Today's Topics:
1. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #303 - Spotlight,
Pensions: The Long Strike: Preparing Act II (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Greece, Thessaloniki Freedom Initiative: The struggle for
women's liberation is an integral part of the anti-capitalist
revolutionary struggle! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. INTERNATIONAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION IWA-AIT: Bangladesh
anarco-Syndicalist Federation - (BASF) Goals, Policies and
Constitution (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. icl-cit: [FORA, Argentina] We're your feminist domestic
workers and we're ready to fight! (ca) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. icl-cit: [FAU, Germany] Let's give patriarchy and capitalism
the middle finger! (ca) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Britain, AFED: Cops' lame attempt to prevent dissent
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. cgt andalucia: March 8. We took the streets again (ca)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Each "big" social movement partly resonates with the previous ones while producing its own characters. Begun on December 5, continued
without interruption since and called to begin Act 2 on March 31, the strike against the government pension reform has already combined
several aspects which must be reconsidered. ---- The current social movement marks a very strong repositioning on union and strike action in
companies compared to the last years. No "standing night" as in 2016, no "processions of head" attracting the light as in 2017 (or in any
case much less). And even if the convergence with the groups still in activity of yellow vests was seen, in particular during the
demonstrations of Saturday, that did not replace the strike. If there could have been actions of economic blockages, there again it was not
a question of presenting them as an alternative to the massive work stoppage.
In itself, and from a class point of view, this return to the centrality of the strike is eminently positive. However, the pitfalls are
still numerous: the first of them was that of the strike by proxy.
A progress report
The movement has, for the moment, been carried essentially by three sectors: SNCF, RATP and, to a lesser extent, Education. In the first two
it was the renewable strike which imposed itself, and significantly, exceeding the strike records of November-December 1995 and
December-January 1986-1987.
At SNCF, the percentage of strikers was pulled up by the driving officers. The fact remains that a militant generation was forged there in
the struggle, and even more so at the RATP. If it has faded, it is because of the lack of relay in the rest of the wage earners ... and
because the general assemblies of strikers, guarantors of democracy in the movement, decided so. The wrestling collectives are preserved for
the time being and this is essential for the future.
The reality of the strike in education was more contrasted according to the localities and the departments, but we found there a level of
combativeness unequaled since 2003. It is at the same time revealing of a limited territorial mesh of the union teams of struggle, but also,
and despite this, a strike that benefited from the networks built by previous sectoral mobilizations. This is also what has enabled the
mobilization in this sector to bounce back around the implementation of the Blanquer bac, elitist and unequal (around the challenge of E3C
in particular).
In addition, beyond the SNCF, RATP and Education, an active minority of employees (and who cannot be reduced to their "radicalized" fringes
) has proved determined to lead the fight, this which explains the sometimes large strike centers in certain companies and localities.
Culture, but also research and higher education today show signs of lively and encouraging mobilizations.
Build the strike
However - and this is the case everywhere - the question of the renewal of the strike remains a central issue: it is the guarantee of a
strike actually led and assumed by the strikers. Without renewal, it is difficult to build a self-organization based on the democracy of
general assemblies (GA), and first and foremost as close as possible to the workplace. These are massive and representative GAs that must be
built in the struggle, not "enlightened" vanguards .
And it is not a libertarian coquetry! Renewal, self-organization and generalization are articulated and fueled: these three terms of strike
action are inseparable from a victorious power struggle. It has become traditional in certain political currents to accuse "union leaders"
of obstructing all of this. This is not what is happening in this movement.
The national inter-union is useful to the strikers: the calls to generalize the strike and to renew it wherever possible was constant. It is
therefore not the absence of a "general strike call" from above that is at issue, but the difficulty in convincing workers which has been
the main obstacle so far. We saw it with the strike of December 5: if it was so successful it was because it had been able to benefit from
several weeks of preparation beforehand and significant mobilization work by the union teams.
It is a demonstration by the facts: without a union ground anchor, no renewable and self-organized strike. This should encourage us to
reflect and question mobilization strategies, both locally and nationally. The perception of the national strike calendar could be diverse
according to the places and the levels of mobilization: considered too timid here, it seemed too fast elsewhere.
Between the "highlights" and "THE general strike", there is undoubtedly a panel of strategic proposals that deserve to be discussed in order
to further and better mobilize and bring together workers.
Today we must seriously ask ourselves the question of investment in local and departmental unions: how to make them more effective tools for
the generalization of the strike? How to ensure that the first results are discussed in the basic activist collectives, how to make the
professional a daily and effective reality?
Around March 31 and beyond
How can they be made to take into account the specific questions of mobilization in the private sector linked to the fragmentation and
precariousness of wage earners? Shouldn't we also ask the question of local strike strategies: on which boxes or sectors that count should
we "put the package"? In medium-sized cities, the strike in urban transport and in local authorities, for example, makes it immediately
visible and tangible.
In the balance of power, frightening the middle managers of the State and Capital, which are the prefectures and the Chambers of commerce
and industry, is a necessity. For all the activists of the strike today, it is now the preparation of Act II of the struggle that is
essential; and this from March 8, with a day of feminist mobilization fully contributing to the movement; and then with March 31 in the
crosshairs.
No miracle: it is the field work that must take precedence in order to massively mobilize! Against the pension reform project, but also on
the basis of concrete and immediate demands, workshop by workshop, service by service, sector by sector.
We are not starting from scratch, far from it. It is not a question of evacuating the questions posed by the movement since December 5, but
on the contrary to rely on it to build an even stronger strike !
Théo Roumier (UCL Orléans)
emaildiasporaFacebookprintertumblr
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Retraites-La-longue-greve-preparer-l-acte-2
------------------------------
Message: 2
Announcement of the Anarchist Federation on the occasion of World Women's Day. ---- March 8th is a day of remembrance of the women's races
of the past, but also a chance to build races today. This year's World Women's Day finds us in a social context where the onslaught of
female affliction is rampant and the racist reflections of society are sharpened. In today's Greece, everything that escapes the strict
boxes of regularity represents the dirty and dangerous that must disappear. No matter how liberal the narrative sells the tale of equality,
we know full well that we live in a reality full of oppression and violence in which our bodies are subjected to repeated attacks by the
state, capital and organized religion. ---- Posters against abortion have recently appeared in the Athens subway, criminalizing women's
right to self-determination and spreading obscene lies. This campaign was the icing on the cake at a time when ethno-racist perceptions of
population decay have been overtly promoted by the far-right ND government and have infiltrated Greek society dangerously. At the same
wavelength was the Holy Metropolis of Thessaloniki, which co-organized with 22 Christian associations a public manifestation of a darkening
type, in which it reproduced in its entirety the traditional agenda of nationalist darkness, anathematizing and selecting them with
ambivalence. The moral Christian patriots who feverishly proclaim the sacredness of motherhood are the same nationalist bases that fought
the non-pregnant pregnant immigrants and the immigrants trapped at the border. It is they who want to discipline our bodies to turn them
into reproductive machines of Greek men in the service of the nation-state and women subordinates in the toxic patriarchal tradition.
Of course, the attack we accept could only target the field of work. There are a few times when we are asked to respond if we are married or
planning to have a child in order to be hired. We live in a precarious regime where our bodies and our choices for life are determined by
the interests of the bosses. We are experiencing a devaluation of our work with gender pay inequalities and higher rates of unemployment
than men. And as if all these sexist jokes are not enough, vulgar sexual hints and harassment in the workplace are an integral part of the
contract.
But the patriarchal attack does not stop at work either. In the field of personal life we are constantly confronted with all sorts of sexist
stereotypes. In public space and in nightlife sexual assaults are normal. Even at home, in the supposed "safe haven of the family" many of
us experience verbal, emotional, psychological and even physical violence. We do not forget the bodies of the lost women, all murdered by
their father, spouse, known or unknown rapist. Murdered because they did not tolerate the systematic violence they experienced and tried to
escape, because they had a relationship that their father did not approve of, because they "cheated" their spouse - "owner", because they
resisted their rape, because they were "different" from what heterogeneity imposes on all of us.
In the face of this violence, we combine our needs and our resistances. We refuse to submit to a treaty that bends our head and undervalues
the value of our existence. We are empowering and uniting our voices with the voices of all the oppressed who are experiencing the violence
of ethnic patriarchy. Because for the nation-state not all lives have the same value. And we stand by the creatures that ethno-liberalism
throws into the trash. We stand next to our class brothers, immigrants and immigrants who suffer and accept the attack of the Greek and
Turkish state and the EU, next to the workers and workers who experience insecurity every day but find the strength to withstand, the
anti-fascists and the antifascists defending their neighborhoods, women and LGBTI subjects who fight by any means to be able to breathe.
Because everyone and everyone who strives for a life of dignity is part of us and we are part of them.
ALL AND ALL IN THE MARCHES OF MARCH 8:
Athens: 12:00, Klafthmonos Square
Thessaloniki: 12:00, Tsimiski with Hagia Sophia
Heraklion: 13:00, Lions Square
Lower our hands from our bodies
Solidarity with immigrant women and immigrants
Long live the militant feminist & anti-fascist struggle
Anarchist Federation
site: www.anarchist-federation.gr
email: anarchist-federation@riseup.net
twitter: twitter.com/anarchistfedGr
fb: facebook.com/anarxikiomospondia2015
Youtube: Anarchist Federation
https://libertasalonica.wordpress.com/2020/03/07/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Bangladesh Anarcho-Syndicalism Federation- (B, A, S, F) Everyday movement of the rights of working people and working people is based on the
ideals of anarcho-syndicalism. The aim is to build a society that ensures independence, cohesion, cohesion and self-management. ---- On the
1st of May, the journey of B, A, S, F began. ---- We believe that people who are employed and those who are employed are not one class.
These two categories have been in conflict or conflict for a long time, and will continue until the working people of the world unite to
establish ownership of the world's production system and end wage slavery. ---- We are now actively working to improve the working class,
reduce their work time, increase wages, and improve the working environment by participating in the labor struggle. We have continued the
struggle against all kinds of conspiracies, strikes, strikes, overwork, production cuts, or unemployment against all working people.
We want the working people / social people to become self-educated, self-managerial in production, able to ensure good health through proper
distribution of resources, social organization, protection of environment and neighborhood. As a result, an alternative economic system will
be created for the working people / social people to generate wealth on their own initiative.
We are against all kinds of economic and social monopoly. We are not working for any kind of political power. Rather, we want the
expenditure of all state systems, which affect society in many ways. So we oppose all parliamentary activities and other legal committees.
We believe there will be conflicts within the society and the workplace. That conflict will continue for independence and against the
political and bureaucratic trade unions.
The only means of our fight is education and direct work. In addition to participating in the conventional struggle, we should take lessons
in managing and managing future societies. We do not accept the centrality of the organization in any way. We want to build our federation
in a way where generosity exists, there will be no footprint or hierarchy in undertaking from the lowest to the highest level, participation
of local and regional small parties will be ensured. There will be arrangement for recall or withdrawal in the case of all the
representatives of the coordinating committee. Local committees will determine the specific activities for each.
We see the world as our country, mankind as our family. We oppose all kinds of political activities and national boundaries, and want to
unleash all forms of violence and terrorism in all governments.
The conduct, beliefs and assumptions of the working people should be avoided by the cracks in the unity and solidarity of the working
people. They must stay away from the ideals that stand in the way of equality, rights, and equality of people. And their own lives impede
the environment they control.
Statute:
2. Name: This company will be known as Bangladesh Enrico - Syndicalist Federation - (BASF).
2. The general principles of this organization are
: BASF will act as a federation of affiliated associations / clubs / organizations.
2. Each affiliated organization can use their own custom name. Each organization will be assigned a serial number. However, a number will
not be used twice.
2. Each affiliated organization will be able to receive and perform their desired work schedules at local and national level and in the
workplace in their name.
2. Each organization shall be entitled to adopt the principle of free discussion among themselves in all their matters.
2. No one in any organization will be entitled to executive power alone. All delegates will be elected. It must be recalled and time is only
one year.
2. Organizational Structure:
A) General membership
2. All staff at BASFA will be open to the public. Jobs or unemployed.
2.
None of the following shall be accepted as a member of the BASF: a) A political and religious party person, a paid officer of a trade union
or a non-governmental officer.
B) Those who are in a position who can recruit and retire.
2. If you agree with the contracting organizations on the basis of BASF norms, you will be able to get involved by paying the prescribed fee.
2. All members shall have equal rights in all cases.
A) Approval of local and industrial areas
2. Each member shall be a member of their local organization as a general member. By no means can a member be entitled to membership in more
than one organization.
2. For all types of approval it is mandatory to observe the following conditions:
a) Must be present at each meeting. At least once a month.
B) There will be an editor and a finance editor.
C) Letter address, email and phone number will be stored.
D) Submit annual contributions to the Federation on a regular basis.
2. When approving a new organization, other affiliated organizations need to be approved in Congress.
2. An organization must have at least three members to approve it.
2. All affiliated organizations will receive the full cooperation.
2. When a new organization is approved, it will be notified internally.
A) Local and industrial initiatives
2. You can encourage 2/3 people and endorsement in any industry or local level. They will also be welcomed.
2) If the name of the person or organization, their list will be stored separately.
2. There will be an urge to further their initiative.
A) Federation for regional and industrial areas
2. Separate federations can be approved in the appropriate industrial areas.
2. The regional federations will be entitled to take decisions on all matters, including time, activities, financial matters, for their
convenience.
Organizational Structure and Location:
A) BASF Office:
2. Each Congress will select one BASF editor or responsible person. His term is up to the next Congress.
2. The editor can be recalled or withdrawn at any time by calling a special Congress. If he acts against the purpose, purpose of the
Federation or shows negligence in action, action can be taken against him.
2. If the Federally Administered Inquisitor is unable to perform the duties for any reason, another person can be selected to replace him.
2. The duties and responsibilities of the Secretary of the Federation are as follows:
A. The responsibility of the financial responsibility of the federation lies on him. He will produce and publish annual reports.
B) Maintain regular contact with all affiliated organizations.
C) He will maintain the Federation's contradictory relationship with local, regional, and international organizations.
D) Regularly submit the report to the approval agency. (
ASF / IWO , etc.) e) BASF Page / Uwe site / group will be updated
A) Authorized editors and finance editors
2. Each affiliate will select the editors and finance editors every year in the local organization;
2. Editors and finance editors must be regular contributors. However, this does not apply to new members.
2. Both editors and money editors can be recalled when needed together. However, they have to prove negligence and breach of contract in the
responsibility of neglect and organizational responsibility.
2. Duties and Duties of the Editor:
A) Collecting, organizing and filing data. Responding to correspondence and e-mails received from the correspondence received and demanding
action taken.
B) To preserve the schedule of the scheduled meetings, as appropriate.
Duties and Duties of the Finance Editor:
A) the contribution
b) not returned at the Federation
c) present the report at the monthly meeting of the
d) submit the Subscription, please do not do this to inform them
A) Special grouping
2. Members of 5 or more federations may be grouped separately to serve specific purposes in a particular area. If they are not members of
the same organization, they will continue.
2. Special groups will by no means do anything outside of the ideals of anarchist syndicalism.
2. Special groups will bear the name of the Federation. And from time to time submit reports about activities.
2. In the formation of a special group, and the relevant organizations must agree. If they do not want the group will not be formed.
2. Each special group will have one editor selected.
2. Special groups will be formed with members of the Federation who are not likely to rebel.
Money management:
2. All Federation members will contribute on a monthly basis. For those who are unemployed or underpaid, small amounts should be earmarked.
It will be determined in every Congress.
2. If there is a special reason, it cannot be taken and taken from him.
2. Only those who receive regular contributions will be considered members of the Federation. There will be no franchise unless the pension
is paid.
2. Budget will be prepared by allocating sector welfare to each Congress. It will have a plan to spend the income. The Federation will
perform all its duties.
Publishing and Sales:
3) The Federation will have a website. The Secretariat of the Federation will handle it.
2) All the opposing groups can publish newspapers, magazines, books, booklets in their own name.
3) The Federation will use its own pad and seal.
3) In all publications the publisher's name will be written in clear language.
Procedure:
A) Local:
3) Each organization can adopt the principle of their choice in their own position. This is contained in Section 2 of the Organization
Agreement.
B) Congress:
3) Approval will be granted to Congress in the case of applicants; Secretariat will be determined, rates will be fixed, what will be
published or what will be published, the terms of the federation and organizations will be amended if any conditions are required.
2) The issues or issues to be discussed three months before Congress. Late proposals will be considered if time is up.
3) The required paper of the Congress must be sent to the participants 6 months before the Congress is held.
3) An election committee will decide who will be the delegate of the Congress. And the editors and finance editors of the federation will
inform them in writing. Delegates may include full members and observers.
3) Congress will actually be open to all members. Only those who can speak will be determined in advance.
3) Only the issues that have been proposed in the Congress will be discussed. However, if something is considered too important, it may take
priority.
3) The Congress will take the principle on the basis of its awareness and consensus. If no issues are agreed, a three-member resolution
group will be formed. The group will analyze the issue and raise it again in Congress.
3) If the matter is not synthesized and unanimous, then one should usually vote on the basis of one vote. And the number will be decided by
the vote of the gurist.
3) Each Congress will determine the date of the next Congress.
3) Complete report of the Congress should be prepared and sent to all the federated federations.
3) All sorts of principles can be amended at scheduled meetings. However, it is necessary to follow the appropriate post for amendment.
A) Special Congress:
1) If the cause of the coup is complicated, then a special Congress may follow.
2. No Congress can be favored unless the two opposing organizations are dissolved.
3) All the concerned members should be notified as soon as possible for any Congress party. So that they can take the necessary preparations.
3) The principle of special Congress will be accepted according to the procedure of the Congress and the general Congress.
A) The eclipse of office in the middle of the Congress
1) In case of any emergency in the middle of the Congress is to take a decision to follow the following padbati tracked
a) of the Federation Secretariat sent a nibandbita organization.
B) If the Federation sends a report on a particular issue.
C) The opposing organization must respond within two months of receipt of the letter.
D) The proposal will be accepted only if all the dissenting members approve it.
Conference
3) The conference is the ritual where no theory will be accepted. There may be a discussion about something special.
2) All members can attend the conference. Scheduled guests will also be able to attend.
3. Resolutions can be accepted at the conference. Which can be submitted in the form of recommendations to Congress.
3. The conference environment will be determined by its timing, issues and other issues.
Disciplines and Exceptions
Restrained organizations should discipline their members in the following areas:
1) If anyone disagrees with the federation's ideal purpose or acts contrary to anarcho-syndicalism, he should be excluded.
2) If any one is excluded, it should be mentioned in the working statement of the meeting of the organization.
3) No member shall be notified at the scheduled meeting with the reason within 7 days.
3) If a person does not contribute for 12 consecutive months, his membership can be canceled.
3) A federation and their opposition can be canceled. If they break the organizational agreement.
3) All members of a dissolved Federation may be transferred to another Federation.
International Relations:
3) Members of trust organizations and federations will be able to accept the position of BASF. (For example, International Workers
Association - I, WA, etc.)
2) BASF can establish contradictory relations with Bangladesh and any liberal organization in the world.
3) BASF shall not be affiliated with any organization which is in conflict with ASF / IWA.
5) BASF will translate the book on anarcho-cedicalism from English to Bengali into a local and contentious organization for publishing to
all members and readers.
https://iwa-ait.org/content/baanlaadesh-enaarko-sinddikyaalistt-pheddaareshn-bi-e-es-eph-er-lkssy-niitimaalaa-o
------------------------------
Message: 4
The statement below is from the independent group Trabajadorxs Organizadxs de Casas Particulares (Organised Workers in Private Homes). One
of our FORA comrades is also involved with it. The group seeks to rid the sector of patriarchy and precariousness. This is a whole area of
the economy that has been mostly abandoned by mainstream unions, as it doesn't yield for them the same amount of money as other sectors. It
is dominated by labour insecurity, as most workers don't even have a contract. We refer to sectors like this as "precarious labour",
precisely those that we aim to organise. ---- In the text, the term "glitter feminism" is used to refer to liberal feminism, as opposed to
working-class feminism. We can also talk of "whitewash feminism" vs "anarcho-feminism", which we subscribe.
Inclusive language has been used, as the organisation is made up not only of women, but also of dissidents.
Sociedad de Resistencia Oficios Varios Lomas de Zamora, a section of FORA-CIT
We're your feminist domestic workers and we're ready to fight!
That's the name of our Facebook page. It may not represent us entirely, though. We're here to tell our feminist comrades that we are neither
domestic nor domesticated workers, but organized workers in private homes. We are also here to make our struggle visible. It is an
anti-capitalist fight, against patriarchy and against "glitter feminism". This type of feminists are out in the streets demanding the
legalisation of abortion, while at the same time they keep someone working in the house without a contract and being constantly depersonalized.
In the homes where we work, we are often treated as things. There have been many instances in which our fellow workers have told us of not
being allowed a simple glass of water! Quite often, we're referred to as the "girl helping at home", which denies us (in one single stroke)
our rights as workers.
This is something we've grown used to. Unfortunately, there's no union defending us. Much on the contrary, we have been brushed aside by a
union bureaucracy that does not represent any worker in this sector. Hyper-precariousness and lack of contracts are endemic, and nothing is
being done or talked about it. And the state is one of the main culprits. It "negotiates" our wages and conditions without any input from
us. We are therefore left unprotected and without labour rights. That is why this March 8 and 9 we're going to strike. We're demanding our
rights as workers and to be recognised as such, as we engage in reproductive labour. We know all too well that behind sentences like "you're
part of the family" lurks the denial of labour rights and many other benefits that come with a contract.
We don't want to be part of that 80% of domestic workers without a contract, but neither of that 20% with an unlawful contract. We want our
work to be recognised and valued as much as anyone else's. That's why, feminist comrade, we're telling you, when you raise your fist with a
green handkerchief on your wrist to demand reproductive rights and when you talk about "sorority", that SORORITY IS SIGNING A LEGAL CONTRACT
WITH YOUR WORKER. It is valuing her work, understanding where she comes from and, above everything else, knowing who she is.
Trabajadorxs Organizadxs de Casas Particulares (Organised Workers in Private Homes). (T.O.C.P)
https://www.icl-cit.org/argentina-were-your-feminist-domestic-workers-and-were-ready-to-fight/
------------------------------
Message: 5
Around Germany, syndicates of the Free Workers' Union (FAU) have called for protest and planned actions and events for this weekend to mark
International Women's Day. The FAU Berlin has called for participation in multiple demonstrations in and around Berlin this weekend with the
following declaration: It's no coincidence that material injustice and cultural oppression live hand in hand in the capitalist system. It's
also no coincidence that people affected by sexism, racism or other forms of discrimination find themselves disproportionately often in
poverty and insecure working conditions. Those who live with culturally and institutionally rooted non-recognition are more easily pushed
into exploitative relationships with low wages and bad working conditions.
In the logic of capitalism, the pervasive discrimination against these exploited groups serves to justify and mystify the contradiction
between the "welfare promise" and simultaneously existing injustice. When women, people of color, trans and inter people, people without a
German passport, and people in materially poor living conditions are denigrated or completely pushed out of public consciousness, this
serves to stabilize a system that is fundamentally based on exploitation and domination - because these structures of discrimination
ultimately prevent an overarching solidarity of workers against the capitalist regime.
There is no capitalism that does not link material injustice with discrimination, whether on the basis of gender, origin, skin colour,
religion, nationality, residence status, sexual orientation, disability, criminal prosecution, or or or.
Therefore, there can be no class struggle that does not at the same time oppose sexism, racism and any kind of discrimination! That is why
we are taking to the streets on the 8th of March! For a feminist, anti-racist class struggle! For an anti-capitalist feminism!
Walk on! Another world is possible!
https://www.icl-cit.org/germany-lets-give-patriarchy-and-capitalism-the-middle-finger/
------------------------------
Message: 6
Recently, you may have noticed that ‘Counter Terrorism Policing' decided that the AF is enough of a threat to include our logo in their
guide, now withdrawn, which aimed to advise teachers and medical staff about potential extremists. Joining us in the guide were other
anarchist-linked groups, such as Class War and Solidarity Federation but also groups that have a reputation for being a lot more tame in
their political outlook such as Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Stand Up to Racism. Clearly, the term terrorism would not be
applied to these groups and their actions in most people's minds. In response to the widespread backlash to their targeting of environmental
groups, the police pointed to a note in the guide that said, "not all of the signs and symbols noted within this document are of
counter-terrorism interest." However, that note was placed only within the section of the guide about far-right and white groups, relating
to their use of pagan symbolism, which is ironic since right-wing groups and individuals were judged by the Met in 2019 to be the fastest
growing terrorist threat in the UK!
Conflating organisations that are prepared to use direct action to counter oppression or protect the environment with terrorists and
fascists is insulting to those of us who are seeking to create a socially peaceful and non-violent world, but only acts to show the lengths
to which governments will go in order to suppress any challenge to the status quo. Treating fascists, who endorse bigotry and genocide, as
equivalent to anti-fascists, who strive to prevent bigotry and genocide, is an example of the disingenuous application of the ‘Horseshoe
theory' - the idea that there is a continuum of political viewpoints away from the a centre which goes off left and right in opposite
directions but tends to meet up at the extremes.
We join the many voices who have condemned this guide and the almost Orwellian intentions behind it. Unfortunately though, by focussing on
non-violence, this condemnation has for the most part accepted the narrative put forward by the State. By such a limited condemnation,
nation states are allowed to assert and maintain their ‘legitimate' monopoly on violence. Not an eye has been batted towards the constant
violence and terrorism that the British government, and other governments across the planet, have employed historically, and continue to employ.
If violence is "the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy.", then the thousands of cases of abuse, injuring and
killing countless people by the Police clearly betray their role as a ‘violent' institution; if terrorism is the "use or threat of action"
that "is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause" or "involves serious violence against a person",
then by its own definitions, the British state's imperialistic involvement in Western Asia, for example, during which it has organised
coups, dealt arms, dropped bombs and massacred civilians, all in the pursuit of its neo-colonial and neoliberal cause, has, alongside many,
many other acts, established it as a terrorist operation for a long time. In addition to these more obvious acts of violence, nation states
are responsible for violence in everyday life through economic inequalities and the upholding of gender oppressions or racist policies
(current or historical) which result in physical and mental illness, injury and death.
Non-violence can be a great method to employ, but we must be mindful of the privilege that allows us to employ it, and acknowledge the fact
that such privilege is neither universal nor necessarily permanent. Violence has been necessary for people to collectively free themselves
from state oppression, or to attempt to do so, whilst terrorism must be opposed as an authoritarian, cruel, elitist method which
deliberately seeks to create confusion and always undermines class solidarity.
Recent struggles by workers and students in places such as Hong Kong, Chile, France and Iran demonstrate not only the necessity of
collective direct action, but also its benefits and efficacy. In this context non-violence can be an act of complicity with oppressors,
allowing nation states to continue or escalate their own violent actions at the expense of ourselves or others. We can note that states
typically include damage to property in their definitions of unacceptable actions by citizens. Very rarely, different parts of the state can
disagree on this, such as the case in UK where a group of women who, in 1996, smashed up British made Hawk war planes bound for the
Indonesia (East Timor) were acquitted by the courts on the moral grounds of preventing genocide. Other times they are prepared to respond to
people's willingness to take direct action with extreme force, such as the sinking of a Greenpeace boat, the Rainbow Warrior, by French
secret service divers mining it in 1985. Another boat-related example was the all-out assault by Israeli military forces on the humanitarian
Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010. The UK state regularly gets away with outrageous violence on protesters - in December 2019 one cop escaped
discipline after the beating of a student in the head with a baton during a kettling in the 2010 student fees demo, which caused him brain
damage, when it was argued that video footage showed another unidentified cop had done it!
If and when states become more and more authoritarian in response to the climate emergency or unchanging economic precarity, the dichotomy
between violent and non-violent action will become more useless than it already is. Already the British government chose to push back on the
idea that XR should be allowed to use direct action even while it adheres to a non-violent ideology. Renouncers of a more pure non-violence
at present may well need to change to more diverse tactics if their ability to perform direct action is not to be hindered by state
repression. Unlike terrorism, collective action can be built upon and must adapt to changing situations, fanning the flames of revolution,
which these states try so desperately to extinguish.
Instead of demanding ‘non-violence' then, we should stand, together, in solidarity with all those who fight to end their oppression, and the
oppression of others. The increasingly authoritarian measures being introduced by the police can and must be opposed, but any opposition
that accepts the narrative that the State has set forward about what form of protest is acceptable is extremely vulnerable to failure.
Together, we can fight to achieve our ambitions, but we must not blindly betray each other, and ourselves, by ‘self-policing' our
activities; instead, we should celebrate a diversity of tactics and use it to its fullest capacity to end our oppression once and for all!
http://afed.org.uk/cops-lame-attempt-to-prevent-dissent/
------------------------------
Message: 7
Yesterday, March 8, 2020, we returned to take the streets under the slogan "Fighting we change the world". ---- CGT was present in the
alternative demonstrations that took place in all corners of Andalusia demanding a real change in the social and labor conditions of women
and the eradication of sexist terrorism, for these reasons it has called on Andalusian citizens to support the general strike and to
demonstrate in the street. ---- We have witnessed massive demonstrations in which several generations of women have participated demanding
that real change for all, for the grandmothers who fought and who continue to fight today, for the mothers and for the daughters who deserve
a more just and egalitarian present and future.
From CGT we will continue fighting from combative and feminist positions, day after day, so that this change becomes a reality sooner
rather than later.
https://www.cgtandalucia.org/blog/7225-8-de-marzo-volvimos-a-tomar-las-calles.html
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten