Today's Topics:
1. Britain, London Anarchist Federation - Reading Group
Recommends: A ‘window into modern police work'
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Protests against racism and police violence following the
assassination of George Floyd in the United States around the
world By ANA (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #305 - Culture,
Digital essay: A very political virus (fr, it, pt)[machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. anarkismo.net - George Floyd: one death too many in the
"land of the free" by José Antonio Gutiérrez D. (ca)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. International of Anarchist Federations: Today was the 7-year
anniversary since the Taksim Square rebellion in Istanbul.
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Czech, AFED: Anti-Semite, Nazi, Terrorist... -- Our
sympathizer's commentary on the discussion of politicians about
the future of the Palestinians [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Poland, ozzip EMPLOYEE INITIATIVE: The IP commission at Avon
Distribution has won a more favorable agreement for employees
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Greece, Athena, APO: Calls for solidarity with the
rebellious peoples of America [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
9. Britain, anarchist communisms ACG: Resist the return to
school: health before profits! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
10. Britain, anarchist communisms ACG: New ACG pamphlet: Food,
Health and Capitalism: Covid-19 and Beyond (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
Our regular, monthly reading group meetings are currently on hold due to Covid 19. Until we'll be able to meet again, we'll switch from
books to films and recommend documentaries relevant to anarchists... ---- Every single day, all over the world, we see new examples of
police violence, and analysing and examining police and police ‘work' while opposing it remains an ever important task for activists. ----
While all our eyes are currently on extreme police violence in the US or HK, police terror occurs every day, everywhere. ---- In 2017 some
of us attended the G20 protests in Hamburg and won't forget the police violence directed against protestors that lasted several days -
analysing this violence and those who are responsible for it can only be a lesson.
Looking back at the G20, the police, the courts and the media, the below is a great documentary examining the role of the police and the
justiciary, always with an eye on the role of the state.
What can we learn from this for future (big, international) protests?
Hamburg's fence - The G20 as ‘window into modern police work':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sTJChDG9Rw
German with English subtitles (needs switching on)
ACAB
(this is also a great film to show to those privileged enough to believe the police are here to help!)
https://aflondon.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/reading-group-recommends-a-window-into-modern-police-work/#more-1809
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Message: 2
Several cities around the world are registering protests this weekend over racism and police violence after the murder of George Floyd, a
black man who was asphyxiated by a white policeman in Minneapolis, United States. ---- [Greece] More than 80 anarchists took part in a
protest in solidarity and in favor of the Minneapolis rebellion just meters from the American Consulate, in the center of Thessalonica.
Hundreds of texts were distributed informing about the murder of George Floyd by police officers. The banner[photo]that hung at a point
close to the consulate read "State and police are the killers of George Floyd - Solidarity with the social revolt in Minneapolis and all
over the world". ---- In Keratsini, a suburb of Athens, anarchists made a big mark in solidarity with the Minneapolis revolt. "From Athens
to Minneapolis. Fire in the State, the rich and the police".
[Japan] Demonstration against police violence in Tokyo. The protest started at the famous Shibuya Square, one of the city's busiest places.
Antifascists, anarchists and people from different other political groups and formations participated in the act.
[Germany] In Berlin, thousands of protesters gathered outside the American embassy. Many carried posters asking for justice for George Floyd
and spread the phrase of the movement "Black Lives Matter" (black lives matter).
[United Kingdom] In London, the protest was in Trafalgar Square, in the central part of the city. Protesters shouted "Justice for George
Floyd" and carried banners and signs in honor of the African American victim of cowardice and police violence. The crowd gathered in the
British capital despite the ban on agglomerations to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
[Canada] In Toronto, the protest against racism was also in honor of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a black man who died after falling from a
building during a police approach.
[Poland] In Warsaw, a group of anarchists held a solidarity protest in front of the US embassy.
There were also demonstrations in Copenhagen (Denmark), Sydney (Australia), Edinburgh (Scotland), Paris (France).
Related content:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/05/30/apos-assassinato-policial-covarde-protestos-se-espalham-pelos-eua/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/05/29/eua-entre-targets-saqueados-e-trilionarios-solidariedade-com-as-e-os-rebeldes-em-minneapolis/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/05/29/eua-protestos-por-assassinato-de-george-floyd-terminam-em-confrontos/
anarchist news agency-ana
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Message: 3
In the midst of a pandemic and containment period, Syllepse editions offer free and free downloads from their Syllepse.net Covid-19 site, a
very political virus which intends to reveal the social and political downside of the crisis at international level. The text is updated
weekly, and extended with numerous new analyzes each time. ---- In addition to several contributions, the book offers a Social Ephemeris of
the pandemic which strikes, country by country on all continents, day by day, the struggles and social mobilizations against " the
bankruptcy of the States to manage the health crisis which is more and more more gaping and the capital which violently defends its
interests in defiance of the lives of workers and the impoverished strata of capitalist globalization. "
In the introductory text of the book, Patrick Silberstein explains that " it is therefore necessary to say and implement concrete things
that also carry alternatives. It is precisely in moments like the one we are currently experiencing that the social movement and the forces
with which it can ally must reaffirm their capacity and their availability to manage such a crisis differently and better than power. After
the yellow vests and the pension movement, the pandemic opened a new front of political crisis. It is necessary to put forward an
independent policy, at a time when the crisis opened by the pandemic is exposing the responsibilities of capitalist globalization and the
irresponsibility of its agents. "
Collective, Covid-19, A very political virus , Syllepses, increased edition of May 6, 2020, 96 pages.
A social ephemeris of the pandemic
Further on, he indicates: " Another question arises: the fate that will be reserved for employees and companies that will shut down after
the epidemic. The answer in terms of requisition, socialization, municipalization, reconversion at the same time ecological, health and
economic, cooperatives, etc. is going to be on the agenda more than ever. The question does not arise moreover only for those which will
close but also for those which have already been liquidated. "
A concern shared by Alain Bihr who, in his contribution entitled "Covid-19: for a socialization of the health system", stresses that " the
practical bankruptcy of neoliberal policies in the field of health must not only provide us with the opportunity to to denounce the inanity
of its ideological foundations. It opens a breach from which we (the anti-capitalist, associative, union and political forces) must take
advantage, by denouncing the responsibility of the rulers, present and past, who led these policies which led us to the current disaster,
which the population who in fact the costs are becoming more and more clearly aware. "
Other contributions from the United States, Pakistan, India, Argentina, Switzerland and Mexico and from social movements are also proposed.
Two articles on the situation of Chinese workers complete this international overview. "The virus and the brown plague" returns to the game
of extreme right in the face of the epidemic. Finally, the Syllepse publishing team announces that it is " forced to offer an update to
Covid-19, a very political virus, because the epidemic is spreading and deepening worldwide " and specifies that " this book is entered a
process of permanent re-edition and will see its content regularly updated and enriched. What has been done, every week since March 31.
Patrick Le Tréhondat
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Essai-numerique-Un-virus-tres-politique
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Message: 4
The murder of Floyd is not a once-off incident. Last year 1,099 people were killed by the US police, of which a sizeable proportion are
black. 99% of these murders remain in absolute impunity -an alarming impunity rate only rivalled by the likes of Colombia in the continent,
which goes to demonstrate how police violence, far from an anomaly, is condoned by the US establishment. By all of it, whether Republican or
Democrat. ---- At last people had enough in the self-proclaimed ‘land of the free'. The brutal murder of George Floyd, who was tortured to
death by asphyxiation for 10 minutes in broad daylight, turned to be the spark that started the prairie fire. Floyd's life was certainly
cheaper in the eyes of the police than a fake, lousy U$20, he was accused of possessing. Protests have erupted all over the country, facing
unspeakable government violence and threats from the president Donald Trump, who has threatened with weapons, shootings and vicious dogs.
Let us think for a second what would happen if, let's say, Maduro in Venezuela or Rouhani in Iran resorted to this blatantly threatening
language and to these repressive actions -surely by now, there would be economic sanctions in place, extraordinary meetings in the UN
Security Council, talk of military intervention, or "smart" bombardments of police stations to protect "poor citizens" from the butchers in
the institutions. Maybe even a bogus interim president à la Guaidó would have already been recognised by the G-7.
Michelle Bachelet, the hypocrite in chief (ie., Human Rights chief) at the UN, deplores the killing of Floyd but has failed to speak in
equally strong terms about State violence against protestors. Her words pale in comparison to her vehemence at Venezuela; while Almagro of
the OAS -who kicks up a fuss even if Maduro farts- has remained conspicuously silent. Isn't it obvious that in the World Order there is one
rule for the rich club and quite another for the rest of the world?
The murder of Floyd is not a once-off incident. Last year 1,099 people were killed by the US police, of which a sizeable proportion are
black. 99% of these murders remain in absolute impunity[1]-an alarming impunity rate only rivalled by the likes of Colombia in the
continent, which goes to demonstrate how police violence, far from an anomaly, is condoned by the US establishment. By all of it, whether
Republican or Democrat.
As elections approach, the Democrats are smelling votes in the fumes of the riots. But who among the Democrats have any moral authority to
complain about racism or violence? Obama, the top one president when it comes to deportations and the man who presided racial repression at
Ferguson? The man who shed crocodile tears at the murder of Eric Garner in 2014, in circumstances almost identical to those of Floyd's, but
failed to take any real action? The Clintons, who started building the wall with Mexico, starved and bombed Iraq, and handsomely armed,
supported and financed their Al-Qaeda darling jihadists who butchered willy-nilly, left and right, the people of Syria? Sanders, whom, for
all his "socialist" talk is unable to confront even the establishment in his own party? It is time to call the Democrat gang for what they
are: a fraud. They are part of the problem, not the solution, and all they care about is the next elections. They don't give a flying toss
about structural racism and police violence as they have shown time and again while in power.
Class and racial violence in the US is a structural problem, which requires a radical transformation of the institutions. Nothing short of
this can be of any use. The murder of Floyd is tearing apart the farcical myth of the ‘land of the free', of the land ‘of tolerance' built
supposedly by free, loving and equal migrants -a favourite fabrication of the Democrats during the anti-Trump protests of 2016. The ugly
face of structural racism (which precedes Trump by over two centuries) is being revealed, exposing the stench of a country built over the
genocide of millions of Natives and chattel slavery. A country built over the mass deportations of those who thought differently during the
Red Scare of the 1920. A country which lynched in the thousands blacks and trade unionists. A country where a white supremacist hooligan
such as John Wayne is revered as a hero, while proper artists were banned and censored during McCarthyism. A country whose so-called justice
system, which executes on a routine basis as many people as any other tyranny, has in its putrid closet the skeletons of the Haymarket
affair, of Sacco and Vanzetti, and of the Rosenbergs, among so many others, all murdered in mickey mouse trials that were nothing but legal
lynching.
The people are right to be angry. Big time. This is not only about Floyd. It is about over two hundred years of oppression and savagery.
Those who demand that protest remains "civic" and harmless, deploring "vandalism" in far more strident terms than they deplore racism, are
nothing but hypocritical defenders of the status quo. The real vandals are those who think that carrying a blue uniform gives them a right
to maim, torture and kill at will. The focus of what is happening and why people are out there on the streets should not be lost: as Albert
Camus remarked, we should despise less acts of violence by the oppressed than the institutions of violence[2]. The time has come to question
and change the institutions, the structures of violence, deeply rooted in the State and an economic model which, right now, is condemning
millions to death by unemployment induced starvation.
The system is the problem, not this or that police officer, not this or that president, not this or that party. It requires deep
transformation of the political institutions which are the product of this legacy of brutality, segregation, exclusion, war, militarism,
invasion and imperialism. Trump denounced the presence of "professional anarchists" among the protestors. Fair play to them. They deserve a
standing ovation. Hopefully they help the masses in revolt to imagine a different country, built from the bottom up, in peace with the rest
of the world and permanently at war with domestic injustice. A country free of racism, sexism, and the exploitation of the working class. A
real alternative at a time in which the world is critically endangered to a great degree because of the actions of the US as a world power.
The people on the streets today have the answers, while the Republican and Democrat ruling elites don't even know the questions.
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
3rd June, 2020
[1]https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
[2]Quoted in John Foley, "Albert Camus: From the Absurd to Revolt" (London, Rouledge, 2008, p.49)
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/31916
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Message: 5
A gathering was held in Istanbul against police violence in Turkey, but also around the world. At this time, the Turkish state continues the
violent repression of those who fight and under the excuse of koronoioú.
Following a call of youth organisations, a demonstration against police violence took place. Police attacked the course held in Kadiköy
today at 18:00.
Police violently arrested 29 fighters (of which 11 members of the Anarchist Youth) gathered in Kadiköy. The protesters who resisted
suppression cried out the slogans: " We will destroy the murder state ", " The police outside, these roads are ours ", " The killer state
will pay ".
https://anarsistfaaliyet.org/sokak/polis-siddetine-devrimcilerin-cevabi-direnis/
https://www.facebook.com/anpolorg/photos/a.278398885831018/1167225023615062
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Message: 6
The state of Israel is right about everything and doing everything well. If you think otherwise, you are a Nazi. Bad luck, but you can blame
yourself. You have not been willing to accept a black-and-white vision of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which the Palestinians are
the evil ones, and Israel is only defending itself. ---- Following the publication of comments "What will happen with the Palestinians and
the Israeli democracy?" In the journal Law , whose authors are Thomas Petrícek, Karel Schwarzenberg and Lubomir Zaoralek, sparked a lively
discussion. This article tried to break at least a little, the prevailing, uncritical side of Israel in the top Czech politics. It seems
that unsuccessfully, on the contrary, a wave of resentment and negative statements has emerged, in which Miloš Zeman or Andrej Babiš must
again appear.
In the discussion over the comment, however, I was interested in the statement of ODS MP Jana Cernochová. In connection with the given text,
Cernochová said about one of its authors, Lubomír Zaorálek, that " he is behaving like the greatest Nazi these days".
Negro only confirmed in what spirit and on what moral and intellectual level the debate on Israel and Palestine is mostly conducted. Until
recently, the one who pointed out the immorality of Israel's actions was "only" an anti-Semite, now he is a Nazi.
In her fiery speech, Cernochová also outraged at where critics of Israel take courage in general "to teach a country that has had to fight
for its fate today and every day for more than half a century in the fight against terrorists who, among other things, are leading
Palestinians." . She added that the strategic partner, which Israel is for the Czech Republic, should never be criticized. And for nothing.
Interestingly, the Black Man's attitude could best be expressed by the motto "faithfulness is my virtue." She might like the quote, I just
want to warn her that it was a popular tattoo of SS units. Cernochová could also be confused by the fact that at one time the quote also
attracted Ivan Langr, another excellent representative of the ODS, who used this motto to describe what he values most.
We could add a quote from Carl Schmitt's Theory of the Guerrilla, and it would be very clear that Israel, frustrated by the constant
insidious actions of the Palestinians (= terrorists), is only defending itself, desperate, and simply unable to cope with the dishonest game
of terrorists. That is, in the perception of Jana Cernochová.
However, Cernochová herself would find herself in a camp of "Nazis", in which she places others. I do not want to include Mrs. Cernochová
there, even so, terms such as Nazi or anti-Semite are completely devalued, when they began to serve as a designation for anyone who has only
a slightly different opinion.
How would Negro deal with the fact that the policy of the State of Israel has been criticized and is also criticized by a large number of
Israelis? What about them? These aren't anti-Semites, are they? But the Negro could label them as traitors to the Jewish nation, for
example. Perhaps he will come up with something so that everyone is included in the appropriate group.
That someone had to poke at it and deal with the situation in Palestine! We could have remained comfortably stupid. Stupid but faithful...
Or is it not stupidity on the part of Cernochová, but a manifestation of calculating manipulation? Stupidity would be better, you can still
work with it.
Cernochová apologized for her statement about Nazi Zaorálek, saying that she would keep her opinion as a citizen. Of course, let him keep
what he deems appropriate, even if it is so misguided. For us, the opinion of Jana Cernochová is not relevant. The problem, however, is that
it sounded on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies and is preventing Palestinians, but also Israelis, from starting to live better. As long
as the conflict is interpreted the way Chernochová interprets it, there will be no peace in Palestine and people will continue to live there
in appalling conditions as before.
What else to add? It is difficult to say how many Nazis there are in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. But one thing is
certain. There are really a lot of fools and manipulators.
https://www.afed.cz/text/7182/antisemita-nacek-terorista
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Message: 7
Avon in Garwolin ---- The long negotiations of the agreement on working conditions and remuneration during the epidemic concluded between
the Plant OZZ IP at Avon Distribution in Garwolin and the management of the plant were successful. Our committee managed to secure jobs and
reduce the amount of reductions, thus showing that it is worth fighting for better working conditions. In the current crisis, the more you
should fight for your rights and working conditions, because it is thanks to our work that the workplaces work and the society functions.
---- Crisis laws - the so-called "Shields of Morawiecki" - provide, in accordance with Article 15g of Shield 1.0 (Journal of Laws 2020 item
568), that enterprises in which a decrease in turnover may apply for government assistance, including in the form of subsidies for employees
'and employees' wages. Due to the low level of unionization in Poland, entrepreneurs often sign agreements in the form in which it is
convenient for them, without asking employees for their opinion. They emerge an "employee representation" that will accept anything you ask
for. The situation is different at the Avon plant in Garwolin, where our committee organized and successfully negotiated the working
conditions and remuneration during the emergency provisions related to the coronavirus epidemic. Only an employee organization sitting at a
table with an employer can realistically and effectively represent employee needs and interests. This is the only way to ensure that the
costs of the crisis are fairly distributed between the company and employees, and that the slogan for protecting jobs is not just empty words.
Trade unionists managed to reduce the size of the proposed reduction in the number of jobs and wages from the initial 20% proposed by the
employer - i.e. the maximum amount envisaged by the law - to 5%.
In addition, plant employees receive a four-month employment guarantee with the agreement. This postulate realized in agreement shows that
employees can achieve real protection of jobs. The agreement provides for the distribution of the cost of the crisis among all employees
jointly and severally: it includes managers as well as operational employees. Favorable provisions have also been introduced regarding the
method of calculating remuneration and allowances: calculation of bonuses or calculation of any severance pay based on the salary before the
reduction, as well as the provision on retaining full-time annual leave by employees.
What is extremely important, it was possible to block the very unfavorable proposal of the employer to extend the accounting period until
the end of the calendar year. It is a solution that in itself would open the door to abuses in the settlement of working time and employee
remuneration, deregulating working conditions and introducing uncertainty and instability of employment.
Thanks to the efforts of trade unionists from Avon Distribution, with the support of the IP National Commission, we received an agreement in
which the shield defends not only the company, but also the workers working in it during the ongoing epidemic of employees. It should be
remembered that this is a crisis agreement, and therefore a situation when the company's condition deteriorates. The actions of the
committee at Avon show that in such a difficult situation only the active attitude of employee organizations allows to provide solutions
beneficial for both employees and the employer.
http://ozzip.pl/informacje/mazowieckie/item/2667-komisja-ip-w-avon-distribution-wywalczyla-korzystniejsze-porozumienie-dla-pracownikow
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Message: 8
On May 25, four police officers in Minneapolis, USA, stopped and arrested George Floyd on the occasion of a counterfeit $ 20 bill. Having
already tied his hands, 3 of them threw him to the ground and kept him immobilized with Derek Chauvin drowning George Floyd for 9 minutes,
even when he was clearly unconscious, killing him in public. ---- Police violence in the United States is one of the key pillars of a state
that is aggressively attacking in order to maintain its power. By provoking and engaging in hundreds of imperialist wars, the United States
is bombing civilians, looting the capitalist region, terrorizing both the planet and its inhabitants, and with even greater intensity the
black, indigenous and wider poor.
The harsh class structure of American society, where a small elite owns the country's vast wealth, where thousands of workers are killed
because of their working conditions, has become even more apparent during the already evolving pandemic with the majority of the dead coming
from the lower classes. classes, the poorest, the most excluded, the most oppressed.
And it is the people of these classes and tribal communities who have flooded hundreds of US cities these days, protesting and clashing with
the police, setting up roadblocks, setting fire to police stations and destroying capitalist targets. It is the thousands of insurgents who
are going on the offensive outraged by the racist-murderous violence of the repression mechanisms, by the suffocating conditions of
exploitation and oppression, that defy Trump's threats to impose the death penalty by military intervention.
They are our class brothers who, in the heart of the empire, are keeping alive the uprising but also the way to overthrow the state and
capitalism.
CONCENTRATION & POREA to the American Embassy
Wednesday, June 3, 7 pm, Concert Hall
Local Coordination of Athens of APO-OS
http://apo.squathost.com/
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Message: 9
Johnson's decision to reopen English primary schools for some year groups, with more to follow before the summer holidays, has launched a
storm of controversy and put parents and staff in a very difficult position as a result of his policy of emotional blackmail. On the one
hand, parents who have struggled to combine home schooling and entertaining their children with a job, may welcome the reopening. It has
been a hard 8 weeks, especially for those from less well-off families who may not have all the technology for home schooling or the space to
play. Single parents will have been particularly affected. And, both staff and parents agree that children are missing out with the more
interactive learning that takes place in the school environment. Staff are concerned that the most disadvantaged students may be missing out
and worried about those students who they know are living in toxic home environments. In theory, vulnerable students and the children of key
workers were allowed to come in to school. However, only a fraction of those eligible did this.
Too early
Nevertheless, parents and staff are not at all convinced that now is the time. Britain still does not have the disease under control. The
Office of National Statistics estimates that there are still over 54,000 new cases a week, way above what the government claims. Every
measure they have put in place has been racked with problems, from PPE for key workers to the scandal of the care homes. The opening of
schools was meant to coincide with the track and trace testing programme that would be able to quickly identify and contain any new cases.
But this has still not been fully tested and is not in place. The danger level for the disease to spread is still at Alert Level 4 and
Johnson had said it had to be on its way to 3 before reopening schools. So he has forced through a policy that contradicts the advice of
scientists, educationalists, parents and teachers, and even his own recommendations! The Scottish and Welsh governments are not following
Johnson and have plans to open schools much later: Scotland on August 11th (which is actually after their summer holidays) and Wales has
still not decided.
Putting profits before health
What is Johnson playing at? Why is he rushing this through, despite all the warnings? Education plays a dual role in society. On the one
hand it is in theory meant to prepare the next generation for life, though for the working class this often means how to be better
exploited. On the other, it is a way of looking after children while their parents are at work. This has been an increasingly important role
with more women going out to work, out of choice and/or out of need. Johnson is desperate to get the economy going again, in line with his
capitalist supporters, so this means getting the children back to school. It is clear that Johnson is putting the profit needs of business
ahead of the health of staff, children, and their families. He doesn't want looking after children to be a reason for people to refuse to go
to work; if people don't work, the bosses can't make their profits.
Impossible to make schools safe
The working class will be particularly affected. Independent schools are not under the same pressure to follow Johnson's reopening plan.
Some may go along but most are making their own plans. These schools, with so many resources, have been able to organise a very effective
home schooling programme and the parents are well-off enough to be able to ensure their children can take full advantage of this. In
addition, class sizes are so much smaller in the independent sector with much more space and facilities that when the schools do reopen it
will be easier to make them relatively safe. In contrast, state schools have endured years of cuts with increased class size and lack of
resources. The work needed to ensure that a crowded school can be safe, in the classroom, at lunch and in the social areas, not to mention
on the journey to school itself, is a massive task. The idea that somehow schools are going to be able to make young children practice
social distancing indicates a serious lack of knowledge of children and what it is like in schools. Encouraging schools to reopen at a time
when the number of cases is still rising could well have very negative consequences. And if it does, the government will then blame the
schools for not enforcing social distancing or not having put in place an effective strategy. As always, the government puts the blame
everywhere else but on their own bad management of the pandemic.
Refusing to follow Johnson's recipe for disaster
Fortunately, the government cannot enforce the back to school policy. This makes it easier for parents, children and school staff to refuse
to go along with the plans and this is already happening. At least 44 out of 151 local authorities are not following the push to reopen.
Many other schools are making their own decisions about when and how to reopen.
The reopening of the schools, as well as the rush to get more people back to work, is another manifestation of the disregard for the working
class which we saw with the government's herd immunity strategy. Johnson and his cronies are willing to put people's lives at risk in order
to return to business, in other words, capitalism as usual.
Resisting the return to school is an act of self-defence against our class enemy. The National Education Union have taken some steps in the
right direction, but it is not enough. We need to see strikes of all school staff and mass absenteeism from the classroom, supported by
parents and their children. Many people will not be able to resist in this way because they need to go to work and have their children
looked after in schools. Many are already working in key industries. These people must be supported by the working class, and no one would
blame them for not being involved in a campaign of disobedience. It is a sign of the natural solidarity of workers that teachers maintain
schools for those in need and key workers keep society going during the pandemic.
Take control
Teachers and other school staff, parents and the children themselves must take control of their own schools and make their own decisions
based on what think is feasible and safe. They can act as leaders in the fight against corona-capitalism. They can reach out with offers of
support to key workers who are being put at risk. They can organise the best way to deliver education which suits their needs and devise
strategies for reopening based on their own assessment of what works for their school and community. They do not need to obey the dictates
of a government which is prioritising the health of capitalism above all else.
What you can do:
* As parents, keep in touch with your children's school and other parents
* Contact the teaching unions for information about the issues and the fightback: neu.org.uk/
* Check out the Industrial Workers of the Worlds campaign: iww.org.uk/news/primary-school-workers-no-plan-not-safe-not-good-enough/
* Get involved in parent/school groups such as www.parentkind.org.uk/
* Form local groups of staff, parents and others in the local community
* Staff should make sure they are in unions or otherwise in contact with other staff at their school so they can work together
* Older students should also organise, discussing what they want to happen in the secondary schools and colleges. Teachers and parents
should support any initiative.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/06/01/resist-the-return-to-school-health-before-profits/
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Message: 10
This pamphlet goes to the roots of the current pandemic, locating the causes in capitalism, including land use, the way we organise food
production, and what we eat. It starts by looking at zoonotic diseases - those that have moved from animals to humans - and discusses how
capitalism created the environments for lethal human-animal interactions. It moves on to discuss industrial agriculture, its use of
antibiotics, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, and its impact on health. The pamphlet then continues with a look at food consumption and
the role of capitalism in facilitating not just zoonotic diseases but also non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Unhealthy diets are discussed in the context of food insecurity, domination by global food corporations and class inequality.
Price: £3.50, including postage, for this 44 page pamphlet.
Order your copy via PayPal to londonacg@gmail.com
For more ACG publications, visit our publications page
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/publications/
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/06/01/new-acg-pamphlet-food-health-and-capitalism-covid-19-and-beyond/
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