press release: They call us terrorists because they want to terrorize us

this release is available in: [en] [fr]

21.Aug.02 - "Undocumented immigrants": they want us to be docile laborers terrorized by the permanent threat of deportation... from Seville to Saint Denis we are organizing ourselves in autonomous collectives to fight against our servitude.

"Unemployed": they want us addicted to Assedic and ready for all the retraining programs so as to get unemployment and workfare compensation... we're using our extra time so as not to waste it.

"Temporary Laborers and Subcontractors": they want us to be careerists without a future in the new horizon of labor flexibility... from Macdonald to Maxi-Livre, we renounce the privilege of wage slavery.

"Immigrants": they want us forever disarmed before the authority of the boss... the strikers from Arcade/Accor have thrown a monkey wrench in the well oiled machine of subcontracting.

"Youth from the troubled inner-ring suburbs": they want us to be the domesticated savages of a world of scapegoats... in our neighborhoods we live daily resistance against the police offensive. They want us confined in these little boxes to better label us in the narrowest of categories: for ten days in the border camp, we mingled ceaselessly.

You've got Ahmed, we're not going to let you go!

By persecuting Ahmed, the State wishes to repress social activism.

The violence of the police repression during the protest on July 24 went so far as the shooting of rubber bullets from less than 4 meters, seriously injuring two people. The whole camp was subject to constant police harrassment: a prohibition on protests, fifty arrests, seven trials to come. Despite this, all efforts at intimidation having failed, they hoped that the threat of prison would hang over every revolt: undoubtedly, the imprisonment of Ahmed shows that they want to make an example out of him. All requests for visits have been denied, which damages not only his personal stability but also his ability to prepare his defense. Since the actions and multiform demonstrations of the Noborder camp could not be prevented, this persecution constitutes a veritable State vengeance.

The numerous initiatives that have been flourishing throughout Europe prove that your time-tested formula no longer works!

Prison within a prison

Since his arrest, Ahmed has been held in solitary confinement. The jail administration has explained in a written notice that this measure -- unusual in a case like this -- is because of his opinions against prisons. Solitary confinement aims at cutting the detainee off from the little social life left to him or her. It removes all the landmarks of a normal schedule and of daily life. It leaves prisoners vulnerable to all sorts of abuses and violence. Psychological and psychiatric problems are often found after coming out of solitary confinement, a veritable form of torture.

Close all isolation cells!

Zero tolerance: their security is always less liberty.

Ahmed is a victim of the arrogant discourse of "total security." For us all, it is also terrorism to criminalize us in our daily lives. Daily criminalization doesn't only target social movements but also, in the current security context, a whole range of behavior that is classified as "uncivil," and of targeted people, such as young people, classified as "savages." From this point of view, the accusations against Ahmed are making an example. Misdemeanors such as insulting a police officer, refusal to submit, and violencee against an officer are easy means, used more and more often, that the State uses to win automatic condemnations on the simple basis of the accusations given by the forces of law and order.

We demand, in the name of the No Border Network and all of the groups and individuals who have participated in the camp, the immediate liberation of Ahmed and an end to the prosecution of all those accused..

Collective to Support Ahmed