Anarchic update news all over the world - 16.11.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #288 - Neither god nor
      schoolmaster: Paul Robin, a libertarian pedagogue in the republic
      of black hussars (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #288 - Emili Cortavitarte
      (Embat): " Linking self-determination and self-management " (fr,
      it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #288 - Echoes of Africa:
      Colonial Symptoms for " Overseas " (fr, it, pt)[machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  zabalaza: Building black working class counter-power against
      state, capital and national oppression: Interviewing Warren
      McGregor, ZACF, South Africa (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  France, Alternative Libertaire - AL Tract: Gas, gas, rents,
      food, electricity ... Stupefy ! (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Britain, London Anarchist Communists: Rebel City No 9
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1





Here we are in 1880, the year that marks the appointment, by Ferdinand Buisson, of Paul 
Robin to the orphanage of a commune of the Oise, Cempuis. Until 1894, Robin will 
revolutionize the dominant pedagogy of his time in the institution for which he is 
responsible. Let's see how this relates to the history of our movement. ---- Before the 
First International, philosophers, pedagogues, and other thinkers involved in the great 
Enlightenment movement of ideas had begun to question the educational dogmas of a 
Church-dominated teaching in which nascent states were attempting to lay the foundations 
for a public education equally emancipatory. ---- It is with the First International that 
many debates will take place, that will be written reports, articles that will criticize 
this education of the social status quo.

Paul Robin, as a professor, will participate actively in this movement of reflection by 
publishing (among others) articles that define the principles of an integral education 
that the International - which will be recalled that implode to the Congress of the Hague 
in 1872 because of the exclusion of the libertarians of whom Bakunin is an eminent figure 
- will debate among other topics on the agenda of the various congresses.

 From Brussels to London and Paris, to reach Cempuis in 1880, it took some exiles, 
volunteers or not, to Robin to train the libertarian pedagogue that interests us. It is an 
almost common course for the time and for who advances in life by refusing ever more 
deeply the traditional pedagogical canons, while nourishing his vision of the education to 
the frequentation of the libertarian thinkers and activists of his time. We think of 
Bakunin and the libertarian members of the Belgian section of the International. He will 
not be able to participate, despite his friendship with Eugene Varlin, in the events of 
the Commune in 1871 and meet Marx in London at this time.

However, his fidelity to the anti-authoritarian theses will be worth him to be excluded 
from the International even before the aforementioned congress. His contacts with the 
anarchist circles, with the Reclus brothers, Pierre Kropotkin, are reinforced and his 
meeting, already mentioned, with Ferdinand Buisson will be fundamental since it will help 
to give substance to his proposals for integral education at the orphanage de Cempuis who, 
according to the testament of Gabriel Prévost, must remain secular and mixed: Robin is 
made for such a position.

Thus, on these bases, Robin will be able to build his project of educational emancipation, 
to make coeducation the base of operation and socialization of the young orphans who will, 
under his aegis, learn that the hand and the spirit learn together. Residents will also 
have access to a variety of activities, both in and out of the school, unparalleled in the 
austere schools of the day, credibly focused on the activity of the teacher and passive 
listening to students.

In short, a whole program that we will detail next month.

Accattone

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Ni-dieu-ni-maitre-d-ecole-Paul-Robin-un-pedagogue-libertaire-dans-la-republique

------------------------------

Message: 2





" In the framework of a free Catalonia, we would fight for its food, energy, political and 
ecological sovereignty, so that the people seize power and constitute a classless society 
without domination. " ---- A delegation of AL activists was present this summer in the 
city of Manresa, at the study days of the Catalan libertarian communist organization, 
Embat [1]. Meeting with Emili Cortavitarte, one of his animators. ---- Libertarian 
alternative : can you introduce Emili ? ---- Emili : I'm 65 years old and I live in 
Montmeló, near Barcelona. I have been a member of the anarcho-syndicalist community for 45 
years. First at the CNT, then after the 1979 split, which tore up this organization, 
within the CGT. In the latter, I held various positions: General Secretary of the CGT 
Catalan, the CGT Teaching of Barcelona, Secretary for Social Action and Trade Union of the 
Federation of Education. Today, I am responsible for the Salvador Segui Foundation [2]. I 
am also mandated to training within Embat.

What are the circumstances and reasons that led to the creation of Embat ?

Embat was born 5 years ago at the initiative of a small group of libertarian activists 
from the ranks of anarcho-syndicalism, and more generally the social movement. It seemed 
important to us to create a specific anarchist organization, which would not be locked in 
the excesses existing in many small Catalan and Spanish libertarian groups: an affinity 
between them, in the end, localist and sectarian.

The general framework that led us to the creation of Embat is a context of rising trade 
union and social struggles throughout the Iberian Peninsula against the backdrop of the 
effects of an acute economic crisis. Among the new expressions of this combativeness, the 
emergence of insurrectionist experiences related to the autonomous movement and the black 
bloc tradition. It is also from this experience and the stalemate of these practices, 
which we consider avant-gardist, that we have proposed another project: the construction 
of a libertarian organization of class struggle, formed above all to actors and actresses 
of the social and trade union movement.

The proposal to create a specific organization, while the Iberian libertarian movement is 
historically dominated by its anarcho-syndicalist branch, is not new. In the 80s and 90s, 
on several occasions, such an organizational option was mentioned. Due to lack of time and 
availability, being taken by the heaviness of our trade union activity and our investment 
in the difficult construction of mass anarcho-syndicalism [3], we could not carry out this 
project.

The element that makes the idea of a specific organization libertarian is again relevant, 
it is also the advent, for ten years, of a new generation of activists. This, without 
abandoning the work in the union world, is very involved on other fronts of struggle: 
anti-fascism, anti-patriarchy, right to housing. From then on, a specific organization in 
addition to its anarcho-syndicalist version became a necessity.

Are there other organizations of the type of Embat at the level of the Spanish State ?

Embat is exclusively located in Catalonia. Hence the need to maintain links with 
organizations in the Iberian Peninsula. We have close ties, first and foremost, with Apoyo 
Mutuo (AM) [4]who is present in Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia, Galicia. Our relationship with 
AM is based on solidarity and coordination.

In which fronts of struggle is Embat involved right now ?

We intervene on issues such as antisexism, the right to decent housing, the defense of a 
quality, feminist and critical public education service.

In the next few months, we will be especially interested in the theme of housing with the 
congress against evictions. We are part of the organization of this congress which gathers 
tens of thousands of people and different associations, among others the syndicate of 
tenants. This issue of evictions is fundamental: in Catalonia and Spain in crisis, many 
families, owners or not of their homes, have been thrown out or are threatened with being 
unable to pay their rent or rent. real estate loans.

Embat has been very involved in favor of the right of the Catalan people to decide their 
fate. How do you see the prospects for a Catalonia independent of the central power of 
Madrid ?

As libertarian communists, it may seem strange to be involved in a movement for the 
creation of an independent state. And yet, Embat is totally invested in what was, and 
remains, a vast mass movement. Our investment is based on the fact that a significant part 
of the people of Catalonia intend to exercise their right to self-determination. This 
right is part of our theoretical libertarian base. And we must be in agreement with this 
inalienable right of all people. We put it into practice when it comes to peoples far from 
the European continent, so we support the struggle of peoples in Kurdistan, Chiapas or 
Mapuche in Chile. We must, just as much, put it into practice when this question arises at 
our doors: in the Basque Country, in Corsica or in Catalonia.

Of course, for us, self-determination must be linked to self-management. This is not the 
simple separation from the Spanish State, especially as an independent Catalonia would 
probably have the same structures and lead a neoliberal policy. On our side, in the 
framework of a free Catalonia, we would fight for its food, energy, political and 
ecological sovereignty, so that the people seize power and constitute a classless society 
without domination.

We know, too, that all social revolts are made up of contradictory forces that direct the 
struggle in one direction or the other. We consider, however, that it is essential to be 
present and to push for genuine popular power, breaking with capitalism. To summarize, it 
is essential for us to equip the population with self-management reflexes in terms of 
decision-making and project of society, in order to counter any bureaucratic drift where 
finally, would decide the way to take only professionals of the policy.

For the moment, we are nevertheless rather pessimistic. In the autumn of 2017, and 
especially during the general strike of October 3 which blocked the economy of Catalonia, 
the movement was carried by the masses organized in the referendum defense committees 
(CDR) and neighborhood assemblies. As much, today, the institutional policy has taken 
precedence over the effective participation of the popular classes in the emergence of an 
alternative project that comes from the " people from below ".

What is Embat's business internationally ?

We are starting a real work at the international level, with comrades who participate in 
militant projects in connection with the democratic confederalism in Kurdistan or the 
Zapatista revolution in Chiapas. We have already, during our annual general assembly at 
the beginning of September, established a secretariat for international relations, with 
the aim, among other things, of integrating the Anarkismo network [5], in which other, 
Libertarian Alternative, and we feel very close both organizational and theoretical.

Interview by Jérémie Berthuin (AL Gard)


[1] Embat means " the breeze " in Catalan. More info on their website 
Procesembat.wordpress.com.

[2] Institute of the history of the workers 'and libertarians' movement, linked to the 
CGT. Salvador Segui was one of the leading figures of the Spanish CNT in the 1930s.

[3] Spanish anarcho-syndicalism, after Franco's death in 1975, had a complicated time. 
After the enthusiasm of its reconstitution in 1977 and the arrival of several tens of 
thousands of members, the CNT quickly sinks into very violent dissensions. These led to a 
series of splits and the separation, among others, of the CNT and what would become the CGT.

[4] " Building opposition to parliamentarism " on Alternativelibertaire.org.

[5] Anarkismo.net

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Emili-Cortavitarte-Embat-Lier-autodetermination-et-autogestion

------------------------------

Message: 3





On November 4, the Kanaks and other long-term residents of Kanaky are asked to vote in a 
referendum on the question " Do you want New Caledonia to achieve full sovereignty and 
become independent ? ". ---- This vote is supposed to complete a process of decolonization 
in stages initiated in 1988, following the bloody assault on the Ouvéa cave. But what do 
we really mean by " decolonization " ? ---- If New Caledonia-Kanaky is inscribed on the 
list of territories to be decolonized of the UN (as well as French Polynesia), how to 
designate all the " confetti " of the French Empire scattered around the globe ? The term 
" overseas " would not it be the cache sex of colonial situations ? ---- France has many 
territories far from the metropolis which have colonial characteristics. Here are some 
(list resulting from a collective work within Survie):

a colonial economic situation, producing resources for the city and importing French 
products ; isolated from the local economic environment, with monopolies from colonial 
history and slavery (hand on land, import-export ...) ;
cultural domination and alienation, belittling and folklorizing local customs, languages, 
crafts, etc. ;
a historical presence of France, with logics of settlement so that the French presence is 
not questioned ;
discrimination in law and in fact ; privileges for whites ;
a French military presence, often with police functions ;
physical violence, including political assassination ;
body control policies (evictions of Comorians in Mayotte, forced sterilizations in 
Réunion, etc.)
These facts are, for the most part, revolting, and fully legitimate the will to 
independence, to which we oppose an effective politico-mediatic speech:

" Better protection and financial support from France (despite some disadvantages), an 
uncertain independence, which you will probably not manage, which can lead to misery like 
your neighbors, and subject to the violence of predators outsiders of liberal capitalism ".

However, this discourse abstracts the inequalities and predations (French) that persist, 
but it also ignores the emancipation of the colonized. These arguments come back today 
about the referendum in Kanaky.

But, whatever the result, even if the " yes " prevailed and the sovereignty was returned 
to the Kanak people, it would be only a step towards a decolonization to continue ... 
because France has always known manage decolonizations in trompe l'oeil, ensuring the 
maintenance of its economic and military interests as in many of its former colonies in 
Africa.

Christmas Surge (AL Carcassonne)

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Echos-d-Afrique-Symptomes-coloniaux-pour-l-outre-mer

------------------------------

Message: 4






warrenInterview with Warren McGregor of the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front 
(ZACF),[1]South Africa: What is anarchism? Who really rules South Africa? Should we form a 
"workers party"? How does anarchism address racial and national oppression? How can we 
build working class counter-power? What is the state of the left? How do we link fights 
for reforms to revolutionary transformation and counter-power? Where does anarchism come 
from and what is its history in South Africa? Where to now? ---- Warren McGregor is an 
activist born in the Coloured townships of the Cape Flats, now resident in Johannesburg, 
where he is involved in working class and union education. ---- Leroy Maisiri (LM):[2] 
First of all thank you so much for your time, and making room for me in your busy 
schedule. Please kindly begin stating your name and any political affiliations you have 
with organisations or movements within the left.

Warren McGregor (WM): It's a pleasure, but please call me "Warren." I am a member of the 
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF), as well as of the Tokologo African Anarchist 
Collective (TAAC), and I identify myself politically as an anarchist.

LM: It appears there is a new interest in forming a "worker's party" in South Africa at 
present. Some people think the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will 
be the heart of that party, given its recent separation from the Tripartite Alliance of 
the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), 
and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Others place their hopes in formations like 
the new Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), or even in Julius Malema's Economic Freedom 
Fighters (EFF). And many people have great hopes that the ANC can be ousted by such 
parties in upcoming elections. Do you think that there is a need for a worker's party in 
South Africa?

WM: Do I think there is a need for it? No. Ultimately you have to look at what the purpose 
of the workers' party would be: obviously it would be the same as all other parties, to, 
in whatever way, access state power. Historically, ideas of a workers' party as a means 
for the working class to take power and change society come from the Marxist tradition and 
from social democracy, the desire being to access state power through revolutionary or 
(usually, these days) electoral means.

What we anarchists would say is that there is no need for a worker's party. And. in fact, 
that it would be very detrimental, not only here in South Africa but worldwide, to the 
workers' struggle.

Fundamentally for us, as anarchists, state power is part of the problem of why we have an 
unequal society. The real, the hegemonic, power that is already dominant in society is the 
power of the ruling class. By "ruling class," we anarchists mean those dominating in the 
economic sphere as well as in the state sphere. And we include into the ruling class the 
bosses of big business, but also the bosses of the state: your top politicians, and those 
who run things like the military part of the state, your police and judiciary (all 
unelected by the way), as well as your top bureaucrats in the governing arm (all unelected).

So we would include them in the ruling class. Our analysis of the state includes the 
people who run the state, as part of the ruling class. Elites run corporations, elites run 
the state.

Because of our analysis of the state, we do not consider the state to be an instrument 
that can used to reconstruct society, or to construct an equal society, and thus we do not 
believe that socialism can be created through the state. And by "socialism" here, we mean 
a classless society and the equal redistribution of wealth and power in society, which 
means a stateless society, because the state centralises power.

I always say: if we want to create a stateless and equal society, how can we use the 
state? It's like saying: "In a year from now, I want to exist on a chocolate-less diet, so 
I do not want to eat chocolate - and to do that I will eat lots of chocolate! And then 
maybe the chocolate will start withering away!"

LM: Since you have said "no" to a worker's party, what is the alternative, according to you?

WM: It is to continue to work to build working class power in the country, but what we as 
anarchists, with the program of anarchism, would specifically build is "counter power." 
This is power that is counter the hegemonic power, essentially a power against, and 
outside and counter to, the power of the ruling class - and its states and corporations.

For us this means very specific things. It's about building the power of the working class 
to challenge the ruling class, and its capacity to reconstruct society from below at some 
point in the future. And the organs of counter power would include revolutionary 
(syndicalist) trade unions and community groups and other formations. By "working class" 
we do not include here just blue-collar workers. All people who work for others for wages 
and lack power are workers, no matter their jobs, and besides workers the working class 
includes workers' families, as well as the unemployed and, generally, the poor.

At the same time, the working class organisations of counter power must not only be 
fighting organisations, but must also be organisations of education as well. We need a 
radical education including the ability to critically analyse that which is around you, 
not just society but also yourself, and your organisation as well.

This is about building a revolutionary popular "counter culture" that also deals with 
ideas, and with issues like what we mean by "revolution" or "democracy," and the ideals we 
want for the future society, helping set in practice, now, in the development of our 
organisations, these ideals. So counter power and counter culture are linked fundamentally.

By "democracy" as an aim, we speak of a radical democracy, a direct democracy, where the 
people that form part of a particular project, community, factory, are involved in key 
decisions and are aware of the decisions, and share in the benefits that accrue from 
putting the decisions into action.

To get to a directly democratic society in all spheres, we need a revolutionary 
transformation in all spheres. But to get to a revolutionary transformation, we need to 
develop direct democracy right now in the organisations of counter power. And we also need 
to develop a revolutionary attitude, a revolutionary understanding and consciousness. At 
the end of the day, the ability of organs of counter power to develop towards 
revolutionary transformation is determined by the development of a revolutionary counter 
culture, of revolutionary consciousness.

LM: Thank you, very comprehensive. You say "revolutionary transformation," but are we just 
smashing the state here? How do reforms and immediate struggles fit? And what, 
specifically, is meant by "revolutionary transformation"?

WM: Anarchism aims at a revolutionary transformation of society, and by this, we mean a 
complete overhaul of the way that society is governed and organised, to "revolutionise" 
the economic, social and political arrangements. Anarchism is not about chaos, or a lack 
of rules: it asks for a different set of rules, a different order. We do not mean changing 
the people at the top of society, or the nationalisation of industry by the state: this 
still means a ruling class controlling an unequal system.

We mean a society where the means of production are commonly owned, a society that is 
self-managed and democratised, with no hierarchies, no oppression, and no ruling class. It 
means a self-managed, socialist society, egalitarian and democratic, with collective 
ownership and individual freedom.

This is what we mean by revolution.

But to get there you need to build working class revolutionary counter power to the point 
where it can take over society, replace the state and capital. This means building a mass 
base.

So in the process of developing counter power, you need to attract people to your 
organisations. That means being able to win reforms in the day-to-day, using day-to-day 
struggles, based on direct action, not elections and lobbying, so as to improve people's 
lives: to battle for higher wages, better housing conditions, and access to better 
conditions from capital and the state.

Being anti-statist does not necessarily mean that you do not use the battle for reforms 
within the revolutionary struggle. The idea is that the reforms are not the be-all and 
end-all of the struggle, and that the counter power remains autonomous, outside and 
against the state, and that fights for reforms are won through direct action by autonomous 
movements, and linked to the struggle to build revolutionary counter-power and 
counter-culture.

Reform struggles help to develop revolutionary capabilities, and lead to a sense of 
encouragement, and the victories and defeats in day-to-day struggles are educational tools 
not just for the popular organisations as a whole, but for the individuals within the 
organisations.

Victories help develop a sense of confidence in oneself as a militant in the organisation, 
as an organiser, and in the organisation itself. Defeats can be educational if we decide 
to study them as sites of critical analysis. Revolution is the goal, the end, and reforms 
are necessary, not decisive or ultimate, but steps on the road to revolutionary 
transformation.

LM: I want to get your general opinion of the state of the left and of anarchism, right now.

WM: Globally the left, for the last thirty years, has been on the back foot, the advent of 
neo-liberal globalisation and the restructuring of control in societies shifting the 
balance in favour of the ruling class all around the world, accompanied by attacks on 
working class formations. The collapse of the Soviet Union, which was basically the 
collapse of classical Marxism, has had a massive impact: you see it in a massive decline 
of authoritarian socialism.

But we have also seen, despite Francis Fukuyama calling the period "the end of history," 
various struggles, in particular, social movement struggles, struggles of the unemployed, 
and the rural population and peasants. All around the world we have seen upsurges, and 
these new movements have to a certain extent taken over where the trade unions used to be. 
Although the unions are far from dead.

We also see a resurrection of more libertarian socialism, in particular, anarchism. Now 
anarchism globally is still in a process of not necessarily defining itself, but of 
redefinition and rediscovery, of linking back to its historical roots, and recapturing 
parts of anarchist theory and history that have been lost or distorted. For example, from 
after the Second World War, writing about anarchist history has been focused on Northern 
Europe and America, relying on perspectives that discount the majority of anarchism that 
existed and exists globally and historically.

And we see that many of the struggles today, for example, the Occupy movements, also 
reflect the influence of more libertarian ideas and anarchist ideas without necessarily 
being purely anarchist. Many of those ideas are starting to find more space in the world.

However, there is a long way to go to reclaim the space that working class movements used 
to have a few decades ago, when they used to influence society, and also reclaiming the 
space for revolutionary left ideas, especially anarchism, which can radically change society.

The fact of the matter is that it is the radical right - in religious, fascist, populist 
and anti- foreigner variants - that is capturing the space opened by massive popular 
dissatisfaction with ruling elites.

LM: South Africa also has long tradition of left-wing and working class politics: where 
does anarchism fit here?

WM: Anarchism globally had its golden age in terms of influence from around 1870 to into 
the 1930s, and remained important after that, but less so than statist movements like 
anti- colonial nationalism and classical Marxism. But before that anarchism was certainly 
the most dominant socialist idea in the world, and its trade unionism, also known as 
"syndicalism," had a very big influence. It played a key role in the colonial and 
postcolonial world, including in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles.

This included an important influence on South African black and white worker formations in 
the early part of the 1900s. But it's only in the latter part of the 1990s that we have a 
rekindling of an anarchist presence in South Africa, and an organised attempt to get 
re-involved in working class struggles. This all means that anarchism here is still quite 
a small force, first of all in the left, and secondly, even smaller in terms of influence 
among the working class and poor.

But on the other hand we are growing not only as an organisation and organised force, but, 
more importantly, the ideas of anarchism, when engaged with in a proper and honest way, 
find favour with black working class people here. More important than sitting on 
committees in coalitions like the new United Front, promoted by NUMSA, or chasing 
political party dreams, is systematic back-to-basics work with grassroots working class 
people, to win influence and to develop a black working class cadre of anarchists who are 
involved in everyday struggles, community struggles, union struggles etc.

LM: And the left in South Africa?

WM: I have tons of respect, despite any ideological disagreements and differences in 
tactical and strategic choices, for others in the left and in the progressive movement.

There are real differences in terms of strategy and tactics. But we are not sectarians: 
our history shows this. I have been involved in the anarchist movement for about 
six-and-a-half years, and its clear anarchists have a long tradition of involvement in 
struggle with working class organisations, and this has included working with a variety of 
socialist and non- socialist groups.

We absolutely do not reject working with other political organisations, but we draw the 
line when it comes to what we are working for: if something goes against our principles or 
goes against the working class, we draw the line and do not cooperate.

We promote structured, democratic, mandate-based approaches to organising and reject the 
South African "populist" style. This is closely linked to the ANC and its offshoots, and 
centres on unelected and unaccountable leaders and self-appointed demagogues directing the 
actions of crowds who have no real say.

Fundamentally, there is no way we would consider a political party, whether left or right, 
to be of any use to revolutionary transformation or even reforms. This does not preclude 
the possibility that we will work, where needed, with political party people - and not 
just with independent or revolutionary socialists, because we would work with ordinary 
SACP and ANC members in struggles. These organisations have a big rank-and-file working 
class membership and those members can be engaged.

But as vehicles for a radical change? The SACP and ANC and indeed, all the other parties, 
including the EFF, cannot be these vehicles. Elections won't and don't help. To get 
anywhere in elections, the left would need to pour resources, resources that could have 
been used in building working class organisation and education, into getting people to 
vote, and even if seats are won, the representatives just become part of the problem, part 
of the state apparatus and ruling class. If militancy is funnelled into elections or a 
workers' party, it eventually means the subjugation of working class militancy to elections.

We will support any initiative that mobilises people and has a potential to become counter 
power or a space to win people to our ideas, and to build counter culture. But a workers' 
party and electioneering are a dead end, a grave yard for left, democratic and working 
class politics.

What is going to change society is a groundswell of working class organisation, 
structured, democratic and able to develop in the direction of counter culture and counter 
culture, not a unity of the left, which is not really possible. And this groundswell 
requires not just organising people but also changing the ideas that they have.

We, anarchists, are not messiahs who are going to bring about change the actual change, 
the revolutionary transformation. It is the working class that will, through a long, hard 
struggle with both victory and defeat, by building organisation and consciousness, despite 
suffering many losses, that will change the world. It's not a quick-fix, it's not a 
politics of election promises or freedom from above. State power and elections have never 
worked for the working class: that is the quick fix that fixes nothing.

Take the EFF: in power it has gone back on its promises and it reproduces many features of 
ANC populism.

LM: Thank you once again, for your input and your time

NOTES

[1]The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF), formed in 2003, is a revolutionary group 
that works primarily with township groups in Gauteng province. It rejects participation in 
elections, aiming to build a radical democracy, somewhat akin to the to the United 
Democratic Front (UDF) "people's power" project, but outside and against the state 
apparatus. The UDF, formed 1983, was a broad anti-apartheid coalition of church, 
community-based, sports, youth and other organisations. This would involve an egalitarian 
society based upon collective ownership of the means of production, self- management, 
participatory planning, and production and distribution by need, in a stateless, socialist 
system.

Interview by Leroy Maisiri, 16 December 2014, Johannesburg.

[2]Reference: Warren McGregor, 2018, "Anarchist-Communism: Building Black Working Class 
Counter Power against State, Capital and National Oppression[Interview by Leroy Maisiri]," 
in Kirk Helliker and Lucien van der Walt (eds.), Politics at a Distance from the State: 
Radical and African Perspectives, Routledge: London, New York, pp. 156-161.

https://zabalaza.net/2018/11/13/building-black-working-class-counter-power-against-state-capital-and-national-oppression-interviewing-warren-mcgregor-zacf-south-africa/?fbclid=IwAR3NW3IHIlx9fnfBtWb9VLmf0Gv_9szHKfF5ua5O0_Xjc087AH9wdBht4bI

------------------------------

Message: 5






Everything increases except employment, wages and pensions ! Nobody can believe that the 
recent gas tax increase is an ecological measure. On the contrary, it is a way of 
financing the tax gifts made to the bosses ! Will this increase be the last straw when, at 
the end of the month, you have to choose between refueling and going to the supermarket ? 
---- Yes the climate crisis imposes radical changes ---- Of course, the sources of 
pollution must be greatly reduced. But the government is doing the opposite: outsourcing 
companies, closing stations and SNCF lines for the benefit of buses, closing public 
services that forces to do more kilometers to find an open reception, a hospital, a post 
office ... ---- The increase in gasoline is also a way to impose the electric car, new 
ecological nightmare that will turn the nuclear power plants at full speed ... while we 
still do not know how to reprocess the nuclear waste we store as much of time bombs for 
generations to come. Not to mention the production of batteries !

Decidedly, capitalism takes us straight into the wall, it is a completely different 
society that we have to build !

No to the recovery of fachos and bosses
The bosses of the road sector whine again but they applauded all the anti-worker measures 
of Macron and his predecessors, and collected all the tax giveaways ! They are not our 
allies in a general struggle to improve our living conditions, they are our adversaries.

As for the manipulations of the Fachos and the Right, we do not forget that they 
systematically condemn striking workers and their unions: they are also our enemies !

What to do November 17 ?
It must be that anger breaks out one day. And sometimes unexpectedly. While the last days 
of national strikes have unfortunately not been massive enough to win, the mobilization 
launched on social networks will she be the spark that we miss ? Difficult to say because 
this movement is a first, it surprises everyone, and mobilized people vary from one city 
to another. What is certain is that this day will not be enough to increase wages, social 
minima or pensions !

But it can be the occasion to start a mobilization of long duration if local committees 
are created which take care of to dismiss the fachos and the bosses ; to expand the claims 
beyond the sole issue of the cost of gasoline. Committees against the expensive life, to 
make pay the bosses, the shareholders, those who take every weekend the plane to join 
their yacht ...

Download PDF to download
Read also: " To roll back Macron and his world: strike, democracy, direct action "

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Essence-gaz-loyers-produits-alimentaires-electricite-Ras-le-bol

------------------------------

Message: 6






The new issue of Rebel City is out. Rebel City is London's free anarchist paper. London 
Anarchist Communist Group are involved in the Rebel City collective, along with members of 
the Anarchist Federation, Haringey Solidarity Group and others. Latest issue has articles 
on Sadiq Khan, Friend of the Property Developers,Haringey Labour Council, John Roan 
Resists, Don't Choke on the Coffee
  Mate! and much more. Free copies available from Freedom Bookshop, Housmans Bookshop, 56a 
Info Centre, LARC etc or on the street!

https://londonacg.blogspot.com/

------------------------------