Anarchic update news all over the world - 28.03.2019

Today's Topics:

   
1.  awsm.nz: Kronstadt Anniversary (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  avtonom: "Yellow vests" 18 act - do not burn so drown
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #292 - Read: Helie, "The
      beginnings of industrial self-management in Algeria" (fr, it,
      pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  US, black rose fed: WOMEN IN THE REVOLUTION: THE FORGOTTEN
      HISTORY OF LAS SANDINISTAS By La Virgen (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Czech, afed: A3: teenagers Climate strike (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran: Interviews on the
      Anarchists in Iran over the past decades - Sirus Shamloo Part III
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  zabalaza.net: A Glimmer of Hope: The extraordinary story of
      a revolution within the Syrian civil war - SIFUNA ZONKE
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





This month is the anniversary of the 1921 uprising by revolutionary sailors, including 
anarchists, against the authoritarian regime of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. We acknowledge 
this important historical event and honour the actions of the sailors by re-posting this 
brief introductory account of the events.
https://youtu.be/Aw7V1ClrAc0

http://awsm.nz/2019/03/22/kronstadt-anniversary/

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Message: 2





More than 230 thousand people took to the streets in France on the 18th day of protest by 
the movement of opponents of neoliberal reforms - the "yellow vests." Commentators have 
noted a rise in the mood of outrage and radicalism among the protesters. In Paris, the 
demonstrators were targeted by luxury shops and restaurants in the city center - symbols 
of the arrogant and arrogant wealth of the ruling classes. ---- According to the British 
newspaper The Guardian, masked protesters raided institutions on the Champs Elysees and 
engaged in street fights with police using water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets 
(5,000 policemen and gendarmes were mobilized). Among those that were destroyed and set on 
fire, were Hugo Boss, Nespresso and the chic Le Fouquet restaurant, popular among French 
rich people and the political elite: Presidents Mitterrand and Sarkozy loved to visit or 
organize events. Demonstrators built burning barricades, attacked police and police cars. 
About 240 people arrested. In Paris, 15 metro stations closed in the morning.

On the eve of the 18th day of the protest, a farce ended with a "national debate" that 
President Macron organized to break the wave of protests. As one would expect, this 
advertised action did not lead to anything: the authorities are not going to abandon their 
anti-social policy. Macron reduced his weekend rest and immediately returned to Paris, 
speaking, as usual, with the usual threats already.

Chronicle of events, according to the newspaper "Figaro"
12.27: Protesters coming from all over France gather at the Saint-Lazare station and the 
North station and begin to move to the Place de l'Etoile area. Already by 10.45 at least 
20 people were arrested.

12.56: Tensions are growing in the vicinity of the Champs Elysées and its environs. Short 
collisions break out. A group of people trying to build a barricade on Osh Avenue. Already 
at 12.20 on the Champs Elysées, the police put water cannons in motion. The sounds of 
thrashing shop windows and explosions of grenades with gas are heard.

April 13: According to the police, 8 demonstrations are scheduled in Paris, 4 of which are 
dedicated to environmental issues, 1 - against police violence. The march of the "yellow 
vests" was not announced in advance.

13.13: Police used tear gas in the Place Thorn in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. 
Nearby, demonstrators in black are building a burning barricade.

13.23: Demonstrators in black are attacking gendarmerie vehicles on the Champs Elysees and 
forcing them to leave the area. The police are trying to fight off with water cannons. 
Scenes that have not been observed since December return to the capital. Etoile Square 
becomes a theater of street bouts.

13.36: Gendarmes protect the Arc de Triomphe, hiding behind barriers. They are showered 
with various objects.

13.42: The gendarmerie calls on the "yellow vests" to dissociate themselves from the 
"thugs." Radically-minded demonstrators in masks at the edges of the march clash with the 
police.

13.49: Thousands of protesters in Place de l'Etoile. "Everyone despises the police", 
"Macron, you are finished, the people are on the streets," protesters chant. "The vague 
demands, music," yellow vests ", going back and forth across the Champs Elysees with 
flags, a lot of ultra-left slogans" - show the journalists.

14.08: Climate change policy requirements are mingled with "yellow vests" slogans.

12.12: On the Champs Elysées the barricade burns. Anti-capitalist activists who are among 
the "yellow vests", chant: "Macron, x ..., we will find you!"

14.28: The protesters in black, covering their faces with hoods, beat the windows of banks 
and smash the terrace "Dragstore Publisses". Shops and boutiques "Hugo Boss", "Nespresso", 
"Lacoste" and "Eric Bompard" are attacked nearby.

14.51: Destroyed the famous restaurant "Le Fuke"

14.55: On the McMagon Avenue in the 17th district, demonstrators in black beat police cars.

12.15: Police special forces block the protesters from entering the PSG boutique and the 
Gomon cinema on the Champs Elysees.

15.56: "Extremely serious" situation in the lower part of the Champs Elysées. Many 
defeated establishments, set on fire a newsstand. Arson, building barricades. Young people 
from the "Black Bloc" attack shops and police special forces.

16.34: On Etoile Square, demonstrators in black and police stand face to face with each 
other. Clashes. Police use grenades and gas. The area is shrouded in smoke. A column of 
men in black are heading for the Arc de Triomphe.

07/17: At the beginning of Prospect Marceau, a battle is raging between a special forces 
unit with a water cannon and a barricade of protesters. To the Arc de Triomphe on the 
Etoile police armored personnel carriers. The demonstrators use paving stones and building 
materials to build barricades, barriers and wooden panels are used to protect against 
water cannons.

18.34: The battles on the Champs Elysées have been going on for 5 hours in a row.

18.54: Restaurant "Le Fuke" set on fire. Just a hundred meters from there, the Prime 
Minister meets with special forces.

7.20 pm: Protesters smashed the Jeff de Bruges chocolate shop on the Champs Elysées and 
distributed chocolate. Other stores, including the luxurious Longchun, partially set on 
fire, have been crushed. Crushed tea salon "Lyadure", set fire to a beer "Leon". The 
chairs piled in a pile are burning. "The police are completely broken (...) Champs Elysees 
are unrecognizable," the journalist concludes.

19.32: Motorcycles, construction equipment, magazine kiosks, bins, shops are ablaze on the 
Champs Elysees ... Firefighters have to work in many places at once.

03/20: La Fueca, defeated and burned, is guarded by police special forces. Around calm, 
but the damage is significant.

20.25: According to the police prefecture, at 6.30 pm 60 people were injured, including 42 
demonstrators, 17 policemen and 1 fireman.

21.05: There are data on the day of protest in the regions.

In Dijon, clashes broke out at the end of the demonstration. Reaching the destination, the 
demonstrators began to throw various objects at the police station; she started up the 
gas; 4 people arrested.

In Bordeaux, near the station, the branch "Societe Generale" was crushed; furniture and 
ATM are broken. Towards evening there were clashes with police who used gas and water 
cannons to disperse demonstrators on the embankments of Garonne; protesters fought back, 
throwing bottles. The demonstration ended at 18.00. In Toulouse, thousands of "yellow 
vests" began to march at 14.00. At about 4 pm, clashes began with special forces using 
tear gas. 7 people arrested. According to the "yellow jackets", a total of 174 actions 
were held with 230766 people participating.

A well-known social activist, co-chairman of the Teacher trade union, Andrey Demidov, 
spoke about the 18th round of opposition of the French state and the Yellow Vests movement 
on Saturday, March 16, 2019.

The 18th act, which took place on Saturday, was announced by the "yellow vests" as a large 
gathering, timed to the end of the "big debates" announced by Macron. The idea is to show 
the authorities and society that the debate ends, and the yellow vests remain. Indeed, 
after four months of mobilization, officials' stories that the movement is "demobilized" 
are perceived by many as an anecdote, in the spirit of the "last Chinese warning".

And not that the authorities would not prepare for this large LJ mobilization. 
Representatives of Parisian associations who were looking for housing for non-resident 
yellow vests were invited to the police station, warned that it means without extremism 
... The police in Paris were mobilized ... Suspicious buses and other vehicles stopped on 
the roads and looked on with passion ... It did not help.

In pursuit of spectacular gestures, Macron made a mistake that he still remembers. On the 
eve of the protest Saturday, I went with my wife to the Pyrenees to get some fresh air, to 
crush a snowball with my foot ... Like, everything is under control, you can relax. In 
vain. This Saturday, the air in the capital was certainly not as clean as in the 
mountains, but the events were so interesting that the president had to return early.

As many as eight protest actions were scheduled for Saturday. The scope is three. On the 
one hand, the climate march, the previous one was on December 8th. On the other - a march 
of solidarity, demanding an end to police violence. The organizers specially emphasized 
that it is not only about the wounded and dead yellow vests, but also about those towards 
whom violence is not perceived as a loud informational occasion. Migrants, residents of 
the suburbs, political activists ... The recent death of two teenagers as a result of a 
police chase in Grenoble and the ensuing riots attracted additional attention to this event.

In addition to these two agreed activities, a yellow waistcoat event was proposed, which 
was not agreed with the authorities. Perhaps that is why the police force just physically 
lacked. In addition, as they say, up to 30% of policemen simply take sick leave on this 
day, which is obviously a form of sabotage.

At 10 am, the columns of the protesters moved from several Parisian stations to the Champs 
Elysees. We walked in a convoy from the North Station. The mood was relatively peaceful, 
the police could not see. In the crowd, people said that many buses with people from the 
provinces were detained at checkpoints on the roads. 300 people drive from Lille. About 
120 people planned to go only from the district center in Lorraine, which shows the scale 
of mobilization.

At 12 o'clock about 10 thousand people gathered on the square. While in our part of the 
fields people were quietly standing or moving, in the area of the Arc de Triomphe there 
was some kind of rapid movement. It became clear that under the pressure of the police, 
people were beginning to slowly move back in our direction. Movement to the other side 
(towards the presidential palace) was also blocked by the police, so that it was possible 
to leave only to the side streets. But they were also blocked by a police cordon. The 
situation reminded me on May 6, 2012 on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, where law enforcement 
forces essentially locked the protesters in a confined space, preventing anyone from 
leaving and methodically beating them. It was thought that for Macron it would be tempting 
to do the same operation with LJ, then accusing them of provocation and extremism.

With a group of protesters who wanted to leave the densely gassed square, I walked over to 
the police cordon. We were not allowed to pass. Meanwhile, the shaft of the fighting was 
approaching in our direction. At first, stones flew at the policemen, almost touching us, 
then gas grenades launched over the heads of demonstrators began to bounce on the 
pavement. The air was filled with an unbearable acrid smell of gas. The women began to 
shout, the policemen fluttered and let out a few people, after which they again closed 
their shields. I think that such police behavior was one of the reasons for the bitterness 
of the protesters. At Bolotnaya Square, many demonstrators threw themselves at riot 
policemen out of desperation, unable to leave and not wanting to passively endure the 
beatings.

As a result, a large number of wounded and detained, burnt trade establishments and 
kiosks, cars. After the relatively peaceful demonstrations of the last weeks, such a heat 
of confrontation seems to have come as a surprise to the authorities.

Late in the evening, Macron posted on his Facebook page a statement in which he announced 
that the protesters were trying to destroy the republic, accused the peaceful 
demonstrators of being at the same time with the rioters and were jointly and severally 
responsible with them. He also announced some "tough measures" in order to prevent the 
repetition of Saturday events.

Meanwhile, the press savored the details of the pogroms and contrasted the "rioters in 
yellow vests" and the "peaceful" environmentalists. In particular, it was emphasized that 
in comparison with 6,000 LJ on the Champs Elysees, environmentalists gathered 7 times more 
- 45,000. In total, the police counted 14 thousand protesters throughout France, then 
adjusting their ratings to 32 thousand. The yellow vests themselves speak of more than 200 
thousand Protestants all over the country, and the police union "Policemen in Anger" 
agrees with them. Police, according to rumors, extremely negatively apprehended the photos 
of Macron spread on the Internet with his wife on vacation. The police have a feeling that 
the authorities have made them hostages of the situation, as many of them say on condition 
of anonymity. Most recently, a protest by police officers took place in Paris.

Of course, Macron and his government will try to squeeze the most out of the Saturday 
pogroms. First of all, an "anti-huge" law will be adopted in a striking manner, which 
would make it possible to impose financial responsibility for the damage during the 
demonstration on any detainee protestant, regardless of the measure of his personal 
participation in the pogrom. It is possible that not only those detained on Saturday (more 
than 200 people), but also those who called on the Internet to join the action, will be 
subject to criminal prosecution. However, are these measures sufficient to discredit and 
marginalize the movement in the eyes of its moderate participants and society as a whole? 
It appears that no.

First of all, because the fundamental problems that the movement has taken to the streets 
for 4 months now remain without solution. According to the latest sociological data, among 
the issues of concern to the French, social problems lead by a large margin: Increasing 
the purchasing power of the population, taxes and fees, pensions, social inequality, 
employment, increasing government spending. To say and even more so to do on these topics 
something substantial Macron is not able to. As he has already stated, increasing the tax 
burden on the rich is unacceptable, and it is no longer possible to transfer funds from 
the pockets of the poor to the pockets of the very poor. These opportunities have already 
been exhausted by the previous series of concessions in the form of keeping the fuel tax 
at the same level and refusing to raise fees from poor retirees.

State of the environment, and the theme of emigration, where you can make gestures that do 
not require serious investments in surveys at 6 and 8 places, respectively. You can't do a 
big rating on this. It remains to be time and hope for police water cannons and "go ... 
meta" of the press under control. The same polls, however, show that citizens have no 
special illusions about the main trump card of Macron - "big debates", and the more, the 
more skepticism. According to the Elabe sociological service, published just on the eve of 
Saturday, 70% of French people do not believe that the "big debate" will allow them to get 
out of the current political and social crisis, and 63% do not believe that the President 
will somehow take their results Attention. With these figures there is a direct 
correlation of 60% of the level of support for "yellow vests" in society, which is not 
reduced despite the best efforts of the authorities and the press. A dead end, from which 
the government does not offer a way out, except for endless debates (they say it is 
announced that the "grand debate" will be extended for another month) and cosmetic reforms.

Vests offer a way out - by force the authorities to accept their demands (above all those 
social ones) and, in the absence of a real non-violent alternative, the arguments of the 
pacifists look weaker both inside and outside the movement. As for the active of the 
movement, it is obvious that in 4 months, he is ready to accept any measure of politically 
justified violence. Including property damage to large campaigns and wealthy citizens and 
physical confrontation with the police. You can invent any police statistics, but here are 
the facts. At the moment, yellow vests are declared by 11% of adult French people. These 
are those who either go to the stock, or consider themselves internally ready to go out. 
It turns out no less than 5 million people.

The artificial contrasting of the "yellow vests" to the participants of climate actions 
looks artificial. If you look at the photos of the Saturday environmental rally, you can 
see that some of the participants are wearing yellow vests. These are either moderate 
vests, or, which is also quite likely, environmentalists who want to recall in this way 
that the solution of environmental problems is impossible without the solution of social 
problems. In any case, the possibilities for rapprochement of these two protest movements 
are great. So, instead of hoping for police shields and batons (as shown above are not so 
reliable), the authorities should start real populist (let's not be afraid of this word) 
reforms. But apparently, they didn't agree, and arrogance as the main characteristic of 
the current head of state has not been canceled. So the 18th act is definitely not the last.

https://avtonom.org/news/zheltye-zhilety-18-akt-ne-sgorit-tak-utonet

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Message: 3




 From 1963 to 1966, Damien Hélie (a young researcher who died in 1967) concretely observed 
the self-managing sector of the Algerian economy, which coexisted with a state sector and 
a more traditional private sector. ---- In the aftermath of Algerian independence, the 
study of Damien Hélie plunges us into the concrete problem of the reconstruction of a 
decolonized country. To begin with, he specifies some concepts such as " alienation " (the 
alienation ends from the moment when each worker becomes an actor of his work through 
decision-making) or " spontaneity " (ability to organize outside the workplace). frames). 
He also recalls that at this time, " socialism appears as a technique of economic renewal 
in the aftermath of colonization . " Centralization or self are seen less as 
socio-political projects as " technical To judge their effectiveness. In addition, he 
explains that the notion of solidarity does not have the same meaning in socialism and in 
traditional society. The latter bases its solidarity on the notion of extended family, 
whereas in socialism, kinship is not the basis of solidarity. Damien Hélie then makes a 
sociological description based on meetings and interviews, which illuminates the different 
visions of this industrial self-management by the actors of the time: it goes from 
unpolitical workers who see mainly the low wages, to the enthusiasm for building a new 
society. Reading these interviews may make the readership of 2019 reflect on several points.

Self-management as an obligation Socialism in its centralized form (nationalization), as 
it prevailed in Algeria in the second half of the 1960s, is known. Here, the testimonies 
make us discover another socialism, based on self-management, inspired by an 
anti-bureaucratic Marxism, but also made obligatory by a reality: the executives and the 
bosses were colonists who had, without transition, abandoned the factories in 1962 without 
having previously trained Algerian managers to replace them. This created a de facto space 
for worker intervention in management. Rich demographic graphics help to understand this 
mechanism.

The assembly is at the heart of the self-managed enterprises analyzed in the last part of 
the book. The concrete description of how they work allows us to understand how it is 
possible for the workers themselves to take over the work. But it also deconstructs " 
assemblyist " myths sometimes associated with revolutionary syndicalism or the Spanish 
experience of 1936. Thus, page 49, we attend an assembly which leads rather to a 
disorganization of the production.

The crucial place of the assembly
We must therefore see the assembly as a tool. Like every tool, it must be adapted to the 
situation. I can have a great hammer, if I want to cut a sheet of paper, it will remain 
very complicated. In some situations, the assembly is an effective democratic tool, but 
not automatically. This critical vision of Algerian self-management is far from the 
idealization of the French left in the aftermath of independence.

Damien Hélie considers that the FLN, which was the revolutionary party in Algeria, was 
interested in self-managed companies, but without developing a real orientation towards 
them. The speech on self-managed enterprises was therefore made in two voices. While the 
FLN hierarchy praised the end of man's exploitation of man somewhat abstractly, the 
workers were more critical, faced with low wages and daily hardships.

Yugoslav socialism, also based on a form of government-run self-management, played a role 
as a model, and in March 1963 a series of decrees by the Algerian state aimed at 
regulating self-government. In self-managed industries, the general assembly is 
decision-maker and makes the decisions on the company's strategy, as well as on the rules 
of procedure. It organizes the elections and checks the accounts every quarter. The 
assembly also elects an executive body and a president, not particularly 
anti-authoritarian, but who hold their legitimacy from the assembly. Because in parallel 
exists a director appointed, him, by the State.

The majority of the conflicts between the workers and the officials concerned the increase 
of wages, and the inequalities of wages. In particular, the higher remuneration for 
supervisory tasks has been contested. Hence a flight from the few executives to the 
traditional private sector, while their skills could be valuable.

Without adequate training, workers find it difficult to reclaim business management. Page 
123, Damien Hélie explicitly refers to the work of sociologist Robert Michels. As early as 
1914, in Les Partis politiques, he analyzed the iron law of the bureaucratization of 
workers' organizations. He saw the cause in the inability of the mass of adherents to 
direct the daily life of the organization because of the specializations that led to the 
emergence of experts soon occupying a prominent place. Damien Hélie stresses that while 
this analysis can be applied to self-managed Algerian companies, there is nevertheless a 
significant difference with political organizations. Indeed, we voluntarily adhere to 
them, while we work by necessity.

The book, very analytical, is nevertheless easily readable. It is especially a rare 
historical testimony on the question of Algerian self-management. In spite of his 
erudition, as his bibliography testifies, he is not burdened with kyrielles of references 
and presents a good number of useful reflections to the contemporary militants.

Anna Jaclard (AL Auvergne-Paris)

Damien Hélie, The Beginnings of Industrial Self-Management in Algeria , The Asymmetry, 
2018, 196 pages, 12 euros.

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Lire-Helie-Les-debuts-de-l-autogestion-industrielle-en-Algerie

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Message: 4





Memory can be tricky. As time passes bigger chunks are lost, stories have less details, 
and soon enough the story is buried. Historical memory mimics this on a larger scale with 
important events and figures becoming forgotten and buried within the history books - with 
all that's left being recycled quotes circulating around the internet. Within the US, 
little is known about the current situation in Nicaragua, it's cultural significance 
regarding Daniel Ortega, the rising number of political dissenters detained, or the 
tumultuous past that led to this point. Additionally, atrocities including femicide and 
rape are occurring in Nicaragua within a legacy of patriarchal oppression against women; 
including during the revolution within the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front).

¡Las Sandinistas! directed by Jenny Murray, highlights the intersecting lives of women who 
became active militants within the FSLN before the eventual dissolution of the Somoza 
dynasty and during the US backed Contra war after the Sandinista revolution. Among the 
many women interviewed are Lea Guido, Dora María Téllez, Mónica Baltodano, Claudia 
Gordillo, Sofía Montenegro, Margarita Montealegre, Gioconda Belli, and Daisy Zamora. Under 
the brutal dynasty of the US backed Somoza family, which began in 1936, who unsurprisingly 
enriched themselves while the country remained impoverished. Leading up to the revolution, 
the women became radicalized and participated in local actions, joined the guerrillas in 
the mountains, participated in ransoms, and played pivotal roles during the FSLN uprising. 
Dora María Téllez was only 22 when she led the victorious occupation of Leon, one of the 
major cities in Nicaragua. Each woman describes from their personal story a collective 
feeling of excitement, fear, bravery and admiration for each other. Their stories are 
conjoined with personal photos from the period and never before seen archival footage.

To find local show times follow ¡Las Sandinistas! on Twitter @las_sandinistas or Instagram 
@lassandinistasfilm. There is also a shorter, online version available. Art by Tanya H.F.
Yet, as victorious they were, the women after the revolution were still dismissed and 
disregarded as important figures in the movement. Whether it was Daisy Zamora being hit on 
or Dora Téllez being asked to turn down a powerful position within the newly formed FSLN 
government - patriarchal practices of the men in the revolution were for the most part 
ignored along with any broader analysis of women's issues. This isn't something specific 
to the FSLN, as the US Chicanx and Black Panther movements encountered similar dynamics of 
women's issues seen as either secondary or a separate issue to be dealt with at another time.

The film is not only a historical documentary of the Sandinista revolution but an 
incredibly important piece of feminist history that remains relevant today. How long have 
these women's stories been buried? First hand accounts by women participants illustrate 
how important woman were to the revolution and rebuilding society. Many of the women are 
still politically active to this day and some being recently detained by the Ortega regime 
(such as Sofía Montenegro and Mónica Baltodano who have since been released). The memory 
of these women and their role should not be obscured out of our collective memory by the 
patriarchal figures who have reaped the benefits of bearing their involvement in the FSLN. 
Especially this applies to current Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, who was accused of 
rape by his step-daughter Zoilamerica Narvaez and has faced major backlash after 
neo-liberal social security reforms sparked a months long protest movement beginning in 
April 2018. Since then, over 300 people have died and hundreds detained at the hands of 
the state in efforts to silence them from speaking out against Ortega and his blatant 
attacks on indigenous and working class Nicaraguans. Additionally, Ortega has faced 
criticism for his strict anti-abortion laws, even in cases which jeopardize the mother's 
life, and land seizures.

With the help of hashtags like #SOSNicaragua and constant communication via Twitter and 
other platforms, the crisis in Nicaragua is gaining attention from a worldwide audience. 
This is why ¡Las Sandinistas! is so important; it shows the legacy of fierce women, 
historical background into understanding current events as well as the necessity to 
incorporate feminism in national discourse.

La Virgen is a member of Black Rose/Rosa Negra in Los Angeles.

http://blackrosefed.org/forgotten-history-of-las-sandinistas/

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Message: 5





Many teenagers realize that the struggle to save the climate is also a struggle for their 
future. But they must defeat the economic power that benefits the future. Download, print 
and distribute the March issue of the A3 newspaper! ---- On Friday, March 15, a 
half-million million high school students came to the streets to join the student climate 
strike. The event was held at more than 2,000 locations in 125 countries. It is not the 
first protest of this kind, but the biggest global one. Middle-school girls and high 
school students have been organizing from the bottom up for some time, inspired by Swedish 
student Greta Thunberg, who started to protest in front of Parliament every Friday instead 
of schooling. Hence the name of the global teenage movement Fridays for Future. With her 
uncompromising attitude, Greta has been able to reach out to thousands of young people who 
grow up with the same concern as she does and do not understand the ignorance of the older 
generations who shake their heads in the sand before approaching climate collapse. As 
Greta said, "You say you love your children above everything

Students refer to a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year, 
which says that humanity has about twelve years left to radically reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions if it wants to avoid more than one and a half degrees of warming. While this 
limitation does not mean the end of climatic disasters in different parts of the world, it 
is hoped that there will be no complete climate collapse, which, due to droughts, floods, 
storms, fires, glacier melting, and the release of methane from formerly frozen areas or a 
sharp rise in ocean levels, will make a significant difference part of the planet 
uninhabitable.

About five thousand students flooded the center of Prague on the day of strikes, as well 
as demonstrating in about 14 other cities in the Czech Republic. High school students 
around the world realize that if nothing happens they are de facto without a future. They 
have only two options, either to radicalize and to fight for their future, or to adopt the 
hedonistic attitude of the previous generation, whose message is the motto "after us a 
flood". Time is running out, so they appeal to politicians to act. But they are hard to 
come by because the technocratic garniture in power cannot hear their arguments. The 
current political and economic elites live in the neoliberal ideology, characterized by, 
among other things, such nonsense as unrestricted economic growth (meaning their own 
profits) and the inviolable right of private property (ie possessing and exploiting parts 
of the Earth, animals and people alike, who have nothing but their workforce). Not only do 
they live and build their wealth (do they steal) at the expense of others, they do so at 
the expense of future generations. The fact that corporations earning from coal, oil, 
meat, military or automotive industries and maximizing their profits mean they are robbing 
the future of the future. It is no wonder, then, that today's teenagers come to a decision 
to start a family and bring offspring is something totally irresponsible and cruel.

It is great that the young have taken action and it is necessary that they persevere in 
their efforts and radicalize it. And at the same time, to keep it non-hierarchical, that 
is, resistant to representative corruption and compromise.

To politicians who suggest to young people that they are children who have nothing to talk 
about, students have already said that they have no choice but to act as adults when 
politicians behave like children. There is no need to fall into the traps of demonstrators 
- like the ones they want to study and once become climate experts. But what will climate 
experts be on a dead planet? Or the ones that don't scream in the streets, but rather go 
planting trees and garbage collection. What if corporations are mining large-scale forests 
and producing huge amounts of waste? The greatest hypocrisy is to blame them for hypocrisy 
that they do not live ecologically. But how to live responsibly in a world that is set to 
generate profit?

The shortsightedness of capitalism, evidently the predatory system, is glaring. But the 
ecological catastrophe cannot stop it because it is set to one - growth, growth, growth. 
And regardless of the side effects (externalities). While corporations recalculate 
profits, externalities fall on the shoulders of ordinary people. That was one of the 
reasons why the Yellow Vests movement was born and still very active. They already had 
enough to pay for something that a handful of the chosen mined. And know that this handful 
of elites will always take care of themselves. He won't live in suburbs of drowning cities 
or in a landscape that turns into a desert. He creates his paradises from the stolen 
future of others.

One of the frequent slogans of the strike was the popular motto of the climate justice 
movement: "Change the system, not the climate". If the system is still based on prey, 
whether in the name of private property, national interests or God's will, disaster is 
inevitable. And time is short.

A3 ( March 2019) download HERE . http://www.afed.cz/A3/A3-2019-03.pdf

https://www.afed.cz/text/6970/a3-klimaticka-stavka

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Message: 6





In your opinion, how much anarchism can lead to criticism in society with insults and 
destruction? ---- Combining "oratory ethics" with the knowledge of endurance against 
systems and the unrecognizable miracle of this is the same! Incidentally, the Anarchists, 
before any controversial discussion, are obliged to precisely define certain terms, and 
from this mansion's charge, the milimeters of this courthouse consider customary rulings, 
a building that intends forces in different directions to defensive positions Throw away 
---- What does insult mean? Is it not to offend anyone's beliefs? Is not it the insult to 
the tubes that the gangs have been poured into the treasures of the top giants next to the 
palace? We first have to understand what constitutes offense, and then, when we know the 
exact meaning of it, we find the motivators and see where this insult is made under Sabilli.

That I cross the freezer at four o'clock in the morning, and I do not see a woman who has 
frozen alongside her hand and her black hair lays on me. Is not this insult? And who is 
who is if it is? What is going to divide such insidious insults into perjury and unlawful 
insults, normal and abusive insults, legitimate and unlawful insults? , Insulting and 
insulting insult, insulting and insulting something is something like that, good and bad! 
What is your metric for distinguishing and insulting criticism? The commercial community 
is a public insult to the love and affection of humans, which, instead of insulting, 
guides to insulting exceptions and, as a result, the abolition of public punishment. Why 
are you not such an insult? Do not I have the right to understand the meaning of your 
question? Bertolt Brecht's courts in his drama for the first time criticized the roots and 
motivations of insulting and violating the finger. In the author's view, there is no 
external existence in the name of crime with the exact recognition of the motivators. Mass 
is not a separate phenomenon.

When poverty leads to theft, killing and corruption in society, poverty must be 
eradicated. The killing of the poor is merely to cover up the springs of evil that is a 
kind of judgment. Let's take a part in these writings. Where justice runs and balances, 
personal revenge grows. There is a market for arms sales and a coup d'etat. That is why 
Colonialism in the colonies insists on the intolerance and instability of these scales. 
These sections are the manoloque of the play of the exception and the rule of Bertolt 
Brecht's play of playwriting, whose works are a crime in monotheistic societies because 
they are insulting:

  Judge: It is clear to the court that the barber is not approaching his master by stone. 
But with a glass of water. What did you want to do with this thermos? Give the merchant 
water? Not believable.»

An overview of reality is enough to generalize crime. That is to say, every criticism of 
its power and its integrity is not believable, so it can be considered insult even if it 
is a romance poem! It is not logical if the weak does not aggravate. This is the principle 
of separation of the word insult. Because the weakness of violence is merely a reaction, 
and its impulses must be explained elsewhere. For example, the reaction of the prisoners 
to the below and educated in Auschwitz years later manifests itself in the violence of the 
Zionist state. Where power is in store, the insulted insurrections will be able to grow. 
Now, I ask, is there a distinct line between direct criticism and insults, when any 
protest is not realized, is it insulting? We are in anarchy where the anarchists want to 
give it a fair order. A hard thing to do, like climbing up the flood. With this question, 
I think we have not yet identified ourselves with ourselves.

Russian writer Zoshchenko once said: "I'm sad and I do not know why"

I say:

"Am I?" At the very least, I know why

https://asranarshism.com/1397/11/26/anarchism-169/

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Message: 7





For the past few years, most people would have come across news stories of how Kurdish 
fighters in Syria, especially women, have been crucial in battling the Islamic State of 
Iraq and Syria. Very few, however, would be aware that in the north and eastern parts of 
Syria these same Kurdish fighters are part of a revolution as progressive, profound and 
potentially as far-reaching as any in history. ---- In the north and eastern parts of 
Syria, an attempt to create an alternative system to hierarchical states, capitalism and 
patriarchy is underway and should it fully succeed it holds the potential to inspire the 
struggle for a better, more egalitarian Middle East, Africa, South Africa and indeed 
world. As in any revolution it has had its successes and shortcomings, but it is already 
an experiment worth reflecting on as it shows a far different world could be built to the 
extremely unequal and increasingly right-wing and authoritarian one that exists today.

A Glimmer of Hope: The extraordinary story of a revolution within the Syrian civil war
by Shawn Hattingh (ZACF)

For the past few years, most people would have come across news stories of how Kurdish 
fighters in Syria, especially women, have been crucial in battling the Islamic State of 
Iraq and Syria. Very few, however, would be aware that in the north and eastern parts of 
Syria these same Kurdish fighters are part of a revolution as progressive, profound and 
potentially as far-reaching as any in history.

In the north and eastern parts of Syria, an attempt to create an alternative system to 
hierarchical states, capitalism and patriarchy is underway and should it fully succeed it 
holds the potential to inspire the struggle for a better, more egalitarian Middle East, 
Africa, South Africa and indeed world. As in any revolution it has had its successes and 
shortcomings, but it is already an experiment worth reflecting on as it shows a far 
different world could be built to the extremely unequal and increasingly right-wing and 
authoritarian one that exists today.

The start of Rojava
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Syria, most of the country descended into a hellish 
nightmare as a vicious civil war erupted between the brutal Assad regime and equally 
reactionary groups claiming to be inspired by Islamic fundamentalism. Compounding this was 
the intervention of imperialist powers such as the US and Russia, and regional powers such 
as Turkey, Israel and Iran. One area where there was a difference was the mainly Kurdish 
enclave in the north of Syria known as Rojava. 1

There, on 19 July 2012, popular protests erupted against the Assad regime. Government 
buildings were occupied and taken over by the people. Many of the people involved in this 
had been building a popular movement for almost a decade that had the vision of 
implementing a radical concept - Democratic Confederalism.

The vision of Democratic Confederalism
Democratic Confederalism was first outlined by Abdullah Ocalan, who began his political 
life as an adherent of Stalinism and was the head of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PPK) that 
had been engaged in a guerrilla war for the national liberation of the Kurdish people in 
Turkey.

In 1999, Ocalan was captured in Kenya - in an incident involving intelligence agencies 
from Turkey, the US and Greece - and tried for treason by the Turkish state. He was 
initially sentenced to death, but that was commuted to a life sentence as, at that point, 
the Turkish state had aspirations of joining the EU.

Since then, he has been held on the prison island of Imrali, often as the only prisoner, 
and now in total isolation since April 2015 - indeed the right-wing Erdogan regime has 
even denied visitation by his family members and lawyers (presently hundreds of people 
across the world are on hunger strike demanding an end to his isolation).

In the early 2000s, Ocalan nonetheless began a process of reflecting on what went wrong 
with past revolutionary struggles, most notably the Russian Revolution and the communist 
party's rise to power as head of the Chinese state. During these revolutions, the energy 
of millions of people was released, a hope of a better future grew, only to flounder on 
the rise of the totalitarian states that emerged.

At the same time, Ocalan also began reading the works of libertarian socialist and social 
ecologist Murray Bookchin, as well as studying the experiences of the 
anarchist-syndicalist inspired Spanish Revolution of 1936 (which was one of the most 
radical revolutions in terms of worker democracy and control; although it too is not well 
known).

Ocalan came to the conclusion that the main reason past revolutions had failed is that 
they did not put an end to the structure of the state. Rather, communist parties entered 
the state and through that process, the leaders of these parties became rulers and a new 
elite within those societies.

In these states figures such as Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao and those loyal to them held 
real power; not the majority of people. Ocalan, therefore, argued that all states, whether 
claiming to be revolutionary or not, were hierarchical and subjugated, oppressed and 
exploited the majority of people.

He also argued states were inherently patriarchal and first arose in societies where a 
minority became an elite ruling class, but also importantly, in ones in which men began 
oppressing women and exploiting their labour. He concluded, due to their very structures - 
which centralised power - states could not escape or be altered to fundamentally shift 
away from their original purpose: Enabling an elite to hold power and rule over society.

Ocalan maintained that if a revolution was to be achieved, women's liberation would have 
to be a central component. He also reasoned that capitalism needed to be replaced, but so 
too did the state. To replace these he argued for a communal economy that was based on the 
socialisation of the means of production and production for need, not profit.

He also argued such an economy needed to be ecologically sustainable and democratic. To 
replace the state, he maintained federated assemblies and councils should be created and 
they should function on the basis of direct democracy.

This, he felt, would prevent the emergence of an elite as within direct democracy there 
could be no hierarchy as delegates were always subject to the will of assemblies at the 
base of society. Monopolisation could not take place in a socialised and democratic economy.

By the mid-2000s most people involved in the Kurdish national liberation struggle in 
Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran had come to adopt Democratic Confederalism. With this, they 
began to attempt to forge a new world in the shell of the old by building a mass movement 
of community-based councils and assemblies across southern Turkey, northeastern Syria, 
northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.

In this, direct democracy, feminism and participatory praxis replaced undemocratic notions 
of hierarchy and vanguardism as defining features of the Kurdish national liberation struggle.

Implementing Democratic Confederalism
Since 2012, when the Syrian state left the north and eastern parts of the country, people 
in this area known as Rojava - Kurds, Turks and Arabs - expanded these structures of 
direct democracy. As part of this, they set up thousands of communes - made up of 60 to 
100 households - right across Rojava to run the society from the grassroots on the basis 
of a radical democracy without a state.

People themselves, through participation in the communes, decide through direct democracy 
on policies, plans, and how to meet needs in their own communities. They democratically 
deal with issues such as crime at a local level and use restorative justice as opposed to 
punitive justice in order to constructively heal communities.

This includes dealing with issues such as gender-based violence. Due to having a history 
of being involved in a movement based on direct democratic organisations, people were 
already familiar with such politics and putting such a system fully into practice was not 
alien.

The communes, in fact, have full autonomy and are where true power resides. Through mass 
meetings, they are the sole decision-making bodies regarding the economy, services, 
development, education and defence in the areas they cover. No structure or institution 
has any right or ability to override decisions made by the communes.

The communes, while being autonomous, are federated into neighbourhood assemblies - in 
this, the communes send mandated and recallable delegates to neighbourhood assemblies to 
share their ideas, views and plans to ensure co-ordination from below. Recallable 
delegates from the neighbourhood assemblies are then sent to City Assemblies. These are 
all linked through delegates that are sent to a structure that covers the entire region, 
named the Syrian Democratic Council.

By 2016, a form of representative democracy had also been introduced in the Syrian 
Democratic Council. Other parties and formations - who were not mandated delegates from 
the communes and assemblies - also began to participate in the Syrian Democratic Council 
through an election.

This has proven to be a controversial issue. Some argue that the introduction of a form of 
representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council undermines the direct democracy 
envisioned in Democratic Confederalism. They contend it introduces practices similar to 
those of a state. Others argue that it was a necessary step to ensure unity of the people 
of Rojava in the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks and some form 
of international recognition.

Linked to this argument, its proponents contend that as a minority of parties and 
organisations had refused to participate in the communes and neighbourhood assemblies some 
form of representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council was necessary to also 
give such people a say. Those defending this move also point out that the communes remain 
the real holders of power and the Syrian Democratic Council cannot override their 
decisions nor impose any policy, practice or law on them.

Ultimately it does seem to be the case that the communes do hold real power, although 
introducing elements of representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council holds 
the real danger of introducing new hierarchies. An important development, though, is that 
women play a central role in this system of Democratic Confederalism. Each assembly or 
council - including the Syrian Democratic Council - have to ensure gender parity among 
delegates. To have a quorum in commune meetings at least 40% of the participants have to 
be women.

In the process of the revolution, real strides have been made to create a genuinely 
democratic form of people's power with women playing a central role. As the fighters from 
Rojava have rolled back ISIS, new areas have joined the system of self-governance based on 
Democratic Confederalism. Presently 4.6 million people live and participate in this 
system, now known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

On the economic front, there has been an attempt to replace capitalism with a communal 
economy. At the heart of this experiment are worker self-managed co-operatives that 
produce not for profits, but to meet peoples' needs. Besides being based on workers' 
democracy, these co-operatives are also accountable to everyone involved in the Democratic 
Federation of Northern Syria through being answerable to the federated communes.

Large industries, of which oil is the only real one, and ex-state-owned commercial farms 
have also been socialised - that is, ownership is by all. By some estimates, 70% of 
economic activity is conducted through co-operatives. Small-sized businesses still do 
exist, but these are required to be based on meeting peoples' needs and are reportedly 
accountable to the communes - to temper profit motives and price gouging.

Threats from many sides
Over the course of almost seven years, the people of the Democratic Federation of Northern 
Syria - mainly through democratic militia - have fought off the many dangers that have 
been posed to the revolution, which have included the forces of the Syrian state, ISIS and 
the Turkish state.

In the process a tactical military alliance was formed in 2015 with the US - it only arose 
because the Kurdish forces proved the most capable in combating ISIS. The US, as always, 
has only adhered to the tactical military alliance for its own purposes and has 
categorically refused to politically recognise the existence of the Democratic Federation 
of Northern Syria. It recently mooted that its troops would pull out of Syria in a move 
that will give the Turkish state a free hand to militarily intervene against the 
Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

In January 2019, the Turkish state in fact began to make plans for the invasion of 
northern Syria to end the revolution. The Turkish state fears the revolution will spread 
into Turkey itself and it does not want an experiment in direct democracy, feminism, 
ecology, anti-statism, and anti-capitalism to succeed.

Already in 2018, the Turkish state invaded part of Rojava, Afrin, and is now unleashing 
plans to invade the rest of north and eastern Syria. These plans have been condemned by 
the peoples of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. They have called for a genuine 
international peacekeeping force to be deployed to prevent the invasion. Indeed, if such 
an invasion occurs there will be a massive escalation of the war in Syria, which will at 
the very least lead to thousands more deaths and hundreds of thousands of new refugees. 1

Showing us the potential for a better way
Despite some weaknesses and the threats the revolution faces, it is a beacon of hope. For 
South Africans, the revolution in northern and eastern Syria holds real lessons and 
potential hope.

When the liberation movement in South Africa gained state power, it promised to use this 
to improve people's lives, end racism, address sexism and bring about equality. This has 
flatly failed to happen.

Ocalan's analysis that once in state power, former liberation movements become a new elite 
and new rulers that develop self-serving interests precisely due to their new power and 
privileged positions they occupy, has proven to be correct. It is exactly why we sit with 
corruption throughout the state in South Africa as officials abuse the hierarchical power 
they have to enrich themselves.

Democratic Confederalism, as is shown in Syria, offers another way to run society. Its 
direct democracy can temper corruption and create greater equality as power cannot be 
centralised in such a system and wealth cannot be accumulated individually.

Developments in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria also demonstrate how a 
non-racial society can be built through a radical democracy and that gender relations can 
be changed through a participatory revolutionary process. This is something that is 
desperately needed in South Africa where gender-based violence, sexism and racism are 
everyday occurrences.

In South Africa, we are saddled with one of the most corrupt private sectors in the world. 
Practices such as price gouging, collusion, transfer pricing and tax evasion/avoidance are 
prevalent in the private sector.

Working conditions, especially in the agricultural sector, are often harsh and even 
brutal. Pay is often low, which is one of the reasons we are one of the most unequal 
societies in the world. Unemployment, too, is rife and precarious work a growing phenomenon.

Past revolutions have shown, however, that nationalisation is often not the answer. 
Developments in Syria to create a socialised communal economy that is democratic shows 
another path could be followed.

In order to create a more democratic and egalitarian path (which Democratic Confederalism 
shows can be done), a new mass movement with a new vision, clear ethics, sound principles 
and truly democratic practices in South Africa is needed.

Without such a movement we will remain mired in a society defined by exploitation and 
corruption. To build such a movement will be no easy task, but it is what is needed: What 
the revolution in northern Syria shows is that it can be done.

******
First published here: 
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-03-05-a-glimmer-of-hope-the-extraordinary-story-of-a-revolution-within-the-syrian-civil-war/ 


https://zabalaza.net/2019/03/20/a-glimmer-of-hope-the-extraordinary-story-of-a-revolution-within-the-syrian-civil-war/#more-5861

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