Category Archives: General

General

Rigaer94: Our statement on the current situation 16 Jun 2021 (Berlin,Germany)

Rigaer94: Our statement on the current situation
Today, on the evening of June 16, we look back on a militant day and a temporary autonomous zone and look forward with a clenched fist. Yes, we will remember the barricades in Rigaer Straße and their collective defense for a long time with a big smile on our faces. Step by step, the Senate and the owners are burning their fingers at the attempted destruction of our home.
After the street, there are now problems on the legal level. A higher administrative court has considerably complicated the starting position for those responsible at the Senate and the letterbox company for the attack on our house. The latter, represented by Bernau, Luschnat and von Arentin, was forbidden to enter our premises at all. Moreover, the cops are to be given access only to the stairwell, attic, courtyard, etc., but not to the private apartments.

Continue reading Rigaer94: Our statement on the current situation 16 Jun 2021 (Berlin,Germany) →

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Berlin: Riots in Rigaer Street some rough updates from the last days (Germany)

16.6.21 Some rough updates from the last days. The red zone around Rigaer94 was anounced by police to start today. But the defence started before.
In the night to June 10, a trashbin was set on fire in Rigaer Street. Arriving firebrigade and police were attacked in an ambush with around 50 stones. The last days saw many solidarity attacks all over Germany.
In broad daylight, the company of fire protection assessor, which will enter the house tomorrow on behalf of the „owner“ and the police, to the eviction or destruction of Rigaer94, was attacked with fire. 8 of their cars are burned in front of their office.
Today, barricades are build around Rigaer Street and defended with stones and fireworks against police.

via: athensindymedia

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Berlin: Brief report on today’s events in Rigaer Street

Berlin. During the morning hours of June 16, Rigaer Street including Dorfplatz (village square) to Zellestreet was occupied by a large number of people. On each side, a major barricade made of tires, barbed wire, construction site material and garbage containers was erected shortly before 11 am. In addition, there was a burning tire in front of each.

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As larger police forces approached around the area, the main barricades were also set on fire. Soon defensive action was taken with stones and fireworks against smaller advancing helmeted units on foot. The latter thus halted their advances again for the most of the time. For the next two to three hours, no viable attempt was made to take the barricades. Every step forward on their part was stopped by throwing at them. The time was used by an increasing number of people inside the area to reinforce them and provide additional material for defense. Outside the occupied zone, too, the number of people increased and slogans of solidarity were raised, batteries of fireworks were set off in adjacent streets, and barricades were erected on other streets as well. The scenery in the Nordkiez was characterized by clouds of black smoke and the sound of fireworks coming from Rigaer. The former Liebig34 was covered in black smoke and some of the new windows were broken spontaneously. A slowly growing police force gathered all around. After about two hours, the first out-of-town units, which had probably been ordered beforehand, arrived. Shortly thereafter, at about 12 o’clock, it became known that water cannons and armored clearing vehicles were on their way along Karl-Marx-Allee. The situation had become static, a rare, exciting situation in these times.
The whole thing could no longer be solved other than by using heavy equipment. That’ s what happened a little later. Water cannons approached the burning barricades from the east and west, extinguished the fires and cooled the melted asphalt. Then, with the tanks in the lead, they started to advance into the contested territory, where some surrounding balconies were still being pelted with water. A little later, the otherwise so self-confident foot troops hesitantly came around the corners and fought their way into the building entrances opposite to Rigaer94. The fireworks reached a climax once again before the temporary autonomous zone was completely dissolved and the neighborhood was subjected to the total control of the police apparatus, almost in accordance with the official schedule. According to initial assessments, there were no arrests. Further reports of the upcoming events surrounding the Red Zone and the alleged fire safety inspection of Rigaer94 will surely follow.
via: enoughisenough14.org
General, Library, Revolutionary Prisoners News, Solidarity Means Attack

DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS , DANZANDO AL BORDE DEL ABISMO : es/en

DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS
» Let’s continue the assault on the existent with all means, undeterred by those who would silence us with weapons from the stockpile of reaction, be they the kick of the democratic jackboot, the empty chatter of opinion or the siren calls of the candy men of hope.»

Jean Weir. Tame Words from a Wild Heart.

«… sometimes it seems to us something so obvious that we forget to insist punctiliously on the anti-authoritarian character of anarchism and, therefore, consequently anti-systemic… Roughly anti-systemic! We are against all Authority. That is our maxim».

Gustavo Rodriguez. Talk at the Squatted Social Center «Casa Naranja».

The authoritarian offensive has not stopped in these times of pandemic, Covid-19 has turned out to be the perfect excuse to deepen social and political control, prisons being the main place of experimentation and application of these measures.
We have systematically read updates on the situation of anarchist prisoners around the world in this particular context. We have seen how our comrade Eric King, who keeps alive his permanent antagonism and his irreducible stance in Englewood prison, has been tortured by the guards and beaten by white supremacists, causing him severe physical and psychological injuries. The same happened to our comrade Dimitra Valavani, who was beaten and tortured, under the pretext that they wanted to obtain a DNA sample and, in recent days, our comrade Giannis Dimitrakis, who was also brutally beaten in Domokos prison by the prison mafia, leaving him in a serious condition, and we still do not know the consequences of this cowardly aggression.
June 11 is the International Day of Solidarity with comrade Marius Mason and with all the anarchist comrades sentenced to long sentences around the world. In the framework of this new June 11, we want to denounce what is happening in all the latitudes of the planet with our anarchist comrades in prison and present our response (without mincing our words) to concretize and consolidate solidarity with all those with whom we have affinity (in theory and in practice) who are continuing the anarchist war behind bars.

Continue reading DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS , DANZANDO AL BORDE DEL ABISMO : es/en →

General, Library, Solidarity Events, e.t.c., Solidarity Means Attack

New International Counter-Information Project – ‘Dark Nights’

darknights.noblogs.org
“In the Dark Nights there is always the warmth of the fire!”
‘Dark Nights’ because we found each other during these dark times, we do not fear them, instead we as anarchists see the moment between sunset and dawn as the moment to attack, to strike the powerful in their hearts, to make the fear change sides.
We are an anarchic, anti-info project of incendiary critique and direct action. Against the State, capitalism and the techno-industrial system that is rearing its head more powerful than before. Our network holds onto the principles of DIY, that we don’t expect anyone to fight the social war for us. Neither do we form any sense of a traditional hierarchical or even any organisation to adhere to or issue membership for anything, we met and act together, beginning an informal network, that goes beyond a circle of friends or contacts.
Our outlet is a destructive alternative to the spectacle and disinformation that is the mainstream media that are the weapons of the state and capitalist system we oppose. We publish direct action reports from revolutionary/insurrectional/anarchist groups, not in the interest of reproducing endless streams of empty words and theory but to support said groups and to spread the ‘propaganda by the deed’, to avoid the blatant attempts by the system to eliminate them and any memory of
anarchist and revolutionary struggle.
Solidarity for us is not based on ideological dogma, what matters more to us is the direct attack upon what we perceive as the enemy. We DO NOT support the cops, they are not our friends, neither our protectors, they are our enemy as much as anyone who snitches, provides information on comrades, allies or co defendants. Continue reading New International Counter-Information Project – ‘Dark Nights’ →
General

Montreuil, France: Surprise visit to prison builders

Tuesday May 11th at around 2pm, about thirty people met up between two downpours at Montreuil (93), with leaflets, a banner, posters, paint and a little inspiration.
A few streets of Montreuil will remember their (lightning) visit but especially the Egis company at 4 rue Dolorès Ibarruri, who in growing their harvest in prison construction, also reaped a free makeover!
Until we meet again !
Via: nantes.indymedia.
Translated by Act for freedom now!
General

Bristol UK : Squat Repression

This is a statement from some squatters in Bristol, who had 4 squats, including 40a Space, Salvation Army mutual aid/social centres and Wonky Arrow Books, a radical library.

In the past days, we’ve had our buildings forcibly closed with anti-social behaviour orders, and we’ve been raided by hundreds of riot police. We’ve been beaten, pepper-sprayed, arrested, and sectioned.
This is an escalation– it hasn’t been like this in the UK in years. Not that this is new. No, we see this as part of a long and brutal history of the repression of marginalised communities, and anyone who shows resistance or alternatives.

Continue reading Bristol UK : Squat Repression →

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Colombia: A Month of Incendiary Revolt

In Colombia, the revolt that has taken over the streets since April 28, now more than a month old, shows no signs of stopping. Conservative President Iván Duque, whose term ends in 2022, has tried a number of classic manoeuvres to appease the rioters, but nothing has been done: neither the suspension of the tax reform that had been the initial spark (including, for example, an increase in VAT from 5% to 19% on basic goods), on May 2; nor the resignation of the Minister of Finance who had carried it, on May 3; nor the opening of negotiations with the National Strike Committee on May 10 (followed by a pre-agreement on May 24 that is currently being validated); nor the rejection by Congress of the bill on the reform of the health system, which was modelled on the liberal North American model (this rejection was requested by many demonstrators), on 19 May; nor a few crumbs dropped on particular categories, such as the extension of free university education to the poorest for one semester, which did not help the government. a semester, which did not calm the students; nor, of course, the police terror against the protesters.
In a Colombian context marked by poverty and the informal economy, the government’s blackmail of confinements and curfews against the spread of covid-19 has not worked for a long time to prevent protesters from gathering en masse either, so much so that the government even officially lifted many restrictions on May 19, which were not respected anyway (the curfew being maintained, however, with an anti-riot objective in Medellin and Bogotá, and all weekend in Santa Marta and Cartagena). For the past month, street blockades and roadblocks have been scattered throughout the country, with demonstrations and gatherings that are more peaceful during the day (nearly 10,400 in one month), often followed by riots, looting and looting at night.

Continue reading Colombia: A Month of Incendiary Revolt →

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Greece :Text of the anarchist prisoner Giannis Mihailidis about the upcoming trial on 31/5/21

16 months after our arrests on 29/01/2020, after all the media propaganda that followed and our isolation in different prisons, we are being put on trial on 31/5 at Loukareos Court. Αs an anarchist I oppose this procedure as I refuse to be judged by the chosen caste of judicial authority. But we are facing an extended indictment that composes a narrative which distorts the events and has as its main aim the extension of our imprisonment.
Briefly, we have been charged with ‘criminal organization’ as well as possession and transportation of heavy weaponry (the comrades also face this charge, whereas from the first moment I stated to the investigators that the weapons found in closed bags in the back seat where I was sitting, were my own), forgery, use of forged documents, force against officials and judiciaries, and disobedience. Furthermore, I have also been charged with the bank robbery of the Piraeus Bank in Erimanthia, Achaia, robbery-abduction of a policeman in Thessaloniki, and escape from the rural prison of Tirintha.
From my side, despite my known detestation of the boring and devious language of the law, I have the obligation to fight the cops’ allegations in the court, to fight the plans of the state that aim for the extension of the captivity of the two comrades, as well as the defamation of our relationships. Because by giving us specific hierarchical roles in a ‘criminal organization’, the charge is not only false but affronts in total our choices, our positions, and above all the relationships of solidarity and equality that we try to promote. A charge that is based on zero evidence since the only event connecting all three of us is the event of our arrest, as neither Konstantina or Dimitra are in any way connected with the robberies and thefts written in the case documents. For these reasons, the fabricated story of the police is not going to be left without a response.
To end this update text, I would like to express how much the solidarity actions around our case warm my heart.
Solidarity is our weapon
18/5/2021
Malandrino Prison
Giannis Michailidis
source
Translated by Act for freedom now!
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 On 30/1/2020, comrades Dimitra Valavani, Konstantina Athanasopoulou and Giannis Michailidis were arrested in a stolen car in Agia Paraskevi following an anti-terrorist operation.
Weapons were found inside the car, which was driven by Giannis Michailidis. He and Konstantina Athanasopoulou were wanted, the first as fugitive from the rural prisons of Tirintha and for participation in the E.A. , R.O.  REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE  the second for bank robbery.
All three comrades are being tried on May 31 in the courts in Athens , Loukareos Street, room D80ST, 2nd floor.
The robbery of Piraeus Bank in Achaia on 29/8/2019 has been added to the case, as well as holding a police officer hostage in Halkidiki on 30/12/2019.
All three are also accused of forming a criminal organization.
TO BE ALL NEXT TO THEM
HANDS OFF THE FIGHTERS
 NO HOSTAGE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE
Act for freedom now!

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To send letters to the comrades:
Dimitra Valavani (Δήμητρα Βαλαβάνη)
Dikastiki Fylaki Korydallou
Gynaikeies Fylakes, (women prison)
T.K. 18110
Korydallos
Athens
Greece
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Kostantina Athanasopoulou (Κωσταντινα Αθανασοπουλου)
Eleonas Women’s Prison
Thebes
T.K. 32200
Greece
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Giannis Michailidis (Γιαννης Μηχαιλιδης)
Malandrinou prisons (Κ.Κ. Μαλανδρίνου)
T.K. 33053
MALANDRINO
FOKIDAS
GREECE
A first statement from comrades Valavani, Athanasopoulou and Michailidis 2/3/20

Difficult is the moment when freedom is lost. Especially when it had been won in adverse conditions. The situation gets worse if we consider that the blow we received on a material level has even stronger symbolic implications. Our cinematic arrest was followed by similar media propaganda, our graphic tour with bulletproof vests and the usual judicial management to find ourselves once again with an overblown set of charges, elements that form an extension of the handcuffs and weapons of the uniformed assassins.

A look at the wider social situation around us which is changing at a rapid pace so that we can slip away from our own microcosm a little.
From the magnitude of the workers’ exploitation and abolishing of labour rights to the stranglehold of animals in meat production units. From the intensive repression against protests and the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment from anti-terrorist services around the world, to deforestation and the disappearance of wildlife. From the financial exclusion of a growing social segment to the violent marginalization of most of the earth’s population. To the murders of the poor, the excluded, of all who are leftovers in the world of the mighty. From the provocative economic and business elite to the peoples being bombed, shot and uprooted. Where the interests of the powerful mean death, danger or a life drowned in submission. Nature, animals and humans mean nothing more than units generating profits and wealth. These and many others led us to choose the anarchist struggle, a choice that
challenges the existing social order. Our initial focus is on creating authentic and sincere relations, while at the same time there is the lasting need of our participation in the multiform struggle. After all, the anarchist struggle does not differentiate its means or support a hierarchy of forms of struggle. It is imperative and adjusts according to the conditions of each era, placing its bet on collectivization and diffusion on the social fabric.

Continue reading Greece :Text of the anarchist prisoner Giannis Mihailidis about the upcoming trial on 31/5/21 →

General

Chile : en,it,gr, In memory of our anarchist fighter comrade Mauricio Morales 2009-2021

…I think that one´s dignity comes from, firstly, not faltering with respect to one’s ideas, staying firm. So if they try to overwhelm you with adversity, with insane violence (I think there is sane violence), with punishments, in the end with everything, if you conform and stay silent and falter and doubt, you are fucked. But ideas without action are worthless, it’s bullshit theory, therefore idea and action must be and are the same thing.
Mauri
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Early in the morning of 22th of May 2009, our comrade Mauricio Morales died. He was carrying an explosive which detonated in his backpack, he died on the spot. It is assumed that the disgusting institution of the Gendarmerie ( school of prison Guards) was the aim of his attack. He died as a fighter, without fear, without hesitation, confronting every form of power.
He decided to turn his hatred into action. He transformed his life into a constant fight against the existent. Publications, direct support to imprisoned comrades, the spreading of anarchist and anti-authoritarian literature, spreading ideas were some of the daggers he sharpened during his life. In this way he wanted to contribute in different ways to the destruction of this society based on the logic of power and exploitation.
Mauri’s star lights up the struggle
Act for freedom now!

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it:
In memoria del nostro compagno anarchico combattente Mauricio Morales, 2009–2021 (Cile)
[…] Penso che la dignità di una persona derivi, in primo luogo, dal non vacillare rispetto alle proprie idee, dal rimanere fermi. Quindi se cercano di sopraffarti con le avversità, con la violenza insensata (credo che ci sia una violenza sensata), con le punizioni, alla fine con qualunque cosa, se ti adegui e stai zitto e vacilli e dubiti, sei fottuto. Ma le idee senza azione non valgono niente, è teoria di merda, quindi idea e azione devono essere e sono la stessa cosa.
— Mauri
Nella prima mattina del 22 maggio 2009 è morto il nostro compagno Mauricio Morales. Portava con sé un ordigno esplosivo che è deflagrato nel suo zaino, ed è morto sul posto. Si presume che la disgustosa istituzione della gendarmeria (una scuola di guardie carcerarie) fosse l’obiettivo del suo attacco. È morto da combattente, senza paura, senza esitazione, fronteggiando ogni forma di potere.
Decise di trasformare il suo odio in azione. Trasformò la sua vita in una lotta costante contro l’esistente. Le pubblicazioni, il sostegno diretto ai compagni imprigionati, la distribuzione della letteratura anarchica e antiautoritaria, la diffusione delle idee furono alcuni dei pugnali che affilò durante la sua vita. In questo senso volle contribuire in diversi modi alla distruzione di questa società basata sulla logica del potere e dello sfruttamento.
La stella di Mauri illumina la lotta.
Act for freedom now!
[Pubblicato il 22.05.2021 in inglese su actforfree.noblogs.org, traduzione italiana in malacoda.noblogs.org].

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gr:
Στη μνήμη του αναρχικού συντρόφου μας, Mauricio Morales… 2009-2021
«… Νομίζω πως η αξιοπρέπεια κάποιου προκύπτει, πρωτίστως, απ’ το να μην αμφιταλαντεύεται για τις ιδέες του, να παραμένει σταθερός. Διότι, αν προσπαθήσουν να σε καθυποτάξουν μέσω αντιξοοτήτων, παράλογης βίας (θεωρώ πως υπάρχει και λελογισμένη βία), τιμωριών, άπαξ και όλα αυτά τελειώσουν, αν συμβιβαστείς και παραμείνεις σιωπηλός και πλημμυρισμένος από δισταγμό κι αμφιβολία, τη γάμησες. Οι ιδέες δίχως πράξεις δεν αξίζουν τίποτα, γι’ αυτό θεωρία και δράση πρέπει να είναι και είναι ένα ενιαίο πράγμα.»
Mauri
Νωρίς το ξημέρωμα της 22ας Μάη του 2009, πέθανε ο σύντροφός μας, Mauricio Morales. Κουβαλούσε εκρηκτικό μηχανησμό ο οποίος εξερράγη στην τσάντα του, και ξεψύχησε στο σημείο εκείνο. Φαίνεται πως στόχος της επίθεσής του ήταν ο άθλιος θεσμός της Αστυνομίας (συγκεκριμένα, η Σχολή Δεσμοφυλάκων). Έφυγε ως μαχητής, δίχως φόβο, δίχως δισταγμό, πολεμώντας κάθε μορφή εξουσίας.
Πήρε την απόφαση να περάσει απ’ το μίσος στη δράση. Μετέτρεψε τη ζωή του σε μια διαρκή μάχη ενάντια στο υπάρχον. Τα έντυπα, η άμεση στήριξη σε αιχμάλωτα συντρόφια, η διάχυση του αναρχικού και αντι-εξουσιαστικού λόγου, η διάδοση ιδεών, αποτέλεσαν κάποια απ’ τα στιλέτα που ακόνισε κατά τη διάρκεια της ζωής του. Ποθούσε έτσι να συνεισφέρει με ποικίλους τρόπους στην καταστροφή τούτης της κοινωνίας που θεμελιώνεται στη λογική της εξουσίας και της εκμετάλλευσης.
Το άστρο του Mauri ακόμα λάμπει στον αγώνα
Act for freedom now!
Μετάφραση: Δ.Ο. Ragnarok
General

Berlin,Germany : UPDATES AND DEMO CALL 15.05.2021

On the 15th of May, a demonstration organized by Köpi and Rigaer94 will take place in their own defence and in solidarity with the many threatened or yet evicted places. Potse, another youth space, has received an eviction title for the 19th of May after two years of squatting. They are supposed to be kicked out to give space for another one of those smart and posh facilities that destroy cities, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
On the 11th of March it looked like the police would take over Rigaer94. Around 2.000 Cops from all over Germany were ready to invade the Northern District of Friedrichshain and other potential areas of unrest. This was in order to be able to break the doors of 94 and to give access to a so called house management which was only officially recognized shortly before this day by the ruling of a court. Lacking fire security and immediate danger to the people living in and around Rigaer94, was the lie made up to gather the army of cops that lay waiting to take action. But the plan of entering every corner of the common spaces and private rooms, to find reasons of public safety to evict the whole building, could be stopped.
Only two days before the launch of the attack, the counter strategy of the Rigaer94 to use an official expert for fire-security, was able to publicly dismantle the states line of argumentation and intervene in the legal procedure. The cancellation of the announced martial operation led to turbulence in the mass media and in the lines of the ruling parties. Not least because of the loss of 500.000 Euros spent for cops and other material that was booked to travel to and stay in Berlin.The court ruling in the fire-security case, recognizing the owner, marks a turning point for the states war against the rebellious structures of Rigaer94.
Until then, the senate had been waiting, according to it‘s official doctrine of „legal security“, for a mistake by the rebellious structures, a cheap opportunity to raid or to use violence or other means of repression against visitors and inhabitants. Now, after the latest verdict, the landlord is legally able to deal with his house and the senate feels that the time has come to finally get rid of what they used to call an autonomous stronghold.
Shortly after the failing fire-security expedition of the state troops, a new court appointment was announced. This time the reason was another one: once again the landlord’s lawyer tried to get an eviction warrant against the squatted rooms in the ground floor of Rigaer94. These are the collective and social space Kadterschmiede and the Keimzelle, which is an autonomous youth location. Since 2016, this lawyer lost several times due to crucial missing documents from the landlord, which is in fact a Mailbox Company in UK.
So, on 26th of April, the new decision to evict a part of Rigaer94 was supposed to take place. Even before this, the court had announced that it would follow the other court decision to accept the Lawyer as a representative of the Mailbox Company. This was understood as a clear sign that the eviction title would be given to the landlord. Only a few days before the trial, an appeal by the lawyers of Rigaer94 on the grounds of bias, led to a postponement of the court appointment and thus to another postponement of the large scale escalation in Berlin.This time until the announcement of the new date or another try to use the fire-security as a pretext to attack (which according to the latest news might take place on 17-18 of June) is used by the Rigaer94 and other projects to continue mobilizing for actions.
The general situation in Berlin is commonly understood as a final general attack on the remaining establishments of the antagonist struggle that used to be present in the whole city of Berlin. For more than two years now, a union of some of the involved projects is coordinating actions and demonstrations in order to strike back. In the case of any eviction, it can be expected that centralized and decentralized actions will take place.
It’s the most important weapon in the hands of those who are under attack and at least there is hope that the state of emergency will unite more people than before on the streets, with the perspective of a broader insurrection.
Everybody is welcome to join the struggle. In fact, everbody is needed!

Continue reading Berlin,Germany : UPDATES AND DEMO CALL 15.05.2021 →