Solidarity with the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha

Solidarity with the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha

Yesterday, Thursday 29th October, the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul, under the command of Governor Yeda Crusius, broke into the premises of the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha. Police seized various materials such as posters, minutes of meetings, the hard disk of a computer and also the contents of refuse containers that were at the headquarters. They also tried to intimidate those who came to show their solidarity and names contained in the records of the organization's website. Two comrades were arrested and charged.

The comrades of the FAG have spent years fighting against exclusion and casualisation, defending justice and decent living conditions. They are well known for their work with the "catadores" (collectors of cardboard and recyclable refuse), with the homeless and with the landless. In short, work they have been carrying on for years with those at the bottom of society.

This is the reason why the police of the State of Rio Grande do Sul is repressing the comrades of the FAG, a State immersed in corruption scandals, which takes a repressive stance against collectives and organizations that freely exercise their freedom of speech in order to criticize various anti-people policies of the government. This is the government's response to social protest. And the FAG is not the first to be attacked - we must remember the murder of the landless peasant Elton Brum or the death of Marcelo Cavalcante last February.

We condemn these acts of repression in the strongest terms. We denounce the incongruity of Brazilian government policy, a policy of the right with left-wing words. A policy that is governed by the economic parameters dictated by the multinationals and therefore their militaristic, repressive tactics.

Not only do we reject this government repression, but we also express our solidarity and support for the comrades of the FAG, for the constant and tenaciouswork they do with the ordinary people of their city, which the government and police authorities are seeking to silence by terror, intimidation and repression. We are sure they will not succeed.

It is important now to show support and solidarity. For this reason, we appeal to all anarchist, libertarian and grassroots organizations and collectives to protest against this attack.