Today's Topics:
1. Czech, AFED: The importance of anarchism -- The reflection
of our sympathizer on the universality and transcultural nature
of anarchism [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. [Chile] Communiqué of the Various Trade Union Santiago to
more than a month of protests in the Chilean region By ANA (pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL - Against student
precariousness, let's take part in December 5th ! by Secrétariat
Jeunesse (fr, it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #299 - 1939: German
anarcho-syndicalists in the Spanish war (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Holand, vrije bond: Vloerwerk Demonstration: No sacking
without a cause! (nl) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Greece, December 5: National Day of Occupation Solidarity By
Call for solidarity marches in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras
APO [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. União Libertária Comunista Bruxelas - Zablière and police
deployment, paranoia in Arlon (en, it, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
The ideas of anarchism already exist in ancient Greece. The idea of a society without exploiters and exploited, without oppression and
terror, without the superiority of the powerful over most of the population was able to survive to this day. Nowadays, human society is made
up of such "values" that hamper our social and mental development, which should lead to mutual respect and mutual cooperation. Capitalism
creates an environment in which competitiveness, hatred and hypocrisy have become our everyday experience. Excessive consumerism and
materialism have deepened under our skin and slowly decomposes us from the inside. If we want real change, we need to realize that we need
to fundamentally change our thinking and create a society in which human potential is fully supported.
Opponents of anarchist ideas tend to believe that the anarchist model of society is not possible on a global scale. Their arguments can be
based on the incompatibility of different cultures into one coherent form, that most countries have no historical basis in the anarchist
notions of society. Some countries have only recently recognized the idea of democracy. However, the opponents do not realize that
anarchism, by its universality, surpasses all existing forms of society, which mostly supported only certain social classes, not people as a
whole. While human perception is to some extent influenced by culture, traditions and social principles, it does not mean that people as a
whole cannot establish universal interconnection and cooperation between themselves that can remove hatred and oppression from our lives.
Surprisingly, the attempt to create an anarchist society also took place on the Korean peninsula in 1929-1931, thanks to Kim Yao-jin, who
was born in 1889 in a wealthy family. The Korean People's Association in Manchuria was a movement that opposed Japanese colonization and
aimed to create a society based on the principles of freedom and equality. The capitalist injustice and colonial society that existed in
Korea (as in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe) would be gradually replaced by a new society. The movement was inspired by the economic
theories of libertarian socialism. The movement established workers' cooperatives and democratic schools throughout its territory. They also
set up decentralized regional councils dealing with agriculture, finance, industry and social services. The movement worked without
currency, private property, and without any class structure. The views of the Korean anarchists who represented the Talwhan group were
summarized in their statements, such as: instead of an elite-led civilization, society and civilization must be well integrated with each
other; but instead the introduction of independent self-government, etc.
Although the movement to protect against "external influences" had its own army, but could not resist Japanese and Chinese forces. But the
people who put their lives to protect the movement did not die in vain. The timelessness of the way of life of the people of the Korean
People's Association in Manchuria today reminds us strongly that living in a free and fair society is not a utopian, but a reality that is
essential to our world.
https://www.afed.cz/text/7075/dolezitost-anarchizmu
------------------------------
Message: 2
Discontent in Chile was predictable for many years. However, silence was what prevailed in the population. Grudgingly people expressed their
discontent, always without shouting, always obedient, with the knowledge that work is finally the only one that gave us sustenance. And if
we answer the story, not many years ago, screaming and rising meant blood, bullets and death. It was this same lack of justice and impunity,
and the unworthiness that made us swallow so many years, that took to the streets of the whole country. People opened their eyes to see an
injustice-giving government on every front and every aspect of our lives. This is what eventually generated a social upheaval, all the
discontent materialized and they were no longer small isolated groups driving demands, it was the population as a whole, who stopped and
said enough. As an epidemic, public opinion began to mention all the demands and petitions never heard. The forgotten have taken the floor,
and what happened on Friday, October 18, was a step well taken. It is the march of the people that has lasted for over a month, and which we
know will not stop.
However, we see that the social problem has been brought to a constituent assembly, and some want the whole struggle to focus there. But as
a trade union we are very clear that a constituent assembly does not resolve or reach the depths of our struggle if it has been shown to be
an end, but we are fully aware that it is not. We know that a constituent assembly will not change the reality we live as poor, we know how
reform works in the struggle and social upheaval, it proposes itself as something that is not, because we know that it is done with the idea
of generating a new form. of administering capitalism, and that is why our proposal is not going around, nor for favoring any state path
that one wants to take to the revolution of the forgotten.
Within the reforms, many things are mentioned, including raising the salary, which although this brings an improvement, and somehow shows to
improve our quality of life, it is not. The government gives economic benefits, but at the same time raises taxes, and likewise ends up
paying out of our pocket these "improvements", it is not news that the power does not want to lose neither bread nor piece, so we are
critical to every "benefit" and covenant that arises from its path.
Within the protest, we could see how different forms of resistance arise, and how the forces of the evil order of the state wanted to
suppress them. Now the worker, the student, the resident and the professional are informed and in the process of organization, the
government is against the wall, and no repressive force can stop this advance, however hard it may be. We have seen community kitchens,
spontaneously formed paramedic groups and the willingness of our people, rotating groups that do not abandon resistance, feminist marches
screaming for women's rights, highlighting abuse for years without fear and force. This is our alternative, this is what truly marked a
before and after, demonstrates that organized and organized: a lot and everything is possible,
In every protest there are self-defense groups that face the unbridled and aberrant violence of the forces of evil order, we fully support
everyone who fights, we believe that our ideas must be strengthened above all, we know that this is the what should be left to coping and
what gives it meaning. No advance is woefully free, there are victims, there are missing and murdered, there are a significant number of
people deprived of their liberty, the repressive force of evil order incarcerates the poor, incarcerates social fighters, and has not had a
real opportunity in life. . That is why we say: all prisoners are politicians, we demand the freedom of those who are arrested for fighting,
or for being born poor.
As anarchists we have no ambition to demonstrate anything at all, we are working shoulder to shoulder with people, our ideas have always
been for justice and love of humanity, against authority, capitalism and patriarchy, which is why we apply it in each front we work on. The
bourgeois press has wanted for years to criminalize our ideas, our movement, and with this protest it has been demonstrated who are the real
terrorists that bourgeois journalism so much about, they have demonstrated that they operate under the interests of the powerful, in defense
of private property. where an infrastructure is worth more than life, and where a woman's body is no more than a consumer good for anyone.
They are neither for self-defense nor for the people, nor for our demands.
We need to mention, in turn, that we are critical of representative democracy, as it allows detractors of our demands to policy against, and
to the detriment of, our struggle. Since 2006, students have started to make politics, breaking with the imposed way of doing it, in which
social actors had no place. In that scenario the state's move was to appeal to the democratic, that is, if the students had a valid opinion,
they did not have the authority to solve social problems, since if they did what the students demanded, they would be imposing their
position, and democracy would not. It consists only of students.
Thirteen years later, when several demands were pushed, not only for education, but also for NO + AFP, housing, health, against patriarchy
and extractivism. None had a solution, but all were understood and felt by the people, passed through the democratic filter that seeks
reconciliation between those who suffer social injustice and those who do business with them. Conciliation that is always favorable for the
powerful.
The struggle that is taking place is related to five demands: health, education, work, housing and the visibility of the oppression that
women experience. As a Trade Union Many think that health and education should not only be free and quality, we also think that systems
should be changed, other forms of education should be sought, models in which we learn to think, we are not for a public education that is
similar to a laboratory for the productive machine. By this we mean that every demand must be worked out deeply, it is not just access, it
is content, we are against the established economic model, we know that the problem is capitalism, we know that the problem at the same time
is patriarchy, we have blind faith on the basis on which we can create another way of life, in harmony with our community and above all with
dignity, for each and every one. The power that drives this model has adhered to authority and evil living, at the expense of abuse and wear
and tear, in complete coordination with the defense of private property, we know, this is our clear enemy: the way in which we are forced to
live is That is why all sectors are struggling, and even if the ruling class does not want to assume this truth, we will continue the
struggle until a dignified life comes true, where people have their homes, where old people receive a sufficient pension, where the school
is a place of development and encouragement of culture, where health is integrally approached, and not to profit from our illnesses, where
the business community does not abuse our natural resources, where every woman and partner has the free and fair decision about your own
body, where the right to leave and return safe and sound to his home is respected, a world where he can finally free himself from being
always an object of conquest, with a demarcated line from the cradle that determines and delimits it only because of their gender condition.
Our fight is for everything, and we will not lower our arms until we fulfill this dream.
Because of this, everyone in the struggle knows that organization is important, that assemblies be raised from all sides. We applaud every
effort that pushes from the grassroots. Still, we do not share certain logics of some leftist sectors that try and claim to be the people's
spokesman, when the only spokesman for the people is the people organized horizontally under the principles of federalism. The people are
still lacking for real organization, but it is possible and this day is very near.
We do not think that the people are a disputed, unthinking and pseudo-phantom being, we believe that the people exist and that their
organization is fundamental from the ground up, whether in territories, student or work.
As a consequence, as a Union of Various Crafts: we are anarchists, but we are not the spokesman for anarchism, we are workers, but we are
not workers' representatives.
There is a lot to be done in the organizational field and we think that the only way to make progress is to set aside the pretensions that
do not collaborate with this process. What it does not mean to lower the banners and hide the speeches is simply to assume what we really
are, without falsehoods, without manipulation, and from then on understanding with others.
We make a call to continue the struggle, to unite organizations and to abide by libertarian principles, in mutual support and solidarity.
Although anarchy does not come today or tomorrow, it always puts us on the side of the oppressed and against the injustices that prevail.
We are resistance, proposal and rebellion.
From the sea to the mountain range one hears the mighty corner of the earth forging other worlds and one of them is anarchy.
For a new world that guarantees the well-being and happiness of all, where no one exploits another and where we all live in harmony with nature.
Various Crafts Union Santiago
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Santiago, Chilean Region
Translation> Sol de Abril
Related Content:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2019/10/21/chile-santiago-concentracao-support-mutuo-e-solidarity-rumo-a-greve-geral/
anarchist news agency-ana
------------------------------
Message: 3
The inequalities and precariousness of the students explode and the government, with its media watchdogs, responds with contempt and attempt
to manipulate public opinion. While in Lyon a student immolated himself by the fire because of his difficulty to survive, and he called his
comrades to continue the fight, we are told about "recovery of the act by the far left ". This cynicism can only encourage the revolt of
students, high school students and unemployed young people, who can not stand this society that increasingly precarious and offers the
future for the working classes that poorly paid jobs, with poor working conditions (" flexibility ") and all on a planet devastated by the
rich. ---- It should be noted that the mobilization on different faculties and high schools following the political act of the unionist of
Solidaires Etudiant-es Lyon shows that part of the youth is determined to fight for a better future. And that, moreover, at the moment, the
LREM-MEDEF government is much less sure of itself than at its election in 2017: the Yellow Vests are gone by there and the hesitations of
the State on the reform of the pensions following the very many calls for the December 5 strike show that the balance of power could change.
The pension reform project concerns us, of course ! This is just the new way of calculating pensions that take into account the whole career
(rather than the best 25 years so far). Including the years we already know or are heading for, make short contracts, poorly paid,
unemployment, and precariousness.
Against precariousness, let's organize and mobilize !
On a day-to-day basis, as in struggles, it is by organizing in struggle and self-management unions that defending against precariousness is
possible. What we need in our movement are general assemblies that are places of direct democracy, to collectively decide what actions to
take to win. It is through a strong and massive struggle that we will overthrow all government policies that make us insecure and destroy
our lives! Let's inform during lecture tours and public meetings. Let us amplify the general assemblies which begin to gather hundreds of
students, for example 400 in Toulouse, as well as the demonstrations and the important gatherings in front of the Crous as in Paris.
Tractons and discuss in our TD, in our promos and in our cities U. Let's continue the actions of free RU, as in Lyon or Rennes, which
allowed thousands of students to eat for free !
So that we can build a broad response on our places of study for the strike of December 5 and after, with all workers !
The Libertarian Communist Union, December 2, 2019
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Contre-la-precarite-etudiante-prenons-part-au-5-decembre
------------------------------
Message: 4
In 1939, foreign female fighters and combatants in Spain had to flee the pro-Franco advance. The Retirada will lead them in the same way as
the Spanish fighters and combatants in the internment camps in France. Among them, German anarcho-syndicalist militants of the Deutsche
Anarcho-Syndikalisten (DAS) were swept up in the storm. ---- In March 1932, at its last national congress in Erfurt, the Freie
Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands, (FAUD, Free Union of German Workers) provides for the dissolution of its federal office in Berlin in case of
seizure of power by the Nazis. At the same time, these anarcho-syndicalists are violently confronting the Nazis, creating a fighting militia
of about 500 members. After the Nazi takeover in 1933, the FAUD was decimated by waves of arrests.
As a result, the FAUD clandestinely transfers its management commission from Berlin to Leipzig. Grassroots groups hold regional meetings,
weaving a resistance network of about 600 activists. Braving censorship, they print and disseminate clandestine propaganda: the newspaper
Die Soziale Revolution (The Social Revolution), 8 issues of which were published between 1933 and 1935. The anarcho-syndicalists who were
able to flee Nazi Germany and the repression was reorganize between 1933-1934. They then have an office in Amsterdam. Until 1935, the FAUD
organized a network of exfiltration of activists to Holland, which introduced anti-Nazi propaganda in Germany.
Extend the fight from Barcelona
Among the refugees of the FAUD, a few dozen settle in Spain where, from 1934, they form a group in exile, the Deutsche Anarcho-Syndikalisten
(DAS). As early as July 19, 1936, the Barcelonians of the DAS appeared in broad daylight to support the CNT, and defeat the attempted coup
fascist. Other DAS activists then join them to participate in the social revolution. In Barcelona, the animation bureau of the DAS includes
about twenty people, some of whom are known as Helmut Rüdiger and Augustin Souchy, but also German intellectuals, some of whom are Jewish
and Jewish, such as Etta Federn, the photographer Margaret Michaelis-Gross or Carl Einstein, wounded in the forehead, who paid tribute to
Durruti at his burial.
Anti-fascists join libertarian militias
According to sources, it is estimated that there are between 230 and 250 anti-fascist activists fighting in the international militia groups
of the CNT. Not all of them belong directly to the DAS, which only has 45 members and members. However, this group remains a compass for
most of them and it is reinforced in early 1937 through a circle of 50 to 80 sympathizers. Some of them are dissidents of the KDP (Communist
Party of Germany) who have been partly duped by the propaganda committee of the DAS. Others are sympathizers of the POUM, including Augusta
Marx and Margot Tierz. They become nurses in the international group of the column Duruti. Take prisoners, they will be brutally murdered by
the pro-Franco soldiery.
Poster of the German anarcho-syndicalist group DAS, which was integrated into the Spanish CNT, realized in 1936 by Arthur Lewin. The planes,
under the direction of Hitler, go to France represented by a smiling child. The slogan, all the more prophetic as we are in 1937, is: "
Today, Spain, tomorrow, the World ".
Militiamen engage on the front. They and they are 150 to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists in the battalions
of international volunteers, formed in the days following July 19th. They join anarchist militias on the Aragon front, especially in the
Duruti column, in assault groups. They are also found in the Ascaso column, in the International Volunteer Battalion, notably in the machine
gun unit Eric Musham, in the Sacco and Vanzetti battery, in the Tierra y Libertad column, in the Ortiz or Hilario-Zamora columns. A number
will lose their lives in fierce battles in Perdiguera or Santa Quiteria. Then, after May 1937, only a part of them and them integrates the
republican army. Indeed,
Propaganda work abroad (posters, brochures, radio) is underway. A number of activists are multilingual and translate the political
propaganda of the CNT. Others, like Etta Federn, are dedicated to education. The latter, who arrived in 1932, is active at Les Mujeres
Libres in Blanes, where she runs four schools and organizes the training of teachers and teachers. From 1937 to 1939, Paula Feldstein, runs
a settlement of Llansa Ascaso-Duruti children under the aegis of International Anti-Fascist Solidarity.
The Spanish Republic will never forgive them
DAS members participate in antinazi intelligence operations. From July to October 1936, elements of the DAS, formed in patrols of control,
and alongside the investigation groups of the CNT-FAI, help the neutralization of the Nazi apparatus in Barcelona (the section of the NSDAP,
the Front German Labor, the Gestapo, etc.). This action group organizes searches and expropriations in the apartments of German Nazi
sympathizers and militants, cultural buildings and the German Consulate in Barcelona. In June 1937, following investigations into Nazi
documents confiscated at the German Embassy and other Nazi pharmacies, the DAS publishes The Little Story of a Forgotten Book, Nazism
Exposed (published in German). under the titleSchwarzrotbuch ), then a book on the Hitlerite Empire, Black and Red , and its Spanish version
in 1938. This document had an important real and practical in the context of the time because it helps to reveal the international dimension
of the party organizations Nazi abroad. DAS activists seized documents proving that the NSDAP in Spain has been monitoring and intimidating
opponents of the Nazi regime and influencing Spain's domestic politics, highlighting political connections between the Generalitat of
Catalonia and Spain. even the Central Committee of Anti-fascist Militias and the Nazi apparatus in Barcelona.
Perhaps this allows us to explain why the radical action of German anti-fascists DAS against the Consulate General of Germany and the Nazi
network Barcelona has remained in the oblivion of official historiography. They played a fundamental role, however, from July 20, in the
dismantling of this vast Nazi network that operated from the Consulate General of Germany in the Catalan capital. However, abandoned by
representatives of the CNT, integrated in the governments of the Generalitat and Madrid, they will never be forgiven for their involvement
in matters of public order in Catalonia. They will end up ostracized and persecuted during the May 1937 clashes that marked the break
between anarchists and Stalinists.
Some members of the DAS fleeing Nazism joined Barcelona in 1934 and fought in 1936 in international groups of militias CNT.
In Germany, the Nazis, acquainted with the activities of the DAS, proceed in 1937 to round up, destroying the network of anarcho-syndicalist
resistance. Two hundred activists are arrested by the Gestapo for their clandestine trade union activities. " The arrested men are all
convinced supporters of the anarcho-syndicalist movement ," writes the police officer in charge of coordinating the action. He adds: "
They are so convinced of the accuracy of their ideas that they can hardly be re-educated to become useful members of the community of the
German people. ".
As for the stateless DAS, trapped in France following the defeat, 21 of them and they are rounded up by the Nazi police and sent to prison
or concentration camp. Some, like Karl Einstein, commit suicide to avoid humiliation !
Jean-Marc Izrine (UCL Toulouse)
To learn more about the history of DAS and international libertarian antifascists in Spain:
Marianne Enckell, For the sake of the revolution, published in 2006 by the CIRA editions of Lausanne, one of the parts of which is devoted
to the diary of Edi Gmür, a Swiss (German-speaking) volunteer of the International Group of the Durruti Column.
Stephanie Prezioso, Jean Batou, Ami-Jacques Rapin, Too bad if the fight is cruel, ed. Syllepse, January 2008. In particular, pages 209 to
223, the chapter written by Dieter Nelles.
Carlos García, Harald Piotrowski and Sergi Roses, Barcelona Mayo 37. Testimonios de las barricadas, Alikornio editions, Barcelona, 2006.
Dieter Nelles, H. Piotrowski, Ulrich Linse, Carlos García Antifascistas alemanes in Barcelona (1933-1939), El Grupo DAS: sus actividades
contra la red nazi y el el frente de Aragón, Editorial Sintra, Barcelona / Spain, 2010.
Die Gruppe " Deutsche Anarchosyndikalisten " (DAS) Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg, 2013.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?1939-Les-anarcho-syndicalistes-allemands-dans-la-guerre-d-Espagne
------------------------------
Message: 5
Joery worked for logistics multinational Bleckmann, part of Excellent Retail Brands BV. His job there was supplying clothes to M&S Mode. He
lost his job for speaking out against disrespectful and unsafe behaviour by management. As a result, a critical voice on the workfloor has
been silenced. ---- This is unacceptable. We therefore demand Joery is re-hired, compensated for lost wages and respect for all workers. For
this reason, we have already done a number of actions (see here and here). Joery's situation is not unique. In many companies the management
uses the lack of rights of flexible workers to suppress resistance on the work-floor. And while their profits soar, our wages remain low and
our jobs insecure. This is why we are calling for a demonstration. In the meantime, we will continue to do unannounced actions. Want to join
us? Send us an e-mail at info (at) vloerwerk (dot) org.
Join the protest against this oppression and lack of rights!
We will march through the industrial area where Bleckmann is located, during working hours. No sacking without cause!
When?
6 December, 15.00u
Where?
Carpark near bus stop Ruigoord Dorp (Amsterdam).
You can reach this with bus 382 from Station Sloterdijk.
https://www.vrijebond.org/vloerwerk-demonstratie-stop-onzinontslagen/
------------------------------
Message: 6
In the face of state repression ... THIS STEP BACK! ---- Since last August, the state's repressive campaign against the anarchist movement,
occupied spaces, self-organized refugee and migrant housing structures, social and class resistance has been under way. It is an attack
constituting the spearhead of state aggression and bosses in the majority of society aimed at dismantling social struggles, terrorizing and
exterminating militants, imposing subjugation and discipline on society so that continue to unravel the spread of state and capitalist
barbarism that includes poverty, poverty, cannibalism and death.
On November 20, the ministry of Pr. What? issued an ultimatum that the occupied buildings should be evacuated nationwide within 15 days. An
announcement that is the next episode of the ongoing repressive campaign, an ultimatum aimed solely at blackmailing the world struggling
within self-organized political and social ventures and criminalizing solidarity in order to massively massacre these of the movement that
are a reference point for the anarchist and antisemitic struggle and more broadly the social and class resistances below.
Occupied and self-organized spaces of life and struggle, as threatened by fascist state violence, increasingly symbolize the territories
liberated by the occupying forces, society's practical ability to challenge, revolt, and exploit itself against the system. state and
capitalism. We call on everyone: the world of struggle, youth, workers, students and students to enter the struggle dynamically, in every
social field to stem the tide of state repression, to counteract the claim of a world without oppressors and oppressed, in a society of
freedom of justice and equality.
As an Anarchist Political Organization, we participate, support and call for solidarity with the occupations that will take place on
Thursday 5 December.
BEFORE THE STATE DEPARTMENT...
NO DELIVERY - NO RECOVERY
NO MARKET!
SOLIDARITY IN THE RACES AND STRUCTURES OF THE RACE
Mails on the marches
ATHENA
Thursday, December 5, PROFILAIA, 6 pm
THESSALONIKI
1) Tuesday 3/12 March, 18:00
Labor Center Park of Thessaloniki (over Roman Market).
2) Thursday 5/12, during the Pan-Hellenic Day of Solidarity in the Occupations, Route 18:00
Tuba Cultural Center (St. Barbara)
PATRAS
DATE DECEMBER 5, ANNEX, 6 pm
http://apo.squathost.com/5-
------------------------------
Message: 7
A strange atmosphere reigned at Zablière Schoppach and Arlon on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 November: there was talk of a probable expulsion
by the police in the Zablière and the city of Arlon bomb and "Black Bloc" thirsting for destruction. How did we get to such a degree of
paranoia in this usually quiet little town? ---- A little context: Zablière, expulsion? ---- For a month now, a ZAD (Zone à Defendre) has
been established in the thirty wooded and wet hectares of the former Schoppach sandpit: the ZADists denounce the rapid concreteisation of
the soil and the aggressive development projects around the city of Arlon. In fact, on this forest bought in 2017 by Idelux (an
intermunicipal company operating to " stimulate economic development and optimize environmental management "[1]), a project of "Artisanal
Zone" must see the light of day. Under these discourses with hints of startup and greenwashing we can see the environmental impact of the
project of this famous "Zone Artisanale": the concreteization21 hectares of forest on the 31 that have the site, and processing remains in a
"nice park" in the words[2]Vincent Magnus, CDH mayor of the town of Arlon. The Schoppach sandpit, considered until recently as an area of
great biological interest, serves as a refuge for endangered species[3]such as the shore swallow or the crested newt; the flora is also
interesting here, according to the Walloon biodiversity site. Despite petitions and mobilizations from local residents condemning the loss
of a green lung in their neighborhood, the project is still on track.
It is in a spirit of resistance to the global destruction of the last spaces sheltering Belgian biodiversity that a temporary occupation
began on October 26th. Militant.es ecologists, communists or anarchists had decided to go on the site for two days: these few days were
spent in a whole month of occupation this Saturday, November 30th. At a General Assembly in La Zablière, the possibility of organizing a
"Territorial March" on Friday, November 29 was advanced. Its purpose was to federate into a common event the various oppositions to
destructive development projects in Wallonia.
On the evening of November 20, at the communal council, Vincent Magnus won several times against this march, claiming that breakers will
take part. From then on everything accelerates. The Zablière and Génération Climat Facebook pages announce several times that the "March of
the Territories" is canceled[4]in order to prove their good faith and to reassure the population against the lies of the bourgmestre (the
demonstration wanted to be peaceful). But on the side, the information begins to circulate with sympathizers ZADistes that the expulsion of
Zablière is scheduled on Friday 29 (the same day of the canceled event). For decision-making bodies in Arlon, the reassuring press releases
from La Zablière are not taken into account andrestrictive security measures are taken for 29. Arlon will be in a state of siege.
Ambient paranoia: the facts[5]
On Thursday 28th , an appeal is made to all the environmental activists close to the Zablière: the manu militari expulsion is scheduled for
the following day.
In the early afternoon, an activist going to the area to provide support is stopped in front of the entrance of the forest by heavily armed
police: she will be placed in custody and will leave the station after 5 hours . It supposedly corresponded to the profile of a wanted and
armed person. The police will have to notice their gross error and release it.
Patrols are conducted in Arlon and identity checks are carried out on young people going to the ZAD: the police justify these controls as
being related to the risk of burglary in the sector.
Around 17h at the Zablière, we are preparing for the expulsion the next day. The activists present are stressed, come with almost no
business, ready to spend part of their day the next day getting gassed, clubbed and placed in custody. The atmosphere is anxiety and
tensions palpable.
In the evening, the Belgian newspaper Médor organizes a conference bringing together the bourgmestre, representatives of Idelux as well as
ZADistes. During this one, Vincent Magnus and the Idelux boss assure that no expulsion is planned, but that measures have been taken to
prevent the demonstration ... repeatedly announced as canceled. At the Zablière, we breathe.
On the morning of Friday the 29th , information circulates on the ZAD that a large convoy of police is moving towards Arlon: the activists
jump out of their tents and converge towards the entry points of the zone to defend the best possible. The wait begins then, but except for
some police cars patrolling the surroundings, no expulsion arrives.
Around noon, a helicopter of the federal police begins to fly over the Zablière: it carries rounds during more than 3 hours. A local
resident informs that in town there is a rumor of a bomb threat and violent demonstrators having to sweep over Arlon.
An inhabitant of the neighborhood, regular of the ZAD, explains that he went to see the commissioner to ask him if an expulsion will take
place in the afternoon: its identity will be checked and its digital borrows taken by the policemen in station.
At 14h, a line of vans federal police is positioned in front of Idelux buildings that adjoin the sandpit: a roadblock is installed and the
police control cars driving on the rue de Lorraine. Many police cars, unmarked or not, patrol the city. Some shops are closed for fear of
thugs. Arlon is idling.
At 4 pm, the police control people with mud on their shoes or a hiking backpack: body searches and identity checks. No bombs are found ...
Who benefits from this situation?
The scale and cost of these means put in place leave us pensive. It is no exaggeration to talk about the squandering of public money in view
of the importance of the system put in place (several dozens of police vehicles, two self-pumps, a helicopter flying for several hours) and
the absence of a goal. seriously (ensure that a canceled event does not take place). We must especially note the climate of paranoia
instituted in Arlon and Schoppach which will mark durably militant.es and riparian.es All this suggests that the purpose of the bourgmestre
was to cleave residents of the region and activists by the fear: afraid to be smashed the window of his store, afraid of being expelled
violently from the ZAD.
It is frightening to note the ever-widening gap between political power and citizens. A chasm between the local residents, who are unhappy
to see a forest in which they like to roam, is threatened with destruction, and the Idelux project which wants to concretely indistinctly
plant 21 natural hectares. Shift between the ZADistes woret.es to undergo all the repression of the State in the name of their ideals, and
the delirium of the bourgmestre to see Arlon with fire and blood through a peaceful demonstration. Misunderstanding between the inhabitants
of Arlon hearing rumors of bombs in the city, and the controls of the federal police who found only the dirty socks of the ZADists in their
bags of eco-terrorists.
The world is burning and dying. Politicians and the police search young people to defend a forest. Until when will we let those "leaders"
obsessed with growth and locked into a safe mindset decide what is good for us? The ZADists have made a choice: they reject these projects
and are ready to stand against them. By favoring direct action as a method, these activists give us a good example of what the balance of
power can provide as a result in the struggle for the preservation of biodiversity: the immediate political efficiency resulting from their
actions. There is a confrontation between the capitalist who nibbles more and more our lands and the few brave and courageous individuals
standing up against this system in order to save what can still be. These young and old have chosen their camp. And you?
A. (Social Ecology Front UCL BXL)
[1]https://www.idelux.be/fr/accueil.html?IDC=2497
[2]https://www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20191029_01400524/v-magnus-il-nya-more-of-place-to-arlon-to-welcome-the-between-business
[3]http://biodiversite.wallonie.be/fr/756-sabliere-de-schoppach.html?IDD=251659671&IDC=1881
[4]https://www.facebook.com/events/779573265800289/
[5]As experienced by the author of this article. If you were present during these two days and would like to add a testimonial, do not
hesitate to contact us.
https://bxl.communisteslibertaires.org/2019/12/01/zabliere-et-deploiement-policier-paranoia-a-arlon/
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten