Today's Topics:
1. wsm.ie: Prebuy a t-shirt for the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair
2018 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. alas barricadas: [MAD] Anarchist block against climate
change --- September 8 at 7:00 p.m.--- Plaza of the Reina Sofía
Museum (ca, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, black rose fed: A YEAR IN POPULAR POWER #3 - "DON'T BE A
SCAB!" GRADUATE STUDENT STRIKES (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Britain, brighton solfed Housing Union: A Year of Mutual Aid
and Direct Action Solidarity (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Holand, vrije bond: [Hambach] Callout for International
Solidarity from the Hambach Forest (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
You can pre-buy your DABF t-shirt by paying the appropriate amount (1 tshirt = €10, 2 =
€20...) at our paypal link below: ---- You can pay with credit/debit card, but be sure to
click "add special instructions to the seller" and let us know your name, size desired
(S,M,L,XL), and fit (female/male) so you can pick up your t-shirt at the WSM stall at the
bookfair on Saturday September 15th. Bring proof of payment just in case there is any
confusion on the day as it can be hectic at times. We have a limited supply of this years'
Moore Street trader themed design so grab one before they're all gone!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=5P8Hhuo_Sz9LR-55PuXevMO7qtQVtYKp16-orT5XlMT02Wxbo3rLzswB-SX7CiNnsyPAVG&country.x=IE&locale.x=IE
https://wsm.ie/c/prebuy-t-shirt-dublin-anarchist-bookfair-2018
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Message: 2
Climate change is the product of the industrial society born two centuries ago in Europe
and violently imposed on the rest of the world. There have been two centuries of
continuous poisoning through nocivities of all kinds that have brought devastating
consequences: deforestation, desertification, droughts, floods, famines, violent storms,
extinction of millions of species ... In this situation there are many who seek a solution
----- The statist and leftist solutions: reforms that only lead to an intensification of
misery beyond what we can imagine. The solutions of the leftists not only do not criticize
the industrial society but place it in a privileged place in every process of change. Any
solution to climate change must arise from its technologies, when we have seen that it has
been the development of industrial or complex technologies that cause climate change, it
is the flight forward of the logic of the ideology of progress. Creating the illusion that
there are technological shortcuts without taking into account the root causes of climate
change: mainly the emission of greenhouse gases. One of these technological "solutions" is
the manipulation of climate through geoengineering, which poses great risks for
ecosystems, since it is based on excessive consumption of land, water and other natural
elements that some insist on calling resources. Those that see the solution in the
technology do not stop to give sticks of blind: the transgenics were going to end the
hunger of the world ... the green energies with the contamination ... .all this so that
the techno-scientific system continues working but increasing the misery of those who have
to survive in it. Statists and leftists promote the regulation of harmful effects, trying
to hide that to regulate them is to accept their existence, promoting treaties that
regulate the emission of greenhouse gases. It is a distraction maneuver. Reducing
emissions means increasing the amount of gases but in a slower way. The climate changes
depending on the amount of carbon or methane, and not the annual emissions, in the
atmosphere; therefore decreasing emissions continues to cause climate change. Therefore,
leftists, politicians, NGOs ... only seek to regulate the devastation, the same that is
killing everything alive in any place on the planet, in order to continue living in this
technological somnambulism.
- Green capitalism, social control and acceptance of one-way conditions: The climate
crisis will not destroy capitalism, we do not face a collapse but a restructuring of
living conditions. Industrial capitalism is adapting to the end of the existence of fossil
fuels and following its logic of efficiency and effectiveness has turned green and
ecological is promoting and developing alternative energies so that the world can continue
to function as it is now, calls Green energies perpetuate the existence of capitalism,
indeed, there are no green and / or clean energies in industrial society. Green energies
continue to cause devastation from solar energy, whose solar panels composed of silicon
(whose extraction poisons the areas near the mine with devastating consequences in the
lives of those who live in nearby areas) to the wind energy whose materials are exactly
the same. Nothing is green in the industrial society, the production of ecological cars
(or any other industrial device) creates hundreds of harmful effects from the extraction
of the materials that form it, the energy necessary for its operation, to the process of
manufacturing it, for not to mention the social relations that all this generates. The
green world of green energies will lead us to the same nightmare that produced the "green
revolution" of the last century. Nothing is green in the industrial society, the
production of ecological cars (or any other industrial device) creates hundreds of harmful
effects from the extraction of the materials that form it, the energy necessary for its
operation, to the process of manufacturing it, for not to mention the social relations
that all this generates. The green world of green energies will lead us to the same
nightmare that produced the "green revolution" of the last century. Nothing is green in
the industrial society, the production of ecological cars (or any other industrial device)
creates hundreds of harmful effects from the extraction of the materials that form it, the
energy necessary for its operation, to the process of manufacturing it, for not to mention
the social relations that all this generates. The green world of green energies will lead
us to the same nightmare that produced the "green revolution" of the last century.
Given the devastation caused by climate change, Capitalism is developing measures of
social control, since millions will flee the places that climate change will make
uninhabitable. Europe is already protecting itself with numerous measures: from
militarized borders, strict measures of internal security, biometric surveillance, DNA
testing and much more. All this aimed at the control and repression of those who have no
place in the European fortress and those of its inhabitants who rebel against the imposed
living conditions. It is then necessary to attack the root of the problem: the industrial
organization of the world, the techno-scientific society and its world without delegating
anything or anyone. Only then can we end a catastrophe that is already in progress.
http://alasbarricadas.org/noticias/node/40638
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Message: 3
Tariq is a graduate student, teaching assistant and union member of Graduate Employees
Organization or GEO Local 6300, which represents 2,700 graduate and teaching assistants at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). In February 2018, the union led a
successful two-week strike pushing back against the administration’s threat to take away
tuition waivers and winning increases and pay and health coverage. ---- “A Year In Popular
Power” is a four part YouTube series featuring members of Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist
Federation (BRRN) speaking on their organizing work as examples of building popular power.
This was filmed as a panel event by the same name on August 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA
which was held in conjunction with BRRN’s 5th convention, which you can read more about HERE.
Episode #1: Teacher Strikes and #RedForEd in North Carolina
Episode #2: Organizing to Stop ICE Raids with the Koreatown Popular Assembly
Episode #3: Graduate Student Strikes with GEO Local 6300
Episode #4: Organizing in Fast Food with the Burgerville Workers Union
http://blackrosefed.org/year-in-popular-power-3-graduate-student-strikes/
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Message: 4
Just over a year ago, Brighton Solidarity Federation started a Housing Union. Our
experience living in Brighton was of rents rocketing up (18% average in 2015 compared to
4.9% nationwide), while conditions were getting worse. We wanted to find ways to stand up
for ourselves and fight back. In this article, we look at the successes we've had, the
lessons we've learned, and the knowledge we've acquired over this first year. ---- Why we
started Brighton SolFed Housing Union ---- In June 2017, Brighton Solidarity Federation
started a campaign focused on housing. Our experience living in Brighton was of rents
rocketing up (18% average in 2015 compared to 4.9% nationwide), while conditions were
getting worse. Huge increases in student numbers led to ever more scumbag landlords and
letting agencies shoving more and more people in ever smaller spaces, and becoming
increasingly brazen in withholding deposits. Brighton and Hove is a city with an
incredibly transitory population, and this - combined with letting agents' belief that
because Brighton is somewhere people particularly want to live, people will put up with
anything - makes it ripe for the worst kinds of exploitation of renters.
We immediately knew that we wanted to focus on our direct action approach, rather than a
legalistic model. While we made sure to inform tenants of the possibilities of going this
way and signposting where appropriate - for example in cases of deposit theft using the
Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS) - we were clear to explain why we don't pursue these cases
in this way. For example with the DPS, landlords and agencies have three different
protection schemes to choose from, so it would not be in their interests to consistently
rule in favour of tenants. Moreover, agencies have staff dedicated to undertaking such
administration, who have knowledge and experience of the regulations, meaning that the
deck is stacked in their favour even when an agency is blatantly in the wrong.
We also think that direct action public campaigns help to highlight that many of us share
these problems, and that our power lies in banding together to fight them. DPS procedures
keep these problems private and help agencies to guard against the formation of solidarity
and support amongst their tenants.
What we've done this year
Over the past year, we have primarily organised with tenants to campaign against
deductions to their deposit and poor quality accommodation. These direct action campaigns
have resulted in a number of victories, including:
* A group of tenants winning just over £6,000 in compensation for poor accommodation and
the return of a deposit
* A tenant winning back £510 withheld from a deposit
* a new, gas safety certified cooker for a tenant who spent over a year without one
* a tenant winning back £344 withheld from their deposit
* a tenant winning back £450 withheld from their deposit
* a tenant winning a deposit back after threatening to contact us
We've been really encouraged by the number of tenants organising with us to successfully
fight deposit theft, as well as those who have organised with us to fight poor quality
accommodation.
Over the past year, we have also organised with a tenant who was evicted at short notice
from their sub-let, as well as with tenants facing deposit deductions by one of the most
notorious student lettings agencies in the city, G4Lets. Whilst that campaign did not
result in a pay-out for those students, it has encouragingly seen further G4Lets tenants
approaching us and successfully making demands, such as for the return of holding
deposits, as well as exercising their rights with regard to disrepair issues. You can read
our reflections on our six-month long dispute with G4Lets here.
The other dispute that we have been organising for the past year has been in support of a
tenant, Patrick, who lives in accommodation that was allowed to deteriorate into serious
disrepair by his landlord and the landlord's managing agency, Youngs. In December 2017, we
supported Patrick to demand that vital repair works were carried out, and that he be
compensated for having to live in such run-down accommodation for a considerable period of
time. In January 2018, his landlord served him with an eviction notice.
Our nine-month dispute with Youngs has included pickets, marches through Kemptown with
dozens of other tenants demanding the repairs and money Patrick is owed, and the extension
of our campaign to another letting agency in the city, Halls, who are the landlord of
Youngs' office. We demanded that Halls evict Youngs from their office.
Our dispute with Youngs has shown the real face of landlords and lettings agencies across
Brighton and beyond. On one picket, a Brighton SolFed member was assaulted by the owner of
Youngs, and Patrick was assaulted in his home by the son of the owner of Youngs, Oliver
Pay, in response to our demonstrations. Youngs have clearly been rattled by the power of
self-organised tenants supporting one another to stand up for themselves.
Patrick successfully resisted the first eviction in court in June. Now, the landlord is
trying again, this time backed up by a law firm, Dean Wilson. Patrick will be fighting the
eviction in court again, whilst we are raising money for if he has to move. You can donate
to Patrick's moving fund here: https://www.gofundme.com/patricks-housing-fund.
What's next
After a year of fighting deposit theft and poor living conditions, we have picked up some
useful pieces of information, particularly about how to challenge deposit deductions and
how to get repair works done. We'll be putting all that information into an expanded
Housing Union section of our website. The deposit theft, disrepair, and damp and mould
sections will have information about and template letters for challenging these problems.
The Housing Union section will also have information about and template letters for
challenging: agency fees, Right to Rent, and eviction, as well as advice on dealing with
harassment, and rent increases.
The seemingly constant pressure that comes with poor quality accommodation, with the
ever-present threat of having to move because of a rent increase, with the possibility of
losing money from your deposit, with harassment, and with being taken advantage of by a
group of people who only see you as someone from whom money can be extracted, is really
stressful. Fighting back this past year has not always been easy. However, it has really
helped us to see that it is possible to stand up for ourselves - we can get our deposits
back, get our flats fixed, and fight eviction notices, especially when we support one
another to do so and fight on our own terms.
We've been really inspired by all of the tenants who have organised with us this past
year. They've helped build our confidence that direct action, solidarity, and mutual aid
can ‘change the crappy way things have been for too long', as one tenant we organised with
put it. We're looking forward to another year of tenants supporting one another to make
our homes safer and our lives more liveable.
If you're having trouble with your letting agency or landlord, or if you just want to get
involved, you can get in touch with us at:
Email: housing@brightonsolfed.org.uk
Text: 07427239960
http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/brighton-solfed-housing-union-a-year-of-mutual-aid-and-direct-action-solidarity
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Message: 5
Right now a large scale police action in the Hambach Forest occupation is taking place!
The protest camp fighting against energy company RWEs destruction of land and climate must
be sustained until the last tree is standing! The eviction of the occupation is coming
ever closer, and the struggle is becoming clearer every day now. ---- Climate change does
not stop at the borders, and neither does our movement! Therefore we are calling for
actions of solidarity to take place all over Germany, all over Europe, and all over the
world! ---- The Hambach Forest occupation has become a focal point in the struggle for
climate justice worldwide, and now, as we are preparing for the struggle to come, we need
all your support! ---- So whether you are climate activists, anarchists,
antipolicebrutality organizers, or you simply believe in fighting for justice, the
callout is clear: Organize yourself, take action, and show your solidarity!
Use the hashtag #HambiBleibt to share your actions with us and the rest of the world!
hambach, solidariteit
Vrije Bond Secretariaat
https://www.vrijebond.org/hambach-callout-for-international-solidarity-from-the-hambach-forest/
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