Today's Topics:
1. France, UCL AL #314 - Commune: Culture. Story, Read: Alix
Payen, "It is especially at night that the fight
Payen, "It is especially at night that the fight
becomes furious:
an ambulance worker from the Municipality, 1871" (ca, de,
an ambulance worker from the Municipality, 1871" (ca, de,
it, fr,
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Philippines? Bandilang Itim: Tagalog: How to Start a
Bodegong Bayan [machine translation]
Bodegong Bayan [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. ait russia: March against curfew in Montreal [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Greece, rocinante: Do not dare to pass the anti-labor law!
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. UK, ACG: Stand in Solidarity with Kate Wilson: Tues 20 April
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. avtonom - April 21: you know what to do [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. UK. AFED, organise magazine: Tories Fuel Housing Crisis | In
Brief (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Brief (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. Greece, Athens, ESE:ANNOUNCEMENT-CALL OF THE
ATHENS ERC FOR
THE ANTI-LABOR-ANTI-UNION BILL VROUTSI HATZIDAKI [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
THE ANTI-LABOR-ANTI-UNION BILL VROUTSI HATZIDAKI [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
9. Philippines, Bandilang Itim: Presumption of Trust: how
direct action' initiatives heal the land of distrust and
gaslighting by Carolus Plebejus. [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
At the heart of the battles of the town. ---- If you are hoping for a political
reflection text, it will not make you happy, but you would miss something by
ignoring this book of just over a hundred pages ! History is also the result of
the little words of everyday life that weave the epistolary exchanges ... ----
Here, among the crowd of publications which deal with the history of the Commune
published by Libertalia, a curious little work ... It brings together letters,
written by a certain Alix Payen, and collected by Michèle Audin. For many, they
are unpublished, from family archives, notebooks or the book by Alix Payen's
brother, Paul Millet.
Born Louise Alix Millet in 1842, Alix Payen stands out a bit in all the
testimonies that we have on the period of the Paris Commune. She is not a
prominent and noticed character of the time. It has attracted little attention
from historians, and for good reason! She is not a member of the International
Workers' Association, did not write articles in the press at the time, let alone
a remarkable participant in a club. Her social origins keep her outside the usual
frames of reference, neither worker nor aristocrat. She was born into a bourgeois
family of Fourierist affiliation. She was just herself, with her loved ones, in
the midst of the turmoil.
"A thermometer hanging in a corner"
She was twenty-nine when she made up her mind. The fact that her husband was
engaged in combat probably had something to do with it. In April 1871 she joined
the 153 th battalion of the National Guard as a paramedic and nurse. As such, she
took part in the fight for the defense of Fort d'Issy, then Fort de Vanves. These
two forts ensured the protection of the city of Paris against the Versailles abuses.
Alix Payen writes during the rare moments of respite. His letters are a series of
moments taken from life; from lived experience in its raw state The prose is
moving when she writes to Henri, her husband, and also in the letters sent to her
father or her mother. She uses affectionate expressions: "Dear Mignon", " my
fat", and signs "Your old woman", all accompanied by warm attentions.
Alix Payen also often talks about the difficulties of routing mail and the lack
of answers. The events of March 1871, the proclamation of the Commune, the
elections ... there is no question. She describes what she sees, what she
experiences; the difficult conditions of the fighting, the men who sleep in the
vaults of the cemeteries, the life in the trenches. She is astonished at the
perfect linguistic convenience of the Parisian workers, at their kindness towards
her.
On May 29, 1871, her husband died. She was not condemned by a military tribunal
and managed to leave Paris with a pass. She joined the Fourierist Colony of Condé
sur Vesgre and died in 1903.
Direct accounts of this period are extremely rare. Most of the documentation
usually comes from memorial transcriptions made several decades later, such as
those of Gustave Lefrançais, Victorine Brocher ( Souvenirs d'une morte vivante ),
Lucien Descaves ( Philémon, old man of the Old Woman ), Elie Reclus ( The Paris
Commune from day to day ), etc.
From the latter, we can borrow this quote placed in the foreword of his work:
"Not a story this - I was not one of the characters, not even a confidant of the
characters - I was a citizen, taking care, worrying me, watching, listening,
among the less misinformed.[...]A thermometer hanging in a corner ..."
Alix Payen, now forgotten like many others, was one of them: "She defended Paris
and provided care to the wounded."
"The vanquished have no history. Let's break this chain of iniquity" (Benoît Malon)
Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)
Alix Payen, It is at night especially that the fight becomes furious: a paramedic
from the Municipality, 1871 , Libertalia, May 2020, 128 pages, 8 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Alix-Payen-C-est-la-nuit-surtout-que-le-combat-devient-furieux-une
------------------------------
Message: 2
There are more and more community pantries or town warehouses that prove that we
are ready to work together because we are the only ones we can count on. Today,
we're going to talk about how to start it for your community, a way to find more
people who want to change and grow our world. ---- How to build a town warehouse
in your area? ---- Call friends, family, neighbors! Easier to do if not alone.
Your friends may even have acquaintances who want to help! But it may be best to
keep the group small for easy communication. What can help? Ask family or
neighbors if they know anyone who would like to help! Creating a group chat (GC)
can help and make sure participants are willing to help. It might also be okay to
post on Facebook or other social media if they want to help!
Find out what it takes to get started. It's good to see what food your family
serves. What are the common ingredients? It may be best to add rice, garlic,
onions, meat, canned food, and so on. You can also put other necessities such as
medicine, face mask, alcohol, etc. It is also important to list the equipment
needed to build the town warehouse, such as signs and tables! What can help? List
and take inventory on spreadsheet or paper. In addition to the food or what you
want to share, also write down the equipment you and your colleagues need to
build a town warehouse.
Find a place that is frequented. It also depends on how easy it is to set-up in
your area. For example, if you are going to build on the sidewalk, you must make
sure that the town warehouse does not obstruct the road. What can help? Choose a
place that your companions can easily get to. If a lot of people are passing by
you, it might be okay to start in front of or outside your house! The address
also needs to be given to others who want to share.
Lay down! You can use whatever you have, such as old shelves, shoe racks, or even
boxes and other recyclables. Put up a sign that explains what a town warehouse
is! Be creative! Invite people to take according to their needs and give what
they can. Share with others! And don't forget to translate! What can help? It may
help to inform the barangay to keep the town warehouse safe.
Mutual Help: Compassion, not just giving
The point is that we work together to lift each other, not treat others poorly.
We just reach out to community members who need help during times of severe
hardship. We are here to remind you that we can count on each other, and that
they can no longer contribute or do anything without donations. After all, we
have no one to rely on but each other.
Questions
What if wholesale? - That's not good. The community pantry or town warehouse is
there for people to use. Even if you wholesale a few times, the important thing
is that the community is willing to help and give as much as possible. Let's
trust each other!
What if my community doesn't need help right away? -Get extra groceries, PPEs, or
medicines that people bring and find warehouses near you to give, Or you can also
get together with your neighbors or neighborhoods to start your own warehouse.
Can it be maintained long-term? - Of course! Because it is not just giving, but
solidarity from the community, the needs will not come from the uplifting far
away, but from people who care about those who are more difficult in life. Aid
will not be lost due to lack of interest; it is in the self-interest to help one
another!
You are not alone either! Thousands, if not millions, of people around the world
are already uniting and caring against the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are a few
examples of these projects, from New York, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Brazil!
Finding the Thread that Binds Us: Three Mutual Aid Networks in New York City
Doing What State and Market Cannot: The Visible Hand: How a Mutual Aid Network
Serves Tens of Thousands in Poland
Puerto Rico: The Road to Decolonization: Disaster Relief, Mutual Aid, and Revolt
Solidarity, Direct Action, and Self-Determination: Kasa Invisível: An Occupied
Social Center Becomes a Hub of Mutual Aid in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
https://bandilangitim.noblogs.org/2021/04/17/bodegong-bayan/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Hundreds of anti-authoritarian demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal on
April 18 in the evening, protesting against the imposition of a curfew under the
pretext of "fighting the epidemic." The protesters say the measure is an attack
on freedom, human contact and solidarity. ---- The demonstrators have made it
clear that they reject false solutions to problems from the Quebec government and
city hall. They opposed curfews and any police measures to resolve health
problems. Repressions and restrictions hit, first of all, the poorest and least
protected groups of the population. ---- "The fight against curfews and false
authoritarian methods of dealing with the pandemic continues and gains momentum,"
the demonstration said in a statement. " We are committed to breaking the
dichotomy between blind obedience to government and the far-right's silly
manipulation by conspiracy theorists.
Just as we were demonstrating against the police state, the Montreal City Police
Service did their utmost to provide ademonstration of it. Despite the deployment
of hundreds of police officers, we took to the streets, chanted and launched
fireworks for over an hour! Things got hot when a riot police rushed into the
crowd to grab a comrade. Despite the efforts of the crowd to help the comrades
who were attacked by the police, we were unable to free them. We are all
responsible for developing practices so that situations like this do not happen
again.
Many of you have expressed your willingness to continue to fight. Know that we
are not going to give up. Our main goal is to help mobilize. Feel free to
organize, plan actions; we will not hesitate to use our platform to support you
to the best of our ability. In particular, we urge our comrades to join the more
spontaneous rallies organized by the young Montreal, who in recent days have
acted out of their legitimate anger; we will disseminate relevant messages on our
platforms, "the statement said.
https://mtlcounterinfo.org/report-back-from-the-protest-against-the-curfew-of-april-18th/
https://aitrus.info/node/5675
------------------------------
Message: 4
The government, after completing its contacts with employers' organizations and
getting the green light, is preparing to submit the new anti-labor and anti-union
bill, which has been zealously advertised by the well-fed media for so long. This
is a bill - a turning point in the history of anti-labor upheavals for at least
the last thirty years, which is presented as an "intervention" for the
"modernization " of labor law and the framework of labor relations and is nothing
more than the end of work as we knew it. ---- It is no coincidence that in the
past, despite the special situation due to the pandemic, BSE and government
officials did not miss the opportunity to bombard us with announcements,
"investigations" and reports (like that of Pissaridis), thus shaping the
framework for to pass the anti-labor roller. They want to turn the employees into
hostages of the employer, to work whenever and for as long as the boss wants, to
be paid for as long as the company "endures" and not to talk too much, because
others are waiting outside.
They abolish the eight-hour period, imposing unpaid overtime and turning flexible
work into a dominant form of work. Let us not forget that the majority of
employees in small businesses already work part-time.
They increase Sunday work in industries that had already imposed it, such as
trade and supermarkets, while expanding it to new industries.
They hit our organizations. They denigrate the highest decision-making body of
the employees, the general assembly, imposing the dossier and the electronic
electronic voting, in case of a proposal for a strike mobilization and
criminalize its guarding in workplaces.
They are promoting the strike, since they will oblige the employees in public
sectors, to work as security personnel, at a rate of 40%!
They abolish the SEPE, after they first devalued it and dissolved it and send the
disputes to a body of the state and the employers.
Colleagues,
The upheavals that the government aspires to go through are changing the whole
working landscape in the construction sector as well. The salary and the daily
wage become an aid and the time turns into a ball in the hands of the contractors
and they do not stop there! The following are the sweeping changes in insurance,
as an integral part of the anti-labor raid. Retirement years are increasing,
supplementary insurance is being privatized, the money of our funds is being
gambled, employer contributions are being reduced and the cost is falling on our
backs, the amount of the stamp is being reduced. They are preparing a job for us
on Sunday (with the window of the Sunday job for the concrete industry).
The companies and the contractors just accumulated their capital during the years
of crisis and invested in other sectors, while we were chasing the unemployment
fund. without insurance, with a handful of work.
The upheavals of the last decades, the stolen badges, the undeclared work, the
beating of the contract, the reduction of the objective factor in the
construction and the intensification, the elasticity of the hours, the block for
thousands of hired technicians, who are "collaborators" To the detriment and
invisible "self-employed" in the rights.
They want more. They are pushing for their taxes to be reduced and for them to be
given land and water. They rub their hands, after they will grab twice, from the
recovery fund and the domestic programs. The market opens for new tycoons.
(Latsi, Marinakis, foreign groups).
Do not leave them. They depend on us. We do not need them, they have us! Do not
dare government and capital to pass their laws.
To coordinate our struggle with all sectors and employees. To organize our
response, on construction sites, in offices, where there are colleagues. With the
first stop being the strike on May 6 and with continuous steps in the process of
strike escalation so that the anti-labor anti-union law is never passed.
We support all the mobilizations of the next period in all areas.
- Not to pass the anti-labor and anti-union law. Hands off our rights, our clubs
and our struggles.
- Hands down from 8 o'clock.
-To overturn all anti-labor reinsurance laws of recent years.
Abolition of the labor contribution, all costs in employer and state.
-Employment contracts with increases in salaries and wages, reduction of working
hours.
-Pension at 55 for men and 50 for women in BAE.
-Distribution of pro-unknowns, to those builders who have not completed the
number of stamps for retirement.
-To remove the block for those who work with a dependent employment relationship.
Give them all the rights of employees.
- To stop the exploitation of telework.
- Allowance equal to the salary, for all the unemployed
-No job and no day without a stamp.
BRANCH OF CONSTRUCTIONS
http://rocinante.gr/min-tolmisoun-na-psifisoun-ton-antergatiko-nomo/
------------------------------
Message: 5
From Police Spies Out of Lives ---- STAND IN SOLIDARITY: Tuesday 20th April,
9.00am ---- Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL ---- CONCLUSION OF
KATE WILSON'S IPT CASE ---- A decade after Kate's case began to be heard in the
Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), it will conclude in a series of trial
hearings from 20th-28th April. ---- Among other issues, this case will examine
sexist discrimination within the Metropolitan Police Service, and the systemic
disregard for women's fundamental human rights between 1998 and 2010. ---- The
claim refers to the actions of a number of officers serving in the secret
political spycops units, the SDS and NPOIU, during that time.
Kate has already received startling admissions that the police breached her
Article 3, 8 and 10 rights (under the ECHR) resulting from the actions of at
least 6 different undercover officers. She is, through these proceedings, the
only person to have received significant disclosure of police ‘intelligence'
files held about her.
We will update you on the conclusion of the trial at the end of the month.
HOW YOU CAN SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
ATTEND THE COVID SECURE DEMO
We will be outside of the RCJ from 9.00am, for roughly an hour, before the
proceedings begin. Please bring banners and placards if you have them. We will
observe social distancing guidelines by keeping a 2m distance between us. Please
wear a mask if you're able to.
SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO KATE
Messages of support are a great way to show solidarity with Kate.
Please email messages to:
contact@policespiesoutoflives.org.uk
Twitter:
@out_of_lives
SPREAD THE WORD
Please share this call out as widely as possible.==================
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2021/04/19/stand-in-solidarity-with-kate-wilson-tues-28-april/
------------------------------
Message: 6
The 21st of April. 19:00. The central square of your city. You yourself know what
to do. Send your reports and photos to us by e-mail or telegram @AvtonomBot, we
will publish them. Remember to take precautions. ---- First of all, we go out
against the authoritarian regime and for the freedom to determine our own life.
We remind you that our alternative to Putin is the decentralization of power and
the abolition of the presidency . We are not supporters of a simple substitution
of one tsar for another, our goal is direct democracy and a just economic system.
---- But we also go out for the freedom of all political prisoners, including
anarchists and progressive leftists:
The Network case: 10 young people in St. Petersburg and Penza were sentenced to
terms ranging from 3.5 to 18 years on terrorism charges: they sometimes played
airsoft and discussed the political situation in the country.
The case of Azat Miftakhov: graduate student of Moscow State University, received
6 six years in prison on charges of complicity in breaking a window in the
district office of United Russia in Moscow.
DOXA Case: Editors and editors of a student magazine found themselves indicted in
a criminal case and placed under house arrest for an Internet video.
Read about other political prisoners and download our leaflets in different
versions .
Down with the Tsar!
A free society does not need a leader!
Our solution is self-government!
https://avtonom.org/news/21-aprelya-vy-znaete-chto-delat
------------------------------
Message: 7
The government has launched a new 95% mortgage scheme. This scheme aims to help
first time buyers or current homeowners secure a mortgage with just a 5% deposit.
Along with the holiday on stamp duty this is part of a government strategy to try
and keep the housing market booming. ---- While many of those struggling to get
out from the under the thumb of a landlords may appreciate this government
initiative, housing will remain unaffordable to many in the UK. The Guardian has
claimed that: ---- "The analysis found a single woman on the UK median female
wage for 30- to 39-year-olds - £30,258 - could not afford a 95% mortgage on a
median-priced property in the cheapest band in more than half of local
authorities in England and Wales.
Meanwhile, a single man on the median earnings for his demographic - £34,567 -
could not afford a mortgage in almost half (48%) of local authorities nationwide."
This analysis ignores the fact that a great many people living in the UK are not
"median earners", earning far less than £30,000. Two million workers earn only
the national minimum wage, which is £17,000 a year for someone 25 or over working
the UK average of 37.5 hours a week. In 2019 roughly 60% of UK workers earned
less than £30,000, and roughly 20% earned less than £17,000.
This means that those most able to take advantage of these new government
initiatives will be those who are already well off compared to most of us, and
this will do little to alleviate the growing housing crisis that many people are
suffering under.
According to the National Housing Foundation 8.4 million people in England lived
in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home, with 3.6 million living in
overcrowded conditions and 2.5 million unable to afford their rent or mortgage.
The housing charity Shelter has estimated that 250,000 people are homeless and
trapped in temporary accommodation and that 39% of private renters, equivalent to
3.2 million people, say they have been forced to live in dangerous or unhealthy
conditions because they fear complaining to their landlord will trigger a
retaliatory eviction.
While the government claims these plans will help people to buy homes, in the
long therm they will only create demand for housing at the current prices,
driving those prices even higher and making the housing crisis worse.
Over the last ten years wages have remained stagnant while inflation has risen,
meaning that we have grown poorer in real terms as house prises have risen. From
a human standpoint, housing is a fundamental need for all human beings, and the
fact that the government is continuing to promote increasing house prices is an
attack on us all.
But even from a detached economic standpoint, prices on housing can not rise
forever. Speculation on infinitely rising house prices has a hard limit in the
ability of the rest of society to pay for that inflated housing. Any bubble the
government promotes will eventually burst, just like it did in 2007.
Of course, the conservative government may not be thinking in terms of human
suffering or even economic stability. Property tycoons have bankrolled the Tory
party to the tune of £11 million since Boris Johnson became prime minister. This
is almost a quarter of the total donations to the party.
In 2017, almost one in five Members of Parliament where found to be landlords.
The conservatives were the worst, with over a quarter of their MPs being
landlords, but even among Labour MPs more than one in ten were landlords. Many
among the political class and the class of big property owners have overlapping
interests that are opposed to the needs of most of the people suffering under them.
As long as our society is structured around housing as property that can be
speculated on and not a necessity that everyone should have access to, this
crisis will continue regardless of how many houses are built or how much support
is promised to those in need of a home. If there is money to be made in housing,
people will make it, and those people will be able to use that wealth to
influence any government in their favour.
https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2021/04/21/tories-fuel-housing-crisis-in-brief/
------------------------------
Message: 8
DO NOT PASS THE ANTI-WORK- ANTI-SYNDICAL BILL VROUTSI- HATZIDAKI! ---- ESE ATHENS
INVITES TO COMPETITIVE AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION: ---- Thursday, April 22 labor
gathering-march Propylaea at 6 p.m. --- Saturday, April 24, a day of multifaceted
activities in neighborhoods with gatherings and marches ---- Thursday 6 May MAY
DAY STRIKE STRIKE ---- The government's instrumentalization of the crisis in
health terms shows that in addition to its deliberate inability to fortify the
public health system, it has found suitable ground to accelerate repressive
measures, with an even more police state. It imposes incarceration and terrorizes
society with huge fines, while pushing the vast majority of the workforce into
poverty and unemployment. At the same time, it feeds millions of the systemic
media and the "immortals", throwing a bonus-type dry party to the poor to "stop it".
It legislates reactively against the working class, with bankruptcy codes, labor
bills, university police, bills criminalizing trade union action. He tortures
protesters, and whoever resists, names open victims of police violence while
arresting and beating up teenagers and students struggling against the new
educational dystopia. And while the pandemic is galloping and the dissolved ESY.
stumbles, fires and disciplines hospital doctors, effectively punishing them for
their union action.
It is obvious, also through the Prime Minister's announcements at the TIF, that
at the same time with the pandemic, the state mechanisms are doing "overtime",
targeting what is left of the labor rights, as these are now considered "obsolete
regulations of the last century". In short, with the new labor bill that is about
to be passed, the 8-hour period will be abolished and the 10-hour system will be
institutionalized, the workers will have to be more "flexible" and will become
more "rubber", since overtime will have no limit and will not be paid but will be
"offset" by breaks or part-time at half-yearly. The bill also contains the
substantial abolition of the strike in the public and utilities (transport,
ports, telecommunications, energy), since the security staff should be 40%,
Through the bonus policy that is exercised, an attempt is made to silence the
employees, while at the same time restrictive junta-type traffic measures are
imposed in order to pass laws and regulations, depriving them of the right to
protest. All this, following the "COOPERATION" program, where the state
"deducted" part of the salaries of the employees to the bosses, gradually
transforming the salary into an allowance and giving freedom and alibi to the
latter, not to pay for the work they buy and are exploited.
The government as a whole continues to act against the social benefit by waving
its finger at the social base. He continues to accuse people who take part in
demonstrations as to blame for the rise in cases, while the buses and subways are
full, he refuses to take substantial measures for health, while the hospitals
have been blocked, he claims that for the development of the pandemic are
responsible for the "useless movements", while they themselves drink sea bream in
remote islands or do "extraordinary" baptisms, and finally declares that the
management of the pandemic in the country is successful, while dozens of people
die in the ranch without even basic health care. At the same time, it spends
billions on armaments, millions on canal managers and businessmen, as in the case
of Aegean,
Against the governmental doctrine of individual responsibility, we propose
collective and class vigilance.
We unite in the workplaces, in the grassroots unions and in labor collectives in
our area, we form Liberal unions outside and in rupture with the regime unionism
of GSEE-ADEDY and the party unionism of PAME, in the direction of forming a
revolutionary labor confederation.
WE ARE NOT TERRORIZED! WE ARE ANGRY!
LET'S EXPAND OUR ACCUMULATED WRATH ON THEM!
TO TRANSFORM OUR ANGRY IN A MATCH!
NO ONE - NO ONE!
Withdrawal of the anti-labor-anti-union bill Vroutsi.
Not in the "payment" of overtime on breaks or vacations
Hands down from the Sunday holiday
Hands down from the unions. No to criminalizing trade union action.
No business activities in health and medicine
Exclusive public health for all people
Mass recruitment in health-education
Athens Libertarian Union (ESE) ese-ath@espiv.net
https://ese.espiv.net/2021/04/22/08/
------------------------------
Message: 9
Towards Anarchy in the Archipelago ---- The year 2016 was the year in which an
elected administration whose goal is to capitalize on growing mass distrust of
the people against each other as its brand of fascistic populism has been seated.
Ever since then, the Duterte administration has been gaslighting its own people
for its own failures, rendering them as troublemakers, contrarians, and suspected
narcotic abusers through its online armies of trolls, fanatics, and grandstanding
spokespeople, apart from the president's own dirty mouth. ---- Four years later,
then came the CoVID-19 pandemic. The antics of the administration worsened as it
saw opportunity of power entrenchment from a global crisis. Society has been more
divided and polarized. A Media Network has been shut down. An "Anti-Terror"
legislation, that puts more suspicion on those who merely practice their civic
duties, has been passed more seamlessly than much-needed pandemic response
legislations. And a costly dolomite beach has been laid down on a yet-to-be
rehabilitated dirtiest bay a Filipino has known for, for a ton of bucks that
could have been spent on a pandemic response instead. But amidst the great dark,
there's a tiny light of hope which caught attention that may as well prove what's
left of innate trust of Filipinos to one another.
A year after community quarantines have been implemented, a direct action
initiative has been born rooted on principles of mutual aid, and informed by the
mantra of "tayo-tayo lang ang magtutulungan" (only us who can help each other) in
a sea of prevalent distrust, and absence of sufficient aid from the Government.
The said initiative is called "Community Pantry." This was first done in
Maginhawa, Quezon City where 26-year old Ann Patricia Non, a local of the said
area, set up a community pantry where people can leave and get food items for
free according to ability and need respectively as asked through an oversized
writing on a carton cardboard saying "Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, Kumuha batay sa
pangangailangan"
(Give what you can, take what you need) without judgment but ‘mutual trust.' With
so many replications of such community effort and counting, it proves to be
successful!
Photo by AP Non/Ann Patricia Non, retrieved from Facebook.
Community Pantry as a Mutual Aid and Direct Action
"Mutual aid" is an organizational theory coined by Russian anarchist theorist
Peter Kropotkin. He argued that voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and
services for mutual benefit has been an ancient practice. It is ancient as human
culture itself where through such cooperation, it has been a driving mechanism of
human evolution throughout the ages including those of distraught. A very fitting
example of distraught would be this CoVID-19 pandemic further aggravated by the
shortcomings and deliberate actions of the Duterte Administration. The
‘Bayanihan' spirit that our ancestors practiced is one manifestation of mutual
aid as well.
With mutual aid as a direct action, it only tells that there must be perceived
community problems that are not addressed by traditional societal institutions
such as governments, enterprises, religious organizations, trade unions, and
various other civil society organizations. It further suggests that only through
mutual aid done as a direct engagement of the community itself can these problems
be addressed. Because appealing to others and waiting for intervention from
‘distant' traditional societal institutions is no longer relevant. Especially in
a situation where, despite repeated appeals, no adequate intervention came at a
time when it is most needed. As a result, the community is already suffering too
much. So a direct action is needed while the community is still able to help
itself, especially those individuals in it who suffer the most. It is a perfect
depiction of "From the Masses, for the Masses" type of self-governance that is
naturally-occurring. This is especially seen in a situation that lacks good
governance so desperately needed from socially-constructed institutions and legal
systems that continue to fail to deliver.
Community pantries are informed by thoughts that say it is only through community
solidarity - not just charity - can we brave the dark days of the pandemic with
so little to no financial assistance given by the government, people losing their
jobs, and people risking a lot just not to lose their ‘bread and butter.'
Organizers have acknowledged that it is even way harder to work, study, and fight
every single day while the stomach growls. Efforts such as community pantries
reduce the number of people suffering from hunger especially in the middle of a
pandemic (although it cannot solve mass hunger altogether).
Restoring the culture of trust through solidarity
The community pantry also elicits a returned sense of trust by first showing the
first steps of trusting strangers in need. Small wooden pantries, monoblock
tables, or chairs that organizers provide for strangers to place their goods and
get these goods from reveal a capability to help by providing a conduit for them
to reach each other out.
What strikes most is the cardboard writings asking people for their generosity
and trust, without judgment, suspicion, and other pretenses. It elicits a
presumption of trust, that only through it can we help one another and ourselves.
With overwhelming reception, it proves how capable Filipinos still are of
trusting one another despite the toxicity, division, and general distrust that
sought wreckage of our social interactions for years. Rather than to gaslight
each other with divisive accusations of "katamaran-palamunin"/lazy dependency,
"pasaway"/naughtiness, "kadamutan"/elitism, and others.
Little by little, these small displays of solidarity will contribute to social
healing by inspiring others to take part in mutual aid efforts, and confide -
once again - to one another. Reminding themselves of the ‘bayanihan' spirit we
once inherited from our forebears, in rejection of the status quo that we have
found ourselves in as a ‘land of distrust.'
Tags
Carolus Plebejus, community pantries, Mutual Aid
https://bandilangitim.noblogs.org/2021/04/21/presumption-of-trust/
------------------------------
direct action' initiatives heal the land of distrust and
gaslighting by Carolus Plebejus. [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
At the heart of the battles of the town. ---- If you are hoping for a political
reflection text, it will not make you happy, but you would miss something by
ignoring this book of just over a hundred pages ! History is also the result of
the little words of everyday life that weave the epistolary exchanges ... ----
Here, among the crowd of publications which deal with the history of the Commune
published by Libertalia, a curious little work ... It brings together letters,
written by a certain Alix Payen, and collected by Michèle Audin. For many, they
are unpublished, from family archives, notebooks or the book by Alix Payen's
brother, Paul Millet.
Born Louise Alix Millet in 1842, Alix Payen stands out a bit in all the
testimonies that we have on the period of the Paris Commune. She is not a
prominent and noticed character of the time. It has attracted little attention
from historians, and for good reason! She is not a member of the International
Workers' Association, did not write articles in the press at the time, let alone
a remarkable participant in a club. Her social origins keep her outside the usual
frames of reference, neither worker nor aristocrat. She was born into a bourgeois
family of Fourierist affiliation. She was just herself, with her loved ones, in
the midst of the turmoil.
"A thermometer hanging in a corner"
She was twenty-nine when she made up her mind. The fact that her husband was
engaged in combat probably had something to do with it. In April 1871 she joined
the 153 th battalion of the National Guard as a paramedic and nurse. As such, she
took part in the fight for the defense of Fort d'Issy, then Fort de Vanves. These
two forts ensured the protection of the city of Paris against the Versailles abuses.
Alix Payen writes during the rare moments of respite. His letters are a series of
moments taken from life; from lived experience in its raw state The prose is
moving when she writes to Henri, her husband, and also in the letters sent to her
father or her mother. She uses affectionate expressions: "Dear Mignon", " my
fat", and signs "Your old woman", all accompanied by warm attentions.
Alix Payen also often talks about the difficulties of routing mail and the lack
of answers. The events of March 1871, the proclamation of the Commune, the
elections ... there is no question. She describes what she sees, what she
experiences; the difficult conditions of the fighting, the men who sleep in the
vaults of the cemeteries, the life in the trenches. She is astonished at the
perfect linguistic convenience of the Parisian workers, at their kindness towards
her.
On May 29, 1871, her husband died. She was not condemned by a military tribunal
and managed to leave Paris with a pass. She joined the Fourierist Colony of Condé
sur Vesgre and died in 1903.
Direct accounts of this period are extremely rare. Most of the documentation
usually comes from memorial transcriptions made several decades later, such as
those of Gustave Lefrançais, Victorine Brocher ( Souvenirs d'une morte vivante ),
Lucien Descaves ( Philémon, old man of the Old Woman ), Elie Reclus ( The Paris
Commune from day to day ), etc.
From the latter, we can borrow this quote placed in the foreword of his work:
"Not a story this - I was not one of the characters, not even a confidant of the
characters - I was a citizen, taking care, worrying me, watching, listening,
among the less misinformed.[...]A thermometer hanging in a corner ..."
Alix Payen, now forgotten like many others, was one of them: "She defended Paris
and provided care to the wounded."
"The vanquished have no history. Let's break this chain of iniquity" (Benoît Malon)
Dominique Sureau (UCL Angers)
Alix Payen, It is at night especially that the fight becomes furious: a paramedic
from the Municipality, 1871 , Libertalia, May 2020, 128 pages, 8 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Alix-Payen-C-est-la-nuit-surtout-que-le-combat-devient-furieux-une
------------------------------
Message: 2
There are more and more community pantries or town warehouses that prove that we
are ready to work together because we are the only ones we can count on. Today,
we're going to talk about how to start it for your community, a way to find more
people who want to change and grow our world. ---- How to build a town warehouse
in your area? ---- Call friends, family, neighbors! Easier to do if not alone.
Your friends may even have acquaintances who want to help! But it may be best to
keep the group small for easy communication. What can help? Ask family or
neighbors if they know anyone who would like to help! Creating a group chat (GC)
can help and make sure participants are willing to help. It might also be okay to
post on Facebook or other social media if they want to help!
Find out what it takes to get started. It's good to see what food your family
serves. What are the common ingredients? It may be best to add rice, garlic,
onions, meat, canned food, and so on. You can also put other necessities such as
medicine, face mask, alcohol, etc. It is also important to list the equipment
needed to build the town warehouse, such as signs and tables! What can help? List
and take inventory on spreadsheet or paper. In addition to the food or what you
want to share, also write down the equipment you and your colleagues need to
build a town warehouse.
Find a place that is frequented. It also depends on how easy it is to set-up in
your area. For example, if you are going to build on the sidewalk, you must make
sure that the town warehouse does not obstruct the road. What can help? Choose a
place that your companions can easily get to. If a lot of people are passing by
you, it might be okay to start in front of or outside your house! The address
also needs to be given to others who want to share.
Lay down! You can use whatever you have, such as old shelves, shoe racks, or even
boxes and other recyclables. Put up a sign that explains what a town warehouse
is! Be creative! Invite people to take according to their needs and give what
they can. Share with others! And don't forget to translate! What can help? It may
help to inform the barangay to keep the town warehouse safe.
Mutual Help: Compassion, not just giving
The point is that we work together to lift each other, not treat others poorly.
We just reach out to community members who need help during times of severe
hardship. We are here to remind you that we can count on each other, and that
they can no longer contribute or do anything without donations. After all, we
have no one to rely on but each other.
Questions
What if wholesale? - That's not good. The community pantry or town warehouse is
there for people to use. Even if you wholesale a few times, the important thing
is that the community is willing to help and give as much as possible. Let's
trust each other!
What if my community doesn't need help right away? -Get extra groceries, PPEs, or
medicines that people bring and find warehouses near you to give, Or you can also
get together with your neighbors or neighborhoods to start your own warehouse.
Can it be maintained long-term? - Of course! Because it is not just giving, but
solidarity from the community, the needs will not come from the uplifting far
away, but from people who care about those who are more difficult in life. Aid
will not be lost due to lack of interest; it is in the self-interest to help one
another!
You are not alone either! Thousands, if not millions, of people around the world
are already uniting and caring against the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are a few
examples of these projects, from New York, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Brazil!
Finding the Thread that Binds Us: Three Mutual Aid Networks in New York City
Doing What State and Market Cannot: The Visible Hand: How a Mutual Aid Network
Serves Tens of Thousands in Poland
Puerto Rico: The Road to Decolonization: Disaster Relief, Mutual Aid, and Revolt
Solidarity, Direct Action, and Self-Determination: Kasa Invisível: An Occupied
Social Center Becomes a Hub of Mutual Aid in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
https://bandilangitim.noblogs.org/2021/04/17/bodegong-bayan/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Hundreds of anti-authoritarian demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal on
April 18 in the evening, protesting against the imposition of a curfew under the
pretext of "fighting the epidemic." The protesters say the measure is an attack
on freedom, human contact and solidarity. ---- The demonstrators have made it
clear that they reject false solutions to problems from the Quebec government and
city hall. They opposed curfews and any police measures to resolve health
problems. Repressions and restrictions hit, first of all, the poorest and least
protected groups of the population. ---- "The fight against curfews and false
authoritarian methods of dealing with the pandemic continues and gains momentum,"
the demonstration said in a statement. " We are committed to breaking the
dichotomy between blind obedience to government and the far-right's silly
manipulation by conspiracy theorists.
Just as we were demonstrating against the police state, the Montreal City Police
Service did their utmost to provide ademonstration of it. Despite the deployment
of hundreds of police officers, we took to the streets, chanted and launched
fireworks for over an hour! Things got hot when a riot police rushed into the
crowd to grab a comrade. Despite the efforts of the crowd to help the comrades
who were attacked by the police, we were unable to free them. We are all
responsible for developing practices so that situations like this do not happen
again.
Many of you have expressed your willingness to continue to fight. Know that we
are not going to give up. Our main goal is to help mobilize. Feel free to
organize, plan actions; we will not hesitate to use our platform to support you
to the best of our ability. In particular, we urge our comrades to join the more
spontaneous rallies organized by the young Montreal, who in recent days have
acted out of their legitimate anger; we will disseminate relevant messages on our
platforms, "the statement said.
https://mtlcounterinfo.org/report-back-from-the-protest-against-the-curfew-of-april-18th/
https://aitrus.info/node/5675
------------------------------
Message: 4
The government, after completing its contacts with employers' organizations and
getting the green light, is preparing to submit the new anti-labor and anti-union
bill, which has been zealously advertised by the well-fed media for so long. This
is a bill - a turning point in the history of anti-labor upheavals for at least
the last thirty years, which is presented as an "intervention" for the
"modernization " of labor law and the framework of labor relations and is nothing
more than the end of work as we knew it. ---- It is no coincidence that in the
past, despite the special situation due to the pandemic, BSE and government
officials did not miss the opportunity to bombard us with announcements,
"investigations" and reports (like that of Pissaridis), thus shaping the
framework for to pass the anti-labor roller. They want to turn the employees into
hostages of the employer, to work whenever and for as long as the boss wants, to
be paid for as long as the company "endures" and not to talk too much, because
others are waiting outside.
They abolish the eight-hour period, imposing unpaid overtime and turning flexible
work into a dominant form of work. Let us not forget that the majority of
employees in small businesses already work part-time.
They increase Sunday work in industries that had already imposed it, such as
trade and supermarkets, while expanding it to new industries.
They hit our organizations. They denigrate the highest decision-making body of
the employees, the general assembly, imposing the dossier and the electronic
electronic voting, in case of a proposal for a strike mobilization and
criminalize its guarding in workplaces.
They are promoting the strike, since they will oblige the employees in public
sectors, to work as security personnel, at a rate of 40%!
They abolish the SEPE, after they first devalued it and dissolved it and send the
disputes to a body of the state and the employers.
Colleagues,
The upheavals that the government aspires to go through are changing the whole
working landscape in the construction sector as well. The salary and the daily
wage become an aid and the time turns into a ball in the hands of the contractors
and they do not stop there! The following are the sweeping changes in insurance,
as an integral part of the anti-labor raid. Retirement years are increasing,
supplementary insurance is being privatized, the money of our funds is being
gambled, employer contributions are being reduced and the cost is falling on our
backs, the amount of the stamp is being reduced. They are preparing a job for us
on Sunday (with the window of the Sunday job for the concrete industry).
The companies and the contractors just accumulated their capital during the years
of crisis and invested in other sectors, while we were chasing the unemployment
fund. without insurance, with a handful of work.
The upheavals of the last decades, the stolen badges, the undeclared work, the
beating of the contract, the reduction of the objective factor in the
construction and the intensification, the elasticity of the hours, the block for
thousands of hired technicians, who are "collaborators" To the detriment and
invisible "self-employed" in the rights.
They want more. They are pushing for their taxes to be reduced and for them to be
given land and water. They rub their hands, after they will grab twice, from the
recovery fund and the domestic programs. The market opens for new tycoons.
(Latsi, Marinakis, foreign groups).
Do not leave them. They depend on us. We do not need them, they have us! Do not
dare government and capital to pass their laws.
To coordinate our struggle with all sectors and employees. To organize our
response, on construction sites, in offices, where there are colleagues. With the
first stop being the strike on May 6 and with continuous steps in the process of
strike escalation so that the anti-labor anti-union law is never passed.
We support all the mobilizations of the next period in all areas.
- Not to pass the anti-labor and anti-union law. Hands off our rights, our clubs
and our struggles.
- Hands down from 8 o'clock.
-To overturn all anti-labor reinsurance laws of recent years.
Abolition of the labor contribution, all costs in employer and state.
-Employment contracts with increases in salaries and wages, reduction of working
hours.
-Pension at 55 for men and 50 for women in BAE.
-Distribution of pro-unknowns, to those builders who have not completed the
number of stamps for retirement.
-To remove the block for those who work with a dependent employment relationship.
Give them all the rights of employees.
- To stop the exploitation of telework.
- Allowance equal to the salary, for all the unemployed
-No job and no day without a stamp.
BRANCH OF CONSTRUCTIONS
http://rocinante.gr/min-tolmisoun-na-psifisoun-ton-antergatiko-nomo/
------------------------------
Message: 5
From Police Spies Out of Lives ---- STAND IN SOLIDARITY: Tuesday 20th April,
9.00am ---- Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL ---- CONCLUSION OF
KATE WILSON'S IPT CASE ---- A decade after Kate's case began to be heard in the
Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), it will conclude in a series of trial
hearings from 20th-28th April. ---- Among other issues, this case will examine
sexist discrimination within the Metropolitan Police Service, and the systemic
disregard for women's fundamental human rights between 1998 and 2010. ---- The
claim refers to the actions of a number of officers serving in the secret
political spycops units, the SDS and NPOIU, during that time.
Kate has already received startling admissions that the police breached her
Article 3, 8 and 10 rights (under the ECHR) resulting from the actions of at
least 6 different undercover officers. She is, through these proceedings, the
only person to have received significant disclosure of police ‘intelligence'
files held about her.
We will update you on the conclusion of the trial at the end of the month.
HOW YOU CAN SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
ATTEND THE COVID SECURE DEMO
We will be outside of the RCJ from 9.00am, for roughly an hour, before the
proceedings begin. Please bring banners and placards if you have them. We will
observe social distancing guidelines by keeping a 2m distance between us. Please
wear a mask if you're able to.
SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO KATE
Messages of support are a great way to show solidarity with Kate.
Please email messages to:
contact@policespiesoutoflives.org.uk
Twitter:
@out_of_lives
SPREAD THE WORD
Please share this call out as widely as possible.==================
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2021/04/19/stand-in-solidarity-with-kate-wilson-tues-28-april/
------------------------------
Message: 6
The 21st of April. 19:00. The central square of your city. You yourself know what
to do. Send your reports and photos to us by e-mail or telegram @AvtonomBot, we
will publish them. Remember to take precautions. ---- First of all, we go out
against the authoritarian regime and for the freedom to determine our own life.
We remind you that our alternative to Putin is the decentralization of power and
the abolition of the presidency . We are not supporters of a simple substitution
of one tsar for another, our goal is direct democracy and a just economic system.
---- But we also go out for the freedom of all political prisoners, including
anarchists and progressive leftists:
The Network case: 10 young people in St. Petersburg and Penza were sentenced to
terms ranging from 3.5 to 18 years on terrorism charges: they sometimes played
airsoft and discussed the political situation in the country.
The case of Azat Miftakhov: graduate student of Moscow State University, received
6 six years in prison on charges of complicity in breaking a window in the
district office of United Russia in Moscow.
DOXA Case: Editors and editors of a student magazine found themselves indicted in
a criminal case and placed under house arrest for an Internet video.
Read about other political prisoners and download our leaflets in different
versions .
Down with the Tsar!
A free society does not need a leader!
Our solution is self-government!
https://avtonom.org/news/21-aprelya-vy-znaete-chto-delat
------------------------------
Message: 7
The government has launched a new 95% mortgage scheme. This scheme aims to help
first time buyers or current homeowners secure a mortgage with just a 5% deposit.
Along with the holiday on stamp duty this is part of a government strategy to try
and keep the housing market booming. ---- While many of those struggling to get
out from the under the thumb of a landlords may appreciate this government
initiative, housing will remain unaffordable to many in the UK. The Guardian has
claimed that: ---- "The analysis found a single woman on the UK median female
wage for 30- to 39-year-olds - £30,258 - could not afford a 95% mortgage on a
median-priced property in the cheapest band in more than half of local
authorities in England and Wales.
Meanwhile, a single man on the median earnings for his demographic - £34,567 -
could not afford a mortgage in almost half (48%) of local authorities nationwide."
This analysis ignores the fact that a great many people living in the UK are not
"median earners", earning far less than £30,000. Two million workers earn only
the national minimum wage, which is £17,000 a year for someone 25 or over working
the UK average of 37.5 hours a week. In 2019 roughly 60% of UK workers earned
less than £30,000, and roughly 20% earned less than £17,000.
This means that those most able to take advantage of these new government
initiatives will be those who are already well off compared to most of us, and
this will do little to alleviate the growing housing crisis that many people are
suffering under.
According to the National Housing Foundation 8.4 million people in England lived
in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home, with 3.6 million living in
overcrowded conditions and 2.5 million unable to afford their rent or mortgage.
The housing charity Shelter has estimated that 250,000 people are homeless and
trapped in temporary accommodation and that 39% of private renters, equivalent to
3.2 million people, say they have been forced to live in dangerous or unhealthy
conditions because they fear complaining to their landlord will trigger a
retaliatory eviction.
While the government claims these plans will help people to buy homes, in the
long therm they will only create demand for housing at the current prices,
driving those prices even higher and making the housing crisis worse.
Over the last ten years wages have remained stagnant while inflation has risen,
meaning that we have grown poorer in real terms as house prises have risen. From
a human standpoint, housing is a fundamental need for all human beings, and the
fact that the government is continuing to promote increasing house prices is an
attack on us all.
But even from a detached economic standpoint, prices on housing can not rise
forever. Speculation on infinitely rising house prices has a hard limit in the
ability of the rest of society to pay for that inflated housing. Any bubble the
government promotes will eventually burst, just like it did in 2007.
Of course, the conservative government may not be thinking in terms of human
suffering or even economic stability. Property tycoons have bankrolled the Tory
party to the tune of £11 million since Boris Johnson became prime minister. This
is almost a quarter of the total donations to the party.
In 2017, almost one in five Members of Parliament where found to be landlords.
The conservatives were the worst, with over a quarter of their MPs being
landlords, but even among Labour MPs more than one in ten were landlords. Many
among the political class and the class of big property owners have overlapping
interests that are opposed to the needs of most of the people suffering under them.
As long as our society is structured around housing as property that can be
speculated on and not a necessity that everyone should have access to, this
crisis will continue regardless of how many houses are built or how much support
is promised to those in need of a home. If there is money to be made in housing,
people will make it, and those people will be able to use that wealth to
influence any government in their favour.
https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2021/04/21/tories-fuel-housing-crisis-in-brief/
------------------------------
Message: 8
DO NOT PASS THE ANTI-WORK- ANTI-SYNDICAL BILL VROUTSI- HATZIDAKI! ---- ESE ATHENS
INVITES TO COMPETITIVE AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION: ---- Thursday, April 22 labor
gathering-march Propylaea at 6 p.m. --- Saturday, April 24, a day of multifaceted
activities in neighborhoods with gatherings and marches ---- Thursday 6 May MAY
DAY STRIKE STRIKE ---- The government's instrumentalization of the crisis in
health terms shows that in addition to its deliberate inability to fortify the
public health system, it has found suitable ground to accelerate repressive
measures, with an even more police state. It imposes incarceration and terrorizes
society with huge fines, while pushing the vast majority of the workforce into
poverty and unemployment. At the same time, it feeds millions of the systemic
media and the "immortals", throwing a bonus-type dry party to the poor to "stop it".
It legislates reactively against the working class, with bankruptcy codes, labor
bills, university police, bills criminalizing trade union action. He tortures
protesters, and whoever resists, names open victims of police violence while
arresting and beating up teenagers and students struggling against the new
educational dystopia. And while the pandemic is galloping and the dissolved ESY.
stumbles, fires and disciplines hospital doctors, effectively punishing them for
their union action.
It is obvious, also through the Prime Minister's announcements at the TIF, that
at the same time with the pandemic, the state mechanisms are doing "overtime",
targeting what is left of the labor rights, as these are now considered "obsolete
regulations of the last century". In short, with the new labor bill that is about
to be passed, the 8-hour period will be abolished and the 10-hour system will be
institutionalized, the workers will have to be more "flexible" and will become
more "rubber", since overtime will have no limit and will not be paid but will be
"offset" by breaks or part-time at half-yearly. The bill also contains the
substantial abolition of the strike in the public and utilities (transport,
ports, telecommunications, energy), since the security staff should be 40%,
Through the bonus policy that is exercised, an attempt is made to silence the
employees, while at the same time restrictive junta-type traffic measures are
imposed in order to pass laws and regulations, depriving them of the right to
protest. All this, following the "COOPERATION" program, where the state
"deducted" part of the salaries of the employees to the bosses, gradually
transforming the salary into an allowance and giving freedom and alibi to the
latter, not to pay for the work they buy and are exploited.
The government as a whole continues to act against the social benefit by waving
its finger at the social base. He continues to accuse people who take part in
demonstrations as to blame for the rise in cases, while the buses and subways are
full, he refuses to take substantial measures for health, while the hospitals
have been blocked, he claims that for the development of the pandemic are
responsible for the "useless movements", while they themselves drink sea bream in
remote islands or do "extraordinary" baptisms, and finally declares that the
management of the pandemic in the country is successful, while dozens of people
die in the ranch without even basic health care. At the same time, it spends
billions on armaments, millions on canal managers and businessmen, as in the case
of Aegean,
Against the governmental doctrine of individual responsibility, we propose
collective and class vigilance.
We unite in the workplaces, in the grassroots unions and in labor collectives in
our area, we form Liberal unions outside and in rupture with the regime unionism
of GSEE-ADEDY and the party unionism of PAME, in the direction of forming a
revolutionary labor confederation.
WE ARE NOT TERRORIZED! WE ARE ANGRY!
LET'S EXPAND OUR ACCUMULATED WRATH ON THEM!
TO TRANSFORM OUR ANGRY IN A MATCH!
NO ONE - NO ONE!
Withdrawal of the anti-labor-anti-union bill Vroutsi.
Not in the "payment" of overtime on breaks or vacations
Hands down from the Sunday holiday
Hands down from the unions. No to criminalizing trade union action.
No business activities in health and medicine
Exclusive public health for all people
Mass recruitment in health-education
Athens Libertarian Union (ESE) ese-ath@espiv.net
https://ese.espiv.net/2021/04/22/08/
------------------------------
Message: 9
Towards Anarchy in the Archipelago ---- The year 2016 was the year in which an
elected administration whose goal is to capitalize on growing mass distrust of
the people against each other as its brand of fascistic populism has been seated.
Ever since then, the Duterte administration has been gaslighting its own people
for its own failures, rendering them as troublemakers, contrarians, and suspected
narcotic abusers through its online armies of trolls, fanatics, and grandstanding
spokespeople, apart from the president's own dirty mouth. ---- Four years later,
then came the CoVID-19 pandemic. The antics of the administration worsened as it
saw opportunity of power entrenchment from a global crisis. Society has been more
divided and polarized. A Media Network has been shut down. An "Anti-Terror"
legislation, that puts more suspicion on those who merely practice their civic
duties, has been passed more seamlessly than much-needed pandemic response
legislations. And a costly dolomite beach has been laid down on a yet-to-be
rehabilitated dirtiest bay a Filipino has known for, for a ton of bucks that
could have been spent on a pandemic response instead. But amidst the great dark,
there's a tiny light of hope which caught attention that may as well prove what's
left of innate trust of Filipinos to one another.
A year after community quarantines have been implemented, a direct action
initiative has been born rooted on principles of mutual aid, and informed by the
mantra of "tayo-tayo lang ang magtutulungan" (only us who can help each other) in
a sea of prevalent distrust, and absence of sufficient aid from the Government.
The said initiative is called "Community Pantry." This was first done in
Maginhawa, Quezon City where 26-year old Ann Patricia Non, a local of the said
area, set up a community pantry where people can leave and get food items for
free according to ability and need respectively as asked through an oversized
writing on a carton cardboard saying "Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, Kumuha batay sa
pangangailangan"
(Give what you can, take what you need) without judgment but ‘mutual trust.' With
so many replications of such community effort and counting, it proves to be
successful!
Photo by AP Non/Ann Patricia Non, retrieved from Facebook.
Community Pantry as a Mutual Aid and Direct Action
"Mutual aid" is an organizational theory coined by Russian anarchist theorist
Peter Kropotkin. He argued that voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and
services for mutual benefit has been an ancient practice. It is ancient as human
culture itself where through such cooperation, it has been a driving mechanism of
human evolution throughout the ages including those of distraught. A very fitting
example of distraught would be this CoVID-19 pandemic further aggravated by the
shortcomings and deliberate actions of the Duterte Administration. The
‘Bayanihan' spirit that our ancestors practiced is one manifestation of mutual
aid as well.
With mutual aid as a direct action, it only tells that there must be perceived
community problems that are not addressed by traditional societal institutions
such as governments, enterprises, religious organizations, trade unions, and
various other civil society organizations. It further suggests that only through
mutual aid done as a direct engagement of the community itself can these problems
be addressed. Because appealing to others and waiting for intervention from
‘distant' traditional societal institutions is no longer relevant. Especially in
a situation where, despite repeated appeals, no adequate intervention came at a
time when it is most needed. As a result, the community is already suffering too
much. So a direct action is needed while the community is still able to help
itself, especially those individuals in it who suffer the most. It is a perfect
depiction of "From the Masses, for the Masses" type of self-governance that is
naturally-occurring. This is especially seen in a situation that lacks good
governance so desperately needed from socially-constructed institutions and legal
systems that continue to fail to deliver.
Community pantries are informed by thoughts that say it is only through community
solidarity - not just charity - can we brave the dark days of the pandemic with
so little to no financial assistance given by the government, people losing their
jobs, and people risking a lot just not to lose their ‘bread and butter.'
Organizers have acknowledged that it is even way harder to work, study, and fight
every single day while the stomach growls. Efforts such as community pantries
reduce the number of people suffering from hunger especially in the middle of a
pandemic (although it cannot solve mass hunger altogether).
Restoring the culture of trust through solidarity
The community pantry also elicits a returned sense of trust by first showing the
first steps of trusting strangers in need. Small wooden pantries, monoblock
tables, or chairs that organizers provide for strangers to place their goods and
get these goods from reveal a capability to help by providing a conduit for them
to reach each other out.
What strikes most is the cardboard writings asking people for their generosity
and trust, without judgment, suspicion, and other pretenses. It elicits a
presumption of trust, that only through it can we help one another and ourselves.
With overwhelming reception, it proves how capable Filipinos still are of
trusting one another despite the toxicity, division, and general distrust that
sought wreckage of our social interactions for years. Rather than to gaslight
each other with divisive accusations of "katamaran-palamunin"/lazy dependency,
"pasaway"/naughtiness, "kadamutan"/elitism, and others.
Little by little, these small displays of solidarity will contribute to social
healing by inspiring others to take part in mutual aid efforts, and confide -
once again - to one another. Reminding themselves of the ‘bayanihan' spirit we
once inherited from our forebears, in rejection of the status quo that we have
found ourselves in as a ‘land of distrust.'
Tags
Carolus Plebejus, community pantries, Mutual Aid
https://bandilangitim.noblogs.org/2021/04/21/presumption-of-trust/
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