Today's Topics:
1. Czech, AFED: Existence No. 1/2020: Climate movement [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL AL #310 - Unionism,
Education: The battle of a thousand posts, fruitful memory (de,
it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, black rose fed: Agroecology and Organized Anarchism: An
Interview With the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Poland: Anarchists successfully stop allotment gardens
eviction (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Poland, rozbrat Employee Initiative: IN THIS COUNTRY, IT IS
THE WOMAN WHO PERFORMS THE FUNCTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY -
INTELLIGENCE (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
The new issue of the anarchist magazine Existence is devoted to the climate
movement and the place of anarchists in it. ---- In the editorial of the last
issue, we promised to publish two issues of the anarchist magazine Existence this
year . But promises of error. In the spring, we were faced with a completely
changed situation: the global epidemic of covid-19 and its associated
limitations. As a result, many planned public events had to be canceled, the
activities of many collectives were forced to adapt to the new situation, and
thus opportunities to offer anarchist publications were reduced. This is crucial
for publishing a magazine such as Existence . The solution, of course, would be
to switch only to electronic publishing, that is, to offer Existencein pdf, mobi
and epub formats, as has been the case for years, but without the printed
version. We are probably a hopeless association of old lovers, so we decided
clearly for the printed version, although it is clear in advance that it will be
a loss-making business - more than usual. Finally, this year we are publishing
only one issue, the main topic of which is devoted to the climate movement.
The climate crisis is very urgent, and in order to prevent the worst-case
scenarios, it is necessary to act immediately and stop the fossil industry in
particular, with a very strong lobby and a long-standing connection with the
political scene. But as anarchists, we are calling for an end to coal burning.
Within the climate movement, we coined the motto: Let's not change the climate,
let's change the system. An anarchist stance in defending the climate remains
strictly anti-capitalist, even as anarchists engage in initiatives and coalitions
that primarily seek to put pressure on politicians and address the public so that
they are not indifferent to the fate of future generations. So our goal is not
some green capitalism, which is reoriented from coal to much less harmful ways of
obtaining energy, but the promotion of a vision of a free and self-governing
society, where there is no exploitation of people or nature. Companies
We bring you several interviews on the topic, which present some initiatives for
saving the climate. The activist of the Limits platform is the first to answer
the questions of us, in which many anarchists are also involved. Then comes the
high school initiative with a global dimension - Fridays for Future, and the two
members of the University group are responsible for climate, in which, as the
name suggests, university students are organized. The former Extinction Rebellion
activist also brings his experience. In these contributions, we try to follow the
way in which these groups are organized, how they make decisions and what
activities they develop. The topic concludes with reviews of books that have
recently been published in Czech translation and touch on the fight for climate.
These are the titles Revolt against Destruction by Jeremy Brecher,Back to Earth
by Bruno Latour and The Ethics of Climate Change by James Garvey.
As already mentioned, the year 2020 was limited by measures against covid-19, yet
there were a lot of actions that you can get acquainted with on the Existence
website , especially for climate justice or in support of Rojava autonomy,
refugees stranded on Greek islands, persecuted anti-fascists in the case of the
Network or the Black Lives Matter movement. We also focus on expressions of
solidarity and mutual assistance during the epidemic and the activities of some
activist groups during its first wave.
But we will also look at the world, so you can read more than an interesting
conversation with foreign anarchist fighters on the part of the Rojava autonomy
or something about the roots of Turkish fascism and the struggle of the Kurds
against oppression by the Turkish state. We also comment on the situation in
Belarus, where people took to the streets against the autocratic ruler
Lukashenko. And we bring a statement from the Lakandon jungle to events not only
in Mexico.
We are sorry to say that we have accumulated several obituaries of recently
deceased anarchists since the last issue. So let's remember names like Bob
Kavanagh, Lucio Urtubia Jiménez, Doris Ensinger, Stuart Christie, Alexei Sutuga
and, of course, David Graeber. But we also bring portraits of personalities who
have not been here for a long time. Last year, 120 years have passed since his
death and this year 175 years have passed since the birth of the "father" of
Czech anarchism, Vilém Körber. Furthermore, you can read a feature from the life
of the Marxist theorist Karel Korsch (1886-1961) about the significance of his
theoretical work for anarchism. And we will go even further and look into much
more ancient history when slaves arose in ancient Rome.
The conclusion of the magazine traditionally belongs to the information about the
Anarchist Federation and the texts of the A3 wall newspaper , this time for the
months of January - October 2020. The full point is the book reviews. Perhaps we
will entice you to read one of these titles, such as the books In Capitalism.
Against capitalism. Beyond capitalism by John Holloway, Anarchism and its ideals
by Cindy Milstein or the subcultures devoted to the Microphone set of studies is
our bomb .
We wish you inspiring reading.
https://www.afed.cz/text/7251/existence-c-1-2020-klimaticke-hnuti
------------------------------
Message: 2
Five years ago, Saint-Denis (93) was the epicenter of a revolt involving teachers
and parents of students. A historic mobilization, which has forced the State to
create more than 1,000 positions for school teachers. How did the alchemy take ?
Return on experience. ---- September 2014 in Saint-Denis (93). Even more than in
previous years, the shortage gives rise to cold sweats. In the city's 64 schools,
nearly 25 classes have re-entered the school year without any teacher being
appointed. It is the last straw. The starting point of a movement that will
punctuate the nine months of the school year. ---- Saint-Denis (93) is the most
populous city of Seine-Saint-Denis, a working-class and mixed department,
notoriously under-equipped. Sociologist Benjamin Moignard noted that "the least
well-endowed Parisian establishments are better endowed than the most endowed
establishments in Seine-Saint-Denis"[1]. In 2013, a group of parents of students
calculated that due to non-replacements, each student in the department loses the
equivalent of one year of schooling between kindergarten and high school[2].
This is the consequence of the destruction plan launched by Sarkozy and not
stopped by Hollande: 80,000 jobs in the National Education system by the first,
30,000 created by the second ... "How to destroy a public service ? By lowering
its funding, summarizes the libertarian intellectual Noam Chomsky. It will no
longer work. People will get angry, they will want something else. This is the
basic technique for privatizing a public service."[3]
Thus, on September 2, 2014, in Seine-Saint-Denis, 950 children set off for school
without knowing that no teacher was waiting for them, mainly in basin 1
(south-west) and in Saint -Denis, the poorest areas of the department. No one can
close their eyes to the crisis anymore.
The historic mobilization of 1998 in Seine-Saint-Denis, involving teachers,
parents and students, had obtained that the maximum threshold in the priority
education network (Rep) is 23 students per class, thanks to the immediate
recruitment of 3,000 teachers. es. At the start of the 2014 school year, the
threshold is overwhelmed, with an average of 24.11 students. From the first week,
there are hundreds of non-replaced teaching days. In a school group in the
Franc-moisin district, in Saint-Denis, no less than 5 positions are vacant.
The parent-teacher alliance sealed in action
Following protests from parents of students, a first GA is held on September 30.
We seal the alliance between parents and teachers, for a first strong action: on
Monday, October 13, around ten schools are occupied by parents ; in the
afternoon, around 100 parents and teachers from around 20 schools gather in front
of the inspectorate. After the All Saints holidays, a large general assembly is
organized on Thursday, November 6.
It is this GA that will give the real kick-off of the movement by deciding to go
on strike. As Bakunin wrote a hundred and forty years earlier, "ten, twenty or
thirty men[and women]well understood and well organized among themselves, and who
know where they are going and what they want, will easily lead 100, 200, 300 or
even more"[4]. The strike is due to start on November 20. The day before, the
Minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, announced nine measures for the 93, including
the organization of a second competition, or more than 500 additional positions.
But that does not defuse the protest, and the strike is followed, in Saint-Denis,
by 80% of teachers ; 40 out of 62 schools are closed. A demonstration of 600
people crosses the city starting from the "Donkey Bonnets Ministry", a wasteland
occupied by a group of parents of pupils. This is unheard of. The mobilization
does not end in December. Some teams, strangled by the understaffing, display a
"counter of non-replaced days At the school door. Several occupations are still
organized by parents and staff. This is the case in a school which has seen a
succession of seven substitutes in three months on its CE1. The inspector was
held there for several hours by exasperated parents. Result: an experienced
replacement is immediately seconded to the post. Another school, another
occupation: one class saw a succession of 11 substitutes !
Two other schools are occupied to protest against the loss of the ranking in Rep.
On December 9, a departmental strike highlighted the inequalities in the Rep
system, and demanded its extension to new schools, until then on the sidelines.
On December 16, a large town assembly keeps the local mobilization warm during
the end of year celebrations.
The state plugs the holes by creating insecurity
Forced to act, the State will nevertheless find a way to use the shortage to
experiment with a regressive policy. Instead of creating permanent positions, it
will recruit temporary employees. As a result, from 2015, in Saint-Denis, nearly
a tenth of teachers will be non-tenured. And that won't even be enough to plug
all the holes.
"Revolutionary gymnastics", to borrow the witticism of one of the founders of the
CGT, Émile Pouget, is the succession of emancipation movements, which reinforce
each other and form a counter-power, a prerequisite essential for building
popular power. Grassroots decision and direct action are its fuel. The victorious
movements of 1998, then of 2013, which locally delayed the reform of school
rhythms by one year, fueled the struggle of 2014-2015.
In the spring, pearl strike and highway blockades
On May 19, 2015, the teachers' assembly voted for a week of strike action. It
will be relayed by a walkout every Thursday until mid-June. All the schools in
the city are mobilized, with 30 to 50% of strikers recorded on each day, by
rotation within the teams. Commissions are created to organize actions and
communication. The A1 motorways, then A86, are blocked by nearly 250 parents,
teachers and students. On June 4, a die-in (demonstrators lying down, as dead) in
front of the inspectorate is accompanied by 200 figures representing the missing
teachers. On June 6, the Lycée de la Légion d'Honneur, a monument of class
injustices encrusted on the territory, was occupied. Schools write grievance
notebooks.
"Too cool ! In Saint-Denis, we played all day."Parents of students have created
the"Department of Donkey Caps"on a wasteland in the city.
PARENT-TEACHER COLLECTIVE
"Strikers: participating in strike initiatives, participating in the GA to build
the follow-up is essential!"as claimed by the SUD-Education union. The tone is
the right one, with up to 120 people in GA staff, and up to 180 in joint
assemblies, which are the heart of the struggle. As in Greece or Los Angeles, the
victory - 1,053 positions created in two years in the schools of
Seine-Saint-Denis, plus 470 throughout the academy - will have been snatched
thanks to a broad front of parents and teachers, in the popular unit. The
following year, in March 2016, when we will fight against the Labor bill, the
interpro AG of Saint-Denis will decide to block transport axes, port areas and
other economic infrastructures, in a dynamic which will be a driving force for
whole of the Paris region. It is the education strikers of 2014-2015 who will
propose this tactic. Not quite a coincidence !
Louise (UCL Saint-Denis)
Validate
[1] Quoted in the Cornut-Gentille - Kokouendo parliamentary report, May 31, 2018.
[2] Le Monde , February 28, 2013.
[3] Requiem for the American Dream , Les Mutins de Pangée, 2018.
[4] Michel Bakounine, "Protest of the Alliance", 1871.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Education-La-bataille-des-mille-postes-memoire-feconde
------------------------------
Message: 3
In response to the industrial, capitalist model of food production that has
decimated rural lifeways and our mother earth, social movements around the world
have identified agroecology as their alternative proposal for rural development.
Grounded in peasant and indigenous knowledges, struggles for food sovereignty and
agrarian reform, agroecology is understood by social movements as "a tool for the
social, economic, cultural, political and ecological transformation of
communities and territories." ---- This interview that Black Rose conducted in
the Summer of 2020 with a militant from The Anarchist Federation of Rio de
Janeiro's (FARJ) Peasant Struggle Front, explores their work with some of
Brazil's social movements struggling for agroecology and food sovereignty. Coming
from a context with highly developed peasant social movements, FARJ shares
important insights for anarchist militants to learn from.
BRRN: Can you first give an overview of the kind of social work that the
militants of FARJ's Peasant Struggle Front are involved in?What are the movements
and organizations the FARJ's militants participate in/collaborate with?Who are
the protagonists of these movements & organizations?
FARJ: Initially the Front was called "Anarchism and Nature". Some of the members
were students from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. Starting from
a university agroecology group, the GAE (Ecological Agriculture Group), they
sought to do social work in Agrarian Reform settlements in the state of Rio de
Janeiro and with families of small farmers. And the space that articulated these
activities was the Rio de Janeiro Agroecology Articulation.
Starting from this process and frequent contact in the settlements, the MST (The
Landless Rural Workers Movement) got to know the working style of our militants,
until one of them was invited to join the movement, contributing mainly to the
processes of organizing cooperative work in the Baixada Fluminense region. One of
the results of this work was the contribution to the organization of a sales and
distributioncooperative for an MST settlement in the metropolitan region of the
state of Rio, around 2008. As time went on, more militants joined the Front; some
from rural areas, from the MST, or students in the field of agronomy.
Around 2012 the MPA (Small Farmers Movement) arrived in Rio, and we have
militants from our front contributing also to the movement and its development in
the state. We also have a comrade who works in the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).
Our work in rural movements and spaces is related to themes such as rural
education, political training[formação1], communication, production, sales and
distribution, and human rights. We always seek to maintain a link with the bases
of the movements, even those militants who live in the state capital or in the
city. We seek to contribute to the accumulated knowledge of FARJ and the
historical experiences of organized anarchism in peasant struggles, with our
concept of social work and militant style, pursuing the development of popular
power. We stimulate the political participation and the protagonism of the
grassroots in the processes of movements' daily struggle. We also seek to
encourage alliances and joint actions between rural and urban movements where we
also operate or which we support, such as solidarity actions, actions for
exchanging experiences between the movements' bases, visits, and campaigns, among
others that enable contacts between the bases.
Today we have militants in the MST, MPA and CPT. The protagonists are landless
workers, small farmers, and quilombola[maroon descendant]communities. Many in the
settlements, for example, come from the sugar cane industry, from work analogous
to slavery, from slums, or were precarious workers. A good part of the movements'
bases are black folks, youth, and women.
BRRN: Can you talk about how you personally came to be involved in peasant
movements and movements for food sovereignty & agroecology?Why do you think it is
important for anarchists to be engaged in these struggles? What is the importance
of these struggles in this moment of the global Covid-19 pandemic in particular?
FARJ: My militancy was in the Community Front, in the Base Organization Movement
(MOB), which currently works in the Center of Social Culture and in the Morro dos
Macacos community. Since 2013 I supported the MST with graphic design for the
Cícero Guedes Agrarian Reform State Fair, a 3-day annual fair in the center of
the city of Rio de Janeiro with the produce from the state, the southeastern
region, and partners in the city and other movements. Around 2014, MPA and MST
started a biweekly farmers market on the Praia Vermelha campus of the Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro, which I also support with communication and other
activities. So from these relationships and contacts presented the possibilities
of contributing from the capital, either with the tasks of communication and
propaganda, or contributing to the organization of spaces for the sales and
distribution of products of the movements in the city and always trying to
maintain the connection with their bases.
MST members sell their products at a farmers market.
Historically, anarchism has been, and still is, present in peasant struggles:
China, Ukraine, Spain, Perú and other examples. Anarchism must be a part of
struggles from below, and wherever we have space to contribute with our proposals
and build popular power. The agrarian, land (access to landand land
concentration), peasant, indigenous, black, and quilombola questions are central
in Latin america, in spite of the demographic concentration in big cities. In
large part we are agricultural export countries, where natural resources are
tremendously exploited by capital, who have a very strong base of people of
indigenous, black, and peasant origin, with an extreme concentration of land in
the hands of capitalists, latifundiários[large landowners], and foreigners. There
are many conflicts in the rural areas, with assassinations of community leaders
and militants, land grabs and evictions. Not to mention the issue of food
sovereignty, of the production of food for the people in opposition to the
agribusiness model that produces commodities for export. So the issue of land is
very important in Brazil and throughout the continent, and from there we see the
importance of us being inserted in those struggles as well. Understanding that
while we have our own goals, the rural and urban struggles should be connected.
We also learn a lot in these mass movements, contributing to our political
training as militants, particularly in base-building work. Be it in courses,
materials and spaces for political training in movements, or in the day-to-day of
grassroots work.
Currently, in the context of COVID-19, rural movements have a great importance
for producing healthy foods for the population, and for leading on issues of
environment, energy, and food sovereignty. There are analyses that point out a
"pandemic" of a lack of food for the population. Many favelas already have people
who are experiencing hunger. In response, there are many campaigns of solidarity
and of distributing food boxes to residents of favelas and packed lunches for
people living in the street. Unions and people are making donations for the
purchase of these foods from rural movements and urban agriculture movements in
the city of Rio. That is, the acts of solidarity have multiplied and are
organized by the population and by social movements.
BRRN: What has been your experience as an anarchist participating
in/collaborating with these movements? How do you push within these movements for
more anti-authoritarian/anarchistic practices?
FARJ: We believe that the experience, here in Rio de Janeiro, provides an
opportunity for us to have an influence. One aspect of the practical political
training too, through participating in mass movements like these, is contributing
to the organization of collective processes. There is contact with the people,
with concrete realities and problems, and the need to think of ways to solve
problems through organizing and base-building. There are also formal political
training processes, such as national and local courses, visits to experiences in
other states, and state and national encounters. Specific political trainings on
certain issues or just in daily life, in contact with other militants and comrades.
A FARJ flag tied together with the flag of MST.
For example, because of the tasks and trainings of the social movements, I was
able to learn about communication, and agroecological management and
cooperatives, in addition to the debates around agrarian and food issues. We also
bring these accumulated skills and knowledge to the political organization, in
the sense that they characterize and contribute to the accumulation of political
training that we have for our entire militancy. In other words, it is a two-way
street, a dialectical process, adapting to the formation and interest of our
organization. So it is important that it is not just an individual accumulation,
but that it helps in some way in the formation of the entire militancy of the
specific[anarchist]organization.
Here in the state of Rio, I believe that most of the common challenges to social
movements, both in the rural areas and in the city, are due to the difficulty of
base-building, often the need for more militants, the difficulty in obtaining
resources and structure-organizational difficulties. There are also difficulties
in achieving a more consolidated articulation between the various social
movements, which end up being more sporadic or a part of campaigns. In the face
of a reality of advancing ultraliberalism and the systematic extinction of social
rights and policies, it is a permanent challenge to build processes that are able
to self-manage and mobilize the people in communities and base-building
locations. But in general, we seek to help organize what is disorganized, acting
as yeast in mass struggles.
Members of FARJ and MOB in a mass demonstration.
BRRN: In the interview that FARJ did with Zabalaza, the Association of Autonomous
Producers of the Countryside and the City (APAC) was mentioned. I'm very curious
to know more about that organization, what they do, and how that association
builds urban and rural solidarity around questions for food sovereignty and land?
FARJ: APAC played an important role in producing agricultural implements for
small producers. Its origin came from CADTS, the Center for Learning and
Technical and Social Development, a group linked to Social Pastorals who worked
with the education of urban workers, politically training electricians,
seamstresses, machinists, printers and other professions. This work strengthened
their performance in the union and community fields. In order to strengthen
solidarity between rural and urban workers, CADTS initiated a project to develop
agricultural implements with technology built together with "tillers of the
land", an expression used at the time. In their visits to rural workers to gather
information and design the implements, the CADTS students decided to structure
this work to meet this demand that they had already met for several groups of
farmers all over Brazil. Thus, APAC was born on the 1st of May, bringing together
not only "metallurgists", but also farmers, homemakers, unemployed people,
popular educators, etc. with the organicity, inspired by self-management, of an
association composed of several autonomous work groups that articulate themselves
collectively in a general assembly. Over more than 30 years since its foundation,
APAC has welcomed many groups of workers. We will mention just a few to
illustrate itsdiversity:
Multimetal: The manufacture of metal parts and equipment, from which various
tools for the field were made. After a few years it was replaced by OPMAC, which
refers to the word "field"["campo"], these metal design services continued and
over they time began to develop projects for urban workers such as wagons adapted
for waste pickers for recycling, the manufacture of recycled brooms, etc.
Arte Fuxico: Gathering artisans who reused leftover fabrics from the clothing
industry and made customized pieces such as bags, rugs and tools in general.
Community Pré-Vestibular prep courses: Popular education initiative that sought
space at APAC to assemble a preparatory course for admission to universities. The
nucleus of the APAC course lasted a few years and was part of a network of
community courses from different regions.
Auto Mechanics: Auto repair shop that brought together a master mechanic and
their assistants. The group provided internal and external services to APAC and
had a very important role in teaching the trade of mechanics and attendance at
the association's assemblies.
Printer: A print shop that brought together workers mostly from CADTS backgrounds
who developed graphic design projects and editions of numerous publications for
social movements and various external services.
Our arrival at APAC was parallel to the founding of FARJ, and we have some
militants who've had and have closer relations with them, either through
collaborating on projects or some being part of the management of APAC. We've
come to do a screen printing workshop there, political meetings, community work
groups, political training lectures and popular language courses. We will
highlight one of the most structured initiatives of our militancy, which was to
organize the Floreal Cooperative of Workers in Agroecology, where we had great
interaction with the internal groups of APAC, bringing agendas discussed with our
work with the Forum of Popular Cooperativism, the Articulation of Agroecology of
Rio de Janeiro and the Technical Assistance and Extension sectors. It was a
period that encouraged APAC to contribute to issues of agrarian conjuncture,
agroecology, urban agriculture, school gardens, popular herbalism groups, social
ecology, rural/urban solidarity and food sovereignty and agrarian reform. This
factor strengthened the relationship of our militants with the social movements
in the countryside, such as the MST, CPT, and MPA, as well as for the use of
space as a warehouse or for the manufacture of agricultural implements. But our
experience with popular cooperatives opened doors for us to contribute to the
construction of cooperatives and associations in the movements.
BRRN: Are you involved with the Territorial Solidarity Committees, organized by
the MPA as a response to the current social crisis? Can you share a bit about
this project?
FARJ: In this context of COVID-19, rural movements, such as MPA and MST, the CPT
and urban agriculture groups such as the Carioca Urban Agriculture Network, and
the Agroecology Articulation, have developed solidarity actions in the
countryside and in the city.
MPA is with the Territorial Solidarity Committees. With the distribution of
agroecological foods, creating spaces for dialogue and political debates,
strengthening the organizational processes between the social and territorial
movements of the countryside and the city. The actions can happen in different
ways depending on the local reality and demands. The movement has continued
providing material support in the city with weekly deliveries of peasant food
boxes, and the donation of meals for homeless people.
The logo of MPA.
The MST has Marmita Solidária, which receives donations from unions and
supporters to buy food to prepare meals for the homeless. And the Nós por Nós
("Us for Us") Campaign, which is part of the Periferia Viva ("Alive Periphery")
Campaign, and which MPA and other movements also participate in. The campaign
raises funds to buy agroecological produce from settlements and small farmers to
donate to favelas, and together do support work, such as legal aid for those who
do not have identity documents, or other actions in addition to just donating food.
For CAB (Brazilian Anarchist Coordination) we are organizing the Vida Digna
("Dignified Life") national campaign, against the increase in the cost of living.
There are state and local committees, and we managed to arrange a food donation
from the MST for two occupations of the Internationalist Front of the Homeless.
CPT also articulated a possibility of resourcing landless settlements and
quilombola communities, among others, in the northern region of the state of Rio,
together with MPA.
But across the country, several similar actions are taking place with our CAB
militants involved, seeking to articulate solidarity actions between the
countryside and the city, between small farmers and indigenous communities.
Actions that bring supporters of the city that want to help. We hope that all
this helps to bring the movements of the countryside and the city closer, in a
more organic way, between the bases of these movements as well. Actions that make
movements think together forms of everyday solidarity, without needing projects,
politicians or public policies.
This pandemic meant that movements and collectives had to create other forms of
distribution, other forms of logistics to continue with production and
distribution of their products. And all of this may be important in the future,
if the movements manage to define the right strategic policies, as we will have
less and less public policies for the countryside by the State. On the contrary,
attacks on indigenous people, peasants and land grabbing are only increasing.
BRRN: The MST is probably the most well-known of Brazil's social movements
globally; the organization and its impressive accomplishments in terms of seizing
and redistributing land to thousands of families, promoting agroecology and food
sovereignty, and its contribution to global peasant movements, has been a source
of inspiration for revolutionaries around the world, including many anarchists.
From afar, it seems like there are many aspects of the organization's practices
and tactics that align with anarchist principles. At the same time, there are
characteristics of the MST, such as their Marxism-Leninism, and relationship to
the PT, which might present challenges for anarchists who wish to
support/participate/collaborate with the MST. I'd love to know what FARJ's
assessment is of the MST, the positive aspects of the movement, any critiques you
have, and how you navigate working with the MST.
FARJ: In Brazil, the land issue, the concentration of land, is central. Today, we
are a country that is still a peripheral agrarian-exporter of commodities,
despite being seen by other world powers as a contender, a world player, due to
the size and natural assets it has, such as water, oil, mineral resources, etc.
Which is why we have attacks and coups, which are present throughout the history
of Latin American countries. So Brazil has always had strong agrarian and land
conflicts, several historical revolts, not to mention the quilombos, the rural
workers, the indigenous people.
MST members on demonstration.
The MST, like other movements in the countryside, comes from this accumulation of
struggles, conflicts and revolts. Before, one of the main movements was the
Peasant Leagues (1954-1964). Over time, unions in the countryside that worked on
these labor issues and for wage workers, employed on farms, etc., also appeared.
With the coup and the business-military dictatorship (1964) the militants of the
countryside also suffered a lot of repression, with more than a thousand dead and
disappeared, and persecuting and repressing the Peasant Leagues.
Then there was the opening and conciliatory transition from dictatorship to
democracy. Unlike countries like Argentina, the military in Brazil was not
punished for the crimes of the dictatorship. At that time, several armed leftist
resistance groups sought to resist the dictatorship. So the process that
followed, in the 70-80s, also has the development and involvement of labor
organizations, culminating in CUT (Unified Workers Central) (1983), progressive
sectors of the church (CEBs (Eclesiastical Base Communities), Pastoral Land
Commission and Liberation Theology), rural movements and the PT (Worker's Party).
In the CUT there was the Rural Department, which brought together rural workers,
with an agenda more related to labor rights. And the MST (and later MPA) also
appeared to deal with agendas of rural demands from the countryside that were not
only about labor conditions, but access to land, credit and public policies to
produce and to continue reproducing their rural livelihoods. In other words, the
CUT and the unions in the countryside did not cover all the peasant agendas.
The clergy and Liberation Theology had an important role together with the
movements of the countryside, doing groundwork in the communities, mobilizing the
people and contributing to the social movements that came to occupy the land.
This was the big political "broth" with a social base, which we address here in a
very general way. And all this broth and struggles were being accumulated in the
so-called Popular Democratic Project, with the PT as its political party
expression. In other words, some of these major mass movements in Brazil have a
very strong historical relationship with the PT. With the arrival of the PT in
the government, the movements were also incorporating a political culture of
being part of the state, of bureaucratizing themselves as well. This had as a
consequence a great weakening of the movements, mainly today, with difficulties
to mobilize the masses and to face the attacks of the fascist-oriented Bolsonaro
government.
In addition, the main organizational reference of these movements is
Marxism-Leninism and democratic centralism, even though sometimes the movements
themselves recognize the need to seek other elements that better deal with the
reality of the peasantry and the subjects of the countryside. So if the
mechanisms of political participation are worked on, there are risks of falling
into distant relations between the bases and the leadership of these movements.
That is, the need for spaces that enable qualitative political participation from
the grassroots, reflecting on the work in which they are inserted, forming
themselves, leading the processes and contributing, from their reality, with the
direction of the movement. It also avoids the risks of falling into pragmatism,
or the so-called "putting out fires" daily, which accumulates little politically
and socially, even if a lot is being done.
In our anarchist conception, we believe that the subject of social transformation
is not given, but is formed in everyday work and struggle, and popular power is
built with the subjects' political participation, assuming responsibilities and
protagonism in the struggles. Therefore, the organizational form needs to be
aligned with a transformative ideological concept, so that it allows the advance
of non-alienating organizational forms.
MST Farmers.
Therefore, we also seek to bring and project other historical experiences of
struggle and organization of the working class, of the peasantry, of the
originary communities. We have examples like the Mexican Revolution (1910), and
the later Zapatista movement in Mexico. The struggle of the Makhnovist army in
Ukraine, in the process of the Russian Revolution, processes with indigenous and
peasant protagonism in the expropriation of land and social organization. The
collectivization and organization of production and social processes in the
Spanish Civil War, in the countryside and in the city, with the example of the
CNT. Like Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan, with the organization,
self-defense, territorial and labor and production management in a collective and
direct way. Current community experiences in Colombia with the concept of land as
a common good, and demanding the permanence and reproduction of forms of
community life in the territories. In short, there are various experiences, some
known to the movements, in addition to other references that they also seek, and
that we examine to study and identify elements that can contribute to our
processes here.
Therefore, anarchism also needs to develop concrete tools for intervention in
reality, for mobilizing and managing life in its different aspects, social,
cultural, productive, economic. In other words, we also need to develop proposals
to organize the countryside and to address these issues.
BRRN: Struggles for food sovereignty, agroecology, and agrarian reform raise some
really critical questions for anarchists, particularly because many of the
movements and academics that dominate the discourse don't share our critiques of
the state, electoralism, etc., and often see nation-state as the vehicle for
achieving food sovereignty, agrarian reform, etc. I haven't come across many
contemporary anarchist perspectives on food sovereignty, agroecology, and
agrarian reform, and I'm very curious to know about your reflections as an
anarchist participating in these movements in Brazil, and how yourself and other
FARJ militants in the Frente de Luta Camponesa think about food sovereignty and
agrarian reform from an anarchist perspective-can we articulate a particular
anarchist perspective on how to achieve and sustain food sovereignty and agrarian
reform that is distinct from the perspectives of Marxist-Leninist, social
democratic and liberal currents within social movements?
FARJ: We are starting to have this debate currently at CAB, in the Agrarian
Working Group, among militants who work with rural movements, with indigenous,
non-urban communities. With other movements like the MAM (Movement for Popular
Sovereignty in Mining) and it has a little to do with the previous question. In
other words, what are the concrete proposals of anarchism for reality? What is
our anarchist program of struggle?
So we are beginning to discuss which concepts are important and central to us.
Such as Food Sovereignty, agrarian reform or revolution, natural and energy
resources. Bem viver ("living well"), as opposed to the logic of development,
among others.
For us, these issues need to be related to popular demands, to popular reality.
For us, agroecology must be a tool and principle to strengthen the struggle and
organization of rural peoples and communities. In other words, we will also seek
to apply these concepts and questions as references, within our anarchist
conception, based on popular reality, to strengthen our work of base-building and
building popular power.
Some of these concepts are also worked on by the rural social movements such as
food sovereignty, agroecology, feminism. But it is clear that we need to develop
our conceptions about them as well. But we can say, in general, that the left
often has a reading of reality that is very urban, valuing questions around trade
unions and urban issues more, reproducing this centrality in the urban. And
anarchism is not free from reproducing some of that, too.
BRRN: Needless to say, the historical processes of colonialism and capitalist
development around the world have left a mess of contradictions for different
oppressed classes and communities to navigate when it comes to the questions of
land. Here in the US, because social movements are so weak, the discourse and
struggles around land and land reform don't seem to be as advanced when compared
to the Brazilian context.One critical question here in the US & Canada-two
european settler colonial projects situated on stolen indigenous territories-is
how different oppressed populations in struggle around questions of
land-indigenous peoples, people of African descent, small farmers, migrant farm
workers, etc. can be in solidarity with one another as opposed to being pitted
against one another by the contradictions created by the systems of settler
colonialism and capitalism. I'm very curious to know where the discourse around
these complicated questions are among the social movements you work with, and
what your perspectives are on them, as anarchists? In Rio de Janeiro, are there
promising signs of solidarity between indigenous people, quilombola communities,
peasant farmers and farm workers? Can you recommend some good sources for folks
who would like to learn more about these questions and struggles?
FARJ: Similar territorial issues also occur here, I believe also to be the
consequences of the historical processes of colonialism, structural slavery and
patriarchy and the other oppressions enhanced by capitalism.
Brazil, being a country of continental dimensions, poses several challenges. For
example, there is a reality, a relationship with the land and culture of settlers
in the south of the country, and there is another one of the indigenous
communities and other subjects in the north of the country. This already poses
several questions for the fight and the movements as well. For example, the issue
of working with the idea of the peasant subject, in the face of these
diversities. It also involves knowing and knowing how to understand other
organizational forms, which may be different from the organizational forms that
the traditional left reproduces.
On the other hand, Brazil has this great potential for struggle and for people
and subjects in the countryside. Almost 40% of the land in the country is land
reform settlements, indigenous lands (recognized or not), quilombos, peasant
communities. The powerful know of this potential and are afraid. That is why they
invest in repression and the dismantling of social rights, land grabbing,
paramilitary violence, etc.
It is a social diversity that is a reality in Latin America. The strength of the
indigenous people in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia. The Mapuche in Argentina and Chile.
Colombia is also a very rich and interesting country, with Afro-Colombian
communities, various indigenous ethnicities, peasants. There is the CNA (National
Agrarian Coordinator), a significant peasant movement in the country, there is a
very interesting debate on "agri-food territory", for example.
In Rio the MPA has been making contacts and working with some quilombola
communities, and now indigenous communities. In the capital there is the struggle
of Aldeia Maracanã, which mobilized enough supporters against the speculation and
gentrification that the Olympics mega-event blew open. There are many
possibilities for dialogue between quilombos, indigenous villages, favelas, rural
and city movements and we can go further. Actions such as community gardens,
urban agriculture, are also interesting possibilities for the food sovereignty of
favela dwellers, and possibilities for dialogue with rural movements. The
organization of consumer collectives in cities, organizing themselves for access
to and distribution ofhealthy food in the countryside. Collective investment
groups of supporters, enabling rural production. Supportive relationships between
different sectors of the working class, deliverers, education workers, students.
The possibilities of organizing from below are many.
A few websites for reference and more information:
Virtual Library of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) -
www.reformaagrariaemdados.org.br/biblioteca
Movement of Small Farmers (MPA) - www.mpabrasil.org.br
Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM) - http://mamnacional.org.br/
National Agrarian Coordinator (Colombia) - www.cna-colombia.org
Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) - cptnacional.org.br
Rio Grande do Sul Quilombola Front - www.facebook.com/FrenteQuilombolaRs
Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon -
www.facebook.com/coiabamazoniaoficial
Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) -
www.facebook.com/apiboficial
Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Southern Region -
www.facebook.com/ARPINSULBRASIL
Mídia India - www.facebook.com/VozDosPovos
Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) - www.facebook.com/conselhoindigena.cir
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas
Gerais and Espirito Santo (APOINME) - www.facebook.com/apoinme.brasil
People's Web (Teia dos Povos) - www.facebook.com/TeiadosPovosoficial
BRRN: Anything else you'd like to share?
FARJ: We would like to thank the space and the opportunity to share the
experiences and work here. There are other comrades organized at CAB who can also
contribute with their experiences from their states and our work also has
contributions from them. We hope to have contributed to Black Rose, and to help
more people know a little more about the struggles in Brazil and on our
continent. We also hope to have more opportunities for exchanges like this one
with our comrades from BR, who also inspire us. Spaces like this are essential.
Arriba lxs que luchan!!!
1. There is no direct translation of the term formação, as it is used by the
social movements, in English. In this interview I've translated it as "political
training", though it can be more accurately understood as the collective
processes within social movements that include "consciousness-raising work,
political education, and leadership development."For more discussion of the
concept and practice of formação, see "Leadership development and Formação in
Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST)" by Dawn Plummer
This interview was conducted by a member of Black Rose Anarchist Federation's New
York City Local.
https://blackrosefed.org/agroecology-organized-anarchism/
------------------------------
Message: 4
Anarchists from Rozbrat squat in Poznan, together with other groups, have
successfully stopped the eviction of neighbouring allotment gardens "ROD
Bogdanka". ---- The allotments are a part of the city's green belt and have been
used by the community since 1953. For decades, the land belonged to the state
treasury. In the early 90s, it was acquired by a somewhat shadowy developers'
company Darex. Darex took out a loan to purchase the land, but then never paid it
back while still maintaining their ownership rights. As of today, the company is
still listed as an official owner in the land registry records for both the
allotments and Rozbrat.
Over the years, the municipality of Poznan attempted to reclaim the land, but so
far without too much luck. In the meantime, the land has become a prime estate
for developers and dramatically increased its monetary value. The developers, of
course, plan to turn it into some form of a posh "regeneration" project and have
been harassing both the allotment holders and the squatters from Rozbrat to get
them to move on. In the past year, there were reports of arson on the allotments,
and Darex has also been threatening the plot holders with absolutely overwhelming
financial penalties should they chose to hold on to their gardens. By these
methods, they have successfully intimidated many people to leave their plots;
however, a few are still remaining.
The attempted eviction took place yesterday morning, when Darex, with the
assistance from the police, turned up intending to clear the space to get it
ready for so-called redevelopment. This triggered an immediate resistance from
anarchists, environmental groups, tenants' groups and the allotment holders
themselves. An impromptu direct action was organised with people blocking the
developers and the police from accessing the land. After a stand-off, Darex and
the police have given up on their forceful removal attempt: for now at least.
According to the statement released by Rozbrat this morning:
We were ready for the arrival of the businessmen. Thanks to the joint
mobilisation of the allotment gardeners, tenant groups and anarchists, it was
possible to stop the plan to demolish the existing buildings.
Darex is a peculiar entity: in the past 30 years, it has not run any real
business activity. The company appeared in 1990 to "buy" the land of the then
state-owned enterprise for one-tenth of its value, take a loan for ten times more
and disappear. However, it did not buy the site from the state, but from a
private person who also soon disappeared. (...)
Today Darex crooks are back to life. In their shadow, some developers wish to get
hold of this part of Poznan, now worth much more than thirty years ago.
In practice, Rozbrat and the allotment holders are on the same cart. Only by
joint effort will we free this land and the rest of Poznan from further waves of
privatisation. An eventful winter and spring is coming, as Darex is certainly not
giving up.
zb
https://freedomnews.org.uk/poland-anarchists-successfully-stop-allotment-gardens-eviction/
------------------------------
Message: 5
"In this country, it is the woman who acts as social security." We publish an
interview with carers from nurseries in Poznan about the women's strike. ---- In
2011, you established an Employee Initiative committee associating female
employees of nurseries in Poznan financed by the local government. What prompted
you to start union activities? ---- Justyna Kurzawska: Nursery carers have not
received a raise for 4 years, in addition, the new act extended our working time
by half an hour, and our wages were still standing still. As formally independent
workers, we wrote a letter to the then president of Poznan, Ryszard Grobelny,
regarding pay rises. In response, we read that we will not get raises until 2032.
First, we established an informal nursery agreement, the aim of which was to
force the government to raise our wages. After several months of joint talks and
contacts with city officials, who mainly showed us disrespect, we established an
Employee Initiative committee. There were about one hundred nannies at the
founding meeting. The initiative was the first union in nurseries in Poland. In
addition to low wages, the problem was forcing us to do additional work, such as
window cleaning and the lack of basic hygiene measures such as disposable gloves.
We started our activity by entering into a collective dispute that ended at the
mediation stage.
How are your contacts with the city authorities now?
Justyna: I earn about 2.5 thousand. PLN per month for 160 hours work involving
caring for a group of children. Our wages are still outrageously low. Therefore,
every year we waste time talking with officials and politicians so that the
increases in the budget for the next year are included for us. At work, we are
burdened with new responsibilities. The increase in the prices of the means of
subsistence reduces the real value of our wages, and we are told every year that
they have not reserved any money for us. After holding several meetings, we are
usually able to force the authorities to raise a gross increase of PLN 100. The
whole process of talks that we have to go through begins in September and ends at
the beginning of the next year when the city's budget is adopted. This year, Vice
President Solarski told us that we cannot count on any increase. Currently, the
authorities explain the lack of wage increases as a raging pandemic. They say
that companies are not operating and therefore tax revenues are falling. We do
not get any increases, and at the same time the city authorities release
entrepreneurs from part of the rents. During a pandemic, entrepreneurs get help
from the city authorities, while we are forced to work for pennies. In total,
there are about 400 people working in city nurseries and there is never any money
for us.
For years, you have also been conducting activities that do not focus directly on
company problems.
Agnieszka Zakrzewska-Matuszak: Our first street campaign took place in the winter
of 2012. At that time, we blocked the tram tracks in the city center in order to
draw public attention to our starvation wages. Before, no one paid any attention
to us, as if our work did not exist at all. Currently, after years of activities,
we are recognizable in the city.
In the same year, we participated in protests against the social cuts resulting
from billions of expenses related to the organization of the Euro 2012 football
tournament. I was in the front row of demonstrations against the city
authorities, which allowed hundreds of millions to pass with a light hand for the
event. Private business was going on, we didn't have enough until the first one,
and parents had a problem with getting proper care for their children, because
there were no places in nurseries. It has remained so until today. This protest
was not just about wages in nurseries, but about the entire welfare sector, such
as employees of nursing homes. At the main demonstration, we put up a large
representation of babysitters. This, however, did not affect our wages. The
previous president of Poznan raised them for us only once in the last year of his
term of office before the elections. He never talked to us, possibly sending his
deputies, he was openly anti-woman and anti-social. In 2014, Jacek Jaskowiak took
the presidency. He pretends to be familiar with women's issues. The difference
between the two is that Grobelny did his best to avoid any contact with us, and
Jaskowiak's officials talk to us. Jaskowiak is also doing a lot to prevent us
from getting raises. When we finally force him to give something, he always tries
to keep the raises as low as possible. In total, during the 6 years of his rule,
we received about PLN 750 gross in a raise. This shows how much he cares about
keeping the wages of women employed by the city authorities low. The data on the
amount of wages obtained by local government employees show that we earn almost
the least. They say they understand everything
In 2018, we took part in the Social Congress of Women. This meeting was about the
meeting of women who are fighting for higher wages and lower rents. We met with
union activists who mainly worked in care professions, as well as with tenant
activists. There are entire industries where mostly women work, and these are the
industries with the lowest wages. So what if in these industries wages of men and
women are at the same level, if the entire industry is at the bottom of wages.
The problem we are experiencing is not the wage inequality between women and men
within one industry, but the wage inequality between industries in the so-called
female and male. It is known that no man works in nurseries, but if he does, he
will earn as little as a woman. On the other hand, if you look at the work of
local government officials, energy, IT specialists, and even construction, most
of them work there for men and the wages are much higher than, for example, in
the case of caring work performed mainly by women. We don't want to work for
free. This meeting was of a more feminist nature, ie it was about improving
women's working conditions and improving social security. In this country, it is
the woman who performs the function of social security, which should be provided
by the state and entrepreneurs. The Social Women's Congress was different from
that of the Women's Congress, which is ruled by politicians and businesswomen.
The problems of low wages and the lack of social security are not discussed
there, because the main faces of this congress earn millions from low-paid
women's work and try to hide these economic inequalities, persuading other women
that the employee has the same interest as a businesswoman or politician. We
believe that these interests are fundamentally contradictory.
Justyna: We also participated in the Black Protest in autumn 2018. There were a
lot of women in Poznan, our friend spoke on it from the rostrum. We are also
currently participating in the women's strike. We fight for access to abortion
because its prohibition restricts women. Politicians already decide too much for
us in other spheres of life. It's not their question when and whom we want to
give birth to.
I don't think abortion is a good thing, but it is my business whether I do it or
not. In my life, I would not give birth to a child with genetic defects. Forcing
a woman to give birth to a child after rape is the same pathology as rape.
Politicians are breaking all boundaries now, they want to destroy women.
Abortions are performed on a massive scale in Poland only illegally or legally
abroad. In both cases, you need a lot of money for it. In practice, those of us
who do not have money, mainly women with the worst jobs or those who are
financially dependent on their husbands, have limited access to abortion. On the
other hand, these richer aborted women have no problem at all. It is often the
case that those women who cannot afford an abortion have to borrow to get rid of
this problem. I have no Catholic views, but this is a problem of access to social
security. No access to free abortion, no prenatal care, no access to
contraception. The prohibition of abortion is not a matter of worldview but
restricting social security. It is a matter of life. This economic position now
determines
You were at demonstrations in Poznan, as well as at a nationwide demonstration in
Warsaw. How was it?
Agnieszka: I am delighted. This idiot from Zoliborz was angry with women. A few
idiots were fooled, for a while it was hot in Warsaw when they attacked us, but
this crowd of women who are fighting for theirs gives hope. I talked to people
from all over Poland, they were delighted just like me. People were a little
scared, but we went together. I don't understand why some fans and hooligans fall
for what the government says and take pride in being useful idiots. In nurseries,
most of us are against limiting access to abortion, nurseries are covered with
protest posters, and even parents make sure that the posters are not torn off.
They get nervous when a poster disappears. Fathers and mothers could not believe
that we had the strength and courage to protest in Warsaw. I asked my colleagues
to write why they support the current protests. In these statements there is only
regret and rage: "Fuck PiS", "Get the fuck out, I'm not an incubator", "We are
not breeding cows", "I support protests, because young people have to have a
choice", "I don't want a bachelor with a cat to rule me "," I don't want to live
in a country where the health service is inefficient "," the church is not ruled.
" We ourselves must fight for better working conditions and abortion. There is a
total regression in Poland in these matters. In the 1970s, the health service
performed an abortion for free. We ourselves must fight for better working
conditions and abortion. There is a total regression in Poland in these matters.
In the 1970s, the health service performed an abortion for free. We ourselves
must fight for better working conditions and abortion. There is a total
regression in Poland in these matters. In the 1970s, the health service performed
an abortion for free.
Are these, in your opinion, feminist demonstrations?
Justyna: I'm not an avid feminist, but I don't like it when you say that a woman
has to cook, clean the house, iron the house. I do not want to be condemned to
look after the child. Am I supposed to work so that men would lie down? For me,
this initiative is not a feminist union, but a union that supports the struggles
of working women.
Agnieszka: There are a few women who, for example, got to the Sejm on the wave of
these female protests, they are probably feminists. They never helped us. Why do
we need feminists in the Seym when I do not see their actions directly improving
the situation of women in workplaces.
https://www.rozbrat.org/publicystyka/walka-klas/4747-w-tym-kraju-to-kobieta-pelni-funkcje-zabezpieczenia-spolecznego-wywiad
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten