Call for International Solidarity to Comrades in Chile

September 18th, 2010 325.nostate.net

Responding to the Call for International Solidarity by the persecuted and
rebellious comrades in Chile, we call on people around the world to
express their solidarity and in Athens we invite a:

Gathering of Solidarity
on Friday, September 24th at 5pm,
outside of the Chilean Embassy (Bas. Sofias 25- Athens, Greece)

THE PASSION FOR FREEDOM HAS NO BORDERS
THE SAME FOR SOLIDARITY

On August 14th 2010 the Chilean State, under orders of special district
attorney Alejandro Pena, began a campaign of oppression against Chilean
antagonists, code-named “Salamander.” With invasions into social spaces,
occupations and dozens of homes throughout the country, 14 people were
arrested and taken to the Nunoa police station. The next day they were led
to the courts of Santiago and charged with over 100 bomb attacks made over
the past years in all of Chile. The assembly which gathered outside of the
courthouse in a display of solidarity was violently suppressed and 40
people were detained.

With the unanimous aid of the mass media in creating a negative climate
against the arrestees and without real evidence against them, the court of
Santiago ordered that 8 of the 14 be kept in custody until trial. The
other 6 were released with restrictive measures, forbidden to leave the
country, to communicate with each other, to visit the imprisoned or the
social centers and occupations the police had invaded, and that they must
present themselves to local authorities every week. The men were taken to
C.A.S. maximum security prison and the women to Centro de Orientation
Femenina, all in solitary confinement. On Monday September 6th another 2
people were arrested in the context of the “bomb case” spectacle.

Over the past years the democratic facade of the Chilean State, under the
guise of financial development, has circumvented most social and union
rights and sold off huge portions of land to multinational companies
(Benetton) and the logging, livestock and tourism industries, primarily in
the south, violently evicting the indigenous Mapuche peoples from their
ancestral land. In the Mapuche territories right-wing paramilitary groups
guided by rich landowners have become active and terrorize and murder
people who choose to resist the plans of the dominant. Conflicts erupt and
dozens of indigenous antagonists are arrested and imprisoned. Over 400
people are awaiting trial, most of whom are farmers struggling to regain
the land which in the past was stolen by the Chilean army and is now in
the hands of multinational logging and energy companies.

Also, since 2009 a special “anti-terrorist” law from the days of the
Pinochet dictatorship has been reactivated so as to crack down on the
recent upsurge of attacks and unrest in the south of the country, for
which the indigenous Mapuche are accused. The controversial law triples
the penalties for arson and land occupations and has been used 16 times in
the past 10 years. This past summer Mapuche political prisoners began a
hunger strike (shortly after by means of court order they were forced into
compulsory sustenance) and in September they were followed by imprisoned
minors, struggling for the liberation of the political prisoners and the
ending of their prosecution.

As social inequalities intensify, the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer, in all of Chile social resistance strengthens and every
demonstration breaks out into conflict while in parallel there are bomb
attacks against state and corporate targets. In the context of this social
unrest, the pogrom against anarchist/ libertarian comrades is carried out,
who by no evidence other than being active in social struggles are
considered responsible for the conflicts and the bombings.

From the joint announcement of the Autonomous Social Space and Libertarian
Library Jonny Cariqueo and the occupied Social Space and Library Vanzetti,
La Crota bikepunk:

“We are the target chosen to cover up the tragedy of the 33 miners and
their families, victims of the exploitation of the powerful, and the
hunger strike of the Mapuche comrades who are struggling for their land.”
“The political and legal fabrication is obvious, the construction of an
illegal ‘terrorist’ organization with leaders is schizophrenic. We, as
anti authoritarians and anarchists do not believe in, nor do we obey
hierarchies, much less orders. That which district attorney Pena calls
funding terrorism is called international solidarity. That which the
police call “centers of power” are houses in which libraries are built and
the people are called upon to face the current reality of exploitation and
nonsense, places were social relationships are built far from
commercialization, based on values such as solidarity, horizontal
relationships, mutual support and self-management.”

Responding to the Call for International Solidarity by the persecuted and
rebellious comrades in Chile, we call on people around the world to
express their solidarity and in Athens we invite a Gathering of Solidarity
on Friday, September 24th at 5pm, outside of the Chilean Embassy (Bas.
Sofias 25)

NOTHING IS FINISHED EVERYTHING CONTINUES
SOLIDARITY IS A POWERFUL WEAPON
FREEDOM TO THE CHILEAN ANTAGONISTS AND ALL THE PRISONERS OF CLASS SOCIAL WAR

Assembly for Solidarity
Open Assembly of Anarchists for a United Polymorphic Movement
(Athens, Greece)