NO SURRENDER
NATIONAL MEETING IN ROME AGAINST 41bis IN ROME 16 AND 17 JULY

On May 5th anarchist Alfredo Cospito, imprisoned in the prison of Terni, was notified that he had been put under the regime 41bis and was transferred a few days later to one of the toughest prisons that apply this regime, the prison of Bancali (Sassari, Sardinia), aimed at isolating him even more from those close to him and from the anarchist movement.

41bis is a prison regime aimed at preventing relations between inside and outside prison by limiting visits and telephone calls, subjecting correspondence to constant censorship, limiting the quantity and contents of permitted books, and at annihilating the individual through particularly stringent “security” measures, constant body searches and of the cell, restrictions of contact between prisoners, etc. A prison within the prison, or rather, a true “annihilation prison”, aimed at breaking those who for one reason or another constitute a threat to the established order and the powers that govern it.

After using 41bis to bend organised crime that could not be subdued or co-opted, after using it to punish the resurgence of the communist armed struggle, the Italian State now want to use it as a tool to attempt to crush revolutionary anarchist prisoners and intimidate all those who still undermine internal social peace.

They want to bury Alfredo alive not only for the actions and paths of struggle he is accused of, but above all for his indomitable character and the determination with which he has always continued to contribute to the anarchist debate, collaborating with the newspapers and periodicals, spreading ideas and proposals, always pushing for active and non-recuperable practices of conflict. They want his case to be a warning to anyone who still organises themself and struggles against this oppressive and exploitative system.
This is at a time when Capitalism and the world order it established after the Great Wars are undergoing restructuring both at the level of production processes and resource extraction, and at the global geopolitical level. We know that this process will not be painless, and that like all crisis phases its costs will be paid by the poorest and most marginalised sections of the population.

Protests and social turmoil are already foreseen, which is why states have been organising themselves in advance against this eventuality for some time, striking hard at the still combative fringes of the now dead revolutionary movements. From Greece to Chile, from the USA to Germany, governments are taking countermeasures against anarchism, seen as one of the greatest dangers to internal order. New repressive laws are being passed, while the old counter-insurrectionary tools are being sharpened. Italy, specifically, after bringing back imputations and devices developed at the time of the Kingdom of Italy, from the offence of devastation and looting to special surveillance, aggravated sentences for ‘public order’ offences, and some offences made more adaptable to indiscriminate use such as that of placing bombs (art. 280 c.p.), of massacre and association with terrorist aims (270bis), has finally focused the planning of anti-anarchist repression by setting up the DNAA (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia e Antiterrorismo), thus giving the Anti-Mafia, a real power lobby within the institutions, the task of eradicating internal insurgency. The results didn’t take long in coming: various operations on charges of 270bis spread over the country, arrests and preventive detentions, and now establishing the 41bis regime for an anarchist. Forced by the unstable conditions to which its rule is subject, democracy is once again taking off its mask by implementing a brazen authoritarian clampdown. We see this in the manner in which first the pandemic, and now the war, has been handled, through the monsterisation of any voice discordant with the dominant narrative by the mainstream media, and the increased use of force by its repressive institutions, police and judiciary first and foremost.

The seriousness of the moment needs all our determination and energy.
In addition to the necessary rivendication of the practices and paths of struggle of anarchist prisoners, in Italy as all over the world, experiences that constitute and strengthen the heritage of anarchism, there is also a need for solidarity that goes beyond moral and material support. There is the urgency to oppose this further raising of the repressive level with all our strength, and therefore of extended occasions for discussion to verify our intentions and our effective readiness to fulfil them.

Aware that the differences that inspire anarchism are our greatest resource and starting from the refusal of any form of centralised organisation and fixed structure, we have in mind a meeting that does not necessarily seek points of ‘synthesis’, but goes in the direction of strengthening the autonomy and determination of individual groups and individualities, combining them in a common perspective of struggle. We are calling for a national meeting for these reasons and considerations, where we can discuss collectively, with a view to sharing analyses and proposals to best fight the situation we are facing.

THE MEETING WILL BE HELD AT TORRE MAURA OCCUPATA,
IN ROME IN VIA DELLE AVERLE 10, ON 16TH AND 17TH JULY
LUNCH AND WELCOMING SATURDAY AT 12.00, DISCUSSIONS START AT 14.00

Some anarchists against 41bis
Rome, 23/06/2022

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via: ilrovescio.info Translated by Act for freedom now!