From Kontrapolis
August 17, 2023
Worlds carry vast collections of explanations of what life is. Many times described as process, change, or even metamorphosis. Your life was intertwined to ours at different times, for different reasons, with different goals. We filled each other with memories that are not summarized in words, but that each one will carry as and where they want. A few months ago we began to plan this other process with you, death. This time crossed by rage, that same rage that we often let fall together, against the system that we destroy every day little by little. You, with your tender strength opened up your fears, your uncertainties, but even more your desires and will to live and die as you decided. You listened a lot and told even more. Writing this text is not easy, but it is comforting, because it is collective, because it is not perfect, because it is meaningful, because it is not a goodbye.
“By deciding what style my death shall have, and by doing so not in private but together with others, I get beyond the mere affirmation of individual freedom in face of a process of decay (whether of the world or of my body) which a single will could never transcend.” N’Drea.
The kitchen was your usual living space at home, where you were ready to strike up a conversation with a black coffee in hand from the earliest morning. Your favorite dishes included ecological potatoes, Quark and cheese of any kind. Sharing a table with others made the meal most worthwhile. Your day was full of collective and political plans. Solidary and social, very social, with your direct and transparent way of talking as long as your body could bear it, because you never wanted to fall asleep before the others.
You were always very open and receptive to new things and to guests and companions from all regions of the world. Interested, communicative and inquisitive about the stories, experiences and political activities of the visitors. You sat at the table with everyone to discuss until late at night. That was your credo, too: invite lots of people around you and fill the house literally to the last mattress. That could sometimes mean sleeping in the hallway. But that was totally okay – an expression of community and collectivity. You were delightfully chaotic. When we‘ ll find full bags of clothes at home or see burnt pots, we are going to think of you and smile.
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You were a politically very interested & engaged person. Solidary and approachable. Through your traveling and the insights, connections and experiences you got there, you were sensitive to other worlds and experiences.
Whether it was a joint trip, a demonstration, participating in a camp, or discussing and writing texts, it was always important to include internationalist perspectives. To broaden one’s own views beyond a German/Western one and to do this by sharing and getting to know people. You had many experiences and anecdotes to tell about Mexico, Nicaragua, the Spanish state, Greece, the Balkans, Kurdistan, Palestine… from interesting to funny to bizarre. It was never boring.
For many, feminism was the red thread of our struggle. And even when there are many feminist ideas depending on experience, background, class, gender, education and certainly more… We didn’t always agree on different topics and approaches, of course On feminism, I share with you Nicole a deep bond. We met „a long time ago“ (time is relative) in mixed contexts and quickly realized that we find it necessary to fight also as FLT* (at that time) to address contradictions in society as well as in the scene; to share experiences, views and ideas of practices as WLINTAS*. We learned a lot from each other, and most of all we had a lot of joy and power while fighting!
With a tireless curiosity, you became the refuge of many in this hostile society. Being able to speak Spanish with you was especially important. It gave us the feeling of being understood. You gave us strength.
Your smile was the first smile in German that we could understand, and although we would struggle with the language for years to come, your language had with your words an ever so obvious sweetness. We made you speak in Spanish a lot, to the point of bringing out poetry equivalent to what we sensed in your mother tongue. This certainly amused us, and we were also very happy to give words with the same generosity that you pronounced them. Surely many of those who read now, recognize that generosity, which was truly related to the most genuine values of a just cause, because your actions were as authentic as your words. Actions that you always maintained, even when we sneaked out of the hospital for a postering.
And among the dearest memories are evenings spent dancing together. Full of energy and a desire to have fun, strictly with wine of questionable taste in your hand you were ready to go until the end of the night. You were present in the good as well as the bad times. Always helping and not taking a step back, turning words of solidarity into actions.
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You had a real talent for connecting your friends and encouraging them. Your solidarity was accepting support even when we could see in your face it was hard for you. You gave us the biggest gift a friend and comrade could, when making the fight against cancer collective. It was yours but you made it ours, by asking for extra breakfast in the hospital for your guests. By telling us about your plans for your burial with the same smile you would give to us when you knew you were about to tell some crazy idea for a new project. By completing the puzzle of your life in bringing us together, your friends, comrades and family. As many as we could fit in the room together, and the rest waiting for you in the garden.
Solidarity with you was always personal, because the personal is political. Long talks in a mix of languages non of us could fully follow. Endless assemblies interrupted by technical points, that turned to be your opinion boiling out of your head with a passion that we will always carry in our hearts.
You showed us how to play respect to differences. Your unconditional support against repression, showed us the importance of trust and care. And that isolation is never an option. Your solidarity constantly hugged us when between naps you overwhelmed us with questions – and when thought we had no answers, an idea as beautifully chaotic as you, became a collective plan. Like this text, like this Hasta Siempre.
We tenderly hugged you until the last second, and we will always carry you tightly in our hands.
Your comrades, friends and family.
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From EMRAWI
August 25, 2023
After the funeral of our comrade Nicole at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery, a powerful demonstration with about 200 people, banners, pyrotechnics and flares marched to the women's prison in Lichtenberg to show solidarity with the women in prison and to take a clear position against prison society in general.
First, a taped speech from 2019, by our companion Nicole, held at a rally in front of the Berlin-Tegel prison. Then follows a speech which also addresses directly the women imprisoned in the prison in Lichtenberg. At the end there are two greetings from two companions from Barcelona.
1. Speech by Nicole
We are here today because we are against prison and prison society. Being a prisoner does not end at the prison walls or other coercive institutions such as psychiatric hospitals and schools. Because those who are not in it themselves are always terrorized and controlled to the maximum by the state, by norms and other mechanisms of domination, such as in the case of exploitation through wage labor, job centers or investors. Locking people up in jail is just the tip of the iceberg. Man is excluded from society. Access and a way back is only granted to those who behave appropriately and allow themselves to be exploited. In the JVA Plötzensee, for example, every third person is imprisoned on the basis of a substitute prison sentence. Such a penalty is given to those who cannot pay a fine, e.g BVG and is therefore forced to serve out the fine in daily rates. But people who have already been pushed to the fringes of society by the logic of capitalist exploitation, permanent competition on the labor market, structural disadvantages and discrimination are not only particularly affected by imprisonment. This is not surprising, after all, laws did not fall from the sky and serve the interests of capital, such as the preservation of property and the suppression of any resistance. It is significant that it is forbidden to take shelter in empty houses or to take food that has been thrown away. Anyone who resists the conditions will be locked away. Even people who consciously rebel against the current conditions for a liberated society, e.g. go to demonstrations, taking accommodation or collecting donations for political work and organizations are criminalized and, if possible, locked away. Here, among other things, exorbitant prison sentences and suspended sentences serve to criminalize, defame and delegitimize resistance. We wish all prisoners a lot of strength and want to show them that they are not alone. Behind the prison walls you are thought of. We are fighting and not stopping fighting against the system that imprisons them and keeps us all imprisoned. We need to recognize that what puts people in jail or causes them to act are societal problems that cannot be solved by punishment, a roadblocks are released. Therefore it is the conditions: poverty, abuse, unemployment, oppression, exclusion and exploitation that we must fight.
2. Speech in front of the prison Lichtenberg to the imprisoned women
Hello to all of you confined in this prison,We are here today to bring you a brief but warm greeting of solidarity, not only ours but also that of one of our comrades and friends who is no longer here with us.We felt the need to come here under these damn walls on the day of her funeral because the fight against any kind of prison was always at the centre of Nicole’s life. Because in her heart beated the desire of freedom, not only for her but for all, the oppressed the exploited the rebellion. Because she dreamed of a different world, a world where these walls do not exist. We carry this same dream in our hearts and with obstinacy and strength, just as Nicole showed us, we will always fight until the dream becomes reality.
3. Greetings from Barcelona
And here in Barcelona, too, we commemorate and mourn our companion Nicole, whom we have known for years and have met again and again in different places in Europe and have stood together in anarchist, anti-racist and feminist struggles. The injustices occupied us in the same way, and inspired a local as well as above all international awakening. In the beginning we didn't know each other very much, but the shared experiences, failures and small victories gave us trust and closeness. That's how I saw her again and again when I was in Berlin. And when I was arrested and was in jail in Germany, she was always there in solidarity from the start and gave me support and strength.
As anarchists we often forget how important it is to celebrate, even in pain, and remember and pay homage to our comrades. Those who who have gone and those who are still by our side. As anarchists we should remember more often something so important that no power or repression had yet been able to break our networks of affinity and solidarity. It is thanks to these networks that today we can, even if from far, remember Nicole with you. It would be a lie to say that we were friends. But there is something that always gone beyond that. That is recognition in the complicity of our eyes. Of Nicole we remember with affection exactly that look. That feline looks so much her. We embrace you, comrades in theses hard moment, which bring us togehter and remind, also in memory of those who are not longer here, of all that needs yet to be destroyed, all that remains to be fight for.
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