Statement: From the UK to Québec, Defend the Right to Protest - PLEASE SIGN

We are writing to express our solidarity with the thousands of students in Québec, the United Kingdom and internationally who are facing legal charges for defending their right to protest.

We are concerned with high-profile cases because of their political significance, but we are equally concerned with the thousands of people who face serious charges yet remain effectively isolated and silenced. Much of the important work begins by attentively working with these marginalised cases. Divide-and-rule strategies based on “legitimate” and “illegitimate” acts of protest should also be resisted.

In Québec, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the former spokesperson for the student association CLASSE, was found guilty of contempt of court this November 1 and now faces the possibility of prison time for allegedly defending picket lines. Emphasis on the Nadeau-Dubois case detracts from the thousands of others who are facing charges and years of potential jail time. This also runs the clear risk of creating hierarchy within a social movement in which equality and solidarity are vital strengths. Inspired by resistance in Chile, the Middle East and the global Occupy movement, those being charged in Québec effectively resisted the privatisation of education and inspired social movements internationally in the process.

In the UK, on December 9, 2010, tens of thousands of students took part in a national demonstration against £9,000 tuition fees in a mass show of unity against this deeply unpopular policy. Student activist Alfie Meadows was hit by a police baton so hard that he needed emergency brain surgery. Alfie is now being charged for violent disorder. The case is grossly unjust and all charges should be dropped. But again, many others in the UK are being arrested and charged, and all merit concrete solidarity.

These trends fit a global pattern of increasing police oppression and politically motivated legal attacks during a time of widespread social injustice. In this sense, we welcome active support for Bahraini student Jassim Al Hulaib, one of the many unjustly imprisoned prisoners of conscience. We denounce increasing levels of policing and oppression in the face of legitimate social unrest.

We encourage acts of economic solidarity with donations to Je donne à nous (I give to us all), a legal defence fund for the thousands people arrested during the student strike in Québec. We also encourage donations to Defend the Right to Protest, which is campaigning alongside those who have been unjustly accused.

To all of those facing the legal system and potential jail time in Québec, the UK and internationally, même combat, same struggle.

Please post your full name and affiliation below (ex. university, organisation, title, etc.).