Today's Topics:
1. wsm.ie: The Fenian Proclamation (1867) vs the 1916
Proclamation - the lost radicalism of Irish republicanism
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. London Anarchist Communists: Ideas and Struggles: Anarchism
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, CONCENTRATION AT THE KARAGIANNI LIST 37 AND
ANTIPASSISTIC PATHIA By APO (gr) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Britain, anarchist communist group ACG Meetings in April
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Poland, rozbrat.org: The domino effect, ie potatoes and
mandarins Jackdaw [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #281 - Aveyron: Take off
your big blades from there (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. zabalaza.net: New Labour Bills attack workers' rights and
democracy By Jonathan Payn (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Considering the fact the Anarchist Communism as a coherent and easily transmutable
ideology only came to be during the 1870's and 1880's the Fenian Proclamation of 1867 is
striking in its progressiveness and clarity of thought. A product of the Irish Famine,
English economic and military Imperialism in Ireland and a tradition of insurrectionary
attempts against Imperialist rule, the original Fenians of 1867 should be viewed as proto
socialistic in their values and analysis. ---- This is not to say they were Anarchists or
close, they were most definitely Republican statists, who organised for an almost purely
military strike against Imperialism, as opposed to the destruction of the state and
working class/farmer self-activity for the destruction of exploitation and Imperialism and
the creation of a cooperative society.
It is worth however comparing the much more well known 1916 Proclamation against the
Fenian Proclamation of 1876, in order to highlight the Nationalistic, bourgeois turn of
the mainstream republican movement in Ireland away from traditional Fenianism. The 1916
proclamation should remain an important point in our history, but like anything, it is not
above critical analysis-what forces produced it, the context it was wrote in and how it
affects our present. As the thinking and history of the period is still very much
influential for todays Republican movement it is especially important to critically
analyse it. Without a proper understanding of such a pivotal time and the influences it
has today we cannot even attempt to shape the future.
Background to the 1916 Proclamation.
Toward the end of the 1800's the role of the Catholic Church was central to the popular
interpretation of the 1798 Rebellion as a fight for ‘Faith and Fatherland' and as
‘'Nationalist defenders'' against foreign influence.This interpretation was the polar
opposite to the secularist radical republicanism of the Irish Republican Brotherhood which
traced its origins to the Fenians and further back to the Society of United Irishmen and
the French Revolution.
While the Catholic Church in Ireland, as elsewhere, had opposed the revolutionary violence
unleashed by the French Revolution, a century later it viewed the Irish Rebellion of 1798
as a struggle of the Irish Catholic people for their religion against alien oppression.The
stress was on the cruelties of the British colonial establishment and the suppression of
Religious rights. A leading propagandist for this romantic, clericalist and nationalist
interpretation was Father Patrick Kavanagh, a Franciscan historian. The arguments were
largely a reaction against the Irish unionist interpretation of the Rebellion as a
manifestation of Catholic sectarian savagery--an interpretation maintained to this day by
‘West Brit' and Unionist sectors of Irish Society.
Kavanagh's popular history of the rebellion was re-issued several times since the 1870s
and formed the interpretation which lay behind the 1798 commemorations in County Wexford.
It was during this period that Republicanism became infused with Nationalist and Catholic
defender sentiments. Kavanagh stressed the role of the church as friend of the people and
of heroic priest leaders, like Father John Murphy of Boolavogue- despite the fact that the
church overwhelmingly opposed the rising and it was only a tiny minority of non-compliant
priests who took part. Kavanagh's history of 1798 was first published in the aftermath of
the failed Fenian rising of 1867, and quickly became the popularly accepted account of 1798.
In the years after ‘the Great Famine' the Catholic church had something of a strangle-hold
on Irish life meaning it had the social weight to shape public opinion to a large degree.
The 1898 celebrations which took place throughout the county had a strategic political
angle at the time, and dominance for centrality in the celebrations was hotly contested.
Different political groupings vied for control to commemorate the rising, even within the
Nationalist camp Leaders such as Redmond and Dillon competed for control, but, overall, it
was the Nationalists who won the fight over radical Republican interpretations of the Rising.
The commemorations were not just a remembrance of historic events, but were used by a
growing nationalist movement in the 1890s, centred around the politicians of the Irish
Parliamentary Party to project their ideology. It was an alliance of grassroots Catholic
and nationalist forces-one that has largely remained in the Republican movement, in some
form, to this day.
These events, along with the Celtic revival greatly influenced Republican movement at the
time, sowing the seeds for what would become the thinking of the modern Republican
movement. This 30-40 year period after the 1867 rising is of utmost importance for
understanding the modern Republican movement. It was a time when Republicanism became
imbued with overtly Nationalist sentiments at an ideological and leadership level. Meaning
that today the terms Nationalist and Republican are more often than not, used interchangeably.
Interestingly this was also the period when the modern form of the Republican movement
came into being, an open (Republican/Nationalist) party --opening the road to
constitutional, electoral politics--, twinned with a conspiratorial militant secret wing
and involvement by members of the Catholic clergy in Nationalist issues.
A broad church movement, its single unifying core is the removal of British administration
in Ireland--unlike the Fenians--and the establishment of a 32-county unified Irish state
as an end goal. While many have attempted to slip in Socialist thought and a general form
of anti-Imperialism into the movement, every attempt has failed to become mainstream. It
would rip apart the Republican-Nationalist movements very ideological and organisational
base to make such a change (as was seen in the late 1960's).
The Republican-Nationalist movement has had to continually re-found itself over the last
100 years as forces within began to question the vast ideological inconsistencies of the
movement--most eventually abandoning Revolutionary politics altogether and joining the
enemies camp as the inconsistencies mounted, others abandoning mainstream Republicanism
for the minority Socialistic trends which re-grouped outside of the movement or create
short lived small ‘Socialist-Republican' organisations.
This is a direct result of the absolutist and binary nationalist model proposed by
‘traditionalist' (largely meaning Nationalist) Republicans, a kind of all or nothing style
of outlook, nothing in between, or outside that model is given serious consideration.
Along with the mimicking/mirroring of the hierarchical structures of British dominance,
this thinking is based in the world view of the Nationalist fervor of the 1910's,
compounded over the years by a bunker mentality that was sustained by state onslaughts
against the movement.
This is not just a theoretical or historical comparison over the wording of two historical
documents but is central to understanding the modern Republican movement.
It will be highlighted by comparison that it was the ethos, thinking and ideology behind
the 1916 Proclamation that won out and stills forms the backbone a Republicanism in
Ireland today. If the major influence had been the 1867 proclamation we would be looking
at a very different Republican movement today, possible even an explicitly Socialistic
one--instead of Socialist thought forming a tiny minority trend within the wider
republican family.
The first quote comes from the 1867 Fenian Proclamation, the second from the 1916 document.
"complete separation of Church and State" ,as opposed to, "In the name of God", "We place
the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing
we invoke upon our arms," ect, clearly theres a logical contradiction between these two
quotes, one could quite possible would lead you down the rational, scientific, even
atheistic route-the other the religious, even zealotry route.
"and we declare, in the face of our brethren, that we intend no war against the people of
England"-clearly anti-nationalist, leaning towards national liberation as opposed to "The
long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government", these are two very
different statements, one gracious anti-nationalism, the other bordering on xenophobia and
open nationalism. The inclusion of "a foreign people" clearly associates the ordinary
working class of Britain with the imperialist expansionism of its Capitalist government.
As reactionary nationalist as it gets.
"which shall secure to all the intrinsic value of their labour. The soil of Ireland, at
present in the possession of an oligarchy, belongs to us, the Irish people, and to us it
must be restored.","- our war is against the aristocratic locusts, whether English or
Irish, who have eaten the verdure of our fields - against the aristocratic leeches who
drain alike our fields and theirs."-clearly socialistic and explicitly anti-Nationalist
here, maybe even implying Davitt style decentralised land ownership and definitely
including explicit class warfare against all exploiters, irrespective of nationality, as a
central part of struggle for freedom--something unimaginable within the mainstream
Republican movement today.
While the 1916 document gives one short line, that in the context of the rest of the
document doesn't mean much, "We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the
ownership of Ireland,''-this could mean anything from socialist to capitalist ownership,
and anything in between and in the context of the rest of the piece and what happened
after the war of independence--most likely reactionary Capitalistic.
There are at least 5 socialistic references/lines in the Fenian document as opposed to one
vague in relation to "ownership" in the 1916 document. This is a common trend within the
1916 document, it is somewhat vague while the 1876 document leaves little room for
doubting who it considers the enemies ( "aristocratic leeches" ) and therefore the
implicit proposals for a new Ireland. The vagueness of lines such as "cherish all children
of the nation equally", especially with the continuous references to "God", easily lead
many, of an already unscientific, traditional Catholic nationalist mindset to see no
contradiction with harsh anti-choice positions, while still formally subscribing to
traditional ‘republican' concepts such as individual liberty.
"Republicans of the entire world, our cause is your cause. Our enemy is your enemy. Let
your hearts be with us. As for you, workmen of England, it is not only your hearts we
wish, but your arms."-clearly internationalist, expressing solidarity beyond borders ect,
as opposed to, "and by gallant allies in Europe,"-which referenced military support
republicans in 1916 received from Imperialist Germany, which was forthcoming only as part
of Germany's strategic war efforts in Europe. Considering the fact that mainstream
Republicans made close contacts with Nazi Germany during the second world war in order to
further their national ambitions, this discrepancy between a solidaristic Internationalist
position in the 1867 piece and the mention of collusion with foreign Imperialists in the
1916 piece should not be taken lightly.
"We therefore declare that, unable longer to endure the curse of Monarchical
Government,"-This is clearly French republican style sentiment, nowhere in the 1916
document is Monarchy mentioned, while nationalist sentiments are throughout it.
The only similarities between the two documents are their assertion of the right of
subjected populations to national liberation through force of arms (something Anarchists
would agree with) and their explicit statism for the creation of a new hierarchical
political system, separate from that of the Imperialists.
Despite many Republicans claiming otherwise there is nothing hugely contradictory about
the ideology of the 1916 document with the nationalist ideology and political disposition
of groupings such as the Blueshirt Fascists in the 1930's, the collusion with Nazi Germany
or the establishment of the 26 county republic as a "stepping stone" to national
liberation--all of these moves could be justified by one part or another from the ethos of
the Republicanism of the 1910's, which had significantly moved away from its Fenian roots.
Author: Stephen Heart
https://wsm.ie/c/fenian-proclamation-1867-vs-1916-proclamation
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Message: 2
Anarchism today is part of a long tradition of thought and struggle. This discussion
meeting, presented by Brian Morris, will show how many of the ideas of past anarchists,
such as Bakunin and Kropotkin, are still relevant today. The reason for this is that their
ideas emerged from actual struggles of the working class. However, this does not mean that
we should treat these ideas as religious doctrine. They were very much products of their
time and issues such as the oppression of women were not at the forefront of their
thinking. Though many of the fundamental conditions are still the same, like capitalism
and the State, there have been many changes and new struggles which have become relevant.
Therefore we need to look for new ideas. But where do we look? The corridors of
universities or people involved in struggles? Brian will focus on environmentalism as one
of the important new struggles.
Brian Morris is the the author of books on Bakunin , Kropotkin, Ecology and Anarchism,.
Convened by London Anarchist Communist Group
7pm, Thursday, April 19th at May Day Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4 1DH
Plenty of time for discussion, refreshments provided.
Posted by London Anarchist Communists
https://londonacg.blogspot.co.il/2018/04/ideas-and-struggles-anarchism-yesterday.html
------------------------------
Message: 3
NO FAASTIC ATTENTION WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE! ---- On Friday March 30, 2018, parastatal
fascists tried to fire the occupation occupation CY37 with four Molotovs who threw the
building at 2.20am. The fires were instantly extinguished by the comrades who were in the
occupation at that time. On Tuesday, February 13, another arson-assassination attempt had
taken place, when at the dawn of the dawn of the occupied building, three molotovs of
fascists were fired at the dawn. ---- These attacks are part of a series of fascist
threats and attacks on self-organized combat venues and militants that have taken place
lately alongside state-repressive operations and come as a follow-up to the attempted
nationalist outburst fueled by the mass rallies of the resurrected from the deep national
state, on the occasion of the so-called Macedonian issue.
AGAINST STATE AND TEMPORARY ATTEMPTS
NO DELIVERY - NO RECONCILIATION
CONCENTRATION IN LILAS KARAGIANNIS CONTRACTION 37
AND ANTIPASSISTIC STREET - INTERVENTION IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF KYPSELIS
THIRD 3 APRIL, AT 6 MM
30 YEARS OF CREATION CY37
in the streets of fighting resistance, class solidarity and social self-organization
http://apo.squathost.com
------------------------------
Message: 4
London ACG Public Meeting 19/4/18 ---- Ideas and Struggles: Anarchism Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow ---- Anarchism today is part of a long tradition of thought and struggle. This
discussion meeting, presented by Brian Morris, will show how many of the ideas of past
anarchists, such as Bakunin and Kropotkin, are still relevant today. The reason for this
is that their ideas emerged from actual struggles of the working class. However, this does
not mean that we should treat these ideas as religious doctrine. They were very much
products of their time and issues such as the oppression of women were not at the
forefront of their thinking. Though many of the fundamental conditions are still the same,
like capitalism and the State, there have been many changes and new struggles which have
become relevant. Therefore we need to look for new ideas. But where do we look? The
corridors of universities or people involved in struggles? Brian will focus on
environmentalism as one of the important new struggles. Brian Morris is the the author of
books on Bakunin , Kropotkin, Ecology and Anarchism.
7pm, Thursday 19th April at May Day Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4 1DH
Leicester Anarchist Communist Group Meeting 25/4/18
With Allies Like These
This month's ACG libertarian socialist discussion meeting discusses the document With
Allies Like These: Reflections on Privilege Reductionism by the now defunct Canadian
group, Common Cause. The pamphlet criticises the theory and practice of anti-oppression
politics. Wednesday 25th April at 7.30pm at the Regent Sports & Social Club, 102 Regent
Road, Leicester LE1 7DA. More info from Leicester ACG.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2018/04/01/acg-meetings-in-april/
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Message: 5
In the last week, a lot is said about compassion, about helping. All thanks to Dominika
Kulczyk - co-owner of Kulczyk Investments operating in 30 countries around the world and
president of Kulczyk Foundation, also present in 30 countries (case?). In connection with
this second activity, it appears in the documentary series "Domino effect", in which, as
described by one of the portals: "'Domino effect' can not be stopped. One good deed
entails the next. This program is the best example of how any wise support can trigger a
series of positive changes in the lives of entire communities. This time Dominika Kulczyk
helps where the problem of hunger and malnutrition, especially among the youngest, is the
most visible ". The concept is quite good and the idea seems right, especially since
Easter time, and Jesus taught help to his neighbor. Billboards have appeared in cities in
Poland, where we can see Dominika holding a black child. Children catch their hearts, so
it is not surprising when an interview with the heroine appears quickly in one of the
magazines. Kulczyk convinces him that such activity is her duty. Because as a teenager she
was richer than other peers because she had mandarins.
And the domino effect began. Over the past year, the Radio Tok Tok FM awards Anna Laszuk,
activists of the Forest Camp, mentioned that Kulczyk Investments, sponsoring this award,
is doing something wrong, that they envy her money, which her dad hardly earned. In his
commentary on the matter, Wojciech Staszewski writes about the envy of potato eaters
against mandarin eater. The other side in the Niger Delta is an environmental disaster.
From the same Camp one of the activists resigns from applying for a different prize,
because he does not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dominika Kulczyk, also
nominated to her. In the meantime, there are texts, opinions, columns, people argue in the
comments. Some support Dominika as an excellent philanthropist, the heroine of the "third
world" and accuse her opponents while shouting that the Niger Delta, that Tunisia.
To find out a little about how Dominika Kulczyk is able to help children around the world,
you need to see where her income comes from, as well as her foundation. To do this, just
visit the Kulczyk Investments website. We will find all investments there. Half of them
are associated with the extraction of natural resources such as oil, gas, coal and gold in
Africa and Latin America, the most controversial from the point of view of local
communities businesses, which are not without reason leading to numerous protests, often
bloodily suppressed. The Kulczyk Foundation provides assistance on these continents. Of
course, not only are the companies under Kulczyk's control gaining raw materials in the
countries of the global South. The importance of this type of mining industry and its
consequences is indicated, for example, by the short films of the Institute of Global
Responsibility, which is worth seeing before reading the next part of the text: "The
secret of your smartphone" .
Let's take a closer look at the activities of some of the consortia of the Kulczyk family.
Let's start with Neconde Energy Limited. Her description of the aforementioned portfolio
is: "A consortium that bought from Shell a 45% participation in the OML 42 license in the
Niger delta, one of the largest hydrocarbon pools in the world. Participation in the
Neconde consortium gives Kulczyk Investments access to very attractive mining assets in
Africa. "Is. Famous and loud in recent days Delta Niger, so much invoked by ecologists. In
2008 and 2009, there were leaks that polluted the water, destroyed the arable land, and
the oil spot was 200 km long. It deprived of drinking water and ruined the lives of tens
of thousands of people in the region. At that time Kulczyk Neconde appeared, which bought
the license of compromised Shell. It was quite a successful investment - Shell remained
with the consequences and leakage to clean up, and Neconde cheaply acquired a "vein of
gold". At that time, there was no humanitarian action on their part. They earned the cost
of destroying the house of 30 million people, including many children, while the "Domino
Effect" helped 600,000 people, according to what Dominika says.
The next company is Serinus, which was previously called Kulczyk Oil Ventures, and it has
recently shown only losses. Mainly due to the fact that he invests in unstable regions,
seeking oil and gas. They were, among others Syria before the war, Ukraine against armed
conflict and Tunisia. Investment in the last country was loud in the last year, when the
company lost access to the oil fields occupied by workers in the strike. This was due to
redundancies in refineries. Someone will say - but for a moment they got a job. Only,
unfortunately, the mining industry has it, that it appears on some terrain, pollutes the
environment, it does work for some time, but leaves later inhabitants with sterilized
land, without prospects and opportunities for survival and a destabilized region. Workers
in Tunisia, fighting for decent living conditions, they die during the police attacks, and
all this so that companies such as Kulczyk Serinus could regain control of their
investments at the price of blood. Let us remind you that it was on these people and their
work in refineries and mines that the Kulczyk family grew hard from the desk.
In the fourth edition of Dominik's Effect, Dominika Kulczyk will conduct activities in the
refugee camp. And here it is worth looking at the next company - San Leon Energy. By
entering this name in the search engine, a video appears . There is a refugee camp, lots
of children and a protest against San Leon. The woman explains that through the activities
of this company they are deprived of basic products such as water and do not want them on
their premises. Not to mention the fact that this company extracts for the occupant,
through which they found themselves in this situation. I wonder if there will be a program
about them ...
And the last company I want to look at. Autostrada Eksploatacja SA, a company with a large
part of the A2 motorway, the most expensive motorway in Europe. It was a smart game,
because initially Jan Kulczyk downloaded foreign brands to Poland. He made the first
fortune on this. To make additional profits on this investment, he agreed with the Polish
government and entered the construction of A2. Thanks to this, he could earn a second time
on high fares. And the salary is considerable, because in 2011 it amounted to PLN 400
million. Kulczyk Investments explains that he must cover all motorway maintenance costs
and pay VAT on ticket sales. At that time, for example, Switzerland is able to remove from
the driver for a year the amount of money for driving all motorways, which Autostrada SA
once for a two-way journey. And he is unable to give the state 800 million zlotys plus
interest for which she has robbed us all (including hospitals, orphanages and canteens in
which the Kulczyk Foundation operates), overestimating the forecasts for lorry travel on
the motorway. This is how the Kulczyk family honestly earns their charity and their
mandarins at the expense of potato eater.
Based on the data provided by the Kulczyk Investments website itself, it can be clearly
stated that Dominika Kulczyk is not a philanthropist. She is a simple hypocrite who made a
living for the unhappiness of others and that her father had (what he needed to give away)
the head of business. And the basic problem here is not - as some like Staszewski say -
envy to eat mandarins. Let them eat them. The problem is that the juice of these mandarins
is mixed with human blood and tears: working in the mines and killed on protests, as well
as those who have been forced to leave their lands, because they are unfit for life due to
ecological catastrophes. If she really wants to help these people, she should close the
interests in the countries of the global South, and money earned on them to invest in land
reclamation and help former employees and farmers. And so we have the "domino effect": to
use, to earn, to destroy, to send a trap to help, to show how cool you are. Tell the media
about it, to show how you can help with the money you earn. And in the meantime, continue
to exploit and finally abandon the interest, leaving the population in an unfit ecosystem.
Jackdaw
http://www.rozbrat.org/publicystyka/walka-klas/4610-efekt-domina-czyli-ziemniaki-i-mandarynki
------------------------------
Message: 6
Far from being an energy alternative, the government's renewable energy policy only renews
capitalism. And arouses specific local opposition. Example of the gigantic project of
industrial wind turbines in South-Aveyron. ---- The state abandoned the airport project at
Notre-Dame-des-Landes. But he promised to let go against other struggles opposed to
unnecessary or dangerous big projects. This is the case of the " energy highway project
in Saint-Victor-et-Melvieu " in Aveyron. ---- The Amassada (" assembly " in Occitan)
brings together the opponents of South-Aveyron, farmers and women workers, public and
private workers, pensioners, precarious and unemployed. Their motivation is also to secure
another future and another world for their children than the one promised by politicians
and capitalists who want to force the protection of private interests by force.
The Amassada is now facing the imminence of the declaration of public interest and its
consequences: deportation decisions, multiplication of police and judicial procedures.
Already today, intimidation, lawsuits, police custody, political maneuvers, everything is
good to use the adversary, either morally or by the wallet. The answer can only be the
enlargement of the movement.
Renewable energies and proximity
Proximity is fashionable in governmental and capitalist discourses. But the only reality
of their projects is the gigantism and colonization of a supposedly deserted territory.
Because it is necessary to distinguish well a proximity energy and the governmental
program of renewable energies. The Grands Causses wind project (Aveyron, Tarn and Lozère)
provides for a thousand wind turbines and a mega-transformer. These industrial wind
turbines are of no use to the populations concerned. Because this wind power project is
first dedicated to export.
Far from being a step towards an energy alternative, this project is part of a
restructuring of capitalist industry, thus continuing the exploitation of peoples and
lands, particularly within the mines distributed in the countries of the South. The
complexity of the techniques used makes it unlikely that they will be appropriated locally.
An energy alternative will certainly use the same renewable energy sources. But it can
only be part of another way of life. Also, the Amassada calls for self-management, sharing
of practices and knowledge, with the aim of creating a common culture - not an
exclusionary identity.
His strong point ? The seven-hectare site on which the transformer is to be built
comprises a small plot of 2,000 m² " owned " by an undivided ownership of one hundred
and thirty owners. For the Amassada, with its parties, songs, buildings and small
self-generating wind turbine, the essential is to occupy the place to counter the projects
of electricity transmission network (RTE) and developers wind turbines.
the hut of the Amassada, a place of struggle and sociability
Whether they are part of the capitalist redeployment of energy, the construction of mega
vacancy centers or the development of highways or high-speed rail lines, a large number of
large unnecessary and taxed projects (GPII) artificialise agricultural lands or forest
areas, contribute to the destruction of biodiversity, cause damage to the lives of local
populations.
However, the real question when considering the construction of a new infrastructure
should be that of its social utility and first of all for those who live nearby. But when
a motorway bypass is considered, it is primarily for its usefulness " for trade ". When
a nuclear project is presented, it is primarily for its utility for the defense of
capitalist interests.
To become of the territory
The question of hospitals or schools is obviously more complex. But today it is not the
interest of the population that guides the restructuring of the health system or the
school. These are the capitalist interests. It is the same with regard to the
privatization of water, the removal of SNCF lines, or postal tours, or the installation of
communicating meters (Linky). We do not accept that the desertification of Aveyron
accelerates under the blows of tourist development, industrial wind power or the
installation of the foreign legion on the Larzac.
Today, the fight against the industrial wind turbine project in South Aveyron is
encountering difficulties. On the one hand the gigantism of the project makes it difficult
to occupy all the lands concerned. And then it must be said, the wind, in absolute terms,
has a positive connotation. But above all, the implementation of a convergence of
struggles encounters some difficulties. In the first place, it is necessary to note the
difference of practices of struggle between those led by Amassada and those of many trade
union structures. More worrying, the peasant confederation Aveyron, though considered very
left, turns a deaf ear to calls for convergence. The key to the development and future
victory of this struggle requires advancing on this particular issue !
Reinette Noyé (AL Aveyron)
Suppression of the movement
Thursday, January 25, 2018 at 7 o'clock in the morning, a hundred gendarmes have arrested
at their home thirteen opponents and opponents to the construction of the park industrial
wind Crassous (municipality of Saint-Affrique, Aveyron), among which there were two
Libertarian Alternative comrades. They were dispersed in custody in the four corners of
the department.
Their offense ? Peacefully opposing the construction machinery that sacks the Crassous
forest. The charges were " theft and obstruction of freedom of work ", which is
obviously more serious. In support of the defendants, a day of mobilization was
immediately able to gather beyond the movement.
Four days later, on Monday, 29 January, five other opponents were summoned to the Rodez
Regional Court. The summons was made in the context of a " referred hour by hour ", an
exceptional measure, supposedly to establish, according to the lawyer of the company
Theolia, multinational wind, the reality of the " imminent threat ": dangerous criminals
would prowl, which would have caused a delay of one month and a half. For proof only,
people were reportedly controlled by the police on a road 1 km from the site. Faced with
this threat, Theolia asked for a ban on driving. The five defendants were released.
Rally of 28 January in front of the town hall of St-Affrique against police custody
But what was the gendarmerie doing there ? A device of eighty representatives of the State
has been deployed to allow the trimming of one hectare of box forest in the natural park.
Filing of complaints containing gendarmerie reports ; exceptional judicial devices ; the
press complaining of the cops because they would be afraid of the zadists, obviously
dangerous ; mayor of Saint-Affrique who lays down traffic control decrees to hinder the
mobilizations ... Here is a beautiful illustration of the reality of the " public-private
partnership " created for this project !
Reinette Noyé
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Aveyron-Ote-tes-grosses-pales-de-la
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Message: 7
On 17 November 2017, the Minister of Labour announced the state intends to carry out a new
round of attacks on workers and their rights. The attacks come in the form of three Labour
Bills currently being considered by parliament: the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill,
the National Minimum Wage Bill and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill. If passed, the
changes to the labour laws these bills propose will be a major attack on workers' rights,
won through decades of struggle, and will further deepen and entrench inequality and roll
back important democratic gains. ---- Government claims the bills are intended to reduce
the number of protracted, unprotected and so-called violent strikes. The fact, however, is
that these bills are designed to restore and increase bosses' profits, severely hit by the
ongoing economic crisis, and attract foreign direct investment by providing ultra-cheap
black labour and limiting workers' ability to strike in defense of their rights and interests.
Two of the most important weapons that workers have to defend themselves against the
ruling class and win better wages and conditions, and to advance struggles for other
rights and needs, are the rights to strike and to organise around their interests
independently of bosses and the state.
The proposed amendments to the LRA would further undermine the independence of unions and
make it more difficult for workers to go on protected strikes through the introduction of
a secret strike ballot, default picketing rules, compulsory arbitration and more
cumbersome bureaucratic procedures before strike actions. This is an attack on the right
of workers to make their own collective decisions about their organisations and about
strike action without interference from bosses or the state. By increasing the
conciliation period before workers can go on a protected strike from 30 to 35 days the
amendments would make it easier for bosses and the state to undermine, delay, interfere
with and prevent workers from striking. Moreover, although the LRA amendments are
supposedly intended to prevent strikes from becoming ‘violent' they do not address one of
the main factors that cause strikes to become violent in the first place: the bosses' use
of scab labour.
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) and proposed changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment
Act (BCEA) would take away important rights for some of the most vulnerable and exploited
workers by phasing out Sectoral Determinations and replacing them with the NMW.
Sectoral Determinations currently set minimum wages as well as conditions of employment in
a given sector. For example, the Sectoral Determination governing the farm work sector
says that farm workers have the right to housing on the farms. If the Sectoral
Determination is removed thousands of workers and their families could face eviction.
Similarly, the Domestic Work sectoral determination prohibits bosses from charging a
domestic worker more than 10% of their wages for accommodation. If the sectoral
determination goes there is nothing to stop bosses charging workers anything they think
they can get away with.
Moreover, the NMW does not actually set a monthly minimum wage. It only sets an hourly
minimum wage of R20 per hour (R18 p/h for farmworkers, R15 p/hour for domestic workers and
R11 p/h for public works, to be increased to R20 p/h by 2020) with a minimum number of
four working hours a day. This means that workers that work less than 40 hours a week,
such as those who work part time or flexible hours, might not even get the already
inadequate R3 500 per month. This is not nearly enough to live a dignified life on and a
slap in the face to the workers that died at Marikana for a living wage of R12 500.
While it is vital to resist the bills and defend hard-won workers' and democratic rights
we must remember that even now, while we do still supposedly have these rights - at least
on paper - they are violated by the bosses and the state daily and millions of people
still cannot access them.
This is not simply due to corruption, mismanagement, lack of finance or imperialist
meddling etc., but is the direct result of the neoliberal war on the poor that the ruling
class - black and white - has waged against the black working class in South Africa for
four decades; first under apartheid and continued under the ANC. These bills are a clear
example of how the ruling class uses the state to do this. And how what the state gives
with one hand - such as the right to strike - it does so under duress, when the working
class is strong and united, and will just as easily take away with another hand when it
serves the interests of the ruling class and the working class is weak and divided. This
is because the state is not neutral but an undemocratic institution of elite minority rule
over the working class majority.
The struggle to guarantee human and workers' rights for everyone, once and for all, and to
meet their needs will necessarily have to be a revolutionary struggle against capitalism
and the state to radically change the structure and purpose of the South African economy
and the society we live in.
https://zabalaza.net/2018/04/05/new-labour-bills-attack-workers-rights-and-democracy/#more-5535
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