Lies.

 

         As you read the following article you may say, Ah, but that is one of those far away nasty regimes. Well we would do well to remember the cases of the UK  undercover police who entered phony relationships with female members of ecology groups and lived the insidious lie for years destroying the lives of those they tricked into those relationships. These dirty tricks are part and parcel of every state's  tools for prying, repression and control, and can most certainly be said to be proof that we do not live in a democracy. Undercover police with phoney relationships are not the foundation stones of democracy. 

 The following from  Act for Freedom Now:

        In December 2021, we received information that Aleksandr Zaitsev, who declared his commitment to the anarchist movement, was in pre-trial detention in Volodarka. It took us quite a while to verify this man’s story and get to the bottom of it.
         In 2020, Zaitsev actively participated in protests against the regime and was detained at least once in November under “people’s” article 23.34. While in detention, Zaitsev met a man who introduced himself as Dmitry Sergeenko. Comrades from the Pramen team found the real name of this man – Dmitry Akulich, who had been working for many years with the Interior Ministry as a provocateur and prison agent. Akulich actively begins “developing” Zaitsev and by summer both are already planning a radical action: they want to set fire to Sukalo’s dacha. To paint a pretty picture of the investigation, Akulich says that he got in touch with the group “Stork fly” and they paid for him to buy two five-liter bottles of gasoline.
         Not far from the dacha both are taken by Almaz. Zaitsev confesses to everything and is now under terrorist article 289 part 3 (punishment up to the death penalty). We do not know Akulich’s status in this case, but he most likely passes as a witness with the false name of Sergeenko. It is noteworthy that Akulich was given a real passport with a fake name to work with Zaitsev.
Now Aliaksandr Zaitsev continues to be held in the pre-trial detention center, awaiting trial. We have almost no information about the anarchist himself, as none of the activists know him.
        Remember, if you want to carry out any radical action, you should do it only with trusted people, not with acquaintances. This story also shows that cops actively engage in provocations to continue repression and spin the myth of terrorism.
Now it is extremely important to remember to have a safety culture and take the time to familiarize yourself with texts on countering repression!

 via: ABC Belarus

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Justice!!

       The state always wants to have complete control over the population and to stifle dissent, and has an amazing array of tools for this purpose at its disposal. There is the openly displayed police force and the judicial system, and the army, though the army is multi-tasked, to fight its blood power struggle wars abroad, but when needed will be on the streets of its own country to keep that population under control. However there is those invisible tools of control, secret service, undercover agents, anti-terrorist branches of various state's State security units, all working away at infiltrating perfectly legal protest groups and political organisations the state doesn't like, and at the forefront of those political groups the state particularly dislikes are the anarchist individuals and organisations.
         Pick your country and you will find the same open and underhand attacks by the state and its band of control groups, working hard to incriminate, intimidate and destroy those individuals who would dare to accept and act upon the principles of anarchism as their way of life. North south east and west the world's states fear and would destroy, those who would work for a free, just and equal society.
      In the article below you could remove the word Brussels and replace it with any other city on earth and you will find it fits the pattern, incriminate, intimidate and when they feel necessary incarcerate, and in some countries, execute, those who would dare to challenge the status-quo, those who would have the courage to challenge this system that breeds gross injustices, inequality and wars.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

Brussels – Verdict of the Court of Appeal

         On Thursday, November 12th, the judge of the Appeals Court in Brussels made its decision public concerning the case against anarchists accused of criminal association and various crimes;
2 persons got 10 months of probation (during 5 years)
1 person got 8 months of probation (during 5 years)
1 person got 6 months of probation (during 3 years)
5 persons got a suspension of sentencing (during 3 years)
1 person got acquitted
(2 persons got acquitted in first instance and were not part of the appeal) people also got sentenced to paying fines and a part of the investigative and juridical costs, but the state will have to pay the bill for the phone taps (by far the biggest amount) (a suspension of sentencing means the judge finds you guilty and doesn’t set a sentence, but leaves this up to the next judge if you get caught in a certain period of time for a similar crime – not very different from probation)
      From 2008, the Belgian State started a large investigation aiming at different struggles – but always without concessions – against deportation centers, borders, prisons and the world of authority and exploitation. This investigation is led by the Brussels’ anti-terrorist branch of the police backed by the State Security and the intelligence agency of the army as well as various anti-terrorist branches of other European countries. The investigation is closed in 2014, culminating in the referral of 12 anarchists to the courts under the accusation of “terrorist organization” and more specific charges such as participation in a non-authorized demonstration outside the detention center 127bis in Steenokkerzeel (transformed into “attempted arson” by the prosecutor), participation in a fight with two limousine drivers and damaging their vehicles (with the aggravating circumstance of “being motivated by hate”), having insulted European Union civil servants (with the aggravating circumstance of “being motivated by hate”), assault and wounding of police officers on several occasions, obstruction of the public road, damage in various forms, etc.
     In 2017 the Advisory Court disqualifies the accusation of participation in a terrorist group (changes it into “criminal association”) and drops a number of accusations for which it feels there are not sufficient grounds to charge. In 2019 the Criminal Court rules the inadmissibility of the prosecuting against 9 accused since “the means of investigation implemented exceeded the framework of the strictly necessary and authorized” and “have brought a serious and irreparable harm” to “a fair trial”. Regarding the attack on the police station of the Marolles in 2010 (which was originally a separate investigation); 2 persons are acquitted and one found guilty of having resisted his arrest without being sentenced because the reasonable length of time has been exceeded.
      The prosecutor goes into appeal against 10 accused (not including the 2 acquitted). On October 8th, 9th and 16th 2020, the case takes place before the Appeal Court. Only one accused is present and refuses to answer the questions of the judge. The prosecutor recommends sentences ranging from 3 to 6 years effective prison. In the meantime, another investigation – also conducted by the same anti-terrorist police between 2013 and 2015 – is moving forward in the courts. 7 comrades are accused of “detention of prohibited weapons (pepperspray and slingshot)” and 6 comrades are accused of “incitement to commit crimes (arson) and misdemeanors (property damage)”. At the moment there is no date set for the Criminal Court in Brussels.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

1820 Insurrection.

 

 

         This month marks the 200 year anniversary of what is known, in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland, as the "1820 Insurrection".  Along with the brutal repression with which the powers that be heaped on the poor, the state's habits have changed little. Back then government spies were sent to mingle and mix with the radicals and to set up situations to encourage and provoke action against the state, so that the organisers among the radicals could be exposed and treated to the state's brutal so called state "justice". Nothing has changed as  far as the state is concerned, the same methods are still being used, "undercover" police in legitimate protest groups etc.. The only real change is that the state is now much better equipped and has a much more sophisticated range of tools to spy on its population. It will still treat with vicious brutality those who would dare to challenge its authority and demand real change. The state will always be the enemy of freedom and justice for the ordinary people.

       The following is a short extract from "The 1820 Insurrection" on Strugglepedia:

       The late 1700s through to the 1800s saw brutal repression of the reform groups. Execution and transportation being the norm for dissent. Bad harvests, chronic unemployment and soaring food prices caused destitution throughout the working class. Riots took place and ever severer punishments imposed. The Glasgow Advertiser, reports that six baker boys of good character were transported without charge, trial or conviction, for making a disturbance. In Glasgow on the 15th February 1800, hungry and angry crowds attacked meatsellers and grocers shops in Argyle Street, Townhead and Calton in an attempt to feed themselves. As usual the troops were sent in to disperse the crowds.
        A short lived lull during the war against Napoleon soon ended with the Corn Law Act of 1815, plus a fresh wave of unemployment once again increasing the destitution. Once more demands for reform grew in strength. There were more riots in Glasgow, Dundee and Perth, jails filled to overflowing. In 1817 the Rev. Neil Douglas was indicted for preaching in an Anderston church against the Libertine Regent. Due to incompetence of the government spies the case collapsed. During 1819 and 1820 Glasgow was expanding taking in districts such as Bridgeton, Calton and Anderston. The population was around 147,000, most of the work was in mills and factories. The normal working day started at 5.30am, and it was a 14 hour day. Child labour was common, children as young as 6 years of age would be employed as machine operators, the wage would be a shilling a week. There was wide spread unemployment with abject poverty. Women and children sleeping rough was not an unusual sight.
United Scotsman Societies
          Those working for reform were not intimidated and grew in strength and numbers. In spite of Government repression thousands of pamphlets appeared, one such pamphlet by Margarot reached 100,000 copies. There were meetings both secret and open. With the enforcement of the Militia (Conscription) Act, secret and revolutionary United Scotsman Societies, sprang up. The workers seeing the Army as the instrument of oppression used by the Authorities against the people. The Societies spread rapidly. When ever a Branch reached 16 members another was formed. Their National Convention met every 7 weeks, usually in Glasgow. On the Glasgow Green workers went through military drill for the day of the Revolution.
         One Sunday morning in 1820 a document appeared on walls all over Glasgow. It stated 'Friends and Countrymen! Rouse from that state in which we have sunk for so many years, we are at length compelled from the extremity of our sufferings, and the contempt heaped upon our petitions for redress, to assert our rights at the hazard of our lives.' There was also a call to arms signed, 'By order of the Committee of Organization for forming a Provisional Government. Glasgow April 1st. 1820.' A footnote read; 'Britons - God - Justice - the wish of all good men, are with us. Join together and make it one good cause, and the nations of the earth shall hail the day when the Standard of Liberty shall be raised on its native soil.' Government agents spread stories that the workers in England were already armed, and that Kinloch of Kinloch was on his way from France with 50,000 troops: 5,000 of which would be camped on the Cathkin Braes and would seize the city's banks and other institutional centres. They would also arrest any reactionaries. Of course this was a deliberate attempt to get the Reformers to act knowing the weakness of the Reformers arms and the superior forces at the authorities' disposal, allowing them to destroy the Reform movement and execute its main activists.------

Read the full article HERE: 

 

 The Radical War Memorial on Bank Street, Greenock

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

From Arrest To Trial----Ten Years!!

         The wheels of state "justice" can turn very slowly, after ten years, a group of anarchists known as the Tarnac nine, who were arrested with a show like a Hollywood movie, finally arrive in court. This is a report of the start of the trial from Anarchist News:

          Ten years after being rounded up in a well-publicised raid by anti-terror police, defendants in a trial for the alleged sabotage of a rail line did their best to ridicule the prosecution and show their lack of respect for the court this week. The case, which started out as an accusation of a terrorist plot, appears to have been sparked in part by reports from a British undercover cop who has since been exposed by environmental activists.

        "Monsieur Coupat, is it really necessary to eat your snack during the proceedings?" presiding magistrate Corinne Goetzmann asked the star defendant on the first day of the "Tarnac trial" as he bit into a cereal bar.

       The following day she gently reproached him for drinking the Latin American drink maté in court, informing him he did not have "a monopoly on irony" when he protested that she had said he had the right to drink during the trial.

      During the first two days Julien Coupat and fellow defendants joined their lawyer in interrupting prosecutor Olivier Christen and casting doubt on the police's evidence.

        But on Friday Goetzmann took a more no-nonsense tone.

"I'm well aware that in this trial some defendants felt an anger that needed to be expressed, which is why it seemed important to me to let them [speak]," she said. But, she went on, "That is not how a trial happens, the evidence must be discussed, people must listen to each other".

From terrorism to criminal conspiracy

        On 11 November 2008, Coupat, 43, and his ex-wife, Yildune Lévy, 34, were among nine people arrested by some 150 police officers in front of TV cameras in a raid on a farmhouse in south-west France where they were all living. Echoing the police's version of events, the right-wing interior minister at the time, Michèle Alliot-Marie, claimed that an ultra-left terrorist plot had been foiled.

        The group was accused of being behind five acts of sabotage on the railway network in which steel hooks were hung on overhead cables, posing no risk to life but a serious threat of damage to trains.

Coupat and Lévy were finally accused of placing a hook on cables on a high-speed TGV line near Paris on 7-8 November 2008 and charged with terrorism.

        But 10 years later the terror charges have been dropped. Coupat and Lévy now stand accused of criminal conspiracy, along with Elsa Hauck, 33, and Bertrand Deveaud, 31. Two of their comrades, Christophe Becker, 41, and Marion Glibert, 34, are charged with forgery or receiving stolen documents, and Benjamin Rosous, 39, and Mathieu Burnel, 36, are charged with refusing to give DNA samples, a charge four of the other accused also face.

Police report's inconsistencies

       A key element of the prosecution case - a report by police who tailed them on the night of the crime - came under the spotlight on Friday. The defence pointed to inconsistencies, including the fact that one of the officers signed another report in a police station in Levallois-Perret at the time he was allegedly following the suspects.

        The prosecution claims he signed a fax sent from the station the next day. Coupat and Lévy say they drove around the Paris region in Coupat's father's Mercedes because they knew they were being followed and that they tried unsuccessfully to book a hotel room.They claim the police at some point gave up tailing them and then invented the rest of the testimony after the act of sabotage was discovered the next day.

       The defence's request for the police officers' phones to be traced to establish their whereabouts has been turned down on the grounds that their numbers are a state secret.

British undercover cop

        The French police were allegedly tipped off about the Tarnac group by a British undercover police officer who has since been exposed by an environmentalist group he infiltrated.

Mark Kennedy, alias Mark Stone or Mark Flash, has been accused of being an agent provocateur. He is also one of five British police officers at the centre of a legal case over their alleged deception of women into having serious relationships with them while they posed as activists.

        Like several of the others, Kennedy has a wife and children. He has since told the media that he was used by the police forces of 22 countries, has declared that he has regrets over the role he played and, according to the Guardian newspaper, sued the police for manipulating him and failing to protect him from falling in love with one of his targets.

         Kennedy appears to have been the source for an account of a visit Coupat and Lévy paid to the US, crossing the frontier illegally from Canada to avoid having biometric passports. They admit meeting like-minded people in New York but insist that their encounters were not a sinister global anarchist get-together, as it has been portrayed in the police account. "I abhor being placed in the position of defending myself by a fake police officer," Coupat declared when refusing to plead innocent or guilty on the first day of the trial.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Undercover Police, Circled A Radio.

      The latest from Circled A Radio, a chat with author of "Undercover" Rob Evans, an exposure of the UK's undercover police.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Circled A Radio And Undercover Police.

The latest from Circled A Radio:

       Mr G discusses the recent undercover police scandal, Mandela, protests in Turkey and a tale of King Arthur.

Listen HERE:

ann arky's home.