Today's Topics:
1. Aragon cnt es: [CNT-Zaragoza] CNT wins a lawsuit for
discrimination based on sex against Alumalsa, which must
compensate the worker (ca, it) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Greece, [Patras] Concentration Against the Polylogue Voting
-- RESISTANCE TO STATE AND CAPITALITY BARRIER By APO (gr)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Britain, Brighton SolFed stands up to Youngs letting agency
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. CGT-LKN EuskaL Herria: III Meeting in Madrid of the RSISL,
on 25, 26, 27 and 28 January 2018 in El Escorial (ca, it)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, Solfed: The Alarming Rise of Branson's Virgin Care
and the Threat to the NHS (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Alternative Libertaire AL - Syria-Kurdistan, A
libertarian communist in IFB # 01: "In my columns, there will be
criticism" (fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Greece/Turkey: Events with the participation of APO in
Istanbul (gr) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Alumalsa has once again been condemned for another violation of the fundamental rights of
its workforce. On this occasion, it was the Social Court No. 4 of Zaragoza that imposed
the obligation to indemnify the company with 7864.40 euros in damages for a worker
affiliated with the CNT who had to endure humiliating comments by a superior, reasoning
the sentence that what happened constitutes a case of harassment based on sex. ---- The
triggering events occurred when, on April 14, 2016, the worker went to her superior to
indicate that she had the work shirt that was worn at chest height and asked for a new
one, to which he replied "we are like waiting for that, for you to take it off . " In
addition, despite the fact that the Equality Act includes in Article 7.2 that a single
vexatious act is enough to cause sexual or sexual harassment , the aforementioned
supervisor had already sent the worker similar comments in the past , that the sentence
itself collects. Faced with this situation, both the affected and the union delegate of
the CNT in the company reported what happened before the Labor Inspectorate, which in turn
caused the DGA to sue Alumalsa ex officio, while the legal services of the union adhered
to the lawsuit, on behalf of the worker.
After a year and a half of proceedings and after the Labor Inspectorate had already
sanctioned the company with more than € 6,000, the Social Court handed down a ruling
confirming that the events described were constitutive of harassment based on sex ,
defining the behavior of the supervisor as "objectively offensive, in addition to
humiliating" and creator of "a situation of intimidation, which constitutes discrimination
based on sex" , and condemning Alumalsa to the payment of the compensation mentioned above.
Both the worker and the union have received this sentence with satisfaction, and hope that
neither the company nor the supervisor (who was co-defendant) will try to perpetuate the
case by spending money on unfounded resources, without forgetting that after the filing of
the complaint before Labor Inspection The company decided not to renew the worker ,
turning her into a double victim, on the one hand of harassment, and on the other of a
dismissal that was nothing more than a punishment for having tried to put an end to an
intolerable situation. For this second reason, there is still a pending trial, in which it
is claimed that it is recognized that the dismissal involved another reprisal against the
worker, for demanding workin conditions of dignity and respect, without having to suffer
discrimination based on gender .
http://aragon.cnt.es/cnt-gana-una-demanda-discriminacion-razon-sexo-alumalsa-debera-indemnizar-la-trabajadora/
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Message: 2
For eight years now, an unprecedented attack has been carried out at the expense of the
overwhelming majority of society, basically lying about the bleeding and looting of social
wealth for the benefit of a small caste of masters and bosses, as well as the subjugation
of society through the strike on its resistances, the dissolution of its collective
struggles to impose conditions of slavery, poverty, individualization and cannibalism in
the social field. ---- Nowadays, Syria-Alen's political management continues to deepen the
conditions of exploitation in even more widespread sections of the population, being fully
harmonized with the recommendations of the bourgeoisie, local and international elites and
supranational mechanisms (EU, ESF, IMF). Having first cultivated false hopes of
embellishing the system by taking on a government role and making a decisive contribution
to the weakening of the social and class movements that had developed over the past, it
then adopted the established state agenda, imposing the state-capitalist one-way course of
exploitation and oppression and at the same time attempting to prolong life in the already
bankrupt political and economic system by creating conditions of social peace, mitigation
resistances and tangible cooperation.
For the next period, it is constantly putting in place new rounds of plunder towards
society in terms even more burdensome and harder than the past. After voting on both
memoranda and other antisocial measures, it is now attacking every social and labor
acquis, trying to eliminate the main weapon in the quencher of workers to face employer
terrorism, the strike.
More specifically, the polynomials voted in parliament on January 15th is launching -
among others - a new attack on the right to strike after strict restrictions are laid down
for its declaration. While so far, for a first-rate club to strike, a majority of 1/3 (in
the first General Assembly) required up to 1/5 (in the third General Assembly) of the
regular members, now will require a majority of 50% , thus virtually eliminating the right
to strike. In addition, the provisions relating to "accidents at work" are modified at the
moment when the killings and the collapse of workers are rising on the altar of capitalist
and state profitability and development so that the employer is no longer accountable for
their responsibility,
At the same time, it enlarges the arsenal of bosses, enhancing the modern working middle
age that has been established in recent years, which is baptized once again as
"development" and "modernization". Typically we include the abolition of Sunday holidays
(52 Sundays per year), liberalized hours, new salary and pension cuts, redundancies in the
public sector, reduction or abolition of various allowances, maintenance of the
possibility of collective redundancies and abolition collective agreements as well as
various regulations that give the top hand to employers with regard to the possibility of
redundancies, but also in relation to the possible claim of employees accruing Joining.
At the same time, tax robbery continues at the expense of the poor strata, houses come to
the hammer through electronic auctions and suppression of the movement in peace courts,
while the droughts that share as a reward for permanent social outrage, such as the social
dividend, are not enough to gain the consensus of society in the implementation of
barbaric state policies. That is why it is increasingly increasing the repression of those
who resist its plans.
Against the violent devaluation of our lives, we all of us under the world, the workers,
the unemployed, the youth, the locals and the immigrants, knowing our real needs, have to
take life in our hands, organize and fight , collectively, self-organized and uninvolved,
in every social and workplace, in schools and faculties, workplaces, neighborhoods and
streets, away from any party and syndicalist manipulation that inevitably leads to the
weakening and being degeneration social and class movement. With grassroots clubs,
neighborhood assemblies, and racing groups of youth, students, students and workers to set
up docks in the state and capitalist attack that is gigantic.
There is another way. Without state and bosses. Without exploitation and oppression.
Through the social revolution, through the building of a new society of equality,
solidarity and freedom. The society of libertarian communism, the federal revolutionary
councils that will function "for Freedom of Everyone and Equality of All".
COLLECTIVE GAMES - MECHANICAL RESISTANCE -
SOCIAL AUTORING - CLASSICAL SOLIDARITY
CONCENTRATION AGAINST THE VOTE OF THE POLYGRAPH -
MONDAY 15/1 AT 6 PM IN THE PL. OLGA
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Message: 3
Last weekend Brigthton Solidarity Federation organised a protest against Youngs letting
agency and in support of tenant facing a revenge eviction. The emergency action follows
recent decision of a landlord of one of the properties managed by Youngs to evict a tenant
after he asked for essential repairs of his home, and to be remunerated for repair works
he had undertaken and paid for himself. The tenant, who has been organising with Brighton
Solidarity Federation Housing Union, has had to live for years in unsafe, neglected
accommodation, which has included a collapsing ceiling, damp, an uninhabitable bedroom,
and poor exterior construction work. Instead of dealing with the repairs, the landlord,
with support of Youngs, served the tenant with eviction notice.
The well attended protest took place last Saturday in front of Youngs offices on Upper St
James Street in Brighton. Youngs' response to demands for safe conditions for tenants was
to call the police and to say that "people receiving housing benefit should get a job or
be evicted".
Last year, Brighton SolFed has started a public dispute with Youngs after two tenants have
been organising in regards to structural damp, presence of severe black mould and overall
dilapidation issues that created unsafe living conditions - dangerous to the tenants'
health - throughout their tenancies at two separate properties managed by the agency.
Along with the tenants, Brighton SolFed wrote to Youngs in November, explaining the issues
and outlining options for redress. Youngs chose to ignore this letter and, despite a
further contact from SolFed and the tenants highlighting the demands, the two-week
deadline for their response passed. Consequently, along with the tenants, Brighton SolFed
has begun a public dispute with Youngs. This began with a picket outside the branch on
Monday 4th December, which recieved shows of solidarity from members of public and
encouraged another Youngs tenant to contact SolFed to explain details of their own
grievance with the agency, and several others shared similar stories of their past issues
with Youngs.
https://freedomnews.org.uk/brighton-solfed-stands-up-to-youngs-letting-agency/
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Message: 4
The International Union of Solidarity and Struggles (RSISL) was established in March 2013
during the meeting organized by Solidaires in Saint-Denis (France). It is the product of
years of exchanges and common work between several organizations. foundations, on the
basis of common trade union orientations and practices of many countries in the Americas,
Europe, Africa and Asia. ---- The RSISL tries to provide itself with a tool in common to
all the union forces that claim and practice a syndicalism of anti-capitalist,
self-managed, democratic, environmentalist struggles, independent of bosses and
governments, internationalist and against all forms of oppression. (machismo, racism,
homophobia, xenophobia). Workers' democracy, the self-organization of workers and workers
are also among the common references.
CGT is responsible for organizing the III Meeting, which will take place in Madrid in
January 2018. The challenge is to consolidate the relationships that have been established
electronically during this time, to appreciate with the face-to-face debate the nuances
that can not be given in emails or, even, by phone, advance the debates that we have in
progress and, above all, specify lines of work to continue weaving network and,
increasingly, achieve effectiveness of our efforts.
The RSIL wants to build a system based on common assets, on the redistribution of wealth
between those who create it, that is, the workers, based on their rights and on an
ecologically sustainable development. The syndicalism that defends the RSIL combines the
defense of the immediate interests of the workers, and the desire for profound social
change. It is not limited to the claim of the economic field, includes issues such as the
right to housing, land, equality between men and women, anti-racism, the fight against
homophobia and xenophobia, ecology, anticolonialism, etc.
https://www.cgt-lkn.org/blog/archivos/4851
------------------------------
Message: 5
NHS privatisation Richard Branson ---- Good old Sir Richard Branson has once again managed
to get himself to the front of the queue for state handouts. Having spent years
channelling public money into massive profits at Virgin Rail, he is now turning his
attention to milking the NHS. Figures released in January 2018 show that his company,
Virgin Care, won a record £1bn worth of NHS contracts in 2017. Added to already existing
contracts, this means that Virgin Care now has over 400 separate NHS contracts. Funny how
these arch free market capitalists, such as Branson, seem to be able to swallow their
anti-state principles when it comes to claiming state subsidies. Good old Sir Richard even
took this to the extent of suing the NHS in 2017 when Virgin Care lost an £82m contract.
In the process he won an undisclosed sum that otherwise would have been wasted on treating
sick people.
However, try not worry, capitalist pin up boy Branson's love of the state does not extend
to paying UK taxes. All his companies come under a single parent company, Virgin Group
Holdings, based in the Virgin Islands, which just happens to be a tax haven. He has moved
on since being prosecuted for tax evasion in 1971, learning quickly that it is ok not to
pay taxes in the UK just as long as you wealthy enough and well enough connected.
Perhaps we are being a bit too cynical here; after all, when it was first disclosed that
good old Sir Richard pays no UK taxes, he explained that he lived on his private Caribbean
island, Necker Island, for health rather than tax reasons. No doubt he will bring this
concern for health the NHS to ensure that Virgin Care runs its contracts in the same way
Virgin Rail runs trains. The difference, however, is that the "customers" will pay the
cost, not in terms of overcrowded and continually late trains, but rather in terms of
damage to their health.
Nor should we run away with the idea that Branson's failings are limited to Virgin trains.
Behind the winning smile and easy manner, the country's favourite entrepreneur has a long
history of failed businesses. Virgin Cola, hailed by Branson in 1994 as the inevitable
successor to Coca-Cola, has practically disappeared. Virgin Clothes, launched on the stock
exchange in 1996, folded with losses to shareholders. Virgin Money was launched with a
glitzy advertisement featuring Branson emerging naked from the sea, but did not deliver
the expected big financial rewards. Then came Virgin Vie, Virgin Vision, Virgin Vodka,
Virgin Wine, Virgin Jeans, Virgin Brides, Virgin Cosmetics and Virgin Cars, none of them
fulfilling their creator's inflated dreams.
Virgin Express, an airline based in Brussels, was intended to rival easyJet, but the
original investors on the stock market lost their money. Similarly, the McCarthy brothers,
who invested over £30m in V2, Branson's second music company, lost all their money and
faced personal bankruptcy. Australians who invested in the 2003 flotation of Virgin Blue,
a no-frills airline, rewarded Branson with over £200m for a stake of his original
investment. Initially the airline was successful, but soon after Branson pocketed the
money, shareholders watched the share price fall. Similarly, plans in which GPs would be
paid or, more accurately bribed for referring NHS patients to private Virgin services were
abandoned in June 2008. The BMA warned that the plan would "damage clinical objectivity",
as there would be a financial incentive for GPs to push patients toward the Virgin services.
Nor is the problem limited to the fact that the only way good old Sir Richard seems able
to make companies successful is by ripping off either the taxpayer or the investors. Over
the years he has been involved some "underhanded business practices" - we can never use
the term "criminal activities" when discussing what rich people get up to. For example, in
2006 competition authorities in both the UK and US investigated price-fixing activities by
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. British Airways was fined £271 million over the
allegations while good old Sir Richard received no fine, which the Office of Fair Trading
defended as being in the "public interest", as Virgin Atlantic had cooperated in helping
to prosecute British Airways.
Given good old Sir Richard's dodgy record, you might be wondering why the Tories are
handing over NHS contracts to Virgin. Well, there is a bit of a problem here. The Tories,
for ideological reasons, hate the NHS; in fact they hate just about any human activity not
motivated by greed and narrow self-interest. But they face a British electorate that
steadfastly refuses to accept the free market orthodoxy that the level of health care
received should be determined by the size of a person's purse. Knowing that outright
privatisation would result in electoral suicide, the Tories have embarked on a two stage
privatisation. They are running the NHS into the ground by starving it of funds while, at
the same time, slowly selling off the NHS a piece at a time.
The first part of the strategy is well underway with the NHS in a state of almost
permanent crisis. At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the annual "winter
crisis". The aim of this state of permanent crisis is to slowly erode confidence in the
NHS until a point where people feel there is little choice but wholesale privatisation. We
are now constantly being told that the nation can no longer afford the NHS. The second
part of the strategy is also beginning to pick up a pace. The figures for 2017 show that
£3.1bn of NHS contracts were won by private sector companies, which represents more than
two fifths (43%) of a total of £7.2bn in contracts tendered by the NHS, and outstrips the
£2.55bn (35%) of tenders won by NHS trusts. Meanwhile, that other privatisation Trojan
horse, the "not-for-profit" sector, won £1.53bn (21%) of contracts. Given this scale of
privatisation, it is only a question of time before the NHS becomes a minority provider of
health services.
In going about privatisation, the Tories have learnt a trick or two from that close friend
of good old Sir Richard, good old Tony Blair, by keeping services free at the point of use
while slowly privatising the service providers. The problem is that these privatised
service providers often make a complete hash of things. There are numerous examples to
choose from: Serco ended its contract to provide out of hours GPs after staff falsified
data about its performance while Coperforma's £63.5m takeover of non-urgent patient
transport to hospital ended shambolically after patients awaiting dialysis and
chemotherapy missed vital appointments. The point here is that, if the Tories'
privatisation plans are to work, you cannot have companies that take over NHS services
continually fucking things up.
Enter man of the people and all round Mr Nice Guy, good old Sir Richard. Though his
reputation may have been tarnished of late, the one thing Branson is good at, apart from
making money, is public relations. A few well placed, well publicised donations to the
right causes, along with the backing of the media, and it is not hard to see him regain
his status as a national treasure, a national treasure at the head of an increasingly
monolithic private health provider kept afloat by public subsidies and capable of
challenging the dominance of the NHS. This, in other words, is a Tory wet dream, which
might explain why Virgin Care won just under a third of the total number of NHS contracts
awarded to the private sector in 2017.
As anarcho-syndicalists, we have many criticisms of the way the NHS works, not least its
totally undemocratic structures. Though we favour a community controlled and run health
service, we find the prospect of people's health being handed over to the tender loving
care of the likes of Branson utterly appalling. So be aware, if privatisation is not
stopped and you are unfortunate enough to get ill, you may be faced with having to look at
giant pictures of the smiling face of good old Sir Richard in the ambulance, in the
hospital, in the operating theatre and, well, just about everywhere. Some might think
death would be more preferable. Let's hope for better luck next time good old Sir Richard
crashes his hot air balloon!!!
http://www.solfed.org.uk/manchester/the-alarming-rise-of-bransons-virgin-care-and-the-threat-to-the-nhs
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Message: 6
"If I were involved in civil society, I would certainly tend to see things through the
prism of daily achievements ; being in the armed struggle, I receive above all the echoes
of what is wrong!" ---- Libertarian Alternative reproduces the posts of the blog
Kurdistan-Autogestion-Revolution where, after our comrade Arthur Aberlin, engaged in the
YPG, now expresses Damien Keller, another comrade, engaged him in the International
Liberation Battalion (IFB). ---- Over the weeks, he will testify to life in the IFB, the
debates that are going on and the evolution of the revolutionary process in the Democratic
Federation of Northern Syria. ---- International Liberation Battalion, Canton of Cizîrê,
January 17, 2018 ---- Hello everyone ! ---- As my comrade Arthur Aberlin said earlier , I
am a libertarian communist activist, currently in Syrian Kurdistan. I arrived at the end
of summer 2017, a few days after the Syrian Democratic Forces took Raqqa, and joined the
International Freedom Battalion (IFB).
I will probably have less to report than Arthur, having not had the opportunity to go up
to the front. It may be that I never go up there, because of the collapse of the Islamic
State ... and unless the Turkish State launches an offensive against the Democratic
Federation of Northern Syria !
I will nevertheless bring you facts, observed by myself or reported by other comrades. I
will also try to cross the information, so as not to peddle rumors. It will also be
personal analyzes, reflections on the current revolutionary process.
A political necessity
In my chronicles, there will be criticism ; it may be even most of my writings. Two
reasons for that. The first is a political necessity: if we have talked a lot about the
revolutionary process in Rojava, we have not sufficiently pointed out the weaknesses. The
second is simply where I am: if I were engaged in civil society, I would certainly tend to
see things through the prism of daily achievements ; being in the armed struggle, I
receive above all the echoes of what is wrong !
The French far left has mostly limited its support for the revolution in Rojava to a few
press releases and participation in solidarity demonstrations. A minority even turned
their backs on the grounds that this revolution did not correspond sufficiently to its
ideological " demands ", and that it accepted the weapons delivered by the imperialist
states at the time of the " common front " against the Islamic State. . However, it did so
only because it could not expect significant logistical support from the international
revolutionary workers' movement, which was too weak or too sectarian for it.
Refusing any support, even minimal, for these reasons, is to risk ethnocentrism, with an
inadequate analysis grid, focused solely on the conditions that one knows on one's own
territory, in one's own society. Such an error can only lead to sulking all non-Western
revolutions. A true commitment of our organizations is a necessity. It implies a work of
analysis, explanations of the revolutionary process, financial support, a human commitment
(whether civil or armed) without sectarianism or revolutionary romanticism.
Damien Keller
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Un-communiste-libertaire-dans-l-IFB-Dans-mes-chroniques-il-y-aura-de-la
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Message: 7
On Saturday 20 and Sunday, January 21, comrades and comrades from the Anarchist Political
Organization will be invited to Turkey, invited by DAF, to speak at two political events
in two locations in the 26A Collective in Istanbul. ---- Internationalist solidarity and
common struggles against modern totalitarianism, nationalism, the State, capitalism and
patriarchy. ---- Following is the announcement of DAF partners about the events: ----
"Anarchist Political Organization (APO), consisting of collectives from Athens,
Thessaloniki, Patras and Corfu, describes its own organizational experience, it speaks of
the anarchist movement in Greece, the political situation and solidarity on the two
geographical sides of the Mediterranean. ---- The first event will take 70 minutes and
will take place on Saturday at 17:00 at the Kadiköy 26A Collective and will focus on the
organizational experience of APO. The second event will focus on the experiences of
anarchist newspapers with the participation of comrades from the newspaper Earth and
Freedom of APO and Comrades from the Meydan newspaper in the Taksim 26A college at 16:00
on Sunday.
Excerpt from an APD announcement to solidarity with DAF fighters
TURKEY'S INTEGRATED STATES AGAINST, RUNNERS AND SLAUGHTERS
The repressive campaign of the Turkish state has in recent years been manifested by war
operations in Kurdish areas, massive persecution and murderous attacks on resistance
movements and revolutionary organizations. This campaign is getting worse today, following
the failed coup d'état last July and the expansion of the State of Emergency. From the
streets of Greece, we express our solidarity with DAF anarchist revolutionaries and the
Meydan newspaper as well as those fighting in Turkey against state totalitarianism,
keeping alive the vision for a world of equality, solidarity and freedom.
VENTILATION IN WAR, EXCEPTION AND MODERN INTEGRATION
ORGANIZATION AND FIGHT AGAINST WORLD SOCIAL REVOLUTION, ANARCHY AND FREEDOM COMMEMORATION
Anarchist Political Organization - Federation of Collectivities
http://apo.squathost.com/
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