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Tag: Italy

Italy: Juan Sorroche – ‘Reflection on the General Context of the Causes of the Struggle’

Posted on 2024/05/03 by darknights

Regarding my convictions and trial charges and the nexus of non-systemic revolutionary struggle action practices and “my” meaning of the anarchist vision

“(…) The reality is precisely this complex thing that cannot be traced back to the results of a judicial proceeding. This will always be arbitrary and will be based not on evidence but on force, not on logic but on domination. Difficult reasoning? Maybe so, but reasoning that once done can never be forgotten” [Published with the title “Noterelle su Sacco e Vanzetti. In margine a un convegno di studi”, in “Anarchismo”, n. 63, July 1989, pp. 36-40].
Alfredo Maria Bonanno, A mano armata, Pensiero e azione, Edizioni Anarchismo

In remembrance, and a warm greeting and see you soon comrade Alfredo!

Note:

To facilitate the writing of the text, I chose to use mainly the masculine as a gender ending. Aware of the importance of rejecting and countering gender abuses (as of any kind), I trust in the reader’s understanding so that no one feels discriminated against.

Premise:

Hello to all, compañeras and to all, compañeros

I am Juan Sorroche, an anarchist prisoner arrested on May 22, 2019 and I write from the AS2 section of the Terni prison where I have been locked up for 5 years.

After my heavy sentence on January 26, 2024 in Rome in the Court of Cassation trial for the action against the Lega Nord, a party that was and is part of the government of the Italian State, a strongly racist, misogynistic and xenophobic party.

As an anarchist prisoner I would like to make clear to comrades, revolutionaries, outcasts and oppressed the connection of the causes of the struggle for which I am here in prison today as an anarchist prisoner.

In the first instance, even though the prosecutor had removed the charge of “political massacre” (285), I was sentenced to 28 years in prison plus 3 years of probation. On appeal, almost half of the sentence, I was sentenced to 14 years and 7 months. A few days ago, the Court of Cassation definitively sentenced me to 14 years and 7 months, a significant and exemplary sentence for the attack.

In the first instance, I want to say that I entered prison already having spent a cumulative period of about 8 years behind bars for my struggles in Italy, which is why I escaped into hiding in 2016 to continue living-fighting. Of these 8 years, 4 years are for the “NO TAV trial”. Subsequently, the other 4 years were different trials related to anti-prison and anti-CPR struggles, anti-fascist and anti-democratic struggles, struggles against technologies, GMOs, “environmentalists”, in which I took part, always trying to include the anti-state and anti-capitalist aspect of anarchism in Trentino as well as in different Italian situations. Including the Susa Valley, a path that I had taken in the past years in the NO TAV struggle against one of the projects of capital and the State and the devastating tentacle of the high-speed train. I was arrested, among many others, for the days of struggle and violent clashes of July 3, 2011. During the trial and during my imprisonment at the time, I claimed with a personal statement those days of struggle and the paths of opposition to the TAV and more generally the anti-state and anti-capitalist aspect. I refused the defense in the “NOTAV Trial”, positioning myself anti-juridically even trying to fight in court by refusing the trial, believing that I should not “defend” myself in that judicial theater, and for this I was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months. And I take those decisions with my head held high.

In May 2019, after 2 and a half years on the run, I was arrested together with another comrade accused of having supported my being on the run, and then the comrade was sentenced for aiding and abetting to a year and a half, a sentence that was significant and exemplary as we had not seen each other for years, and it gave us a hint of the new tenor of the trials to come.

When I was arrested, little by little, I became aware of a series of investigations and trials that see me accused of several attacks (with terrorist aims) in Italy:

– the bombs at the headquarters of the Lega Nord in Treviso for the attack of 12/08/2018, regarding the two explosive devices, one exploded and another full of nails discovered by the bomb squad in the form of a trap to carry out the components of the building and the police; these were placed in the headquarters of the Lega Nord in Treviso and were claimed with the claim:

“Let’s hit them at home!!!: (…) to specifically attack racism and exploitation. To strike at the state, capital and its perpetrators. Direct action makes it clear to us why and how. For an internationalist, rebellious, and anarchist solidarity! Solidarity with all prisoners (…). And to all the rebels locked up in the homeland prisons of the world!”
Haris Hatzimihelakis Cell/Black International 1881/2018

– the bomb at the Surveillance Court of Trento 2014. Sentenced in the first instance to 3 years and 2 months, then acquitted on appeal, I must soon go to the Supreme Court. Claimed anonymously: in solidarity and to give voice to the prisoners who struggle with dignity in all prisons and to the anarchist comrades who were in prison isolated in AS2 in Italy and other anarchist prisoners in the world.

– the bomb against the POL GAI (police academy) claimed by cell H, I report some sketches of the published claim:

“(…) as a cell H (C.A.A.) akin to the Black International and we join the call to action for a BLACK DECEMBER. We attacked one of the armed arms of the state. In this “school” cops from all over Italy and other countries are educated. This is a small signal against war. We stand in solidarity with all the people who are fighting against all states and capital. Our thoughts go out to the many comrades who have been repressed, locked up, tortured, or killed in the present and in the past. In solidarity with all the detainees who are struggling.”

This is in the context of the campaign launched by anarchist prisoners in Greece for a Black December, called international in the context of anarchist action in 2015.

A trial that I will begin shortly.

To date, I have accumulated 23 years in prison.

Actions that I agree with because for me they are part of the history of our movement of struggle in non-systemic revolutionary anarchism of action and of the struggle for freedom of all the oppressed in the world. Regardless of whether or not I am responsible for these facts. And I am determined to move forward in my anarchist life in order to live-fight within my limited possibilities as a prisoner. Continue reading “Italy: Juan Sorroche – ‘Reflection on the General Context of the Causes of the Struggle’” →

Posted in Prison StruggleTagged 'political massacre', 41 bis, Alfredo Cospito, Alfredo M. Bonanno, Anna Beniamino, Anti-imperialism, AS2 (High Security 2), Black December, Brenner anti border march 2016, Cell Haris Hatzimihelakis/Black International, Colonialization, Court of Cassation, CPR (Centro di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio), DNAA (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia e Antiterrorismo), Francisco Solar Domínguez, Gaza, Greece, Individualist Anarchist, Insurrectional Anarchism, Israel Gaza War, Italy, Joaquin Garcia Chanks, Juan Aliste Vega, Juan Flores Riquelme, Juan Sorroche, Lega di Treviso, Lega Nord, Marcelo Villarroel Sepulveda, Monica Caballero Sepulveda, Naples, Nikos Romanos, NO TAV, Palestine, POLGAI police school Brescia, Revolutionary Anarchism, Spain, Terni prison, Treviso, Zionism

Rome, Italy: Claim of the incendiary attack against a private vehicle belonging to a carabiniere

Posted on 2024/04/30 by darknights

Claim of the incendiary attack against a private vehicle belonging to a carabiniere (Rome, March 29, 2024)

“Soon Anarchists we rush to the fight for victory or death with petrol and dynamite every class and the government to eradicate..”Anarchist Song

As the Mediterranean is increasingly a mass grave crammed with the corpses of the oppressed from the global south , Gaza is being razed to the ground worldwide and winds of war blow baleful to every corner of the globe leading the world’s proletarians to slaughter at the hands of master interests, we have decided to act, to attack. Identifying in the military of any side an enemy to be put down for anyone with a tension of freedom, without leaving aside the specific responsibilities of the homegrown weapon, we have decided to direct our hatred and vengeance against the military personnel of the Carabinieri Corps.

In a present in which every revolutionary hypothesis seems like a vain chimera, we have decided to keep fighting: they may deprive us of the hope for a radically different world but not of the thirst for revenge that we feel against those who perpetuate the oppression of one class over another and its defenders (such as the law enforcement) and those who enrich themselves by plundering the planet in a
dastardly manner.

The attack against power in any place and time, even at a time such as today, in which repression is striking increasingly harsher every glimmer of conflict and is burying alive our comrades held hostage in the prisons seems to us the best way to give continuity to the centuries-old clash between oppressed and oppressors, which as Anarchists we feel we are part of.

Hoping that these glimmers of individual revolt can risk this gray and pacified present, we reiterate that as anarchists we put the liberating violence of the oppressed before the systematic violence of those who hold the monopoly of the latter and we affirm the legitimacy of revolutionary violence as an instrument of the struggle against the state and capital.

It is in the firm conviction of the rightness of our ideals made of freedom and equality that lies the courage to fight, in the first person, choosing to take the upper hand and trying to return, albeit in a small way, the blows inflicted by the enemy.

For these and 1000 other reasons we chose to attack by making use of incendiary instruments 1 private car belonging to a cop: The choice to attack in the “private” stems from the desire to make those who choose to defend the social order pay the price for their choices in an increasingly targeted manner, those who choose to defend the established democratic social order, wearing a uniform.

COPS, BOSSES AND BOURGEOIS :

YOU WILL PAY DEARLY AND YOU WILL PAY FOR EVERYTHING.

We take this opportunity to reiterate our solidarity with the Anarchists Alfredo Cospito, Anna Beniamino, Juan Sorroche- Fernadez, Pierlorenzo Fallanca, Luca Dolce, and to all of the Anarchists placed under seizure in state prisons everywhere. You are not alone Comrades.

Incendiary greetings to the fugitives, may life smile on you, see you again on the barricades.

Cell Abele Ricieri Ferrari (DN: Renzo Novatore’s real name.)

(Black International 1881-2024)

Note from La Nemesi:

Errors are present in the opening quote. The song mentioned is “Mano alla bomba.” a translation of the Spanish-language song “Arroja la bomba,” and the portion of the correct lyrics is the following: Soon anarchists we rush / A fighter for victory or death / With oil and dynamite / Every class and the government to undo and eradicate.

According to what is known, the Italian was published in “Guerra di Classe,” a newspaper of the CNT-FAI (Sección Italiana), Barcelona, year II, no. 14, May 1, 1937, p. 6, with the title “Mano alla bomba!” and the indication Adaptation of VIR. Motif of the anarchist anthem “Arroja la bomba.” (VIR is the pseudonym of Virgilio Gazzoli, an anarchist from Pistoia). “Arroja la bomba” was composed during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) and was sung in prisons by imprisoned anarchists.

Source: La Nemesi

Posted in GeneralTagged Alfredo Cospito, Anarchist Prisoners, Anna Beniamino, Black International, Carabinieri, Cell Abele Ricieri Ferrari, Cop Attack, Cop Vehicle Burning, Incendiary Attack, Italy, Juan Sorroche, Renzo Novatore, Rome

Italy: Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino sentenced to 23 and 17 years in prison

Posted on 2024/04/30 by darknights

From: No 41 bis- international mobilisation

“The sentences of 23 years and 17 years and 9 months of imprisonment to the anarchists Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino are final. The Court of Cassation confirms the sentence bis of the Court of Appeal of Turin. The requests of the defense and of the prosecution of Turin were rejected, and they insisted to the end on obtaining life imprisonment. Rage and love for our comrades! With the practices of which they are accused! Alfredo out since 41 bis!”

Thus communicated the comrades from Italy the final sentences imposed on Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino in what was the trial of the Scripta Manent case, which sought to blame both comrades for “political massacre”, based on the action against the Carabinieri school of Fossano.

During the trial at the Court of Cassation in Rome, an appeal regarding the mitigating factors in the conviction for “political massacre” was reviewed, finally reconfirming the sentences already established in June 2023, after the long hunger strike of Alfredo Cospito against 41 bis, which lasted 182 days. In this way, both comrades remain in prison and under the same isolation measures.

It should be noted that during the early morning of April 22 the DIGOS of Turin “carried out 19 precautionary measures (3 house arrests, 1 prohibition of residence and 15 obligations of residence and daily signature) in the framework of the so-called Operation City related to the events of the march of March 4, 2023 in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito”, this as part of a series of repressive intimidation against those who mobilized in support of the comrade.

Despite the persecution and the continued imprisonment of Anna and Alfredo, the signs of solidarity continue, strengthening them from the other side of the wall.

Source: La Zarzamora

Via: Informativo Anarquista

Posted in Prison StruggleTagged 'political massacre', 41 bis, Alfredo Cospito, Anarchist Prisoners, Anna Beniamino, Carabinieri students school, Cellula “Santiago Maldonado” / FAI–FRI, Court of Cassation, DIGOS [General Investigations and Special Operations Division], Explosive Attack, Fossano, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Italy, Operation City, Operation Scripta Manent, Repression, Rome, Turin

Italy – Operation City: eighteen measures of judicial control for a demonstration against prison and 41-bis

Posted on 2024/04/30 by darknights

At dawn on Monday April 22, DIGOS issued nineteen judicial control measures against compas, as part of a repressive operation in connection with the demonstration which, on March 4, 2023, set Turin ablaze, against the prison and 41-bis, alongside anarchist prisoner Alfredo Cospito and others. A demonstration in which hammers, homemade cudgels and cobblestones struck and smashed to pieces symbols of the violence of the state and capital, and which ended right in the courtyard of Radio Blackout, surrounded by the forces of law and order: for a few hours, the insipid normality of existence in an increasingly concentrationary city was interrupted.

Three house arrests for comrades from Turin, Cuneo and Rome, seven residency obligations with daily check-in with the cops, one residency ban, eight obligations with daily check-in with the cops, 75 comrades under investigation, all over Italy. They called this umpteenth repressive operation, coordinated by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office (prosecutors Paolo Scavi and Enzo Bucarelli), “City”. The charges are devastation and pillage, violence, assault and assault against police officers, with aggravating circumstances.

At the time, Alfredo was on hunger strike, as were other inmates, against the prison and the 41-bis torture regime to which the anarchist prisoner is still subjected today, in Sassari prison, along with 740 other inmates whom the state wants to annihilate.
This operation follows on from all the others which, in recent months, have hit hard at dozens of compas who have committed themselves to an international solidarity movement and to a mobilization which has intensified since 2022.

On April 24, at the Court of Cassation in Rome, what should be the final stage of the Scripta Manent trial will take place, one of the consequences of which is Alfredo’s confinement in the 41-bis regime. […]

Attaque Note: a radio interview with one of Rome’s comrades goes into more detail on this repressive operation, on the charge of devastation and pillage (which can lead to extremely heavy sentences), in addition to those of resistance, violence and threats against a person holding public authority, also in competition, and those of subversive propaganda and apology for a crime or misdemeanor. The investigators paid particular attention to the organization of the event and the way it was run, with damage estimated at around 630,000 euros.
This is the second time that the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office has targeted the compas who took part in the mobilization in solidarity with Alfredo, following the proceedings in July 2023.
Solidarity with Guido, Lello and Daniele and all the others!

Original source & radio recordings in Italian: Radio Black Out

Extract/Summarisation via: Attaque

Posted in Social ControlTagged 41 bis, Alfredo Cospito, DIGOS [General Investigations and Special Operations Division], Italy, Operation City, Operation Scripta Manent, Radio Blackout, Repression, Solidarity Demo, Turin

‘THE SUBVERSIVE WRITTEN WORD’ by anarchist prisoner Toby Shone

Posted on 2024/04/25 - 2024/04/25 by darknights

A contribution by anarchist comrade Toby Shone from Garth prison (UK), for the debate “Thought and Action (“Pensiero e Azione”) – Repressive Attacks on the Anarchist Written Word” organized for the Tattoo Circus in El Paso Occupato, Turin (Italy), March 9-10th, 2024.

THE SUBVERSIVE WRITTEN WORD

Dear comrades,

This is Toby Shone, an anarchist imprisoned in the operation Adream which was an antiterrorist investigation against the counter-information project 325. I am calling from a prison in northwest England, it’s a long term, high security prison, and the fact that we can steal these moments is very important.
As you may already know, Operation A-dream was a repressive attack by the UK state in which 3 collective housing projects, a family home and storage unit were raided by cops. I was accused of being an administrator of 325.nostate, which earned me 4 terrorist charges: section 2 (distribution of terrorist publications), section 15 (funding terrorism) and two counts of section 58 (possession of information which is likely to be useful for terrorist purposes). I was also accused of several direct actions and membership of FAI, ELF and ALF. Hundreds of police were involved in the simultaneous raids and despite this, only one of the comrades were briefly detained and subsequently released for lack of evidence. It’s clear through the conditions of imprisonment I am held under and the constant monitoring that an active investigation continues with tailings and surveillance of comrades on the outside along with observation of anarchist social spaces.

Why is this taking place? It’s because anarchism is a threat to the existing technocratic order, our direct-action groups have a palpable reality in however minimal way in comparison to the task to be done, and the counter-information constellation continues to shine in the dark nights and become easier to use and navigate. Anarchist publishing is viewed as being an unacceptable endeavour by the police and intelligence services. Reporting on anarchist direct action, social struggles, and uprisings because it forms a narrative of subversion is arguably targeted with as much repression as that towards those who carry out the deeds that are being reported. It’s a strategy which has been in existence for a very long time. In the case of Operation Adream, the police was scared of the explicit anarchist insurrectionalist and anti-civilization rhetoric combined with the distribution of electronic and paper publications. During the interrogations a particular concern of the detectives was the purpose of anarchist paper publication. All the electronic documents have a digital forensic signature known as the hash value which can be tracked across the internet and devices even if deleted from those devices. Paper publications on the other hand, cannot be tracked as they are distributed – an investigation into them requires material forensics and a traditional police enquiry: this needs more resources, money, and personnel and especially the underground publishing initiatives which may have an irregular schedule of publishing and “informal” methods of distribution.

This brings us back to the purpose of anarchist publications: paper copies exist and have the power through being passed hand to hand to have an impactful material reality. They also accumulate forensic traces, the books, magazines, and pamphlets we are talking of, dangerous ideas, which can inspire our lives. Their time duration is different from those digital, and we can view that accordingly. With our publications, even if they are doomed to be in university libraries, mainstream bookshops, or worse, museums and art galleries, they always remain controversial and even illegal in some cases. Their purpose is social war and the destruction of the State. In the investigation files of Operation Adream, dozens of anarchist publications were cited many of which we may take for granted, that are freely available at anarchist bookfairs, squats, social centres and stalls at events. Yet to the police, special unit, and prosecutors these publications form part of an amorphous conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the establishment, which is correct, but not exactly in the perverse way that they wish to interpret it. To explain, we are often confronted by the repressive model that has a special function ascribed to theorists and writers, that of “leadership”. They are accused of giving orders and instructions and then cells or cadres then carry out those orders. I don’t need to tell you that this is an offense to anarchist practice, but it was a clear line of questioning put to me by the counter terrorist division. Does possession of 325 magazine indicate membership of an organization? Does that organization execute actions? And is that organisation part of a larger terrorist infrastructure? These are the types of questions bounced at me. With this scheming, marionettes of repression are formed, arranged in hierarchical structures which reflect their feverish minds. So, in those interrogations the investigators focused in some parts on questioning me about administrative functions, decision making flows, statistics figures, target demographics, research and linguistics, or translations. To the latter the cops wanted to know who was responsible for the translations, how they were organized, and who decided what should be translated.

At what level does the level of repression equate to that of our actions? For me, the answer is straight forward. The level of repression is currently far beyond that of the anarchist direct action. It’s the nature of State’s repression to aim to be overwhelming and our struggle is still only an active minority. In the UK the silence and lack of action highlights the social living death. But it was not always this way. And the future remains unwritten. That’s why police infiltration will continue to try to prevent for ruptures and individual attacks. It’s impossible to separate Operation Adream from the consequences of over a decade of anarchist direct action and social riots in Bristol. Although those things are at low ebb currently, it doesn’t mean that it will remain so. Anarchism remains part of the fabric of this South-West region. And where the reports, communiques and analysis are published will remain high in the list of targets for the State. The hundreds if not thousands of publishers across the world, part of a connectivity of contemporary anarchism, add to our ability to stay relevant and expansive.

Huge changes are taking place in society, and mass discontent has the possibility to form into a needed vital resistance. The new anarchist critique of high technology is cited by various intelligence agencies, State and private, as having the threatening ability to infect the population with a deep anger of the digital future. This future being planned by the bosses is a vast surveillance state which is part of the cybernetic matrix, where machines are taking the place of humans, and the artificial intelligence has inserted itself into every place it can be situated. Likewise, we can see human beings are becoming more machine-like, and their environment is degraded and polluted. Increasingly we can talk about the fact that many complete failures are taking place in various social systems, due to the ecological collapse and economic and post-industrial transformation. Huge territories are rapidly changing from floods, wildfires, draughts and intense storms. Unprecedented challenges are coming very quickly with harsh effects on critical points pertaining to agriculture, migration, division of labour, geopolitical conflicts and so on. Our publications and counter-information networks are a direct way in which we can communicate our analysis and methods of organization. Repression recognizes the danger of the contagion of this message, and the narrative which we possess. To the extent that they illegalize our publications and try to impose exemplary sentences is only a means to and end for them. And this is what we have always faced. If we are effective, we meet repression, prison, death. That’s what many comrades face across the world right now. Essentially some of us have been living under surveillance and investigation for so long, everything we do could be considered as crime, simply existing. That’s worth writing about and when we read and know more about what others are confronting and how, we can gain our power.

Lastly, I want to talk about the censorship I am facing here. Since it’s been a consistent feature of my imprisonment and is also part of the topic we’re discussing. Many comrades face problems with their correspondence and receiving publications. This is not unusual. But it’s worth saying here that I’ve been denied access to the majority of my correspondence and books which I am being sent. Even though I am facing denials by the prison administration that this is taking place, it most certainly is. This is the strength of our newsletters, our books, our letters to catch with comrades, that they make the enemy afraid. In my case, I’m also being denied socialist, autonomous-marxist and communist papers and books, which have been sent to me by those in solidarity from the radical left, as well as books on black history, transformative justice, and prison abolition. The very few anarchist books I have managed to receive I hold them close to my heart, here in my cell. Freedom is written with ink and our blood, like it always has been and will be. Value your books, your newspapers, your letters sent and received, combative memory persists, and we pass it to each new generation without efforts alone.
I’ll finish here and so I thank you for your energy and your attention, and a strong hug to all, and especially those under repression for the written word. For from the words come deeds, and that is the topic we’ve encountered today. Love and rage, thank you.

Toby,
Garth Prison, 4th of March 2024

Posted in Prison Struggle, Social ControlTagged 325, 325 Magazine, Anarchist Prisoners, Animal Liberation Front - ALF, Anti-Civilization, Anti-technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bristol, Censorship, Combative Memory, Counter-Information, Cybernetics, Digital Forensics, Earth Liberation Front - ELF, Ecological Collapse, El Paso Occupation, Event - Discussion, HMP Garth, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Insurrectional Anarchism, Italy, Operation Adream, Repression, Surveillance, Tattoo Circus, THE SUBVERSIVE WRITTEN WORD, Toby Shone, Turin, UK, “Thought and Action (“Pensiero e Azione”) – Repressive Attacks on the Anarchist Written Word”

Italy: ‘The carousel of repression’ – Anna Beniamino

Posted on 2024/04/23 - 2024/04/23 by darknights

 

THE CAROUSEL OF REPRESSION

Almost eight years after the arrests for Scripta Manent, for the second time the Court of Cassation, on 24th April 2024, will pronounce judgement on the crime of “political massacre”, pursuant to art. 285 c.p., against Alfredo and myself, the last remaining fragment pending in the process (i), after a whirlwind of delays, recalculations, and repressive-jurisprudential manipulations (ii).

Although the repetition of error numbs the horror, and we are living in times of multiple horrors flaunted and total anaesthetisations, I believe there are still some words to be said about the ongoing annihilation attempt, about reactions, successful and attempted. Not so much because I believe this may be useful for our personal fates, but out of a kind of stubborn “romanticism” that considers silence and resignation always and even more lethal in a political process.

Having no inclination to resign silently to the administration of “justice” (as it happens daily in the prisons) and nor to be restricted by the logic of damage limitation (another cornerstone of survival between prison and courts), but shifting the focus to the repressive policies underlying this and the actual capacity to react, to create moments of struggle and rupture, to build barriers, individual and collective, against the arrogance of repression.

I have spoken of error and horror because that is what repressive policies are at their core, errors and horrors that blend together in completely distorting the theoretical and practical significance of the enemy, burying them alive and/or forcing them into defensive entrenchment and the Indian reserves of “counterculture” and the pursuit of “democratic indignation” (which by now is little more than an Indian reserve, with a threshold of sensitivity that more often than not is an impenetrable callousness in most), a strategy that weakens the reactivity of comrades in the short term, more than they may believe, in a sense of inevitability of events and the impossibility of constructing reactions.

Seven years ago, I thought it was possible to manage the Scripta Manent process as ordinary repression, countering from a technical perspective, point by point, both individual events and the entire associative framework, given the clear fragility of the accusatory structure. There was an excess of optimism about the ongoing political will and strategies and an unforgivable shortsightedness in not immediately highlighting with greater force what was happening. It took the threat of 41bis and life imprisonment looming to focus eyes and attention.

Far from wanting to fall back into the rhetoric of “judicial error,” of excess, because from a jurisprudential and probative standpoint, that was precisely the fact that some mainstream media had to reluctantly admit (while others held firm on their sensationalism) in order to justify the anarchist under 41bis. They had to contextualise the events and the character with a certain embarrassment, and also place the heart of the State, its security – endangered precisely what characterises political massacre – within a couple of exploded bins at 3 a.m. on the perimeter walls of a barracks, while having to awkwardly sidestep the other script holes offered by DNAA and the Turin prosecutor’s office.

Far from a “judicial error” because this is a deliberate intent, with convergences between paper castles of the police headquarters and cages of cement over cement: the episodic component (the career of individual cops or magistrates, the media always ready to hype up the new danger, the crassest propaganda) is there, but it converges into a well-oiled machine that always needs new heads to be cut off and displayed on the ramparts of law and order. Sometimes the machine stalls… and it is the duty and pride of every anti-authoritarian to make it stall.

In these years of prison time and trials, I have had the opportunity to experience firsthand a series of logical and legal manipulations that I didn’t think could be possible to concentrate in a single operation, making me equally aware that it is the modus operandi in practice between public prosecutors and courts in the extension of “special” legislation, from “emergency” to “daily”, in the fields of anti-mafia and anti-terrorism: no longer an exception, but the usual management that the National Anti-Mafia Directorate applies and has been applying to cases involving organised crime extended to anarchists, and that the justice system in general applies to those segments of social opposition and non-conforming elements that are isolated and easily attackable, which still express, albeit in a rudimentary form, the need to reclaim the streets, the word, and the dignity of a non-negotiated opposition. A synergistic attack – fuelled by a political climate not just of a simple right-wing government but equivalent in the last “political” or “technical” governments that wanted to define themselves – against the irredeemable components for electoral purposes: in a general lowering of the bar for criminally punishable acts and the parallel increase in what can be sensationalised in the media, one can discern the strategies at work and the resistance to be opposed.

In this sense, I believe Juan’s (iii) writings in capturing the positive aspects, if not the need to put a stop to them, in addition to the necessary critical and self-critical questions of the movement, are clear. Continue reading “Italy: ‘The carousel of repression’ – Anna Beniamino” →

Posted in Prison StruggleTagged 'political massacre', 'Subversive Association', 270bis, 41 bis, Alfredo Cospito, Anarchist Prisoners, AS2 (High Security 2), DNAA (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia e Antiterrorismo), Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Italy, Juan Sorroche, Marini Trial, Nicola Gai, Operation Scripta Manent, Rebibbia Prison, Repression

Athens & Thessaloniki, Greece: Book Presentation – Alfredo Cospito: Which International? / Event about the New Penal Code

Posted on 2024/04/23 by darknights

“Go on, comrades: There is a whole world to be demolished!” Alfredo Cospito – Nicola Gai

Book presentation of the book by Alfredo Cospito “Which International?” (Interview and discussion with Alfredo Cospito from Ferrara prison, Italy).

Intervention by Italian comrades on the book by Alfredo Cospito, the isolation of the comrade, the 41bis regime & update on current repression operations in Italy. Update on Law N.5090/24 (New Penal Code). Telephone communication with a prisoner about the new penal code and the struggles inside the prisons.

Update from the lawyer Alexandros Kanellopoulos regarding the provisions and changes brought about by the law N.5090/24. The proceeds of the book will be used for financial support of comrade Alfredo Cospito.

During the event there will be a political poster exhibition from Greece and Italy & place with printed material (brochures, stickers, etc.).

Athens University of ASOEE Thursday, May 16 7 p.m.

Thessaloniki Anarchist Hangout Nadir Saturday, May 18 7 p.m.

Organization: Anarchist project Ragnarok https://ragnarok.squat.gr/

Anarchist Hangout Nadir https://anarxiko-steki-nadir.org/

https://anarxiko-steki-nadir.org/en/?p=2207/

Posted in Prison StruggleTagged 'Which International?', 41 bis, Alfredo Cospito, Anarchist Steki Nadir, Athens, Event - Discussion, Ferrara prison, Greece, Italy, Penal Code, Ragnarok, Repression, Thessaloniki, ΑΣΟΕΕ (Athens University of Economics and Business)

Italy: Operation Scripta Scelera: outcome of the court of cassation hearing on precautionary measures EN/IT

Posted on 2024/02/27 - 2024/02/27 by darknights

Operation Scripta Scelera: outcome of the court of cassation hearing on precautionary measures (Italy)

On February 21st, a hearing was held at the court of cassation in Rome resulting from the appeal of the public prosecutor Manotti of the DDAA (‘District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate’) of Genoa against the order of the court of review of the same city about the precautionary measures. On August 28th, the measures had been cancelled with reference to the associative crime (art. 270 bis of the penal code) and confirmed, keeping them unchanged, for the other charges. The public prosecutor, in essence, requested that the measures be confirmed also for the associative crime, contrary to what was established by the court of review. This request, if granted, would have potentially led to the imprisonment of the eight comrades for whom the judge for preliminary investigations had established the pre-trial detention and restrictions also in relation to art. 270 bis. The cassation declared the prosecutor’s appeal inadmissible.

We remind that, in the meantime, the public prosecutor has requested and obtained a trial with immediate judgement against Gaia, Gino, Luigi and Paolo for articles 414, 270 bis 1 and 278 of the penal code. The next trial date is scheduled for Friday, March 8th, at 3 p.m. at the Massa court (in Piazza De Gasperi), with a new hearing against the four comrades currently under restrictive house arrest.

Here are the coordinates of the account for the solidarity fund: postepay card number 5333 1711 9250 1035 – IBAN: IT12R3608105138290233690253 – Account holder: Ilaria Ferrario.

Solidarity with all imprisoned and indicted anarchists and revolutionaries!


Operazione Scripta Scelera: esito dell’udienza in cassazione sulle misure cautelari

Il 21 febbraio si è tenuta in corte di cassazione l’udienza sulle misure cautelari scaturita dal ricorso del PM Manotti della DDAA di Genova avverso l’ordinanza del tribunale del riesame del capoluogo ligure. Il 28 agosto le misure erano state annullate in riferimento al reato associativo (art 270 bis c. p.) e confermate, mantenendole inalterate, per le altre accuse. Il PM, in buona sostanza, ha chiesto che le misure venissero confermate anche per il reato associativo, contrariamente a quanto stabilito dal riesame. Questa richiesta, se accolta, avrebbe potenzialmente condotto in carcere gli otto compagni per i quali il GIP aveva stabilito la custodia cautelare e le restrizioni pure in relazione all’art. 270 bis c. p. La cassazione ha dichiarato inammissibile il ricorso del PM.

Ricordiamo che, nel frattempo, il PM ha chiesto e ottenuto un processo con giudizio immediato nei confronti di Gaia, Gino, Luigi e Paolo per gli artt. 414, 270 bis 1 e 278 c. p. La prossima scadenza processuale è prevista per venerdì 8 marzo, alle ore 15:00 al tribunale di Massa (in piazza De Gasperi), con una nuova udienza nei confronti della compagna e dei compagni attualmente agli arresti domiciliari restrittivi.

Riportiamo qui di seguito le coordinate del conto per la cassa di solidarietà: carta postepay n. 5333 1711 9250 1035 – IBAN: IT12R3608105138290233690253 – Intestataria: Ilaria Ferrario.

Solidarietà con tutti gli anarchici e i rivoluzionari prigionieri e inquisiti!

Posted in Social ControlTagged "criminal association", 270bis, Court of Cassation, DNAA (Direzione Nazionale Antimafia e Antiterrorismo), Genoa, Italy, Operation Scripta Scelera, Repression, Rome

Genoa, Italy: Appeal verdict of the trial against Gianluca (February 14, 2024)

Posted on 2024/02/19 - 2024/02/19 by darknights

Appeal verdict of the trial against Gianluca (Genoa, Italy, February 14, 2024)

On February 14th, the hearing of the appeal trial in the so-called ‘Diamante’ case was held at the Genoa court. The judges confirmed Gianluca’s conviction for ‘illegal possession of explosives’ (art. 1 and 2 of law 895/67) and ‘attempted crime’ (art. 56 of penal code), reducing the sentence to 3 years and 2 months (plus euro 3,000). In first instance, the comrade had been sentenced to 4 years and 6 months (plus euro 15,000), while the other comrade defendant in the trial was acquitted.

Solidarity with all imprisoned and indicted anarchists and revolutionaries!

[Received via e-mail and published at https://lanemesi.noblogs.org/post/2024/02/15/appeal-verdict-of-the-trial-against-gianluca-genoa-italy-february-14-2024/]

 

Posted in GeneralTagged Anarchist Prisoners, Appeal Court, Diamante Investigation, Genoa, Gianluca Iacovacci, Italy, Trial

Italy: ‘In the sunlight’ Luigi Palli

Posted on 2024/02/11 - 2024/02/11 by darknights
Carlo Carrà, The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli, 1910-1911 (oil on canvas, 198.7×259.1 cm, currently at the Museum of Modern Art, New York).

In the sunlight

I had thought, clumsily, that this would go on for less time. Yet, given the stubbornness with which the state wants to silence us (and quickly condemn us), I decided to take the floor again. Which is wise or not matters little. Then again, hard to say whether giving up (whether by compulsion or not) any interaction with one’s affections and struggle is wise.

Sure, there are many ploys that are surely smarter than a signed first and last name black on white. But there is one thing I can’t stop thinking is right: putting your face to it. Yes, this small but profound issue for me is very much linked to what have been (and will be) all the publishing projects or stirring moments that have involved me over the years.

It is what I have always, personally, ardently supported. To say loud and clear that I support and agree with direct action, making explicit what I think is the most congenial method of achieving the zeroing out of the “values” of bourgeois society. The insurrectional method. The attack on men and structures of the state and Capitalism.

Here, I don’t believe there are anarchists who are afraid to say these things. I think it is the essence of the revolutionary himself this obstinacy, this constant quest, to spread and bring out ideas, to create or sustain dimensions of social confrontation.

The attempt to define us as a clandestine and terrorist organization fails not so much in the actual facts, such as our membership in an extremely public anarchist circle, or for editing a newspaper that was distributed not certainly (and perhaps unfortunately) in secrecy in the locker rooms of some factory, but fails and is demolished by the simple fact that anarchists, revolutionaries all in general, spread ideas in the light of day.

We are not a sect of little boys who tell themselves about it, we are proletarians and with other proletarians we interact, spreading the ideas that seem most congenial to us for human liberation.

Depriving us of the availability, then of our books and our venues (which, moreover, are expressly and insistently OPEN to everyone except cops and bosses), would lock us into a vortex of total isolation aimed at a forced “hiding” unable then to operate effectively, alienating anarchism in the eyes of the exploited. Which, in my opinion, we have seen happen and intensify over the past two decades. Dangerous, then, closure. Continue reading “Italy: ‘In the sunlight’ Luigi Palli” →

Posted in Social ControlTagged Anarchist Newspaper, Bezmotivny, Informal Anarchist Federation - International Revolutionary Front (FAI/IRF), Insurrectional Anarchism, Italy, Luigi Palli, Repression, Revolution, Text

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