Showing posts with label anti-prisons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-prisons. Show all posts

Saturday 2 September 2023

Justice.

 

          

       In this unjust, unequal society justice is the at the dictate of the powerful, the ordinary people are in a continuous struggle to try and achieve justice, but so far have failed. So what is universal justice? In all Probability it is anarchism.
         This film on justice is from Submedia and is well worth the time to sit down and watch, and perhaps spread it around.

 From Submedia,       

It's our pleasure to announce a new episode in our A is for Anarchy series, "What

          

          A world without police or prisons doesn’t mean a world where harm isn’t confronted or addressed. Learn more about anarchist conceptions of justice in this episode of A is for Anarchy
         Our conceptions of justice shape who we are and how we believe the world should work. In this episode of A is for Anarchy, we examine historical foundations of justice, the carceral criminal justice systems employed by states today, and anarchist strategies for confronting and addressing harm outside of the punitive logic of the state.
        In a world where states claim a monopoly on justice, we’re left with just us, so what are we going to do about it?

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Saturday 26 August 2023

State Inhumanity.

 
 

Update on Alfredo Cospito’s situation and call for solidarity August 2023
           The latest news we’ve got about Alfredo, still in prison in Bancali (Sassari) under the 41 bis regime, are that his health is stable, he is physically sound and has regained weight after his six-month hunger strike. Unfortunately, he receives very little mail, almost none. Also, when the prison withholds letters, postcards or telegrams, often he’s not informed by prison staff.
           He thus finds himself subjected to an even higher and more arbitrary censorship than the already harsh one of 41 bis. Let’s not let him lack our solidarity! We urge all to write letters or postcards using registered mail with return receipt requested, to increase the chances that, if they are withheld from him, he will be at least notified.

Against all prisons!

Cassa Antirepressione delle Alpi Occidentali

Alfredo Cospito
C. C. “G. Bacchiddu”
strada provinciale 56 n. 4
Località Bancali
07100 Sassari
Italia
 
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Wednesday 16 August 2023

Gaza.

 

            Being locked up in one of the states institutions of repression, prisons, you have enough problems of your own, but somehow some find the time and the compassion to think of other people's problems. Another poem from the prisoners in Kilmarnock Prison.

SONNET TO GAZA.

Shalom? This is not the time for clandestine poets
To hurl shoes over Jerricho's fortified walls.
Stay calm. The stench of exploding verse
Will not deter the invading tanks of Saul.

You bragged that the lost tribe of Israel
Would not be dragged through the eye of a needle.
There would be corrective fury. An iron heel.
An eye for an eyelash. A fire that is truly biblical.

So you came in numbers. The Genesis of hate.
Judges & Kings till the job was complete.
Holy revenge against David's puny catapult
Daniel dismembered by the lion's savage maul.


When you heard the words "suffer little children"
Did you think it was one of the Ten Commandments?

KEVIN WILLIAMSON. 

From the book Independent Minds, New poetry from HMP Kilmarnock. Published by Luath Press Ltd.

ISBN 978-1-910021-00-2 


 Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Friday 28 July 2023

Caged.

 

          Those who voice their desire for a fair and free world without borders, and are prepared to take action to further their desires, very often will suffer the full ravages and vengeance of the state apparatus. Brutality, intimidation, and being caged like an animal are some of the state's methods of attempting to create a submissive population. Submission is necessary for control, freedom of expression, justice and fairness can never fit in a governed population. Rules and regulations formulated by those who wish to control the shape of the society we live in, are considered more important than the freedom of the individual. Woe betide those who transgress those rules and regulations in their desire for a free and equal world, they will require and deserve all the support and solidarity we can muster. To the abolition of the state and its prisons.

Words From Comrade Gabriel Pombo da Silva
July 16, 2023 

  

           Dear comrades: as incredible as it may seem to you, I have as yet had neither the desire, nor the ability, nor the will to sit down in front of a machine to (re)-announce my (re)-return to this frenetic world… in any case I have the will to share these brief words.
         Be that as it may, finally the truth prevails, and their gray state officials should have recognized that they have kept me KIDNAPPED for many more years than what their “democratic” laws and rights commonly and ordinarily announce.
        As life and death is a bureaucratic procedure for those who “conquer more than they convince”, when the release order reached its final rung, just like that, they put me suddenly before the doors of one of their prisons. They did not even take the trouble to warn the lawyers, comrades or family of this fact, forcing me to endure 40 interminable minutes standing there like an imbecile until a prisoner let me talk on the phone….
        Anyway, I did not expect the bride and groom of death to apologize, but neither did I expect them to be so vile… the fact is that in the last few months I have lost more than 15 kilos of muscle mass, I will spare you the lurid details of this last attack that has taken more than 3 and a half years to be resolved.
         My daughter and my partner have undoubtedly borne the brunt of this vile revenge, and now these weeks of reunion and healing are for them. To all of you, brother and sister, internationalist and solidarity comrades, goes my revolutionary love.
         Soon we will begin to build and (re)-build our projects and organizational bases to continue our struggle and commitment for all freedoms. Those who have died in action and those who continue to rot in prison for their militant and revolutionary ideas and commitments are always in my heart and mind.
         We will continue the struggle against the state, capital and its mercenaries on all fronts, again and again.
For anarchy and the end of domination!
Gabriel.”

https://informativoanarquista.noblogs.org/post/2023/07/16/espana-unas-palabras-por-parte-del-companero-gabriel-pombo-da-silva/

Translated by Act for freedom now!
Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info     

Thursday 8 June 2023

Guards.

 

           More poetry from His Majesty's Prisons. Taken from the book Chains of Hate, The Prison Poetry of Sammy Ralston, published by Random Factor, Edinburgh and distributed by Edinburgh Black Cross, 



 


 Who Guards The Guards.

Enquiries were held, everyone agreed
The prisoner was murdered - a terrible deed.
Three prison guards charged into his cell
A vicious onslaught, a defenceless man fell,
Kicked him and punched him, broke flesh and bone,
Left him there to die all alone.

Who Guards the guards? The question was cried.
Who guards the guards? But no-one replied.
Who guards the guards? His last dying breath.
Who guards the guards that beat him to death?

Court was assembled, culprits brought to book
Statements were given, the oath it was took -
But killers went free - no retribution,
'Not Guilty' verdicts - a legal execution.
They say justices is blind, that much is plain,
She would have wept to see what was done in her name.

Who guards the guards? the question was cried.
Who guards the guards? But no-one replied
Who guards the guards? His last dying breath.
Who guards the guards that beat him to death?

Hey mister screw! Help us understand
How your conscience justifies blood on your hands.
Do you still sleep at night, do your kids fear your touch?
Can you look into your wife's eyes, does it bother you much
That a prisoner's been murdered and no-one's to blame......?
Just clean up his blood......and score out his name.

Who guards the guards? his last dying breath.
 Who guards the guards the beat him to death? 



 
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Saturday 25 March 2023

Murder.

 
          Life long anarchist Alfredo Cospito is being treated in the most draconian manner by the Italian state. He is being used as a warning to all those others who would dare to challenge the state's desire for total control over the population, Alfredo has been on hunger strike since 20th. October 2022, an indomitable spirit that refuses to bend his knee to the authoritarian dictates of the state. Apart from slowly killing the man the Italian state is trying to kill the ideas and visions that he portrays, a desire for freedom, justice, equality and peace. The state in this brutal inhumane fashion is trying to kill the spirit of anarchism. Alfredo's fight is our fight, if we too wish a society of freedom, justice and equality in a world of peace. We must show solidarity and raise our anger level considerably to end this barbaric, brutal state savagery.
         SO AS TO CONTINUE TO LIVE PROUDLY AN ANARCHIST IN ITALY HAS DECIDED TO DIE PROUDLY
        Using his body as a weapon to attack the judicial conspiracy to distort his person, his struggle and the very essence of anarchism in order to bury him alive under the anti-mafia law 41bis.
with Alfredo Cospito
end 41bis now!
          “There are two types of solidarity. A passive one that all too often serves only to wash away conscience for someone’s own inactivity and that does not bridge the gaps between words and deeds.
          And then the active, concrete, real solidarity that some call revolutionary, created in silence and anonymity, where only destructive actions speak even through the words that follow. Needless to say which one I prefer.
           In final analysis, the best solidarity that i could receive is to see the planning of this new anarchy, in all of its forms, continue to move forward, insensible to the strokes of repression. I will not deny it, in every action that someone salutes us as anarchist prisoners, both in Italy and the rest of the world, my heart fills with joy.
          This is my life today. The war continues, never give up, never give in.” Alfredo Cospito 2014.

FIRE TO THE PRISONS!
 
 

Sunday 19 February 2023

Torture 2.

 


                                              Image courtesy of The Parliament.

          State prisons are not what they are sometimes labelled, correction centres, rehabilitation centres, reform centres, they are in fact death centres. When incarcerated in one of the state's and sometimes private run prisons, (run for profit) something has to die. The state's hope is that it is your desire for freedom and you can be released into the community a subservient digit in their plans. However if that spirit doesn't die then you will  go through the various processes to make it happen, even if the end result is your death. Solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, broken sleep, and a multitude of other inhumane endeavours to break you desire for freedom. Some prisoners take the dangerous road of hunger strikes rather than meekly submit to the state's  demands that they abandon their desire for freedom. We owe them our unstinting solidarity and support, their struggle for freedom and justice is our struggle. 


The following article from Act For Freedom Now.

 
Financial support for the surgical expenses of an anarchist comrade.

Dear comrades
         The Solidarity Fund for imprisoned, persecuted revolutionaries (Tameio), has been trying to obtain, since being established in 2010, a regular and consistent political, moral and material support to the political prisoners and imprisoned fighters. Alongside, it has also actively aided with legal expenses and bails of persecuted comrades and it supported prison struggles. Solidarity, as a crucial political act, is extended to include comrades who need our active support.
       With respect to this, we would like to inform you about the firefund that has been created by a group of comrades from Athens for the financial support of an anarchist comrade who faces substantial medical expenses, needing to promptly have a costly surgery.

https://www.firefund.net/medical23


In solidarity,
Solidarity Fund (Tameio)
Italy - General news ,sabotage, actions and Solidarity with anarchists arrested and all those under investigation, Revolutionary Prisoners News, Solidarity Events, e.t.c.
Greece: Announcement of the hunger strike of Anarchists and Fighting Prisoners in Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito
16 February 2023

        16th of February, Hunger Strike of Anarchists and Fighting Prisoners in Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito
        The 41-bis prison regime is the completion of the prison structure into a masqueraded death sentence. The execution, in this case, does not end in one moment, like with a gunshot, the tightening of the noose, the application of electrical current or the injection of poison into the body, rather it lasts a lifetime in a state of social coma, in a state of non-world. And so, spread through time. Out of this world, the death sentence has evaded history, just like the state pursues oblivion for all the prisoners of the social war who are buried alive in the state of 41-bis. The 41-bis regime has already murdered one fighter, Diana Blefari Melazzi.
       The 41-bis regime and the law about “massacre” are the legacy of the european counter-revolution from the time of Piazza Fontana (Strage di piazza Fontana). This civil war never ended. The states, and particularly the Italian one, carry on the counter-revolution so that the flame may never flare up again. All the systems follow, step by step, the examples first introduced as special warfare, e.g. the white cells of West Germany, the F-type prisons in Turkey and the FIES prisons in Spain to the Type-C prisons in Greece or the new high security prison system A.A.; the still active Hitler-inspired law about indefinite extension of one’s sentence on “preventative” grounds, by which comrade Thomas Meyer Falk is being held for another 10 years (25 in total) in Freiburg prison in Germany, to the different methods of extorting declarations of repentance, and from Asinara to Imrali.
        Anarchist Alfredo Cospito is fighting for the flame to flare up again. Let’s reassert the fight of the comrade. It is our duty to defend in deed the battle that Alfredo Cospito is fighting. A struggle for and against time itself. This particular hunger strike does not concern only the comrades in the italian territory, but it is internationalist, and so the star of internationalist solidarity must shine on the side of Alfredo Cospito and all those who are fighting from within a special prison regime. From Greece to every point in the planet – for all those fighting for freedom.
       Because defeat is not captivity, but losing one’s faith in the possibility of wining. So, we are collectively going on a hunger strike, according to each one’s capacity, so that we may stand by the side of anarchist revolutionary Alfredo Cospito, but also, against the death regime of 41-bis. At the same time the struggle against the new prison code in Greek prisons is continuing.


Anarchist and Fighting Prisoners

Giannis Michailidis
(1 day hunger strike)

Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis
(3 day hunger strike)

Thanos Chatziaggelou

(1 day hunger strike)

Iasonas Rodopoulos

(1 day hunger strike)

Kostas Dimalexis
(3 day hunger strike)

Lambros Vougiouklakis
(1 day hunger strike)

Panagiotis Vougiouklakis
(1 day hunger strike)

Stathis Nikolouzos
(1 day hunger strike)

Stergios Kalaitzidis
(1 day hunger strike)
 
Fotis Daskalas
(1 day hunger strike)
 
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Saturday 18 February 2023

torture.

 

         The Italian state rumbles on with its callous mechanisms, functioning with a complete disregard to the life of a human being in their care. They sift through their judicial papers setting dates that in their twisted minds they know that the individual in all probability will not make it. Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike for 119 days while held in the most draconian and dehumanising conditions in the Italian penal system. Callous disregard for a human being in your care is not only criminal, but is callous judicial torture. Sadly all the public have not yet learned that all states are inhuman, dictatorial and unbending in their desire for complete control over the population, they can only survive if they manage to get a subservient population. One person's life is of no consequence to them if they feel it will strengthen they grip on the population. We must prove them wrong on this occasion and make them understand the one person's life is sacred to us as human beings, and they will pay a price should one human die in their care because of their callous indifference.

                                               Image courtesy of Ceasefire.

  The following report from Act For Freedom Now.

 Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 119th day of hunger strike February 15, 2023)


         In recent weeks, a mass-media campaign of slander and denigration has been underway against anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito. Various newspapers have given much prominence to the fact that in the last few days the comrade had started taking supplements again and that he had eaten two yogurts [in the past months, the comrade had at times taken extremely mild supplements, which he had stopped taking for some time, only to try to resume them in the last few days along with the yogurts so as to try to remain lucid in view of the hearing on February 24th in the cassation court, for which the prosecutor general has filed a request to overturn the 41 bis measure].
         Today’s news [February 15th] is that Alfredo’s body, now after too many days of hunger strike, has rejected both these two yogurts and the supplements, contrary to mass-media reports: what he is currently taking is only sugar, salt and potassium. This is dramatic news both with regard to the comrade’s possibility of making it to February 24th alive (the day on which the hearing for the appeal against the order of the surveillance court of Rome that confirmed detention under 41 bis will be held at the cassation court), and with regard to his ability to resume feeding himself following a possible revocation of the 41 bis order.
        [Received via e-mail & published at https://lanemesi.noblogs.org/post/2023/02/15/update-about-the-health-condition-of-alfredo-cospito-on-the-119th-day-of-hunger-strike-italy-february-15-2023
 
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Sunday 31 July 2022

Fights On.

           Giannis Michailidis has served his full prison sentence and fulfilled all the conditions for his release, and despite this and the fact that he has been on hunger strike for 67 days in attempt to have his just release, the Greek state is callously refusing him justice and are willing to see him die a slow death, locked in solitary confinement. Giannis has stated that he has suspended his hunger strike for justice, but not abandoned the fight, for reasons he will explain at a later date.
 

 The following from Act For Freedom Now:

         I find myself in the unfortunate position to announce that I am suspending this difficult struggle without having won anything substantial. However, this struggle is not over yet nor do I intend to leave it unfinished. The suspension is temporary; some of the reasons are the obvious ones. Some are not. I apologise to those who have supported me that I cannot share the reasons publicly at this point. Should I need to continue I will explain publicly and in detail the reasons I chose the temporary suspension. I will continue to fight for what I deserve and hopefully will not need to continue.
       The justice system has been humiliated. So far, the only success of this hunger strike is that it has highlighted its contradictions. In terms of the barricades I have attempted to raise, there have been the statements of the lawyers, changing the mood of the “throw them inside and throw away the keys” logic. But my personal request remains in the air. And my commitment that I wouldn’t stop seems betrayed at this point. This weighs on me, of course, and despite knowing that my intention is – if necessary – to continue at a more fruitful time in the near future; but as I said before, not everything can be said at this moment and I hope it will not have to be said. Closing this announcement, I want to wholeheartedly thank those who have supported me in any way. Those who took a stand, those who transcended their social roles because empathy prevailed. But above all, those who fought tooth and nail to break the enforced silence, those who were beaten in the streets to express their solidarity, those who took risks and those who starved in prison. To the latter I owe my life. If all this had not happened, at this moment the conditions for this suspension wouldn’t exist. That’s all for now. I still look forward to my immediate release.

Everything continues…

Yiannis Michailidis

 A text by Giannis Michailidis, read out at the event in Athens for "Words for Remembrance of Political Prisoners."

THE HIDDEN STRENGTH OF AN INSURRECTION IS THAT IT AROUSES THE IMAGINATION

         It was late evening of December 5th, 2008 and I was reading the comic book ‘V for Vendetta’, when a phrase shook me: “Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap.” The economic crisis hadn’t yet unsettled the dominant narrative of capitalism as a one-way road, and a spontaneous insurrection in a country of the west world seemed like a utopia. I stood on this phrase, which I felt very believable, but there weren’t any facts to support it and I wondered a lot inside me.. A day later, a bullet struck the heart of feisty comrade Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The bullet came from the weapon of a cop, for whom Vyronas Polydoras, 

Read the full article HERE: 


 
Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Sunday 24 July 2022

Assassination.



          I can only repeat, the state is an institution without humanity or compassion. In this case it is the Greek state, that with callous disregard for the health and welfare of one of its citizens. Giannis Michailidis. An anarchist prisoner of the state is in a severe condition regarding his health, after 61 days of hunger strike, yet the state ignores his right to justice, having served his time, he is being held, not for any crime, but for his political stance. Giannis deserves all the support and solidarity that we can muster, across borders, this injustice of the Greek state must be called out loud and clear, Giannis has a right to be free. 

The following from Act for Freedom Now:

           The anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis has been on hunger strike since 23/5, demanding his release from prison. Today he completes 61 days of hunger strike without his request being accepted. His health condition has deteriorated greatly, as he has great difficulty in getting out of bed, standing up, reading and writing, his spleen and gall bladder pains are becoming increasingly severe, and he has reached a point where it is difficult for him to drink much water.
           His body weight has reached 54.1 kg. Having started the hunger strike at 73 kilos, he has now lost 19 kilos, or 26% of his original body weight. His high blood pressure is 9 and low is 6, and his blood sugar was measured at 67. Having lost over 25% of his original body weight, and with his health indicators steadily deteriorating, his chances of permanent physical damage are now very high. At the moment, comrade Giannis Michailidis is on the verge of hypoglycemic shock and doctors say that there is a possibility that he could fall into a coma. The state and judicial authorities are gambling with the life and integrity of anarchist Giannis Michailidis.
           We reiterate from the previous update that his white blood cell count has dropped so far below the lower normal limit (value: 2.43 with limits of 4.60-10.2 K/μL), leading to immunodeficiency. Platelets are also counted much lower than the lower normal limit (value: 90 with limits of 142-424 K/μL), and Thrombocytopenia can cause severe and threatening internal bleeding. Based on his latest medical examinations and according to his treating physicians, he is at risk of severe osteoporosis and he is already experiencing joint pain. In addition, he has severe chest pain when trying to move around. He already has a potentially permanent neurological problem in his eyes, as the neurological examination showed double vision in extreme positions due to lack of nutrients.
         The latest radiological examinations and ultrasound examination (on 18/7) showed that the organs now at immediate risk of permanent damage are the bile and the spleen, with the latter facing an additional burden, as Giannis has congenital thalassemia (thalassemia). Finally, there is severe pain in the left kidney. All of the above is not helped by his increased sleep disturbances, and certainly the sensory isolation space in which he is in, leading to the almost total absence of support, care and monitoring by his family members and his personal physician.----
 
       -----We warn the judicial authorities and make it clear that the delay of the decision or the possibility of a rejection by the Lamia council is tantamount to state murder of anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis. We therefore emphatically emphasize the weight of responsibility that weighs on this decision and the time of its making.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS

Against the regime of exemption of political prisoners

Assembly in solidarity with the anarchist hunger striker Giannis Michailidis

assembly email : mihallil@riseup.net

Read the full article HERE: 

 
Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepediia.co.uk   

Tuesday 19 July 2022

Slaves.

   


            One subject that gets practically no mention by our media or by our political ballerinas, is prison labour. The UK has the most privatised prison system in Europe. Companies make a fortune from incarcerating our citizens, and not content with that, they use the imprisoned population as cheap labour. Those capitive in this slave labour institution are obliged to work and at a particular rate or they can lose "privileges". They have no contract, no sick leave pay, no holiday pay, no opportunity to negotiate their conditions and are paid a pittance while the companies that use them make a killing in profits from this trapped labour force. There is also the view that this cheap labour source takes jobs away from those outside, who would need to be paid at least the minimum wage plus the few other beneficial conditions that the workers have wrestled from the employers.
        We can't in all honesty state that we are a civilised society, when we allow slave labour to flourish for the benefit of companies and large corporations. We can't in all honesty state we live in a democracy when a whole swath of our people have no say or control over their wages or working conditions. Prison labour is an abomination, a blight on our society, an anathema to democracy and freedom. However it is all part and parcel of a society that functions only for profit, a system designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many. Those who worship at the altar of capitalism will see nothing wrong in captivated prison slave labour, it is an efficient way of creating wealth for that privileged few. 

The following figures are from an IWW article in 2016.

 


One3One Solutions is the trading arm of the Ministry of Justice founded in 2012. Over 9,700 prisoners were employed in their profit-making partnerships with private companies, with a total of 13.1 million prisoner working hours being recorded (1). Private sector prisons (those run for-profit) reported that they delivered over 1.5 million prisoner working hours involving over 1,200 prisoners in 2012/13. (1) Prisoners working full time at a minimum will receive £4 a week. Prisoners working in workshops run by private companies may earn up to £25 per week if they are lucky. The average pay if you are a wing cleaner or gardener is about £6-7. Rates of pay are set out in the Prison Service Order 4460 (2). If prisoners are sick on the short-term they may get £2.50 a week. For prisoners that simply cannot work because they are ill long-term or old, they receive £3.25 a week. Likewise, Asylum Seekers in Detention Centres (that are all run for profit), are paid at the very most £1.25 per hour(3).

         The long list of companies that use prison slave labour reads like a role of honour in the world of exploitative capitalism. 


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Monday 18 July 2022

Murder!!


          While Giannis Michailidis is slowly murdered while in the care of the Greek state, that Greek state casually goes about its business of control, repression and protecting its power and privileges. A human life is neither here nor there on their agenda.
        History teaches us that the state is an institution without humanity or compassion. Glance around the world and we see time and time again, state after state stand idly by watching one of its citizens slow die a painful death, when it is well withing its power to save that life and alleviate that suffering. The state is an institution soaked in blood, its laws written in blood, its power, wealth and privileges protected and maintained by blood. So it will always be, as long as we accept the state has some sort of monopoly of power over our lives. Not until we the ordinary people realise that we have the power to shape society and create that fairer world for all, the state is a brake on those common desires.

The following from Act for Freedom Now:

Giannis Michailidis: Rape and murder of the concept of justice

        For Greek “justice”, a rapist of a child (D. Lignadis) has been sufficiently rehabilitated and is not a danger to society after less than 1.5 years in prison. A racially motivated murderer (Ath. Hortarias), has been sufficiently rehabilitated and is also not a danger after 2 months in prison. The murderer of 15-year-old Alexandros (Ep. Korkoneas) does not deserve life imprisonment. Another rapist (P. Filippidis), earns his freedom prematurely as he is not considered dangerous because of his celebrity. This is the “epic” of crony Greek “justice”.
      However, for Greek “justice” an anarchist bank robber and escapee, after almost 9 years in prison and 7 months, after completing the required 3/5 of the sentence, “risks committing new crimes as he has not spent sufficient time in prison”.
       What I understand is that robbing a bank and escaping from prison is far worse than rape or murder. Especially if the rapist is a close friend of ministers or the killers kill troublesome kids or marginalised people. After all, isn’t the role of the state to protect capital? Also, it will obviously show more vindictiveness towards someone who has actively challenged the feared institution of prison, absolutely necessary for disciplining society.
        And as for bank robberies, now that we’re impoverishing you, don’t get any ideas. If you want to rape a kid, a wink to a minister will do the trick! This is the clear message of Greek “justice”.
        I received it. That’s why I started a hunger strike. To expose all those arbitrary acts against me, which I list at the beginning of the text. However, from what I can see they don’t need me. They have made their own judgments. Not even for appearances.
         I think they are even using the hunger strike as an example now. They’ve set my appeal hearing for 7/25. On that day I will have done 64 days’ hunger strike. The aim is clear. To exhaust me. A possible permanent disability reinforces the message they are sending. Perhaps my eventual death, which becomes more likely with each passing day. Such a perversion of the concept of justice is unthinkable. Let them enjoy their “justice”. Enjoy your careers.
        As for me, who do not have access to their villas with their lavish tables paid for with bribes, I can greet this world fasting, but with the spiritual fullness of total existential conflict with their rotten system.
 
Some photos of the mass protests to free Giannis Miachailidis 
 



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Wednesday 13 July 2022

State Killings.

       Further to my previous post on hunger striker Giannis Michailidis, and the inhumane treatment he is receiving at the hands of the Greek state, I post in full a letter from Lamia prison by Giannis.

The following is from Enough is Enough:

         Lamia. Greece. A letter from anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis, who is on hunger strike since May 23, 2022.

Originally published by Anarchist News.

        Since the anthropocentricity of the majority of our society attributes the above mental attributes exclusively to humans, I will probably be accused of anthropomorphism (you will tell me of all you have been accused of, did that bother you?). However, I do not attribute characteristics to scorpions that are not inferred from their behavior, such as rational thought. It is encouraging that newer neuroscientific research suggests that the architecture of neural circuits associated with the function of consciousness in humans and other mammals is even detectable in insect brains.
       How does this relate to the current situation? A few hundred million years after the appearance of scorpions, a being walked the earth that constructed permanent enclosure structures for other living beings, including its own kind: cages and guardians.
       Many intelligent animals in captivity stop eating and are driven to death (e.g. of the dolphins that are captured, few survive). Countless people in captivity, (since so long ago that the beginnings have been erased) have gone on hunger strikes in prisons to gain their freedom or dignity. This is the equivalent of self-centering by beings with enough intelligence to try to provide a way out of the impasse. That is why nowadays, the hunger strike is internationally recognized as a historically powerful means of struggle, especially for prisoners.
       In Greek circumstances (where even the junta of the colonels backed down on hunger strikes) modern judges and prosecutors are governed by a different perspective. The majority are driven by ultra-conservative views and, having caused untold pain to tens of thousands of prisoners who have been deprived of their long-term freedom, they work for a torture industry entrenched behind obvious lies such as correctionalism. Like slaughterhouse workers, or like fighter pilots bombing the enemy’s cities, they have killed any trace of empathy in themselves and can eat their lunch by convincing themselves that they are doing something useful. That is why they see the hunger strike as a means of challenging their omnipotence and show zero tolerance.
       How else to interpret, what judges and prosecutors write, up to the 46th day of my hunger strike, when the prosecutor’s proposal of the court of appeal for my release was issued?
        I was preceded by two councils where I was tried for what the judges believe I will do and I was held on remand as a “risk of committing further offences”. In the second even theirs they didn’t ask me a single question, not even about the facts and just issued a predetermined decision after 40 days (30 of which already on hunger strike). Without even a rationale, it took them 40 days to write “in accordance with the prosecutor’s proposal, to avoid unnecessary repetition”. I was treated with defiant indifference.
        In the face of this squalor, I started a hunger strike. And in the announcement of its opening, I listed both the arbitrary acts against me and numerous examples where the judges have opened wide the doors when it comes to children of the system (cops – murderers, prison guards – torturers, fascists, big capitalists).
       Meanwhile, in the midst of my strike, Alexandros’ killer, one of Zack’s killers who did as much jail time as I do hunger strike time, and rapist Filippidis have been released early on the improbable grounds that the potential victims are not at risk because he is now known for his actions and will avoid him. And I who completed 3/5 of my sentence 7 months ago “have not yet been corrected as not enough time has passed” according to the prosecutorial reasoning! Unrepentant murderers are enjoying what I have been fighting to earn for 50 days risking my life, what I have been entitled to for 7 months, freedom.
      Seemingly unrelated, and yet relevant, is the murder of the chimpanzee that escaped from Jean-Jacques Leshwar’s wild animal prison. I wonder if Greek ‘justice’ will deal with a serial killer and torturer of wildlife? Too much money…
      Anyway at this moment, my own stinger has already pierced my body and is spreading poison destroying its vital organs, probably irreversibly. However, it will inevitably pierce, even if only temporarily, the murderous order that sustains this system of generalized enslavement and exploitation of nature (human and otherwise)…

THE ONLY DEFEATED STRUGGLE IS THE ONE NEVER GIVEN

FREEDOM OR DEATH

11/7/2022,

Giannis Michailidis  

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