Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI)

Italy: On the sentence of the Operation Scripta Manent trial

Posted on 2022/07/13 by darknights

SCRIPTA MANENT SENTENCE

The hearing of the Scripta Manent trial took place on July 6 at the Court of Cassation (Supreme Court). The court reclassified the facts of the explosive attack to the Carabinieri students school in Fossano (Cuneo) on June 2, 2006, claimed by Rivolta Anonima Tremenda – Federazione Anarchica Informale, for which Anna and Alfredo were prosecuted, in “massacre & political” (art, 285), returning the process to the court of Torino for the punitive recalculation of the sentence. All the other sentences were confirmed, between 1 year and 9 months and 2 years and 6 months, for 11 comrades, and the acquittals for the rest of the defendants, which thus become definitive.

There will come times for more detailed reflections. What does seem evident to us is the determination of the State to break the anarchist movement and the revolutionary struggle, making even worse what happened before the Court of Assise (National Court) of Turin, with a sentence that does not seem to presume any margin for criticism. While the contradictions on which society is governed become more and more unmanageable, before the social tension takes forms that the power does not know how to manage, the State tries to give a blunt blow to the movement and a warning to those who do not desist: two or three years for those who publish a newspaper, dozens of years or even life imprisonment for those who act.

The recent decision to lock Alfredo up in 41 bis, shamelessly taken, moreover, on the eve of this sentence, is perfectly qualified in this State reprisal: the decisions have been taken, Alfredo has to stay buried, literally, in prison. His ideas, his actions, his contribution must be silenced, condemned to oblivion.

But forgetting the prisoners of the social war means forgetting the war itself: revolutionary solidarity with the anarchists Anna Beniamino and Alfredo Cospito. Death to the State and capital, long live anarchy.

The addresses of the imprisoned comrades:

Anna Beniamino
C. C. “G. Stefanini” – Rebibbia
via Bartolo Longo 92
00156 Roma (Italy)

Alfredo Cospito
C. C. “G. Bacchiddu” C.C.
strada provinciale 56 n. 4
Località Bancali
07100 Sassari (Italy)

Italy: We will not stay warm during the storm

Posted on 2022/07/13 by darknights

We receive and disseminate this text-proposal, which we will gladly return to in the near future:

Let’s be clear: we want Alfredo out of 41bis.

Our proposal is not that of a specialized campaign against 41bis or against prisons: not because we like these institutions or because we think anyone should remain locked up in them, but because we think it is urgent to start from a “simpler” goal, knowing full well that when we have achieved it we will not have even begun in our struggle, which is for social revolution.

A struggle for the destruction of the prison cannot be won as long as there are states and authorities: therefore, these are battles that must be carried on continuously, but we would like, in this case, to try to give ourselves an attainable goal even in the short or medium term.

The fight against prison is – in itself – a fight against the existing, because the end of prisons means the end of the state, similarly the fight against 41bis, in Italy, goes to touch some of the foundations of the Italian state, which since its introduction has made it the workhorse of the “fight against the mafia.” Let’s face it clearly and humbly: 41bis is one of the ideological pillars of the Italian state, which has among its mottos “41bis or death!” The anti-mafia war has shown us this: the state, instead of giving up 41bis, has been willing to make the population pay for mafia bombs, such as the massacre of Via Georgofili in Florence or Via Palestro in Milan. So we find it difficult that on the abolition of that prison regime specifically (as, moreover, of prison in general), we can make pressures, whether harmless or violent. Whereas we think it is different to lobby specifically for the downgrading of Alfredo. This is not to say that our speeches, or our actions, should be watered down. The radicality of our struggle must be ensured, even in the case of a “partial demand” such as Alfredo’s demotion, by never disjointing the goals we can and must set ourselves with the social-political reasons for our anarchist actions. The radicality of action, propaganda, and agitation are the only antibody to strongly reiterate that our struggle is for the destruction of the existent, without mediation, preventing our demands, from that of the liberation of a comrade to stopping this or that project of capital, from being assimilated into a power-compatible reformism. Continue reading “Italy: We will not stay warm during the storm” →

Italy: Measure and process updates for Operation Bialystok

Posted on 2022/02/03 by darknights

January 2022

As we approach the end of the trial of Operation Bialystok, it seems to us to be the right moment to spread some considerations on its progress. Although we are not interested in following the pace dictated by repression, nor in taking a victimistic or alarmist stance in the face of the activities of police institutions, we believe it is important to share information and impressions about what is happening at the court level. By conscious choice, we will summarize aspects and moments that we consider noteworthy, at the expense of a detailed and chronological description of the trial in which we are involved.

As far as the framework of the investigation is concerned, we refer to the texts “Sull’operazione Bialystok” (On the Bialystok operation) already published and circulated on the web and “Testo e contesto” (Text and context).

At the time of writing all defendants in this proceeding are at large. On January 27th a positive response was received to a request for the end of the precautionary measures to which 4 defendants were still subject (3 obligations to stay and one obligation to present themselves for weekly signatures), so that at the moment only one person remains under obligations to stay. The differences in conditions are mainly due to the different timing in the presentation of the appeals which brought the same before different courts, and to the specificity of the individual positions regarding the crimes charged.

Broadly speaking, up to now the process has been marked by hours and hours of endless hearings for the delineation of the anarchist context both nationally and internationally, hearings where we defendants have almost never been nominated. Only after many hearings did we begin to talk about the so-called specific facts. There was a certain interest and prominence in the moments in which the international relations of the defendants were exposed; this was not because the prosecution brought who knows what elements, on the contrary, we witnessed a real climbing on mirrors, but more because of the play of roles within the institution of justice. It is evident that an assize court, used to dealing with crimes of a certain gravity, sees in the international dimension of the investigation the possibility of its own raison d’être. And this, we say, on the level of the actual courtroom show; behind the scenes, that is, on the level of the investigation, and therefore of the repressive strategy, we also see something else, that is, a direction that looks like it wants to be taken in the future. These, like others in the past, are attempts, sometimes successful and sometimes less so, to structure on a concrete level the collaboration of police and prosecutors’ offices on an international level regarding investigations. Continue reading “Italy: Measure and process updates for Operation Bialystok” →

Bristol, UK: Toby Shone speaks from the dungeons of Bristol prison, explaining his case. EN/ES/FR/DE/PO/RU/GR/IT

Posted on 2022/01/05 - 2022/01/06 by darknights

My name is Toby Shone, and I’m an imprisoned anarchist held in Bristol prison who was kidnapped at gunpoint by the anti-terrorist unit, as part of Operation Adream in the UK. The repression was aimed to target the anarchist group of critique and practice, 325 collective and the website 325.nostate.net. Operation Adream is an attack by the British State in conjunction with European partners against anarchist direct action groups, counter-information projects, prisoner solidarity initiatives and the new anarchist critique of the technological singularity and the fourth and fifth industrial revolution. Operation Adream is the first time that anti-terrorist legislation has been used against the anarchist movement in the UK.

I was taken hostage by the regime on the 18th of November 2020 by a team of tactical fire arms cops after a car chase through the remote Forest of Dean, which is on the border with South Wales, one hour north of Bristol. At the same time coordinated raids took place at five addresses in the Forest of Dean against collective living projects, hangouts and a storage unit. I was taken under armed guard to a nearby police station where I was held in incommunicado and interrogated many, many times. I refused to speak during the interrogations and I did not cooperate with the murderers in uniform.

I was charged with four counts of terrorism. One charge of Section 2, dissemination of terrorist publications as a suspected administrator 325.nostate.net. Two charges of section 58, possession of information useful for the purposes of terrorism. Those being two videos. One of which showed how to improvise an explosive shaped charge. And the other demonstrated how to burn down a mobile phone transmitter. I was charged with Section 15, funding terrorism, which was related to cryptocurrency wallets hosted on 325.nostate.net which were for the support of anarchist prisoners and publications. I denied all the charges.

I was also accused during the interrogations of membership of FAI/IRF, the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front. I was accused of writing five documents and carrying out several actions in the Bristol area, which were claimed by cells of the FAI as well as those of the Earth- and Animal Liberation Fronts. These included an incendiary attack against the police station, the burning down of a mobile phone transmitter and liberation of animals.

Bristol is an area of the UK where there has been countless anarchist sabotages and direct actions taking place over the last two decades and which remain unsolved by police, despite multi-million pound investigations and joint media witch hunts against anarchists in the city. Continue reading “Bristol, UK: Toby Shone speaks from the dungeons of Bristol prison, explaining his case. EN/ES/FR/DE/PO/RU/GR/IT” →

Barcelona: International Call for Direct Action against Catalunya

Posted on 2021/10/22 by darknights

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR DIRECT ACTION AGAINST CATALUNYA

Postcard Barcelona SUCKS! In the last years we have seen, from near and far, how the Catalan institutions have managed to continue selling an image of “inclusive city”; when it is an ultra-capitalist city that expels and mistreats its own population (not to mention the thousands of migrants who are sold at ridiculous prices, or are dragged into the vilest prostitution) in order to have something to eat. Colau is a fake who plays to establish pacts with the most aberrant powers, to exercise her second mandate as mayor. She skillfully negotiated with many squatted spaces -to legalize them- and thus reduce her refractory actions against the System. Unfortunately for us, the tactic has been successful: they have “tamed” us. The once called rose of fire only burns when interclassist nationalism orders it to do so. And there is no lack of sheep…

On February 27th, in the context of a demonstration (promoted by the most Stalinist and retrograde communist authoritarianism) they arrested a group of comrades, previously arrested by the organizers themselves – read Arran, the youth of the CUP – in a disgusting set-up, tending to blame “Italian anarchist insurrectionalists”, for the riots resulting from the imprisonment of the unclean rapper Pablo Hasel. We do not forget that it was an act of revenge for a previous set-up in Girona. The so-called ‘purge-of-Girona’ perpetrated by anti-anarchist groups to sweep out of their city those who did not conform to their political interests… Currently 6 of our people are still in prison, in the territory dominated by the Catalan pseudo-state. And there is a silence (complicit) on the part of an infinity of supposedly “libertarian” collectives, about this alarming situation. It is time to shout ENOUGH!

The so-called “casals catalans”, numbering a hundred in 40 countries, are good targets to express our rage. And there are also many economic interests in Catalonia, for those who are willing to do a little digging. Any of these sites is a good place to remind these cretins that active international solidarity with our prisoners of the Social War is not just words: LET’S ATTACK! That is why this OCTOBER 27th, eight months after the captivity of our comrades, we will make the voice of those who have tried -in vain- to muzzle, heard. Organize your group, plan a fire, an attack, a protest canvas, a sabotage, or whatever you want; but do not remain impassive? There is too much posturing among so many verbose groups that do NOTHING. To the street already the kidnapped ones, for that story of the damned burned police van…

NOT ONE MORE MINUTE OF SILENCE!
SIX ANARCHISTS BEHIND BARS! BOURGEOIS AND COMFORTABLE CATALONIA, DIE!
AND LONG LIVE THE BLACK INTERNATIONAL!

Some Pissed Off Insurrectionists (FAI/FRI)

Italy: Censorship applied to anarchist Alfredo Cospito

Posted on 2021/10/02 - 2021/10/02 by darknights

We inform that just over a week ago comrade Alfredo was subjected to a three-month censorship of correspondence.

Updates will follow.

The address of the comrade:

Alfredo Cospito
C. C. di Terni
strada delle Campore 32
05100 Terni
Italia – Italy

[September 30, 2021].

Source: Malacoda

Genoa, Italy: News of the special surveillance against a comrade

Posted on 2021/09/20 - 2021/09/21 by darknights

The decision of the court regarding the appeal against the special surveillance measure against a comrade from Genoa was made in August; the request that this measure, applied with all possible restrictions, be removed from her was rejected and it was clear that, although the accusation of terrorism, the pillar of the accusatory hypothesis, was dropped, the special surveillance measure was maintained in its entirety for the same reasons, that is, her “adherence to anarchist ideology”, her “manifest expressions of solidarity with the militants of the Informal Anarchist Federation”, her “support for the detained anarchists”, her “incitement to direct action”, and her dissemination of counter-information material.

Still in August, always on the initiative of the Prosecutor’s Office of Genoa, other measures were arranged, as a corollary of the surveillance, aiming to limit even more her freedom, affecting her in the sphere of her affective relationships, since they add new constraints and new difficulties to the authorization, finally obtained after 7 months of waiting, to go and visit her family, which is domiciled outside the city of Genoa, that the companion has no right to leave. Moreover, her driving license was seized, with the absurd pretext that its possession could help her to commit crimes.
It is always the same refrain that continues to impose itself, a statement as monotonous as a broken record: the companion is an anarchist, therefore she is dangerous and this is confirmed by the fact that she is under investigation as an anarchist. In this way one could go on and on.

In this time of experimentation with instruments of social control extended to large parts of the population, anarchists have already gained a lot of experience in this matter and, for a long time, they have unmasked the lies of the narrative about the rights and freedom that one could have access to in civil and democratic society, if one gives in exchange obedience, delegation and legitimacy: it is quite obvious that the consequences of adhering to the social contract are mainly in favor of a few and to the detriment of the many.
The context may change, but the authoritarian drift of this time is not something new, it is the perfection of those instruments of social control that we already know, that is why the basic principles of the anarchist idea are still valid and they show the way: to preserve the value of the individual choice, to keep alive the spark of the criticism, to refuse the concertation with public institutions, of any level, to refuse the political representation of the movements and of the conflict, not to bend to the needs of the political realism.
We do not reaffirm them for sterile sectarianism, but because they are instruments of struggle that have supported thought and action, in the streets or elsewhere, en masse or in small numbers, facing, through theory and practice, the many, detestable scum that this dirty era throws back in our faces: the commodification of our lives, the plundering of the natural environment, the increasingly invasive authority and social control, the discriminations, the state violence, the surge of the logic of profit, which ravages humanity in a spiral of war, misery and slavery. Continue reading “Genoa, Italy: News of the special surveillance against a comrade” →

Italy: Intervention of Alfredo Cospito to the initiative “Land of Love and Freedom” in Grisolia (24.08.2021)

Posted on 2021/09/06 - 2021/09/06 by darknights

The following text is the intervention of fellow anarchist Alfredo Cospito, currently imprisoned in Terni, for the debate on the book What International?, held in the context of the second edition of the initiative “Land of Love and Freedom”, two days of anarchist publishing in Calabria focused on internationalism and revolutionary continuity, in Grisolia 23-24 August 2021.

Lately I have been wondering with what nerve an anarchist prisoner for ten years as I claim to express an analysis “realistic” about the present, the real movement outside these four walls. The interview with “Vetriolo” caught me still relatively soaked in reality, out of the fray of the struggle, still convinced of having a “realistic” and objective view of the world. What international? is the result of thirty years of practiced struggle, of blows inflicted and received, of affinities and friendships born and then traumatically severed by the wall of a prison. Summing up, today I can say with a certain conviction that the only moments in which I was certain of having contributed to changing things were those moments in which I clashed with the system, in which I risked my freedom and my skin. In those moments I lived, I felt more alive than ever. And the pleasure I felt was incomparable, comparable only to the love for one’s own or one’s partner in the most intense moments of passion. I remember when, as a young boy, it seemed impossible for me to intervene concretely, the level of deepening always seemed insufficient, the practical skills I had didn’t seem up to the task, I didn’t know where to start, at the beginning one feels inept, incapable… I was waiting for a suggestion, a start from my more experienced companions. Often, in exchange for my enthusiasm, I received a good dose of “realism” that dampened or risked dampening any revolutionary “ambition”, any drive to action. Incredible as it may seem, “realism” sometimes makes any action, any impetus, impossible. I came out of this sort of “dead end” only when I decided in an impish, reckless, crazy, provocative way to arm my hands. Then everything became “easy”, failure after failure, step by step, things started to work. I looked for my companions and I found them, we recognized each other by making the refusal of delegation and wait-and-see our compass. Many (perhaps too many) years have passed since that time and today I find myself on the other side, “navigated” anarchist with more “experience”. And what I feel like saying is simply to follow your instincts and not to pay too much attention to the prudence of those who from the height of their lives “lived” push for moderation. Because that popular saying “you are born an arsonist and you die a fireman” is not so far-fetched. Every day in here I fight with myself to remain what I was, and I don’t always succeed. In my words I sometimes glimpse what I’ve always fought, opportunism, paternalism, realism… “politics”. Dynamics that risk making me forget how beautiful it was to communicate only through gestures of destruction and the words that followed them. When I wasn’t in danger of becoming a “point of reference”, when I was a complete stranger. And the stupid things I happened to say remained limited, no one rightly spun them. The tragicomic thing is that the “metamorphosis” is almost painless and does not only affect us prisoners but perhaps even more those who outside these walls every day relate to a reality that tends to normalize. The “realism” drags you to a continuous decline that leads you to judge those who remain “themselves” as naive, provocative, childish, deluded. Continue reading “Italy: Intervention of Alfredo Cospito to the initiative “Land of Love and Freedom” in Grisolia (24.08.2021)” →

Prometeo Operation: updates on Natascia from Rebibbia prison (Italy)

Posted on 2021/07/22 - 2021/07/22 by darknights

Natascia is well and her mood is high, especially since she knows that Anna [anarchist comrade sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in the Scripta Manent trial against the Federazione Anarchica Informale, “Informal Anarchist Federation”] has also arrived and received her greetings, even though Natascia is in a solitary confinement cell far away from the one she is in, which makes it impossible for her to hear directly from Anna. It seems that her transfer to Rebibbia prison in Rome is a permanent relocation, which she does not mind at all: in fact, she said she does not want to ask for other transfers and wants to stay there.

The prison has just authorised her to have four hours of visits per month, both with the comrade with whom she had visits before the transfer to Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and with her father. Her father will go when he can (given the distance, Natascia has also been authorised to make video calls with him), while the comrade intends to have regular visits every month, possibly by pooling the visit hours available to her, so as to reduce the cost of the journey from Turin to Rome and back.

Natascia is still in sanitary confinement and will remain so until the end of this week (most likely until Saturday, July 24), so the first visit will be in the last week of July with the authorised comrade.

We remind of the coordinates to contribute financially to the expenses for the maintenance of the comrades in prison, to those for the monthly travels of those who will do the visits and to those for the trial in Genoa:

Postepay evolution card n. 5333 1710 9103 5440
Account holder: Vanessa Ferrara
IBAN: IT89U3608105138251086351095
BIC/SWIFT: PPAYITR1XXX

Postepay evolution card n. 5333 1710 8931 9699
Account holder: Ilaria Benedetta Pasini
IBAN: IT43K3608105138213368613377

To write to Natascia:

Natascia Savio
C. C. di Roma Rebibbia femminile
via Bartolo Longo 92
00156 Roma
Italia – Italy

To write to Beppe:

Giuseppe Bruna
C. C. di Bologna “Dozza”
via del Gomito 2
40127 Bologna
Italia – Italy

Note: At this link it is possible to read all the updates of the last years on the Prometeo operation and the ongoing trial in Genoa (the texts are in both italian and english): https://malacoda.noblogs.org/post/tag/operazione-prometeo/.

[Published & Translated by malacoda.noblogs.org].

Italy: Update on the situation of anarchist Alfredo Cospito in Terni prison

Posted on 2021/07/15 by darknights

Update as of July 15:

As the isolation situation in which he is being held in Terni continues, Alfredo began a protest this morning. During the phone call he communicated that he will later refuse to return to the cell.

We remind you of the solidarity gathering on Sunday morning, July 18, at 10 a.m. outside Terni prison to support his struggle. Break the isolation!

* * *

Break the isolation!
Solidarity gathering for Alfredo at Terni prison

Anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito has been in prison since September 2012, following the repressive operation that led to his arrest and that of another comrade, both accused of shooting Roberto Adinolfi, the CEO of Ansaldo Nucleare, who was wounded on May 7 of that year in Genoa. The action, claimed by Nucleo Olga of Federazione Anarchica Informale – Fronte Rivoluzionario Internazionale [“Informal Anarchist Federation – International Revolutionary Front”], was then claimed individually by the two comrades also during the first degree trial held in Genoa. In addition to the 9 years and 5 months sentence he received in the trial for the action against Adinolfi, he was sentenced to 20 years in first and second instance in the Scripta Manent trial held in Turin starting in 2017 and derived from the arrests of September 6 of the previous year. Following the Scripta Manent sentences, in addition to Alfredo, Anna is currently imprisoned (in Messina prison), sentenced to 16 years and 6 months.

At the end of June, Alfredo was transferred from the High Security 2 section of the Ferrara prison, where he had been held since 2013, to that of Terni prison. However, he is still kept in the “transit” section, despite the fact that the isolation period imposed by the Covid-19 emergency regulations has been over for several days. We do not know why Alfredo is still in solitary confinement, we do not know or care about the plans of the DAP [“Department of Penitentiary Administration”]. What we do know is that the provocations and pretexts of the guards can not erase a historical fact: the existence over the years of an anarchism of action, an anarchism that has acted with determination, hitting structures and people of the state and capital.

The story of Alfredo, the practices of which he is accused, this is the contagion they fear. But that story can not be erased by the convictions of a court or the pretexts of the jailers; those practices can not be isolated, there is no bubble that holds: they are heritage of the revolutionary anarchist movement.

Sunday, July 18, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Solidarity gathering under the prison of Terni, strada delle Campore 32

PDF: Rompere l’isolamento! Saluto solidale per Alfredo al carcere di Terni (18.07.2021).

From & Translated by Malacoda