Today's Topics:
1. cab anarquista - Brazilian Anarchist Coordination: Urgent!
Threat to evict the resumption of the Xokleng people
Threat to evict the resumption of the Xokleng people
(ca, de, it,
pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. asr anarshism: Anniversary of the Zapatista Revolution in
Mexico By Hasse-Nima Golkar [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Mexico By Hasse-Nima Golkar [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. anarkismo.net: Did the System Work? Aftermath of the 2020
Election by Wayne Price (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Election by Wayne Price (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. anarkismo.net: After Trump - from "The Anvil" 0f the
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. CGT andalucia: Protest at the Granada bus station against
the abuses of the ALSA group against its staff and
the abuses of the ALSA group against its staff and
towards users
(ca) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(ca) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. anarchist communist group ACG: Building a revolutionary
movement[PUBLIC MEETING 13 Jan] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
The Brazilian Anarchist Coordination (CAB) expresses its support here for the
families of the Xokleng people who have retaken their ancestral territory and
resisted the violence of the State and capitalism. ---- There are about 30
people, 14 children, who recently occupied a small area on the side of the
National Forest road (Flona). But on December 23, Christmas Eve, the federal
court of Caxias do Sul issued a repossession warrant against these families, with
a threat of compliance for this Saturday, January 2nd. Flona, Federal
Conservation Unit in São Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, managed by
ICMBIO. ---- At that moment, all forms of support and dissemination of this
struggle by the Xokleng people, who have retaken their ancestral territory, a
direct action pulled by women, and a historical reparation against the violence
of the State and its oppressors: justice, the police and the militias are
important. .
Another year begins, but the war from above against the original peoples
continues as it has always been, since colonization, and now reinforced with
Bolsonaro's genocidal government. For the union between the oppressed peoples of
the forests and cities with rebellion and struggle for life! Long live the
resumption of the Xokleng people!
Against the timeline!
Demarcation now!
Brazilian Anarchist Coordination
January 1, 2021
http://cabanarquista.org/2021/01/01/urgente-ameaca-de-despejo-da-retomada-do-povo-xokleng/
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Message: 2
Twenty-seven years ago, on January 1, 1994, some 300,000 indigenous indigenous
peasants in the mountainous and impoverished Chiapas region of southeastern
Mexico staged an armed uprising against the central government as the grand
representative. The owners oppressed and triumphantly established a "stateless
nation-state" with "council-federalist self-government" based on one of the
anarchist solutions - with the support of the "Zapatista National Liberation
Army" without compromising any disarmament. up to now; They defend and defend
their new community of about fifty thousand households in the fifty-five
autonomous communes, which are run entirely horizontally and from the bottom up.
These rural communes are located in mountainous and forested areas, and each with
its own local characteristics, matters related to the system of collective
organization such as education, public health, law and order control, litigation,
cooperatives, and Hold for equality, equality and social justice in their strong
hands for freedom, and without the slightest interference from the hostile
Mexican government, which constantly puts them under the pressure of violence,
harassment, arrest and torture, in solidarity and cooperation. With the help of
volunteer international forces that are present from all over the world, they
solve various everyday problems and issues.
About twenty-five million Indigenous people live in Mexico, but it is a small,
poor, and Zapatista insurgent society in which women play a key role; Under the
bloody boots of exploitation and repression of the global and local neoliberal
capitalist system, a new kind of social system of freedom of movement is still
evolving, without a government and parliamentary bureaucracy and without the need
for authoritarian top-down political parties. , is.
Chiapas region in the southernmost state of Mexico; It was the scene of numerous
and successive indigenous uprisings, including the Chamula War from 1867 to 1870
and the Pagarito War in 1911, and Zapatistas is named after ?Miliano Zapata, the
leader of the indigenous armed uprising against the ruling regime. It is from
1910 to 1911 that the current ideas of the Zapatistas have some direct connection
with the revolutionary tendency of the Zapatistas at that time.
Today, another example of this nascent social system with special problems,
specific and inescapable shortcomings, can be seen in the Kurdistan region in
northern Syria - "Ro Ja Wa".
Long live the revolutionary movements in Chiapas and Rojava!
Stable international solidarity!
Overthrow the world capitalist system!
Establish a self-governing council-federal social system around the world!
https://asranarshism.com/1399/10/13/zapatistas/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Liberals and others declare that the defeat of Donald Trump and of his
coup-attempts demonstrate that "the system works," that the U.S.A. has an
effective "democracy." I cannot see it that way. ---- Among Democrats, liberals
and more "moderate" types, there has been a huge sense of relief-even in spite of
Trump's post-election shenanigans. Whatever Joseph Biden's imperfections they
say, the crazed, corrupt, vicious, and incompetent Donald Trump has been thrown
out of office. He lost both the popular and Electoral College votes by
significant margins. And despite his post-election campaign to overturn the
results (with court cases, pressure on state officials, and even threats of
martial law), he has failed miserably to change the outcome. So the system
worked. Thank God for "democracy"!
I cannot see it that way. To some extent this view is like being blinded by the
fact that covid-19 vaccines have been developed. See, our system of health care
works! But the only reason we are glad for the vaccines is that we had the
pandemic. The pandemic was exceptionally awful in the U.S. due to our lack of
universal health care plus the incompetence of the Trump administration. Millions
of U.S. people were deliberately misled to oppose reasonable health measures.
Even with the vaccines, an effective system of producing and distributing
vaccines has yet to be implemented. Worst of all, is the probability that other
pandemics will come. This is due to capitalism's policies of industrializing
agriculture, spreading urbanization, violating boundaries of jungles and forests,
as well as the effects of global climate change on world ecological balance. So,
yes, it is great that vaccines have been developed, just as it is good that Trump
has been ejected from office. But don't say, the system has worked.
Trump's 2016 election was an example of the system breaking down. Obviously
incompetent and bizarre, he beat some 14 other candidates for the presidential
nomination of the Republican Party. The establishment of the party did not want
him, nor did most of the big donors behind them. But they had so miseducated
their base, that the Republican base saw no reason to reject someone who seemed
likely to carry out their fantasies. Given that our politics are geared to only
two parties (so if you don't like one you have to support the other), and that
U.S. people are educated to look for a great leader to solve their problems
(whether Obama or Trump), he fit the bill.
Hillary Rodham Clinton was seen as-and was-more of the same-old same-old
establishment which had left unemployment, poverty, and misery in vast stretches
of rural and semi-rural industrial regions. Trump seemed as different as could
be. Deeply "religious" evangelicals and others liked his opposition to abortion.
And he was open about his racism and nativism, which attracted many (other
supporters were not attracted by his racism but were not sufficiently bothered by
it either). He talked a good game and was entertaining.
And so Trump lost the 2016 election. By about three million, he lost what is
charmingly called the "popular vote" (which in most countries is simply "the
vote"). But the geographical distribution of the votes was such that he won the
Electoral College. The Electoral College is only one of the many undemocratic
elements which are baked into the U.S. political system. Others are the Senate
where every state, no matter its size or population gets two senators, elected
for six years. The majority of the Senate represents a minority of the country.
The judiciary is appointed for life. The House of Representatives is elected
through highly gerrymandered districts, so incumbents are hard to get rid of. And
don't get me started on the structures of the state governments! This is even
before considering the role of big money in elections. These undemocratic aspects
are obvious and difficult to defend, but nothing is done about them. They all
serve to limit the democratic elements of the system and to strengthen the actual
rule of the capitalist elite.
Trump's Rule
Having been legally "elected" (much to his own surprise), Trump preceded to wreck
the government and country. He pleased the corporate rich and their Republican
minions by signing a huge tax cut for them, as well as cutting business
regulations. He appointed hundreds of pro-business judges to every level of the
federal judiciary. These actions led the capitalists and the Republicans to put
up with his otherwise odd and destructive behaviors. He waged war on the
environment (threatening the future of humanity). To the dismay of the
imperialist establishment, he antagonized U.S. allies and cozied up to various
opponent strongmen rulers, especially Putin. He betrayed the Kurds. He separated
children from their parents at the border and threw them into cages. He degraded
Congress by ignoring its subpoenas and oversight; he de-professionalized and
politicized all aspects of the executive branch, from the FDA to the FBI, from
the Department of Justice to the weather bureau. By actions and rhetoric, he
whipped up racial and other divisions among the people. And he constantly,
incessantly, and blatantly lied about everything. This last seems to be not just
a strategy but a deeply ingrained personality defect. (This is a mere sample of
the terrible things Trump did.)
In response, the Republican Party threw its support almost totally behind him,
backing every vicious action and unhinged behavior. The Democrats chose to
impeach him, using their majority in the House, on the basis of one of his lesser
crimes. They made an overwhelming case for his conviction, but the
Republican-controlled Senate rejected it without serious consideration. So he
went on trashing and crashing the government and country. Even the ruling
corporate rich got tired of him and worried about the costs to their country (and
their investments in it). By the 2018 mid-term elections, his party was routed in
the House-but kept, and even expanded, its majority in the Senate.
Then came the coronavirus. Donald Trump's management of government responses to
the pandemic was remarkably stupid, incompetent, dishonest, and just plain wacky.
Other countries with conservative leaders managed to deal with the plague in
more-or-less effective ways. But Trump went from denying its existence, to
advocating weird treatments (injections of bleach!), to holding super-spreader
events, to interfering with the scientists and doctors at the FDA and CDC, to
simply ignoring the issue by the end of his term. The sickness and death rates of
the U.S.A. led the world. The economy, which had continued a brittle "recovery"
since the Great Recession, plunged downward.
Trump's policies accelerated political trends in the country: the dissolution of
a "moderate" middle. The Republicans, once a "moderate" center-right party, now
developed into a far-right cult with a fascist fringe. There has been a growth of
out-and-out fascists, U.S. Nazis and other white nationalists, who carry guns to
rallies and advocate overthrowing the government.
The Democrats had been slowly moving to the right, until they became the new
center-right party. But they had to accommodate an upsurge on their left. There
were big demonstrations by young adults against global warming. Polls showed
large numbers of young people identifying as "socialists." Bernie Sanders twice
ran for president within the Democrats, as a "democratic socialist." (By this he
meant something like the liberal-capitalist Nordic countries, such as Denmark or
Sweden.) Sanders lost both times. The right wing of the party ("moderates") threw
its weight behind Clinton and then Biden, to deny Bernie the nomination. Yet a
large part of the country's youth has come to regard themselves as some sort of
"socialist." The Democratic Socialists of America surged to around 85 thousand.
Meanwhile there has also been an expansion of people attracted to anarchism. All
this signifies a swing to the left.
Then there was the explosion of mass protest over the police murder of George
Floyd. Declaring Black Lives Matter, the demonstrations occurred all over the
country, in spite of the pandemic, in cities, towns, and villages, raising issues
of justice for African-Americans, with a large participation of white people. The
left wing of the movement called for "Defunding the Police," or even abolition of
the police and prisons-really anarchist demands, since they would be impossible
under capitalism and its state. The Democrats did all they could to channel the
movement into the election. They opened up a "progressive wing," for the admirers
of Sanders, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren, to corral the frustrated leftists. To a
degree this worked. But the anger and militancy has not gone away.
Would There Be a Coup?
It was highly probable (not inevitable) that Trump would lose his re-election
bid. He had been unpopular since the beginning of his term (although there was a
strange wide-spread belief that he had been good for the economy). Most of the
capitalists had had enough of his incompetence and weirdness. They showed this by
making most of their donations to Biden, by about two to one. (Had the Democratic
nomination gone to Sanders or Warren, they might have felt differently-which is
largely why Biden was chosen.) Their agents in the establishment felt similarly.
Day after day, leading generals, civil service officials, national security
specialists, and former Trump officials, declared their opposition to Trump.
As it became increasingly obvious that Trump was losing, he retreated ever deeper
into denial and lying, insisting that he was winning, and indeed had won by a
landslide. Republican efforts at voter suppression failed to overcome the popular
vote (despite sabotaging the postal service to interfere with mail-in ballots).
Trump and his minions sunk deeper into denial and farce. They were not just
asking for recounts here and there but the overturning of the election. They
asked for judges to annul various states' popular votes. They called on state
legislatures to cancel the results of their people's votes and to create their
own pro-Trump electors for the Electoral College. There was talk at the highest
levels of Trump's supporters, and Trump himself, of declaring martial law,
seizing ballot boxes, and calling "new elections" (under the guns of the soldiers
and police).
Despite hysteria among some liberals, a Trumpist coup was unlikely to be
attempted. Trump had antagonized the leadership of all branches of the military
as well as most of the "intelligence community" (FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.). It is
difficult to make a coup without the support of the military and national police.
The capitalist class did not want it. All the big lawyers who were the top
representatives of the capitalists stayed away from Trump's legal comedy acts,
and conservative judges threw his cases out with scorn. The majority of the
population, which had voted for Biden, certainly did not want a coup, nor even,
when it came down to it, did most of those who had voted Republican. However, it
was important that the militant wing of the left (even some unions) prepared to
call demonstrations, civil disobedience, and strikes, in case Trump made a
serious attempt. .
What Trump gained by his campaign of denial (aside from his perverse
psychological need to insist that he won) was the support of a huge minority of
the population, which believes his lies about a stolen election. He may use them
in the future. And a lot of money, which the old con man had grifted from his
large base of suckers for his supposed "defense."
While Trump's coup attempts failed miserably, they exposed the fault lines
through which a future coup may be more effectively attempted one day. Suppose
the crises repeat until there is a mass movement calling for taking away the
wealth and power of the capitalist class and creating a radically democratic
political and economic system-a movement led by a united front of radical
socialists and anarchists. Fearing for their wealth and status, the capitalists
and their politicians (of both parties) will use the methods which Trump tried to
use. They will overturn elections and ban popular protests, using their judges
and gerrymandered state legislatures. Using the Insurrection Act, they will
declare martial law. They will also mobilize a base of tens of thousands of
hysterical, deluded, white people into an organized armed movement. Whether these
methods will succeed (as they did in fascist coups in Italy, Germany, Spain, and
Chile, among other places) depends heavily on whether the left-led mass movement
has the militancy and organization to fight back in a revolutionary manner.
What Next?
The "progressive wing" of the Democrats is already disappointed by the
Biden-Harris administration. Others have praised Biden for his appointment of
experienced old timers (compared to the Trump circus of crooks and arrogant
incompetents)-but this also means continuing old policies and worldviews. Biden
has tried to make this look good by choosing people with a variety of
"identities": not only straight white men but women, African-Americans and Latinx
people, at least one Gay man, a Native American woman to head the Department of
the Interior, children of immigrants, and so on. In itself, this looks good, but
does not really make up for a limited range of political philosophies and
policies. Sanders has already complained about the lack of progressives among
Biden's appointees. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been denied a seat on the House
committee which handles the environment. The BLM organization has complained
about being left out of conferences between Biden and Black "leaders."
When issues come up in Congress, we can expect the progressives to lose out .
They will be told that there is a need to compromise with the Republicans, who
are intransigent about rejecting progressive policies. Further, there is a need
to work with the more conservative "purple state" Democrats. These are already
complaining about the effects of having socialists in their party, and about
calls to "defund" their friends the police. They will insist on downplaying
progressive demands in order to get re-elected. Unfortunately, these
establishment arguments against liberal programs are not unreasonable, from a
"realistic" political view. It was the progressives who believed in working
within the system and moving things forward by using elections and offices-as
opposed to working from outside and pressuring the centers of power through
militant popular action from below. Now they must live with the consequences.
To understand the present political moment, it is necessary to look at the
pattern of presidential elections. Start with Richard Nixon, a terrible but
intelligent person, who was forced out of office over Watergate. This was widely
seen as a great victory and the return of normalcy. His appointed successor
Gerald Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter, part of the return of goodness. But
Carter lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan, a charming but fairly
stupid reactionary. Reagan lasted for two terms, plus got his vice president,
George H.W. Bush, elected. But after one term, Bush was replaced by Bill Clinton.
Once again, liberals felt that the country had turned from darkness toward the
light. Clinton had his two terms and then his vice president, Al Gore, ran but
was defeated by the not-bright conservative, George W. Bush (actually Bush
probably lost the popular vote but was crowned by the Supreme Court majority and
the Electoral College). After his second term, Bush was succeeded by Barack
Obama. Yet again, there was great rejoicing among liberals and leftists. A new
day had dawned, so they thought. African-Americans were ecstatic (although few
bought the claim that the U.S. had entered into a "post-racial" condition). But
then Obama was followed by the vile and stupid Donald J. Trump.
During this time, progressives were mostly disappointed by the performance of the
Democratic presidents. I won't go into that. Even if they had been heroes of
liberty, equality, and peace with all nations, my point is that the Democrats
were invariably followed by reactionary Republicans. In fact, the reactionary
presidents got more and more reactionary and more stupid and incompetent, as
history racheted downward.
The problem, then, was not just Trump-although he was uniquely awful. Nor is it
the Republican Party, although it has turned into a highly organized minority
party with extremist reactionary views and a deluded hard base of followers.
(There have been similar far-right, pseudo-populist, authoritarian, movements in
other nations around the world, despite differing political traditions and
personalities.) Nor is it simply the Democratic Party, as held by some leftists
who want to build a new, third, political party. It is the system as a whole
which is in crisis.
Overall, the capitalist economy has been increasingly stagnant and declining,
since about 1970, with the end of the post-World War II prosperity. The
capitalist class and its agents have sought to prop themselves up by lowering the
living standards of the working class and by attacking the environment. Old
evils, such as racism, cannot be overcome. Whatever gains have been made in the
past are being driven back. This means increased suffering for masses of
people-even among former (relatively) well off white workers and middle class
people. It means wars and threats of wars. It means continuing danger of
pandemics. And it means the emergency of global climate change, which threatens
the ability of the earth to sustain its human and animal populations.
Under these conditions, people will not be satisfied by either of the
twosemi-official parties. They will vote for one, to get "change," and next time
vote for the other-also for "change." That is, "change" within the limits of what
has been accepted as political reality. Not socialism. Not anarchism. Therefore
electing Democrats, no matter how liberal, will not solve anything because they
cannot stop the people's dissatisfaction, which will continue to increase. Voters
will continue to shuffle between the two parties (those that bother to vote, or
who are not prevented from voting).
While Biden won with a solid majority, there was no "blue tsunami" as the
Democrats had hoped. Trump still got tens of millions of U.S. people to vote for
him. Many of them live in the political bubble of Trump's lies and the propaganda
of Fox News and similar media outlets, if they aren't sucked into the fascist
delusions of Q-anon. Many of these believe that the state and the media are
illegitimate. Thus includes the majority of white men in the upper working class
and lower middle classes. In other countries and in other times, such layers
supported either revolutionary socialist movements or overt fascism. With
de-industrialization and the decline of unions, their current leanings are to the
hard right. This might change if they are offered a real choice.
Non-electoral alternatives will continue to grow at the edges of "respectable"
politics. On the one side fascism will expand. On the other is the growth of
various socialists, revolutionary anarchists, African-American activists, climate
justice militants, new feminists, immigrant organizers, Native American warriors,
and rank and file labor organizers. If they can avoid sinking into the tar sands
of the Democratic Party and electoral politics, these and others offer hope of a
way out toward a new society.
*written for www.Anarkismo.net
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/32128
------------------------------
Message: 4
The workplace is the source of the capitalists' power, so the struggle in that
location is decisive. It is the vehicle for fighting the economic inequality that
is driving down living standards for US workers for the first time since the
Great Depression and fuelling the growth of Fascism. It is, though, much more
than that. The struggle in the workplace can unite the multi-racial,
multicultural and gender diverse working class in the fight against all forms of
social oppression and build the solidarity needed to make the revolution to
overthrow capitalism as a whole. ---- Justice for George Floyd! Washington DC
2020 Credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
After Trump
The US Presidential election is over and Donald Trump has lost. While he has
convinced his hard core supporters than the election has been stolen from him, he
has failed to get sufficient backing from powerful actors to mount a coup. Joe
Biden will take office on 20 January.
Biden will have no honeymoon. The previous two Democratic Presidents faced a
massive Right wing reaction as soon as they took office, although they had no
opposition worth noting from the Left. The Republicans will try a third time to
mount a reactionary movement and Trump will probably lead it. Biden campaigned on
a platform of being a "normal President" - but "normal" politics is precisely
what led to the election of Trump in 2016. Left to his own devices, Biden will
bring the Washington establishment even further into disrepute and set the stage
for Trump to be re-elected in 2024 (health permitting). Biden will rule for Wall
Street, allow inequality to grow unchecked and confine progressive policies to
gestures that will infuriate the Right while not satisfying the burning needs of
the mass of workers in the US.
There is a new factor. Obama took office when the grassroots Left was small, weak
and inexperienced. As a result, there were massive illusions in him, something
that demobilised the Left for some years. Under Clinton back in 1992, the
situation was even worse. The Left was ideologically shattered by the collapse of
the USSR and its organisations were falling to pieces. The capitalists were
celebrating the "death of communism" and proclaiming "the end of history". Now
the grassroots left is confident and growing, having left full or partial
ideological dependence on the USSR behind it. For the first time since LBJ, a
Democratic President will take office with a grassroots challenge from the Left.
The strategy
The social movement in the United States faces a fundamental strategic choice.
Either it works through the Democratic Party or against it. Every movement throws
up a layer of activists who use it to climb into Parliament, but the crucial
issue is whether the movement will follow them and divert itself into
Parliamentary channels. The moment the movement tones down its actions or demands
to suit the fortunes of Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it's finished
as an independent force. It's not for nothing that the Democratic Party is known
in the US as the graveyard of political movements. It's happened so many times
before that activists have no excuse for not seeing it coming.
Anarchist communists in the United States need to avoid being distracted by the
siren call of demands to change the Democratic Party. The priority must be to
build the grassroots struggle, in whatever sphere it erupts, while engaging
patiently with those who think there is currently no alternative to the
Democrats. And the argument has to be that "We - the grassroots movement - are
the alternative to the Democrats. We're creating facts on the ground to which all
politicians must respond in some way, while the organisations we are building are
the new society within the shell of the old."
The struggle
Finally, we must consider the fields of struggle available. The struggle against
the police and their racist violence, the struggle for immigrants' rights and
against borders and the struggle to prevent rampant climate change have all
generated strong grassroots movements in recent years. The first of these
struggles is the one that has shaken the United States the most, because US
capitalism is founded on the legacy of slavery. The demand that the State merely
recognise that Black lives matter is enough to undermine the stability of its
order and send the cops into a frenzy of violence.
The militant demonstrations against the police murder of George Floyd, for
example, were entirely justified and spread like wildfire. Demonstrators can be
beaten off the streets, however, as eventually happened in Minneapolis,
Louisville, Atlanta, Portland and elsewhere. What would give this struggle, and
all other struggles, the social weight to win would be bringing it into the
workplace. If grassroots radicals were strong enough in the labour movement in
Minneapolis to force the staging of a one day general strike there, the
capitalists would have been hit where it really hurts. Cutting off the flow of
profits would achieve far more to defund police and change their behaviour than
any amount of reform pursued electorally.
The workplace is the source of the capitalists' power, so the struggle in that
location is decisive. It is the vehicle for fighting the economic inequality that
is driving down living standards for US workers for the first time since the
Great Depression and fuelling the growth of Fascism. It is, though, much more
than that. The struggle in the workplace can unite the multi-racial,
multicultural and gender diverse working class in the fight against all forms of
social oppression and build the solidarity needed to make the revolution to
overthrow capitalism as a whole.
After Trump, the fundamental task is the same as before.
BUILD THE CLASS STRUGGLE
This is the main article in the latest issue of "The Anvil", newsletter of
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG).
It can be found on our blog at the following page:
https://melbacg.wordpress.com/the-anvil/
It can also be found directly at the following address:
https://melbacg.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/the-anvil-vol-9-no-6.pdf
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/32130
------------------------------
Message: 5
CGT has called for a protest rally at the gates of the Granada bus station
against the destructive policy of the ALSA group for December 30 at 11 a.m. ----
Alsa not only wants to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to leave many
towns and cities throughout Andalusia without service with the connivance of the
Regional Ministry of Development of the Board, which intends to cut the rights
and salaries of its staff, as announced by the intention of apply a substantial
modification of working conditions a few days before Christmas. ---- This
company, which is already almost monopolizing the transport of passengers in our
Community, maintains workers in ERTE while others work overtime or subcontract
services of the concessions with other companies in the sector.
The act, which CGT has called "ALSA in its sauce" will be attended by the
Secretary General of CGT in Andalusia, Miguel Montenegro and with the delegates
of our Organization throughout the autonomous community, plus those workers that
the fear of the "dragon" allows them to join.
The media will be attended at around 11:15 am within the playful, festive,
protest rally.
cgtandalucia.org/blog/7745-protesta-en-la-estacion-de-autobuses-de-granada-ante-los-abusos-del-grupo-alsa-contra-su-plantilla-y-hacia-los-usuarios.html
------------------------------
Message: 6
At the Cafe with the ACG: how can we build a revolutionary movement? ---- 7pm on
Wednesday 13th January (online) ---- Speakers from Angry Workers and the
Co-ordination of Latin American Anarchists will help us discuss strategy and
tactics. ---- About this Event ---- At our last At the Cafe event we looked at
the anti-working class, pro-capitalist role of the Labour Party. As a follow up,
this meeting will be discussing the alternatives to reformism, parliamentarism
and the same old capitalist politics. ---- Currently, the working class is
generally de-politicised, demoralised with wider class consciousness at a low.
Meanwhile, nationalism and other forms of identity politics, as well as populism,
conspiracy theories and the "re-normalisation" of racist attitudes seem to be on
the rise. That said, there have been some attempts to break out of this state of
affairs, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer and the
recent string of successful strike ballots (despite the UK government's 50%
ballot threshold). Internationally, there have also been examples of class
resistance, but we need more.
So how do we get from where we are now to where we want to be, with a viable mass
working class movement capable of taking on the boss class? This meeting will
look at the current balance of class forces and how to build a revolutionary
movement, both here in the UK and globally. It will also discuss the idea of
"social insertion" as practiced by a number of South American libertarian
communist organisations.
Click here to get your tickets (free)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-a-revolutionary-movement-in-the-uk-tickets-134636606715
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/12/30/building-a-revolutionary-movement-public-meeting-13-jan/
------------------------------
movement[PUBLIC MEETING 13 Jan] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
The Brazilian Anarchist Coordination (CAB) expresses its support here for the
families of the Xokleng people who have retaken their ancestral territory and
resisted the violence of the State and capitalism. ---- There are about 30
people, 14 children, who recently occupied a small area on the side of the
National Forest road (Flona). But on December 23, Christmas Eve, the federal
court of Caxias do Sul issued a repossession warrant against these families, with
a threat of compliance for this Saturday, January 2nd. Flona, Federal
Conservation Unit in São Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, managed by
ICMBIO. ---- At that moment, all forms of support and dissemination of this
struggle by the Xokleng people, who have retaken their ancestral territory, a
direct action pulled by women, and a historical reparation against the violence
of the State and its oppressors: justice, the police and the militias are
important. .
Another year begins, but the war from above against the original peoples
continues as it has always been, since colonization, and now reinforced with
Bolsonaro's genocidal government. For the union between the oppressed peoples of
the forests and cities with rebellion and struggle for life! Long live the
resumption of the Xokleng people!
Against the timeline!
Demarcation now!
Brazilian Anarchist Coordination
January 1, 2021
http://cabanarquista.org/2021/01/01/urgente-ameaca-de-despejo-da-retomada-do-povo-xokleng/
------------------------------
Message: 2
Twenty-seven years ago, on January 1, 1994, some 300,000 indigenous indigenous
peasants in the mountainous and impoverished Chiapas region of southeastern
Mexico staged an armed uprising against the central government as the grand
representative. The owners oppressed and triumphantly established a "stateless
nation-state" with "council-federalist self-government" based on one of the
anarchist solutions - with the support of the "Zapatista National Liberation
Army" without compromising any disarmament. up to now; They defend and defend
their new community of about fifty thousand households in the fifty-five
autonomous communes, which are run entirely horizontally and from the bottom up.
These rural communes are located in mountainous and forested areas, and each with
its own local characteristics, matters related to the system of collective
organization such as education, public health, law and order control, litigation,
cooperatives, and Hold for equality, equality and social justice in their strong
hands for freedom, and without the slightest interference from the hostile
Mexican government, which constantly puts them under the pressure of violence,
harassment, arrest and torture, in solidarity and cooperation. With the help of
volunteer international forces that are present from all over the world, they
solve various everyday problems and issues.
About twenty-five million Indigenous people live in Mexico, but it is a small,
poor, and Zapatista insurgent society in which women play a key role; Under the
bloody boots of exploitation and repression of the global and local neoliberal
capitalist system, a new kind of social system of freedom of movement is still
evolving, without a government and parliamentary bureaucracy and without the need
for authoritarian top-down political parties. , is.
Chiapas region in the southernmost state of Mexico; It was the scene of numerous
and successive indigenous uprisings, including the Chamula War from 1867 to 1870
and the Pagarito War in 1911, and Zapatistas is named after ?Miliano Zapata, the
leader of the indigenous armed uprising against the ruling regime. It is from
1910 to 1911 that the current ideas of the Zapatistas have some direct connection
with the revolutionary tendency of the Zapatistas at that time.
Today, another example of this nascent social system with special problems,
specific and inescapable shortcomings, can be seen in the Kurdistan region in
northern Syria - "Ro Ja Wa".
Long live the revolutionary movements in Chiapas and Rojava!
Stable international solidarity!
Overthrow the world capitalist system!
Establish a self-governing council-federal social system around the world!
https://asranarshism.com/1399/10/13/zapatistas/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Liberals and others declare that the defeat of Donald Trump and of his
coup-attempts demonstrate that "the system works," that the U.S.A. has an
effective "democracy." I cannot see it that way. ---- Among Democrats, liberals
and more "moderate" types, there has been a huge sense of relief-even in spite of
Trump's post-election shenanigans. Whatever Joseph Biden's imperfections they
say, the crazed, corrupt, vicious, and incompetent Donald Trump has been thrown
out of office. He lost both the popular and Electoral College votes by
significant margins. And despite his post-election campaign to overturn the
results (with court cases, pressure on state officials, and even threats of
martial law), he has failed miserably to change the outcome. So the system
worked. Thank God for "democracy"!
I cannot see it that way. To some extent this view is like being blinded by the
fact that covid-19 vaccines have been developed. See, our system of health care
works! But the only reason we are glad for the vaccines is that we had the
pandemic. The pandemic was exceptionally awful in the U.S. due to our lack of
universal health care plus the incompetence of the Trump administration. Millions
of U.S. people were deliberately misled to oppose reasonable health measures.
Even with the vaccines, an effective system of producing and distributing
vaccines has yet to be implemented. Worst of all, is the probability that other
pandemics will come. This is due to capitalism's policies of industrializing
agriculture, spreading urbanization, violating boundaries of jungles and forests,
as well as the effects of global climate change on world ecological balance. So,
yes, it is great that vaccines have been developed, just as it is good that Trump
has been ejected from office. But don't say, the system has worked.
Trump's 2016 election was an example of the system breaking down. Obviously
incompetent and bizarre, he beat some 14 other candidates for the presidential
nomination of the Republican Party. The establishment of the party did not want
him, nor did most of the big donors behind them. But they had so miseducated
their base, that the Republican base saw no reason to reject someone who seemed
likely to carry out their fantasies. Given that our politics are geared to only
two parties (so if you don't like one you have to support the other), and that
U.S. people are educated to look for a great leader to solve their problems
(whether Obama or Trump), he fit the bill.
Hillary Rodham Clinton was seen as-and was-more of the same-old same-old
establishment which had left unemployment, poverty, and misery in vast stretches
of rural and semi-rural industrial regions. Trump seemed as different as could
be. Deeply "religious" evangelicals and others liked his opposition to abortion.
And he was open about his racism and nativism, which attracted many (other
supporters were not attracted by his racism but were not sufficiently bothered by
it either). He talked a good game and was entertaining.
And so Trump lost the 2016 election. By about three million, he lost what is
charmingly called the "popular vote" (which in most countries is simply "the
vote"). But the geographical distribution of the votes was such that he won the
Electoral College. The Electoral College is only one of the many undemocratic
elements which are baked into the U.S. political system. Others are the Senate
where every state, no matter its size or population gets two senators, elected
for six years. The majority of the Senate represents a minority of the country.
The judiciary is appointed for life. The House of Representatives is elected
through highly gerrymandered districts, so incumbents are hard to get rid of. And
don't get me started on the structures of the state governments! This is even
before considering the role of big money in elections. These undemocratic aspects
are obvious and difficult to defend, but nothing is done about them. They all
serve to limit the democratic elements of the system and to strengthen the actual
rule of the capitalist elite.
Trump's Rule
Having been legally "elected" (much to his own surprise), Trump preceded to wreck
the government and country. He pleased the corporate rich and their Republican
minions by signing a huge tax cut for them, as well as cutting business
regulations. He appointed hundreds of pro-business judges to every level of the
federal judiciary. These actions led the capitalists and the Republicans to put
up with his otherwise odd and destructive behaviors. He waged war on the
environment (threatening the future of humanity). To the dismay of the
imperialist establishment, he antagonized U.S. allies and cozied up to various
opponent strongmen rulers, especially Putin. He betrayed the Kurds. He separated
children from their parents at the border and threw them into cages. He degraded
Congress by ignoring its subpoenas and oversight; he de-professionalized and
politicized all aspects of the executive branch, from the FDA to the FBI, from
the Department of Justice to the weather bureau. By actions and rhetoric, he
whipped up racial and other divisions among the people. And he constantly,
incessantly, and blatantly lied about everything. This last seems to be not just
a strategy but a deeply ingrained personality defect. (This is a mere sample of
the terrible things Trump did.)
In response, the Republican Party threw its support almost totally behind him,
backing every vicious action and unhinged behavior. The Democrats chose to
impeach him, using their majority in the House, on the basis of one of his lesser
crimes. They made an overwhelming case for his conviction, but the
Republican-controlled Senate rejected it without serious consideration. So he
went on trashing and crashing the government and country. Even the ruling
corporate rich got tired of him and worried about the costs to their country (and
their investments in it). By the 2018 mid-term elections, his party was routed in
the House-but kept, and even expanded, its majority in the Senate.
Then came the coronavirus. Donald Trump's management of government responses to
the pandemic was remarkably stupid, incompetent, dishonest, and just plain wacky.
Other countries with conservative leaders managed to deal with the plague in
more-or-less effective ways. But Trump went from denying its existence, to
advocating weird treatments (injections of bleach!), to holding super-spreader
events, to interfering with the scientists and doctors at the FDA and CDC, to
simply ignoring the issue by the end of his term. The sickness and death rates of
the U.S.A. led the world. The economy, which had continued a brittle "recovery"
since the Great Recession, plunged downward.
Trump's policies accelerated political trends in the country: the dissolution of
a "moderate" middle. The Republicans, once a "moderate" center-right party, now
developed into a far-right cult with a fascist fringe. There has been a growth of
out-and-out fascists, U.S. Nazis and other white nationalists, who carry guns to
rallies and advocate overthrowing the government.
The Democrats had been slowly moving to the right, until they became the new
center-right party. But they had to accommodate an upsurge on their left. There
were big demonstrations by young adults against global warming. Polls showed
large numbers of young people identifying as "socialists." Bernie Sanders twice
ran for president within the Democrats, as a "democratic socialist." (By this he
meant something like the liberal-capitalist Nordic countries, such as Denmark or
Sweden.) Sanders lost both times. The right wing of the party ("moderates") threw
its weight behind Clinton and then Biden, to deny Bernie the nomination. Yet a
large part of the country's youth has come to regard themselves as some sort of
"socialist." The Democratic Socialists of America surged to around 85 thousand.
Meanwhile there has also been an expansion of people attracted to anarchism. All
this signifies a swing to the left.
Then there was the explosion of mass protest over the police murder of George
Floyd. Declaring Black Lives Matter, the demonstrations occurred all over the
country, in spite of the pandemic, in cities, towns, and villages, raising issues
of justice for African-Americans, with a large participation of white people. The
left wing of the movement called for "Defunding the Police," or even abolition of
the police and prisons-really anarchist demands, since they would be impossible
under capitalism and its state. The Democrats did all they could to channel the
movement into the election. They opened up a "progressive wing," for the admirers
of Sanders, AOC, and Elizabeth Warren, to corral the frustrated leftists. To a
degree this worked. But the anger and militancy has not gone away.
Would There Be a Coup?
It was highly probable (not inevitable) that Trump would lose his re-election
bid. He had been unpopular since the beginning of his term (although there was a
strange wide-spread belief that he had been good for the economy). Most of the
capitalists had had enough of his incompetence and weirdness. They showed this by
making most of their donations to Biden, by about two to one. (Had the Democratic
nomination gone to Sanders or Warren, they might have felt differently-which is
largely why Biden was chosen.) Their agents in the establishment felt similarly.
Day after day, leading generals, civil service officials, national security
specialists, and former Trump officials, declared their opposition to Trump.
As it became increasingly obvious that Trump was losing, he retreated ever deeper
into denial and lying, insisting that he was winning, and indeed had won by a
landslide. Republican efforts at voter suppression failed to overcome the popular
vote (despite sabotaging the postal service to interfere with mail-in ballots).
Trump and his minions sunk deeper into denial and farce. They were not just
asking for recounts here and there but the overturning of the election. They
asked for judges to annul various states' popular votes. They called on state
legislatures to cancel the results of their people's votes and to create their
own pro-Trump electors for the Electoral College. There was talk at the highest
levels of Trump's supporters, and Trump himself, of declaring martial law,
seizing ballot boxes, and calling "new elections" (under the guns of the soldiers
and police).
Despite hysteria among some liberals, a Trumpist coup was unlikely to be
attempted. Trump had antagonized the leadership of all branches of the military
as well as most of the "intelligence community" (FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.). It is
difficult to make a coup without the support of the military and national police.
The capitalist class did not want it. All the big lawyers who were the top
representatives of the capitalists stayed away from Trump's legal comedy acts,
and conservative judges threw his cases out with scorn. The majority of the
population, which had voted for Biden, certainly did not want a coup, nor even,
when it came down to it, did most of those who had voted Republican. However, it
was important that the militant wing of the left (even some unions) prepared to
call demonstrations, civil disobedience, and strikes, in case Trump made a
serious attempt. .
What Trump gained by his campaign of denial (aside from his perverse
psychological need to insist that he won) was the support of a huge minority of
the population, which believes his lies about a stolen election. He may use them
in the future. And a lot of money, which the old con man had grifted from his
large base of suckers for his supposed "defense."
While Trump's coup attempts failed miserably, they exposed the fault lines
through which a future coup may be more effectively attempted one day. Suppose
the crises repeat until there is a mass movement calling for taking away the
wealth and power of the capitalist class and creating a radically democratic
political and economic system-a movement led by a united front of radical
socialists and anarchists. Fearing for their wealth and status, the capitalists
and their politicians (of both parties) will use the methods which Trump tried to
use. They will overturn elections and ban popular protests, using their judges
and gerrymandered state legislatures. Using the Insurrection Act, they will
declare martial law. They will also mobilize a base of tens of thousands of
hysterical, deluded, white people into an organized armed movement. Whether these
methods will succeed (as they did in fascist coups in Italy, Germany, Spain, and
Chile, among other places) depends heavily on whether the left-led mass movement
has the militancy and organization to fight back in a revolutionary manner.
What Next?
The "progressive wing" of the Democrats is already disappointed by the
Biden-Harris administration. Others have praised Biden for his appointment of
experienced old timers (compared to the Trump circus of crooks and arrogant
incompetents)-but this also means continuing old policies and worldviews. Biden
has tried to make this look good by choosing people with a variety of
"identities": not only straight white men but women, African-Americans and Latinx
people, at least one Gay man, a Native American woman to head the Department of
the Interior, children of immigrants, and so on. In itself, this looks good, but
does not really make up for a limited range of political philosophies and
policies. Sanders has already complained about the lack of progressives among
Biden's appointees. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been denied a seat on the House
committee which handles the environment. The BLM organization has complained
about being left out of conferences between Biden and Black "leaders."
When issues come up in Congress, we can expect the progressives to lose out .
They will be told that there is a need to compromise with the Republicans, who
are intransigent about rejecting progressive policies. Further, there is a need
to work with the more conservative "purple state" Democrats. These are already
complaining about the effects of having socialists in their party, and about
calls to "defund" their friends the police. They will insist on downplaying
progressive demands in order to get re-elected. Unfortunately, these
establishment arguments against liberal programs are not unreasonable, from a
"realistic" political view. It was the progressives who believed in working
within the system and moving things forward by using elections and offices-as
opposed to working from outside and pressuring the centers of power through
militant popular action from below. Now they must live with the consequences.
To understand the present political moment, it is necessary to look at the
pattern of presidential elections. Start with Richard Nixon, a terrible but
intelligent person, who was forced out of office over Watergate. This was widely
seen as a great victory and the return of normalcy. His appointed successor
Gerald Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter, part of the return of goodness. But
Carter lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan, a charming but fairly
stupid reactionary. Reagan lasted for two terms, plus got his vice president,
George H.W. Bush, elected. But after one term, Bush was replaced by Bill Clinton.
Once again, liberals felt that the country had turned from darkness toward the
light. Clinton had his two terms and then his vice president, Al Gore, ran but
was defeated by the not-bright conservative, George W. Bush (actually Bush
probably lost the popular vote but was crowned by the Supreme Court majority and
the Electoral College). After his second term, Bush was succeeded by Barack
Obama. Yet again, there was great rejoicing among liberals and leftists. A new
day had dawned, so they thought. African-Americans were ecstatic (although few
bought the claim that the U.S. had entered into a "post-racial" condition). But
then Obama was followed by the vile and stupid Donald J. Trump.
During this time, progressives were mostly disappointed by the performance of the
Democratic presidents. I won't go into that. Even if they had been heroes of
liberty, equality, and peace with all nations, my point is that the Democrats
were invariably followed by reactionary Republicans. In fact, the reactionary
presidents got more and more reactionary and more stupid and incompetent, as
history racheted downward.
The problem, then, was not just Trump-although he was uniquely awful. Nor is it
the Republican Party, although it has turned into a highly organized minority
party with extremist reactionary views and a deluded hard base of followers.
(There have been similar far-right, pseudo-populist, authoritarian, movements in
other nations around the world, despite differing political traditions and
personalities.) Nor is it simply the Democratic Party, as held by some leftists
who want to build a new, third, political party. It is the system as a whole
which is in crisis.
Overall, the capitalist economy has been increasingly stagnant and declining,
since about 1970, with the end of the post-World War II prosperity. The
capitalist class and its agents have sought to prop themselves up by lowering the
living standards of the working class and by attacking the environment. Old
evils, such as racism, cannot be overcome. Whatever gains have been made in the
past are being driven back. This means increased suffering for masses of
people-even among former (relatively) well off white workers and middle class
people. It means wars and threats of wars. It means continuing danger of
pandemics. And it means the emergency of global climate change, which threatens
the ability of the earth to sustain its human and animal populations.
Under these conditions, people will not be satisfied by either of the
twosemi-official parties. They will vote for one, to get "change," and next time
vote for the other-also for "change." That is, "change" within the limits of what
has been accepted as political reality. Not socialism. Not anarchism. Therefore
electing Democrats, no matter how liberal, will not solve anything because they
cannot stop the people's dissatisfaction, which will continue to increase. Voters
will continue to shuffle between the two parties (those that bother to vote, or
who are not prevented from voting).
While Biden won with a solid majority, there was no "blue tsunami" as the
Democrats had hoped. Trump still got tens of millions of U.S. people to vote for
him. Many of them live in the political bubble of Trump's lies and the propaganda
of Fox News and similar media outlets, if they aren't sucked into the fascist
delusions of Q-anon. Many of these believe that the state and the media are
illegitimate. Thus includes the majority of white men in the upper working class
and lower middle classes. In other countries and in other times, such layers
supported either revolutionary socialist movements or overt fascism. With
de-industrialization and the decline of unions, their current leanings are to the
hard right. This might change if they are offered a real choice.
Non-electoral alternatives will continue to grow at the edges of "respectable"
politics. On the one side fascism will expand. On the other is the growth of
various socialists, revolutionary anarchists, African-American activists, climate
justice militants, new feminists, immigrant organizers, Native American warriors,
and rank and file labor organizers. If they can avoid sinking into the tar sands
of the Democratic Party and electoral politics, these and others offer hope of a
way out toward a new society.
*written for www.Anarkismo.net
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/32128
------------------------------
Message: 4
The workplace is the source of the capitalists' power, so the struggle in that
location is decisive. It is the vehicle for fighting the economic inequality that
is driving down living standards for US workers for the first time since the
Great Depression and fuelling the growth of Fascism. It is, though, much more
than that. The struggle in the workplace can unite the multi-racial,
multicultural and gender diverse working class in the fight against all forms of
social oppression and build the solidarity needed to make the revolution to
overthrow capitalism as a whole. ---- Justice for George Floyd! Washington DC
2020 Credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
After Trump
The US Presidential election is over and Donald Trump has lost. While he has
convinced his hard core supporters than the election has been stolen from him, he
has failed to get sufficient backing from powerful actors to mount a coup. Joe
Biden will take office on 20 January.
Biden will have no honeymoon. The previous two Democratic Presidents faced a
massive Right wing reaction as soon as they took office, although they had no
opposition worth noting from the Left. The Republicans will try a third time to
mount a reactionary movement and Trump will probably lead it. Biden campaigned on
a platform of being a "normal President" - but "normal" politics is precisely
what led to the election of Trump in 2016. Left to his own devices, Biden will
bring the Washington establishment even further into disrepute and set the stage
for Trump to be re-elected in 2024 (health permitting). Biden will rule for Wall
Street, allow inequality to grow unchecked and confine progressive policies to
gestures that will infuriate the Right while not satisfying the burning needs of
the mass of workers in the US.
There is a new factor. Obama took office when the grassroots Left was small, weak
and inexperienced. As a result, there were massive illusions in him, something
that demobilised the Left for some years. Under Clinton back in 1992, the
situation was even worse. The Left was ideologically shattered by the collapse of
the USSR and its organisations were falling to pieces. The capitalists were
celebrating the "death of communism" and proclaiming "the end of history". Now
the grassroots left is confident and growing, having left full or partial
ideological dependence on the USSR behind it. For the first time since LBJ, a
Democratic President will take office with a grassroots challenge from the Left.
The strategy
The social movement in the United States faces a fundamental strategic choice.
Either it works through the Democratic Party or against it. Every movement throws
up a layer of activists who use it to climb into Parliament, but the crucial
issue is whether the movement will follow them and divert itself into
Parliamentary channels. The moment the movement tones down its actions or demands
to suit the fortunes of Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it's finished
as an independent force. It's not for nothing that the Democratic Party is known
in the US as the graveyard of political movements. It's happened so many times
before that activists have no excuse for not seeing it coming.
Anarchist communists in the United States need to avoid being distracted by the
siren call of demands to change the Democratic Party. The priority must be to
build the grassroots struggle, in whatever sphere it erupts, while engaging
patiently with those who think there is currently no alternative to the
Democrats. And the argument has to be that "We - the grassroots movement - are
the alternative to the Democrats. We're creating facts on the ground to which all
politicians must respond in some way, while the organisations we are building are
the new society within the shell of the old."
The struggle
Finally, we must consider the fields of struggle available. The struggle against
the police and their racist violence, the struggle for immigrants' rights and
against borders and the struggle to prevent rampant climate change have all
generated strong grassroots movements in recent years. The first of these
struggles is the one that has shaken the United States the most, because US
capitalism is founded on the legacy of slavery. The demand that the State merely
recognise that Black lives matter is enough to undermine the stability of its
order and send the cops into a frenzy of violence.
The militant demonstrations against the police murder of George Floyd, for
example, were entirely justified and spread like wildfire. Demonstrators can be
beaten off the streets, however, as eventually happened in Minneapolis,
Louisville, Atlanta, Portland and elsewhere. What would give this struggle, and
all other struggles, the social weight to win would be bringing it into the
workplace. If grassroots radicals were strong enough in the labour movement in
Minneapolis to force the staging of a one day general strike there, the
capitalists would have been hit where it really hurts. Cutting off the flow of
profits would achieve far more to defund police and change their behaviour than
any amount of reform pursued electorally.
The workplace is the source of the capitalists' power, so the struggle in that
location is decisive. It is the vehicle for fighting the economic inequality that
is driving down living standards for US workers for the first time since the
Great Depression and fuelling the growth of Fascism. It is, though, much more
than that. The struggle in the workplace can unite the multi-racial,
multicultural and gender diverse working class in the fight against all forms of
social oppression and build the solidarity needed to make the revolution to
overthrow capitalism as a whole.
After Trump, the fundamental task is the same as before.
BUILD THE CLASS STRUGGLE
This is the main article in the latest issue of "The Anvil", newsletter of
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG).
It can be found on our blog at the following page:
https://melbacg.wordpress.com/the-anvil/
It can also be found directly at the following address:
https://melbacg.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/the-anvil-vol-9-no-6.pdf
https://www.anarkismo.net/article/32130
------------------------------
Message: 5
CGT has called for a protest rally at the gates of the Granada bus station
against the destructive policy of the ALSA group for December 30 at 11 a.m. ----
Alsa not only wants to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to leave many
towns and cities throughout Andalusia without service with the connivance of the
Regional Ministry of Development of the Board, which intends to cut the rights
and salaries of its staff, as announced by the intention of apply a substantial
modification of working conditions a few days before Christmas. ---- This
company, which is already almost monopolizing the transport of passengers in our
Community, maintains workers in ERTE while others work overtime or subcontract
services of the concessions with other companies in the sector.
The act, which CGT has called "ALSA in its sauce" will be attended by the
Secretary General of CGT in Andalusia, Miguel Montenegro and with the delegates
of our Organization throughout the autonomous community, plus those workers that
the fear of the "dragon" allows them to join.
The media will be attended at around 11:15 am within the playful, festive,
protest rally.
cgtandalucia.org/blog/7745-protesta-en-la-estacion-de-autobuses-de-granada-ante-los-abusos-del-grupo-alsa-contra-su-plantilla-y-hacia-los-usuarios.html
------------------------------
Message: 6
At the Cafe with the ACG: how can we build a revolutionary movement? ---- 7pm on
Wednesday 13th January (online) ---- Speakers from Angry Workers and the
Co-ordination of Latin American Anarchists will help us discuss strategy and
tactics. ---- About this Event ---- At our last At the Cafe event we looked at
the anti-working class, pro-capitalist role of the Labour Party. As a follow up,
this meeting will be discussing the alternatives to reformism, parliamentarism
and the same old capitalist politics. ---- Currently, the working class is
generally de-politicised, demoralised with wider class consciousness at a low.
Meanwhile, nationalism and other forms of identity politics, as well as populism,
conspiracy theories and the "re-normalisation" of racist attitudes seem to be on
the rise. That said, there have been some attempts to break out of this state of
affairs, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer and the
recent string of successful strike ballots (despite the UK government's 50%
ballot threshold). Internationally, there have also been examples of class
resistance, but we need more.
So how do we get from where we are now to where we want to be, with a viable mass
working class movement capable of taking on the boss class? This meeting will
look at the current balance of class forces and how to build a revolutionary
movement, both here in the UK and globally. It will also discuss the idea of
"social insertion" as practiced by a number of South American libertarian
communist organisations.
Click here to get your tickets (free)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-a-revolutionary-movement-in-the-uk-tickets-134636606715
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/12/30/building-a-revolutionary-movement-public-meeting-13-jan/
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