Tarnac Nine
Encyclopedia
The Tarnac Nine are nine alleged anarchist saboteurs arrested in the village of Tarnac
, France
in November 2008 in relation to a series of instances of direct action
. The gendarmerie
, French police, entered Tarnac with helicopters and dogs and dragged the suspects from their beds.
Around twenty people were arrested on November 11, 2008, and nine of those were charged with "criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity". Of those nine, Yildune Lévy was released, under review, on Jan 16th 2009 but Julien Coupat
is still being held in prison despite being ordered for release in December 2008. The nine are predominantly graduate students from middle-class backgrounds, from 22 to 34 years old. Five of the nine had been living in a farmhouse on a hill overlooking the village.
They stand accused of associating with a "terrorist enterprise", causing delays to the French rail network by disabling over 160 trains. Coupat has also been charged with writing The Coming Insurrection
, a popular anti-capitalist text. Academics and Coupat's family have said that the threat from the "violent left" is being exaggerated, and that the Tarnac Nine are "scapegoats for a generation who have started to think for themselves about capitalism and its wrongs". Support groups have emerged across France, in Greece, Spain and in the United States
.
Tarnac
Tarnac is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France.-Population:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in November 2008 in relation to a series of instances of direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
. The gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
, French police, entered Tarnac with helicopters and dogs and dragged the suspects from their beds.
Around twenty people were arrested on November 11, 2008, and nine of those were charged with "criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity". Of those nine, Yildune Lévy was released, under review, on Jan 16th 2009 but Julien Coupat
Julien Coupat
Julien Coupat is a French political activist at the centre of a controversial investigation. As one of the Tarnac Nine, he was accused of plotting the sabotage of train lines in November 2008, which the French government decided to define as terrorism, and spent over six months in jail before...
is still being held in prison despite being ordered for release in December 2008. The nine are predominantly graduate students from middle-class backgrounds, from 22 to 34 years old. Five of the nine had been living in a farmhouse on a hill overlooking the village.
They stand accused of associating with a "terrorist enterprise", causing delays to the French rail network by disabling over 160 trains. Coupat has also been charged with writing The Coming Insurrection
The Coming Insurrection
The Coming Insurrection is a French work that hypothesizes the "imminent collapse of capitalist culture"...
, a popular anti-capitalist text. Academics and Coupat's family have said that the threat from the "violent left" is being exaggerated, and that the Tarnac Nine are "scapegoats for a generation who have started to think for themselves about capitalism and its wrongs". Support groups have emerged across France, in Greece, Spain and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
External links
- Tarnac 9 Support site
- Open letter from the parents of Bertrand, Mathieu, Elsa, Aria and Yldune
- Criminalising Dissent in this article at the Guardian, the famous translator Alberto ToscanoAlberto ToscanoAlberto Toscano is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher and translator best known to the English-speaking world for his translations of the work of Alain Badiou, including Badiou’s The Century and Logics of Worlds...
points out that the case of France's Tarnac Nine shows we are losing the political literacy to distinguish between sabotage and terrorism