Letter from Gerasimos Tsakalos, Member of the Cell of Imprisoned Members of the Conspiracy Cells of Fire

From Act For Freedom Now:

We have rage

On the morning of November 1^st we were moving around in the area of Pagkrati in order to act in the framework of the campaign for international solidarity the organization had decided together with comrade and brother P.Argirou. Because, however, of the police-like curiosity of an employee of a courier company, certain personal errors and our being surrounded by the pigs of the DIAS group and other police forces that isolated the area, there was little choice and we were led to the building of GADA (police headquarters building) to the floor of the anti-terrorist police.

Despite the fact that my recognition was immediate, since one of the directors of some department amidst kicks and punches the moment when I was sitting in a stationary position shouted “it’s Makis”, I denied to give my information for the first few hours, with the hope of gaining precious time in order to help my comrades. We refused to have our fingerprints taken, photographs, dna and generally we refused to sign anything or to help in the least these pigs, holding the obvious attitude that every revolutionary should have.

The interrogation began with the usual offensive comments. That were decreased temporarily when they noticed a tattoo that I have with the word “conspiracy”, which made them change their attitude. Knowing that they would try to take photographs to publicize it I sat with my head bent down in order to avoid it. Then pretending that they would transport me to the detention room, they took me out to the corridor of the 12^th floor where, pulling my head, they told me to watch where I’m going. At that time I was photographed by the camera that was in the corridor. It is the photograph that was published after our arrest. So began an interrogation that lasted roughly 3 days which fluctuated depending on what was happening outside. Annoyed by the constant repetition of my answer “I have nothing to declare” they began provoking me again with offenses and provocations about individuals that I knew, or not. The interrogations took place in two rooms, and in one of the two, where I had communication with my lawyer and my mother, an officer of the anti-terrorist informed me the last day that they were both rooms with microphones and cameras.

As for my DNA, after the arrest, my socks were immediately confiscated for the corresponding sample, while even during my transport, while they had my head pressed down, somebody with surgical gloves forcefully pulled hair from my head, again for a DNA sample. Their stress and anxiety increased, seeing our negative attitude to their questions, while at the same time outside the incendiary parcels continued to be delivered to the recipients, according to the plan of the organization. The threats increased, talking of killing me on Imitos mountain and they would throw me from the window in the case that there was a problem with some plane. Obviously they meant the plane that was landed in Italy because of the parcel for Berlusconi.

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The Crisis as Pacification

by Peter Gelderloos
Cascades: Conversations in Crisis

Coming back to the US after four years living abroad, I’ve been surprised to see a proliferation of tent cities, foreclosed home occupations, squatting, university occupations, illegal urban gardening, immigrant solidarity rallies, and anti-police riots from one coast to the other.

On the one hand, there seems to be a country-wide level of resistance, a potential boiling-over, not seen in this country in decades. On the other hand, the collective feeling of being in a revolutionary moment, the emotional reality of participating in a strong and global struggle, seems suspiciously absent. People don’t dare to get their hopes up, when precisely what a struggle needs to have any hope of accomplishing anything is to be bold. Yet the reality of the NGO-style activism to which many people consign themselves, and which has controlled social movements in this country for years, is nothing if not demoralizing.

Many people have pointed out that “crisis is business as usual”, or that crisis is a normal part of the ebbs and flows of capitalism. Another good way to understand crisis is as the pacification of social movements. Capitalism is always exploiting us, and the government is always trying to pull one over on us and increase its powers. Perhaps the most tragic element of the current crisis is how much they have been able to get away with, precisely because we have been pacified.

In Barcelona, where I currently live, the practice of squatting abandoned buildings for housing and social centers has coalesced into a major movement with an evolved ability to defend itself. Nearby in Greece, a deeply rooted anarchist struggle has gained ground time and again in urban land occupations, workers’ movements, immigrant struggles, responses to police brutality, and more.

Contrasting the situation in the US with the situation in those two countries, one can tease out a number of lessons that could be helpful here.