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Which side are you on? Anarchist Solidarity statement about Jock Palfreeman

Anarchist Solidarity | 26.06.2011 22:57

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The story of Jock Plafreeman

by Anarchist Solidarity

It’s been three and a half years now since Jock Palfreeman has been imprisoned after saving the lives of two young Roma boys in Bulgaria!

In short Jock ran to the aid of the two boys when he was witness to a vicious and racist attack inflicted on them by around sixteen drunken football hooligans. Jock held them at bay for long enough for the two Roma boys to run away but the group turned on him. Jock was set upon and literally had to fight to save his own life. During the fight one of the group, Andrei Monov, was accidentally killed. Jock was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment and the equivelent of a £250,000 fine! (for the full story please go to www.freejock.com).

Support for Jock has now reached an international level.

Anarchists and Antifascists have started campaigns aound the globe including Australia, UK, Russia, Poland, France, Austria, Greece, and more… Strangely, Bulgaria is not in that list.

Suprised? So were we!

We went to the website of FAB (Bulgarian Anarchist Federation) to see if there was any mention of Jock. To our astonishment we found that not only had the FAB decided not to support Jock, they had decided to go out of thier way to publically condemn him! They claimed that Andrei Monov was thier friend and that Jock was a killer who deserved the maximum prison sentence!

(see the google translation below)

”Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria condemns any kind of street violence and joined grieving relatives and friends of the slain boy.
Prompt the authorities to fulfill their obligations to conduct a full investigation of the case and the guilty receive fair and appropriate punishment to his grave crime.
Andrei was also a friend and we share the grief of relatives and friends.
Rest in peace, Andrei!”

 http://anarchy.bg/novini/novini-ot-bulgaria/496-1-godina-ot-ubijstvoto-na-andrej-monov.html

Not only did this make us rage to the core, it also made us question the FABs idea of Anarchy. Why on earth would people who call themselves Anarchists be in favour of a prison sentence for a man who had taken Antifascist action? And why did they so openly associate themselves with Monov when he had clearly been involved in a savage and outnumbered racist attack on two young Roma boys?

We got in touch with AF (Anarchist Federation UK), FABs sister organisation. We wanted to know if they knew what was going on in regards to the statement on FABs website and also where they stood in regards to supporting Jock.

They emailed us back to say that they would investigate. Infact that was all they said.

Months passed along with more emails from us and all they would say was that they were investigating. Eventually they just stopped replying and we realised that we were wasting our time.

However, a spokesperson for AF did contact a mutual friend and comrade who has also been campaigning for Jock. Firstly they wanted confirmation that AS were a trustworthy and genuine Anarchist group. They were given the confirmation they asked for, but then decided that the word of our comrade was not good enough (an insult to say the least) and rejected the verification.

AF then wrote again to our comrade stating that Jock was a soldier that had been involved in a drunken fight and had killed a friend of the FAB. They claimed that Monov was ”not a Nazi”. They also stated that the only people who claim that Monov was a nazi are the fascists themselves!…

So let us get this straight, (we’ll get to the soldier bit in a minute), Monov, who was out with at least fifteen other (known locally to be fascist) football fans, drunk, and invoved in such a savage racist attack on the two Roma boys, does not qualify as fascist in the opinion of AF or FAB?

The grieving friends of Monov who were at the funeral (alongside members of the Bulgarian government, cheif of police, judges and other ‘important and influental’ people) who are reffered to by the AF and FAB as Bulgarian fascists and the far right are falsely claiming that Monov was their friend?

We don’t get it!!

It beggs the question: What would FAB and AF have to say if it were one of the Roma boys who had been killed that night? Because as far as we can see that is exactly what would have happened if Jock had not run to thier aid.

Would FAB still claim that thier beloved Andrei Monov was thier friend if he had been involved in a savage racist attack resulting in the death of the victim?

We’d like to know! So if any FAB or AF would like to answer our questions feel free. (you’ve got our email address)

Now, the controversial claims about Jock ‘being a soldier’…

Firstly, lets get one thing clear, Jock has never claimed to be an Anarchist, Activist or Antifascist. He was a young lad travelling and making friends.

He decided to join the British Army towards the end of 2007, his visa was coming to an end and he saw it as an opportunity to stay in the UK. He completed four weeks training and then went on leave for christmas. He was on holiday in Bulgaria.

So did we know Jock is a soldier?

Well he’s not! He never completed his training.

Did we know that Jock had joined the British Army in 2007?

Yes we did! And quite frankly we don’t care!! The decisions Jock made before the incident in question do not interest us one bit. As far as we are concerned those decisions are completeley irrelevant to what happened on the night of the 28th December 2007. Jock unfortunately found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and he did the right thing!!

Thats enough for us.

It is abundantly clear that the whole case has been completely manipulated by Monovs father and his high ranking friends, all of the court proceedings to date have been a complete farce, there has been absolutely no sense whatsoever of a fair trial and it is so blindingly obvious that Jock has been completely stitched up!

Jock Palfreeman is an incredibly brave and courageous man who took outstanding Antifascist action and he needs our support.

Which side are you on?

For more info about Jocks case and how you can support him please go to:  http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/conviction/default.htm  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8rLrOW1g1k www.freejock.com www.anarchistsolidarity.wordpress.com

Also you can join the facebook page Freedom For Jock.

Anarchist Solidarity
- e-mail: anarchosolidarity@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: www.anarchistsolidarity.wordpress.com

Comments

Hide the following 27 comments

Uk anarchist groups have no idea about prisoner solidarity

27.06.2011 13:35

prisoner solidarity is an important issue.

Solidarity Federation have a reputation, based on members contributions to an anarchist public forum, of taking the piss out of working class prisoners, especially those politicised by their time inside.

Both Af and Solfed it seems are icapable of taking political solidarity seriously. Maybe becuase most of their membership come from the well off end of the middle class spectrum.

Captain Anarchy


sounds bad. let's hear AF's side of the story

27.06.2011 13:39

If what you say is true AF certainly have some questions to answer.

Would be nice to hear their side of the story.

-


No real help to Jock

27.06.2011 14:09

I am a supporter of Jock, but while I respect the group issuing this statement I think it is very ill-considered. They should be asking themselves to honestly consider whether it will increase support for Jock or not. In my analysis this statement has more to do with the wounded pride of AS and their understandable frustration with the reactionary position of the AF with regard to prisoners than with raising support for Jock. A shame it has been issued.

Private Spat


Who's the bad guy?

27.06.2011 14:30

This is all a bit confusing, isn't it?

An Australian man comes to visit the UK Motherland and the poor innocent decides to join the armed forces. What a progressive act.

This man then goes out on the piss in a nation where the UK have a military presence and (for whatever reason) gets into a fight with the locals. As a result, he kills one of them. There are no independent witnesses as to why, or what happened.

Now some people who call themselves "anti"-fascists have decided that the killer is infact the victim.

Time for a reality check, folks?

Anti-Imperialist


jock

27.06.2011 14:56

@Private- we had been really trying to do all in our power to raise support fro Jock but this issue has to be be addressed and since FAB ACTIVELY blocks solidarity by spreading lies and asking people not to join solidarity actions and AF failing to respond to that in any way, it had to be issued. Jock needs unconditional support, not some wankers pretending to be anarchists (FAB) calling for his imprisonment! This has nothing to do with our wounded pride.

Anarchist Solidarity


AF side

27.06.2011 14:56

Probably slagging off Jock Palfreeman on Libcom or Urban75 right now. Theres hardly anything new about their lack of solidarity - or that of SF.

Colonel Mustard


AF

27.06.2011 15:01

It was hard decision for us to issue that statement and we thought about it long and carefully. We do not wish to start a shit storm but we realised something has to be done .

Anarchist Solidarity


to Anti-Imperialist

27.06.2011 15:22

check the material submitted in documentaries, freejock.com website etc. You obviously haven't done it. It seems to me like the fact of Jock being a soldier matters to you more that the fact that he rushed to help two Roma boys being attacked by racist gang of footbal thugs. Well done. Now crawl back to your hole troll.

Anarchist Solidarity


A bad decision

27.06.2011 15:35

Comrades, you may have felt that you "had" to issue this statement, but that doesn't mean it was a smart move. I maintain that it will not make it easier to raise support for Jock, rather it will make it harder. The AF don't give a stuff about prisoners, but will arrogantly defend themselves by bad-mouthing Jock. Some will believe their crap, others will use it as an excuse to do nothing as usual. Those individual AF member who might have supported Jock will also probably now side against him. However good your intentions, the only loser from this inter-anarchist spat will be Jock.

Private Spat


but there were independent witnesses!

27.06.2011 15:42

> This man then goes out on the piss in a nation where the UK have a military presence
> and (for whatever reason) gets into a fight with the locals. As a result, he kills one of
> them. There are no independent witnesses as to why, or what happened.

1. There were independent witnesses; according to this local newspaper report:
 http://www.sofiaecho.com/2010/10/29/983603_kangaroo-court-the-palfreeman-appeal?
...some guards in a nearby car park saw someone being attacked by a group and then saw another man run over and intervene. This supports Jock's account, whereas the group claim there was no previous fight and they were merely attacked by Jock unprovoked.

2. Some earlier statements by the group admit that there was a fight between them and some Roma, but they later changed their stories. See for instance:
 http://www.freejock.com/documents/22Day%205%20of%20the%20appeal%2019th%20january%202011.pdf

3. If you have time, you could trawl through these court documents and probably find much more evidence to support Jock's version of events:
 http://www.freejock.com/documents/
...but I don't have time, and have uncovered enough to draw my own preliminary conclusions.

k


Questions

27.06.2011 16:40

Was Andre Monov member of any nazi or facist organization?

Also, why did Jock join British army that is at war with many countries? It seems strange but maybe he had reasons.

And did Jock himself have political history?

Thank-you.

anon


Maybe we'll never know the full truth

27.06.2011 17:22

There are claims and counter-claims on both sides, so maybe we will never know the full truth about what happened.

One person is dead and another doing a long prison sentence though, so it's a sad incident by any account.

wikipedia link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jock_Palfreeman

anon


Was Jock being antifascist or was he anti-racist?

27.06.2011 20:47

Was Jock being antifascist or was he anti-racist?
The evidence of your description of what Jock did should show that the attackers of the two Roma boys were being racist.
It is true that references to racism have been burred in the media in the past decade but the behaviour of those attackers shows that they were motivated by racist intolerance and hatred f the Roma rather than any fascist programme that the group might have known t be engaged in when they targeted the two boys.
Perhaps racism should be examined more than it is now a days. Then a lot of the world's crises could be correctly identified for what they really were and understood and addressed.
That would also help to expose so much of the empty "movements" across much of Europe and the USA.
Fir instance, why hasn't there been a high profile campaign in the UK to get justice for Jock?
High profile in the sense that it should have been to draw attention to racism. Perhaps there is a clue there somewhere. That there is now an acceptance of racism. Why is there the acceptance?

learningenglishlanguage


Again questions

28.06.2011 11:29

Please could you answer the questions I ask above? I read that Monov was a facist and a member of facist organization but don't know if that is true. What is the fact?

Also my other question. Can you answer please Anarchist solidarity?

anon (the first one above)


Jock

28.06.2011 12:30

OK, some answers for you. We cannot prove Monow was actually part of fascists or nazi organisation- such groups are illegal in Eastern Europe, therefore they are more informal networks and hence proving somebodys membership is impossible. However you can have a look at a picture of lovely chaps that Levski fans are (same group that Monov was part of)  http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/levskis.jpg/ Also their unprovoked attack on Roma boys says it all really.

As for Jock joining the army- from our correnspondence it appears that main motivation was learning useful skills and extending his visa in UK but for exact reason you would have to ask Jock.
He doesn't really have a political history. He had left wing and anti-fascists beliefs and had been squatting in UK with members of Anarchist movement but haven't been involved in activity himself and never claimed to be an activist.

Hope that helps?
A.S.

Anarchist Solidarity


but

28.06.2011 16:14

"However you can have a look at a picture of lovely chaps that Levski fans are (same group that Monov was part of)  http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/levskis.jpg/ Also their unprovoked attack on Roma boys says it all really."

No it doesn't. I live in Glasgow and there are plenty of Rangers fans, and no doubt Celtic and Thistle, fans that are racist shite bags. Fuck all of them are in the NF, SDL or BNP though. If everyone that had fucked up racist attitudes towards Roma was a fascist then we would have a state to last a thousand years in Eastern Europe right now.
You can't go around equating racism with fascism. Whilst racism is almost always an integral part of fascism the same is not so the other way around. Just because someone attacks minority groups does not make them a fascist. It makes them a racist dick to be sure but not a fascist.


anon


geez

28.06.2011 18:38

well ,whatever, fascists are usually racists, as I said , have a look at picture of Levski fans, monov was a part of the same crew, enough?
At the end of the day this is a minor detail in the whole case. Statement is about something else.

Anarchist Solidarity


Thanks

28.06.2011 22:39

Thank-you AS, i just wanted to get it clear. Before I heard that Monov was member of nazi group but it wasn't clear.

It seems that Jock was good young guy but not anarchist or in fact activist of any sort. Then he did strange thing and joined British army. He did good thing to aid Roma against hooligans. But if he did not kill Monov maybe he'd be killing people in afghanistan?

anon


Unsure

28.06.2011 23:06

I'm beginning to have concerns about this case. First I heard about it Palfreeman was an anarchist and antifascist who stabbed a couple of Nazis. Now it turns out the Nazis are football hooligans and Palfreeman was a squaddie out on the piss while on leave. I read he was a rich kid who did military training at a posh Oz private school so what 'useful skills' did he think he'd learn in the army, presumably he already knew how to use a map and compass? Maybe he's a nutter or maybe a 'have a go hero' who fucked up. Either way its not clear cut. And by the way, where are the Roma?

anarcho


to "anarcho"

29.06.2011 10:35

it sounds to me matey like you always had "concerns" about this case. "Anarcho" my fucking arse.

Anarchist Solidarity


AS

29.06.2011 22:44

Is that really all you have to say?! In the past I believed what the likes of you said about this case. But the story keeps changing. I don't you can be trusted. And your attempts to field serious questions show you to be stupid and incompetent too.

anarcho


"Anarchist Solidarity"

29.06.2011 23:16

So what solidarity have you given to Jock - Beyond spreading this stupid statement all over the place? Why don't you organise an embassy picket or something?

Night owl


solidarity

29.06.2011 23:19

we did organise a picket outside embassy as a matter of fact and organised lots of email/letter/fax protests as well, apart from supporting Jock directly with correnspondence, literature etc. Now stop trolling and do something useful.

Anarchist Solidarity


To Anarchist Solidarity

30.06.2011 06:05

This train-wreck of a thread is the direct consequence of you foolishly issuing this statement. Sorry guys, sure you mean well but you give the impression of being bungling idiots who don't really know what they're doing or talking about. Sorry to be harsh, but if Jock is going to get out he's going to need a huge campaign behind him and your statement does not contribute towards building one.

Anarchist


to anarchist

30.06.2011 11:52

I am sure complete silcence of AF throughout Jovks inprisonment and their lack of reaction to sisters group sabotaging solidarity effort is contributing a lot to Jocks campaing though. I agree we need huge campaign for Jock and we are really trying to build it, but some things had to be said.

Anarchist Solidarity


AS comment from Libcom

15.07.2011 11:21

For completeness, Anarchist Solidarity posted the following on the LibCom thread about this:

>just after a meeting with Af comrade in Brighton, we all had a good chat and we are planning
>some solidarity events with Jock and we also managed to clarify few misunderstandings and
>from now on will be concentrating on solidarity efforts and leave investigation issue in hands
>of AF, with results hopefully coming soon (ish).

Hopefully now we can all get on with what we need to get on with to resolve this situation and move this and other solidarity campaigns forwards.

ticking_fool


Statement regarding our dealings with “Anarchist Solidarity”

16.07.2011 09:50


The Anarchist Federation has been contacted on a number of occasions by a group calling itself Anarchist Solidarity about Jock Palfreeman, currently a prisoner in Bulgaria. The AF has never made any statement on the issue nor had any 'spokesman' do so for us. We attempted to establish whether AS were a bone fide organisation before responding to their contact. In an attempt to comprehend the situation an individual member contacted a personal friend who they considered might know something. Anything that is said to have been quoted from the AF is from that private correspondence only.

As it stands, having communicated with the Federation of Anarchists in Bulgaria (FAB) and with other knowledgeable parties in Bulgaria and the Balkans more widely, we won't be issuing any statement. We know more about this situation than we are at liberty to put in writing. We do not wish what we write here to cause harm to any party which is, unfortunately, a real possibility if we do not choose our words carefully.

Prisoner support groups should approach anarchist organisations in the knowledge that if they are unknown to relevant parties or are abrasive in tone when making their approach, those organisations may respond with suspicion as to how they fit into such complex situations.

If comrades we know to be bone fide want to see the e-mails that Anarchist Solidarity sent to us, please contact the National Secretary of the AF at our national address. Anarchist Solidarity are of course at liberty to publish their approaches to us themselves, if they think that making public the manner in which they approached us would help build international solidarity actions and support for Jock Palfeeman.

Anarchist Federation, July 2011

AFed
mail e-mail: info@afed.org.uk
- Homepage: http://afed.org.uk/


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