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Title: Hunger Strike Author: Nikos Romanos Date: June 25, 2013 Language: en Topics: Greece, prison, solidarity, insurrection Source: Retrieved on June 29, 2013 from http://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=14731
My [1] reference to the tough struggle of a hunger strike does not
necessarily mean that I would choose to use this specific means, without
stating whether I agree or disagree with the means, as there is no right
or wrong in such situations and everything is disputed and re-examined
again and again.
A hunger strike is the ultimate means of struggle of a revolutionary
individual. Historically it has been used by a wide political spectrum
of fighters held hostage for their subversive action, mainly against
democratic regimes.
From the dead hunger strikers of the r.o. Red Army Faction (RAF) and the
deaths of the fighters of the IRA and ETA, up to the successful hunger
strikes of anarchist comrades such as Christophoros Marinos and Kostas
Kalaremas, the members of Revolutionary Struggle and the CCF. Points in
common can be minimal to non-existent, but there is a decision which
remains the same, “I am fighting to the end.”
This decision has been capable of creating specific blackmail against
the State. Blackmail which, as paradoxical as it might sound, has gained
important power of negotiation because of the dead hunger strikers.
Of course, as we speak of power of negotiation we recognize the
existence of equilibriums within the revolutionary war which are formed
by the social, political and economic conditions of each era and the
polarization that exists between statesmen and revolutionaries. This
does not mean we respect them, the aim we set ourselves is to foil them
and throw them to the rocks. Neither, however, does it mean that we do
not hound them out, locate them and use them to our benefit.
A hunger strike is exactly such a case, where the humanistic façade of
democracy is used in order to achieve the demands of the fighter. A
battle is taking place against the political representation of the
system, democracy, an explosive device which the fighter chooses to
place inside her/his body and go right to the foundations of democratic
cohesion, notifying that in the case of their demand not being met the
explosion that follows will have a chain reaction within democracy.
It’s this notification that must be expressed in multiform ways from the
comrades outside the walls. With a militant strategy that will
definitely adapt itself depending on the circumstances, simultaneously
aiming at the creation of a powerful political cost for every day that
the State does not give in to the demands of the fighter.
Of course all this demands the cancellation of any institutional
mediation and our clear separation from leftist crowns and their
bastards.
Going from theory to practise I am publicly deposit some thoughts around
practices and strategies that can be carried out during this tough and
limited – in time – struggle. Believing that communication between the
hostages and the free comrades must go both ways and not be limited to
theoretical quests but put matters in the only field in which their
effectiveness is tested, in practice.
The visual frame: It functions as a forerunner of war with clear and
aggressive anarchist words, it preserves the struggle of the comrade
within the timeliness and at the same time informs the interested and
the indifferent that no comrade of ours is alone and that as long as the
State does not back down the attack will continue.
The ways: banners, posters, flyers, stencils, fill every corner of the
city, occupations of buildings and radio stations make sure that the
comrade’s struggle is an open wound for the State, interventions and
p.a. systems in central points transmit anarchist perceptions and the
words of the comrade, painting slogans on buses, trams, train wagons,
stations and platforms of the underground, transfer together with the
apathy and stress of the passengers, a clear message, – not a step back,
victory for the struggle of our comrade.
The guerilla actions carried out aim among other things at creating
pressure and causing social tensions and intra-systemic conflicts, the
short-circuiting of social cohesion and the construction of an
increasing intensity which is heading to a very specific target thus
leaving the choice of decompression open to the State, which is none
other than the immediate satisfaction of the comrade’s demands.
The guerilla attacks must be substantial and strategically targeted,
whether we are talking about attacks that will become known because of
their dynamic, or the choice of targets such as politicians and
journalists which will be projected because of the publicity of their
institutional roles. The message remains the same, the comrade’s
struggle.
In the case of diffuse attacks on power it is necessary that the
perpetrators claim the reasons and motives of the action. Next to the
burnt-out ATMs and the government buildings blackened from arson
attacks, slogans of solidarity and flyers inform passers-by that as long
as the State does not retreat the attacks will continue.
This way even those who are indifferent and drowned in moderation will
function as a tool of political pressure, since they will resent a
prospect of insurrection resulting from a state of the many arbitrary
and illegal actions that come to public awareness.
Subversive practices that are interconnected under a common demand and a
common struggle with a clear and not so abstract meaning, gain a greater
dynamic and multiply the intensity of the attacks, creating an explosive
climate. The best and most recent example of the above, are the guerilla
attacks and the political and social dynamic they created after the
State attack on occupations, self-organized spaces and structures of the
movement.
Because every battle carries the possibility of defeat, in the worst
case that the comrade is murdered by the intransigent attitude of the
State mechanism it is necessary to immediately create a counter-balance
which will make the next lot of politicians responsible for managing
similar cases to think very well of the consequences of such a choice.
Targeting individuals who bear a large share of responsibility for the
death of the hunger striker. The torturers-doctors who performed forced
feeding on the hunger strikers (Spain-GRAPO), the reactionary judges who
made a career on the backs of the fighters (Germany- Holger Meine’s
death), the political supervisors, general secretaries, ministers and
their pack of hounds were and are a target. All this experience is a
part of the revolutionary history which should not repeated like a
farce, but with even more passion for freedom and more hate against our
enemies.
Anarchist K.Sakkas [2] has begun a hunger strike as of 4/6 demanding his
immediate release. The reason is the vengeful extension of his pre-trial
detention to 36 months, that is three whole years in custody. The
vengeful treatment and arbitrariness of the State does not surprise us,
nor should we call for a return to their legality.
Let’s not forget that we live in a world where the military operations,
bombings and ethnic cleansing of invasive wars by the empires are taking
place in the name of peace, along with the exterminating condemnation of
people to the slow death of prison, in the name of a bloodthirsty and
petty justice and an even more petty society.
By using their own contradictions and exploiting their weaknesses a
chance is given to fight a decisive battle for the liberation of an
anarchist comrade. At this point it is important to mention that the
guerilla of the CCF Gerasimos Tsakalos is under the same regime of
special captivity.
The conclusion we draw therefore from this oppressive choice of the
State is that decisive individuals can cause important wounds to the
State mechanism. To such a degree that the latter prefer to take on the
political cost of illegal detainment, a State choice that creates cracks
the façade of “humanism” and justice that they claim.
It is a fact that the State will push the situation to the extreme,
aiming at the physical burnout of the fighter in order to shake his
resolve.
We shall rise up against the extermination of our comrade. With every
means and all standing next to the comrade.
CONSTANT ATTACK FOR THE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST KOSTAS SAKKAS
EVERYTHING FOR FREEDOM
LONG LIVE ANARCHY
P.S. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the reason I am not
abstaining from prison food is because I do not eat the prison food and
take care of my food (cooking etc.) myself. To claim therefore that I am
abstaining from prison food would be hypocritical and a conscious deceit
of the comrades who would read such a thing and have a false impression.
For the comrades who eat the prison food it can be a deprivation but in
any other case it is abstract and without substance.
Avlona Prisons
June 2013
Nikos Romanos
[1] The author is one of four anarchists (Dimitris Politis, Yannis
Michailidis, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos) arrested in Febbruary 2013,
accused in the Velventos-Kozani (Greece) robbery case.
[2] Kostas is an anarchist prisoner that currently stands two trials
underway against the R.O. CCF, although he has denied his participation
in the same anarchist urban guerrilla group from the moment of his
arrest (December 2010.). The comrade has been kept in pretrial
incarceration 30 months already. Recently, the State prolonged his
pretrial incarceration for another 6 months (and applied the same
measure against anarchist Gerasimos Tsakalos, admitted member of the
R.O. CCF). Anarchist Kostas Sakkas is on hunger strike from the 4^(th)
of June 2013 protesting the extension of his pre-trial detention, and
demanding his immediate release from prison.