From Istanbul to Thessaloniki Occupation, Self-Management, Production by ?zlem Arkun - DAF (Revolutionary Anarchist Action)

KAZOVA: WEAVING FREEDOM LOOP BY LOOP ---- ??They are the ones who create from nothing, 
they are Kazova workers, they are the real gods. They have taught us resistance loop by 
loop.? ---- Be?ikta? Municipality Subcontractor Worker- R?dvan ?al??kan ---- They are 
Kazova workers, resisting since January 31 and now producing while resisting. They are the 
ones who are trying to change the world as well as their lives which have totally changed 
since they were put on leave for a week on January 31. ---- They were told, they were 
going to take their unpaid salaries and overtime fees when they came back from leave. 
However when they returned from leave, they were met by the company lawyer in the factory. 
The bosses ?mit Somuncu and Umut Somuncu were long gone, along with 100,000 sweaters, 40 
tons of yarn, all of expensive but light machines.

They took out the motors and cards of the machines that they could not take with them and 
reversed the circuits rendering the machines unusable. During a week of leave, official 
reports showed a consecutive three days of absence for all workers and they were fired 
without compensation. Kazova workers were in a quandary that day. They went back home. 
However this was not an ending, but a fresh beginning in their lives for all of them.

?We are no longer like in January 31. In January 31, we were desperate, unconscious and 
ignorant. So, we didn't trust anyone and we were afraid. So we were oppressed. But now we 
learned and we are continuing to learn. Our teacher is resistance. The resistance has 
taught us and is still teaching? says Kazova worker B?lent ?nal and adds ?At first we were 
timid and shy. We couldn't shout slogans, we couldn't hold banners. We learned. We were 
gathering on ?i?li Square every week and walking to the factory. But this action couldn't 
get our voice heard. We learned that some assets were stolen from the factory again while 
we were doing walks on Wednesdays. This time the thieves were the managers of the factory. 
On April 28, we pulled up our tent in front of the factory. From then on our resistance 
became a tent resistance.?

28 After setting up their resistance tents in April, they have prevented the machines, 
yarn and sweaters from being stolen. Meanwhile the bosses went to prosecution office to 
file a complaint against Kazova workers for allegedly stealing. Then security records of 
neighboring factories were also investigated and it turned out that the thieves were 
boss's own men. Regardless, there were no action on these men, but investigations were 
conducted on workers.

However they did not give up, did more actions, joined actions for solidarity with other 
workers who were fired, got beaten with batons, got smothered by gas, did not give up and 
continued to resist.


And they decided to seize the junk machines in the factory for their dues, they prepared. 
On June 30, they occupied the factory, seized the machines and assets inside. They took 
back what the bosses stole from them, what were already theirs.

When they wanted to get a part of their dues by selling these machines, the police stopped 
them, attacked and took four in custody. Then 8 workers locked themselves in the factory 
and started hunger strike. While B?lent ?nal, one of the workers, is talking about the 
period, he is describing the situation as ?The Boss stealing our labor, taking away 
machines was no crime, but us trying to get a fraction of our dues was crime. ? The police 
came to the factory on complaints by bosses ?mit Somuncu and Umut Somuncu. Again 
investigations we conducted about us. Again we were the accused. No one said anything to 
the bosses.?

While continuing hunger strike, they continued growing the resistance. They were in 
solidarity with other resistances, they learned solidarity by resistance.

Kazova worker Ya?ar G?lay, while telling about the difficulties they faced in the period, 
adds: ?We know just as well that we are going to face even more problems. Economic 
problems, police, we will face a lot of problems. But we think we can solve all of them. 
Because we are not alone. Because we have changed the demands of our resistance. Our 
demands are not limited to our dues. This, is a resistance of honor. This is a small 
example of the war between the establishment and the people. And we are together with our 
people in this war. We are not alone and we will not be.?

Kazova workers started their machines that they we producing with for year, for the first 
time for themselves, on August 31 and since then they are producing for themselves. On one 
side they are continuing their resistance in front of the factory, on the other side they 
are weaving their sweaters with the fire of their resistance.

When they occupied the factory they started by finishing the half complete sweaters and 
with the return they got from selling those in forums, they repaired the machines that 
their bosses broke. They have rendered three weaving machines working and they are 
continuing to produce. In B?lent ?nal?s words; ?Now we are producing ourselves on these 
machines. We are producing without a boss on top of us. We will continue to produce 
indeed. We no longer want a boss on top who will steal our labor. Now, we will own our own 
labor?, they say.

They are determined not to let the parasitic and robber bosses lift. Now they are 
struggling not for salary and compensation, but for their future. They want the machines 
that the bosses stole from them, and their case against the bosses is still in court. If 
they win the case, they are planning to take the machines and continue to produce in their 
own workshops with freedom.

As they are walking on the path of cooperativization step by step, running their machines 
with power of producing by resisting and resisting by producing, knowing they are not 
alone, with the power of being organized. They are running their machines for bread, 
justice and freedom. And they are weaving loop by loop a world without bosses with their 
sweaters.*

*The sweaters made by resisting Kazovaworkers themselves are available in Taksim 26A.

VIO. ME.: RESISTING BY WEAVING SOLIDARITY

?Both kneading bread, and without bread, it's us
Both taking out coal and freezing from cold, it's us
We are the ones, who have nothing, but who will take the world in their hands?
Tasos Livaditis

These lines are from a declaration by Vio Me. workers who occupied their factory last 
February and have been running their machines for themselves. On the shore across Aegean, 
they have started out in a different language, but with same feelings. For bread, for 
justice, for freedom...

In May 2011, after their boss disappeared with the falling profit rate of the company due 
to economic crisis, Vio Me workers started their watch in front of the factory. The 
workers who were not getting their salaries and compensations while they were working, 
could not get their unemployment pay because the bosses disapeared without formally 
closing the factory. However the 400,000 Euro worth of products were still in the factory 
and that was their only security. So they didn't trust the Filkeram Johnson Union saying 
that they will get their dues when they end the watch in front of the factory, but they 
trusted themselves and their organization, and their watch continued for months.

They started resisting like this and in the meetings they made, they decided to run the 
factory as a cooperative. And prepared step by step; when they had nothing, to take 
everything at hand...

Producers of construction material, Vio. Me factory workers saved from their unemployment 
pay and called all workers and the unemployed for solidarity to buy the expansive raw 
materials to start producing.

Besides they had to legalize the cooperative because the state law did not let the workers 
to start a cooperative of their own. And the only way to do this was to come together, 
grow solidarity and organize.

Vio. Me workers, went to many resistances, joined many panels and talks. They told about 
their struggle everywhere they went. They weaved the resistance along with many groups, 
unions and individuals in solidarity. In Thessaloniki and Athens Vio. Me Solidarity 
Initiatives were set up. And a convoy including Volos and Patras was realized in Greece. 
This convoy set up for solidarity with Vio Me workers was joined from all of Greece, and 
thousands of people walked to Ministry of Work and the workers of Vio. Me presented the 
cooperative draft that they prepared meticulously in their meetings using directly 
democratic decision making process. After the meetings the workers were told that the 
response would take two weeks, so they went back to Thessaloniki.

But the ministry never responded. And they declared that they will occupy the factory 
again as they did since the beginning relying on themselves and their organized power. On 
the day of February 12, 2013, they have occupies the factory with everyone in solidarity 
and started the machines of self-management. They also have run the machines that they had 
run for years for the bosses, for the first time for themselves and today they are still 
running them.

The workers have seen various pressures and deadlocks of the state during their resistance 
and in these days they are dealing with the state pressure about the electric bill that 
the bosses left. In spite of all, Vio. Me workers and everyone in solidarity with them 
continue to resist.

And they know that their struggle is very critical not only because it is questioning the 
parasitic position of the boss, but also it is the most realistic solution to closed 
factories and unemployment since ?This method of struggle is the method to create a world 
without bosses, it means the workers seize the means of production?.

And they know; ?A struggle of a single union is not enough to unchain the people from 
capitalism and end this crisis, struggle of this union should be the struggle of all 
workers and worker unions?.

Vio. Me workers are continuing to resist since 2011, weaving solidarity, carrying their 
struggle, and since last February, resisting by producing. From all over the world, from 
Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Germany, Serbia Turkey, Egypt, their comrades are greeting their 
struggle, they know they are not alone, they know, they continue to produce, to resist and 
they know;

??Viomihaniki Metalleutiki workers can't change the world by themselves. But if they are 
left alone nothing changes. This is the struggle of all workers and the unemployed. This 
is the struggle for all of us. We are going to win!?
Creating Tomorrows Reality

As Both Kazova workers and Vio.Me workers go on the same path from self-management to 
cooperativization, tomorrow's reality is solidified before our eyes. As Bakunin said, they 
are ?not only creating ideas, but the reality of the future.? By occupying, resisting and 
producing, they are building relationships without exploitation from today, and here and 
now, starting today, step by step, with endurance, loop by loop they are creating a world 
without bosses.

On the other side, these self-managing workers are breaking the core of not only the 
relationships in factories, but all relationships of ruler-ruled, exploiting-exploited. 
Rejecting the convention of society and creating cracks in the relationships of power and 
hierarchy that were thought as indispensible, starting today, creating the model of 
another society, a liberating society that takes its own decisions and produces practical 
solutions for problems.

They, the workers without boss, are sowing the seeds of freedom into the cracks they 
opened in capitalism, growing them with the fertility of solidarity, light of 
self-management and making them green by acting their dreams together. As these seeds 
growing in the cracks of capitalism push their roots deeper and deeper, the workers are 
smashing this system of exploitation and creating a new world without bosses from today.

You can find the original version in Meydan Gazetesi (Anarchist Newspaper Meydan)

http://meydangazetesi.org/gundem/2013/10/istanbuldan-selanike-isgal-ozyonetim-uretim-ozlem-arkun/
Link esterno: 
http://meydangazetesi.org/gundem/2013/10/istanbuldan-selanike-isgal-ozyonetim-uretim-ozlem-arkun/