La Fabrique publishing house has just released two complementary books on the workings of the justice system. The first is titled *The Justice of Capital* and subtitled *When Multinationals (Un)make the Law*. Our friends at the radio program *Pas de Quartier* on Radio Libertaire interviewed the author, Amina Hassani, a researcher in international economic law. What is it about? Many companies are suing states for hindering their profits through social and environmental legislation. How? Quite simply, by resorting to private investment arbitration tribunals, better known by their acronym ISDS, or Investor-State Dispute Settlement. This justice of capital has its origins in the waning colonial empires, designed to preserve the plundering of resources. France contributed significantly to the establishment and development of these structures. And all of this is expanding thanks to international agreements and free trade treaties. You will observe that freedom is only seen from the perspective of money and multinational corporations. Small states, particularly those stemming from former colonies, are utterly defenseless against the crushing machine of these courts where cases are handled confidentially. There is collusion between these corporations and the "lawyers," to borrow a phrase from Amina Hassani's book. In this concise yet highly precise and well-referenced work, she explains and analyzes the causes and effects, highlighting the weakening of states and the threats to the most vulnerable populations. These courts undermine any project for ecological transition and social justice.
Along the same lines, denouncing the law and its abuses, Elsa Marcel's book, "Rule of Law: Bourgeois Order," subtitled "Reconnecting with Political Defense," attacks an illusory concept: the notion of the rule of law. According to legal doctrine, the goal is to preserve fundamental civil liberties and the hierarchy of norms, preventing any challenge to established legal rights. In reality, the law is often merely a reflection of the state of class struggle at a given moment in history. It is fluid and fragile. We are witnessing this now; the edifice is faltering, and we frequently refer to works on the subject, both on our program "Au fil des pages" on Radio Libertaire and in the column "Des idées et des luttes" on the Le Monde Libertaire website. Let's stop being naive! Elsa Marcel's status as a lawyer at the Seine-Saint-Denis bar allows her to highlight the necessity of defending oneself in court and the difficulty of doing so. Employers have become radicalized, and governments are becoming increasingly repressive, accompanying police violence. For her, in everyday life, when social order and the legitimacy of power are challenged, the justice system rallies behind the regime, leaving the rule of law severely weakened, and the situation even worse for the victims. She states this from the outset: "I conceived this book as a practical and political handbook for the activist generation that, since the imposition of the state of emergency in 2015, has taken to the streets against the multifaceted neoliberal offensives, confronting an increasingly authoritarian state." She is adept at tracing history to remind us that what we are experiencing is not solely a Macronian phenomenon. She calls for a return to the political defense provided by lawyers for FLN fighters during the Algerian War, by the organizers of the Russell Tribunal against American crimes in Vietnam, and by the legal professionals of the Judicial Action Movement of the 1970s. The dynamics of these struggles also unfold in the courtroom, as Elsa Marcel's book demonstrates.
* Amina Hassani
The Justice of Capital
When Multinationals (Un)make the Law
La Fabrique, 2025
* Elsa Marcel
"Rule of Law" Bourgeois Order
Reconnecting with Political Defense
La Fabrique, 2026
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8934
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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