#Worldwide #Information #Blogger #LucSchrijvers: #Part1 #Update: #anarchist #information from all over the #world - 18.04.2020

Today's Topics:

   
1.  Britain, brighton solfed: Care Worker Organising in a
      Pandemic (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  COVID-19: Approximately twenty millions people become
      jobless in Bangladesh By Bangladesh AnarchoSyndicalist Federation
      - BASF (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Poland: This system makes us sick -- Statement by the
      Secretariat of the International Workers' Association (IWA-MSP)
      about the COVID-19 pandemic situation (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  English versions of «Our own Shock Plan» and «Rent Strike
      Manifesto» by Federación de Anarquistas de Gran Canaria (ca)
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
 5.  Kate Sharpley Library update April 2020 - Not a bulletin but
      something to read (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Britain, anarchist communist group: Profit before people:
      Covid-19 in care homes (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  Britain, Class War Daily Friday 9 April 2020 - VACANT
      POSSESSION Mansions stand empty on Millionaires’ Row
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL Bordeaux - Politics,
      Covid-19: We will also wage this social war (fr, it, pt)[machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1



Care workers right now are facing a huge challenge. We were overworked, at risk and underpaid before Covid-19 came along. A lot of us are
facing massive upheaval in our work and personal lives. Lockdown is stopping us from seeing our friends, family and colleagues, and the
demands now placed on the NHS, care homes and other workplaces have increased and changed rapidly. So now more than ever we are asking, what
can we do? ---- What are we facing? ---- Some of the issues we are facing are new, and some are old problems exacerbated by the current
crisis. The first one we are going to look at is the most common and well known right now. ---- PPE ---- If you didn't know how important
PPE was a few months ago, you probably know now. PPE (that's Personal Protective Equipment in case you missed it) is desperately needed.
Because Coronavirus is a respiratory virus, you are at risk of contracting it if you are in close contact with anybody (hence social
distancing measures). That risk is increased massively when working with patients who are displaying symptoms, and even more so if your work
involves procedures that are aerosol generating (opening airways, ventilating etc.). The PPE you need, as advised by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and Public Health England (PHE) is detailed online, depending on where you work and what kind of work you do. The highest
level of PPE, and therefore the safest, is:

Gloves
Gowns (arm or leg covering)
FFP3 mask
Face visor

Every single item of this should be single use and not re-used. I know personally that workers such as myself, at the highest level of risk,
are not being provided with the correct equipment, or being asked to re-use it to save on PPE. This is hugely dangerous and puts everyone at
risk, yourself, your family and any other patients you come into contact with.

What can we do?

First step is to find out what PPE you need to do your work safely. Do not ask your managers what this is, and do not trust what they tell
you. Go online and find out what the guidance is, or ask colleagues what they have heard. Chances are there will be varying opinions and
stories, advice has changed almost every day since lockdown, so it's important you find out what your colleagues and you need to protect
yourselves.

If there is an issue (there will be) then raise it with everyone. Start with your colleagues, discuss the importance of pressuring
management to provide you with a supply of correct PPE and make sure it continues. Emphasise that unless you are protected as workers, you
cannot possibly care for and protect your patients properly. Also emphasise the huge risk to yourselves and your loved ones; doctors, nurses
and healthcare assistants have all died of Coronavirus during this pandemic and this would not have happened if they were properly protected
from day one.

What can you expect? Management will most likely try and push your concerns aside, they will cite shortages and ‘advice' from other
management about what you need and it will not be what you want. Unfortunately, you can also expect some pushback or apathy from your
colleagues. Care work has an unpleasant tendency for some workers to adapt a ‘get on with it' approach. So used to cutbacks, poor pay and
overwork, this is not surprising, but it needs to be challenged and overcome as much as possible.

How can we get what we want? This will depend hugely on what work you do, your colleagues, patients, management etc. The first thing to
think about is how to apply pressure, what do management want more than anything, and you can use that as leverage. Right now, the
continuation of the service is top priority; if you and your colleagues feel at risk with the PPE being provided, or not provided with any,
then try and stop that service. This may be a big challenge, and will take a lot of discussion. Emotional blackmail is one of the things we
often encounter when organising as care workers; ‘who will look after the patients', ‘people will suffer' or even ‘people will die'. But
remember, this is a very unique situation, nobody has faced a working environment like this in living memory, so it is vitally important
that we start trying to counter attitudes and beliefs which put the patient over the safety of workers. If we get sick, if we die, there
then will be nobody to provide the care that is needed. We are a specialised workforce, and regardless of how badly paid and treated we are,
we are not easily replaced. Our experience and training means we must stay safe if the management want that work to continue, because we all
know they aren't able or willing to do it...

Publicity is another potential pressure point. Most organisations, especially the NHS, are trying very hard right now to appear as though
things are ‘under control', even when we know as workers that it is far from the truth. If you feel that putting out information about the
dangerous working conditions will help your cause, then find a way to do it. Just be aware that it will most likely be best to be as
anonymous as possible.

The law? If the law wasn't a huge amount of use to us before, then it certainly isn't now. However, it is still useful to have some backing
when convincing colleagues and threatening management. There are laws which surround safety in the workplace, adequate PPE and so on. It's
not worth your while learning all of these back to front, however there are certain passages of law it can be useful to quote and share
around, section 100 of the 1996 Employee rights act is a good start. It essentially covers workers who stop working because of facing
dangerous situations in the workplace.

Stick together and fight

We have to start fighting for more and better PPE now, and we have to look after each other. This is a hugely stressful and frightening time
for care workers, so now more than ever we need to stick together, look after each other, and have each other's backs. We can't let this
issue slide like we have in the past, this is not simply a pay cut, another understaffed shift, or extra job for you to do. This is our
wellbeing, our lives and our health. If we don't fight back now, we may never get another chance.

Manchester Solfed

http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/care-worker-organising-in-a-pandemic

------------------------------

Message: 2



COVID-19: Approximately twenty millions people become jobless in Bangladesh
( Labour voice ) ---- Employment is the main source of earning income and livelihood for most of the people of Bangladesh. Employment and
poverty are closely related with each other. Poverty reduces with the augmentation in employment. Employment creates earning capacity and
ensures workers entitlement on goods and services. but at the moment Covid-19 created a unexpected situation in Bangladesh. ---- Though the
restriction of movement and general holidays are helping the nation contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, economists fear it will have a
huge adverse impact on the livelihoods of millions of people engaged in informal sector as their 'wages are disappearing'.
They said around 20 million people, involved in informal sector, have already become temporarily jobless as a fallout of coronavirus,
putting a serious stress on the economy.

Rickshaw-pullers, transport workers, day-labourers, street-vendors, hawkers, the employees of hotels, restaurants and different shops,
markets, construction workers and other informal workers are the worst victims of the halt in economic activity as they have lost their
means to earn bread and butter.

The economists appreciated the government's quick steps to provide food aids to the affected people, and said effective plans and strategies
should also be worked out to help the jobless people return to their work once normalcy is restored.

According to the Labour Force Survey-2017, around 60.8 million people were in various employment or engaged in economic activity while the
informal employment was dominating as 85.1 percent of the employed population engaged in the country's informal employment. The contribution
of informal jobs to urban areas was 13.1 million while 38.6 million in rural areas.

Contacted, professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said business and employment are
confronting the adverse impact of the shutdown of the economic activities. "A large portion of our labour force involved in service sector
who do not get monthly salary are badly affected by the coronavirus shutdown," he observed.

Of the total 60.8 million people employed in various ways both in formal and informal sectors, Mustafiz said 14 million people get monthly
salary from their employers while over a 10 million are day-labourers wo get daily wages based on their work.

Besides, he said, 27 million people are self-employed like hawkers, street vendors, and small businessmen like grocery and other shop owners.

"An overwhelming majority of the country's 37 million labour forces--self-employed ones and day labourers--have become temporarily jobless
and they've no earning," Mustafiz said.

The noted economist said this big number of people will remain jobless until the economic activities resume and things come into order.

He said around 50,000 people go abroad from Bangladesh for jobs every month. "But new migrant workers couldn't go abroad in the last two
months. Perhaps, they won't be able to go in the next few months, too. Besides, the migrant workers who already returned home in the face of
coronavirus impact may add to the growing unemployment rolls."

Under the circumstances, the economist said, social safety net must be widened further with adequate allocation while OMS activities in
cities should be strengthened to mitigate the sufferings of the unemployed people.

The government should also make proper action plans so that the affected people in the informal sector can resume business and the jobless
people can engage in economic activity once the situation gets normal.

Shamsul Alam, senior secretary and member of the General Economics Division (GED) of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, said the
unemployment rate in country is fueling, and it will take a serious turn in the future due to the coronavirus impact.

"Some 85 per cent workforce is involved in informal sector which is hit hard by the coronavirus shutdown. People working in this sector are
losing their incomes for lack of economic activities," he observed.

Executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) Ahsan H Mansur said officially there are around 4 per cent
unemployment in the country, but it is not the real figure.

"The unemployment situation will be awful in the near future in the country. Around 2.5 million people are involved only in the services
sector like hotels, restaurants and resorts. Around 70-80 lakh people are involved in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector while
there are around 4.5 million workers in the RGM sector. Many of the workforces have already become temporarily jobless while many others are
at the risk of losing jobs due to the coronavirus shutdown," he added.

Ahsan said the employment of RMG workers depend on foreign buyers. "But now foreign buyers are cancelling their orders one after another.
So, employment in the RMG sector is now at risk."

According to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) data released on 31 March 1048 factories reported 907.14
million pcs worth $2.87 billion export cancelled/ held up.

"There's a chance that many SME workers will be laid off if the government doesn't financially support the entrepreneurs and the public
holidays are extended further," the PRI executive director said.


About 30% employees in the tourism sector will be out of jobs due to the coronavirus.

Mentioning this at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Monday, Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB)
demanded relaxation of unnecessary restrictions at airports and ports.

Earlier on Sunday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh has decided to impose a ban on travellers from all European countries
except the UK till March 31, beginning Sunday midnight, after detecting two new coronavirus positive cases on Saturday.

Citing the World Health Organization's declaration of Europe as the new centre point of coronavirus spread, he said the government had to
take this difficult step to protect its citizens from the outbreak.

Over 6,500 people have died worldwide due to coronavirus, with more than 170,000 infected as of Monday, according to worldometers.

Overseas job seekers
As the spread of coronavirus across the world continues, its effect on overseas migration from Bangladesh is felt for the first time with
Kuwait slapping a temporary travel ban on Bangladeshis and other six nationalities.

About 7,000 Bangladeshi workers who were about to complete the migration process and who returned home on leave are met with uncertainty
following a ban on their entry into Kuwait, said recruiting agencies.

They told New Age that any upcoming embargo on hiring workers from Bangladesh put the overseas employment sector at high risk as the disease
spreads with human contact.

Recruiting Agencies OkyaParisad president M Tipu Sultan told New Age that several thousands of Bangladeshi workers with valid visas would
not be able to enter Kuwait and China.

He said that there were about 2,000 Bangladeshi workers who were unable to fly to China, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus with their
valid visas due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a circular on Friday, Kuwait government said that all arrivals in the state of Kuwait of the citizens from Bangladesh, Philippines,
India, Sri Lanka , Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, who have valid residency or previous entry visa , as well as those from other airports, during
the past two weeks were prohibited.

Bangladeshi worker Md Rashed, who came to visit Bangladesh on a 20-day leave was in fear of not being able to return to Kuwait due to
restriction on port entry.

‘I am worried about my return to Kuwait as my flight on Qatari airline is scheduled for March 10,' he said.

Dhaka-based government officials and recruiting agents said that in the worst case scenario, if the Middle East got infected, some of the
major destinations of Bangladeshi workers would close down.

Workers and rights activists said that Bangladeshi workers in some coronavirus-affected countries had reportedly been gripped by panic and
were desperately trying to come back home.

Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training director general Shamsul Alam told New Age on Saturday that workers were going abroad with job
visas as usual as there was no impact of coronavirus on them.

‘But I cannot predict what will happen in the coming days if the coronavirus affect the destination countries,' he said.

About Kuwait, he said that the Kuwait authorities tightened the movement of foreign workers but was yet to stop recruitment from Bangladesh.

Kuwait, on Tuesday, made medical certificates for the nationals from 10 countries, including Bangladeshis, mandatory. But the state withdrew
the restriction on Thursday following requests by the countries concerned.

Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that Kuwait government
decided to allow entry of migrant workers but the workers would be quarantined after reaching Kuwait.

Depending on the intensity of the spread of coronavirus, overseas jobs of workers will see a decline, he told New Age.

So far, Bangladeshi citizens have been infected with the virus in Singapore, the UAE and Italy. As a result, a significant number of
Bangladeshis, working in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, Bahrain, Italy and Japan, are also struggling amid the ongoing outbreak.

The virus has already been detected in different Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia restricted travel and Umrah visa to avoid movements of foreign nationals there.

Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme chairman Shakirul Islam told New Age that Bangladeshi workers in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Bahrain
were worried over coronavirus infection.

He suggested that Bangladesh missions and embassies abroad should keep the migrant workers updated about coronavirus through providing
online briefing to them with necessary advices.

The World Health Organization called the spread of the Coronavirus ‘deeply concerning' as a wave of countries reported their first cases of
the disease which has now killed nearly 3,500 people and infected more than 100,000 across 92 nations.

Bangladeshi national based in Venice of Italy Sharmin Alamgir told New Age that they were following government instructions on coronavirus
and maintaining protective measures while going out of the residences.

The death toll from the new coronavirus in Italy has risen to 197 after the largest daily increase in fatalities there since the outbreak began.

Quoting officials, the BBC reported that 49 people had died in 24 hours, while more than 4,600 cases have been reported in total.

Bangladesh Garment Workers Face Ruin
The empty, echoing shopping malls of Western cities are a testament to the biggest crisis borne by global clothing and retailindustries in
over a generation. But the impact of the coronavirus on retail is a two-part devastation, as the daily flow of thousands of orders placed by
Western retailers to supplier factories in South Asia has suddenly slammed to a halt.

Factory owners face financial ruin, while the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of garment workers hang in the balance.

"Our situation is apocalyptic," said Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which
represents Bangladeshi factory owners. "The cancellations and hold instructions coming in from Western fashion retailers are pushing us to
the point of insolvency, with massive open capacity and raw materials liabilities."

Fast fashion retailers rarely own the factories that supply them with their wares. Instead, the vast majority of garment and footwear orders
are outsourced to suppliers in emerging marketslike Bangladesh, where overhead is cheap and the cost of human labor is cheaper.

The majority of suppliers are in countries that can be the most vulnerable to large global economic shocks, such as India, Myanmar, Cambodia
and Bangladesh, which is the second largest garment exporter nation after China.

Bangladesh, in particular, which has been the site of one of the most effective campaigns of the globalized erato improve labor and safety
conditions for garment workers, has seen more than $2.8 billion worth of orders canceled or postponed since the start of the coronavirus
crisis, according to Ms. Huq.

Ready-made garments comprised 84 percent of Bangladesh's total exports, worth $40.5 billion, in its 2019 fiscal year, according to data
posted on the website of the BGMEA. This loss compromises the ongoing employment of more than two million Bangladeshi garment workers.

"The situation is very bad. The Bangladeshi supply chain is in complete disarray with many foreign brands acting irresponsibly," said Sharif
Zahir, the managing director of the Ananta Group, which owns seven factories with a total of 26,000 workers. His company supplies brands
that include H&M, Zara, Gap, Levi's and Marks & Spencer.

According to Mr. Zahir, most Bangladeshi factories had already faced losses or thin margins since last year because of
government-implemented wage increases in December 2018. Now, many buyers were canceling orders that had been produced, delaying payments and
asking for discounts on already shipped goods.

"We have been left with around 20 percent of our orders for April. Beyond that, everything is uncertain," Mr. Zahir said.

On March 26, the country deployed soldiers and police to enforce the start of a nationwide 10-day shutdown to slow the spread of the
coronavirus. The densely populated country of 160 million people is deemed to be at a high risk of increased infections because hundreds of
thousands of overseas Bangladeshi workers had returned home in recent weeks, often traveling from virus-affected nations to cramped and
closely confined living conditions with little sanitation.

In an indication of the importance of the garment sector, which provides 80 percent of the country's export earnings, retail factories are
currently an essential industry, though the majority are currently closed.

"Factories are likely to empty of orders from April onward and are not in a position to pay salaries to workers. We understand it is a
difficult time for buyers but they must understand that garment manufacturers are currently the weakest link," said Mr. Zahir. "Workers are
the responsibility of brands as well. They have better access to liquidity and governments offering much bigger rescue packages."

A survey of factory owners in Bangladesh by Pennsylvania State University's Center for Global Workers' Rights found that millions of
workers, mostly women from rural areas, had already been sent home without owed wages or severance pay. According to the survey, nearly all
Western buyers refused to contribute to worker wages, and 70 percent of furloughed workers had been sent home without pay.

Big-name retailers have been at pains to stress that the cuts hit all areas of their businesses. After weeks of pressure, H&M said, on March
30, that it would take and pay for the shipments of goods that had already been manufactured for the company, as well as those currently in
production. It said it would not negotiate prices on orders that had already been placed.

But the Swedish retailer has also warned that it will have to cut jobs; the pandemic has closed more than two-thirds of its 5,000 shops
worldwide and has threatened landlords with the possibility of leaving leases early if sales don't start to recover.

"We are doing everything in our power in the H&M group to manage the situation related to the coronavirus," said H&M's chief executive
Helena Helmersson. "My hope is that we will be able to get operations up and running again as soon as possible."

On March 31, Inditex, which owns Zara among other retailers and has temporarily closed nearly 4,000 of its stores, said it too would pay
suppliers for orders that had already been produced. PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and the British high street retailer
Marks & Spencer have also followed suit.

The vast majority of brands, however, are a long way from similar commitments. Primark, one of the largest purchasers of garments in
Bangladesh, does not sell online. All 376 Primark stores in twelve countries are now closed until further notice, which represents a loss of
some $807 million of net sales per month, the company said. It has frozen all future orders.

"The current situation has been so fast moving. We could not have foreseen that over the course of 12 days, our stores in every country in
which we operate have had to close," said Paul Marchant, the chief executive of Primark, last week.

"We have large quantities of existing stock in our stores, our depots and in transit, that is paid for and if we do not take this action now
we will be taking delivery of stock that we simply cannot sell," Mr. Marchant continued. "We recognize and are deeply saddened that this
will clearly have an effect throughout our entire supply chain. This is unprecedented action for unprecedented and frankly unimaginable times."

Although there are now signs from China that some fashion production lines are slowly starting to resume manufacturing, few industry
observers are expecting things to get any easier for retailers.

"Though retailers are striving to entice spending with discounting and promotions, or with loungewear at the forefront of marketing
campaigns, we expect these to have little impact at present as consumers acclimatize to new daily routines," said Kate Ormrod, the lead
retail analyst at the market research company GlobalData. "Significant fallout across the fashion sector is expected this year as
fundamentally weaker players fail to recover once demand finally picks up."

In a bid to offset some of the Western retail fallout, Bangladesh's prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced a 5,000 crore Bangladeshi taka
bailout worth $590 million on March 25. Many members of the Bangladeshi government are factory owners, but the funds, Prime Minister Hasina
said, would be used solely as salaries and allowances for workers.

The challenge now facing the country is not only to ensure that the bailout gets to the right place, but that safety standards do not slip
as factory owners find themselves in an increasingly desperate situation.

"It is essential for the government to engage in social dialogue with employers' organizations and trade unions to come up with practical
solutions which will keep people safe and protect jobs," said Tuomo Poutiainen, country director for Bangladesh at the International Labor
Organization.

"Proven social protection measures like supporting job and income security, preventing poverty and unemployment, and strengthening economic
and social stability and peace is critical," he said.

Koen Oosterom, the manager for Bangladesh and Myanmar for Fair Wear, a membership organization paid for by brands to improve working
conditions, said that the fashion business faced an "extremely grim and unprecedented" situation, far worse in terms of potential
ramifications than the financial crisis of 2008.

"There have been many tough conversations as of late about the sustainability of the industry. This situation is underscoring how
unsustainable many of its practices really are," he said. "Many in precarious work have lost their income and in some areas, people have
never been more exposed to exploitation."

As some fashion retailers fight to stave off bankruptcy in the next few months, there is concern that recent ethical and environmental
improvements in manufacturing will not be maintained. "Events are playing out in countries where there is very little in terms of social
security and labor laws are not always upheld," Mr. Oosterom said.

And as for the overtures by Western brands and retailers in recent weeks to making masks and hospital gowns for front line medical workers,
Ms. Huq said that the change would offer little reassurance or practical solutions for the army of garment workers in lockdown.

"We would need substantial support to change toward those sorts of product lines. The raw materials would have to be sourced and certified,
it is stepping toward a totally new type of supply chain," Ms. Huq said.

"For them, it's a question of the survival of the businesses," she said, of Western retailers. "For us, it's the survival of our 4.1 million
workers."

final words:

There is no substitute for establishing a new society and an independent socialist society by eliminating the prevailing social system to
prevent epidemics, protect the health of the common people, unemployment, poverty, eliminating social unrest.

To end the plunder of capitalism, the state aparatus , international imperialism, we have to build a society where there is no human
dominance over human beings. People will not exploited by people. They will manage themselves. No-state, no-capitalist only socialist
self-sufficient social system. All production systems will be owned by people of the society, including mill factories and agricultural
farms. There will be no volatility of personal ownership. The word "employment" or "JOB" will be disappear forever from the society. People
will be completely free.

Long Live - AnarchoSyndicalism!

https://bangladeshasf.org/covid-19-approximately-twenty-millions-people-become-jobless-in-bangladesh/

------------------------------

Message: 3



In many countries, society is facing a very serious health crisis. Due to the nature of the capitalist system and its multi-level abuses
against employees, many of us have fallen victim to the contempt and omissions of the ruling class - the disease that has previously plagued
our society and socio-economic relations. Now, as always, we must rely on mutual assistance to protect our health and our lives. ---- The
sections of the International Workers' Association have reacted in different ways to the local situations they are dealing with. Since we
are in favor of a general strike as a method of weakening power and oppression, we believe that this is the best time for the working class
to use this tool of combat, acting in self-defense, protecting their health and promoting the strength of joint action against the coercion
of state and capital.

Our unions have made various demands and calls for action at local level, and are involved in specific fighting in many workplaces. Also at
the global level, we must promote positions and demands that respond to the current pandemic.

1. All employees who have been deprived of work by the actions of employers as a result of government decisions, dropping orders or other
reasons, as well as those who fall ill must receive parking pay.

Most working class around the world barely make ends meet and cannot afford to lose income. Those who fail will again become victims of
property owners and creditors. Many governments have already adopted business assistance packages, but the elites are much less generous
with employees.

When the pandemic ends, the working class must earn the right to paid sick leave for everyone.

2. We call for an immediate stop (with paid parking) for all employees in sectors whose uninterrupted work is not necessary in all areas
that are exposed to the spread of the virus. We call for strikes wherever bosses and governments force employees to work despite the risk,
and for solidarity strikes and other forms of direct action. We need coordinated solidarity and mutual assistance to show that we will not
be stopped.

3. We demand immediate and significant pay increases for all medical workers (including 'non-medical' staff in medical centers, such as
cleaners). Wage increases must be permanent. One of the most dangerous pathogens that attack many countries is the lack of access to health
care due to drastic underfunding. The reason is that governments are shifting resources for the most basic human needs to other purposes.
Many medical workers suffer from too low salaries and have been fighting for survival for years. They are exploited and swept every day. And
yet we expect them to devote themselves completely to saving lives despite the great risk to their own health. We must force the state -
which we treat as a temporary guardian of our public money - to ensure the health security of the population by setting priorities. IWA-MSP
would like to remind employees that the state is usurping our right to decide about our lives and is mainly working to defend the interests
of capital. We must regain our agency and introduce together a truly social and egalitarian system of care for all members of our society.

4. We demand the immediate payment of bonuses to all other employees who are still needed for the economy to operate smoothly - from
supermarket sellers to food suppliers and producers, social and sanitary workers. Everyone who works at increased risk while others remain
safe at home deserves help and support. Whenever possible, try to help these workers and reduce the burden that has been placed on them. If
employees are forced to work overtime due to the situation, they should also receive additional paid leave as soon as the situation stabilizes.

It is worth emphasizing that without the work of many of these employees (agricultural workers and other employees of the food supply
chain), life in large urban centers would not be properly possible. And these workers are the worst paid in many countries. We must agitate
and fight to equalize pay for work and eliminate the contradictions generated by capitalist logic. A large part of the workforce does not
receive adequate remuneration because it is treated as parts that can be easily replaced and not as important members of human society.

5. We demand completely free access to health care for all those affected by the current crisis. This demand must remain a constant topic of
our struggle.

6. We demand urgent support for all those who have no roof over their heads and who live in poor sanitary conditions. Homelessness, housing
poverty and many tragic displacements cause too many deaths and illnesses each year that add to general poverty. This problem has reached
enormous proportions worldwide and must be resolved. Society must provide help. It is necessary to constantly fight a class with capital
that achieves sky-high gains through its control of private property. The world has not responded enough to numerous humanitarian crises
caused by war and natural disasters, and victims were left in life-threatening circumstances.

7. We demand that safety measures be made available to those in need, especially those who cannot afford them. Our collective money should
be allocated to the purchase of hygienic, preventive and medicated products for the most vulnerable social groups.

These seven demands are the minimum we should demand in order to heal the situation. We must demand better social protection for the general
population. Security cannot remain the privilege of the rich.

Employees should finally understand that it is not the state or the employers who are moving society, but the working class itself.

We demand spending on the safe and fair maintenance of society as a whole. This is our money and we have full right to decide in which
society we want to live. Do we want to live in a society that treats old, sick and privileged as unnecessary? Is it one in which each person
is treated as important and worthy of respect? We cannot allow the state, bosses and those who live from our work to rule as it has done so
far. Too many people have already fallen ill because of it for many years. Enough of that!

The system is sick and we must recover from it.

Mutual assistance and solidarity is the best medicine for the disease that is affecting our societies - and it's not about Coronavirus-borne
disease.

At a time when so many people are falling victim to the pandemic and its consequences, we are witnessing many acts of grassroots solidarity
that are necessary, especially when the system was unable to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. We call for solidarity
actions on a daily basis, not only in tragic times. Community is created through solidarity, and this will help us all when we need social
struggle.

On the part of IWA-MSP, we wish employees health, safety and strength in fighting the challenges that await us. Let us remember that
solidarity is our weapon and that it is extremely useful in times like the present. We need to organize - not only now but also in the
future - to fight for a better world for us all.

https://zsp.net.pl/ten-system-sprawia-ze-jestesmy-chorzy

------------------------------

Message: 4



Our own «Shock Plan» ---- The Sindicato de Inquilinas de Gran Canaria (Tenants Union of Gran Canaria, SIGC) and the Federación Anarquista de
Gran Canaria (Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria, FAGC) publicly adhere to the «Social Shock Plan» developed by several social
organizations across the Spanish State in response to the sanitary, economic and social crisis caused by the Covid-19. ---- However, even
though we endorse the whole «Shock Plan», we think that asking the authorities to do something is not enough. It is also essential both to
set out the measures to be taken in case the working-class demands are not met, and to secure the methods to protect us and take care of
ourselves. Therefore, we demand:
1º Payment of rent, mortgage, and basic supplies (water, electricity, gas) must be immediately suspended, but also any credit debt
contracted by vulnerable people with any financial entity. The interest over such debts must be settled. Additionally, any eviction process
issued against people in a vulnerable situation must be suspended.

2º Salaries must be secured, but also a Universal Basic Income must be approved to cover people without regular income (especially for
families whose children are affected by school canteens shutdown). Prices of basic necessities must be limited in order to prevent
shortages. Dismissals, not only individual and collective dismissals, but also temporary suspensions must be prohibited, and every single
dismissed worker must be immediately reincorporated.

3º Any non-essential work activity must be suspended.

4º Housing alternatives must be provided to the homeless, for whom the #Stayhome campaign is an insult. On the other hand, empty houses in
the hands of banks and financial funds and entities must be socialized.

5º Private hospitals and all their resources must be socialized. These resources must be devoted to ensuring healthcare to historically
excluded populations such as migrant and convicted people.

In case these demands are not met by the Government:

We call upon Working and Tenant Unions across the Spanish State to call a General Strike and an Indefinite Rent and Mortgage Strike. We urge
the population to call it on their own in case these Unions are not up to the task.

If they force us to work in non-essential jobs, only a massive General Strike can protect us.

We understand that this systemic collapse situation exacerbated by the Coronavirus may be used as an excuse to impose an even more savage,
controlling and inhuman Capitalist model. Working conditions may be further degraded and the austerity dogma may strike the poorest even
harder. However, this situation may also be taken as a chance for us, the lower class, to finally unveil the imperfections and frailties of
this System. We must conquer back our lost field and force, through collective action, a change of paradigm to a more social, equal, and
free society.

Rent Strike in the Spanish State

Many renters are suffering from alarming life conditions due to the Covid-19 crisis, and the Government has refused to take any measure that
would improve their situation. Hence, the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Gran Canaria (Tenants Union of Gran Canaria) called a General and
Indefinite Rent Strike starting from 1st April, within the International Rent Strike call. This Strike -the first Rent Strike in Spain this
century- was immediately supported by thirty housing organizations throughout the Spanish State. However, by 30th March there were already
over 200 Tenants Unions and other housing organizations following this call.

This Strike is our response to a humanitarian emergency, maybe less spectacular than that of the Covid-19, but equally lethal: hundreds of
thousands of people are being forced to choose between either feeding their children or paying the rent.

The measures announced by the Spanish Government last 31st March are ridiculous, as they protect real estate owner's profit at the expense
of the most vulnerable ones: the renters.

Applying for a microcredit in case your landlord owns less than 10 houses? That's just the formula that led us to the 2008 crisis:
over-indebting the poorer. 4-month payment extensions if your landlord is a «big landlord»? More over-indebtedness, more «feast today,
famine tomorrow», as nobody knows how our situation will be like in 4 months. 50% release? No, we demand a 100% suspension of payment. It's
just unconceivable that the French right-wing Government has adopted measures that the so-called Spanish «progressive coalition» Government
does not dare to take. 6-month extensions for evictions? That's basically the time that an eviction process can be postponed through the
regular dilatory appeals. That's sweeping reality under the carpet and putting off thousands of evictions to the end of the year.

Consequently, the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Gran Canaria will continue the General Rent Strike until the Government adopts the following
measures:

1. Suspension of the rent, especially if the tenant is in a vulnerable condition or if the landlord is a legal entity or a big real estate
company (the minority not meeting these requisites should demand a Universal Basic Income, as specified in our own ‘Shock Plan'). If this
measure is not taken by the Government, we won't pay until we have regular and enough income.

2. Socialization of abandoned houses in the hands of vulture funds and financial and bank entities (especially those bailed out with public
funds) to be assigned to the thousands of homeless people.

We won't accept that landlords exhaust our meager income as the production system is halted. They just cannot force us to choose between
either eating or paying the rent. Our message is clear: We don't get paid; you don't get rent. Long live the Rent Strike!!

Share this post:on Twitteron Facebook

Posted in Huelga, SIGC, Vivienda
Article written by Federación de Anarquistas de Gran Canaria

https://anarquistasgc.noblogs.org/post/2020/04/10/english-versions-of-our-own-shock-plan-and-rent-strike-manifesto/

------------------------------

Message: 5



A new update (called "NOT the bulletin") is up on our website ---- View this email in your browser ---- Welcome! ---- We can't do a bulletin
at the moment but just wanted to send out our best wishes. Don't let the microbes or any other enemies of free humanity grind you down. ----
"NOT the bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library", No.1 April 2020 contains links to some reading matter: ---- New research: The 1945 split in
British anarchism ---- New pieces on the Kate Sharpley Library website (two book reviews on Simón Radowitzky and Octavio Alberola; a
reflection on Mayday from 1944; and Albert Meltzer's attitude to conscription, from 1940). ---- Ebooks (cheap anarchist ones) ---- Tyneside
Anarchist Archive get interviewed ---- Bad days will end (101 years ago: that's the dancing 'til 4AM bit above) ---- You can read it at:
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/kd530b
Kate Sharpley Library on Facebook
Kate Sharpley Library Website
Copyright © 2020 Kate Sharpley Library, All rights reserved.
We're sending you this because you asked to receive updates from the Kate Sharpley Library

Our mailing address is:
Kate Sharpley Library
BM Hurricane
London, WC1N 3XX
United Kingdom

------------------------------

Message: 6



There is no doubt that the staff in care homes work very hard and most care deeply about the residents. However, they struggle to protect
both themselves and those they care for is an impossible task. It is estimated that in the first week of April over 1000 people have died in
care homes. Half of Scotland's privately owned homes have corona virus cases. ---- Care homes were already an issue before corona virus
struck. Though the vast majority of the elderly are still in their own home or with their families, 433,000 have to rely on living in a
home. The vast majority of these establishments, 84% of all beds, are owned by private, for-profit companies. The care industry has
mushroomed with the growth of older people who are living longer but not can't necessarily look after themselves. Many have dementia or
serious mobility problems. When it is hard for the families to look after them, care homes provide an essential service and many companies
or individuals have taken advantage of this fact to make a killing. The sector is worth £15.9 billion with 5,500 different providers,
running 11,300 care homes. People are forced to rely on care homes because the government has repeatedly cut funding to councils for social
care.

A 2017 government study concluded that "Those requiring care need greater support in choosing a home and greater protection when residents".
Though many care homes may offer good quality care, the staff are not nurses and not equipped to deal with a major pandemic. NHS nurses and
health assistants are poorly paid but for care assistants is even worse. They are often on zero-hour contracts. Staff are often from
agencies and may work at several different homes, which means they could bring corona virus into another home. Staff in one home actually
moved in to the home because they are afraid of bringing the virus in from outside or bringing it out to their families. Like the NHS staff,
but worse, there is a serious shortage of personal protection equipment. So even in the best homes, the risk to staff and residents is
enormous. For those in the substandard homes who cannot afford up-market care, the situation will be a disastrous.

To make matters worse, the government has asked care homes to take people from hospitals who have tested positive for the virus. As one
worker said, it is "importing death". It is very difficult to keep residents in isolation in homes, especially those which are more crowded
and do not have very good facilities.

Like many other things in capitalism, the pandemic has revealed the fundamental inadequacies of social care for the elderly. Government
cuts, allowing private firms to run care homes, poor pay and insecurity for staff, have all led to this situation where we can expect corona
virus and death to spread rapidly amongst those who are most vulnerable.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/04/11/profit-before-people-covid-19-in-care-homes/

------------------------------

Message: 7



STROLL DOWN PAST the villas, town houses and mansions of Notting Hill where it meets Holland Park, and you'll be in for a surprise: there's
no one home at all. The homes of the rich stand empty. ---- The property dealers and oligarchs betray not a light in the vast emptiness of
their investments. ---- Notting Hillbillies have fled the area - fled, not as in fleeing the carnival but fleeing the virus. The virus hits
everyone from prime minister to cleaner, so the flight is irrational. It's a fear of the Mob as much as the virus: maybe the filthy masses
are incubating it - whatever - best to flee to the shires, because..----- Because for the first time in their lives, the rich have not been
able to buy their way to a privileged position - private schools, private medicine; the private privilege that they have always taken for
granted. But now the virus hits at random - there is no way to get one- upmanship, there are no
medicines, no wonder cures,
no snake oil that they can
buy buy buy. The difference
in life expectancy between
North and South Kensington
is ten years across a couple of
miles; so it is in other parts
of the country, from Bradford
to Byker. The wealthy do not
care about that 10-year age
gap any more than they care
about Grenfell.

But now things look a little
different. The people they had
as servants in the past now
turn out to be working-class
heroes feted and applauded
by millions on the streets. It's
the bin men, nurses, cleaners
who are appreciated now;
no one is calling for a clap
for investment bankers or
property developers. What
if these new heroes don't
see the need to service the
parasites any longer?

What if, as George Rudé
describes in his account of
the role of rumour in the
French Revolution, armies
of beggars seized mansions?
What if the Grim Reaper is
a levelling enthusiast? Here
we come levelling, levelling,
levelling... And not only
will money not buy you
love, it won't get you a leg
up either.

The Great Fear is coming.

-------------------------------------------------
CLASS WAR was
this week accused of
intimidating residents
living in some of
Kensington’s most
desirable streets by
banging on their doors
in the early hours of the
morning.
Groups of about 20
supporters have been
kicking and banging
on doors at 1am
asking to speak to the
butler or the scullery
maid. This week
they threatened to
step up their campaign
by sending out a
hundred members at
2am every day.
The group, whose
election message to the
rich is “go and jump
in the Serpentine”,
usually strikes in
Holland Park. A
spokesman added
gleefully: “We are
going there to talk to
the nannies and butlers
– they will still be awake.”

------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10zdipILtyJ_Stf32OgsrrrEebfWOBzGt/view

Britain, Class War Daily Friday 8 April 2020 https://drive.google.com/file/d/15WyaNJLSCjcVFGpSfPkm1i3VeLMYwluN/view

------------------------------

Message: 8



This epidemic of Coronavirus is a world first in our time. This reveals the inequalities and contradictions inherent in capitalist society
and recalls to what extent the destruction of the public service is a danger for all. Yet governments insist that the time is "fornational
unity" and that we should not give in to divisions and even less to oppositions. ---- We refuse calls to the Sacred Union and have never
waited for its injunctions to show solidarity. As libertarian communists, our solidarity does not wait. Many forms of solidarity are
deployed to overcome the inequalities facing the Coronavirus. In Bordeaux, faced with the lack of State aid, volunteers / comrades gathered
to meet the most isolated, to provide material support to the most precarious.
In addition to inequalities in the face of work and risk, there are all the other social, gender and cultural inequalities through the
inequalities of confinement. Who is thus forced to continue living in a 35 m 2 . While for many wealthy and wealthy people this confinement
is much easier to take care of oneself, one's own, for others this confinement is to be reminded of one's social reality and condition, it
is to be fixed in one's daily life of poverty, misery and loneliness.

We don't want applauding solidarity but concrete solidarity
Managing this crisis accentuates inequalities and injustices. By the police checks which continue to be racist, sexist and classist. Who is
more controlled, arrested, moralized, called unconscious, even irresponsible even when in this crisis it is power that shows us its
irresponsibility. Faced with the irresponsibility of the State when it forgets the homeless, migrants, the disabled. Comrades took turns to
bring food, hygienic necessities to migrants. It is also thanks to the work of association and volunteers that rehousing solutions were
found for several adolescents (therefore minors) had been abandoned in a squat of their own. Recall that since last summer the prefecture
has a policy of emptying squats and putting on the street all undocumented people without any housing solution. It is therefore, for months
now, volunteers, organizations and unions that have returned to the task of helping these men, women and children to find a roof over their
heads, feed themselves and have access to a minimum of hygiene. The situation has obviously been tense since the start of confinement.

The irresponsible state when it takes measures which accentuates, through the situations of confinement, the domination experienced by many
women who find themselves locked up with an abusive spouse or father. This is also the case for battered children. The figures for this
violence have skyrocketed since the start of containment. This is how associations and individuals are implementing strategies to help these
women leave their homes and find a new one.

The risk is also accentuated for the most precarious students. Some were already struggling to survive. Today they and they find themselves
isolated, forgotten in rooms of the CROUS and tiny apartments. Some were victims of attempted evictions. Volunteers teaching, doctoral
students and students who have already mobilized against pension and research reforms have come to their aid. Some students who have not
been able to eat for days. Because, with the closure of shops, restaurants, bars etc. many have lost their jobs and cannot survive on
scholarships. A joint solidarity pot was thus created to be able to bring food and hygiene products to the foot of the apartments.

This solidarity is also born with a network of activists from various organizations, unions as well as yellow vests who make masks out of
fabrics when others cross the city to collect them and deliver them to the nursing staff.

It is doubtful that the already resigned State could do the same. Witness the working conditions of nursing staff. After being humiliated
and repressed they and they find themselves today compared to heroes, meager pitance when we know that after years of budget cuts and
casualization we send them today to save patients · Are unprotected, in reduced numbers and for a pittance.

What do these calls for national solidarity hide from us ?
This health crisis makes the division more visible. We are not equal in the face of the epidemic. This affects our positions very
differently in the very divisions of our social situations. The health crisis has not removed class, gender, sexuality or "race" divisions.
On the contrary, it shows them in all their acuity. This crisis confines us in our interiors and in our socially determined places. This
shows us that this "health war" is above all a social war which affects the most vulnerable and in particular women.

Being a senior manager or boss of a company that can work from home is not the same as being an employee on short-time unemployment or
forced to go to work without protection under penalty of dismissal. In the face of risks we are not equal and equal. One thinks of course of
the caregivers and administrative health, road drivers, garbage collectors, construction workers, cashiers, cleaning staff etc. who continue
to go to work for a meager salary. They are not invulnerable and take risks every day in contact with patients, clients, colleagues, etc.
Some have already paid with their lives.

At the same time, many managers of big capital, bosses of shopping centers, shareholders of pharmaceutical lobbies, GAFAM, but also simple
business leaders, are protected, even take advantage of the economic situation. They are reimbursed 100% when they disdain not to run the
machine. Some even illegally benefit from state aid by continuing to make their employees work or do not implement adequate security
conditions. Some days, the stock market index skyrockets and large groups continue to pay record dividends to their shareholders.

It is the continuity of a social war, a war between those who profit from the hierarchical structure of our societies and who divide our
life experiences for us, and those who are its foundations, who keep it going, despite their own interests. , and who are forced or used to
it and crushed by it. This war shows that our societies are crossed by diverging interests, ideals of solidarity, and above all that
national solidarity does not exist. This solidarity is strongly marked socially and opposes the people who remain hidden and give orders,
and those who are at the front and oppose the greed, the strategy of division and the selfishness of the capitalist and government classes.

And this power speaks to us of solidarity ?
Real solidarity in our lives, real freedom and equality are the building blocks of our social, ecological and libertarian conceptions. These
ideals are not linked to national-republican ideals. They are ideals of class and internationalism. For a long time we have been calling for
a break with this system of capitalist overproduction, whether to develop more local means of production and distribution, organized
collectively and self-managed by those who run them, that decisions be taken by all and all for the benefit of all and not for the benefit
of parasites of the system feeding on the fruit of our work. We no longer want our choices to be determined by the dominant.

Today we demand the general application of the right of withdrawal and the recovery by workers of the most essential social activities. We
express our wish for a deep reflection on the sharing of wealth and collective social activities and that each and everyone can seize it
according to their capacities and according to their needs.

Let us reconstruct real social solidarity, libertarians and environmentalists, rethink economic and local production, stop producing beyond
our needs, rethink the question of our living conditions. Let us also materialize the social war to break with the national rhetoric and
ambient security !

Union Communiste Libertaire Bordeaux-Gironde, April 9, 2020

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Covid-19-Nous-menerons-aussi-cette-guerre-sociale

------------------------------