#Worldwide #Information #Blogger #LucSchrijvers: #Update: #anarchist #information from all over the #world - 5.05.2020 -

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL - Interactive
      mapping, A map of anger at work during a pandemic (fr, it,
      pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  Anarchist Communist Group (ACG):Scrubs: the Story from the
      Bottom Up (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
3.  capital.fora: Special transmission of the Argentine Regional
      Federation of Workers for the Conquest of Bread.
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  US, Black Rose Fed: The Current Moment in Ireland: Interview
      with Andrew Flood (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
5.  London Anarchist Federation: May Day Rent Strike: London
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Czech, AFED: Big police embarrassment (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  iwa-ait: The Worst Virus is Capitalism; The Vaccine is to
      Organize and Fight - CNT-AIT Spain before May Day 2020
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  [FORA] Special transmission of the Argentine Regional
      Workers Federation for the Conquest of Bread. 
     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
9.  iwa-ait: Every Day is May Day - It's Time to Organize!
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
10.  Slovakia, Priama Akcia - IWA/AIT: COVID-19 Crisis: We are
      not on the same boat! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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

Message: 1



Building an overview of anger and resistance in the world of work since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic: this is the primary objective of
this interactive online map. Thought and fueled at the outset by the work of a few, this card is now meant to be participatory, so it
belongs to all those for whom it is useful. It aims to be appropriated by as many people as possible and that is why, as it stands, it
cannot claim to be exhaustive. ---- If you find that a conflict of which you are aware does not appear there, do not hesitate to enrich it
by yourselves. A team of moderators will validate the publications as they go along, to ensure that they do not endanger union teams or work
collectives vis-à-vis their management.
A sounding board of the struggles of the working world against the Covid-19
During this health crisis, everyone has heard of essential sectors such as health or mass distribution, where workers have been sent "to the
front line", without protection or tests. We also talked a lot about big companies like Amazon - convicted in court - or key sectors like
construction, automotive or aeronautics. Either because the companies sought to maintain their activities at all costs, or because on the
contrary they stopped momentarily.

Click to access the interactive map
Concerns, sometimes resistance, arose spontaneously and diffuse. To get an overview of what could be called a "social movement", we had to
scrutinize the local press, which reported unexpected strikes and walkouts - the Allard or Saverglass paper mills - and the specialized
press, for portraits, surveys or reports. Thanks to this map of anger at work, we can embrace this phenomenon on a large scale.

And what better day to make this new public tool that the 1 stof May, international day of workers struggles and workers ? While we are
still officially confined · es and the freedom to demonstrate in the street is restricted, this is the first time in France, since 1945,
there will be no union parades for the 1 stMay Publishing this card today is also a way of bringing this symbolic date to life under these
particular conditions.

Prepare the next day !
Finally, this card aims to showcase the resistance of today, which will fuel that of tomorrow. It is part of a series of initiatives and
responses formulated by those below, faced with the health crisis and the disastrous choices made by the executive and the employers. It is
a question of thinking now of a more comprehensive response plan to the situation, in particular with a view to preparing the immediate
"deconfinement" and the economic, social, food and obviously health crises that are looming.

https://colerecovid.gogocarto.fr
cartocovidcolere@riseup.net

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Une-carte-des-coleres-au-travail-en-temps-de-pandemie

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

Message: 2



The following text was written by a friend of the ACG who is a volunteer of an autonomous scrub-producing unit. ---- Much like the elderly
forced to walk laps and climb stairs to raise money for the NHS, the scrubs movement has been popularised by mainstream media as part of a
‘national effort' at a time of ‘war' fighting an ‘enemy' we allegedly cannot see. We are being encouraged to paint rainbows and clap for the
bravery of the health workers, when in reality we are sending them to their deaths. As of today (19/4/2020), at least 86 health and social
care workers have died of COVID-19. The enemy is not invisible, it has been sitting in the leathered seats of parliament, imposing years of
austerity which have left the health system bare to the bone; it has criminalised and worn down benefit claimants with strategies of
surveillance, sanctions and deterrence; it has exploited the labour of key workers living hand to mouth, whilst endowing inessential
services with bonuses, tax rebates and bailouts.

The current PPE scandal is no different.

At the end of January 2020 it was already clear that a country like the UK, which had been de-industrialised through decades of neoliberal
economics, was not going to be able to cope with the demands for PPE. The Tories had a simple answer: "people are going to die" and their
fellow eugenicists chimed about "herd immunity" and supposed facts based on "science". And once again, the working class was put to
slaughter. After years of vilification and abuse, they were placed at the knife edge of this crisis. COVID-19 is not the touted ‘great
leveller', it is disproportionately culling the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and BAME communities. 70% of NHS workers killed by COVID-19
are BAME. Workers who have been brought to the point of desperation and are starting to fight under the slogan "no kit, no care", are facing
suspensions and potential prosecutions for negligence if they fail to continue to work, in spite of a lack of protection.

We are now entering our fourth week of running one of the many autonomous scrub production units that have sprung up as forms of mutual aid
across the country. We provide scrubs to all sorts of health workers who are lacking access to them in their workplaces. Staff who have had
to perform C-sections on women wearing soiled clothes, scrub-less doctors bringing infections back to their family homes, workers on
respiratory wards without protection, homeless nurses, social care providers looking after the elderly and disabled, trainee nurses sent to
COVID wards wearing flimsy plastic aprons and bin bags. These are just to name a few.

Some of us are mothers, some of us lost our jobs, some of us just want to help or need something to take our minds off the crisis, and a
large majority of us are professional seamstresses and tailors, providing an entirely unfunded service, save for public donations, across
the entire country. A number of these local groups have up to 300 people, working from the safety of their homes. Delivery companies and
independent workshops have offered their help in cutting and distributing fabric pieces to sewers, some of which are decentralised into
smaller neighbourhood collectives, able to help each other out through the use of WhatsApp chats.

These local initiatives are sometimes receiving up to 1000 orders and are having to suspend taking more requests, as volunteers grapple with
long hours, balancing paid and unpaid work. It doesn't take much to realise that the network of these groups combined, exceed the workforce
presently employed by large manufacturing companies, who have only recently received contracts to make changes to their production lines in
order to deal with the demand for PPE.

There is no official scrub production in the UK. Scrubs are primarily made overseas, in countries such as China, India and Pakistan, often
by informal labourers for extremely low wages. They are then entered into convoluted distribution systems and finally reach the hospitals
which allocate the scrubs according to an equally tragic priority chain. Our particular scrub collective aims to remedy this by making them
locally and delivering them directly to the health workers in need.

Many of these groups have managed to enter production with professional atomised systems within a week. You would think that we would be
able to supply hospitals with stock, however we have been unable to contact procurement departments, who are often externalised from the
main hospital sites and thereby have little connection to the health workers themselves. In fact I was told by union reps, that if I ever
did manage to contact them, it would be a miracle. General managers in hospitals are likewise fairly unresponsive, and those who have
responded, told us there was plenty of PPE, when in fact nurses on their wards couldn't even access basic items such as masks. Some hospital
trusts are accepting donations only and are failing to pressure those further up the chain to release funding for their production.

The absurdity of this dilemma runs deep within the heart of the capitalist system. While the government is engaged in international
profit-wars, back in the UK, Deloitte has been approaching friends and well known textile brands such as Barbour and Burberry, in an effort
to manage a temporary solution to the problem. Smaller scale manufacturers on the other hand, have heard nothing from the government after
filing in their survey nearly two months ago, and instead are asking our scrub groups for material donations in order to start their
production. Groups, who are at the forefront of providing immediate solutions to the problems, which more often than not, fall to women and
their continuous underpaid and unpaid labour.

Burberry is expected only to start production in another week, other companies facing difficulties with the required certifications for
water-resistant gowns are not to start in another two, at the very least. On the horizon is also a shortage of fabric, and the incessant
greed of distributors who have hiked up even the cheaper cotton poplin to nearly half of its original price. Many are now resorting to use
old duvet covers and bedsheets in order to make scrubs.

We also have to mention the struggles of our fellow workers internationally, such as in India, who are likewise fighting against the
privatisation of hospitals; a lack of PPE; a lack of welfare provisions for informal factory workers, and a recent government decision to
revoke the Factory Act of 1948, in order to standardise 12 hour working days, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes to restart
manufacturing in the middle of a raging pandemic. In Bangladesh the COVID infection rate is increasing faster than many hard hit countries.

We need to politicise the struggle with a clear internationalist response that unifies all of us, our work, our mutual aid and our care. For
as long as profit rules, there can be no peace. We need to requisition all health, manufacturing and transport sectors and provide all
workers, currently unpaid or paid with fair wages and safe working conditions. This is not a public relations crisis with seemingly
unfortunate logistical difficulties, this is an emergency stoked by the greed of those for whom our deaths are only a motivation for the
accumulation of their capital.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/04/28/scrubs-the-story-from-the-bottom-up/

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

Message: 3


This May 1st is not like others; but, it is the spirit of our ideas and of our comrades who began in 1886 a feat of the working class, which
leads us to demonstrate once again. ---- This time we will express ourselves through a special transmission from the radio program "La
Conquista del Pan", through all our communication channels. ---- May 1 from 1:00 p.m. the annual act of the Argentine Regional Federation of
Workers for the Conquest of Bread. ---- Listen from the following links ---- Direct Facebook Link The Conquest of Pant:
https://www.facebook.com/La-Conquista-del-Pan-1192205187463158/ ---- Through all the repeaters on social networks. ---- FORA
Pilar:https://www.facebook.com/Sociencia-de-Resistencia-Trabajadores-de-la-Educaci%C3%B3n-Pilar-349831385656004/

FORA Lomas:https://www.facebook.com/oficiosvarioslomasdezamora/

FORA North Zone:https://www.facebook.com/oficiosvarios.zonanorte/

FORA Capital:https://www.facebook.com/foracapital/

FORA Cordoba:https://www.facebook.com/foraindividualescordoba/

FORA Capital Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fora_capital/?hl=es-la

FORA Capital Twitter: https://twitter.com/FORA_CAPITAL

International Time Grid.

Mexico: 11: 00hs, Spain: 18: 00hs, Chile: 12: 00hs, Brazil: 13: 00hs, Paraguay: 12: 00hs, Bolivia: 12: 00hs, Peru: 11: 00hs, Colombia: 11:
00hs, Ecuador: 11: 00hs, Venezuela: 12: 00hs, USA East: 12: 00hs, USA West: 10: 00hs.
Enjoy us this Friday, May 1st, from 13 hrs at the annual act of the Federación Obrera Regional Argentina.
Our social networks: https://www.facebook.com/La-Conquista-del-Pan-1192205187463158/

Mexico: 11:00hs, Spain: 18:00hs, Chile: 12:00hs, Brasil: 13:00hs, Paraguay: 12:00hs, Bolivia: 12:00hs, Peru: 11:00hs, Colombia: 11:00hs,
Ecuador: 11:00hs, Venezuela: 12:00hs, EEUU East: 12:00hs, EEUU West: 10:00hs.

http://capital.fora.com.ar/transmision-especial-de-la-federacion-obrera-regional-argentina-por-la-conquista-del-pan/

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

Message: 4



Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation member Brendan Maslauskas Dunn sat down with Irish anarchist, organizer and writer Andrew Flood
on February 20, 2020. Flood is a member of the Irish anarcho-communist organization Workers Solidarity Movement. Many of his essays and
articles can be found here. The interview took place exactly where you might find an Irish and American anarchist on a brisk winter night:
in a working class pub near the River Liffey in Dublin. ---- Brendan Maslauskas Dunn (BMD): The first question I want to ask is if you could
discuss the most recent election in Ireland. There's a big surge in support for the political party Sinn Fein. Could you speak more
generally about that?
Andrew Flood (AF): The interesting thing that happened is that since independence, really, we've had a two-party system but it was two
center right parties - Fianna Fáild and Fine Gael - and basically every government has been one of those two parties. They swap over now and
again but their policies, certainly since the 1930's, have been pretty much identical. With this election, what happened instead was the
Sinn Fein vote increased massively over both previous elections and what was previously expected.

They pretty much got exactly the same vote as those other two parties; we now have this three party system. And there is a lot of excitement
about that because people feel it's breaking the mold of Irish politics. I guess it would be a bit like if there was a third party in the US
that suddenly emerged and got the same votes as the Democrats and the Republicans or something. And in some ways there is going to be a
significant beak if they end up forming a government. That's being negotiated against at the moment, particularly in relation to housing
because that's the really big thing that's impacting a lot of people in Ireland.

The previous government, basically after the financial crisis, they basically stopped building public housing altogether - it used to be
that they would maybe build about 5,000 houses a year. We've had ten years of them not doing that so we have a deficit of about 50,000
houses in a small country of four and a half to five million - which means rents have gone through the roof. I was saying earlier in Dublin
if you have a shared house and if you have a room in that shared house you're paying about 800 Euros a month in rent and the median wage
that half the people are above or below is about 30,000 (Euros). When you take taxes into account that means maybe two thirds of your income
is going on rent. This is obviously completely unsustainable for people. And there's no security with rent either; you know you don't have
the protections you'd have elsewhere in Europe.

In fact, even people in the United States have some of those. So the real burning issue is that Sinn Fein is promising to build 100,000
houses, which is a very ambitious target, but they could probably do some of that. So those particularly younger voters, but in fact right
across the spectrum of every age group below sixty five, in fact have this massive shift to Sinn Fein. At the moment we're waiting to see as
they try and negotiate what the government would actually look like. I think it's quite likely Sinn Fein may not go into government or there
might be a coalition with Finn Fol and the Green Party.

BMD: It sounds like you're speaking a little bit about the shortcomings of party politics and elections, and when center-left or left-wing
parties or individuals come to power.Now what would you say to people in the U.S. now in terms of the Bernie Sanders campaign.He has had
quite a bit of support across the U.S. Maybe there is some comparison there?

AF: Well I guess looking at the Irish context, you have what the parties promise going into elections, this 100,000 house figure and that's
been costed, it's a relatively cheap cost to actually build the houses which probably isn't realistic. Then you have the problem when you
actually get into power and there isn't the money to actually do that unless you do something like you tax corporations very heavily and you
really go after the wealthiest portion of the population.

Now Ireland has an extremely globalized economy. With Singapore we constantly go back and forth with who is number one. What that basically
means is that you're very vulnerable to capital flight. Basically all of that money gets taken out of the country and all of those promises
you were able to give fall back down again. Obviously the States is quite different in terms of the economy but it is still the case where
you get this thing in which people don't like particular policies. They can pull the money out of particular areas.

The American example, because I am familiar with it, is of course what they did to Detroit. In the mid-seventies when the union people were
organized and they were getting good wages, and they were getting decent housing, so the rich moved all the factories to the South. Detroit
ended up being completely devastated by that. You have the same sort of problems moving capital around and things. And you have a whole
series of mechanisms tham mean even if you have a really well intentioned government, you know who is not just doing a scam in order to get
your votes - they honestly mean it - it's actually really hard to implement those sorts of policies without actually challenging capitalist
rule itself. I think that if Sinn Fein actually does get into government, and it should be possible, to think that that's probably what
we'll be looking at. The money in order to do those sorts of projects that they are talking about will just evaporate. It will either leave
the country or just the credible threat of it doing so will cause them to back down.

BMD: It sounds like you're talking a lot about power and concepts of power, in terms of the power that capital has versus the power the
state has and which controls the other. Can you talk a little about a different kind of power, like building power from below; from workers,
students, poor people and social movements? What's the alternative?

AF: Right, well I mean if you think that the housing thing as a concrete example I'm working off here... Houses are built by workers and
sold to other workers or rented to other workers. In the economic system we have now all of that happens through people who have a claim of
ownership of the land, of the construction materials, of the equipment you need to build houses. There's this layer that basically takes all
the profits out of that. You can certainly imagine a situation where instead of that happening, the people who build the houses anyway for
the people that need to live in them and that's the sort of layer that can suck the profit off. And it doesn't exist.

Now the challenge in a country like Ireland is how you manage to do that in a way where you avoid those problems of capital flight that I've
talked about. And I think we are in a particularly difficult kind of situation because we are such a small economy. Somewhere like the
States I think you're looking at a very different situation because that couldn't happen to the same extent, you couldn't all be simply
sucked out of the country. It would be much easier to imagine a rearrangement of the economy where the mass of American workers take control
of these things, you get decisions being made at the community levels, and workplace levels, and production gets restructured. And it's also
very relevant of course to the climate crisis, the level of change we need to make to have the economy work in order to do that, which seems
very unlikely to happen underneath the capitalist system that prioritizes profit.

BMD: So the system you propose instead?

AF: Well I'm an anarchist, which is basically saying that you are for a system where you get rid of the hierarchies of decision-making
power. So you don't have people that have the power to make decisions for and over others simply because they've been put there through some
mechanism. Decisions are made by either people coming together directly themselves or by mandating delegates to meet up for really large
scale decisions and make those decisions through people according to the way that they have been mandated.

BMD: When we talk about the global system of austerity under capitalism that so many people are living under these days, you find more so
during these times that the far right and fascists become more ascendant, become more powerful. We could talk about Ireland, and Europe, the
US and India and so many places around the world right now. What does that look like in Ireland and how have you and other anarchists and
other activists organized against the fascist and far-right threat?

AF: There hasn't been much of a traditional fascist movement in Ireland. Back to the 1930's we had a thing called the blue shirts then, but
since then it's been pretty weak. What we've seen in the last couple of years is basically fascism organizing through youtube channels,
getting critical masses of people together. And they were also people talking about the housing crisis because this is a thing that has been
affecting lots of people. What they were essentially saying is though instead of blaming the government for the fact that they were not
building housing for a decade, they are blaming the fact that there are migrants who also need housing and saying, "Well the solution isn't
to build public housing but it's to make sure that there is a very tiny amount that's built that is allocated to Irish people before it's
allocated to migrants." It's actually kind of a ludicrous argument because of the tiny level of building that's going on. But it does appeal
to a kind of minority of racists.

They've done very badly electoraly, like getting only half a percent or whatever in recent elections. But they are trying to locally
organize pickets of building sites and that sort of activity. There's been two factors to most of the recent antifascist organizing. Firstly
it's mobilizing to outnumber them so when they call a demonstration, much more come out on the other side. And that's been a very broad
section of Irish society, everything from kind of left and republican groups to quite mainstream charity organizations coming out. And then
the second facet of that has been to mobilize and confront them and make them feel very uncomfortable when they try and meet up on the
streets. It's been very successful as well. Between that and their electoral failure they've kind of fallen apart recently. They've taken to
fighting with each other and drawing that out a lot online. So hopefully that progress can be kept moving.

BMD: Are there things that activists and people organizing in the US can learn from some of the successes and wins that activists and the
Left have had in Ireland in recent years?

AF: That's a really tough one actually.[laugher]

BMD: That's a tough one for people in the US too!

AF: I think the scales are so different that it can be hard to translate from one political context to another. I'm always careful about
being glib about that. I think a lot of the successful rules for organizing are pretty universal: it's based on conversations with people,
it's based on finding things you can do together, and often it's based on stuff that initially might start out quite small and be modest in
its objectives - but as you win things then you can expand that out and look towards bigger struggles. Often things will be initiated by a
small core of activists. And the successful struggles are always the struggles where it breaks out of that and lots of people start getting
involved. And it probably gets a little bit chaotic because people are getting sucked into things.

The biggest struggle of the past decade was part of the austerity struggles, and they tried to impose a new local tax in the form of a
charge on water. And the resistance to that took two forms. One form was people simply not paying it which was a mass thing that involved
probably seventy percent of the population by the end. When you talk about mass struggles, that definitely was a mass struggle. And then the
second thing that people did was they physically resisted the installation of water meters that were necessary to measure how much water
people were using in order to charge them accurately. That basically meant the communities mobilizing when the vans arrived to install the
meters, doing blockades to prevent that from happening, and then the police would show up in order to force them through. And you would have
confrontations that might go on for a month in a particular set of four or five streets.

It ground the whole process to a halt so the government had to abandon the whole scheme. That was a story of lots and lots and lots of
people basically organizing their own streets and housing estates. So when the vans arrived they would come out and resist them on a whole.
Particularly, they were backed by the unions, organizing big national marches that were pulling out maybe 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 people. In
a country the size of Ireland that's a very big number.

BMD: So you've written quite a bit about anarchism, about politics and history in Ireland. In this context of struggles learning from each
other across borders and finding that unity too, I want to step back in history, and wanted to ask if you could expand a little bit about
who James Connolly was. For anyone who does not know, Connolly lived in exile in Troy, New York for a while. But, tell us about him and the
movement he came out of. And tell us if there is anything important that came out of those struggles for those of us to learn today.

AF: So in the context of the Irish left, James Connolly is kind of everybody's founding father figure. Everybody sort of claims to come from
him. It's a very interesting story. He was born in Scotland, had served in the British army and then arrived in Dublin as a union organizer.
And with Jim Larkin he built a very successful General Workers Union that was very strongly based on direct action.

They fought a massive battle here in Dublin in 1913 when the bosses tried to break that union by locking everybody out. There was a nine
month struggle of resistance to that. In the course of that struggle they formed something called the Irish Citizens Army which some people
call the first workers militia in Europe. It was basically formed to defend picket lines against police attacks. And that went on to take
part then in the 1916 insurrection in Dublin. He was executed after that so there is this whole history of the war of independence where
there's lots of general strikes. There were seventeen general strikes in the course of two years. There were train strikes that happened
which meant that British troops couldn't be transported around. So there is a whole hidden side for that kind of struggle for Irish
independence which had very much to do with the left after Connely and the influence of what was a syndicalist union that he built in terms
of its ability to then run these massive labor struggles against the ongoing British military presence at the time.

As I said, he's interesting in that almost every political party claims some sort of connection to him. Some of that is a little more
dubious than others. But for anarchists I think the key thing is the kind of syndicalist politics. The idea of workers self organizing and
direct action was the way to win struggles. That's probably what is key. Certainly, some of that was coming from his experience in the
States and working with the IWW there.

BMD: Right, and in his time in the United States, as you mentioned, he was actively involved with the labor movement and had also assisted
with the first factory occupation in the US which was in Schenectady when 3,000 Wobblies, or IWW members, went on strike. So how do we move
forward with this discussion we just had, in terms of having a better future, a more equitable future? How to get there? It's probably
difficult to sum up in a few words but what are your thoughts?

AF: I think the key thing is to try and work out where we have actual power and how that can be implemented. So we know that workers pretty
much make everything, I mean everything really, so in that sense the global economy is completely dependent on us producing things for it.
And then it's also therefore the case that we could then take that over and I think the challenge for us is to understand the mechanisms by
which we do that today are because I think they've changed. It used to be that this was a much more simple thing to understand when
production was relatively simple so that generally everyone was working in a factory, you were making something that had an immediate use
and you could imagine a situation where you could exchange whatever that was with other workers in other factories or with farmers and all
that sort of stuff made sense.

The globalized economy today where maybe you're sitting in front of a computer tapping your keyboard; that becomes a little bit harder to
imagine. But it's still the case that on a global level and on a big regional level it's still that same economy and we are still in the
process of producing everything. Food is produ

https://blackrosefed.org/current-moment-ireland-interview-andrew-flood/

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

Message: 5


Shout out to Rent Strike London and London Renters Union organising to help renters in this fucked up time.
As May 1st rolls round reach out if you need help with your landlord - we're always willing to get the pitchforks out to resist an eviction.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1170243440020064/

https://aflondon.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/may-day-rent-strike-london/

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

Message: 6



On April 28, five years passed since the police raid, which was the media culmination of the so-called Operation Phoenix. ---- In 2015, the
anarchist movement in the Czech Republic was affected by extensive repression organized by a specialized unit of the Police of the Czech
Republic. The goals of the police were clear: to infiltrate the movement, expose it, discredit it in the eyes of the public, and paralyze it
with various accusations. Police carried out large-scale raids at the end of April and detained eleven people. She did not forget to
properly publicize this truly megalomaniacal event under the name Fénix and scare the public with the threat of terrorism. Five people were
charged with something that did not happen, for allegedly preparing to attack a train with military equipment. It soon turned out to be a
pre-constructed case with the help of police-appointed provocateurs' agents. The police also used the raid to seize computers and servers,
shutting down a number of anti-authoritarian sites, including ours. This was followed by a massive police attack on the Prague squat Cibulka
and subsequently detention for another anarchist, whom the police accused of throwing incendiary bottles at the garden of the Minister of
Defense, even though he was demonstrably in another place at the time. Dozens of people went to the interrogations and the police set out to
make further accusations against the prosecuted.

Although the repression affected us, it did not destroy us, on the contrary, it even strengthened it in many ways. First of all, she showed
that insisting on a culture of security is not a sign of unreasonable paranoia, but a necessity in the face of systematic fizzle. A
discussion developed about the place of insurrectionism in the movement and the outputs of the so-called Network of Revolutionary Cells. In
this debate, the AF was firmly in the position of social anarchism and perceived the activities of the SRB as counterproductive. Although
there were different attitudes within the movement, its coherence, with a few exceptions, was not compromised.

We tried to develop the topic of police repression and the deployment of agents more widely as the main topic of one of the issues of the
anarchist review Existence , where we turned to experiences from the past and abroad and tried to state what challenges this entails for our
movement.

A long series of support and solidarity actions have taken place since the raid.

As the case began loudly, it ended even more quietly, after three years with a final verdict acquitting all defendants. Nevertheless, the
Fizls are not giving up yet, and in the Fénix II case they are trying to convict several anarchists of publishing information about SRB
actions and spreading insurgent pamphlets.

You could follow the course of the case on our website. Here are some of the links:

2015
Story escorted no. 8 (a description of the Phoenix police actions from the perspective activist who was among the detainees from the raid
28. 4. 2015)
Such an ordinary afternoon (Peter, arrested as part of Operation Phoenix, describes his stay in the detention center)
We break! (letter on Operation Fénix from imprisoned anarchist Martin Ignacák)
Support for prosecuted activists (report on actions in support of prosecuted anarchists)
Message through prison walls (report from solidarity action in front of Prague remand prisons)
Our solidarity is stronger than your prison! (brief report from the St. Petersburg demonstration against the repression of anarchists and
anti-fascists)
In Pankrác and Ruzyne(report from Prague solidarity actions with activists imprisoned in Operation Phoenix)
again at remand prisons (report from other solidarity actions in front of Prague's remand center)
Martin's birthday (prison walls or bars on the windows did not prevent wish veznenému Martin's birthday)
guards in the viewfinder ( report from the panel discussion, which took place on August 26 at the Clinic)
Freedom for political prisoners as part of the International Week of Solidarity with Imprisoned Anarchists! (report from a demonstration in
support of anarchist prisoners, which took place on August 28 in Prague)
Solidarity with imprisoned anarchists (cultural and charitable events in eastern Bohemia)
About alleged terrorism(report from the information and benefit evening in support of imprisoned anarchists)
You are not alone behind the wall (solidarity greeting to our friend Martin)

2016
Boxes for Martin (collection of food for the anarchist-vegan imprisoned in connection with the case of Phoenix)
About protianarchistických repression (brief report of Podebrady discussions about police activities against antiautoritárum)
When the cops threaten ... (another story in a series of police bullshit)
Year Fenix - the first court the process is over (report from the court with Igor cobblers, which took place on 26 and 27. 4. 2016)
Phoenix celebrates 1st birthday (report from the concert in front of Pankrác prison custody to support prosecuted anarchists)
Šlachta is a liar! (official statement of the sister of Martin Ignacák, who is being prosecuted)
Freedom for Martin! (activities in support of Martin Ignacák)
Before Pankrác with fireworks (report of solidarity actions before the remand prison)
Story of the court (on 2. 8. 2016 began trial in the case Fénix)
new charity CD Sounds of Anti-Fenix (Anarchist Federation in cooperation with Error Records released a compilation benefit)
Martin released from custody

2017
Knockout in the fourth round (report from the fourth trial in the police-fabricated case of Fénix)
Fénix in ashes (report on acquittal for anarchists accused in one of the trials of Operation Fénix)

https://www.afed.cz/text/7163/velka-policejni-blamaz

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

Message: 7


"The State protects us", "entrepreneurs are the ones who create the wealth", ‘'we have to protect the welfare state'', ‘'we are all in the
same boat and have to pull together''. ---- We hear things like this from the propaganda channels of those in political or economic power
time and again, encouraging and interclass unity of the whole society, seeking a civic consensus that legitimizes its system and its crisis.
However, the cyclical crises of the capitalist system in general, and the COVID-19 crisis in particular, demonstrate that the working class
is the one that takes society forward, providing health services, transport, care, production and distribution of food. It is the one that
creates wealth with its physical and intellectual effort; despite this, the means of production and consumer goods are not at the service of
humanity, but are used by the bourgeoisie to enrich themselves, miserably and selfishly, protected and legitimized by the State.

Capitalism is for workers and the planet like a virus for the organism - a system based on the exploitation of one class over the other, in
the sexual division of labor and even invisible care. It is a virus that generates violence, inequality, wars, migrations and natural
disasters. A virus that when it does not kill us weakens us and pushes us to a precarious life and misery. It is evident that we cannot
expect anything from the political class, since its function is to sell us false solutions and serve the ruling class, thus legitimizing
social inequalities.

The health crisis that we are experiencing worldwide will give way to an economic crisis of an enormous magnitude, the consequences of which
will fall once again on the working class: job insecurity, evictions, millions of unemployed people, women combining unpaid domestic work
with precarious work ... In addition, the State of Alarm will give way to a more controlled normality and to an authoritarian rearmament of
the State, which it will take advantage of to cut back on rights and freedoms. Sounds familiar to us, right? Unemployment, repression,
evictions, torture, jail, social control, etc.

But not all is lost. We have the only possible vaccine against the State-Capital axis: organization and struggle.

In a moment of absolute demobilization and general disorganization, it is necessary that we become aware of the capacity and strength that
we have to transform society, seeking a model where social justice, cooperative work and the distribution of well-being and wealth triumph
over the competitiveness, individualism and oppression promoted by the capitalist bourgeoisie. You have to organize - really organize -
without half measures, and as was said before, go for everything. From below, without concessions. The organizations must articulate
strength, showing that they are not ambiguous movements easily manipulated by those in power. We must build a real alternative that manages
to mobilize on the street and that looks for collective fronts of struggle. Anarcho-syndicalism, in short, must be a revolutionary alternative.

Let us remember how our comrades fought in the past and how the great conquests of the working class have historically been achieved through
organization and forcefulness, let stop letting ourselves believe that we belong to some middle class and fight to get out of this reality
that alienates us. Let us become aware that it is through collective, anti-authoritarian and class consciousness and action that our reality
must be radically changed.

For all these reasons, this May 1st we appeal to the working class to come out of that ideological and cultural confinement in which they
find themselves, and understand that only an organized and conscious working class can stand up to tyranny.

Either we kill capitalism or it will kill humanity.

We will return to the streets.

CNT-AIT

https://iwa-ait.org/content/worst-virus-capitalism-vaccine-organize-and-fight

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

Message: 8



This May 1st is not like others; but, it is the spirit of our ideas and of our comrades who began in 1886 a feat of the working class, which
leads us to demonstrate once again. ---- This time we will express ourselves through a special transmission from the radio program "La
Conquista del Pan", through all our communication channels. ---- Enjoy us this Friday, May 1st, from 13 hrs at the annual act of the
Federación Obrera Regional Argentina. ---- Our social networks: https://www.facebook.com/La-Conquista-del-Pan-1192205187463158/ ----
RelatedP osts ---- May Day: Solidarity despite the quarantine ---- [Argentina] About CORONAVIRUS and the Working Class ---- [Argentina]
We're your feminist domestic workers and we're ready to fight!
Mexico: 11:00hs
Spain: 18:00hs
Chile: 12:00hs
Brasil: 13:00hs
Paraguay: 12:00hs
Bolivia: 12:00hs
Peru: 11:00hs
Colombia: 11:00hs
Ecuador: 11:00hs
Venezuela: 12:00hs
EEUU East: 12:00hs
EEUU West: 10:00hs

FORA Pilar: https://www.facebook.com/Sociedad-de-Resistencia-Trabajadores-de-la-Educaci%C3%B3n-Pilar-349831385656004/

FORA Lomas: https://www.facebook.com/oficiosvarioslomasdezamora/

FORA Zona Norte: https://www.facebook.com/oficiosvarios.zonanorte/

FORA Capital: https://www.facebook.com/foracapital/

FORA Cordoba: https://www.facebook.com/foraindividualescordoba/

FORA Capital Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fora_capital/?hl=es-la

FORA Capital Twitter: https://twitter.com/FORA_CAPITAL

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

Message: 9



Many workers around the world are faced with new challenges and hardships as they bear the different burdens of the Coronavirus outbreak.
Some have lost jobs and, with little or no savings, face real threats of homelessness or hunger. Others must still work to survive as they
have no choice and put themselves at risk. However we must all remember that millions of people must do this - with or without the
Coronavirus. Coronavirus is just spreading the misery to more people. ---- While some retain their jobs and work at home by computer,
millions of others are still out on the fields. There is usually little regard shown for their health and safety. In the IWA, we have
comrades who live in extreme poverty, picking tea in Bangladesh; we have comrades in different countries in high-rish professions whose
bosses do not want to insure them or take measures to improve safety, who live in situations where bosses force people to come to work sick
and one must choose between their health or paying rent and buying food. This is the reality for millions of workers - not only in what we
consider the poorer parts of the world, but also in rich industrialized regions. And it is exactly against these types of problems - which
show a basic disrespect for workers' lives - that we organize every day.

For nearly a century, the International Workers' Association has organized and fought against the exploitation that comes inherently with
the system of Capital and wage labor, We carry on the tradition of those who came before us who fought for the same ideals - such as the
Haymarket martyrs, fellow anarchists who fought for the 8-hour day and against brutality waged against workers by the bosses, whose struggle
led to the introduction of the May 1 holiday - the International Workers' Day.

The struggle that we initiated years ago is needed now more than ever! Years have passed and we have witnessed the undeniable direction of
world capitalism. Those with capital have been reeping the benefits of our labor and control most of the world's wealth. The gap between
rich and poor has grown in most parts of the world. People with more wealth still exploit the resources and labor of poorer parts of the
planet. Millions of people are faced with problems related to ecological distruction that threaten their very survival. All of these
problems come from the same essential source.

Capitalism is its various forms is contingent on greed and philosophies of power. It is anchored by states and instruments of public control
which protect the propertied classes. Against this stand the libertarian ideas of our workers' movement, which seeks to create an
egalitarian society where all can enjoy the fruits of their labor and have sufficient free time for other activities and for participating
in the self-management of the workplace and society.

In our vision, there is no place for castes of workers who must do all the dirty work. Instead there is sharing of responsibility for the
work which is essential. In our vision, there are no homeless people sleeping in front of empty hotels or farms destroying food because they
cannot sell it to restaurants. These sights are part of the sick responses of a system which has made everything for sale and for profit -
not for social use.

This vision must be fought for and, over the years, people have been put off course many times. We have been faced with the absolute
violence of Bolshevism and fascism. Workers around the world have been distracted by the promises of consumer culture or made busy
surviving. Our lives have been robbed and are being robbed.

Every year around the globe, millions of workers go out on May Day. The workers of the IWA also can be found on the streets of many cities,
trying to bring out the relevance of the day and sometimes targetting workplaces in which their members are fighting. This year, some
comrades are determined to return to the streets, even despite bans on demonstrations (even with social distancing). Others may not be able,
but that doesn't mean that they have forgotten. The reality is that May Day is every day. May Day is not just one day of the year when we
show we are workers and we are struggling for something. Our struggle is visible in the different things we do throughout the year. It can
also be for you.

We are sure this year we will see some creative forms of observance, with people determined to at propagate our ideas, to show support and
solidarity with ongoing struggles around the globe. If you are reading this, you probably can too. Each shared article spreads the ideals
and shows our contempt for the situation we have been brought to by the current social and economic system.

However, we need to stress that what we need to come out of this situation stronger and not weaker is more organization. Not the
organization of leaders herding people into political parties to jut themselves into position of power or to divide the world further into
groups of "better" and "worse" people. We already have enough of this and it is something distracting people from realizing their real
interests and fighting for the benefit of us all. Things may get increasingly worse in the near future for many millions or even billions of
people if we don't take serious measures to take back control of our lives, the planet and the wealth that was created by our labor.

 From the IWA, we send our solidarity to those who are currently in struggle as well as to all those who are in permanent struggle, our
brothers and sisters around the world who are responsible for making the world run. The bosses are NOTHING without us.

https://iwa-ait.org/content/every-day-may-day-its-time-organize

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

Message: 10



Last year we commemorated First May by organizing an arts exhibition. Shortly before that, we won in another workplace conflict and we
thought it could be interesting to point out that workers' struggles are not only about workplaces. They are primarily about our creativity.
And we need it even more at the time of layoffs, unpaid and lowered wages, and suppression of our rights and freedoms. Therefore, this year
on First May we are launching a campaign "COVID-19 Crisis: We are not on the same boat!". ---- The pandemic has shown that things that we
would otherwise doubt about are suddenly possible. It is not only related to the fact that some sectors of the economy are suddenly needed
(while others are not really missed) or that some companies were able to quickly transform and start producing what is necessary at the
moment. Workers are making big steps as well. All around the world and recently also in Slovakia collective actions have been taking place:
protests, wildcats (sometimes in several company branches at once), work refusals due to health and safety, occupations of unused buildings,
rent strikes etc. Such activities and many demonstrations of mutual aid in the society are a nice basis for the future. They clearly confirm
that "it isn't possible" or "it can't be done" is simply not true both in terms of production transformation and workers' potential. We
should keep this in mind because we will have to repeat this fact a lot in the future.

But other things that are not as surprising are happening as well. The government is pumping millions into the private sector while people
with low wages and precarious conditions have to stay at work and risk infection (retail, healthcare). Others have already lost their jobs
or will lose them in the future (hospitality, tourism, construction, transport etc.).

The pandemic frustrates us and we wish it would go away as soon as possible. The return to "normal" does not attract us, though. We haven't
forgotten what situation we as workers faced before. Precarious jobs, low wages, mistreatment, inequalities based on income, gender, birth
and the omnipresent consequences of the climate crisis. Such is the world we live in and it doesn't affect tens of thousands but billions.
However, the root cause is not the greedy or "bad" individuals. There are several reasons. First, it is capitalism with its production based
not on our needs, but solely on profit. Second, it is the hierarchies on all levels of social life which artificially divide us and are a
breeding ground for inequality and oppression. And we should not forget about the state in the role of the always reliable savior of
capitalism and holder of the power over the rest of society (although, for many on the left it is still a symbol of hope and change).

But beware, the companies and the state are not aiming to go back to normal either. They made it clear with the measures taken during the
pandemic and the policy statement after the elections. They want more. For them, of course. They will go for it and will talk about it as if
it is something we should want as well. They plan austerity measures, further environmental destruction and a lot of populist and
nationalist bullshit. They will ask us to sacrifice ourselves for.. their world.

We do not want such a world. We are irritated by their "all will be well" and other fairytales. We deserve more. But we must start taking
action.

Let's speak about our point of view, about the workers' perspective. That is what First May is about as well - it carries an important
message that we should create a society wich fulfills our needs and not the needs of capital. We are not in this world to create profit for
someone else. We are here to live a happy life and develop our own capacities as well as the society. We don't need capitalism or the state.
This is how we see it. If you see it this way, too, contact us. On First May or any other day. Let's create something together. Because
together it can be done more easily.

THIS IS HOW WE RESPOND TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS

We use First May as a symbolic event to intensify our crisis response activities. We should focus on talking about our situation, conditions
and future.

The end of pandemic will not end the attacks on our living and working conditions. We need to be in the best possible position to solve the
current problems and those that are about to come.

Our aim is to approach as many people as possible and create a network of contacts between those who want to be active.

Therefore:
1/ We support people who want to be active

2/ We show that it makes sense to fight back

3/ We connect with people who see things the same way we do

4/ We are against the ideology of self-sacrifice

5/ We want to build power in the workplaces

We will elaborate on these ideas and publish them one by one on our website www.priamaakcia.sk/koronakriza and FB page
https://www.facebook.com/Zvaz.Priama.akcia/ in the upcoming days.

If it sounds interesting, get in touch.

In any case, we would be glad if you could share this text on your social media.

Priama Akcia
Solidarity workers' union
Slovak section of the International Workers' Association (IWA-AIT)

https://iwa-ait.org/content/covid-19-crisis-we-are-not-same-boat

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