On September 4, 2009, five anarchists from Belgrade, Serbia, were arrested by Serbian police and charged with the crime of ‘international terrorism’. The five are activists in or associates of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative (ASI), the Serbian section of the International Workers’ Association (IWA).
The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (Melbourne) has released a statement in response:
Open letter to the Serbian Consulate, Australia
We demand the release by the Serbian government of Ratibor Trivunac, Tadej Kurepa, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Đokić and Nikola Mitrović, members of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative (ASI). We protest the unjust arrest and detainment of our comrades on trumped-up charges, which the ASI has vehemently denied.
This attack on the ASI, and by extension the International Workers Association (IWA), is an attack on organised labour everywhere. All dissenters should be concerned by the trend towards labelling all dissent “terrorism.” The latest escalation of oppression by the Serbian government comes after an ASI member was arrested for the trivial offence of burning an American flag. Clearly there is an attempt to target the ASI. This will not go unnoticed internationally.
Even today, in coordination with this action, comrades are also protesting at the Serbian [Embassy] in Britain.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (Melbourne).
The solidarity action in London is being organised by the Solidarity Federation, the British section of the IWA, and will take place at the Serbian Embassy (28 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8QB, near Hyde Park Corner & Knightsbridge tube stations) on Friday, September 11, from noon until 2pm.
There will also be a solidarity action at 11am tomorrow, on Friday September 11, at the Serbian Consulate in Sydney:
- CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
12 Trelawney Street
Woollahra
New South Wales
Sydney
AUSTRALIA
Aleksandar Besarabic, Consul General
PO Box 190
Edgecliff
NSW, 2027
Phone: +612 / 9362-46-37, 9362-30-03, 9362-46-38
Telex: 20-676
Fax: 9362-45-55
E-mail: [email protected]
Other solidarity actions are taking place around the world. For more information on the campaign to free the five, please see the website established by the Union of Syndicalists of Poland (ZSP). The ZSP in Warsaw has a blog in English here.
