“In the early hours of this morning, April 26th, we carried out a propaganda action in support of our comrades kidnapped in the jails of the Chilean state. We vindicate each one of their struggles against this system of death that only seeks exploitation in pursuit of its economic interests, destroyers of land and life.
We call for solidarity and action in the face of this punitivist scenario that imprisons those who struggle. In addition to the above, we call to be present in a concrete way with the families in struggle in the different land seizures of the Chilean territory.
Opening the tensions of dialogue, we present the following section of interviews with individuals, collectivities and related spaces that make up the anarchic body in different parts of the world.
The interviews are a valuable contribution to the observation in detail and depth; they come, in a certain way, to broaden the view to give us feedback among comrades and to debate with perspectives and projections, that although they may be different, they converge in the ideas and practices of freedom against all authority.
Without further ado, we have in this first venture of dialogues the comrades of Espacio Fénix.
1-How and when did Espacio Fénix arise, and what projects converge in the space?
Espacio Fénix was born in the middle of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2021, in the midst of a series of ridiculous mobility restrictions and increased police intervention under the excuse of controlling and preventing the spread of covid-19.
Thus, a group of compañerxs got together, seeking to open a crack, a fissure within the asphyxiating panorama that was regulating everything, imposing the rhythm of power and where many seemed to be accommodating or waiting for the authority to give us “permission” to resume our lives.
We embarked on the idea of opening a physical space where comrades could converge, where anarchic material could circulate and where new comradeships could be woven and articulated. Thus in May 2021 we opened the doors of the space, we began to set up its infrastructure and in July we held our first activity in memory of compañero Santiago Maldonado.
Claustrofobia Ediciones, the Biblioteca Antiautoritaria Sacco y Vanzetti and various anarchic individualities converge in the space.
2-The “Ciclos de Cine” (Film Cycles) is the tool you have used the most to carry out activities. What is the significance for you of the screening of films, documentaries, etc.?
We started with the film cycles in October 2021 and we have not stopped every Tuesday, month after month, grouping the films by specific themes, seeking to stress our ideas and nourish our arguments with content, it is the beauty of the feedback between colleagues with diverse experiences and views.
From the very beginning, we proposed the screening of films as an excuse to sit down and converse, because after each screening, the central part of the activity comes to life, which is the discussion about what has been screened. There the words run, without leaders, where everyone can expose their dislikes, their liking or the results and analysis that is made of what we have seen. With this gesture we also seek to break the logic of passive spectators, of consumers, very typical of socially imposed roles.
In this sense, we have screened diverse audiovisual material, industry films, documentaries made by compañerxs, films that we like or dislike, always aiming at the discussion and tension between compas.
We do not seek to fill the cultural gaps of authority, nor to be the free panorama for those who lack resources; we seek, by different means and tools to spread our anarchic and anti-authoritarian ideas/actions, therefore the film cycles are just one more tool we choose.
Ciclo de Cine March 2024Ciclo de Cine November 2021
3-Regarding the written material, what is the importance and power that you perceive in it?
The written material certainly has another power, another depth and transcendence, of course the spoken thought is important, but writing allows the ordering of ideas, so as to be able to reflect more carefully on what is going to be exposed and to assimilate/discuss more deeply on what is read.
In a present where immediacy, image culture, the digestible and pyrotechnical, where almost the medium is the message, emptying of content many of our tools, writing/reading is a weapon, which can also serve as a refuge, where to continue polishing and sharpening our ideas.
The written material is an instrument that impels us to grow, to argue and continually revise our positions, widening our views, shining light where there was darkness.
On the other hand, it is necessary to say that written material has always accompanied anarchists, as propaganda for the dissemination of ideas, it is an effective tool to enter into dialogue with more comrades wherever they are: in the street, in prison, or other territories. It is important because it nurtures individual thinking, as well as possible collective discussions.
The written material as propaganda can bring together comrades and depending on the objectives and projections that we have, we can realize initiatives of various kinds. In the same way that we can find ourselves on the path of anarchic struggle, we can also distance ourselves from people who spread anarchist propaganda of other tendencies, for us those who are called to participate in the electoral circus, appeal to platform organization, dream of unity and large federations and those who reject legitimate political insurrectional violence – to give just a few examples – puts us in another place on the sidewalk and in several cases as enemies.
4-There are political-cultural spaces that coexist peacefully with power, while others attract police attention. Why do you think this happens? Are there more dangerous ideas-practices? If so, what would these be?
We don’t think this was the intention of the question, but it is worth clarifying to avoid pejorative atmospheres. For us, anti-power spaces/ideas/practices (truly anti-authoritarian and anarchic, leaving out and fighting the bullshit of “popular power”) by definition do not coexist peacefully neither with power, nor with authority, nor with the police and their investigators of all kinds.
Police eyes and ears are always there, to believe otherwise is naive and dangerous. They let themselves be seen or directly attack depending on conjunctures or panoramas that mark a change of rhythm.
In this sense, it is not the police harassment that defines our comrades’ ties -it is defined by our ideas, values and projections- because valuable initiatives that are undoubtedly a contribution to the anarchic tide, may not receive the police onslaught in an evident and grotesque way and not for that reason be considered “legal”, “innocent” or in any way aspire to coexist peacefully with the power. For example, at present there are activities that do not receive police interference, but that 3 or 4 years ago were seen as a danger and received harassment; we are talking about common pots or self-defense activities. It does not change the activity or the background, but it changes the perception of power or the effect it seeks to achieve as a chain reaction (fear, disarticulation, etc.).
Now, it is important to emphasize that these types of practices carried out by those in power are part of their work, and must be understood as such. They have always existed and will continue to exist, we do not say this in an alarmist way, much less to call for immobility or to “disappear” from certain spaces. Simply because it must be clear, those who consciously decide to undertake a confrontational path to power and propagate it in multiple ways, may encounter those enemy dynamics, therefore, the consequences must be assumed. Continue reading “Chile: Interview with Espacio Fénix EN/ES”→
After more than a decade, the publication Refractario comes to an end, and with it we close the door to this project.
We have delayed these final words and the necessary closure of this project, thinking about resuming it or giving it new formats, but it is imperative to leave some words next to the door before closing. A project built with so much effort and affection deserves a decent closure.
In July 2012 we started this counter-informative project. We generated a materiality in paper that lasted eight issues (from 2012 to 2014), and we also published 5 special issues. Undoubtedly, the heart of our project was the website. In it converged various dimensions of the anti-prison field: news, contingencies, calls, propaganda, reflections, material of interest, memory and practical information.
Throughout 11 years, the project operated, far exceeding the initial objectives. We maintained the rhythm of publication, the space for reflection and positioning at different junctures, while on the other hand the feedback from comrades who translated texts, sent communiqués and fed informal discussions within the anarchist movement made Refractario a useful, current and active tool.
Throughout this period we rejoiced with the release of several comrades from prison, accompanied the trial of many and maintained strong solidarity agitation with several who are still behind bars. Several campaigns managed to internationalize thanks to projects like this one, which allowed us to inform, disseminate and position the urgency in other latitudes. The intention was always to become a space to find accurate information, as well as to open the discussion on so many issues that in these years have strained the anti-authoritarian environments linked to prison, trials and repression.
At the end of January 2006, the counter-information web page “Palabras de Guerra” (Words of War) said goodbye to the virtual world at that time. We highlight some of the reasons that led to its closure, as expressed in its farewell communiqué:
– Excessive volume of information, in most cases superfluous, a reflection of the Western society of excess.
– Accelerated publication rhythms, confronted with natural rhythms.
– An immediatism that generates the need to be constantly informed.
– The emergence of a revolutionary subject whose militancy is based primarily on the Internet.
Words more than 2 years after the attack against the National Directorate of Gendarmeria of $hile and 13 months of imprisonment of the anarchist comrades Aldo and Lucas Hernandez.
During these days the nostalgia assaults, missing that air of the street envelops when waking up in these cells. It has been 12 months since the GOPE arrived bursting different doors of different spaces in which we transited or stepped on at some time.
We regret in the depths of our hearts that the bastard police exposed these beautiful little beings to so much violence, and that their eyes saw their despicable uniforms and weapons that were ready to meet and capture Aldo, so far the only one charged for the explosive attack against the National Directorate of Gendarmeria of Chile, and Lucas, charged for possession of various weapons and explosives.
The police did not care in the least about violating the basic rights of the children present in the different spaces raided.
We have lived the consequences and ups and downs of the prison world, where our convictions remain unyielding and more eager than yesterday to see this society collapse after an accurate blow to the heart of the repugnant social peace. During this year we have been separated as brothers and we have lived different prison processes. Aldo is in a highly dangerous module in the La Gonzalina Prison-Extermination Center, where he is the only political prisoner in the module. Lucas has been in different modules of the Santiago One Prison-Company. Being linked to the street, to the illegality and the cause that besieges us at present has influenced how we develop and position ourselves in our journey as prisoners, where he has had to face different prison situations.
We consider that in these situations it is extremely important to defend our position against society and prison, against prison and society: against prison society.
In spite of everything, we have learned to be attentive to different codes and frequencies, here, where blades and spears speak for themselves. Always with the intention that the metals are aimed at the jailers and not between prisoners.
We continue with our integrity intact, our illegal steps stepped hard on the streets, always intending more, never staying in the lesser evil or in the brute comfort, we broke with it and that is how we ventured into the boldness of the facts.
At present they are still investigating us, trying to find more and more, they will try to condemn us with the highest sentences they can, according to our different crimes, exemplary sentences as happened recently with our compañero Francisco Solar.
For us the only example is the coherence of continuing to take a stand against domination from the very house of the jailers.
Be clear that the ideas and revolutionary action is bulletproof and shackle-proof. These are the consequences of our anarchic and free existence, we assume the costs without fear, no prosecutor or court will make us feel the despair, much less bend us. They are the ones who fear us, not us.
They are the cowards, not those of us who, determined, walk with our dead by our side and with the death that, many times, accompanies us in every illegal movement and in every action.
Hundreds of personal-political projects were put on hold, even so, from these dungeons, we remain clear and willing to continue contributing to the anarchist struggle that walks firm and determined for the destruction of power, its servants and all the existing prison society.
Life is fragile and none is the exception.
A fraternal greeting to the different comrades who worthily face their days in the different prisons of the world.
Fire to the prison and its jailers!
Death to the dominant lie!
With clear and sharper ideas nothing is over, the war continues.
Long live anarchy.
Aldo Hernández Valdés – La Gonzalina Extermination Center
Lucas Hernández Valdés – Prison-Company Santiago one.
Faced with life imprisonment in disguise, action is always worthwhile
Was anything else expected from Power? Although the sentence of 86 years in prison has provoked surprise and some consternation, the Power acted accordingly. It has punished forceful actions directed against its defenders and representatives, the audacity of the open rebellion that hit their spaces that they believed impregnable and also the unabashed and unambiguous vindication of such attacks, demonstrating that they perceive the danger implicit in the dissemination of ideas and actions.
The State has acted as it is and that should not surprise us.
It proceeded as it has historically done when it has been directly attacked, when they have really felt the threat of seeing their lives at risk and when, moreover, it has not found submission or repentance.
Along with seeking to bury me for life in this place, this sentence clearly constitutes an intimidating signal for all anarchist spaces and individualities that openly position themselves for combat insofar as it intends to put an end to offensive practices that refuse to disappear and that demonstrated their scope and potential in the October revolt. It is, in short, a blow to anarchism of action as a whole that reflects the threat it poses to Power, which, although it may sound paradoxical, shows that the insurrectional path fulfills part of its purposes. The fact that we are being persecuted, that years ago they created a specialized anti-anarchist unit which they have now replicated to fight organized crime, and that we are given 86-year sentences, are indicators that the path of action worries and worries the powerful.
The insistence and, at times, the intensification of anarchic action has led to a forceful condemnation that clearly has a demobilizing pretension and a sense of political revenge.
However, it is undeniable that lately there has not been an advance in the anarchic offensive, presenting, rather, a stagnation and even a decrease in the development and multiplication of transgressive practices. I think this is due to multiple aspects among which are the repressive variable as well as a post revolt effect that, apparently, has led to demobilization in several environments and individualities. I believe that a deeper analysis of this issue deserves a more detailed analysis, which is not the case here.
And if you ask me if it was worth it. I answer not only that it was worth it, but that it is and will be absolutely worth it. That taking the individual decision to rebel, to take revenge and to put an end, even for an instant, to the impunity of the powerful is one of the most beautiful moments that can be experienced. That linking word and action, going beyond mere slogans emptied of content, strengthens and gives meaning to an individual and collective position of conflict. That taking ideas to the realm of the possible is always necessary and indispensable if one freely decides to confront Power, even if it costs decades of imprisonment and even life. Action is always worthwhile.
This concealed life sentence, which is one of the highest international sentences against an anarchist, is obviously intended to pacify, but it is up to us to ensure that this signal achieves its goal. It is in our will and decision to make these sentences completely lose their meaning and even constitute one more motive to attack, as the “Grupo de acción 6 de julio – Nueva Subversión” rightly exposed after the recent explosive attack against a bank branch.
Here inside, understanding, as I pointed out a few years ago, that anarchists in prison are active comrades who are temporarily locked up, in opposition and avoiding the limiting pigeonholing of the figure of “prisoner”, is that I intend to continue contributing to the different initiatives of the anarchic struggle. To insist on the permanent struggle for the annulment of the sentences of the military justice and with the campaign for the liberation of comrade Marcelo Villarroel, the freedom of anarchist and subversive prisoners and the destruction of the prison society.
Anarchist and subversive prisoners to the streets!
On December 16, 2009 I was expelled from Argentina after 21 months of confinement in different units of the province of Neuquén to be at the disposal of the Chilean state and it has been 14 years since then.
In 2014 I was sentenced to 14 years for two bank robberies. Strictly speaking, I am serving this sentence in its entirety, from beginning to end, without any benefit and it ends today December 16, 2023 and still the state keeps me behind bars.
According to the gendarmes, I must serve 12 more years of imprisonment to be able to apply for some intrapenitentiary benefit only in 2036. According to their retroactive modifications of the illegal Chilean law, in 2056 I will definitively expire my sentences, all of them from events that occurred more than 30 years ago.
A madness of numbers and years typical of Pinochet’s military justice shamefully in force and still today endorsed by recent rulings of the Court of Appeals of Rancagua, of Santiago, of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of this amnesiac country governed today by the Communist Party, the Broad Front and all the progressive and social-democratic scum always at the service of the interests of the great god of capital.
In this context, a few days ago, Mónica and Francisco, anarchist comrades of action who received the full revenge of the state, were condemned by the capital’s democratic inquisition, particularly Francisco to whom the domination imposed 86 years, becoming today the revolutionary prisoner in the Chilean prisons with the highest sentence and whom we must know how to accompany from the daily practice without pauses since the road will evidently be longer. Always from the complicit affinity and never from the victimization!
On the other hand, in the occupied wallmapu, in the same week, the racist Chilean justice declares Peñi Luis Tranamil Nahuel, who these days is about to receive a hefty sentence, as well as Peñi Nelson Queupil, who faces an imminent sentence, both walking the path of the weichan, are in Chilean prisons, fists raised, living the onslaught of the state offensive of occupation. Continue reading “$hile: “Words from the confinement, necessary letters” by Marcelo Villarroel”→
(Received on 15/12/2023 to the mail informativoanarquista@riseup.net)
Attempted explosive attack on the Scotiabank corporate building
To succeed in an attack is the most expected situation because we like that things turn out according to plan and that our claims are preceded by the sound of an explosion. But getting it right always brings close to the situation of failing, sometimes being too explicit or in others going almost unnoticed; “that the right time has not been chosen”, “that the appearance has not been changed in a place without cameras”, “that the correct route has not been taken”, “that the clockwork has not been confirmed”, etc., are statements motivated by perceiving some error, each one being elementary with its own level of influence for the operation in its entirety and that are not reduced to whether the device worked or not. The target may have exploded, what a satisfaction; but all the hits and misses behind it, how are they counted, how do they look, what do they explain about the action?
When one errs, the worst thing that can happen, besides imprisonment and death, is to be clouded by success, which at the end of the day translates into the frustration of “not knowing how to do things”. It has been said in every possible way by many comrades that there is no secret formula for insurrectional action. Overthinking techniques and conditions in order to find their perfection, ends up overwhelming the attempt of action. Some intellectual efforts become useless because they are devoid of direct experience, of the tension lived in the moment. The ideal field of study for the operative theory is the field of action, woven in the past and present by the subversive guerrilla experiences. Assuming, studying and positively discussing the reality of our mistakes will help us to catalyze a better management of the variables for the next adventure.
Sentences for Comrades Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar
December 8, 2023
Today, December 7, 2023, the 6th Oral Criminal Court of Santiago decided to impose long sentences on the freedom of the comrades, attempting to strike and bury in concrete anarchist ideas and practices with this nauseating sentence. In detail the sentences are as follows:
Meanwhile for Francisco Solar, a total of 86 years in prison. Two counts of sending explosive artifacts (54th Precinct and Hinzpeter) (https://web.archive.org/web/20191014185550/https://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=34434): 12 years + 12 years. One count of attempted homicide of a carabinero: 15 years. One count of serious injury to a carabinero: 6 years. One count of less serious injury: 600 days. Five counts of minor injuries: 100 days (each). 500 days. One count of aggrivated damages (Commussioner): 818 days. One count of attempted homicide of Hinzpeter: 12 years. Two counts of placing an explosive device (Tánica): 12 years + 12 years. (https://es-contrainfo.espiv.net/2020/02/28/comuna-vitacura-chile-colocacion-de-dos-artefactos-explosivos/)
During the next days, the defense will make known if they plan to appeal the convictions, otherwise, there will be no modification on the sentences imposed by the judges.
The disproportionate determinations of the democratic inquisition are an example of the permanent bother that anarchic actions generate for power and its defenders, it is nothing more than the statist need to warn those who seek to travel along confrontational paths, however, we know that no condemnation will stop the expansion of anarchic ideas against the world of authority.
Complicit and combative solidarity will annihilate the walls that hold our relatives hostage!
Santiago, $hile: Claiming responsibility for failed incendiary/explosive attack on RED bus – Black November.
“We have inherited many great ideas about how to confront domination, we know that nothing is set in stone. From the bones and broken tools of our predecessors we make our weapons. Nothing is guaranteed to work, but we attack regardless” (Müller).
Throughout history we have witnessed how techno-industrial progress has reinforced social control, securing every gear for its perverse reproduction. Capital and the state speak no other language than that of property, commodity, production and profit, and is willing to devastate everything in its path if it implies the perpetuation of its power through citizen-civilized servitude. The interconnection of the metropolis is possible, in part, thanks to the means of transportation throughout the cities. These means, more than a “service”, are the main tools for the transportation of goods within the cities. Yes, when we speak of merchandise we are also referring to humans, since in the empire of the market, all existence is reduced to the quantification of capital.
Without magic recipes or manuals written in stone, we experienced anarchy to the rhythm of the frontal and direct attack against the domain. On this occasion, we deposited an incendiary/explosive device inside a RED bus, which failed to detonate and was found inside a bus terminal. We were not discouraged by the outcome. We analyzed the technical errors, studied the causes and continued on the path of attack, seeking to be more and more dangerous and imperceptible. We know that anarchic warfare is not reduced to relations of material force against the enemy, much less to technical operation capabilities. For this reason, we decided to proudly claim this action, since we think that reducing anti-systemic actions to the result (successful or not) of these, is typical of an exitist paradigm that would only lead us, inevitably, to a militaristic understanding of anti-systemic praxis. Our methods and practices are deployed from informality and individual freedom, this as an antibody against any authoritarian attempt to direct our destructive power; be it “leader”, ” manager”, “collective” or any name that assumes dominance in our relationships.
This action is framed within what is another Black November in memory of comrade Kevin Garrido, murdered on November 2, 2018 in the prison-company Santiago 1. The indomitable and chaotic spirit of the comrade is present in this insurgent attempt against the civilizing domestication that imprisons all of us who cannot stand this horrible and caged world.
A fraternal and complicit embrace to our affinities and comrades. To those who for their audacity and insolence expect to be locked up with exemplary sentences and who have not been victimized or bowed down after their conscious and consistent actions. Francisco Solar, Mónica Caballero, Juan Flores and all the prisoners at war throughout the world to the streets!
ONWARD SAVAGES, ICONOCLASTS, ANARCHISTS AND NIHILISTS!
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF POWER, CIVILIZATION AND ALL AUTHORITY, TO RETURN TERROR TO ALL WHO ATTACK FREEDOM.
DOWN WITH THE CAGES OF CIVILIZED SOCIETY!
KEVIN GARRIDO PRESENTE!
Conspiración por la Iconoclastía Salvaje – Célula Kevin Garrido. [Conspiracy for the Savage Iconoclast – Kevin Garrido Cell]
Link to the news: https://www.chvnoticias.cl/nacional/encuentran-artefacto-sospechoso-interior-micro-cerro-navia_20231117/
Claiming fire barricade and stone pelting Rome – November 2.
On the night of November 2, we placed and set fire to tires blocking both directions of traffic in front of the Terna spa headquarters on Via Egidio Galbani and threw stones to break its glass.
Terna is the main company in Italy for the construction and maintenance of electricity infrastructure, but it also operates abroad in countries such as Chile. Terna is not only responsible for the environmental devastation and pollution that follows the building of power lines and related transformer stations, as a leading actor in the process of electrifying the world as a consequence of the unhealthy idea of progress that this deadly system propagates, but it is also a promoter of the “green revolution” caused by the recent need to restructure capitalism that will only bring further exploitation of ecosystems and people. Unveiling its responsibilities is one of the goals of our action.
This action is to be seen as part of the international campaign to free Marcelo Villarroel. Marcelo is an anarchist prisoner in Chile’s state prisons who was imprisoned after a period of absconding in 2007 for a series of bank expropriations. He was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison without access to prison benefits because he was held responsible for certain actions that took place during the years of the military dictatorship in Chile and therefore condemned by military laws. Despite the rhetoric, Chilean democracy shows perfect continuity with the dictatorial regime when it comes to striking those who act without mediation for the end of all oppression and exploitation caused by the State and Capital. That is why we join the chorus of actions and initiatives for its immediate liberation.
IMMEDIATE FREEDOM FOR MARCELO VILLARROEL SEPULVEDA!
We would like to take this opportunity to send solidarity greetings to anarchist Francisco Solar and anarchist Monica Caballero, who have undergone a lengthy trial in recent months for the collation of explosive devices against institutional targets in the context of the 2019 uprising in Chile, of which they were recently found guilty.
SOLIDARITY TO MONICA AND FRANCISCO!
We would also like to express our solidarity with Alfredo Cospito who was recently refused for the umpteenth time the cancellation of his classification under the 41bis prison regime.
FORZA ALFREDO! THE STRUGGLE IS NOT OVER!
Solidarity with the anarchist Stecco recently arrested by police special units after 2 years of absconding.
SOLIDARITY TO ALL ANARCHISTS AND ANARCHICS IMPRISONED, HIT BY REPRESSION OR ON THE RUN!
FINALLY WE WOULD LIKE TO SEND OUR SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO ALL THOSE PALESTINIANS WHO ARE RESISTING AND FIGHTING AGAINST THE INFAMOUS ZIONIST OCCUPATION AND GENOCIDE OF THEIR PEOPLE.
RESIGNATION IS DEATH, REVOLT IS LIFE.
LONG LIVE ANARCHY!
