Anarchic update news all over the world - 9.06.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  wsm.ie: Anarchist reflection on the Repeal campaign
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Libertarian, Initiative of Thessaloniki -- June 12: Trial of
      12 members of Rubikon (gr) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  avtonom: June 10 on Sakharov: against the power of the
      siloviki! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Greece, Anarchist group "dwarf horse": SOLIDARITY IN
      KOUFONTINA, TOURCOUT KAYA AND MARIO SEISIDI By APO 
      (gr) [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Turkey,  Police Brutally Attack to LAF (High School Anarchist
      Action) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
6.  wsm.ie: Post referendum - Together for Election?
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  Spain, Split and May Day Statement – CNT-AIT by ROBERT
      GRAHAM (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  [Basque Country] The CNT is in solidarity with the youth of
      Altsasua By ANA (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
 9.  Britain, London Anarchist Communists ACG Events At
      AntiUniversity 2018 in London - Whatever Happened to the
      Revolution? (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





For the future of all our movements and struggles, the experience of a confident, 
well-organised and winning campaign is hugely important. Who knows where we might go with 
a victory in the Repeal referendum? ---- If we want to live in a free society, ordinary 
people need to start determining what happens in their own lives, communities, and 
workplaces. We anarchists of the WSM think that the Repeal the 8th campaign is a good 
example of this empowerment in practice. All of us were involved in the ‘Together for Yes' 
campaign, carrying out different tasks and roles alongside hundreds of other volunteers. 
Door-knocking, meeting, phone calls, room-booking, sandwich-making, jumper packing, 
emailing, driving: much of this work is unglamorous. All of it is vital. As anarchists, we 
think it's important to draw attention to these ordinary, everyday tasks of community 
organising and movement building. So we want to share our campaign experiences.

Why I got involved...

I joined the campaign for choice about ten years ago when I joined the WSM. I grew up in a 
small town in the west of Ireland - quiet, conservative and largely Catholic. Being part 
of the WSM meant I was soon working alongside activists in different campaigns, reading 
anarchist publications, and being introduced to new ideas. I became friends with committed 
people who had been involved in choice organising since the mid-1980s. I found out about 
the work of groups like Need Abortion Ireland helping women secure abortion pills online 
or providing supports for women who travelled for abortions to England. A friend in a 
crisis pregnancy procured abortion pills online. She spoke bravely and admirably about her 
experience to a pro-choice rally. Over time, the abstract moral debate around the ‘right 
to life' or the ‘right to choose' became grounded in real life, in stories of women 
incarcerated, killed or forced to travel. Real life, not theology or opinion polls. I 
decided I wanted to live in a world where people's bodily autonomy is respected, where the 
social norm is solidarity and mutual aid not judgment and stigma. That means a world where 
abortion is free, safe, and legal.

Growing numbers of people in Ireland now agree. In 2012, the crowds of people outraged 
after the death of Savita collectively said ‘never again'. The (always hard-working) 
Abortion Rights Campaign's annual marches for choice swelled from hundreds to thousands in 
the space of a few short years. I was made more aware of how abortion and the right to 
choose intersects with many complex realities for different women and pregnant people - 
whether you have money to travel, or can secure childcare or time off work, or have the 
visa status to be allowed back into Ireland. Meanwhile, choice organising grew and grew. 
By 2017, a well-organised Strike4Repeal brought Dublin city centre to a standstill as 
thousands of (mostly) young people occupied O'Connell Bridge to demand a referendum to 
remove the 8th amendment. It was a fantastic day. That autumn, the WSM journeyed north to 
Belfast to support our comrades at the Rally for Choice. All of us together, in countless 
actions over those years, have made it clear to successive governments that Repeal is 
unavoidable. So when the referendum was announced, I looked forward to getting stuck in.

Canvassing and community organising

I joined my local Dublin Central for Repeal campaign in early March. As I rocked up to 
Stoneybatter, I immediately saw that the pre-existing group of Repeal activists had loads 
prepared in advance. My first night - more than two months out from the referendum - saw 
twenty five volunteers turn up. We were all given pens, clipboards, and maps of the area. 
I also picked up a stylish Dublin Central for Repeal high-vis vest. We divided into two 
big groups, with experienced canvassers leading out. Ours went east down Kirwan Street and 
continued up Grangegorman Lower. An Irish Times reporter accompanied the larger group 
going west to cover Arbour Hill. My first evening, I had a lovely conversation with a 
former mid-wife who said she had pro-life views ("I have four kids") but was going to vote 
for repeal. She thought it wrong that women had to travel to the UK for abortions and 
couldn't receive the care they needed here in Ireland.

Over the following weeks, canvassing became routine. We were all advised to work in pairs, 
and to make a note of the response on doorsteps, especially to note undecideds for future 
canvasses. If the response was ‘yes', we should say that the vote will be close and 
encourage people to turnout on 25th May. If the response was ‘no' or ‘undecided', I always 
asked ‘why?' In a handful of cases, the door was just shut in my face. But more often than 
not, ‘why?' was enough to start a conversation and, sometimes, to change someone's opinion.

Are You Experienced?

Early on, I noticed that quite a few canvassers said they felt unsure of how to respond to 
these kinds of situations. They weren't professionals, experts, doctors, lawyers, or 
politicians. Many had no experience of canvassing. A certain nervousness was 
understandable. The floods of forced-birther posters around Dublin deliberately prime 
people to consider Repeal campaigners as ‘baby-killers' or Holocaust supporters. I 
received and shrugged off these labels on a few occasions only. While the majority of no 
voters I met were polite, my gender probably saved me a lot of hassle. My wife, for 
instance, came in for a lot of harassment from old men when wearing her Repeal jumper 
about the city centre. The lifer posters undoubtedly didn't ease beginner nerves but it 
made us all more determined.

Experienced folk advised newbies to think about why you turned out and to discuss with 
locals why Repeal matters to you. For many, this is a chance to discuss why a woman or 
pregnant person they know - a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend - might one day need an 
abortion. For any specific medical or legal questions, there was always the leaflet or the 
‘Together for Yes' website to refer people to. I found this approach worked really well. 
After suggesting that maybe his daughter or friend might one day need an abortion, one 
initially undecided man told me that I'd "lodged Repeal in his head" and took a leaflet. 
For me, the most enjoyable aspect of the campaign was seeing initially hesitant (mainly 
young) people grow in confidence over the course of an evening's canvass.

Possibly the hardest part of my canvassing experience was witnessing the scale of 
inequality in Dublin Central. One minute, I'm canvassing beautiful, leafy streets full of 
red-bricked cottages around Phibsboro and the Blessington Basin. An hour later, I'm 
knocking on doors in the Dominick Street flats - half of which are boarded up, empty, and 
derelict. The so-called regeneration project regenerated the bank balances of some 
developers. It didn't do much for the residents left in half-empty flats. The people that 
I met there were a mix of yes and no voters but generally sound and welcoming. (One 
teenager did shout at us to say he didn't want ‘baby-killers' to touch his dog). As I 
walked back to my nice apartment that evening, I was reminded how desperately unfair our 
society is. A more equal, more democratic city with decent homes for all is not too much 
to ask for. But we'll have to organise to get it.

A New Beginning

All told, I'm sure I was lucky to be in Dublin Central. The canvassing teams were really 
positive, upbeat and vibrant. Every evening saw a bigger and bigger turnout of volunteers. 
The majority of responses on the doorstep (70% or so in my experience) was positive. We 
canvassed our areas twice over with more than a week to spare. But it wasn't just Dublin 
Central. It felt great to be part of a wider, networked and vocal movement. I remember the 
excitement in the opening weeks when the ‘Together for Yes' online fundraising shattered 
its appeal for donations in record quick time. There was a great buzz walking around the 
city and seeing so many people wearing Repeal jumpers, especially the little smile and nod 
of recognition between two strangers wearing ‘Tá' and ‘Yes' badges. All the Repeal stories 
and selfies shared on social media from around the country were inspiring, especially the 
enthusiasm and efforts of groups in rural areas like ‘Roscommon for Yes' or ‘Donegal for Yes'.

For the future of all our movements and struggles, the experience of a confident, 
well-organised and winning campaign is hugely important. One home I recall had tiny 
rainbow flags in the flower box by the door. Big smiles from the man who answered the door 
when he heard we were from Together for Yes. He, like a lot of people I met, had very 
happy memories of the Marriage Equality referendum in 2015 and wanted to see something 
similar happen again. Every new movement is always building on the shoulders of those who 
campaigned before us. Who knows where we might go with a victory in the Repeal referendum?

Remember then that this is only a new beginning. As anarchists, we think the bullshit in 
our lives - the boss who wants to cut your wages, the bishop who wants to force women to 
remain pregnant against their will, the landlord who wants to raise your rent, the racist 
who wants to deport you - can only be uprooted and eliminated by ordinary people 
organising together to fight the powerful. We want to end the rule of a chosen few. 
Instead, we want to see a world where we all decide together what happens in our 
workplaces and communities, a world grounded in solidarity and mutual aid.

After this referendum, the media will credit victory to prominent politicians or 
foreground the spectacle of televised debates. But like the great Muhammad Ali said: ‘The 
fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there 
on the road, long before I dance under those lights'. In other words, I hope we can 
remember that grassroots campaigning - from the ground up - brought this referendum about 
in the first place. Come 26th May, we may have achieved a vital victory for bodily 
autonomy; but there's still a whole world for us to win.

Author: Tomás

https://wsm.ie/c/anarchist-repeal-abortion-ban-referendum

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Message: 2






On June 12, 12 comrades / members of the Rubikon are tried for: ---- Intervention for 
doctor bribery ---- Intervention for power outages in households ---- German ambassador 
protest at home as solidarity with refugees ---- Protest at Saudi Arabian Embassy Against 
Yemen War ---- Protest in the courts of Larissa on the case of the release of a 
military-rapist ---- Intervention to Turkish Airlines as a solidarity in the Kurdish 
struggle ---- Intervention to the Ministry of Economy and Development ---- Intervention to 
the Pentagon ---- In recent years, we have been struggling to cut wages and pensions, 
wreak havoc on all public benefits, an incredible increase in the cost of living, with the 
ever-increasing devaluation of the working class. At the same time that our class accepts 
the most violent attack, the state and repressive mechanisms are struggling more and more 
harshly those who dare to resist the degradation from below.

Against the thousand faces of their "democracy", NO MONEY MANAGER

CONCENTRATION:

12 JUNE, 10:00, EVILPIDON COURTS

Eleftherial Initiative of Thessaloniki - member of the Anarchist Federation

lib_thess@hotmail.com
http://www.libertasalonica.wordpress.com

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Message: 3





June 10 anarchists will speak in defense of the rights of citizens and freedom at a rally 
in Moscow. Anarchists know firsthand about the arbitrariness of the siloviki: they have a 
lot of experience in opposing reprisals, so they will talk about their struggle against 
the violence of the authorities towards political prisoners anarchists and anti-fascists, 
the struggle for common freedom. ---- Since February 2018, after detainees accused of 
preparing to overthrow the authorities, anarchists and anti-fascists from different cities 
have reported terrible torture by FSB officers , the public has risen to the side of 
combating the arbitrariness of the authorities: traces of torture were recorded by members 
of the PSC and doctors, independent media publish information about the progress of the 
case and violations, solidarity actions are carried out (which often lead to new 
detentions and tortures), the history of detainees becomes the cultural life of Russian 
cities, parents aderzhannyh united in PTA together to resist the pressure from the 
authorities.

It is obvious that the SC, as well as the administration of the SIZO, cover criminals from 
the FSB. By their inaction they take the time to get rid of evidence, in other cases find 
absurd excuses for torture or give false refutations of torture, as in the case of Ilya 
Kapustin, who was allegedly bitten by bedbugs.

The situation around the Network is one of many, and it is clear to us: Russia needs 
systemic transformation from below. Russia must end authoritarianism and the power of the 
siloviki.

Come: Moscow, Sakharov Avenue, June 10, 13.00.

Location: at the intersection of Kalanchevskaya and Masha Poryvaeva streets at 12.00

https://avtonom.org/news/10-iyunya-na-saharova-protiv-vlasti-silovikov

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Message: 4






SOLIDARITY STOIN CITIZEN CITIZEN DIMITRIS KOUFONTINA TO KILL THE EXCLUSION STATUS ---- NO 
PUBLISHER OF THE TOURNAMENT AGAINST THE TURKISH FASHION STATE ---- IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF 
THE SEASIDE MARIUS ANARHIKI ---- Our consciousness is fueled by the memory of the 
struggles, to say it once more, to understand it, we know in memory that we can defend it 
at all costs. " ---- "And because nothing has ever been given to us, and what are called 
rights are but the conquests of long and long-lasting struggles, the only answer we can 
give is to bring back, inside and out of prison, the red thread of these struggles." ---- 
D. Koufontina ---- On Wednesday, May 30, political prisoner Dimitris Koufodinas launched a 
hunger strike demanding regular regular leave and abolishing the prosecution veto. After 
an intervention by the Athenian Prosecutor, Koufodtina's right to leave (which was denied 
for seven years) was lifted, resulting in the suspension of the licenses he had begun to 
take over the last few months. As he himself says, "the faction of the supposedly 
independent justice collapses and reveals the real face of this deeply classical and 
politically revolutionary institution. Because this interference, shaking the laws of her 
own system, which she supposedly serves, sends out the clear message that no other law or 
code applies to the political opponent,

In November 2017, D. Koufodina took the first permit in a climate of media hysteria and 
terror, while interventions aimed at creating a climate of withdrawal were made by a 
number of political figures and embassies, including the US. Political prisoner D. 
Koufodinas was entitled to leave for seven years and was deprived of it because "he has 
not diversified his conscious background" and because he has "distorted ideology". What 
the authorities were asking for was a statement of repentance and a disclaimer of his 
ideology.

Power has always attempted to bend, nullify, and flatten its political opponents in order 
to consolidate its sovereignty-omnipotence. Besides, this is evident from the vengeance of 
each political prisoner and from the special exemption regime for them.

The Syriac-Anean Synergy has chosen to draw and implement the "left" version of the 
doctrine of law and order. The revivalist request for the revocation of the acquittal for 
T. Theophilos, the evacuation of the occupation of the Rectorate, which was carried out as 
a sign of solidarity in the hunger strike of the political prisoners, the vengeful refusal 
to grant the permits to political prisoners, the criminalization of friendly and close 
relations with them, the assault on any form of unionism (persecution of members of the 
Association of Witnesses of Salvation, targeting of employees in Mass Transfers, vengeance 
dismissal of workers for their action, etc.) j prosecutions and intrusions in homes 
fighters against auctions, entire villages trials and converting them to "terrorist" 
organizations, (the condemnation of the 77-year-old militant from Megali Panagia 
Halkidiki, the conviction of Marios Seisidis in 36 years of imprisonment, the conviction 
of Fivos Charisis without information, and the refusal to licensing etc.) are some of the 
results of the upgrading of the repressive arsenal, which the government is gradually 
implementing in cooperation with the judicial authorities and the anti-terrorist agency. 
In addition to this, the recent assumptions of B. Dimakis and N.

In order to ensure the total imposition of the regime and the unimpeded service of the 
interests of the predominant economic and political elites, all means can be used in even 
more aggravated form and even more intensive. Thus, this enforcement passes through the 
total extermination of those who struggle against it, through the exemplary punishment of 
those who lift up the head to resist or have every reason to do so, through the cruel and 
overt suppression of those who refuse to accept its dissolution of their lives, through 
state revivalism and the material-moral extermination of those who have been in the hands 
of the state for their action. The "war on terror" and the exemplary punishment of 
dissidents pass through the consolidation of the iron grid of repression in every social 
field, with the intensity of control and oversight in society, and the creation of a 
special statute of exclusion for politicians and social militants. A regime built under 
the special laws of terrorists that imposes special trials, special indictments, 
deprivation of basic rights, special cells and special treatment.

Within this suppressive framework is also the persecution of communist Turgut Kaya who has 
been persecuted and imprisoned (with arbitrary arrests, torture, and detention in the 
special F prison) repeatedly by the Turkish State for his participation in the struggle 
and his policies beliefs. Turgut Kaya was arrested in February by the Greek authorities 
according to Interpol's "Red Alarm" at the request of the Turkish regime. In an 
unprecedented decision, the Supreme Court decided on 30/5/18 to be extradited to Turkey to 
serve the remainder of the sentence imposed on him by a court in his country, condemned as 
a "terrorist". Turgut Kaya is already in hunger strike on 31/5, struggling through prison, 
demanding the revocation of his decision to issue him. It is known the fate of dissidents 
in the hands of the Turkish state. Particularly after the failed coup, Erdogan unleashed 
an unprecedented suppressive orgy against anyone who struggles by establishing an iron 
grid of repression and surveillance and imposing his dictatorship. It is obvious that the 
Greek and Turkish states have no problem cooperating (by the decision of Kontone Turgut 
Kaya transferred to the prisons of Komotini) and to treat together the "terrorists", those 
who are struggling to overthrow the dictatorship of the state and of the capital. Erdogan 
unleashed an unprecedented suppressive orgy against anyone who struggles by establishing 
an iron grid of repression and surveillance and imposing his dictatorship. It is obvious 
that the Greek and Turkish states have no problem cooperating (by the decision of Kontone 
Turgut Kaya transferred to the prisons of Komotini) and to treat together the 
"terrorists", those who are struggling to overthrow the dictatorship of the state and of 
the capital. Erdogan unleashed an unprecedented suppressive orgy against anyone who 
struggles by establishing an iron grid of repression and surveillance and imposing his 
dictatorship. It is obvious that the Greek and Turkish states have no problem cooperating 
(by the decision of Kontone Turgut Kaya transferred to the prisons of Komotini) and to 
treat together the "terrorists", those who are struggling to overthrow the dictatorship of 
the state and of the capital.

At the same time, anarchist Marios Seisidis is sued for second instance in the case of the 
armed robbery of the National Bank of Solon in Solon, which took place in January 2006. 
This case and the prosecution that followed, led to the past in the severe injury 
anarchist Yannis Dimitrakis and his many years of imprisonment, while for Simos and Marios 
Seisidis and for Grigoris Tsironis he imposed a regime of lasting illegality until their 
capture by the prosecution authorities. At first instance, the sentencing sentence of 36 
years of imprisonment was imposed on Marios Seisidis, a condemnation that is part of the 
repressive method of the state towards anarchists and other militants and aims not only to 
recover the prestige of persecution mechanisms but also generally to exemplify society and 
neutralize its resistances. A decision taken without the recognition of any class martyr, 
but based solely on a DNA sample that, according to counter-terrorism, was found 500 
meters away from the bank. On Wednesday, June 6th, at the Court of Appeal, Marios Seisidis 
will give another fight against police and judicial arbitrariness. A battle, which is part 
of the struggle against the repression attack that has been politically launched,

The world of power reserves more control, more repression, more exploitation and fear. 
Behind him to rebuild the struggle communities, to organize our social and class fronts 
and our political presence to overthrow the plans of the political and economic elites. 
Let us fight to break the regime of political prisoners, oppose state repression and 
attempt to enlarge it, highlight the fate of state struggles at the expense of militants, 
fight state revival, and let none of us alone hands of the state. To stand by the side of 
D. Koufondina, who for years struggled with dignity through the white cells of 
"democracy", defending both his actions and the law of struggle for a society of freedom, 
equality and solidarity. Standing on the side of Turgut Kaya who is fighting for his 
non-extradition to Turkey and his release. To stand by the side of Marios Seisidis who 
experiences the avenues of repressive and persecutory mechanisms.

In the irreversible despondency of the state and capitalist world, its deadlocks, its 
political and valueless bankruptcy, to counter the collective resistance, class 
solidarity, the emancipation of the oppressed, the unique living social perspective: the 
world of Anarchy and Liberal Communism.

AGAINST STATE REMAINING, SURVIVORS, DISCUSSION AND EXCLUSION STATUS

AGAINST FOCUS, LOVE AND DISCUSSION ... TO COMPLY WITH THE ORGANIZATION AND THE PENALTY OF 
THE RACE

MECHANICAL RESISTANCE - SOCIAL SELF-ORGANIZATION - CLASSICAL SOLIDARITY

Anarchist group "dwarf horse"

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Message: 5





The demonstration which was organised by the revolutionary high school organisations has 
been attcked brutally by police. High School Anarchist Action (LAF) is also one of the 
organisers of the protest. The demonstration is for protesting the university exams which 
is made for accepting the high school students who can pass the exam. The exam is one of 
the major problem in education issue. ---- For protesting this, every june there is 
demonstration about the exam. The protest has been planned to be in Kadıköy. The police 
has attacked to the protestors who tried to march. First attack to take the protestors 
have been occured brutally. The police have beated many protestors who are high school 
students. The violence of the police has continued during the police buses. ----7 comrades 
from LAF, totally over 30 revolutionary has been taken into custody.

The vilonce of the police and the repression won't keep us away from our struggle.

https://www.facebook.com/lafisyanda2008/?hc_ref=ARRYyOFsnVxGS8K2QdzxjBKoaeXu2Fqtclen7KHlTyXXiq-NOcoDGqEzPk_FCbVmEhc&fref=nf

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Message: 6





So now that the referendum is won and the government is moving towards enacting 
legislation that allows limited access to abortion, we're starting to hear questions being 
raised about Together for Yes activists running in elections.[1] For many people, the 
conspicuous endpoint of any political campaign is for the political activists to put 
forward one of their number to run for political office. We are going to argue against 
that for a number of reasons. ---- If your strategy to change our society for the better 
is based around electing 'people we can trust' into positions of power so they can enact 
legislation that is in the interests of the working class, then the primary focus of your 
activity is going to have to be on elections.

Competing with well-oiled establishment parties and their electoral machines means a 
left-wing electoral group has to spend most of its time and energy building towards 
election campaigns. This is energy that could otherwise be poured into direct action 
political campaigns like those that won hugely significant victories around the water 
charges and the recent referendum on the 8th Amendment.

Additionally, the person encouraged to run for election is going to be one of the most 
experienced organisers. If elected, that organisers' valuable energies are now being 
expended in a council chamber or in the Dáil where they are on hostile ground, playing by 
the State's rules, surrounded and outnumbered by right wing people. That organisers' time 
would be far better spent in community organising and on the streets working together with 
like minded organisers. Our power to change things is built up in our communities and on 
the streets, not the Dáil or the council chamber.

We recently saw, in Kildare County Council, this dynamic playing out where three 
right-wing men cooperated to prevent a woman councillor's pro-choice motion from even 
being discussed in a council session, never mind being voted on.[2]If anything, the Dáil 
is going to have even more controls, checks & barriers on left-wing activity than a 
council chamber. Why expend a huge amount of time, money and energy to send one of your 
best organisers into that kind of dead end?

It's worth noting that a great many people view 'politics' as something that is divorced 
from their lives that is carried out behind closed doors by a professional class of people 
who occasionally appear as talking heads on our television screens. While this is a 
commonly held view, it is something that needs to be challenged as it facilitates 
abandoning 'politics' to a right wing political class who will work to shape our society 
to their liking. We can't afford to stand back and let them do that, we need to be 
politically active and force changes that we want to see, as we have done.

While bearing that in mind, we should understand that the strategy of running in elections 
is a waste of time, and is even more so if you are successful. We should not promote a 
'Can't someone else do it?' political culture where people are encouraged to vote for 
someone to go into a State-controlled forum and try to chip away at major political 
problems from in there. Instead, we should encourage people to become politically engaged 
in their communities, to educate themselves and each other, and to organise effectively 
against the problems our society faces. Let's organise in our communities, on our terms 
and by using direct action, because that is what gets results.

[1]http://kfmradio.com/news/28052018-1726/listen-speculation-mounts-members...

[2]http://kfmradio.com/news/30042018-1603/kildare-together-yes-deeply-disap...

Further reading on why elections are not useful for advancing left wing movements: 
https://www.wsm.ie/c/why-elections-fail-filters-parliament

Author: Brian Ancom

https://wsm.ie/c/post-referendum-electoralism

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Message: 7





The CNT organizations in Spain that broke away from the International Workers Association 
(IWA-AIT) have abandoned their attempts at creating a new IWA-AIT, but instead have 
decided to create a new international federation of syndicalist unions, the International 
Confederation of Labour (ICL-CIT), while still claiming the legacy of the 
anti-authoritarian International (I deal with the importance of the original IWA in the 
creation of anarchist movements in ‘We Do Not Fear Anarchy – We Invoke It’). Meanwhile, 
some CNT sections in Spain that continue their affiliation with the IWA-AIT are being sued 
by the other CNT for slander, which would suggest a marked departure from anarchist 
principles. Here I reproduce the May Day statement of the CNT-AIT, which sets forth its 
commitment to anarcho-syndicalism, and provides some comments regarding the other CNT’s 
lawsuit.

Speech of the CNT-AIT, Anarchist May Day in Barcelona
First of all, thank you for your invitation and for being able to share the commemoration 
of the anarchist May Day with you. As you know, we commemorate May Day because of the 
crime committed by the state against anarcho-syndicalists, almost all immigrants – George 
Engel, Adolph Fischer, August Spies and Albert Parsons were hanged, Louis Lingg killed 
himself and Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe sentenced to prison. They are 
known worldwide as Martyrs of Chicago.

The main reason for these murders was to end the organization of the workers movement and 
its just demands: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest and 8 hours of leisure for formation 
and development. To this day the workers of the world still have to keep fighting for 
those same demands.

Even today we suffer the tyranny of Capital, States and institutions that seek to give a 
legal-democratic formality to oppression and deny any freedom of thought, expression or 
action, individual or collective, which poses a danger to their survival and privileges; 
and that totally contradicts the common good.

We believe it justified our existence, we continue sharing the main ideas, general 
analysis of society, forms of organization and strategies of the comrades who preceded us 
in this same struggle.

Today, we believe that it is necessary to dignify anarcho-syndicalism, to free it from the 
corruption and executivism that are found in various secretaries and committees whose have 
not only shamed their own but are further weakening anarcho-syndicalism, doing one more 
favor for Capital and the State.

It is worrying that these Secretaries and Committees of the CNT are using the same tools 
as the State to eliminate “dissidence” through judicial complaints and suits for huge 
amounts in compensation against several unions of the CNT-AIT. You can also notice the 
state strategy and the desire to apply a type of article 155. But with one difference – 
you can not occupy or supplant the unions they have sued because they do not have their 
own people to replace them. They ignore the protests of unions that still remain in the 
CNT against the decision to initiate judicial activities and bring huge lawsuits against 
anarcho-syndicalist unions. These unions also asked for explanations about the legitimacy 
of theses suits when people were not informed and the topic was not treated in the 
organization so that unions could give their opinions.

We continue to have allies in the comrades who suffer the actions of the Secretariat of 
the CNT and we will not break the ties of solidarity with those who we have always been in 
solidarity with, through all the union and social struggles which happened and will happen 
in the future. They will have our support and we are sure to receive the same when we need it.

The Confederal Bureaucracy, embodied today in the Executive Secretariat of the CNT (sic), 
will not succeed in destroying years of coordinated anarcho-syndical struggle between the 
different unions. We hope that these Secretariats will be held accountable before the 
unions that claim to represent and that they will have to change their functions, back to 
what they should be in an anarcho-syndicalist organization, instead od the current 
executive functions they assume without the mandate of the unions.

Further we declare our principles, tactics and purposes, to demonstrate that it is not the 
unions of the CNT-AIT, being sued that have broken the confederal pact, but on the 
contrary, it has been the Secretary of the CNT (sic), today an executive, and the 
Secretaries who have breached the principle of Federalism, It is they that have changed 
the functions entrusted to the Secretariats and Committees for the organization, have 
change how anarcho-syndicalism should work, into different, executive functions that are 
not allowed in its operation. We must once against reiterate our ideas, which we subscribe 
to and we are proud of, and the structural concepts of the anarcho-syndicalist 
organization collected through history and that we are trying to fulfill faithfully today. 
We are very aware of the importance of coherence between what is said and what is done.

What are we, what kind of organization and what world do we want?

– We are Anarcho-Syndicalists

And we understand this form of organization as that which has emerged from the oppressed 
and exploited classes that aspire to destroy the established system and, through direct 
action, and anti-authoritarian organization, to dismantle the mechanisms of domination, 
putting all the means of production at the service of the workers. We act in the field of 
union activity because this is where the individual really feels economic exploitation, 
where class struggle takes place most clearly and can be taken up by the majority of workers.

– We are Anti-capitalists

Because anarcho-syndicalism is radically opposed to the system established by liberal 
capitalism or by state capitalism in all its variants …

Capitalism, regardless of its present or future transformations, represents the economic 
exploitation derived from private ownership of the means of production and the subsequent 
capitalization of these by a few, regardless of whether the exploiters are represented 
individually or anonymously or collectively. The capitalism of the State for its part, 
appropriates property for the benefit of a privileged sector integrated into the State.

Both systems develop their institutions and their means of repression through the ruling 
class, through laws, the organs of justice, prisons, police, the army etc.

– We are Anti-statists

Because we conceive the State, as one that sacralizes the economic forms of exploitation 
through its estates, laws and repressive bodies of all kinds. Because it supports private 
ownership of the means of production and the market economy by maintaining the current 
system through repression and institutionalized terrorism.

Faced with the State, we propose the free federation of autonomous libertarian communes.

– We are Anti-militarists and Internationalists

Because it is necessary to overcome nation states and the concentration of power they 
represent. This brings us to the need to act on the international level together with the 
organizations related to the anarcho-syndicalism in other countries in order to maintain a 
common struggle on this front.

– We are Anti-sexists

Because we work to destroy the patriarchy, for the end of sexism and any descrimination 
for reason of gender or sexual orientation. We are convinced that there should not exist 
hierarchies between people because of their gender and we firmly reject any social or 
cultural imposition of roles. Each individual has to develop their own personality without 
prejudice to their gender or sexuality. We must flee from conventionalism that set a role 
for us to follow, to be „feminine” or „masculine”. We are fighting for a society in which 
any form of authority will be abolished. We want all people, regardless of their gender, 
to live, develop and have relations as equals and in freedom.

– We are against all forms of power

We are against all religions and churches as well as philosophical and ideological forms 
that oppose the critical development of the individual. We also manifest ourselves against 
any form of power that attacks nature and produces its degradation, thereby affecting the 
very balance of humanity in its environment.

– We are Federalists

Understanding this as the nexus of free and solidary federation,without authoritarianism 
or coercion of all the economic groups and the general relation of humanity that permits 
the basic functions of social life in all its aspects.

We consider this nexus as an essential principle that must govern the structural and 
internal functioning of the organization, thus guaranteeing freedom and the 
decision-making equality of individuals and trade unions integrated into the organization. 
Given its non-hierarchical structure and its federalist content, we reject any type of 
leadership function, as well as the figure of charismatic leaders.

Federalism is not a decentralization of central power, or having different power on 
different levels, but having a type of organizational structure that impedes any type of 
centralism.

– We are Solidary

We understand solidarity and mutual aid as something that fuses collective action in the 
pursuit of the common good of the whole society.

– We are Defenders of Direct Action

Direct action is the only kind that can be assumed by our militancy. The 
anti-authoritarian vision of history, the new ethics of personal and non-transferable 
responsibility, the sovereign character that we ascribe to the human person to determine 
their destiny, leads us to reject any form of mediation or renunciation of freedom and 
individual initiative and collective in seconds or third parties, no matter who they are 
leaving all the power of decision.

We understand direct action not as the individual and isolated action of the person, but 
as the collective and solidary action of all workers to solve their problems in front of 
the individuals who hold power or their intermediaries. And this group of workers will be 
in charge at all times of arbitrating the means to apply this direct action in the way 
that the group or assembly considers most appropriate in each case, provided that it does 
not go against the very essence of the organization.

This direct action ultimately leads us to reject parliaments, parliamentary elections and 
referendums, all institutions that are the key to intermediation.

In the field of economic claims and for the same reasons, we reject all types of 
arbitration between capital and labor, as mixed juries, arbitration commissions, etc., 
manifesting in favor of the free and direct confrontation of capital and labor. It is for 
all that has been said, in short, that we reject the State in all its forms.

These are the ideas and force that lead us in this project of union organization and the 
future society we are fighting for.

Comrades, our aspirations, objectives and attempts to see justice for humanity are 
constantly harassed and criminalized by Capital and the State. Where they see that these 
ideals and forms of organization gain strength, in the different movements, they act 
together for their integration into the system or, if this is not possible, for their 
disarticulation by whatever means necessary.

This is also what happened on that May 1, 1886 and it will continue to happen as long as 
we continue to allow it.

At present, trade unionism and worker mobilization leaves much to be desired. 
Institutional unions and other political formations, comfortable in their niches of power, 
convey to society that structural unemployment, job insecurity or corruption is inevitable 
and necessary. And they do it because this is what they live of, with the consent of 
Capital and the State.

We assume that their shameful enrichment and their survival lies largely in the degree of 
consciousness, organization and struggle acquired by the exploited.

It is time to dignify what trade unionism is, it is time to spread the anarchistic ideal 
further, and we believe that the best way to do this is to strengthen the anarcho-syndical 
organization.

We will finish with the slogan of the International Workers’ Association, an organization 
which the CNT-AIT has been part of since 1922 and which well defines the anti-delegateist 
and anti-executivist message that we adhere to:

“The emancipation of the workers will be the act of the workers themselves, or it won’t be 
at all.”

COMRADES!!
For Anarchy and for Anarchosyndicalism as a tool to achieve it!!

No, it is not for a crime that they condemn us to death, it is for what has been said 
here: they condemn us to death for anarchy, and since we are condemned for our principles, 
I scream very loudly: I’m an anarchist!

I despise them, I despise their order, their laws, their power, their authority. Hang me 
for it!
(Louis Lingg)

CNT-AIT (Spain)

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Message: 8






*  Imprisoning them with imprisonment is out of all logic, the union stressed. ---- * "The 
Justice System is always in favor of power, and the sentence is another example of this," 
denounced the anarcho-syndicalist organization. ---- Altsasua sentenced[on June 1, 2018]to 
79 years in prison for having fought with two Civil Guards: Oihan and Iñaki, 13 years, 12 
years to Jokin and Adur, Jon Ander, Julen and Aratz 9 years and to Ainara two years' 
imprisonment. "We want to show all these young people and their families all our 
solidarity," said the CNT, "since it is a condemnation that is out of all logic." ---- The 
anarcho-syndicalist organization denounced "the State's use of Justice". The court 
dismissed the crime of terrorism, as it was publicly "exaggerated" and instead were 
sentenced "for the maximum penalty allowed by the Penal Code" for crimes of injury, public 
disorder and threats. The objective was to "reduce condemnation a little, to silence 
criticism". After all, Justice "is always on the side of Power: condemnations of prison 
for torture are usually minor, for example."

The CNT makes a call to participate in the mobilizations of solidarity, "because police 
assemblies of this kind create pain and disgust, more when justice is complicit and 
revenge. They've ruined the lives of young people for a bar fight. "

Source: 
http://www.cnt-sindikatua.org/index.php/en/todas-las-noticias/1443-cnt-se-solidariza-con-los-jovenes-de-altsasua.html

Translation> Sol de Abri

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Message: 9





Sunday 10th June 2018 3pm-4.30pm -- Conway Hall, Brockway Room, Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL 
---- Most of our time is spent having to resist attacks on all fronts - bosses, the 
government, and all the general injustices of society. But many of us hold in our hearts a 
hope for a completely different society. Isn't it time we put Revolution back at the top 
of the agenda? What do we need to do to make it a reality rather than just a vague hope at 
the back of our minds? Anarchist communists believe firmly in the possibility of working 
class revolution. This talk/discussion will first present anarchist communist ideas on 
revolution before opening up to general discussion about revolution today. Some of the 
questions to discuss are: What do we mean by revolution? What steps can we take now? What 
are the obstacles?

Anarchist Fitzrovia: a walking tour
Convened by Anarchist Communist Group
See where Frank Kitz, a leading light in the Socialist League, met with others and downed 
a pint or two in the process. Visit the sites of Louise Michel's Free School, the German 
anarchist Autonomie Club, Lilyan Evelyn's anarchist Ferrer School, the haunts of the 
celebrated Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta, the soup kitchen set up by refugees from 
the Paris Commune.
Goggle at the building that housed the (in)famous Malatesta Club of the 1950s. See where 
anarchist sympathiser and artist Augustus John drank. Stand outside The grocer shop of 
Albert Richard, hero of the Paris Commune, who sold only red beans and rejected 
reactionary white beans.
Linger at the newsagents run by Armand Lapie, scene of doctrinal disputes. Pause at the 
spot where the colourful anarchist Xo d'Axa played his barrel organ. All this and much more.
Sat 9 June 2018 15:00 - 17:00
Meeting at Great Portland Street Tube entrance

https://londonacg.blogspot.com/2018/06/acg-events-at-antiuniversity-2018-in.html

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