Autonomy
Communiqué of Gabriel Pombo da Silva - August 2005, Aachen
Introduction
Dear comrades,
given that the trial of Aachen has passed by far the limits of our patience and that the farce got a spectacular and “circus-like” dimension, I see myself obliged to bring forth a brief summary of what we all lived through till this day... Of course the comrades present here will cover all this in more detail and depth in a Dossier.
“THE SOLIDARITY”
Before beginning I want to express my affection and revolutionary complicity with all the comrades who have travelled from all points of Europe to be present and show their SOLIDARITY... Comrades who have filled our hearts with warmth in the icy tribunal room... Comrades who had to endure humiliating searches and controls of all types... Comrades who have been filmed on video, got their personal data registered in files which were later sent to repressive organisms... Comrades who have been sentenced to economical fines (or to imprisonment) and evicted from the court room as the solidari@s of the 20th of April or of the 25th of August when they were also dragged out by force and with police violence.
And also to the comrades during the solidarity days of the 13th till the 19th of March followed up in different cities in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc.
A brotherly embrace also for the SOLIDARITY of the groups of the F.A.I. in Italy and other comrades impassioned with the insurrectionalist revolt... And let’s not forget the 4th of May when many comrades in many parts of the world took the streets... A SOLIDARITY so beautiful and revolutionary, so full of love and struggle, demonstrating to ourselves that our project and affinity are neither a “utopia” nor a “nice theory” that it dies buried by “walls”, “borders” and/ or windbags... Nobody can detain that which is inevitable, that which depends on ourselves, on our will and our passion!!
It is my desire that this SOLIDARITY extends to all imprisoned comrades in the world... i have in mind proper names not from the past but from this century who suffer from the isolation imposed upon them not so much by our natural enemies but sadly enough by a good part of the movement that calls itself “anarchist”... In the “movement” sometimes “adjectives” are used as “the Marini case”, “the O.R.A.I. case, “the four of Córdoba”, “those of Valencia, “the five of Barcelona”, “Operation Black Out”, “Operation Croce Nera”, etc. Of course it is a way of talking to know what we are talking about when we communicate, but sometimes it is also “a way of understanding” (interpreting) that which is happening within the movement... With this I want to say that we are not isolated cases (we are “isolated” by those who have an interest in it) but conscious rebels (consequent anarchists) who do not wait for the “miracle” of the arousing up of masses who have nothing revolutionary, but we join the collectivities and individuals who do not ask permission to be free and oppose all authority... One time we accompany the revolt, the other time we provoke it...
We have rejected the “reformism” and the “defence” of “all and everything” by the “Humanists” and “Mystics” who believe and think that the State and its institutions are things that can be “improved” “gradually” by the action of the “masses”... We are some who believe that the moment has come to attack and destroy what doesn’t serve us and to the contrary enslaves and destroys. In contrast with the concept of the Masses, we propose that of the Community of conscious individuals who do not search a centre... a Community of groups and individuals “at the margin” and “against” the project of Dominion in all its aspects: economical, technological, political, social, architectural, etc.
“Resistence and Attaque!!”
Comrades, let’s not waste time and energy in discussions with those who live of words and for words, ours is the Action!!
Let’s make that our own existences and desires are expressed by means of our acts and actions!! Let us join and demonstrate our solidarity and complicity with those who arouse our sympathy and who do not let themselves be governed, exploited prostituted and domesticated by the diverse powers of the State, its institutions and Capital.
As I said, we are not “cases” and even less “vanguards” but rebels and revolutionaries in struggle against Dominion and Domination... And as Rebels and Revolutionaries we carry each other in our hearts and our acts/actions...
Short time ago I read a very interesting book of Miguel Amorós (editor: Muturreko Barutazloak) titled “Las Armas de la crítica”. One of the articles: “Technology and the dissolution of classes” is one of the best I have recently been reading (and without too much intellectual jerking-of) about this question. But the entire book is very interesting (let’s say “booklet” because unfortunately it only contains 104 pages). As important as action are reading, discussions, meetings, exchanges of texts, experiences, etc, etc. We don’t have to take as a fact that the circumstances and forms of understanding the struggles are “identical” in all states. Of course, our relations (formal or informal) are based on the reciprocal acquaintances between individuals and affinity groups, but this doesn’t mean that the political-social-etc conditions, circumstances and discussions (experiences) of every “nation” and in extension “movement” (“knowledge”, “consciousness”, “practices”) are identical... Therefore the job of translating and distributing “interesting” texts in different languages is very appreciated and necessary... I have become conscious of this fact (of its importance) when I came in contact and took part in political discussions with comrades of “northern Europe”. This is no “criticism” - please, I do not want to confuse things and be misunderstood - but a reality which hampers the theoretical understanding and thus the extension of our project...
We want, we desire the same as all those who desperately love freedom and do not want to wait “in resignation” for I don’t no which type of “revolutionary subject” and/or objective-subjective condition”...
As in the “prehistory” of the “Working Class Movement” at the congress of the A.I.T. rose the _expression-concept of “the revolution will be the work of the working class movement or will not be”, today we have to say the same only without this “revolutionary subject”... It might be: “the insurrection will be the work of the insurrectionalists or will not be”!! Or, if you want, the revolt; because there is no revolution without insurrection, and neither is there an insurrection which is not preceded by an accumulation of revolts. This “graveyard peace” can only be disturbed when we “amongst ourselves” are capable to create a revolutionary consciousness which doesn’t reside (at least not in western Europe) in a “working class” as in the old days but in “something” which we all together still have to clarify...
“The PLOT of Aachen”
I return to the theme of our trial in Aachen.
It’s clear it is all about our desire to keep our freedom, but in the hands of the different authorities and “mass-mierda” it has all changed in a repugnant spectacle and theatre...
Remember that the first “official investigations” talked (Interpol-Madrid) about contacts with ETA and the “International Anarchist Movement” (??). From the side of the Germans (B.K.A. y L.K.A.), they talked about a Gang of dangerous raiders known as “Gentlemen” presumably responsible for 14 bank robberies. They also talked about contacts with members of the “radical left” (se referring to two comrades of Red Help Dresden who, when informed about our detention, asked for a visiting permission) with whom we would plan to rob some banks and weapon shops in the city mentioned.
OK, this is in great strokes the police frame up, reproduced and exaggerated by the sensationalist press. And of course, I almost forgot, the I-don’t-know-how-many murder attempts of police men which also proved to be another police fantasy...
What remains of all this? An escape which escalated and ended after detaining two persons and robbing a car followed by a traffic accident. And the attempt to charge José with an expropriation of a bank and my sister with “complicity” in this. From the beginning, José and me took all the responsibility for the events which took place in Aachen. As well the witnesses as the “hostages” confirmed our version that as well Bart as my sister didn’t participate in any illegal act whatsoever (don’t forget that my sister suffered four months in prison and that Bart continues to be in custody till today)....
Really outrageous is the fact that the tribunal persists in its obstinacy to not hear the witnesses of the defence: human rights organisations, specialists in tortured people, reports about the F.I.E.S., etc. ... even when the judge “Dr. Nohl” who presides the Tribunal said in one of the sessions (sic) “don’t worry, all matters will be treated here”... Obviously, just another lie... Silence, “security measures”, arrogance and mistreatment... That is all what he have received as “defence”...
In short, comrades, I couldn’t expect much from a bourgeois legality which didn’t even take care to keep up the appearances... And I want that all know this and make up their own conclusions... Protesting is “the minimum” what one can do when a comrade is imprisoned...
And I leave it for now, cause my fingers are painful from writing and I have some more “work” waiting. These letters are a handful of considerations that I wanted to share with you all... A way to keep the spark alive... the promethean fire of the Rebellion...
My thoughts and my heart are with all of you, although the judge wants to keep me/us isolated in his Tribunal and the screws want to keep me/us in their prisons...
Words for the social war
Viva la Anarquía!!
Gabriel