(en) Britain, Anarchist Federation Bulletin: Resistance #151 May 2013

Contents ---- 1. The Green Shoots of Revolt ---- 2. Pro-Choice Campaigning in Ireland --- 
3. Inspriring Solidarity after Benefits Interview --. Bristol Anarchist Bookfair (report) 
-- 5. Support Prisoner Jock Palfreeman ---- 6. Greek Bosses Fire on Migrant Workers ---- 
7. Bangladeshi Solidarity ----he Green Shoots of Revolt --- Spring finally came at the end 
of April. But the same month saw a raft of new attacks on living conditions being pushed 
out by the State. Especially nasty have been cuts to welfare that many people - in work or 
unemployed - depend on because of low-pay, lack of work or inability to do paid work. --- 
One of the high profile changes is the so-called ?Bedroom Tax? which means many council 
house and housing association tenants are facing bills or housing benefit cuts for having 
spare rooms.

As well as the bills, people are feeling under pressure to move to smaller places that may 
not even be available. Many people need spare rooms for a variety of reasons - and why 
shouldn?t we have space for friends or family anyway?

Quite rightly the Bedroom Tax has caused an anger which has seen people taking to the 
streets in many towns to say ?Can?t pay, Won?t pay!?
Often this has involved pressuring local councils not to evict anyone who gets behind. 
Like in the anti-Poll Tax campaign that brought down Thatcher, local groups of campaigners 
are starting to get together to oppose the new tax. This is a very positive development, 
but as with the Poll Tax, it is vital that the campaigning is controlled by the people 
themselves. Otherwise it will be taken over by politicians and celebrities who will make 
their parties or themselves look good, but do little to strengthen our collective fight back.

Anarchists are well aware of the need for maximum participation and ?direct democracy? in 
campaigns. When the current economic crisis got started, an anti-cuts movement arose, with 
inspiring self-organisation by students. They did not trust the self-interested leaders of 
the National Union of Students who were making deals with the government. Networks 
involving universities and colleges operated with people treating each other as equals. 
This was a very good start. But overall, since then, anti-cuts campaigning has suffered in 
many towns from the agendas of this or that political party.

That is why it is encouraging that a regional Bedroom Tax campaign in Scotland has taken 
off with self-organising principles. A recent get together in Edinburgh and West Lothian 
agreed that decision-making power should be in the hands of local groups and that the 
co-ordination between them should be done through recallable delegates. This kind of 
?anarchy in action? is vital to keep the struggle in the hands of the people rather than 
political parties. Anarchist Federation members are involved with this process and are 
hoping this way of working will extend to the whole of Scotland, and who knows, the whole 
of Britain.



Pro-Choice Campaigning in Ireland

Amongst the issues that anarchists in the AF join broader campaigns on, is the right for 
women to decide whether or not to give birth. Pro-Choice activists push to extend and 
defend abortion provision within the NHS. Despite what many people think, terminations on 
the NHS are not an automatic right, and attacks on free provision affect working class 
women disproportionately.

This situation is worse in the North of Ireland, where abortion is prohibited under the 
Offences Against the Persons Act (1861), with very few exceptions. Forty women a week 
leave to obtain abortions in mainland UK. Those who cannot afford to travel sometimes fall 
victim to internet scams when trying to buy an abortion pill, or end up in debt to loan 
sharks. As such, their position is more like those of women in the Republic of Ireland, 
where Savita Hallapanavar recently died because the life of a foetus was put before hers 
by medical staff.

The recently opened Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast provides abortions for women up to nine 
weeks, but it costs between ?400 - ?2000, and this provision has been attacked by the 
right wing, male-dominated Stormont Assembly. Getting advice abortions elsewhere is 
difficult. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that prohibiting women from 
receiving such information was a breach of fundamental rights in the European Convention, 
but Lord Justice Girvan claimed in 2009 that giving such advice was ?arguably unlawful?.

Lord Girvan also put forward a proposed amendment in February of this year which would 
further restrict the legality of abortion in the North. Edwin Poots, the Health Minister, 
commented ?If this is the backwoods, I?m glad we?re in it?.

Anarchists in Derry and elsewhere continue to campaign for Choice. The Anarchist 
Federation is making a film on the issue as it affects Irish women. Watch this space!
(Information c/o Derry Anarchists blog 12/4/2013)



Inspiring Solidarity after Benefits Interview

Last month in Nottingham a campaign was mounted at short notice to demand the freedom of a 
man who had been arrested after an Employment Support Allowance interview. Steve Topley, 
who was on Job Seeker?s Allowance, had been recommended to have the interview because of 
illness. The Department of Work and Pensions private contractor ATOS called the police 
after a comment that was interpreted as a ?death threat?. This turned out to be about a 
third party not even present and made in response to a direct prompt by the interviewer! 
Angry words must be spoken every day when ATOS are subjecting people to degrading 
fit-for-work tests which may mean them losing vital support.

Steve pleaded guilty and continued to be held in prison. But thanks to the efforts of his 
family and supporters which included a website, an independent press campaign by 
Nottingham Indymedia and a demonstration outside the Nottingham Crown Court, he was 
finally out on bail on Friday 26th April 2013, at the third application. His ordeal is not 
over as he had to appear back at the Court this month for sentencing but the support 
campaign was still able to say, ?Steve is back with his family tonight and is in good 
spirits?.

The rapid building of support in this case was inspiring. This kind of solidarity is made 
possible by the experience of local activists and the use of Indymedia. More collective 
effort will be needed as further Welfare Reforms begin to bite.



Bristol Anarchist Bookfair

April 20th saw Bristol's 5th Anarchist Bookfair, with well over 850 people through the 
gate throughout the day and the sun shining on the the new out door space, organisers say 
it was their favorite bookfair yet. "We had 65 tables and 38 workshops across two venues" 
said Casey, one of the organisers. "It was great to have a decent outdoor space?.

This years event was a joint venture with The core bookfair collective, Kebele Cafe, 
Bristol Radical History Group and Permaculture Now working together along with a load of 
volunteers. We really enjoyed ourselves and had involvement with four workshops plus a 
stall. We have it on good authority that next years event is already booked in for the 
same venue in mid May 2014.

The next anarchist bookfair takes place in Sheffield on May 11th: 
http://www.sheffieldbookfair.org


Support Prisoner Jock Palfreeman

Paul ?Jock? Palfreeman is a 26-year-old Australian serving a 20-year sentence in Sofia, 
Bulgaria. On December 28, 2007 Jock was with some friends in Sofia when he witnessed a 
large group of football hooligans assault two young Roma men. When Jock attempted to stop 
the assault, the gang turned on him. In the melee, one of the gang, Andrey Monov, was 
stabbed and died on the way to hospital. In December 2009 Jock was found guilty of the 
murder of 20-year-old law student Monov and the attempted murder of 19-year-old Antoan 
Zahariev. Jock has always maintained that he acted in self-defence. ?When I saw the 15 men 
attack the two homeless men, I was presented with a choice. Stand back and let the 
injustice continue or [intervene] in an attempt to save human life?. Monov?s father is an 
influential figure in Bulgarian society. Many police officers, judges and politicians 
attended Monov?s funeral. The main flaws in the prosecution case are conflicting 
eyewitness testimonies, the disappearance of crucial CCTV footage, and numerous procedural 
irregularities. Jock is one of the prisoners and ex-prisoners who founded the Bulgarian 
Prisoners? Rehabilitation Association in July 2012. The BPRA organises for prisoners? 
rights. More info on BPRA: www.bulgarianprisonersassociation.wordpress.com

Act in solidarity, write to Jock and tell people about his case. For full details about 
Jock?s situation, including TV documentaries and witness statements, visit
http://www.freejock.com

Jock Palfreeman.
Sofia Central Prison.
21 General Stoletov Boulevard.
Sofia 1309.
BULGARIA.

Greek Bosses Fire on Migrant Workers

Migrant workers make up a significant proportion of the labour force in the Greek economy, 
albeit an unaccountable figure considering that many are not registered labourers. Given 
the systematic delays and abstentions of the state to get involved in the provision of 
necessary paperwork and asylum, as well as its recent witch-hunt of migrants and 
immigrants in collusion with the Golden Dawn, many such workers have been forced onto 
Greece?s notorious fruit and vegetable picking farms. Below is an account of a migrant 
worker who expressed himself as ?connected and familiar? to recent events in the Peloponnese.

On Wednesday, 17th April 2013, three strawberry plantation foremen opened fire on migrant 
workers, injuring twenty-nine, who were protesting against a back-payment that was six 
months overdue. ?Approximately two hundred workers, many Bangladeshi, demonstrated against 
the farm. Some were owed up to a thousand euros each. Two shotguns and a handgun were 
used?, the migrant worker informed us, and ?for the several thousand workers in and around 
the area (Manolada, Peloponnese), this is a reality of everyday life. Those injured will 
likely face imprisonment and deportation as they lack papers. I am sure some of the 
injured avoided the hospital for this reason?.

The Peloponnese has had its history stained red with blood and strawberries before, as has 
been equally the case in the northern agricultural regions of Greece. ?This is not 
something new?, he concluded, ?and it?s not a big secret. People will forget about this by 
the time you publish your article ? that there is a different law where the state turns a 
blind eye?.



Bangladeshi Solidarity

On 24th April, 377 workers were killed when an eight-storey textile factory collapsed in 
Dhaka, Bangladesh. The factory made clothes for high street chains including Primark, 
Matalan, Benetton, Bonmarche and Mango. Across the globe, on average two million people 
die at work each year, three times that who are killed by war.

This May we remember these latest victims of capitalism. Plus the 117 people killed in a 
factory fire in Dhaka in November 2012 which produced clothes for the high street.We stand 
in solidarity with the 100,000s of Bangladeshi workers who subsequently torched factories, 
smashed cars, blockaded roads and attacked the bosses who recklessly endanger their lives 
after the Rana plaza building collapse on 24th April.

Even in the UK, over the past five years the number of major and fatal injuries at work 
has increased by 2,700 per year. In the same period, the proportion investigated by the 
Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has fallen to 5%, while those prosecuted dropped to just 
0.6%. But then, the HSE's budget has been cut from ?228 to ?199 million in 2011-12, with 
further cuts planned. Its staff numbers have likewise been reduced from 3,702 to 2,889.If 
not for government policy, accidents like the Gleision Colliery disaster and Chevron oil 
refinery blast in Wales, claiming four lives each, might have been avoided; the 23 
Morecambe Bay cockle-pickers need not have died in 2004; plus the many other needless deaths.

As we go to print we are aware of solidarity actions with the Bangladeshi garment workers 
in Primark's two flagship stores in London and Bristol. Primark has released a statement 
acknowledging responsibility for the devastating loss of live in April, but this is not 
enough. Bangladeshi workers are fighting back and we should act in solidarity with them.



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About the Anarchist Federation

The Anarchist Federation is an organisation of class struggle anarchists (based in Britain 
and Ireland, but with many contacts overseas) which aims to abolish Capitalism and all 
oppression to create a free and equal society. This is Anarchist Communism.

We see today?s society as being divided into two main opposing classes: the ruling class 
which controls all the power and wealth, and the working class which the rulers exploit to 
maintain this. By racism, sexism and other forms of oppression, as well as war and 
environmental destruction the rulers weaken and divide us. Only the direct action of 
working class people can defeat these attacks and ultimately overthrow capitalism.

As the capitalist system rules the whole world it?s destruction must be complete and world 
wide. We reject attempts to reform it such as working through parliament and national 
liberation movements (like the IRA) as they fail to challenge capitalism itself. Unions 
also work as a part of the capitalist system, so although workers struggle within them, 
they will be unable to bring about capitalism?s destruction unless they go beyond these 
limits.

Organisation is vital if we?re to beat the bosses, so we work for a united anarchist 
movement and are affiliated to the International of Anarchist Federations.

Contact the Anarchist Federation

Email: info [at] afed.org.uk
Web: http://www.afed.org.uk

Write to:
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--

Resistance bulletin no. 151, May 2013

The Anarchist Federation: http://www.afed.org.uk