Someone translated our text in english for the anglos comrades :
(
http://groupedesoutien.wix.com/abaslesprisons)
My friend is in prison
Last wednesday; april 15th, my friend got arrested at UQAM. Security
agents followed him in the hallways. They called the cops who made the
arrest. He spent the night at the Operational Center. He was supposed to
get released at the municipal court but the judge moved the inquiry to
the
next day. He spent that night at the Rivière-des-Prairies male prison in
northern Montreal. The next day; Friday the 17th, we organised a vigil
in
support at the municipal court and waited all day for his turn. We were
about 30 people. After the inquiry, the judge denied bail before trial.
Until then, he will serve time without trial at Rivière-des-Prairies.
The
judge's main argument is that if he had freed our comrad, it would
damage
public opinion and that the population would lose faith into the justice
system. He also spoke of the importance to preserve the public's trust
into the management of that justice system; in concern to a
«well-informed
public», he said. He was talking about the people who read the
newspapers
and watch the news on television every night, basically, thus an hymn to
the mass media.
Contrary to what the judge stated, our friend is paying the price alone
for a movement already strongly repressed, meaning that his imprisonment
is nothing but political.
Facing the political and judicial violence ongoing at UQAM in the
context
of the injunction againts strike mandates, and the relentless profiling
that students and their allies are being put through, we can only
revolt.
Our friend is clearly being used as an example in order to strike fear
and
shut down the voices of dissent. We do not believe in the justice system
but it is easy to feel lonely and powerless againts such hegemonic
power.
We acknowledge the fact that we are in a "war" were two sides with
opposite and irreconcilable interests are fighting each other, thus
meaning that we have to organize to protect ourselves more so that we
can
stay dangerous while confronting the state and his mideons. This is why
masking ourselves is appropriate. Even if your friends and the security
guards regognize you, it is still harder to do so with the surveillance
camera that will be used to incriminate you.
Our friend is not a martyr, he is not a hero nor a leader; what happened
to
him could've happened to anyone of us.
That is why we are calling for active solidarity without dissociation or
condemning of all the people criminalized by the State, at all time and
in
the context of the actual strike movement, may it be for the reason of
distruptive actions, protests or facing injonctions. This solidarity
expresses itself with a collective responsability towards the well being
of each and every one of us. Denouncing criminalization with protests or
vigils, opposing targeted arrests and snitching, bringing legal,
financial
and moral support (letters, fundraisers, etc) and demanding the removal
of
charges, copwatching, taking care of the wounded, staying close
together.
Those are the basis of a resistance culture that we must nurture and
develop. The legitimization of tendencies that advocate the less
possible
gain, are less dangerous and maintain a status quo that divide the
movement and isolate radical thinking. We believe on the contrary that
it
is by the continuity of the movement, it's expansion and intensification
that we can aspire to a more just society. Police repression and it's
consequences on short, middle or long term is an attack with no common
measure against this ongoing movement.
We won’t back down.
You can write support letters to our comrad and leave them at
L'Insoumise( the Montreal anarchist bookstore), at Café Aquin(in
UQAM-Université du Québec à Montréal) or at La Déferle(anarchist social
space in Montreal).
You can also contribute to the fundraiser, write to us for more infos:
groupedesoutien(a)riseup.net
There will be a picket in front of the municipal court on April 29 at
9:30
AM.
All the prisonners are political prisoners!
Down to all the prisons!