6 September 2005
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
Tortured & Isolated : Stop the brutality !
On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America have issued the
following statement condemning the political dungeons which exist in
supposedly ’democratic’ states or nations under occupation by
supposedly ’democratic’ states.
Earlier, we called attention to the case of David Garaboa Bonillo, an
activist of the Communist Party of Spain (Reconstituted) who was
arrested on May 30th and subsequently tortured by Spanish authorities.
We would now like to call attention to the case of Marcos Martin
Ponce, a GRAPO activist who is currently imprisoned in France and
experiencing brutal treatment from the authorities there.
In his own words : "On the 8th Of August they (the Police) took me out
to the Palais (something similar to the National Audience Chamber in
France) for another extradition trail, I have now lost count of how
many I’ve been through already, anyhow both to and from it the
Gendarmes escort in charge of searches wanted me bend down naked.
"As I refused to comply, four of them got in to the small and dirty
cage (Police Cell) where they do the searches and while two of them
jumped on top of me to immobilize me, the other two started to kick me
on the legs and punch me in the stomach until I fell on the ground.
The then proceeded to further kick me in the ribs.
"It is this way as nobody knows (or nobody wants to know !) that behind
this facade that the ’Democratic France’ presents in front of public
option that these dungeons exist. A place were they can do anything
they want to us.
"The impunity that these people have is such that when you are to go
in front of the tribunal, and you object to what has happened to you
they then mockingly accuse you of obstruction and lying while they
look at each other, smiling sarcastically."
Behind the facade of bourgeois democracy lurks the true face of
capitalist and imperialist states, a face of naked brutality toward
anyone who opposes them and one smeared with the blood of the working
class. It’s a face not unfamiliar to Irish republican and republican
socialist activists who have been imprisoned for opposing British
imperialism. Nor is it unfamiliar to the Iraqis who have been
tortured and humiliated in places like Abu Ghraib by members of the
American and British occupation forces or the political prisoners in
Turkey fighting against torture and isolation with death fasts.
Marcos Martin Ponce : "Anybody who is conscious of what is happening
and fails to act within their possibilities, it is in some ways,
looking the other way and so facilitating the fascist oppressors. And
those who are not looking the other way should remind them so.
"Each one should look inside themselves and tell themselves, once
being conscious of what is happening, can carry on only preoccupying
themselves with themselves, and never taking part with the issues
involved, because if it is this way, all their so-called titles of
anti-fascist, of communist, of anarchist or of progressives should be
thrown to the rubbish bin."
We in the Irish Republican Socialist Movement utterly condemn the use
of torture and other means of repression against political activists
involved in working class struggle and/or fighting against foreign
occupation. We demand the immediate release of all political
prisoners. Stop the brutality ! End the torture ! Amnesty for all
political prisoners !
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Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America, PO Box 8266, Austin TX 78713-8266, USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsm.org/irsm.html