Today's Topics:
1. Afganiststan and Iranian Anarshism: Anarchism and anarchists
do not accept the theorization of rape or torture under any
circumstances and under any circumstances [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #291 - Strikes of Limoges
(1905): Against the right of sewing (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Class War Scotland - Latest update from CWS, on the David
McHarg case. (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Greece, Political Call in support of the
Antifascist-Internationalist Demonstration against the Lukov
march (Sofia Bulgaria) By A.P.O. [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Greece, vogliamo tuttoe per tutti: All at Work Saturday,
February 16, 11:30 am, Korae Square [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. wsm.ie: Review of Conor McCabe talk on Money
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. US, black rose fed: MARRIAGE AND LOVE BY EMMA GOLDMAN
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Britain, anarchist communist ACG: Universal Credit staff
ballot for strike (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
It was based on the fact that the age of anarchism no longer works with the sect of
iranism. After we made public ourselves in this article, and after that, we published the
answer of Ali Abdul Razaei (leader of the sect) in order to make the audience fully
intact. ---- This week, but audiences sent us an e-mail attachment from Mr. Leader Abdul
Razaei, and we were asked to take a position on this matter, and given that the case was
sensitive, we had to promise that another We do not have to work with this sect and we
will take a position. Still, as always, honesty is a criterion, and the text of the email
and the audio file will be appended so that the audience will be in full swing. The
position of pomegranate is very clear about the issue of aggression. Under no
circumstances and under any circumstances, rape and torture are not accepted by anarchists
and anarchists, and given that anarchism is seeking power overruns, it does not regard
this as an acceptable and humane enemy. Rape under any name and justification is a
movement of power, patriarchy and inhumanity. It is understandable that some of the
opposition factions that belong to the power-seeking think-tank welcome this thesis in
their struggles because their ultimate goal is to take power and create terror among their
opponents, but in the name of perversion, the goal of the destruction of power is to each
name. The type and establishment of a fully equal society (which includes gender equality
that is strongly opposed to and opposed to patriarchy and the culture of rape) and without
power and hierarchy. Consequently, rape is not only a form of torture and inhumane action,
but also philosophically contradictory to the aims and demands of anarchism. Considering
the issues raised by this anarchist collection, both human and anarchist, strongly condemn
aggression as unacceptable and controversial, and severely condemned those who support or
defend this thesis and doubt their humanity. he does. In our opinion, these people are
seriously endangering mental illness.
"Once again, we have faced a security project by the Islamic Republic regime against the
opposition. This time, a psychiatrist named Ali Abdul Razaei has presented himself as the
real opposition of the regime and the left, and the insurrection of the Dnieper's
ninety-six dictates in his name, with financial and intellectual support of the regime,
and after all the illusions and deceptions, lies and sedition It will propagate the mental
line of the regime. Considering the importance of some of our cases, we decided to
disclose and open the hands of these mercenaries. One of the key issues in the Islamic
Republic from the outset was women, and in order to crack down on women, sexual assault on
the agenda of this diabolical regime was initiated from the outset. Many instances of rape
of girls in prisons before executions or widespread abuses in the activities of the Forugh
Mojahedin-e Khalq, and recent examples such as the Kahrizak case. In this regard, the
regime is trying, through its agents, to transfer this line of thought to the opposition.
People like Dariush Valizadeh started this discussion between Iranians outside Iran and
inside the country on a sanctuary site that was affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards
five years ago. Now, with Ali Abdul Razaei, he has achieved this thesis and, on the other
hand, seeks to justify the rationale of raping women and children, and on the other hand,
it will be the cause of slapping and further attacks on militants inside and outside Iran.
Given the fact that, in complete disbelief, a number of brain styles, also known as
political ones, explicitly and explicitly advocated the rape of women and children (we
will also disclose them if necessary). We conclude that the only way in Fighting the dirty
Islamic regime in reaching its inhumane intentions is an explicit and obvious position of
the opposition. Therefore, we are asking you to express your stance against rape of women
and children explicitly.
In the attachment, a file will be sent, in which Ali Abdul Razaei explicitly narrates to
his troops the women and children of the enemies to rape.
Warning, the file contains extremely stringent words and concepts. "
html
Paynvsht: Link A
--------------------------------
Addresses and pages of pages related to the Anarchist Union of Iran and Afghanistan
Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran, May 24, 2018
PS: The possibility of joining new people and groups of anarchists will be permanent
The Union has many social media and other communication channels. You will find them at
the bottom of this page
1- Addressing the Age of Anarchism on the Instagram https://instagram.com/asranarshism/
--------------
2- Address of the Anarchist Age in the Telegram
Https://Telegram.me/Asranarsh
https://asranarshism.com/1397/11/01/not-to-rape/
------------------------------
Message: 2
In 1905, in Limoges, the sexual harassment of a foreman causes a strike of the porcelain
workers, supported by " their men ". Many of us suffer this oppression. ---- Strikes in
Limoges have already been the subject of an article in Alternative libertaire April 25,
2015. Also, if I come back on this movement, it is not to make you discover the main lines
but to emphasize the peculiarities of this one especially the place of women. Studied as
part of a book by Marie-Victoire Louis published in 1994, it has not yet experienced a
great media impact. Neither yesterday nor today. ---- A historic strike ---- If the strike
begins in February 1905, it is first to protest against the low wages of the workers of
the shoe and the felt. It is fast all the factories that protest. Limoges resonates today
in our minds for its porcelain factories, made active in the center of France thanks to
kaolin mines, essential ingredient for the manufacture of porcelain.
In the factory of Charles Haviland in particular, a certain Penaud, then sometimes called
foreman or director, practices a strange election to distribute the work. He " does all he
can to bring the reinstatement of the work to pieces (and by the way) ... reserve good
work for his creatures. One can not earn a living without having made sure, through
kindness, graciousness, gifts, in kind and money, the benevolence of the foreman ... Women
and girls are subject to special requirements . " The claims are nevertheless expanding,
as evidenced by the statement that is made by the departmental archives of the
Haute-Vienne. " Basically, the conflicts are related to the development and concentration
of factories: there is a certain family atmosphere and paternalistic. The management must
ensure that the reduction of working time, although poorly applied in porcelain factories,
does not affect production: speeding up the pace, strict controls of inputs and outputs of
the factory ... Anger Thus, it often crystallizes on the Penaud or the Sautour, and all
the more violently when their attitude undermines the honor of the worker or the worker. "
The issue of intersectionality
The strike continues and hardens, and it is certainly what happens then that makes famous
this revolt since a large number of photographs are still available. The army intervenes
on April 14 and Camille Vardelle, a 19-year-old worker, is killed on April 17.
Why do men have in this strike taken part in the feminine demands ? By solidarity ? Not
really. The big mistake of this boss was certainly to " hunt " on the ground of the men of
the city of Limoges. Jealousy is certainly one of the explanations that allowed the two
genres, found around their class, to join forces. Indeed, this struggle offers us the
opportunity to observe how class considerations are mixed with those of gender.
This event, certainly old allows us to highlight a mechanism of logic of domination: that
of intersectionality. Angela Davis was certainly one of the best-known theoreticians of
this mechanism which consists in noting that the plurality of the oppressions that we
undergo does not merely add to itself but creates a real intermingling of dominations
which it is particularly difficult to Get out. In the context of these workers, it is
about being women, but in addition to workers. Their struggle is therefore built at the
intersection of class struggle and gender struggle.
Finally, the last reason that pushes me to use this old story is to awaken deeply
contemporary issues. Behind the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc we've heard so much, is actually
hiding the reality of a lot of women. To talk about realities, I can talk about mine. In
2013, I had the first job of my life. It was to make the hostess for Coke. You see what
I'm talking about. You know the same kind of hostess as at car shows. Target of the
customer: men. Way to conquer them ? All. For the first time in my life human
relationships were salaried. For the first time in my life, relationships of seduction
were salaried. To a colleague, I talked about feminism. It was known. At 2 eday, the
manager did not get off the truck when we changed. At 3 th , I was fired. What to say
about this adventure ? That the reality of the complexity of relationships at work,
especially those of seduction, remains and remains present for many of us.
Anna (AL Auvergne)
Bibliography
* Marie-Victoire Louis, The Right of Cuissage: France, 1860-1930 , Éditions de l'Atelier,
1994, including Chapter 10. " Strike Limoges Strike Right, April 1905 ".
* " 1905: Limoges is covered with barricades ", Alternative Libertaire , April 25, 2015.
* " The Greves of 1905 ", Archives.haute-vienne.fr.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Greves-de-Limoges-1905-Contre-le-droit-de-cuissage
------------------------------
Message: 3
‘On June 4th 2018, David convicted for displaying an A4 Political poster during 2017
Election'. ---- ‘Hey there good folk - an update on my trial and conviction for displaying
the ‘Fuck off you Tory Cunts' A4 poster. ---- Attended court on 6th June 2018, defended
myself (as I came to realise the lawyer and courts are one of the same, incompetent and
colluding together). It was a long day and at the near end, the person who had complained,
Gregor McKenzie (a former Chief Inspector who was known to the trial Judge, but did not
divulge this as ‘bias') had accepted that he was not put into 'a state of fear and alarm'
(breach of the peace), just that he thought that other people may find it 'offensive'.
Nobody else had complained, only him.
I was arrested on 2 accounts of section 38: breach of the peace, acting in a threatening
way by displaying the poster, (3 up in a Glasgow tenement). Though, on the second arrest -
they forced entry into my home unlawfully. I was not read my rights. Nor charged at all -
during the 9 hr stay in the cell. Had an illegal cavity search carried out, which was of
no consequence to the court at all.
They dismissed this as irrelevant - of course - they would! Also, the second arrest (no
charge) turned into a second charge at court, of placing the Police into a 'state of fear
and alarm', by calling them ‘Nazi's'. I actually did not call them ‘Nazi's'. I stated that
their behaviour was that of a Nazi or Stalinist state! Seems that's enough for the Police
to be in a 'state of fear and alarm'. For future reference: it's ok to call a copper a
Stalinist s this isn't worrying to them at all! It obviously was a farce, each police
officer involved in this, agreed under questioning, that this was not a racial, gender,
religious - or disability directed poster - it was political.
The usual echoes of ‘‘cannot recall'' was the theme of their response. However, in summing
up (my no case to answer to). I specified, that the complainant had clearly stated, that
he was not in a ‘state of fear and alarm' - he just found it '‘offensive''.
The case against me should have been dismissed. However, when the Judge is clearly an
acquaintance of Mr McKenzie, then there was no way they would let this walk out of court.
The Judge ruled that there was a case to answer. No explanation, as to why was given. The
Procurator Fiscal (PF) also cited a case ‘Orr vs, Airdrie PF' (of a person, arrested,
while acting in an aggressive and threatening manner towards the Police).
All the way through both my arrests - I remained calm and articulate. In no way
threatening. Yet, this was the best they had. Clearly, I was convicted before presenting
my evidence.
In short, (as this took a took a ridicules time to get a response), I appealed. The courts
conclusion was also to state the ‘Orr vs PF' case. No other explanation! They even stated
that I had not presented any evidence at all (I had duplicates of all paperwork and the
PIRC (Police Independent Report) which upheld my complaints) about Police Scotland and
this case.
So, no crime committed! Complainer admits - he was, not placed - in a ‘state of fear or
alarm'. And out of thin air they produce a charge. Police claim they were, called ‘Nazis,'
no audio or video evidence. And this was accepted by the court. No case to answer to....
conclusion, convicted! So, it doesn't matter, that there was no crime! I'm still convicted.
So now its onto submitting my case to the European courts (whatever this means). I'll do
my best to keep you all informed, and thank you for your continued support - because this
is not over!
We do live in a ‘Stalinist' country - this is a clear message, to those that actively
revolt and question the states sense of authority over humans.....the Gulags are coming.'
Solidarity: David.
------------------------------
Message: 4
At a global level, the state and capitalist machine attempts to intensify inequalities,
repression and exploitation. Aiming to increase power and control, modern totalitarianism
does not hesitate to form war conflicts in the periphery, while it proceeds with its
attack against the plebeians in the West. Within this spiral of cultivated insecurity, the
racist and intolerance narratives of fascist groups, as an inextricable component of the
authoritarian bloc, are finding ground to develop. ---- At the same time, against the
international antisocial alliance of the global elites and their projected war societies,
the infinite liberating possibilities of the struggles that erupt all over the world are
emerging. From Rojava to Chiapas, from the favelas in Brazil to the antifascist blockades
in Western Europe and the Balkans, the cause of Social Revolution is still alive, placing
barricades to the attack of the state and the bosses and forming the conditions for the
social and class counter-attack.
This social and class counter-attack frightens the dominants so much as to bring forward
the darkest force of human history, in order to suppress it. Due to the generalized crisis
of the state-capitalist system, their ability to extract social legitimization for their
plans has reached its limits. This is the reason why the far-right and fascist reserves of
the dominants - the counter-revolutionary bloc - are dragged up from the system's arsenal
and are taking action internationally, in order to pave the way for the strategic plans of
the Authority. From Bolsonaro's Brazil, to Visegrád's Fortress-Europe, to the far-right
shift in Italy and France, to Balkan nationalisms, and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is the
system's response to its profound and total crisis, to its own contradictions.
Contradictions that are caused by the incurable conflict imposed by its basic principle,
the exploitation and repression of one human being against the other. These elements,
along with war and the threat of its generalization, are forming the iron fence of
authority, which is spreading globally.
In Greece, through the reopening of the "Macedonian question" on NATO's orders, the
current "left-wing" political administration has been the most efficient promoter of the
agenda of the bourgeoisie and the international institutions while, at the same time, a
growing audience is amassed around nationalism. The fascist groups coordinate with the
most conservative parts of the national core (paramilitary groups, religious
organizations, far-right parties, parastatal mechanisms), constituting the
counter-revolutionary and fascist reserves of the state and the dominant class. They are
forming a climate that disorients the exploited away from their real social problems,
spreading intolerance and bringing together the most reactionary social reflexes.
The role of fascists is, everywhere in the world, the same: doing the dirty work in the
best service of the powerful, cultivating hatred towards the poor of other areas,
misleading and preparing the plebeians for a new mass human slaughter in a future war
conflict.
*
Every year, in Sofia Bulgaria, a fascist parade is taking place, in honor of the fascist
general Hristo Lukov, who was executed by the partisan Violeta Yakova in February 13th,
1943. The parade is organized a number of fascist parties and organizations, as the
Bulgarian National Union etc. The parade is considered to be an important event of
fascists in Bulgaria and, every year, representatives of neo-Nazi parties and
organizations from several European countries (Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden etc.) are
also attending.
From our viewpoint, as anarchists, the resistance against the attack of totalitarianism
and fascism must have a real internationalist character. It is impossible to fight against
global capitalism and fascism just in Greece. It is vital to develop contact and
solidarity with comrades in neighboring countries, and also, at a wider international level.
During the last two years, the Anarchist Political Organization has been supporting the
antifascist demonstration which is organized in Sofia. Many comrades from Greece found
themselves in the Bulgarian capital to demonstrate against fascism and support the
comrades there, who, over the last years, have been trying to set barricades against the
constant promotion of fascism, to create structures and fronts of resistance against the
attack of the state, the fascists and mafias.
The social movement in Bulgaria, after being dissolved under the heel of the socialist
state, had to face, immediately after the collapse of 1991, the nationalist and fascist
groups which reemerged. Today, the support of the antifascist movement in Bulgaria has
vital importance in standing against the fascist threat, so that the social and class
resistance against the nationalist rhetoric and capitalist directives could blossom.
Therefore, the Anarchist Political Organization is again this year calling collectives and
comrades to the demonstration of February 16th in Sofia, Bulgaria.
For the empowerment of our common internationalist struggles.
For the Balkans of Equality, Solidarity and Mutual Respect.
For Social Revolution, for Anarchy and Libertarian Communism
ANARCHIST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION| FEDERATION OF COLLECTIVES
apo.squathost.com | anpolorg@gmail.com
https://apo.squathost.com/political-call-in-support-of-the-antifascist-internationalist-demonstration-against-the-lukovmarch
------------------------------
Message: 5
As a Coordinating Action Against the Abolition of Sunday Holidays and "Liberated" Hours,
we support the Labor demonstration on Saturday, February 16, 2019, at 11:30 am, at Korais
Square. ---- This demonstration, like the cross-party strike of November 1, 2018, which we
also supported, is an integral part of our overall struggle to defend our workers'
interests and rights, our lives and our dignity. A struggle in which we are also joining
the very battle we have been fighting against the abolition of Sunday's holiday for
several years now. ---- Key points of this demonstration, such as the claim of Collective
Labor Agreements (GCC) and the demand for substantial increases in our wages , are key
labor demands. As we have noted in our releases, the struggle for the claim and
implementation of the CCP means organized and collective labor struggle, collegiate and
class solidarity. It means practical opposition to 'crumbly wages',' hasty hours',
intensification, precarious work, employers' terrorism and arbitrariness. It means a
conflict with the interests of each employer and with the world of capital as well as with
the rulers. When our real needs come true as a criterion for these claimsand not the
"strengths of the economy and of every boss", then this struggle becomes even more
dynamic, as it comes to question the sovereignty of the economic-social-political system
in our lives.
Indeed, this demonstration takes place a few days after official announcements by the
government to increase the lower wage and the abolition of the minimum wage, and
corresponding announcements have already been made on the alleged resumption of the BCA.
And all this in the framework of government propaganda to quit the memorandums.
Propaganda, which is a clear mockery for all and for us, the world of work, that we do not
sneak on the crumbs that fly us (and it is virtually not - even these - to reach our
pockets due to the imminent reduction of tax-free income); that we see CBAs in essence
blocked by the restrictive provisions laid down for the benefit of employers.
Through this demonstration we also declare our practical opposition to employer and state
terrorism. Terrorism manifested by vengeful dismissals, extortion, and even beatings of
workers who "dare" to claim their rights by imposing unfavorable working conditions and by
the authoritarian and defamatory behavior of employers and bosses. Terrorism imposed on
Leroy Merlin's employees by signing 9-hour contracts and Media Markt and Jumbo on 6-day
work. Terrorism fueled by the anti-labor legislation itself and the impunity that most
bosses enjoy. Terrorism that we experience through the repression of labor struggles and
the criminalization of trade union action. Even through decisions on illegal and abusive
strikes and laws to restrict the possibility of a strike by primary unions."Accidents at
work" , which are essentially nothing more than capital and state murders to ensure
greater profitability for bosses who are in any way seeking not to provide adequate
protection measures that do not respect health and safety rules in the workplace and
imposing over-normalization conditions. Terrorism is also the case for any kind of
dismissal, for whatever reason, with whom colleagues are being thrown out on the road
without being able to meet their basic needs and live a decent life.
Like the interdisciplinary strike on 1/11/18, the workers' demonstration on 16/2/19 is the
result of a horizontal process of union coordination that is based in turn on base
proceduresof these unions. In the assemblies of their members and in every process through
which it is sought and assured that each colleague and each colleague becomes an active
part of the struggle and not the follow-up of any "saviors" or "specialists of the
struggle". And all this is a key aspect of how we understand the bottom-up organization of
our struggles. While it is also the way we seek to organize, conduct and ultimately
achieve victories and the struggle for the Sunday holiday. With our colleagues colleagues
from the shops to come forward and together with the whole world of the struggle to give a
dynamic response to the overall assault of the bosses towards our class.
Moreover, almost all the sectoral and business associations that organize this
demonstration - and this is not at all accidental - have also played an important role in
the struggle for the Sunday holiday itself by actively participating in the relevant
mobilizations and the corresponding coordination actions.
Following our entire racing move over the last 6 years and our latest moves against the
opening of stores nationwide over the last few months and ahead of a new round of battles
in the coming period, The Sunday holiday and the total working barbarity we are
experiencing, we will contribute with all our might to the success of the February 16
workers' demonstration.
LABORATORY INTERESTS FRONT NORTH SUNDAY MAGAZINE OPEN
NO ONE ONLY TO BE INCLUDED IN OUTPUT - COLLECTIVE RESOURCES IN LOCATIONS
COLLECTIVE WORK CONTRACTS ACCORDING TO OUR NEEDS
Coordinating action against the abolition of Sunday's holiday and the "liberated" hours
syntonistikokyriakes.espivblogs.net - syntonistiko_drasis@espiv.net
Announcement of unions for the Labor demonstration on Saturday 16/2/19 (11.30am, Korai -
Athens)
https://vogliamotutto.espivblogs.net/2019/02/13/ergatiki-diadilosi-16-february/#more-2137
------------------------------
Message: 6
Conor McCabe delivered a talk entitled ‘Money' hosted by Comhlámh. Conor is a research
fellow, writer and educator. The talk is available to view as a video on Comhlámh's FB
page. ---- His talk started with a joke, but the joke was just reported as staight news.
The OECD produced figures that showed that the Irish worker is currently the most
productive worker that has ever existed, globally. The Irish worker in 2017 was adding €87
to the value of the economy for every hour worked. The joke is that this figure is arrived
at by crude mathematics which divides the size of the Gross Domestic Product, by the
number of hours worked, not taking into account our functioning as a tax haven. That's the
joke, but at a time when the nurses are on strike for fair pay it is hard to find any of
this funny.
It was refreshing to have a discussion which spoke with great clarity about Capitalism,
how it is currently functioning and about class. For instance, 50% of the Irish workforce
is now comprised of people who earn €27K or less per annum. The Irish economy has been
shaped by a compradore class, middle men or gombeens to you and me who hae shaped an
moulded our state and economy. This allows for massive exploitation.
Capitalism is a system whereby you invest in water to get money back in the money form.
Capitalism monetizes, and wants its return in the most liquid form. This allows for
accumulation, so that we can get to a place where according to Oxfam, 50 people now own
50% of the world's wealth. Conor compared it to the blob. This beast that continues to
spread and it is now moving out to try and consume and monetize other areas of life, like
health and housing. It brings everything into its logic. The blob is coming.
"It devours people and spits them out" said Conor. He then went onto describe how it "just
doesn't just monetize human labour, it monetizes social value and nature aswell."
It transforms it into money form, and then puts property rights on that money form. That
then gets sucked up to the top. This system has to be resisted and opposed. Conor spoke
about unity across various groups, from the left, from the trade union movement, and from
civil society, community groups.
In the ancients civilisations, like Mesopatania, when a fatal epidemic would strike, ‘they
were seen as "the devouring" of a god'', as James C. Scott puts it in his book Against the
Grain. That word struck me last night when Conor spoke about Capitalism and what it does
to people. The devouring is on-going. The blob is expanding and all in its path, people,
society, nature will get destoyed. Conor spoke eloquently about the need for an organised
resistance to what is going on. The objectives remain the same, but the strategies must
change constantly to fight this expansion and to drive the beast back. Conor spoke about
the left, the trade unions and community groups organising and working together in this
struggle now. We couldn't agree more. What else would you expect from anarchists.
Author: Dermot Freeman
https://wsm.ie/c/review-conor-mccabe-money
------------------------------
Message: 7
On the occasion of Valentine's Day we are republishing the classic 1914 essay by anarchist
agitator Emma Goldman, "Marriage and Love." Reading the essay today her searing criticisms
how people related to love and marriage in her time may seem dated given the entry of
women into the workforce, reforms in divorce law, the availability of birth control (for
some but not all women), and changing attitudes among younger generations. We also see far
more acceptance of gay, lesbian, trans and other sexual identities that do not fit the
binary mold of heteronormativity. In some ways her criticisms could be seen to prefigure
these shifts but what they push us to do today is think - how might we criticize the
current ways we relate to romantic relationships and the larger patriarchal social order?
And how might we image our relationships in a future post-capitalist social order?
By Emma Goldman
The popular notion about marriage and love is that they are synonymous, that they spring
from the same motives, and cover the same human needs. Like most popular notions this also
rests not on actual facts, but on superstition.
Marriage and love have nothing in common; they are as far apart as the poles; are, in
fact, antagonistic to each other. No doubt some marriages have been the result of love.
Not, however, because love could assert itself only in marriage; much rather is it because
few people can completely outgrow a convention. There are to-day large numbers of men and
women to whom marriage is naught but a farce, but who submit to it for the sake of public
opinion. At any rate, while it is true that some marriages are based on love, and while it
is equally true that in some cases love continues in married life, I maintain that it does
so regardless of marriage, and not because of it.
Emma Goldman mug shot, 1901.
Marriage is primarily an economic arrangement, an insurance pact. It differs from the
ordinary life insurance agreement only in that it is more binding, more exacting. Its
returns are insignificantly small compared with the investments. In taking out an
insurance policy one pays for it in dollars and cents, always at liberty to discontinue
payments. If, how ever, woman's premium is a husband, she pays for it with her name, her
privacy, her self-respect, her very life, "until death doth part." Moreover, the marriage
insurance condemns her to life-long dependency, to parasitism, to complete uselessness,
individual as well as social. Man, too, pays his toll, but as his sphere is wider,
marriage does not limit him as much as woman. He feels his chains more in an economic sense.
Thus Dante's motto over Inferno applies with equal force to marriage: "Ye who enter here
leave all hope behind."
That marriage is a failure none but the very stupid will deny. One has but to glance over
the statistics of divorce to realize how bitter a failure marriage really is. Nor will the
stereotyped Philistine argument that the laxity of divorce laws and the growing looseness
of woman account for the fact that: first, every twelfth marriage ends in divorce; second,
that since 1870 divorces have increased from 28 to 73 for every hundred thousand
population; third, that adultery, since 1867, as ground for divorce, has increased 270.8
per cent.; fourth, that desertion increased 369.8 per cent.
Added to these startling figures is a vast amount of material, dramatic and literary,
further elucidating this subject. Robert Herrick, in Together; Pinero, in Mid-Channel;
Eugene Walter, in Paid in Full, and scores of other writers are discussing the barrenness,
the monotony, the sordidness, the inadequacy of marriage as a factor for harmony and
understanding.
Some day men and women will rise, they will reach the mountain peak, they will meet big
and strong and free, ready to receive, to partake, and to bask in the golden rays of love.
... If the world is ever to give birth to true companionship and oneness, not marriage,
but love will be the parent.
-Emma Goldman
The thoughtful social student will not content himself with the popular superficial excuse
for this phenomenon. He will have to dig down deeper into the very life of the sexes to
know why marriage proves so disastrous.
Edward Carpenter says that behind every marriage stands the life-long environment of the
two sexes; an environment so different from each other that man and woman must remain
strangers. Separated by an insurmountable wall of superstition, custom, and habit,
marriage has not the potentiality of developing knowledge of, and respect for, each other,
without which every union is doomed to failure.
Henrik Ibsen, the hater of all social shams, was probably the first to realize this great
truth. Nora leaves her husband, not-as the stupid critic would have it-because she is
tired of her responsibilities or feels the need of woman's rights, but because she has
come to know that for eight years she had lived with a stranger and borne him children.
Can there be any thing more humiliating, more degrading than a life long proximity between
two strangers? No need for the woman to know anything of the man, save his income. As to
the knowledge of the woman-what is there to know except that she has a pleasing
appearance? We have not yet outgrown the theologic myth that woman has no soul, that she
is a mere appendix to man, made out of his rib just for the convenience of the gentleman
who was so strong that he was afraid of his own shadow.
Perchance the poor quality of the material whence woman comes is responsible for her
inferiority. At any rate, woman has no soul-what is there to know about her? Besides, the
less soul a woman has the greater her asset as a wife, the more readily will she absorb
herself in her husband. It is this slavish acquiescence to man's superiority that has kept
the marriage institution seemingly intact for so long a period. Now that woman is coming
into her own, now that she is actually growing aware of herself as a being outside of the
master's grace, the sacred institution of marriage is gradually being undermined, and no
amount of sentimental lamentation can stay it.
From infancy, almost, the average girl is told that marriage is her ultimate goal;
therefore her training and education must be directed towards that end. Like the mute
beast fattened for slaughter, she is prepared for that. Yet, strange to say, she is
allowed to know much less about her function as wife and mother than the ordinary artisan
of his trade. It is indecent and filthy for a respectable girl to know anything of the
marital relation. Oh, for the inconsistency of respectability, that needs the marriage vow
to turn something which is filthy into the purest and most sacred arrangement that none
dare question or criticize. Yet that is exactly the attitude of the average upholder of
marriage. The prospective wife and mother is kept in complete ignorance of her only asset
in the competitive field-sex. Thus she enters into life-long relations with a man only to
find herself shocked, repelled, outraged beyond measure by the most natural and healthy
instinct, sex. It is safe to say that a large percentage of the unhappiness, misery,
distress, and physical suffering of matrimony is due to the criminal ignorance in sex
matters that is being extolled as a great virtue. Nor is it at all an exaggeration when I
say that more than one home has been broken up because of this deplorable fact.
If, however, woman is free and big enough to learn the mystery of sex without the sanction
of State or Church, she will stand condemned as utterly unfit to become the wife of a
"good" man, his goodness consisting of an empty head and plenty of money. Can there be
anything more outrageous than the idea that a healthy, grown woman, full of life and
passion, must deny nature's demand, must subdue her most intense craving, undermine her
health and break her spirit, must stunt her vision, abstain from the depth and glory of
sex experience until a "good" man comes along to take her unto himself as a wife? That is
precisely what marriage means. How can such an arrangement end except in failure? This is
one, though not the least important, factor of marriage, which differentiates it from love.
Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedom it gives itself
unreservedly, abundantly, completely. All the laws on the statutes, all the courts in the
universe, cannot tear it from the soil, once love has taken root.
Ours is a practical age. The time when Romeo and Juliet risked the wrath of their fathers
for love when Gretchen exposed herself to the gossip of her neighbors for love, is no
more. If, on rare occasions young people allow themselves the luxury of romance they are
taken in care by the elders, drilled and pounded until they become "sensible."
The moral lesson instilled in the girl is not whether the man has aroused her love, but
rather is it, "How much?" The important and only God of practical American life: Can the
man make a living? Can he support a wife? That is the only thing that justifies marriage.
Gradually this saturates every thought of the girl; her dreams are not of moonlight and
kisses, of laughter and tears; she dreams of shopping tours and bargain counters. This
soul-poverty and sordidness are the elements inherent in the marriage institution. The
State and the Church approve of no other ideal, simply because it is the one that
necessitates the State and Church control of men and women.
Doubtless there are people who continue to consider love above dollars and cents.
Particularly is this true of that class whom economic necessity has forced to become
self-supporting. The tremendous change in woman's position, wrought by that mighty factor,
is indeed phenomenal when we reflect that it is but a short time since she has entered the
industrial arena. Six million women wage-earners; six million women, who have the equal
right with men to be exploited, to be robbed, to go on strike; aye, to starve even.
Anything more, my lord? Yes, six million age-workers in every walk of life, from the
highest brain work to the most difficult menial labor in the mines and on the railroad
tracks; yes, even detectives and policemen. Surely the emancipation is complete.
Yet with all that, but a very small number of the vast army of women wage-workers look
upon work as a permanent issue, in the same light as does man. No matter how decrepit the
latter, he has been taught to be independent, self-supporting. Oh, I know that no one is
really independent in our economic tread mill; still, the poorest specimen of a man hates
to be a parasite; to be known as such, at any rate.
The woman considers her position as worker transitory, to be thrown aside for the first
bidder. That is why it is infinitely harder to organize women than men. "Why should I join
a union? I am going to get married, to have a home." Has she not been taught from infancy
to look upon that as her ultimate calling? She learns soon enough that the home, though
not so large a prison as the factory, has more solid doors and bars. It has a keeper so
faithful that naught can escape him. The most tragic part, however, is that the home no
longer frees her from wage slavery; it only increases her task.
According to the latest statistics submitted before a Committee "on labor and wages, and
congestion of Population," ten per cent. of the wage workers in New York City alone are
married, yet they must continue to work at the most poorly paid labor in the world. Add to
this horrible aspect the drudgery of house work, and what remains of the protection and
glory of the home? As a matter of fact, even the middle class girl in marriage can not
speak of her home, since it is the man who creates her sphere. It is not important whether
the husband is a brute or a darling. What I wish to prove is that marriage guarantees
woman a home only by the grace of her husband. There she moves about in his home, year
after year until her aspect of life and human affairs becomes as flat, narrow, and drab as
her surroundings. Small wonder if she becomes a nag, petty, quarrelsome, gossipy,
unbearable, thus driving the man from the house. She could not go, if she wanted to; there
is no place to go. Besides, a short period of married life, of complete surrender of all
faculties, absolutely incapacitates the average woman for the outside world. She becomes
reckless in appearance, clumsy in her movements, dependent in her decisions, cowardly in
her judgment, a weight and a bore, which most men grow to hate and despise. Wonderfully
inspiring atmosphere for the bearing of life, is it not?
But the child, how is it to be protected, if not for marriage? After all, is not that the
most important consideration? The sham, the hypocrisy of it! Marriage protecting the
child, yet thousands of children destitute and homeless. Marriage protecting the child,
yet orphan asylums and reformatories over crowded, the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children keeping busy in rescuing the little victims from "loving" parents, to
place them under more loving care, the Gerry Society. Oh, the mockery of it!
Marriage may have the power to "bring the horse to water," but has it ever made him drink?
The law will place the father under arrest, and put him in convict's clothes; but has that
ever stilled the hunger of the child? If the parent has no work, or if he hides his
identity, what does marriage do then? It invokes the law to bring the man to "justice," to
put him safely behind closed doors; his labor, however, goes not to the child, but to the
State. The child receives but a blighted memory of its father's stripes.
As to the protection of the woman,-therein lies the curse of marriage. Not that it really
protects her, but the very idea is so revolting, such an outrage and insult on life, so
degrading to human dignity, as to forever condemn this parasitic institution.
It is like that other paternal arrangement -capitalism. It robs man of his birthright,
stunts his growth, poisons his body, keeps him in ignorance, in poverty and dependence,
and then institutes charities that thrive on the last vestige of man's self-respect.
The institution of marriage makes a parasite of woman, an absolute dependent. It
incapacitates her for life's struggle, annihilates her social consciousness, paralyzes her
imagination, and then imposes its gracious protection, which is in reality a snare, a
travesty on human character.
If motherhood is the highest fulfillment of woman's nature, what other protection does it
need save love and freedom? Marriage but defiles, outrages, and corrupts her fulfillment.
Does it not say to woman, Only when you follow me shall you bring forth life? Does it not
condemn her to the block, does it not degrade and shame her if she refuses to buy her
right to motherhood by selling herself? Does not marriage only sanction motherhood, even
though conceived in hatred, in compulsion? Yet, if motherhood be of free choice, of love,
of ecstasy, of defiant passion, does it not place a crown of thorns upon an innocent head
and carve in letters of blood the hideous epithet, Bastard? Were marriage to contain all
the virtues claimed for it, its crimes against motherhood would exclude it forever from
the realm of love.
Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of
ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most
powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with
that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?
Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in
the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has
been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not
conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless
before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is
yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is
radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a
beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere. In freedom it gives
itself unreservedly, abundantly, completely. All the laws on the statutes, all the courts
in the universe, cannot tear it from the soil, once love has taken root. If, however, the
soil is sterile, how can marriage make it bear fruit? It is like the last desperate
struggle of fleeting life against death.
Love needs no protection; it is its own protection. So long as love begets life no child
is deserted, or hungry, or famished for the want of affection. I know this to be true. I
know women who became mothers in freedom by the men they loved. Few children in wedlock
enjoy the care, the protection, the devotion free motherhood is capable of bestowing.
The defenders of authority dread the advent of a free motherhood, lest it will rob them of
their prey. Who would fight wars? Who would create wealth? Who would make the policeman,
the jailer, if woman were to refuse the indiscriminate breeding of children? The race, the
race! shouts the king, the president, the capitalist, the priest. The race must be
preserved, though woman be degraded to a mere machine, - and the marriage institution is
our only safety valve against the pernicious sex-awakening of woman. But in vain these
frantic efforts to maintain a state of bondage. In vain, too, the edicts of the Church,
the mad attacks of rulers, in vain even the arm of the law. Woman no longer wants to be a
party to the production of a race of sickly, feeble, decrepit, wretched human beings, who
have neither the strength nor moral courage to throw off the yoke of poverty and slavery.
Instead she desires fewer and better children, begotten and reared in love and through
free choice; not by compulsion, as marriage imposes. Our pseudo-moralists have yet to
learn the deep sense of responsibility toward the child, that love in freedom has awakened
in the breast of woman. Rather would she forego forever the glory of motherhood than bring
forth life in an atmosphere that breathes only destruction and death. And if she does
become a mother, it is to give to the child the deepest and best her being can yield. To
grow with the child is her motto; she knows that in that manner alone call she help build
true manhood and womanhood.
Ibsen must have had a vision of a free mother, when, with a master stroke, he portrayed
Mrs. Alving. She was the ideal mother because she had outgrown marriage and all its
horrors, because she had broken her chains, and set her spirit free to soar until it
returned a personality, regenerated and strong. Alas, it was too late to rescue her life's
joy, her Oswald; but not too late to realize that love in freedom is the only condition of
a beautiful life. Those who, like Mrs. Alving, have paid with blood and tears for their
spiritual awakening, repudiate marriage as an imposition, a shallow, empty mockery. They
know, whether love last but one brief span of time or for eternity, it is the only
creative, inspiring, elevating basis for a new race, a new world.
In our present pygmy state love is indeed a stranger to most people. Misunderstood and
shunned, it rarely takes root; or if it does, it soon withers and dies. Its delicate fiber
can not endure the stress and strain of the daily grind. Its soul is too complex to adjust
itself to the slimy woof of our social fabric. It weeps and moans and suffers with those
who have need of it, yet lack the capacity to rise to love's summit.
Some day, some day men and women will rise, they will reach the mountain peak, they will
meet big and strong and free, ready to receive, to partake, and to bask in the golden rays
of love. What fancy, what imagination, what poetic genius can foresee even approximately
the potentialities of such a force in the life of men and women. If the world is ever to
give birth to true companionship and oneness, not marriage, but love will be the parent.
http://blackrosefed.org/marriage-and-love-emma-goldman/
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Message: 8
DWP workers at two service centres in the West Midlands are being balloted for strike
action to take place on two days in March. Faced with the overwhelming burden placed on
them by Universal Credit, the 700 PCS members in Walsall and Wolverhampton are demanding
5,000 new staff, permanent contracts, controls over work volume, and better management
practices. ---- The PCS states that Universal Credit has been a disaster for claimants and
for its members working in the service. They want to see a properly funded humane system
that helps those in need, not one that that punishes and sanctions people for falling on
hard times. ---- Since 2010 the DWP has lost 30,000 staff because of government job cuts.
Many experienced staff have left and have been replaced by staff on fixed contracts given
only a few weeks of training. Jobcentres have been closed. Remaining staff feel
ill-equipped to deal with the victims of domestic violence, people with mental health
problems, and those with disabilities who are being forced on to the Universal Credit
programme.
If the ballot for industrial action is agreed, members will strike on March 11 and 12.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2019/02/17/universal-credit-staff-ballot-for-strike/
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