The venomous tentacles of the state always reach further and deeper into the fabric of society. Total control is the desired aim, control of your actions and control of your thoughts, that means control of information that you receive. The state's legislation put in place in pursuing certain Islamic groups, will now be geared up to attack all groups and individuals they see as potential voices of dissent, that wonderfully vague term "extremists" will now be used as a wide brush to sweep up any and all opposition to the the state's ceaseless march for control. For full control, all voices of dissent must be silenced. Naturally, anarchists, who are always vociferous in their opposition to this strangling control by the state, will be targeted, and are being targeted, in various countries across the capitalist globe.
Europe has upped its attempt to silence anarchist media centres, autonomous centres, and any group or individual that challenges state control, Italy, Spain, Greece, France and Germany, have all in recent times stepped up a gear in repression of these forms of expression. Now more than ever, we should all remember:
First they came for the anarchists, and I did not speak out—First they came for the anarchists.
Because I was not an anarchist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Read the full article HERE:Over the past couple of months, there have been several acts of repression aimed at autonomous media project in the territory controlled by the French state. Below are two translated texts dealing with this.
The first discusses criminal charges brought against an anarchist comrade for texts published on the long-running anarchist website cettesemaine.info. This site recently decided to stop publishing, while making clear that it is not because of the repression they face, but rather with the limits of counter-info projects and dissatisfaction with how much importance the internet is given in the anarchist space. The comrade’s trial is this Wednesday, November 8, in Paris.
The second is from Indymedia Nantes about their decision to ignore a legal demand from the French cybercrime division ordering them to remove communiques about attacks and announcing contingency plans in case their site is blocked in the coming days.
This repression follows on the German government’s recent decision to shut down Indymedia Linksunten and in a context in France where the current government has bypassed the usual democratic steps to write parts of the State of Emergency (that has been in effect for a year and a half) permanently into criminal law. Some see this as a broadening of the repressive measures developed for use against Islamist groups to include anarchists and social movements.
As an anarchist involved in counter-info projects, as an anarchist period, I feel solidarity with the comrades at Indymedia Nantes and especially with the person being dragged before a judge this week in Paris. Fuck all courts and the world that needs them. One way of showing this solidarity is to share information about the situation and to make plans for how we can continue communicating in a context of increasing repression, while never forgetting that solidarity means attack.
