[fse-esf] Action alert 17.4: No to 91 years in prison

[Tord Bj ö rk]

ACTION ALERT, please sign this appeal:


No to 91 years in prison for defending peace demonstration

We denounce 7 years in prison each for 13 trade union and other anti-war
activists for participating in a peace demonstration in Italy. The trade
unionists and anti-war activists received their sentence in a trial in
January 2008 for a demonstration that resisted when the police
intervened against a sit-in. The manifestation was in protest against
The NATO bombings in former Yugoslavia and took place at the US consulate in
Florence in May 1999. We regard the sentences as a threat against all
popular movements in all of Europe and the world that protect peace
and the right to demonstrate. The trade unionists and other anti-war
activists who organised  the peace demonstration in May 1999 also were among
the organisers of the peace demonstration with 1 million participants at the
first European Social  Forum in Florence in 2002. At this European
Social Forum an initiative was taken to organise world-wide demonstrations
against the Iraq war in March 2003 which gathered many millions at almost
one thousand places all over the world. 91 years in prison in total for the
convicted trade union and anti war activists who have organised peace
demonstrations in Florence is an attack on all friends of peace and
democracy. We express our solidarity with those sentenced and protest
against the injustice.

Ellie Cijvat, chair,
Miljöförbundet Jordens Vänner ­ Friends of the Earth Sweden

Other signitures:........


Signitures with contact information can be sent to: antirepression at mjv.se

You can also send to: cobas at cobas.it

The collection of signitures is asked for by the trade union Cobas in
Tuscany in Italy. The signitures will be handed over at an appropriate
occasion when a higher court hopefully deals with the case. If possible this
can takes place at a common date announced later to Italian embassies and
consulates in different countries.


Background

Why this undersign campaign starts 17th of April

In Eldorado do Carajas in Amazonia 19 rural workers were killed by police
17th of April 12 years ago when they organised a sit-in on a road and
occupied it to demand a land refom. To commemorate this massacre Via
Campesina have declared it an international Day of Peasant¹s Struggles.
Friends of the Earth Sweden have initiated a campaign to mobilise for the
European Social forum and beyond which started with an action against the
forest corporation Stora Enso together with Via Campesina Sweden, FIAN
Sweden, MST support group and the Latin American solidarity organisation
UBV. A letter protesting against the Stora Enso mono culture plantation for
paper mill industry in Brazil was today handed over to Stora Enso offices in
Falun and Stockholm and to the government. The Stora Enso plantation was
occupied by 900 landless workers who were attacked by the police on the 4th
of March. 800 women were arrested and 50 wounded. The Swedish organisations
demands the withdrawal of Stora Enso from the land which the landless
workers had occupied.

The international action day on the 17th of April also gives a reason to pay
attention to the repression of popular movement cooperation. This repression
in Europe is growing. It is also now directed against those trade union and
anti-war activists that organised the peace demonstration at the European
Social Forum in Florence and those that organised protests against the World
Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland. As the World Social Forum started as
a protest against the World Economic Forum and this inspired the first
European Social Forum in Florence 2002 the growing repression is directed at
the heart of the popular movement cooperation that have built the
international social forum process.

350 arrested during WEF protests in Switzerland

In Bern, Zürich and Basel were in total ca. 350 people arrested during the
protests against the meeting in Davos in January this year. The repression
has been growing in Swtitzerland by means of preventiove arrests before
demonstrations. By mass police actions everyone that happens to be close to
a planned demonstration are arrested, whether journalists, tourists or
minors. To protest against this political action a demonstration was
organised on the 1st of March in Basel. It was organised by Attac
Switzerland, a liberation theology solidarity group and left-wing
organisations. 

91 years in prison for defending a peace demonstration

Utterly extreme is the sentences against 13 trade union and other anti-war
activists in Florence. Each one was sentenced 7 years in prison. These
activists were among the organisers of the peace demonstration with 1
million participants at the European Social Forum in Florence 2002. The
sentence of guilty came in a trial also in January this year were the trade
union and anti-war activists were accused of participating in a sit-in
against the bombing of former Yugoslavia in May 1999. The police had
intervened wit thruncheons and tear gas and participants had resisted the
intervention. The left government in Italy was supporting the NATO bombings
and had forbidden protests at foreign legations. In a US state report on
terrorism from 2000 the demonstration in Florence was put under the heading
domestic terrorism. The report claimed that: ³A notable success for Italian
security was a raid against the instigators of the demonstration on 13 May
at the US Consulate in Florence protesting NATO airstrikes in Kosovo.² The
protests were rather directed against the bombings of Serbia. If the 91
years in prison for those ³instigating² the demonstration also is seen as a
notable success is not known.

The extreme sentences and branding of demonstrations as acts of terrorism
makes it important to pay attention to the growing repression of popular
movements. We propose that the 17th of April is used as a starting point for
a Nordic and if possible international signiture campaign against the
sentences in Florence to be handed over to Italian legations and the trade
union Cobas. 



Links (unfortunatly only in Italian)

Cobas statement: http://cobasreto.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/298

Regional newspaper La Nazione:
http://lanazione.quotidiano.net/firenze/2008/01/28/61774-scontri_consolato_c
ondanne.shtml

Video:
http://tv.jubii.co.uk/video/iLyROoaftPqI.html

For more information on the protest letter (unfortunatly only in Swedish) to
the Swedish-Finnish Stora Enso corporation and the government, www.mjv.se
 
17th of April: International Day of Peasant's Struggle
Farmers mobilise around the world and propose solutions to the food price
crisis - More information on www.viacampesina.org