Today's Topics:
1. sosyalsavas: Freedom of Movement of Refugees is Being
Restricted? (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Barakaldo will host a meeting to promote the reestablishment
of the AIT (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. [Netherlands] On the mass arrests at the demonstration
"Fight against Repression" By ANA (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. [IFA 2016 Congress] Your wars, our death! by administrador
web fai -- [Against terrorism and for freedom of all peoples!]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. wsm.ie: Report on "Kurdish Resistance in Turkey and Syria"
meeting (November 2016) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. [Mexico] Anarchists do act in Ricardo Flores Magon memory By
ANA (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. US, Black Rose Anarchist Federation: TO MY COMPAÑERXS ON
THE LEFT - A REACTION TO THE DEATH OF FIDEL By Enrique
Guerrero-López (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Black Rose Anarchist Federation: PORTLAND HAS ERUPTED IN
PERMANENT RESISTANCE TO TRUMP (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
9. Britain, afed: ANARCHISTS ON CUBA (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
10. Britain, class war: Deliveroo workers, a new initiative:
Rebel Roo bulletin #1 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
In the days of discussions about freedom of movement of refugees, we thought maybe we
should talk about some values that are enforced to the entire world by the western
authorities. ---- Freedom of Movement: It's a type of freedom that is created by the
oppressors that they can go, invest, and collect information everywhere they want. ---- If
we think on a national level, an oppressor (for example a high ranked state official, a
soldier or a very rich person) wants to enter every village, every land and every house
without taking permission. This is freedom of movement for them. This person wants to
enter these areas, wants to invest or build something but doesn't want to be shot, beaten
up or expelled. If something like that happens, freedom of movement doesn't exist in that
country for him/her. But if an unimportant person like villager or suburban enters state
institutions, military areas, properties of the rich; will be shot, beaten up, expelled
and imprisoned. For them, this restriction is defined as ‘protection of private property'
and totally different from freedom of movement.
Also on an international level; oppressors wants to collect information, invest, travel,
exploit sources from every country, every region. Even to be a citizen of an oppressor
country, allows going almost every country without visa. Plus, economically has much more
opportunity than the oppressed. If the citizen of an oppressor country is not accepted
from one country, it is psychologically really hard to that citizen. He/she will talk in
everywhere about restrictions on freedoms. But when an oppressed is not able to take visa,
is not accepted to an oppressor country; oppressors find this pretty normal. For them
freedom of movement doesn't cover up this.
Freedom of Press: It's a type of freedom that is created by the oppressors. So press
(media) of the oppressors can make publication and propaganda without any pressure. It
doesn't cover up capturing propaganda tools of the oppressed, imprisoning-deporting
journalists.
It makes more sense on the international level. Press of oppressors wants to enter every
region of the world and use these publications towards their ideology and politics. If a
huge media institution is not accepted or expelled from a country; that means restriction
of freedom of press for them. If the media of the oppressed is being expelled, put
censorships, imprisoned; that is ‘war against terror' for the oppressors.
Freedom of Expression: It's a type of freedom that is created by the oppressors that they
can express their expressions whenever, wherever they want. Oppressed, anyway they can't
find any place to ‘express' due to censorships, auto-censorships. And when they find, they
will start to have trials because of ‘terrorist propaganda'.
There is a belief that freedom of expression is settled in developed countries. On the
contrary encouragements towards illegality, suggestions that can damage system of the
country, terrorist propaganda of individuals-groups can't be seen in broadcasts,
publications of mainstream media of oppressor countries. If there is a press worker that
has ‘opposition' ideas, first auto-censors himself/herself; if not gets sanctions like
firing out, giving fines and imprisonments. These sanctions don't create any
contradictions with freedom of expression.
When the people that are governing the oppressor system or making propaganda of the
oppressor state are blocked; for them this is called restriction of freedom of expression.
Because for them ‘expression of the oppressors' is called expression, ‘expression of the
oppressed' is called ‘terrorist propaganda'.
Right to a Fair Trial: Right of oppressors that they can have trial in their own courts,
own judges-prosecutors. If oppressed wants to have a fair trial (rejects, don't recognize
the courts of oppressors), it's punished in a heaviest way.
http://sosyalsavas.org/2016/11/freedomofmovement/#more-30447
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Message: 2
* Unions of nine countries will participate this weekend in a meeting aimed to
"reactivate" and "push" the work of the historical organization and international
coordination among attendees ---- * Participate union delegations from Italy, Germany,
France, Greece, UK, Poland, Argentina and the United States, among other countries. ----
The new headquarters of the union CNT in Barakaldo this weekend will become the epicenter
of a historic event: representatives of anarcho-syndicalist organizations from nine
countries will meet in this city to promote the reestablishment of the International
Workers Association (IWA) and to establish new channels of coordination among attendees.
The meeting will begin Saturday at 10:00 am at the CNT office, located at 10 Street
Castile and Leon.
According anarcosindicalista has advanced center, this meeting arose from a proposal CNT
with the USI in Italy and Germany FAU unions. "The goal is to boost the AIT by its
revival, as we believe that currently does not comply satisfactorily with their tasks"
have highlighted the conveners.
"We believe that a historical organization as AIT, which has always been linked to the
defense of the rights of the working class over any border or flag, should be urgently
revived", they say. This process of refounding will seek to add to all those unions that
are identified as anarcho-syndicalist or "non-vertical revolutionary syndicalists", which
implies among other aspects "not receive financial funding from the state or as an
organization to support any electoral project ", it is ensuring its complete independence.
Also, new channels of communication among the attendees will be established and the
possibilities for joint work in the international arena will be analyzed.
During the meeting, the various participants made a presentation on the situation in their
respective countries. In addition, it conducts a reading of the international context and
priorities that will shape the work of the members of the AIT will be established. In this
context, the participating entities will present their proposal for recasting of this
International, after which will be discussed by the participants.
The event, which will continue during the afternoon of Saturday and Sunday- morning will
include the participation of USI (Italy), FAU (Germany), IP (Poland) and ESE (Greece), as
well as the CNT and CNT organizations AIT France. There will also be representatives of
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the UK, USA and Germany, while the historic FORA
of Argentina will participate by videoconference. For its part, the union CNT will be
represented by a delegation headed by its general secretary, Martin Paradelo.
http://www.cnt.es/noticias/barakaldo-acoger%C3%A1-un-encuentro-para-impulsar-la-refundaci%C3%B3n-de-la-ait
------------------------------
Message: 3
Yesterday[19/11]at 16h, 250 people gathered at the Kerkplein to march in demonstration
against the repression that anarchists and antifascists have been in The Hague and
elsewhere over the past few years. Repression this constantly has prohibited acts, and
mapped the activities of anarchists and antifascists to implement repressive measures.
This demonstration was also suppressed with police violence by order of the mayor of The
Hague, van Aartsen. ---- The demonstration was surrounded by riot police and was shot by
police on all sides. Then the police ordered all withdraw their masks because "that was
the combined". One thing is certain, there was no agreement on this, and it also was not
on notice that police drafted listing conditions. Immediately it became clear that the
riot police were only looking for a pretext to start mass arrests, which also happened.
Police stopped the demonstration and attacked the group. While attacking police, he asked
for people to stay calm; a good example of how the Hague police try to reverse things.
During the mass arrest, people were hit in the face, an arm was dislocated, and many
people had bruised legs. The police used to choke often and the few people who have left
the rally after being ordered to do so were subsequently beaten. Between 166 and 184
people were arrested.
The manifestation experienced exactly what he was protesting, namely the systematic ban on
demonstrations, criminalization, attacks and arrests of anarchists and antifascists.
Meanwhile, all the prisoners were released. No one was arrested fined, judgment, or subpoena.
Media as a police tool
Police made a press release during the mass arrests in order to criminalize the demonstration.
The press, of course, published it without question, as we are accustomed, from them.
Comments are copied and pasted from police press for media press. In doing so, the press
shows that it is just a police tool to criminalize protests.
The fact that the mayor's office repression continued during this event will not stop our
struggle for freedom. This struggle, fortunately, limited to statements that can
authorities do not "prohibit". We will continue our social struggle and no officer or
mayor on hold.
We would like to thank everyone, especially our comrades from outside the Netherlands who
came to The Hague this week to fight with us against repression. We feel supported in our
fight and even more determined to work building and defending our structures and ideas.
No justice, no peace!
Video: https://vimeo.com/192366472
fightrepressiondemo.noblogs.org
Translation> Said Al Latere
------------------------------
Message: 4
The federations of the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA) and the participants
in the X Congress of the IFA in Frankfurt, from 4 to 7 August 2016, organizations are
against the war. We are against terrorism employed by States, with the help of the police
and the army. ---- We are against violence applied by nationalist and religious or
isolated acts of racist, homophobic and fundamentalist individualities groups. ---- We
oppose the criminal activities of these governments, groups or individuals. ---- The media
and states can use the word terrorism to condemn social movements, but not as we
understand it. What we oppose is the use of violence and terror against civilians to
create fear in the population and impose authority. That terrorism goes hand in hand
strengthening state security and state authoritarian policies.
In many countries have declared a state of emergency, strengthening the powers of the
police and the army, which mainly serves to suppress social opposition . Walls are built
to prevent the circulation of people, internment camps are built, and governments,
capitalists and smugglers find the opportunity to get rich at the expense of migrants.
The terrorism by religious or nationalist groups and terrorism they feed each other. For
example, the sale of arms by regional and global powers has gone through the roof since
been involved in foreign wars. Interventionist policies help keep terrorism of religious
and nationalist groups.
While capitalism continues to devastate jobs, and those affected are always the same. The
people are living in an era of global terrorist threat of generalized war, and reactionary
policies that race, religion and terrorism go together. We fight to prevent the spread of
racism. We support migrants who seek freedom of movement and settlement. We are in
solidarity with all those who are victims of race and beliefs.
That said, we are in favor of all those who try to break free from the influence of
religion in their lives, actions and thoughts.
Our freedom struggle is directed against the State capitalism and religion.
Declaration IFA congress in Frankfurt - August 2016
https://federacionanarquistaiberica.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/congreso-ifa-2016-sus-guerras-nuestra-muerte/
------------------------------
Message: 5
About 50 people gathered in the Teacher's Club on Monday evening for a public meeting
organised by Rojava Calling. ---- Speaking at the meeting were Faysal Sariyildiz, People's
Democratic Party (HDP) MP in Turkey, and Calvin James, a Dublin born DJ and activist who
spent 6 months as a volunteer medic in northern Syria in 2016. Faysal joined the meeting
by Skype from Brussels as the Turkish state recently cancelled his passport. ---- Calvin
spoke about his time living in Northern Syria, working as a volunteer medic and ambulance
driver with Heyva Sor A Kurd's emergency response team (or the Kurdish Red Crescent). He
was living 800m away from the devastating blast in Qamishli on July 27th in which Daesh
killed 44 people and injured 170. Calvin was behind the front line when Manbij was
liberated from Daesh fighters in August. He and his colleagues have been on the front
line, most times being the first to respond. Upon his return to Ireland, Calvin created
Syrias Vibes along with his brother Andy. They aim to use the power of music and good
vibes to support medical emergency services in order to help the people of Syria.
Last week, the two joint leaders of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic party (HDP)
were detained in Turkey along with at least 10 MPs because of their reluctance to give
testimony for crimes linked to "terrorist propaganda". Faysal Sariyildiz, People's
Democratic Party (HDP) MP and former journalist, told the meeting of how these arrests
form part of the Turkish state's ongoing attacks on civil liberties. Since the attempted
coup earlier this year, Turkey has suspended, dismissed or detained over 100,000 people -
including soldiers, judges, teachers, media workers and politicians - and banned hundreds
of civil society associations and NGOs. Faysal compared Turkish President Erdogan's regime
to the fascist dictatorship in 1930s Italy.
Turkey is currently applying for EU membership. A meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in
Brussels offered criticism of Turkey's crackdown. However, calls to suspend Ankara's EU
membership bid were not supported, partly because Turkey is a member of the NATO military
alliance and partly because of Turkey's role in maintaining Fortress Europe's racist and
degrading border policies. More than 10,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean
since 2014.
During the questions and answers that followed, the speakers and members of Rojava Calling
outlined what can be done here in Ireland. Raising awareness among the wider population is
important, particularly of the Turkish state's human rights abuses and the very real
threat of massacres directed against civilians in the near future. Rojava Calling is
currently meeting with TDs at the Dáil to tell them that the Irish state needs to move
beyond issuing formal condemnations of repression. That time is past. Ireland needs to
impose and advocate diplomatic and economic sanctions on Turkey.
From an anarchist perspective, the path to Dáil Éireann is not the path to victory for
our movements. However, a well-organised popular campaign, along the lines of the boycott
to end apartheid in 1980s South Africa or the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)
movement to end Israel's oppression of Palestinians today, has the potential to pressure
the Irish state into taking more stringent measures against Turkey. A boycott of Turkey's
tourism industry is already in place and could potentially be widened to other areas of
the state's economy.
After a lively discussion, the meeting ended with everyone expressing thanks to the two
speakers and to the meeting organisers.
http://www.wsm.ie/c/kurdish-resistance-turkey-syria-meeting-nov2016
------------------------------
Message: 6
Like every year, this November 21, 2016 , we paid a visit at the tomb where lie the
remains of the companion Ricardo Flores Magon[16.09.1873 - 11.21.1922], in order to honor
his memory, his ideas , his struggle, his life, and remember their cowardly murder 94
years ago in Leavenworth prison in the United States. ---- Only through the vile murder,
they managed to snatch the voice of Ricardo, who never wavered, even in the face of
persecution, imprisonment, or the decline of his health with which blanched his prisoner,
sick body. And even with its imposed and cowardly death sentence, they could not silence
those anarchist ideas that Ricardo, along with their co-religionists, unfurled under the
banner of "Viva Tierra y Libertad", with which they sowed the land and peasant hands and
workers of this region will in the world.
Ricardo and his fellow Liberal Mexicano, postulated since the early twentieth century the
struggle against the dictator Diaz; up very early the flag of the revolution, which were
gradually turning into anarchist voices packed Mexican history with their ideas and their
actions. Among them came the main revolutionary postulates, with such force that both
those who ended the revolution could ignore them.
Their voices were insistent and their frontal cries of freedom, who refused to be
submitted before any political power - not Mexican or American. Only with the vile and
cowardly murder could cut this irreducible voice, but not silenced their ideas, fertile,
free, anarchic.
As every year, it, yes, few, it seems less and less, to put the black flag of anarchy in
the grave of Ricardo, along with flowers of freedom, talking about his memory of his ideas
are still alive and latent, that with all our faults, our mistakes, our limitations, which
are many, we remain here under the motto of "Viva Tierra y Libertad."
When I die, maybe my friends write to my grave "Here lies a dreamer"; and my enemies "Here
lies a madman." But no one will dare to write this inscription. "Here lies a coward and
traitor to his ideas" Ricardo Flores Magón
Related Content:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2015/11/24/mexico-fotos-do-ato-em-memoria-aos-93-anos-do-assassinato-de-ricardo-flores-magon/
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Message: 7
We have an unfortunate tendency to view countries through the prism of their rulers, often
obscuring the varied contributions of those "from below." In Miami, people are dancing in
the streets, celebrating Fidel's death, while many segments of the US Left are clearing
their throat for a full-throttle, "Que viva Fidel!" ---- This two-tone caricature has
crippled our ability to grapple with the beautiful, tragic, and challenging contradictions
of Cuba's history and current condition, not to mention Fidel's own checkered legacy.
While Fidel looms large in Cuba's history, Cuba is not Fidel and the Cuban Revolution
cannot and should not be reduced to one man or one movement for that matter. ---- To my
compañerxs on the Left, who rightfully denounce the lack of militancy in the US labor
movement, should we celebrate a regime that systematically gutted independent labor
activity on the island, banning strikes, persecuting union militants, and converting
unions into a largely passive state agency?
To my compañerxs on the Left, who rightfully denounce racism and white supremacy in the
US, should we be celebrating a regime that declared racism "over" on the island after the
revolution, making it a taboo subject for public debate/discussion for decades, a regime
that prevented Afro-Cubans from organizing independently, both politically and
religiously, while fostering an ideology of anti-blackness?
To my compañerxs on the left, who rightfully struggle for queer liberation, should we be
celebrating a regime that rounded up queer folks and placed them in concentration camps?
To my compañerxs on the Left, who rightfully fight to free political prisoners in the US,
should we celebrate a regime that has imprisoned political activists to the left of Castro?
To my compañerxs on the Left, who rightly struggle for free, universal education in the
US, should we celebrate an educational regime that privileges those with more resources to
replicate existing power imbalances, a system that even state apologists like Afro-Cuban
Esteban Morales argues "educates Cubans to be white"?
To my compañerxs on the Left, who rightfully fight for a world beyond capitalism, should
we celebrate or defend a regime that has gone from a soviet-style one-party dictatorship
to a Sino-Vietnamese form of state capitalism?
There is much to celebrate about Cuba and its history - from Aponte and salsa to baseball
and Las Krudas - but Fidel, from my perspective, should be understood, not celebrated.
---
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, Un reacción a la muerte de Fidel
Enrique Guerrero-López
Tenemos una desafortunada tendencia de ver a los países a través del prisma de sus
gobernantes, a menudo oscureciendo las variadas contribuciones de lxs "de abajo." En
Miami, la gente baila en las calles, celebrando la muerte de Fidel, mientras muchos
segmentos de la izquierda estadounidense se aclaran la garganta para gritar, "que viva Fidel!"
Esta caricatura de dos tonos ha frustrado nuestra capacidad de lidiar con las bellas,
trágicas y desafiantes contradicciones de la historia y la condición actual de Cuba, sin
mencionar el legado de Fidel. Mientras que Fidel ocupa un lugar importante en la historia
de Cuba, Cuba no es Fidel y la Revolución cubana no puede ni debe ser reducida a un solo
hombre o un solo movimiento.
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, que con razón denuncia la falta de militancia en el
movimiento obrero estadounidense, deberíamos celebrar un régimen que sistemáticamente
destripó la actividad laboral independiente en la isla, prohibiendo las huelgas,
persiguiendo a los militantes sindicales y convirtiendo a los sindicatos en una agencia
pasiva del estado?
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, que con razón denuncian el racismo y la supremacía
blanca en los Estados Unidos, deberíamos estar celebrando un régimen que declaró el "fin"
al racismo en la isla después de la revolución, convirtiéndolo en un tema tabú para el
debate público durante décadas, un régimen que impidió a los afro-cubanos de organizarse
independientemente, tanto política como religiosamente, al mismo tiempo que fomentaba una
ideología anti-negro?
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, que luchan legítimamente por la liberación queer,
¿debemos celebrar un régimen que reunió a gente queer y los puso en campos de concentración?
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, que legítimamente luchan por liberar a los presos
políticos en Estados Unidos, ¿deberíamos celebrar un régimen que ha encarcelado a
activistas políticos a la izquierda de Castro?
A mis compañerxs de izquierda, que con razón luchan por una educación universal gratuita
en los Estados Unidos, debemos celebrar un régimen educativo que privilegie a quienes
tienen más recursos para replicar los desequilibrios de poder existentes, un sistema que
incluso apologistas estatales como el afro-cubano, Esteban morales, dice, "Educa a los
cubanos a ser blancos"?
A mis compañerxs de la izquierda, que legítimamente luchan por un mundo más allá del
capitalismo, ¿debemos celebrar o defender un régimen que ha pasado de una dictadura
unilateral de estilo soviético a una forma sino-vietnamita de capitalismo de Estado?
Hay mucho que celebrar con respeto a Cuba y su historia - desde Aponte y salsa al béisbol
y Las Krudas - pero Fidel, desde mi perspectiva, debe ser entendido, no celebrado.
http://www.blackrosefed.org/companerxs-left-reaction-death-fidel/
------------------------------
Message: 8
As each state came in on election maps, a sense of panic flew through many parts of the
country. Hillary Clinton made up the mildly liberal side of the same capitalist coin of
party politics, one that those of us with an anti-capitalist and anti-state analysis would
not be scared into supporting. This did not mean, however, that Trump's shocking victory
and the events that followed did not ignite a rage to defend our community against the
rise of a fascist movement. ---- In Portland, hundreds of people descended into the
streets on Tuesday, November 8th, heading into the early hours of the next day as the
anger only swelled as we could finally see the results in three dimensions. Portland has
always been a center of radical organizing, one where the police have been known to play
on antagonisms as the pressure and anger are about to boil over. Nicknamed "Little Beirut"
by George H. W. Bush, Portland and its surrounding areas have been critical in the radical
environmental movement, the mobilization against the Bush wars, and a host of other social
movements intersecting with an analysis about oppression and capitalism. It was no wonder
that it would stand out as cities across the country erupted in mass mobilizations,
showing the President Elect that they would set this country ablaze before they would let
him institute registrations and deportations.
November 9th saw well over two-thousand people go into the streets, overwhelming city
blocks and bridges, and blocking the I-5 freeway in every direction. When the police chief
was challenged on the protester take-over of the freeway he said there was nothing he
could do.
"This size of a crowd is going to do what it wants for as long as it wants," Chief of
Police Simpson said. "There is no way to remove 2,000 people who don't want to be moved.
We're asking for patience from people."
The following day doubled with 4,000 people overwhelming the city, blocking all transit
through major roadways and syncing up the movement against Trump with the battle for fair
workplaces, living wages, affordable housing, and the violence that people of color, trans
people, women, queer people, and people of different body presentation face daily. It was
here that some form of property destruction is alleged to have taken place, where police
erroneously charged that the broken store and car windows amounted to $1 million in
damage. Some protesters raised money for the businesses affected and did a cleanup, but
despite this behavior that many organizers criticized they continued to build the
movement. That night police began attacking protesters, using "dispersal" techniques like
flash grenades in large crowds of people.
For every day since then there have been events and mobilizations, from SEIU calling
together organizers to develop a strategy to student contingents leaving public schools
and taking to the streets. Over the last several days, Portland's Resistance, a new
organization involved in many of these actions, have led student protests around the city,
and have begun to see repression from local police. On November 21st, several members were
plucked out of the crowd by police and arrested after doing nothing more than joining a
peaceful march. They are now contesting their charges with the support of the ACLU.
Several other protesters have been arrested with serious charges pending for inflated
charges related to property destruction on the third night of mobilizations. The Police
used Twitter and social media to distribute photos of protesters they believed were
involved in property destruction, sending detectives to harass friends and family in a
desperate attempt to make examples of dissidents.
The media focused on the property destruction with incredible might, as well as whether or
not some of the several dozen arrested protesters had voted or not. This was a point
picked up by white supremacist news outlets like Breitbart, which shows exactly what this
type of messaging results in. It also ignored the fact that this was one of the biggest
series of actions in the state's history, one that united people in ways we have only
dreamed of. There was anger here, but it was anger that was being put into action.
We are now more than two weeks past Trump's victory and we are seeing with our own eyes as
he appoints open nationalists like Steve Bannon and racists such as Jeff Sessions to his
administration. There is every reason to believe that he is going to make good on his
promises to target immigrants and Muslims, leftists and labor leaders, journalists and the
most marginalized. When a fascist movement takes power then the opposition needs to be
just as fierce, especially as his election has helped to fuel hundreds of racist attacks
and could threaten the safety of the people in our community.
It has been two weeks of taking to our city, and it will not stop now. On January 20th we
will join every major city in America, especially those in Washington D.C., to make
Trump's inauguration day one of the largest mobilizations in history. If Trump wants to
threaten our communities, dismantle our rights, and attack our hearts, he won't do it
without a fucking fight. Black Rose joins with all of these groups to continue the
mobilizations, but also to do the ongoing organizing work that is going to build social
movements that have the capacity to go after Trump and the rest of the ruling class
infrastructure he intends to make the enemy of working people.
http://www.blackrosefed.org/portland-erupted-permanent-resistance-trump/
------------------------------
Message: 9
It will be difficult to escape the eulogies to Fidel Castro (1926-2016) from the British
Left. Jeremy Corbyn's take is perhaps most significant though. Treading a tightrope
between his enthusiasm for old-fashioned socialist values and the reality of modern
politics in Britain, his observations are revealing. He makes the very dangerous
relativistic argument that whilst in Cuba, as in other regimes, there have been
‘excesses', we have to look at the positives such as the healthcare system and education.
There has been much change in Cuba, he says, and that economic progress must go hand in
hand with human and free-speech rights. Above all, he says that Castro, "will be
remembered as a champion of social justice". ---- 10 US presidents threatened to oust
Castro and failed. Corbyn finds this impressive. It could have something to do with the
fact that Castro didn't exactly stand for election very often. In 1961, two years after he
took power in the Cuban political revolution, he declared that "The revolution has no time
for elections". That's usually called a dictatorship! It is in this context that Castro
intervened politically in Africa, even if his activity in Angola did play a part in the
ending of Apartheid, and let's not forget that the World came within a hair's breadth of
nuclear war in the stand-off known as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 as a result of the
shift in power in the Caribbean. States bring war, always.
Most notoriously, lesbians, gays and trans. people continue to be persecuted in Cuba and
although there is anti-discrimination employment legislation, discrimination is rife in
public sector policy. Transgender people in particular are effectively criminalised if
they attempt to medically transition privately (even though it is almost impossible to
gain access any other way: only 5 legal transition operations are performed each year).
The great Cuban educational system does little in practice to reduce the level of hate crimes.
What is rather surprising is that Corbyn visited Cuba three times including cycling around
it with his son. How lovely! Didn't he see the shocking levels of urban and rural poverty?
Did he think that the reason not many people criticise their government to tourists is
because might be because they are too afraid to?
Of course anarchists have no sympathy either for the wealthy Cuban exiles who have fled
Cuba for the US over the years and today are dancing in the streets of Miami, let alone
the CIA and other parties in their sometimes farcical attempts to assassinate Castro. The
real historical heroes were the ordinary people who stood up to the regime of the previous
dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar.
Cuban anarchists have been in the picture since the nineteenth century and suffered
repression under regimes of all colours historically and currently for standing up against
both capitalism and the state, and in favour of freedom of speech and organisation. The AF
played host to a tour by one group attempting to organise safely, the Observatorio Critico
Cubano in 2015 and they attended the 10th Congress of our International, IAF-IFA.
If you are a bit sickened by the deference being shown to this supposed ‘great figure' of
the 20th Century, are suspicious about the picture painted of life in Cuba by groups like
the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, and would like to know more about Cuban Anarchism, take a
look at:
Frank Fernández, Cuban Anarchism: The History of A Movement
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/frank-fernandez-cuban-anarchism-the-history-of-a-movement
Fifth Estate #395, Winter 2016
http://www.fifthestate.org/archive/395-winter-2016-50th-anniversary/we-want-to-revive-anarchism-in-cuba/
More recent AF posts on Cuba: https://afed.org.uk/?s=cuba
See also, Organise #47, Winter
1997/98: Myths and Legends - Che Guevara
https://afed.org.uk/anarchists-on-cuba/
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Message: 10
From Plan C: "The struggle for decent wages and conditions within the ‘gig economy' has
entered a new phase recently with the Uber court victory and the announcement of a
union-building drive by the IWGB amongst Deliveroo workers in London. ---- The initial
energy of the summer's spontaneous strikes is successfully being converted into long-term
campaigns. ---- As part of this development, the Plan C Social Strike working group is
excited to announce today that we are involved in supporting a new initiative: The Rebel
Roo, a national bulletin for Deliveroo workers, produced by Deliveroo workers..." full
article here http://www.weareplanc.org/blog/a-new-initiative-rebel-roo-1/ ---- "This
newspaper exists to help Deliveroo workers in the UK and internationally communicate and
organise. Together we can build solidarity and fight for better wages and conditions."
The Rebel Roo will work to circulate tactics, ideas, grievances, desires and demands, as
well as supporting the development of national (and eventually transnational) organisation.
The growth of the ‘gig economy' is part of a new direction in the organisation of the
labour process enabled by new developments in mobile technology and the destruction of the
social settlement won by the labour movement under social democracy. Deliveroo is one of
the most prominent examples of these ongoing changes in the political and technical
conditions of exploitation, and it is vitally important that workers get a handle on how
to exert power in this new composition.
Copies of the paper are already being distributed, and new issues are expected to be
published monthly. In the first issue there are stories from workers in London and
Brighton in the UK and from a migrant worker in Marseilles.
PDF Rebel Roo #1
http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/new-initiative-rebel-roo-1/
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About plan Cinfo
Plan C is an organisation of people who are politically active in their workplaces and
communities. We work together to support each other, amplify our struggles and think
strategically.
We want to go beyond network-based organisation, without falling back on the model of a
party. We are committed to ongoing experimentation to find the forms of collective
activity needed to build a world beyond capitalism.
Plan C is also concerned with making plans - plans to survive and resist capitalism's
attack on our lives, and plans for collective self-organisation.
List of active groups
Birmingham:
birmingham@weareplanc.orgg
Glasgow:
glasgow@weareplanc.org
Leeds:
leeds@weareplanc.org
London:
london@weareplanc.org
Manchester:
manchester@weareplanc.org
Teesside:
tesside@weareplanc.org
Thames Valley:
thamesvalley@weareplanc.org
Where did Plan C come from?
Good question! Some of our members in Leeds were interviewed by the Interventionist Left -
a radical organisation in Germany - in 2012 about Plan C's origins and practice. Whilst
not all of it is up to date and the politics of Plan C are always evolving it does provide
a useful overview of the origins of our organisation. To find out more about our current
activity you can see our events page, minutes from previous congresses or get in touch
with us.
1. Plan C is quite an unusual name for a leftist organisation. What does it stand for?
The ‘C' is deliberately ambiguous. The assumption tends to be that it stands for ‘Commons'
or ‘Communism'. Either of these is acceptable but people should feel free to interpret it
differently if they wish. It also has the advantage of sounding a little like the title of
a 1950s American ‘red scare' thriller. More importantly, it's a play on the flurry of
discourse around ‘Plan A' and ‘Plan B' that emerged in the UK once the crisis had dug its
heels in after 2007.
At the end of 2009, in a now-classic statement, the prime minister's spokesperson told us
"It is quite normal for government officials to be thinking about alternative
scenarios[but]ministers haven't asked for advice on ‘plan B' because they are very clear
that the plan we have is the right plan." This plan, Plan A, is the plan that involves
massive cuts to public spending, tripling of university fees, the ‘remodeling' of labour
and environmental policy, and tax breaks for the wealthy. In short, a neo-liberal plan
focused on making Britain more ‘business-friendly'. Of course, just because ministers
hadn't gone looking for a plan B doesn't mean no one else did.
There are numerous Plan B's. Some better than others, but all of them hovering in the
vicinity of some form or other of neokeynesianism. We don't want to unhelpfully dismiss
these plan Bs out of hand. We think it's exciting so many people seem to be questioning
the ‘present state of things' and thinking about alternatives. However, it is crucially
important to note the absence of the same social and material conditions that ushered in
the golden age of social democracy in the past. In the light of this, the Plan B(s), being
called for by everyone from pragmatic capitalist economists to left revolutionary parties,
seem little more than pie in the sky. So, we suggest a new plan, Plan C (perhaps centred
on commons). We have no desire to present this plan as a prognosis; one of the problems
with plan B after all is its inability to meet the dynamism and flux of everyday life
under capitalism. We need plans that can change, rapidly if need be. We do however, see
this plan as being centred on how we organise our social reproduction. The focus on the
question of organisation that this necessarily engenders is another aspect of the name. We
want to go beyond the plans A and B of political organizing.
2. What was the motivation for founding Plan C? Have you been involved in political
activism before? Why were you discontent with those contexts?
Plan C began, arguably, at a gathering of a couple of hundred people in Manchester. The
name of this event was ‘Network X'. It was largely a one-man show and, were we to test it
against the intentions of the organizers, was fairly disastrous. The gathering was called
on the back of the volcanic arrival of a new generation of student activists whose
occupation of the Conservative Party headquarters at Milbank had taken everybody by
surprise. However, the organizers had mistakenly assumed that all that was required in
order to incorporate this new generation into an already existing milieu of
anti-capitalist and anarchist horizontalists was to introduce them to a tried and tested
organizational model that had achieved results in the past. In this case, the model was
Dissent! who had organized against the meeting of the G8 at Gleneagles in Scotland in
2005. Dissent! was a large, ‘open', and informal network that operated on the basis of
consensus. Anyone was able to join and decisions were carried at the level of regional and
national meetings. The Climate Camp network, emerging partly out of post-Dissent
discussions, also broadly took up this model of organizing.
When it came to the Network X meeting not only did a new network fail to materialize in
Manchester but many of the weaknesses of this form of organizing were usefully exemplified
in almost comedic form over the two days where we witnessed interminable arguments about
consensus processes, cataclysmic eleventh hour derailments of discussions and decisions,
and unofficial hierarchies taking accidental control and then abdicating on a wave of
shame and self-criticism. It was like a whistle-stop tour of why we couldn't simply
transplant the structures of a previous cycle of struggle.
In the run up to this gathering there was a call-out for workshop proposals. Perhaps
anticipating the problems that the gathering might encounter and building upon
problematics articulated by the Free Association in the article ‘Re:Generations', a group
of comrades from Leeds ran a workshop entitled ‘What if there was a movement and we
weren't invited?' The idea was to call into question the assumption that our forms of
organising were somehow eternal, that we could bend the present to our structures rather
than having to continually rethink and reimagine them. The economic crisis, and more
directly the student movement, had ushered in for us a new era of struggle and it was
clear that the left in its various existing incarnations was failing to find a place for
itself The workshop itself was very productive and interesting. So much so that we reran
it in Leeds where we had an even bigger turnout. At the same time, comrades from London,
Manchester, and Nottingham who had been present at Network X ran similar discussions in
their home cities. It was the organisers and participants of these discussions and
workshops who met together over a weekend a month or so later at the first gathering of
what would later be named Plan C.
Network X then, this anachronistic failure of an attempt to drag the old trebuchets of the
alterglobalisationist movement over a transformed terrain, was in fact Plan C's genesis.
The question that emerged from this experience remains central to Plan C: How do we
organise in way that engenders a dynamism capable not only of keeping up with the present
and even of outrunning capital but also attain a coherence and solidity that enables us to
weather the periods of low-intensity struggle?
http://www.weareplanc.org/about/
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