Contra Info

Thessaloniki, Greece: Court statement by Polykarpos Georgiadis –February 2010

Contra Info — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:51:12 +0000

click image to download pdf

Athens: Responsibility claim for arson barrage in solidarity with anarchist hunger striker Kostas Sakkas

Contra Info — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:00:20 +0000

Hunger strike from the 4th of June – Immediate release of anarchist Kostas Sakkas

Anarchist Kostas Sakkas is on hunger strike from the 4th of June 2013, claiming his immediate release from pretrial detention, since he is held in custody more than 30 months due to a judicial coup d’état, while he has already served two terms of remand. We stand next to our comrade going on the offensive, as we deem appropriate under the circumstances. Thus, during four days, from 15 to 18 June, we torched the following:
- the local office of the main ruling party, Nea Dimokratia, in Keratsini,
- 2 ATMs in Palaio Faliro,
- 1 ATM in Ano Kypseli,
- the private motorcycle of a cop in Zografou,
- the private vehicle of a cop in Ano Glyfada,
- the private motorcycle of a cop in Ano Petralona.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST KOSTAS SAKKAS
Everything goes on…

source

Bremen, Germany: Deutsche Telekom van torched and Siemens car destroyed

Contra Info — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:44:37 +0000

In the night from 29 to 30 of May 2013 we set fire to the Telekom parking lot which is located on Mary-Sommerville-Str. (close to the university), to burn down a Telekom vehicle.

Deutsche Telekom is only one of the many inhumane firms. They acquired large shares of the Greek OTE already years ago, and then kicked out 2,000 people in a time that Telekom was making enormous profits. They even undertook the role of security authority, with several attempts of OTE against Indymedia Athens, until the media project’s connectivity to its server was turned off in April 2013 under threats and extortions. Indymedia Athens has been an important platform particularly for the social revolts.

Telekom has also its place in the civil–military cooperation. The 100% owned subsidiary company T-System plays a key role in war machinery, and has been jointly responsible for the defense technology industry for decades. Also, T-System provides information and communication technique for use of weapons, and takes care of telephone networks of Bundeswehr (the German military) as well as military satellite communication and fiber optic cabling in warships.

At the same time, in the district of Walle, a vehicle belonging to the Siemens firm was hit on the corner of Brabantstr. with Osterlingerstr., and was rendered useless with paint bombing.

Siemens is another actor in the armament industry. For example, they made a contract with Bundeswehr and IBM in order to bring the Hercules Project into being. One aspect of this project is supporting the German military with information technology for their tasks in the fields of administration and logistics.

Companies like Deutsche Telekom or Siemens earn profit with war, suffering, extortion and suppression. This we will not accept.

We stand in solidarity with all actions against Telekom. We greet the comrades in Athens. Attack armament corporations and war profiteers in Bremen and everywhere!

WAR STARTS HERE – LET’S STOP IT HERE!
autonomous groups

Rabies

Contra Info — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:59:16 +0000

In these times of woe
only the gangs
of wild dogs
are on their guard

Wearing cowboy boots
monocles, redingotes
they howl against
the death and zero

Greek prisons: Anarchist prisoner Kostas Sakkas admitted to hospital on June 17th

Contra Info — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:10:19 +0000

Solidarity banner in Agrinio: “Immediate release of anarchist Kostas Sakkas, who is on hunger strike since 4.6.2013”

On the morning of June 17th, Kostas Sakkas was evacuated from the Koridallos prison’s hospital to the general hospital of Nikaia, in Piraeus. The comrade is in critical condition.

Message from a fellow prisoner in struggle, on Corfu Island, in solidarity with Kostas Sakkas:

I stand in solidarity with the struggle of hunger striker Kostas Sakkas, and as a minimal display of my solidarity, I stop receiving prison meals as of today, June 17th. As is known, Kostas Sakkas is on strike since the 4th of June, and puts himself in the ultimate test of not taking food, fighting against the attempt of Power—targeted against any anarchist militant—to destroy its enemies… The extension of his 30-month pretrial detention shows the audacity of authorities to violate their own laws in order to serve terrorism and abolition of every individual right.

The passion for freedom is stronger than all prison cells!
Solidarity with the hunger striker Kostas Sakkas!

Elias Karadouman
Corfu prison

Athens: Counter-information is a weapon

Contra Info — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:34:43 +0000

REPRESSION

Solidarity gathering for the 6 arrested during the anarchist intervention at Propylaea (24.4.2013) against the gagging of counter-information media:

Thursday, June 20th, at 10am in Evelpidon courts, Athens

Turkey: Brief update on repression

Contra Info — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:54:43 +0000

Last night, Sunday the 16th of June 2013, it was calm in the city of İzmir. People gathered in Alsancak, at Gündoğdu Square, but the repression forces didn’t react. This is probably the current police strategy. They attack with huge forces in İstanbul and Ankara, but ‘let the other cities be’ for the time being.

The cops have dispersed the Taksim Gezi commune. The police’s fourth attack on Gezi Park was the most brutal one. Anti-riot squads, as well as many plainclothes (some of them cops, some of them Tayyip Erdoğan’s supporters), attacked in evening hours when it was crowded, and there were also children and old people in the area. Now, instead of huge blocks of police, numerous plainclothes cops in many inner streets wait to capture people. Protesters that live in the surrounding neighbourhoods are trapped in their houses and looking for ways to gather again outside. On Sunday night, twitter was flooding with messages that were calling people to take shelter in their houses.

On the previous evening, June 15th, they cut or pulled out some of the trees in Gezi Park while the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan was making a public speech. Mainstream media (especially NTV, and Habertürk) manipulated the facts. Habertürk broadcasted Tayyip’s speech with subtext “Prime minister giving speech to 1 million people.” The place where he gave his speech has the capacity of 250,000 people (4 persons per 1 square meter), and the half of the place was empty — of course, this was not shown in the media. Soon thereafter, during the violent crackdown in Taksim, the subtext was “Police taking the provocateurs out of Gezi Park.” (They are using the word ‘provakatör’ to describe people who are provoking others for violence, labeling each one of them as terrorist, as a person to blame. Meanwhile, many people don’t know what the word really means.)

In previous days, the police had detained 29 people blaming them for their messages on twitter (some of them are very naive). According to the Interior Minister, people who were active in social media will be hunted also in other cities, and new state laws will be voted about Internet.
Yesterday (16/6) a total of 455 people were detained all over Turkey — 193 in İstanbul, 105 in Ankara. 22 of them, including some members from Çarşı and some physicians, are accused of being ‘organizatör’ (organizer). The Organized Crime department of the Turkish police will investigate into these persons, and they will be interrogated for 4 days.
Today (17/6) workers unions are on strike, namely DİSK (Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions), KESK (Confederation of Public Workers Unions), TMMOB (Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects), TTB (Turkish Medical Association), and TDB (Turkish Dentists Association).

From Santiago to Athens – ‘Beyond borders’ radio broadcast

Contra Info — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:04:39 +0000

Monday, June 17th, by 6pm (GMT+2) on Radiofragmata

A free talk with our comrades from Chile and Brazil about various different topics of interest to anarchists, glimpses of the situation in Latin America, Greece, etc. The recording was made by Contra Info on the 13th of May 2013 and the audio processing was completed thanks to the Radiofragmata internet radio in Athens.

Original discussion is mainly in Spanish but the transmission starts with Greek translation. The recording will soon be available in the Radiofragmata archive.

Berlin: Kreuzberg salutes the people revolting in Turkey

Contra Info — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:32:49 +0000

Everyday for the last two weeks people have taken to the streets of Berlin to show their solidarity with the ongoing struggle in Turkey. On the evening of June 7th a short and wild demonstration took place in the centre of the Kreuzberg neighbourhood, when around 50 people marched towards Kottbusser Tor, shouting slogans and lightening fireworks.

Traffic was blocked in every direction by material pulled into the street from construction sites. The cops, who were at that moment attempting a drug raid in Kottbusser Tor, were attacked with stones and firebombs. After this action the mob dispersed.

Before the demonstrators reached Kottbusser Tor, leaflets were spread in the surrounding area. The text was written in Turkish and German and circulated some days before Friday’s action. Additionally banners were hung reading “Berlin salutes Istanbul – For social revolt worldwide” and “Özgürlük için omuz omuza / Side by side towards freedom!” As the newspapers reported, two people were arrested by the cops and released the next day. We lend our solidarity to them as well, as they are facing the repression of the police and the judicial system.

We will be back: when, where, and how we chose. We take part in demos and actions, and show the rebels that in Berlin too we fight at their side!

Our thoughts are with the families, friends and comrades of Mehmet Ayvalıtaş (İstanbul), Abdullah Cömert (Antakya) and Ethem Sarısülük (Ankara), all killed during the revolt.

Freedom for the prisoners! Shoulder to shoulder towards freedom!

The leaflet that was handed out:

Solidarity with the Rebels!

People storm the streets, barricades are built, cars are set on fire, and everything that’s not nailed down flies in the direction of the police. The sky is clouded by teargas, and a shout for freedom makes its way through the dust.

The planned destruction of one of the last green spaces in Istanbul, in order to replace it with a shopping mall, was the spark that brought thousands of people onto the streets in order to resist. In the meantime, the revolt spread across the country like wildfire.

No matter how different the motivations of everyone involved may be, they burst through the existent, and in doing so, open new spaces of self-organization, solidarity and controversy.

All these things are a rare occurrence in this world. Between school, work, paying rent, keeping a family feed and so on, it often seems as if there is no time to take issue with the destruction of our environment. We approve that all over the wold there are still those who, despite it all, still do something. As has been shown, the small fights of daily life can be the trigger of a general uprising.

We see the smoke signals from the cities and in them we recognize the struggles we fight here: against displacement, degradation, and police violence. Therefore we call for solidarity with the insurgents, so that those on the Bosporus can also see that they are not alone!

Shoulder to shoulder towards freedom! (A)

Fault line of Istanbul – Insurrection notes from Taksim

Contra Info — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:51:30 +0000

Actually it was NOT totally unpredictable, but we somehow couldn’t see it was coming. What have people of Turkey being doing until this revolt? Students have beaten up the teachers who gave them grades lower than they deserved. People stabbed doctors who neglected their loved ones. They shot sergeants to run away, and deserted obligatory military service. They crashed police stations and beaten up abusive police officers. After courts gave their verdict, people gave a taste of their own verdict at the hallways of courts. Women brought their own justice to their violators. They committed suicides under the pressure of big exams, credit card debts…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Insurrection of individuals and revolutionary groups finally touched each other and got connected in Gezi Park Resistance (as of May 29 to date). So, we wanted to share some of our observations from behind the barricades with you:

• Roads were blocked, trunks and back seats are checked to see if they secretly sneak gas bombs to police. Because police used ambulances to sneak bombs, people carefully searched them; people stoned fire trucks because they were observed to be carrying water for the water cannons that put out fire barricades.

• ID checks for those who were suspected to be undercover police.

• CCTVs and cameras were dismantled and damaged.

• More than 40 outstanding barricades were set. Pavement stones, billboards, traffic signs, trash cans, whatever is in hand and lying around, were used.

• Banks, ATMs, billboards and bus stop advertisements were destroyed.

• Police containers and police cars were set on fire, OR used for the benefit of public.

• Construction machines and buses were overturned, damaged and set on fire.

• Food and necessary supplies were shoplifted from corporate supermarkets around the neighborhood.

• Media vehicles (CNN van) were overturned and destroyed.

• A bulldozer was captured to counter-attack riot control vehicles, and water cannons were pushed out of the streets.

• Young kids who were abused and humiliated by cops every day set the record straight by stoning and cursing them in their face. They wrestled back their integrity.

• Trucks and bulldozers were captured and used to build barricades.

• Unorganized and largely apolitical youth got acquainted, discussed and mutually learned tactics and strategies with more radical and organized groups.

• Thousands of young people got firsthand experience in clashing with police forces.

• Large solidarity network was spontaneously organized for food, beverage, solution for tear gas and cigarettes.

• Beverage and food points were set up to disperse free stuff to whomever in need.

• People started to frantically share everything, their chocolate bars, cigarettes, their home-made food, food they were given by others.

• Trash and litter were collectively collected, even the cigarette butts.

• Everybody was helping everybody with anti-acid solutions against tear gas on the barricades.

• People opened their houses’ doors, as well as small cafes and shops, for perfectly random protestors, who were cornered by police forces.

• Housewives and other people in the neighborhoods joined the protests with making noise with pans, etc.

• Food and anti-acid solution kits were placed in a lot of spots.

• First- aid points were set up.

• Doctors ran from barricade to barricade during heavy clashes.

• Street vendors happily proliferate in the absence of police, who normally chase them and confiscate their stuff.

• Sex workers, including transsexuals, could work, stroll around, and mingled with others freely without being abused.

• A vacant area under closure had been liberated for the public and turned into a small park.

• Some other vacant houses, which were under mortgage closures, were occupied and put into use.

• A small urban garden was created.

• A free library was set up.

• People read bulletins and pamphlets like they never did before. They thought things they never thought before.

• People claimed back and made the streets their own again with graffiti, stencils and various different flags and colors instead of billboards and commercials.

• Instead of going to work or back home with public transportation or cabs, people marched slowly under clouds of tear gas chanting slogans and curses. They weren’t scared anymore, they kept on marching.

• People determined their own agenda, not parties, powers or leaders.

• Not a single woman was abused. They freely marched, strolled around and stayed in the park.

• People spent their time together instead of killing it in front of TVs or computer screens.

• Masses were disillusioned and openly started to criticize mass media.

• Kurds freely waved their guerrilla flags (PKK), showcased portraits of their guerrilla leader under arrest (Apo) and enjoyed themselves with their traditional collective folk dances. Nationalists willy nilly had to get used to it. Even some of them couldn’t resist and joined the dances.

• Middle-class activists, with their pristine bourgeois hygiene standards, ate the same food, shit in the same portable johns and went long periods without showers together with the homeless people and street animals.

People realized life without cops is JOY, indeed.

“Life is so boring, there is nothing to do except
spend all our wages on the latest skirt or shirt.
Brothers and Sisters, what are your real desires?
Sit in the drugstore, look distant, empty, bored,
drinking some tasteless coffee? Or perhaps
BLOW IT UP OR BURN IT DOWN.”
-The Angry Brigade

pics – police enter taksim square eventually, with the help of “taksim solidarity”; that commission behaving like they are representing the revolt. how a revolt, an insurrection can be represented? anyway. but of course people resisted against police invasion.
pics – painted slogans. they are in turkish, but just to show that, everywhere around taksim was graffiti, everywhere.

photos retrieved from occupygezipics