Final resolutions of the Florence Symposium Dec 19-22
FINAL RESOLUTION -1-
WE ARE AGAINST ISOLATION
From 19-22 December 2003 an international symposium against isolation was organised by the International Platform against Isolation in Florence, Italy, which was attended by around 120 intellectuals and delegates of institutions and organisations from Italy, Turkey, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Ireland, Germany, Lebanon, Palestine, West Sahara, Syria, Austria, Iran, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain and Greece.
As delegates of the symposium which was held due to the International Days of Struggle against Isolation from 19-22 December, we took following decisions:
-WE OPPOSE ISOLATION FROM THE HUMANITARIAN POINT OF VIEW, because it aims to keep human beings away from the societal and emotional production, leaving them on their own and destroying their material and mental values, and because it opens irreversible wounds and great pain.
- The isolation practice in the prisons, which are used by the system as a means of punishment, is a higher form of arbitrary punishment. Today the use of isolation is actually practised against the prisoners for political reasons. WE OPPOSE ISOLATION FROM THE JURIDICAL POINT OF VIEW, because it is an example of total juridical arbitrariness and illegality, and has nothing to do with the contemporary comprehension.
- The isolation practice is a kind of psychological and physical torture. This kind of torture is an irreversible threat for the health of human beings. That´s why WE OPPOSE ISOLATION FROM THE MEDICAL POINT OF VIEW.
- Isolation is ignoring thoughts, organisation and actions and it prepares the ground for the violation of fundamental, democratic rights like thinking and organising. WE OPPOSE ISOLATION FROM THE POLITICAL POINT OF VIEW, because it is an expression of the attempt to isolate and disable the political opposition and thoughts against the system.
Shortly, we are against isolation for human, juridical, medical and political reasons and we´re going to continue our struggle against isolation together. We support all democratic and legitimate struggles with the aim to break isolation. We call everybody, who defends human and juridical values, to sign this declaration.
21 December 2003-12-27
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FINAL RESOLUTION -2-
WE CONDEMN THE POLITICS OF ISOLATION
The isolation politics is the strongest expression for the attack of imperialism against the people.
Against individuals they use isolation cells and high security prisons.
With black lists and bans political activities and the historical-sociological existence should be destroyed.
While on the one hand politics of surrounding, embargos, war and occupation against countries are continued, it is attempted to eliminate and silence the rights of defense and voices of the people.
CELL-PRISONS:
Prisons, who are constructed in Turkey, Spain, France, Germany, USA, Ireland, Israel, Guantanamo and elsewhere, are used as places to isolate prisoners from the world outside and to break their political identity. EU and USA try to expand the F-Types in
Turkey and Guantanamo to the whole world. By this way the struggle of those who are in their opposition should be destroyed.
BLACK LISTS:
While banning societal, social and people´s liberation movements, they try to annihilate the demands of the oppressed people for freedom and justice.
Especially with the wave of "terror" demagogy after the 11th September, it is aimed to take away the legitimacy from the struggles against oppression and exploitation.
These black lists aren´t new. The USA views all movements who are fighting for democratic rights and freedoms as a threat and continues its politics of annihilation against them for tens of years.
After the 11th of September the USA has imposed its own black lists to countries who are collaborating with them and the EU.
The list of "organisations that are to be destroyed", which was announced by CIA-president Tennet after September 11, is very open: Tennet declared that the DHKP-C has to be taken into the ´list of organisations to be destroyed´, because it has criticized the US-war against Afghanistan and opposed it, PFLP, Islami Cihad, Hamas and FARC, because they ascribed the reason for oppression and poverty in their countries to the USA and could endanger the interests of the USA in this regions. With other words: "I steal, loot, massacre, occupy, nobody has to rebel. Who still do so is my enemy and I´m going to destroy him."
It is also obvious what Spain aims with its bans against the ruling rights of the Basque people and countries like Germany and Britain with their Anti-Terror Laws: The elimination of elementary rights and freedoms, both in the Basque country and in the rest of Europe.
The black lists of the USA and the EU actually aim to remove the democratic rights. Already now the open, legitimate protests of the anti-globalisation movement are defamed as "terrorism".
The limitation of the democratic rights won´t have borders. The recent bans and black lists will be used in the forthcoming period to prevent that even the most simple democratic demands can come up.
The black lists and first of all the terror demagogy are used to isolate from society all democratic and legitimate demands that are seen as a threat for the interests of the EU and USA.
THE RULING RIGHTS OF COUNTRIES:
With enormous infamy it is attempted to legitimise the occupation of Palestine, the surrounding Arafat´s, the embargo which is used against Cuba for tens of years, the war and occupation against Afghanistan and Iraq and the threats of war against Syria, Iran and North Korea.
As main reason they use again the demagogy on "terrorism".
With demagogies on terror who are used as panacea, national governments are trampled under foot.
Parallel to the terror demagogies it is attempted to silence the voices of the people with large monopolist media. Countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Cuba for instance were disabled to inform the public opinion about the events in their countries. Although according to UN data, 1,5 millions of people died from lack of medicine as a result of the embargo against Iraq, the Iraq wasn´t able to make a statement about it on international platforms.
We, the participants of the symposium in Florence, which was held within the scope of activities on the 2nd anniversary of the International Days of Struggle agianst Isolation from 19-22 December:
Condemn the poltitics of ISOLATION AGAINST PRISONERS, BLACK LISTS AGAINST ORGANISATIONS and EMBARGOS, WAR AND OCCUPATION AGAINST COUNTRIES and call intellectuals, sensible people, institutions, organisations and countries all over the world to condemn this politics and for a common struggle.
December 21, 2003, Florence
INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM AGAINST ISOLATION
isolation@post.com
Rue Stevin 190, 1000 Brussels, Belgium