On the night of August 21, one year after the death of anarchist comrade Belén Navarrete, various individuals displayed propaganda in her memory, remembering her in the streets where she shared, conspired, and took action in various instances, leaving her anarchist mark.
With our dead in our hearts and active hands that fuel the confrontation against power.
One year after the death of anarchist comrade Belén Navarrete and in the context of Black August.
This propaganda is beginning to appear on the streets of some cities, bringing to mind a comrade who was part of various anarchist initiatives during her lifetime.
We recognize her concrete contributions to the struggle against power with a clear position, without lukewarmness, and we value that today in a world of ambiguity and half-measures.
With seriousness, solidarity, and determination, she reached out to comrades, supported projects, and became part of others. In recent months, some accounts of her participation in propaganda and action initiatives have been published.
In this Black August, which reminds us of our sisters and brothers who have left this plane, the call is to spread their memories through the initiatives that we bring to life, that we participate in, that we support, that we conspire with.
Death is not the end for those who were committed to an anarchist journey. We will continue to contribute to the construction of the combative memory of our comrades.
Political violence can be understood, from an anti-authoritarian perspective, as an aggressive response that seeks to break, attack, or fracture each of the components that make up domination.
This response could be limited to damaging the symbols of authority, thus leaving a powerful propaganda message, that is, one that manages to capture each of the motivations behind the action and, ideally, causes the violent response to be repeated or spread, or at least part of it.
As I said earlier, it is possible to attack symbolically, understanding that the current system of oppression can be seen represented in different elements or physical objects, or even in people.
For example, we have the case of Sante Caserio, who stabbed French President Sadi Carnot. From my perspective, he did this because the president represented political power, which at that time had led to the deaths of his comrades Ravachol, Vaillant, and Henry. His action sought to be a direct attack on those who publicly upheld power in the territory dominated by the French state in the 1890s. In addition to carrying out revenge, Sante wanted there to be no doubt about his motivations, which is clear in his cry: “Long live anarchy!” At the time of his arrest, as well as in his court statement.
Currently, we understand that the capitalist, heteropatriarchal system of domination is intertwined with complex social and cultural relationships, in addition to material structures and the people who sustain them. Consequently, and from an anarchist perspective, I have (and have held for several years now) the following questions:
How could a decisive qualitative leap be made that goes beyond attacking the symbolic? Is it really possible to “hit where it hurts” the capitalist system, in a world where relations of domination have reached a network of networks throughout the world?
The answers to these questions have changed as I have come to understand how domination has developed and persisted, and I have tried to act on these answers by shaping the many ways in which we can destroy everything that prevents the full development of each individual.
On the long road of how anti-authoritarian political violence is exercised, the successes and failures must necessarily be a collective learning experience for those of us who stand on the same side.
Among those of us who have found ourselves in anarchist/anti-authoritarian “action,” we constantly meet new comrades, just as we painfully say goodbye to many others.
Comrades Belén, Tortuga, Lupi, your memory lives on.
Health and Anarchy!
Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda Anarchist prisoner Black August 2025
August has a black memory. One that is indispensable for those who stand their ground and decide to act against domination. In memory, something from the past merges with the present, even more so when memory ceases to be words and manifests itself accurately in insurrectionary action or in a concrete gesture of solidarity. Thus, black memory manages to transcend the censorship of power and advances without temporal or generational boundaries.
There also come moments when those who kept that black memory alive become part of it. And in diffuse temporal spaces, the present, the now, memories, and memory converge once again.
There are moments when life and death, from a binary understanding, vanish, creating an instant in which nothing and everything exists.
How must those who witnessed the cowardly and despicable trial that ended in the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti have felt in August 1927?
Despite the insurrectionary actions of comrades, demonstrations, and petitions of all kinds for their release around the world, they were electrocuted by the United States on August 23, 1927, at midnight.
“We must respond to their violence with our violence: revenge. We must oppose their infamous instrument that burned the bodies of Sacco and Vanzetti with our instruments of vengeance,” said Di Giovanni in Culmine, in response to the infamous execution of his comrades. He also made it happen: he blew up the Washington monument and the Ford Motor Company in Buenos Aires…
The physical separation from so many comrades is an experience that weighs heavily on us. Only by breaking free from imposed understandings can we heal the absences and learn to live with them.
Last year, two dear comrades left us physically: Luciano Pitronelo and, a few days later, Belén Navarrete, both close to people we loved very much, comrades in ideas, activists, and supporters of our comrades in prison.
After that blow, after the impact, the actions began. The banners and graffiti with their names, barricades and pamphlets with their faces, incendiary outings and other chem were once again merging the present and the recent past, in violent actions, in fire, in banners, in graffiti.
And just as others remembered and made present their comrades almost a century ago, confronting cowardly and pacifist positions, today’s actions serve the same function.
Belén Navarrete lives in the explosion that blew up the door of the Abbott Recalcine laboratory on the stormy night of May 19 this year. The cells that bear her name made her present in an act of revenge for the distribution of contraceptive pills that forced an as yet undetermined number of women and pregnant bodies into pregnancy.
In every gesture, in every action, memory and action, a mixture that fuses the present and the past, in August when the renewal of the trees reappears, when the buds are about to burst, the black memory opens the portal where we make our comrades present… every gesture… every action.
May actions thin the veil that separates life from death.
Belén Navarrete and Tortuga live in insurrectionary action.
For our comrades who transcended the earthly plane.
At the beginning of 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice added the American Anarchist Black Cross Federation to its list of “undesirable organizations.” At that time, Anarchist Black Cross Moscow (ABC Moscow) publicly stated that it had no organizational ties to the American federation: ABC groups worldwide are autonomous, and Russian groups have never been part of the American federation.
However, in 2025, it became clear that the Russian authorities consider not only the American federation to be “undesirable” — they are targeting all ABC groups.
The Pretext: A Book by Belarusian Anarchist Igor Olinevich
In December 2024, the book “I’m Going to Magadan” by Belarusian anarchist Igor Olinevich was purchased in sting operations at the “Falanster” bookstore in Moscow and “Podpisnye Izdaniya” in St. Petersburg. In the spring of 2025, both stores were prosecuted (source) under the article about participation in the activities of an “undesirable organization.” The basis for the charges? A postscript in the book, signed by the ABC-Belarus collective.
The book itself was published by the Russian cooperative Radical Theory and Practice, which has no affiliation with the American ABC federation — but that didn’t matter to the authorities.
What Does This Mean in Practice?
As of 2025, even reposting, donating to, or publishing content featuring ABC symbols or affiliations can be grounds for prosecution in Russia.
This can lead to both administrative and criminal charges, including:
Misdemeanor: Participation in the activity of an “undesirable organization” (under administrative law).
Felony (under criminal law):
Up to 4 years in prison for participating,
Up to 5 years for financing,
Up to 6 years for organizing such activities.
Actions that can lead to persecution in Russia:
– Participating in ABC group activities
– Reposting or publicly mentioning ABC
– Sending donations to ABC
– Distributing publications associated with ABC (including Olinevich’s book)
Even historical continuity from anarchists in the Russian Empire is now a reason for persecution. The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) was founded in Russia in 1906, originally as the Anarchist Red Cross, later renamed. Since then, anarchists have supported political prisoners — and they will continue to do so, regardless of repression.
ABC Moscow Today
All members of ABC-Moscow have left the territory of the Russian Federation. We continue to assist those whom the Russian authorities persecute for their anarchist and anti-fascist beliefs: with evacuation, adaptation to life abroad, legal, and material support.
Anarchist and anti-war activist Dmitry Osyagin from Kazan has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting fire to a court building. He was charged under three articles: calling for “extremism”, “terrorism” and committing a “terrorist act” .
According to investigators, in February 2023 Dmitry set fire to the court building in the Privolzhsky District of Kazan. The court was located on the ground floor of a residential building. As reported by the media, the fire damaged only the corner of a window frame and quickly went out. Initially, the case was opened under the article for property damage, but it was later reclassified as a “terrorist act”.
In addition to the arson, Osyagin was accused of making 17 posts calling for violence against government officials, including the President of Russia, and 27 posts which, according to investigators, contained terrorist rhetoric.
The court’s press release notes that Osyagin opposed the invasion of Ukraine and was allegedly a member of the anarchist group “Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists” (BOAK), which has claimed responsibility for sabotage actions on railways and supports anarchist partisans. However, comrades from BOAK are not confirming Osyagin’s membership, saying:
“While proudly calling the imprisoned partisan a comrade and like-minded person, we cannot explain why state media call him a BOAK member. There are two possibilities: either he was indeed in contact with us and acted as an autonomous individual cell of the Organization — we do not collect any information about autonomous participants, and therefore precise identification is difficult — or the FSB, prosecutors, and court falsely attributed BOAK membership to him to ensure the longest possible sentence.”
After his arrest in 2023, Osyagin was added to the Rosfinmonitoring “list of terrorists and extremists.” Now, in addition to 15 years in prison, the court has banned him from administering any online resources for four years after his release.
The sentence was handed down by Central District Military Court Judge Alexander Raitskiy on June 18, 2025. Osyagin is being held in Yekaterinburg’s Detention Center No. 5 (SIZO-5).
Dmitry is a versatile person. Before his arrest, he worked in landscape design and fountain construction. He is interested in technology, IT, cryptocurrency mining, video games, history, and fantasy literature.
If you are ready to write Dmitry a letter — do it. He needs your support now more than ever.
Mailing address:
Osyagin Dmitry Vladimirovich, 08.12.1987
SIZO-5, Elizavetinskoe Highway, 19,
620024, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Letters should be written in Russian. You may use online translation tools.
In picture: Privolzhk district court of Kazan after arson attack.
Anarchist Black Cross Moscow
You can find the contact addresses of all prisoners in Russia supported by Anarchist Black Cross Moscow here (and instructions how to donate here). If you want to make a donation to a particular prisoner or case, please contact us beforehand via e-mail to make sure that the supporters of the prisoner or case are currently gathering donations, our e-mail is the same as the listed PayPal account. We are present and acn Telegram and Facebook, you may sign up to our e-mail newsletter here.
In the early morning hours of July 23rd, an Insitu van was set ablaze while it sat in an empty lot across from their office in Hood River, OR. This fire was set, because the growth of the national security state poses an existential threat to all those who dream of free world. We act in total antagonism against those who enable and profit from militarism, policing and surveillance.
Insitu, a fully owned subsidiary of Boeing, develops and manufactures drone technology for military and law enforcement use. The Boeing Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack and MQ-27 ScanEagle surveillance drones have been integrated into weapons systems operated by the US Navy and Marine Corp. ScanEagle UAV’s are actively being utilized by the Saudi-led coalition forces as part of their ongoing military intervention in the Yemeni civil war.
In 2023 the Customs and Border Protection agency began conducting technology evaluations of the Blackjack and ScanEagle drones for surveillance purposes at the US-Mexico border. In 2011 Insitu introduced the Inceptor, a small unmanned helicopter designed to fit in the trunk of cop cars. This further demonstrates that technology developed for military interventions abroad will always be reconstituted for domestic counter insurgency and repression through policing and border enforcement.
As Israel continues its genocidal war against the people of Gaza, we will not forget that Boeing is among the largest manufacturers of munitions and military equipment to the IDF, including F-15 Fighter Jets and Apache Attack Helicopters. Boeing is supplying Israel with the weapons and technology that make this genocide possible. We did this action as a modest gesture of solidarity with ongoing Palestinian resistance to colonialism and apartheid — from within and outside the occupied territories — from the river to the sea
If one follows world events with open eyes, the question arises: why are
we anarchists and our ideas and methods so socially irrelevant at this
point in history?
Raging wars and a variety of global crises increasingly highlight the
inability of those in power to offer real solutions. If their best
response is to sow fear and conscript us as drone and cannon fodder,
then the current situation demands revolutionary responses from below.
What do we have to propose?
From November 7th to the 9th, we want to come together at Mehringhof in
Berlin-Kreuzberg, get to know each other and our different realities,
and exchange ideas. We gather not only to react to the new failures of
the state and capitalist system, but also to develop our own long-term
responses and build resilient networks and structures based on mutual
aid and communality, as well as an anti-authoritarian, non-reformist and
antagonistic stance. Continue reading “Anarchist Convergence and Bookfair Berlin 2025”→
We circulate this call out for Alfredo to receive more postal correspondence and we understand that it is also within the framework of the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners, set from 23-30th August. Never a day alone, the anarchist hostages will endure, we’re always with them. Destroy the prisons.
Please, spread widely!
In order to break the isolation to which our anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito is currently subjected through an almost total ban on mail, we call again to write him postcards and letters. This new callout to write him is also due to news reaching us from the Bancali jail where he’s held prisoner: Alfredo deems extremely opportune to keep on sending him correspondence, even unregistered, even just postcards, with or without sender’s address… If an avalanche of mail arrives, it’ll be more work for the screws working at the jail P.O.
We evaluated that registered mail sent to him is not as necessary as it has been so far, given that over 30 pieces of such mail have been blocked: on this subject, the Surveillance Magistrate must pass sentence: he’s obviously taking his sweet time (lawyers tells us it is standard procedure at the Bancali jail).
This coming Sept. 14th. there will be a hearing about the “compliance judgement” against the Bancali prison: the magistrate is asked to determine whether the jail authorities are respecting an authorization given to a prisoner, in this case Alfredo’s access to the library, which had been authorized but never really happened. If the judge rules in favour of Alfredo, he will have to designate a different officer to ensure that the authorization is complied with. Continue reading “Post campaign: Call for long-term solidarity to Alfredo Cospito (Italy)”→
