Military prison authorities allow attack on insumisos

By Howard Clark

June, 1998

Spanish anti-militarists are protesting that the prison chief allowed neo-fascist prisoners to attack the four "insumisos" (total resisters) held in the military prison of Alcalá de Henares outside Madrid. The attacks took place on the 8 and 12 June. HOWARD CLARK visited the insumisos on behalf of War Resisters' International.

Since the start of the "insumision" campaign in 1989 there have been over 2,000 anti-militarists imprisoned in the state of Spain, many sentenced to 2 years 4 months. "Insumisos" refuse conscription either to military service or to its civilian substitute. When the penal policy shifted away from imprisonment and towards ruling them "unfit" for public employment, and when too the decision to switch to a professional army was announced, "insumisos" introduced a new tactic: not declaring their resistance until they were inside the actual barracks and so confronting the military authorities directly. The four prisoners in Alcalá de Henares are the first "insumisos" to be sentenced for this to 2 years and 4 months. Another 17 have refused military service once they were inside the barracks and walked out; it seems unlikely that they will be charged.

Elias and Ramiro from Galicia arrived in Alcalá de Henares in February last year. In autumn they were joined by Placido from Valencia and this spring by Miguel from Madrid. With a group of four in a prison that usually has about 20 prisoners, and with the regular visits organised by supporters from MOC (the Movement for Conscientious Objection), there were no great fears. "Insumisos" are often valued as fellow prisoners: they tend to know their rights better than most, are often better educated, and usually offer to help other prisoners in dealing with the bureaucracy of even just writing letters.

However, prison visitors complained of threats, and it seemed from their comments that at least two warders had connections with the far right. The situation grew tenser with the arrival of an out-and-out neo-Nazi who gathered a group around him. With the apparent indulgence of the prison authorities, they gave each other the fascist salute, played Franquist cassettes, sang Franco's anthem "Cara al sol", and even displayed the former Spanish flag (now illegal). While the insumisos' visitors were told to cover the anti-militarist slogans on their t-shirts, other visitors were allowed in with t-shirts sporting the illegal flag and brought in fascist propaganda.

Naturally the prisoners who this group most wanted to intimidate were the "insumisos". The first attack on 8 June came when the insumisos were in their cell. The skinheads pointed a spray through the peephole and set fire to it. When the "insumisos" came out of the cell to discuss this, they were attacked. After this incident, nobody was punished, but the "insumisos" were moved to a safer corridor. Here, at 5pm on 12 June, a guard left the door open so that the skinheads could get and again attack Ramiro and Placido in their cells. Other prisoners intervened to stop this, while warders did nothing.

MOC had begun a telephone campaign - phoning the prison in the morning (not after that as it would interfere with the prisoners' own access to phones), and also phoning and faxing government offices. They did not name the ring leader of the skinhead group, but rather blamed the authorities for their collusion.

By the time I visited the prison on 18 June, the ring leader had been moved: he's now in a civilian prisoner, charged with killing somebody at a disco. Nigeria's defeat of Spain in the World Cup had also helped in making the skinheads a bit more subdued. My mind went back to a remark by one of the US Vietnam war resisters, David Harris: his prison sentence, he felt, was not being excluded from society for two years, but going deeper inside it. Hearing about the different categories of prisoners - the professional soldiers, the Guardia Civil (the notorious national police force), and conscripts in trouble - living alongside each other in this small community of 20 prisoners, it seemed to me that the campaign of insumisión in the barracks will put anti-militarists to see deeper into the life of the military.

One pleasant surprise, along with the non-military hairstyles of the "insumisos", was to see a t-shirt the authorities do allow: "podrán cortar todas las flores, pero jamás detendrán la primavera" ("they can cut all the flowers but they can't stop spring coming").

[Received by way of Peace News peacenews@gn.apc.org]

More information for readers of castellano:
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April, 1999

"Insumisos" in the barracks now held in military prison

Rafael Fernández, Javier Gómez, Placido Ferrandiz
Prisión Militar de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid
fax: +34 91 882 34 93
Email support via: moc.caraba@nodo50.org

MOC - MÓN.