Today's Topics:
1. Greece, vogliamo tutto e per tutti: Public participation
means abstaining from the elections! [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #294 - Obituary: A last
salute to Guy Priqueler (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Greece, anarchist group "dwarf horse" APO: SOLIDARITY with
SAMI SOLMAZ. THE GAME FOR ANOTHER SOCIETY IS NOT LEGAL
OR NOT ILLEGAL - IS JUST [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. AFED, organise magazine.org.uk: When Lactose Meets
Intolerance -- It started with a strawberry milkshake.
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Poland, Anarchist Federation - Poznan section: Green Cities
of the Future - Civil Dialogue - a report of rozbrat.org [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Britain, Anarchist Federation Nomads - Formerly South Wales
AF - European Elections (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Britain, brighton solfed: CJ Barbers Dispute: Business
Threatens to Blacklist SolFed Member (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
"Vote for us so that the right does not come", "vote for them to leave SYRIZA", "vote
for them so that the fascists will not be strengthened", "voted for them to strengthen
your voice in the European Parliament" , "Voted the boot, to strengthen the local
community", "or with the fascists or with us", "with us in order to get the place out",
"populism or reforms", "privatization or social state", " of the many or the elites? "
---- Numerous pseudo-dilemmas once again bring back the bourgeoisie in the run-up to the
forthcoming elections (European, municipal / regional). Dilemmas that have been built and
served by citizens who are rehearsing for citizens. After the governments of national
unity, the appointed prime ministers, the referendum that re-socialized the institutions
of representation, parliamentary regularity reminds again the brilliant and bipartite
1980s / 1990s. Artificial polarization on non-existent issues such as citizens' security,
socialism, reform bids, black-out promises to solve local problems, blobs for democratic
intervention in the EU, fascist crowns for a nation of nations.The whole spectrum of
parliamentarism in election campaign parade. Leading role is played by the media, which
are a dominant means of manipulating the bottom. Through spectacle, propaganda, news, and
"events", they serve the interests of power. The countless contenders of power, both
locally and at European level, are investing time and money in propaganda campaigns
calling on all of us to "participate" in the fest of democracy by depositing a piece of
paper in a wooden box every four years. The institution of the elections is presented as
the top instrument of politicization where voters participate in decision-making and are
supposedly co-directors of power. Participation in the elections is the same as the
concept of politics. Voters in this way become members of the state and the government,
the European Parliament,Democracy, or just the celebration of mediation!
Election participation is a denial of your own self-management. The vote is suited to
passive consumers, who entrust professionals to "manage everything". Elected
representatives either in the European Parliament or in local communities are called upon
to legislate, produce and implement policies across the board. The EU's "democracy" is
limited to the elections to the European Parliament, but it also has limited competencies
under terms of delegation, since the non-elected European Commission is the one to do the
command. We have seen this in a blatant way in previous years when the important decisions
for the economy of both Greece and the eurozone were taken in closed meetings of the
European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund without
any control by the European Parliament. This is obviously not surprising. The EU is
another mechanism for supporting the strong ones and controlling them from below in Europe.
At a local level, recent fires and floods, which cost hundreds of lives and their
management by professional politicians, are indicative of what a state mechanism means:
cynicism of power, emetic real politics, bureaucracy, apathy, arrogance chair,
communication and tactical management of many crises. Municipal and regional authorities
are the long-standing arm of the state at the local level. As such, they faithfully follow
state policy, recreate competitive power relations, act as economic units of the state at
the local level, serving the interests of capital and guarantee the orderly functioning of
the capitalist market within their limited scope of competence.
Participation in self-governing elections acts as a means of legitimizing and passively
supporting the system of exploitation and oppression, and at the local level , a mechanism
of consensus-building by the power administrators. The only choice made through the
elections is that of the Force, even if the process is customer-friendly. Despite the
democratic feud, the fact is that most elected representatives are acting as
representatives of capital. It is not at all unclear how many professional politicians are
involved in interdependence scandals with private companies (Siemens, NOVARTIS, Actor,
THALES, Hellenic Gold SA, MEVGAL, Deutsche Telekom some examples), but also the phenomena
of extreme enrichment of so many members of the "National Delegation" and local
government. Whether small or large the forces that promote the assignment, they will
always cluster and serve the interests of capital. This is not a Greek accident or an
exception, but the essence of parliamentarism at local, national and supranational level.
As anarchists and anarchists, we consider incompatible the daily struggle against state
and capital with participation in the elections. The logic of "our inferior optimal" is
alien. Participation in electoral processes costs ideological consistency, but also
political dynamics. Our aim is not simply to abstain from the elections, but also to
re-pursue politics and to identify it with uninterrupted procedures, with
self-organization and anarchy. Moreover, the bottom-up story has shown that the
exacerbation of uncontrolled struggles far from and against institutional illusions is the
only way for oppressed and exploited to defend their interests and resist capitalist
barbarism.The solution for us is not to "bother them in democracy", but to abstain from
their feast and to resist their imperatives. Against the pseudo-dilemmas, antagonisms
between oppressed, social automation and falsified polarization imposed by state and
capital through parliamentarism, we respond in solidarity, popular assemblies, grassroots
societies, commune and the revolution of every day. Why the election outpouring for us
means civic participation.
Abstention from the elections
To sabotage the mechanisms of assignment and integration
anarchist collectivity Vogliamo tutto e per tutti
https://vogliamotutto.espivblogs.net/2019/05/22/antiekloges/
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Message: 2
A fellow traveler left us in Nancy at the age of 69. ---- Guy was the son of a railwayman
and a milliner, raised in the Longwy mining basin. Having discovered anarchism in high
school, chance made him cross Daniel Guérin's road in the summer of 1970. The young man
recognized the old revolutionary, whose picture he had seen on the back of a book. They
sympathized and Guérin offered him a pile of books. Both were to meet, ten years later,
the Union of Libertarian Communist Workers (UTCL). ---- Young doctor, Guy mismatched in
the rather working group that was the UTCL, where some Parisian comrades had
affectionately nicknamed "Dr. Knock". ---- Guy deployed in any case a great activity
within the UTCL, involved in multiple struggles on Nancy. Its activists co-hosted, for
example, the Anti-Militarist Committee, which in Meurthe-et-Moselle was an important
support point for the soldiers' committees.
In 1978-1979, he was a supporter of the UTCL in the struggle of residents of Sonacotra
homes, on strike rents.
In addition to this, Guy had been involved, since his medical studies, in the fight for
the right to abortion, by participating in the Movement for the freedom of abortion and
contraception (MLAC) and Family Planning, whose he was for some time national
vice-president. At that time, he practiced covert IVG with Karman's method, and organized
a private screening of the film Histoire d'A, then banned, under the auspices of the
League of Human Rights.
Having started to practice as a liberal doctor in 1980, first in geriatrics and then in
school, Guy moved to orthogénie in 1983, then to toxicology in 1994. As a member of the
Union of General Practice, he also co-founded 1991-1992, the Toxicomanie-Ville-Hôpital
network, which was active for twenty years.
Having left the UTCL in 1984, Guy remained an active sympathizer of the libertarian
communist movement. In the years 2000-2010, he subscribed to Friends of Alternative
Libertarian and, in 2016, with Patrice Grillot, he entrusted several boxes to the
Libertarian Communist Archival Fund in Montreuil.
He continued to campaign with the Education Without Borders Network and in June 2018 he
helped organize an AL meeting in Nancy as part of Arthur Aberlin's tour in support of the
Kurdish left in the Middle East.
He will no longer wear his ironic smile in the corner; he will not dare us any more with
his little caustic pikes. Goodbye Guy Priqueler!
William Davranche (AL Montreuil)
https://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Necrologie-Un-dernier-salut-a-Guy-Priqueler
------------------------------
Message: 3
A few days ago, the Turkish communist refugee Sami Solmaz was arrested by the harborist
and imprisoned unjustly in the prisons of St. Stephen in Patras, although he has been a
legitimate citizen of France for years. Once again, the judiciary and the state are
persecuting and imprisoning militants by attempting to exterminate them and sending the
message of exemplary punishment to anyone who raises the head, struggles, resists and
sues. ---- Sami Solmaz faces the risk of extradition to Turkey's fascist state of Erdogan.
It is well known the treatment of dissidents in Turkey, let alone the left-wing, the
anarchists and the Communists. Unauthorized arrests and imprisonment, wood and torture,
imprisonment for an indefinite period and without any right, special cells, special
prisons, special indictments are the brutal reality faced by those who fighters fall into
the hands of the Turkish state. Particularly after the failed coup, Erdogan unleashed
another suppressive orgy against anyone who struggles by establishing an iron grid of
repression and surveillance and imposing his dictatorship.
In order to ensure that the regime is fully enforced and that the interests of the
predominant economic and political elites are seamlessly served, all means can be used in
even more aggravated form and even more intensive. Thus, the state's imposition passes
through the total extermination of those who struggle against it, through exemplary
punishment, resist or have every reason to do so, through the raw and overt suppression of
those who refuse to accept the dissolution of their lives through state revivalism and the
material-moral extermination of those who have been in the hands of the state for their
action.
Within this repressive framework is also the persecution of communist SamiSolmaz, who has
been repeatedly persecuted by the Turkish state for his political beliefs and for his
participation in the struggle. Likewise, thousands of others like him have been
persecuted, many of whom chose the path of civil protection to escape imprisonment and
torture. Sami Solmaz is also prosecuted in the German state along with 9 other fighters
from ATIK (Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe). The ATIC trial is the culmination
of a judicial-police operation that began on 15 April 2015 in France, Switzerland, Greece
and Germany on the orders of the Federal German judicial authorities.
It is obvious that the Greek and Turkish states have no problem cooperating and dealing
together with "terrorists", those who struggle to overthrow the dictatorship of the state
and capital. Besides, there are countless examples of Turkish and Kurdish fighters who
have been arrested and imprisoned in Greece just for their ideas and political action in
Turkey.
For our part, we stand on the side of the fighter Sami Solmaz, as in any other fighter
striven for his ideas and for his political action. The struggle for the release of Sami
Solmaz and his non-extradition to Turkey is indissolubly linked to the struggles that are
being taken to break the regime of political prisoners. It is inextricably linked to the
struggle against judicial arbitrariness and repression. With the daily struggle to defend
the vision of a society of freedom-equality-justice and the overthrow of state-capitalist
barbarism.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF SAMI SOLMAZ - NO PUBLICATION TO THE PHASE'S STATE OF TURKEY
INTERNATIONAL AND DOCTORAL SOLIDARITY IS THE LAW OF THE PEOPLE
AGAINST FOCUS, WAITING AND DISCUSSION ... REFLECTING THE ORGANIZATION AND THE FIGHT OF THE
RACE
Patras, May 24, 2019
anarchist group "dwarf horse" - a member of the Anarchist Political Organization
------------------------------
Message: 4
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (pretend name Tommy Robinson) was on the streets of Manchester
stirring up racial hatred and xenophobia as part of his Rebel Media and American
Conservative funded campaign to become a legitimate politician when he got drenched in
thick milkshake. It wasn't planned, it wasn't Antifa or some other organised anti fascist.
It was just an random Joe who, having left McDonald's, saw a racist getting up in peoples
faces and making the air stink and thought "fuck it". Yaxley-Lennon switched from his
"respectable politician" act to completely loosing all control in an instant, and from the
look on his face, had his day spoilt. ---- The next day Yaxley-Lennon tested out his
powers of persuasion and debate on a mum in Salford out to pick up some shopping, and
promptly lost a debate with her. Realising that confrontation works a bit better than
conversation, at the next rally, in Warrington, he singled out one of the few Muslims who
just happened to be stood watching and marched over. Flanked by his very dodgy entourage,
which has included knife wielding kidnappers and Polish Neo Nazi (who he professes to also
be opposed too) Yaxley-Lennon and co surrounded the poor guy and went on the attack. It's
a method favoured by Scientologists and street missionaries, crowding their target,
pretending to be spectators and then applying pressure, bullying the opposition to force a
reaction. Once a reaction is got - or once they've finished shouting in someones face -
they can shove the result on youtube under "Tommy takes on a terrorist" or some shit. The
lad being targetted, Danyaal, nods for a few seconds and then thought "fuck it", tossing
his milkshake over the fascist, before being jumped by Yaxley-Lennon and his wee mob.
Two makes it a tradition
Pretty Soon, alt-right mouth piece Carl "it's OK if she understands consent"? Benjamin who
likes to make rape jokes and spread racism has four milkshakes, some horse shit and even a
handful of kippers (he's a candidate for UKIP , get it:p) tossed over him over three days
of campaigning and then, the one that took it to all the papers, Nigel Farage takes a
Banana and Salted Caramel milkshake to go in the most efficient community response ever.
He arrived... got out... a random passing by saw him and thought "Milkshake, fuck it, just
do it"... Farage runs off crying about how his security isn't up to par.
You know what? It works too.
These pricks stop coming out to play.
After Benjamins's three days of milkshake and horse shit, UWE cancelled his podium. He's
since shut the fuck up and stayed off the radar. As a bonus, fellow Peadophile apologist
Milo Yiannopoulos was also milkshaked while out campaigning with Benjamin in Exeter and
stopped coming out to play too.
After Farage was doused he refused to get off his bus in the next town. A few days later
as I write this, Farage is trapped on his bus in Rochester, refusing to get off because
three people dressed in black who "looked like they had milkshakes" sent his security into
a panic.
After Yaxley-Lennon was covered, he not only instantly returned to the violent thug he is,
his methods reverted for the politican out and about after a baby to hug to the atypical
right wing methods where he can try to control the opposition.
You see, it's a radical response even your average liberal can get behind, it's leagues
away from the violent confrontations that often result from confronting fascists. You
don't need a dedicated squad with militant tactics and organisation nor do you need to
read the literature or have a deep understanding of why "¡No Pasarán!" is so important.
Heck you don't even need the physical capacity to handle yourself - thougit helps if you
arestealthy, quick on your feet, or able to roll with a couple of punches.
You just need a shake.
It's the rally ending weapon that can be in anyone's hand.
The likes of Benjamin and Farage can't deal with it, There is nothing they can do but
whine after the fact.
They are in political parties that want to be seen as mainstream. Sure they promotes
xenophobia and ethno-nationalism but they do so with pretensions of legitimacy. Their
capacity to react is limited. Add the fact that overwhelmingly people in the UK, leave or
remain, left or right of centre, are deeply opposed to such blatant racism (and of course
nonces), plus (unfortunately) McDonald's is fucking everywhere. This all means each step
on the campaign trail is a potential threat to them - a countdown to humiliation and a
visual display or what many of us think of them.
These guys come from a position of trying to assert themselves as legitimate politicians
and black bloc tactics often don't work against them. The police are too ready to beat
their opposition out the way, and their PR machines all to rehearsed at responding to this
kind of confrontation. As a result they have felt free to trounce around seemingly
invulnerable.
Shakes make them stay at home.
It infuriates them immensely. Authoritarian bullies can withstand violence it's their
world. What they can't stand is humiliation, milkshaking is a savage insult and a public
display of rage that undermines their attempts to appear dominant and powerful. It cuts
them deep. Being ridiculed in public can make even those who've been in the politics game
for a while loose their cool and end up punching children in the face.
This behaviour isn't normal. It's not the behaviour of the democratic politician.
Most take these kind of things and laugh it off like Ed Milliband did after being egged a
few years back or by attempting to remain calm and rise above it as homophobe Anita Byrant
did when she took a pie to the face. This latter hilarity part of a pretty good run in the
States for pies in face, a classic for it's circus connotations alone. Oh and let's not
forget Corbyn who stood up, dusted himself off and carried on after Brexit supporter John
Murphy smashed an egg on his head. This by the way resulted in absolutely zero complaints
about "political violence" from the right of centre.
Slight tangent but John Murphy was given an utterly absurd 28 day prison sentence for
egging Corbs, which almost inevitably the liberal left declared a win against violence,
selectively ignoring prison abolitionism and solidarity against state actors when it
suites them. Can't touch the holy Messiah eh?
Ok, sure, there is the odd barny like the ‘Rumble in Rhyl‘, but Prescott was always a bit
of a lad and it wasn't long before he was laughing about it, instead of say, calling on
the mob to abuse and intimidate his attacker like the fash do... besides the guy was a
pro-hunt protestor so fuck him.
It's clear that from Heseltine to Bush there is a long history of chucking stuff at or
over politicians, it's a overt display of opinion from those who are often silenced. It
isn't about debate or lofty politics, it's about expressing rage in a manner that remains
shy of actual physical harm. It's inherently working class and it's a most appropriate
display of fury from your average - generally upstanding - member of the community. There
are alternatives as illustrated by Greek Anarchists when dealing with Police protecting a
Golden Dawn candidate in the local elections a few days ago.
Now in the UK this is a world a way from what most people want, such militant action is a
distant memory and most want it to remain there. Which is why when dealing with career
politicians such as Farage or new chancers like Benjamin Milkshaking or it's equivalent is
a perfect expression of distaste and one they have little response too. They must accept
the disgust people have for them and get out of dodge.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is a different kettle of fish.
The EDL like a dozen other mobs before them came to demonstrations, in part to have a
scrap. It was part of what held the hooligans - who didn't really give a fuck about the
politics onboard - but after proper Nazis started to filtering in and after getting a
pasting one to many times Yaxley-Lennon, declared he was no longer with the EDL, saying
himself he was worried about the "dangers of far-right extremism". He subsequently took a
pay check from a xenophobic think tank which masks it under the banner of
"counter-extremism". He subsequently disappeared to work with Americans and get some nice
fat checks. A few years, later he's come back a little smarter. Now he's fuelled by
American money, Russian twitter bots and with contacts across the saccharine coated far
right networks of Robert Shillman's "Rebel Media" and distinctly uncoated Neo-Nazis from
Poland. He's dressed to impress but he's the same violent thug.
He returned dressed in a suit and pretending to be a journalist, spread hate without being
accountable. Jeopardising the prosecution of paedophiles with his attempts to use
journalism to Sow racism and division amongst the working class all the while take home
fat pay checks and thousands in donations from some of the poorest in our communities. It
was working too!
The financial backing meant he could hold legitimate looking rallies with TV screens and
police permission. The Nazi emblems and Seig Heil's were exchanged for union jacks and
smiles. He was careful about what he said and kept it on the edge while trying to remain
respectable, he wants to be a a politicians, see? Roots in the community. The crowd of
fascists chanting racist drivel and trying to attack people on the edge of his rallies
became "not his responsibility" a unfortunate radical periphery...least to the media and
public in general... Anti fascists still knew their names and the links across the various
networks of scum. This "unfortunate radical periphery" kept starting a ruck, every time
and it wasn't a mere coincidence. Like the alt-right over in the States - notably Richard
Spencer - Yaxley-Lennon wants to appear respectable while continuing to foster a hostile
environment and empower his base, the ethno-nationalists. He's trying to walk a fine line
of encouraging the most horrific events while saying "I'm innocent", oozing disgusting
rhetoric and pretending to hold no responsibility for the acts of violence that follow in
the wake of vox tyrannis.
Suddenly it's Anti fascists who stand out, latter day ninjas on the edge of a "peaceful"
gathering. It's them who - despite being on hand to protect people from drunk fash - that
look like the aggressors before the right wing Youtuber's lens and even those of the
mainstream media. Without context or understanding of the tactics of Fascists, popular
opinion started to move towards these ersatz rebels, despite their campaign outright
parroting Hitler's propaganda.
Time and time against various far right speakers got to say "we aren't racist, we are just
patriots. Why are you censoring free speech?" and relished in pointing at networks like
National Action and System Resistance for what actual Nazi's look like... we're just some
patriots and it's the antis that are are here to be aggressive and violent. This is
something that funny enough got the out and proud Nazi's from these networks griping on
places like Stormfront, tho to be fair their Overton window is so far right they were
never a fan and see this lot as traitors to the Aryan cause.
This middle grounding was working, The huge demo in London proved that. A media savvy
attitude and thousands of of pounds in backing puts on a good display. Then came the
milkshakes and humiliation. How dare people not respect political discourse?His boys got
worried and took to kicking off with school kids. They needed a narrative that painted
them the victim of violence, not milkshakes! How can a ‘ard lad take on milkshakes?
Directly after the second milkshaking, Stephen Yaxley- Lennon's bodyguards started a fight
and beat up a 24 year old woman. It started when one of his entourage Danny Tommo, barged
into a man with his hands in his pockets clearly with with intention to start a brawl. It
wasn't enough tho and two blokes smacking someone half their size didn't look good so when
he came to Liverpool he had his lackey, class traitor and wide up merchant James Goddard
try to wind up the crowd by approaching them and agitating them, unfortunately for him he
told some scouse mums that Liverpool was shit and was chased down the road eventually
apparently having to climb a tree.
Seriously you fash fucks, stop trying to mess with mums.
Burger Kings twitter as it came out that Police had Stopped McDonald's selling shakes
during a Farage rally.
So what are you gonna do? It's not going well... Milkshakes and mums aren't great for the
big man image... (By now even Burger King Is getting in some laughs) so a couple of days
later Yaxley-Lennon to rock up to Oldham, knowing that he'll get a fight if he wants one
given the complex history of the area. He brings plenty of boys and they came prepared,
while the a few locals who think he's talking sense listen to his alt-right, not quite
racist speech, his boys arn't stood listening to him, nah they at the back kicking shit
off. According to the (0)161 Manchester crew his mob started chasing a black women around
then started tossing hammers and bottles. What followed was the Muslim Defence League
(MDL) alongside Oldham locals and anti fascists from across Manchester taking them on
directly and overtly.
This was a fight he needed.
There was plenty of footage for him to paint a picture of hostile Muslims and violence...
Instantly there were videos about stabbings and a shooting, entirely fictional but they
plant the seeds. The Facebook timelines move so quick, truth is negotiable and the damage
is already done before the few inclined to look it up find out the truth. The next day
Youtube is crawling with "Truth about Oldham" videos declaring it an an attack by Muslims
on good hard working white patriots. A bullshit narrative that the Fascists feel secure in
and can use to sow division in the working class and deeply concerning they targetted
Legal Observers from GBC and Netpol for abuse, labelling them as "Islamic Legal observers
- Paid for by the Islamic Labour Party!", putting not only their capacity to protect ALL
protestors from the state but also tempting fate with their personal safety both during
protests and after due to the right wings habit of doxxing and attacking.
The next few days is a tirade of media highlighting their hostile reception and pushing
self victimisation across social media. Countless hours of effort is spent painting a
picture of where the mainstream media and police are part of a oppressive "left" system
and the traitor protesters are working for the boogie man of "Islam" who they treat like
it was Emmanuel Goldstein and this is Airstrip One. They are the victim and Islam an all
powerful enemy always present and furiously trying to destroy everything the good British
people love... they say everything but "fourteen words" and "white genocide" in their
campaign to make people feel under attack.
Now they can add genuine violence to this make believe fantasy. Remember the right feeds
off fear and intimidation. Not just spreading it in the community but internalising it,
letting it fuel their dreams of being a noble vanguard for the British people/Aryan race
(delete as appropriate). In the current climate of seemingly approachable right wing
politicians, taking a beating (imaginary or otherwise) works in their favour, it
solidifies their narrative as a victim and the anti-fascists as the hostile mob.
In domestic abuse support, they call this DARVO: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and
Offender. DARVO is the reaction that perpetrators of wrong doing may display in response
to being held accountable for their behaviour. Abusers Deny their behaviour, Attack the
individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that
the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim into an alleged
offender. This occurs, for instance, when an actually guilty perpetrator assumes the role
of "falsely accused" and attacks the accuser's credibility or even blames the accuser of
being the perpetrator of a false accusation.
It's a popular strategy across the Alt-Right. Even with it's media savvy smiles and boy
next door manners which make it acceptable for financing publicly, these movements which
previously relied on grass roots support and masochistic power plays has changed tack.
They have taken the grand strategies popular with abusers, oppressors and bullies
throughout history and made them work, now they have a plan and believe they have moved
beyond the blunt weapons they relied on in the past, at least in public.
Yeah it's taken a while for the anti fascists to catch up.
Well now they have.
The capacity (and let's be honest often the inclination) for a physical line of defence
remains, but from London to Glasgow, Anti Fascists of all persuasions have noticed the
shift in response. A passer by with a milkshake can end a rally and send them packing,
ridiculed by everyone. Somewhere between a passive static demo and street battles there is
milkshaking. So everyone decides at the same time to celebrate the new method and help
give it a firm footing as the go to response in the minds of those who might never join a
counter demo but still really hate Fash.
Mind you it doesn't mean to say there is no space for a community to defend itself.
It's not a single strategy but a collection of means and methods that just got a little
larger.
Funny thing is, fascists have a short memory about how well violence actually works for
them historically. If they think they own the physical response... they are wrong.
1933, The Battle of Stockton-on-Tees saw blackshirts from the "British Union of Fascists"
attempting to hold a rally on Market street. They were met but Anarchists, Communists,
Trade Union members and locals in general armed with pickaxe handles, staves, half bricks
and razor blades. Nothing peaceful happened that day and the community took the Fash on
directly sending them fleeing down the road. They were 200 and met by 3000 and 20 of them
left with several injuries including the brother of John Warbuton (one of Mosley's top
bods) who took a brick to the face and lost an eye.
1936, The Battle of Cable street saw thousands of working class lads and lasses stand with
the Jewish community against Mosley's black shirts. A local dock worker smacked a
blackshirt so hard he lost an eye too, in place of milkshakes, the contents of chamber
pots were poured over them and the police both.
1977, The Battle of Lewisham saw 4000 anti-fascists confront 500 National front attempting
to march with 5000 police protecting them. 11 of these cops were sent to hospital and over
a 100 of the NF lot went home wts in Lebanon and The Nationalists that followed Franco.ith
injuries.
1992, The Battle of Waterloo, a Blood and Honour gig brought 1000 or so skinheads to town
and saw sporadic fighting across the area as pockets of Fash sent to pick up direction to
the gig at Waterloo station encountered squads from Anti-Facist Action and Red Action
promptly receiving a pasting.
"The station concourse was nearly deserted. We discovered afterwards that British Rail had
given Black and Asian workers the day off - pandering to racism. A small group of Red
Action went into the station buffet and found a couple of skinheads who had been enjoying
a quiet cup of tea. There was some loud rumbling and smashing sounds, then the Reds
emerged unscathed and blended with our crowd. Five minutes later an ambulance arrived to
cart off the two hapless fascists. (Rumour has it that they might have been, in fact,
plain clothes coppers)."
Fuck, there is a long history of bashing the Fash on the streets of Britain.
This also extends to field of war, not just in the Second World War but Catalonia and
Rojava too, where anti fascists volunteered their service and too often their lives
fighting against a brutal enemy. It's this enemy who the likes of Yaxley-Lennon ,
Benjamin, Farage and the rest of them echo now, sure in their own vernacular with a focus
on "British values" but it's the same poison, From Isis in the Levant to Phalangests in
Lebanon, from the nationalists that followed Franco and the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, the
bile is the same.
In truth for most, it would be hard to deny the cathartic pleasure from this history,
however the British people are keenly aware that it doesn't go one way, from mass attacks
on union strikers and peaceful protestors to murders such as those of Gurdip Singh Chaggar
and Jo Cox, the right wing has illustrated time and again it is not afraid of violence,
not the defensive violence of the opposition but of deliberate attacks on innocents.
This is why Anarchists and Communists take a strong zero-tolerance line and traditionally
rock up ready to defend themselves and the community. It's a brutal history that meant
they were always ready for the worst and it left them somewhat taken back when the
right-wing changed it's pace. Sure there was celebration when Richard Spencer took a smack
to the face, however to the media he was just a nice normal guy chatting about politics...
it kicked up a lot of debate that leant towards platforming Fascists as part of good ol'
Free speech an Americanism that seems to have drifted eastwards as a blind absolute that
allows the worst amongst us to play victim if they are not tolerated and heard.
Milkshaking, much like that famous punch unites everyone who hates Fascists in orgasmic
relief while sending the media opinion pieces into free fall, crying about how politicians
should be free to go about their business unharassed - seemingly ignorant of the context
of these demagogues and bigots- and both set the right as a whole crying about "political
violence" despite, at the same time celebrating brutal attacks on peaceful activists who
you know... aren't advocating for the systematics genocide of entire races. It's gone big
with European and American outlets talking about this "British phenomenon" of Milkshaking
and we've seen international comrades at first smirk, not quite getting it, then then
realising it's fucking beautiful. The first international hit being Dan Park , a piece of
trash from Sweden.
It's not all without critisims mind.
It has brought out some less awesome side in the left, namely all the Bukkake jokes and
Brazzers logo.
Like for fucks sake, Can we just not?
When folk add the Brazzers logo or joke about them "being gay", "loving cock" or "bukkake"
they are attempting to humiliate these homophobic, misogynist pricks by comparing them to
sex workers, gay men and women in general who are fetishised for accepting an act that is
erotic due to it's nature as an act of degradation and elicit humiliation. Looks calling
someone "gay" isn't fucking great in the slightest because however you mean it, you are
implying that being gay is a negative or something undesirable.
People argue that it's just to to offend the Fash sensibilities however in reciting the
worst of their traits it just contributes to the hostile attitude we as a society hold on
sex work and and feminised people in general. This isn't an attack on the sexual act or
pornography mind, just stop fucking using them as means to undermine. "haha you look like
the girl I masturbate over" isn't cool.
Similarly it's ticked off Vegans and Animal Rights activists somewhat as milkshake is a
product of a shitty industry, So have a think about your vegan options or maybe consider
the classic water ballon full of water/paint or if you want to be inventive cook up some
gunge - Powder paint 160 grams (2%) Xanthum Gum 96 grams (1.2%) HOT water 8 litres.
As I add final notes they are giving out free Milkshakes at polling booths and someone's
apparently chucked one over a Brexit Party volunteer of venerable age so folk are taking
all manner of action with milkshake. Over in Salford, Yaxley-Lennon's lot were chucking
bricks and bottles injurying three, so true to form eh?. I'm sure we'll see much more from
milkshaking, for better and worse, until eventually we'll all get bored. Till then, keep
letting Fascist scum know what you think of them and don't forget the odd bigwig from
Labour and the Tories. ?
Rhyddical is just another pseudo bohemian revolutionary Anarchist who expects better of us
all but does his mains in Tesco anyway.
http://organisemagazine.org.uk/2019/05/23/when-lactose-meets-intolerance/
------------------------------
Message: 5
On May 23, at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism of Adam Mickiewicz
University in Poznan, the Green Cities of the Future - Civil Dialogue meeting with the
participation of Poznan president Jacek Jaskowiak and European Commissioner for Internal
Market and Services of the European Commission Elzbieta Bienkowska. ---- Before entering
the auditorium, where the meeting took place, activists from the Rozbrat Collective
developed a banner with the slogan "Wild reprivatization of the green wedge? Jaskowiak -
enough PR, time to act! ". ---- In addition to students at the meeting, there were also a
few people associated with the Poznan Anarchist Federation and Kolektyw Rozbrat, as well
as gardeners and residents concerned about urban greenery. At the initiative of people
taking the floor, in opposition to the subject of the meeting, a large part of it was
devoted to the problem of building wedges of greenery. Jacek Jaskowiak was asked questions
about the city's filing of claims for plots that have fallen victim to a wild
reprivatization (which the Mayor of the city has the right, or even obligation to do in
the name of the state treasury). There were also questions about the local spatial
development plan and the inclusion of green wedges to areas not suitable for development.
In response, we heard that the city does not want to interfere in land ownership matters
and fears that the plan would not allow green wedges to be built (which, incidentally,
Jacek Jaskowiak likes to boast of, and he used to be a "municipal activist" even when he
was fighting for them) may expose them to landowners lawsuits and the possible need to pay
compensation for lowering the value of land. This proves once again that the developers'
interest is really focused on the interest of the entire community, which is definitely
the protection of greenery wedges.
The president accused us of dealing with the topic due to his particular interests. We
wanted to inform you that the protection of green wedges is the interest of the whole
society. When we dealt with the topic of sustainable development of cities, maintaining
greenery in them, limiting car traffic, increasing the pressure on public transport and
cycling, it was also in the interest of both our and society. The same applies to
maintaining the area of the western wedge of greenery in which Rozbrat is located unchanged.
Therefore, we are asking for a change in the spatial development study for the green
garden wedge, at the Wodziczki Park, so that it prevents the development!
We ask the president if he still claims that the protection of the western wedge of
greenery is not a social interest?
Collective Rozbrat
Anarchist Federation - Poznan section
The text of the statement distributed during the debate:
Wild reprivatization of the green wedge? Jaskowiak - enough PR!
While President Jacek Jaskowiak spins visions of "green cities of the future", the green
part of Poznan may go under the hammer as a result of his neglect.
The fragment of the western wedge of greenery at Solacz threatened by the auction and
concreting today is a flagship example of a wild reprivatization made possible by local
authorities . It is a public, nationalized after the war plot, illegally appropriated by a
private company immediately after the change of the system. If President Jaskowiak, like
Grobelny earlier, closed his eyes, part of the wedge of green threatens destruction.
By law, this area belongs to the State Treasury continuously since nationalization in
1948. The justice system has confirmed this many times also after the political
transformation.Formally, the interests of the Treasury towards this plot are represented
by the president of Poznan. The problem is that until now no president, despite court
appeals, has made sure that ... the State Treasury should be entered effectively in the
land and mortgage register . Worse: successive presidents of Poznan are turning a blind
eye to the complete chaos in the land and mortgage register of this public plot. They
allow private speculation with a fragment of the wedge of greenery against the public
interest. The correspondence of the WSL with Jaskowiak suggests that the current president
continues the negligence of Ryszard Grobelny. Activists from Rozbrat and surrounding
gardeners are struggling to embed the wedge concreting without the support of the city
authorities for almost three decades.
Immediately after the political transformation, the private company "Darex" rented this
plot at the Solacki park from the state-owned company.A moment later, Darex took over the
whole area, without paying the Penny State a penny , based on the private status of this
plot before the war. The District Court in Poznan since 1990 disciplined the city's
presidents to take action in defense of the public area, cleaned up the land and mortgage
register and sought to remove Darex from the public benefit. Unsuccessfully.
In order to protect the actual, ie public property, the District Court in Poznan in 1995
entered into the land and mortgage register a "warning about the inconsistency of the
contents of the land and mortgage register with the actual legal status". This did not
stop further speculation. Darex did not appear on "his" grounds. He took credits for it,
which he did not pay back. Today, bailiff Bartosz Guzik is preparing this wildly
privatized plot for auction for private developers. The bailiff ignores the court's
warning in the land and mortgage register. Above all, however, Guzik uses the negligence
of President Jacek Jaskowiak, who in no way demands that the incompatibility in the land
and mortgage register be removed.. Already in 2017, members of the "Ulica" association
associated with the Rozbrat collective, applied to Jaskowiak for honest representation of
the Treasury and the fight against wild reprivatization. The President replied briefly
that he would look at the matter. After two years of silence, in February 2019, WSL
applied to the president for information about the steps he had taken in this matter since
2014. Until today, Jaskowiak did not give the WSL any answer.
Silence of Jaskowiak towards a specific fight for public property and the green part of
Poznan dangerously misses the pro-social visions of "Green Cities of the Future".
Therefore, we demand: enough PR, time of action!!! We demand that President Jaskowiak stop
the next cycle of public reprivatization, the green plot, and protect it against concreting.
We demand from President Jacek Jaskowiak:
Stop another cycle of wild reprivatization of the green wedge,
Sue Darex sp. Z o. O. To remove it from the land and mortgage register for the benefit of
the state treasury.
Collective Rozbrat
Anarchist Federation - Poznan section
------------------------------
Message: 6
Today is the polling day for the European Elections. Whilst voting is a tactic employed by
many people, including, even, some anarchists, to 'steer the course' of our society, we
cannot be under the illusion that voting will result in any significant, positive changes
in our society. The changes that are desired by the people must be brought about by the
people via direct action and community organising. Voting Labour will not "defeat the far
right", as Corbyn has claimed, and voting for the Green Party will not save the
environment. Voting in this false democracy can be a tactic, but it can never be a
solution. ---- As has been demonstrated recently, a few, tossed milkshakes have done far
more to undermine the appearance of the far-right than any bureaucratic political party.
Direct action is an effective and necessary tool in any radical struggle; why rely on
ineffectual politicians to improve a situation when you and a group of comrades, working
together under principles that reject oppressive hierarchies and promote solidarity, could
do much better? You don't need them; start planning, and act now!
------------------------------
Message: 7
As our dispute with CJ Barbers, which owes one of our members two months in unpaid wages,
continues, and the owners still refuse to negotiate (we emailed them on May 4th, offering
negotiations: they didn't reply), the son of one of the owners is publicly saying that
they intend to illegally send images and personal details of the worker to "every business
in Brighton". ---- Kevin Karam, the son of Hamid Karam, has made multiple long and
rambling posts about us on Facebook, calling SolFed a "gang", making wildly contradictory
statements about the worker's status at CJ Barbers, referring to SolFed in general as a
"bunch of benefit losers", etc. It's nothing particularly remarkable - the usual smear
campaigns that bosses and their friends try when they are backed into a corner.
However, in recent posts, Mr Karam has threatened that: "We will spread every single
picture of this person to all businesses in Brighton to ensure they protect themselves
from being a target".
As well as being a flagrant violation of both GDPR and the Employment Relations Act, such
an act of intimidation of a worker demanding that the get paid for work they did shows the
lengths that bosses will go to to avoid paying workers for their labour.
However, some of the comments that Mr Karam has made go even further. On one post dated
4th May 2019, a friend of Mr Karam's, Alexander Hole, advises Mr Karam to:
"Register[the SolFed member's]name as a domain. Use a service outside the EU for the
domain registrar. Then register the hosting in one of the Stan's. little Wordpress site -
make sure he sees it by creating a twitter and Facebook account from the email address
associated with the domain.
Once you've got a good picture and his address I'd get a load of flyers printed suggesting
he has a history of sexual deviant/molesting/flashing etc and then I'd post them through
his neighbours doors. Maybe make the photo look like an efit image then put it up in his
local newsagent."
Rather than challenging this outrageous suggestion, Mr Karam thanked Mr Hole for his
comment. He then, further down the comment chain, proceeding to post pictures of the
worker as an attempt to out him as a union member.
Of course, these threats will not work, and ultimately serve to further discredit this
already disreputable outfit. SolFed and our member will not give in to this kind of
intimidation, and our campaign will continue until CJ Barbers pays their former worker
what he is owed.
http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/cj-barbers-dispute-business-threatens-to-blacklist-solfed-member
------------------------------
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