Today's Topics:
1. Ireland, derry anarchists: UMUT FIRAT IS ON HUNGER STRIKE 52
DAYS! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Czech, afed.cz: Existential party on "the myth of work" -
Invitation to the traditional debate on the occasion of the
release of another number anarchist revue, Existence [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. US, ideas and action: Unemployment: An Anarcho-Syndicalist
Critique and Program by Jake Tompkins (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. DURRUTI In Spanish Revolution by Abel Paz - New foreword by
José Luis Gutiérrez Molina (ca) [machine translation]
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
5. Greece: Anarchists invade the Ministry of Labour and Social
Security (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
6. Trump hates whistle blowers and attacks Chelsea manning
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
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Message: 1
"As a human, Revolutionary Anarchist, Conscientious/Total Objector, an individual who has
been spending 23 years in a lit cell under the darkness of a dungeon, I see all entities
of capitalist, statist, nationalist, fundamentalist, sectarian and patriarchal power
structure are responsible for all this. I start hunger strike, to draw attention to all
this, before and after, to emphasize that new forms of struggle and social opposition has
to be organized, and to reflect my own political, moral and conscientious attitude." -
Anarchist hunger striker Umut Firat
http://derryanarchists.blogspot.co.il/2017/01/umut-firat-is-on-hunger-strike-52-days.html
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Message: 2
AF invites publishers to mark the release of the next issue of anarchist revue, Existence
for discussion sitting at the information center Salé. ---- In connection with the main
theme "Myth work" we would like to discuss what is the meaning of work in capitalist
society, and that is really the purpose of human life UVRT on the job during operation,
the sense we often escapes to the appearance of which we have a minimal effect and whose
the results we are not allowed to rule. And it is even more reason to be proud of
something like that? We can imagine that it could be otherwise? And what will be the next
topic? ---- Even your opinions, insights, and ideas to help shape the content, form and
distribution of the anarchist magazine, which began to be published again as a quarterly
in 2010. ---- New issue of existence , as well as the older, will be available on site (as
well as sampling for the purposes of further distribution).
18.00 held a joint dinner.
https://www.afed.cz/text/6606/existencni-vecirek-na-tema-mytus-prace
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Message: 3
The way the current capitalist world system is arranged there is a high level of
unemployment across the world, especially because of the crises which has seen no recovery
for anyone, but the richest of the rich. Unemployment is one of the worst parts of
capitalist despotism. It means losing your ability to survive in this system, to just
exist. This will be an attempt at asserting an Anarcho-Syndicalist political program for
tackling the issue of unemployment. First, this article will lay out an analysis of
unemployment as a phenomena, being unique to capitalism and a basic part of it's
functioning. The article will go on to outline how Anarcho-Syndicalists can approach the
issue of unemployment in our movement for a libertarian communist society in the real world.
The Nature of Unemployment
To understand unemployment in capitalist society we have to understand three core
concepts; 1: The Organic Composition of Capital, 2: Surplus Populations, 3: The Reserve
Army of Labor.
Capital's Organic Composition:
Capitalist production is based on maximizing profit for those who own it. The capitalist
class owns production so it can make a profit off of those who take part in it. The
surplus that these people (the working class) produces, above and beyond their need to
subsist, goes to the owners of production (the capitalist class) in the form of profit.
This profit is what drives capitalist production as part of it forms the consumption that
the capitalist class undertakes to reproduce itself and part of it forms the capital that
is invested back into production to keep the firm going. Capitalists naturally want to
make as much profit off of labor as they can which means that they have to get labor to
produce the biggest surplus possible. To do this they have to invest as little in the
production process as possible while also keeping the production process going and
producing as much output as possible. As such the capitalist class will automate a certain
amount of labor which means that they have to pay for the reproduction of the lives of
less workers. This forms the basic pretext for class struggle in capitalism. The
capitalist class seeks to squeeze labor as much as possible to procure as much profit as
possible. The working class thus fights back against this producing a struggle between the
laboring and owning classes. Right now the organic composition of capital is at a point
where there is high unemployment all over the globe, even in third world countries where
industrial jobs have been outsourced to.
The Reserve Army of Labor:
In each new cycle of accumulation capital has to spit out a certain amount of living labor
(workers). This means that workers are tossed out without jobs and serve as a reserve
resource for capital. They are not currently implored in the process of production, they
are hung up like an old coat. They will only be re-integrated into capitalist production
when capital once again finds a use for them, just like the old coat which may only be
worn when it's owner sees fit to where it, hand it down, or sell it. The unemployed thus
serve as a reserve army of laborers who may at one point be integrated back into the
process of capitalist production.
The Surplus Population:
The reserve army of labor is at the same time the surplus population. The reserve army,
not being exploited to generate profit for the capitalist class until it is brought into
capitalist production is thus in the meantime excluded from capitalist production. In
Marx's time this was largely the disabled, the sick, and out of work child laborers. Today
any one of us may be thrown into the reserve army of labor at any time and thus become
part of the surplus population. With the current level of capital's organic composition
and the world crises of capitalist production many of us are already there.
Unemployment Sucks:
When you are unemployed you have been excluded from capital, made dispensable, and thus
slowly lose access to a decent standard of living, have to become dependent on
family/friends, or have nobody to turn to in your time of incredible need. The employed
are always threatened with the prospect of becoming the unemployed and thus must be on
their best behavior, licking the boots of their boss. Who could blame them, this is their
very life and livelihood at stake. Unemployment is just one oppressive aspect of the
capitalist mode of production.
Program; Class Struggle
Unemployment is a natural product of capital's organic composition. Capital, going through
cycles of accumulation must expel a certain about of the labor force each cycle. We had
close to full employment in the United States after the second world war and many people
think going back to the Keynesian policies of that time will produce a similar result.
Keynesian policy however, is not the reason for the long period of stability until 74/73
after the second world war. The second world war was. It allowed the American military to
destroy other countries and thus take control of their production for the benefit of
American capitalists. That cycle of capital accumulation has now come to a close and
capital is now in a different cycle of accumulation. There is no going back to the
post-war boom and Keynesian policy has not been helping matters. State spending (a main
tenet of Keynesian policy) has not helped the growth of any countries since the crises
with the countries seeing the most growth having the least state spending. In the United
States state spending has only drained the the state's financial resources and indebted it
to the private companies that made the crises in the first place.
Capitalism always produces unemployment which means we need to change the system of
production if we want to end unemployment. This needs to be a system of production that
provides for human needs. This would be a communist, or socialist system of production.
That is one where production is owned by the collective human community and operated in
that human community's collective interest. This implies a libertarian social arrangement
where each person has a say in the social systems that affect their lives and where
property is distributed on the basis of equal social relations. This is a society without
any oppressive social systems. This is a libertarian communist society.
Strategy:
Anarcho-syndicalism is a strategy to achieve such a social set up. It is the strategy of
those oppressed by capitalism developing a self-organized struggle against the system that
is oppressing them. We, as Anarcho-syndicalists, advocate this strategy because we
understand that only the oppressed can liberate themselves. As such Anarcho-syndicalists
think that workers, as the oppressed class in the capitalist system, should organize their
own struggle against capitalism by creating organs of power they control to wage class
warfare against the bosses, the capitalists, and repressive, reactionary bodies that seek
to defend them (such as the police, the army, and the state in general). The unemployed
are themselves workers, they are capital's reserve army of exploitable labor. As such said
organs of power (what Anarcho-syndicalists would call "revolutionary unions") need to be
organs of both employed and unemployed workers. Revolutionary unions thus have to be
formed by and represent the unemployed just as much as the employed. Solidarity networks,
or federated organizations, member controlled, that represent the oppressed legally and
provide for them materially, will likely prove useful in defending the unemployed in the
here and now. This is one reason why Anarcho-syndicalists need to be active in and form
solidarity networks.
The bottom line is that Anarcho-syndicalists want to change the world, the oppressed have
nothing to lose, but their chains. Organize for a better world, a libertarian communist world.
http://ideasandaction.info/2017/01/unemployment-anarcho-syndicalist-critique-program/
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Message: 4
Foundation for Libertarian Studies Anselmo Lorenzo Madrid 2017 (Biographies and Memoirs,
3). ISBN: 978-84-86864-94-1 776 pp. Price: 22 euros ---- Twenty years later ---- Actually
a little more has passed since, in 1996, the FAL decided to republish the work of Abel Paz
on CNT Durruti had ordered twenty-five years earlier. Immediately see how lucky he had
been to the decision. So much so that in 2004 there was another impression after an
agreement with the publisher of The Sphere Books. Now begins another stage with this new
reprint. ---- Twenty years after the work of Abel Paz remains the essential reference on
Buenaventura Durruti. It is true that we know better some episodes of his life, some of
the statements of work have been corrected, which have emerged and new information,
especially the question of his death is still the subject of controversy. But globally, as
a reference tool Diego Camacho's work is still the best way to approach the leonine. Also,
twenty years later, Abel is no longer physically with us. 13 April 2009 left us. Now we
will not hear your cough or her voice broke. Neither their whispers and bronchi.
I still valid reasons for the new edition. Even on some issues are more valid than ever.
The story of the memory of the republican years of revolution and war has been built
mainly in the last fifteen years, around the nebulous concept of "republicanism", an
exclusive confrontation between "Republicans" and "fascists ". One approach to be
questioned. Especially since republicanism was not the only reason that unite the
resistance to the coup d'etat. On the social revolution we? A laminate construction that
not everything that comes into this generic, while narrow concept. So you can write and
research work not only without mentioning the figure of Durruti but even the CNT
anarcho-syndicalism.
In a situation like the current one in which the lack of references for the construction
of an alternative to the capitalist order, more necessary than ever resorting to previous
constructions. In this sense, the Spanish revolution remains essential to discuss issues
as current today as the exercise of power or the need to conquer it and why. For example,
beyond the big differences, what happened in the course of the movement known as M-15 in
2011 reminiscent in spirit to the feelings of the protagonists lived 1936: starting
something new .
Original in Spanish
Libertarian Studies Foundation Anselmo Lorenzo
C / Peñuelas, 41 -28005 Madrid
SPAIN
fal@cnt.es
http://fal.cnt.es/
twitter: @FAnselmoLorenzo
https://fal.cnt.es/?q=node/36962
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Message: 5
On Monday, 30 January 2017, anarchists from Rouvikonas collective invaded the Ministry of
Labour and Social Security, raised a huge banner from the top of the building and threw
hundreds of flyers, calling for people to organize and fight back against the neoliberal
politics imposed on Greece, that force pensioners that have worked all their lives and
paid their share to live like beggars, that force almost anyone working on precarity since
bosses and owners hire people with no social security under the threat of being fired
knowing that most probably only a handful will ever get a pension for all the years they
have worked, whilst the abolition of public health insurance is imminent in order for
private insurance and pension system to be eventually imposed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNsvY8bFYg
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Message: 6
Meanwhile on Twitter Trump is losing it again. It's really not surprising he'd hate
whistle blowers, is it? ---- As we said at the time her release was announced "The
whistleblower and intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning is to have her 35 year sentence
commuted, she will be out of jail in 5 months! ---- At the beginning of her time in jail
she came out as trans, and faced horrific transphobia from the US Military including being
forced to keep her hair short and have healthcare denied to her with these examples of
structural oppression (and of course many others) leading to her attempting suicide twice
in the past year. ---- It goes without saying that we believe that prisons and indeed the
Prison Industrial Complex must be abolished, it's important to pay special attention to
how these institutions affect the trans community. Trans women are frequently placed in
men's prisons where they face the danger of assault, including sexual assault, and as we
saw a weeks ago with Jenny Swift, death.
Manning never should have been in jail, nevertheless, this victory would not be possible
without the hard work of activists, who worked tirelessly to see their friend and sister
released from prison."
http://www.wsm.ie/c/trump-hates-whistle-blowers-chelsea-manning
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