Today's Topics:
1. anarkismo.net: Class struggle, the Left and power - Part 2
by Jonathan Payn - ZACF (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #297 - United States
LGBTI-phobias: when the law excuses murder (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. Britain, Class War: 'NOW I AM BECOME DEATH'
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Poland, Workers Initiative: Construction industry: People
first then profits! Enough to save on OHS! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Britain, London Anarchist Communist Group - This Land is
Ours: The Fight for Land Justice (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Britain, Anarchist Federation, Bookfair 2020 -- Statement
regarding our communication with the LABC (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #297 - Bachelor's
degree 2019: strike with mention (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
ILRIG Workers' World News education series - Part 2 ---- The first part of this series
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/3146 stated that, despite various well-intentioned
efforts by forces on the extra-Alliance and independent left over recent years to unite
working class struggles in South Africa, these largely have and will continue to fail to
resonate with the working class, help build unity in struggle and form the basis of a new
movement because of the theoretical understandings of class and power - and their
strategic implications - on which they are founded and which are prevalent on much of the
left. ---- This article will give a basic overview of these theoretical understandings of
class and power and their strategic implications and limitations and why it is therefore
necessary to refine and develop understandings of class and power more capable of
responding to the context of the neoliberal restructuring of the working class in order to
advance the class struggle in pursuit of socialism.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NUMSA'S NON-MOMENT
The strategic approach that Numsa's bureaucracy and permanent leaders have taken since its
2013 Special National Congress, from calling for the launch of a "United Front against to
neoliberalism", exploring "the establishment of a Movement for Socialism" to the launch of
the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) is, like Cosatu and the SACP, informed by
its class analysis. In fact, it is informed by the same class analysis.
According to this analysis capitalism is a class society in which the ruling class
minority (bourgeoisie) exploits the working class majority (proletariat) in order to
extract a profit (surplus value) to become even more rich and powerful. It is able to do
this because it holds private ownership of the means of production (factories, land, mines
etc.), which is legally recognised and protected by the state. Because the working class
owns nothing - due to "primitive accumulation" (e.g. colonialism, dispossession of land
and the means of production from the direct producers) - workers are force to sell their
labour in exchange for a wage in order to buy the goods they need to survive (commodities)
on the market. Class is defined primarily in terms of one's relations to the means of
production: the ruling class owns the means of production but doesn't do productive work,
the working class sells its labour for a wage at the point of production but doesn't own it.
This, inevitably, gives rise to the class struggle for greater economic gains and an
extension of rights and freedoms, in which the (permanently employed) industrial
proletariat is identified as the only revolutionary subject because of its location at the
point of production (factories, mines) and, therefore, its ability to withdraw its labour
by going on strike. Because they are not considered to have the potential to be
revolutionary other sectors of the working class, such as the peasantry (small farmers and
rural workers) and "lumpen proletariat" (the unemployed, people working in the informal
economy etc.), are typically ignored. Something which might help explain why, despite all
their lip service to the contrary, all the major unions - whether Cosatu, Saftu or others
- have by and large not only failed but never seriously tried to organise precarious
labour broker, casual and short-term contract workers.
However, according to this theory the working class, including the revolutionary subject
(industrial workers), is struggling so much just to survive that they cannot develop a
revolutionary consciousness and their demands and struggles are only centred around
so-called bread and butter issues. Because the working class is only capable of reaching
this, what Lenin called "trade union consciousness" it needs to be led by a political
vanguard of so-called revolutionaries organised in the form of a political party that
seeks state power in order to implement socialism through the state.
Sectors of the working class outside of the permanently employed industrial proletariat
are not only ignored or dismissed for not being revolutionary but even looked down on with
disdain by this self-declared revolutionary vanguard - which might explain both the Numsa
leadership's reference to community struggles as "leaderless and disorganised" and the
heckling by Numsa delegates to the Working Class Summit when, for example, unemployed
community activists and farmworkers expressed different opinions.
STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS & LIMITATIONS THEREOF
As stated, the ruling class minority is able to get away with this situation of
exploitation and injustice with the help of the state. The state, according to this
analysis, is a neutral institution that can function in the interests of the working class
or ruling class depending on what forces are in control of state power. Because the state
is understood to be neutral state power is therefore something that, if under the control
of a socialist or workers' party, can be used in the interests of the working class and in
pursuit of socialism.
The implication of this analysis, besides overlooking the creative revolutionary potential
of the vast majority of the working class, is that the building of a political party to
contest state power is both necessary and inevitable. This can either be done by
contesting elections (reformist socialism) or an armed uprising (revolutionary socialism).
Because, again according to this analysis, the broader working class is supposedly
incapable of being revolutionary and therefore requires an enlightened revolutionary
vanguard to take control of the state and implement socialism from above; and because
power is seen to lie primarily in the state and as something to be "seized" or "taken"
so-called mass movements, such as unions, social movements and the United Front, are but a
means to an end. That end is to build support for the party and help get it into state
power - either by voting or through revolution.
However, because the state by its nature is an authoritarian and hierarchical institution
that centralises decision-making and other power, which flows from the top down, so too
does every political party whose aim it is to gain state power replicate this structure.
Moreover, because the leaderships thereof - including socialist and workers' parties -
inherit the privileges and power of the predecessors they dispose of, instead of
destroying exploitative class relations they tend to and have, historically, simply
reproduced them in the name of the workers and poor.
The next installation in this education series will look at a more nuanced theoretical
understanding of class and power and the strategic implications thereof for building
working class unity in struggle that offer an alternative to the tried, tested and
consistently disappointing state-centric one on which the SRWP and much of the left is based.
This article first appeared in issue 113 of Workers World News, produced by the
International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG)
Related Link: http://zabalaza.net
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/3146
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/31540
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Message: 2
In the United States, a large majority of states recognize a criminal's defense of having
learned about the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity: this is " gay and trans
panic defense " ... ---- In January, Trump decided to ban access to the military for
transgender people. Even if the idea of fighting in the colors of the United States (or
any other state and imperialist colors for that matter) is foreign to libertarian ideas,
this gesture nevertheless constitutes a worrying signal in terms of progress for the
rights of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex). ---- Already postponed
for the first time in January 2018, the authorization to integrate the army for the trans
people was canceled on the pretext of the " high medical cost " of the consequences of the
sexual reassignment operations ... even as the budget of the army US exceeds $ 600 billion
a year !
Trump is only the tip of the iceberg LGBTIphobe
In late August, the President of the United States reoffended by saying he wanted to allow
bosses to dismiss their employees because of their transidentity. The Department of
Justice has taken the Supreme Court (the highest sphere of the US judicial system) to
review the 1964 Sex Discrimination Act, claiming that it is " biological sex " , as if sex
was not already a social construct.
In the United States, the rights of LGBTI people are very fragile and many fights have yet
to be fought. Trump is only the tip of the homophobic and transphobic iceberg. For proof:
in most of the states that make up this country, it is still possible to invoke a "
disorder " as a defense to a crime committed after learning about the sexual orientation
or gender identity of the victim . This so-called disorder is named " gay and trans panic
disorder " .
Although removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM),
which is the reference work published by the American Association of Psychiatry, the gay
and trans panic disorder is still used in legal defenses, to come to the rescue of
transphobic or homophobic murderers. Murder is only the most brutal expression of the
daily oppression of LGBTI people in all spheres of society.
It was only in 2014 that things began to change, when California banned this defense for
the first time. In June 2019, the states of Connecticut and New York joined California,
Illinois, Rhode Island, Nevada, Maine, and Hawaii among the states banning gay and trans
panic defense .
There are still 42 states in the country where this defense is considered legitimate and
can drastically reduce the penalty for one of these hate crimes.
Ov (UCL sympathizer)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Etats-Unis-LGBTI-phobies-quand-la-loi-excuse-le-meurtre
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Message: 3
BY ABROGATING TO HIMSELF THE POWER OF DEATH BY BREXIT REES-MOGG HAS BECOME THAT WICH WE
CAN NOT UNDERSTAND.
IT IS A JOKE ISN'T IT..........UNTIL THE FOOD AND MEDICINE SHORTAGES BEGIN........THEN
THERE WILL BE A WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH....SUCH AS ONLY MAD MARTIN COULD ENVISAGE
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Message: 4
On Thursday, September 12 at At 16:00 at the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy
(ul. Nowogrodzka 1/3/5) a press conference of the Warsaw Inter-Enterprise Construction
Committee OZZ IP will take place. The conference will present information on the main
problems related to compliance with health and safety at work on construction sites and
the Commission's planned actions to increase safety in the construction industry.
http://ozzip.pl/teksty/informacje/mazowieckie/item/2512-branza-budowlana-najpierw-ludzie-potem-zyski
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Message: 5
Thursday September 26 @ 7:00 pm - Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX | ----
Land, if we define it to include all physical resources such as water, air and what lies
beneath the ground, is the source of all wealth and our very existence. However, what
should belong to all of us has been taken from us and concentrated in the hands of a small
minority so that they own the land, decide its use (usually to profit themselves) and
control access to the benefits. All our struggles, whether for housing, community centres,
and good, cheap food or against climate change are struggles over how land is used and who
makes the decisions. ---- There has been a tradition of fighting for the land in Britain,
most recently in the Scottish movement for land reform. People are beginning to question
the idea of private property and moving to more radical ideas such as the land being a
Commons- owned and controlled by us all. This talk will first look at the question of who
owns and controls the land in Britain (using material from the work of Andy Wightman on
land ownership in Scotland and Guy Shrubsole's new book- Who Owns England), consider what
is being done in Scotland and elsewhere, and then open the discussion on what changes we
would like to see.
This meeting is organised by the Anarchist Communist Group at anarchistcommunism.org
For information on land see: the Anarchist Communist Group's pamphlet Land and Liberty
-available from all good radical bookshops.
https://www.facebook.com/London-Anarchist-Communist-Group-327083614543678
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Message: 6
In June 2019, the Bookfair 2020 collective reached out to the London Anarchist Bookfair
Collective seeking their support of our event. This happened following a good few weeks of
deliberations over if we really want to do a bookfair in London. Seeing that the LABC had
not put on a bookfair for two years, we decided to reach out to them, hoping for a
transition of their resources, namely the website, social media accounts and whatever
funds they had left over from the last bookfair they organised in 2017. ---- In early
July, a Bookfair 2020 collective member met a member of the LABC for an informal chat in
order to update them on our plans. This meeting went in a friendly manner. The LABC member
agreed to pass on our statement and the request for resources to the rest of the
collective and update us on the outcome. We noted to them that we were not asking for
permission to organise an Anarchist bookfair in London, but merely wanted to know if they
would be happy to pass on their resources to the new crew wanting to organise this event.
Shortly after that meeting, we sent out our statement of intent to organise the next
Bookfair 2020 event to that collective member, and they forwarded it to the rest of the
LABC. In the meantime, we kept ourselves busy with preparations to announce Bookfair 2020.
At some point, another LABC member reached out, informing us that they did receive our
request and would be discussing it in the near future. We responded with an email saying
that while we were waiting for their, hopefully positive, response, we would carry on as
scheduled. At this point, we were already busy with reaching out to groups and had a venue
booked for our first meeting, and since the questions to LABC were not regarding whether
we would organise this event, we decided to carry on.
Finally, the response from the LABC came in on the 11th of August.
Their email informed us that they would not "endorse an event involving banning of
individuals (except for known cops and fascists) and of discussion around certain areas".
They also told us that they would maintain control of the London Anarchist Bookfair's
social media and webspace and that the LABC would limit support to a donation of £1000 for
the purpose of "accessibility around child care, mobility and disability and trying to
engage more people of colour".
The following is our response as sent on the 7th of September.
Dear LABC
We are disheartened by the collective's inability to endorse Bookfair2020 due to our zero
tolerance approach to bigotry and aim to provide a safer space for all our comrades. This
policy is something we share with every other Anarchist and Radical Bookfair in the UK.
Anarchist events should be bastions for the vulnerable and oppressed, and we will not
taint that with even the slightest welcome for those who base their politics on hate.
You are welcome to donate to Bookfair2020 however you see fit.
However, we have concerns about the pool of funding remaining which was donated and raised
by people and groups for the purpose of holding events and strengthening the Anarchist
movement. While it is clear that you have decided you will not endorse Bookfair2020, we
believe the funds that you are withholding should go towards helping improve and
strengthen other areas of anarchist struggle. This money should not be left sitting in a
bank account and it would be better to see it in circulation. We recommend transparency
for the funds you currently have access to, and for you to donate them to a group like The
Outsiders Project or Streets Kitchen.
For our part we have agreed to put in place a plan for forwarding residue finances and
where appropriate, make our ongoing accounts transparent and accessible.
Regarding the social media accounts and website; we're not sure what the purpose is of
withholding these is. We would ask that you deactivate them or at least include a
prominent re-direction notice as they will serve no purpose other than to confuse people
looking for info on the Anarchist Bookfair in 2020.
Regards
The Bookfair 2020 Collective
https://bookfair2020.org.uk/2019/09/07/statement-regarding-our-communication-with-the-labc/
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Message: 7
The 2019 edition of the baccalaureate will remain in the annals. For the first time since
1968, a strike has seriously disturbed it, forcing the Rue de Grenelle to exceptional
measures. Return on two weeks which made vacillate the Ministry of National Education.
---- The spring of 2019 will have finally sounded the end of the state of grace for
Jean-Michel Blanquer at the Ministry of Education. Rare government minister to be both
political end and competent in his field, he never misses an opportunity to defend, in the
media, his educational project that would be guided solely by the interest of students and
teachers. ---- In 2018, the mobilization against the reform of the high school had not
taken. However, the teacher unease was omnipresent on social networks: " red pens ",
success of the hashtag #Pasdewaves, etc. Then his reform " For a school of trust " set
fire to powder in the 1st degree. The teachers of the schools took to the streets in
numbers, the parents occupied the schools, the banners flourished on their pediments. And
Blanquer had to back down on certain provisions.
A first corner was broken, while a wind of protest blew against the reforms of the general
and technological high school (which will reinforce the phenomena of social selection) and
that of the vocational high school (which reduces the lessons of the common base).
With the sense of uselessness of the isolated strike days, a small music was heard, even
among the less militant colleagues: it was necessary to use the lever of the tray. An
inter-union CGT-SUD-FSU-SNALC-CGC has therefore dared to call the strike on June 17, the
first day of the bac exams. Suddenly, the pressure has gone up a notch !
The ministry indicated that all means would be implemented to ensure the holding of the
tests. The institutions recruited individual contractors, mobilized all their staff,
sometimes grouped the candidates in the refectory to save supervisors. On the evening of
the first day, Blanquer was wearing a shirt: the tests had been held despite the boycott,
at the cost of handicrafts and malfunctions. The same day, the inter-union showered him by
asking him to negotiate, on pain of a continuation of the action. Because after the tests,
there is a crucial step: the correction of the copies.
Counter-attack on the correction
And indeed, the following days, the meetings of correctors and correctives often
transferred to the general assembly. Philo teachers from several academies went on strike
on the day of the return of the copies. In a dozen academies, other subjects have followed
suit. At the Paris Labor Exchange, several hundred teachers voted to strike. The symbolic
figure of 100,000 copies was quickly exceeded.
The minister then alternated reassuring messages towards families and threats against
strikers (disciplinary and criminal sanctions, withdrawal of fifteen days of wages ...).
Nothing to do, they and they stood firm. The unions, denying the ministry, confirmed the
legality of the action. On the morning of the publication of the results, the copies still
not being there ... order was given to invent notes ! Non-striking teachers then deserted
the jury, despite the threats, refusing to participate in this masquerade.
Finally, the general assemblies voted the end of the strike and the return of the copies.
But the 2019 ferry will have been badly disrupted, in all its sectors: correction centers
of the agricultural ferry had to be released by the gendarmes, there were more than 50 %
of strikers in some correction centers of the baccalaureate pro, the real results of the
general bac could not be published on the planned date ...
The reforms will start in September and it is likely that the mobilization will continue,
extending to the colleagues who will experience the concrete effects. Not to mention the
pension reform, which will hit teachers hard. The summer of 2019 will have recalled that
collective action, decided collectively, makes it possible to establish a balance of
power. And that's the kind of reflexes that's always good to have.
Aurélien (UCL Greater Paris South)
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Baccalaureat-2019-greve-avec-mention
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