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Leaflets : Solidarity
with the Palestinian insurrection Let’s climb
down from the summit of misery to fan the fires of rebellion Freedom
for anarchist Giorgos Karakasian, hostage of the State of Cyprus Anarchists
on Trial (Old leaflet) STATE TERRORISM
WILL NOT PASS! |
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Solidarity with the Palestinian insurrection The ongoing resistance of the
Palestinian people, particularly by young boys armed with nothing but stones
against one of the best equipped and most efficient armies in the world, has
been a struggle against all the horrors of classical genocide: mass
deportation, concentration camps, indiscriminate massacres, the destruction
of individual houses and whole streets, on the spot shooting, violence, rape,
attacks on the mosques, planned massacres by plain clothes death squads, etc.
The use of lethal poisonous gases, rubber bullets and real bullets with their
daily death toll which no longer makes news, has failed to quell this
rebellion. The media, in the new
democratic world order based on opinion and consensus, have excelled
themselves in their biased reporting of such events, consolidating opinion in
favour of the Israeli State and US interests in the Mediterranean. However,
the Nazi-style project of the physical and cultural extermination of the
Palestinian Arab people can no longer be concealed from the eyes of the world
as bombs, tanks and bulldozers continue to demolish their miserable homes
along with the few social structures they have managed to erect in the open
prison they have been condemned to live in. The cries of indignation that
this has provoked from much of the political leadership of the West has had
little to do with feelings for the Palestinians and a lot to do with fear of
upsetting some of the surrounding Arab States on whom they depend for cheap
supplies of oil. The reaction of some of the young people involved in
the struggle to ward off one of the most highly equipped armies in the world
barehanded is hardly surprising. Surrounded by the stench of death since birth,
some have been recruited by Islamic organizations such as Hamas in order to
take a few equally defenceless Israeli men women and children with them in
the tragic culmination of their short lives. Such events are given maximum
media coverage, not out of any real sympathy for the victims of suicide
attacks, but because they can be exploited politically in favour of the
interests of dominion, fitting perfectly into Bush’s logic of the ‘axis of
evil’ in order to justify State terror on a massive scale. Faced with this reality it is easy to fall prey to the
Manichaean logic of war and side with one or other ‘nation’ en bloc. But if
our solidarity with the oppressed is to be go beyond words or marching behind
national flags, we must make an effort to understand the situation in its
profound social and historical complexity. Only then will we be able to
abandon the role of passive spectator and act with revolutionary solidarity
in a way that refuses the obtuse logic of nationalism, militarism and the
State. Already in 1917 in the Balfour declaration it was
evident that international Zionist interests were far more important than the
fate of ‘70,000 Arabs with all their prejudices’. The occupation of the
Palestinian land and the constitution of a Jewish national party based on
history and religion was about to begin. By 1935 there were already 400.000
Jews to 900.00 Arabs. In 1948 the Israeli State was constituted – clashes and
persecutions began, resulting in a mass exodus of the Arabs. All Jewish
immigrants were promised not only nationality, but also one of the houses
left by the Arabs in their flight. They had the sympathy of the world behind
them following the genocide put into act by the Nazis, and how could it be
otherwise. But behind them were the interests of Zionism and those of US
domination, and dollars were poured into Israel to strengthen the State and
supply an arsenal of weaponry fit for the latter’s role as policeman of the
Mediterranean. Ever since, the colonizers have continued to push the Palestinians
out of their homes and off their land, consigning them to a tiny desert which
has become the most densely populated area in the world. It should be said that many of
the first Jewish immigrants in the land of Israel had ideals of equality
which encountered the desire of the Palestinaian Arabs to share their land as
they had done previously with the Armenians fleeing Turkish persecution. They
did not oppose themselves to the Jews until the occupation took the form of a
Zionist political movement aimed at instating an Israeli State as opposed to
free federated agricultural communities. There still exists today an
opposition in Israel who are against the Zionist project of death in favour
of a kind of libertarian socialism in the Middle East, especially Israel.
They reject the nationalist Israeli State in favour of the class struggle for
free collectivist communities. In fact free federated productive communities
would be the only possible solution for the people of the Middle East. The realization of a desire to
live alongside each other without the State by both Israeli and Palestinian
people would subvert the world order of exploitation and death. The latter
requires a situation of racial hatred and war as the necessary preliminary
for orchestrating a future situation of armed peace along with all the
internal structures required to maintain such a condition. The constitution
of the Palestinian State by the OLP with Arafat as its leader, seen by many
as something positive, did not waste time in baring its true nature in this
sense. A grotesque parody of a State with its Palestinian policemen, courts
and prisons took the place of the Israeli Shin Beth in repressing the
uncontrollable youths of Gaza. Arrests, interrogation, torture and
imprisonment by one-time comrades in arms against the colonizers now the
upholders of order - in the first place in the interests of the Israeli
bosses - has lead to armed resistance within the State of Palestine, mainly
in the form of Hamas, ‘The armed wing of God’, preparing boys for death in
the holy war against the infidels. In spite of all this, the
Intifada which broke out in December 1987, continues unabated. It is to this
mass insurrection that we must give our solidarity by attacking the economic
and political interests of the Israeli State without attacking the Israeli
people. Internationalist revolutionary
solidarity uses simple means such as sabotage, the boycotting of products, or
demonstrations which distinguish themselves clearly from all political
manifestations tinged with nationalism. The language of rebellion
knows no borders, it can strike anywhere, any time. This is what the States are
afraid of. They know that without the consensus of the indifferent their
arsenal of war would become dead weapons. The world has shown its
indifference too long. It is time to express our anger in revolutionary
solidarity with all those in struggle against the State, in particular with
the young Palestinians fighting for their lives. Free hearts For a world without borders. |
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Let’s climb down from the summit of misery to fan the fires of
rebellion Capitalism, a well-tested
system based on the exploitation of human and natural resources, has
successfully been producing wealth for a minority of the world’s population
for a number of centuries. It’s effects are so all-encompassing that it is
hard for most people to imagine that any other social and economic reality
could exist. One of the essential
premises of this system is a condition of unequal development both at
national and world level. Without this, capital would cease to function as
such. It is absurd therefore that occasions such as the UN Earth Summit in
Johannesburg be seen as real attempts to eliminate poverty from the world.
(In fact, they recognize this themselves, admitting that virtually none of
the targets laid out ten years ago in Rio have been achieved.) Governments, the UN and
industry, along with technology and the media, are essential components of
capital. They enjoy the active collaboration of millions of people (voters,
workers) and the passive collaboration of millions of others (unemployed,
emarginated poverty-striken masses). The former are pushed to feel concern
and guilt for the latter, the latter to suffer in silence or beg for charity from
the first. The media, while rendering
some of the worst effects of this system visible, carry on with their
principle task of maintaining consensus. They show capital to have a human
face, and the capacity to alleviate some of the misery and ecological
devastation it has brought about. This has now developed an almost aesthetic
quality, wide-eyed children and their suffering mothers decorating our TV
screens as we gobble up mouthfuls of junk food, swilling them down with Coca
Cola. With the advent of information
technology – which has lead to the disappearance of time and space - the
system has become more refined and has reached global proportions. Investors
have a constant picture of price indexes at world level. This, combined with
new flexible productive forms, has meant that the capitalists can establish
temporary production units wherever costs are lowest, often using unskilled
labour by prisoners or children. Information technology has
led to a situation of production which requires flexible, barely literate
people who are quick to a few learn basic procedures, that’s all. The
collusion of this technology with science has produced an acceleration in
genetic experimentation, resulting in the genetic modification of crops to
add to the already devastating effects of the monocultures that have ruined
the land of so many peasants, leading to widespread economic disaster and
famine. Added to this we have the
reality of militarisation and dominion. In just two decades how many millions
have been massacred, died of hunger, or been forced into refugee camps rife
with disease. Those who can find money to pay the mafia tariffs join the
great mass of immigrants, gambling their lives in search for a new life.
Those who make it to their dream world wake up with a shock to find
themselves cleaning up the shit of the privileged. Many people feel a slight
twinge of discomfort at this situation but don’t want to have their pleasant
lives disturbed by boatloads of desperate unwashed people turning up on their
shores with no return ticket. Some are prepared to sign a small cheque at the
end of each month to ‘develop the third world’ so long as they can leave it
up to circuses like the present summit meeting in Johannesburg to sort out
the problems. But this story is not just
one of resignation and despair, of hypocrisy and false concern. All over the
world there are individuals, men and women, who are fighting the present
system, choosing their own methods of attack with an ideal of freedom and
equality in their hearts. Wary of big, spectacular
actions, this rebellion does not reach the headlines, but continues doggedly
day after day to think for itself and act on reality with dignity and
passion. The incarceration of George Karakasian following events at a demonstration
against the Zionist murderers of the Palestinian people (without doubt
amongst the poorest in the world) should be seen in this light. In fact, no action of
attack, however small, leaves power unaffected. The horizontal spreading of
these attacks is sabotaging the projects of the powerful and uniting the
exploited in a vast conspiracy of the self. So wake up! Palliatives
of power such as the present Summit should be seen as nothing but one more
possible objective: stuff to fire our bad passions and light up the night
skies. Vagabond
hearts of the Cyprus anarchist group |
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Anarchists on Trial While the people of Palestine were being slaughtered
and humiliated the ambassador for Israel in Cyprus was throwing a party to celebrate
the anniversary of the establishment of the terroristic fascistic State of
Israel. Needless to say, the above characteristics define all States. For every fighting person and any person with any human
feelings this was a provocation that could not remain unanswered and a
serious reason for our accumulated rage to be expressed. Not only towards the
Zionist bully but also towards all those who, from all the security of their
life of accomodation, put victims and oppressors on the same level. Anyone
with any kind of dignity was there, not just to show off to public opinion
(as in some cases) but to show that the insurrection against the murderers of
the human race and against everything that oppresses us is a reality. The aim of the arrest of the two comrades Giorgos
Karakasian and Soteris Marangos that night (with the ridiculous accusation of
beating the cops i.e. those who regularly beat up and maltreat people but
have rarely been presented before a court) and the first trials that took
place on 30/05/02 was to scare fighting people and prevent future events such
as those which took place that night ever happening again. The comrades present in court for the parody of a trial
faced the total absence of all those who claim to be progressive and rebellious
but restrict themselves to tiresome speeches. These trials ridicule the
rotten State which while speaking of human rights represses people who truly
fight for human rights. The comrade Giorgos Karakasian received his summons
only sixteen hours before the trial and at the latter he was accused of
crimes which were not included in the summons! After the two comrades denied
the accusations the prosecutor (without even trying to keep up appearances)
asked for the trials to be speeded up. And this is indeed what happened.
While for the other cases in court that day trial was appointed for
approximately three months ahead the comrades were set for trial in only two
weeks' time in order that the matter end quickly and painlessly and to
prevent some people from awakening from the lethargy of their miserable life
which the State offers its citizens with the help of the media. The comrades who are to be judged on 14/06/02 are not
alone because as they themselves know they will surely have the solidarity
that every fighting person deserves. The only thing we can do to challenge to
nightmare in which we are all living is daily and continuous insurrection. NO BORDERS NO
STATE Anarchist group
of Cyprus The trial has now been set for
August 27 2002 |
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Freedom for anarchist Giorgos Karakasian, hostage of the State
of Cyprus 27th August 2002,
anarchist comrade Giorgos Karakasian made his third appearance in court
following a demo outside the Israeli embassy in Nicosia 18th April 2002, on
the occasion of a celebration of the anniversary of the foundation of the
State of Israel,where scuffles broke out between demonstrators and the police
who were protecting the entry of guests to the assassins’ banquet. The accusation is that of
‘beating a cop’ (who happened to be the second in command for the whole of
Cyprus) and causing damage to the car of one of the guests. It was already clear that
this was to be no ordinary trial. Giorgos received his summons
only sixteen hours before the first hearing, at which he was accused of
‘crimes’ which were not included in the original summons. When the comrade
denied the accusations against him the prosecutor asked for the trial to be
speeded up. It was set for two weeks later, (14/06/02) whereas all the other
cases heard that day were postponed for three months. At the subsequent
hearing the trial was set for today, 27th August, due to the
absence of two witnesses. During this time first one, then a second, defence
lawyer abandoned the case as George was not prepared to apologise for his
actions or ask the court for leniency. No other lawyer was prepared to take
up his case. Defending anarchists is not good for business in this banana
republic! In court today George decided to speak alone, without a
lawyer, and to claim responsibility for his actions. He also declared that he
did not recognise the court, and was not going to beg for clemency. The judge
was visibly confused and consternated by the singular individual before him
who, underlining his revolutionary anarchist identity, was for the first time
in the history of Cyprus, claiming responsibility for an act of rebellion
with dignity and pride. The henchman of the State’s immediate reaction was to
have the comrade speedily removed from court and sent to prison for a week
pending sentence, which he has promised will be the maximum for contempt of
court. The date has been set for September 4. All visits have been refused by the prison authorities. Giorgo’s anarchist comrades in Cyprus are giving him
their unconditional solidarity, with all possible means. But, unlike the
State, anarchists know no boundaries. It’s up to comrades everywhere to show
this fucking island full of soldiers and military bases, that another reality
exists: that of the joyous lightness of rebellion. Some comrades of the anarchist group of Cyprus |
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(Old leaflet) While the people of Palestine were being slaughtered
and humiliated the ambassador for Israel in Cyprus was throwing a party to celebrate
the anniversary of the establishment of the terroristic fascistic State of
Israel. Needless to say, the above characteristics define all States. For every fighting person and any person with any human
feelings this was a provocation that could not remain unanswered and a
serious reason for our accumulated rage to be expressed. Not only towards the
Zionist bully but also towards all those who, from all the security of their
life of accomodation, put victims and oppressors on the same level. Anyone
with any kind of dignity was there, not just to show off to public opinion
(as in some cases) but to show that the insurrection against the murderers of
the human race and against everything that oppresses us is a reality. The aim of the arrest of the two comrades Giorgos
Karakasian and Soteris Marangos that night (with the ridiculous accusation of
beating the cops i.e. those who regularly beat up and maltreat people but
have rarely been presented before a court) and the first trials that took
place on 30/05/02 was to scare fighting people and prevent future events such
as those which took place that night ever happening again. The comrades present in court for the parody of a trial
faced the total absence of all those who claim to be progressive and rebellious
but restrict themselves to tiresome speeches. These trials ridicule the
rotten State which while speaking of human rights represses people who truly
fight for human rights. The comrade Giorgos Karakasian received his summons
only sixteen hours before the trial and at the latter he was accused of
crimes which were not included in the summons! After the two comrades denied
the accusations the prosecutor (without even trying to keep up appearances)
asked for the trials to be speeded up. And this is indeed what happened.
While for the other cases in court that day trial was appointed for
approximately three months ahead the comrades were set for trial in only two
weeks' time in order that the matter end quickly and painlessly and to
prevent some people from awakening from the lethargy of their miserable life
which the State offers its citizens with the help of the media. The comrades who are to be judged on 14/06/02 are not
alone because as they themselves know they will surely have the solidarity
that every fighting person deserves. The only thing we can do to challenge to
nightmare in which we are all living is daily and continuous insurrection. NO BORDERS NO
STATE Anarchist group
of Cyprus The trial has now been set
for August 27 2002 |
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Before you begin your holiday basking on
the beaches of this beautiful island, we invite you to read the following: The Cypriot State, while calling itself
democratic, tries in every way to obstruct and prevent each and every kind of
social struggle and the very act of doubting the State itself. At this moment anarchist comrade George
Karakasian has been a hostage in the hands of this State since 27/08/02. The
only ‘crime’ our comrade has committed is that he contested not only the existence
of the State but also it’s logic of passivity, wage slavery, or ‘enclosure’
within the artificial needs required for the preservance and survival not
only of the Cypriot State but of every other State and authority in general. Last
April, a period characterised by the massive and continuous massacre of the
Palestinian people by the Zionist murderers, George Karakasian could not
remain passive. Ignoring the lifestyle that wants people to stay closed
within a personal deadlock characterised by the logic of survival (school,
army, work, retirement, death), he chose daily struggle as a way of life and
as an attitude of personal dignity. The
invitation of the Israeli ambassador, convinced that while massacres of
children were taking place there was no problem in celebrating the
anniversary of the establishment of his bloodthirsty State, fortunately did
not remain unanswered. This time the people’s rage could not be contained by
the forces of order and the inevitable riot police. All
the guard dogs of capital were present, ready as always to protect the
bosses, exploiters and everyone who lives on the backs of the workers who are
trying to survive in harder and harder living conditions. The
imprisoned comrade George Karakasian was presented in court with eight heavy
accusations, three of which are considered to be the most serious. We will
dwell on this subject for a moment, not because we want to ‘justify’ anything
– anyway social struggles cannot in any way be ‘judged’ by so-called
‘bourgeois legality’ – but because we want to show the dirt, hypocrysy and
everything else that the word ‘justice’, the candy they hold in their mouths
every day, stands for. So in order to to destroy the illusions which the law
serves to foster: Charge (1): ‘Causing serious physical
injury to a police officer’: If the symbolic grasp (showing up the
hateful the role of the police present) of the hat of a cop who later talked
in front of the cameras can be called ‘serious physical injury’, then what
can we call the capturing of the comrade by these cops, his being dragged
inside the home of the Israeli ambassador and continually beaten all over his
body by five of them shouting at him ‘fuck your anarchy’. They also injured
his ear by pulling his earring. The extent of his injuries was such that he
was taken to hospital. The democratic procedure did not stop there. When
George Karakasian returned to the hospital next day to take his case card
this had accidentally disappeared… Charge 2: ‘Causing criminal damage to
windscreen of a car belonging to a one of the guests invited to the
celebration’. The ‘gentleman’ in question, who happens to be the manager
of a multinational company and was naturally invited to the celebration of
slaughter, although having been warned warned by the comrade Karakasian to
turn back, tried to drive through the demonstrators with his car!!! As if
that were possible. Anyway, in our opinion, the reason he managed to escape
is that anarchists are not killers or conspirators like the guests!!! Here
the phrase fits: ‘they talk about damage to property while we are talking
about the loss of human lives’. Charge 3: ‘Being in possession of a
explosive device’. This is the ridiculous accusation of possessing an old
bullet which was found when his home was raided. This does not deserve
comment and only shows clearly the revenge of a ‘civilised’ and progressive
State such as Cyprus when it is about to judge social fighters and people
with dignity. We have already clarified that we did are not presenting the
charges in order to justify them. The dignified attitude our comrade held in
the court (something seen for the first time in Cyprus) and the fact that he
did not ask for it to show him any clemency, shows exactly what are the
feelings of anarchists for so-called ‘bourgeois justice’ are. We
as comrades of anarchist George Karakasian feel sorrow of course for the fact
that he is imprisoned by the detestable Cyprus State, but at the same time we
have the joy of knowing that our comrade remains strong and knows the impact
his acts will have in the future in the revolutionary movement of the island
and in future struggles generally. Our
solidarity until the day of the sentence (4/09/02 but which will also
continue later) will take those dimensions it has to, in order that all those
who express the misery of power understand that the attack they have started
against anarchists and all those in struggle will not remain unanswered, that
they will pay for the evil they do. For a free life, a life in which everyone will be able to
enjoy everything through equality and solidarity. FREEDOM TO
ANARCHIST COMRADE GEORGE KARAKASIAN. SOLIDARITY
TO ANARCHIST SOTIRI MARANGO WHO WILL BE JUDGED FOR THE SAME CASE 19/09/02 ANARCHIST GROUP OF
CYPRUS For communication: exegersi2002@yahoo.com |
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STATE TERRORISM WILL NOT PASS! FREEDOM TO ANARCHIST
GEORGE KARAKASIAN! SOLIDARITY WITH
SOTIRIS MARANGOS! September 4, anarchist comrade
George Karakasian was sentenced by the main court of Nicosia, Cyprus, to 7
months prison for ‘assaulting a police officer’ on a demonstration outside
the Israeli ambassador’s home on the occasion of a party to celebrate the
anniversary of the Israeli State on 18/04/02. He was also fined 120 pounds
for ‘possession of an explosive device’ - an old bullet which was found when
his home was raided following the demo. (see previous communications) George had declared in court
that he did not intend to apologise, and that he did not feel guilty for his
actions because the cop is the henchman of authority and Zionism and declared
he was not asking for leniency from the court. He did not mention the fact
that he had been severely beaten following his arrest and taken to hospital
to have his wounds treated, and that the next day his medical case notes
‘disappeared’ from the hospital records. The judge announced that
George supported an ‘ideology of violence’, that the ‘crimes’ he had
committed, were ‘extremely serious’, and that he had no other option but to
send him to jail. This is the first time an anarchist has been on trial in
this island, and it is clear that this is the true reason why the judge had
to keep him in prison. We have no doubt as to who the
real criminals are: judges like Michael Papamichael who dish out years of
prison as though they are sweets; the guard dogs of capital like those on the
demo who unleashed their psychotic violence on those who were present to
express their indignance and disgust at this outrageous feast of death; the
screws and all those involved in the construction and management of prisons;
the media who distort reality, supplying pre-fabricated opinions to maintain
passivity and resignation; the soldiers who obey orders and massacre
defenceless men women and children.. The list is endless. The most beautiful moment is
when the clash against all the things that oppress us expresses our passion
for equality and solidarity. This passion cannot be destroyed. The
insurrectional flame, the will for life, will pass through the rubble of
prisons and courts…. because they don’t capture a free man because they put
him in a cell. Even the most inhuman power of authority is not enough to
erase what we have in us. It cannot crush what we are fighting for, what
pushes us and what we are pushing for, all of us: the social revolution, when
the free expression of human nature won’t be just an abstract concept but
will take life from the same passion that fires us to fight. Freedom for George
Karakasian! Solidarity with
anarchist comrade Sotiris Marangos, whose trial for the same demo with
similar charges continues on September 30! Destroy all prisons! comrades
of the anarchist group of Cyprus. George has been deprived of
his personal belongings George Karakasian Central Prison of Cyprus, Wing
2B 6523, Nicosia, Cyprus. A solidarity account for
George and Sotiris has been opened at the National Bank of Greece in Cyprus,
Limassol agency (540), Account number: 540547441-0. Some info. |
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