Now the solidarity must go on with the Turkish comrades
The court in Perugia, charged to review the remand in custody of the arrested anti-imperialists, ordered this morning to release Moreno Pasquinelli, Alessia Monteverdi and Maria Grazia Ardizzone. To the joy for their liberation and the happiness of having them back with us to continue together the struggle against imperialism, we have to add our political satisfaction for the victory of this important democratic battle. The struggle for freedom has now to go on for Avni Er and Zeynep Kilic, the two Turkish militants who were not released on bail and are still in prison.
The castle of accusations has miserably fell down and the attempt to criminalize anti-imperialism and the support to the resistance of the Iraqi people has suffered a strong blow.
The completely groundlessness of the charges has been clearly exposed: anti-imperialists are not terrorists.
This time, the inspirers of the campaign lead by Magdi Allam on the pages of the Corriere della Sera have been defeated. Probably, they will soon attack us again; in the meantime we scored an important point, achieving a result which is important for us, as well as for the whole movement opposing war, imperialist politics and the occupation of Iraq. The huge political solidarity the Anti-imperialist Camp experienced in these last weeks, both on the national and the international level, has certainly contributed to the achievement of this goal.
We knew we were fighting a difficult battle, in a context characterized by an obsessive campaign centered on the equation between resistance and terrorism. We also knew that the absolute juridical inconsistency of the charges was no good reason to have big hopes to get them released. So, having in view the coming decision of the Court in Perugia, we decided to gather all our efforts for this occasion.
In Perugia 8 comrades of various nationalities observed during the last week a hunger strike. Thursday and Friday two of them were also seized by illness. The national press, both left and right – with the only exception of the local papers -, did not report on the protest action. But the mobilization bore finally its fruits.
Now the struggle against repression has to continue to obtain the liberation of Avni and Zeynep.
Together with other forces we are preparing an international meeting “Against repression and black lists” which will take place in Florence on June 5, 2004. On that occasion we will reassert our support to the Iraqi resistance and one of its representatives in Europe will also attend the meeting. As Anti-imperialist Camp, we are well aware of the centrality of the Iraqi issue and the importance of supporting the resistance forces till the victory. Our initiatives will be aimed at giving a prompt response to the criminal occupation which is holding as hostages whole towns like Falluja and Najaf; in the context of the International Day in support of the Iraqi Resistance scheduled for September 25 with mobilizations all over the world, we will also organize a national demonstration. Finally: the Anti-imperialist Camp will take regularly place in Assisi on the first week of August.
Today´s victory, with the release of Moreno, Alessia and Maria Grazia has to be a spur and an encouragement for all anti-imperialists to continue and to intensify the political fight.
Freedom for the Turkish comrades!
Down with the “black lists” of imperialism!
With the Iraqi Resistance until victory!
April 24, 2004
Anti-imperialist Camp
