France sends "Action Directe" leader back to Jail

by Vendeval Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:09

"= as they were in the aftermath of '68 that formidable zeal for emancipation do not exist any longer..."

curiously they sent him to jail for arguing that the conditions in France (or presumedly Europe) no longer merit armed struggle but that in certain conditions they have a place.

........is that repression? or is it one sauce for all geese? jihad, basque, neo-nazi or libertarian commie?

naturally people will have their strong opinions.
& some might feel enough emotion to pass comment.

zealous no doubt.

by Léo Ferré Fan - wsm pers cap Sat Dec 06, 2008 00:43

I am not one for these adventures and certainly agree that the conditions in the west in the late 20th/early 21st century do not justify armed struggle as a tactic.
As Umberto Eco said "You can't strike at the heart of the state, because the state doesn't have heart"

But I also agree that they might be justified under different historical, political and social conditions;
for one example like under the conditions that existed in France during the Nazi occupation.

Should I go to jail for saying this?

Britain is, in the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, sleepwalking into a dictatorship (viz Antiterrorist squad raid and arrest of Tory MP for the crime of embarrassing the government). Spain has nudged itself to within a millimeter of having categories of thought crime. "Republican" France is now clearly following suit with this re-imprisonment.

This European Union of ours is of course going to pick the "best" from each of these practises. What can Ireland offer? The special criminal courts?

is there any solidarity work being done around this?

by Jim Sat Dec 06, 2008 08:48

Action Directe, ETA, RAF, The Red Brigades, Revolutionary Cells, The Weathermen and many other contemporary leftist terrorists groups were a sick joke.
These mostly young idle middle class and rich kids who were the layabout sons and daughters of the middle class and the rich had an aristocratic contempt for the democratic political system that had the broad support of ordinary people who worked for a living rather than lounging around in the philosophy salons of the universities and drug and sex hippy communes.
They thought wrong that they could assassinate their way to power and usurp the power of the people who were not interested in being lectured to by jumped up punks who thought they knew better.
They got long jail sentences or police bullets and deservedly so.
The KGB pulled the strings and cut them when they were no longer needed as they themselves joined the ash heap of history.

by extreme moderate Sat Dec 06, 2008 09:33

Too true, they were the well-educated spoilt children of the professional bourgeoisie, who thought themselves to be more proletarian than the proletariat. Media heiress Patti Hearst from California was first kidnapped by and then joined an idiotic outfit called the SLA. After being imprisoned for armed robbery etc. she married a big cop who had arrested her and seemingly lived happily. The "executed" victims of some of the listed outfits didn't get that chance.

The revolutionary tyros could have done a better service to humanity if they had taken vows of poverty and gone abroad on the missions.

by nit pick Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:51

Nowhere has either contributor attempted to defend or even justify the type of action cited.

I don't know anything about the class background of the people involved in groups like BR, RZ, AD, RAF etc., so I will refrain from speculating idly.

My impression about AD is that it arose in France in the post-68 period out of a long established libertarian communist movement and with some cross-fertilisation with spanish anarchists who had taken up armed struggle during the Franco dictatorship. Neither of these political traditions can be dismissed as bourgeois hippy in character, quite the opposite they are well established working class movements.

For those who find it difficult to process nuanced points: this does not mean that I am defending the armed struggle tactic employed by AD. What I am doing, like the original poster and the first commentator, is discussing unrollling events and looking at the consequences for civil liberties of these developments, such as the prospect of prison for those who say that political violence might be justified under certain circumstances.

Can I remind contributors of the indymedia publishing guideline:

"We want original comments that add information, or argue a point of view. Not re-heated bar-stool cliches."

by g Mon Dec 15, 2008 16:35

The use of anti-terrorist police and laws has created a very dangerous situation. If you are not familiar with the events in Tarnac in France, please go to the following site and read the articles: http://tarnac9.wordpress.com/

As it stands, two people are still in jail. At the beginning, the police claimed to have fingerprints and DNA evidence. They have now admitted that this evidence does not exist.

Support for the people in Tarnac is still needed, so please sign the petition.

http://www.mesopinions.com/petition-de-soutien-aux-incu....html

Financial help is also needed for the support group. Cheques can be made payable to Comité de soutien aux inculpés de Tarnac and sent to Comité de soutien aux inculpés de Tarnac, le bourg, 19170 Tarnac France. The use of the term ‘terrorism’ in this affair is extremely disturbing. Thanks!!

http://www.soutien11novembre.org/