With the restoration of the organized anarchist movement in the Czech Republic in
the summer of 1989, the tradition of the anarchist First Mays, which referredboth to the struggle of Chicago anarchists for the eight-hour working day andthen to the history of celebrations in which anarchists took part in the turn ofthe 19th and 20th centuries, was dusted off. The first one in 1990 was organizedby the Czechoslovak Anarchist Association at a traditional location - on StrelecIsland in Prague. However, the anarchist First Mays differed to a certain extentfrom those of a hundred years ago - the basic ideas and demands remained thesame, only adapted to current times, problems and experiences. However, whereasonce the majority of participants were workers, now they were mainly members ofsubcultures and students.One of the landmark anarchist May Day events of these years took place in 1992,when about five hundred anarchists set out from Strelecky ostrov to march throughPrague, ready for a clash with neo-Nazi skinheads who declared that they wouldattack the event. The conflict took place on Letné, and by then theself-confident neo-Nazis had learned that they were not invincible, even thoughthe police, as was customary at the time, were on their side.After the creation of the Czech Anarchist Federation (CAF, later CSAF and finallyjust AF) in the summer of 1995, its members took over the organization of May Daydemonstrations and at the same time gave them a greater social dimension. In1997-98, in addition to the Prague events, anarchists also gathered in Olomouc.In 1999, neo-Nazis appeared on the scene again with their provocation, theyannounced their demonstration at the traditional place of anarchist meetings,Strelecky ostrov. All anarchist groups in connection with the Anti-Fascist Action(AFA) reacted to this in unison and tried to prevent the neo-Nazi rally andmarch. But an important role was played here by the police, who on that dayproved to be the protection of the neo-Nazis, who forcibly cleared the way ofboth their active opponents and bystanders.In the following years, the anarchists did not stick so much to the traditionalplace of May Day and held their May Day events in other places in the center ofPrague, as well as in Brno and Bratislava. The May Day demonstrations came tolife with picnics before the start, so-called samba-bands that kept the rhythmduring the march, information panels, info stands, etc. More than once they hadto face unprovoked violence and harassment by the police, for example in 2000,when the police attacked and arrested the speakers directly.Since 2006, May Day has been in the spirit of anti-fascist counter-actions andblockades, while the police cleared the way for neo-Nazis. In 2008, AFA came upwith the idea to give the First of May a positive character and in the followingyears organized MAYDAY - the Festival against racism with thousands ofparticipants, which changed to the May Day Action Days in 2012-13. In thefollowing years, in addition to classic anarchist picnics and marches,anti-fascist blockades were held in Ústí nad Labem (2014), Brno (2015 and 2019)and Pilsen (2018).The last few years have been marked by peaceful picnic gatherings at Strelák -but always in an anti-capitalist spirit.Anarchy may not have paraded around the squares much lately, but it lives on.It's time to show it. From 11:00 a.m. we will start meeting on Prague's Strelecky Island for atraditional chat, a picnic and a reminder of the roots of May Day.Around 1:00 p.m., we set off on a long-unseen march through Prague - through thecenter towards Stvanice.A concert of great bands will follow BikeJesus on Stvanice.https://www.afed.cz/text/7916/anarchisticke-prvni-maje-v-cesku_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten