A report by the FAU Heidelberg on their campaign for the day of struggle and
holiday of the unemployed, on May 2nd, 2023, in front of the JobcenterHeidelberg. ---- Company & Society By: Simon ŽEkkeŽ Trimpin - May 24th, 2023 ----Out to the fight and holiday of the unemployed on May 2nd! But where, out? From atrade union organizing perspective, the "unemployed"[1]lack what most workersstill have: a common place to experience and work.[3]Companies and places of workoften have common characteristics. They create a space that enables thoseaffected to collectively experience their work, their exploitation, their mutualinterlocking and their joint potency. In addition, they represent a sharedmeeting place that does not have to be created through personal effort orexposure. In this way, relationships and trust that go beyond everyday lifebecome possible. Collegial groups, acquaintances, friendships, even romanticrelationships and marriages[2]develop on this common breeding ground. Stronglines of connection that can favor a common fight. The unemployed have no suchcommon place. They only have the institutions of their patronage andmarginalization: the ARGE, the job center, the training rooms of the peopleresponsible for the measures, the food banks, etc.The unemployed still have in common with the employed that these pre-addressedplaces are also the places of their alienation. But while companies withoutinterfaces of cooperation can hardly function, job centers are not dependent onit and organizationally try to isolate their so-called "customers". There used tobe queues that conveyed the feeling of mutual hindrance rather than a common lot.Later it was the scheduled appointments that only allowed for a few meetingplaces. Corona then legitimized what was already being used in some places and isstill practice in many places today - an organization and pre-structuring ofspace that is more reminiscent of prison than the exercise of guaranteed rightsor a public service. Locked doors, strictly controlled times, security personnel,who sometimes even accompany the "customers" to the clerk's office. There islittle room for encounters here. In some places there is also the architecture -as in our case in Heidelberg. Dreary functional buildings in the commercial area,winding paths to a hidden entrance at the back of the building. Narrow, taperingpaths to the entrance door on the sub-ground floor. Not to forget the obligatorysurveillance cameras that are demonstratively placed over the entire scenario."Inviting customer care" definitely works differently. It quickly becomes clearthat this is intentional when the nature of this facility is brought out intoconsciousness. A large, bureaucratic and correspondingly expensive machine that,under the threat of reducing the subsistence level, is supposed to force peoplewho have become unemployed into jobs that do not exist in the necessary number.[4]But precisely because this place is what it is and represents what it represents,we at FAU Heidelberg have decided to take our protest against the poverty regime"Bürger:innengeld" and our solidarity with those affected here to the front doorof the Jobcenter Heidelberg. We want to give the Struggle a face, a place for theresistance - at least on this solemn day of struggle. Even if thepassive-aggressive architecture of the job center, the assembly authorities andthe police didn't exactly want to make it easy for us. Equipped with lye sticksand leaflets, we wanted to try to get in touch with previously unorganizedunemployed people. Show that they don't necessarily have to fight theirday-to-day struggles alone. If necessary, give tips, offer counselingappointments, organize solidarity support. And at the same time publiclyexpressing our protest at the job center facility, its practice and the politicsbehind it. A policy that we denounce as inhuman, exploitative and repressive. Thefact that the Assembly Authority had assigned us a seat on the wrong side of thebuilding - and that the local police forces would not be persuaded by commonsense arguments alone - made our action considerably more difficult. So three orfour comrades positioned themselves in front of the entrance to the job center -while the rest of our protest rally took up position on the other side of thebuilding, directly adjacent to the inviting ambience of a four-lane expressway.With a small information stand, speeches that had to compete with the streetnoise, and a good portion of gallows humor, we still managed to pull through thecampaign and get into an exchange with some of those affected, and a fewpassers-by shared our criticism of the system of compulsory wage labor and tobring state-organized poverty closer.That may not have been the big highlight. But a thoroughly successful start underadverse circumstances to advance the field of the unemployed organization and tomake it visible. We'll be back, no question![5]And with these lines we want toheartily encourage all comrades inside and outside the FAU to start similarcampaigns. For solidarity with all those dependent on employment! For a lifewithout forced labor!https://direkteaktion.org/dem-struggle-ein-gesicht-dem-widerstand-einen-ort-geben-aktion-zum-kampftag-der-arbeitslosen/_________________________________________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
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