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Oct.-Dec. '91

No. 10

For Revolutionary Resistance

Turkish Army Offensive In KurdistanIn response to recent and repeated guerrilla actions

by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and the ARGK(Peoples Liberation Army of Kurdistan), the Turkisharmy, under the command of Gen. Dogan Gures, haslaunched a major offensive into south Kurdistan (north-em Iraq).

Since October25 fighter bombers, reportedly usingnapalm, phosphorous and poison gas, have been bombarding Kurdish civilian settlements in northern Iraq.The reason for the bombing is to depopulate the area, asit is of great strategic importance to the guerrillas. According to a PKK statement of August 7 1991, the PKK,which enjoys great support in the area, is planning toestablish a provisional government in the near future.

It was on October 24, that the PKKlaunched attackson two border outposts and a military centre, killing 17soldiers and wounding 40 others. Further reports statedthat during the week of October 24,208 Turkish soldiershadbeenkilled in attacks on military bases by the ARGKand 4 Turkish soldiers had been taken prisoner.

In spite of the Turkish army's massive operations,the ARGK has during, September and October, launchedits own offensive. Beginning with the destruction of atelevision station on the Cilli mountain, and the September 13th takeover of roads in the Dogubeyazit are wherethey conducted pass controls and political agitation, theARGK has carried out a number of successful actions and

inflicted great losses on the colonial forces. Other actionshave included the September 19th destruction of an oilrefinery, the occupation of several mines by ARGKmembers in order to hold meetings with the miners todiscuss the exploitation of mineral wealth by the colonialists(afterwhich a mine wasdestroyed), and the October

Kurdish guerrillas of the ARGK (People's Liberation Army Of Kurdistan)

3 occupationof a village during which the house of themayor was attacked, a fuel depot was destroyed, andmeetings were held with villagers.

In response to all this, the Turkish government hasintensifiedits campaignof lies aboutthe Kurdishrebels.Newspapers have recently quoted Turkish sources assaying that Saddam Husseinhas been arming the PKKguerrillasto avengeTurkey's role in theAlliedCoalition

Repression OfKurdish Political PrisonersTo revolutionary and democratic public opinion

and all humanity:

LET US RAISE OUR VOICES TO STOP THE

TURKISH STATE'S NEW PLANS FOR MAS

SACRES IN THEIR DUNGEONS!

The colonialist fascist Turkish state is increasingstateterroragainstthepeopleof Kurdistan.Followingtheelections of 20th October the intention is to intensify thepolicy of violence introduced by the Motherland Party,this time with a war government under SuleymanDemirel.

The Turkish state tries to justify its policy of violence and massacre in Kurdistan by showing the guerrillawarwagedby the PKK-ERNK-ARGK. It claims it onlyuses force againstour Peoples Liberation Army, but inreality the Turkish republic has declared war on thepeople of Kurdistan. Recentstatements byboththeHeadof the General of Staff and Demiral have been full ofthreats of massacres. They have already started theseactivities, killing civilians in southern Kurdistan withnapalmand takingpeoplefrom their homes in the northand killing them through their counter-insurgencyspecial forces (death squads).

The preparations of another aspect of this policy

have been out into practice in recent days. Systematictorture has been restarted in the prisons.

A few months ago nearly all political detaineeswere released conditionally, with the exception of Kurdish revolutionaries charged under article 125 of theTurkish Penal Code. This is a racist measure whereby theKurdish revolutionaries arc being held hostage and doesnot conform to legal norms. Furthermore, the detaineesare not recognized as prisoners of war.

Eskisehir special prison has been renovated recently specially tohouse theKurdish detainees, with oneperson cellsand oneperson exercise areas. Transfers ofprisoners to thesedeath cellshave begun, the intentionbeing to facilitate the politicaland physical annihilationof these Kurdish fighters who have not bowed to Turkishfascism.

It is our duty as human beings to oppose thisinhumane treatment of the Kurdish revolutionaries. Wecall on all revolutionaries and democrats to oppose thepolicies of the Turkish state and support the demandswritten below.

1.European states should endtheirmilitary, political anddiplomatic support of the Turkish Republic and stopnourishingTurkish racismand fascism.2. The revolutionaries charged under article 125 are

continued on page 15...

in the Gulf War.

In the final analysis the real aim of the Turkish stateis quite clear; in the words of General DoganGures:"Ifwe did not take democracy into account, we could finishthis off in 6 months. I compare these people to sharks.They live in water... A little time will pass, we will cut offthe water."

Editorial Notes

With this bulletin, we close out 1991 with ourlargest issue yet. As usual it's been difficult to putthis bulletin out due to financial considerations. So

yet again we're asking for money1The increased size of the bulletin is due in part

to our improved translation capabilities. We wouldthank those comrades who have been able to helpus with this and in particular imprisoned comradeswhose aid has been invaluable.

In our last issue we forgot to credit the RARAinterview to the Dutch magazine Konfrontatie(issue #1). As well the RAF communique camefrom Clash #3 and the Revolutionary Cells communique on the Reichstag action from Interim#152.

Attacks On Bio-Tech InThe NetherlandsOn the weekend of July 27/28,3 fields of geneti

cally manipulated plants in the Netherlands were destroyedby a clandestineaction groupcalling itself theRazende Rooters (the RagingDiggers). In the town ofRilland,a field of genetically manipulated com, ownedbyasubsidiary of theDutch corporation Suikerunie, wasrazed while fields of genetically altered potatoes, fromthe Belgian firmPlant Genetic Systems, weredestroyedin the towns of Wageningen and Bant These two lastfields wereoperated by the Hettema corporation in conjunctionwithProsperina BV. Intotal,the attacks causedtens of thousands of dollars damage and set back thegenetic tests by one to two years.

The Dutchpress,of course,reactedfuriouslyto theattacks.What's more, they made note of the fact that theDutchautonomistpaperEM bad listed the addresses ofcorporate testingfieldsof genetically manipulatedplantsin its issue No. 89.

To explain their actions, the RazendeRooiersissued a lengthy communique which was likewise published in NN. The Razende Rooiers defend their militant

approach in their communique:

The destruction ofa test field is designed to bothstarta discussiononthesubjectofbiotechnology,as wellas to offera direct countertopro-biotech propaganda intheform of sabotage.

Resistance- in whateverform - to biotechnologyisnot only necessary, it is also legitimate.

Andyou don't have to bean expert to usea shovel."

But the groupnot only defend their tactics in the communique, but they go on to further discuss the theoreticalnecessitiesof offering concrete resistanceto biotechnology.

Technology is playing an increasingly greaterrolein food production.This means multi-national corporations are controlling a greater and greater share of theworld's essential resources. At the same time, the uses ofbiotechnology reduces the multi-national's dependenceon localresources,thus opening the door to total artificialfood production. Thus, local populations become increasinglydependent on the productsof multi-nationals.But do consumers really want food production to beentirely artificialand, thus, corporateowned? To ensurethat the public does wish such a 'luxury', bio-tech multinationals spend millions of dollars annually on theirpublic relations/propagandabudgets.

Just as with the Green revolution, the use of biotechnology will bring greatgains to the food productionsector, yet it will also carry with it newer and bigger

problems. Farfrom solving the world's hunger problem(which actually stems from unequal distribution and notfrom under-production), bio-technology will simplyserve to further marginalize the Third World. The use ofbio-technology will be destructive to the environment, asgenetically manipulated fields require certain 'necessary' chemical applications (which the multi-nationalscan themselves gladly supply). What's more, the proliferationof manipulatedplants will result in a drasticlossofgeneticdiversity. Already,50%ofthe world's population are fed by three plants: wheat, rice, and com. Biotechwoulddrastically reducethenumberof naturally occurringvarietiesof these plants.Also, 93%of the presentworld's supply of geneticdatais storedin the gene bansof western corporationsand scientific institutes.

What will result from this, of course, is a highlypaternalistic and grossly racist attitude on the part ofmulti-nationals towards indigenous farming peoples.The use of bio-technology is racist against the ThirdWorld, because societies which had long since grownaccustomedto reaping harvests with locally availablelabourandwith triedandtrusted farmingtechniques willsuddenly be cast off as primitiveand inefficient. For incomes the 'benevolent' multi-national with its highly-skilled staff of white western employees, its stocks ofchemicals, and its immense reserves of capital...All ofthis will result in the environmental,economic, political,and culturalmarginalization ofThird World societies.

The topic of bio-technologyhasnot, asyet, becomea central focus for the environmental movement or the

autonomous-left in North America. And yet, because ofthe diverse issues which are relatedto bio-technology •environmental, political, social• it is anissuewhich willbecome increasingly significant in the years ahead. Indeed, the threatened destruction of the Audobon Ballroom in New York City (the siteofMalcolmX's assassination) and its replacementwith a multi-million dollarColumbia University genetic researchfacility has startedraisingthe awarenessof both environmentaland social-activist groupsof their common groundon this issue.

It is importantthatboth the autonomous-leftandtheradical environmental movement begin to formulate acoherent critique of bio-technology and begin to workout an effectiveandconcrete strategyto resist its implementation. Though the Razende Rooiers attacks were carriedout in Europe,the relevanceoftheirmessageandtheissues raised in their communique are clearly just asrelevant to our movement here in North America.

And afterall, you don't haveto be anexpert of usea shovel...

Three RAFPrisoners End HungerstrikeOn September 23,1991, three Red Army Fraction

(RAF) prisoners, Karl-HeinzDellwo, Lutz Taufer, andKnut Folkerts began a temporary hungerstrike in Celle,Germany. They initiated the hungerstrike to protest thefact that the Ministry of Justice would not allow RadioBremen to hold a radio interview with them. The lawyersof the three men stated that the ruling was further evidence of the State's plan to completely isolate politicalprisoners. In their statement, the three prisoners called forregroupment, andalso that"RAF prisonersbe allowed totake part in open and unhindered discussions, even viathe media".

On October 4,1991, Dellwo, Taufer, and Folkertsended their hungerstrike. They claimed to have had a"good" conversation with the Ministry ofJustice, thoughnothing concrete has materialized since. In their statement announcing the end of their hungerstrike the threeprisoners discuss the terrible state of isolation in which

Germany's politicalprisoners find themselves atpresent.They mention Irmgard Moeller, Western Europe's longest-held political prisoner, who has been imprisoned for20 years. They also reiterate their demand for "regroupmentand free discussion with one another, as well as withthose on the outside", so as to arrive at a perspective oftheir common history since the '68-period. The GermanState, of course, far from moving towards the demandsmade by the prisonersduringthe '88 hungerstrikehas infact been intensifying its campaign of repression againstthe prisoners by forbidding visits, forbidding the copyingof letters, raiding prisoners' cells and confiscating reading materials, and carrying out a campaign of media liesabout RAFactions being planned from inside the prisons,with the lawyers being used as "terrorist couriers". [SeeATS No. 9-ed.]

We at ATS would have liked to have reprinted thestatements by the RAF prisonersand their lawyers which

News BriefsA trialagainst 1,243members of the revolu

tionary organization DevSol endedon November 1in Istanbul. The event was used by the Turkish stateas a show-casetrial againstTurkey's fighting left,although the prisoners themselves continued tostruggle by means of several hungerstrikes (whichcost four Dev Sol members their lives). AlthoughTurkey hasexecuted 573 political prisoners since1982, from this trial, only one death sentence washanded down. This should be seen as an attempt topresent a"cleaner" imageto theEuropean Community, and it in no way represents a lessening ofrepression against Turkey's revolutionary left Oftheotherdefendants,41 receivedlife sentences,553werejailed from3-20 years,and582 wereset free.Thismilitarytrial against Dev Sol hadasit goal"towipeoutarmedresistance"inTurkey. Nevertheless,on the lastday of the trial, some of the prisonersunfurledsheetsreading "Long Live Dev Soil" and"We Are Justified,We Shall Winl" (AngehbrigenInfo#79)„.OnOctober1,1316politicalprisoners inSouth Koreabeganahungerstrikedemandingtheirimmediaterelease anddemanding thatSouthKoreascrapa law which forbids South Koreans from having contact with communists from the North. Although 1083prisoners were soon pardoned and setfree, thosedetainedundertheanti-communistprovi-sion were not released. We at ATS do not know oftheircurrent situation... On November20, ashootoutoccurred in Athens, Greece between police andsuspectedmembers of the November 17 guerrillaorganization. Accounts in the capitalist press statethat police were informed that 4 individualswereattemptingto breakinto a parkedtruck in the inner-city workingclass districtof Sepolia,When policeapproached they weremet by gunfireanda grenadewasthrownatthem. Morepolicearrivedandgunfirewas continued to be exchanged until the fourmanagedto escapeon foot. Fourcops were injuredandone the suspected guerrillas was wounded. Thepoliceclaimedthat the 4 weremembersof November 17 becausethe weaponsused werethe sameasthe ones used in an attackon a policevan earlier inthe month. The attack, claimed by November 17,injured7 copsofwhichone died later...On October16, ETA detonated three bombs in Madrid. Oneperson, a police lieutenant, was killed, and fourotherswerewounded when adevice explodedundera police commissioner's car. Earlier in the week,three GRAPO bombs failedto cause any damagewhen they exploded outside a government office inMadrid-Sevilla... An "Anti-racist Group" fire-bombed five buses in Berlin on October 18. The

buseswereto beused to transportasylum-seekerstonewly createdrefugee camps which lie outside urban areas. The attack was in protest against theGerman government's increasinglyracistapproachto the refugee question... Former Red Army Fraction (RAF) member Sflke Maier-Witt was recentlyconvicted of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion and robbery for her role in the 1977RAF kidnapping andexecution of Germanindustri-

continuedon the backpage...

were issued before and after the hungerstrike, howevernews of the hungerstrike was slow to reach us. In futurewe hope to reprint, in full, statements issued by prisonersduring hungerstrikes.

"And of course we want to achieve our freedom

along with everyone else. The prisoners should havebeen free long ago." -Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Knut Folkerts, Lutz Taufer Celle, 4.10.1991

"The Puerto Rican woman has alwaysbeen an important part ofthe struggle."

An Interview With Puerto Rican Independentista Margerita Mergal

Your name and occupation.

My name is Margerita Mergal. For the past thirtyyearsIhavebeenactivein thestrugglefor independenceandsocialismfor PuertoRico.Presently, I do notbelongto any political party. I am working as a Social ScienceProfessorat the GeneralStudiesDepartmentof the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, where I have beenteaching since 1959. I am also working with the PuertoRican Organization Of Working Women (OPMT) andwith Ofensiva '92.

Briefly describe your objective in visiting the U.S.

I have come to the United States on a tour to

promote the release of all Puerto Rican Political Prisonersand Prisoners Of War from prison. At the same time I amconducting interviews and documenting the story ofPucno Rican women Political Prisoners and Prisoners of

WaratPlcasanton, California, and at Dwight, Illinois. Weplan to publish this work in Puerto Rico so that PuertoRicans may know and understand the situation of awoman who is in prison, not because she committed acrime but because she tried to liberate her country.

What Is your opinion of the Bureau of Prisons and theU.S. prison system In general after they turned downyour request to visit the women Political Prisoners andPrisoners of War?

The U.S. Ministry of Justice and Federal Bureau ofPrisons' procedures are very complex and difficult. Thiswas to be expected since they purposely placed thesewomen in prisons located a long way from home so thatthey cannot easily communicate with their communities.If one wants to visit one of these prisoners, if one wantsto break into the walls that they have erected around theseprisoners, one must go through a series of very difficultprocedures. We have been doing that and we communicate continuously with the federal and state authorities inour efforts to obtain permission to talk to the prisoners.

They have created all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles. Iam completely sure, however, that in the long run theywill give us permission to enter the prisons.

Tell us about the struggles' current juncture in yourcountry.

It is very important to notice how the workers'movement maintains its stance in the struggle. The victory against the proposedsale of the telephonecompanyto a private company represents a good idea of how theworkers' struggle is "alive and kicking." A general strikewas organized, and we paralysed Puerto Rico for 24hours. This is not a small accomplishment. This is something that must be said over and over again since there isvery little that appears in the U.S. press about what ishappening in Puerto Rico.

In addition to the workers' movement, we continue,of course, to struggle for independence. Sometimes wemarch together, like we did against the sale of the telephone company; other times each group has its ownissues and its own tactics, as in the case of the plebiscitein which we were divided. Some of us thought that weshould not participate in that deceitful process whileothers, such as the Puerto Rican Independence Party(PIP) decided to participate. Anyway, like some of us hadsaid from the beginning, what happened was that the trickof the plebiscite died in a committee of the U.S. Congressbecause the whole thing did not make sense at the time itwas proposed. Everything was a promotional trick orchestrated by some in Puerto Rico.

In addition to those kinds of struggles, we are alsoinvolved with environmental, anti-militarism, and pro-peace struggles. These struggles have attracted manysupporters. Religious groups, subscribing to the theologyof liberation, are also involved in community work. Indifferent ways, by different means, we are all very involved in all of the different aspects of the Puerto Ricanstruggle. The work for the liberation of the PoliticalPrisoners and Prisoners of War provides all independen-tists an opportunity to work together with other groups

and individuals who are not inde-

pendentists but who are willing tosupport this kind of struggle forhumanitarian reasons. Not all the

people who struggle for justice areindpendentists. In other politicalmovements there are people whocould be mobilized to support thiskind of issue. This campaign toliberate our prisoners is invaluablebecause of its potential to unite theindependence movement.

How do you see the women'sstruggle in your country?

The first women who

struggled against colonialism werethe Tainas. Since then the Puerto

Rican woman has always been animportant part of the struggle. Onthe one hand, there is the dailystruggle to improve terrible livingconditions which we were forced to

From Clandestinity-OjedaRios AndCol6n Osorio Speak

From somewhere in Puerto Rico - On Tuesday,August 27, Channel 11 presented an interview withPuertoRicanPatriots Filiberto OjcdaRiosandLuisAlfredo Colon Osorio. The interview was conducted

by reporter Daisy Sanchez in an undisclosed location. The two companeros reintegrated themselveswiththe revolutionary clandestine struggle on September 23,1990, the date commemorating the Gritode Lares. Rafael Cancel Miranda, Nationalist Hero,read the communique issued by the EPB-Ma-cheteros wherein the two publicly statedtheir decision.

It is important to note that the interview coincidedwiththe sixthanniversaryofthearrestsoftheseandother independentists accusedofbeingmembersof Los Macheteros,an armed clandestineorganization, and also of participating in the S7.5 millionWells Fargo expropriation in Hartford, CT. Somehave called these arrests the second invasion ofPuertoRicoby theU.S.- morethan 500FBIagentsand local police officials participated. Dozens ofhomes and businesses on the island were illegallyraided.

Asa resultof the interview,theFBIhas subpoenaed Channel 11 and reporter Daisy Sanchez toappear before a grand jury on September 25. DaisySanchez will base her defense on the First AmendmentoftheU.S.Constitution. Channel 11andDaisySanchez have received widespread support for theirstand from journalists as well as other members ofthe news media on the island.

(LaPatria Radical,August/September 1991- Vol.4,Nos.1-2)

Update: After the above article was published afederal district court in Hartford, CT suspendeditssubpoena of Daisy Sanchez to appear before theGrandJury.Dayslater,onOct.22ndshewassubpoenaed again with the same demand to turn over videoandaudio tapesof the interview.Sanchczhas agreedto appear before the Grand Jury but continues torefuse to hand over the tapes. With this new subpoena she now faces the possibility of an even longerperiodof imprisonmentbecausethisnewGrandJuryhas a different expiration date. We hope to have moreinformation in our next issue.

(Info takenfromNicaragua SolidarityNewsUpdate#91)

tolerate under the current system that welive in, aproductof capitalism and colonialism. On the other there is thepolitical struggle to achieve independence and socialism.We are now organizednot only in politicalparties,fromthe left and the right, but also in unions and in groupsworking with women issues within unions as well as inuniversities and study groups. Women are also organizedby the government in women commissions, both at thecity and state level, and in private centres that provideservices to women. For example there is the Centre forVictims of Rape and Casa Julia de Burgos for batteredwomen.We are also organized withinthe independencemovement, in political parties as well as various movements and in autonomous organizations such as TallerSalud, which primarily studies health issues affectingwomen; the Puerto Rican Organization of WorkingWomen, which mainly works with working class womenand their problems, and other organizations such asFeministas en Marcha.

continued on page 4...

International Campaign For Puerto RicanPolitical Prisoners And POWs

Amidstsignsof a possible U.S. initiatedchange inPuerto Rico's political status, pro-independenceforceshave launched a campaign seeking amnesty for theirpolitical prisoners and prisoners of war by the end of1992.

The campaignfocuses on four demands; the releaseof all 18 Puerto Rican political prisoners and POWs;dropping charges against eight more activists in a Hartford, Connecticut "robbery conspiracy" case; amnestyfor activists underground or in exile facing pendingcharges; and cessation of harassment and repressionagainst the independence movement."Independista" Prisoners

The 18 prisoners, all serving life or near-life sentences, include 13 members of the clandestine FuerzasArmadas de Liberaci6n Nacional (FALN) who havedemanded protection as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, which was expanded in the 1970's tocover anti-colonial combatants. The group claimedcredit for dozens of anti-colonial bombings of government and corporate targets in New York and Chicago inthe 1970's and 1980's. The 13werearrested in the early1980's and convicted of "seditious conspiracy" andvarious weapons and bomb charges.

The other five jailed activists have declared themselves political prisoners. Four are defendants in theHartford case,convictedofcomplicityinanarmedactionclaimed by the underground group Los Macheteros. Theother, a former member of the FALN, was convicted of abombing.

The U.S. government has rejected both politicalcategories, labelling all the activists "common criminals". Many of the imprisoned "independistas" haveendured extremely abusive prison conditions, includingsmall group isolation, solitary confinement, behaviourmodification and sexual harassment.

A New Status For Puerto Rico

Since February, when a U.S. senate committeedefeated a proposed referendum on Puerto Rico's status,

... Richard Williams interview continued

forgetto teachhistory,meaningthat newpeople cominginto the movement may not know about COINTELPRO.They need to be educated about COINTELPRO. Thegovernment says that they stopped it, and that's a lie.They say they are not imperialists, but they are, youknow.Sofor thegovernment,whichis totally corrupt,tosay they've stopped the program just means they'vefound a way to cover it up even more.

Of course, we had the revelations in the mid-1980s,which were not as widely publicized as COINTELPRO (which came at around the time as theWatergate scandal), that the FBI again was monitoring and infiltrating the Central American solidaritygroups and anti-intervention groups. A very similarkind ofoperation, and one which was only exposed fiveyears ago.

Well basically it was a successful program for thembecausethey did sow a lot of bad seeds in a lot of goodorganizations by infiltrating them. They were able to turnbrother against brother and sister against sister. Theywere able to infiltrate organizations and kill key people.They killed a lot of Black Panther people and BlackLiberation Army people. They totally disrupted a lot ofother organizations. So for them it's been a successfulprogram, so they're not going to discontinue somethingthat's been successful to that degree, they're just going to

"all indicators" point to a push by Washington to imposean "association republic" status on the island, accordingto Julio Rosado of the U.S.-based Movimento de laLiberaci6n Nacional (MLN). That status - given to thePacific colony of Micronesia in the 1980's - wouldguarantee continued U.S. control of foreign policy andensure maintenance of many key U.S. military bases onthe island, while placing all social and economic responsibilities onto an "independent" regime and looseningtrade barriers for U.S. corporations.

The pro-independence forces intend to exploit thisprobable transition period to insert the issue of endingrepression. "We can't conceive of a process of changeplacing power in the hands of the Puerto Rican peoplewithout release of all the political prisoners and POWs",said Rosado.

Countering Columbus HooplaA wide range of pro-independence groups, both

island and U.S. based are involved in the campaign,including the MLNand thePuertoRicanSocialistParty.The campaign's target date of 1992 coincided with thehoopla over the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrivalin the Americas. Organizers highlight Puerto Rico'sstatus as one of the last remaining colonies in America.

In July, the campaign's first mobilizationbroughtout hundreds of people to marches and events in 10 U.S.cities, marking the 93rd anniversary of the U.S. invasionof Puerto Rico. Approximately 1,500people participatedin a national march in Washington, on October 12.

Formore information about the Puerto Rican Politi

cal Prisoner And Prisoner Of War Campaign write to:MLN, 1671 N.Claremont St., Chicago, IL,60647 USAorNational Committee To Free Puerto Rican Prisoners OfWar, P.O. Box 476698, Chicago, IL, 60647 USA.

(fromNew LiberationNews Service Vol2, Packet #4 viaDC SCARNews)

cover it up more. Just like you said about the CentralAmerica solidarity committees, it came to light in the1980's that they're still doing this. For us to think thatthey have stopped would be totally crazy.

Do you think that we'll see a resurgence in clandestineorganizing?

It's hardtosay.I thinkit isnecessaryforthe reasonsI gave - to be able to haveany kindof successful organization could not be done publicly. It could not be onewhich follows the rules that the government says downfor people to organize, because the rules that they laydown make it easy for them to subordinateany kind oforganization. So we have to make up our own rules, andone of the ways to make up our own rules is to havegroups, meetings, and organizations that function clandestinely. I think that there's a need for it. If your'reasking if I see a resurgence in it, I haven't yet seen aresurgence but that doesn't mean that it isn't happening.I hope it is happening.

Transcribed from a radio interview on CKLN inToronto, July 30/91

Late Update (by A.TS.): We recently learned that thejury inRichard's trial came back witha guilty verdict onDecember 13/91. More info next issue.

... Margerita Mergal Interview continuesfrom page 3

How could you contribute to the development of thecampaign to liberate the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

I think that we could help by letting others knowabout the situation of the prisoners. We could be ofassistance to other international campaigns, like the oneI am currently implementing. During the month of JuneIparticipated ina conference dealing withempowermentfor human rights organized by the World UniversityService in Costa Rica. People from all of Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico attended the conference.As part of that event I made a presentation about theprisoners. In September I will be participating in a national conference with fellow fighters from Asia, LatinAmerica and Europe to be held in New Delhi, India.There again I will talk about the situation of our PoliticalPrisoners and Prisoners of War. In Puerto Rico, in theUnitedStatesor inanyothercountryweneedtomovethiscampaign forward sothateverypersonwhoistouched bythis serious injustice will contribute to the prisoners'liberation. In Puerto Rico, there are many individualswho are working very hard to organize committees insolidarity with our Political Prisoners and Prisoners ofWar

(LaPatriaRadical.Aug./Sept. '91, Vol.4,Nos.1-2)

Buy Our Stuff!!Books: Toward People's War For IndependenceAnd Socialism In Puerto Rico: In Defense Of ArmedStruggle S2.50, Armed Struggle In Italy 1976-78: AChronology $5.00, Strike One To Educate OneHundred: The Rise Of The Red Brigades In Italy InThe 1960's-1970's$8.00,WorkersAutonomy$4.00Magazines: Kurdistan Report $2.50, The Black Panther $1.00,Resistance$1.50,Love AndRage$1.00,Prison News Service $1.00, No KKK, Fascist USA$1.00 Newsletters: Out Of Time, Walkin' Steel,Ecomedia, Kurdistan Newsletter, Prisoners' LegalNews (Allnewsletters are freeexceptfor postage)Postage is 20% of the total cost of the literature.Overseas is 30%. Asalwaysnocheques, justcashora blankmoney order(don'tput 'ArmThe Spirit'). Thewhole list will befinished soon. Honest.

Below wehave reprintedseveralcommuniquesanddiscussionpiecesfromtheradicalleft inGermany. Theyhavebeentranslated fromtwo German autonomist magazines, Agitare Bene andInterim. The discussion pieces,which areconcerned witharmedactionswehavecoveredinpreviousissuesofATS., areparteftheongoing debatewithin theGermanleft aroundarmed struggle and the revolutionarymovements.

Wewillcontinue to reprint these discussionpiecesas wefeelthattheissues addressedwithin themareimportantandthedebate anddiscussion theyencourage a necessary. Inthisspirit,ournextissue willinclude therecentRARAcommunique, as well as some of the discussion pieces which havearisen out of theDutch left concerning thiscommunique inparticularandRARA ingeneral.As well, wewillhave twootherdiscussion piecesandaRevolutionaryCells communique.

This Is Not A Love Song!(Almost like in real life)In the early summer, in a former FDJ retirement

home, threenolongerveryyoungpeoplemeteachother:HerMann (witha capitalM), Arthur, andZorro.

Aftertheyhadallbrokentheice,andHerMann andZorrohadpartook oftheCrimean champagne whichhadbeenbrought along, then Arthur, according to his dailyritual,sathimselfinfrontofhisblackandwhitetelevisionset It wasonlyjust aftertenthirtywhenArthurthoughtthe unofficial servants of the Bonn government wereplaying a jokeonhim.Andevenhours later,whenbothhisfriends hadsoberedup againand thefirst brawlsincetheirmeeting hadendedup inHerMann'sfavour, Arthurswore that he had not dreamed it all. Fredrichs hadreported, witha particularly cunning grin,that,concerning the question of where to locate Great Germany'scapital city, thattheRevolutionary Cellshadalsojustcasttheir vote in favour of Bonn. The Reichstag - the nationwillbegladtoknow- wasnotbadlyburned, andno onehad been hurt, but rather part of the area housing theexhibitof Germanhistoryhad been burnt throughto thealuminum girders.

For a few moments, the power in the FDJ homewent out, and incredible laughing broke out in all thehousing units,andthethreefriends begandiscussing thejust-mentioned incident. Arthur, outoffearlestsomeoneshould have been injured, became so enraged that hethrew an ash tray at the government official.HerMannand Zorro smashed in the TV, because this jeopardizedthe security of their town. Meanwhile, Arthur hadscreamed, andthensomewhatmore explainedwhathadhappened inBerlin, andthenaterrible argument ensued,in which Arthurexplained theproblemof suchanactiongiven the history of the Reichstage fire of 1933. Zorrothought that the targetwasinappropriate, sincethe realstruggle is againsturbanrestructuring, so theyoughttohave attacked Daimler, and not done just an isolatedaction,butratherone out ofamass campaign, likeagainstthe project in the Potsdamer Platz. When HerMannadded,Bonnor Berlin, Daimleror whoever,the actionmust be anti-patriarchical, and they should have firstaskedthe Rote Zoras to define the problem according tomale domination, then something suddenly struckZorro...

(In real life...)...these people,ofcoursewould not laugh aboutus.

The situation for us is also bitterly serious.We think that whatmilitant groups have done over

the last few months represents the unfortunate side ofwhatseveralgenerations of militantssincethebeginningof the 70's have struggled for.

Wearereferringto theshootingof the US-embassyinBonn bya RAFcommando atthebeginning ofFebruary,andtheblowing upof theVictory PillarinBerlinandthefire-bombing of the Reichstag by the RZ's in recentweeks.

And especially we refer to the fatal letter-bombattackon the Berlincity-planner Klein. Since the anonymous statement of responsibility made clear that theauthors come from out of the Left, we felt it was criticallynecessary to draft a piece on the connection between

politics and morals.Given the currentpolitical situation,in whichthe

Left has become almost meaningless, this discussion isalmost existential. Given the social marginalization ofleftist politics, and militant politicsespecially, violentrevolutionary tacticsneedto beexceedingly responsibleandprecise. It's ourmission inthissituation to display anessentially exemplary character.

The above-mentioned actions did not display suchresponsibility. They ail claimto give correctanswerstosome of the pressing questionsof our time, nonethelesstheycan simply be reduced to revolutionary violence.

The shootingof theUSembassyinBonnby a RAFcommando was described in the decidedly bankruptcommunique as an action of a united fraction ofGermany's armed Left.

Not only wereuninvolved peopleendangered bythis meaningless shooting, but, to makemattersworse,thesepeople were partoftheanti-war movement, peoplewhomustbe seenaspotential allies.It wouldbebetterifan armed group with such "terrorist scare-tactics"weren't in the scene at all. The reference in the communique to having ruledout any dangerto those not involvedbyusingtracerammunition isnothingmorethanunsurpassablecynicism.

With their attack on the politically insignificantmemorial to German militarism of 1871, the VictoryPillar in Berlin,a groupfrom the Revolutionary Cellsshowed how insignificant and misplaced in time andspace they are.

Theattempt to remove thegolden monument fromits base was, considering the outbreakof the Gulf War,inappropriate andridiculous. Apart from that,since theaction was mis-timed, our comrades proved that theyhave no answers to the objective questions which theirattack raised,namelythe connectionbetweennationalism, racism, and sexism and theirown political praxis.There is no political orientation in their communique -which reveals our comrade's false label. They mistakenlyseeclarity where it does notexist- forexample theconnectionbetweenmilitancy and anti-patriarchal resistance by men.

As for the fire-bombing of the German historyexhibit in the Reichstagat the beginningof June, the oldmilitant wisdom is here appropriate, namely that anactionagainsta falseobjectis a falseaction, evenif thecommunique explainsit otherwise.

In the piece with our name entitled "A vote forBonn",it statesthata precondition toanystruggleshouldbe that we "maintain some political ground and that wename and pursue concrete goals".

At leastthat's whattheysaid,butneitherthis actionnor the content of their communique really point to this.As for a concretepoliticalgoalor a crystallization point• somethingwhichthosestrugglingagainstrestructuringcould orient themselves towards - neither were named.What remained after the action was the reference to theruling-power's debateaboutthe"capitalcityquestion".And consideringthe Reichstagfire of 1933, this actionwas nothing but a farce.

Thisplace,considering itshistorical significance, isnot at all a goodtargetformilitant political attacks. The

CONCERNING OUR ATTACK ON DRECKS-

KAISERONJULY17:

The Tenglemann/Kaiser chain has beenmakinggreatadvancesinto theex-DDR.Presentlythereis a fight going on over the plan to build a newsupermarket in front of the towers of the formerconcentration camp Ravensbruck at Furstenburg.Weare amongthose whoare strugglingagainstthisconstruction - but we aren't confined to peacefulmeansof pretest TheKaiserschain- whichprofitedunder the Nazi's beginning in 1933 - is now draggingtheconsiderations andmemories ofcountlessanti-fascists through the dirt of New GermanConsumerism. To this, there can be no non-violentresponse which is strong enough.

Our fire-bomb in the new store in Rav

ensbruck and the bumt-oul consumer temple in theConrad-Blenke Street in Berlin are our response!We demand that Kaisers and all others halt con

struction in Ravensbruck and SachsenhausentBut we aren't simply going to wait until they

haltconstruction,wearegoingtofightagainstthem.Kaiserscan be hit anywhere- and we willhit them!

In honour ofall those who were murdered and

persecutedunder the NaziRegime!

Revolutionary Cells

Reichstagisa symbolofGermannationalism, thisis tree,but it isalso a symbolof the defeat of theLeft inGermany.

As for their allusion in the communiqueto the "lonedeed ofMarinus van der Lubbe, nevertheless the detailedrelevant circumstances of the fire bomb attack to todaywere not clarified. It is "foolish" to do an action againstsuchan objectwhosesymbolismisnot unambiguousandwhich itself does not convey a clear message.

The death of the Berlin construction official Klein

by an explosion from a letter-bomb provoked discussions as to the goals and motives of the attackers.

In the communique from an anonymous group onJune IS, it was stated that Klein's death was not intentional, but was the result of an "inacurracy", but nonetheless, the risk to anyone not involved while the letter wasin the ail was "ruled out 100%". They can hardly haveknown that the construction official himself, and notsome secretary, was to have opened the letter.

For punishment actions, as for any other action,thesame rule of political critique applies, namely that it mustbe ruled out entirely that the person attacked could beaccidently killed, or that uninvolved person stand anychance of being endangered, even if such risks meanincreasing the risks to ourselves.

In the eyes of the State, people are just chess figure;but our struggle does not play with the lives of people!

The coldness with which the authors of the state-

continued on the next page...

Letter Bombs As An Action

Form For Leftist Groups?This piece is being written under the assumption

that the statement released concerning the death ofHanno Klein was written by the same people who in factsent the letter bomb, and that the statement releasedreflectedtheir political position. I'm also assumingthatthe action was carried out by comrades from our movement.

Just when I thought I could say of the attack, "itseems the construction mafia have killed off their tal

ented chief themselves", what should happen but on thefollowing Monday a communique appeared whichgreatly shocked me. The authors stated that their intention had not been to kill Klein. That things turned outother than they had hoped didn't seem to bother theauthors that much. Nevertheless, they didn't simplyhospitalize someone for a few weeks, rather they killedhim. There is quite a substantial difference as far as I'mconcerned. With plenty of rhetoric ("He had lost...hisright to physical security.") they try to explain everythingaway.Theyfelt no needto discussthe positiveeffectsonpeople's current situation which the death of Klein hasbrought about. Not a word about whether the action wasa correct one given their political outlook. It seems itnever occurred to them that such actions don't always goas one plans. They write that a premature detonation wasimpossible, but this contention seems utterly foolish tome. That's simply untrue. Even when you've gone overeverything again and again, there are still situationswhich you can't anticipate, but which you neverthelessmust allow for. (Ever heard of the dangers of surviving

... This Is Not A Love Song continuedfrom page 5

ment dismiss the fatal results of their action reveals their

incompetence, as neither the intended political effect ofthe action, nor any ideas as to how the action mightcontribute to the further development of resistance to therestructuring in Berlin were mentioned by the authors.

This incompetence characterizes itself in a disastrous tendency towards militarism. So its not surprisingthat "war" is the central theme in the communique.

This fatal tendency towards militarism has alwaysresulted in actions with negative political consequences:the Karry action, the shootings on the Startbahn, and themurder of the US soldier Pimental. This list should not be

lengthened.This tendency is the expression of the desperation

of one faction of the Left which refuses to learn from

history; a faction which only grounds itself in a subjectiveconnection to the State and Capital, and whose praxis isnot oriented towards the political goal of the anchoringand broadening of revolutionary politics in the socialprocesses of the society.

We reject political assassinations as a revolutionarypolitical method, because we feel that the position ofsocial struggle in this country is far from that point, andbecause liquidating political opponents reduces everything to a power/survival question. We arc struggling forpeople's consciousness, as well as for our own - not forpower.

Political assassinations are not legitimized bymerely looking at the functions of our opponents, as theRAF has been preaching for some time. This politicalapproach must be wholly disregarded, because the onlybasis for this is that a previously anonymous typewriter-culprit can be called a murderer. Their death doesn't giveanyone time to breathe, and the act has nothing liberating

fragments from such bombs, something even AKW-agents concede?)

They write, only the person who actually openedthe letter was in anydanger. They're lucky that the personfor whom the letter was intended in fact opened it. Whatif, being concerned that "his life might be in danger", hehad questioned what was in the package? What if thething hadn't fit through his mail slot, been returned tosender, and then been detonated by someone mere? Andso on... I don't think they considered any of these possibilities, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen thismethod for their action.

I just can't understand what made them go and usesuch a method. What sort of discussion are they trying toinitiate? To my knowledge,until now there have not beenany leftist letter bomb attacks which have woundedindividuals in West Germany, West Berlin or East Germany. And for good reasons. There have been discussions on whether such actions are appropriate or not.Bomb-scares (and not actually placing a device) are atactic commonly employed by right-wing groups, andthese have the effect of striking fear into those not directlyintended. We must not start thinking: it can happen toanyone. No, just the opposite: only the bastards (and, yes,it's difficult to establish "borders between people andbastards") should have to fear for their safety and property. The only previous leftist attack which in any wayresembles this letter bomb action was the fire bombing oftwo banks where the bombs were deposited as if they

continued on page 7...

or mobilizing about it. Quite the contrary - the inflationary effect of this method causes the revolutionary appealto liberation to collapse upon itself. This method inrevolutionary struggle is nothing but spectacle.

A militant left which lightly brushes off the absolutely compulsory considerations of politic and moralsand which loses its scruples - this symptom of consciencewhich, which distinguishes revolutionary women formmen - loses its credibility and its ability to call for arevolutionary struggle for an unhierarchical society.

Many people will probably ask what the subjectivism, the militarism, and the damaged revolutionary moralwhich displayed themselves in the Klein action have todo with our criticizing of the above-mentioned actions ofthe Revolutionary Cells. What they have in common istheir character of irresponsible activism, which turnsmilitant action into a fetish.

This praxis aims at spectacle., it replaces politicalintervention with publicity-getting. It does not conveyany hope of liberation, but rather diffusely displays inpublic some explanations of the uses of fire, explosives,or weapons. It has given up criticizing revolutionarymethods, or rather has forgotten to, since it has long sincelost that orientation. It becomes a tragic figure, because itbecomes the victim of its own mythology.

Militant actions have as their goal the sharpening ofsocial contradiction, the advancing of social structures,and the protecting or widening of struggled-aftcr freespaces. They should expose the violence of the System,giving name to injustice sabotage projects of the rulingpowers, and disrupt the repressive social control of theSystem. They should confront the ruling powers politically, making them cither insecure or making them appear ridiculous.

Militant actions - as we understand our actions

... Basque Hungerstrike continued from page 12overlook all sorts of things because of their politicalinterests. Through solitary confinement and by cutting usoff from our friends and families they deny us even theleast of our fundamental rights. In this way, the policy ofdispersal is mutated into an instrument of punishmentwhich- althougharbitrarilyinflictedon us - isdirectedatthe entire Basquenation and all thoseassociatedwithusin society.

A Variety of Repressive Measures

We would also, like to declare that the Spanishgovernmentand its Basqueand Spanishreformist allies(PNV, PP, EA...) lack any real political will to seek asolutionto the problemof recognizing the national sovereignty of our people.

They lack the will and they arc incapable of resolving a conflict initiated by the historic right of our peopleto exercise their free right to self-determination againstthe irrational stubbornness of the Spanish government. Agovernment which has not hesitated to use all of itsavailable means of violence (both legal and illegal)against us, so they must be held solely responsible for thecontinued levels of political confrontation and violencewhich still exist. In this light, the dispersal of the prisoners must be seen as a power instrument in a host of alreadyexisting repressive measures, and its use must mark theirdefinitive break from their self-proclaimed "democraticprinciples".

They are mistaken if they think they won't repealtheir past mistakes. They will never succeed in breakingus through the use of power and violence, and never willwe relinquish the historic right which our people have tonationhood. Neither deception nor distortion, nor manipulation will be able to hide the true reality: that we area people fighting to survive and struggling to have ourDespoiled rights recognized.

We wish to openly renew our unity and our political identification with the project of winning nationalliberation, the project to which we are bound, eventhough we are members of a collective of militant political prisoners which is split us all across the Iberianpeninsula, scattered and unprotected.

With the beginning of this phase of the struggle, wewould like to reiterate our three foundations: our unityand togetherness against the dispersals; our collectivesolidarity against isolation and individualization; and ourduty, which we will continually renew until we haveachieved full sovereignty for our people against theintransigent Spanish State.

The collective of Basque Political Prisoners30.9.91

(fromtheBasque newspaperEgin)

Late Update (by A.T.S.): We have learned that theBasque prisoners ended their hungerstrikeonDecember15. The hungerstrike was entering its 11th weekwithatotal of 525 prisoners participating through rotatingshifts. In the last week all of the prisoners tookpart. OnDecember 6tha demonstration withover50,000 peopletook place in Bilbao, Euskadi in solidarity with tlieprisoners. Wehope to have more informationnext issue.

against Germany's racist and sexist Asylum politics - area means to political intervention which we won't renounce.

We don't advocate that all the Left arm itself - quitethe contrary, themilitant and armed resistance movementis but an important, clenched-fist pledge for futurestruggles.

-a group from the traditional line of the RevolutionaryCells.

SolidarityAction With FrenchPrisoners' Hungerstrike

Fire-bombing of Renault in Bruhl, GermanyOn28.7.91, we attackedaRenaultagency in Bruhl.We have done this action so as to support the

hungerstrike of the Action Directe members and of theother prisonersin France. The struggle for regroupmentis an international strugglepresently being waged by allpolitical prisoners in Western Europe, because all ofthese prisonersacrossEurope face the sameconditions ofisolation. So we took this action to give the struggle forregroupmenta living continuity and to strengthen a newdiscussion aroundthe issue of the straggle for regroupment here [inGermany -ed.].

During the '89 hungerstrike, in spite of a broadpoliticalmobilization, the regroupmentwas not enacted.So since that time, we have been concerned with redeveloping the political quality of this process. In concreteterms, we have come up with two ways to change thissituation.

The first is, to stop being slack and to forge a realcontinuity. In yearspast,we had difficulties because ourresistanceonly sporadicallyreachedourproposals,soweneed to redevelop a concrete societal discussion of thisissue.So we proposebuilding open contacts with different people, and that we not get hung up on ideologicalconflicts, but that we reach a common understanding.And we don't mean forthis to be areductionistapproachto thequestionof regroupment,but ratherwe'd like to seethis sortof processtake place with all questions.

The second is, we mustbe concerned with organizing a resistance, so we must build a centre of counter-power.We must see to it that from out of all the variousinitiativesandgroupsacommon organizationcomes intobeing, one which can take up the burden of politicalmobilization and thereby assert our common goals andlend some effect to our actions and attacks.

So we are concerned with the general discussionandapproach of the RAF, to build a common revolutionary movement which can evolve into a counter-power,through which we can achieve our goal.

Thehungerstrike isSpainwasaturning-pointforusin this matter. During that period,we sought to achievesome continuity in the struggle for regroupment, to buildstructures and to achieve a new quality in our dealings.And we think this actually happened initially - thestrugglegrewvery potent,even if itwasnot very massive.In contrast to here, where it's very disappointing just tohow narrowa sectorofsociety the notion ofregroupmentis a cleardemand to. Nevertheless, it was hoped that thedevelopments and possibilities of the last hungerstrikecould be built upon. But the hungerstrike in Spain wasunableto pushthroughthe demandsofthe prisoners.Theprisoners areagainin isolation.

Nor did we think that we could push through theirdemands from here [inGermany]- from here, we couldsimply support the struggle for regroupment in Spain.The Spanish State, seeing to enter the EEC with itsmodem form ofcapitalism, took the matter seriously. Butthe reality remains: isolation-torture is now the norm,strongerthan the resistance movement.

When we examined this situation to see how to geta new political movement off the ground, we realizedthen and we realize now that we have to push harder forregroupmenthere in Germany • because we could againtake up the political developments from the strike, because we feel the demands of the prisoners here can bepushed through. And this, of course, would have ramifications all acrossWestern Europe, if the pressure on theruling powers became so intense. Just as the reversal oftheregroupmentinSpainhadaneffectallacrossWestern

Europe...Because to take up this

struggle means more than justhavingthe prisoners inmind.Ofcourse the struggle for the demands of the prisoners, whodaily have to contend with theimperialist prison machine, andpolitical discussions with prisoners make up part of thestruggle in the cities, and sincethey are "a little more", moreself-evident, this is damn wellnecessary I

Butweare concerned with

new initiatives, which tackle theproblem of organizing a resistance movement - includingoutside the jails. The political process which recentlypressed for regroupmentmust be made creative.

We think that, from the beginning, initiatives withour goal in mind, which we want to bring about, mustconnect with who we are struggling against and how wearestruggling.No abstractsteps,butapractical mobilizationsprocess. We wanttobeinvolvedinthisandtalkwithother people and other groups.

On account of the widespread lack of hope ofpushingthroughthe regroupment,which is the goalofallof us, we think that the lasting conclusion and the repeated problem of seeing a possible political process •andhow to putthis intoaction- areasham.This just leadsto a sense of resignation,to dreaming instead of living •some think that ending guerrilla-politics would bringusfurther,but if that were so, they 'd see instead that if therewere no resistance, if there was no one pushing at theseams, then the repressionwould be thousands of timesharsher if it needed to be, and the prisoners would betotally destroyed. He [orshe-ed.] who doesnot struggle,perishes from conjecture.

We chose to attack the Renault company becauseRenault is a dominant European corporation, one whichdirectsWest Europeanrealityand from this draws profit.Renault is the largest state-owned company in France.They produce,in additionto automobiles,militaryequipment andhigh technology, andthey areamajor player inall organizationsrelevant to West Europeancapital.

We attacked them because they are responsible forWestern European imperialistmurderacrossthe globe,through war, economic collapse, hunger...and they areforthe dehumanizationof life, forincreasedpoverty, andfor sharperexploitation in Western Europe.

Corporations such as Renault, like Daimler,Siemens, Thomson, Fiat, and whoever else, propagatethe ruling elites. They are the dark men of the WesternEuropean beast;they have set the new standards: yuppi-fication, high-tech isolation, compulsion to unskilledlabour. Free-thinking (anything which doesn't enhancetheir profit-making life-style) is denounced, repressed,destroyed.

At the same time, a wonderful facade of glimmering consumption, democracy, freedom - "the best in theworld" - is maintained.

And with this, they peddle themselves across theglobe and fence in people's minds.

We want to break through this facade - and that'swhy we attackthem. To fight for our goalof a humane,unhierarchical society, ajust world, is to fight against thepower of the corporations.

And in reality, they want to expand their controlinto the East,and put in place therethe politicaldevelopments which came about here in the '80's.

Renault is a prime example of the modem capitalism of the West European bloc. When Action Directeexecuted Renault chief Besse in 1986, they gruesomelydescribed these politics.

Renault has been at the forefront of Social Demo

craticrestructuring. In the factoriesthis hasmeantbreaking the worker's power through massive layoffs, automation, and individualization. At the same time, decliningsocial benefits increase the compulsion to work, just aswork grew harderand harderto find. All this and suitableconditions for repression, cops, social upheaval...

SOLIDARITY WITH THE POLITICAL PRISON

ERS AGAINST THE STATE'S ATTACKS AND

LIES!!

FOR THE REGROUPMENT OFTHE PRISONERS

FROM THE RAF AND THE RESISTANCE!!

SOLIDARITY WITH THE FRENCH PRISONERS

ON HUNGERSTRIKE!!

STRUGGLE TOGETHER!!

a group for a strong revolutionary movement

(from Agitare Bene #47)

... Letter Bombs continuedfrom page 6

were letters. These never got into the hands of bankemployees becausethey had been fitted with acid fuses,but those are actually very imprecise. And after theaction, this fact was openly discussed. The recent letterbombersmust haveknown of this discussion,unlesstheyonly moved to Berlin yesterday.

As for their last sentence ("Through our inexactness, we didn't anticipate the full force of the blast..."):the blast could not have been that big. Anyone who sawthe photos in the daily paperscould see the window paneswere still intact and the furniture was hardly damaged,much less destroyed.

I can understand that one wouldn't necessarily gointo allthese matters in a statementdesignedtobereadbythe mainstream media. But for internal discussions,which obviously can't be conducted in person,one hastobe a lot more thorough. I hope that such a discussion ispossible in this paper.

Until then!

(from Interim #153)

Meanwhile, In New Jersey..Richard Williams' Trial Continues

As we reportedinArmTheSpiritno. 7, anti-imperialistpolitical prisonerRichard Williams is nowbeingre-triedonchargesthat he shot and killedState TrooperPhilip Lamonacoin NewJersey in 1981. In 1987, TomManning wasfoundguiltyof theself-defensekilling, butthejury couldnotreacha verdicton Williams anda mistrialwasdeclared.

During testimony Manning hassteadfastly deniedWilliam'spresence at theshooting, andhasrefused toanswermany questionsfromthestate;arguingthattodoso wouldviolate "revolutionaryprinciples ofnon-collaboration withtheenemy, whichin this case is the U.S. government."

In October,prosecutors usedresults ofadvanced bloodtestsas evidence,claimingthatthebloodfrom thecaris "consistent with theprofile of Mr. Williams' blood." These DNA testsare theonlynewevidence in thetrialofWilliams, andsuch testshave neverbeen usedas evidence in a "criminal" trial inNewJersey untilnow.

TomMannuigbegan his testimony in November, and on November8th he demonstrated to thejury his shootoutwith Trooper Lamonaco. Manning hasrefused toanswerquestions about other comrades, stating that "I'm notgoing to talkaboutanybody other thanmyselfand Richard.Ifit has todo withthearmed clandestine movement,whichis something weareparticipants in, I can't talkabout it."

This principled standon thepart of Tom has meant increased repression and harassment for Tom and hissupporters. In a letter to a comradeTomwrites that "Inone 6 weekperiod I was in5 different cells, each move anopportunity toransackandconfiscatemoreofmyproperty.Atcourt,I waskeptchainedina cell whilethemetalwallswere continuously pounded byas many as tenstatetroopers using bootsandclubs- continuouslyfor two anda halfhoursbeforeI'm brought into court to testify.

In thefirst week of December, over the objection of the Federal Marshals and the Bureauof Prisons, RayLevasseur was allowed to testify. Originally, the Federal Marshals and the B.O.P had argued thatRay was "toodangerousto movefrom Marion to New Jersey"; however,after some legal wrangling, Ray was brought in underextremely heavysecurityandallowed to testify.Ray was on thestandfor aboutfortyminutes, and like his comradesrefused to answer questions which could compromise others.

Below wepresent interviews withRichardand Tomin whichthey talkabout,amongotherthings,the trialanddiscuss the repressiveconditionsin New Jersey's Trenton StatePrison (wheretheyare serving theirsentences).

Interview With Richard WilliamsYour retrial on these charges is coming up this fall andto start off could you give us an update on the trialstatus and a description of the charges?

My second trial, the retrial, will begin September23. That's when we're going to start picking the jury. Wefigure that might take a week or two and immediatelyafter that we'll start the trial, which will be sometime inthe beginning of October. The trial should take about twomonths.

The charges stem from the death of a state trooperin December 1981 in New Jersey on Route 80. Thecharges specifically are murder and a related robbery andescape. It sounds like more than what it is. The prosecutioncame up with this hypothesis that Tommy (Manning)stole his gun back, but I don't even want to get into that.It all has to do with the death of the trooper. There was norobberyas ina store being robbed or anything. They' re allrolled into the death of the state trooper.

This is the second trial as you said before. We weretried at the end of 1986 and 1987 in Somerville, NewJersey - that's where the new trial will be held as well - infront of the same judge, Judge Imbriani. At that trial Tom(Manning) was convicted of felony murder charges andwas sentenced to life in prison plus ten, I think. Five orten. When you get life, it's hard to keep track of anythingafter that. I got a hung jury, which means that theycouldn't come to a unanimous decision. To be convicted

or acquitted thejury has to be unanimous. The majority ofthe jurors voted for acquittal, but because they were notunanimous, that makes it a mistrial. We're hoping to winthe second time around. The state has come up with somenew blood testing, DNA testing, that is very dubious andis just something more to add into the trial to try andconvict me. At the end of the last trial, the prosecutionasked the judge if they could change the indictment anddelete where it named me specifically as shooting thecop. In essence, what that's saying is that they know thatI didn't shoot the cop, but I'm still being retried on thesecharges.

In political trials in the United States, it is common forthe state to try and prosecute the defendants as manytimes as possible - In order to both "send a message" toother activists as well as to try to set precedents whichcan be used in future political prosecutions. We'vecertainly seen this with you and your comrades, theOHIO 7, who have all been tried a number of separatetimes - in the case of the Seditious Conspiracy/RICOtrial In Springfield you were tried on many of the samespecific charges which you had been previously prosecuted. How many trials have you been through at thispoint and how long have you been imprisoned awaiting the trial?

I was captured on November 4, 1984, which happened to be my birthday - happy birthday, right - so I'vebeen in almost seven years. We had a trial in Brooklyn onspecific bombing charges in 1985-86. That trial tookabout six months. We were all convicted of the various

charges, ranging from at the most 3 years and the womengetting 15 years. Then Tommy and I were tried in NewJersey on the cop shooting, and I've just explained thattrial. Then we were all taken up to Boston and they weregoing to try us in Boston but through a lot of struggle wegot a change of venue. They kept it in the same district butthey moved it to Springfield, Massachusetts becausebasically the judge agreed that there had been too muchpublicity.

The Springfield trial took a year to pick the jury anda year for the trial. In the process of picking the jury thejudge and the prosecution worked it out that having all ofus there was really to bulky - too hard for them to try thecase - so the judge basically asked the prosecution ifthey'd like to cut loose some of us who were doing largeamounts of time already, so that's what happened. Carol(Manning) pleaded guilty to a deal - she didn't rat onanybody or anything, she just pleaded guilty to chargesand was sentenced. Barbara's (Curzi-Laaman's) chargeswere dropped. The charges against Tom and Jaan(Laaman) were dropped because they both had a largeamount of time, Jaan having 48 years on a state charge

Richard Williams

and 53 years on federal charges. They figure he's goingto be jammed up for quite a while. It was only Ray(Levasseur) and I who had the federal charges against us.The trial lastedtwo years.This is my fourth trial comingup, which we think will take a couple of months. So I'vebeen busy.

Of course, the Seditious Conspiracy/RICO trial inSpringfield ended with the acquittal of yourself andyour comrades Ray Levasseur and Patricia Gros Levasseur.

The funny thing about that was that we werecharged with Seditious Conspiracy and RICO charges.RICO is basically criminal charges, racketeeringcharges, which we strongly denied. The Seditious Conspiracy charges were basically political charges, andgoingintothat trial wesawthemost importantchargestofight were the RICO charges. If we were to be convictedof anything, the Seditious Conspiracy would bethe lesserof the charges to be convicted of. We don't look atSeditious Conspiracy as being criminal charges, althoughthey specificallyare tothe state.Wefoughtall thecharges and what happened was that we were found notguiltyof theSeditiousConspiracyand wehada hungjuryon the RICOcharges, but the trial took two years. It wasadefeat fortheprosecution andthey decided nottoretryus on the RICOcharges.So it was a victory.

The state has shown quite plainly over the past number of years that one of its main counterlnsurgencystrategies is the attempt to create a situation where itcan define political opposition itself as criminal activity. It was clear In the Seditious Conspiracy/RICOtrial that the state was attempting to use yourself andyour comrades as a test case to try and expand the"legal" parameters of "criminality" into political activities, whether above-ground "legal" activities orclandestine activities.

That was our main task in these trials, and still iseven in this new trial. They always tried to say"This isn'ta political trial", even in the Seditious Conspiracy trial.Now I don't know what a political trial is if you chargesomebody with trying to overthrow the governmentbyforce of arms - and that's not a political trial? That'ssedition. That's treason actually and we put that to them.We said "Why don't you try us for treason?" But theytried to downplay the politics and tried to say it was a

straightcriminaltrial,andourmajortask in all these trialshasbeento fight criminalization.That has been first andforemost Of course we want to win the case, but you'reduelling on the enemy's ground.

We do have faith in people and we do have faith inthe jury itself. I don't know if I have faith in the jurysystem and the courts the way they are, but we do havefaith in the jury as people. We always try to talk to andwork with the jury, and it's worked out sometimes. In theSeditious Conspiracy/RICO trial, if you want to go bytheir laws, we were guilty because we were chargedunder RICO with some of the same things that we werecharged with andconvicted of in Brooklyn. In the Seditious Conspiracy/RICO trial they only needed to havetwo convictions of those same charges we had beenconvicted ofin Brooklyn to show a patternof"criminal"activity, i.e. RICO. But we were able to talk to the jury,explainto them ourpoliticsand let them see a littlebit ofourselves,andthey chose not to convict us of the RICOcharges.

I think they did it, basically,becausethey believedinus.They werejust basicallywhite middle classpeople,andwe wereableto actually get to them and show that wewereat leastsincere. If they didn't agreewith our politics,at leastwe were sincereand the government throughoutthetrialshowedhow insincerethey were.They did a lotof lyingandalotof manufacturing of stuff andwe wereableto bringthat out. They have to show some of theirtruecolours in front of a jury to try and convict you, andit is very vindictive what they're doing. In a comparisonbetween us and the prosecution, the jury went with us.They weren't goingto convict us.

And after that trial you were sent back to New Jerseyto face the retrial this fall.

Right I was sent back here in Decemberof 1989and for variousreasonsthe prosecution stalled trying toget time to do this DNA blood testing, and then finallytheydiditthis spring.Tommy andI refusedto give bloodbut they basicallytook it. We fought them and they justgota whole bunchofguardsandthey were ableto pin usdown and strapus to a gumey and stick needles in us.

Well, that leads into my next question about the conditions inTrenton State Prison, where both you and TomManning are being held. Tom is in the ManagementControl Unit (MCU) in Trenton and you were as wellup until recently. There have been more and morereportscomingoutoverthe past year aboutthe conditions at Trenton and the brutallzatlon ofthe prisonersby the guards and the administration. What are theconditions which you are facing, especially since youare held under a special status called 'Special Housing* which in some ways places you in a differentsituation than most of the prisoners?

They're turningTrentonintothemaximum controlprison forthe stateof New Jersey. Supposedlythey sendthe "baddest of the bad" here and they've sectioned offparts of the prisonand put up barbedwire and fencing,really turningit into aControlUnit.To put me in a stateprison - basically I shouldhave been put in a county jail- the governor had to sign an executive emergency orderbasicallydeclaringmartiallaw in my case, which meansit suspendsmy rights. So they sent me to a state prison.Normallyyou can't be sent to a stateprisonunless you'redoing time, unless you've been convicted, and of courseI haven't in the state ofNew Jersey. Originally when theysent me here I hadn't been convicted of anything.

Inputtingme herethey labelledme 'Special Housing', basically a pre-trial status. With thatSpecialHousingstatusthey have suspendedallmy rightwhich Iwouldhavenormallyas a prisonerin TrentonStatePrison.Notthatwehaveawhole lot of rights,but there isdue process,meaning thatbeforethey cansentencemeto anyisolation

or segregation they have to give me a special hearing.Well inmy case,beingSpecial Housing, there'sno suchthingasthat They don't giveme hearings, theyjustdoit.Even Tom, once he was convicted of the charges,theyhad to give him a hearing to put him in the MCU.Basically what happened was that they put me in theMCU for a number of years.

This time around, when I come back, they put me inadministrative-segregation, which is a punishment unit,and I beefed about it I said "How can you put me in apunishment unit. I haven't done anything wrong." Sothey shifted me off to the ProtectiveCustody Unit whichis a place where there's a whole lot of informers andpeople who, because of the crimes that they've done orbecause they've informed on people, are really not consideredpeoplethat the generalpopulationwould let walkaroundwithout doing some seriousharmto them. So theyput me in the ProtectiveCustody Unit, which I stronglyobjected to. It took me eight months, but I finally foughtmy way out of it and they put me in the ManagementControl Unit It sounds weird to want to be there, but theManagement Control Unit houses most of the politicalprisoners, and if I want to be kept any place, it will bewhere other political prisoners are.

A couple of months agothey came in the middle ofthenightwiththegoonsquad,whichis abunchof guardsall dressed up in protective clothing and cameras, andtook me and brought me here. I'm back in ProtectiveCustody. My status asSpecialHousing meansthat basically they can punishme withouthavingto give reasonsfor the punishment They usually say, when you pressthem, that its for matters of security or its to protect thepopulation fromme - depending on who you talk to andwhat kind of mood they're in you get different stories.

Basically, I'm innon-congregate status. What thatmeans is that I'm not allowed to associate with anyprisoner here.Basically that's solitary confinement,I'meven recreatedalone. Being non-congregate status I'mnot eligible for any hobby programs, meaning that ingeneral population andeven in MCUif Iwanted to paintof if I wanted to do different things for recreation in mycell, I'm not allowed to do that. I'm not allowed toassociate with anybody,so I'm basically lockeddown inmy cell 24 hoursa day except fortwo hourson alternatedayswhenI'm putout forrecreation. I'm putoutinayardall by myself and I'm recreated. Now recently theybrought in a coupleof otherpeople who are in SpecialHousing status andtheygoouttorecreation withme. Butbasically I'm in a type of solitary confinementwith nodue process. I've appealed to the department of "corrections" and I get variousanswers back like "You're pretrial", or "you're a securityrisk", whatever.

My visitors have to get prior approval from theprison. If and when they areapproved, and some of thepeoplehavebeen disapproved, if they're approved theymust make anappointment24hoursinadvanceto beableto come in an see me at a window visit; that's a non-contact visit When they come into the prisonthey haveto submit to a thumbprint and a photographbefore theycan come to see me. I'm allowed no contact visits what

soever.Just forapointof reference, everybodyelse intheprison is allowed contact visits - MCU, everybody isallowedcontactvisits. Nobody's visitorshaveto make anappointment beforehand. Anybody can come in and visitanybody in the prison, that includes MCU people.

So my statusis a statusthat is aspecialpunishment,it seems logical if you look at it b a saneway - you can'treally look at it in a saneway becausetheirminds arenotsane in the way they rationalize their treatment of me.Basically, I'm being punished for not being convicted.As I said, my co-defendant Tom, who has been convicted, has to be given due processbefore they take awayhis contact visits or before they can restricthis "freedom"within the confines of the prison. Not so with me. I'mallowed no hearings. I have no contact visits. My visitsarethrougha telephoneandawindow, andthat goes for

family. I appliedformy mother, who lives in Florida, tocome up and see me, andI wanted acontactvisit just likeeverybody else. She comes in and she gets anhour atawindow. So of course I said its not worth it My peopledon't have any money. For her to come up from Floridait would have to be a worthwhile visit, and I don't see anhour in front of a window with a telephone as a veryworthwhile visit

Other places where we've been held have allowedcontact visits. All of us have had contact visits in other

prisons where we'vebeen held and atno times were thereany problemswith thecontactvisits. So this is to basicallytryandbreakmy will andinterferewithmy frameof mindin getting ready for this trial. It hasn't worked yet, and itwon't.

We've been seeing in the United States during the lastten years especially, increased state attacks againstprogressive organizations and liberation struggles • acontinuation of the COINTELPRO-type programswe saw in the 1960's and 1970's. I know that you aswell as your comrades have a long history in above-ground activism before choosing to go undergroundand join the clandestine movement Would you talkabout why you made that decision to gounderground.

As you mentioned, COINTELPRO taughtus a biglesson, or it should have, which I think a lot of peoplehave actually forgotten.What COINTELPROhasdone isshown that the United States government and its agencieswill stoopvery low and infiltrateall above groundorganizations. Any progressive organization has been infiltrated.The factthat itwasexposed andthe statesaid"nowthat you've busted us, we're not going to do it anymore",is full of it They just intensified it andcovereditup more.

A lot ofus felt that to function in any kind ofabove-groundorganizationyou might as well just write areportforthe police,becauseyou'vebeen infiltrated. A lotof usfiguredthat the best way to function would be beyond theeyes andearsofthe government. The only way to be ableto do that is to join the armed clandestine movement andto go underground and assume different identities whichalso means cutting yourself off form the rest of yourfamily and friends. Anyone who didn't come with you,you didn't contact ever again because you were puttingthem in jeopardy. Basically that why. A lot ofus felt thatwe could function better underground - do more, accomplishmore, andnot reallyhave to worry aboutthe informers as much by going underground.

Do you think that lesson, the revelations about the organized state attack on the movements has been to alarge extent forgotten by the Left in North America?

Well, I don't now if it's forgotten, but the problemis that you don't know who in these organizations areinformers. You don't know who in the Left are paidinformers. So the problem with being above-ground isthat anybody can infiltrate the organization, any above-ground organization. An effective informer • i.e. a mole- to use their spy-talk, the state inserts someone into anorganization and into a lifestyle early on so that theyestablish extensive credentials and they would be the lastperson that you would look at as being an informer. NowI'm not naming names. I'm just saying how they do it inthe spy-world, so lets interpret it and let's put it into thecivilian world. You won't know who's reporting, it maybe that the person with the best credentials is the onewho's an informer. They have their fingers on the pulseof what every organization is doing and we shouldn'tthink otherwise for a minute. And I do think that some of

the people on the Left do forget that there's a lot ofinformers out there paid by the government to inform onyou and they've infiltrated a lot of organizations.

Another problem that I see in the Left is that they

continued on page 4...

Interview With Tom ManningA lot of people are probably not aware of control unitsor what types of prisoners are held within controlunits. To start off could you tell us what a control unitis, what the conditions are, and what kinds of prisonersare held within them?

This particular control unit, like most, is a 24 houra day lockdown. They say 23 hours a day, but the fact isthat you're locked down 24 hours a day. When you do getto go out to the yard your movements are so controlledand it's with so few prisoners at a time that you can'treally say it's not locked down.

The kind of people they keep in control units are thepeople who they feel will have some influence on thegeneralpopulation. It's mainlyideasthat they're tryingtolockuphereratherthanindividuals.Therearefewpeoplelockedup here for actually actingout anythingthat theycall a "disciplinary problem". It's the people who havethe ideas that they're afraid of.

During the last year or so in Trenton StatePrison, we've seen a series of provocations by theprison administration which they're using not only toIncrease the tensions within the prison, but also toserve as a Justification for the expansion of the MCU(Management Control Unit, the control unit at Trenton), and to then obviously confine more people withinit Could you give us a brief history of these provocations to establish the context for what's going on now?

You have to understand that this is part of a nationalmove. The same shakedowns and moves and other stuff

that they're doing here are also happening at Marion rightnow. I hear from Ray (Levasseur) that they're movingpeople every thirty days confiscating property and stuff,and that's also what they'redoing here. They are trying tocreate provocations to justify their longterm goals. Eventually they want to turn the whole of Trenton State Prisoninto a lockdown unit for this state, and with each movethey're doing that deeper and deeper. More blocks arebeing turned into control unit blocks. What is left of thegeneral population is getting cut down to basically aservice corps of prisoners that serve all the other prisoners that are locked up, doing the cleaning up in thecorridors and stuff like that. As a matter of fact, nobodyget to use the corridors these days except the crews thatclean up, and basically that's what you sec in places likeMarion where the whole prison is locked down. The onlymovement is those prisoners who are in trustee status outthere buffing the floors and stuff, that that's what it'scoming to here.

No programs, nothing to occupy yourself withexcept being locked up. Midnight moves, all night shakedown, physical frontal assaults in full combat gear everytime they move you for a medical move or anything likethat, theycomedressed up in riot gear with their clubs. It'sall a series of moves. Nothing's coincidental. It's allbrought about to provoke and intimidate.

What do you think is the Bureau of Prison's agenda intrying to lock down this huge number of prisoners, asyou say not only within the state of New Jersey but increasingly around the country as a whole?

You know about the rate that they're building newprisons. Just since George Bush has been president, thefeds have built forty new prisons. To control that numberof prisoners they have to have a large percentage of themlocked down at all times, not just so that they can controlthem but also so that they can use that massive controlunit as a psychological threat to control the ones whoaren't in control units. That's what they're doing here in

New Jersey. At one time they used the controlunit within Trenton to scare all the prisoners inthe state, almost 30,000 now just in the stateprisons, that they're using the whole idea ofTrenton State Prison as a threat over all the other

prisoners in prisons around the state. They'reusing it to say to the prisoners, "If you mess uphere you're going to Trenton." To accomplishthat they've got to make the threat of Trenton areality andthat's what they're doing now.This isnot a fun place to be right now.

Could you tell us about the struggles that aregoing on right now with you and the otherprisoners within the control unit at Trentonparticularly around this new cage, which theprison Orwelllanly terms the "activity module", where all MCU prisoners are now required to be heldwhenallowedoutsideoftheircells for thingslike medical visits and haircuts.

Well basically what they did is built thissmall tiger cage, a 14' by 14' tiger cage out in themiddle of the floor. You have to remember that

they have very few programs here. One thingthat they do to threaten people is to tell them thatif they don't cooperate in the behaviour modifi- "^—^—cation programs, which means basically going out andtalking to a psychologistevery90 days, if you don't dothat then you'll never get out of MCU.Getting out is veryarbitrary anyway, because before they had this cageprogram they wouldtell you that if you don't talk to themyou were never getting out of MCU, but when they needan empty cell they'll find somebody to move out so theycan put somebody else in here.

Because there are no other programs, they arebasically using the cage as a very physical, very visualthing to demonstrate that you're giving in to them. Whenyou step into that cage,you takeall your clothesoff andstep into the cage and this fat whiteman sits outside thecage and asks you a few questions while you stand insidethis cage. That's a very visual sign to them that you'reready to dance to whatever tunc they want you to danceto. So there are very few prisoners doing it. They'resayingit's for securityandmakingit lookthatwaybut allthese other moves like the midnight moves and the allnight shakedown were coming anyway, they're just using the cage as the central point for the new and deeperrepression here.

Has there been strong solidarity among the prisonersin MCU against the cage? I know that many of youhave been refusing to leave your cells at all rather thanbe forced to be put Into the tiger cage.

There's probably less than 5% of the prisoners thatare using those cages, and even then under very limitedcircumstances - guys that arc told that they have to do apsychological review before they sec a parole board orbefore they are considered for a transfer out of MCU.Like I said, there are less than 5% of the prisoners doingthat. There's no other activities going on in the cage.Those guys who do break and go into the cage have tomake a whole lot of justifications within themselvesbefore they take that step. It's a constant everyday thing,having this thing sitting out in front of your cell lookingat you. It's a very visual thing to focus on when you'refocusing on your resistance.

As you say, prisoners in MCU come up for reviewevery 90 days to determine whether they can be movedout of the control unit and back into the general

Tom Manning testifying in court

population. Most of the prisoners In the control unitsacross the united states are there because of their

political consciousness or because of their abilities toeducate or organize other prisoners politically. Youare engaged in a lawsuit at the moment in which you'retrying to expose the political nature of your confinement in MCU. Could you tell us about that?

If you look at my suit, the purpose is not so much tohave me moved out of the control unit as it is to challengethe concept of the control unit itself. I don't ask for anykind of program to be laid out forme to follow so I can getout of MCU. I challenge the whole concept of puttingmein here in the first place. I don't participate in anythinghere any more, the hearings or anything like that. I'mgoing to challenge it in the suit or try to agitate in here tocause enough resistance to break it.

And the times you participated in the hearings, theprison has stated implicitly that the reason you're inMCU is because of your political beliefs and affiliations.

Well, you've seen the copy of my suit. We' regoingto use the suit as a central point in the trial that's comingup here this winter that comes out of the uprising here inAugust 1990. The suit demonstrates clearly the fact thatI'm treated differently because of my politics, becauseI'm identified as political. That will be one of the thingsthat I will be testifying to at the trial of those people whoare being tried for the uprising. They have been put in thesituation that they're in because of their politics: singledout, pressured, harassed. That's what brought about thatuprising. It's the same thing that's going on now.

Transcribed from a radioToronto, October 18/91.

interview on CKLN in

We have available copies of Tom's above-mentionedlawsuit. For those whoare interestedinreading it,please send us $2 to cover postage and copying. Wealsoliave available info-packages on the Ohio 7 as well as onother prisoners of war and P.O.W.S in the U.S. Pleasewrite usfor more information.

Atticaby Raymond Luc Levasseur

Twenty years after the uprising and massacre atAttica Prison, a civil rights suit filed on behalf of theATTICA BROTHERS is set for trial - September30th.AkilAl-Jundi. et al. (plaintiffs)vs. the estate of NelsonRockefeller (defendants).

The suit seeks to hold Nelson Rockefeller and hisco-conspirators inthe NewYorkStatePoliceandDepartmentofCorrectionsresponsiblefor atrocitiescommittedagainst Attica prisoners on September 13,1971.

OnSeptember9th, 1971,prisonersat Atticaprisontookguardshostage.Theprisonersthen tookcontrol of Dblock yard. The prisoners caught the attention of theworld as they stood their ground and declared that theywere human beings and refused to be treated as beasts.They released a manifesto of human rights, which included these fundamental issues: an end to brutality byguards;humane medical care; adequate family visiting;anendto pervasiveracism(themajorityof the prisonerswere Black and Latino, the guards and administrationwhite); decent food; and an end to slave labour.

Negotiations began and outside observers werebrought in at the request of the prisoners. On September12th, the hostages were interviewed by the media andsaid they were humanely treated.

On September 13th, observers and the media wereprevented from entering the prison. Amidst a growingcacophony of racist taunts by police, a massive assaultforce was assembled.

The prisoners had no firearms.The attack came without warning. CS gas was

droppedon theprisoners from a helicopter. AlthoughCSgas incapacitatesin 10-15 seconds, the police, includingguards,beganfiring their weaponsat the moment the gaswas dropped.They fired into the crowded D block yardwithout conscience or restraint. They shot to kill.

The police used .00 buckshot, the largest and mostlethalpellets.Giventhe expandingnatureof shotgunfire,unintended victims were sure to be hit Police snipersfired from rooftops, executing prisoners with high powered .270 calibre "dumdum" bullets. This ammunition

expands on contact and is outlawed by the GenevaConventions.

29 prisoners and 10 hostages were killed - all bypolicegunfire.Anadditional 85prisoners and 5 hostageswere wounded - all by police gunfire.

Records show that up to 3,132 bullets and shotgunpelletswerefired into the prison yard. 46.00 pellets wereremoved form 32 bodies. .357 magnum pistol slugs wereremoved from 3 bodies. 14 .270 calibre bullets were

removed from 14 bodies. Four 12 gauge slugs (deerslugs) were removed from 3 bodies.

Standard police procedures for issuance and accountability of firearms and ammunition was not followedat Attica.This thwarted subsequent use of ballisticexaminations to identify "shooters".

The commander of the State police forces destroyed all his notes, writings, correspondence, and othermaterials pertaining to Attica. He failed to see that evidence was properly collected and preserved. With theintent of obstructing the investigation and prosecution ofpolice, specific physical evidence was altered or destroyed.The cover-up of unjustified killings was facilitated by fabricated accounts of how and why weaponswere fired.

An enormous amount of firepower was unleashedupon the prisoners, yet those who planned and commandedthe attack did nothing to prepare for basic medi

cal needs - no medical equipment, blood, ambulances,technicians, or doctors were assembled.

Protectionfrom police reprisals was a major concern of prisonersduringnegotiations. The commandersof the assault force not only allowed reprisals, theyencouragedthem.Theyissuedordersthatallegedleadersof the uprising (including negotiators and those whodrafted the Human Rights manifesto) were to be markedwith an X on their backs. Theseprisoners were taken to aspecialunitwithinAtticaandforcedto runnakedthrougha gauntlet of guards. They were severely beaten withsticks, clubs, gun butts, and screwdrivers (among thewitnesses - National Guard medics who arrived later on

the 13th).Eight days afterthemassacre and pShce^rampage,

the Goldman Commission examined 700 prisoners'whohad been in D block yard at the time of the attack. Theydetermined that 45% still bore bruises, broken bones,lacerations, and other marks on their bodies - clear evidence of the beatings and torture they suffered.

Acts of brutality and torture were systematic, retributive, and frequent:

* prisonersburnedwithcigarettesand shellcasingsheated in fire.

* wounded prisoners dumped from stretchers andbeaten with nightsticks.

* IV tubes pulled out of the arms of injured prisoners.

* gun butts and nightsticksjabbed into the woundsof prisoners.

* contra-medical treatment given to prisoners, resulting in infections, complications, and amputation.

This suit should have been tried years ago, but theRockefeller estate and other defendants sought to blockit through a variety of legal tactics available to those withmoney to blow on lawyers. Among other legal fictions.Rockefeller,etal. soughtcompleteimmunitybecauseallthe blood mat was shed was done while they acted in "anofficial capacity". In other words, they were just beinggood Nazis.

In February, 1991, a Federal appellate court ruledthat the defendants would get qualified rather than complete immunity. The court stated that the defendantscould noj be prosecuted for death and injury caused by

6EMTS m> DO NOT INTEND10 DEfc TEN OR DRIVEN AS SUCH ..WHATHAS (WKKIHEK IS BUT THESOUND BEFORE THE FURY OFthose who m. a?mm..., m CHU UPON Ml THECONKIlNflOyS CITIZENS OF MtkHO MIST IK JUTTINGJIN END TO THIS SITUATION THMTJIREATEIIS THEllVES OF UOT ONI)'IIS, NT EKH M» EVERY ONEOF US tt WEIL.

-FROM THE FIVE DEMANDSOF THE INMATES OF ATTICA

negligence or deliberate indifference because the attackwas part of their official duties I

However, the court also ruled that qualified immunity did not protect officials from liabilityfor 1) Unnecessary and excessiveuse of force AFTERthe prisonhadbeen taken by police, and, 2) Deliberatedenial of criticalmedical care resulting in unnecessary death and suffering. The appellate court decided these two issues must bedecided by a jury.

Police, prison officials, and the wealthyRockefeller family have lied for 2 decades about theuprising and the massacre at Attica. The light of truthsends them scurrying like cockroaches as they see toavoid public guilt and paying damages. If they are ordered to pay the families in dollars, it will help thosefamilies, but not enough. Since the mid 70's, the civil andhuman rights that prisoners fought and died for have beensteadily taken away from us. The proliferationofcontrol-unit prisons throughout the US is a clear sign that confrontation and troubles loom ahead. The powers that beare preparing our burial grounds, for the message ofAttica is that we will not be treated as beasts of burden.

Update (by A.TS.): So far, the trial has heardtestimony by both inmates and prison guards. On Tuesday, October 29, testimony of a National Guard medic(theyplayed a medical role only) reaffirmedmuchoftheAttica inmates' charges. His testimony revealed thatmedics were prevented by guardsfrom treating inmatesin the prison hospital ami were forced to treat prisonersin unsterilehallways and supply rooms; blanketsput onprisoners to prevent the onset of shock as well as bandages on inmates were constantly pulled off by guards;guards prevented medics from replenishing medicalsupplies; when National Guard medics turned woundedprisoners over to medics and guards, they were beaten -inonecase, a manwitha headinjurywas beatenrepeatedly in the head; 4 to 6 inmates died ina prison corridorafter guards refused to heed pleas by National Guardmedics that they be evacuated; Prison CommissionerOswald, one of the defendants, oversaw the gauntletscenario described above.

The defense strategy has been to challenge thecredibility of prisoners testimony rather than actual

continued on the backpage...

Hungerstrike Declaration Of ThesBasque Political PrisonersOnSeptember 30, approximately 478 Basquepolitical prisoners began an indefiniterotating hunger-strike. Thusfar, this action has been totally ignored by thepress. Thereasonfor thehunger-strike was thebreaking upofprisoncollectives and thedispersalof Basquepolitical prisoners to prisons spreadall across Spain. TheSlate's reasonforthe renewed campaign ofprison repression was ostensibly the detonation ofabomb inside a prison in Sevilla on June 28. This attack, whichkilled one prisonofficial, twosocial prisoners, and one prisoner's relative was later IinkedtoETA(Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - Basque Homeland and Liberty, an urban guerrilagroupfighting for the liberation of the Basque nation. The majority of thepoliticalprisonersaremembers ofETA). Thepackage-bombwasdiscoveredasitenteredtheprison,butfor somereason itexplodedbeforeGuardiaCivilbombexperts arrived. After the explosion, Basque prisoners were placed in totalisolation and denied all contact (visits, mail, phone calls) with the outside. ForETA,Ihefailedattack, which was tohave killed theprison warden, wasdisastrous. Analleged groupofsocialprisonerspublisheda letter in a Spanish daily paper condemning the "murder-commandos". Later, it was discovered that thisletterhadbeen written bytheson ofa GuardiaCivilmember. HerriBatasuna(Basquepoliticalpartywhichstrugglesforfull independence) declaredthatthiswasfurther evidence ofthebuilding ofa "GAL (right wing death squads withtiesto thepoliceforces and thegovernment) in thejails". Ina communique datedJuly12, ETA apologizedfor theunintended death ofthose "who hadnothing todo with theconflict between Euskadi andtheSpanish State". Yet theyalsopledgedtocontinue attacks onprisonfunctionaries "solongas their treatment oftheBasque prisoners doesnotchange". ETA also vowed never to repeat the disastrous outcome ofthe Sevilla attack.

announced? Where is the political split in the collectiveofBasque political prisoners?

The only answer to these questions must be thatthey have clearly and categorically failed and that theyshall fail again. They shall fail again, because we seemore clearly day by day that behind their policy ofreintegrating us into prisons and giving prisoners individual treatment lies an attempt to make individualscapitulate, and yet not a single one of us will do that.

They have tried using differential treatment in theprisons; they have tried dividing us into different grades;they have tried other measures, like improving prisonconditions or alternatively inflicting punishments. Butthat is something that we, as Basque political prisoners,willnot submit to. The useof these measures springs from

their claim to "legality". Something which they have notmanaged to do, nor will they ever manage to do, is tocollapse our political togetherness and homogeneity, andstill less, our political duty to the process of liberating andrestructuring our nation, Euskal Herria (Euskadi - ed.), ofwhich we are a pure representation.

The Struggle: A Sign of Our Participation andof our Duty

Consideringthe recentstateof affairs,andas asignof our participation and of our duty to the process ofBasque national liberation, we announce openly to theBasque people the beginning of a new initiative in thestruggle, the prison front, wherein we find ourselves. Theinitiative will consist of an unbroken, rotating hunger-strike by the entire collective with two goals in mind: onthe one hand, we demand that the political prisoners beregrouped in Euskal Herria, and that this lead to a totalamnesty. We can realize these demands; these are ourrights as prisoners. It's even in their own regulations thatwenot bepunishedthroughtheuse ofdispersals.Butthey

continued on page 6...

We, all of the Basque prisoners, have, for more thanfour years now, been subjected to what one might term he"mechanism of political dispersion of the collectives".From out of the various jails of the Spanish State, we findourselves once again forced to turn and address theBasque public.

We stress the words "one might term", because, onthe one hand, it's clear that the PSOE government hasbeen trying to destroy the collective structure which wedevised in the previous political phase by spatially dispersing us, buton the other hand, they have failed to breakour political identity, as not a single one of us hasrenounced our political principles for which we wereprosecuted and which landed us in prison.

We can easily summarize these principles: the recognition of the right of Euskadi to national sovereigntythrough means of political negotiation. These principlesdefine our dynamics of collectivity and solidarity as apolitical prisoner's collective.

The Outcome of the Dispersal: A Defeat for theGovernment

The dispersal of prisoners is one instrument whichthe Spanish government hopes to use as part of its strategy of using "political means" to get us to capitulate andto bring about defeat for the MLNV (Basque NationalLiberation Movement- ed.).So theyare trying to implement a tactic to undermine and dissolve our political dutyby oppressing us and by trying to sow dissention andweakness in our collective, in our families, and in thesocial movements aligned with us.

In our opinion the implementation of this strategyby the Spanish government can only be seen as a politicalvictoryforourBasquepoliticalprisoner's collectives;it represents an increased degree of political development which manifests itself in the form of the Spanishgovernment needing to intervene in the realm of politicalnegotiations.

This line which the PSOEgovernmenthas chosento take regarding the prisoners - apart from the fact that ithas introduced a new political phase - has not achieved itsstated goal, nor will it achieve its goal. After more thanfour years of dispersals inside the prisons, we can onlyconclude that they havenot achieved their goal; theirplanhas failed. So the question remains: Where are the results,where are the numerous tribunals which were so boldly

Shoot To Kill Policy In EuskadiOn August17,threemembersof thearmedBasque

liberation group ETA were killed by a massive force ofSpanish Guardia Civil in the town of Donostia-San Sebastian. Initial police reports stated that the three werekilled after a "four-hour exchange of fire", but a subsequent autopsy, when made public, gave conclusive proofthat the three guerrillas - Patxi Itziar, Inaki Ormactxea,and Jokin Leunda - were in fact executed at close rangeby the police. Though indeed injured in the gun battle,none of the three had injuries which could have provenfatal. The autopsy revealed that the three had in fact beenkilled by point-blank pistol shots to the heart and head.

Only two weekslater, a similarmassacre took placein Bilbao. This time Juan Maria Ormazabal, surroundedby a dozen police cars of the elitc "Ertzantza" commandoteam, was made to surrender and lay face down on thepavement. According to authorities, Ormazabal waskilled in the shoot-out as he tried to commander a

civilian's car in order to escape. Several eye-witnesses,however, later said that a police officer fired a shot intoOrmazabal's head at point-blank range as he lay on theroad. Another ETA member who was wounded in the

incident, Jose Mari Mendinucta, said that the three ETA

guerrillas (one escaped) did not fire on the Ertzantzapolice, although they themselves were soon showeredwith a barrage of weapons fire. In the incident, one policeofficer was seriously wounded and later died in hospital.His death (a la Oka) was the result of shots fired by other

police officers, as forensic evidence later proved, although his death was blamed on the ETA membersnonetheless. Also in Bilbao, several suspected ETA-collaborators were arrested and detained (and tortured).This prompted a widely-observed general strike whichwas called by the leftist-nationalist coordinatinggroupKAS.Demonstrations over thenext few days wereforcibly dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets. Onedemonstrator in the town of Elgoibar lost an eye from arubber bullet.

It is clear that Spain's PSOE-controlIed government has begun a newer, harsher phase of its "anti-terrorist" campaign against Basque separatists. It seemsthat Spain is now utilizingthe "shoot to kill" policyfirstput into action by British forces in Northern Ireland.Spain's jails are presently overflowing,includinghousing over 500 Basque political prisoners. This, coupledwith the embarrassment of such police scandals as therecent GAL trials, has prompted the Spanish authoritiesto use the quicker and more efficient "shoot to kill"policy. Why bother with the hassles of a trial, when an on-the-spot execution can just as easily be carried out without fear of reprisals

Although this tactic has been used in the pastagainst ETA suspects, these two recent incidents make itfrighteningly apparent that "shoot-to-kill" is now the rulein Spain's dealings with ETA.

(infofrom various issuesofAngehorigen Info)

Kurdistan Will B ecomeA

Grave For ImperialismU.S. imperialism'splans for Kurdistanare gradu

allybecoming clearerstill. Kurdistan isbecoming anareaof struggle where the revolution and counter-revolutionarejoining battle on an international level. In this battletherevolutionaryforces, firstand foremost the people ofKurdistan, andthe region's progressive forcesarefacingaserioustest This battleis characterized by its identification of those with the will to survive and those without.

The developments areloweringallthe masks one by one.The bloodyanddisgusting facesof those who engageinthe basestcollaboration using the name of the Kurdishpeopleandsee their futureunderimperialismand in thedefeat of the revolution arebeing exposed.

The imperialistforces that moved into the regionduring andafterthe GulfWar have shownthat, contraryto their claims, their presenceis not temporary. Theycameclaiming to be on a mission to restore orderto theregion. From their point of view the danger was therevolutionary uprisingof the peoplesin the region. Forthis reasonthey eagerly graspedthe opportunity to deploy in Kurdistan. And they did this under the guise ofprotecting the Kurdishpeople.Since they wereawareofthemeaningof therevolutionin Kurdistanforthe peoplesof the regionthey have taken on the task of isolatingandcrushingthe nationalliberationmovement in Kurdistan.The deploying of tens of thousands of U.S. troops inKurdistanandtheirstationingnearareaswhere guerrillasarebased,plansfor security zones andtalks with Kurdishcollaborators have all been partof this plan. For imperialism, which as a condition for its survival aims to crushallrevolutionary forcesin the world,the Kurdistanrevolution has become a target that must be crushed.

This, of course, coincided with the aims of thecolonialist Turkish state. Since the Turkish Republic hasbound its very existence to the liquidation of the nationalliberation struggle in Kurdistan it saw the imperialistforces intervention to suppress the rising revolutionarysituationin the regionasa life saver. In parallelwith thisit has introduced various measures like the so-called

liftingof the banon the Kurdish language,debates aboutautonomy,the conditionalamnesty and the "anti-terror"law and the talks with Kurdish collaborators which are all

part of the broad counter-revolutionary plan. Turkey'smain aim is to crash the guerrilla struggle and the jointstragglein the prisons,mountains and the popularresistance,andto perpetuateits dominance in Kurdistanbasedon Kurdish collaborationism. For the imperialists, especially the U.S., afterEastern Europe, it is now the mm ofthe Middle East to have order restored and the greatestthreatto imperialismthere is the nationalliberationrevolution in Kurdistan.

While implementing its plansto liquidate the Kurdish revolution imperialism is calling on all its counterrevolutionaryexperience. It has neither directly gone onto the attack like in Vietnam, nor left everything to localcollaborators like in EasternEurope, it has combined thetwo. It realized its military buildup under the guise ofprotecting the Kurdish people and attempted tostrengthen the Kurdish collaborators by relying on thismilitary power. In the name of humanitarianaid to theKurds discussions began relating to a "solution to theKurdish question". Attempts have been made to reducethe Kurdish people's demands for independence andfreedom to so-called solutions based on human rightsdemands. By endeavouring to legitimize the Kurdish

collaborators on the international stagethey have tried togain support for their solution. The bringing to prominence of the Kurdistan Democratic Partyof Iraq (KDP)and its latent use as a militia force against the Kurdishrevolution areall partof this scenario.

Today in southernKurdistan it isclearthat the KDPis in leaguewith the U.S. military forces andactingontheirorders. The KDP of Iraq is now being used by theU.S. andotherimperialist militaryforces whoarestrangersto the geography of Kurdistan, as a forceto locatethePeople'sLiberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) campsand as a strike force ready for use in attacks on thosecamps. If one takesnoticeof the propaganda emanatingfrom the petty-bourgeois Kurdish reformists to the effectthat"the PKK will only lastacouple ofmonths", and"thePKK madeamistake ofopposingthe U.S. andKDP"thenit appearsthat attacks shouldoccur in the near future.

To defeat the "divide and rule" tactics of imperialism and prevent internal conflict the PKK (KurdistanWorkers Party) behavedwithgreatcare.Itdideverythingit could to win over the KDP to a position in line with theinterests of the people and away from its collaborationistposition that is orientedto strangleour people's longingfor independence. The PKK strove for unity againstattacks but the KDP ofIraq,which represents this feudal,collaborationist line, inevitably took a position opposedto the revolution on account of its own class interests.

Imperialism's approachto Kurdistan, the U.S. goalof using Kurdistan as a base to crash the peoples of theMiddle East,the parallel manoeuvresof the Turkish stateand the use of the KDP as an assault force against therevolution show that Kurdistan has become the scene of

the most violent revolutionary and counter-revolutionary struggle in the whole world. The PKK and its armyand front forces are determined to protect the honour ofthe Kurdish people whatever the cost. This battle is astruggle to defend and achieve the independence aspirations of the Kurdishpeoplebut this alsoentailsthe defeatof imperialism's new world-wide counter-revolutionaryassaultandastraggleforthe victory of the worldpeople'santi-imperialistfront.So it is anhonourableresistancetothe policiesof the U.S. anda stragglethat is not confinedto national dimensions but concerns the destiny especially of our region. Imperialism is attempting on allfronts to liquidate the Kurdish revolution, whether militarily or in Germany with the PKK trial. We, too, arefighting back on all fronts. It is here that very importantduties fall to those who claim to be on the anti-imperialistfront. It is our duty and right to remind them of theseduties and demand that they are forthcoming.

It is clear that, despite all the developments inKurdistan, for those who have described themselves asanti-imperialist for years not to understand the significance of attacks on the PKK in Kurdistan can only becalled blind. They should realize that the attack on thePKK is not just a matter that concerns the PKK andKurdistan. Success of the counter-revolution in Kurdis

tan means the slaughter of independence, freedom,democracy and socialism in the whole Middle East Inthis case the real measure of who is anti-imperialist willbe seen from the position taken against the imperialistassault on the Kurdistan revolution.

Our concrete call to the anti-imperialist forces ofthe region, especially the left-wing forces in Turkey andthe democraticandanti-imperialistforces in Europe is for

Sincethe onset oftheGulfWarawareness ofKurdistan anditsstruggleshasslowlyrisen.Generally the Kurdishstruggle has beenportrayedin themedia as beingonly an uprising inNorthern Iraq,whereas in reality Kurdistan spans five countries:Russia,Syria,Iraq, Iran,and Turkey. It is inIraqiKurdistan that the KDP (Kurdistan DemocraticParty) is seeking merely an 'autonomy'status forSouthern Kurdistan, withinthe Iraqi borders* AnotherKurdish group, the PUK (Patriotic UnionofKurdistan) has a similar line. PUK leader JalalTalabanihas stated that "I thinkthat most peoplerealize the impossibilityof changing the bordersofthefive countries in which theKurds live".

This is not the whole story. Within Kurdistanthere does exist a popular national liberationstruggle which seeks not merely an 'autonomous'status, but rather true self-determinationand independencefor all ofKurdistan. WhilethestruggleforKurdish liberation has existed in manyformsformany years, it has only been in the 1970's, that thestrugglefor self-determination took ona new,moreunifiedcharacter in theform of the PKK (PartiyaKarkerenKurdistan- WorkersParty ofKurdistan).In a declaration dated November 27th 1978, thePKK laid out its program, stating that "The revolution is two-fold, i.e. nationaland democratic... Therevolution's task is "to put an end to all forms ofdominationby Turkishcolonialisation,to set up anindependent economy and to strivefor the unityofKurdistan".

In1984, the PKK organized KurdistanLiberation Units (HRK), "toconductan armedstruggletoputanendtofascist colonialism,andachieve thenational and social liberation ofthe Kurdishpeople".1985 saw the emergence of the ERNK (NationalLiberation Frontof Kurdistan); created "toorganize and and leadour people's struggle for a nationalliberation which embodies the promise ofan independentandfreefutureforourpeople inNorth-WestKurdistan''. In 1986 the PKK created the Kurdistan

People's Army for National Liberation (ARGK)which carries out military operations against theTurkish army.

We hope to continueour coverage of theKurdish struggle infurther issues ofA.TJS.

concrete action. It is our duty to oppose this attack withunited resistance.Imperialismmay be determinedto turnKurdistan into a hell to strangle the Kurdish revolution.However, as we consider an enslaved Kurdistan to already be a hell and as our people are enslaved andhumiliated, we are determined to raise the straggle forfreedom andhonour against this hell andhumiliation. Wewill never permitourcountryto be a placewhereimperialism can impose its own solution, relying on its collaborators.With the watchword "independence ordeath"we will defend our people's honour to the end. Thisdetermined struggleofours is our most telling call to allanti-imperialist, anti-colonialist and democratic forces.Believing we will receive aconcrete responseto this callwe say victory will belong to united resistance forces.

Kurdistan will be the grave ofimperialism and its collaborators!

Down with imperialism, colonialismand all lands ofreaction!

Longlive thepeople's anti-imperialistresistancefront!Longlive theindependence andfreedomstruggleofthepeople ofKurdistan!Long live the PKK, ERNK and ARGK!

PKK-European Representatives

3 June 1991

We Are Fighting A Guerrilla War• Ankara

TURKEY

InterviewwithAliHewal, Central Committee member ofthePAK (PartiyaAzadiya Kurdistanor KurdistanFreedomParty) concerningthefoundingoftheparty insouthKurdistan(Iraqi occupied Kurdistan)

When was the Partiya Azadiya Kurdistan (PAK)founded?

The cadregroupsetup in 1988constituted the basisof the party. After strengthening and developing thisbasisandafteraperspectiveandprogrammewas workedout by the cadregroup,the partywas officially foundedon 8 June 1991.

What are the aims and objectives of your programme?

The PAK bases itself on a protracted-people's-warstrategy. We arefighting apartisanwar,a guerrillawarinsouth Kurdistan for the independence and unity of allparts of Kurdistan. That is why the PAK aims to exposeimperialistplansandabolishits artificialborders.But thePAK doesn't limit its stragglesimply to south Kurdistan.We will fight them not just in all partsof Kurdistan but •and we can say this quite openly - everywhere where

therearecolonialist forces.Ourtheoreticalstartingpointis Marxism-Leninism.Our leadershipis the leadershipofthe working class. We are enemies of every form ofreaction.In brief, PAK stands for the independence andfreedom of south Kurdistan and the building of a unitedKurdistan. Based on the strength and will of our peoplePAK will lead the straggle successfully until victory.

What Is your relationship to the PKK?

Generally our strategies are the same. But concretely there exist differences. And this is because of thepeculiarand specific conditions of south Kurdistan.Butwe believe that the PKK is the vanguardpartyof allpartsofKurdistan. As I said our common strategy is the unityof all four parts of Kurdistan and the abolition of itsartificialborders.And on this road we are fighting shoulder to shoulder with our people.

You said that you are a new party. Is it joining theguerrilla units? What do the people think about you,the PAK?

We are fighting a guerrillawar on a political andmilitary level. In south Kurdistanconscious people, intellectuals and others, are starting to discover their realityanew, in the light of Marxism-Leninism. They see thebankruptcyof the feudal, collaborationist and reformistleaders andtheirideology. The intellectualsin southKurdistangraspthis realitywith greatclarity.The intellectuals,workers andallothersocialgroupsrecognizethe necessity for such an organization and a straggle such asours and full support it. They are already participating inorganizing in south Kurdistan. Women too are takingtheir place in the ranks of the guerrillas of the PAK. Wecan say the following: if we do our job scientifically anddemocratically then there will be no difference betweenmen and women among the guerrillas. A popular war isfoughtwith the participationof thewhole people fromtheyoungest to the oldest The highest expression ofa popularwar is the national front uniting the patrioticand revolutionary classes which conduct the war on this basis. Ifyou look atthe stragglein south Kurdistan up to this daythen you will recognize that this region of Kurdistan iscenturies behind such a revolutionary struggle. In thepastthe stragglealways ended in defeats and in the enddeath, deportationand exploitation remained the fate of

our people.

Why was this always like that?

Because until this day there hasbeen no new form of struggle, no newleadership or the leadership was notgiven any chance to survive. The PAKbelieves in the popular war in southKurdistan and fosters it. That is why wehave startedto go our roadtogether withthe whole of our people, women, men,children andthe old.We know ourtask in

southKurdistan is very difficult Imperialism aims to carry out its plans. And itcan still find its supporters. They basethemselves mainly on the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Part in Iraq). The KDPwants to enslave the Kurds. Today theKDP and their sympathizers are bankrupt.The Kurdishpeoplearenot satisfiedwith autonomy. It looks with great displeasure at the negotiations betweenBarzani,Talabaniandthe Iraqi Baathistseven before theblood of the peoplehasdriedyet. One of the aims of theKurdish peoples' uprisingwasto bringdown Saddam, toliquidatethe Saddamregime.We have friends in southKurdistan who are with us. If we work and fight togetherwe will come closer to revolution and we will improveour position. And the people will embrace us.

KURDISTAN

vanguard and on the other hand the organization of thepeople.Essentiallytheguerrilla stragglein southKurdistan is new.

We have a scientific world view, a class basis andwe leadanew andconscious straggle.Forthis reasonthepeople like us. Our situationis that the poor,the workingpeople, the workers who support and respect us. Thebelief of the PAK in the struggle is very strong. If wesucceed in the guerrillawartogether with the peoplethenwe will be able to do away with the reactionaries, feudalcollaborators and the reformists. This will advance the

straggle,andthis is entirely possible.The wish anddesireofthe people is the liquidationof Saddamandthe unity,freedom andindependenceofKurdistan.The PAK guerrillatakes the hopes anddesiresof the people asthe basisfor its straggle.These are:the independence of Kurdistan, the fight against imperialism, the war againstcolonialism.

What are the relations between you and the people, dothe people accept you?

We are guerrillas, the guerrilla of the KurdistanFreedomParty.The regionsof Amediye, Sidika, Rewan-duz, Salklava arealreadyareasofoperation of our guerrilla units. In all those areas we have united with the

people. We have already become a considerable forcewhich is accepted by the people. The people sees itsliberationwith us. I repeat: We will defend our people inthe mountains, cities and valleys. Through the reality ofthe guerrillawe possess, on the one handa revolutionary (fromKurdistanReport, October191 -NoJ)

Honduran Guerrillas Surrender Their WeaponsThe leftist LorenzoZelayaPopular Revolution-

ary Forces (FPR) Movement today (91/10/18) renounced the political-miliiary straggle in Hondurasanddecidedto taketheamnestyofferedby the government of RafaelCallejas.

In a communiquegiven to the press,the groupstates;"Taking into accountthe realaspiration of ourpeoples for demilitarization, democracy, peace aridconsideringthe new international situation,we havedecided to dissolve ourselves as a political-militarygroup."

The document also states: "We take the broad

and unconditional amnesty decreed by the NationalCongressin July hopingthatthe Armed Forcesandthegovernmentwill respectthe rightsand physicalintegrity of all ofour members based on this agreement"

This notwithstanding, it statesthatthe inequality,social injustice,poverty, hunger,exploitation,violation of human rights, popularrepressionand the absence of real democracy that inspired their struggle"continueintact,butnow wewill stragglefromanotherperspective andunder peaceful and civicmeans."

The renunciation of the armedstraggle on thepartofthisHonduran guerrilla group isaddedtotheannouncement in early January by a faction of the

Cinchoneros movementafteraperiodof intensenegotiations with the government.

In Decemberof 1990,the Callejas governmentinitiated a dialogue with leftist armed movements.Thus, a faction of the Cinchoneros movement renounced theirmilitary piinciples before thegovernmental promise of total respect to its guarantees, ascitizens, of free associationand travel.

The Lorenzo Zelaya forces areone of the mostbelligerent guerrilla movements in Honduras,founded in 1980, when the repressionsupported bythe nationalsecuritydoctrineof the Army's paramilitary groups was at its height The Movement tookresponsibility for variousbank robberies, bomb explosions, kidnappings and the execution of variouspersons considered "collaborators" with military intelligence. According to the local press there are fiveguerrilla groups operating in Hondurashut the bestknown among them were the Cinchoneros, theLorenzo Zelaya Movement and the MorazanistaFront The last group still carriesout isolated actionsand showa itself unwilling to have demobilizationtalks with the government.

(from theUruguayan paperBrecha, 91.10J8)

Kurdistan: Seeking The OpportunityAninterview with comrade Botim, representative of theERNK (NationalLiberation Front),founded bythePKK(Kurdish Workers Party)

What are the foundations and aims of the PKK?

The PKK was founded on November2,1978 withthe aim of buildingup a free, united, independentanddemocraticKurdistan,The leading ideologyof the PKKis Marxism-Leninism.

Unlike other Kurdish organizations such as theKDP (KurdishDemocraticParty), whichsay "we are theIraqiKDP,or "the Iranian KDP', the PKK does not takeit upon itself to represent a particular colonized area ofKurdistan. We are not the PKK of Turkey, we are thePartyof the working classof all of Kurdistanand wearerevolutionaries.

The PKK was formed in the North-West ofKurdis

tan; that part of Kurdistan which is being occupied byTurkey, and it's the area where it is best organized.However,this doesn't mean that the PKK only wants toliberate this part of Kurdistan, it wants to liberate theentirenation, which is now occupied by Turkey, Iran andIraq.

What Is the PKK's position with regards to the GulfWar?

The administration of Saddam Hussein has shown

itselfto bea spoiledchild. Saddam has been financed andarmedbyWesterncountries,butnowhe has revoltedandhas bitten the hand that feeds him.

Turkeyhas an old and persistentdream; to invadeKirkuk and Mossul. Iraq cultivates a similar dream, i.e.the invasion of Kuwait, in order to seek huge sources ofoil, the possession of which would ensure Saddam animportantstandingin the world.The ERNK is against theoccupationof Kuwait, this occupation is the work of thearmyofSaddamHussein,notof the Iraqipeople.Weareopposedto the occupationof Iraq also.

The imperialists want to suppresswhateverwouldupsetthesums quoand theirownexploitationof theoil.They are making plans to occupy the region under thepretextofpunishingSaddamHussein,andare inthis wayimposing a new oppression and new borders on thepeopleof the region.The imperialistsare keeping busy,tryingto silence their creation and divide up the regionamongst themselves.

Did the PKK carry out any actions during the warwhich were beneficial to your struggle?

The war created a great opportunity for us, it allowed us to further develop by organizing forces inSouthern Kurdistan (Iraq). The problem for us is notarmed straggle, as that is something we can always do,ourgreatestchallengeis organizing the people and turningthe imperialistwar into an anti-imperialistwar, into anational insurrection. At the same time, we are carryingout many operations against the Turkish army, shootingdownhelicoptersandkillinghundredsof fascistofficials.

Some Kurdish organizations have merely requestedan autonomy status inside Iraq. What is your positionon this?

This situationgives us a chance that we might notget again for many years.

In 1917 the war between Czarist Russia and Germany gave to the revolutionary forces a great chance,now there is a similar chance in the Middle East and

Kurdistan. I don't think the Kurdish people want onlyautonomy; this is the view favouredby the media and bythose who want to divide the Kurdish people. We can tellthat the Kurdishpeoplearejoining each other. In order tosupport this, the PKK has called up all the organizationsfor a national congress. It will be a great internationalevent All the Kurdish organizations will be represented.The petty bourgeoisie,we communists,everybody.

It will be a real national congress, like the Palestinian one, a united front.

Some British Trotskyists would condemn this, sayingthat a party of the working class shouldn't join itselfwith the bourgeoisie or petty bourgeoisie political organizations. What do you think?

Our cause is an national cause, first we must arriveat national liberation, and then the liberation of theclasses, and socialism. We must bring together all thesections of society that are oppressed by imperialism andcolonialism. We follow the experiences of the revolutions in Vietnam, Mozambique, and Bulgaria.

The major imperialist governments and the SovietUnion are committed to guaranteeing territorial integrity for Iraq. Why is imperialism opposed to theKurdish liberation movement?

Kurdistan is a rich source of oil, water and fertilesoil; our country holds an importantplace in the MiddleEast Historically, it's a transit route from China to Europe, from Africa to Russia. Because of this, many nations have tried to rule this territory. This is because theKurdish people have never been an organized nation,they have always been used by others for their ownconflicts. As the PKK secretary [Abdullah Ocalan -ed.]said: no other people has provided soldiers for so manyother nations for so long a time. Kurdish people havefought for Islam, Iran, Iraq, for Turkey, but they havenever fought for Kurdistan.

During the GulfWar, Iran, Iraq,andTurkey wishedto useusyet again,and theymadeplansfor this, with talksof blocs, alliances, and concessions. The imperialists inthis process sought to have a bourgeois section of theKurdish movement under its control. But now that the

war is over, they don't need the Kurdishpeople anymoreand they have stopped talking about our requests.

The collapse of the socialist bloc has made the imperialist system even more fierce and steadfast in its attempts to divide and conquer the world. Has thisaffected your struggle?

We agree with you, the imperialists can now dowhat they want The collapse of the socialist bloc meansthat there are no obstacles in their path. During the warbetween Iranand Iraqtheycouldn'tdo the things they aredoing now in the Gulf because the socialist bloc wouldnot have stood for it However, we don't believe that thismeans the death of socialism. It is those who would have

stopped socialism, the bureaucrats, who have died, notsocialism.

Marxism-Leninism is alive elsewhere, as in thepractice of the PKK.

Thereare Kurdish people in the Soviet Union. What Istheir standing?

There are about 500,000 Kurdish people in theSoviet Union, but there is no national issue because theyare a minority and there is no part of Kurdistan in Soviet

territory. Most of these Kurdish people are living inYereven, in Armenia.As Kurdish people they havemanyrights, they have radio, schools, and journals.

What is the position of the PKK concerning Islamicfundamentalism?

There is Islamic fundamentalism in Kurdistan, butit is not much of a problem. It could slow down thestraggle if it were not dealt with in the correct manner.Manypeoplego intothe streetsto demonstratewhentheycome from the mosque, but they don't shout "long liveIslam", they shout "long live a free and independentKurdistan".

We think it is necessary to first solve the nationalissue,and then look at issuessuch as religion,languageand culture. In the MiddleEast, Islam is a great matterforthe movement Some organizations neglect the religiousissues, i.e., they leave it in the handsof the bourgeoisie.This is not a good way to deal with this matter.

What about the relationship between the struggle ofthe Kurdish people and the struggle of the workingclass in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq?

We know that in the straggle against Turkish fascism we must unite with the Turkish workingclass. Weneed each other.

It is our duty to fight in the revolts in our owncountry. This is the solidarity which we can offer to theTurkish working class and also to the international working class. Moreover, many Kurdish people have fallenfighting side-by-side with the Palestinians, and with thepeople of Lebanon and Turkey. You cannot comparetheKurdish revolution with the ones in Vietnam, Mozambique, or Cuba, because Kurdistan is separated into fourparts. We are fighting on four frontlines, and in this waywe keep in contact with four different peoples.

If we establish an independent Kurdistan, it meansthat the other four nations advance towards liberation.

For this reason our straggle is immediately an internationalist struggle. The Kurdish revolutioncan play a rolesimilar to the one of the Russian people in October 1917.It can inspire new revolts and change the horizon.

When our international congress takes place, wewant to meet all the international Marxist-Leninist or

ganizations in order to reinforce the links. This is ourperspective. After the collapse of the socialist bloc, thereinforcement of our international links among the revolutionary forces is more important than ever.

(fromCONTROinformazione internazionale it5)

... Repression OfKurdishPoliticalPrisoners continuedfrom page I

POWs. They should either be treated as POWs or thediscrimination should be ended and they should be released immediately.3. No human being should be put in the death cells inEskisehir prison.4. Racist and chauvinist measures and laws in Turkeymust stop.5. Humane conditions should be created in the prisons.6. Demand an end to the activities of the death squads inKurdistan.

7. Demand an end to massacres and evacuations of

villages.

7th November 1991 ERNK (National LiberationFront of Kurdistan) Europe

LettersDear ATS:

Greetingsof solidarity!Thank you for sendingyour bulletin.The informa

tion, and interviews with the various anti-imperialistrevolutionaryforcesis invaluable. If one is left to readtheU.S. left press one would think that all revolutionaryresistancehasbeen decimated. In this period (the resultsof worldwide changes of the last decade) the need forinternationalandinternationalistdialogue and analysis iscrucial.This is particularlytrue for resistance inside theU.S. empire.

Again, thank-you. Your publication is important.

Venceremos, Susan Rosenberganti-imperialist political prisoner

Dear ATS:

Hello againl Received ATS numbers 8-9 whichwere very good.

You might be interested to know that after receiving the bulletin we went to an El Salvador info nightwherea representative from the FMLN was speaking. Iaskedaboutthe recentturn to negotiations in Guatemala,Columbia, and Chile and how that affected the FMLN'scurrent dialogue - which he said actually has a lot ofsupportin the government, even from ARENA members.Well he didn't really answer my question but was kind ofdefensive about the FMLN's negotiations saying theyhadn't strayedfromtheirprinciples,(he didmention thatin his opinion this may be the case with M-19). But whatwas really interesting was what he mentioned in hispresentation, and that was in relation to the continentalfree trade zone now being pursued amongst the Americas. Clearly, in my opinion, the existence of politicalinstability and guerrilla struggle in Central and SouthAmericaconflicts with the pursuitofincreasedeconomicactivity.The negotiationprocess, denied by the fascisticregimes in the past, while they were intent on destroyingthe insurgencies, hasbecomeamajor path towards establishing some level of stability in the region, so as toincreaseeconomic stability. I'd also say that the negotiations are encouragedby the U.S.; they - and some elements of the rightist parties in Central America - see thaton the groundthe guerrillaforces cannot be completelyannihilated. That is clear after 10 years of war in ElSalvador,for example. If it's true that, as Raul Gutierrez(Canadian representative of the FMLN) has indicated;the current FMLN-E1 Salvadoran government negotiations in Mexico may yield some major concessions, thenI'd say this "new found" interest in negotiations on thepartof the regimes canbe found in this economic transition to free trade.

As Anna Cotone said in issue 9, the Gulf War isreallythe beginningofanew stage- not automatically forthe "internationalclass straggle" (that remains to be seenin practice)- but in imperialist exploitation. The clearshifting of totaldominance to theG-7 andin particularthemilitary capabilities of the U.S. means one thing forrevolutions in strategic locations; intervention andcounter-revolutionary war of intensive destruction. Thelimitations of national liberation straggles in the threecontinents has now taken on a new dimension: their

possibilities for revolutionary change have been significantly diminished.

These new realities are reflected in the current

move towards negotiations, in Central and South America as well as South Africa, and the shifting from revolution to a negotiated democratization and de-militariza-

„Attica continuedfrom page 11

events.Inone case, thecross-examination ofa prisonerfocused almostentirelyon hismembership intheNationofIslam, (fromEcomedia #108)

ThesuitundertakenbytheAtticaBrothersandtheirfamilies is incurring greatcostsandfinancialdonationsare greatlyneeded. Sendmoney to:Attica JusticeCommittee, 605 RichmondAvenue, Buffalo, NY,14222 USA.

Meanwhile, at Marion, themostrepressive prisonin the U.S., a new warden, Cecil Turner, is making lifeevenmorehellishfor theprisoners. Cellsare "shakendown"frequentlyandwithout warning orreasonjorcedcellmovesarecommon,againhappeningarbitrarilyandwithout warning orreason, andartmaterials havebeenconfiscatedfromprisoners. As well,Turner has lengthened"theprogram" thatostensiblygovernsaprisoner'sprogress outofMarionso that mostprisoners know theywon'tleaveMarionintimetoavoidbeingsent to thenewcontrol unit at Florence in 1993. Someprisoners havestatedthattheythink thatTurner isdeliberately trying tocausea riotorsometypeof incident.

The Committee To End The Marion Lockdown is

asking thatpeoplewrite toexpress theiroutrage attheseadditional assaults on prisoners at Marion. Write to:Warden Cecil Turner, US Penitentiary, P.O. Box 2000,Marion IL 62959, USA; Representative William JHughes, Chair: Subcommittee on Intellectual Propertyand Judicial Administration, Washington D.C. 20515,USA; Michael Quintan, Director: Federal Bureau ofPrisons, US Department of Justice, Washington D.C.20534, USA.

Arm The Spirit isan information collective focus

ing on militant and revolutionary straggles. Ourperspective is autonomous but we see a need to

discuss and analyse allforms of left resistance in

order to contribute to a

revolutionary process.We welcome and encour

ageothersto joinus in ourwork.

La Lucha Continual

Arm The Spirit is co-publishedwith the U.S.-basedAutonome Forum.The editorialgroupisbasedin Canadaand all correspondence, subscriptions and literatureshould be sent to the Canadianaddress.Subscriptions forthis bi-monthly bulletin are$10 for 10issues. Donationsarealways welcome. We acceptcash (conceal it well) ormoney ordersbut no cheques. If sending amoney orderdo not put 'Arm The Spirit', just leave it blank.

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tion - one of the main thrusts of the FMLN negotiations.In some ways I'm only repeating what Anna has

alreadysaid- but I'm taking into accountthe contents ofATS no. 8.

Well, these aresome ofmy thoughts on this discussion. You asked for contributions, hopefully we canexpand on this in Resistanceno. 16.

In solidarity,Friends of Durrati

l^e>yjs-B|iefs continued..*alistandformer SS officer HansMarthiSchleyer,and in the 1979 RAFfailedbombattackon Alexander Haig.Mater-Witt wasoneofthe9former RAFmembers who were capturedin East Germany in1990.Forherrolein the RAF actions,she wasgivena 12 year sentence by the Supreme Court inStuttgart,Germany... According to a reportpublishedin "Spurer undMotive - Jnformathnsdiest/«rtenew5te/wr/wW'',apublicationoftheGermangovernment, thenetworkof info-shops across Germany (and the rest of Europe)are functioningas asemi-legal communications network for the RAF.What's more the report statesthat «RAF*Umfeld"[a termreferring to peoplewhoareassociated to theRAF inone formoranother-ed,]weretheorganizersofaEuropeantouroftwoPuertoRicancomradesfrom the Movimento de Llberaclon NacionalPuertorrlquefio (MLN). Thistour,accordingtotheGermanauthorities, is proofthatthereis substantialcontactbetween Germananti-imperialists andpersons in the U.S. Since Monika Barberich (formerRAF prisoner who is described by the German authoritiesasbelongingto a RAF"travellingcadre")recentlyvisitedtheU.S.andbroughtbackgreetingsfrom the two Puerto Rican comrades to politicalprisoners inGermany,the governmentreporttherefore concludes that the info-shop network is involved in"terrorism" (NM. #93)„. RevolutionaryAnti-RacistAction(RARA) claimed responsibility for the bombing of the home of the JuniorJustice Minister Aad Kosto and the InteriorMinistry in the Netherlands on November 14/91.The attacks, which took place in Den Haag andGroot-Schermer(a small village north of Amsterdam), were directed against the racist refugee andimmigrantasylum policy ofthe DutchgovernmentWe will have the communique in our next issue...Powerpylons andfeeder linesweredownedearlyinthe morning of 13/11/91 in Puerto Rico leavingmuchof the islandwithoutpower.The U.S. government-run Energy Authority is blaming the Electricity Workers Union with whom they have beeninvolved in a30 month-longcontactdispute(Nica-raguaSolidarityNetwork,#94)...On 13/11/91,fourChilean politicalprisoners ended their45-day-oldhungerstrike* Their announcement, made from theintensive care ward of the El Salvador Hospital,cameadayafteralargestreetdemonstration intheirsupport was broken tip by police using water cannons and tear gas. Dozens of protesters were arrestedatthedemonstration, whichwascalledby politicalprisoners'familiesandhumanrightsorganizations. The hungerstrike was launched in an attempt to pressure the government of PresidentPatricioAylwin to release Chile's 83 political prisoners. When Aylwin took office in March 1990,there were 380 political prisoners who had beenarrested for acts taken in the struggle againstthePincohetdictatorship.Aylwin sayshis governmentis doing"everythingpossible"forthe remaining 83but that their cases have been held up by Chile'sjudicial system. (Nicaragua Solidarity Network,#94)

FriendsOfDurrutipublishResistance,anexcellentautonomist/anti-imperialist magazine.Theirmostrecentissue contains articles on the Gulf War, a PFLP interview,a dossieronNativestrugglesinCanadaandmore.Their next issue, due out in early '92, will focus onIndigenousPeople's resistance to 500 years of colonialismin theAmericas. Theyhavea newaddress:P.O. Box2881, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3X4, Canada.