Posted: 4th February 2021 by andrymi Leave a Comment

Anarchy Radio – Week 5

Culture of nothingness: “Into the Void” by Kyle Chayka (01-24 NYTM). The loneliness pandemic.
A few anti-civ take.
WSJ reports “A Bid Bet on an Antiseptic Future.” Orbital congestion points to satellite collisions with dire consequences. Ongoing collapse of world’s aquifers. How To Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm. Action news.

Listen here:

Or download here.

Last Updated: 18th January 2021 by efia Leave a Comment

How to start an NGO and grant workshop

Workshops funded in part by the Development Fund for Immigration Affairs

Last Updated: 11th January 2021 by Satan Níðhöggr 1 Comment

SPYCOPS: Exposing Undercover Policing of Activist Movements

How far is the State willing to go in order to suppress resistance?

Well, pretty far—indeed!

Last month, the Guardian’s podcast series Today in Focus published a two-part show (see links below) about the demoniac lengths to which (at least) the British State has gone—often in collaboration with other States—in their relentless crusade against political activists. The show’s topic is the so-called SPYCOPS case—regarding undercover policing of activist movements—currently the subject of a Public Inquiry in the UK, the legal proceedings of which started last November and will go on for a few years.

Following the 2010 exposure of British undercover cop Mark Kennedy—who for seven years, disguised as activist “Mark Stone”, infiltrated and spied upon various activist groups in the UK and Europe—several independent investigations, operated mostly by activists as well as two Guardian journalists (Rob Evans and Paul Lewis the main interviewees in the podcast), revealed the highly extensive nature of undercover policing within activist movements in the UK (and, in fact, elsewhere—including Iceland). Going back to the early 1970’s, the investigations have exposed the presence of at least 139 cops infiltrating and spying upon more than thousand political groups—including anarchists, anti-racists, environmentalists, feminists, animal rights activists and anti-war protesters.

One of the targeted groups, infiltrated by said Kennedy from 2004 to 2006, was Saving Iceland—an international anarchist and environmentalist movement fighting against the destruction of Iceland’s glacial rivers and geothermal areas by international aluminium cartels and national energy companies. Not only did Kennedy spy upon the movement’s activists (certainly with the knowledge and consent of the Icelandic police—and probably in cooperation with them as well); he furthermore acted as an agent provocateur—systematically attempting to push people, including teenagers, into taking actions that could have had serious legal consequences.

Among other disturbing facts, the investigations have revealed that a great number of undercover officers—posing as “fellow activists”—formed intimate relationship with female activists: a conduct not only condoned, but more importantly encouraged by their police superiors. It has also been exposed that, in order to create credible cover names and IDs, the officers were advised to exploit the identities of deceased children. Although still hoping for some sort of justice and closure, these women and the families of the deceased children—as well as activists in general—are highly critical of the Public Inquiry’s legal proceedings and its blatant lack of transparency.

Listen to Today in Focus’ coverage of the SPYCOPS case here: Part 1 and Part 2.

(Probably not too surprisingly, given the Guardian’s overall Liberal outlook, the latter part includes some lousy justification for the surveillance and infiltration of what the journalists refer to as “extremism” on the activist movements’ margins.)

Some of the above mentioned women, who were sexually abused by the British state, have teamed up with the Telegraph—creating a more detailed, seven-parts radio show: Bed of Lies.

Finally, for those who might prefer listening in Icelandic, RÚV’s now defunct foreign news program Heimskviður reported on the Public Inquiry in their second last show. Their coverage is not great (again, including some pathetic justification for infiltration), but not too bad either—focusing mostly on the women’s cases.

Last Updated: 21st October 2020 by elihonu Leave a Comment

October 2020 episode of “BAD NEWS” anarchist radio show

*Text taken from www.a-radio-network.org*

Welcome to BAD News for October, 2020, episode 39. This month we’ll be hearing from:

Radiozones of Subversive Expressions in Athens, Greece, on the topics of school squats, Omada Laikon Agoniston, Pagrati Filolaou, SVEOD and the responses of Greek courts to the charges against the neo-nazi Golden Dawn Party;
Radio Fragmata, also in Athens, Greece, you’ll hear more news and struggle from around the city and country;
A-Radio Berlin, from Germany, then shares audio about the eviction of the anarcha-queer-feminist house project Liebig34 in Berlin;
And finally, you’ll hear updates from Dissident Island Radio from the Capital of Capitol, London, UK from the last month.

Length: 33:29

Or you can download it direct from archive.org here: B(A)D News 39

If you’d like to get involved in the network or want to hear more – send an email to a-radio-network@riseup.net.
Check out all the shows look for the a-radio-network collection on archive.org or at our website, a-radio-network.org.

Posted: 19th October 2020 by andrymi Leave a Comment

Video tour and online concert of Vestur í bláin – multidisciplinary art project on immigration in Iceland

For the past month or so Andrými has had the privilege of hosting a part of the multidisciplinary art project ‘Vestur í bláinn’, which interacts with the topic and experience of immigration in Iceland “presenting a poetic and sensitive approach to notions of foreignness“. ( https://vesturiblainn.net/ )

Recently we got this mail from the organisers and initiators of the project:

“Dear team of Andrými,

Thank you again for hosting Vestur í bláinn !

Because we couldn’t make the guided bus tour to all the locations over the last month (due to the new wave of Covid), we made a video tour.

Feel free to share it !

Also on Tuesday the 20th of october at 8 pm we will have an online live concert of the album Vestur í bláinn on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/779031912663739

or on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjzvBdPeGU8

Best regards,

Claire & Julius “

Posted: 15th October 2020 by elihonu Leave a Comment

Activist deemed “guilty” by court for participation in a sit-in protest.

Yesterday a decision was announced in the case of the state vs. Kári Orrason, who took part in a sit-in protest at the ministry of justice during their regular opening time.

Kári was found guilty and as a result he has to pay the entire legal cost for the case – a total of 603.560ISK

Arngrímur Ísberg, the presiding judge did not take into account in his judgement any of Kári’s lawyers’ arguments which were first and foremost built on the right to express political views in public spaces in the form of protest. Kári’s testimony as well as the testimony of one of his witnesses were dismissed by the judge. Meanwhile the words of the police officers who arrested Kári, who had used force and intimidation tactics on protesters for months prior to the sit down protest in question were taken at their word and their testimonies were, according to the judge, proof enough of Kári’s “guilt” in the case.

Arngrímur Ísberg judged Kári as “guilty” of disobeying police’s orders of “leaving the open lobby of the ministry of justice”. He did this without taking a stance on werther the police’s orders were what the Icelandic legal system would call righteous or even necessary. There was no judgement on the way that the police officers in the case had “upheld law and order in a public space” as can be seen in the text image that we’ve attached to this post.

For those who believe in the polices’ overall right to arrest people and to use their force in other ways, we could tell you that our “justice system” considers the police to not need concrete reasons for the orders they give people. Everyone should obey every order of the police – no matter what the order is or why – without hesitation, or they will be arrested. Judges stand with the police through everything, and as a result they have been able to order people around and arrest them for taking part in protests, or for standing in a spot that the police decides they don’t want you to stand in, or for asking them questions they don’t feel like answering.

Kári is not the first or the last person that the state will try to tire out with these drawn out and tiresome runarounds. Looking back at court cases of protesters over the last decades it is clear to see that this is how the legal system punishes those that take part in any opposition to the state and the ruling classes. There are still four people awaiting judgement in the same case as Kári, and at the same time another case in a higher court is proceeding against two other activists which is also in relation to the fight against borders and deportation.

Those of us that see the legal system for what it is – a regressive, oppressive and violent tool of the state – are so tired of the masquerade theatre that these court cases are. This case is only a small part of the oppression and violence the state employs against those that will not silently obey every order. The fight goes on and we will not let annoyed cops, offended ministry staff, megalomaniac judges or bitter prosecutors knock us off course!

We see and we know that everything they hold up as ‘holy’ is in reality nothing but the do’s and don’ts of idolatry, and so can be discarded as such.

That’s why we keep laughing, dancing and fuelling the anger and joy that drives all creative and provocative thoughts and actions, even if it means us sometimes having to fight and suffer for it.

DOWN WITH THE NATION STATE, BORDERS, POLICE, COURTS, PRISONS AND ALL THE STATE INSTITUTIONS WHOSE GOALS ARE TO BREAK OUR SOLIDARITY AND CHOKE OUT OUR WILL TO KEEP FIGHTING.

Last Updated: 19th October 2020 by andrymi Leave a Comment

Main hearing in court case against person arrested for a sit-in protest last year

Today a court hearing is taking place against an activist who participated in a sit-in in the ministry of justice last year, more precisely on april 4th 2019.
5 people were arrested that day in total, who all face charges of disobeying police orders.

When the protest took place, the ministry of justice was open for public and the protesters did not go further than into the open entrance of the building. The demand they had to the minister was very simple and fits well into the rigged framework of representative democracy: a meeting with the minister of justice.
A few people who were then seeking international protection in Iceland wanted to meet the minister of justice to discuss how the Icelandic state is treating people who seek international protection. The group had been trying to reach the ears of the minister for months, and it was clear by this time that the minister did not mean to meet them, but was going to continually ignore their pleads.

Before the sit-in, multiple things had been tried: letterwriting, e-mails, a meeting request made and sent in co-operation with the Red Cross, solidarity meetings in Austurvöllur and petition had been handed in, just to name a few things. The sit-in was a peaceful last resort.

One thing that marked this day was the xenophobic behaviour of police, which the protesters were sadly all too familiar with. When asked to speak in english so everyone could understand what they were asking, the police officer Arnar Rúnar Marteinsson, who is quoted in the screenshot below, answered that “in Iceland we speak Icelandic”. When one of the arrested asked that the polcie speak english to him in his cell, the police officer asked why he was in Iceland if he couldn’t speak Icelandic, and left. In the car on the way to the police station an officer told three of the arrested that he would not hesitate to shoot them in the head if he would get the order to do so.

Systematic violence against migrants stretches its batons to other people who stand against this violence. It is a different kind of oppression which is still rooted in the same despise of migrants. It is clear that the main purpose of these charges is to scare people from protesting, from taking a stand against border regimes, racism, xenophobia and deportations.

While homes of migrants burn to the ground, while business owners steal from workers repeatedly and corporations like Samherji and Eimskip continue to follow the lines of post-colonialism with exploitation and lies, the juridical system is busy with harassing migrant workers and charging activists for being impolite and not doing as they are told to, even when they are merely sitting or standing in a public place.

It is good to reflect on what it means for a society when people can not protest without risking arrest and charges for disobeying police, without the police having to have any tenable reasons for the orders given.

For those of you who want to support us in this fight, our biggest stress factor right now is the fines we will have to pay if the court decides to limit the freedom of political expression in this severe manner. Here is our bank account info:

Account number: 0133-26-020574
kennitala: 510219-1550

If we win the case, and charges will be dismissed, all the money will go into legal funds for people seeking international protection here or other kinds of support.

Last Updated: 3rd September 2020 by andrymi Leave a Comment

Anarchy Radio – Week 36

Pandemic realities (e.g. domestication, density). Civilization 101.

“Sapient paradox” – why so very recent appearance of symbolic culture? Industrial disaster of the week.

Mind-machine obscenities. Poverty of art today.

Coastal cities of the world subsiding.

Action briefs.

Listen here:

Or download here.

Last Updated: 26th August 2020 by andrymi Leave a Comment

August 2020 episode from anarchist radio “Bad News”

Episode 37 (08/2020)

*Text copied from https://www.a-radio-network.org/*

Welcome to the 37th edition of Bad News. This is your Angry Voices From Around The World for August, 2020.

In this episode you will hear contributions from:

1. A call for the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners (23.-30.8.2020)
2. Radio Fragmata (Athens):
* Updates from so-called Greece
3. Anarchist Assembly Valparaíso (Chile)
* Statement on the current imprisonment of two comrades
4. FrequenzA
* An interview about the Coordinating (prisoner support) group 18th of October in Chile.
5. A-Radio Berlin (Germany)
* A summary of the ongoing Mapuche hungerstrike in Chile

(Length: 35:40 min)

Last Updated: 21st August 2020 by andrymi Leave a Comment

Anarchist Studies Conference: Open and Online

The Anarchist Studies Network is a network for people working anarchism in its many forms. Its aim is to encourage the study of anarchism within academia and to create links between academia and those engaged in activism. Every 2 years the ASN organizes a conference which is usually located in the UK.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Anarchy in Crisis” – is the anarchist movement in crisis and how do anarchists respond to the global crises (climate, finance, pandemics, etc)?

Due to the covid-19 pandemic the conference will not take place physically this year but has been moved online. This means many more people can participate!

The conference takes place Wednesday September 2^nd through to Friday September 4^th on the virtual conference platform Hopin. You can see the program and register here.

Registration fee is 1£. You can participate in some or all of the panels as you like. Please note that the times in the programme are in British Standard Time.