In metropolitan Paris, in the suburb of Nanterre, on the morning of 27th June 2023 another French young person of Algerian origin, 17-year-old Nahel, is shot dead at close range in his car by a cop.
The official narrative would be failure to comply witha traffic stop and self-defence by the cop on duty. But the existence ofa video froma bystander left no room fortheparrots in the system to once again spew their racist filth abouta dangerous criminal. Not of course that they do not attempt this through thevoices of the media, the interior minister or the “independent citizens” who give the necessary social legitimacy to the escalation of repressive brutality and nationalist politics.
The violence, racism, humiliation and killings by the cops especially towards the residents of the working class, poor and racialised neighbourhoods of Paris/ Ïle-de-France are daily and normalised.
The state assassination is immediately responded to with wild clashes in the streets, which go on fordays. The streets of towns and cities all over France are filled with the anger of the demonstrators who don’t stick to the script of civic protests. Burning ofstate buildings, and armed attacks on cop5, infrastructure and vehicles are the reality of the next several nights, despite the curfews. The state’s response: brutal repression, arrests, chemicals, plastic bullets. Nothing surprises us anymore. The police are loyal to the state and are ready to kill to defend their bosses.
The murder ofNahel is not an isolated incident, it is not a ‘French disease’ it is the tangible expression of the racist state, the nationalist social imaginary and the entrenched chauvinism in all corners of the globe. No matter how many kilometres separate us on the map, ourhearts burn with those who fight for the ultimate dignity, to walk freely. Our hearts clench intoa fist sendinga tiny signal of solidarity. Everybody to the streets…
State, cops, judges, bosses are murderers.
Let’s not let another murder slip through the cracks. In memory ofNahel and all those who have perished too soon.