Declaration of the comrade of Secours Rouge de Genève front the court accusing him of his involvement in Rojava

Today I am accused of military service abroad. The big question seems to be
whether or not I contributed to the resistance of the People’s Defense Units (YPG)
during my stay.
As a Swiss communist militant, the purpose of my trip was to see a revolution
with my own eyes and to participate in it.
Today, the Swiss Confederation is judging me through you because I would have
violated the “famous” Swiss neutrality by going to the north of Syria and I would
have damaged the defensive power of the country. One wonders if Switzerland
has so much in common with the Islamic State or Turkish fascism?
Two police reports clearly state that it is not possible to know what I would have
done during my stay. The evidence is obviously lacking. On the other hand, there
is plenty of evidence that Swiss neutrality is just a myth that is useful to the
bourgeoisie
When Switzerland sells arms or arms components to the Turkish fascist state,
neutrality is not important, only profit counts. These weapons are used to repress
progressive movements in Turkey. Some of them have also found their way into
the hands of the Islamic State.
When Switzerland extradites Turkish and Kurdish progressive activists at the
request of Erdogan’s regime or other European states, where is the neutrality?
When the country’s largest banks invest several billion each year in the arms
industry, which fuels conflicts around the world, where is the neutrality?
The Swiss state is not neutral. It chose its side a long time ago, the side of
Western imperialism. I too have chosen my side, the side of the oppressed.
For two centuries, a tradition of international revolutionary solidarity has
developed. By going to Rojava, I supported the side of the people who are
fighting for their freedom. There is only one international solidarity, its forms are
multiple and all are legitimate. A revolution cannot be built without a social
project and it cannot live if it cannot defend itself.
Following the example set by Norman Bethune or Barbara Kistler, I have
continued this tradition. As well as all those who have participated, in one way or
another, in the struggle of peoples that were not their own. From the anti-fascist
resistance in Spain to the struggle for the liberation of Algeria or Palestine, there
are many comrades who have carried their commitment to the international
level. This commitment has taken different forms, all of which have their
importance.
By going to Rojava, I supported the construction of a society based on principles
of social justice, feminism and ecology. A society that today is still fighting
against Turkish fascism and its Western supporters.
My choice is a political one, just like the one the Swiss state is making by bringing
me, on a mandate from the executive, before this court. Without concrete
evidence, I am brought before you, this on a simple and sole opinion of the
Intelligence Service of the Confederation, which has obviously not deigned to
provide the basis for their allegations.
All over Europe, solidarity with the Kurdish movement is under attack. The people
of Kurdistan show us that a revolution is possible and real. That is why our
solidarity and the ties we build are seen as dangerous.
Whatever the outcome of this trial, I have no regrets. I will continue to support
the revolutionary struggle in Kurdistan because as one of their proverbs says,
“Resistance is life!”
As a revolutionary and internationalist activist, I would like to end my statement
by saluting comrade Alfredo Cospito and all those who are fighting against the
41bis isolation regime in Italy.
I also salute Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and the prisoners of the Palestinian cause.
I salute Pola Roupa and Nikos Maziotis imprisoned in Greece for their
revolutionary commitment.
I also salute the thousands of political prisoners currently in the jails of the
Turkish fascist regime.
I salute the commitment of those who shout every day in the streets of Iran, “Jin,
Jîyan Azadî” and are imprisoned or killed.
I salute Serge, a French activist in a coma who is fighting to stay alive. Two
weeks ago, he was seriously injured by the police during the demonstrations
against the ecocidal project of mega-pools in the west of France.
All these activists show us that even in the face of the harshest repression, the
struggle for a better world continues.
As comrade Fred Hampton famously said, “You can jail a revolutionary, but you
can’t jail the revolution.