Since its founding in early 2004, the Danish association Oprør (‘Rebellion’) has sought to defy both national anti-terrorism legislation and the political paradigm underlying the so-called ‘war on terror’.


In the past year ‘Rebellion’ has publicly, and in defiance of Danish anti-terrorism legislation, transferred relatively substantial funds to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). An important criterion for this choice of organisations is that they seek to further secular, democratic goals.


Both organisations are listed on the so-called ‘terrorist list’ of the European Union, compiled without any form of public, democratic scrutiny. Resistance by some EU members to the inclusion of FARC on the list was ineffectual, due to USA’s strategic interests in the area. Such ‘terrorist lists’ can only contribute to the marginalisation of social and political movements, excluding them from an international political and moral dialogue, which in itself is a necessary step towards a negotiated political resolution of those conflicts of which they are a part.


The Danish Ministry of Justice and police authorities have as yet not raised criminal charges against ‘Rebellion’. In order to further such a step, both the Colombian ambassador to the Nordic countries and vice-president Santos have had negotiations with officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen. The Colombian Ministry of Justice has also forwarded a list of thirty questions to the Danish police authorities, to be drawn upon in an eventual interrogation of members of ‘Rebellion’. According to police sources in Copenhagen, state prosecution lawyers have as yet not reached any conclusion as to whether to pursue the case or not.


A stumbling block for the prosecution would seem to be that the ‘terrorist list’ of the European Union does not possess any judicial validity as such. The courts would therefore be obliged to open the question of the status of the organisations involved, thereby running the risk of being transformed into tribunals on the Israeli/Palestinian and Colombian conflicts. ‘Rebellion’ would, of course, seek to ensure such an outcome.


International appeal


Meanwhile, ‘Rebellion’ has issued an international appeal to several hundred movements and organisations within the EU, encouraging them to join it in its defiance of European anti-terrorist legislation and the ‘terrorist list’ of the European Union.

‘Rebellion’ will maintain and defend the legitimate right of peoples to resist illegitimate government and foreign occupation, the right of peoples to take up arms against oppression, where all other means have been exhausted, the right of peoples to create new forms of state power, serving the cultural, social and political interests of the people, and the right of citizens of all nations to extend their support, material and otherwise, to these struggles of emancipation.



Patrick Mac Manus, spokesperson ‘Rebellion’

The association ‘Rebellion’ can be contacted at following postal address:
Foreningen Opror
c/o Blaagaardens Medborgerhus
Blaagaards Plads 3
2200 Copenhagen N
Denmark,
Or at opror-AT-linuxmail.org
Website is at www.opror.net