Anarchic update news all over the world - 19.03.2019

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #292 - Girl's life, Waist
      and chocolate creams (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Poland, Workers' Initiative: Poznan Inter-enterprise
      Commission about a seven-hour day of work in libraries at Adam
      Mickiewicz University [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Belarus, anarchist group pramen: Russian anti-fascist
      reveals violence, humiliation and threats in pre-trial detention
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
 4.  avtonom.org: Russian society to save the anarchists [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  anarkismo.net: Can Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa NZ help
      save the world? by AWSM (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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

Message: 1






To be a woman is to bend to contradictory social injunctions. Injunctions that lead to 
control of the body by themselves to submit to potentially lethal eating disorders. ---- 
Women suffering from bulimia or anorexia have an unhealthy fear of getting fat, making 
their social life complicated. A bulimic woman has an uncontrollable and violent need to 
eat, occurring suddenly and without pleasure. Conversely, the anorexic woman eats little 
or nothing. In both cases they try to rid their body of excess calories by induced 
vomiting, overuse of laxatives and intensive physical exercise, fasting or severe dietary 
restrictions. ---- In today's society women have to be perfect: to have children while 
keeping a body with shapes in the right places, to be fulfilled, both active and 
seductive, to be a careerist, with a rich social life.

Globalization has come to cross the path of narcissism and diffuse its images and selfies. 
Social networks encourage us to have a perfect life, photos to be always resplendent and 
have the most " friends, subscribers, I love ... ". Women compare themselves, cultural 
specificities fade. The aesthetic standards are standardized. The body is then a social 
instrument of integration. The woman must be thin and please others to be able to assert 
herself in a social world: the physical is the identity card of a woman, but especially 
his CV, his profile of dating sites ...

perfect women ... on glossy paper
The image reflected by the women's press, fashion and advertising corresponds to the image 
of the woman twig, soft and discreet: ideal of erasure. Always well dressed, makeup and 
smiling, she must convey the image of the good living woman who eats without getting fat 
prompting the woman to dieting to be desired. Many ads are associated with thinness and 
consumption, as if to be happy it should not exceed a certain weight. The woman eats 
chocolate creams but remains slim. Diets are a social obsession. The conformism of 
thinness spreads on a large scale. The woman described as luscious finally has no 
attribute deemed unsightly: belly, thighs, stretch marks, cellulite.

To starve to match the gun
The diktat of thinness causes pressure on women's bodies to blend into very strict 
standards. The multiplication of particularly lean and retouched body images, considered 
as unattainable contemporary female canons on the one hand, the systematic devaluation of 
their physique, permanent anxiety and dissatisfaction about their bodies on the other hand 
, are a sum of additional factors of eating disorders.

This cult of appearance is inculcated to us very young. The doll given to a child is 
already " well done ", and hyper sexualized. From childhood, young girls are taught to eat 
less, to pay attention to their weight.

Beautiful, silent, inferior
One can hardly imagine a woman in a relationship of seduction eating a burger because it 
does not correspond to the ideal of femininity that exists in our society. Conversely, we 
will consider that a man must eat consistent foods. In our society, women must be less 
expansive, less noisy, control themselves, take less space, speak less. The woman is 
reduced to an object to contemplate, to desire, devoid of thoughts, reflections and 
critical thinking. This image society stigmatizes women and their values depend only on 
their appearance. The goal is to keep women in a lower social and intellectual position 
than men.

Added to this is the hyper sexualization of the female body in advertising, reducing women 
to sexual objects. Sexual violence suffered by women at work, on the street, in the 
family, leads some women to want to erase their forms as well as these looks of sexualization.

Men give themselves the right to inspect and evaluate women's bodies. Women are 
transformed into sexual objects through this gaze, which reduces them to their bodies, 
even to parts of their bodies: unhealthy looks accompanied possibly by commentators 
evaluators.

Contradictory injunctions
The women's bodies must be either shown or hidden. Women are invited to wear outfits that 
emphasize the shape of their body, especially their size. Cleavage, backless, 
tight-fitting, short skirt, stiletto heels that bring out the buttocks and breasts ...: as 
many clothes that reveal the body shapes of women and are considered feminine. A woman 
wearing loose clothing is said to be " dressed like a bag " and unattractive because she 
is not feminine. But we also ask women not to reveal too much, the alleged risk of being 
vulgar and excite the libido of men.

Verbal aggression and sexual glances are a daily routine that forces some women to look 
down and hide their forms. These behaviors are commonplace both in the street and at 
workplaces (sexist jokes, sexual questions, remarks and inappropriate gestures). This 
sexual harassment has negative effects on the well-being of women: feeling of shame in 
relation to her body, malaise. Women who have had sexist comments or attitudes that focus 
solely on their appearance may feel dirty and morally " impure ". Food becomes a means to 
anesthetize, a ricochet of sexist and / or sexual violence.

Feminism progresses by denouncing beauty standards and the resulting grossophobia. The 
feminist struggle must allow women to have a positive image of their bodies, to emancipate 
themselves from our society obsessed by the feminine thinness and to eliminate the 
societal malaise that causes eating disorders.

Marie (AL Paris Nord-Est)

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Tour-de-taille-et-cremes-au-chocolat

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

Message: 2





Collegium Minus building in Poznan (source: Wikimedia Commons) ---- The Poznan 
Inter-Factory Commission of the OZZ Employee Initiative issued a position supporting the 
activities of librarians and librarians employed by the Adam Mickiewicz University. Below 
we publish the full text of the document: ---- Position of the Poznan Intergenerational 
Commission OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza of 12/03/2019 ---- on the behavior of a seven-hour 
working day for certified librarians, custodians and senior librarians working at the A. 
Mickiewicz University ---- The Poznan Inter-enterprise Commission OZZ Inicjatywa 
Pracownicza expresses its full support for the efforts of librarians and librarians to 
maintain a seven-hour working day for certified librarians, custodians and senior AMU 
librarians. This is supported by the nature of their work, which requires adequate current 
preparation to properly maintain the high standards of academic and content-related use of 
UAM libraries.

It is worth noting that the seven-hour working day is in line with the demands of an 
increasing number of trade union and political circles demanding in general a shortening 
of the weekly working time to 35 hours. We are convinced and convinced that in the near 
future all employees and employees will enjoy a seven-hour working day. The shortening of 
working time has been the basic postulate since the beginning of trade unions. All the 
more difficult to understand the fact that - contrary to the position of other trade union 
organizations and the librarian and employees' environment - the company's NSZZ 
Solidarnosc is the main force opposed to the entry in the university statute for a 
seven-hour day for certified librarians, custodians and senior librarians. In real terms, 
this may contribute to extending the working time for the aforementioned professional 
group. In our opinion, this is an unacceptable situation for the trade union to act 
against the interest of a specific group of employees.

http://ozzip.pl/teksty/informacje/wielkopolskie/item/2462-poznanska-komisja-miedzyzakladowa-o-siedmiogodzinnym-dniu-pracy-na-uam

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

Message: 3





Since October 2017, 11 people have been arrested as part of the "Network" case - a 
terrorism investigation led by the Russian security services into anti-fascists and 
anarchists. According to investigators, these men were allegedly members of an 
organisation that planned to "destabilise the political climate in the country" during the 
Russian presidential elections and Football World Cup via explosions and riots. Cells of 
the organisation were allegedly operating in Moscow, St Petersburg, Penza and Belarus. 
---- Several of the men detained have reported that the FSB tortured them into confessing 
to the charges against them. For example, software engineer Viktor Filinkov, who was 
abducted from St Petersburg Pulkovo airport in January 2018, has described in detail how 
he was tortured with electric shocks into learning a false confession in a minivan on the 
outskirts of the city. Arman Sagynbayev, who previously ran a vegan food business, has 
stated that he underwent similar torture in November 2017 in St Petersburg. Other people 
detained as suspects and witnesses in this case have also reported brutal torture.

Yuly Boyarshinov, an antifascist, industrial climber and "free market" organiser from St 
Petersburg, was arrested on 21 January 2018. Boyarshinov later stated that city police 
officers beat him after he refused to answer their questions, citing his right not to 
incriminate himself. Four hundred grams of gunpowder were then discovered in his 
possession. On 23 January, a district court ordered his arrest for 30 days on a explosives 
possession charge. Boyarshinov was then visited by two FSB agents, who listed the names of 
defendants in the "Network" case and promised that if he did not talk, it "would get 
worse". After he refused to talk, he was transferred to Pre-Trial Detention Centre No.6 at 
Gorelovo, in the outskirts of St Petersburg. On 11 April 2018, Boyarshinov was officially 
accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation.

In total, Boyarshinov spent five months in Gorelovo Pre-Trial Detention Centre - 
throughout this time, the FSB tried to make him confess to the charges against him. In a 
publication by Russian media outlet MediaZona, he describes the atmosphere of isolation, 
violence and doom in the prison.

Detainees in Gorelovo Detention Centre are subject to systematic physical violence and 
humiliations by other prisoners, who carry out the orders of the prison administration. 
Those prisoners call themselves "elders" or "seniors", but other prisoners call them 
"reds" or "activists".

These same people extract money from detainees for individual places to sleep, places next 
to the television, the right to sleep during the day and other "privileges". For example, 
in Cell 3/14, I had to sleep in a twin-bed with four more prisoners. And in Cell 1/2, 
where I was from 1 March 2018 until 20 July 2018, I had to sleep either on the floor or 
the top bunk of a double bed with two, three, four more people.

More than a half of all prisoners in the cell do not have their own sleeping place, but 
this is not only due to overcrowding. In Cell 1/2, which has room for 116 people to sleep, 
there usually were 120-140 people, sometimes even 150. But, regardless of the 
overcrowding, there were always free beds in the "Kremlin".

The "Kremlin" is a large space, separated by a curtain, where the "activists" live. In 
Cell 1/2, three or four people occupied 12 sleeping places in the "Kremlin", while at the 
other end of the same cell regular prisoners had to share a twin bed between five people.

More than a half of all prisoners in the cell do not have their own sleeping place, but 
this is not only due to overcrowding

A new arrival into the cell is met by "orderlies", usually sporty young men. They shout at 
the newbie to run to the other side of the cell, then tell him to stand there and wait 
until he is called. The prisoner acting as a clerk writes down the new prisoner's personal 
details: his name and surname, date of birth, charge/conviction and prison term (if he 
already has one). In Cell 1/2, as in many others, both convicted prisoners and those under 
investigation are detained together. People who are first-time prisoners and 
"second-timers", as well as people who are facing charges of different severity, are all 
mixed together. When I was in Cell 1/2, there were detainees investigated under Articles 
105, 111, 126, 127, 131, 132, 134, 135, 158, 159, 161, 162, 163, 205, 222, 228, 264, 210 
and others.

The new arrival is forced to wait standing from anywhere between 20 minutes to one and a 
half hours, without talking to anyone. Then he is called to the "kitchen", which is a 
small room at the far end of the cell, where no one is normally allowed in. This is where 
the "activists" eat, and a designated person cooks food for them on a stove throughout the 
day. Fresh meat and eggs are brought to them in a soup tureen.

Yuly Boyarshinov. Source: David Frenkel / MediaZona. Two or three "activists" talk to the 
newcomer in the kitchen, explain to him that one has to pay 5,000-10,000 roubles[roughly 
£60-£110]a month for a separate bunk, sometimes they extract a one-off payment for "moving 
in" - tens of thousands of roubles[up to £500]. If he refuses[to pay], they shout, hit him 
in the stomach or the back of the head. They threaten to beat his buttocks or heels with a 
stick, but this they do rarely in order to avoid leaving traces.

They also force the newcomer to clean the floor, sometimes non-stop, four or five times 
per hour from lunch until dinner, and then from dinner until lights-off. They threaten 
that if a prisoner cleans the floor, this will affect his social status and later he will 
be forced to do that permanently in the correction colony. In other words, cleaning is 
turned into a humiliating punishment.

Those who face charges under Articles 131-135 of the Russian Criminal Code[crimes related 
to sexual violence]are forced to clean the latrines, wash clothes for the "seniors" and 
pay much higher sums of money.

Sometimes, as an alternative to monthly payments, the "activists" propose these detainees 
become a "helper" - that is, to serve one of the "activists", wash their clothes, bring 
food to the "Kremlin", put up the curtain that separates the "Kremlin" from the rest of 
the cell and take it down when it's likely that prison guards may visit, although they 
don't remove it in the presence of the regular guards responsible for the block.

When one of the "activists" goes to the toilet, the helpers kick out everyone from there 
in advance, roughly 10 minutes or so before. The same happens if one of the "activists" 
takes a shower. There is no hot water in the first and third blocks. The water for 
"activists" is warmed up with an immersion heater in a big barrel - a designated person 
has to look after it the whole day. Only "activists" can wash with hot water.

Regular prisoners are only allowed to use one lavatory out of three in the toilet, two 
others are reserved for the "elders". Because of that and the fact that they close the 
toilet so often, there was always a queue of four-five people there.

There are two "clerks" in Cell 1/2. These are the prisoners who read both in- and outgoing 
letters of other prisoners and check that nobody complains to their relatives about 
violations in the cell. They can block a letter or order you to cross out particular 
sentences. You are not allowed to put letters in the letterbox yourself. The clerks also 
sign to receive letters, sometimes also for food parcels and shopping for other detainees. 
They also pass statements and requests to detention centre officials. Almost all 
interactions with the guards, including during the morning inspection, are mediated by the 
clerks and elders, and you are prohibited from addressing[the guards]directly, which 
creates isolation and a sense of doom.

Yuli Boyarshinov and defense attorney Olga Krivonos at a custody extension hearing, 19 
February 2018. Source: OVD-Info / Olga Krivonos. I was beaten up several times: on the day 
I moved in to Cell 3/14, on the first day in Cell 1/2, and on the second day there too, 
and on the several more occasions from time to time when I was called in for a 
"conversation" in the kitchen. These "conversations" usually happened after my lawyer 
applied to transfer me to another cell or complained about the conditions of my detention 
and so on.

 From the first day, I was told that "this can't be solved with money" and that there was 
a special request on me from Ivan Prozarevsky, an agent, to create especially difficult 
conditions for me.

The first few months I was forced to clean the floor non-stop, then slightly rarer after 
that. During my whole time in Gorelovo I was barely allowed out to exercise, only a couple 
of times per month.

After I applied to be transferred to a non-smoking cell, I was called in to the kitchen. 
Two "activists", Roman and Konstantin Makarov ("Makar"), were there. They said that they 
would not allow me to be transferred to another cell and that I now had to have a photo 
taken while holding a cigarette. I didn't want to do it, Roman tried to persuade me and 
then threatened me with violence. From time to time, Denis Rymov, a "senior", entered the 
kitchen. He shouted at me, threatened me and hit me several times on the face with an open 
hand and then left. This "conversation" lasted for about an hour and a half, then Denis 
entered again and said that if I didn't take the photo with a cigarette he would rape me , 
record it on video and send it to the[prison]colonies. Kostya stood beside me and held me 
down, while Denis put his hand on my crotch and asked "Are you ready?" - after which I 
agreed to take the photo.

In Cell 1/2, I was forced to write a statement confirming that I was not subject to any 
pressure on at least three occasions. The first note was dictated to me by Konstantin 
Makarov, who was told to do so by agent Prozarevsky. The second note I wrote in 
Prozarevsky's office after the detention centre received a collective letter from citizens 
concerned with conditions of detention in the prison. Prozarevsky didn't show me the 
letter itself, he only gave me a list of approximately 180 names and instructed me to copy 
them into my note, and confirm that I did not know any of them and that I was not under 
any pressure in my cell.

This was not true at all. One of the "seniors", Dmitry Smirnov, was in the room with us. 
Prozarevsky and Smirnov threatened that if I did not write this statement, they would 
create unbearable conditions not only for me, but also for my cellmates - for example, 
they would take away all mobile phones and shoelaces, thus aiming to provoke violence 
against me from other detainees. I had to write the third note when Prozarevsky entered 
the cell, sat down in the "Kremlin" and called me in there. The prisoners who sleep near 
the "Kremlin" were forced to move to the other end of the cell, so that they could not see 
us. After me, a few more prisoners were called in to write explanatory notes.

The "activists" in Pre-Trial Detention Centre No.6 carry out the orders of prison officers 
who, in turn, can follow the orders of agents investigating detainees. They may instruct 
the "activists" to "burn" certain detainees: beatings, threats, endless cleaning - in 
general, they create unbearable conditions. They say openly that to stop all of this, you 
have to give the required testimony in your case, "to solve the issue with your agents" - 
as it was in my case.

One evening, around eight or nine pm, I was called by agent Evgeny Vladimirovich and asked 
whether I would talk to the agents who were going to visit the detention centre the next 
day. I replied that I would, but only in the presence of my lawyer, after which I was sent 
to my cell and one of the "seniors" was called out. When he returned, he started shouting 
at me and forced me to do 1,000 squats. This punishment is used quite often, but usually 
only 500 times. After so many squats, one barely can move one's legs for a week and it's 
difficult to walk.

The basic conditions in Gorelovo are truly nightmarish: not enough space, around two 
square metres per person, overcrowded cells, a necessity to share the bed with many 
people, the lack of hot water, constant queues for the toilet and sink, one 12-seater 
table is used for 130-140 people, broken windows (prisoners break the glass during summer 
when it is too hot), so there is a cold draft for people sleeping on the top bunks during 
winter months. In winter, prisoners often sleep in coats.

But the hardest thing is surviving the atmosphere of isolation, systematic violence and 
the sense of doom. Often, "seniors" or "orderlies" are shouting at someone near you, 
threatening someone, administering beatings. It was routine to hear cries and pleas to 
stop from the "kitchen", where somebody was being beaten on the buttocks or heels. It's 
hard to avoid your fear of winding up in their place.

It was obvious that this didn't happen on the initiative of individual "activists", but an 
order from prison officers. Prisoners who try to complain or ask to be transferred to 
another cell are subjected to even more violence.

Various inspections and commissions often visit Gorelovo. When I was there from 1 March 
until 20 July 2018, approximately twice per month there was an inspection by the General 
Prosecutor's Office, the human rights ombudsman or the Public Monitoring Commission. As a 
rule, they don't find so many violations, because their visits are announced in advance, 
and an impression is created that there are no violations.

For example, before a visit from the Public Monitoring Commission, when they were planning 
to record the overcrowding of the cells, half of all prisoners (70 people or so) were 
taken out to exercise yard. Another time, the cell clerk simply lied to them, saying that 
there were 110 people in the cell, although there were many more. Before an inspection 
that was supposed to verify whether different categories of prisoners are kept separately, 
the "activists" announced at the morning check that if you were asked, you should reply 
that the cell held people who had not been previously convicted for serious offences. And 
everyone had to choose an appropriate article[of the Criminal Code]. During the day, the 
orderlies checked that.

If a detainee was called for a meeting with the Public Monitoring Commission or the 
representatives of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "activists" had a 
"conversation" with him first, explaining that he could only say that "everything is 
alright in the cell", that it was pointless to complain, and made threats. During any 
meetings with the Public Monitoring Commission in a separate office, the head of the 
centre's operational section or deputy head of the detention centre would be present, and 
they would always tell the "elders" when the detainees said something bad about the cell.

[As a punishment]for complaints, detainees could be moved from a paid-for separate bunk to 
a five-persons bed, deprived of access to the telephone, beaten up or forced to clean the 
floor endlessly.

There was also a "tax" on parcels in Cell 1/2. The "activists" would take two packets of 
cigarettes from every block and a bag of sweets (cookies, chocolates).

In Cell 1/2, I got infected with scabies. I received the diagnosis in Pre-Trial Detention 
Centre No.1 in Penza, where I was transferred from Gorelovo. Treating scabies requires the 
patient to be isolated, disinfection of your personal possessions, mattress, bedding and 
cell. Nothing of the sort is done in Gorelovo: people infect each other every day in the 
overcrowded cells. When I left Cell 1/2 in July, every second person in the cell was 
suffering from scabies and was scratching all the time. There was no treatment for scabies.

Officers investigating a case can threaten suspects with a transfer to Gorelovo. There, 
following investigator's instructions, people under investigation are pressured in order 
to force them to give evidence necessary for the investigation.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/yuly-boyarshinov-network-case-russia/

https://pramen.io/en/2019/03/russian-anti-fascist-reveals-violence-humiliation-and-threats-in-pre-trial-detention/

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

Message: 4





The most terrible misfortune of the Russian society is not corruption. There is no 
lawlessness of repressive organs and outrageous gaping poverty. And not even an 
authoritarian state and wild capitalism as abstract concepts. Stronger than all this, the 
persistent feeling of deep social ill health freezes the soul. Sometimes it seems that the 
Russian society has completely died. Extreme disunity and egoism, passivity and 
indifference, the position of "man to man, nobody" - the hardest symptoms. The meaning of 
life and ethics are replaced by rude mocking parody in the form of absolutely moronic 
state propaganda. ---- Extensive pollution and destruction of nature; powerlessness and 
indifference in the face of any injustice are the logical consequences of such a 
situation. From time to time it seems that our compatriots really undertook to repeat 
comics about a square padded jacket ... And yet as long as there are living people in the 
country of Russia, its society is also alive. But it is obvious that this society must be 
saved.

In general, anarchists reject state formations and borders. Our critically-minded comrade 
may ask: why are we going to save just the "Russian" society? "They were not executed, 
they were saying a word, dear comrade!" - as they would say in a fairy tale ... The fact 
is that every person is incorporated from childhood into his own social context. This 
context can be changed. But the society where we grew up and live, we understand better. 
It is his people - our inner circle. Here we stand firmly on our feet. In the "native" 
society, a person has more opportunities in his hands, tools to change something. The last 
statement is not always true, but for Russia, perhaps, yes. Finally, responsibility for 
one's community is a completely canonical anarchist principle. Well, then, instead of 
internal or external emigration, we will save.

However, a lot unites Russia with other post-Soviet countries. Especially - with Ukraine 
and Belarus. These include living social connections and common social phenomena, as well 
as the use of the Russian language for international communication, which creates a common 
communicative environment. This makes the mutual assistance of the revolutionaries of our 
countries, whose destinies by the will of history are still closely linked and 
interdependent, especially relevant. In our struggle, we inevitably go beyond the state 
borders.

Oppositional liberals and populists (and now in Russia they are sometimes the same people) 
are useless rescuers. Promises to give more freedoms and attract investments, add a 
certain number of interest to salaries and pensions, and help a business - hit the target 
far, no matter how true or false they are. This is not at all what will help society to be 
reborn from the dust.

Anarchists are digging deeper. They invite people to build structures of direct national 
self-government, which will allow society to gain control over itself and dignity. Of 
course, together with responsibility. All significant social practices that today are left 
to the state: education, health care, infrastructure - should become the field of 
responsible collective creativity.

We are convinced that only cardinal changes can overcome painful social torpor and at the 
same time establish justice.

Anarchists aim to create an economic system aimed not at profit, but at satisfying the 
material needs of all through joint labor in cooperation and cooperation, and not competition.

Anarchist thought proposes the idea of economic self-sufficiency, autonomy. In the Russian 
context, this means a serious reorganization of the economy: a painfully overgrown service 
sector must cede a fair share of its share to the production of products that people need. 
Along with the maximum possible avoidance of the industrial conveyor principle, this 
measure is designed to help us become creators of a new material reality instead of being 
an employee-function, half-life shouting: "Free cashier!" however, they will make our 
society more independent of external economic factors and players. And, of course, we do 
not believe that anarchist transformations should be limited to the territory of the 
current Russian Federation or the post-Soviet space. We only follow the principle:

Anarchism seeks to ensure that the strangers yesterday, people find the reasons and the 
opportunity to stretch each other's hands. The anarchist social ideal is designed to help 
the individual to awaken from the grave hypnosis of the modern manipulative society, to 
find the meaning of life and harmony with his neighbors. Collective creation and 
responsibility together to make decisions should break through the insulation of concrete 
honeycombs, where we cravenly hope not to run into an elevator with our neighbors in the 
floor.

The jerk from modern life, creeping in front of us like a tape at the supermarket 
checkout, to free social co-creation, we call a social revolution.

We dare to assert that it is the anarchist project that offers an alternative capable of 
rescuing Russian society from the sorrowful twilight of today. This may sound improbable 
and pretentious - first of all, for the non-believers from among the anarchists 
themselves. However, the most important lesson that history teaches us is the knowledge 
that nothing is impossible. On the contrary, reality often surpasses even the most 
sophisticated imagination (although not always in a positive sense). So let's not be 
defeatists, comrades. And better we will stretch our strength and carry our fellow 
countrymen with us along the path of revolution. Road going by walking. Russian society to 
save the anarchists!

Phil Kuznetsov,
"Fighter Anarchist"

https://avtonom.org/freenews/rossiyskoe-obshchestvo-spasat-anarhistam

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

Message: 5






AWSM are encouraged by the fact that the movement [Extinction Rebellion] has managed to 
tap into the sense of alarm over climate change... but we feel that there is a 
conversation that needs to be had about some of their demands. ---- Extinction Rebellion 
was established in the United Kingdom in October 2018 as a movement that aims to use 
tactics of nonviolent direct action in order to avert the effects of climate change. Since 
its formation it has rapidly spread to at least 35 other countries, including New Zealand, 
who have recently carried a few headline-grabbing protests, with the promise of more to 
come. ---- Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement are encouraged by the fact that the 
movement has managed to tap into the sense of alarm over climate change, and mobilised 
many people not previously involved in protest, and we do not want to undermine the 
important work that they are doing, but we feel that there is a conversation that needs to 
be had about some of their demands.

While we support the means of using direct action tactics it is their ends that needs 
greater examination. Extinction Rebellion is essentially a reformist movement, whose 
earnest activists lack a real vision of what is needed if we are serious about halting the 
damage to our environment. Instead, they are pinning their hopes on merely making 
adjustments to the present system which is destroying our world.

We argue that this isn't enough, and the only way to effectively campaign to halt climate 
change is to impart a true picture of a capitalism whose insatiable hunger for profit is 
not only undermining the working and living conditions of hundreds of millions of working 
people but the basis of life itself. The future of our planet depends on building a 
livable environment and a movement powerful enough to displace capitalism.

Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa NZ are guilty of thinking that their demands can create an 
idyllic capitalism, managed by the state, that can end the destruction being caused to the 
Earth's environment They see their role as just needing to make enough noise to wake up 
political and business leaders. Theirs is a view which sees capitalism moving towards 
sustainability and zero growth. It is the idea that capitalism can be reformed to become a 
green system. In this model of capitalist society lifestyles change and infrastructure are 
reformed while technical green advances are applied. It supposes that all would be well if 
we all bought organic food, never took a holiday anywhere which would involve flying, and 
put on more clothes in winter rather than turn up the heating. Green capitalism presumes 
it will be enough to replace fossil fuels with renewables, whilst leaving the overall 
system intact.

We argue that such a scenario completely ignores the way capitalism operates, and must 
operate, and is therefore hopelessly utopian. The present capitalist system is driven by 
the struggle for profit. The present system's need for infinite growth and the finite 
resources of Earth stand in contradiction to each other. Successful operation of the 
system means growth or maximising profit, it means that nature as a resource will be 
exploited ruthlessly. The present destruction of the planet is rooted in the capitalist 
system of production and cannot be solved without a complete break with capitalism. Yet 
ending capitalism is something that Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa NZ does not appear to be 
prepared to countenance, they are only attacking the symptoms rather than the cause. They 
see their green capitalism as a type of capitalism worth fighting for.

We, rather, see the need to create a different form of social organisation before the 
present system destroys us all. The entire system of production based on wage labour and 
capital needs to be replaced with a system which produces for human needs. All the half 
measures of converting aspects of capitalism to limit the damage to the environment, while 
the fundamentals of capitalism remain in place, are just wishful thinking, and to pretend 
they could solve our problems is deception on a grand scale.

The fact is that before production can be carried out in ecologically-acceptable ways 
capitalism has to go. Production for profit and the uncontrollable drive to accumulate 
more and more capital mean that capitalism is by its very nature incapable of taking 
ecological considerations into account properly, and to be honest it is futile to try to 
make it do so.

A sustainable society that is capable of addressing climate change can only be achieved 
within a world where all the Earth's resources, natural and industrial, are under the 
common ownership of us all, as well as being under grassroots democratic control at a 
local and regional level. If we are going to organise production in an ecologically sound 
way we can either plead with the powers that be or we can take democratic control of 
production ourselves, and the reality is to truly control production we have to own and 
control the means of production. So, a society of common ownership and democratic control 
is the only framework within which the aims of Extinction Rebellion can be realised. In 
reality, to achieve their wish of halting climate collapse, those within Extinction 
Rebellion should be anarchists.

One of the demands of Extinction Rebellion is a call for participatory democracy, and yet 
they also talk of giving governments emergency war-time powers. It's not altogether clear 
what they mean by this. Does it mean, for example, seizing fossil fuel industries and 
shutting them down? Enforcing new low-carbon, low-travel, and low-meat shifts in 
consumption? Or imposing sanctions against companies or countries trafficking in fossil 
fuels? Will it see imprisonment for those whose protest when they feel their interests may 
be compromised by green government legislation?

In the past, warlike conditions and major disasters typically were seen to justify the 
temporary abolition of democratic liberties, but how long will they last for this fight, 
what will be the endpoint, or will the special war-time powers last indefinitely? Would 
such a suspension of democracy be easy to reverse anyway? These are big questions, and, 
for those of us that value the limited freedoms we have, they need to be addressed.

Giving more power to the state is also a case of putting all your eggs in one basket as 
there is no one simple response to fixing climate change. Climate change will bring many 
issues, those that we can have a go at predicting, but also many unforeseen. Increasing 
the powers of the state reduces its ability to be flexible and capable of learning from 
policy mistakes. The fight against climate change must be associated with greater local 
democracy. We need more democracy, strengthening local and regional capacities to respond 
to climate change. For those in Extinction Rebellion who think that there can be only one 
pathway to addressing climate change, the erosion of democracy might seem to be 
"convenient." History, however, tells us that suppression of democracy undermines the 
capacity of societies to solve problems.

Those campaigning with Extinction Rebellion are no doubt sincere and caring people who 
want something different for themselves and future generations. In their own lifestyles 
they probably have made genuine changes which are in line with a more ecologically 
sustainable way of living. So have we, but we are well aware that our individual lifestyle 
changes are not going to change the fundamental nature of the social system which is 
damaging the planet. Millions of us might give up using products which destroy the 
environment, but what effect do we really have in comparison with the minority who own and 
control the multinational corporations. Just 100 companies have been responsible for 71% 
of global emissions since 1988. They, and all businesses, have an interest in keeping 
their costs down, and profits up. If their profits come before the long-term interests of 
people, who can blame them for sacrificing our needs? They can act no other way.

We do not have faith that capitalists, or their parliamentary representatives, can act in 
time to limit climate change in a meaningful way, but when we make a call for revolution, 
the answer we mostly get is that the lesser evil of piecemeal reforms will take less time 
to achieve than our grand anarchist aims. However, we think it is an ill-advised attitude 
to take that small improvements are more worthy of support than realisable big ones. There 
is unlikely ever to be a government passing meaningful green legislation. Governments may 
pass a few minor reforms to appease green voters, the business owners themselves may 
realise that some of their brands may be harmed by a lack of environmental concern, and 
greenwash their product, but ultimately these acts will be a sticking plaster when what is 
required is major surgery.

If anyone concerned with Extinction Rebellion read this and grasps the impossibility of 
what they are asking for, then we would say it's time to keep the methods of direct action 
that you are advocating, but change the demands. If Extinction Rebellion ever wants their 
arguments to carry any force, then they need to campaign to abolish capitalism and create 
a system of grassroots democracy.

In the UK a Green Anti-Capitalist Front has been created to work alongside Extinction 
Rebellion but with a greater focus on the capitalist roots of climate catastrophe. We feel 
that such a coalition is needed here in Aotearoa / New Zealand. If anyone is interested in 
working with us to create such a group we can be contacted via our e-mail address.

Related Link: 
http://awsm.nz/2019/03/12/can-extinction-rebellion-aotearoa-nz-help-save-the-world/

https://www.anarkismo.net/article/31331

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