‘What International?’

Omar Nioi – Scripta Manent: a political trial against 20 years of history of revolutionary anarchism

Posted on 2023/01/04 - 2023/01/04 by darknights

Letter – Intervention of the anarchist comrade from Sardinia Omar Nioi
(convicted in the trial of “Operation Scripta Manent”) at the event held in Athens (A.S.O.E.E.) on December 19, 2022 regarding the anarcho-nihilist hunger striker Alfredo Cospito.
Organization:
Anarchist Hangout Nadir(Thessaloniki),
Translation project blessed-is-the-flame.espivblogs.net,
Comrades.
The translation from Italian was done by the Counter-Information Group Radiofragmata.(radiofragmata.nostate.net)

First of all, a greeting to all the comrades who were present in this initiative, a greeting and a special thanks to the comrades who promoted it. To this day, the weaving of international relations, exchanges and comparisons continues, as in the past, to be an essential element and always a living part of revolutionary anarchism, in order to strengthen our intentions.

Scripta Manent:
A political trial against 20 years of the history of revolutionary anarchism

The events:

At dawn on 6 September 2016, 32 comrades throughout the Italian State were awakened by the civil police (DIGOS). The result of the first part of the police operation called “Scripta Manent”, ordered by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office through its investigator Roberto Maria Sparagna, is 15 suspects and 7 arrests. On the other hand, an eighth anarchist, in charge of the Anarchist Black Cross publishing project (now closed), is arrested after a house search against him in which batteries and an electrician’s manual were found. In addition to comrades Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai, already in prison since 2012 having been tried and convicted for the injury of Roberto Adinolfi, (CEO of Ansaldo Nucleare) action taken by “Nucleo Olga of FAI/FRI”, comrades Alessandro, Marco, Danilo, Valentina and Anna are arrested. For the comrades, articles 270 bis (on association with terrorist purposes), 280 bis (on terrorist acts with lethal or explosive devices) and 285 (on massacre) are triggered for various reasons, which are in question starting from as far back as 2003 and all relating to a series of attacks specifically signed by the “Informal Anarchist Federation” through the cells FAI/Narodnaya Volya (FAI/ People’s Will), “Cooperativa Artigiana Fuoco e Affini FAI/Collaboration of Fire and Artifacts (Occasionally Spectacular))”, “FAI/RAT ((Rivolta Anonima e Tremenda/Federazione Anarchica Informale – Anonymous and Tremendous Revolt/Informal Anarchist Federation)” and “Nucleo Olga FAI/FRI” (FAI/IRF Cell Olga).

Thus, there is the umpteenth investigation of the Informal Anarchist Federation, another attempt to fish in the darkness just to secure a salary, which between the period of investigation and trial, makes as many servants of the State as possible fatten their pockets. During the first months of this operation, the arrested comrades have been subjected to bans on meeting each other, censorship of correspondence, complete isolation and several transfers. In April 2017, the announcement of the closure of the investigation – for those arrested and under investigation in September 2016 – added, in addition to the crimes previously contested, to 12 of the 17 original accused to Article 414 of the Criminal Code (on incitement to commit a criminal act with terrorist purposes) as authors and/or distributors of the work of the Anarchist Black Cross, the newspaper and the blog, making explicit reference to certain opinion articles and other articles from No. 0 to No. 3. With regard to the offence of incitement to crime, the aggravating circumstance of “committing the act by means of computer and telematic tools” is also mentioned. Continue reading “Omar Nioi – Scripta Manent: a political trial against 20 years of history of revolutionary anarchism” →

Italy: The second edition of the book ” What International?” by Alfredo Cospito and many others is now available

Posted on 2022/12/02 by darknights

The second edition of the book ” What International?” by Alfredo Cospito and many others is now available

The second edition of What International? is finally available, which we are publishing-during the hunger strike undertaken by Alfredo Cospito starting Oct. 20-as a gesture of solidarity with his comrade and of insubordination against the state, which with the repressive Sibilla operation of Nov. 11, 2021, attempted to get the book out of circulation and which, starting in May 2022, with Alfredo’s transfer to 41 bis, is deluding itself into thinking it will permanently shut his mouth. We will not allow them to do that!

Inside the book:

– Preface by Alfredo Cospito
– Introduction to the second edition by Michele Fabiani and Francesco Rota
– Introduction to the first edition by Anarchist editors of “Vetriolo”
– What International? Interview and dialogue with Alfredo Cospito from Ferrara prison
– From the Belly of the Leviathan. Statement at the beginning of the trial for the action against Adinolfi in Genoa
– Who we are. Open letter to the anarchist and anti-authoritarian movement.
– Four years–December 2006. Document-meeting of the Informal Anarchist Federation four years after its inception.
– Chronology of actions, 1999-2022
– Editorial note

Alfredo Cospito and many others
What international?
Monte Bove Editions (Series: Clandestine Paperbacks – 3).
Second edition, November 2022, 205 pages.

One copy: 5.00 euros. For distribution, to requests for at least five copies: 3.00 euros per copy. Postage not included.

For requests for copies please contact Monte Bove Editions: edizionimontebove@riseup.net Continue reading “Italy: The second edition of the book ” What International?” by Alfredo Cospito and many others is now available” →

Italy: Sibilla investigation and 41 bis to anarchist Alfredo Cospito – stance taken by some suspects

Posted on 2022/11/25 by darknights

The motivations of the Supreme Court inherent in the pre-trial detention of the Sibilla operation came out in these days. We briefly recall the facts. In September 2021, following years of investigations conducted by the commands of the Special Operational Grouping of the Carabinieri in Milan and Perugia, the arrest of seven comrades and a companion was requested by the Perugia prosecutor’s office. This order was partly rejected and downgraded by the judge for preliminary investigations. Thus, on Nov. 11, dozens of searches were carried out by the ROS of the Carabinieri, the Sibilla investigation concerning some 15 anarchists and anarchists was notified, and six precautionary measures were imposed in connection with the charge of incitement to commit a crime with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism: a warrant of arrest in prison for Alfredo Cospito (at the time already imprisoned in the Terni jail); house arrest with all restrictions for an anarchist from Spoleto; finally, the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence jointly with the obligation to sign three days a week for four comrades. On the same day of the operation two websites, roundrobin.info and malacoda.noblogs.org, were also blacked out. During the search, all found copies of the anarchist newspaper “Vetriolo” and the books What International? and My Dear Master Tomorrow I’ll Shoot You published by Monte Bove Editions were seized.

Only five weeks later, the Perugia review court revoked the arrest order, essentially trashing the investigation. Against this ruling prosecutor Manuela Comodi appealed in Cassation, obtaining, against the same opinion of the Attorney General’s Office, the reinstatement of the investigation. With some delay, the reasons for this decision were received. Unfortunately, the dabbling in technicalities is this time necessary for the understanding of the acrobatic leaps with which the Italian judiciary is trying to hold up Operation Sibilla and with it probably the infamous decision to lock up our comrade Alfredo Cospito in 41bis. In fact, the Supreme Court found that there was a passage in the sentence of the Perugia freedom court in which the prosecution’s position was not sufficiently argued. This passage coincidentally concerns precisely an article by Alfredo in “Vetriolo,” later taken up in What International? Therefore, the judgment by which we were exonerated is annulled and a new review is ordered to more fully address the point at issue. This is therefore an open ruling that does not rule out a new “acquittal,” but merely calls for aspects that it deems controversial to be more clearly delineated.

We are taking the floor because we want to expose the political logic behind this matter. This investigation plays its part in the 41bis order against our comrade. By claiming that Alfredo “instigated” from prison to commit revolutionary actions, it constitutes a good reason to argue the need to prevent him from any communication with the outside world. We take it upon ourselves to firmly denounce what we believe happened. It is clear that the Supreme Court received appropriate solicitations that Operation Sibilla be kept alive, albeit in intensive care. A decision made over and above the Attorney General’s own requests, the delay in the motivations, the captiousness of them, all of this speaks to us of the need to keep standing, while grasping at straws, a specific charge of incitement against Alfredo.

On December 1, a hearing will be held to confirm or not confirm the application of 41bis against our comrade for the next four years. On that day, the state executioners will be able to appear in court waving this charge as well. Let it be clear, publicly, how shaky it actually is (postponement for lack of motivation of the annulment ruling on a single specific article published in an anarchist newspaper), but that it can become, along with others, one more reason to keep Alfredo in the regime of annihilation and thus to sentence him to death.

Alfredo, in fact, has waged a very tough struggle that leaves no room for judicial acrobatics. Faced with the prospect of spending a lifetime in 41bis, he preferred, with his usual consistency and determination, to put his life on the line in an all-out hunger strike. On the one hand, your byzantinisms with which you arrange investigations and jail, on the other, the proud and unequivocal linearity of anarchism. Just as the comrades and comrade who joined the hunger strike are demonstrating the deepest sense of the word solidarity. In our own small way, we too put our faces to it and promise that we will not leave in silence what you are doing.

Adriano, Federica, Francesco, Matteo, Michele, Paolo, Sara

Source: La Nemesi

Turin, Italy: Public assembly in support of prisoners fighting against 41 bis and hostile life imprisonment and readings and discussion around the book “Which International?” by Alfredo Cospito and many others (Nov. 24, 2022)

Posted on 2022/11/19 by darknights

Public assembly in support of prisoners fighting against 41 bis and hostile life imprisonment and readings and discussion around the book “Which International?” by Alfredo Cospito and many others (Turin, Nov. 24, 2022)

Thursday, November 24, 2022 at Radio Blackout, 21/A Cecchi Street.

– 7:00 p.m.: Public assembly in support of prisoners fighting against 41 bis and hostile life imprisonment.

– 9:30 p.m.: Readings and discussion around the book Which International? by Alfredo Cospito and many others (Monte Bove Editions). We will discuss with some of the book’s editors, editors of Vetriolo.

“[…] Here, I believe that this international must fight against states and capital and feed class hatred, the hatred of the excluded, the poor, the proletariat by directing energies against lobbyists, military, industrialists, the rich, technocrats, politicians, statesmen, technicians, scientists. Against all the included, those who hold knowledge and capital and therefore power whatever it may be […].”

Against censorship, we persevere in anarchist propaganda

Source: La Nemesi

Italy: Solidarity presence at the appeal hearing for the recalculation of sentences against Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino as part of the Scripta Manent trial + Further mobilizations for the imprisoned anarchist hunger strikers

Posted on 2022/11/19 - 2022/11/19 by darknights

Solidarity presence at the appeal hearing for the recalculation of sentences against Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino as part of the Scripta Manent trial (Turin, Dec. 5, 2022)

The Scripta Manent trial has reached its final stages. Last July 6, the Supreme Court requalified as a so-called political massacre one of the crimes (inherent in the double explosive attack against the Fossano Carabinieri Cadet School on June 2, 2006, claimed by Rivolta Anonima and Tremenda / Federazione Anarchica Informale) for which anarchists Anna Beniamino and Alfredo Cospito were convicted in the Scripta Manent trial. Life imprisonment is the basic penalty under the penal code for political massacre. After requalifying the crime, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Court of Appeals to redetermine the sentences. The hearing that will decide the extent of those sentences is set for Dec. 5 in Turin. We publish below the manifesto for the solidarity presence with the imprisoned comrades.

Solidarity presence in front of the courthouse where the sentence recalculation hearing for Alfredo and Anna will be held

Turin, Monday, December 5, 2022, 09:00 am.

Close 41 bis, free all, free all

Anarchists

Some dates of the mobilization in solidarity with the imprisoned anarchists on hunger strike (Turin, Nov. 20-Dec. 5, 2022)

Since last October 20, the anarchist Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike to the bitter end against the 41 bis prison regime to which he is subjected and against the hostile life sentence.

That is why an international mobilization of solidarity is underway for him and for the other imprisoned anarchists who have decided to accompany him on strike: Juan Sorroche in Terni prison, Ivan Alocco in a French prison, and Anna Beniamino in Rome’s Rebibbia prison.

Alfredo has been in prison continuously for ten years, spent in High Security sections until his transfer to 41 bis. The 41 bis is a prison regime of annihilation, in that it is designed to cause physical and mental damage through the technique of sensory deprivation; it is a political and social death sentence designed to sever all forms of contact with the outside world.

Alfredo was convicted, along with Anna Beniamino and other anarchists, in a trial aimed at criminalizing ideas and practices hostile to authoritarian oppression, and now the sentence for Alfredo and Anna has been recast as “political massacre,” the only punishment for which is life imprisonment. The recalculation of the sentence will take place at the Turin Court of Appeals on December 5.

The Italian state, which has always protected fascist mass murderers, now wants to convict two anarchists for massacre for an explosive attack that caused neither casualties nor injuries.

This affair breaks into the increasingly grim repressive climate with which we all find ourselves dealing: that is why the struggle of Alfredo, Juan, Ivan and Anna is close to the heart of those who do not want to resign themselves to a world that is increasingly an open-air jail.

Their struggle is our struggle!

Rebels and solidarity, always!

Some events of the mobilization in Turin

– Sunday, Nov. 20, 10 a.m., Michelotti Gardens parking lot, solidarity presence around the city.
– Thursday, Nov. 24, 7 p.m., at Radio Blackout (Via Cecchi 21/A), assembly for mobilization; 9:30 p.m., readings and discussion around the book Which International?, by Alfredo Cospito and many others, by the editors.
– Sunday, Nov. 27, 3 p.m., Cavallotti Gardens (Vallette), procession against prison and repression.
– Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m., at Radio Blackout (Via Cecchi 21/A), assembly for mobilization.
– Monday, Dec. 5, 9 a.m., solidarity presence in front of the Palace of Justice where the sentence recalculation hearing for Alfredo and Anna will be held.

Source: La Nemesi

Italy: Issue No. 7 of the anarchist journal “Vetriolo” is out

Posted on 2022/08/03 by darknights

Issue No. 7 of the anarchist journal “Vetriolo” is out

Contents:

— Contro la guerra. Quale internazionale? [Against war. What international?]
— Strage politica. Lo Stato italiano alla liquidazione degli anarchici. [Political massacre. The Italian State in the liquidation of anarchists.]
— Non staremo al caldo durante la tempesta [We won’t be staying at home during the storm]
— Ci troverete al nostro posto, che al vostro non ci sappiamo stare. A proposito dell’inchiesta “Diamante” [You will find us in our place, as we do not know how to be in yours. About the ‘Diamond’ investigation]
— Appunti sull’internazionalismo. Contributo di Francisco Solar [Notes on internationalism. Contribution of Francisco Solar]
— Un mondo migliore non è mai NATO [A better world is never NATO (nato also = born in Italian]
— L’anarchismo rivoluzionario contro la desistenza [Revolutionary anarchism against desistance]
— La fase nichilista [The nihilist phase]
— Sullo stato d’eccezione. Anatomia di un equivoco [On the state of exception. Anatomy of a misunderstanding]

For requests of copies: vetriolo@autistici.org

“Vetriolo”, anarchist paper, summer 2022, number 7, 20 pages. One copy: 2.00 euro. For distribution, five copies or more: 25% discount. Excluding postage. Free for imprisoned persons.

PDF:

In announcing the publication of this issue, we send out the editorial:

Against war
What international?

It is again a time of sacrifice, of hunger, of destruction. Perhaps as never before. The war between the great powers, the economic crisis, the rhetoric of national unity and helmeted politics are, a century later, the nightmare into which the bourgeoisie is again plunging us. With the possibility of nuclear holocaust as a further deadly incumbency. Continue reading “Italy: Issue No. 7 of the anarchist journal “Vetriolo” is out” →

Italy: An update and some considerations on Operation Sibilla and the 41 bis against anarchist Alfredo Cospito

Posted on 2022/06/25 - 2022/07/24 by darknights

A hearing on the precautionary measures ordered for the repressive Sibilla operation was held at the Court of Cassation in Rome on June 22. The hearing stemmed from an appeal by prosecutor Manuela Comodi against the order of the Perugia review court, which on Dec. 16 had resulted in the annulment of the precautionary measures taken on Nov. 11 in the repressive operation. The Court of Cassation, in spite of the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office (which had called for the rejection of the Perugia prosecutor’s appeal), granted PM Comodi’s request, annulling the order of the review court and ordering a new hearing. The precautionary measures are not effective, and a new review hearing will be ordered for the coming months at the Perugia court.

We would like to take the opportunity of this update to dwell on the reasons that led to the crackdown, adding some of our own considerations derived especially from the recent order to transfer Comrade Alfredo Cospito to a 41 bis detention regime.

In September 2021, following years of investigations conducted by the commands of the Special Operational Grouping of the Carabinieri in Milan and Perugia, eight prison arrests for as many anarchist comrades were requested by the Perugia prosecutor’s office. This order was partly rejected and downgraded by the judge for preliminary investigations. At the same time as this request for arrest, a three-month censure order on correspondence was ordered for comrade Alfredo Cospito, which was subsequently renewed several times.

Thus, on Nov. 11, dozens of searches were carried out by the ROS of the Carabinieri, the Sibilla investigation concerning some 15 comrades was notified, and six precautionary measures were imposed in connection with the charge of incitement to commit a crime with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism: an arrest warrant in prison for Alfredo Cospito (at the time already imprisoned in the Terni jail); the arrest of comrade Michele Fabiani, who was placed under house arrest with all restrictions; and finally, the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence jointly with the obligation to sign three days a week for four comrades. On the very day of the operation, two websites (roundrobin.info and malacoda.noblogs.org) were also blacked out, making their online addresses untraceable, and at present they are still unreachable on Italian territory through conventional browsers (due to technical limitations, the repressive forces were able to order the blackout only in Italy, since it was not possible to completely eliminate the websites in question). As mentioned earlier, after a little over a month, the precautionary measures were all cancelled by the review court. Continue reading “Italy: An update and some considerations on Operation Sibilla and the 41 bis against anarchist Alfredo Cospito” →

Rome, Italy: For an international revolutionary solidarity

Posted on 2022/05/21 - 2022/05/21 by darknights

“…I think that the new can only come from their collision (of anarchist terrorism and creative anarchy), because life is contrast: rational and irrational, hate and love, everything but the mortal, static “balance”. Harmony is the daughter of “imbalance”, of chaos. “*

Well, what has been hovering for a while has finally manifested itself: on May 5, the anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito, already detained in the AS2 section [High Security 2; Att.Nt) of the Terni prison, received the notification of the application of the 41 bis against him.
This detention regime, requested by the judges and approved by the Ministry of Justice, with the signature of the Minister Marta Cartabia, as we know, involves: the annihilation of the individual, an extension of the isolation, the deprivation of books, the lack of information and news from the outside world… in short, torture. Continue reading “Rome, Italy: For an international revolutionary solidarity” →

Italy: Blank spaces and black letters

Posted on 2022/03/06 - 2022/03/06 by darknights

Source: Inferno Urbano

Via & Translated by act for freedom now!

Blank spaces and black letters – On the repressive operation “Sibilla”

To express annoyance or disappointment in the face of power is not for us. Convinced as we are that between freedom and authority not only there is an unbridgeable gap but also that the former is the expression of irreducible otherness towards the latter and that the two are incompatible and irreconcilable, we persevere in firmly believing that the only possible relation with power is a relation of war. Either you are subjected to it or you destroy it.

This is the reason why resignation, surrender and, ultimately, capitulation become clear in the indifference towards the State. We anarchists retain an idea of freedom which is too extended and uncontrollable to be allowed to be “satisfied”. Our idea defines and – where theory flows into practice – intends to express integral and absolute freedom which scorns all kinds of compliance with power, which effectively smashes the false democratic “freedoms” being given to us, which in an eternal yearning for revolt strikes with action the persons and structures of power, disintegrating the space and time of authority.

Sometimes, especially when conscience is arid of will, the cumbersome presence of the State in all fields of existence and everyday life manages to make its courageous opponents withdraw, and in this way they begin to postpone the realization of their projects infinitively. Hostility becomes indifference. In this way, little by little, the goal becomes that of keeping on with a form of antagonism more or less adorned with radical desires. Rather than destroying the world of authority we prefer de-existential withdrawal which aims at building up our “small world”, by dedicating ourselves to ourselves, our deadlines, relations and even “self-management”, “self-determination” of milieus and situations. Continue reading “Italy: Blank spaces and black letters” →

The reaction in Italy: Message in the barrel about operation Sibilla and much more by Anarchist Michele Fabiani

Posted on 2021/12/10 by darknights

Source: fuoridallariserva Via & Translated by Act for freedom now!

–

Message in the barrel about operation Sibilla and much more

The passion for destruction is also a creative passion

— M. Bakunin, The Reaction in Germany

The story goes that one day Alexander the Great went to the barrel in which Diogenes of Sinope lived. Diogenes was the only philosopher who had not gone to pay homage to the great king. So Alexander went to him. Alexander asked him: “Tell me what I can do for you”. And Diogenes answered: “Yes, move away, stand out of my light.”.

Reflecting on conditions of incommunicability, autonomy and refractoriness towards power is far more complicated today than it was in the 4th century BC.

Today power does not move, there is no longer a barrel inside which the shadow of the State does not reach. The only possible relationship with this global organism is violence. One hears all too often, like a plaint of bigots at evensong, that revolutionary violence is out of date. It is said that “times have changed” when, if anything, it is the possibility of escape that has changed.

The last two years have been a sad confirmation of this old story. A new era was heralded in with the massacre in the Italian prisons, the people locked in their homes while production continued to go ahead, the attacks and killings during the transport strikes, the countless repressive manoeuvres against anarchists, and finally through the green pass, the final (?) destination of the new society of control. Continue reading “The reaction in Italy: Message in the barrel about operation Sibilla and much more by Anarchist Michele Fabiani” →