A summer of revolts

While the end of last year was marked by social problems that caused a bit of trouble for the powerful, the summer of 2016 brought fiery revolts against this world of misery and oppression. First and foremost, these took aim at those who most obviously carry of the violence of the powerful, namely the cops and the gendarmes [military-style police].

While some go off on vacation, others stay trapped in the prison world of the ghettos. On Tuesday July 19 in Beaumont-sur-Oise in Val-d’Oise, Adama Traore was killed by gendarmes while being arrested. To conceal his death by suffocation at the hands of the pigs, the state immediately began talking about “heart troubles … respiratory troubles … pulmonary infections” and so on. Every time some dies in custody, power puts on the same grim spectacle, with the complicity of the media. This time, Beaumont and Persan [two towns in Val-d’Oise] responded with several nights of revolt, during which many municipal and state buildings (police stations, libraries, garages for city vehicles) as well as capitalist infrastructure (gas stations, supermarkets…) went up in smoke or had their windows smashed.

These attacks against the institutions and infrastructure of this society are the proof that only by destroying this world will we find justice within it. To demand that “justice be done” is to insist that the state condemn a killer in uniform who is himself tasked with maintaining order, so basically asking power to condemn itself. It’s hoping for a kind of state justice that is and always has been in the service of the rich and powerful. Even if this murdering officer were to be found guilty of voluntary homicide, the exploitation and oppression imposed by this system would continue just the same.

In Besançon, in the night of the 14-15th of August, a revolt exploded against some oppressors: the transit security, more and more numerous lately on the tramways at the end of the day (especially in working-class areas). That night, they finally reaped some of the rage they’d been sowing by constantly hassling broke people without transit tickets. One of the lawmen from Besançon Transit will remember this night for a long time, since a paving stone made it through his windshield and took him out of commission for a few weeks. Many buses and trams were pelted with rocks, lots of street fixtures were damaged, and burning barricades on the tracks forced the transit company Ginko to stop traffic until 10am the next day. The cops, always there to defend an order based on money and goods, also felt the rage of the rebels through a hail of stones. And to top off this fine night, no one was arrested.

Each day the state brings forward disgusting laws
from the “work!” law to “manadatory civilian service”

The four months of fierce struggle against the labour law undermined the legitimacy of society and its armed goons, which made power decide to take revenge against the rebels, as the statistics of repression makes clear (according to official statements from the ministry of justice published on July 7 2016, 896 people were arrested and detained and 32 received jail sentences since the beginning of the movement. Out of those held by police, 520 concerned “attacks against law enforcement”, 188 “participation in an armed group”, and 89 for “property destruction”). There were blockades of highschools and universities, economic disruptions targeting its choke points, and sabotage and destruction against everything that perpetuates exploitation and oppression.

Surely we should not turn back from such a promising path (towards insurrection). And there are many reasons to wander further down these seldom-traveled trails, because each day power restructures itself and strengthens its position with laws each more repulsive than the last.

Mandatory military service hasn’t existed for a long time, but the state is planning a modern version, better adapted to the needs of the market, beginning in 2016-2017. The government plans on forcing each youth, after their 18th birthday, to spend all summer working in a business, a stupid community organization, or an institution considered to be “of public utility” (like the army, the gendarmes, the police, the national school system, etc). This new national service will then require six additional months of internship before the age of 25 (completed either all at once or in two blocks of three months). It’s a dream come true for bosses and for the state, who will just sprinkle a few crumbs for the exploited (400 or 600 bucks) once they’re done their task. Welcome to the world of adults, where we’re taught to hustle all day for a bit of pocket money, to put up with shitty labour conditions and the whims of bosses and their cronies, with schedules and rhythms that kill our minds and drain our energy and autonomy. From the age of 18, they need to be trained to be good little minions of the owning class. Beyond just rotting young minds with the habit of exploitation and competition, the idea is to prepare and train each youth to be the ideal citizen, as dreamed of by the state, by force-feeding them patriotism and respect for laws, as well as setting them up to be snitches and sheep…

As for us, will we succeed in breaking through the impasse of resignation to take our lives in our hands, to generalize rebellion against the ever-shittier future proposed by the powerful?

[From Seditions: an irregular anarchist journal the Besançon area. Issue 8, September 2016.]

[Translated by Bordered by Silence]

The wars and shitty conditions inflicted by capital and the state drive thousands of people towards exile. Many of them flee religious and state persecution towards European countries, in hopes of being granted asylum or refugee status. For the authorities, the main issue is to get them on file (notably via a genetic database put in place by the EURODAC regulations, which form part of the Dublin II law), to keep them under control, to park them until they can be sent back. Those with degrees can “win” the right to stay, since they are directly exploitable by the economy. But hell awaits the the vast majority of those who manage to set foot alive on the national territory – in other words a “life” of permanent anxiety and fear of being arrested by the police, of ending up locked in CRAs (French detention centres) only to be expelled back to their country of origin (or to the first European country they arrived in, according to the Dublin III rules).

To file, sort, detain and expel undocumented migrants, the state relies on many charities, who in exchange are generously showered with subsidies. The most notorious are: the Red Cross which currently shoulders the police at the border between Menton and Ventimiglia in order to send migrants who seek to enter France back to the CIEs (Italian detention centres), which it runs ; Emmaüs, abbot Pierre’s association, which sorts undocumented migrants in Paris so as to facilitate the police’s job, and runs reception centres ; the Order of Malta and France Terre d’Asile (“France Land of Asylum”), which run practically all of the detention centres in France ; the CIMADE, which supposedly intervenes in the CRA to guarantee refugees’ rights but in fact seeks to make their interment “more humane”, in other words more acceptable. They play the ideal role needed by the state: that of social pacification. But the large charities (the most well-known ones) which manage the lions’ share of the market of misery are far from the only ones to intervene. We already recalled (in the 6th issue of the paper) the role of La Vie Active (“Active Life”) in Calais, where the organisation was granted management of the high-security mega-detention camp.

In Besançon as in many other towns of France, a new method of policing undocumented migrants has been experimented with by the state during the summer of 2016, in the framework of the new reform of the CESEDA (Code of entry and of stay of foreigners and of the right to asylum) which was voted on March 7th: house arrests, which are presented as an alternative to detention. To extend internment beyond the confines of prisons is part and parcel of the current logic of the powers that be. Be it for the prisoners (under the authority of the Ministry of Justice) or for the migrants (under the Ministry of the Interior), the state is attempting to unclog prisons and detention centres by issuing alternative sentences, such as electronic bracelets, judicial reviews and various obligations to regularly appear before the police or judges, etc…

In the capital of the Doubs, the organisation which runs the “reception centre for refugees” (night-time accommodation) of the St-Jacques hospital is ADDSEA (Departmental Association for the Safeguarding of Children and Adults of Doubs), located at 23, rue des Granges. Its staff, particularly its mediators, in true policing form, exert ever-increasing control over the life of migrants, such as by imposing a curfew (9 PM). If the migrants don’t return to the accommodation on time, they are barred from all social services (meals, supplies, pocket money, etc) and have no other choice than to “fend for themselves”. They are made to pay for the slightest help they receive, such as access to a less hostile, gloomy and miserable environment to sleep in than the “reception centres”. Furthermore, the migrants have to go to the police station every day to signal their presence. If there is the slightest departure from the centre’s regulations, the association expels them and sends the police after them to catch and expel them. This policing, which definitely doesn’t save migrants from the risk of expulsion, forces them to accept being controlled in order to receive the bare minimum needed to survive. It is to the police’s advantage since they know where to find the migrants when the order to expel them comes. Thus, some undocumented migrants decide to put an end to this loathsome blackmail by deserting the state and town services, at the risk of being caught, locked up in the CRAs, and forcibly expelled.

Considerable means of expressing mutual aid and solidarity towards undocumented migrants do exist (such as opening squats or collecting food, clothing…). However, a large number of revolutionaries and folks who stand in solidarity tend to forget that practical solidarity can be carried out by sabotaging the innumerable cogs in the expulsion machine, which are to be found everywhere: the banks who report undocumented migrants to the police (such as La Poste, BNP Paribas, LCL), the airline companies who charter the expulsion flights (such as Air France), cleaning companies who maintain the CRAs (such as Derichebourg), or the infamous charities which collaborate with the state’s migration policies.

[Translated by Theory without borders / Non-Fides]

Besançon: Against this world of slaves and misery … Let’s plunge into the path of revolt!

In the face of our passivity and our resignation, the State is concocting ever more disgusting and humiliating projects. The dream of the rich and those who aspire to a world of wealth and exploitation is to see us slave away for their profits without flinching, we who are forced to accept any job to survive. Working hand in hand with the bosses, the State wants to make this “life” ever more unbearable for us.

The various laws that power seeks to make us swallow aim to alienate us even more and force us to accept the foundation of their rotten society based on exploitation and war of all against all: between those who work and those who don’t; the poor unemployed and those without papers fleeing wars and poverty, freeing themselves from ultra-secure borders and opposing the  State guard dogs. All these divisions between exploited, a mere reflection of this competitive prison world that power works for every day, are all barriers to break down.

Faced with the daily humiliation and misery of this system, some absorb piles of drugs, legal or illegal, commit suicide to escape the conditions of submission and oppression in which the dominant hold us. Although the vast majority comply with this filthy existence licking the ass of the owners or imbibing their values ​​(snitching, money, property, racism, etc …), others rebel individually or as a few, by attacking and destroying part of what constitutes the wealth of the exploiters.

Will we continue to bow down, follow like sheep the slightest whistle of the unions, first partners (collaborators!) of the State, always negotiating what sauce we will be served up? Marching every now and again behind reformist banners and slogans, along a route completely mapped out by the cops ???

There’s no way to stay in place, from home to the grind, tram stations to supermarkets and shopping malls, all in the middle of a barrack-style urbanism under the eyes of cops paid to control us and blight our existence. Let’s stop suffering the daily tram-tram. Let’s block everything.

If we go out into the streets it won’t be just to oppose a law that consolidates the chains that link the exploited and oppressed to the bosses and masters of this world. At a time when power is filling the entire territory with its ever more heavily armed uniforms, now is the time to take to the streets to refuse to be reduced to the state of slaves.

It’s no use brooding and bitching, either in our own areas or on social networks. It’s time to act, organize ourselves, always bearing in mind that to do the most harm to the enemy, it is necessary to remain unpredictable, spontaneous and uncontrollable.

Let’s renew the old revolutionary practices that we have abandoned for too long: the wildcat strike, the blockade, sabotage, and maybe more …

No compromise with those who make war on us!

[Poster flyposted in Besançon on the sidelines of the mobilization against the “labour law” of March 9, taken by Indy Nantes.]

Translated by Act for freedom now

The 7th and 8th October, the municipality [of Besançon] had planned to make way for the military so it can show off its potency and seduce the public. The army, this school of submission, authority and crime takes root in every aspect of our everyday life: television and radio commercials, advertising campaigns ubiquitous in the urban space, recruitment banners on many buildings, propaganda articles in the press, regional as well as national, up to being present on paper bags for baguettes.

To ensure the promotion, the newspaper of the municipality (the ‘Besançon Votre Ville’ of October 2015) devoted a special dossier, in which the historical implantation of the army in Besançon is evoked (in buildings around the city, thousands of homes and employees, etc….), while detailing its colossal budget, its additional workforce to come, its material and human means to terrorize, oppress and massacre populations. That was enough to directly oppose all this shit that took place in front of the town hall.

During the week of 3 to 9 October, there was agitation against the army and all it bears. Posters were pasted, leaflets were distributed. The eve of their big party tags were sprayed in the ‘Battant’ district and at several places in the city: “The army, it stinks, it pollutes and it makes stupid”, “Down with the military”, “Neither nations nor borders – Down with the state and its uniform”, “The army loves you to death”, “Rather vandal than corporal”, “Rather indolent than sergeant”, “Fuck leaders,” “Let’s be wild, not guards”… The ‘Ruty’ barracks located in Bersot Street were also stained with red paint, just like the signboard at the entrance of the recruitment centre (CIRFA) located next door. The authorities were of course quick to erase everything and take everything away. On Thursday, 8th October, several interventions – mostly from students – have disrupted the smooth running of this militaristic event: with slogans against the army, by speaking through a megaphone in memory of Rémi Fraisse (opposing the dam in Testet, killed there almost a year ago in clashes with the military police), or by the suspension of two banners (“Long live the horror, apply now” & “Down with the army”) to the gates of the ‘Arsenal’ building of the faculty of languages, located close to their event. At the end of the demonstration organized against the austerity imposed by the State and the bosses (while there are areas where the state drastically bleeds budgets, the security forces instead receive huge means, the police and the army first and foremost), a small group again tried to disrupt it but came across several rows of cops who protected the soldiers on both ends of the square in front of the town hall. People passing by have seen what was to be a great celebration of the army required tight protection for it to take place without too much hassle…

Moreover, pamphlets were distributed where this PR operation of the army took place in the afternoon of Wednesday, 7 October. The anti-militarists who were disseminating leaflets also suffered a small pressure from the cops who held them a quarter of an hour, the time for an identity check. By order of the cops hierarchy, the leaflets were confiscated.

Each year, the states hold military parades and ceremonies to commemorate their past bloody wars while endorsing those in progress and paving the way for those to come. These regular ceremonies, serving the state to reaffirm its strength and the poison of national unity, are all opportunities open to us to demonstrate our refusal of their wars, whether conducted on the outside for the economic interests of States, against immigration or to maintain social peace within the borders…

On the side of Switzerland, there has recently been some blows to military infrastructure. Several border patrol vehicles were attacked during a demonstration against the army on 18 September 2015 in Basel. It was organized against a military exercise that was held in the city for several days, to train military forces to improve the control and surveillance of borders, but also to ward off any attempt to revolt and uprising against the state and capital. A few days later near Zurich, 9 army vehicles were burned on a military logistical base in Hinwil. Unfortunately fire-fighters managed to extract 14 vehicles from the flames of this magnificent sabotage. Another example, in Belgium this time: a car parked inside the military camp of Amay was burned. The vehicle, which belonged to a soldier, was completely destroyed. Since it was parked near buildings, the fire caused some damage to the framework of a building. In France too, many direct actions show that the army is not untouchable. In Valence (Drôme) 8 July 2015, soldiers on ‘Vigipirate’ patrol in the district of “Fontbarlettes” were attacked with stones. Their vehicle loses a window and in the aftermath the police station was the target of an attempted arson. Between 20 and 21 June 2015 in Toulouse, an army recruitment centre (CIRFA), located in the city centre, has all its windows destroyed. On the night of 26 to 27 October 2014 in Saint-Denis (93), the same fate for centre in the Gabriel Peri Street, the largest of the Ile-de-France region in terms of recruitments. The statement claiming the action said: “All powers are assassins. We will not make their wars, we will not leave them in peace. Social war for freedom (signed: belligerent deserters)”. On the night of 19 October in Munich (Germany), a civilian vehicle of the Bundeswehr is on fire, causing 30,000 euros of damage. In late October in Rennes, the recruitment centre of the army, located at Mabilais Street, is attacked in response to the killing by the military police of an opponent to the dam of Testet, Rémi Fraisse, one year ago: vehicles parked in the parking lot get their tires punctured and locks glued. In conclusion: if the “army is reaching out”, it is all the same within reach of everyone !

[Translated in ‘Avalanche n°6‘]

The industrial group JCDecaux is known above all for having enriched itself from advertising from the middle of the 1950s onwards and then by extending its scope of activities in several aspects of the workings of capitalist and state domination.

In exchange for installing bus shelters for municipalities for “free”, JCDecaux has carte blanche to invest, in the towns or on the outskirts, in bright inserts and screens – big and small – in which spread thousands of cubic meters of posters and advertising spots. Its work in lobotomising people’s brains is recognized as a “public utility” by the state.

Almost all the main cities of France (Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg, Dijon, Nantes …) as well as Besançon are under contract with JCDecaux. Its empire stretches throughout Europe and the world: the firm gets rich through its displays in stations, airports, public transport, shopping centres and centres of tertiary activities in over 60 countries worldwide. In addition to being a showcase for this world of exploitation and oppression, the “street furniture” is obviously used as a propaganda tool by the local town halls and companies working for the proper functioning of society: whether to conduct campaigns against “incivility” in transport (mainly targeting fare dodgers), to promote subsidised cultural evenings contributing towards embourgeoisement or to instill obedience and servility in the population.

Nearly 10 years ago, the company threw itself into the commodification of the “free service” of bicycles . This Greater Urban transport service is presented through its company marketing campaign as being sweet and ecological. As often regarding our movements within towns and cities, whether carried out by tram, bus, subway or car shares, the JCDecaux bike does not escape the social control and information gathering about those who use it. The GPS system built into each bike [this is not the case for the Velib ‘in Paris; NdAttaque] and the personal details of the individual required so as to be able to subscribe to these bikes bring together a wealth of information for the multinational database, such as consumption patterns and locations being visited (see footnote below).

What about the production of these bikes?

The construction of these rental bikes is provided by ‘Lapierre’, a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational ‘Accell group ‘. The headquarters of ‘Lapierre’ is located in Dijon (8, rue Edmond Voisenet). But it’s in Hungary, specifically in the city of Tószeg, located 120 km southeast of Budapest, that JCDecaux produces its rental bikes … and cheaply: in fact, the company exploits the workers for two euros hour, or 354 euros per month. They work on average 5 days a week for almost 8 hours daily without interruption.

Launched in September 2007 in Besançon, the ‘velocity’ (to call it by its local name) [TN: ‘vélocité’ in French is a pun – ‘vélo’ means bike, ‘cité’ means small town – and the 2 together mean, as translated, “velocity”] is intended to attract a trendy and affluent population, which vibrates to all that is soft transport (this is also the selling point for the tramway). It is not by chance that the installation of bike stations (30 in total in Besançon) happens within neighborhoods that are being upgraded and in the process of gentrification. At the end of April 2015 in Besançon, several ‘vélocité’ stations were removed to be redeployed in areas of hotels and shops and close to the tram stops, as in ‘Chaprais’ or in ‘Fontaine Argent’, where new condominiums for the rich are being developed. Linking soft transport (tram, ‘vélocité’ and car sharing organised by the company ‘Citiz’) is a source of profits for developers and planners. The popular areas on the outskirts of Besançon, such as ‘Clars Soleil’, ‘The 408’ or ‘Planoise’ were deliberately avoided by the multinational. Because it takes at least 150 euros in your bank account and other fees to use it. So it is no wonder that the poor in large cities (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille …) feel a strong hatred for these products of green capitalism, the theft and damage of which increase annually by several thousand euros.

JCDecaux has found a solution: get minors (or not) who are indicted for theft / damage of its bikes to do Community Service work. In collaboration with the PJJ [Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse – the branch of the Ministry of Justice concerned with non-adult “crimes”], the judges and juvenile judges, the company enjoys the blessing of the state, which recognizes its bicycle system as a “public service”. The multinational officially participates in programs of “rehabilitation” for prisoners and profits from legal measures such as “penal reparations” and “alternative punishment”. In other words, people convicted of damage serve their sentences working 6 hours a day for free in the repair shops, which are managed by its subsidiary ‘Cyclocity’. This constitutes a capital interest in the company but also for the state which allows it to economise on judicial procedures and to reduce the congestion of its youth prisons (EPM, CEF, ERC ..) [TN note: EPM : Etablissement pénitentiaire pour mineurs – Penitentiary Establishment for minors; CEF : Centre éducatif fermé – education centre for pirsoners; CER : Centre éducatif renforcé – further education for pirsoners] Any prisoner who works behind bars is already paid a pittance (between 20% and 45% of the minimum wage). But in this specific case, there’s a word for this exploitation: slavery.

Advertising, prison and capital exploitation leaves no room for debate and discussion. Going on the attack and sabotaging these facilities and these infrastructures is a way to break free from the chains of this society a little bit more . JCDecaux, which is present almost everywhere in diverse forms, opens up enormous possibilities to harm its dirty work.

***

Here is a chronological list of multi-faceted forms of destruction against JCDecaux recently. Of course, it is far from complete, given that the figures of the damage done are provided to us by the media (and are often in reality higher):

– April 15, 2014, Paris: in the 10th, 11th and 12th arrondissements and in Montreuil, the tyres of 453 Vélib’ are slashed in opposition to JCDecaux’s prisoners of slavery.

– May 7, 2014, Paris: 80 Vélibs have their tyres let down along with three vans and a truck from the municipality of Paris who collaborate in the exploitation of prisoners.

– May 20, Paris: “453 Vélibs have their tires slashed in several districts. Ditto for 5 commercial trucks and 3 lorries belonging to the Town Hall. This attack represents a drop in the ocean of the 8000 attacks they suffer on average per year over the capital. ”

– November 8, 2014, Besancon: twenty “velocity”s are put out of service by punctures.

– November 23, Besancon: 11 bus shelters and its ads are shattered in mid-afternoon on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately, a person is arrested.

– 24-30 November 2014, Toulouse: JCDecaux “is entitled to two breaks in the evenings. One of them cost just € 21,445 and another € 12,129. No less than 250 billboards are damaged. ”

– Nov. 26, 2014, Besancon: around 1:30, a man chooses to treat his “depression” by smashing three bus shelters on Blum Avenue. He is unfortunately arrested and put in a police station cell.

– February 8, 2015, Bordeaux and its suburbs: 45 advertising panels are destroyed, making 90 to replace windows for the company. Tags against the ads are written on street furniture.

– May 2015, Besancon: thirty “velocities” are punctured in solidarity with the rebels of ‘Planoise’ and ‘408’. [reference to constant attacks on riot cops, BAC etc on estates in Besancon in May]

– May 27, 2015, Paris: a ‘JCDecaux’ van goes up in smoke. Incendiary sabotage is carried out in solidarity with anarchists jailed in Spain.

– End May / early June 2015, Toulouse: bus shelters and advertising are the target of “regular destruction” on the road to TOEC [sports club]. No figures for the damage are reported by the press.

– Mid-August 2015 Aurillac: during the famous international street festival, about sixty ads and shelters were smashed by anarchists.

– Between 2010 and 2013 in Besançon, no less than 800 acts of destruction were identified by the city against the bus shelter advertising panels and JCDecaux. The damage amounts to more than a million euros.

Also available here: http://attaque.noblogs.org/post/tag/jcdecaux/

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Besançon becoming a “Smart City”

…dedicated to meeting the needs ofthe economy by promoting ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The socialist town hall after having redeveloped the Town Planning of the city with trams, complexes of luxury homes and shopping centres, is about to launch free wifi downtown.
The goal is to make people swallow targeted advertising every half hour after their last phone call. After filling all your personal details, your wallet, limping along, can be tracked everywhere, and ads will be suggested targeted to your consumer tastes etc … The town sees there a boon to boost consumption in the city centre, a process already committed to with the “pedestrian Saturdays.” And J-CDecaux is obviously one of the main beneficiaries of this innovative concept.

Before we put this edition of the paper out, we learnt that construction began mid-August in Moncey street in the city center. This is so the municipality can install fiber optics, among other things to improve the transmission of images and the flux of data for CCTV cameras (officially “upgrade the power grids”). The site, created by the construction company ‘Sobeca’, will last at least until next November. This leaves time to go and put your grain of sand into the gears of domination. …

Translate by dialectical-delinquents