Cash for Kalimero! Supporting Prisoners of the Social War in France

Source: Cette Semaine

These past months, in different cities, including during unpermitted demos or riots, many of us have been thrilled by the number of offensive actions in the street. From clashes with the guard dogs of the state and property to the broken windows of shops and even the pillaging of their contents; from attacks on journalist-cops to overcoming the pacifiers of the day: all of this has shaken the arrogance of the powerful. In all forms of struggle — which aren’t limited to “social movements” — self-organization and direct action are indispensable if we are to break with the pacification world of commodities and with state terrorism. Because to claim that it’s unimaginable for individuals to directly oppose the existing order is just a veiled way of saying that social revolt is simply impossible.

Repression is not just the moment when the flashball or baton comes to strike recalcitrant bodies, it’s each moment of daily life under the domination of the State and Capital, through their thousands of omnipresent  psychological and physical manifestations that coerce the poor into accepting a shitty life. It’s the prisons that lock up ever more people for ever longer sentences, in order to punish, isolate, break, and store them, out of sight of the peaceful consciences of good citizens. It’s also the outside prison, built from measures like electronic bracelets, house arrest, exclusion areas, bail conditions, and so on. Read the rest of this entry »

Bobigny: Reportback on Saturday’s riot, for Théo and against the police (+commentary)

For some context on the assault on Theo and of the events leading up to this demo

Intro to the reportback

from Cette Semaine

Politicians on the mic calling for calm and pacifiers making part of the crowd sing the national anthem (while the rest jeered), which then took up the slogan, “we are all French”… This was also part of the solidarity demonstration in Bobigny in front of the court. The same “big brothers”, like the trendy rapper Fianso (Sofiane) and his pals, called for people to go home instead of confronting the cops, “so that the little ones sleep at home tonight near their mothers,” and “to not tarnish the image of blacks and arabs”. As well, this shameful slogan, “prison for rapists”, was chanted by the crowd, along with many others (Cops, rapists, murderers; everyone hates the police; Justice for Théo). All this fit nicely with Théo’s statements on February 7 from his hospital bed, aimed at “my city”, in the face of a mob of journa-cops and just before squeezing the filthy hand of François Hollande: “Boys, stop with the war. Let’s stay united. I have faith in the justice system. And justice will be done. So stop with the war.”

Of course, any deployment of pacifiers has its limits, and a section of the demonstration, more mobile and less into rallies, clashed with the cops at the end, pillaged a Franprix grocery store, a Decathalon sports store, a gas station or a Speedy, smashed up several banks and insurance agencies, a McDonalds, and some institutional buildings (notably the offices of the departmental government), trashed the Bobigny train station, torched a vehicle from the RTL media group, and attacked another from the Europe 1 network… This shows how rage often has its own reasons and can nimbly overwhelm any reasonable proposition. As for revolt, if it’s to spread, it will have to step over the bodies of the pacifiers of the moment and break the refrain of the good citizen that infects our brains. May all Justice die away (and its relationships: innocent, guilty, victim, impunity, prison, court…)! Read the rest of this entry »

Ile-de-France: Revolts this week against police violence

Cops, rapists, murderers

Revolts have been spreading throughout Paris’  northern suburbs in the past week, in reaction to an extremely vicious police assault on Théo, a 22 year-old black man, who is still in the hospital. What follows is a collection of excepts translated from different (movement) texts and (mainstream) news articles currently circulating to give a sense of this wave of rebellion.Although things seem to be quieting down a little, bus service is still cut through the neighbourhoods after another night of rioting and at this moment a hundred or so people are kettled in Paris demonstrating against the police. 25 more youth were arrested this morning for rioting. The first excerpt describes the assault and so involves descriptions of physical and sexual violence, as a heads up. All links are to source texts.
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France, Proud Exporter of High-Tech Death

From Paris Sous Tension #8

As the carnage in Syria continues, deaths are now counted by the hundreds of thousands. The large popular uprising that began in 2011 to overthrow the Assad dictatorship has been drowned in blood for five years under the passive, stunned gaze of the entire world. A real slaughter, with whole villages razed to the ground and a war of extermination waged against a population already decimated by hunger and privation. The insurrection was skillfully transformed into a civil war by the various international factions of power who are fighting over the resources, reconstruction contracts, and domination of the populations. Blood is spilling in the Middle East and Africa. The state, commanders, and bosses, whether they be dressed in suits, uniforms, or religious clothes, are dividing the booty at the expense of millions of peoples lives. And Europe as well is beginning to smell  blood and gun powder, to once again get used terror and to khaki uniforms in the streets. Racism and nationalism are spreading, with millions of refugees are turned back at the borders, tens of thousands drown in the Mediteranean, die in trucks, or are expelled or locked up. War invades our lives ever further and constrains our present and our future. Read the rest of this entry »