Today's Topics:
1. IFA Congress work-group on migration & borders - Summary of
the work-group on migrations and borders(ca, it)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Britain, afed: Fascist Foot in the Door of Squats
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. France, Union Communiste Libertaire - UCL release, Greece:
the government attacks the rebel Exarcheia neighborhood in Athens
(fr, it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Union Communiste Libertaire - UCL release, Greece:
the government attacks the rebel Exarcheia neighborhood in Athens
(fr, it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. ait russia: Picket against evictions of residents in Warsaw
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Czech, afed: Hands off the Amazon -- Report of protest for
saving Amazon forest [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. north east anarchist group: Johnson Prorogue's Parliament: A
Very British Coup? BY DUMPSTER FLOWER (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Those who were part of the debate were comrades part of FAIb, FAIt, FAO, FA, AF, FLA,
IFA-Brazil, APO, El Libertario ---- The main points that arose were as follows: ---- War,
climate change and poverty have triggered and continue to trigger massive migratory
movements from the most exploited, oppressed and plundered areas of the world, towards the
economically richer ones. ---- Migratory movements have triggered a process of
"globalisation of poverty", that has been encouraged by the interests of capitalists and
supported by states. Because of national laws against migration, it is typically hard, if
not impossible, for a poor person to enter a rich country legall, so that migrants who
reside in them are constantly blackmailed. For this reason it is easier to impose worse
working conditions compared to those of local workers, removing the rights and protections
that have been won for all workers in many countries of the world.
Migrant workers have assured great profits for employers in the agriculatural (fruit and
vegetable) sector, in the logistics and care-work sector and in the construction sector
(hard and dangerous work). Both legal and illegal capitalism has greatly benefitted from
their exploitation. States and capitalist interests have always been selective about
approach to borders and migration. However, some states which have previously encouraged
migration for economic gain are now opposing new external and internal migrations,
appealing to xenophobia, racism and fear of the poor.
Strongly patriotic and nationalist groups, characterized by highly reactive and
reactionary positions, have prevailed in several global areas, for example in South
America as well as in the North and in the major part of Europe. As life conditions of all
exploited people become worse in every corner of the planet, excluded identities are
increasingly emerging, turning migrants into the enemy, so that the class war becomes a
war amongst the poor. Only class solidarity amongst exploited people can create a conflict
capable of overthrowing the existing situation.
Along each and every border a war is being fought against people who are on the move.
During this war, thousands of people have died, including many children, and they continue
to die. Borders stay open for goods and those who have money, yet are closed for migrants.
Fascists often offer themselves as a volunteer force to aid police repression. The number
of walls is increasing and the systems of control are intensifying, so that social space
is becoming more and more militarized. Electronic IDs, collection of biometric data,
massive use of drones and thermal cameras are just some of the instruments adopted for the
control and the repression of migrants. Structures being put into place on borders against
migration are aiming to obtain the support of local populations (bringing them into the
‘police discourse'). Indigenous populations and oppressed ethnic groups of people are
moving from peripheral and rural areas towards the larger metropolises (internal
migration) to escape poverty and are suffering the same violence and discrimination as
migrants. The transformation of the ‘migrant' category into ‘enemy' helps and facilitates
states to impose security laws, threatening the freedom of all.
Many governments externalise the repression for undocumented people, giving money to other
states along the different points of migration routes, where violence, rape and torture
have become dreadfully common. So the European Union has paid Turkey, Italy is paying
Libya and the USA is blackmailing Mexico. Many states are making deals in order to reject
huge numbers of people, so that they cannot successful gain or apply for asylum. Others
have abolished humanitarian and other forms of protection.
Gender related issues are a major concern. Women are often subjected to abuses by the
police and are seperated from children and families. Women and LGBTQIA+ people are
detained in detention camps on the borders and are also deported back to countries where
they are in danger of harm.
Detention centres for migrants who are waiting to be removed are true prisons in which
they are confined without any charges or trial. These centres represent a strong
demarcation line between those who have ‘citizen' rights and those who do not. In recent
years the struggle against detention centres for the paperless (sans papiers) has seen
many anarchists involved, alongside migrants, whose struggling, rioting and escaping has
showed that there is no cage that can contain the irrepressible desire for freedom.
In every corner of the globe in recent years democracy has been showing its true face,
setting up in practice ‘criminal and administrative law of the enemy'. Poor and migrants
alike are targets: they are enduring serious deprivations precisely because they're poor
and migrant.
We strongly believe it is necessary to create a stronger network for mutual support in the
struggle against borders, deportations and detention centres. In order to achieve this, we
wish for a continuous exchange of information, formation of stronger links between
Federations of nearby countries and planning of meetings along borders, in the expectation
that these can be places of struggle and sharing.
In addition, we hope that a common campaign will be realised, alongside the need for
support of events in specific countries.
To develop and deepen the discussion and analysis, we propose a future international
meeting of IFA about migration and we believe this will encourage us to meet in border
areas for concrete solidarity actions.
Against every state, every border, and for the free movement of all!
http://www.i-f-a.org.gridhosted.co.uk/2019/08/28/ifa-congress-work-group-on-migration-borders-english-italian-spanish/
------------------------------
Message: 2
An article from an AFed member who spends much of their time in Greece supporting migrant
families. ---- At 5am Monday morning, four squats in Exarchia, Athens were stormed by
police wearing riot gear. Exarchia is a small area in central Athens which has been home
to squats as well as a well known Anarchist community. ---- 143 people, mainly women with
children, were taken to police stations in buses and held there. After 6 hours they were
given 500mls of water and a small bowl of pasta. The last time a squat was evicted like
this, a woman miscarried her baby as a direct result of the stress. Up until now we
haven't heard of any issues like this but the stress on top of existing PTSD is horrendous.
Greek police on the streets of Athens
Many of the migrants evicted have now been taken to closed camps. Not only have they had
their freedom and safety taken away, but they wern't given the time to collect even basic
possessions. Children's toys, essential items like baby formulae and medication have been
left behind. The closed camps offer no guarantee there will even be places sterilise
bottles. Illness has spread quickly in many of the Greek refugee camps due to cramped and
unsanitary conditions, these are a potentially dangerous environment for babies, young
children, and vulnerable adults.
This assault by the police is the action of the recently elected New Democracy government,
while its leader Mitsoitakis is at G8 summit. The Stelios Petas, government spokesman
referred to the operation as a vacuuming of the dust of the area.
Clothes and blankets dumped on the street, anarchist squatters rounded up to police
stations, and anyone suspected of not being a citizen taken away to camps.
This reference to human beings, fleeing from Syria, Afghanistan and the like, as less than
human is the typical fascist use of dehumanising language. Golden Dawn in uniform! After
the evictions were over, the police stood around, chatting and drinking coffee. When you
take a person and train them in this way, they lose any connection to the things they do.
People's only belongings are on the streets. Mattresses and bedding, soft toys and books.
All the stuff of life that homeless people manage to gather to create some way of living
has been trashed.
The timing of this assault and eviction comes before the universities return and while
most people leave Athens due to the heat. It isn't surprising at all.
The ND government, in the run up to the elections, promised closed camps for refugees.
Independent organisations are poised, waiting for families to be released. This may not
happen. They may end up in concentration camps, miles from anywhere, left to rot.
http://afed.org.uk/fascist-foot-in-the-door-of-squats
------------------------------
Message: 3
For decades, Exarcheia has been a separate neighborhood in Athens: the Mecca of the
anarchist movement ; popular and resistant to gentrification ; welcoming to migrant women
and migrants. For all these reasons, the power wants its loss. He just went on the attack.
---- Elected in early July, the new right-wing government in Greece, led by Kiriakos
Mitsotakis, had a clearly repressive program against migration and against the anarchist
movement, a major player in solidarity in Greece. He now goes on the offensive. ----
Monday, July 26, from 6 am, a huge contingent of different police units (anti-riot,
voltigeurs, intelligence, anti-terrorist ...) has gathered around the Exarcheia
neighborhood and closed the streets nearby. This Monday, at least four occupations were
targeted by this police operation. Street Spiro Trikoupi, two occupations that housed
people exiled from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Turkey were evacuated and walled
in the wake. 143 people were arrested, including 35 minors, including babies. All these
people were taken to a prison for migrants, supposedly to check their administrative
situation. We do not know, for the moment, what will happen to these people.
At the same time, the police raided two anarchist squats in the neighborhood, GARE and
ex-squat Rosa de Foc. While this last building was empty, they stopped at GARE three
comrades including two Greek and a French of 65 years. While the government and the Greek
bourgeois media persist in assimilating anarchist, migrant and narcotrafic movement to
Exarchia, the searches only allowed the seizure of ... a computer and a mask. Several
comrades also report unceasing controls and police violence for several days.
The declared goal of the government is to expel al
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Grece-le-pouvoir-s-en-prend-au-quartier-rebelle-d-Exarcheia-a-Athenes
------------------------------
Message: 4
For decades, Exarcheia has been a separate neighborhood in Athens: the Mecca of the
anarchist movement ; popular and resistant to gentrification ; welcoming to migrant women
and migrants. For all these reasons, the power wants its loss. He just went on the attack.
---- Elected in early July, the new right-wing government in Greece, led by Kiriakos
Mitsotakis, had a clearly repressive program against migration and against the anarchist
movement, a major player in solidarity in Greece. He now goes on the offensive. ----
Monday, July 26, from 6 am, a huge contingent of different police units (anti-riot,
voltigeurs, intelligence, anti-terrorist ...) has gathered around the Exarcheia
neighborhood and closed the streets nearby. This Monday, at least four occupations were
targeted by this police operation. Street Spiro Trikoupi, two occupations that housed
people exiled from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Turkey were evacuated and walled
in the wake. 143 people were arrested, including 35 minors, including babies. All these
people were taken to a prison for migrants, supposedly to check their administrative
situation. We do not know, for the moment, what will happen to these people.
At the same time, the police raided two anarchist squats in the neighborhood, GARE and
ex-squat Rosa de Foc. While this last building was empty, they stopped at GARE three
comrades including two Greek and a French of 65 years. While the government and the Greek
bourgeois media persist in assimilating anarchist, migrant and narcotrafic movement to
Exarchia, the searches only allowed the seizure of ... a computer and a mask. Several
comrades also report unceasing controls and police violence for several days.
The declared goal of the government is to expel al
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Grece-le-pouvoir-s-en-prend-au-quartier-rebelle-d-Exarcheia-a-Athenes
------------------------------
Message: 5
On August 23, the Residents Rights Protection Committee (KOL), which works closely with
the Union of Polish Syndicalists (ZSP, section of the International Workers Association),
held a picket in Warsaw to protest against violations of the social rights of tenants.
Sitting in front of the headquarters of the Warsaw police, the demonstrators raised a
banner: "Mafia, police - one coalition." ---- "Officials often take the side of those who
clean houses," said Jakub Zaczek from KOL. "Unfortunately, such situations arise very
often, and we encounter them. Very often, residents come to our duty and report such
situations. They they feel completely helpless. The police refuse to accept their
complaint ("wild" evictions, approx.) or dismiss the case, saying that everything happened
according to the procedures. "
The action gathered dozens of people and lasted about an hour.
Source: https:
//www.rdc.pl/informacje/warszawa-protest-komitetu-obrony-lokatorow-przeciw-biernosci-mundurowych-przy-eksmisjach/
https://aitrus.info/node/5311
------------------------------
Message: 6
On Tuesday, August 27, a protest action against the policy of Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonar was held in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Panská Street. Similar events took
place all over the world. In the afternoon, several hundred people gathered here,
including the Brazilians, to protest against the inactivity of extinguishing large-scale
fires in the Amazon forest. These fires are related, inter alia, to Bolsonar's intention
to open the Amazon in heavy mining, industry and agriculture, and at the same time
liquidate all institutions and activities to protect these "lungs of the Earth" and its
indigenous peoples. ---- Anarchists and anarchists also took part in the event, and so the
black-red and black-green flags could be seen. There were also other supporters of the
climate justice movement. Many inscriptions in the hands of the protesters, whether in
Czech, English or Portuguese, made it clear that Bolsonaro is an ordinary fascist for the
present, acting primarily in the interests of large capital. The demonstration totally
made it impossible to operate in Panská Street for about an hour, and various slogans were
chanted, such as "Forum Bolsonaro". Surprisingly, the "Burn fascists not trees" banner
with the Bolsonar cartoon, according to its logic calling for violence against the
official, did not arouse interest from the police.
Another event in front of the embassy will take place on Amazon Day on 5 September at 16:30.
https://www.afed.cz/text/7028/ruce-pryc-od-amazonie
------------------------------
Message: 7
Johnson has prorogued parliament, stripping parliamentary oversight at a key moment in
order to force through his damaging no-deal Brexit plan. People across the country are
responding to this with anger, and rightly so, it is an affront to the notion of British
democracy that our legislature should be suspended at a point like this, when so much of
our national fate seems to hang in the balance. Some even go so far as to call this a
coup; but is that what's happening? Is this, as Stephen Fry has called it, a very British
Coup? ---- The answer is no. This is not a coup. But that answer should not put your fears
to rest - rather they should make them worse. While a coup may be a terrifying prospect,
it maintains the comforting idea that we have a functional democracy and that we must, by
our efforts, try and force a return to the normal functioning of our democracy, and strike
out this aberrant deviation. But this idea is a myth - we do not have a fair or functional
democracy, and this is not an aberration to our constitutional settlement, it is simply
business as usual. What it shows is not that our democracy has been disrupted, but just
how paper thin our claims to democracy are in our constitution. Let me try to explain why.
Our Constitution
So firstly to show this is not a coup we have to look at the constitution. The UK does not
have a written constitution, which in itself, is a cause for concern. The way our
constitution works is from sources - this includes common law (the history of legal
judgements at UK courts), statute law (whatever is passed by the legislature) and
conventions and other documents, ranging from rules of parliamentary conduct to the Magna
Carta, all of these amount to a record of the precedents for political action in the UK.
It is also guided by certain principles, the most important of which is generally held to
be Parliamentary Sovereignty, which basically puts statute law, the acts of parliament, in
a position of primacy in our constitution, subordinating both the courts and other
constitutional sources to it. This is one of the reasons we don't really have
constitutional courts in this country that are able to overturn government decisions in
the way they can in places with written constitutions like the US and Canada, and even the
human rights act only allows courts to make recommendations to the government which they
don't have to follow, as we see from the fact they were told prisoners being denied the
vote was against the human rights act in 2004, by the courts, and still have done nothing
about it. This effectively means that if parliament passes something it is de facto
constitutional, as legislation is the primary source of the constitution. So what all this
means is that parliament can do what it likes, even up to overthrowing democracy as
democracy in the UK is only a constitutional right in so far as parliament has legislated
for it, and no new parliament is bound by one before. Our democracy is entirely contingent
on the will of our rulers to continue it.
This clearly shows how the British constitution does not in fact block parliament from,
well, anything. In my view, it is basically an invitation to tyranny by parliament. But, I
hear some of you cry, this is not parliament but the executive, the government, suspending
democracy. So is that not the coup?
Well, this is a debatable point - you could say that by having the sitting days before and
after this closure of parliament, as the Government are arguing, then parliament still has
oversight and can call a vote of no confidence if it likes, and, given that the executive
is drawn from parliament, this basically means parliamentary sovereignty is maintained.
You could also argue this is an overstep by the executive, but the problem is, with an
unwritten constitution, in any unprecedented situation, it's just not clear what the
limits are, so yes this could be debated. But another thing to consider is, given the way
precedent plays into the constitution, if Johnson's government does this and succeeds,
then it is essentially setting a precedent and would therefore be constitutional unless
future legislation outlawed it. Basically in practise this means anything the government
or parliament can get away with basically becomes automatically constitutional.
But I hear you say, that sounds like a ridiculous structure, not the sensible politics of
a fine, upstanding democratic state. And you'd be right. But our system was never intended
to be a fine, upstanding, democratic state.
Our System - A Very Liberal Democracy
Our democracy has been, from the start, constructed not to maximise the rights of the
common people, but to allow them to the minimum degree possible to prevent the population
from rising up. In short, our democracy has never been meant to work for the benefit of
most people.
This is well illustrated by the words of Charles Earl Grey, tea aficionado and celebrated
as the founder of British democracy for his 1836 great reform act - there's even a statue
to him in the middle of my home city of Newcastle. In passing this act however, he made
his intentions clear, when he said:-
"If any persons should suppose that this reform will lead to ulterior measures, they are
mistaken; for there is no one more decided against annual parliaments, universal suffrage,
and the ballot, than I am. My object is not to favour, but to put an end to such hopes and
projects."[EP Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class. P892]
But why would the rulers of our society want to constrain democracy so much? Well
obviously power corrupts, and money too, but there is more to this story than that. The
democracies we practise in most Western countries is what we call liberal democracy.
Liberalism is often hailed as a bastion of human rights, civil liberties and, of course,
democracy. However, if we dig deeper into the philosophical underpinnings of the liberal
system we find for many celebrated liberal thinkers these values can be superseded by
another value, which liberalism places in the highest regard; that of private property,
which foundational Liberal thinker John Locke calls " the end of government, and that for
which men enter into society". But he is not just talking about personal possessions. The
ownership he defends extends to ownership of land and industries far beyond what one
person can work, which needs, therefore, a poorer underclass to be made to work it, so
that the owner can profit from it through their labour. This was used not just to found
the modern industrial society where bosses have dominion over their workers (and we must
note that even though we pay lip service to political democracy, our workplaces, the
institution we often interact with most in our lives, are profoundly undemocratic and
rarely claim to be), but to defend land grabs from native peoples in places like America
and Australia by claiming they had no legal ownership due to their lack of deeds, and even
to the owning of labour itself in the form of slaves, something which Locke himself
personally practised.
This required that the poor be denied full access to economic rights lest they try to
reclaim their fair share of land from the rich, and remember the richest families in the
UK have barely changed in 1000 years
(http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/last-1000-years-families-owned-england/),
so we can hardly call this wealth fairly gained on the owners merits. For this reason the
defense of property, and thereby of capitalism, is acknowledged, by liberal philosophy, to
be at odds with democracy - and so liberal thinkers from John Stuart Mill to Friedrich
Hayek have all discussed how to curtail democracy.
We can see this in the following quote from Mill:
"There is a majority of poor, a minority who, in contradistinction, may be called
rich...[I]s there not a considerable danger lest they[the poor majority]should throw upon
the possessors... and the larger incomes, an unfair share, or even the whole, of the
burden of taxation."
We can see the results of this in the way governments over the last 40 years have
prioritised tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor, resulting in a massively
growing wealth divide in this country, or in how, since the massive growth in state
provision in this country in 1945, much of government action has been aimed not at
building on these systems, but at undermining and dismantling them, privatising
industries, eliminating union rights, and, especially today, trying to undermine the
public support for even the most beloved of social industries, the NHS. Most seriously,
this will to protect private property and the profits of business has left our governments
helpless to take serious steps capable of actually solving an existential threat to our
society; climate change. It is clear any serious action to prevent this catastrophe would
require rapid action against the interests of powerful industries, especially coal and
gas, and, as we see in the weakness of our global response, our liberal, capitalist,
societies have been unable to suspend their desire to defend the profits of the super rich
even when the survival of our societies, if not species, is on the line.
Of course No Deal Brexit does go against the interests of some parts of our capitalist
elite, however, given that the government is clearly seeking a Brexit which would erode
rather than enhance the protections people get in our society, be it rights in the
workplace, safety standards on products or the right to move freely, not to mention to
avoid transparency laws on tax, we can see that even in this case the project does in the
end come down to protecting the interests of a certain faction of the rich, even if there
is another faction of them which disagrees in this case.
So, as I said above, this is not a coup. This is just the system functioning as normal, to
allow the government to do whatever it likes to protect its interests, even to the point
of suspending or even eliminating democracy, which again parliament, in our system, can
absolutely do, if it so chooses, without breaching the constitution. In fact to do so
would effectively write democracy out of our constitutional framework because of its
insistence on parliamentary supremacy. So what needs to change?
Clearly we need some pretty serious constitutional reform, and for me that would include
at least a written constitution and functioning constitutional courts as many other
western countries have, however, the problems of our democracy are not unique to the UK,
even in a firmer constitutional system it is still possible to do awful things, and we
still see a situation where government serves the rich and not the poor. The US, not just
under Trump but under every president since 1945, can serve as an excellent example of this.
When the undemocratic underpinnings of our system are so clearly on display, as they are
in this situation, we should not just demand a return to the undemocratic norm, or to the
norms of other liberal capitalist nations. We should forward radical alternatives, and
demand a true democracy. Many complain about first past the post, which is a voting system
that favours the powerful, and advocate proportional representation (PR) as a solution.
While I think this would be an improvement, I think we can go further - Germany, for
example, has some PR and has not solved the problems we face.
So what would it be to go further? What would a true democracy look like? Well one thing
we could consider is that in our current system, we don't vote on issues but on
personalities. We elect an MP but once elected they have pretty much unlimited power to
vote how they want. Even party manifestos are in no way binding, which we could see in a
range of broken pledges but is of course most clear in the UK with the complete reversal
of the Liberal Democrats on almost all of their campaign promises in 2010, in order to
jump into bed with the Conservatives.
Instead what if we voted on policies, and politicians were bound to the decisions of their
constituencies. This is often called direct democracy, where we as people are able to
influence the course of our political world. There are some existing Liberal examples of
this, for instance Switzerland which enacts some parts of this with a system of regular
referenda, but as anarchists we have a different view on how to carry this out.
We believe that direct democracy should be achieved by the radical devolving of power,
empowering people to make decisions relevant to their lives at the level of the workplace
and the community through local direct democratic councils. These councils would not just
have to vote yes or no on proposals from above but could be used to spread the necessary
information so that the people themselves can discuss and make the decision openly,
perhaps even seeking more than just majority approval but consensus and discuss issues
until a practical solution can be reached that works for all parties. This requires the
radical democratisation of our lives and workplaces, but would give people the opportunity
to make informed choices on the issues that affect their lives. Any oppressed class or
minority group would have the protected right to oppose and block that oppression and any
would be dictator can be shouted down by any other member of their group without fear of
reprisal - a true democracy.
But of course for this to really be a true democracy we have to address the big elephant
in the room - capitalism. While our system still permits the accumulation of wealth far
above others, there will always be power in money - the ability to buy votes and
influence, and even to buy the means to spread false information. You can never really
speak to your boss in a workplace without fear of reprisal if their power and wealth gives
them the right to decide your future, and whether you keep your job and thereby your means
of survival. Your democratic rights are pretty limited when someone has the power to
deprive you of your livelihood if you use your rights in a way they object to, as is the
case with employers under capitalism.
Therefore we must both ensure equal access to the means of survival, and of luxury, and,
by the same token, end the mass accumulation of wealth by a few. This means providing
universal support to everyone, and sharing ownership and profits of workplaces and
industries, not only so as to guarantee quality of life to everyone, but to ensure
everyone has an equal say in how our society runs because no one has economic power to buy
votes or deprive their fellow humans of their needs or luxuries. Essentially we must end
capitalism if we ever want to truly realise the promise of a democratic country, and a
democratic world.
This is not something we should wait for the powerful to deliver us. As we see in the case
of Earl Grey, most reforms from above are designed not to offer a solution to the problems
of people, but to create the illusion of one. But we can take this right for ourselves by
organising in our communities and workplaces, and doing so under direct democratic
principles, to build strong organised networks of people who are able to take part in the
organising of their own lives, rather than to simply take direction from the powerful as
we are so often asked to do. By this means we can build the solidarity, autonomy and
connections that allow us to resist attacks on our democracy like the one Johnson's Tory
government is currently perpetuating, and, in the end, we can build a better world, a true
democracy, where the will of the people is not subsumed into the selection of dictators,
but is freed to make informed choices in the interests of the people, so we can finally
set about building a better world that serves the people and the planet, not power or profit.
https://northeastanarchistgroup.org/2019/08/30/johnson-prorogues-parliament/
------------------------------
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