Today's Topics:
1. avtonom: Yellow Vests, Acts 22-23: No Mourning [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. alas barricadas: [NY]Interview with the anarchist collective
MACC (ca) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, black rose fed: L.A.'S CLASS STRUGGLE LOOKS LIKE THIS:
THE TENANTS MOVEMENT (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Britain, anarchist communist group ACG: Neither Labour nor
Tory Nor Lib Dem, UKIPs, Farage, TIG, Greens, etc...
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #293 - Interview, Fred
Sochard (cartoonist): " I try to be funny, but my work is also
very partisan " (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Greece, vogliamotutto: Update from Saturday's 20/4 course
against nationalism, fascism, war and peace of sovereigns
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
More than 100 thousand people took part in the 23rd "day of protest" of the movement of
"yellow vests" in France. Demonstrations were held in 115 locations. They marked the
"ultimatum" to Macron, whose popularity fell to a record low of 27%; 40% are unhappy with
it. This time, the "capital" of the protest was Paris, where the most serious street
clashes with the police took place in recent weeks. To fight the protesters, the
authorities gathered 60 thousand policemen and gendarmes. In Paris, 6 armored cars were
brought to the streets. The movement of buses, subways and suburban trains in the French
capital was disrupted; many sections of the metro and the station did not work, bridges
across the Seine were blocked.
Of the 4 declared manifestations in the capital, the authorities allowed only two. One of
them began around noon in the Bercy district, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris:
protesters came to the Ministry of Finance. The second march started at about 1 pm from
the church of Saint-Denis in the Paris suburb of Saint-Saint-Denis.
One of the protests in Paris was the recent fire in Notre Dame de Paris. People are
outraged by the fact that the government and capital with amazing speed allocated funds
for the repair of the monument, but ignore the needs of the poor and cut social spending.
"Notre Dame is not the only problem of France," say "yellow vests." Some of the slogans on
the banner read: "Millions of Notre Dame, and what for us, the poor?"; "Everything for
Notre Dame, nothing for the outcast" (playing up the name of the novels of Victor Hugo).
An hour after the start of the demonstration from Bercy, the first clashes between the
demonstrators and the police took place. Guards of a capitalist order used gas against a
small group of demonstrators who responded with arson garbage cans. Nevertheless, the
march along the banks of the river as a whole took place calmly, in a festive atmosphere,
until the demonstrators moved north - to Place de la Bastille and Place de la Republique.
It was there that street battles broke out this time. The police used stun grenades, tear
gas and water cannons, the demonstrators responded with a hail of stones, bottles and
other items, erected burning barricades, smashed shops, set fire to cars and motorcycles.
There were wounded. Eyewitnesses said that in the area of the Republic Square it was
almost impossible to breathe because of the gas and smoke of fires. The police even
attacked journalists.
All along the way from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la Republique, barricades
flared, fights with police were in full swing and shops and restaurants were destroyed. An
acute situation arose on Richard-Lenoir Boulevard, where demonstrations had to be delayed
due to clashes. On the Republic Square, the demonstrators shouted to the police: "Kill
yourself!" The authorities expressed outrage at such "slogans" - given the increase in the
number of suicides among police officers, who obviously could no longer withstand the
intensity of street battles. In the evening, many hours of collision moved to the
boulevard Jules Ferry and the street Faubre du Temple, where scooters, motorcycles and
garbage cans burned. The battles were simmering only a hundred meters from the children
playing in the park. The demonstrators began to leave the Republic Square only at 7 pm ...
In addition to Paris, violent clashes with the police occurred in several other cities. In
Toulouse, everything again ended in chaos in tear gas clouds; 2 journalists and 2
policemen were injured. The march in Toulouse began from the square of Jean Jaurès and
first passed quietly, but then, as usual, turned into clashes when the protesters entered
the city center, where they were not allowed into the Capitol Square again. The battles
were one of the most turbulent in recent months; firecrackers and various objects flew
into the police; people literally attacked the guards of the capitalist order. In Lyon,
police used tear gas against demonstrators at the Guillaume Bridge. Police in Paris
reported that during the day, she stopped to check 20,5 thousand people. In the capital,
were arrested 227 people, of whom 178 were arrested.
Well-known social activist, co-chairman of the Teacher trade union, Andrei Demidov about
the 23rd round of opposition to the French state and the Yellow Vests movement on Saturday
April 20, 2019.
The main intrigue of this Saturday was the expectation of whether the "vests" would reduce
their activity after the terrible Monday fire that seriously damaged the Notre Dame de
Paris. At the end of the day, it can be said that if the authorities had such hopes, they
did not materialize. According to the French Interior Ministry, 27,900 people took part in
the Saturday rallies of the "yellow vests", including 9,000 in Paris. Last Saturday,
according to the same official data, 31,100 activists went on protest rallies and marches.
In Paris, this time proclaimed "the capital of protest, not only Parisians, but also
thousands of waistcoats from other cities took to the streets.
During the riots on the actions of the "yellow vests", the police detained 249 people -
quoted by the media as the Minister of the Interior of France. Security measures were
taken unprecedented. According to the Interior Ministry, 60,000 police officers were
involved in policing. Thus, according to official reports, there were two policemen for
each demonstrator. Not content with such a numerical advantage, in Paris the police
brought out armored personnel carriers on the street, which blocked the approaches to the
square. Republic, where the police blocked the part of the protesters.
It was initially announced that of the four planned processions, two are authorized.
However, as stated by Priscilla Ludoski, the organizer of one of the coordinated
processions, on her Facebook, the police ignored the coordinated character of the
procession. "You show them the paper that we can walk here, and they are gassing you at
point-blank range," she writes on her page. "We have the right to self-defense?" - Asks
this activist, previously considered one of the leaders of the moderate wing of the movement.
The radicalization of moderate traffic participants is also noted in the police. "We see
that people without a criminal record, people moderate and integrated into society, come
to dismantle pavements and throw stones," - said in a statement the Paris police
prefecture. It is curious that according to public opinion polls 74% of the French trust
the police, but when asked about the use of force by the police against the "yellow
vests", 39% of the French believe that this was excessive.
The cops have their own problems. On Thursday evening, three police unions issued a call
for an emergency protest. The reason were two regular suicides of police in Montpellier
and in Paris. The trade unions believe that the cause of frequent suicides (since the
beginning of the year already 28 - 1 suicides on average every 4 days) was "dramatic days
and unbearable and unprecedented rhythm", bearing in mind, of course, endless gains in
connection with demonstrations.
Shares were held on Friday from 11.30 to 12.00 in front of police departments. The
participants demanded that the Minister of the Interior Castaner take "decisive steps" to
bring down the wave of tragic events. In response, Kastaner promised to establish a "hot
line" where other options would be offered to potential suicides. The "Police in Anger"
radical union has reacted strongly to this initiative, calling moderate trade unions and
the government "sparring partners."
It should be said that the authorities do not intend to limit themselves to repressive
measures. On Monday, Macron was to make prime-time "constructive" proposals that would
have knocked the ground out from under the protest. The performance clips were already
sent to all the leading channels, but an hour before the announced time, the Notre-Damme
de Paris set fire to the performances and had to change the theme of the message on the
fly. However, several newspapers have become aware of the content of the speech.
As follows from the publications of "Figaro" and "Liberation", Macron should have offered
to reduce the tax burden on the middle class, promise indexation to pensioners, allowance
for single mothers. Lost treasury money will have to be compensated for by eliminating
some tax loopholes, combating tax evasion and saving public funds. The details of these
measures are still covered in mystery, Le Figaro emphasizes. Libération clarifies that the
presidential message contains a phrase about "the need to work more". Does this mean
forcing the pension reform or the next reform of labor legislation is not indicated. With
regard to the requirement of restoring the "tax on wealth", then the president allegedly
asks citizens to allow him in early 2020 to sum up the first results of the abolition of
this tax. If it turns out
A response was also intended to the political part of the "yellow vests" demands. In the
TV version of his speech on Monday, Emmanuel Macron should have stated that he "supports"
the holding of referendums initiated by citizens (RIC), but only "on certain topics of
local interests". The head of state also proposes to simplify the rules of "national
referendums. Today, a tenth of the electoral corps (4.5 million citizens) and a fifth of
the members of parliament are needed to hold a referendum on the bill. "Yellow vests"
offer to establish a threshold of 700 thousand signatures, it is not known how much the
president is ready to lower the barrier.
After leaks of information about the content of the message, the Elysee Palace announced
that the content of the message will be modified, so that with what proposals the
president will come out in the foreseeable future is unknown. One thing is for sure, the
reduction of taxes on the poor without raising taxes on the rich will be perceived by the
majority as cheating, and Macron will not be able to get rid of the label of the
"president of the rich".
------------------------ Yellow Vests, Act 22 ------------------------------
22 action of "yellow vests": the protest capital in Toulouse and a demonstration for the
right to protest in Paris
The 22nd action of "yellow vests", which took place on Saturday, April 13, gathered 31
thousand participants, of which 5 thousand were in Paris. According to the Protestants
themselves, there were more than 80,000 participants, almost half of them in Toulouse,
where many "LJ" from the regions gathered this time. Earlier, in LJ groups on social
networks, Toulouse was declared the "capital of protest" for this week.
Before the beginning of the procession an artistic action took place. The girls in red
Phrygian caps and white shirts, depicting the symbol of France Marianne, to the music
staged a performance on a street adjacent to the traffic circle in the city center. After
that, representatives of various public organizations spoke from an improvised podium in
support of the movement and its slogans - reports TASS. Then, two columns moved to the
city center, which was previously closed by the prefect of the police for demonstrations.
During the actions clashes with the police occurred, there are wounded and many arrested.
In Paris on Saturday there were three gathering points, two columns of "yellow vests" came
out from different districts in the direction of the Republic Square, where a rally was
held in defense of the right to demonstrate. In a call to defend this right, more than 50
public organizations, including the largest trade union federation of the country, the CGT
and Amnesty International, united from the "anti-pogrom" law promoted by the authorities.
Here the number of victims and detainees was minimal.
In early April, the Constitutional Council declared some provisions of this law to be
inconsistent with the constitution - namely, an administrative ban on participation in
demonstrations, as well as criminalization of hiding people in protest actions. At the
same time, trade unions and human rights activists believe that this is not enough and the
law should be completely rejected, as it unduly restricts the right of citizens to
peaceful protest.
The topic that may soon provoke a wave of protests is the impending privatization of Paris
airports, including the largest one - to them. Charles de Gaulle, as well as hydroelectric
power. The reasons for the government are standard: the budget does not have enough money,
and private management is obviously more effective than the state.
Trade unions strongly oppose, pointing out that privatization will deprive the state of
income, and workers - social guarantees. Also on the website of the CGT, the results of a
survey of airport workers were made public, 98% of which are against privatization.
"Yellow vests" are also interested in this topic. Some associate themselves with the trade
unions, others talk about the loss of state control over the most important asset that is
supposed to be transferred to transnational corporations. In any case, protests against
privatization have already begun. Back in March, a large group of LJ entered the territory
of Charles de Gaulle Airport and campaigned for more than an hour among workers and
passengers against privatization plans.
Last Tuesday, the LJ group, including one of the informal leaders of the E. Drouet
movement, was invited to the Senate for a meeting with the chairman of the commission to
assess the feasibility of privatization. At the meeting, the vests were planning to make a
request to resolve the issue of privatization in a referendum.
However, on the eve of the meeting, the side of the Senate announced its cancellation, as
stated, "due to excessive media pressure". As the "yellow vests" themselves suspect, the
real reason was the discontent of the executive branch, which was extremely interested in
the speedy privatization.
As for the context of the Saturday events, they largely continue to be determined by the
end of the "big debates", after which the government announced big reforms. However, the
speech of Prime Minister Edward Philip last Monday did not satisfy many French. They were
told that the main objective of the debates, the government sees "tax relief". Surveys
showed that more than 70% of French people do not believe that this relief will really
affect ordinary people.
Against such a mistrust, the attempts of the "reformist" wing of yellow vests were
intensified to present the public with an alternative to the "fake" Macron debate.
"We hear from the government," the French said, "but in reality less than 2% of citizens
took part in the debates," one of the activists of the Open Democracy group told Le Monde
in an interview. This association promotes wide participation of citizens in the
discussion of various initiatives, which should then be put up for a referendum.
It is assumed that the deliberative Civil Assembly will consist of at least 100 people,
drawn by lot in accordance with quotas. It will have to work on finding solutions on three
topics: citizen-led referendum (RIC), environmental transition and tax justice. Its
members will be trained for "at least three weekends," before discussing proposals, which
can then be submitted to a referendum. The initiators appealed to the government with a
proposal to support the creation of such a body, but in any case we intend to draw the
draw already in August of this year in order to elect the first members of the Assembly.
Of course, the initiative looks too muddled for now and competes with other forms of
representation - the general assemblies of the LJ, inter-union assemblies, etc., but its
publication shows that the search for alternatives to the existing political system goes
in many directions, the common denominator remains the requirement to transfer real
sovereignty down - to the level of an ordinary citizen.
Yesterday, on Monday, Macron was announced on television with the announcement of some
important measures, but due to the fire of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, the
speech was postponed indefinitely. It is believed that Macron may announce the holding of
a referendum, timed to the elections to the European Parliament in May, in order to
intercept the demand for direct democracy from yellow vests. Next Saturday, April 20,
Paris will once again become the protest capital of France.
https://avtonom.org/news/zheltye-zhilety-akt-23-traura-ne-vyshlo
------------------------------
Message: 2
Following is an interview with MACC, the main anarchist collective in New York City. ----
THE BEGINNINGS ---- - Why, when and by whom was MACC formed? ---- MACC (Metropolitan
Anarchist Coordinating Council - Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council) was formed
in New York in the fall of 2016 during the presidential election cycle, anticipating
Trump's triumph and the rise of the extreme right and fascism. The goal was to create a
united front of anarchists in New York, and facilitate the growth of an anarchist and
anti-fascist movement. ---- - How was that initial phase of forming a new collective with
such a specific ideology? ---- Initially, there were conversations among a wide range of
anarchist tendencies, including individual, collectivist and communist positions. It was a
fairly scattered coalition of anarchists who had been active in the movement in New York.
This included the Anarchist Black Cross (Anarchist Black Cross), RAM (Movement of
Revolutionary Abolition), Food not Bombs (Food and not Bombs), and organizers who had been
part of Occupy Wall Street, as well as Black Lives Matter (The Black Lives They matter).
MACC was essentially a point of convergence for the movement. However, over time, many
work groups and projects began to be created from the monthly assemblies and
organizational meetings. As of this moment we were aware that MACC was less and less a
coalition, and increasingly an organization with a life of its own.
- How is MACC identified within the anarchist spectrum: more along the lines of
insurrectionalism, at the other extreme proposing more formal structures,
at an intermediate point ...?
MACC does not have a single anarchist ideological line. It is open to all those who
consider themselves the same anarchists.
ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGY
- What is the MACC structure and its different parts?
The structure consists of general assemblies and organizational meetings. Both happen once
a month. In addition, there is a constantly evolving network of working groups and
affinity groups that are responsible for the internal functions of MACC (finance, legal
affairs, media and press, etc.), as well as the external organization (alliances in
anti-fascist mobilizations, solidarity with immigrants, queer and feminist causes,
abolition of prisons, environment, etc.).
- How are decisions made?
The decisions are taken in the monthly organizational assemblies, which are open to all
those who have attended the general assembly at least once.
The scope of decisions includes finances, legal matters, coalitions, support for other
actions, media representation, etc. However, most
of MACC's daily work occurs in the various work groups.
- In what social movements is MACC active or has been active, and what alliances have been
part of?
MACC has been part of a large number of social movements: antifascist movements, for the
abolition of prisons, black lives,
queer and feminist liberation movement, environmental movements, etc.
- How does MACC interact and collaborate with other local, national and international
anarchist organizations?
MACC has been part of various national and international calls for action, especially
around resistance to fascism. We also started the No Platform coalition, whose objective
was to build a united left front with other socialist and communist groups in New York.
- Is MACC's strategy to create its own projects with the idea of growing as a collective
in the New York community, or rather to offer an anarchist center of convergence in NY but
encouraging the creation of alliances with other projects and so both taking a secondary role?
As I have already mentioned, in the beginning MACC focused mainly on creating a space of
convergence for the different anarchist groups in the city of New York. However, MACC has
grown and evolved in recent years to start to start their own projects and campaigns.
Increasingly, there is a consensus in the organization to have more cohesion and a shared
strategy.
LESSONS LEARNED AND FUTURE
- What has been the impact of MACC in the "political" arena of NY until now?
We have been quite successful in creating an inclusive and multidisciplinary anarchist
space in New York. In addition, our work on anti-fascism has changed the debate on hate
speech, and has fostered the strategy of denying platforms where to expose the extreme right.
- What are the main challenges, both internal and external, that MACC has faced so far,
and how have they been resolved?
Internally, MACC has faced the challenge of remaining open and inclusive, and at the same
time being an equitable, strategic and secure organization. It has also been difficult to
maintain consistency in meetings and actions. Externally, other groups in New York often
assume that we have a greater capacity than we actually have, with the consequent
expectations that result from this. We have also come into conflict with the institutional
left of New York, such as NGOs and political parties, which have different objectives and
visions.
- How does the Trump government affect New York and how has it conditioned MACC?
The political climate in the Trump era has become increasingly polarized. The extreme left
and the right have entered into conflicts both physical -such as in counter-demonstrations
and street fights-, as well as digital -platforms online-. The state and the capitalists
have generally supported the extreme right, and sometimes openly fascist groups. In
addition, there is a growing and increasingly consolidated form of structural fascism,
with the increase in the federal government's budget for the DHS (Department of Homeland
Security) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). These funds are allocated to
private entities that take charge of prisons and other financial institutions.
The municipal government in New York is now led by the Working Families Party , which is
essentially the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. They claim to be representing
the interests of the poor, of the workers, like people of color, immigrants, women and
queer people. They say they oppose Trump and claim to be part of the resistance. However,
they do very little to help these groups, and the reality is that they are part of the
same structures. The NYPD (New York Police Department) collaborates with fascist groups.
The municipal government collaborates with DHS, and ICE. New York is not the progressive
bubble it claims to be. The NYPD is an occupation force with tens of thousands of police
and anti-terrorist units.
The so-called progressives in city council chairs have voted again and again for more
funds for the police and anti-terrorist units. DHS has classified antifascists as domestic
terrorists, so we are under threat of direct repression, even at the local level, by the
city. None of this, however, has prevented MACC from operating openly.
https://macc.nyc
http://alasbarricadas.org/noticias/node/41570
------------------------------
Message: 3
We reprint this piece from our comrades at Salvo Newspaper highlighting the powerful
fights against displacement that tenants are waging in Los Angeles, fighting for their
homes and building popular power. ---- It's well know that L.A.'s housing market is one of
the most absurdly expensive in the country - rivaled only by the S.F. Bay Area, New York
City, and Miami. In every one of these metropoles, working class renters are being push
to, and beyond, their limits. Left with no other choice, many have already been forced to
uproot their lives, often having to relocate dozens or hundred of miles away from their
jobs, communities, and histories. ---- The federal government's housing authority, the
department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), considers anyone paying 30% or more of
their income toward rent to be "cost burdened." In Los Angeles, 57% of renters fall into
that category, a number that is quickly rising.
To many Angelenos navigating the rental market, only having to pay 30% of their paycheck
toward rent would likely feel like a godsend. According to a recent analysis of U.S.
Census data published by Zillow, the reality is that working class L.A. renters are
spending what amounts to 121% of their income on shelter. Of course, you can't spend more
than 100% of your income on something - the statistic simply translates to a vast number
of renters being forced to rely on government subsidies.
Looking at the numbers, one should quickly come to the realization that this situation is
untenable - something has to give. For L.A. residents, it's most often been the
overwhelming burden of cost that has given way to homelessness. Reports published by the
L.A. Homeless Services Authority detail that the homeless population in the county has
risen more than 37% since 2010.
As if things weren't dire enough, rents continue to rise in the city. According to
RentCafe, the average cost of an apartment inside of the city (as of Feb. 2019) is $2,371.
This amounts to a 7% increase over last year. While the increase may be slightly skewed by
new luxury units, things come into sharp relief when we realize that units in the
$700-$1,000 range make up only 1% of ALL available apartments across the city.
The squeeze that we're feeling isn't going to let up any time soon. International real
estate capital is pouring into the city and shows no signs of abating. Billionaires from
around the world are sinking their money into development projects at rates of more than
$1.5 trillion dollars per year, hoping to generate unprecedented returns, and displacing
working people in the process.
It's these conditions that are backing L.A.'s working class renters into a corner, forcing
them to make a choice: pack up and leave, or, organize and fight. Increasingly, it seems
tenants are choosing the latter.
***
With the winter sun setting behind them, around 25 organizers, tenants, and supporters
walked up the narrow staircase leading to apartment #12 of the Waverly Complex. This
Silverlake apartment belonged to the Peffer family; Melinda, Michael, and their young
daughter, and had been their home for more than 17 years. Now it was being transformed
into a battleground.
The Waverly apartment complex.
In March of 2018, the Waverly had been purchased by a pair of LLC's controlled by two
ultra rich real estate investors based in Beverly Hills. Unbeknownst to the Waverly's
tenants, the new principal owner of their complex, Steven Taylor (Ness Properties / Taylor
Equities), had a fast growing reputation as one of L.A.'s most notorious vulture
landlords. In the years prior, Taylor had purchased, evicted, and flipped dozens of
properties in and around the city. Now, his sights were set on doing the same to all 36
units at the Waverly.
Rather than going through the complicated, time consuming, and expensive procedure of
trying to formally mass evict the Waverly's tenants, Taylor began the process of flipping
the property while it was still fully occupied. Some thought that the complex was finally
receiving a facelift, a turn of events that they welcomed. Their excitement soon gave way
to annoyance, and then horror, as construction crews streamed in and out of the building
at all hours - cutting tiles at 6 in the morning, installing drywall at midnight, etc.
Longtime tenant of the Waverly, Donna Barstow, wrote in a post chronicling these events
that the complex felt "like a warzone". And while trash and materials littered the parking
lot, the worst was still yet to come.
It was only a few months after construction began that tenants began to receive the first
notices detailing increases to their rent - which, up to that point, had remained
relatively stable over the years. Some were notified of small increases at first, but were
warned that ultimately, increases would amount to anywhere between 40% to 80% of their
current rates.
This is of course an untenable cost of living increase for most people. It was
unsurprising then, that tenants slowly began to vacate their units. Some were offered
incentive buyouts to leave, while others were simply forced out by the incredibly
disruptive combination of constant construction and abrupt spikes in cost.
Tenants like the Peffers, however, were unwilling to uproot their lives on the whim of a
millionaire like Steven Taylor. The Peffers and several other resolved to fight.
They set about talking to their equally furious neighbors, conversations which evolved
into the establishment of a tenants' association at the complex. Soon after, the tenants
allied with the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU) - an organization founded and run by
tenants hellbent on improving conditions, fighting rent increases, and identifying the
city's worst landlords.
After combining forces, the Waverly tenants and LATU set down plans for an escalating
campaign of pressure against Taylor and his co-investor Vicky Mense. The first action of
the campaign included tenants and their supporters picketing Mense's Beverly Hills fine
dining eatery, Xi'an. Mense and Taylor must not have been used to tenants resisting the
abuse that they were so adept at handing down, because just as soon as the pickets
started, Taylor issued a statement that Mense had relinquished her stake in the property.
While this initial victory was heartening, Taylor was preparing his retaliation. No fault
eviction paperwork was soon filed against nearly all of the remaining tenant organizers.
Taylor now had the power of the state on his side, with all of the attendant threats of
violence that such an alliance entails.
The Peffers, not willing to cede, declared that they would occupy their apartment in
defiance of the eviction order. They then openly called on supporters and fellow tenants
to join the occupation.
On January 28, as the sun began to set, 25 or so tenants and supporters climbed the stairs
to apartment #12. Everything had been cleared out, from the inside of the fridge, to the
heaviest pieces of furniture. A plan was devised, people wrote their names down on a large
sheet of paper; deciding who would take which shifts to ensure that the apartment had
individuals inside of it at all times.
Then began a waiting game. Many were ready to delay the sheriff from behind the locked
door of the unit, and others were prepared to be carried off in handcuffs.
Over the next couple of days, three-to-four people were in the apartment continuously.
These occupiers shared food and drink, had impromptu dance parties, talked about other
organizing campaigns in the city, and generally took joy in the company of their fellow
tenant partisans.
On the morning of January 31st, a call came down that the sheriff would be arriving before
10 a.m. Supporters were quickly called to the scene, and despite it being a weekday,
around 8 people were on site within an hour. A large banner reading "Tenant power lies in
organization, build a militant tenants' movement!" was unfurled from the second floor of
the building.
The sheriff arrived shortly after he had been anticipated. Three people remained inside of
the apartment and, for as long as they could, stalled the impending enforcement of the
eviction. In the end, the remaining occupiers exited the unit of their own volition and no
arrests were made.
***
Just a few miles away from the Waverly, in L.A.'s Chinatown, a similar struggle was
beginning to boil to the surface.
The Hillside Villa apartment complex houses 124 units, and is only about a stone's throw
away from the 101/110 freeway interchange. Built in 1990, the project received $5 million
dollars in interest free loans from the (now non-existent) Community Redevelopment Agency,
in order to secure the building as a site for ‘affordable housing'. These loans, other
than being a massive glut of free capital for the building's private developer, were
successful at keeping leases relatively attainable for the predominantly immigrant and
working class renters who would come to move into the complex.
Leslie Hernandez (second from Left) and other Hillside Villa tenants.
For nearly 30 years, Hillside Villa provided some of L.A.'s lowest paid workers a place to
live, to create community, and to raise their kids. Leslie Hernandez, a current tenant of
Hillside Villa, is one such example. "I've lived here for 28 years" she said, "since I was
a child".
In late 2018, however, the ravages of the housing market would come crashing down on what
many Hillside tenants had considered their sanctuary in one of Los Angeles' most rapidly
shifting neighborhoods.
In November of 2018, the first sign that things were about to change arrived in tenants'
mailboxes. While shrouded in confusing legal jargon, the notices spelled out that the
‘Low-Income Housing Tax Credit' (the federal program that L.A.'s Community Redevelopment
Agency used to appropriate money for affordable housing projects) had run dry for Hillside
Villa.
Some renters paid the initial notices little mind, as they were used to receiving
confusing letters from the building's management. To make matters worse, these first
notices arrived only in english, making them nearly inscrutable for Hillside's high
proportion of spanish and cantonese speaking residents.
A more stark reality set in when a second notice arrived, detailing just what the owner of
the building intended to do.
With the housing subsidy drawing to a close, Thomas Botz, the building's landlord, moved
immediately to elevate all rents at the complex to market rate. For most longtime
residents of the building, this meant that their rents would jump from a relatively
affordable $840, all the way up to $2,450 - an astonishingly heartless 191% spike.
Rene Alexander, of the Hillside Villa Tenants Association.
The notices elicited a flurry of emotions from the tenants; most said that they were sad,
frightened, or panicked upon reading how much they were expected to pay. Unwilling to give
in to dread though, many sought out fellow resident Rene Alexander, who had previously
challenged the building's management in court and won. "Other tenants would come knocking
on my door, or I would see them in the laundry room and they just broke down and started
crying", said Alexander, "when they asked me what to do, I said ‘first of all, we need to
do this together, instead of just individually'".
To fight back, Alexander argued, the entirety of the complex had to join in a collective
struggle against their landlord. Their first move was to form a tenants association,
wherein the residents could speak to one another, clarify what their goals were, and
develop a strategy.
As the tenants' association developed internally, it began to attract the attention of
groups like the L.A. Tenants Union, and Chinatown Community for Equitable Development
(CCED). These organizations soon reached out and were able to provide resources and
material to the residents of Hillside.
Not least among these resources were devices and interpreters to provide real-time,
three-way translation for the mass meetings that the association was beginning to hold.
This meant that if a cantonese speaker wished to address their fellow residents, spanish
and english speakers wouldn't be left out.
In late March of 2019, the tenants held their first mass meeting in the courtyard of
Hillside Villa - having previously met offsite to avoid detection and monitoring from
building management. This meeting was the last in a series that had been conducted in
preparation for the organization's first public action: a march through Chinatown to
demand that Thomas Botz come to the negotiating table.
A number of tenants spoke to the gathered crowd of about 50, not only detailing the
injustice of the rent increases, but of the state of disrepair that much of the building
had fallen into. "We've dealt with rats and roaches, broken gates, leaking ceilings, and
worse!" one tenant shouted into a megaphone, "and now they want to charge us more? That's
why we are fighting!"
After discussing their plans for the march and selecting volunteers to fill various roles
on the day of, Rene Alexander led the tenants in a chant to bring the meeting to a close:
"Hillside Villa is our place, we will not be displaced!" bellowed up from the collective
voice of those gathered, echoing off of the courtyard walls and into the night sky.
Two days later, the tenants gathered once again, though this time they were accompanied by
dozens of their supporters. As more than 150 people streamed into the building, tenants
stood and addressed the crowd to rally them before marching.
One highlighted that the indignities they've suffered have also fallen on their children,
referencing a recent policy introduced by building management that barred children from
running in the courtyard. This measure represented an especially cruel irony, given that
the buildings' owners had recently ripped out the only piece of play equipment available
to kids on the property, leaving only a concrete slab and bits of twisted rebar in its place.
Tenant partisans from the Cinco Puntos apartments, where a similar struggle is ongoing,
arrived and voiced their solidarity with the Hillside Villa tenants, vowing to fight
together and win.
As the crowd's energy peaked, a banner reading "Build tenant power!" was unfolded,
signalling to those gathered that the march was beginning. Bypassers on the sidewalk in
front of the building were likely caught off guard by the absolute deluge of bodies that
began pouring out of the front doors of the complex.
For the next two hours, the march snaked around Chinatown, chanting "Vulture landlords,
get a real job!" and "Chinatown escucha, estamos en la lucha!". Fliers detailing the fight
were handed out to those on the streets, and the march stopped in key locations to
highlight where multi-millionaire and billionaire investors had been buying up property.
As the march returned to Hillside Villa, the air was filled with what felt like a mixture
of joy and militant determination. Tenants vowed to continue and escalate the fight until
their landlord agreed to meet them in good faith negotiations.
***
Class struggle isn't a phrase that you'll often hear outside of insular leftist groups, or
when it's not being haphazardly bandied about as a fear mongering buzzword by right wing
pundits.
Our contention is that one doesn't necessarily need a terminology to describe what's
clearly in front of their nose. As working people, we of course know that the most wealthy
sections of our society are continuously amassing an untold amount of riches, resources,
and power, all on our backs and through our labor.
In this way, our interests, and the interests of our bosses and landlords, fundamentally
conflict.
We want to control our own destinies, to be able to do more than simply scrape by on the
work that we do, and to live in dignified, comfortable, and safe housing. Those who we
work for, or rent from, however, are only interested in extracting as much as they can
from us. On the job this might look like having to work longer hours, at a faster pace,
for the same pay. In our homes this may look like a greedy landlord jacking up rental
prices when he or she sees fit.
In both cases, you'd probably disagree with the choices that they've made for you.
If you wanted a simple definition of class struggle, there it is. If you want an example
of where actual, lived, class conflict is playing out in Los Angeles, look no further than
the L.A.'s housing crisis. Wealthy investors are, as we've illustrated above, actively
pushing the most vulnerable sections of the working class out of the city or onto the
streets, all in service of extracting more rent from whoever has the means to take their
place.
Research done by L.A. Tenants Union organizer Jacob Woocher, has helped to make clear the
geographic component of housing and class conflict in Los Angeles. According to an October
2018 article penned by Woocher, published on knock-la.com, many of the wealthiest
landlords participating in the wholesale eviction and flipping of L.A.'s working class
neighborhoods, make their own homes in places like Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Buena
Park, and Palo Alto.
If we're going to take class struggle seriously; if we're going to take the blatant
attacks on our ability to continue to live in this city seriously, it's incumbent on us to
get organized and leverage our own power.
Groups like the L.A. Tenants Union (LATU) are prime examples of where to start. LATU in
particular was founded and continues to be run by and for tenants themselves. The
organization has local sections across nearly the entire city, and meetings are free to
attend.
The rising tide of the tenants movement in L.A. has so far seen some of the most militant,
aggressive, and successful organizing campaigns around housing in the whole of the United
States. Tenants of Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights launched, and subsequently won, a
nearly year long rent strike to prevent increases. Tenants at the three building
Burlington complex in Westlake Village, last year organized the largest rent strike in the
history of Los Angeles - more than 80 families participated...and won.
If we want to make leeches like bosses and landlords go extinct, so that we can start to
control our own lives, our own affairs - we have to begin by building our power as a
class. Organizations like LATU, as well as the numerous independent tenants associations
around the city, help us to do just this, in three three distinct ways. First, they help
us to identify and strategize around our shared problems. Next, they help us to conceive
of ourselves as a cohesive grouping with shared interests - a class. Finally, once both of
the prior pieces are in place, these organizations help us to concentrate and exert our
class power, in order to achieve our goals.
In building these institutions of class power, where we live, work, and go to school, we
can one day gain full and democratic control of them - to do with them whatever we see fit.
This article was originally published by Salvo, a working class newspaper for greater Los
Angeles. Consider a contribution to support their work.
http://blackrosefed.org/los-angeles-class-struggle-tenants
------------------------------
Message: 4
In many towns and cities local elections are happening soon, and in spite of the whole
Brexit shenanigans, the political parties are now gearing up for European elections.
Meanwhile, the possibility of a general election is also looking increasingly on the
cards. ---- We are told that we live in a free society, and that this freedom is the
result of us casting a vote. In our society it is treated as a truism that because we
choose our masters we are free. ---- But we don't live in a free society, and we don't
make a free choice whilst in the polling booth. The system of education, the media, and
the corrupting power of money mean that governments end up serving the interests of the
ruling elite. But even if these problems could be resolved, elections cannot solve the
problems our society faces. The state cannot be democratised and the electoral process is
the process of excluding people and ideas.
We call on the working class to reject faith in political parties and elections. The state
cannot be reformed. The ongoing failure of elections and politicians to change our lives
is not the result of the personal flaws of politicians, or a flaw in our constitution, or
just bad luck. Our political system is not failing to live up to its potential, it is
doing exactly what it is meant to do, serve the interests of the powerful. The state is a
medieval relic and has all the violent institutions and sites of unaccountable power that
you would expect of that age.
The Anarchist Communist Group understands that many people currently vote in the hope that
their vote will mitigate some of the worst excesses of capitalism and help the most
vulnerable. This impulse is born from the principle of solidarity and as such is welcomed.
However we would remind workers that the economic and social security of their class is a
product of their willingness to organise and fight, not the exact makeup of the council
chamber or parliament.
We are in all probability heading towards a general election, a period of time where we
are told we have to vote or we are failing a citizens. Anarchist Communists have a
different view. We want to end the tyranny of capitalism and the oppression of government.
In such a revolutionary situation it's vital that people don't re-establish a new
government, whether it's legitimatised through the ballot box or through a revolutionary
party.
That's why the Anarchist Communist Group is using the coming election period as a platform
to call for all of the working class to abandon faith in elections, political parties and
all the paraphernalia of the state. Instead go out into your communities and organise to
resist capitalism and the state.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2019/04/23/neither-labour-nor-tory-2/
------------------------------
Message: 5
On social networks or on manifestos, Fred Sochard's drawings become unavoidable. From the
railway strike to the yellow vests to the repressed youth of Mantes-la-Jolie, Fred Sochard
is on all fronts. Meet a very classy illustrator ... against class ! ---- Libertarian
alternative: Can you present us in a few words your job and your career ? ---- Fred
Sochard: After the baccalaureate, I went through a preparation of arts in Paris where I
took in the nose to which class I belonged: " bad taste, inculture " had noted the
director at my first interview ... I had never seen near bourgeois, there I found myself
in the middle of the rich kids ! Then at Arts Déco, I still did not feel in my place, in
the middle of people born better, but left this time (laughs) .
To follow Fred Sochard or decorate your living room with a portrait of Bakounine:
fredsochard.com and Fred Sochard on social networks.
In short, it is a period where I experienced social and cultural domination, well before
putting words on it, especially with Bourdieu, Annie Ernaux, which I will discover later.
I did business communication for a few years but yeah, I stopped everything to do some
illustration. I first did a lot of press, especially for the monthly Regards , with whom I
finally collaborated 20 years. In the early 2000s, I started the youth illustration. Today
it is a little my " core business " but I continue to produce political drawings, militant
images. The world of the image can be quite compartmentalized: you make the news or the
youth or the poster. I like everything and I think there is unity in my work, on the side
of People ": I like the fights and I love stories !
You have produced many images in support of the railway strike of the spring of 2018. Did
this fight count for you ?
(click to enlarge)
Many yes ! I am a railwayman's son, I lived my early years in a small town where my father
was the " stationmaster ". After, we lived in a HLM cheminot near the triage of Nantes. I
played in The Red Wagon (title of one of my " cordels cheminots "), known the SNCF
football club and the barbecues in the garden of the railwaymen! For me, the railroad is
really a whole world, the one in which I grew up. A popular milieu that has its history,
pegged to the workers' struggles, to the Resistance, to communism ... And I am well placed
to know how much the railway workers are not privileged. And then the utilities what !
Beyond my personal connection to the railway, I am one of those who consider the defense
of public services as fundamental. In short, it was self-evident for me to support this
strike.
Since the beginning of the movement of yellow vests, you have constantly denounced by your
drawings the scorn and violence they suffer. That support too, was it obvious to you ?
Yes it was soon as obvious as supporting the strike of the railroads, in the sense or the
yellow vests, it spoke to me from the start too. I immediately recognized my background,
my class, my family ... the friends of my father, my grandfathers workmen, etc. So I had a
sympathy and an immediate benevolence for this movement, before any elaboration. Obviously
among the thousands of yellow vests there are people racist, sexist, homophobic ... The
denunciation of migrants in the north for example it was unsustainable. But that's the
reality, it's up to us to improve it. It is not because we are under a domination that we
do not exercise it over others.
(click to enlarge)
As a draftsman, I have a simple principle, I do not care about the face of the dominated
or those who are fighting against one or more oppressions. In my artwork, I try to be
funny, but my work is also very partisan. I chose my side of the barricade and I assume it
! Class domination, I know how it feels to have felt young, when I felt red-haired to walk
the Parisian news with my book. On the other hand, what a woman or a racialized person
undergoes, I can not experience it, but, by my history, I am sensitive to these questions
of domination. Still, it is not for me to tell those who are struggling how to fight, it
is important not to speak in the place of the first concerned.
In any case, this movement of yellow vests is terribly cleavable, it drops the masks and
clears the lines. Class contempt is terrible, from people on the right and on the left.
Once again, we realize that there is always this fear: " working class, dangerous class ".
Can we say that you are an activist illustrator ?
(click to enlarge)
I'm not a grassroots activist, I'm not a member of an organization, except the Association
France Palestine Solidarity 1, but spreading leaflets is not my thing ... I'm alone in my
studio, but some Yes, it's my militant contribution. Sometimes I am asked for a poster for
a cause, as Paris-VIII students did, for example, against rising tuition fees for foreign
students.
And then to make these pictures or these drawings, in fact it's stronger than me, I can
not remain indifferent when I hear the statements of Macron or that I see policemen
humiliate high school and high school students. So I sometimes put myself late on my other
projects, a little too taken by the news. And I'm always happy when I see my drawings on
placards or on the walls of a struggling college.
Interviewed by Benjamin (AL Angers)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Entretien-avec-Fred-Sochard-dessinateur-J-essaie-d-etre-drole-mais-mon-travail
------------------------------
Message: 6
More than 700 demonstrators flocked to Athens in the morning of Saturday 20/4 against
nationalism, militarism, fascism, war and the peace of the sovereigns. The gathering had
been called in Monastiraki and lasted one and a half hours with a microphone , reading
extracts from announcements and distribution of texts, while the demonstration was moved
with pulse, slogans, tikkia and sharing, through Athena Street in Omonia and through
September 3rd in Victoria Square, where it was completed. ---- There were posters, banners
and billboards in several areas of Athens and Piraeus and two propaganda mopeds, one in
neighborhoods of the center of Athens ( https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1597231/ ) and
the second in districts of western Athens and Piraeus (
https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1597284/ ). ---- Here's the call text for the demonstration:
Against nationalism, militarism, fascism
Against the war and the peace of the sovereigns
Few months have passed from sad blue-white carnival to "famous Macedonia" and national
frenzy. A patchwork of right-spirited, Greek-spirited, paradise, Nazis, (par) military and
left-wing patriots who fired tons of nationalistic-racist-sexist venom tried to sow the
darkness of the "patris-family-religion" and paved the way to every Fascist and Nazi
groups to come back to the public space and with the backs of the police forces to attack
occupied spaces, immigrant women and militants. The "graphic" macedonian "danced" from the
whole spectrum of the regime (parties, media, etc.). It was fueled by the diffused public
discourse of nationalism, racism, militarism; from the cravings for the "hydrocarbons
battles" in the Aegean, from the patriotism premium as a "healthy ideology" by the ruling
left,
Regarding the so-called Prespa agreement, this was in fact a confirmation of the "new"
national strategy to strengthen Greece's position in the context of state competition and
fund raising in the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans.The
overproduction of patriotic reasons for "national unity" and "national development" is the
basis of an aggressive strategy that has been put in place for years: further increase in
the inflated budget of the armed forces (EUR 3.32 billion for 2019); regional alliances
and joint military exercises with the militant states of Israel and Egypt, costly upgrades
of the F-16 and orders for new naval frigates, more intensive militarization for EEZ in
Cyprus and the Aegean, trade agreements with energy giants (TOTAL, MOBILT). At the same
time, the role of the Greek state in the NATO Mechanism (NATO's drones in Larissa, the
nuclear facility at Araxos, fighter jets and helicopters in Aktio and Stefanovikio,
The dipole of "pure" patriotism and "extreme" nationalism is falsified as both are used by
the dominant narrative to reinforce national consciousness in order to conceal class,
racist and gendered segregations and hierarchies.From school and church, to the media and
the army, our first steps attempt to impregnate us with the nationalist poison. Each state
seeks to create in the imagination of its citizens a "common interest national community"
which we ought to defend. Why is it necessary to silence the forms of oppression and
exploitation and to assimilate the radical movements. And because without a national (and
therefore orderly) consciousness it would not be possible to form political foundations in
national states, nor to legitimize and consolidate the new totalitarianisms by extending
the emergency regime and the militarization of societies in a way that goes hand in hand
with the needs of capitalism.
Left management strengthens national narrative. Already by 2015, SYRIZA proposes the
identification of national and class interests with the nationalist frontier of "left-wing
patriotism". The notorious negotiations with the lenders and the July 2015 referendum
constituted a key mechanism of nationalization of consciences, a confirmation of the
assignment to state administrators, and the transformation of movements into state policy
fellow citizens in the name of "fighting against foreign lenders to save the national
economy and restoring national pride and dignity. "
"Left patriotism" and "right nationalism" are aspects of the dominant narrative that has
been imposed: the nation-state as the only possibility of social formation. The
nation-state, in its great embrace, will have all those competitive relations, the
conflicts between the oppressors and the oppressed, the exploiters and the exploited, so
that the "regularity" can ever triumph. Border murders, concentration camps,
intensification of wage slavery and unemployment terrorism, exclusion / punishment of any
other identity that "shames" the masculinity of the nation, control and suppress all what
will be called unnecessary (immigrants, drug addicts / homeless, etc.), suppressing all
those who stand against this "regularity" of class and social peace, who will not eat the
little bit of "social and national contracts". Whether left or right, patriotism raises
the ground and contributes to the promotion of socialism and bloody national unity.
Examples of schools occupied with occupations with nationalist content, fascist pogroms in
Konitsa and Villias, refusal of parents to send their children to a school in Samos where
immigrant children were attending classes are characteristic phenomena of the period.
The outbreak of the global capitalist crisis and its utterly material results for Western
societies have contributed to the giganticisation of nationalism, which is a proven tool
for managing such crises, and at the same time a counterweight to a possible global
challenge to the state-capitalist construction. It is a key part of the world puzzle,
which consists of military interventions, economic investments, alliances and antagonisms
between states and power blocks. The re-emergence of the army in Western metropolises and
the militarization of the police, militarism as a social form of organization, the
thousands of dead, displaced and incapacitated immigrants and migrant women remind us that
the "peace" of the sovereigns is the continuation of their war with other means. The
appearance of "external enemies" and the threat of a war are used to terrorize society and
to cluster and compose it around the state. It is a technique of social control, usually
when servicing the sovereign, political and economic interests, causes or will cause
intense unrest within a state.
And, yes, the "war" differs in the materiality of the military conflict and the victims
from "peace", but it is in this "peace" that relations of hierarchy, discipline,
inequality, exploitation, oppression and enforcement of segregation . Relationships that
make the boundaries between peace and war unimaginable so that the hierarchy, the
imposition, the privileges and the increase in the wealth of the sovereigns and the
constant misery and devaluation of their lives continue to perpetuate "under".
For oppressed and exploited people in this world, national reconciliation is not a
solution, nor the choice of an aspiring "right" or right-wing "ethnic". It is not a
solution to assign, vote, and participate in electoral processes and pseudo-dilemmas.
Against hostility, interdependence, competition among the oppressed, the only way out is
the struggle for the total destruction of the world of power, exploitation and submission.
Staying side by side, organizing ourselves through horizontal, anti-authoritarian,
self-organized processes and struggling for the destruction of the state, capitalism,
patriarchy.
No nation unites us, no name separates us
Conflict with state, bosses, fascists
Solidarity is our weapon
Struggle for Social Revolution, Social Liberation
Course Saturday, April 20, 12:00, Monastiraki
Anarchist collectives, hangouts, squats, comrades, companions
https://vogliamotutto.espivblogs.net/2019/04/22/enimerosi-apo-tin-poreia-toy-savvatoy-20/#more-2224
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten