Today's Topics:
1. France, Union Communiste Libertaire - Facing the social
explosion in the region ... (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #299 -
Syria-Kurdistan, A drama, a mourning, a changeover (fr, it,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. APO, Thessaloniki Anarchist Political Organization: ON
TODAY'S ATTACK & INVESTIGATION OF POLICE AT LIBERTATIA [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. WSM.ie: It's a Yes - a central contribution to the Repeal
story that can be built on - by Andrew Flood (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. black-pigeon: "to dare the way into the unknown" - workshop
about critical masculinities (de) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Union Communiste Libertaire - UCL Tract, Popular
response to Islamophobia (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. ait russia: Chile: 20th day of social uprising [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Faced with the social explosion in the Chilean region, the Anarchist Federation of
Santiago declares: ---- 1- The current situation is uncertain, people still struggle,
their courage was stopped neither by bullets nor crumbs thrown by the bourgeoisie. The
oppressed class continues to bravely stand in the streets of the entire region dominated
by the Chilean state, which is why we are launching a call to continue the mobilizations
in all our spaces: in the streets, in the villages, in the high schools, in clashes, etc.
Notwithstanding the above, we know that there will be a wear and tear process inherent in
so many days of struggle. That is why it is extremely important to start building and
strengthening the Territorial Assemblies, which must go beyond the institutional vision of
the " Citizens Council ". (Cabildo Ciudadano) and not revolve around a new constitution,
but by generating a "people's road map", where, according to the autonomous and horizontal
reflection in these gathering spaces, we generate a vindictive common frame of the class
oppressed, considering local realities and those of larger scale, to generate new
scenarios of struggle on the territories. On the other hand, generate an Organized
Community that provides solutions to the most immediate and daily problems to strengthen
the power of self-management that will gradually dismantle the state on our territories.
This process of accumulation of forces is fundamental so that this social explosion is not
only a moment of catharsis but also the beginning of a process of emancipation of peoples.
2- The government's response was to cancel the state of emergency and the presence of the
army in the streets, but the repression of special forces - militarized police -
intensified. The crackdown killed 25 people, more than 4,300 detainees, more than 1,600
wounded, more than 160 people lost their eyes as a result of the crackdown, 19 people were
killed more than 133 people were tortured, all according to official data which, according
to international organizations, are lower than the actual figures. As if that were not
enough, the director of the Institute of Human Rights (INDH) said that there were no
systematic violations of human rights, showing precisely that all state agencies protect
violence against peoples in struggle.
We call for international solidarity, the liberation of all prisoners and the memory of
our dead.
3- Political parties and their characteristic opportunism have come to light during these
days, of course their leaders are not in the street and have not been repressed, but they
do not hesitate to self-proclaim the "representatives of the people and their demands".
This movement has never needed you and will never need you in the future, you only seek to
make a pact with the government, this on the blood of our murdered brothers and sisters,
you are only looking for to oxygenate this democracy with the smell of tears, you will
never represent our interests since you are not part of the oppressed class. We reject
your "new social pact" because it does not represent a radical change for the peoples,
4- The Constituent Assembly, for its part, was a slogan that had a great echo in our
class, it seems to be a magic lamp that, once rubbed, will solve all our problems as a
class. Such a vision is only an illusion for people in struggle. This is why it seems
extremely important to us to provoke a critical attitude and to alert our class.
For us, the Constituent Assembly serves only to give an institutional solution to the
conflict, it will only function in the interests of the oligarchy, because as a class we
have not yet developed organizations and struggles can guide this process in the best of
circumstances. Therefore, to develop a constituent assembly in the short and medium term
only leaves the destiny of this movement to those who oppress us, there is no correlation
of the forces necessary to form our class interests. The realization of a Constituent
Assembly in the immediate future would be a great tragedy for the peoples in struggle,
because it would be burying the class struggle for many years against this new
constitution "democratic,
Others, on the other hand, have understood the process of the Constituent Assembly as a
slow and long-term process, in which the accumulation of forces of citizen councils and
territorial assemblies is directed towards the re-shaping of the pillars of the state.
Chilean. We are also distancing ourselves from this position, because for us, the process
of accumulation of forces, which is a priority task, is not to develop a Constituent
Assembly, but to generate the self-managing power of the oppressed class that formulates a
new social contract without any agreement with the oligarchy and where the pillars of the
system of domination are buried forever: patriarchy and capitalism, its colonial strategy
of domination and its expressions: the nation-state, the gendered system and extractivism
. We will not rebuild the state,
We know that the political constitution binds and maintains the institutional pillars of
neoliberalism, which must be transformed, but it is not only a juridico-political
question, since it is impossible to negotiate with the oligarchy on the paramount issues
of the class struggle, as well as private ownership of land and water, conflicts that go
beyond the legal and political framework of the constitution. In this sense, although this
agreed constitutional framework is modeled, although it is called plurinational, popular
and feminist, and even recognizes nature as a subject of rights, the expressions of
patriarchal and capitalist dominance are unaltered. . Our greatest task is therefore to
obtain a correlation of forces favorable to life,
However, this does not mean that anarchism must be removed from the assemblies, we must be
there, we must fight for these self-convened bodies do not serve as a platform for
electoral interests, we must provide spaces of horizontal tools and autonomy in political
construction. We must be there to oppose the precepts of the new society we want to build
to the dominant ideology. We must be there because we are oppressed because we are part of
the struggling peoples. We must be there because it is a priority task to strengthen these
spaces, so that together they can move towards self-emancipation.
5- Finally, we reaffirm the need to continue fighting in the streets and territories. To
create and strengthen the Territorial Assemblies in order to generate the Organized
Community, which will progress towards territorial control. To sow the autonomous
experience in order to reap the autonomous power.
Let's continue the fight !
General strike !
Let's root anarchism !
Let's build an organized community !
Long live the struggle of peoples !
Immediate release for prisoners of the demonstrations !
ANARCHIST FEDERATION OF SANTIAGO
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Face-a-l-explosion-sociale-dans-la-region
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Message: 2
Rojava is the first victim of the redistribution of imperialist maps in Syria. After the
US withdrawal and two weeks of Turkish offensive, the fate of Syrian Kurdistan is now in
the hands of Putin, who wants to kneel before Bashar al-Assad. What will the Kurdish left
do? ---- It is a tragedy for the people of northeastern Syria, bombed, driven from their
homes, victims of abuses by Islamist mercenaries in Ankara, facing the return of tanks of
Bachar el Assad, the hated dictator that the popular revolt of 2011 failed to reverse.
---- It is a mourning for all and all the Kurds, Arabs and Syriacs who, since the
proclamation of the "democratic autonomy" of Rojava in 2012, worked, in spite of the civil
war, to build a different society, based on the communal democracy , gender equality, a
cooperative economy, ethno-cultural diversity, popular self-defense.
It is a shift for organizations of the Kurdish left (PKK, PYD, etc.) which, having been
the engine and the spearhead of this transformation, enter a new period of their struggle.
Since 2014, they had been able to act, experiment, gain ground and fight in their own
colors, because the balance of inter-imperialist rivalries left them free. This balance is
definitely broken.
And it will only take two weeks for that. At the beginning of October, the Rojava
followed, feverishly, the discussions between Washington and Ankara to know if he would
live. At the end of October, the same Rojava is suspended from the negotiations between
Moscow and Ankara to know what sauce it will be eaten. In the meantime, hundreds of
combatants and combatants have been killed, villages and towns have been looted, tens of
thousands of residents have been thrown on the roads, sometimes without hope of return.
Americans fall back on oil areas
Since the collapse of the ultimate Islamic state slump in March 2019, there has been a
deep concern. Washington hesitated: should we continue to support the Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF), the best defense against a resurgence of Daesh ? Or was it necessary to let
go to be reconciled with the historical ally, the Turkish state, obsessed with
anti-Kurdish hatred ? The choice of the release was made by Putin in January 2018, with a
Russian green light to the invasion of the canton of Afrîn by the Turkish army, and to the
ethnic purification which ensued.
Finally, the decision fell on October 6th. At the price of an outcry in Washington, Donald
Trump announced the immediate withdrawal of the thousand US soldiers who, in the
north-east of Syria, played until then a dissuasive role against a Turkish invasion. And
announce, in the wake, that Ankara will be able to go on the attack.
The Turkish army launched its offensive three days later. Objective claimed: to occupy a
border strip of 30 kilometers deep - in which most of the main cities of Rojava are
located - and to deport 1.2 to 2 million Syrian refugees there.
The cities of Tall Abyad (Girê Sipî, in Kurdish) and Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Aïn, in Arabic)
are struck first. The militia and militia FDS defend, but their chances are slim face 2 e
army of NATO, its tanks, its aviation, artillery. In January 2018, the canton of Afrîn, in
a mountainous area, and at the cost of thousands of deaths, had resisted two months. Is it
possible to repeat this feat in lowland cities ? Few believe it. Especially since, on
their backs, Daesh immediately launched a campaign of attacks to sow chaos.
Soon, the roads are crowded with tens of thousands fleeing abuses by the Islamists of the
Syrian National Army (ANS), the ultimate remains of the Free Syrian Army who have become
Ankara mercenaries. On October 12, during a massacre of civilians, they arrested, tortured
and murdered Hevrin Khalaf, co-secretary of Syria's Future Party, a small Arab-Kurdish
group which - irony of history - advocated relations with Turkey.
The Russian Shield and its political conditions
On the evening of October 13, when Tall Abyad was lost and plundered, the SDF announced a
military agreement with Damascus and Moscow to stop the invasion. Between the ethnic
cleansing promised by Erdogan and the ferule promised by Bashar, the FDS made a choice,
death in the soul. From October 14 to 16, the first Russian-Syrian detachments are
deployed in Tabqa, Raqqa, Manbij and Kobanê.
On October 17, Ankara and Washington announce a truce of one hundred and twenty hours. It
will actually serve as a transition to a new configuration: the Russian-Syrian troops take
up positions at the border ; US soldiers retreat to the oil region of Deir ez-Zor, the
only one worthy of their interest[1]; the SDFs and international volunteers who were
resisting in Serê Kaniyê, almost surrounded, are evacuated ; Russia announces that Erdogan
will not go further.
On 22 October, after talks in Sochi, a Turkish-Russian agreement extends the
Turkish-American agreement: Moscow announces that the FDS have an extra 150 hours to
withdraw 30 kilometers from the border, where Russian-Turkish patrols are expected to
unfold from October 29[2]. The SDS is protesting[3].
New period, new issues
The United States is now content to pump oil from Deir ez-Zor, it is Russia's
responsibility to submit the Rojava to satisfy both Erdogan and Bashar Assad.
A new period is opening up, with its own stakes.
By accepting the Russian shield, the Kurdish left preserved the Syrian North-East from
annihilation. But other perils are threatening now. Faced with the police regime, racist,
colonial and dynastic of the Assad clan, how long will the democratic institutions that
made the pride and singularity of Rojava hold ? How long before the opponents who had
taken refuge there were again kidnapped, tortured and murdered by his political police,
the Mukhabarat ? How long before certain SDF brigades and some Raqqa tribes return their
jackets and chant the formula of ritual allegiance "God, Syria, Bashar and that's all"?
Finally, how much independence will the PYD be able to maintain in this context ? And
especially at what price ?
This last point will be particularly scrutinized. The anticolonialists and libertarians
who, for years, have supported the Syrian revolution, then the revolutionary process in
Rojava, can not in fact abandon neither their solidarity with the people crushed by the
tyrants, nor their lucidity on the strategic choices made. in the field. The critical
support we profess requires to be both respectful and sincere. And expand the focal
length. Because even if the experience of democratic confederalism in Syrian Kurdistan is
finally stifled - which is not yet played - this setback would not undermine the
legitimacy of a much larger cause, which drives millions of people in four regions of
Kurdistan, which, through its federalist, democratic and anti-patriarchal
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil), October 28, 2019
emaildiasporaFacebookprintertumblrtwitter
[1] "US military begins bolstering troop numbers in the Syrian oil field region, defense
officials say," The Washington Post , October 26, 2019.
[2] "Nearly 300 Russian military police officers arrived in Syria," Sputniknews.com,
October 25, 2019.
[3] "Mazloum Abdi (FDS):" The Turkish-Russian agreement does not suit us "
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Un-drame-un-deuil-un-basculement
------------------------------
Message: 3
POLICE WILL NOT PASS - WE WILL PASS! ---- Today at noon, DIAS and OPKE teams, after
approaching the occupation of Libertatia, brought people outside, then stormed into the
building, arresting a few more while they were rebuilding the building. The 8 original
defendants were transferred to the Toumpa Police Department. It is important to note that
some of the defendants were not even at the point of occupation, nor were they related to
the race structure and reconstruction work. ---- Immediately a solidarity outside the
squad took place, and as soon as the cops took the comrades to take them to the division,
the concentrated comrades re-entered the squad to guard against a new attack. A solidarity
march was immediately organized for the detainees from the occupation of the Toumpa area
with the participation of about 150 comrades.
In order to avoid pressure on the police, the police released 4 defendants and detained
another 4 who were transferred directly from the police department to Evosmos. The
accusation they appear to be dealing with is malicious and involves illegal work in the
building.It is clear that this attack falls within the broader context of totalitarian
repression that the state is trying to impose, as promoted by the overwhelming government
narrative aimed at the collapse of all social and class resistances of all struggling people.
This attack follows the corresponding attacks and evacuations in Athens against both
refugee accommodation structures that accept the merciless war of the state as well as
structures of the anarchist movement, characterized by uncontrolled MAT activity in
Exarchia, with a recent example of attempting to enter a shop in the square and arresting
and abusing a partner.
This attack is by no means separate from the more general repressive treaty, which is
expressed both in the laws against workers' unionism, in reforms to leveling education
rights, but also in hand-in-hand with fascist attacks, such as the most recent at a
Gymnasium in Naples, where fascists chased a refugee from Iran, threatening not to go to
school again. In particular, the open political relationship between state policy and
fascist rhetoric and practice ogrammizetai even more in the case of Libertatia occupation
which forms part of the anti-fascist struggle, since the same police who covered the arson
attack by neo-Nazis during the rally for Macedonia in January 2018 now invades the
building and captures companions.
That the long arm of the statesman did not succeed then, that is, to break down the
structure and the world of occupation is now attempting to do so by the state itself. Once
again the barbarism of totalitarianism, of the shields and of the rufians will be met with
the inexorable stubbornness of the people who do not give up the struggle. And he will lose.
LISTEN TO GOOD, WHAT AND WHAT LIBERTATIA WILL DO
KAMIA DELIVERY - NO RESTRICTION ON THE STREET WE WILL CHECK RESTRICTION
SOLIDARITY TO ALL THE COMPETITORS OF CATALOG AND MOBILITY STRUCTURES
SOLIDARITY IN REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS AGAINST RACIST racist state-fascists
CONCENTRATION OF SOLIDARITY TO THE PRISONERS
SATURDAY 9/11 11.00 COURT MEDIATION WITHDRAWAL OF CATEGORIES AGAINST 4 PRISONERS
Thessaloniki Local Coordination of Anarchist Political Organization Federation of Collections
http://apo.squathost.com/
------------------------------
Message: 4
The publication of the co-directors history of the Together for Yes (T4Y) campaign is an
important step in building an accessible collective history of the final stage of the long
struggle to repeal the hated 8th amendment to the Irish constitution. It along with the
forthcoming Together for Yes review of the referendum campaign should probably be read by
everyone who worked for Repeal, if for no other reason than to get a better understanding
of the ‘big picture' of what we were involved in. ---- The book opens with context setting
biographies of the three co-directors before moving on to cover some of the key events
from 2012 that led to the referendum over 6 chapters. The second half covers the period
from when the referendum was called, and Together for Yes was formed, to when it was won
over another 6 chapters. I focus on two of these below but one thing worth taking from the
first half is how the legislation we ended up with started off as very much more
progressive recommendations from the Citizens Assembly before being restricted by
politicians into the form it takes today. In particular I was reminded that the major
influence on one of the worst features, the medically unjustifible 3 day waiting period,
was essentially a product of the rivalry within Fine Gael between the current leader Leo
Varadkar and Simon Coveny who Leo had defeated in the 2017 FG leadership election.
There can't be a definitive history of the entire referendum campaign, never mind the 35
years that built up to it. Some 19,000 people canvassed, each of them has their own story
to tell. ARC (Abortion Rights Campaign) contributed 36 regional groups at the start of the
campaign but by the end the book states Cork alone contained 17 regional groups and there
were about 110 nationally. Each of those have their own history of activity and dealing
with internal pressures while making sure the Yes vote was maximised.
Even just looking at the Mount street Together for Yes HQ there were some 360 volunteers
who worked there as well as a handful of paid staff. The majority of volunteers were
working part-time in HQ while also working their normal jobs, a number had taken unpaid or
annual leave, one had even come back from Australia. While a small core had worked with
each other for long time the vast majority did not, and were joining a struggle that was
short of time, money and indeed posters. This was a high stakes fight where it was
understood it would be the one shot in a generation to get rid of the hated 8th. No
pressure, like.
The story ‘It's a Yes' tells is very much the co-directors view, informed by a number of
interviews with other people based in HQ and then a sample of people organising regional
groups including Cork, Donegal and Mayo. As such it's a fragment of the story, if an
important one, and a fragment that will get some details wrong while leaving others out.
An example trivial to almost everyone but important to me is found in the description of
the period when T4Y had its soft, as yet unnamed launch on International Women's Day,
March 8th. The anti-choice campaign had organised what they intended to be a massive
demonstration just two days after this on March 10th - presumably with the intention of
using much greater numbers to demoralise. But actually a similar number marched even
though the anti-choice campaign successfully managed to manipulate the media into
reporting ‘10s of thousands'. With half a dozen other WSM members I'd organised to count
and report on how many actually marched, we counted 9,000 while the organisers tried to
claim 100,000. So when I get to page 115 and read "That same week the supporters of the
Rally for Life, organised by the Life Institute, took to the streets, with numbers
estimated at tens of thousands, calling for retention of the Eighth Amendment" I'm doing a
bit of a WTF, who let that through.
On the other hand, I've been involved in long-running struggles where there is almost no
accessible resource that gives a decent overview. As with a lot of core Repeal activists I
was involved in the Shell to Sea struggle for almost a decade, but if people today were
trying to piece together what happened they would end up reading Lorna Siggins book ‘Once
Upon a Time in the West: The Corrib Gas Controversy' or watching ‘The Pipe'. Both of which
are extremely limited versions of that story. So despite the error's in It's a Yes, I'm
very grateful that a history has emerged, one which can be built on by others, including
challenges to possible errors and interpretation in the account.
Already it's not alone. Dr Peter Boylan has a book coming out 14th November ‘In the Shadow
of the Eighth: My Forty Years Working for Women's Health in Ireland' and on January 15th
collection of academic essays titled ‘After Repeal' is due. I suspect many of us will be
grateful that's It's a Yes appeared ahead of Boylan's account. There is also a more
technical T4Y report ‘Learning from the 2018 Together for Yes' campaign that I ‘caught
sight of' while drafting this review and which will be useful in understanding T4Y
strategy and development in greater detail. Although inevitably less accessible, academic
papers on elements of the campaign have already appeared, including ‘Race, identity and
the state after the Irish abortion referendum' by Paola Rivetti and ‘Intersectionality,
Repeal, and Reproductive Rights in Ireland' by Fiona de Londras (1). In terms of new media
there is also the Together for Yurt and forthcoming How the Yes was Won podcasts. To bang
our own drum there are also some 60+ articles from the period of the campaign and the
immediate aftermath on the WSM site.
A final note on the importance of considering multiple viewpoints. Aileen O'Carroll who
worked with the canvassing groups as part of the Get Out theThe Vote strategy, also
spotted what might be an error in It's a Yes. She says that in the last week of the
campaign the team she worked with contacted 69 local canvassing groups not the 110 claimed
in the book and mentioned above. However the 110 figure also appeared on a T4Y flyer about
campaign metrics distributed at the T4Y count event. We then spent an hour trying to work
out why there are two credible numbers. So its illustrative that even on what you might
imagine to be the straightforward question of how many regional groups existed there is
significant disagreement between sources. And it gets much more difficult when it comes to
interpretations and memories of complex events such as those described below.
The cost of unity
From an anarchist perspective the most interesting element of ‘Its a Yes' in terms of
lessons for future organising are the details it provides on the process and compromises
that saw the ‘anarchist in all but name' Abortion Rights Campaign fold into Together For
Yes for the duration of the referendum campaign rather than go it alone. Although
interestingly enough this decision in itself was not opposed as once made the
controversies around messaging that have been quite disruptive in the aftermath and which
dominated this year's March for Choice were inevitable.
As understanding this is important I'm going to extensively quote from that section of the
book. The first thing to understand is that ARC very much pushed their way into what
became T4Y. One of the other co-directors, presumably Ailbhe from the Coalition to Repeal
the 8th, is quoted as saying "Initially I was nervous about ARC and I knew members
of[National Women's Council of Ireland]were because we felt the campaign needed to focus
on the people who were undecided and unsure of the issue of abortion in order to mobilise
enough people to vote Yes. We didn't know if ARC would also be of that view. Our thinking
was that ARC will speak to the converted and we needed a campaign that was going to speak
to all those people whose minds were not made up."
From the ARC side we are told in the same section on page 96 "ARC wanted to be a part of
that core leadership group.... The board of ARC had met and decided to put together a
proposal to join them at the leadership table, even though they knew it would involve
considerable compromise on their part."
"We also decided that the referendum campaign wouldn't work without us because we were the
only ones with grassroots activists, and the only ones with any money. We had a reach
across thousands of activists. We had a large formal membership but we also had a much
wider reach with our networks and social media, for example there were hundreds of people
who raised money for ARC through the Workers Beer Company every summer and loads of people
who would come to clothes swaps and other Repeal themed social events even if they never
went to meetings."
ARC wrote a pitch which lead to a meeting described by Orla the co-director from NWCI as
follows,
"I said I think we are saying different things. So we agreed to have a meeting where we
would thrash out the messaging. Adam May presented the messaging that had been developed
from the research. It was the messaging similar to what we had worked on in ‘Every Woman',
the health based messaging. We had this long meeting where we discussed each value and
core message (p. 97)."
The health based messaging referred to here is the reframing of traditional pro-choice
rhetoric in terms of health access rather than human rights (p140 has more details on
this). This flowed out of focus group research described in some detail in Chapter Four
"There were six groups - two in Dublin, two in Mullingar, Co Westmeath; and the final two
in Tralee, Co Kerry. Adam said it was important to get a real sense of how people were
feeling outside of Dublin - ‘the pro choice bubble'" (p. 49).
For some this was quite controversial as it meant dropping slogans around terms like
‘choice' in favour of ‘a woman's decision'. I noticed this reframing as campaign materials
started to emerge but to be honest I just read it as saying the same thing in a different
way which didn't bother me at the time. My own involvement goes back to the late 1980s
when it was all too normal for messaging to contain the suggestion that what we wanted
would be more effective at reducing the number of abortions than what they wanted.
Throughout the referendum I was monitoring the anti-choice campaigns and they were really
irritated, even outraged by the reframing which presumably impacted on their intended
strategy. From conversations in the aftermath of the victory I do know that, at least in
terms of local canvassing, where people were unhappy with this reframing they simply
continued to talk about choice and rights in the way they always had. This is another need
for additional accounts, the T4Y ones capture the details of what was planned well but
can't really touch on what actual implementation might have looked like. Which from
anecdotes I've been told was sometimes a chaotic mess of trying to shoehorn things into
the plan or indeed ignoring parts of it that were felt not to fit or be practical.
Sarah Monaghan then describes in some detail the process of bringing this messaging and
the proposal to join forces with the Coalition and the National Womens Council to the ARC
membership. She was fearful that there would only be a narrowly agreement among ARC
activists (in fact the vote was unanimous).
On page 99 it's laid out how
"An ARC EGM was called in early February, lasting a full day ... Sarah recalled "We just
opened it up. You know we put it all out, all that intensive work we had put in
beforehand. We put everything we could think of, any possible scenario that we could think
of, on the table. Then we heard all the issues, all the criticisms, all the fears. We
explained how it might work, how ARC might take a seat at the table, what that would look
like, what we needed it to look like, what we thought our members might need it to look
like. We said these are the risks of doing it, these are the risks of not doing it, this
is what we're likely to be rolling out in terms of messaging and language and it's going
to be more conservative, it's gonna be softer it's going be middle ground. So I suppose we
were saying that there will be compromises necessary here and they will be uncomfortable
to a lot of you. Can we suck it up for the greater good? And I suppose that was really at
the root of it,"
"I suppose it just kept coming back around to what if we don't, what if we don't join it?
What if we try and run some parallel campaign. We're just strengthening the chances that
we will lose here. And then what do we do, it's all been for nothing, and we've let women
down. There are women relying on us now to get this campaign across the final hurdle. And
we just can't let our own egos, our even morals, kind of cloud that. There's just a bigger
picture here. So you know everyone in that room, and everyone who had been a member for so
long, they did a lot of compromise on the campaign that they would have liked to see.. And
you know the vote was unanimous, a hundred percent yes vote."
The strategy delivered a massive Yes vote. To an extent after the referendum ARC became a
victim of their success. The size of the victory led many to wonder if such compromises
had been necessary. The debate around this so far has shed far more heat than light, in
part because the process through which the ARC referendum strategy was agreed hasn't been
publicly defined until now. Now that there is a clear account which can be discussed and
challenged, it's possible more productive conversations will happen that will inform
decisions in future campaigns. Again from an anarchist perspective this is a very
important conversation to have carefully.
Was victory certain?
There are some useful reminders in the book that victory could not be assumed. In
particular we are reminded that at the time the referendum was called Fine Gael
politicians were often playing both sides. In the aftermath, they were quick to claim the
victory.
"In his initial referendum announcement speech Leo Varadkar hedged his bets to the extent
of threatening the Yes vote. "If the amendment is approved in a referendum, he explained,
abortion in Ireland will become "safe, legal and rare". In his speech the Taoiseach said
that on the matter of 12 weeks, as proposed by the Oireachtas Committee, people would have
to make up their own minds, based on the evidence and their own conscience. ...During
subsequent questioning by journalists the Taoiseach did say that many politicians were
concerned about that the 12 week proposal, worrying it might be "a step too far" for a lot
of people."
I remember my heart sinking at the time, in particular at the use of the word ‘rare'. The
problem that had dogged every previous referendum campaign was reappearing, that is, the
claim that ‘our side' would be more effective in limiting the number of abortions. There
is of course a point that the provision of consent based sex education, contraception etc
would indeed reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies but as a soundbite it concedes to
the anti-choice side.
Leo's prevaricating on 12 weeks made things considerably worse. Analysis of the Sunday
Times/Behaviour & Attitudes poll published just before the start of the campaign showed
the clear potential for a solid win, with 49% saying they intended to vote yes. However
when asked if they were in favour of abortion up to 12 weeks this fell to 43%. It was
clear that if No could center the debates around 12 week limit they could probably defeat
Repeal.
I've already covered in considerable detail why the victory as well as the scale of the
victory was a product of a successful Yes campaign (and a frankly disastrous No campaign).
Support for unrestricted access to 12 weeks was a minority position. The other even more
significant danger was that in both the Marriage Equality and Divorce referendums the
reactionary No side used ‘fear of change' based campaigning to win over all of the people
who were undecided early in the referendum polls. If the anti-choice brigade had managed
to make 12 weeks the key issue and so spooked the undecided voters into No voters, Repeal
could have been defeated 57% to 43%.
Another concern was that in the Trump election and Brexit referendum reactionaries had
done far better than many polls had suggested. It was apparent that the anti-choice
campaigns were intending to use the same methods, in particular the manufacturing of
smears and fake news. The opening days of the campaign were indeed dominated by two such
attempts. First we had the smearing of teenage pro-choice activists through photographing
them carrying placards handed to them by an alt-right anti-choice activist, the placards
included the obscure British Union of Fascists logo. Once these photos were posted outline
they were amplified by anti choice spokes John McGurk. And then we had a much more
elaborate hoax, this time involving billboards with a fake nurse who it was claimed had
worked in a surgery performing abortions in the UK and had been horrified by what he had
seen. The manufacturing of fake news and then using paid social media reach to spread it
to vulnerable target groups while hiding it from everyone else had been credited with both
Brexit and Trump victories. It was clear we would see a lot of this (and we did) but not
at all clear if it would impact the vote.
Lastly we knew the No side had huge amounts of funding stashed away and would therefore be
able to massively outspend Together For Yes which at the start of the campaign had very
little funds and only the (justified) hope that sufficient money could be raised. Visibly
this huge resource gap was displayed in the disparity in the number of posters that could
be paid for. No was literally able to piss away money up every lamp post while Together
for Yes had to ration the number of posters at a level well below what some local
campaigners considered the minimum needed (though by the end Together For Yes paid for
vastly more posters than the Marriage Equality referendum).
With the benefit of hindsight victory now looks certain but that was not at all how it
felt at the time. The book describes how,
"The general nervousness had been made worse by Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
Simon Coveney rocking Cabinet cohesion by saying in January he was in favour of repeal but
felt unable to support access to terminations up to 12 weeks ... The Tanaiste would
subsequently change his position and say he now backed the 12 week proposal. However that
decision was conditional on a number of additional safeguards being put in place. He
sought the introduction of a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion,
prohibition on late-term abortions and permitting access to abortion pills up to 12 weeks
of gestation (p. 115)."
"Early on in the campaign, the co-directors had attended a meeting in Fine Gael
headquarters. They did not come away with the impression that a huge effort was being put
in at party level, especially when they were told no more than €100,000 would be spent on
the campaign by the party (p. 169)."
Or indeed even as T4Y was formally launched the campaign faced difficulties,
"The day before the Rotunda Hospital had distanced itself from the launch saying it did
not support any political organisation or agenda ... It had also been difficult to find an
MC for the launch because at that point prominent people were reluctant to align
themselves with Together for Yes (p. 117)."
Discipline when it was needed
By the launch on the 22nd of March, just about everyone actively involved in pro-choice
politics was onboard with T4Y. Two weeks earlier on March 10th as the Rally for Life took
place outside, the newly formed T4Y held a difficult strategy meeting. Grainne remembers,
"..it was really the critical time of us saying ‘we're putting all this to you, we hope
you believe as we do that this is the way to win the referendum campaign. It was having a
real conversation about shifting into a different space from campaigning for abortion, to
winning a referendum and mobilising the necessary over one million people to vote for
repealing the Eighth. In the conversations that happened there was a really strong sense
in the room of what's at stake here - we really have to win this because if we don't, when
will we have this referendum again? We asked people to put their own groups aside for the
next three months and form united Together for Yes groups. It was a really important
meeting for all of us and built the ownership needed to make the campaign work effectively."
In fact the discipline held by everyone on the pro-choice side for the duration of the
referendum campaign was quite remarkable given the strength of disagreements that only
became publicly visible in the aftermath. The anti-choice side was forever trying to
discover and ferment division. Anti-choice spokes John McGuirk was regularly claimed to
receive inside information from his ‘loyal mole' but the reality is that nothing of
significance leaked, not even the canvassing guide or the name of the organisation. As the
book acknowledges "Incredibly none of the information presented that night leaked ahead of
the actual launch"
The remainder of the books tells the story of a very successful campaign, and if you were
involved it will be hard not to tear up at particular moments. For my taste, there is a
little bit too much focus on top level media and messaging, the appearance on the Clare
Byrne Live show is detailed over some 6 pages. I'd have preferred a much stronger focus on
the challenges of co-ordinating the 19,000 canvassers organised into dozens of groups who
in most cases had not known each other a month earlier. The story of how the campaign
rapidly scaled up under extreme pressure and the challenges this created for the campaign
is a interesting and important, but it's only somewhat touched on in the ‘A Nationwide
Campaign and the Irish Yes' chapter.
Likewise there is I think there is a tendency to present some adaptations to circumstances
as if they were planned all along. But at least in part that's a product of what this
particular book is, it is a joint effort of the 3+ co-directors written by a journalist.
Avoiding any appearance of the co-directors punching down is probably wise. The production
of the book will make it very much more straightforward for others to fill in further
details and stories. Such critical but constructive accounts will be essential to
capturing many of the other lessons.
I was possibly one of the few people to like the name Together for Yes as soon as I heard
it. As I somewhat cynically joked the great thing about it was that it had its ‘use by
date' built into the name. It was a 68 day coalition pulled together for a particular
purpose that was never likely to survive past the result. One consequence of campaigners
‘sucking it up' during the campaign was a fair bit of trauma, hurt and anger with no where
in particular to yell it at in the aftermath, this is somewhat reflected in the survey of
300+ participants contained in the "Learning from" report.
The follow up work that has been done in researching and producing this book and the
forthcoming review is quite impressive in that context. This work can inform those
organisations and individuals who continue to carry the struggle forward. Winning Repeal
was the end of one struggle but also only the start of what must be a constant battle to
improve the legislation and defend and expand access to abortion in all of Ireland. If you
were involved in Repeal read this and remember those moments when we were Together for Yes.
by Andrew Flood (follow Andrew on Twitter)
(1) De Londras, Fiona (2019) 'Intersectionality, Repeal, and Reproductive Rights in
Ireland' in Intersectionality and Human Rights Law. Dunne, P. & Atrey, S. (eds.). Hart
Publishing; https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3477119
Rivetti, Paola (2019) Race, identity, and the state after the Irish abortion referendum.
Feminist Review, 122 . pp. 1-7. ISSN 0141-7789
https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0141778919845881
Subject: Repeal 8th, Pro-choice
Source: Opinion ype: Analysis -- Author: Andrew Flood
https://wsm.ie/c/togetherforyes-repeal-story-review
------------------------------
Message: 5
During this workshop we will deal with the topic of masculinities. what does
masculinities* actually mean? how can i handle (my)masculinities*? how and when do i
use/perform them? where does (my)masculinities* limit myself? these and other questions
are processed during the workshop with theatre and critical paedagogy methods. the
workshop will be in german language (with the option to do wispered translation in
english) and is open to all genders. the room is free of smoke and accessible with the
wheelchair, the toilette as well. the number of participants is limited to 25, so
everybody enrolling previously via CaFem-Do@riseup.net is preferred. ---- presented by the
anarchist group Dortmund, the CaFem Collectiv, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung NRW and
queer_topia*(queertopia.blogsport.de, fb: queer_topia*).
https://black-pigeon.org/wordpress/2019/11/08/workshop-zu-kritischen-maennlichkeiten/
------------------------------
Message: 6
The attack perpetrated in Bayonne by a former FN candidate dramatically prolongs the
Islamophobic offensive led by politicians and hate journalists. Faced with this offensive,
it is time to build a popular response of magnitude. ---- For several weeks, we have been
witnessing in France an Islamophobic offensive of unbearable violence. The attack
perpetrated on 28 October by a right-wing activist close to the National Rally against a
mosque in Bayonne is only the brutal expression of the racist frenzy that is spreading
throughout French society. Because it must be said very clearly, Islamophobia is not the
reserved domain of the extreme right: it is now widely relayed by " public authorities",
by media and agitators of hate, throughout the chessboard institutional policy.
It is not a question of being blind to the hypocrisy of the French government and the
bourgeoisie that it represents. While the French state has no problem with Saudi Arabia,
Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, racist and bloodthirsty monarchies who claim to
represent the purest of Islam, it has a racist climate on its soil. against Muslims and
Muslim women of the lower classes.
Download UCL Tract
Within these popular classes, Muslim people or identified as such are commonly victims of
discrimination in employment, housing, and police harassment. They also suffer permanent
insults in the name of denatured secularism, used selectively to invisibilize a particular
minority.
The current Islamophobic offensive is a new step in a process that has been going on for
many years. The French bourgeoisie and its political representatives are gradually coming
closer to the hardest right in the name of the defense of a " European way of life "
which encourages that part of the population feels more legitimate than another, and that
is also a way for the ruling classes to divide and rule.
Build the riposte
Today's mobilization, unprecedented in scale and unity around it, shows that everything is
still possible to stop this Islamophobic offensive. To win, it is certain that the events
and the stands will not be enough.
In order to break the racist mechanics and push back the ruling classes, we need to
organize ourselves at the base, in the companies where we work and in the neighborhoods
where we live. Resuming our struggles in hand, we must build and strengthen the people's
power, far from political calculations and electoral demagogy, to draw an emancipated
future of exploitation and all dominations.
UNITARY EVENT
NOVEMBER 10, 2019
With:
Adama Committee, Citizens' Assembly of Turkish Originals, FUIQP, ATMF, UJFP, CCIF, League
of Human Rights,
CGT, Union Syndicale Solidaires, FSU, Unef,
UCL, NPA, LO, EELV, Insubordinate France, AFA
1 pm, Gare du Nord, in Paris
WHY LIBERTA COMMUNISTS ARE THERE
Libertarian communists alongside Muslims and Muslims ? It's not only possible but it's
more than necessary today.
Yes, UCL is an atheist organization. But this is not the question when a religious
minority is stigmatized and oppressed. UCL affirms its support for Muslim believers
denigrated by politicians and the media, likened to an " enemy from within ".
Against Islamophobia and all racisms, we defend freedom of worship, freedom of conscience,
freedom of choice.
Against Islamophobia and all racisms, the UCL defends freedom of worship, freedom of
conscience, freedom of choice.
cc Cuervo / UCL Marseille
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Riposte-populaire-face-a-l-islamophobie
------------------------------
Message: 7
On November 6, protests continued in Chile. Another concession by the authorities - an
increase in the minimum wage by 16% - could not satisfy the protesters who are seeking a
complete change in socio-economic policy. ---- The strategy of decentralization and the
transfer of conflict into quarters was even more effective than expected. Thousands of
people gathered at a call for a demonstration in front of the Castaneda Center. Faced with
repression, they broke up into small groups and dispersed, forming a new focus of
conflict. Banks, pharmacies, fast food chains, and pension fund branches were attacked,
collectively expropriated, and routed. The entire axis of Providencia in Santiago was
blocked between Mankeue and Piazzale Italy. ---- A call was issued to re-assemble on
November 7 and 8 in the symbol of Castaneda's capitalist consumption.
Unknown activists attacked the headquarters of the ultra-right UDI (Independent Democratic
Union) party, smashed barriers, stormed in and carried out furniture, using it to build a
barricade. On the walls was painted the letter "A" in a circle. Characteristically,
politicians of all parties condemned the rally as an "attack on democracy."
Nearby, another group of protesters destroyed a monument to the ideologist of the Pinochet
dictatorship, Jaime Gusman.
A self-organized living chain built an impressive barricade of cobblestones, passing
stones from hand to hand. The APCs of the repressive organs could not overcome it. Hoody
protesters, as usual, climbed up on APCs with water cannons and incapacitated them. Such
scenes were noted on November 6 in Providencia and in the city of Puerto Montt.
In the squares in Puente Alto and Renka, the students had been fighting with the police
for many hours, and in Renka they attacked the police commissariat using stones and
Molotov cocktails. 5 carabinieri were injured.
Thousands of people continue to gather in the metropolitan area of Italy, and often
clashes with the police come out. The day before, the police broke into a college, which,
by the decision of the assembly, was occupied by students. A major of the Carabinieri
fired point blank shot at two students, injuring them.
Throughout the day, the "No + TAG" movement blocked city roads, requiring the cancellation
of debts for tolls.
Faced with the threat of sabotage, authorities canceled the match for the Liberators Cup
in Santiago. The national championship is still postponed, and the football union refuses
to play on the bones of those killed during the riot.
At night, protesters in the hoods of the Villa Franca and La Victoria attacked the police
with incendiary bombs.
20 days after the start of social rebellion, he is still alive, including because he does
not have leaders or leaders. People do not allow parties and their petitions to manipulate
themselves and anarchize social space.
https://aitrus.info/node/5354
------------------------------
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