Tag Archives: Letter

2019/11/12

Athens, Greece: Anti-terrorist operation leads to three comrades arrested and one wanted

By abc-hurricane

IT/EN

On November 9th, 2019, an anti-terrorist operation led to two arrests, charging them with robbery and involvement in a terrorist organization. At the same time, authorities are looking for another comrade in order to give him the same accusations, while arresting a close female comrade on lesser charges.

FREEDOM TO THE THREE COMRADES CHARGED.
STRENGTH TO THE COMRADE WANTED FOR THE SAME CASE.

Message from anarchist comrade Vangelis Stathopoulos from the GADA central anti-terrorist headquarters:

Once again I find myself in GADA accused of acts that do not concern me and in fact it is because I have not stopped fighting against the state and power. The scenarios elaborated by the counter-terrorism do not bother me. I will continue to fight steadfast either outside or inside the prisons.

Vangelis Stathopoulos – GADA dungeon

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2019/10/15

UK: Letter from John Bowden, long-term radical prisoner

By abc-hurricane

via: 325

There is a group of prisoners who although imprisoned for non-political offences subsequently become politicised or radicalised whilst in jail, and in both the USA and Britain this is a phenomenon that has become increasingly widespread.

In the USA during the 1960s and 70s the radicalisation of ordinary black prisoners, in particular, was fostered by the centrality of imprisonment in the experience of black activists and revolutionaries like Malcolm X (who described prisons as “universities of revolution”), Eldridge Cleaver, George Jackson, H Rap Brown, Angela Davis and others. George Jackson described his own politicisation succinctly: “I met Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Engels, and Mao when I entered prison and they redeemed me”.

Thus those whom W.E.B. Dubois described as an “army of the wronged” increasingly defined themselves as political prisoners who were the products of an oppressive political-economic order. This belief underpinned the praxis of radical groups such as the Black Panthers and Symbionese Liberation Army, and prisons were seen as the epicentre of a broader social and political revolution. The call for recognition of radicalised prisoners claim to political status underpinned prisoners’ demands in a series of protests that punctuated the 1970s in U.S. Prisons such as Folsom, Soledad, San Quentin and, later, Attica.

The radicalisation of ordinary prisoners in both the UK and the USA was channeled through both identity politics and the prisoner union movement. In the UK such groups during the 1970s were highly active in organised protests and uprisings against oppressive prison conditions, particularly for long-term prisoners. The politicisation of ordinary prisoners who link their imprisonment to broader social and political inequality and oppression, and prison as the epicentre of their struggle, transforming them into proto-revolutionaries striking out against the capitalist state, is a spectre that terrifies those responsible for managing and enforcing prison repression. Continue reading

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2019/09/19

Chile: Statement by Marcelo Villarroel on Political Prison in Chile

By abc-hurricane

via AMW English

From the high security jail of Santiago de Chile I send these words of greeting to all who meet today in Villa Francia to share visions and experiences around the political prison.

The jail that I live in today is the same one that has taken more than 20 years of my life.

I arrived here at the age of 21, transferred from the former penitentiary at its inauguration on February 20, 1994, leading me in 2004 with the anti-jail fight started with Kamina Libre in 1996.

The KAS was then used to imprison and annihilate the military political subversion of the left. Rodríguistas, Miristas and Mapucistas lautarinos [members of MAPU-Lautaro, an armed left-wing group] were recipients of the perverse dirty war of the government of Aylwin and Frei that managed to defeat the armed projects embodied in the FPMR, the different MIR and the Mapu-Lautaro.

There were many factors that caused this defeat and the prisoners of that generation began to leave after a decade of confinement, one of the toughest in Chilean carceral history.

The composition of social reality was severely transformed by the State and the Capital in the process of bourgeois remaking, thus transforming paradigms, ideas, practices and tensions.

It was in the second half of the ‘90s that the subversive reality began to change definitely as well as the ideas of forces that serve as references and guides for action. Continue reading

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2019/09/17

Hamburg, Germany: Letter from One of the Park Bench 3 from Holstenglacis Prison

By abc-hurricane

Saturday August 10, 2019

Hello everyone !

It has now been a little over a month since we three of the Park Bench were arrested and, in a second time, two of us were taken into custody. In this letter, I would like to describe a little bit about my personal situation, here in jail. I can not say anything about the charges or the progress of the court process, because we can not communicate between people involved. I can only agree with the council not to indulge in speculation, gossip and panic.

The solidarity and support we receive here are wonderful and breathtaking. The many letters, the words of greetings, the photos and the gather give us strength and confidence. You are awesome.

Now, preventive detention. This means, here, at least during the first months, 23 hours of confinement in 10 square meters, with bed, table, chair, wardrobe, toilet and sink. An hour’s walk in the courtyard, in my case with the other prisoners on my floor, alternately morning or afternoon. We wake up at 6:30, with a loud alarm, lunch is at 11:30, dinner is served at 16:30 and must also be enough for breakfast, because in the morning there is only hot water or tea. Food is usually enough to make ends meet, but those who want a balanced diet depend on the “canteen” to buy things from the prison. Every Wednesday, the lists of orders, in German language, are collected the next day. Saturday, we will get our order. It’s not exactly cheap and it’s paid with the money from our account at the prison. On top of that there is the money we had in our pocket at the time of the arrest, the money sent from the outside and our insignificant salary, if we work during preventive detention. Unlike detention following a conviction, here work is not an obligation and we work mainly in prison services – cooking, cleaning, painting, laundry ….

Other “privileges” – a rental radio, a rental television, participation in sports groups, discussion circles, courses, etc. must be requested from the school management and, of course, all the prison bureaucracy works only in German. Processing of these requests takes at least a few weeks. The prison guards are extremely abrupt and all information on daily life in prison must be drawn through their noses, the questions annoy them and they give answers reluctantly and in anger; only a few speak English. Continue reading

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2019/09/09

Northern Ireland: Writings and reflections by anarchist prisoner John Paul Wootton

By abc-hurricane

Two writings by anarchist prisoner John Paul Wootton. The first writing is his thoughts on the injustice system and the use of prisons by the state which realistically culminates in a complete waste of time to what the claim of why prisons are used, i.e. to “rehabilitate” people that commit “crimes” to make them “better and functional members of society”.

John Paul’s second writing is a reflection on why he became vegan and why he will remain vegan. John Paul is still struggling in the prison system to gain full rights to living a more vegan life in prison.

John Paul has been imprisoned with his co-accused Brendan McConville for the last 10 years. Both men have been falsely convicted of the shooting dead of a cop in Craigavon, Ireland in 2009. Ever since the two have been fighting the injustice imposed on them by the British colonial system.

For more information on John Paul Wootton and the case of the Craigavon 2 see this previous article.

To send letters and support to John Paul Wootton or Brendan McConville the prison address is:

[NAME]
HM Prison Maghaberry
17 Old Road,
Lisburn BT28 2PT, UK

– Continue reading

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2019/09/09

USA: Letter from imprisoned anarchist comrade Keith ‘Malik’ Washington

By abc-hurricane

Comrade Malik Speaks! This Also Means That I Am an AntiFascist! Expect Us!

Revolutionary Greetings Comrades!

By now the word has gotten out that I’ve left the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-prison chapter and embraced Anarchism. This is a tough time but as J. Cole raps in his song “Middle Child,” he says: “Everything Grows, its destined to change!” I have changed!

I am still holding on to my belief in Eco-Socialism. Plain and simple, climate change is real and not a hoax. Think many of ya’ll who have felt these unusually hot temps recently can attest that something is most certainly going on and I can guarantee you that these imperialist multi-national corporations that deal in fossil fuels have no interest in saving our beautiful planet or ensuring that the humyn species is able to survive– they just don’t care so we have to make them care! But that is not why I am communicating with you today!

I am here to confront that fascist and white supremacist in the Oval Office in Washington, DC. The man who has unleashed these Neo-Nazi haters masquerading as so-called ‘patriots’ who are chanting “send her back” and attacking unsuspecting wimmin and children of color! Continue reading

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