The history of the Anarchist Black Cross begins in Russia
in the period of 1900 to 1905,
to support the comrades that were being persecuted and jailed
in the context of the struggle against the Czar.
Here in Mexico, the first one was established in the mid 90’s.
The way in which we decide which comrades to support
mainly it has to do with affinity.
If there’s an anarchist comrade who is jailed,
regardless if they are “guilty” or “innocent”,
if they did it or not,
for us that’s not relevant.
What’s important is that it’s an anarchist comrade
who is in prison.
One of them is Fernando Barcenas,
a youth who has been imprisoned for three years,
accused of having burned a Coca Cola Christmas tree.
The work that we do with jailed comrades
includes keeping up with how they are doing inside,
physically and emotionally.
Visiting them to establish a relationship based in solidarity.
This is done with the intent of stopping the destruction of personality
that prison tends to achieve.
We try to maintain a channel of communication
through letter writing.
Some of the actions that have been done from inside prison,
and that we have supported,
have been for example, hunger strikes.
For example, a coordinated hunger strike
from different prisons
by four anarchist comrades
who were in separate jails.
The objective of the hunger strike was to denounce
the existence of prison themselves,
and the social function of prisons
as part of the disciplinary regime
of society in general.
We also try to support small organizing projects
that deal more with everyday life inside prison.
There was one collective that was focused on this,
facilitating music workshops, creative writing workshops
and also workshops on health care,
on music, and some other things
that have had results.
There’s a newspaper of chronicles.
They even recorded a punk album.
We are the “La Fuga” (jailbreak) coordinating committee.
We have been around since 2015
and we began as a coordinating collective
between small groups and individuals
that have an anti-prison and anti-systemic perspective.
Mainly we organize awareness-building actions
- especially street actions like marches, and assemblies
in different places.
Days of awareness.
This can be in city squares, universities, or in high schools.
The days of actions are mainly in the streets and in public places.
We also mobilize against state terror.
This has to do with principle of international solidarity,
and we have protested at different embassies
to bring awareness to prisoners,
but also state terrorism and repression.
We have a horizontal structure,
flexible, and by affinity.
Our operation is dynamic.
There are no pre-determined functions,
instead it has to do with the initiative of each individual
and what each wants to bring to the table for a specific action.
We just facilitate the coordination of desires
more than a set structure.
If one wants to confront the state,
the immediate response from the state is going to be repression,
and the basic ethic of any movement has to contemplate that.
Has to contemplate the necessity to support
and include the comrades that are being persecuted.
For us the strategy is always strong coordination,
to stay away from sectarianism,
and to be capable of establishing,
between different small groups and individuals,
the creation of potent and permanent organizations.
We think that one of the best ways
to create solidarity with jailed comrades
is to not forget that they are there for fighting.
Not to forget that they are there because
they decided to face the system,
and that it’s necessary to continue the struggle
and continue fighting against the system.