This is from a talk by Toby at the Bristol Tattoo Circus, which took place a few weeks ago at a squatted venue in the city. After the talks and workshops there was bands, DJs and a benefit party. Free the prisoners!
Hello everyone,
Ok, we’re at Tattoo circus, my name is Toby Shone, I’m an ex-prisoner and anarchist. Tattoo Circus was started around 20 years ago in Italy as a way to fund anarchist prisoner solidarity campaigns.
I want to thank the organisers for inviting me here to speak, it’s very important as a released political prisoner to be able to come back into the community. Especially after living for a considerable amount of time distanced from the social movement. So overall, I want to communicate any lessons that can be told. Some of you already know me, so I’ll try not to bore you with what you know already, but for others I’ll just re-cap the case that I was involved in, then I’m going to simply give some anecdotes about my time in prison, and then speak about solidarity briefly.
I was arrested in the November 2020 Operation Adream case, and I was imprisoned for three years in conditions of solitary confinement and monitored for a year in line with UK-wide anti-terrorist restrictions by the National Security Division and Counter-Terror Police. From the evidence I’ve seen, it indicates that there is an ongoing investigation by the anti-terrorist units into the social movement in the South West region, and we can conclude that it’s also taking place across the country. I think it is certainly not for us to have to justify our harmlessness, but to really think about what it is going to take, long-term, for the type of social changes we’re aiming for. Continue reading “Spoken contribution by Toby Shone for the Tattoo Circus, Bristol, 2025”