La Cause du Peuple: Alex Convicted, Bourgeois Justice True to Form
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a note published by La Cause du Peuple on the conviction of Alex.
On February 10th, the verdict in the trial of Alex, a pro-Palestinian activist, was delivered by the Paris Criminal Court. Tried for defending the Palestinian Resistance in a speech during a national demonstration for the release of Georges Abdallah in February 2024, Alex had vigorously defended himself against this state-imposed gag order. At the same time, a broad support campaign was launched throughout France, uniting residents of his neighborhood, organizations, and prominent democratic, progressive, and revolutionary figures from across the country and internationally in defense of Alex and, more broadly, the right to defend the Palestinian people.
Although no prison sentence was handed down, the state’s punishment is disproportionate. For publicly proclaiming what is right, the comrade received a 10-month suspended sentence, a €2,000 fine, a five-year ban on carrying weapons and holding public office, and finally, registration in the FJAIT, the file of perpetrators of terrorist offenses. Alex is therefore barred from working in the civil service and is subjected to extensive profiling for his stances. Not content with having treated Alex as guilty for a year even before his trial, he is now being treated as a terrorist.
While the movement against repression managed to spare our comrade from pretrial detention, and potentially a prison sentence, the bourgeois justice system remains a sore loser and loyal to the executive branch. This case sheds light on several things. Firstly, it has proven to everyone that the French justice system operates with two tiers. While it turns a deaf ear to French volunteers who have committed genocide in the Israeli army or other apologists for mass murder, it will strive to exert the heaviest pressure on activists courageous enough to go against the imperialist orthodoxy. Secondly, and this is the most important point to remember: only the people can save the people. If a support network had not mobilized so quickly in support of our comrade, it is possible that the sentence handed down today would have been far worse. For the bourgeois justice system is not only a sore loser, it also specializes in the psychological, political, and financial isolation of prosecuted activists in order to break them. In this specific case, we can say that it failed because Alex remains determined, and a national movement against repression has also emerged. This is how to fight the political attacks of the bourgeoisie: by standing together collectively and combatively.
Despite this verdict, Alex, like many other activists prosecuted and who have refused to back down, will continue to march with his head held high to defend the Palestinian people. The campaign to support our comrade is now part of a broader movement: no pro-Palestinian activist prosecuted will ever be alone in court. Other trials and verdicts will follow at the beginning of this year: Mahdieh Esfandiari, Shahin Hazamy, François Burgat, and so many others. We will be on their side no matter what. The French state will have to restrain him; repression will now be met with the same obstacle every time it attacks: the unity of the masses against the open war waged by the bourgeois apparatus. And nothing will ever silence us.
