The solidarity fund against repression is created to answer the need for help against police and judicial repression, by funding legal fees and court costs. We support actions in the field of anti-patriarchal, anti-racist, anti-capitalist struggles or any other struggle against any form of exploitation or domination.
The fund was born in order to support people in the context of social mobilisations (actions, manifestations occupations…), it doesn’t forget that the repressive politics, the police violence and the courts used against the social mobilisations, are already at work since a long time in the working- class neighbourhoods and against exiled people, people without papers or migrants. The fund supports the idea that it’s the daily repression we should fight/oppose and that it’s a must to attack the impunity of police violence.
This fund is powered by gifts and by actions or benefit parties organised by individuals, groups, collectives. This people or collectives support and take part, if they can, within their means or depending on what they can bring to the fund.
Our Solicarity fund against repression intends to be a tool -among others (with legal teams, other solidarity funds, etc…) – in the service of building a broad and self-organized response to repressive proceedings. The fund is managed by an open committee, seeking to bring together in particular people active on this themes.
Our principles:
- That each and everyone, regardless of their recources, can have the right to a legal defense of quality as part of an activist engagement or when being faced toward police violence.
- That the defense prepares itself with respect for the accused. She or he, supported by other accused, by their comrades in struggle or by the legal defense collective if there is one, will always have the last word in the strategy to be adopted. The lawyer will have to adapt her or his practices to the strategy thus defined.
- To not choose between “good” or “bad” accused people: no dissociation.
Attribution mechanism:
- The fund covers basically a 30% of the costs and up to a maximum of 1000 euros * in the context of lawyer costs (unless people fall under the conditions for pro deo help), of a “administrative communal penalty” (SAC in french), a fine linked to militant actions or of police violence.
- If the remaining 70% of the costs turn out to be problematic to assume, and if the person or the group seems not to be able to collect them (via calls for solidarity, events, …), it is then possible to make an exceptional request to the anti-repression fund . These exceptional requests are dealt with every two months by the cooperative assembly for the allocation of the funds.
- The fund can also take charge of mandates (for people who are locked up) and costs of expertise and counter-expertise depending on the files.
- In the case of SACs, it is necessary to contact a legal team beforehand in order to study the possibilities of challenging it. If extra money is generated (via calls for solidarity, events, etc.) to finance the rest of the costs, it is asked that this gets transferred to the anti-repression fund. It is possible to use the foundation’s account to raise money.
- If you are having trouble finding a trusted lawyer who works for an acceptable fee, do not hesitate to contact a legal team.
- The Committee is responsible for management (checking whether requests fit the criteria, allocating funding of less than € 1,000, transferring exceptional requests to ACAB, being a point of contact).
* to the extent of the financial means available in the fund.
