A MOVEMENT WHICH DOESN'T SUPPORT ITS FALLEN COMRADES IS DOOMED TO FAILURE 
Anarchist Black Cross - Dijon
E  N  G  L  I  S  H    E  D  I  T I  O  N
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LET'S  SUPPORT  THOSE  WHO'VE  BECOME  HOSTAGES  IN  THE  COURSE  OF  CLASS WAR !!!
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NEWSBULLETIN #4 - April/May 2001
Hi! This issue is a bit late but as you may see, the prison struggle is always more and more full with burning issues which institutional media have decided to neglect, as expected by the rulers. The aim of this bulletin is of course to denounce this censorship and this is why you will find a number of prisoners' declarations in this issue. Our comrades inside have widely mobilized lately and it is important to let them speak about the struggle they're running, if only that could attract "the movement"'s attention. Across the world, dozens of inmates are being faced with a repression which could have no other consequence than the extension of their and our resistance, i.e. the emergence of a struggle which remains in complete relation between the inside and the outside. 
The struggle of revolutionary prisoners in Turkey is still going on with its daily casualties. This is most probably the fate of numerous other prisoners who are running the death fast if our fighting community fails in showing solidarity. Last Saturday 2nd, June, in collaboration with the Comite de Lutte contre la Barbarie et l'Arbitraire, we organized a demonstration  in solidarity with the struggle of revolutionary prisoners in Turkey, as well as two information evenings respectively at the anarchist centre and at the university. We call upon you all to take similar initiatives as we can no longer ignore this struggle in the name of ideological differences or any kind of other excuse. Time is running out, which is benefiting the turkish fascist regime as well as its european accomplices in their willingness to annihilate dissidents. Therefore we urge you to make political compromise, like a number of inmates do. The hostages' voice is getting loader and loader and the repression that has been hitting the solidarity movement lately in Spain and Turkey expresses the threat such a revolutionary movement represents for Power. But it is up to us not to get manipulated by ideological differences among ourselves so as to gather our forces within a revolutionary perspective against one and single enemy. Up the class struggle! Red and Black Greetings....

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TURKEY : "A HUMAN BEING CAN'T LIVE ALONE BUT IN A COFFIN"...

Day after day, the situation in turkish prisons is getting worse and worse : over 230 days after the beginning of the death fast run by political prisoners against their transfer to F type prisons, the temporary outcome is frightening. In addition of the 32 casualties of the 19th December dated assault, at least 20 prisoners more as well as four prisoner's relatives (members of the TAYAD association) have died following their hunger strike. As well, the ex-prisoner Ugur Turkmen who had been released last January 5th, 2001 died on May 27th on the 204th day of the hunger strike he had started in solidarity 15 days after the first wave. Besides, 37 prisoners have lost their memory because of force-feeding. Currently, over 500 prisoners are still on unlimited hunger strike (180 have started on the beginning of May). About a hundred of their relatives have engaged as well in a solidarity hunger strike and about 1500 prisoners are also running a turn-to-turn hunger strike. Even though the death fast is still going on, it is clear that a wide number of prisoners' condition is absolutely irreversible. It is also important to mention that it is nearly impossible to make a precise outcome of the situation considering that nobody (lawyers, doctors, relatives, etc) is allowed any longer to visit prisoners nor to enter the new prisons. Censorship as well is extremely strict, which prevents the strikers from passing out information. These are therefore the very last numbers we are aware of but it is clear that every passing day makes the risk of additional deaths grow, moreover if civil population abroad keeps on remaining indifferent to the turkish State's criminal reform... Among the diverse initiatives taken in western Europe outside in solidarity with revolutionary prisoners, numerous demonstrations attended sometimes by till thousand anarchists have taken place in Greece since the beginning of their hunger strike which started at the end of September 2000... but not much more in other countries.
How many casualties are needed to raise solidarity ???
The turkish State, taken into a wide financial crisis (dependence on the International Monetary Fund -IMF-), is confronted for a while to popular discontent but still refuses categorically to pay attention to the claims exposed by hunger strikers. It seems like prisoners are definitely not willing to put an end to their movement in spite of the raising number of casualties. As they declared it numerous times, "A human being can't live alone but in a coffin". As their transfer has now been achieved, most of them have nevertheless continued the death fast from F type prisons where repression goes on in order to end it, though a majority of them are now forced-fed. Indeed, the ministry of justice has ordered their force-feeding in order to gain time and delay the death of numerous inmates who are now clearly doomed to die. According to some lawyers and relatives who could visit prisoners ultimately, penitentiary authorities have turned to torture more and more systematically since January 25th, 2001.. As we notified it in the last issue, prisoners from Sincan prison were targeted by another attack while repression extends to family association such as TAYAD.
The struggle against white torture/F type cells is the struggle of individuals and democratic opposition against their own annihilation, faced with an authoritarian and military regime. Turkey is currently led by a governmental coalition made of the nationalist left and of extreme-right parties, the same as those who contributed to the slaughter of kurdish populations through the bloody war Turkey engaged against the PKK. This war seems not be "softer" against political prisoners currently. International solidarity has nevertheless grown along the past few months, coming mainly from political prisoners who are struggling in solidarity from abroad and from their cell.

A paper in french mainly achieved in collaboration between the Comite de Lutte Contre la Barbarie et l'Arbitraire and ABC-Dijon is available at our address or directly at CLCBA : 777 bd Nations Unies, 13300 Salon, France. The paper covers the struggle of revolutionary prisoners in Turkey and their families.

For further infos, contact : Komitee Gegen Isolationshaft, Kreuzweg12, 20099 Hamburg - noisolation@ninebyte.de. Web : www.noisolation.de

*

AD prisoners take action in solidarity with turkish prisoners on struggle against F type prisons

"From the 24th of April and until May 27th, prisoners from PCE(r) and GRAPO (see below) were on hunger strike. Coming from inside, this is another act of solidarity with the struggle against F type cells.
At the very moment where we're writing those lines, 20 hunger strikers have already died in Turkey, inside and outside prisons in this "whole country turned into a prison" (1). French media confine to introduce this struggle as an opposition between 2 ways of "fanaticism". Like on a balance, they put on one side the turkish State's brutal intransigence and on the other side, the dogmatism of over 1000 political prisoners and 300 relatives engaged into this strike. They mention indeed that turkish police and justice system are not exempt from criticism regarding Human Rights. They remain nevertheless the usual instruments of the repressive device, contributing to a regime where a number of democratic norms are media themselves, where democratic norms in other circumstances are outlawed : freedom of thoughts, freedom of expression and of association.

Along these previous months in Turkey, security forces have multiplied abuses against those who dare raising their voice against those prisons. Associations' headquarters and gatherings are attacked by military and paramilitary forces, democrat militants have disappeared. The evocation of this culminating point reached by repression is there only for memory. The collusion between military and paramilitary forces possibly affiliated to mafia is a scheme which all democratic struggles have to suffer in Turkey. 
This situation makes even more odious the recent call of the commission for the widening of the European Union, asking from the turkish government to keep adjusting certain details before reaching a real candidacy as a member State of that "democratic" Union. Within those details, no notification for the penitentiary reform which raises the introduction of F type prisons. Furthermore, don't they constitute a sign of the turkish penitentiary regime's adaptation to european norms ? It is not only about denouncing an hypocrisy. Being naive, those confining to governments' moral positions fall into the trap of the overshadowing of strategic interests.
However, struggles against the effects of globalization are forcefully part of this type of strategic relation between different forces. The imperialist seizure is attached, among other things, to big capital's capacity to define social relations according to its own and sole interests ; capacities defining themselves the extent of the seizure. So as to better resist profit makers' predatory activities, we need to develop concretely our conscience about the multiple links existing between different struggles and which look like ours. This is already what mobilizations in Seattle, Nice, Prague or else Quebec make progress about. That could be as well a multiplicity of initiatives where the voice of turkish comrades would be relieved, where the complicity of the french State in the crime committed and still on-going would appear. In short, to become even more conscious of what keeps us up within adversity : solidarity as a weapon against injustice, destitution and oppression. 

This is one of the basis of our engagement in the Platform of June 19th, 1999. Together with anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, communist and libertarian prisoners, we engaged then to set up a fighting community in and against imperialist prisons. Since then, about 40 signatories have responded to the call of Pierre Carette last December 2000 for a week of solidarity with turkish militants. This month, there have been solidarity fasts in german prisons. In the spanish State, prisoners from GRAPO and PCE(r) run several weeks of fast by relieving themselves from prison to prison*1. 
Along the past few weeks in France, social politicized prisoners express in turn this feeling to be concerned by the on-going struggle 
prisoners of Action Directe, May 12th, 2001 at the conclusion of which depends the systematization of isolation (2) as means against political militants. Turkish comrades' claims are ours : suppression of F type prisons, abolition of anti-terrorist laws and dissolution of the State's safety Court, sentencing of those responsible for the numerous slaughters in various prisons along the past few years (the December 2000 dated one, 28 casualties, is only the most recent and the most publicly known).
These days, french and most probably european media are no longer dealing with this struggle. Temporarily, there are no casualties. In prisons and "hospitals", strikers are forced-fed. 
From May 20th to 27th, one of us will be (was) on hunger strike and the other on tray-meal refusal*2".
Joelle Aubron and Nathalie Menigon, 

(1) Resit Sarii who speaks so was released from Umraniye prison short before the December 20th dated assault. Outside, he's continued his hunger strike for over 145 days now.
(2) The modification announced for months about "anti-terrorist laws" designs explicitly isolation for convicts in the name of this same law, which for example allows the imprisonment for years of a simple neighbor association's member. Resit Sarii is one of those examples.
******
*1 From April 23rd, 2001 the GRAPO and PCE(r) prisoners detained in the Spanish State have run a solidarity turn-to-turn hunger strike which initially started in Sevilla II prison and relieved by prisoners from both organizations detained across the country. 
*2 A number of other signatories of the Platform of June 19th, 1999 took part as well in the turn-to-turn solidarity hunger strike that is still being run in various european countries (see below). On the end of May, on the 233rd day of the hunger strike, 6 prisoners from Arles prison (France) have started a turn-to-turn huger strike, amongst the Basque prisoners Gabriel Mouesca, Frederic Haramboure and Ramuntxo Naveiro Gomez, as well as the Corsican militant Antoine Amandi and Jean-Marc Rouillan (AD).
*
Revolutionary prisoners members of the Platform of June 19th on struggle in solidarity with hunger strikers
Temporary list of prisoners having signed the Platform and having taken part into the hunger strike from May 20th to 27th in solidarity with revolutionary prisoners from Turkey :
ABDALLAH Georges Ibrahim, AUBRON Joelle (1), AYDIN Dogan (2), BALMON CASTELL Jose, BROTONS BENEYTO Fransisco, CABEZA MATO Luis, CALCERRADA FORNIELES Javier, CALERO ARCONES Joaquin, CARETTE Pierre, CARMONA TEJEDOR Manuel, CELA SEOANE Fransisco, CELA SEOANE Jesus, CUADRA ETZEANDIA Enrique, DEMIR Emrah (2), DIEGUEZ SILVEIRA Elvira, DONOS PULIDO Jose Juan, DORIGO Paolo, GARCIA RUEDA Ana, GONZALEZ CAMBEIRO Alfonso, GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ Concepcion, GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ Teresa, LEON LARA Encarnacion, MENIGON Nathalie (1), NARVAEZ TERNERO Rosario, OLIVEIRA ALONSO Olga, ORTEGA ORTEGA Laureano, ORTIN MARTINEZ Jose, PADROS COROMINAS Mercedes, ROBLIN Gael (3), ROMERO VEGA Maria Jesus, ROS DIAZ Francisco Javier, ROUILLAN Jean-Marc (1), SCHLEICHER Regis, SILVA SANDE Fernando, SIMON QUINTELA Jaime, VAZQUEZ BAUTISTA Guillermo, VAZQUEZ GOMEZ Roxelio.
(1) Jean-Marc Rouillan was already on hunger strike when the call for a hunger strike in solidarity with turkish prisoners was sent, while Joelle Aubron and Nathalie Menigon had started a tray-meal refusal in solidarity with Jean-Marc who was then transfered arbitrarily from Lannemezan prison along with 6 other inmates (see issue #2). Therefore, they added the expression of their solidarity with revolutionary prisoners in Turkey to their own claims.
(2) As member of the DHKP-C detained in France, Demir and Aydin have been on hunger strike since November 13th, 2000. 
(3) Who joined the movement from December 20th to 27th by means of tray-meal refusal.

The prisoners interested in the platform have to get in touch with the APAPC, B.P. 6, Saint-Gilles 1, 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium.

The signatories of the platform are clueless about their fellows from Turkey because of the complete restructuring of the prison system there and the transfer of numerous inmates to unknown destinations. 
Furthermore, they inform about the death of Mahmut Murat Orderkci, militant of the Labour Communist Party from Turkey/Leninist (TKEP/L) who had become a signatory of the platform one month before. Mahmut was actually murdered along with the 32 other prisoners by turkish special forces during the December 19th, 2000 dated assault. 
To conclude about the platform, the following additional prisoners have now joined it : Gerard Bernard (breton PP), Fernando Silva Snade (GRAPO prisoner detained in France), and the greek anarchist Nikos Maziotis who had run a 5-day hunger strike together with A. Lesperoglou and Kostas Kalameras in solidarity with revolutionary prisoners in Turkey (see issue #2). Furthermore, the signatories Garcia Aramburu Josefina and Garrido Gonzalez Joaquin, both from PCE(r) and GRAPO, have been released since the publication of the platform in the second issue. 
*
Struggle of the GRAPO prisoner collective in solidarity with the death fast
Last November 8th, 2001 7 militants from the reconstituted Spanish Communist Party (PCE(r)) and from the GRAPO (Antifascist Resistance Groups of October 1st) were arrested in Paris following a franco-spanish repressive operation (the GRAPO actually consist in the activist branch of the PCE(r) and has been active since Franco raised on power). The spanish State has requested from the french government to extradite 2 of them to Spain, which undoubtedly means torture and ill-treatment when being delivered to the Guardia Civil. Dozens of spanish and basque militants have been victim of the franco-spanish police cooperation which is being strengthened currently through the establishment of a european "anti-terrorist" policy (see "Eurofascism" in previous issue). Both governments are well-known for their barbaric practices becoming even harsher and harsher up to now, in spite of the numerous charges they were convicted of by the European Commission for Human Rights and the European Committee against Torture. By putting forward and focusing on the "anti-terrorist fight", this long-time cooperation has first of all been intended to target the resistance organized by people oppressed by the true motivation of this policy : achieving the Fortress Europe. 
Though none of those spanish militants has been extradited yet, their identity as political prisoners led them to suffer isolation within their current detention. In order to denounce the cooperation of european institutions with the turkish fascist government to reform its prison system and build so-called "modern" facilities, the 7 spanish militants have begun a turn-to-turn hunger strike of one week per prison since April 23rd, 2001 (they are currently detained in 2 different prisons). Here is an extract of their call for solidarity with the struggle of political prisoners in Turkey :

"Thirteen political prisoners have died already along the hunger strike and the threat with additional deaths goes on. Thirty others might die in the coming days (*note : at least 7 more prisoners have died since the writing of this call and the publication of this bulletin). 
It is time for action, for solidarity and for political compromise!
No one claiming to be red, revolutionary, internationalist...can remain indifferent to the on-going barbaric slaughter.
It is urgent, indispensable and absolutely necessary that we do something!!! (...)
Political prisoners from the GRAPO and PCE(r) come along to strengthen the active and militant solidarity by starting a turn-to-turn hunger strike, one week per prison, which will begin on April 23rd : 
Because we cannot accept the death of any more striker !!
Because the attacks against turkish revolutionaries are attacks against the worker and revolutionary movement in Europe and in the world!!
Up unity, solidarity and the international proletariat's and people's struggle!!"

Prisoners' address :
- Fernando Siva Sande : 300 282u - 5D416, MAH Fleury, 7 Avenue des Peupliers, 91705 Ste Genevieve-des-Bois, France (GRAPO)
- Maria Victoria Gomez Mendez -GRAPO- (n*893391C), Manuel Perez Martinez -PCE(r)- (n*893329-2-092) : M.A.F., 3 Allee des Thuyas, 94261 Fresnes Cedex, France
- Maria Rosario Llobregat Morenao (n*35348), Isabel Llaquet Baldellou (n*35347), Jose Antonio Pena Quesada (n*297 707V, D1 Cell. G2/30), Jose Luis Elipe Lopez (n*297 698) : MAF Fleury, Allee des Peupliers, 91 505 Ste Genevieve-des-Bois, France (all from PCE(r))

*

Letter from a turkish anarchist
This is a letter sent by a turkish anarchist which we kept anonymous to prevent any kind of consequence against him. We had actually awaited to get further precisions about the source of this letter before publishing it as, to our mind, the situation it exposes requires inevitably to raise criticism and make a clear stand. Nothing is however clear about the reality but in any case, we will not stop standing in solidarity with the struggle of revolutionary prisoners in Turkey. Our matter is to fight against one and single enemy regardless of different political tendencies. But if indeed a stand has to be made, it is about precise individuals, not about an entire revolutionary organization. The point is of course not to speculate politically but to organize and develop a revolutionary struggle, which remains far beyond political divergences. According to the little information we have, anarchist prisoners have become so because they were previously involved in ML organizations from which they became dissidents. None of them is in jail for anarchist actions or activism. 
This letter deals with the living conditions of anarchist prisoners in turkish prisons and the oppression they are victim of within the various political blocks existing in turkish prisons, at least until the 19th December dated assault as a wide majority of prisoners on struggle were transfered to F-type prisons just after this battle. Within 5 years, at least 82 prisoners have been murdered by their blockmates amongst 3 anarchists. Anarchist prisoners are about 20 in the overall turkish prison population and definitely need support politically, medically and financially to help them be recognized as revolutionaries among other revolutionaries. We recall that a number of anarchist collectives and individuals have ceased to ally with those organizations in the struggle against F-type prisons and have constituted their own platform. 
In the meantime, we learned from the 5th of May Group that the author of this letter was actually released and that he had to face a number of difficulties to obtain medical care for his kidneys. He tried to get it at public hospitals but was rejected and went eventually to a military hospital where he was attempted to get arrested because he's an "anarchist, a terrorist and a dangerous enemy of the State". He's now living underground and researched for another political affair charging him with "spreading divisive written propaganda for turkish society" which could take 6 or 7 additional years from his life. This former prisoner eventually managed to get proper medical care thanx to the solidarity of turkish anarchist fellows so funds are no longer needed to cure his kidneys. Furthermore, another turkish anarchist prisoner has been on hunger strike for over 70 days and can be contacted at : Dervis Orhan, Mersin Cecaevi, Mersin, Turkey. For further infos, get in touch with the 5th of May group, PO Box 2474, London N8, England - cemilebahar@hotmail.com. 

"I have been an anarchist prisoner for five years. They (DGM, Malatya) [DGM is a state security court gave me 15 years because I did not deny my anarchist identify and ideas. I had to deal with all sorts of problems. In Malatya prison I was put in the block that is dominated by Marxist-Leninists prisoners. However, I was not accepted by them. I was told to stay only as an ordinary, non-political human being not as an anarchist. Only PKK accepted me, with one condition: I was not allowed to talk to anyone about anarchism. Although they gave me way a little after I insisted not to, they did not recognize my anarchist identity. They were moderate  towards me because in the past I had defended myself in DGM as a Kurdish anarchist. If this was not so, I am sure they would have never let me in their block. 
I had no choice but to demand my transfer to Burdur prison. There were 4 other anarchist prisoners in Burdur prison. They were people who converted to anarchism inside the prison walls. Like many other anarchists in prisons, they came from leftist background. At that time I was tortured when I was arrested. Difficulty to breathe, liver aches, ear and eye problems. Most importantly, I had serious trauma. My cell had no air conditioning and my health began to deteriorate even more. I was having problems with breathing and sometimes  I fainted. I suggested to my anarchist comrades that we should demand to be transferred to a block with air conditioning. They agreed. But the prison authorities rejected us outright. We were told to contact the representatives of the Prisoners' Committee which was controlled by Marxist-Leninist organizations. I explained to them about this matter. In the meantime, I could not see a doctor about my deteriorating health. I  also talked to the representatives of MLKP (Marxist Leninist Communist Party) and PKK and asked them for help. They got upset. They refused to help us because we were anarchists, not "revolutionaries". They did not see us as revolutionaries. They told us not to cause any more problems. Me and my comrades discussed the matter among ourselves. We decided to ask for a transfer to another prison where they were no Marxists. Some friends told me to stay in one of the political blocks until my health got better. First I refused, but then I got worried because I was fainting more frequently. I decided to tell this to the representatives of Prisoners' Committee . MLKP refused to let me stay in their block straight away. PKK, on the other hand, told me to stay with one condition: I had to be an "ordinary" citizen. I was very much hurt and refused. In the meantime, some of my visitors from outside were sent back by the Prisoners' Committee. The reason was that we were not revolutionaries (...) We were transferred to different places. I was sent to Konya/Ermenek prison. For about two years I lived there. For a while I stayed with Trotskists, because they too were rejected and treated like us by Prisoners' Committee. Finally I realized how difficult it was to live with Marxists. My own political leanings were the reason for this. My health was in danger in solitary confinement. I was sent to Ankara Numune Hospital and had an operation. However, they couldn't  do anything about my severe headaches and ear problems."
As you can see the penalty of being an anarchist is very severe. You are confronted from everywhere. I think this is something which anarchists have highly been aware of. I hope this letter would be helpful in informing you about the conditions never lied down under their guns and their money
-That we never believed that there is in this society even one judge, cop, rich man who would bite the hand which feeds him and covers his filth, knowing the words «truth», «dignity», «human being», «life»
-That we are anarchists, which means that we wish and seek the subversion of the oppressive structures of this society, fighting everyday against its tyrants.
Refusing to inform against other people, refusing to suck up and submit.
Refusing to be partners in the everyday extermination and humiliation of the lower social classes, the degradation of the human mind and body, the violent oppression of the «different», the «foreigner», the «anonymous» and the mutilation of the workers. We are not being intimidated by your «criminality». We are here to fight, defend our lives and the life of every individual who falls in your blood-dressed hands.
IN THE POLICE HEADQUARTER'S DUNGEONS AND YOUR PRISON CELLS (OUR) DIGNITY GROWS STRONGER AGAINST THE RIDICULE OF YOUR SITTING-ROOMS AND BLOOD-DRESSED OFFICES.
To all of you who believe that by imprisoning us you will make us sell our conscience, we give to you the answers that we both know very well :
- When the murders of the workers in the places of forced labour are being called «industrial accidents»,
- When the system of manufacturing loyal subjects is called «educational system»,
- When butchers are being called «hospitals»,
- When the general poisoning with chemical food and genetically modified products is being called «the progress of science»,
- When the brain washing and the lobotomy are being called «mass media»,which an anarchist faces in Turkish prisons." 

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GREECE : RELEASE OF THE ANARCHISTS CHARGED FOR THE ARSONS IN SALONICA
  
In the last issue, we talked of two anarchists who were arrested with absolutely no evidence on the 8th of March 2001, in Salonica, arguing they were responsible for the arsons against those who are directly responsible for the murder of the three year-old Panagiotis Vasilelis from Mitilini. Cops took DNA samples from our two comrades without their consent. In the meantime, both were released on a bail of about 2000 pounds last April 10th, 2001. Here is the letter they sent after being held in detention :
                
They talk about broken windows...We talk about lives!!!
"We are being held in prison (Diabaton Prisons) since the 13th of March 2001, accused for the arsons on the 8th of March at the National Bank, the Ministry of Health and the «Star Channel». The only pieces of evidence against us are the «testimonies» of two cops who are trying to incriminate us with ridiculous accusation for the above arsons, knowing that we, as anarchists, never thought (not even for an instance) of condemning society's everyday resistance against its murderers.
So the police did manage to imprison us (as we are rather troublesome for them being active social beings). Under conditions imitating those of the junta, they refused us to contact a lawyer for 20 hours, held us in strict confinement from one to the other, took a DNA sample from our hair to examine it, brought us to court under conditions of abduction (secretly, because of our companions waiting outside) through the underground parking so there wouldn't even be a visual contact between us. At the same time they tried to emphasize on «whether the arsonists were to be imprisoned» to make society forget the social events going on at the moment. It was a successful mission! The police was productive this time! Cops' methodical handling functioned excellently to protect their bosses. We knew from the beginning that we were there in order to be accused as «guilty» and «outlaws». Of course we would never expect the prosecutors and the interrogator who held us in custody and who never took one decision to take into consideration human life (not of one but of thousands of exploited people) to act now differently. Those «judges of the human freedom» don't give a damn for the everyday murders and crimes happening around us (industrial accidents, drug murders, homeless people, child exploitation, murders of immigrants etc). The only thing they care about is to perform their duties faithfully, which is to obey the orders of their superior civil and police authorities.
So, in order to secure their role and their position, they incarcerated us, who we never hid:
-That we are here on the side of all the damned
-That we defend our life and dignity but also the lives and dignity of all the oppressed
-That we 
- When the pensions of hunger are being called «social providence»,
- When informing is being considered as a great offer to the safety of society,
- When prisons and psychiatric clinics-meat choppers of the mind and the body are being baptised as «citizen's security»,
- When the contemporary god is called «money»,
THEN OUR ONLY CHOICE WAS AND WILL BE THE ACTIVE AND CONTINUOUS RESISTANCE. NOT ONE STEP BACK! SOLIDARITY TO THE IMPRISONED FIGHTERS A. LESPEROGLOU, S. SEISIDIS AND ALL THOSE WHO RESIST THE SYSTEM WHO STEALS OUR LIFE!
									Thomas Fourlis and Thodoris Ginalas, March 15th, 2001
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CHILE : CAMPAIGN FOR THE RELEASE OF ALL MAPUCHE POLITICAL PRISONERS
   
The Mapuche are communities deprived from their lands by the chilean and argentinean States. Down here is a communique that speaks to the international community regarding the coming trial against a number of Mapuche political prisoners
      
Open letter to the national and international public opinion
Through this communique we speak to the chilean society in general and to international organizations on the behalf of the upcoming resolution of the proceedings started against us by the chilean State. First of all, it is necessary to take the context of our detention into consideration and as a part of the repressive waves launched by state devices against the Mapuche autonomous movement run by Mapuche communities on struggle against the Wall Mapu.
This repressive wave comes out as a reaction of the State to defend the interests of the great international and national capital which acts and develops over our territory through big touristic, energy and forest projects. Governmental repression expresses itself on diverse ways to intimidate our community members. These are the very first victims of the harassment being carried out by the militarization of the eighth and ninth regions and of the neighbouring areas of those communities in particular. 
Systematic searches at our brothers' and sisters' constitute one the direct forms of that phenomenon. They are frequently accompanied by verbal aggression, physical violence, partial or total destruction of the house and robbery. Plain-clothes and uniformed police with the participation of private forest guards achieves those searches. 
It is in such a context of state daily violence that members of the Mapuche communities are prosecuted, repressed and imprisoned. Along the past 2 years, over 200 men and women from the communities went through the chilean State's prisons and courts.
It is so that we reach the trial that's taking place against us, a trial full of irregularity, which reports over the political meaning of our imprisonment.
In a first stance, there exist 2 trials for the same facts. We're accused of so-called offence to the State Inner Security Law and attempt of murder. Those accusations concern Enrique Millalen Milla, Ariel Enrique Tori Linqueo, Julio Nelson Marileo Calfuqueo, Julio Alberto Huentecura Llancaleo, Pedro Joel Maldonado Urra and Juan Bautista Millalen Milla. The postulate preventing anybody from being tried twice for the same facts is then not respected. 
Furthermore, on the same way as the defense exposed it, the progress of our trial was marked by series of irregularities which as result make of us hostages today and which can influence the sanctions over our sentencing, if part of the prosecution.
During the trial, it was proved that 2 state employees from Collipulli had falsified judicial documents in order to charge the Millalen brothers and the Catrio community for the offence to the State Inner Security Law. Those employees are Nelson Vilches Rodriguez, lieutenant of the military police, and Hector Badilla Jara, both working at the second police station of Collipulli. The accurate document is the number 135. Both employees mention in it that along the investigation about a van that was set on fire on February 18th, 2000 and along which 2 guards from the Forestal Mininco were injured, a purse was found on the place of the offence with the ID of Enrique Millalen. That is why his brother has been charged and been detained at Collipulli prison for over 9 months. However, the subsequent inquiry showed that the cop who was there and took the objects he found back to the court never found Enrique's legal papers there. So both these employees have deliberately lied. In the declaration, it is mentioned that in spite of the official denunciation, the court refuses the release on bail of Millalen though it is aware of those precedent facts.
Besides, a wide part of the elements that charge us come from the account of Pedro Maldonado Urra who accused Julio Huentecura, Julio Marileo, Ariel Tori and Juan Bautista Millalen, as a consequence of a long time of non-communication and of threats he was subjected to. However, the psychological report mentions that as a consequence of beatings by military police, this community member suffers from "post-concussion troubles with amnesic distortion, which is expressed by a soft mental backwardness, thus making his testimonies hardly believable and easily influenced". As well, by pushing him to accuse other community members, he's turning into one more victim of those grave irregularities.
What's left of the elements used for the trial clearly shows our innocence if one has a look on the forest guards' testimonies which contradict themselves several times along the inquiry, and if one starts from series of elements that do not prove our guilt in any case, though causing us to be imprisoned.
It is those elements that bring us today, before the upcoming conclusions of our trials, to try making our voice public as we're conscious that the accusations we're charged with and which cause us to be nowadays imprisoned tend to be more political than judicial.
For those reasons, we appeal to the conscious public opinion and to the chilean people to support us in this hard time we have to face from behind the bar for over a year now. We call upon them to express themselves politically by demanding our freedom. Freedom which is ours today but which, in a wider meaning, is the freedom of an entire people.
Mapuche political prisoners, Temuko prison

For further infos, go to www.mapuche.free.fr or get in touch with the Mapuche Support and Information network at mapuche@free.fr

*  *  *
USA : THE SUBSTITUTES OF DEATH PENALTY

Emergency campaign to save Ali Khallid Abdullah from throat cancer
Black Anarchist Political Prisoner Of War, Ali Khallid Abdullah, has been diagnosed with throat cancer, and that Michigan prison officials are refusing to give him medical treatment. Throat cancer is life threatening and it's very painful to even swallow. Every day that goes by his condition gets worse. The drugs that had been ordered for him by a prison medic have apparently been deemed to be "too expensive", and are now being denied by the warden and his medical staff at Thumb Correctional facility in Lapeer, MI. When Ali asked for resupply he was told that his prescription would not be refilled unless he was willing to "co-pay" for it himself, and that the prison medical assistant who ordered it for him had been fired or transferred to another facility!

This is happening because Ali is a political activist in the American prison system, having founded the Political Prisoner of War Coalition, which has chapters in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. This organization gives a voice to prisoners, educates them into positive views of fighting for a new society, fights racism and sexism in prisons, and re-educates the community about the "real reasons" for prisons, crime, police and authority. He is constantly harassed by racist guards, and now he is being left to quietly die alone! Above all, we recall that Ali was the target of a murder attempt in prison but as it didn't work out, officials are looking for another way to wipe out this very active prisoner.
Ali is actually in prison because he took direct action against a drug dealer in his neighbourhood, who had taken an 11-year old girl as "payment" for her mother's drug addiction. He was given a lengthy sentence and thrown into the infamous Michigan prison system. He is thus a political prisoner, a person in prison for an injustice perpetrated by the State, who have made an "example" out of him. It is the government and more precisely the CIA which are responsible for the crack cocaine trade, which they deliberately allow in black neighbourhood so as keep them into a situation of exclusion through drug addiction and justify criminalization, repression and the so-called "need" for harsh punishment : long sentences, and death penalty. But people like Ali who try to stop dealers to fight for the emancipation of black people in the USA are made into criminals. Now he is in fear of dying in prison, just as Black Liberation Army political prisoner Albert Nuh Washington died last year of cancer. We cannot allow yet another political prisoner to die because we did nothing. We need to help Ali, who is being allowed to die of medical neglect. 
Above all, Ali Khallid Abdullah was recently denied parole for the fifth straight time by the Michigan Department of Corrections, confirming for him (and his supporters) that Michigan prison officials are intending to refuse him parole regardless of any accomplishments or self-help efforts in prison. He is being jailed for political reasons that they will not disclose publicly, or even at a parole hearing.

Ali stated :"(...) what is happening right here in the State of Michikkan is an act of genocide. It is beyond mere punishing (of) someone for what they have done. It is vindictive. Furthermore, I denounce the fact that I have committed any crime against the Peoples of Michigan ...because I have not attacked or caused harm to the peoples of Michigan...(but) how is it that my due process (of law) is being denied me? How is that my liberty and protection isn't being given (to me)?... Slavery! This is what the prisons are doing, and this is what I am condemned to...My time is running out".
Persons from his own organization (PPWC), the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizers, the Anarchist Black Cross, students, youth and other activists have formed the International campaign to Free Ali Khallid Abdullah, to make prison officials give him the medicines and treatment he needs to save his life, and to fight for his release from prison. We ask you to please support us in helping Ali by sending protest messages to the warden and MDOC officials so as Ali gets the appropriate medical treatment to prevent his death from cancer : Bill Martin, Michigan Dept. of Corrections, P.O. Box 3003, Lansing, MI. 48909 and Barry McLemore, Warden, Thumb Correctional Facility, 3225 John Conley Dr., Lapeer, MI. 48446.

As well, please send letters to the following official to protest Ali's recent denial of parole release at : Governor John Engler, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, MI. 48993 - migov@mail.state.mi.us or else the Michigan Parole authorities at : Stephen Marschke, Chair, Michigan Parole Board, Grank View Plaza, P.O. Box 3003, Lansing, MI. 48909.
For further infos, contact : International Committee to Support Ali Khallid Abdullah, c/o BANCO, P.O. Box 19962, Kalamazoo, MI. 49019-0962 (USA) - Komboa@yahoo.com, or contact Cynthia Ritsher, PPWC Information Center, P.O. Box 554, Lincoln, MA. 01773 (USA) - cwritsher@aol.com. Web : http://linkesite.de/Texte/ppwc/0001.htm, or http://squat.net/infopool/msg02062.html.
Ali Khallid Abdullah : #148130, TCF, 3225 John Conley DR., Lapeer, MI. 48446
*
Anarchist prisoner Karen Horning needs immediate proper medical care!!!
Below is a letter to Kathleen Hawk-Sawyer, Director of the Bureau of Prisons, asking for the release of anarchist prisoner, Karen Horning. The letter explains for itself why she specifically needs to be released immediately. We ask you to copy and paste this letter in this instance as an act of solidarity and mutual aid for an anarchist comrade who may die if she is not soon released from her cage to receive proper medical attention. If enough people write to Kathleen Hawk-Sawyer and to Karen Horning in jail (so the authorities at the prison know people are watching) we may be able to help get her out and receive some proper medical treatment. 
Letters can be sent directly to Karen in prison or to the director of the prison at the following addresses : 
-Kathleen Hawk-Sawyer, Director, Bureau of Prisons 320 First Street, NW Washington, DC 20534, USA.
-Karen Horning #00644-049 CC5, FMC Carswell, PO Box 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA
For further infos on the behalf of Karen, contact the Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network (APLAN) at : 818 SW 3rd Avenue PMB 354, Portland, OR 97204, USA - aplan69@tao.ca
Dear Ms. Kathleen Hawk-Sawyer,
I am writing in regards to a prisoner named Karen Horning #00644-049 CC5, being held in FMC Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas. Recently, Karen was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and two other tick borne diseases. Last year three other persons in the Fort Worth area died after being misdiagnosed and mistreated with the very same medications she was given by the medical specialist at her prison. This fact was admitted to her by the specialist himself.  Karen may die if she is not properly treated.  She needs further help immediately.
The new warden at Karen's prison, Lucy Mallisham, recently told Karen's parents that she was refusing treatment. This is a lie. Perhaps this was motivated by a desire on the part of Ms. Mallisham to protect herself from liability while obstructing Karen's access to medical care.
Karen is already permanently crippled due to her condition. She is only getting worse. I am writing to ask that you grant Karen a compassionate release so that she may obtain proper medical care. She has already located two doctors near her home in San Francisco. She is a non-violent offender who has already served 90% of her sentence. If she remains in prison, she may be forced to undergo amputation or death.  This is surely no just punishment for a non-violent offender.
Please grant prisoner Karen Horning #00644-049 CC5, compassionate release.
Sincerely,
(don't forget to mention your name and country and add your signature)

*

Message from Mumia regarding the May 12th demonstrations
“Dear sisters, brothers and enemies,
We are now forcefully on a turning point : of time, history, circumstances, and of course, chance. We are here in this precise place because time has come, and the step is good.
I thank you all for having gone to this evening gathering as well as to demonstrations and I have hope for being part of you next time.
Numerous are those among you who stated they didn't expect anything from the system and however, in your heart, you refuse to give up. A lawyer is not a supplier of charms which would be replaced on the way of a cousin so as to obtain more convenience. A lawyer is protagonist of freedom, or an instigator and performer of repression.
Some sent me critiques because I wished to make changes in my legal team. I've never been afraid of critiques but I must say that I don't agree with those I was addresses about this matter.
Under your eyes, some lawyers violated their own rules with complete slovenliness and the blessing of the court. How can you pretend that you do not expect anything from the system while expecting at the same time everything from lawyers betraying the interests of those they call their "clients"?
I thank all those who've joined this long-term struggle for freedom and justice. And if you had to choose for not joining me, I would only ask one thing from you : leave me a clear field.
To hold up John Africa :"Freedom is an urgent thing. We need a fate for that freedom and it could not emanate from the decision of one of those bloody judges".
									Thanx to all. We have MOVE. Long life John Africa.
					From death Row, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
*

Follow up of the Chattanooga 3 trial

Judge Rebecca J. Stern gave eventually a 60-day suspended sentence to Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, along with 10 days of community service, and 30-day suspended sentences to Damon and Mikail, along with five days of community service. They could have received from six to 18 months in jail. All three, especially Lorenzo who was the main target of the prosecution (Stern claimed that he was the leader of the "disruption"), would probably be behind bars today if the wide mobilization for their support had not taken place. Indeed, successful solidarity rallies were held in Montreal (Feb. 24th) and Quebec City (March 3rd). The rally in Chattanooga was widely publicized in the news media, and much of the coverage was good. In fact, the Chattanooga news media started referring to Lorenzo, Damon and Mikail as the Chattanooga 3, which had not happened before. As a result, the Chattanooga/Hamilton County power structure was fearful that larger protests might take place if the Chattanooga 3 were given stiff sentences.
This campaign reached a fever pitch in December 2000, a month before the trial, when ABC-Houston organized the "Million Mail March" for the Chattanooga 3. Government officials in Chattanooga/Hamilton County were blitzed with emails in languages in which the only words they probably understood were Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, Damon McGee, Mikail Musa Muhammad, and Chattanooga. So this is once again the proof that so-called "useless protest letters which are even not read" did make the difference in this case.

The Chattanooga 3 are in the process of appealing their convictions, which may take several years to resolve. It is almost certain that none of the higher courts in Tennessee will give them justice. In a related matter, in February the Tennessee Supreme Court refused to hear Lorenzo's appeal of his 1994 disruption conviction in the Chattanooga 8 case. So along with appealing his Chattanooga 3 conviction, Lorenzo is now preparing to appeal his Chattanooga 8 conviction in either federal district court or the U.S. Supreme Court. In the Chattanooga 8 case, Lorenzo and seven other civil rights activists were tried for disrupting a police memorial service in downtown Chattanooga. The activists conducted a peaceful demonstration protesting the refusal of a county grand jury to indict the eight law enforcement officers who choked Black motorist Larry Powell to death in 1993.
The protests and arrests of the Chattanooga 8 were covered by CNN and other national news media. Powell's case was subsequently given to Bill Clinton, who was president at that time. Clinton, however, took no action on the case. Lorenzo was one of two of the Chattanooga 8 defendants who were convicted of disruption.

Hopefully, the district courts or the U.S. Supreme Court will do what none of the gutless higher courts in Tennessee would do, i.e. declare the disruption law unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment. If this happens, the Chattanooga 3 and Chattanooga 8 convictions would be overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court is extremely conservative. However, in recent years, it has overturned several local laws that violate the First Amendment, such as Chicago's gang ordinance. But as the recent conclusion of the C3 trial shows it once again, there's no better force than people's voice to achieve justice.
One potentially dangerous situation that may confront the C3 in the future concerns the Black agent provocateur who brought a gun and bullets to the trial. This man, whose real name is still unknown, allegedly told Damon's attorney that Lorenzo told him to bring the gun to the courtroom. This is a boldfaced lie! However, District Attorney Cox could use it to charge Lorenzo, Damon and Mikail with the felony charge of conspiring to smuggle weapons into the courtroom, which carries a sentence of up to seven years in state prison. Cox could wait as long as January 11th, 2002 to file such charges. Therefore, on behalf of the C3, Lorenzo calls for keeping on sending protest letters to Cox at Bill_cox@hcdatn.org and his DA's who prosecuted the case at Dean_Ferraro@hcdatn.org and Mary_moore@hcdatn.org.
The Chattanooga 3 case, and the Chattanooga 8 case before it, is about the constitutional right of Black people in Tennessee to engage in political dissent and to exercise their constitutional right to protest against police brutality. As Lorenzo has said repeatedly, several states, including Alabama, California, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, have laws similar to Tennessee's disruption law. Just as the FBI used the Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) to criminalize and, ultimately, destroy the Black Power and New Left movements during the 1960s and 1970s, the disruption laws are being used today to criminalize political protests--with the goal of silencing and destroying the individuals and groups who engage in these legally protected activities. That is why support of the Chattanooga 3 has been so important.
If Lorenzo, Damon and Mikail had had the money to hire private attorneys, they might not have been convicted. They were very dissatisfied with the weak defence provided by their court-appointed attorneys during the trial, and need to raise $1,500 to $2,000 to hire private attorneys to handle their appeals. Contributions may be sent to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizers), Account No. 7515108434, Old Kent Bank, 4105 W. Main Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49006.
*  *  *
TURNING MISFORTUNE INTO A FORTUNE

Prisons are business for Sodexho

* private prisons and detention centres
* refugee voucher scheme
* anti-union policies
* army logistics and management
* oppressing people worldwide
* turning public money into private profit
As a result, Sodexho Alliance's net consolidated income along the year 1998/1999 is : £ 13 500 000. Is Sodexho profiting from you ?

Following a flyer published by the Cage Collective and the information collected by Corporate Watch, a couple of activists decided to constitute a collective (Sod-action) in order to oppose the corporation Sodexho. Last February 24th, 2001 about 25 people gathered in Bristol town center and walked noisily towards one of the two Marriott hotels while distributing information regarding the various activities of Sodexho and the link between Sodexho Alliance and the Marriott hotels. Some activists actually started to set up a network so as to pursue a global campaign against the corporation. We publish down here a very complete inquiry achieved by the collective Sodaction in collaboration with the CAGE collective and Corporate Watch about the corporation Sodexho and the prison market.

What has Sodexho to do with Marriott Hotels ?
Sodexho Alliance combined its North American operation with Marriott Management Services in 1998 creating Sodexho Marriott Services. Sodexho Alliance having an approximate 48% stake, most of the rest being held by the public on the stock exchange. In May 1999, Michel Landel from Sodexho Alliance was unanimously nominated chief executive of Sodexho Marriott Services. On the 25th January 2001, Sodexho Alliance issued a press release offering to buy all the shares it didn't already own. Exploiting distress through the voucher scheme. 
The voucher scheme is the solution found by the British government to ensure that the little help offered to the asylum seekers is not sent out of the country (where it could help dozens !) nor wrongly used by refugees (who have chosen to come into England to abuse the system as we all know !?!!!).
Asylum seekers are trying to escape indignity, war, lack of democracy, religious persecution and racism... They very often have been victims of greedy smugglers before arriving in our rich so-called democratic western society. The voucher scheme contributes to the poverty and dependence of refugees. It is one of the major factors contributing to their segregation in Britain.
The limited rights asylum seekers have (for working, studying, housing...) doesn't help to retrieve the dignity they lost in the land they had to leave. The voucher scheme is yet another barrier between the refugees and this dignity. The voucher scheme doesn't serve refugees. Saving money could have been a reason for the government to choose a voucher scheme. Strangely, though asylum seekers receive less money than job seeker claimants, the voucher scheme is more expensive. Even if the voucher scheme serves some state wishes to control refugee populations, it doesn't help the government to save the taxpayer's money ! So, who gets the cash ?
-The restricted amount of shops (supermarket chains...) that are part of the scheme will share the  £ 100 million of vouchers issued every year. They've been advertised how they have to keep the change... Who do you think did so ? Sodexho !
-Sodexho won the bid to run the voucher scheme for 3 years starting from April 1st, 2000. It costs the government more than income support. Sodexho employees generally get less salary than government employees ; refugees get less money than claimants. Sodexho shareholders have seen an increase of 26% of the share revenue in the year 2000, Sodexho executives also have seen their salaries and stock options going up...Sodexho is happy to invite fellow supermarket companies telling them not to miss this revenue opportunity. These are the people the voucher scheme financially serves!
Sodexho lines up claimants and students for voucher schemes
Sodexho who already administer (and makes lots of money out of) the voucher scheme for refugees, is now champing at the bit to be let loose on other vulnerable sections of society in their greedy quest for more and more money. Belgian benefit claimants and students already have to live under a voucher system very similar to the one under which refugees in Britain currently subsist. The Belgian system, run by Sodexho, is perceived to be a great business success with economically vulnerable people stripped of whatever dignity and self-respect they had left in the march for profit and the drift towards tight social control.
Unlike racist immigration policies, exploitation takes little notice of national borders and so it is surely only a matter of time before claimants and students in this country are forced to live under a voucher system. Voucher systems degrade people, push people deeper into poverty, control whole communities, dictate to individuals and families what they can and cannot buy and ensure that more and more of the planet's resources are enjoyed by the global business elite at the expense of the rest of us.
It's pointless expecting the politicians to prevent this attack on us, as it is they who thought up the idea in the first place. A degraded, downtrodden people is the dream of every government after all. It's up to us, the workers, the claimants, the students and the sick to fight back.
Cashing on taxpayers' money !
You can't trust the way governments manage tax payers' money. How about trusting a company making profit out of it ? Sodexho, like most public subcontractors, is definitely not a charity aiming to help people. Whenever they get a bid for catering schools, hospitals and administration, to run voucher schemes or prisons, or to service armies, Sodexho aims and does make profit from public money. Remember each time you buy something! The VAT is not only to get better public services, NHS and education but also to ensure companies like Sodexho to keep their high incomes.
Private prison is good money !
In the prison business, Sodexho is known in Great Britain as UK Detention Limited Services (owned jointly with Corrections Corporation of America) and Premier Prison Services (which they own jointly with Wakenhut).
Since 1994, Sodexho and Correction Corporation of America have had an international alliance to run privatised prisons world-wide, or to provide services in public prisons as in France. UK Detention Ltd are late starters and as of yet only run one prison (Redditch), have one almost completed (Salford, Manchester) and have one regional prisoner transport contract.
The system of privatised prisons was originated in America, the main companies being Wakenhut, Corrections Corporation of America Sodexho-Marriott, and Serco. These companies make profit from prisoners every day they're in one of their prisons. So, it is in the company's interests to keep the prisoners in Prison as long as possible. Sodexho has alliances world-wide with all these companies.
Prison privatization basically opens the doors to companies allowing them to make profit from each and every inmate in prison. The more inmates, the more profit is generated for the company. The prison population has been rising since 1993 : over 20 000 more inmates in UK now than 7 years ago, private prisons being built all that time. 3 of them are currently under construction and 3 more are in the planning stage as well as many more extensions to existing prisons. Sodexho's best cards are :
-Their wide range of services : clerical and administrative management, construction, security and transport staff, catering and laundering...
-Their capacity to make alliances and to make the most out of it. Why do you think they're called Sodexho Alliance ?
-The cynicism of Pierre Bellon, founder and chairman of the company : "I used to be into hotels, but with prisons I can guarantee 100% occupancy rate every night."
So, not only does Sodexho profit from Asylum Seekers, students, the ills and infirm as well as people on benefit, they're profiting from prison systems world-wide. Their involvement in the prisons business includes detention centers where refugees end up being refused asylum before being sent back to the oppressive regimes they've been trying to escape.
A private Eye in the armies !
You thought that armies were run by governments : they may not be !! Sodexho International Defence Services specializes in providing "leading edge" support management and logistic services to armed forces on a global basis !
In Australia, Serco Sodexho Defence Services Pty Limited (Serco Sodexho) and the Department of Defence signed a contract on March 27th, 2000 to provide services for the ABL South Coast Defence network. For this, Serco Sodexho employed, persons to perform the following services : transport, vehicle maintenance, re-fuelling, administration, cleaning, fire fighting, security, catering, grounds. They also got a AU$122.5 million Defence Garrison contract for the Sydney Central Region which covers most aspects of base support. Can you believe that armies need security staff for them to be protected ?
In Mexico, Sodexho is supporting and catering the Mexican army notorious for its oppression of the people in Chiapas. In Great Britain, Sodexho Defence Services specializes in providing people-based, non-core support services to the MOD as a prime contractor or as a member of a public sector partnership or private sector consortium as you may find out on their web site : www.sodexhodefence.co.uk. They provide regular day to day services to UK military garrisons. Sodexho Defence Services, as part of a consortium, has also been selected as the preferred bidder for a £900million project to redevelop Colchester Garrison. 
Sodexho Defence Services boast of being able to provide rapid response solutions matching the demands of modern military requirements : security staff provision, arms and munitions management, innovative and creative solutions to complex financial challenges in the military markets around the globe, administration, clerical and secretarial support... And of course catering, laundry, leisure resources and building construction.
They're not providing arms nor soldiers (security staff, though...), but Pierre Bellon, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the company says : "Our ambition is to be the sole partner of our clients, as represented by their Human Resources and Corporate Services Departments." And guess what, they've been taking part in the UN so called "peace-keeping operations" in Kosovo, probably to ensure they'll get enough refugees coming to the UK to be on the voucher scheme and/or in the detention centers they run over here.
Anti-workers and trade union policies
Sodexho has an consistent track record of attacks on workers. In France they have from the outset been involved in attacking the working conditions of workers. Intimidation, harassment and abuse have been recorded, They have consistently denied the right to work organisation, sacking employees who attempted to get trade union recognition.
When they took over the Marriott Hotel chain in the USA, they immediately refused to recognize any trade union. They banned employees, under sanction of the sack, not to discuss their working conditions with anyone, not even their colleagues.
They took over the provision of food in hospitals in the USA and started their process of grinding down the workers. The hospital caterers went on strike against their deteriorating working conditions. Along to Sodexho's hostility to worker organization, they introduce "cost cutting measures" : meaning lower wages, no paid overtime and cut in health and safety. Sodexho conducted a strike busting strategy to defeat the just demands of the hospital workers. Their aggressive tactics against workers have been so extreme that the Federal Government Department, over looking Employment and Trade, condemned Sodexho.
In Britain, when Sodexho received millions of pounds of subsidies from us for their ventures into the Voucher Scheme and Private Prisons, the trade unions attempted to negotiate with them. The Trade Union leadership was prepared to accept any token gesture from Sodexho. They even offered Sodexho the boss-controlled "Work Councils". Sodexho refused this and walked out, failing to reach any agreement. 
In Australia, Serco Sodexho have been brought before the Australian Industrial Relation Commission because of complaints made after they won a bid over Eurest. The former Eurest employees had to accept Sodexho lower conditions to keep their jobs.
Business as usual for this company that is specialized in profiting from others' misery. Whether it is through forcing workers under intimidation tactics, the Voucher Scheme, the military or their prisons.
Is Sodexho so special ?

Sodexho represents, in miniature, the driving force of this society. The dynamic of capitalist society that sees everything in this world only as something for making profit. Their society creates refugees ; they then create voucher schemes and detention centres to make money from the situation. They must have workers that are insecure and intimidated enough that they will accept being treated as "resources" rather than human being. Their society is based on such a level of exploitation that they must have increased military power to keep us, the rabble, in check. The society that they create and uphold needs, of necessity, a vast structure of punishment to put down to put off, us, from taking action to create a better world. Sodexho are just a company among many. They can and will be put on the defensive by taking the offensive. Such a target shows the entire structure and many issues to act on. The world can be changed, the human race is not defeated by the profit motive.
For further infos, contact : Sodaction, BOX 95, 82 Colston St, BS1 5BB Bristol, UK - email : sod-action@fsmail.net

*  *  *

GERMANY : HARD TO DROP THE BENEFITS OF THE PAST REGIME...

Continuation of solitary confinement against Thomas Meyer-Falk !
"Dear friends and comrades!

As some of you already know I've been sitting in German prisons since October 1996, because I had tried to organize money for the revolutionary struggle at a bank. During this bank robbery nobody had been physically injured. Nevertheless the German justice convicted me to 11,5 years of prison, with following security custody, which is the same a life-long imprisonment (1). This punishment was imposed as I was standing strong to my beliefs in front of the court, calling the process unlawful and not denying the "violent struggle". I have now been sitting in severe solitary confinement since October 1996, with only a few interruptions in 1998. First in the well-known prison of Stammheim, where comrades had mischievously been killed in 1977, and then all had been presented as suicide. Meanwhile I've been sitting in isolation in Bruchsal for 3 years. I succumb strict mail censorship (for example the contact with Anarchist Black Cross had been forbidden, lots of mail from comrades was confiscated, because this post shall have "bad influence" on me), suppression of getting packages, no allowance to use TV, getting no money for extra food, and lots more. 

Through the strict mail censorship a political dialogue and discussion with comrades shall be made impossible. The German justice system acts here in continuation to the anarchist and socialist hostility of Hitler's reign. Of course today's methods are more subtle! On the other side fascist prisoners are preferred : without problems they are handed out their inflammatory writings and act for their human disdaining believes (2).
This attitude is not to be wondered, as especially in Germany fascism was not defeated in 1945. Neo-fascism has lived on and developed in the economy, the political parties and the state authorities, especially in the justice system. An evident example is the disgraceful acting about the Slavs of the Third Reich. The German state refuses to compensate the few alive Slavic workers, as long there is no evidence that the German capital won't be prosecuted any further in the USA. In a disgusting way the victims of fascism are being made fun of.
While openly agitating fascist parties like DVU and Republicans who are sponsored by the German state - even NPD (3) is still being sponsored! - the justice system refuses to raise the suppression of the Communist Party Germany or the PKK.
All this clearly shows, even if some politicians claim the opposite, how strong the fascist ideas are rooted in the German government and its justice system.
Torture like measures in the daily life in prison are to be seen in relation to this background.
I am being faced to further proceedings, because in some writings I accused German politicians and jurists of fascist behaviour and called them "bad camouflaged nazis".
My urgent call to you : protest through letters, faxes and other actions (comrades in the French Dijon visited the German consulate, just to name one example) against solitary confinement and against further political proceedings. Address yourself to following addresses and/or German embassies :
a.) request the suspension of my trials :
-Richter FLICK, Fax: 0721-9266647, Aktenzeichen: 1 LsAK 210/99. Address: Amtsgericht, 76125 Karlsruhe, Germany. Fax (from Europe) : 0049 - 721 - 9266647, (from USA) 01149 - 721 - 9266647, (from Spain) 0749 - 721 - 9266647.
-Oberster Staatsanwalt, Fax : 0721 - 9265005, Aktenzeichen: 50Js 7482/99. Address : Staatsanwaltschaft, 76024 Karlsruhe, Germany. Fax (from Europe) 0049 - 721, (from USA) 01149 - 721, (from Spain) 0749 - 721. 
-Generalstaatsanwalt, Fax: 0721 -  9265004. Aktenzeichen: Meyer-Falk/StA Karlsruhe. Address : Generalstaatsanwalt, Hoffstraße 10, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany. Fax : (from Europe) 0049 - 721, (from US) 01149 - 721, (from Spain) 0749 - 721.
b.) request the immediate suspension of solitary confinement and the political mail censorship :
-Ministerialdirektor Steindorfner, Aktenzeichen: 4514 E - 343/97. Fax : 0711 - 2792264, (from Europe) 0049 - 711, (from USA) 01149 - 711, (from Spain) 0749 - 711.
-JVA (Gefängnis), Direktor Müller, Fax : 07251 - 788299, (from Europe) 0049 - 7251, (from USA) 01149 - 7251, (from Spain) 0749 - 7251".

Thomas Meyer-Falk : Zelle 3177, Schönbornstrasse 32, 76646 Bruchsal, Germany -  thomas_m_f@yahoo.de

(1) Security custody is applicable by the November 24th, 1933 dated law which "allows safety and education measures against dangerous recidivist delinquents". This law consists in punishing prisoners by additional detention time after they finished to serve their sentence, until a theoretically maximum of 10 years (it is however not rare for political prisoners to be kept longer in prison if remaining faithful to their political beliefs). Every 2 years, a parole board decides for the ending or the continuation of this security custody according to "the good cooperation and general attitude of the inmate". Thomas has cumulated 15 years and 9 months and will most probably remain in prison after serving this cumulated sentencing as long as the parole board  considers him as "dangerous for public order".
(2) Lately, Thomas filed a complaint to court because of the discrimination suffered by radical/left prisoners regarding censorship while neo-nazis and right extremists apparently do not face such difficulties to receive extreme-right press.
(3) Nationalist Party of Germany (extreme-right)
*
Renewal of “anti-terrorist” trials
In December 1999, about a hundred cops amongst an anti-terrorist brigade raided the political and cultural alternative center Mehringhof in Berlin. They were allegedly looking for weapons and explosives but failed. Since then, Harald Glode (member of the research program about migration and refugees), Axel Haug (care taker of the Mehringhof) and Sabine Eckle (employee) have been held in custody. Mathias Borgmann, director of the academic office of international exchanges at the university in Berlin, was arrested 5 months later. Together with Rudolf Schindler and Lothar Ebke (who's currently in Canada - Germany requires his extradition), all of them are charged of membership to the revolutionary cells "Rote Zellen" (RZ).
The 6 would have participated in bomb attacks claimed by the RZ in the end of the 80's and beginning of the 90's and which aimed at struggling against extraditions towards countries resorting to torture and persecuting, and at the end, against Europe Fortress. The accusation is mainly based on "participation to a terrorist organization" according to the 129a paragraph regarding bomb attacks : a bomb attack against the central bureau of employment in favour of Berlin's asylum seekers on February 6th, 1987, a bomb attack against the Victory monument in Berlin (Siegessaule) in 1991. The 4 main accused would be responsible for the attacks against Harald Hollenberg who was then director of the immigration bureau and against Gunter Korbmacher, judge of the administrative court. Both of them were shot in the knee, respectively in October 1986 and in September 1987. Accusation about those 2 facts should however be deleted as for body injuries of this kind, there is prescription after 10 years. However, this is not the case for the moment as justice puts forward this argument to prove the terrorist skill of the RZ.
The main witness accusing the 4 persons has been released for a while already. Tarek Mousli, who's been spared detention since April 2000, received 2 years on probation in December 2000. One year later he was still considered as the leader of the RZ. After his arrest, he gave dozens of pages reporting his membership to an alleged "Berlin cell" through lawsuits and interrogations. By declaring himself guilty and by accusing the 6 people currently in detention, Mousli bought his freedom, is paid 2400 DM per month by the judicial bureau of Germany in addition of costs for rent, insurance, telephone, car. The current trial is then based on the testimonies of a witness who's completely dependent on the prosecution and the judicial bureau regarding his means of subsistence.
Since March 22nd, 2001 the trial against Sabine E., Mathias B., Harald G. and Axel H. is on the way. Observers are carefully searched before entering the court room, including their shoes (which as we all know may contain dangerous device!). In spite of all this caution, the number of people attending the hearings was quite huge right in the first days and a delegation of international observers was even present.

Sabine E.'s condition has substantially deteriorated because of imprisonment. She now only weights 43 kg and it feels like she hardly manages to concentrate over the trial. Even though the accused have held in custody for over 10 months, the court takes the time to question the main witness, Tarek Mousli. The defence like this approach is only used to prepare Tarek Mousli for the trial and to keep the accused as long as possible in jail.
The German State's security services' way of acting cannot be tolerated since the people accused are made responsible for offences whose time of prescription is over for a big part of them. Moreover, accusations are based on the contradictory testimonies of one single person who's made little credible considering the advantages she benefits from german justice. 
On March 28th, 2001, the court of Paris refused to extradite Sonia S. and Christian G. who had been arrested because of the pressure exercised by the german State. German justice accuses them of participating in bomb attacks against the castle of Heidelberg in 1977 and 1978. Sonia S. is moreover charged with participating in the attack against the ministries' conference in Vienna in 1975. The court of Paris decided that those offences were banished and that an extradition was made impossible. The Paris' Bench has also refused to do so for the same reason and therefore there's hope so as Sonia S. and Christian G. can walk free around France. Since then, the support has mainly focused on the cancellation of the arrest warrant. 
The trial of the 4 accused takes place every thursday and friday until mid-June at 9:00am in Landgericht Moabit, Turmstrasse 91, room 500.

You can write as well to the accused at : Axel H., Harald G., Sabine E., Mathias B. : c/o Aktenzeichen 1 - 4.2000, Kammergericht Berlin, 1. Strfsenat, Elssholstrasse 30-33, 10781 Berlin, Germany.
For more infos, contact : Soli-buro im Mehringhof, Gneisenaustr. 2a, 10781 Berlin, Germany - www.freilassung.de
*  *  *
MARK BARNSLEY - 7 YEARS A HOSTAGE TO INJUSTICE

A number of demonstrations in support of Mark have taken place along the past 2 months, concluded by another day of action on June 8th to demand justice for Mark Barnsley. Mark was actually on a 2-day hunger fast from April 20th to 22nd as a protest against his continued harassment which has reached the top since his arrival at Wakefield prison last February 1st, 2001 after an additional arbitrary transfer. You can continue sending protest faxes to british authorities to demand wether Mark's legitimate and immediate release, his transfer to a prison such as Lancashire which is closed to his relatives' :
- Minister of Prisons and Probations - Paul Boateng, Home Office, 50 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AT - Fax : + 020 72734090. Or e-mail him at: public.enquiries@homeoffice.qsi.gov.uk
For further infos, contact Mark's campaign for Justice at : Justice for Mark Barnsley - PO Box 381, Huddersfield, HD13XX, England - barnsleycampaign@hotmail.com  or go to www.freemarkbarnsley.com.

From Grindelford Bridge I walked through fields to a wood, with a light drizzle falling around me. Crossing the river I went on to Calver Sough, pausing to watch a mother bird feeding her nest-bound young on the way. I stopped for a pint and a sandwich before continuing onto Baslow, and then striding out for Baslow Edge and the moors beyond.
I had been busy throughout much of May and early June, not least in working on 2 walking guides I was writing simultaneously. Several days each week I had been out in the Peak District, walking the routes I intended to use, sometimes with my family but usually alone.
On this particular day I continued along the tops of Curbar and Froggatt Edges, and then down through woodland back to Grindelford Bridge. Except for a short period of mist-like rain at the start of my walk it had been a warm, fine day. I felt happy and content as I made my way back home to my partner and children.
These memories are so faded now they may as well belong to someone else, like something I might have read in a book many years ago. Yet still I cling onto them, they represent my last full day of freedom.
The following day was June 8th 1994, a day I've replayed in my head hundreds of thousands of times. It started well enough, just like any other. My life was happy then, I felt content in a way I have not felt since. Of course I’ve been over all the ‘if only’s countless times - If only Jane hadn't rang; if only Sam hadn't had an appointment; If only I'd been ill; Etc, etc, etc. But disaster was heading towards my life as relentlessly as a speeding bullet, and I didn't even know. My concerns were that my daughter Daisy was comfortable in her pram, that we had the rain hood in case it rained, not that I would be attacked in broad daylight and that my life was about to change forever.
This year, 2001, on June 8th, it will be the 7th anniversary of the Pomona Incident- 7 years that I've been trapped inside this nightmare. I’m still waiting for the CPS to hand over the evidence they were lawfully obligated to disclose in 1994, still waiting for the CCRC to even start investigating my case, and of course I'm still waiting for justice.
I don’t know what you were doing on June 8th, 1994, but it's a long time ago isn't it? John Major was still Prime Minister (Tony Blair had only just been elected leader of the Labour Party), Charles and Di were still married and Bill Clinton could still pretend (however implausibly) to be honest. Mobile phones were restricted to yuppies and drug-dealers, the cops carried neither CS gas nor extendable batons, and the internet was still in it’s infancy. There was no National Lottery, no Channel 5, no ‘Spice Girls’, no ‘Trainspotting, and no ‘Pulp Fiction’. I had 3 young children in 1994, but my eldest is now nearly an adult, and even my youngest, who has never known a father that wasn't in prison, is seven.
I doubt that anyone who looked at my case in 1994 thought that I would be convicted, let alone still be in prison today -With the exception of the crooks and liars who put me here of course.
Not content with fitting me up, the State has continued to try to destroy me throughout my imprisonment. For 7 long years I have been ground under the heel of the State, subjected to sustained psychological (and sometimes physical) torture and the abuse of my human rights. Yet in taking away so much, by treating me so badly, they have granted me a clarity of purpose, and only reinforced my determination to fight for justice.
Over the past 18 months my treatment at the hands of the Prison Service has been particularly inhumane, as they have sought to isolate me and break my spirit. Since January 2000 I have been housed in 7 different high security prisons (2 of those twice), I have been held in segregation 7 times, I have been beaten up, subjected to countless inhumanities, had property stolen and destroyed, been separated from my legal papers for months on end, my mail is stolen, my visitors harassed, I am unable to see my children. Currently I am located in the worst long-term prison in Britain, a showcase of corruption and abuse, and my situation is only getting worse. And the morally-bankrupt mandarins of the Prison Service, and even Prisons Minister Paul Boateng himself, have the temerity to claim that I'm somehow being treated routinely - If that’s the case, it shows what a truly rotten, evil system they administer.
The lies penned by the likes of Boateng, Atherton, Narey et al are disgracefully transparent, but for sheer brazen dishonesty the Governor here at HMP Wakefield takes some beating. In one recent letter being sent out to supporters who wrote to complain about my allocation here, he had the cheek to claim that I was making full use of the very wide range of facilities this prison has to offer him”.
This is in a prison with the most restricted property list imaginable, where most days prisoners do not even get the statutory minimum of half an hour exercise, where there is no guarantee of receiving mail that is sent, where many of my visits have been behind glass, and where I had to wait 2 weeks for my first shower. I don’t know what these facilities are, but Mr. Shaw probably considers it a privilege that prisoners are not woken with a beating each morning. Wakefield is a premier league punishment move, and a blatantly obvious one - Anyone in the Prison service who claims otherwise is quite simply a liar.
Each day I'm held within the clutches of a thousand tyrants, big and small, who continue to do everything they can to break me. The abuses that I am subjected to should be condemned, and loudly, but ultimately they will make no difference, they will certainly never achieve their aim of bringing me to my knees. I remain defiant, and will continue to fight for justice until my dying breath.
   The solidarity I receive adds greatly to my strength, and lifts my spirits when times are at their worst. It has taken a long time, and a lot of hard work by a small number of people, but the campaign is finally beginning to flourish. A number of new initiatives are coming together- We will soon have a new pamphlet, a benefit CD, public meetings, and hopefully yet more of the inspiring acts of direct action and demonstrations of solidarity the campaign is now capable of mounting. But to become truly effective the campaign still needs the involvement of many more people. We have a large and growing mailing list, but only a small percentage of those on it are contributing directly to the campaign. Sympathy for my plight is all well and good, but anything short of concrete solidarity will not actually bring justice any closer for me.
The action on June 8th this year represents an opportunity for all the many individuals and organizations who know about my injustice to actually do something, by letting the authorities know that I am not alone, and that the continuous human rights abuses to which I am subjected will not be tolerated. It's been 7 years since I last tasted the sweet air of freedom, please don't allow the state to bury me for any longer, demand justice now!
Mark Barnsley - Wakefield Prison

*
CPS drops charges against campaign supporters
As reported in the previous bulletin : 16 people taking part in an occupation of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) office in Sheffield last December, were arrested and charged with “conspiracy to burgle, with intent”. The occupation was in protest at the continued withholding of vital evidence from Mark's defence by Sheffield CPS.
Not surprisingly, the CPS decided to drop the charges a few months later. This retreat by the CPS is clearly aimed at preventing Mark's supporters from using any trial as a forum for exposing the CPS'’s own unlawful behaviour, and putting Government Ministers in the dock. However thye campaign may still get its day in court because some of those arrested have decided to sue for wrongful arrest!
*  *  *
FRANCE : WILLING TO GLOBALIZE THE PRISON STRUGGLE ???

Declaration of Yves Peirat (FTP2) regarding his 5- year prison sentence
"(...) How shall we explain such a verdict? As for me, it is clear that it aims at making me pay the fact that I've always taken on my acts without regrets nor disowning and furthermore, it aims at putting on equal footing our actions and the violence of the extreme-right wing, meaning that extremes are two of a kind. 
But above all, this verdict, which is far beyond my little person, is an example for all those who would put their critiques and actions within a scope striving to be registered out of the profiled way of institutionalised dialogue. It confirmed the fact that one has no longer the right to get out from this inevitable and compulsory consensus. It aims at striking minds (look what you venture into), at discrediting all kinds of illegalist ways of action and at isolating their authors from the rest of the population.
This verdict is being put within the scope of the criminalization process that has started for a couple of years already against collective struggles. For Power, solidarity and resistance are concepts favourable to the celebration of past events and must not combined with the present, unless being repressed. But repression is selective, not according to the seriousness of the facts committed but according to the goals and targets of the claims expressed through actions. This is why Jose Bove (1) is starting to cumulate months of prison while the convictions incurred by the FLNC (2) militants are getting lower and lower, unless the State doesn't come to the point of modifying the law so as to remain in conformity with the republican law (Corsica's status) (3).
What the State is in fact afraid of is the convergence of collective actions. It fears that the instigators of those struggles (anti-globalization, anti-GM products, sans-papiers, homeless people, jobless workers, ruined peasants...) manage to meet all together, manage to confront their experiences and set up footbridges in order to struggle together. It is for such reasons that I had decided to appeal this eminently political verdict. It is on this field that we have to struggle, not for sentence reductions which I know I will never obtain. It is on the true motives of the verdict that we need to mobilize...
This is even more relevant as the latest town elections have shown that the extreme-right threat is still alive and more present than ever especially in the South-East. The election of Bompard, of Simonpieri, of mummy Megret, the result of this dwarf from St Cloud express it.
On the one hand, town fascism is being strengthened and is becoming banal. On the other hand, voters continue to desert ballot boxes. At the end, the megretist (4) strategy to re-organize extreme-right forces is fiercely coming back, all the more as presidential elections will be Le Pen's (5) gallant last stand and because the RPF (6) is unable to skip the FN's executives and electors...
The perspective of the next presidential campaign focused on security and immigration, consensual theme of left-wing and right-wing parties, will simply provide more arguments for the extreme-right wing which is even more determined to extend police devices through town police brigades, through social and political cleansing of the public and associative sector, through video-surveillance....
It is important on one side to analsze all this data for our future actions and main lines of struggles. On the other side, it is vital to show the criminalization process though not confining to France alone but to european States overall (see -issue #3- the summit of Europole in Madrid and the definition of terrorism which was made by it).
This is something to widen our fight against death penalty in the US and for the release of Mumia....
Red and Black Greetings, Yves

Yves Peirat : Ecrou 116 055 X, Bat A 3e Sud Cellule 30-41, M.A. des Baumettes 213 Chemin de Morgion, 13 009 Marseille, France.
(1) Jose Bove, militant of the peasant union Confederation Paysanne, was sentenced along with 4 other peasants to 2 months in prison for destroying a Mc Donald's restaurant in 1999.
(2) National Liberation Front of Corsica.
(3) a law is currently being discussed at the french parliament regarding changes of status for more autonomy in Corsica
(4) partisans of Megret, former vice-chairman of the National Front, who's set up his own political party, the Republican National Movement (MNR) which is very closed to the National Front ideologically.
(5) Chairman of the National Front.
(6) Political party created by Charles Pasqua, former minister of Home Affairs who had passed the first radically anti-immigration and racist laws in France.
*
Text of the Travelling Collective : No to Death Camps in the french way !
Sentence until death
Since 1981, we've switched from death penalty by beheading to sentence until death :
-through the lengthening of the sentences given by courts
-by the refusal to release prisoners when they reach the date for their conditional release, measure which is however planned by the law. As result, we witness an important lengthening of the time spent in jail, and therefore the multiplication of death in prison.
-of old age
-of diseases (worsened by the lack or absence of medical care)
-by suicide (arbitrary measures, humiliation being a direct incitement) 
Places of temporary deprivation of freedom, jails, in particular stations, tend to turn into death camps.
    
Deportations
In order to achieve this political program of transformation of prisons, stations in particular, into death camps, leadership resort to arbitrary means of pressure and repression against prisoners' resistance to this program (who they need to subject so as to achieve it) such as :
-hole
-solitary confinement
-hindrance to medical care
-physical violence
-refusal of visiting rooms
-refusal for home-leaves
-refusal of conditional releases
-deportation from prison to prison or from prison to short-stay prison on a rhythm which can be very high : after 2 months, or even after one months of stay in a prison - as far as possible from relatives' home. This is a true inner exile.
Certain directors or heads notify it openly : "If you continue to piss us off, I send you to the other side of France. Think of the consequences of long trips for your baby's condition, of your pregnant wife, of your old-aged parents. No counting the costs !". 
In prison, arbitrary measures make the force of the law. All the more as, like in all conflicts, ministries cover region directors, region directors cover prison directors, who cover fascist screws who are still being recruited by the "socialist" ministry.
     
The year 2001
The year 2001 had a "great" start : characterized by a repression which is more caricature-like then ever. Prisoners, social and political from Clairveaux, Moulins and Poissy prisons (maybe more) have been deported to parisian prisons for legitimately resisting daily arbitrary acts and the transformation of prisons into death camps. They call all prisoners (social and political brotherly united) to join resistance. Because : against arbitrary measures, one single solution : resistance ; Against repression hitting resistance, one single solution : resistance.

Currently standing on the way between the prison they come from and the one they will go to, they organized themselves as a Travelling Collective
-Coming from Clairvaux prison : Olivier André, appointed in Fleury-Merogis prison, 299489G - D3/G1-41
-Coming from Moulins : Ernal Jakes, appointed in Fleruy-Merogis, 299545T - D3/D3-12
-Coming from Poissy : Quimbre Roger, appointed in Fleury-Merogis, 299785 - D3/G2-01
(All at : M.A. Fleury-Merogis, 7 Av, des Peupliers, Ste Genevieve-des-Bois cedex, France)
P.S. : the collective was set up in support of the struggle against the arbitrary physical and humiliating inspections taking place in Fresnes : support to Dede Kily on hunger strike, coming from Clairvaux. 
*  *  *
BRETON POLITICAL PRISONERS : INFOS AND COMMUNIQUES

Last April 2nd, 2001, the breton prisoners Pascal Scatollin and Philippe Jaumouiller were released in the late evening after 6 months spent in custody, which was absolutely unjustified even if refering to the system's own rules which imprisoned them. The rest of the breton political prisoners have been detained since 1999 without any justification, waiting for a potential trial. To follow closely the situation of breton political prisoners of the whole repression hitting separatist organizations by going to www.chez.com/carb. 
*
Declaration of the breton political prisoner Gerard Bernard
"It's been a while now that I haven't spoken and this is why I speak today. I also wanted to make a little outcome of the so-called Plévin affair, from my point of view.
First of all, I am in accordance with Gael's observations which are the same for me. I've been detained for 18 months now and nothing appears to react from judicial parts. My committal order was re-edited last November 10th, 2001 and since then, nothing, no convocation at the prosecution magistrate's. Aside from my frequent visits to the appeal court for my requests of conditional release, I remain in Fleury prison. I formulated no less than 53 demands for immediate release and went 25 times before the appeal court. I've heard everything, I've suffered everything : the repeated stripped searches, the attempts of humiliation, unpleasant remarks, the verbal attacks from the prosecutor, etc. But the best remains my last visit to this court. On Monday 9th, April I was then taken out, I had no illusion, I went there like every time in order to expose my view about the situation. In his closing speech for the prosecution, after the never-ending reasons stated for my detention regarding my alleged dangerousness, the prosecutor announces "that my representation before the court is not a real matter". My blood makes only one turn and I start dreaming. But he goes on :"However, it would not be good if nobody's there in the dock during the trial". Once again, I am out of any hope. It is clear to me that my participation in this affair (which I recall is summed to provide some flats to a friend without knowing about the use made of it and to own 2 ancient revolvers) is gonna be summed to be the ideal scapegoat : my social condition, my political and union activities as well as my refusal to lay out certain informations. All this makes that I am reprehensible to mercy.What is 10 or 15 years in prison for an anti-establishment revolutionary man like me? Nothing but 10 or 15 years of tranquility for a good-thinking society. In the case of common law delinquency, such facts would be summed to a maximum of 2 years in jail. When Gael says that his captivity is due to his political engagement and his class membership, it simply consists in the sorry truth. I do witness it every time. I hope the people reading those lines understand that the so-called Plevin and Quevert affairs (see issue #1) are in fact groundless affairs in which committed militants become the victims of class justice.
Up the class struggle !
Up the national liberation struggle !
Up Brittany free and independent !"

   Gerard Bernard, breton political prisoner, Fleury-Merogis, April 20th, 2001

  Gerard Bernard : 289 703 V., G-3-46, D4, MAH, 91705  Fleury-Merogis Cedex, France.
*
Breton prisoner Alain Solé attempts suicide
The breton political prisoner Alain Solé attempted suicide last saturday 24th, March 2001 in Villepinte prison. According to what he could say to his circle about it, his attempt was due to a revelation he was made by the medical staff stating a disease caused by a virus, without any other precision, affects him. This affection would have been discovered on the occasion of a blood control he is frequently subjected to because of the chronic diabetes he suffers from. This situation relates once again to the quality of medical care provided to inmates detained in custody and presumed innocent. Even more alarming, the magistrate in charge of his case was not informed of this attempt of suicide 4 days later and got to know about it by Alain's lawyer. We intend to denounce once again the french penitentiary administration which behaves as a State within the State, out of any control and the most absolute opaqueness. Such a situation is unworthy of a State that pretends itself to be democratic. 
We forcibly witness that the recent parliamentary reports denouncing the unworthy and inhumane situation in french prisons have had no concrete effects aside from media emotion they aroused for a couple of days. Faced with this despising inertia in regards of Human Rights, Skoazell Vreizh remains even more vigilant regarding the security of breton political prisoners. 
										Skoazell Vreizh, March 30th, 2001 
*
Communique of the Anti-repressive Coordination (CARB) : Alain Solé in danger
The breton political prisoner Alain Solé is now refusing to eat the food provided by the penitentiary administration. This is the second tray-meal strike for Alain Solé, currently jailed in Fresnes prison. He means to protest against the lack of medical follow-up granted to him, while he is seriously sick. Let's recall that Alain Solé, suffering from chronic diabetes, has been incarcerated in October 1999. Due to a lack of suitable cares, he became, in jail, insulino - dependent to the point of making a diabetic coma.
Tossed between the jail house of Villepinte and the jail-hospital of Fresnes, never receiving consistently controls and indispensable cares to follow-up of his diabetes, he was driven to despair to the point of committing an attempt of suicide on March 24th, 2001.
Then, he has been transferred to Fresnes' jail, close to the penitentiary hospital. But his condition doesn't seem to improve regardless of the cares he is supposed to receive.  He has been sound by a physician only after one month of detention in this jail house. He doesn't have Dextron, indispensable to balance his sugar ratio, three times per day, whereas this Dextron was given to him in Villepinte prison. Because of these three daily controls, he is forced therefore to go to the sick bay where he must wait up between 45 minutes and one hour before being received by the medical staff, like all other prisoners. He is not the only one in this case. The division where he is located welcomes only sick persons, atmosphere is catastrophic there, some patients are in pathetic condition. Let's recall that the concerned ministers, and notably Marylise Lebranchu, Minister of Justice, were regularly informed about Alain Solé's condition. Marylise Lebranchu answers systematically against the personal testimony of the very concerned person, stating that he is receiving necessary cares. An attempt to commit suicide, two tray-meal strikes, multiple testimonies upon the lack of care which made a serious diabetic of him, attestation of one of the penitentiary physicians indicating that Alain Solé's health is incompatible with detention : What could be given as a proof to the penitentiary, judicial and political authorities to convince them that Alain Solé is in an extremely emergency situation and needs urgent solution ?
Do not forget that he is a "temporary" prisoner, just like the six other Breton political prisoners. He is supposed to benefit from the innocence presumption. And like other human being, he has the right to the have his health respected.
Skoazell Vreizh (Support Committee to the families of the Breton political convicts) calls upon the public opinion, since all its calls to the administrations and concerned political bodies have remained in vain, so that Alain Solé finally could receive, regularly and permanently, coherent medical attention and care required by the gravity of his illness.
If the state of health of Alain Solé worsens again, the worse is to be feared.
May 26th, 2001. 
*
Open letter of Gael Roblin to the minister of justice
"I am not Tchetchenian, nor Kurd, nor Tibetan... I am Breton! I am not detained for over a year in Istanbul or Teheran but in...Paris, center of the civilized world and capital of the land of "human rights"!
I am suspected to be a member of the Breton Revolutionary Army (ARB). After almost a year, the investigation highlighted the fact that...I typed a text! According to prosecution magistrate, this is liable to criminal life imprisonment! Though I was arrested without weapons, without explosives and that my timetable is out of ambiguity. I am accused for no bomb attack. The judge for releases and detention doesn't hide the fact that my maintaining in prison is justified by my political engagement. Indeed, in the midst of the judicial mess exposed to me, he specifies black on white in his statement rejecting my request for conditional release :"Considering that Roblin protests belonging to the ARB but doesn't neglect his nationalist fellow feelings, and above all his belonging to the EMGANN movement...". 
Yes it's true, I am a militant of the left-separatist movement EMGANN which is a public movement, I am still the spokesman of it and above all, I have sympathy for the ARB. I actually accepted to type this text for political motivation. By addressing you this letter, I am not willing to bend and reclaim a favour treatment nor to attract your leniency. I am simply intending to warn you about the existence of breton political prisoners in captivity in France, in spite of your denials. The statement of the judge for releases and detention about me can not be more clear. You have then to take the necessary dispositions to set up a status of political prisoner. That implies :
- the grouping and the repatriation of breton political prisoners in Brittany
- the immediate release of ill prisoners
- the right for us to speak in breton language during hearings and the trial
This last point would actually put on equal footing the breton-speaking answerable, the german-speaking ones from Alsace (1) and the ones from Moselle (2) who, they, can speak in german before the different courts of your republic. Unless of course you consider breton-speaking people as under-citizens? 
I noticed with what intellectual dishonesty you denied this winter several times in the media the existence of breton political prisoners. I took note of your contempt for refuting our claims about that while our turn-to-turn hunger strike was going over 120 days and that initiatives to support us were multiplying in and out of your banana-like republic's prisons. At the same time your political friends were attempting to move about Maurice Papon's (3) fate or about the conditions of detention of an innocent man who's fully involved in an arm dealing having cost the lives of hundreds of thousand. 
This haughty contempt and this lack of political courage is actually not specific to you. It consists indeed in the same contempt, the same double speech which opposes all claims and even the most reasonable ones in Brittany for 30 years! This contempt carries in itself the germs of the resistance you pretend muzzling.
You're gonna retort to me that I support "violence", "terrorism"...
I make it my duty to recall that "a criminal association in relation with a terrorist project" is supposed to "intend troubling seriously public order by intimidation or terror". According even to the confession made by the judge who takes me out of my cell once in a while, nobody among the political militants currently in detention has wished for the death of anyone. He then hardly manages himself to see in us "terrorists willing to compel their ideas by means of violence through an organized gang".
From my point of view, what is getting the closest from this definition is especially the anti-terrorist court and its armed branch, the National Anti-Terrorist Division.
This court, which is every day a bit more disparaged for its abuses, is used in particular to impose a certain conception of "the french republican peace" by means of intimidation and terror on those who would be tempted to contest it.
For lack of political prisoners, I then get to the point of requiring the dissolution of this sadly famous XIVth section of the Paris Bench, like it was the case of the deceased State Safety Court.
You will understand that even though we have things in common (we are both original from Brittany and as for you, I didn't study Law), I do not greet you. I simply urge you to believe in my genuine determination to struggle, like I've always done it openly faced with the class colonial justice which you embody".
Gael Roblin, breton political prisoner, La Sante prison, March 23rd, 2001

(1) border-region with Germany
(2) border-region with Germany and Luxembourg
(3) Maurice Papon was lately sentenced for sexual offences in a great trial which substantially attracted media and public attention
Gael Roblin, 273 196 A 215 : 42 rue de la Sante, 75 674 Paris Cedex 14, France.
*  *  *
BELGIUM : FOLLOW UP OF THE PROSECUTIONS AGAINST THE COLLECTIVE AGAINST EXPULSIONS

Appeal for Support from the Collectives Against Expulsions
Following the repression that hits the Collectives Against Expulsions' struggle, the collective from Bruxelles sends an appeal for support which you can find below. The collective asks for spreading this appeal as widely as possible. The appeal has already been signed by a number of personalities, singers, philosophers, associations, etc. You can add your name to this list by filling the form appearing below the appeal. The list of signatories will be regularly updated on the web site www.collectifs.net/comitedesoutien. The trial the activists will have to face will take place on June 1st, 2001.

Because she resisted against her expulsion, Semira Adamu was suffocated to death on the 22th of September 1998.
Because they asked for asylum in Belgium, in the city of Gent 74 Roma people were trapped and collectively deported on the 4th of October 1999.
And till today, asylum seekers and people without papers are daily imprisoned and deported with violence.
Because they participated in non-violent actions to denounce and prevent this 'policy', 18 members and sympathizers of the Collective against Expulsions have to come before the court for 22 charges testified against them.
The foreigners without papers are treated as criminals. With these charges also those people supporting them are criminalized. 
After the assassination of Semira Adamu, the minister of Home Affairs did point to the Collective as real responsible for the crime. While the trial of the policemen with the cushion (but not of those they were obeying) is about to be finally announced, do these recent accusations against those who resisted the policy that caused the death of Semira mean a renewal of the obscene accusations against the Collective? 
In any case, this judicial procedure against the Collective is an example of a barely concealed political trial. The aim of that trial is to criminalize and discredit the movement against closed centers (prisons for "illegal" people) and the expulsion policy, thus banalizing at the same time administrative arbitrary behaviour and police brutality.
We assert our solidarity with the actions of the Collective. We refuse an 'immigration policy" which comes down to imprisonment and expulsion. We denounce the reality of fortress Europe.
Therefore we demand that the charges against these militants be dropped, that the truth about the death of Semira be made public, and the sentencing of those who hold the political and police responsibility for it. In a context of increasing criminalization of social movements, we recall that political protest is a fundamental right.
You can sign the appeal by sending your name, the name of the organization you are part of, your address and email address to : comitedesoutien@collectifs.net. For further infos, go to www.collectifs.net/comitedesoutien or get in touch with the Collective Against Expulsions at : Comite de Soutien c/o section de Bruxelles de la LDH, rue de Londres, 15-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium. You can support financially the accused to cover legal costs by sending money to the bank account : 001-3248620-69.
*
Pascal Marchand's trial postponed
Pascal Marchand, anti-expulsion militant who had started a hunger strike right on the same day as his arrest and who was supposed to be tried on May 4th, 2001, was finally postponed his hearing. Indeed, his lawyers required and obtained the postponement of the trial on November 23rd, 2001 for the 4 following reasons :
-They want this affair to be dealt with at the same time as another one in which Pascal is involved along with 17 other militants 
-The defence has planned to make numerous witnesses testify as they were present at both demonstrations targeted by the prosecution (on October 4th, 1999 when numerous Rom people were extradited collectively and on July 21st, 1998 when some prisoners escaped from the retention center in Steenockerzeel)
-The defence is looking forward to get the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg regarding the collective extradition of those Roms (The Human Rights League has actually supported the appeal lodged by the Conka family)
-Another affair concerning these same facts has been appended.
*  *  *
PROTESTS IN QUEBEC CITY : "DEMOCRACY" AT THE END OF THE LINE

The Earth Liberation Prisoners' Support Network (ELP) has just learned of three more prisoners detained following the Summit of Americas in Quebec City, Canada which took place from April 20th to 22nd, 2001. 34 presidents from the whole american continent (except Cuba) gathered to liberalize even more free-trade over the continent through the creation of a "Free-Trade Zone of the Americas" (FTZA) whose final achievement is planned for 2005. This "agreement" corresponds in fact to an extension of the ALE and ALENA agreements that are applied in North America.

The Summit in Quebec was the show of an impressive police device and repression. As for most free-trade summits of this type, a number of special measures substantially restricting fundamental rights were set up (kidnaping of militants, arbitrary arrests, etc). First arrests were made on April 19th already, which expressed the leaders' intention to have their summit out of any disturbances. Above all, a 4 meter-high wall was built around the summit's congress building to secure money talks of "democracy's partisans". Over 30,000 people attended the protests. Several thousands of them were determined to assault the security area, which resulted in spectacular actions to break off the security wall. Clashes between protestors and riot police lasted at least 14 hours kin different areas of the city, causing the air to become unbreathable because of the 3000 tear gas bombs used by police.
About 450 people were arrested all along these 2 days of protests, amongst collective arrests of until 30 individuals. The latest infos mention that 34 cops were injured and about 60 demonstrators as well. Indeed, police used plastic bullets which they shot at chest level, causing substantial pains. A young man was even broken his jaw after being shot with plastic bullets. Another one is being hospitalised as she received a bullet in her throat. 

In Montreal, 5 members of the Germinal Movements were arrested following a police raid on April 17th and 18th. They were put in jail on the 23rd and 2 of them were released on bail under harsh conditions preventing them to attend the protests. The 7 activists are charged with "conspiracy to commit misdemeanour which could put seriously in danger people's life", "possession of explosives" and "robbery and receiving of military equipment worthy of at least 5000 $". A wide criminalizing campaign against the 7 accused started when police showed up the materials seized during both searches (gas masks, anarchist press, tear gas, etc, i.e. concrete proves to point them out as "terrorists"). They had actually planned to break off the security wall in the case they would be prevented from entering the sacred site of the summit. But their equipment and intentions were undoubtedly less dangerous than police brutality used against protestors to defend those "democratically elected state representatives". The Germinal Movement which is composed of various radical struggles but of no precise ideological nature had actually been infiltrated by police since December 2000. At least 2 parasites were part of the that group whom one had even encouraged to get more armed and provided material himself. It appears like more activist groups were infiltrated as well in order to dismantle them short before the protests. 6 teams of double agents were warranted by canadian authorities, which most probably means that hundreds of militants have been very precisely identified and filed. Up to us to learn from that and keep an eye!...More infos about those militants at : germinal@hotmail.com. You can support the arrestees financially as well by donating at : Yanik Sevigny, 2265 Pie IX #1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Furthermore, most of the appearances before the court of Quebec city took place without the people charged, who "attended" their own trial through video connection from Orsainville prison where most arrestees were taken to, and which was emptied especially to "store" them. This arbitrary proceedings led their lawyers to file an Abeas Corpus complaint so as to get about 40 people to appear physically before the court. To conclude, the harassment of anarchist locals has substantially raised...
As for the most recent news, Stéphane Paquet has been sentenced on the end of May 2001 to 9 months imprisonment following his involvement with the Summit of Americas protests in Quebec. Stéphane was found guilty on  two criminal charges of "mischief of over 5000$" (smashing-windows including a bus stop shelter), and "participating in a riot".
Also jailed for the Summit of Americas protests is Jean-Pierre Bélanger, who has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for making "death threats to a police officer".  During the protests Jean-Pierre was shot in the leg with a plastic bullet causing an injury so serious you could see the bone! Jean-Pierre was arrested immediately after he left the Quebec City hospital.
And last but not least, Vaughn Barnett, has been jailed since April 22nd. During the protests Vaughn managed to peacefully penetrate the inside of the security perimeter. Once inside, police officers physically blocked his way and Vaughn submitted to arrest.   In an interview published in Vaughn's local newspaper, the Fredericton Daily Gleaner (May 3rd, 2001), Vaughn explained the reason for his action: "I felt I had a moral and constitutional right to take those few steps" (...) "I felt the fence was unlawful and was preventing people from having a say in another process that was undemocratic and unlawful in both substance and process." Vaughn was initially charged with "obstructing police work".  But later, had an additional charge of "assaulting a police officer" added.  Vaughn has decided to represent himself during his trial and this has angered the authorities who are denying Vaughn access to his own clothes whilst in custody.

All prisoners are being detained at the same address. Letters of support can be sent to :
Stéphane Paquet (15.02.80), Jean-Pierre Bélanger*, Vaughn Barnett*, Marioa Bertoncini (04.02.78), Alex Boissonneault (14.04.79), Roman Pokorsi (09.11.78), Victor Quentin (23.02.80), Serge Vallee (03.08.79) -the late 5 comrades are from Germinal- : Centre de détention de Québec, 500, rue de la Faune, C.P. 7130, Charlesbourg, Québec, G1G 5E4 Canada.
*NOTE : Letters to Vaughn and Jean-Pierre may be rejected by the prison because ELP does not know either of these activists' date of birth, which need to be written on the envelopes. However we would still encourage people to write to these jailed activists because there is a possibility that a letter may slip pass a prison censor. And also it reminds the prison that the international protest community is watching their treatment of the prisoners and we will not tolerate abuses and violations of their human rights.
For further infos, contact : Spirit of Freedom (Earth Liberation Prisoners) c/o Cornerstone Resource Centre, Leeds, LS7 3HB, England - earthlibprisoner@mail.com. Web : www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk or North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network c/o POB 11331, Eugene, OR 97440, USA - naelpsn@yahoo.com

The World Bank's Summit planned from June 20th to 22nd, 2001 in Barcelona was eventually cancelled because spanish authorities were too much scared of the protests which hundreds of activists intended to attend !!! Up to us to find the secret and sacred site of this summit if it ever takes place somewhere. This cancellation shows at least that the resistance organized previously against this kind of world economic congress would not have been completely useless... Next appointment : G8 summit from July 20th to 22nd in Genoa, Italy.

*  *  *
SPAIN : PRISONERS KEEP UP THE STRUGGLE

Eduardo Garcia on hunger strike

In previous issues, we talked of Eduardo who was framed up for his deep involvement in the solidarity movement with prisoners on fight against FIES isolation units, for the release of inmates with incurable diseases, for grouping, for the end of dispersion and arbitrary transfers. Member of the ABC/CNA Madrid, he was arrested on November 8th, 2001 along with another comrade (who's been released now) following a wide police operation related to the sending of 7 letter-bombs to a number of journalists and a politician. However, Edu has claimed from the beginning that he had absolutely nothing to do with this action which was claimed by a vaguely identified group named Los Anarquistas. But Edu was most probably a too active member of the movement that developed substantially in solidarity with prisoners who've been running a hard struggle since November 1999, to the point of becoming nearly a social movement (see chronology in the first issue). Indeed, numerous demos, actions, sabotages, etc have been organized, thus responding to the call of spanish prisoners. This movement became so threatening for spanish authorities that they had to resort once again to the myth of terrorism in order to criminalize this movement in which Edu was a well-known activist. 

The spanish press had already accused Edu to be in relation with basque separatists, which, as we all know, was an evidence of his involvement in the letter-bomb action. It speaks of a conspiracy set up by a number of prisoners on fight who would have ordered the outside movement to carry such attacks, a conspiracy whom Edu would be part of (see issue #3). But his arrest and framed up show before all the distress of the spanish state which had to hit one of the most active member of the solidarity movement to prevent its growth, frightening and threatening attendants. Up to now, everything was set up to build a story intended to give Edu the heaviest sentence possible and criminalize as widely as possible the overall radical movement in the spanish State. Edu may be given 17 years in prison if he falls under anti-terrorist legacy. Since his arrest, he's been detained in FIES III in the high security prison of Soto del Real, category where members of armed organizations are detained. In spite of the illegality of his current detention and the fact that this affair is clearly a frame up, the judge Maria Teresa Palacios has refused to release Edu until his trial takes place, which may lead him to wait another year and half in jail. 
Therefore, Edu has launched a hunger strike to protest against the wide criminalization he's targeted by. Here is the communique he sent :

"On the 17th of April I did my 5th month of imprisonment. I've been jailed for 5 months as a punishment for desiring a better world and trying to build it up, armed just with solidarity and willingness. 5 months of pressure and isolation as a punishment for not shutting up.
Imprisonments and frame ups are nothing new for us, those who try to end with the current economical system of misery and slavery.
When people looks for justice, when anybody tells the truth, when they see people fighting for freedom, the state always reacts cowardly. I haven't sent the bombs. And both my friends and the ones creating this frame up know that.
These types of frame ups are not only thought to attack concrete "disturbing" individuals, but to criminalize and frighten social movements. Now they are trying to destroy the big social movement of solidarity with prisoners. And more directly they want to end with the libertarian solidarity.
What is really frightening this "democratic" state is not the firework they are trying to say I sent with false "proofs" and lies, but the Strength of the voices standing by and claiming against the evil and a-legal FIES system, against the horrible penitentiary politics of prisoner dispersion, which jails hundreds of people 300, 500 or even 1000 kilometres away from their loved people. Claiming the release of the gravely ill or agonizing prisoners, against torture, for good health treatments...
All those claims are supposedly respected by the spanish legislation, and are all observed in the Human Rights treaties signed by the spanish state.
We wont stop claiming for Justice, Equality, Dignity and Freedom, no matter how much they beat, jail or frame us.
Today, the 26th of April I begin a hunger strike that will continue until the 1st of May. 5 days of hunger for my 5 months of legal kidnapping, and to claim for my immediate freedom, and one more, the 1st of May, as a regard of the comrades murdered by the North American State on the 1st of May 1896, and also as an act of support of the claims being shown in the streets that day by my comrades of the CNT-IWA". 													          Eduardo Garcia

Eduardo Garcia Macias : Modulo 4, C.P. Madrid V - Soto Del Real, 28791 Soto Del Real, Madrid, Spain

Furthermore, the campaign for Edu has grown pretty much and solidarity as well. Thousands of leaflets, flyers and posters have been spread and thousands of protest postcards for the judge as well. However, ABC-Madrid calls for fundraising so as to print more of these materials and thus persue the support campaign of Eduardo. You can send donations at the following bank account : Caja Madrid 2838-1022-21-3004669143 - Name: Elsa Sola Peces (Please write to ABC-Madrid before or after sending the money).

Last May 12th, 2001 a solidarity demonstration to support spanish anarchist political prisoner Eduardo García was held in Prague, Czech republic. Federation of Social Anarchists (FSA-IWA) organized picketing of the Spanish Embassy in Prague and also addressed a protest letter to the spanish ambassador.
Some 30 anarchists (mostly FSA-IWA members and supporters) gathered at 2:00 pm in front of the spanish embassy building. FSA-IWA Prague members held a speech, criticizing not only Eduardo´s frame-up, but also the murderous system of isolation FIES, which has been already for a very long time the focus of spanish ABC comrades' activities.
Despite threatening presence and monitoring of Secret Police, no incidents took place. This action is the beginning of a wider campaign going on in Czech Republic organized by comrades of the FSA-IWA.

We recall as well that postcards for the judge against his arbitrary detention are available at our address or directly at ABC-Madrid's. Protest letters can be sent to : Ma Teresa Palacios, Juzgado De Instruccion 3, Audiencia nacional, C/ Garcia Gutierrez 1, 28 080 Madrid, Spain. As well, any action, phone blockades, demo, gathering, etc against spanish official and economic representations are very welcome.
For more infos, contact : ABC-Madrid, Paseo de Alberto Palacios 2, 28021 Madrid, Spain.
*
Letter from Laudelino Iglesias
In the last issue, we mentioned that Laudelino was sentenced again to 20 years of imprisonment because of his restless struggle against the non-application of sentence benefits for prisoners having served 20 years, which is Laudelino's case. Indeed, he could be released on parole but prison authorities have done their best to punish him for defending his rightful release, thus pressuring and intimidating prisoners being in the same situation. This sentence expresses the spanish State's determination to keep prisoners as long as possible in between the walls, in spite of its own laws which it is unscrupulous to violate when social discontent becomes too threatening. The overall repression of the prisoner and radical movement in Spain has been very harsh but for an inmate such as Laudelino, the struggle remains the only way out. He actually decided to go on with it and here's a letter he sent about his motivations.

	"From death row in Villanubla prison, Valladolid, February 26th, 2001
Dear comrades in struggle,
My name's Laude and I want to let you know that the Supreme Court of this murderous State sentenced me to life imprisonment, sentenced me to die into the death row of these modern concentration and extermination camps, in short it sentenced me to death. The spanish State, though it has tortured me for 20 continuous years into its prisons, brought itself to sentence me to death while it should have released me 7 years ago if one refers to what is established by its penal code or its Constitution. This limits any prison sentence to 20 years maximum and specifies that no one can be subjected to torture nor to punishments and degrading treatments. But in the reality of facts, the humanism and the application of those laws are triumphant through their absence. My case is an additional example of the terrorist essence of this State. Abuse, torment, sadism, murder are favourite and usual practices against all those who fight for life, freedom, dignity and for all human beings.
Monarcho-franquist mafias that constituting this country oppress and exploit us, subject us to poverty and destitution, brainwash and make us ill, drop us out, control and poison our lives. They beat us, torture and murder when we rebel against those scoundrels. They confine us illegally and lock up in their extermination camps to torture us day after day, to use us as hostages against social and revolutionary struggles (...), to exploit us economically, to humiliate us, to harass us continuously, to make us mad and murder us (...). To isolate and fret us. My personal case was subjected to a wide number of those dirty methods. I've been tortured, trashed, insulted, threatened to death, tormented to kill me, maintained in isolation for over 12 continuous years by submitting me to the module 1 of the FIES regime (...), caused and kept alive diseases and generally, I've been systematically violated my most fundamental rights. They were about beating me up to death every time they brutalized me. It has happened numerous times and during one of these beatings, they put me into coma and resuscitated me at the hospital. 
With this new sentence to life imprisonment, it is clear that they persist in this willingness to murder me. This is anyway what they attempt by always occulter themselves with suicide, or with a fight in between fellow mates, with overdose, or with any kind of farce. Along these over 20 years where they've kept me locked up, they've already murdered a number of my friends, they beat them up to death, resorting to torture, hanging, by causing or inflicting them diseases, by overdoses, by using other inmates in return of prison benefits, or by causing conflicts in between prisoners for stories of rumours, drugs, or for prison rights or privileges. I do not use any drug, I do not smoke tobacco either, I'm vegetarian and I try to live a healthy life in spite of such hostile conditions. I come from Eukalherria and my spirit is libertarian. I have numerous friends, I feel loved, I'm still young and I very much wanna live. But before all, I wanna live free and I'm not gonna loose this feeling for life because of this new sentence to life imprisonment. Even less will that prevent me to keep struggling for what I want, love and dream.
In this State, we are actually numerous prisoners who've spent over 20 years confined in prison and numerous are those sentenced to life, which is equivalent to a sentence to death. It is clear that this State doesn't respect its own laws. It is even less democratic and legitimate than murderous and corrupted. It practices detention, torture, gives sentences to life imprisonment and sentences to death against all those who rebel against those scoundrels (...)

The fact that this State has sentenced me to life imprisonment, though it has already kept me locked up and confined into its death camps, is a failure for the State and an additional victory for the libertarian struggle. In 20 years of detention, they haven't managed to make me deny my libertarian ideals and will not manage it along the numerous years they keep pressuring me. 
Consequently, dear comrades and friends engaged in the struggle, do not consider this news as a failure but on the contrary view and feel it as a victory. Because undoubtedly, it is a victory of human resistance against the barbarity of capitalist prison and an additional triumph for libertarian practices and ideals.
The struggle goes on, we will take some rest when we defeat capitalism, once we defeated exploitation and oppression, until human beings are free and decide themselves for their fate, until Human Rights are respected by every person and people, until we obtain a free, egalitarian, standing by and sound world, until we build a prisonless society. As long as dignity will be derided, nobody can make us give up hope, our hopes and our sacrifices are never vain. Neither imprisonment, nor judicial farce, nor sentences, nor murders against us will break down our revolt. 
That's all for now, I tell you that I love you and send you big brotherly and libertarian greetings. Salud y anarki! Jo ta ke! Hurrengo arte, lagunak! Agur". 

Laudelino Iglesias Martinez : Villanubla, Carretera Madrid-Gijon, 47014 Valladolid, Spain.
*
Letter from Amadeu Casallas
I'm writing you from the Ponent extermination center (1), in Lleida, better known in Catalonia as a concentration and extermination camp. My name's Amadeu Casallas Ramon (...) and I'm currently on hunger and thirst strike to protest against the harassment I am subjected to, against the separation from my family and the ban to communicate with her and my social environment. I am forbidden to communicate, to give phone calls, and above all they control my mail. All that is completely illegal if oner refers to the laws of this country but the catalonian as well as the central government in Madrid -both fascists- do not apply the laws made out of a mutual agreement. Those laws are being used to look good towards the european community, to pay lip service with being a democratic country and a rightful State thanx to modern and progressive laws.
In Catalonia, reality means that an inmate dies every 3 days, that today, as for the rest of the spanish State, there exist beatings, ill-treatments, humiliation by screws, by the penitentiary administration and by judges corrupted by their own Justice's administration. Even at the time of Franco, prisoners were so badly treated. The collective of prisoners in struggle is supported outside by anarchists from the international network of the Anarchist Black Cross and by collectives and associations such as ACOPS. These are some of the few collectives which support us in this struggle. 
Our claims are : end of FIES units in Spain and end of DERT units in Catalonia (equivalent of the FIES isolation regime in Spain) where our treatment is humiliating. Freedom for those who, like me, have served 20 years (article Y-6 of the penal code and 10,15 and 25 of the Spanish Constitution), freedom for ill prisoners in terminal phase (article 142 of the penitentiary rules), end of dispersion which is used as reprisals when we require the application of our rights (article 25-2 and 14 of the Constitution), end of torture, of beatings, etc by screws (...). Until this is achieved, we will go on with our struggle because in Spain, life sentencing currently kills individuals or push them to commit suicide, and because we live in a country (...) where Power is held by a franquist and fascist dictatorship. 
(...) We need the most of support possible and to spread the information about what's going on here. I hope to hear from you, libertarian greetings from an anarchist comrade. We can loose certain struggles, but if we do not fight, it is already lost".
Amadeu Casellas Ramon

(1) In the meantime, Amadeu was transfered again to Modelo prison in Barcelona. We do not have is exact address yet. Nevertheless, comrades from Spain ask for sending messages to the Penitentiary Administration to prevent Amadeu's return in Lleida, which can be sent to the following address : Direcciò General de Serveis Penitenciaris i de Rehabilitaciò, Aragon 332, 08009 Barcelona. Tel. 93 214  01 00 - Fax 93 214 01 56.
 *  *  *
BRIEF NEWS ITEMS

Russia : Ilya Romanov, Russian political prisoner kept in mental hospital in Nizhni Novgorod is free for a couple of weeks already. According to our russian correspondents, the only remaining political prisoner in Russia who is not member of any authoritarian organisation is Aleksander Biryukov. 
Holland : 5 Kurds have been on hunger strike since February 5th, 2001 to protest against the dutch government's anti-migration intention to deport 9000 Kurds. The refugees concerned are planned to be deported in iraqi Kurdistan where civil war wreaks havoc, under the pretext that this zone was declared a "safe area" by the European Union. This hunger strike is an ultimate attempt to call for mobilization against the policy of fortress Europe which doesn’t mind deporting thousands of refugees in areas where they have no other fate than misery and oppression. One of the hunger strikers has attempted to set himself on fire while his fellows have already lost several tens of kilos, urinate blood and frequently loose conscience. The strikers are going straight to death if no reaction comes out immediately from civil society, death which dutch authorities and their boss (the european union) are responsible for. Further infos at : De Fabel van de Illegaal, Koppenhinksteeg 2, 2312 HX, Leiden, The Netherlands - info@defabel.nl.
Czech Rep., S26 trials : On April 3rd, another trial related to the September 26th, 2000 demo in Prague took place. Two Spanish guys, Salvador Azcon and Miguel Oliv, charged with "hooliganism" and "destruction of property", were both sentenced to ban from the czech territory for two years (without even their presence at the trial). The judge declared that "with no doubt they threw stones at the windows of the Interbank in Vaclavske Namesti and caused 4.800 Kc (about $125) damage".
More trials related to the demo in Prague are taking place : K.Olejnik still has to face a trial in Poland, two Czech guys received suspended sentence for "attack against policemen"...And a lot more trials are going to take place. It seemed like everything would finally end up when Dane Mads Traerup was freed in the beginning of February. But now the situation is getting worse and worse as repression is hitting again rapidly. For further infos, contact the czech ABC at : P.Houdek (don't write ABC on envelope!), P.O.Box 41, 565 01 Chocen, Czech republic - abc@csaf.cz
About R. J. Duffey : In the last issue, we were circulating the address of R. J. Duffey who had asked from ABC-Innsbruck "to pass around his address to other comrades", introducing himself as an anarchist prisoner. However, as Duffey seemed not to be initially convicted for political reasons, ABC-Innsbruck investigated about his person as moreover, Duffey had shown very controversial political tendencies while starting to correspond with various anarchist comrades. In several of those mail exchanges, Duffey mentioned being a white separatist, a movement which is not unfamiliar with the White Supremacist Movement in the US. While hoping in a first stance that the remarks made by various anarchist comrades to this prisoner may have started some sort of learning process, ABC-Innsbruck as well as other anarchists decided to quite contact with Duffey who clearly expressed, even after a couple of letters, his racist believes especially against black militants in the US. Therefore, comrades from Innsbruck, and we as well, want to apologize for circulating the name and address of this prisoner who doesn't deserve in any case to be supported by any kind of revolutionary organization. We all would really like to hear other people's opinions on this matter, especially comrades who had similar experiences in their support for political prisoners. Considering that we refuse doing an anarchist investigation bureau, we rather take personal initiatives to get to know about prisoners' true political beliefs and prevent the revolutionary prison struggle to be disgraced by such enemies.... 
ABC-Innsbruck's new address!! : Due to personal changes, the Anarchist Black Cross group from Innsbruck, Austria has ceased to exist. All the work of ABC-Innsbruck will be taken over by the newly founded ABC-Luxembourg. So please pass around their new address and keep on sending them your political informations at the following new address : ABC-Luxembourg, Poste Restante, 3401 Dudelange, Luxembourg - abcibk@hushmail.com. Web : www.freespeech.org/entfesselt.
Italy : Since the beginning of this year, repression against anarchists in Italy has followed the line of the Marini's investigations...After the arrest of Antonio Budini following a ridiculous frame-up, it is now the turn of Leone Porcu to be put in custody. Leone is unfortunately well-known from the italian political police branch as Marini had had to release him for the great trial in Roma. The current charges would be related to an illegal occupation (squatting) dated from 1991 or 1992 in Bologna, after the disastrous results of the trial opposing italian Justice to the animators of Black Out radio out of which those animators were convicted for allegedly committing perjury ridiculing i Carabinieri.
Spain : The spanish social prisoners Jose Manuel Ferreira Quintas and Francisco Mula Campos have began an indefinite hunger strike in Puerto I prison, in order to protest against the degrading and awful medical treatment given to prisoners. Francisco Mula suffers AIDS in a terminally way, so according to spanish laws, he must be released now. He´s not receiving the supplementary food he should. Jose Manuel Ferreira has strong headaches and nervous breakdown, and he´s not receiving his medicines. Jose Manuel is particularly repressed because of his combative attitude in defence of prisoners' rights. He´s not receiving either the radical publications he used to receive, his mail is being monitored and a lot of letters are not arriving. You can write both prisoners in spanish to : Jose Manuel Ferreira Quintas and Francisco Mula Campos : Centro Penitenciario Puerto I, Apartado 555, 11500 - Puerto de Sta María, Cádiz, Spain 
Poland : Right now in Polish prisons there are several anti-fascist activists sentenced for various crimes. Three activists from Wroclaw are still in prison after they were framed for beating up a policeman. Another three people from Warsaw are still waiting for sentencing, charged with assault on a Nazi. Two young anti-fascists are charged with "assault with a dangerous tool" after March clashes with Nazis in Bialystok, which resulted in one Nazi being hospitalised. Klaudiusz Gliklich remains in prison, sentenced to 6 years for beating three Nazis. He is actually affected by AIDS and we are worried that he won't survive. Tomasz Wilkoszewski is still in Sieradz prison, but he is trying to get a transfer to Warsaw prison. Unfortunately, the number of anti-fascists jailed in Poland is still increasing. Rafal Rusilowski is 18 years old anti-fascist from Bialystok, Poland. On April 6th, 2001 he was arrested by police and accused of assault with dangerous item. That was a result of a street fight between members of BAN (Bialystok's Anty-Nazis) and nazi skinheads, which caused one nazi to end up at the hospital. The whole attack was provoked by nazis. Yet, only anti-fascists were put in custody, 6 of them exactly. Rafal was actually even not there when the fight took place as he was at his girfriend's. However, 30 minutes later he met his friends near the place where the fight had taken place and was then arrested. Because he is a very active anti-fascist and that he has bad reputation among local nazi skinheads, he was "recognized" by two of them as an attacker. As a result, he's being detained for 3 months now till the trial takes place. He already lost some weight as he refused to eat meat in prison (he is a vegetarian). He is from a poor family and we need all money you can send to pay for his lawyer. It is possible that more antifas will be charged for that as investigation is going on about some of them.
Letters and faxes to protest his detention and demand his freedom can be sent to court : Sad Rejonowy, wydzial II karny, sekcja d/s nadzoru nad postepowaniem przygotowawczym, Ul. Sklodowskiej 1, 15-950 Bialystok - Fax : +48 85 74-59-336 (please send copies of your protest letters to : Fuck All Governments, PO Box 129, 15-662 Bialystok, Poland - soja2@poczta.onet.pl. Get in touch with them as well for more infos).
Chile : Last May 20th, 26 prisoners died in the prison of Iquique city, as a result of a fire that burnt down their 20 square meter cell which they shared. Police declared they had done everything to avoid deaths and that the fire was the consequence of a riot inside the cell, which would have led some inmates to set their pillows on fire (!). This version was actually denied by the rest of the prisoners detained in that same prison. The answer given by the government : the problem is the lack of prisons and of screws!... As a result, riots took place in Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Puente Alto prisons in Santiago to denounce the arbitrary and outrageous regime they and their families are subjected to. Acts of despair took place, like when one inmate attempted to sacrifice as she was actually the spouse of one of the casualties. Those mutinies were brutally repressed by elite police brigades who did not mind shooting on prisoners nor brutalize them cowardly once they were under control again.
Correction : In the last issue, we called for mobilization to save Shaka Sankofa, black political prisoner on death row. We apologize for this mistake as Shaka Sankofa was in fact executed by the Texas Death Row killing machine in June 2000. 

The Anarchist Black Cross is a federation of autonomous groups whose purpose is the definitive abolition of the penitentiary system. We'll not manage it right away and therefore, the ABC network offers to support revolutionary, leftist, anarchist or else framed up prisoners as a first step. As well, we support prisoners who became politically aware in the course of their detention, so-called "illegal" immigrants in jail, victims of racist, sexist and police aggressions. We encourage readers to write to prisoners, we collect funds to provide them financial support to cover their lawyer costs, help their political work in jail, or else their expensive and difficult daily life. As for the group in Dijon, we spread infos on a monthly bulletin in french and a bi-monthly in english, we propose a short list of prisoners' writings and materials about the prison topic, we organize solidarity actions, etc. Get in touch to receive prisoners' addresses, flyers, infos, to subscribe or just to know more. 
ABC-Dijon, c/o Maloka, B.P. 536, 21014 Dijon-cedex, France. E-mail : maloka@chez.com. Website : www.chez.com/maloka