Today's Topics:
1. Czech, AFED: Spring AF Congress - Report on the regular
meeting of members of the Anarchist Federation
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Manifesto of the UCL - Against state socialism (fr,
it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Britain, anarchist communist group ACG: Hong Kong:
Government uses Triad gangs to attack demonstrators
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Spain, CNT-AIT: New Labor Conflict with Plan International
Espana (it, ca) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, AFED, organise magazine: A Guide To Binding |
Knowledge (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Ireland, derry anarchists: International Week of Solidarity
With Anarchist Prisoners 2019 // 23 - 30 August
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. France, Alternative Libertaire AL #296 - Sudan: The
Petromarchies Telegraph the Counter-Revolution (fr, it,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Berlin fau: Two victories in a row (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
At the turn of May and June, this time a regular federal congress took place in Brno,
where almost all regions (except those affected at the last moment by the light catarrh of
the upper respiratory tract) were represented. The agenda included the usual agenda, ie a
summary of the activities since the last congress and action planning, as well as a common
entertainment involving movement and sitting. ---- Concerning the activities of local and
working groups, the recapitulation has shown the continuing condition of the Anarchist
Federation, and in particular the growing share of individual participation in various
events when their topic resonates with anarchist attitudes. Among other things,
excellently organized the federal solidarity projection tour to help the prosecuted
anarchists and anti-fascists from Russia, which has not yet ended. Interestingly, the
cultural framework of AF activities has also developed, which will also include visual
arts in the future. The activities of the AF publishing house and its book novelties this
year have been acknowledged. There was also an award for this year's Anarchist Book
Festival, which was both organizationally successful and above average in terms of
interest in the new publications of the Anarchist Federation. The subversive distribution
group also took the opportunity of being in Brno to supplement the local independent
library with titles from the AF publishing house that had not yet been included in its
catalog. At the same time, Peter Gelderloos' autumn lecture tour was planned in advance.
The Anarchist Federation is simply a versatile organizational platform.
Even free time during the congress was filled with the most impulsive. We saw the
traditional beer run and the surreal children's day, visited the proletarian and "better"
neighborhoods, climbed to the workers' strike memorial, ignited the night
pre-revolutionary campfire and listened to the murmur of the sea and cicadas. Brno offers
all this and much more, although BIS agents would probably deny it in their quarterly
report, because they simply have another timekeeping prescribed for him.
Still full of impressions, plans and excellent mushroom goulash (with olives) we were
looking forward to the next congress. Surely there is a similarly stimulating atmosphere
that we all love so much in our favorite federation.
https://www.afed.cz/text/7006/jarni-sjezd-af
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Message: 2
The record of state socialism, in its various forms, is globally negative. Historically,
state socialism has served as a weapon against the socialism developed by the workers:
crisis management by social democracy, building a "patriotic" capitalism by leftist
nationalism and a bureaucratic capitalism by Leninism, then Stalinism and Maoism. ----
Lenin's authoritarian ideas made possible the monopolization of power by Stalin. ----If
these regimes were able, during a period, to orchestrate social reforms, they did so
without ever breaking with the capitalist relations of production, nor with the directing
hierarchies. ---- They did this by repressing or domesticating independent social
movements, not hesitating in certain periods to endorse an overtly counter-revolutionary
role (Germany 1918-1919, Russia 1918-1921, Spain 1937-1939, Hungary 1956 , Algeria 1965,
Czechoslovakia 1968, Poland 1980 ...).
In so doing, they stifled the political capabilities of the proletariat and subsequently
facilitated the return of the traditional bourgeoisie to power.
Social democracy
François Hollande, French President (2012-2017) and perfect representative of a social
democratic policy.
Abaca
Social democracy is based on the illusion of a "neutral" state above classes, and
therefore returnable in favor of exploited interests.
There is a double deception here: on the one hand, the promise of directing the state
against capitalist interests ; on the other hand, the promise of a progressive
transformation of society, peaceful and legal, reformist, by laws and decrees, from
capitalism to socialism.
It follows a political strategy inscribed in the institutions of capitalism, respectful of
them. Social democracy - in its socialist, laborist or environmentalist variants - is
above all a statist socialism, based on the delegation of power, benefiting politicians
and the ruling, bureaucratic classes.
During the XX thcentury, the accession to power of social democracy could match some
social advances. But these conquests are the fruit of the struggles at the base. The role
played by social democracy, the agent of the ruling classes, is then to put an end to
these struggles by satisfying some of their claims before they expand too much and
question the foundations of the capitalist system. When there are no struggles, the ruling
Social Democrats do not get any concessions and even participate in destroying what has
been conquered.
The balance of social democracy is disastrous for the proletariat. Establishment of
"social peace" where workers lose their capacity for resistance, submission of labor
organizations and the social movement to the electoral calendar or that of government
policy when the left is in power.
In the end, trapped in the management of capitalism, social democracy has always ended up
adopting codes and ideology.
Left nationalisms
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela (1999-2013) and inventor of an alleged "Bolivarian
socialism".
Governments sometimes claim to oppose capitalism in the name of "homeland". Nasserism in
Egypt, Peronism in Argentina or Chavism in Venezuela were thus able to claim a form of
socialism by nationalizing key sectors of the economy and improving the situation of the
poor classes.
However, the real ambition of left-wing nationalists is to shape a national capitalism,
associated with a strong state led by a charismatic leader, hand in hand with patriotic
bosses, and putting social movements under guardianship.
Historically, the left-wing nationalist regimes have created a bureaucratic class and a
possessing class that, far from working in the interest of "homeland", have always ended
up serving their own interests, to the detriment of peoples reduced to the celebration of
the homeland. beneficent leader.
Leninism and Stalinism
Project of a revolutionary transformation of the society under the direction of a leading
party and by the stateization of the whole economy, Leninism also went bankrupt by
despising and fighting the essential of the self-managing and federalist socialism born
within of the proletariat. The record is terrible, and bloody dictatorships tainted the
very word "communism".
History has now demonstrated that the stateization of the means of production does not
imply a break with the capitalist directing-es-directed relationship, but the transition
from a competing capitalism to a capitalism of capitalism. State, with a new exploiting
class at its head.
No party can proclaim itself "the vanguard of the proletariat" and impose its dictatorship
on workers in the name of their emancipation. The centralized and hierarchical form of the
Leninist party, in step with its function of seizing power and grabbing the state
apparatus, leads to tyranny within the organization, to the crushing of the contestation
outside, between the party and the workers, between the party and society.
The party's strategy of taking power also leads to hateful practices in the context of
daily struggles: a pattern of the transmission belt subjecting mass organizations and
unions to party directives, dirigisme in the conduct of struggles, the opportunity
prevails the party's best interests over the necessities of the struggle.
Of course, we do not draw a line of equality between Leninism and Stalinism. The first is
an authoritarian revolutionary trend, while the second is a totalitarian bureaucratic
system. However, both come from Bolshevism, the authoritarian current of socialism. And it
is clear that Leninism has made the bed of this bureaucracy, and that it has opened the
way to crimes against democracy and against the proletariat. These regimes are responsible
for the restoration of capitalism, their ruling classes have generally retained power by
reconverting themselves.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Contre-les-socialismes-d-Etat
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Message: 3
Following a huge demonstration of 430,000 people on Sunday, protestors returning to their
homes on a train were attacked by thugs wielding metal poles and baseball bats resulting
in 45 people injured, one critically. ---- Police stood by whilst the attack went on, let
the gangsters leave and then return for a second attack. A member of the administration,
who is a strong supporter of the regime in Beijing was videoed shaking hands with the
thugs. These attacks appear to have been instigated by the Chinese Communist Party in
conjunction with members of the HK regime. ---- Meanwhile the HK government is proceeding
with plans to pursue 700 demonstrators. ---- The Beijing regime is terrified that these
protests could spread to the mainland and is willing to use brutal violence to stop this,
just as it did at Tienanmen Square 30 years ago, where thousands were slaughtered.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2019/07/26/hong-kong-government-uses-triad-gangs-to-attack-demonstrators/
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Message: 4
The CNT-AIT trade union sections (sections of the International Association of Workers in
Spain) in the Madrid and Granada representative offices of the Plan International Espana
Foundation, as well as the Madrid trade union of education workers and social workers
CNT-AIT and the Granada interprofessional trade union CNT-AIT are fighting against
committed 12 and July 15, the dismissal of its members. ---- These layoffs are aimed at
eliminating the organization of workers, which is seeking more decent working conditions.
A foundation claiming to provide solidarity services and protect human rights is in fact
the most shameless exploiter of labor. Both comrades were fired at the height of the
working day, by telephone, without any prior notice.
On July 15, the trade union delegate CNT-AIT was dismissed in the Plan International
Spania Foundation in Madrid. This dismissal is part of the repression initiated by the
fund's management in November, after the creation of the CNT-AIT section in the Granada
branch, and intensified in April, when the fund dismissed 16 comrades at once, only to
suppress the struggle for labor rights.
In response, on July 21, the union of educators and social workers of CNT-AIT Madrid
organized a picket of the foundation's office, putting forward the following requirements:
reinstatement of the dismissed delegate CNT-AIT; raising the base salary rate for all
employees to 900 euros per month; the termination of the practice of fraudulent labor
contracts and the conclusion of permanent labor contracts with all; exclusion of
discriminatory clauses in contracts that fix minimum standards that employees must comply
with; resignation of the general director of the fund and other officials responsible for
the situation.
Thanks to the picket, the representatives of the trade union achieved a meeting with the
general director of the foundation (before she categorically refused such a meeting) and
handed her demands in writing and verbally. During this meeting, the director and her
entourage made it clear that CNT-AIT was not the same as all other trade unions. CNT does
not collude or sell. And that's why it wins.
Anarcho-syndicalists have already achieved the reinstatement of 16 comrades who were
dismissed in April. And they are firmly committed to reinstateing those who have been
dismissed now and improving working conditions.
Source: http: //elmilicianocnt-aitchiclana.blogspot.com/2019/07/acto-solidario-co ...
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Message: 5
If you have any trans or gender non-conforming friends, you may have already heard about
binding. ---- But what is it and how do you do it safely? ---- Binding, put simply, is the
act of compressing your chest with material to achieve a flatter form, with the intention
of appearing more androgynous or masculine. It is generally associated with assigned
female at birth (AFAB) individuals who have a masculine or androgynous gender expression
as their chest can often get in the way of their gender presentation and cause a lot of
dysphoria. Binding can be an exploration or a step on the way to the more permenent option
of getting top surgery for transmasculine people, or a way for genderfluid and gender non
conforming individuals to be able to adequately express themselves in the moment,
regardless of any wish to change their bodies permenently.
The choice to bind is a personal one, based on individual comfort and circumstances and
it's necessary to add that some people choose to use other methods to hide their chest (or
not). Of course if a trans or non binary person chooses not to bind they are still 100%
valid and it doesn't necessarily correlate that they will have less dysphoria about their
chest either.If someone is unable to bind but still wishes to present a more neutral or
masculine figure, they might choose to layer clothing or wear garmets like sports bras to
give them a flatter form without so much discomfort. Patterned shirts are also good at
camoflaging lumps and bumps!
Either way if you choose to bind, make sure to find the right binder for you and keep to
the safety guidelines outlined in the comic below which was made by Maxwell Hunter for
Transleeds.
Maxwell Hunter is an artist and writer from Leeds who works in a wide range of styles from
realistic portraits to children's book illustrations. A former student of Wakefield
college Max studied video game design with an interest in story development, animation and
concept art. Max draws a lot of inspiration from areas he is passionate about such as
lucid dreaming, mental health and LGBT+ related topics. He has been featured in several
places such as Buzzfeed and Huffington Post and was awarded FTM Magazines Artist of the
Year in 2015 and 2016.
Check out Maxwell's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for more wonderful art.
TransLeeds is a support and advocacy group for transgender identifying people in Leeds and
the surrounding area, as well as their families and friends. We aim to provide practical
help with all stages and aspects of transition. check out their Facebook and Twitter pages
for an array of resources and socials.
http://organisemagazine.org.uk/2019/07/25/a-guide-to-binding-knowledge/
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Message: 6
We are approaching the 7th International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners. For
6 years we've been calling you to show your solidarity with our comrades all around the
world. Trials in Italy, France, Germany, Russia are bringing more and more anarchists into
the mouth of the prison system. ---- It is our duty, of those who stay outside of the
prisons, to help our comrades serve their sentences knowing that they are not left alone
in their struggle. You might not know those people. You might not speak their language and
most probably will never meet them. But through your actions you show that they are
welcomed in this world. Welcomed more than the prison guards and judges. More than
presidents and kings. So let your solidarity pour through the walls of prisons and fight
till everybody is free!
We are eager to hear your stories of actions and events. So send them to
tillallarefree@riseup.net. At the end of the week we will make a summary of those events.
International Week of Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners 2019 // 23 - 30 August
http://derryanarchists.blogspot.com/2019/07/international-week-of-solidarity-with.html
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Message: 7
The bloody repression of June 3 marked a turning point. The upsurge of popular
mobilization has followed a shifting situation. The people mourn their deaths, but
continue to demand the departure of the military junta to the orders of Ryad and Abu
Dhabi. ---- The euphoria is no longer appropriate: the people of Khartoum now know that
the military junta wants to stay at all costs. For the moment, the revolutionary strategy
remains based on peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience. But, as in Syria in 2011,
what will happen if the armed forces engage in new bloodshed ? ---- Sudan is dominated by
an Islamo-militarist oligarchy whose keystone was, for thirty years, General Omar
al-Bashir. Armed arm of the Muslim Brotherhood for ten years, he then emancipated from the
brotherhood to start his own ... and that of the various mafia clans who phagocyted the
state apparatus, enriching through oil exports , gold, but also mercenaries. As a pillar
of Chinafrica, Sudan sends its soldiers to Yemen, where they serve as foot soldiers at the
Emirati and Saudi headquarters, and in Libya, alongside Marshal Haftar, with the support
of the Egyptian sponsor.
The two Sudanese oligarchs who have been most talked about lately are the generals Abdel
Fattah al-Burhane and Mohammed Hamdane Daglo, known as " Hemetti ". The latter led the
famous Jandjaweed militia that " pacified " the Darfur region in 2004-2006 at the cost
of 200,000 dead. Since 2013, the Janjaweed have gained respectability by becoming a
regular corps, earning an official acronym - FSR, for Rapid Support Forces. But they have
not changed their methods: killing, rape, looting.
On April 11, after several weeks of popular protest, Omar al-Bashir was therefore removed
by the army. With other oligarchs, Al-Burhane and Hemetti then formed a military junta ("
transition " of course). The petro-monarchies of the Gulf dubbed them, and gave them the
necessary weapons for a resumption of the situation.
An air of Tahrir
Their problem, indeed, is that the popular uprising does not fall. Weeks after the fall of
El-Bashir, the massive self-organized revolutionary sit-in in Khartoum continued to
attract thousands of people demanding the departure of the junta. A democratic and popular
forum reminiscent of Tahrir Square, Cairo, eight years ago.
In Khartoum, in April 2019, the crowd listens to the speech of Alaa Saleh, a 22-year-old
revolutionary.
cc Lana H. Haroun
The power has therefore tried to finish. On May 31, he set up a counter-revolutionary
demonstration. Thousands of local villagers were transported to Khartoum by bus. They are
paraded by shouting " Power to Islam ! Power to the army ! Brandishing portraits of
Hemetti and Al-Burhane.
On June 3, the FSRs went into action, devastating the sit-in in a riot of violence - more
than a hundred dead. The previously relatively untouched population of the capital has
suddenly uncovered a tiny fraction of the barbarity that the Sudanese state was capable of
in the " uncivilized " outlying areas of Darfur and Southern Sudan.
After this shock, the associations that lead the fight started a general strike that
lasted three days. The Janjawid, they, parade armed in the main arteries, but the calm
income is deceptive. Their pick-ups do not penetrate the barren streets of Khartoum
neighborhood, where they are hated, and where protest rallies continue to emerge at night,
a few dozen meters away from the killers.
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Soudan-Les-petromonarchies-teleguident-la-contre-revolution
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Message: 8
With solidarity and support by FAU Berlin, two lengthy work conflicts were ended. ---- In
June 2019, a FAU Berlin member finally obtained their withheld wages from Friedrichshain
cinema "b-ware!"-the end of a three years dispute about the application of the legal
minimum wage, back then 8,84 euros. The cinema only gave in, after the member announced a
lawsuit. ---- Another member obtained the payment of withheld wages. Potsdam labour court
ruled (reference 4 Ca 307/19) the working-time account cannot set against an exemption
time-an according contractual provision, disadvantaging the worker, is declared unlawful
Both of the cases reveal how important struggle in presumably small cases is. It's only in
that way that labour conditions may be changed and employers put in their place.
(For more detailed information, please see the German article.
https://berlin.fau.org/news/zwei-erfolge-nacheinander)
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