STILL ALIVE…
This moment I am in the prison of Larissa after the operation that the Special Anti-Terrorist Police Unit carried out early this morning in the isle “A” of Korydallos prison where I had been transferred for court reasons. The cops invaded the isle and the cell I was in, while I was bed-ridden as I was in hunger strike, after a faint episode I had last night, they pulled me out of prison, they hit me and they threw me into the transport vehicle. I tried to resist as much as I could and at the same time I was demanding to take my personal items (shoes, clothes, medicines, etc.) which never happened. They did not allow me to even take a bottle of water I had in my cell although they were aware of my hunger strike and my burdened health condition. As far as I am concerned, I declare that the regime’s attempt to bend my morals will not work.
“At the moment of dedication, the whole universe conspires to help you”- Johann Wolfgang Goethe
“Those who oppress their desires, they do so, because their desires are so weak, that can be oppressed” – William Blake
First of all my captivity does not in any way mean that I am defeated morally or politically. As long as I stand on my feet and my lungs are able to breath, my values and my principles are not negotiable, because my decision to revolt against authority will not be stopped by dungeons and “exiles”. And this is a promise to all comrades.
It seems though, that my imprisonment alone, as well as my long standing conviction, which has been announced by the police investigation authorities (in the indictment prepared, it is stated that the acts for which I am accused of, seek life sentence) are not enough for the regime. The statists desire to impose on me an unofficial “exile”, apart from the deprivation of my physical freedom. Therefore prosecutor Raikou, instead of ordering my preventive detention in Korydallos Jail, where people arrested in Athens and are awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, she decided to exile me in Larissa jail. An “exile” that aims to:
- Keep me apart from my familiar faces, making visits practically impossible by forcing my relatives to travel enormous distances crossing half the country with the expected financial and physical burden, to be able to see me just for a few minutes behind a window glass.
- Alienate me from the complex and massive file of the case that keeps me imprisoned, as my lawyers are not able to travel to Larissa so as to have frequent and uninterrupted communication with me. Also the very nature of the case file (thousands of pages in electronic form, video, etc.) makes it impossible for me to access it, even after so many months, from Larissa’s prison as there is no proper equipment.
- Facilitate the supervision, control and severe restriction of my contact with comrades who stand in solidarity and other imprisoned anarchists, by trying to isolate me.
Ultimately they are aiming to convict me before the court decision does, in a forgetfulness regime, “forgotten in a depository of defective and human leftovers” …
This practice of authority is not something new. However, its strong imposition by the Greek state was evident during 2010-2011, when dozens of anarchist comrades were arrested and then dispersed in several greek prisons (Grevena, Malandrino, Corfu, Trikala, Komotini, Domokos etc.) while they were facing common accusations for the same cases. A role model to this practice was the anti-rebellion repressive method applied by other states abroad, for example in Spain, with the isolation of the separatist ETA fighters at distances of 700 kilometers from the Basque country so that they cannot have any visits and any form of communication between them.
In my case, the unofficial “exile” (which is not the only one that has taken place recently) seems like and experiment on the authority’s behalf , in view of the adoption of the new correctional Code, since in some way this is a condition for some of its provisions. In particular, authority reopens the exception regime for anarchist prisoners. It has not been many months since the anti-criminal policy secretary, Eftihis Fytrakis of the ministry of justice, declared that “Anarchist prisoners will not be accepted in Korydallos prison”. Today I face my “exile” in Larissa, in the future we’ll see specialized isles for all political and disobedient prisoners. Of course, the experimentation previously mentioned is based on the calculation of our reactions, and especially of the anarchists’ reflexes outside the walls and the solidarity movements to the struggles of the prisoners.
Also, my transfer to Korydallos prison for another court case of mine (arrest in clashes with the police after an anti-memorandum demonstration on 11 May 2011) took place just one day before, and this did not happen accidentally. It is indicative of the fast track procedures they want to apply in my case, as it seems that there are political pressures from high levels of the regime and their “justice” works on demand …
“The moral determination of who attacks and gives up on the structures of power is a perception, a moment in which he perceives the beauty of his comrades and the misery of obedience and submission.” I rebel, therefore i exist ” is a phrase of Camus that never ceases to fascinate me, in a way that only a reason to stay alive could. In a world that presents ethics as an area of power and law, I think there is no other moral dimension than rebellion, risk, and dream. The survival in which we are imprisoned is unfair because it is abusive and disfiguring”
Massimo Passamani
For all these reasons, I REFUSE to passively accept the regime of “exile” and the transfers – abductions in one night. Against these practices I become a 90 degree barrier with my words and actions. As my deep belief is that our actions and attitude should not be orientated in the repression-antirepression dipole, but penetrate every aspect of our being, I wish my struggle will be seen as one more base to attack and open cracks of freedom in the multiple and multiform cells within society – prison. An attack, a result of the rebellion, which, if it doesn’t take place now, it will never be a future option…
The fact that I am a prisoner of war of the greek democracy does not mean that I left my dignity at the prison’s entrance and backed away. On the contrary, in prison, in the yard, in the cell, in the transport van, I carry with me the pure lust for freedom, every gesture of solidarity, every act of revolutionary complicity that lowers the walls of the prison and the decision to fight for anarchy UNTIL THE END.
This is the reason why, I started a hunger strike from 21/02/2018, with a request that my transfer to Korydallos prison will be official and the regime of “exile” in which I am in, will be terminated. The transfer request I had applied since my first week in jail of Larissa was rejected, confirming the decision of the authority to put me in a “political quarantine” in Larissa’s prisons and to “be forgotten” there. But the power and the will for a constant anarchist rebellion is capable of reversing every decision made by those who think they can have power over our lives without consequences. Not a single enemy of freedom stays on the safe side and not a single imprisoned comrade is alone…
I also announce that from tomorrow, Sunday 25/2, I will begin a thirst strike as an escalation to the hunger strike I’m already undergoing. I thank from the heart the thousands of Korydallos prisoners who reminded all of us, today, with their mobilization, that when they hit and treat unfairly one of us it is like hitting all of us. United we will win. Their strength gives me the power to reach to the end in order to win my struggle.
MIND, BODY AND SOUL FOR EVER IN THE STRUGGLE
SOLIDARITY TO ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN GREECE
STRENGTH TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO CHILE AND ITALY
STRENGTH TO ANARCHISTS WHO FACE THE REPRESSIVE OBSESSION OF THE RUSSIAN STATE
THE RIGHT IS ON THE SIDE OF THOSE WHO REBEL
VICTORY TO PRISONERS’ STRUGGLE
AGAINST THE NEW CORRECTIONAL CODE
Konstantinos Giagtzoglou
24/02/2018
*Η μετάφραση του κειμένου έγινε απο το Α/Α Ραδιόφωνο Ραδιοφράγματα.