Free the Atenco prisoners: protest at London Mexican Embassy

While world headlines feature the deployment of the army by the Mexican government in a seemingly losing battle against  drug cartels, it’s less well-known that the Mexican government has moved ruthlessly to crush grassroots people’s  movements who have nothing to do with organised criminality.

Twelve activists from the Peoples Front for the Defence of the Land from San Salvador Atenco near Mexico City are serving jail sentences of up to 112 years.  Now their case is set to be reconsidered by the Supreme Court in Mexico and people in Britain are to gather at the Mexican Embassy in London on 29th June to demand their release.

Prisoner support list and letter writing night on 16 June

solidarity with political prisoners

Monthly letter-writing night for people to come along and send cards/letters to people imprisoned for their political activities. These small gestures can be a real boost for people locked up for their beliefs, and an opportunity for you to find out more about their cases/campaigns and prison reality. Whether you just write a short one-off solidarity note, or go on to engage in long-term correspondence…is up to you.

EDO boss under pressure at Decommissioners trial

first week goes well for the EDO-smashers

The first week of the trial of the EDO Decommissioners was dominated by questionning of EDO boss Paul Hills, who was in the dock from Tuesday to Friday, and will be back again on Monday. He did not have a pleasant time as the defence team dug into what exactly EDO get up to, and with who. He was openly accused of lying by the defence, and at one point was warned by the judge of the risks of perjuring himself. Of interest to anti-militarists will have been discussions around export licenses and the inter-connected nature of the international arms trade, along with its links into political patronage. Also worth noting was the judge’s ruling that the jury be given as background info a very brief summary of the Goldstone report into Israel’s bombing of Gaza in 2008/9.

Free Renata Zelazna Letter Appeal

Campaign to support Renata
(Renata is a young Polish student and anarchist who has spent some time in the south of the UK involved in various campaigns and projects. After moving to Holland to pursue her interests, she ran into some serious shit. The following info has been circulated by some of her friends and supporters. There is plenty of background info to read here and here, and our previous report here).

Image circulated by Renata's friends

Renata Zelazna (aka Zebra) is a friend of ours, and a vegan and anarchist who is now on remand over an unfortunate chain of events. She was arrested in April 2010 in Holland where she had moved to study, after an altercation with construction site workers which ended up with police threatening her in her own flat. She was holding a knife that she was chopping vegetables with – leading to charges of attempted murder!

Campaign to Free Jock Palfreeman

Jock’s appeal now being prepared, but it may not be heard for 6 months!

Latest news: in late May the senior judge in Jock’s case finally provided his written report on the reasons for the guilty verdict last December. It’s in Bulgarian of course! Jock’s defence team can now apply for an appeal hearing, which may take 6 months to be heard. In the meantime Jock has been stuck in isolation since 19 February and remains locked in a small room 23 hours per day, although ironically prison overcrowding means he shares with another prisoner. He can receive mail (letters only, no books etc), and visitors if you happen to be in the area. See our previous reports on Jock here.

Support Jock
(supporters of Jock have released the following statement and info, please do what you can)

Jock Palfreeman is a 23 year old Australian who had the courage to stand up against 16 Nazis on a night out in Sofia, Bulgaria. He witnessed the fascists chasing and attacking two young Roma boys. Jock ran to the boys’ aid, he did his best to keep the Nazis at bay by waving a knife at them but they attacked him. Jock was left with nowhere to run and had no choice but to defend himself. Andrey Monov, one of the Nazis, was stabbed and killed and another, Antoan Zahariev was injured. The Roma boys ran away.

Trial starts at last for EDO Decommissioners but still no justice for the Tomlinson Family

Monday 7 June at Hove Crown Court sees the long-awaited start of the trial of the EDO Decommissioners, some 17 months after their action to shut down the EDO ITT/MBM arms factory in Brighton. At long last they will have their day in court and, if all goes well, be free from the restrictive clutches of the state.

There are 9 defendants in the Decommissioners case, 6 from Bristol and 3 from Brighton. 7 have been on various forms of restrictive bail, whilst 2 from Bristol are currently on remand. Of the 9 defendants, 1 from Bristol intends to plead guilty to the main charge relating to damage to the EDO factory. Whilst this is regretable, given that individuals circumstances it is understandable. The remainder are pleading not guilty to both the damage and conspiracy charges, arguing that they acted to prevent a much greater crime (the Israeli state’s bombing of civilians in Gaza). The attitude of the defendants is that it is not they who are on trial, but the bosses of EDO and the politicians and corporations who facilitate the trade in military weapons and the subsequent mass murder. (There is similar trial of anti-militarists ongoing in Belfast at the moment – details here).