Prison Struggle – Page 15

$hile: Urgent words in the face of an extinguishing flame. Written by Mónica Caballero in response to Alfredo Cospito’s hunger strike.

Posted on 2023/02/08 by darknights

I have had the pleasure of reading the words of comrades from different territories, who showed their fervent solidarity with the hunger strike of Alfredo Cospito, to get out of the torture regime of 41 bis. In these lands a group of subversive, anarchist, anti-authoritarian, anti-speciesist and nihilist prisoners also expressed our unconditional solidarity with the comrade. To fraternize with a comrade as valuable as Alfredo, and even more so in the difficult moment he is going through, is a necessity for those of us who position ourselves as negators and antagonists to the current life governed by authority. Sending words of solidarity from prison to a like-minded comrade is never too much.

In my case, when I have received words of solidarity from a comrade while imprisoned, I have always valued and treasured them as something very precious. But at this moment comrade Alfredo Cospito needs words to be transformed into actions, to attack, coerce, subvert, manipulate, threaten, etc. To all those who have the power to change his prison situation and/or who sustain the 41 bis regime.

Alfredo’s situation is no longer preoccupying and has become urgent. The matter is simple, if Cospito’s request is not granted, he will die and there are not too many days left if he continues his hunger strike.

To make the decision and carry out a mobilization such as a hunger strike, has many difficulties, your struggle is in multiple scenarios, on the one hand you have a whole repressive and judicial framework with several tools that bet on dissuading you to stop the strike, on the other hand there is your own survival instinct, your own body! Continue reading “$hile: Urgent words in the face of an extinguishing flame. Written by Mónica Caballero in response to Alfredo Cospito’s hunger strike.” →

Bolzano, Italy: Statement at the appeal trial for the Brenner demonstration

Posted on 2023/02/08 by darknights

Today, Feb. 3, the last hearing prior to sentencing in the appeal trial for the anti-border march (Brenner, May 2016) was held at the Bolzano court. This is the statement read in the courtroom, signed by some 20 defendants:

Statement at the appeal trial for the Brenner demonstration

If there is a place where words do not express mere opinions without consequences, this is certainly the court. In a few days, in this courtroom, it will be decided whether and for how long our future will consist of bars and prison.

This is no reason to keep silent.

In the repressive doggedness that the various public prosecutors’ offices in this country have long reserved for the anarchist movement – of which the 130 years in prison dispensed in the first-degree verdict in this trial is a good example -, in these days it is reaching its zenith. The state seems determined to condemn to death fellow anarchist Alfredo Cospito, now on his 107th day of an all-out hunger strike against the torture of 41 bis and against hostile life imprisonment. Alfredo’s determination, on the one hand, and institutional ferocity, on the other, decisively overshadow for us the outcome of this trial and our individual fates.

In a country marked by a long trail of real massacres carried out by state apparatuses with the manpower of neo-fascists-this is not only a historical truth, but even a judicial one-, to be convicted of “political massacre” are … two anarchists (Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino), for “a massacre without massacre attributed without evidence.” The most odious falsification of the anarchist idea and practice, taking Alfredo to the grave for living of 41 bis.

If this is the logic, then 130 years in prison can be doled out for a demonstration that caused, according to the same prosecution, 8,000 euros in damages. Consistency, as they say, is in the whole.

While there is talk of the Constitution, the rule of law and peace, reality tells us that the democratic governments of the West are leading us straight toward conflict with Russia, that is, on an inclined plane at the bottom of which is World War III, with the accompanying annihilation of terrestrial life.

The fury against dissent in general and against anarchists in particular is the home front of that war. The 41 bis is prison of war.

That is why Alfredo’s great courage and the solidarity he was able to muster are so frightening. They are part of that humanity that will never side with NATO bombs, just as our comrades in Russia do not side with Putin’s bombs.

While it is up to you to choose whether to join the chorus of repression that is nowadays more disproportionate, our thoughts and hearts are with Alfredo.

Bolzano, February 3, 2023

Giulia Perlotto, Carlo Casucci, Kamilla Bezerra, Massimo Passamani, Manuel Oxoli, Luca Rassu, Roberto Bottamedi, Marco Degosus, Arianna Viola, Mattia Magagna, Roberto Bonadeo, Agnese Trentin, Andrea Parolari, Stefano Diani, Benedetta Antonucci, Matteo Nascimben, Sirio Mafrini

Source: Il Rovescio & oltre il Ponte

Via: La Nemesi

$hile: Words of Mawünhko and Tomás from prison in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito

Posted on 2023/02/03 by darknights

Alfredo, today the weight of a mountain is trying to knock you down. We wonder how many times a day you struggle with your own mind. You have let us know the strength of your convictions, your body is emaciated, yet you have said it yourself “I will let myself die. My body is the last protest.”
Dangerous and highly contagious is your essence, every day in prison we think of you. A mighty forest dwells in your mind and only untamed spirits lurk in it.

Undecipherable to the powerful is your inexhaustible source of subversion. Until the last of your days you will continue your battle, from a small, dark cell, without communication, only with yourself. But in the dimension of your thoughts with your most beautiful memories, with each of your battles pumping through your veins, strengthening each millenary tree that stands in that forest.
A labyrinth with no exit is your mind for the slaughterers, for us a sweet and pleasant passage that you have let us visit, feel, observe…

For the end of the 41bis regime! Active solidarity with Alfredo Cospito!
Fire to all the prisons of the world!

Mawünhko, from San Miguel prison.
Tomás, from Santiago 1 prison.

Source: Publicacion Refractario

$hile: Communiqué of anti-speciesist prisoners for the Susaron case in solidarity with the hunger strike of Alfredo Cospito

Posted on 2023/02/03 - 2023/02/03 by darknights

With these words that carry the ballast of the innocuous, and the impotence of not being able to embrace you with exorbitant roars and hypnotic, nameless, denying flames, which cross continents and borders.
We sit down to write from our cages with a deep sense of pain, rage and fraternal admiration.
The machinery of global domination considers you so dangerous and unyielding that they have made it a priority to slice away the most threatening portion of your existence. Your zest for life, your pride, joy and lucidity. Because they fear. Because you managed to represent an indomitable threat that was never diluted in words.

From the state captivity of Santiago, Chile. We shout with the brutality of a thousand floods!
Down with the regime of torture and annihilation 41 bis!!!! 98 days of hunger strike!!!
We shout from continent to continent: Resist brother, here on the other side of this pestilent world you have warriors attentive to your steps.
We never waited for the conciliatory venia with the enemy for the resolution of our battles and necessities. And we will not do so now.
May the gestures of rampant audacity make the ground vibrate and the streets of the entire globe dominated by the machinery of subjugation burn with fire!
Until we get Alfredo out of this adverse situation, and overthrow that hideous psychopathic regime called 41bis.

ALFREDO COSPITO TO THE STREET!!!
TOGETHER WITH ALL THE PRISONERS OF THE SOCIAL-ANTISOCIAL WAR ALL OVER THE PLANET.
FIRE TO ALL THE PRISONS FOR HUMANS AND NON-HUMANS. WITH THEIR JAILERS INSIDE.

VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE PRISONERS, SUSARON CASE.
-C.D.P. SANTIAGO 1 PRISON.
-SAN MIGUEL WOMEN’S PRISON.

Source: Publicacion Refractario

International call for mobilisation at Italian embassies in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and for the end of 41 bis prison regime EN/ES/PT/IT/FR/GR/IN

Posted on 2023/02/03 - 2023/02/08 by darknights

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR MOBILIZATION AT ITALIAN EMBASSIES IN SOLIDARITY WITH ALFREDO COSPITO AND FOR THE END OF 41 BIS PRISON REGIME

More than 100 days after the start of Alfredo Cospito’s hunger strike we extend the call to all like-minded individuals, groups, organizations and collectives to convene within their territories a mobilization outside the Italian embassies to put pressure on the Italian state and Alfredo’s executioners.

The comrade is dying because the state wants him to die. This is not just a ‘humanitarian’ problem, the comrade’s struggle is a call for international revolutionary action. Indifference and passivity will never be our allies; solidarity will be.

As well was expressed in a letter with a bullet inside to the Italian newspaper “Il Tirreno”: “If Alfredo Cospito dies, all the judges are a target”. Let’s let the Italian state know that if Alfredo dies, we will be his worst enemy.

The comrades from Chile and Colombia will be present this Friday, February 3th outside their embassies. We hope this initiative will spread further.

CALL, ORGANIZE AND ACT!
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL PRISONS!
END TO THE 41 BIS REGIME!
LONG LIVE THE BLACK INTERNATIONAL! Continue reading “International call for mobilisation at Italian embassies in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and for the end of 41 bis prison regime EN/ES/PT/IT/FR/GR/IN” →

Italy: Anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito, on the 103rd day of hunger strike, was transferred to the Opera prison in Milan (January 30, 2023)

Posted on 2023/01/31 by darknights

Alfredo Cospito was transferred from the prison of Bancali to the SAI (Intensified Assistance Service) inside the lager of Opera, in Milan. In this prison there is a hospital section for prisoners in 41 bis prison regime. The new address is:

Alfredo Cospito
Casa di Reclusione di Milano Opera
via Camporgnago 40
20141 Milano
Italy

Source: La Nemesi

Rome, Italy: Clashes and demonstration in Trastevere in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito on 101st day of hunger strike

Posted on 2023/01/31 by darknights

Clashes and demonstration in Trastevere in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito on 101st day of hunger strike (Rome, Jan. 28, 2023)

We publish a brief contribution on the demonstration held on Saturday, January 28 in Rome in solidarity with comrade Alfredo Cospito at 101 days into his hunger strike. Near the concentration in Piazza Trilussa–which lasted a few hours and from which a procession had failed to leave–after some of those present had deflected out of the encirclement, there were some clashes with the repressive forces, shortly thereafter in trouble due to finding themselves partially surrounded and the determination of comrades to hold the streets (but who did, however, manage to stop a comrade near Piazza Trilussa). After the clashes, a procession was held in the alleys of Trastevere.

At the end of the procession several dozen comrades were stopped by DIGOS, riot police, and carabinieri. All 41 people stopped during the day, who were taken to police headquarters and released without restrictions as of the early hours of Sunday 29, were charged with Article 337 c. p. (resistance to a public official). We reproduce below a brief information note released on January 29 itself.

In these days when the comrade’s health condition is rapidly and dramatically worsening, with this initiative the comrades present affirmed the importance of a presence and consequent confrontational practice to be held in the streets, in solidarity with Alfredo and in support of the hunger strike. Let us continue the struggle with anger and determination. Get Alfredo out of 41 bis!

* * *

Yesterday in Rome street fight against 41 bis and hostile life imprisonment, with Alfredo Cospito on hunger strike for 101 days. Police wanted to surround the protesters, remained surrounded. The celere in total confusion charged the DIGOS twice, managing to send one of them to the hospital. The piazza chief wanted to prevent a harmless procession, had two hours of wild marching through Trastevere, which resisted by barricading itself and repelling numerous charges in the alleys.

While it is true that a good part of the 41 stopped could have been avoided if it had been realized a few minutes earlier that the party was ending, this does not detract one iota from the message of anger at our comrade’s now imminent execution coming from the streets. In fact, if anything, it reinforces it.

A big thank you to all the rebels and solidarity with all those who have been charged.

Long live anarchy!

Source: La Nemesi

Italy: Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 99th day of hunger strike (January 26, 2023)

Posted on 2023/01/27 by darknights

Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 99th day of hunger strike (Italy, January 26, 2023)

With the publication of the following texts – an update circulated yesterday, January 26th, and two transcripts of as many radio speeches by the trusted doctor, dating back to January 26th and 19th – we provide an update on the current serious health condition of anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito 100 days after the start of the hunger strike.

The attempted annihilation against Alfredo was ratified by the State in July and December last year, first (by the Court of Cassation) with the reclassification as ‘political massacre’ of a charge in the Scripta Manent trial, then (by the Court of Surveillance in Rome) with an order confirming his detention in 41 bis, the most afflictive detention regime in Italian prisons, to which Alfredo was transferred on May 5th.

In the face of this attempt at annihilation, it is of the utmost importance that the ideas, deeds, and contribution of the comrade are not forgotten, condemned to oblivion as desired by the repressive apparatuses with the Scripta Manent trial, Sibilla repressive operation, and the transfer to the 41 bis prison regime. To the isolation and censorship of the State and its prisons we oppose, today as yesterday, the tenacity and consistency of our ideas and practices.

“Allow me to say, with a modicum of pride, that my life (like the life of every anarchist worthy of the name) is characterised by the attempt to make theory and action coincide. To the servants of Power I say only one thing: you can keep me in jail for the rest of my life but resign yourself, you will not succeed in taking away my coherence and self-respect, let alone the pleasure and desire to fight you“.
(Alfredo Cospito, ‘About Sibilla Operation’, 2021)

An update on the current health condition: the comrade collapsed, the torturers took him to hospital and then returned him to 41 bis

Serious news is arriving from Bancali prison, where Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike for 99 days. Our comrade now moves around in a wheelchair, he has worrying microchemical values, he has serious thermoregulation problems, that is, he is getting colder and colder, he covers himself with many jumpers and several pairs of trousers.

Perhaps in order to warm himself up, he decided to take a shower last night, around 11:30 p.m.. There Alfredo allegedly collapsed, fell and broke his nose in a compound manner. In addition, due to low platelets, he allegedly started to lose a lot of blood from the wound. For these reasons he was rushed to the hospital in Sassari. After initial treatment, the murderers of the prison police took him back to prison.

A few hours earlier, yesterday [January 25th], came the Minister of Justice rejection of Alfredo’s transfer to a prison with a hospital ward: according to Nordio [Carlo Nordio is the Minister of Justice], Cospito is ‘in excellent health’… Continue reading “Italy: Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 99th day of hunger strike (January 26, 2023)” →

$hile: Text by Juan Flores from “La Gonzalina” prison, in Rancagua

Posted on 2023/01/27 - 2023/01/27 by darknights

Each step, decision and even mistake have been lessons learned, never regretted or part of something that is posed as absolute that can disregard or belittle the courage of so many comrades through the centuries of struggle against the power of which I consider myself a continuity, without exalting always questioning even the steps themselves.

I continue to firmly consolidate the certainties of our infinite negating capacities, their potential to break with isolation, norms, logics, power in all its amplitude, in the daily and clandestine in anti-authoritarian complicity. For this there are no absolute truths or manuals that can more than our yearnings for freedom, dignity and rebellion, for many the anti-authoritarian struggle seems to be extinguished to many would accommodate them, for our pleasure and their concern will continue to exist, breaking with the indifference of their society of death and misery, solidarity becomes a weapon of struggle, every cry, gesture and action feed our convictions and yearnings becoming an impulse to continue responding to every blow, persecutions, aggressions, isolations. We will put forward our attitude without turning back … indifference in the face of reality is not our option.

In this place, ideas are not abandoned, nothing ends. Today, while the states seek to bury our lives in prison with legal tricks such as the modification of January 2019 to DL 321 that regulates access to parole, regimes such as 41 bis in Italy, Fies in Spain, the renewed high security prison in Chile that promises to be a tomb for refractory soon to be reopened and all attempts to exterminate us democratically, in silence and with the complicity of all those who need and legitimize the prison. From that almost invisible character, owners and masters of the world or the judge and prosecutor who for their slice of power will bury us with laws and years to the miserable henchman who lives at will imprisoned to bury lives, passivity or legitimization of the majorities. In this scenario already known by all I want to give my complicity, respect and affection to Alfredo cospito brother of deep convictions who has made his life a war willing to keep it until its end.

Solidarity/Act so that our enemies cannot bury our lives with the normality they desire and impose. When your body becomes your last weapon of struggle… indifference and lightness cannot be an option, not for anarchists, anti-authoritarians and those who determine themselves as real deniers of power. All my complicity with all those indomitable captives who without looking back defend themselves with tooth and claw… solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike in Italy, Greece, France, Israel and Turkey.

Juan Alexis Flores Riquelme
Anti-authoritarian prisoner

Source: Publicacion Refractario

$hile: Active Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito by Joaquín García

Posted on 2023/01/27 - 2023/01/27 by darknights

Even being distant from any idealization, it is inevitable to feel a deep admiration and respect for Alfredo Cospito, who has been able to sustain an extensive hunger strike, with his body as a battlefield, and an unwavering decision, in his struggle for the end of isolation in the nefarious 41 bis regime in which he has been for many months. Sometimes it is intangible for many to have a concrete notion of what this means, I think that perhaps it is the individual experiences that bring us a little closer to such a crude reality, and even so, it is impossible to feel what those who throw themselves into this battle feel, the physical and mental exhaustion, the sleepless nights and that every gesture costs as much as the greatest effort. We are left with the anguish, the dizziness in the stomach, and the eternal frustration of feeling that we still have to do a lot to balance, at least a little, the scales on which our defeats and victories are measured.

Anarchic, nihilistic, informal and international solidarity with Alfredo!
Let the cry of his body at war resound in every action!

Joaquin Garcia Chanks

-La Gonzalina Prison
Rancagua, territory occupied by the Chilean state.
January 2023.

Source: informativoanarquista