Friday, August 28, 2015

JelleBruinsma. E-Mail. 26 Aug 2015.

Dear friends,

A young comrade in the Netherlands just got convicted to 6 months in prison! Please help in supporting him and write him a letter of solidarity. The Story: Saïd is a 22-year old comrade who was born in Afghanistan but his parents sought refuge in the Netherlands, where he was raised. In the past years he’s been very active in various groups, from the union to socialist and anti-racism groups. When a black man, Mitch Henriquez, was strangled to death by the police in The Hague at the end of June, and his lifeless body dragged into a police van to cover the evidence (caught on tape), protests erupted in the city’s popular and migrant neighborhoods. Like many comrades, Saïd participated. The protests did not focus solely on this single case; the police in The Hague is the most extreme racist and violent police force in the Netherlands – I can testify that my Arab friends were told repeatedly to ‘fuck off to their own country’ at a police station. Moreover, there have been more (racially charged) police murders and many more abuses in the Hague in the past years. In this context protests continued for more than a week, resulting in nightly riots for days in a row. In subsequent weeks the police worked together with the media to spread images of many dozens of young people in the media. Saïd was one of them.But now he got convicted to 6 months in prison (2 of which are probation), an incredibly high punishment in our country. The judge made clear in his sentencing that he wanted to make an example out of Saïd, who is a prominent ‘black’ voice and as such dangerous for the racist establishment that is getting more and more nervous by the rebelliousness of ‘muslim’ youths. I do not need to tell any of you that 4 months in prison for such a young person is a big thing; those of us who have spent a couple of hours or days know how tough that can be mentally. Not even to speak of the social consequences this might have for him, his job, and his future options.
So please, join me in writing to Saïd, to make him realize he has comrades all over the world! Feel free to spread this message to get more comrades to write to him!If you need more information, please email: jelle_bruinsma@hotmail.com

To write Saïd, address your letters as follows (copy this exactly):
PI Krimpen aan den Ijssel
Postbus 750
2920 CB Krimpen aan den Ijssel
Tnv Saïd (afdeling H)
The Netherlands”

In solidarity,
Jelle Bruinsma

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