International
Symposium on Prisons, Istanbul, 26-27 April 2014-05-06
Speech by the
Committee for a Proletarian Red Aid
– PCm Italia
Overcrowding,
unpunished beating
and violence by the guards, repeated case of homicide in custody e
almost a suicide a day. That is the situation the prisoners suffer in
Italy. So that the Council of European is opening a case of
infringement against Italy for violation of
Human right.
If that is the general
situation of prisoners in Italy, that of political prisoners is even
harder.
There are not F-Type
prisons in Italy. But against the political prisoner they exercise
the same of isolation, alienation, physical and psychological
tortures to make them surrender, under the name of art. 41 bis.
Among the political
prisoners we can distinguish: prisoners of
armed struggle organizations who did not repent, members of Red
Brigades, of the PC p-m, anarchist charged with armed actions;
strugglers of mass movements against big projects devastating
territories, mainly the large mass and people’s resistance against
the Hi-speed railway project at border with France (known as NO-TAV
movement); young rebels who fought in streets against the police in
national mass demonstrations, particularly that of the 15 October
2012.
All these are
persecuted in the name of “antiterrorist laws”, and the most
suffer the isolation and the harder condition of detention called
art. 41 bis.
There are different
organizations in the
country associations
which that exist who defend
each of these
types of prisoners,
all are in
solidarity together and
sometimes they coordinate
for some joint
campaigns, but
still they are not united in a common
organized platform that
organizes and
defend all
and, more important, expand the solidarity beyond that
of closer “family, friends and
comrades”.
To build this kind
of unity and structure
is exactly the
goal of work, an organization that puts into the practice the concept
that “if they hit one they hit all of us”. It is what we call
Proletarian Red Aid, for which we strive for long time.
Because we are
well aware that only
this type
of structure can provide
an effective defense of
prisoners, no matter the political
positions of this or that prisoner.
Our humble
experience has shown that we could get
partial but concrete results only when could unite and mobilize
people far beyond our ranks. It is possible and we could stop or at
least hinder the witch-hunts, monitor and improve the conditions of
detention and even, in one case, gain the release of a comrade, as
long as we mobilized masses and forces far beyond our ranks.
All this and anything else
is needed and useful today can only be achieved on the base of a
larger, organised and unified platform and, more important, a mass
platform.
To achieve this
we do not need to
dilute the revolutionary
identity of the
prisoners or
reduce them into cases
of violation
of human
rights, to win sympathy and support from
“democrats”, but
rather to
present them in their
true nature hostages of
ruling classes, a
warning against all
and every
people’s movement and
resistance. We should diversify
our counter-information on all aspect
of their struggle and
condition to
solicit and
put together all the different energies,
sensitive to this or
that aspect, even
very distant
from each other but
that can be organized
in a general
campaign and
in a
common platform. It is also decisive to
link this battle with the general struggle against the repression on
people’s movement and mass struggles, whose vanguard are equally
branded as “terrorist”, criminalized and threatened of
imprisonment.
This way, we can
call the masses to defend the political
prisoners not only because they fought the State for a good reason or
they suffer inhumane treatment but as a part of a common battle who
are paying a cost for all of us.
As the call for
Symposium said, As it
says in the appeal
of the symposium,
the battle for the
defense of political prisoners
is international
by nature and
great is
the role and the impact
that international solidarity
can have in
each country. For
this reason, an
important part of the
work for a Proletarian
Red Aid rescue have
been campaigns and initiatives of
international solidarity.
From historical
campaigns to
defend the live of Chairman Gonzalo of PCP, to the more recent
in solidarity with the
Turkish revolutionary
Bahar Omyungur,
arrested in Italy, and the demo at the Turkish
consulate in Milan for
the anniversary of the massacre
of 19th
December, through the campaign of solidarity
with George Ibrahim
Abdallah, detained in
France, with the young
Maoists imprisoned in Morocco,
with militants of
ETA and
IRA, with those of
GRAPO in
Spain, until the latest
and most recent and
important: the
International Day for
the unconditional release
of political prisoners in
India, called by
the International Committee to Support the People’s War in India
and realized in dozens of countries around the world,
to which we
have contributed.
If
all political prisoners
in the world has in common the struggle for
a society without
exploiting classes, by
which they are held hostage,
then it is clear that
an important
place in our action
and mobilization
should be reserved
for the defense
of the prisoners of
the most advanced revolutionary
struggle today
in the world, that develops in India.
The situation
in India is
exceptional. The
Indian regime
and imperialism have
transformed an
entire subcontinent
into a prison house for
all the
people’s movements. In
the name of maximum
profit, entire
populations are
threatened with deportation
and their
very existence is put
at risk
by a generalized
war on the people. This
situation requires an
exceptional response, as
the next international
delegation that
will travel to
India to demand an end
to the war on
the people, OGH,
the end of the persecution
and mass
imprisonment of
adivasis, dalits,
women, struggling,
national minorities,
communists.
We call to take contact
with the International
committee to help as
possible this
challenging enterprise.
In conclusion, from
Italy we are ready to
support, coordinate
and organize
to implement
all the proposals that
will come from the
symposium, and hope it
helps us to
advance to the
coordination and expansion
of international
solidarity with the
prisoners.
Political prisoners
in every part of
the world are not
alone!
Let us unite
and struggle for their freedom
everywhere!
Commissione per un Soccorso Rosso
Proletario Italy
Istanbul 26 April 2014
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