place. For five months she managed successfully to avoid her inprisonment, which should have happened already on the 2nd of August. She will have now to spend her next 14 months behind the bars and therefore she absolutely needs all our support from outside the walls. After one and half week spent in the prison of Lichtenberg, Andrea has been transferred by surprise on the 11th to the prison of Pankow. Through this she lost a visit she had already applied for, and now she had to apply again for all the usual things like mail, sport, visits...(More)
Revolt in the prison of Andenne, Belgium
On October 10th a revolt breaks out in the prison of Andenne. Most of the time, after an uprising, prisoners are put in isolation or transferred. Therefore, we have to make do with information from the media that contradicts themselves on certain details and the supposed motives of the uprising....(More)
Asking the good questions...
It's often difficult to ask the good questions. Frequently we end up with some superficial opinions which don't even approach the core of things. In this society where the bleat of the politicians and the powerful seems to dominate everything, it couldn't be more different. And it's often because space is lacking that we cannot ask the good questions.
If we want this space, we have to take it and this is not possible without a blow. During years we almost never heard talk about what's happening on the inside of the prison walls in this country. Nevertheless prison was never far away, we all have a friend or a close one inside. But silence reigned...(More)
Letter from Giorgos Voutsis-Vogiatzis
Now that they've all shut their mouths, let's talk about choices
"...Many of us died or were taken prisoner along the way; many others were wounded and permanently put out of action; and certain elements even let themselves slip into the background because of their lack of courage; but I believe I can say that our formation as a whole never wavered until it plunged into the very core of destruction...(More)
John Bowden back in open prison
On Friday the 31st August, representatives of the management at Castle Huntley prison and Glenochil prison met at Glenochil and agreed to accept the reccomendation of Dawn Harris [More information here] that I be returned to an open prison...(More)
Solidarity with Gabriel Pombo da Silva
Urgent appeal to send protest letters to the prison of Aachen against the continuing isolation of Gabriel Pombo da Silva
Gabriel Pombo Da Silva, sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in the 'Aachen4'-trial, asks for our solidarity.
It seems that the German authorities want to isolate Gabriel even more than before. To remind you: since his imprisonment at the end of June 2004 in the prison of Aachen, Germany, he spends 23 hours a day alone in a cell, quasi- isolated from everyone inside, four times a month he can have a visit of 45 minutes.. .....(More)
Letter from John Bowden - Latest News
Matthew Stillman - Author of the 'terrorist' smears against John Bowden and the Anarchist Black Cross - is discredited.
In April of this year, following an allegation by a right-wing American social worker at Castle Huntly open prison that I was in contact with a 'terrorist group', I was returned to a high-security prison and my chances of release on parole after 25 years in jail effectively sabotaged....(More)
International day of solidarity with Jose and Gabriel (29th of September)
In prison, time is desire. It is a waiting. A waiting for something that breaks through the waiting. It is waiting for life. Something that makes you feel. Something that might inspire you. Something that takes you a step further in spite of the dragging routine, in spite of the dead environment. It is a waiting and a looking for a confirmation of being human, there where prison tries to destroy you, tries to subjugate you... tries to resocialize you. It's there where you feel their lies and hypocrisy cutting through your impotence. It's there where the curtain of the spectacle falls and the truncheon becomes tangible. The truncheon we all know but do not always see or want to see...(More)
Copenhagen trial report from 'Ungdomshuset' riots
The accused were arrested in the riots in Denmark for the autonomous house project 'Ungdomshuset' which was evicted. The two decades long housing project was an important part of the European squatter/autonomous scene and was home to many anti-capitalist and anarchist projects, as well as hosting a bar, punk gigs, presentations etc. The riots were described by police and government as the worst social disorder since World War 2...(More)
Berlin Antifascist Christian S. in prison again!
Updated 25/July/07 - Christian S. an autonomous antifascist from Berlin is sitting again in prison since the 14th of July.
Altogether, he has to serve 40 months. He has been sentenced for breaching the peace in relation to 1 of May 2004, and for the same paragraph for the incidents of the 12 March 2000. For this last offense he obtained a suspended sentence, but he was called back into prison as soon as he was sentenced again in 2004...(More)
John Bowden writes from HMP Glenochil, 20 June
On the 29th May, less than a week after a demonstration staged outside the Scottish Parliament in protest at my treatment, the administration at Castle Huntly Open Prison, from where I had been transferred at the pretext of having 'links with a terrorist organisation', hurriedly held a 'case management' meeting to decide on a strategy of neutralising further protests on my behalf and prolonging my time in prison on less obviously vindictive and politically motivated grounds.
The meeting, held at Glenochil high security prison, where I'm currently being held, was attended by an array of prison service employed social workers, psychologists and governors, and chaired by the Deputy Governor of Castle Huntly Prison, James McKay...(More)
Statement of Solidarity: Free John Bowden
If it is already pathetic that the state cries "terrorists!" when it is reminded of anarchism, then it is too much too bear in the case of John Bowden, a long-term prisoner sitting in isolation.
The ridiculous nature of the UK state calling anyone "terrorist" is still not lost on us. Despite the repression and monitoring of free political opinion in this country and the terror committed abroad under the name of the crown, not one of us has decided to blow ourselves up on public transport or drop "smart" bombs from the comfort of a fighter jet on men, women and children. Anarchists have always denounced both as mass murder and we won't be changing our opinion any time soon.....(More)
Operation Nottetempo reaches closure
In May 2005, a number of anarchists from Lecce, Italy were arrested and accused of terrorism (initially five people were arrested but then others were dragged into the investigation as the police investigation continued). In the mind of the Italian state the investigation had to happen, because the immigration detention prison 'San Foca' closed down after widespread abuse was exposed within its walls by the local agitators, who had to end up behind bars themselves somehow.....(More)
Letter by two imprisoned anarchists in Greece
Greek anarchists Tsourapas and Kontorevithakis were arrested earlier in June and were badly beaten by the police. See Athens IMC
See also here -
3 Arrests for attempted gas canister attack in Athens.
The following is a letter they have released explaining their feelings....(More)
30 YEARS IN PRISON: MANUEL PINTEÑO
The case of Manuel is one of the largest and bloodiest which exists in Spanish prisons. The revenge of the prison-system is clearly reflected in his case. Manuel Pinteño is one more of many prisoners with long-life-sentences in the jails of the Spanish state.
Manuel was born in Elda (Alicante, Andalucia), he is 49 years old, has 6 children, mother, sisters... A family of humble provenience who can't afford a lawyer. Manuel has had always (State) office-lawyers who never did a favorable defense for him....(More)
3 Arrests for attempted gas canister attack in Athens
3:00 in the night of June 5, 3 persons were arrested in Palio Faliro, Athens (2 men 22 and 20 years old, and one woman 21) by undercover cops. They are accused for alledgedly attempting to burn up a police car. After their arrest they were tortured for several hours by the cop pigs, and they were taken to a hospital a day after. All three are kept under detention (up to 18 months in prison before any trial)....(More)
Statement of John Bowden for the International Day of Solidarity in Defence of Himself and the ABC
"To describe a perfectly legitimate prisoner support group as "terrorist" and to punish and victimise a prisoner associated with that group, speaks volumes about the current mentality pervading the administration of the British prison system. Just as the accusation of "terrorism is now being used arbitarily by the state in Britain to criminalise and outlaw increasingly wider areas of political dissent and opposition, so any radical resistance to the prison system by groups with a revolutionary perspective is now threatened with the "terrorist" label...(More)
JUSTICE IS NOT DONE (on the COR appeal trial)
There can be no such thing as justice in any court and there is no justice in the men of the law who dish out years and years of jail day after day.
We are against laws and do not accept the idea that a judge can decide on human lives.....(More)
"INSIDE, OUTSIDE, AGAINST…" About Prison Struggle in Belgium
This text is, in combination with a chronology, an attempt to sketch the current situation inside and outside of the Belgian prisons.
From the prison to the street…
It has been quiet around the Belgian prisons for many years. It has been quiet because barely anything crossed the walls, there were almost no contacts and the monster seemed intangible.
The prisoners themselves changed this situation. In the beginning of 2006, contacts between individuals in the street and prisoners started to grow....(More)
Riots in Greek Prisons
A series of riots and strikes recently took place inside Greek prisons.
The first riots were in the prisons of Malandrino, on 23rd of April, after the anarchist prisoner Giannis Dimitrakis, was brutally beaten up (Giannis is on remand after the robbery of the national Greek bank, in January 2005).
Malandrino is a prison where prisoners spend long sentences under human humiliation and extremely hard conditions...(More)
Zhenya Shimanskiy - Animal Rights/Antifa prisoner in Belarus
At the beginning of last month (April 2007) Zhenya Shimanskiy, a vegetarian anti-fascist and animal rights activist from Minsk was arrested for non payment of a $1400 fine imposed after he was found guilty of spray painting animal rights slogans. It is also alleged by the authorities that after the fine was imposed on him he bricked the windows of a McDonalds in Minsk...(More)
International Day of Solidarity with John Bowden, 25th May
There will be a demo outside of the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, 25th May. For people who cannot be there, we are calling for solidarity action on an International Day of Solidarity.
Send emails, phone calls and faxes to the Scottish Prison Service and your local British embassy. If possible, get people together to do picket outside of the British embassy...(More)
Yiannis Dimitrakis: "in prison, arbitrariness rules"
Anarchist prisoner Yiannis Dimitrakis talks briefly with Athens daily newspaper 'Eleftherotipia'. We repost this here to spread information about the recent uprisings in the Greek prison system, caused in part by the beating of this recently imprisoned anarchist. The interview happened whilst the revolts were ongoing. For more info check out Athens Indymedia, and also the letter Yiannis sent about his case in our 'Prison Struggle' section. Solidarity with Yiannis Dimitrakis! Solidarity with all prisoners in struggle!
"Malandrino Prison is the biggest gumboil of the prison system, and it needs to break" - 28-year old anarchist Yiannis Dimitrakis describes the contemporary inferno-like conditions at the Malandrino prison. The reports of his beating by a prison guard ignited revolts in 11 prisons across the country. In our phone conversation he described the condition of his detention at Malandrino as being the worst he had to face until now: He was originally under pre-trial detention in Korydallos (Athens), then Neapolis Lasithiou (Crete) and on the 22nd of December 2006 he was transferred to Malandrino...(More)
John Bowden Writes From Glenochil Prison
On the 18th April 2007, nine months after my transfer to Castle Huntly Open Prison, and less than a month before a critically important parole hearing to decide my suitability for release after 25 years in prison, I was placed into solitary confinement and the following day transferred back to a maximum security jail. Incredibly, I was accused of involvement with a 'terrorist organisation' on the outside, a claim emblazoned across the front page of the local Dundee Courier ('Castle Huntly killer has terror links') on the day I was locked into solitary. In the current political climate such a claim was obviously made with the deliberate intention of keeping me imprisoned indefinitely...(More)
Anarchist Geert Waegemans sentenced in Belgium
NO SURRENDER... NO PARALYSIS...
On the 24th of April 2007, the court of Dendermonde (Belgium) sentenced our comrade Geert Waegemans to 1 year imprisonment on the charges of beating and wounding police officers and resisting authority. Geert was not present during the sentence, the judge ordered his immediate arrest...(More)
Hands off John Bowden!
More than a quarter of a Century ago, John Bowden, then a young man, who had already spent most of his life in the "care" of the State, committed what might be characterised as a 'stupid, drunken, murder'. There was nothing even slightly political about this act, but it was neither premeditated nor committed for personal gain. It was, unfortunately, something which happens all too frequently when men quarrel while drunk. Particularly when they have been brutalised by, marginalised from, and pushed to the very edges of society. In his recently released pamphlet, Tear Down The Walls! John describes the killing as "a senseless, almost gratuitous killing", which "reflected the extent of my brutalisation after years of brutalising treatment in state institutions."....(More)
Anarchist Black Cross vilified as terrorist organisation
UK State attempts to keep John Bowden behind bars
Urgent: From Leeds ABC, 15th April 2007
John Bowden is a long-term prison resister who has spent most of his life behind bars, including 25 years of a 'Life' sentence. After being moved to 'open' conditions last year, and being let out for fortnightly home-leaves, the indications were that John would be released on licence this June. However, as John predicted in his recent pamphlet Tear Down The Walls:
"I'm sure the system was hopeful that I would not survive my term of life imprisonment, and indeed inflicted such treatment on me over the years that survival was unlikely. I'm sure too that it's intention now is to prevent my release for as long as possible; Few lifers are released unbroken or at least severely diminished in terms of their ability to ever again defy the system."...(More)
Why Anti-Prisons?
- Mass confinement is primarily a form of protection to ensure the smooth running of the system of private property, capitalism and authoritarian rule. The vast majority of prisoners are there principally because they have committed crimes against, or in pursuit of, property. Prisons expand and become more developed and necessary as a gap between the rich and poor is created and increases. They clearly reflect the race and class divisions of the system, and are an obvious form of social control aimed at the most precarious sectors of society...(More)
Prisons in Venezuela : Extreme Violence, Extreme Indifference
Abolitionist text about the facts of three Venezuelan prisons: Uribana, Guanare and Sabaneta.
"I know that my son is one of the living dead but I feel fine because he isn't on the cut into pieces list" Amanda Rojas, mother of Jose Rojas, imprisoned at Uribana. He was imprisoned for the theft of four dairy young goats at the locality of Los Pilones, Lara State.
2007 began as a wonderful year for the power elite. The overwhelming victory over their electoral competitors fills with air the saturated space that belongs to the 'revolution' and their supporters. However, the penitentiary space does not 'share' the same spirit of victory and oxygenation that does the chavista bureaucracy and, on the contrary, the year 2007 began with a sort of aberrant riots that serve as a prelude of the coming violent times....(More)
Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoner Juan Sorroche
A gathering in front of the Italian consulate in Barcelona was held on January 24th, 2007, in solidarity with anarchist prisoner Juan Antonio Sorroche Fernandez, who was arrested on December 21st, 2006, in Girona by the Guardia Civil (Spanish military police) in cooperation with the Italian Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police)...(More)
THERE CAN BE NO LIFE WITHOUT FREEDOM AND DIGNITY
What do you do when you are held hostage with no right of appeal? When the State appropriates itself of your person to exhibit you as an example and a threat to the thousands of comrades and rebels who, like you, came out into the streets to demonstrate their hatred of a system based on slavery and genocide? Indignation and anger can combine with the desire for freedom and push the spirit to surge beyond the captured body scientifically sustained by State rations in order to absolve its function as prey to be exposed, judged, condemned, in the name of social peace. The State's game of slow death, individual and social, requires two players and one can decide to raise the stakes. I can cast aside miserable accountancy and decide to put my life on the plate. Les jeux sont faits. My freedom or my life. ...(More)
Communique from JM Rouillan & GI Abdallah in solidarity with Turkish prisoners on hungerstrike
JM Rouillan and GI Abdallah were on hunger strike from the 15th to the 18th December in solidarity with the resistance in Turkish prisons. Rouillan and Abdallah are long-term political prisoners of the French State, imprisoned for their communist ideas and actions...(More)
Free the 3 Anarchist Prisoners of the May E.S.F demo in Athens, Greece
The struggle for the liberation of May 6 prisoners is at a crucial point, as two of them are entering a dangerous stage of the hunger strike, being held in isolation inside State hospital. At the same time anarchists in Greece are organizing solidarity actions of many kinds, almost all of them facing state repression (police forbidding demonstrations, attacking and arresting protestors) in an attempt to impose silence around the prisoners' struggle...(More)
Sagada 11 in The Philippines released!
Great news - the eleven young anarchists imprisoned and tortured in The Philippines after being falsely accused of a Maoist guerilla attack have been freed!
As of yesterday (Dec. 21, 2006), the punks were released with the court decision on Tuesday that the multiple murder and arson case was dismissed due to lack of evidence as presided over by Judge Benigno Galacgac of the Benguet Regional Trial Court...(More)
Ruben & Ignasi facing trial on Jan 11
Ruben and Ignasi facing trial on January 11th 2007 - We urgently ask for international solidarity. This trial is a direct attack on the anarchist movement in Barcelona, in the form of a repressive measure against two individuals who have been involved in supporting prisoners and fighting against the State...(More)
Anarchist prisoners on hunger strike in Greece
Here we publish two letters from Tarasios Zantorozni, and Gerasimos Kiriakopoulos, anarchist prisoners on hungerstrike. Please spread information and organise actions in solidarity with them! Educate yourself about the tense prison situation in Greece, there are now many anarchist prisoners from the ongoing social revolt!...(More)
Letter from Jeff "Free" Luers, Political Prisoner, Dec 1
Around the world millions of people are suffering from the abuses of power that have become all too common in our human societies. In dozens of countries, generations of people have chosen to fight injustice rather than submit to it. We honor those people today. We raise our voices and our fists to salute those who have fought to free their homelands, who have struggled for self-determination; those who have demanded human rights; those who have raided laboratories and liberated animals; and those who have fought to defend our earth....(More)
Letter from Anarchist Giannis Dimitrakis, from Koridallos prison, Greece
On the afternoon of 16/1/06 an armed robbery took place at the national bank of Greece in the centre of Athens. After an exchange of fire with 2 cops from a special unit, one of the participators Yannis Dimitrakis, was seriously injured when shot by the cops 3 times at several parts of his body. The other 4 participators managed to get away from the scene with about 50,000 euro with one of them being slightly injured too. Yannis, who openly admitted that he is an anarchist, stayed in different hospitals for a few months till he recovered, then he was sent to Korydallos prison of Athens. In another parody of the Greek justice system Yannis was charged with 7 robberies! Also he was charged with numerous counts of attempted murder, topped with the anti-terror law! Its not the first time that a fixed charge is given towards anarchists in Greece. This is the letter he sent from prison on the 23rd of June where he explains a lot about what happened in the meantime and his personal position on the robbery....(More)
Anarchist prisoners Carol, Rafa & Igor moved (Barcelona 6)
After being sentenced to "only" 7 years of imprisonment (the public prosecutor asked for around 80 to 120 years at first), some of the 'Barcelona 6' are beginning to be imprisoned closer to home...(More)
Greek anarchists in N17 prison move
Over the last few weeks the Greek State has been trying to terrorize society and especially the anarchist movement into not making riots and fights with the police in the anniversary of 17 November (date of student uprising in 1973 which helped overthrow the CIA backed Military Junta) . The Government made a huge propaganda that they will break the asylum of the universities (law which bans State forces from the facilities) and to arrest people. At the same time the State changed addresses of anarchists in Greek prisons, without informing anyone....(More)
Letter from Anarchist G.Kalaijidis from Koridallos prison, Greece
'ANTI-TERRORIST LAW' NO.187 IN FULL EFFECT
After our arrest on Thursday 7 July, some mass media started a campaign of misinformation. This included the leaking of various 'scenarios' and supposed 'reliable information' with the main 'menu' including hide-out houses, guns, robberies, 'new generation of terrorists' etc. Well-known mouthpieces for police security- 'police reporter' and editor scum- tried in this way to create an explosive climate against us.
This isn't something new, of course. We have seen it over and over again in tens of arrests of anarchist comrades. What also wasn't new was our stay at police security headquarters for a week in total....(More)
Anarchist Roberto Catrino Lopez in Prison Hospital
On Wednesday 25th of October the anarchist prisoner Roberto Catrino Lopez started a hunger and thirst strike at the PI Lelystad (Dutch Prison), where he is kept, as a protest against his medical treatment.
Roberto comes from Spain where had to serve 18 years in prison, of which he did 14 years in the infamous FIES-isolation regime. During those long years he participated in hunger strikes, mutinies and riots and escape attempts. His rebellious character and unwillingness to settle resulted in a suffocating and isolated detention. After leaving he decided not to go back to the reality of the dungeons of the Spanish state. In Holland he is doing prison time for 4 years for a robbery....(More)
Support Joseph Harris- Animal Liberation Prisoner!
Joseph Harris is an animal liberation activist and cancer research doctor. On 15th September 2006 he was convicted to 3 years in prison for 3 offences under the new 'economic sabotage' law (to interfere with contractual relationships so as to harm an animal research organisation, contrary to section 145 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005). He is the first UK activist to be convicted under this new legislation...(More)
About Aachen Prison by Gabriel Pombo da Silva
Before beginning to describe the running of this prison (in Germany each prison has it's own internal regulations. They are supposedly "autonomous") and their alleged activities and "rights" I must point out that unlike other states of the EU in Germany the remand prisoner depends on all aspects of the tribunal and the judge who is the one who tells the Penitentiary Administration the type of life regime it should bring (ordinary or "special"), how communication should be...(More)
Free the Sagada 11, Youth Prisoners of the Northern Philippines
The 'Sagada 11' are a group of anarchist/eco/punk prisoners falsely accused of taking part in attack by communist guerillas on a military outpost in the northern philippines. Please spread information about this case as much as possible -- they have been in prison for 7 months now, and have recieved very little international support...(More)
Appeal for solidarity from Greek anarchist prisoners
Athens, Greece - Gerasimos Kyriakopoulos and Kostas Katsadouros are in prison from 6 of May. They are anarchists that were arrested after the riots at the European Social Forum. They are 2 of the 4 people still detained after the disturbances...(More)
Letter from Silvia Guerin, imprisoned anarchist of 'Il Silvestre', Italy
To my comrades
I'm ok; in the way it is possible to feel ok in jail.
Jail is a passage that soon or later people have to cross, when it's been decided to live life following a path of revolutionary struggle...(More)
Jose Fernandez Delgado refuses prison food in protest at conditions
This imprisoned Spanish anarchist in a German prison appeals for solidarity and support, please take time to contribute to an improvement in his conditions. Widen the struggle for not only his release but for the overall attack and destruction of the capitalist system itself.
"Dear friends, as you might know the 4 from Aachen have now heard their full sentence, but although they are now considered as "normal prisoners", some of them are still not receiving all their rights. Jose Fernandez Delgado, is at the moment on a hunger strike, although not absolute since he will eat what comrades bring to him on the weekly visits, he is refusing to eat anything that comes from the prison....(More)
Uk Home Secretary ordered machine-gunning of prisoner rebellion
The true mentality of former Home Secretary David Blunket and his political supporters within the government was chillingly revealed in October of this year (2006) with the revelation that he had ordered an ex-Director General of the prison system to sanction the machine gunning of rioting prisoners at Lincoln jail four years ago. Former Director General Martin Narey and a prison governor claimed that during an uprising at Lincoln jail in 2002 during which prisoners held part of the jail over night, Blunket contacted Narey and ordered him to call in the army and massacre the rioters....(More)
The Illusion of Hope.. Is all but gone : Hungerstrike on Death Row
A Statement of Intent- By Steven Woods, imprisoned American anarchist
You can see it all the time on the news. All over the internet. U.S. prisoner abuse has run rampant throughout the world. You've seen Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay... Amerikkkan soldiers torturing hundreds of people in the interest of democracy, peace, justice, and freedom.
It's been turning the collective stomachs of society these past years, as you come to see the face of a beast none want to recognize. You look overseas and ask yourselves, "How can good, solid citizens behave like that?" you wonder, "Where did that monster come from?" The question isn't very hard to answer. That kind of abuse isn't anything new.
It's been happening here on Amerikkan soil for decades. And while it's true that Amerikkkan prisoners don't suffer the depth of those held hostage by Bush Co. Here in Texas, on death row, we are forced to endure some of the harshest and most inhumane treatment imaginable...(More)
September 15, 2006 prison dispatch from Jeff "Free" Luers
The last several weeks have been very intense. Many of you are familiar with my personal struggles at this time, having lost my contact visits for the next year. But, that is a small story compared to what the last two weeks have been like at OSP.
The Oregon State Penitentiary is Oregon's only maximum-security prison. It is a home to violence, drugs, and sexual assaults. Typically, OSP is deceptively calm, but underneath is a perpetual storm always capable of becoming a full-blown disaster.
Last Sunday the storm broke loose and so far shows no sign of letting up. It started with the brutal beating of a guard during the evening yard...(More)
Social Conflict and Inquisition: About the process against the "5+1" of Barcelona
This text was written in 2004, a year after the 'Barcelona 6' had been arrested and accused of forming an 'armed group', breaking bank windows, possessing firearms, plotting to murder a journalist and rob banks, and of sending a letter bomb to the Greek embassy. (This last act was claimed in solidarity with anarchists on a dangerously long hungerstrike in Thessaloniki, arrested at the EU summit there in 2003.) We add it to the archive due to the recent conclusion to their trial, to maintain our solidarity with these comrades in struggle. Let's not forget them during their time now in the cells, it's time to continue the fight and create anarchy...(More)
Prisons & Their Role in Social Control
Ask anybody how prisons work in society and you will generally receive the same glib response: they protect society by removing 'criminal' and 'anti-social' elements, thereby making life safer for the rest of us.
Is this true? Is it the whole truth?
A closer examination of the role of prisons reveals that they do not simply act through the punishment that they inflict upon 'criminals', but that their system of control works on a far deeper and much more surreptitious level...(More)
Continued Annihilation of Political Prisoners: Josefina Garcia Aranburu
Further Deterioration of the health of kidnapped PCE(R) militant
Josefina Garcia Aramburu's medical situation has again deteriorated, as her heart condition is now accompanied with a 'slipped disc' brought on by the rough way she was treated during a courtroom appearance in Paris, during which she was brutally kicked-out several times, a violent act carried out by police that sprained one of her arms, over the period of a recent trial..(More)
Dispatch from Anarchist Political Prisoner Jeff 'Free' Luers
Latest letter recieved from Jeff 'Free' Luers accounting how he lost contact visits for a year. Just fresh out of 6 weeks of isolation in the 'hole', he has been condemned by the prison authorities to not touch, hug or kiss his loved ones for a year...(More)
Short Notes from an Anti-Prisons Meeting, BCN '05
This short text and its points came together in the course of a meeting spread over 3 days, at 'La Fera' squatted social centre in the city of Barcelona, Spain. The meeting was attended by various individuals and groups, discussing different aspects of the abolitionist struggle. Prisoner support was a major feature of the discussion, as was how to avoid becoming a reactive force, aiming our struggle at being a pro-active threat to power and hierarchy...(More)
Solidarity with Marco Camenisch
Marco Camenisch was born in Switzerland in 1952. In the late seventies, Marco, as a militant of the movement against nuclear power plants, was engaged in many struggles to fight the local Swiss nuclear mafia. Direct action was the base of such struggles; cutting down pylons, sabotage against power stations, attacks against the people involved in nuclear mafia. In January 1980 Marco was arrested and sentenced to 10 years for his assaults against NOK power station, responsible for destroying the natural environment of the Grigioni area in Switzerland...(More)
Thomas Meyer-Falk - Political prisoner in Germany
"Born in 1971, I have been imprisoned since 1996. At first i was kept in isolation in Stammheim, then I was kept in Straubing for a short time under slightly better conditions. Since September 1998 I have been in isolation in bruchsal. I am a so-called "red skin"/rash = red & anarchist skinheads."
"I was sentenced for a bank robbery by means of which it was planned to organize money for political projects. In two additional court cases i was sentenced for insult, intimidation, and the threatening of judges and public prosecutors..(More)
Freedom for the youths from Hospitalet del Llobregat!
Update on the youths in Barcelona accused of molotov attack against police barracks:
Last October 4th, three youths were arrested under suspicion of having participated in a petrol bomb attack on the Gracia police barracks in Barcelona. The three youths were brought to court two days after having been tortured within the different police barracks they went through..(More)
'Barcelona 6' anarchists sentenced to 7 years each
Definitive sentences for the anarchists arrested September 16th, 2003.
The six anarchists arrested in Barcelona in 2003 now have final sentences..(More)
Terra Selvaggia: Italian Eco-anarchists under repression
Ten anarchists associated with the group 'Il Silvestre' in Pisa, who produce the publication 'Terra Selvaggia' ('Wild Earth') were arrested on May 4 on the order of public prosecutor Angela Pietroiusti from Florence, who also led the infamous 'C.O.R.' investigation which had targetted the collective.
on Friday the 7th of July 2006 another trial of against 11 Italian eco-anarchists from the group came to an end. 5 were found not guilty, but six were convicted of activities associated with the Marxist group C.O.R. (Revolutionary Offensive Cells) which included acts of arson, targetting right wing politicians, targetting a police station construction site...(More)
Tuscany: Alive Against a World of Ghosts
About the arrests in Pietrasanta and Pisa (Italy)
At the beginning of May eleven anarchists were arrested in Pisa and La Spezia accused of ‘subversive association (conspiracy) with terrorist aims and subversion of the democratic order of the State’ (article 270bis). Some are accused of sabotaging pylons and mobile phone masts.
During the police operation dozens of comrades houses were raided all over Italy. Five anarchists are in prison, another five are under house arrest and a last one has forced residence (House arrest).....(More)
Prisoners of power
I believe that all prisoners of the world are produced by power and are hostages of power.
Strength, authority, brutality, assassinations, genocide, oppression, slavery, exploitation, destruction, torture, mistreatment, the sadistic delight in pain, racism, violation, money, corruption and abuse are examples of what is power. The same power that’s disguised as the absolute truth, as religion, as democracy, as other authoritarian systems, which continue their existence and the government of our lives.
Power is an enemy of solidarity and freedom, that is why it is our enemy. An enemy that we need to fight until it has disappeared, because it keeps us all like prisoners and it is destroying humanity as well as our planet.....(More)
Prison in Finland – a report from a military service refusenik
At first, a million thanks to everybody who wrote letters... I got letters even as far as from Thailand! I also heard about a letter to which Swaziland had anarchists contributed, but it somehow did not make it to Finland yet.
To be honest, I was waiting for prison time in order to read some quality books and get myself fit (I haven’t been doing any sports for 2 years, so it was about time to push some weight). Of course, I hoped people would send me some quality journals I could not afford otherwise (which happened). But although Finnish prison system is one of the softest in the world, it ended up being a bit harder than I would have expected.....(More)
Letter from Ignasi, imprisoned anarchist in Barcelona
Greetings to all those who love me and to everyone that feel and practice solidarity.
After a month and a half kidnapped, i think it's time to explain to all of you in a public manner how i see everything, although i have to say that there are days in which i see things in a more optimistic matter. It seems like we are being one of the first experiments of the mossos d'esquadra and of their fight against what they call "anti-system movements, and it looks like they have their lessons well learned, since, without having any real evidence, they have managed to keep us in prison inventing and falisfying evidences......(More)
Letter from Ruben, arrested anarchist of 9th Feb
¡Salud compañeros!
I'm writing from the prison of Can Brians, in the module number one, and I will make a brief summary since that shitty February 9th (the date of our kidnapping) up today (february 15th).
Everything starts at 8:30 AM when a friend calls us awakening me and my friend telling me that it seems like Ignasi's house is being evicted in la Clota. We are a bit slow in reacting, but we decide to go to solidarize with him. We take a breakfast and we go down to the street to go there, when all of a sudden, as appearing from nowhere, a undetermined number of masked Catalan secret police jumps on us, telling me I'm arrested for terrorism......(More)
Gabriel Pombo da Silva to Italian comrades under repression
Written by Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Spanish anarchist in German prison.
"Yes, I am aware of the harsh repression that you have been suffering in Italy, further reason for reinforcing the undertaking of the Anarchist Black Cross.
Obviously they want to wipe us out in a squalid manner, thus their effort to criminalize “anti-repressive organizations” and place them on the same “legal” level as the Informal Groups. The fact is that they want to shut up any opposition to their system of Domination, Control, Exploitation and Death......(More)
A Thousands Reasons To Keep Fighting
Around eight o'clock on Thusday morning (09/02/2006) a comrade got arrested as he was going home from work. Several masked up men belonging to the anti-terrorist police stormed the place where he was working and forced him into a van. Our comrade got then driven to his house in the neighbourhood of Horta where a house raid began. The police took fingerprint samples from all over the house and took away computers, hard drives, and paperwork. During the raid also another comrade is arrested but he is then released without charges the following day. At the same time another comrade's house is raided in the center of town and he is arrested.......(More)
Torture Of Political Prisoners In French And Spanish Prisons
Please read and pass on all text in support & in show of solidarity for communist political prisoners being brutalized in Spanish and French prisons......(More)
Stop Torture In Spanish Prisons!
No More F.I.E.S. Isolation Units!
The Spanish F.I.E.S. isolation units are a method to control, isolate and torture prisoners that resist or struggle against the prison authority. F.I.E.S. units are a prison within the prison where the prisoner is kept isolated with no contact whatsoever with the rest of the prison population, even exercise is done in complete solitude, all visits are monitored and the number of letters received is strictly limited. The prisoner is stripped of all his/her personal belongings and kept in a bare cell where even the mattress is taken out during the day. F.I.E.S. units are an experiment of different degrees of psychological torture and dehumanisation of the individual together with regular and constant physical torture, beatings and insults. At least 20 prisoners have died or been killed since 1991 in F.I.E.S isolation units......(More)
New State Murder of Basque Political Prisoner
The Basque volunteer Jose Angel Altzuguren has appeared dead in Soria Jail (Western Spanish State). Tomorrows editions of the newspapers perhaps will dedicate a brief summary to it but the extermination of revolutionary political dissidents will go on. The ‘democrats’, the gutter journalists and the repressive forces will ensure that will happen. Altzuguren is not the first political prisoner exterminated in jail, and won’t be the last. It’s not the moment for big complaints or alterations.....(More)
Portugese Prisoner Receives Death Threats From Guards
The Portugese social prisoner Antonio Ferreira de Jesus, 64 years old, received death threats from screws, and asks all, and in particular the anarchist friends and comrades, for their solidarity and to act on his behalf. Below you find a small text you can copy and paste and send/fax to the addresses given.
Antonio Ferreira de Jesus, 64 years old, has spent more than 11 years imprisoned in the prison of Vale de Judeus, Portugal. Before he got several other convictions, in total he served already 43 years imprisonment. Coming from a poor family, during the fascist Salazar regime, he revolts when he’s 17 when he’s thrown for the first time in prison. For years he suffers the horrors in prison, but he also learns to read and write and gains a greater knowledge about himself and the society he is living in.....(More)
Hunger Strike In Colony #3 Of Dimitrovgrad, Russia
According to the mainstream press, Monday 12th of September 2005, 140 prisoners of prison colony #3 at Dimitrovgrad in the Ulyanovskiy region declared a hungerstrike. By Tuesday, 180 prisoners were on strike. The strike was finished by midday of Wednesday, at which point 142 prisoners were striking. Apparently, the prison administration did not fulfill the demands of the strikers. Also, as yet, there is no information available about the repression that is likely following the protest. Altogether the colony has 1100 prisoners, 100 of whom are in a "tough regime", in other words one of higher security detention and fewer rights. The strikers were demanding that prisoners should be freed from certain work, such as cleaning up toilets, and that prisoners of the fourth "suit" (caste), that of the "sky blues" or "roosters", should be kept separate from the other prisoners......(More)
Freedom for the Anarchists of Salonica and Barcelona
Last June 21st 2003, during the demonstrations against the EU meeting in Salonica (Greece) Fernando and Carlos (anarchists of Burgos and Aranjuez, Spain), along with another 66 people were arrested. All of them were released with charges except the 2 Spanish, 3 greeks, an English and a Syrian comrade, that had to suffer a 5 month preventive imprisonment. Only after a hunger strike that lasted 54 days and a big international pressure their release was accomplished, even though the public prosecutor demands were kept. In those days the decision to start a hunger strike was the starting point of a big solidarity campaign, which ended with more arrests, though managed to spread on an international and quite effective way, the situation that those 7 comrades were living.....(More)
F.I.E.S. Prisoners request urgent solidarity
Over the last month, Rafa and his cell mate, Javi (a prisoner from the communist armed group “GRAPO”) have suffered harder repression in prison. Rafa was arrested in September 16th, 2003 in Barcelona, and has been on remand since then. He and 5 other anarchists are being accused of belonging to an armed anarchist cell that carried out actions in solidarity with people arrested at the European Summit in Thessaloniki in 2003. The prison director has decided to separate them after their protests against the regime. They have been beaten, isolated and threatened with dispersal. They both have been separated as a way to make their life in prison even more unbearable, destroying the little relationship they are able to create.....(More)
Racist Abuse of Prisoners in UK
The disproportionate imprisoning of young black people has always been an inevitable result of a criminal justice system inbuilt at every level with racist attitudes and an antipathy towards the black working class community. The facts speak for themselves; whilst black people make up just 2 per cent of the total population in England and Wales, black inmates make up more than 14 per cent of the total prison population.....(More)
Laudelino Iglesias Interview
Laudelino has spent 25 years in prison since October 1980 to August 2004. Out of those 25 years, he has spent 13 in isolation (maybe segregation). He inagurated the archive for internal prisioners in special observation, FIES, in 1991.
SalHaketa – Today we would like to ask you about the organised movement of resistance that several prisioners have taken part in recent years, denouncing the conditions of imprisioment and evaluating the evolution of this movement and its present state.
Laudelino – Hello, in order to understand the movement of resistance within the prisons we need to go back to when Franco died in 1975. The social conditions implied that people were going from a fascist franquista regime to a monarquic franquista regime and well then it was the political struggle of people outside. When Franco died, there were negogtiations with those prisoners who denominated themselves political, there was also lots of riots on the outside, they managed to get the majority of them released, but not all of them......(More)
Anarchists and Prison Struggle
A while ago I was irritated to see a well-known Anarchist magazine use prisoner support work as an example of "single-issue" politics. The comment may have been merely thoughtless, rather than anything else, but the fact that it appears to have gone unnoticed, and certainly unchallenged, reflects the poverty of current Anarchist thought in relation to the prison struggle, and the marginalization of what was once very much a central issue for revolutionaries in general, and for Anarchists in particular. While some Anarchists may regard the prison struggle as just another single-issue, for increasing numbers of working-class people, prison is a central part of their lives....(More)
Aramark - The Prison Service’s Company Store
In the 19th century, Irish immigrants in Argentina, who fled there to escape poverty and starvation, were lured to huge and remote estancias [ranches] with the promise of work. Here, isolated and vulnerable, they were rapidly forced into debt by the over-inflated prices of the company store, and many were compelled to sign away their very freedom and become company slaves. A “lucky” few escaped, but still far from home they were forced to live a desperate life, searching for discarded food in the bins of Buenos Aires or selling their bodies for a crust of bread, many eventually succumbing to starvation, and dying in gutters far away from their native land. Similar scenarios were played out elsewhere. The company store is a cornerstone of freebooting capitalism, earning it a special place in the pantheon of working-class hatred. It features in literature and song. With this and the workhouse there’s little wonder that to this day most working class people still have an all-pervading fear of debt...(More)
Day 2432
I wake shivering at around 7.00 am. Despite wearing all of the few items of clothing issued, the solitary blanket (not even a proper blanket at that) could not keep out the biting cold. But after several nights like this I have slept. And dreamt. Unusual, and, a mixed blessing, bringing back haunting memories of my former happy life, my children, my ex-partner. A life so far away now it's recollection in such vivid tones disturbs me....(More)
John Bowden
With the return to Ireland of all but the 3 most recently convicted Irish POWs the Prison Service is increasingly having the confidence to pursue a policy of limited provocation and containment, gradually clawing back the few concessions to humanity they have been forced to make in the past, while at the same time identifying and isolating prison militants. This is part of the wider policy of polarisation which the Prison Service have used to divide prisoners, firstly through the ‘Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme’, and ultimately leading to a situation where you have totally passive prisoners on ‘Enhanced’ wings at one end of the spectrum, and people being brutalised and tortured in ‘Control Units’ at the other. In other words another re-working of the age-old ‘divide and rule’ / ‘carrot and stick’ policies, with Woodhill Unit being the stick for anybody who doesn’t want to play along. Meanwhile, as the mainstream prison population is pacified, in large part with in-cell TV, the hoops that prisoners have to jump through in order to maintain their current ‘privilege level’ are getting steadily smaller and higher. The clear aim of the Prison Service is the smashing of prisoner resistance once and for all.....(More)
Interview with Mark Barnsley
I was involved with the struggle from my earliest years. The 1960's and 1970's were very different times, the working class were far more powerful than they are today, the struggle was at a more intense level with people more willing to fight for a better world, and certainly in Britain there was talk of a right-wing backlash and even of a military coup. The politics of active armed struggle are now only advocated by a minority within the European Left and Anarchist movement, but in the 1970's things were different. If you got involved in the movement then you would come into contact with these ideas very quickly. I was involved in some very militant anti-fascist activity, and in many respects taking up the gun was a logical progression from that. Of course, with the hindsight of more than 25 years it's not hard to see our failings, but some comrades are, even now, still paying the price for the courage they showed then. I was never a vanguardist, I have always believed in the mass action of the organised working class, but there was a time when I was involved in the armed struggle..... (More)
Preparing for Prison
Imprisonment, as a form of punishment can be traced back to Greek times, but until relatively recently long-term incarceration was extremely rare, only flourishing in modern times after transportation to ‘the colonies’ became unviable (in no small part due to the American Revolution.) Traditionally, those that offended against society were punished publicly, generally in the most brutal way, from the stocks to the gibbet. Public executions, often with attendant torture and/or mutilation, were the norm in this country until the 17th century. Even when they were abolished it was not out of any sense of decency or humanity, but according to The Oxford History of the Prison, because they had “become the occasion of rowdiness and disgust - both because the crowd had begun to identify with the victim, not the executioner, and because the spectacle had become revolting, offending a new sensibility about pain and bodily integrity. Thus, it became desirable to mete out punishment away from the public gaze”....(More)
Repression in British Prisons
In 1994 a number of prison officers sat playing ‘Scrabble’ in the Special Security Unit of Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, England. Meanwhile their charges, mainly Irish POW’s, and supposedly amongst the most closely guarded prisoners in the British prison system, were busy escaping. Six months later, three prisoners practically walked out of Parkhurst maximum security prison on the Isle of Wight, Britain’s ‘Alcatraz’....(More)
Prison Slavery
Over the past ten years the prison population in England and Wales has risen rapidly to a point where it is now being described as having reached epidemic proportions. With the government unable to cope with the influx of prisoners and, in effect, having nowhere to house them, it is once again, the private sector to the rescue. Imprisonment is now big business for the newly created custodial services industry with companies such as Group 4 and Premier at the forefront of running the privately managed prisons, and Securicor dealing with movements between prisons and ferrying prisoners to and from court. There is also, however, another, more sinister side, that is not immediately clear without looking at the wider picture. The three main players have realised that it is not just in imprisonment and custody that there are big bucks to be made, but that prisoners themselves can be used to generate even more cash to fill those already overflowing coffers.....(More)
Taking The Fight Inside
Twenty years ago, on the day before my release from Maidstone Prison, where I was serving a sentence for ‘possession of military plastic explosives’, I confronted a ritual already familiar from Ealing comedies and the like. Prior to a prisoner’s release, he (for it was always a ‘he’ in the films) was marched over to meet the governor or a senior screw. The con would be wished good luck, and a perfunctory handshake would take place as a show that there was no remaining ill-feeling.....(More)
Alternative Prison
In the present day and age we can witness ever expanding control mechanisms constantly sweeping through society, catching, processing (tagging, surveillance, labelling) and recycling populations. Rather than seek individual ‘rehabilitation’ these techniques perform a paradigm shift, which allows them to be oriented toward the slightly different task of monitoring and managing intractable groups and individuals....(More)
Notes taken at the international gathering against prison society.
Opening assertions from all participants, were of this gathering as a place to exchange tactics and ideas, to strengthen existing links and network new ones, and further the abolitionist struggle across Europe and beyond....(More)
About the situation of the remaining Action Directe prisoners
Since the 26th February 1987 Nathalie Ménigon, Georges Ciprianni and Jean-Marc Rouillan are in prison. Régis Schleicher since March 1984. They were all sentenced for life by a special court with fixed minimum penalties: 15 years for Régis and 18 years each for the others. Over the years the French state enforced a strict prison regime, including strict isolation and special conditions, on the prisoners from AD. The conditions of their imprisonment aimed at shattering them physically and mentally. Still, none of them renounced their beliefs. Even for those prisoners, who suffer from heavy sicknesses due to these conditions, don’t consider renouncing in order to get out....(More)
Solidarity With Action Directe
This is a text written some months ago by some Spanish anarchist prisoners in solidarity with the ones of Action Directe. We think it's still up-to-date, since not much has changed in the case of the AD prisoners. Their "reintegration into society" still goes on in the System's death-traps called prisons, so this text goes for them.....(More)