#WORLDWIDE #WORLD #News #Update - #Anarchism from all over the #world - TUESDAY 1 DECEMBER 2020

 

Today's Topics:

   

1.  ag amsterdam: Call for solidarity with Belarus demo -
      Beursplein, Amsterdam. Sunday, 29 Nov, 14:00 

     (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

2.  AND: Elephant in the room - Liberate Hong Kong an interview
      about the protest 23. November 2020 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

3.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL Montpellier -
      International Day Against Violence Against Women 

      LET'S BREAK THE
      PATRIARCHY! (de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

4.  fda-ifa: Belarus - Update on the Uprising (November 2020) by
      Anarchistisches Radio Berlin (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

5.  UK, anarchistcommunist ACG: Nestor Makhno and Rural
      Anarchism[Book Review] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

6.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire AL #310 - Economy:
      planning, false and real issues (de, it, fr, pt)[machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   

7.  Holand, vrije bond: ANARCHIST BOOK FAIR AMSTERDAM 2020
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1



AGA joins the week of solidarity with anarchists and antifascists of Belarus.
Come with us to the center of Amsterdam this Sunday to show your support for
fighters against Lukashenko dictatorship! ---- In 26 years, dictator Lukashenko
has built a system aimed at suppressing any political life. The coronavirus and a
number of economic problems have greatly changed what is happening in the
country. In a few months, Belarusians have learned to self-organize. The
presidential elections provoked a wave of the largest protest in the country's
history! But the tyrant does not want to give up his throne. At least 5 people
were killed (some died under strange circumstances). Thousands of people were
beaten and disabled by the violence of the police. More than 15 thousand have
been detained and sentenced on administrative cases. More than 500 criminal cases
have been initiated. At least 200 people are awaiting trial in the pre-trial
detention center.

Anarchists have always stood up against tyranny and dictatorship. Regardless of
the color of the flag, raised by authoritarianism over this or that corner of the
planet. So it is not surprising that anarchists are actively involved in the
uprising against the dictator Lukashenko in Belarus.

During the uprising, many of our comrades ended up in prison. Now at least 10
anarchists and antifascists are serving administrative arrests. In addition, 10
anarchists and 4 anti-fascists are waiting for criminal courts, punishment for
some of them reaches 20 years in prison.

We call on you to join the demo and show by action your support for revolutionary
anarchists and antifascists fighting against the occupation regime of Lukashenko!

Beursplein, Amsterdam. Sunday, 29 Nov, 14:00

Anarchist Group Amsterdam

https://www.agamsterdam.org/call-for-solidarity-with-belarus-demo/

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Message: 2



Pfeiltasten Hoch/Runter benutzen, um die Lautstärke zu regeln. ---- Today the
trial against some of the most famous protestors in Hong Kong began. Joshua Wong
(24), Agnes Chow (23) and the 26 years old Ivan Lam. The prosecution accuses the
three activists of having been present at an unauthorized demonstration outside a
Hong Kong police station in June last year. They are also alleged to have asked
others to join the illegal protest action. The three are facing up to five years
in prison. The activists said this morning: "Neither prison bars, nor exclusion
from elections, nor other arbitrary actions by authorities can stop us from our
democracy activism." Demonstrations and protests like the one that put the three
activists on trial would be impossible in Hong Kong today. Since July, a state
security law has been in force in the Chinese special administrative region to
prevent such actions.We talk about the situation in Hong Kong, the resistance
against the authoritarian approaches of China and a lot more. To discuss all
these matters we invited a guest today who will talk about the situation in
general but also her personal perspective on the situation.

The history of the relationship between Hong Kong, mainland China (and Britain)
Differences between (people from) Hong Kong and (people from) China
China breaks the Sino-British-Agreement (one country Anti-Extradition-Movement
starts in 2019 and the repressions begin
In 2020 the newely passed security law and Covid-19 exacerbate the sitiuation in
Hong Kong
The fight for Human Rights and freedom seems hopeless, but the protest continues
!- Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times and keep fighting!

How to show solidarity with the "yellow ribbons" (name of the movement,
symbolizing light) and how to stay updated

I) Channels to stay tuned with HK
Organisations of the movement in Germany:
Hongkonger in Deutschland e.V.
- https://www.facebook.com/hkerinde/
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTrXljN...
WirfürHK (HK Human Rights Report)
- https://wirfuerhongkong.org/heim/

II) Media
Podcast "dingding"
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/2SYdvAX...
Documentaries e.g. "Hong Kong Connection"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...

III) Speak with foreigners, listen to their stories, expose to diverse cultures
e.g. Promotional video of Hong Kong Film Awards 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtdbxH7wB7U

Music:

Do You Hear the Hong Kong People Sing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhQIOfDQdCo

Lester Chong - Will (not) see you soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRI_HEozpKc

Ada Lee - A Letter to You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31fClz9Ig-s

  Glory to Hong Kong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulera9c18F0

Beyond - Eighteen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvjWLzs3N_w


https://and.notraces.net/2020/11/23/elephant-in-the-room-liberate-hong-kong-an-interview-about-the-protest/

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Message: 3



November 25 is the International Day for Combating Violence Against Women by Men.
Every day in France, women are victims of psychological, verbal, economic,
obstetrical, gynecological, physical or sexual violence. A woman dies every 3
days murdered by her companion or her ex-companion (87 known feminicides as of
November 22). 60% of women have been victims of sexual harassment at work. 4
million people in France have been victims of incestuous rape. ---- On average,
the number of women who, during a year, are victims of rape and / or attempted
rape is estimated at 94,000. Whether it takes place at home, at work or on the
street, violence is the product of the patriarchal system. They are aggravated by
the management of the health crisis, the social crisis, the ecological crisis.

Our mobilizations in recent years, in France and around the world have succeeded
in bringing gender-based and sexual violence out of the shadows, and finally
bringing the voice of women to the fore. However, public authorities and
employers are limited to short-lived commitments. The President of the Republic
appoints a Minister of the Interior accused of rape and turns his back on his
so-called great national cause and men, in power or not, do not take up the issue
and do not clean up in their ranks.

Patriarchy also hits LGBTI people with force: homophobia and transphobia are thus
often a source of social exclusion and lead to difficult life courses, a
situation worsened by the health crisis. Lesbian, bisexual, and / or transgender
women are thus subject to both sexism and LGBTphobias. In several cities,
initiatives around TDOR, a day celebrating the memory of trans people murdered
around the world (350 known transphobic murders as of November 20), were
associated with those of November 25 to show these convergences with trans struggles.

Women can also be victims of racism. Whether they are migrants or not, with or
without papers, they are exposed to multiple forms of violence, insecurity,
during migration and in France. The neocolonial policy of the French state
worsens the situation of women in Africa, the Near and Middle East. Military
interventions kill, increase chaos! Rape as a weapon of war and human trafficking
are becoming commonplace.

But women are also on the front line in the struggles.

The hospital workers, the teachers, the housekeepers at the Ibis hotel, at the
Mac Do's, and at H&M are fighting for their working condition and against sexist
and sexual harassment at work. The devaluation of jobs with a female majority is
the breeding ground for gender and sexual violence. On all continents, in Chile,
Brazil, Algeria, Poland, women stand up to denounce injustices, gender and sexual
violence, rape, feminicides!

Today we are in the streets to recall our fundamental right to live and work free
from violence : women, now victims of violence, can be protected and the
perpetrators of violence must be punished. In all living spaces, the question of
violence must be raised. And processed. The Union Communiste Libertaire
participates in these struggles! And we will prepare a real March 8 of struggle.A
real general strike by women to say stop to abuse, violence, poverty,
inequalities. A general strike by women to tell men: enough is enough, stop
hurting us. To say to those who don't: get moving, don't let them do it anymore.
A general strike by women to feel our strength, because if we all stop,
everything stops. A general women's strike to take a day to talk to each other,
to organize themselves, to prepare for the fight after. A general strike by women
against violent men, against passive men, against complicit institutions, against
our exploitation and finally for our emancipation.

Let us prepare the strike funds for the poorest among us. Let's talk in our
clubs, our unions and our neighborhoods. Let's invent visible and powerful,
strong and wild street actions. Let's refuse to be gentle and kind and let our
anger explode and take it all away!

Tract-25-nov-UCL Download
By Sylvain Anti-patriarchy Feminist Commission Press releases UCL Luttes Sociales

Against violence against women: Confined but not gagged!
Nov 21, 2020

Women represent 39% of jobs held in the world but 54% of jobs lost as a result of
Covid-19. 4 million people in France have been victims of incest, 94,000 women
are victims of rape or attempted rape each year (ONDRP, 2017), 32% of women have
already suffered sexual harassment at work (Ifop, 2018) and all the 2 days, a
woman dies assassinated by her companion or her ex-companion[1]. Transphobic and
lesbophobic insults increased by 36% in France in 2019.

This year, let's mobilize en masse for the international day against violence
against women! Confined, but not gagged!

Libertarian Communist Union November 20, 2020

[1] see the list

By Sylvain Anti-patriarchate Feminist Commission Press releases UCL Social
struggles Health

http://unautrefutur.org/category/vie-de-lorganisation/communiques-ucl/

------------------------------

Message: 4

As Anarchist Radio Berlin we had another chance to talk to Maria, an anarchist
from Minsk, Belarus, about the situation in the country. We're getting a
comprehensive update on the evolution of the protest tactics, both on the streets
as well as digitally and on the state repression and other attempt....
This item has files of the following types: Archive BitTorrent, Columbia Peaks,
Item Tile, Metadata, PNG, Spectrogram, VBR MP3
Schlagworte: audio/opensource_audio
https://fda-ifa.org/tag/audioopensource_audio/
https://fda-ifa.org/a-radio-berlin-belarus-update-on-the-uprising-november-2020/



------------------------------

Message: 5



Darch, Colin. Nestor Makhno and rural anarchism in Ukraine, 1917-1921. Pluto
Press.238 pages. £17.99 ---- I approached this book with some enthusiasm. A new
book on the Makhnovist movement using sources previously unreferenced in the
English language world. I was sorely disappointed. I should have read Darch's
doctoral thesis on Makhno, where his bias against Makhno and anarchism is
immediately apparent. An example of that thesis's bias can be seen in the
following: "The Makhnovist movement, because it attracted literate supporters
from the anarchist intelligentsia, is the best documented of the[peasant
rebellions]. Historically, anarchism has often been the political expression of
resistance adopted by social classes whose position is undermined by the
historical trend of their times. Typically, anarchist revolutionaries are rural
aristocrats-Bakunin, Kropotkin, Tolstoy-or wealthy peasants; rarely are they
involved in centralization or industrialization. Anarchists are not so much
anti-nationalist as pre-nationalist. They look back to the community that
preceded the centralized nation-state. Their future is firmly rooted in an
idealized past.... When Makhno began to struggle against the modernizing
revolution of the Bolsheviks, a party of great theoretical and practical
sophistication with the ability to adapt its strategy to changing circumstances,
he failed." So, we have the Leninist usual lies, with no actual checking, that
anarchists are either aristocrats or wealthy peasants, that they look back to a
pre-industrial past, etc! Notice how Darch forgets that the "intelligentsia" are
another component of these supposed anarchist types. Indeed, several of these
"literate" "intellectuals" were in fact workers like Arshinov (metal worker) or
Aron Baron (baker).

In fact any serious analysis of anarchist inspired movements, for example in
Spain, France, Italy and Latin America point to the mass of their memberships
coming from the industrial working class. Similarly, the existence of kulaks
(wealthy peasants) was very rare among the Makhnovists, considering its hostility
to such rich peasants, who anyway were a minority among the peasantry. Indeed
many leading Makhnovists had experience of industrial work, Makhno himself
working in a local iron foundry, whilst there were other foundry workers like
Veretelnik, Zuychenko, and Zadov, factory workers like Popov, whilst others were
railway workers, like Chubenko, Pravda and Belash, mechanics/fitters like Brova
and Budanov. Many had emerged from the poor peasantry and were being proletarianized.

Darch appears to have mellowed considerably towards Makhno since the thesis, he
does not repeat the accusation that the Makhnovists had a high percentage of
wealthy peasants (kulaks) in their ranks, and his descriptions of the
relationship between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks are fairly balanced, but
old prejudices are still apparent in this book.

Now Darch does indeed use new sources, from different points of view. For
example, we have the best of these, Vasily Golovanov, who wrote a book on Makhno
in 2008. But Golovanov himself admits that this book is a Russian version of the
French anarchist Alexandre Skirda's book, published in English as Nestor Makhno:
Anarchy's Cossack. Golovanov began writing about the Makhnovists in 1988, in the
period of openness under Gorbachev, and his efforts to examine the movement, were
to be fair and measured, and he even admits in articles from the period that the
Makhnovists were betrayed by the Bolsheviks, assigning personal responsibility
for this to Trotsky, a pretty safe bet considering the latter's standing in the
Soviet Union.

Other sources are the senior history lecturer at the University of Essex, Felix
Schnell. Darch refers to Schnell's article, "Tear Them Apart...And Be Done With
It!" The Ataman-Leadership of Nestor Makhno as a Culture of Violence. As the
‘Makhnologist' Malcolm Archibald notes: "Felix Schnell I regard as a White
historian: he uses White sources (uncritically) and his work is infused with a
White point of view". Schell's account of Makhno is exceptionally biased, for
example he cites various dubious stories and then adds: "Even if some stories are
simply fairy tales, they nevertheless give an image of the Batko that suggest the
behaviour and actions of the real Nestor Makhno". In fact, Schnell even alleges
that Makhno was not an anarchist, despite the overwhelming evidence to the
contrary. In addition, he also compares Makhno to Pol Pot in Cambodia and the
Shining Path Maoists in Peru!! Schnell is attached to the ‘sociology of violence'
as developed by Elias Canetti. As the German anarchist and researcher Lou Marin
notes: "Problems of this sociological current: officially it denounces the
violence of the central State, at the same time it analyses only violent small
groups in a civil war, therefore inevitably, most often, the State is finally
presented as a kind of last refuge, necessary to put an end to the phase of
terror of the unleashed violence". Schnell referred to the memoirs of Alexei
Chubenko, a leading light in the Makhnovist movement. Chubenko was in fact
captured by the Bolsheviks and wrote these memoirs under duress, denouncing the
Makhnovist movement. One can imagine the kind of exquisite tortures applied to
Chubenko, who had been a convinced anarchist communist, by the Cheka, the
Leninist secret police, to bring about these denunciations. As the Ukrainian
historian Volodymir Chop noted in a picturesque figure of speech, Chubenko was
lying like a grey gelding. Thus, much dubious information is filtered into these
sources.

Unfortunately, Darch himself uses all of these sources uncritically, leading to
the repeating of tenuous stories and outright slanders against the Makhnovists.

For example Darch quotes the anarchist Ida Mett's late account of Makhno to
repeat the false statement by her that after Makhno's death, his wife Galina
Kuzmenko now became the wife of Voline, the anarchist intellectual who had
participated for a short while in the Makhnovist movement and had written an
account of it. This has been discounted by any serious scholar of Makhno, and
indeed, according to Archibald, Galina later became aware of these inaccuracies
and refuted them in a statement in Ukrainian, not yet translated into English.
Skirda himself scoffed at this allegation, and one would think that Darch, who
gives him a nod in his acknowledgements, would have taken account of this.

Other inaccuracies occur with the supposed diary of Kuzmenko, discovered by the
Bolsheviks, and used to discredit the Makhnovists. The Russian historian Vladimir
Litvinov regards it as a fabrication by the Cheka. On the other hand, Malcolm
Archibald regards "Galina's ‘diary' as authentic, having translated it from the
Ukrainian original (or close to it), and hopes to publish it soon. There are
three places in the diary that were distorted by the Bolsheviks for their own
purposes and have had an effect on subsequent historiography."

Darch seems to believe the entries were genuine, and enumerates allegations of
Makhno's drunkenness and his dubious sexual behaviour, then goes on to quote
other dubious stories about his sexual misconduct. Makhno and the Makhnovist
commander Shchus are described as visiting a brothel in Berdyansk during their
occupation of that city in May 1919. This account was based on that written by
Isaak Teper, on hearsay, as he was not in Berdyansk then and did not in fact join
the Makhnovist movement until 1920. In fact, as Volodymir Chop writes: Teper was
"a member of the secretariat of the Anarchist confederation "Nabat" who betrayed
his own comrades in 1921 and started working for the Extraordinary Commission
(Cheka). In the beginning he worked as a secret agent among the Makhnovists, and
then, after the suppression of the insurgent movement, took on the job of
propagandist, exposing the loathsomeness of the internal life of the anarchist
forces to the reading public of Soviet Ukraine."

Darch refers to Makhno's first "wife" Anastasia Vasetskaia. Darch claims that
Makhno and Vasetskaia married, when in fact there is no documentary evidence that
there was any such ceremony, religious or civil. They did indeed live together,
and a child was born, but they did not break up, as Darch alleges, because of the
disapproval of Makhno's "comrades in the ‘Black Guards'[who]threatened Vasetskaia
and forced her to leave Guliaipole (Makhno's home village) with the baby". This
again is a fabrication, coming from the writings of Viktor Belash, a Makhnovist
commander captured by the Bolsheviks, and who later acted as an agent provocateur
for the secret police within the underground Makhnovist and anarchist movements.
He cannot be counted on as a reliable chronicler. In actual fact it was the
outbreak of hostilities that separated the couple and she married someone else,
living to the age of 84.

It is inaccuracies like these, and others, that make me unable to recommend this
book. The Makhnovists and Makhno himself were no angels, but they deserve better
than this. Despite Skirda's sometimes hagiographic* appraisal of Makhno, his book
still remains one of the better ones on Makhno. A better picture of the
Makhnovist movement can be established by reading that, together with Arshinov's
and Voline's account, as well as the book by M. Malet , Nestor Makhno in the
Russian Civil War, and Makhno's three volume memoirs.

* A hagiography is a type of biography that puts the subject in a very flattering
light.

Darch, C. The myth of Nestor Makhno: doctoral thesis:
colindarch.info/document_files/851100_Myth_of_Nestor_Makhno.pdf

Marin, L. La violence de Makhno et la critique d'Anna Saksaganskaja:
penselibre.org/spip.php?article1318

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/11/23/nestor-makhno-and-rural-anarchism-book-review/

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Message: 6



The announcement of an overhaul of the High Commission for Planning has sparked a
number of reactions: on the right, we shout at the return of a state deemed
sprawling. On the left, we deplore with nostalgia the lack of ambition of this
new institution which would be a pale imitation of the one created after the
Second World War. However, the Gaullian Plan was never a model of socialism. ----
Faced with the announcement of the creation of a new Planning Commission, many
liberals choked and proclaimed that the government was inspired by the
unspeakable Chinese model. A "planning instinct" would haunt the French
administration since Colbert and Napoleon and would return to sign our return to
a managed economy. However, it is clear that the bourgeoisie does not have much
to fear from a return of the Plan, which is more certainly in a lessened form.

As it stands, the High Commissioner for Planning would have no new administration
under his responsibility: he would simply serve to coordinate the activity of
existing foresight and planning bodies, and in particular of France Stratégie.
Everything therefore suggests that this overhaul is essentially an announcement
effect: the former General Planning Commission (CGP, 1946-2006) had relatively
broad autonomy and substantial resources.

A refoundation on what bases ?
Let the liberal ideologues be reassured: the French Gosplan is not on the agenda.
Led by none other than François Bayrou, a Bolshevik of sinister reputation, the
high commission will undoubtedly serve as a guarantee for a government which
seeks to make believe that it cares about long-term socio-economic issues.

The eleventh and last French five-year plan ended in 1992, while the general
planning commission was not definitively abolished until 2006 by the "social
Gaullist" Dominique de Villepin. In other words, there was already a planning
office without any plan, and this for about fifteen years. It is likely that this
is the situation that we are heading today, if not towards a commissioner without
a police station ... Is it necessary for all that to maintain a Gaullian
nostalgia for old-fashioned planning? ?

If the Soviet "five-year plans" were undoubtedly a real inspiration, the Plan as
it was conceived at the end of the war resulted much more directly from profound
transformations of state interventionism on a global scale: in the face of crises
, the demands of the workers' movement, the increasing complexity of the economy
and the wars of the 20th centurycentury, capitalist states everywhere developed
national accounts and direct intervention systems. It was a question of knowing
what was produced, when and by whom, everywhere in the territory, in order to
foresee economic developments and act on them through political decisions. In the
context of post-World War II reconstruction, such tools experienced strong
development, with the creation of Insee, the explosion of social science studies
and therefore the creation of the CGP in 1946.

A concerted economy
An essential aspect of the CGP was that it was based in part on so-called
"indicative" planning: unlike the Soviet Gosplan, its role was to bring together
the various players in an economic sector so that everyone could share
information on their investments and have the same vision of the future in mind.
The homogenization of predictions should thus make it possible to provide
indicative targets, including to private companies, in order to reduce
uncertainty and increase prosperity. It was therefore not a question of giving
orders to companies but of creating what Ernest Mandel calls a " concerted economy".

Of course, there is nothing stupid about the basic principle: the State could
thus optimize its action via plans targeting particular sectors, such as the
famous 1966 Calculation Plan dedicated to the development of IT. But if he could
intervene directly during the plan, he very often acted as protector and
guarantor of private companies deemed strategic, in order to perpetuate
investments that were too risky for private capitalists. Moreover, if workers'
representatives were invited to the consultations, they were very much in the
minority compared to the big capitalists, who could thus harmonize their
interests and limit competition. In other words, the Plan was certainly not the
most "socialist" aspect.»The development of state interventionism in the post-war
period: Social Security, managed mainly by union representatives until 1967,
remains a far more exemplary case. In short, if there is not much to hope for
from the new police station, it must be remembered that there was already not
much to expect from its old Gaullian version.

For democratic planning
When we are told about planning, we should always ask: "planning for what?" What
for?"And above all:"by whom? »A plan is ultimately just a series of objectives
and means implemented to achieve it. Strictly speaking, any company plans its
activity: in its internal organization, it does not apply the rules of the market
and competition but those of hierarchy and command. The giants of mass
distribution also use extremely sophisticated inventory management techniques
which allow costs to fall drastically[1].

Planning is therefore a technical problem which is finding more and more
solutions, in particular thanks to information technology and the progress of
statistics. The question, however, is to know in whose hands these tools will be
placed. Yet another body full of lobbyists and senior officials will not change
much to our economic system. It is the workers who will know how to use these
instruments of knowledge on the production and distribution of wealth. At a time
of ecological crisis, it is vital that the use of resources be rationalized: This
is the meaning of "democratic planning" pronounced by the libertarian communist
current and by self-management unionism.

Mathis (UCL Grand Paris Sud)

Validate

[1] On this subject, see the work by Leigh Philipps and Michal Rozworski,
People's Republic of Walmart , Verso, 2019, devoted to the planning system of the
largest supermarket chain in the world.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Economie-planification-faux-et-vrais-enjeux

------------------------------

Message: 7



We have had long and expansive discussions about the book fair this year because
of the corona pandemic. And we have decided we will have a physical event,
although it will be in a very different form than usual. We take the pandemic
very seriously and haven't made this decision lightly. We are aware of the
dangers we face today and the need to keep our exposure to each other to a
minimum as to not risk more widespread infections. Because of this we have taken
a lot of measures to ensure the book fair can happen as safe as possible, but
more on this later. We want to save lives and make this world less dangerous. To
be able to do this we have to organize politically and we have to do part of that
in real life. The Anarchist Book Fair Amsterdam isn't just a fun event to go book
shopping, it is also the place where comrades meet and make plans, where new
people become active and where new projects are launched. In a time of a
worldwide health crisis, an emerging economic crisis and rising tides of
conservatism and fascism, we have to step our game up. It is now that we have to
come together (in a safe way), organize and fight back. What we do as a political
movement matters and can and does actually save lives. We should keep looking for
new ways to organize, especially now.

This year the Anarchist Book Fair Amsterdam will happen in a much smaller and
different form. We will not have workshops and will only have a very small amount
of stands. Instead we will have 2 days of discussions and brainstorms about how
to fight for a better world. Especially during the crisis fighting for each other
is all the more important, while it is also getting more difficult. We still want
to have a physical event, because we believe it is important to bring people
together to make plans, exchange ideas and just to see and meet comrades.

The day will have timeslots for which you have to make a reservation. There will
be a maximum of 25 people per timeslot.

Corona measures
We are going to have a completely different event to make it as safe as possible.
Each space will have a limited capacity of people as to not overcrowd the spaces
and have room to keep 1,5 meters distance from everybody. We will have the event
split up in different timeslots for which people have to make a reservation. This
way we can keep the amount of visitors within our maximum and prevent a big line
in front of the door. Wearing face masks will be mandatory at all times inside.

Amount of people allowed inside
The big hall and cafe both have a maximum of 30 people per room. But we will keep
each timeslot to a maximum of 25 people. This 25 will be excluding the volunteers
(which is 1 or 2 people per room). We will keep the numbers of volunteers as low
as possible during open hours to help minimize the amount of people who are
present. The volunteers will show people where to go and ensure that everyone
wears their face mask covering both the mouth and the nose. In the breaks between
the timeslots all the rooms will be cleaned thoroughly from head to toe. We
encourage you to clean your hands after visiting each stand and keep distances
between others and the people behind the stands. We will provide disinfectants
throughout the room but you have the responsibility to use them.

The full program will be announced on Monday November 23.

We are also planning to organize a more full version of the Anarchist Book Fair
Amsterdam in the spring of 2021 at an outside location. More information will
follow soon.

For questions you can reach us at:
anarchistbookfairamsterdam[at]riseup[dot]net

November 28 & 29
11.00-19.00
Dokhuis
Plantage doklaan 12
Amsterdam


PROGRAM OF THE ANARCHIST BOOK FAIR AMSTERDAM 2020
Reservations
You can make a reservation by mailing us at
anarchistbookfairamsterdam@riseup.net. Please mention for which timeslot you want
to make a reservation. There is a maximum of available spots per timeslot. It is
first come first serve, so if you want to attend, mail us as soon as possible. If
you know you can't come anymore, but have made a reservation, we ask you to
notify us, so someone else can take your place.

Of course you don't have to use your legal name to make a reservation (we would
advise you not to), but please do remember the name you use when you show up to
the book fair, cause we will keep track of who has a reservation and who hasn't.

The timeslots
All timelots will follow the same pattern. There will be a talk or discussion for
an hour and afterwards there will be 30 minutes for browsing stands and talking
to and hanging out with comrades. The timeslots end a quarter to the hour at
which moment we will ask everyone to leave. We do this so we can use the last 15
minutes to clean everything before the next group enters. We ask everybody to
respect this and leave when asked to. We also want to ask people to not hang
around in one large group in front of the door after they've left the book fair.

The program
Saturday
Modern right wing radicalism and Qanon 11.00-12.45
These last years have seen a lot of developments and new trends in right wing
radicalism. From "gamergate" through Milo Yinopolis to Richard Spencer, the alt
right has been able to gain a momentum that other factions before them could not.
The alt right is mostly building on memeculture and new factions in social
conservatism. Most recently, fucking Qanon has emerged as a global phenomenon.

In this collective discussion we wil talk about defining Qanon, try to place it
in its context and see what historical parallels we can draw. We will also talk
about how we can combat this phenomenon from an antifascist perspective.

As a starting point of the discussion we recommend that you to watch part 2 of
this video (37:39 onward) that we think is very informative in defining the
phenomenon.

Abortion Network Amsterdam -Talk About the Struggle for Access to Safe

Abortions 13.00-14.45
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Europe, adding numerous obstacles to
abortion travel (again!), it definitely doesn'twas help that on October 22nd the
Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled abortion in the case of foetal abnormalities
(one of only 3 instances where abortion in Poland

is legal) to be unconstitutional. This decision instantly sparked protests and
strikes across Poland, having been yet another assault on reproductive rights in
Poland in the last years. The developments in Poland have had a tremendous effect
on Abortion Without Borders, a

network of six organisations across Europe helping people from Poland access
abortions,

which Abortion Network Amsterdam is a part of. In this talk we would like to
present what we as ANA do to support abortion seekers who have limited access to
this medical procedure, discuss the impact of COVID and talk about the reactions
of the intersectional feminist movement to the recent ruling in Poland.

Protests in Belorussia and the role of anarchists 15.00-16.45
https://www.agamsterdam.org/call-for-solidarity-with-belarus-demo/embed/#?secret=rFxd9Ip3yh
Neither Iran, nor Greece, the persecuted anarchist Abtin Parsa should stay in the
Netherlands 17.00-18.45
Abtin Parsa will give a short talk about the current situation. After this there
will be a discussion in which he will also parttake. The solidarity campaign to
stop any attempts to deport or extradite him are still going strong. So we
especially want to invite people who want to know more about his story, the
current situation and possibly assist in the solidarity campaign to come to this
discussion.

The persecuted anarchist Abtin Parsa is an former political prisoner with an
atheist view from Iran who was imprisoned by the Islamic regime for one year and
half. Even after his release from prison, he came under pressure from the Islamic
regime, and in 2016 escaped to Greece from Iran. In Greece the persecuted
anarchist Abtin Parsa joined the resistance movement and began to struggle
against the systematic oppression perpetrated by the Greek state against society,
especially immigrants. During these struggles, he was arrested and even tortured
several times by the Greek state. After the Greek state revoked his political
asylum he fled Greece and applied for political asylum in the Netherlands. A few
weeks ago, the Dutch state rejected his political asylum application and intends
to extradite him to Greece. If the persecuted anarchist Abtin Parsa is extradited
to Greece, he may end up to Greek prisons or even extradited from Greece to the
Islamic state of Iran, where his life will no doubt be in serious danger.

A more complete version of the story can be read here.

Sunday
Africa Roots Movement 11.00-12.45
The Africa Roots Movements organization experiences in the Netherlands in
relation to black liberation experiences around the world.

Discussing narratives around police abolition 13.00-14.45
This summer the horrific murder of George Floid sparked worldwide insurections
and revolts against the police under the flag of Black Lives Matter. The police
murders in the US and especially the inspiring resistance against them have
encouraged people in the Netherlands to rise up as well. As can be seen in the
massive Black Lives Matter protests all over the country. These movements have
also sparked a renewed interest and traction in ideas about police abolition and
defunding the police. As anarchists we have always been involved in struggles
against the police, in this collective discussion we will discuss what has
changed in narratives around policing, what has not, and how we advance our
struggle for police abolition.

What can we do to build networks of solidarity with people from different
communities fighting against police brutality and institutional racism? How can
we popularize the idea of abolition as opposed to reform? How can we connect the
struggle against the police with other struggles?

Organising politically during Corona 15.00-16.45
This is an open discussion to talk about the impact of corona on our political
organising. Some of our events and activities are being cancelled because we want
to practice social distancing. Meanwhile there are people losing their jobs,
houses and in general struggling to survive. During this crisis it is more
important than ever to practice solidarity and to fight for our lives together.
What are topics we have to focus on that most severely affect people nowadays?
How can we support those in trouble? What can we do to combat growing state
surveillance and police intervention? How can we support those targeted by state
repression? How can we build long term projects and campaigns in a time of so
much uncertainty? And how can we do all these things while dealing in a
responsible way with the corona pandemic?

If you have been asking yourself these questions, have some possible answers for
them or are just interested to discuss these topics in the hope of finding and
sharing new ideas. Come to this discussion!

Mental health during corona 17.00-18.45
During this pandemis one of the main ways of dealing with it have been ‘social
distancing'. The term, introduced by state agencies, betrays a way of looking at
the world. A better term would have been physical distancing, because we have to
stay physically somewhat away from each other not to spread corona. But these
rules apply more and harsher where it comes to our social lives and other things
that capitalism cares little about. People have to continue to work, shops can
stay open and our social lives have been disrupted completely. The state and
capitalism prioritizes profits and productivity over our safety and happines.

All of this is incredibly taxing on people. On top of that is added the fact we
can hardly see each other nowadays and a lot of our old suport networks and
coping mechanisms have become inpossible or irresponsible. There are people
struggling with mental health issues they've had from before the pandemic or
people dealing with newly developing ones during (and maybe because of) the
pandemic. We have to find ways to support ourselves and support each other. How
can we set up support networks during a pandemic? How can we keep physically
distancing, but strengthen our much needed social ties?

The discussion is open to everybody, but we want to explicitly make this a space
that prioritizes people who are dealing with mental health issues or those that
are supporting people that do. If you are or know someone who has been dealing
with mental health issues, wants to support people that are or both, please come
to this discussion.

Movie: Pride 19.15-22.00
Doors open at 19.15

Movie starts at 20.00

The movie is about a group of Lesbians and Gays who decide to support the miner's
strike during in the 80's and struggle against Thatcher. In these bleak corona
times and the coming of winter we can all use an inspirational story about
solidarity. Pride is exactly that!

Before the movie starts there will be some time for catching up with comrades,
hanging out and chatting. After the movie we will ask everybody to leave, because
we can't stay open past 22.00.

https://www.vrijebond.org/programma-anarchistische-boekenbeurs-amsterdam/

https://www.vrijebond.org/anarchistische-boekenbeurs-amsterdam-2/

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