We live in the old and beautiful contradiction of risking freedom while fighting for it.
And they will never be stop us.
From Brazil to Russia, long live Anarchy
We know that over the vastness of seas and continents, of mountains and jungles, warriors face, from immemorial times, struggles against those who want to destroy and devastate in order to enslave, dominate and sell.
We don’t shut our eyes before this, moreover, we are part of those struggles, but today, in the heat of certain attacks, we want to send this greeting, this accomplice embrace towards all anarchists. We were imprisoned in Spain, France, Mexico, Chile, Greece, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Russia, across all States. We were chased from one continent to the next. We were killed in the vile garrote, in the electric chair, in the guillotine, we were shot. They made us disappear in the rivers La Plata and Chubut, and appear again to wash their hands. They sent us to all kinds of prisons, even islands from where we could never escape.
They gave us the purification bath in Indonesia. They condemned us to remain for centuries in the cages of Greece. We were killed by baton bats in Colombia on a May 1st. We were thrown out of a window on a third floor. We are hungry in the streets of Venezuela. They called us terrorists and condemned our efforts to escape. They arrested us in Russia and they tortured us to make us state that we are part of a fictitious organization. They bombed us in Syria.
On the disposition of the powerful to attack us on the war that they have been waging against all that is free, they want to paralyze us, they want to contain us by their rules, they want to turn us into orderly and working citizens, grateful for their crumbs. They want us to step back and declare ourselves as democrats, to negate what we are and to give in, little by little, on our desire to live as we want: without governing nor being governed.
They want us to lose the will to face their massacres, their devastation, their domination. They want to neutralize us in every way they can, through suspension, prison or death. They save no efforts to get us out of the game. Simply put, they want to ban us. But this world isn’t theirs and we live in the old and beautiful contradiction of risking freedom while we fight for it, and they will never be able to stop us.
We inspire each other, we are rivers coming together to make the torrent grow and become the violent current of life and revolt.
We are the fleeting and unpredictable pyrotechnics that nevertheless shines and ascends.
We are Ilya Romanov, unbreakable warrior who resists torture and fights.
We are Mario and Tortuga, wounded and interrogated under medication, showing us what courage means.
We are Panagiotis Argyrou, Michalis Nikolopoulos, Giorgos Nikolopoulos, Haris Hatzimichelakis, Theofilos Mavropoulos, Damianos Bolano, Christos Tsakalos, Gerasimos Tsakalos, Giorgos Poludoros, Olga Okonomidou, Aggeliki Spyropoulou, Spyros Mandylas, conspiring freedom at every minute and inspiring us to shout that our day will come!
We are Konstantinos Giagtozglou.
We are Kevin and Joaquín, waiting for trial without losing the opportunity to beat the tyrants and escape from prison.
We are Tamara, remembrance that vengeance is an act of love for our comrades.
We are all the fugitives.
We are Mummia Abu Jamal, warrior who survives against all adversity. We are Juan, condemned by the nefarious anti-terrorism law. We are Lisa, enemy of banks.
We are Alfredo Cospito, daring a solidary and combative gesture, breaking the windowpanes of the prison that tries to contain him.
We are Nicola Gai and the comrades acused by Scripta Manent and the recent repressive operations in Turim.
We are Diego and the detainees in Argentina.
We are Tato, smiling, present.
We are Fredy, Marcelo and Juan, untouchable no matter who the rulers are.
We are Santiago Maldonado travelling and fighting.
We are Mauricio Morales and Pelao Angry battling until life snaps.
We are those who bother because we don’t give truce to war, because we act without barracks or commands, we stand despite the blows of destruction.
We are those who write their history with the seeds that flower on the cement: without permission and against all odds.
And when they persecute us and we see our feats, our deeds, making a difference in the midst of the pretended social pacification, we see that we are a real and uncontrollable force.
We are those who, when taking a decided step, change the world around.
We live in a war that was imposed on us, and in which we can’t be or stay indifferent. We live in the context of a particular war, with militarization growing on the streets and society applauding, where indigenous peoples are exterminated, and where, if one is black, lesbian and from the favela, even when playing by the rules of a “system of domination”, may be assassinated in the middle of the street. In such a war, they remind us that, if they want, they can kill even those who use “legal weapons” if they dare to shout against domination, as they did wit Anastasia Baburova in the streets of Moscow.
In a context of war where we still feel the damage of the olympics and the world cup, we mention our comrades from Russia because in the eve of the mega sport events power punishes those whose existence is an inconvenience: the homeless, the non-white, non-western, non-civilized, anti-socials and, of course, those who fight, like us, against the fun of the powerful, which always weighs on the back of everyone else.
If today, in Russia, in the waiting room of the games, they arrest and torture with electric shocks, yesterday they militarized and evicted favelas and uncountable people, imprisoning all those who might disturb their entertainment in Brasil, in the world cup and the olympics. In Greece, in 2004, the extra spending was the ante-chamber for the economic “crisis” and consequent protests. In Mexico, in 1968, people shouted “we don’t want the olympics, we want a revolution” in the midst of a climate of protests, such a shout had for response the well-known massacre of Tlatelolco, ten days before the opening of the olympics, where an unknown number of people was assassinated by snipers in a protest in the center of Mexico City, in the Tlatelolco square.
We hanged a banner – in a crowded viaduct – on which we howled anarchy for everyone and for all anarchist comrades.
To take time, in the midst of such a war, to create a gesture of affection towards those who fight and face torments, without fear of the winds and the lightning, is part of our fierce rejection of a life hollowed of decisions. With each vegetation, with each land of snow, of forests or mountains we make indecipherable encounters of freedom possible. Because for us, receiving these beckons by these ways is a warm hug, it is strength in the heart, allowing us to feel together, to keep inspiring each others, to feel alive. Hence we want this gesture, “simple but, we believe, important”, to echoe in the hearts of our brothers, to provoke a smile in them, knowing that we, living in the midst of the daily war, took the time to do something thinking about our brothers and sisters, comrades, accomplices, we want to reach them.
We wander around the streets, we visit people with close ideas and we know of the number of gestures happening all over: actions, stickers, banners, activities, graffiti and exchange of ideas happen spontaneously without being talked about or shared on the net. Thus, gestures of solidarity are unfathomable. Yet, we call for a sharing of that unfathomable world, aware of the smile we get as we know we are there for each other against all odds and absolutely decided to fight for freedom.
With the shout of long live Anarchy and an accomplice hug.
Anarchists
