Today's Topics:
1. US, WSA, ideas and action: Staring Into
The Abyss: American
Political Culture and the Calculus of
Political Culture and the Calculus of
Catastrophe By Martin
Traphagen (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Traphagen (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. A-Radio Berlin Greece: The murder of
Pavlos Fyssas and the
trial against Golden Dawn (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
trial against Golden Dawn (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. UK, November update from the Kate
Sharpley Library -- Lots
of stuff up on our website (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
of stuff up on our website (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. OASL: São Paulo: Old PSDB, Bolsonarism and
the limits the Left (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Greece, "bad horse" APO: Patras: Invitation to
an open
assembly in view of the mobilization on
assembly in view of the mobilization on
November 17 [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL
#309 - Anti-fascism,
Russia: Alexeï Soutouga, libertarian murdered
Russia: Alexeï Soutouga, libertarian murdered
for his ideas (de,
it, fr, pt)[machine translation]
it, fr, pt)[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Our last two election cycles have been uniquely erratic and polarizing. A figure emerged who preyed on the very real fears and concerns of
working class Americans, bucking conventional political niceties and declaring himself to be the antidote to a corrupt Washington elite. He
has ingratiated himself to his followers through his coarse and freewheeling style. They cling to him with such rabid devotion that any
challenge or criticism of the Dear Leader is met with immediate denunciation and denial. He has utilized the old populist facade to tear
apart environmental regulations, cut taxes on the wealthy, and sow the seeds of future wars. The supposed Democratic "resistance" refuses to
recognize their complicity in the destruction of the American working class. They instead hide behind virtuous outrage, stoking the same
fanatical mindset they chastise their political opponents for. In all this madness, many reasonable and hard-working people are drawn into
one or another form of extremism, or drop out of the discussion entirely. Social media has been effectively weaponized for disinformation
and propaganda purposes by both parties, and a disturbing number of Americans rely on these platforms for their news, especially younger
people. In this bizarre American alternate universe (where everyone is called "middle class") the cultural identity and radical history of
American workers is all but erased from history. Our country has an especially violent labor history, and a true socialist left has been
excluded from the legitimate political arena in a manner unlike any other industrial nation.
The last few decades of neoliberal assault have eroded the public's faith in their elected representatives and shown just how little the
attitudes of the general population matter when it comes to the formulation of policy. The revolving door between government and
concentrated wealth continues to revolve quite openly, and notwithstanding capitalism's egregious failures to serve the needs of working
people, we have yet to form a viable third party, or to truly shift the Democratic Party to the left in a meaningful way. The Sanders
campaign inspired many, and its aims were admirable, but in the end Bernie was sidelined brazenly by party machinery. So the Democratic
Party continues fulfilling its historic role, co-opting popular movements and blunting any radicalism that remains. They have embraced
identity politics yet class issues are still largely ignored. When it is beneficial politically they will feign overtures to the left, but
when push comes to shove they will fight tooth and nail to keep neoliberal orthodoxy intact. They are content to back a candidate who
appears ‘presidential' in contrast to the hated incumbent, one ready to move toward ‘civility' and to ‘heal the soul of this nation' - or
one who is, in my favorite Orwellian term, ‘pragmatic' - i.e. devoid of any political principles whatsoever. The Democratic Party has fallen
into a new sort of hysteria as of late. Pelosi has made a fool of herself on television, frantically refusing to compromise on any front
regarding coronavirus aid packages, and showing that her true allegiance lies with her class cohorts who remain unaffected by the economic
shutdown. In a system where most of our members of Congress are millionaires (and the rest aren't far behind), should we be surprised?
Approximately half of the voting-age population does not vote, and this figure has been quite stable for the last few election cycles. Less
than half of these non-voters (47%) have an attachment to a particular party (64% of voters do), and nearly half identify as independent
(45%) as opposed to less than a third of voters (30%). More revealing, nearly half of non-voters (46%) have family incomes of less than
$30,000, while the same is true for only 20% of those who vote.
It's no wonder that European voters who share the socioeconomic profile of non-voting Americans, tend to vote for Labour/Social
Democrat-style parties. Surely those EU parties have their own issues, and they are infected with similar ills as any other political party,
but at least their reformist goals try to address things like income inequality, labor rights, andmaintaining social programs that are under
attack. Their goals for a milder, gentler style of capitalism may help keep at bay some of the worst excesses of the system, and given the
chance, many Americans would vote for this kind of agenda- this was demonstrated powerfully by the Sanders campaign.
The last forty years under the acclaimed ‘bipartisan consensus' have decimated the purchasing power of working people, and increased
inequality at a rate never seen before in American history. Indeed, these were the objectives of those programs (financialization of the
economy, deregulation, privatization) designed to funnel wealth created by workers into the pockets of owners and managers, taking advantage
of emerging technologies and the newly global scope of capital. The form of ‘globalization' that has taken hold in this period is a
globalization of a particular sort, where through ‘free trade' agreements the rights of the rich to plunder unimpeded are codified into law,
superseding the nation-state for all intents and purposes. Their monopoly on the term ‘globalization' makes all who oppose it
‘anti-globalization' - as if we are provincial Luddites wishing to bury our heads in the sand and flee from the modern world into isolation.
However, true internationalism is rooted deep in our history as anarcho-syndicalists. We seek a different kind of globalization: one in
which technology empowers the population instead of impoverishes it, where drudgery can be eliminated and all the creative and intellectual
powers of human beings can be potentiated.
There is no simple electoral solution to the problems facing our society. Addressing them will require its radical reconstruction. Most of
my readers will agree that the foremost objective on the road to a new world must be the organization of workers outside the confines of the
bureaucratic unionism that the New Deal Coalition deemed tolerable. Since WWII, organized labor has essentially restricted their activities
to pursuing better wages, conditions etc. for those in their ranks while avoiding broader issues of social concern. Radical labor sentiments
in a recognized union could be redirected into elections, contract negotiations, meetings, minimizing strikes and allowing labor leaders to
occupy positions of influence. The spontaneity of the early 20th century was gone, and with it went the fear that labor could once strike in
the hearts of rulers.
"Factory workers had their greatest influence, and were able to exact their most substantial concessions from government, during the Great
Depression, in the years before they were organized into unions. Their power during the Great Depression was not rooted in organization, but
disruption." ("Poor People's Movements" - Richard Cloward & Francis Piven)
Without a cantankerous labor movement to contend with, private power has seemed able to implement it's agenda largely unopposed. But the
state-corporate onslaught of this period has had effects other than simply economic. Twin existential threats are looming - namely the
spectre of nuclear conflict, and catastrophic climate change.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Our last two election cycles have been uniquely erratic and polarizing. A figure emerged who preyed on the very real fears and concerns of
working class Americans, bucking conventional political niceties and declaring himself to be the antidote to a corrupt Washington elite. He
has ingratiated himself to his followers through his coarse and freewheeling style. They cling to him with such rabid devotion that any
challenge or criticism of the Dear Leader is met with immediate denunciation and denial. He has utilized the old populist facade to tear
apart environmental regulations, cut taxes on the wealthy, and sow the seeds of future wars. The supposed Democratic "resistance" refuses to
recognize their complicity in the destruction of the American working class. They instead hide behind virtuous outrage, stoking the same
fanatical mindset they chastise their political opponents for. In all this madness, many reasonable and hard-working people are drawn into
one or another form of extremism, or drop out of the discussion entirely. Social media has been effectively weaponized for disinformation
and propaganda purposes by both parties, and a disturbing number of Americans rely on these platforms for their news, especially younger
people. In this bizarre American alternate universe (where everyone is called "middle class") the cultural identity and radical history of
American workers is all but erased from history. Our country has an especially violent labor history, and a true socialist left has been
excluded from the legitimate political arena in a manner unlike any other industrial nation.
The last few decades of neoliberal assault have eroded the public's faith in their elected representatives and shown just how little the
attitudes of the general population matter when it comes to the formulation of policy. The revolving door between government and
concentrated wealth continues to revolve quite openly, and notwithstanding capitalism's egregious failures to serve the needs of working
people, we have yet to form a viable third party, or to truly shift the Democratic Party to the left in a meaningful way. The Sanders
campaign inspired many, and its aims were admirable, but in the end Bernie was sidelined brazenly by party machinery. So the Democratic
Party continues fulfilling its historic role, co-opting popular movements and blunting any radicalism that remains. They have embraced
identity politics yet class issues are still largely ignored. When it is beneficial politically they will feign overtures to the left, but
when push comes to shove they will fight tooth and nail to keep neoliberal orthodoxy intact. They are content to back a candidate who
appears ‘presidential' in contrast to the hated incumbent, one ready to move toward ‘civility' and to ‘heal the soul of this nation' - or
one who is, in my favorite Orwellian term, ‘pragmatic' - i.e. devoid of any political principles whatsoever. The Democratic Party has fallen
into a new sort of hysteria as of late. Pelosi has made a fool of herself on television, frantically refusing to compromise on any front
regarding coronavirus aid packages, and showing that her true allegiance lies with her class cohorts who remain unaffected by the economic
shutdown. In a system where most of our members of Congress are millionaires (and the rest aren't far behind), should we be surprised?
Approximately half of the voting-age population does not vote, and this figure has been quite stable for the last few election cycles. Less
than half of these non-voters (47%) have an attachment to a particular party (64% of voters do), and nearly half identify as independent
(45%) as opposed to less than a third of voters (30%). More revealing, nearly half of non-voters (46%) have family incomes of less than
$30,000, while the same is true for only 20% of those who vote.
It's no wonder that European voters who share the socioeconomic profile of non-voting Americans, tend to vote for Labour/Social
Democrat-style parties. Surely those EU parties have their own issues, and they are infected with similar ills as any other political party,
but at least their reformist goals try to address things like income inequality, labor rights, andmaintaining social programs that are under
attack. Their goals for a milder, gentler style of capitalism may help keep at bay some of the worst excesses of the system, and given the
chance, many Americans would vote for this kind of agenda- this was demonstrated powerfully by the Sanders campaign.
The last forty years under the acclaimed ‘bipartisan consensus' have decimated the purchasing power of working people, and increased
inequality at a rate never seen before in American history. Indeed, these were the objectives of those programs (financialization of the
economy, deregulation, privatization) designed to funnel wealth created by workers into the pockets of owners and managers, taking advantage
of emerging technologies and the newly global scope of capital. The form of ‘globalization' that has taken hold in this period is a
globalization of a particular sort, where through ‘free trade' agreements the rights of the rich to plunder unimpeded are codified into law,
superseding the nation-state for all intents and purposes. Their monopoly on the term ‘globalization' makes all who oppose it
‘anti-globalization' - as if we are provincial Luddites wishing to bury our heads in the sand and flee from the modern world into isolation.
However, true internationalism is rooted deep in our history as anarcho-syndicalists. We seek a different kind of globalization: one in
which technology empowers the population instead of impoverishes it, where drudgery can be eliminated and all the creative and intellectual
powers of human beings can be potentiated.
There is no simple electoral solution to the problems facing our society. Addressing them will require its radical reconstruction. Most of
my readers will agree that the foremost objective on the road to a new world must be the organization of workers outside the confines of the
bureaucratic unionism that the New Deal Coalition deemed tolerable. Since WWII, organized labor has essentially restricted their activities
to pursuing better wages, conditions etc. for those in their ranks while avoiding broader issues of social concern. Radical labor sentiments
in a recognized union could be redirected into elections, contract negotiations, meetings, minimizing strikes and allowing labor leaders to
occupy positions of influence. The spontaneity of the early 20th century was gone, and with it went the fear that labor could once strike in
the hearts of rulers.
"Factory workers had their greatest influence, and were able to exact their most substantial concessions from government, during the Great
Depression, in the years before they were organized into unions. Their power during the Great Depression was not rooted in organization, but
disruption." ("Poor People's Movements" - Richard Cloward & Francis Piven)
Without a cantankerous labor movement to contend with, private power has seemed able to implement it's agenda largely unopposed. But the
state-corporate onslaught of this period has had effects other than simply economic. Twin existential threats are looming - namely the
spectre of nuclear conflict, and catastrophic climate change.
At the beginning of the nuclear age, when it was still unclear what effect these weapons would have on international relations and popular
movements, Orwell wrote:
"..ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon
is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical
weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger,
while a simple weapon - so long as there is no answer to it - gives claws to the weak." (‘You and the Atomic Bomb' - Orwell)
The UN Security Council and the Non-Proliferation Treaty enshrined the rights of The United States, Russia, The U.K., France, and China to
possess nuclear weapons. This is in itself a type of victor's justice, following from the balance of power in the postwar world, although
the international non-proliferation regime mandates that the recognized nuclear weapons states work to halt the acquisition of nuclear
weapons by non-nuclear states, and move toward complete disarmament themselves. Discussion and activism surrounding nuclear weapons has
largely disappeared from American public consciousness since the end of the Cold War, and yet the risk has only increased from the days of
the fabled Cuban missile crisis when it was fresh in our collective mind. Even William Perry, a former Secretary Of Defense, and a hawkish
one, has said, "Our nuclear weapons policy is obsolete and dangerous. I know, because I helped to design it."
Talk of non-proliferation only appears at the highest levels of decision-making when it's a convenient cudgel to use against official
enemies like Iran and North Korea. Cold War propaganda tended to keep the issue of nuclear weapons on the table, but in a post superpower
world, where threats could not be "laid at the Kremlin's door" it has evaporated. As arms reduction treaties with Russia expire, the Trump
administration continues ignoring their overtures to renew. With Russia actively engaging militarily in the Middle East, and communication
between these forces deteriorating (especially in the air), the chance for a miscommunication or accident setting off a conflagration is
more and more likely. Recently there have been incidents (largely unreported) of Russian jets intercepting B-52 bombers and allegedly
"violating NATO's airspace."
This illustrates that tensions are at an all-time high, and from the perspective of Russian planners, their fear is not without
justification. Nukes notwithstanding, the Russian Federation is surrounded on all sides by American/NATO military installations with
overwhelming conventional military superiority, and provocations covert and overt are always coming from the US military establishment. A
month after the US pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the USS Tennessee ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)
left Naval Submarine Base King's Bay in Georgia carrying a low-yield Trident nuclear warhead in late 2019. The designation ‘low-yield' is
incredibly misleading- this warhead in particular was about1/3the yield of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima ("Little Boy"), and could easily
vaporize 20 square blocks of Manhattan. These low-yield weapons are supposed to be options for limited nuclear use that could avoid an
all-out nuclear-winter inducing war, but their deployment sends a clear message to official enemies. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Sergei Ryabkov said about the deployment:
"This reflects the fact that the United States is actually lowering the nuclear threshold and that they are conceding the possibility of
them waging a limited nuclear war and winning this war. This is extremely alarming."
The Trump administration Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) contains countless allusions to this new nuclear doctrine. Words like
"options","flexibility", working toward a "tailored" array of nuclear armaments for the:
"..unprecedented range and mix of threats, including major conventional, chemical, biological, nuclear, space, and cyber threats, and
violent nonstate actors."
This is a distinct reorientation of American nuclear policy from the Obama NPR and a shift toward development and deployment of these
low-yield weapons. The justification?
"To varying degrees, Russia and China have made clear they seek to substantially revise the post-Cold War international order and norms of
behavior."
This is an admission of American insecurity in a post-unipolar world-where American moral and economic examples have declined, and
overwhelming military superiority is clung to tightly.
The Nuclear Posture Review also pre-emptively addressed the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister's concern with a true piece of American
exceptionalist claptrap:
"In no way does this approach lower the nuclear threshold. Rather, by convincing adversaries that even limited use of nuclear weapons will
be more costly than they can tolerate, it in fact raises that threshold."
Comment should be superfluous here. And, while lip-service is paid to non-proliferation efforts and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT), our guardians at the Pentagon assure us that it's not meant for us:
"Although the United States will not seek ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, it will continue to support the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Committee as well as the International Monitoring System and the
International Data Center. The United States will not resume nuclear explosive testing unless necessary to ensure the safety and
effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and calls on all states possessing nuclear weapons to declare or maintain a moratorium on nuclear
testing. Arms control can contribute to U.S. security by helping to manage strategic competition among states. It can foster transparency,
understanding, and predictability in adversary relations, thereby reducing the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation." (My emphasis)
The merits of arms control are acknowledged, but we will continue to do as we please. Iran, one of Trump's favorite targets of ridicule, is
constantly vilified for allegedly seeking nuclear weapons, although they seem to essentially be abiding by IAEA/NPT guidelines for peaceful
enrichment of uranium. But from the perspective of their rulers, a look at the recent history of Libya, Iraq, and North Korea would seem to
suggest that the only viable deterrent against US/Israeli aggression is the acquisition of nuclear weapons- in this way militarism and even
threats of military force (both considered illegitimate under the UN Charter) encourage proliferation around the globe.
Ever since 1967, when Israel demonstrated to the world its military prowess, the United States has viewed them as a major strategic ally (in
Nixon's words, "cops on the beat").We have refrained from pressuring them to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, maintaining a policy of
‘deliberate ambiguity' about their nuclear arsenal. This undoubtedly influences regional affairs in a major way, and contributes to the U.S.
and Israel's ability to act with impunity in the region. On June 7th, 1981 Israel bombed the Osirak nuclear reactor, under construction just
south of Baghdad, killing ten Iraqis and one French civilian. Far from discouraging his ambitions, this only increased Sadaam Hussein's
desire to develop nuclear weapons. They carried out a similar raid on a suspected Syrian nuclear site in Deir Ez-Zour in 2007, after the
Bush administration declined to bomb it themselves. This kind of activity only makes an unstable region more volatile, and under the "Begin
Doctrine" this kind of pre-emptive strike has been enshrined in Israeli military strategy. Encouraging these kinds of actions from our
allies contributes to the security of no one, and is just one example of how American tentacles entangle the globe.
International institutions and organs like the UN, the ICC, the World Court, the Non Proliferation Treaty, are far from perfect. They are
most often instruments of the powerful- hailed as important when they suit the needs of the geopolitical moment, and blatantly ignored when
they interfere with their goals. But they do (in theory) embody certain principles that are worthwhile, like the resort to diplomacy instead
of force. As anarchists, I think our justified skepticism of these bodies can allow us to forget how important a little diplomacy could be,
when the stakes are as high as they are with regard to nuclear war. The logic of deterrence is fundamentally a doomed one based on
brinkmanship- a playground bully mentality- forcing adversaries to make decisions under duress, while incrementally elevating the level of
risk, and bargaining that they will capitulate before we do. Diplomatic engagement can at least bring a modicum of regularity to
international relations.
The other existential threat we face as a species, anthropogenic climate change, gets much more fanfare and media attention than nuclear
weapons. Indeed it's a fashionable cause for the Enlightened Liberal. Every day we are reminded of the overwhelming scientific consensus and
the very limited amount of time we have to rectify it, before the process becomes autocatalytic and we have no chance of countering it.
Glacial retreat, rising sea levels, and the melting of permafrost loaded with CO2 will all have disastrous consequences for humanity if
their root cause is not addressed. That cause of course is our reliance on fossil fuels and the gigantic amount of power those who profit
from them wield in our society and the world, and by extension, an economic system that prioritizes capital accumulation at any cost.
The most powerful office on Earth- President of The United States- is occupied by an ignorant billionaire who, although devoid of any
principles of his own, has courted the votes and affections of the Evangelical Christian right-wing, who disregard the relevant science
entirely and believe it is their God-given prerogative to plunder the planet of its natural resources. The current and former heads of the
EPA, both nominated by Trump, disregard the scientific consensus and have long been advocates for fossil fuel interests. Obama's nomination,
by contrast, was a health and air-quality expert with a career spent working on environmental issues at the local and state level. This is
no great credit to Obama- at the very least, someone tasked with leading an agency like the EPA should actually have a commitment to
environmentalism and effective regulation.
The famed Paris Accords, often invoked to show just how saintly Obama was, set goals that were insufficient, and since their adoption the
amount of impassioned rhetoric far outweighs any concrete actions taken toward CO2 reduction. But this is yet another area where recognition
of the problem, and a seat at the table, is far better than blatant disregard- especially when we consider the outsize influence US policy
has on other countries. The next few years may well be crucial in countering the aggravation of the climate problem unleashed by Trump's
policies:
"The most lasting domestic damage of a Trump Administration may be in the erosion of institutions - both regulatory (e.g. the US EPA under
Scott Pruitt) and those supporting climate science (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)), with funding to climate-change-related programmes cut. These actions could damage US institutions and capacity
on climate policy and regulation for a long time to come....They estimate that near-term emissions trends will remain flat, no matter what
the current US Administration does or does not do, and that President Trump's impact on cumulative US emissions will be small if a
subsequent administration gets back onto a trajectory towards an 80% reduction... As pointed out by several authors, the negative impact of
one term of a Trump Presidency may be manageable and reversible, but two terms would be far more damaging."(My emphasis)
I am someone who believes the ballot-box is intrinsically insufficient as a means for the transformation of society. Obama's presidency is
just the most recent example of a candidate who promised a lot, inspired people momentarily, yet ended up accelerating the worst tendencies
of his predecessor. Jimmy Carter comes to mind as well as, JFK, Clinton, and the list goes on. But the issues I have addressed above, issues
of human survival, have compelled me to at least question whether a vote for Biden would be a worthwhile one, considering the alternative. I
disagree with the inflammatory use of the word ‘fascist' when it comes to Trump- mostly I don't think that kind of language is helpful when
it comes to winning over his supporters and changing their minds, and it's inaccurate. Trump is essentially neoliberalism on steroids,
without the conventional human rights rhetoric and gestures of international collaboration (always hollow anyhow). In a sense it gives him
too much credit- fascism is at least an internally consistent ideology, a concept he cannot comprehend. This kind of rhetoric reinforces the
idea that Trump is dismantling and destroying something that is sacrosanct, that he represents a unique evil- and if we could just get back
to business as usual, we could absolve ourselves of him. The fanatical focus on Trump has allowed the Republican Senate to implement its
agenda quietly in the background, while Americans compete over who can be most eloquently outraged about his most recent episode of
stupidity while longing for benevolent Obama and his "presidential" characteristics. However, Trump does exhibit highly troubling
tendencies, and sometimes it seems like a miracle that we aren't embroiled in a major war already.
As much as the unquestioning faith in electoralism troubles me, I am also bothered by the rigid abstentionism of the radical left. I
attended a meeting weeks ago of a prominent Trotskyist group with an international presence, which I will not name. Activists and writers of
this persuasion will usually have something of substance to offer on history and analysis of popular struggles. Their publications are often
informative, and put together in a sophisticated manner and style. Although I expected to disagree on theoretical and tactical points, I was
interested in what major socialist organizations were saying about the choices we face. As I was listening to their opening remarks, I was
unsurprised- they offered an essentially coherent analysis of current conditions, even if it was a little reliant on Marxist jargon.
Eventually, when the floor was opened up for the 30 plus people attending, I posed a careful question about whether the dangers of nuclear
war and climate change altered the calculus of lesser-evilism at all, touching on points I have laid out above. Their reversion back to
arguments about a "worker's party" was instantaneous. When I tried to deepen the discussion a little and discuss the underlying logic of
lesser-evil politics under current conditions, I was met with simplistic socialist catchphrases about having to "make a revolution anyway"
(verbatim). They were rightly distrustful of the two major capitalist parties, yet they self-assuredly talk of the electoral triumph of a
party composed of "workers" that will somehow be immune to the intoxication that newfound political power brings. They fail to acknowledge
that if they attained political power, the moment they became party functionaries they would cease to truly be workers any more- simply
becoming a new elite class atop the hierarchy, with all the trappings and privileges of power, different only in name from those they have
deposed. The widespread belief seemed to be that if one did not choose to abstain, a protest vote for a socialist party would be the only
morally upright choice. This I cannot understand.
In some sense, yes, a Biden vote should sting for anyone with socialist convictions. But we all know that a protest vote is essentially
futile. It's simply a defiant gesture, a middle-finger to the system. This is an understandable sentiment, but my personal belief is that
voting is no more than a tactic, and you are not bound somehow morally or metaphysically to the person you vote for, nor are you responsible
as an individual for the consequences of what happens during their administration. You are exercising your very limited available means to
try and affect decision-making in your society. The quadrennial public relations offensive rages on about our sacred duty and the ‘soul of
our nation', yet at this point in American history it's been painstakingly documented just how little our votes matter, and just how much
wealth matters. A vote for Biden wouldn't mean you must abandon all radical organizing activity, surrender your copies of Marx, and donate
your wages to the Brookings Institution. But it may mean that the US pays a little attention to decaying arms control treaties and attempts
to actually regulate fossil fuel corporations. As long as it was entered into without illusions, I wouldn't hold a Biden vote against any of
my comrades in swing states. We'll save the Electoral College for another day...
I believe there was a time in American history where dedicated electoral work could truly change society. The struggles of all the women and
black Americans who fought courageously for their rightful place at the ballot-box must be recognized. Their fight was not in vain. A
radical organized working class, one fully aware of its power to bring the wheels of society to a halt, provided a counterweight to the
corrupting influence of power and profit in the political arena, and allowed it to make meaningful steps in the creation of a better world
for the toiling masses. In the end the only way to truly reach nuclear disarmament is to dismantle and displace archaic nation-state
structures and military machines with directly-democratic federated groups of workers and communities- structures that truly embody
democracy and will faithfully execute the popular will, which overwhelmingly supports peace and co-operation. The only beneficiaries of
violence are those who seek power and the maintenance of power. The proponents of ethno-religious zealotry and nationalist chauvinism thrive
on division and mistrust, as they always have. The only way to take control of the climate crisis is to wrest economic power from those who
pollute and destroy, and in the short-term, to deal with the world as it is, and use the limited tools available to us with eyes toward the
future. These goals are deeply intertwined and cannot happen in isolation.
In April of 2018, seven Catholic activists broke into Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, the home port of the USS Tennessee. They hung
banners, destroyed signs, and spread human blood, calling for worldwide disarmament by ‘symbolically disarming' the facility. Members of the
Plowshares Movement, a Catholic radical pacifist group with an important history, they derive their name from the words of the prophet Isaiah:
"..they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more." - Isaiah 2:4
Father Daniel Berrigan, founding member of the movement, diagnosed the unique malady of us privileged citizens of empire succinctly:
"Georgetown Poems-The Trouble With Our State" - by Father Daniel Berrigan
The trouble with our state
was not civil disobedience
which in any case was hesitant and rare
Civil disobedience was as rare as kidney stone
No, rarer; it was disappearing like immigrants' disease
You've heard of a war on cancer?
There is no war like the plague of media
There is no war like routine
There is no war like 3 square meals
There is no war like a prevailing wind
It blows softly; whispers
don't rock the boat!
the sails obey, the ship of state rolls on.
The trouble with our state
-we learned it only afterward
when the dead resembled the living who resembled the dead
and civil virtue shone like paint on tin
and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched to the common whip
-our trouble
the trouble with our state
with our state of soul
our state of siege-was
Civil
obedience
Sources:
Trump/Obama Administration Nuclear Posture Review -[https://dod.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/NPR/]
http://ideasandaction.info/2020/11/staring-abyss-american-political-culture-calculus-catastrophe/
------------------------------
Message: 2
Dear all, ---- In the end of October 2020 we had the opportunity of talking to a comrade from Greece about the murder of antifascist rapper
Pavlos Fyssas (Killah P) in 2013 and the recent trial against the neonazi party Golden Dawn. ---- Furthermore, she talks to us about the
local context, the reactions on different levels to the verdict and what follows for the antifascist struggle. ---- You'll find the audio
(to listen online or download) here:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/greece-the-murder-of-rapper-pavlos-fyssas-and-the-trial-against-golden-dawn/ ---- Length: 34:05 min ---- You
can find other English audios as well as all issues of the monthly anarchist show "Bad News" here: https://www.aradio-berlin.org/en/audios-2/.
Among our last audios you can find:
* An interview about the origins, the state's reaction and the role of
alternative media in the uprising in Belarus:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/belarus-rebellion-against-dictatorship/
* An interview about tactics and challenges in the ongoing social
uprising in Slovenia:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/slovenia-tactics-and-challenges-in-the-ongoing-social-uprising/
* A jingle mobilizing to the resistance against the eviction of Syndikat
in Berlin-Neukölln:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/syndikat-mobi-7-8-2020-long-jingle-en/
* An interview on the new anarchist-run videohosting platform Kolektiva:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/kolektiva-media-en/
* An interview from The Final Straw Radio with a translator of the
Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran about the political context and
ongoing struggles:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/perspectives-from-iranian-anarchists/
* An audio from the Channel Zero Network with advice on how to improve
your safety at street actions:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/extra-channel-zero-network-staying-safe-at-street-actions/
Enjoy! And please feel free to share!
A-Radio Berlin
ps.: We are on Mastodon and Twitter! Please feel welcome to follow us at
@aradio_berlin!
ps2.: Please note: We are always looking for people willing to lend us a
hand with transcriptions and translations from Spanish or German into
English as well as people able to do voice recordings - in order to
amplify our international radio work. You can contact us at
aradio-berlin/at/riseup(dot)net!
------------------------------
Message: 3
It seems like a while since the September update. Here's some reading. Stay safe, comrades. ---- Thoughts on Francesco Ghezzi ---- Francesco
Ghezzi was an anarchist militant from Milan who was also active in France, Switzerland, Germany and Russia (and was imprisoned in the last
three countries)... ---- On the 5 November 1937 Ghezzi was arrested for the final time. His case file records his frank replies to the
secret police ‘I declare that I was and remain an anarchist, and that no one will change my convictions.'... ----
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fttgj8 ---- David Graeber and Anarchism by Octavio Alberola ---- 'The untimely death of anthropologist
and activist David Graeber has triggered a wave of emotion in social networks and in the world press, generating lots of headlines, in
recognition of the intellectual worth of his wide-ranging and priceless work as well as his militant activism.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/6t1hcx
The Catalan Bricklayer Who Was the First of the Argentinean Dictatorships' "disappeared" by Andrés Actis
'"Long live anarchy!" Joaquín Penina's final shout was swallowed up by the vastness of the Paraná river in Rosario, Argentina. There was no
one there to listen. Those were the last words he uttered before he was murdered just a few metres from the ravine. For the rest of his
life, the exhortation haunted the memory of Sub-lieutenant Jorge Rodríguez, the police officer who instructed the firing squad. After he
retired from the police, he confessed to the crime, the execution. He could not forget either that cry or the tone - firm, emphatic,
impassioned - of Penina's farewell to this world.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/jm65nc
France's Basses Pyrénées Department and the Spanish Guerrillas by Imanol
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/wwq1f7
Operation Frankton and the Role of Spanish Libertarians by Imanol
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/zgmv9s
It All Began With Him: Xosé Villaverde, Galician Trade Unionism's Great Organizer by Eduardo Pérez
'Despite some initial resistance, by the end of July 1936 the military coup had quickly overrun Galicia. That august Xosé Villaverde was
arrested. As in the case of Peiró, the new regime urged him to work with its ‘trade union' organs. His refusal led to his being shot on 24
September. The following day, his corpse showed upon Sabon beach.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/rn8rct
Two pieces from the Anti-Conscription League
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qjq447
Pepita Laguarda (1919-1936), the youngest female militian killed in action by Félix Población
'She ran away from home and, with her partner Juan López Carvajal, enlisted in the Ascaso Column, only to perish on the Huesca front on her
first day in action'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/08kqxv
Shlioma Asnin by Dmitrii I. Ivanov
Asnin was killed in the retaking of the Durnova dacha by government forces in Petrograd in June 1917. In this article Ivanov shows how an
"ordinary" criminal could come to join the anarchists, and how his dead body, with its tattoos recording his "criminal past" was used to
justify the repression. (link to article)
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/djhcft
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------------------------------
Message: 4
The residents of São Paulo were the first to live with the covid-19, starting in March, and with its strong effects. ---- The residents of
São Paulo were the first to live with the covid-19, starting in March, and with its strong effects. ---- The health crisis - aggravated by
insufficient governmental measures - contributed to a great precariousness of living and working conditions, especially for the peripheral
population. In the city of São Paulo, more than 13,000 people are already dead due to the new coronavirus, which continues to threaten the
population in workplaces, public transport, leisure and the like. Unemployment reaches 15% in the municipality, in addition to millions of
people employed in precarious jobs, with incomes that do not close the month's accounts.
In this context, the electoral campaign in the largest city in the country takes place, on the one hand, under great popular disinterest,
but, on the other, with the attention of the powerful, since it can influence the direction of politics for 2022. Candidates with some
viability fluctuate between Bolsonarism, PSDB liberalism, the institutional left and a "third way", which seeks to place itself outside
polarization.
In all, 14 applications were registered. In the field on the right, Bruno Covas (PSDB), current mayor of the city and former deputy of João
Doria (PSDB), tries to guarantee his second term. Its administration can be remembered, among other things, for the disaster in the
janitorial area of the city, abandoning the most precarious areas. The Anhangabaú Valley, for example, whose renovation cost the city hall
about R $ 100 million, was granted to the private sector for 6.5 million for the next ten years. The business community, therefore,
benefited at the expense of the city's population. In addition, Covas boasts the approval of the Municipal Pension Reform, which only did
harm to women and men in the municipality. Following the history of his party, the current mayor is an adherent of anti-people policies.
Celso Russomanno (Republicans) is another exponent of the right. In order not to be left behind again - as in the 2012 and 2016 elections -
he openly became the candidate of Jair Bolsonaro in the capital of São Paulo. He also seeks to rely on the visibility obtained on TV Record
- broadcaster allied with Bolsonarism. A federal deputy since 1995, Russomanno is another supporter of anti-people policies, despite saying
the opposite. In 2016, it supported the "PEC da Morte", which instituted the Spending Ceiling, a device that, for 20 years, will limit the
necessary public investments. He also defended the Labor (2017) and Social Security (2019) Reforms, in addition to unrestricted outsourcing,
which precarious labor relations (2017). Although he promises, in a campaign, to provide emergency assistance at the municipal level, he
voted, as a deputy, against the extension of the emergency aid currently in force. Therefore, his harmful actions go beyond humiliating male
and female workers on his television program and not paying due labor rights in his other ventures.
Candidate Arthur do Val (Patriota) is the representative of MBL, which tries to resume the spotlight. Contrary to the public service and
defender of neolibeal privataria, it seeks to stand out by creating controversies, such as the attacks on Father Júlio Lancellotti, who is
dedicated to the homeless population. Federal deputy Joice Hasselmann (PSL) was leader of the Bolsonaro government in Congress, upholding
cruel measures against us workers, such as the Pension Reform. Marina Helou (REDE) is the typical easy-to-speak environmentalist, who
advocates greater "sustainability" without seeking to break with the interests that aggravate environmental problems.
At least Marcio França's (PSB) candidacy is curious. Member of a party that, in theory, claims the center-left and supported by the PDT,
France has a trajectory that represents physiologism and political opportunism. He was mayor of São Vicente for two terms, electing his
deputy in a wide range of alliances, which dominated politics in the city. As a federal deputy, he was an ally of the Lula government, even
joining the political council of the then president. Leader of the PSB, he brought the party closer to Alckmin (PSDB) and entered the state
government - first as secretary, then as vice governor - reinforcing the truculent, privatist government and remembered for the school lunch
theft scandal. Old political fox, with the government machine in hand, in 2018, he was almost elected governor, losing to João Doria by less
than 4 percentage points. This year, before the campaign began, he tried to link his image to Jair Bolsonaro, but now he bases his campaign
on fleeing polarization, saying that he has no "tail stuck" with anyone.
In the left field, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) is the one that has stood out the most through the strengthening of advertising on social
networks and the growing adherence to the class conciliation program very close to PT. According to the election polls, the MTST leader
currently occupies the third position. It has grown among the younger and middle-class strata, but its popularity still has a low reach on
the outskirts of the city. This fact seems to reflect, to a great extent, the difficulties of organic insertion in the bases of an
expressive portion of the left, which for a long time has turned, primarily, to the electoral dispute. Even his proposal for work fronts to
generate jobs does not seem to win this more impoverished share. To guarantee electoral viability, Boulos has Luiza Erundina, former mayor
of São Paulo in the early 1990s, as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was
received, for example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle
classes, he proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that
of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during
the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the
party to reach the popular bases. as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was
received, for example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle
classes, he proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that
of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during
the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to
reach the popular base. as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was received, for
example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he
proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM -
above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during the
administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the
party to reach the popular bases. he was received, for example, for a sabbatical at the Associação Comercial de São Paulo - the "house of
liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he proposes, for example, to expand the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose
brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to
authorization to possession of weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an
alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the
advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. he was received, for example, for a sabbatical at the
Associação Comercial de São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he proposes, for example, to expand the
number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since he obtained police
power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad
(2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the
program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. expand
the number of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since it obtained
police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to carry weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012
-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program
in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. expand the
number of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since it obtained police
power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to carry weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012 -2016).
Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the
party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. it becomes
increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the
lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. it becomes increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in
the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases.
The candidacies of Jilmar Tatto (PT) and Orlando Silva (PCdoB), in turn, present difficulties in growth. Because of the electoral
unfeasibility, both rehearse a discourse more to the left than in traditional campaigns, unlike other capitals, where they have a chance of
winning. Tatto, despite having the support of Lula and being part of a mass party that has ruled the city on three occasions, remains as an
"unknown" candidate for a significant portion of São Paulo and São Paulo residents - in addition, many PT supporters have opted for Boulos .
Orlando Silva nationalized the campaign, with a more emphatic speech against Bolsonaro, against unemployment and anti-racist.
PCO and PSTU launched, respectively, the candidacies of Antonio Carlos and Vera Lúcia, but, as usual, they play the role of "denouncing" the
electoral process, since they are not viable under the "rules of the game". Vera has as one of the main banners the creation of popular
councils, a proposal that we believe can only be achieved from below, outside the power of the State. Despite the more combative speech,
even this denunciation role is practically rendered unfeasible by electoral restrictions and the media boycott. The tactic of using the
electoral process to make revolutionary propaganda, in our view, has the opposite effect: in debates, this is not made clear and the
impression given to workers is that these candidates intend to win the process. In this way,
The State and its facets - the governments - are the instrument for guaranteeing the privileges of the ruling classes. They are, therefore,
never aligned with our interests as oppressed classes. Even though the institutional left gives prominence to the electoral dispute, its
limits, for us, are evident: not for nothing, in recent years, there have been several attacks against those below, such as the Social
Security, Labor Reforms and the Expenditure Ceiling - which limits public investment.
The electoral process is illusory for the oppressed classes. The conquests we have obtained, throughout history, were due to the organized
struggle and popular pressure, not to the dispute to enter governments or to well-intentioned politicians. Regardless of who occupies the
city hall from 2021 onwards, we will only be able to stop attacks and setbacks from direct action and class independence. As organized
anarchists, we continue to bet on strengthening unions, housing movements, student spaces and others of our class. We believe that direct
action is the only way to stop the advance of the right and attacks from the ruling class! It is necessary to tell our class that there is
no possibility of a dignified life by negotiating and directing militancy towards the management of the bourgeois state machine.
Organização Anarquista Socialismo Libertário - São Paulo
https://anarquismosp.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/sao-paulo-velho-psdb-bolsonarismo-e-os-limites-da-esquerda/
------------------------------
Message: 5
The LockDown and the traffic ban imposed by the state as well as the unprecedented conditions created by the outbreak of the pandemic create
a peculiar framework in which we are called to plan and act as militants. ---- In the midst of a pandemic and the spread of the virus, the
criminal, parasitic and anti-social nature of the state emerges in every way, which is indifferent to human life and the vast majority of
the society and is only interested in maximizing the profits of the bosses. The only thing the rulers want is to save the economy and
"return to capitalist normality." The murderous policy of the state does not include any substantial measures to support the NSS and to stop
the spread of the pandemic, except for poor communication tricks and poor ideologies of individual responsibility. The only "right" that
bosses recognize in the midst of a health crisis is that of production and consumption. The vast majority of society should be stacked in
the workplace without any measures, to be trampled on in the MMM and to be left without basic medical care, while at the same time cops will
be hired, military equipment will be purchased and the "big walks" will take place with fiestas of millions. At the same time, rallies,
demonstrations and any kind of mobilization are targeted as health bombs.
The health crisis of Covid 19 is used by the state to hit the resistances with even greater intensity and to implement various
anti-social-anti-labor plans with as little resistance and conflict as possible. The junta bill to ban demonstrations, the anti-education
bill, the multi-bill on nature looting, teleworking and distance learning, the new bill that comes to abolish the 8-hour work, the special
police body for schools is only some of the designs that have been implemented.
The repressive campaign of the state continues with great intensity lately. The new repressive arsenal of the state is implemented.
Occupiers are beaten, militants are arrested, trade unionism is banned, demonstrations are banned and brutally beaten by repressive forces.
In the midst of a curfew it is imperative and necessary to find ourselves in the streets of struggle and resistance. Under no circumstances
should political action be suspended but instead escalated. Against the bans and the coordinated attack of the state and capital, let us put
forward the organized and uncompromising struggle. To clash with the laws and requirements of the rulers.
On Tuesday, November 10, we call an open meeting at 19:00 in the Occupation of the Branch to discuss-plan our movement and organized
presence in view of the mobilization for November 17.
anarchist group "bad horse" - member of the Anarchist Political Organization
https://ipposd.wordpress.com/
------------------------------
Message: 6
Alexei Soutouga, said Socrates, anti-fascist and anarchist 34 years died on 1 stSeptember as a result of serious injury resulting from an
attack last week on the streets of Moscow. A well-known activist in the Moscow punk scene, Socrates had also already been the target of
state arbitrariness for opposing neo-Nazis. ---- They were four this August 23 in the center of Moscow near the Baumanskaya metro station to
fall headlong into our comrade Alexeï. Although at the time of this writing the exact circumstances of this deadly aggression are not yet
known, it would be surprising if they were foreign to the political course of Alexis, an anti-fascist militant and a Moscow libertarian
communist.
Alexei, also known as Socrates, in 2002 participated in the creation of the revolutionary anarchist federation, Autonomous Action, a
grouping of anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalists, autonomes and radical environmentalists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Dissolved in
2005, Autonomous Action promoted direct action against the state and fascist groups. In 2014, Alexis was sentenced to three years in prison,
accused of assault by neo-Nazis - who recognized him as an anti-fascist leader seen on the internet - following a mock trial. His anarchist
and anti-fascist activism then earned him to be prosecuted in many cases just as under equally fallacious pretexts.
Former activist of the organization Avtonom, Alexeï was also a singer of the group Working Boys.
Political activist, participating in particular in the anarchist magazine Avtonom [1], Alexeï was also an activist of the Moscow
counter-cultural scene. Singer of the street-punk group Working Boys, he was also involved in the adventure of the Teatr.doc theater, which
for nearly twenty years has rhymed contemporary theatrical forms with committed intentions. Finally, last May Alexeï had published his
memoirs of prisonsDialogues about the prison .
If the motivations of Alexei's aggressors are not yet established, our Russian anarchist and anti-fascist comrades face on the one hand
organized and particularly active and violent fascist groups and an equally violent repression and torture on the part of the state
apparatus. From rigged trials to arbitrary imprisonment
the state seeks by all means to silence dissenting voices and union activists, libertarians and anti-fascists [2]. All our thoughts and
support today go to the parents and relatives of Alexeï, and in particular his son [3]. Solidarity is our weapon, your blows will not kill
our ideas.
David (UCL Grand Paris Sud)
Validate
[1] Autonomous Action website avtonom.org/en
[2] Call for actions of solidarity with imprisoned Russian anarchists and anti-fascists: lahorde.samizdat.net
[3] To make a donation to Alexeï's mother and help her cover the funeral costs in particular: paypal.me/sutugaolga
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Russie-Alexei-Soutouga-libertaire-assassine-pour-ses-idees
------------------------------
movements, Orwell wrote:
"..ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon
is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical
weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger,
while a simple weapon - so long as there is no answer to it - gives claws to the weak." (‘You and the Atomic Bomb' - Orwell)
The UN Security Council and the Non-Proliferation Treaty enshrined the rights of The United States, Russia, The U.K., France, and China to
possess nuclear weapons. This is in itself a type of victor's justice, following from the balance of power in the postwar world, although
the international non-proliferation regime mandates that the recognized nuclear weapons states work to halt the acquisition of nuclear
weapons by non-nuclear states, and move toward complete disarmament themselves. Discussion and activism surrounding nuclear weapons has
largely disappeared from American public consciousness since the end of the Cold War, and yet the risk has only increased from the days of
the fabled Cuban missile crisis when it was fresh in our collective mind. Even William Perry, a former Secretary Of Defense, and a hawkish
one, has said, "Our nuclear weapons policy is obsolete and dangerous. I know, because I helped to design it."
Talk of non-proliferation only appears at the highest levels of decision-making when it's a convenient cudgel to use against official
enemies like Iran and North Korea. Cold War propaganda tended to keep the issue of nuclear weapons on the table, but in a post superpower
world, where threats could not be "laid at the Kremlin's door" it has evaporated. As arms reduction treaties with Russia expire, the Trump
administration continues ignoring their overtures to renew. With Russia actively engaging militarily in the Middle East, and communication
between these forces deteriorating (especially in the air), the chance for a miscommunication or accident setting off a conflagration is
more and more likely. Recently there have been incidents (largely unreported) of Russian jets intercepting B-52 bombers and allegedly
"violating NATO's airspace."
This illustrates that tensions are at an all-time high, and from the perspective of Russian planners, their fear is not without
justification. Nukes notwithstanding, the Russian Federation is surrounded on all sides by American/NATO military installations with
overwhelming conventional military superiority, and provocations covert and overt are always coming from the US military establishment. A
month after the US pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the USS Tennessee ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)
left Naval Submarine Base King's Bay in Georgia carrying a low-yield Trident nuclear warhead in late 2019. The designation ‘low-yield' is
incredibly misleading- this warhead in particular was about1/3the yield of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima ("Little Boy"), and could easily
vaporize 20 square blocks of Manhattan. These low-yield weapons are supposed to be options for limited nuclear use that could avoid an
all-out nuclear-winter inducing war, but their deployment sends a clear message to official enemies. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Sergei Ryabkov said about the deployment:
"This reflects the fact that the United States is actually lowering the nuclear threshold and that they are conceding the possibility of
them waging a limited nuclear war and winning this war. This is extremely alarming."
The Trump administration Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) contains countless allusions to this new nuclear doctrine. Words like
"options","flexibility", working toward a "tailored" array of nuclear armaments for the:
"..unprecedented range and mix of threats, including major conventional, chemical, biological, nuclear, space, and cyber threats, and
violent nonstate actors."
This is a distinct reorientation of American nuclear policy from the Obama NPR and a shift toward development and deployment of these
low-yield weapons. The justification?
"To varying degrees, Russia and China have made clear they seek to substantially revise the post-Cold War international order and norms of
behavior."
This is an admission of American insecurity in a post-unipolar world-where American moral and economic examples have declined, and
overwhelming military superiority is clung to tightly.
The Nuclear Posture Review also pre-emptively addressed the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister's concern with a true piece of American
exceptionalist claptrap:
"In no way does this approach lower the nuclear threshold. Rather, by convincing adversaries that even limited use of nuclear weapons will
be more costly than they can tolerate, it in fact raises that threshold."
Comment should be superfluous here. And, while lip-service is paid to non-proliferation efforts and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT), our guardians at the Pentagon assure us that it's not meant for us:
"Although the United States will not seek ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, it will continue to support the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Committee as well as the International Monitoring System and the
International Data Center. The United States will not resume nuclear explosive testing unless necessary to ensure the safety and
effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and calls on all states possessing nuclear weapons to declare or maintain a moratorium on nuclear
testing. Arms control can contribute to U.S. security by helping to manage strategic competition among states. It can foster transparency,
understanding, and predictability in adversary relations, thereby reducing the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation." (My emphasis)
The merits of arms control are acknowledged, but we will continue to do as we please. Iran, one of Trump's favorite targets of ridicule, is
constantly vilified for allegedly seeking nuclear weapons, although they seem to essentially be abiding by IAEA/NPT guidelines for peaceful
enrichment of uranium. But from the perspective of their rulers, a look at the recent history of Libya, Iraq, and North Korea would seem to
suggest that the only viable deterrent against US/Israeli aggression is the acquisition of nuclear weapons- in this way militarism and even
threats of military force (both considered illegitimate under the UN Charter) encourage proliferation around the globe.
Ever since 1967, when Israel demonstrated to the world its military prowess, the United States has viewed them as a major strategic ally (in
Nixon's words, "cops on the beat").We have refrained from pressuring them to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, maintaining a policy of
‘deliberate ambiguity' about their nuclear arsenal. This undoubtedly influences regional affairs in a major way, and contributes to the U.S.
and Israel's ability to act with impunity in the region. On June 7th, 1981 Israel bombed the Osirak nuclear reactor, under construction just
south of Baghdad, killing ten Iraqis and one French civilian. Far from discouraging his ambitions, this only increased Sadaam Hussein's
desire to develop nuclear weapons. They carried out a similar raid on a suspected Syrian nuclear site in Deir Ez-Zour in 2007, after the
Bush administration declined to bomb it themselves. This kind of activity only makes an unstable region more volatile, and under the "Begin
Doctrine" this kind of pre-emptive strike has been enshrined in Israeli military strategy. Encouraging these kinds of actions from our
allies contributes to the security of no one, and is just one example of how American tentacles entangle the globe.
International institutions and organs like the UN, the ICC, the World Court, the Non Proliferation Treaty, are far from perfect. They are
most often instruments of the powerful- hailed as important when they suit the needs of the geopolitical moment, and blatantly ignored when
they interfere with their goals. But they do (in theory) embody certain principles that are worthwhile, like the resort to diplomacy instead
of force. As anarchists, I think our justified skepticism of these bodies can allow us to forget how important a little diplomacy could be,
when the stakes are as high as they are with regard to nuclear war. The logic of deterrence is fundamentally a doomed one based on
brinkmanship- a playground bully mentality- forcing adversaries to make decisions under duress, while incrementally elevating the level of
risk, and bargaining that they will capitulate before we do. Diplomatic engagement can at least bring a modicum of regularity to
international relations.
The other existential threat we face as a species, anthropogenic climate change, gets much more fanfare and media attention than nuclear
weapons. Indeed it's a fashionable cause for the Enlightened Liberal. Every day we are reminded of the overwhelming scientific consensus and
the very limited amount of time we have to rectify it, before the process becomes autocatalytic and we have no chance of countering it.
Glacial retreat, rising sea levels, and the melting of permafrost loaded with CO2 will all have disastrous consequences for humanity if
their root cause is not addressed. That cause of course is our reliance on fossil fuels and the gigantic amount of power those who profit
from them wield in our society and the world, and by extension, an economic system that prioritizes capital accumulation at any cost.
The most powerful office on Earth- President of The United States- is occupied by an ignorant billionaire who, although devoid of any
principles of his own, has courted the votes and affections of the Evangelical Christian right-wing, who disregard the relevant science
entirely and believe it is their God-given prerogative to plunder the planet of its natural resources. The current and former heads of the
EPA, both nominated by Trump, disregard the scientific consensus and have long been advocates for fossil fuel interests. Obama's nomination,
by contrast, was a health and air-quality expert with a career spent working on environmental issues at the local and state level. This is
no great credit to Obama- at the very least, someone tasked with leading an agency like the EPA should actually have a commitment to
environmentalism and effective regulation.
The famed Paris Accords, often invoked to show just how saintly Obama was, set goals that were insufficient, and since their adoption the
amount of impassioned rhetoric far outweighs any concrete actions taken toward CO2 reduction. But this is yet another area where recognition
of the problem, and a seat at the table, is far better than blatant disregard- especially when we consider the outsize influence US policy
has on other countries. The next few years may well be crucial in countering the aggravation of the climate problem unleashed by Trump's
policies:
"The most lasting domestic damage of a Trump Administration may be in the erosion of institutions - both regulatory (e.g. the US EPA under
Scott Pruitt) and those supporting climate science (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)), with funding to climate-change-related programmes cut. These actions could damage US institutions and capacity
on climate policy and regulation for a long time to come....They estimate that near-term emissions trends will remain flat, no matter what
the current US Administration does or does not do, and that President Trump's impact on cumulative US emissions will be small if a
subsequent administration gets back onto a trajectory towards an 80% reduction... As pointed out by several authors, the negative impact of
one term of a Trump Presidency may be manageable and reversible, but two terms would be far more damaging."(My emphasis)
I am someone who believes the ballot-box is intrinsically insufficient as a means for the transformation of society. Obama's presidency is
just the most recent example of a candidate who promised a lot, inspired people momentarily, yet ended up accelerating the worst tendencies
of his predecessor. Jimmy Carter comes to mind as well as, JFK, Clinton, and the list goes on. But the issues I have addressed above, issues
of human survival, have compelled me to at least question whether a vote for Biden would be a worthwhile one, considering the alternative. I
disagree with the inflammatory use of the word ‘fascist' when it comes to Trump- mostly I don't think that kind of language is helpful when
it comes to winning over his supporters and changing their minds, and it's inaccurate. Trump is essentially neoliberalism on steroids,
without the conventional human rights rhetoric and gestures of international collaboration (always hollow anyhow). In a sense it gives him
too much credit- fascism is at least an internally consistent ideology, a concept he cannot comprehend. This kind of rhetoric reinforces the
idea that Trump is dismantling and destroying something that is sacrosanct, that he represents a unique evil- and if we could just get back
to business as usual, we could absolve ourselves of him. The fanatical focus on Trump has allowed the Republican Senate to implement its
agenda quietly in the background, while Americans compete over who can be most eloquently outraged about his most recent episode of
stupidity while longing for benevolent Obama and his "presidential" characteristics. However, Trump does exhibit highly troubling
tendencies, and sometimes it seems like a miracle that we aren't embroiled in a major war already.
As much as the unquestioning faith in electoralism troubles me, I am also bothered by the rigid abstentionism of the radical left. I
attended a meeting weeks ago of a prominent Trotskyist group with an international presence, which I will not name. Activists and writers of
this persuasion will usually have something of substance to offer on history and analysis of popular struggles. Their publications are often
informative, and put together in a sophisticated manner and style. Although I expected to disagree on theoretical and tactical points, I was
interested in what major socialist organizations were saying about the choices we face. As I was listening to their opening remarks, I was
unsurprised- they offered an essentially coherent analysis of current conditions, even if it was a little reliant on Marxist jargon.
Eventually, when the floor was opened up for the 30 plus people attending, I posed a careful question about whether the dangers of nuclear
war and climate change altered the calculus of lesser-evilism at all, touching on points I have laid out above. Their reversion back to
arguments about a "worker's party" was instantaneous. When I tried to deepen the discussion a little and discuss the underlying logic of
lesser-evil politics under current conditions, I was met with simplistic socialist catchphrases about having to "make a revolution anyway"
(verbatim). They were rightly distrustful of the two major capitalist parties, yet they self-assuredly talk of the electoral triumph of a
party composed of "workers" that will somehow be immune to the intoxication that newfound political power brings. They fail to acknowledge
that if they attained political power, the moment they became party functionaries they would cease to truly be workers any more- simply
becoming a new elite class atop the hierarchy, with all the trappings and privileges of power, different only in name from those they have
deposed. The widespread belief seemed to be that if one did not choose to abstain, a protest vote for a socialist party would be the only
morally upright choice. This I cannot understand.
In some sense, yes, a Biden vote should sting for anyone with socialist convictions. But we all know that a protest vote is essentially
futile. It's simply a defiant gesture, a middle-finger to the system. This is an understandable sentiment, but my personal belief is that
voting is no more than a tactic, and you are not bound somehow morally or metaphysically to the person you vote for, nor are you responsible
as an individual for the consequences of what happens during their administration. You are exercising your very limited available means to
try and affect decision-making in your society. The quadrennial public relations offensive rages on about our sacred duty and the ‘soul of
our nation', yet at this point in American history it's been painstakingly documented just how little our votes matter, and just how much
wealth matters. A vote for Biden wouldn't mean you must abandon all radical organizing activity, surrender your copies of Marx, and donate
your wages to the Brookings Institution. But it may mean that the US pays a little attention to decaying arms control treaties and attempts
to actually regulate fossil fuel corporations. As long as it was entered into without illusions, I wouldn't hold a Biden vote against any of
my comrades in swing states. We'll save the Electoral College for another day...
I believe there was a time in American history where dedicated electoral work could truly change society. The struggles of all the women and
black Americans who fought courageously for their rightful place at the ballot-box must be recognized. Their fight was not in vain. A
radical organized working class, one fully aware of its power to bring the wheels of society to a halt, provided a counterweight to the
corrupting influence of power and profit in the political arena, and allowed it to make meaningful steps in the creation of a better world
for the toiling masses. In the end the only way to truly reach nuclear disarmament is to dismantle and displace archaic nation-state
structures and military machines with directly-democratic federated groups of workers and communities- structures that truly embody
democracy and will faithfully execute the popular will, which overwhelmingly supports peace and co-operation. The only beneficiaries of
violence are those who seek power and the maintenance of power. The proponents of ethno-religious zealotry and nationalist chauvinism thrive
on division and mistrust, as they always have. The only way to take control of the climate crisis is to wrest economic power from those who
pollute and destroy, and in the short-term, to deal with the world as it is, and use the limited tools available to us with eyes toward the
future. These goals are deeply intertwined and cannot happen in isolation.
In April of 2018, seven Catholic activists broke into Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, the home port of the USS Tennessee. They hung
banners, destroyed signs, and spread human blood, calling for worldwide disarmament by ‘symbolically disarming' the facility. Members of the
Plowshares Movement, a Catholic radical pacifist group with an important history, they derive their name from the words of the prophet Isaiah:
"..they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more." - Isaiah 2:4
Father Daniel Berrigan, founding member of the movement, diagnosed the unique malady of us privileged citizens of empire succinctly:
"Georgetown Poems-The Trouble With Our State" - by Father Daniel Berrigan
The trouble with our state
was not civil disobedience
which in any case was hesitant and rare
Civil disobedience was as rare as kidney stone
No, rarer; it was disappearing like immigrants' disease
You've heard of a war on cancer?
There is no war like the plague of media
There is no war like routine
There is no war like 3 square meals
There is no war like a prevailing wind
It blows softly; whispers
don't rock the boat!
the sails obey, the ship of state rolls on.
The trouble with our state
-we learned it only afterward
when the dead resembled the living who resembled the dead
and civil virtue shone like paint on tin
and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched to the common whip
-our trouble
the trouble with our state
with our state of soul
our state of siege-was
Civil
obedience
Sources:
Trump/Obama Administration Nuclear Posture Review -[https://dod.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/NPR/]
http://ideasandaction.info/2020/11/staring-abyss-american-political-culture-calculus-catastrophe/
------------------------------
Message: 2
Dear all, ---- In the end of October 2020 we had the opportunity of talking to a comrade from Greece about the murder of antifascist rapper
Pavlos Fyssas (Killah P) in 2013 and the recent trial against the neonazi party Golden Dawn. ---- Furthermore, she talks to us about the
local context, the reactions on different levels to the verdict and what follows for the antifascist struggle. ---- You'll find the audio
(to listen online or download) here:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/greece-the-murder-of-rapper-pavlos-fyssas-and-the-trial-against-golden-dawn/ ---- Length: 34:05 min ---- You
can find other English audios as well as all issues of the monthly anarchist show "Bad News" here: https://www.aradio-berlin.org/en/audios-2/.
Among our last audios you can find:
* An interview about the origins, the state's reaction and the role of
alternative media in the uprising in Belarus:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/belarus-rebellion-against-dictatorship/
* An interview about tactics and challenges in the ongoing social
uprising in Slovenia:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/slovenia-tactics-and-challenges-in-the-ongoing-social-uprising/
* A jingle mobilizing to the resistance against the eviction of Syndikat
in Berlin-Neukölln:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/syndikat-mobi-7-8-2020-long-jingle-en/
* An interview on the new anarchist-run videohosting platform Kolektiva:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/kolektiva-media-en/
* An interview from The Final Straw Radio with a translator of the
Anarchist Union of Afghanistan and Iran about the political context and
ongoing struggles:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/perspectives-from-iranian-anarchists/
* An audio from the Channel Zero Network with advice on how to improve
your safety at street actions:
https://www.aradio-berlin.org/extra-channel-zero-network-staying-safe-at-street-actions/
Enjoy! And please feel free to share!
A-Radio Berlin
ps.: We are on Mastodon and Twitter! Please feel welcome to follow us at
@aradio_berlin!
ps2.: Please note: We are always looking for people willing to lend us a
hand with transcriptions and translations from Spanish or German into
English as well as people able to do voice recordings - in order to
amplify our international radio work. You can contact us at
aradio-berlin/at/riseup(dot)net!
------------------------------
Message: 3
It seems like a while since the September update. Here's some reading. Stay safe, comrades. ---- Thoughts on Francesco Ghezzi ---- Francesco
Ghezzi was an anarchist militant from Milan who was also active in France, Switzerland, Germany and Russia (and was imprisoned in the last
three countries)... ---- On the 5 November 1937 Ghezzi was arrested for the final time. His case file records his frank replies to the
secret police ‘I declare that I was and remain an anarchist, and that no one will change my convictions.'... ----
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fttgj8 ---- David Graeber and Anarchism by Octavio Alberola ---- 'The untimely death of anthropologist
and activist David Graeber has triggered a wave of emotion in social networks and in the world press, generating lots of headlines, in
recognition of the intellectual worth of his wide-ranging and priceless work as well as his militant activism.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/6t1hcx
The Catalan Bricklayer Who Was the First of the Argentinean Dictatorships' "disappeared" by Andrés Actis
'"Long live anarchy!" Joaquín Penina's final shout was swallowed up by the vastness of the Paraná river in Rosario, Argentina. There was no
one there to listen. Those were the last words he uttered before he was murdered just a few metres from the ravine. For the rest of his
life, the exhortation haunted the memory of Sub-lieutenant Jorge Rodríguez, the police officer who instructed the firing squad. After he
retired from the police, he confessed to the crime, the execution. He could not forget either that cry or the tone - firm, emphatic,
impassioned - of Penina's farewell to this world.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/jm65nc
France's Basses Pyrénées Department and the Spanish Guerrillas by Imanol
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/wwq1f7
Operation Frankton and the Role of Spanish Libertarians by Imanol
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/zgmv9s
It All Began With Him: Xosé Villaverde, Galician Trade Unionism's Great Organizer by Eduardo Pérez
'Despite some initial resistance, by the end of July 1936 the military coup had quickly overrun Galicia. That august Xosé Villaverde was
arrested. As in the case of Peiró, the new regime urged him to work with its ‘trade union' organs. His refusal led to his being shot on 24
September. The following day, his corpse showed upon Sabon beach.'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/rn8rct
Two pieces from the Anti-Conscription League
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qjq447
Pepita Laguarda (1919-1936), the youngest female militian killed in action by Félix Población
'She ran away from home and, with her partner Juan López Carvajal, enlisted in the Ascaso Column, only to perish on the Huesca front on her
first day in action'
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/08kqxv
Shlioma Asnin by Dmitrii I. Ivanov
Asnin was killed in the retaking of the Durnova dacha by government forces in Petrograd in June 1917. In this article Ivanov shows how an
"ordinary" criminal could come to join the anarchists, and how his dead body, with its tattoos recording his "criminal past" was used to
justify the repression. (link to article)
https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/djhcft
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------------------------------
Message: 4
The residents of São Paulo were the first to live with the covid-19, starting in March, and with its strong effects. ---- The residents of
São Paulo were the first to live with the covid-19, starting in March, and with its strong effects. ---- The health crisis - aggravated by
insufficient governmental measures - contributed to a great precariousness of living and working conditions, especially for the peripheral
population. In the city of São Paulo, more than 13,000 people are already dead due to the new coronavirus, which continues to threaten the
population in workplaces, public transport, leisure and the like. Unemployment reaches 15% in the municipality, in addition to millions of
people employed in precarious jobs, with incomes that do not close the month's accounts.
In this context, the electoral campaign in the largest city in the country takes place, on the one hand, under great popular disinterest,
but, on the other, with the attention of the powerful, since it can influence the direction of politics for 2022. Candidates with some
viability fluctuate between Bolsonarism, PSDB liberalism, the institutional left and a "third way", which seeks to place itself outside
polarization.
In all, 14 applications were registered. In the field on the right, Bruno Covas (PSDB), current mayor of the city and former deputy of João
Doria (PSDB), tries to guarantee his second term. Its administration can be remembered, among other things, for the disaster in the
janitorial area of the city, abandoning the most precarious areas. The Anhangabaú Valley, for example, whose renovation cost the city hall
about R $ 100 million, was granted to the private sector for 6.5 million for the next ten years. The business community, therefore,
benefited at the expense of the city's population. In addition, Covas boasts the approval of the Municipal Pension Reform, which only did
harm to women and men in the municipality. Following the history of his party, the current mayor is an adherent of anti-people policies.
Celso Russomanno (Republicans) is another exponent of the right. In order not to be left behind again - as in the 2012 and 2016 elections -
he openly became the candidate of Jair Bolsonaro in the capital of São Paulo. He also seeks to rely on the visibility obtained on TV Record
- broadcaster allied with Bolsonarism. A federal deputy since 1995, Russomanno is another supporter of anti-people policies, despite saying
the opposite. In 2016, it supported the "PEC da Morte", which instituted the Spending Ceiling, a device that, for 20 years, will limit the
necessary public investments. He also defended the Labor (2017) and Social Security (2019) Reforms, in addition to unrestricted outsourcing,
which precarious labor relations (2017). Although he promises, in a campaign, to provide emergency assistance at the municipal level, he
voted, as a deputy, against the extension of the emergency aid currently in force. Therefore, his harmful actions go beyond humiliating male
and female workers on his television program and not paying due labor rights in his other ventures.
Candidate Arthur do Val (Patriota) is the representative of MBL, which tries to resume the spotlight. Contrary to the public service and
defender of neolibeal privataria, it seeks to stand out by creating controversies, such as the attacks on Father Júlio Lancellotti, who is
dedicated to the homeless population. Federal deputy Joice Hasselmann (PSL) was leader of the Bolsonaro government in Congress, upholding
cruel measures against us workers, such as the Pension Reform. Marina Helou (REDE) is the typical easy-to-speak environmentalist, who
advocates greater "sustainability" without seeking to break with the interests that aggravate environmental problems.
At least Marcio França's (PSB) candidacy is curious. Member of a party that, in theory, claims the center-left and supported by the PDT,
France has a trajectory that represents physiologism and political opportunism. He was mayor of São Vicente for two terms, electing his
deputy in a wide range of alliances, which dominated politics in the city. As a federal deputy, he was an ally of the Lula government, even
joining the political council of the then president. Leader of the PSB, he brought the party closer to Alckmin (PSDB) and entered the state
government - first as secretary, then as vice governor - reinforcing the truculent, privatist government and remembered for the school lunch
theft scandal. Old political fox, with the government machine in hand, in 2018, he was almost elected governor, losing to João Doria by less
than 4 percentage points. This year, before the campaign began, he tried to link his image to Jair Bolsonaro, but now he bases his campaign
on fleeing polarization, saying that he has no "tail stuck" with anyone.
In the left field, Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) is the one that has stood out the most through the strengthening of advertising on social
networks and the growing adherence to the class conciliation program very close to PT. According to the election polls, the MTST leader
currently occupies the third position. It has grown among the younger and middle-class strata, but its popularity still has a low reach on
the outskirts of the city. This fact seems to reflect, to a great extent, the difficulties of organic insertion in the bases of an
expressive portion of the left, which for a long time has turned, primarily, to the electoral dispute. Even his proposal for work fronts to
generate jobs does not seem to win this more impoverished share. To guarantee electoral viability, Boulos has Luiza Erundina, former mayor
of São Paulo in the early 1990s, as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was
received, for example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle
classes, he proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that
of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during
the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the
party to reach the popular bases. as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was
received, for example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle
classes, he proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that
of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during
the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to
reach the popular base. as a candidate for vice mayor on the ticket. Adapting the discourse to the institutionality, he was received, for
example, for sabbath at the Commercial Association of São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he
proposes, for example, to increase the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM -
above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during the
administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to
find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the
party to reach the popular bases. he was received, for example, for a sabbatical at the Associação Comercial de São Paulo - the "house of
liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he proposes, for example, to expand the number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose
brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since he obtained police power in the Dilma government, in addition to
authorization to possession of weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an
alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the
advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. he was received, for example, for a sabbatical at the
Associação Comercial de São Paulo - the "house of liberalism". To win votes in the middle classes, he proposes, for example, to expand the
number of Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since he obtained police
power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to possession of weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad
(2012-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the
program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. expand
the number of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since it obtained
police power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to carry weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012
-2016). Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program
in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. expand the
number of the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), whose brutal behavior has been similar to that of the PM - above all, since it obtained police
power in the Dilma government, in addition to authorization to carry weapons during the administration of PT Fernando Haddad (2012 -2016).
Although PSOL presents itself as an alternative to PT, it is increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the
party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. it becomes
increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the
lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases. it becomes increasingly difficult to find significant differences in the program in
the party. The difference is in the advertising aesthetics and the lower capacity of the party to reach the popular bases.
The candidacies of Jilmar Tatto (PT) and Orlando Silva (PCdoB), in turn, present difficulties in growth. Because of the electoral
unfeasibility, both rehearse a discourse more to the left than in traditional campaigns, unlike other capitals, where they have a chance of
winning. Tatto, despite having the support of Lula and being part of a mass party that has ruled the city on three occasions, remains as an
"unknown" candidate for a significant portion of São Paulo and São Paulo residents - in addition, many PT supporters have opted for Boulos .
Orlando Silva nationalized the campaign, with a more emphatic speech against Bolsonaro, against unemployment and anti-racist.
PCO and PSTU launched, respectively, the candidacies of Antonio Carlos and Vera Lúcia, but, as usual, they play the role of "denouncing" the
electoral process, since they are not viable under the "rules of the game". Vera has as one of the main banners the creation of popular
councils, a proposal that we believe can only be achieved from below, outside the power of the State. Despite the more combative speech,
even this denunciation role is practically rendered unfeasible by electoral restrictions and the media boycott. The tactic of using the
electoral process to make revolutionary propaganda, in our view, has the opposite effect: in debates, this is not made clear and the
impression given to workers is that these candidates intend to win the process. In this way,
The State and its facets - the governments - are the instrument for guaranteeing the privileges of the ruling classes. They are, therefore,
never aligned with our interests as oppressed classes. Even though the institutional left gives prominence to the electoral dispute, its
limits, for us, are evident: not for nothing, in recent years, there have been several attacks against those below, such as the Social
Security, Labor Reforms and the Expenditure Ceiling - which limits public investment.
The electoral process is illusory for the oppressed classes. The conquests we have obtained, throughout history, were due to the organized
struggle and popular pressure, not to the dispute to enter governments or to well-intentioned politicians. Regardless of who occupies the
city hall from 2021 onwards, we will only be able to stop attacks and setbacks from direct action and class independence. As organized
anarchists, we continue to bet on strengthening unions, housing movements, student spaces and others of our class. We believe that direct
action is the only way to stop the advance of the right and attacks from the ruling class! It is necessary to tell our class that there is
no possibility of a dignified life by negotiating and directing militancy towards the management of the bourgeois state machine.
Organização Anarquista Socialismo Libertário - São Paulo
https://anarquismosp.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/sao-paulo-velho-psdb-bolsonarismo-e-os-limites-da-esquerda/
------------------------------
Message: 5
The LockDown and the traffic ban imposed by the state as well as the unprecedented conditions created by the outbreak of the pandemic create
a peculiar framework in which we are called to plan and act as militants. ---- In the midst of a pandemic and the spread of the virus, the
criminal, parasitic and anti-social nature of the state emerges in every way, which is indifferent to human life and the vast majority of
the society and is only interested in maximizing the profits of the bosses. The only thing the rulers want is to save the economy and
"return to capitalist normality." The murderous policy of the state does not include any substantial measures to support the NSS and to stop
the spread of the pandemic, except for poor communication tricks and poor ideologies of individual responsibility. The only "right" that
bosses recognize in the midst of a health crisis is that of production and consumption. The vast majority of society should be stacked in
the workplace without any measures, to be trampled on in the MMM and to be left without basic medical care, while at the same time cops will
be hired, military equipment will be purchased and the "big walks" will take place with fiestas of millions. At the same time, rallies,
demonstrations and any kind of mobilization are targeted as health bombs.
The health crisis of Covid 19 is used by the state to hit the resistances with even greater intensity and to implement various
anti-social-anti-labor plans with as little resistance and conflict as possible. The junta bill to ban demonstrations, the anti-education
bill, the multi-bill on nature looting, teleworking and distance learning, the new bill that comes to abolish the 8-hour work, the special
police body for schools is only some of the designs that have been implemented.
The repressive campaign of the state continues with great intensity lately. The new repressive arsenal of the state is implemented.
Occupiers are beaten, militants are arrested, trade unionism is banned, demonstrations are banned and brutally beaten by repressive forces.
In the midst of a curfew it is imperative and necessary to find ourselves in the streets of struggle and resistance. Under no circumstances
should political action be suspended but instead escalated. Against the bans and the coordinated attack of the state and capital, let us put
forward the organized and uncompromising struggle. To clash with the laws and requirements of the rulers.
On Tuesday, November 10, we call an open meeting at 19:00 in the Occupation of the Branch to discuss-plan our movement and organized
presence in view of the mobilization for November 17.
anarchist group "bad horse" - member of the Anarchist Political Organization
https://ipposd.wordpress.com/
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Message: 6
Alexei Soutouga, said Socrates, anti-fascist and anarchist 34 years died on 1 stSeptember as a result of serious injury resulting from an
attack last week on the streets of Moscow. A well-known activist in the Moscow punk scene, Socrates had also already been the target of
state arbitrariness for opposing neo-Nazis. ---- They were four this August 23 in the center of Moscow near the Baumanskaya metro station to
fall headlong into our comrade Alexeï. Although at the time of this writing the exact circumstances of this deadly aggression are not yet
known, it would be surprising if they were foreign to the political course of Alexis, an anti-fascist militant and a Moscow libertarian
communist.
Alexei, also known as Socrates, in 2002 participated in the creation of the revolutionary anarchist federation, Autonomous Action, a
grouping of anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalists, autonomes and radical environmentalists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Dissolved in
2005, Autonomous Action promoted direct action against the state and fascist groups. In 2014, Alexis was sentenced to three years in prison,
accused of assault by neo-Nazis - who recognized him as an anti-fascist leader seen on the internet - following a mock trial. His anarchist
and anti-fascist activism then earned him to be prosecuted in many cases just as under equally fallacious pretexts.
Former activist of the organization Avtonom, Alexeï was also a singer of the group Working Boys.
Political activist, participating in particular in the anarchist magazine Avtonom [1], Alexeï was also an activist of the Moscow
counter-cultural scene. Singer of the street-punk group Working Boys, he was also involved in the adventure of the Teatr.doc theater, which
for nearly twenty years has rhymed contemporary theatrical forms with committed intentions. Finally, last May Alexeï had published his
memoirs of prisonsDialogues about the prison .
If the motivations of Alexei's aggressors are not yet established, our Russian anarchist and anti-fascist comrades face on the one hand
organized and particularly active and violent fascist groups and an equally violent repression and torture on the part of the state
apparatus. From rigged trials to arbitrary imprisonment
the state seeks by all means to silence dissenting voices and union activists, libertarians and anti-fascists [2]. All our thoughts and
support today go to the parents and relatives of Alexeï, and in particular his son [3]. Solidarity is our weapon, your blows will not kill
our ideas.
David (UCL Grand Paris Sud)
Validate
[1] Autonomous Action website avtonom.org/en
[2] Call for actions of solidarity with imprisoned Russian anarchists and anti-fascists: lahorde.samizdat.net
[3] To make a donation to Alexeï's mother and help her cover the funeral costs in particular: paypal.me/sutugaolga
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Russie-Alexei-Soutouga-libertaire-assassine-pour-ses-idees
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