Anarchic update news all over the world - 21.12.2018

Today's Topics:

   
1.  anarkismo.net: Alan MacSimóin (1957-2018): a pioneer of
      anarchism in Ireland by José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #289 - Turkey: The
      elimination of the revolutionary opposition is not for tomorrow
      (fr, it, pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL - Kurdistan, Justice for
      Fidan, Sakine and Leyla, January 12 in Paris (fr, it, pt)[machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  France, Alternative Libertaire - AL release: Amnesty for
      victims of political repression (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL Montpellier - What to deal
      with state violence ? in Montpellier on December 20th (fr, it,
      pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  IWW - Solidarity with Swedish Workers, against employers and
      mainstream unions threat against the right to strike
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1






On December 5th we were pained to hear about the untimely death of Alan MacSimóin, veteran 
anarchist, trade unionist and tireless organiser in Ireland. Today we said farewell to him 
at Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, where many other revolutionaries before him have been put 
to rest. Many friends and comrades from all parties and movements of the left joined his 
family to bid farewell to this exceptional man. SIPTU, his trade union, had arranged a 
guard of honour for him. The previous night, the wake at the Teachers' Club was equally 
well attended by comrades of all persuasions: from the Communist Party, the Socialist 
Party and the Socialist Workers Party, Sinn Féin, Workers Solidarity Movement, Workers' 
Party, even Labour. He, as a true non-sectarian, had friends in every single left-wing 
party, a friendship nurtured in decades of activism.

Alan MacSimóin (1957-2018): a pioneer of anarchism in Ireland

On December 5th we were pained to hear about the untimely death of Alan MacSimóin, veteran 
anarchist, trade unionist and tireless organiser in Ireland. Today we said farewell to him 
at Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, where many other revolutionaries before him have been put 
to rest. Many friends and comrades from all parties and movements of the left joined his 
family to bid farewell to this exceptional man. SIPTU, his trade union, had arranged a 
guard of honour for him. The previous night, the wake at the Teachers' Club was equally 
well attended by comrades of all persuasions: from the Communist Party, the Socialist 
Party and the Socialist Workers Party, Sinn Féin, Workers Solidarity Movement, Workers' 
Party, even Labour. He, as a true non-sectarian, had friends in every single left-wing 
party, a friendship nurtured in decades of activism.

Alan started his political involvement in republicanism, and by the early 1970s he was in 
the ‘official' Sinn Féin, which would eventually become the Workers' Party. It was around 
this time that he changed his name from ‘Fitzsimons' to the Irish version ‘MacSimóin'. As 
a group of young republicans were becoming interested in libertarian communist politics, 
he left the party in 1975. They would have left earlier, but decided to wait a year more 
in order not to be mixed with the 1974 split led by Seamus Costello, which led to the 
foundation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and being thus dragged into the 
bloody feud in which both parties engaged in the coming years. He developed contacts with 
the British anarchist organisation Anarchist Workers Association (AWA), one of the 
organisations in the 1970s which had re-discovered the strand of anarchist ‘platformism', 
emphasising a cohesive political organisation for anarchists.

Like most Irish people, Alan struggled with unemployment, for the best part of the 1970s 
and 1980s. And yet, he still managed to participate actively in the creation of the 
anarchist movement in Ireland, with the creation of the Dublin Anarchist Group and the 
Anarchist Workers Alliance in the late 1970s. He was then a founding member of the Workers 
Solidarity Movement (WSM) in 1984, an organisation which would have a massive importance 
for the re-emergence of an engaged, platformist-inspired, form of anarchist communism in 
many countries in the aftermath of the end of the /Cold War, including Chile, Colombia, 
Turkey, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, France, among others. He contributed 
extensively to the anarchist press, particularly through the journals linked to the WSM, 
Workers Solidarity and Red & Black Revolution, and before that, in the Anarchist Worker. 
He regularly distributed Workers Solidarity door to door in Stoneybatter, his neighbourhood.

He drifted away from the WSM in recent years, arguing that the organisation was moving 
away from class politics into a more counter-cultural direction. He remained committed to 
community and trade union activism, being a member of SIPTU, as he firmly believed that 
anarchist should be engaged in mainstream unions as opposed to alternative unions. He 
remained a staunch anarchist to the very end. He was active, literally, in every single 
campaign in Ireland from the 1970s: anti-racism, choice and pro-women, anti-bin charges, 
anti-water charges, environmental campaigns; in every strike, he was always there. The 
last time I participated in a struggle with him was the victorious struggle against water 
charges in 2015-2016 while I was still living in Stoneybatter, a few blocks away from 
Alan. In his latest years he was devoted, apart from his tirelessly campaigning, to the 
Irish Anarchist History project and to the Stoneybatter & Smithfields' People's History 
Project.

He was a dedicated militant who never aspired to be in the spotlight. He led by example, 
being a persistent and consistent activist who participated in meetings, attended every 
picket and contributed in any way he could to local campaigns. His commitment to anarchist 
politics wasn't merely rhetorical: he was always building from below, from the bottom-up. 
He was a practical man, but he also was, as his long-time anarchist companion Kevin Doyle 
reminded us in today's oration at the ceremony in Glasnevin, a dreamer. A dreamer who 
believed in the capacity and ability of ordinary people, particularly the working class, 
to change things for the better, as Doyle clearly stated.

His sense of humour was rather dark, sometimes self-deprecating; I still remember when my 
first son was born, he sent me a text message just saying ‘Don't worry; the first 40 years 
are the most difficult, then it is ok'. I don't think I've ever laughed so much as then. 
He was stubborn and often engaged in bitter polemics (I remember being at the receiving 
end of his arguments a good few times); yet, his sincere commitment to the struggle for a 
better world was doubted by no one. He gained the sympathy and admiration of almost 
everyone in the left because of his earnest commitment and his sincere devotion to the 
working class. He is one of the sharpest and most intelligent comrades I've come across. 
Kind, generous and witty, when I arrived to Dublin as a young migrant, he gave me a good 
few books on Irish working class history for me to get a better grasp of the reality here. 
He was like that to everyone, always ready to share his knowledge, his experience and his 
resources with his comrades.

He will be remembered as a most influential figure in the Irish left of the last decades. 
He was among a handful of people who started talking about anarchism in the 1970s and 
1980s; his work to create a space for the libertarian left in a country dominated by 
political and religious conservatism changed the face of politics forever. If Irish 
society has moved forward in any measure over the last decades, it is to a great degree 
thanks to the efforts of people like Alan.

Sit tibi terra levis, dear comrade.

José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
13th December, 2018

https://www.anarkismo.net/article/31229

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Message: 2





Since 2016, the Turkish government has been fighting against progressive movements with 
the help of religious and nationalists. In the face of purges and attacks, Turkish 
anarchist activists are trying to organize for the social revolution. ---- Since 2016, the 
Turkish government has been fighting against progressive movements with the help of 
religious and nationalists. In the face of purges and attacks, Turkish anarchist activists 
are trying to organize for the social revolution. ---- In an interview given by an 
activist from the Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF), a revolutionary organization based 
in Turkey, the author, Paddy Rua, retransmits the state of the Turkish anarchist movement: 
between violent economic crisis, repression and rise of groups nationalists, one can read 
the analyzes of the libertarian movement of Turkey and its attempts to influence the 
course of events. The interview can be found in English on the Anarkismo network website.[1]

Two years after the failed coup of 2016, the regime of Erdogan and his party AKP (Justice 
and Development Party) continues its policy of violent repression of the opposition. 
Officially, the repression and the great purges target the Gülen Movement, a religious 
movement accused of being behind the attempted putsch. In fact, the state of emergency 
decreed by the regime made it possible to brutally attack opposition organizations, 
particularly revolutionaries. The DAF paid the price with the ban on its Meydan newspaper, 
and many other organizations were hit hard by the crackdown. Despite an increasingly 
severe economic crisis, the repression prevents any large-scale social movement from 
developing. As an example, the DAF activist reports that a strike, illegal strike 
supported by foreign powers ", 13 of whom were subsequently sentenced to prison. Taking 
advantage of this situation, many religious and nationalist groups in Turkey have attacked 
the progressive movements, complacency of the ruling power that even encourages these 
abuses by violent and bellicose speeches, especially against the Kurdish movement.

Promoting a culture of solidarity and mutual aid
Faced with this situation, many organizations have sought to confront the AKP on the 
electoral front. This action proved futile, it democratically legitimized the Erdogan and 
AKP regime by the defeat of progressive forces.

The DAF, despite the situation, has been trying since 2016 to make its voice heard through 
several investments. She first sought, in her words, to bring out the struggles of the 
electoral field and promote social struggles and street actions. Against the economic 
crisis, she developed models of solidarity between the oppressed, by international 
alternatives. Finally, with its social centers, it promotes a culture based on mutual aid 
and solidarity.

" Political and economic crises are difficult times, but it is important to continue our 
struggle in these circumstances.[...]All economic policies and social strategies of 
capitalists and states are aimed at the oppressed around the world. We call this period 
"terror-cratia", with its faces like Erdogan, Putin, Assad, Trump, Maduro ... More than 
ever, we need international solidarity between the oppressed. And we need nothing less 
than a social revolution. "

Pierre (CGA Grenoble)
[1] Devrimci Anarsist Faaliyet, " The state's project of eliminating revolutionary 
opposition has not finished yet " , on Anarkismo.net.

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Turquie-L-elimination-de-l-opposition-revolutionnaire-n-est-pas-pour-demain

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Message: 3





Libertarian Alternative calls to demonstrate on January 12 in Paris alongside the Kurdish 
left to demand the French government to shed light on the triple murder in Paris of 
activists Fidan (Rojbin) Dogan, Sakin Cansiz and Leyla Saylemez. ---- Wednesday, January 
9, 2013, Kurdish activists Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan (Rojbin) and Leyla Saylemez were 
coldly shot in the head, at the premises of the Kurdistan Information Center, located at 
147 rue La Fayette, Paris . ---- The investigation in France revealed numerous indications 
that the alleged murderer, Ömer Güney, arrested a few days after the crime, had acted on 
behalf of the Turkish secret service (MIT), as confirmed by the Prosecutor's indictment. 
the Republic in this case: " many elements of the procedure allow to suspect the 
implication of the MIT in the instigation and the preparation of the murders. "

However, the death of Ömer Güney, on December 17, 2016, to one month of his trial which 
was to begin in Paris, on January 23, 2017, deprives us of a public trial which would have 
made it possible to judge not only the performer, but also, and most importantly, the 
sponsor, the Turkish state !

Six years later, justice is terribly lacking !
DEMONSTRATION

Saturday, January 12, 2018, 10:30

from Paris Gare du Nord, to Place de la République

While the investigation was completed in May 2015, and when Güney's serious health 
problems were known, as soon as he was arrested, why was the trial set for such a long 
time ? In deferring the holding of this trial, France missed a crucial opportunity to 
judge, finally, a political crime committed on its territory ! Since the 1960s, no less 
than 43 political murders have been committed on French soil. They all went unpunished !

Despite the promises made by the Interior Minister of the time, Manuel Valls, the day 
after the assassinations, the French political authorities have never sought to shed light 
on this triple murder. Always anxious to preserve their relations with Turkey, they did 
not even take the trouble to receive the families of the victims, nor the representatives 
of the Kurdish community.

And what about the refusal of the French government to lift the defense-secret on 
information that could have allowed the progress of the judicial investigation ? Deprived 
of this information, the judges in charge of the investigation finally closed the file 
without being able to go up to the known sponsors.

Until when will France turn a blind eye to the drift of the Turkish regime which not only 
permanently violates the rules of the rule of law and those of local democracy, but also 
intends to rage in Europe? where he deploys his agents in charge of spying and eliminating 
his opponents ?

The death of the alleged murderer in no way undermines our determination to fight for 
truth and justice ! One or more of the performers is dead, but the sponsors are still 
alive and free ! Five years later, the silence of the French authorities is more deafening 
than ever. We demand from them all the light on these assassinations and, finally, justice!

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Justice-pour-Fidan-Sakine-et-Leyla-le-12-janvier-a-Paris

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Message: 4





The current social movement, that of the Yellow Vests, but also high school students, 
students, and workers, is severely repressed. ---- A woman died in Marseille. Several 
people were mutilated, injured, beaten, insulted by the police and the gendarmerie. ---- 
But the repression does not take place only in the street. It is also held in police 
stations and courts of law. Police have arrested thousands of people for a month. Tens of 
thousands of hours of police custody were carried out. Preventive arrests prior to a 
protest have become commonplace. Custody at random, a habit. ---- Worse, protesters 
against this dear life that rots and rapes us on a daily basis are currently in prison ! 
In prison for expressing his disagreement with an unjust policy, a source of inequality 
and poverty !

Paris, December 8, 2018
Photo: Nobiliasaphus
This repression serves only to quell the revolt, it serves to frighten people who are 
never heard and who now speak instead of waiting indefinitely for it to be given to them.

It serves to humiliate, too, as we have seen on the images of high school students 
Mantes-la-Jolie landed by cops in lack of authority.

We demand amnesty for all the victims of the repression of the social movement.

Our solidarity with them is total.

Libertarian Alternative, December 16, 2018

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Amnistie-pour-les-victimes-de-la-repression-politique

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Message: 5





 From 8pm to 10pm at the Barricade, 14 rue Aristide-Ollivier, in Montpellier ---- The 
recent movement of yellow vests has shown in a chilling way that the state is backing away 
from nothing to maintain its dominance. In a list that is not exhaustive one can speak 
about preventive mass arrests, gassings in rule of peaceful crowds, mutilation targeted 
and frequent by the weapons "not lethal" that are flashball and grenades GLI-F4. ---- What 
to do when the state violates the most basic rights of democratic freedoms and does not 
hesitate to mutilate to defend its neoliberal policy in the service of the rich ? ---- 
Should we be confined to pacifism ? Should we set the conditions for self-defense ? ---- 
What about Article 35 of the Revolutionary Constitution of 1793 ?

He says: " When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is for the 
people, and for every portion of the people, the most sacred of rights and the most 
indispensable of duties. "

Facebook event

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Que-faire-face-a-la-violence-d-Etat-a-Montpellier-le-20-decembre

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Message: 6





16th December 2018 The IWW expresses its solidarity with SAC - Syndikalisterna, other 
grassroots unions, and Swedish workers. ---- We note that the Swedish government, in 
collaboration with big business and mainstream trade unions are proposing legislation that 
would severely restrict the right of workers to take industrial action in defence of their 
interests. ---- We consider this attack on Swedish workers as a form of class war more to 
be expected from authoritarian regimes than from a social democratic government and union 
bureaucracies who are in clear collaboration with the capitalist class. ---- In particular 
it will be illegal for Swedish unions to engage in strikes or other forms of action, 
including handing out leaflets outside a workplace for any other purpose than not having a 
collective bargaining agreement with an employer. The only recourse for discrimination or 
illegal sackings will now be a flawed labour court system.

It will be illegal to engage in a strike to get a collective bargaining agreement if a 
union is "known to not usually sign or hold" such an agreement. It will also be illegal to 
strike to get a collective bargaining agreement if there is already a collective 
bargaining agreement with another union - even if they have no members in the workplace or 
sector.

These proposals will severely reduce the potential for independent solidarity unions to 
take industrial action of any kind.

They also enable employers to create their own yellow unions or to incite unions 
organising the same workplaces into competition that suits the employer rather than the 
workers.

These proposals contravene ILO conventions ratified by Sweden in the 1940s as well as 
European Convention articles on the right to free association and the right to union 
organisation.

The IWW extends solidarity and applauds Swedish unions and workers who have taken to the 
streets in recent months in an effort to resist these reactionary proposals becoming law. 
Representatives from Danish and Norwegian unions have also campaigned at home as well as 
attending protests in Stockholm.

In recent decades the struggle against the restriction of union rights has become central 
to the global class war and it must therefore always be waged internationally. The IWW 
stands with our Fellow Workers in struggle in Sweden and across the world.

Industrial Workers of the World

Wales Ireland Scotland England Regional Administration

North American Regional Administration

Greece Regional Organising Committee

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