[Toul] Anti-prison collage and in solidarity with the 8/12 accused

This week, in the villages around Toul (Lorraine, nord est france), we’ve put up posters against the planned new prison in Toul (poster) ; against prisons in general (poster) ; and posters (here and here) in solidarity with the December 8, 2020 case accused who will go on trial in Paris from October 3 to 27.

In its repressive obsession, the state already wanted to build 15,000 new cells by 2027, including an experimental 100% work-based prison at Toul [1] [2]. In July, and following the riots, the creation of 3,000 additional cells was voted through the French National Assembly, which could bring the number of prison cells to 78,000 by 2027 (sometimes occupied by 2, 3,… inmates…). At the same time as increasing the number of cops and cameras, building more and more prisons, to lock up more and more people…

To quote a few lines from a poster we stuck up, “we’re against prison because we want to radically change this society, not peacefully integrate into its metropolises, its secure business districts, its sanitized squares and supermarkets. We are against prison because the rules of this society are based on money and competition, and we want a world based on solidarity and freedom, a world in which reciprocal agreements are the foundations of living together.”

As an extension of our anti-prison sentiments, we also wanted to express our solidarity with the accused in the December 8 case.
At a time when fingerprinting and photo-taking in police custody, DNA sampling, targeted and mass surveillance via digital media, and the charge of “association de malfaiteurs” are becoming increasingly widespread, the December 8 affair marks a new stage in the militarization of repression. People were imprisoned for their – alleged – affiliations with so-called “ultra-left” ideologies or international movements. The absence of widespread solidarity has given Darmanin (french minister of the Interior in 2020, NdT) a free hand to continue down the path of equating political opponents with terrorists. Perfecting the tools of repression for one always allows for the repression of others. [3]

The recent gathering bans and summonses concerning events in support of those charged on December 8 only reinforce the necessity and determination of our solidarity [4].

Solidarity with those charged on December 8, 2020,
Solidarity with all those imprisoned or suffering state repression,

Down with the state and capitalism !
Fire the prisons and courts !

P.-S.

More info on the 8/12 case, the ongoing international mobilization and the trial in October on soutienauxinculpeesdu8decembre.noblogs.org ; soutien812.net & solidaritytodecember8.wordpress.com