Isolation Is Torture – Call for Open Assembly

The development of prisons, imprisonment methods and isolation has been taken very seriously by all Imperialist states, in order to contain and with final goal to eliminate any revolutionary will. The rights in prison do not exist. Whatever crumbs are given there, are linked to a reward-punishment system. The only authentic rights we all could have in and out of prisons, are gained through the struggle of the people that chose to resist and not negotiate with that abusive system.

Alfredo Cospito’s struggle against the isolation regime 41bis in Italy is a very recent example of such a courageous resistance.  At the same moment, here in our city, in Berlin, the resistance of Eda Deniz Haydaroglu against the anti-terror laws §§129 a&b of the German Penal Code is going further. She is in indefinite hunger strike since 18.03.2023, against §§129 a&b, demanding freedom of anti-fascist and revolutionary prisoners in Germany . Now, together with her, Ilgın Güler started an indefinite hunger strike on 08.05.2023, and Sevil Sevimli Güler started also an indefinite hunger strike on 13.05.2023.

We would like to call for an open assembly on 23rd of May, at 19:00, at New York in Bethanien  to discuss in a collective manner the aftermath of Alfredo’s resistance. In terms of resistance or struggle, we tend to measure everything in a binary way between winning and losing in terms of the objectives set. We understand that this model of thinking is shaped by capitalism, preventing us from seeing the whole path and experience of long-term struggles. We want to sit down and talk about our praxis and the way we organise ourselves in solidarity with different individuals or collectives struggling from inside the prisons and share our thoughts and feelings about the 6 months of Alfredo Cospito’s hunger strike and how it was experienced here in Berlin.  Together with that, we would like to think about ways that we could take an active part in the struggle, support and grow the ongoing resistance in our city against the §§129 a&b, giving voice to Eda, Ilgın and Sevil.

The resistance is a barricade against state repression!

HOLD THE BANNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!

Day:  23.05.2023
Time:  19:00
Location: New Yorck im Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2A, 10997 Berlin

 

Statement of Alliance Against Naziparagraph 129: Accept the Demands of Alfredo Cospito! Destroy the Isolation!

The imprisoned anarchist militant Alfredo Cospito is on hunger strike since 20th of October 2022, resisting in Italian jails against the isolation regime 41 bis. We are in full solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and principally against all solitary confinement and isolation methods.

The 41 bis is a special detention regime in Italy, also known in Italian as “carcere duro” (hard prison regime) and is defined by the Article 41 bis of the Prison Administration Act. Even though it acquired its final denomination only in 1986, the 41 bis derives from the Article 1 of Law Nr. 354, issued in 1975. During this period, the class struggle had intensified in Italy. From militant left groups to autonomous factory workers, people of Italy were rising the struggle for freedom with the wave of anti-imperialism that was sweeping all the world. It is during this times that the prison system was radically reformed: the institution started thinking itself as something that can, at any moment, suspend its own rules, thanks to the intervention of the executive power. The state wanted this change in order to subjugate the revolutionary will that now fills the prisons, and wanted to crush possible prison revolts even before they started.

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Letter from Özgül Emre

This article is also available in German

This letter was recently sent by Özgül Emre from Rohrbach Prison of Germany to her lawyer and translated from Turkish into English. Özgül is a revolutionary from Turkey who was arrested in Germany on 16th of May 2022 and is accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation. During the high point of revolutionary struggle of Turkey in 1990s, she worked as a journalist in Kurtuluş Magazine. As an exiled revolutionary in Germany, she worked in wide range of committees; from anti-drug committees to anti-racism committees. The attacks of German state didn’t stopped with this mafia like kidnapping. From the detention onward, they forced prison uniforms on Özgül Emre in Rohrbach prison. German state knows very well that Revolutionaries do NOT and NEVER wear prison uniforms. In 1984, 4 revolutionaries died as a result of hunger strike to oppose the introduction of prison uniforms in prisons of Turkey. Until this day, there is no prison uniforms thanks to 4 martyrs. Özgül Emre comes from this uncompromising tradition to keep up the identity, integrity and dignity of being a revolutionary. As the oppression to enforce prison uniforms is not enough, Rohrbach prison is tried to kill her with not supplying salt and sugar for the first 30 days of hunger strike. They only supplied one piece of sugar with tea every evening, which obviously is not enough. Without the supplements like salt and sugar in proper dose, it is very easy for a person die in hunger strike at any stage. Around the day 40, she got hospitalised and on 44th day of the hunger strike she won the struggle against the torturers and received her own clothes, luckily without any long term damage to her body. In this letter, she describes the torture methods of the prison authorities, who do not provide her with sanitary conditions and privacy.

“How are you doing? How are all our people? I am doing very well because of my determination of being righteous – despite the political and legal siege against me. The trial against me, as well as my imprisonment, are, from my point of view, unlawful and also contrary to the law. Although my place of residence is known and I had an appointment at a government office on the very day of my arrest, it was pretended that I could not be found, that I would never go to my apartment, and so I was kidnapped on the basis of lies in the street. The purpose was to make me look like the guilty. Because they could not have justified my arrest and pre-trial detention any other way. The trial against me could have taken place without pre-trial detention.

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Emir Karakum is on 96th day of Hunger Strike against Poor Treatment in Prison!

Emir Karakum, a revolutionary prisoner is on hunger strike for 96th day against poor treatment in prison. He has been imprisoned for 10 months on the false testimony of anonymous witnesses.  After his detention on December 3 2021, during İstanbul-based police raids, he was arrested at the Samsun Courthouse on December 6 2021 and was taken to the Samsun Type-T Prison. After starting a hunger strike there, he was transferred to the Bafra Type-T Prison. He was arrested for fighting for free, scientific and democratic education and for demanding justice. For 10 months he has been held in a solitary confinement cell in Bafra T Type prison. Every day he is subjected to psychological and physical violence by the prison guards. Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ says “there is no torture in prisons”, yet there is footage of Emir Karakum being tortured.

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Discussion Event: Long Live Our Death Fast Resistance!

This text is also available in Turkish and German

Yaşasın Ölüm Orucu Direnişimiz! (Long live our death fast resistance!)

Sunday, June 12 2022 at 4 pm, NewYorck at Bethanien

Discussion event: Death fast resistance as a means of political struggle “Our death fast resistance is the strongest form of expression of the struggle about independence and freedoms. And it will last…”

Sibel Balaç and Gökhan Yıldırım who are imprisoned in Turkish jails, have been on hunger strike since December 2021, which they have now converted into a death fast. Another revolutionary prisoner, Özgür Karakaya, has been on a hunger strike for 43 days against the usurpation of his right to bail. Özgül Emre, who is imprisoned in German jails, has been on indefinite hunger strike to protest the wearing of prison uniforms. In a hunger strike, one does not eat anything beside sugar and b12 supplements. In the case of death fast resistance, which means indefinite hunger strike, either the demands of one will be met, or the person will die from malnutrition. In political terms, death fast means: either justice or death!

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Freedom for Academician Nuriye Gülmen!

“We should be the ones who stare at the light, and to show the light to others. If we can not do anything, at least we should be a candle.”

Nuriye Gülmen was a research assistant at Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. She is just one of the 7,915 university lecturers/workers who were fired from their jobs overnight by a decree-law issued under the state of emergency declared on 21 July 2016 by the fascist AKP government.

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[EN] We are Calling for Your Support to Our Campaign for the Freedom of Sick Prisoner Ali Osman Köse from the Prison of Fascism!

This text is also available in German and Greek

Ali Osman Köse is a 65 years old socialist revolutionary with a severe case of cancer. He has been in prison for the last 38 years in Turkey and has been held in the solitary confinement conditions for the last 21 years. The cancer was diagnosed too late, as a result of the imprisonment conditions. Even if the cancerous kidney was removed, he has many other health problems. Also, it is not known if the cancer has a metastatic spread as the Forensic Medicine Institute didn’t yet give an approval for a PET filming. According to the article 16 of the Turkish Execution Law, he should be released for immediate treatment. However, authorities do not apply the rule of law, stripping away his right to live. The reason is obvious: Ali Osman Köse never bowed his head down to fascism and never renounced his political views. He is a strong representative of the tradition of the uncompromising ‘free prisoners’.

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Freedom to Ali Osman Köse, Freedom to Sick Prisoners!

THEY ARE TRYING TO MURDER ALİ OSMAN KÖSE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT CONDITIONS! FREEDOM TO ALİ OSMAN KÖSE!

Our client Ali Osman Köse is in prison for the last 37 years and is battling cancer caused by solitary confinement conditions. Cancer tissue first occurred in his kidney. But as of today probably, it spread all over to the adrenal glands, spleen, and pancreas. Tumor removal surgery is very critical at this point for the continuity of his life.

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