The Question of Dignity

“And one day I will tell you how much I loved you, but you will have to find me personally.
Like the executioner… I watered the roses of compassion in their sleep I, an ill man by belief, a genius of misery (who blew his brains out once for a better era) and maybe our tears go further than dreams.
As it got dark I had to find all my innocence again in order for the stars to be there on time.
And usually we kill the present with fear or guilt but mostly with dreams.” — Tasos Livaditis

The purpose of this text is to build bridges of communication with all comrades who maintain the choice of destruction, to give life to my thoughts and contemplations which through these lines travel and meet with people like me who believe that only through continuous struggle can we win back our lives on our own terms. A continuous struggle expressed in a thousand different ways directed to one cause. With enraged voices and clashes in the protests, pen and paper on which are written dangerous thoughts, discussions and confidences with which life relations are built, weapons, bombs and fire which avenge a whole world that threw us into the void. A desperate journey of freedom with comrades, the stubbornness and “craziness” of all those who decided to risk and walk against the possibilities, conquering their own fate. In this journey, the individuality is the core around which the liberatory struggle is structured, being the spiritual base upon which radical intentions are collectivized, it must decline the logics of authenticity and be left in the storm of great internal transformations which are externalized through development into action. Knowing that we are infested by the remnants of a sick world the internal clashes taking place in the wild journey of our lives are battles against the daily pulsations we receive living in hostile environments. Our contempt for conventions we are made to make in order to survive, the mental anguish of lurking dead-ends, the war against fear, the harsh realization that in the end the world of struggle is not as “clean” as it may want to appear. Because anarchists are neither soldiers that sacrifice themselves for a cause, nor the gatekeepers of an alleged subjective truth imposed as the only objective one. Away from me! oh revolutionary marketers and formulators of the toughest, “meanest”, and most revolutionary!

A few words concerning the new prosecutions

A while ago I was called to appear before the inquisitors Mokas-Nikolopoulos in order to testify for a new case based on the findings from houses the cops raided following our arrests. This case concerns our participation in incendiary attacks and bank robberies based on “matched” DNA and alleged recognitions by bank employees As for me I am not accused of any of the bank robberies but only of the incendiary attacks by FAI-Fires on the Horizon, FAI-Unit Fire to the Galleys, Flaming Shadows and Militant Minority. At the same time, based on a fingerprint of mine on a beer bottle in the house producing new prosecutions in Halandri, a new indictment is formulated against me and I am detained (since I did not appear before the interrogators to testify) for a 4^th time (*) for the three bomb attacks of the CCF (Katseli, Hinofotis, Macedonia and Thrace ministry). In recent years the Greek state has inaugurated a new repressive tactic against anarchist hostages. It dissects the cases, always formulating new indictments in order to secure the most and longest convictions it can from each case so that they prolong our stay in prison to the maximum. Besides, right now we are held with triple, quadruple and up to six detentions. Thus, on one hand lengthy imprisonment without trial is applied in practice, overcoming past legal obstacles, and on the other our penal extermination is being prepared with dozens of years of prison from each case. It is precisely on this fact, that is to say, the toughening of penal repression that it is important to insist on our anarchist practices, avoiding the trap of claiming our rights and our legal obligations towards the State. Furthermore, as in any anarchist action, the value of choice clashes with the consequences, opening anti-institutional ruptures in the social machine. An important exception is when possibilities of immediate liberation erupt, where strategic artifices towards the enemy overcome the political defeat of a lengthy political defeatism. The state sees that despite our captivity we are not willing to raise the white flag, nor to round up our intentions and continue to support and promote the violent attack against it inside and outside the walls, without a trace of remorse. Therefore, based on this decision of ours, it continues its repressive attack, adjusting the means it uses. From the hunt by the anti-terrorist forces and the cops, to the anti-terrorist persecutions, the thousands of pages of indictments, the special courtrooms and soon the special conditions of incarceration. From the police to the upgraded penal oppression. State repression, that is to say its choice to spread fear in any possible way, gains ground only when it is up against apathy and resignation. These are the choices that are afforded to the cowardly and stupid allies of the authoritarian complex. This is why capitalist society feeds with its bloodsucking values, the unable, the avaricious and the hypocritical, drowning in the confusion and narcissism of the modern world. This is exactly why we reaffirm the intensity of the struggle through which free emotions are born and human relations relieved (to the degree possible) from the dominant culture. Thus I believe that even as hostages we must not stop producing aggressive anarchist resonance, discrediting the judicial parodies, communicating our thoughts promoting the anarchist solidarity expressed by the comrades outside the walls. The repression will only win if we resign from the battle against the authoritarian complex. Besides we are not seeking a path of discreet disengagement from the war against authority, if we desired something like that the only thing sure is that the State, seeking our “rehabilitation”, would happily offer it to us. The only thing we seek are ways out of the spot of each battle. In order to continue inexorably the struggle against the social system. Beyond the political conclusions of each one, the only sure thing is that any comrade’s desire to actively get involved in the anarchist struggle, should study the mistakes made and they should be a step ahead of the enemy, planning their next moves very carefully and precisely. Avoiding as much as possible hasty moves without however going into inactivity. Because those who find themselves in the belly of Leviathan and desire to hold on steadfastly to their values must spit blood in order to make it open its mouth. The only thing certain is that the era of State tolerance has ended.

Responsibility claim – Speaking with actions…

Returning to the specific matter of the text, concerning the new prosecutions and my summons. My attitude towards the interrogators was, is and will be the same and unchanged. I refuse to open a dialogue with the judicial mafia, I refuse to apologize to my executioners. An attitude that spits in the face of the authority of their suits and insists that the struggle through the bonds of captivity continues. Their repression will always find our revolutionized consciences an obstacle, our insurrection will conquer the fear, chaos and anarchy are inevitable. I take political responsibility for my participation in the anarchist incendiary groups FAI-Fires on the Horizon, FAI-Unit Fire to the Galleys, and Militant Minority. The aim of these specific anarchist groups was to contribute to the spreading of revolutionary violence and show that there can be action even with the most simple means accessible to anyone. As long as there is will and intention to attack your oppressors. A responsibility claim is for me a way to continue to speak with actions through the bonds of captivity, to defend anarchist incendiary action as an inseparable part of the multiform struggle and to give life again to texts written in spaces wanted by law and order, together with beautiful plans and much hope. Texts which for me carry a piece of myself from my path in anarchist clandestinity and which I consider worthy of defending politically in the present condition. Besides that however, the choice of political responsibility has also some political aims of considerable importance. First of all its aim is to raise a protective wall around comrades and loved ones blocking the vengeful spreading of persecutions for participation in the above groups on the pretext that the case remains unsolved. Something that has happened to a degree since many of my comrades are included as accused for participation in these groups. Therefore, specifically and beyond the political responsibility of my participation I also take penal responsibility for the incendiary attacks, based on which an indictment has been formed, on the municipal police station of Kypseli, the investment company Trastor and the house of ex minister of Economy and National Defence Giannos Papandoniou. With a simple study of the evidence in the indictment it is obvious that these specific actions were carried out by only one individual. The videos as well as the testimonies of all witnesses in each of these cases refer to one individual, which is me, something that proves my claim. Just as I take responsibility for the above attacks, I clarify that I did not participate in the arson of the vehicle of the ETHEL bus company or the incendiary attacks carried out by the Flaming Shadows. The reason I am publicly speaking about this is that I believe that it is important to reveal the way the police authorities are using this new form of repression through DNA in order to incriminate comrades – captive and not – creating an industry of prosecutions based on the authenticity of scientific-looking objectivity of DNA. It is obvious that my public refusal has nothing to do with avoiding criminal responsibilities since its happening simultaneously with my responsibility claim for attacks against power. My target is to create a clean legacy, in order to show the way that cops plant their magic scientific seed so they can pursue anarchists as long as the police knows their identity and wants to target them. With blatant examples the conviction of comrades Tasos Theofilou and Babis Tsilianidis, but also the prosecution against wanted comrade Nikos Maziotis for a bank robbery. In conclusion, answering in advance to an eventual critique that disagrees with a responsibility claim, maintaining that in this way you are playing the game of the cops by entering the process of answering for every prosecution. I have to say that one of the reasons for a responsibility claim is to hit back at trumped up prosecutions, taking at the same time responsibility for actions apportioned to me and which I am prepared to defend.

For the actions that happened…

The action of FAI-Fires on the Horizon began with sabotage on tram lines in solidarity with the then hunger strikes taking place in the prisons and continued with incendiary attacks on State and capitalist targets, always in solidarity with hostage anarchists. The action of FAI-Unit Fire to the Galleys consists of one incendiary attempt on a company which was a minimal reply to the isolation imposed on anarchist Socratis Tzifkas because he refused to cooperate during a cavity search in Diavata prisons. The action of Militant Minority exclusively targeted the individual property of enemies of freedom. My aim was to show that the enemy lies not only in the representations of power, but has a name and address, attacking people who with their choices are on the side of counter-revolution and showing that with simple and accessible means you can return a piece of the terror we receive, to their homes. Militant Minority aimed at the houses and vehicles of politicians (Maria Kaltsa, Giannos Papandoniou,) journalists, in cooperation with comrades from the Circles of Offenders, (Giorgos Economeas, Petros Karsiotis, Antonis Liaros, Christos Konstas, Antonis Skylakos) and a fascist that participated in pogroms against immigrants. The fires it lit were always in complicity with all hostage anarchists, wanting to melt the ice of incarceration and warm their hearts. Logically, responsibility claims also reflect a part of my perceptions and their course towards new paths of subversive thought. I believe that the action of these specific incendiary groups contributed to the unstoppable course of anarchist insurrection. Incendiary attacks are an inseparable part of the struggle because they are easy to carry out by new comrades, keep the fire of belligerent hostilities burning and contribute to the spreading of anarchist violence. They add their own pebbles to the continuation of the anarchist urban guerilla and cause trouble to the smooth running of the system. Of course arsons must occur in relation with all the expressions of anarchist violence (bomb attacks, political executions, violent mass clashes, raiding excursions), in order to create a common uncontrollable and dangerous front for action, which sets the total destruction of the existent as its only limit. My insurrection against the constant crime of authoritarian civilization on our lives, did not begin with, neither was it limited to, the activity of the above groups. Stagnation is condemned to die by the world of speed. Evolution means critical thought, ideological unfettering from all dogmas, continuous action, experimentation, creation and destruction. The only commitment around which the most absolute of decisions is unravelled is non other than the struggle for the anarchist revolution until the dawn of our era, until the end. Closing the part concerning the responsibility claim, it is important to mention the mistake I made by leaving the USB stick in the house I lived in and not destroying it in time. Believing naively that the bad moment won’t come immediately and postponing for tomorrow what I could do immediately. This is my position concerning the new cycle of prosecutions against us.

“The struggles for liberation are different paths, which converge in one battle. A fire of warm emotions burns in the gut. In the coercive movement of this era, which runs with great speed, the mesh of oppression – repression becomes unrelentingly smothering. But their weapons, their therapies are fear.” (Adriano Antonacci)

Scattered thoughts surrounding the belligerence of today…

Closing this text I would like to comment on some things concerning the current status quo. Therefore I am looking for words to successfully describe the main characteristics of this monstrosity. Total social control of bodies and minds. Economic crisis, techno-scientific plague, police and military operations, clashes of geo-political interests, diplomatic incidents, generalized unrest, raw violence, diffused confusion and mass disorientation. We are at a critical point of the historical zeitgeist, many analyses have been publicized about the way in which the state is restructuring and fortifying at all levels, as well as the tendency of capitalism to spread its militarization beyond the exploited territories of the third world to the interior of the metropolises, in this way responding to the political instability which is spreading rapidly. Besides the different words and the deviation of some points of view there is a coercion of perceptions concerning the severity of our times. The problem is that even so we are unable to rise to the occasions and challenges of this time and remain trapped in perceptions that feed the cycle of inactivity and introversion. Personally I believe that it is necessary for us to organize through networks and fronts of action which will be coordinated based on minimal political agreements promoting campaigns of multiform action against the spearheads of modern tyranny and answering commensurately to the repressive attacks. By abolishing the bureaucracy of central organization we arm our initiatives and we coil or create fronts for action where we see it necessary. Whether it concerns current matters. (i.e. C type prisons) or thematics of the wider anarchist struggle (i.e. antifascism). In the attempt to break the circle of self-reference we must try to connect all the fires lit against civilization, from militant protests, assemblies and clashes up to armed attacks, a revolutionary attempt for the spreading of militant anarchy. Because what unites us is more than what divides us and since our aim is none other then the full frontal attack on the system, all attempts that are carried out independently of political tension must connect under the vision of absolute freedom. This of course does not retract our critique on incidents, it simply confirms that when critique is combined with dynamic interventions it is more effective because it aims at the spread of revolutionary thought to those who diverge from the dominant dogmas and are seeking ways of clashing with the existent. Placing thus the prospect of connecting our desires in unions of free individualities that collectivize heading towards the chaotic paths of creative destruction. In this attempt we must politically clash with the hysterical reactions of the reformist wing of the anarchist movement that rushes to sign legitimacy certificates to the State. Remembering the political competitiveness of the most intense condemnation from the parliamentary parties after each armed revolutionary action. We have seen written by “anarchist” spaces, phrases such as terrorists and murderers, reproducing the language and arguments of power. It seems that it is not only power that is terrorized but also the reformist wing of the anarchist movement that fears maybe “their shops will be flooded”. It seems that all these prefer the role of the eternal victim, a political masochism that is aroused by taking photos of beaten faces and stabbed bodies from the attacks of the fascists and cops. To conclude, multiform struggle means struggle by all means, nothing more, nothing less. Whoever is not shocked by the thousands of suicides of the economic war in times of “peace”, the drowned immigrants at the sea borders, the torn bodies of the people caught up in the expansion wars of the capitalist superpowers, the animals that are skinned alive inside the multinational industries, the murderous violence of the police, by everything happening in this system, and is shocked – for example – by the bodies of two fascists, that is their problem. The revolution is a constant war for a slave-less life which despite whatever temporary retreats, does not stop fighting and opening ways for our small and big raids. It is not pleasant strolls under the influence of alcohol in order to be obsequious to an invisible ghost called capitalist society. Besides, there are many student magicians of political deceit, more skilled and with more gifts. The above also has the aim of showing that opposing poles between new and old anarchy is false and the only real current question is either with the revolutionaries who fight or with the charlatans of conventionalism. Anarchy therefore that fights is separated from this perversion and transfers its rage to every corner of the world. The rage expressed in the forceful voices in a solidarity protest, the fire that torches the temples of money and symbols of wealth, the personal attacks on State officials and their armed dogs, the ruins left behind by a mechanism that exploded at one of the bases of the ruling class.

We continue all together, free, wanted and hostages, the struggle for the destruction of capitalist society.

Signals of solidarity, insurrection and love To all the comrades and friends of the Network of Fighter Prisoners.
To the Italian anarchists for the upcoming week of international solidarity (16–24 May)
To anarchist fighter Claudio Lavazza, Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar.
The comrades from the security case and to Tamara Sol.
To unrepentant saboteur Marco Camenisch.
To every imprisoned anarchist at every corner of the world who I unwillingly forgot.
With my mind on all the anarchists on the run.
Strength to all those who arm their refusal against the system.
Honour for ever to Sebastian Oversluij who fell while fighting during a bank robbery.
Honour for ever to all those who died in the revolutionary war.
Long Live Anarchy!

Nikos Romanos, May 2014

P.S. “What I do not have is a white shirt. What I do not have is a secret in the bank. What I do not have is your guns, so I can conquer the sky, so I can win the sun. What I do not have is to come out clean. What I do not have is what I do not lack. What I do not have is your words so I can conquer the sky, so I can win the sun. What I do not have is a clock that goes forward, so I can go faster than time and be at a distance. What I do not have is a rusty train to take me back to where I began. What I do not have is a gold tooth. What I do not have is a nice dinner. What I do not have is a large field to run faster than melancholy. What I do not have is my hands on your body. What I do not have is an address in my pocket. What I do not have is you by my side. What I do not have is to fool you in the game. What I do not have is a white shirt. What I do not have is to come out clean. What I do not have is your guns, so I can conquer the sky, so I can win the sun. what I do not have is…” (Fabrizio de Andre ‘What I do not have’) - Dedicated to Italian anarchist Adriano Antonacci who is accused of incendiary attacks against techno-science and the rape of nature and will soon be tried via video link.