International gathering against the prison society,
Barcelona, 23rd, 24th & 25th April 2004

This international gathering aims to relaunch the
campaign of struggle, critique and action against
prisons and the society of control. It will be an
open space for debate, and exchange of ideas,
experiences and critiques; an attempt to extend the
radical analysis not only of the prison system, but of
the society that produces it.

Right now we find ourselves in a critical period, as
the politics of social control and repression in the
Western World are converging. This is not just a
coordination of governments to make repression more
effective: it is part of an ideology and world view
that aims to create a social consensus based on a
culture of fear and a generalised need for security.
Bombarded with media propaganda, society finds itself
in a constant state of terror; terrorised, society
becomes more domesticated and more accepting of the
ideologies of power. Security measures and repressive
policies are introduced, supposedly for citizens
safety.

In the name of our security we find almost all forms
of freedom being restricted. Once it is internalised
and normalised, this paradigm of terror creates a
process of self-legitimation of the dominant system,
which leads to the criminalisation of any form of
resistance to, rejection of, or attempt to question
that system. This is clearly evident in the European
Commission's definition of "terrorism":
"offences.. intentionally committed by an individual
or a group against one or more countries, their
institutions or people with the aim of intimidating
them and seriously altering or destroying the
political, economic or social structures of those
countries will be punishable as terrorist offences"
(From the EC proposal for a Framework Decision to
combat terrorism, article 3, approved 2001)

In the prison society there are different levels of
imprisonment. Level one is physical confinement: in
the jails themselves, the immigration detention
centres, the young offender institutes and the
psychiatric hospitals; level two is confinement
outside the physical walls: tagging, conditional
discharge, suspended sentences, bail; and beyond the
criminal justice system itself there is a third level
of control: cameras watching your every move, bugging
of e-mails and 'phonecalls, control of the free
movement of people and much much more.

When we speak of of the prison society we are not
simply referring to the bricks and mortar of the
jails. We are talking about whole series of
mechanisms and structures designed to control and
manipulate people's behaviour, using punishment and
the manipulation of people's needs and expectations.
The need to consume and to have a secure and stable
life creates the need to work. Our lives are forced
into a uniform rhythm: our time and our movements are
controlled.

Prison society, in its most subtle form, gets inside
people's heads. It imposes a way of thinking and a
conformity (for example, using schools, jobs, control
of our time, control of our movements etc.) This
conditions the way we see the world, making it
difficult or even impossible to see alternatives or to
think beyond the norm. This can be seen in the way
the language used by those in power manipulates
people's perceptions of reality and stops them from
seeing other realities: "terrorism", "violence",
"justice", "freedom"...

In this context we feel it is vital to find a space
like this gathering, to debate analyses and new
strategies of action against State/Capital's projects;
to extend a more profound critique or prisons and the
society that produces them; and to build affinities
through communication and exchange of ideas