Tribunal

So far, hearings on racial profiling in Swiss courts have revealed the following: On the one hand, racialized victims of police assaults are not taken seriously: They are considered over-emotional and their statements less credible than those of the police officers. On the other hand, the interest in an examination regarding a violation of the prohibition of discrimination seems to be low to non-existent. The tribunal "Racist Police Violence in the Dock" was developed over several months, motivated by the course of the trial of Mohamed Wa Baile before the District Court of Zurich in the fall of 2016 and inspired by the format of the tribunal as it was staged by the Berner Rassismusstammtisch in the same year with the "Kanakentribunal". So far, the tribunal has been performed three times in Switzerland.

The participants are mainly black people and people of color who have experienced racial profiling, and white anti-racist activists. The Tribunal focuses on the knowledge and perspectives of Black people and People of Color. In the various cities, the Alliance Against Racial Profiling is collaborating with local activists, the Collaborative Research Group on Racial Profiling, the Racism on Trial Research Collective, the Direct Action Group, the Autonomous School, and Sans-Papiers drop-in centers. The contributors want to make racial profiling visible and take all those present with them into responsibility. Everyone is asked to actively refuse and/or prevent racist police checks. In addition to the testimonies of various people, real procedural documents, judgments and media reports will be cited at a tribunal, which will make the violent nature of racial profiling tangible for the audience. Patterns of distancing, downplaying and justifying on the part of the police and authorities are traced. "Hautverdächtig" is an anti-racist intervention that counters the real Swiss courtroom, which is structurally racist, with an alternative, empowering space. The goal of the tribunal is to create a space for empowerment and social awareness - not only for the injustice that many Black people and People of Color face, but also for the opportunities that lie in a society of the many in solidarity.