Today's Topics:
1. Canada, ucl-saguenay, Collectif Emma Goldman - Witches,
figures of resistance to a change of society (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #298 - What to do
with theories of collapse ? (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. The Ajour Magazin has conducted an exciting interview with
the anarchist collective rouvikonas (de) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Takashi Ait: "Solidarity with the struggle of workers and
workers of the Chilean region". (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #298 - Frédéric
Antonini (economist): "There is every reason for the libertarians
to reinvest the economy" (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. [Chile] Santiago: 13th day of social upheaval By ANA on
November 1, 2019 (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
For centuries, the witch hunt has raged throughout Europe, with judges arresting,
torturing, burning critics ... ---- Text published in the journal Offensive number 28.
---- As early as the fifth century, trials in witchcraft are listed. The witch hunt,
however, generally covers the period from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth
century, reaching its peak in the sixteenth century. Convictions are pronounced until the
end of the 17th century. If, in the imagination, the witch hunt is assimilated to an
obscurantist Middle Ages, it took place during the Renaissance, a period which
nevertheless corresponds to the beginnings of modern science and the birth of humanism.
The persecution of witchcraft affected both Catholic and Protestant areas from Europe to
Protestant America. There are between forty thousand and one hundred thousand victims, and
millions of people worried.
At the end of the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church will gradually associate any divination
practice with witchcraft. Magic acts such as spells, enchantments or ligatures are
attested. These practices are supposed to predict the future, preserve harvests, or
protect animals ... They are implemented by sorcerers, but also by healers or
désenvoueurs-ers.
Four-fifths of those burned at the stake are women. While all kinds of women are
prosecuted and sentenced, including seven-year-old girls, nuns and married women, certain
traits are particularly endangering. To be a single woman (widow, old maid, that is to say
without husband, father, brother or son, to live in a remote dwelling), to be old, to be
poor, to be cultivated or melancholy, to have a singular physical aspect ( infirmity,
great ugliness, great beauty, red hair, etc.) or own a cat, very quickly draws accusations
of witchcraft. Overall, being out of the ordinary, autonomous or asserting yourself within
a community is the "witch". Physicists, herbalists or midwives are typical targets. The
Inquisition is very present in rural areas. The Church is always wary of ancient peasant
cults, such as the "Fairy Trees", which are often performed with the support of the
village priest.
Among women accused of witchcraft, those providing therapeutic practices are numerous.
These women know about herbalism, treat fevers and pains, deliver babies, provide
abortifacient remedies. Despite the repression, the preservation and transmission of
medicinal knowledge and birth control has persisted for a long time. The exchange of
knowledge is done discreetly around the laundry or during the evenings. The charges
against them go far beyond their practice: these "spellcasters" are suspected of crippling
harvests, poisoning wells, giving birth to deformed children, or disrupting the climate.
A breviary of hatred
Drawing its roots from medieval misogyny, especially Catholic, and earlier, the witch hunt
is launched by two texts: the Bull of Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 and The Hammer of witches
( Malleus Maleficarum ) Dominicans Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer in 1486 This true
theoretical text of the Inquisition is a great success until the seventeenth century ...
It reads that "the wizards are little", that is to say that they are few compared to
witches. The cause is simple in the eyes of the authors: " All witchcraft comes from
carnal desire that is insatiable in women ... to satisfy their concupiscence, they must
copulate with the devil ...". Finally, they wish to remind us that, by witches, they do
not mean " only those who torment and kill; those who deliver evil are also part of this
group ":" No one has done more harm than midwives ". The feminine nature is "demonic", so
every woman is a potential witch. Whether it does good or bad, it must be suppressed. This
breviary of women's hatred, which really launches the massacres, attributes to them
sorcery as a particular heresy.
Charges generally include aspects related to sexuality. The Inquisitors reproach the
witches for sleeping with the devil, and even to ride him (which refers to Adam's first
wife, Lilith), to participate in orgies, to practice lesbianism (true "offense to God"),
to make love after their menopause, to prostitute themselves, or to have a devil's nipple
(the clitoris). Torture and condemnation focus on the exposure of bodies and sexual violence.
Control women
One of the motivations for witch hunting is the desire to reserve the privilege of
practicing medicine to men. Since the first part of the Middle Ages, the latter was mostly
practiced by women, as well as by monks. The education of the nobility girls even included
a small surgery course! These doctoresses, called "physicists" or medicines, took care of
women (which was forbidden to the monks) and men. Some were famous: the Abbess Hildegarde
de Birgen left a treatise on medicine, Sarah de Saint-Gilles taught in Marseille. Charles
VIII, at the end of the fifteenth century, forbade medicine to women, to reserve it to
some scholars, men of the Faculty. The construction of the "homologated" medical
profession also excludes married men and religious. These services given to and by
relatives, or against other services, become paid because practiced by an outside expert.
Many people find themselves excluded from care, which, in times of major epidemics, has
far-reaching consequences! This real expropriation of knowledge takes place through the
demonization of a practice previously recognized by the community. The most criticized of
women physicists is abortion, a charge frequently made in the fifteenth century witchcraft
trials. If early Christians were antinatalist and cared little for abortion, and if the
following encouraged little maternity in view of the "sin" related to coitus, the ravages
of pest and wars on people upset the situation. Birth control, and therefore the body of
women, becomes an issue.
Witches have been ideal scapegoats. Faced with climatic hazards first: the "Little Ice
Age" which begins in the middle of the sixteenth century favors famines and diseases.
Against the Protestant Reformers: The Catholic Church is pursuing heretics to reassure its
economic and political power. Healers can indeed be seen as possible competitors of
priests. In the face of social problems especially: many revolt movements are developing
in Europe. The mutation of the feudal system towards a preindustrial model develops
private property, individualism, the contempt of women and poor classes. Collective lands
are recovered, fenced, dry swamps, forests felled. Gold, many people derive much of their
resources and autonomy from these "commons". The accusations of witchcraft thus make it
possible to redirect the anger of the population against a specific category, to
dissociate the peasants by setting up a climate of fear, and to criminalize the revolts,
which preached the reappropriation of the lands and a collective life, putting into
question sexual morality ... The terror policy of witch-hunting continued for two long
centuries. No doubt because the resistance to expropriation of knowledge and land of women
and the poor was strong. The legitimization of the new society, where some men exercise a
monopoly over knowledge and political choices, has not been made without opposition.
Anita
To learn more about the subject, read Witches, Midwives and NursesA History of Women and
Medicine byBarbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English. The book is published in the editions
of the bustle.
by Collectif Emma Goldman
http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2019/10/les-sorcieres-figures-de-resistance-un.html
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Message: 2
Faced with the aggravation of the climate crisis but also the irreversible decline of oil,
collapsology is a rising theme in society. More and more people are thinking about the
probability of a collapse of economic circuits and thus of society. What are their
arguments ? ---- The year 2019 will have broken several ominous records. June 2019 was the
hottest June ever measured on the planet. In France the temperature reached 42.6 ° C in
Paris and 46 ° C in Gard and Herault. This confirms the trend of recent years, since the
years 2014 to 2018 were already the five hottest ever recorded. These records are
accompanied each year by their share of droughts, fires, etc., which regularly make
headlines. ---- It will not work out ---- According to the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) - whose forecasts and analyzes are rather consensual - we have
crossed the bar of 1 ° C increase of the average temperature of the globe compared to the
pre-industrial era. And at the current pace of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we will
have reached 1.5 ° C by 2050, while this was the target not to be exceeded by 2100,
according to the report. Paris Climate Agreement 2015 signed by most states. Recall that
with the commitments actually made by these states for now, we are actually on a
trajectory of +3 ° C !
But other studies are more pessimistic, such as that appeared on August 6, 2018 in the
journal Proceedings of the national academy of science : between 1.5 and 2 ° C of warming,
the boreal and Amazonian forests could wither and not absorb any more. CO2, permafrost
[1]could melt. This could then generate a warming of 4 to 6 ° C by 2100, with sea level
rise of 10 to 60 meters, reducing the habitable areas accordingly.
General crisis !
To this we add the pollution of water, the destruction of soil by chemical agriculture,
and the massive disappearance of biodiversity. And depletion of resources - conventional
oil, metals, sand - without an alternative. Collapsology is largely based on the announced
decline in the energy return rate (ERR). In the golden age of oil in the United States,
the ERR was 100/1 (100 units of energy recovered per unit of energy invested). But after
the exhaustion of the most accessible deposits, the cost of oil exploitation has only gone
up, and its TRE has irremediably declined. Today, at the world level, the average ERR of
oil is between 10/1 and 20/1. The TRE of coal of 50/1 is also in decline.
Green capitalism, meanwhile, promises that the rise of renewable energy will replace oil.
This is false. Given their very low ERR - 3/1 for photovoltaic, 4/1 for wind - these
energies will never meet the current energy demand. It is therefore likely to have come
off the road and collapse: before 2050 say the most optimistic collaposlogues before 2030
say the most pessimistic.
Faced with these observations, one conclusion is essential: we must radically change our
ways of life, production and consumption, to move towards energy sobriety.
But capitalism will not allow it, since it can not give up its existential power: growth.
To produce more and more, to consume more and more, to invent " big useless projects "
as needed to "drive growth ".
To put an end to this flight forward, we must end capitalism, and invent a society sober,
solidarity, decentralized, with a economy in short circuits. This, the libertarian
communists have been saying for decades already.
The problem is that at the present stage, even if we overthrow capitalism tomorrow,
climate change is already under way. The question will be to limit its size and adapt society.
But then ... everything will fall apart ?
Since humans have a great capacity for adaptation, it is unlikely that humanity will
disappear. On the other hand, it is likely that droughts, fires, floods and other
shortages will multiply and lead to crises, famines, forced migrations, wars. It is also
likely that, as always, it is first the poor who clink, while the rich cling to their
privileges and build islands of well-being in the midst of a tipping world. According to
the definition established by the former Minister Yves Cochet Verts, become one of the
most known collapsologists, the collapse is a " the process by which basic needs (water,
food, energy, housing, etc.) are no longer provided at a reasonable cost to a majority of
the population through services regulated by law " [2]. There is no eschatological or
millenarian vision.
In fact, collapse is already a reality in many parts of the world, including for the poor
in rich countries. Water cuts, intermittent electricity, paralyzed public transport ... If
capitalism is allowed to do so, the collapse is very likely to become widespread and
amplified, just like class domination and authoritarianism.
Reflect politically
As this imaginary progresses in society, engendering a form of " eco-anxiety ", we see
the development of " collapsology Defined as an interdisciplinary applied science of
collapse, taking into account ecological, geopolitical and financial criteria. For
example, the international financial system is today a factor of vulnerability because it
can trigger a crisis in addition to the environmental crisis. Interdisciplinarity also
leads us to consider the psychological dimensions of the situation in two respects. The
first invites us to mourn the world we know, with its standard of living, its prospects
for progress. Mourning and accepting the collapse would then make it possible to take
action, which is essential to avoid the worst scenarios. It does not mean to accept living
badly, but to change our standards and lifestyles to live better with less. The second
aspect aims at accompany people suffering from eco-anxiety, while a mixture of emotions
(denial, anger, renunciation, depression) can prevent them from mobilizing.
Collapsology is the subject of much criticism, particularly on the inadequacy of its
analyzes and policy proposals, and we will come back to this shortly. But it has the merit
of opening spaces of reflection and discussion necessary in our time, on what we can face
the gravity and the complexity of the situation. Capitalism must be destroyed before it
destroys the planet. But here it is: the current rush of global warming reduces the
deadlines. Revolutionaries can not spare themselves a reflection on this point.
Jocelyn (UCL Gard)
[1] Frozen ground in the Far North containing a lot of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
[2] Quoted by Servigne and Stevens in How everything can collapse.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Que-faire-des-theories-de-l-effondrement
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Message: 3
read it: https://www.ajour-mag.ch/rouvikonas/ ---- With bags of paint into the heart of
the working class - Rouvikonas and the situation in Greece ---- 31 October 2019 ---- Color
attacks are practiced in broad daylight, corrupt doctors confront them with the live
camera, and they crowd in at embassies and company offices. They stand by their names and
often with their faces to their actions. The members of the Greek anarchist collective
Rouvikonas (German Rubicon) receive much applause for their actions. That is why the new
government of the liberal-conservative Nea Dimokratia (ND) has a special focus on the
group. We met the Rouvikonas anarchists in Athens and talked to founder member and
longtime militant Spiros Daperolas about Robin Hood, the spectacle and the new right-wing
government.
By Leon Feiss and Nico Nussbaum
Rouvikonas formed in 2013 at a time when the big mass movements against austerity
(austerity) have already peaked. What was the motivation behind your startup process?
The anti-austerity movement died with the rise of Syriza - she died because of Syriza.
When we started working as a group, the mass movements were already falling apart. We were
looking for ways to keep the flame of social struggles burning. Many of us have been
active in the anarchist movement for years. But we wanted to do something different from
what already existed back then.
What did you want to do differently?
In our view, the anarchist movement in Greece is often elitist. We opted for a practice
that is closer to social problems and closer to the struggles of the working class. This
has given us a lot of strength and support. We started with actions. The theoretical
discussions came later.
With numerous direct action Rouvikonas has managed to attract much attention. Not only in
Greece, but internationally. You have carried out many color attacks on embassies, smashed
into slices of corporations and invaded government agencies' offices to confront
perpetrators with a camera. Can you tell us more about the concepts behind it? How do you
choose goals?
Our first decision was to handle issues that are very obvious. We wanted to expand the
spectrum that anarchists are usually involved with. We deal with issues related to labor
disputes and class struggles, state corruption cases, social problems wherever we
encounter them. At the same time we try to keep our political views and actions as
understandable as possible. We do not want to be elitist. Neither in the way we speak or
write nor in the way we act.
Also in relation to the media, you are breaking new ground. What sets you apart from the
previous practice of the anarchist movement in Greece?
We use the media options to our advantage. From our actions we produce video material that
we disseminate via social media - and we organize and plan it.
We also have a conscious relationship with the mainstream media. The anarchist movement in
Greece usually rejects any links with the media. We also do not cooperate with the Greek
media in any way, but we try to use their functionality. The videos of our actions became
so popular on social media that mainstream media was forced to report.
Greek health system: The anarchists force corrupt doctors to stop accepting "fakelaki".
We try to use their logics for us. Even if they are rushing against us and trying to
foment fears. Ultimately, this made our group even better known and our actions have now
landed on front pages and in major TV news programs. This media presence has made
anarchist ideas and actions accessible to a broader public.
Parts of the anarchist movement criticize that your practice has a spectacle character and
forces all non-involved in a passive audience role. What do you think?
This criticism has a certain justification. The danger is to produce a Robin Hood image:
The good gang that helps the poor and wins applause. We live in a society where people are
looking for substitutes for their actions. But we do not agree with Guy Debord's analysis
of the "society of the spectacle," we are not situationists. We think that spectacular
actions can be very useful. Our actions are a kind of propaganda that spreads our
positions. We have to overcome the previous inability of the movement to gain a greater
reach. We want to reach a broad social base.
In addition, the comrades who criticize the spectacle overlook what happens beyond. Most
of what Rouvikonas does happens away from the cameras: about our antifascist practice or
our involvement in the anarchist federation.
Looking back on past years, we see that this practice has helped us and the movement a
lot. The people in Greek society have seen anarchists through these actions in a way they
have never done before: we are more understandable, closer to social reality.
With your tactics of direct actions that you publicly acknowledge, you are also exposing
yourself to repression. What kind of repression do you have to do and how do you counter that?
We always play hard on the edge. That's our tactic. Even though some of our members were
formerly involved in high-militarized revolutionary actions and many were in jail, today
we have decided otherwise. Rouvikonas usually conducts actions in the context of
"second-degree" offenses, which barely exceed the limit of "third-degree" offenses.
Because that's the line between fines and imprisonment. Criminal offenses of the second
degree, which include property damage such as color attacks and disc breaks, hardly lead
to prison sentences.
Leaflet rampage! Even at 20 minutes you are outraged. February 2019.
We also decided to show names and faces. Many of our people are very open about their
membership of Rouvikonas. It was a political decision because it makes us more
understandable to the people. We think that helped us in our relationship with people. We
are normal people, with names, jobs and a normal life.
Since July 2019, Mitsotakis's new government of law has been in office and has declared
war on you, the occupations and all of Exarchia. How do you assess the current situation?
To understand the current situation, we must look back to the time of the rise of Syriza.
The anti-austerity movement was very strong at that time, it was a period of intense
social struggles. The antagonistic forces have failed to find a strategy. The solution
offered by Syriza seemed to have no alternative. Syriza took over and channeled the
anti-austerity movement. That is the historical role of social democracy. They take the
lead in the periods of social struggles, take over the state power and pacify the struggles.
Syriza came to power with the promise to break the EU's austerity dictates - and they did
exactly the opposite. The ensuing disappointment led to a strong demobilization. The
rights have benefited from this. She is back in power now. This is the tango of bourgeois
democracy. Of course, social democracy and rights have political differences, but from a
historical perspective they are mutually dependent.
There are many people whose faith in the political system has been permanently destroyed.
And there are also many people affected by the neoliberal attacks of the new government.
This has begun to attack the remaining social security. We want to reach these people.
In a sense, and that may sound strange, we are also glad about the change of government.
Syriza and the Social Democrats have also suppressed, but in a more subtle way. Thus,
under Syriza more occupations have been evicted than under the previous right-wing
government. They did not advertise publicly. In contrast, Nea Dimokratia publicly promotes
a law-and-order policy in order to win conservative and right-wing voices. In fact, the
far-right party Golden Dawn has collapsed in the elections. Their voters defected to Nea
Dimokratia.
The No Pasaran demo of September 14, 2019.
The first state attacks on Exarchia were strongly answered by the antagonistic movement.
We had a big "No Pasaran" demonstration on September 14th. For a clear anarchist demo came
5000 to 7000 people. That surprised us positively. Only three months ago, the movement
managed to get a thousand people out on the street.
We think that now the first wave of attacks is over. The combination of major
mobilizations and various legal and illegal actions led the government to stop this first
wave of the attack. But there will certainly be a second round.
What is left of the self-organized structures of the period before Syriza?
During the battles' cycle from 2008 onwards, people took to the streets en masse, but too
few continuous structures were built up. Certainly there was also an organization at the
base: the meetings in the squares or in the neighborhood. With the decline of the
protests, however, these structures have largely disappeared. The collapse of the movement
has allowed Syriza to take over. A big mistake of the antagonistic movement was to focus
too much on the direct confrontation with the state.
It absolutely needs a revival of neighborhood meetings. These self-organized structures at
the base are, in our view, those that should initiate and sustain a revolutionary change.
We do not think that a party makes the revolution. Even Rouvikonas is not the solution,
because this lies solely in the self-organization of society.
We try to promote these organs of self-government in our propaganda. In almost every one
of our communiqués about actions, we emphasize the need for self-organization. In
addition, we ourselves are part of such processes.
Can you give some examples of basic structures that you are involved in?
In gastronomy and motorbike delivery services, there are strong anarchistically influenced
unions. But there are a few sectors. At the moment, a general strike only takes place when
it is decided by the big unions, which are controlled by the reformist parties. These
unions have completely failed to do anything against the austerity policy. They betrayed
everything. Nevertheless, there can not be a general strike without these unions at
present. By the time the grassroots unions are able to call a general strike, if only for
one day, we are dependent on these union bureaucracies.
To the district assemblies: Some of them still exist in the suburbs of Athens. But they
have lost their strength. Of course, there are the occupations of the movement and many
migrant occupations. But everything remains very marginal. What is left of self-governing
structures is mostly kept alive by political activists.
We also have our own structures as a group. For example, we have set up medical care here
in our "Vox" center. So we try to fill the gaps of the Greek health system.
There are several initiatives, but we are still a long way from having real strength at
the grass roots of society.
Mitsotakis had indeed promised in his election campaign, the destruction of Rouvikonas.
Are you already feeling an intensification of the repression with the new government?
Almost every day we have trouble with the state. Just yesterday I had the secret service
in front of my house. They stopped me and told me things about my private life that they
really should not know.
The real danger, however, is that the state will try to classify us as a terrorist
organization. But in a bourgeois constitutional state, it is difficult to declare a group
throwing flyers and occasionally breaking a slice as a terrorist group. That is the
contradiction in which the state is located. So far, he has no clear strategy to combat us
within the rule of law. Of course, the state would have the capacity to destroy us
immediately. They could arrest us all tomorrow, but that would destroy the democratic garb
of the state.
We also have a lot of support in the population, we have many supporters. If the state
attacked our group head-on, it would cause a great wave of solidarity.
Moreover, it should not be forgotten that the anarchist movement in Greece has had
experience in the use of counter-violence. As the state can reinforce its repression, so
can the anarchist movement increase its militancy level. It is a game in which each side
assesses the balance of power and explores their possibilities.
Many of your actions are related to fighting elsewhere in the world. You also call
yourself an internationalist. Now the anarchist movement in Greece is experiencing a
strong attack by the state. How can militants in Western Europe express their solidarity
with you?
We have given and received much international solidarity in recent years. Of course we are
internationalists and try to express this in our practice. Now we need a lot of solidarity
from abroad. This can be expressed differently. Of course we need financial support -
especially to cover our court costs. What it also needs is pressure on the Greek
government from the outside. Greece is very dependent on the tourism industry and
therefore has a good reputation. And also: messages are everywhere.
Learn more about Rouvikonas? Here is your first interview (Spanish / Greek) with a TV channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=5QqFrGmNQUQ
https://www.ajour-mag.ch/rouvikonas/
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Message: 4
We received this greeting from Russia, from those and colleagues of kras-Mat / Cras ait /
cras iwa. ---- Comrades and comrades! ---- From far away Russia, we express our burning
admiration for the daring struggle of Chile workers. Its resistance against capitalism and
the state inspires hope in working people around the world, that the global neo-liberal
offensive against our class will finally be stopped and rejected. Today, everyone, with
the breathing contained, look at Chile. We wish you success in self-organization and struggle.
In Solidarity, ---- International Relations Secretariat ---- Kras-section in the Russian
region ".
http://www.usi-cit.org/index.php/1630-sezione-usi-cit-roma-giuseppe-pinelli
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Message: 5
We wanted to prolong the reading of Pour un économie libertaire by an interview with its
author, Frédéric Antonini. It is also a way for us to respond positively to the invitation
to debate that he makes very clearly in this book. ---- Even as the libertarians defend an
economic and political project in rupture with capitalism, how do you think there are so
few economists among them and them ? ---- If one understands by "economist" any person who
would be closely interested in the economy (as a field of particular human activities),
and who would seek, at least, to grasp its functioning, by making the effort of to
appropriate specific concepts and causal mechanisms (economy as reasoned and rigorous
study of this field), even before any desire for research and deepening, I will already
say that, in proportion to the entire population, the number of these people is very
small. And this, although we live in a world where the economy and economic discourses are
hypertrophied. So, if we apply this proportion to the libertarian milieu, numerically much
lower, it is not surprising that the number of libertarian economists appears so low ...
But that does not explain everything. On the contrary, one could expect a certain
overrepresentation of economists among the libertarians, because of a significant interest
related to the reason you mention. But we seem far from overrepresentation ... Why ?
First of all, because economics, as a subject of study and study itself, tends to appear
absurd and forbidding. For most of our fellow citizens, as for the libertarians.
Secondly, because of a rejection of the economy expressed by some libertarians, rejection
as radical as it is difficult to understand (in my opinion), and perhaps the consequence
of an inclination for ideological simplism, assimilating markets and capitalism,
capitalism and the economy , economy and domination, etc., to the point of condemning
everything and turning away from the economy ...
Finally, last line of explanation, it seems to me that the libertarians have, on the
whole, a "small" and persistent inferiority complex compared to the Marxists, who have
strongly and permanently invested (like Marx) the field of critical economic analysis,
thus giving their work unparalleled legitimacy among anti-capitalists. And this, even if,
in terms of economic proposals and achievements, they have nevertheless remained well
below those of libertarians throughout the last two centuries ... Anyway, there is every
place for them. libertarians to reinvest the economy.
Why do you defend the principle of productive pluralism in which self-managing companies
coexist with a self-employment scheme ?
As for the maintenance of self-employed enterprises, self-managed by their sole worker,
alongside collective enterprises (also self-managed), yes, I defend this possibility,
because there are people, who can be qualified as individualists, who sometimes prefer to
work under their own decisions ... As long as the practice of chrematism (lucrative
accumulation) will not resurface, as well as the wage-earning (they would both be
proscribed), and more general, as long as the activity of these self-enterprises does not
call into question the great principles of libertarian society, why prevent this situation
from being? And to allow it would not mean encouragement, collective ownership and
self-management actually constituting the dominant form of the economy. Productive
pluralism, respectful of certain principles, is it not ultimately an expression of freedom ?
You put forward a number of actions and transitional measures to popularize
self-management ideas. On the other hand you do not say much about the self-organization
of the struggles, or the general strike. Is not this another decisive element of the
confrontation with the state and capital ?
It's true, I hardly mention it. But the self-organization of conflicts, with the will of
their development but also of their convergence, seemed to me so self-evident as
libertarian demands, that I did not feel the need to recall it. I preferred to mention
more specific aspects, which could also be less self-evident.
Thomas Piketty is celebrated by some of the critics for his work on inequality and his
attempt to rehabilitate social democracy. But his writings have many blind spots and he
reduces the economic debate to a confrontation between liberalism, social democracy and
Stalinism / Marxism-Leninism while evacuating critical Marxism, libertarian communism and
social ecology ...
To put it bluntly, it is difficult not to be pleased that an economist-researcher evolves
towards a sharp criticism of the inequalities produced by capitalism and to make this
criticism profit from its notoriety, henceforth international. However, as you say, its
positioning appears quite "old left" ". I will take one example: the emphasis he puts on
how to reduce the excess of inequalities he denounces. Piketty focuses on the tax tool as
a means of correction, a posteriori action tool and typically government. We are far from
a consistent anti-capitalist approach which consists in preventing at the source the
production of economic inequalities, both of income and wealth, by simply limiting the
gaps at the very moment when income is distributed and the heritage acquired ...
Indeed, to use a metaphor, why allow the monster to develop and then decapitate it while
allowing it to take shape and so on, while it is enough simply not to let it be born ?
Here, behind a common observation and a close critique in its content, there is a real gap
between the answers that can bring a radicalized social democracy, of which he appears the
herald, and anti-capitalist critical currents, which are the libertarians.
How can critical currents advocating a break with capitalism and self-management weigh in
order to create majorities of ideas ?
It seems to me that these currents should above all try to go beyond their labels ...
While we all have their own ideological past, in today's society, labels appear to be
largely devalued in the eyes of the greatest number. Keep the contents, while making sure
to update them, and especially exchange. I sincerely believe that the most important today
is the benevolent and driven discussion of alternative proposals and, more importantly,
the convergence of real non-capitalist and self-management practices, whoever they are and
whoever wear them.
Interview by Laurent Esquerre (UCL Aveyron)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Entretien-Il-y-a-tout-lieu-pour-les-libertaires-de-reinvestir-l-economie
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Message: 6
ANGER DON'T DIE FOR SHOOTS! ---- The massiveness of the demonstrations is diminishing and
police have changed tactics. At the time of the protest in downtown Santiago, the footmen
charged the crowd with great force, firing indiscriminately. Making the rebels back off,
with no time to regroup. So most chose to be a few blocks from the "zero zone". ----
Militarized police and their armored vehicles seized the iconic Piazza Italia. ----
Anarchists have taken up the call to self-care to protect themselves by wearing helmets,
goggles, shields and "lining up" at the ends. According to unofficial data, 1,000 would be
injured by lead balls. Many failed to return to the front line. The call is also to
multiply the actions of anarchic propaganda, with posters, pamphlets, flags, shouts, and
acratic hymns.
Hooded protesters stormed the Bustamante Park library, to access the property they broke
the screens and removed the furniture to barricade. Obviously, the books left intact
inside the place.
In different cities, protesters toppled statues of Spanish settlers and characters hated
by the population. Getting beautiful postcards to claim the history of the native people.
In the north, protesters intercepted two trucks and forced them to unload on the road,
resulting in a barricade of tons of salt. Totally surreal. In Quilpue, the city burned
down, in this place the mayor had proposed months ago the Curfew for all minors.
The president of Chile announced the cancellation of two international summits that the
country would host, the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), scheduled
for November, and the 25th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 25), which
would take place in December. A great triumph for those who organized to protest against
the presence of Trump, Putin and their friends. A blow to the ego of the Chilean
president, who had long sought to be an international reference. The TPP11 is still in the
crosshairs.
In an unprecedented event, the symbol of consumption in Santiago, the Costanera Center,
closed during the weekend for fear of collective expropriation.
In the political parliament, they argue over a constitutional charge against Piñera and
Chadwick, but right-wing supporters and television journalists say "this is not the time."
Seeking as always the total impunity of the authorities.
In court, ample coverage was given to the first protester detained for the destruction of
the San Joaquin subway turnstiles. He is being held in pre-trial detention in the High
Security Prison, charged with qualified damage and under state internal security law. Some
figures say there are almost 1,000 prisoners during these last two days of conflict.
There is uncertainty about the future of the Uprising, it remains to continue contributing
courageously and autonomously for this dream to continue.
Fighting youth, permanent insurrection!
The Social Uprising is still alive!
NT
Related Content:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2019/10/31/chile-santiago-11o-dia-de-revolta-social/
anarchist news agency-ana
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