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woensdag 31 oktober 2012

decentralized soli-actionweekend for hungerstrikers in Berlin 02.11.-05.11.12‏


Weekend of decentralized actions in Solidarity for the Hungerstrikers in Berlin  2nd Nov untill 5th Nov.

A good idea to support the fighting refugees in Berlin even from other cities.
Please take part and document your actions,
every documented action can give strength to the fighting
refugees!
 http://www.refugeetentaction.net/index.php?lang=de
http://de.indymedia.org/2012/10/336913.shtml




-----german------

Es wurde ein dezentrales Aktionswochenende für die Hungerstreikenden in Berlin ausgerufen.
Denkt euch Aktionen aus und dokumentiert diese,
eine gute Idee, der Unterstützung auch aus anderen Städten!

Solidarity is a weapon!


"Als Unterstützer_innen der Flüchtlingsproteste möchten wir auch außerhalb Berlins unsere Solidarität zeigen.
Deshalb rufen wir zu einem dezentralen Soli-Aktionswochenende vom 02.11. - 05.11. auf.
Aufgrund der akuten Situation, die hier von den Geflüchteten beschrieben ist,
ist es wichtig jetzt schnellstmöglich zu handeln. Jede dokumentierte Aktion kann den Geflüchteten Kraft geben.

Seid kreativ! Macht eure Solidarität öffentlich! "

http://de.indymedia.org/2012/10/336913.shtml


--------francaise-----------------------
Week-end décentralisée des actions de solidarité du 2.11 au 5.11.2012

Solidarité avec les réfugiés en grève de faim

Comme des soutiens des contestations des réfugiés nous voudrons montrer notre solidarité avec eux aussi dans autres villes au dehors de Berlin.
C'est pourquoi nous appelons à un week-end décentralisée des actions de solidarité du 2.11 au 5.11.2012.

  http://www.refugeetentaction.net/index.php?lang=de

A cause de la situation urgente, qui est décrit ici par des réfugiés, il est important d'agir le plus vite possible. Chaque action documentée peux donner de la force aux réfugiés.

Soyez créatif! Rendez votre solidarité public!
http://de.indymedia.org/2012/10/336913.shtml

Bron : delphinium​07


URGENT APPEAL FOR CALAIS‏


français ci-dessous

Materials are very much needed, and money to buy. We need lots of tarpaulin, lots of blankets, sleeping bags, tents, camping mattresses, men’s clothes such as jackets, trousers, jumpers - dark colours preferred, tracksuit bottoms, T-shirts M/S, underwear, socks, hats, scarves, gloves, waterproofs, bags and small rucksacks, men’s shoes. Women’s and children’s clothes are not needed. Formal clothes not needed, only sporty.

There has never been in Calais a situation so catastrophic, with police evicting all squats, arresting people everywhere even if they just try to sleep by the side of the road and confiscating or destroying their blankets and tarpaulins. It is wintry cold, the first snow has fallen and people are sleeping out and there are no blankets, no warm clothes to distribute. Lots of people coming and going, every day some new people arrive with no blanket, no jacket, broken shoes...

A transport from London is being organized, if people have stuff to donate in the London or Brighton area please contact me off list.

There has been a delivery of 100 blankets someone took to Calais 'from a Emmaus far away', that is a relief, but 100 blankets go very quick.
Salam is no longer doing evening distributions, for reasons I don' t know: may be lack of volunteers and/or problems with the Town Hall (they give Salam the money for the food).
So is only noborders who do evening and emergency distributions.
The volunteers from the vestiaire do distributions every two weeks, but we have access to the vestiaire in case of an emergency, to collect blankets only... pity the vestiaire has no more blankets either, and hardly anything else.
Thinking in the long term, we need more collections, and more deliveries. The various NB and supporting groups in UK, Germany, Netherlands etc have always done collections and deliveries, I don't know WTF they stopped now, that is most needed. Any clues?
Said that, I think it is impossible to face the crisis without the involvement of Emmaus, and other big charities and NGOs in France to do big deliveries, and we need to think ways to convince them to deliver.

Chiara Lauvergnac

for updates: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/


URGENT / APPEL:
Des matériaux sont très nécessaires, et de l'argent pour acheter. Nous avons besoin de beaucoup de bâche, beaucoup de couvertures, sacs de couchage, des tentes, des matelas de camping, vêtements pour hommes tels que vestes, pantalons, pulls - couleurs foncées préféré, fonds de survêtement, tee-shirts
M / S, sous-vêtements, chaussettes, chapeaux, foulards, gants, imperméables, sacs et sacs à dos, petits sacs. Vêtements pour femmes et enfants ne sont pas nécessaires. Vêtements formels pas nécessaire, seulement sportive.

Il n'ya jamais eu a Calais une situation aussi catastrophique, avec la police expulser tous les squats, arrêter des gens partout, même si ils ont juste essayer de dormir à côté de la route et de la confiscation ou la destruction de leurs couvertures et des bâches. Il fait froid hivernal, la première neige est tombée et les gens dorment dehors et il n'y a pas de couvertures, pas de vêtements chauds à distribuer. Beaucoup de gens qui vont et viennent, chaque jour, de nouvelles personnes arrivent avec pas de couverture, pas de veste, chaussures cassées ...

Un transport de Londres est organisée, si les gens ont des choses à donner dans la région de Londres ou Brighton s'il vous plaît contactez-moi hors liste.

Il ya eu une livraison de 100 couvertures quelqu'un a eu à Calais à partir d'une Emmaüs loin », c'est un soulagement, mais 100 couvertures aller très vite.
Salam ne fait plus la distribution du soir, pour des raisons que je ne sais: peut-être le manque de bénévoles et / ou des problèmes avec la mairie (ils donnent Salam de l'argent pour la nourriture)
Alors, seulement NoBorders font les distributions du soir et en cas d'urgence.
Les bénévoles du vestiaire font la distribution toutes les deux semaines, mais nous avons accès à la vestiaire en cas d'urgence, afin de recueillir des couvertures seulement ... dommage le vestiaire n'ont pas plus des couvertures, et presque rien d'autre choses.
Penser à long terme, nous avons besoin de plus de collections, et plus les livraisons. Le NoBorders et divers groupes de soutien au Royaume-Uni, Allemagne, Pays-Bas, etc ont toujours fait collectes et de distributions, je ne sais pas porquoi ils ont arrêté maintenent, qui est le plus nécessaire. Des indices?
Dit ca, je pense qu'il est impossible de faire face à la crise sans la participation d'Emmaüs, et d'autres organismes de bienfaisance grands et les ONG en France pour faire des livraisons grandes, et nous avons besoin de penser à des façons de les
convaincre de livrer.

Chiara Lauvergnac

for updates: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/

Bron : chiara


(en) France, Alternative Libertair #220 - PSA: Wear new claims (fr)


In PSA, the fight against dismissal know several obstacles which competition between
workers and the inability of unions to unify the different sites. ---- More than 8,300 job
cuts were announced in mid-July at a central works council (CEC), resulting in the closure
of Aulnay (93) employing more than 3000 employee-es . It was a real thunderbolt for
employees who are disengaged, repeatedly on the site of Aulnay and that of Janais (35),
next to Rennes and second site most affected by the restructuring plan. The decision to
eliminate jobs is symbolic of wealth appropriated by the Peugeot family and group
management, the crisis in the automotive sector and the accumulation of social plans. The
calendar has long been influenced by management and the announcement of the social plan
was made less than two weeks before the annual closure.

The employee-es of subcontractors (Faurecia, Lear, ISS LP, Trigo ...) will obviously be
impacted and precarious employment - Temporary or interim - will be like every time the
adjustment variable. Solutions exist for the automotive industry: from reflections on the
mode of production by type of vehicle products through control of the company by the
employee-es. But for now, PSA afford not to close the Aulnay plant and not to remove
thousands of jobs.

Yellow unions in Aulnay

The struggle of the CGT and Solidarity in mind yet known obstacles: the most important is
the competition sites and the lack of response from the majority of trade unions to call
for unifying the struggle. If the CGT reasoning in terms of "group" team coordination
sites of lack of voluntarism, preferring d?partementaliser struggles for each site.
Solidarity representative on several sites but not at the company, called before the
holidays to a common struggle of all sites, the veto dismissals of workers and the
creation of a mutual fund financed by employers the automotive sector, all enterprises.
The second obstacle is the balance of power within the company. The history of the group
and the strong pressure against the unions control the result that the SIA, a union house,
is the first in terms of votes in Aulnay, and there is still an important trade unionism
"yellow". The last obstacle for the control strategy, including union teams will discuss
with the employee, are unequally informed and many resigned. Three trends are opposed: the
first formed by a pole unionist "yellow" and reformist accompany restructuring and repeat
that it is a mistake to try to block the production. The second, which brings together
some of the CGT whose ties are strong LO on some sites, is waging a publicized, even a
minority, and to climb severance. An alternative proposed by another part of the CGT and
Solidarity is to oppose any restructuring plan: no question of accepting "to sell its
skin", even expensive, on the model of what had been done to Continental. The return may
be "hot" in PSA, but should not be reduced to chips shots highly publicized, with the sole
purpose - in the tradition of Stalinist trade union movement - would carry an image of
radicalism, and release at the same time on the basics.

Unify sites against dismissal

What happens to PSA is not isolated, and bring new claims to the private sector as the
veto dismissals of workers is urgent. In Sevelnord, jointly owned by PSA, an agreement to
use blackmail has been signed by the unions and reformist houses. Program: emphasis on
mobility, wage freeze and a commitment not to make redundancies while remaining vague on
the "voluntary" departures. This message was sent by employers to require employees-they
are subject to capitalist interests, we must fight, PSA elsewhere.

RoberK (AL Montreuil)

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Irish Anarchist Review #5 - Towards an anarchist anti-racism


In a thought-provoking piece http://www.wsm.ie/c/toward-anarchist-anti-racism which
challenges all of us to ?? look at ourselves on a personal level, recognise privilege and
develop a wider critique that is truer to our own politics?? D?nal O Driscoll explores
?what it means to be anti-racist from an anarchist perspective.? He explores two important
principles of anti-racism - the recognition that many of us have privileges simply because
of our skin colour or ethnic group and the challenge of giving voice to the oppressed.]
---- While there is a tradition of grassroots campaigning against racism in Ireland, there
is less discussion of what it means to be an anti-racist from an anarchist perspective.
Most material focuses on obvious forms such as hate-speech or supporting Travellers &
migrants in practical terms. The issue this article seeks to raise, is that in order to
get it right we also need to look at ourselves on a personal level, recognise privilege
and develop a wider critique that is truer to our own politics. As such I am writing as a
white anarchist, to other white anarchists.

To state the obvious: we anarchists are against racism - or at least we proclaim to be in
every statement that seeks to set out a policy of inclusion. That is, we, the
predominantly white people who rarely experience racial prejudice, proclaim it.

But is that necessarily true in fact? The implicit assumption is that espousing anarchist
politics is sufficient to be anti-racist, but do we check if that is actually the case? Do
do we ask those who are on the receiving end of oppression if we are actually creating
non-racist spaces?

Unfortunately, there are distinctions that we often gloss over to avoid somewhat
uncomfortable truths. Anti-racism, I argue, needs more than class analysis to be
effectively combated.


What is Racism?

There are several types of racism. First, there is the overt discrimination based on
seeing someone as inferior because of a perceived difference, usually to do with
ethnicity. This ranges from hate speech and direct abuse, not treating people equally in
employment or in the statements that use generalisations that tar entire groups of people
with the same brush.

The second is the institutionalised racism that comes with more subtle forms of government
or company policy, which appear to treat everyone as equal but actually disadvantage
particular groups. In this, it is not the individuals, but the entire system that
perpetuates discrimination for its own purposes.

The third is the internalised racism of society, a cultural racism, that manifests itself
in all sorts of hidden ways, particularly in privileges that we are so used to that we are
effectively blind to them.

The first two are relatively easy to recognise for those of us coming from an anarchist
background. Through our work on class and anti-State politics, we can see the oppression
inherent in such institutions - immigration policies being the standard one, but also
social policy such as education. The analysis of discrimination against one group of
people is relatively easily applied to others. A clear example is the treatment of
Travellers who face coercion by state organisations for not conforming to a particular set
of norms and live in a country where the use of derisive names such as ?knackers? is seen
as acceptable.

As such, the ways to challenge, name and reject these forms of racism are fairly
straight-forward. It sits easily with our existing critiques of domination and is easily
incorporated, as if that was enough. It is the third aspect that is not caught in this net
and slips through as we believe we have done enough. However, it is this that forms the
core of much anti-racist organisation and theory globally. At the very centre is the
notion of privilege.


Repoliticising Racism

A problem facing anarchists is that much of the realm in which racism is experienced, and
anti-racism needs to take place, is the liberal sphere. All too easily, the espousal of
equality for all is co-opted and depoliticised: turned into self-serving bureaucracies
that simply maintain the privileges of the dominant group.

The Israeli-Irish commentator Ronit Lentin puts this nicely:1

?However, one of the most important questions asked in relation to antiracism is ?who
speaks for whom, who says what and from where?? Antiracism can be either generalised ?
intending to raise awareness among the population and reach a post-racial ?racelessness?,
or colour blindness. Or it can be self-representational, where the lived experience of the
racialised informs the struggle. Generalist antiracism is anchored in universal values
such as democracy, human rights, equality and tolerance; it reduces the importance of
state racism and emphasises individual (or institutional) prejudice. In contrast, self
organising antiracism stresses the role of the state, which focuses on notions of the race
idea rooted in the political structure. The lived experience of the protagonists informs
the struggle and names the state as the main culprit rather than stress individual
prejudice, a way of depoliticising racism and antiracism.?

As she points out elsewhere, many of the anti-racist groups in Ireland are led by white,
middle-class people, not by the people they are meant to be representing.

Thus, part of the role that anarchists can and should be playing is ensuring that racism
is not depoliticised as an issue. Anarchism?s emphasis on self-organisation and critique
of the state means that this can be accommodated within our existing politics. Though it
is not as straight-forward as we like to think: to be effective ?allies?, it is important
that we do not depoliticise it unwittingly in our own actions.


An Anarchist Anti-Racism?

Anarchism brings a recognition of how class, state and capitalism play a role in creating
and maintaining oppression of many kinds. However, eliminating these three problems will
not simply ?solve? racism. We still have to confront our own privilege, but with the added
challenge of staying true to our own political framework.

There has been a lot of exploration of cultural racism and how it can be challenged from a
radical perspective ? see the writings of Audre Lorde, bell hooks and Lena Dominelli for
example. What has emerged is a theory based around privilege and challenging existing
hierarchies.

Thus, anti-racism includes two important principles. The first is to recognize that we
have privileges simply because of our skin colour or ethnic group. We may not like that we
have those privileges due to something we could not control ? being born ? but the first
step is not denying that we have them.

The second principle is giving voice to the oppressed, not speaking on their behalf or
seeking to dictate how they should define or resist their oppression.

Both work hand in hand and make demands of us, often uncomfortable ones as we are being
asked to face up to things on personal level. It requires that we take a back seat in
driving the politics and also that we are proactive in challenging ourselves.

There are increasing amounts of resources available, much of which can be adapted to the
particular context of racism within Ireland, and which are generally applicable to
combating forms of discrimination other than racism.

By focusing around the issue of voices and privilege, these can be incorporated into an
effective anarchist anti-racism: one that does not merely pay lip-service to the idea.
There are, however, several issues of particular relevance to us:


?Colour-blindness?

Because we perceive ourselves as anti-racist, we often act as if someone?s skin colour or
other ethnic feature is not there. We want to be ?colour-blind?, so to speak. The problem
is: this ignores the fact that the other person?s colour is a real feature, part of their
identity, and affects them in their daily interactions. It is not a neutral thing, and by
us pretending that it is, we are denying their experience from their point of view.

By not seeing colour you are not seeing or celebrating the difference, and you are not
seeing the hidden racism. As white people we have the privileges that are commonplace to
us, that we can simply assume, and thus we often do not realise just how privileged we
are. We can often walk away from situations that people from different ethnic groups cannot.


Tolerance

This is a liberal concept, often readily accepted in anarchist circles without question.
It was made famous through Voltaire?s (misattributed) quote - ?I do not agree with what
you say, but I?ll defend to the death your right to say it? - now taken as dogma in
liberal-left quarters. I would argue that it is not actually anarchist. There are many
things we do not tolerate ? fascist street stalls for instance. However, to tolerate means
that you acknowledge that someone is different and though you are not happy with that
difference you are able co-exist in some way. It is not acceptance.(2)

It is this recognition of the problems with tolerance that underlies critiques of
multiculturalism as an approach to culturally diverse societies (3). This is a place where
anarchist thought has a strength that other ideologies do not. There is scope in it for
accepting diversity, for acknowledging difference as a good thing, not to be feared,
without having to accept all aspects unconditionally. However, we have to be both more
explicit and more nuanced in how we approach it. As well as challenging society as a
whole, it includes:

(a) developing positions that recognise the oppression on a practical level in our own
particular cultures; and

(b) finding ways to show grassroots solidarity that do not repeat patterns of privilege to
the detriment of the groups we want to support in their struggles.

But what about...

Finally, we need to be alert to a fear or ?detour? that often comes up in privileged
groups, that of pointing to other groups and saying how much worse they are on some other
issue of discrimination. Though a natural response, that does not make it right. It is a
divide and rule game allowing us to ignore what is before us while playing to dominant
fears that are being used by politicians with aims we are opposed to.

This is not to deny that there are issues, but that we should make sure our own house is
in order first before imposing our will on another culture. In many cases it is possible
to find organisations from within those cultures, often at great risk, who have a nuanced,
considered view of how to integrate the competing demands, which do not play into
narratives of hate. Thus, rather than attacking an entire culture and dictating how they
should behave, we can find places to show practical solidarity in line with our own
politics and challenge racists subtexts with our own communities.


Conclusion

This has only been a brief overview of the topic, touching lightly on many of the problems
around forming an effective anti-racist politics. In a subsequent article I look at more
practical examples of cultural racism, particularly around notions of land using Northern
Ireland and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to unpick some of the deeper assumptions.

Guest writer: D?nal O Driscoll


Some Resources

Note: many of the following resources are based on the situation in the US. Each country /
culture has its own contexts and ways in which oppression is imposed and experienced, so
much will not necessarily translate directly across to Ireland. However, many of the
underlying messages do.



Key Texts

Anti-Racist Social Work, Lena Dominelli.
Rethinking Multiculturalism, Bhikhu Parekh.
Paul Kivel: http://www.paulkivel.com
Resist Racism: http://resistracism.wordpress.com/racism-101/
People of Colour Organize ? hard hitting texts challenging problems in white anti-racism:
http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/category/analysis
Colours of Resistance, anarchist analyses of anti-racism: http://www.coloursofresistance.org/
Racial Equality Tools: http://www.racialequitytools.org
Allies for Change: http://alliesforchange.org/


Articles & Blogs

1. Race Revolt ? a zine on race politics by feminists and queers: http://www.racerevolt.org.uk
2. Text of a 1994 talk on Racism (WSM): http://struggle.ws/talks/racism.html
3. Anarchism, Racism & Class Struggle (WSM): http://struggle.ws/rbr/rbr4_racism.html
4. Detour-Spotting for white anti-racists, Joan Olsson:
http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/olson.pdf
5. Checklist for Allies Against Racism, John Raible: http://johnraible.wordpress.com
6. Tiffany, Friend of People of Colour, Audrey Thompson:
http://www.pauahtun.org/Tiffany.web.html
7. So you think you are an anti-racist?, Paul Gorski & Multicultural Pavilion:
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/resources/paradigmshifts_race.html
8. I don?t see colour, I just see a human being, Abagond:
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/i-dont-see-colour-i-just-see-a-human-being/
9. New Code of Ethics for Anti-Racist White Allies, JLove & Tim Wise:
http://jlove.mvmt.com/2012/01/28/new-code-of-ethics-for-anti-racist-white-allies-by-jlove-tim-wise/
10. Ten Things to Remember: Anti-Racist Strategies for White Students, Chris Dixon:
http://www.soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=491
11. Beyond the Whiteness: Global Capitalism and White Supremacy: thoughts on movement
building and anti-racist organizing, Chris Crass:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/books/collectiveliberation/beyond.html
12. A few good reasons why white people should not wear ?Mohawks? or dreadlocks, C.K.
Donovan & Q-L. Driskill: http://zinelibrary.info/files/dreads.pdf
13. Ronit Lentin, Israeli-Irish blogger on racism: http://www.ronitlentin.net/
14. The Katrina Reader, articles on anti-racism in the context of solidarity following
Hurricane Katrina: http://katrinareader.org/toc/617
Organisations

Residents Against Racism: http://www.residentsagainstracism.org/
European Network Against Racism Ireland: http://enarireland.org
Irish Travellers Network: http://www.itmtrav.ie
Traveller Solidarity Network: http://travellersolidarity.org
Collective Liberation: http://collectiveliberation.org/
http://www.humanrights.ie/index.php/2009/11/16/ronit-lentin-anti-racism-and-lived-experience/
2 For good arguments about tolerance see, for example, Slavoj ?i?ek?s Living in End Times.

3 Excellently spelled out in Bhikhu Parekh?s Rethinking Multiculturalism.

Bron :  a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Venezuela, El Libertario, elections 2012: the circus comes, the circus goes


The editorial collective of El Libertario nodo50.org/ellibertario examines the current
political situation in Venezuela; electoral demagogy is the order of the day. ---- In the
ever present electoral spectacle that has been the norm in this country, 2012 will pass as
the year when the electoral show presented first the main attraction (the presidential
poll of October 7) relegating to December 16 the filler candidates who will display their
modest charms in the contests for state governor and regional legislative councils. Thus
continues, non-stop and even hurriedly, the hypnotic script of elections to which the
authoritarian powers of State and Capital have subjected the oppressed majority and its
efforts towards autonomy in their social struggles. In fact, if there?s something for
those powers to celebrate, it is the way they have re-legitimized representative democracy
and its electoral mechanism, almost fully spent by the 90?s.

- The gamblers and their game

Chavez won and it is not surprising. The fascination with the populist
leader who?s managed to build strong emotional links with an important
segment of the population remains in force in its essentials. He had at
his disposal the extremely advantageous use of the State?s machine to run
an overwhelming electoral campaign, fully emotional (its main slogan:
?Chavez, the heart of the country?), using the affection elicited from the
illness of the candidate/commander, the fear of losing officially promised
benefits in case of defeat, therefore reinforcing the so-called ?ballot
economy? that steers voters in two directions (polarization) where both
sectors base their legitimacy on elections with the resulting discardand
minimization of any different expectations, in a fight where they define
the rules and the rest of us just follow the carnival.

Chavez wins 21 out of 23 states (except Merida and Tachira). He loses in
seven out of the eight cities with over 500,000 inhabitants, except Ciudad
Guayana. He wins most other cities and the countryside. Such victory is
less convincing than the one of 2006, rendering questionable not only the
December round of elections but also the scenario for social struggles and
mobilizations. As we show on the table below, even when Chavez increases
his absolute number of votes, the percentage diminishes, and opposition
from the right and the social-democrats increases significantly. This kind
of electoral victory is more costly for the government every time,
achieved by financial expenditures, corruption and bribery in such a scale
that not even the huge oil income can take (see the illuminating article
by J.C. Jimenez in
periodicoellibertario.blogspot.com/2012/10/para-el-debate-lo-peor-que-le-paso.html).

Comparison of presidential elections 2006 ? 2012
2006 (%) 2012 (%)
Registered voters 15,784,777 (100) 18,830,149 (100)
Abstaining 3,994,380 (25.3) 3,667,921 (19.48)
Rejected ballots 160,245 (1.02) 287,325 (1.53)
Valid ballots 11,630,152 14,858,771
Chavez won 7,309,080 (46.3) 8,185,120 (43.47)
Opposition won 4,292,466 (27.19) 6,583,426 (34.96)
Difference 3,016,614 1,601,694
Other candidates 28,606 (0.18) 90,225 (0.48)
[CNE Official figures, see www.cne.gob.ve]

A very important reason for the recent presidential victory is bound to
become a principal problem for the regional candidatures: Chavez?s
charisma does not transfer to those candidates, whose success depends in
large part on making the Comandante a player in the campaign, something
quite difficult now due to his failing health. As if that weren?t enough,
the designation by presidential order of the Bolivarian candidates to the
23 governorships ?evidence that this process only leads to more caudillos-
will clip the wings of those aspiring ?revolutionaries?, as they
confrontincumbents who for the most part have a patina of legitimacy as
they won their posts in previous regional elections. Confirming the above
we have what the polling outfits that foresaw the results of October 7
have said in fairly close terms: that the elections of December 16 will
be different, with the opposition poised to win more contests,
particularly in the more populated regions.

On the opposition?s side, the illusion of victory many of them held weeks
prior to Election Day did not materialize, turning in the following days
into verbal or written expressions where what?s worrisome is not the
depression the defeat caused in some, but the semi-racist contempt towards
the sectors that rejected their line, to say nothing of those who
denounced as fraudulent an electoral process that up until October 7 they
upheld as ?the only way?. As we write this, their leaders? challenge is to
raise the spirits of their frustrated hordes, encouraging them with the
hope of better results in December, as much of Chavez?s electoral capital
will dissipate when transferred to regional Chavism, which will be
affected by the ?punishment vote? against inept bureaucracy, and also
because the leader?s personality cult will brakes the development of local
leadership which would mobilize the electorate.

- What can be said from an anarchist perspective?

For our collective it?s important to settle some details:

1) The people eligible to vote are split in three large minority
groupings: those who vote for the government, those who vote for the
opposition and those who abstain. In elections held during Chavez tenure
no group has won by itself against the sum of the other two.

2) In 2012 abstentions and null ballots (21.01%) are less percentage-wise
than the same figure (26.32%) in the elections of 2006. It has been the
lowest of any elections in which Chavez took part, but it is even bigger
than what was the norm for general elections in the 60?s, 70?s and 80?s.
Also, according to official estimates in 2012 there were 800,000 people
eligible to vote who have not registered at all.

3) As anarchists committed to our socio-political idealand our proposal
vs. the national reality, we have called for active abstention from voting
in elections that are essentially instruments to control and put an end to
autonomous social mobilizations.

4) We will stay the course because in spite of the huge electoral
blackmail of the past few months at least one out of every five people do
not participate in this cheating farce, which gives us an important
space/base for action. Likewise, there are many collective mobilizations
far from the script that State and Capital wish to impose (see examples in
periodicoellibertario.blogspot.com and www.derechos.org.ve), a clear
signal that the quest for autonomy for the social struggles we support is
alive.

@pelibertario - http://periodicoellibertario.blogspot.com
www.nodo50.org/ellibertario - ellibertario@nodo50.org

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) US, Carrboro, North Carolina - 3rd Annual Carrboro Anarchist Book Fair



We are excited to announce the 3rd annual Carrboro Anarchist Bookfair for the weekend of
November 10th. In the past two years these bookfairs have served as a gathering place and
melting pot of radical ideas and texts, workshops and discussions, and action in our
region. Long-time friends and comrades, book lovers and firebrands, and the openly curious
are all invited to attend. ---- The last two years have seen a massive spike in North
American activity, from anti-police struggles in the Northwest, to building and park
occupations nationwide, to one of the largest and most disruptive May Days in recent
history, to a massive anti-capitalist student strike in Quebec. This bookfair will offer
locals and non-locals alike, from long-time anarchists to the anarcho-curious, an
opportunity to engage with the ideas behind these rebellions, and discuss how to propel
forward new struggles into 2013.

If you are involved with a radical bookshop, organizing group, or publishing project that
is interested in tabling, please get in touch with us! Don?t delay?email
carrborobookfair@gmail.com to reserve a table, volunteer to help, or suggest other
activities. The deadline for reserving tables is November 1. We?ll also be hosting
workshops, presentations, and discussions?feel free to propose one. Announcements,
schedules, and promotional materials will soon be available at
www.carrboroanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com.

Groups who table will be asked for a small tabling fee, but it?s important to us that
tabling be accessible to groups that do not expect to make any money.

Related Link: http://www.carrboroanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Greece: Annual Conference of Libertarian Syndicalist Union ESE


The 4th, 5th and 6th Novembre will be held the VII Conference of ESE (Libertarian
Syndicalist Union), in which workers members of the Union will meet to discuss, organize
and fraternize. The Conference will be held this year in Athens and will be addressed,
among others, issues related to the socio-political reality of Greece, the organization of
workers, workers' autogestion and the threat of fascism. Anyone interested in any aspect
of our conference, please contact us.

Lybertarian greetings from Greece

Bron :  a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

You're needed! - Keep Abortion Rights Legal! by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group



The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group distributes this message from the Campaign for
Women's Reproductive Rights in the spirit of the united front. We support the clinic
defence actions of CWRR. --- Saturday, 3 November, 10.00 am and every Saturday --- Defend
the Fertility Control Clinic! ---- Keep Abortion Rights Legal! ---- The anti-abortion
forces are intensifying their attack on legalised abortion in Victoria, so they are
increasing their harassment outside the Fertility Control Clinic. Until now, they have
routinely appeared in small numbers every morning and in large numbers on the fourth
Saturday of each month. Every fourth Saturday, pro-choice activists have stood at the
clinic entrance to keep as many as 80 anti-abortionists on the other side of Wellington
Parade. Now, the misogynist foetus worshippers are standing in their larger numbers at the
clinic entrance every Saturday morning. The organised far right has ramped up their fight.
Pro-choicers have to ramp up ours!

On October 13, the fourth anniversary of Victoria's historic legalisation, pro-choicers
turned out in our largest numbers to defend abortion rights. We drowned out the
anti-abortionists' hugely decreased numbers. Rallying each October to mark our legal
victory is crucial. Defending the Fertility Control Clinic to make that legal victory real
for women exercising their right and for clinic staff working there is urgent!

118 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne (between Powlett & Simpson Sts)

Bron :  a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

dinsdag 30 oktober 2012

67 ans et expulsé-RV aéroport! Please! 67 years and deported!‏


http://www.gettingthevoiceout.org/le-troisieme-age-expulse-67-ans-et-expulse-sous-escorte/

Le troisième âge expulsé : 67 ans et expulsé sous escorte !
- Read this post in English , Nederlands


Monsieur AP a 67 ans. Il vit en Belgique depuis 12 ans près de ses
enfants. Il avait obtenu une carte de séjour en 2006 de 5 ans qu’on lui
a retiré récemment.
Il a été arrêté en septembre et amené au centre fermé de Merksplas. Il
a subit une première tentative d’expulsion qu’il a refusé.
L’Office va tenter à nouveau de l’expulser sous escorte ce 2 novembre
2012. Monsieur a décidé de résister à son expulsion et demande notre
aide ! Il prendra le vol vers Moscou pour après être amené vers son pays
d’origine l’Arménie.

Vol 2561 Aéroflot 12h45 le vendredi 2 novembre

RV à l’aérport à 10 h 45 pour expliquer aux passagers et leur demander
de réagir..

Fax et mail de protestation :

openline@aeroflot.ru pour la Russie

Et pour Bruxelles,
RUE DES COLONIES, 58, 1000 BRUXELLES Tel 322 / 5136066
Fax 322 / 5122961
brutosu@aeroflot.ru

Bron : Getting the Voice Out - vluchtelingen

'Bedrijfswereld wil makke, betrouwbare schapen; ons onderwijs produceert ze aan de lopende band'






Doodt ons schoolsysteem de creativiteit in onze studenten? Het heeft er alle schijn van, staat te lezen in het boek How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character:

'De studenten die de beste rapporten behaalden waren degene die laagst scoorden op vlak van creativiteit en onafhankelijkheid en hoogst op zaken als nauwgezetheid, het uitstellen van beloningen, voorspelbaarheid en afhankelijkheid.

(De wetenschappers) Bowles en Gintis deden dezelfde proef in de bedrijfswereld en ook daar bleek dat supervisors hun werknemers op dezelfde manier beoordeelden als leraars dat doen. Werknemers die onafhankelijk aan de slag gingen en zich creatief toonden, kregen lage waarderingscijfers in tegenstelling tot de nauwgezette, tactvolle, afhankelijke werknemers die beloningen konden uitstellen, die op hogere waarderingscijfers rekenen konden.

Bowles en Gintis zien hun uitgangspunt bevestigd: de zakenwereld houdt van tamme, betrouwbare schapen en het onderwijs produceert aan de lopende band mensen die aan dat beeld voldoen.

Leraars zeggen vaak dat ze van creatieve studenten houden. Niets is minder waar:

'De beoordeling van de favoriete student was omgekeerd evenredig met zijn zin voor creativiteit, terwijl de minst geliefde student op creativiteit net positief werd beoordeeld. Studenten met creatieve kenmerken lijken leraars allerminst te kunnen enthousiasmeren.'

Bent u creatief en wil u CEO worden? Veel geluk. U zal het nodig hebben:

'Samengevat kan worden gesteld dat een sterk negatief verband bestaat tussen het uiten van creatieve ideeën en leiderschapspotentiëel. Dat geeft aan dat er een belangrijk, maar totnogtoe onbekend vooroordeel bestaat tegen het selecteren van effectieve leiders.'

Bron : Express.be

Paul Ceglia





In de Verenigde Staten is Paul Ceglia gearresteeerd.  Die haalde in 2010 de wereldpers toen hij out of the blue claimde de meerderheidsaandeelhouder van het sociale netwerk Facebook te zijn. De eigenaar van Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, zou in 2003 een papier hebben ondertekend waarin stond dat Paul D. Ceglia de rechtmatige eigenaar was van 50 % van de aandelen van Facebook.  Het papier zou een contract zijn geweest waaruit kon worden opgemaakt dat Zuckerberg in opdracht van Ceglia voor 1.000 dollar een website moest ontwikkelen die The Face Book moest gaan heten. Zuckerberg beloofde zijn zakenpartner zelfs dat hij elke dag tot de lancering nog 1 procent extra aandelen zou krijgen. Daarom claimde Ceglia zelfs voor 84% eigenaar te zijn van de sociale netwerksite.

Ceglia huurde een reeks - steeds wisselende - advocaten in om zijn gelijk te bewijzen, maar de bevoegde instanties lijken nu de kant van Zuckerberg te hebben gekozen.

Federale rechercheurs van New York schreven vorige week een aanhoudingsbevel uit tegen Ceglia. Hij wordt beschuldigd van valsheid in geschrifte in een poging Facebook op te lichten. 'Ceglia heeft met opzet en systematisch gepoogd Facebook en Zuckerberg op te lichten en heeft ook het juridisch stelsel misbruikt,’ aldus de strafklacht.

Bron : Forbes / Express.be

Amerikaanse investeringsfondsen vinden weg naar Europa terug






Tussen eind augustus en eind september steeg de blootstelling van Amerikaanse investeringsfondsen aan banken in de eurozone met niet minder dan 16%. Het bewijs dat de eurozone opnieuw stabieler wordt,denkt Ralph Atkins van de Financial Times. De onderliggende oorzaak is volgens hem de belofte van Mario Draghi om “whatever it takes” te doen om de euro te redden.
Het gaat volgens Fitch Ratings om de derde stijging op rij en ze is belangrijk omdat de geldfondsen een belangrijke bron van (dollar-)financiering voor Europese banken zijn. Vorig jaar stortte die in elkaar toen Griekenland de eurozone dreigde te verlaten, een situatie die tot de zomer verder bleef verslechteren.
Mogelijke directe interventie in de staatsobligatiemarkten (zoals Draghi beloofde) lijkt de bankensector – vooral die in periferielanden als Spanje – enigszins gestabiliseerd te hebben, een situatie die door het gedrag van de Amerikaanse geldfondsen nu wordt bevestigd.
Is de situatie ietwat verbeterd, dan betekent dit nog niet dat de problemen van de baan zijn. Amerikaanse geldmarktfondsen zijn, zelfs na de recente stijgingen, voor slechts 11% blootgesteld aan eurozonebanken – in mei 2011 was dat nog meer dan 30%. De dollarfinanciering is dus nog steeds relatief laag omdat Amerikanen zich nog steeds zorgen maken over de eurozone.
Fitch-analist Robert Grossman beschrijft de stijging als “een kleine verbetering, maar geen terugkeer naar het niveau van 2011.” Het is echter wel een goed teken: “Verantwoordelijk voor de stijging zijn de conservatieve en zeer gevoelige beleggers. Dat zijn dus goede indicators.”
Vooral Franse banken konden op in september op meer vertrouwen rekenen van de geldmarktfondsen. De blootstelling aan Amerikaans overheidspapier daalde en die aan Japanse banken bleef stabiel.

Bron : Financial Times / Express.be

Saoedische vorst wil VN-resolutie die beledigen van godsdienst veroordeelt









De Saoedische koning Abdullah bin Abdulaziz wil een VN-resolutie die het beledigen van godsdiensten veroordeelt. Zijn vraag volgt op de globale onlusten die vorige maand ontstonden ten gevolge van een YouTubefilm, waarin de spot werd gedreven met de profeet Mohammed. Tientallen mensen werden daarbij gedood.

‘Ik eis een VN-resolutie die elk land of groep veroordeelt die religies en profeten beledigt, ‘ zei hij ter gelegenheid van een religieuze samenkomst in zijn paleis. ‘Het is onze plicht en die van elke moslim om de Islam en zijn profeten te verdedigen,’ zei de vorst.

Nadat de onlusten waren uitgebroken had Saoedi-Arabië ermee gedreigd YouTube in het land te blokkeren indien de url van de film nog bereikbaar zou zijn.

YouTube had daarna de beperkingen voor de film uitgebreid.

Bron : Express.be

Sandy doet het licht in New York uit







Hoewel de orkaan Sandy ondertussen is afgezwakt tot een post-tropische superstorm, zijn aan de Amerikaanse Oostkust deze nacht (voorlopig ) 35 doden gevallen, meestal door omgevallen bomen. Ook in Canada viel een dode. Eerder had Sandy in het Caraïbische gebied 69 doden gemaakt.

De storm raasde van West-Virginia tot North Carolina en Connecticut. Er werden windvlagen gemeten met snelheden tot 135 kilometer per uur. De harde wind ging gepaard met hevige regenval. In 23 Amerikaanse staten werden waarschuwingen afgegeven. Grote delen van New York zitten zonder stroom nadat elektriciteitscentrales volledig onder water kwamen te staan. Meer dan 10.000 mensen werden ingezet om de schade te verhelpen.  Ook Manhattan staat volledig onder water. Burgemeester Michael Bloomberg vroeg de burgers van de Big Apple enkel de nooddiensten te bellen wanneer er levensgevaar is.

In New York zijn ondertussen 1.175 soldaten ingezet om de geëvacueerde gebieden te beschermen tegen plunderaars, nadat op Twitter tientallen berichten werden geïntercepteerd waarin plunderaars plannen bekendmaakten om van de chaos in de stad te profiteren.

De vliegtuigen die passagiers van Brussel naar de Oostkust moeten brengen blijven ook vandaag aan de grond, enkel de vluchten naar Chicago en Atlanta zullen vertrekken. In totaal zijn al 14.000 vluchten van en naar de Amerikaanse Oostkust geschrapt.

Bron : Express.be

Sandy kan werkloosheidscijfers VS beïnvloeden








De orkaan Sandy heeft het noordoostelijk deel van de United States grondig dooreengeschud. De gevolgen van dit natuurfenomeen vallen nog moeilijk in te schatten, het totale schadeplaatje zal pas binnen enkele weken volledig bekend zijn. Er is momenteel sprake van een bedrag van 20 miljard dollar, maar deze raming zal hoogstwaarschijnlijk nog moeten opgetrokken worden.

Ook de andere gevolgen van Sandy moeten nog duidelijk worden. Vandaag maakte het Labor Department bekend dat de publicatie van de werkloosheidscijfers voor de maand oktober – die traditioneel op de eerste vrijdag van de maand (nu vrijdag dus) worden gepubliceerd – tot onbepaalde datum uitgesteld worden.

Gary Steinberg van het Labor Department wil eerst de effecten van Sandy op de tewerkstelling proberen te meten, pas wanneer het beeld wat duidelijker is wordt het jobrapport gepubliceerd.

Jack Welch blijft morren

Ex-ceo Jack Welch van General Electric beweerde al bij de bekendmaking van het september-rapport dat er sprake is van manipulatie van de banenrapporten. Het oktober-rapport zal in details bekeken worden, want het is het laatste rapport dat voor de presidentsverkiezingen van 6 november wordt gepubliceerd.

BP en Deutsche Bank onderstutten beurskoersen

Opnieuw geen handel op de beurs van Wall Street, dus bleef alle aandacht op deze kant van de grote plas vastgepind. De West-Europese deden het vrij goed vandaag, de beurskoersen stegen zelfs aan het sterkste tempo in 2 weken. BP en Deutsche Bank maakten goede resultaten bekend en dat gaf natuurlijk een stevige opsteker.


Bron : Slim Beleggen

(en) Palestine-Israel, the joint struggle persist


The joint struggle in Bil'in have never stopped for the last seven years and eight months.
It inspired the persistent struggles in Ni'ilin, Ma'asara, Beit Ummar, Nabi Saleh, Qaddum,
and Sheikh Jarrah. Activists of the persistent locals inspired and helped the struggles in
additional communities. It was "upgraded" when the higher level comity of the struggling
local communities was organized. In addition to support of the local struggles it was also
expressed in joint actions like this of the previous week at the 443 high way to Jerusalem
which pass through the occupied west bank of Palestine and this week at the Beniamin
compound against the settler colonialist Rami levi supermarket. This week end the
activities were minimal because of the Eid Al Adha holiday, but not canceled.


Beniamin compound

Tuesday 10/24/2012, Demo at settler colonialist Beniamin compound mall (Rami levi
supermarket), 6 Israelis of the AAtW, dozens of internationals of the ISM and Palestinian
activists of the popular comities calling for boycott of Israeli goods. Four arrested.
Around 150 protestors demonstrated on Wednesday in front of an Israeli chain store east of
Ramallah, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Palestinian, international and Israeli protesters gathered outside of a branch of the Rami
Levi store, chanting slogans and carrying banners calling for a boycott of Israeli products.
Protesters also condemned settler attacks on Palestinian communities.
The protest took place near the village of Mikhmas, east of Ramallah. There are several
Rami Levi stores in the occupied West Bank, which attract both Israeli and Palestinian
customers. ? Protest against settlement goods, Binyamin settlement, Oct. 24 (15 photos)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.508462625830713.122508.136633479680298
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=508493102494332
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=472651882779512
Bilal Tamimi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx9XzODAZYk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReGmCmwFJlE

Bilin

Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. On the first day of the Eid Al Adha Bil'in continues to demonstrate
against the wall and settlements. About 15 Israelis of the anarchists against the wall
joined about 20 Bil'iners in the weekly demonstration. As usual, after initial convergence
at the near by Abu Lamun groove we marched to the separation wall with the usual chants.
Not long after the more daring participants entered between the barbed wire spools and the
wall the Israeli state forces started to attack us with tear gas and sound grenades and
added the spray of stinking water.
As the wind was most of the time friendly, the state forces succeeded only to prevent the
hanging of the Palestinian flag on the wall.
The Shabab who improved their stone throwing capabilities scored lot of direct hits on the
plastic shields of the soldiers located on a ramp beyond the wall, who were monitoring us
and directing the the spray machine and tear gas shooters harassing us.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.509315395745436.122675.136633479680298
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.410446609025742.95459.319396991464038


South Hebron Hills

Companying olive picking farmers
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151224647642138.481853.779192137
=================================
* From my blog at: http://ilanisagainstwalls.blogspot.com
See Previous reports about the joint struggles the Anarchists Against the Wall take part
in at the blog
See also: http://awalls.org

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) France, Alternative Libertair October (#221) - Soft system: Everyone loses feathers (fr)


Plays a social catastrophe in factories Sweet now. Job losses in a group known for its
poor working conditions for poultry production in what is the worst in the agro-industry.
Back to the social struggle and ecological perspectives. ---- The Doux Group, Europe's
leading producer of poultry with 3,400 employees in France and es 700-800 poultry
integrated into its production sectors - is in turmoil. Restructuring have succeeded. The
tens of millions of euros of aid to the export of EU funds have not prevented the group to
reduce over time employment, compress wages of employees and revenues of poultry. ---- A
terrible social drama is being played this summer for thousands of families of Britain and
France more widely. Many of which provide 800 poultry in poultry plants have not been paid
for months. Similarly, wage arrears succeed.

The Group's debt reaches several hundred million euros is due to an expansionary policy by
the pressure of the mass distribution, the acquisition of foreign group, the increase in
grain prices. Which caused her into liquidation on June 1.

The fight is organized

Mobilization of employees is organized at each site group with rallies, for example, the
Inter-Fo-CFDT-CGT CFTC called Saturday, June 30 at a rally in Valves for maintaining jobs,
safeguarding tool production, to deny the dismantling of the group and demand the
recognition of employee-es and their organizations, Thursday, July 12 parade from the
factory Mild Pleudaceuc (56) brought together about 500 people employed es, elected
representatives, capita-es. The trader es lowered their curtains to show their solidarity.
A snail operation was then conducted to Vannes (7 kms cap).

The Inter, aware of the influence of the family Soft Quimper, including in the Commercial
Court, asked the divestiture of the Tribunal in favor of a 'professional jurisdiction. "

Representing the employee-es-es, however, were summoned Tuesday, July 17 to discuss the
social contemplated by potential buyers and the group continuation plan Charles Sweet,
plan rejected by the unions under the poverty backup plan related employment. Wednesday,
August 1, the Commercial Court of Quimper announced two decisions. Firstly, he accepted
the continuation plan activities "chicken export goods" and "developed" group Gentle
associated with Barclays, which maintain 2,450 jobs ... during an observation period which
runs until 30 November Doux engament with up to 2 million backup plan. On the other hand
he ordered the liquidation of the group cluster charge and began examining the partial
takeover bids. The final decision of the court confirms the deletion of a thousand jobs on
the 1700 pole with fresh outright closure of three sites: Graincourt (Pas-de-Calais), The
True Cross (Morbihan) for administrative staff and Pontet (Vaucluse).

During the hearing, approximately 200 employees have expressed Soft "anger" at the gates
of the palace, to the call of CGT, CFDT and FO. The works council (EC) site Ch?teaulin
(Finist?re) - group headquarters - took the prosecutor to Quimper. According to counsel
for the EC, it "finds that there is a body of evidence that such indebtedness extremely
important for several years, alerts auditors were not followed or extremely important
dividend payments while company was already almost bankrupt [...], suggesting that there
may have been of serious mismanagement, "said Mr. Riera. Despite this, the family Soft,
146th French fortune, refuses to use its property to save the group. While revenue rose
18% between 2010 and 2011 when, in 2008 each employee are received under the profit
sharing 83 cents!

A model review

It's been years that the family Soft, one of the few large employers in rural Brittany,
plays its heavy weight in the economy to exploit its employee-es, pump and subsidies to
the law on non-poultry market labeled and junk food. The Doux Group has maintained until
now turning massively export (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia, China ...) flowing passing
local poultry in Africa. It flooded the French market for Brazilian poultry destabilize
the market and its own local suppliers!

It is known for its factories working conditions of another age (falls, collisions, TMS [
1 ], cuts), absenteeism record personal non-payment by the pause time, the repression of
union teams, its wages around the minimum wage ...). The factory father Dodu Quimper
example had a frequency rate of accidents of 98.88% a year [ 2 ]!

For the Conf?d?ration Paysanne "Sweet monopolized public funds: more than a billion in 15
years. It is the failure of an agricultural policy that ignores farmers and employment. "
For us libertarian communist system Soft is the epitome of exploitation of workers and
peasants (line work, livestock concentration ...) in rural areas. This is one more example
of the collusion between public authorities, local bourgeoisie and shareholders.

For farmer-ne-s, the workers concerned-es, Crisis Group Doux carries a strong
contradiction that completely obscures the media system: The need to fight to maintain the
activity and the employment - simply because "to eat" - is only highlighted when the need
no longer working conditions and dehumanized by being underpaid is not even imagined. Nor
does mention that he would finish with methods of production and agro-industry guilty of
multiple pollution and a poor quality of food ... As for animal welfare, it is simply
ignored ... ... "

Moreover, as all these redundancies consequences of an economy dominated by a small
minority, and consequently a real fight against poverty and unemployment through a
questioning of the capitalist organization of labor of the devastation imposed on nature
continue as this privileged minority has the means to enforce its decisions through state
structures.

Convergence social and ecological

Soft system also should be a perfect example of a possible convergence between social
struggles and ecological struggles ... It is further necessary that there is a political
will to ask the right questions and defend a logical convergence between ecological
struggles and social struggles.

The need for solidarity with the workers of Soft threatened to be thrown es-es to find an
extension of unemployment more effectively by questioning joint damage capitalists.
Convergence can impose progress towards a changing sector of poultry based on family farms
and decentralized facilities for the preparation of meat. Which would mean no more jobs,
better working conditions, respect for the environment ... all of which can be financed
collectively reclaiming capitalist profits.

What today may seem like a sweet dream ... can not be realized if such a view is supported
widely within the peasantry and the working class. The unions are not the majority, far
from it, on such a line. More reason not to waste time and defend this logic all around
us, both in the direction of our workmates and within our unions where possible.

Ecology Commission AL

[ 1 ] TMS musculoskeletal disorder.

[ 2 ] According to Raymond Dykes, CGT union representative, on average, nearly one
accident per year per employee.

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) Britain, Love don't pay the rent: Comments on Cameron's speech by anarchist specifist Collective Action


Collective Action offer some initial and cursory remarks on David Cameron's speech today
in which he announced his party's intention to make further massive cuts in welfare and to
scrap housing benefit for the under-25s. These comments are to be followed by a more
substantial look at what these cuts mean to the working class. ---- 1. The high
proportional cost of housing benefit relates less to the value of the existing (and
depleted) social housing stock and more to the over-inflated rates of private tenancy. Any
kind of state regulation in this sphere, however, would be political suicide considering
the millions that all parties (but especially the Tories) receive from wealthy property
developers and the economic impact this would have on the sector.

2. Cameron's comments on the "unfairness" of benefits rising with the rate of inflation,
while wages drop, re-affirms the disciplining role of unemployment and the unemployed to
the workforce. In essence; claimants are poor, but not as poor as they should be.

3. The proposed scrapping of housing benefit for the under-25s should not only be
recognised as a further attack on a lost generation but an attempt by the state to shift
the responsibilities concerning the reproduction of labour power. This is a dynamic that
can be seen also in the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance, workfare
placements and spiralling rates of student debt. All of which disproportionately affect
young people but also modify the material conditions (and "self-investment" needed) for
entering the workforce.

4. In scrapping housing benefit the state wants to go further by shifting the burden of
housing young proletarians back on to their parents, perhaps in the hope that they might
learn a thing or two from this "bought" generation - those who are the products of
Thatcher's social engineering, who are getting poorer but are predominantly
property-"owners" (mortgaged) and relatively economically stable. In this sense Cameron
hopes to rely on past compositional changes in the working class - in the original
sell-off of the social housing stock - to both stabilise and discipline an increasingly
precarious young workforce. A young workforce which both trashed his party headquarters
and burnt and looted the capital in August. This attempt to move reproduction back into
the private sphere is something that can be likewise seen in the (less popularly covered)
attacks on disability allowance. This is what the rhetoric of the "Big Society" denotes,
that proletarians have to now accept the burden of social reproduction (something which
was previously paid via taxes and guaranteed through welfare). It should therefore be
understood not as further attacks on minority sections of the class (the young, the
unemployed) but a generalised attack on the conditions of all workers.

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

(en) France, FA - Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Zone defense


The information circulated over the past few days: the socialist-environmentalist
government mobilized troops and riot police (hundreds of CRS) using backhoes to remove
occupants that are installed almost everywhere on the holding zone made of groves and
farmland, designed for the constrction of the future international airport of
Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Loire-Atlantique. ---- For the moment, occupants are considered as
illegal by the courts, proceedings are underway to evict homeowners, tenants and farmers
of the area concerned. ---- This place has been renamed ? Defend Zone? (ZAD) by resistants
opposed to the capitalist development of the country, a ruinous project that does not meet
the needs of the population, but political and financial ambitions and would devastate the
environment. 40 years ago the first expropriations began with the beginningof the project.

This area to defend belongs legally to the multinational Vinci,
responsible for building and then manage the airport as part of a
public-private partnership, very beneficial for the financial group.
Indeed, local authorities undertake to compensate for any losses that may
occur ... for 55 years!

But this ZAD has also become for over 3 years, a very interesting place of
alternative experiences and self-managing for more than one hundred people
living there and thousands who have passed through, enjoying the
creativity collectively vegetable cleared land , construction of huts,
bread ovens, collective kitchens, meetings, exchanges of knowledge (from
off serigraphy to explore wild edible plants), free price concerts, local
radio (Radio Horn), a journal (Lese concrete).

The airport project is particulary carried, by the current Prime Minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault (former Mayor of Nantes and former MP, Councillor of
Nantes and Community Advisor of Nantes metropolis) since June 21, 2012,
which makes a personal matter of this, likely to leave his glorious name
in the history of "major projects". No one can be surprised of the massive
deployment of forces to meet the interests of a local potentate, political
parties officially allies on this case (PS and UMP) and those who are as
EELV, co-managers for the Government and Parliament. The so called
environmentalists EELV, once again, return the vest despite their
pre-election bluster against the airport, that for the comfort of some
departments.

Thus, Tuesday, Oct. 16, the forces of the state began early in the
morning, to dislodge ZAD heads, destroying houses, others be walled.
Pretentious and shifted reality, the prefect announced, at 10 h 30, that
the mission was accomplished. However, if some settlements were demolished
and closed, resistance continues unabated and receives more and more
support!

The Anarchist Federation expresses full solidarity with the struggle of
resisters to the airport and to the frozen world of Capital and the State,
in a word: Power. The Anarchist Federation provide all the help she can to
the best of its ability, to ensure that those who live there can continue
to enjoy this area to defend.

Anarchist Federation.
relations-internationales @ federation-anarchiste.org

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca


(en) Irish Anarchist Review 5 - Towards an anarchist anti-racism by D?nal O Driscoll


In a thought-provoking piece http://www.wsm.ie/c/toward-anarchist-anti-racism which
challenges all of us to ?? look at ourselves on a personal level, recognise privilege and
develop a wider critique that is truer to our own politics?? D?nal O Driscoll explores
?what it means to be anti-racist from an anarchist perspective.? He explores two important
principles of anti-racism - the recognition that many of us have privileges simply because
of our skin colour or ethnic group and the challenge of giving voice to the oppressed.
----Towards.... ---- While there is a tradition of grassroots campaigning against racism
in Ireland, there is less discussion of what it means to be an anti-racist from an
anarchist perspective. Most material focuses on obvious forms such as hate-speech or
supporting Travellers & migrants in practical terms. The issue this article seeks to
raise, is that in order to get it right we also need to look at ourselves on a personal
level, recognise privilege and develop a wider critique that is truer to our own politics.
As such I am writing as a white anarchist, to other white anarchists.

To state the obvious: we anarchists are against racism - or at least we proclaim to be in
every statement that seeks to set out a policy of inclusion. That is, we, the
predominantly white people who rarely experience racial prejudice, proclaim it.

But is that necessarily true in fact? The implicit assumption is that espousing anarchist
politics is sufficient to be anti-racist, but do we check if that is actually the case? Do
do we ask those who are on the receiving end of oppression if we are actually creating
non-racist spaces?

Unfortunately, there are distinctions that we often gloss over to avoid somewhat
uncomfortable truths. Anti-racism, I argue, needs more than class analysis to be
effectively combated.



What is Racism?

There are several types of racism. First, there is the overt discrimination based on
seeing someone as inferior because of a perceived difference, usually to do with
ethnicity. This ranges from hate speech and direct abuse, not treating people equally in
employment or in the statements that use generalisations that tar entire groups of people
with the same brush.

The second is the institutionalised racism that comes with more subtle forms of government
or company policy, which appear to treat everyone as equal but actually disadvantage
particular groups. In this, it is not the individuals, but the entire system that
perpetuates discrimination for its own purposes.

The third is the internalised racism of society, a cultural racism, that manifests itself
in all sorts of hidden ways, particularly in privileges that we are so used to that we are
effectively blind to them.

The first two are relatively easy to recognise for those of us coming from an anarchist
background. Through our work on class and anti-State politics, we can see the oppression
inherent in such institutions - immigration policies being the standard one, but also
social policy such as education. The analysis of discrimination against one group of
people is relatively easily applied to others. A clear example is the treatment of
Travellers who face coercion by state organisations for not conforming to a particular set
of norms and live in a country where the use of derisive names such as ?knackers? is seen
as acceptable.

As such, the ways to challenge, name and reject these forms of racism are fairly
straight-forward. It sits easily with our existing critiques of domination and is easily
incorporated, as if that was enough. It is the third aspect that is not caught in this net
and slips through as we believe we have done enough. However, it is this that forms the
core of much anti-racist organisation and theory globally. At the very centre is the
notion of privilege.



Repoliticising Racism

A problem facing anarchists is that much of the realm in which racism is experienced, and
anti-racism needs to take place, is the liberal sphere. All too easily, the espousal of
equality for all is co-opted and depoliticised: turned into self-serving bureaucracies
that simply maintain the privileges of the dominant group.

The Israeli-Irish commentator Ronit Lentin puts this nicely:1

?However, one of the most important questions asked in relation to antiracism is ?who
speaks for whom, who says what and from where?? Antiracism can be either generalised ?
intending to raise awareness among the population and reach a post-racial ?racelessness?,
or colour blindness. Or it can be self-representational, where the lived experience of the
racialised informs the struggle. Generalist antiracism is anchored in universal values
such as democracy, human rights, equality and tolerance; it reduces the importance of
state racism and emphasises individual (or institutional) prejudice. In contrast, self
organising antiracism stresses the role of the state, which focuses on notions of the race
idea rooted in the political structure. The lived experience of the protagonists informs
the struggle and names the state as the main culprit rather than stress individual
prejudice, a way of depoliticising racism and antiracism.?

As she points out elsewhere, many of the anti-racist groups in Ireland are led by white,
middle-class people, not by the people they are meant to be representing.

Thus, part of the role that anarchists can and should be playing is ensuring that racism
is not depoliticised as an issue. Anarchism?s emphasis on self-organisation and critique
of the state means that this can be accommodated within our existing politics. Though it
is not as straight-forward as we like to think: to be effective ?allies?, it is important
that we do not depoliticise it unwittingly in our own actions.



An Anarchist Anti-Racism?

Anarchism brings a recognition of how class, state and capitalism play a role in creating
and maintaining oppression of many kinds. However, eliminating these three problems will
not simply ?solve? racism. We still have to confront our own privilege, but with the added
challenge of staying true to our own political framework.

There has been a lot of exploration of cultural racism and how it can be challenged from a
radical perspective ? see the writings of Audre Lorde, bell hooks and Lena Dominelli for
example. What has emerged is a theory based around privilege and challenging existing
hierarchies.

Thus, anti-racism includes two important principles. The first is to recognize that we
have privileges simply because of our skin colour or ethnic group. We may not like that we
have those privileges due to something we could not control ? being born ? but the first
step is not denying that we have them.

The second principle is giving voice to the oppressed, not speaking on their behalf or
seeking to dictate how they should define or resist their oppression.

Both work hand in hand and make demands of us, often uncomfortable ones as we are being
asked to face up to things on personal level. It requires that we take a back seat in
driving the politics and also that we are proactive in challenging ourselves.

There are increasing amounts of resources available, much of which can be adapted to the
particular context of racism within Ireland, and which are generally applicable to
combating forms of discrimination other than racism.

By focusing around the issue of voices and privilege, these can be incorporated into an
effective anarchist anti-racism: one that does not merely pay lip-service to the idea.
There are, however, several issues of particular relevance to us:



?Colour-blindness?

Because we perceive ourselves as anti-racist, we often act as if someone?s skin colour or
other ethnic feature is not there. We want to be ?colour-blind?, so to speak. The problem
is: this ignores the fact that the other person?s colour is a real feature, part of their
identity, and affects them in their daily interactions. It is not a neutral thing, and by
us pretending that it is, we are denying their experience from their point of view.

By not seeing colour you are not seeing or celebrating the difference, and you are not
seeing the hidden racism. As white people we have the privileges that are commonplace to
us, that we can simply assume, and thus we often do not realise just how privileged we
are. We can often walk away from situations that people from different ethnic groups cannot.



Tolerance

This is a liberal concept, often readily accepted in anarchist circles without question.
It was made famous through Voltaire?s (misattributed) quote - ?I do not agree with what
you say, but I?ll defend to the death your right to say it? - now taken as dogma in
liberal-left quarters. I would argue that it is not actually anarchist. There are many
things we do not tolerate ? fascist street stalls for instance. However, to tolerate means
that you acknowledge that someone is different and though you are not happy with that
difference you are able co-exist in some way. It is not acceptance.(2)

It is this recognition of the problems with tolerance that underlies critiques of
multiculturalism as an approach to culturally diverse societies (3). This is a place where
anarchist thought has a strength that other ideologies do not. There is scope in it for
accepting diversity, for acknowledging difference as a good thing, not to be feared,
without having to accept all aspects unconditionally. However, we have to be both more
explicit and more nuanced in how we approach it. As well as challenging society as a
whole, it includes:

(a) developing positions that recognise the oppression on a practical level in our own
particular cultures; and

(b) finding ways to show grassroots solidarity that do not repeat patterns of privilege to
the detriment of the groups we want to support in their struggles.

But what about...

Finally, we need to be alert to a fear or ?detour? that often comes up in privileged
groups, that of pointing to other groups and saying how much worse they are on some other
issue of discrimination. Though a natural response, that does not make it right. It is a
divide and rule game allowing us to ignore what is before us while playing to dominant
fears that are being used by politicians with aims we are opposed to.

This is not to deny that there are issues, but that we should make sure our own house is
in order first before imposing our will on another culture. In many cases it is possible
to find organisations from within those cultures, often at great risk, who have a nuanced,
considered view of how to integrate the competing demands, which do not play into
narratives of hate. Thus, rather than attacking an entire culture and dictating how they
should behave, we can find places to show practical solidarity in line with our own
politics and challenge racists subtexts with our own communities.



Conclusion

This has only been a brief overview of the topic, touching lightly on many of the problems
around forming an effective anti-racist politics. In a subsequent article I look at more
practical examples of cultural racism, particularly around notions of land using Northern
Ireland and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to unpick some of the deeper assumptions.



Guest writer: D?nal O Driscoll



Some Resources

Note: many of the following resources are based on the situation in the US. Each country /
culture has its own contexts and ways in which oppression is imposed and experienced, so
much will not necessarily translate directly across to Ireland. However, many of the
underlying messages do.



Key Texts

Anti-Racist Social Work, Lena Dominelli.
Rethinking Multiculturalism, Bhikhu Parekh.
Paul Kivel: http://www.paulkivel.com
Resist Racism: http://resistracism.wordpress.com/racism-101/
People of Colour Organize ? hard hitting texts challenging problems in white anti-racism:
http://www.peopleofcolororganize.com/category/analysis
Colours of Resistance, anarchist analyses of anti-racism: http://www.coloursofresistance.org/
Racial Equality Tools: http://www.racialequitytools.org
Allies for Change: http://alliesforchange.org/


Articles & Blogs

Race Revolt ? a zine on race politics by feminists and queers: http://www.racerevolt.org.uk
Text of a 1994 talk on Racism (WSM): http://struggle.ws/talks/racism.html
Anarchism, Racism & Class Struggle (WSM): http://struggle.ws/rbr/rbr4_racism.html
Detour-Spotting for white anti-racists, Joan Olsson:
http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/olson.pdf
Checklist for Allies Against Racism, John Raible: http://johnraible.wordpress.com
Tiffany, Friend of People of Colour, Audrey Thompson: http://www.pauahtun.org/Tiffany.web.html
So you think you are an anti-racist?, Paul Gorski & Multicultural Pavilion:
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/resources/paradigmshifts_race.html
I don?t see colour, I just see a human being, Abagond:
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/i-dont-see-colour-i-just-see-a-h...
New Code of Ethics for Anti-Racist White Allies, JLove & Tim Wise:
http://jlove.mvmt.com/2012/01/28/new-code-of-ethics-for-anti-racist-whit...
Ten Things to Remember: Anti-Racist Strategies for White Students, Chris Dixon:
http://www.soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=491
Beyond the Whiteness: Global Capitalism and White Supremacy: thoughts on movement building
and anti-racist organizing, Chris Crass:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/books/collectiveliberation/beyond.html
A few good reasons why white people should not wear ?Mohawks? or dreadlocks, C.K. Donovan
& Q-L. Driskill: http://zinelibrary.info/files/dreads.pdf
Ronit Lentin, Israeli-Irish blogger on racism: http://www.ronitlentin.net/
The Katrina Reader, articles on anti-racism in the context of solidarity following
Hurricane Katrina: http://katrinareader.org/toc/617
Organisations

Residents Against Racism: http://www.residentsagainstracism.org/
European Network Against Racism Ireland: http://enarireland.org
Irish Travellers Network: http://www.itmtrav.ie
Traveller Solidarity Network: http://travellersolidarity.org
Collective Liberation: http://collectiveliberation.org/
1 http://www.humanrights.ie/index.php/2009/11/16/ronit-lentin-anti-racism-...

2 For good arguments about tolerance see, for example, Slavoj ?i?ek?s Living in End Times.

3 Excellently spelled out in Bhikhu Parekh?s Rethinking Multiculturalism.

a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

Brazil, "ungovernable" - Libertarian Resistance Organization bulletin (ORL-CAB) No. III, October 2012 (pt)


A POPULAR AND FIGHT LEFT IN THE UNIT ---- The capitalist system of domination and
perpetuation of inequality in which we live, managed by the state, always renews its forms
of oppression, exploitation and Capital advance. The State, through government action, has
implemented measures palliative and supposedly "popular", countering that his speech
enhancement of life and economic development, brings countless losses to the poorest. ----
These losses range from several arrochos wage, expropriation of territories (Maroon,
Indians and other native communities [1]), and even denial inability to carry out the
simplest conditions of survival and most essential human rights (housing, health,
education, food, access to water and energy, mobility).

Recently in Brazil, some of the major thrusts to the advancement of Capital are
the so-called mega projects (such mega events and mega-enterprises) [2]
developing, filled with seductive advertisements ideological, has supported
by governments (federal, state and local) neoliberal "entrepreneurs" and sayings
the Left. In the same context, appears in the midst of struggles, a series of oppositions
created by the very contradictions of everyday struggle. Conversely the strong unity
maintained by business owners and managers of the state, the Left maintains its division
fratricide, in order to compete in the "fruits" of the struggle of our people.

Currently, the weather before the fight against the removal of populations by
account of the 2014 World Cup, pile up more examples. Much is said about the need for
"Unit in left field" of social movements and of all people who struggle
against the advance of capital and a more unequal and less worthy. Well,
we are the biggest supporters of unity in the struggle to advance the achievements of
popular classes and oppressed. But as always cherish, we must fight
opportunism in the spaces of struggle and articulation.

How Political Organization aimed at building the People's Power, we could not
disagree with the fact that the united people have much more strength. We believe that
struggles
the most varied categories and social movements must be coordinated. But as
gives this joint popular struggle in this union? It's being together doing
it seems more convenient, walking paths contradictory? We argue that
not because it secretes more and undermines the fight than enhances.

Indeed, this theme of unity is old. That's because there have always been disagreements
among the most varied fields of the left and always spoke of the need
join. Joining because our enemies are the same and extremely strong, because
are separated easy target. So far our understanding is the same. But when the practice
the fight requires consistency, the paths are different between the sectors involved.
For us, the anarchists, the unit is not an abstract principle. It builds on
daily struggle and solidarity of our people, shoulder to shoulder, side by side, which is very
different from the summits of leaders who act detached fight
daily, and proposals for joint actions outer movements, replacing
protagonism of the people in the fight!

"Left" today is a concept that eludes therefore suggests that everyone under this
title groups are similar, with the same practice. We know that many who raise
This flag is actually tied to the rule of order mechanisms
extremely reformist government. Parliamentarians also said left-wing
biennially reinforce the replacement of the concrete struggles and electoral dispute
use these struggles to ascend politically, through the most comprehensive
advertisements, even if they do not have basis in real fights.

Beyond this current scenario of the Left, we see many parties, organizations and
movements that treat people as if they were masses of maneuver. What does this mean?
They believe they are non-thinking beings and are there to be guided, as cattle
by a vanguard party organized in a vertical that intend to drive
hierarchical social movements. For this current authoritarian
socialism, the people is the basis that only serves to legitimize its actions and policies
they can not build their struggles autonomously.

They believe that those who must actually decide on the course of the fight are those
directions which act as enlightened beings and as if they were better able to
direct the paths of the people, where they find most convenient. Other,
Even more opportunistic have only appear in times of
propaganda, covert way of reinforcing their own visibility, use the
behalf of the people who are working every day on behalf of their agendas to appear
publicly, often with private interests and / or purely electioneering.

We strongly disagree with these positions. We disagree with those who want to take
credits from popular work, as if they were responsible for the
organization and achievements of popular struggle, built with the sweat of the people.

We believe that people should fight their own hands by educating yourself and making your
road itself. As our motto of The International: "Let us by our hands,
everything that we respect. "The position of our organization is that
those who are sensitized to the popular struggle and want to help, to act jointly
and donate their militancy, should approach from the perspective of enhancing the fight,
walking side by side and shoulder to shoulder with the people, respecting their spaces
and joint decision. Never ahead, as the fight director, operating covertly
actions that hurt the autonomy movement.

The unit is built on a day-to-day struggle, within the people, and not in meetings
"Domes" or moments of pure propaganda. We advocate a role in guided
compliance and ethics activist with deep honesty and respect with everyone
that build the fight every day, denying utilitarianism and opportunism. It is a
performance that gets nothing in return, not intended parliamentary gains, financial,
positions or advertising. Rather, it seeks to build daily without fail
People's Power, so always horizontal and combative.

We organized / of the oppressed and exploited classes, we do not want new / the
aproveitadoras / s. Addition, we are already filled for centuries. Yes we need to drive
our sectors, but between the people and with respect and awareness of the tasks that
ahead. The unit is made in the struggle between popular and who really is the subject
struggle, not between political organizations that articulate the default of / the
true / the wrestlers / s. We know that the interests of political organizations
often may not coincide with the interests of social movements. Now
scope of popular struggle, where we are all / the, our actions can
resemble our proposals and can converge. But we must always be
aware of who are the real subject of struggles without opportunism and
disrespect.

That's where we want to see all / the the / the companions / os: the social struggle! Form
ethical, consistent and respectful.

FIGHT, MAKING PEOPLE POWER!



Libertarian Resistance Organization

http://www.resistencialibertaria.org
resistencialibertaria@riseup.net


[1] "Do not confuse companies originating with traditional societies. Expression
Traditional calls to your modern pair and thus is part of a hierarchy
conducted by Eurocentrism from traditional to modern. The expression originates
refuses this pair and requires it to be seen by themselves and by their own values. "(Carlos
Walter Porto-Gon?alves - Globalization of Nature and nature of globalization.
Publisher Brazilian Civilization, Rio de Janeiro, 2006)
[2] FIFA World Cup, Olympics, IIRSA, PAC 1 (transposition of the S?o
Francisco) and 2 (Belo Monte), etc..

Bron  : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

Britain, Specifism explained: the social and political level, organisational dualism and the anarchist organisation



In discussing the platform of Collective Action some individuals have expressed confusion
at our use of the label ?specifism? to describe the tradition of social anarchism we
associate with. The following is a short introduction to what we consider to be the most
essential concepts within the specifist model. This text is an adaptation of a forthcoming
interview with Shift Magazine on anti-capitalist regroupment. --- "Specifism" refers to an
organisationalist current within the anarchist tradition which, in contemporary terms, is
principally elaborated by the Federa??o Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro (FARJ) but has its
historical roots in the writings of Bakunin, Malatesta and Makhno (among others). ----
Many associate these ideas solely with Makhno's "Organisational Platform of the General
Union of Anarchists (Draft)" but they actually date from one of the first organisational
documents of social anarchism - Bakunin's programme for the International Alliance of
Socialist Democracy.

At the core of the specifist framework is an understanding of the division of anarchist
activity into the social and political level1. Specifists argue that a lot of the
organisational errors of anarchist militants result from a confusion of the social and
political level.

The social level is understood as those struggles that exist within the material and
ideological framework of capitalism (bread-and-butter issues in layman terms). These will
be heavily determined by the ideology of capitalist society and situated principally
within the logic of capitalism, for example the demand for increased wages in exchange for
labour or the desire for social reforms from the state. These will also be structured by a
wider cultural, economic and political framework that will both shape their character, as
well as causing their level of combativity and consciousness to ebb and flow, one example
being the way in which the ongoing financial crisis has provoked an acceleration of
working class resistance in certain sectors and geographical areas. Anarchists need to
find a way of engaging with these struggles in a way that relates directly to the existing
composition and level of consciousness present within the class. Successful engagement
requires both a relationship of study, in terms of the need to understand and critically
evaluate the existing composition and ideas of the class, and a relationship of
intervention, to practically shape anarchist ideas and methods so they appear as sensible
and useful tools for those engaged at the social level.

Anarchists also need to maintain their own coherent vision of an alternative society -
anarchist communism. This is the political level. The political level represents the idea
(theory) expressed by revolutionary minorities as visions for social transformation and
alternative societies. This political line is obviously not static and exists relationally
to the social level. The political level cannot be purely the expression of propaganda of
the ideal. Anarchist communism is a tradition developed from the lessons drawn from the
struggles of the popular classes. Work at the political level is cultivated through the
study, self-criticism and organisational activity of anarchist communist militants and
expressed through the unity and organisational discipline of the specific anarchist
organisation (SAO). While the social level acts at as the ?compass?, as Magon puts is,
that steers the theory of revolutionary militants, the political level is also distinct
from the social level in that the ideas here are held irrespective of the general social
framework and therefore not subject to the mediations of capitalism and the state. The
political level, therefore, while expressing clarity in revolutionary ideas does this in
the form of minority organisations that are independent and not representative of those
held by the class-as-a-whole.

What results from this understanding of the political and social levels is the practice of
"organisational dualism". Specifically anarchist groups (hence the term "specifism") with
well defined positions of principle and operating under conditions of political unity at
the political level intervene, participate within or seek to build popular movements at
the social level. The objective of this intervention is not to "capture" or establish
anarchist fronts but to create the correct conditions, by arguing for anarchist methods
and ideas, for the flourishing of working class autonomy. It is this autonomy that is the
basis for working class counter-power and revolutionary change, as Malatesta (1897)
famously stated, ?We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people
to emancipate themselves?.

As the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (FdCA) (2005) argue, work at the social level
should not be a carbon copy of the organisations of the political level. Intervention at
the social level has to arise within the context of the immediate needs of the proletariat
and their current state of ideological and technical composition. In this sense work at
the social level intervenes within and aims to accelerate the process of, as Marx
expressed it, the class acting ?in itself?, subject to a common condition under
capitalism, towards a class-for-itself, a self-conscious grouping acting to its own
material interests ? communism.

Specifism is a praxis that seeks to strike the balance between a healthy relationship of
influence within the class and an ideologically coherent communist organisation, while
rejecting the vanguardist approaches of Leninist groups. Whereas Marxists will
traditionally look to the fluctuating struggles of the social level and argue the need for
a revolutionary leadership from without, specifists argue that anarchist communists fight
by acting as a critical conscience from within.

For this reason specifism is fundamentally organisationalist in character rejecting the
idea that anarchism can be developed purely through the propagandistic activity of
discussion circles, groups or federations. Rather the SAO needs to form unified tactics
and a strategy as the basis of its programme that it carries through in its activity
within the class.

Specifism represents both an alternative to anarchist activism, which does not compose
itself formally at the political level, and certain models of anarcho-syndicalism, which
attempt to unify the practice of the social and political level in the formation of
revolutionary unions.

In criticism of anarchist activism, specifists stress the need for an educated and
self-critical practice at the political level to build sustainable long-term interventions
at the social level. The alternative is sporadic, reactive political work that doesn?t
incorporate a cycle of review and re-evaluation. Likewise, as Fabbri notes, the lack of
?visible organisations? on the part of anarchist militants, i.e. clear and accessible
lines of participation, creates space for the ?establishment of arbitrary, less
libertarian organisations?.

In response to anarcho-syndicalism, specifists argue that the formation of social-level
organisations - unions - with revolutionary principles, does not resolve the problems
created by capitalist mediation at the social level. Rather, as the FdCA argue, what
result often is, ?a strange mix of mass organisation and political organisation which is
basically an organisation of anarchists who set themselves up to do union work?. This
situation usually resolves either in the actual existence of a revolutionary minority
within the union itself that seeks to preserve the line in the face of fluctuations at the
social level, often being forced to act undemocratically or necessarily preserving a
minority membership for the union, or a flexibility in anarchist principles which leaves
open the question of where the radicalisation between the political and social level will
occur. Likewise the FARJ make a historical point that the dissolution of anarchist
activity into the social level has meant in many cases the complete loss of any political
reference point following the collapse or repression of these organisations. The SAO, in
this sense, can act as a vital line of continuity for anarchist communist ideas.

Collective Action argues that the lessons and guides derived from specifist theory are a
critical tool in the process of anarchist regroupment. The only way there can be a future
for anarchist politics in the UK in the 21st Century is in making anarchist communist
ideas and methods a practical and coherent tool for organising workplaces, intervening in
social struggles and empowering working class communities. Anarchism needs to recapture
its traditional terrain of organising, what Bakunin referred to as, the "popular classes"
and abandon the dead-end of activism. This means a fundamental re-assessment of what we do
and what we hope to achieve. It also means returning, as Vaneigem would call it, to the
politics of "everyday life". This means reorientation of our practice to both the social
and political level and utilising the richness of our own political tradition to clarify
and improve our own organising efforts.

- Collective Action

REFERENCES

Federazione dei Communisti Anarchici (2005) Anarchist Communists: A Question of Class.
Studies for a Libertarian Alternative: FdCA

Malatesta, E. (1897) ?Anarchism and Organisation? Available at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1897/xx/anarchorg.htm

1. A certain elasticity must be allowed with these terms and the labels should by no means
be considered exclusive. The ?social? level, for example, is of course at the same time
?political? in that it is a sphere for both the contestation and birth of ideas. Likewise
the ?political? level is simultaneously ?social? in respect to the fact that anarchist
communist ideas are derived from a historical and materialist analysis of society, and
composed of the experiences and lessons of social struggle (for more commentary on the
historical materialist character of anarchist communism see ?Appendix 1: Historical
Materialism and Dialectical Materialism? In: Federazione dei Communisti Anarchici (2005)
Anarchist Communists: A Question of Class. Studies for a Libertarian Alternative: FdCA).

a-infos-en@ainfos.ca