PDF flyer to download and print out
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.
Over 28 jails will be involved in the protest. It is also specifically in solidarity with Nadine Trivian, who has been put into isolation and an extremely hostile environment. This is due to her and a few other female prisoners filing a complaint against a prison guard, who has now been condemned for rape and sexual assaults in the work place. Nadine is one of the representatives of "Iv.i" , which has for years fought against the abuses of power, the psychological terrorism, the conditions of the detentions, forced labour, constant debt, etc, which exists in the German regime.
However the call by Gabriel goes further than the demand for a change in repressive conditions. His struggle, like that of other anarchists, is against the existence of "all centres of detention and punishment, against all life imprisonment, death sentence, and systems of isolation and torture." This is a struggle that can be found in the hearts and minds of abolitionists and freethinkers everywhere.
Mass incarceration has lead to not only the entrenched control of the ruling class, but amassed huge profits for a small number of increasingly powerful companies, whilst the root causes of 'anti- social behaviour' and 'crime', namely: poverty and inequality, are left untreated.
The state and capitalism need prisons to protect the divisions between the classes and maintain their power and exploitation, prisons are places of abuse and alienation, not rehabilitation and justice. A fundamental libertarian change in our societies accompanied by radical redistribution of wealth is required to solve the causes of crime and end prisons forever.
People can show their solidarity in a variety of ways: sending faxes to the ministry of justice in Dusseldorf, to the German embassies & consulates, taking direct action and raising awareness about the demands of the prisoners. These demands are: an end to forced labour, dispersal, isolation, abuse of power, the "life" sentence and sentences of 20+ years.
Against all cells, borders and police!
Ministry of Justice Germany:
Justizministerium NRW, Martin-Luther-Platz 40, 40212 Dusseldorf, Germany
Fax: +49 (0)211-8792-456
German Embassy, London:
23 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PZ
Tel: 020 7824 1300
Fax: 020 7824 1449
also here is Nadine's address:
Nadine Christiane Tribian
Umlostrasse 100
33649 Bielefeld
Germany