Defy the Curfew

a Declaration by Olivier Besancenot
[spokesperson for the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire]

[Prime Minister] de Villepin’s decision, as announced last night on Channel One, is unacceptable. Instead of responding the social crisis, he has dug up a law from the colonial era, from the Algerian War, which gives prefects the power to enact curfews in part or all of their borough, and also to suspend many freedoms. E. Raoult, the mayor of Rancy – a city with 2,6% low-income housing – had already enacted such a curfew, as a repressive trial balloon. The LCR [Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, or “Revolutionary Communist League” – France’s largest Trotskyist organization – translator] is calling on people to defy the curfew by demonstrating wherever they are enacted, at night if necessary. The LCR invites all democratic and left-wing to help organize these demonstrations.

Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, November 8th 2005


Please note that the above text about the past 12 days riots in France comes from the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire website in France and was translated by yours truly. I have a “fast and loose” translation philosophy, meaning that when there is a choice between readability and the original phraseology i tend to favour the former, provided that the meaning stays the same. The original document can be seen in French. Please also note that i am translating this as i have not been able to find any radical accounts of the riots or the police racism that provoked them in English… i do not necessarily agree with the author’s point of view, nor do they necessarily agree with mine. Si quelqu’un a un meilleur texte à suggérer, svp envoyez-moi le!