Avalanche - The Anarchist correspondence zine Avalanche-EN-13 | Página 5

control thicker and thicker, stabilizing the power of priv-
ileges; everybody in their place, registered, transparent,
for being able to reintroduce the order and disarm dis-
turbing elements at the smallest sign of losing control or
once things step out of the row.”
An attack onto a local project of power (like Bässlergut
in this specific case) must, from an anarchist point of
view, be looked at as an attack on these internationally
relevant developments and should contain this view, if
possible, in its approach. To fight a local project of pow-
er is nothing but a tool to make an abstract, globally in-
tertwined, historically grown and at times too confusing
system visible by pointing at a concrete manifestation of
it. A specific struggle is, in the first place, a beginning.
The nights catch fire
The Bässlergut is used as a prison only since 2000 and
has been confronted with criticism since then and for
that evolved as a reference point for the local resistance
against the massive practice of deportation, the Europe-
an border regime, as well as the incarceration and pun-
ishment of people through the state in general. At this
point it has to be mentioned, that one cannot talk about
a generally spread hostility against this prison in Basel
or against auth ority in general – and that the prisons
of Basel and the whole of Switzerland have not experi-
enced any uprisings or resistance during the last years.
Therefore, this struggle can’t be described as an inter-
vention into an existing social tension. Such a tension is
simply not there, or at least not visible.
Still, with the history of the last years in mind it was
clear, that the expanding of Bässlergut won’t be possi-
ble without any troubles. Even if the struggles against
this prison, as well as the different logics it stands for
are as old as the prison itself and the calls for resisting
its expansion spread early, the struggle got much more
intense since the start of the construction site and at-
tacks on the responsible grew in number. What started
off with smaller interventions such as punctured tires
of cars, developed towards the spread of arsons onto
cars of the companies involved in the construction of the
building. One could see in Basel in the last few years,
that on the same weekend a civil police car, a car of
Swisscom (a local telephone company) and a drilling
crane of the responsible construction company Implenia
catch fire in different places.
The destructive attacks on the responsible actors cer-
tainly have been a central element in this struggle, but
the forms of resistance have been far more diverse in
the last year. With posters “against the state, its bor-
ders and prisons” people where called to “come togeth-
er with friends and accomplices, to organize, to make
plans and to put sand into the gears of all those, who
seek to keep us as passive spectators of their expansion
of power and attack them” and “despite the propaganda
of power, which intents to make us believe that they are
almighty and untouchable” the poster states, “that revolt
is possible, that the fire of freedom is alive, as long as
there are individuals who confront their own oppression
with joy and dedication”. A list of responsibles is being
published, more in the internet then on the streets. In
the whole city, slogans and stickers against Bässlergut
appear. In different occasions, the are discussion and
encounters around Bässlergut and our possibilities of
resisting. As an intervention against the day of nation-
al celebration, the prisoners are visited by a wild demo
and the walls of the construction site are painted with
slogans. In May, a demo of 200 goes towards the site,
but is stopped by police. A few days before the demo,
an excavator of Implenia is set alight, the media talk
about the attacks, the mood is recognizably incited. The
attacks, as well as the media campaign of defamation
are going on. The authorities are under pressure, but
are incapable of showing results. A special unit is intro-
duced by the police. The question is not if they will hit,
but when. At the 5th of October 2017 six houses in the
regions of Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, as well as Zürich
are raided. In some cases police confiscates computers,
mobile phones and clothes, some people are taken to
the police station, interviewed and forced to give their
DNA, but allowed to leave after this procedure. (Taking
DNA is omnipresent in Switzerland – even in case of
smaller crimes such as shoplifting it is possible for the
police to take it from you. When it comes to subversive
acts, the taking of DNA is standard. In case of resisting
the extraction, the authorities are allowed to use “appro-
priate” force. The repression apparatus is always trying
to expand their database, especially when it comes to
potential rebels and their acts. A match of your DNA
and the DNA taken from a crime scene is often enough
evidence for a conviction.)
The people affected by the raids are accused because of
the demo in May – for “violation of the public peace”.
It’s clear that this is not actually about the demo, at
which basically nothing happened besides a few proper-
ty damages through spray-paint. So the authorities reach
out to connect the people attending this demonstration
with different arsons and attacks. In the best case (for
them), they would have found something incriminating
at one of the places searched or the DNA taken from the
accused leads to some sort of clue or evidence. Other-
wise, this is to be understood as a warning and another
menace to those who give life to this struggle or seek
ways of contributing to it.
On the 30th of November 2017, cops search the anar-
chist library “Fermento” in Zürich. “In the shop window
of the library one could see calls for crimes and offenc-
es against companies and private persons, which sup-
posedly can be seen in connection with recent arsons
against the building of the PJZ (police and justice cen-
tre) and the prison Bässlergut in Basel” the “Anarchists
of Fermento” publish after searches. The PJZ is being
built in Zürich at the time. It is being met with resist-
ance, verbally as well as physically, since its announce-
ment. Also here the construction company Implenia is
|5|