#Anarchism from all over the #world - MONDAY 17 AUGUSTUS 2020

Today's Topics:

   
1.  CGT-LKN Euskal Herria: The ex-emistas at the Orwellian Farm
      (Opinion piece by Rafael Fenoy) (ca) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  International of Anarchist Federations IAF-IFA: Call for
      solidarity actions with the uprising against the Lukashenko
      regime - 14 August (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Belarus, pramen: We, the cursed by the authorities
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Belarus, pramen: How did the Belarusians come to rebellion
      against the dictatorship (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #307 - International,
      In the wake of the virus: The specter of hunger haunts the world
      (de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Anarchistisches Netzwerk Dresden END: "We will not forget,
      we will not forgive" (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  federacao anarquista gaucha: Libertarian socialism and the
      permanent basic income debate [part 1] By Guilherme, FAG activist
      (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
8.  Belarus, pramen: Beware of the regime that's trying to split
      us up [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
9.  anarchist communist groups ACG: Appeal to the Young
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1


Not so long ago, in the squares of almost all the towns of Spain, people gathered, starting on May 15, 2011, forming a "movement" of
millions of wills around 15 M. It was witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon in the long history of this country . For the first time the
yearnings to participate in politics and the hopes of freedom were attuned. And all of this was possible due to the existence of social
networks that, like a wick, led the flames of utopia to the real world, where people of all ages and from varied social conditions were
found.The richest, in general, did not come close. Why? Well, because those who did it were experienced connoisseurs of the terrible
economic situation and its dire and atavistic social consequences that worsened substantially with the financial crisis of 2008.

Voices that were raised to manage the tsunami of wills for real change . Voices that were extinguishing others based on measured and
calculated applause. Taking over the spokesmen of this spontaneous movement , which when it occurred began to cease to be, by dint of the
interventions of a few, who, due to their knowledge and their approaches, sought to guide the "masses" as new charismatic leaders. And since
they were in a hurry, they rejected the safe, but slower path of people's self-organization , and coordinators were created who, by dint of
being managed by a few, ended up not coordinating but directing everything.

This phenomenon was gradual and as citizens, with a greater self-management awareness, understood what was happening, they moved away from
the "movement", to see once again how this wonderful social experience was gradually narrowing. Another opportunity, in the history of
liberation movements , aborted for the sake of political "efficacy", of access to power at the cost of whatever . And the reasoning is as
old as it is simple: "The more power we have, the more transformation capacity we will have." And so, in an escalation to state power, this
mantra was repeatedly repeated. And always to the question, for when the dream transformation, promised? The answer was the same: Do not be
impatient, first the power for the party and then the transformation you yearn for. But the party never has enough power, it always aspires
to more and more. Repeating the unfortunate formula of the civil war: "first the war, then the Revolution", when it is not possible to win
any war against Capitalism if the Revolution is not made.

And in that journey to the top of power , the gutter is sown with political corpses , of good people, of loyalists, of extraordinary fellow
travelers. Because when they try to develop their own discourse or channel the aspirations of the "minorities", they are not allowed. And by
dint of congresses and meetings, perfectly orchestrated in advance, they are expelled or invited to leave the "movement", because whoever
remains must follow the dictates of the "leader ". And the party is articulated in the largest clandestinities, everyone who wishes to sign
up, but does not know who is signed up, they are only allowed to meet the little chiefs who make up the central committee of that, already
old, organization.And the differences appear immediately, as if it were a new Rebellion on the Farm, and whoever shows the slightest
criticism is accused of being a "traitor" to the cause. And when they come to power, the leaders of the party rework the statements of that
15M until they change that of "All animals are equal", adding "but some animals are more equal than others."

Justifications? All that a clever mind can imagine . The reality is that the duster ends up being seen and against the evidence the
arguments are broken. Those who must set an example to the people, who must live as the people live, who must feel the discomfort of an
exploited existence, start to live on political income, to be able to acquire more and better goods and properties and all for the sake of "
be more efficient "," be more operational "... and above all avoid the participation of those who do not know about this and thus cannot be
wrong. Because no one doubts that their greatest interest is not to allow anyone to make a mistake, because they hold the truth, the only
one possible, and they enjoy the gift of infallibility, so that if you have to bend freedom , then that.

Rafael Fenoy

https://www.cgt-lkn.org/blog/archivos/7821

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Message: 2



For the first time in the history of Belarus, people across the country rebelled against the dictatorship. Many thousands of demonstrations
are held not only in the capital, but also in small towns. People take to the streets and not only peacefully protest against the
authorities, but also fight against the state apparatus - they help friends and comrades and clash with punishers. ---- August 10,
barricades appeared in the streets of Minsk for the first time, while protesters began using molotov cocktails. Some enterprises and firms
went on strike. ---- In recent days, standing shoulder to shoulder, we have felt what the energy of the people means. We have realized that
together we can overthrow a tyrant! ---- The blockage of the Internet could not stop the news flow. People all over the world have learned
that the Belarusian dictatorship is ready to drown the population in blood just to stay in power. In three days, police and internal troops
detained more than 5000 people, hundreds suffered from cop violence. At least one person has been killed.

Now more than ever, international solidarity is important in the fight against Lukashenko. Therefore, we call you all to join the
international day of actions in solidarity with belarusian people! In what format can you express your solidarity? You can hold rallies and
demonstrations at Belarusian embassies and other institutions of Belarusian power in your country. Take collective photos. Take part in
direct actions. Any, even the smallest solidarity can support the fire of rebellion that will tear down the dictatorship in our country!

Send your reports to belarus_abc@riseup.net or post on social networks with the #Belarus hashtag.

Belarus

https://pramen.io/en/2020/08/call-for-solidarity-actions-with-the-uprising-against-the-lukashenko-regime-14-august/

https://abc-belarus.org/?p=12980&lang=en

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Message: 3



It doesn't matter whether you were born in the Soviet Union or the Republic of Belarus. It doesn't matter which city, town or village you
were born in. We were born next to each other. So close and so far away... ---- We were not born into the family of an official or owner of
a large firm... You and I were born nobody. You and I have been told every day that we are nobodies and we should take our place in this
world. Finish school, college, maybe even university and go to work. Work, work, work! Don't look the other way. Close your eyes if it gets
too scary and you're not strong anymore. ---- You and me, so different and so alike. Maybe some of us disobeyed and maybe even protested.
Some of us have dreamed of a world in which we can stretch our shoulders and live freely. But this power has cursed each of us.

We are cursed by the knowledge that is in our minds and hearts. We remember the dispersal of demonstrations and arrests. We remember looking
for each other on detention lists in 2006, 2010, 2017. I remember you helping me after I got fired because people like me don't belong in a
state factory.

This power cursed us when we had to go to prison for years or stay on the other side of the wall. And we lived with the idea that it should
have been us. Some of us even left, hoping that the curse could just be forgotten.

But we listened, we tried to forget, we tried to move on. We tried our best, but the curse will never leave you alone. Even if in 2017 one
of us took to the streets and the rest of us tried our best to look away. And it's not our fault. Because we were taught that way.

Because we were born here.

This curse haunted us all the time: when we had to bury our friends and loved ones who died of the coronavirus. And we used to drink vodka,
but not to stay healthy. When we helped each other survive without water, and the officials told us fairy tales.

We're all cursed by the authorities, and all our lives we rush between that curse and trying to get rid of it. But it's a curse forever.
Because no one will forget the broken heads and blood running down the streets we grew up on. The blood that paints the asphalt so vulgarly
red that no one will ever forget.

You and I on these streets have dreamed of a free life. And we got rubber bullets and tear gas. We can't forget the way we get rammed by
police cars and blown up by grenades. It will stay with us forever.

We'll always have to carry with us all the horrors we never wanted. This power kidnaps, tortures and kills our brothers and sisters. It's
the power that makes us scrape our own blood off the steps of the subway.

They tell us that the protest must be peaceful, that we must not give in to provocation and that we must continue to pull our yoke. You and
I, so different, but together. And I believe that when they try to beat me or arrest me or kill me, you will not abandon me. I've seen you
in the streets of Minsk, Grodno, Brest, Baranovichi and dozens of other cities and you didn't let them grab me.

A friend told me that the only way to break this curse is to make the Palace of the Republic burn in the very den of the beast. At the very
heart of our world, you and I have a magical castle that can break this horror.

Don't think I believe in these superstitions! But I know that this palace will burn like sun!

And if we can't get rid of this dictatorship now, we can never do it again. Yeah, we can't break the curse, but we can do everything we can
to make sure that those who come after us can breathe full-bodied.

And you know what, dear friends? We're gonna make this curse be our power. Instead of putting our hands down and going home, we will breathe
deeply into the horror of this dictatorship, and it will make us stronger. We will no longer look to the side, we will only look forward,
because somewhere beyond the horizon, our freedom awaits.

I know you can hear me. That's why you and I are going out this Friday at 7:00 p.m. on the streets of our cities with our shoulders wide
open. And in the clutch, we're going to take this world that rightfully belongs to us!

https://pramen.io/en/2020/08/we-the-cursed-by-the-authorities/

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Message: 4



If you had asked people in Belarus how long the dictatorship of Lukashenko was left in early 2020, they would have looked at you like a
fool. In a respected dictatorship, such questions are not asked, because you know what can happen. And in general, it so happens that the
reign of the great leader is timeless. But the situation has changed so radically over the last 8 months that Belarusians took to the
streets and for the first time in the new history of Belarus they fought back the police in at least 33 different cities of the country.
---- Today Belarusians have woken up in a new country. In it, people openly talk about hatred for the government and prepare for a violent
confrontation with the police and state. They discuss online and live effective methods of struggle. Several factories went on strike the
day after the elections.

And although the electoral commission reports about the victory of the dictator once again, objectively speaking, Lukashenko lost the
election. He lost the election not to some certain candidate, but rather to the Belarusian people, who said that 26 years was enough.

How has Belarus turned from a stable dictatorship, where the most peaceful people live, into a protest center in Europe?

Economic and political crisis
Economically, Belarus is not an independent country. For many years, the Belarusian economic miracle has been able to survive only at the
expense of cheap oil from Putin and direct money transfers from the Kremlin. Contrary to the fact that Lukashenko and Putin are not friends,
this scheme worked relatively long while the Russian government was bathing in oil money.

With black gold prices falling, the Russian government was faced with the question of redistributing resources. Officials began to look at
where the money invested was yielding some kind of result. Belarus did not give any special results. Contrary to all investments, Lukashenko
extended his hold on power and hindered Belarus' integration into Russia - a process launched back in the 90s during Yeltsin.

The instability of Lukashenko over the past 10 years has shown that the Russian authorities cannot rely on him much. Turn to the West in
2015 added wood to the fire of discord between Moscow and Minsk. By early 2020, Lukashenko found himself in a very difficult situation. New
oil and gas contracts have become much more difficult to conclude. The Belarusian authorities wanted at least some minimal concessions, but
Russia was ready to give these concessions only when activating the project of the union state, with the joint currency and other points for
the absorption of Belarus by Russia.

Political difficulties with Russia traditionally lead to economic problems in the country. During the last 5 years Lukashenko tried to
neutralize this dependence by working with the West, but Western grants and loans cannot pull the Belarusian economy alone. In early 2020,
the Belarusian ruble started to fall heavily against other currencies. Over the past 20 years, Belarusians have managed to survive several
waves of such a fall, the largest being in 2011. The fall of the Belarusian ruble means for many Belarusians, including the fall in their
real earnings. In addition, problems with the payment of salaries at state enterprises began to arise.

Fighting coronavirus with tractors
Lukashenko explained that it is due to economic problems that that Belarus cann't afford any quarantine measures against the coronavirus. If
at the beginning of the epidemic the dictator was still shouting that the Belarusians would be able to avoid getting infected by work in the
field and visiting the sauna, a month later he had to admit the real reasons for the lack of quarantine.

The coronovirus proved to be one of the most serious challenges for the Belarusian dictatorship, which it failed. Instead of typical
populism and care for their people the authorities left the population on self-sufficiency.

Medical care in Belarus is nominally free of charge, but many services have to be paid for, as there is not enough money from the budget for
drugs and medical equipment. It was impossible to test for coronavirus in many cases. Many could not afford to stay home and go to work. It
is difficult to assess the real scale of the Coronavirus epidemic in Belarus. The state is the only institution that has real figures, and
these figures are kept secret. In addition, many cases of coronavirus were labelled as pneumonia, including fatal.

In order to maintain medical care, small businesses and a large number of ordinary people have, in fact, engaged in decentralized support of
medical staff. Some restaurants and bars prepared food for the medical staff from the donations made by city dwellers. As in other
countries, grass-roots initiatives produced protective masks. Taxi drivers transported medical personnel without payment.

A few months later, many people had the feeling that the state had abandoned them. But, on the other hand, there was a sense of solidarity,
the certainty that neighbors, friends and even strangers from the Internet would not leave you in trouble. This feeling has restored to
Belarusians the importance of the public as opposed to the state. Solidarity has become not just a word, but a direct practice.

And if in many countries, which were under the impact of coronavirus, with the fall of the number of infected, solidarity began to fall, in
Belarus the structures of solidarity continued to work in other spheres as well. For example, in June, half of Minsk lost access to clean
water. And while officials insisted that there was no problem with water, residents of the districts with water were organizing and
delivering water to the neediest parts of the city.

Thus, one of the most important results of the coronavirus (the epidemic did not end in the country) was the growing awareness of the
collective strength and the results that can be achieved through joint actions.

Elections during the virus
It was a mistake for Lukashenko to decide to announce the elections in the midst of the coronavirus: in early May, they announced that the
elections would be held in August. The moment of maximum dissatisfaction with the authorities was chosen. Thanks to this, the election
campaigns of his opponents literally began to gain a huge amount of support from the very first days. One of the presidential candidates,
blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, began holding rallies with an open microphone at the place of collecting signatures. This format attracted a
huge number of people across the country, who were given a platform to express their discontent. A few weeks later, Tikhanovsky himself and
many other major opposition politicians were detained and charged in far-fetched criminal cases.

Instead of extinguishing the protest and dissatisfaction with the authorities, the repression provoked even more organization around another
candidate - banker of Belgazprombank (daughter of Gazprom) Viktor Babariko. Unlike other candidates, Babariko was not engaged in political
struggle and for many he looked like a "moderate" candidate who called for fair elections and did not plan illegal demonstrations across the
country. Contrary to this, Babariko's popularity was also growing among the more moderate part of the population.

As a result, the authorities decided to arrest Babariko and his inner circle on corruption charges. This step provoked another wave of
discontent, the final stage of which was the announcement that the two largest opposition candidates would not be registered in the race for
presidency. This decision resulted in major protests across the country with the first clashes with the police in Minsk: the demonstrators
repulsed the detainees and saw that the OMON was absolutely unprepared for a violent confrontation with the people.

The clashes with riot police in July this year were a turning point for many in society. The dictatorship, which for 26 years had been built
in part on its indestructibility through the support of the security forces, was suddenly extremely fragile. Videos of the confused OMON
riot police quickly spread over the Internet and showed that one doesn't have to train for 3 years in camps in Russia or the EU to fight the
police.

Lukashenko did not deny registration to only one serious opponent, Sergei Tikhanovsky's wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Tikhanovskaya
originally planned to run for president in order to give her husband and other opponents of the regime a voice. But after the majority of
politicians were arrested, she remained the only candidate around whom voters could unite.

Tikhanovskaya is not a politician and is not trying to become one. The main requirement of her entire election campaign is new elections.
She openly says that she has no plans and does not want to stay in power. After the victory in Lukashenko, she planned to announce new fair
elections, which should have changed the country.

Such a simple demand has united many political groups. Activists from the staffs of the imprisoned politicians got involved in her election
headquarters. Tikhanovskaya's very election campaign relied heavily on the self-organization of the population in various parts of the
country. Meetings with the candidate were officially registered in many places in the country where the candidate herself had not visited.
Instead, there was a stage for speeches and an open microphone. Again, the microphone was rarely picked up by career politicians who feared
reprisals, but rather by the working population and small businesses. In some cities, anarchists also spoke on stage.

Tikhanovskaya's popularity soared in just a few weeks. In July, she managed to gather one of the largest rallies in the history of the
country - 50,000 people in Minsk. In other cities, she gathered from several hundred to 8,000 people. For a long time the authorities did
not take any measures and allowed people to gather. Perhaps the role was played by the sexism of Lukashenko, who never held women for
serious opponents of the authorities. The top of Tikhanovskaya's team were women. Tikhanovskaya also came on stage with two coordinators of
her campaign.

Just a few days before the election, the authorities suddenly came to their senses. Instead of banning the gatherings, the decision was to
play fools - all the venues declared open for rallies began to hold government events or repairs. The ban on assembly has provoked the next
wave of discontent, but in active stages of protest has not turned out, as there were only a few days left before elections.

At the same time, during the last week the Belarusian police started actively detaining bloggers. Such tactics are not new and have been
used by the authorities for many years - before any protests there are constant detentions of journalists and bloggers, who can cover these
protests online.

Terrorist organization "Anarchists"
Before we proceed directly to election day, I would like to make a short introduction to the anarchist movement in Belarus.

Anarchists have reappeared in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the early nineties, some groups made a significant
contribution to the formation of the workers' and environmental movement. Anarchists played one of the key roles in extending the moratorium
on the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in 1999 (in 2009 anarchists and environmentalists lost the fight).

During the entire period of the dictatorship, anarchists have been involved in major political events, be it new re-elections, the movement
against the construction of the nuclear power plant or protests against the laws on parasites. And in most cases, the population perceived
the anarchist agenda very positively. Perhaps, somewhere they did not fully understand but accepted it.

Starting from 2013-2014, anarchists have become almost the only political force still engaged in street agitation. Most opposition parties
have stopped fighting actively against the dictatorship after Maidan 2014 in fear of Russian occupation. Today, some opposition politicians
still stand on the position "better Lukashenko than Putin. Part of the opposition was drowned in repression. It was much easier to do so, as
repression against the leaders could have stopped the movement.

Due to their activism, anarchists are constantly attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies. Some activists are now in prison for
symbolic actions, others are on the run.There are initiatives to help the poor and an anti-capitalist freemarket. Repression against
anarchists rarely produces the desired result. They are written about by the opposition media and thus attract new attention and energy to
the movement again.

Today, the popularity of anarchists in certain youth circles is quite high due to the fact that apart from anarchists there are no political
movements left.

Re-election
Even before the beginning of the election campaign many people expected major protests in Belarus precisely because of the economic crisis
and the coronavirus. It was logical for many to concentrate their protest efforts on election day and the following days. For instance,
large media platforms in social networks and groups in telegram called for protests on election day several weeks before the elections.

Both protesters and authorities were preparing for these elections. There were pictures of military and police equipment on the Internet.
Lukashenko attended training of riot police to disperse the protests. It was clear that the authorities would not try to bring down the
degree of discontent, but rather to press the population by force.

It's not surprising that in the evening of August 9th thousands of people came out all over the country. Only according to the reports of
the authorities themselves, the demonstrations took place simultaneously in 33 cities of the country. More than 50,000 people took part in
those protests. The largest demonstrations were held in Brest, Baranavichy and Minsk. Several thousand people went out in the other regional
centers.

To resist the demonstrators in Minsk, internal troops and police from all over the country were collected. The day before the election,
transport columns were moving from the regions to Minsk. On election day, the city was cordoned off. Buses without license plates drove
around the city and randomly detained pedestrians or journalists. Internet access was turned off or severely restricted throughout the country.

By evening, the situation had changed radically. Crowds of people started going out into the streets and moving towards the center. The same
situation was observed in smaller cities of the country. Towards evening, the first clashes with OMON began, as the people tried to free the
detainees. The riot police themselves ran around the city at first, wearing T-shirts and batons with no special uniforms. The attacks on
OMON quickly made it clear that the situation on that day would not be normal, with people being pulled out of the crowd and simply detained.

Just an hour after the first clashes, the center of Minsk began to resemble a combat zone. Czech noise grenades, Canadian water cannons,
Belarusian MAZs - all worked to disperse the protesters. For the first time in the country's history, people began to erect barricades, as
well as directly clash with law enforcement agencies. A huge number of people were released from the hands of law enforcement officers at
night in various parts of the country.

Solidarity during the protests again showed the incredible power of collective opposition to the dictatorship. The crowds paralyzed any
action by OMON and the military, contrary to all preparations. The lack of the Internet only played a negative factor for the regime -
people went out to the streets to find out what was going on.

For two hours in the center of Minsk and other cities people were fighting against the Belarusian authorities. They fought with great
energy, which they had been saving for so many years. The successful confrontation shows once again the fragility of the Belarusian
dictatorship.

The movement itself today is not the traditional political parties that lead the Belarusians to a bright future. Protests are organized
through media platforms and have no clear leaders. Groups of people gather in the streets and decide on the way to go. The lack of a clear
plan may hinder the effectiveness of the protest, but the lack of clear leaders makes it impossible to suppress easily.

The repression last night was brutal. There were so many victims. In rage, riot police threw noise grenades right at people. At least once a
police truck rammed a crowd in the center of Minsk and killed one man. According to human rights defenders, at least three people were
killed by the regime that night. The first blood was spilled, but people do not plan to stop. The plan is to take to the streets every day
at 19:00 before the fall of the dictatorship.

There are calls in the telegram for direct democracy in the country on major channels. And although some fear that such calls exist due to
misunderstanding of the concept, Belarus has rebelled and many demand the end of the dictatorship and the beginning of the era of direct
democracy.

<- There's no going backCall for solidarity actions with the uprising against the Lukashenko regime - 14 August ->
4 thoughts on "How did the Belarusians come to rebellion against the dictatorship"

https://pramen.io/en/2020/08/how-did-the-belarusians-come-to-rebellion-against-the-dictatorship/

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Message: 5



In several parts of the world, the food shortage that is added to the health crisis could trigger popular movements capable of destabilizing
the ruling classes. ---- Capitalism is so made that, although agricultural production levels and world stocks of commodities are at their
highest levels, world hunger is on the rise. So much so that many international organizations and institutions are moved by it. From the 1
st  of April, an unusual joint statement from the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization
for Food and Agriculture (FAO) reported a "  Risk of global food crisis ". Even more worrying, the annual global report on food crises for
2020, published on April 21 but written before the arrival of the pandemic, notes a worsening of the situation in 2019-2020, with 135
million people affected by hunger, in 55 countries. The latest figures from the UN World Food Program now evoke double (265 million) [1].
One of the report's co-authors, Arif Husain, sums it up: "  This covid could not have come at a worse time  ". From Oxfam to the World Bank,
the analysis does not seem to suffer any challenge.

Oil drop and chain reactions
The pandemic is an undeniable explanatory factor: it has greatly disrupted logistics chains at all scales. Producing countries such as
Russia, Kazakhstan (wheat) or Vietnam (rice) have severely restricted their exports while importing countries such as Morocco or the
Philippines have made precautionary purchases pushing up prices. The drastic reduction in international and intranational trade is
complicating supply, including seeds and fertilizers, as the season begins in the Northern Hemisphere.

It also reveals the dependence of agriculture in the richest countries on cheap foreign labor. Among the poorest countries, many risk seeing
their incomes decrease, especially those which depend on remittances from their diaspora such as Haiti, Mali, Nepal or Somalia or tourism.
Thus, Ethiopia, a country fragile in terms of its food security and already strongly impacted by locust invasions not seen for decades in
East Africa, could suffer. Its neighbor, South Sudan, where famine is already a reality for many, will suffer from downward fluctuations in
the price of oil, which represents 98.8  % of its exports.

To a lesser extent, other countries such as Nigeria or Venezuela will also be impacted by their dependence on black gold. Other natural
phenomena are worrying about food security, including the recent devastating cyclone in Bengal, a region already in the throes of poverty.
Add to this the areas of conflict where imperialist appetites are expressed and we have here a concentrated cocktail of what capitalism can
produce most inhuman and devastating for the vast majority of humanity.

After the 2007-2008 subprime financial crisis, the economic depression and the decline of stock marketers to the commodity markets, several
countries experienced "  hunger riots " in 2008 and 2009  , which could lead, as in Haiti, to the dismissal of rulers. They heralded in a
way the revolutionary wave of 2011, in countries with an Arab majority.

Riots in Santiago de Chile
This is obviously what the leaders and capitalists all over the world fear, as they strive to preserve their interests as best as possible
in this troubled period. Thus, in Chile, since the Piñera government chose at the end of March to resume activity, against the advice of
doctors when the epidemic seemed not to progress. Obviously, a few weeks later, with winter coming, cases of coronavirus began to multiply
and the government was forced to reimpose the containment of the region of Santiago de Chile, where 80  % of the country's infected people
are concentrated .

The announcement of food aid for the most disadvantaged was not enough to fill empty stomachs and several outlying areas of the capital, and
other cities, were set ablaze. The right may try to distract attention by pointing to drug trafficking, it is not fooling anyone: even the
socialist mayor of El Bosque, from which one of the riots started, sided with the demonstrators and denounced the food shortages that
persist in the popular areas of the city.

Already badly damaged by the unprecedented popular uprising that started in October 2019, the government of billionaire Piñera will find it
difficult to redress the situation, in a country which depends 70  % on the import of wheat from Argentina, which announces a severe drop in
production. In France itself, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis feared at the end of April a similar scenario. What if we didn't wait until
we hit the ground running to put down this system that is starving us ?

Gio (UCL Le Mans)

Validate

[1] "  Covid-19: The number of hungry people in the world may double in 2020  " on stories.wfp.org /

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Dans-la-foulee-du-virus-Le-spectre-de-la-faim-hante-le-monde

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Message: 6



Foto: Written at the spot of death of one of protestors in Minsk. ---- Today the first protester who was killed by the cops on Monday has
been named by authorities. Alexander Taraikovsky was 34 years old. He was on his way home, said his wife but never arrived there or called
again. Cops didn´t inform the family so the dead got known to them after two days. Our thoughts are with the family and friends. ----
Protest in more than 50 cities all around Belarus ---- Already at nine in the morning protesters started to form chains of solidarity or
were marching through the cities. Like yesterday this protests are mostly organized by women. Today in more than 50 cities and towns protest
took place. There is an interactive map now, where protests and strikes and other information are available. In general you could see that
more and more people from different parts of the society are joining the protest. Families, older people, a lot of young people, as there
are holidays and they don´t have to go to school.

In Zhodino 3000 people were gathering, talking to the mayor and demanding the release of the prisoner. Zhodino has one of the biggest prison
colony complex in Belarus.

Rally in Zhodino on Thursday, 14 August 2020.
National strike is growing
More and more people are joining the strike. Today 28 different factories and hospitals were completely or partially on strike in. Even
workers from big state enterprises like Belas or Asot  joined. Also Railroad workers and a lot of medical stuff participated in the strike.

Repression
Riot cops raided today to enterprise providing Taxis, Yandex and Uber in Minsk. After that they started smashing Yandex Cars. Taxi driver
and their cars were already targeted in the night, because they provided transport to protesters.

Lasst unseren Papa frei.
The more people get out of prison the more stories of torture are told
Most of the people still don´t know were are their relatives and friends.
But more and more people got released today from Minsk pre-trail prison Okrestin. Starting at 22:30 even groups of people came out.
Families, friends and volunteers were holding protest rallies the whole day waiting for the people.

People went through hell: 50 people in 4 person cell, torture, beatings, threat of rape, no water nor food, people were forced to sing the
national anthem and got beaten... More and more people are giving testimonies about their experiences and posting pictures of their
injuries. Yesterday night people recorded torture noises from the prison. Many of the detainees released from the detention facility on
Okrestin are taken straight to hospital.
People wanna collect all the incidents and start a tribunal against the torturer and murderer of the regime.

https://and.notraces.net/2020/08/14/we-will-not-forget-we-will-not-forgive/

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Message: 7



Minimum rights, maximum capitalism ---- With the outbreak of the pandemic, which changed the entire political scenario and the already harsh
conjuncture that the people had been facing, several problems of an economic and social order were manifested in sad scenes, alarming data
and in situations of horror in the life that was already very painful. , especially of the poor and black people. ---- The plague that
swallowed the planet has gained even more cruel and violent outlines in the already suffering people of Latin America. ---- Here, the
different economic crises accentuated by far-right governments and lackeys of imperialism have created fertile ground for the virus pandemic
to soon become a pandemic of hunger, police violence, unemployment and a substantial increase. of misery.

At the same time that the Bolsonaro government denies the veracity of the virus, invests millions in public money for the production of
medicines with no effect on fighting the disease, refuses to consolidate a necessary increase in the health network, campaigns lies on the
channels officials, threatens institutional coups, works against social isolation policies and pays little attention to families that
continue to bury more and more Brazilians, also actively acts to deepen the economic crisis that victimizes lives and throws millions of
workers to the horror of hunger .

The liberal right, of that fascism that eats with a knife and fork, represented by some state governors and by the oligarchic media, did not
take long to throw in the trash can its speech with humanitarian varnish and, as soon as it felt the economic losses, it also started to to
defend so-called "safe openings" of commerce and more austerity measures that cut into the flesh of those who have less to guarantee the
profit of those who have more.

One of the first actions of the government to save the economy (of the rich) was to allocate more than R $ 1 trillion to bail out the banks
and to stop any measures to increase social policies or grant aid. While helping large companies with loans, tax breaks and payroll
exemptions, the government made it clear that it did not make a point of helping micro, small and medium businesses, and agitated its
congressmen to approve measures that remove the rights of those who work.

The Ministry of Economy of Paulo Guedes proposed a "help" of 200 reais per person per month; the parliamentary opposition countered and the
final result of the bargains at the congress was the known R $ 600 for three months (already renewed for another three), being double the
amount for solo mothers and teenage mothers. The aid, however, was surrounded by problems in the databases, bureaucracies, back and forth in
crowded bank branches, blockades and a whole series of processes to hinder the access of those in need.

The granting of this aid, among other things, revealed a whole series of Brazilians that the government and the media did not hesitate to
call invisible - 50 million workers from the peripheries or interiors of the country, autonomous and informal who are not on the register
only government, do not receive aid such as Bolsa Família, do not have regular access to the internet and do not have bank accounts or civil
registrations (such as CPF and RG) fully regularized.

The situation of the coronavirus has made a reality in Brazil and America deepen that we have already been diagnosing when talking about the
Police State of Adjustment, which locates the central problem precisely in the increase in the cost of living and in the impossibility of
the low ones guaranteeing for themselves and for them. yours a dignified life, while the repressive apparatus on the back of the poor people
is strengthened.

Nas greves e lutas das trabalhadoras contra a reforma da previdência de Macron, na França; no levante camponês e indígena no Equador; nas
lutas contra o golpe na Bolívia; e nas heroicas batalhas do povo chileno contra o pavor neoliberal: os últimos tempos têm mostrado que a
luta por uma vida digna é a luta central dos povos do mundo, é o tema mais imediato e mais capaz de mobilizar o povo, sobretudo em um
momento de crise no liberalismo, radicalização da extrema-direita e disputa sobre qual futuro teremos depois da pandemia.

The deepening of the economic crisis, the drastic increase in unemployment (which reaches record levels) and the new movements of an
increasingly precarious working class, which now also stands up against the terrible choice between dying from viruses and starving, have
brought Brazilian scenario, including by the liberals of the Bolsonaro-Guedes government, a debate that is already old: that of a Universal
Basic Income to guarantee the minimum survival for the people.

A minimum income to not die

They have seen themselves in different discourses, from the most radical conservatives to the most revolutionary on the left; and in
different agendas, from the struggle of the delivery men to the anti-racist marches, that work, income and dignified life spring up at the
juncture with due seriousness, but the debate has been crossed by private and politicized views that are more misinformed than they are
advancing. The struggle for a dignified life goes through the anti-racist struggle, the fighting of the precarious, the anti-prison
campaigns, the dispute over the land and the city ... It is, ultimately, a path towards a struggle for a future.

Faced with the pandemic, the left forces and the Brazilian basic income network (RBRB) began to manifest themselves, building a campaign
called "The Basic Income We Want", which intends to fight through parliamentary channels for the expansion of emergency aid for more time
and for more sectors of the working class.

The campaign brings together different sectors, from the reformist left linked to labor (like the PDT) and to petism (like CUT, for
example), to sectors of socialist parties and community entities (like PSOL, party institutes, Observatories in Favelas and others) .

The idea of universal basic income or citizenship (CBR) is an old one, very well known and widely defended by various sectors of politics.
Internationally, an informal network of parties and organizations has debated and militated for some time on the topic, seeking to build
minimum income policies in different countries. This idea has adherents among classic liberals like Friedman and Smith, and echoes in
socialist and communist movements.

While liberals and their followers defend vouchers and cash rents as a criterion for making a pure minimal state, without interventions and
supposedly meritocratic, the left justifications for guaranteeing an emergency income are, in fact, important.

Today, an income paid in cash is idealized for each individual member of a society, regardless of their assets, income or employment,
without conditionalities and without counterparts, understanding that, as a minimum amount guaranteed to all people, it would be eliminated
the foundations that today create overexploitation at work, informality, sex, child or slave labor, economic dependence and, ultimately,
hunger and misery.

(to be continued)

https://federacaoanarquistagaucha.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/o-socialismo-libertario-e-o-debate-de-renda-basica-permanente-parte-1/

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Message: 8



Yesterday we already published a leaflet calling for respect for all tactics of protest. The reason for publishing this leaflet was the
negative experience of some activists of anarchist movement in the streets of the city. The protesters started actively looking for
provocateurs inside the crowd, who "provoke" the police to disperse the demonstrations by force. All those who try to take people away from
the cops and prevent arrests, at least by part of the people, begin to be negatively perceived. It is these actions, in their opinion, that
lead to the violent dispersal of demonstrations. ---- After several days of peaceful protests, more and more active people in social
networks are calling exclusively for peaceful protests. In their opinion, we must stop provoking the police and try to persuade them. The
absurdity of the situation has reached such an extent that next to the stories of torture and beating of protesters, there are news of
people giving flowers to the internal troops and kissing them! It was as if there was no blood flowing through the streets of our cities.

The situation is developing so rapidly that some are beginning to call for the arrest and transfer to the police of activists dressed in
black and with backpacks that do not carry white balloons and flowers. We believe that such calls come at least in part from the authorities
themselves. It is now crucial for the KGB and the Interior Ministry to break the protest into two parts and leave peaceful demonstrators
without any support. Detentions of anarchists, anti-fascists and other active people on the street will help the authorities to reduce the
intensity of the protest. Those you hand over to the police are expected to be tortured and possibly killed. Come to your senses, you're
calling for your brothers and sisters to be put in the hands of the punishers!

We can't defeat this regime if we think constantly about what might provoke it. Today any protest in Belarus is illegal. So even if you
stand on the sidewalk during an unauthorized action - it's still illegal, and the authorities can detain you with the use of force under
these laws. The laws they've been writing for 26 years are chains holding us back in the system's basements. It is necessary to stop looking
for some imaginary provocateurs among us, which are even spoken about on state channels. We all know perfectly well that the main
provocateur in Belarus wears a mustache, and it is him we need to get rid of.

It's extremely difficult for activists of the anarchist movement to do anything on the streets now. Not only OMON, but also other law
enforcement agencies are after us. Spreading leaflets or active participation in rallies at the entrance to factories can end up not only in
detention, but also in criminal cases, as well as torture. We call for the solidarity of all protesters. Only together will we be able to win!

See you on the streets!
Your anarchists...

https://pramen.io/en/2020/08/beware-of-the-regime-that-s-trying-to-split-us-up/

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Message: 9



This appeal is addressed to the young and the not so young. It is aimed at those who have joined the Labour Party over the last four years
on the Corbynist wave, who are now thinking of leaving it or have already left. It is addressed to those who have mobilised around the
environment and have attended the Extinction Rebellion actions and the school climate strikes. It is addressed to those who have come out in
the streets over Black Lives Matters, and over the Nurses United demonstrations. ---- Many thousands joined the Labour Party from autumn
2015 onwards with the hope that a Corbyn government would somehow change the appalling situation of inequality and exploitation, that Labour
would somehow challenge capitalism in a meaningful way. They were motivated by a strong sense of injustice and an anti-capitalist spirit. By
the way, we don't include in these many thousands the cynical Trotskyists who joined Labour to recruit to their own little outfits.

These thousands of you joined Labour for the best of reasons, because you thought that a Labour victory would change the balance of power
and herald a new era of equality. However, Labour has a long history of being the enemy of real social progress. It is there to defend
capitalism, and even at its most progressive, has always been a social democratic party, one which believes it can carry out mild
socialistic reforms under capitalism. The changing nature of the global economic situation has removed even the possibility of such mild
reforms. Labour is there to divert real social movements and to sabotage and contain any genuine social change.

The Myth of 1945

Take the 1945 election, when Labour was voted in on a landslide and a majority of 145. After years of war, many did not want to put up with
a class ridden society of inequality, poverty and shortages for the working class. However, the nationalisation that was carried out, was
seen by the ruling class not as a way of bringing about more democratic control of industry, but simply as a necessity to rebuild the
country. In France the right-wing nationalists led by General De Gaulle had nationalised far more of the economy, and they certainly weren't
doing it in the name of socialist ideals. Meanwhile Labour's program of social insurance (welfare) was based on a report by the liberal
economist William Beveridge in 1942. Even Churchill's Conservatives were prepared to implement ‘cradle to grave' social insurance had they
not lost the election. The creation of a National Health Service took pride of place in the manifestos of all three main parties. The
reforms brought in were geared to firstly help Britain reconstruct after the War and secondly head off any revolutionary movement by
offering a package of reforms to placate the masses. The ruling class was fearful of another round of revolutions after World War Two, after
it had witnessed a similar scenario after World War One. By 1948 Labour were introducing an austerity package because of an economic crisis
that had started the previous year. It included cuts to NHS provision and a wage freeze. Labour even banned sport during the week because
they believed that it encouraged absenteeism. Unemployment shot up from 400,000 to 1.5 million. Labour's attacks on the working class hadn't
waited until 1948. Within 6 days of coming to power Labour sent troops into the Surrey Docks in London to break a strike. Three months later
Labour again sent troops in to break a national docks strike, and did this again in 1948. In 1950 Labour used the Navy to break a gas
workers strike and had some strikers arrested and charged. Labour also used the courts against striking miners in 1947.In fact throughout
its term of office Labour repeatedly acted against workers with the key target of keeping wages down. In foreign policy Labour strove to
preserve the British Empire and indeed other Empires, helping the Dutch in Indonesia for example. They intervened militarily in Egypt in
1951, threatened Iran in 1951 over oil interests (sound familiar?) shot down demonstrators and used napalm in Greece. They went back on
their commitment to the end of military conscription, eagerly keeping it in place. Labour re-established relations with the Franco
dictatorship in 1951, bombed Indian villages in 1946, and applied vicious repressive measures in Kenya and Malaya. The 1945-51 Labour
Government was not a Golden Age. Far from it. The reforms that were passed, and that indeed made working people's lives a little easier,
would have been given just as readily by the Tories or Liberals. They were given because Britain needed to be rebuilt after the War and to
head off unrest and rebellion. To this day however, there are still those who continue to push the idea of a Labour government acting as a
pioneering socialist administration.

Oh, Jeremy Corbyn

After Labour's devastating defeat in the May 2015 election, being all but wiped out in Scotland, some high-ups in the party thought that it
would be a good idea to have a token left candidate in the Labour leadership elections. Modelled on the US primaries, the leadership race
was designed to give an appearance of democracy whilst trying to take away any real say from what was left of the base membership of the
Party. On one hand the Labour Party could say it was being inclusive, while on the other hand Corbyn's expected defeat would show that there
was no room at all for what was left of the Labour Left and anything that at all jarred with the hymn to the market that was being sung by
the party leadership and their party machine. For his part in this, Corbyn is rather a mediocre personality. For years he would have been
seen as being on the centre Left of Labour, offering the standard social-democratic politics and bland discussion points. Corbyn was now
being portrayed as some sort of left-wing radical due to how far to the right the rest of the party has moved. However, the plans of the
party chiefs backfired, as they underestimated the strength of feeling amongst the working class. There were plenty of people that were
disgusted by the ever-increasing austerity measures being voted though parliament. Labour membership grew to try and put in place a leader
that people felt could turn the party into a force to oppose the ongoing cuts. Corbyn was given a clear mandate by the membership to be the
leader, unfortunately the will of the membership makes little difference to the party's actions. At the core of the Labour party many were
far less thrilled about this turn of events. Wealthy donors threatened to pull their support and a huge number of Labour MPs refused to be
considered to form part of the shadow cabinet alongside him. Those that did were little better, and often voiced open opposition to their
Leader's ideas. Many thought the Blairites would rebel. A leaked memo by Tony Blair's right-hand man Peter Mandelson urged the parliamentary
party to just sit back and wait for Corbyn to lose popularity before the Blairites retook control. Mandelson and his ilk didn't want a
public split at this point as they feared any split would sink the ship they hoped to steer. Corbyn did not want such a split either, even
if some of his left allies welcomed it. He has been a loyal Labour MP for 30 years, staying with it through thick and thin, through the Iraq
War, though Labour's introduction of university fees, and most recently through the complete lack of opposition to the Tory Welfare Bill.
His inclusion of Blairites in his new shadow cabinet showed just how reluctant he was to split the party. He may have won the leadership
contest but he was up against the ‘party machine' built by Blair and his allies. It is designed to shore up their control, decide who gets
onto the list of electoral candidates, and stifle opposition from the membership at key times. He also faced the majority of his own MPs who
are still wedded to the Blairite and Brownite ideas of the Labour Party being pro-business and pro-war. In order to hold his party together,
Corbyn spent the first two weeks of his leadership backing down and capitulating on precisely the things his supporters wanted from him. He
was forced to make the vote over scrapping Trident and opposing the current austerity measures a free vote, meaning MPs were able to ignore
him. He also stated that his opposition to the benefits cap was purely personal and worst of all, he stated that Labour, if elected, would
work within the same budget laid out by the Tories. We should not be surprised by his well-intentioned lies. Corbyn is just one in a long
line of ‘new hopes' of the Left, designed to fail before they have even started. PASOK and SYRIZA in Greece betrayed their supporters. The
Irish and German Green Parties sold out to get a chair at the table. Podemos in Spain u-turned on their radical rhetoric.

Because of the Labour Party apparatus ruled by the Blairites, Corbyn had to shift his political positions, at least publicly. An opponent of
immigration controls, at the last election he promised the most right-wing Labour policy on immigration in over 30 years. An opponent of
NATO, he regarded it as a "danger to world peace" and socialists had to campaign against it. He now embraced NATO, saying that "I want to
work within NATO to achieve stability". A life-long opponent of the monarchy, Corbyn now stated that the abolition of the monarchy "is not
on my agenda." A critic of the police and its shoot-to-kill policy he once laid a wreath to victims of police violence at the Cenotaph. He
now said that the police should use: "whatever force is necessary to protect and save life." Labour pledged to increase the number of police
by 10,000 and the number of prison warders by 3,000 and border guards by 500.

How much more would Corbyn have turned to the right if he were Prime Minister?

In fact, the new enthusiasm for the Labour Party drew people away from involvement in grass roots campaigns and movements.

It was argued that a Corbyn-led Labour government would somehow galvanise social movements. However, let's look at the example of Bennism in
the early 1980s. Bennism was a similar movement to Corbynism. It mobilised around the left Labour figure of Tony Benn. In fact, both Corbyn
and McDonnell were minor figures within Bennism, as were some of their present associates. There was great hope that Benn would become
deputy leader of the Labour Party until he was defeated by Denis Healey in 1983. In the process a large number of activists from the various
social movements, women's groups, gay liberation groups etc. who up till then were existing outside the Labour Party, were now dragged into
Labour and in the process these social movements were demobilised.

A similar phenomenon happened alongside this when Ken Livingstone ran the Greater London Council from 1981 to 1986 and developed his
‘rainbow coalition', involving the same social movements mentioned above, absorbing them into the GLC. The GLC funded many groups and
organisations and often became dependent on this funding, unable to carry on when the funding was withdrawn. Again, the result was
demobilisation, with people looking towards the GLC administration rather than relying on their own action. Livingstone backed down against
Thatcher on tube fares and setting local rates and there was no significant response on the streets.

Going back to SYRIZA, we saw a situation where it persuaded people to rely on its being in power and fighting against the austerity measures
imposed by the EU, the IMF and the World Bank. Of course, SYRIZA broke every one of their electoral promises. The SYRIZA member Stathis
Kouvelakis had later to admit that the negotiation process with the EU "by itself triggered passivity and anxiety among the people and the
most combative sectors of society, leading them to exhaustion". The Greek social movements have taken a long time to recover from the SYRIZA
experience and that could be the same scenario with a Corbyn government. Again we repeat, we have to rely on our activities and our own
organisation of grassroots struggles.

For us, the key question in all of this is the autonomy of the social movements. If Labour had been elected again, our belief is that we
would have seen a scenario similar to that of the election of the Labour government led by Harold Wilson in 1964. Then quite substantial
layers of young people who had been radicalised by CND and the Committee of 100 and by the examples of the civil rights movement in the USA
and the struggle against apartheid, not to mention the burgeoning cultural movements, had an initial enthusiasm for the promised change from
the Wilson government and were very soon bitterly disappointed.

This led to an increasing radicalisation noticeably apparent from 1966 onwards. We feel that such a radicalisation can be repeated, and
obviously not thanks to a Labour victory, but thanks to Starmer's moves to return things to as they were within Labour. Unfortunately, with
that first wave of radicalising young Labour members and sympathisers, some were drawn to the Leninist groups who were seen as effective,
efficient and disciplined. This time round, the remaining Leninists groups are now a shadow of their former selves and have been damaged by
events, like, for example, the Socialist Workers Party, and its cover-up over Comrade Delta, and the subsequent splits by those disgusted by
the behaviour of the Party leadership. The Leninist parties and groups don't have the same appeal as they once had.

We are aware that there will be calls to create new parties, A Labour Party Mark Two, or a new "Worker's Party". Whether this be around the
dodgy George Galloway and his Stalinist backers, or around the SWP or the Socialist Party, or any of the other groups, we know that these
are dead ends, will of the wisps that will act as lures into a dangerous swamp.

As we have said, thousands were inspired by the Corbynist wave. All of this enthusiasm could be channelled to inspire and create new
grassroots movements that are based on collective decision making, mandation of delegates, and direct action. This must be a movement that
organises outside the system, and is a movement that is not extra-parliamentary, but is one that is ANTI-PARLIAMENTARY. As Sylvia Pankhurst
said back in 1923: "Parliament is a decaying institution: it will pass away with the capitalist system" and: "Women could no more reform the
decaying parliamentary institution than men could...the woman professional politician is neither more nor less desirable than the man
professional: the less the world has of either, the better it is for it."

The mutual aid groups that have emerged during the pandemic, the direct action carried out by Black Lives Matter demonstrators and school
climate strikers, could be potential building blocks for such a movement, as can struggles around housing, around evictions, around safety
at work and job cuts and unemployment.

The thirst of so many for social justice and equality coupled with the grave concerns over climate change and pollution, should be the
driving force behind such a movement, one that is not shackled by links to Parliament and the State. We cannot afford any more of the traps
set by Labour, the Leninists or the Greens which seek to spike the guns of emerging social movements.

We know that potentially huge struggles are in the offing. They must be focussed around the streets and the workplaces, not Parliament.
Redundancies and mass unemployment, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the worsening climate crisis, racism, sexism, transphobia
and prejudice, police brutality, the housing crisis are issues that should mobilise us in our thousands upon thousands. None of these issues
are single issues, they are all interconnected and bolstered and bred by capitalism.

We know that the only long-term answer to all of these problems is a profound social revolution and the establishment of a new society,
based on the common sharing of the wealth of the world, on mutual aid, on the end of inequality, wars and borders. This is Anarchist Communism.

As was remarked upon recently in an article in Freedom News, "Anecdotally, more people are showing an interest in anarchism again,
particularly in the absence of a Leninist left which has leapt in with both feet to try and Win for Corbyn and is weak on its own account."
We know that in and around the movement around the Labour Party, there is an interest in anarchist communist ideas. Many are reading
anarchist communist classics like Kropotkin's Conquest of Bread and Mutual Aid, some via the various Left Book Clubs that have sprung up.

We urge those who are disgusted by recent events to join with us in creating a combative grassroots movement that acts for genuine social
change, that develops ideas of mass decision making and mass assemblies and that gears itself to the establishing of a truly just society,
Anarchist Communism.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/08/14/appeal-to-the-young/

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