France: Joint-Statement on the Persecution of Palestine Activists
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a joint statement published on the X account of Ligue de la Jeunesse Révolutionnaire.
Paris, March 14.
PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
Let’s fight against the relentless legal persecution of Palestine’s supporters
Since 2023, the entire world has been rallying against the genocide in Palestine. Two and a half years of genocide, two and a half years of a war that is spreading throughout the Middle East, and two and a half years of an unrelenting march toward war, toward repression, and toward the end of democratic rights.
For the past two and a half years, the French government has been cracking down on all forms of internationalism, solidarity, and brotherhood among peoples. At the same time, the French government is taking advantage of the situation to relentlessly attack the democratic rights that were once the pride of the Enlightenment. This is a process that was already well underway and is now accelerating by every means possible—bans on meetings, gatherings, and demonstrations; threats of dissolution; attacks on freedom of speech; censorship; attacks on labor rights; and repressive laws.
Let’s not kid ourselves: these attacks will not be limited to solidarity among peoples. They aim to slowly but surely dismantle all the people’s democratic rights.
Our comrade Alex is just one example among many. He is being prosecuted for his opposition to the genocide of Palestinians and has been subjected to judicial and administrative harassment for over a year. Because he is a pro-Palestinian voice, he was targeted by a trial for “glorifying terrorism,” which resulted last February in a 10-month suspended prison sentence, a five-year ban on carrying weapons and ineligibility to hold public office, registration in the FIJAIT (Automated Judicial Database of Terrorist Offenders), and a €2,000 fine.
This trial followed a speech and took place alongside numerous other trials involving activists supporting Palestine: Elias D’Imzalene, Mahdieh Esferandi, Shahin Hazamy, and Abdourahmane Ridouane. The justice system is targeting Alex, just as it is targeting many other activists defending Palestine, such as trade unionists Timothée Esprit and Jean-Paul Delescaut. Behind the attack on their support for the Palestinian people, it is in fact trade union freedoms as a whole that are under attack.
When Palestine Vaincra, Urgence Palestine, Ligue de la Jeunesse Révolutionnaire, and the Jeune Garde are dissolved or threatened with dissolution, it is all organizations that are under threat; it is the right of assembly and freedom of expression that are being targeted.
Yet, as the horrific images from Gaza already show, academic studies estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed by missiles, bullets, starvation, disease, and gangrenous wounds…
Is it normal for those who oppose genocide to be imprisoned? What about the more than 6,000 French-Israeli soldiers who have gone to fight in the Israeli army? What about the companies that make their macabre profits off the backs of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories? What about the nations that send weapons to the State of Israel?
Today, Alex’s latest arrest threatens his suspended sentence and his freedom of speech. The objective is clear: to silence him.
But mobilizations calling for his release took place across all of France. Thanks to them, he was once again able to avoid being remanded in custody. However, our thoughts now turn to all those who are alone in the face of the justice system—to all those whom no one has heard of.
We must stand together against these attacks; we must stand in solidarity with all those who are threatened because of their beliefs, with all those who want a better world and are attacked for it.
Standing up for a people being massacred is not a crime!
Stop the judicial persecution!
Let’s defend democratic rights!
Solidarity among peoples!
Solidarity with all those facing political repression!
Shahin Hazamy, Elias d’Imzalène, Ligue Anti-Impérialiste France, CN CPES, Young Struggle France, kaubuntu, Supernova, Comité Palestine de Saint-Denis, Mouvement Kanak de France Lyon, Fosse aux Lyons, Ose CgT Loire, Jeunesse Communiste, Ceini Hnyei, UNEF Amiens-Picardie, Ost, Coordination – Union Étudiante Picardie, AFA Amiens, CAIA (Collectif Anti-Impérialiste Amiens), Comité de Défense de la Palestine Lyon, Comité Féminin Populaire, Comité de Défense de la Palestine Montpellier, Comité Palestine Rennes 1, Comité de Défense de la Palestine Rennes 2, Comité Palestine Hérouville, Collectif Palestine Libre Montpellier, Front Anti Impérialiste, Union Jeunesse Communiste, Union pour la Reconstruction Communiste, Secours Rouge Toulouse, Mouvement National Lycéen 13, Jeunes Communistes Bouches-du-Rhône, JC06, AFPS 35, Comité chômeur précaire 13, BDS 69, Union pour la Palestine Marseille, AFPS 02, Bir Kar, RUSF 34, Collectif 69 de soutien au Peuple Palestinien, UJFP 69, OCF, Comité Palestine Paris 1, Comité Palestine Paris 4, Comité Palestine Nanterre, Comité Palestine Unistras, Comité Palestine Lille, PCOF Bas Rhin, PRCF, Sesl, Union Syndicale Solidaires, Arles pour la Palestine, Solidarité Aix Palestine, Perspectives Musulmanes, YDG Strasbourg, UNEF Nancy, MELP 54, UJC54, Rennes décoloniale et populaire, Comites Revolutionarios.
We hereby share the original statement:
