ACE.

 

        For many years now ACE in Edinburgh has been a hub of struggle against this repressive exploitative system, it has been the centre of support for all those at the receiving end of the state's vindictiveness from the marginalised to immigrants, a centre of friendship, learning and support. Sadly like all these hubs they are subject to the vagaries of the capitalist system, so after years there paying their rent the owner has decided to sell the property to a developer. So now they have to move and find a new home, in Edinburgh that's not easy, nor is it cheap so there is an appeal to help save this vital centre and continue their great work in support and activism.

 

NEWS FROM THE AUTONOMOUS CENTRE OF EDINBURGH

ACE FUND-RAISING APPEAL

         Thanks very much to all who have contributed so far, we have received a good number of donations. However ACE still needs more financial support to be able to move to new premises as our enquiries have shown that the going rate for rent for similar premises is at least double our current rent. We need to find a new building soon as the owners are moving forward with steps to sell our premises at 17 West Montgomery Place. Help save ACE!

Please go to the fund-raising appeal page at https://autonomous.org.uk/2021/05/31/urgent-appeal/

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

Athens, State Brutality Continues.

     The latest from Athens, where the state has unleashed a brutal attack against all autonomous centres and squats. It is being met with counter attacks by various members of the public.

From Act For Freedom Now:

       Athens, Greece: The greek government has gone into war with anarchists and anti authoritarians, following the end of a 15 days ultimatum issued by the Ministry of “Public Order”, towards the dozens of political and refugee squats across Greece (some of them more than 30 years old), threatening them with violent evictions by the riot police and police special forces, if they did not evacuate within the deadline. The deadline ended on Thursday night on the 5th of December 2019, a political decision by the greek State aiming to agitate and create an “explosive atmosphere”.
       Following the first wave of attacks and evictions, mainly against squats housing refugees during the fall, the second wave of attacks has just begun, this time against political squats and social centers. Coinciding with the arrest of antifascists and the proposed judicial acquittal of neonazi leaders in the Golden Dawn trial, the right wing greek government and its self proclaimed socialist Minister of Public Order have proceeded with the eviction of “Kouvelou Mansion” Squat in Marousi, Athens on Tuesday 17 December, while another three squats have been evicted today 18 December in Koukaki, Athens, following a massive police operation, that terrorized a whole neighborhood with police brutality, attacking people living in adjoining houses that were no squats. Brutal images of greek SWAT policemen having their boots on people’s heads on the ground and a mother bound on the floor of her terrace with a hood on her head, reminiscing of Abu Ghraib torture images, have been circulated in the media.
        While this info text is being written it has become known that at about 22:00 today 18 December, people attacked shops and banks near the main square of Athens at Syntagma,
       while also the christmas tree at Exarcheia Square in Athens has been set on fire. While the greek government has proclaimed that more than 20 squats, just in Athens, will be violently evicted until the end of 2019, the police attacks seems like the match that will put fire in an already explosive situation during Christmas and New Year’s festivities.

 

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

When Criticism Is A Crime.

       The state’s survival is dependent on submissiveness and control, hence it will always try to find ways and means of stifling any form of dissent. Anarchist philosophy is based on the creating a state free society, so naturally it goes without saying, anarchist will always be at the sharp end of that state repression. In countries across the globe, anarchist autonomous centres are evicted and trashed, their papers closed down, and in many cases, the supporters imprisoned on trumped up charges. I have always seen Turkey as an extremely repressive state, more so than some of the others in the West. Many years ago I was involved in a campaign in support of a Kurdish lawyer in Turkey, who had been imprisoned for ten years, his crime, editing a Kurdish language magazine in Turkey, the Kurdish language, at that time, being banned in Turkey. Today in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey things have deteriorated much further down the repression route. Journalists are detained at the slightest hint of criticism of the Turkish state, radio stations are closed if they don’t shower the state and its psychopathic leader with praise. Now they have gone one step further, you don’t have to criticise the Turkish state, you can find yourself in prison if you dare to write an article in support of people in another country struggling to build democracy. This is the nature of the beast, “the state”, they are all dependent on your acceptance of their monopoly on power. Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, will point to regimes in other lands and label them “repressive”, despotic” and “undemocratic” but they are all just different flavours of the same poison. The state is an authoritarian edifice that will die if the people grasp their freedom, and freedom will die of we allow the state to flourish.
This from Freedom Press:

Meydan issue 30.

       The editor of Meydan Gazette in Istanbul was jailed for a year and three months on December 22nd for “propagandising the methods of a terror organisation” in a free-speech case which dragged on for nearly a year.

        Hüseyin Civan and the Gazette were taken to court after an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor over a December 2015 issue of the paper, which has supported Kurdish revolutionaries fighting in Rojava. The three offending articles were titled “Both Arrival and Departure of State is From Fear” “Banned Until Further Notice” and “Recreating Life.”

       Representing the Gazette and Civan, lawyer Davut Erkan stated that the decision was illegal and would be appealed, if necessary, all the way to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
      In a statement Meydan, which is based just a few streets away from Gezi Park, said:

Our managing editor was charged with “propagandising for the methods of a terrorist organisation employing coercion, violence or threats, through legitimising, praising or encouraging the use of these methods.”
As we emphasised in articles leading up to the investigation, the “State will never be able to lock away the passion and conviction for freedom of the peoples.”
As an anarchist newspaper we know that the free life we believe in can only be created through struggle. We will never give up writing about what we stand for and distributing what we write. We will continue to resist, act and write against oppression, and against these investigations, custodies and arrests.

Journalists have been heavily targeted in the Erdogan government’s post-coup crackdown, which has been heavily skewed against pro-Kurdish media. In October the left-wing Hayatin Sesi TV station was closed along with 24 other TV and radio stations, and hundreds of reporters have been detained, inspiring even some MPs to attempt civil disobedience in protest.
       The draconian measures have even stretched beyond Turkey’s borders, with the issuing of a red alert to Interpol for well-known Turkish-French journalist Maxime Azadi, who was picked up by Belgian authorities for alleged “co-operation” with terrorists on a year-old warrant on December 23rd.

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

Living In The Illusion Of democracy.

          It always is the pattern, the so called democratic states always come down hard on those who fight for freedom and solidarity between people, while supporting the marches and actions of racist fascists. Anarchist and anti-fascists are always at the receiving end of state repression. The state spouts democracy while stifling any journey to equality and freedom, fosters divisions in society, while waving the flag of patriotism calling for unity to reclaim some mythical great past. It is in the face of this that we have to call on solidarity, and face this ongoing and ever strengthening state repression.

This from Contra Info:

          On Saturday November 19th, there will be a demonstration in The Hague, The Netherlands, against the wave of repression that Hague anti-fascists and anarchists have been facing in the last year. One who attacks one of us, attacks all of us. Solidarity through struggle!
       Within the last year, repression against anti-fascists and anarchists has greatly increased, with The Hague in the middle of it. An area ban for anarchists was issued for the Schilderswijk, in an attempt to break the struggle against the racist, violent, and murderous police. After that, another area ban was issued, this time against anti-fascists who have been resisting against the extreme right wing Pegida demonstrations. Damage claims of 50,000 euro were demanded from several anarchists who resisted against the eviction of social center De Vloek, which had been squatted for 13 years. The mayor also tried to shutter the local Autonomous Center. Furthermore, subsequent demonstrations were forbidden, people were intimidated by the police at home and on the street, numerous preventative arrests were made, and attempts were made to recruit informants.
          But these are not just attacks against individual anarchists and anti-fascists. This is an attack against all who fight  against racism, this is an attack against all who stand for a world without exploitation and discrimination, this is an attack on all of us. And this attack cannot go unanswered! This is a call for solidarity, because solidarity is our weapon against the isolation being forced on us by the police and the mayor. We must defend our autonomous spaces and structures!
         Come to The Hague on November 19th. Because the chains of the state dripping with racism and oppression must be broken! Because one who doesn’t fight has already lost.
Fight repression!
More information you find on:
fightrepressiondemo.noblogs.org

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

Solidarity Is Our Winning Weapon.

      The Spanish fascist government's Operation Pandora should not be dismissed as something minor and over there in a foreign country. It is the expected vicious reaction from any state that feels its power is being threatened. The greatest threat to the power of any state is from those think for themselves, and encourage others to do likewise. The power of the state relies on a subservient population. Hence, anarchist will always come in for the first and hardest of the state's repressive fight back.

         Over the last few years the Greek state has been trying to savagely crush any autonomous centres, social squats, etc. by a brutal attack on anarchists, and shutting down those centres. Spain is just following the authoritarian rules. If the people start to think for themselves and act accordingly, the repression will be stepped up, and as unrest and anger among the people of Europe grows, so we should expect more of the Greek state reaction and more "Operation Pandora" type scenarios. Solidarity is our winning weapon in this struggle to be free from the cancer of authority.

      On "Operation Pandora" here is an open letter from Brieva Prison, by anarchist Monica Caballero. It first appeared on Anarchist News:

Anarchist comrade Monica Caballero on Operation Pandora from Brieva prison (Spain)

If I were to choose a different life I would not change it for anything.

      I vividly remember the intoxicating feeling that came over me when I began to question authority; I remember the many contradictions and questions. In this discovery of ideas I found many people that made their ideas into practical material in their libraries, publications, social centres, etc. … in their everyday life … they lived their lives in the here and now. It did not take long for me to want to do the same.

     I remember the anxiety I felt when I heard there were comrades imprisoned for putting their ideas of freedom into practise; sisters of ideas in all corners of the world in the jaws of the panoptic beast. That distressing feeling never changed, but is accompanied by gestures of solidarity.

      We are many; the anarchists on the other side of the wall, and after Tuesday December 16 our numbers have grown.

     The tentacles of power dropped into anarchists´ spaces, libertarian social centres, a squatted house and homes of several anarchists in Catalonia and Madrid. The hunt captured eleven companions, of these, seven have been kept in prison, accused of belonging to an armed group of a terrorist nature. It is no coincidence that comrades arrested are part of my immediate circle; indeed, more than half of them frequently visited me in jail. The judicial hammer has punished solidarity.

     I cannot keep silent before such misery, the State´s repressive revenge borders on delirium. The media (spokesmen for the rulers) talks about bosses and subordinates, I stress to them and anyone who harbours any doubts – we are anti-authoritarian, no one is above me, nor am I above anyone!

     The spaces attacked in Catalonia, were not arbitrary, firstly, the Kasa de la Muntanya is an important symbol of the squatting movement, and with its 25 years distanced from capitalist logic they have made their contribution to many generations of dissidents to this system of terror. The libertarian social centres and anarchists spaces that were attacked never hid their ideals, providing fertile ground for sowing the seeds of freedom.

      The costs in this struggle for the recovery of our lives are very high, nobody said it would be easy, but undoubtedly if I were to choose a different life I would not change it for anything. In this fight against domination no cages or walls can silence our voices, but without you, comrades, our voices are transformed in echoes.

    If you, my recently jailed comrades, are ever able to read these words, I tell you that I’m certain you will remain incorruptible and rise to the occasion as you always have.

    I remember every time I read or heard “solidarity is a necessary weapon for anarchists”. Today I hope that those memories come true … making our ideas action.

Brieva prison, December 2014.

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