Arm The Spirit Info-Bulletin #2 - July/August 1993 Index: 1) "We Mourn The Death Of Wolfgang Grams" 2) Fighting Racism Is Not A Crime! - Support The ARA 4! 3) Red Army Fraction Communique 4) Speech By Autonome Antifa (M) At The National Demonstration In Wiesbaden On July 10/93 5) A Letter From Birgit Hogefeld 6) New Trials Opened Against RAF Political Prisoner 7) Witness Statement Regarding The Shooting Of Wolfgang Grams 8) RARA Press Statement 9) Control Units And "Democratic" Repression In Chile 10) Kurdistan Update 11) Armed Attacks Against The G7 Summit In Tokyo 12) Stop The Forced Psychiatric Treatment Of Georges Cipriani! 13) "C'est Intifada": Anti-Cop Riots In Paris 14) Free Giogos Balafas! 15) News In Brief... 16) Information About Arm The Spirit 1) "We Mourn The Death Of Wolfgang Grams" As we reported in our last issue, on June 27, the GSG-9 (an elite anti-terrorist unit) ambushed two Red Army Fraction (RAF) members in Bad Kleinen, a small town in eastern Germany. While Birgit Hogefeld was captured, her companion Wolfgang Grams was murdered by GSG-9 officers. 22 witnesses have now testified that 2 police officers held a wounded Wolfgang Grams down for about 20 seconds before executing him at point-blank range. This revelation, and the ensuing scandal, has led to the resignation of the German Minister of the Interior, Rudolf Seiters, and the chief federal prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl. It has also come to light that there was a third person who was with Grams and Hogefeld during the incident. This third person was Klaus Steinmetz, a state agent who, before infiltrating the RAF, had infiltrated the autonomist/anti-imperialist movement in the mid-1980s. Reaction to the murder has included the fire-bombing of two police- stations and militant demonstrations calling for an end to state repression and the abolition of the GSG-9. Despite these protests the German state continues to pursue its strategy of repression against the RAF political prisoners. On October 8, attempted murder charges will be brought against Rolf Clemens Wagner in conjunction with the RAF's June 1979 attack on Alexander Haig. We have included in this issue a number of statements and documents concerning the events at Bad Kleinen including a letter from Birgit Hogefeld, a RAF communique, a statement from a witness to the shooting and more. In our next issue we will have more information including a letter by Birgit Hogefeld concerning Klaus Steinmetz and possibly information about a proposed temporary regroupment of the RAF political prisoners. About 3500 people demonstrated in Wiesbaden on Saturday July 10 against the murder of Wolfgang Grams, a member of the Red Army Fraction, and for the elimination of all special police terror units. Wolfgang Grams was executed by a member of the GSG-9 (special terror unit) in Bad Kleinen's train station (small city in north eastern Germany). Birgit Hogefeld, Wolfgang's comrade, was arrested during the same operation. Wolfgang died of a head wound and witnesses report that he was already lying on the ground when a GSG-9 officer knelt over him, held a gun over him, and fired several times. Examination of the wound shows that the gun was held directly on his head before being fired. In the following two weeks much has been done to cover up the incident - the most absurd versions have been presented by the different police terror institutions involved: e.g. Wolfgang committed suicide; Wolfgang shot himself accidently while falling; a third person involved, an informer, fired the fatal shot.... The fatal shooting of a GSG-9 officer by his own people during the same operation has also not been cleared up, although in this case the media most frequently states that he was shot by Wolfgang. Two higher state officials have resigned (the minister of the interior, Seiters) or been fired (von Stahl, state prosecutor) as the German state attempts to save face. 3000 to 4000 people from all over Germany, as well as Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, came to Wiesbaden on Saturday to protest the continuity of state terror against the left. Wolfgang's murder is one in a long bloody trail of repression left by post-Nazi Germany and having its roots in fascism. Wolfgang's parents and Birgit's mother were also present and his brother held one of the beginning speeches. Other speakers were Wolfgang's friends who knew him from his political work in Wiesbaden before 1984 when he went underground, relatives of political prisoners, ex-prisoners, a member of Autonome Antifa (M) organized in the Anti-Fascist Action National Organization, Emil Carlebach, a concentration camp survivor from the (VVN), an association of people persecuted by the Nazi-regime, supporters of the hungerstrike at Frankfurt's airport against the deportation prison there, and the Roma and Sinti who occupied the former concentration camp in Dachau. Solidarity statements were read, among others, from comrades in Norway, Italy, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Canada. About 3000 cops from all over Germany, including special units (even the GSG-9 was in the city!) and riot police, were present. Massive controls were carried out at entry points to the city and on the way to the demonstration. Despite numerous provocations, the demonstration achieved its goal of a loud political expression of our rage, grief, and a strong cooperation between forces of the left against state and fascist terror. Confrontations were avoided and everyone arrived at the end of the route without injury or arrest. In the week prior to the demo, the press presented it as a gathering of violent RAF sympathizers and spread an atmosphere of apprehension among Wiesbaden's population so that many shops closed early and boarded up their windows. Media coverage following the demo continued along these lines, attributing the peaceful character of the demonstration solely to the massive show of force by the cops. This, in spite of the fact that cooperation between the journalists present at the demo and demonstrators was quite good. At one point, journalists even went between agressive USKs (special unit from Bavaria) and demonstrators who continued marching. In the many situations where cops attempted to provoke demonstrators - with a massive presence and filming or by demanding that people take off their masks or attempting to confiscate leaflets - the demo proved resolute in its concept not to let the state determine the character of the demonstration and to arrive at the end of the route without confrontations. This was also possible due to the extremely well organized and coordinated work done by the marshals. The demo held to its goals and was able to mobilize many people despite police intimidation. We thank our comrades from the international community who sent their greetings and support! (Newsdesk Amsterdam) 2) Fighting Racism Is Not A Crime! - Support The ARA 4! On Friday, June 11th, Anti-Racist Action (ARA) organized a march to a centre of neo-nazi organization in Toronto. Three hundred people went to the home of neo-nazi propagandist Gary Schipper at 97 Bertmount Avenue, the location from which Schipper coordinated the racist and homophobic Heritage Front Hotline, unbeknownst to the surrounding neighbourhood. The action was called by ARA in response to the escalating wave of neo-nazi violence in the city, which has included violent attacks on individuals, anti-racists, and the firebombing of a group home for young women. While protesting outside the house, some demonstrators chose to express their anger by throwing eggs and paint and breaking some windows. The property damage was a disciplined and controlled demonstration of community outrage to fascist violence. No other homes nor cars were damaged and the demonstration left the neighbourhood in an orderly and peaceful manner. No arrests were made. Since that demonstration, 4 anti-racists have been arrested on charges of mischief to property and disguising with the intention of committing an indictable offense. The case of the ARA 4 is one which threatens to set the dangerous precedent of criminalizing the anti-fascist movement. If not defeated, this case will embolden the police and the government broaden their attacks on anti-racists and other activists. The arrests of the 4 did not occur on the site of the demonstration but happened arbitrarily over the ensuing two weeks. One woman was arrested at a local radio station after representing ARA on a call-in show. Two others were picked-up while attending a subsequent anti-racist demonstration. Despite being arrested on different dates and in differents parts of the city, all four were picked up by the same two undercover officers, indicating a coordinated police effort to identify and target anti-racists. The arbitrary nature of the arrests are clearly an attempt to intimidate all participants of the June 11th demonstration, and to particularly target activists who speak publicly in support of ARA or who continue to be active anti-racists in the face of police and neo-nazi intimidation tactics. The bail conditions imposed on the 4 are clearly politically motivated and intended to curtail their anti-racist activism. The conditions include: * Non-association with other members of ARA. * Barred from attending ARA or other anti-racist meetings. * Barred from attending any demonstration in the entire province of Ontario. * Curfew at 9:00 PM (? - It was not a night time demo). These conditions are more restrictive than those given to Heritage Front and Church of the Creator members with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and weapons offenses! We must stand together with the 4 against police attempts to intimidate and harass us all. We must not allow the police to criminalize militant responses to neo-nazi attacks, nor those who would speak in support of those actions. We have all witnessed the regular video and photographic surveillance of anti-racist demonstrations done by the neo-nazis in order to identify activists. We know that the fascists have been waging an escalating campaign of harassment, intimidation and violence against ARA members and other Toronto activists and communities. Given this reality, anti-racists have the right to mask themselves at demonstrations. We will not allow the police to criminalize our own self-defence. Fighting Racism Is Not A Crime! Support The ARA 4! * For more information call the ARA Infoline at (416) 363-7541 or write to: ARA P.O. Box 664 Station C Toronto, Ontario M6J 3S1 Canada 3) Red Army Fraction Communique Red Army Fraction Communique The terror-action of the BAW, BKA, and VS [German police and security agencies - trans.], carried out by their killer-troops in the GSG-9 and MEK - the arrest of Birgit Hogefeld and the cold-blooded murder of Wolfgang Grams - have deeply affected us. Even after our one-sided de-escalation in April 1992, we never assumed that the state security apparatus would cease with its actions against us - the fact that their line is that of destruction was made clear in the new escalation of their terror against our imprisoned comrades. But still, it is a great shock to be confronted with such coldness and brutality. Even the thought that Wolfgang might still be alive today, had it not been for the fact that these special murderers didn't feel internally justified in their murder and protected from above, it's still not so easy to let such emotion pass you by. They violently took a female comrade and a male comrade away from their common life. We especially think of the past two years, on the common effort to come to a break in our history, to see ourselves through different eyes, and to admit that we are on a search and that we don't have all the answers. This on-going process has required prolonged courage from everyone for criticism and self- criticism, something which was often painful. It was very important for us to examine our own history and to be conscious of its strong points and its faults - that meant making our own experiences into a genuine reality. Recently, this was made easier due to the fact that the discussions generally concerned our future: The will to discover new things and the need to have knowledge of the changed situation and to make our own possibilities from out of this, to learn from the experiences of other struggles, and to introduce and utilize our own criteria and proposals in the building of a social counter-power from below. Now, Wolfgang is dead, murdered. We mourn for him. We will miss him dearly. Be sceptical of quick decisions, have the patience to think things over more than once, these were demanded by the precision in the discussions and this was not always easy - for example, he always saw to it that all aspects of the situation or his own proposals were examined, not merely those aspects that others upheld. This, too, we will miss. We will keep alive a memory of him in our hearts, our comrade, who based his life on the struggle for liberation from oppression. On April 10, 1992, we toned down the escalation against the state from our side: We stopped our attacks on representatives of state and capital. That was in our interest, because we wanted to take a decisive step towards a re-orientation of our politics and of left-wing politics in general. The priority of political discussion, instead of an escalation of the conflict, was necessary. We made a break in our 22-year history, and we had the idea that the struggle for the freedom of the political prisoners could be pushed through at this phase. Against this stood, and still stands, a state whose clearest orientation seems to be a destructive posture against all fundamental opposition. A political decision by the state was necessary, but the elite of state and capital are still not prepared to do this. They prove this fact time and time again. Political decisions about crucial questions are shoved aside by the justice department, police, and army, and are replaced by their measures. The state saw our de-escalation and self-criticism as a sign of weakness. They only worsened the situation of the political prisoners, and they have opened a new series of trials against our imprisoned comrades. All of the developments of the past few years, and the state terror of June 27 in particular, should open peoples' eyes to what human rights really mean in this country, which is in deep crisis due to the collapsing capitalist system and to this country's attempt to become a world-power, thus it thrashes about even more. Wherever human rights stand in the way of state concepts, they are meaningless - and the same is true when they stand in the way of economic concepts. Capitalism always marches forward over corpses. This system must be overthrown - we will find our way in this process, as we have always stated in our communiques since April 10, 1992. But the starting-point is new: Wolfgang has been executed. The ruling powers want to cripple everyone on our side. We Call On Everyone That Has Been Affected By This Terror: Do Not Accept The Order Of The Day! Do Not Accept This! The big circus around Wolfgang's murder is supposed to lead to a more effective apparatus. Penner (SPD) made that clear when he said: "Such things can always happen." And then he goes on to complain about bad information politics. This brings back memories of the state of affairs back in '77, when the SPD government ruled with a total news black-out and when the lies were prepared beforehand. The scandal for them is the fact that they were not able to get their lies straight. The killer-hunt and murder of Wolfgang they inhumanely call bad luck. After Seiters pulled his head out of the noose just in time, a Republikaner-sympathizer was named would-be minister of internal affairs, thereby showing which way things are headed in Germany. The last 23 years have shown that neither the RAF nor the resistance can be defeated by military means. And that will always be the case, just as long as inhumanity and injustice rule this country and the world. Birgit, we send you our warmest embrace! Red Army Fraction - 93/07/06 4) Speech By Autonome Antifa (M) At The National Demonstration In Wiesbaden On July 10/93 Dear friends and comrades! Wolfgang Grams is dead. On Sunday, June 27, Wolfgang Grams was shot to death in Mecklenburg-Bad Kleinen by cops and a GSG-9 killer-unit. Birgit Hogefeld, his comrade and friend for several years, was arrested and brought that Monday before the federal court in Karlsruhe. She is now in jail in Frankfurt-Preungesheim. The shooting of Wolfgang Grams is a mark of the calculated nature of the state's security forces, it was not a "mistake" or the "individual deed" of a single GSG-9 functionary. It was certainly not "suicide". No lie is too dirty to be thrown out into publicity, no fabrication too unbelievable, because history is always the history of those in power. Behind the shooting of Wolfgang Grams, the arrest of Birgit Hogefeld, and the nation-wide house-searches that took place a day later, stands an apparatus whose task is to maintain the existing power relations, and whose goal is to pacify - or physically destroy - the existing left-revolutionary opposition. The murder of Wolfgang Grams by the police was not a "horrible one-time event in the history of the German Federal Republic" as some papers said. Since its very beginning, many people have been killed by the security forces in Germany. We would now like to remember those comrades who have fallen victim to calculated execution: Petra Schelm, Hamburg, July 15, 1971; Georg von Rauch, Berlin, December 4, 1971; Thomas Weissbecker, Augsburg, March 2, 1972; Ulrich Wessel, Stockholm, April 25, 1975; Philipp Werner Sauber, Cologne, May 9, 1975; Ulrike Meinhof, Stuttgart-Stammheim, May 8, 1976; Wilfried Boese, June 30, 1976; Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Gudrun Ensslin, Stuttgart-Stammheim, October 18, 1977; Ingrid Schubert, Stadelheim, November 12, 1977; Willy-Peter Stoll, Duesseldorf, November 6, 1978; Michael Knoll, Dortmund, November 25, 1978; Elisabeth van Dyck, Nuernberg, May 4, 1979. From a state that has murdered more than 30 left-wing and oppositional persons in its history, and which is even unconcerned by the death of its own pigs, one shouldn't expect anything different that what happened in Bad Kleinen. The left will always be an enemy in the eyes of the repression apparatus of an imperialist state. This apparatus cannot be reformed. Thus, the resignation of van Seiters (interior minister - trans.) and von Stahl (state prosecutor -trans.) won't change anything. Their only mistake was that they were so bad at selling the police's bloody intervention. But changing the top won't melt away the rest of the police state iceberg. The left needs to make a real political task out of struggling to prevent the project of "glass people" from becoming a reality. Special observational measures must not allowed to become legal; the special police units cannot be reformed, but rather must be abolished. Despite the step which the RAF took in its history in the communique released last April, in which they called off their escalation against the state, destructive prison conditions are being still further pushed through in order to bury the prisoners alive in prison. The RAF expected an answer from the state. The execution of Wolfgang Grams is a clear answer. For us, Autonome Antifa (M), it is an important task to fight for the freedom of the political prisoners and to prevent any further arrests. This can only be achieved by an all-encompassing social intervention on the part of the left. We have to understand that it's useless to only worry about the prisoners from our own individual single-issue movements. If we want to achieve anything, then all of our politics has to be connected to the demand for freedom for all revolutionary prisoners. Because the judicial and police instruments which Germany has developed throughout the course of its history can be used at any time to combat any wave of political opposition. Even the autonomist anti-fascist movement has been criminalized. From January 6 through May 28, 1993, Gunther, an anti-fascist from Wiesbaden, was held in preventive custody. The reason for this was that Gunther was alleged to be a member of an "anti-national socialist group". He will go on trial this fall. In Gottingen, Autonome Antifa (M) has been repeatedly investigated under Paragraph 129a (a German "anti-terrorist" law -trans.), and it's only a matter of time before this repression is intensified. We don't want to offer them arrests by retreating into a ghetto, rather we are going on the offensive, intensifying our public work and advancing our organizational process. That's why the question of forming a national organization is so important to Autonome Antifa (M). Together with other groups in Germany, this discussion has grown into the organization 'Anti-Fascist Action/National Organization'. An organization that is recognizable from the outside, that does continuous unifying work, and which makes it possible for many people to be effective in the political struggle and to effectively resist the state apparatus. As for the organizing process, we aren't asking that everyone give up their respective tasks and follow this line in future. Those that want to continue on with political praxis need to be in solidarity with one another, even if different paths are taken. This doesn't exclude leftist unity, but rather it will bring us closer to our common goal of changing society. Anti-fascism, for us, means seeing yourself as part of a whole and placing yourself in an association; it means the struggle against the imperialist system, struggling on the basis of an organization that is about more that just anti-fascism. Organize the struggle for liberation together! For the immediate abolition of the GSG-9, and for the abolition of all special police units, including the police reserves! Freedom for all prisoners from the RAF, resistance, and Antifa! We send our greetings to all political prisoners! 5) A Letter From Birgit Hogefeld "How am I doing? Totally torn apart, deeply moved, forever sad. Ten minutes have passed since I wrote that sentence - 1000 thoughts and many memories are running through my head and I keep crying. It is now Tuesday, around 11am: two days ago, Wolfgang was still alive. The shots were fired on Sunday, at around 3:15pm, they told me that he died in Luebeck hospital at around 5:10pm, without ever having regained consciousness. A shot to the head. "Wolfgang and I knew each other for 18, 19 years, and we had a lovers' relationship for the past 11 years. Never before had I been so close to another person, we knew everything about one another, and we understood many things about one another without speaking. "Yesterday, a BGS (border security forces -trans) helicopter flew me from Wismar to Karlsruhe, the weather was nice and I could see for miles, and in the distance I could recognize Luebeck, and I imagined how he was now lying there in an ice box... "Tonight, even now, I see him clearly before me, all the details of his face, his body, his fragrance, his voice when he speaks and sings - he had a very beautiful tenor voice - and sometimes we would improvise blues songs, he liked that a lot. If we had been born under conditions other than those in this inhumane land, then music would probably have played a big role in his life. "I shall keep a vision or a memory in my heart of our last meeting in Bad Kleinen. I was there before him, and he arrived at around 2pm - I saw him immediately. And then I saw him laughing and waving as he approached me, and we hugged each other for a long time. "As for the fatal shooting of Wolfgang and my arrest: nothing seemed strange before it happened. I had come there a little before 1pm - from Wismar - which is known, because they found a safe key on me - Station Wismar, a back-pack with a typewriter in it, and a few books, and, according to the BKA (federal criminal agency -trans.), these things were taken from there by the BKA. "Bad Kleinen is a small town, and on Sunday, only one bar is open, the one at the station. I was there before I went to meet Wolfgang, and we also went there together. After we left the bar at shortly after 3pm, we went through the tunnel towards the exit, when after a few steps, a guy stood in front of me. I looked into the barrel of his gun and then lay on the ground. I was held down by 2 or 3 other guys with weapons, and it was made quite clear to me that I had better not make any wrong move if I wanted to live. "At the same time, I heard a lot of running and I realized that Wolfgang had been able to run away, but I didn't see it - that was only made clear to me when I heard the shooting up on the platform above. Wolfgang ran 20 meters through the tunnel and up the stairs. I heard several shots. Shortly thereafter, someone from the arrest team ran down and yelled: "He's lying in his blood on the rails." When he said that, I knew that they meant Wolfgang. The people from the arrest team looked totally nervous and hectic after the shooting, as they did during all the running around - one of them, for example, walked up to me, lifted up my head, and hit me in the face, their whole manner of acting seemed to me to be totally crazed and especially brutal. My hands were tied behind my back - they are still numb, swollen, and cut - and a black gag was tied around my nose and mouth with several strips of tape, making it hard to breathe. They then brought me to the police station in Wismar by car, during the trip they didn't take off the gag, but they loosened it enough so that I could breathe through my mouth. Underway, they took a pistol from me. In Wismar, the men from the BKA were already there and they started speaking to me using my real name. For all of Sunday evening, I kept asking about Wolfgang, and I said I wanted to speak to a lawyer or my mother. They kept saying that they didn't want to give me any information and that I could not contact anyone, and that someone from the BAW (public affairs office - trans.) would come and decide. The man from the BAW came at around midnight, and after some stalling, he told me that Wolfgang had died. And then he wanted to start up a conversation: about how they had found a baby photo on me, and they asked who it was, and they mentioned how he had three children...I walked out. At 1am, they came back in my cell and told me to go upstairs. I said: No, I want to rest. Then they said I could make a call now. I was able to call my mother and talk with her and I was glad that she already knew of Wolfgang's death and my arrest - that made everything easier for me, because I didn't have to say too much, which would have made it difficult for me to continue talking. "And it was better for her, too, so that the phone call was more of a relief than a shock. After the call, the justice officer started going on about how it was clear that I had no hope of ever living in freedom again if I didn't cooperate with them... "I said that I wanted to go, so I open the door, and I see a bunch of people with cameras all set up, and I make my face into a grimace. When I got back to my cell and wanted to lie down, they came back (at around 2am): That's enough, they need the photos, and if I don't do it right now, then they would take me to the identification room and call a doctor to give me a sedative drug and they'd get the photos that way. I let them take my fingerprints because I wanted to rest. On account of the photos, I stood with a grimace for at least half an hour, and was photographed several times by several people. Then they gave up and brought me back to my cell, where someone with a camera had hidden themselves in the half-darkness. "At around 3:30am, I was finally alone - at a certain moment, much later, I cried myself to sleep. The next day at around noon, the justice officer came to my cell: Surely we knew that what we were doing was pointless, we had written that in our own communiques...There was hardly any reaction to everything we had written, not even about Weiterstadt...The prisoners were divided amongst themselves...and before I end up in their situation, with my perspective, which isn't there...then the only solution for me would be to adapt myself to their wishes. He didn't want to shut up - at a certain moment, I said: "I have a problem." And then he has silent. I continued: namely, my glasses, which the BKA haven't returned to me...then he talked matter-of-factly about the glasses, which was too ridiculous even for him, and so he left. In the afternoon, they flew me to Karlsruhe - in a confined position - and there I was briefly able to speak with my mother and brother, and that was very good. Finally they flew me to Preungsheim, and when I was brought inside, I saw someone standing at a window waving and calling my name, it was Eva Haule. "I was briefly able to shout hello and wave back. There is much still to tell about these events - but not today." (Newsdesk Amsterdam) 6) New Trials Opened Against RAF Political Prisoner A new trial has opened in the Stammheim Prison trial-bunker against Red Army Fraction (RAF) prisoner Ingrid Jakobsmeier. Ingrid was arrested in the summer of 1984 and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. She was due to be released this summer. At the beginning of 1992, the BAW [Federal Prosecutors Office - ed.] brought new indictments against Ingrid, charging her with involvement in the RAF attacks on U.S. General Kroesen and the U.S. army base in Ramstein in 1981. The BAW is relying on testimony from so-called "crown witnesses", former RAF-militants who defected from the RAF in the early-80s, fleeing to the DDR to start new lives before being arrested there in 1989. Similar new indictments have also been brought against Christian Klar and 5 other RAF-prisoners. The courts are trying to force the RAF-prisoners to become state witnesses, or face life sentences. It is clear that the state is seeking to bury these people in prison. For more information/trial info write to: Prozessgruppe Stuttgart c/o BI-Laden, Neckarstr. 73, 7000 Stuttgart 1, Germany. 7) Witness Statement Regarding The Shooting Of Wolfgang Grams "I (...), a resident of Bad Kleinen (...), want to describe the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Wolfgang Grams and the arrest of Birgit Hogefeld. At first, I thought some kids were fooling around. I heard the shots in the foot-tunnel and I thought they were fireworks. Then there was lots of shouting, and I heard a man yell: "Halt, stand still!" At the same moment, there were more shots. Then I saw a man lying on the rails on Track 4. The man was lying on the rails and not moving. Later I heard it was Wolfgang Grams. I thought that Grams was already dead. One agent leaned over and shot Grams several times at close range. And that, despite the fact that he already looked dead. The agent aimed for the head and fired, from very close by, a few centimeters away from Grams' head. Then a second agent shot at Grams, but he aimed at the stomach or legs. That agent also fired several times. Then a group of masked men came in and stationed themselves with their machine guns by the locomotive of the train in the track nearby. I turned around and hid myself. I didn't want to see anything more, because I was afraid that they would discover me. I told all of this to the police in Bad Kleinen that same evening in their office. Before that, at around 6 or 7pm, I was at the Billard Cafe in the station. There, some agents, who did not introduce themselves, nor did they show any identification, showed me some black-and-white photos. There were several photos, I don't remember exactly how many. But I know that several of the photos were of a man and a woman crossing a street. I recognized that the photos were taken on a street nearby the station. The agent asked if I recognized either of the two people. I said that I recognized the woman, and then the agent said that was enough. That made me mad, because surely the agent would eventually want to know something from me. I realized then that the woman was the woman with blonde hair that I had seen earlier, on Sunday, before everything had happened. At that time, she was wearing glasses and she made a bit of a strange impression on me. Now I know that the agents were at the station for quite some time before the shoot-out. Certainly at least the day before, because how else could they have developed these photos in time? I have to ask myself, why they didn't arrest the man and the woman then, if they were able to photograph them? When I think about what could have happened if the shoot-out had been just half an hour later, things would have been terrible. Because shortly before 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, there are lots of people in the foot-tunnel, travellers seeking to make the important trains that run during that hour. There could have been many deaths." Bad Kleinen June 30, 1993 (Newsdesk Amsterdam) 8) RARA Press Statement At 2am, the police and fire services received a call that a timed explosive device would detonate on the third floor of the Ministry of Social Affairs building in The Hague. A search of the building by authorities revealed nothing. Then, precisely at 3am, the bomb exploded, causing extensive damage to the building. Just like their last bombing, this blast originated in a toliet, but the damage affected most of the entire floor of the office building. When the automatic sprinkler system came on and sprayed liters of water everywhere, even more damage was caused to equipment in offices not directly touched by the blast itself. At the time of the explosion, no people were in or around the building. The Dutch media went into full-effect immediately after the action. RARA made the smart move of issuing two statements regarding the bombing: the first, a press release, summarizing the main reasons for the action, which was sent to all major media, and the second, a much longer and more extensive communique, which was sent to left-radical media one day later. The capitalist media began acting like the mouthpiece of the BVD, the Dutch internal security agency, in the days following the action, priniting allegations like: "Rene R. is one of the suspects in the bombing...", "The BVD knows exactly who carried out the action. It's a group of four or five people who were also responsible for the attack on Kosto's house..." All of this to make up for the fact that RARA have never been caught and are still - as this action showed - in a position to strike. Unlike the aftermath of the Kosto action, the liberal-left were generally left speechless by RARA's communique. After the Kosto action, liberals complained that militant actions would only make things worse for refugees. But at this point, how can things get any worse? Illegal migrants cannot work or live in The Netherlands; they face constant threat of police brutality and immediate deportation if they are ever caught. In short, they are not considered people. So how can their situation be made any worse? Therefore, RARA's bomb was very welcome indeed. Not only was the action a blow to the state agencies responsible for the persecution of refugees and asylum-seekers, but it was also a blow against apathy, a wake-up call to the (radical-)left. We anxiously await "the next time". (Adapted from the Dutch leftist bi-weekly "NN" #140) Revolutionary Anti-Racist Action (RARA) press statement On the night of June 30/July 1, after numerous timely warnings, we set off an explosive devise on the third floor of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in The Hague. The target of this action was the DIA (Labor Relations Inspection Service -trans.), whose office is on this floor. The DIA plays a key role in the hunt for illegal immigrants. On average twice a day, the DIA, in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, organizes raids on business which are suspected of hiring illegals. In the coming years, this agency is to be doubled in size. This means more raids, more victims, and more fear. With our action, we sought to draw the line, and to make these man-hunters feel for a moment what it's like to be hunted. They need to know what it's like to be a target, to be stigmatized. With the words, "There is too much fraud, there is too much misuse, there are too many illegals", Felix Rottenberg set the tone last October for the hunt against illegals. Politicians from both the right and the left competed with each other to sketch out a portrait of illegals that would make the devil himself seem nice. By hypocritically pointing to the 'problems in old neighborhoods', they sought to woo far-right voters. Yes, there are problems in the old neighborhoods. Degenerating areas, poor housing, salaries and welfare payments that are far too low. But the politicians didn't talk about these problems. Because it costs money to solve those problems; and there's no money for this, because budget cuts are being forced all across the country. The welfare state is being continually eroded, the Dutch economy is becoming tighter. It's easier to say that you can fix the holes in your roof by shipping the illegals across the border. The fact that the illegals-debate has quieted down does not mean that illegals are being left in peace. The hunt for illegals has been concrete practice for some time now. The Zeevalking Commission, for example, has been dealing with this 'problem' for some time, and they are preparing measures which would make life for illegals impossible here. The language of bureaucratic measures needs to make sure that life is made impossible for illegals here, that they are excluded from all social programs, including health care. And if that's not enough, then there needs to be a tough program of searching and deportation by the police and the justice department, so that those who manage to keep their heads above water can be given a smack on the neck. The recent proclamations by Nawijn and Kosto, about how many houses illegals are occupying, make it clear that these men are preparing for the next phase of their plan. Man-hunters The DIA plays a crucial role in the hunt for illegals. Since their establishment in 1987, these hard-working policemen have gone about their job with great enthusiasm. On average twice a day they carry out raids in conjunction with local police forces. A humiliating man-hunt, with the law on their side. Last year, they were in the news quite a bit on account of their raid on Blokker (a Dutch department store -trans.). They used dogs, helicopters, and 120 cops to comb through a distribution center looking for people with suspicious skin color. If a person's Dutch nationality was questioned, the police made them say the word "kwartje". If their pronunciation wasn't Dutch enough for the finely-tuned ears of the bureaucrats, they were taken away. A stamp on the hand and they are transported to the town hall, where a smiling CDA (christian democratic party -trans.) mayor states that mandatory ID cards would make all of this unnecessary. In the end, the raid results in a total of four illegals being found. No one can rest easy in The Netherlands any longer. The constant calls from the DIA for more personnel and more room to act are now paying off. In the coming years, the agency will double in size. This means more raids, more victims, more fear. Their fun is sure to last, because illegals have been declared a national disaster. What springs to mind is the obvious coupling which is being made between the so-called illegals-problem and another immense problem: unemployment. The DIA itself, in each of its annual reports, keeps crying that illegals really need to be caught, otherwise unemployment levels will never go down. The many raids on agricultural glass-houses also take place under the motto "illegals out - unemployed people in". This is the state's version of "our own people first". Minister de Vries said it openly: "The number of employed illegals has a direct link to how many people seeking work are able to find jobs." So the knife cuts both ways. In policy terms, the excuse and the necessity of dealing with 'illegals' is taken away. In reality, it means that, along with a legitimized hunt for illegals, more pressure is also put on people to accept any available work. Thus, a foreigner- and employment-policy gets all rolled up into one, with the DIA as its symbol. There's a reason why their office is at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. The DIA bureaucrats only have to walk down one flight of stairs to do their bargaining. No one can seriously think that illegals are a problem. It is thanks to their dirt-cheap labor that many people can stay in business. For years, people profited from this, and no one cared. The reason for declaring open-season on illegals must be searched for elsewhere. Illegals are being transformed into tools which the political and economic elite hope to utilize to get themselves out of the administrative crisis they are faced with. We'll be hearing Rottenberg's credo of "too much fraud, too much misuse, too many illegals" for years to come. The society must be adapted to the economic dictates and scenarios that are being designed in Brussels (at EC headquarters -trans.). But how do you sell a policy that can actually only be explained by means of an extensive discourse on the destructiveness and uncontrollable nature of the economic mess you are in? So, you resort to emergency measures. You paint a picture of society as being out of control, in danger of being totally wrecked if someone doesn't intervene with a heavy hand. Illegals are perfect scape-goats for such a form of politics. But it's not only illegals that are coming under the yoke of right-wing and supposedly left-wing politicians. Increasingly more sectors of the population are being blamed by the alarmists at the Binnenhof (Dutch parliament -trans.). A picture of a threatened society is being sketched: hordes of people at the gates, the illegals, already inside, with their strange ways of living, and an army of profiteers and cheats swelling the welfare rolls. Hitting everyone just a little bit, so the consensus on which this is based isn't stuck in the grey-middle. The West's responsibility for the hopeless future of the South disappears under the rug. It's stated that people have no reason to flee, and that they can just get the hell out of here. Scape-goats You're almost left speechless when you see how they are dealing with people. Refugees waiting to be deported have their mouths covered with tape, because you don't want to confront business-class passengers with the reasonable exclusiveness of Holland's refugee policy. And what does our secretary of state say when someone gets out of hand and ends up in a wheel-chair? "There is no question that I think these men are doing their work just fine. I have often heard stories from asylum-seekers, who say that when they arrived at Schiphol (the airport in Amsterdam -trans.), these big uniformed men gave them a very friendly greeting." Kosto bending down, telling little August another bed- time story. At the moment, the TNO are developing a new forced pneumatic dispatching device and a restraint helmet to cover the mouths of asylum-seekers. No, this isn't some scene from a horror-film, this is a serious idea from a serious commission. In the Grenshospitum (border hospital -trans.), this horror has already become reality. But Kosto calls this place a "prize-winning institute that provides excellent, quality care", but no one fits him with a forced pneumatic dispatching device and a restraint helmet. It's slowly becoming clear that Holland is resorting to draconian measures. Despite a few signs to the contrary, raids are being made to seem acceptable. The recent trend of organizing large-scale raids on coffeeshops and bars makes it clear that the police are having things their way. These are test-balloons, to see how far they can go. At the same time, fingers are pointed at scape-goats. This won't end for the time being. Every time Kosto goes on TV, he mentions sharpening an already sharp policy. Supported by his fellow party members, jealously looked upon by Bolkestein, who sees his ideas being taken up by the PvdA (social democratic party -trans.), and applauded with joy by the far-right. In all of Europe, the far-right is on the march. They gladly utilize the social clear-cutting that ten years of crisis-politics has created. The unthinkable is being thought, the unspeakable spoken, and the jack-boots are romping through the streets again. Confronted with this rise on the far-right, as well as their own administrative crisis, the traditional political parties have moved significantly more to the right. And there's not much difference between what they each say. At best, the only difference is form. The far-right says things much more plainly, while traditional politicians use the 'newspeak' of respectable society. The message is same, whereby the establishment puts their crazy ideas into the form of policy. They put the whole society in a state of alarm, thus clearing the way for European-wide policies to be implemented. And things are getting harsher, because they don't have much time. Advisory councils, informational procedures, even the parliamentary process itself is being disregarded. These are all obstacles on the path to one Europe. The Dutch democracy has had its chance. In the confusion of European unity, the legitimacy crisis of established politics and the rise of the far-right have set political relations adrift. Ideologically translated into the end of history, politically translated into a shift to the right, socially translated into hardness and coldness, and concretely translated into the erosion of social security, rising racism, an inhumane refugee policy, and increasing controls and repression. Checkbook solidarity And what is there in opposition to all of this? The vast majority of the vocal, former-left are wallowing about in the mud pool of the so-called incorrectness of the left. One after another, our youthful sins are revealed, willingly registered by newspapers, talk-shows, and opinion pieces. A generation of disappointed and frustrated thirty- and forty-year-olds come together and convince themselves that it's okay if they don't struggle any longer. They are supported in this by those who always maintained that they were on the wrong side anyway. And besides, everything is going pretty well here in The Netherlands. And as for the international mess, well, we can always get out our checkbooks, or maybe the UN will intervene. We don't think that everything is going pretty well. The daily doses of insults and degradations against this or that sector of the population in enough to make you sick. It is necessary that there be a radical, continuous, and uncompromising opposition to this policy and to this political culture, wherein victims continue to fall, but those responsible are never named. But policies are thought up and carried out. By concrete people and concrete institutions. You don't need to be a genius to be able to point your finger at the agency which plays a key role in this man-hunt, one which the cabinet created to get those people who are not welcome to our welfare. Well, as far as we're concerned, it's unacceptable that a bunch of bureaucrats can sit around and earn a nice living by hunting people down. We have made them a part of this, given them the experience of being hunted, of being a target, of being stigmatized. Racism is quietly becoming normal; fear, violence, and observation are becoming normal in the paradise of right-wing correctness. With our action, we are drawing the line, we are pointing out a policy that degrades and dehumanizes. Until the next time, Revolutionary Anti- Racist Action July 1, 1993 9) Control Units And "Democratic" Repression In Chile In December of 1992 the Chilean government began building an "anti-terrorist" prison which is part of this country's new policy in the so-called "struggle against violent extremism." This new prison will have the capacity to hold more than one hundred of the so-called "dangerous prisoners", who will be isolated in individual cells in which a policy of total isolation and dispersion will be applied. They will only be allowed visits from their family members in rooms separated by glass and bars. The design and construction of this modern prison has required the help of experts from Europe, especially Spain. According to the new laws, 137 prisoners will become the first tenants of this repressive marvel as they are considered to be terrorists because they particpated in armed actions after March 1, 1990, the date on which the current "democratic" government took office. In addition there are another 30 prisoners who are political prisoners who participated in armed actions during the dictatorship. The latter have not been given any type of amnesty and their prison situation is the same as that of the so-called terrorist prisoners, a fact which has led them to begin a hunger strike in October of 1992, along with a series of actions by friends and family members of political prisoners, such as the occupation of the Cathedral of Santiago during mass. In a recent visit to Brazil, the President of Chile declared that in Chile there are no prisoners for purely political reasons, which is contradicted by the recent pardons that he himself granted to four prisoners acccused of killing the police chief of Santiago during the dictatorship. He commuted their death sentences from life without parole to that of exile, a practice which still continues in Chile today. Just as there is still the death penalty even though it is supposed to be applied in only extreme cases of terrorist conduct. Also approved was a law which punishes with up to three years in prison anyone who publicly displays any type of propaganda of groups considered to be illegal. (Source: UPA, Spain) 10) Kurdistan Update In previous issues of Arm The Spirit we have published information about the Kurdish national liberation struggle in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. In the first issue of our bulletin we reported on the attacks by Kurdish militants in Europe against Turkish interests. Since then the Turkish state has increased its repression of the Kurdish nationalist movement with a series of military offensives against the Kurdish guerrillas. Starting with this issue we begin a regular column devoted to the Kurdish resistance. People's Labour Party Banned By Turkish Government Dusseldorf (KURD-HA - 93/07/15): Following a decision of the Constitutional Court on July 14/93, Turkish authorities closed down the People's Labour Party (HEP). We spoke to the European representative of the ERNK (National Liberation Front of Kurdistan), Kani Yilmaz, who made the following statement: "On July 14, 1993, Turkey's Constitutional Court took a decision to close down the HEP and banned some of its members from political activity. This decision is an example of democracy and justice as practised by the Turkish state. "The HEP voiced the simple demands of the Kurdish people and the Turkish state could not even tolerate the existence of such a party. Before this decision, 48 members of the HEP were assassinated and there is evidence that these murders were carried out at the instigation of the Turkish state, whose aim it was to intimidate and limit the growth of the HEP. These actions show the hypocrisy of the Turkish state when it talks about Kurdish identity, culture and language. "We now also heard that the daily newspaper, Ozgur Gundem, was prevented from publishing yesterday by the Turkish authorities on the pretext that the editor had not provided them with his new address. The Turkish state thus tries to hide its dirty war on the Kurdish people. "At a meeting between Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, the National Security Council (MGK) and the media, an all-out war on the Kurdish people was declared. This national consensus is a further indication that the war against the Kurds is to be intensified. The closure of the HEP and Ozgur Gundem are but the first steps in a campaign to silence those who were prepared to voice the aspirations of the Kurdish people. "This latest decision is typical of the state's approach to the Kurdish people and we call on the press and public to speak out against it and to put pressure on Turkey. "We also call on the European Parliament, the United Nations, the CSCE and all human rights organizations to voice their protests. We await with interest the reaction of those who have described as terrorist our calls for justice and our fight against Turkish state terrorism." (Newsdesk Amsterdam) Turkish Fascists Enlist In Turkey's New "Special" Army (Sabah - 93/07/28) Prime Minister Tansu Ciller signed a decree that will enable the formation of a professional and better-trained army to fight against the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK). Initially, this special force will consist of 10,000 troops and be extended to 70,000 over several years. (Hurriyet 08/06/93) So far over 5000 "Grey Wolves" have applied for enlistment. Ortadogu, newspaper of the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), reported that a lot of young Grey Wolves applied for the new Special Army Force. The government made propaganda in Tokat Corum Yozgat, a city well-known for it's nationalistic inhabitants. The governor from the area which encloses Turkish-occupied Kurdistan said: "We pay them 20,000,000 Tl ($5,400), and if they kill a Kurdish rebel they receive an extra 38.000.000 Tl ($13,000)". The Special Army Force will go into the mountains and live just like the PKK. The Grey Wolves are a fascist, nationalistic and pro-Ataturk-organisation. They are reported to be active in Europe as well and spy on the Turkish community. As well in Europe - as in Turkey - they act as an extension for the MIT (Turkish Secret Service). Usually, the members of the Grey Wolves are members of the MHP. The "secret"-agenda for the MHP in forming this army is to increase their legal power in Turkey. Grey Wolves always wear a ring with 3 moons on it and a locket with the head of a wolf on it. The DEP, the successor from the HEP which was banned in July/93, stated: "This special army will cause trouble also for the Turkish government. This step leads the people into an escalating war. More and more the situation will turn into a nation-wide Turkish-Kurdish war". The fascist-nationalist party stated: "Yes, we are happy, it was our idea to build an army like this. The government accepted this idea now." (Newsdesk Amsterdam) Turkish Army Attacks Kurdish Demonstrators Kurdish demonstrators celebrating 9 years of armed struggle by the PKK/ARGK (Kurdistan Workers Party/National Liberation Army of Kurdistan) were shot at by Turkish soldiers in the town of Malazgirt on August 15. The Kurdish news agency Kurd-Ha reported that at least 50 Kurds were shot, with another 400 people arrested. It was also reported that Turkish government forces prevented scores of wounded demonstrators from being taken to hospital. The French news agency AFP reported "at least 20" deaths in Malazgirt. The day before, 10 Kurdish demonstrators were shot and killed in the town of Digor. Confrontations broke out between Kurdish demonstrators and Turkish government troops in several regions in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, and in Istanbul, 100 people were arrested at a pro-PKK demonstration. (Adapted from TAZ - 93/08/17) PKK Takes Tourists Into "Protective Custody" In other news, the PKK recently took three foreign tourists (two Germans and one New Zealander) into protective custody. The PKK is demanding that the German foreign ministry enter into direct negotiations with the PKK to secure the release of the detained German citizens. According to the PKK, the two men were taken into protective custody, as they were travelling in a region of Kurdistan which is unsafe for foreign travellers due to the dirty war being waged by the Turkish state (with NATO's military aid) against the Kurdish peoples. The PKK stated that the Turkish government has no authority to negotiate the release of the tourists, for they were taken into custody in Kurdistan and the PKK is the only legitimate party in the region with which the German state can negotiate their release. 11) Armed Attacks Against The G7 Summit In Tokyo Seeking to avoid a repeat of incidents during the 1986 G-7 Summit in Tokyo, when leftist radicals fired home-made rockets on government buildings in Akasaka, causing minor damage to the Canadian Embassy, more that 36000 police, including 1200 anti-terrorist troops, were mobilized for this year's July 7-9 summit. Also in 1986, small attacks on 16 train stations greatly disrupted transportation services. Despite the huge police presence at this year's summit, leftists still fired explosive projectiles at Yokota Air Force Base in western Tokyo the week before Clinton's scheduled arrival. In a second attack on the opening day of the conference, a UN building and another US army installation were the targets of rocket attacks. Both attacks failed to cause any major damage, however. Below are the two communiques from two different groups known as the Revolutionary Army: Communique #1 "1993, July 1, 3:00am. The Revolutionary Army inflicted a deadly blow on US Yokota Air Base, Fukuo-City, Tokyo, with a shell attack from our revolutionary trench-mortar, under heavily mobilized police guard for the Tokyo G-7 Summit. That base is the place where US-imperialist Clinton will arrive. This is our first great blow to destroy the imperialist G-7 Summit, which manoeuvres counter-revolutionary world war only to prolong the imperialist formation of the New World Order. Especially, this blow is an act of revolutionary revenge against the imperialist leader, and US-imperialist Clinton's counter-revolutionary massacre against the Iraqi and Somali people. We declare to smash the counter-revolutionary war of the multi-national forces and attack the Tokyo G-7 Summit so as to make solidarity with the proletarian people of the world under the flag of proletarian internationalism." Revolutionary Army (Liberation Fraction) - 01.07.1993 Communique #2 "On July 7th, we, the Revolutionary Army, won overwhelmingly in achievement in our blow to the G-7 Summit, which is a vicious meeting of imperialist criminals who conspire towards further invasions and wars against people. We rose into actions of guerrilla war at two locations. On the first day of the summit, we, a unit of the Revolutionary Army, have risen in Osaka in western Japan. "5:00am: Our bomb device worked accurately at the UN international environmental technology center building, which was under construction. "6:00am: The unit of the Revolutionary Army made its second attack. We rained shells from a trench-mortar on the US army base, which houses the general's headquarters. Four of our shells hit the target in succession. "We firmly censure the crime of US and Japanese imperialist invasions, wars, and massacres under the guise of 'UN peace' or 'deterrent to regional disputes'. After January 17, 1991, the invasion against Iraq, PKOs (peace keeping operations - trans.) have deteriorated in their character to invasions. Meanwhile, imperialist war is getting more violent, and the imperialists seek to launch their world war through this summit. The aggression and colonization of Cambodia, the threats of nuclear war against North Korea, the indiscriminate bombings and bloody military tactics used against the Somali people, and the invasion of Bosnia-Herzegovina. We censured this with our use of force. "Japanese imperialism shifts further towards ruin, deciding to make further new world war arson with this Tokyo G-7 Summit, giving invasion a more recreational form. It is because of this crisis that the Lower House was dissolved, and the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party - trans.) disbanded. At this point, the LDP, RP, NJP, SDP, JCP, DSP, and Komei parties are all taking the same line. We claim that their 'political reform' means further PKO invasion and war, and an amendment of the electoral system and constitution. We smash the betrayer SDP and JCP (two left-wing political parties - trans.). We explode the big anti-war struggle to bring down the LDP, RP, and NJP. To lead these struggles, we, the Revolutionary Army, have risen into simultaneous actions on July 7th, the memorial day of the Rokokyo incident. "Change the imperialist invasion of Asia into a people's rebellion, hoisting solidarity with all Asian people! Infringe the Tokyo G-7 Summit completely!" Revolutionary Army (Middlecore Fraction) - 07.07.1993 (Information supplied by ARP-Kyoto) 12) Stop The Forced Psychiatric Treatment Of Geroges Cipriani! Georges Cipriani, arrested in 1987 as a militant of Action Directe (a French urban guerrilla organization), was moved from the prison at Fresnes to the closed ward of the psychiatric hospital at Colin-Villejuif on June 15, 1993, where he was being forcibly "treated" with psychotropic drugs against his will. The responsible doctor ordered a total contact ban for the first nine days and total isolation from other patients. Georges was not allowed to receive any visits from friends, family or his attorney. He was not allowed to receive mail and was confined in an empty cell (no newspapers, no books, no writing materials, etc.) At the time of the contact ban Georges was forcibly injected with 150mg of the psychotropic drug Loxapac a day, and this dosage was later increased to 400mg a day. Since June 24, 1993, he was allowed to walk in the prison courtyard everyday and eat with the other patients. Two months before his forced hospitalization Georges learned that his mental and physical health were adversely affected by the conditions in the jail at Fresnes. Since May/93 he had tried to have a critical look at his situation with some close friends and visitors in order to offset this development. But the restricted visiting possibilities and his permanent placement in an isolation control unit made this impossible. Forced hospitalization is certainly not the treatment that Georges needs to come to terms with his situation and the consequences of continuous solitary confinement. For any treatment to succeed it has to be free and voluntary. This forced hospitalization means that the consequences of solitary confinement are being muffled and individualized with chemicals in order to place Georges back into the same prison conditions that caused the problem to begin with. Although Georges has since been moved back to Fresnes, he is still being administered Loxapac, and is still in isolation. Donations for legal fees can be sent to: W. Kronauer, Sonderkonto "Georges", Postgiro Frankfurt/Main, BLZ 50010060, Germany, Kto. Nr.: 0264059-609. For more information, updates, etc., contact: Freunde de Politischen Gefangenen in Frankreich, c/o Info Buro, Am Landwehrplatz 2, 66111 Saarbrucken, Germany, Tel: 0681/399990 13) "C'est Intifada": Anti-Cop Riots In Paris "We say we have to wage war just to live here" (A youth from Porte de Clignancourt, April 10/93) On April 6, Makom, aged 17, was repatriated to Zaire - free. Inspector Compain, who had been interrogating him illegally for several hours, gave him a bullet through the head. The day after the murder was the first gathering in front of the town hall. In the course of this one of the most interesting novelties of these days of anger became apparent: the decline in the average age of the most determined rioters to 10-12 years. It was these who launched the first slogans and the first projectiles at the police station. The good souls of the MRAP (a liberal anti-racist organization) and the fireman Fodd Sylla, leader of SOS-Racket (properly known as SOS-Racisme, another liberal anti-racist organization), tried hard to calm them with minutes of silence and calls for non-violence but, very quickly, they entered into the spirt of things using a mythology which for them is much closer at hand: C'est l'Intifada" they shouted and emptied the fuel tanks of mopeds to fill beer bottles. There was a general turning out of cocktails for the pig house. Some of the youth from the neighbouring estates and a good part of the population of the area were united in the same fury. The cops had problems telling the hostile onlooker from the active rioter. On the 8th the gathering started in the morning. Discussion was going on all over the neighbourhood. After school several hundred people gathered again in front of the town hall. The black-white-Arab kids mixed with the old inhabitants in a cheerful disorder, facing an impressive police contingent. After the insults, the stones burst forth, then the paving stones and the bottles onto the CRS (paramilitary riot cops) who charged, withdrew, charged again, made awkward in their movements by a crowd which never disconnected itself from the "smashers". Towards 7 p.m. the cops posted at the front of the town hall were at the point of giving up under the shower of missles. At all costs they had to avoid anything which would spoil the consensual beginnings of the cohabitation (between the Sociallist President and the right-wing parliament). Pasqua (the minister of the interior) looked upon his troops with shock and on theikr scanners and crappy little radios came the panic-stricken "Attention! Above all don't beat the local people!" But how can you distinguish the wicked smasher from the good citizen, when the projectiles sometimes come out of the windows? When a neighbourhood grocer says to those buying bottle of beer" I'm emptying them for you as quickly as possible?" The CRS lobbed a few grenades by hand (for the whole duration of these evenings they meticulously avoided straight shots). Gas, which was particularly virulent, provoked a retreat on the Rue de Porteau. Overturned, a container dedicated to the struggle against cancer was to be used agianst another urban disease: the vials and flasks, distributed by a reader of Mordicus, helped put down the pig plague. A "self-serve" Fnac (well known chain of book shops) was taken at its words, some Arab girls came out of the drugstore with ther arms full of baby bottles, a kid offered me some plundered Mon Cheri and Fodde Sylla whined on the town hall steps announcing that the angelic Pasqua has punished a few scapegoat commissaires (superintendents). For the first time in the history of the world, a little commissaire declared that he didn't give a toss about broken shop windows. The bovines of the Brigades Mobiles of the district, doubtless too confident in the effect of their skinhead look, charged and quickly had to withdraw behind their colleagues with shields. Afterwards they were going to concentrate on "targeted" ID checks. At the police station the newly arrived prisoners had a hard time with the hysterical pigs and, a feminist victory, the women cops were not slow in carrying out beatings. Farderche ("false arse" - hypocrite) Sylla, being absent, was not able to hear the deluge of racist and anti-semitic insults coming from the mouths of the republican police. Some little groups kept up the harassment, the level of photographs per square meter became unbearable and often wasn't accepted. Charges and counter-charges, the skirmishes carried on until 1 a.m... Slowly, the area was put in a state of siege, the glaziers sold some plywood shop windows, we peered at each other, we had to beware, that was the end of the trip. There will still be a little broken glass, but we will have to wait until Saturday for a beautiful gallant last stand between Barbes and Gare du Nord. (Mordicus - April 1993) 14) Free Giorgos Balafas! On December 2, 1992, the "most dangerous and wanted (for 7 years now) Greek terrorist", Giorgos Balafas was arrested in Athens, at the home of his friend Andreas Kiriakopoulos. Balafas and his (female) friend Vasiliki Mihou visited Andreas on the night of his birthday. Balafas is accused of founding and being a member of "Anti- State Struggle" an anarchist guerrilla group which: - executed the state prosecutor Theofanopoulos (1-4-85) - robbed the Sklavenitis Supermarket (during the robbery a cop was killed). - killed 3 cops at "Gizi's Battle". During this fight Christos Tsutsuvis also died. He had been an armed militant for more than 15 years. He started as a member of PAK, a socialist resistance group that fought against the military dictatorship of 1967 - 1974. When "democracy" was restored he became a member of "Revolutionary People's Struggle" (E.L.A.) Balafas has been wanted by the police since the "Gizi's Battle". He went underground and since then he has issued several communiques in which he denies that he is a member of A-SS. The only "evidence" connecting him and A-SS is that he was a cousin and friend of Tsutsuvis and that a supposed fingerprint of his was found on a package of cookies at the "safehouse" on Kalama Street, where Tsutsuvis was keeping guns, explosives, typewriters, tools, etc. In Balafas' own words: "Three months ago, with my arrest, the chapter of the "wanted terrorist" Giorgos Balafas ended and the chapter of being a hostage started. In the coming months the authorities after completing their investigation will send me to court (...) The judicial authorities, who have adopted the recommendations of the prosecution, are keeping in jail two people whose only "mistake" is the fact that they are related to me. Kiriakopoulos, ignoring my real identity, was "wrong" to accept my visit on his birthday. Mihou, on the other hand, is being held because she didn't become a "collaborator", and she didn't end our relationship which has existed for many years prior to my being portrayed as a "wanted terrorist". This is an example of the state's cynicism, barbarism and moral poverty, done so that the impression and the offense of the "formation of a gang" could be created, and in order for the misery of the anti-terrorist law to be established. During the 3 months that I have been here, isolated from my co-prisoners Kiriakopoulos and Mihou - our application for visits between Vasiliki and myself have been rejected - I have found the time to study the documents concerning the Theofanopoulos assassination, Gizi's battle, the robbery at Sklaveniti's Supermarket and the "gun storage rooms" at Kalama Street and Mavrikiou Street. The accusations against me don't stand on any evidence because there isn't the possibility for any evidence to exist. They stand on reports about my relations - for example my family relation with Tsutsuvis - relations which I have no reason to hide (...) One of the reasons which led me not to appear "spontaneously" to the police in 1985 was the ideology which I keep - with some reservations - to deny to give away to the state and its institutions the right to decide about my life and my freedom. This choice of mine - that's why the reservations - deprived me of the ability to effectively and convincingly defend myself, my actions, my way and my values. I believe that this case doesn't just concern the 3 of us and those who have expressed their support in public. Not even those who may have had to at various times, in order to defend their dignity, turn to any kind of illegality. I think that it also certainly concerns the people of the left ("official" and "extra-parliamentary"), as well as the people of the anti- authoritiarian movement (...) Of course, I am not a "normal citizen" who just happened to be presented by the cops as a "terrorist". I have participated in the movement since 1975. I didn't just become known to the groups of the extra-parliamentary left and the anti- authoritarian-autonomes when I was portrayed as a "terrorist". I participated in solidarity demonstrations and mobilizations for people who had been unfairly persecuted, supported strikes and school occupations. I have taken part in riots of the anti- authoritarian movement against the police. I have been dragged hundreds of times to the police stations for identification. A lot of people on the left might not agree with the above practices. They might not even agree with my own attitude over the last 8 years. However unamity of views and unity of practice has never existed in any movement. The focal point in this case is not only which values, ideals and moral characteristics a wanted person should possess in order to be supported, but also which characteristics one should possess in order to support the wanted person. Because solidarity is not only a "support" to the one who "collects" it, but equally to the one who "gives" it. Unfortunately today, the support for the "terrorist" is minimal, the same way it is minimal when it concerns the striker, the unemployed, the squatter, the refugee, and the foreigner (...) The immediate release of Vasiliki Mihou and Andreas Kiriakopoulos is self-evident and there shouldn't be any wasted time or any hesitation on the part of the authorities and mostly on the part of people who are interested in the preservation of elementary human rights. Concerning myself, I hope for, and am equally interested in a not-guilty verdict, but also for the expression of a movement of social and political solidarity. My personal freedom depends on a not-guilty verdict, but the case of freedom depends on the expression of the solidarity movement, which in all the phases of my conscious life leads me. "If the only reason for one to be worth to be born is to live free; and as soon as he is born his freedom is owned, then what other solution is left than REVOLUTION." - Yannis Skaribas Judicial Prison of Koridallos March 1993 Giorgos Balafas 15) News In Brief... In mid-May, Mehmet, a Turkish anti-fascist who took part in the 1984 occupation of the Turkish consulate in Cologne and who was sentenced to 4 years in jail as a result of this action, was recently sentenced in Bonn for another anti-fascist action earlier this year. Mehmet was sentenced to 8 months in prison on a conviction for "breaking the peace of the land" and "attempted assault". The charges stemmed from an anti-fascist demo in early- February when anti-fascists pelted members of the neo-nazi FAP party, who were trying to hold a march, with stones. Several FAP neo-nazis testified that at Mehmet's trial that he was one of the anti-fascists throwing stones (Angehoerigen Info 119)... On the night of June 3rd, the premises of Freedom Press and Freedom Bookshop in East London were attacked by arsonists who managed to burn out the bottom floor. The printing presses and printshop were destroyed, but the bookshop suffered only slight damage. This is the second attack on Freedom Press. On March 27 masked nazis smashed up the shop destroying a computer and phones... In Los Angeles on July 15 police arrested 8 racist skinheads who were planning on blowing up a Black church and assassinating Black and Jewish leaders in an effort to start a so-called 'Holy War'. Those arrested were affiliated with the Church of the Creator, the White Aryan Resistance and Fourth Reich Skinheads. Machine guns and pipe bombs were seized... Fatma Cicek is an actress who plays in the Ortakoy Cultural Centre (OKM) in Istanbul. Together with her relatives (Nuran Gokcimen, Hacan Cicek, Tansei Sahinoglu and Ufuk Sahinoglu), she was arrested on August 11. On August 13, Nuran Gokcimen and Tansei Sahinoglu were released. They said that they were tortured while they were in prison. Further they said that the health-condition of the other prisoners was not good. The actors-collective 'Ayse Gulen', which is working at the OKM and of which Fatma Cicek is a member, protested against her arrest. They stated that there was no reason for arresting her. They demanded the immediate release of all the prisoners (Newsdesk Amsterdam)... According to figures released by the German government in July/93, there have been 1,180 reported serious far-right and neo-nazi attacks on refugees and foreigners between January 1 and July 22, 1993. This is up from 788 during the same period in 1992. This dramatic increase comes in the wake of the May 28 decision by the German government to essentially shut that country's borders to refugees and asylum-seekers. This move was taken, or so the government said, to curb right-wing attacks. It looks like just the opposite has happened: the far-right feels rewarded and encouraged by the German government... 16) Information About Arm The Spirit Arm The Spirit P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A Toronto, Ont. M5W 1P7 Canada Arm The Spirit c/o Autonome Forum P.O. Box 1242 Burlington, VT 05402-1242 USA FAX for Canadian address: 416 516 4847 E-mail for U.S. address: aforum@moose.uvm.edu Subscription Rates: Subscriptions for this monthly bulletin are $12.00 for 12 issues. Our magazine (36 pages) comes out 2-3 times a year and costs $10 for 4 issues. Please send well-concealed cash or a blank postal money order (don't put our name or address on it!). No cheques! Editor: Gabriel Dumont Prisoner Subscriptions: Unfortunately we are not able to offer free subs to prisoners because of our perpetually poor financial situation. Sorry. We have a new Canadian address (we moved from Hamilton to Toronto). Please send all subscriptions, address changes and orders for literature to this address. Groups who are exchanging magazines, news bulletins, etc. with us should continue to send their publications to both Arm The Spirit addresses. New Address: Arm The Spirit P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A Toronto, Ont. M5W 1P7 Canada New FAX Number: 416 516 4847