A E L

Tomorrow myself and Ahmed Azzuz will appear in front of the court of appeal of Antwerp, after long years of criminalisation and repression we will begin the last chapter in a long fight to clear up our name and that of our organisation.

For us it has never been an issue of our own selves and there have never been anything personal about it, this whole matter is about a struggle for basic rights, identity and solidarity with our peoples in the homeland. It is an anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle. And there for racists, imperialists and Zionist-colonialists all joined forces to destroy us. And tomorrow we will tell them that they failed, and that we still stand tall, unbroken and more defiant than ever.

Some voices in our community are breaking the barrier of fear and coming out with clear support to our cause and to the AEL as an organisation. Some others are again being instrumentalised by the establishment that finances them through subsidies to attack us and play down our role and our principals. Tomorrow we will hear the voice of solidarity and courage, but we will also undoubtedly listen to the dogs of the establishment barking at the AEL caravan, but no matter what happens, the dogs will bark and the caravan will carry on its way.

Tomorrow Belgium is tested, and the main question will be, is it a democracy or a dictatorship? Democracies can only be called such if they tolerate dissident opinions and they respect the rights of minorities. It is not an accomplishment to have freedom of speech guaranteed for the main stream that goes along with the structures of power, in dictatorships also you have the freedom of speech to agree with the main stream and with the government.

But can a dissident opinion condemning the main stream and condemning the government be tolerated? And can its right to political organisation and mobilisation be respected? Our experience has been that such an opinion and the people who carry it will be persecuted, marginalised and criminalised.

The people who were recuperated by the establishment, the ones who started as radical as us in their demands of equality but eventually fell into line and today they work for the establishment, they are tolerated and promoted. The organisations that were critical to the racist establishment but that have been absorbed by means of generous subsidies into that same establishment are tolerated and promoted. But an independent and assertive emancipation movement that rejects subsidies and rejects state funding and can not be put in check within the frames of the establishment is dangerous and must be destroyed. Such and organisation is dangerous because it can actually trigger a real emancipation and because it prevents the assimilation of the second generation immigrants originating from the third world, hence preserving the organic link with the causes of the oppressed south in the heart of the oppressive north. Having ambassadors of the exploited masses of the third world in the streets of what is supposed to be the bastion of Capitalism is something that can not be tolerated and must be destroyed.

The struggle of the AEL is deeper than most people think and is related to the wealth and justice deficit in our world, it is a mirror of the struggle of the peoples of the south against imperialism, colonialism and by extension against the very nature of the capitalist system. It is a joke to believe that a court decision, no matter what that decision is, will end the struggle. It can only be either a victory along the road, or a blow that we will endure and will eventually make us stronger in our convictions. The struggle for Basic rights, Identity, and international solidarity is unstoppable, and the AEL is unstoppable because its Ideas are now flourishing in many brave hearts and minds and will multiply.