The State.

         In state after state the repression goes on, according to their philosophy of total control, dissent must be quashed. Sometimes it is an individual that they attempt to silence, other times it groups, some go unnoticed others get some publicity. If it is mainstream media publicity, the chances are that the theme will be that they are terrorists, looters or just violent thugs, demonise the dissenters is the name of the game. Our publicity should be to show them for what they are, individuals and groups struggling to bring an end to this regime of exploitation and total control, those necessary tools for the capitalist economic system to function.

        The case below is from Italy, but pick your state, and you'll find the repression, methods vary, but the aim is always the same, a subservient population, eliminate those who would dare to resist state authority. Solidarity is the weapon that can free us from the yoke of capitalism and the shackles of the state.

This from 325:

SOLIDARITY MOBILIZATION 9th-24th NOVEMBER
      This autumn several prosecutions, which involve hundreds of anarchists, will take place in Italy. In these investigations public prosecutors and judges want to put the anarchist ideal under trial. The attempts to reduce different tensions and practices in various legal schemes, i.e. the hateful and pathetic division between “good” and “bad” anarchism, aim to repress those who fight, making them face decades of imprisonment.
       In a period in which the imposed living conditions are increasingly harsh, it is essential to fight: to respond to the violence of the State, to the regime of oppression that tries to impose, attempting to attack anyone who expresses solidarity with those who have already chosen on which side to stand.
      We will stand, close and complicit with our comrades, and not only in the courtrooms: we call for two weeks of mobilization from the 9th to the 24th of November, as an opportunity to create moments of active solidarity in the streets or wherever we choose to express it.

ALONGSIDE ALL THE ANARCHISTS ON TRIAL!
AGAINST PRISONS AND FOR THE FREEDOM OF ALL PRISONERS!
FREEDOM FOR ALL!

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Solidarity.

       We are controlled mainly by our national police, but the day is not far off when that control will be in the hands of an international police force, European states are welding together an efficient police force that knows no borders. Borders are there for control of us, the populations, hemming us in as more easily controlled groups, for the state's own power. The international police will be there to control those who would dare to cross their designated border lines, without their masters permission. The framework is already there and functioning well. the following from Act For Freedom Now:

 France / Italy: Letter from Imprisoned Anarchist Comrade Carla

Fresnes, 19.08.2020
Salut!
      After 536 days on the run, I was arrested on July 26th near Saint-Etienne. I experienced the arrest as the first performance of a scene repeated a thousand times in my head, or rather 536 times? Everything seemed to happen in slow motion: the hooded cops pointing their rifles at me, put me down and ask me the name that I’ve so often been called lately. It felt strange to pronounce it.
    I was then brought to Paris by the SDAT [Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate], four hours of travel handcuffed behind my back in the company of their balaclavas. They blindfolded me for the last few kilometers that separated us from their premises in Levallois-Perret. They were the ones who took me to court two days after the arrest, then to Fresnes prison.
      At the hearing, I accepted the extradition without hesitation. I had followed the events surrounding the arrest of Vincenzo Vecchi (whom I greet in passing) closely, but he had refused, offering himself a chance to remain free in France. For me, the choice was between waiting for the trial in France or in Italy, where the other defendants in Operation Scintilla are, all of them free except Silvia, who is still under judicial supervision.
      It seems that in recent times, arrest by means of a European arrest warrant and subsequent extradition have become mere formalities for the European justice system. We have seen this recently in Italy on several occasions, but also in the repression that followed the Hamburg riots or in Greece and Spain. European police forces are refining their weapons and their collaboration seems to be getting closer, exchanging tips and services. So it seems to me that it is up to us to look into the matter and study the mechanisms.
    I discovered the prison at the time of the coronavirus, the regulation fortnight in the new arrivals’ quarter, the mask during all movements, including the walk for that length of time, the suspension of all activities, the cell 22 hours a day.
     At the end of my fortnight, and on the eve of the scheduled date of my extradition, the other arrivals and I were placed in sanitary isolation on the grounds that we had shared a walk with a new arrival who turned out to be infected. Tests were only offered to us once this case was confirmed and have been the rule for all new arrivals ever since. We were initially told that they couldn’t test everyone. Unsurprisingly, it seems that the prison administration (PA) is behind schedule.
      In the spring, the measures taken by the PA in response to the arrival of the coronavirus led to situations of mutinies, revolts and solidarity. Unfortunately, here at least, it seems that living with the virus has become the norm, and the fear that a newcomer could bring the virus with her is coupled with the fear of being suspended from the visiting rooms, as was the case with us this week. The meagre compensation that the PA gave in the form of telephone credit in the spring is no longer relevant, as a group of isolated newcomers is so small compared to the strong mobilisations of last March.
     I’m expecting extradition again any day now and I know that a third isolation ward will probably be reserved for me when I arrive in Italy. I take advantage of the expressions of solidarity that join me today after so much silence. In spite of the publications on the subject, which are precious, the escape is still too often considered a romantic adventure and the companions concerned are often thought of as free. During this year and a half, I have never lacked solidarity and warm support, I have never lacked anything, but one is not free when one is deprived of one’s life.
      I would have liked to have been on the street with my comrades during the demonstrations in reaction to the eviction of Asilo, I accompanied the hunger strike of Silvia, Anna and Natascia with my thoughts, I thought every day of the comrades arrested in successive waves. I would have liked to have been by my family’s side when they went through difficult times and to have heard from them when we were all confined. Today I am ready and determined to face the next few months, but my thoughts are with those who are still on the run, often far from their loved ones. I hope that their journey will be as long as they want it to be, and that the encounters they make will give them the warmth they deserve and the energy to continue to fight.
     Carla
 

      On Tuesday 25 August 2020, Carla, arrested on 26 July, was finally extradited to Italy. She is now incarcerated in Vigevano prison, near Milan, in the AS3 module (alta sicurezza 3).
This high-security isolation section is initially reserved for prisoners accused of belonging to the mafia. Since the closure of the aquila, the AS2 sections, reserved for detainees considered political by the state, hardly exist for women, with the exception of Rebbibia (Rome) where Flavia and Anna are. Anna is only there for a few weeks because the Italian state has chosen to dispatch the companions, which is why most of them, including Carla, end up in AS3.
Carla wrote a letter from Fresnes prison which we reproduce below.
Let us continue to write to her and express our solidarity!
To write to her :
Carla Tubeuf
casa circondariale di Vigevano Centralino
via Gravellona 240
27029 Vigevano (PV), Italy

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Phony Justice.

 

     In this world of pampered privilege for the wealthy few and bare knuckle treatment for the poor, justice is a word of many interpretations. Innocent until proven guilty sounds fine, but that doesn't mean that you are free until proven guilty. The following case is not unique where individuals are held in high security sections of prisons for over a year, while waiting for that verdict, guilty or not guilty. All this on the whim of one or group of those wealthy pampered privileged few. Those tasked with administering this loaded justice, wear fancy clothes, sit in high chairs and dispense their brand of justice written by the wealthy pampered privileged few, to protect their wealth and power. This is not justice, this is bare faced protectionism by a powerful, wealthy clique.

The following is from Act For Freedom Now:

 

 

        A preliminary hearing for the ”Prometeo” investigation was held on 29th July at the court in Genoa. Videoconferencing was imposed on Beppe and Nat, and given the charges against them (article 280, with aggravated and continued circumstances) this is likely to continue throughout the trial.
         During the hearing lawyers raised a technical issue which has been going on for months, i.e. that no one has been able to access environmental and telephone bugging yet, considered “evidence” on which a good part of the accusatory structure is based. Moreover, with the change of public prosecutor, a good part of the material had not even reached pm Federico Manotti, now in charge of the investigation. The investigating judge therefore postponed the preliminary discussion and the choice of trial procedures by setting two hearings: the first on 11th and the second on 18th [August] for any reruns.
         After over a year in prison, the investigating judge ordered an extension of the custodial measure for Beppe and Nat on the eve of the detention period expiry term, justifying it with the usual “risk of escape” due to the accuseds’ lifestyles: owning a camper van that can be used for travel and for undertaking seasonal work abroad has become the pretext for justifying the escape risk and handing out more days of prison as though they were sweets.
      An appeal hearing concerning Natascia’s remand will be held on 14th August.
      Meantime, while these gentlemen are taking their time, Natascia remains locked up in the AS3 unit in the prison of Piacenza, and Beppe in the secure unit in Pavia: in spite of Beppe’s two hunger strikes and repeated requests from lawyers, the Director of Prison Administration persists in holding him in there.
As always, and even more so in anticipation of the trial, we are renewing the call for solidarity with the accused comrades.
FREEDOM FOR ALL!
To write to the comrades still locked up in jail:
NATASCIA SAVIO
C.C. SAN LAZZARO
STRADA DELLE NOVATE 65
29122 PIACENZA
ITALY
—————-
GIUSEPPE BRUNA
C.C. DI PAVIA
VIA VIGENTINA 85
27100 PAVIA
ITALY
To contribute to support them:
– Postepay evolution
Account name Vanessa Ferrara
Number 5333 1710 9103 5440
IBAN: IT89U3608105138251086351095
– Postepay evolution
Account name Ilaria Benedetta Pasini
Number 5333 1710 8931 9699
IBAN: IT43K3608105138213368613377

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Arbitary "Justice"!

       The state will always show retribution when an act it sees as an attack on its power and control. Though that retribution will not necessarily be heaped on the "guilty" person, that matters little to the state, what matters is that it is seen to be in control, in a attempt to intimidate others from doing similar acts. The judicial system and its attendant hell-hole prisons, are not there to dispense justice, but to protect the power of the state, and the wealth and privileges of its parasite class, to hold the system together and keep the status-quo. To those who desire freedom and justice, prisons are an obvious target, but to be free of prisons we have to demolish the institution that deems them necessary, the state.

      It is not unusual for an individual to find themselves being sentenced to a term in prison with no direct evidence  linking them to the event in question. It happens day and daily in country after country, it is just the state apparatus defending its power over the population.

The following from AMW:

On July 15, 2020, anarchist Marco Bolognino was sentenced to four years for the fire that broke out at the Vallette prison in Turin on February 11, 2019, following a greeting to the many comrades detained following the eviction of the Asilo Occupato.

Aggravated fire and dangerous ignitions and explosions: these are the crimes alleged against Marco Bolognino, anarcho-insurrectionist arrested in Turin by Digos [General Investigations and Special Operations Division, anti-terrorism law enforcement in Italy]. The disputed facts date back to February 10, when anarchists organized a procession against the eviction of the Asilo Occupato in via Alessandria and the arrest of six anarchists who ended up in the Vallette prison. On that occasion, paper bombs and fireworks exploded. A nautical signal rocket ended up on the roof of a prison shed, where there was a kitchen workshop, causing a fire and the explosion of some gas cylinders. The laboratory was completely destroyed.

Once again the tribunal rite was an end in itself, deaf to the evidence of the facts, which not only questioned the disputed facts, but also the identification of a responsible person: the sentence is typical, 4 years for arson .

A warning to all those in solidarity that often find themselves outside those damned walls, an attack on solidarity!

Fire to all the prisons

Freedom for all

Western Alps antirepression

From: https://ilrovescio.info/2020/07/15/condanna-per-lincendio-alle-vallette-nel-febbraio-2019/

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Another Pandemic.

        All the talk at the moment is about the covid19 pandemic and its various stages, with a hope that it will all end well. However there is another pandemic that is rife throughout the world and its virus is called "inhumanity in prisons", but there is no massive and determined drive to eradicate it, it goes unchecked and ignored by the various states. There is an unending litany of cases of barbarity within the prison system and stands as testament to how the state treats those who would dare to break its rules and regulations, no matter how unjust these may be.

     This is just another case from the many thousands that happen day and daily across the planet. Another symptom of the inhumane and barbaric nature of the state system and its thirst for authority and control. 

     This case just happens to be in Italy, but no state is immune from this type of savagery.  

The following is from Act For Freedom Now:

        Italy: Letter of Beppe from Pavia prison, July 4th, 2020

       July 17, 2020
       The following text is a letter from the anarchist Giuseppe Bruna, imprisoned since May 21st, 2019, for the «Prometeo» repressive operation, currently imprisoned in Pavia prison. To write to him: Giuseppe Bruna, C. C. di Pavia, via Vigentina 85, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
     Dearly beloved,
     I hope this one of mine finds you well!
    I am writing to report a serious situation (yet another!) that I found myself facing between the afternoon of July 3rd and midnight of July 4th! As you will be aware, I have been locked up since about a year in a cell alone in the «protected» section [a section where are held ex-cops, infamous, pedophiles, rapists, ecc.] of Pavia’s jail!, I have always refused such placement by putting in place various forms of struggle (hunger strike, air strike, etc.).
    The [incomprehensible word, probably could be «direction»] health care of the Pavia jail, even though I was never underwent any medical examination (even if there was a specific request of the judge for the preliminary investigations, Basilone), stated that I am under treatment (with what?) for my thyroid lymph node (which has never been checked here) and that I had a serious form of bronchopneumonia and in case of need they would have provided to help me!
     On Friday (July 3rd), in the afternoon, a big storm arrived on Pavia with gusts of wind, not making time to close the window, the wind closed the blindo [armored door] of my cell, here it often happens when there is a lot of wind… I must point out that the bells to call the guards do not work, you just have to scream! In this case the working prisoner warned the guard on duty, telling him that I was «closed», I heard it from my cell… I haven’t called a guard since I’ve been locked in this sewer, their presence irritates me… Waiting that they would have deigned to reopen the armored door as for everyone in the section, I take care of something else in the cell, knowing that around 9:00 p.m. they would have passed by anyway with the nurse who distributes psycho-pharmaceuticals… at about 8:30 p.m. the zealous guard opens the spyhole of the armored door and I immediately tell him to open the door like all the others, that I am very agitated and I can’t breathe! He answers with a «Yes» and then disappears! Around midnight, when the guards make the count and changed shifts… I don’t know what happened, I don’t remember anything, I found myself on the floor full of slime with 4-5 guards who kept calling me, someone said that maybe I was dead!
     They never called the doctor, nor the nurse, I have never been examined even under these circumstances… I have long ago understood why I was placed in this section of this prison! At about 10:30 a.m. (July 4th, 2020) I was called to the infirmary, after having informed the nurse of my illness and about losing consciousness during the night. In front of the doctor on duty I say what happened during the night: there is the nurse and a «graduated» guard who attends the conversation; while he take the parameters I manifest to the doctor a strong pain in my forehead for the blow taken with the fall, the nurse tells me that there’s nothing visible, and in explaining that the guards would come at midnight, when I was lying on the floor, that is how I was when they found me the guards on duty, maybe now they could have made sure of my health! At this point the guard present intervenes and with a threatening tone he tells me that «I talk too much» and that I have to talk only about medicines!, the doctor on duty and the nurse (who seems to be the wife of a guard) are present, they remain impassive! I asked for the medical records, let’s see if they bring them to me! I hope this letter gets to you and doesn’t disappear!
       I ask you to be involved with me against the placement in this section and in this jail!
      Send this letter as many people and websites as possible!
     Prison kills!
      I rise with my head up high, vomiting all my hatred against the placement in this section!
      Freedom for the comrades of Rome!

Beppe

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Stateless World.

       Is there any aspects of this economic system that we live under, we can say benefits the ordinary people's freedoms and desires, or that sees to the basic needs of all our people? Obviously not when its foundations are built on privilege linked to wealth and inheritance, power welded to wealth, structures based on patriarchy, and wealth created by the exploitation of those ordinary people, all held together by the state's repressive machine in conjunction with its loaded judicial system. To such a system, anger and rebellion should be the natural response flowing from the ordinary people, but it needs to be built on organisation and solidarity followed through with direct action. Dialogue with such a system has long since been proved to be futile. The streets and workplaces are where we will create that better world for all. 

Death to the State – Death to the Patriarchy

      On the morning of June 12, 2020, the ROS [Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale / Special Operations Group] staged yet another anti-anarchist repressive operation, this time signed by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office. Two comrades end up under house arrest and five others are imprisoned on Italian, French and Spanish territory.
       Among the accusations, as is now the practice, that of subversive association for the purposes of terrorism and incitement to commit criminal acts. Once again, the aim is to attack those who claim solidarity as an offensive practice and actively support their anarchist comrades facing the repression. As in Bologna last month, with Operation Ritrovo, the methods are repeated: cops in balaclavas, in some cases with guns, doors broken open, telephones requisitioned, searches and seizures of computers and printed material.
         The state through these muscular demonstrations tries to frighten us and make us feel isolated, in line with this patriarchal society that would have us docile, locked in our predefined gender roles. It does not surprise us when, as in this case, the media emphasize the presence of women in the investigations, showing astonishment in not finding ourselves relegated to the second row. We reject this logic that is imbued with paternalism, we do not seek protection but complicity in attacking. Attempts to avoid the use of violence as a response to what oppresses us have always been and always will be rebelled against.
        We do not want to have a place in this patriarchal society, which maintains and also reproduces itself through the distribution of power, in the gender socialized as feminine, we only want to dance on its rubble.
       We are not interested in legal technicalities and dichotomous concepts of guilt and innocence. As feminists and anarchists we can only claim solidarity with those who attack the patriarchal system and all the ways it expresses itself.
        We turn fear into anger and anger into strength. And this makes us dangerous.

Death to the state
Death to the patriarchy
For Anarchy
Complicity and solidarity with the arrested from Operation Bialystok
FREEDOM FOR ALL

Some feminist anarchists

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Solidarity.

      This must be the time of a universal stand in solidarity between people across the world, a new era of universal solidarity. The public murder by the police of George Floyd, opened the flood gates to rage and out pouring of solidarity, our solidarity must encompass all those in struggle against this punitive, exploitative violent system. In our rage and fury at this brutal system we must not forget the others still suffering at the hands of the various "legal" systems of repression across the globe.

      This is a call for solidarity from Italy for comrades being dragged through the Italian state's judicial mesh.
From Act For Freedom Now:

 

 

      The second degree of the «Scripta Manent» trial will begin in Turin on July 1st, 2020. We ask comrades and people in solidarity for economic support, all the more important because in these months of lockdown the benefit initiatives have been reduced to a minimum if not completely interrupted.

The bank references to send money are:

Iban: IT56M0567617295IB0000592586
Accountholder: Omar Nioi
Bank: Banco di Sardegna
Bic/Swift code: SARDIT3S100

For any information contact the e-mail: cassamanent[at]anche.no

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Righteous Anger.

 

        I doubt few can dispute the reasons for their anger, nor their description of the system. What surprises me is that there is not more displays of anger on the streets, after all the injustice and inequality and the brutal suppression of dissent is glaringly obvious.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

        In the night of 19th May, 2020 some bottles full of paint were smashed against the façade of the Bullenpostens in Oberstrass. Why?
Well, I think the question is why not. After all, the barbaric injustice of the dominant system during the pandemic is coming to light in strident colours. Applause for nursing staff in contrast with the billions given to Swiss/Lufthansa; lack of medicines in contrast with record arms exports; distribution of food supplies in contrast with the blessing of profit shares. Overcrowded refugee camps in contrast with empty luxury hotels. Just to give a few examples.
        Ok, it would be wrong to blame the Zurich police for all the devastation of capitalism. But what is true is that here as everywhere else the police are there to protect the system of exploitation and oppression. They do it every day: when they put on their uniforms in the morning, turn on the blue lights or go slow to terrorize our neighbourhoods with racist controls and other dirty tricks.
On May 1st they recently demonstrated yet again how seriously they take their task of being the armed wing of the State. While various forces took to the streets in diverse and creative ways against the pushing of the crisis towards the base, for solidarity and internationalism, the police – not being very successful – were only concerned to expel, arrest, confiscate and block everything moving.
     These bottles of paint are one of the many responses to the repression of the 1st of May. But even more than a response they are promises for the future: in spite of the rubber bullets and prison, revolutionary resistance will continue! And it will win because the order that the police protect is built on sand.
Solidarity means: together against capital and its lackeys!
Translated from Italian by act for freedom now!
via: frecciaspezzata

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Quiet Cruelty.

       Some people might say that I go on about prisons, but I probably do. They are massive institutions of human torture, cruelty and violence, sitting quietly in every city in the world and most people pass them by without much of a thought of what goes on behind those walls, a stain of our humanity. "Man's inhumanity to man" no sexism intend, it is a well know saying to highlight how some of us treat our fellow beings, is no better portrayed than in the state's prison system. Institutions where vindictive and arbitrary actions are the norm, and rules and laws are broken on a whim, all in an attempt to break the incarcerated into a submissive, member of their system.
     All of this is carried out by people in structures that they try to make you believe that they are doing it to protect you and I. However it is a strange human who accepts that locking up other humans under these conditions is something to be done voluntarily and for money.
    We could fill a large library with pages of this type of inhumane treatment handed out in these institutions, in country after country, on a daily basis. No matter the arguments put forward, their is no rational justification in a civilised society for these institutions to exist. They are simply institutions for the repression of dissent, a place where all means are used to bring to submission those who would dare oppose this system of inequality, injustice and greed. Even although, no matter where you look, they are over crowded, unhygienic and lacking in decent health care facilities, but thanks to the human spirit and desire for freedom and justice this doesn't always work.
      This is just another incident from one country, but it could be anywhere you care to drop a pin on a map.

      The following from 325: 

From the South isolation section of the Pagliarelli prison in Palermo
        We are two prisoners who have been thrown into the isolation section “South” of the Pagliarelli prison (in Palermo) without any judicial measure to justify it. We are Carmine Lanzetta (AS3 [detained in “High Surveillance 3” circuit]) from January in total continuous isolation started with the disciplinary isolation for 10 days that still continues, and Davide Delogu, Sardinian anarchist, from February in continuous isolation for reasons of order and security for which we should not do more than 15 days, held hostage with the revenge of total isolation.
       Both of us do not bow to the annihilation in which our torturers would have us and fight against the hellish misery of this infamous section to be closed, with the consequent transfer. In half of the section there are the two of us in cells with nothing inside, far from each other. In the other half they put the prisoners in precautionary quarantine and we all use the same shower and the same phone. So we became their guinea pigs. Someone even before us tried to make a complaint to the prosecutor and complain to the magistrate, but these instances are blocked or made to disappear. There is no response to our lawyers’ complaint send via PEC e-mail either; prison administration taking advantage of the emergency of Covid-19 so the lawyers can’t enter the prison to visit us. We are in a section of isolation that had been abolished since 2000 because of the inhumanity embodied there and which is still being put in place. The cells have nothing inside, are deprived of everything: TV, radio, bathroom door, window, rags, brooms and cleaning sticks, hot water with a mini sink always plugged, a walking space that is a cubicle without a bathroom, but there’s no shortage of excrement of any kind, something we don’t dwell on. They inflict all kinds of abuse without being able to subjugate us, however, does not change the antiphon. Those who hold power in this prison are dangerous people, starting with commander Rizzo who feels omnipotent and all the hierarchs who continue with their harassment, like the deputy director who inflicts disciplinary isolation with natural ease, even though he knows in what non-human conditions he leads people. And the director Francesca Vezzana is co-responsible for all this. All this must end and we demand the closure of this section of isolation “South” and our transfer to another prison.
      Therefore, from today, May 14th, 2020, we begin the food strike, refusing to go to the cubicles and unworthy walking spaces, trying to beat the bars every day for 20-30 minutes.
      Let’s start the strike permanently, for now let’s avoid the hunger and thirst strike in order to keep us strong for when we will lead more incisive forms of struggle, since by limiting ourselves to these we won’t go very far, so that we can face the squadrette [groups of guards specialized in beating and massacre prisoners] that abound here, to get what we want until the end.

 Updates will follow.

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Freedom Is A Crime.

       In the eyes of the state and its institutions, the greatest crime is to try to change society to a true democratic system of equality and justice. Those who push hardest for such a change are likely to feel the full savage brutality of the state enforcement apparatus. Not the far right, not the plunders from the millionaire/billionaire parasite class, but the advocates for freedom and justice. The state will do all it can to intimidate, silence, repress and eliminate such voices. Hence anarchists, being the loudest and most persistent in that drive for true freedom, justice and equality, free from the capitalist system, are always a target for the state's repressive machine.  

       The following is just one incident from one country, but it is being repeated across the developed and developing world. We most highlight these acts of state repression and show solidarity with those at the receiving end of these brutal acts of intimidation.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

EN/IT,Italy: «Ritrovo» repressive operation. Seven anarchists arrested
       May 14, 2020 by actforfreedom Actforfree received on 13.5.20
During the night of May 13, 2020, seven anarchists were arrested between Bologna, Milan and Tuscany, five others were required to reside in the municipality of residence and the anarchist documentation space Il Tribolo in Bologna was searched. The repressive operation, called «Ritrovo», was coordinated by the public prosecutor Stefano Dambruoso and the Carabinieri of the ROS (Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale), who carried out the arrests and searches jointly with the provincial command of the Carabinieri of Bologna.
      The seven arrested are charged with article 270bis of the penal code (subversive association with the purpose of terrorism or subversion of the democratic order), the other charges relate to articles 414 (incitement to commit a crime), 639 (defacement and soiling) and 635 (damage). One person is accused of article 423 (fire) for the incendiary attack of December 16, 2018, against some telecommunications antennas located in Monte Donato in Bologna and intended for the transmission of national and local television networks. On the site was left the writing «Turn off the antennas, awaken consciences. Solidarity with the anarchists detained and under surveillance».
       The repressive forces affirm that the arrested anarchists are accused of having created a subversive-terrorist association having «the objective of affirming and spreading the anarchic-insurrectionalist ideology, as well as instigating, with the diffusion of propaganda material, the commission of acts of violence against the institutions». Furthermore, the public prosecutor’s office of Bologna, with the help of the regime’s media, underlined that the precautionary measures assume a «strategic preventive value aimed at avoiding that in any further moments of social tension, arising from the particular emergency situation [linked to the coronavirus epidemic], other moments of more general anti-State struggle campaign can take place».
These are the current addresses of the arrested comrades:
Giuseppe Caprioli
C. R. di Alessandria “San Michele”
strada statale per Casale 50/A
15121 Alessandria
 

Stefania Carolei
C. C. di Vigevano
via Gravellona 240
27029 Vigevano (PV)
 

Duccio Cenni
C. C. di Ferrara
via Arginone 327
44122 Ferrara
 

Leonardo Neri
C. R. di Alessandria “San Michele”
strada statale per Casale 50/A
15121 Alessandria
 

Guido Paoletti
C. C. di Ferrara
via Arginone 327
44122 Ferrara
 

Elena Riva
C. C. di Piacenza
strada delle Novate 65
29122 Piacenza
 

Nicole Savoia
C. C. di Piacenza
strada delle Novate 65
29122 Piacenza

 

Solidarity  

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UK, Leaders Again!

      So Britain does it again, once more we lead Europe, we have overtaken Italy, the previous leader in covid19 deaths, well done Boris. The UK now has the highest covid19 death rate in Europe, the second highest in the world behind America. Still our callous inept political ballerinas tell us they are doing a good job, make excuses if you try to compare us with Italy, we have more large densely populated cities than Italy, etc.. Then what about Germany, France and Spain, I suppose they'll also come up with excuses there for us out striping them in this tragic league of death and misery. 

    How well they are doing can be seen in a recent report covered by the BBC. 48% of hospital doctors stated that they had to purchase protective equipment for them selves and staff or rely on donations, 50% of GPs stated the same story. When asked why they hadn't raised this matter of shortages of equipment, medicines and staff more loudly with the government, their common reply was, "They didn't think it would do any good"

   This bunch of crass inept ideologists still boast of how well the have managed the situation, yet here we are months into the pandemic with deaths appearing to diminish, and we are still hearing of failure to meet testing targets, hospitals and GPs still short of staff and PPE, and care homes and prisons being hotbeds of infection. 

     They also make the claim that they are following the science, this is utter rubbish. Science in this pandemic is forever changing and is a many faceted discipline, it is a political decision to pick up one thread and ignore all the other experts in the field, and there have been many experts who have criticised this governments handling of the situation. 

    All this would be considered the usual political bungling of pushing party ideology, but we are dealing with human lives, pursuing policies that have resulted in thousands more deaths than there need have been. This can only be considered as nothing less than criminal, and the crime is death of innocent people, death by deliberate policies by inept politicians. Those responsible must be held to account. This is not about whether or not to build a railway, or a second runway, this is about taking the life of family members. It is unforgivable and must not be put down to just one of those things that happen. The dead and their families deserve justice, not platitudes and bumbling phony briefings by inept callous political ballerinas.

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Death By Ineptitude.

      By now we have become accustomed to the state treating prisoners and migrants alike, as non-citizens, people with no rights, sub-human beings. During this pandemic, prisons and detention centres are becoming hot beds for infection, but the state sweeps that all under the carpet and shows a complete disregard for the human suffering involved. Even before this coronavirus event, both prisons and detention centres were places of over crowding, poor hygiene, poor nutrition and almost non existent health care. With the onslaught of the pandemic conditions have become even more degraded, with little to nothing being done to protect the prisoners and migrants from infection, and at the same time trying to keep it all out of the public eye. 

     From the start of this pandemic most governments through ineptitude, vested interests, seeing the economy more important that human life, have bungled their approach to the problem. All this aggravated by austerity, stripping the health services and social care systems to a skeleton of what is required. They can't completely ignore the general public so there is appeasement in small doses, but prisoners and migrants can be ignored because they are locked away out of the public view. We can't allow this to continue, these political ballerinas must be held to account. The deaths are away above what should have been, and what could have been, if the powers that be had followed expert scientific advice and prepare for such an event, if they had put the welfare of the people above that of the "economy", that sacred altar of the financial Mafia, on which humanity is sacrificed, if they had thought more of the ordinary people rather than their buddies, the shareholders. But all that is wishful thinking, they are parasites and need to be cleaned out.

The following from Act For Freedom Now: 

Bologna, Italy – Greetings at the Dozza prison

       In the morning of 16th April, in response to a call made by prisoners’ families in Rome and those in solidarity who supported them in publicly going outside Rebibbia prison walls again, a dozen comrades gathered
       The voices from inside thanked us for being there and told us about the desperate conditions. They said that many prisoners are sick and that they had not been given face masks yet. After all, we already knew that Roberto Ragazzi, the chief responsible for prison health in the Bologna’s AUSL [a local health agency], in an internal memo dated 24th February had given instructions to all health workers not to use masks when seeing prisoners in the Dozza or visiting the prison infirmary and clinic, for fear of creating anxiety and tensions inside the structure. From inside we were also told that the prisoners had not been to the exercise yard for weeks and that they couldn’t have video phone calls in place of visits, but only one ten minute call a week, which they had to pay for.
       After about 15 minutes the group of comrades was confronted with a disproportionate deployment of Digos, screws, police cars and antiriot cops, who stopped everyone and dealt out fines for breaching the [anti-virus] decree (the comrades were wearing gloves and masks, the cops were decisively less mindful of “preventive care” and didn’t even keep the 1-metre safety distance). The cops’ intervention took place at a spot where the comrades could be seen from the cells and so the prisoners’ solidarity made itself heard with shouts and insults against the cops, reversing the roles we are used to seeing.
WE WON’T TIRE OF REPEATING IT AGAIN TODAY: THE ONLY SAFETY IS FREEDOM.

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Wrong Turning?

      It seems that the covid 19 has given the state what it will always strive for, complete control and a submissive population. A population that will police others for the state and report the rule breakers. I don't have the answer to where we are, but I do get a nasty smell from the road we are walking down, a feeling of unease that we have taken the wrong turning and it might be very difficult to find our way back. I believe the following article is well worth pondering.

     A leaflet from Italy:

How to make an invisible enemy become “visible”

           In order to be functional to the State, one doesn’t need to ponder too much on the more general causes of the appearance of this virus, such as globalization and the lack of adequate immune defences thanks to, for example, pollution and the unhealthy lifestyle imposed by the production system; on the contrary one needs above all to look for a common enemy to be fought everywhere, and this can be a person walking in the street, a wayfarer on the road or anyone who doesn’t live in the neighbourhood.

     Why stop and think of how many hospital beds have disappeared over the last thirty years…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
      Why think about the fact that only those who have the economic possibility can afford to live without wages…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
      Why consider the fact that even if there is the obligation to stay at home, there are some who don’t have a home…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
       It’s sufficient to think a little bit more to understand how it’s not a stroll in the streets that increases contagion, but everybody is now ready to report anyone who doesn’t comply with the emergency rules made by the government. It’s not really important to find a way to reduce the possibilities of contagion, what counts is to accept power acritically, going as far as turning into disgusting policemen. All this with the purpose of protecting “public health”, but at what price?
       In a dark period such as the time of the racial laws, a part of the “Italian people” reacted to deportations by closing their shutters so as not to see. On the contrary today, in a similar situation, almost all the “Italian people” open their shutters to see if someone isn’t sticking to the rules.
      Perhaps many deaths will be caused not by the virus but by the liberticidal measures clearly put in place by the State. The real price of the contagion, if we want to submit to the imposed laws, will be precisely the loss of ourselves, of the ability to look at ourselves in the mirror, in the name of something that is supposed to represent us, the State.
       Are you really sure this is worthwhile?
      After all there is a worse evil than the Covid, and this one is really difficult to eradicate… once we absorb all the worst of authority, will we still have a life worth living?

Anarchists

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Coronavirus And Prisons.

        While all of us try to take what precautions we can in protecting ourselves, friends, family and neighbours from this Coronavirus attack, perhaps we should also be thinking of those who can do nothing to protect themselves from this pandemic.
      I am of course talking about those individuals locked up in the state's cages of repression, the prisons. Most prisons are overcrowded, conditions are far from perfect hygiene, due to lack of facilities, ideal conditions for the spread of infections, with the individual having no control over their conditions. Prison guards live in the outside society and make constant contact with the prisoners. They could be carriers of the infection into an environment that has no way of protecting itself.
      What is being done to protect these individuals? Absolutely nothing, and the prisoners and their families are well aware of this lack of assistance for this section of society in our community.
      In certain cases the prisoners themselves are trying to draw attention to their precarious, and yet avoidable situation, and are rebelling against this gross injustice. We owe them our full support and solidarity, they are being treated worse than animals. They are being contained in unacceptable conditions no matter the dangers to their health and well-being. Prisons in normal times are an abomination, in times such as this, they are a callous, vindictive gross injustice and totally inhuman and unacceptable institutions.

This from Anarchists Worldwide:

For the spread of the revolt!
     About the mutinies in Italian prisons against the state’s measures against Coronavirus       For several weeks now the Italian government has been testing increasingly radical measures to restrict freedom in order to manage the Coronavirus pandemic.
       While isolation and control are becoming increasingly harsh on the outside, the situation is becoming unbearable on the inside. For two weeks now, the visits, work and recreational activities have been restricted. In recent days, people who were on day-release are no longer allowed to go out and special permissions are no longer allowed. This also means the deprivation of access to basic necessities and goods (food, clean clothing, money…).
      Following these decisions, the first mutinies broke out on Saturday the 7th of March, spreading to around thirty prisons in the space of two days throughout Italy.
       The methods of revolt are simple and effective. From the north to the south of Italy, fire spread from one prison to another, prisoners climbed to the rooftops shouting “freedom and amnesty!”, prison guards were taken hostage, bars were twisted, official documents were reduced to ashes. There are no more traces of law enforcement officers in some wings of the buildings. In Modena, the entire prison closed down because the revolts made it unusable.
The figures that are beginning to circulate speak of more than a hundred escaped prisoners. We wish them good luck!      As the smoke rises high in the sky, relatives and people in solidarity gather at the bottom of the prisons, either to shout their support or to organize street blockades, thus blocking the arrival of the police, the GOM (prison police) and the military.
     The revolt is intense, the repression is ferocious: water and electricity cuts, helicopters flying over the prison walls, police violence…There are at least 12 dead in several prisons. The bourgeois press and the prison administration speak of overdoses following the looting of infirmaries, however relatives of the prisoners [gathered in solidarity outside the prisons] have heard gunshots. And several prisoners are hospitalized in intensive care.
     At the same time, politicians of all kinds are trying to pacify by offering access to telephones or Skype, while asking families to calm their loved ones…but it hasn’t been enough to break their determination.
We send them all our solidarity!
     We don’t need to make analyses of the current revolts, they speak for themselves of the attack on a system that locks up and controls through fear and threats.
       By relying on an urgency and a generalized fear that they have helped to create, the different states place themselves as saviours in the face of the catastrophe and impose their logic and their measures on us. They compete in inventiveness to deepen control and surveillance and experiment with different tools for population management.
       Moreover, France is talking about setting up a specific system for prisons in the coming days.
       Apart from these situations, the reality of prisons is always disgusting.
Faced with imprisonment, there are always good reasons to revolt!

Coronavirus or not, in Italy or elsewhere, fire to all prisons!

March 11th, 2020.
[Originally published on Nantes Indymedia on 12.03.2020]

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The Desire To Be Free.

      We all know prisons are meant to intimidate, subdue and repress individuals, to turn them into subservient subjects of the state, and also as a warning to us all, obey or else. However, the human spirit being what it is, the opposite frequently happens, instead of being subdued and subservient, a fire of anger builds up and often displays itself in open rebellion. The states response to this is always savage and brutal and the incarcerated must be brought under the control of the system, no matter the human cost. Despite this brutal state response, prison riots have been part and parcel of the inhumane prison system since the birth of these cages of repression.

        The most recent display of this righteous anger and rebellion in prisons and the state's brutal response, is still to a degree on going in Italy, in St Anna prison in Modena.

      This report from Act For Freedom Now:

      A revolt broke out today, March 8 2020 in the early afternoon, in St Anna prison in Modena.
        The fact was clearly seen from outside as three columns of smoke rose from the wings of the structure, as well as the significant coming and going of guards, and the presence of a police helicopter guarding the area.
Various relatives of the prisoners gathered, those in solidarity and other spectators from the surrounding area, seeing the GOM arriving in antiriot gear and distinctly hearing some shots.
       After some attempt at removal by the police, people still gathered in front of the prison, where vans, ambulances and prison minibuses were seen parading back and forth.
       At some point, after several requests for news by relatives, the Major of the Prison and an emissary from the prison director came out and told them that during negotiations with the rebels barricaded in the wing they had given them back their mobile phones in order to let them call the their loved ones. So they asked family members to answer the phone and convince them to come out.
      Towards the evening, in front of a large antiriot contingent, cops emerged escorting some of the prisoners, striking them while handcuffed; some were on stretchers.
       Already around that time some had escorted a bag containing a dead body.
It was possible to talk to some of the prisoners in the wing next to the field during the events, they gave news of transfers and that they would be the last to be transferred from the section, saying that they were being heavily beaten.
80 people have been transferred, apparently to Bologna, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Piacenza and Ascoli by at least four prison buses and other vans.
       The media of the regime reconstructed the affair as having started off from the workers’ section then spread throughout the whole prison where the prisoners would have burned mattresses and barricaded themselves in at least one of the structures, and apparently from some video seen taking possession of the armoury.
      Three people died during the revolt. Their identity and the exact cause of death has not been released. Another two are in intensive care.
     There is talk of serious damage to the structure and the destruction of documents. Important causes of the outbreak of the revolt would be the shutdown of visits and lack of mediators due to THE virus, as well as health safety inside the structure.
       Late in the evening there seemed to be rebels barricaded; THE SITUATION IS EVOLVING CONTINUALLY.

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