Category Archives: English

Indonesia – About the Indonesian Anarchist Witch Hunt and the “Normal Activist Mentality”

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In the middle of a global pandemic–as if there never was a global crisis to humanity before–and on the verge of a global economic recession, the Indonesian police have released a statement that anarchists are planning looting on a national scale on 18th April, The Year of Corona. This idiotic and also a strategic statement falsely made by authority are a clear intention of seeking who to blame in this time of crisis while in the lower layer of Indonesian society many are already fed up with the conditions and looting is no longer a taboo subject. Anger is growing. But as media and the police tried to sensationalize the recent arrest of four anarchists accused of graffiti that said “It’s already a crisis, its time to burn” (see photo) they tried to manipulate the crisis and the incompetency of the state in responding to the situation by seeking a “public enemy” now named “the anarchists”. If we can just compare how the impact of some graffiti and the recent situation, the response of general middle class internet society and mostly also by activists, snitches, and cowards who are manipulated into focusing on a small group of anarchists in Tangerang, a few kilometers from Jakarta who were arrested for doing graffiti.

Who are these anarchists?

As false public rage grows towards the anarchists, the common narratives are “anarchists are provocateurs”, even some leftist activists go to the extent of wanting to cooperate with the state to crack down on the anarchists or labeling the action as stupid. And this is not something new. The activists, the middle class, who are so afraid of everything in this time of panic are easily manipulated, why? Other than their binary logic of thinking and their banalities of action, and of course illegalism to them means losing their illusion of safety. These same category of people undermined many anarchist projects during this time of crisis and pandemic such as giving out free food, creating shelter for the homeless, and other grassroots struggles, in which many of the so-called activists are sitting around and going with the “stay home” state scenario while the real public anger is burning and intensifying. The same anarchists who got arrested are active youngsters who run a co-op cafe, and are active in spreading counter-information, and the massive “a really-really free market” at a grassroots level. It is clear that the middle class and activist mentality mirrors the same idiotic scenario orchestrated by the state to make them a part of the society of control. This short update is also a fuck you note to every activist, and even some leftist anarchists who are blaming or accusing any direct action as being idiotic just because people ended up being arrested. It is also a fuck you note to the state that orchestrated this false scenario in blaming the anarchists. Maybe the anarchists will join the looting and it will most certainly happen! But dear state, you know so well that your structures are decomposing and we are going to help you rot. FUCK YOU.

Solidarity with the anarchists arrested in Tangerang!

The Individualist Circle

12/04/20

https://anarchistsworldwide.noblogs.org/post/2020/04/12/about-the-indonesian-anarchist-witch-hunt-and-the-normal-activist-mentality/

Berlin (Germany) – Autonomous Groups arson campaign against prison profiteers continues

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Practical solidarity with the defendants of the trials in Hamburg and the rebellious prisoners.
The proceedings concerning the G20 in Hamburg are continuing, the Park Bench 3 proceedings are continuing. The vehicles of the prison profiteers burn with a crackling sound during Berlin’s Corona Nights. This is the least that can be done, considering the riots in many prisons around the world in recent weeks:

March 9, riots in 27 Italian prisons, at least 8 prisoners killed, 6 of them in Modena.
Mid-March, riots in several Spanish prisons, including in Brians.
Since March 31, riots in 13 Colombian prisons, 23 prisoners killed, numerous escapes.
March 23, 9 prisoners escape from South Dakota Women’s Prison, USA.
Late March / early April, massive revolts and breakouts in Iranian prisons.
April 6, mutiny in Cordoba prison, Argentina.
Riots in the prison of Qoubbeh, in Tripoli / Lebanon.
April 9, mutiny in Irktutsk, Russia.
Mid-April, strike in Korydallos prison, rebellion in Eleonas Women’s Prison, Greece.

On April 18th, a GA Tec van was torched a Falkplatz in Prenzlauer Berg and 3 days later a Eurovia Vinci vehicle was torched at Lichtenburg station. GA Tec is owned by the Sodexo Consortium, operates private prisons in England and is part of the deportation industry in Germany. Eurovia Vinci builds prisons and other humane projects and operates Toll-Collect, a private surveillance agency. Both companies are regularly attacked around the world and therefore offer themselves as sustainable targets.

Anonymous authors correctly recognized in the paper “A few thoughts on urban policy in times of technological attack” – Autonomes Blättchen #40, that different cities are competing with each other for locations for new technologies and the corresponding image. Furthermore they want to determine further the practical approach and suggest focusing the resistance on individual actors. Specifically they want to oppose Tesla, Google, Zalando and Amazon. One strength of the campaign against DHL was that their vehicles were parked everywhere. Even in the campaign against Castor Transporten, it was easy to find DB and Vattenfal vehicles. The weakness of militant campaigns has always been a creeping end before the enemy kneels; with a few exceptions (NOlympia 1993 or Frank Henkel 2016). Campaigns end because targets become scarce, other issues become more important, or because it seems too risky.

With the tech industry as the primary field of intervention, the limits of militant small groups are quickly reached, those of open groups are not. The addition of different levels of resistance requires self-confident open structures that do not distance themselves from attacks. And the readiness for a continuous but asymmetrical practice of clandestine connections. Projects such as the Berliner Liste a few years ago, can be continued endlessly and are always topical. The trick is not to get bogged down by arbitrariness in the selection of targets, or, as the above text puts it, not to be target-oriented, nor to become predictable.

The image of the city of Berlin suffers when companies cannot give their employees the vehicles they need to get home. Insecurity is our factor. Many sparks increase the chance of a larger fire. The tech industry can only remain virtual without the companies building their temples, guarding them, separating the superfluous. So our proposal is based on an easily imitated riotous arson campaign against the whole range of urban political actors to attack everything that is necessary for the functioning of their kind of city in accordance with methods that are unpredictable for them.

Freedom and happiness for the prisoners – decay for the profiteers of the prison society!

Autonomous Groups

(via Deutschland Indymedia, translated into English by Anarchists Worldwide)

Gambia – Empower the People – Fight Covid-19

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Facing the difficulties coming with the COVID-19 outbreak in Gambia for many people, a group of friends came together to raise funds, to sensitize and to help in the material conditions of the people. The Peoples Collective is of and from the people since its not some charitable cause but a mutual sharing of resources between neighbors and likeminded people. We recognize the country is going to be hard hit in the areas of food and basic resource related like sanitation materials; we decided to put our own meager resources together and to call out for help since we can’t cover all of these expenses ourselves.

There will be constant updates on how we are doing with funds and resources. Also how the country is responding to this pandemic. Share the cause widely and help in raising funds to defend the territory of life in The Gambia!

We already delivered food packages to some 80 families and few single person. Beside that we provided some 50 hand washing equipments. For all together we already spent about 250.000 Dalasi, almost 5.000 Euros. To continue the distribution, we need more funds – and this very urgently.

The situation in Gambia will get harder and the virus will spread faster. It is expected that during June and July many people will be infected. To minimize the spread of the deadly virus, we have to act now!

If you like to support, please start your own initiative or contact us:
Email:   thepeoplescollective@riseup.net
Phone/Signal/Whatsapp:   +220 779 14 17

(via The Peoples Collective)

https://anarchistsworldwide.noblogs.org/post/2020/04/23/gambia-empower-the-people-fight-covid-19/

Greece – Flyer distributed in Athens: ‘Our dignity in quarantine?’

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This flyer was distributed in different neighborhoods of Athens over the last two weeks. On public markets, on public transport and door by door. Here you find the English version.

——

Our dignity in quarantine?

It all happened without anyone really realizing it. And now we find
ourselves locked up in our houses, waiting for next day’s news which we all know will contain more and more restrictions. Society is in crisis, they say, because of a virus spreading. The government is pressing that it is of most importance that we all do exactly what it says, and that by this we take our responsibility and act in solidarity. It stresses that the state of emergency is of course temporary, but necessary to win the war against what is seriously threatening our well being.

But wait a minute…

Which virus?

Actually, we cannot know. All the information, numbers and statistics
that are at the base of the imposed confinement are in the hands of the
government and the specialists that work for them. It is not a matter of
denying the actual existence of a virus going around, but to realize
that the knowledge of its characteristics, how it spreads, how it can be
tackled, but also the data concerning its impact, is in the hands of
scientists around the globe, which often don’t agree even among
themselves about how to interpret them or which practical conclusions
they would entail. The conclusion of the authorities on the other hand
is simple; they know, we don’t. And because of this we owe them complete obedience. The mass media is playing its classic role of servant of the system magnificently. Deciding what exists by only showing and endlessly repeating the story by the authorities, not giving a millimeter of space to deviant voices of any kind. Their job consists of fully preparing the grounds for the next even more totalitarian decisions.
And isn’t a virus the perfect enemy? Invisible and possibly everywhere,
with everyone not complying to whatever rule is invented becoming an
accomplice of that enemy. Justified to be oppressed with fines and
prison sentences. A perfect context is created in which the state can
shine as the ultimate savior.

Which responsibility?

And so we cannot open a newspaper or put on television without being
told we should ‘take our responsibility’. But what does this mean then?
They are asking us to blindly follow the orders of some politicians. But
aren’t they the same bureaucrats we were distrusting before? Didn’t they proof so many times to be greedy and corrupt because they are driven much more by personal interest than by care for others? Didn’t it show again and again that their hunger for power is bigger than any sense of justice or reason? And now again, maybe the thousands of euros making sure helicopters are in the air controlling if we are staying in our houses could better be used in mmm… health care for example? These are
the kind of people that are asking us to trust them, no questions asked,
and call it ‘taking our responsibility’. Would we not be doing the
opposite then?
What we are really asked to do is to give up any conscience, critical
thought, and autonomy, to welcome extreme government control in every aspect of our lives.

Which solidarity?

The misleading spectacle continues. We should obey the extreme measures being taken out of a sense of ‘solidarity’. Isn’t it cynical to hear these words from the mouths of the representatives of a system that is based on the exact opposite of solidarity? The whole year through we should run around like chicken without heads to keep up with the constant game of competition, to be exploited, to be hunted by cops for whatever reason they feel like that day, and be robbed by statesmen which made their profession out of it, and now they come to us and dare to speak about solidarity? They dare to act as if they care about our well-being? What about the millions of people living in poverty so people like those in the government can be rich? What about all the people dying at their crappy jobs feeding the relentless economical machine? What about those being tortured in the police stations by the uniformed executioners of the state? What about the thousands of migrants dying at the borders every year? Where is the government with its big speeches about solidarity then?
While they are trying to feed us their hypocrite tales about solidarity
in reality we see that the lockdown is locking loads of people up in
unbearable circumstances. Children in their homes under the
uninterrupted rule of violent parents for example. Or partners, husbands and wives stuck in abusive relationships. Thousands of migrants being trapped in camps, in even worse conditions than usual. In prisons all visits stopped, as did all access of prisoners to material, food and clothes coming from the outside. Empty spaces in prisons are being used to isolate prisoners with symptoms of the corona-virus, these spaces being empty in most cases because they are in not fit to host prisoners.

One can only imagine the effect this will have on the health of the
prisoners being dumped there… In the prisons in Italy massive revolts
broke out after general restrictions on all levels were introduced.
Probably the only way for the prisoners to save their dignity seeing the
conditions they are forced in. Also in Spain and France prisoners are
standing up and fighting back, as other prisoners around the world.
The state doesn’t know what solidarity means and has never been
concerned about our well-being. As always, it will be up to us to take
care of each other, and make sure that those that need it get support.
When the government uses the word solidarity, it is only to give a
feeling of guilt to those who don’t obey their orders, and to push
people to internalize its authority.

Which crisis?

So they tell us we are in crisis. Maybe somebody can tell us when the
moment comes that we are not in crisis? From the financial crisis to the climate crisis, through the migrant crisis to the corona crisis. It
seems the system has a lot of different names for what always turn out
to be periods which are used to restructure its power, to enlarge and
intensify its oppression. In this case, especially in this case, it will
not be different. The idea of a condition of crisis has always been used
to contextualize a further totalitarian evolution of power. The rhythm
on which this evolution is forced is not always the same of course. The
bigger and more urgent they can make the crisis look like, the bigger
and faster the change can be. It goes without saying that the current
‘crisis’ is giving the government (all the governments) the perfect
context in which to take giant steps in the development of their
mechanisms of control and oppression.

Which exceptional state of emergency?

It is always repeated that whatever steps that are taken are
‘temporary’, but this is a lie. Many occasions in the past showed us
that at least a part of the measures from ‘states of emergency’ were
kept afterward and were inbedded in laws never to be taken back. From big examples like 9/11 that changed forever the abilities of states to track, trace and record everyone, to more recent times in which
terrorist attacks were used as a pretext to introduce many new ways to
bring to court whoever disagrees with the state, to get the army (in a
lot of places permanently) on the streets, to boost the general
collection of data etc. And here, didn’t the new government launch a
general state of emergency in the capital aimed at the total repression
of the unwanted (homeless, anarchists, drug users, squatters etc.) since
last year? We all know they are working non-stop on creating an image of ‘crisis’ (in this case some kind of ‘security crisis’) to justify its
absolute thirst for power, implying that its fascist behavior and
totalitarian policies would be of ‘necessary but temporary’ nature…
And now, what is massively happening? People turn toward the internet for their needs, for all their needs.

From communicating to consuming, from working to relaxing. In the blink of an eye a big part of life has deliberately been transferred to cyberspace. By this it becomes even more easy for the state to follow, register and surveil the daily activity of whoever. But especially, it is our own will and creativity to ‘solve’ a lot of the problems being caused by our mass imprisonment, that help normalizing it and finally push its acceptance.
The managing of the current situation will bring forth an unimaginable
set of experiences, tools and know-how that can and will continue to be
used whenever estimated necessary by those in power.

Which war?

But all objections or criticisms are undesirable or even dangerous,
because after all ‘we are at war’. At war against a biological event,
against nature actually. Isn’t this indicative for these modern times?
We forget more and more how to live with or in nature, but multiply and intensify our wars against it. Our whole way of living is built on the
exploitation of nature and, if this reality is not overthrown soon, its
total destruction. Maybe it is the western arrogance culturally
believing we are above all things, and so always extending our ways to
control them. Always looking at nature in terms of its practical value
to ‘civilized’ society. And when we are confronted with something that
causes discomfort everything will be put in place to tame it, to
manipulate or eradicate it. So a constant war is being waged, against
nature, against life and against death. It became an unimaginable
thought that we would not own nature but be a part of it, and by this
can be subjected to some of its conditions…

Of course nobody wants to die, or see its loved ones die or suffer. We
want to live! But is merely surviving at a certain point the same as
living? Is it possible to live in a cage, or can we at best survive in
one? Are we ready to take away all risk of living to have a better
chance of survival? One could say these are philosophical questions,
good to pass the time but nothing to do with real life. Well, at this
very moment all life is being taken away from us because we are told
that this is the only way to survive.
Every day in isolation is an attack on our autonomy, on our ability to
think and act for ourselves, to live, love and fight.

The quarantine has to be refused, because our dignity cannot survive in it!

The lockdown has to be broken, because our desire for freedom will not!

PDF

 

https://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=37229

What is happening in Russia?

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We receive and publish from Dialectical Delinquents

by R.Shinov

Putin disappeared for almost two weeks. Then he started appearing on the TV screen and said something unintelligible. For the Russian regime, this is bad news, because Putin, even when he appears on the screen, is showing weakness and behaving uncertainly. When the Russian Tsar behaves like this, it causes rejection from everyone, including the highest officialdom. The whole situation, with the unconvincing and occasionally disappearing Tsar Putin, reminded me of the situation after June 22, 1941. On this day, the Wehrmacht attacked the Soviet Union and pinned down the Red Army, having killed or captured 3 million soldiers in a few months. At that time, Stalin disappeared until July 3*.

Real assistance to the population is almost not provided. Putin said that people should stay at home, and at the same time they will receive a wage. But he has not centrally imposed any ban on going to work. And in addition, he did not introduce a system that obliges businesses to pay wages. What he said was just words. So businessmen said that they don’t care what Putin says – either you work, or we dismiss you. Millions of people continue to work in Moscow and other cities.

Putin left a number of important decisions on quarantine to the discretion of the regions. This is also a bad sign for the Kremlin. The weakening of the center is accompanied by the strengthening of regions that have received special powers for anti-crisis measures. In principle, both processes are correlated and both indicate developing cracks in the Foundation of the system and the threat of “feudalization”. However, now there is no request for the collapse of the state.

So regional governors have taken up the task. In some regions, the quarantine is almost not introduced. In the North Caucasus Republic of Ingushetia, the population have massively refused to comply with the quarantine due to the fact that people do not have money. People move freely in cities and towns, work, buy food at markets, and celebrate weddings. This has led to an increase in diseases, now in Ingushetia every day dozens of people are admitted to hospitals with a diagnosis of pneumonia. The problem is that people have no choice, they have to go to work to survive.

In Moscow, the situation is strange. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has introduced special electronic passwords for those who want to take the metro to work (you must get such a password at the city municipality or a from your boss at the workplace). It is being suggested that in the future people will have to enter special passwords if you want to leave the house for food, but this is still being discussed. However, the introduction of electronic passes immediately led to disaster. Since no one is paying wages to most Muscovites, millions of people have to continue to work. Cafes, restaurants and non-grocery stores are closed, but many businesses are open. Early on Wednesday (April 15th) morning, about 1 million Muscovites came to 330 metro stations. At each station police officers were waiting for them, checking their passwords. Immediately, there were traffic jams. Thousands of people were squeezed into crowds at the narrow entrances to metro stations. People stood close together for a long time in 330 crowds. There is little doubt that many were infected at this point…

As far as I can see, there is growing public anger against the regime on the one hand, and fear of illness on the other. This is also a negative scenario for the government.

Thus in Russia we can see

А) Some weakening of the Central power of the Kremlin

B) Strengthening of the power of regional governments

C) Growth of public irritation and anger.

Today (April 20th), there was a riot in the North Caucasus Republic of Ossetia (a subject of the Russian Federation inhabited by a people called Ossetians; they are mainly Christians and speak a language close to Farsi). The authorities in Ossetia kept silent about the real number of Coronavirus cases, and poorly organized the process of hospitalization and treatment. As a result, masses of people began to flock to the center of Vladikavkaz (the capital of Ossetia) and put forward demands to the government to fix the situation. https://www.facebook.com/100000508025633/videos/3605409226152643/

https://www.facebook.com/alexey.shichkov/videos/10158579773574767

As expected, the month of “self-isolation”, which left thousands, if not millions of people without means of livelihood, provoked mass discontent. The day of April 20 seeems to have become a turning point. Residents of Vladikavkaz in Ossetia went to the rally, some of the police refused to disperse the protesters. Demonstrators began throwing stones at the remaining guards. However, Police in Vladikavkaz track the cars of protesters, and then arrest people on the road.

Meanwhile, in other cities protests took place on the internet. In Rostov-on-Don, a self-isolated “rally” was held in YandexMaps. People wrote demands for an emergency declaration (in this case, demanding the government be obliged to pay money for those who lost their jobs and businesses), some demanding the overthrow of the dictatorship. Individual users in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk and other cities joined the “rally”.

However, the Russian monarchy can be very stable in spite of everything, in conditions of fear and the passivity of the population. But clearly some people are starting to not be so passive.

More information here:

https://berthoalain.com/2020/04/21/coronavirus-confinement-affrontements-a-vladikavkaz-ossetie-du-nord-20-avril-2020/

https://www.pravdareport.com/world/144505-north_ossetia_isolation/

https://www.rt.com/russia/486351-vladikavkaz-russia-coronavirus-lockdown-protest/

Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia 

PS Putin has given only the equivalent of $2bn to the 86 regions, with a population of about 145 million people – ie a bit over $13 per person. Officially, there’ve been 47,121 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 405 deaths, but some say the true figure is possibly closer to 4000 .

Article that manages to contradict itself very blatantly (usually such self-contradictory statements are made with a day’s gap; after all even a goldfish might remember something contradictory said just a moment before): https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/04/20/coronavirus-in-russia-the-latest-news-april-19-a69117 “There have been 47,121 cases of coronavirus infections reported in Russia so far and 405 deaths…. …Three hundred and sixty-one people have been killed by the virus.”

*SamFanto note: not quite clear what is meant by this comparison.

Contestavirus 12th – 21st of April

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We receive and publish from Dialectical Delinquents

21/4/20

Argentina, Corrientes: prisoner killed, several hospitalised, including 2 screws, after screws stop a]prisoners’ attempts to climb wall

Iraq, Baghdad: political gangs brutally attack remaining protesters who are defying quarantine

France: clashes with cops in 4 separate regions

Hauts-de-Seine: 3rd night of “disturbances” of prevailing thoroughly disturbed world – school torched
Toulouse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKYF9NsjMs

 

“After 24 hours of calm, new incidents broke out this Tuesday evening in the Mirail district, in Toulouse. Around 10 p.m., around thirty people sowed trouble between the La Reynerie and Bellefontaine sectors. About ten trash fires and at least five vehicles, mainly near the rue de Kiev and the place André-Abbal, were recorded. Some have been extinguished by the fire brigade. Barricades have also been erected in Louise-Michel and Erik-Satie streets. Chemin Tintoret, among other things, projectile jets were fired and the police were clearly taken to task. Again. Mortars[heavy-duty fireworks], certainly defused by the persistent rain, were launched and everything necessary to make Molotov cocktails was discovered in a passageway of the building called Petit-d’Indy. On the opposing side, tear gas and flashballs were used. Dozens of police were deployed to restore calm. Around 11:30 p.m., it was done. Last Sunday, explosive devices were prepared to set an obvious trap for the police. … Calls for “mobilization” in the cities continue to flood social networks, sometimes with a lot of fake news….e the incidents recorded in recent days also to be put into perspective with the drug shortage, which is inevitable during periods of confinement? Chances are, indeed.However, according to the Snapchat accounts kept by the owners of certain Toulouse deal points, business is doing relatively well. Even if prices, too, soar.

20/4/20

Peru, Lima: cops teargas 100s fleeing capital

“Poorer Peruvians have been trying to leave Lima since last week, the paper adds, with many saying they had to “choose between hunger or homelessness in the city or risking exposure to Covid-19 as they attempt to return home”. Maricela de la Cruz, who was trying to return to Huancayo, in Peru’s central Andes, told Associated Press: “Here in Lima there are no longer any jobs, there is no longer any way to pay for food, we do not have any more savings”….Men can leave home only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, … while women can do so on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Sundays, no one is allowed out.”

Argentina, Corrientes: clashes with cops after neighbours grass up neighbours for non-respect of quarantine rules

Colombia: disturbances throughout country against Capitalismavirus but especially in Fundacion, where there was looting and blockades of roads in various parts of state, including Medellin, as population demand food

Colombia, Magdalena: cops attacked with stones, supermarket looted, tires burnt, railway bridge blocked – all by group of youths

“The coronavirus quarantine has uncovered the hidden problem of hunger in Colombia where millions of people protest daily about the inability to access food, which has led to looting of aid in various parts of the country.
Harassed by the shortage, the poorest Colombians fail to comply with the mandatory isolation in force since March 25 to search the streets for the daily sustenance with which they used to feed their families before the arrival of the pandemic that so far leaves 3,977 infected and 189 dead.
This is what happened today in the Bogota neighborhood of Ciudad Bolívar, in the south of the city, where dozens of people “took over” the local mayor’s office to demand that the authorities expedite the delivery of the promised aid to the most disadvantaged. The despair of having nothing to bring to the table has triggered riots and looting of aid from the government and shops in some parts. From Aracataca, the birthplace of Literature Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, to the agro-industrial department of Valle del Cauca, the authorities have redoubled the security of the vehicles that transport aid, while some supermarkets have closed their doors to shield themselves from the riots and assaults. On Monday, for example, in the municipality of Fundación, in the Caribbean department of Magdalena, there were looting and riots in some businesses. Disorders also occurred in Medellín, where nearly a hundred people blocked a highway in the northwest of the city to claim humanitarian aid. The national government started this month the delivery of a million markets throughout the country, but the figure will be short considering that President Iván Duque extended the mandatory isolation until next May 11. More than five million Colombians depend on the informal economy and survive without monthly fixed incomes, money that has gradually disappeared because with the compulsory quarantine, most of them cannot do their business at home anymore. “We look like skinny cows, we no longer have breath to walk. We are dying not from viruses but from hunger. We have not seen anything that they promised us, we are enduring hunger,” Sandra Patricia Hurtado, a resident of Ciudad Bolívar, told Efe . Thousands of displaced people live in this sector, fleeing their lands, dispossessed by the violent ones of the armed conflict, or expelled due to the poverty in which they lived. Meanwhile, others queue in the streets to receive markets, hygiene items or to collect a government subsidy, the delivery of which was temporarily suspended after complaints from citizens who found inconsistencies in the registration of the beneficiaries. Like Hurtado, there are Colombians in every corner of the country whose hunger has become a matter of life and death, a situation that has even forced them to order door-to-door food in the most prosperous neighborhoods.”

https://adncuba.com/actualidad-internacional/colombia/saqueos-en-colombia-ante-dificultad-de-obtener-alimentos-en

More here: https://berthoalain.com/2020/04/22/coronavirus-aide-alimentaire-affrontements-a-medellin-21-avril-2020/

Greece, Thessalonica: football fans clash with cops over breaking quarantine

“More than 200 PAOK fans got together outside the club’s Toumba Stadium, defying the government ban on public gatherings due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Riot police used tear gas to disperse the fans and at least one supporter was arrested and a number of others were fined following the clashes. Government officials announced on Monday that 2,245 cases of the coronavirus have been detected so far in Greece with 116 deaths, and a ban on sporting activities is in force until at least April 27.”

In the flu season 2018-2019 there were 150 deaths in Greece, admittedly over a longer period of time.

France, Hauts-de-Seine: riot in Parisian banlieu after cops deliberately make motorbike crash, breaking leg of rider and putting him in intensive care

https://www.nicematin.com/faits-divers/nouveaux-incidents-avec-la-police-en-banlieu-parisienne-quatre-interpellations-a-aulnay-498800

“fifteen cars and fifty garbage cans were burnt and a total of seven people were arrested by the police for urban violence.”

6 areas of riots

Bavure policière : affrontements à Aulnay-sous-Bois, Saint-Denis, Asnières, Nanterre, Villeneuve-la-Garenne, Rillieux la Pape –20 avril 2020

Niger, Niamey: clashes as cops prevent people going to mosque during virus curfew.

Niger has had 20 deaths from the virus. In 2019 there were 54 deaths from flu.

Canada, Ontario: prisoners speak out about conditions and support

…prisoner support caravan

19/4/20

France: riots against heavy policing in 16 areas, towns and cities

Colombia, Choco: prison riot; 1 dead

“The advance of COVID-19 is being made by leaps and bounds in the Villavicencio prison. This afternoon, the Governor of Meta, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, indicated that six new cases of contagion were confirmed, of which five correspond to people related to that prison. “More reasons to stay home, more reasons to maintain quarantine and isolation,” said the regional president. (From Villavicencio prison they ask for help on COVID-19 “before it is too late”) . Thus, in the prison in the capital of Meta, 28 people have already been infected, of whom seven are guardians of Inpec and three, all inmates and older adults, have died in the last two weeks. General Norberto Mujica, director of Inpec, held a virtual press conference last Friday to expose the measures being taken, such as isolating older adults in the women’s pavilion, which was empty.”

Israel, Jerusalem: ultra-orthodox sit-down in road, clash with cops following previous hitting by cops of 9-year-old with stun grenade

Ecuador, Ambato: prison mutiny lasting 5 hours, as prisoners try to climb walls, hoping to escape virus; 2 cops badly injured (no info about prisoners’ injuries, surprise surprise)

18/4/20

India, W. Bengal: about 60 prisoners demand bail due to virus fears, throw stones

Greece, Chios: asylum-seekers torch housing container as 47-year-old Iraqi woman dies

 

Romania: clashes in 2 towns

“Violent incidents have opposed this Saturday many people and the police in particular in a district of the city of Hunedoara and in a village of the department of Braşov; videos of this violence circulate on social networks. In the Micro 6 North district of Hunedoara, the incidents broke out on Saturday afternoon while the police were controlling a drunk who had no certificate to justify his presence on the public highway as part of the containment and the state of emergency in force in Romania and extended until mid-May by President Iohannis. An outbreak of violence ensued in which two police vehicles were damaged while the police force retreated, as seen in the video published on the site of the local daily Hunedoara Liberă. The police had to fire warning shots. Nine of those involved in the incidents were arrested. In the second video, probably shot in a village in the municipality of Săcele (Braşov department), a visibly angry crowd speaking in Romanian, armed with sticks and shovels, violently attacks a car (possibly being a police vehicle) arriving at their speed and stopping abruptly against a fence while mowing someone. The rioters then destroy the windshield with shovels while one of the police officers present brandishes a rifle. Finally, other incidents of the same style broke out last night in a district of Ploieşti (70 km north of Bucharest) as well as in the Rahova district of Bucharest where 37 people were arrested.

These riot scenes follow several factors of tension. The establishment of a police system that contravenes the Constitution, as well as the bans on Orthodox Easter in this still religious country have generated significant dissatisfaction. But among the people most affected by the disruption of the economy due to health measures, anger is raging for another reason: hunger. Some black and precarious workers are starting to face a very difficult daily life where hunger becomes a more pressing danger than the epidemic. This had already pushed thousands of seasonal workers to defy sanitary measures to return to work in the West. Romania is one of the countries most likely to suffer economically from the coronavirus crisis in the medium term. Indeed, a large part of its population emigrates to Western Europe to work there (especially in Italy), and the country lives a lot from the economy of the mandate (that is to say, Romanians who send back home a part of their salary). The epidemic precipitated the return of many Romanians, who do not necessarily have unemployment cover in the countries where they worked, and replaced the import of western wages by an import of unemployed returnees.

To date, there have been 8,746 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Romania where 434 people have died while 1,892 people have recovered from the disease.”

17/4/20

France, Essonne: stones & heavy-duty fireworks thrown at cops during control
Jeunes/police : affrontements à Grigny – 17 avril 2020

Colombia, Bogota: riot following 3 days of protests about lack of food aid; man shot by cops, 2 cops hospitalised

France, Meurthe-et-Moselle: prison riot – about 30 prisoners smash surveillance cameras, burn mattresses, causing roof to burn

Ecuador, Tulcan: prison rebellion – burnin’ n a-lootin’

“A violent incident occurred on the afternoon of the last Friday inside the Tulcán Center for the Deprivation of Adult Liberty. The inmates, after looting the store and part of the bakery that operate in the center, staged a mutiny that was controlled by members of the National Police who entered the site. The inmates argue that in the center there would be an alleged case of a prisoner with coronavirus, however there are no official reports from the corresponding entities that said statement is supported. The PPLs assure that they are afraid of catching the virus, since they have not received masks and protective supplies, which allow them to avoid direct contact with their cellmates. Those deprived of liberty warned the president of the republic, Lenín Moreno, through videos, that they need to take immediate action, or the prisons are going to be pronounced and it is not going to be on good terms. “If you do not contact us, we will retaliate and we will do the things we can. If you do not want to let us out, we will do it by force, if you do not want to give us protection and health, we will do it at our convenience. This is the last communication that we are going to have with you, but if you do not communicate with us, we will take actions as we can, ”said a Colombian spokesperson in a timely manner. Inmates at the site also burned some mattresses in the hallways during the protest violence, however no injuries were reported. The police members had to use progressive force to mitigate the mutiny, using tear gas to calm the spirits of those deprived of their liberty and control the incident. One of the alleged irregularities reported is that a bakery operates in the center, where prepared food is marketed to the inmates and that the donations that arrive at the center would be destined to this site. According to one of the “economato” [Establishment organized in the form of a cooperative or supported by some companies, where certain groups can purchase products at a cheaper price than in other shops] workers, from whom we will protect his identity for security reasons, the inmates were conducting a peaceful protest, hoping to echo the authorities to grant them prison releases and benefits. The “economato” attended until approximately 13:00, however they waited for the staff to leave to enter violently. The PPLs forced the securities and took most of the products. The “economato” official said that they recently supplied the place with the aim of providing the best care to the prisoners, however now the place is practically empty, which would harm those who urgently need some basic necessities or toiletries. The man who works at this site added that he is not authorized to disclose the economic damage that this incident has caused them.”

16/4/20

Israel, Jerusalem: Riot in Jerusalem Haredi area over virus regulations; girl hit by police grenade

Colombia, Bogota: hunger demonstration demanding food met by riot cops who clash with locals

“”they threw gas at us, here are children, older adults, some are pregnant, the children are drowning (…) no help… the riot police was the only thing that came to address the claims and complaints of Ciudad Bolívar. ” Another of the residents of the area added that, although the Police contained the few vandals, elderly people were also affected. “The grandparents here … have respiratory problems and with those gases they gave them everything, it is not fair that others pay for those of us who have nothing to do with this, we are only asking for help, nothing more,” he complained. Christian Robayo, one of the town councilors, denounced abuses of authority and excesses of force by the Police, while indicating that it is urgent to attend to the humanitarian situation of the hundreds of families who do not have food to pass the quarantine. “People have been protesting directly for food, for health care, for solidarity support to be able to live through this quarantine, and there is excessive force used against citizens,” said Robayo.”

15/4/20

Senegal, Kedougou: 1 dies in clashes with cops after they chase youth during virus curfew into river where he drowned, and then refused to hand over body

Canada, Hamilton: report on car demo in support of prisoners

India, Kolkata: cops clash with would-be alcohol buyers during quarantine-provoked prohibition

Chile, Rancagua: screws stabbed in prison riot, some burning

Nigeria, Delta State: 3 killed or possibly wounded by cops or vigilante groups (report repeatedly contradicts itself) during women-initiated protests against confinement-induced hunger; council chariman stoned; some looting

“The women, who were protesting the two weeks lockdown and the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa decried what they regarded as insensitivity of the state government in addressing the compelling hunger induced by the lockdown and now with curfew in the state.
The protesters had defied the stay-at-home order, lamenting the economic hardship induced by the lockdown and the worsening absence of palliatives from the state government to cushion the effect of the lockdown….the women had stormed the popular Olypia Roundabout in Sapele to vent their anger over the extension, when rampaging youth protesters, mixed with hoodlums hijacked the protest, just when the Sapele Council Chairman, Hon Eugene Inoaghan, was addressing the protesting women. The hoodlums who hijacked the protest were alleged to have pelted the council chairman and other members of his entourage with stones, creating a tensed atmosphere and compelled the Police escort in the Council boss’s entourage to teargas the protesting mob. The situation turned violent and to disperse the rampaging youths, some vigilante members reportedly shot into the crowd and hit the victims. The hoodlums subsequently took advantage of the situation to invade shops where they allegedly carted away goods belonging to traders who were observing the lockdown.”

Colombia, Bogota: clashes as people block roads demanding food delivery

https://caracol.com.co/emisora/2020/04/15/bogota/1586947765_417687.html

“In recent days, various areas of Bogotá have registered demonstrations and sit-ins by people in vulnerable conditions and extreme poverty due to the delay in the delivery of humanitarian aid from the Mayor’s Office and the National Government …On the night of this Tuesday, April 14, in the Arborizadora Alta neighborhood, in Ciudad Bolívar, citizens blocked the roads demanding the delivery of food for the dozens of pregnant women, mothers, children and grandparents who are starving. …The Metropolitan Police arrived at the scene to control the situation and contain these protests. However, the inhabitants of the area denounced violent repressions by the uniformed personnel. The authorities’ preliminary report indicates that the protesters vandalized a SITP public service bus and attacked the policemen with sticks and stones, leaving 10 of them with minor injuries. In contrast, the peaceful protest, in which even children and older adults participated with their saucepans, spread to towns such as Usme, Rafael Uribe Uribe and Bosa….”We ask the government not to abandon us. There are many families who are enduring hunger, even though we are serving quarantine. Aid is not coming, ”said one of the victims with a megaphone in hand and surrounded by dozens of protesters.”

Argentina, Tucuman: clashes with cops as they try to impose quarantine restricitions

“”It really is disgraceful; people when they are discovered not only get angry, but insult or threaten force personnel,” said Mayor Najar….The San Lorenzo de Las Talitas neighborhood was the scene of a pitched battle between neighbors and police officers who carried out an operation to comply with the mandatory preventive isolation. There were no injuries recorded in the incidents, but some police mobiles ended up being damaged by the stones thrown at them. “We carried out this operation on Monday at noon because we had observed many people circulating on the streets. Police officers kindly asked neighbors to enter their homes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But far from complying with the police request, they began to throw forceful elements at the uniformed officers, ”explained the head of the Las Talitas Motorized Patrol division, Rufino Medina. Before the violent reaction of the neighbors, Rufino said that the troops asked for support from their colleagues and from the 911 service. “They had to shoot with their shotguns, which were loaded with rubber bullets, while they were withdrawing from the scene to avoid breaking the glass of the police mobile phones and other damage. “There were no injuries to the police or civilians and no arrests,” said the commissioner…Lastly, Rufino clarified that this is not the first time that this type of episode has happened, since it is a conflictive neighborhood that responds in this way every time the staff makes tours…”This is becoming a serious problem. People have to understand that this is not a whim, but a measure that seeks to care for all the citizens of Las Talitas, “said Mayor Carlos Najar. “As long as everything is within the law, we will support all the procedures that the Police do. We want them to be inflexible against all those who violate the isolation measures, “he added. The official was concerned about what is happening on the streets of that municipality. “Since quarantine began, we have an average of 19 arrests per day. It is a very high figure …”

14/4/20

India: report on workers’ protests in different parts of country

US: sabotage of Billboard/ Hollywood Reporter website by IT workers laid off under pretext of virus

Colombia, Cartagena: clashes with cops enforcing confinement rules (includes previous incidents on 10th and 12th April)

“The respect of the mandatory isolation decree by many people in Cartagena and in neighboring municipalities generates confrontations with the national police that, in order to preserve and respect these health standards, met with resistance from certain citizens. However, on the other hand, there are those who point out that although there are people who violate the decree and that the law is necessary for them to obey it, the authorities should not hide behind this situation. hide behind an abuse of power. Two situations occurred on Good Friday, during which the community requested uniforms to bring order to places where there were riots of people who violated the national quarantine. The first reported case was that in the canton of La Boquilla, in Cartagena, where around 7 p.m., several people probably drank alcoholic beverages and played on a street and a softball field. After the community called, the quadrant police responded to this request and upon arrival at the site, they were asked to return to their homes. Witnesses said the request had caused riots among the criminals, which had led to a confrontation between members of the security forces and those present. “After ordering them to go home, several people attacked the men in uniform and threw blunt weapons at them: bottles, sticks, stones.” Similarly, the institutional motorcycle on which they arrived was stolen, damaged by the attackers and later recovered by the national police, “explained the commander of the Cartagena Metropolitan Police, General Henry Sanabria. The general explained that when several people attacked his troops and after hearing several detonations, he forced an intervention with the Special Operations Group -GOES- and Esmad [very heavy riot cops] to control the riots. From social media, Turbaco residents have been calling for more vigorous action by local authorities for days to comply with restrictive measures for the movement of people on the streets and in certain places that sell alcohol without proper authorization. Specifically, some people who obey the quarantine decree are those who inform the police of the multitude of people in certain areas of Turbaco. As also happened on Good Friday, when the policemen of the quadrant arrived in the Buenos Aires sector, in the district of Paraíso…Some residents of this area reported the situation to the police, and uniformed men immediately arrived on the scene. ..“The police came one by one and did not ask for favors or anything. But they immediately expelled the people, beat them one by one…. They also fired everywhere, there were houses where evidence of the shooting was found, ”said a witness. When the uniformed men arrived on the scene, apparently from the Command, they found the crowd and after asking them to return home, they began to be attacked by people who saw the fight. Participants also included minors, women, and even older adults. Some people were also reported to have thrown stones, sticks and other blunt objects at the police. Others reportedly shot and used sharp weapons to attack uniformed personnel handling the case. Community members, who had nothing to do with the fighting, ask the police to help them repair the damage caused by bullets to their doors, windows and roofs. In La Boquilla, two policemen were reportedly wounded with forceful weapons, one in the lower extremities and the other who was hit with a shovel to the head.”

Colombia, Barrancabermeja: prison riot (includes video)

“Prisoners mutinied in Barrancabermeja asking for assistance in the face of the Covid-19 crisis…
A riot occurred on Tuesday afternoon in police cells, in the Las Granjas neighborhood of Barrancabermeja, where 53 detainees are staying. The inmates set fire to the facilities, asking for immediate attention in view of the imminent spread of the Coronavirus, assuring that there are prisoners with health problems. … the prisoners set fire to mats as a protest against the overcrowding they suffer. Little by little the fire spread, generating a large column of smoke that alerted the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Ambulances and firefighters, as well as members of the riot police, immediately arrived after one of the inmates took a gun from a patrolling policeman’s holster and began to shoot into the air causing panic …For several hours, the detainees took control of the police station, preventing the uniformed men from entering. Finally they let the fire brigade in to put out the flames that kept spreading and scorching everything in their path. After the mediation of different organizations for the defense of human rights, the inmates reached an agreement with the authorities and allowed themselves to be transferred to the citizen coexistence center located in the Primero de Mayo neighborhood until it is defined where they will be taken…”

Colombia, Sucre: riot as protesters against hunger burn tyres, loot supermarket

13/4/20

Cameroon, Yaoundé: prison disturbances as 3 prisoners die of virus; built for less than 800 prisoners, this prison holds at least 5,000 –

Peru, Ancon: prison riot over lack of food and medicine

“Inmates reportedly burned mattresses, as a means of claiming the alleged lack of food and medicine. In addition, residents of the penitentiary center indicated that shots were heard.
Relatives of some of the inmates also indicated through social networks that one of the demands is also for them to be tested for coronavirus.”

12/4/20

Indonesia, Manado: prison riot after screw contracts virus –

“A riot in a prison in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province where at least one guard is reportedly exhibiting COVID-19-like symptoms has highlighted the risk posed by the coronavirus the Southeast Asian nation’s 524 overcrowded jails. On Saturday afternoon, the inmates of Tuminting Prison in the city of Manado went on a rampage and set fire to buildings. Hundreds of police and soldiers later stormed the jail with live rounds being fired and at least one inmate shot in the chest… the riot began after rumours spread among the inmates that a guard was suspected to have the coronavirus. When demands for mass testing by other inmates went unanswered by prison authorities, they became incensed and demanded to be released. There has been no confirmed case of COVID-19 inside Indonesia’s correctional facilities. But a source inside Tuminting Prison, who spoke on condition of anonymity over fears of reprisal, said officials were trying to hide the start of an outbreak. “There are other prisoners with symptoms but there are no testing kits so they can’t confirm a thing. They don’t want it to come out, but the jails are probably full of it,” the source said.”

31/3/20

South Africa

““The police minister says you could go to jail for being out here,” I said to one man, who was drinking a beer in the street. “I am staying in one room with five others, how can I stay in there all day? They must just come and arrest us,” he replied. The residents ebbed and flowed around the troops as they made their way down the township’s sodden tracks. Some took shelter in the alleyways and others perched on roofs. But when the soldiers had passed, the people retook the streets. Some members of the infantry unit began to lose their patience. A woman in uniform targeted a man in a deckchair with a well-aimed slap and a barrage of expletives. A few minutes later, a soldier walked up to a resident and aimed a punch at his head and swift kick at his legs. It looked like a show of strength but in reality, it was a telling sign of weakness. Alexandra Township, like many other impoverished communities, cannot be policed and its residents will not self-isolate.”

France – 2th night of clashes and solidarity near Paris and Lyon

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After yesterday night, in France, the rage exploded for the second night for the critical injury occured by a men hitted by a cop’s car in sunday. People that lives in the ‘banlieu’ say that they are constantly attacked by cops for racists and classists reasons.

So in the Paris banlieu of Villeneuve-la-Garenne (here photos and videos) people from the zone attacked with fireworks and stones the cops. They also burned some vehicles and garbages.

In solidarity other clashes with fireworks and other stuff explode in the banlieus of Aulnay-sous-Bois, Saint-Denis, Asnières, Nanterre.

In solidarity also in the Lyon’s banlieu of Rillieux la Pape the people rioted. Someone says it was a scene of “guérilla urbaine”.

Chronicles from the state of emergency – (5)

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What a discovery, society!

Faced with the risk of dying from contagion, millions of human beings are discovering that their own actions and those of others have a real effect on society, that is, on themselves and their fellow human beings. After decades of liberal ideology according to which “society” was a sort of black hole into which anything could be thrown, now the principle of responsibility is rapidly being rediscovered. It turns out that workers are meat for slaughter; that profits come before health; that behind the vague “public interest” is the state and its police. Since viruses cause effects even if they cannot be seen, we discover that there is a “materiality of the invisible”. Digital technologies – to which scientists and governments entrust our fate – are anything but immaterial. To keep millions of people connected while they are locked indoors, we need servers, energy, cables, antennas and, above all, metals and rare earth, which means wars, looting of the earth’s crust, nuclear radiation, semi-slaves (often children) forced to work in mines, entire areas of the world turned into waste dumps, i.e. conditions for new epidemics. Can there be a principle of responsibility on command, under the empire of fear?

What do you mean, “can’t go out”?

Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of this period is the state attempt to bring together responsibility and obedience. If we think of the tragedies that obedience produced in the twentieth century (“I only followed orders” was, not surprisingly, the phrase most repeated by the Nazis in Nuremberg), such an overlap should make our wrists tremble. So why are we at home? Out of a sense of responsibility? Because the government says so? Out of fear for fines? Millions of people would certainly answer in very different ways. What is ethically and socially unacceptable is to confuse obedience and responsibility. Let’s take an example. If you actually read the government decrees – without being terrorized by the loudspeaker announcements – and followed them to the letter, what would happen? If thousands of people were to go out at the same time to do ” physical activity in the vicinity of their homes”, what kind of assembly would be created? If, on the other hand, the same people go for a walk in isolated areas, in violation of the decree, do they put someone’s health at risk? The sanction has never been an argument.

Obligations and bans

While in some “non-democratic countries” it is becoming normal to trace all data on identity, places frequented, meetings, even in the “liberal West” we look at the guidelines for restructuring 4.0 of social life. In several areas of China (where the cases of contagion are close to zero) one does not enter any public place without a smartphone in hand to “guarantee” one’s status. Not having certain tools is starting to look more and more like being an undocumented migrant, or at least a suspicious person. To understand the phrase, just look at who are the 17 specialists chosen by the Conte government to plan “Phase 2” (i.e. “rethink the organization of our life and prepare the gradual return to normality”). The task force (with references to the inter-ministerial committee of ’45) will be led by the former CEO of Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, who will be flanked by numerous technicians and experts including Roberto Cingolani, the current head of technological innovation of Leonardo (the largest Italian arms manufacturer) and director of the Italian Institute of Technology. Meanwhile, 5G is starting to be a reality. “Every technology brings its own secret obligations and prohibitions”, wrote Günther Anders. And what could be more secret and invisible than a technology that is confused with our own everyday life?

While we still have time

There is an accumulation of announcements and plans to transform “social distancing” into something semi-permanent (since pandemics are already integrated as a “side effect” of techno-industrial production). In this way we would be distanced not only from our fellow human beings, but from the individual and collective possibility of defending ourselves against the administrators of coercion. Without being able to meet and organize ourselves, how to react to increasingly totalitarian surveillance measures, or, more banally, to layoffs? If we entrust the “contagion problem” to a technological-bureaucratic apparatus, the most effective solution – the only one that does not question the apparatus itself – is total control. Not because techno-burocrats are evil or because they are part of who knows what world conspiracy, but because technical solutions must structurally disregard ethical-social considerations. Especially in the name of an emergency. Freedom, especially because it is unpredictable, is a disturbing factor for algorithms; value judgement is always human, too human, while calculation is objective. What is the most effective solution if a child makes too much noise? Tie him up, or give him psychotropic drugs. If parents do not do it, it is not because they do not find it effective (cost-benefit calculation), but because they consider it wrong (ethical-pedagogical judgement). Let’s get it out of our heads: the certainty of not getting sick will never be a certainty. The question, which no artificial intelligence will be able to answer for us, is always the same: what are we willing to give up of life to continue living?

They thought that by calling them”heroes”…

While the health personnel of Piacenza declare themselves ready to go on strike if the factories are reopened, two hundred Greek doctors and nurses signed a document with which they addressed seven questions to the “Committee of Experts” of the Ministry of Health. Here are a couple of them: “What scientific approach imposes the circulation of our fellow citizens wearing gloves and masks in the open air and on the contrary it ironically and “doesn’t matter” the question of the absolutely necessary guarantee from the hygienic and social point of view of all means of individual protection of workers in hospitals and clinics?”; “What scientific approach imposes the ban on meeting of more than two people in the open air, but DOES NOT denounce the functioning of companies and industries that produce non-essential goods with dozens of workers assembled in closed spaces and without the necessary means of protection? Recruitment of other health personnel; providing means of protection to all workers; immediate and unconditional requisitioning of normal and intensive care beds, laboratory equipment and clinics from the private care sector: with these claims, gatherings have been organised in front of 25 hospitals in 20 Greek provinces. Workers from many other sectors, pensioners and students participated in the initiatives. During one of the gatherings, the police intervention was rejected collectively and in solidarity. Among the slogans: “We are only slaves to our conscience” and “the lockdown will not stop the struggles”.

Resisting the emergency, defying the bans

March 31, Milan. Picket of workers (those not yet sick) in the Fruttital [1] warehouse at risk of being fired. In full emergency the company had announced the closure and relocation. In addition, in the previous days no contagion protection equipment had been provided to the workers.

April 1, Calliano (TN). For this day, some relatives of the prisoners had invited to make the beats resonate outside the prisons. So, a small group of anarchists, to explain the meaning of the knocking that there would be in the evening, thought to overturn the institutional practice of spreading sinister alerts and warnings from loudspeakers, going around the country with a sound system to make various interventions in support of prison struggles. Within a short time, eight carabinieri patrols arrived on the scene, plus other local police and Digos [2] cars.

April 8, Turin. “Food delivery” is considered an essential activity but the bike shops are closed; companies such as Glovo or Deliveroo have never maintained the vehicles of those who make the deliveries: riders meet in the square, with bicycles and tools, for a “travelling bike shop” that allows to fix their vehicles for those who, despite the “lockdown”, continue to work.

April 14th, Rome. Revolt in the Torre Maura Refugee Center. Operators prohibited to leave the centre, internees responded with fires and damage. In the previous days there had been protests, acts of self-harm, fires, attempts to escape, hunger and thirst strikes in various deportation centres.

April 15th, Carmagnola (TO). Picket of the health workers of a nursing home where 46 infected people out of 50 had been registered. Requests: masks and buffers for employees. The answers: police and carabinieri arrived, the Socialcoop cooperative declared that it had “hired to make up for the absence of staff”… infected.

April 15th, Turin. The street vendors from the Porta Palazzo market, the only one not yet reopened in the city, have gone to the square (keeping safe distances), perhaps because it is in an area undergoing intense “redevelopment” (more and more investments for the rich, less and less space for the poor).

April 16th, Massalengo (LO). Strike of 250 workers in the central warehouse of Carrefour Lombardia against outsourcing to a cooperative that pays 20% less to workers. An agreement is signed that cancels the outsourcing. In the meantime, we learn of the closure of Fruttital in Milan, transferred to Verona. Since Fruttital is one of Carrefour’s suppliers, the workers decide that its trucks will no longer be unloaded, as an act of solidarity towards the recently laid-off workers.

April 16th. Relatives and supporters of the prisoners protest outside the prisons in various cities (Rome, Bologna, Turin, Bolzano…). In Rome, the police surround them and push them around, not caring about the so called safety distances, and take 8 people to the police station. In the previous days the relatives protested outside the prisons of Secondigliano, Poggioreale, Santa Maria Capua Vetere. In the prisons of Ariano Irpino, Palermo, Crotone, Bologna, Alessandria, Santa Maria C.V., Rebibbia, Secondigliano there are riots, beatings, hunger and thirst strikes.

17 April, Torrazza Piemonte (TO). Strike of all staff at the Amazon facility: the company does not provide information on cases of contagion inside the premises, hiding behind the “privacy protection” shield.

On April 25th

While the government and regions are reopening places of production and trade, the ban on going out in the open air will continue until at least May. This blatant discrepancy does not respond to any “scientific evidence” (unless it confirms what a philosopher wrote more than thirty years ago, namely that the state “cut down the giant tree of science for the sole purpose of making it into a truncheon). On the one hand you have to produce and consume it; on the other hand, before people can go out you want to have planned how to control it upfront. That’s it. So we must anticipate, if we do not want to suffer, in addition to the “health crisis”, also the economic restructuring that will accompany it. And what more evocative date to resist than April the 25th? We launch an appeal to violate the measures. Following the principle of caution for others and our health. And each according to his or her own willingness. It is not only a question of affirming responsibility against obedience, but of making clear that we do not accept the division between expendable and salvageable; that our lives are not “data to be extracted and analyzed”; that there is no health without mutually supportive relationships with others and with nature on which we depend.

We don’t want to “live with pandemics”, but to end the social organization that creates them.

Notes

[1] Fruttital S.r.l, part of the Fruit and Vegetable Import and Distribution business unit of Orsero S.p.A., is a company based in Italy specializing in the trade of fresh produce from every part of the world at all times of the year. https://www.virtualmarket.fruitlogistica.de/en/Fruttital-S-r-l,c44826

[2] The General Investigations and Special Operations Division (Italian: Divisione Investigazioni Generali e Operazioni Speciali), generally known by its acronym DIGOS, is an Italian law enforcement agency charged with investigating sensitive cases involving terrorism, organized crime and serious offences such as kidnapping and extortion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisione_Investigazioni_Generali_e_Operazioni_Speciali

Originally published by Il Rovescio.

Turin (Italy) – Addresses of the arrested in Giulio Cesare street

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The four comrades arrested yesterday [April 19, 2020] in Giulio Cesare street (Turin) are in “Le Vallette” prison on charges of aiding and abetting, resisting a public officer and causing injury. They are all fine and at the moment we still don’t know exactly when the hearing to validate the arrests will be scheduled. For those who would like to write or send them a telegram or a letter, here are the names and addresses.

Daniele Altoè, Giordana Laera, Maria Francesca Giordano, Samuele Cattini
C. C. “Lorusso e Cotugno”
via Maria Adelaide Aglietta 35
10151 Torino
Italy

FREEDOM FOR EVERYONE

(it-en) Torino, Italia: Indirizzi degli arrestati in corso Giulio Cesare (19/04/2020)

Turin (Italy) – In Giulio Cesare street is just the beginning

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The now unbridled power of the police has manifested itself today in a catch that tasted like an assault. Shortly after lunch, under the occupation of 45, Giulio Cesare street, a dozen policemen stopped two men with an exaggerated exercise of force and without paying attention to the precautionary anti-infection measures. The violence of the action was such that it aroused the attention of the people in the area who, although locked in their homes, did not remain silent and many took to the streets. Among them also some comrades who began to rage against that brutality aggravated by the total and contemptuous disregard for the possible contagion. It is precisely those who effectively impose the lockdown and have the complete management of what happens in the streets of the cities that represent a further danger to health, beyond what their role normally grants them. Numerous police and army vehicles arrived as reinforcements and, in the face of a neighbourhood that was clearly hostile to them, began to put pressure on comrades who were thrown to the ground, dragged and taken away.

Dozens and dozens of individuals remained in the street and together with a few sympathizers who arrived later and hundreds of residents at the windows created a real protest.

With incredible speed came the first statements by the city citizen politicians from the right and left who, from the right and the left, compete in a disjointed manner for the title of who, over the years, have invoked the repression of anarchists most tenaciously. It seems clear that they are frightened by scenarios that they cannot even imagine because in Aurora neighbourhood the measure seems to be full and after weeks of forced domicile in narrow apartments, a life now literally reduced to starvation, towards the State and its representatives in uniform are beginning to see unequivocal signs of not forbearance.

In the popular neighbourhoods of the cities this could be just the beginning. In fact, there is news of a group of comrades who, in Milan, in the late afternoon, went from courtyard to courtyard, in the neighborhood of Ticinese, to tell about the events in Turin with a megaphone and that the response from the houses was of heartfelt and noisy solidarity with the arrested comrades.

There is still no certain news of them, we will soon report some updates. In the meantime, the newspapers say that they are under arrest and that forty people have been denounced for violation of the rules envisaged for the current coronavirus pandemic.

What happened today, as we said, seems to be only the beginning and it is no coincidence that it happened on the poorest streets of the city.

Freedom for Giordana, Marifra, Samu and Daniele!
Freedom for everyone!

[Italian text published in macerie.org]

(it-en) Torino, Italia: Indirizzi degli arrestati in corso Giulio Cesare (19/04/2020)