Anarchic update news all over the world - 3.11.2017

Today's Topics:

   
1.  Catalunia embat: We defend public and democratic education!
      Manifesto and table calling for the Yellow Assembly. (ca)
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  anarkismo.net: New fascist attack on a militant evening:
      solidarity by Coordination of Anarchist Groups CGA External
      Relations (fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  awsm.nz: Anarchists You Should Know: #1 LOUISE MICHEL By
      Jayacintha Danaswamy (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Britain, London Anarchist Federation: The world transformed
      or staying the same? An open letter to Plan C Bonnie VandeSteeg,
      Nick Heath (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Ruptura Colectiva (RC): The Citizen Council is formed by the
      Good Government of San Cristóbal de las Casas; without political
      parties or those who support the system - Demián Revart (ca, it)
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Greece, liberta salonica: INFORMATION FROM THE ANTI - FRAUD
      PROSTITUTION MONTH 30/10 (gr) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  Greece: New occupation in Corfu By APO For the Allerta
      occupation (7th passage of Nikiforos Theotokis, Spilia) (fr, it,
      pt) [machine translation], ,  (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1






Embat, the Libertarian Organization of Catalonia, supports the demonstration convened by 
the Yellow Assembly on November 11. We demand public education, democratic, coeducadora, 
inclusive, egalitarian and secular yes or no. ---- Manifest of the mobilization of 11N: We 
demand 6%. We defend public and democratic education! ---- Dear and beloved, ---- We 
address you to invite you to participate in the demonstration in defense of public 
education  on November 11 (17h, University Pl.) As  well as in its construction by 
disseminating the call and seeking membership of the entities (AMPA, educational center, 
group, etc.) in which you participate. ---- At this point, no one escapes that the 
privatization policies and the Department's cuts are laminating public education in that 
country. School segregation is one of the worst hassles suffered by the current 
educational system due to these privatization policies. It is urgent to open the debate on 
the inconvenience of the dual network, the main factor that causes the segregation of 
school in our country.

There is a national pact against school segregation that gradually undermines the dual 
network of our education system,  under no circumstances should it be budgeted with public 
money, private-concerted, a system that has already been shown to be unfair and segregating.

Another derivative of these privatizing policies that we are currently suffering as an 
educational community is the vertiginous loss of democracy in the centers.

The LEC consecrated the bodies of directors and a pyramidal and hierarchical management 
that emulated the private-concerted, the LOMCE represented a key again in this line where 
the directors perform the functions of heads of staff and representatives of the 
Administration , opening public education again to the old client networks and 
arbitrariness. The Department must comply with the resolutions of the Parliament of 
Catalonia and once again remove the Pilot Plan from the substitutes (enough hiring!). In 
order to recover democracy in the centers, it is also vital to withdraw the Decree of 
Directions and the decree of templates urgently, to disobey the LOMCE and to open a 
genuine debate within the educational community (as proposed by the ILPE and the 
Extraordinary Debate) that allows to recover the most distinctive feature of the Catalan 
public school: democracy in schools, with school councils and cloisters of truly binding 
teachers.

Quite precariousness: we ask for a system of access to the fair public function, which 
does not imply a hidden ERO of the thousands of workers that are already in the 
administration in temporary conditions and that have already demonstrated their ability 
over the years and professionalism. A pact of stability of all those interins that wish to 
go parallel to the announcement of the oppositions is required.

In the face of the repressive involution that we have experienced in recent weeks, the 
Educational Community has been one of the most fundamental actors in the defense of 
freedom and against repression. Faced with the violation of the most basic and fundamental 
rights, such as the right to vote and express delivery, thousands of teachers, students, 
parents have been organized peacefully; and beyond their ideology and their national 
feelings have been put together with thousands of citizens so that the schools remained 
open to guarantee the right to decide of all.

In the last few weeks we have seen how the State is threatening to apply 155 in Catalonia, 
this can mean that the teaching competences become directly controlled by the central 
State. The education minister Íñigo Mendez de Vigo has already threatened to bring the 
education ministry to the courts under the accusation that the teachers of Catalonia 
indoctrinate and manipulate history in their classes.

These accusations seriously undermine the professional and personal dignity of all 
teaching staff and the entire education system of Catalonia. It will be necessary to give 
a massive and democratic response to a State that criminalizes and defames all those who 
fight every day to achieve a free, democratic, Catalan, coeducational, intercultural and 
quality school.

It is for all this that now, more than ever, the educational community we mobilize once 
again in defense of the best guarantee to preserve democracy, social cohesion and 
diversity: education of ownership and public management.

Given the cuts and permanent aggression to their quality, by the Department of Education 
and the Ministry of Education, we demand that the administration assume its 
responsibilities and invest investment in education up to the one that marks the Catalan 
law: 6% of GDP, which is the average investment of the European Union.
Given the democratic involution that we are suffering from the central government, we 
demand total disobedience to the LOMCE and go out to the streets as many times as 
necessary to defend the Catalan school.
We are clear about the educational community: now we decide on public education Yes or Yes!
We want to build the public education that our society deserves .
And for that we immediately demand an emergency plan for completely reverse the cuts and 
the process of undercover privatization that is undergoing public education.

PS: Do you want to participate in the dissemination and extension of the demonstration? 
Here's what you can do:
- Invite your contacts and share the event on Facebook
- Adhere your entity,
- Share the manifesto and the poster on the mail, social networks, messaging, etc.
- Download the manifesto here  Manifest 11N worked  and print it and hang it everywhere.

Demonstration table of the Yellow Assembly

- Increase of resources destined to Public Education to reach a minimum of 6% of GDP.
- No to the closure of public lines of P3 and other levels while maintaining lines agreed 
to the municipality.
- Include the Nursery Schools and the family spaces again in the education budget of the 
Generalitat.
- Reduction of ratios.
- Recovery from 6 pm to 11 pm in high school and primary school respectively.
- Free, universal dining room service and proximity production and management.
- Not to the privatization of Education.
- Democracy in educational centers.
- Link the VET to the Department of Education.
- Concrete in the budget allocated for the construction of new schools and those that are 
found in barracks.
- Insolvency in the LOMCE and repeal of the LEC.
- Accept to develop the debate of ILP Education in Parliament.
- Free of cradle education at university.
- Pretty precariousness. Just access system to the public function.
- Public and permanent permanent training.

If you want to download the claim form in pdf format click here  AG claim board

http://embat.info/defensem-leducacio-publica-i-democratica/

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Message: 2






Communiqué of the CGA in support of the activists of Chambéry following the fascist attack 
of October 20th. ---- On Friday, October 20th in Chambéry, the local group of the 
Anarchist Federation organized its militant return party. ---- Around 21:15 a group of 10 
to 15 right-wing militants attacked the bar where it was held. Thanks to a great 
collective resistance, the fascists are quickly gone. ---- We would like to extend our 
solidarity to the people targeted and attacked during this militant evening. ---- This 
attack is part of a delicate period where antisocial attacks (labor law, attack of the 
solidarity system), security laws (state of emergency in common law), the hunt for 
migrants and their support are multiplying. and free speech and racist, xenophobic, 
violent acts throughout the territory.

And behind the words, there are the acts!

The Chambéry attack is proof of this and it is not the first time that right-wing 
activists have physically attacked activists, associations or racialized people.
* Last year, the bookshop "La Plume Noire", self-managed by the activists of the 
Coordination of Anarchist Groups, was attacked by twenty fascists armed with helmets and 
iron bars. In Lyon, always, right-wing extremist groups open with impunity premises, 
businesses that serve as a place of dissemination of their hateful ideology and place of 
training for future attacks.
* In Rennes, last February, rue Saint-Michel are customers of 2 bars that are loaded by 
nationalists from Nantes.
* In Marseille, last March, he was an active militant in the anti-fascist struggle who was 
stabbed at his home.
* In Nantes, on May 7, two activists opposed the results of the presidential elections, 
which were the cost of extreme right-wing violence.
* In Montpellier, it is a local of an aid association for migrants who was ransacked last 
July ...
The list of aggression and pressure from fascist activists could extend over several pages.

Fascist militants ready to act
And behind these group aggression, ideological indoctrination and quasi-military training, 
emerge plans of attacks of a greater scale.
The proof is the recent indictment of 8 Fascist militants who planned targeted attacks on 
places or people. One of them, well known anti-fascist activists, was a fervent admirer of 
Anders Breivik who had killed 77 people in July 2011 in Norway.

Organize solidarity and the anti-fascist response
The group of the Anarchist Federation of Chambéry organizes a demonstration on Saturday 
28/10 at 2 pm (Place de la Mairie) and calls for a popular response to these attacks.
The Coordination of Anarchist Groups supports this initiative and will be present 
alongside the comrades of Chambéry.
We point out the need for a major response to these attacks and the establishment of a 
thorough work on the rise of these groups to put in connection with capitalist attacks 
that we suffer full force.

Related Link 
http://c-g-a.org/content/nouvelle-attaque-fasciste-sur-une-soiree-militante-solidarite

https://www.anarkismo.net/article/30625

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Message: 3






With this posting we begin an occasional series of mini-biographies of historical 
anarchists. Some will be more well-known than others. All are worthy of attention as 
interesting and vibrant activists who struggled to improve the condition of working 
people. ---- Louise Michel was born on 29th May 1830. She was raised by her mother and 
paternal grandparents. Her love and understanding of everything downtrodden, human and 
animal alike, developed from her empathy with her childhood world. Her compassion and 
sensitivity to suffering grew, as she grew. This, along with her instinct to rebel against 
social inequalities, led her along the revolutionary path. ---- In January 1853 she took a 
position as a schoolmistress at Audelancourt. In the time she was teaching there, she 
constantly dreamed of going to Paris. Only there, she felt, could people fight the empire. 
In Paris, she concentrated on teaching, on writing poetry and reading. In the little free 
time she had left, she attended lectures on physics, chemistry and law. These courses 
helped to quench her thirst for knowledge. While walking home at night through the streets 
of Paris, she began to see more of the impoverished victims of Parisian society. She 
expressed how these people touched her, in her poetry:

I have seen criminals and whores
And spoken with them. Now I inquire
If you believe them made as now they are
To drag their rags in blood and mire
Preordained, an evil race?
You to whom all men are prey
Have made them what they are today.
War with Prussia

On 14th July 1870, war broke out between France and Germany. Paris was besieged by the 
Prussian armies. It was during this time that Louise Michel was arrested for the first 
time. She had, along with Mme Andre Leo, managed to organise a group of volunteers to go 
to aid Strasbourg in one last stand against the Prussian armies. They were arrested at the 
Hotel de Ville, which was the building occupied by the acting government. They were 
arrested as they insisted on receiving arms.

On 27th September, she was released, but Strasbourg had just fallen to the Prussians. 
Despite this, she remained active and optimistic. She was president of Montmartre Women's 
Vigilance Committee. Their aim was to provide shelter and food for all who needed it. In 
December, she was arrested again. She was accused of organising a demonstration in front 
of the Hotel de Ville. She replied by saying "I couldn't have organised any demonstration 
to speak to the government, because I no longer recognised that government".

In January 1871, Paris surrendered to the Prussians. The French were allowed to elect a 
new government. This government held a large majority of monarchists, who were planning to 
overthrow the national guard and to arrest republicans. They failed, as the people opposed 
them, and fled to Versailles. On 18th March 1871, the people of Paris reclaimed their 
city, for the people. They set up an independent ‘commune', with the people themselves - 
rather than a corrupt, bourgeois government - controlling the destiny of the city.

The Paris Commune

This became known as the Paris Commune. It was a social revolution, which tried to create 
freedom and equality for all the people of Paris. Louise Michel, like many others, gave 
her total self to the revolution. She fought on the barricades, devoting herself to the 
cause. She was eagerly willing to sacrifice her life for the "conquest of freedom". In her 
memoirs, she describes the struggle: "In my mind I feel the soft darkness of a spring 
night. It is May 1871, and I see the red reflection of flames. It is Paris afire. That 
fire is a dawn".

After the fall of the Commune, Louise Michel had to turn herself into the authorities, as 
they threatened to shoot her mother. She was marched, along with other prisoners who were 
active in the commune, from Versailles to Satory. Along the way some were woken in the 
middle of the night, made dig their own graves and then shot. In total, there were about 
thirty thousand men, women and children executed.

On 16th December 1871, Louise Michel, at the age of thirty-six, was brought to trial by 
the Versailles Government. She was accused of:

1. Trying to overthrow the government.

2. Encouraging citizens to arm themselves.

3. Possession and use of weapons, and wearing a military uniform.

4. Forgery of a document.

5. Using a false document.

6. Planning to assassinate hostages.

7. Illegal arrests, torturing and killing.

When she was asked if she had anything to say in her defence, she replied:

"I do not wish to defend myself, I do not wish to be defended. I belong completely to the 
social responsibility for all my actions. I accept it completely and without reservations. 
I wished to oppose the invader from Versailles with a barrier of flames. I had no 
accomplices in this action. I acted on my own initiative.

I am told that I am an accomplice of the Commune. Certainly, yes, since the Commune wanted 
more than anything else the social revolution, and since the social revolution is the 
dearest of my desires . . . the Commune, which by the way had nothing to do with murders 
and arson.

. . . since it seems that any heart which beats for freedom has the right only to a lump 
of lead, I too claim my share. If you let me live, I shall never stop crying for revenge 
and l shall avenge my brothers. I have finished. If you are not cowards, kill me!"

Deported from France

Louise Michel was sentenced to lifetime deportation. On 8th August 1873 she began her 
voyage to New Caledonia. It was during this journey that she met Natalie Lemel, who was 
responsible for introducing her to anarchism. The conditions in New Caledonia were harsh. 
There was a serious food shortage and very little medical care. After spending five years 
in exile, she was allowed to teach the Kanaks, and the children of colonists. She got to 
know and respect the Kanaks, the indigenous people. Her support for their struggles 
against French invasion and racism is remembered today in the capital city, Noumea, where 
there is a museum dedicated to anarchism.

The French Government finally consented to an amnesty for the prisoners of the Paris 
Commune. In 1880, after six and a half years in exile, Louise Michel began her long 
journey home. On 21st November, she spoke at her first public meeting in Paris. Her 
speeches were inspirational and effective. "It is the people who will deliver us from the 
men who have been corrupting us, and the people themselves will win their liberty."

During this time, she wrote many articles on the effects of strikes. When the prisoners 
who were exiled returned, many of them were out of work and starving. Michel put a lot of 
work and energy into trying to set up a soup kitchen to feed these people.

Arrested again

In January 1882, Louise Michel was arrested again. She was charged with insulting 
policemen. Even though this was a lie, she was still sentenced to two weeks in prison. 
After her release, Michel gave lectures in countries throughout Europe. At all times her 
movements were being watched by policemen, while she travelled from Belgium to Holland and 
to England. On her return home, she continued touring through France raising money for 
women spinners in Lille, who were on strike.

On 9th January 1883, in Lyon, sixty-eight anarchists were brought to trial. These included 
Peter Kropotkin, Emile Gautier, Bordat and Bernard. They wrote a document called "The 
manifesto of the Anarchists". In it they describe what anarchy is, and what anarchists 
want. "We claim bread for all, knowledge for all, work for all, independence and justice 
for all." Kropotkin and the others were sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

On 9th March 1883, at the Esplanade of Les Invalides, there was a large demonstration. 
Afterwards, a large number of people marched across Paris. Leading this procession was 
Louise Michel. There were three incidents of loaves of bread being looted from bakers' 
shops. After going into hiding for three weeks, she turned herself in. She was charged 
with having been one of "the leaders and instigators of looting committed by a band".

Imprisoned again

Louise was condemned to six years of solitary confinement, and ten years of police 
supervision. She describes this incident in her memoirs: "It is not a question of 
breadcrumbs. What is at stake is the harvest of an entire world, a harvest necessary to 
the whole future human race, one without exploiters and without exploited".

During her time in prison, she continuously wrote to the authorities. She asked to be 
moved nearer her sick mother in Paris. Eventually, the authorities permitted her to be 
moved to Paris, and attend her dying mother's bedside in her last few living days. Her 
mother's death was a severe blow.

In the following January she was pardoned and freed from prison. Two years later, as 
Michel was giving a speech, she was shot behind her left ear. When her would-be assassin 
was on trial, Michel defended him. She said, "he was misled by an evil society". In the 
last few years of her life, she toured extensively around France, promoting anarchism. 
After returning from a trip to Algeria, she fell seriously ill in Marseilles. Louise 
Michel died on 9th January 1905.

Her funeral was a large occasion, with red flags and two thousand mourners. There were 
memorial services for her all over France, and in London. She spent her life fighting 
against the injustices of society., she had sacrificed herself and had passionately given 
her all to the revolution. "We revolutionaries aren't just chasing a scarlet flag. What we 
pursue is an awakening of liberty, old or new. It is the ancient Communes of France, it is 
1703; it is June 1848; it is 1871. Most especially it is the next revolution which is 
advancing under this dawn". The little girl who used to sit by the fire and listen to her 
grandfather's stories of the heroes of old, had now herself become a legend.

Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Michel

http://www.awsm.nz/2017/10/31/anarchists-you-should-know-1-louise-michel/

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Message: 4






This is a reply to the three texts World Transformed/the Labour Party and the Libertarian 
Left,/Dreams, Memes, Labour and Us and Corbynism from (the great) below, written by 
members of Plan C. We felt we had to reply to these texts as part of the libertarian left, 
members of the Anarchist Federation, and one-time members of Big Flame. ---- We welcomed 
the appearance of Plan C when it first appeared and were pleased by its determination to 
develop a Plan C in response to the Plan B of social democracy and Labourism. Plan C 
seemed like a bright new star on the libertarian left. The "C" could be interpreted as 
either "Commons" or "Communism". ---- Now however Plan C's initial aims seem to be 
disoriented by the rise of Corbynism. Recently, three articles appeared on their website 
arguing for support for Corbyn and the Labour Party. Each article to a greater or lesser 
extent refers to the reactionary and counter-revolutionary nature of the Labour Party in 
the past but yet somehow things are completely different now. So the lessons of the 
history of the Labour Party are swept aside, as are those learnt from SYRIZA, who 
implemented the worst anti-austerity programme in Greece's history, and indeed previously 
PASOK, supported at the time of its election by the left, Lula's Workers Party in 
Brazil,etc. The Trotskyists are renowned for their past slogans of Vote Labour Without 
Illusions, now Plan C seems to push aside even these qualifications and call for a Vote 
Labour full stop. There are a number of reasons why the analysis of the current Labour 
Party and the strategy arising from this analysis by a section of Plan C are both mistaken 
and detrimental to transforming the world.

Corbyn's policies are not that radical and are becoming even less radical as a result of 
pressure from institutional political constraints.
After Corbyn's election as leader of the Labour Party his close ally Shadow Chancellor 
John McDonnell and Jon Trickett, the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, 
sent a letter to all Labour councils demanding they abide by the law and impose austerity 
cuts set by the Conservative government "...the situation councils are now in is if they 
don't set a budget, a council officer will do it for them. There is no choice for them 
anymore. As you know, councils must set a balanced budget under the Local Government Act 
1992. If this does not happen, i.e. if a council fails to set a legal budget, then the 
council's Section 151 Officer is required to issue the council with a notice under Section 
114 of the 1988 Local Government Act. Councillors are then required to take all the 
necessary action in order to bring the budget back into balance." No indication here that 
Labour Councils could band together to pool general reserves and make use of prudential 
borrowing to set budgets that didn't involve cuts. That they could use prudential 
borrowing to build 100,000 council houses throughout Britain, and that they could tie this 
to inciting mass defiance of cuts.

Because of the Labour Party apparatus ruled by the Blairites, Corbyn had to shift his 
political positions, at least publicly. An opponent of immigration controls, at the last 
election he promised the most right-wing Labour policy on immigration in over 30 years. An 
opponent of NATO, he regarded it as a "danger to world peace" and socialists had to 
campaign against it. He has now embraced NATO, saying that "I want to work within NATO to 
achieve stability". A life-long opponent of the monarchy, Corbyn now states that the 
abolition of the monarchy "is not on my agenda." A critic of the police and its 
shoot-to-kill policy he once laid a wreath to victims of police violence at the Cenotaph. 
He now says that the police should use: "whatever force is necessary to protect and save 
life." Labour pledges to increase the number of police by 10,000 and the number of prison 
warders by 3,000 and border guards by 500.

How much more would Corbyn turn to the right if he were Prime Minister?

The Labour Party and Momentum are detracting from rather than contributing to building a 
social movement. They are using the movements to reinforce its electoral strategy.
We must not let the new social movements currently mobilising around housing, against 
austerity and against racism and police brutality, become tools of Labour. McDonnell in 
particular has as on several occasions hinted at such a scenario, talking of transforming 
"the party from the traditional centralised party into something more akin to a mass 
social movement, responding to the rising demand for greater activist engagement." By this 
he means co-option of the currently existing social movements as auxiliaries to the Labour 
electoral machine. More recently he affirmed that Labour is "changing into a social 
movement". But whilst Labour is able to organise mass triumphalist rallies it has failed 
to go beyond that, to massively engage its members in social action. Corbyn and McDonnell 
would like to capture the social movements for their own ends. It is up to those of us 
active in the social movements and in grassroots workplace struggles to develop a truly 
mass social movement, one that is autonomous and independent of political parties 
including Labour so that it can set its own objectives and aims. But instead of realising 
the potential of these new movements, of the rebel union phenomenon, (IWW, IWGB, CAIWU, 
SOLFED, UVW) of the housing struggles, the anti-fracking camps, etc. we are told by 
members of Plan C that: "Standing ‘outside' of the movements influenced by Corbyn's 
ascension to the top of the LP really doesn't cut the mustard" and that "there is no other 
game that could build a mass movement at present." Momentum and Unite the Community 
branches "as external support networks of the Labour Party" are cited as able to provide 
support for strikers and their families, etc. However, there is no evidence that this is 
happening. In many areas Momentum groups are just chat shops,or at best inwardly focussed 
on reshaping the Labour Party not involved in social struggles. Our own experience of 
membership of a Unite the Community branch was negative, as when on several occasions we 
urged the branch to support actions of a private renters group and against gentrification 
we received no support whatsoever. We are aware that in some areas these groups have 
performed useful work, but our view is that in many other areas they are only chat shops 
or there to draw people into Labour or stunts for the Socialist Party, SWP or People's 
Assembly. In fact, the new enthusiasm for the Labour Party has drawn people away from 
involvement in grass roots campaigns and movements.

It is argued that a Corbyn-led Labour government would somehow galvanise social movements. 
However let's look at the example of Bennism in the early 1980s. Bennism was a similar 
movement to Corbynism. It mobilised around the left Labour figure of Tony Benn. In fact 
both Corbyn and McDonnell were minor figures within Bennism, as were some of their present 
associates. There was great hope that Benn would become deputy leader of the Labour Party 
until he was defeated by Denis Healey in 1983. In the process a large number of activists 
from the various social movements, women's groups, gay liberation groups etc. who up till 
then were existing outside the Labour Party, were now dragged into Labour and in the 
process these social movements were demobilised. A similar phenomenon happened alongside 
this when Ken Livingstone ran the Greater London Council from 1981 to 1986 and developed 
his ‘rainbow coalition', involving the same social movements mentioned above, absorbing 
them into the GLC. The GLC funded many groups and organisations and often became dependent 
on this funding, unable to carry on when the funding was withdrawn. Again the result was 
demobilisation, with people looking towards the GLC administration rather than relying on 
their own action. Livingstone backed down against Thatcher on tube fares and setting local 
rates and there was no significant response on the streets.

Going back to SYRIZA, we saw a situation where it persuaded people to rely on its being in 
power and fighting against the austerity measures imposed by the EU, the IMF and the World 
Bank. Of course SYRIZA broke every one of their electoral promises. The SYRIZA member 
Stathis Kouvelakis had later to admit that the negotiation process with the EU "by itself 
triggered passivity and anxiety among the people and the most combative sectors of 
society, leading them to exhaustion". The Greek social movements have taken a long time to 
recover from the SYRIZA experience and that could be the same scenario with a Corbyn 
government. Again we repeat, we have to rely on our activities and our own organisation of 
grassroots struggles.

The cult of Corbyn: this is not libertarian!
As regards the assertion that the Corbyn cult is "precisely BECAUSE he isn't a charismatic 
leader", this is far removed from the real world. We are deeply disturbed by the messianic 
cult of Corbyn, and have personally witnessed vitriolic condemnation of even the slightest 
criticism of the Leader. This is not healthy and contributes nothing to the autonomy of 
social movements, and to deny the existence of this unhealthy cult is extremely dangerous. 
  We will never achieve a libertarian communist society if people are taken in by the 
celebrity culture that pervades much of today's society. Even in our own movements, 
informal leaders are a problem and is something we need to constantly fight against.

As to the danger of media celebrities, let's take a look at the self-proclaimed 
"loudspeaker of the revolution" Daniel Cohn-Bendit, so eager to appear as a media 
celebrity during and after the May-June events in France in 1968. This brought unease and 
suspicion then among French libertarians, suspicion which proved to be well-founded as 
Cohn-Bendit subsequently became co-chair of the German Greens, and then advocated military 
intervention in the Balkans and a free-market liberalism. Or take another media celebrity, 
Russell Brand, who once called for revolution and a shunning of the ballot box in 2013, 
then made a U-turn calling for a vote for Miliband (Vote To Start Revolution!) and then 
his Love the Police outbursts. Or a more heavyweight media celebrity like Paul Mason, 
one-time Trotskyist, who now tells us that: "The security services are our first line of 
defence and they need our support, as do the police and special forces" and who advocates 
the renewal of the Trident missile system, a permanent paramilitary police force, the 
ending of immigration for people earning under median wage, and the defence of BAE, 
manufacturers of Typhoon bombers. Any criticism of celebrity culture is swept aside in the 
first contribution, despite many glaring examples of those who set themselves up to speak 
for movements, with no control from those said movements. Have we learnt nothing from 
texts like Tyranny of Structurelessness? Are we now supporting any media-hungry 
personality, who might say something vaguely radical at some point, and then inevitably 
renege on their previous positions? We don't need this, we need the development of 
alternative media created by and under the control of social movements. Novara Media is 
proving NOT to be this, with its increasing tacking towards Corbynism and its abandoning 
of previous radical positions, all under the guise of professing libertarian communism 
whilst continuing to shore up social democracy.

We can learn from history; the economic and political context are the same. There is no 
more scope for a ‘left' leader to make any major changes within the current system of 
capitalism and the State than there was before.
For us, the key question in all of this is the autonomy of the social movements, as we 
have underlined above. If Labour is elected again, our belief is that we will see a 
scenario similar to that of the election of the Labour government led by Harold Wilson in 
1964. Then quite substantial layers of young people who had been radicalised by CND and 
the Committee of 100 and by the examples of the civil rights movement in the USA and the 
struggle against apartheid, not to mention the burgeoning cultural movements, had an 
initial enthusiasm for the promised change from the Wilson government and were very soon 
bitterly disappointed. This led to an increasing radicalisation noticeably apparent from 
1966 onwards. We should not discredit ourselves by dropping our criticisms of the Labour 
Party. It will be remembered later. Comrades in Plan C who still have doubts about the 
Labour Party should ponder on this and not be  swept along by a euphoria that may well 
prove to be rash.

Lenin is not a libertarian.
Though only a small part of one of the statements, the reference to "Comrade Lenin" was 
disturbing. Since when was Lenin a comrade of the libertarian left? If Plan C is going to 
try and claim to be part of the libertarian left, then Leninism in all its forms must be 
rejected.

The experience of Big Flame
Since Big Flame was mentioned in one of the texts, it is worth looking at what happened to 
Big Flame and why. One of us joined Big Flame after leaving the SWP, and had not broken 
with Leninism, and the other was already a long-standing libertarian. Big Flame was in 
many ways like Plan C today (pluralist) with people with a variety of different views, 
including anarchists, Marxists, Leninists and autonomists, with a strong focus on the 
struggles of oppressed groups. However, in the end Big Flame fell apart. This was partly 
because the differing perspectives were fundamentally incompatible.

However, it was not only the libertarian/Leninist divide itself that contributed to the 
demise of Big Flame. An important contributing factor was the attitude towards the Labour 
Party, the GLC and reformism in general. Some Big Flame members got sucked into work with 
the GLC and others joined the Labour Party. It shows how easily it is to get demoralised 
when there is a Tory government in power and to look towards apparently easier options (eg 
electoral) than building a mass revolutionary movement.

So what to do?

We must argue the case that the new grassroots groups and organisations emerging around 
housing and opposition to austerity must maintain that grassroots outlook and horizontal 
organisation and not be distracted by the Corbyn circus and its left cheerleaders. It's 
not a question of "in, against, and beyond" the Labour Party, as one Plan C statement 
suggests, but realising that any real social movement that has as its goals the 
achievement of libertarian communism must be outside and against the Labour Party which 
has always been the enemy of real social change, has always been the social fire brigade 
when the fires of unrest flare up.

Bonnie VandeSteeg, Nick Heath

https://aflondon.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/the-world-transformed-or-staying-the-same-an-open-letter-to-plan-c/

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Message: 5






THE CITIZEN COUNCIL IS CONFORMED BY THE AUTOGENEOUS IN SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS IN THE 
HEIGHTS OF CHIAPAS ---- The mythical year 2018 is approaching. If this were a mainstream 
article, the paragraph would be supplemented by the first sentence saying that "and 
Mexican society is already readying its bets for the electoral contest ...", but no! far 
from the electoral vortex, there are countless alternatives that do not seek to match the 
times of representative politics , but rather to the times of citizen action.Nor do they 
contemplate the political parties or the "independent" figurines that come from them. The 
key separation between State and society is being marked by a crack - now yes - in Mexican 
society that is enlisting "very other" initiatives, after the passage of generations that 
have seen those who support the political class - from the bureaucrat from the municipal 
health clinic to the honorable president - as temporary subjects and never as subjects of 
change.

So ... what's the alternative? Hold on, that's what's coming.

Citizens living in the neighborhoods, colonies, subdivisions, rancherías and communities 
of the emblematic municipality of San Cristobal de las Casas in Los Altos de Chiapas have 
long had the idea of creating a 'people's government', with the argument that "the best 
solution is the self-organization of the people to realize what is established in Article 
39 of the Constitution:" to ensure that all public power emerges from the people and is 
instituted for the benefit of the people. "

This, in order to self-aggravate a remedy to the problems and widespread violence that, 
despite being an urban territory with the greatest investment as a tourist resort and 
other capitals in one of the states, paradoxically, with the highest rates of extreme 
poverty in the country, there also encourages poor governance gradually "social 
disintegration, lawlessness, impunity, insecurity, invasions, plunder, ecocide, water 
crisis, lack of jobs and income, traffic chaos, addictions, corruption, etc.", as the 
members of the Citizen's Council promote a Good Government for San Cristóbal that was 
constituted last Monday 23 of October after a community assembly in the Victory Hall 
located in the Street Army National.

Market of Chamula, San Cristobal de las Casas.

In its public convocation - but with a legitimate restriction for political parties, state 
officials or personal figures that support the capitalist system - the Citizen Council is 
defined as "an organizational space of service to the community ... formed by councilors 
recognized by their honesty and spirit of service that will last for three years at most 
and the coordination of the Council will be collective and rotating. "

Among the objectives to achieve, the companions share the following postulates:

a) Seek its permanent strengthening by incorporating more members and best practices.

b) Elaborate a Citizen Program of Good Municipal Government effective for the integral 
reconstruction of our municipality.

c) Carry out a truly democratic process so that the citizens of San Cristóbal can propose 
and support nonpartisan citizens recognized for their honesty and spirit of service who 
are willing to be members of the Citizen Council Promoting Good Governance.

d) To support so that the candidates of the town participate successfully in the next 
local electoral process, taking into account that, independently of the results of the 
electoral day, the commitment of all is to continue promoting the organization of the town 
and the execution of the Citizen Program of Good Government for the integral reconstruction.
***
This initiative could be the spearhead for the formation of civil councils in Mexico and 
the world, due to its high population rate and basically, for being a cosmopolitan city, 
joining at the same time from its trench - and with their respective differences - to an 
enormous movement for the autonomy that is being built by the Indigenous Council of 
Government of the CNI-EZLN, today since October 2016, but in history since January 1, 1994.

Recently and at the same juncture - but thousands of miles away - the Democratic Forces of 
Syria (SDF) and the Popular Protection Units (YPG) 100% liberated the city of Al-Raqqa 
from the clutches of the Islamic State, which left the field open for a social experiment 
that is very similar to the idea for San Cristóbal de las Casas: the Civil Council.

Combatants of the YPG celebrating the full liberation of Al-Raqqa.

In one of their first communiqués in April, they announce that this council structure will 
take over the administration, security and stability of the city without the intervention 
of the Bashar al-Asad government or any external military force:

"In our role we announce to our people that the Civil Council of Al-Raqqa will carry out 
the responsibility of the administration and services of the citizens assuring the needs 
of them, and the internal security will take care of the security and stability in the 
zones released. On the other hand, we await the day of liberation of the city, and for 
this, the city would be in the custody of our Council.

Finally, we call on our people to be united to provide help to free the forces and to 
cooperate with the Civil Council to form a democratic society. This is the ambition of our 
people "[1].

Regarding the similarities between northern Syria and southern Mexico, the Argentinean 
researcher and writer, Nicolás de Antueno, writes about this article:

"Recently, within the Federal Democratic System of Northern Syria, there were some very 
curious elections, since there were two great things that were not chosen in these 
elections: a) political parties and b) programs. What is chosen are people (more than 
22,000) in charge of carrying out those tasks that exceed the real possibilities of 
community assemblies. If someone wrongly executes some of the orders given by the 
assemblies, he is revoked and puts himself to another more obedient. In Zapatista 
territories this is called "good government". In short, if not already boring: the 200,000 
citizens of San Cristobal de las Casas are about to take their lives in their hands.
***
At the time of drafting this article, the Citizen Council Promoter of a Good Government is 
in permanent activities of linking, logistics and homogenization with the municipality.

Here is a video record of its official foundation on Monday, October 23.

ALL THE SOLIDARITY WITH THE PROPOSALS THAT ARISE FROM BELOW AND THE HEART!, FOR LIFE AND 
COMMUNION HARMONY!

[1]After liberating the city of Al-Raqqa in Syria from ISIS, progress towards 
self-government, Collective Breakdown (RC), April 17, 2017. ( 
http://rupturacolectiva.com/tras-liberar-la-ciudad 
-of-the-raqqa-in-syria-of-isis-is-advanced-towards-self-government /)

http://rupturacolectiva.com/se-conforma-el-concejo-ciudadano-por-el-buen-gobierno-en-san-cristobal-de-las-casas-sin-partidos-politicos-ni-quienes-sostienen-al-sistema/

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Message: 6






Last week, the fascist city of the city surrounded its rotten flesh in our city. This time 
the occasion was the performance "The Time of the Devil", which was played at the 
Aristotle Theater. Half a handful of fascists with Greek flags mingled with Christian 
fundamentalists with the flags of the Byzantine Empire, candles and sanctuaries were found 
outside the theater to protest the "blasphemy," leaving all the other people living in 
this city to admire the stupidity their. ---- On Monday 30/10, the same fascist crowd 
called for a protest for the "Ecclesiastes" show at the Avlea Theater. In response to the 
fascist call there was a call for anti-fascist concentration, two and a half hours earlier 
than that, at 17:00 in Kamara. The gathering was called by the Eleftherios Initiative of 
Thessaloniki, the Free Social Space School, the occupation of Libertatia and the 
Collectivism for Social Anarchism Black & Red.

At 18:00, the concentrated anti-fascists and anti-fascists began their course, aiming to 
move to the "Avlea" theater where later the fascists would gather. The course was through 
Egnatia, at Ethniki Amynis Street. As soon as he arrived at Svolo, he was blocked by 
strong forces of MAT. This time the "forces of the class" and their political leaders did 
not even bother to hide their favor toward the fascists. Without being a fascist at the 
point of gathering, they took care to keep them safe, holding anti-fascists and 
anti-fascists at a huge distance from the theater. After its blocking, the course moved to 
Svolos, Venizelou, Egnatia streets, from where it reached the fountain where it remained 
until 20:30.

When finally the fascists and Christian fundamentalists gathered to the point where the 
cops were so diligent to keep them safe, the spectacle was like the other times ridiculed: 
gigantic Greek flags mixed with grandmothers shouting "shame" and funny guys with flags " 
Orthodoxy or Death "(clearly the second we would suggest), total number ... with the 30th.

We will not even go into the process of telling the obvious about artistic freedom or the 
demagogic-despotic role of the obscurantism church (which we have altogether on the 
whole). We will only say that the air they took last week, we have to cut them off. We 
will not leave our city to the fascists and the dark people, as few as they are, as 
ridiculous as they may seem.

FASTER BACK TO YOUR HOLES
MECHANICAL PROTECTION AGAINST
THE PANANTHROPAL MANAGEMENT FROM ALL THE LINES

Eleftherial Initiative of Thessaloniki - member of the Anarchist Federation
lib_thess@hotmail.com
libertasalonica.wordpress.com

https://libertasalonica.wordpress.com/2017/10/31

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Message: 7





Allerta occupation is a self-organized social space created by the initiative of the 
cumulonimbus anarchist team, a political collectivity that has been active in Corfu since 
2011. The practice of occupying an abandoned urban area with the aim of reconstitution and 
livelihood is not accidentalbut a conscious act that acts both as a means of struggling to 
create communities of resistance and solidarity in the center of the city, and as a 
content in itself, as the practice of occupation links us to the struggles of yesterday 
and today. In the occupations, state control and the power of state and capital give their 
place to self-determination, self-motivation and co-modality supersede the assignment of 
solving our problems to "special" others, institutional dangers and deadlocks are overcome 
by the uninterrupted struggle. Occupations reveal collective perspectives and 
possibilities, abolish divisions and discrimination, relations of equivalence, mutual 
respect and reciprocity are developed.

In the present period, the "progressive" government is proceeding to its own squadron 
evacuation pogrom, completing the anti-seizure repressive approaches of its predecessors, 
but invoking a different rhetoric. We seek to establish a new structure that actually 
challenges the predominant discourse, the "self-evident property", the relations of 
competition and exploitation, to become a common place of struggle. The aim is to occupy 
Allerta as a reference point in the city of Corfu for political action and social 
intervention; a place where our speech and action are organized around issues such as 
fascism, class war, gender discrimination, race, national illusions, religion, wage labor, 
encroachment, pillage of nature, right to housing and social goods, social resistance,

It is a constant challenge of the project to ensure that the practices of 
self-organization, its effectiveness and its perspective are enshrined in the 
consciousness of the local community. Keep the memory of social-class struggles of the 
past and open new passages. Project open and accessible to all who share the anxiety about 
personal and social liberation, bet the occupation is an everyday social life of 
self-education workshops, collective kitchens, library and discotheque, political speeches 
and events. To test an experiment of solidarity and conflict with all forms of power, 
exploitation and enforcement; to build a place of struggle for a society of communality 
and freedom, for anarchy and communism.

  cumulonimbus anarchist group
occupation Allerta

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