"Poem by Anna Eklund When the first blow fell" "When the second blow fell I knew that all I had been taught was wrong" "When the third blow fell and blood filled my mouth I thought only of protecting myself" "The preliminar study is fairly incriminating." "The video clearly shows a person who looks like me throwing stones." "I think it shows me throwing three cobblestones." "So it was clear I would be convicted." "Why are you all so young, all the demonstrators?" "I don't know." "Maybe you get staid when you get older." "Maybe you're active in your youth, but then... I think society tells you to grow up, and, like, knock it off." "If you have a capitalism that..." "completely unfettered capitalism the question isn't if we'll destroy ourselves, but when." "We can't hold up under the pressure of total greed forever." "I don't care if that's 150 years away or 300 - we need to change things." "terrorists" "The kids they sentenced" "Come on now give me a little clue" "Here's a beacon to guide us all through the gloom" "Do you see a ship or a big mushroom" "Can we change the world, is it too much to assume" "Welcome home to our little planet" "A symbol's all you see when there's so much at stake" "And if you really look you'll see more than you can take" "Welcome home to our little planet" "Our planet" "You hear a voice that cuts to the core" "Soon it will fade but you'll just want more" "NO TO THE EURO STATE" "The urge to revolt is one of the essential dimensions of human nature." "Does this universe have room or are we all doomed" "I am nothing but a kid in a dark and empty classroom" "Step forward my friend there's nothing to fear" "A little cosmic perspective is all I want to hear" "He hit me!" "He just whacked my back with his baton!" "I didn't do anything!" "As I see it the world in many ways is entering a new era of imperialism." "All these big imf, WTO, EU and G7 meetings are signs of the same thing:" "an increased concentration of power." "Especially financial power. lt's like we're heading for a world government." "A giant contact network is being created for the ver, ver rich." "That's exemplified by the EU and the monetar union." "What's your name?" "Erik Bonk. I'm 21 ." "Why were you in Gothenburg?" "Mainly I was accompanying a friend." "And I thought it would be fun to demonstrate." "Were you convicted of anything?" "Resisting arrest, assault rioting, attempted assault..." "First I called the police in Solna." "They didn't know anything." ""l just want to know if Erik Bonk is there. I'm his mother."" ""l want to know if he's alive or dead." "Maybe he's been mugged."" ""How old is your son?" -"He's nineteen."" ""Then he's not a child." "He doesn't need his mother."" "I said, "l'm a mother for life!"" "What's your name?" "Jonas, 21 ." "And now you're in prison?" "Yes, for 16 months." "I was sentenced to 2 years for being an instigator of the riots." "For what?" ""instigating or inciting a riot"." "Lukas and I had written a protest against these tough sentences." "But we couldn't let it go at that." "We wanted to know more." "We wanted to ask these people what really happened in Gothenburg." "Who were the activists, and what were they thinking?" "Only Jonas was afraid to show his face." "Jonas, you're ver articulate." "Where do you get your political commitment?" "Do you know how it all started?" "It came fairly late." "It's not the result of some childhood injustice or anything." "And I've actually..." "when I was younger I had a different political view, but without much basis." "Which one?" "lt doesn't matter." "You were in the Liberal Party." "Yes." "Then I went to Tunisia." "In the harbour in Tunis, where the boats to Europe departed incredibly poor people hung out, and I hung out with them." "They had big scratches on their hands." "I asked where the scratches came from." "And they told me that their dream was to go to Europe and make a better life for themselves." "But they needed money." "They didn't have money, so they had to tr to sneak onto the boats." "When they were caught, they were tortured by the Tunisian police." "When they were sent back?" "Yes, they were beaten and all." "To keep from being tortured, they cut their hands with broken glass so they'd go into a coma, because they wouldn't be beaten in hospital." "Going home, I saw that people who had money could go to Europe." "That's when I realised there was a big difference between social classes and what they went through." "Both in Tunisia and between Tunisia and Europe." "That opened my eyes, and I started looking around more at home, too." "Ever since I was little I've been upset by injustice." "I grew up in the 80s, with that "everone should be rich and independent" attitude while at the same time we saw pictures of starving children." "I was one of the people who occupied a dair in Vasteras." "It was when we joined the EU." "We declared ourselves an EUfree zone and put up a banner and then the dair was stormed." "It was a disused dair." "Mostly it was in seventh grade." "Seven, eight, nine - mostly seventh." "That's when we started noticing that people were treated badly." "That others were treated unfairly by teachers or whoever, first runing with the police... I've always been attracted to black culture, like hiphop blues, jazz, reggae and so on." "And all of those cultures are sort of "fight the power"ish." "They point out injustices and so on." "So in that way I've been active." "But not in any political way." "Just in my opinions." "I think a lot of people start their political career that way." "At least, people my age." "I started hanging out with people like vegetarians, and I joined them." "Then I went vegan and started going to animal rights demonstrations." "And antiracism demonstrations and that kind of 'mandator' thing." "I started working with antiracism, and that led me into anticapitalism and the class struggle." "It's sort of the third step, I think for a lot of people." "It started with the classic anarchistic ideals: mutual aid Kropotkin, Bakunin, Emma Goldman, a lot of feminist literature." "There was a lot of antipornography among the syndicalists." "I started reading Chomsky early on, American foreign policy and so on." "And...at some point there I started getting serious about it." "Politics has always been in my family." "We're political refugees." "Tell us more about that." "They're from Latin America." "My dad was imprisoned for years because he was a journalist." "They fled the countr when my brother was born." "We've always talked politics." "What's your name?" "Sara. I'm 20...21 ." "You were 20 in Gothenburg." "l just had a birthday." "What were you convicted of?" "Participating in a riot." "What is your sentence?" "The city court gave me three years." "The appeals court gave me a year and 4 months, the supreme court a year." "My life can be divided into "before and after Gothenburg"." "What's the main difference?" "There's a huge difference." "I'd say I've grown up." "I went there a naive teenager and came home...a man." "With broader perspectives and a better understanding of truth." "What's your name?" "Jonathan. I'm 26." "And you live in Vasteras?" "Until my prison sentence starts." "Why are you going to prison?" "l was convicted of rioting." "Actual police footage I think that's our prime suspect, with the rastaMohican hair." "In my trial, it was clear that they were keeping tabs on me." "There's film footage from the weeks before the summit." "6 June 2001 I wasn't doing anything illegal in this film footage." "But since the security police had told them to monitor me beforehand they must have already viewed me as a shady character." "27 calling all units." "The girls are going back to Kelly's." "27 calling all units." "I think we have Pye here with a girl who might be Tigerrd, leaving Kelly's." "They're heading down Andra Langgatan toward the square." "Berzeliigatan Street." "They've been filming you from a distance." "This isn't about me. lt's about what happened on Berzeliigatan." "But this was used in the trial." "The prosecutor showed it." "Yes." "This was used as evidence in the trial." "It belongs to the Gothenburg police." "Actual police footage" "Poem by Niklas Ansth What is scar in this world" "When people hurt people, animals and nature." "What is beautiful in this world is resistance." "When people say "enough is enough", and act." "Oppression and injustice are everwhere." "But so is resistance." "Because there are people who know that if you fight, you might lose but if you don't fight, you've already lost." "I wasn't involved in any organisation that planned demonstrations." "But a lot of my friends were, so I wasn't out of the loop either." "I did plan to participate in most of the demonstrations." "At the summit, Sweden wanted to show that we're all in harmony." "'The European project in Harmonious Sweden.'" ""This is a good, safe project that everone likes," they told the media." "We wanted to mobilise massive criticism of the system on the streets and in the seminars, initiate conflict." "To show that there is no bloody harmony." "There's multiple interests conflicting opinions of the European project and a democratic discrepancy:" "what you want is not what we want." "We weren't just going to represent the Left but the fun Left people would want to join." "We did intend to stick hard to our militant line and wear masks but we planned to soften the effect by wearing bunny ears and things." "I had sewn a banner with a 70s disco font a babyblue background with baby pink text: "antifascist Action"." "But the banner didn't get finished in time. I had 'tion' left..." "What's your name?" "Mikaela. I'm 20." "What did you do in Gothenburg?" "l was in the information centre." "What were you convicted for?" "Aiding and abetting a riot." "What was your sentence?" "The city court gave me three years." "Then the supreme court gave me one year." "Certain things were planned during the big demonstrations." "And a lot of work needs to be done in connection with that." "It's like arranging a festival: you need people to get food and things." "So there were a lot of open meetings." "They told about all sorts of things people could help with." "The 'convergence centre', as they call it, was one of them." "What was the 'convergence centre'?" "Well, you can help a lot just by spreading information." "For example, we talked a lot about what had happened in Malmo:" "The police blocked off some of the demonstrations and beat people." "The idea was that if we heard anything we could inform the demonstrators so they could get away." "That's what the information was for, to point out what really happened." "Not just from the demonstrators' side, but what the police say during the riots, or marches, or whatever." "What they called people." "Bastard, arsehole, scum, cunt, whore..." "That was what you could hear on the police radio." "So while you were working there you didn't have time to send out much information." "Nah, we sent out maybe eight or nine messages." "So you worked with information and sent out eight or nine messages." "The police went in and stopped it all one night, I think Thursday." "That's when the police stormed in and pointed their guns at our heads." "We're here because we believe in a better world." "To me, an antiBush demonstration is the same as an antiwar or antiglobalisation demonstration." "Same shit, different name." "What's wrong with globalisation?" "Globalisation itself isn't wrong." "It's good to make the world smaller." "But their globalisation is global capitalism." "It's not unions or workers or people being globalised it's just the economy, just the companies." "They want factories where labour is cheap and sales where it's expensive." "Only the money is being globalised;" "no people benefit from it." "That's what I'm against." "There are many ways of getting involved." "The leftist branch I belong to is looselyknit groups with common principles, not a structure." "Within the global movement with its criticism of capitalism is a broad spectrum:" "environmental issues, antifascism..." "Native peoples' issues, reforms, the World Bank and the imf labour unions with all their differences..." "And also purely anticapitalist groups." "Even nuns in Genoa." "Many people see the Left as a uniform group with radical methods." "So it's important that we have people from all walks of life." "Ever daycare teacher and so on." "In Italy, the public sector has been cut back drastically people have been forced to start coop daycare centres and so on." "In some parts of northern Italy, whole towns work like a cooperative." "Large parts are run communally, and things are ver militant." "There are tons of police attacks, riots and things." "But they don't have these confused thugs, and the media twisting things because everone is involved on a ver basic level the everday things: "who'll take care of our kids tomorrow?"" "We feel that something horrible is happening." "We have a duty primarily to the Third World, not just to go around chanting slogans." "People already know, most of them, about the 40,000 starving children." "We need to organise real resistance to stop this." "Look at our politicians." "Putin is a former KGB agent, a murderer." "Berlusconi, a Mafioso, in Italy." "George W Bush..." "What kind of leader is he?" "Not a man of the people!" "Not only is Bush a former cocaine addict and alcoholic he's born and bred to belong to the powerful elite." "It's coming in Europe, too." "Persson is the last farmer's son who'll be prime minister in Sweden." "And their power is infinitesimal." "And you can see they'll do anything to join the rich men's club." "They'll do just about anything for power and to get into the EU." "They practically drool all over Bush." "Sweden's Social Democrats, or Goran Persson his best friends are Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroder." "These are not social democratic people, they're new liberals." "It's a kind of middleclass politics that works against the working class." "A hundred years ago Social Democrats were practically banned by the rightwing government." "They instituted an 'agitation law' against Social Democratic dictators." "There were riots, the Adalen shooting - and later a good labour contract." "Today, we have leftwing opposition and a Social Democratic government." "The opposition today is promoting the issues the Social Dems did then and the Social Dems are saying "tougher sentences" and so on." "There's no end; everthing has become a product." "Fiscal thinking permeates everthing." "People are just statistics." "It's no coincidence that Europe is seeing its first legal brothels." "Everthing is a product." "That way of thinking, even if the consequences don't affect you creates a brutal society that thinks of everthing in terms of money and no values other than profit." "Even if people aren't starving, it's an insular, alienated climate that creates violence, fear, hate and competition. lt's a disaster." "Society consists of us tiny consumers - who can unite to a giant force." "I'm convinced we can do great things as informed consumers." "Choosing to place our money more wisely, not just buy, buy, buy." "And, "oh, this company is nasty." "But who cares, they have great shoes!"" "Think about what you buy." "The meat industr is rotten, I won't buy meat." "You don't eat meat?" "No." "It's really bad, and there's no stopping it." "Take Monsanto, the big seed company." "They genetically alter the seeds." "First they patent, say, Basmati rice, which has been grown for centuries." "They patent it, so farmers have to buy their seeds." "Then they manipulate the seeds so you can't get seeds from your plants so you have to buy seeds ever year." "They're attacking life itself." "Nature can't spread its own genes." "And farmers become dependent." "This is a neverending greed, and if we allow it to continue we won't have any nature left." "It can lead to a total disaster." "Total." "It just keeps rolling faster and faster, and we have to stop it now." "If the Swedish Left continues along the same lines if it insists on staying within the law, there will never be change." "We don't make the laws, and the laws are not for us." "Capitalism will reign forever if we stay within the law." "You can't...you can't disarm capitalism effectively by breaking windows of banks and McDonald's." "That doesn't hurt them." "But - it's a ver powerful, clear statement." "To me, it's a conversion of words into action." "It's important to take that step and show that you're determined and...uncompromising." "All popular movements that have acted, violently or nonviolently have furthered the cause of democracy." "Amnesty International, the Green Party, the Young Left..." "They're all needed, even the stone throwers - they open our eyes." "We have ver longterm goals, to crush capitalism." "For there to be a farreaching lasting change, the power of the multinationals must be eliminated." "First of all, no one I know is interested in taking power by force and then 'leading the people'." "What we're saying is, to organise an independent society and maintain it, we have to be able to defend it." "We'll always meet violence from the police, militar and state." "On 1 4 June, I wake up and head for a meeting at Hvitfeldtska School." "I find it crawling with cops." "They've closed in the whole school." "Division!" "Forward, march!" "The hotels were all full, but the city had made some schools available." "Turn right!" "Hundreds of people were staying at Hvitfeldtska School." "In Visby, we meet a whole family that was trapped there." "EBBA, mother:" "Someone yanks open the door and screams, "The school is surrounded."" "We jumped up and got dressed." "We went out to see, and it was true. incredible!" "The police had surrounded the school." "We had to stay inside the school all day." "We were blockaded in." "In the evening, some people tried to break out." "Were you involved?" "No, we were inside." "The breakout attempt was outside, between two walls and a hill." "We're looking down from the wall when the police enter the school after the breakout attempt, and they arrest us." "It's definitely related to Bush's visit." "His plane landed at 1 1 .00 and at 1 1 .01 the school was surrounded." "And I can imagine that it has a lot to do with American experts and secret service, who were here a few days before." "Or actually weeks or months." "I'm sure the Swedish and American police worked closely on this." "And the whole way they turned people's attention elsewhere on the opposite side of town from where Bush was, is classic." "They were going to storm the building and arrest everone." "They said it in a press conference:" ""They're all suspected of rioting."" "Then, when we showed up in the Bush demonstration the 'black block' - the militants - also gathered." "Some people in the demonstration say we should go to Hvitfeldtska." ""We have to save our companions, that's where democracy is at stake."" "I was in Hvitfeldtska, because that's where the information table was." "Almost all organisations' information was spread from there." "So you were locked in?" "Yes." "I couldn't understand why we should sit in that school." "What were you afraid of?" "Rioting, violence and things." "What was it like in the school?" "There were rumours of weapons." "Was the atmosphere scar?" "Not at all." "There was food, people cooking on portable stoves, it was nice." "People were juggling, blowing soap bubbles...it was fun." "And you didn't see any weapons?" "You didn't have a grenade launcher?" "No!" "A kilometre from Hvitfeldtska, I'm by Haga Church and I hear someone yell, "Police!"" "Two people grab me and throw me down, then into an unmarked car." "Then a fat...gentleman...sits on me, pushing my face into the seat." "The two policemen in front don't lift a finger." "After the school was barricaded, I managed to get out of the area." "I... I didn't want to be arrested, so I sneaked out." "And he says, "Jonas, you bloody agitator!"" "And I thought, "So that's it, they've made up their minds."" ""Are you the father of these riots?" "Don't you like Gothenburg?"" "And he waves his fist in my face like he's going to hit me." "In the morning, a giant antiBush demonstration went to Gotaplatsen square, where speeches were held." "Then some speaker said we should march on the Exhibition Centre." "I assumed that they had already checked that with the police." "So I joined the crowd, but after two blocks we were stopped by police beating their shields with their batons." "I had no idea why;" "I only found out later the demonstration was illegal." "There was a huge push from behind, and the police pushed from the front." "Then the police put in a 'wedge':" "police dogs coming from the sides." "Actual police footage" "Those dogs were insane, they bit everone - little girls, old ladies." "This happened in the Malmo demonstrations." "The police went in to cut off the demonstrators at two points so they could isolate and arrest the 'black block'." "But this time there were too few of them." "A dog patrol went first." "The dogs went wild and bit everone, policemen and demonstrators." "Overall it was a ver clumsily done manoeuvre." "So most of the demonstrators got away and ran back to Avenyn." "At that point it got confusing." "There was no plan anymore, no groups." "So people reacted with their friends or individually." "That's when the rioting started." "So it turned into a war zone." "Cars burned, furniture burned stones flew. lt was chaotic." "The police threw stones at us, too." "That's what I reacted to." "All this had been going on, Hvitfeldtska the general police attitude towards us." "But it was also a sense of freedom:" "We're here on the street." "My rage is against..." "not necessarily against the police but what the police are protecting:" "the EU summit and by extension the banks, capitalism and multinationals." "That multinational corporations are to blame, not the police is why people attacked McDonald's, banks and so on." "What's your name?" "Erik Hagert, 21 ." "So you were 19 in Gothenburg." "Yes." "What were you doing in Gothenburg?" "l went down with some mates." "We wanted to participate in some demonstrations and just to experience the atmosphere, party and meet people." "Actual police footage" "This is Erik." "The policeman is holding him by the hair and hitting him with the baton." "Erik is tring to protect his head." "He's already been struck there once." "When I saw this picture, I was furious." "I didn't think things like that happened in Sweden." "So I marched down to the police and reported this officer for assault." "He denied the charge and said that Erik had 'agitated', 'incited the mob against the police' or some such." "That's what happens when you turn in policemen." "Naturally the internal investigation was dropped." "So I had the picture enlarged and wrote a caption to it:" "Here it is:" "" Beaten." "Slandered." Because he was falsely accused." ""Arrested." Which he was." ""Convicted?"" "It's all still true, except you can delete the question mark." "This is Vesna." "She's Erik's mother." "Erik wasn't at the demonstrations." "He was at the Reclaim the Streets party." "What is 'Reclaim the Streets'?" "lt's not specific, just a name." "Anyone can use it for applicable situations." "It started in London, and spread fast in New York." "Street parties with a political goal:" "To question who really has the right to public spaces." "Who owns the streets?" "We do." "The people who live here." "They make a point of not applying for permits." ""This street is already mine, I can do what I want."" "There were two cars there playing music." "A fair number of people and a good atmosphere." "It was mainly young people." "From, say, 1 4-15 up to about 25." "No one was masked." "No one was armed, no one was pulling up cobblestones. lt was a party." "But after 15-20 minutes we were surrounded." "Sit down!" "Sit!" "A girl came forward who wanted to leave." "She approached an officer and said, "l just want to leave." She was struck, pretty hard." "She looked groggy and was cring in panic." "She was probably 1 4-15." "She was terrified." "She didn't know why she was surrounded." "And when she made an effort to...not obey, they hadn't given orders, but to show good intentions she was hit." "So people weren't allowed to leave." "We were in the park and heard shots and we were scared." "No one knew what had happened." "We heard rumours about the ammunition." "We went down and saw Hannes lying there dying, we thought." "So we started yelling with the others: "Fascist pigs, murderers"." "I was lucky. I was hit here." "A few millimetres the other way this way, it would have hit my spine. I would have been paralysed." "This way, it would have passed through my stomach to my aorta." "I'd have been dead on arrival." "But I was lucky." "It did nick the aorta but my stomach just swelled up and blocked the blood flow." "That's why they were able to save me." "Jesus!" "Call an ambulance!" "Shortly after that, a policeman hit me from behind and dragged me away." "As I lay there, I was sure I was going to die." "First you're okay, then you lie down and it hurts. lt burns like fire." "You can feel the death spreading... I started feeling cold, and then you know there's not much time left." ""Where the hell is the ambulance?" "!" A minute feels like..." "You were thinking that?" "l thought the ambulance was blocked." ""lt can't get here and I'll die."" "Then I passed out." "On Sunday morning the police phoned us." "They told us Erik had been arrested." "We jumped in the car and drove to Gothenburg." "At my hearing on the third day, they said I'd be there for three weeks." "That in itself was a disaster for me." "Then there were a lot of restrictions." "I felt totally at their mercy." "I had no contact with anyone but my lawyer and the interrogator, and they both wanted me in jail." "It was a horrible situation." "Remand prison is one of the worst places you could possibly end up in Sweden. isolation." "What happens is, you're totally isolated." "In a 6-7 square metre cell." "That cell has one steel cot with a mouldy foamrubber mattress one desk, mounted in the wall, and a ventilation drum rattling constantly." "There's a barred window that doesn't open, and a sink and peeling walls covered with snot and semen and dried blood." "When I was arrested, I was beaten." "They were undercover narcotics inspectors and overzealous." "They waved their guns and yelled "Stand still!" - which I already was." "I was thinking about where to find an open shop where l could buy beer." "They abducted me from home and took me to Gothenburg with no explanation." "No one knew where l was." "My Mum was worried and phoned the police because she'd heard there had been arrests and she couldn't find me." "The Gothenburg police told her they couldn't give out that information." "I was at home in my flat, going to watch a video with friends." "The doorbell rang and I went to answer it." "I saw two men out there, so I yanked open the door." "And a bunch of policemen storm up the stairs, right next to my door." "They come in and say "Police!" and drag me into the stairwell." "I hear them running in four or five uniforms and three or four plainclothes officers." "To get you?" "Yes." "And my friends had to show id." "I asked what I was under arrest for." ""We'll tell you at the station."" "So I didn't know why I was arrested and I couldn't take anything with me." "Except my shoes. I carried them while two officers held my arms." "Outside, I saw a dog patrol and a police helicopter!" "It was like some Hollywood movie!" "I was escorted across the yard, with all the neighbours wondering." "They burst into the bedroom and point a rifle at my head..." "Not really." "I understand it was the national task force." "They looked sort of scifi. I bet they were proud of their overalls." "They had, like..." "Yes, describe them." "They had sort of ski glasses and were dressed in black and wore helmets." "I don't remember if they had gas masks. it was dark." "But they had automatic rifles with laser sights. I was fascinated!" "Instead of getting a key from my landlord, they smashed my door." "They left both doors open and for some reason turned on the stove." "One of my friends went by later to check on things and turned it off." "Seriously?" "Yes, while I was in custody." "How long was that?" "Three and a half months." "I was in bed, and they made me put my hands on my head and I was hyperventilating because I was laughing so hard." "I peeked out in the hall like this, and there's a guy on his knees tring to put on his basketball shoes, with his hands cuffed!" "Tring to put on his shoes!" "And a cop pointing an automatic rifle at him!" "And he says, "l have a hair in my mouth, can you take it out?"" "I see two men coming up outside my dad's door." "Dad says he thinks they're in the wrong place." "They showed their badges and I ran for the bathroom with my mobile." "I wanted to warn Anders to hide..." "No, seriously, to let him know." "They come from the other direction and grab my mobile and say:" ""Come along, we just want to talk." But they wouldn't say about what." "How many came to get you?" "Three plainclothes officers and..." "No, four plainclothes officers and a police car with two regular officers." "I had just dyed my hair and I told them I needed to rinse it out." "It took some nagging but eventually one held the shower head and two held my arms." "I packed my toothbrush and some clothes, then they took me in." "I met a guy here who's been in prison in Lebanon and Sweden." "He said that remand prison was worse here." "In Lebanon you might be tortured and beaten - you can be beaten here, too." "But you always have a group to go back to, maybe 12 people per cell." "You can talk to each other and keep your humanity and creativity alive." "But in Sweden?" "ln Sweden your humanity is clinically, systematically broken down." "You become an automaton." "In remand prison, you have to ring a bell to use the toilet." "You can't even piss or shit without permission." "You ring, they come and take you to the toilet and lock you in." "And as you go, not a night went by when I wasn't called 'dago' 'bloody hooligan', 'fucking Arab'..." "They really liked doing this:" ""So, you gotta go, eh?"" "Never actually hitting you, stopping just before, but you jerked back." "My time there was horrible." "Especially with those accusations." "I kept thinking of how to kill myself, because I couldn't take 7 -8 years." "No one was on my side, even my lawyer was against me." "I never doubted I'd be convicted." "I asked my lawyer how much time I would get, and he said, "Two years."" "Afterwards I thought...well, even then, I realised I was in deep shit." "But later I wondered how the hell my own lawyer could say five minutes after meeting me, that I'd get two years?" "First they called it 'conspiracy to sabotage', which can give ten years." "At first I couldn't believe it." "I had a kind of breakdown and asked for a psychologist or something." "Some nurse came and asked about my symptoms and how I felt." "Then things went quickly." "They asked if I wanted sedatives and I said yes." "Willingly." "Because, I don't know..." "There was no point in sitting there feeling extreme anxiety." "Then he wrote a letter to his friends saying goodbye." "Our lawyer has it, so I can't show it to you, but it was moving." "Why did he write that letter?" "He thought he'd be in jail for seven years and lose them." "The interrogator told the prison staff I needed medicine because I seemed depressed." "Do you know what they gave you?" "lt was called Theralene..." "How did it affect you?" "lt made me sluggish." "But..." "After a while I started getting a double dose, without seeing a doctor." "Fortunately, no one watched and I always dumped half the dose." "But a friend of mine in the same trial got higher doses all the time and they made sure he took it." "I was luckier." "After three weeks or so l got to see my parents." "They came to Gothenburg, once." "He was broken." "He came and sat in my lap." "My child, who was nineteen and two metres tall sat in my lap." "He was heavy." "Then he moved to his dad's lap and then his brother's." "Then we had to go." "The police didn't just want us to tell all - they wanted their version." "If they really want a case, they can manipulate a person's thoughts." "All you have to think about is what they say." "With no one to confirm your memories you start remembering what they say." "Until you remember a crime you didn't commit." "It was funny, first they used the technique of getting me to finish their sentences." "He'd say:" ""l've been to these political things before. I remember someone" "a communist tring to sell that magazine, Pro..." "Pro..."" "I sat there thinking, "l'm not about to say 'letariat', whatever you say."" "The preliminar report was this thick." "They had tons of evidence." "And we had nothing, we hadn't had time to get witnesses or anything." "The prosecutor started by showing an overhead picture of a masked person pointing a gun at a row of cops." "With the heading:" ""riot"." "And he just leaves it there, and nobody says anything." "Eventually one of the lawyers asks where the picture is from." ""lt's a picture from Germany."" ""What does that have to do with this case?" So they took it away." "They just wanted to paint us as dangerous terrorists." "ANNKATRlN, mother:" "I thought it would be like on TV:" "The prosecutor makes a big speech and then the defence lawyer comes and tells the other side." "But the other side never came." "The prosecutor had lots of time to make his dramatic case with dramatic police witnesses and dramatic films." "Then the defence says, "My client is so young, be lenient, bla bla bla."" "I was totally shocked." "What was going on?" "Why don't they say something, why isn't there a rebuttal?" "For example, there's not one trial where they investigate how the riots started." "They're not interested." "They simply state that a riot has occurred." "Using these doctored films where the sequences are out of order and some are repeated, and only the most striking are included." "They're 20 minutes long, as if the riots were that long." "And the police all sound like they were schooled to say the same thing." ""The sky was dark with stones", "This is the worst thing I've seen"." "It's not that I don't believe them, but they say the exact same thing." "The core of their case and the socalled 'crime' is that two plainclothes officers saw me wave, near two riots." "That's 'inciting a riot', giving me 1 years in prison." "Then they have some circumstantial evidence; they say that I had telephone contact with the information centre." "And, at a meeting a month earlier, I supposedly encouraged violence." "On that point, I managed to prove that the officer was lying." "I had some bad luck;" "I was the first to get a really tough sentence." "What did you get?" "The first sentence was four years." "The prosecutor was pushing for 7-1 4 years." "I think he said fourteen to scare me then he said, "l can settle for seven years."" "Had you thrown stones?" "No, I had not." "I would never do a thing like that." "I was terrified at that demonstration." "I wasn't in a fighting mood." "Waving?" "What does that mean?" "That I waved my arms." "And that would mean...?" "That I was commanding them." "Outside Hvitfeldtska?" "Exactly." "Did you?" "Definitely." "Why...what for?" "To call my friend so we could go." "You weren't leading the masses?" "No." "My impression was that you never question the police." "Which is terrifying." "That's a police state." "If we can't question the police, who are only human, as they often say:" ""We're only human" - yes, but a human who has been in battle fighting for his life can't be an accurate witness to how others have acted." "When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real:" "the truths of the police are the truths of today." "Were the trials political?" "Absolutely." "Nearly all arguments were about politics." "The prosecutor's appeal was mostly that I was in AntiFascist Action." "There was almost nothing about criminal activity." "I felt that the main attitude in the courtroom was vengeance." "The police's need for retribution and revenge." "And they've become too strong." "They wanted retribution." "They wanted people to get tough sentences, as revenge." "I think I was chosen as one of the scapegoats early on partly because the security police had singled me out as dangerous and someone to be monitored." "So it was more important to ask others, "Wasn't it that Jonathan" "who dragged you into it?"" "So they could create that hierarchy that doesn't actually exist." "Even as they say it was political, that we're a threat to democracy politicians are saying we aren't." ""They're hooligans, thugs, terrorists, not politically active!"" "So on one level they're criminalising the political aspect while on another level they're depoliticising it." "But the consequence will be not that it will be hard to riot in the future but that they criminalise and condemn a whole popular movement." "They're not just condemning the rioters, but the whole movement." "A 50year old man who molests two 15year old girls gets 18 months." "So in the eyes of the law, I'm equated with a paedophile." "Who has marked two girls for life." "I've hurt no one. lt's twisted." "If protesters are publicly treated like criminals regularly enough we begin to equate activism with wrongdoing, even terrorism." "Stop the war!" "WAR is terrorism" "The struggle goes on!" "Stop the war!" "Then I had to learn to walk again." "I weighed 52 kilos." "That was what I had to focus on." "Thinking about what happened came much later, much later." "The whole autumn was...as soon as I had relearnt how to walk normally l had the whole trial to go through, news reports...it was nonstop." "So I never really had a chance to think about what had happened." "It really wasn't until I went to jail in Januar." "My first memories of what happened came after a week in jail." "That's where l finally got to process it emotionally." "My ideal society?" "One where everone minds their own business listens to their conscience and follows it." "The line between right and wrong isn't fine; it's ver clear." "It's bureaucracy and our society that make it fine." "If we measure the quality of a society by modern measures it's about working hours and productivity." "We need to turn the tables and say it's how much leisure you have." "And I don't mean going to the movies, but how we as humans as social creatures, as individuals can realise our potential as human beings." "We need to remember that you can never set up a fixed system." "That's what the new Left movement is about: we don't want new leaders." "We don't want a communist regime." "We don't want to map out how society should be." "But we can say that it should be built on certain principles." "It has to start from the grassroots level and work its way up." "We're for political street theatre." "We're for people going to Mexico to defend Zapatists against the army." "We're for hiding refugees and tring to stop hazardous waste." "But we're also for something that few others are:" "We have a secret structure and commit some crimes." "It's important to have a radical element in fighting capitalism." "What do you want to be?" "It's not so much what, but how I want to be." "I want a profession where l can grow as a person." "One where l feel needed, that I'm accomplishing something." "It doesn't always have to be with people, but home assistance suits me." "You can study all sorts of areas, learn about diseases and things." "At the same time, you feel needed and you get something out of it." "It's so enriching to talk to someone who's lived 40 years longer than you." "I want a useful job, where l help someone." "Not just, like, making...products." "I want to help people, maybe at a women's crisis centre or something." "That's something ver important to me." "What would you like to work with?" "l want to be a seamstress." "Have you studied at all, or has this sentence prevented it?" "I'm going to apply while I'm in jail, so I can start when I get out." "Anders, what do you want to do?" "l don't know about 'wanting'... I want a cool job and make tons of money, but to be realistic... I'd like to learn some practical skill, maybe welding." "Or painting, be a painter." "I haven't decided. I'm still young." "How does it feel, Anders, as we approach the prison?" "Not too bad." "A little nervous." "What a surprise..." "What's it like leaving Sara?" "She's going to prison today, too." "It was hell." "How does she feel?" "lt's just as bad for her." "That's the hardest part." "Leaving Sara?" "Yes, and my friends, and...everday life." "Hello, can this be a prison?" "This must be it." "ls this it?" "What's that say? "Visitors are to check in at the office."" "It looks like we turn here." "lt says "Aby Correctional Facility"." "Yeah..." "Well, here's a gate." "The question is, where's the guard?" "Do you have everthing?" "Let me close the door." "We're not allowed to go any further." "Take care of yourself in there." "I never went past compulsor school, and when I was arrested l missed out on my equivalency classes." "I have to do that before I can learn a profession. lt's all being delayed." "Good bye!" "We'll be in touch!" "Of course it makes me angr being subjected to this." "It feels so unjust and everthing, but at the same time..." "This may sound ver crass, but I still sort of feel that it was to be expected." "That someone was going to pay." "It's obvious the police and the state wouldn't just say, "Oops, sorr."" "Not a chance!" "These, what, nine or ten months I'm losing l'll never get back." "And that's harsh, but..." "On the other hand, I've gained life experience." "And I've got proof now of things I once only theorised about." "I've seen them concretely now, in real life, you know?" "I've learnt how the courts work, and not just because of the summit." "All criminals are treated this way, there are tons of political trials." "Like the fact that immigrants get tougher sentences than Swedes." "That's a political trial." "You must feel you were singled out as a scapegoat?" "Yes, that's how it feels." "In one way I think, "Okay, I got through this without cracking."" ""Maybe it was good that it happened to me instead of someone else" "who might be devastated for life." But...it's not fun being a scapegoat." "Will you continue your political activities after you get out?" "You know, you need to have a dream to keep you alive." "Some people dream of a nice car or a big house." "I dream of those sometimes." "But one of my dreams is a fair society." "If that makes me a terrorist, then I'm proud to call myself one." "Poem by Matilda Platzer You taught us to criticise." "When we tr, you call us terrorists and beat us with batons." "You taught us to take people seriously." "We sang that everone is equal." "But when we tr to make ourselves heard, you call us hooligans and beat us bloody." "A fiveyear old anarchist, no one hears." "A tenyear old anarchist, no one bothers about." "A thirteenyear old anarchist isn't taken seriously." "But now that we're older and say what we think you fire your guns." "So far 60 people have been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison." "Translation:" "Jennifer Evans"