Today's Topics:
1. France, Alternative Libertaire AL Septembre - Interview,
Silvia Federici (feminist): "Capitalism separates and isolates
women" (fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Greece, Our grandparents refugees, migrants our fathers, we
racists? [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, Workers Counter Bulletin #128 of ESE Athens (fr, it,
pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. afed.cz: Right to housing --- In September, due to the
housing protest in Warsaw and Moscow. [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. black rose fed: RADICALIZE YOUR LOVE: CONSENT CULTURE NOT
TOXIC MASCULINITY (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Alternative Libertaire AL Septembre - Grand Paris:
Triangle of Gonesse, a project that wrong (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. solfed uk: Statement on Laibaz dispute -- wage theft
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. wsm.ie: Rojava revolution - Co-operatives & assemblies -
video with commentary in the text by Andrew N Flood
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
How is capitalism possible? In Marxist question Marx's answer: by the unpaid labor. The
worker of the labor force is exploited, and the wealth it produces is extorted by the
capitalist. How is the work of the workman possible? In feminist issue, Silvia Federici
answer: by the work of women that allows the worker to reproduce his daily labor. In an
interview with Hourya Bentouhami, philosopher and activist U, Silvia Federici returns to
the specificity of patriarchy within capitalist societies. ---- AL: Is it that you can
explain your background that goes from the study of witch hunt (in "Caliban and the
Witch") as having contributed by you to the first form of primitive accumulation with
enclosures[1]women, on reflection you lead today on domestic work and capitalism on a
global scale in what amounts to a form of neo-colonialism?
Silvia Federici: In the 1970s, we started to analyze the reproduction work, domestic work,
as a very important field of exploitation of women and struggle in capitalist societies.
This led us to think that women have to lead an independent struggle not only provide
support function of the struggles of men. From this perspective, I began to think the
history of the construction of domestic work, and this led me to rethink the history of
primitive accumulation. I realized early on that it was important to understand what
capitalism is, how it developed and how turned the job is called in modern reproductive
labor society - especially the housework. So I interested in pre-capitalist societies to
understand how this work has been transformed, especially in Europe. I then studied the
Middle Ages. And I realized that in feudal society which was a very oppressive society
because of slavery (which was a strong operating system), the serf in many cases had as a
pay access to land, so reproducing means[2]. In most cases, they worked the land of a
community way. Land owners (the lords) gave them a plot of land to breed. I studied this
Community reproductive system and I found that it was the land of great solidarity, where
strong links are built. I especially as women in this system were less isolated and less
dependent on men that in the capitalist system. Less dependent than the housewife of
modern life, separated, isolated in his house, often destitute, while the wife of the
medieval village is a woman who is always with other women. This research thereby permit
me also seize the role of women in pre-capitalist struggles against feudal power. It is
leaning on the struggles involved women and that developed against the feudal system that
I started to understand the development of capitalism: it was not an internal change
factor system social, but operated in the manner of an against-revolution.
AL: Although there have always been social violence, you insist on the specificity of
capitalist exploitation.
Silvia Federici: Yes, I do not want to idealize the Middle Ages, nor between men and women
at that time. I'm always afraid to make big generalizations because of a feudal society to
another there are also many differences. However, what made me think lies in this fact: in
a community where goods are in the labor share in a Community regime, the way women and
men worked was a stronger character of cooperation. Community schemes have established
relationships and opportunities: in the late Middle Ages, before the great growth and the
religious heresies, which were in fact social heresies, there was an alternative to the
feudal system and the beginning of a market society. We observe peasant wars in the late
fifteenth century, they brought thousands of people. For example, in Spain, farmers went
from one village to another to recruit during the uprisings. They had a great experience
weapons.
I also found that there was a difference in women's position in relation to the capitalist
situation that I noticed later studying pre-capitalist societies, pre-colonial Africa,
where there was a sexual division work. Women cultivated, were a particular type of
culture, they had their own harvest; and men had theirs on their side. So there was a
sexual differentiation, but did not put women in a position of weakness because this
differentiation was accompanied by a greater cooperation between the women themselves,
especially in agriculture. To give you an example, in 1929 in Nigeria, in the city where I
was near the Niger Delta, which became famous because of the "war on women" that took
place there, the British who had colonized the region already taxed harvest of men. But
this year, they decided to also tax the women harvest, which had the effect of seeing
women lift. They began to organize in the entire region, 10 000 women converged on Aba,
released prisoners, organized an office of the administrative city. Taken by surprise, the
British had to retreat. It is this struggle which dates the entry of African women in
British anthropology. We realized that from this form of community agricultural work,
women were highly organized. This was described in this beautiful book of Wole Soyinka
(Ake - The years of childhood), his mother was engaged in the movement at the time when he
himself was still a little boy. Fela's mother had also taken part. It is an extraordinary
episode.
AL: That reminds analyzes the Nigerian feminist, Oyeronke Oyewumi, author of The Invention
of Women. She worked on the Yoruba. She explains in her book that imported a certain way
of seeing the kind from Western countries, and it does not match the Namibian reality:
there are sex differences but they do not necessarily work in a matrix exploitation and
domination.
Silvia Federici: From the moment of sexual difference becomes exclusion, hierarchy, then
it must be fought. Sexual difference in itself does not mean oppression: at least when one
is in a non-capitalist society. For example, Nigerian feminists have spoken of this
institution in the family in which the infertile woman could find a form of social
compensation to her infertility. If she could not procreate, she could marry another
woman, which could have a child with a "servant".
However, capitalism produces the difference, including sexual difference. What capitalism
does is separate, isolate. The witch hunt has not only meant the subjugation of women, but
also the separation of women among them. She made women rally, friendship between women a
dangerous thing. There was a period in capitalism in which a woman was afraid to be seen
with other women, because she could be suspected of participating in a cult of witches.
This was accompanied by legislation that has gradually forbidden for women to get together
with other women to walk alone in the street, to accompany their friends. And also to have
strong relationships with their families after marriage. In England, for example, it was
thought that women, once married, had to build a new loyalty to the husband. The witch
hunt has been fundamental to restructure the relationships within the family in three
directions: the woman's relationship with the family, with other women and with children.
Solidarity among women is attacked: solidarity must focus on the nuclear family around the
figure of the husband. The woman must devote all his energy to it. Intense female
sociality that existed in the Middle Ages is attacked. Then, solidarity with the parents
and family or you just also attacked. You have to be in solidarity with your children.
This is also reflected in the reproductive policy. In the Middle Ages, when the life of
the mother was in danger, the mother is saved. From industrialization, the opposite is
true: the mother is sacrificed. With the professionalization of medicine, priority is
given to the child. This can be explained from the labor market: the child, the new life
is the new productive worker, older people can be abandoned because they are not
productive; relations with friend-es are not productive, relations with the husband are
productive because they allow the husband to break free of domestic work. That's what I
see in the transition from a pre-capitalist society to a capitalist society. Of course
there are many differences between the pre-capitalist societies, this is a generalization
but women community relations tissue is a common element that is found in Africa, in
Europe, but also in Latin America, despite the contrasts between these different
historical models and experiences.
About recuillis by Hourya Bentouhami
When global capitalism set women together
Silvia Federici has also made a valuable contribution to feminist reflections on the
international division of labor at work since the 1970s This has broadly weakened the
status of women by subjecting them to specific forms of exploitation - solidarity and pre
livelihood activities being eaten away by the extension of capitalist relations and
neoliberal restructuring - but it also helped establish or strengthen neo-colonial
relations between women themselves, because if production is redistributed internationally
reproductive work is also. First, as she recalled, the emigrants massive use of the Third
World in the North American metropolises of Western Europe and the rich countries of the
Middle East has allowed bring a colonial solution to the problem of housework for women of
middle and upper classes. This leaves unchanged the status quo between the sexes in the
distribution of household tasks and relationships "maids-madams" arising preclude any
feminist solidarity. Next, it should be noted that the important international babies
flows to these same rich countries (via the adoption and surrogacy) exchange which
sometimes tends toward commodification, reports the weight of procreation (the
consequences for work or risks health) on women in the third world instead of to assume
the community. Finally, through sex tourism or prostitution of immigrant women is the
sexual dimension of reproductive work that is redistributed. Thus, the new international
division of labor "accentuates division in women by specialization and fixing tasks that
reduce our possibilities of life and introduce us to new hierarchies and stratifications,
endangering the possibility of a fight common " [3].
Marco (AL 92)
[1]The enclosure (fencing, in French) at the end of the Middle Ages in England
corresponded to the expropriation of peasants out of communal lands. The term "enclosures
women" is the dispossession of women to control their bodies and their knowledge.
[2]The reproduction means designates Marx all necessary means not only sexual reproduction
of workers, but also for their own survival, reproduction of their cells, muscles, etc.
(it can go through the means of production as among the serfs - land, tools, livestock -
or access to consumer goods necessary through wages as in the proletariat - food,
clothing, heating, housing).
[3]"Reproduction and feminist struggle in the new international division of labor" (1999).
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Interview-de-SIlvia-Federici-Le
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Message: 2
Text of the Trade Union Libertaria of Thessaloniki , published on the occasion of the
racist decision of the Association of Parents of School Oreokastro , to close the village
school, if they enroll in it the children of immigrants and refugees they live in the
area. ---- On Tuesday 13 September the statement of the Association of Parents of School
Oreokastro, in which there was talk of closing the school in the event that students are
immigrants enroll, or if it was announced these students make use of the school building.
This decision followed the city council of Oreokastro, and was strongly supported by both
the mayor and councilors and by who witnessed the session of the council, who walk
spreading their racist and far - right delusions. Since a municipal authority is not
competent to indicate who can and who can not attend classes in a school, the purpose of
such decisions is to generate hostility and conservative hysterics before any decision is
made and any action is taken.
We live together, work together: Migration was and remains a constant need for the
oppressed, the workers, to demand a better life. In the current situation many communities
of people belonging to various ethnic groups uprooted they are forced to pile up in
detention centers and waiting, located around cities.
It is not the first time living children of refugees and immigrants here. In the territory
of the Greek State the children of immigrants from second and third generation are
classmates and neighbors of ours for many years. Life with men whose national and
religious identity is different is a problem only for supporters of fascist ideas.
"How are we going to save us from the" freedom "of our slavery and ideas" patriots "of
traitors? And when (we'll save) of the gods of atheists and caníbalos? "
?ostas Varnalis
Fascist and racist threats, either by fear or by words of stupidity and shallow populism,
nationalism reminiscent only, which we are reluctant and oppose taking a class approach.
We will not leave unanswered such statements. We call teachers, parents, and students
Oreokastro to condemn these racist statements.
Libertarian Trade Union of Thessaloniki
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Message: 3
The struggle for the release of our colleague severance pay at the bookstore "Leadership"
continues said in the announcement, ASSOCIATION STAFF PAPER - PAPER - DIGITAL MEDIA ATTICA
. The communication added that: not going to tolerate our colleague essentially disbanded
after several years of work without taking or compensation. We will not accept whoever and
whatever resists and defends labor interests to accept the vindictiveness and the adverse
changes in his / her work by employers. We will never let any fellow alone and no
colleague only to address the employer's attacks and abuses. ACROSS THE Employers
lawlessness and arbitrariness, SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON UP NOW THE REMEDY OF DISMISSAL IN
colleagues' PROTOPORIAS. " See more here or alternatively here.
Dynamic intervention took place on Monday, September 12th from what members of the
Libertarian Trade Union Ioannina colleagues / compas and compañeras / s, against the
pre-congress event SYRIZA in Litharitsia park. About 35 people stood in front of the
entrance of the building which will become the event, shouting the ing slogans and
throwing leaflets. The executives of the ruling party, tampourothikan inside, trying to
respond to the accusation that focused. There was an immediate mobilization of the police,
with the parties and OPKE, who failed to reach the entrance. The left focused structured
around 7: 00pm, sharing texts in the city market. The text of the intervention HERE or
HERE video HERE a HERE , photos HERE and HERE.
Staying on the theme of "Trailblazer" even worth mentioning, that on Thursday 15/ 0 9th
SYVCHPSA we made another intervention outside the "Vanguard" bookstore in the fight for
the immediate payment of severance pay to a worker who suffered vengeful - detrimental
change. In response to the fourth intervention outside the "Vanguard" for the payment of
severance pay to the employee, the SYVCHPSA stated: On Thursday 15/ 0 9 shortly after 6pm
we made another intervention outside the bookstore "Leadership" at the fight for the
immediate payment of severance pay to our colleague suffered vindictive - damaging change.
The intervention was accompanied again by dozens of members of our Association and
solidarity, colleagues and comrades from other trade unions and collectives, and lasted
for half an hour. During that period, the share in passing the announcement of our
Association, while fonachtikan and slogans. As for the readers who were destined to the
bookstore, once informed of the matter, as in all our previous similar interventions
overwhelmingly chose not to pass through, thus practically declaring his support for our
struggle. Note that since last June has filed relevant proceedings and the hearing of the
case is set for 20/ 0 2/2017. Continue until the vindication of our colleague. The
vindictive attitude of employers towards our colleague and all intolerance and "doulem a "
towards the Association and our struggle will not remain unanswered. Response from the
fourth intervention HERE or ED Oh .
48-hour nationwide strike are planned for the n Thursday, September 22 the sailors.
Claiming the signature CRS for all sailors, but and revoked al v burdensome pension,
insurance and tax measures against seamen.
Two men died in mill t tank not Tuesday, September 13 in Pteleos Magnisias, while three
others were injured and preventive transferred to a hospital in Volos. Dead were recovered
by the employer and a migrant worker, who during teaspoon oil tank cleaning duration t ha
the like fell into the tank.
Worker in hospital "Hatzikosta" in Ioannina slightly injured due to a fault in the oxygen
bottle accessory. The news can be passed into the "small print", but for us it is another
near-employer murder.
Daily demonstrations outside as TIF, made the program a 's prior week unpaid employees of
supermarkets 'Karipidis', demanding job security and payment of accrued due to them in
January and February.
The re working in IT company «Retail Link», subsidiary of «Entersoft», achieving workers
and the sectoral union. After everything this development the employee is expected to
return to work.
Mobilisation indirect xo by the Courts in Halkida, held on Monday 12/ 0 9 employees in
Affiliated Companies Poultry interests "Jury". Workers oppose auction of slaughterhouses
in order to avoid losing jobs to keep all salary and labor rights and the payment of all
accrued. The auction for the owner to change the chicken digest Tanagra Facilities
postponed until October 10 because of the previous days found irregularities. You can see
the following link prior information on the subject of what the Bulletin of Labour Counter .
Concert, household anitary aid under the second Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Workers'
Economy will be held in the busy indu 28, 29 and October 30 in Athens, to issue a Food
ravine in Halandri on 24 September. The purpose of the concert is the financial support of
the occupied factories and cooperative enterprises. See more HERE and also HERE .
Work stoppages Tuesday, the 20th on Wednesday 21 and Thursday, September 22, will move
employees winery Boutari. Workers complain of ridicule from the company's side in the
issue of repayment of our accrued during February, March, April, May, June, July and
August 2016.
Work stoppages held Thursday, September 15 workers in buses and trolleybuses. 48-hour
nationwide strike on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 tin Septemvri the sailors in all ships.
Working attitude Thursday 15 Septemvri proceeded employees in administration at the
University Hospital of Heraklion, protesting working conditions, with the result that
patients are served correctly.
protest show made by employees in the public sector at the Interior Ministry Wednesday,
September 14 with dominant requests the recovery of losses, the full salary grading and
recognition of service and the "unfreezing" of salaries.
A thoothikan union officials of the Association of IGME, who tried program i n two week s
for matches against the reserves, ie redundancies, with a constructed category for
"duress" and "disturbing the family peace."
Finally, dispiriting is again the unemployment figures. T the unemployment rate in the
second quarter of 2016 amounted f the 23.1% against 24.6% in the corresponding quarter of
2015. In absolute numbers, the number of employed amounted to 3,702,613 persons and the
unemployed to 1,112,075. The unemployment rate for women was 27.6% versus 19.4%.
Geographically, the highest unemployment rates recorded in Western Greece with 31.3%, West
Macedonia with 30.6%, followed by 24.9% in Thessaly and Central Greece with 24.4%.
Tags: anarcho-syndicalism , ERC Athens
https://ese.espivblogs.net/2016/09/19/19-09-16/#more-2692
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Message: 4
Increase in the number of homeless people is not only Czech. Privatization of municipal
housing fund, hide behind ridiculous phrase about the possibility of improving the quality
of housing in the new wave launched in Warsaw. Loss of home, there are thousands of people
at risk. With the support of anarcho-syndicalists thus took place on September 19 in
Warsaw in front of the city hall protest called. Reprivatization of housing, during which
they sell houses and new owners throwing tenants on the street. This wild privatization
can in a few years to prepare housing for hundreds of families in the capital.
"Politicians talk about four thousand homes that were sold to private owners. In each of
them could live about a hundred people, " said protest participant from the Committee to
defend the rights of tenants. The event was also attended by those who have already given
notice because they live in houses sold to private town. Authorities did not allow the
demonstration, but police did not intervene.
In Russia, used by local politicians when šíbrování municipal housing have another method:
the bureaucracy. Therefore, for the second time during the summer he held a protest in
Moscow. In mid-September a group of protesters blocked traffic in downtown Moscow with the
banner "Return the stolen social housing". Protest action organized by health workers who
received from homes, but also their long-term offices for administrative formalities
prevented to move into them. This applies to more than eighty families. Two women
protesters were detained by police. Others were pushed off the road and with them there
began Besedová secret.
https://www.afed.cz/text/6526/pravo-na-bydleni
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Message: 5
The following is a speech given by Champaign-Urbana organizer Tyler Camp at the Rally
Against Rape Culture, September 23, 2016. The rally was organized by Students Against
Sexual Assault at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ---- I made it a project of
mine this year to construct a sort of pedagogy, or theory, of radical love. And people
have directed me to all kinds of resources that are really great and radical. My friend
Kaitlin pointed me toward Shine theory- which is summarized really well in the simple
thought: I don't shine if you don't shine. Specifically, the focus was on women uplifting
other women but I think we can expand it to all genders. Use it as a way of pushing back
against gender-embedded violence. ---- And I talk about gender in a broad sense keeping in
mind this concept of toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity is what creates and perpetuates
rape culture. We need to mobilize against that. Gender can be used to mobilize something
else-radical softness; through the uplift of femininity, and through performing types of
masculinity that may not be dominant in the media, may be seen as alternate or subversive
masculinities. But through the conscious performance of gender, certain actions, once
normalized, can become the structure for a new society that vilifies rape.
Something else I found this summer was the writings of Lora Mathis, who's a
trans/non-binary poet. Their big thing is Radical softness as a weapon. They define
radical softness "as the idea that unapologetically sharing your emotions is a political
move and a way to combat the societal idea that feelings are a sign of weakness."
"kiss your friends' faces more / destroy the belief that intimacy must be reserved for
monogamous relationships / be more loving / embrace platonic intimacy / embrace
vulnerability / use emotionality as a radical tactic against a society which teaches you
that emotions are a sign of weakness / tell more people you care about them / hold their
hands / tell others you are proud of them / offer support readily / take care of the
people around you."
Okay, so I'm reading this as someone who doesn't always like being touched. And obviously
consent is a mandatory part of how any interpersonal intimacy needs to function. Ask your
friends their boundaries. Ask small children before you pick them up. Respect their right
to say no and model to them that you're not upset when you get a no. There's a real clear
goal in mind here: Consent culture should replace rape culture.
And taking the cue from the adage ‘That the personal is political', it isn't too hard to
see that emotions can be politicized. Marginalized people are politicized whether we like
it or not; And that extends to femininity-womanhood. Queer people, queer movements have
always radicalized and politicized love. But also if emotions have always been seen to be
in the realm of femininity anyway, then heck yeah they're already politicized by being the
thing that patriarchal mechanisms have used to disempower us. We are reclaiming our
feelings, fighting back against the notion that they're illogical or irrational and saying
we are doing emotions in a very purposeful, political way; because emotions don't make us
weak, they make us human.
To destroy toxic masculinity, men need to start prioritizing love. Shoutout to all my guy
friends that do emotional support work for their friends, that make their friends feel
safe and validated. We see you. We appreciate the hell out of you. Radicalize your love;
That's the biggest thing I have to tell men who claim they don't contribute to rape culture.
I used to be scared of taking up physical space, noise space. Something a lot of people
who are assigned female at birth are familiar with because of how we're socialized. I
reclaimed the use of my voice when I realized I needed it to strengthen my connection to
my community, so now if I catch myself asking does this need to be said out loud? I
usually think hell yeah this person needs to hear how much I appreciate them doing their
thing! Training ourselves into a collectivist mindset we are fighting being cut off from
caring about each other with the power of solidarity. As a means of resistance against all
these abusive systems.
And so the biggest take away, for me, is that we need a cultural shift toward thinking
collectively, consensually. In a society that teaches us to shy away from our emotions, we
can use our love, emotional support work for each other, for ourselves, as a tool to fight
back and reclaim our collective humanity.
Tyler Camp is a student organizer and president of UIUC's Campus Union for Trans Equality
and Support (CUTES). Their work is focused on creating safe and affirming spaces for
transgender students on campus and to maintain solidarity with other student activist
groups including Black Students for Revolution and Students for Justice in Palestine.
http://www.blackrosefed.org/radicalize-love-consent-culture-not-toxic-masculinity/
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Message: 6
The traditional smoky "participatory public debate" on Europa City was held between March
and July 2016. Despite the involvement of opponents and opponents, the result to be
published in mid-September leaves little doubt about the continuation of this project
already tied. ---- The 700 hectares of grain land Triangle Gonesse - among the most
fertile in Europe - are forbidden to build habitats, due to the proximity of Roissy and Le
Bourget airports. But other forms of development are possible in the airport corridor long
whets the appetites of developers and local officials and elected. ---- Hence the Europa
City project Pharaonic commercial and tourist center, worn by a real estate subsidiary of
Auchan. It would fit in a development zone (ZAC) piloted by the public development Plaine
de France, which bétonnerait about 300 hectares. A station of line 17 of the Grand Paris
Express, located in the field, would serve Europa City.
stop Europa City
This project is the culmination of a broader purpose: complete urbanization of the entire
area between Paris and Roissy. Europa City is but one of the major poles of the dynamics
of the Grand Paris, which led to concentrate wealth in eight clusters on the ground to
enhance the international attractiveness of the Île-de-France.
The developers point out that 400 hectares would remain preserved in a protected
agricultural area (ZAP). Without abandoning the claim to stop the Europa City project, the
Costif (Coordination for the solidarity of the Île-de-France Territories) takes them at
their word, and is currently working on an alternative project.
This project would keep a portion of cereal crops next to a logical installation and young
peasants in horticulture farms and organic farming, tending towards permaculture. For the
institution, the two main arguments of the project are thus the creation of sustainable
jobs and youth. For Costif it's mostly instil a new vision of agriculture, because in
Gonesse two worldviews clash.
Just like many other experiences in Île-de-France (AMAP, educational farms, associations
pushing the installation of farmers or the purchase by citizens collectives threatened
land), Gonesse Triangle could become a laboratory that agriculture, unlike the prospect
that offer merchants conditioned and climaticides dreams of Europa City.
Agriculture at the service of everyone
The objective of the Costif therefore remains the withdrawal of the project, a necessary
step for the Gonesse land are free to develop agriculture in the service of all. Since
2012, the Costif rallies, Saclay in Gonesse through Montesson, against projects that
destroy agricultural land, increase social and territorial segregation and hinder another
vision of the future.
Alain Dordé (Costif)
For more information: http://costif.parla.fr
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Grand-Paris-Triangle-de-Gonesse-un
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Message: 7
Over the last few weeks the Manchester Solidarity Federation has been escalating the
campaign against Laibaz restaurant in Bolton. As well as further phone blockades, we have
leafleted in Bolton, organised a poster campaign and held a stall outside of the
restaurant. The support we have received from groups and individuals has been tremendous
and we would urge people to continue with their support for the campaign. ----
The owner of the restaurant, Sunar Alom, has responded to the campaign with verbal abuse
and by posting lies and smears against the workers involved on social media. Needless to
say, wild accusations such as these will not deflect from Laibaz's shocking treatment of
its staff. Nor will such allegations deflect the Solidarity Federation from our continuing
campaign in support of the workers involved. We will now be stepping up the campaign
against the owner until he returns all the wages he has stolen and to prevent him from
robbing workers in the future
http://www.solfed.org.uk/manchester/statement-on-laibaz-dispute
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Message: 8
As they have driven ISIS back in northern Syria / Rojava the Kurdish YPG and their allies
in the SDF have won increasing visibility in western media. While such reports often
mention the key role in this fight played by women in the YPJ, there is otherwise little
examination of the revolution happening behind the front lines in Rojava. That revolution
is why they stood and fought ISIS rather than fleeing. This can be true of a lot of
alternative media coverage. In part this is due to the limited amount of information on
what this revolution involves. but it's also in part because photographs of women with
guns are judged to be more striking than women workers in a co-operative bakery or a
community assembly. ---- We've tried to address this imbalance somewhat, both in our
coverage and through bringing a number of Kurdish and other speakers over to talk at the
Dublin Anarchist Bookfair. They spoke about what is happening behind the front lines. What
is it that is being constructed that so many have judged is worth going to the front lines
to defend against ISIS? Our speakers this year included Erjan Ayboga author of ‘Revolution
in Rojava' and US academic Janet Biehl who has visited the region twice since the
revolution to investigate what is happening on the ground.
The attached video are the segments from the bookfair panel that most directly addressed
the economic and decision making structures of revolutionary Rojava. The text that follows
summarises what is said in the video but also outlines the broader context, both in terms
of the situation on the ground and similar historical anarchist experiences. If you've
little knowledge of anarchism you should get a lot from the facts contained below, and
perhaps the analysis that compares what we know with anarchist experiences of
revolutionary transformation will whet your appetite.
What is the economic structure now in Rojava? Well let us start by sayings it's not the
‘full communism' without bosses that anarchists would aim for but rather a mixed system
that includes private businesses alongside the co-ops.
As Erjan says in the video, today the situation is private business is not forbidden.
People can do it if they wish, but it is not supported in the way the co-op system is
supported.
In anarchist terms is this not that different from the way things worked in a lot of
anarchist controlled areas of revolutionary Spain. Small landowners were often allowed to
continue to work their own land even if the rest of a village decided to collectivise. The
large enterprises that were taken over were state owned and those of owners who had fled
the revolution. Things went further in the areas where the anarchists were very strong
(e.g. the Woodworking Industry in Barcelona that collectivised all workplaces) but that
represented a high tide mark rather than what was typical everywhere.
In Rojava the Assad regime kept the area under-developed, as an agricultural breadbasket
for Syria, so there were not that many large businesses to start with except state owned
utilities. Of the few other privately owned big businesses the owners seem to have mostly
fled the region. There is a huge multinational cement factory but its location is near the
front line and it's been the scene of combat, so it appears not to be currently in
production. The exception we heard was land ownership - although some large landlords fled
many are still in place. Below we look at how this is probably related to the
tribal-feudal structures that sit alongside capitalism in the region.
The comparison we make above with Spain 1936-7 is important because the Spanish revolution
of 1936 still represents a high point of workers self-management. And in that context it's
quite relevant that a section of ultra-left Marxists in the 1930s also refused solidarity
with anarchist Spain because, as they correctly pointed out, capitalism had not yet been
abolished and compromises had been made. Anarchists, in Spain and internationally,
criticised the compromises but still remained in solidarity with the revolution, including
fighting on the front lines.
Another important aspect to keep in mind is that although anarchists now know a fair bit
about the Spanish collectives this wasn't true at the time they were functioning. Gaston
Leval's massive study didn't appear in English until 1945 and even his briefer article on
the collectives in Aragon was only published two years into the revolution. During the
period from 1936 to early 1937 when the collectives were strong, only fragmentary
information was available about them outside Spain, much of that hostile.
Importantly, unlike Spain - where millions of workers were self described anarchists at
the start of the revolution and so were prepared to take over their workplaces - in Rojava
it would appear that only a small minority were ideological revolutionaries at the
beginning. If we think of the scene in the Ken Loach film Land & Freedom, where the
liberated village debates whether to collectivise the land, the importance of this becomes
clear. The impulse for collectivisation in that scene mostly comes from within the village
due to the already existing anarchist presence, it's not imposed from without. In a Rojava
equivalent we could expect that the impulse at least initially would be dependent on the
arguments of the militia who had liberated the village rather than its inhabitants.
By 2014 in Rojava we are told in the video that there were many co-ops but now (early
2016) there are three to four times more, probably thousands. Many of these appear to be
small, we are shown photos of a textile co-op and a women's bakery co-op. Given the
blockade on Rojava we know it's hard to import machinery and impossible to import large
machinery so it's a question of building co-ops with what is already to hand, these are
going to be small and labour- rather than capital-intensive.
Individually we are told that while these small co-ops are working well the challenge is
networking them to work together. For this reason there is a new distribution co-op
formed, that is a higher level one that brings together many co-ops. This has upwards of
10,000 members.
What's important, we are told, is that the co-ops are initiated and controlled by the
communes, i.e. the community assembly structures. Co-ops are not individual or completely
independent, they are very connected with the assembly process.
Decision making
A detailed diagram gives an overview of how decision making in Rojava works. It has three
columns.[Note: This text was origianlly posted on FB with the video where there was no
easy way for the reader to be presented with the diagram itself, so its described here.
We've inserted the disgram below.]
On the left side see the four tiers of decision making from
- the local Commune (a village or city district) which may contain from 30 to 400 households
- neighbourhood councils comprising 7 to 30 such communes
- District Councils comprised of each city and its surrounding villages
- People's Council of West Kurdistan (PCWK, but more normally referred to as Tev-Dem)
which is the entire region but because of the war had been meeting as the 3 separate
cantons rather than a single body.
We are told that when the structures described were declared in January 2014 there were
1,500 communes, but now there are 4,000. That the communes bring people into the political
process and empower people. The reason for the growth from 1500 to 4000 communes over this
period is not explained, it seems unlikely the increase is simply more territory being
held, since January 2014 was before the big ISIS assaults on Kobane canton that overran
the entire countryside and was only pushed back after the months-long siege of Kobane. So
it seems the increase in the number of communes, at least in part, is an outcome of the
methodology spreading. Perhaps the outcome of lots of ‘Land & Freedom' local discussions?
In the middle of the diagram there are the 7 standard committees that exist at each
district level (Defence, Economics, Political, Civil Society, Free Society, Justice,
Ideology) plus the Women's Council.
On the right of the diagram is ‘Democratic Self-Administration' which is a more
conventional government structure of legislative and executive bodies as well as municipal
administration. We are told 40% of the seats in the parliament come from the PCWK /
Tev-Dem, the rest from political parties, including other Kurdish parties. So the
parliament is a blend of direct and representative democracy. We are also told that this
system was established two years ago.
The population of Rojava isn't all Kurdish, so as well as the different Kurdish political
parties there are also parties that are largely Arab, Assyrian and Yazedi. In the last
months, as ISIS have been beaten back, the picture presented in this talk has become more
complex as the new areas liberated are majority non-Kurdish. So we've seen the emergence
of the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces' as the umbrella organisation for all those fighting
alongside the YPG and, as areas are liberated, the formation of local military councils
overseeing that process. When ISIS are kicked out of Manjib and hopefully Raqqa what
governance structures will come into being in those majority Arab towns and how will they
interact with the rest of Rojava and Tev-Dem? There is no reason to assume any strong
pre-existing ideological affinity with the Tev-Dem project or a commitment to the
organisational methods being used. How is that contradiction handled?
In anarchist terms this is where the greatest contradictions lie, in the conflict between
the delegate based democracy of the communes and the mostly representative system of the
‘Democratic Self-Administration'. This contradiction has been a feature of many
revolutions, sometimes called ‘dual power', and the defeat of the revolution is tightly
connected to conventional government structures using their control of the police &
military to repress workplace & community assemblies.
This is what happened in the Russian revolution, with the positive gains of the revolution
being defeated as the Bolshevik party used government power to repress soviets and
workplace assemblies. The anarchists faced the same problem in Spain in 1936: although a
large minority of workers were anarchists not all were, leading some to fear an ‘anarchist
dictatorship' if the anarchists took power. Like Rojava this led to parallel systems of
community and workplace assemblies, one seeking to federate upwards and the other a
standard representative government issuing commands downwards. In Spain as in Russia this
ended with the police & military being used to repress the assemblies, long before the
republic was defeated by Franco.
There was a lot of debate in the anarchist movement in Spain about what to do and the
solution reached wasn't great, it was individual ‘anarchist ministers' taking posts in the
republican government. A similar but even more complex problem exists in Rojava. The PYD
is not the only political organisation in Rojava and not everyone agrees with its goals
and methods. So what do you do with other political organisations that are more
conventional? Suppress them or create this sort of unstable dual power structure? The
magical solution would be to somehow go over/around the leadership of the other parties to
organise their supporters in the communes already described, but, even if successful, that
would be a process that takes time, not a moment that can be brought into existence.
The PYD is in a far more difficult situation than the CNT was in Spain. Not only did the
PYD organise a much smaller part of the population before the revolution, but Rojava is
much more divided by ethnic and religious differences than Spain was. It's worth noting
that those most critical of the dual nature of these structures are often also those most
suspicious of the ideology of the PYD (and PKK). Which leads them to the contradictory
position of simultaneously demanding the suppression of other parties (the reality if all
power goes to the communes) but also warning against the danger of the PYD suppressing
other parties. Of course the PYD suppressing other parties but retaining the parliamentary
structure would simply be the equivalent of how the Bolsheviks undermined the revolution
in Russia.
The best solution advocated in Spain was that put forward by the small minority who
organised as the Friends of Durruti. They wanted a revolutionary council comprised of
mandated recallable delegates from the anarchist and socialist trade unions to replace the
function of the government. Almost all workers were members of one of the unions so it was
seen as a structure that answered the need for coordination, particularly in the war
effort, but only excluded business owners.
But there isn't a parallel solution for Rojava since, unlike Spain, most workers are not
members of an anarchist or socialist union. Indeed it's likely that a lot of work takes
place outside the formal economy so even if such unions did exist they would probably only
organise a minority. In any case there isn't a clear equivalent demand to the one for a
union based military council advanced by the Friends of Durruti as a workable alternative
to conventional government. Anarchists could advance ‘all power to the communes' but that
inevitably suggests the de facto suppression of political parties and so only becomes
workable when large majorities are won for such a position overall in each of the ethnic
and tribal groups.
We are told in the video that the basic structures described in the slide are the same in
Bakur, and that Rojava had the advantage of being able to learn from the experiences in
Bakur since 2007. ‘Bakur' means North Kurdistan and is the preferred term for the area of
Kurdistan under the rule of the Turkish state. ‘Kurdistan' is the term used for the
regions that have a majority Kurdish population but are currently part of Turkey, Syria,
Iraq and Iran.
There is no real surprise here as the influence of the Bakur based Kurdish freedom
movement on the PYD is more than obvious, indeed hostile critics want to write off the PYD
as no more than a PKK puppet. The PKK being the military, and to a large extent
ideological, element of what's often called the Kurdish Freedom movement in Bakur. From
the obituaries of YPG/J volunteers killed defending Rojava, we already know that a fair
number of people came from Bakur to help the revolution in Rojava. This we can assume
would extend into areas other than armed defence and be part of the process of
transferring knowledge and influence. This is why ultra left marxist criticism of Rojava
is so heavily based on criticism of the PKK's history in Bakur, and in particular of
Ocalan, the jailed PKK ideological leader.
The influence of the Kurdish freedom movement in Bakur, including the ideological and
military influence of the PKK is tricky to have an open discussion of because the PKK are
on the global terror watch list and brutally suppressed in Turkey. And the Turkish state
has long refused to make any distinction between the PKK and any person of a movement that
shares a similar ideological perspective. To frame it in an Irish context, it's the
equivalent of suppressing every republican activist by treating them as if there were
members of the IRA.
Even before the failed coup thousands of Kurdish political activists, including many
elected mayors, had been jailed in Turkey. Alongside that state action there is also the
danger of Turkish nationalist lynch mobs attacking individuals and organisations. At times
of tension, including around elections, such attacks become very common. This means it's
literally impossible for core participants to have an open discussion about ideological
and organisational influences in Turkey. Internationally there is even the odd situation
where Facebook (and now, it appears, Twitter) has an automatic ban for even posting images
of the jailed PKK leader Ocalan. For that reason conversations very often need to be coded
in ways that somewhat reduce the possibilities of prosecution or social media bans.
To return to the video, we are told that if the ideas implemented in Rojava initially came
from Bakur, from 2014 because of the concrete experience gained they started to flow in
the opposite direction. Although a decade old, the attempt to set up similar parallel
power structures in Bakur have led to the jailings of thousands of activists over the last
decade including many town mayors. That must have had an enormously disruptive effect on
how grassroots organising experiments worked out. For instance making it very hard to know
if a specific failure was due to some inherent internal problem or the fact that key
organisers had been jailed.
Rojava is under economic blockade and military assault, and, even far behind the front
lines, the constant danger of ISIS suicide attacks. But in the areas and times where there
is relative peace the experiments in assembly democracy and co-ops have much more freedom
from interference.
Janet
The video then switches to Janet Biehl, an eyewitness who has a very high ideological
affinity with the theoretical process but who, not being Kurdish, doesn't have such
affinity on the basis of a shared nationalism. She talks about witnessing assemblies in
progress in the largest city and how they involved women and non-Kurds.
She describes the same structure of street level communes sending delegates to a
neighbourhood council, which sends delegates to the district council (of the city and
surroundings) and then the district sends delegates to the council for the canton. She
very clearly specifies that the delegates are mandated and recallable, in other words that
this is a system of decision making entirely compatible with anarchism. She confirms the
figure of 4,000 communes and talks about the Rojava social contract that guarantees human
rights including gender equality. This is used as a reference point to resolve
disagreements, something akin to a constitution in a non-state setting.
In the video extract we've also included one of the questions from the floor and summaries
of the response to it below. This clarifies some of the discussion of co-ops that we've
had above.
Question - To what extent is it a competitive market economy, how do the assemblies relate
to the organisation of the economy?
Janet - co-ops are accountable to the assembly system.
Erjan - Every commune has an economic committee and they initiate the co-ops. A few
communes often come together to talk about what is produced in the area and how a co-op
can be formed around this.
Agricultural co-ops
After the revolution land that belonged to the state was taken and given to the poorest
people who then mostly organised in co-operatives. Then farmers were encouraged to come
together and from co-operatives.
Distribution / Trade
The big co-operatives that handle distribution have an effect on limiting prices as
otherwise the supply of goods is dependent on smugglers and because of the war their
prices are high.
The large state companies that were taken over initially as public companies and now being
transformed into co-operatives, slowly and carefully.
There are some areas where private companies are still dominant, changing this needs a
process of making the co-operatives bigger.
There isn't really class conflict in terms of companies as there are not really higher
bosses[they have fled? because there were no big companies outside the state sector?]but
there are some big land owners still in the area. The TEV-DEM policy is not to seek direct
confrontations with land owners as this would create other social problems, and in any
case is not needed as there is a surplus of agricultural land, even over-production of
some goods. So there is a process of diversifying agriculture which means it's possible to
feed the population better and have food sovereignty.
Some interpretation of these answers.
It's likely the ‘other social problems' referred to in relation to large landlords who
have remained are a product both of tribal feudalism on the one hand and ethnic diversity
and division on the other.
It's common to see both Kurds and Arabs in the region being referred to as belonging to
one of a number of tribes. Sometimes other terms are used. At the time of writing Turkey
has jaken took control of the border town of Jarablus from ISIS without any apparent fight
but their advance ground to a halt when they tried to take the small village of
Ayn-al-Bayda. The defence was credited to local fighters of the Al-Jadir family. When
Amnesty suggested the YPG were displacing Arabs as they advanced a statement contradicting
this was released by the ‘Ruspîs Assembly of Arab Tribes in Cizîr Canton' said to include
"El-Cihês, El-Begara, El-Niêm, El-Serabî ve El-Seme"
Under tribal feudalism the heads of these tribes are often large land owners, think of
them as very large extended families, who can therefore potentially use tribal loyalties
to generate a defence, including armed defence of those holdings. For a long explanation
of these structures and their importance in shaping the reality of radical politics in the
region see https://youtu.be/y4NMASjaGRQ
In this context, what might be intended to be a restructuring on class lines (i.e. a
conflict between those working the land and the landlord/owner) carries the very real
danger of instead creating a cross class resistance along the lines of tribal loyalty if
it's imposed from outside. And of course the fact that for now in Rojava the initial
ideological influence is overwhelmingly Kurdish makes this a much larger problem if the
landowner and his tribe are Arab. What starts as a conflict over land on that basis can
very quickly turn into something that looks like ethnic cleansing. Indeed the accusation
that the YPG is engaged in ethnic cleansing surfaces from time to time, presumably in part
because newly liberated regions will include tribal groups where the patriarch for one
reason or another had aligned with ISIS.
Add to this that this is not a region that has seen long term stability between the
different ethnic groups and the tribes that compose them. Rather, particularly in the
aftermath of world war one, it's defined by vicious programs, expulsions and genocides,
where both western powers and domestic rulers exploited existing divisions to arm one
group against another as part of the break-up of the former Ottoman empire. And this was a
process that extended into the 1970s and beyond, the regime had a policy of removing some
Kurdish villages and moving Arabs into them in order to create an ‘Arab belt' in
particular along the border. The current civil war has been marked by sectarian massacres,
the most infamous being the attempt by ISIS to genocide the Yazidis out of existence. This
is a context in which any suggestion of ethnic conflict has to be avoided.
This underlines that the Rojava revolution is important not simply because it is an
experiment that approaches direct democracy and economic egalitarianism but also because
the alternative is horrific. At a moment when ISIS, Trump & PEGIDA strive to set ethnic
and religious groups at each other's throats under their common ‘clash of civilisations'
ideology, Rojava offers a very different set of answers. Ones that we should pay close
attention to.
http://www.wsm.ie/c/rojava-revolution-co-operatives-assemblies-video-commentary
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