93.-attacking-prisons-at-the-point-of-production.pdf
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ATTACKING PRISONS AT THE POINT OF

MILITANT A
PRISON-INDUS




eet ean cruacertam
“The
prisoners of
democracy are
not only
contesting the
prison policies
of one
government,
but are openly
challenging
the principle
of detention §
itself.”

eon tenets

“The demand for
life itself has
become a
revolutionary
programme...
ATTACKING PRISONS AT THE POINT OF
PRODUCTION: A BRIEF LOOK AT MILITANT
ACTIONS AGAINST THE PRISON-
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Companions, let's destroy all the prisons,

those walls which lock away our desires’

That money may burn in the fire of passion,

Let’s change everything so that we exchange nothing.
=-Raoul Vaneigem



le's no big secret that anarchism long, ago declared itself to be at war with society's
prisons. Not just with the brick and stecl bastilles, but with all the instruments =
‘hysieal, psychological and emotional - that serve to demoralize and imprison peoples
bodies and minds, Despite this uncompromising historical stand, however, most
practicing (active) anarchists have managed to suppress, any idgas they might be
entertaining as to how to proceed now with this dash, basic task of our revolution. The
classical anarchist writers, from Kropotkin to Beckman, selentiessly exposed the-role
of prisons in terrorizing the poor and disenfranchised in a:class-plagued, authoritarian
Society. And modern anarchist theorists have cooked’ up @ feast of alternative recipes
for dealing with “erime and criminals" - everything from village street patrols to self
‘managed “therapeutic heafing centers” for anti-social offenders

But in the absence of some concrete and practical notions on how to destroy the wails
that are currently in place - notions that are uniquely anarchist = there is litle to
distinguish these streams from most others in the vast tide of utopian rumblings. After
all, any authoritarian Marxist can provide an overview of why prisons in a capitalist
society are oppressive. And any liberal social worker is bound to jump at the
opportunity of helping “eriminals” rehabilitate themselves in more humane
surroundings But prisons - the States main instrument of social control - won't
disappear until the entire decadent carcass of authoritarian society is swept away

So anarchists, if they are to transform the anti-prison movement into part of the larger
revolutionary process, need to start hammering away at the prisons themselves. Every
prison in existence needs to be destroyed, on principle, and in preparation for Day One
‘of the social revolution, when, as they say, the prison gates will fly open and the
dragon will fly out. The purpose of this pamphlet isto take a brief, but detailed look at
individuals and groups who have tageted the prison-industrial cmplex atthe point of
Production, inthe hopes of giving contemporary anarchists some ideas about how we
could potently be lending a lot more support fo our sisters and brothers behind bars.







Athing that every working cass fighter or rvolutonary has to now is thatthe “ass
justice" has only the name o justice, buts nt justice at al wih the dice being loaded
‘tom the start. The cards are tcked, and the revolutionary facing the ‘cass justice ofthe §
capitalist system has nota chance ina milion of being found nat guilty by the cout, or £
‘even of receiving a lighter sentence. I'snot even necessary to pay for lawyers because

cashensolomrcomsneevt serait wnat
I£ we sack the banks, it’s because we have
recognized money as the central cause of all our
unhappiness. If we smash the windows it’s not
because life is dear, but because commodities
prevent us from living at all costs. If we break
‘the machines it is not because of a wish to protect
work, but to attack the slavery of salary. If we
attack the police bastards it’s not to get them out
of our neighborhoods, but to get them out of our
lives.





The Spectacle wished to make us appear dreadful.

We intend to be much wors



--0s Cangaceiros, Paris May 1980

os cangaceiros was a group of working class anarchists who
energed from the background of the May 1968 revolution in
France, a rebellion fired by the alienation inherent in modern
Conditions and progress and the reduction of human life to a
function of. a vicious production process. Coming together in
Nice, -Frané,'0s Cangaceiros ~ or the "Gravediggers” (of the old
world), asvthepiere alternatively known--were characteristic of
all the new antagonistic social movements that began their
Present phase of struggle in the wave of riots and occupations
of May 1968 and that demanded nothing less than the fnd Of
Politics. Described in the newspapers of the time as “hooligans”
and “juvenile delinquents”, they had no formal structure but
formed a collective of individual desires which found expression
together. Their only program being "Never Work, Ever", they set
about creating the circumstances which would make this
inmediately possible. To this end they collectivized their
resources and their talents for crime which sat easily with
their desire for adventure.

They moved throughout the south of France making friends and
initiating actions autonomously, most often against the police,
union bureaucracy, politicians and social managers of every
sort. They lived nomadically and sought to identify those places
where dissatisfaction was reaching a peak and to pass through
there to exacerbate it within the limits of their resources
Particularly they highlighted the role played by Liberals,
social democrats and leftists to manipulate or recuperate those
in revolt to their own ends, taking the struggles determination
out of the hands of a generalized radicality that had its own
dynamic.





“Let’s stress once and for all that we, 0s
Cangaceiros, don’t come from leftism: there isn’t a
single ex-leftist among us. And none of us has ever
been mixed up with any kind of political racket in
any way. We have only one form of relation with
political groups and organizations: war. They're
all our enemies, there’s no exception.”

~ Os Cangaceiros, 1985




Im the late 1970's they traveled extensively in Italy where
Autonomia was reaching its first peak and the revolutionary
ovement spun the factories and youth out of the control of the
Communist Party and the Unions. There they came across
Gonontismo who ‘called for “Criminal Struggle Against Capital”
and witnessed firsthand the violent assault against the State by
the Ttalian uncontrollables. As their methods of operation Led
then frequently into illegality and sometimes jail, they
Understood the significance of this and. would turn’ theif
attention later more tangibly on the system of crime and
Punishment .









“Lets not give free rein to our jailers, strike the
tigers heart every day, in every way, according to
our differences, against the sadness and solitude
of cells of confinement” --Os Cangaceiros



‘Throughout the 1980s, Os Cangaceiros followed trouble across the

juntry and continent, spreading subversion and forming networks
of support in Paris, Lyon, Belgium, Poland, Brixton and Toxteth.
The attraction draving them to these places varied? in Lyon 1%
was the thrill of joyriding and its twin hobby of anbushing
Pursuing police cars By a crowd waiting with stones. In Poland
it was the wildeat strikes and occupations against the communist
government. In Brixton and Toxteth it was the explosion of the
inner city youth against boredom and police repression..1n each
place they would carry out their own actions as 4 contribution
to the struggle without attempting to manipulate the local
participants in any way. In their journal at the time, which was
not a political paper but a summary of their activities and
reflections upon it, they dwelt on such questions as the need
for invisibility ( and the consequent rejection of the political
milieu which positively es police attention fer its own
vanity) and ‘strategies for undermining the old. world of
Capitalism and its novelties and lies. In 1984, Os Cangaceiros
went to Bngland to throw their stones with the miners and stayed
their for a year in several Yorkshire towns; this was to be the
Iast stand of the traditional working class moverent in Britain,
the country last to follow the European model. After this, thoy
returned to Paris ( with several miners they had become friends
with) and began to squat houses

while other squatters att





















jpted to use conservationist and
architectural arguments to justify the occupation of abandoned,
disintegrating buildings, Os Cangaceiros decided to seize tne
best buildings they could find---they saw squatting as a direct
expropriation of the material luxury we are all entitled to, as
each of us is tantalized lifelong by the illusion of material
Wealth and they wished to realize and exhaust the lie. To this
end, they moved into a newly constructed apartment block and
drove out the yuppie inhabitants who complained. The seized
building was then fortified against police attack and they set
about creating a no-go zone for the police in their district.
When the police finally arrived to evict them, it took them
three hours to get through the steel plating on the door, during
which time their network of supporters were alerted by phone and
Counterattacked the police from behind.

In the late 1960s, 0s Cangaceiros entered a new trajectory and
began to direct thelr efforts against the Prison -Industrial
Complex. In the following three years they carried out multiple
acts of sabotage against prison construction sites, stole the
architectural plans for new prisons, beat up some of the










architects who were designing the new Gulags and drew attention
to the resistance gathering pace inside the walls as well. The
scale and effectiveness of their actions against the Prison-
Industrial Complex forced 0s Cangaceiros to disband their
journal and go underground entirely, as they were now being
heavily pursued by police. One of ‘their last acts ( before
dissolving into the informal criminal networks they had spent
nearly two decades creating) was to publish a book on the 1éth-
century Movenent of the Free Spirit, a proto-anarchist curre:
that they strongly identified with.



At the dawn of Industrialism, factories were
modeled after prisons; In its twilight, prisons are
now modeled after factories.

= Os Cangaceiros, 1989

In 1990, a voluminous dossier began to circulate in France. The
dossier, sent by Os Cangaceiros, included stolen prison plans
‘and documents and a chronology outlining Os Cangaceiroa’s
campaign of sabotage against the “13,000 project”, which
pertained to the French States plans to create new maximum
security penitentiaries with room for 13,000 prisoners, as well
as reproductions of conmuniques sent to those who were targeted.
Interestingly, the police and companies which were atvacked



tried to remain very discreet about this campaign, apparently
Wishing to give it as little publicity as possible. The authors
of this pamphlet, on the other hand, want people to start
thinking about the various ways we can be undermining the
Prison-Industrial Complex and for that reason are reprinting a
Partial chronology of some of the main actions Os Cangaceitos
took against the prison industry




Letter to an Architect
Subject Ambush

‘Are your wounds well heed, architect? Did you
figure out why? :

‘Shameless, wth o discretion fy kind, centimetre
by cenaimete, you have conceived these cages in which
‘ten the handicapped wil be locked wp nade the walls
hich you have designed, individuals who are wort
‘hore an you willbe Beaten upon regular basis Is
food that you dave received an appetizer of what
thousands of prisoners wil have to endure fo the nth
degre.

‘To be sure, ache, this snot your company’s ist
Infamy. Considering what you bull to house normal
citizens, ane can guess your competence fo shut aay
Selingsems: One eves easly fom the tower tosis of
the ath arondisement an ame of Parl to prison cel

‘Scum, looking at your mug we were ableo not from
your red face how deeply you involve youself in your
Projects.

Before you were building walls, ow you're going to
sock them down ae





OsCangaceios| emanate
yon 29/00/90




















x.
French Radicals Sabotage Prison Project

The sabolage operation under- taken against different
companies involved in the construction of the new prisons
began at the end of April 1989. Whoever accepted to
participate in this construction project found them-selves, as a
result, exposed fo a number of our reprisals.

From the end of April until the end of June, we enter citferent sites (Aixles-Milles,
Tarascon, Villeneuve-les-Maguelonne, Pontoise, Maubeuge, Bapaume), where we
sabotage the coment intended for the sites using @ procedure which is childishly simple,
‘Sugar mixed with cement, in effect, in a proportion of one to one thousand (in other
words, ane kilo per ton), prevents the cement from hardening...



On May 1, in Tulle, we turn our attention to the case of BRUGEAUD. This public works
company engaged in the construction of the Neuvic-sur-Isie and dUzerche prisons is kind
enough to furnish us with @ portion of the plans (measured in meters) and a sizeable
Bookkeeping dossier concerning the dUzerche site. After this break-in, the premises, files
and offices are per-fumed with ammonia,





(On May 14, the Saint-Gely-du-Fesc branch of GTM is nicely vandalized...As wel, we carry
off precious booty from this expedition: detailed information about the participants in
this venture, the plans of the Ville-neuve-les-Maguelonne prison, along with technical
documents concerning prison security...

On November 25, we take an interest in SCBTP of Pontoise, whose offense is performing
2 subcontracting job, doing the cleanup of the dOsny prison for the Spie Batignolles
‘company, Their building for pickup trucks and trucks goes up in smoke,

On January 25, 1990, we inflict irremediable damage on the electronic console of the

‘cement factory in salon de-Provence. The BETON DE FRANCE Company furnishes cement
to the sites in the southern region. AS well, acid Is used to empty two cement mixers.



In a Bordeaux suburb, during the night of February 11 and the morning of the 12th, itis
the FORCLUM Company’s turn to be set ablaze and seriously damaged. This company. it
‘should be noted, is in charge of furnishing anti-reakout devices for all of the western ,
region, for which it provides prisons with alarms and video cameras and takes care of
installing PCIs.

On February 23, in Paris, the architect Christian Demonchy is ambushed on the route he
Usually takes to get to work. Two of us give him a drubbing while passersby look on,
‘Already responsible, among other projects, for @ Club Med in Morocco and, in the
framework of the Badinter program, for the Mauzac prison, this faceless individual is
working in the office Janet Demanchy on planning prisons in the northern region within
the framework of the Chalandon program. Shortly afterwards, by mail, we inform the
ther people in charge of planning the project of the price they might have to pay for such
‘ctivity, so that it can no longer be pretended that they are unaware of it.

‘On February 21, in Vincennes, we sprinkle concentrated tear gas in the offices of the
ASTRON Company, causing activity to come to a temporary halt. This company, which
Carries out research, takes care of everything concerning prison workshops. In mid-April
in Laon, a8 the ORSA cement mixers are going back and forth continuously to deliver

.ctronic console of the ORSA cement factorys turn to be









Resignation is death. Revolt is life.

-Libertad.
bk.
French Radicals Sabotage Prison Projects 1989-1993

“For the first time in this rotten country, a movement of
practical solidarity with prisoners in revolt has appeared
outside the prisons. This was a blow which none of the reformers
or moaners ever expected--all those who allow the suffering of
prisoners to justify their own cowardliness, their own interest
in helping to maintain the status quo. Above all, it was a blow
for the State. We're not like those who specialize in writing or
speaking about prison. The risk of ending up in jail--and the
fact that many of us have been there before--largely conditions
our lives. Let's point out that those of us who have been
convicted and detained in the past have always been criminals;
we have no affinity with “political prisoners” whatsoever. We
use the action of any proletarian: sabotage and vandalism. We
don’t carry out symbolic actions, we create disorder
workers in struggle are currently doing, blocking road and
railway lines, stopping TV transmitters, etc. The principal
Characteristic of the actions that we carried out in solidarity
with prisoners from mid-May to mid-June was simplicity

The Brussels TEE was stopped by a very simple procedure which
changed a signal light to red. 15 people were eneough to stop
this important train, spray-paint the demands of the May prison
rioters, break the ‘windows to throw the tracts inside. The
system of signals of the high speed TGV was sabotaged by a mere
hammer; on various rail lines, electrical boxes were burnt with
a bit of petrol. Straw burns well in summer, as a Toulouse chair
maker who used to make his profits from the sweat of prisoners
found out: “bandoleros” reduced his workshop and his business to
ruins, At Nantes, the printing press which handles the national
Press for the western regions was sabotaged when sand, gravel
and nails were shoved into the compressors that feed the
printing cylinders. In Paris, two metro lines were shut down by
the simplest of techniques: throwing worksite material on the
tracks.”













~ Os Cangaceiros

LET My PEOPLE GO!!!
The Posplis hang


German Prison Bombed - Destroyed Before It Can Destroy!

Many people had good reason to celebrate on the last weekend in March, Early on
Saturday March 27 (1993), a series of explosions destroyed most of a newly completed
high-tech prison that was to be put to abuse in May 1993. The prison in Weiderstadt,
close to Frankfurt, took eight years to build and Cost 250 million Marks (155 million
‘American dollars). It was to hold 500 prisoners and was to be a multi-use prison,
including units for deportees, a high-security prison for women, and for prisoners
awaiting trial. The German state has made much ado about Weiderstad's “humane
conditions” - a model for a new corrections policy. The latter is true, Weiderstadt would
have embodied the latest in high-tech incarceration. In Weiderstadt the prisoners were
to be placed in so-called “living groups” of 10 to 20 prisoners, in single cells with a
common room and a small kitchen. The cells were to be monitored with video cameras
and microphone/ speakers.



‘The “living groups” were to be put together by social workers, psychotherapists, etc,
and were to operate by a system of “punishment-reward”. The prisoner, on his or her
arrival, would be assessed according to his or her will to resist or adapt. Depending on
the evaluation by the psychologist, the prisoner would be sent to a “living-group";
‘which vary from totally conforming to “non-adaptation’. Far from being “collective”,
these “living-groups” would instill competition between the prisoners which would
‘undermine solidarity among the prisoners.



By a “work-therapy” (i.e, forced labor) and other psychological measures, the prisoners
would come to see themselves as criminals or as insane, But by adopting the “social
values" of the therapists and other prison workers - the values of the prison system, the
state and their corporate bosses - they would rise in the hierarchy among the prisoners,
i.e. gain privileges and benefits that they could be lost if they did not behave as desired.
‘There can be no system of rewards without a corresponding set of punishment. Total
isolation in the high security wing would be the ultimate penalty.

However, there is not much left of the detention center now. The explosions destroyed
the administration building, much of the high-tech security system, as well as four
“residential” buildings. Damage has been estimated at 100 million Marks (62 million
American dollar's) - sixty million Marks for reconstruction, and 40 million for the alarm
system that was not on during the night of the attack. Furthermore, itis predicted that
corrections planning would be set back four years as a result of the bombing.

‘The commando Katharina Hammerschmidt of the Red Army Fraction (RAF) released a
‘communique a few days after the action that demanded the release of the remaining
RAF prisoners along with other prison-related demands. But the mass media only
printed part of the communique and, interestingly enough, the media did not print one
of the demands calling for the release of all HIV+ prisoners.

‘The commando Katharina Hammerschsnidt took extreme care to avoid injuries to 11

guards who were captured at about 1:30, bound and gagged and driven to a nearby

field where they were left in a van. The buildings were searched before detonation and
the commando even put up warning posters on the outside walls of the prison. The
commando was named for a close firend of Ulrike Meinhof who was a supporter of the
RAF and who spent three years in prison before dying of a breast tumor due to medical
neglect in November 1973.

‘The RAF recently announced a decision to stop targeting representatives of the state
and capital in an attempt to negotiate the release of RAF prisoners. (Though, as the
communique makes clear, this is a change in tactics and not a retreat from armed
struggle.) Ex-Justice Minister Kinkel had signaled a willingness to release some of the
‘most seriously ill prisoners. Only a few, however, have come out, and others have been.
hit with new charges and increased sentences. The RAF’ s response- "They all must be
released."

‘The following is the RAF communique:

[Nothing has changed about the step we took in our history, a step which we need and want, but
‘we are involved in a process of developing a social counter-power from below, from which a new
proposal for a process of revolutionary change can be developed. This, now as ever, isthe highest
priority for us, but stil, the conditions for this must be struggled for. Last August, we wrote
‘that we could not be held responsible for this.

‘The Weiderstaedter Prison is exemplary of how the State is dealing with open and intensified
contradictions: more and more people are faced with prison, prison, prison - and it's a
deportation prison, part ofthe State's racist asylum polices. With its technological perfection of
‘isolating and diferentiatng imprisoned person, i isa model for theres of Europe.

Freedom For At Political Prisoners '

For A Society Without Prisons

‘The Path To Liberation Is Traveled As A Part Of A Process Of Social Learning, Which Is Part
OFA New International Struggle For Change!

Fight The Racism Of The State And The Nazis!
Remove The Racist Consciousness In Society In The Social Struggle Among People -Even For

This We Need A Mass-Movement From Below, Which Is Oriented Towards Solidarity, Justice,
And The Struggle Against Poverty, Social Isolation, And A Lack Of Perspective!

We Greet All Those Struggling For Tir Human Dignity In The Prisons In Peungsicim,
Santa Fu, Ploetzensee, Rheinback, Stammheim, Straubin


It's important that anarchists recognize and take action against the various
forms that prisons assume in this society, from mental prisons ( or
“asylums”) to immigration detention centers. Recently in Australia, there
have been repeated actions at immigration centers in Derby and Woomera,
including mass escapes and detention center riots involving both
prisoners and their allies on the outside. Reprinted below is a short article
on the German group K.O.M.LT.E.E, who from 1995-1997 carried out a
Series of militant, clandestine actions against deportation centers in Bertin
and other parts of Germany. Actions such as the: i

‘more important in the years to com

intensifies.

K. 0.M.1.T. E. E Attack Foiled In Berlin ( 1995)

‘On April 10/95, police foiled an attempted attack by four militants against a newly
constructed deportation prison in the Grunau section of Berlin. A total of 120kg of
explosives had been disguised as fire extinguishers and were designed to destroy
the new prison before it could be opened. However, ever since the spectacular RAF
‘commando attack which completely destroyed a new high-tech prison in Weiterstadt
in March of 1993, German authorities have greatly increased their surveillance of
prison construction sites. Although police foiled the attack, all four persons were
able to flee. Since then, however, one woman (Beate) was arrested, but three men
(Bernhard, Thomas, and Peter) are still on the run, All three were active in the
‘utonomist scene in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin, according to police. During the
foiled attack, police also claim to have found the communique for the action, signed
by a group called "Das K. 0. M. I, T. E. E.", This group had previously carried out
an attack o8 all abandoned army. barracks in Bad Freienwalde in East Germany in
November of 1994. This action, which caused 200,000 DM in damage, was done in
solidarity with the Kurdish national lideration struggle and to protest German arms
sales to Turkey. Below is the communique from an action against the company
responsible for building the deportation prison in Berlin-Grullau.

Terrorists Are Those People Who Build Deportation Prisons,
Not Those That Blow Them Up! Stop The German State's
Racist Asylum And Deportation Policies

(On the night of Wednesday/Thursday, June 7/8, 1995, we detonated several
Containers full of flammable mixtures under three vehicles belonging to the
ALLROUND construction firm, because they are involved in the construction of the
deportation prison in Grunau and therefore are partly responsible for the deportation
(of countless refugees and immigrants to regions of war, criss, and poverty. This
‘company earns money by constructing a place where people will be caged up for
weeks, just for exercising their right to demand their fair share of the world's wealth,
For refugees, deportation doesn't just mean poverty and sorrow, but also torture,
prison, and death. On Monday, 2.5.95, a Kurdish woman named Hawa Koc. was
deported from Berlin-Schonefeld to Istanbul, where she was immediately arrested by
lainclothes police. Her present whereabouts are unknown. As of June 12, the
‘moratorium on the deportation of Kurds willbe lifted. In Kurdistan, the Turkish
military has been waging war for years, not just against armed ERNK units of the

PKK, but also against the Kurdish civilan population and all those who strive for
Independence. According to the 1994 annual report of the Turkish Human Rights
Association (IHD), more than 2,000 vilages have been destroyed, writers and










Journalists were sentenced to a total of some 9 years in prison, more then 100
‘unions, parties, associations, and organizations were banned, and more than 100
‘publications were confiscated or forced to clase down Through its weapons sales to
‘NATO partner Turkey, Germany is a party in this dirty war: first send in weapons to
‘ight against the Kurds, ears lots of money in the process, and then send back ail
those who flee from this war. The German state is responsible for this cycle of
death! “Today, some two years after the right to asylum was practically abolished,
olticlans celebrating the 50th anniversary of the defeat of fascism speak of peace
‘and reconciliation. But such words are meaningless, as Roma peoples are being
deported to Rumania where today they stil face persecution, discrimination, and
‘pogroms. They speak of peace, as people still being shipped back to the former
Yugostavia, through their decision to avoid military service, are actively resisting the
war, raped women, elderly people, sick and mistreated children. (...) Threatened
‘expansion and tightening of laws regulating asyfum seekers, overflowing deportation
‘prisons, the accompaniment of so-called security personnel from the refugee's
‘home country to assist in the deportation process, and the planned ‘chip card,
which would record an asylum seeker's every move -all of this shows that the
‘interior ministers! racist repertoire is stl replete. " We demand that all refugees and
‘immigrants be given the right to stay here. Not only because Germany, through its
‘imperialist pelcies in the Three Continents (the so-called Third World), has created
the root causes of fight (poverty, war, etc.), but also because we envision a society
where it doesn't matter in the least whether someone is green, black, white, or
‘Purple, whether they have a passport from this or that country, whether they speak
‘one language or the other. We don't give a shit about any of these things! Everyone
‘has the right to lve here. Period! This prison in Buren, which holds 600 people, is
exemplary of the legal, state practice of German racism. Today, no one can claim
that they weren't aware of things. The division of labor is clear. Some people pass
racist laws, others transport refugees like freight, and stil others build deportation
prisons: lke the ALLROUND firm! The prison in Grunau, when it's finished, will hold
+400 people. Unfortunately, the planned attack by K. 0. M. I T. E. E. was folled by
the cops at the last minute. When right becomes wrong, resistance is a must! And
‘when words go unheard, the language of violence must be spoken!

Solidarity with the Kurdish liberation struggle! We wish Bernhard,
Thomas, and Peter lots of fun, strength, and love as they run from the
cops! You can live and struggle anywhere! For the immediate release
of Beate K.! And of course, for Mumia Abu-Jamal! Greetings of
Solidarity to Das K. 0. M. I. T. E. E. ! Bye for now, until the next time”
Das K. 0. L L. EK. TE. V. Berlin, June 7/8, 1995

Our-Project: Das K.0.M.1.T.E.E.

Since the end of the 1980s anu ore so in the 199.
radical-left lost more and wore of its social relevance from yeu:





to year, as the praxis and content became increasingly distant from
radical positions. As long as there was a common strength, at the
militant level as well, we didn’t think it was necessary to always
appear on the scene under the same name,
As the left began to retreat and the continuity of discussions
* began to lapse, and as the foundations of comuon action which had
been worked out begun to collapse, we decided it was necessary to
constitute ourselves as a group in the context of having continuity

and openly-stated politics.
We assumed that contributions and interventions by groups
whose name hag become associated with a certain praxis and
political orientation were given greater attention within the left,
their statements are read and studied more, more so than groups
with no obvious continuity. We hoped over the course of time to
have a positive influence within the leftist scene and to help
establish certain points of orientation.





Why Militant Politics?

Considering the status of discussion within the radical left,
the silence and refusal to take a stand, we think it’s necessary
for us to explain why we decided upon militant polities in a period
of relatively little movement.



Effective militant praxis is not enough to break through the
left’ s external lack of credibility and internal adaptation and
lack of courage. Radical critiques of the present conditions of
hierarchy, oppression, and exploitation which do not seek out,
utilize, and discover all forms of resistance will sooner or later
lose faith in themselves. To stick with our example: A left which,
correctly, states that it is a crime to construct and operate
deportation prisons, but which does not seek out all possible ways
of stopping stich construction and operation, loses its perspective
and has defeat in its own mind right from the beginning. Our
aethod, if it had been successful, would not have been the only
gesture and certainly wouldn’ t have been the best, but it would
have been a lot better than all the complaints about the
impossibility of leftist politics in an increasingly right-wing
society.

We don’ t think that the left will develop « comprehensive
perspective out of feelings of helplessness-and the loss of its
nethods of struggle, rather it should try to draw strength From
trying to close the gap between thoughts and deeds, even in bad
times. With Our name and our praxis, we wanted to make propaganda
for the possibilities of direct intervention and attack,
possibilities which are open to everyone who is not satisfied with
injustice and oppression.

We aven’ t saying militant polities is the only way to go in
today’s society, but we definitely think it was wrong to put all
praxis on ice until we could look for the exactly right strategy.
We think further development can only take place in the context of
& process of reflection and action. Learning by doing. And someday
when the conditions are better, when fundamental critiques of the
syste are in a broader social acceptance, then it will be dann
important to be able to look back on a history where we didn’t give
up the fight, even during times of adaptation to fundamental
mainstream positions.




























September 12, em

: England: New Prison Site
‘Under Construction Trashed By Pixies
‘Ashford, England: During the night a group
of “Pixies” visited a prison construction site in
‘Surtey which has been earmarked fora new, privately
run women’s’ prison. With litle planning, the
“Pixies” descended on the site compound and
well and truly trashed two lorries and a number
of diggers, leaving behind the spray-painted
‘message: “No Prison State." The Pixies said "It
was fun and easy, gi













le Gaul!

The daring and audacious publicity: wour's createt Prison Escapes No 3: cues Mesine
hungry bank robber and kidnapper

Jacques Mesrine has to be one of the
alltime greatest prison escapees. In

the 60s and 70s he became a folk hero |

In his native France, known as ‘the i
Robin Hood of the Parls streets’ for his =
daredevil raids and for the inability of

the entire French police force to catch

ar hold on to him. He kidnapped and

robbed the rich and powerful and even
gave away some of the wealth he stole

to the homeless.

Mesrine was good looking and charming, with @
sting of glamorous gvends. He was always
fentlemaniy, courteous and kin, even to those he
fs robbing or kidnapping He Tked Pie ting
fod food and win, the best restaurants ond the
fest clothes often robbing banks dressed inthe

fashions. He enjoyed risk and danger but
Combined tis witha passion for meticulous

ring and military precision. He was 8 master

1 cisguise often wearing two oF thee wigs ontop

of one another for swift changes of appearance.
Nesrine was constantly protesting over prison
ns and exploiting his notoriety to highlight
the issue. And he put this personal hatred of
Incarceration into practice by escaping trom prison
in both France and Canada no less than four
ding both the highest security prisons
(on the 47tn August 1969, Mesrine and his
iriend Jeanne Schneider both escaped from
Percé prison in Quebec, Canada. They were inside
for attempting to kidnap Canadian grocery and
texte milionsire Georges Deslourers after he
‘sesked them both as domestic servants.

esrine knew he had to escape from this ite
local prison before he was transferred to a bigger
tne. He ripped the handle off an aluminivm mu
tnd sharpened it by rubbing ft against the cement
wall of his call. Using this as a weapon he
Ceptured a prison warder, stealing his Keys and
ceri him in the cell, Jeanne had done the some
thing with the weeder of the women’s win, and
stopping only to rad the Kitchens and fil a bag,
wrth food, they fed into the woods surrounding the
prison.

He was quickly recaptured by the Canadion
authorities and sentenced toa total of eleven
ears in the “escape-proof maximum securty wing

ofthe Saint Vincent de Paul prison In Laval
‘outside Montreal. The prison was brand now and
Supposed to be the most secure prison in the
country. But on the 21st August 1972, Mesrine led
five others in an escepe.

“The plan was outrageously simple. While having
thelr motning exereise in the prison yard, they used
1 pair of pliers stolen from the metal workshop to
‘ut tvoulg the thee fences surrounding the
texercise yard, crawling along the ground between
‘each of the fences. The escapees then stopped
‘two motorists on the nearest nighway.
Commandeering thelr cars and then later dumping
them.

However, feeling that it was unfair that he
should be free while others remaines incarcerated,
‘Mesrine decided to return tothe prison and free
the remaining 66 prisoners in the maximum
‘security wing. He immediately started robbing
banks to raise the money he would need forthe
fescape plan and a more two weeks after he had
‘escaped he returned to break out the others.

‘Nong with some fiends, he had rented several
fats in Montreal under false names, stocking therm
with enough food for several men to be able to
bide there. He had also got enough guns for there
‘to be one weapon between every two escepees. At
2.20 in the afternoon on the 3rd September,
MMestine and his friend JeanPoul Mercier drove up
to the prison armed with sawnot shotguns. They
planned to throw paits of wirecutting shears and
the guns over two wire fences into the exercise
yard, They also had another two getaway cars with
‘rivers parked at Intervals up the road.

“The escape attempt never worked out As they
cove upto the prison they discovered that since
their escape tno weeks earfier secur had been
tightened and there were now cops and armed
prison guards everywhere. After @ shootout with
the cops and prison guards Mesrine ond Mercier

had to make a swift getaway and abandon thet
breakout plan.

‘Back in France in 1973, tng on the rus
Mesrine was aware that eventually he woul! Be
‘ought, so he arranged his escape from prison in
fedvance. He knew when he was captured he would
be tiled fist atthe Palas de Justice in Compidgne,
ton the outskits of Paris. So he explored the
pulling and drove around the surounding ae,
‘rawing 0 map, He arranged an escape pian with
fis tends, showing them where to park the get
lpway car and demonstrating the quickest route oUt
Of town, He also took thom into the Palais de
Sostoe and showed them where guns covtd De
hidden.

‘On the &th March 1973 Messine wos eventually
caught by the French police. As he was being
“ven to prison in an armoured van he turned to
‘one of the cops escorting him and sai: “What do
Jou bet me Ii be out in thee months?” The cop
‘iled: he knew Mesrne was being token to the
ighest secur jal in France—the La Santé in
Pris from which no one had ever escaped.

“on the 6th June, Mesrine was taken for til at
the Palais de justice in Compiégne. Al day he had
been complaining of dysentery and demanding to £0
te the lavatory at regular intervals. While being
trenatered from one vehicle to another, he saw his
laocomplice who threw his cigarette tothe ground:
the agreed signe! that everthing was ready to £9
‘ahead as planned. At the court house he again

demanded to go to the tolet. When there was no
paper in te toilets forthe use of defendants ne wos
flowed 1 use the lawyers’ lavatories. Which of
‘course was where the gun was hidden behing &
stern. Stuffing the gun under his bel, he returned
{othe tial. As he went up before the Bench to
fanswer the charges made against him, he Spreng
forwards ad grabbed the judge, holding him at
‘Binpoint and then using him as a human shield to
anoeuste his way out ofthe court. He then ran
{tough a hal of gunire forthe getaway car thet
‘was wat and sped off along trinor roads by his
prearranged getaway oute. Twenty miles away they
Stole a new car and dumped the old one, making fr
1 prearranged hide out where Mesrine cracked open,
‘2 bottle of champagne to celebrate: he had Kept his
promise end escaped within three months

‘On the 28th September the police had him
again; an accomplice arrested curing @ bank
robbery had grassed him upto reduce his own
fentence. Athough his recopture was a disaster
for Mesrine, he typically made the best of a bad
jb by negotiating withthe cops sent to arrest him
‘and using the tne this bougt to burn al is

papers, arrange his arsenal of guns and
fmmurition neatly onthe bed, wash, dress, shave
‘nd tidy his flat, 0 that when he finaly fang open
‘the door, immaculately cessed and puting on 3
pig cigar, he was able-to welcome his arcenemy
CCommissaire Broussard with a glass of




champagne, offering hrm his congratulations on
having “won this round

Mesrine knew he was either facing the guilotine
‘rie in prison. He was sont back to La Santé
where he tied unsuecesstlly to get himselt sent
to court quick in order to escape from the
‘courthouse. Instead he ended up awaiting ra a
Jal for the whole of 3974 and 1975.

From inside La Santé in Pais, Mesrine was
secretly commuricating wth his old accomplice
Jean Paul Morcir, back inthe Saint Vincent de
Paul pison near Monizea, figuring out plans for
him to escape jal, rob banks, get load of rane,



‘come to France and spring Mesrine from jal.
Mercier and 4 ethers escaped again from Saint
Vincent de Paul on 22nd October 1974 but Merc
was kiled n a shootout withthe police wile



i jal, a8 wel as frequenty





‘eaggerated autobiography called Lntint de
Mort (The Kiling Instinct in which he boasted of
large numbers of murders he hed never committed.
‘he book was smuggled out of prison and
‘published three months before his case finaly
came total in May 1977. Atter a typically show
sopping and totally unrepentant performance in
‘court he was eventually sentenced to what under
the ctcumstances must be regarded as a very
lenient 20 year stretch.

In the letters he wrote to friends from prison
‘Mestine talked openly of escaping. So the prison
thoes at La Santé already the highest
cutty prison In France, built @ special new
maximum secury wing to put him i. And then on
314 May 1978, the governor of the prison recelved
‘call on his direct line, tipping him off that
Messine was going to tty and escape In two deys
tine 09 the Sth of May. No one took It very
‘ously, And Indeed Mesrne did not escape on
the Sth: it was fining on the Sth of May so the
‘escape was postponed unt! the 8th.

Ate intensive study ofthe architecture ond
functioning of the prison and meticulous planning,
Mestine perfected his escape from Lo Sante. At
10,00am on the 8th May, Mesrine and two other
prisoners escaped by using a secret cache of
\weapons that had been smuggied into the prison
for them by a corupt prison warder. They held up
thelr guards, stealing ther uniforms and locking
them inthe cells, Then they accosted a group of
‘workmen fing new bars on the windows ofthe
als and ordered them to move their ladder to the
‘outside wall ofthe prison. Using a rope and
‘rapping iron that had also been smuggled in for
thom, the escapees cimbed over the wall and let





themselves down the other side, stopoing &
passing car to make thel getaway. By 10.25am
Mesrine and his accomplice Francois Besse had
‘become the frst twa men ever to escape trom La
Sante.

‘Amere eight days after the escape Mesrine and
Besse got back to wor, robbing a Parls gunsmiths
for weaponry in broad daylight. As usual Mestine
had reused to run away and hed simply stayed in
Pars. Yen days later tho pair robbed a casino

Mesrine planned a series of revenge
kidnappings: fst he kidnapped a bank employee
whe had given evidence against him at his tial and
forced him to open the bank vaults for him: then,
In.@ one man campaign against maximum securty



prisons, he attempted to kidnap the judge who had

‘sentenced him to 20 years, demanding that M.
Petit would ony be relaased if all top secuthy
wings in French prisons were closed. He sald that
Unless they were closed he would begin to
‘assassinate magistrates. The kidnapping of the
Judge went wrong but Mesrine managed to escape
by running downstairs straight past the cops
coming te get him and shouting “Quick! Mesrine’
tu there!” as he sped past them. As they all raced
In the other erection he made good his escape.
The one cop who did recognise him he disarmed
‘and handcuffed to a drainpipe. This lonely plod
was only discovered later by his colleagues when,
they nad unsurprisingly failed to find Mesrine
upstairs.

‘Mter another kidnapping of @ wealthy banker
‘and industiais, Mestine began planning a series
‘of even more high rofl hicnappings of major
poiltca! and media figures. It was while he was
‘engaged inthis task thatthe police he had
‘utsmarted for so long finally caught up with him,
This time they weren't going to have him escaping
‘again, On 2nd November 1979, as he was walthg
‘at some tafe lights nis car was ambushed and
surrounded by armed police. Mesrine vas shot
cover 20 times in an executionstye hiling. He had
become an emsarrassmyent to the French
government atthe highest level—French Pri
Glacard ¢'Estaing had told the responsible minister
‘only days earl, *w9 realy nave to fish Mesrine
ott







Source: Metrine—The Life and Death of a
‘Suporerook by Carey Schotield (Penguin, 1980)

‘And Now... Jacques Mesrine the video! 90 min
‘colour video In French. For a copy send £7.50

Including postage (cheques payable to ‘Chronos
Publications’) to: BM Chronos, London WCAN

XX, UK.




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‘The Boston Anarchist Black Cross functions as the defensive arm of
local anarchist struggles. We work to forge an organized support network
for local activists in need and for folks behind bars. We seek the total
abolition of prisons and work on projects in support of this cause.