March 2005
1) Supporters of the Iraqi people s liberation struggle to build
an int l network 2) Yesterday in Italy, today in Iraq the same crimes, the same resistance
3) Medical aid sent, funded by 10 Euro campaign for the Iraqi Resistance 4) Austrian human
rights activist arrested in Turkey, accused of DHKP/C membership 5) Release Avni and
Zeynep, Turkish political prisoners in Italy 6) The tsunami and the Acehnese liberation
struggle ***
1) Supporters of the Iraqi people s liberation struggle to build an international network Int l conference in solidarity with the Iraqi Resistance scheduled Representatives of solidarity groups from Europe and the Middle East gathered on Sunday, February 13 in Frankfurt, Germany to discuss ways on how to step up the campaign in defence of the Iraqi people s right to national self-determination and in support of the Iraqi Resistance. Supportive forces from Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, England, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands as well as from Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon were present. Another dozen groups who could not attend sent their message of support. The meeting has been jointly promoted by the International League of People s Struggle , the First International Conference for the Support of the Resistance of the Iraqi People and the Anti-imperialist Camp . The assembly denounced the war of aggression against and occupation of Iraq and the so-called political process set up by the US, including the recent elections, as illegal and illegitimate. These fraudulent elections only serve to justify the occupation and the US puppet regime. The elections mark, however, a change in the US strategy after its utter failure in quelling the determined Resistance of the Iraqi people by brute military force. As the election farce is part of a comprehensive war, its danger lies in the renewed attempt of the corporate media to demonize the Resistance as terrorist. Thus the European powers are now celebrating the elections as a step towards democracy legitimising not only the occupation but also retroactively the war of aggression which some of them pretended to oppose upon the pressure of the people. The assembly reaffirmed that the Iraqi Resistance against the occupation is the only legitimate representative of the Iraqi people as opposed to the puppet administration sponsored by the occupying powers. The assembly also criticised some elements in the broad anti-war and anti-globalization movement who continuously use the misleading formula No to war and terror which tacitly equates the popular resistance struggles with terror. We reject the attempt to distinguish between a so-called good and bad resistance because it serves to prevent forging solidarity with the Iraqi Resistance which is actually a conglomerate of different popular forces. The assembly called on the broad anti-war and anti-globalization movement to take the side of the people s resistance movements worldwide against the permanent and pre-emptive imperialist war waged and led by the US. At the moment, the Iraqi resistance constitutes the first line against this imperialist war. The delegates present decided to hold an international conference in support of the Iraqi Resistance and in solidarity with the entire Arab people s struggle for national self-determination and sovereignty. To underline this inextricable nexus, the conference will take place on the occasion of the anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada in the end of September 2005. Several countries were proposed as venue but Greece and Italy were preferred by the majority because of the presence in these countries of strong popular sentiment and mass movement against US imperial designs. It is expected that this conference will pave the way for the formation of a European and international support network for the people s liberation struggles and its current first-line, the Iraqi Resistance. The participants also pledged to intensify the campaign for the freedom of the kidnapped leader of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, Abduljabbar al-Kubaysi, as a symbol of all the political and war prisoners held by the occupying power. In particular, pressure will be applied on the European parliament for them to comply with their human rights obligations and their professions of democracy by asking their US partners to disclose the whereabouts of Abduljabbar. Our emerging network will initiate and support mobilisations against the US military bases in Europe. They are continuously used as hubs for the US aggression on Iraq and in the Middle East with the consent of the governments including those which hypocritically claimed to oppose the war. The gathering likewise agreed to issue a call to the people of the world to participate in the global day of action March 19/20 (an around this date) on the occasion of the second anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq putting forward the clear platform of supporting the Iraqi Resistance and the Iraqi people s struggle for national self-determination. The Co-ordinating Committee free_iraq@ilps2001.com http://lists.ilps-news.com/listinfo/Free_iraq to join this list send a blank email to: free_iraq-request@lists.ilps-news.com?subject=subscribe View organisations present: www.antiimperialista.com/en/view.shtml?category=9&id=1109110 618&keyword=+ *** 2) Yesterday in Italy, Today in Iraq the same crimes, the same resistance Sant'Anna di Stazzema - Sunday March 13th, 2005 National demonstration On August 12th 1944, four companies of SS commanded by the major Walter Reder and supported by Italian fascist authorities and collaborators, murdered 560 innocent people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema. It was one of the many massacres committed by the German Nazis during their imperialist war. Nazism and fascism were beaten, but their bloodthirsty methods and their imperial ambitions were not. Already during WWII, the Anglo-American armies committed horrible crimes, through carpet bombings which exterminated millions of civilians, especially in Germany and in Italy, not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the Americans, committing the greatest war crime of all time, actually used atom bombs even though Japan was already on its knees. Hitler's design of total world dominion is the same design as the USA has been following right up to now. Wherever they went, the stars and stripes armies have left an endless trail of blood behind them. In March 2003, with the most powerful army in history, supported by such puppets as Berlusconi and by the inertia of the international community, they attacked Iraq, causing a genocide which has raised the liveliest protest among the peoples of every country. They occupied the country, but this led to a popular Resistance which is posing serious problems to the invaders. Falluja was the first Iraqi city to rise up against the US army, the first to be freed. As his first deed after his re-election, Bush took revenge. He ordered his troops to conquer Falluja at any cost. Falluja today is a ghost town, razed to the ground like Hiroshima. Those who were not killed by the devastating American fury were forced to escape. On the second anniversary of the aggression against Iraq, we will demonstrate to celebrate Falluja and Sant'Anna di Stazzema as symbolic twin cities, in order to jointly commemorate the martyrs of nazism, of fascism and of US imperialism, to state that the ideals of freedom and independence of Italian partizans are the same as those of the Iraqi partizans, to denounce all imperialist war crimes, whatever mask or pretext they may use, to say no to US wars, to call for the immediate withdrawal of all occupation troops from Iraq, to support the Resistance of the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples until their victory. Free Iraq Committees Laboratorio Marxista - Zona apuo-versiliese comitato_nazionale@iraqlibero.at or to iraqlibero@email.it *** 3) Austrian opposition to US occupation sends medical aid to Iraq Financed by campaign Ten Euros for the resistance About two tons of medicine are going to be sent to the Iraqi province of al-Anbar, a well-known focus of resistance against the foreign rule, and repeated massacres perpetrated by the occupying forces. Last autumn, the city of Falluja was razed to the ground, as a punishment for the struggle of her inhabitants for self-determination. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed by cluster bombs, napalm and chemical agents, all weapons of mass destruction in breach of international law. Before the massacre, the occupying forces destroyed all hospitals and medical infrastructure, killing the greater part of medical personnel. Still today large parts of the city are cordoned off and the population is cut of from vital infrastructure. The popular resistance urgently needs humanitarian aid, which is denied by the occupants. The medicines themselves were provided by the Iraqi community in Austria, while the air-lift is financed from the funds of the 10-Euro campaign. The value of the medicines is more than 100,000 , shipping is 1,870 . This aid will be distributed to everyone who is in need by generally accepted representatives of the people who are completely independent from both the occupiers as well as their local puppets. The campaign Ten Euros for the Iraqi resistance had been initiated by the Anti-Imperialist Camp. Even in Austria, about 200 people opposing the occupation came out in public with donations and their names. They defended the elementary democratic right to resist against an occupation. The Anti-Imperialist Camp renews the call for aid to the Iraqi people. Their resistance is legitimate and is continuing, regardless the farcical elections. *** 4) Arrested Austrian put into Turkish prison Sandra Bakutz is accused of membership in a terror organization Statement of the Anti-imperialist Camp, Austrian Section Last Thursday, February 10, Sandra Bakutz was arrested at the airport of Istanbul and, according to her lawyer, transferred to prison. She has been accused of membership in the DHKP/C (Revolutionary People s Liberation Party/ Front). Sandra got engaged for the rights of thousands of prisoners in Turkey. Her work, which brought her in contact with the parties of the Austrian Parliament and several civil rights groups, was focused on the acknowledgement of the civil liberty rights and to bring an end to the political judiciary and torture against of dissidents in Turkey. Now she herself seems to get victim of this regime in which still the military pulls the strings in the background. Sandra is accused of something (membership in the DHKP/C) which in Austria would be perfectly legal. No evidence whatsoever can be provided that she committed any criminal offence. Her only crime was it to have a political opinion and to engage for it. The Austrian government has a double responsibility for the persecution of their citizens in Turkey bear in mind Elisabeth Brunner, who was tortured because of her engagement against the NATO conference. First the Austrian government participated in a leading position in the exculpation of Turkey with regard to the political prisoners and the oppression of the Kurdish people. Secondly, the government was involved in the installing of the black list , which floats like an undemocratic Damocles sword over national constitutional rights. We demand the Austrian government to do the utmost to liberate Sandra! Full statement: www.antiimperialista.com/en/view.shtml?category=9&id=1108414 728&keyword=+ Statements of Tayad and the Platform against Isolation: www.tayad.de/english/Library/en_2005_02_12.htm Pictures of Sandra: www.leninist.org/phpslideshow.php?directory=sandra *** 5) Release Avni and Zeynep Int l call to support the two Turkish comrades held as political prisoners in Italy On March 5 the hearings in the trials of Avni and Zeynep will start. They have been held in prison since April 1, 2004, under the accusation of being members of the Turkish association DHKP-C which is being defined as terrorist based on the EU s arbitrary black list design according to its US model. The entire investigation by the Italian judiciary has been carried out in name of the war on terror pleasing the Turkish regime and lending it a helping hand in order to repress whoever dares to oppose its capitalist, imperialist and anti-democratic agenda. We all know about the treatment the regime of the military oligarchy reserves for its dissidents; we know of the massacres committed against the political prisoners who continue to defend themselves against the white torture of solitary confinement. We cannot be accomplices of that regime as well as of the Italian one which supports it. Therefore we all have to mobilise for the immediate and unconditional release of Avni and Zeynep and for the abolishment of the black lists which only serve to destroy the liberation movements against oppression, misery and exploitation. *** 6) The Tsunami, Aceh and the national liberation struggle in South East Asia by Lars Akerhaug, Int l officer of the Red Electoral Alliance, Norway The government in Jakarta does not even attempt to hide their political abuses. Soon after the tsunami stroke, the minister of finance declared that the nation s economic growth would not be seriously affected, because Aceh is at the outskirt of Indonesia. He also noted that reconstruction efforts would be financed mainly from abroad. Together with this came the first reports of clashes between GAM and the armed forces. Only thirty percent of the aid received to Aceh came from Jakarta, and this among heavy allegations of corruption and thieving from the military. Even more serious is the attempt to dislocate the refugees of the tsunami. Media reports are now streaming in that the government is obstructing the return of citizens to the wasted shorelines, and humanitarian efforts to rebuild houses at the property size. This is a final proof that the occupation government wants to rebuild Aceh Indonesian style , media reports have even hinted that there is ideas of building vacation resorts in the sunny, but war-plagued beach lines. Full article: www.antiimperialista.com/view.shtml?category=9&id=1109097045 May Declaration of The Assembly of The WPC Athens, May 6-9, 2004
April Moreno, Alessia and Maria Grazia have been released! Now the solidarity must go on with the Turkish comrades The court in Perugia, charged to review the remand in custody of the arrested anti-imperialists, ordered this morning to release Moreno Pasquinelli, Alessia Monteverdi and Maria Grazia Ardizzone. To the joy for their liberation and the happiness of having them back with us to continue together the struggle against imperialism, we have to add our political satisfaction for the victory of this important democratic battle. The struggle for freedom has now to go on for Avni Er and Zeynep Kilic, the two Turkish militants who were not released on bail and are still in prison. The castle of accusations has miserably fell down and the attempt to criminalize anti-imperialism and the support to the resistance of the Iraqi people has suffered a strong blow. The completely groundlessness of the charges has been clearly exposed: anti-imperialists are not terrorists. This time, the inspirers of the campaign lead by Magdi Allam on the pages of the Corriere della Sera have been defeated. Probably, they will soon attack us again; in the meantime we scored an important point, achieving a result which is important for us, as well as for the whole movement opposing war, imperialist politics and the occupation of Iraq. The huge political solidarity the Anti-imperialist Camp experienced in these last weeks, both on the national and the international level, has certainly contributed to the achievement of this goal. We knew we were fighting a difficult battle, in a context characterized by an obsessive campaign centered on the equation between resistance and terrorism. We also knew that the absolute juridical inconsistency of the charges was no good reason to have big hopes to get them released. So, having in view the coming decision of the Court in Perugia, we decided to gather all our efforts for this occasion. In Perugia 8 comrades of various nationalities observed during the last week a hunger strike. Thursday and Friday two of them were also seized by illness. The national press, both left and right - with the only exception of the local papers -, did not report on the protest action. But the mobilization bore finally its fruits. Now the struggle against repression has to continue to obtain the liberation of Avni and Zeynep. Together with other forces we are preparing an international meeting Against repression and black lists which will take place in Florence on June 5, 2004. On that occasion we will reassert our support to the Iraqi resistance and one of its representatives in Europe will also attend the meeting. As Anti-imperialist Camp, we are well aware of the centrality of the Iraqi issue and the importance of supporting the resistance forces till the victory. Our initiatives will be aimed at giving a prompt response to the criminal occupation which is holding as hostages whole towns like Falluja and Najaf; in the context of the International Day in support of the Iraqi Resistance scheduled for September 25 with mobilizations all over the world, we will also organize a national demonstration. Finally: the Anti-imperialist Camp will take regularly place in Assisi on the first week of August. Today s victory, with the release of Moreno, Alessia and Maria Grazia has to be a spur and an encouragement for all anti-imperialists to continue and to intensify the political fight. Freedom for the Turkish comrades! Down with the black lists of imperialism! With the Iraqi Resistance until victory! April 24, 2004 Anti-imperialist Camp-------------
1) Protest actions for the review of remand in custody, April 23 2) Int l Action Centre (USA) solidarity message 3) Abna el Balad (Palestine) solidarity message 4) All Indian People s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) solidarity message 5) Communist Mazdor Kisan Party Pakistan solidarity message 6) List of English language solidarity messages 7) Report demo in Perugina 8) Moscow April 18: rally to protest US massacre in Iraq also to address Italian arrests *** 1) April 23 protest action to free the arrested anti-imperialists The review of the remand in custody is the last possibility to free the five Perugia anti-imperialists. Otherwise they risk to stay in prison for about two years until the trial starts and another two years for the trial with the high probability that they will be acquitted given the contradiction and monstrosity of the amalgam reproached to them. Therefore a permanent protest action on the main square of Perugia, Italy, has been scheduled from 19 to 23 April including the construction of a Guantanamo prison cell, an international hunger strike and a tent informing about the atrocities committed by the military regime in Turkey which the prosecutor happens to call democratic. We call upon the democratic an anti-imperialist forces to join us in the protest either by coming there or by sending their messages. If the accusation pass that would imply that solidarity to resistance and liberation movements equates with terrorism! *** 2) International Action Center (USA) The International Action Center of the United States protests the arrests in Turkey, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Belgium on April 1 and 2 of some 63 political activists, 40 of them in Turkey, under the phony cover of "anti-terrorism." The announced targets of this new wave of post-Madrid state repression are accused members of or sympathizers with the Turkish revolutionary organization, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). This working-class revolutionary group is known for its resolute struggle against the Turkish military regime and in the past few years especially for its struggle within Turkish prisons. The DHKP-C has been forced to operate illegally in Turkey, and for the last two years has been banned by the EU. Turkey is a NATO member. Despite its parliamentary government, real power still lies with the Turkish army, which in turn is dependent on its close ties to U.S. and German imperialism. The Turkish state and fascist-like death squads linked to the state have kept a steady attack on workers' organizations during this entire period, including the DHKP-C. The army has also committed mass murder against the Kurdish population. The DHKP-C's members are known for their courage and self-sacrifice in a hunger strike aimed at preventing a change in the Turkish prison system that will isolate individual political prisoners, as is done in maximum-security prisons in the United States. Although they have no evidence or even real suspicion of violent DHKP-C activity in Europe, it is apparent that the EU police apparatus has misused the fear created by attacks in Istanbul and Madrid to try to break a revolutionary workers' organization. The IAC also protests the arrests of three Italian members of the Anti-Imperialist Camp (CAI) in Perugia, Italy. The Italian capitalist media has kept up a constant attack against the CAI over the past months because that group has taken a explicit public position supporting the Iraqi armed resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of that country. Italy s big-business media has been trying to discredit the idea of solidarity with the resistance -- and even of supporting immediate withdrawal of Italian and U.S. forces from Iraq -- by equating these positions with "terrorism." The media campaign and the arrests are attempts to intimidate the massive anti-war movement in Italy, whose ranks are moving toward a clear anti-imperialist position. Free the Turkish and Italian political activists! Stop the wave of repression in Europe! International Action Center, USA (John Catalinotto) *** 3) Abnaa elBalad (Palestine) In the name of Abnaa elBalad movement, I want to send you our comradely solidarity in the face of the latest arrests of the Anti Imperialist leaders and activists. As a people and as a movement we are used to being persecuted by the racist and war-mongering regime. In the last years we came to know the Anti Imperialist camp, and to enjoy your solidarity with our plight. Now, as the imperialists are running out of ideas and as they are relying more and more on war, occupation and brute force to keep their world disorder of robbery and exploitation, they try to criminalize any resistance to their campaign of terror. We are confident that the oppressed people of the world will never accept to be subject to imperialist rule. We are confident that those people that struggle for a just and humane world order will never be silenced by arrests and persecution. Please accept our warmest solidarity in these hard times, Yoav Bar *** 4) All Indian People s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) AIPRF, India, very strongly condemns the repression being let loose by the Italian govt. We also condemn the arrest of three leaders including Moreno Pasquinelli of Anti-imperialist Camp. We also condemn the arrest of the activists / leaders of DHKP-C. We the leaders and members of AIPRF along with struggling masses of India extend our revolutionary solidarity with your struggling organisations & people. Darshan Pal AIPRF, All India President *** 5) Communist Workers Peasants Party, Pakistan (CMKP) Condemns Italian Government Facist Act Demands Release of Detained Comrades of Anti-Imperialist Camp Communist Workers Peasants Party, Pakistan (CMKP) condemns in strongest terms the arrests of Comrades Moreno Pasquinelli (the international spokesman), Alessia Monteverdi and Maria Grazia Ardizzone of Anti-imperialist Camp and two Turkish exiles, supposedly members of the DHKP-C (Avni Er and Zeynep Kilic). Their sin before the Italian government is their ceaseless political resistance to American military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in particular and US imperialist vendetta all over the world in general. They have been also exposing and hitting hard the Zionist Israeli government s savage act on the Palestinian people. Anti-Imperialist Camp s persistent struggle against imperialist intruders, barbarism, occupation and economic plunder has made the Italian government panicky, as it is also the ally of US imperialist monster. Their arrests are so far aimed at harassing them but would not deter their resolve to rock the edifice of imperialism. The criminal act speaks of its cowardice and fascist mentality. Communist Workers Peasants Party, Pakistan (CMKP) denounces such method and demands of the Italian government to immediately release them. Our comrades, at present behind the bar, are not alone but the people of the entire world are with them to fight imperialism and its puppet like Italy. CMKP feels its fraternal and international obligation to demonstrate its solidarity with Anti-Imperialist Camp at the hour of trial and tribulation. Down with fascist tactics Down with US war mongering Down with imperialism *** 6) Solidarity messages: Askapena (Basque County) Arab Cause Solidarity Committee (Spain) Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK, Greece) Communist Party of Greece /ML (KKE/ML) Workers Communist Party of Denmark (APK) Freedom Socialist Party (USA) United Peoples (USA) Workers Action (USA) Socialist Choice (Ukraine) Poetas Antiimperialista de America (Canada) Socialist Thought Forum, Jordan Anti-Repression Campaign, Brittany Communist Youth of Poland Voie DÈmocratique, Morocco International League of People s Struggle Turkey section In Defence of Marxism (Spain) Popular Democratic Left (IDP, Mexico) Construction Committee of the Revolutionary Worker s Party (Argentine) Communist Organization for the Fourth International (COFI) Abnaa elBalad (Palestine) Greek Trotskyists KDE Left Front Communist Youth Alliance (Hungary) Workers Communist Party (Norway) Bayan International (Europe) League for the 5th International Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network (USA) Taller de Arte e IdeologÌa, Mexico RefundaciÑn Comunista (Puerto Rico) Committee Against the U$ Empire (USA) Initiativ e.V., Duisburg, Germany Bangladesh National Liberation Council NAR (New Left Current) Greece Federation of University Students of Venezuela (FEUV) Struggle Initiative (Greece) Campaign For a New World, Northeast India Coordinadora SimÑn BolÌvar del Barrio 23 de Enero, Venezuela International Action Center (USA) Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist), France Revolutionary Communist League Thurigia (RKL-T), Germany Aktionskreis 24.3., Jena, Germany Colectivo Libertad, Mexico All Indian People s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) Anti-Globalist Resistance (Russia) International Forum/The Middle East Group, Denmark Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) Anti US & Israeli Globalisation & Hegemony Movement, Lebanon Bloque del Poder Popular, MichoacÀn, Mexico Communist Workers Peasants Party, Pakistan (CMKP) Full text of solidarity messages Italian www.antiimperialista.com/view.shtml?category=all&id=1081857505&keyword=+ Spanish and Portuguese www.antiimperialista.com/repression/view.shtml?category=46&id=1081180753&keyword =+ French www.antiimperialista.com/repression/view.shtml?category=46&id=1080983596&keyword =+ German www.antiimperialista.com/repression/view.shtml?category=46&id=1081187619&keyword =+ *** 7) Liberate the truth! April 10: demonstration in Perugia to liberate the five imprisoned anti-imperialists On Saturday April 10 several hundred people gathered at the Partisan s place in Perugia, Italy, to protest the arrest of three militants of the Anti-imperialist Camp and two of the Turkish-Kurdish DHKC. Carrying banners reading Liberate the truth and Free Moreno, Maria Grazia, Alessia, Zeynep, Avni several political organisations and activists denounced the severe restrictions of the democratic liberties namely the right to free expression and association. The interventions started with Eros Francescangeli of the Anti-imperialist Camp who denounced the monstrosity of the accusations which led to the police operation of April 1. Next was Luca Frisullo, the father of the recently deceased well-known leader of then Italian pro-Kurdish movement. As a former partisan he remembered that Moreno fell victim to the same logic which brought Dino behind bars in Turkey only for having expressed solidarity with the DHKC. Leonardo Mazzei speaking on behalf of the Committees Free Iraq emphasised that the Anti-imperialist Camp has been repressed for supporting the Iraqi resistance. Aldo Bernadini, professor for international law, explained that the arrests violated both the constitution which stipulates the right to free expression as well as international law which stipulates the right to resistance. The speaker of the DHKC exposed the systematic repression of the Turkish government against the democratic and the inhuman conditions against which the political prisoners are continuing their struggle. Willi Langthaler of the Austrian section of the Anti-imperialist Camp read some of the numerous solidarity messages and reported from the protest rallies which took place in Austria, Belgium and Mexico so far. To the tunes of Bella Ciao , an old partisan hymn, the demonstration occupied a large roundabout bringing the traffic to an halt. Further speeches were delivered by Mauro Pasquinelli, the brother of Moreno, Alessandro Leoni of the Party of Communist Refoundation (Ernesto wing of Tuscany) and Francesco Giuntoli for the Confederation of Communists. ************************************ Antiimperialist Camp PF 23, A-1040 Vienna, Austria camp@antiimperialista.org Supporters of the liberation struggles against American imperialism targeted This morning three militants of the Anti-imperialist Camp have been arrested by order of the prosecutor s office of Perugia: Moreno Pasquinelli (international spokesman of the Anti-imperialist Camp), Maria Frazia Ardizzone (member of the Political Committee of the Anti-imperialist Camp) and Alessia Monteverdi. Simultaneously at least one Turkish comrade has been arrested in the same operation. Other unconfirmed arrests are reported from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Turkey. It seems that the accusation against the activists of the Anti-imperialist Camp is to have helped Turkish revolutionary militants who had been forced into exile by the regime in Ankara where the military still pull the strings. The media campaign of criminalisation led first of all by Magdi Allam in the pages of Corriere della Sera seems to bear its first fruits. Only yesterday afternoon we symbolically occupied the Roman office of Corriere della Sera to protest the campaign of defamation and persecution against the Anti-imperialist Camp. Today s arrests are obviously a reprisal against all those who support the resistance and liberation struggle of the Iraqi people against the barbaric and illegitimate occupation led by the US and its allies, among them Italy. On March 20 more than one million Italians affirmed the right of the Iraqi people to resist and many of the demonstrators expressed their open and clear support to the Iraqi resistance. This is frightening the Italian government and the political class of all proveniences who are unified in their all out support for Washington s doctrine of the American Empire. There are terrified that the masses refuse their mystifying equation resistance = terrorism . It is the same equation postulated by the Nazi occupants known under Achtung Banditen . This formula is being used to cover any crime of the Empire of Stares and Stripes and its servile allies in their struggle against the anti-imperialist resistance throughout the world. The operation carried out by the Italian police against the Anti-imperialist Camp and the Turkish militants inscribes itself in the very same logic of global repression in the service of American dominium. The police action of today is clearly a political one designed to repress the surging movement against the occupation by smashing its vanguard. One evidence is that the arrest warrants bears the data of February 23! The events of today are sign of a qualitative increase of the level of repression in our country. Applying the notorious anti-terrorist legislation of article 270bis the detained are denied access to an advocate for five days depriving them of any right to legal defence. They want to smash the Anti-imperialist Camp in order to smash all the anti-imperialists and all those who oppose the pre-emptive and permanent war of Bush. We call upon all those who struggle against the US world order, upon all those who took to the streets on March 20 to demand the end of the occupation of Iraq, upon all those democrats who defend the right to free political expression against the logic of repression unleashed by the totalitarism of the dominant corporate thought to take immediate action and to make their voices heard. Free Alessia, Maria Grazia and Moreno! Free the Turkish revolutionaries! *** Solidarity statements are urgently requested! February THE
PROSECUTION CASE ENDS ON 19 FEBRUARY 2004. THE
CASE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC SHOULD START IN ONLY THREE MONTHS, ON 19 MAY 2004. THE
COALITION OF CRIME - US/NATO/DOS/ICTY IS ATTEMPTING TO SILENCE PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, TO
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THE NEXT WEEK INTO A WEEK OF PROTESTS. DEMAND IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC.
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No interest on Serb victims Markus Bickel, Berliner Zeitung, January 17, 2004 Finnish pathologist Helena Ranta said the work of the Hague tribunal regarding the so-called Racak massacre was incomprehensible. The former head of the forensic team the European Union sent to the Kosovo-Albanian village of Racak in January 1999 to investigate the events there, in a conversation with Berliner Zeitung, criticized the UN tribunal for not following up the evidence that there was heavy fighting between Serb soldiers and the Kosovo-Albanian fighters during the night of January 15-16, 1999 in the Racak-region. Western politicians used the tragedy in the village of Racak, where 40 Albanians died exactely 5 years ago, to prove to the public that the upcoming NATO attack on Yugoslavia was necessary. US diplomat William Walker played the leading role. The chief of the OSCE mission in Kosovo immediately accused the Serbs of having killed 45 unarmed Albanian civilians at close range in Racak. The Serbian side rejected this interpretation und spoke instead about KLA soldiers killed in battle. Pictures not published She knew, that at that time "KLA-fighters were buried around Racak," said Ranta. "At that time I received information that proved that several Serb soldiers had been killed as well. Unfortunately, we will never know the exact number of Serb soldiers that died that night." It would be appropriate "to ask the tribunal why they are not interested in that number." Ranta criticized the indictment against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in the case of Racak for mostly following the Walker version. "When Ambassador Walker said that there was a massacre at Racak, this statement had no legal value. I declared at that time that the OSCE-observers forgot to take all steps necessary to secure a crime scene: isolating the area, refusing admission to all unauthorized persons and colletinig all material evidence. Ranta demanded that in addition to the OSCE pictures the tribunal also use the pictures taken by two additional photographers, shot several hours prior to the arrival of OCSE-observers. The pictures show "that at least one of the bodies was moved afterwards Á?" that body is not seen on OSCE-pictures." Left in the lurch In the days prior to the NATO-attack on Yugoslavia it was clear "that a bunch of governments were interested in a version of Racak that blamed only the Serb side," said Ranta. "But I could not provide this version." Her instructions came from the German diplomat Pauls. The representative of the then-German EU-presidency asked for a written statement. "Afterwards, I had to show these personal statements to William Walker, who was obviously not amused when he read it." Still, she agreed to take part in the important press conference on March 17, 1999. "At that (conference), I was sitting with the German ambassador to Belgrade, Gruber, and a Finnish diplomat on the podium. I hoped that those gentlemen would support me." But that was not the case. "I rather had the feeling that I was left in the lurch," said Ranta. As a result of the Walker dominated press-conference most of the media accepted the version of a Serb massacre of Albanian civilians as proven. A few days later the NATO-airattacks on Yugoslavia began. (Translated from German by C.Schuetz & J.Catalinotto) SLOBODA urgently needs your donation. Please find the detailed instructions at: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm To join or help this struggle, visit: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association) http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan Milosevic) http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM) http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM) http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland) http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council) http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center) November 2003 1) Open letter of three leading Iraqi Communists to support the resistance |