Today's Topics:
1. ACAT-AIT: COLOMBIA: Abolish the State! Set-up autonomous
assemblies! Por Manuel VILLAR (ca) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
assemblies! Por Manuel VILLAR (ca) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Canada, Collectif Emma Goldman - [Press release] Immediate
end of the referendum process on the Land Code
end of the referendum process on the Land Code
in Mashteuiatsh
(ca, de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
(ca, de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. fau bern.ch: May 1 Announcement (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. France, UCL - UCL Tract - Postal Franchise, Faced with the
plans of the Post Office, we will have to fight everywhere
plans of the Post Office, we will have to fight everywhere
! (ca,
de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Greece, APO, Land & Freedom: [Thessaloniki] call for a
Gathering against the repatriation of immigrants +
Gathering against the repatriation of immigrants +
testimony of
Zacharias B. [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Zacharias B. [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Turkey, Devrimci Anarsist Federasyon: May Day is the Day of
Fight, it cannot be Restricted! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Fight, it cannot be Restricted! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
7. Czech, AFED: We are expecting you - A delegation of
Zapatistas sailed to Europe.[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
Zapatistas sailed to Europe.[machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
8. meydan1: Anarchists of the Horn of Africa Call for
International Solidarity Against the Tigray Genocide
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
International Solidarity Against the Tigray Genocide
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
9. Greece, rocinante - ESE: On the way home we want to be free,
not brave [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
not brave [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
10. [Spain] CNT nº 425 - CIT Secretary
General Mahmoud Homsy:
"If you say you are a revolutionary, people wonder
"If you say you are a revolutionary, people wonder
what planet
you live on" By ANA(ca, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
you live on" By ANA(ca, pt) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
11. UK, AFED, organise magazine: 35 years of the Anarchist
Federation - reflections on 1986 and now
Federation - reflections on 1986 and now
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Today, we, different anarchist groups, collectives and organizations, publicly
manifest ourselves against the tax reform's hikes on essential subsistence goods.
But not only because we consider the reform as an organized robbery into the
pockets of the working class, peasants, service workers, self-employed and
freelancers. But also, we make evident the failure that constitutes this Uribist
government of Iván Duque and the disaster that is the whole state apparatus of
this country. Which has tried to hide with public works, laws, decrees, media
propaganda and cheap nationalism, the organized robbery that it really is over
the totality of the people of this region of the continent.
Taxes - that Duque falsely talked about reducing, regardless of the president in
office, were, are and will be the same a general theft from the people, since
they have guaranteed, through the clientelist mafia, the access to power to no
more than 20 families throughout the country. 20 families who have corruptly
enriched themselves and continue to exercise power in the territories -many
times- through the use of arms, whether legal or illegal. And also benefiting
from legal and black market rents, -understood as- drug trafficking, smuggling,
human trafficking, land fattening, dispossession of land from peasants and
illegal mining.
How can they expect the people to continue to believe in the state, if the same
government that controls it, acts systematically against them?
The handling of the pandemic is disastrous, not only the duquismomade the covax
option fall apart when it could have ensured the supply of vaccines for Colombia.
But they also dare to do business with the health care of the people, at the
expense of the taxes that they steal from the workers.
The pressure on health workers, the over-exploitation they suffer day by day, is
not exclusive. The teachers have also been deeply affected, not to mention all
the people, who with their sweat, tears and effort sustain a state that takes
more than it really gives back to them.
The war, which is maintained in the territories, has been continued because of
political decisions against the people. The same people who continue to pay its
toll in deaths, and continue to suffer the abuse of the state, the repression of
the security forces that only serve to maintain the privileges of those who
control the political and/or economic power. From the unfulfilled promises that
have led to the beginning of a new cycle of violence, the betrayal of agreements
that sowed hope in the population of Colombia . At the end, they decided to
harvest a fire fueled with gasoline.
For all this, and much more, is that we, the anarchists, express ourselves in
resounding opposition to the simple actions, which is only to make a parade along
the 7th avenue of Bogota. Instead, we call for an indefinite General Strike, that
leads to move the status quo for the benefit of the people: from its local
oligarchs and bourgeois minorities, to the wide, long, broad and diverse peoples
that make up the majority of the population in of the population in the Colombian
region.
Recovering the municipal autonomies, the collectivization of the territory among
those who inhabit it ancestrally or traditionally, and the ancestral or
traditional inhabitants (not among those who, by usurpation, dispossession and
displacement, obtained it), exercising assembly, communalism and horizontality,
all decisions collectively, an open, participatory, diverse and permanent
assembly, rejecting any authority, caudillism, gamonalism, patronalism and
patriarchy.
It is not necessary for the state controlled by the elite to decree the AGRARIAN
REFORM, its the communities, towns and municipalities themselves, who can do it
without intermediaries, they only need to agree to an assembly and start it.
¡¡¡Abolish the relations of subordination to the narco-oligarchic state!!!!
¡¡¡End of passive activity, it is time to go out to the streets!!!
¡¡¡Obstruct the exercise of repression!!!!!
¡¡¡Build autonomous neighborhood and municipal assemblies!!!!
¡¡¡¡Abolish the machist relations and patriarchal oppression: diverse
participation and gender equality, agreements of renouncing the war!!!
¡¡¡¡Unarmed civil disobedience!!!!
Avoid the tax reform, avoid pension reform, avoid labor reform.
¡¡¡¡Abolish the state!!!
¡¡¡Set-up Assemblies!!!!
Signed:
Colectix Kaos Kreador Antifacista
Bandera Negra
ULET-AIT
https://www.facebook.com/ULETsindical
http://uletsindical.org/
ACAT-AIT (Asociación Continental Americana de Trabajadores - Asociación
Internacional de los Trabajadores)
https://www.acat-ait.org/2021/05/06/abolish-state/
------------------------------
Message: 2
We share this press release which was published on the Facebook page of the
Collectif Mashk Assi about the referendum process on the Land Code in
Mashteuiatsh. ---- "We hereby, members of the Ilnuatsh people of Pekuakami, call
for an immediate end to the referendum process for the adoption of the Land Code.
We have serious concerns about how the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan Band Council
proceeded to come up with a Land Code. We question the process by which the
federal government attempts to terminate the application of the Indian Act by
imposing its own process and defining the laws and terms for its replacement once
again, without the involvement of the Firsters. peoples in the definition of a
legislative transition defined according to their own legal traditions and not
according to the framework agreements imposed by the federal and provincial
governments.
Colonial Process and Federal Legislation Imposed on First Peoples
We understand that the federal government wishes to delegate the management of
reserve lands to First Nations as well as the management of the band list through
membership codes. The federal government is also pushing First Nations to adopt
their own electoral code so that they no longer have to manage the electoral
process and the injustices and conflicts perpetrated by the Indian Act. Although
the federal government suggests that these processes are part of the empowerment
of First Peoples, the reality is quite different. These codes and delegation of
powers are a continuation of the application of a federal management right
delegated to the Band Council and defined by the federal government. In this
sense, they are not inherent powers, stemming from its own legal traditions, that
the First Nation will exercise, but many powers delegated by and defined by the
Canadian state. The 44 articles of the Indian Act concerning land management are
renewed in the Land Code by modifying a few elements and delegating the
management of these to the band council. In addition, the band councils are
federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act, they are not
institutions of governance resulting from the cultures and traditions of the
First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native Affairs in
Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has perpetrated deep
governance problems and led to opaque governance. The 44 articles of the Indian
Act concerning land management are renewed in the Land Code by modifying a few
elements and delegating the management of these to the band council. In addition,
band councils are federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act;
they are not institutions of governance stemming from the cultures and traditions
of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native
Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has
perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque governance. The 44
articles of the Indian Act concerning land management are renewed in the Land
Code by modifying a few elements and delegating the management of these to the
band council. In addition, the band councils are federal organizations within the
meaning of the Indian Act, they are not institutions of governance resulting from
the cultures and traditions of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to
the Ministry of Native Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations.
This reality has perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque
governance. band councils are federal organizations within the meaning of the
Indian Act, they are not institutions of governance stemming from the cultures
and traditions of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry
of Native Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has
perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque governance. band councils
are federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act, they are not
institutions of governance stemming from the cultures and traditions of the First
Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native Affairs in Ottawa
and not to members of these nations. This reality has perpetrated deep governance
problems and led to opaque governance.
With the implementation of Law S-3, the number of members has increased in our
community. These people suffered intergenerational effects as a result of their
disconnection from the values and principles of the First Peoples. They have
great difficulty in familiarizing themselves with the realities of First Nations
and are vulnerable when it comes to shaping their consent. Thus, it appears to us
that the Band Council derives a definite advantage from the arrival of new
members who wish to belong to the community to remedy the discrimination suffered
and are thus more likely to be in favor of the Council and its projects and to
vote. in their favor.
In addition, to encourage people to vote for the Code, the Mashteuiatsh Band
Council team suggested that such a code would make it possible, if the population
wanted it, to mortgage their houses to finance chalets in territory and machinery
(also valid for industrial machinery). In its video, the council explains having
reached 90% of the members of the band to inform them of the referendum, you will
understand that the new members can see there an opportunity to settle and
develop in the community with such announcements. It sounds a bit like bribes and
corruptive practices which are unacceptable although widespread in several
communities where members are offered certain benefits in exchange for their
support of an electoral team or in exchange for their vote. "
In addition, press release from the Mashk Assi Collective which updates the
referendum process:
Press release for immediate release
"Over the years, we have seen many Mashteuiatsh Band Council resolutions and
referendums take place during Cultural Weeks while our Ilnuatsh people are in the
forest. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band council promoted its draft federal
Land Code and held a referendum on May 3 on this subject. However, we are well
aware of the strategy of Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan who aims to look good in the
media by declaring that the Yes has passed to 84% with simple majority! In fact,
there were only 750 votes out of a population of over 7,000, which is barely 10%
of all community members. A bad result despite the large sums spent by the band
council, with the help of an advertising firm, to promote its Land Code project
to the 7000 members! This referendum is a big joke. This colonial political
system which functions by simple majority does not in any way represent the
ilnuatsh of the Pekuakami. Once again, this is a federal colonial structure which
imposes its law without the consent of the Innuat people. This land code is
invalid and illegal! Mauat to the land code! Finally, remember that this band
council is illegitimate, that it represents the Crown and that it was elected by
a minority of 23% of Ilnuatsh members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan
ute ilnussi ute nutshimit. " a federal colonial structure which imposes its law
without the consent of the Innuat people. This land code is invalid and illegal!
Mauat to the land code! Finally, remember that this band council is illegitimate,
that it represents the Crown and that it was elected by a minority of 23% of
Ilnuatsh members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan ute ilnussi ute
nutshimit. " a federal colonial structure which imposes its law without the
consent of the Innuat people. This land code is invalid and illegal! Mauat to the
land code! Finally, remember that this band council is illegitimate, that it
represents the Crown and that it was elected by a minority of 23% of Ilnuatsh
members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan ute ilnussi ute nutshimit. "
Posted 9 hours ago by Collectif Emma Goldman
https://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2021/05/communique-arret-immediat-du-processus.html
------------------------------
Message: 3
Despite the bad weather and the sabotage attempts of the Solothurn Federation of
Trade Unions, about 300 people demonstrated in Solothurn on May 1. The FAU was
there together with other grassroots unions and Kurdish organizations. A militant
mood prevailed at the demonstration. The FAU participated actively with speeches
on the situation in the catering, care as well as cleaning sector. ---- The
cleaners demand an end to disrespectful treatment by their superiors, compliance
with health and safety regulations in particular and compliance with the
generally binding collective labor agreement (CLA) in general. At the core of the
poor working conditions are hourly wages and temporary contracts, which are the
cause of their precarious livelihoods. They emphasize the need to fight for a
good CLA.
The demands of the catering sector went in a similar direction; the end of zero
hour contracts, work on call and temporary work.
More pay, a shorter working week, compatibility of work with family life, more
vacations, and above all more staff and thus an urgently needed reduction in the
workload are all demanded by the care sector.
The corona pandemic has made these problems more visible and intensified them.
However, they are by no means new. The FAU also emphasizes that such and similar
problems are not unique to these three sectors - it affects all industries with
low wages and precarious working conditions.
The FAU is part of the alliance of grassroots unions Syndibasa. A leaflet with
Syndibasa's demands "to open the wage struggle" was distributed to participants
and passers-by.
The high number of participants shows that many workers do not want a "sausage
fest", but are ready to organize themselves in a grassroots way and to fight with
direct action.
Direct action means that workers stand up and act directly for their rights. This
should lead to a change in the balance of power in the conflict with the bosses.
Only in this way can we fight for social justice.
The nursing branch of the FAU also participated in the May 1 procession in
Lucerne, as it has in the past in the last two Walk of Care processions. The
nursing branch of the FAU calls to participate in the next Walk of Care in
Lucerne on May 12.
https://faubern.ch/Workers_Struggles_News/may-1-announcement
------------------------------
Message: 4
Taking advantage of the COVID crisis La Poste attacks work collectives everywhere
! 1000 reorganizations for 2021 in the mail branch, merger of financial center by
the end of next year, wave of job cuts in the General Public. ---- Result of 40
years of breakdown of the public service, opening up to competition, rampant
privatization. The image of Épinal du Postier clashes with the reality on the
ground: The State and the CDC * (majority shareholder) impose their hand in the
main aggressive management, job insecurity, outsourcing, increased time and
workload: everything is good to increase profits. ---- We fight everywhere !
With the 2030 strategic plan, all branches are affected. In the face of attacks,
people are fighting everywhere and in all branches. Since the beginning of the
year strikes have broken out: Haut de Seine, Gironde, Île et vilaine, Loire
Atlantique, Basse Normandie and many other departments have experienced battles
(both in the network, distribution and parcel) against reorganizations and for
employment.
PDF tract to download
For socialization and self-management
Faced with this offensive, it is necessary to fight and extend our struggles to
return the public postal service to users and employees. While most elected
officials and the government sacrifice the public service and the postal presence
on the altar of capitalism, it is up to the people, the postal workers, to decide
the future of this essential public service. .
It is all the more urgent that the management of the company will quietly discuss
the missions of public services in the corridors of the ministries and the
National Assembly, with a recent report from the Senate which, oh surprise, goes
in the direction of the post office policies. For our part, we have no confidence
in these elected representatives who only represent themselves and the interests
of the bourgeoisie, and certainly not our own.
It will take a comprehensive response
Faced with these attacks, we will have to organize ourselves in our workplaces in
general assemblies with the support of the struggle unions. Already a joint
statement, including with the CFDT, calls for meeting everywhere. Inter-union
groups are created (Hauts de Seine, Bouches-du-Rhône, Lower Normandy, Gironde
etc.). A mobilization date for the end of May on La Poste is looming. We say
banco, postal workers who are members of UCL will be.
It will also be necessary to coordinate with other workplaces, with precarious
workers, with subcontracting workers to extend the mobilizations, to have common
demands, common victories that will make it possible to break down the divisions
between the employees and create united collectives facing the employers.
https://franchisepostale.tumblr.com/
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Face-aux-plans-de-la-Poste-il-faudra-lutter-partout
------------------------------
Message: 5
STOP IMMIGRANTS 'RETURNS NOW ---- On Monday 19/4/21, another immigrant is
illegally abducted by the police. Zacharias B., was arrested in Aristotelous
Square and after being illegally detained by the police, he was finally sent back
to Turkey where he is now, after his residence permit had expired and the police
threw away his documents. ---- The state chose between the choice of its
reconstruction in terms of provision and the corresponding one in terms of
repression without any thought the latter because social provision is considered
an obsolete concession that capitalism was forced to make at an earlier stage.
Modern totalitarianism does not need - and can not - promise anything. The state
administration, while already counting thousands of deaths, is trying to use the
pandemic as a tool of anti-social enforcement in order to proceed with the
implementation of the plans of the rulers for the destruction of all resistances
and for total enforcement on the social body, completely dismantling public
health, degrading public health. education, passing labor bills that intensify
class exploitation and open the door to the complete arbitrariness of the bosses,
while disarming unions, intensifying the looting of the natural environment and
devaluing human life by imposing a regime of exclusion on the most invisible of
this society, whether they are prisoners or refugees and immigrants, or even
those who fight against the onslaught of modern totalitarianism. It is this
regime that led the young woman to set herself on fire, unable to bear the living
conditions that had been imposed on her and in a perverted reversal of reality
she was found to be accused of arson. An exemption regime that is constantly
spreading, establishing a political quarantine, through banning and dispersing
demonstrations, through police occupation of the streets and neighborhoods,
The above is not an unprecedented event, but a fixed situation in the management
of the lives of refugees and migrants in recent years. Concentration camps are
the most typical example of the implementation of the exemption regime. In these
places human life has absolutely no value, as the most discredited part of the
population is deprived not only of basic benefits and rights, such as decent
living conditions, care, education and even food but also the right to life
itself. This situation, both in Greece and in all European host countries for
refugees and immigrants, is now the well-founded (and legally established)
management of the people who are judged to be left over in the capitalist system.
People without papers,
In conditions of total lockdown, refugees and migrants remained stacked in the
concentration camps, without any sanitary measures in a vulgar and provocative
convention of the exemption regime that imposes on these people. Even when
tourism opened up, immigrants remained in isolation as they were still subject to
all restrictions, regardless of the number of cases in the centers.
The Greek state is becoming more and more violent towards immigrants. A year has
passed since the police, army and parastate blocked the refugees at the border of
Evros, while on the islands they never stopped sinking migrant boats and
preventing their landing. Recently, the Greek state is being equipped with
thousands of recruits of border guards, port authorities, EPOs and police. At the
same time, a suffocating framework is being created with the enactment of laws
that make asylum and residence permit even more difficult, while the creation of
closed structures is envisaged. Checks, arrests, beatings and even deportations
are commonplace in cities.
For our part, solidarity knows neither borders nor time margins. It is permanent,
practical and not trapped in any kind of separation (refugees - immigrants). No
solution can be temporary as the problem has not arisen now but has been created
for years by the countries that manage world wealth. Social solidarity among the
oppressed is our weapon against the exploiters. We organize and fight together
with immigrants for a society of equality and freedom. Solidarity, common
struggle and common life.
It is imperative that we stand up to the state that strikes at our lives, our
bodies, our jobs, the spaces in which we move and breathe.
AGAINST PUSH-BACKS, CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND MIGRANTS (RI) MURDER
FOOD-HEALTH-HOUSING FOR EVERYONE
JOINT STRUGGLE OF LOCAL IMMIGRANTS FOR FREEDOM AND DIGNITY
Gathering Wednesday 28/4 17.00 at the Statue of Venizelos
Collegiality for social anarchism Black & Red | member FROM
https://landandfreedom.gr/el/agones/372-thes-niki-sygkentrosi-enantia-stis-epanaproothiseis-metanaston
------------------------------
Message: 6
As those who resist in the streets despite all the prohibitions and obstructions
of the power mechanisms, we have shown once again that May Day cannot be banned.
https://anarsistfederasyon.org/1-mayis-kavgadir-yasaklanamaz/...
https://anarsistfederasyon.org/devlet-yaparsa-katliam-yapar-dersim-tertelesi
------------------------------
Message: 7
Aalready looking forward to meet them. ---- On Sunday, May 2, a ship called Hora
(Montaña) set out to meet the European shores . On board is a Zapatista
delegation consisting of 4 women (Lupita, Carolina, Ximena, Yuli), 2 men (Bernal,
Darío) and 1 other (Marijose). It is a kind of vanguard for the visit of
Zapatistas and Zapatistas to Europe. The crew of the ship from the beginning of
the last century then consists of four sailors (Ludwig, Edwin, Ete, Carl) and one
sailor (Gabriela) from Germany and Colombia. Should come Hora in June, and the
west coast of Spain. ---- People who are fighting for a dignified life on this
side of the ocean are anxiously awaiting them here. They demonstrated this
through coordinated decentralized events, the aim of which was to create a
photograph or a short video under the common slogan "The expedition for life has
begun. We are expecting you".
Dozens of videos and group photos from different parts of Europe have been put
together, noting that Zapatistas have a large number of friends on the European
continent and that, although cultures may be different, the fight for dignity is
common to all of us.
The invitation to the Zapatistas also left the Czech Republic, so it goes without
saying that local groups, which are behind the invitation and now share their
photos, have also joined the "welcome". Among them is also the Anarchist
Federation, which, together with other anarchists, prepared a photograph during
the May Day picnic on Strelecký Island in Prague, where he looks out at the
approaching Hora . It was not a single photo from Prague, others arrived from
Brno and northern Bohemia. The following groups and groups also joined the
initiative for inviting Zapatistas to Zapatistas: Black Seeds Team, Kolektiv 115,
NAIFF, Duo Docentky, Tri Ocásci, Prostor 39, Roleta 39, Food not Bombs, Limity
jsme we, RFK and Neklid publishing house .
https://www.afed.cz/text/7362/ocekavame-vas
------------------------------
Message: 8
We share with you the solidarity and direct action made by the Anarchists of the
Horn of Africa Region against the genocide of the Ethiopian state against the
people of Tigray for centuries and the exploitation of Tigray people through the
Starbucks company. ---- From the Anarchists of the Horn of Africa, ---- Sexual
Assault, Massacre, Genocide ... ---- Since November, troops and allied forces of
the Ethiopian state have committed a genocide in the Tigray area. The state was
bombing and murdering thousands of people, and its soldiers systematically raped
them. Food aid was destroyed and people in the region were put to starvation.
Refugees were prevented from escaping. The region's communication and assistance
with the outside has been completely cut off.
A man from Tigrai is holding a small portable radio, trying to hear the news
despite the information pollution.
Outside of the region, the people of Tigray are subject to violence and
discrimination because of their ethnic identity. Their passports were revoked and
they lost their jobs. Social media is full of propaganda indispensable for
genocidal states: the public hate propaganda is provided by a lot of
unquestioning supporters and fake information networks.
In response to the calls of Tigrais and other groups suffering from pressure and
violence from the Ethiopian state, an attempt is made to create a decentralized
and global effort against genocide. This means true solidarity across nations and
borders.
At the same time, we must eliminate the financial means used by the Ethiopian
state for this genocide. One way is to reduce revenues from coffee , the state's
largest source of foreign exchange and direct financing . The biggest buyer of
this coffee is Starbucks. The company regularly trades with the Ethiopian state,
which has filled millions in its treasury by directly controlling the trademark
license and the market. Those in solidarity around the world against genocide
should take action to cut this flow.
An Imperial History
The Tigray people are not the first to experience violence and oppression from
the Ethiopian Empire. The borders of the modern Ethiopian state encompass many
indigenous peoples. Thousands of years of centralized state formations have been
problematic, since the oppressor majority of the empire sought to further impose
their own culture. The Ethiopian Empire, which most resisted the colonial attacks
of European states in the 19th and 20th centuries, was also the same empire ruled
by the ethnic Amhar elites.
The last emperor, Haile Selassie, made attempts to brutally impose an Ethiopian
nationalism based on the Amhar culture. After his abdication in the 1970s, these
policies continued and reached even more terrible proportions under the
leadership of the Marxist-Leninist Magazine, which came to power with a military
coup.
Magazine government officials in official uniforms.
The Coalition for National Liberation led parties and military structures in
Tigray, Eritra, Oromia and other regions to unite, overthrew the Derg government
in 1991 and established a system of "ethnic federalism".
Nine federated states were established on the basis of ethnic autonomy. But some
degree of "equality" between ethnic groups did not resolve ethnic conflicts. The
fact that the dispersed and overlapping geography of the different groups could
not be represented, the fact that numerous groups were too few to have their own
territories fueled the fire. Ethnic conflicts have become very intertwined with
political discussions.
The Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, have been subjected to systematic
discrimination for centuries. An Oromo-based party that had joined with other
parties and military structures to overthrow Derg was early pushed out of the new
ruling coalition. Despite some new autonomy in the ethnic federalist system,
discrimination is still widespread, and as recently as last year, massive actions
were met with brutal reprisals. Many politicized Oromo troops argue for
overthrowing the Ethiopian Empire.
An Oromo woman adorned with traditional dresses.
Recently, a new governing coalition has been formed with the withdrawal of the
Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the largest political party in Tigray.
The remainder of the previous coalition united to form the new Welfare Party, led
by Abiy Ahmed. The current government is trying to eliminate "ethnic federalism"
in order to create a centralized state that elevates the "Ethiopian" identity.
Strong ethnic-based political parties are a major obstacle to this goal. In the
eyes of the media and the war machine, which were in total war with both the TPLF
and the people of Tigray to keep its victory on its political agenda, Abriy's
government has identified the entire people of Tigray with the TPLF party.
Abiy's building of a nationalist foothold at home was completed by efforts to
preserve support from abroad. Ironically, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending
centuries of conflict with the totalitarian government of neighboring Eritra. The
violent resistance subsided in the period following the overthrow of Derg since
Eritra left Ethiopia. The presence of Armenian political immigrants in Tigray and
the ongoing rage of the previous war made Abiy's peace partners ideal
collaborators for the genocide. Eritra ground forces are responsible for some
horrible massacres, pillaging and destruction of villages.
Coffee is Growing the Empire
Every empire-building project in Ethiopia today needs a firm nationalist
foundation. Yet in its modern global system, Ethiopia's empire is a small and
sometimes exploited player. The project requires extensive foreign capital and
support. Drones bombing cities, bullets digging mass graves, the media
infrastructure needed to launder all these. All this requires money.
Some of this money could come as foreign aid, or as a loan that global capitalist
institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are
currently trying to approve. For the Ethiopian state, most of their money comes
from exports though. The export of the Ethiopian king is a product of his own:
coffee. One billion US dollars, or 30% of the country's total exports, were sent
to eighty different countries around the world through coffee exports.
The central state has a heavy, lucrative hand in trade. He manages the trade
exchange. It conducts direct diplomacy and bargaining with large buyers. The
Ethiopian state even holds some international brands with the remarkable name of
Ethiopian coffee. Companies that sell specialty coffee using these names have to
pay a usage fee to the government.
Maintaining this funding pipe is very important for the functioning of the
Ethiopian state.
Move on
Those struggling against the ongoing genocide in Tigray called for a boycott of
Ethiopian coffee to reduce Abiy Ahmed's war treasure. Globally the largest and
most visible buyer is Starbucks. The company buys millions of US dollars worth of
Ethiopian coffee each year, with only a tiny fraction going directly to farmers.
As the genocide continues, this money feeds on the massacre.
We are calling for a week of global action against Starbucks to stop its purchase
of Ethiopian coffee while the military occupation in Tigray continues.
High School Anarchist Activity (LAF) published the Turkish translation of the
video prepared by the call of the "Horn of Africa Anarchists" .
From May 1st to May 7th , we encourage solidarity in the form of various tactics
from our comrades around the world.
What can you do to take direct action against Starbucks and spread the call to
stop the genocide?
Gather your friends to hang banners, wheat paste (glue), graffiti, and / or banners.
Keep the strike line of the shops, maybe you can organize with the workers.
Try to organize autonomous actions to a large local walk or nightly Starbucks store.
Is there an Ethiopian or Eritra embassy or consulate in your city of residence?
Think about what you can include in your action.
If you live in an area with Tigray, Oromo and other diaspora communities, please
get in touch. Many metropolitan cities have a local social center that takes
action against the existing government. Frequently research these actions on
social media and participate in solidarity.
https://meydan1.org/2021/05/02/tigray-soykirimina-karsi-anarsistlerden-uluslararasi-dayanisma-cagrisi/
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Message: 9
We watched the video with rage with the attempted rape of the girl in Nea Smyrni.
Within a few hours and with a lot of notifications, the would-be rapist was
arrested and we feel relieved that the girl escaped and that the necessary weight
was given by society to her complaint. ----The fear that we will not return home
safely at night is a situation that all of us, in one way or another, have
experienced. Most of us saw in the girl's face our own and we certainly felt her
fear throughout our body. We saw ourselves walking in that dark alley with the
keys in the form of a self-defense tool, because somewhere we heard that this is
how a girl was saved from rape. We felt anxious again about whether we would be
able to make a sound, as we felt all our energy accumulating in our attempt to
breathe. We recognized in her pace our effort to keep a steady pace, fast enough
to get away if necessary, but also slow enough not to "provoke" the man who was
following us. Because somewhere we heard that fear causes us and that we must be
brave. And in the end we took with her a huge breath of relief, when we could now
feel completely safe.
In the case of Nea Smyrni, apart from some comments of absolute half-heartedness,
fortunately few were found to blame the girl, due to the videotaped material. But
how many rapes, sexual harassment and abuse do not have the corresponding
"evidence"? How many times have we reported to relatives, friends, police
stations, similar stories, sometimes with much worse outcomes, and been able to
answer questions that directly or indirectly accuse us, while watching our case
end up in the file? It is important to note that unfortunately without that
video, it would still be one of the dozens of incidents that happen every day and
the would-be rapist would be looking for his sixth possible victim - at least
from what we know so far.
In patriarchy we experience this feeling of doubt in every aspect of our lives.
At every step we receive the message that maybe we did something wrong, that
maybe we wore something wrong, that maybe we got the wrong tight, at the wrong
time. We are constantly told that we must prove traumatic experiences to convince
them of the truth. But to convince them of what? How does patriarchy impose on us
how we will live each day? For how they follow us at night, whistle at us on the
street, harass us on the bus, at work, in the taxi, in the square where we sat to
rest, at the party we went out to have fun? For how it forces us to always keep
in mind not to drink too much, not to walk alone late at night, to know
self-defense just in case,
It is the same patriarchy that constantly puts a "yes but" next to our stories.
That creates rapists, that turns people into abusers, that educates men with the
privilege of domination over our bodies. It is the same patriarchal,
cannibalistic society that, while it does not believe in us or protect us, which,
while its first reflection is our questioning and incrimination, sets up people's
courts when a video happens to be in its hands as irrefutable evidence. That does
not focus on the root of the phenomenon of rapists and abusers, who somehow
manages to find "anthropomorphic monsters" to separate from them and avoid
looking into the eyes of the half-faith that pervades itsshattered structures,
from school to the patriarchal model of the nuclear family, from work to civil
justice and its sexist decisions. Who, as punishment for the perpetrators,
promises rapes and hangings, without realizing that this perpetuates the culture
of rape, deportation, authoritarian rule and in no case prevents the recurrence
of similar incidents.
We demand to be free, not brave. We demand the existence of feminist education in
schools, in order to prevent sexism and to encourage equality and freedom of the
people. We demand that when we denounce rape, sexual harassment, abuse, our case
be vindicated, and that sexist hatred be recognized in our stories by society and
the judiciary.
Our bodies belong to us and only to us. We want to make a world safe for all
women and all LOATKI + people. We are not prepared to tolerate this here for even
a minute.
No fear, no injuries. Without sexism and patriarchy.
http://rocinante.gr/sto-dromo-gia-to-spiti-theloume-na-imaste-eleftheres-ochi-gennees/
------------------------------
Message: 10
During the 2018 Inaugural Congress of the CIT (International Workers'
Confederation), held in Parma (Italy), the sections agreed that the CIT General
Secretariat would have a duration of two years. At the same congress, it was
decided that the German union anarcho, FAU, would become the next section, after
the CNT, to take over the staff of the General Secretariat. ---- The new CIT
secretary, Mahmoud Homsy, is a member of FAU Berlin. He has been active in the
international work area of FAU for years and was part of the foundation of the
new international confederation. ---- First of all, Mahmoud, thank you for giving
us your time for the readers of our confederal newspaper. ---- Question: How do
you face this new responsibility on a personal level?
Answer:Knowing the long history of the International, I can only feel honored to
have been in charge of this position, but I feel overwhelmed. I already have many
commitments not directly related to this secretariat and I see the multitude of
tasks that I must now fulfill if I want to fulfill my commitments to CIT in the
best possible way. I imagine that these nerves are normal in the face of so much
responsibility.
Q. Although the sections have been around for many years, the CIT is very recent.
How healthy is our International and what, in your opinion, are our
organizational priorities today?
R.-Miguel, my predecessor, from the CNT in Madrid, successfully laid the
foundations for the development of CIT. All communication channels are already
installed (the web site, social networks), as well as the finances (annuity
section) that are the economic basis of our budgets. But there is still a lot to
do before we can really get to work. The obvious priority is the implementation
of the areas of work adopted at the congress. At the moment, there are about 20
people actively helping the communication committee and the secretariat, but this
number will have to grow if we are to achieve the objectives we set ourselves.
Q.- Our approach and model are clearly different from official unionism. Is our
model valid and effective? Do you think it will be well received by workers?
R.- I can tell you more confidently what I see in Germany. It is very difficult
for our union model to gain a foothold in a western country like Germany. There
is so much privilege here. There is a lot of work because the financial markets
invest in Germany because it is seen as having a safe and stable economy and the
social safety net is more or less intact. People think that the market and the
state will take care of things. If you say you're a revolutionary, they wonder
what planet you live on. If you complain about your poor quality work, they tell
you that you are ungrateful or that you should work harder to get a better job.
People wonder if unions in general are valid. So, in that environment, I
sometimes wonder if our basic principles of solidarity, mutual help,
In the end, these doubts only reaffirm me in our ideas. The satisfaction of
helping people to talk about a conflict, the pleasure of collaborating with
like-minded people, is priceless.
I cannot say whether, in general, workers will welcome our union model. I have
experienced that we have been welcomed here and there by workers in the conflicts
in which we present ourselves. I can only hope that they will remember it,
believe in it and practice it in the future.
But people are busy, their priorities change, they are frustrated with our
ineffective structures, so they stop being active. That is why it is important to
strengthen our organizations. To be effective.
In any case, the fact is that we continue to fight and there is a clear growth in
the number of members.
Q.- At the international level, where do you expect new sections to apply for CIT
membership?
A.-IWW in Europe will probably apply for a CIT membership in a short time (now
the IWW in the USA and Canada are already in place), and this will mean that, for
example, in Germany, two different organizations may be part of the same
International .
In Brazil, we hope that FOB will also join.
As part of our expansion strategy, which was one of the areas of work adopted at
the last congress, we formed regional working groups for Asia and the Americas,
which are approaching and working in networks with different unions and union
initiatives. We will see if, in this way, we will arouse the interest of any
organization in becoming a new member.
What I hope is that in the future more regional working groups of this type will
be formed to extend these efforts to regions of the world where we do not have a
presence ...
Q.- How do you think we can deepen the relationship with other alternative and
revolutionary unions as the International grows in number and establishes itself
in new countries?
A.-At the international level, I see our principles of solidarity and mutual help
as good tools to make CIT known and respected.
In the past few weeks we have joined the GWTUC campaign against the Dragon
Sweater, leaving aside ideological differences, and we are offering our
solidarity to our comrades around the world. These activities will attract the
attention of other unions that will see CIT as a point of reference.
Another area of work that we adopted at the last congress and that will serve us
as an expansion tool is training. We proposed to collect documentation on union
organization and industrial action from the sections and use it to produce new
training material that is relevant worldwide. If we could present this material
to unions in different countries, it would be an excellent way to introduce them
to our ideas and build relationships. However, there is still a lot of work to be
done in this regard, as we must not forget that we are a very young organization.
Q.- And a final word that you would like to send to our activists ...
A.-I hope that all the comrades remain healthy for this fall and winter! My
thoughts are with you all.
From CNT, we wish you every success in your task for the next two years.
Source:https://www.cnt.es/noticias/mahmoud-homsy-secretario-general-de-la-cit-si-dices-que-eres-revolucionario-se-preguntan-en-que-planeta-vives/
Translation> Liberto
Related contents:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/06/04/espanha-a-cit-apoia-os-protestos-do-black-lives-matter/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/04/04/italia-comunicado-do-setor-de-saude-da-usi-cit/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2018/05/14/italia-fundacao-da-confederacao-internacional-do-trabalho-cit-em-parma/
anarchist news agency-ana
https://www.cnt.es/noticias/mahmoud-homsy-secretario-general-de-la-cit-si-dices-que-eres-revolucionario-se-preguntan-en-que-planeta-vives/
------------------------------
Message: 11
It's 35 years since the AF was first formed as the Anarchist Communist Federation
in 1986. We've published retrospectives on several occasions before in the 10,
20, 25 and 30 year specials of Organise! This time we look back at what was
happening in and around 1986 and its relationship to the emergence of the new
anarchist organisations. ---- 1986 had seen in some big anarchist anniversaries
of its own. As well as the year being the centenary of the Haymarket Affair of
4th May 1886 in Chicago and a half century since the start of the Spanish
Revolution in 1936, anarcho-pacifist influenced paper Peace News celebrated 50,
and ‘Freedom / A Hundred Years', a special centenary journal, was published.
However, the views of those attached to Freedom at the time were not widely
embraced by the emerging class struggle anarchist current. Although there was
reference to history of the movement, including names associated with the origins
of anarchist communism, much of the contemporary opinion read as of out-of-touch
reminiscence and philosophical pondering, especially after the Miners' strike
battles and ‘inner city riots' of the early decade. One article from a member of
the newly launched Class War Federation did put the case for class politics and
meaningful direct action (and appealed for anarchists to break from punk and
veganism.) The article also called for more anarchist organisation and applauded
the formation of the ACF.
Cold War politics
American militarism was a major 1980s political theme. The Ronald Reagan
presidency was engaged in a not-so-Cold War in many corners of the globe. The US
government was supporting several right-wing governments and insurgencies in
Central America, including what became the Iran-Contra Affair, where the National
Security Council was found to be covertly selling arms to Iran and using proceeds
from this to fund right-wing rebel militias in Nicaragua. The Central
Intelligence Agency was supporting Islamic fighters ‘Mujahideen' in Afghanistan
against the Soviet Union and UNITA in Angola who were a major ally of the South
African state. Whilst Chomsky and Herman's book ‘Manufacturing Consent: The
Political Economy of the Mass Media' (1988) was around the corner, anarchists
were stressing the need for Do-It-Yourself publishing by revolutionaries.
In the last few years before the Berlin Wall was brought down, when the dual
influences of Soviet Union and USA still divided up the globe, understanding of
geo-politics was prevalent amongst the Left in Britain. The UK establishment's
role in supporting the Chilean junta had been a major Trade Union issue and so
earlier in the 1980s it was especially galling to see the government cosy up to
Pinochet and resume arms sales. The Falklands War was judged by the Left to be
British jingoism and a key part of the election campaign tool for the Thatcher
second term. The Anti-Apartheid Movement was strong and the Conservative Right's
support for the regime was well known. Around 1986, the Federation of
Conservative Students was making a nuisance of itself with a universities
speaking tour of Monday Club members and other politicians well known for their
support for white power in South Africa and Rhodesia (pre-Zimbabwe) and
anti-immigration policies and views. This led to a great deal of direct action
that was supported by anarchists, to oppose and ‘no-platform' specifically racist
individuals.
In the UK, a major focus of direct action in addition to big demonstrations was
against US military power more broadly. Reagan was engaged in brinkmanship with
the waning Soviet power and had bought Cruise Missiles to air bases in England
with the support of the Conservatives. Anarchists were active on CND
demonstrations and set up peace camps. Involvement in direct action, including a
great deal of fence cutting at Greenham Common, Molesworth and other USAF bases,
led to important discussions in the peace movement about ‘violence to property'
that was eventually resolved in anarchist circles even amongst pacifists (where
the consensus became that destruction of property was not considered to be
violence.) Class struggle anarchism was, however, beginning to critique the peace
movement as lifestylist, something that was also directed at Green Anarchist, its
paper being quite visible on Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demos. Also,
anarchists, unlike some on the Left, were accepting of separatism in the movement
(a defining feature of the Greenham women's camps) and the ACF reflected this in
its aims and principles, whilst in practice the mainly mixed anarchist groups
assumed men within them were feminist anyway.
Thatcher, Thatcher ...
1986 was past mid-way of Thatcher's second term as Prime Minister and the
neoliberal project was in full swing. Utilities and the buses were being
privatised, and a law was passed to de-mutualise Building Societies. The year
also saw the ‘Big Bang' deregulation of the City allowing vast sums to be made
from the easy credit available resulting in massive debt for many of the working
class. The year also continued the cheap sell-off of council housing under ‘Right
to Buy' with discounts of up to 70% available for aspiring home-owners. Land and
property prices were about to boom leading to gentrification becoming a major
feature of Southern big cities whilst the Tories seemed content to let the North
suffer the rot of industrial decay. Unemployment was stuck at over 3 million.
Bradford's ‘1 in 12 Club' launch was one early anarchist recognition of the need
for more autonomous spaces in the anarchist movement, whose name comes directly
out of the unemployment statistics of the time. In general, anarchists were
heavily involved with mutual aid in the face of Thatcherite attacks on welfare.
Other important activist spaces such as the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh had
begun as advice centres.
The Marxist-Leninist/Trotskyist left was reeling since the second Thatcher
election victory. Neil Kinnock, Labour leader, was spending much time in power
marginalising them. Derek Hatton, deputy leader of Liverpool City Council was
thrown out of the Party for his membership of the Militant Tendency. Along with
various other city councils Liverpool he played a major part in the Militant
inspired rate-capping rebellion against Thatcher's plans to squeeze local
government finances. Also in 1986, the GLC, led by Ken Livingstone and John
McDonnell (known more recently as Corbyn's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer)
was abolished, weakening the Left's control of London. These events of the
mid-80s represented the death-throws of Old Labour. The Local Government Act that
was associated with rate-setting mentioned above was passed in 1986. This was
notoriously amended in 1988 to add the Clause/Section 28 "prohibit the promotion
of homosexuality by local authorities" which had not made it into the Act two
years earlier. Anarchists took part in the many Clause 28 protests; it was
eventually repealed in 2003.
In January 1986, the major labour movement struggle since the end of the Miners'
Strike was about to begin; the year-long Wapping Dispute. Rupert Murdoch's News
International empire was in the process of moving the Sun, Times and associated
Sunday newspapers away from their long-time home on Fleet Street. A major part of
the modernisation plan was to destroy the print unions' power by sacking most of
the no-longer needed typesetters and ensuring non-closed shop contracts at the
new plant at Wapping. There was strong critique amongst class struggle anarchists
and anarcho-syndicalists of the Trade Unions inability to foster solidarity. The
campaign to support the printers from anarchists included supporting weekly
demonstrations outside the Wapping plant and direct action to prevent
distribution of papers by private haulage company TNT. The demos were heavily and
violently policed with running battles most weeks. This dispute further
consolidated the anarchist organisations attitude to the police as front-line
enemies and towards class violence. The government upped the ante with the
passing of the Public Order Act (1986) which gave police powers to control
"public processions and assemblies" and provided long maximum sentences for riot,
violent disorder and affray (10, 5 and 3 years) that were used to great effect by
the state in the anti-Poll Tax campaign a few years later (anarchists responded
to the "Battle of Trafalgar" of March 1990 by initiating unconditional legal
support for the hundreds arrested).
Our movement in 2021
So where are we in 2021? In 1986 the anarchist papers like Virus (forerunner of
Organise!), Class War and Direct Action fed on the anger of the middle Thatcher
years and looked to working class revolt for inspiration. The pages of these
papers would also go on to cover in some detail developments in Northern Ireland
that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement with some anarchists
verging on support for the nationalist cause as a reflection of the
anti-imperialism that was still very prevalent on the Left. There is now a more
critical eye on colonialism that could perhaps help steer a better path between
ultraleft and anti-imperialist positions such as in the analysis of Rojava where
there is much disagreement amongst anarchists. As well as coming from the trigger
of Brexit, the April 2021 rioting in Northern Ireland has its origins in the
history of the Union and struggle for a United Ireland that anarchists were
aiming to make sense of in their papers in the 1980s, but are less vocal about
since the ending of the Troubles.
The family occasions of the Royals were a source of derision amongst many
anarchists in the 1980s, especially for Class War, who produced the single
‘Better Dead than Wed!' in response to the marriage of Andrew and Fergie. But
with both The Windsors and The Crown as entertainment on Netflix and their real
lives even stranger than fiction it hardly seems necessary for anarchists to make
much effort ridiculing them anymore.
The mainstream media news has been very much about Party politics, and, until the
pandemic hit, Brexit dominated the political agenda and to a lesser extent
Scottish Independence. But anarchists were neither pro- nor anti-Brexit, treating
Fortress Europe and English nationalism as two sides of a statist and capitalist
coin. We were also mostly disinterested in the tussles within and between parties
on either side of the border. The rise and fall of Corbyn and the installation
of a ‘safe pair of hands' like Keir Starmer sometimes feels a bit like the
Kinnock years as the Labour Party tries once again to regain electoral
credibility; this holds little appeal to anarchists apart from to say "told you
so" to those leftists who spent time canvassing for Corbyn.
The last few years have not been kind to grassroots politics either, though. Our
DIY press is no longer special, being just one drop in a vast ocean of internet
media that is directed to individuals' computer and phones by algorithms, whilst
each populist state leader has been amongst the mainstream media's biggest
critics as a technique to position them alone as the "voice of the people".
Anarchists are also now having to explicitly distance ourselves from conspiracy
theorists and be more nuanced about saying all politicians are liars. A lot of
the community work nowadays is defensive, running first food banks and then soup
kitchens as more people have struggled to feed themselves after incomes from low
paid and precarious work evaporated during the pandemic. Anarchists have played a
small part in this widespread need for mutual aid with good examples in London
(GAF free shops) and Bristol (BASE & Roses).
One element of déjà vu from 1986 comes from the announcement of a new ‘Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.' Judging by the use of police powers granted
during the pandemic, this is more likely to be directed at stifling Reclaim These
Streets protests against violence to women, Black Lives Matter demos and
Extinction Rebellion actions, or as yet another attack on travellers, rather than
being used to control workers disputes or demos about global politics. This said,
economic strife may be around the corner as the state claws back the billions
spent during the pandemic. A class analysis is essential as the outcome of the
pandemic will amplify inequalities as much as the pandemic itself has revealed
them. Anarchists also have much to offer tactically and have been instrumental in
providing legal support on recent demos, which is an important legacy of the
knowledge sharing and organisation of defence groups following the Public Order
Act of 1986. The debate about violence to property has come back though in the
context of statue toppling; anarchists could usefully look to the 1980s to see
how this was justified in Peace News.
Globalisation
Internationally, things are very different in the organised anarchist movement
since 1986. The Cold War framing of Latin American politics shifted after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1990s to a critique of capitalist globalisation.
In Mexico, the Zapatistas emerged as a force in direct response to the North
American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, which brought anarchism into direct
solidarity relationships with indigenous struggles with support of many
anarchists in Britain and Ireland for the Encuentros in Chiapas and other
solidarity activity with comrades from Oaxaca and members of the FAM (Federación
Anarquista de México) that AF was involved with. Anti-capitalism became a central
feature of anarchist involvement in struggles of the 2000s, its forerunners
existing in the Stop the City actions of the 1980s against the
military-industrial complex, but now even more explicitly transnationalist with a
No Borders ethos. For the AF, our international links have continued to grow
since our joining the International of Anarchist Federations in 2000.
Organisations in IFA include the Czech and Slovak Anarchist Federation and
Federation of Anarchist Organising in Slovenia & Croatia, and we have good
contact with comrades from Belarus who face intense and continued repression.
Links with anarchists in the East, and most of the organisations themselves,
simply did not exist or were still in exile in the West in the early-to-mid 1980s
due to the Iron Curtain. The Latin American federations in IFA are highlighting
the ongoing need for support for indigenous struggles, including the Mapuche
people facing modern day land-grabs by corporations in Chile, and the massively
unequal effect of Coronavirus amidst the contempt of Brazilian leader Bolsonaro
for indigenous communities. This is in addition to the stark differences in
access to vaccination between the richer and poorer countries in our international.
The rifts in British anarchist, feminist and left movements, caused by a
reactionary rise in transphobia, had meant the postponement of larger anarchist
events that have not yet returned due to the pandemic, although an online
‘Anarchist Bookfair in London' was successfully held last year. The consultation
on amendment of the Gender Recognition Act in UK and the activism of trans
people, including those in AF, to increase visibility and acceptance, had put a
small powerful group of ex-feminist academics and journalists in an uneasy
alliance with religious fundamentalists, social conservatives and the far right.
The antagonism is a departure from the 1980s when left and right politics were
more clearly defined and anarchists aligned with the feminist movement for the
most part, where the negatives focussed mainly on critiques of reformism or
cross-class alliances. This has all caused headaches for some anarchists.
Echoes of ‘no-platform' were heard before the pandemic but the more
confrontational face-to-face meetings have stopped due to social distancing,
whilst the government decision not to amend the GRA to allow self-determination
has fulfilled some of the reactionaries' aims. The fight for transgender equality
is ongoing and strongly reflects that against homophobia in the 1980s. The AF
itself moved some years ago to the recognition of internal oppressions with the
formalising of caususes that meet and organise separately whilst 2020s
anarcha-feminism is confident in defining its own parameters.
Hopefully, the message of the class struggle anarchists of 1986 still stands
regarding the need for organisations. A libertarian perspective will be needed to
critique Coronavirus Passports which may otherwise realise the introduction ‘ID
cards' (proposed by successive government both Tory and Labour since the 1980s
for other reasons) and to keep up the pressure that will hopefully Kill the Bill.
Good organisation is needed, especially during the pandemic when we are more
physically isolated, to make the case for an anarchist communist perspective
https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2021/05/05/35-years-of-the-anarchist-federation-historical/
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Message: 1
Today, we, different anarchist groups, collectives and organizations, publicly
manifest ourselves against the tax reform's hikes on essential subsistence goods.
But not only because we consider the reform as an organized robbery into the
pockets of the working class, peasants, service workers, self-employed and
freelancers. But also, we make evident the failure that constitutes this Uribist
government of Iván Duque and the disaster that is the whole state apparatus of
this country. Which has tried to hide with public works, laws, decrees, media
propaganda and cheap nationalism, the organized robbery that it really is over
the totality of the people of this region of the continent.
Taxes - that Duque falsely talked about reducing, regardless of the president in
office, were, are and will be the same a general theft from the people, since
they have guaranteed, through the clientelist mafia, the access to power to no
more than 20 families throughout the country. 20 families who have corruptly
enriched themselves and continue to exercise power in the territories -many
times- through the use of arms, whether legal or illegal. And also benefiting
from legal and black market rents, -understood as- drug trafficking, smuggling,
human trafficking, land fattening, dispossession of land from peasants and
illegal mining.
How can they expect the people to continue to believe in the state, if the same
government that controls it, acts systematically against them?
The handling of the pandemic is disastrous, not only the duquismomade the covax
option fall apart when it could have ensured the supply of vaccines for Colombia.
But they also dare to do business with the health care of the people, at the
expense of the taxes that they steal from the workers.
The pressure on health workers, the over-exploitation they suffer day by day, is
not exclusive. The teachers have also been deeply affected, not to mention all
the people, who with their sweat, tears and effort sustain a state that takes
more than it really gives back to them.
The war, which is maintained in the territories, has been continued because of
political decisions against the people. The same people who continue to pay its
toll in deaths, and continue to suffer the abuse of the state, the repression of
the security forces that only serve to maintain the privileges of those who
control the political and/or economic power. From the unfulfilled promises that
have led to the beginning of a new cycle of violence, the betrayal of agreements
that sowed hope in the population of Colombia . At the end, they decided to
harvest a fire fueled with gasoline.
For all this, and much more, is that we, the anarchists, express ourselves in
resounding opposition to the simple actions, which is only to make a parade along
the 7th avenue of Bogota. Instead, we call for an indefinite General Strike, that
leads to move the status quo for the benefit of the people: from its local
oligarchs and bourgeois minorities, to the wide, long, broad and diverse peoples
that make up the majority of the population in of the population in the Colombian
region.
Recovering the municipal autonomies, the collectivization of the territory among
those who inhabit it ancestrally or traditionally, and the ancestral or
traditional inhabitants (not among those who, by usurpation, dispossession and
displacement, obtained it), exercising assembly, communalism and horizontality,
all decisions collectively, an open, participatory, diverse and permanent
assembly, rejecting any authority, caudillism, gamonalism, patronalism and
patriarchy.
It is not necessary for the state controlled by the elite to decree the AGRARIAN
REFORM, its the communities, towns and municipalities themselves, who can do it
without intermediaries, they only need to agree to an assembly and start it.
¡¡¡Abolish the relations of subordination to the narco-oligarchic state!!!!
¡¡¡End of passive activity, it is time to go out to the streets!!!
¡¡¡Obstruct the exercise of repression!!!!!
¡¡¡Build autonomous neighborhood and municipal assemblies!!!!
¡¡¡¡Abolish the machist relations and patriarchal oppression: diverse
participation and gender equality, agreements of renouncing the war!!!
¡¡¡¡Unarmed civil disobedience!!!!
Avoid the tax reform, avoid pension reform, avoid labor reform.
¡¡¡¡Abolish the state!!!
¡¡¡Set-up Assemblies!!!!
Signed:
Colectix Kaos Kreador Antifacista
Bandera Negra
ULET-AIT
https://www.facebook.com/ULETsindical
http://uletsindical.org/
ACAT-AIT (Asociación Continental Americana de Trabajadores - Asociación
Internacional de los Trabajadores)
https://www.acat-ait.org/2021/05/06/abolish-state/
------------------------------
Message: 2
We share this press release which was published on the Facebook page of the
Collectif Mashk Assi about the referendum process on the Land Code in
Mashteuiatsh. ---- "We hereby, members of the Ilnuatsh people of Pekuakami, call
for an immediate end to the referendum process for the adoption of the Land Code.
We have serious concerns about how the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan Band Council
proceeded to come up with a Land Code. We question the process by which the
federal government attempts to terminate the application of the Indian Act by
imposing its own process and defining the laws and terms for its replacement once
again, without the involvement of the Firsters. peoples in the definition of a
legislative transition defined according to their own legal traditions and not
according to the framework agreements imposed by the federal and provincial
governments.
Colonial Process and Federal Legislation Imposed on First Peoples
We understand that the federal government wishes to delegate the management of
reserve lands to First Nations as well as the management of the band list through
membership codes. The federal government is also pushing First Nations to adopt
their own electoral code so that they no longer have to manage the electoral
process and the injustices and conflicts perpetrated by the Indian Act. Although
the federal government suggests that these processes are part of the empowerment
of First Peoples, the reality is quite different. These codes and delegation of
powers are a continuation of the application of a federal management right
delegated to the Band Council and defined by the federal government. In this
sense, they are not inherent powers, stemming from its own legal traditions, that
the First Nation will exercise, but many powers delegated by and defined by the
Canadian state. The 44 articles of the Indian Act concerning land management are
renewed in the Land Code by modifying a few elements and delegating the
management of these to the band council. In addition, the band councils are
federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act, they are not
institutions of governance resulting from the cultures and traditions of the
First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native Affairs in
Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has perpetrated deep
governance problems and led to opaque governance. The 44 articles of the Indian
Act concerning land management are renewed in the Land Code by modifying a few
elements and delegating the management of these to the band council. In addition,
band councils are federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act;
they are not institutions of governance stemming from the cultures and traditions
of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native
Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has
perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque governance. The 44
articles of the Indian Act concerning land management are renewed in the Land
Code by modifying a few elements and delegating the management of these to the
band council. In addition, the band councils are federal organizations within the
meaning of the Indian Act, they are not institutions of governance resulting from
the cultures and traditions of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to
the Ministry of Native Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations.
This reality has perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque
governance. band councils are federal organizations within the meaning of the
Indian Act, they are not institutions of governance stemming from the cultures
and traditions of the First Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry
of Native Affairs in Ottawa and not to members of these nations. This reality has
perpetrated deep governance problems and led to opaque governance. band councils
are federal organizations within the meaning of the Indian Act, they are not
institutions of governance stemming from the cultures and traditions of the First
Peoples. In this sense, they report to the Ministry of Native Affairs in Ottawa
and not to members of these nations. This reality has perpetrated deep governance
problems and led to opaque governance.
With the implementation of Law S-3, the number of members has increased in our
community. These people suffered intergenerational effects as a result of their
disconnection from the values and principles of the First Peoples. They have
great difficulty in familiarizing themselves with the realities of First Nations
and are vulnerable when it comes to shaping their consent. Thus, it appears to us
that the Band Council derives a definite advantage from the arrival of new
members who wish to belong to the community to remedy the discrimination suffered
and are thus more likely to be in favor of the Council and its projects and to
vote. in their favor.
In addition, to encourage people to vote for the Code, the Mashteuiatsh Band
Council team suggested that such a code would make it possible, if the population
wanted it, to mortgage their houses to finance chalets in territory and machinery
(also valid for industrial machinery). In its video, the council explains having
reached 90% of the members of the band to inform them of the referendum, you will
understand that the new members can see there an opportunity to settle and
develop in the community with such announcements. It sounds a bit like bribes and
corruptive practices which are unacceptable although widespread in several
communities where members are offered certain benefits in exchange for their
support of an electoral team or in exchange for their vote. "
In addition, press release from the Mashk Assi Collective which updates the
referendum process:
Press release for immediate release
"Over the years, we have seen many Mashteuiatsh Band Council resolutions and
referendums take place during Cultural Weeks while our Ilnuatsh people are in the
forest. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band council promoted its draft federal
Land Code and held a referendum on May 3 on this subject. However, we are well
aware of the strategy of Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan who aims to look good in the
media by declaring that the Yes has passed to 84% with simple majority! In fact,
there were only 750 votes out of a population of over 7,000, which is barely 10%
of all community members. A bad result despite the large sums spent by the band
council, with the help of an advertising firm, to promote its Land Code project
to the 7000 members! This referendum is a big joke. This colonial political
system which functions by simple majority does not in any way represent the
ilnuatsh of the Pekuakami. Once again, this is a federal colonial structure which
imposes its law without the consent of the Innuat people. This land code is
invalid and illegal! Mauat to the land code! Finally, remember that this band
council is illegitimate, that it represents the Crown and that it was elected by
a minority of 23% of Ilnuatsh members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan
ute ilnussi ute nutshimit. " a federal colonial structure which imposes its law
without the consent of the Innuat people. This land code is invalid and illegal!
Mauat to the land code! Finally, remember that this band council is illegitimate,
that it represents the Crown and that it was elected by a minority of 23% of
Ilnuatsh members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan ute ilnussi ute
nutshimit. " a federal colonial structure which imposes its law without the
consent of the Innuat people. This land code is invalid and illegal! Mauat to the
land code! Finally, remember that this band council is illegitimate, that it
represents the Crown and that it was elected by a minority of 23% of Ilnuatsh
members. Apu Utshimaut Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan ute ilnussi ute nutshimit. "
Posted 9 hours ago by Collectif Emma Goldman
https://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2021/05/communique-arret-immediat-du-processus.html
------------------------------
Message: 3
Despite the bad weather and the sabotage attempts of the Solothurn Federation of
Trade Unions, about 300 people demonstrated in Solothurn on May 1. The FAU was
there together with other grassroots unions and Kurdish organizations. A militant
mood prevailed at the demonstration. The FAU participated actively with speeches
on the situation in the catering, care as well as cleaning sector. ---- The
cleaners demand an end to disrespectful treatment by their superiors, compliance
with health and safety regulations in particular and compliance with the
generally binding collective labor agreement (CLA) in general. At the core of the
poor working conditions are hourly wages and temporary contracts, which are the
cause of their precarious livelihoods. They emphasize the need to fight for a
good CLA.
The demands of the catering sector went in a similar direction; the end of zero
hour contracts, work on call and temporary work.
More pay, a shorter working week, compatibility of work with family life, more
vacations, and above all more staff and thus an urgently needed reduction in the
workload are all demanded by the care sector.
The corona pandemic has made these problems more visible and intensified them.
However, they are by no means new. The FAU also emphasizes that such and similar
problems are not unique to these three sectors - it affects all industries with
low wages and precarious working conditions.
The FAU is part of the alliance of grassroots unions Syndibasa. A leaflet with
Syndibasa's demands "to open the wage struggle" was distributed to participants
and passers-by.
The high number of participants shows that many workers do not want a "sausage
fest", but are ready to organize themselves in a grassroots way and to fight with
direct action.
Direct action means that workers stand up and act directly for their rights. This
should lead to a change in the balance of power in the conflict with the bosses.
Only in this way can we fight for social justice.
The nursing branch of the FAU also participated in the May 1 procession in
Lucerne, as it has in the past in the last two Walk of Care processions. The
nursing branch of the FAU calls to participate in the next Walk of Care in
Lucerne on May 12.
https://faubern.ch/Workers_Struggles_News/may-1-announcement
------------------------------
Message: 4
Taking advantage of the COVID crisis La Poste attacks work collectives everywhere
! 1000 reorganizations for 2021 in the mail branch, merger of financial center by
the end of next year, wave of job cuts in the General Public. ---- Result of 40
years of breakdown of the public service, opening up to competition, rampant
privatization. The image of Épinal du Postier clashes with the reality on the
ground: The State and the CDC * (majority shareholder) impose their hand in the
main aggressive management, job insecurity, outsourcing, increased time and
workload: everything is good to increase profits. ---- We fight everywhere !
With the 2030 strategic plan, all branches are affected. In the face of attacks,
people are fighting everywhere and in all branches. Since the beginning of the
year strikes have broken out: Haut de Seine, Gironde, Île et vilaine, Loire
Atlantique, Basse Normandie and many other departments have experienced battles
(both in the network, distribution and parcel) against reorganizations and for
employment.
PDF tract to download
For socialization and self-management
Faced with this offensive, it is necessary to fight and extend our struggles to
return the public postal service to users and employees. While most elected
officials and the government sacrifice the public service and the postal presence
on the altar of capitalism, it is up to the people, the postal workers, to decide
the future of this essential public service. .
It is all the more urgent that the management of the company will quietly discuss
the missions of public services in the corridors of the ministries and the
National Assembly, with a recent report from the Senate which, oh surprise, goes
in the direction of the post office policies. For our part, we have no confidence
in these elected representatives who only represent themselves and the interests
of the bourgeoisie, and certainly not our own.
It will take a comprehensive response
Faced with these attacks, we will have to organize ourselves in our workplaces in
general assemblies with the support of the struggle unions. Already a joint
statement, including with the CFDT, calls for meeting everywhere. Inter-union
groups are created (Hauts de Seine, Bouches-du-Rhône, Lower Normandy, Gironde
etc.). A mobilization date for the end of May on La Poste is looming. We say
banco, postal workers who are members of UCL will be.
It will also be necessary to coordinate with other workplaces, with precarious
workers, with subcontracting workers to extend the mobilizations, to have common
demands, common victories that will make it possible to break down the divisions
between the employees and create united collectives facing the employers.
https://franchisepostale.tumblr.com/
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Face-aux-plans-de-la-Poste-il-faudra-lutter-partout
------------------------------
Message: 5
STOP IMMIGRANTS 'RETURNS NOW ---- On Monday 19/4/21, another immigrant is
illegally abducted by the police. Zacharias B., was arrested in Aristotelous
Square and after being illegally detained by the police, he was finally sent back
to Turkey where he is now, after his residence permit had expired and the police
threw away his documents. ---- The state chose between the choice of its
reconstruction in terms of provision and the corresponding one in terms of
repression without any thought the latter because social provision is considered
an obsolete concession that capitalism was forced to make at an earlier stage.
Modern totalitarianism does not need - and can not - promise anything. The state
administration, while already counting thousands of deaths, is trying to use the
pandemic as a tool of anti-social enforcement in order to proceed with the
implementation of the plans of the rulers for the destruction of all resistances
and for total enforcement on the social body, completely dismantling public
health, degrading public health. education, passing labor bills that intensify
class exploitation and open the door to the complete arbitrariness of the bosses,
while disarming unions, intensifying the looting of the natural environment and
devaluing human life by imposing a regime of exclusion on the most invisible of
this society, whether they are prisoners or refugees and immigrants, or even
those who fight against the onslaught of modern totalitarianism. It is this
regime that led the young woman to set herself on fire, unable to bear the living
conditions that had been imposed on her and in a perverted reversal of reality
she was found to be accused of arson. An exemption regime that is constantly
spreading, establishing a political quarantine, through banning and dispersing
demonstrations, through police occupation of the streets and neighborhoods,
The above is not an unprecedented event, but a fixed situation in the management
of the lives of refugees and migrants in recent years. Concentration camps are
the most typical example of the implementation of the exemption regime. In these
places human life has absolutely no value, as the most discredited part of the
population is deprived not only of basic benefits and rights, such as decent
living conditions, care, education and even food but also the right to life
itself. This situation, both in Greece and in all European host countries for
refugees and immigrants, is now the well-founded (and legally established)
management of the people who are judged to be left over in the capitalist system.
People without papers,
In conditions of total lockdown, refugees and migrants remained stacked in the
concentration camps, without any sanitary measures in a vulgar and provocative
convention of the exemption regime that imposes on these people. Even when
tourism opened up, immigrants remained in isolation as they were still subject to
all restrictions, regardless of the number of cases in the centers.
The Greek state is becoming more and more violent towards immigrants. A year has
passed since the police, army and parastate blocked the refugees at the border of
Evros, while on the islands they never stopped sinking migrant boats and
preventing their landing. Recently, the Greek state is being equipped with
thousands of recruits of border guards, port authorities, EPOs and police. At the
same time, a suffocating framework is being created with the enactment of laws
that make asylum and residence permit even more difficult, while the creation of
closed structures is envisaged. Checks, arrests, beatings and even deportations
are commonplace in cities.
For our part, solidarity knows neither borders nor time margins. It is permanent,
practical and not trapped in any kind of separation (refugees - immigrants). No
solution can be temporary as the problem has not arisen now but has been created
for years by the countries that manage world wealth. Social solidarity among the
oppressed is our weapon against the exploiters. We organize and fight together
with immigrants for a society of equality and freedom. Solidarity, common
struggle and common life.
It is imperative that we stand up to the state that strikes at our lives, our
bodies, our jobs, the spaces in which we move and breathe.
AGAINST PUSH-BACKS, CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND MIGRANTS (RI) MURDER
FOOD-HEALTH-HOUSING FOR EVERYONE
JOINT STRUGGLE OF LOCAL IMMIGRANTS FOR FREEDOM AND DIGNITY
Gathering Wednesday 28/4 17.00 at the Statue of Venizelos
Collegiality for social anarchism Black & Red | member FROM
https://landandfreedom.gr/el/agones/372-thes-niki-sygkentrosi-enantia-stis-epanaproothiseis-metanaston
------------------------------
Message: 6
As those who resist in the streets despite all the prohibitions and obstructions
of the power mechanisms, we have shown once again that May Day cannot be banned.
https://anarsistfederasyon.org/1-mayis-kavgadir-yasaklanamaz/...
https://anarsistfederasyon.org/devlet-yaparsa-katliam-yapar-dersim-tertelesi
------------------------------
Message: 7
Aalready looking forward to meet them. ---- On Sunday, May 2, a ship called Hora
(Montaña) set out to meet the European shores . On board is a Zapatista
delegation consisting of 4 women (Lupita, Carolina, Ximena, Yuli), 2 men (Bernal,
Darío) and 1 other (Marijose). It is a kind of vanguard for the visit of
Zapatistas and Zapatistas to Europe. The crew of the ship from the beginning of
the last century then consists of four sailors (Ludwig, Edwin, Ete, Carl) and one
sailor (Gabriela) from Germany and Colombia. Should come Hora in June, and the
west coast of Spain. ---- People who are fighting for a dignified life on this
side of the ocean are anxiously awaiting them here. They demonstrated this
through coordinated decentralized events, the aim of which was to create a
photograph or a short video under the common slogan "The expedition for life has
begun. We are expecting you".
Dozens of videos and group photos from different parts of Europe have been put
together, noting that Zapatistas have a large number of friends on the European
continent and that, although cultures may be different, the fight for dignity is
common to all of us.
The invitation to the Zapatistas also left the Czech Republic, so it goes without
saying that local groups, which are behind the invitation and now share their
photos, have also joined the "welcome". Among them is also the Anarchist
Federation, which, together with other anarchists, prepared a photograph during
the May Day picnic on Strelecký Island in Prague, where he looks out at the
approaching Hora . It was not a single photo from Prague, others arrived from
Brno and northern Bohemia. The following groups and groups also joined the
initiative for inviting Zapatistas to Zapatistas: Black Seeds Team, Kolektiv 115,
NAIFF, Duo Docentky, Tri Ocásci, Prostor 39, Roleta 39, Food not Bombs, Limity
jsme we, RFK and Neklid publishing house .
https://www.afed.cz/text/7362/ocekavame-vas
------------------------------
Message: 8
We share with you the solidarity and direct action made by the Anarchists of the
Horn of Africa Region against the genocide of the Ethiopian state against the
people of Tigray for centuries and the exploitation of Tigray people through the
Starbucks company. ---- From the Anarchists of the Horn of Africa, ---- Sexual
Assault, Massacre, Genocide ... ---- Since November, troops and allied forces of
the Ethiopian state have committed a genocide in the Tigray area. The state was
bombing and murdering thousands of people, and its soldiers systematically raped
them. Food aid was destroyed and people in the region were put to starvation.
Refugees were prevented from escaping. The region's communication and assistance
with the outside has been completely cut off.
A man from Tigrai is holding a small portable radio, trying to hear the news
despite the information pollution.
Outside of the region, the people of Tigray are subject to violence and
discrimination because of their ethnic identity. Their passports were revoked and
they lost their jobs. Social media is full of propaganda indispensable for
genocidal states: the public hate propaganda is provided by a lot of
unquestioning supporters and fake information networks.
In response to the calls of Tigrais and other groups suffering from pressure and
violence from the Ethiopian state, an attempt is made to create a decentralized
and global effort against genocide. This means true solidarity across nations and
borders.
At the same time, we must eliminate the financial means used by the Ethiopian
state for this genocide. One way is to reduce revenues from coffee , the state's
largest source of foreign exchange and direct financing . The biggest buyer of
this coffee is Starbucks. The company regularly trades with the Ethiopian state,
which has filled millions in its treasury by directly controlling the trademark
license and the market. Those in solidarity around the world against genocide
should take action to cut this flow.
An Imperial History
The Tigray people are not the first to experience violence and oppression from
the Ethiopian Empire. The borders of the modern Ethiopian state encompass many
indigenous peoples. Thousands of years of centralized state formations have been
problematic, since the oppressor majority of the empire sought to further impose
their own culture. The Ethiopian Empire, which most resisted the colonial attacks
of European states in the 19th and 20th centuries, was also the same empire ruled
by the ethnic Amhar elites.
The last emperor, Haile Selassie, made attempts to brutally impose an Ethiopian
nationalism based on the Amhar culture. After his abdication in the 1970s, these
policies continued and reached even more terrible proportions under the
leadership of the Marxist-Leninist Magazine, which came to power with a military
coup.
Magazine government officials in official uniforms.
The Coalition for National Liberation led parties and military structures in
Tigray, Eritra, Oromia and other regions to unite, overthrew the Derg government
in 1991 and established a system of "ethnic federalism".
Nine federated states were established on the basis of ethnic autonomy. But some
degree of "equality" between ethnic groups did not resolve ethnic conflicts. The
fact that the dispersed and overlapping geography of the different groups could
not be represented, the fact that numerous groups were too few to have their own
territories fueled the fire. Ethnic conflicts have become very intertwined with
political discussions.
The Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, have been subjected to systematic
discrimination for centuries. An Oromo-based party that had joined with other
parties and military structures to overthrow Derg was early pushed out of the new
ruling coalition. Despite some new autonomy in the ethnic federalist system,
discrimination is still widespread, and as recently as last year, massive actions
were met with brutal reprisals. Many politicized Oromo troops argue for
overthrowing the Ethiopian Empire.
An Oromo woman adorned with traditional dresses.
Recently, a new governing coalition has been formed with the withdrawal of the
Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the largest political party in Tigray.
The remainder of the previous coalition united to form the new Welfare Party, led
by Abiy Ahmed. The current government is trying to eliminate "ethnic federalism"
in order to create a centralized state that elevates the "Ethiopian" identity.
Strong ethnic-based political parties are a major obstacle to this goal. In the
eyes of the media and the war machine, which were in total war with both the TPLF
and the people of Tigray to keep its victory on its political agenda, Abriy's
government has identified the entire people of Tigray with the TPLF party.
Abiy's building of a nationalist foothold at home was completed by efforts to
preserve support from abroad. Ironically, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending
centuries of conflict with the totalitarian government of neighboring Eritra. The
violent resistance subsided in the period following the overthrow of Derg since
Eritra left Ethiopia. The presence of Armenian political immigrants in Tigray and
the ongoing rage of the previous war made Abiy's peace partners ideal
collaborators for the genocide. Eritra ground forces are responsible for some
horrible massacres, pillaging and destruction of villages.
Coffee is Growing the Empire
Every empire-building project in Ethiopia today needs a firm nationalist
foundation. Yet in its modern global system, Ethiopia's empire is a small and
sometimes exploited player. The project requires extensive foreign capital and
support. Drones bombing cities, bullets digging mass graves, the media
infrastructure needed to launder all these. All this requires money.
Some of this money could come as foreign aid, or as a loan that global capitalist
institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are
currently trying to approve. For the Ethiopian state, most of their money comes
from exports though. The export of the Ethiopian king is a product of his own:
coffee. One billion US dollars, or 30% of the country's total exports, were sent
to eighty different countries around the world through coffee exports.
The central state has a heavy, lucrative hand in trade. He manages the trade
exchange. It conducts direct diplomacy and bargaining with large buyers. The
Ethiopian state even holds some international brands with the remarkable name of
Ethiopian coffee. Companies that sell specialty coffee using these names have to
pay a usage fee to the government.
Maintaining this funding pipe is very important for the functioning of the
Ethiopian state.
Move on
Those struggling against the ongoing genocide in Tigray called for a boycott of
Ethiopian coffee to reduce Abiy Ahmed's war treasure. Globally the largest and
most visible buyer is Starbucks. The company buys millions of US dollars worth of
Ethiopian coffee each year, with only a tiny fraction going directly to farmers.
As the genocide continues, this money feeds on the massacre.
We are calling for a week of global action against Starbucks to stop its purchase
of Ethiopian coffee while the military occupation in Tigray continues.
High School Anarchist Activity (LAF) published the Turkish translation of the
video prepared by the call of the "Horn of Africa Anarchists" .
From May 1st to May 7th , we encourage solidarity in the form of various tactics
from our comrades around the world.
What can you do to take direct action against Starbucks and spread the call to
stop the genocide?
Gather your friends to hang banners, wheat paste (glue), graffiti, and / or banners.
Keep the strike line of the shops, maybe you can organize with the workers.
Try to organize autonomous actions to a large local walk or nightly Starbucks store.
Is there an Ethiopian or Eritra embassy or consulate in your city of residence?
Think about what you can include in your action.
If you live in an area with Tigray, Oromo and other diaspora communities, please
get in touch. Many metropolitan cities have a local social center that takes
action against the existing government. Frequently research these actions on
social media and participate in solidarity.
https://meydan1.org/2021/05/02/tigray-soykirimina-karsi-anarsistlerden-uluslararasi-dayanisma-cagrisi/
------------------------------
Message: 9
We watched the video with rage with the attempted rape of the girl in Nea Smyrni.
Within a few hours and with a lot of notifications, the would-be rapist was
arrested and we feel relieved that the girl escaped and that the necessary weight
was given by society to her complaint. ----The fear that we will not return home
safely at night is a situation that all of us, in one way or another, have
experienced. Most of us saw in the girl's face our own and we certainly felt her
fear throughout our body. We saw ourselves walking in that dark alley with the
keys in the form of a self-defense tool, because somewhere we heard that this is
how a girl was saved from rape. We felt anxious again about whether we would be
able to make a sound, as we felt all our energy accumulating in our attempt to
breathe. We recognized in her pace our effort to keep a steady pace, fast enough
to get away if necessary, but also slow enough not to "provoke" the man who was
following us. Because somewhere we heard that fear causes us and that we must be
brave. And in the end we took with her a huge breath of relief, when we could now
feel completely safe.
In the case of Nea Smyrni, apart from some comments of absolute half-heartedness,
fortunately few were found to blame the girl, due to the videotaped material. But
how many rapes, sexual harassment and abuse do not have the corresponding
"evidence"? How many times have we reported to relatives, friends, police
stations, similar stories, sometimes with much worse outcomes, and been able to
answer questions that directly or indirectly accuse us, while watching our case
end up in the file? It is important to note that unfortunately without that
video, it would still be one of the dozens of incidents that happen every day and
the would-be rapist would be looking for his sixth possible victim - at least
from what we know so far.
In patriarchy we experience this feeling of doubt in every aspect of our lives.
At every step we receive the message that maybe we did something wrong, that
maybe we wore something wrong, that maybe we got the wrong tight, at the wrong
time. We are constantly told that we must prove traumatic experiences to convince
them of the truth. But to convince them of what? How does patriarchy impose on us
how we will live each day? For how they follow us at night, whistle at us on the
street, harass us on the bus, at work, in the taxi, in the square where we sat to
rest, at the party we went out to have fun? For how it forces us to always keep
in mind not to drink too much, not to walk alone late at night, to know
self-defense just in case,
It is the same patriarchy that constantly puts a "yes but" next to our stories.
That creates rapists, that turns people into abusers, that educates men with the
privilege of domination over our bodies. It is the same patriarchal,
cannibalistic society that, while it does not believe in us or protect us, which,
while its first reflection is our questioning and incrimination, sets up people's
courts when a video happens to be in its hands as irrefutable evidence. That does
not focus on the root of the phenomenon of rapists and abusers, who somehow
manages to find "anthropomorphic monsters" to separate from them and avoid
looking into the eyes of the half-faith that pervades itsshattered structures,
from school to the patriarchal model of the nuclear family, from work to civil
justice and its sexist decisions. Who, as punishment for the perpetrators,
promises rapes and hangings, without realizing that this perpetuates the culture
of rape, deportation, authoritarian rule and in no case prevents the recurrence
of similar incidents.
We demand to be free, not brave. We demand the existence of feminist education in
schools, in order to prevent sexism and to encourage equality and freedom of the
people. We demand that when we denounce rape, sexual harassment, abuse, our case
be vindicated, and that sexist hatred be recognized in our stories by society and
the judiciary.
Our bodies belong to us and only to us. We want to make a world safe for all
women and all LOATKI + people. We are not prepared to tolerate this here for even
a minute.
No fear, no injuries. Without sexism and patriarchy.
http://rocinante.gr/sto-dromo-gia-to-spiti-theloume-na-imaste-eleftheres-ochi-gennees/
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Message: 10
During the 2018 Inaugural Congress of the CIT (International Workers'
Confederation), held in Parma (Italy), the sections agreed that the CIT General
Secretariat would have a duration of two years. At the same congress, it was
decided that the German union anarcho, FAU, would become the next section, after
the CNT, to take over the staff of the General Secretariat. ---- The new CIT
secretary, Mahmoud Homsy, is a member of FAU Berlin. He has been active in the
international work area of FAU for years and was part of the foundation of the
new international confederation. ---- First of all, Mahmoud, thank you for giving
us your time for the readers of our confederal newspaper. ---- Question: How do
you face this new responsibility on a personal level?
Answer:Knowing the long history of the International, I can only feel honored to
have been in charge of this position, but I feel overwhelmed. I already have many
commitments not directly related to this secretariat and I see the multitude of
tasks that I must now fulfill if I want to fulfill my commitments to CIT in the
best possible way. I imagine that these nerves are normal in the face of so much
responsibility.
Q. Although the sections have been around for many years, the CIT is very recent.
How healthy is our International and what, in your opinion, are our
organizational priorities today?
R.-Miguel, my predecessor, from the CNT in Madrid, successfully laid the
foundations for the development of CIT. All communication channels are already
installed (the web site, social networks), as well as the finances (annuity
section) that are the economic basis of our budgets. But there is still a lot to
do before we can really get to work. The obvious priority is the implementation
of the areas of work adopted at the congress. At the moment, there are about 20
people actively helping the communication committee and the secretariat, but this
number will have to grow if we are to achieve the objectives we set ourselves.
Q.- Our approach and model are clearly different from official unionism. Is our
model valid and effective? Do you think it will be well received by workers?
R.- I can tell you more confidently what I see in Germany. It is very difficult
for our union model to gain a foothold in a western country like Germany. There
is so much privilege here. There is a lot of work because the financial markets
invest in Germany because it is seen as having a safe and stable economy and the
social safety net is more or less intact. People think that the market and the
state will take care of things. If you say you're a revolutionary, they wonder
what planet you live on. If you complain about your poor quality work, they tell
you that you are ungrateful or that you should work harder to get a better job.
People wonder if unions in general are valid. So, in that environment, I
sometimes wonder if our basic principles of solidarity, mutual help,
In the end, these doubts only reaffirm me in our ideas. The satisfaction of
helping people to talk about a conflict, the pleasure of collaborating with
like-minded people, is priceless.
I cannot say whether, in general, workers will welcome our union model. I have
experienced that we have been welcomed here and there by workers in the conflicts
in which we present ourselves. I can only hope that they will remember it,
believe in it and practice it in the future.
But people are busy, their priorities change, they are frustrated with our
ineffective structures, so they stop being active. That is why it is important to
strengthen our organizations. To be effective.
In any case, the fact is that we continue to fight and there is a clear growth in
the number of members.
Q.- At the international level, where do you expect new sections to apply for CIT
membership?
A.-IWW in Europe will probably apply for a CIT membership in a short time (now
the IWW in the USA and Canada are already in place), and this will mean that, for
example, in Germany, two different organizations may be part of the same
International .
In Brazil, we hope that FOB will also join.
As part of our expansion strategy, which was one of the areas of work adopted at
the last congress, we formed regional working groups for Asia and the Americas,
which are approaching and working in networks with different unions and union
initiatives. We will see if, in this way, we will arouse the interest of any
organization in becoming a new member.
What I hope is that in the future more regional working groups of this type will
be formed to extend these efforts to regions of the world where we do not have a
presence ...
Q.- How do you think we can deepen the relationship with other alternative and
revolutionary unions as the International grows in number and establishes itself
in new countries?
A.-At the international level, I see our principles of solidarity and mutual help
as good tools to make CIT known and respected.
In the past few weeks we have joined the GWTUC campaign against the Dragon
Sweater, leaving aside ideological differences, and we are offering our
solidarity to our comrades around the world. These activities will attract the
attention of other unions that will see CIT as a point of reference.
Another area of work that we adopted at the last congress and that will serve us
as an expansion tool is training. We proposed to collect documentation on union
organization and industrial action from the sections and use it to produce new
training material that is relevant worldwide. If we could present this material
to unions in different countries, it would be an excellent way to introduce them
to our ideas and build relationships. However, there is still a lot of work to be
done in this regard, as we must not forget that we are a very young organization.
Q.- And a final word that you would like to send to our activists ...
A.-I hope that all the comrades remain healthy for this fall and winter! My
thoughts are with you all.
From CNT, we wish you every success in your task for the next two years.
Source:https://www.cnt.es/noticias/mahmoud-homsy-secretario-general-de-la-cit-si-dices-que-eres-revolucionario-se-preguntan-en-que-planeta-vives/
Translation> Liberto
Related contents:
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/06/04/espanha-a-cit-apoia-os-protestos-do-black-lives-matter/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2020/04/04/italia-comunicado-do-setor-de-saude-da-usi-cit/
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2018/05/14/italia-fundacao-da-confederacao-internacional-do-trabalho-cit-em-parma/
anarchist news agency-ana
https://www.cnt.es/noticias/mahmoud-homsy-secretario-general-de-la-cit-si-dices-que-eres-revolucionario-se-preguntan-en-que-planeta-vives/
------------------------------
Message: 11
It's 35 years since the AF was first formed as the Anarchist Communist Federation
in 1986. We've published retrospectives on several occasions before in the 10,
20, 25 and 30 year specials of Organise! This time we look back at what was
happening in and around 1986 and its relationship to the emergence of the new
anarchist organisations. ---- 1986 had seen in some big anarchist anniversaries
of its own. As well as the year being the centenary of the Haymarket Affair of
4th May 1886 in Chicago and a half century since the start of the Spanish
Revolution in 1936, anarcho-pacifist influenced paper Peace News celebrated 50,
and ‘Freedom / A Hundred Years', a special centenary journal, was published.
However, the views of those attached to Freedom at the time were not widely
embraced by the emerging class struggle anarchist current. Although there was
reference to history of the movement, including names associated with the origins
of anarchist communism, much of the contemporary opinion read as of out-of-touch
reminiscence and philosophical pondering, especially after the Miners' strike
battles and ‘inner city riots' of the early decade. One article from a member of
the newly launched Class War Federation did put the case for class politics and
meaningful direct action (and appealed for anarchists to break from punk and
veganism.) The article also called for more anarchist organisation and applauded
the formation of the ACF.
Cold War politics
American militarism was a major 1980s political theme. The Ronald Reagan
presidency was engaged in a not-so-Cold War in many corners of the globe. The US
government was supporting several right-wing governments and insurgencies in
Central America, including what became the Iran-Contra Affair, where the National
Security Council was found to be covertly selling arms to Iran and using proceeds
from this to fund right-wing rebel militias in Nicaragua. The Central
Intelligence Agency was supporting Islamic fighters ‘Mujahideen' in Afghanistan
against the Soviet Union and UNITA in Angola who were a major ally of the South
African state. Whilst Chomsky and Herman's book ‘Manufacturing Consent: The
Political Economy of the Mass Media' (1988) was around the corner, anarchists
were stressing the need for Do-It-Yourself publishing by revolutionaries.
In the last few years before the Berlin Wall was brought down, when the dual
influences of Soviet Union and USA still divided up the globe, understanding of
geo-politics was prevalent amongst the Left in Britain. The UK establishment's
role in supporting the Chilean junta had been a major Trade Union issue and so
earlier in the 1980s it was especially galling to see the government cosy up to
Pinochet and resume arms sales. The Falklands War was judged by the Left to be
British jingoism and a key part of the election campaign tool for the Thatcher
second term. The Anti-Apartheid Movement was strong and the Conservative Right's
support for the regime was well known. Around 1986, the Federation of
Conservative Students was making a nuisance of itself with a universities
speaking tour of Monday Club members and other politicians well known for their
support for white power in South Africa and Rhodesia (pre-Zimbabwe) and
anti-immigration policies and views. This led to a great deal of direct action
that was supported by anarchists, to oppose and ‘no-platform' specifically racist
individuals.
In the UK, a major focus of direct action in addition to big demonstrations was
against US military power more broadly. Reagan was engaged in brinkmanship with
the waning Soviet power and had bought Cruise Missiles to air bases in England
with the support of the Conservatives. Anarchists were active on CND
demonstrations and set up peace camps. Involvement in direct action, including a
great deal of fence cutting at Greenham Common, Molesworth and other USAF bases,
led to important discussions in the peace movement about ‘violence to property'
that was eventually resolved in anarchist circles even amongst pacifists (where
the consensus became that destruction of property was not considered to be
violence.) Class struggle anarchism was, however, beginning to critique the peace
movement as lifestylist, something that was also directed at Green Anarchist, its
paper being quite visible on Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demos. Also,
anarchists, unlike some on the Left, were accepting of separatism in the movement
(a defining feature of the Greenham women's camps) and the ACF reflected this in
its aims and principles, whilst in practice the mainly mixed anarchist groups
assumed men within them were feminist anyway.
Thatcher, Thatcher ...
1986 was past mid-way of Thatcher's second term as Prime Minister and the
neoliberal project was in full swing. Utilities and the buses were being
privatised, and a law was passed to de-mutualise Building Societies. The year
also saw the ‘Big Bang' deregulation of the City allowing vast sums to be made
from the easy credit available resulting in massive debt for many of the working
class. The year also continued the cheap sell-off of council housing under ‘Right
to Buy' with discounts of up to 70% available for aspiring home-owners. Land and
property prices were about to boom leading to gentrification becoming a major
feature of Southern big cities whilst the Tories seemed content to let the North
suffer the rot of industrial decay. Unemployment was stuck at over 3 million.
Bradford's ‘1 in 12 Club' launch was one early anarchist recognition of the need
for more autonomous spaces in the anarchist movement, whose name comes directly
out of the unemployment statistics of the time. In general, anarchists were
heavily involved with mutual aid in the face of Thatcherite attacks on welfare.
Other important activist spaces such as the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh had
begun as advice centres.
The Marxist-Leninist/Trotskyist left was reeling since the second Thatcher
election victory. Neil Kinnock, Labour leader, was spending much time in power
marginalising them. Derek Hatton, deputy leader of Liverpool City Council was
thrown out of the Party for his membership of the Militant Tendency. Along with
various other city councils Liverpool he played a major part in the Militant
inspired rate-capping rebellion against Thatcher's plans to squeeze local
government finances. Also in 1986, the GLC, led by Ken Livingstone and John
McDonnell (known more recently as Corbyn's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer)
was abolished, weakening the Left's control of London. These events of the
mid-80s represented the death-throws of Old Labour. The Local Government Act that
was associated with rate-setting mentioned above was passed in 1986. This was
notoriously amended in 1988 to add the Clause/Section 28 "prohibit the promotion
of homosexuality by local authorities" which had not made it into the Act two
years earlier. Anarchists took part in the many Clause 28 protests; it was
eventually repealed in 2003.
In January 1986, the major labour movement struggle since the end of the Miners'
Strike was about to begin; the year-long Wapping Dispute. Rupert Murdoch's News
International empire was in the process of moving the Sun, Times and associated
Sunday newspapers away from their long-time home on Fleet Street. A major part of
the modernisation plan was to destroy the print unions' power by sacking most of
the no-longer needed typesetters and ensuring non-closed shop contracts at the
new plant at Wapping. There was strong critique amongst class struggle anarchists
and anarcho-syndicalists of the Trade Unions inability to foster solidarity. The
campaign to support the printers from anarchists included supporting weekly
demonstrations outside the Wapping plant and direct action to prevent
distribution of papers by private haulage company TNT. The demos were heavily and
violently policed with running battles most weeks. This dispute further
consolidated the anarchist organisations attitude to the police as front-line
enemies and towards class violence. The government upped the ante with the
passing of the Public Order Act (1986) which gave police powers to control
"public processions and assemblies" and provided long maximum sentences for riot,
violent disorder and affray (10, 5 and 3 years) that were used to great effect by
the state in the anti-Poll Tax campaign a few years later (anarchists responded
to the "Battle of Trafalgar" of March 1990 by initiating unconditional legal
support for the hundreds arrested).
Our movement in 2021
So where are we in 2021? In 1986 the anarchist papers like Virus (forerunner of
Organise!), Class War and Direct Action fed on the anger of the middle Thatcher
years and looked to working class revolt for inspiration. The pages of these
papers would also go on to cover in some detail developments in Northern Ireland
that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement with some anarchists
verging on support for the nationalist cause as a reflection of the
anti-imperialism that was still very prevalent on the Left. There is now a more
critical eye on colonialism that could perhaps help steer a better path between
ultraleft and anti-imperialist positions such as in the analysis of Rojava where
there is much disagreement amongst anarchists. As well as coming from the trigger
of Brexit, the April 2021 rioting in Northern Ireland has its origins in the
history of the Union and struggle for a United Ireland that anarchists were
aiming to make sense of in their papers in the 1980s, but are less vocal about
since the ending of the Troubles.
The family occasions of the Royals were a source of derision amongst many
anarchists in the 1980s, especially for Class War, who produced the single
‘Better Dead than Wed!' in response to the marriage of Andrew and Fergie. But
with both The Windsors and The Crown as entertainment on Netflix and their real
lives even stranger than fiction it hardly seems necessary for anarchists to make
much effort ridiculing them anymore.
The mainstream media news has been very much about Party politics, and, until the
pandemic hit, Brexit dominated the political agenda and to a lesser extent
Scottish Independence. But anarchists were neither pro- nor anti-Brexit, treating
Fortress Europe and English nationalism as two sides of a statist and capitalist
coin. We were also mostly disinterested in the tussles within and between parties
on either side of the border. The rise and fall of Corbyn and the installation
of a ‘safe pair of hands' like Keir Starmer sometimes feels a bit like the
Kinnock years as the Labour Party tries once again to regain electoral
credibility; this holds little appeal to anarchists apart from to say "told you
so" to those leftists who spent time canvassing for Corbyn.
The last few years have not been kind to grassroots politics either, though. Our
DIY press is no longer special, being just one drop in a vast ocean of internet
media that is directed to individuals' computer and phones by algorithms, whilst
each populist state leader has been amongst the mainstream media's biggest
critics as a technique to position them alone as the "voice of the people".
Anarchists are also now having to explicitly distance ourselves from conspiracy
theorists and be more nuanced about saying all politicians are liars. A lot of
the community work nowadays is defensive, running first food banks and then soup
kitchens as more people have struggled to feed themselves after incomes from low
paid and precarious work evaporated during the pandemic. Anarchists have played a
small part in this widespread need for mutual aid with good examples in London
(GAF free shops) and Bristol (BASE & Roses).
One element of déjà vu from 1986 comes from the announcement of a new ‘Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.' Judging by the use of police powers granted
during the pandemic, this is more likely to be directed at stifling Reclaim These
Streets protests against violence to women, Black Lives Matter demos and
Extinction Rebellion actions, or as yet another attack on travellers, rather than
being used to control workers disputes or demos about global politics. This said,
economic strife may be around the corner as the state claws back the billions
spent during the pandemic. A class analysis is essential as the outcome of the
pandemic will amplify inequalities as much as the pandemic itself has revealed
them. Anarchists also have much to offer tactically and have been instrumental in
providing legal support on recent demos, which is an important legacy of the
knowledge sharing and organisation of defence groups following the Public Order
Act of 1986. The debate about violence to property has come back though in the
context of statue toppling; anarchists could usefully look to the 1980s to see
how this was justified in Peace News.
Globalisation
Internationally, things are very different in the organised anarchist movement
since 1986. The Cold War framing of Latin American politics shifted after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1990s to a critique of capitalist globalisation.
In Mexico, the Zapatistas emerged as a force in direct response to the North
American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, which brought anarchism into direct
solidarity relationships with indigenous struggles with support of many
anarchists in Britain and Ireland for the Encuentros in Chiapas and other
solidarity activity with comrades from Oaxaca and members of the FAM (Federación
Anarquista de México) that AF was involved with. Anti-capitalism became a central
feature of anarchist involvement in struggles of the 2000s, its forerunners
existing in the Stop the City actions of the 1980s against the
military-industrial complex, but now even more explicitly transnationalist with a
No Borders ethos. For the AF, our international links have continued to grow
since our joining the International of Anarchist Federations in 2000.
Organisations in IFA include the Czech and Slovak Anarchist Federation and
Federation of Anarchist Organising in Slovenia & Croatia, and we have good
contact with comrades from Belarus who face intense and continued repression.
Links with anarchists in the East, and most of the organisations themselves,
simply did not exist or were still in exile in the West in the early-to-mid 1980s
due to the Iron Curtain. The Latin American federations in IFA are highlighting
the ongoing need for support for indigenous struggles, including the Mapuche
people facing modern day land-grabs by corporations in Chile, and the massively
unequal effect of Coronavirus amidst the contempt of Brazilian leader Bolsonaro
for indigenous communities. This is in addition to the stark differences in
access to vaccination between the richer and poorer countries in our international.
The rifts in British anarchist, feminist and left movements, caused by a
reactionary rise in transphobia, had meant the postponement of larger anarchist
events that have not yet returned due to the pandemic, although an online
‘Anarchist Bookfair in London' was successfully held last year. The consultation
on amendment of the Gender Recognition Act in UK and the activism of trans
people, including those in AF, to increase visibility and acceptance, had put a
small powerful group of ex-feminist academics and journalists in an uneasy
alliance with religious fundamentalists, social conservatives and the far right.
The antagonism is a departure from the 1980s when left and right politics were
more clearly defined and anarchists aligned with the feminist movement for the
most part, where the negatives focussed mainly on critiques of reformism or
cross-class alliances. This has all caused headaches for some anarchists.
Echoes of ‘no-platform' were heard before the pandemic but the more
confrontational face-to-face meetings have stopped due to social distancing,
whilst the government decision not to amend the GRA to allow self-determination
has fulfilled some of the reactionaries' aims. The fight for transgender equality
is ongoing and strongly reflects that against homophobia in the 1980s. The AF
itself moved some years ago to the recognition of internal oppressions with the
formalising of caususes that meet and organise separately whilst 2020s
anarcha-feminism is confident in defining its own parameters.
Hopefully, the message of the class struggle anarchists of 1986 still stands
regarding the need for organisations. A libertarian perspective will be needed to
critique Coronavirus Passports which may otherwise realise the introduction ‘ID
cards' (proposed by successive government both Tory and Labour since the 1980s
for other reasons) and to keep up the pressure that will hopefully Kill the Bill.
Good organisation is needed, especially during the pandemic when we are more
physically isolated, to make the case for an anarchist communist perspective
https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2021/05/05/35-years-of-the-anarchist-federation-historical/
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