Today's Topics:
1. Greece, "Black & Red": Appeal to Courts for Mundo Nuevo's
targeting affair [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #288 - Libertarian
alternative launches on the free (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, Information from the anti-war-international
demonstration at the Araxos air base, Posted by dirty horse APO
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. US, black rose fed - HOPE VS FEAR: THE FUTURE OF
ANTICAPITALIST POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA By Pablo Abufom
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. puerto real cnt es: Concepts and Interpretation of
libertarian communism (ca, it) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Holand, vrije bond: 250 people at the Nijmegen Against
Racism manifestation (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group: MACG Statement of
Shared Positions by ablokeimet (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
In November 2015, we chose to understand the building at the corner of Philippo with
Shiattis. An obscured and empty building that has fallen into disuse in recent years. Our
primary and lasting goal was to make this building open to the movements and society in
general. We seek to cover our needs away from the lean logic of ownership, meet and share
concerns freely and away from all sorts of divisions and organize our struggles and
resistances against the state and capital. So three years now we are attempting to build
structures within the urban fabric that will question the dominant logic, be a living part
of the social-class movements and promote the struggle for anarchy and libertarian
communism. From the very first moment, we came consciously into conflict with power and
all sorts of guards. That is why the repressive methods against occupation did not take
long to manifest.
The first target of Mundo Nuevo comes from local media, specifically through an article on
the voria.gr website . This article once again shows how security parrots would attempt to
pave the way for impending occupations of occupation. We could do nothing less than defend
it without the slightest backlash against any repressive action against it. And we did
this in common with other political forces. Support texts from various cities were
written, daytime security, microphones, events, and other actions culminating in the
neighborhood course, which shielded the occupation.
Nothing but stopped there. A few months later, in November 17, the cops handed out
homework to 16 people across Greece in a totally arbitrary way and criteria, calling them
in the context of a criminal investigation into the General Police Headquarters of
Thessaloniki to explain in connection with the occupation of the building at the entrance
of the streets of Philip and Siatista. In other words, the occupation of Mundo Nuevo. The
only and sufficient, apparently for them, connecting element of the occupation is the
carrying out of various data checks at some point from the creation of the occupation
until that date.
This new situation demonstrates the upgrading of state repression against squabbles. The
defense of our structures, however, must be insubstantial. Immediately, the occupation
calls for a solidarity assembly, with a view to defending the occupation and organizing
the action program. In this direction, solidarity texts were written and the occupation
itself fortified its presence through collective kitchens, live bars, financial aids,
posters and text releases in the neighborhood, microphone and a course towards Mundo Nuevo.
The conclusions we can draw from this new repressive approach set up by prosecutors and
police authorities under the direction of the government is that it aims at:
* the terror of the new fighters who come into contact with the fermentation sites and the
development of revolutionary anarchist ideas, sending "warning messages"
* the isolation of the political and social spaces of the movement by their natural
allies: young people, students, the unemployed and workers, attempting to criminalize
their presence within them.
* targeting anarchist militants to construct new persecutions against them, thus
maintaining and replicating the state industry's criminalization of political integration
and counter-action.
All this was done not only to intimidate the 16 people but also to exemplify those who
have the political need to come close to self-organized ventures and occupations. The
state seeks to curb political and social resistance by attacking struggle structures.
Besides, his vengeful attitude towards militants has seen him often in marches and tears,
in labor struggles, in extortion of political prisoners, in violence against immigrants,
who demand human living conditions and in so many other examples, show us that the state
has the monopoly of violence against what is not useful to it.
One year after all this, on Nov. 20, the court of the 16 people who received the security
summons has been appointed to prosecute charges of domestic peace and occupation of a
public building on a continuous basis. For us, this trial is not only about these 16
people, but about their occupations, their political speech and their actions. In essence,
it is the very function of our occupation and its structures and the participation of
society in them.
Squats and fight centers are the grounding of our social and class struggles through their
overall proposal for another political, social and cultural viewpoint against the society
of exploitation and spectacle. Within them, consciousness is cultivated, social subjects
meet and struggles are built against the devaluation of our lives and the fascist threat.
These are docks against state repression, capital and modern totalitarianism. That is why
we will not retreat and defend our occupations with all power as an indispensable part of
our struggles.
AGAINST THE STATE PROPOSAL TO COLLECT AND COMPLETE THE SOCIAL AND TAX RESOURCES
10,100,1000 APPLICATIONS AGAINST A ORGANIZED SENSOR WORLD
Solidarity gathering 20/11/2018 at 9:00, Courts of Thessaloniki
https://maurokokkino1936.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/
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Message: 2
Alternative social networks to the Silicon Valley giants are gaining momentum.
Non-commercial, advertising-free, relying on each other instead of competing with each
other and built on software for ethical and social purposes, they now welcome the public
expression of Alternative Libertaire. ---- Social networks are not limited to Facebook and
Facebook & co, Alternative Libertaire joined three alternatives based on free software in
early September: Peertube, Diaspora and Mastodon are part of social networks and tools
guided by foundations and principles different from those commercial giants. These are
decentralized tools. This means that their access is not through a single entity - a
capitalist enterprise in most cases. Building on the foundation of the internet, a network
of interconnected computer machine sets, a decentralized social network makes it possible
to organize information in multiple servers called " instances ". "(Or pods). You
register on the instance of your choice and you access the entire social network in
question. In addition, the mesh is not limited to giving access to only instances of a
given network, but it also opens the possibility of connecting to other social networks.
In other words, if you are, for example, on Mastodon, you can not only follow people
registered on other nodes of the Mastodon network, but also other people registered on
Peertube, Hubzilla, etc. As if Facebook, Twitter and Google were interconnecting instead
of fighting for market share. This inter-network communication constitutes a set of
federations.
Follow Alternative Libertaire outside GAFAM
These federated social networks do not seek to copy the solutions " offered " by the
Gafam (Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon-Microsoft). The spirit of their design makes them
tools in their own right, with their own features and ergonomics. Peertube, like Diaspora
and Mastodon, are part of the large family of free software that promotes both ethical and
social principles, such as free access to knowledge, respect for privacy and the
neutrality and diversity of the world. web, and struggles to curb the natural inclination
of industry and the state to control everyone's computing, etc.
Libertarian alternative could not be satisfied to be present on networks carrying the
ideology which it tries to reverse. The revolution, digital in this case, must lead us to
an active reflection on our dependence on the tools of Gafam & co and bring about changes
in individual and collective behaviors in the digital space. The use of a social network,
intensive use for an ever greater number of users, too often leads to habits that enclose
those who are enrolled in the ecosystem of the said network. How many times can we see, on
Facebook for example, information sharing not referring directly to the author's website
or blog, but on a page of the same network ? This type of practice imprisons both in the
context of the social media concerned and is a danger to the free access to information by
Internet users and their free will. Let's not be complicit, because of our bad habits,
those who strive to merchandise trade, against the diversity and neutrality of the web.
That's why AL has invested these different networks. First Peertube [1], a network of
meshed video hosting platforms that lets you share all your videos in the same way as
YouTube. Then, to exchange messages and photos, follow the threads of other people's
activity, or the news with hashtags, we can use Diaspora [2]. Note that depending on the
pods, you will have access to additional features (such as instant messaging). Finally,
the heavy weight of the microblogging is Mastodon [3]: it is a microblog, made to
communicate short messages (500 signs) and follow ami.es and actus (again by hashtags).
AL Librarian Working Group
[1] AL on Peertube: https://peertube.social/accounts/alchannel
[2] AL on Diaspora: https://diasp.org/u/alternativelibertaire
[3] AL on Mastodon: https://framapiaf.org/@alternativelibertaire
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Alternative-libertaire-se-lance-sur-le-libre
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Message: 3
The anti-war-international demonstration at Araxos Achaia's air base against the upgrading
of US-Nato bases in Greece and the possible installation of Nato Nuclear Weapons with the
participation of about 100 people took place in the morning of 11 November. ---- Anarchist
block was formed along the way with the participation of 20 people following a call from
the anarchist group "Dumbbell" / FROM ( call here ). The banner of the anarchist block
wrote: "Against War and Modern Totalitarianism - No Thinking of Nuclear in Araxos and
Andravida - Peace in Peoples, NATO War". Student clubs, organizations and left-wing
parties were also invited and attended. ---- Concentration was held at Patras 'Allies'
Square. The demonstration arrived at the military base gate at 12 o'clock, where a strong
police bar was set up to prevent entry to the protesters.
We participated in the demonstration against the upgrading of the military bases, the war
preparation and the possible equipment of Araxos' air base with nuclear weapons, realizing
that the war operations in the capitalist region that are leading the death, poverty and
uprooting of people find their practical ground beside us, inside the western world, at
the points of deposition of the war material, at the foundation of death.
Such a base is intended to re-turn Araxos mai with Andravida, Stephanbikeio, Larissa, Alex
/ Polis etc. and it is our duty to resist the plans of the natives and planetary bosses
who promise only death, poverty, wars, refugees, misery and misery.
Upgrading the military bases (in Greece and elsewhere) as well as upgrading the role of
Frontex and NATO are part of the preparations for the widespread warfare of sovereignty,
initially in the field where the most powerful power blocks , the Middle East and the
Southeast Mediterranean, as the bleak prospect of a global conflict comes back to the
forefront and planning of the military-political staff.
Grasping the thread of the anti-war mobilizations of the past years and drawing
inspiration from them, we continue today the struggle to build a strong internationalist
and anti-war movement from the bottom up against the war against modern totalitarianism.
In the direction of the construction of this movement, the resistance to the installation
of nuclear weapons at the base of Araxos, as well as the wider attempt to upgrade the role
of the Greek state in the international warfare are another important battle to be done.
Internationalist Struggle Against War, Nationalism and Modern Totalitarianism.
Neither thought about installing nuclear weapons in Araxos and Andravida
Outside the Foundations and the Nuclear - War in the States and the Bosses!
anarchist group "dwarf horse"
member of the Anarchist Political Organization
------------------------------
Message: 4
When faced with complex and painful phenomena, poetic metaphors and comparisons flourish.
Regarding the current political situation in Latin America, I too want to add to the
current rain of metaphors. ---- 1. The new growth of right-wing politics, evangelical
conservatism and neofascist grassroots movements in Latin America is like a resistant fire
that will not be extinguished only by attacking it head-on, but by drowning it, and
eradicating the oxygen that gives it life. That oxygen, in the first place, is the swampy
situation of our economies, which is not resolved with another "productive model"
(extractivism bad versus hi-tech progressive industry good), but with another way of
organizing work and property, where the creative forces of labor are freed from their
seclusion and conquer the power to decide what to produce and how to produce it.
2. Its oxygen is also the crisis of sexual relations within the working class, which is
not solved with a gender focus for the same patriarchal relations, but a comprehensive
transformation of the mechanisms that produce gender in the streets, at work, at home and
in bed. This crisis is sharpening today in the context of that general economic crisis,
but it survives periods of boom and bust. The first line of that battle is against
violence directed at women and LGBTQ communities, and it should be able to project itself
towards a practical critique of the sexual division of labor as a pillar of capital
accumulation.
3. The instability and precariousness of our lives quickly leads to fear. The new rise of
conservatism is a very specific way of organizing that fear: the hateful competition
between sectors of the working class. The most direct source of oxygen for its fire is
also the set of social, political and economic conditions that precarize life. As well as
the impossible promises toward the "middle class" and the small and medium businesses
(famously fearful layers) that are not able to compete with the gigantic scale of
transnational capital.
4. The struggle then is not only against the neo-fascist groups, the conservative
churches, the bourgeois press and the far-right governments. With that we will only be
able to resist things getting worse. In this difficult time, our defense must be made of
"well-directed blows" that move us as far forward as possible.
5. Without despair, but without lowering our guard, we need to concentrate as much energy
as possible in drowning that fire, and deal without reservations, without fear of being
labeled as this or that, each of the problems facing our peoples. We need to build as we
walk, in the most participatory manner possible, the socialist and feminist program and
tendency at a continental level, which would make it possible to organize ourselves as the
international and plurinational class that we are.
Towards a program and a tendency of hope for our peoples.
Pablo Abufom is a translator in Santiago, Chile and is active with Coordinadora Nacional
de Trabajadores NO+AFP, a social movement for a new public pensions system, and Centro
Social y Librería Proyección, a bookstore and community space for social movements in
Santiago. He is a member of the political organization Solidaridad.
http://blackrosefed.org/abufom-hope-versus-fear/?fbclid=IwAR32S1Wv-8DDMa7VNTl-k6MoCyJhPGwoLOIQ1jtPmYa6yYr1r-88xd9_QZ4
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Message: 5
DEFINITION- Libertarian Communism is a form of social organization, in which the
government of men is replaced by the collective administration of things. With this
definition very clear, it needs explanations. It is about finding the bases of social
coexistence that guarantee the fundamental rights of man: the right to the satisfaction of
his needs, and the right to dispose of himself, that is, the right to life and freedom.
Both rights are the basis of well-being, since we do not conceive or free the hungry nor
satisfy the slave. More specifically: Communism implies, better than the community of
goods, the existence of a collectivity that primarily serves to administer the economy so
that the needs of all its components are met.
We know that it is necessary to destroy the current organization, that is, the State and
private property, and that only what is replaced is replaced with advantage.
More important than the accuracy of the definition is the elaboration of the concepts on
diverse questions of detail that its realization proposes, on which more diversity of
opinion is possible.
While it is true that experimentation will ultimately decide on the best solutions, it is
necessary to analyze these and decide in advance for a certain one.
STRUCTURE. -We conceive the new structure as a federation of autonomous collectivities.
The simpler and more elementary these basic collectivities are, the simpler and easier to
solve will be the problems and they will be more accessible to the aspirations and
interests of the individuals who compose them.
Despite having the National Labor Confederation an identical structure that could serve as
a mold for the whole society, not all are satisfied that Libertarian Communism has a trade
union structure, believing, on the contrary, that it must give way to forms of different
organization. The Syndicate is, in essence, a producer entity, and could also be a
distributor; but, alongside it, there may be other forms of collectivity, with broader
interests and a less specialized character, and, therefore, more human. The base of the
organization must be the entire community, in the small rural nuclei, composed of
majorities of peasants and some artisans or officials. They will constitute communes or
free municipalities. In towns of greater diversity and less uniform activities, the Trade
Unions, gathered in the local Federation, whose organization can coexist with more generic
groups such as neighborhood groups or partial or total councils of the locality, become
precise. Far from being incompatible both forms or nuclei of collective organization,
exclusively economic and political or of public interest, in my opinion they complement
each other, and must still coexist; for it is demanded by the very complexity of modern life.
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COLLECTIVITY .- The instinct of sociability, the need for mutual
support and the recognition of the advantages that the association reports, are
associative impulses alongside the feeling of solidarity, to form the collectivities and
to federate them among themselves. Anarchism does not allow another form of coercion on
the individual than moral coercion, that is, the separation or contempt for the
unsupportive or the impenitent vain. But, on the lips of many, a phrase appears at once
that expresses a form of economic coercion and social justice: "He who does not work, does
not eat". It is up to the National Congress to express the concept that the Confederation
has about this form of coercion.
FORM OF PROPERTY.- It can not be object of discussion the regime of ownership of wealth
and production tools, which will be administered by the community and made available to
those who want to produce. The suppression of private property and the hoarding of wealth
is the essential guarantee of economic freedom. But this intransigence with private
property can not be maximized until it is denied in things for personal use, or in what is
the product of the personal activity of the individual. The property usufructuaria, I do
not believe that can be logically denied for furniture, clothing and for details whose
possession does not imply a dispossession or an injustice. Regarding the ownership of the
land - «The land for the one who works it» -,
WORK MODALITY. -The same as we make distinctions of property, we have to make them work.
The production of the articles of first necessity imposes a certain amount of work, which
will be necessary to distribute among the useful members of the community, establishing a
day, and even, sometimes, a work shift.
The collective work imposes the compliance of an organization of the same, and of a
production discipline. Apart from this work, controlled by the community, there will be a
voluntary, free production of individual initiative.
Can this voluntary and initiative work serve to exempt collective management work?
DIRECTED PRODUCTION, OR FREE? - The first condition of the success of a new social order,
is the abundance, the overproduction of the articles of first necessity. This facilitates
distribution and suppresses the most essential cause of discontent.
If the first revolutionary concern has to be to maintain production in its current volume,
the second must be to increase it unlimitedly, until achieving more real wealth than the
one that motivates the crisis of capitalism.
This is a technical problem but also an organizational one: of will and of men "capable of
carrying a message to García".
OF EACH ONE, ACCORDING TO HIS FITNESS. - This first part of the formula is involved, a
question of the coupling of the arms in the production activities, in which the
disposition and the personal liking of those who, because they have exercised parasitic or
antisocial professions, will not be able to be put aside in the new form of economics.
TO EACH ONE, ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS. - This formula of the new distributive justice can
only be solved equitably by abundance and making it possible that, as in the public
source, each one takes what he needs, according to his will; but we will have to approach
it as much as possible, by rationing what is scarce.
This is where it belongs to deal with the procedure to replace money as a sign of
accumulative wealth. Consumption by vouchers, used uniformly in the short tests carried
out in Spain, is a provisional but deceptive means, to which a better solution should be
sought, for which the rail passes or the kilometric ones could serve as a module.
EXCHANGES WITHOUT EQUIVALENCE.- In the exchange of products between the collectivities,
the measure of their value will not intervene, being all equivalent, in terms of necessary
products, whatever the effort they require and the utility they report.
The notion of value is foreign to the libertarian economy, so the measurement of it is not
precise either, represented by the currency that can be called "apple of discord".
I do not think I have exhausted all the aspects and particularities of the subject, which
will be the object of deliberation on the part of all the Trade Unions, to achieve, from
the base to the top, an agreement on the harmony of the different criteria that must be
manifested.
Towards the Collective Interpretation of Libertarian Communism
Up to the present there are only individual interpretations, particular conceptions of
libertarian Communism. The various conceptions that enjoy the favor of the confederal
public, have not tried to unify or reconcile in a single agreement of doctrine. The
anarchist spirit, respectful of the individual criterion and with the same interpretation
of the idea, does not have much effort to specify the different exhibitions in a uniform
program. Practically, all the interpretations could coexist, and, among them, the one with
the most advantages or satisfactions would predominate. This would be the preferable means
of selection.
Free competition and mutual testing.
The uniformity that interests us is practice. It is achieved in the process of
realization, because the other, the one performed in words to be written on paper, does
not give us - as anarchists and antipolitics - cold or heat. A uniform interpretation of
libertarian Communism, has value for the enunciation of propaganda, as a response to those
who at all times ask us about the program as executory of good agreement within the CNT
and as a means of promoting its realization, facilitating the first steps .
We must be chastened by the historical experience, so as not to put excessive heat on the
written point, reserving our enthusiasm for the unification of the movement in practical
realization.
Until now, man, driven by his political credulity, has spent all his strength in writing
on paper his rights and aspirations, without having obtained the least practical vindication.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the need to unify the different conceptions, coming to
materialize them in a minimum program, is generally felt among militants of the CNT, and
it is to be expected that it will culminate in the next national congress, announced for
the end of May. .
The clarification of a minimum program seems an easy task, and attempts are made to train
it with those aspirations that are common to all the different interpretations. The
following points can serve as guidance:
1º Autonomy of the individual within the locality, without other limitations than those
agreed at each moment by the general assembly. Autonomy of the locality, without other
restrictions than agreed, in each circumstance, by regional or national congresses.
2nd mandatory Association, under penalty of economic coercion, for production and
consumption, within each location, or within each union, or neighborhood group. Mandatory
association of localities in the region and regions in the nation or peninsula, with the
same economic coercion, in order to ensure the local economy and normalize the national
economy.
3º Federalism in the groupings and compliance of the will of the majority in everything
that is economic activity: working day, productions to increase or eliminate, choice of
work, land cultivation regime, precise requirements to be a consumer, modes of
distribution , etc.; so that the local characteristics are compatible with the collective
needs.
4th Maximum restriction of the bureaucracy, by parasitic and by sterilizing, ensuring that
administrative positions do not exempt cooperation in production.
5º To renounce the administration of justice, as a task that exceeds the human
attributions, and, when indispensable, accommodate it to the failure of the community. Do
not centralize, either, the defensive function of an army, but give all producers
participation in it.
The army must be the entire community; and technical specialization, voluntary and free.
6º Suppression of all kinds of privileges, leveling everyone with the same obligation to
produce, with the same right to enjoy common wealth, with the same right to benefit from
education and culture, with the same share of power and with the same participation in
social responsibility.
7 º Broad freedom of the individual as it is not an economic imperative of the community.
But this freedom will not depend on any verbal or written agreement, prior to the
revolution or subsequent to it, but on the determination that the individual himself puts
in affirming it and on the scruple that the community may feel by limiting it.
8th Absolute abolition of all kinds of private property. The individual may possess
circumstantially or in life all that the community consents to grant; Y
9º The supreme legislator is the collectivity. All agreements are valid until those who
adopt adopt it. No one can trample on the fundamental and inalienable right of the
individual to live and to be free.
For this style, it could be our program; but, we say it again, we do not want to
concretize it, but to realize it. The least is that he remembers. The essential thing is
that it is fulfilled.
To affirm his natural right to life and liberty, the individual does not need to invoke an
article or teach a paper. It needs to be able to wield a weapon in front of those who
argue it. Society does not protect him either by condemning him, but by preventing anyone
from closing the land or knowledge, or power or justice.
ISAAC PUENTE
CNT-AIT PUERTO REAL
http://puertoreal.cnt.es/denunicas-sindicales/6753-conceptos-e-interpretacion-del-comunismo-libertario.html
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Message: 6
On Saturday, november 10th more than 250 protesters gathered at the Faberplein to take a
stance against racism and fascism. The action was organized by Nijmegen Against Racism
because Racial Volunteer Force, a group of neo-nazis had declared that they would come to
demonstrate in the centre of Nijmegen. This, exactly 80 years after the Kristallnacht. The
RVF demanded the closure of the socio-cultural centre De Grote Broek, which they regard as
a breeding ground for anti-fascist resistance. The presence of a strong non-parliamentary
leftist movement in Nijmegen has been a needle in the eye for the extreme-right for a long
while now. ---- Since the RVF had not received permission from the municipality to
demonstrate at the door of De Grote Broek, they had officially canceled their protest
earlier this week. Nevertheless, there was a real chance that members of the extreme
right-wing organization would still travel to Nijmegen to seek the confrontation.On their
official website they had announced to come in ‘casual clothing' to Nijmegen.
In protest and self-defense against these violent neo-Nazis, Nijmegen against Racism
organized a manifestation against Racism on the Faberplein, near De Grote Broek. De Grote
Broek. More than 250 young and old, born and new Nijmegen people came to Faberplein that
afternoon to take a stand against racism and fascism. They have shown that there is no
place for racism in Nijmegen, and that de Grote Broek is part of a diverse and inclusive
local community, which has a high level of equality and solidarity.
In the end the RVF could not successfully mobilize, and haven't looked for a
confrontation. As one of the organizers of the manifestation puts it: ‘'With this action
we have shown that many people are welcome in Nijmegen, but racists and fascists are not.''
demonstratie, grote broek, Nijmegen
Vrije Bond Secretariaat
https://www.vrijebond.org/verslag-250-mensen-op-manifestatie-nijmegen-tegen-racisme/
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Message: 7
This document is to be read as a supplement to the Aims & Principles of the Melbourne
Anarchist Communist Group. Agreement with the positions in this document is a condition of
membership. ---- 1. The social revolution will be the act of the working class, organised
in the workplace. Other classes (e.g. the peasantry) and social strata (e.g. students) in
society may support the workers in this struggle, but cannot substitute for them. The
workers have a unique role because of their numbers, their role in production which means
that they are able to remove the economic power of the capitalists by organising under
their own initiative, and the fact that the experience of social co-operation in
production tends to produce the values that promote solidarity in the struggle against the
employer. One corollary of the fact that the struggle will be decided in the workplace is
that it will not be decided by street brawls with the cops. While it is certainly
necessary to defend ourselves against police attack, capitalism's achilles' heel is in the
workplace and our strategic orientation must be there.
2. We stand for the complete equality of the sexes and oppose all forms of oppression of
women. The liberation of women from patriarchy will not be achieved without the overthrow
of capitalism and the destruction of class society. The overthrow of capitalism will not
be achieved without the full participation of working class women in the struggle. It is
therefore in the interests of male workers to support all struggles for equality and
freedom for women, even if these are at the expense of male privileges. The solidarity of
the male and female halves of the working class can only be built on the principle that an
injury to one is an injury to all. We support the right of women to organise autonomously
within the wider working class movement and also within Anarchist organisations.
3. We oppose the oppression and dispossession of indigenous people in Australia. This
means that indigenous people have the right to equal treatment within Australia (i.e. no
racial discrimination, whether from the State or in society) and have the right to remain
indigenous (i.e. retain their lands and culture, without pressure for assimilation into
the dominant culture). Indigenous people in Australia have never ceded sovereignty and
have never sold their land. We acknowledge the desire of indigenous people in Australia
for a treaty to recognise their prior occupation and continued rights, but believe that no
such treaty can be negotiated on just terms for indigenous people while capitalism and its
State endure in Australia. We believe a just settlement for indigenous people can only be
achieved after a revolutionary transformation of society, including crucially the
abolition of capitalist real estate.
4. We are internationalists, opposing the division of humanity into conflicting nation
States and supporting working class solidarity as the one force which is capable of being
an axis of effective counter-mobilisation against nationalism and racism. We therefore
support open borders as a principle that will be implemented under Libertarian Communism
and in the meantime will support struggles which provide opportunities to move in that
direction. In particular, we support the struggle of refugees for asylum in Australia and
oppose both immigration detention and deportation.
5. We oppose both pacifism and terrorism. Instead, we support the right to use reasonable
force in self defence.
Pacifism is the principled refusal to meet physical force with physical force. Terrorism
is the strategy of using violence, or the credible threat of it, in order to create a
climate of fear for personal safety in the civilian population of a society, or a
definable sub-group of it, to achieve a political end.
The problem with pacifism is that it assumes that there is a degree of humanity at work
amongst the capitalist class and its State and that there are limits to their
ruthlessness. The history of the last hundred years, however, provides plentiful evidence
to the contrary. In the face of totally non-violent resistance, a sufficiently ruthless
force, even if a tiny minority, could impose its will on the rest of society.
The problem with terrorism is that it is a strategy which marginalises the mass of the
working class politically and drives it into the arms of the State for protection. Even if
used in the pursuit of supportable goals, therefore, its political effects are inevitably
reactionary. The callous and instrumental attitude to humanity necessary to use terrorism
is completely antithetical to the principles of Anarchism and thus to resort to this would
be to betray our philosophy.
Our position is that we recognise the right to use reasonable force in self defence. We
are consistent on this point and thus we repudiate the State's proclamation of a monopoly
on the legitimate use of force. Rather, we insist that we do not lose the right to self
defence when we enter the field of political struggle. Workers thus have the right to use
reasonable force to defend themselves against police or thug attack on the picket line or
on demonstrations.
We oppose the use of force beyond what is reasonably necessary for self defence. This
would contradict the humanitarian values of the society we wish to create. The working
class, being the immense majority in industrialised societies, has the advantage of the
weight of numbers and the ability to use economic force to press its cause. We therefore
have no need of violence, beyond what is necessary to defend ourselves against those who
themselves would use violence to prevent us achieving our goals non-violently. We also
believe that the use of unnecessary violence would alienate sections of the working class
and make it harder to break them from authoritarian ideologies. In particular, it would
strengthen the position of authoritarian groups active within the working class.
We believe that Fascism provides an example, unique in advanced capitalist democracies at
present, of a specialised application of the principle of reasonable force in self
defence. A Fascist group is not a debating society, but a permanent conspiracy to murder.
It is an open threat of violence against women, immigrants, indigenous people, all other
minorities and ultimately, to the working class and its organisations. Defence against
Fascism is therefore necessarily, in many cases, pre-emptive. Fascist groups should be
defeated and broken up, if possible, whenever they show their faces. We emphasise that
this position is unique to the issue of Fascism and does not apply to Right wing
populists, where the ordinary use of the principle of self defence would apply when
fighting them.
We recognise the possibility that, in revolutionary situations, self defence may require
pre-emptive action against forces of the State. This is not a pretext, however, for
abandoning a principled opposition to offensive violence. The situation must still be
assessed using the criteria of whether the use of force is both necessary for defensive
purposes and of a reasonable degree given the threat.
We reject any attempt to equate property damage with violence. Property has no rights and
damage to it must be assessed in the light of its impact on people. Damage to nuclear
weapons, therefore, is the complete opposite of damage to a worker's home.
6. "Free thought, necessarily involving freedom of speech & press, I may tersely define
thus: no opinion a law - no opinion a crime." - Alexander Berkman
We therefore oppose State bans on any opinion, even ones with which we passionately
disagree. Any such bans would end up being used, in the end, against the working class and
its organisations.
We also, therefore, recognise complete freedom of conscience. We support the right to
believe in any religion or none, to practice any religion or none and to preach any
religion or none. In the Australian context today, this includes a special responsibility
to defend the right of people to be Muslims without discrimination or harassment.
In addition, freedom of conscience is a right of every individual person and is not
restricted to religious leaders. Adherence to religious precepts must therefore be
entirely voluntary. Attempts by religious leaders or denominations to compel adherents to
conform to their teachings or discipline must be resisted and we resolutely reject any
attempt to give them State backing.
7. In line with our commitment to social revolution, we hold that there is no
Parliamentary road to Libertarian Communism. We agree with the statement attributed to
Lucy Parsons, "Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth."
Parliament, being elected by all classes together, can only be a bourgeois institution.
The working class must organise independently in order to have its own democracy.
On this basis, we oppose holding executive office in the capitalist State (e.g. government
minister, mayor, etc). Political groups or parties which do so cross the class line and
join the other side. We thus oppose running for election to these offices.
In contrast to executive office, we believe it is possible to enter a capitalist
Parliament on a principled basis. This would require:
(a) Refusing confidence to all ministers and ministries;
(b) Opposing all war expenditure and borrowings;
(c) Using the platform of Parliament, and campaigns for election to it, to support working
class struggles;
(d) Taking what opportunities are available to secure worthwhile reforms, provided this
can be done on a principled basis; and
(e) Explaining to the working class that, no matter what reforms are secured through
Parliament, a free and just society can only be achieved through workers' revolution.
While it is possible to enter a capitalist Parliament on a principled basis, we believe
that it is a waste of the movement's time and effort, so we therefore oppose Anarchists
running in Parliamentary or local council elections. We will not campaign for any
candidate for Parliament or local council. Class struggle Anarchists can achieve far more
from building direct struggles on the ground than they can by putting the same amount of
time and energy into an election campaign. We therefore advance the slogan "Build
Movements Not Elections".
We recognise that other groups in the working class movement, for example State
Socialists, may decide to waste their time and energy by running for Parliament. Whether
it is possible for an Anarchist to cast a principled vote for such a candidate depends on
one of two tests.
If there is no realistic chance of the candidate being successful, all that is required is
that the candidate be clearly standing for Socialism and not to have disgraced themselves
before the whole working class (as, for instance, the SWP has in Britain with its rape
apologism). In this case, the vote is purely symbolic and amounts to putting up one's hand
and saying "I'm against capitalism and for Socialism."
If the candidate has a realistic chance of being elected, however small, they also need to
judged according to what they will do if successful. They therefore need to meet criteria
(a) to (e) above. Criterion (e) is especially important because, in a capitalist society,
the very act of running for Parliament creates illusions in the eyes of the workers who
are considering voting for you that they can, indeed, reach Socialism through Parliament.
A principled candidate would need to dispel those illusions by explaining that this is not
possible.
8. A libertarian communist society will be one that is ecologically sustainable. Even if
capitalism were just and supportable on other grounds, it would fail the test of
sustainability. We need to reject the instrumental thinking inherent to capitalism and
realise that we are part of nature - a conscious and creative part, but a part. As such,
nature is not something to be dominated, but to be protected - and particularly to be
protected against human damage.
In building a sustainable society, it is essential to end the use of non-renewable
resources - or develops ways of making them renewable. In the short term, this means a
rapid transition away from burning fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. In the
medium term, we need to restructure our existing cities for a preponderance of medium
density living and decentralise into a considerably larger number of smaller cities. And
in the long term, we need to phase out mining before the exhaustion of accessible mineral
deposits at practical grades forces us to abandon it involuntarily.
A commitment to ecological sustainability does not, however, mean enforced poverty in
living standards and even less so does it require a return to a hunter-gatherer society.
We therefore reject Malthusians of all varieties and especially in their primitivist
manifestation. Production of a wide variety of goods and services needs to be increased,
not decreased, in order to abolish poverty and want from the face of the Earth. We hold
that it is capitalism, not human nature, that is responsible for the wanton environmental
destruction which has occurred in the last two centuries and is threatening the very
liveability of the planet which we inhabit.
Further, the fact that technology has been developed under capitalism does not
irretrievably contaminate it. Different technologies have capitalist relations embedded
into them to different degrees and in some cases development of a particular technology
has been slowed because it doesn't fit well with contemporary capitalism. Nuclear power is
an example of a technology which will have to be abandoned as anti-social, while solar
power is an example of a technology which, on the whole, undermines the power of the great
capitalist corporations.
A libertarian communist society will resolve the current conflict between the need to
increase production and the need to limit the environmental damage that capitalist
production imposes by:
(a) Producing for rationally determined needs, rather than for wants generated by advertising;
(b) Producing quality goods which last, rather than shoddy ones which break down quickly;
(c) Using only renewable energy;
(d) Using closed loop manufacturing processes, with 100% material recycling and zero waste;
(e) Rationally planning the satisfaction of social needs in the most energy and resource
efficient manner;
(f) Using the most modern technology to institute efficient small-run production of a wide
variety of goods, thus eliminating a large part of the need for long distance transport; and
(g) Planning cities, and the means of transport within and between them, on ecologically
sustainable and energy efficient lines.
Finally, we believe that the current so-called "population crisis" is an illusion caused
by the inefficient, unjust and unsustainable practices of capitalism. While there is a
natural limit to the carrying capacity of the planet, we believe that this limit is
impossible to determine until after capitalism has been abolished and its destructive
practices eliminated. If population reduction is called for after the planet's carrying
capacity is established, it can be achieved gradually through social consensus.
https://melbacg.wordpress.com/2018/11/13/macg-statement-of-shared-positions/
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