Tag: international struggle

Solidarity with Tunisia’s growing prisoners!

The following article has been submitted to GPAC by Chkoun? Collective on the increasing use of arbitrary imprisonment as a weapon of state repression by the authoritarian and anti-migrant Tunisian state.

20/11/2024

**French translation below**

**Mobilize for the immediate release of the Tunisian Black feminist activist Saadia Mosbah and all those detained for solidarity with migrants! Mobilize for an end to the violence against Black migrants and refugees in Tunisia!**

Dear comrades,

We reach out to you with a piece of news wildly overlooked in the media, and a call to action.

Saadia Mosbah, a brave Tunisian Black feminist and steadfast advocate for racial justice in Tunisia, has been unjustly imprisoned for her activism on May 6th 2024. Saadia, a relentless defender of Black Tunisians’ rights and a leading figure in combating anti-Black racism and injustice more widely, is being targeted for her commitment to freedom and equality. She is the president of M’nemty, an association that has tirelessly fought to challenge systemic racism and advocate for racial justice in Tunisia, and has secured many achievements since the 2011 revolution.

Tunisian authorities have detained Saadia on unfounded money laundering charges, detaining her for nearly seven months without any evidence. They continue to hold her in custody while searching for proof to justify the charges, effectively normalizing the practice of “imprison now, prove later,” a blatant violation of justice and due process.

Saadia’s arrest must be understood as part of a wider attempt to silence and punish those who resist state repression. Her treatment has been riddled with anti-Blackness and misogyny, aimed not only censoring her but also at sending a message to all Black, feminist and minoritized groups across Tunisia. Many individuals have already been arrested for taking position against racism. Among them are Cherifa Riahi, targeted for her work with a migration solidarity NGO; Sonia Dahmani, detained for speaking out against state and societal racism on a radio show; Rachid Tamboura, detained for a graffiti tag criticizing President Kais Saied and more recently Abdallah Said, Black Tunisian activist and president of the “association Enfants de la Lune” in Médenine detained with charges of assisting migrants in Médenine. Many others remain behind bars with cases receiving little to no media attention. These arrests bring the criminalization of solidarity to a whole new level.

This is unfolding in a political climate fueled by fascist groups spreading conspiracy theories, amplified by a state apparatus rooted in xenophobic nationalism and authoritarianism. Tunisian authorities have been carrying out illegal deportations, abandoning Black migrants and refugees in desert areas where they are left to die from thirst and hunger, and isolating thousands others in remote camps where they face immense violence and discrimination, and lack access to basic services. Numerous recent reports reveal that these brutal actions are knowingly financed by the EU, as part of its strategy to externalize its borders to Tunisia and neighboring countries.

It is critical that we show solidarity with Saadia Mosbah and amplify her struggle internationally and the struggles of all those jailed for their principled stances for justice in Tunisia. We urge Black feminists, prison abolitionists, and comrades around the world to mobilize. We must highlight the connections between Saadia’s case and the broader pattern of racialized, patriarchal repression that many Black and anti-racist organizers face worldwide.

**Here’s how you can help:**

1. **Spread Awareness**: Share Saadia’s story across social media, in newsletters, and within community spaces. Expose the Tunisian authorities’ anti-Black and patriarchal practices.

2. **Call for an end of this injustice**: Contact international organizations and your local representatives and demand pressure on Tunisian authorities and statements condemning this injustice.

3. **Support M’nemty and other anti-racist and migrant and refugee organizations**: Show support towards Saadia’s organization, M’nemty, which continues to face harassment. Also follow the work of Refugees in Tunisia, Refugees in Libya, La Voix des Femmes Tunisiennes Noires and the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, amplify their demands, and follow their recommendations to insure their safety.

4. **Organize and Demonstrate**: Mobilize protests, online and offline, to show solidarity with Saadia. Demand her immediate release and an end to the violent repression of activists in Tunisia.

Saadia Mosbah’s imprisonment is not an isolated event; it is a systemic attack against the Black feminist movement in Tunisia and a warning to all who oppose state oppression. By raising our voices together, we can help secure her release and affirm that the fight for racial and gender justice will not be silenced.

In solidarity and resistance,

Chkoun collective

Find our work and contact here: https://linktr.ee/chkoun_collective

Links with more information:

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 **Mobilisation pour la libération immédiate de la militante féministe Noire Tunisienne Saadia Mosbah et de toutes les personnes détenues pour solidarité avec les personnes migrantes ! Mobilisation pour la fin de la violence contre les personnes migrantes et les réfugié.es Noir.es en Tunisie!  

Cher.es camarades,
Nous nous adressons à vous pour vous faire part d’une nouvelle négligée par les médias et pour vous lancer un appel à l’action. Saadia Mosbah, une courageuse féministe Noire tunisienne et une avocate indéfectible de la justice raciale en Tunisie, a été injustement emprisonnée pour son activisme le 6 mai 2024. Saadia, qui défend sans relâche les droits des Tunisien.nes noir.es, également, une figure de proue dans la lutte contre le racisme anti-Noir et l’injustice en général, est prise pour cible en raison de son engagement en faveur de la liberté et de l’égalité. Elle est présidente de M’nemty, une association qui s’est battue sans relâche contre le racisme systémique et pour la justice raciale en Tunisie, et qui a obtenu de nombreux résultats depuis la révolution de 2011.

Les autorités tunisiennes ont arrêté Saadia sur la base d’accusations infondées de blanchiment d’argent et l’ont détenue pendant près de sept mois sans aucune preuve. Les autorités continuent de la maintenir en détention tout en cherchant des preuves pour justifier les accusations, normalisant ainsi la pratique « emprisonner maintenant, prouver plus tard », ce qui constitue une violation flagrante de la justice et des droits de la défense.

L’arrestation de Saadia doit être comprise comme faisant partie d’une tentative plus large de réduire au silence et de punir ceux  et celles qui résistent à la répression de l’État. Son traitement a été truffé de mesures anti-noires et de misogynie, visant non seulement à la censurer, mais aussi à envoyer un message à tous les groupes de Noirs, de féministes et de minorisés en Tunisie. De nombreuses personnes ont déjà été arrêtées pour avoir pris position contre le racisme. Parmi elles, Cherifa Riahi, ciblée pour son travail avec une ONG de solidarité avec les personnes migrantes ; Sonia Dahmani, détenue pour avoir dénoncé le racisme de l’État et de la société lors d’une émission de radio ; Rachid Tamboura, détenu pour un graffiti critiquant le président Kais Saied et, plus récemment, Abdallah Said, militant Noir tunisien et président de l’association « Enfants de la Lune » à Médenine, détenu pour avoir aidé des personnes migrantes à Médenine. De nombreuses autres personnes sont toujours derrière les barreaux et leurs cas ne reçoivent que peu ou pas d’attention de la part des médias. Ces arrestations portent la criminalisation de la solidarité à un tout autre niveau.

Tout cela se déroule dans un climat politique alimenté par des groupes fascistes qui diffusent des théories du complot, amplifié par un appareil d’État ancré dans le nationalisme xénophobe et l’autoritarisme. Les autorités tunisiennes procèdent à des expulsions illégales, abandonnent des personnes migrantes Noires et des réfugié.es dans des zones désertiques où iels meurent de soif et de faim. Les autorités Tunisiennes isolent des milliers d’autres dans des camps reculés où iels sont confronté.es à une violence et à une discrimination extrêmes et où iels n’ont pas accès aux services de base. De nombreux rapports récents révèlent que ces actions brutales sont sciemment financées par l’UE, dans le cadre de sa stratégie d’externalisation de ses frontières vers la Tunisie et les pays voisins.

Il est essentiel que nous soyons solidaires de Saadia Mosbah et que nous amplifiions sa lutte au niveau international, ainsi que les luttes de toutes les personnes emprisonnées pour leurs positions de principe en faveur de la justice en Tunisie. Nous exhortons les féministes Noires, les abolitionnistes de prison et les camarades du monde entier à se mobiliser. Nous devons mettre en évidence les liens entre le cas de Saadia et le modèle plus large de répression raciale et patriarcale auquel de nombreux.se organisateur.ices Noir.e.s et antiracistes sont confronté.e.s dans le monde entier.**Voici comment vous pouvez nous aider:**

1. **Sensibiliser** : Partager l’histoire de Saadia sur les médias sociaux, dans les bulletins d’information et dans les espaces communautaires. Exposer les pratiques patriarcales et anti- Noires des autorités tunisiennes.

2. **Appeler à mettre fin à cette injustice** : Contacter les organisations internationales et vos représentants locaux et exiger des pressions sur les autorités tunisiennes et des déclarations condamnant cette injustice.

3. **Soutenir M’nemty et d’autres organisations antiracistes, de migrant.es et de réfugié.es** : Apportez votre soutien à l’organisation de Saadia, M’nemty, qui continue d’être harcelée. Suivre le travail de “Réfugié.es en Tunisie”, “Réfugiés en Libye”, “La Voix des Femmes Tunisiennes Noires” et le “Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Sociaux et Economiques”, amplifier leurs revendications, et suivre leurs recommandations pour assurer leur sécurité.

4. **Organiser et manifester** : Mobilisez des manifestations, en ligne et hors ligne, pour montrer votre solidarité avec Saadia. Exiger sa libération immédiate et la fin de la répression violente des activistes en Tunisie.

L’emprisonnement de Saadia Mosbah n’est pas un événement isolé ; il s’agit d’une attaque systémique contre le mouvement féministe Noir en Tunisie et d’un avertissement pour tous celleux qui s’opposent à l’oppression de l’État. En élevant nos voix ensemble, nous pouvons contribuer à sa libération et affirmer que la lutte pour la justice raciale et de genre ne sera pas réduite au silence.

En solidarité et en résistance,
Le Collectif Chkoun

Découvrez notre travail et trouvez nos coordonnés ici: https://linktr.ee/chkoun_collective

Liens avec plus d’information:

From the “ruling realism” to the realism of the oppressed

by Nima Sabouri

On the morning of 6th August, Reza Rasaei, a 34 year old Kurdish political prisoner and one of the detainees of the Jina Uprising, was executed after enduring months of imprisonment and torture. This state murder, along with the execution of 23 other prisoners during the week prior, occurred at a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran is in the middle of its most acute foreign political-military tensions, especially following the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. 

The occurrence of these executions at this moment, in addition to the issuance of the death sentence for two women political prisoners (Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi), is part of a mass murder campaign that has seen the execution of more than 200 other prisoners since the 21st of March 2024 alone (the first day of the Iranian calendar). In 2023, at least 853 persons were executed, about 300 more than in 2022. This accelerated campaign of state killings shows that for the rulers of the Islamic Republic, the main battleground is inside the country, where the regime faces a huge mass of oppressed and angry people. The execution of prisoners, whether political or “non-political”, is actually a tool to intimidate and terrorize this “dangerous crowd”.

A day following Rasaei’s execution, 29 other prisoners were executed in two prisons in Karaj, a city in north-central Iran. On the same day in the women’s section of Evin prison in Tehran, prisoners who held a sit-in in protest of Rasaei’s execution were brutally attacked. Some were physically hurt so badly by the prison guards (amongst them Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Narges Mohammadi) that they had to be treated in hospital.

While the Islamic Republic, in spite of the hype, treats its foreign opponents as always with huge caution (so much so that it even informs them in advance and in detail of its performative military strikes), it does not recognize any limitations or considerations when confronting actual and potential opponents inside the country. This is because the rulers of the regime think that the balance of power in the domestic arena is in their favor (unlike in the foreign arena), and also because, based on their long experience in international politics, they know only too well that they will not be held accountable to any body at the international level for even the most heinous killings and atrocities they commit inside the country. This impunity rests on a core tenant of the international power system — an unwritten custom that dictates non-interference of governments in each other’s “internal affairs”. The effect of this has been that the rulers of Iran and other dictatorial regimes have a green light to attempt to completely suppress their own “citizens”, which would also be an “optimal” solution for the global powers to outsource the maintenance of the dominant order to the dictator regimes.

In the domestic sphere, the regime also hopes that the long-term practice of suffocating voices through maximum repression will still work, so they attempt to control the consequences of oppression and repression with more oppression and repression, via intimidation. This is why, for example, in recent years, we start our mornings every day with news of fresh executions.

Having said that, the situation described above is not as static as it seems. Under the shell of suppression, there exists a flow of resistance. Continuous executions are actually a state-tool of intimidation to curb these resistances. Some visible examples of this resistance-flow (despite the intensification of state repression) are: the stands by justice-seekers (families of those killed by the state), daily and civil resistance of women*, frequent strikes and protests of workers (including retirees, teachers, nurses, industrial workers, oil and gas workers, etc.), the resistance of the marginalized and oppressed nationalities ( Kurds, Baloch,  Ahwazi and others), environmental protests, and also the continuation of the resistance of prisoners in dozens of prisons across Iran. The noteworthy point is that, at least in the current phase, the intimidation function of increasing executions has not been as effective as the rulers had expected. For example, parallel to the increase in executions, the range of the prisoners participating in the hunger-strike of the  “Tuesdays of No to Execution” campaign in Iranian prisons has expanded (as I write, it is the twenty-eighth week of this campaign).

Furthermore, even if the rulers of Iran’s Islamic system have forgotten the fate of their former political relatives, such as Omar al-Bashir (of Sudan), they are now fearfully witnessing how the anger and determination of the oppressed in Bangladesh has marked a humiliating fate for another one of their political relatives. 

It is for all of those reasons that for the rulers of the Islamic Republic, the main battlefield has always been inside the country; that is, their “main enemy” or the main obstacle to the expansion of their absolute power has been the oppressed, angry and desperate masses. The confidence of the rulers in recognizing this main enemy, and their ruthless determination in advancing this fateful battle, is due to the knowledge they have, more than anyone else, of the depth of the multiple crises they have created during the life of their sinister political system. These crises are so deep that even if they (presumably) want to, they can not provide any ointment to reduce the suffering and anger of the masses. In addition, the successive waves of mass uprisings in Iran since December 2017 have revealed the extent of the gap and antagonism between the state and the oppressed.

Therefore, the Iranian rulers’ awareness of the irreversibility of the path they have taken is the main theme of their “political realism”. This “ruling realism” has determined the main strategy of their governance beyond the ideological and religious sediments of the past. Based on this “realistic” strategy, the main goal of the Islamic Republic is nothing but maintaining the survival of its political system, under any conditions and at any cost. This goal partly explains why the Islamic Republic has increasingly embraced militarism, especially in the last two decades, and has so tightly mixed its capitalist economy, domestic politics, and foreign policy with militarism.

Since capitalism, despite the diversity of its local and regional children, is a global system, the imperialist mechanisms supporting this system also operate on a global scale. This is how – for instance – the glorious revolution of the Sudanese peoples, in the absence of global solidarity, has been surrounded by global and regional powers and is caught in a “war of the generals“, with the aim of destroying its revolutionary surpluses in famine, mass displacement and mass killing.

The current and nascent political revolution in Bangladesh reminds us, however, once again, that revolution is a manifestation of the “realism of the oppressed” — that there is no other way to freedom. This is, in itself, an emancipatory realism, even though its transformative power can only be realized through deepening the revolution and solidarity of the oppressed on a global scale.

Who We Are

The formation of this coalition was compelled by the need to draw connections between national and international struggles, and between political prisoners and social prisoners, who are mostly working-class victims of poverty, racism, marginalization and neglect. The mass uprisings against anti-Black police violence, along with the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of imminent death faced by prisoners hastened this effort. Made up of organizations and individuals spanning five continents, our position regarding prison abolition is informed by the need for an alternative to capitalism because capitalism is carceral and authoritarian.

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