#Worldwide #Information #Blogger #LucSchrijvers: #Update - #Part 1 - #anarchist #news and #information from all over the #world- 24.03.2020

Today's Topics:

   
1.  Britain, anarchist communist Group ACG: Coronavirus shakes
      finance capitalism (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  "Solidarity doesn't go into quarantine" - Italian Anarchist
      Federation on COVID-19 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  US, black rose fed: Lifting the Mask of Capitalist Disaster:
      The Coronavirus Response By Tariq Khan (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Moscow: "We are all in the network" - Police attacked an
      action demanding the release of political prisoners [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
 5.  Britain, anarchist communist Group ACG: Coronavirus and the
      Ill Health of Capitalism (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Britain, anarchist communist Group ACG: Covid-19 and Mutual
      Aid (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  XTS TEXTS: Epidemic; State slaughter By APO [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1





The capitalist economy is decidedly fragile. The coronavirus pandemic, coupled with the oil conflicts between Russia and Saudi Arabia, has
been causing stock prices to collapse for several days. ---- In Europe as in Asia and in the United States, many crucial financial centres
(CAC 40, FTSE 100 ...) are in worse shape than during the 2007-2008 crisis. Reacting precipitately, the European Central Bank has relaunched
its purchases of securities on the markets, while Trump has suspended travel to Europe, further aggravating the stock market panic. ----
There is nothing exceptional about this situation. The coronavirus is only the trigger. A solid economic and social system would not bow to
the knee in the face of a manageable epidemic. But the financial markets, hypertrophied by decades of laissez-faire and an overproduction
fueled by the wildest liberalised capitalism, over-react to the least unexpected news. The speculative bubbles are only waiting for a
situation like the one we are living in to burst and sink world capitalism into a new recession.

While the consequences of the 2008 crisis are still not being mended, the states are in debt and the monetary policies of the European and
American central banks are practically at their maximum, the room for maneouvre available to react to a new crisis will be extremely reduced
and will leave the economy in a dismal state.

Let something unexpected happen, and all the fine principles of the liberals collapse at breakneck speed. Free market, free movement, all
this applies to times of peace and abundance. In a global market where everyone depends on everyone, a conflict, an epidemic, and here we
are straight back to the most brutal state interventionism.

In his speech on March 13, where he pretended to fight the commodification of public service, Macron only demonstrated his hypocrisy and his
electoralism without sketching the slightest real economic turnaround. Bourgeois governments are already working out bailouts of businesses
and the financial system, and, as usual, workers will pay to save those assisted by big capital. The fiscal stimulus may limit the fall in
growth. Until the next crisis ...

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/03/18/coronavirus-shakes-finance-capitalism/

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Message: 2




In last weeks many of us have been wondering how to pursue political and syndicalist activity. We have already found ourselves taking
difficult decisions, whether or not to cancel initiatives, demonstrations, strikes, rallies, assemblies and public meetings, even under the
threat of a possible ban by the authorities. What is happening can have a significant impact on the reality that we are living in. At the
same time as the actual health risks, the ongoing emergency process around the coronavirus issue raises very important questions in
political terms. ---- Ever since the first news about the spread of the virus in China, the main representatives of the parties sitting in
italian parliament have been taking advantage of the emergency, instrumentalising the situation. This is nothing new. It's the so-called
"politics of the emergency", the condensation of political confrontation around urgent issues that dominate the newspapers and give rise to
the most popular hashtags, with sensationalism, with violent language, proposing total and impossible solutions. The public debate moves
from emergency to emergency, there is that of the earthquake and that of security, there is the cold emergency and that of waste, there is
the emergency of potholes in the street and finally that of the coronavirus. Sometimes they are real problems, sometimes they are artifacts,
but that is not important, because these politicians certainly do not want to really solve people's problems. Instead, they want to create
the hot topics on which to beat their opponents and consolidate consensus. But beware, it's not a question of quackery, incapacity,
ignorance, it's a power struggle.

Because communication is often only a battleground. Emergency, especially when it's not only told but is also formally recognized by law, as
in the case of floods, earthquakes, disasters and health emergencies, creates great "opportunities". With extraordinary government high
commitee, contracts, consultancy, financing, smarter procedures, fiscal measures, bonuses, social security cushion, very attractive
positions of power are created on an economic and political level. Every state of emergency requires a greater concentration of power, and
for this reason it is accompanied by an intensification of the struggle for power.

Just in the last few weeks there has been a tough confrontation between the central government and the regions led by the centre-right,
which had immediately applied drastic measures. A conflict inside state's institutions about jurisdiction, authorities and measures to
employ that also touched on constitutional aspects. On 24th of February, the President of the Council of Ministers Giuseppe Conte - the
leader of the Government - went so far as to say that he was prepared to remove powers from the regions in the health sector, which was
possible in extraordinary cases under Article 120 of the constitution. While the next day tensions had almost blown the "control room"
between government and regions. In this context, while the newspapers were talking about a possible government of national unity by Salvini
and Renzi (right party of Lega and former members of center left Democratic Party) Salvini himself went on 27 February to meet the President
of the Republic Mattarella and request his intervention. Already the next day Renzi denied this possibility. Evidently some political
agreement had been found to deal with this first phase. This little theatre, with its vehement statements, draconian measures, appeals to
unity, seems to be driven more by political needs than by health needs.

 From the following week, on 4th of March, there has been an effective increase in the number of cases and the contagion has also spread
outside the regions of northern Italy. Conte started to issue a series of decrees which, in the space of a few days, severely tightened the
restrictions, obviously also affecting the freedom of demonstration and assembly. The President of the Ministerial Council Decree (DPCM) of
4th of March 2020, provides for suspension of lessons in school, universities and any other teaching activity, and provides for restrictive
measures valid for the entire national territory until 3rd of April. This decree also suspends "demonstrations, events and performances of
any kind, including cinematographic and theatrical ones, held in any place, both public and private, which involve crowding of people such
as not to allow the respect of the interpersonal safety distance of at least one meter".

This measure follows two communications from the Strike Guarantee Commission (state authority that controls the compliance of stike laws)
that effectively suspend the right to strike for the coronavirus emergency. The first communication of 24th of February was a general
invitation to suspend all strikes from 25th of February to 31st of March, which blew up the expected school strikes on 6th of March. The
second communication of 28th of February explicitly called for the suspension of the general strikes called for 9th of March for the global
days of feminist struggle on March 8 and 9. This was in fact a specific strike ban for March 9, which forced most of the unions to withdraw
the call, only Slai Cobas kept the strike going with the risk of heavy penalties for the union and the strikers.

On the night between 7th and 8th March, a new DPCM of 8 March 2020 is issued with immediate effect and provides for very strict measures.
Article 1 extends the so-called "Red Zone", which also provides for a ban on entry and exit and moving - except in emergencies and obviously
for work - within the territory of the entire Lombardy Region and 14 provinces of Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Veneto and Marche. Article 2
increases the restrictive measures on the national territory, totally prohibiting demonstrations: "The demonstrations, events and shows of
any kind, including cinema and theatre, held in any place, both public and private, are suspended".

Between 9 and 10 March, finally, a new decree was issued, the DPCM 9th of March 2020, which extended to the entire national territory,
including the islands, all restrictions, including restrictions on travel and moving out of the houses, allowed only for reasons of work,
health emergency and necessity. In addition, "all forms of assembly of persons in a public place or open to the public is prohibited
throughout the national territory".

[New DPCM issued the 11th of March provided for lockdown of many types of shops and activities, like restaurants, cafes, bars. The decree
provide that all the employers must equip workers with higenic protections and organize the workingplace to avoid infection, but this is not
respected in the most of cases]

While with the DPCM 4th of March we were literally one meter away from the suspension of freedom of assembly and demonstration, with the
discretionary power of authorities to ban all initiatives, with the DPCM 9th of March we arrived at a total ban on all forms of assembly
until 3rd of April. The ambiguous formulation of the decree leaves ample power for interpretation to the authorities in charge of public
order. Moreover, after decades of anti-strike measures, we have reached the definitive suspension of the right to strike. These decrees
immediately had a devastating effect, already with the first DPCM 4th of March, few days befor the March 8 demonstrations organized in many
cities by the local nodes of NonUnaDiMeno and other feminist groups had created extreme confusion. In many cities, in a situation already
marked by fear fuelled by the media around the coronavirus emergency and real fears about health risks, which made it more difficult to
participate in the initiatives, the government measure led the local assemblies to cancel many demonstrations and moments in the streets. In
many places, however, even if it was not possible to keep the demonstrations were organized sort of rallies, performances, initiatives in
the streets, somehow resisting the measures and fear.

These rules could already change in the next few hours, be further tightened, or be accompanied by new measures, the situation is still
quite confused, however, at this time until April 3 all forms of demonstrations and meetings are arbitrarily prohibited, with the
unquestionable justification of public health, and all movements, also individual, considered unnecessary are punishable. What will happen
to the many territorial struggles, labour disputes, local protests, the most radical mobilizations, if these measures have already had such
a strong effect on the demonstrations of 8th March, on a day of mobilization at international level that in recent years has been able to
assert its legitimacy? How is it possible in such a context for those who have to continue to work, for those who are locked up in prisons,
for those who have to resort to medical treatment for other reasons, for those who have no home or access to hygiene services, for those who
live in unhealthy or precarious housing, for all those who suffer arrogance and blackmail of speculators and profiteers, to organise
themselves, to assert their rights, to obtain decent conditions, to create forms of solidarity? We are in a situation in which the state of
emergency gives the government more power, in which the President of the Republic calls for ‚discipline‘ and ‚responsibility‘, in which
demonstrations and meetings can be banned almost arbitrarily, in which the right to strike is suspended. This is a very dangerous situation.

Just think of the military approach that has been chosen to deal with the situation in prisons, the riots that have broken out in 27 prisons
throughout Italy make it clear that a part of the population of this country, almost 61,000 people live in overcrowded and hygienic
disastrous conditions. That is why they are asking for only one thing in this situation, freedom, through a pardon or amnesty. For now, the
state has responded with the riot squads, the notorious GOMs[special antiriot squads of the police force of the prisons], and the army. At
the moment there are 11 deaths[now 15]among the prisoners between Modena and Rieti, for causes still to be ascertained, but over which the
responsibility of the State and its apparatus is evident. Outside of the prisons there were also relatives of the prisoners and solidarity
groups surrounded by police. This simple presence outside because of emergency decrees of the government can be considered illegal.

It should be noted that since the first weeks of the emergency, there has been talk of recession, of economic crisis. In fact, many
production sectors in Italy and around the world are affected by the consequences of the coronavirus emergency, and now some local
administrators are proposing a temporary cessation of production activities. But we know very well what the refrain of the recession means
for millions of workers, layoffs have already started, many term contracts for precarious workers will not be renewed, those who work on
project contract or under the black economy do not receive a salary, sacrifices are required, when it goes well there are few social
benefits, but not the full salary. But that's not all, there are those who are really happy of this situation and would like to take the
opportunity to intervene in more depth on employment relations, with "experiments" aimed at restricting the rights and freedom of those who
work. In an article published by Repubblica[one of the main italian newspapers]on 24 February, Mariano Corso, head of the Observatory on
Smart Working at the Politecnico di Milano, says: "in addition to the coronavirus, we must also eradicate a virus that is our inability to
work efficiently, overcoming the thought that only presence in the office is a guarantee of results". Therefore, while strikes and
demonstrations are suspended, layoffs and expoitation are certainly not suspended, nor are the claims of managers held back. On the
contrary, they can say that "Milan doesn't stop"[to say that economy can't stop]while they ask for more public money and leave a few
thousand precarious workers at home.

It was precisely with the same refrain of the recession that less than ten years ago the government led by Monti decided one of the heaviest
cuts in public health funding in recent decades, and in 10 years 37 billion euros have been taken from the National Health Service. There is
a real risk that the economic crisis linked to the coronavirus emergency will lead to a new season of "sacrifices".

When they ask us to take a step back in the name of collective responsibility, they are only mocking us. Who is responsible for the
dismantling of public health which, in addition to eliminating many of the structures in charge of prevention, has drastically reduced the
number of beds in hospitals, and even led to the closure of health clinics and hospital? Who is responsible for the spread of respiratory
diseases caused by serious air pollution, harmful production and unhealthy living and working conditions? Who is responsible for the fact
that many people considered to be at risk from the coronavirus are still forced to work and cannot retire?

It is the institutions, parties and industrialists who have destroyed our health service, who have caused an increase in chronic respiratory
diseases, who keep us in unemployment or nailed to work into old age, it is they who are now asking us to be responsible, to make other
sacrifices and not to protest.

Another aspect of this emergency to consider is the scar it will leave in society. Suddenly Italy is immersed in a climate of "war". Not
only and not so much for the militarization of the quarantined areas, but for the hammering political and media communication that since the
first days has polarized the attention on the whole territory of the country. The daily bulletins that in the evening present the bill for
the dead, infected and cured of the day soon became routine, accompanied by news about government measures and appeals for discipline,
respect for hygiene recommendations, responsibility, and telephone numbers to report possible cases. While some of the implications of this
period will only be seen later, others consequences are already evident. In this context the State seems to be the sole guarantor of public
health, against infection, against death, against chaos. This image is even more emphasized by those who exalt the Chinese model, or even
dust off Hobbes to call for a strong State or a dictatorship as the only solution. In reality, the state has presided over the dismantling
of the public health structure and by its very nature is more concerned with meeting the demands of industrialists and large owners than
with protecting the health of citizens. Furthermore, over and above the question of the actual effectiveness of restrictive measures aimed
at limiting infection, on which I have no competence to comment, the authoritarian approach taken with drastic measures applied blindly and
uncritically can be disastrous in the event of errors of assessment. At the same time, the refrain "stay indoors and let us take care of it"
triggers a very dangerous process of deresponsibility and infantilization in the society. The sense of powerlessness and impossibility of
influencing is very high in front of this emergency, and it makes us neglect the importance of individual and collective choices and
initiatives from below. These measures can contribute to further disintegrating the social relations, demolishing all forms of individual
and collective self-defence, making people lose all confidence in their ability to react at the social level. Authoritarianism cannot
replace solidarity, awareness, individual responsibility, collective confrontation, which in these situations can represent indispensable
forms of prevention. Just think of the fact that forms of self-organization that are emerging in many cities can also be considered illegal,
such as forms of solidarity for the delivery of food, for support to those who lose their jobs or do not receive their wages, or other
simple but important activities for survival.

The responsibility that is pressing at the moment is not to wait, with discipline, closed in on itself, for the government to resolve
everything, perhaps going to work anyway because the recession is just around the corner. Our responsibility is to keep alive and strengthen
the networks of solidarity so that they can be tools for all the exploited and oppressed in this context, at health, social and political level.

It is important to discuss and reflect on the situation, both to be able to face collectively, consciously and in solidarity the health
risk, and to prevent that state and bosses take advantage of the emergency really silencing any form of opposition in the streets and any
form of syndicalist activity in the workingplaces. In times like these, it's important to reaffirm the freedom to strike, to demonstrate and
to assemble against the government's repressive measures. Because it's important, without neglecting health risks, to maintain the spaces of
freedom and political viability, and to strengthen the existing networks of solidarity and mutual support. Also to ensure that when all this
is over we don't have to face a worst reality than the virus itself.

Dario Antonelli

10th of March 2020

https://and.notraces.net/2020/03/17/solidarity-doesnt-go-into-quarantine-italian-anarchist-federation-on-covid-19/#more-2255

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Message: 3




 From official disregard and denial to mismanaged response, each day the COVID-19 crisis brings into ever sharpening clarity the hypocrisy
and moral bankruptcy of the current ruling class. Claims of American exceptionalism and greatness are revealed to be a crumbling mask for
the systemic rot that pervades. ---- One does not have to be a radical to be appalled by the utter depravity of the conservative
establishment's response to the crisis. We watched Republican lawmakers who have tax-funded paid sick leave for themselves vote against a
proposal for working-class people to get paid sick leave. Right-wing lawmakers stalled Coronavirus legislation in an attempt to sneak
abortion restrictions into the bill. But it is not only conservative leaders that have been exposed as bankrupt, but also establishment
liberal centrists. After listening to months of establishment Democrats during primary debates shoot down mild social democratic proposals
for universal healthcare and student debt cancellation with the neoliberal mantra "how are you gonna pay for that?," we saw the Federal
Reserve pull $1.5 trillion - enough to wipe out almost all US student loan debt - out of a hat to inject into the stock market just to calm
already-wealthy investors. The Coronavirus bill Nancy Pelosi championed as guaranteeing paid sick leave left out 80% of workers, in order to
appease business owners. That was only the beginning, as the Trump administration has moved to bail out the wealthy owners of the cruise
ship, hotel, airline, oil, and natural gas industries, while not even considering bailing out the many low-income families who are afraid of
school closings because schools provide many children with the only meals they get.

https://blackrosefed.org/lifting-the-mask-of-capitalist-disaster-coronavirus/

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Message: 4




On March 14, 2020, an event for the freedom of political prisoners was planned at Moscow's FSB headquarters on Lubyanskaya Square. On social
networks, it was called "We are all in the network". Members of the Rupression campaign (created in support of the anarchists tried in the
so-called Network case) and human rights and political groups participated in the preparation . ---- The event was reported to the
authorities, but they did not allow it in the city center and suggested that it take place in the suburbs - which of course would lose all
effect. Therefore, the organizers decided to organize it in its original place. The planned living chain around the FSB headquarters was
probably the most frightening of the authorities.
On Saturday, March 14, around 2 pm, several police antons arrived at Lubyan Square and cops in megaphones warned that the action was illegal
and people were to break up. All this, even though individuals' pickets are not subject to reporting.

The police started plotting and arresting right after the first person unfolded the poster. First, they gathered people attending the event,
and then everyone who was in front of the FSB, including journalists. In addition, they sometimes blocked the exits of the metro. In the
antones, several detainees were beaten up.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, activists who managed to avoid arrest on Lubyan Square moved to the President's office. This place is
already traditional for individuals' picket events in support of political prisoners. The provocateurs from the procremel militant SERB, who
could not show up on Lubyan Square because of police will, came to them. Despite their presence and the passing police antony, the protest
at this point continued calmly. Then his participants went to the police to support the arrested.

One of them (a 17-year-old unionist) broke his arm, another got an asthma attack, was treated by a summoned ambulance and then locked up in
a police station without an inhaler. The most brutal advancement was the disguised riot police who beat up the 78-year-old known human
rights defender Leo Ponomarev and did not want to open the ambulance gate. Most of the detainees were released later.

Despite these blatant repressions, the solidarity actions demanding the release of political prisoners will continue and activists will
continue to insist that freedom of speech and assembly is inviolable.

https://avtonom.org/news/vlasti-ispugalis-zhivoy-cepi-vokrug-fsb

The case network , we wrote:
https://www.afed.cz/text/6784/policejni-stat-rusko
https://www.afed.cz/text/6787/airsoft-aneb-pripad-teroristu-z-penzy
https://www.afed.cz/text/6793/stop-muceni
https://www.afed.cz/text/6811/den-solidarity
https://www.afed.cz/text/6956/dokumentarni- film-sit
https://www.afed.cz/text/6958/podporte-obvinene-v-kauze-sit
https://www.afed.cz/text/7113/penza-rusko-vyneseny-rozsudky-v- kauze-sit
https://www.afed.cz/text/7129/solidarita-s-ruskymi-anarchisty
https://www.afed.cz/text/7134/svobodu-politickym-veznum-v-kauze-sit

https://www.afed.cz/text/7139/moskva-vsichni-jsme-v-siti

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Message: 5




The COVID-19 crisis has thrown a glaring searchlight on the state of health of capitalism. Here we analyse in detail the origins of the
disease, its global consequences and what we, the working class can do about it. ---- First of all we have to look at how COVID-19
originated and at the same time dispose of various conspiracy theories that are circulating like how it was invented by the Chinese
government to cull the elderly and infirm. The Coronavirus crisis must not be used to scapegoat Chinese, Italian or Spanish people here in
the UK and throughout the world. ---- In 1970 there was a famine in China which affected more than 36 million people. The Beijing regime
failed to adequately deal with the famine. As a result, it let go of its state hold over agriculture and food and allowed private
entrepreneurs to trade. A section of this new layer of private enterprise began to domesticate wildlife, which included snakes, turtles and
bats. At first illegal, this trade was allowed to flourish by the regime and in 1988 it legalised the trade, saying that wildlife was now a
‘natural resource'. This boosted this trade.

As a result, huge markets appeared, selling all sorts of animals, including rhinoceroses, crocodiles, snakes, ducks, wolves and mice,
alongside domesticated animals like pigs and chickens. These were packed closely together, often in the same cages. In this way, it was
easier for diseases to pass from species to species, from animal to animal and then on to humans.

The SARS virus appears to have originated in 2003 in a market in Guangdong province, with its source the masked palm civet. SARS, itself a
coronavirus, spread globally and resulted in 774 deaths. In response the regime banned the trade of wildlife as food.

Those capitalists making big profits out of the trade then lobbied the Chinese government to relax these laws, resulting in a decision to
allow the trade of 54 species as food. Later, more animals were added to the list, including in 2016 elephants and pangolins (scaly anteaters).

As a result the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in 2019 and has now spread globally, with many thousands of deaths. It is believed that the
disease was transmitted from a bat to a pangolin, and then spread to humans via a market in Wuhan. The Chinese government failed to learn
from the original SARS outbreak, and seems unlikely to draw any further lessons for the future.

It should be seen that the long-term answer is not the development of vaccines, but the cutting off at the source of the growth of these
viruses. This means that animal welfare is of the highest necessity. Swine flu probably originated in Mexico as a result of industrialised
pig pens, and similarly the origins of bird flu and mad cow disease are down to similar reasons. AIDS was a virus that jumped from monkeys
to chimps to humans as a result of the bush meat trade. The equation must be that animal welfare = human welfare.

The spread of COVID-19

The development of an increasingly globalised capitalism allowed the spread of the disease. As it spread from country to country, it was
shown how many healthcare systems, after years of austerity measures, were not up to the task of coping. And of course, the continued need
for capitalism to create profit has hindered measures to control and quarantine the disease.

The Coronavirus crisis has tested capitalism and its state structures to the limit. In Britain on both a national and local level,
government has been shown to be wanting, as both the Johnson government and local councils have dithered, have failed to act or have
remained silent. The media has highlighted the rash of panic buying, itself due to the encouragement of selfishness in neo-liberal economies
and the attack on community outlooks. On the other hand, the ideas that we advance, those of mutual aid and solidarity, are illustrated by
the growth of (at time of writing) over 500 mutual aid networks that have emerged rapidly in the UK. As one ACG member noted recently: "In
the village where I live, Facebook organising has produced more than 350 names in four days, volunteering various kinds of help, including
visits to elderly and disabled by local known people, street by street, free exchange of surplus daily necessities, a local shop and a
community centre offered for food collection, assembling food parcels and deliveries, free taxi to Iceland to pick up supplies, meals for
free school dinner kids, even dog walking (there are 1000's of dogs here). Meanwhile, deafening silence from Local Authority and
councillors, and the cuts to the NHS and social care have been laid bare for everyone to see."

Capitalism itself has received a body blow from the COVID-19 crisis. Already in a stagnant state, the world economy has been damaged as
profits and Gross Domestic Products are affected. Industrial production has slowed right down and a small initial recovery has been set back
by this crisis. Any fall in profits will be answered by the boss class attacking the wages and conditions of the working class in the months
to come.

At the same time, some capitalists, especially those in the pharmaceutical and health industries, have or will raise prices on hand gels,
soaps and face masks and will do the same with any vaccines that are developed (as was illustrated in the past by the AIDS crisis).

The Government's Response

Whilst some governments have closed downs educational establishments and all restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes, the Johnson regime has
vacillated over this. In part this was influenced by the number of so-called experts gathered around the new regime, a collection of cranks
and social-Darwinians encouraged by the closest adviser of Johnson, the Gollum-like Dominic Cummings. These fostered ideas of "herd
immunisation" where mass infection will create immunity in the long run, failing to take note of the large number of deaths in the process,
or rather seeing this as a way of culling the elderly and infirm. The government has been forced to backtrack on this. As well as this, the
Johnson government does not want to order the closure of catering establishments because it will then have to offer substantial
compensation. The Government's announced an emergency £350 billion financial package most of which will end up in the private sector, just
like Alistair Darling's £500 billion to the banks in 2008. The bulk of Darling's handout went into shareholders pockets and there was little
to show in terms of employment growth or improved wages. Instead, the working class had ten years of imposed wage freezes and benefit cuts
to pay for bailing out the banks.

Johnson has already shown his first priority. By refusing so far to order pubs and restaurants to close, he has tried to protect the profits
of big insurance firms from claims by thousands of small businesses. He may well be forced to change tack, locking down city by city due to
the rapid spread of the virus and massive pressure from small businesses. Whatever happens, just as in 2008 it'll be us that will have to
compensate the rich and pay the price for the economic meltdown.

Meanwhile 8,000 private hospital beds are being rented to NHS for £2.4million per day during the crisis.

The Johnson regime has failed to act decisively, offering advice rather than decisions, in terms of calling for people of over 70 to
self-isolate, failing to close down restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes, as has been the case in other countries, and has only just announced
that schools will be closed from next week.

Many people will voluntarily self-isolate, but there are big problems there already. One of the pieces of advice given out by the Johnson
government was for self-isolators to order food online. However, the supermarkets are already massively overloaded, with many sites down,
and for example, Sainsbury's not being able to offer any more home deliveries right through the month of April. Rationing of essential items
like soap, hand gel, painkillers etc has been slow in coming or not taken place at all, the responsibility of both the government and the
supermarkets.

Many older people, disabled people who have a wide range of impairments including learning difficulties/disabilities, those who have mental
health issues and long-term health conditions, will face loneliness and possible depression as a result of isolation. For others, the home
is a place of danger, as for those suffering from physical and sexual abuse in their families. Any travel restrictions would further
aggravate the chances of people escaping from their abusers.

The closure of day care centres, social centres, libraries, etc will further exacerbate this feeling of isolation and loneliness and unless
the mutual aid networks are built up massively over the coming months, many may die in isolation.

For the homeless, of whom at least 5,000 are rough sleepers on the streets, the Coronavirus crisis will be a disaster, as they are among the
most vulnerable, cannot self-isolate and if living in temporary accommodation or homeless shelters, face overcrowding and higher risk of
contagion. Many homeless charities have withdrawn on street support in order to protect volunteers adding to the potential risks faced by
rough sleepers. Meanwhile many buildings lie empty, as for example Balfron Tower in Tower Hamlets, sold off by the housing association
Poplar HARCA for homes for the rich which still lies empty.

The State will attempt to strengthen its position by using the Coronavirus crisis to reinforce its powers. This is already the case in
China, Spain and Italy where police and troops are controlling the movement of populations. In Italy some strikes have been banned under old
legislation that has been resurrected, and the UCU strike in Britain has been severely affected by the crisis. The ballot in favour of
strike action among postal workers is already being affected by the union bureaucrats and the State may well intervene to back them up.

While the media trains its unblinking focus on panic buying, thereby magnifying and amplifying the worst in human nature, most of us will
also have seen the stirrings of mutual aid and solidarity in our communities. Perhaps a leaflet has been put through your letter box
offering to collect shopping and prescriptions. Perhaps you've seen groups set up on social media. Perhaps you've volunteered to be a
friendly ear to those who are isolated. These bottom-up, self-starting initiatives have not had the same media focus, perhaps because they
demonstrate that precisely when we're supposed to be at our most anxious and atomised, we somehow find ways to connect and share and work
together.

These stirrings of solidarity and mutual aid are in stark contrast with the government's response of abandoning working-class people to
hardship and uncertainty. This is of course a health crisis, but it is also a looming economic crisis and potential social disaster. As
measures to create more "social distancing" threaten to decimate many sectors, such as retail, catering and health & social care, or indeed
anything requiring social contact, causing many to worry how they will pay bills, how they will afford housing, how they will put food on
the table, not to mention who will provide much needed personal care and support for those vulnerable people in supported living and
residential care etc, the government seems oblivious to the stark reality faced by ordinary people: if we can't earn, we are very quickly in
a dire situation.

Our stirrings of mutual aid and solidarity are rightly looking for ways to support the vulnerable, to give reassurance to each other, to
build community at a time when we need our essence as social animals nurtured. But if the government will not bail us out during this
Coronavirus crisis as they found themselves able to bail the banks out during the financial crisis, then we will need to use our new
networks to shout that message too. And not just to point out the state's inaction, but to show that there is action we can take ourselves.
Standing together we are stronger and more able to face down demands from banks and landlords, from utility companies and councils. We can
give our mutual aid networks real teeth.

Some of the demands we should put forward for the Coronavirus crisis:

Guaranteed continuance of sick pay from the first day for those affected by the virus. No victimisations or sackings for self-isolation.
Guaranteed income for those affected by closures in educational establishments, the catering industry, health and social care industry etc.
This includes a guaranteed income for gig workers in these workplaces.
Increased funding of domestic violence services as result of increase in abuse as result of crisis (as in China and Italy already).
Those receiving benefits should not be required to sign on during the current emergency and should be automatically be given their benefits
Requisitioning of all empty property for the homeless, one of the most vulnerable sections of society most vulnerable to the crisis.
Private hospital beds should be requisitioned and put at the service of the NHS without charge.
An immediate moratorium on rent, mortgage payments and utility bills. Where these are not enforced, organising of rent and mortgage strikes,
resisting disconnections of utilities. No evictions! No Disconnections!
Rationing of essential items like soap, hand gel, toilet paper, pain killers. An end to profiteering by companies around these essentials.
Reinforcing of the mutual aid networks.
While the state continues to act slowly and, in an ad-hoc manner with no regard for the working class here are some practical measures we
can all take:

Get in touch with your local mutual aid group to see how you can help - Find your nearest group here.
Donate (if you can) blood.
Provide support for those self-isolating.
Take acts of solidarity such as resisting evictions and disconnections

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/03/19/coronavirus-and-the-ill-health-of-capitalism/

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Message: 6




As the Coronavirus spreads and the system goes deeper into crisis, and with a decimated health service after years of neglect, the current
Johnson government desperately puts ‘business as usual' before the health of the population. Indeed, the Johnson regime is showing itself to
be less reliable than many of the ruling elites in numerous other countries, with its default position of bullshit, lies and manipulation,
all bolstered by a compliant mass media. Health workers on the ground will do their best but obviously, we can't expect miracles from the
government, the council, the authorities in general... nor should we. Essentially, it's down to us, each and every one of us to look out for
each other.
You are not alone
In the spirit of solidarity and mutual aid, hundreds of local Mutual Aid groups have taken off in response to the crisis. These are made up
of ordinary members of the public, people who are self-isolating and those so far unaffected by the virus, all willing to give a hand to
neighbours, the elderly, the most vulnerable. There are too many groups to list here, but if you want to check the whole list (with new
groups setting up all the time), you can...

Find your nearest group here!
Big thanks should also go to Freedom News for first bringing news of these groups to the attention of many of us. See their original article
with a list here: https://freedomnews.org.uk/covid-19-uk-mutual-aid-groups-a-list/

ACG members are already involved in our local mutual aid groups, we should also be publishing a more detailed article on the crisis soon. In
the meantime, keep safe and look out for each other.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/03/17/covid-19-and-mutual-aid/

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Message: 7




The dead are lined up behind each other in front of the Bergamo cemetery. This image, more than many others, shows us the reality with all
its cruelty. You can't even leave a flower. They can't even accompany them to the end. They died alone, losing their breath slowly. ---- Out
of the windows, at predetermined hours, people shout, sing, hit the dishes and meet, amid a climate of ethnic upliftment driven by
politicians and the media. "Everything will be fine. We will make it". ---- The government, through brazenly issued decrees , has postponed
the debate, even the weak democratic debate, even the exhausted form of representative democracy, and has recruited everyone . The one who
disobeys is a criminal, schizophrenic.
To be clear. Each of us is responsible for his actions. We anarchists know this well: for us, the individual responsibility of each for his
actions is the foundation of a society of freedom and equality.

Taking care of the weak, the elderly, those who risk their lives more than others is a task we feel very tense about. Always. Today more
than ever.

An equally powerful task is to tell the truth , that truth that is not properly filtered by someone who is locked in his house in front of
the television. However, for the most part, it is visible to everyone.

Those who are searching for the hidden truth, for a dark conspiracy caused by their beloved villain, are closing their eyes to reality,
because those who are openly struggling to change the unfair, violent, tyrannical and murderous order.

Every day, even today, as people get sick and die, the Italian government spends 70 million euros on military spending. With the money spent
on one of the 366 days of this year, six new hospitals could have been built and equipped, and whatever was left would cover the supply of
masks, laboratories, materials. A snorkel costs 4,000 euros: so 17,500 could be bought every day. Many more than they need now.

In previous years, all governments that have succeeded each other have consistently reduced the costs of health, prevention, and lives for
all of us . In the last year, life expectancy has fallen for the first time, according to statistics. Many do not have the money to pay for
medicines, medical visits and specialist services because they have to pay rent, food, travel.

They closed down the small hospitals, reduced the number of doctors and nurses, the number of beds, forced the health workers to work
overtime, to cover so many holes.

Today, with the epidemic, there are no queues, no more waiting lists for months and years for a diagnostic test: visits and exams canceled.
We will do so when the epidemic passes. How many people will get sick and die from diagnostic and curable tumors, how many people's health
will deteriorate because they have been quarantined for remaining in public health? Meanwhile, clinics and private clinics are advertising
and multiplying their funds, as the rich will never be left without treatment.

That is why the government wants us on the balconies to sing "We are ready for death. Italy invites us "(verses of the Italian national
anthem). As good soldiers, as meat for slaughter, as consumables, we require silence and submission. Then everyone who remains will have
immunity and will be stronger. Until the next pandemic.

That is why, from our balconies, on city walls, in queues in shops, we say loudly, despite the mask, that what we are experiencing is a
state massacre. How many deaths could have been avoided if governments in recent years had done something to protect our health?

Not a wrong assessment, but a criminal choice.

Over the years, researchers dealing with infectious diseases have warned of the danger we were running that a serious pandemic was likely.
There were voices of beasts in the wilderness.

The logic of profit does not allow for retreats . When it's all over, drug companies who don't invest in prevention will do the job. They
will make money off the drugs that all of these researchers are working for in the community, and not to enrich those who are already rich.

They have made us believe that we are immune to epidemics affecting the poor, those who do not have the means to protect themselves, those
who do not even have access to potable water. Dengue fever, Ebola, malaria, tuberculosis are diseases of the poor, "backward",
"underdeveloped" populations.

Then, one day, the virus reached a "prominent position" and touched the economic "heart" of Italy. And nothing is the same anymore.

Not immediately though. The media, experts and our government have said that the disease kills only the elderly, the sick, those who have
underlying diseases. Nothing new. It's a normal fact: you don't need a medical degree to know it.

So the others thought that in the worst case they would get another flu. This criminal information filled the squares, bars and parties.
This is not the reason why individual responsibility has failed, which goes through the capacity to be informed and understood, but has
removed a little from the cloak of sanctity that the government is trying to bring to free from its responsibility for the crisis. . And who
knows; Maybe even stronger.

We are told that our home is the only safe place. This is not true. The workers who have to go to the factory every day, without any real
protection, beyond the few that Confindustria has offered to the state unions, return home every day. There are elderly relatives, children,
weak people.

Only a small part of those who go shopping or get some air have protective equipment: masks, gloves, disinfectants are not even available in
hospitals.

The government claims that protection is not necessary if you are healthy: this is a lie. What we are told about the spread of the virus is
clearly disputed. The truth is: two months after the outbreak in Italy, the government did not provide and did not provide the necessary
means of protection to halt the spread of the virus.

They cost a lot. In Piedmont, doctors talked to people with fever, cough, sore throat, urging them to take fever and stay home for five
days. If they get worse then go to the hospital. No one went to do the examination. Those who live with these patients are trapped: they
cannot leave alone those who are suffering and need help, risking becoming infected if their respiratory illness is due to coronary disease.
How many were unknowingly infected and then passed the disease on to others without any protective means?

Exclusion at home will not save us from the epidemic. It can help slow down the transmission of the virus, it will not stop it.

The epidemic is turning into an opportunity to impose working conditions, which allow companies to spend less and earn more. Conte's decrees
promoted "smart work" where possible. Companies exploit them to force it on employees. You stay home and work online. Teleworking was
introduced by a 2017 law that gives companies the right to propose but not to impose it. It should therefore be implemented in the context
of an agreement giving workers guarantees of working hours, its control, the right to cover connection costs, accident coverage. Today,
following the Covid-19 epidemic decree, passed by the Conte government,The epidemic therefore turns into an opportunity to impose new forms
of exploitation without any resistance.

For fixed-term workers the reintegration fund and the auxiliary funds are reserved, for the poor, the freelancers and the self-employed
there is no cover except a few crumbs. Those who are unemployed have no income.

Those who dare to criticize, those who dare say annoying truths, receive threats, are suppressed, silenced.

No regime instrumentalized the complaints of the lawyers of the Nursing Association, an institution that has nothing to do with subversion.
Nurses and nurses are described as heroes if they fall ill and die silently, without saying what happens in hospitals. Nurses who tell the
truth are threatened with layoffs. Those infected are not recognized as accidents at work because the hospital is not obliged to pay
compensation to those who work every day without protection or with poor protective equipment.

Women's autonomy is being attacked by the government's way of managing the epidemic.

The care of children who stay home because schools are closed, the elderly at risk, those with disabilities falls on the shoulders of women,
who are already heavily burdened by job insecurity.

In the meantime, silently, homes are being transformed into coercive sites, where female homicides have multiplied.

Amidst this deafening silence of many, 15 prisoners died during a prison uprising . Nothing leaked about their deaths, other than police
reports. Some, already in serious condition, were not transported to the hospital but were loaded and transported to jail hundreds of miles
away. A slaughter, a state slaughter .

The rest were moved elsewhere. Prisons are overcrowded, they do not guarantee the health and dignity of prisoners even in "normal"
conditions, if it is considered normal to lock people behind bars.To protect them, the government has found nothing better than to suspend
talks with relatives, and guards can come in every day. The prisoners' uprising erupted in front of the real risk of spreading the infection
to places where overcrowding is the norm. Those who supported the prisoners' struggle were targeted and accused. The repression, which
supports the restrictive measures of government decrees, has been particularly severe. In Turin they even prevented a mere gathering of
relatives and solidarities at the entrance to the prison, deploying security forces to every access point on the neighboring roads around
the Vallette prison.

Workers who have spontaneously carried out strikes against the risk of contamination have in turn been accused of violating government
decrees for demonstrating on the road to their health.

Nothing should stop production, even if it concerns production that could be stopped without any consequence for the life of us all. The
logic of profit, of production comes first.

The government fears that, after the prison uprising, other fronts of social struggle will break out.

Therefore, relentless police scrutiny, the mobilization of the army , which for the first time has public control functions, is not
exclusively for the support of police forces. The military turns into a policeman: the osmosis process that began decades ago is coming to
an end. The war does not stop. Military operations, exercises, shooting ranges are in full swing. It is the war against the poor in Covid 's
day 19.

The government banned all forms of public demonstrations and political meetings.

Risking your life for your boss is a social duty, while cultural and political activities are considered criminal activities.

It is an attempt, not so pretentious, to ban any form of confrontation, debate, struggle, solidarity networks that would really support
those in a more difficult position.

Democracy has clay feet. Democratic illusion has melted like snow in the sun in front of the epidemic. The prime minister's measures are
enthusiastically welcomed: no debate, no approval from the temple of representative democracy, but a simple decree. Anyone who does not
respect it is a murderer, a criminal and not worthy of mercy.

In this way, the real culprits, those who cut back on health spending and increase military spending, those who do not provide masks or
nurses, those who militarize everything but do not supply materials because they "cost 100 euros" discharge with the approval of the
prisoners of terror.

Fear is human. We should not be ashamed of it, but we should also not allow political entrepreneurs of fear to use it to gain consensus on
criminal policies.

We fought to prevent the closure of small hospitals, which would destroy valuable health structures for everyone. We were in the squares
next to four hospital employees and in many other corners of our region.

In November we were on the streets against the aerospace industry's exhibition. We are fighting every day against militarism and war
spending. We are on the road to the NoTav race , as 1000 hours of intensive care are paid for a meter of Tav.

Today we stand by those who do not want to die in prison, workers accused of protesting against the lack of protection against the spread of
the virus, nurses working without protection and risking their jobs by saying so.

Today, much of the political and social resistance movements remain silent, unable to respond, under extreme social pressure, which
criminalizes those who do not openly accept the increasing risk situation caused by past and present government choices.

Restricting travel and contacts is reasonable, but even more reasonable is to fight so you can do it safely. We have to find ways and places
to fight the violence of those who imprison us because they do not know and do not want to protect us.

As anarchists, we know that freedom, solidarity, equality through our diversity are conquered through struggle, and no one, even less, is
entrusted with a government whose only ethics is to maintain positions of power.

No. We are not "ready to die". We do not want to die and we do not want anyone to get sick and die. We will not be classified as armies
intended for silent slaughter. We are apostates, rebels, partisans.
We demand the release of prisons, we demand housing for those who do not, we demand that war spending be stopped, that we guarantee clinical
trials and that we provide all means of protection against the epidemic.

We do not want only the strongest to survive, we also want those who have lived long enough to continue.

We want those who are sick to have someone to love and care for them: with some F-35 fighter-bombers we can have protective suits and all
the necessary means so that no one dies alone.

Everything is gonna be alright; We will make it; It is up to each of us.

Comrades and Companions of the Turin Anarchist Federation (Federazione Anarchica Torinese - FAI)

https://anarresinfo.noblogs.org/2020/03/16/epidemia-strage-di-stato/

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