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Sasha
12th January 2013, 07:22
Joke Kaviaar, activist/ publicist, under attack by Dutch state - solidarity needed


http://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/blog/524812_514272128593606_54377415_n.jpg (http://libcom.org/files/images/blog/524812_514272128593606_54377415_n.jpg)


Joke Kaviaar, writer/ poet/ anarchist/activist, had been put on trial by the Dutch state for íncitement against public order'. The charge is based on four articles she wrote and published on het website, in which she strongly criticized the oppression, detention and deportation of migrants/ refugees/ people without papers, and called for active resistance aganist these policies



Joke Kaviaar, writer/ poet/ anarchist/activist, had been put on trial by the Dutch state for íncitement against public order'. The charge is based on four articles she wrote and published on het website, in which she strongly criticized the oppression, detention and deportation of migrants/ refugees/ people without papers, and called for active resistance against these policies. These are policies that get more inhuman every day, almost irrespective of which governmental combination is in office. Lots of repressive laws and practices have been introduced, and more often than not the PvdA, a so-called left wing party comparable to the Labour Party, has played an active role in introducing these laws and practices. Joke calls for resistance, and is very active around solidarity with refugees/ No Border-activism. That is why, obviously, the state is now trying to silence her.
The attack on Joke has been going on for a long time. On September 13, 2011, authorities forced a close-down of her website. To no avail, fortunately: she refused to withdraw the articles - originally five, now four – what caused the state's attack. She was arrested and held in jail without contact to the outside world for three days, and then released. Her house had been turned upside down, with all kinds of items pjotographed in what clearly was an intelligence operation that went way beyond the preparation for a trial. Activists did not sit idly by: mirror sites of the Joke Kaviaar website appeared, her articles appeared on other websites. Then... mostly silence, and waining.
After months upon months of uncertainty, a trial was finally announced for January 8, 2013. Radical sympathizers of Joke and of the struggle whe so strongly supports had by that time started a solidarity campaign, wrote articles about aspects of the case, all the time connecting the free speech issue with the radical refugee struggle, the fight against borders, deportation and detention of migrants/ refugees, and with the braoder legitmimacy of active resistance, whatever the law may say.
On the trial itself, Joke read a long and imressive statement in which she ex-lained that not she, but the state and its accomplices, whould be attacked. Dozens of sympathizers were present in or around the cour building to show support, hand out flyers to passers-by. I was on the outside because, typically, authorities did not let in people without a valid ID. Police was on show around the building. In the meantime, the public prosecutor had made clear her point of view: she called for a six months prison sentence. Intriguing: during the investigation, a suggestion was being made that they suspected Joke of ïncitement with terroristic design or purpose. In the final indictment, this terroristic connection was dropped. Apparently, that connection came in handy to legitimize a very extensive investigation into Joke's activities.
The attack on Joke is clearly an attack both on the refugee solidarity/ No Border activism, and more broadly on anarchists and other radical activists, and on the right to radically criticize state polices. It is a free speech issue, but at the same time it is much more. If they succeed in putting Joke behind bars, more victims of state repressions may suffer a similar faith. The court will pronounce sentence on 22 January. Activists, the Steungroep (support group, formed around the case) and others, are trying to raise an outcry that puts Dutch authorities, not Joke, on the defensive. Let that outcry cross borders and sound way outside the Netherlands as well.
Solidarity is needed. Support is needed. Not Joke Kaviaar, but the powers and policies she attacks should be under relentess and ferocious attack themselves.
Website Joke Kaviaar: http://www.jokekaviaar.nl
Website Steungroep: http://13-september.nl/ with the “inciting” articles, http://13-september.nl/opruiende-teksten-old/
Getting in touch: http://13-september.nl/contact/ This contact formula is in English, the rest is mostly Dutch.



source: http://libcom.org/blog/joke-kaviaar-activist-publicist-under-attack-dutch-state-solidarity-needed-12012013

while i have many, many personal and political disagreements with Joke I wholeheartedly agree with this call for solidarity, an injury to one is an injury to all..

MarxSchmarx
12th January 2013, 07:59
Is there an English translation of the original article? (I wonder if that would put the translator in danger as well?)

Sasha
12th January 2013, 09:26
I dont think so, and the articles under siege are really outside of dutch context even more completely harmless. Most seriously is a "who will take up the torch" question in reference about the dutch 80's anti-racist direct action group that firebombed multinationals that invested in south-africa and bombed the house and ministry of the minister of refugee policy.

Some more background;
http://13-september.nl/thought-crime/
http://13-september.nl/tag/english/

Domela Nieuwenhuis
12th January 2013, 10:06
Oh, the dutch are so free...

Freedom of speech? Only for fascists like Wilders! Fuckers...

Domela Nieuwenhuis
13th January 2013, 20:25
Made a blog entry about this on my Wordpress-blog.
Thanks to Psycho for sharing!

Sasha
22nd January 2013, 15:09
Update; the ruling came in today, she got convicted to 4 months in jail! she is going to appeal obviously.
More info later

Tim Cornelis
22nd January 2013, 15:17
Insane. Punching someone in the face so hard he breaks his skull open and breaks his jaw and literally has to eat through a straw for months for no reason whatsoever gets you 120 hours of shoveling for community service (http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/21238106/__Werkstrafje_voor_karateklap__.html), making rather empty suggestions about a Dutch uprising and you get a 4 month prison sentence.

Domela Nieuwenhuis
22nd January 2013, 19:25
Welcome to the liberal totalitarion state! The 'free' Netherlands.

Fuck, they should have called it Neverland...

Sasha
23rd January 2013, 09:29
Press release support group Jan 22, 2013 –Joke Kaviaar sentenced to four months in prison for incitement

Joke Kaviaar sentenced to four months in prison for incitement - Migration activist does not let herself be silenced

Today the bench chamber of the court in Haarlem ruled in the case of incitement by speech and word against Joke Kaviaar. The court rejected all of the defense pleas of her lawyer and sentenced Joke to four months in prison. This is less than the six months imprisonment the Public Prosecutor had asked for. Joke Kaviaar will appeal the conviction and announces that she will not let herself be silenced. She will continue to speak out against the Dutch migration policy.

The Support Group 13 September, founded after the arrest of Joke Kaviaar, feels that the ruling was to be expected, as seen in the light of the current political climate in the Netherlands and in the standing jurisprudence around the Supreme Court regarding incitement (Article 131 of the Criminal Code). The current verdict restricts the freedom of expression: from now on Joke Kaviaar and other publicists offering sharp criticism against government policy will get into danger to be restricted as well. This verdict creates dangerous jurisprudence for further restriction of criticism against the government.

Joke Kaviaar will appeal to a higher court, because she will keep defending her right to express herself by her texts, both as part of the struggle for free speech against state repression and as part of the refugee struggle. The sentence is a scandal, but will not break the ongoing struggle against borders and for freedom of movement.

Joke Kaviaar was arrested at home on September 13, 2011 and detained for three days under full restrictions. Meanwhile a house search took place. She was charged with “incitement and spreading incitement with a terrorist intent”. This charge involved a number of texts in which Joke fiercely speaks out against the Dutch migration policy. A few months later, in December, the Public Prosecutor’s National Office had her website taken offline. It was a day later put back online by unknowns and is still accessible.

After a long-term investigation two weeks ago, on January 8, a hearing before the bench chamber place finally took place. Four of her texts were submitted by the Public Prosecution to the court as being ‘inciting’. The previous accusation that Joke Kaviaar had a “terrorist intent” with the alleged incitement was dropped. This raises the suspicion that the aggravated charge at the time of arrest, permitting the house search, and used throughout the entire investigation has only been added as intimidation, and to make use of the extensive investigative powers of the terrorism legislation.

—-

For more information: Support Group 13 September ([email protected]) The quotes for which Joke Kaviaar is convicted, the relevant articles and more background information, are available at www.13-september.nl Website of Joke Kaviaar: www.jokekaviaar.nl

Domela Nieuwenhuis
23rd January 2013, 20:18
This shit makes me feel like inciting. Just for lolz.

Bit afraid of the consequences though.