Anarchic update news all over the world - 31 December 2016

Today's Topics:

   
1.  ideas and action: Is Syndicalism Class Reductionist? By Tom
      Wetzel (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL Decembre -
      Euro-Mediterranean meetings, managed enterprises of all
      countries, unite! (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  wsm.ie: Support the occupation of Apollo house
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL - international, Truth and
      justice for Fidan, Sakîne and Leyla, January 7 in Paris (fr, it,
      pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Solidarity with Revolutionary Anarchists in #Turkey from
      #Slovenia -- FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN TURKEY! --
      LONG LIVE Devrimci Anarsist Faaliyet DAF! [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1



Most activists who use this “class reductionist” refrain don’t  just use it against 
syndicalism but against any emphasis on workplace struggle and organizing. It’s part of 
the so-called “retreat from class” of the past 30 years, especially in academic circles, 
where the charge originated. ---- The downplaying of race and gender was a general feature 
of the socialist movement in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. This should not 
be denied. However, there is nothing inherently class reductionist in syndicalism as a 
strategic orientation. ---- Many who use this phraseology also don’t even know what 
“reductionism” means. They use it as just a slogan. But the term originated with logical 
positivism in the ’30s. The positivists proposed a program for the “unification of 
science” which assumed a kind of deterministic relationship between all the structures in 
the world studied by science and the “ultimate” structures studied by physics. The most 
successful unification that had occurred was between physics & chemistry. In the physical 
sciences, it could be shown that chemical traits can be fully explained in terms of 
underlying physical properties. This is an example of a “reduction” — in this case, 
chemical properties are “reduced” to physical properties. This reduction presupposed a 
deterministic relationship between the physical and chemical properties or structures.

For a “reduction” of things like gender and racialized structures to class to be 
successful, this would presuppose a deterministic social theory which would show how 
gender and racialized structures emerge from the class system and class conflict. The only 
available social theory that claimed to be deterministic in this way was the orthodox 
interpretation of “historical materialism” advanced by the German Marxists before World 
War 1 and then taken as orthodoxy by the Communist (Leninist) movement in the ’30s and ’40s.

But a social viewpoint that emphasizes the reality of class oppression and struggle 
doesn’t have to embrace any such deterministic theory. Moreover the tendency in 
libertarian circles in the early 1900s was to reject a deterministic theory through 
greater emphasis on the self-activity of the class in the class struggle. Orthodox 
historical materialism tends to be “productivist” in seeing increasing labor productivity 
through capitalist development as “progressive” rather than as a way that capital uses 
technology to control the working class and reduce labor costs, and thus as based on a 
destructive logic. Syndicalism with its struggle against Taylorism and such did not agree 
with this “progressive” character of capitalist technical development but rather saw it as 
a class weapon.

In the ’20s and ’30s syndicalism’s main enemy was the tendency towards repression and 
fascist movements,  which were typically nationalist and racist, so the syndicalist 
International Workers Association in early ’30s did a lot of educational work against 
racism and nationalism, especially against Nazism.

It seems to me also that the workforce itself has become increasingly heterogeneous over 
the course of the past 80 years with the widespread migrations of recent decades and 
bringing in women increasingly into the workforce from the ’20s on, and especially since 
the ’50s and ’60s.

This heterogeneity of the workforce means that within the workforce itself there are 
various groups who were subject to the non-class structures of oppression, and the 
capitalists have long used these to double down on oppression. In 20th century companies 
typically had racialized and gendered divisions of labor, with disfavored groups in the 
worse jobs and paid the least, etc.

The class solidarity which lies at the core of the syndicalist strategy has a dual 
character. On the one hand, developing common goals and aims to unite the class, but also 
developing solidarity with struggles specific to sub-groups fo the class, who are subject 
to injuries or abuses that are specific to them.

This does actually have a fairly long history in syndicalism. For example in 1923 
syndicalist unions in Peru carried out a general strike against an anti-Indian law that 
required the native peasantry to work for free on projects favored by the landlord class, 
such as building roads.

As far as recognizing class struggle spreading outside the workplace, there is quite a 
long history among syndicalists, going back to for example the rent strike in the early 
’20s in Vera Cruz, and when  the Mexican CGT built a “revolutionary renters union” and 
were about to struggle for reduction of food prices when the nationalist government 
engaged in repression against them. In about 1925 Spanish syndicalist theorist Juan Peiro 
wrote a piece saying that the CNT in Spain needed to figure out how to work on larger 
social questions facing working class otherwise they would get bogged down into sectoral 
struggles against employers.  He proposed the creation of neighborhood organizations. This 
led to debate in their newspaper, and lead eventually to the 1931 citywide rent strike and 
the creation by the CNT of neighborhood assemblies of CNT members to take up broader 
social questions.

These are examples of how syndicalists were aware of class struggle outside the workplace 
even in the earlier heyday of syndicalism between the early 1900s and the ’30s.

http://ideasandaction.info/2016/12/syndicalism-class-reductionist/

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Message: 2



A European network of self-managed enterprises is taking place. In this perspective, 
workers of self-managed enterprises, trade unions and associations from across Europe 
gathered in Thessaloniki late October. A process to monitor. ---- In Argentina, in 2007, 
took place the first international meeting called "economy of workers'. Workers of 
self-managed enterprises, trade unionists, activists and community and political 
activists, academics were a space for exchange and reflection around what we call the 
term, most common in our region, self-management[1]. Meetings, continental or 
international, are regularly organized. In Thessaloniki, the end of October, they were 
euromediterranean. ---- In 2014, the first European initiative was held in Fralib factory, 
then occupied ; this time it's in the Vio.Me. , Instead of self-directed production since 
February 2013, it was happening. For three days, extremely interesting testimonies were 
delivered by representatives and business representatives retrieved: Vio.Me and Scop-TI 
(formerly Fralib) but also Dita Bosnia, Croatia Itas, Jugoremedija Serbia, in Kazova 
Turkey, Officine Zero and Rimaflow Italy, the South factory in France.

DC self Association

Greek various collective operating on different fields (business, health centers, clinics, 
arts, réfugié.es camps ...) also shared their experiences. Labor organizations were 
stakeholders in these meetings: Solidaridad Obrera of the Spanish state, IP Poland, ELA 
Basque, RIS Croatia, Partners of France, the International Union Network of solidarity and 
struggle; too little, given the subject! A bridge has been established with the 
delegations of Mexico (education staff of the CNTE), Argentina (a company of recovered 
graphic arts), Kurdistan (Rojava women's committee). Co-organizer of the meetings, as 
Solidarity, the Self Management Association was also present . Finally, venu.es academics 
from many countries presented their work.

Process Control

Historical, contradictions in the daily operation , openings to other horizons, role of 
trade unions, self-organization, the democratic process ... the three-day menu was rich. A 
European network of self-managed enterprises is taking place; inequalities in advanced 
reflections of each group were not allowed to go as far and as fast as Vio.Me eg wished. 
The very majority will of the 500 participants, as well as trade unions and collective 
self-managed present, is to include the direct management by the workers in a process of 
struggle to radically break with capitalism. What interested the anarchist movement, is 
not it?

Christian (South East Suburbs)

[1]The term is used here for general manner within the meaning given to it usually. In 
fact, under the capitalist system, the direct management of enterprises or services is 
possible as shown diverse experience; but not self-management, because this is a project 
of social transformation of society as a whole, with fundamental changes in terms of 
decision-making power, relations between social classes, notions of hierarchy and 
responsibility , etc. Similarly, in this short article, we do not address the differences 
between workers 'management, direct management, workers' control, etc. The fact that they 
are sometimes not enough theorized also not necessarily to make them effective.

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Entreprises-autogerees-de-tous-les

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Message: 3



A high court judge yesterday granted an injunction that directs the Home Sweet Home 
occupiers of Apollo House to vacate the building by noon on January 11th. This means that 
the occupiers will remain in the building until after Christmas which is some good news 
but it still means that the State is quite willing to forcibly eject people from safe 
accommodation back out onto freezing streets or into unsafe, sub standard accommodation. 
---- [What follows is an extract from the Irish Housing Network statement yesterday] ---- 
"This morning Sam McGuinness of Dublin Simon Community said that there were 88 people 
sleeping on the streets, and that a further 70 had to sleep on the floor of Merchant's 
Quay cafe. We have a legitimate and deep concern over the Government's insistence that 
‘there are enough beds'.

The residents of Apollo house have made a home there. They sleep in the same bed every 
night. They can leave their belongings somewhere safe. They know that it is their bed, it 
is their home and that they have the power to make choices about what happens there.

There are skilled, experienced volunteers on hand to support them when needed. They can 
plan for Christmas day, and know that they'll be warm, will have a good meal and will be 
able to share it with people that they have come to know and trust. This is not something 
the State, or NAMA for that matter, is in a position to offer them.

If the government would like to offer solutions, we would ask that they ensure that there 
are enough secure homes for people - that all of the state assets, including those owned 
by NAMA are used as a priority to create stable, secure and empowering places for people 
to make a home in.

Until then, we will stay. A huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who 
has helped and donated. We've begun to redistribute donations to other homeless 
accommodation centres in the area. Together we can help end this awful crisis, and ensure 
a guaranteed right to housing for all."[end of statement]
---
In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg 
in the streets and steal loaves of bread. -Anatole France
---
Like the Home Sweet Home page here:
https://www.facebook.com/HomeSweetHomeIRL/?fref=ts

Like the Irish Housing Network page here:
https://www.facebook.com/irishhousingnetwork/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

http://www.wsm.ie/c/support-occupation-apollo-house

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Message: 4



Let us be many Saturday, January 7, 2017 in Paris to demand from the French government 
that it sheds light on the triple murder of the Kurdish militants Fidan Dogan, Sakîne 
Cansiz and Leyla Saylemez. ---- On 9 January 2013, three militants of the Kurdish left 
were shot dead in Paris in broad daylight. ---- The investigation revealed that the 
assassin, Ömer Güney, was connected to the Turkish secret services. ---- The investigation 
has long been hampered. The reason of State imposed that Paris does not get angry with 
Ankara. The French government closed its eyes. What is the value of the lives of three 
Kurdish revolutionaries? ---- The death of Ömer Güney in prison on 17 December 2016, one 
month before the opening of his trial, which was to be held in Paris, from 23 January, 
raises many questions. ---- It does not, however, discourage the families and friends of 
the Kurdish cause from claiming the truth about this assassination!

event January 7, 2017
at 11 am
forecourt of the Gare du Nord, Paris 18th

CALL FOR MANIFESTATIONS

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 is etched forever as a black day in Kurdish history. On that 
day, Kurdish activists Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan (Rojbin) and Leyla Saylemez were coldly 
murdered by a bullet in the head at the Kurdistan Information Center at 147 rue La Fayette 
in Paris .

Numerous elements of the investigation, including a sound recording and a written document 
published on the Internet one year after the crime, show that the alleged murderer, Ömer 
Güney, acted on behalf of the Turkish Secret Service (MIT), confirms the closing arguments 
made by the prosecution in this case: "many elements of the procedure allow to suspect the 
involvement of MIT in instigating and preparing assassinations. "

Since the beginning of the investigation, the French political authorities have made no 
effort to shed light on this triple murder. In Turkey, an investigation was opened in the 
aftermath of the crime, but its results were kept secret by the Turkish authorities, who, 
despite an international rogatory commission of the French justice, gave no information. 
On the French side, the government refused to lift the defense-secret on information that 
could have allowed the progress of the judicial inquiry. The judges in charge of the 
investigation finally closed their file without being able to go back to the sponsors who 
are nevertheless known.

In spite of the political identity of the victims and the gravity of the crime which, 
beyond the Kurdish diaspora in Europe, upset a whole people, the French authorities never 
bothered to receive the families of the victims, much less The representatives of the 
Kurdish community whose countless requests have remained unanswered. On the contrary, 
France has always ensured that this "embarrassing affair" does not disturb its relations 
with Turkey.

The death of the alleged assassin Ömer Güney on 17 December 2016, a month away from his 
trial which was to be held in Paris from 23 January 2017, raises many questions and anger 
among the families of the victims, Of the entire Kurdish people and of all those who have 
been demanding truth and justice for four years. While the investigation was completed in 
May 2015, and when Güney was diagnosed with serious health problems, as soon as he was 
arrested, why was the trial so long? This death deprives us of a public trial which would 
have made it possible to judge not only the executioner, but also, and above all, the 
sponsor, the Turkish state which, not content with the appalling repression against the 
leaders and Kurdish political activists within its territory, continues to threaten them 
throughout Europe. By deferring the holding of this trial, France missed a crucial 
opportunity to finally judge a political crime committed on its territory!

The death of the alleged murderer does not alter our claim to justice and truth. We invite 
you to participate many and many in the march of January 7, 2017 to:

Honoring the memory of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez, and all victims of 
political assassinations committed in France;
Shout loudly our anger and our indignation at the inertia of the French authorities which 
is at the origin of the extinction of this long-awaited trial;
To clamor our thirst for truth and justice!
First signatories: Movement of Kurdish Women in France, National Coordination Kurdistan 
Solidarity (CNSK) Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDKF), Democratic Centre of 
Kurdistan-Paris (Paris-CDK), Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples 
(MRAP), Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), Collectif des 
Amazighs en France, Alternative libertarian

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Verite-et-justice-pour-Fidan,7176

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Message: 5



The news reached us in the last days about yet another prison sentence in Turkey. This 
time, the state which is well on its way to fascism, pointed its finger towards the 
anarchist propaganda. The magazine Meydan, which had already been closed down during the 
Erdogan's "cleaning" after the Coup, was now hit even more. The editor of Meydan, an 
anarchist magazine issued by DAF (Devrimci Anarsist Faaliyet / Anarchist revolutionary 
action) is now sentenced to more than one year in prison. The State claims some Meydan 
articles were promoting terrorist methods. It is not hard to understand this verdict, yes, 
all the ideas which organised anarchists in Turkey are promoting, like gender equality, 
workers' rights, economic system based on mutual aid and without private property, freedom 
of the individual, antionationalistic and antifascist ideas (and of course we must not 
forget their support to Rojava revolution) - it is all very dangerous to the State. Taking 
the right to write, speak and organize around this ideas is something unforgivable in 
today's Turkey. Using the rhetoric of public safety and comparing anarchist ideas in any 
form with terrorism and violence is an old story, we have seen it for more than 100 years 
all over the world. We are not surprised nor shocked.
But, as well as our comrades in Turkey, we know that this business of the states and 
regimes haven't managed to silence the roars. There will always be another Meydan, another 
page printed and distributed, another article written.

We send our solidarity and thoughts to the Meydan and DAF comrad es; behind prison walls 
or on the streets, already now they are on the only possible and logical side of history.
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN TURKEY!
LONG LIVE DAF!
ANTIFA ISTRA and collectives UP-INDE (Koper), ARGO (Izola) and Alternativa Obstaja (FAO-IFA)

http://www.indeplatforma.org/statement-about-the-latest-verdicts-in-turkey/

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