Social Control – Page 2

Russian Authorities Consider Any Anarchist Black Cross Groups an “Undesirable Organization”

Posted on 2025/08/23 - 2025/08/23 by darknights

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.

Support Our Work (If You Are Outside Russia):

PayPal: abc-msk@riseup.net

Cryptocurrency:

Bitcoin: bc1qhu02jedtulqw5tw8nnktf6d0ujn8dyx3gk556e
Monero: 492K8eQY7zHA1pWnHJnrmN9FnesxNpgsxN5kXhyuEwn7T8TRnxnLHVG3ErsituEEYQgxWNH2j1kYrQbjeRNF42vqJgQCX9x
Ethereum: 0xe8438E88226FA15Df11FA55E68e5092194818615
Dash: XjtYQsqXjnuQxp1HAj3iJtqubukvNsSZex
Zcash: t1RFKaTs4yvU7PeTKeEBJwh3YrcE8mN33up

Contact Us: abc-msk@riseup.net
Solidarity is our weapon!

Source: Avtonom

UK: Schedule 7 – Anarchist comrade Toby Shone stopped at Gatwick Airport after Ozora rave

Posted on 2025/08/18 - 2025/08/20 by darknights

Schedule 7: Anarchist comrade Toby Shone stopped at Gatwick Airport after Ozora rave

“I don’t know”, “I can’t remember”

On the 5th August 2025 Toby was returning from the legendary Ozora psytrance festival in Hungary where he’d been partying for 12 days and invited to speak about social shifts, the war on drugs and his experience of being in prison for psychedelics. At the UK passport checkpoint he was approached by an Officer William NORMAN #39947, accompanied by a larger group of basement dwelling plain clothes bureaucrats of the Counter-Terror Police South East. Toby was detained against his will for several hours and subjected to weak verbal threats and physical intimidation. Toby was searched and his phone and MP3 player were seized by the cops.

Officer NORMAN unsuccessfully attempted to covertly record Toby’s legal call with his lawyer and it was clear that the police were upset that he’d been able to leave the country. According to NORMAN their intent was the continuation of the open investigation and harassment of our anarchist comrade on the first occasion that he re-entered a UK border, which granted them special powers of interrogation and seizure. Toby was later released without any arrest or charge.

This incident comes as the last collective house from Operation Adream was attacked and raided by violent local thugs and an armed response unit of Gloucestershire police in late March. One comrade was arrested and released under investigation and another comrade was identified at gunpoint, as they had issued an arrest warrant for Toby for Grievous Bodily Harm, which was related to self-defense to the attack on the collective house in Forest of Dean. An armed police team with dogs and torches searched for Toby in the surrounding forest and issued threats that Toby was a “danger to police”, which is only to justify their use of violence. This marker against Toby was set by agents of the National Security Division and Counter-Terror Police, after a few of them got their feelings hurt.

At no point was Toby asked about any of this, nor about anything related to “extremism”, or “terrorism”. Every State, authoritarian or democratic, calls its opponents “terrorists”, “extremists”. In a world of modern televised genocide these terms have completely lost any meaning. The time for revolutionary change is now. Fuck Schedule 7! Fuck the CTPSE!

16/08/2025

Forest Case solidarity group

Athens, Greece: Update on the court decision of anarchist Andreas F.

Posted on 2025/08/11 by darknights

On Friday 18/7, the court ended the “Revenge Conspiracy” case in which the anarchist comrade Andreas Floros was on trial. After the prosecutor’s acquittal, the court unanimously declared the comrade innocent due to doubt concerning membership and with no doubts at all on any other charges, and Andreas was released from Korydallos prison a few hours later.

Over 70 people were gathered in solidarity inside and outside the courtroom, which was tightly cordoned off by all the special forces of the police, breaking the deafening silence of every kind of court with slogans of solidarity, standing by Andreas and every persecuted person.

The acquittal comes after 15 months of being held hostage in Amfissa and Korydallos prisons for Andreas, who from the first moment of his arrest denied any charges in the otherwise bleak scenario of the anti-terrorism. Once again, it was proven that the anti-terrorism, relying on the legislative framework of 187A, is organizing persecutions against anarchists and individuals in struggle. In this way, they have repeatedly attempted to spread fear around anyone who dares to question and stand against the dominant dictates of the exploitation system.

In a case with many parameters that had to be taken into account by the world of solidarity, we witnessed vengeful methods, not only against our comrade but also against the other defendants in the case aimed at supporting the anti-terrorist scenario and ultimately imposing exhaustive sentences on most of them. In a court in which any coherent evidence leading to the support of 187A was not even supplied by the very service that had led to the prosecution, the terrorist once again became the Trojan horse so that the scenarios and methods of the state and the MME could be validated .

Thus, those accused and convicted under 187A, received long-term sentences in the first instance, starting from 15 years and reaching 37 years (estimated 20) for the anarchist Fotis Tziotzis, who, although he was imprisoned during the time the actions of the indictment took place, was convicted of “moral instigation” for all the actions and for “direction” of the organization. At the same time, no mitigating circumstances were recognized, even for the accused who “fell” under 187A.

In the face of this entire horror-narrative, for 15 months now comrade Andreas has maintained a consistent militant stance throughout the condition of confinement. He published texts both on his case and on broader social/class issues and participated in several events by telephone. Furthermore, a solidarity movement was set up with dozens of events and actions in several cities. The solidarity movement succeeded in reversing the terror regime that the police had tried to impose, especially in the city of Patras. The world of struggle found itself on the streets and stood against repression in an era of accelerating state violence and an imposed modern totalitarianism.

Andreas’s case encapsulates all the vengeful fury of the state and the police against those who unwaveringly stand by the oppressed and exploited, on the side of those at the bottom of this world.
To those who do not tolerate repression, fascism, sexism, war, death and poverty. To those who fight for a world of freedom, equality and solidarity.

Self-organized – Unmediated – Unyielding struggles against repression, state manipulations and fear

Solidarity opens paths to freedom

We have a whole world to win – We have a lifetime to try

Solidarity assembly for anarchist comrade Andreas Floros (Athens,Patras)

Via & translated by Act for freedom now!

Berlin, Germany: Update on the legal situation of Rigaer94 EN/DE

Posted on 2025/07/20 - 2025/07/20 by darknights

There hasn’t been a legal update by us in the past 10 months. Now a lot of stuff is happening again and we are not sure how this will all turn out. What we are sure about is that the enemies of the house are continuing their actions in order to destroy the house. We will not stop fighting them. Here is a brief overview of the legal status of the house right now and the changes which have been going on.

What is the current situation?

Since most of the remaining rent contracts were canceled last summer, the vast majority of the flats are right now without those rent contracts. There are just five rent contracts remaining in the whole house. It seems like our enemies are trying to get rid of the rent contracts bit by bit, in order to create a legal base for a complete eviction of the house.

Court cases that happened in the last months (or didn´t)

On September 4th 2024, there should have been an appeal about some of the rent contracts from 1992 in the back house and against the people who were added to these lawsuits, as a result of the raid in October 2021. Before that, the Amtsgericht dismissed those eviction lawsuits against the rent contracts. The court date was postponed because the so-called lawyer of Lafone, Bernau, sent some documents too late to the judges to include them. Since then there has been no new date scheduled for this.You can find a more detailed description here.
The lawyers of Lafone lodged a disciplinary complaint against judges of the 66th chamber of Landgericht II, accusing and suing the judges for allegedly delaying the trials. This disciplinary complaint was declined. We can only laugh at both our enemies fighting each other.
As we published last year, in three proceedings about two apartments in front house as well as one room in the attic of back house, the legitimacy of the letterbox company Lafone was not questioned by the judges anymore. The apartments in front house still did not get eviction orders, though for one of them a person is supposed to pay their alleged ‘rent debts’, about 20.000€. For the room in the attic on the other side, the judges actually seem willing to issue an eviction order. Since we published this information, all those decisions were confirmed by the Kammergericht – therefore, the highest court in Berlin now seems to accept the legitimacy of this letter box company.

Leonid Medved is the “Owner” of Lafone

Part of this change is also that Leonid Medved is now officially listed as owner of Lafone (and therefore R94) on Companys House. He is described as an “individual person with significant control”. It is said that he directly or indirectly holds 75% or more of the shares in the company. (PDF) Medved became registrable as shareholder on 06/04/2016, but the entry note was just published on 25/04/2025. With this first listing in an official document of the company we now have proof of what we have known for a long time.

Info on upcoming eviction court cases

There are a lot of trials regarding our house coming up in September. Besides attempting to get eviction titles for the squatted flats and those who had rent contracts since 1992, Lafone is trying to get rid of the remaining renters of front house by cancelling their rent contracts.

On 17th of September, all of the rented flats of front house will have appeal hearings. The first lawsuits that attempted to cancel those rent contracts were rejected years ago. Aditionally, some of the trials against people who were added to the lawsuits following the raid in October 2021 will happen that day in the same court room. These hearings will happen at Landgericht II.

Also on 17.9., there will be a court case against the Kadterschmiede and Keimzelle. The last eviction lawsuit against Kadterschmiede and Keimzelle was rejected by the Kammergericht. Bernaus appeal against that was declined by the federal supreme court (BGH) in November 2023. In the end of last year, Bernau filed another eviction lawsuit against Kadterschmiede and Keimzelle, starting from scratch.

For all the court cases all the affected parties have to come. That means the accused, but also Lisa Close, the director of Lafone Investments, will be there. Let’s give her a proper welcome!

Call for participation in the court cases

We call for participation in solidarity at the upcoming court cases. The courtcases will be public (bring ID if you want to go inside).

(Wednesday) 10.09.2025 at 13.00. Littenstr 12-17 room 3705 (3rd floor). Lawsuit against the last existing rent contract in backhouse.

(Wednesday) 17.09.2025 at 10.30. Tegeler weg 17-21. room 148 (1st floor). Lawsuit against Kadterschmiede and Keimzelle.

(Wednesday) 17.09.2025 at 13.00. Littenstr 12-17 room 3705(3rd floor). Lawsuit against the rented flats in front house and some other eviction lawsuits.

For more context read our last two texts “Rigaer94: Sommergewitter in meinem Block – “thunder storms on my block” and “Rigaer94: Return of the Phoenicurus. News from a letterbox“

More infos will follow soon.

Rigaer 94 stays!

Continue reading “Berlin, Germany: Update on the legal situation of Rigaer94 EN/DE” →

DFW Support Committee Denounces Abuse of Prairieland Defendants (USA)

Posted on 2025/07/14 by darknights

Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas — A week after the arrest of 10 protestors at a demonstration at Prairieland ICE Detention Center and the subsequent arrest of the spouse of an arrestee, Johnson County Jail is obstructing the defendants’ access to legal representation and retaliating against them for exercising their 5th and 6th amendment rights pursuant to the U.S. Constitution. These constitutional violations have occurred in conjunction with a far-reaching investigation that has included numerous instances of excessive force and intimidation by various police agencies, friends and family of the defendants reveal. Continue reading “DFW Support Committee Denounces Abuse of Prairieland Defendants (USA)” →

Prairieland Defendants – 11 charged after July 4th shooting at North Texas ICE facility (USA)

Posted on 2025/07/13 by darknights

Prairieland Defendants Support Group Releases Statement and Begins Fundraiser

Dallas-Fort Worth, TX — Today, members of the DFW Support Committee, a group supporting the 11 Prairieland Detention Center arrestees, released a public statement and legal support fundraiser. On July 4th, a group of people protested against the kidnappings and renditions of ICE at the Prairieland Detention Center. By the next day, 10 people were arrested and their loved ones and friends were scrambling to locate them and find out what had happened to them. On July 6th, the spouse of one of the defendants was arrested by the FBI and later charged with obstruction of justice. The police’s story did not make sense to the arrestees’ loved ones and friends, so they began organizing to free the arrestees. Recognizing a need to raise funds to support the defendants and to address the political context in which this is occurring, the DFW Support Committee is releasing a statement and starting a fundraiser for defendants.

The committee’s statement has been released after the arrestees were subsequently charged by the US Department of Justice in a charging document that frames the protest as a violent ambush. Additionally, the spouse of one of the initial defendants was detained by the FBI. The statement categorically rejects this narrative and suggests instead that, “The glaring inconsistencies in the official narrative and the alarmist accusations are a clear attempt to bolster the Trump administration’s claims that the United States is on the verge of chaos, warranting a dramatic increase in militarized police action.”

In addition to the statement, the committee has launched a fundraiser for the defendants. This fundraiser’s description states that it is intended to “raise legal fees and living expenses for all those facing repression connected to the protest at the Prairieland Detention Center.” At the time of release, over $11,000 has been raised. Continue reading “Prairieland Defendants – 11 charged after July 4th shooting at North Texas ICE facility (USA)” →

Information about the new prosecution and court case against Lambros & Panagiotis Vougiouklakis and Fotis Daskala (Greece)

Posted on 2025/06/26 - 2025/06/26 by darknights

This is an English-language translation of the following text by comrades Lambros and Panagiotis Vougiouklakis and Fotis Daskalas on Athens Indymedia.

Human dignity is a term we meet in the dictionary, and it defines the choice of a person to act based on solidarity, punctuality, consciousness and the uncompromising struggle against the enemies of freedom.

The history of all hitherto societies is the history of struggles for dignity, a social – class war. Free man or slave, patrician or plebeian, invader or resistance fighter, in one word: oppressor or oppressed, are in constant opposition to one another. A continuous struggle which is expressed either covertly, or openly.

The ruling classes of each age use justice and the legal system to neutralise those who, with their struggle, question the status quo of those above, those who choose to react to the unjust. Justice is but the expression of a power balance, and that is why it was always used to force revolutionaries into silence, to imprison the rebellious, to compel insurgents to renunciation.

Bourgeois justice is the natural result of a society of people who want to deceive as much as possible, since deception is the only path towards power and wealth. Continue reading “Information about the new prosecution and court case against Lambros & Panagiotis Vougiouklakis and Fotis Daskala (Greece)” →

Fundraiser: Support Bristol Defendant Solidarity – UK

Posted on 2025/06/26 - 2025/06/26 by darknights

Bristol Defendant Solidarity (BDS) is calling for your support and solidarity in a crucial time of need.

https://chuffed.org/project/bds

For years, BDS has been a steadfast ally to those battling with the legal system due to their involvement in protest, resistance, and direct action. We also support those who have been arrested and targeted by violent, discriminatory policing or suffered other state repression.

Over the past few years, we’ve supported almost 100 people targeted following the ‘Kill the Bill’ demonstration on 21st March 2021. The community’s response was phenomenal: your support and donations have been a powerful display of collective defiance and solidarity. But we still need your help to enable us to provide consistent, ongoing and meaningful support to many defendants facing state retribution.

Four years on, the repression remains relentless. So too must our solidarity. KTB defendants are still facing court cases and serving lengthy sentences, while the police enjoy their impunity. Continue reading “Fundraiser: Support Bristol Defendant Solidarity – UK” →

Athens, Greece: Beneath the concrete, something is burning. Statement regarding the occupation of a building and creation of Rasprava Squat

Posted on 2025/04/19 - 2025/04/20 by darknights

Following the end of the event “Revolutionary memory and perspective of the struggle” in Mesologgiou street, a crowd of comrades descended to Kolettis and Themistokleous streets to defend the liberation of the building.
The following is the self-introductory communique of the occupation:

The silence of the metropolis weighs like a stone on our shoulders. The streets are filled with worn-out stares, bodies crawling out of habit, out of fear, out of submission. The world moves along predetermined paths, without a second thought, tempering its dreams. Everything is programmed to work exactly as they want: work, consumption, obedience. Yet, always, beneath the surface, something is boiling.
History is not written by the obedient. A few choose to bear the burden of disobedience. To crack the concrete of normality. To confront the invisible hand of power that chokes every aspect of our lives. Refusing to submit is not a mere stance. It is a call to question, to overturn, to take back everything that belongs to us.
We are comrades, anarchists who derive from different political and ideological backgrounds, but we have found ourselves in the very same fires of struggle. It is there, where our common struggles and collective experiences united us, that we recognized the vital need for the creation of a space for meeting, political maturation¹, exchange of views and organizational empowerment.
At a time when isolation is imposed and communities of struggle are being dismantled by repression, the formation of such spaces is not only necessary – it is crucial.
The repressive blows of recent years have not come by accident. The authorities are attempting to eliminate any focus of resistance, to crush any form of self-organisation and to extinguish the flame of contestation.
Great achievements have been lost, the movement has been put on the defensive, the recession is now on the horizon. But we know that history is written by those who do not fall back, by those who are not afraid to confront reality.
To remain on the defensive is to accept defeat. And that is not going to happen.
The time is now to turn words into action, to move from defense to attack.
So let’s make it clear that the enemy will not get rid of us so easily.
We must define our own field of struggle, reclaim our space and time.
To liberate territories from domination, to create a vibrant centre of resistance, a radical cell for mobilisation² both in theory and action.
We perceive the occupation as an integral part of the movement and the movement as an organic element of the occupation.
The existence of territories of struggle is not just a practical question, but a deeply political one.
Squats are not just places to hang out, they are not just places of hospitality.
They are strongholds of resistance, laboratories of radical practices, cracks in the normality they try to impose on us.
And this is a non-negotiable reality.
Every neighbourhood, every street, every square is not a neutral ground. It is a vibrant map of oppositions, conflicts and claims. Cities are built on the basis of discipline, policing and the sterilization of public space. Squares are filled with surveillance cameras, walls are painted grey, buildings become inaccessible bastions for those who cannot afford to pay the price of existence in a world where everything has a tag price.
Dominance is implementing a strategic plan of universal control of the metropolises, crushing any source of resistance.
Armed with black propaganda and ideological warfare, it attempts to shape consciousness, while the deliberate degradation of neighbourhoods through the spread of organised crime and the violent expulsion of the local population is paving the way for its complete absorption by capital. Continue reading “Athens, Greece: Beneath the concrete, something is burning. Statement regarding the occupation of a building and creation of Rasprava Squat” →

Massa, Italy: The Inquisition at work. Requested from 5 years 6 months to 7 years imprisonment for the accused in the Massa trial derived from the Operation Scripta Scelera

Posted on 2025/04/07 - 2025/04/07 by darknights

On Tuesday, April 1, one of the most relevant hearings in the trial involving four anarchists indicted in the operation Scripta Scelera for editing and distributing the internationalist anarchist fortnightly “Bezmotivny” was held in Massa. Starting at 12:00 noon in Palma Square there were microphone speeches and a leafleting, and from 3:00 p.m. there was a presence in the courtroom by the solidarity comrades present.

During the hearing, Public Prosecutor Manotti of the Genoa District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate delivered his indictment, and then set out the requests for conviction against the defendants in reference to both counts of the trial: incitement to commit crimes with the aggravating circumstance of the purpose of terrorism (as well as apology for terrorist crimes) and offense to the honor or prestige of the president of the republic. He did not, however, seek conviction on the aggravating circumstance of having committed the act through computer or telematic means.

These are the requests: 7 years in prison for Gino, 6 years for Luigi (with revocation of the suspended sentence for a previous conviction imposed on him by the Ravenna court), 5 years and 6 months each for Gaia and Paolo. A hearing with defense arguments and sentencing will be held on Tuesday, April 8, also at 3 p.m. in the court in De Gasperi Square.

Before making a few brief remarks, let us recall that this trial-excluding the associative crime initially charged-involves four of the defendants in the proceedings, those for whom this trial with immediate trial was precisely ordered in January 2024 and who were under restrictive house arrest at the time, while as for the other six defendants the proceedings remained in the investigation phase.

The repressive apparatus has long been forcibly trying to “stop” anarchists. With the prosecutions in recent years against certain newspapers we are basically being “reproached” for being what we are, and in particular with Scripta Scelera the state would like to strike at anarchist agitation and propaganda. The shameless willingness to dumb down revolutionary publications as well as to demonize actions of attack against the state and capitalism show the real consistency of the permissive face of the state and its “freedoms of expression” especially in times of war. Seven years in prison for the mere publication of a newspaper-the sixty or so issues of “Bezmotivny”-we understand to be the highest sentence demand ever made in a trial against anarchists in reference to what, objectively, are “crimes of opinion.” Anarchist ideas are evidently dangerous because they overflow with an urgency of life, because they exhort us not to spend our existence on our knees, because they speak of the will to radically overthrow this old world, because they suggest a method of struggle, because…

What else to say? The warning of the new inquisition headed by the anti-terrorist prosecutors’ offices and the prevention police is clear: when faced with the theoretical-practical combination of anarchism, it is either silence or condemnation. Yet if they think they are convincing us that the game is not worth the candle, they are sorely mistaken….

3 April 2025