In the early hours of Tuesday, January 10, far from assembly fanfare, a van at the University of Lugano was attacked with fire in solidarity with fellow anarchist Alfredo Cospito who has been on hunger strike for 83 days.
The choice of the faculty was not accidental, in fact the complex that was attacked houses classrooms and offices of the Faculty of Computer Science (www.inf.usi.ch) of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences (www.biomed.usi.ch/it), the Department of Innovative Technologies of SUPSI (www.supsi.ch/dti/) and the Dalle Molle Institute of Artificial Intelligence Studies (IDSIA)(www.idsia.ch).
Against the increasingly deadly future proposed by society and civilization, the only viable path is that of attack.
Strength Thanos Chatziangelou
Strength Ivan Alocco
Strength to all imprisoned Anarchists and imprisoned revolutionary fighters
A warm greeting to those who find themselves birds of the forest
May this little hearth warm you
Long live Anarchy
Long live the Black International
Death to the technoworld
On January 5th, the 78th day of the hunger strike to the bitter end against 41 bis prison regime and life imprisonment without possibility of parole, the antagonist radio station Radio Onda d’Urto broadcast a second speech by the doctor who is regularly visiting anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito, imprisoned in the Bancali prison, in Sassari. As for the update on the 71st day of the hunger strike (December 29th), we report a transcript of the speech and the recording of the broadcast (in italian language):
“[…] All in all, Alfredo’s condition is good. He is holding the hunger strike in an unexpected way, perhaps because he started from a high weight, at the beginning he weighed 115 kg, while today he is 2 kg under the last time I saw him, so we are talking about 83.5 kg. All in all, he is absolutely lucid, well oriented in time and space, he only reports some pressure drops, especially when he gets up, and this is there because he is maintaining a slightly low pressure; however, not particularly, today he had a maximum of 105, a minimum of 70, so all in all a good pressure. With regard to the haemato-chemical examinations – the last of which have not yet arrived – the situation from the penultimate ones was stationary like the previous ones, so there is a slight drop in the white blood cells, but as for the rest […] the vital parameters are good. As far as potassium is concerned, I can’t tell you anything, because, as I told you in the last interview, the potassium was a bit low, but it seems – from the electrocardiogram where you can indirectly see a possible drop in potassium – that there are no longer those typical alterations from hypo-potassiemia. He’s been taking honey from time to time, and this is also doing him good with regard to a sort of cheilosis he had on his tongue, with patina, etc.; basically, honey is a natural antibiotic. Today I brought him some curaseptic, which is a very disinfectant mouthwash […], the prison guards didn’t want to, then I managed to get him to rinse, and that made him feel good; then he used this ‘brush’ that I also brought him to remove the plaque from his tongue, and all in all he was very happy with how it felt, how his mouth felt. So basically the situation is stationary […]”.
The recording of the Radio Onda d’Urto broadcast (in italian language):
In memory of the hunger-striking anarchist Alfredo Cospito we set fire to trucks of Strabag in the Schanze on the night of Jan. 5.
Strabag does not only build jails. At least since the struggle for the Dannenröder forest, they have also often been the target of attacks because they actively destroy nature. Our fire should also give strength to those fighting in and around Lützerath. Day X has already been proclaimed.
“We are in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito, who has been on hunger strike since October 20, 2022 against his imprisonment in the 41-bis isolation regime and against life imprisonment without option of release. Alfredo’s detention conditions at the moment are slightly better than the previous weeks. He has lost a lot of weight and his health is relatively stable, but could become critical at any time. Two other prisoners in Italy, Anna and Juan have been on prolonged solidarity hunger strikes and Ivan Alocco, a prisoner in France is also supporting Alfredo through hunger strike. Toby Shone, who is in jail in England, is also supporting Alfredo by refusing to eat several days a week. (DN Note: Now out of Parc prison, under strict conditions, in a ‘semi-open’ detention structure.) https://actforfree.noblogs.org/post/2023/01/01/italy-update-about-the-he…
We are also in solidarity with Thanos Chatziangelou of the Anarchist Action organization, who was illegally transferred from Korydallos to Nigrita prison in Serres on Dec. 19. Thanos started a hunger and thirst strike that day. The comrade is involved in the recent mobilizations in prisons in Greece against the new harsh laws that are currently taking place in many places and in which many prisoners have participated in recent months. Continue reading “Hamburg, Germany: Responsibility claim for the arson attack on a truck of the company Strabag in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and the fighters in Lützerath”→
“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.”
Merry crisis from prison island!
On a wet boxing day, 26th Dec, we held a noise demo outside HMP Bristol in solidarity with all prisoners and to show recently kidnapped Gopal some love & rage! Gopal was sentenced to 18 months for violent disorder following the Bristol kill the bill riot in March 2021. You can find Gopal’s details along with other prisoners who welcome letters and solidarity here: https://bristolabc.org/prisoners/
We made noise, left our greetings on the walls and a banner at the entrance.
Fuck christmas but fuck christmas in a cage even more.
ALL SCREWS ARE BASTARDS!
KILL THE BILL!
FOR GOPAN, RYAN, KTB PRISONERS, TOBY, ALFREDO!
FIRE TO THE PRISONS!
There are moments when silence is an invitation to crime. There are moments when silence is complicity.Georges Ibrahim Abdallah
You are guilty not only when you commit a crime, but also when you do nothing to prevent it when you have the opportunity.Dimitris Tsafendasi
Since May ’22, a counter-revolutionary trial has been taking place against anarchist fighters, for participation in the armed Organization Revolutionary Self-Defense. This trial comes at a time when the state-capitalist regime is climaxing its aggression against the oppressed, the exploited and excluded. The anarchist Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis is also on trial for this case, while he has taken responsibility, both in public and in this courtroom, for his participation in revolutionary struggle through the Organization of Revolutionary Self-Defense, as well as for keeping the weapons (which in the repressive operation of November ‘19, fell into the hands of the state), in order to continue the guerrilla struggle through the experience and strategy of the Organization Revolutionary Self-Defense. The court of appeal of this particular military tribunal of the counter-revolution will be completed in January ‘23.
Throughout the course of this trial, Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis has been defending the right of revolutionary struggle, the necessity of guerrilla organization and of the armed social self-defense against the tyranny of power, and has been deconstructing and attacking bourgeois justice and its counter-revolutionary laws, inside the enemy field. With an eye to the world revolution, from the beginning of the trial, Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis is speaking about movements and struggles in all parts of the globe, expressing solidarity with those who are struggling, with current struggles, with the political prisoners and their fight today, and with reference to fighters who have been killed. These days, a struggle in italian prisons is taking place; comrade Alfredo Cospito is on hunger strike already for more than 65 days, against the state of total isolation, 41-bis, that has been imposed on him. With the awareness of how critical Alfredo Cospito’s struggle is, comrade Dimitris made extensive reference to Alfredo’s fight, during the trial. Meanwhile, the italian authorities rejected Alfredo’s demand for his removal from the 41-bis regime, and the comrade is continuing the hunger strike. Continue reading “Greece: Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis – Speech of internationalist solidarity in the context of the trial of the Organization Revolutionary Self-Defense”→
“The state is not something that can be destroyed by revolution, but it is a condition, a certain relationship between people, a mode of human behavior; we destroy it by entering into other relationships, by behaving differently.”
– Gustav Landauer
When we carried the spirit of solidarity to Berlin-Neukölln in the first hours of January 3, Thanos Chatziangelou was in the 15th day of his hunger and thirst strike.
Our target was a truck from the car rental company Hertz, which we burned completely because Hertz – not only in Greece, but especially there – provides vehicles to the enemy (police, military, private security forces) at reduced prices. In the USA, in December, Hertz had to pay almost 170 million dollars in compensation to former customers who were falsely accused by Hertz of stealing rental cars, some of whom ended up in jail.
We found the Sonnenallee in Neukölln, a neighbourhood where there are frequent clashes with the police, to be a suitable place for the fire. After the riots there on New Year’s Eve, the politicians and the press went on a rampage against the “migrant youths”. We, on the other hand, welcome every rocket and firecracker used against the cops and show solidarity with the rioters.
For the fulfilment of Thanos Chatziangelou’s demands!
Solidarity with the 11 Turkish prisoners who are also on hunger strike in Greece!
Freedom for Alfredo Cospito, on hunger strike in Italy!
Strength to all the resistant prisoners whose names would make any text endless!
We hear from France about the new hunger strike that anarchist Ivan Alocco has been on in solidarity with Alfredo since last December 22 [the comrade went on a first hunger strike, which lasted 35 days, between October 27 and December 1].
Ivan is fine, he takes sugar in his water instead of meals and also a little salt in the morning, which prevents his tension from dropping too much causing him great dizziness (however, the lowest blood pressure he has reached so far is 50 min. and 80 mas.). Glucose is okay, toxins some days are a bit high, but nothing to worry about.
To conserve strength he has stopped sports activities and going outdoors, which causes him to be quite bored–so he reads a lot.
A few days ago he had a minor disagreement with a guard who did not want the worker who distributes meals to give him sugar packets, but after Ivan questioned the captain of the guards the situation was resolved. The prison guards and inmates continue to “lecture” him (“no use, think of your health”), but Ivan is determined in his initiative despite the logical concern for Alfredo’s health and life.
We express our affection, gratitude and solidarity for Ivan!
To write to him:
Ivan Alocco N. d’ecrou 46355 Maison d’Arrêt de Villepinte 40, Avenue Vauban 93420 Villepinte France
Rome. On New Year’s Eve we had zero desire to celebrate. We took to the streets full of rage. Supported by an unusual as well as thick fog, we attacked with fire the multinational Hertz, burning 4 vans. Those shits in Greece have made deals to supply vehicles to the cops.
We dedicate this action to Thanos, Greek comrade on hunger and thirst strike.
To Alfredo, on hunger strike for more than 70 days.
To Ivan, Anna, Juan and to all the anarchist prisoners.
Forza compas. Our hearts are with you.
In these three years I was faced with choices which led me by the hand through a path fraught with crossroads and bifurcations.
Like on a minefield, I had to decide carefully where to step, with my pride and my self-respect at stake. The first choice I had to face with was whether I should continue to contribute, or let the prison overflow me, patiently waiting to get out. As limited as my situation is, I chose to continue to contribute through the written word. Once I made this decision I faced another crossroad: whether to confine myself — ecumenically — from this “high point” of my “status” (sic.) of a “revolutionary” prisoner — to bestowing blessings in each directions, applauding to every anarchist practice, paying attention not to make any enemies; or to use the weapon of critique, ever more harshly, trying to outline some analysis, to open some discourses. I chose the easier way (at least for me): openly push my critique to the extremes, at the cost of isolation (less letters, less information, less generic solidarity).
But always aware of the abyss between the thought and the action.
Words, strong as they may be, always carry something that sounds phony, even when they pose real, concrete risks, which may effectuate in years of prison for apology or incitement.
In “my” cell, the words I listen to most carefully are those that follow the actions, those which become flash and blood. They are alive, real, there’s no mistaking. They differ from the continuous blabbering in the background of an anarchist movement withdrawn in itself, affected by an embarrassing lack of courage and fantasy. A movement that feeds on appearance, on rhetoric and sometimes on demagogy, with its demonstrations, assemblies, communicative marches, campaigns of information and on rooting in a territory, a continuous blah blah. You don’t have to support claims of responsibility, but you know for sure they are honest because they are products of an action, because they’re written by really taking part in the game, putting one’s life in danger. In these times of virtual reality it is no small thing, and when then these claims talk to each other becoming campaigns of action, the background noise, the blabbering, definitely disappears, and everything gets more serious, more dangerous, more real. Continue reading “‘Ready or Not’ – Alfredo Cospito”→
Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 71st day of hunger strike (Italy, December 29, 2022)
On December 29th, 71st day of the hunger strike to the bitter end against 41 bis and life imprisonment without possibility of parole, the antagonist radio station Radio Onda d’Urto broadcast a speech by the doctor who is regularly visiting anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito, imprisoned in the Bancali prison in Sassari. We report a partial transcript of the speech and, at the end of the update, the recording of the broadcast (in italian language).
“[…] So, let’s consider that Alfredo is now 70 days into his hunger strike. He started from a weight of 115 kg and today he is at 84 kg. Surely he has a strong physique, he started from a fairly high weight so he has a better chance than others of being able to sustain this hunger strike. It is clear, however, that everything has an end at some point; in the sense that currently his haemato-chemical parameters are quite good, except for the fact that it is going down a bit with the electrolytes. Today he spoke to me about reducing his agony, in the sense that he wants to make it precipitate a little in order to shift the ground a little, a little more, so that he might eventually be transferred from 41 bis. I told him, however, that as far as potassium is concerned, which is part of the electrolytes, like sodium and chlorine, it is indispensable for contraction, especially for cardiac contraction – I am a cardiologist –, in fact, with the electrocardiogram that we did today there are alterations that are found in the ventricular recovery phase, and which show particular waves that result from potassium deficiency. Obviously I got a bit angry because, a few days ago, he stopped taking the supplements [extremely mild, light, which he has been taking for some time], so this is also the cause of the lowered potassium […]. He is a little convinced [to keep taking them, for a few more days] so he promised me that today and tomorrow, while waiting for the results of the tests [which are done about every four days], he will take the supplements. Then, as for the rest, psychologically he is in high spirits, smiling; a couple of days ago they moved him from his cell to another one, so he has air time with three other inmates, and this pleases him very much, because he talks to these other three inmates during air time. As a complexion then, in fact, he is a little better because he was very, very pale, but not pale because he was deficient in red blood cells; pale precisely because he was not taking light. And obviously the calcemia that he still has good is crumbling a little bit from the bones; somewhere, if you don’t take in food, the body subtracts and tries to help in some way. Let’s say that also as reasoning, as lucidity, he is fine; nothing to say about the answers he gives, they are not at all confused. He is reading, now and then he has a bit of blurred vision, he told me a bit of visual impairment, and that goes with the vitamin deficiency, of course. Every now and then, also because he wants to be conscious, he takes a little honey, which is a bit better than sugar […], when he was hypoglycaemic, they used to give him some sugar, but now he takes honey, so he doesn’t have these glycaemic drops any more. Then, for the rest, he is quite well; obviously he has lost a lot, a lot, a lot of weight, even since the first time I saw him, but nothing disastrous from the haemato-chemical analyses […]”.
In the face of the attempted annihilation of Alfredo, it is of the utmost importance that the ideas, deeds, and contribution of the comrade not be forgotten, condemned to oblivion as desired by the repressive apparatus of the state with the Scripta Manent trial, the Sibilla operation, and the transfer to the 41 bis regime.
The recent decree of the Court of Surveillance of Rome that confirms the detention in 41 bis is placed in the same perspective – the annihilation of the comrade – and is indicative of the reprisal that the state intends to give to the anarchist movement. Repression, convictions, decades of imprisonment, however, will not be enough nor can they ever lead to surrender: inevitably, our passion for freedom is stronger than any authority.
We continue the struggle with determination, we support all anarchist and revolutionary initiatives in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito who has been on hunger strike for over 70 days, with Ivan Alocco since December 22nd again on hunger strike alongside Alfredo, and with all imprisoned anarchists and revolutionaries.
The recording of the Radio Onda d’Urto broadcast (in italian language):
Coach burned during the New Year riots in Neukölln.