Luk Vervaet - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Luk Vervaet

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, Aug 1, 2023

Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstra... more Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstraat in Antwerp. I was 20 years old when I got to know for the fi rst time about the interior of a police station, then a cell in the basement of the Antwerp courthouse, followed by a prison cell, the one in Begijnenstraat, 1 and fi nally with a courtroom. As a young activist, I had joined about 20 other people from Alle Macht aan de Arbeiders (AMADA, All Power to the Workers), a Maoist organization, in the dockers' strike of April-May-June 1973 in Antwerp and Ghent, a so-called wildcat strike-that is to say, a strike not recognized by the trade unions. It was the period "after May 68". AMADA was looking for a candidate to be its spokesperson in this strike and that is how I became the man with the megaphone. This would lead to my arrest and imprisonment, after a violent clash between police, strikers and activists on May 14, 1973. 2 The incident took place during a demonstration in which women dockworkers were beaten by the police armed with truncheons, to prevent them from going to the building of the ABVV (Flemish FGTB) union offi ces to claim strike pay. Some of the demonstrators, noticing that a police car from the specialist surveillance unit-the Brigade de Surveillance et de Recherche (BSR) (Surveillance & Research Brigade)-was tailing the demonstration, broke off. The violence they had just seen infl icted by truncheon-wielding offi cers on the mothers and sisters of the strikers had provoked anger and a culprit was needed. A few hours later, after the gendarmerie hermetically sealed the dockers' recruitment offi ce, the public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in my name. But a dock worker had hidden me under a blanket in the back seat of his car and I was able to escape, although not for long. On May 15, I was sent to prison. One month later, on the day the strike ended, I was released. MEMORIES OF THE BEGIJNENSTRAAT Short as my prison stay was-many of my comrades received far heavier sentences in the years to come-I have vivid memories of my few weeks

Race & Class, Oct 1, 2018

Race & Class, Apr 1, 2010

The publication of The Violence of Incarceration, a collection of essays on imprisonment and stat... more The publication of The Violence of Incarceration, a collection of essays on imprisonment and state violence in the US, UK and Australia, edited by Phil Scraton and Jude McCulloch, provides an opportunity to reflect on the steady convergence of mainland Europe s penal policies with those of the US. This convergence undermines any notion of a European moral high ground in relation to incarceration and reflects a general trend among western states of increasing acceptability of violence, war and even torture as solutions to social and political problems. From this perspective, the cruelties at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib are not isolated examples of excess but, rather, have much in common with everyday practices in domestic US and European prisons; the focus of this article is this wider structural shift in incarceration practices, linked to, but going far beyond, the‘war on terror’.

Race & Class, Mar 30, 2015

Features of the American global war on terror, with its Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons, ... more Features of the American global war on terror, with its Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons, where captured detainees are kept outside the national rule of law and international conventions, are being emulated by European democracies, which introduce similar illegal concepts and practices into their penal policies. Now an enthusiastic partner of the US in the war on terror, the Belgian state, fractured internally by the linguistic and regional divide and incapable of finding solutions to the economic crisis, has followed the US in its justice and penal policies. The author charts the erosion of liberal principles within justice policies, from the abandonment of Belgium’s law on universal jurisdiction to the introduction of anti-terror laws and measures; a cooperation agreement with Morocco; and the cavalier attitude to evidence extracted under torture. He examines the significance of the extradition to the US of Tunisian national Nizar Trabelsi. Belgian penal policy has U-turned, especially since the moral panic over child molester and killer Marc Dutroux, and now prisons are massively overcrowded as punishments are ratcheted up. The author argues that the reason for Belgium’s apparent subservience to the US and NATO, and its move to punitive prison policies, lies in its wish to retain its central role within European institutions as it struggles to maintain economic and political stability.

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons

Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstra... more Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstraat in Antwerp. I was 20 years old when I got to know for the fi rst time about the interior of a police station, then a cell in the basement of the Antwerp courthouse, followed by a prison cell, the one in Begijnenstraat, 1 and fi nally with a courtroom. As a young activist, I had joined about 20 other people from Alle Macht aan de Arbeiders (AMADA, All Power to the Workers), a Maoist organization, in the dockers' strike of April-May-June 1973 in Antwerp and Ghent, a so-called wildcat strike-that is to say, a strike not recognized by the trade unions. It was the period "after May 68". AMADA was looking for a candidate to be its spokesperson in this strike and that is how I became the man with the megaphone. This would lead to my arrest and imprisonment, after a violent clash between police, strikers and activists on May 14, 1973. 2 The incident took place during a demonstration in which women dockworkers were beaten by the police armed with truncheons, to prevent them from going to the building of the ABVV (Flemish FGTB) union offi ces to claim strike pay. Some of the demonstrators, noticing that a police car from the specialist surveillance unit-the Brigade de Surveillance et de Recherche (BSR) (Surveillance & Research Brigade)-was tailing the demonstration, broke off. The violence they had just seen infl icted by truncheon-wielding offi cers on the mothers and sisters of the strikers had provoked anger and a culprit was needed. A few hours later, after the gendarmerie hermetically sealed the dockers' recruitment offi ce, the public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in my name. But a dock worker had hidden me under a blanket in the back seat of his car and I was able to escape, although not for long. On May 15, I was sent to prison. One month later, on the day the strike ended, I was released. MEMORIES OF THE BEGIJNENSTRAAT Short as my prison stay was-many of my comrades received far heavier sentences in the years to come-I have vivid memories of my few weeks

Lors de l'elaboration du journal Haren Express au printemps 2018, Luk Vervaet, militant contr... more Lors de l'elaboration du journal Haren Express au printemps 2018, Luk Vervaet, militant contre les prisons, nous avait parle du congres fondateur de la Ligue contre l'imperialisme et l'oppression…

Drafts by Luk Vervaet

SP Nederland: nieuwe hoop voor radicaal links of linkse versie van het Eenheidsdenken?, 2013

SP Nederland: nieuwe hoop voor radicaal links of linkse versie van het Eenheidsdenken?

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, Aug 1, 2023

Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstra... more Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstraat in Antwerp. I was 20 years old when I got to know for the fi rst time about the interior of a police station, then a cell in the basement of the Antwerp courthouse, followed by a prison cell, the one in Begijnenstraat, 1 and fi nally with a courtroom. As a young activist, I had joined about 20 other people from Alle Macht aan de Arbeiders (AMADA, All Power to the Workers), a Maoist organization, in the dockers' strike of April-May-June 1973 in Antwerp and Ghent, a so-called wildcat strike-that is to say, a strike not recognized by the trade unions. It was the period "after May 68". AMADA was looking for a candidate to be its spokesperson in this strike and that is how I became the man with the megaphone. This would lead to my arrest and imprisonment, after a violent clash between police, strikers and activists on May 14, 1973. 2 The incident took place during a demonstration in which women dockworkers were beaten by the police armed with truncheons, to prevent them from going to the building of the ABVV (Flemish FGTB) union offi ces to claim strike pay. Some of the demonstrators, noticing that a police car from the specialist surveillance unit-the Brigade de Surveillance et de Recherche (BSR) (Surveillance & Research Brigade)-was tailing the demonstration, broke off. The violence they had just seen infl icted by truncheon-wielding offi cers on the mothers and sisters of the strikers had provoked anger and a culprit was needed. A few hours later, after the gendarmerie hermetically sealed the dockers' recruitment offi ce, the public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in my name. But a dock worker had hidden me under a blanket in the back seat of his car and I was able to escape, although not for long. On May 15, I was sent to prison. One month later, on the day the strike ended, I was released. MEMORIES OF THE BEGIJNENSTRAAT Short as my prison stay was-many of my comrades received far heavier sentences in the years to come-I have vivid memories of my few weeks

Race & Class, Oct 1, 2018

Race & Class, Apr 1, 2010

The publication of The Violence of Incarceration, a collection of essays on imprisonment and stat... more The publication of The Violence of Incarceration, a collection of essays on imprisonment and state violence in the US, UK and Australia, edited by Phil Scraton and Jude McCulloch, provides an opportunity to reflect on the steady convergence of mainland Europe s penal policies with those of the US. This convergence undermines any notion of a European moral high ground in relation to incarceration and reflects a general trend among western states of increasing acceptability of violence, war and even torture as solutions to social and political problems. From this perspective, the cruelties at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib are not isolated examples of excess but, rather, have much in common with everyday practices in domestic US and European prisons; the focus of this article is this wider structural shift in incarceration practices, linked to, but going far beyond, the‘war on terror’.

Race & Class, Mar 30, 2015

Features of the American global war on terror, with its Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons, ... more Features of the American global war on terror, with its Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons, where captured detainees are kept outside the national rule of law and international conventions, are being emulated by European democracies, which introduce similar illegal concepts and practices into their penal policies. Now an enthusiastic partner of the US in the war on terror, the Belgian state, fractured internally by the linguistic and regional divide and incapable of finding solutions to the economic crisis, has followed the US in its justice and penal policies. The author charts the erosion of liberal principles within justice policies, from the abandonment of Belgium’s law on universal jurisdiction to the introduction of anti-terror laws and measures; a cooperation agreement with Morocco; and the cavalier attitude to evidence extracted under torture. He examines the significance of the extradition to the US of Tunisian national Nizar Trabelsi. Belgian penal policy has U-turned, especially since the moral panic over child molester and killer Marc Dutroux, and now prisons are massively overcrowded as punishments are ratcheted up. The author argues that the reason for Belgium’s apparent subservience to the US and NATO, and its move to punitive prison policies, lies in its wish to retain its central role within European institutions as it struggles to maintain economic and political stability.

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons

Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstra... more Almost half a century ago, in 1973, I was locked up for a month in the prison of the Begijnenstraat in Antwerp. I was 20 years old when I got to know for the fi rst time about the interior of a police station, then a cell in the basement of the Antwerp courthouse, followed by a prison cell, the one in Begijnenstraat, 1 and fi nally with a courtroom. As a young activist, I had joined about 20 other people from Alle Macht aan de Arbeiders (AMADA, All Power to the Workers), a Maoist organization, in the dockers' strike of April-May-June 1973 in Antwerp and Ghent, a so-called wildcat strike-that is to say, a strike not recognized by the trade unions. It was the period "after May 68". AMADA was looking for a candidate to be its spokesperson in this strike and that is how I became the man with the megaphone. This would lead to my arrest and imprisonment, after a violent clash between police, strikers and activists on May 14, 1973. 2 The incident took place during a demonstration in which women dockworkers were beaten by the police armed with truncheons, to prevent them from going to the building of the ABVV (Flemish FGTB) union offi ces to claim strike pay. Some of the demonstrators, noticing that a police car from the specialist surveillance unit-the Brigade de Surveillance et de Recherche (BSR) (Surveillance & Research Brigade)-was tailing the demonstration, broke off. The violence they had just seen infl icted by truncheon-wielding offi cers on the mothers and sisters of the strikers had provoked anger and a culprit was needed. A few hours later, after the gendarmerie hermetically sealed the dockers' recruitment offi ce, the public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in my name. But a dock worker had hidden me under a blanket in the back seat of his car and I was able to escape, although not for long. On May 15, I was sent to prison. One month later, on the day the strike ended, I was released. MEMORIES OF THE BEGIJNENSTRAAT Short as my prison stay was-many of my comrades received far heavier sentences in the years to come-I have vivid memories of my few weeks

Lors de l'elaboration du journal Haren Express au printemps 2018, Luk Vervaet, militant contr... more Lors de l'elaboration du journal Haren Express au printemps 2018, Luk Vervaet, militant contre les prisons, nous avait parle du congres fondateur de la Ligue contre l'imperialisme et l'oppression…

SP Nederland: nieuwe hoop voor radicaal links of linkse versie van het Eenheidsdenken?, 2013

SP Nederland: nieuwe hoop voor radicaal links of linkse versie van het Eenheidsdenken?