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donderdag 30 april 2015
World News Information MOONDIAL is out ! Edition 2 of 30 April 2015
Saudi Arabia Amnesty International USA Join the global outcry to free Raif Badawi
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May 7: Join the global outcry to free Raif
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Dear friends,
We're gearing up for a major mobilization on May 7, and we need your help. Raif Badawi was imprisoned and publicly flogged by the Saudi government - lashed 50 times - for starting a blog that encouraged social and political debate. Right now, he's in a cell serving the remainder of his 10-year sentence and awaiting 950 more lashes. Amnesty and other global partners are planning a mass mobilization outside Saudi embassies and consulates around the world on the first anniversary of Raif's sentencing. Please support our efforts on behalf of Prisoners of Conscience like Raif with a financial contribution. We believe that the global outcry has been key to sparing Raif from the weekly floggings mandated by his sentence. But until Raif is unconditionally freed, our work is far from over. We are gravely concerned that the Saudi government is waiting for the international spotlight to fade and is considering trying Raif for apostasy, which carries the death sentence. That's why we're planning this event on May 7. We must show the Saudi government that the world is still watching and won't stand for anything but Raif's unconditional release. Please donate to support our efforts. Your support makes a difference:
The more support we amass, the more pressure we can apply to demand Raif's release. Please help us maximize this moment. Support our efforts.
Let's free Raif once and for all! With hope for justice, Jasmine Heiss Senior Campaigner, Individuals at Risk Amnesty International USA | ||||||
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Belgium Radio Klara Jeroen Brouwers 75 - Orson Welles 100
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Turkey, DAF - Meydan #26 - Istanbul University Sçimeielrily the invariant for the Retrötülk" - Okan OZDUMAN (tr)
(en) 8 Turkey, DAF - Meydan #26 - Istanbul University
Sçimeielrily the invariant for the Retrötülk" - Okan OZDUMAN (tr)
[machine translation]
Istanbul University recently, this time reflected as left-right fascist provocations or
fight the agency "Again they Extract Event at IU!" On the title of the publication
covering not offered to the public from the police attack; agenda was the rector
elections. ---- Rashid Tükel 1202 vote of the Rector candidates taking first, second and
Mahmut Ak had been taking 908 votes. However, HEC, Rashid Tükel lowered into second place
despite being first; President Erdogan is known to be close to him as rector was appointed
Mahmut Ak. ---- I was a student at Istanbul University, against the state "I'm Rashid
Tükel President" campaign was launched by some politics. The aim of the campaign, the
power of which will act according to their own policy instead Mahmut Ak; "Leftist,
democratic opposition" was not known Rashid Tükel rector of the identity. Under this
campaign, as well as classic a press release, a "Democracy and Freedom Festival" was held.
This discourse and action -h will be created with the perception that the rector of the
Higher Education Council koşulda- choice must be made between two people; The presence
of the rector, purpose, HEC-state and to ignore their commitment to capitalism and Rashid
Tükel had led to a movement building efforts through the opposing identities.
Performed "Democracy Festival" then n HEC appointed rector Mahmoud Aka against school "not
to abandon" it was decided in the action. Rashid Tükel or not our rector, no appointed or
to be appointed rector of recognize it or not, "not to leave" should have been in action;
We also found. With criticism about the shallowness of our discourse and not for action
Rashid Tükel; Mahmoud against Ak, explaining that we attend to the HEC. Would not leave
the Law School. The police action was outside ÖGB was uncomfortable. Rashid Tükel police
come to our side as mediator of enter and exit the campus immediately after "I came to get
you, I get the message that you want to now where necessary." Action, saying not only
damping; This attitude will not change the fact that students are in favor of anything; In
contrast to efforts to quenching cracks also roll up the fight we have shown.
Trek etmme to eymlee the Bylo to süömmlindirelniş OSL also, we do not damped the passage
of the fight, we will not. The state of the university yök'l, with HEC rector, rector of
the sometimes ricayl-friendly, most other times, the police, the pressure will build the
ÖGB and investigation, pacifying and will continue to fight against the policy of
integration into capitalism.
Meanwhile, complicated words in writing is not proofreading error. K lieemn the beginning
and end of blleisy to hrfarel, ardaka the hrfarel the ynire is my drug of oykuaibirliz
dğieşritsek also Kliem, içğeir also dğieşemz.
Eliminate head-end, duties and powers of the office of the rector when a certain, Rashid
Tükel or Mahmut Ak sitting in this office; Our struggle for freedom of the office of the
rector does not change the fact that one of the obstacles ahead.
Okan OZDUMAN
okan@meydangazetesi.org
http://meydangazetesi.org/gundem/2015/04/iatsnubl-uivnertsiseinde-retrotulk-scimeielrilye-degismeyenler-okan-ozduman/
France, Alternative Libertaire AL #248 - March 18: Blockupy the assault of the ECB (fr, it, pt)
(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #248 - March 18:
Blockupy the assault of the ECB (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
The inauguration of the new headquarters of the European Central Bank is scheduled for 18
March in Frankfurt am Main. The Blockupy coalition is preparing to play spoilsport. ----
While the European Central Bank (ECB) preaches with the European Commission and the
governments of the EU (except the new Greek government) blocking policies or even wage
cuts and the dismantling of public services and devices social protection, she built a
fortress-building of 1.3 billion euros which symbolizes totally uninhibited domination of
capital. ---- Mass actions ---- It is in a festive atmosphere that the European oligarchy
(heads of state, bankers and captains of industry) plans to get together to celebrate his
power. Blockupy, a coalition of social movements and anti-capitalist[1] created in 2010,
considering that "there is nothing to celebrate in the austerity policies" intends to
spoil the party. Blockupy provides deployment in the streets and squares of Frankfurt and
massive action of civil disobedience. The morning will be marked by the shares of
blockages and encirclement of the ECB. The actions are designed so that everyone can
participate regardless of their level of experience. The afternoon will be marked by an
international event and words sockets. Delegations from a dozen countries are expected.
Convergence revolts
By attacking the ECB and governments that are armed capital arm Blockupy wants to
politicize and contribute to the convergence of revolts against the capitalist order, but
also to build an anti-authoritarian alternative and self-management. This is the purpose
of the meetings held last November in Frankfurt, to prepare the mobilization of March
18[2]. Beyond this deadline Blockupy wishes to make the lever of a sustainable European
convergence against austerity policies. All the more reason to get to Frankfurt in March!
Laurent (AL-northeast Paris)
Public transport is organized from Paris and other cities including the North of France.
Information and registration: blockupy.org
[1] It brings together political organizations such as the Left Party, Die Linke
interventionnistische (daughter organization of autonomy and anti-fascist gathering,
feminists, environmentalists, trade unionists, and radical anti-racist) Revolutionär
Sozialistischer Bund (German section of the Fourth International) ATTAC, Antifascistische
Aktion, oppositional union DGB, among others.
[2] See Libertarian Alternative, No. 245, December 2014 .
http://alternativelibertaire.org/?18-mars-Blockupy-a-l-assaut-de-la
(en) US, WSA, Ideas & Actions - Why solidarity is necessary - but it's not just about class By Geoff
"An injury to one is an injury to all". This IWW slogan characterizes the solidarity
necessitated by class struggle. It characterizes the idea that it's necessary for the
working class to cooperate and work together towards their individual interests, as these
are also class interests. The interests of gaining control over economic, social and work
decisions which affect the working class directly is made necessary due to the odious
nature of our current global economic conditions. ---- But this slogan really goes further
than just class. It is also an embodiment of the solidarity necessitated by intersecting
forms of oppression which divide the working class and hinder their ability to fight back
in the global class war. Intersectional, meaning, issues concerned with intersections
between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. These issues also
create various social hierarchies which marginalize and disempower people. Examples of
these issues include, but are not limited to, racism, sexism, queerphobia and gender
essentialism. For instance, sexual harassment in the workplace, workplace discrimination
on bounds of race or gender, and gender essentialism when it comes to the dignity of
transgender folks who often experience terrible cruelty from others when they need to use
public restrooms.
To quote Bakunin, "I am truly free only when all human beings...are equally free...". This
means that a worker in the USA who gains freedom and control over their own work isn't
truly free while other workers in, say, China and Africa continue to be brutally repressed
and exploited. But it also means that, so long as social hierarchies characterized by
intersectional issues are not addressed and dissolved, that the working class as a whole
cannot be free. In other words, there cannot be real liberty, equality and solidarity
where some workers are discriminated against or otherwise disempowered by social hierarchies.
So, for instance, there is no real solidarity expressed by people who are only interested
in their particular craft's labor fights (because it has no real class
characteristic)...for instance, IBEW workers crossing USW's picket line during the recent
refinery strike. But additionally, there is also no real solidarity expressed by people
who are only concerned with freedom, for instance, for white, male, heterosexual,
cisgender workers, as these are folks who are not subject to marginalization like other
workers are, including people of color, women, queer and transgender folks. Because
different workers are subject to various social hierarchies (like patriarchy, racism and
queerphobia) and they experience a lack of freedom differently than others of the working
class.
As a result, it is critical for those of us who believe fighting for another world
characterized by human dignity, liberty and equality, to understand that such a thing is
necessitated by solidarity. But also that this solidarity must be characterized by both
class struggle as well as the recognition of the need to combat and resolve intersectional
issues and dissolve all their associated social hierarchies. Because these issues
ultimately disempower and marginalize people, prevent the liberation of the working class
and throw a wrench in the spokes of libertarian solidarity.
http://ideasandaction.info/2015/04/solidarity-its-class/
(en) WSM - Irish Anarchist Review #11 - The Water Revolt: Ireland 2015
The campaign against the water charges is the most widespread and powerful grassroots
movement in recent Irish history. With hundreds of local campaign groups, daily direct
actions, and 4 national demonstrations on the order of 50,000-100,000, the cynical refrain
that 'the Irish don't protest' has rapidly been replaced by a sense of ubiquitous
rebellion. Irish Water is a depraved neoliberal world in effigy, embodying many of the
worst problems of our society including the rule of international finance (and private
greed in general) at the cost of the vast majority's well being, and the chronic
disconnection of the populace from decision making. As such the movement has become a
platform for opposition to austerity, the bank bailout, privatisation, the government,
party politics, the EU, and more. Thousands of people have experienced a political
(re-)awakening. But while it is possible that we will win this battle, and abolish Irish
Water, this struggle represents a precious opportunity to make a grassroots offensive
after so many years of being beaten down.
Movement Background
It certainly wasn't always obvious that the fight against the water charges would be so
enormous. The sheer turnout of the 11th October Right2Water demonstration - not to mention
that protesters came from all over the country - came as a surprise to most people,
including much of the activist left. That day definitively established in people's minds
that not only was a serious nationwide fightback possible, but that we could probably win.
The mood was of defiance, confidence, and the joy of revolting together.
But people didn't throng Dublin's city centre out of nowhere. After the collapse of the
CAHWT (Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes) around January 2014, crucially, a small
number of people decided to stay active and stop the installation of water meters, for
instance in Ballyphehane and Togher in Cork and then a few areas of north east Dublin. On
this, Gregor Kerr, who was the secretary of the Federation of Dublin Anti-Water Charge
Campaigns (FDAWCC) in the 1990s, opined 'I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that
the huge protest on 11th October wouldn't have been anything like the size it was without
the slow burn for the previous months of blockades and protests against meter
installations spreading from community to community. And it was no coincidence either that
many of the people involved in water meter blockades had also participated earlier in the
summer in blockades of scab-operated bin trucks in their communities in support of the
locked out Greyhound workers.' The initiative and hard work of these early campaigners was
the germ of the huge movement which has burgeoned since.
This is a large part of the reason the fight against the water charges has been far more
successful than the fight against the household and property tax was. As Mr. Kerr added
'the fact that [the latter] was so fresh in people's memories was undoubtedly important.
But maybe for many people it was important from the point of view of people saying 'We're
not going to allow the same mistakes to be made again'. There is a huge contrast between
the way the two campaigns developed. The CAHWT (the principal campaign against the
property/household tax) was initiated by political organisations and was effectively
strangled by some of those same parties/organisations as they jockeyed for control and
positioned themselves to be the anti-property tax candidates in the local elections. The
campaign involved huge numbers of working class people but never developed a grassroots
structure, and the steering committee meetings eventually became turgid affairs mired in
wanna be leaders lecturing everybody else. In contrast the anti-water charges campaign has
emerged from communities and the political parties and organisations have been running
after it trying to 'lead' it. Indeed there isn't an anti-water charge campaign, there are
a plethora of groups organising in an ad hoc manner, some co-ordinated, some not. That's a
huge strength. It does of course also present difficulties or challenges but they are
outweighed by the fact that this campaign won't be as easily derailed because of the
diversity and divergence of people and communities involved.'
Irish Water's Mission to Conserve Profit
The attempt to impose domestic water charges in Ireland is not new. In 1977 domestic rates
were scrapped (raising VAT and income tax), but in 1983 domestic 'service charges' were
introduced in most counties, being fought off elsewhere (e.g. Dublin, Limerick, and
Waterford). From 1994-1997 a grassroots campaign in Dublin (FDAWCC), somewhat similar to
the present one, repelled the water charge (which was flat, no meters were used). This
involved a strong boycott of the bills, mass demonstrations and court protests, a
solidarity fund for legal costs, and reversing and preventing water cut-offs. The water
charge was then scrapped for the 26 counties. The implementation of domestic water charges
was in the previous Fianna Fáil - Green government's Programme for Government in 2009.
Then in 2010 it was a condition of the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank,
International Monetary Fund) bailout.
The purpose of Irish Water is certainly not 'safeguarding your water for your future'.
Only the most naive would believe that the same kind of career politicians who decided to
critically under-fund our water infrastructure over decades - so that 40-50% of supply is
leaked and whole areas are on boil notices - are suddenly driven to make long-term 'tough
decisions' for the good of humanity. Furthermore, these are the same politicians who are
committed to ignoring the very present catastrophe of climate change, which not only
threatens the volume and quality of usable water nationally, but globally. While Michael
Noonan sermonises about leaving the tap on all night, he wouldn't dare mention that animal
agriculture - a large component of the Irish economy - is the single most ecologically
destructive activity on Earth, particularly because of its high methane gas emissions and
intense water usage. That would not please the rancher farmers. Nor would Alan Kelly
stridently denounce hydraulic fracturing, or Phil Hogan valiantly question the need to
devour water in the production of pointless commodities for economic growth.
Indeed, Irish Water has been established to transform our water into a commodity - an
economic object bought and sold in a market according to the direct use of a consumer -
that will be owned and controlled by private interests.
Even former Fine Gael junior minister Fergus O'Dowd, not quite an anarcho-communist, spoke
of being 'deeply concerned at other agendas, they may be European' and '[not knowing]
where they are coming from' when he was involved in the foundation of Irish Water. But
this is not peculiar to Ireland. The global pattern is that 'familiar mega-banks and
investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche
Bank, Credit Suisse ... are consolidating their control over water.' The UN has predicted
that there will be a 40% shortfall in global water supply by 2030. In 2008, Goldman Sachs
called water 'the petroleum for the next century'. Such corporations have been slurping up
water utilities, reserves, and anything else related. For example, in 2012 Goldman Sachs
bought Veolia Water which is the largest water services corporation on the planet and
already has operations in Ireland. There are a handful of multinational corporations which
dominate the global water market. If you can't trust supposedly accountable politicians to
manage water services for the common good, you definitely can't trust an entirely
unaccountable corporation to do so.
But further still, this issue is part of a political trajectory which is even older and
goes far beyond the shores of Ireland - that is, 'neoliberalism'. Neoliberalism, in
theory, is the idea that in order to maximise the liberty of the individual, the state
should interfere with the personal affairs and economic transactions as little as
possible, merely ensuring the conditions for private property to exist through 'law and
order', and the conditions of trade by prosecuting fraud. Everything should be a commodity
and have a price tag so that it is used in an 'efficient' manner, and all companies should
be privately owned and operated for the same reason. Hence neoliberal capitalist policies
include privatisation, de-regulation, removing tariffs, and austerity. However, in
practice, neoliberalism is far messier, and really involves removing state interference in
ways that suit the elite the most, and applying state force in ways that suit the elite
the most (see Augusto Pinochet's neoliberal dictatorship in Chile 1973-1990).
As such, neoliberalism is radically opposed to the commons - the idea that, for instance,
water is a human right, not a commodity, and should be available to all according to need.
Or that land, or indeed accommodation, vehicles, clothing, and food, are held in common.
Pleas from professional compromisers in politics and media to 'ensure' that Irish Water
remains in public ownership are a diversion from the fact that Irish Water exists to be
privatised. A referendum on state ownership (different to public, communal, etc,
ownership) would merely leave the utility in the hands of the same shower who are
currently ramming the water charges through. The time-tested method of defunding the
infrastructure and wailing for the private sector to save us from state inefficiency would
be applied. Not only that but EU law on commercial monopolies would require that the
'water market' be 'opened to competition', not to mention the impending Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership. Irish Water must be abolished.
The Struggle
Resistance to the Irish Water plan has been relentless. The movement has not withered away
as the establishment hoped or expected, even in the face of Garda repression and
mainstream media denunciation. There is the sense that there is always some action going
on somewhere, and that protest or dissent in general has become a sort of national
pastime. I remember visiting a pub, after a meeting which included discussion on the water
charges, only to see a man watching videos of water charges protests on a small
wall-mounted screen. 'Now that's a sign of the times', I thought.
Another sign of the times is the record distrust of politicians, the judiciary, the
Gardaí, the mainstream media, and big business. The Irish Water story has provided ample
opportunity for various parts of the system to expose their true nature. This is
especially true in the case of the Gardaí, who have enjoyed a reputation of being
'peacekeepers' among much of the population. But people who have blocked water meters from
being installed have discovered another reality. To many, the Gardaí are like an occupying
army. There is no lesson quite like being arrested, and thanks to social media this lesson
has been shared the length and breadth of the country. A ludicrously excessive Garda
presence is a familiar sight to anyone following the anti-water charges movement, with
packs of Gardaí crowding around a few meter holes as if protecting someone from murder.
One of my favourite scenes was a meter protest in South Dublin where not only had about a
dozen Garda cars and vans had been deployed, but also a helicopter. The Jobstown dawn
raids, the pepper spraying of protesters in Coolock, and the jailing of the 4 injuncted
protesters only made it harder to swallow the idea that the Gardaí and judiciary exist to
serve the people rather than the interests of an elite.
Within the anti-water charges movement the mainstream media have come to be seen as
couriers for government propaganda. Attendance at protests is persistently under-reported
and the movement has been hounded by the 'has protest gone too far?' narrative (sometimes
using outright fabrication). We have been able to subvert this by forming our own
counter-media which has played an important role. A sprawling network of Facebook pages,
Twitter accounts, and a host of blogs and other websites provide a means to communicate
quickly among ourselves. With this we keep up to date on activity around the country,
digest and react to establishment spin, discuss tactics, and more. This grassroots media
network has given staying power to the movement, allowing protesters who would be
otherwise isolated and forgotten to link with and inspire others.
At the heart of this movement is direct action, both in the prevention of meter
installations and the boycott of bills. Dedication to the former has been impressive, with
people regularly waking at 5, 6, and 7 in the morning to protest for hours on end, often
in quite stressful circumstances. These protests can have almost military precision,
scouting for meter contractors each day, communicating their movements via text trees.
This is typified by, for example, Dublin's 'Flying Column' who respond rapidly to alerts
and drive to different parts of the city, and the Cobh, Co. Cork group who even have a
makeshift 'command and control' centre. If anything, this movement is a testament to the
ability of so-called 'ordinary' people to figure things out themselves and organise
effectively.
What Next?
But despite the spontaneity, ingenuity, and grassroots nature of this movement, most of
the left are still hell bent on the tired strategy of electoralism. There is much talk of
left alliances, broad platforms, and progressive coalitions, in other words another
attempt at social democracy. Along with the economic crisis we have a crisis of
imagination. Instead of advancing in the natural direction of this movement by renouncing
parliamentary democracy as the un-democratic charade that it is, and spurring people on to
take further power over their lives, Right2Water is encouraging us to entrust our fates in
'progressive politicians' and is drafting its own electoral program. Considering that
Right2Water won't back the boycott, its mobilisations are effectively election rallies,
and that the closer the elections draw the more it will focus on them to the exclusion of
all else, it is worth asking if Right2Water - now a sort of meta-political party - has
outlived its purpose.
Elections are where movements go to die, demobilising people and fostering divisions. Why
bother taking action yourself when some politicians are going to solve the problem for us?
And who are going to do the campaigning for these anti-water charges candidates? Well,
water protesters of course. Postering, leafleting, canvassing, organising meetings - all
of this time, effort, and money, and hope, will be poured into what is ultimately an act
of ritual mass delusion, rather than critical grassroots activity. We desperately require
a fundamental transformation of society, and that cannot come from the buildings of
parliament, it can only come from the great mass of people taking charge of their
destinies and organising direct democratically.
There has been much talk of SYRIZA as a model for change, but far fewer know of Greece's
network of grassroots organisations which has grown out of the movement of the squares in
2011 and comprises hundreds of diverse projects including free medical clinics,
alternative currencies and exchange economies, self-managed education, alternative media,
and eco-villages. Surely this is more inspiring than a left party being elected to
government? Clearly we are far from achieving this in Ireland, but this is the sort of
politics we should be aspiring to. This is actually a 'new politics'. The Says No groups
are promising in that they go beyond the single issue campaigning of strictly anti-water
charges groups, linking up issues such as homelessness, evictions, austerity, and
corruption. They could be the embryos of powerful community unions through which people
can participate in a real form of democracy and organise local issues and services.
Conclusion
Even if the fight against the water charges were to end tomorrow, this struggle has caused
significant change in this country which will have long-term effects. There are so many
people who have become politicised and have risen up, and will not be content to go home
and be quiet. The distrust in establishment institutions won't suddenly evaporate. We have
gotten a taste of what real democracy involves, felt our own power, and we like it. What
is necessary now is to press on, try to get more people involved, and get more organised.
For instance, Alan Kelly has said that non-payers will be bundled into court, and we need
to ensure the National Defense Fund is large enough to cover that possibility. Most of all
we need to cling to what we have already seen to be true: this is our movement and our
world, not a politician's, and if we want to make change we will have to take
responsibility ourselves rather than rely on somebody else.
Words: Ferdia O'Brien
This article is from issue 11 of the Irish Anrchist Review
http://www.wsm.ie/c/water-revolt-ireland-2015
Press Release: Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement - Support for McDonalds workers
In New Zealand in 1905 the first May Day workers gatherings were reported in the
newspapers. There were two events, one in Wellington and one in Christchurch. The
Wellington meeting was held in a packed His Majesty's Theatre, and was organised by the
New Zealand Socialist Party, whose acting Chairman, W. Wolstenholm declared the meeting as
a recognition that the workers interests were the same the world over. ---- The main
speaker of the day was the anarchist Philip Josephs who gave a full history of May Day and
it's meaning, and presented a motion that ---- "We, the workers of Wellington, New
Zealand, send fraternal greeting to the workers of every land, and affirm the principles
of international solidarity; we affirm our determination to strive for the economic
emancipation of our class, and are of opinion that no reform, political or economic, can
be of lasting benefit to the workers of this country, that would not be of equal benefit
to the proletariat of all nations."
In Christchurch, J. Cook, stated that "The [so called] ideal place for the worker was not
at all perfect, and would not be perfect until the worker was the ruler and had the fruits
of what they produced."
These are sentiments that reverberate today and across the world May Day is still a day
when workers across the world take to the streets to display solidarity and demand better
conditions. In this spirit the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement express their support
with the McDonalds' workers who are asking New Zealanders to stay away from McDonalds this
May Day in support of the workers struggle against zero hour contracts.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1504/S00272/support-for-mcdonalds-workers.htm
Brazilian Full support to the struggle of workers, workers and students of Paraná! by Brazilian Anarchist Coordination (CAB)
Full support to the struggle of workers, workers and
students of Paraná! by Brazilian Anarchist Coordination (CAB) (fr,
it, pt) [machine translation]
The more we repressed, the more we mobilized! ---- The struggle of the civil service in
conjunction with the State of Paraná students is already historic, managing to stop
austerity measures the government Beto Richa (PSDB) from the direct action, with protests
over 50,000 people and two occupations of the Legislative Assembly Paraná State (ALEP).
---- The so-called "pacotaço" package of measures that affected directly osdireitos labor
conquered with much struggle (especially aprevidência of public officials and employees),
was withdrawn in February due to radicalized fight organized oppressed class. However, the
state government does not give up to achieve the security of servers and servants, putting
at stake in ALEP Bill 252/2015, PL Welfare.
With a huge police contingent, coming from all over the Paraná, the state managed to pass
the proposed amendment on the constitutionality of the security committee, on Monday
(27/04), but on Wednesday (29), when the project goes to the plenary, the working class
will resist until the end to stop again this attack on the rights that were won with much
sweat and blood.
Not only that the state is in debt up to the limit of nãorepassar funds for fuel and food
of its armed wing, the police, the Government Beto Richa ordered two truculent repressive
attacks up of employees, workers and students on Tuesday (28). One in the morning,
complete with pepper spray, and one in the late morning, with many blows of truncheons,
rubber bullets, more pepper spray and tear gas.
?
But if the state has its armed wing and all its bureaucratic class, the working people and
students have the solidarity of the rest of the oppressed class. Who gets not forget and
who collectively fight to the finish wins the victory.
All solidarity with the fighters and fighters of Parana education!
All Paraná people present at the battle of tomorrow!
Only direct action ensures our rights!
The more we repress, we mobilized more!
?
Brazilian Anarchist Coordination (CAB)
http://anarquismo.noblogs.org/?p=140
anarkismo.net: The Armenian Genocide: An Open Wound by Sungur Savran
The Bullet To the memory of Stepan Shaumyan, Armenian Bolshevik leader of the Baku Commune
in 1918, and of Hrant Dink, Armenian socialist intellectual from Istanbul who, until his
assassination in 2007, exerted a Herculean effort to bring the genocide into the centre of
attention in Turkey. ---- On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals,
politicians and community leaders were rounded in Istanbul (or Constantinople as it was
then called in the West) by the Ottoman state, to be subsequently sent to exile from which
most never returned. This was the signal that set off a chain of events that ended in a
tragedy the like of which has rarely been witnessed in the annals of modern history. The
Armenians, who had been living in the eastern part of the Anatolian plateau from time
immemorial, were forcibly deported from their homes in almost every city in what is now
Turkey, ostensibly to their destination Dar ez Zor in the Syrian desert.
Up to a million and a half died in the process. Women were abducted, raped and killed.
Young children were sent to orphanages and forcibly Islamized. All the property belonging
to Armenians, houses and gardens, farms and orchards, cattle and sheep, workshops and
tools, trade houses and factories were seized by the state or simply grasped by the
Turkish ruling strata. Churches were made into warehouses or left to rust and community
hospitals and schools were taken away.
On the eve of World War I, different estimates and censuses put the Armenian population of
Anatolia between 1.2 million and close to 2 million. At the end of the war, the only
sizeable Armenian population was left in Istanbul and the overall figure had fallen below
a mere 100 thousand. What was to become present-day Turkey was thus "cleansed" of its
Armenian population. The Turks had entered Anatolia as a result of the victory obtained by
the Seldjukides over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. They cohabited
with the autochthonous Armenians for close to a millennium. The Ottoman Empire regarded
the Armenians as the "loyal nation," and yet it was this very same state that betrayed
them, massacred them and extirpated them from their homes and their motherland.
Implications for the Future of the Middle East
There is not a shred of doubt that this was genocide of the worst kind. Of course, the
concept may sound like an anachronism in this context since it was first coined as a legal
concept in the aftermath of World War II. However, we do not approach the question of the
Armenian genocide from a legalistic viewpoint. Our concern is to re-establish friendship
and trust between the workers and labourers of Turkey and Armenia. For us this is first
and foremost a political question that has to do with the prospect of revolution in the
region. All social upheavals in the Eurasian land mass from 1905 and 1917 to the period
1989-1991 passing through World War I witnessed massacres involving the Armenians, the
Turks and the Azeris, the latter being the ethnic brethren of Anatolian Turks inhabiting
the Caucasus. On the other hand, the Armenians and the Kurds each claim roughly the same
geographic territory as their historic motherland. So the fate of the revolution in the
Caucasus, Anatolia and Mesopotamia hinges upon the relationships established between these
four peoples. Proletarian revolution cannot succeed here unless it sets in motion a
process that culminates in the Socialist Federation of the Caucasus and in parallel the
Socialist Federation of the Middle East, where Turk and Armenian and Kurd will have to
cohabit. Hence the debate on the Armenian genocide is by no means a futile exercise on a
long bygone historic event, but really concerns the future of the revolution in this whole
region.
The Turkish state and those historians and intellectuals who act as its mouthpiece have
consistently denied the genocide. Their arguments range from the minimization of
casualties (the lowest figure cited being 320 thousand as against the 1.5 million put
forward by many Armenian and other historians) to the claim that the massacres were
reciprocal. They forget two simple facts. First, the Armenian population of eastern
Anatolia was almost totally eradicated from the face of Anatolia. So to count the numbers
of the dead is only a part of the genocide debate. Secondly, state power was in the hands
of the Turkish dominant nation, which renders all talk about mutual carnage empty chatter.
Genocide as Class Struggle
The classical explanation offered for this barbaric cruelty by liberal historiography in
Turkey and nationalist historiography of the Armenians both in contemporary Armenia and
the Diaspora has been that it was the outcome of the "construction of Turkish identity" or
of "Unionist mentality," the latter implying the world outlook of the Committee of Union
and Progress, the party then in power. These are, of course, philosophically idealistic
approaches that beg the question of why the identity or the mentality in question became
dominant specifically at that historical juncture. But there is worse. It is a very
widespread view among Westerners, Armenians and Westernized Turks that somehow the Muslim
or the Turk or both partake of some kind of evil, that it is from the nature of the
religion or the ethnicity in question that this barbarism proceeds. This kind of racist
characterization is hardly ever pronounced in writing or in public nowadays, but it is
still voiced in private conversation.
Our view on the determinants of the Armenian genocide is fundamentally different from
almost all commentators. We assert that what lay behind the Armenian genocide was class
struggle of several orders. The vicious attacks against the Armenians had its earliest
roots in the looting of the surplus product of the Armenian peasantry by the ruling
stratum of Kurdish tribes, which shared the same geographical territory with the
Armenians. The later but stronger and more radical drive came from the urge for primitive
accumulation on the part of the nascent Turkish bourgeoisie at the turn of the century
fighting against the economic dominance of the non-Muslim moneyed classes in Ottoman
society. It was this class fraction that was represented by the Unionists in power and
dispossessed the Armenian and, in a different manner, Greek population of Anatolia to
amass capital in its own hands. Marx's remarks on primitive accumulation in Capital sound
prophetic in regard to the Armenian genocide: "If money, according to Augier, 'comes into
the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek,' capital comes dripping from head to
foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt." In Turkey the blood and dirt of primitive
accumulation took the form of genocide.
These domestic factors were reinforced by the support extended to the Turkish bourgeoisie
by the German imperialist bourgeoisie, instrumentalizing the power of the Ottoman state in
its intra-class struggle against the other imperialist bourgeoisies of Europe, that is,
British, French and Russian.
The Importance of German Complicity
This last fact is of utmost importance. Germany was the ally and protector of the Ottoman
state during World War I. The commanders of the Ottoman-Turkish army were German field
marshals, generals and admirals. It is absolutely impossible for the genocide to have
taken place without German consent, even positive encouragement. The German Kaiser and the
Reich were already responsible for the genocide of the Herrero people in what was then
called German Southwest Africa, what is present-day Namibia. Hence, there is no reason to
rule out even a scenario in which Germany may have instigated the ruling Union and
Progress Committee and its strong man Enver Pasha to implement this "final solution" to
the Armenian question. Enver Pasha was a personal protégé of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The latter
is notorious for his secretive and personalized management of foreign and military
affairs. The Kaiser's government expected the Ottomans to threaten both Russia and Britain
in their Asian backyards by propagating a simultaneously pan-Turkist and pan-Islamist
political onslaught. The Armenians stood in between the Ottomans and the Muslim and Turkic
peoples of Asia. Hence, in an objective sense, the Armenian genocide served the wartime
aims of German imperialism.
Of course, all this does not necessarily mean the German government was involved as an
accomplice in the genocide. However, it is only through a study of the archives, including
top secret documents, that the truth of this matter can be discovered.
Where does the significance of all this lie? Let us start with a general proposition.
Recognition of the genocide is the primary act in the direction of redressing the
suffering of the Armenian people and of rekindling a modicum of fraternity and trust
between the peoples of the region. The problem is that, left on their own, Turkey and the
Armenians, both Armenia proper and the Diaspora, have locked horns for a very long time.
The Turkish state and those historians and intellectuals who act as its mouthpiece have
consistently denied the genocide. The absurd concept of the "Turkish thesis," denoting
full denial of the genocide, is testimony to the stubborn position of the Turkish state.
The titanic effort of Hrant Dink, an Istanbul Armenian formerly a revolutionary socialist,
to create an awareness of the question throughout Turkish society in the 1990s and early
2000s created an immense breach in the wall of silence that had earlier been imposed.
Hrant Dink was assassinated in 2007 through a conspiracy prepared by the so-called "deep
state" of Turkey, but his legacy lives on. If we are today able in Turkey to discuss this
question openly, most of the credit goes to the Herculean work carried out by Hrant Dink
and his still extant bilingual weekly Agos. However, the overall situation cannot be said
to have changed irreversibly. The genocide is still mentioned in the media perforce as
"the so-called genocide."
The question of the recognition of the genocide cannot be resolved by the ill-conceived
pressures of the state organs of some imperialist countries and is positively harmed by
such irresponsible theatrics such as that of the Pope in early April, conspicuous for its
lack of modesty coming from the head of an institution wholly immersed in the Holocaust.
However, for the reasons explained above Germany is the exception.
It is a noteworthy fact that although many European governments and parliaments (including
France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden etc. and the European
Parliament recently for a second time) have recognized the 1915 events as genocide and
called on Turkey to do likewise, Germany has remained very much in the shadows on this
question. This fact glares with significance.
We believe that it is the duty of the German socialist and working-class movements and
German democrats to press for the complete opening of German archives relevant to that
historical period. We summon them to press the German government to recognize and condemn
the Armenian genocide.
If Germany does recognize the Armenian genocide, with documents in hand, the
Turkey-Armenia polarization will be cast in a new light and the obscurantism of the
"Turkish thesis" will receive a fatal blow. This is the only way to fraternity and trust
between the peoples of the region.
Needless to say, the real effort to make the Turkish government recognize the genocide
falls on the shoulders of the Turkish and Kurdish left. We appeal to the German and
international movements for efforts without forgetting for one single moment that the
blood spilled by the Turkish bourgeoisie and the Kurdish tribal ruling class can only be
cleansed by the Turkish and Kurdish proletariat and the peasantry.
Related Link: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1109.php#continue
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28121
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