Today's Topics:
1. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #292 - Territorial
struggle, Amassada: the time of occupation (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. deliverunion fau: Solidarity with the Riders in Leipzig (de)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. [Italy-Kurdistan] Father of the Italian internationalist
[anarchist] martyred: "I am proud of Lorenzo" By ANA [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Britain, brighton solfed: G4Lets: one group of tenants
reclaim £1000 stolen from their deposit, whilst another receives
a rent reduction for poor quality accommodation
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. alianca-anarquista: Solidarity with the comrades of RS (ca)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Poland, Workers Initiative: Projection and discussion around
the film Fist and Dynamite - 30/03/2019 Poznan [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
We are in a great period of predation of farmland. and in front of the organization of the
inhabitants and the inhabitants against big energy projects, the State puts in place a
strategy of intimidation and repression. ---- The Amassada [1], occupation of the site of
the mega-transformer project in Saint-Victor-et-Melvieu in Aveyron, is today facing a
state operation of intimidation and repression. The goal is to liquidate this ecological
struggle. Last episode in date: five occupants.es have just been the subject of custody
and prohibition of stay. ---- Let's start with a quick tour of the attackers' clan. There
is the sponsor RTE, a subsidiary of EDF, which intends to connect all renewable energy
facilities in the region built to export electricity. No energy benefits are expected for
the department or even in terms of jobs. For the project to be done, Macron dispatched in
late 2017 Catherine Sarlandie Robertie, a strategist at the military school of Saint Cyr,
the post of prefect of Aveyron. [2]His armed arm is the Millau gendarmerie and his freshly
deployed commander who operated at Center Parcs Roybon and Notre-Dame-des-Landes. He has
become a specialist in territorial struggles with the mission of " destroying " the
Amassada. [3]
Fight in the countryside.
These disreputable people multiply the twisted blows to impose the construction of their
toy. Starting with the declaration of public utility (DUP) validated by the prefecture in
June overriding the anger of the inhabitants.
Faced with opposition that does not disarm, the police pressure has begun to intensify in
recent weeks, including the establishment of a penalty to stay away from the land coveted
by RTE on pain of 2,000 euros fine by day on site. The gendarmes spend daily around the
site, and the occupants hide themselves so as not to be recognized. Threats,
intimidations, fines ... It's been weeks since the threat is more precise, facing a
campaign ready to mobilize.
The Amassada, occupation of the site of the mega-transformer project in
Saint-Victoret-Melvieu in Aveyron, is today facing a state operation of intimidation and
repression.
February 7, the announcement of the arrival of twenty cars of gendarmerie, we head on the
site. It is 9 o'clock in the morning. The mist covers all the causse, we are at 600 meters
altitude, it is 2 ° C and the drizzle falls ... We find comrades in the place, but we do
not see anything, no cops, no gear construction site. And for good reason: it was a
lightning operation, a raid. The cops came, quietly broke two barricades in the foggy
quiet, and caught five people sleeping there. The coffee is still warm on the table ...
In the wake we decide to besiege the gendarmerie of Saint-Affrique. It's been a habit
since Crassous [4], but friends are not here ! They and they were disseminated in custody
in gendarmeries in the four corners of Aveyron. The town hall ? there is no more
administrative service, the sub-prefecture ? In work ! In fact, what is almost a place
of representative democracy is empty. Nobody ... The state has been absent for profit, but
its armed arm is watching !
In the immediate future, the urgency was to rebuild defenses and reoccupy. It is the next
day that we learn that the five occupants will go before the judge of freedoms. Three
prohibitions of residence at Saint-Victor were pronounced and the two others are expelled
from Aveyron pending their trial on July 3rd. The reason for shipping them was " garbage
dump on public roads " (the barricades). The reason for the trial is the occupation of
property belonging to others.
We see here the whole strategy of the state seeking to intimidate and criminalize the
protest movement. The pressures put in place lead to responses that lead to putting
themselves in the position of being reprehensible. And the disproportionate action of the
cops puts on stage a show that aims to scare the inhabitants ...
Here, as in Bure, the State tries to use the challenge by tapping the wallet, making it
last, criminalizing. The machines will come only when the fight has capitulated, they are
too afraid of an " accident ". a cop murdering an opponent or seriously injuring him
would be bad for the consensual and concerted energy transition. But the fight will not
stop !
The current outlook.
RTE obtained all the official papers to build its transformer. The appetite of the
promoters sharpens. We are in a great period of predation of farmland. And what the
Amassada denounced for years is being put in place. All villages see wind turbine vendors,
photovoltaics to connect to the transformer and export renewable energy.
The big project that has been screaming for a few weeks is a photovoltaic park of 400
hectares in the south of Larzac. [5]Opponents of this project - for some of them - were in
favor of the processor. Let's bet they finally understand and that the fight will be
strengthened.
Another axis of attack: behind shimmering names that smell green, are hiding
multinationals who buy carbon credits to perpetuate their disgusting activities. We must
build a discourse directly against the energy transition that the rulers want, to build
the foundations of a radical and decentralized ecology. Unions are beginning to take up
this issue, as South Education has just voted to support the Amassada in its fight. Let's
continue to broaden the front and make the case against this predatory capitalism.
Nipple Reinette (AL Aveyron)
[1] " Industrial wind turbines, a-ZAD in Aveyron " , in Alternative libertaire of
September 2018
[2] " Who is Catherine Sarlandie-de la Robertie, new prefect of Aveyron " in Press
Center Aveyron .
[3] " The first steps of Antoine-Berna, new boss of the company of South-Aveyron " , in
Midi Libre .
[4] " Tintamare Gathering for Freedoms on February 3 in Saint-Affrique " on
alternativelibertaire.org (February 2018).
[5] " Threat on protected natural environments of Larzac heraultais " , on
Houille-ouille-ouille-5962.com .
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Amassada-le-temps-de-l-occupation
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Message: 2
Last week Deliverunion Leipzig went to numerous restaurants cooperating with Foodora to
ask them to show solidarity with the riders. All but two restaurants signed their
petitions! Solidarity with the Fighting Riders in Leipzig!
https://deliverunion.fau.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/Screenshot-2019-03-22-at-11.27.49.png
https://deliverunion.fau.org/2019/03/22/solidaritat-mit-den-riders-in-leipzig/
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Message: 3
Internationalist Lorenzo Orsetti (Tekoser Piling) fought with the YPG in Afrin and now
fought in Deir ez-Zor to release the last bastion of the DAESH. ---- The father of Lorenzo
Orsetti (Tekoser Piling), the Italian internationalist who lost his life in an ambush of
DAESH as he struggled to free Baghoz, the last jihadist bastion, told the national
television channel: "We are proud of Lorenzo of his choice. I wanted to help the Kurds. He
died for the cause he believed. " ---- Lorenzo 'Tekoser', 33, of Florence, had gone to
Rojava 18 months ago to join the YPG. Soon he moved to TIKKO. ---- He was fighting in
Baghoz when, as his father said, "he was ambushed by DAESH along with all his companions,
as his commander told me when he called us. We are devastated. But we are also proud of
our son because we know he died for what he believed. He had made an important decision. "
The messages of solidarity arrived from Monday morning, when the news of the death of
Lorenzo was confirmed for the first time. The president of the region of Tuscany, Enrico
Rossi and the vice-president of the municipality, Stefania Collesei, are among those who
offered their condolences to the family.
The Press Office of the People's Defense Forces (YPG) confirmed in its statement that
"Lorenzo Orsetti (Tekoser Piling) joined the Rojava defense forces from Italy in 2017. As
an internationalist revolutionary, he played an active part in the struggle for freedom
for a long time."
Tekoser Piling had fought with the YPG against Turkey's invasion of Afrin.
He also fought with great sacrifice and determination in the Storm campaign of Cizire to
expel DAESH from its final enclave in Deir ez-Zor.
Tekoser played an active role in the TKP / ML-TKKO international units during his time in
the region, "with a stance of principles and determination that embodies the universal
values of socialism," said the YPG statement.
Source:
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/father-of-martyred-italian-internationalist-proud-of-lorenzo-33713
Translation> Sol de Abril
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Message: 4
Since September 2018, we have been organising with two different groups of tenants - one
who had their deposit stolen by G4Lets, and one living in accommodation in a serious state
of disrepair. We're pleased to report that both of these situations concluded well, with
the first group of tenants receiving £1000 back from their stolen deposit, and the second
group receiving a rent reduction for the poor quality of their accommodation, and with the
works being carried out. Below is the story of these two disputes, particularly how they
relate to our previous disputes with G4Lets and the tactics we used in these two most
recent disputes. ---- From November 2017 until March 2018, Brighton Solidarity Federation
was in dispute with the student lettings agency G4Lets. We were organising with two
different groups of tenants - one who'd had £2000 withheld from their deposit, and one
who'd had £1000 withheld. Our four-month public campaign, which included pickets, phone
pickets, stalls at university campuses, articles published on our website about the
millionaire landlords they were protecting, and articles about the dispute in the local
student media, placed considerable pressure on G4Lets, who responded with acts of
intimidation and threats of police involvement. However, they did not pay up the £3000
stolen deposit money plus compensation that we were demanding. We analysed the likely
reasons for that
here[http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/brighton-solidarity-federation.... Chief
amongst them, we suspect, was their fear of setting a precedent. Over the course of our
campaign, we heard from countless other G4Lets tenants who'd had their deposits stolen -
caving to a public campaign would likely have set a precedent that G4Lets couldn't afford.
As a result of this, we've had to rethink our approach to agencies such as G4Lets. They
are a small agency, with one office in a residential area in Brighton with little
footfall, meaning that whilst they hated the pickets, it was difficult to damage them
economically in this way. Further, they advertise their properties through a website
called StuRents, which means that most students - who often take places on the strength of
the pictures alone, without going to a viewing, since they are arranging accommodation
from a distance - don't even realise that they are renting through G4Lets until they sign
the contract. This means that damaging their reputation can be difficult because, whilst
everyone knows they are scum, tenants often don't realise they are renting through them
until it's too late.
One of the positives of our campaign was how many other G4Lets tenants approached us
wanting to organise against them. In September 2018, for example, we were approached by a
group of tenants who were facing deductions of just under £1900 from their deposit. The
reasons for this were the classic nonsense that G4Lets come out with - that they needed to
repaint the walls; that they had to clean already clean houses; that they had to replace
items that it is not the tenants' duty to maintain, and so on. Deductions like this can be
really stressful - agencies lie to you about the status that you left the property in,
which is an unpleasant experience, and they take money from you at a point when you need
it to pay another deposit.
At the same time that this group of tenants approached us, we were also approached by a
tenant and his family who had just started renting a place through G4Lets. G4Lets had
rented this place out in a shocking condition: the cooker didn't work; furniture was
filthy; the room was not the size it was advertised as; sinks didn't work; the shower was
broken - the list was endless.
From our previous experience, we knew it was going to be difficult to damage G4Lets
enough via direct action to make them meet any demands in these situations. With that in
mind, what we did instead was organised with these tenants to go through the formal
channels to address these issues. Whilst not our usual approach, it was the only one
available to try and deal with the problems these tenants were having.
With the group of tenants who had £1900 taken from their deposit, we organised with them
to take their dispute through the disputes procedure of the deposit protection scheme.
G4Lets protect their deposits via the MyDeposits insurance scheme, which allows landlords
to retain the deposit (and thus earn interest on it) over the course of the tenancy. These
tenants put in a dispute with MyDeposits. We met up with them and together went through
the check-in and check-out reports, highlighting all the discrepancies with the deductions
G4Lets were trying to make (e.g. pointing out walls that they were claiming money to
repaint that were already listed as dirty in the check-in report). We also included some
legal information about the landlord's maintenance responsibilities, as G4Lets were trying
to pass these costs on to the tenants.
Happily, these tenants received back just over £1000 of the £1900 that G4Lets were trying
to deduct. Nearly all of the charges for maintenance that is the landlord's responsibility
(unblocking drains, replacing locks) were dropped. The cleaning fee was lowered, and the
painting fee was lowered considerably - from just over £1100 to just over £300. For us,
what this shows is that G4Lets try it on; they pile in as many deductions as possible,
refuse to lower them when challenged, and then hope that tenants won't pursue the issue
via the disputes procedure. For them and their landlords, deposit theft is a lucrative
business.
With the tenant who had just moved in to a property that was uninhabitable, we organised
to help him assert his basic rights as a tenant. This included that the house needed to be
habitable for human habitation (as per section 10 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985), as
well as the landlord's responsibility for plumbing and sanitation (section 11 of the same
Act). When G4Lets responded aggressively, such as by insisting that the tenant be in for
contractor visits arranged to suit them and not him, he asserted his right to refuse entry
and for visits to be arranged at a mutually agreeable time. G4Lets again responded
aggressively to this, with one of the directors turning up at the house unannounced to try
and intimidate the tenant. We again supported the tenant to assert his right to not be
harassed by the agency for demanding basic repairs, as well as opening up a formal
complaint with them.
Agencies are regulated by a body called the Property Ombudsman. Before a tenant can
complain to the Ombudsman, they have to complain to the agency. This was why we advised
the tenant to complain to G4Lets - so that he could then threaten to take his complaint to
the Ombudsman. Happily, this threat produced a good result. G4Lets apologised for turning
up at the house unannounced, as well as giving this tenant: a one month rent rebate, new
white goods, and undertaking necessary repairs. They have also given a written promise
that no cleaning deductions will be made at the end of the tenancy.
We think that, given how difficult G4Lets are to damage as an agency, and how much they
(often successfully) rely on intimidation and the vulnerabilities of student tenants to
keep their profits flowing, this is a good result. The deposit dispute tenants got over
half their money back, whilst the other tenant now has a habitable property and some
compensation.
There are limitations to this approach - MyDeposits takes a total of 3-4 months to reach a
decision in a deposit dispute, leaving tenants out of pocket at a really inconvenient time
and with no guarantee of any money being returned. Complaints to agencies also take time
to process (15 working days), and they will only make any concessions if they feel under
pressure. Had it been necessary to take this issue through the Ombudsman, this also would
have taken time. Further, these kinds of procedures privatise these problems, leaving
tenants dealing with them in an isolated way. However, in this situation, using these
procedures was the most likely way to get a result, and also helped these tenants feel
empowered. Whilst these procedures are designed to isolate tenants, there are ways to
combat this - meeting up to collectively work through paperwork to dispute deposit
deductions, for example, and sharing and explaining basic legal knowledge so that tenants
feel able to assert their rights and explain them to their friends.
With the deposit dispute in particular, what we've also learned about G4Lets is the extent
to which they rely on dragging the situation out and making it so stressful for tenants
that they give up on trying to get their money back. With a lot of work, it's possible for
tenants to get some of their money back through MyDeposits. A much quicker way for tenants
to get all of their deposit back would be to simply not pay their last month's rent. Based
on our experiences of G4Lets over the past year and a half, this is what we are
recommending that their tenants this year do: withhold their final month's rent to get
their deposit back.
We're not suggesting that they do this alone - we want to organise with any G4Lets tenant
who's interested in doing this. We explain why we think it's a good idea in the G4Lets
rent strike area of our website, which includes an FAQ that covers some common concerns.
If you're interested in finding out more, you should check out the FAQ. You can contact
also us at housing@brightonsolfed.org.uk.
G4Lets might have won the battle last year, but these two disputes show that tenants are
going to win the war.
http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/g4lets-one-group-of-tenants-reclaim-ps1000-stolen-from-their-deposit-whilst-another
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Message: 5
Yesterday, October 25, 2017, the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul carried out an
operation against anarchist organizations and militants, accusing them of several attacks
against forces of order and commerce. ---- Such an operation, which places the Gaucho
Anarchist Federation as the driving force behind the attacks, is once again aimed at
intimidating and weakening not only this organization, but all of them who fight from the
grassroots against exploitation and oppression. ---- The Anarchist Alliance stands in
solidarity and makes available to the FAG and other persecuted organizations and
militants. It is the duty of all organizations and revolutionary militants to cover our
comrades in solidarity with each other. ---- ALL SOLIDARITY TO THOSE WHO FIGHT!
LIVE THE REVOLUTIONARY ANARCHISM!
http://alianca-anarquista.org/solidariedade-aos-companheiros-do-rs/
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Message: 6
After the Congress of the Employee Initiative in Poznan on 30/03 at 20.30 we invite you to
a meeting with Dariusz Zalega and screenings of the film Fist and Dynamite. Projection and
meeting will take place at Rozbrac. There will also be an open bar with specialties and a
small book and propaganda stand. The film will be screened with English subtitles.
Welcome!
http://ozzip.pl/teksty/informacje/wielkopolskie/item/2464-projekcja-i-dyskusja-wokol-filmu-piesc-i-dynamit-30-03-2019-poznan
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