We receive and publish a series of texts and materials distributed during the initiative in solidarity with the Chilean prisoners, held at the Bencivenga Occupato on November 26, 2021. Two booklets: one on the hunger strike conducted by prisoners in Chile, the other is a collection of texts, many translated from the magazine Kalinov Most, which were intended to better focus the topics of the debate: the specific reality of Chilean prisons, solidarity, fight against prison. There are also two contributions of Juan and Alfredo for the initiative, which they asked to be disseminated.
UNTIL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PRISON-SOCIETY
(leaflet of introduction to the debate distributed during the initiative)
This initiative was born with the need to send, in our own small way, a gesture of solidarity to the comrades prisoners in Chile who in the first months of this year have undertaken two hard hunger strikes. We want to support them, also through the translations contained in the pamphlets prepared for this meeting, by spreading the determination with which they have carried out their struggle inside the prison, with the aim of feeling it closer to us who are outside those walls and far from those territories. Although at the end of their mobilization the prisoners did not get all that they demanded, it still allowed them to build and establish bonds of complicity, both inside and outside the prison. Ties that have made this struggle transcend barriers and borders and that, since it has clearly positioned itself against all forms of coercion and domination, have made it recognizable and vindicable by refractory people all over the world.
But it is not for simple voyeurism towards distant rebellions that we are here today. With this initiative we also intend to underline our complicity with our comrades who today are prisoners of the State, so that they know that they are not alone. Also in this part of the world we have anarchist prisoners who have recently conducted several struggles inside the prison. Struggles conducted individually or collectively, strikes and mass uprisings such as those of March 2020 against pandemic management inside prisons. Struggles whose quality, to take up a concept expressed with emphasis in the contribution that Juan, a prisoner in the Terni prison, wrote for this initiative, is closely related to the relationships that exist between inside and outside the prison. These relationships are the same on which prisoners and Chilean comrades have repeatedly insisted, stating that “the prison is part of the options of the struggle, it is part of it and therefore, instead of being a parenthesis or a pause, it is configured as one more scenario in which to carry out the clash” and that it is necessary to understand “the prisoner as an active comrade, in struggle, who is in this particular condition as a result of a chosen path that does not end within [those] four walls”. Relationships in which it is necessary to invest if we want to recognize a prisoner as our comrade, as a complicit in the struggle against all power, especially at this time when these relationships are under attack. The latest repressive operations in Italy have in fact, among others, the purpose of hitting the communication between the world outside and inside the prison, putting pressure on the epistolary communication through which prisoners continue to be part of the anarchist debate and struggle, providing reflections, contributions, proposals for action and stimuli for action. Now more than ever it is therefore the time to increase efforts in the direction of greater communication and complicity with the prisoners, having as its objective not mere support in the charitable way, but rather the reinforcement of our offensive capacity against this system of domination and exploitation.
From this point of view, we feel it is important to strongly affirm our conviction that our relationships of complicity and solidarity are our greatest strength, and it is these that we must strengthen and cultivate, both locally and internationally. In the public communiqué at the beginning of this hunger strike, the comrades made an open call to “all those in solidarity and all those who stand against prison and oppression to take an active part in this struggle”. We want to respond to this call by asking ourselves during this initiative how to qualitatively cultivate these relationships: how to weave them, and above all, how to preserve and strengthen them during the “hot moments” of the struggle?
We also feel the need to question ourselves on the concept of solidarity, specifically solidarity with prisoners and with the struggles they undertake, on the sense that we give it starting from the limits and successes that have had the mobilizations in Italy in recent times, to try to go beyond the simple support a prisoner in the perspective of a convergence between inside and outside the prison in the common struggle against this institution and against the society that requires it. So what do we mean by solidarity with x comrades anarchist prisoners? Through what forms do we believe it is necessary to express it?
Contribution of Alfredo Cospito for the initiative in solidarity with Chilean prisoners, held at the Bencivenga Occupato on 26 Nov 2021
When the comrades asked me to write something about revolutionary solidarity and Chile, and what the generous Chilean prisoners are doing, even with my limited information I mobilized full of enthusiasm. It’s not every day that I get to contribute from in here to a debate. I was ahead with my writing when a search due to another arrest warrant for advocacy of terrorism deprived me of everything I had written. I don’t give up and with delay I try again in the hope that these words of mine will be able to pierce the censorship and arrive in time for the initiative, otherwise they will find another space, sooner or later they will see the sun anyway. In my old writing my reflections on the situation in Chile and anarchist practice in the world revolved around a few thoughts, which I will try to summarize here, and then give it a fuller sense, more concrete and inherent in our discourse: “to make clear the contours of things, you have to work by subtraction, not by addition, to understand the simplification has not only a reactionary value.
By removing the superfluous you get to the substance, to the armed struggle against the states. For me the basis of this struggle can only be class warfare and anti-technological struggle. Starting from the “small” (actions on the territory) we arrive at the “big” (collapse of the system). As simplistic as this vision is, it is the only one possible for me at this time. Sometimes misleading and devoid of concreteness seem to me certain combinations of words: nihilist anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarchist individualism, anarchist insurrectionalism, anarchist communism … can there be an anarchism that is not individual? Where if not in the existence of the individual can arise a will to insubordination? And if anarchism is not in some way offensive what kind of anarchism is it?
Anarchism is or is not. If it does not mediate to attack the state, it ceases to be itself. Anarchism to be, must produce something, a fact, a semblance of destructive action, a project. I am increasingly convinced that in this era there is no need to build and that the “salvation” lies in the pure and simple destruction, in removing not adding. And when I speak of “salvation” I speak of the survival of our species and of life itself on the planet.”
These strange thoughts of mine are the cerebral fruit of your request to have my say on the contribution that Chilean comrades and comrades have made from inside prisons. But they are also the product of my own reflection on the discouragement I have picked up in some letters from generous comrades and comrades replete and full of pessimism and a sense of defeat. Some of them complained that all the efforts directed to solidarity with the rebels who had risen up in Italian jails were then recovered by the para-institutional referents. That specifically the relatives of the detainees have preferred to turn to the “radical party” rather than participate in presides of comrades. This “discouragement” of theirs should make us reflect. This is where I reconnect to the speech just made, on “simplification”, on the fact that to make clear the contours of things, you have to work by subtraction not by addition.
But what do we anarchists have to “offer” to the exploited? In the absence of real change, of a “revolution”, only one thing; violence against the masters and revenge against the torturers. It is more than normal that in the absence of violence and revenge, the relatives of prisoners, in order to obtain at least some “benefit” or “improvement” for their loved ones, turn to those who would have (at least in potential) the “power” to fulfill their requests, humanitarian associations, priests and parties. It is clearly the lack of revolutionary violence and revenge that makes our efforts sterile and without perspective. I am convinced that in times like these of incoherent and sometimes confused rebellions, we should be clear and decisive. Do not limit ourselves to the general level of conflict, which is very low, but go on the attack. We have as anarchists a considerable wealth of experience accumulated over years and years of action. Strike and strike and always strike in small groups, individually, only in this way can we get results and hope to weaken the “enemy”. Yes! I believe that the time has come to return (however redundant and nauseating it may seem) to a language of war, because it is comprehensible to all, because it marks a clear attitude to attack. And here I connect to the discourse we are dealing with, revolutionary solidarity and the situation in Chile. A not insignificant characteristic of that country is that the wave of actions that characterized the so-called “Black International” has never stopped. Ferment and actions that in Chile also influenced the social struggles. The same thing, it seems to me, is happening in Greece, where actions are resuming more and more clearly and distinctly. The imprisoned comrades in these two countries have managed through their coherence to relate outside to a combative movement. And they have done so in a lucid manner, rejecting fanaticism and ideological rigidity. Something that yours truly has certainly failed to do. One example among many of this healthy habit is Francisco and Monica’s beautiful response to the semi-democratic rigidity coming from outside. I’m referring to the schematic and insulting distinction between “pure” prisoners, “nihilists” worthy of solidarity and the others coming from other revolutionary experiences to be blithely ignored. To my misfortune, among the “pure” prisoners I was also included, which caused me a certain unpleasantness. For what it’s worth, my opinion on the subject is completely in tune with the two comrades, they couldn’t have expressed better what I also think. The Chilean comrades have succeeded in something that we scattered anarchists and anarchist prisoners of the Italian state have not been able to do. Stimulate the struggle outside and coordinate it with other prisoners through fiery words and above all deeds. In these last ten years of imprisonment I and my closest comrades with all our limitations and contradictions have “acted”, hunger strikes also very hard, various damage in solidarity with prisoners and prisoners from other countries. We have written, made books, contributed to newspapers. Not to mention the statements and claims of actions in court, more or less successful and consistent statements but all with the will to communicate strength and consistency outside. What I want to say with this tirade of mine is that perhaps the “crisis” the movement is going through here is due to the lack of intensity and diffusion of actions. Mine is a “simplistic” vision, maybe things are going very well outside and my view of the world is distorted by the reality that I have to live, but the symptoms of a sort of crisis, of stalemate, are all there. Good comrades clashing over trivial matters, a general leaden air of resignation and confusion, an exasperated and “sophisticated” theory that rolls up on itself, becoming more and more incomprehensible and cerebral. Very sad “public trials” against the lack of “coherence” of some comrades followed by even sadder mea-culpa. And then nothingness or almost nothingness, but we must not despair because in that “almost” there is hope, there is happiness and the joy of struggling.
Nothing is over, everything continues, I am convinced that we will see great upheavals and it would be a shame to stay behind. To do as in Chile and Greece, to continue on the path of the Black International of revolutionary solidarity that crosses borders and creates worlds. With all the imitations of our history, certain perspectives have been part of our lives, and they are daughters of even more distant experiences. The Chilean comrades have managed to relate to the movement without being arrogant and dogmatic and without ever giving in to conflict and coherence. They also managed to be open and proactive with the movements outside and with the various solidarity assemblies. Undoubtedly, my path has been less proactive and studded with arrogant “shots”. Suffice it to think of my strong criticism of the principals and my (I am aware) unsettling exaltation of the practice of “terrorism”. I’ve always had my say, trying to “push”, but in this “obsession” of mine to continuously relaunch lies the strength to keep going, to keep fighting. I always feel dissatisfied, it always seems to me that I have not done enough, and several times I have asked myself in these 11 years what role I can play in the struggle as an anarchist prisoner of “long duration”? Just resist? Outside things change, my own comrades change and I continue to find myself in the belly of the Leviathan in a kind of limbo. Prudence has never been my strong suit. And every piece of writing I do, no matter how clumsy, actually carries the risk of worsening my criminal situation (so to speak). I don’t write lightly every time, it’s more of a vital necessity for me to communicate with the outside world; not to do so would be tantamount to shutting myself down while waiting for a release that might never happen. There is no doubt that 11 years out of the “games” make my vision of reality problematic. A few days ago the censors sent me a letter in which two comrades (in response to a criticism of mine, undoubtedly “strong” on the recovery of the “new anarchy” by the “old” anarchist insurrectionism) pointed out (among other things) my talking about things that I do not know, because they are now far away from me. I will have the opportunity to respond in a “hard” to these comrades on this my ” pretense “. But I want to take advantage of the opportunity they have given me to say that the problem these comrades have raised is more legitimate than ever and has a certain concreteness.
All comrades inside for many years sooner or later question themselves. We anarchists inevitably pose in an individual way in relations with the world, in my case I do not have an organization to delegate and entrust the continuation of my struggle outside. Nor even less an unambiguous and stainless key to reading the reality outside of here. Having said that, there is no doubt that I’m groping my way forward and that my only compass is a certain intuition dictated by experience. This of course does not prevent me from making mistakes, even though I always try to weigh the words I use, which at times (I am aware) can be unpleasant. But at the end of the day no one has the truth in their pocket, or do they?
In conclusion, I believe that the teaching of the comrades Chilean prisoners is all in this sentence of Monica: “the prison is just another way of understanding the struggle, the anti-authoritarian conflict is not over for me, it has only changed form”.
Always for anarchy
Alfredo Cospito
anarchist prisoner
of the Italian state
Contribution of Juan Sorroche for the initiative in solidarity with Chilean prisoners held at the Bencivenga Occupato on 26 Nov 2021
Hola comrades,
As a contribution to the discussion of this initiative, I would like to make a few reflections. They are reflections that arise from the relationship with shared practices, not just in words, and that I believe it is beneficial to constructively criticize. I am convinced that without these constructive intentions I tend to sink into my own mistakes and frustration. So I believe that these foundational intentions are fundamental to the development, the evolution, of both myself and those with whom I organize for struggle. This is a valid approach for the well-being of self and group, for relationships, for quality of doing, for another nature and qualitative substance. Another vision. An approach that is not synonymous with the watering down of theory-practice or of frank and even animated confrontation. This approach aims to develop concrete relationships in the struggle. Relations, as Francisco and Monica write, as a practice of anarchist struggle based on the clash with authority in a permanent conflict that has as its foundation individual freedom. The approach of confirming and affirming oneself positively is a way to grow and develop, in a less bitter-pessimistic way, the rebellion and the struggle against everything around me (the harmful, damaging, enemy), the city, the capitalist-state society: “THE NEGATIVE”. As a rebel anarchist I seek well-being, liberation, politically, economically, socially, psychologically, intellectually and spiritually, which can not be separated from the liberation from this self-destructive negativity that are the capitalist-state relations and acting consciously we try to get rid of this unfavorable pessimism in all contexts of our lives-struggles inculcated by the capitalist-state-colonialist society.
I make this speech because I believe, I am convinced, that it is fundamental today, here and now, a paradigmatic transformation in dealing with relationships, approaches amongst comrades and beyond, with everyone and everything. I can not claim to sympathize with the anarchist galaxy in Italy if I do not respect it, I can not call for unity of purpose internationally if then in life and relationships I do not try to practice it. Of course this is not simple or easy, indeed, but I think it should be put into practice every day, otherwise what is the point.
I’m talking about the negativity of this society, of which we are part, of the fact that we treat and relate to each other as nothing, things, objects, products, possessions, tools (of struggle, etc.), all this is the fundamental basis that supports society, the system of capitalism-state-colonialist. Negativity, nullity, being objects, treating our interactions and others as objects are dynamics that we have inculcated since childhood, that’s why I have to start from a look at myself, on my being racist, machist, authoritarian, as well as on the new problem of technological relations, taking it on.
These problems take many forms and many ramifications (in my opinion all related), complicated problems to solve that would require in-depth analysis and much, much, struggle. Now. I don’t think the issue can be resolved or even superficially dismissed by saying, “we’ll do it later, when the revolution happens.” Or that tending toward these aspects of the struggle is not part of the class struggle. I think that saying this is the result of a narrow view of the class struggle. But we can’t just lock ourselves into “our communities”, or just do analysis, self-analysis and deal with being objectified, racist, homophobic, etc. etc. by not going on the offensive against the general root of the struggle: state-colonialist capitalism. The inclusion of all levels of the struggle-life is necessary.
And I believe, I’m convinced, that this is all in interaction. That’s why it centers on active solidarity which is what I wanted to talk about at the beginning of the text. I digressed a little bit, though. The growth of relationships and the development of active solidarity should not ignore these analyses and reflections. Just as concrete, multiform action cannot be ignored, which in the union of intentions tries to transform itself into practices from A to Z. Multiformity is very qualitative if it is practiced from A to Z, otherwise it becomes blunt. In this sense, the hunger strike proposed by x comrades in Chile was very qualitative, both in the multiformity of the practices and in the spirit of cohesion and complicity in the anti-authoritarian praxis, both inside and outside, and this is quality beyond the result. This is what should be improved and developed. Because I know that that struggle was not the end, but the beginning of relationships of fraternal solidarity. I am proud to have participated in the struggle. Together. I take this opportunity to send a respectful and affectionate greeting to all the gestures of solidarity and the individuals who have put them into practice, here in Italy, in “your” city, as well as in other places in the world. It is necessary to continue to CREATE relationships with the aim of the development of the struggle and the anarchist galaxy both in Italy, and I know that there are enormous difficulties, as well as on a general level, internationally. Solidarity is a vision that requires a balance that put into practice alchemically unites the universal with the specific and vice versa. The relationships of Brotherhood/Sisterhood that are created in the concrete practice, with respect, with diversity, the affection that is born towards comrades fighting together in mutual solidarity is quality and not rhetoric. This is not an opinion: it is a fact born of practice.
But I believe that in order to have unity of purpose, both on a specific and general level, first of all one must have strength in oneself. I believe in unity of purpose (and I will never tire of arguing with comrades about this), but it has to happen when you are strong and prepared, not unprepared and fragile looking for unity at all costs. For the struggle and to free oneself one must have both ways, methods and means, as well as the will, courage, a great sensitivity, faith in the anarchist struggle, passion and belief in what you are and do, with whom you do it. We should have a comprehensive strategy that comes from the analysis of history and current conditions, we have seen in practice that only the will, courage and faith in the struggle are not enough. In order not to be unprepared, we need to get organized.
For now I greet you all, I send a solidarity greeting to Francisco who I heard has a health problem, to Boris in France also: Forza! To Pablo Bahamondes sentenced to 15 years, courage! To Monica, Marcelo and the Chilean comrades, to Gabriel Pomba da Silva and all the prisoners around the world! And to those outside who continue to fight!
GREETINGS AND ANARCHY
Juan Sorroche
Terni prison, section AS2
8/11/2021
Source: Inferno Urbano
