Presentation A Few Beginning Points We cannot tolerate that an individual can be incarcerated because they lack a piece of paper, or because they don’t accept being a slave. We think this is repugnant. We think that this situation is the product of an infamy with concrete and specific responsibilities. Because of this we cannot close our eyes. We think that we live in a time of war. And if in some places this fact is explained by bombs and armies in the streets, in others it is explained by the terror of doing without enough to survive, without something to eat, or of ending up in jail; it explains the fact of having to leave your own land to look for better living conditions and to be exploited there. Therefore we can see the war everywhere, along with a feeling of uprootedness, which envelops the world. We believe that a society incapable of recognizing and attacking the causes of such a situation can only create false enemies and generalize fear. Many times the immigrant is seen as an enemy. The immigrant is described by propaganda as a terrorist or friend of the terrorists. The same happens with communists, anarchists, or workers that strike without permission. The important thing is that State terrorism is able to continue, while those that are bothersome can be incarcerated or expelled. The machine of expulsion isn’t just a despicable mechanism of repression and social control, but also a mirror into the reality that we inhabit. Millions of women, men and children come looking for more hospitable living conditions, pushed out by war, misery or because of the daily disasters of industrial production. To greet them they find police, concentration camps and later deportation; this is when they haven’t found death, in sea or in the desert, along the way. In particular, in the Salento (the land where we all live, the peninsula situated to the southeast of Italy—the heel of the boot so that we understand each other) is the “Regina Pacis,” a Center for Temporary Residence –CPT— or Temporary Stay Center for immigrants. It is situated on the east coast of the Salento, towards Albania and Greece. The Centers of Incarceration for Immigrants in Italy According to Italian law, the centers for immigrants are divided into Centers of First Identification (which of late have replaced Centers of First Welcome) and Centers for Temporary Residence. The latter are the most brutal face of the mechanism of expulsion: structures created by the Center-Left government in 1998, having as its objective the incarceration of all clandestinos (immigrants without regular papers), to verify the identity of the immigrants and to facilitate expulsion decrees. The new law of the Center-Right has increased the maximum time of detention from 30 to 60 days. Today in Italy, 14 CPTs exist, many others are under construction and there will be 28 in total as ordered by a new law, with a minimum of one per region. Why CPTs as an Object of Struggle The choice of a continuous struggle against these jails in general, and against the Saletine one in particular, has come about because of the necessity of concentrating the majority of our time and energy on one single objective in order to make the struggle itself concrete. It is important to say that this struggle has not developed in a compartmentalized, exclusive or specialized way. What we already understand is that these centers (and the repression that is outside of them) are only one face of state violence and its domination across the land. The expression of violence has found much room in our region, the Puglia: being both land on the border and a passageway of people arriving from the east or south, it has become a permanently fortified area over the past several years with an increase in militarization and social control which has affected everyone. To justify the incarceration of such people, the executioners of the pen (journalists) have created the image of the immigrant (and especially of the clandestino) as a public enemy who causes conflict with the local exploited and they also describe them as criminals and low-cost reserve labor, ready to steal jobs from the locals. What’s more is that this has grown stronger with alarm over international terrorism and the arabo-islamic danger. For us, the struggle against these centers, against expulsions and that which supports them isn’t a humanitarian question, nor a form of democratic anti-racism or of “third worldism” –that identifies immigrants as the new revolutionary subject— rather it signifies the necessity of recognizing and showing solidarity with individuals that live in the same conditions of exploitation and uprootedness, which means beginning to attack a particular structure of power. Without a doubt, the militarization of entire neighborhoods, police dragnets in the streets, ever more unbearable and odious conditions of work and living that are imposed upon us affects both the immigrant (naturalized or not changes little) and natives in the same way. When and How the Struggle Began The institution of CPTs has changed the course of the Regina Pacis Foundation. In its beginning it was managed by the local church as a summer camp for children. Abandoned for several years, it was turned into a Center of First Welcome during the second half of the 90s with the arrival en masse of Albanian refugees. In 2001 we began with a diffusion of counter-informational material to explain the real function of the Regina Pacis and to lay bare the interpretation that economic and state power wants to give to the phenomenon of migration –an image shown through mass media that describes it as an invasion that must be repelled. To this we added demonstrations (generally in front of the center), which a few times had involved other individuals from the antagonistic left (with rage and/or solidarity but without flags in hand). Demonstrations were called especially on occasions that affected the incarcerated (like the spread of contagious diseases, hunger strikes, petitions for asylum, etc.), on occasions when the issue reached the national level, and on the occasion of summits whose principal theme was the control of immigration. At the beginning of 2002, the diffusion of a document written by some comrades concerning the question of immigration and the struggle against these places (like nazi concentration camps), gave us the motivation to begin a more constant and conscious campaign. From then, the distribution of flyers, posters put up in the streets and other counter informational material have become tools of primary importance not only in exposing the police-role played by the Regina Pacis (incarcerating and helping to expel immigrants), but in explaining the close relationship between the economy and “clandestinization” of individuals with the aim of obtaining grand pools of reserve labor power (a labor force that is easily manipulated through blackmail and through the precarious situation of lacking papers—truly modern slaves). Additionally they have been useful instruments in explaining the real interests of the church of Lecce and of all the businesses co-managing the center: given that the State provides variable daily payments for each person incarcerated (and those for Regina Pacis are among the highest) one can easily understand the strong economic interest of the Foundation and the local ecclesiastical hierarchy. To confirm this it must be said that over the years the Foundation has turned itself into a true multinational of “charity,” opening centers of a different type (another in Italy and five more in Moldova) taking on every task: the rehabilitation of prostitutes and street children, of refugees, and distribution of food to the poor… In an interview with that son of a bitch Father Cesare Lodeserto, priest and director of the Regina Pacis Foundation, he boasted that Moldova produces 10,000 clandestinos each year. This does nothing more than confirm that they are considered merchandise.
How the Struggle Continues (or at least how is has continued) These prisons are not simply those who manage them. Although banal, it is a fundamental fact that even though these terrible places and everything connected with them appear untouchable and un-attackable –like all structures of power—they are not, because they are made up of people, places and things. This basic fact has developed through the gathering of information about those who collaborate with the Regina Pacis, like businesses or people who sell their wares and/or services, and those who work for the foundation: employees, doctors, guards, directors… At the time we were carrying out this activity, we were increasing the number of demonstrations in front of the Center in solidarity with the incarcerated, in particular when revolts and escape attempts were on the rise. During the time of this work there was a considerable increase in people involved in the struggle, direct actions, sabotage, methods of critique, as well as counter-information (always done in the streets), murals and moments of open confrontation on the occasion of public interventions against those responsible. Incendiary attacks, and not only incendiary ones, have increased as well; against banks that manage the Foundation’s money and against structures involved with the Foundation on other levels. The aspect of struggle least dealt with has without a doubt been the involvement of those most interested in the problem, in other words the immigrants. This has happened in spite of having made a few attempts. This has probably happened as much from our own deficiency in seeking out relations with them, as from their difficult position, which allows them to be easily blackmailed and/or persecuted by the police. The Objective of the Struggle and the Current Situation We do not want CPTs –like jails— to become more humane or respectful of human rights or legality. We simply do not want them. For this reason we want to close the Regina Pacis. Without a doubt this is the principal objective. Despite a few moments of rest, there will be no truce until the this happens. Repression will not cease either and recently it has increased, through searches, charges, investigations, arrests, harassment during demonstrations and micro-GPS tracers in cars. All of this has not weakened the struggle, but rather it has increased the level of confrontation and has put the Regina Pacis Foundation in the middle of a serious controversy. Now we will speak about the current situation. At the beginning of this year the bosses of the local clerical hierarchy declared that they did not want to renew the contract with the Italian state and expressed their desire to transform it into a “Multi-purpose Center for Immigration.” Apart from the fact that such centers do no exist under law, it is important to mention that March 13, the bastard priest, and director, was incarcerated. Already under investigation and with a case in process, he, along with 10 officials, 6 orderlies and 2 doctors, is charged with violence and other acts against a group of North Africans who tried to escape. Now he is under arrest awaiting trial, standing accused of violence, kidnapping and abuse of the means of corrections against four Moldavian women who were incarcerated in a reform center for prostitution in the north of Italy. We don’t believe in the State’s justice and it doesn’t make us happy to see it in process. As anarchists we are against prisons and against torturers. If we didn’t live in this backwards world, the just thing to do with respect to these terrorists would be isolation from the community and social disdain. Apart from this question, at the end of April the dismantling of fences, barbed wire and the CPT’s cameras began. Aside from the incarceration of the priest, which gave the definitive and lethal blow, if the closing of the center is now possible, it is because the costs now outweigh the benefits. Apart from the considerable and noticeable pressure the struggle has put on the church and the foundation, it is important to keep in mind that the bad image they have acquired is as much from the trials as it is from the many escapes and revolts, particularly last summer’s, which unmasked the real nature of the center. Now with this closing, the same role will be assumed by another center that is finishing construction in Bari (the biggest city in the region). This center will be located within the “Finanzen” base—of the Italian military. It will be much harder to escape from there. For this reason one of our goals is to create a coordination of opposition at the regional level. In addition to the larger struggle—at a national level—for over a year Tempi di Guerra (Times of War) has been published, which is a journal specifically for the question we are involved with along with other comrades. All of this because of the intolerable presence of these places and for their total and complete disappearance. For a world without States or borders. Final Considerations We live in an information society. We lack neither ideas nor perspectives. We think that which we lack is a direct practice against that which oppresses us. Practices that consider each question under discussion, along with the world (specific, authoritarian and capitalist) that creates them. Gathering information, analyses that explain it all and also describe the movements of the enemy, get us nowhere and keeps us in the same world in which we now live. Nor does simply enumerating the thousand and one possible forms of resistance change little or anything at all. On the other hand it is a question of finding the mechanism to stop/block them. It is a question of giving a voice to the impatience that exists and give its reasons. It is a question of identifying causes and naming their authors. Doing this, the situation ceases to be inevitable.
Small Update The European Union, which until now has controlled the politics of immigration in a more or less indirect way, will in a few months become more explicit and directly controlling. Last month the members of justice and interior of the European Union agreed to the creation of a system of information and prior warning in the case of important decision concerning immigration such as the naturalization of “illegals,” that could affect other member States. The European Commission has to present a further proposal concerning this.
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