Today's Topics:
1. anarkismo.net: From Dublin to Brussels demand universal
access to abortion by International Sec - WSM
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. A-Radio Berlin Chile: The hungerstrike of Mapuche Political
Prisoners in the Iglesias Case (112 days!) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Poland, Enough anonymity of nationalist militants
rozbrat.org (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. wsm.ie: The pro-choice & feminist movement in Greece with
relevance to Ireland (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
The Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland is in full support of the protests in Brussels
on the 28th September demanding a guaranteed, free, and accessible access to abortion
across Europe. The EU has stood by idly while the bodily autonomy of pregnant people
continues to be violated by some member states including Ireland and Malta. It has
similarly done nothing while other member states progressively attack reproductive rights
based on the political whimsy of the controlling parties of ever-increasing conservative
governments. We hope the this mobilisation will demonstrate the united commitment to
reproductive freedom for all. ---- We stand with you in spirit as we prepare for our own
mobilisation on the 30th of September for the Dublin March for Choice and it appears
almost certain a constitutional referendum to remove the ban on abortion next summer. The
text that follows is our position paper on abortion rights agreed by WSM national
conference this summer.
Abortion Rights
1. Why We are Pro-Choice
1.1 The WSM stands for people having control over their own bodies: bodily autonomy. Part
of that is control over our own reproductive health, including the ability to end a
pregnancy if we choose to. The prohibition of abortion on the island of Ireland is a gross
violation of that basic right to bodily autonomy.
1.2 Though cis women have been the primary targets of the abortion ban, abortion rights
affect anyone else who can become pregnant namely trans men, non-binary and some intersex
people. It's important to recognise this in order to have a movement which includes all
people who can become pregnant and which challenges patriarchy as a whole rather than only
the oppression of cis women. Hence our inclusion of gender-neutral language in this
position paper and in our campaigning for abortion rights.
1.3 However we believe that the imposition of an abortion ban is strongly linked to
women's inferior position in patriarchal society and expected role as baby-makers and
home-makers. The capacity for most women to be pregnant has copper-fastened that inferior
position in capitalist society. This has been extended to being stuck with child rearing
within the family. Therefore women's access to work, education, leisure and any chance of
self-advancement has been strictly limited. This is especially true for working class
women. The WSM opposes women's oppression.
1.4 People who can get pregnant have always tried to control their own fertility.
Anti-abortion laws have resulted in back-street abortions and induced miscarriages.
World-wide, one person dies from a back-street abortion every three minutes. Winning full
control over our own fertility is an essential step towards ending women's oppression. The
technology has been developed under capitalism to make this both safe and possible. Women
and others must have the right to use this technology to decide if and when to have children.
1.5 We support a person's access to full, free and safe contraception. If they find
themselves pregnant but do not wish to have a child then they should have access to free,
safe, abortion on request.
2. What We Mean by Pro-Choice
2.1 We believe in real options and real choices for people who can get pregnant. A person
who wants to have a child shouldn't have to spend the rest of their life looking after
them. This is why we favour the option of full child-care provision, parental leave and
flexi-time for working, public creche facilities and restaurants. The present role of many
women as full-time unpaid childminders within the family must be ended.
2.2 A person who finds themselves pregnant and does not wish to remain so should have a
right to free, safe abortion on demand. This is not an abstract political slogan, we don't
go around shouting "free abortion on demand" in the belief that it can only be gained in
the context of a socialist revolution. We believe that it is merely one of the basic first
steps in freeing women from the constraints placed on us by capitalism.
2.3 The quality of a pregnant person's life can never be made equal to that of an unborn
foetus. The foetus is totally dependent on the parent it cannot be said to have an
independent existence. To give it such rights (as per the Irish constitution) reduces
pregnant people to the status of breeding machines or walking wombs. Just as an acorn can
become an oak tree, a foetus can become a human baby. But a foetus is no more a baby than
an acorn is an oak tree.
2.4 However, politically, there is little point in entering debates on "when does life
begin?" or viability of the foetus. Our arguments must must focus on a person's right to
control their own body.
3. The Current Legal Situation
3.1 South of Ireland
(a) In 1861 abortion was made a criminal offence in Ireland, north and south. This was
still the case in 1983 when the anti-choice lobby got the southern government to hold a
referendum which amended the Constitution to give equal rights to the "unborn". This is
the 8th Amendment.
(b) In 1992 the High Court granted an injunction preventing a 14 year old, pregnant as a
result of rape, from traveling to Britain for an abortion (this was the X-case). The WSM
was centrally involved in organising protests of up to 10,000, which led to the injunction
being withdrawn and a major shift in public attitudes towards abortion.
(c) In the same year two referendums passed, which amended the Constitution to protect the
right to travel for abortion and to have information about abortion services abroad. A
third option, to exclude suicide as a life-threatening risk which would legally justify
abortion, was rejected.
(d) In 2002 voters rejected another constitutional amendment to allow abortion where a
woman's life is at risk from pregnancy, but not suicide, by 50.42% to 49.58%.
(e) Fairly hollow legislation has been enacted to allow for the very limited grounds
established by the X-case. To legalise abortion in any other circumstances first requires
a referendum to overturn the 8th Amendment.
(f) In response to widespread protest against the death of Savita Halappanavar in 2013 the
Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was passed which hypothetically allows for
abortion when the pregnant person is suicidal, but requires that person to be assessed by
one obstetrician and two psychiatrists.
3.2 North of Ireland
(a) The North as well as the Isle of Man are the only parts of the UK not governed by the
1967 Abortion Act.
(b) While the 1967 Abortion Act put an end to working class people dying from back street
abortions, as wealthy people had other means of securing abortions, it did not put an end
to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. The 1967 Act is a paternalistic law that
requires two doctors' signatures for an abortion to be carried out. Rather than calling
for its extension we call for full decriminalisation.
(c) In December 2015 the High Court in Belfast ruled that the anti-abortion laws in cases
of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities was a breach of the human rights of those
who are affected by the laws.
(d) Despite paying the same amount of taxes towards the NHS pregnant people from the North
cannot avail of free abortions under the NHS in England. Despite this being challenged in
the courts an appeal as recent as June 2017 stood by this law.
4. The Situation Today and the Strategy of the WSM
4.1 The anti-choice and religious fundamentalist groups are losing support, all major
opinion polls show a majority of voters prepared to permit abortion in at least some
circumstances.
4.2 The major political parties want to ignore the issue, using the availability of
abortion abroad as a ‘safety valve'.
4.3 The relatively widespread distribution of illicit abortion pills in Ireland represents
a significant change in the struggle, and is a direct action solution which undermines the
legitimacy of the law.
4.4 As pressure for a referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment mounts, the best option
available to the southern government will be to call referendum for abortion access in
more ‘limited circumstances'. The movement as a whole needs to decide whether to engage
with that lesser choice or to boycott it in order to push for full repeal.
4.5 We favour uniting all who will work for repeal - with the proviso that the explicitly
pro-choice position be represented, along with more limited views, on all platforms.
4.6 The building of a visible pro-choice movement is a vital part of the ‘battle of ideas'
that will see eventual decriminalisation .
4.7 Decriminalisation is preferred to legalisation. Legalisation requires law specific to
abortion. Decriminalisation does not, making it a choice between a pregnant person and
their doctor. There's no specific law for knee surgeries for example.
4.8 The movement should be primarily based on the needs of working classpregnant people:
for free, safe & legal abortion provision as part of the health service.
4.9 In the North we call for the full decriminalisation of abortion, not merely for an
extension of the British 1967 Act. While the 1967 Act put an end to people dying from
backstreet abortions it did not scrap the 1861 Abortion Act which still criminalises
abortion, rather it provides a legal defence.
4.10 Real choice means being able to end a pregnancy or have children without suffering
major economic or social costs. We call for:
The provision of a guaranteed minimum income, housing and childcare facilities for all
women who continue our pregnancies and keep our children.
A supportive attitude to all women who decide to opt for adoption, and recognition of the
rights of women and children in this position.
Provision of non-directive pregnancy counselling to all who require it.
4.11 The struggle for abortion rights is part of the struggle for more liberty, those who
can't become pregnant (such as cis men) should be involved as well as those who can (such
as cis women and trans men).
Amended at July 2017 Conference
Related Link: https://www.wsm.ie/pro-choice
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/30533
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Message: 2
Dear all, -- This audio is based on material from Voces de la Disidencia. ---- Alfredo
Tralcal Coche, Pablo Trangol Galindo, Benito Trangol Galindo and Ariel Trangol Galindo are
imprisoned precisely in the jail in Temuco, Chile, since July 9th of 2016, accused of
setting a church on fire with only one piece of evidence against them: the statement of a
witness without a face who claims to have seen a truck similar to that of Lonko Alfredo
Tralcal Coche near the fire. ---- After one year deprived of their liberty, without
evidence against them, without a set sentence or a reasonable date of trial, on july 7th
of 2017, the comuneros decided to begin an indefinite hunger strike with the following
demands: 1) fair trial within a reasonable date; 2) no to the use of the antiterrorist law
18314; 3) no to the use of witnesses without faces; 4) liberty under article 140; 5)
repeal of the cautionary measure of preventative prison.
You'll find the audio (to listen online or download in different sizes)
here:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2017/09/26/a-radio-in-english-chile-the-hungerstrike-of-mapuche-political-prisoners-in-the-iglesias-case/
Length: 3 min
You can find other English and Spanish language audios here:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/englishcastellano/.
Among our last audios you can find:
* An interview on Charlottesville, the murder of Heather Heyer and
antifascist perspectives:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2017/08/31/a-radio-in-english-reportback-from-charlottesville-unite-the-right-and-the-murder-of-heather-heyer/
* Brazil 2: Indymedia Sao Paulo on the struggles in Brazil in the last
years:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2017/08/23/a-radio-in-english-brazil-2-indymedia-sao-paulo-and-the-struggles-of-the-last-years/
* Brazil 1: Indigenous Struggles in the Amazon:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2017/07/13/a-radio-in-english-brazil-1-indigenous-struggles-in-the-amazon/
* A presentation by Anarchist Black Cross in Czech Republic on the Fenix
operation and related issues:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2016/12/04/a-radio-in-english-anarchist-black-cross-czech-antifenix-presentation/
* An audio version of Qiyas Ibrahimov's speech in court, an imprisoned
anarchist from Azerbaijan:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2016/11/01/a-radio-in-english-azerbaijan-state-repression-and-the-anarchists-speech-in-court/
* A presentation on the Prison Strike in the USA 2016:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2016/10/24/a-radio-in-english-presentation-the-prison-strike-in-the-usa-2016/
* An interview about the "flower holiday" in Azerbaijan and the
imprisoned anarchists:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2016/09/26/a-radio-in-english-azerbaijan-the-flower-holiday-of-the-dictator-and-the-imprisoned-anarchists/
* An interview on the repression against anarchists in Czech:
http://aradio.blogsport.de/2016/09/08/a-radio-in-english-antifenix-interview-on-the-repression-against-anarchists-in-czech/
Enjoy! And please feel free to share!
A-Radio Berlin
ps.: We are now on Twitter! Please feel welcome to follow us at
@aradio_berlin!
ps2.: Please note: We are always looking for people willing to lend us a
hand with transcriptions and translations from Spanish or German into
English as well as people able to do voice recordings - in order to
amplify our international radio work. You can contact us at
aradio-berlin/at/riseup(dot)net!
------------------------------
Message: 3
On Saturday there were two attacks on the Anarchist movement in Poznan - Zemsta and
Rozbrat (full description of the events, photos, footage of the video linking TYM ).
Attacks, although inadequate, were inspired and carried out by a member of All-Polish
Youth, Remigius Stalewski (pictured in the foreground, profile on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/remis.stalone ), who "became famous" by the attack on an
anti-nationalist demonstration on April 8th, which ended in a harassment, a police
custody, and a later leak of Stalewski's SMS to the network. ---- Stalewski, along with
other Celtic cross bandits, is now responsible for the partisanship and the destruction of
property (revolving door to the mall). However, as you can see after his Saturday
activities, he continues to attack people and places that do not fit the vision of "Great
Poland". Stalewski, despite financial problems and lack of liquidity in its obligations
towards suppliers, still runs the "Narodowy" shop at pl. Cyryla Ratajski, notabene in the
premises rented him by the city of Poznan (ZKZL).
Another aggressor was Remigiusz's younger brother, Witold Stalewski (pictured on the right
of Remigius). Witold remains in the shadow of his brother, on Facebook he uses another
name ( https://www.facebook.com/KrzysztofSelega). He owns a one-person company WITOREM,
which deals with sanitary services. The company is registered at the address of the
Stalewskich family home.
The next character that was present in both the attack on Revenge and Rozbrat was Daniel
"Badi" Trzeciak, in the first photo the last one on the right (profile on fb:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id = 100,000,553,821,942 ), tel. 501927276):
The third, as seen in the shirt, is a white superiority (celtic cross). On 23 September
evening he was in charge of the group's transport under the arms of Rozbrat, where they
painted the inscription on the wall and painted celtic crosses and offensive epithets.
Earlier, in Revenge, Trzeciak threw a chair before the entire group of fascists were able
to escape. However, the Ducka uses his Fiat Ducato in a different way - he manages the
company (though not in the KRS) TransBadi specializing in transport and removals (
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TransBadi/). After the attack, Daniel turned off the ability
to add ratings and removed the phone number on his facebook page. If he believes his
status on facebook, he is a driver at Jar-Trans. Trzeciak remains in close relation with
Stalewski, conducted among others. The National Store (as you can see from the stickers,
also the Stalwels flaunt their racism).
http://www.rozbrat.org/wydarzenia-events
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Message: 4
The legal right for abortion in Greece was established in 1986. Trying to find more info
about this time and by digging into Greek feminist history, I bumped into that article
about feminists and their struggles. I came out of my research feeling positive and
empowered. Sometimes, when people get involved in struggles to bring about change, they
forget that things don't really change that easily. What the articles I found made clear,
was that that abortion rights were achieved in law, only after years of women's struggles.
The same holds true in Greece, not only for abortion rights but for contraception and
divorce rights. It is difficult now to image that only 31 years ago people were fighting
for these basic rights. ---- Image banner says: "Get the laws off our bodies"
Back in the seventies, the first autonomous feminist groups and women's movement
organizations approached the issue of abortion and choice through the perspective of
women's liberation, sexuality and body, criticizing the family institution and motherhood.
On the other hand, there were the party affiliated women's organizations and unions that
supported the demand for the legalization of abortion, but as an aspect of family
planning, thus supporting family and maternity. What characterizes the brightly burning
feminism of the time is the autonomous women's movement, a mosaic of many autonomous
women's groups, unwashed by the influence of the great political parties and built on the
western feminist model. The first manifestation of the autonomous women's movement was the
"Movement for the Liberation of Women" in 1975. From 1979 and throughout the 80s groups
emerged in universities, neighborhoods, workplaces. "Autonomy was an important, and not a
random feature. It was strongly based in theory: the way to develop an awareness of the
system of oppression is by us women discussing among ourselves, and understanding that we
have more in common than that which divides us. And this was a political process. We did
not wish to recruit women, to go to those who do not know, to tell them. That was
completely out of our logic. The goal was self-consciousness. There was, of course,
differentiation within the feminist movement".
The key turning point in the Greek abortion struggle was with the campaign of the Women's
Autonomous Movement, which began in April 1983 and focused on the "right to
abortion-contraception-sexuality," the Greek feminist movement's first national campaign.
Together with "the declaration", a text by which (500) women signing it publicly stated
that they had abortions, demanded immediate decriminalization. The problem raised by the
campaign was in demonstrating the link between women's reproductive capacity and their
social oppression; its central slogan was a demand for women to define their own bodies.
In January 1985, a prosecutor questioned seven of the 500 women who signed the text,
stating that they had abortion. After lots of immediate reactions, demonstrations, and
marches, in May 1986, the bill was filed with the Parliament, where it was voted by all
parties except the main right-wing party. By the late 80's feminist demands had become a
matter of state concern, shifting the ground from self-organization and struggles of the
women themselves to institutional management. So, begins to emerge a kind of "state-feminism".
Gradually, towards the end of the 1980s, the feminist movement began to dwindle. The
women's groups were demented, the bookstores closed (as well as the Women's House and
Café), the publications were stopped, the mobilizations thinned. No one knows exactly why
and how this happened. Some women felt that the adoption of a more progressive legislation
had achieved the material goals of the movement, some of them turned to forms of
state-institutional feminism, some followed an academic career bringing a feminist air
into the auditorium, some simply "grew up". In any case, feminism was in recession across
the West. The 90s brought them up and down. The embraced and radicalized the movements of
previous years, inaugurated an era of frantic consumerism and lifted life style into a
regulator of the public sphere. Institutional pledges remained, but the women's body,
which was the beginning of emancipation in the 1980s, was physically conditioned and
objected. It became the symbolic lifestyle loot.
In terms of Ireland's situation abortions rights are not established and we still need to
fight for them. Coming from Greece where abortion rights have been won, I was extremely
shocked when I learned of the situation here. For me as a non-Irish, white woman, it is
scary enough to know that there is no access to abortion if I want to have one. I can't
even imagine how scary that would be if I was an asylum seeker, or if I was struggling to
get immigration permission, or having major financial issues. What we all have to fight
for is free-safe-legal abortion. And that's only the start. But before that, even talking
about choice, is a huge issue. Choice means being able to end a pregnancy. Ending one
without any limitations. We don't want any doctor's prescriptions or counselling to have
abortion. We don't need to be suicidal to be allowed to have abortion or to be married,
raped or poor. We need to be able to do it, just because we own our bodies. The real
choice for someone who wants to have children is doing it without suffering major economic
or social costs. The option of child-care should have been provided by the state, parental
leave and flexi-time for working, public creche facilities. Instead of all these things,
crèches are private with very expensive rates for the families - some of them recently
decided to raise the fees even more. Parents therefore, are forced to work extremely long
hours in order to provide for them or even in many cases women have to quit their jobs,
stay in the house and raise their children in isolation.
Another issue is the role of many women as full-time unpaid childminders within the family
or with ridiculously low salaries that makes them depend on each family. If anyone calls
this a decent choice for having a child, it is probably because they haven't face those
problems because they are privileged ones.
It is our turn as movement to decide to push for full repeal and bodily autonomy, for real
choices. We must fight to repeal the 8th Amendment. As a call for referendum for abortion
access is confirmed, it is possible that the government phrases the legislation in a
highly constrained way. There are plenty fights that we need to win. What's in my mind
after digging into Greek's abortion history is that grassroots stuggle's is possible and
powerful. The women in the 70's and 80's succeded their struggles. I also keep in mind the
danger of staying inactive. We can't expect anything from any institutional management.
Anything less than free- safe - legal is a backturn. We simply want to smash the eight and
the state.
Writted ahead of the 2017 March for Choice
Author: Konstantina
https://www.wsm.ie/c/pro-choice-feminist-movement-greece
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