Today's Topics:
1. Poland, Poznan: THE RAIN WILL NOT CHASE US AWAY -
THE EIGHTH
DAY OF THE PROTEST [machine translation]
DAY OF THE PROTEST [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. [Spain] Concentration: "Outside racism and fascism in our
neighborhoods" By ANA (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
neighborhoods" By ANA (pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. OASL: Baixada Santista: workers mobilize against
Administrative Reform - Anarchist Organization Libertarian
Socialism (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Administrative Reform - Anarchist Organization Libertarian
Socialism (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. fau.org: Reproductive rights are workers' rights! - A
message of support to the strikers in Poland (de) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
message of support to the strikers in Poland (de) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. US, black rose fed: Vote - or Don't: On Abstention
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL AL #309 - Culture,
Read: Jean-Patrick Manchette, "The N'Gustro Affair" (de, it, fr,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Read: Jean-Patrick Manchette, "The N'Gustro Affair" (de, it, fr,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Die Plattform - Black and red birthday greetings to Uruguay
(ca, de) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
It's been raining all day, but this doesn't discourage us - we're pissed off, it's already the eighth day of protest. Today we are aware
that a lot of people went to Warsaw, including those so helpful in organizing. Nevertheless, at 7 p.m. we are at Wolnosci Square. People are
coming together and there are more and more of them. Umbrellas can be useful again, not only as a symbol of women's protest, because today
they are needed because of the aura. ---- Keywords Women's strike abortion women's rights Law and Justice PiS ---- We start with music, and
laser projections, symbols of feminist rebellion and women's strike appear on the Arkadia building. You can also see that there are more and
more of us. ---- At the beginning, we will explain that it is difficult to convey the strength, spirit and atmosphere of these speeches in
the square - that's why there were no reports from Friday's activities - if you want to feel and understand it, you must be here!
This time, at the beginning, we react strongly and clearly to President Duda's proposal - some kind of call for a return to compromise. The
short answer is "Get the fuck out"! There has never been any abortion compromise, no one asked women for their opinion, and now we will
definitely not go back! We will not go back! One of the people who made such a declaration is Agata, who came here for her teenage daughter.
She herself, when she was pregnant, could at least benefit from prenatal testing. She is afraid of what awaits her daughter in a world that
deprives her of any choice. The crowd chants up the slogan "I think, feel, decide."
Once again, we recall the telephone number of the Abortion Without Borders initiative - +48 22 292 25 97 - if PiS did anything good, then at
least such information is spreading across the country. Nobody can stop it: the authorities, the church or the censorship of TVP
We also remind ourselves about mutual security. No, we don't trust the police to protect us. As an institution, it is completely politicized
and (like the prosecution) used by the current regime for repression. The first information is already appearing about a 14-year-old girl
from Olsztyn, who is to be responsible for organizing an illegal gathering, or women from Police near Szczecin and Zakopane, threatened with
the same. The supportive or simply human behavior of some officers and police officers cannot change our attitude towards this formation.
Today it is used to repress, period.
Strong words are being spoken towards the church, but not towards faith or religion - anyone can have whatever they want. However, there can
be no consent for further financing of an institution that attacks women's rights, indoctrinates youth in schools, not only against the
right to abortion, but also against sex education, contraception, and LGBT + people. It's time to pronounce the concordat and finish
teaching religion in schools.
On Plac Wolnosci, we also read the list of postulates of the National Women's Strike, all and we must know what we are fighting for and for.
This is important because, as one of the speakers notes - guys are often here just to shout "Fuck PiS". Some of them do not care about
women's rights, they want to conduct them and lead them from the second row. Men make declarations of support, but we want actions to follow
them. We don't need sweet words and knights on white horses. The ego of some of these knights cannot even accept the fact that mostly women
speak for an hour today. There is no room for false allies. We need men this time to give us a space to fight for our rights - on the basis
of what we determine!
We continue to support each other, we motivate ourselves to perseverance, we remind about empathy and understanding for our needs. We will
not be suppressed and excluded anymore, we must be together and fight in solidarity to the end. I'll see you on Saturday at the next protest .
https://www.rozbrat.org/informacje/poznan/4744-deszcz-nas-nie-przegoni-osmy-dzien-protestu
------------------------------
Message: 2
*About 200 people gathered in Pineda against racism and fascism ---- *Organizers ask that the precariousness in which many sectors of
society live are not used to fuel racism ---- The Plaza del Carmen in Pineda de Mar gathered nearly two hundred people this Sunday (10/25)
in the morning. The reason was to protest against the manifestations of racism and fascism that the region experienced during the pandemic
months. ---- They did so at noon and in accordance with all security measures recommended by Covidien-19. In the square you could see
banners with the slogans "Outside racism and fascism in our neighborhoods", "roles for everyone" or "Alt Maresme against racism and
fascism". More than a dozen organizations and entities from Pineda and other neighboring cities were among those calling for the event.
During the protest, a manifesto was read that said "civility and security are fundamental issues and must always be preserved". However, he
argued that these could not be used "to generate false debates with a racist background". Consequently, the text "strongly condemns those
individuals, organizations or parties that use the suffering of these families to promote their racist hatred".
These statements are to be understood in the context of the demonstration against the occupation that brought together about twenty people
last month in Pineda and after the organization of which there were representatives of extreme right parties and organizations.
The manifesto ended with demands for "social justice", "social policies that respond to the current situation", "security" and "coexistence".
During the concentration, slogans were shouted like "people without houses and houses without people, you don't understand", "outside the
racism and fascism of our neighborhoods", "rights and roles for everyone" or "natives or foreigners, the same working class ".
Of the different entities and organizations that called for the protest, including the CNT of Pineda de Mar, they said that they feel
"proud" for having brought together almost two hundred people despite the health situation. They also said that they will continue "fighting
for the disappearance of fascism and racism in our neighborhoods".
Translation> Liberto
Source:https://www.cnt.es/noticias/concentracion-fuera-racismo-y-fascismo-de-nuestros-barrios/
anarchist news agency-ana
------------------------------
Message: 3
The Administrative Reform proposal presented by Bolsonaro and Guedes is a severe blow against public sector workers (municipal, state and
federal), and will result in the precariousness of services aimed at the population, such as health and education. The government's
objective is to implement an anti-people agenda to legitimize a broad privatization process. Bolsonaro and Guedes want to turn public
hospitals, schools and universities into the hands of the big capitalist monopolies. ---- Among other measures, the reform literally aims to
end public procurement, the stability of the civil servant and career plans. In practice, they want to replace qualified civil servants by
putting in place sponsored politicians who will not hesitate to subject themselves to box 2 and cracking. It will be the spree of corruption.
In view of this, several categories of public servants in the Baixada Santista have been mobilized in recent months through assemblies,
marches and public acts in the peripheral and central areas of the cities of Santos, São Vicente and Cubatão. On the last 10/28, the day of
the civil servant, the workers performed a unitary act in Santos following the sanitary protocols such as distance, distribution of alcohol
in gel, masks, etc. OASL / CAB activists were present in solidarity with the workers' struggle and in the defense of public services.
Therefore, we declare that we stand shoulder to shoulder in the struggle of public service workers, alongside the struggle of the poor
people for access to health, education, justice and the struggle for a dignified life!
No to Administrative Reform!
Outside Bolsonaro, Mourão, Guedes and the military!
For a Strong People!
For the Social Revolution!
https://www.facebook.com/anarquismosp/posts/1627254824127818
------------------------------
Message: 4
A few days ago, a ruling by the Polish constitutional court placed an effective ban on all abortions in Poland. In response, the country
erupted into spontaneous mass protests (despite the Covid-19 assembly ban), occupations and blockades, all of which have been going on for
several days now, in large towns and small, on the streets, and in the churches. Today, the call went out for a nation-wide strike. The
arguably largest protest movement in Poland since the 1980s is predominantly led by women, but people of all genders are lending their
support. We would like to send out the following message to the feminist strikers and wish them every success: ---- To the strikers in
Poland, ---- We stand behind you, united in solidarity. While we can't join you in person, we are with you in spirit. There is so much
happening so quickly right now, and we are doing our very best to keep up with all the most important developments. We are in contact with
our Polish sister union "Inicjatywa Pracownicza" (IP), as well asother LGBTIQ+ activists and feminists. Everyone we spoke to so far gave a
euphoric account of the overwhelming outpouring of rage on the streets, summed up by the slogan "This is war!" You have succeeded in
organising large spontaneous strikes without even the benefit of broad union support (one exception being the strike call given by IP). We
were already very impressed by the spontaneous wave of strikes in Poland during the "Black Protest" back in 2016 (at that time,
international travel was still an option, while today the pandemic sadly prevents us from joining you). Since then, we have seen an
increasing number of anti-feminist attacks on women's rights, especially since the Polish government cast "LGBT ideology" in the role of
public enemy number one. So we are delighted to hear from our friends that this movement is no longer "just" about access to abortion, but
also about the conservative PiS party's right-wing government policies in general (some of the more popular slogans being "Fuck PiS" and
"Piss off"). It is about transphobia, homophobic family policies, religious affairs, sexualised violence, the health system, precarious work
etc.
We have so much to learn from you in terms of political strike action - and there is so much we want to learn.
As a union committed to class struggle, we too believe in the efficacy of strike action as a tool for change. Our goal is to improve working
and living conditions for everyone and to build an emancipatory society free from capitalism, patriarchy and racism. For us as wage earners,
striking, i.e. withdrawing our labour, is the most powerful form of leverage we have at our disposal if we want to bring about societal change.
As a feminist union, we are committed to the view that the conditions of unpaid labour (giving birth, caring duties, the manufacture of an
"acceptable" (binary) gender performance, affective labour, housework, etc.) are working conditions. That reproductive rights are workers'
rights. And we will not tolerate any attempt to take these rights away. But let's be honest, life under capitalist and patriarchal
conditions has always been pretty shit. And frankly, we've had enough: we're not taking this shit any more!
Our problems aren't that different, and we're not going to let national borders stand in the way of mutual solidarity. The fight against
anti-feminism, just like the fight against nationalism and fascism, must transcend the borders of nation states. We thank you for your
courage. Our struggles are closely linked - your strike is our strike. May it be successful, and may it achieve more than just a simple
return to the status quo.
We would like to take this opportunity now to wish you all the strength you will need in the future to face the inevitable backlash. If you
have any suggestions as to how we can support you from here, please let us know.
Solidarnosc nasza bronia.
Long live the international feminist strike movement!
In that spirit: Patriarchacie - ciao!
(There's a very similar song in German: Patria(r)ciao!)
***** ***
International Committee of the Freie Arbeiter_innen Union (FAU), 28.10.2020
Additional links:
A guide to political strike action (or "non-traditional" forms of industrial action) by the IP (in Polish):
https://ozzip.pl/porady-prawne/item/2696-strajk-kobiet-jak-mozesz-wziac-w-nim-udzial
International Manifesto: "Our Strike is Essential! Together with Polish Women for Freedom of Abortion":
https://www.transnational-strike.info/2020/10/28/our-strike-is-essential-together-with-polish-women-for-freedom-of-abortion
https://www.fau.org/artikel/pl/pl-en-prawa-reprodukcyjne-sa-prawami-pracowniczymi-z-pozdrowieniami-dla-strajkujacych-w-polsce-feminizmbezgranic
------------------------------
Message: 5
It's no secret that anarchists detest elections, but most who embrace revolutionary socialism (of which anarchism is a branch) tend to
possess a simplistic understanding of how to position themselves in relation to the spectacle of these events. This article argues that the
anarchist focus on abstention as a responsive strategy to electoralism is not only inadequate for the moment, but operates on the same
moralizing logic used by our foes for the reproduction of bourgeois democracy. ---- by Cameron A. ---- The Revolutionary Left and Elections
---- Questions regarding how socialists should relate to the election of representatives in bourgeois democracy have been a source of
contentious debate for more than 150 years. In fact, disagreement on this point (insofar as it is corollary to the question of seeking state
power) was in large part responsible for splitting the First International.
There's no doubt that elections are spectacular events. With unparalleled amounts of money expended, unending coverage from pundits, and
Twitter always ready to serve you the next hot take, elections are as social and cultural as they are political.
Today still, the same debate rages on, with each quarter of the socialist movement making its own prescription. The most sizable socialist
organization in the U.S., largely bases its strategy around building a base within the Democratic Party and helping its members get elected
to office.
Revolutionary socialists (including anarchists), on the other hand, take a different tact. Some groups in this category have taken to
constructing elaborate potemkin campaigns for their own candidates who clearly have no hope of electoral success, instead using them to
cynically draw attention or resources to their organization. Others, particularly anarchists, have fallen into the habit of calling for a
total abstention from the electoral process as a matter of principle.
It's the latter category which will be the focus of this article.
The Moralism of Voting, The Moralism of Abstention
On what grounds do anarchists (and other revolutionary socialists) call for abstention? Usually, it boils down to the contention that to
cast a ballot in a bourgeois election is to actively legitimize the state, therefore it is a compromise on our core ideological principles.
This, ironically, is the same turn of logic deployed by those (usually liberals) who assert that one must vote, lest they be responsible for
the damage inflicted by the opposition party. This is a familiar refrain that has echoed through the heads of a variety of U.S. leftists
since 2016.
Both of these positions, however, are deeply flawed in that they reduce questions rooted in the materiality of political power, conditions,
and the operation of the state, to an individual moral calculus. While this may be expected of the liberal, why have anarchists largely
adopted the same frame of reference?
Let's explore this further.
In this framing, both revolutionary socialists and liberals derive their opposing conclusions from the same moralistic schema, at the core
of which rests a central question: how can I best reduce my complicity in legitimizing the actions of the state?
Though the revolutionary socialist - unlike the liberal - possesses enough clarity to recognize that the state itself is an instrument of
the capitalist class, we often can't seem to break from the foundational logic which asserts that the discrete individual and their actions
are principally constitutive of the state's legitimacy. This is the so-called consent of the governed upon which all representative
democracies are said to be based and which anarchists have historically rejected.
Instead, anarchists have advanced a theory of the state which maintains that the processes of state formation, reproduction, and
legitimation are carried out through a combination of coercive force (the military, police, prisons) and ideological conditioning (via
institutions of civil society like schools, the media, etc).
Simply put: the state doesn't require your permission to exist, let alone to carry out its most egregious activity.
It's bizarre then that most anarchists have embraced abstentionism, given that it accedes to the logic of the consent of the governed.
Rather than fully embracing the anarchist theory of the state in pursuit of constructing serious strategies for the development of
counterpower, we reach for the comfortable moralistic language of boycott and retraction of consent.
Going Beyond Abstentionism
As has been demonstrated above, abstentionism is based on an assumption of liberal political theory that is incompatible with the anarchist
theory of the state. Accordingly, we must go beyond our reliance on abstention and develop an actual strategic orientation in relation to
elections and state power.
It should be clear enough that this writing does not propose active, enthusiastic, or really any sort of engagement with the electoral
system as a solution. In fact, what is being advanced here is the notion that the question of electoral participation should be stricken
from our consideration altogether. Neither abstention nor participation constitute an active strategy. To spend more than a moment pondering
this question or, worse yet, to moralize about it, is a profound waste of time for any serious revolutionary.
Our most immediate task is to organize ourselves as a class capable of exerting our will on both the state and capital. This means
constructing or strengthening independent, durable social movement organizations which allow us to build and wield collective power in our
everyday lives. Labor unions at work, tenant unions at home, student unions at school, and popular assemblies in our neighborhoods. In
short, our goal must be to create popular power.
Anarchists, particularly those who embrace the strategy of Especifismo, recognize that our task is to engage in these organizations and work
to develop their democratic, combative, and revolutionary character.
At present, the balance of forces in this country remain decidedly tilted toward capital and the state. While mass protests have been
promising, there are few signs to suggest that demonstrators are moving beyond street oriented action and toward sustained movement building
via the sorts of materially embedded organizations mentioned above. It must be understood that our ability to extract concessions depends on
how effectively we can apply pressure in areas we've identified as both vulnerable and valuable to capital and the state. We are capable of
winning, but we have to have the right tools at our disposal.
Of course, these struggles don't happen in a vacuum. The world keeps spinning and events of national or international import will act to
change the conditions under which we engage. Whether in the midst of an election, an economic crisis, a pandemic (or all three) - we are
only effective if we understand the conjuncture that we find ourselves in and can act accordingly.
Vote or don't, but prioritize building power.
Cameron A. is a rank and file labor union militant and a member of Black Rose Anarchist Federation's Bay Area Local.
If you enjoyed this piece, we recommend The Lure of Elections: From Political Power to Popular Power or The Electoral Road to Power?
https://blackrosefed.org/vote-or-dont/
------------------------------
Message: 6
Mythical author, Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) is considered as one of the initiators, in the 1970s, of the French "neopolar". ---- In
the context of the post-May 68 and flourishing neocolonialism, it was a question of injecting a good dose of red in the noir novel,
subverting this popular genre with political and social criticism, by taking the corpses out of the cupboards. of the history of France.
Several authors have made a name for themselves in this exercise - Jean Vautrin, Frédéric H. Fajardie, Thierry Jonquet, Didier Daeninckx...
Among them, Jean-Patrick Manchette was one of the best, with scathing titles like Nada (1972, on an anarchist group whose attempted
terrorist action turns into drama), Le Petit Bleu de la côte ouest (1976) or The Position of the Reclining Shooter(nineteen eighty one).
Several have been adapted into comics (notably by Tardi) or brought to the screen (by Chabrol, Boisset, Deray ...).
In July, Gallimard republished one of his first novels in the Série noire, L'Affaire N'Gustro , published in 1971. The headline was inspired
by the Ben Barka affair, this leftist opponent of the king of Morocco who, in 1965, had been kidnapped in Paris, tortured and murdered very
likely by General Mohamed Oufkir, with the consent of the French intelligence services.
One of the protagonists of the kidnapping had been a shady character, Georges Figon, whose vanity was manipulated to lure Ben Barka into a
trap, and who was found two months later " killed by three fatal bullets in the head " as Le Canard enchaîné had titled .
The N'Gustro Affair takes up the plot of this dark episode, building its narrative around the character of Henri Butron, alter-ego of the
sad Georges Figon. And it is masterful.
As the main narrator: Butron himself who, even though he knows that the killers will come and eliminate him, records his testimony on
magnetic tape for posterity. He appears there in all his abjection. Lazy, macho, half-thug, half-facho daddy's son, but without real
conviction, basely opportunist, a little mythomaniac, megalomaniac to the last degree. He speaks smugly, showing off his poor exploits in a
game to which he hears nothing as revealed, in counterpoint, the testimony of other protagonists, or the hilarious commentary of the master
assassin, Marshal Oufiri, who will savor the cigar recording in the beak, sipping cognac. This soliloquy by Henri Butron, which we follow
with a mixture of fascination and disgust, frames the writing of Manchette, while salient and roughness. In short, it's a treat.
A treat unfortunately spoiled by a few bitter hints. It is difficult for the reader of 2020 not to be embarrassed by the female characters,
rather bland. It is also impossible not to twist the nose in front of the negrophobic projections slipped here and there, and which are not
attributable to Butron, but to the author himself. No doubt he thought thus, half a century ago, to spice up his style. He didn't need this
bad trick.
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)
Jean-Patrick Manchette, L'Affaire N'Gustro , Gallimard / Série noire, 2020, 224 pages, 14 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Jean-Patrick-Manchette-L-Affaire-N-Gustro
------------------------------
Message: 7
Our comrades from the Federacion Anarquista Uruguaya (Uruguayan Anarchist Federation, fAu) are celebrating the 64th birthday of their
organisation these days. For more than six decades now, anarcho-communists have been working together in the fAu in an organised manner in
order to promote the development of the social counter-power of the wage-dependent class and thus to continuously advance the struggle for a
liberated society. Even decades of state repression and murderous dictatorship, to which dozens of comrades fell victim, could not stop the
fAu from persistently continuing on the path to libertarian communism. The history of the fAu and the organisational approach of
Especifismo, which emerged from its practice, inspires us to follow this path ourselves. We greet the comrades of the fAu and congratulate
them on their birthday! For freedom and socialism! Up with those who fight!
See Translation
13 Sean Dubh and 12 others
https://www.facebook.com/DPlattform/posts/670810233632695
------------------------------
(ca, de) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
It's been raining all day, but this doesn't discourage us - we're pissed off, it's already the eighth day of protest. Today we are aware
that a lot of people went to Warsaw, including those so helpful in organizing. Nevertheless, at 7 p.m. we are at Wolnosci Square. People are
coming together and there are more and more of them. Umbrellas can be useful again, not only as a symbol of women's protest, because today
they are needed because of the aura. ---- Keywords Women's strike abortion women's rights Law and Justice PiS ---- We start with music, and
laser projections, symbols of feminist rebellion and women's strike appear on the Arkadia building. You can also see that there are more and
more of us. ---- At the beginning, we will explain that it is difficult to convey the strength, spirit and atmosphere of these speeches in
the square - that's why there were no reports from Friday's activities - if you want to feel and understand it, you must be here!
This time, at the beginning, we react strongly and clearly to President Duda's proposal - some kind of call for a return to compromise. The
short answer is "Get the fuck out"! There has never been any abortion compromise, no one asked women for their opinion, and now we will
definitely not go back! We will not go back! One of the people who made such a declaration is Agata, who came here for her teenage daughter.
She herself, when she was pregnant, could at least benefit from prenatal testing. She is afraid of what awaits her daughter in a world that
deprives her of any choice. The crowd chants up the slogan "I think, feel, decide."
Once again, we recall the telephone number of the Abortion Without Borders initiative - +48 22 292 25 97 - if PiS did anything good, then at
least such information is spreading across the country. Nobody can stop it: the authorities, the church or the censorship of TVP
We also remind ourselves about mutual security. No, we don't trust the police to protect us. As an institution, it is completely politicized
and (like the prosecution) used by the current regime for repression. The first information is already appearing about a 14-year-old girl
from Olsztyn, who is to be responsible for organizing an illegal gathering, or women from Police near Szczecin and Zakopane, threatened with
the same. The supportive or simply human behavior of some officers and police officers cannot change our attitude towards this formation.
Today it is used to repress, period.
Strong words are being spoken towards the church, but not towards faith or religion - anyone can have whatever they want. However, there can
be no consent for further financing of an institution that attacks women's rights, indoctrinates youth in schools, not only against the
right to abortion, but also against sex education, contraception, and LGBT + people. It's time to pronounce the concordat and finish
teaching religion in schools.
On Plac Wolnosci, we also read the list of postulates of the National Women's Strike, all and we must know what we are fighting for and for.
This is important because, as one of the speakers notes - guys are often here just to shout "Fuck PiS". Some of them do not care about
women's rights, they want to conduct them and lead them from the second row. Men make declarations of support, but we want actions to follow
them. We don't need sweet words and knights on white horses. The ego of some of these knights cannot even accept the fact that mostly women
speak for an hour today. There is no room for false allies. We need men this time to give us a space to fight for our rights - on the basis
of what we determine!
We continue to support each other, we motivate ourselves to perseverance, we remind about empathy and understanding for our needs. We will
not be suppressed and excluded anymore, we must be together and fight in solidarity to the end. I'll see you on Saturday at the next protest .
https://www.rozbrat.org/informacje/poznan/4744-deszcz-nas-nie-przegoni-osmy-dzien-protestu
------------------------------
Message: 2
*About 200 people gathered in Pineda against racism and fascism ---- *Organizers ask that the precariousness in which many sectors of
society live are not used to fuel racism ---- The Plaza del Carmen in Pineda de Mar gathered nearly two hundred people this Sunday (10/25)
in the morning. The reason was to protest against the manifestations of racism and fascism that the region experienced during the pandemic
months. ---- They did so at noon and in accordance with all security measures recommended by Covidien-19. In the square you could see
banners with the slogans "Outside racism and fascism in our neighborhoods", "roles for everyone" or "Alt Maresme against racism and
fascism". More than a dozen organizations and entities from Pineda and other neighboring cities were among those calling for the event.
During the protest, a manifesto was read that said "civility and security are fundamental issues and must always be preserved". However, he
argued that these could not be used "to generate false debates with a racist background". Consequently, the text "strongly condemns those
individuals, organizations or parties that use the suffering of these families to promote their racist hatred".
These statements are to be understood in the context of the demonstration against the occupation that brought together about twenty people
last month in Pineda and after the organization of which there were representatives of extreme right parties and organizations.
The manifesto ended with demands for "social justice", "social policies that respond to the current situation", "security" and "coexistence".
During the concentration, slogans were shouted like "people without houses and houses without people, you don't understand", "outside the
racism and fascism of our neighborhoods", "rights and roles for everyone" or "natives or foreigners, the same working class ".
Of the different entities and organizations that called for the protest, including the CNT of Pineda de Mar, they said that they feel
"proud" for having brought together almost two hundred people despite the health situation. They also said that they will continue "fighting
for the disappearance of fascism and racism in our neighborhoods".
Translation> Liberto
Source:https://www.cnt.es/noticias/concentracion-fuera-racismo-y-fascismo-de-nuestros-barrios/
anarchist news agency-ana
------------------------------
Message: 3
The Administrative Reform proposal presented by Bolsonaro and Guedes is a severe blow against public sector workers (municipal, state and
federal), and will result in the precariousness of services aimed at the population, such as health and education. The government's
objective is to implement an anti-people agenda to legitimize a broad privatization process. Bolsonaro and Guedes want to turn public
hospitals, schools and universities into the hands of the big capitalist monopolies. ---- Among other measures, the reform literally aims to
end public procurement, the stability of the civil servant and career plans. In practice, they want to replace qualified civil servants by
putting in place sponsored politicians who will not hesitate to subject themselves to box 2 and cracking. It will be the spree of corruption.
In view of this, several categories of public servants in the Baixada Santista have been mobilized in recent months through assemblies,
marches and public acts in the peripheral and central areas of the cities of Santos, São Vicente and Cubatão. On the last 10/28, the day of
the civil servant, the workers performed a unitary act in Santos following the sanitary protocols such as distance, distribution of alcohol
in gel, masks, etc. OASL / CAB activists were present in solidarity with the workers' struggle and in the defense of public services.
Therefore, we declare that we stand shoulder to shoulder in the struggle of public service workers, alongside the struggle of the poor
people for access to health, education, justice and the struggle for a dignified life!
No to Administrative Reform!
Outside Bolsonaro, Mourão, Guedes and the military!
For a Strong People!
For the Social Revolution!
https://www.facebook.com/anarquismosp/posts/1627254824127818
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Message: 4
A few days ago, a ruling by the Polish constitutional court placed an effective ban on all abortions in Poland. In response, the country
erupted into spontaneous mass protests (despite the Covid-19 assembly ban), occupations and blockades, all of which have been going on for
several days now, in large towns and small, on the streets, and in the churches. Today, the call went out for a nation-wide strike. The
arguably largest protest movement in Poland since the 1980s is predominantly led by women, but people of all genders are lending their
support. We would like to send out the following message to the feminist strikers and wish them every success: ---- To the strikers in
Poland, ---- We stand behind you, united in solidarity. While we can't join you in person, we are with you in spirit. There is so much
happening so quickly right now, and we are doing our very best to keep up with all the most important developments. We are in contact with
our Polish sister union "Inicjatywa Pracownicza" (IP), as well asother LGBTIQ+ activists and feminists. Everyone we spoke to so far gave a
euphoric account of the overwhelming outpouring of rage on the streets, summed up by the slogan "This is war!" You have succeeded in
organising large spontaneous strikes without even the benefit of broad union support (one exception being the strike call given by IP). We
were already very impressed by the spontaneous wave of strikes in Poland during the "Black Protest" back in 2016 (at that time,
international travel was still an option, while today the pandemic sadly prevents us from joining you). Since then, we have seen an
increasing number of anti-feminist attacks on women's rights, especially since the Polish government cast "LGBT ideology" in the role of
public enemy number one. So we are delighted to hear from our friends that this movement is no longer "just" about access to abortion, but
also about the conservative PiS party's right-wing government policies in general (some of the more popular slogans being "Fuck PiS" and
"Piss off"). It is about transphobia, homophobic family policies, religious affairs, sexualised violence, the health system, precarious work
etc.
We have so much to learn from you in terms of political strike action - and there is so much we want to learn.
As a union committed to class struggle, we too believe in the efficacy of strike action as a tool for change. Our goal is to improve working
and living conditions for everyone and to build an emancipatory society free from capitalism, patriarchy and racism. For us as wage earners,
striking, i.e. withdrawing our labour, is the most powerful form of leverage we have at our disposal if we want to bring about societal change.
As a feminist union, we are committed to the view that the conditions of unpaid labour (giving birth, caring duties, the manufacture of an
"acceptable" (binary) gender performance, affective labour, housework, etc.) are working conditions. That reproductive rights are workers'
rights. And we will not tolerate any attempt to take these rights away. But let's be honest, life under capitalist and patriarchal
conditions has always been pretty shit. And frankly, we've had enough: we're not taking this shit any more!
Our problems aren't that different, and we're not going to let national borders stand in the way of mutual solidarity. The fight against
anti-feminism, just like the fight against nationalism and fascism, must transcend the borders of nation states. We thank you for your
courage. Our struggles are closely linked - your strike is our strike. May it be successful, and may it achieve more than just a simple
return to the status quo.
We would like to take this opportunity now to wish you all the strength you will need in the future to face the inevitable backlash. If you
have any suggestions as to how we can support you from here, please let us know.
Solidarnosc nasza bronia.
Long live the international feminist strike movement!
In that spirit: Patriarchacie - ciao!
(There's a very similar song in German: Patria(r)ciao!)
***** ***
International Committee of the Freie Arbeiter_innen Union (FAU), 28.10.2020
Additional links:
A guide to political strike action (or "non-traditional" forms of industrial action) by the IP (in Polish):
https://ozzip.pl/porady-prawne/item/2696-strajk-kobiet-jak-mozesz-wziac-w-nim-udzial
International Manifesto: "Our Strike is Essential! Together with Polish Women for Freedom of Abortion":
https://www.transnational-strike.info/2020/10/28/our-strike-is-essential-together-with-polish-women-for-freedom-of-abortion
https://www.fau.org/artikel/pl/pl-en-prawa-reprodukcyjne-sa-prawami-pracowniczymi-z-pozdrowieniami-dla-strajkujacych-w-polsce-feminizmbezgranic
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Message: 5
It's no secret that anarchists detest elections, but most who embrace revolutionary socialism (of which anarchism is a branch) tend to
possess a simplistic understanding of how to position themselves in relation to the spectacle of these events. This article argues that the
anarchist focus on abstention as a responsive strategy to electoralism is not only inadequate for the moment, but operates on the same
moralizing logic used by our foes for the reproduction of bourgeois democracy. ---- by Cameron A. ---- The Revolutionary Left and Elections
---- Questions regarding how socialists should relate to the election of representatives in bourgeois democracy have been a source of
contentious debate for more than 150 years. In fact, disagreement on this point (insofar as it is corollary to the question of seeking state
power) was in large part responsible for splitting the First International.
There's no doubt that elections are spectacular events. With unparalleled amounts of money expended, unending coverage from pundits, and
Twitter always ready to serve you the next hot take, elections are as social and cultural as they are political.
Today still, the same debate rages on, with each quarter of the socialist movement making its own prescription. The most sizable socialist
organization in the U.S., largely bases its strategy around building a base within the Democratic Party and helping its members get elected
to office.
Revolutionary socialists (including anarchists), on the other hand, take a different tact. Some groups in this category have taken to
constructing elaborate potemkin campaigns for their own candidates who clearly have no hope of electoral success, instead using them to
cynically draw attention or resources to their organization. Others, particularly anarchists, have fallen into the habit of calling for a
total abstention from the electoral process as a matter of principle.
It's the latter category which will be the focus of this article.
The Moralism of Voting, The Moralism of Abstention
On what grounds do anarchists (and other revolutionary socialists) call for abstention? Usually, it boils down to the contention that to
cast a ballot in a bourgeois election is to actively legitimize the state, therefore it is a compromise on our core ideological principles.
This, ironically, is the same turn of logic deployed by those (usually liberals) who assert that one must vote, lest they be responsible for
the damage inflicted by the opposition party. This is a familiar refrain that has echoed through the heads of a variety of U.S. leftists
since 2016.
Both of these positions, however, are deeply flawed in that they reduce questions rooted in the materiality of political power, conditions,
and the operation of the state, to an individual moral calculus. While this may be expected of the liberal, why have anarchists largely
adopted the same frame of reference?
Let's explore this further.
In this framing, both revolutionary socialists and liberals derive their opposing conclusions from the same moralistic schema, at the core
of which rests a central question: how can I best reduce my complicity in legitimizing the actions of the state?
Though the revolutionary socialist - unlike the liberal - possesses enough clarity to recognize that the state itself is an instrument of
the capitalist class, we often can't seem to break from the foundational logic which asserts that the discrete individual and their actions
are principally constitutive of the state's legitimacy. This is the so-called consent of the governed upon which all representative
democracies are said to be based and which anarchists have historically rejected.
Instead, anarchists have advanced a theory of the state which maintains that the processes of state formation, reproduction, and
legitimation are carried out through a combination of coercive force (the military, police, prisons) and ideological conditioning (via
institutions of civil society like schools, the media, etc).
Simply put: the state doesn't require your permission to exist, let alone to carry out its most egregious activity.
It's bizarre then that most anarchists have embraced abstentionism, given that it accedes to the logic of the consent of the governed.
Rather than fully embracing the anarchist theory of the state in pursuit of constructing serious strategies for the development of
counterpower, we reach for the comfortable moralistic language of boycott and retraction of consent.
Going Beyond Abstentionism
As has been demonstrated above, abstentionism is based on an assumption of liberal political theory that is incompatible with the anarchist
theory of the state. Accordingly, we must go beyond our reliance on abstention and develop an actual strategic orientation in relation to
elections and state power.
It should be clear enough that this writing does not propose active, enthusiastic, or really any sort of engagement with the electoral
system as a solution. In fact, what is being advanced here is the notion that the question of electoral participation should be stricken
from our consideration altogether. Neither abstention nor participation constitute an active strategy. To spend more than a moment pondering
this question or, worse yet, to moralize about it, is a profound waste of time for any serious revolutionary.
Our most immediate task is to organize ourselves as a class capable of exerting our will on both the state and capital. This means
constructing or strengthening independent, durable social movement organizations which allow us to build and wield collective power in our
everyday lives. Labor unions at work, tenant unions at home, student unions at school, and popular assemblies in our neighborhoods. In
short, our goal must be to create popular power.
Anarchists, particularly those who embrace the strategy of Especifismo, recognize that our task is to engage in these organizations and work
to develop their democratic, combative, and revolutionary character.
At present, the balance of forces in this country remain decidedly tilted toward capital and the state. While mass protests have been
promising, there are few signs to suggest that demonstrators are moving beyond street oriented action and toward sustained movement building
via the sorts of materially embedded organizations mentioned above. It must be understood that our ability to extract concessions depends on
how effectively we can apply pressure in areas we've identified as both vulnerable and valuable to capital and the state. We are capable of
winning, but we have to have the right tools at our disposal.
Of course, these struggles don't happen in a vacuum. The world keeps spinning and events of national or international import will act to
change the conditions under which we engage. Whether in the midst of an election, an economic crisis, a pandemic (or all three) - we are
only effective if we understand the conjuncture that we find ourselves in and can act accordingly.
Vote or don't, but prioritize building power.
Cameron A. is a rank and file labor union militant and a member of Black Rose Anarchist Federation's Bay Area Local.
If you enjoyed this piece, we recommend The Lure of Elections: From Political Power to Popular Power or The Electoral Road to Power?
https://blackrosefed.org/vote-or-dont/
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Message: 6
Mythical author, Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) is considered as one of the initiators, in the 1970s, of the French "neopolar". ---- In
the context of the post-May 68 and flourishing neocolonialism, it was a question of injecting a good dose of red in the noir novel,
subverting this popular genre with political and social criticism, by taking the corpses out of the cupboards. of the history of France.
Several authors have made a name for themselves in this exercise - Jean Vautrin, Frédéric H. Fajardie, Thierry Jonquet, Didier Daeninckx...
Among them, Jean-Patrick Manchette was one of the best, with scathing titles like Nada (1972, on an anarchist group whose attempted
terrorist action turns into drama), Le Petit Bleu de la côte ouest (1976) or The Position of the Reclining Shooter(nineteen eighty one).
Several have been adapted into comics (notably by Tardi) or brought to the screen (by Chabrol, Boisset, Deray ...).
In July, Gallimard republished one of his first novels in the Série noire, L'Affaire N'Gustro , published in 1971. The headline was inspired
by the Ben Barka affair, this leftist opponent of the king of Morocco who, in 1965, had been kidnapped in Paris, tortured and murdered very
likely by General Mohamed Oufkir, with the consent of the French intelligence services.
One of the protagonists of the kidnapping had been a shady character, Georges Figon, whose vanity was manipulated to lure Ben Barka into a
trap, and who was found two months later " killed by three fatal bullets in the head " as Le Canard enchaîné had titled .
The N'Gustro Affair takes up the plot of this dark episode, building its narrative around the character of Henri Butron, alter-ego of the
sad Georges Figon. And it is masterful.
As the main narrator: Butron himself who, even though he knows that the killers will come and eliminate him, records his testimony on
magnetic tape for posterity. He appears there in all his abjection. Lazy, macho, half-thug, half-facho daddy's son, but without real
conviction, basely opportunist, a little mythomaniac, megalomaniac to the last degree. He speaks smugly, showing off his poor exploits in a
game to which he hears nothing as revealed, in counterpoint, the testimony of other protagonists, or the hilarious commentary of the master
assassin, Marshal Oufiri, who will savor the cigar recording in the beak, sipping cognac. This soliloquy by Henri Butron, which we follow
with a mixture of fascination and disgust, frames the writing of Manchette, while salient and roughness. In short, it's a treat.
A treat unfortunately spoiled by a few bitter hints. It is difficult for the reader of 2020 not to be embarrassed by the female characters,
rather bland. It is also impossible not to twist the nose in front of the negrophobic projections slipped here and there, and which are not
attributable to Butron, but to the author himself. No doubt he thought thus, half a century ago, to spice up his style. He didn't need this
bad trick.
Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)
Jean-Patrick Manchette, L'Affaire N'Gustro , Gallimard / Série noire, 2020, 224 pages, 14 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Jean-Patrick-Manchette-L-Affaire-N-Gustro
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Message: 7
Our comrades from the Federacion Anarquista Uruguaya (Uruguayan Anarchist Federation, fAu) are celebrating the 64th birthday of their
organisation these days. For more than six decades now, anarcho-communists have been working together in the fAu in an organised manner in
order to promote the development of the social counter-power of the wage-dependent class and thus to continuously advance the struggle for a
liberated society. Even decades of state repression and murderous dictatorship, to which dozens of comrades fell victim, could not stop the
fAu from persistently continuing on the path to libertarian communism. The history of the fAu and the organisational approach of
Especifismo, which emerged from its practice, inspires us to follow this path ourselves. We greet the comrades of the fAu and congratulate
them on their birthday! For freedom and socialism! Up with those who fight!
See Translation
13 Sean Dubh and 12 others
https://www.facebook.com/DPlattform/posts/670810233632695
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