CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL PRISONS SYMPOSIUM - Convocatora para un Simposium Internacional sobre los presos políticos y de guerra.

POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE NOT ALONE, LET'S FIGHT FOR THEIR FREEDOM
FREEDOM FOR THE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS AND WAR PRISONERS

The society was divided into oppressors and oppressed with the emergence of
private property. As the oppressor class; slave owners and feudal lords used
constant force on the oppressed class in order to protect their class
domination of the bourgeoisie in the capitalist system.

By owning the production and capital equipments of the country, the
bourgeoisie shaped the law and justice for their own benefit with the state
apparatus they established and obtained an ideological integrity. In the
bourgeois system, liberty and law develops entirely for the monopoly
bourgeoisie, as the ruling class.

Depending on the development of the class struggle and especially within the
development and rise of capitalism, the number of prisons increased even
more and becoming widespread. The bourgeoisie wanted to end the developing
and rising struggle for the rights of the emerging working class and
oppressed class by using their prisons to crush and end this struggle next
to all other hard methods they implement.

The bourgeoisie tried to keep away all the revolutionists from class
struggle, whom they couldn't massacre, by capturing, keeping them in prisons
for years and isolating them from society.  The bourgeoisie has been trying
to create a special kind of fear within the community by using prisons as a
means of intimidation. They quite clearly declared that, are you moving
against our system and implementations, here's what you'll see!  Especially
after the 90's the imperialists and their collaborators have conducted and
intensified their attacks seemingly from one single center on all forms of
struggle that communists, revolutionaries, consistent democrats would see
valid in the struggle for rights.  Although they are the actual terrorists,
declaring revolutionaries and communists to be terrorists has been a used as
a weapon of war.  This by calling those who fight against imperialist
plunder and attacks and struggle for the rights of the oppressed and their
representatives to be terrorists. They are the ones, who established special
torture centers, used airplanes for torture, even bombed wedding processions
and villages, killing hundreds of thousand people. They are the ones, who
oppress all the rights of workers and their representatives' strong call for
these rights and they are the ones applying violence systematically. Around
the world, it is the imperialists and their collaborators, who apply
isolation-torture and violence in prisons.

The prisons issue is not just a problem that is confined to the borders of a
country.  There is a dual aspect to prisons in the world today. One aspect
of this is about country's boundaries, and the other aspect relates to the
international dimension.

With the occupation of Iraq by U.S. imperialism the Abu Ghraib prison has
remained on the world's agenda for a long time and still is remembered.
Along with the occupation of Iraq the U.S. has constructed the Abu Ghraib
prison within Iraq in order to assimilate and intimidate the anti-occupation
insurgents in Iraq. The tortures within this prison have occupied the public
agenda for a long time. The tested methods of torture in this prison have
been exported literally to many countries.

Similarly with Guantanamo prison which became known as a special prison with
the occupation of Afghanistan by the U.S was till recently used as a torture
center. With photos of captured Taliban and Al Qaeda members dressed in
special clothes with their hands tied in the back in solitary confinement,
the US wanted to intimidate the whole world. The United States was not
content with just that, everybody knows how many people were kidnapped and
brought to US to be judged. Such international applications are not limited
just to the U.S.

Imperialist nations judge and arrest all the revolutionaries and patriots at
every opportunity by cooperating internationally. France is very cruel to
ETA militants. Any ETA member or sympathizer spotted on French territory is
arrested without hesitation and there are currently many of them sentenced
to hundreds of years in prison. Subjected to complete isolation, resistance
of ETA militants is isolated by the French public opinion. This application
was made legal by also applying this to Turkish revolutionaries and
revolutionaries of other countries and patriots from other nations.

The same application is also available in Germany. In Germany where
especially revolutionaries from Turkey and dozens of revolutionaries of the
Kurdish national movement have been tried and are being punished with the
specifically designed anti-terror 129B law is to intimidate and assimilate
revolutionaries.

Opponents of the bourgeoisie or criminal offenders in the community in one
place as a means of punishment was first implemented in 1596 in Amsterdam.
This practice is referred to as"Flemish model". The practice of isolation in
prisons has continuously developed till today. Prisons are a part of the
class struggle nowadays. The revolutionaries and patriots don't only fight
the enemy on the outside. Revolutionaries in prisons are resisting against
their class enemies. Bourgeoisie not only isolated the revolutionaries and
patriots from society, it also applied a special program in order to
alienate them to their own values. Revolutionaries, as it is resisting the
consciousness of the bourgeoisie to preempt sanctions continue to pay the
price.

The imperialists and their local lackeys' practices in the prisons after the
second imperialist wars gave further impetus. The reason for this was the
victory of the Red Army against fascism and the tremendous impact it created
on the continents of and the establishment of a series of democratic
republics deeply frightened the imperialists and their local lackeys.

Both the U.S. imperialism and western imperialists themselves in order to
halt the largest threat to them, socialism, have increased their attacks on
the national and social liberation struggles in the world, both locally as
internationally. Besides the massacres they have committed they also have
performed a series of experiments on revolutionaries and patriots in
prisons. Within these experiments "isolation" is considered to be the most
effective treatment plan and is till now the most commonly used method in
the world.

This system was developed by Dr. Edgar Schein who performed tests on Korean
prisoners in Korean prisons during the US imperialisms war in Korea in 1950.
The core of this practice was to isolate political prisoners from each other
and society, to weaken the resistance, force obedience, distort
personalities and eventually aims surrender as a part of a comprehensive
project.

 This program has been developed further by Germany and the UK and the first
implementation has been in these countries. Isolation and retention in a
single cell in was first applied intensively on the RAF militants in Germany
in 1970's. In England, at the beginning of the 80's, it was applied to IRA
militants very rigidly, the resistance of Bobby Sands and nine comrades lost
their lives during the hunger strike against the uniform imposition.

Looking at recent history of the attacks against political prisoners in the
world and the number of revolutionaries who lost their lives in these
attacks, the severity of the problem can be observed more clearly.

Some of these are;

In a Mexican prison in 1992 111 prisoners were killed in a massacre which
was organized by military and policed. Also on 18 February 2001 in Caradiru
prison the resistance that demanded the return of 10 exiles prisoners at
least 16 prisoners were massacred.

The complete and high-security prison against the Red Brigades in Italy
aimed the complete isolation from society. The resistance in the Trani
prison on 28-29th December 1980 has caused huge repercussions.  This
resistance began with 18 guards being taken hostage, after this resistance,
the isolation practices have been severely reversed.

One of the countries where the isolation practices have been implemented in
the world is the Peruvian prisons. A delegation sent by the Peruvian
government to Germany in 1987 examined the prison system where the RAF
militants were held in isolation and imported this to Peru. Political
prisoners resisted this system in early 90's and 450 of there were massacred
in a single operation.   Germany is well ahead in teachings on solitary
confinement is also ahead in murders. When they were unable to subdue the
RAF militants they were placed in solitary confinement in the most secure
prison and killed. Afterwards claiming they had committed suicide. That
reckless and hypocritical...

Prisons in Turkey have never disappeared from the agenda of society. In the
1970s, parallel to the developing of the revolutionary struggle and struggle
in general an increase in the number of political prisoners was observed.
The problem of prison in the 1970s was not such a torrid as it is today.
With the start of the fascist military junta in 1980, prisons have been on
the society's agenda ever since.

With the September 12th military fascist junta the prisons became a serious
agenda point for the states. During this period a major attack was launched
on the prisons with the most typical implementation to intimidate,
dehumanize and to break the prisoners. The E -Type and Special Type prisons,
became operational especially in this era. E- Type prisons are the type
where 18 to 22 people can stay in the same larger cell.  In Special Type
prisons 4-6 people stay in the same cell.  Metris, Mamak and Diyarbakir have
become notorious examples of these types of prisons. Tens of revolutionary
prisoners out of the thousands there have lost their lives in these prisons.
During the 1984 death fast in the Metris and Sagmalcilar prisons against the
solo type uniforms 4 revolutionaries lost their lives.  With the experience
gained from the 80's the bourgeoisie began to lay the stones for the cell
type prisons. The Eskisehir prison was the first one to be amended within
this process. In 1987-1988 the architectural Construction of the Eskisehir
prison was converted to a single cell type prisons. Even when this prison
was emptied after the resistance of the revolutionary prisoners, in 1991 it,
being called coffin type, was again reopened.  The foundation of the
isolation practices were laid in 1991 when a specially issued Anti-Terrorism
Act was passed. In the death fast and indefinite hunger strike that lasted
69 days, which was launched in 1996 against the cell type prisons 10
revolutionaries lost their lives. The fascist Turkish state prepared for the
cell type prisons with a more rigorous attack. The preparation of the
cell-type prisons commenced in 2000, 122 people inside and outside have lost
their lives either in the death fast or from supporters outside the prisons.

Since 1980 at least 300 revolutionary prisoners have died as a result of
death fasts, torture and disease in Turkish prisons. Some of the main and
most brutal attacks on prisons by the fascist Turkish state are;

In the attack on Buca prison on September 19th, 1995 three revolutionary
prisoners were slaughtered while 40 prisoners were injured.


January 4, 1996 in Ümraniye prison four revolutionary prisoners lost their
lives in the attack, while dozens of prisoners were severely injured in
various places of their bodies.

September 24th 1996 in the attack on the Diyarbakir prison, 10 patriot
prisoners were massacred.

 September 26th, 1996 in Ankara Ulucanlar prison, 10 revolutionary prisoners
were murdered during the attack on the prison, while dozens of prisoners
were injured in various parts of their bodies.


On 19th December 2000 in Turkey, the fascist dictatorship attacked the
revolutionaries while the death fast was ongoing slaughtering 28
revolutionaries while hundreds of revolutionaries were severely injured.

One of the countries that experienced a similar attack was India. Most of
the laws in India are based on English law that was applied during the
colonial period. The number of political prisoners in India today is over a
hundred thousand. The prisons in India where prisoners from all layers of
society are being held are also cell-type prisons.  As class struggle in
India evolves attacks of the Indian state increases. In the past, some laws
would be valid for only some states only, from 2001-2002 onwards they are
applied on entire India. West Bengal, etc. all have their own terror laws.
It has a counter- terrorism center and a central intelligence organization.
Besides the Dalits who struggle against forced migration there are people
from other tribes in the Indian prisons.  Also there are political prisoners
from revolutionary organizations and Maoist prisoners in prisons.  Likewise
in North Bengal region, there are prisoners who are fighting for a better
life. In India under the name of counter-terrorism young people are
criminalized. The Manipur movement is one of the concrete examples of this
liberation movement. There are thousands of Kashmiri detainees in Kashmir
who have been arrested. Other than this there hundreds of regions which have
their own native tongue such as Jharkhand and   Chhattisgarh, in these
regions the prisoners are struggling to use their own language in prisons.
Maoist prisoner are subjected to specific application. In Manipur there are
prisons built specially. When the Maoist prisoners organize themselves in
another prison, they are sent to the prison in Manipuri in order to be
subjected to solitary confinement

The sanctions imposed on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are not
different from the others. Since 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestine,
Israel, the Palestinian resistance more than 60 thousand were arrested and
imprisoned. At the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, the number of
Palestinians detained is 1500. The number of Palestinians who were arrested
in 2005 is 8,500.  From 1995 onwards the state of Israel has placed
Palestinian prisoners in prisons on Israeli territory. The number of
Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons never dropped below 100.
And all of these children were judged in normal courts and given various
penalties. One of the main attacks that the Palestinian women prisoners in
Israeli prisons are exposed to is rape. In addition to physical torture in
Israeli prisons an intense psychological pressure is also being applied.
Solitary confinement is also implemented on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
prisons. Each of Palestinian prisoners is confined solitary to prevent them
seeing each other. Defense rights are restricted and prisoners are sometimes
placed in solitary confinement for 60 days as punishment and are not allowed
any contact with anyone during this time.

The U.S being one of the architects of torture and isolation practices have
increase the isolation further on the prisoners in the U.S after the
September 11th attack. At least eight thousand people are detained in
specially built secret prisons in the U.S who were captured in various parts
of the world for being involved in anti-US resistances.   Apart from this,
prisoners in the United States are in hundreds of categories. Inside the
U.S. there are prisoners from national liberation and anti-racist movements,
for example, the indigenous African / black, Puerto Rican Xicano liberation
movement and the North American anti-imperialist movements. Additionally in
people from various parts of the world such as Colombia, Palestine, Egypt
and Ireland are imprisoned in the U.S. There are prisoners from radical
environmentalist and animal rights movements.

Some of the methods to control and eliminate resistance by arrests and
imprisonment that the US imperialism resorts to are;

1. Local and international military bases and fortifications are used as a
detention center and prison.

2. Set up and use local and international secret prisons and detention
centers.
3. To incarcerate and torture resisters using dependent states
4. To set up and operate private security prisons and detention centers.
5.  Attempting to impose Criminal laws of the United States to other
countries.

The political prisoners in Mexican prisons are facing the same treatment as
any other political prisoners in other countries. Similar treatments are
practiced in Mexican prisons aiming to have political prisoners surrender
and subdue. There are hundreds of political prisoners in Mexico. There are
two types of prisons in Mexico. First, regional prisons where many prisoners
are in the same cell, and secondly, the Cefferas Maximum Security Prisons
affiliated to the Federal Secretariat of Public Security. Many political
prisoners are being held in this prison. The Mexican government has never
accepted the existence of political prisoners. Political prisoners are
judged on drug charges in Mexico. Political prisoners are spending 23.30
hours within the cells. They are only allowed to a 30 minutes airing time,
but due to the surrounding high walls it is not possible to have any
sunlight at all.  The prisoners are searched thoroughly before airing time,
they are being stripped naked, Removed from prisoners passed through the
ventilation custom search, being stripped naked, their honor violated
through rectal searches. The prisoners who resist this are subjected to
torture. The right of defense is limited and their consultations with their
lawyers are prevented as a means of punishment. Books are not been given
such as deprivation of any other social activity.

All these applications and sanction have only one single target:  While the
ruling classes have not been able to assimilate and break the mass upheavals
and resistances they are attempting to implement these inhumane treatments
and applications on the revolutionaries, communists and patriots in order to
have them surrender. In order to achieve this millions of dollars are being
spent for building new high-security prisons.

Wherever in the world, the main purpose and aim of keeping political
prisoners isolated from the society in cell-type prisons or in private
security prisons is to deprive the prisoners from their basic human rights,
to extort their earned rights, to push the prisoners into loneliness by
distributing the organization of prisoners, to take the solidarity of the
prisoners away, to cut their life veins by ending their social, cultural and
sporting activities, and make them betray their cause by convicting them to
isolation and making them live them alone  with torture, isolation.

In all countries where there are political prisoners, the bourgeois media is
an accomplice... The bourgeois media attempted to portray prisons as a
pleasant place have always hidden the atrocious truth of torture and
ill-treatment from society.  The U.S bourgeois media has always remained
silent. The prisons in Turkey record the most human rights violation while
the bourgeois media and television constantly manipulate these facts. When
the resistances in the prisons end in deaths or injuries even the slightest
news is not reported.  We clearly observe the same form and method in
Mexico, in India, Brazil and other countries.

History has witnessed the resistances of the revolutionary and patriotic
prisoners against torture, repression and violation of rights in prisons.
Political prisoners have upheld a continuous line of resistance against all
kinds of pressure, repression and massacre by the imperialist bourgeoisie
and their henchmen. From time to time these resistances have led to
victories in regaining their rights, and have upheld revolutionary dignity.
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, Iraqi insurgents in Abu Ghraib
prison, and political prisoners in India, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, USA and
Turkey have put up determined resistances and have become examples.  The
U.S. imperialists, is the supervisor and practitioner of torture
particularly in Latin America and the Far East, Middle East.  Special
enforcements were applied to those who were released from Abu Ghraib to
ensure conditions that they couldn't speak anymore.

Economic crisis of the imperialist system continues to grow. The crisis
brought about large numbers of unemployment and poverty. In 2008, the world
economic crisis that began in the United States continues to circulate. Now
the crisis is concentrated in Europe. Without exception, the economic crisis
affected all countries, Greece, Italy, Spain, etc. Also in many countries
besides the economical crisis it turned into an inability to lead and
manage. European imperialists have attempted to rescue countries such as
Greece with Financial aid programs as a temporary fix however currently even
this temporary fixed has become ineffective. In a world where unemployment
and poverty are increasing uncontrollably the imperialist system and the
bourgeoisie in the countries under their influence are putting the burden of
the crisis on the shoulders of the working class and toilers.  Workers and
the oppressed peoples are objecting to this "we have not caused this crisis
and we will not carry the burden of it".  They are increasing the
resistance, raising their voices through general strikes, taking to the
streets where they clash with the police.

Developing social resistance against the imperialist bourgeoisie and the
servants are taking increasingly drastic measures. By new anti-terror laws
and special laws toughening the state repression and thus intimidating
society even more. Places of detention where it will grow and grow further
in the coming years are inevitable. Prisons problem will become more and
more a social problem. The sun will not be darkened, the imperialists and
their collaborators are afraid of the lives, beliefs of revolutionaries and
communists. Democracy, human rights nonsense expressed to the extent that is
an admission of hypocrisy and fraud.

So far, the investigation and with the emerging research results also showed
that, political prisoners and prisoners called ordinary prisoners faced
problems from time to time that are seen are as such;

1 Cell types prisons are becoming more common around the world

2 Prisoners are left alone in the cell type prisons.

3 Torture becoming structural

4 Collective living of revolutionaries is abolished

5 Putting an end to the common living area

6 Cultural, social and sporting activities are eliminated.

7 By isolating prisoners from each other, it is aimed to wipe out human
feeling, impersonalize them and eventually to have them surrender

8 Limitations in family visits and periodically prohibiting these visits aim
to isolate socially.

9 By restricting the rights of defense, Lawyer bans prevented from obtaining

The indictment and other documents

10 Books, journals, newspapers, reading, listening and watching bans on
television and radio, news-making and self-development is prevented.
11 Usurped the rights of the defense in the native tongue

These and similar programs implemented and the destructive results caused by
these have been documented through letters of prisoners several other
researches.

1. Emotional distress and fear of contacts:

2. Anorexia

3. Intolerableness state

4. Impairment of alertness and sensitivity

5. Alienation to the truth

6. Orientation and skills atrophy

7. Loss of orientation

8. Hallucination

9. To be under constant tension

10. Decline of thinking ability

11. Amnesia

12. Speech difficulties

13. Perceptual distortions and misperceptions

14. Deterioration of the balance organs

15. Discomfort from light, the feeling of being enclosed by everything.

16. Sensitivity to excessive noise

17. Driven to suicide

18. Weight loss

19. Visual impairment

Besides these there are numerous diseases that are occurring due to the
prison conditions.  Some of these are tuberculosis, hepatitis, kidney
disease, stomach bleeding, heart failure, low back and neck pain due to
torture, severe headache, sinusitis, arthritis, rheumatic diseases.



In the light of these facts, we , the undersigned organizations 25-26-27
April 2014  call on all democratic institutions, human rights defenders to
participate in the international prisons symposium in Turkey / Istanbul to
support the political prisoners , to expose the implemented  applications,
to fight for the rights of  political prisoners,  against impunity of those
who torture and ill- treat prisoners, for the U.S secret prisons to be
exposed, for the political status of revolutionary prisoners to be adopted
all over the world, for the elimination of cell type prisons, for the
elimination of the violations of rights in the defense , for the recognition
of defense in the native tongue


Participants

Confederation of  Workers from Turkey in Europe (ATiK), International
Solidarity Committee with The Political Prisoners (UPOTUDAK) Federation of
Workers from Turkey in Germany (ATiF) Federation of Workers and Youth in
Austria (ATIGF) Federation of Workers from Turkey in The Netherlands (HTIF)
Federation of Workers from Turkey in Switzerland(ITIF) Confederation of
Workers from Turkey in Europe- New Democratic Youth, (ATiK-YDG)
Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe- New Women AtiK- YK)
Confederation Of Democratic Rights in Europe (ADHK), Federation Of
Democratic Rights (in Germany), (ADHF) Federation Of Democratic Rights  in
Switzerland (IDHF)  Federation Of Democratic Rights  in France (FDHF)
Hundred Flowers Cultural Centre (LONDON) (YÇKM) Federation Of Democratic
Rights in Austria (ADHF) Democratic Women Movement In Europe (ADKH)
Democratic Youth Movement in Europe (ADGH), ALINTERI-Europe, Revolutionary
Proletariat (Devrimci Proleterya) A World to Live (Yasanacak Dünya),
Solidarity Committee with the Free Political Prisoners (AÖTDK),
Confederation of Oppressed Refugee in Europe (Aveg-KOM) Federation of
Refuges in Germany,(AGIF) Refugee Workers Association in Paris (ACTIT)
Refugee Workers Association in Switzerland (IGIF) The Collective of the
Oppressed Refugee in Belgium (BEGK) Commissione Soccorso Rosso Proletario
/PCm Italy