29th July 1900 2010 W BRESCI W L'ANARCHIA

Gaetano Bresci killed at Monza, on the evening of Sunday, July 29, 1900, firing three shots (or four historical sources disagree) King Umberto I of Savoy. The king was returning to coach at his residence Monza after a ceremony in a sports club. The murder - immortalized in a famous painter Achille Beltrame table for "Domenica del Corriere" - took place under the eyes of people cheering that greeted the monarch. Bresci left captured without resistance.
[Edit] The trial, conviction and death
The trial of Bresci was educated in a very short time. On August 29, 1900, that is exactly one month after the murder, Bresci appeared in the court of Assizes in Milan Piazza Beccaria. The ruling was a foregone conclusion at the outset. Gaetano Bresci asked how the socialist deputy defender Filippo Turati, but he had declined the post and was replaced Advocate anarchist Francesco Saverio Merlino.
The defendant maintained an attitude in accordance with the character represented. Cold and detached, almost serene, listened to the reading of the indictment (for rhetorical truth up to capacity) without showing neither remorse nor bravado.

Here is the text of his interrogation in the classroom:

President: "The defendant has something to add to his deposition just read?"
Brescia: "The fact I made by myself, without accomplices. Thought I was seeing so much misery and many persecuted. You have to go abroad to see how they are treated the Italians! We have nicknamed "pigs" ... "
President 'not digress ... "
Bresci: "If I'm not talking sit down."
President: "Stay in the theme."
Bresci: "Well, I will say that the sentence leaves me indifferent, I'm not interested in point and I am sure I did not wrong to do what I did. Not even intend to appeal. I appeal only to the next proletarian revolution. "
President: "Admit that you have killed the king?


Bresci: "Do not killed Umberto; i killed a King, I killed a principle! And the crime but did not say! "
President: "Why did you?"
Bresci: "After the state of siege in Sicily and Milan illegally established by Royal Decree I decided to kill the king to avenge the victims."
When the President asked him why he had made that gesture, Bresci said:
"The events in Milan, where he worked the gun made me cry and I thought of revenge. I thought over because the King to sign the decrees reward the scoundrels who carried out the massacres. "


Heard the witnesses, the jurors retired to decide after a few minutes and chief accountant Carione jury read the verdict declaring the accused guilty and sentenced him to forced labor.
He served prison sentences in S. Stephen, at Ventotene (Pontine Islands) and to be able to visually inspect was built for him a special cell of three meters by three, no furnishings.
He died May 22, 1901 "committed suicide" by the State and probably was killed even before this official date. The authorities divulged the news of his suicide, hanged by a sheet or towel.
Some coincidences: a prisoner sentenced to life in Santo Stefano got the grace, the director doubled his salary.
There is also uncertainty about the place of his burial according to some sources, was buried along with his personal effects in the cemetery of St. Stephen, according to other, his body was thrown overboard. The only things left of him is his hat lifer (which was destroyed during an uprising of prisoners after the war) and the revolver with which he made regicide.

British Police Trials Crime Predicting Software

Computer program reveals where criminals are most likely to hit
By Lucian Constantin
[softpedia.com] British police forces are trialing computer software which is able to pinpoint potential criminal hot spots from data fed to it. The system leverages statistical history and evaluates patterns to predict the places where crime is most likely to occur. Known as CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History), the program was developed by IBM with help from the University of Memphis Criminology and Research department.
The system has real time access to a wide variety of data including, but not limited to crime reports, police intelligence, offender profiles or weather forecasts, which it combines with past crime patterns to accurately pinpoint crime hotspots. The system was used successfully by the Memphis Police Department for a long time, where it allowed resources to be allocated efficiently to decrease law enforcement response times.
Such proactive actions are said to be responsible for a crime reduction rate of 31% in the area. "This is more of a proactive tool than reacting after crimes have occurred. This pretty much puts officers in the area at the time that the crimes are being committed," John Williams of the Memphis Crime Analysis Unit, commented for The Guardian, which also reports that two British police forces have secretly begun trialing the software. The methodology behind such programs is known as “predictive analytics” and encompasses various data mining and statistical analysis techniques. The technology has long been used in certain industries, particularly financial services, and in various fields of research. However, applications in the justice system, like for determining which prisoners are most likely to become repeat offenders has been strongly criticized by human rights activists. IBM explains that the CRUSH system does what police officers were already doing, but on a whole new level and with much more speed. Current development efforts aim to increase the number of sources the program can process, with CCTV camera feeds and Facebook posts being strong candidates.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/British-Police-Trials-Crime-Predicting-Software-149127.shtml

30th 31th July and 1th AUgust ARM YOUR DESIRE 4 in Greece

LIFE AND CONSUMPTION, MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?

“You are at the store with sports goods. You can’t decide between a new jacket or a racket. Who do you ask? No one. You buy both and get it over with. Without doubt, you are living the best period of your life.”
From an advertisement in a Spanish newspaper.

Over-consumerism, economic growth, advertisements, sponsors, shopping malls, shopping therapies, addiction to shopping and products. This is the modern “culture” of the developed countries of the world, amongst which one will also find Cyprus. In this culture, there is no place for spontaneous entertainment, feelings and thirst for life. The only thing left is passion for consuming.

What is (over-)consumerism? It is the buying of products seen on a commercial and realizing they are useless only days later. It is the lingering feeling of dissatisfaction. The constant need for more, bigger, better. The creation of consciences which confuse reality with commercial, “wanting,” with needing. Moreover, it is the belief that lack of communication with our self and those around us, even our flaws, are covered and hidden with buying certain goods.

For the citizens of “developed” countries to be able to enjoy the goods produced by millions of workers working in awful conditions in poor countries, it constantly requires more money on their part. So, they accept to work in bad and flexible working conditions, to work more so as to earn more. They enjoy less time with their friends, children and themselves then what could truly make them happy.

The society of consuming looks down both on work and the value of products, since the only thing that counts in the human relations is the pattern of production – consuming. The labor and the uniqueness of each product do not matter before the “monster” of mass production.

The society of consuming puts “needs over resources, profits over people, the present over the future.”

Over-consumerism does not only destroy human lives, but nature as well. Reusing, recycling and the use of renewable energy sources are steps in the right way, but this is not enough. If we truly want to protect the environment and natural resources we must make drastic changes to our way of life.
The retrieval of resources, the production, the movement and transport of products which we demand and consume is the number one cause of the environmental disaster we experience every day. From the polluting toy factories in Asia, to the dropping of tons of garbage into the oceans, to the chopping down of thousands of trees in the Amazon on the altar of soy production for the immense amounts of foods (and mostly meat) we eat, the destruction and pollution of the environment has its roots in the consumerist society of man.
800 million people live in conditions of extreme poverty, 40% of foods produced are trashed without being eaten, 1/3 of fish caught are returned to the sea because they don’t fulfill the aesthetic specifications for the market, 300 million people in northern countries are obese.



70% of decisions regarding a purchase are taken inside the store.



One third of European consumers is addicted from shopping and has serious problems with spontaneous purchases and loss of self control when it comes to spending.


Daily, we are exposed to 3000 commercials.



The list of IKEA is the most “read” book in the world: 175 million lists printed each year, in 35 countries and 27 languages.



80% of those who enter a shopping mall eventually buy something.
Source of information:
http://sporos.org

Lucca Italy - Anarchist Comrade Leonardo Landi Sentenced to 6 Years

21/07/2010 - Yesterday July 20 last day of Leo's trial took place in Lucca.
The public prosecutor requested 6 years for robbery 'with the aggravation of terrorism'. The court however, excluded the aggravation but confirmed the sentence of 6 years imprisonment.
A long trial, a decision already decided, not just in the five minutes of deliberation that served the judges to decide, but for the repressive atmosphere that has characterized Tuscany for many years now and for the more general trend that sees power increasingly able to impose itself in trying to eliminate every enemy that stands more or less consciously in front of it.
It inevitably makes us angry to know that Leo will remain in jail, not surprised that they wanted to charge him with being an anarchist, to have always carried forward his ideas with pride, struggles with determination, his love of freedom in practice.
Very often we have had to speak out about and deal with repression when we would rather be devoting our energies to struggles without "chasing" the deadlines that were "imposed".
But these years have made us think much about what was and is fundamental active and concrete solidarity to comrades and companions, especially if they are imprisoned.
They, in fact, are made to pay the price of a declared war against unacceptable reality.
We support them and still prefer the attack on the enemy to the sterile whining about its ugliness. We prefer not stop powerless in the face of obstacles we encounter in our path, but to find a way to overcome them.
Freedom is not begged it is conquered!
When they hit one of us they mean all of us!
The anger is not subsiding, minds and hearts to Leo.

Anarchists of via del cuore

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY FOR MARCO CAMENISH

Appello per una campagna di solidarietà per Marco Camenisch [ita-eng-esp]

Appello per una campagna di solidarietà per Marco Camenisch

Marco Camenisch, conosciuto per la sua partecipazione attiva al movimento antinucleare negli anni settanta, è un prigioniero politico incarcerato da quasi 20 anni. Durante tutti questi anni ha partecipato a lotte, campagne e proteste dentro e fuori dal carcere come anarchico ecologista combattente. Attualmente è detenuto nel carcere Poeschwies / Regensdorf vicino a Zurigo.

Fra due anni (nel 2012) sarebbe possibile arrivare alla sua scarcerazione in libertà condizionale, che dovrebbe venirgli concessa per principio, secondo la norma del sistema carcerario svizzero. Ma la situazione di Marco è particolare. Tutte i benefici e le misure per prepararsi alla liberazione gli sono rifiutati categoricamente. Il supporto sanitario, di cui necessita in quanto malato di cancro, resta insufficente. I normali periodi di licenza dal carcere gli vengono negati in base al fatto che lui non rinnega la sua fede politica e che ha troppi amici e amiche in tutto il mondo, che potrebbero aiutarlo a scappare, anche se allo stesso tempo, avere delle buone relazioni sociali fuori della galera dovrebbe essere una condizione favorevole alla scarcerazione condizionale.

Tutto ciò suggerisce che le autorità giudiziarie concedano la libertà condizionale solo ai/alle detenuti/e che si sono piegati/e o adattati/e. Questa tendenza si può constataree per quasi tutti/e i/le prigionieri/e politici/che segregati ai margini delle metropoli. I detenuti e le detenute che difendono la loro identità politica sono sepolti vivi nelle galere, anche se hanno già espiato la condanna inflitta. Il tutto con l'intenzione di indebolire i progressi del movimento al quale appartengono - e di mantenere viva la paura del carcere come arma dei potenti. Alcuni esempi fra tanti che potrebbero servire come esempio sono Leonard Peltier negli Stati Uniti, i prigionieri e le prigioniere di Action Directe in Francia o i militanti baschi prigionieri dello Stato spagnolo.

Per queste varie ragioni facciamo un appello, insieme al Soccorso Rosso Internazionale, per una campagna internazionale di solidarietà con Marco Camenisch, che si vuole unire alle lotte per la libertà di altri/e prigionieri/e politici/che con lunghe condanne da scontare in altri paesi o continenti. Non vogliamo perdere di vista la prospettiva di una società senza galere, e abbiamo già cominciato la campagna il 19 di giugno, giorno d'azione per i/le prigionieri/e antagonisti/e e contro il carcere.

Vi domandiamo di sottoscrivere l'appello del Soccorso Rosso Internazionale. Fate girare le informazioni sui vostri website o altri canali d'informazione. Partecipate secondo i vostri punti politici essenziali e unitamente ai prigionieri e alle prigioniere a voi vicini. Partecipate alla giornata d'azione internazionale il 18 e 19 di settembre.

La solidarietà è un'arma

amici/che e compagni/e di marco camenisch

giugno 2010


scrivete a Marco ( non dimenticare di mettere un mittente):
Marco Camenisch
postfach 3143
ch-8105 regensdorf


sostenete Marco:
conto 87-112365-3 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 87-112365-3 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (PAN-IG, ch-8000 zuerich)

per contattarci:
marco_camenisch@yahoo.de

---

call for an international solidarity campaign for marco camenisch

marco camenisch, known for his active role in the anti-nuclear movement during the seventies, has been a political prisoner for almost 20 years. as a militant green anarchist he has been taking part in struggles, campaigns and protests in and outside prison during all these years. He is currently detained in the penitentiary pöschwies/regensdorf near zurich.

in two years comes the case of his conditional release that should basically be granted since in the swiss prison system, conditional release is the rule. however marcos situation is a particular one. all special privileges and preparatory measures for release are refused. the medical treatment he needs because of his cancerous disease continues to be insufficient. the furlough usually granted is refused on the grounds that he does not renounce his political convictions and has to many friends all over the world who might help him escape. yet having good social contacts is a criterion for conditional release - one out of many criteria which marco would fulfill.

the juridical authorities give the strong impression that conditional release is only granted for broken and/or conformist prisoners. this tendency can be observed with nearly all political prisoners in metropolises. prisoners defending their political identity are buried alive in prison although they have served their sentence already - with the intention to weaken them and the progressive movements they come from and to keep up the fear of prison as a weapon of those in power. some examples among many are the situation of leonard peltier in the usa, the one of the prisoners from action directe in france or of the basque prisoners in the spanish state.

together with the international red aid, we therefore call for an international solidarity campaign for marco camenisch coordinating with struggles for the release of long-standing prisoners in other countries. meanwhile we do not want to lose the prospect of a society without prisons. that is why we set the start of the campaign for june 19 which is the international day of action for antagonist prisoners and against prisons.

sign the call of the international red aid, spread this information via your websites and other channels. join the campaign adding your own focal points. Take part in the international day of action on september 18 2010.

solidarity is a weapon!

friends and supporters of marco camenisch

june 2010

write to marco (remember to put sender's address):
marco camenisch
postfach 3143
ch-8105 regensdorf

support him:
account no. 87-112365-3 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 87-112365-3 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (PAN-IG, ch-8005 zürich)

contact:
marco_camenisch@yahoo.de

----------

Llamamiento para una campaña internacional de solidaridad con marco camenisch

marco camenisch, conocido por su participación activa en el movimiento antinuclear de los años setenta, está encarcelado como preso político desde hace casi 20 años. Como anarquista verde ha participado en luchas, campañas y protestas dentro y fuera del cárcel. Actualmente está en la cárcel Pöschwies en Regensdorf en los alrededores de Zurich.

En dos años (en 2012) vendrá la cita de su libertad condicional que en principio le debería ser otorgado porque la libertad condicional es la regla general en el sistema de cárcel suiza. Pero la situación de marco es particular. Todos los alivios y medidas preparatorias de la liberación se las recházan categoricamente. La atención médica que necesita a causa de su enfermedad cancerosa continua de ser deficiente. Las vacaciones carcelarias normalmente concedidas se las recházan alegando que no reniegue sus convicciónes políticas y tenga demasiados amigos/as en todo el mundo que le puedan ayudar a huir. A la vez tener buenos contactos sociales fuera de la cárcel es un criterio para la libertad condicional. Uno de muchos criterios que marco objetivamente cumpliría.

Da la impresión de que los autoridades jurídicas concedan la libertad condicional solo a los encarcelados que son destrozados o adaptados. Esa tendencia se puede observar con prácticamente todos los presos en las metrópolis. Presos que defienden su identidad política son enterrados vivos en la cárcel aún cuando todavía hayan cumplido con su condena. Eso es para debilitar a ellos y a los movimientos progresistas de quienes provienen - para perpetuar el miedo a la cárcel como medio de los gobernantes. La situación de leonard peltier en los estados unidos, la de los presos de la action directe en francia o la de los presos vascos en en el estado español son puestos por caso.

Por eso llamamos junto al socorro rojo internacional a una campaña internacional de solidaridad con marco camenisch a la que se unen las luchas por la libertad de los otros presos políticos de muchos años en otras países. En eso no queremos perder de vista la perspectiva de una sociedad sin cárceles. Por eso hemos fijado el pistoletazo de salida para la campaña para el 19 de julio, que es el día de acción internacional para los presos antagonistas y contra las cárceles.

Firmad el llamamiento del socorro rojo internacional, distribuid las informaciones via vuestras páginas de web y otras medios de comunicación. Participad en la campaña incorporando vuestros puntos esenciales. Tomad parte en el día internacional de acción del 18 de septiembre 2010.

solidaridad es un arma!

amigos/as y sostenientes de marco camenisch

junio 2010

escribid a marco (no olvidar el remitente):
marco camenisch
postfach 3143
ch-8105 regensdorf

apoyad a marco:
cuenta 87-112365-3 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 87-112365-3 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (PAN-IG, ch-8000 Zürich)

contacto:
marco_camenisch@yahoo.de

ROTE FLORA: two Steps Forward and Three Backwars, the failure or city privatisation as a model of conflict regulation

As we learnt from the media, the city of Hamburg plans to repurchase the Rote Flora. In our opinion the possible repurchase of the Rote Flora by the city is the political end of an attempt to get rid of the conflict over the project through privatisation.
We appreciate this failure and hope that the private enterprise deregulation will be retracted at other points as well, for instance in case of hospitals, the water supply companies or public basic services. Privatisations expedite the enforcement of capitalist exploitation principles and exacerbates social injustice. They act as annulment of a critical puplicity by shifting the conflict away from the area of the publicly-political towards the unpolitical sphere of private property, the sacred cow of middle-class society.
Yet in the same time we don`t perceive the repurchase of the Flora as an act of relaxation. After the end of the previous stipulation between the city and the investor in march 2011 the Flora will remain squatted and an agile expression of our uprising against the current circumstances. District and senate are no negotiating partners to us, they are responsible for a policy of business location thinking and extreme investment interests on the one hand and social exclusion, expulsion and repression on the other hand. Our ideas of urban space, participation and presence on the streets, basic services and societal changes differ radically from those of mainstream politics. We refuse to become part of a logic of location interests, which subordinate social needs under economic interests and which react to resistance by increasing repression and obligations to co-operate. By selling the "real estate Flora" to the investor Kretschmer in 2001 to us neither the ownership structure nor the status quo changed: The project is squatted and does not co-operate with the investor. Simultaneously we still perceive ourselves as politically within the area of conflict with the city, as we generally dismiss privatisations as an option of conflict regulation and societal regulation. Selling of public institutions, buildings and land property serves primarily as deregulation of working and living conditions plus the expansion of control and repression under the fig leaf of protecting private property. If the city should repurchase the Rote Flora, in our opinion the conflict is back where it has always been. Within the conflict of "Recht auf Stadt" ("Right to the city", recent anti-gentrification network in Hamburg) and the question of acquiring public space.
We are prepared for a potential conflict over the Rote Flora. We regard the city offer as a reaction to the unmistakable position of holding onto the non-negotiable status quo of the building. Neither now nor in future we will back down under economical interests of the city or other investors or become in any other way meek and mild or let anyone tranquilise this place of opposition to the prevalent system.
It might be that investors and district would like things to run differently in the Schanzenviertel, that the whole quarter should be brought into line and turned into an equalized consumption mall. Into a place where even more leisure-industry is established and the "brand" Hamburg is beeing bloated until it blows up by arrogance. But this development does not go without resistance. The Schanzenfest, the intended Music hall inside the Real Markt, the outdoor gastronomy in the Susannenstraße, the Bernhard-Nocht-Quartier or the Ikea project are tagging ongoing political conflicts between the city and the residents, that will continue. The fundamental question over a "right to the city" will not be answered by round tables or procedures with public participation. The municipal paticipation offerings aim at optmising the neoliberal conversion of the city and at producing consent. They suggest democratic codetermination which because of the general framework in reality neither exists nor is beeing strived for. If the outcome of such regulation processes is positive for the senate it serves the enforcement of controversial decisions, if the outcome is negative it is beeing ignored. Alternatives to the injustice of capitalism only exist outside of practical-constraint-discussions and symptomkludge.
The self-determined political and cultural practice of the project Rote Flora is one of many possible answers in order to damage the "logic of the system". The Flora is not about saving niches or pacify existing conflicts by mitigating the worst outgrowths, it is about going the whole hog.
Squatting as a type of protest is no anachronism but quite up to date. The recent squatting of the erotic-art-museum showed this. We wish good luck to the activists against the Bernhard Nocht Quartier for future actions and squattings and see ourselves as part of the fight. The Battle, which is rightly feared in case of an eviction of the Rote Flora, has already begun, blazes up and dives down just to emerge at another place. From a radical left perspective this is not about single projects or interests but about a collective challenge of prevalent values, norms and ownership-structures. It is about making another life thinkable and imaginable, to occupy landmarks and look-out-points, which enable radical criticism on the existing and a view on other prospects.
We don`t give ourselves to the illusion the repurchase of the Rote Flora by the city would make a violent eviction less likely or the ?real estate? Flora less desirable for them. A project like the Flora, which is a mirror image of social struggles and changes, can never be safe, will always stay precarious and in motion. We will continue to be a disturbing factor in the normal operation of capitalism. A place of intervention, insurrection and riot, of celebrating wild ball nights and letting life pour down on us. We don`t know how the situation will develop within the next months. But we know what we have to do just in case the secret pleasure behind the scenes turns into a police attack, with the will to end the squatted status. Therefore we continue to get ready for defending the project, to turn the tidy order of the city upside down and undermine the prevalent power discourse. Organise resistance and solidarity!
Support your local squats!
For a urban conflagration and a right to the city!
Campaign "non-negotiably happy" & Rote Flora plenary meeting

23th and 24th July PANNONE Hardcore Punk Festival Benefit fot Anarchist Prisoners near Tranto Italy

more infos www.accidiahc.org

POLIZIA ASSASINI

The trial of the murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos is drawing to a close
The trial of the murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (special police forces Epaminondas Korkoneas and Vasilis Saraliotis) in the remote town of Amfissa is now drawing to a close, with the court testimonies of the two accused – who have been released, it is reminded, since June 6 (as the maximum, 18-month period allowed for their pre-trial detention was reached). We will be reporting on the sentencing of the two here. For all the other developments running and even if these two cops are some of the smallest tools of the machine – still, for the days we lived in December, and for Alexandros, we want to see them pay. No justice, no peace.

QUESTIONING ABOUT A BLOG in Paris

Today July 13, a comrade suspected of participating in the blog "Même pas peur", was interviewed by the anticrime Brigade in the 13th arrondissement.
The questions focused on a text published on dozens of sites in late April 2010: "Analysis of an anti-terrorism investigation file" about "the investigation file on what was,in January 2008, the first case handled by an anti-terrorism court on what police officers, judges and the media called "the anarcho-autonomous area".
The alleged crime is the disclosure of the identity of police officers. There has been no result so far, and more convocations under this new investigation might have been sent.
PS: as usual, beware of where messages on websites and blogs are posted from, the cops are fond of IP, as seen again in this case.
Indy Nantes, Tuesday, July 13, 2010.

I'M FREE

Hands Of LELAS KARAGIANNI Squat Athens Greece

they have left now but were outside the building for hours as a terrorism tactic before the demonstrations. Karagianni is a 22 year old squat with rich political and not only action. A few hours before the demonstrations against the Order of the State with the decision about the new measures as an excuse, the State machanisms set the terms of the social and class war with society. They besiege a "social apartment" based on its political characteristics. The attack on society has started on every level. The imminent invasion of "Lelas Karagianni" squat is the measure of siege that they've decided to impose on society. Their laws require adequate regimes that will apply them. The oppressive forces have already taken a strategic attacking position and are around all of us. The resistance will not remain in silence.

Solidarity to Lelas Karagianni squat
Statement by the Lelas Karagianni squat in Athens regarding the reppressive operation against it
HANDS OFF THE LELAS KARAGIANNI 37 SQUAT
In a period of intensification of social and class antagonism due to the generalised attack of state and capital on even the most elementary interests and rights of the workers the unemployed and the youth, and during the attempt to raise social and political defences, repression is intensified by targeting, threatening and attacking people in struggle and spaces of struggle.
On the night of July 8th at 2 a.m., only a few hours before the general strike demonstration some heavy police units surrounded without any obvious pretext the occupied building of 37, Lelas Karagianni Street in the Athens neighbourhood of Kipseli – and blocked off the surrounding streets. The Occupation was put under a condition of siege, threatened for many hours with a police raid, while an order had been issued for the arrest of anyone who would attempt to exit or enter the occupied building. Police checked and even detained many passers-by, neighbours or others who just happened to be in the streets around the occupation.
Finally the tight sige ended with the withdrawal of the police forces at 5 a.m., as suddenly as it had started.
Regardless of the undeclared targets and planning of this police operation, the fact is that yet another space of struggle and yet another group of people in struggle was targeted by state repression and terrorism. An occupation which during its entire 22 years always stood steadily within the ranks of the wider anarchist/anti-authoritarian struggle and always on the side of all the social-class struggles of the exploited and repressed people.
For this reason the night-time repressive operation of July 8th against this particular occupation had some wider targets and comprises part of the wider state repression aiming at terrorising and attacking anti-authoritarian struggle and more widely, the social struggles of our time.
And even if this particular repressive operation folded it nevertheless showed the aggressive tendencies and the terrorising methods employed by the state against the self-organised nuclei of struggle, such as occupations, which during this period are particularly important and useful in their support and contribution tothe development of collective resistances, both on a more central level as much as in the neighbourhoods of the city.
It is for this reason that despite the very late time [at which the attack against the occupation was launched] there was an enormous struggle interest and tens of comrades were mobilised, expressing their solidarity availability to the besieged occupation on the night of July 8th.
TERRORISM SHALL NOT PASS – HANDS OFF THE OCCUPATIONS
AGAINST STATE AND CAPITALIST BARBARITY, LET’S PREMISE SELF-ORGANISATION, SOLIDARITY AND OUR COLLECTIVE RESISTANCES
Occupation of Lelas Karagianni 37

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.....

"I swore never to be silent whenever, wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant."
Elie Wiesel

NOTES ON THE EUROPEAN SQUAT MEETING IN BARCELONA 17 TO 20 June 2010

Translation of an article written in french and originally published on squat.net/fr.
From june 17th to 20th, 2010, an european squat meeting took place in Barcelona [1|2].
People participating to the discussions were more than one hundred, all the discussions happened in the Laforsa squatted social centre (41 av. de la Fama, in Cornellà de Llobregat, suburbs of Barcelona). This old factory is squatted for a year now, but it's quite famous because it has been occupied during several months by its own workers in the late seventies, becoming a symbol of the workers autonomous class struggle.
The discussions were happening in the huge Laforsa's first floor (with plugged simultaneous translations in spanish, english, french and italian) and food was served twice a day in the second floor.
Each day was focused on one topic (thursday: presentation of the present squats and debate about the controversial question of legalization, friday: the possibilities of resistance against squats evictions - with the stories of Hamsa, Ateneu Korneya and Kasa de la Muntanya in Barcelona, Maintzer strasse in Berlin, Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Casablanca in Madrid, the 400 couverts in Grenoble, etc. saturday: demonstration in the city, then discussions about squatting as a mean for struggle - with the inspiring example of Cabanyal quarter in Valencia, and against prison - with some ex-prisoners, in particular Amadeu Casellas, sunday: social control and identification methods, especially DNA - with a barcelona's lawyer who's near the okupa movement, the presentation of the squat!net website and the tools it offers).
The bigger part of the discussions were focused on the presentation of the situations in the different countries or cities... Actually there were squatters from several countries (Catalunya, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, etc.) and the squat's practices plus the State repression are sometimes quite different from a country to another.
Because of that, we learnt a lot, but we had difficulties to go further on the topics.
Other meetings like that could be relevant... Some squatters from Barcelona said they should renew their intersquat dynamics, which are a bit dead for a few years.
In the next days or the next months:
- Monars (Catalunya): Rural squat meeting from july 1st to 4th
- Toulouse (Fr): Pilifest, "Squat and autonomy", from july 3rd to 7th
- Dijon: Summerfest in the autonomous centre "Les Tanneries", from july 16th to 24th
- Berlin: Intersquat festival from september 10th to 19th
***
Dozens of squats are active in Barcelona, not only the CSO Laforsa, we also could talk about la Rimaia, la Otra Carboner? and Barrilonia who are siatuated down'town and make a lot of activities (library, cyber-cafe, restaurant, parties, etc.) with big banners and paintings on their outside walls. And tons of other squats are active too, Barcelona stays the most important city in Europe talking about "political" squats.
Some pictures and links to some Barcelona's squats:
http://squat.net/images/2010-06_Barcelona/
http://larimaia.org/
http://laotracarboneria.net/
http://barrilonia.blogspot.com/
http://revoltosa.squat.net/
http://teixidora.squat.net/
http://www.nodo50.org/kasadelamuntanya/
On saturday june 19th, a breakfast-gathering under the sun was called for 10am in Vallcarca, a quarter where several old houses are squatted and where squats opening and closing are quite often these last years... Gentrification in the quarter sounds "normal" because of the touristy Güell park and so on... But in the same quarter you can find big squats like Kasa de la Muntanya [1|2|3] and Blokes Fantasma [1|2].
Around 12:30am, the demonstration begins (250-300 people), accross Vallcarca, then in direction of Gracia, to end in Joanic place. During the demo, very numerous direct actions happened. A great collective energy was going on, and the cops were only a few, quite timid (before the beginning, people were quite unsure about the situation, because in may 2007, during the last intersquat demo in Barcelona, the cops closed the demo and fights between cops and squatters were severe, with some injured people... Alfonso, who hurt a cop that was beating up squatters, has been judged only a few weeks ago and has been condemned for three years in prison!).
First, a re-opening of a squat is made in Vallcarca, (the fifth re-opening in Vallcarca in only a few months), some masked people destroyed a wall with sledgehammers and immediately re-occupied the house!
During most of the actions that needed to make stop the demo for a few minutes, someone was taking in a megaphon to explain what's the idea of the action. Quite a lot of people in the streets listened...
In the front of the demonstration, banners were arranged in a U shape to protect the demo from possible police assaults. Slogans we shouted very often, in catalan and in spanish (for example "okupa tu tambien", "okupa y resiste", "policia torturadors i asesinos", which mean "you can squat too", "squat and resist", "police tortures and kills"). Some slogans also have been shouted in english and in french.
Dozens and dozens of graffitis have been made, some posters have been glued as well. Several banks have attacked by painted stuff (paint-bombs, graffitis and paint throws), some surveillance video-cameras have been damaged (broken or spray-painted), some banners have been put on different buildings (in particular ex-squats). The advertisment boards of a building site for the new metro line have been spray-painted and/or taken off, one part of the boards has been used as a symbolic barricade just behind the demo. Plaça de les dones del 1936 (1936 women's place), an institutional building has a window smashed (against gentrification).
On the Gracia's town hall place, the official building is protected by some police trucks, which are protected by more or less twenty anti-riot cops. Those cops are attacked by paint throws and by some projectiles. In the place, a huge squat' symbol is painted on the ground.
The demonstration ends in a cool mood on Joanic place, that is spray-painted as well.
This intersquat' demonstration makes an echo to the ones that happened in march in Toulouse, in Grenoble and in Poznan.
Pictures of the june 19' demonstration:
http://squat.net/images/2010-06-19_Barcelona/
Some other pictures taken in Barcelona in june 2010:
http://squat.net/images/2010-06_Barcelona/
The day after the demo...

FACT SHEET Around The New Configuration of EU'S "Security Architecture"

While the EU is becoming a quasi-state with own powers, internal and external security are melting. Police, military, intelligence are collaborating more closely to combat their self-declared war against "Terrorism, Organised Crime, Illegal Migration".

Several treaties and guidelines should legitimate their militarised internal politics, such as the "Stockholm Programme" or the planned "Internal Security Strategy". The Commission for Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) is therefore working closely with the EU'S new law enforcement powers Europol, Frontex, Eurojust, the Committee on Internal Security or the intelligence hub named "Situation Center".

After the Lisbon Treaty the parliament is about to have more powers to influence decisions, which at least regarding the SWIFT-agreement didn't end up in any progressive changements.So it's up to social movements to get more involved into the struggles against the Europe of police.