Anarchic update news all over the world - 1.05.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  US, black rosefed IT'S NO LONGER ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY:
     INSIDE THE NICARAGUAN STUDENT PROTESTS 
     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Britain, afed: ORGANISE! MAGAZINE ISSUE 90 SUMMER 2018
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  london, Anarchist Communist Group ACG Stall and Meeting at
     London Radical Bookfair on June 3rd (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Greece, anarchist-federation - District of Athens:
     Concentration - course of 1st May (gr) [machine translation]
     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #282 - Activism: Training,
      a tool in the anti-patriarchal struggle (fr, it, pt) [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Russia, avtonom: The anti-imperialism of idiots: the
      reaction of the Western "left" to missile strikes against Syria
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  Australia, Book Review from Rebel Worker April - May 2018
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  fau dresden: Where to go on May 1st? (de) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1




Following up on our article "One Million Hands Flourishing: Nicaragua and the Neverending 
Task of Planting" by US based Nicaraguan anarchist Tanya H.F. we present an interview with 
Miranda, a Nicaraguan based anarchist who is deeply involved in the student protest and 
university occupations. This was based on a podcast interview on Hotwire # 28 released on 
April 25, 2018. ---- By Miranda ---- Hello friends, this is Miranda. I am part of a group 
of delegates that are doing international media outreach here in Managua, Nicaragua. I am 
also part of several other affinity groups that have been working nonstop for the last two 
weeks because Nicaragua is recently experiencing an unprecedented wave of nationwide 
protest. ---- Origins of the Protest ---- At the beginning people were protesting because 
of how the government mismanaged an environmental crisis. It took them ten days to 
effectively shut down a fire that was happening on top of a natural reserve in indigenous 
community. And the fire happened because the government has allowed, and has interest, in 
cattle ranchers expanding their territory into indigenous communities. Also, the 
government has interest in the monocrops of, for example, palm oil, in indigenous 
communities and the Caribbean. That is what started the environmentalist movement and 
protests. In the middle of that the government did a reform to the social security 
institute which basically recognized that the social security institute was going bankrupt 
and needed to take more money out of all the people that were receiving pensions from 
there. Basically the social security institute has been used as a piggy bank for the 
government's private investments. But those investments haven't gone so well, so now they 
want to reform how everything works so they can get away with their failed adventure.

But then, those two movements got together and started protesting together, it basically 
led to a protest, which was quickly and violently displaced by the police, by anti-riot 
police, by Sandinista Youth, and by motorcycle gangs that have ties to the police and the 
Sandinista Youth. The image that sparked all of this was anti-riot and Sandinista Youth 
attacking peaceful protesters that were protesting against the changes in the reform of 
these social security institute. That happened on Wednesday[April 18]and on Thursday[April 
19]three major universities were protesting the same thing but specifically added[to their 
demands issues of]police repression and lack of free speech in this country. All day 
Thursday we had very violent confrontations between students and riot police and 
Sandinista Youth.

By Friday [April 20], the government still hasn't made any official communiqué and the 
protests continued, but then expanded to other cities all over Nicaragua. All protesting 
at this point, not so much about the reform or the environmental damage that happened, but 
now against authoritarianism, against all the bad things that the government has done 
since they came in power in 2006, specifically against police brutality and against the 
fact that a lot of students were being murdered by the police.[As of]right now we have 
calculated that over 30 people have been murdered. Over 100 people have been detained. And 
over 40 people are still missing, stemming from Thursday. And all of this is the 
responsibility of the government.

Repression and "Right-Wing Conspiracy"
But then the government made a public speech claiming that this movement was a right-wing 
conspiracy theory funded by the CIA basically, which is completely false, specifically 
because the student movements have made it clear that they don't want any political 
parties co-opting the student movements. The student movements have made it clear that 
they are denouncing the private sector because they recognize that the private sector has 
their own interest in negotiating with the state. The self-assembled movement, which is 
what came out of the environmentalist and the anti-[social security]reform movement, have 
also denounced the complicity of the private sector and have basically been very vigilant 
of not just the private sector but of upper class and other right-wing movements from 
co-opting this entire movement since everybody wants a piece of the pie.

Anarchist Influences
In terms of the anarchist influence in all of this, its very complicated. Because 
Nicaragua doesn't necessarily have a big anarchist tradition. Our national hero, Sandino, 
did become radicalized in Mexico in the 1910s and 1920s, he did adopt the red and black 
flag from Spain[Spanish Anarchists], and he did basically work in cooperatives and learned 
about class struggle and had very much anarchist leanings, but right now I think that the 
state is still-there's a very harsh critique of the state, but the state is still seen as 
a solution.

Right now, the biggest anarchist presence has been this non-hierarchical, horizontal 
organization by which the students are organizing in, and by how these affinity groups are 
organizing in. People aren't claiming to be anarchists but they're practicing all these 
anarchist tactics and anarchist philosophy of power, of representation, of anti-state, of 
solidarity, of mutual aid, of affinity groups. A clear example of an anarchist tactic has 
been this idea of the occupation of a university ground.

We have several reports of friends who have gone inside the university, the polytechnic 
university, and have said that its like an anarchist utopia inside-where there's delegates 
for medics, for cleanup, for security, for fabricating[Molotov cocktails], for absolutely 
everything inside of the occupied university, which is at this moment the biggest 
stronghold against the police. But it's also the place that has received the most violence 
and repression from anti-riot police.

Inside the Movement: It's No Longer About Social Security
But it's important to recognize that in the march that happened today, there were hundreds 
and probably tens of thousands of people gathered and the only thing that they have in 
common is that they don't like the government. But inside of that movement, there are very 
different and even contradicting ideas, because in one march you will see the private 
sector marching next to the feminists marching next to the environmentalists marching next 
to the self-assembled movements. But right now, people aren't protesting against the 
reform of the social security institute, which the government actually revoked and they 
said that they're going to start from scratch - which is a partial victory - but at this 
moment it's no longer about social security. It's about the fact that the government has 
allowed for thirty people to die and hasn't commented about it.

It's about the fact that the government has concentrated so much power and so much wealth 
in their model at the expense of marginalized communities. So the entire political 
platform of the government was based on a dependency between lower classes and government.

The last thing I want to mention is about something that happened yesterday, which is 
basically the case of the lootings. A lot of people right now are collecting enough 
resources to survive the next two weeks and enough gasoline to have enough for 
transportation. So that's kind of the feeling in the air.

Today, the US embassy sent a communiqué saying that families of the workers inside the 
embassy had to leave the country. Also they said that the Peace Corps had to leave the 
country. So that's the level of uncertainty that the United States intelligence is 
saying[something]might happen, and it does give you a sense of the intensity and resonance 
of these student movements that have been happening here.

To be honest, things seem like they're winding down, but they could easily wind back up at 
any second. It only took a matter of hours for the entire nation to see police brutality 
attacking peaceful demonstrators and students to get everybody enraged against the government.

This text is based on the transcribed interview available from "The Hotwire #28: April 25, 
2018 Anti-government revolt in Nicaragua-more tree sits in WV-Bakunin beats Satanism."

If you enjoyed this piece we also recommend taking a look at our other articles and 
writings related to Latin America such as our interview with Brazilian anarchists on the 
assassination of Marielle Franco and "Anarchism in Latin America: The Re-Emergence of a 
Viable Current."

http://blackrosefed.org/nicaragua-inside-student-protests/

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Message: 2





Organise! 90 is out for Mayday 2018. Copies will be available in print soon from the usual 
outlets and the PDF will go online shortly. Print copies of the last issue (and other back 
issues) are available from AK Press or Active Distribution and you can also download the 
last issue PDF. http://afed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/organise89-web.pdf ---- 
Contents ---- Editorial: "We fear change..." (read in full below) ---- Cover art 
commentary ---- Transphobia as a Class Issue ---- Statement following London Anarchist 
---- Bookfair of October 2017 ---- I'm Not Even Going to Try to Pass ---- Rest In Power, 
Ursula ---- Gendered Language in ---- Ursula Le Guin's Gethen Stories ---- Assigned Male 
Comics ---- Social Anarchist Futures ---- Apologia for Killmonger ---- FALC: On Punching 
Left ---- June 11th ---- Anarchist International Solidarity with the ---- Mapuche 
Resistance: Marichiweu!
Campaign to Protect Pont Valley
CRIBS and Solidarity for Refugee Families
Education by Stealth
Subversive Cuisine
Listen Gamer!
Moscow Death Brigade
Super Happy Anarcho Fun Pages
Anna Campbell - RIP
AF publications

Editorial: "We fear change..."

It's scary breaking out of the shackles we've grown used to.

The paradigms and assumptions we've cemented into our zeitgeist as a society are often all 
too comforting and reliable and even for the fearless (and reckless), ready to build the 
new world, the way forward can seem impossible, the suffocating fear of change, of 
transition permeates every thread of our community, suppressing and restricting 
progressive development at every juncture. In this edition of Organise we dip our toes 
into two very differant forms of transition, the personal and the social and we look at 
how the fear of new ideas and change is having an impact.

Firstly, we've had an explosion in the visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming 
people, courtesy (I think) of the internet which has seemingly become a bastion for people 
exploring their gender and identity. This sudden wealth of community subsequently has lead 
to a beautiful explosion of awareness, analysis and communal exploration of self. 
Unfortunately that change in conversation has brought around a growth in hostility and 
bigotry. Trans and gender non-conforming people are being attacked by traditionalists and 
conservatives almost persistently. This abuse ranges from the monosyllabic hollering of 
transphobes on the street and the "I AMZ AN ATTACK HELICOPTER HUR HUR" memetic drivel 
online to the seemingly erudite prattle of Jordan Peterson or pseudo leftist articles from 
Trans Exclusive Radical Feminists, attempting to mask transphobia behind manufactured 
fear. Reactionary scaremongering and bigotry seem to be rising at an alarming rate as our 
society is forced to address it's ideas and assumptions regarding gender, sexuality and 
identity.

Secondly, we look into new visions for future Anarchistic societies with ecology and 
socialism at their core. Whether it's giant vertical forests or living afloat in 
seasteaded cities we need alternatives to the concrete jungle, perhaps even in time, out 
there in the stars aboard space stations and distant colonies. These ideas about how we 
can make a society that function are themselves constantly attacked and shot down. 
Traditionalists demand the maintenance of the class system, patriots glorify the inherent 
value of servitude to the state which alongside the capitalist moguls economically 
throttling communities and pushing programs of gentrification ensure our cities cannot 
grow beyond these cold, sterile post industrialist commerical hubs. The seats of the 
corporate elite, London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast and the centralised authourity 
that reside in them continue to make forwarding even the most benign aspect of a 
progressive society near impossible, chocking the culture of the major cities while 
logistically crippling others and treating rural communites like holiday destinations to 
be hollowed out and preserved for those summer retreats.

Some of the wonder has been lost along the way, the brutal reality of trying to survive 
capitalism is slowly killing our imagination and the dreams of a beautiful society that 
exists in relative harmony with the environment. We need to remember the world Anarchist 
Communists have fought for these past few hundred years, a world based on mutual aid and 
compassion, where people are truly free from the lingering residue from millennia of 
religious intolerance and the abuses of the nob parasites living off their labour. A world 
without borders, hierarchy or financial nightmares, A world where the people are free to 
build their dreams and be who they truly are.

We also have a wonderful interview with Sally from Cribs and articles looking into 
contemporary fiction and ongoing solidarity campaigns amongst other things which we hope 
you find useful and enjoy. We've tried to sow some seeds, hoping for some change however 
slight because change isn't something we need fear. We should be standing proud of our 
progression we've come a long way and we should keep on developing our new world.

Change is something with should be striving for and celebrating it is at the core of the 
revolution and to building a society which functions and subsequently finding our space 
and place within it.

Peace, Love and Rage,

http://afed.org.uk/organise-magazine-issue-90-summer-2018/

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Message: 3





London Anarchist Communist Group will be running a bookstall at the London Radical 
Bookfair at Goldsmiths University, 81 Lewisham Way, London S.E.14 on Saturday June 2nd. In 
addition it will be holding a meeting at the Bookfair: ---- Land and Liberty ---- ‘Land 
and liberty' has been a key anarchist slogan through-out the world. This is because 
without land, one cannot survive, and without liberty, we cannot live. Though often 
associated with peasant struggles, the struggle for land is as much as issue today in 
urban areas as it is in the haciendas of Latin America. All our struggles in the city are 
arise because we do not have control and access to land. Houses, food, community and 
social spaces, parks and open spaces all are at the mercy of whoever owns the land. And 
this is extremely unequal. Although a majority of us have a small stake in the 5% of UK 
land upon which our housing is built, the majority of land (70%) in the UK is owned by 
just 0.6% of the population. But even land owned by the government is not land controlled 
by us. Think of Grenfell and the lack of control residents had over their homes that were 
meant to be in public ownership. Think of the land owned by the Forestry Commission and 
the Ministry of Defence.
This talk will discuss why demands for land justice need to be at the heart of our 
struggles, both to have common ownership but also liberty to organise how we use the land 
for the benefit of all. There will be some historical and international examples as well 
as examples from London.

https://londonacg.blogspot.co.il/2018/04/acg-stall-and-meeting-at-london-radical.html

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Message: 4





There will come one day that our silence will be stronger than the voices you stifle today 
---- More than a century after that May Day Mayday rebellion in Chicago today? ---- We 
still have some minimal rights earned from those games. ---- Those that, one by one, the 
chapter today takes them back ---- May Day is the day that workers around the world have 
to show their strength. A day of remembrance for those who fell, a day of proclamation of 
the libertarian purposes that were not justified. We will be again present, as the 
anarchists were present and protagonists more than a century before, in Chicago in 1886. 
But we know that racing anniversaries are nothing more than a symbol. But not old but new 
games and they can only reflect their level.

We can again live combat, massive primamies if the labor struggles behind them can once 
again become the hope of the world

We need independent labor revolutionary struggles

We need independent, class revolutionary organizations

We need an independent labor revolutionary policy.

No cooperation with government and capital.

No Confidence in Statutory Trade Union and Guidance

Because we are workers, not slaves

Why you should not miss and none.

Self-organization, solidarity, daring

and at the end of the road ...

Communism and freedom!

Everyone on May Day

Concentration, 1/5/2018 11.am. museum

http://anarchist-federation.gr/archives/1738

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Message: 5





At the beginning of March, the collective AL of Lyon hosted an anti-patriarchate training 
open to the whole organization. The opportunity to take stock of the positions and 
practices within Alternative libertarian. ---- For some time now, AL activists have been 
working to increase internal training to meet the needs of everyone to meet, exchange and 
advance in the construction of daily activism ; these courses are therefore offered at a 
steady pace and hosted in different cities. The training methods take up the tools of 
popular education that make it possible to co-construct the contents with the knowledge of 
each participant. ---- On March 4th and 5th, it was Lyon's turn to host a training on the 
theme of anti-patriarchy. It brought together 10 people, mostly women. During the weekend, 
several workshops were held around topics as diverse as the federal positions of LA, 
prostitution or the prevention of sexual assault. These workshops were designed to allow 
everyone to share their knowledge and to facilitate the most reserved speech, which also 
implies the silence of those who give their opinion more easily.

The exchanges highlighted the constant need to establish our theories in connection with 
our practices. Some issues related to male domination have been approached with 
pragmatism: what works, what does not work, my ideas are they wishful thinking or are they 
based on the concrete ? We thus realize that by analyzing the mechanisms of domination of 
men over women, we understand a lot about dominations and emancipation in general. Here, 
each re-examines its position in the social space, around "  dominant / dominated  " 
relationships.

Oppression system
The finding is obviously shared, that if the individual sexist behaviors are to blame, 
they are a resultant of the system of patriarchal oppression. Indeed, it could only be 
reaffirmed that individual responses can not profoundly change this system ; and that 
collectively we can and must oppose it.

Saturday night allowed for a meeting with an organization close to AL, both in political 
positions and in many practices. AL activists were able to welcome comrades from the 
Anarchist Groups Coordination (CGA) on the occasion of the screening of a documentary. The 
latter, Why women are smaller than men ? , demonstrates that inequality of treatment 
between women and men begins at birth, through nutrition.

We left this training and realized that our organization is a tool of emancipation, not 
only for the coming revolution, but here and now, and that to be in a collective approach 
also allows us to evolve in our individual journey.

We regret, however, that so few men participated in this training ; for if it is obvious 
that the first concerned, and therefore women, must lead the struggle, it seems important 
to us that men become aware of the exercise of their domination, which is rarely the case.

Marion and Epic (AL Auvergne)

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Militantisme-Se-former-un-outil-dans-la-lutte-antipatriarcale

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Message: 6





Again, the Western "anti-war" movement awoke to rally around Syria. This is the third time 
since 2011. The first was when Obama thought about striking the army of the Syrian regime 
(but did not do so) after the chemical attacks on Guta in 2013, which were considered a 
"red line". The second time - when Donald Trump ordered to strike at an empty military 
base in response to chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhun in 2017. And now, last weekend, when 
the United States, Great Britain and France took limited military steps - aimed at 
striking at the regime's military assets and chemical weapons production plants - after 
using chemical weapons in the Duma. There were killed at least 34 people, including many 
children who were hiding in basements.
The first thing you can notice about all these three major mobilizations of the Western 
"anti-war" leftists is that they all have little to do with ending the war. Since 2011, 
more than half a million Syrians have been killed. The bulk of the civilian population 
perished from the use of unsecured weapons, and 94 per cent of them- victims of the 
Syrian-Russian-Iranian alliance. No one expressed fury or concern about this war, which 
followed the violent dispersal of peaceful democratic demonstrations. Nobody is indignant 
when barrel bombs, chemical weapons and napalm are used against democratic self-organizing 
communities or hospitals and rescuers. The peaceful population is considered an expendable 
material, unlike the military power of the leading genocide of the fascist regime. The 
slogan "Hands off Syria" actually means "Hands off Assad," and you can often hear words of 
support for Russian military intervention. It was obvious on this weekend at a 
demonstration in Britain, organized by Stop the War UK, where the flags of the Syrian 
regime and Russia were shamelessly used.

These anti-war leftists demonstrate deeply authoritarian views - in the center of 
political analysis for them are the states. Solidarity, therefore, applies only to states, 
and in them and not in the suppressed or unprivileged parts of the population, the main 
characters in the struggle for liberation are seen. Blind to the social war going on 
inside Syria itself, these leftists see in the Syrian people - where it still exists - 
only a pawn in geopolitical chess. They repeat the mantra " Assad - the legitimate ruler 
of a sovereign country". Assad - who inherited dictatorship from his father and who never 
conducted, not that he won, free and fair elections. Assad - whose "Syrian Arab Army" can 
return lost territories only with the help of a horde of foreign mercenaries and with 
foreign bombs, fighting, for the most part, against the Syrians rebels and against 
civilians. I wonder if many would consider their own elected governments legitimate if 
they started mass campaigns to rape dissidents. This position makes possible only complete 
dehumanization of the Syrians. This is simply racism, which believes that the Syrians are 
unable to achieve (and do not deserve) something better than one of the most brutal 
dictatorships of our time.

These authoritarian leftists support the Assad regime in the name of "anti-imperialism." 
Asad is seen as part of the "axis of resistance" of the US Empire and Zionism. It does not 
matter that the Assad regime backed the Gulf War or participated in illegal US extradition 
programs, in which terror suspects were tortured in Syria at the behest of the CIA. It is 
constantly forgotten that this regime has a dubious achievement of killing more 
Palestinians than Israel and that it is more willing to use its armed forces to suppress 
internal opposition than to free the occupied Golan Heights.

This "anti-imperialism" of idiots believes that imperialism is only the actions of the 
United States. They do not seem to know that the United States has been bombing Syria 
since 2014. During the American campaign for the liberation of Rakki from the DAES, all 
international norms of war and the idea of proportionality were rejected. More than 1,000 
civilians were killed, and, according to UN estimates, 80 percent of the city is now 
unsuitable for life. Leading "anti-war" organizations did not organize protests against 
this intervention, did not call for ensuring the safety of civilians and civilian 
infrastructure. Instead, they accepted the discourse of the "war on terror", which was 
formerly the neoconservative lot, but now propagated by the regime - sort of like only 
jihadi terrorists are against Assad. They turn a blind eye to the fact, that Assad sends 
thousands of completely secular, peaceful, democratic demonstrators to torture his 
improvised GULAG, while releasing Islamist militants. Similarly, protests against 
extremist and authoritarian groups, such as the Daesh, An-Nusra and Akhrar ash Sham, 
continue in the liberated areas. Syrians do not see people who are difficult enough to 
have diverse opinions. Civil society activists (including many amazing women) - civil 
journalists, humanitarian workers - they all mean nothing. All opposition is reduced to 
the most authoritarian elements or is seen only as a conductor of the interests of other 
states. Similarly, protests against extremist and authoritarian groups, such as the Daesh, 
An-Nusra and Akhrar ash Sham, continue in the liberated areas. Syrians do not see people 
who are difficult enough to have diverse opinions. Civil society activists (including many 
amazing women) - civil journalists, humanitarian workers - they all mean nothing. All 
opposition is reduced to the most authoritarian elements or is seen only as a conductor of 
the interests of other states. Similarly, protests against extremist and authoritarian 
groups, such as the Daesh, An-Nusra and Akhrar ash Sham, continue in the liberated areas. 
Syrians do not see people who are difficult enough to have diverse opinions. Civil society 
activists (including many amazing women) - civil journalists, humanitarian workers - they 
all mean nothing. All opposition is reduced to the most authoritarian elements or is seen 
only as a conductor of the interests of other states.

These pro-fascist leftists, apparently, are blind to any form of imperialism that is not 
Western in origin. They combine identity politics with selfishness. They see everything 
that happens, through the prism of what it means for the inhabitants of the West - because 
only white men have the power to create history. According to the Pentagon, now in Syria 
there are about 2000 American soldiers. The US really created several military bases in 
the Kurdish-controlled north, for the first time in the history of Syria. This should 
concern all those who support Syria's self-determination. But this pales in comparison 
with tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers and Iranian-backed Shiite militants, who now 
occupy large parts of the country, or in comparison with the deadly bombing that the 
Russian Air Force is supporting in support of the fascist dictatorship. Russia also has 
permanent military bases in Syria, and as a reward for the support it received exclusive 
rights to Syrian oil and gas. Noam Chomsky once said that Russia's interference can not be 
considered imperialism, because she was invited to bomb the country by the Syrian regime. 
Well, then the US intervention in Vietnam was not imperialism either, because they were 
invited by the government of South Vietnam.

Some anti-war organizations justify their silence about Russian and Iranian interference 
by saying that "the main enemy is in their country". This allows them to avoid a serious 
analysis of the forces that would determine who really are the main players in this war. 
For the Syrians, the main enemy is really in their own country; this is Assad, who 
conducts what the UN calls "the crime of extermination." Unaware of the contradictions in 
their own words, many of the same intellectuals vividly - and fairly - oppose Israel, 
which suppresses peaceful demonstrations in Gaza. Of course, one of the main features of 
imperialism is the denial of local votes. So leading Western anti-war organizations hold 
conferences on Syria, without inviting Syrians there.

The ultra-right is another major political group that decided to support the Assad regime 
and oppose the blows from the United States, Britain and France. Today, the speeches of 
the fascists and these "anti-imperialist leftists" are almost impossible to distinguish. 
In the US, against the missile attacks, White supremacist Richard Spencer, alto-right 
podcast leader Mike Enoch, and anti-immigration activist Ann Coulter spoke out. In 
Britain, former British party leader Nick Griffin and Islamophobka Cathy Hopkins joined in 
the calls. The alt-right and the alt-left often intersect in the propagation of conspiracy 
theories that justify the regime's crimes. They say that massacres using chemical weapons 
are provocations or that rescuers are al-Qaeda and, therefore, they can be bombed. Those, 
who distribute such stories, are outside Syria and can not confirm their words. They often 
depend on Russian or Asadov state propaganda media because they "do not trust the 
mainstream media" or the Syrians themselves, on which all these bombs fall. Sometimes the 
merging of these two seemingly opposite directions of the political spectrum turns into 
aopen cooperation . Such a story is with the ANSWER coalition , which organizes many of 
the demonstrations against attacks on Assad in the United States. Both directions often 
spread Islamophobic and anti-Semitic ideas. They have only one thesis and one meme.

There are many compelling reasons to oppose external military intervention in Syria, 
whether from the US, Russia, Iran or Turkey. None of these states acts in the interests of 
the Syrian people, democracy or human rights, but only in their own interests. The last 
intervention of the United States, Britain and France is less connected with the 
protection of the Syrians from massacres and more - with the compulsion to comply with 
international norms on the inadmissibility of using chemical weapons, so that one day it 
will not be used against the West itself. The new foreign bombs really do not bring peace 
and stability. Few people are ready to force Assad to leave - and this would help to put 
an end to at least part of the massacres. But, speaking out against foreign interference, 
you need to find an alternative that would protect the Syrians from massacres. Immoral (if 
not to say more) that the Syrians should just shut up and die for the sake of defending 
the supreme principle of "anti-imperialism". The Syrians offered many alternatives to 
foreign military intervention, but all of them were ignored. So the question remains: when 
diplomacy failed, when the leading genocide regime is protected by powerful foreign 
patrons, when it is impossible to stop daily bombing, stop hunger in the besieged cities 
or release prisoners who are tortured on an industrial scale, what can be done?

I no longer have an answer. I have always opposed any military incursions into Syria, 
supported the idea that the Syrians themselves should rid themselves of tyranny and that 
the international community should protect citizens and human rights and ensure the 
responsibility of all those involved in war crimes. Peaceful settlement is the only way to 
end this war, but in the foreseeable future it is not foreseen. Assad and his patrons 
intend to prevent any processes, achieve a full military victory and suppress any 
remaining democratic alternatives. Every week hundreds of Syrians are killed in the most 
barbarous ways that one can imagine. In the chaos created by the state, extremist groups 
and ideologies thrive. Peaceful citizens flee the country in thousands, and the government 
takes measures (for example, Law No. 10) so that they certainly never returned home. The 
international system itself is collapsing under the weight of its own helplessness. The 
words "Nevermore" sound fake. There are no mass movements of solidarity with the victims 
of Assad. They are slandered, their suffering is ridiculed or denied, their opinion is 
either excluded from discussion or questioned by people from other countries who know 
nothing about Syria, revolution or war. But these people arrogantly believe that they are 
more visible. It is this desperate situation that makes many Syrians welcome the actions 
of the United States, Britain and France, because they see the only hope in foreign 
intervention, despite the fact that they know what risks it brings.

I definitely will not get any worse sleep because of targeted attacks on the regime's 
military bases and chemical weapons plants that can give the Syrians a short respite 
between the daily murders. And I will never consider as allies people for whom grandiose 
narratives and discourses stand above human reality, which support violent regimes in 
distant countries or that spread racism, conspiracy theories and the denial of massacres.

Leila Al-Shami

https://avtonom.org/news/antiimperializm-idiotov

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Message: 7





 From Rebel Worker Paper of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Network ---- Vol.36 No.1 (231) April - 
May 2018 www.rebelworker.org ---- Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW 
Edited by Peter Cole, David Struthers and Kenyon  Zimmer. Published by Pluto Press. ---- 
The Challenge of New Strategies of International Capitalism ---- Global capitalism is 
developing  ever more savage features  in the shape of the gig economy and Uber, 
drastically reducing workers' conditions using the legal fiction of self employment to 
side step legal entitlements of "wage" workers.  This morphing of capitalist operations is 
interwoven with the international privatisation conspiracy.   This new form of company 
operations and outsourcing of state functions is facilitated by  corporate unionism   with 
its close collaboration with Big Business and integration with various arms of the State. 
Whilst numerous proxy wars between super powers' and bloc's client states have erupted and 
a looming WWIII scenario is becoming alarmingly apparent.

What passes today for international syndicalism in no way meets the challenge and is very 
far from coordinating direct action within or across industries or even individual 
companies on an international basis.
This collection of essays looks at the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) as a global 
phenomenon in its early days. Despite limited numbers in the USA and worldwide, it had 
branches in dozens of countries with most enrolled  members in the USA. Critical to this 
growth and influence of the IWW and the international syndicalist movement was an 
assortment of highly experienced transnational industrial militants:  organisers, 
journalists and editors. These militants pursued a flexible approach taking account of 
local conditions to exert IWW influence and build the organisation.  In stark contrast to 
today's middle class/student and university milieu elements noted for their sect building 
proclivities. Heavily informed by the Stalinist Legacy and identity politics which ensures 
that syndicalism, particularly in the Anglo World remains congeries of exotic sects, cults 
and in certain countries allegedly micro democratic versions of the corporate unions.

A Cast of Transnational Wobbly Militants

This volume focuses a spotlight on a gallery of outstanding transnational IWW militants 
mostly involved in the anarchist movement. In those days of the late 19th Century and the 
early 20th Century and subsequently, it was a current in the revolutionary workers 
movement. In contrast to such outstanding militants of the emergence and zenith of 
international syndicalist and anarchist movements such as Rudolph Rocker, Errico 
Malatesta, Tom Mann, George Maximoff and lesser lights discussed in this volume, today 
particularly in the Anglo world, we have  the misfortune to glimpse squalid, morally and 
ethically depraved "politicos" which pass as prominent figures in so called anarchist and 
syndicalist milieus. Often engaging in the slimy peddling of sect/cult  and micro 
"allegedly democratic" corporate union building recipes.
One of the most interesting essays is "A Cosmopolitan Crowd:" Transnational Anarchists, 
the IWW, and American Radical Press by Kenyon Zimmer. It throws much light on the 
anarchist involvement in the formation and development of the IWW in the US and in 
particular its foreign language publications. It sketches the profound impact of 
transnational anarchists on aspects of the organisation and activity.  He shows 14 
anarchist delegates participated in the founding IWW convention. Whilst anarchists edited 
at least 19 IWW publications before WWII. In the 1919-20 period, anarchists edited 
publications that had a combined  circulation of 47,000,  which was 4 times the 
circulation of the English Language Industrial Worker. The official organ of the IWW.
Spanish Anarchists and Maritime  Workers in the IWW by Bieito Alonso sketches the activity 
of anarchist militant, Pedro Esteve. This essay throws important light on his critical 
role in the formation of the IWW, and shows anarchist/syndicalist militants of those days 
understanding of the critical importance of winning workers in strategic industrial 
sectors to syndicalism. Esteve was particularly involved in preparatory work leading to 
the formation of the organisation such as his  1902 nationwide propaganda tour to organise 
miners in the US. Whilst he was a key figure in  the anarchist group "Right to Existence" 
based in Paterson. Its newspaper "La Questione Sociale"  provided news of miners struggles 
and assisted miners struggles. This activity contributed to the WFM (Western Federation of 
Miners) playing a key role in the founding of the IWW. Esteve was also an unofficial 
observer at its founding convention in 1905.
Patrick Hodgers Hickey and the IWW: A Transnational Relationship by Peter Clayworth. This 
essay highlights the role of this militant in the "boring within strategy" of the early 
IWW in Australasia. The author shows Hickey played a critical role in the formation of the 
New Zealand Federation of Labour (NZFL) also known as the "Red Fed". It was based in a 
range of strategic sectors such as mining, stevedoring, the gas works, and flax mills. It 
adopted IWW organisational principles and a direct action orientation. However it was open 
to support of electoral politics. The IWW reached its peak of impact in the NZ labour 
movement in 1912 via its influence in the Red Fed. However following the savage State 
repression of the Waihi miners' strike undermining workers morale and led to the merger of 
the NZFL with moderate unions to form the United Federation of Labour (UFL).
Wobblies Down Under: The IWW in Australia by Verity Burgmann sketches the development of 
the IWW in Australia. Providing an interesting occupational survey of the Sydney IWW 
local, showing the predominance of militant workers. In stark contrast to IWW locals in 
the Anglo World today.  She examines Wobbly  agitation and propaganda activity involving 
soap boxing at the various domains/speakers corners and its newspaper "Direct Action" 
newspaper launched in 1914. The author shows that via its emphasis on "boring from within" 
of the existing trade unions it exerted syndicalist influence in significant industrial 
sectors.
Tom Barker and Revolutionary Europe by Paula de Angeles. This essay looks at another 
transnational IWW militant. The author sketches the panorama of this militant's 
transnational activity.  Barker had been Business Manager of the Australian IWW's Direct 
Action in 1914 and was involved in the organising of the Anti-War and Anti-Conscription 
campaign and against the no strike agreement for the duration of WWI. Following his 
gaoling and deportation to South America he was active in organising an IWW maritime 
chapter, the MTW (Marine Transport Workers Union) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
Subsequently, the MTW under Barker's influence waged a campaign of solidarity for the IWW 
Twelve (victimised wobbly militants in Sydney) and later he was active in international 
forums on behalf of the anarchist inspired FORA (Workers Federation of the Argentine 
Region). Later on he was  drawn into Bolshevik regime endeavours via misguided support for 
the Kuzbas industrial colony in Siberia.
"All Workers Regardless of Craft, Race or Colour": The First Wave of IWW Activity and 
Influence in South Africa by Lucien van der Walt. This essay also highlights the early IWW 
militants grasp of the importance of strategic organising and the role of transnational 
syndicalist militants in facilitating IWW activity. It particularly examines the 1909 
Johannesburg tramway strike victory which led to the entire tramway workforce enrolling in 
the IWW-SA(IWW - South Africa). As workers in such sectors as transport, mining and power 
had the strategic position to defy existing repressive industrial legislation. Such as the 
  1909 Industrial Disputes Prevention Act - requiring 30 days notice and a lengthy 
conciliation process for any industrial action.
The IWW in Tampico: Anarchist Internationalism, and Solidarity Unionism in a Mexican Port 
by Kevan Antonio Aguilar 1915-1930. This essay looks at the IWW's  struggle against the 
centralising corporate unionism alliance involving the COM (House of the World Worker) and 
the US AFL(American Federation of Labor). It was part of a hub of transnational militant 
networks and entailed the networking of both anarchists and communists in the unionisation 
of the city's petroleum industry. This effort was unified by the influence of the Russian 
Revolution. It was defeated due to a combination of state repression and corporate unionism.
P.J.Welinder and "American Syndicalism" in interwar Sweden by Johan Preies focuses on 
another Wobbly militant active in both Sweden and the US in the early 20th Century. He was 
a key figure in the leftwing "decentralist" wing of the SAC(Swedish Workers Centre). This 
faction founded Arbetare-Kuriren as a Weekly newspaper  in April 1926. It furiously 
attacked  a rival faction in the SAC wanting to push the organisation closer to Social 
Democracy (reformist hierarchical unionism). Subsequently in Oct. 1928 Welinder was 
involved in a split from the SAC leading to the formation of the SAF (Syndicalist Workers 
Federation) heavily influenced by the USA IWW.   Welinder's faction particularly opposed 
the rival faction's support for the slow accumulation of assets, allies and 
respectability. Viewing this approach as futile and pushed for reduced union dues to 
encourage poorer workers to join. Whilst like the IWW in the USA at that time, his faction 
opposed the signing fixed term contracts. The SAF collapsed due to low morale amongst its 
members caused by the rise of Nazism in Germany.

The International Relations

Two interesting essays in the volume which focus on the US IWW's international relations 
and fostering  of international workers solidarity are "The Cause of the Workers Who Are 
Fighting in Spain Is Yours": The Marine Transport Workers and the Spanish Civil War by 
Matthew C. White and "The IWW and the Dilemmas of Internationalism" by Wayne Thorpe. The 
former essay focuses on direct action by Wobbly maritime workers with the support of 
militants from the Communist Party in support of the Spanish Revolution and Wobbly 
involvement in the anti-Franco war effort in Spain. Particularly via participation in the 
Stalinist controlled International Brigades. The author examines how worsening tensions 
between Wobblies and Stalinists in the International Brigades contributed significantly to 
the breakdown of any working relationship back in the USA between the C.P. militants and 
Wobblies in the maritime sector. Contributing significantly to the subsequent major 
decline in  IWW influence in the sector.  Whilst the latter essay examines the US IWW's 
relations with major international labour organisations and that affiliation with even the 
IWA(International Workers Association) was never realised.  The author looks at how the 
victory of the Francoist forces in the Spanish Civil War led to the massive repression and 
weakening of the CNT (National Confederation of Labour) in Spain, the most important IWA 
affiliate. Resulting in the extreme marginalisation of the IWA as a labour international. 
This development together with the dissolving of the Communist Labour International, the 
Profintern associated with Comintern support for the Popular Front, provided few 
international options for the IWW by the early 1940's.
In conclusion, the volume under review certainly enriches our understanding of the factors 
contributing to the rise of syndicalism as a global movement and the role of the IWW in 
this process in the early 20th Century. Spotlighting the crucial role of key transnational 
militants and their excellent grasp of organising strategy in building mass syndicalist 
unionism and exerting syndicalist influence in mainstream reformist/bureaucratic unionism.
Mark McGuire

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Message: 8





Dear friends, ---- on May 1st there will be thousands of strikes, demos, blockades 
worldwide, as every year. Some want to achieve small social improvements, others question 
the system of profit logic and exploitation as a whole. ---- For the friends of a 
classless society who want to throw capitalism, as well as racism, patriarchy and other 
inhuman ideologies on the garbage heap of history and want to fight for a self-determined, 
solidary form of society there are two event tips at this point: ---- Chemnitz - No to 
national socialism and following grassroot union demonstration ---- A wide variety of 
actors in Chemnitz are campaigning for sustainable anti-capitalist and anti-fascist 
protest with a rich educational and action programme around 1 May. From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. 
various starting points and demos will start on May 1. The national socialist, militant 
micro-party "III. way" tries to find supporters among the wage workers in these morning 
hours. As the first good deed on May 1, various groups therefore want to make it clear to 
this disguised SA memorial association that they can go home and do not represent the 
interests of the directly or indirectly wage-dependent in the least. For this there will 
also be meeting points from Dresden. You can find an overview of the individual events 
here: http://fauchemnitz.blogsport.de/veranstaltungen/tagesplan/

Of course, working off these dictatorship fetishists cannot and should not be the lone 
goal on this day, so after, hopefully successful, blockades and the retreat of the 
neo-Nazis, a anticapitalist trade union demonstration "For a classless society!" will draw 
over the Chemnitzer Sonnenberg, that part of town that the local Nazi scene would like to 
claim as their home zone. This demo starts at 7 pm LATEST, but actually immediately after 
the end of the antifascist counter protests. You can find a call to the demo here: 
https://direkteaktion.org/1-mai-in-chemnitz-fuer-eine-klassenlose-gesellschaft/

Dresden - Anarchist May Day with demo, lectures, discussion and cake

Who also in the Saxon state capital does not want to accept that on May 1 it is only a few 
crumbs more of the social wealth of different social partnership (describes the ideology 
of class fencing instead of class emancipation) actors, should be pointed out to the 
anarchistic May 1 of the Anarchist Network Dresden.

 From 12 noon a demonstration will start at the Schlosspark, followed by a picnic, 
lectures and discussion in the Alaunpark. Here is the call: 
https://and.notraces.net/event/anarchistischer-1-mai/

https://dresden.fau.org/2018/04/wohin-am-ersten-mai-were-to-go-on-mayday/

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